It was a chilly Tuesday morning—5:30 AM to be exact—when Susie woke up, once again, in Magolor's bed. This time, however, she woke up before Magolor, and after glancing around the room, noticed that Magolor was fast asleep on the floor, utilizing his cape as a blanket. Seeing this made Susie feel somewhat guilty; he was sleeping on the floor solely for her to sleep comfortably! Rapidly, Susie got to her feet, and as gently as she could, picked up Magolor and placed him on his bed.
"You've done so much for me, and yet, I've done nothing for you..." solemnly whispered Susie, tucking Magolor into his bed sheets. "Today, I'm going to alter that!" Slightly grinning, she rushed out of the room, determined to find something to do for Magolor. As she walked into the Lor's main room, she immediately noticed the terrible condition of the Lor's control panel. To Susie's delight and discust, the control panel was grimy and dusty, looking as if it hadn't been cleaned in decades.
"This is perfect— I'll clean the Lor's control panel for Magolor!" silently exclaimed Susie, beginning to smile. Quickly, she got to work, enthusiastically wiping off the dust that had built up on the control panel. She hoped to finish cleaning before Magolor woke up, planning to pleasantly surprise him with the spotless control panel. She could imagine him beaming at her for this gesture, elated that she had done something out of the kindness of her heart for him. Then, she would finally have done enough to feel somewhat deserving of everything that Magolor had recently done for her.
After three whole hours of cleaning, the control panel was spotless. Wiping it down one last time, Susie deemed it ready to present to Magolor.
"I can't wait for Magolor to see this!" ecstatically stated Susie, beaming at the clean control panel. "Now all I have left to do is to wait until Magolor wakes up."
Half an hour later, Magolor woke up to the irritating, ear piercing sound of his morning 10:00 AM alarm. Lazily, he opened his eyes, immediately realizing that he was no longer was on the floor; instead, he was in his own bed, snuggly wrapped around numerous blankets. Glancing around the room, he noticed that Susie—whom he had originally placed in his bed—was gone. Worried by Susie's sudden disappearance, Magolor quickly got up, looking around the room.
"Where's Susie?" thought Magolor, walking out of his room at a fast pace. Intending to locate Susie before anything terrible could occur to her, Magolor began to enter each of the Lor's rooms. Finally, after thoroughly searching various rooms, Maglor found her in the room with the control panel.
"You're finally awake!" exclaimed Susie, energetically running up to Magolor. "The control panel was really dirty, so I cleaned it! What do you think?" Beaming, Susie gestured towards the Lor's control panel; in response, Magolor faked a smile, hiding the sudden worry he felt when Susie mentioned the control panel. The last time he utilized the Lor's control panel, there were notices about certain things which played a role in his villainous past. He feared that if Susie saw these notices, she would immediately realize that he was a villain and end their friendship. Now looking at Susie, Magolor, preparing himself to speak, forced a joyful expression on his face, not wanting Susie to think that he didn't appreciate her act of kindness.
"The control panel looks great Susie, but did you by any chance... test it?" calmly questioned Magolor, attempting to mask the dread and worry bottled up inside of him. Rapidly, Susie responded, her face reddened with embarrassment.
"No, I forgot to test it... I'll do that right now!" Before Magolor could protest, Susie activated the control panel. To Magolor's horror, pictures and information regarding Landia and the Master Crown appeared on the screen, along with a warning that the Lor had loss of all 120 of its energy spheres. Magolor stared at the screen in utter disbelief, trembling with fear at the information that had just been unleashed. Although he had always known that he couldn't contain his past forever, Magolor never imagined that it would find its way back to him so soon. Confused, Susie turned to Magolor, unsure of what the information on the screen meant.
"Magolor, the control panel works, but who is Landia, what is the Master Crown, and what are energy spheres?" Dejected, Magolor glanced at the control panel, then at floor. Sighing softly, he proceeded to then look up at Susie, his gaze meeting hers.
Magolor failed in keeping Susie away from his monstrous past, and now realized he had no other options: he had to tell her. Mentally preparing himself for the outcome of the truth, Magolor sighed heavily, then began to speak.
"Susie, let me explain everything. Years ago, I fought Landia in hopes of obtaining the limitless power of Master Crown, but lost. Despite my defeat, I managed to steal Landia's starcutter, the one we are standing in right now. Landia then attacked the Lor, causing it to crash and lose its main power source, energy spheres. That's when I met Kirby, King Dedede, Meta Knight, and Waddle Dee. Immediately after I crashed, they came to my aid, inspiring my foolish idea to take advantage of them and their kindness. First, I had them fix up my starcutter and obtain the energy spheres, which I knew I could never do myself. After the Lor was repaired, I had them beat Landia, which they did with ease. Then..." Magolor paused, unsure if he could continue speaking from the pain that these memories brought him. Composing himself, Magolor continued to speak, his vibrant yellow eyes beginning to tear up.
"...I betrayed them, snatching the Master Crown from Landia and announcing that I was going to take over the whole universe. Ultimately, Kirby and his friends defeated me and the Master Crown was demolished." Susie stared at Maglor in shock, seemingly unable to comprehend the words which he spoke.
"So, you were a... villain?"
"Y-yes, in the past I was a... a..." Magolor faltered, unable to bring himself to speak. He knew that as soon as he admitted to being a villain, Susie would abandon him, hating him for his past cruelty towards her friend Kirby. Reluctantly, a now saddened Magolor forced himself to say the word that he dreaded the most.
"...villain." As soon as he spoke the word, Magolor began to silently cry, tears dripping down his face. Due to what Kirby now referred to as "The Master Crown Incident," Magolor lost almost everything. His past villainy robbed him of his own reputation, no longer being able to talk to anyone without causing them to scream in fear. Until he met Susie, Magolor didn't have a single friend, and now, he knew that he would very soon have none.
Dark thoughts drifted through his mind as he looked up at the only thing that had brought him happiness in years: Susie. To Magolor's complete and utter shock, Susie slowly walked up to him, embracing Magolor and wiping away his tears.
"It must be a burden on you, being a former villain... I understand, since I was once a villain too."
"Really?" asked Magolor, unable to believe that someone like Susie was a former villain.
"Yeah..." stated Susie, now pulling away from the hug. "My father's company, Haltmann Works Corporation, invaded Planet Popstar, and when Kirby tried to stop our invasion, I attempted to destroy him. Determined to get rid of Kirby, I created various robots to defeat him, but none of the robots were able to do so. I even fought Kirby myself, but he also defeated me. Ultimately, I ended up joining Kirby's side, but everyone, including Kirby and his friends, continues treating me like I'm still a villain... it's honestly really frustrating."
"Is that why you are living here instead of one of Kirby's friend's houses?" asked Magolor, wiping tears from his face.
"I never thought about it like that, but maybe you're right," lamented Susie, now looking directly at Magolor. "I guess Kirby and his friends aren't very good at forgiving former villains..."
"They aren't," said Magolor, somewhat relieved that Susie had a similar experience. Yet, despite their similar experiences, Magolor still, deep down, felt uneasy. He felt that at any moment, Susie would leave him forever, unable to forgive him for his past villainy. As more dark thoughts clouded his mind, an unexpected question escaped his mouth.
"Susie, do you hate me for being a villain?" he asked, shocked at the words that he spoke. Embarrassed, Magolor felt his cheeks redden, becoming almost as crimson as a maxim tomato. Susie, somewhat shaken by the question as well, turned her attention towards Magolor, tilting her head in slight confusion.
"Of course not! I can't hate you for making mistakes in your past," stated Susie, fidgeting with her metal business suit. "What really matters is how you learn from those mistakes and use them to improve yourself. I think that we've both changed for the better, don't you think?"
Susie's question stumped Magolor: had he really changed for the better? Initially, he felt inclined to reply that he wan't any different, but after thinking deeply about it for a couple of seconds, realized that he had, in fact, changed. Magolor hadn't tricked Susie into fixing the Lor—although she did fix parts of it on her own free will—and didn't hold any grudges towards Kirby, King Dedede, Waddle Dee, Meta Knight, or Landia for defeating him. Additionally, Magolor was certainly not as power hungry as he used to be years before; in fact, he wasn't power hungry at all. After thinking about Susie's question over and over again in his mind, Magolor began to speak.
"I think you're right... I've changed quite a bit, and you probably have too. I would have never guessed that you were formerly a villain, since you're so amiable and kindhearted— qualities I would never attribute to a villain." Susie now began to smile at Magolor, her once gloomy face now expressing sudden elation.
"Aw, thanks Magolor!" exclaimed Susie, happily embracing Magolor. As they hugged, Magolor felt a weight lift off of his shoulders. Finally, he felt certain that Susie didn't hate him for being a villain; if anything, revealing his former villainous ways brought them closer together, since they both knew how difficult it was to erase the traces of their former villainy from their lives. Relieved, he smiled at Susie, content to finally have one seemingly permanent friend in his life.
Meanwhile, Kirby, along with his friends, began to set up their Maxim Juice stand, determined to earn enough money to purchase Chilly's house. While Kirby picked the maxim tomatoes—he refused to buy them since the stores overpriced them—King Dedede had his waddle dees bring a brand new selling stand he bought. As Bandana Waddle Dee admired the stand, Meta Knight swiftly put down the book he was reading.
"Are you sure this plan is going to work?" asked Meta Knight, still in doubt that they could earn enough money by just selling juice.
"Of course it'll work! It was my idea after all," firmly stated Bandana Waddle Dee, grinning at his friends. Enthusiastic, Waddle Dee pulled out a sign and taped it to the stand; the words "Kirby & Friends' Maxim Juice" were printed on it in bright red, bold letters.
"Perfect!" Waddle Dee exclaimed, admiring his sign. "What do you guys think?" Kirby beamed at Waddle Dee, nodding his head in approval.
"This is great! All that's left is to put on some music." At this remark, Meta Knight gave Kirby a confused look.
"Music? Why do we need music?" In response, Kirby grinned, pulling out some speakers.
"It'll attract customers! You'll see..." Meta Knight, still unable to comprehend the purpose of the music, shook his head in disapproval.
"If anything, the music will scare them." As he spoke, Kirby began to blast the first song on his playlist: King Dedede's Theme.
"Yeah! This is my jam!" exclaimed King Dedede, elatedly dancing to the music. "Kirby, your playlist is fire!"
"Thanks! I really do have the best taste in music," said Kirby, smiling as he finished setting up their stand. "On another note, I think we're all set now! We just have to wait for the customers to start coming."
As the music continued to play, customers began appearing at the stand. Quickly, the stand became rather popular; hundreds now waited in line to taste the maxim juice, drawn to the stand by Kirby's loud music.
"See, Meta Knight! I told you the music would attract a lot of people!" stated Kirby, gesturing towards the long line.
"The line is long, but did you pick enough maxim tomatoes for everyone? There are way more customers than we expected..."
"We'll be fine," said Kirby, glancing at the pile of maxim tomatoes behind their stand. "I'm one hundred percent sure we'll have enough for everyone!" Rapidly, as the four friends continued serving maxim tomato juice to their customers, the number of maxim tomatoes diminished. After two hours—to Kirby's shock—they only had five maxim tomatoes left.
"Kirby," said Bandana Waddle Dee, looking somewhat worried. "We only have five maxim tomatoes left, and there are still hundreds of customers in line... what do we do?"
"We could always close down the stand, but have we made enough money yet?" Overhearing Kirby's question, Meta Knight began to speak.
"We've made $5,000, but Chilly's house costs $200,000. We need forty times this amount if we ever want to afford Chilly's house..." As Meta Knight spoke, a silence spread across the four friends. They all knew it that would take a large amount of time and effort to achieve their goal of fundraising $200,000 for Susie's new home: time they didn't have and effort they refused to spend. Despite this, they knew they had to work quickly; Susie was currently staying at a dangerous place, and none of the four friends wanted anything terrible to happen to Susie before they could give her a permanent home.
Slowly, Bandana Waddle Dee looked up at his friends, a look of determination on his face. Subsequently, he picked up the maxim tomato basket, glancing at the ripe, red maxim tomatoes inside of it.
"Well, we need to pick more maxim tomatoes and to continue working to get enough money," stated Bandana Waddle Dee, breaking the silence.
"But it'll take days to raise enough money..." complained King Dedede, not wanting to work to obtain Susie's house. "Can't we just find a cheaper house or have Chilly give us his house for free?" Kirby shook his head from side to side in disapproval.
"First of all, there aren't any more houses being sold at the moment, and second of all, no house should ever be free! It might take days—which I honestly don't want to spend—to raise the money, but we can't just leave Susie on the Lor forever!"
"I guess you're right... no one deserves to be stuck with Magolor for that long," disappointedly said King Dedede. "I guess we really are going to have to continue selling maxim tomato juice." Waddle Dee smiled at King Dedede's statement, nodding his head in approval.
"Yeah! That's the spirit! Come on, let's pick more maxim tomatoes and sell more delicious maxim juice!" Allotting themselves one hour, the four friends temporarily abandoned the stand to pick more maxim tomatoes. As they all sauntered over to the maxim tomato bushes—except for Bandana Waddle Dee, who was running—Kirby's mind began to drift to Susie. It had now been two weeks since he last saw her, which deeply worried him. How was she doing? Had Magolor noticed her presence on his starcutter? If so, did Magolor do anything harmful to her?
Kirby quickly found himself bombarded with questions and fearful thoughts about Susie; in an attempt to suppress his worry, he began to dismiss these thoughts, reassuring himself that Susie was alright and that Magolor was still unconscious, like always. With these positive thoughts in mind, a tired Kirby began to pick more maxim tomatoes, hoping that his efforts would lead to Chilly's house soon becoming Susie's.
**Author's Note: I'm so sorry for not posting last Thursday like I was supposed to. I've been extremely busy with school lately and I completely forgot to post this chapter. Unfortunately, this is the last chapter I've written so far, so idk when I'll be able to continue writing and finish the next chapter, but I'll try to get the next chapter done as soon as possible so y'all can read it. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I'll hopefully be back soon with chapter 5! :)