Thick plumes of smoke seep out around me, it stings my nostrils; consciousness slowly returns. Where is this? I ponder as bleary eyes adjust to the dazzling beams of the summer sun; my arm raises to shield them from the warm rays. Breaching the silence is the soft hiss of broken machinery all around me, the sound that most definitely seals my fate: I'm gonna be stuck here, wherever here is, for quite a long time. Great. I wriggle my toes, relieved that they respond; so my feet are in tact, I'm not crippled just yet. Getting a firm grasp of the bent metal walls either side of the torn pilot's seat, I hoist myself out of the silver heap and commando crawl onto a nearby grassy bank. Collapsing onto my front, the consequences of the wreckage that once was my beautiful starship sinks in - mum's gonna kill me if she finds out I broke it so quickly. You see, this little gem was a birthday gift from a few days ago. Wanting to take it out for a spin was a more than understandable desire, however realisation that refraining from reading the user's manual is a terrible decision quickly sprang upon me due to the past few hours I spent hurtling through space with literally no control over anything.
"Uhm, excuse me miss, are you okay?" A voice with a lisp timidly asks, still flopped on the floor I grumble a no, "I'm Chef Kawasaki, I run a restaurant in a nearby village - there's a Doctor there, I'm sure he can help you!" My eyes narrow in the direction of the voice and slowly his blobby orange figure comes into focus. The creature, or Chef Kawasaki, peers down curiously - but a look of concern is plastered on his face. He carries a cooler that emits the faint aroma of fish and his white apron is a little damp - must've been fishing.
"That would be wonderful," I mutter before attempting, key word attempting, to get up. Miserable failure occurs before finally accepting the aid of the little Chef. He offers support as I shakily rise to my feet, however he only comes up to my chest so my back hunches in order to put most weight onto him. Scratch what I thought earlier, I'm definitely crippled. Grunting with pain, and with Kawasaki as my crutch, I limp into what he says is Cappy Town. Cappies had a pretty intriguing book in the library at home; peaceful, simple creatures. My time here may be quite enjoyable.
We reach a quaint wooden hut and I'm ushered inside by what can be assumed is another Cappy, however this one has small round glasses, a bushy grey moustache and eyebrows, some odd ear-like tufts, a blue and white doctor's scrubs and a peculiar looking stethoscope. Kawasaki carefully deposits me onto a patient chair - similar to the ones at home - and the Doctor begins a methodical examination.
"Greetings, I'm Doctor Yabui. I believe you're the next one to crash into our planet?" He asks with a chuckle.
"There's been others?"
"Oh yes my dear, it's almost becoming a monthly if not weekly occurrence. Usually a child avenging their deceased parents, what's your motives?" He presses the cool metal of his stethoscope to the exposed flesh of my back (my shirt got pretty torn up in the crash); the instant temperature change makes me wince a little.
"Let's just say you should always read the instructions before playing with your new toys . . ." I trail off at the end making the two Cappies chuckle, much to my embarrassment. He continues to examine me in a comfortable silence, checking blood pressure, cleaning wounds, bandaging cuts, all that jazz. Once Doctor Yabui seems satisfied with my state, he packs up his equipment and heads over to a little sink to cleanse his hands.
"Now I just need to ask you a few questions if you don't mind?" I nod, allowing him to continue, "Let's start simple, what's your name?"
"(Y/N) (L/N)."
"And how old are you?"
"I turned (age) a few days ago actually." He grins.
"Ah, well happy belated birthday! Final question for now, where are you from?" A few moments pass but my mind draws a blank, where am I from?
"I-I don't know . . ." It comes out as barely a whisper, "I remember my house, my mother looked after me. My father wasn't really in the picture, always busy working, but . . . it's like a white void in my mind when I try to think of a name."
"Don't worry my dear," the Doctor wipes his hands on some paper towels and disposes of them efficiently, he then approaches me, "it was a mighty crash out there, you may have hit your head a bit too hard - you are displaying symptoms of a mild concussion, side effects could include some form of short term amnesia. It should wear off with some rest and a little bit of time, then we'll be able to get you home. Anyway, you're done with me. That ankle took a lot of pressure so I've bandaged it up tightly, and you may take this to help alleviate some of the pain," he surrenders a wooden crutch, "I'm sure Kawasaki here can show you around the village, with the speeds you were travelling I assume the state of your craft isn't preferable and you'll be staying with us for a while," he chuckles again.
"Thanks doc, I really appreciate it!" With that we bid our farewells and Kawasaki guides us out of the little hospital. Now that's dealt with, I finally get the chance to take in the surroundings: Cappy Town is absolutely breathtaking.
The townsfolk mill around performing their daily duties: a man clad in police attire patrols the streets; young Cappies giggle as they run around chasing each other in a wholesome game of tag; a multicoloured flock of feathers cheep and twitter as they fly overhead; gaggles of older women gossip and snicker as they dive into different shops for their groceries; the wooden fronts of homes and businesses create an authentic vibe; and to complete the look is a magnificent oak tree that stands proudly in the centre, basking in the glow of the sun. I stare in awe as the orange chef gently pulls me along, pointing out various notable locations on the way. The harsh honk of a car horn snaps me out of the brief trance; a jeep thunders into the town, presumably from the castle in the distance, with a snail behind the wheel and a large blue penguin howling with a dirty laugh. The dastardly duo come to a screeching halt before us, various sighs and grunts of displeasure emanate from the locals as a small crowd begins to surround us.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" The snail sneers, crossing his arms over the wheel and leaning forward to inspect me. I fold my arms; uncomfortable under his intense gaze.
"Has Kawa-yucky finally stooped low enough to try 'n' cook an alien?" The penguin booms with laughter at his own, not that amusing, joke, "Howdy little miss, who might you be?" He grins - but it's not exactly comforting, it's a little terrifying.
"I-I'm (Y/-"
"Don't answer him!" A young girl cries out, the owner of this voice comes marching out from the crowd. She is a young girl, physically built quite differently to the other Cappies; she has blond bangs with the rest of her hair pulled back into a high ponytail (held by a blue bobble at the base, then two more orange ones), pink and green clothes and orange shoes - a rather odd colour combo. Although to be honest, what part of my day so far hasn't been odd? Anyway, the girl is followed by an entourage of what appears to be some form of relative (a similar yet shorter boy with a blonde bowl cut that covers his eyes, dip dyed with teel, dark green shoes and blue overalls held up by a singular red strap) and a small pink puffball. The pink creature waves excitedly, I hesitantly return he gesture, "Don't listen to a word that brute says, he terrorises this village and doesn't deserve your time of day!" She continues to rant in a clearly passionate rage; I slowly retreat behind Kawasaki who looks equally as anxious.
"How dare you insult your king like that!" The snail whines, slamming his hand on the wheel of the car, "You should have more respect for his majesty!"
"Yeah, y'all should be respectin' me more! Now shut your yappin' and go play, I have important business to attend to," the penguin announces, returning his gaze to me. Huffing angrily, the girl chooses to remain silent (probably knowing she's just preventing the inevitable).
"Allow us to introduce ourselves," The snail starts, even the way he speaks sounds . . . slimy. 'How can you sound slimy?' people ask, not got a clue. But this guy just does, "my name is Escargoon I'm the assistant to his majesty. And he, as you may have already gathered, is the king of this here land," the penguin grins wider, his ego clearly ballooning larger than his stomach, "He goes by the name King Dedede," then he leans forward and whispers, "although the Cappies tend to have far more flavourful nicknames if you catch my drift," he snickers but Dedede doesn't seem to impressed, opting to pull out a giant mallet and whack Escargoon over the head.
"Don't you go whisperin' about me you good for nothin' slug!" Im pretty sure my brain cells are shrivelling up and dying just looking at these two. The girl senses my discomfort and whilst the pair in the jeep bicker, she pulls me aside.
"I'm so sorry about those two idiots, I forget how overbearing they can be to new comers," she sighs exasperatedly, "I'm Tiff, this here is my brother Tuff," the boy grins, far more comforting than Dedede's, "and this is Kirby."
"Poyo!" The little pink blob shouts clearly ecstatic, this seems to catch the attention of the royal menace as they quieten down.
"My name is (Y/N), I don't really remember where I'm from - you see the doc diagnosed me with some kind of amnesia, so my memory is a bit hazy," I stare glumly at the floor, Tiff grabs my hand and places her other hand on top.
"Don't you worry, it'll come back soon. For now you can stay in the castle with me and my brother," she smiles kindly, the offer is gladly accepted.
"Why that's a mighty fine idea if I do say so myself," the king strides over, my gosh he can walk! "I'd love to have you as an honorary guest at my castle over there!" I politely thank him, much to the displeasure of Tiff - he makes me uneasy and by the way he swings that mallet, I don't fancy getting on his bad side.
"By the looks of that crutch I'd say you need a ride back to the castle," Escargoon sneers, that would be helpful, "hop on in (Y/N)." He takes my hands and rather forcefully pulls me into the jeep, Kirby jumps in next to me, "Wha'd'you think you're doing!?" He growls, Kirby simply smiles and makes himself comfortable.
"Poyo!"
"Never mind that you-" Escargoon stops dead in his tracks, making direct eye contact with me. He sheepishly chuckles and turns back to the wheel, most likely realising he isn't setting the best of first impressions.
"That's so silly of you Escargoon, Kirby is our friend," Kirby shivers with how sinister Dedede sounds, "we should give a lift to all of our friends." They both wickedly grin at each other.
"What are you two up to?" Tiff demands, but her brother has no hesitation in jumping onto the jeep.
"It's a free ride Tiff, come on!" He encourages, she facepalms and sighs before reluctantly joining us. When Dedede boards the jeep it shakes slightly under his weight.
"I sure hope she stays safe," Kawasaki frets.
"Don't worry, Meta Knight is up there - he'll protect her," another foreign voice adds, Meta . . . Knight? What kind of name is that? I don't get much time to ponder as Escargoon floors it and we zoom off to the castle.
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Howdy y'all! Guess who's starting yet another fan fiction without adding to any other story of theirs! Woot! Omg I'm such a mess haha. Anywho, I'm doing this for the banter so I'll try and update weekly - if I do update it'll be on weekends so keep an eye out for updates. This chapter is significantly longer than what the others will be (unless I'm feeling creative then the other chapters may be this long too) as this is just a set up, so it needed to be pretty detailed. If you haven't already gathered this is based off of the TV show Kirby Right Back At Ya so I'll be using events and characters from within the show - sorry if that confuses those who haven't watched it, I just find it easier material to work with compared to the games as the characters are more developed and consistent. Plus I love Meta Knight's Spanish accent, haha! Speaking of which, apologies for no appearance of said knight - I promise he'll appear in the next chapter. Finally, apologies for such a cliché plot line of "I hAvE aMnEsIa I cAn'T rEmEmBeR mY pAsT", I'm not creative xD (For anyone who knows me irl reading this, I'M AWARE ITS KIRBY FAN FICTION LEAVE ME ALONEEE xD)
I'll see y'all next chapter, Tony out ~
Published: 15/7/19
Edited: 19/7/19 - typos and rewording
Word count: 2065