Kirby and Tiff were walking down the street. Tiff had said earlier that she had a surprise for Kirby. He had spent the time trying to figure out what it could be. Kirby jumped around excitedly when she said that they were getting close. He was a bit disappointed when he saw that they were at some kind of tent.
There was a sign in front of it that Tiff had to read to him.
Kirby,
If you beat these challenges four...
I'll get you a cake, and maybe more...
If you do well, let us see...
Signed, Bandana Waddle Dee.
Kirby, excited to earn cake, ran in with no hesitation. Tiff walked away, sighing, "Well, guess I gotta go do that community service now."
=====
Dedede walked toward the tent, Escargoon in tow. The snail seemed frustrated. "Why are we going to watch that pink pipsqueak practice in a party tent?" He groaned.
The king turned to him, "Because I wanna see how he's improvin'" He looked up at his amulet, mounted onto his crown. "You gotta check for weaknesses, Zero. He handled the fire like nuttin', we gotta do better," he whispered, making sure Escargoon didn't hear.
Of course, your majesty, that fire thing was my bad.
"You bet it was," he whispered sharply, "Now, take note of anythin' he struggles with."
Yes, my liege.
They made it to the back door of the tent, where Sailor Waddle Dee greeted them.
"Good morning sirs," she said, bowing (that image made me laugh for some reason), "Would you like to watch the practice?"
"Yeah, we do!" Dedede proclaimed, "I wanna see how Kirbeh does at clobbarin' those there challenges!"
She nodded and showed them the way to the best seats in the tent. (Pillows on the ground). They both seemed uncomfortable, but sat down.
"It's about to start." Sailor Dee said, "Just to let you know."
King Dedede was excited, but Escargoon was scrolling through TweetyBurt.
=====
*Theme Song Plays*
=====
Kirby ran into the tent, looking around. He saw a series of gates and fences, with Bandana Dee standing on a wooden podium.
"Kirby!" He boomed, "Your first challenge is through that gate!"
He pointed at a gate with a spear, and a second later, it lit up with what appeared to be party lights. Kirby ran through it, being sure to close the gate afterwards like the kind boi he is.
Looking at what lay ahead of him, he saw a basketball hoop and a few balls sitting off to the side.
Bandana Dee suddenly shouted through a megaphone, "Challenge One: Precision! Land a ball in the hoop on the other side!"
Kirby grabbed a ball and started to run, but then he heard a whistle.
Bandana Dee shouted, "You can't cross that line!"
Kirby looked down to see that he was about to step over a red line. He took his ball and threw it at the hoop. It missed. He looked disappointed in himself.
Bandana Dee said, "You know you get three tries at each challenge, right?"
Kirby perked up and tried again, still missing. He got upset and just chucked the ball into a random direction. That direction happened to be the hoop. A bell rang, followed by a confetti cannon going off.
Bandana Dee pointed at the next gate. This time, there was a delay in the lights, but Kirby went through the gate, shutting it again. Before him was a tennis ball machine.
Bandana Dee shouted again, "Challenge Two, Endurance! Go one minute without falling into the pit behind you!"
Kirby looked back to see a pit filled with water. Just as he glanced back, he was hit with a bowling ball. It squished against him, but did push him back toward the pit. Kirby sensed the next one coming and jumped out of the way.
Now, Kirby was facing the machine, and was able to tell when the next one would hit. He struggled for a good ten seconds before getting an idea.
He opened his mouth and let the balls fly in. (Don't you dare take this out of context)
Bandana Dee stared, amazed at what he was looking at, "That's one way to defend yourself." He said, reaching for the bell. With a ring, it was official. Kirby had survived one minute of this deadly dodgeball game.
He ran through a gate, shutting it yet again. Bandana Dee pulled out his megaphone.
"Challenge Three!" He screamed, "Intelligence!"
Kirby looked beyond him and saw a screen and a tablet. A question appeared on the screen. Bandana Dee continued, "Tap the correct answer to three questions, and you pass!"
Unfortunately, Kirby can't read, so he just tapped a few random part of the tablet. Each one just happened to be a correct answer.
Bandana Dee shouted, "Oh, my Nova! He answered 2/5, 723-856, and 13 to the power of 5! He's a waddling genius!"
Kirby drooled on himself as the bell rang. Meanwhile, Dedede noticed something, "Ey, Zero!" He whispered.
Huh-What?
"I don't know bout this, Kirbeh seems pretty lucky."
Hmm? What's wrong?
"What if he guesses that you're on mah head?"
Come, now. You're amazing at keeping me a secret! He won't find out.
"I'm still scared..."
Hmm... if he's lucky, we need something that luck won't help him with.
"Like what?"
Hmm...
Zero's eye, peering from the royal crown, looked around. It was hard to find anything that wouldn't be affected by luck. Eventually, he got an idea, and summoned a dark matter from the castle.
Meanwhile, Kirby ran through the last gate, shutting it behind him. He saw Blade Knight hanging from a rope.
"Oi, help me! I'm all tied up!" He shouted.
There was a cackle in the background, followed by coughing. After that, a voice rang out.
"Ahh, Kirby!" An eye peered from the darkness. "You're strong, but no match for my..." Waddle Doo stepped out from the shadows, "BEAM ATTACK!"
Bandana Dee shouted, blowing an air horn as well, "Final Challenge! The simulation! Save Blade Knight from being dunked into the water!"
A trapdoor opened beneath Blade Knight, revealing a pit of water. Kirby looked around for something that he could use. After about ten seconds, he just tried to inhale Blade Knight out of the rope. The rope was too tight around him, but his sword flew into Kirby's mouth.
With a swallow, he became Sword Kirby. Waddle Doo got nervous and stepped back, but eventually did (and shouted), "Beam Attack". This caused a whip of electricity to be swung directly from his eyeball. Kirby dodged it and ran directly at Blade Knight.
Waddle Doo, enraged at his failure, began to charge up an attack. Kirby got up to Blade Knight, cut him down, and drifted him toward the ground. Blade knight pointed behind Kirby, "Look out!" He shouted, as Waddle Doo unleashed his charge.
An orb of electricity shot at the two of them. Blade Knight cowered, defenseless, but Kirby pushed him out of the way and took the hit, dropping his ability in the process.
Everyone was still and silent as Kirby lay on the ground, eventually, very slowly, getting up. He was immediately greeted by a hug from Bandana Dee. "Don't you ever scare me like that again..." he hopped away, wiping tears to make himself seem more serious, "because you're our defense against those..." the words struggled to hit him, "Dark Eyeball Things."
Kirby nodded and limped over to the gate, as Bandana Dee repeatedly rang the bell. Everyone in the room ran to the other side, and when Kirby saw what was there, he just jumped over the gate.
It was practically a buffet! A few pies, a large salad, and even a whole turkey! (They didn't listen to Dedede when he said Kirby preferred chicken) And in the center of it all, a giant, blue and white checkered, five-tiered, chocolate cake. It nearly brought Kirby to tears just looking at it.
It took about 5 seconds for Kirby to eat it all. Everyone was a bit disappointed, but Bandana Dee pulled out some plates with fruitcake slices, having hid them from Kirby. "And these are for us!" He whispered. After quickly eating their celebratory snacks, Dedede shivered. Concerned, Bandana Dee asked, "What's wrong, king?"
"Oh," he said, pulling his robe over his chest, "It's kinda drafty in here, can you go outside and check how the weather is?"
"Oookay," Bandana Dee was confused, but went along with it anyway, "I guess I could." The waddle dee waddled outside, leaving Dedede with a slight frown on his face.
"I dunno if this is a good idea" He whispered to the voice in his head.
What do you mean?
"I get the logic of this idea, but it jus kinda...feels wrong"
Oh, please! What's so bad about it?
"Dis whole plan of yours! It seems kinda unethicable."
Sacrifice is a part of war. This is the only way, king. The one thing luck won't help with:
The eye glanced toward the exit
Having to fight a friend.
=====
Bandana Dee searched the outside of the tent for where the draft was coming from. He couldn't find it, as his work in nailing the tent down was exemplary. At this point, he got confused as to why the king was feeling a draft. Meanwhile, a dark orb swooped toward him.
Then it hit Bandana Dee! He had forgotten to close the tent entrance! He got up, dodging the incoming dark matter, and ran to the sign at the front of his training camp. At this, the black orb got angry and began to chase him around the tent. While the two orbs were running around, Bandana Dee heard a scream. He turned his head (his whole body.) and saw a broom hatter pointing at something behind him.
Bandana Dee was not expecting to see a dark matter flying toward him. Making a quick move, he slapped it with his spear and it went flying into the tent.
Naturally, when a piece of dark matter came through the wall of the tent, it sent a wave of panic through everyone inside. Kirby pulled out a bunch of hearts and kept on throwing them, but given what he'd just been through, he fell asleep. The orb saw its chance to strike, but had trouble deciding who to go after.
It looked over its options, and decided that Blade Knight seemed like the best option. However, before it could possess its target, it got smacked by Sailor Dee and ended up getting Waddle Doo.
"Oops..." she said, dropping her custom parasol as Blade Knight tried to run to his friend. Just then, Bandana Dee ran into the tent, seeing Kirby unconscious. He turned to see that Waddle Doo was growing.
As Waddle Doo kept getting bigger, he began to change. His Ketchup-coloured skin turned to a bright yellow, and his hair came together into one, giant, blonde ponytail (But in the front because he has weird taste in hairstyle). Once he hit roughly three times his original size, he cackled, causing the air around him to shake a bit.
Bandana Dee started to shake Kirby, telling him to wake up. Shortly after that, they were hit by a large kick and sent flying. The now Large Waddle Doo (King Doo, but I can't think of how they would call him that, so imma just call him that anyway), began to take chase, but was soon stopped by Sailor Dee and Blade Knight.
"Waddle Doo!" Blade Knight shouted, "Come to your- "
He and Sailor Dee were kicked away, making another hole in the tent. King Doo charged after them, ignoring Escargoon and Dedede.
Speaking of Escargoon, he was annoyed. "Ugh, why do those dark eyeball things always go after Kirby?"
Dedede, trying to think of how not to blow his cover, said, "I dunno"
Nailed it.
=====
Meanwhile, in Waddle Dee Town Square, Tiff was cleaning up the battle from a couple of days ago. She remembered it like it was such. It was the day Kirby came to dreamland. Even when she had to bust her backside to clean up the mess, she just just thought back at meeting Kirby and it made her chuckle. How did she get to helping train the new town hero? She asked herself this as she put the finishing touches on painting the wall.
Kirby and Bandana Dee then hit the wall, not breaking nor cracking it, but causing the wet paint to be ruined as a little bit of Tiff died inside. (Picture her holding a smile as a single tear goes down her eye.)
Suddenly, Kirby woke up. Half wondering why he was covered in paint, he looked up at the tent and saw King Doo rapidly approaching. Before the giant Waddle Doo got to them, he fired a mighty "Beam Attack!", causing Tiff and Bandana Dee to panic. Kirby, thinking back to his training, sucked in the electrical whip.
When Kirby swallowed the energy, he gained a wand with a blue orb at the end of it, matching Waddle Doo's eye color. He also gained a two-pointed wizard hat. It was split down the middle, red and yellow on either side, with a white fluff ball at the ends. He was Beam Kirby.
King Doo, seeing Beam Kirby, got an intense look in his eye. "Finally," he said, "A worthy opponent! Our Beam Attacks will be legendary!"
King Doo readied himself before he beam attacked, letting Beam Kirby know that he was doing another charge attack. Kirby, seeing this, did the same. The two of their Massive Beam Attacks clashed in the middle, causing electricity to flow everywhere. After checking that there was no one behind him, Kirby jumped, letting King Doo fall over from the sudden halt in momentum.
In the air, Kirby readied a heart, then imbued it with Beam Energy. This helped counteract any Beam Attacks from King Doo, who was struggling to get up. Kirby, seizing the chance, threw the heart at King Doo. It made contact, causing the dark matter to flee before he hit it as well.
King Doo, deprived of dark matter energy, shrunk back down into Waddle Doo. Just then, Sailor Dee and Blade Knight appeared, ready to fight. They backed down after seeing that Kirby had already dealt with it. Bandana Dee went to join his comrades in rejoicing Waddle Doo's freedom, as Kirby and Tiff watched from a comfortable distance.
She nudged Kirby, and asked, "By the way, could you drop that ability? I wanna check something."
Kirby obliged and returned to normal, dropping an orange star. Tiff grabbed the star and looked at it closely. She noticed how it was more like Fire than Sword or Bomb, which she had initially thought had meant that Kirby was getting stronger, but maybe the abilities had other properties that were unknown.
Tiff decided then and there.
She was going to get some answers.