Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a new day. 

A new day for him to try to get back on his feet. 

Eh, or not. 

Truthfully, he was perfectly content doing what he'd been doing for the last past month or so after he left the castle. 

… 

Sleeping in Kirby’s House. 

… 

He was on the floor, wasn’t he? 

... 

‘Can you recall what it is you were doing?’  

Bandana Waddle Dee opened his eyes and looked up at the circular ceiling above, the blue blanket of Kirby’s bed draping off the side. He didn’t know how, but he always seemed to fall out of bed, even when Kirby wasn’t sleeping directly next to him, something just attracted him to the floor. 

Bandana Dee picked himself up from the floor and looked out the window to see it was around midday, meaning he had around a few minutes before uh... before... 

“Ah, shoot, what was I supposed to do again today?” Bandana Dee asked himself, closing his eyes for a split second to think.  

‘You remember, don’t you?’  

His mind then focused on wishes and remembered Kirby wanted him to be there, for whatever reason. Kirby said he’d be at Dedede’s castle, an invitation from the King apparently. Did he even want to go back there in the first place and see Dedede again? 

‘You’ll remember it all. Just think of all the things you can remember.’  

…  

Bandana Dee looked around, but there was nothing in the house besides the bed and a table with a plant adorned on top. So, what did he just hear exactly, it was a faint voice that seemed to be coming from everyone at once, yet also from nowhere? Was somebody talking to him? 

‘YES!’  

Suddenly a blinding light flashed in front of him, engulfing his view of Kirby’s door as he could see a large waning of colors swirling in front of him in a strange vortex spinning clockwise, red, orange, yellow, and all the other color of the rainbow spinning around and being mixed together into the middle, creating a pulsing, vibrant light. 

“You... you’re Kirby, aren’t you?” a voice coming from the light pondered.  

“Uh, no, I’m not Kirby,” Bandana Dee responded before quickly asking the more important question, “Who... or what are you, exactly?”  

“Wait, you’re NOT Kirby?!” the voice asked as the vortex began to spin faster. “Why are you in his house then, if you’re-” the voice stopped and sighed, “UGH, great, the one bloody risk I take and now I’m stuff with Kirby’s boyfriend instead.”  

“I AM NOT HIS BOYFRIEND, first off-” Bandana Dee began, though was cut off by the voice once more. 

“Oh really, then why are you in his house?” the voice asked, seeming just a bit ticked off. “I mean, I assume you slept in his bed, right?”  

“I was on the floor.” Bandana Dee corrected, “-and once again, not his boyfriend, we’re just friends.” 

“Wow, you and Kirby really need to talk about relationship goals if he has his boyfriend sleeping on the floor.” the voice scoffed as the Vortex sped up. “No matter, relationships aside, you’ll have to do for now, so just um... you know, walk into the vortex in front of you.”  

“Okay first off, you haven’t even told me who you are, why the heck would I risk jumping into some light-filled void when I have to be over at Castle Dedede in like ten minutes?” Bandana Dee wondered, and after his question the voice grew eerily silent. 

… 

“Hello?” Bandana Dee asked. 

The voice spoke up, “Well.” he could hear a low sigh, “Look, Kirby’s Boyfriend- or whatever your name is, I’m just...” the voice tapered down and seemed almost sorrowful, “I just really need somebodies help here, and the fact that you’re here means you’re in danger, and this is all my fault, and now I have to fix it, so could you just like... step into the vortex, it won't kill you, I promise!”  

Bandana Dee weighed his options for a moment, as the vortex continued to spin a faster as time progressed. He didn’t really... well, know if he could trust whoever this was, random entities that came to Dreamland looking for Kirby weren’t exactly the nicest people most of the time. 

But... he got a weirdly calm feeling about this. 

… 

Maybe it was the vortex, as he looked more into it, the idea of helping became even more alluring, like he was being drawn in... Bandana Dee took a few steps forward and held his hand out towards the vortex. 

…! 

The entire room ran cold when Bandana Dee’s hand elapsed the vortex, and not a moment after, everything seemed to disappear. Kirby’s door was wide open, and something was coming in. It was... well, it sort of looked like... 

Well, he wasn’t sure. 

It was multiple sparkling lights connected by a thin rigid red fluorescent wire which made out the shape of an upright silhouette. 

“Oh, so that’s what you look like.” the voice from before spoke as the butterfly fluttered in front of him. “Well, since it’s the time for introductions, I’ll go first.” the butterfly wavered above Bandana Dee’s head and promptly landed on top.

“My name I. . . s . . . . 

...!

“EMORY?!” Bandana Waddle Dee asked, jumping up from his position on the floor as looking around. It was Dark, practically nighttime at this point. “Oh crap, was that all a dream, am I going to be late to the Castle?” 

“No need to, we’re already here.” Meta Knight’s voice spoke and Bandana Waddle Dee turned around to Kirby’s bed to see Meta Knight along with Kirby and Adeleine waiting on the other side of the room with their arms crossed. Well, everyone besides Kirby crossed their arms at least. 

Kirby then spoke, “Hi New Guy, you missed a lot of stuff, so- so we talked to this other guy then we went to come and find you but you were on the floor, and I got them to wait here and we’ve been here for like six hours and now you’re awake and-” 

“Okay Kirby, I think he gets it.” Meta Knight interrupted. “You doing alright, B uddy?” he asked, tilting his head ever so slightly. 

“Yeah, I’m good, just had a weird dream is all, y’know, probably rolled over here.” he guessed, with a slight laugh. Nobody else laughed though, and Bandana Dee couldn’t help but notice that they were glaring at him, well, everyone besides Kirby. 

“So anyways,” Kirby began once more, “Well before that, well- me and- and Meta and Addie met up with Ecal, he’s our friend, though he looked really weird for a moment when we met up with him, he’s like really cool and- and he said he wanted to grant us wishes, so then we all made a wish and-” 

“Alright Kirby, I think he gets it.” Meta Knight spoke once more, holding a hand out. “So, tell us, Pal , did you meet any other butterflies, recently?” 

“No, say no, say you did not!” the voice from the supposed dream spoke. “Say you did not meet any butterflies.”  

Bandee looked around, “Huh, who said that?” 

“I said that.” Meta Knight responded. “Now, answer the question.” 

“Just say no, alright?” the voice pleaded with him. “I’ll explain later.”  

“Okay.” Bandana dee responded, then he looked back to Meta Knight before clearing his throat, “Um, no, no butterflies, not recently anyways.” 

Kirby then spoke up once more, “Well, Ecal, he told us his name for some reason- and his name is Ecal like I said and he was like- ‘I’ll allow you all to make a wish’ and I was like ‘WOW!’ and then he said that in order for our wishes to work we had to find this other butterfly named-”  

“Okay, I think This Guy gets the idea, Kirby.” Adeleine spoke, standing up. “Let’s just cut to the chase here, do you know anyone named Emory?” she wondered, walking close to him. She seemed... kinda taller than usual, and Bandana Dee instinctively took a slight step back. 

“Nope, never heard of an Emory.” Bandana Dee responded, putting on a more confident demeanor. “It’d probably help if you all explained it to me...” Bandana Waddle Dee trailed off. Something seemed weird, besides the constant glares and arm crossing.  

New Guy , Buddy , Pal , and This Guy... why weren’t they using his name?  

“Hey uh... you guys remember uh...” Bandana Dee turned to the side for a moment. “What’s my name?” he asked, deciding to just come out with it.  

… 

Silence. 

… 

“I mean,” Meta Knight spoke up, “That’s a rather silly question, of course we know your name!” he laughed, standing up. “Come on, I mean, how could we possibly forget?” 

“Then say it.” Bandana Dee spoke. 

… 

Silence. 

… 

Bandana Dee didn’t exactly take this as a good sign, glances were being exchanged between the group, “Uh, well I actually have somewhere to be right now, so I’ll just be taking my leave,” Bandana Dee spoke turning towards the door- 

“DUCK!” the voice from the dream said, and Bandana Dee obeyed as the door in front of him flung open, a quick look up revealing Meta Knight’s sword jammed right around where Bandana Dee’s head was. Bandana Dee turned around to see Meta Knight with his hand outstretched, along with Adeleine holding out her paint brush 

Bandana Dee fumbled with his words for a moment before speaking in a very clear and fast tone, “I’ll show myself out!”  

“I DON’T THINK SO!” Meta Knight yelled, and suddenly the knight seemed to almost teleport directly in front of Bandee, blocking the doorway.  

“HUH-?!” Bandana Dee asked before Meta Knight’s metallic boot slammed full force into his face, knocking him into the wall of Kirby’s house with a loud and painful thud. Bandana Dee landed face-first on the wood floor. “Ow---” 

“Sheesh, you think he’d put up more of a fight than what EC described, yeah?” Adeleine spoke as Bandana Dee slightly picked himself up to see her boots land directly in front of where he lay. “I’ll go ahead and finish this guy off outside.” 

“Don’t worry, help is on the way, you won’t be finished off!” the voice from the Dream asked as Bandana Dee could feel himself being dragged, very ruggedly across the wooden floor.  

“Help?” Bandana Dee asked, looking around, “From where, exactly?” 

“I don’t know, but you won’t get any from us.” Meta Knight’s voice responded. “Alright, lets-” Meta Knight paused as he could hear the sound of wind wooshing around. “...” 

“What’s the matter?” Adeleine asked.  

Then, as if to answer that question, what almost sounded like a guitar rift played, and in an instant Bandee felt himself being lifted into the air! He could see a dark blur of a figure with what looked to be a blade swipe in front of him, knocking Adeleine into the air. 

“NOW!” a rather rough sounding voice yelled as Bandee felt somebody grab him from behind and quickly toss him on top of Kirby’s house. Bandee landed with a thud on top on the house, though he was upright and he could make out the sound of clashing blades between two speeding forces. 

“You alright?” someone behind him asked, and Bandana Dee turned around to see Shadow Kirby, Kirby’s Mirror World version, with what looked to be the Fighter ability. “Uh, I mean, sorry, I don’t think we’ve met before... um...” Shadow Kirby looked to the side. “I’m Shadow Kirby... hi... nice to meet you.” 

“LESS TALKING, MORE FIGHTING!” the rough voice from before yelled, and Bandana Dee looked to the side to see Dark Meta Knight, Meta Knight’s Mirror World version, fending off against regular Meta Knight’s blade. 

“Right, sorry Deta!” Shadow Kirby apologized, bowing his head. “Be right back-” 

“Uh-” Bandana Dee watched as Shadow Kirby jumped down to help of Dark Meta Knight, with Shadow Kirby attacking the knight’s face with his foot before Dark Meta Knight tossed him into the air with an uppercut. Kirby seemed to be watching from the sidelines, just as confused as Bandana Dee was. 

“Ok, thank goodness, just in time.” the voice sighed.  

“Ok wait a minute, first off, who the heck are you, and what’s going on?!” Bandana Dee asked.  

“Um, didn’t I tell you before?” the voice asked. “My name is Emory-”  

Before the voice could finish, from behind Bandana Dee Adeleine’s voice sounded, “SNEAK ATTACK!” she yelled as Bandana Dee felt a whack to the back of his head with what was most likely a paintbrush.  

“Hey, watch it!” Bandana Dee yelled, hoping back and narrowly dodging a full force hit from the paintbrush, paint splattering on top of Kirby house at his feet. “Is there a problem here, why are you both being so hostile!?”  

“Because you’re hiding that Emory thing-” Adeleine took another swing of her paintbrush horizontally and Bandana Dee jumped back again, getting closer to the chimney of Kirby’s house. “-and we're just trying to help a friend out, which you clearly aren’t!” 

“Not a...?” Bandana Waddle Dee looked at Adeleine for a moment before turning his eyes towards the battle below, Dark Meta Knight summoning sword from the ground to skewer Meta Knight from below. “Do you guys have amnesia, or someth-” 

Adeleine interrupted again gearing up for a vertical swing, “TAKE TH-” 

“Nope!” Bandana Waddle Dee leapt up into the air and jumped off of Kirby’s chimney, grabbing Adeleine’s paintbrush from her hands, and doing a flip before landing near the edge and pointing it directly at her.  

Probably not the most threatening thing, but still, it worked. “Alright, look, I think there’s just been some big misunderstanding here.” 

The voice from his dream cheered, “Great, we’ve all got the upper hand, good work, Kirby’s boyfriend!”  

“I’m not-” Bandana Dee sighed, “Whatever, the point is you need to...” Bandana Dee trailed off as he noticed that Adeleine seemed... oddly flustered with the situation, her face being as red a Maxim Tomato. “Uh, are you okay, do you need some water, or something?” 

Adeleine tapped her fingers together, “Water? Huh, no it’s I’m, yeah, no- ahaha, sorry, um- NO, I do not need any water, uhhhhhhh-----” 

“Um... right, well anyways-” Bandana Dee continued, “What did you mean before by you’re trying to help a friend, exactly?” 

Adeleine laughed, “Well-” 

SLAM!  

That was the noise Bandana Dee heard rocket into him as he was knocked off the roof, paintbrush still clasped firmly in his hands. By the time he landed on the ground he could see Shadow Kirby and Dark Meta Knight on the ground next to him, though they all quickly got up. 

“Alright, listen very carefully, Waddle Dee, we’re you’re allies in this situation.” Dark Meta Knight spat, looking at Bandana Dee with a side-eye. “We’re the only thing standing between you and imminent game ending, so for the next five minutes you need to do EXACTLY as we say, got it?” 

“Right, gotcha!” Bandana Dee accepted. “Wait did you just say game en-” 

Shadow Kirby interrupted this time, “No time to explain, sorry, just listen to Deta.” 

“I told you not to call me that in public...” Dark Meta Knight growled. “No matter, here they come.” Dark Meta Knight noted pointing his sword towards Kirby’s house as Meta Knight ran in from the left side, Adeleine hopping down from the roof. 

“Long time no see, Dark Meta Knight, still up to your usual dirty tactics, I see?” Meta Knight asked, pointing his sword towards the trio. “Even got a new Waddle Dee minion on your side?” 

Bandana See spoke up, “I’m not-” 

Dark Meta Knight punched Bandana Dee in the face and turned to glare at him once more, “SHUT. UP.” he commanded, “Just do what I say and you’ll make it out of here alive.” 

“Yeah, plus all we’re doing is stalling, and Deta is really good at that.” Shadow Kirby whispered with a slight smile. “He does it all the time when I ask him to come to my-” 

“NOT. NOW.” Dark Meta Knight said once more, and turned back to the opposing group. “Correct, though my tactics must’ve been worth something if you tried the same thing on Waddle Dee over here.” 

“We’re doing this for a good cause.” Meta Knight excused. 

Dark Meta Knight countered, “We’re doing it for a better one.” 

Meta Knight shot back, “Says who?” 

“Says the people not being brainwashed by a Black Prism.” Dark Meta Knight spat as a few dings sounded from his hand. “But you don’t realize that, do you?" he asked, "You’re already too far jacked into the matrix of Ecal’s illusions, aren’t you?”  

“What are you on about?” Meta Knight asked, his voice growing angrier. “Ecal has been our friend since he scarified himself for Dedede when he tried to take revenge against Kirby.” Bandana Dee was about to speak, but Dark Meta Knight held a hand back and shook his head. 

“Yeah, he even helped back when Kirby, Dedede, Ribbon, and I went to find the Crystal Shards!” Adeleine added. 

Meta Knight nodded, “He also helped when we all went to repair Magolor’s ship, so don’t even try to discredit our friend.” Meta Knight spoke with extreme confidence. 

“Hmpf, no matter.” Dark Meta Knight turned around and his wings transformed into a long flowing cape, Shadow Kirby and Bandana Dee following the turnaround in turn. “We’ve already escaped.” he said, placing some sort of device in his hands, one that was pink with a star antenna on the end.  

“Unlikely.” Meta Knight spoke, beginning to make his way forward. 

“Un-fortunate.” Dark Meta Knight scoffed as he pressed a button on the device he wielded, and Bandana Dee’s device began to buzz as well.  

Suddenly, with a gale of wind Dark Meta Knight swooshed into the air and tossed his device as far as he could, the little thing reaching blinding speeds before Dark Meta Knight quicky grabbed both Bandana Dee and Shadow Kirby’s hands. 

Meta Knight gasped, “HANG ON A MOMENT-!” he cried, but it was too late, and with a blinding flash Bandana Waddle Dee saw the locale he was in disappear and quicky become a new one, what looked to be multiple platforms suspended midair. 

Bandana Dee could feel his head spinning, “What the heck just-” 

“Woah, bullseye, you were on target this time, Deta!” Shadow Kirby cheered, and Bandana Dee looked to his left, seeing a massive target with Dark Meta Knight’s cellular device bludgeoned in the middle.  

The room itself was more like a poorly put together medium-sized wooden box (around the size of Kirby’s House), with a single open doored room with a sign above that read ‘Shadow Kirby’s Room :D' in what looked to be crayon. 

Dark Meta Knight grabbed his phone from the bullseye point, “I’m always on target.” 

“Tell that to Kracko, pretty sure you’ve hit him like fifty times trying to do that.” Shadow Kirby laughed, turning towards Bandana Dee. “Well, welcome to our hangout, usually we don’t allow visitors, but anything to help a special case like yours and Em’s, y’know?” 

“Mine’s and--- AUGH!” Bandana Dee yelled as he felt his face being pulled forward, and soon after something came out of him, what looked to be a glowing bright prism, fluctuating between a yellow and orange hue. 

“Okay, we made, it, thank god, I can stop living in your head rent free for now.” the prism spoke. “Anyways, yes, it’s me, Emory, nice to meet you formally, Kirby’s Boyfriend.” 

Shadow Kirby let out a weird almost-choking noise, “Woah, you and Kirby are dating?!” 

“NO, I just sleep in his house sometimes is all!” Bandana Dee quickly corrected. “Okay and before we get into that nonsense, can any of you explain to me what the HECK is going on around here?!” 

“To keep it real with you, and no thanks to you being here, we have no idea.” Dark Meta Knight explained. “We thought we’d have Kirby here, not you, so we have to figure out how that happened.” 

Shadow Kirby interjected, “Yeah, you’re honestly lucky Em contacted us instead of just leaving you there and letting you get game ended.” 

Dark Meta Knight let out a slight cough, “...” 

“Did you just say game ended?” Bandana Waddle Dee asked once more. 

Shadow Kirby tilted his head, “Is there another word for it?”  

“Regardless,” Dark Meta Knight spoke, “You better thank Emory you’re even alive right now, as he said.” Dark Meta Knight said, pointing to Shadow Kirby. 

“Why’d you help her in the first place?” Bandana Dee questioned, “Aren’t you more the type to deny help to those in need?” 

“...” Dark Meta Knight turned away. 

Shadow Kirby responded, “We... only met two days ago, but birds of a feather tend to flock together, y’know?” he asked with a laugh, walking towards the open room. “Well, we’re not birds, but it’s a metaphor.” he muttered. “Regardless, I have an idea on how to help both of you out here, but we’ll have to go on a short road trip to get there, so we’ll do that tomorrow.” 

“Can’t we go now?” Bandana Dee asked, looking towards the distance. “Wouldn’t they find us here?” 

“No.” Shadow Kirby responded to both questions. “I’m tired, and as for why they won’t find us, at least for now, anyways, in order to-” 

“Don’t let him explain it, you’ll be here all day.” Dark Meta Knight said, walking up to Emory. “Anyways, follow me, I have a place for you two to sleep.” he said, beckoning Bandana Waddle Dee forward. “Don’t get the wrong idea, this is purely for Emory.” he added. 

“You don’t have to be rude to him,” Emory huffed, floating next to Dark Meta Knight as Bandee quickly caught up and followed him to a platform floating on a cloud. 

“Get in.” Dark Meta Knight said bluntly, pointing to what looked to be a shard of glass. 

“Uh... how?” 

Dark Meta Knight sneered, “Oh right, you’re not from here.” he sighed, “Just look at the shard until you’re in, you’ll KNOW when you’re in.” he said, picking it up and shoving it in front of Bandee’s face. The piece of glass warped, and Bandee could sort of see his face in the reflection... warping... 

… 

Huh. 

... 

He felt different, to say the very least, in that he could only see the sky above... and there was this vignette of black slowly encircling it... he felt... tired... almost.  

“Good night, Bandee, see you in the morning.”  

King Dedede woke up from his bed and saw he had overslept AGAIN. He grogged over to the mirror in his bedroom and taking a sip from a coffee one of his Waddle Dee’s made for him.  

… 

It needed sugar. 

Dedede looked over to a bell in his room, and went to reach for it to call over his number one servant, Bandana... 

“Oh, yeah....” Dedede bemoaned, pulling his hand away. Bandana Dee left at the start of the month. 

… 

For whatever reason the idea seemed to slip his mind that something like this could happen, that he could mess up so hard to make one of his... no, his best buddy just up and leave, but so was life, cruel and unjust. 

Dedede looked over to his nightstand where a picture of him and Bandana Dee pulling a prank on Meta Knight stood proud, Meta Knight covered in yogurt and flour looking like he was going to kill them, while Bandana Dee and Dedede took a selfie in the foreground. 

… 

No. 

No, something looked off. 

Dedede grabbed the picture and looked at it once more, focusing in on Bandana Dee. 

It... was very subtle, but it was almost like Bandana Dee in the image was changing... to some sort of black prism, flickering back and forth between the actual Waddle Dee he knew and the prism. Dedede didn’t know why, but... he got the feeling he should go check on him. 

On Bandana Dee... 

“Yeah, I’ll just pop over to Kirby’s house and-” 

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK  

There was a knock at his bedroom door, a loud and dreadful knock which didn’t sound like something a Waddle Dee could make. Dedede put on his coat and stashed the image of him and Bandana Dee in his coat pocket before clearing his throat. 

“Who is it?” Dedede asked, looking through the peephole. 

He couldn’t really... see anything, and nobody answered, but... for whatever strange reason it was almost like he could smell something burning. 

Chapter Text

It was a new day.

A new day for him to try to get back on his feet.

Eh, or not.

Truthfully, he was perfectly content doing what he'd been doing for the last past month or... so...

...

oh yeah, he was in a piece of glass

Well, actually, he wasn't in the glass anymore, and as he came into consciousness, he could see the morning sun shining in his eyes.

"Ugh... my head." was Bandee's first thought as he rubbed the top of his head. "Am I even awake...?"

Dark Meta Knight suddenly spoke, "Catch." he said as Bandana Dee looked to his right only to see the wooden handle of Adeleine's paintbrush collide with his face.

"OW!" Bandana Waddle Dee complained, and he picked himself up, looking around before he picked up the paintbrush. He looked towards Dark Meta Knight, who had his cloak wrapped around his body, looking a bit ticked off. "Good morning to you too."

"Took you long enough to get up," Dark Meta Knight complained. "Come on, we've got work to do." Dark Meta Knight spoke, turning around. "First matter of business in the morning is very important, you don't want to miss it."

Bandana Waddle Dee quickly hopped up and followed Dark Meta Knight, ready to get into the action of this story, whatever that may be. He would probably have to start planning out an assault on whoever Ecal was or stage an elaborate 8-step plan which involved careful coordination from everybody! Or even-

[===]

Shadow Kirby was making pancakes :D

…

He had never made them before, but a book Deta stole from somewhere and said that all he needed was a pancake mix, and then to just add water! So of course, doing what any legitimate chef would do, Shadow Kirby grabbed a jug of water and poured in the pancake mix Deta gave him, completing the 'Just Add Water' step in record time!

"Perfection!" Shadow Kirby announced to nobody in particular, going to sit in the corner of his room, waiting for the pancakes to form on the windowsill.

"So..." Their new friend Emory spoke from next to the chair, her prism of light bobbing up and down midair. "Do the panned cakes just... pop out after a few minutes?"

"I think they do, usually pancakes take a while to form, Deta tells me they're shy." Shadow Kirby responded with a smile. "He also tells me that um- oh wait you're not supposed to- NEVERMIND sorry!" Shadow Kirby profusely apologized.

"Right," Emory shrugged off, "Well, I suppose we just need to wait for the panned cakes to be finished, so what do you usually do in the meantime?"

"Usually after I make breakfast Deta tells me to play the 'Close your eyes and don't investigate any noises' game, so how about that?" Shadow Kirby asked. "All you have to do is well... well, do the title, and Deta will tell us when it's done!"

"Well... okay, strange game, but I'll give it a shot until he and Kirby's Boyfriend get over here." Emory spoke, and Shadow Kirby gave a count to three before closing his eyes!

"That's our cue." Dark Meta Knight spoke as Bandana Waddle Dee followed behind him with a hot plate of covered up something in his hand. Dark Meta Knight was holding the phone he had thrown to the target prior and was listening in on the conversation between Shadow Kirby and Emory.

"God, I hope that name doesn't stick around..." Bandana Dee muttered as he tapped the handle of the paintbrush on the cloudy surface below. He was following behind dark Meta Knight as the two approaching Shadow Kirby's locale, for a reason he wasn't exactly sure of.

"I think it should, fit's you well, Kirby's Boyfriend." Dark Meta Knight laughed. "Fits you VERY well."

"Well, if you say so... Deta." Bandana Dee responded back in an annoyed tone, and Dark Meta Knight paused before turning back to him, a pissed off look in his glowing eyes.

Dark Meta Knight glared, "Never call me that ever again."

"Never call me Kirby's Boyfriend." Bandana Dee suggested back.

Dark Meta Knight huffed, "Fine, Bandana Waddle Dee."

"Fine, Dark Meta Knight." Bandana Dee also huffed before a short pause ensued. "Nicknames aside, would you kindly explain what we're doing here with the plate?"

"Look, and all I need you to do is go to the window, place this plate on the counter next to the jug of water, then take the jug out of there without making noise." Dark Meta Knight explained, "Then we can begin the important shit."

Bandana Waddle Dee was about to protest and point out Dark Meta Knight didn't actually answer the question, but judging by the look on his brand-new Allies face, or what little he could see of it, it was probably he wouldn't be getting anywhere anytime soon by doing that.

"Alright." Bandana Dee sighed, taking the plate from Dark Meta Knight's hands and handing him the paintbrush, which Dark Meta Knight promptly responded by dropping on the ground. Bandana Dee inwardly sighed and made his way towards the side of Shadow Kirby's little hurt, where a misshapen window, low enough to where he could probably climb inside, lay.

He could see Shadow Kirby in the corner with his eyes closed, seeming to hum something to himself while Emory also stood there, floating vicariously.

He turned his attention back to the window in question, he could see a jug of what looked like wads of a thick material swirling around, desperately trying to cling onto the fact that the jug, which was filled almost to the top, was dragging them down and overpowering them, not allowing any real movement.

…

Just stuck in one place, really, not able to go anywhere else on their own volition.

…

"OW!" Bandana Dee yelled as a large object hit the side of his head, nearly knocking him and the plate over.

"Hurry up!" Dark Meta Knight yelled in a whispery manner, and Bandana Dee saw the paintbrush once more at his side.

Bandana Dee took the advice, and after placing the plate down, he hoisted up the jug of water from the window, and placed it slightly away from the window, so it wasn't visible, placing the plate on the windowsill soon after.

Dark Meta Knight then walked over and took a look at the jug of water and inconspicuous mixings, picking it up. Bandana Dee scratched his head, "What was 'this' even supposed to-"

Shadow Kirby's voice then cut through the still atmosphere, "IT WORKED, Em, look, look!" he yelled, and as he said that Bandana Dee felt his body being lunged forward at high velocity as Dark Meta Knight pulled him around the corner and to the front of Shadow Kirby's little bedroom.

"If you say anything about what just happened to him, I will throw you out the window." Dark Meta Knight quickly threatened before clearing his throat. "Alright..." Dark Meta Knight held out both of his hands in front of himself. "Deep breaths, and..."

[===]

"Wow!" Shadow Kirby spoke as he took off the cover of the plate and revealed the perfectly cooked, expertly made pancakes. "I should become a professional chef."

"Odd, I'm not sure of how life works on this planet, but these Panned Cakes being formed in a rather strange way." Emory spoke. "Do they usually scream out in pain?"

"Depends on the weather." Shadow Kirby spoke. "Sometimes they scream in pain, sometimes they also curse a lot and say words I'm not allowed to say, like 'You stupid fu-"

"Catch!" Deta's voice said, and Shadow Kirby turned around and braced for impact as Deta's phone got sent flying full force towards him and his pancakes. Shadow Kirby of course caught the phone, and did a quick flip midair.

"Return to sender!" Shadow Kirby yelled, back throwing the phone at Deta who dodged out of the way and allowed it to fly almost out the door, but luckily it caught itself on something.

...

Oh, it was Bandee. "OH, COME ON!" Bandee yelled, picking himself back up as he walked in as well, holding the paintbrush that strange Artist girl from yesterday had. "Morning..."

"Hello, Kirby's Boyfriend!" Emory spoke, and Bandee let out another groan, this one seeming more agonizing than the last. "And hello to you as well, Dark Meta Knight."

"Likewise." Deta said with a wave. "Now, we've got a bit day ahead of us, Emory, get over here so we can explain out plan to this loser." Deta beckoned, motioning to Bandee. "You can stay over there and eat, we'll handle this."

"Nah, it's cool, I can multi-task." Shadow Kirby said, giving a shrug as she shoveled the plate of pancakes into his mouth. "Youf guyssf continfue!" he said with a full mouth.

Emory then spoke, "Right, well-"

[===]

"-listen up, Kirby's Boyfriend!" Emory said to Bandana Dee as he turned his attention towards her. "Um, sorry for yelling yesterday, also."

"It's fine." Bandana Dee assured, "Better than throwing things at me haphazardly, at least." he added, rubbing the side of his head.

"Right, well, first things first we have to go to space!" Emory inquired, "You see in space there's this... spaceship, and on that spaceship is... a safe place to plan out our stuff!"

"We're not safe here?"

Dark Meta Knight confirmed it, "Nope not during the day anyway," he explained, "In fact, we'll probably be dead in around an hour if we stick around here, so the earlier we go the better."

"I guess Meta Knight does have the Halberd." Bandee nodded, "Wait if that's the case then why'd you make me go all the way out there and put the panca-"

"ANYWAYS!" Dark Meta Knight interrupted. "The ship is in orbit around Popstar, we'll take the Kid's Warpstar to enter orbit then scout which direction it's in before heading there."

"We should be able to find the information we need about what Ecal is doing, along with having a safe place away from Popstar in case anything happens." Emory explained. "I'll tell you more along the way, Kirby's Boyfriend."

"You know, I have a name." Bandana Dee added, and there was an awkward pause. "Bandana Waddle Dee."

"Meh, I like Kirby's Boyfriend way better, way more interesting than Bandana Waddle Dee." Emory decided, and before Bandana Waddle Dee could huff about it, he was interrupted.

"I like it, but I'll just call you Bandee!" Shadow Kirby decided through a full mouth, and Bandana Waddle Dee let out a laugh. It really took him back, a good few years after the Megaton Punch contest when Magolor's ship had crash landed...

(----)

"Really, you're coming along, Dedede?" Meta Knight asked the king, the knight wrapped in his own cape as he walked along the countryside. "For what purpose?"

Dedede looked dead ahead and spoke, "Kirby owes me a slice of cake and I ain't stopping until he gives me one."

"AND ALSO-" Waddle Dee shot in. "Also, because the King is doing this to help that Magolor guy, since the King is such a great person!" he spoke, and Meta Knight and Kirby looked at him in a weird way.

"Who's this chump?" Meta Knight asked, and Dedede quickly responded.

Dedede chuckled then crossed his arms as he jeered at Meta Knight. "That Chump is my number one guardsman; I'll have you know!"

"What's his name?" Kirby asked, a wide smile on his face.

"Yeah, what's his name, your highness?" Meta Knight asked in a snively tone, walking up to Waddle Dee who tried his best not to waver at those glowing yellow eyes. "Surely if he's oh-so important it's not just Waddle Dee, right?"

"Oh, it's uh..." Dedede scratched his head for a moment, then looked around the scene. He looked at Waddle Dee's headgear. "Bandana..." Dedede looked around once more, finding something he hadn't notice before, a Waddle Dee! "Waddle..." he took his final look around, and CRAZILY ENOUGH found something else which gave him the perfect name, a WADDLE DEE! "DEE!" he spoke. "Bandana...Waddle Dee, yep, that's his name!"

"Yep, what he said!" Waddle... no, BANDANA Waddle Dee confirmed, holding his spear up. "Bandana Waddle Dee, at your service!"

"Bandee!" Kirby spoke, jumping slightly in the air. "I like that name, it's really cool-and and- and it's like not that creative- but it fits him because he- because he- he- he has a bandana and- and he's a Waddle Dee!"

"Yes, I'm sure you thought long and hard about that one." Meta Knight muttered, walking ahead of the group. "Alright, regardless of all that nonsense, based on proximity to the closest part of Magolor's ship, our first stop should be..."

(----)

"Cookie Country..." Bandee muttered to himself, quickly snapping out of the trance he put himself in.

"Why would we go there?" Dark Meta Knight asked, shaking his head. "That's prime enemy territory, way too dangerous."

"Sorry, just... thinking about stuff." Bandee shook off. "Anyways, we should be heading out, right?"

"Certainly, Kid, call your Warpstar." Dark Meta Knight commanded, and Shadow Kirby pulled out a similar device that Dark Meta Knight had before, though this one had a star shaped antennae sticking out from the top.

"Hey... Warpstar, how you doing?" Shadow Kirby asked into the phone, even though he hadn't pressed any buttons. "Hey, I was wonder- oh, wait, you want to talk to Deta?"

Dark Meta Knight grumbled "Come on..."

"Oh, sorry, Deta is being too grumpy right now, just tell me the message and I'll relay it to him." Shadow Kirby spoke, taking a pause as he nodded his head multiple times, a jovial smile on his face. "Uh huh... really?" Shadow Kirby pondered. "Alright, well Deta, Warp Star wants you to promise that you'll be there next time I cook something for breakfast!"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there, ALRIGHT!?" Dark Meta Knight yelled, and Shadow Kirby giggled. "Okay, come on out Warpstar!"

The sound of stars sparkling got louder, and from the sky in an almost heavenly beam of light came down a yellow rotating star which shone brightly in the morning light. Shadow Kirby hopped on, and Dark Meta Knight quickly followed.

"I'll be with you," Emory spoke, phasing into Bandana Waddle Dee, and to be honest it still felt a bit weird, though in the opposite direction as it was almost like his skin caving in to make room, only to go back to normal a few moments later. "Alright, let's go!"

"Gimme a warning next time..." Bandana Dee thought to himself, hopping on the bottom left of the Warpstar. "Alright, how long is this trip gonna tAA—A—A—a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-k-k-k-k-e-!" he screeched as the Warp Star moved at full velocity upwards, towards the space above Planet Popstar!

DING!

"So glad to see you all could make it." Meta Knight spoke to his guests as they all filled the common room of the Halberd. Kirby, Adeleine, and Ecal were all there, Ecal representing Dedede who was probably too lazy to show up. "Now, we've got a pressing matter on hand."

Meta Knight pressed a button on a remote control he was holding, and a picture of that bandana wearing Waddle Dee showed up, it was blurry as it was taken via Meta Knight's body cam, but they all knew who was pictured.

"Can't believe that jerk stole my paintbrush..." Adeleine muttered, crossing her arms, her face a slight shade of red.

"It's okay- I think- I think he's just borrowing it- cause- cause he didn't seem like a bad guy- I mean Ecal dind- didn't tell us why he's here, right Ecal?" Kirby asked their good friend, and Ecal didn't say a word. "...Ecal?"

"We Should Focus." Ecal spoke in his usual soft tone as he floated from the couch and towards the screen. "This Creature Is Harboring Emory, Who We Need To Complete Our Wishes."

"Yeah, we know that." Adeleine confirmed, scratching her head. "And to get our wish from the Memory Stones we need to find Emory, yadda yadda." she said, standing up. "But I REALLY need my brush back if we're going to do any of that."

"We Will." Ecal assured. "Bandana Waddle Dee Will Fall Soon, And With Him, Emory."

"Bandana Waddle Dee?" Meta Knight repeated. "Is that what we're calling him?"

"Bandee!" Kirby spoke with a huge smile on his face. "I like that name, it fits him!"

"Yeah, come to think of it it kind of sounds... familiar?" Meta Knight spoke, scratching his head. "Wait..."

"...need to be more careful with my wording." Ecal muttered.

"What are you talking about?" Meta Knight asked, walking up to Ecal. "Come to think of it, something about this whole situation seems off.

"Disregard." Ecal spoke, and Meta Knight gasped. Knowing what this was, he quickly reached for his swor-

"So glad to see you all could make it." Meta Knight spoke to his guests as they all filled the common room of the Halberd. Kirby, Adeleine, and Ecal were all there, Ecal representing Dedede who was probably too lazy to show up. Meta Knight looked towards his hand, which was oddly near his sword's hilt. "Odd," he muttered with a shrug. "No matter, we've got a pressing matter on hand."

Meta Knight was about to press a button on a remote control to show what he was referring to, but the image was already on screen. It was blurry as it was taken via Meta Knight's body cam, but they all knew who he was either way. He probably pressed the button by accident.

"Can't believe that jerk stole my paintbrush..." Adeleine muttered, crossing her arms, her face a slight shade of red.

"It's okay- I think- I think he's just borrowing it- cause- cause he didn't seem like a bad guy- I mean Ecal dind- didn't tell us why he's here, right Ecal?" Kirby asked their good friend, and Ecal didn't say a word. "...Ecal?"

"We Should Focus." Ecal spoke in his usual soft tone as floated in front of Meta Knight. "This Creature Is Harboring Emory, Who We Need To Complete Our Wishes."

"Yeah, we know that." Adeleine confirmed, scratching her head. "And to get our wish from the Memory Stones we need to find Emory, yadda yadda." she said, tapping her foot. "But I REALLY need my brush back if we're going to do any of that."

"We Will." Ecal assured. "He Will Fall Soon, And With Him, Emory."

"Fall..." Meta Knight muttered. "Why does that sound familiar?"

Adeline tilted her head, then suddenly looked towards Meta Knight with a shocked expression, "You think it's because of Skyf-"

"Disregard."

Chapter Text

The word tents is typically used to describe a camping getup, or what you’re stuffed in when your kidnappers ask for ransom in the midst of a massive forest. But it will be much more in this story. You may notice the connection between tents and tense, but be known that tents with be very important in the chapter as well as feeling tense. Maybe the tents are the tense parts of the story? Or perhaps you might find in the midst of all this chaos Bandana Dee decides to go camping (he won’t). I guess we’ll see in around 10 chapters or so.  

…  

No...  

There are no tents in this chapter?  

Hm.  

“You guys ever been to space?” Bandana Dee asked as they approached the upper atmosphere. “You don’t need to breath or anything, just so y-” Bandana Dee was interrupted by some object flying past them at high velocity, seemed to be screaming something about TEYZZ-LA or something, but as quick as it appeared it was gone, and Dark Meta Knight responded.  

“Of COURSE, I’ve been to space.” Dark Meta Knight spoke in a haughty manner. “We’ve all been to space at one point or another.”  

“Yeah, I think we fought Dark Mind in space way back then, unless that was just some weird vortex dimension.” Shadow Kirby said with a shrug. “What about you Emory?”  

“...yeah.” Emory spoke before clearing her throat (or just mimicking that noise). “ A few times, arguably.”  

“What do you mean arguably?” Bandana Dee wondered. “Was it like half in space, half on your home planet?”  

Emory let out a weird groan, “Well, I guess it’s more like... I might have been, but I’m not sure.” she spoke in a strange tone. “Generally, I didn’t really get out much before I got here.”  

“Well, where’d you come from?” Bandana Dee questioned and was met with silence from her and the other two. “I mean, you don’t have to answer, just figure I’d ask.”  

Dark Meta Knight grumbled, despite not being able to hear Emory, he seemed generally aware of the conversation.  “Sometimes it’s better to keep your mouth shut.”  

“Wow, like that doesn’t make me want to ask even more questions.” Bandana Dee said with a sigh as the warpstar began to break out of Popstar’s atmosphere. “Whatever, let’s just focus on the now, we’re just gonna hang out on the spaceship?”  

“Well, there’s a bit more to it than just that, mate.” Emory said with a careful tone. “There are very important drives on that ship that will be crucial to our plan.”  

“Which is?”  

“To shatter that black prism, duh.” Dark Meta Knight reminded him. “Or just kick his ass.”  

“Right, Ecal was his name, right?” Bandana Dee said, and he got a nod from Dak Meta Knight. “Yeah, come to think of it, uh...” Bandana Dee was about to mention Emory, but he decided not to to keep the situation friendly. It was obvious there was SOME connection, and while he hadn’t seen Ecal, him being a black prism and basically the opposite of Emory look wise didn’t paint that dim of a picture, though Bandee couldn’t really be sure.  

“Once we get there, be aware that there might be some... hostiles on board, but you have that paintbrush of yours.” Dark Meta Knight reminded Bandee as he watched the odd infinite paint splotch on the end of the brush flutter in the wind behind him.  

It was honestly easy to forget, he had NO IDEA how Adeline constantly kept it by her side when he’d probably forget it every day. It just wasn’t as memorable as a spear, a spear has dexterity, a spear has a point, and his spear?!  

Oh yeah, it belonged to Dedede.  

Ugh.  

Just mentioning that guy left a bad taste in his mouth, moreso than usual now as his spear was one of his most prized possessions. He didn’t need a spear though, he could do perfectly fine on his own, and that’s exactly what he’s been doing for a WHILE now!  

Emory quietly interjected into his thoughts. “So, this Dedede fellow...”  

Bandanna Dee groaned, “Don’t mention him.”  

“Don’t mention who?” Shadow Kirby asked.  

“Don’t worry about it.” Bandanna Dee responded. “ He’s not important.”  

“Oh, are you and Kirby going through a breakup arc?!” Shadow Kirby asked as space debris twinkled past the warpstar. “You guys are gonna make up in the third act and come together to defeat the bad guy, right?”  

“NO, not Kirby, De-” Bandanna Dee stopped himself. “Nobody.”  

Dark Meta Knight picked up on what he cut off, “He’s clearly talking about that idiot, Dedede.” he noted. “I think he worked for him at some point based on what I’ve heard from the shadows.”  

Bandana Dee couldn’t help but chuckle, “The shadows?” he wondered. “Is that your boyband?”  

“Sometimes Deta sneaks around into dark closets and listens to gossip in his free time!” Shadow Kirby announced. “Like the other week he found out that there was this weird building that appeared in the forest with an M on it, but when he went to check it out, it was empty besides some rocks.”  

Dark Meta Knight sighed, “Regardless,” he said. “Dedede.”  

“Isn’t that the same guy who beat you back into Mirror Purgatory?” Shadow Kirby asked. “Shame he doesn’t have a cool Mirror World counterpart that’s alive, would really complete our trio.”  

“You mean group of four?” Bandana Dee corrected.   

“No, trio.” Shadow Kirby confirmed, shaking his head back and forth. “I mean, there’s Kirby, Meta Knight, and Dedede.”  

Bandanna Dee piped in once more, “I’m a part of the trio- I mean, group as well.”  

“How come I’ve never heard of you, then?” Dark Meta Knight pondered a bit too loudly.   

“I came around a few years after you were defeated to be a part of the main group, so that’s probably why.” Bandanna Dee inquired. “Still, kinda weird there isn’t a Shadow Bandanna Dee.”  

“Well, you’d have to look into the Amazing Mirror first for one to show up, but Dedede shattered it, so that’s not happening anytime soon.” Dark Meta Knight said, sounding a bit dejected. “Unless someone finds all the pieces, but that’s like looking for a sand grain in a sea of rice.”  

“Huh?” Bandanna Dee said, turning towards Dark Meta Knight.   

“What?” he asked back, narrowing his eyes. “Am I not allowed to make metaphors?”  

The warpstar then stopped, and Shadow Kirby made an announcement, “We’re here!”  

They were in front of a large, impressive ship that certainly looked to be important. The ship had the letters ‘P.C.A’ written on them in bright white, it was a rather compact ship all things considered, essentially a box floating around orbit in Popstar, seemingly no way in or out.  

Bandanna Dee looked around for any entrances, “How are we-”  

“DIVEBOMB!” Shadow Kirby yelled, smacking his warpstar into the side of the ship and breaking through a panel on the wall which led into an interior. Multiple objects were sucked out and into space! Dark Meta Knight hung onto a light fixture, while Bandana Dee held onto his legs with one hand as the paintbrush almost got sucked into the void behind him. Thankfully, the ship seemed to enter some sort of repair mode, and the hole was patched with some sort of nanotech, closing the vacuum.  

Bandana Dee hit the floor with a thud, and picked himself up, his face feeling sore as heck from the impact.  “Owwwww...” he complained. “You co—”  

“WARN US NEXT TIME!” Dark Meta Knight finished for him, jumping off the ceiling fan he was hanging on and landing with a CLANK on the metallic floor. “That was cool though.”  

“Coolness over safety,” Shadow Kirby shrugged, and they noticed he was still on the warpstar. He hopped off, and the warpstar flew into the corner. “We’ll be back!” he told it.  

Emory shot herself out of Bandee. “And here we are...” she said to herself. “I guess I should welcome you all to the P.C.A common room,” Emory spoke as they overlooked a dark room with was rather nicely furnished, a chair and table that were matted out with high quality fur sat slightly displaced in the center.  

“What’s that stand for, P.C.A?” Bandee wondered, and Emory was quick on the uptake, or perhaps the denial.  

“I don’t know.” she spoke quickly. “This just feels common room-y., and the letters outside said P.C.A so I put two and two together.”  

…  

Everyone silently nodded, and walked out of the room into a strange hallway. It was a grey floor with dark squares seemingly placed in random spots on the tile. The walls made the hallway seem more like a tunnel than anything, and they looked left and right, each direction stretching on and turning towards the same direction.  

“Anyone else getting some weird déjà vu for some reason?” Shadow Kirby wondered. “Feels home-y.”  

“Sort of, yeah,” Dark Meta Knight said, peering ahead and noting on the wall there was some sort of panel. The group walked up to it, and on the panel was a map, though it was on a faded cracked screen which read, ‘H__ _AS_ 9’ in the top right. The words ‘You are Here’ showed in the bottom left in a hallway which was connected to the rest of the ship, which consisted of nine rooms.  

There was the C__m_n Ro_m which they were just in, so Common Room, but the others were listed and practically unintelligible... except one.  

*__T_H_N 

*H___N ST_____ 

*L__ _01 

*M_E__N_ _O__ 

*E_C_PE PO_S 

*B__R___S 

*C__T__L R_OM 

*RESTRICTED AREA! 

“We can head to the meeting room and go over out bearings there.” Emory spoke, floating to a turn right down the cavernous hallway. “We also should find a few important resources,” she spoke, and the three followed behind her. “One more thing,” she said, taking a deep breath.  

Dark Meta Knight piped up, “Yeah?”  

“DO NOT GO ANYWHERE ELSE YOU DONT KNOW!” Emory commanded in a rather harsh tone. “Unless prompted by me, do NOT go anywhere other than the Meeting Room and Common Room, UNDERSTAND?!”  

“Yeah, sheesh.” Dark Meta Knight said, clearly not taking her seriously. “Who pissed in your cereal?”  

Emory floated closer to Dark Meta Knight. “Look.” she said in a low tone. “This is not something to joke about, this place is dangerous.”  

“...” Dark Meta Knight looked over to Bandee like he was supposed to do something, and Bandana Dee just took a look away, feeling the tension raise to insane levels. “Alright,” Dark Meta Knight grumbled. “Me and the Kid are going to go check the Common Room for a moment.”  

“Bye Em, bye Bandee!” Shadow Kirby said, running headfirst down the hallway back towards the Common Room, and after a strange glance from Dark Meta Knight, he followed suit as metallic CLANKS against the floor faded off into the distance.  

…  

“I’m sorry, Kirby’s Boyfriend.” Emory said in a low tone. “Also, sorry about earlier, mentioning that Dedede fellow.”  

“It’s alright,” Bandana Dee said, ignoring the nickname and turning towards the prism. “Just bad memories.”  

“Yeah, I know a thing or two about that.” Emory confirmed, turning towards the map. “Things out of your control that just sort of spiral up and up, until it’s a burning inferno, and all you can do is watch.”  

Bandana Dee felt the metaphor and nodded. “Yep, but that’s just life, isn’t it?” he asked, and Emory didn’t respond. “Well, I guess I don’t know how old you are, but life goes on even after adversity, and no matter what you just have to sort of keep going...”  

“Keep going?” Emory questioned, floating close to Bandee’s face. “Where do you go after something like that!?” she asked, seeming ever-so-slightly offended.  

“I mean you have to accept that things suck and just continue on with life.” Bandee explained. “You can’t dwell on the past forever, even if thinking about it annoys you, you don’t get anywhere by moping.”  

“But you were just sleeping in Kirby’s house for the last past month, how is that getting past your stuff?” Emory questioned.  

“It’s getting away from the main problem that I had and doing something else with my life,” he explained. “And I was getting to the process of getting out of Kirby’s house... totally.”  

“What was the problem anyway?” Emory wondered, and Bandee looked away.  

He shrugged, “Doesn’t matter, point still stands.” he said, turning and looking down the hall. “Now, where’s the Meeting Room!?”  

“Deta, are you okay?” Shadow Kirby asked, and Dark Meta Knight sat on the chair in the middle of the P.C.A Common Room. “You seem tense.”  

Dark Meta Knight shook his head as he closed his eyes, “Let’s just focus, those two should be busy.”  

Shadow Kirby nodded, “Right,” he said again, and there was a long pause before continuing. “The plan.”  

But when Dark Meta Knight opened his eyes to remind Shadow Kirby, he wasn’t in the Common Room anymore. He was in a small metallic corridor, maybe small enough to constitute as a vent, an incredibly shiny metal showing a reflection shimmering as his glowing orange eyes stared blankly through his slashed and scratched silver mask.  

Then, he saw something else in the reflection.

“WELCOME B’MARK.”  

A glitchy robotic voice said as it echoed through the strangely barren halls of the Meeting Room, a room which seemed to consist of nothing but a single black chair overlooking some sort of window, but other than that the room was nothing but a barren set of white tiles stretching onto the floors and ceilings.  

“That doesn’t sound like a name...” Bandana Dee muttered, Emory floating to the center as he spoke. He got a strange chill sensation, like he was being tested for something he wasn’t aware of, quietly waving the paintbrush he had midair.  

“Probably just a glitch in the system.” Emory responded softly. “Look around, there should be a button or something around here somewhere.”  

Bandana Dee hopped over to the chair to see if there was anything on it, but oddly found a piece of paper with a note written on it in a strange language he didn’t quite understand.  

 A mixture of familiar yet foreign squiggles and symbols, some repeating in a pattern of strangeness that all seemed like a moving jumbled mess of worms crawling onto a blank sheet in attempts to make a fraction of an utterly inconsolable message.  

“Okay...?” Bandana Dee wondered aloud. “Hey Emory, I found this-” Bandana Dee turned around hoping to find Emory, but instead found... nothing. The room seemed darker, somehow, like the bright white lighting from the surroundings began to fade.  

“Sis?” a childish muffled voice that wasn’t his asked. “Sis, are you coming to bed?”  

“Yeah, just a minute!” another distant voice replied.  

The shy voice continued, “You’re not supposed to be out at night, they will-”  

“The Security Guy wont know, he never checks the camera feed, plus he’s gonna be off on that planet soon anyways, so who cares?” the voice pondered. “Come on, nobody will tell, Maddie is too scared to even talk to us, her mother is too busy looking at herself in the mirror and it’s not like the Chief even comes around this part of the ship often!”  

“I guess...” the shy voice muttered. “What did you want to show me anyways?”  

“The thingy!” the girl voice responded. “In the Director’s Office!” she said, and Bandana Dee turned around to see the door to the room slide open, though instead of a child he found Dark Meta Knight barreling into the room like a rampaging beast and OH MY G-  

-OD DAMN IT he just ran into somebody! Dark Meta Knight fell directly on top of whoever this was, and for a moment was about to beat the crap out of this guy before he realized it was Waddle Dee. “Oh.”  

“Geez, were you late to the edge lord club or something?” Bandana Dee asked as Dark Meta Knight picked himself up, still clinging onto the painrbrush. “Also, OWWWW!” he said, rubbing his head.

“Something was chasing me, through the vent, back-” Dark Meta Knight turned around and pointed towards the open door, but instead of seeing the reflective metallic surfaces that he was just sprinting down, he saw a typical hallway with nothing out of the ordinary. “What the hell?”  

Badana Dee grumbled, “You doing okay?” he wondered.  

“Shut up.” Dark Meta Knight responded before clearing his throat. “Look, I know what I saw, one moment I was in that Common Room, the next moment I’m going through a vent, and then I end up in here!”  

“Hey, calm down,” Bandana Dee suggested which made Dark Meta Knight want to clock him in the face. He then spoke, “Emory did also kind of disappear, and I think I heard some weird voices coming from the door before you busted in.”  

“What did they say?” Dark Meta Knight asked, genuinely perplexed.  

“Something about a Directors Office, kinda sounded like two kids in all honesty.” he muttered. “Though they couldn’t have been here, could they?”  

“I hope not, would hate to have to babysit.”  

“Don’t you do that with Shadow Kirby?” Bandana Dee wondered.

“Shut up.” Dark Meta Knight snarked back. “Regardless, we need to find Emory and the kid and make sure they’re alright.”  

“We’re fine!” a childish female voice spoke, which made Dark Meta Knight jump and slash his sword in its general direction.  

“What’s wrong?” Bandana Dee asked.  

“You didn’t hear that?” Dark Meta Knight pondered. “The female kid voice like you just described?!”  

“Not... just now, no.” Bandana Dee responded taking another glance around.   

“Poor sheep, blind to the wolves guiding them, hm?” the female voice asked, and Dark Meta Knight circled around, pointing his sword at the air as his eyes darted back and forth, a loud beep beginning to fill his ears.   

Then, the door opened-!?  

“HUH!?!” Bandana Dee pondered.
“HOLYCRAP!” Shadow Kirby exhaled.
“AUGH!” Dark Meta Knight yelled, nearly falling over from his chair.

“Took you lot long enough.” Emory sighed as Bandana Dee felt his eyes attempting to close. He felt incredibly tired, and looked over to see that they were all in the Meeting Room though it looked far different than the bland room that he saw when he entered.   

The walls were sleek, with black panels extending down the middle which had a bunch of data he didn’t know the source of, a nice wooden floor. The lights were bright, and there were multiple computing devices which were plugged into a screen Emory hovered in front of.  

Emory cleared her throat, “I’ve brought you all here for a special reason.” Meta Knight said with a PowerPoint ready on screen. “As you all know, we have Ecal as a rather big issue.”   

The screen went to the next slide labeled ‘The big reveal?’ in red text.”   

“Deta, what do you think it is?” Shadow Kirby asked.  

“Why are you asking me?” Dark Meta Knight shrugged. “Could be Santa Claus for all we know.”  

“Who the heck is Santa Claus?” Bandana Dee asked, and instead of answering the two seemed confused as well.  

“Can we focus?” Emory pondered. “This is important!” she spoke before continuing, and the powerpoint behind her seemed to shut off rapidly. “Ecal is very powerful, a creature with the ability to replace memories with naught but a word.”  

“Supposedly...” Dark Meta Knight muttered, and Bandee turned towards him for a second to find he was looking away.  

“It’s apparent he did this to your friends, Kirby’s Boyfriend, and I know- I believe I know the purpose.” she spoke, and then took a brief pause. “Are you all aware of Mind Shards?”  

“Mind Shards?” Shadow Kirby pondered.  

“Well, your... your soul is made up of multiple shards, fragments, Heart Shards, Dream Shards, Mind Shards, and a few others we don’t have names for.” she noted. “Mind shards contain... well, memories, events that happen in your life and make up who you are.”  

“So, he’s somehow accessing mind shards and changing them?” Bandee asked, and Emory confirmed as much.  

“Something like that, though it’s more like a sort of corruption, he can’t delete memories, but he can corrupt them to the point where if whoever affected tries to think of them nothing comes up.” Emory explained. “He must’ve done that to your friends.”  

“Well, how do we stop him?” Bandana Dee wondered.  

“We need to un-corrupt the Mind Shards of your friends, so we’ll have to go into their heads and break the corruption, of course.” Emory explained, like that was an utterly normal sentence. “We go into their SOUL, then-”  

“Hang on-”  

“Let me finish-” Emory pleaded, but Dark Meta Knight wasn’t so sure.   

Dark Meta Knight shook his head, “Nononono, how the hell do you expect us to sneak into-”  

“LOOK.” Emory shouted. “I would’ve explained better I you let me speak, but clearly you’re enough of an INCESSANT TWIT THAT I HAVE TO YELL!” she said, and that shut him up as Shadow Kirby and Bandana Dee exchanged glances. “Those weird experiences you all just had, that was you entering a fractured SOUL.”  

“HUH?!” the trio all said at the same time.  

Shadow Kirby seemed shocked, “That was-”  

“YES.” Emory confirmed, and Shadow Kirby cowered back a bit. “With my help, I can allow you to enter the SOUL of any person, so long as they’re not too mentally active, would be dangerous otherwise.” she explained. “So, in conclusion we need to find your friends, one-by-one, and enter their SOUL to destroy the corruption, GOT IT?!”  

“Yes, sheesh.” Dark Meta Knight muttered. “Women, am I right?” he whispered to Bandee who just gave him an annoyed look. “Whatever.”  

“Now, onto more important matters, since you know them, who’s the weakest link of your group?”  

Bandana Dee was about to say Dedede, but he had no clue if he was even corrupted, not that he would care much even if he was. “Adeleine.”  

“Well, then that’s out first target, where can we find her do you think?” Emory pondered.  

“Dunno.” Bandana Dee responded quickly, looking away.  

…  

…  

“Oh.”  

…  

…  

“Yeah.” Bandna Dee said a bit awkwardly, looking to the side.  

…  

…  

Emory grumbled, “Any guesses?”  

“We didn’t really talk much.” Bandana Dee admitted. “I mean, not since the whole... thing with Ribbon, even when she was summoned by that Dream Rod, we just sorta... interacted, it was weird, I mean we’re friends, but we aren’t really friends to the extent where I would just know where she stays, y’know?”  

“We could always lure her out with that paintbrush you have, or use some ship tech to track It, maybe?” Dark Meta Knight noted, and Bandana Dee looked towards... the...  

…  

Well.  

Normally in these sorts of situations he would ponder what to do next, come up with a plan, set a trap, find a tent and go camping, or do anything else of the sort that could help him fix the corruption in his friend's minds, but instead, as the rest were silent, he just stared blankly at his empty hand in utter disbelief.  

The paintbrush was gone.  

...and that wasn’t even the worst of their troubles, as something listened in from just outside the door. But they couldn’t possibly know about that, could they?