Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

   It was another peaceful day in Dreamland. The residents taking advantage of the pleasant weather, (and lack of world destroying threats) decided to host a picnic. Unsurprisingly, the picnic had been Kirby’s idea, a way to celebrate their friendship as well as an excuse to eat plenty of food. Not that anyone other than Dark Meta Knight had any objections of course. The mirror Knight in question claimed to have come only as a chaperone for Shadow Kirby, not trusting the monochrome puffball to stay out of trouble.

   Shadow was happily chattering with Prince Fluff and Kirby while Dark watched from the shade of a nearby tree, glaring at anyone who dared to even glance his way. The three young puffballs were sharing stories and news about each of their homes, occasionally flapping their stubby arms in excitement. By now Fluff had visited Dreamland several times since the incident with Yin-Yarn. It had taken Fluff longer to adapt to Kirby’s world than Kirby did when coming to his, but once the prince had gotten used to his new form and all the new textures in Popstar he soon began visiting whenever he could. Once the visits became regular Kirby was happy to take him to meet all of his friends including Shadow. After Kirby had introduced them Fluff and Shadow had become fast friends and the trio would regularly schedule playdates together.

   Near the top of the hill the picnic was set on Meta Knight sat next to the self proclaimed king of Dreamland. While perhaps a bit hypocritical, the knight didn’t fully trust the former villains not to cause trouble, so he kept watch over the crowd of friends while enjoying the company of his own, as well as a few sweets when no one was looking. Enjoying his own share of the food, Dedede talked animatedly to the smaller knight at his side, boasting loudly about his own recent feats and sharing stories he had found amusing. Meta Knight’s mask hid a small smile as he listened to the obviously glorified tales.

   Floating in a field of flowers, Taranza was sharing gardening tips and knowledge with Daroach, Adeline, and Ribbon. The small fairy perched on Adeline’s shoulder asked the names of the flowers surrounding them while her friend sketched each of them in painstaking detail. Daroach asked about the possible uses for various plants while keeping an eye on the several squeakers running amok in the wildflowers. Overall the group was having a pleasant conversation about the surrounding plant life.

   Near the base of the small hill Marx was showing off to anyone who would watch as he performed various tricks and flips on his beach ball. His audience only consisted of two people, Chilly and the Waddle Dee known by most as simply Bandanna Dee, but this didn’t deter the jester from making a show of his skills. Bandanna didn’t trust Marx, but even they couldn’t help but be impressed by his tricks as almost none required any type of magic at all, depending on talent alone. Chilly had seen most of his friend’s tricks by now but he still enjoyed watching them. It was nice to see his friend having fun too and it kept the jester from getting into trouble.

   Susie and Magolor were discussing technology and other sciences. Susie was curious about the technology used for the Lor Starcutter and how it integrated magic into the design and Magolor was happy to explain, boasting about the various upgrades and designs used on his ship that he had created himself. He had studied magic and technology extensively and was pleased to have someone who knew just as much, if not more in the tech department, about it. Their conversation had been going pleasantly for a short while, both somehow managing to keep their egos in check so far, when Magolor sensed something amiss. 

   Ears twitching, the Halcandrain cut himself off mid-sentence to look for the source of the disturbance. Susie’s annoyed remarks at the abrupt interruption to their conversation fell on deaf ears as he looked around. The other skilled magic users among the friends soon became aware of the strange tension in the air as well, but other than Magolor none were able to make sense of the strange feeling. Between being magically inclined and his adventures traveling through dimensions, Magolor could sense when a dimensional rift would open nearby. And one was about to open in the middle of their picnic. Fur standing on edge he quickly pinpointed the spot the tear would appear. 

   Picking up on the sudden mood shift among the group’s magic users Meta Knight stood quickly, startling Dedede. Looking over the group Meta noticed Magolor staring at the tree line, seemingly focused on an empty patch of grass. Shifting his cape into wings, the sword wielding knight was about to take off to investigate the spot their resident lying wizard was looking when, with a loud crackle, the air tore open creating a dimensional rift. Shouts of surprise came from the friends at the sudden appearance of the portal, everyone turned to stare at it for several seconds unsure what to do. The stunned surprise didn’t last long though as they all began to rush towards the rift, curious about why and how it showed up. 

   Meta Knight was the first to reach the rift, having flown over the second it appeared, and placing himself between it and the friend group. He faced the strange portal with his sword drawn and his wings flared out, both as an intimidation factor for whatever might come through and to warn the crowd behind him to stay back. Of course no one listened to the silent cue and took their own defensive stances next to the knight. They waited on high alert from something to come through the portal, ready to defend their home from yet another otherworldly threat. Unfortunately, this lasted only a few seconds before members of the group began to lose interest (Marx) and lower their guards as the portal showed no more signs of activity. The more defensive dream friends lasted longer, having learned not to trust strange magic, and continued to stand guard despite the lack of action.

   Magolor, while finding their initial jumpiness at the portal’s appearance amusing, had since grown bored of the silent staring contest between the friends and the inanimate portal. He had been the only one in the group to not become defensive at its appearance. He moved through the crowd, making his way to the front. Stopping quietly behind Meta Knight he cleared his throat, causing a few of nearby friends to jump in surprise. Magolor held a gloved paw to his face to cover a few snickers as the friends whirled around to face him, “Well as riveting as staring at this dimensional hole is, I’m sorry to tell you that it’s not going to be doing anything spectacular anytime soon. A true shame really.”

   The few wary friends glanced back and forth between the rift and Magolor. Deciding he might be telling the truth about the rift, the group lowered their guards and weapons somewhat. 

   “And what exactly makes you so sure about that?” Dedede regarded Magolor with suspicion, resting his signature hammer on his shoulder. Mummers of agreement echoed among the crowd.

   “Well oh great king,” Magolor said in a singsong voice, “when you’ve traveled across enough dimensions like myself you tend to learn how to sense the subtle differences between different portals and rifts. Quite a useful skill to have when using natural portals to travel.” He floated closer to the portal holding a paw to his chin in thought. His eyes seemed to glow brighter as he inspected it, “nothing is coming through this particular portal at the moment and I don’t sense much beyond plant life on the other side. Certainly nothing that may be powerful or hostile.” Magolor hummed to himself, getting lost in thought.

   “So yer telling me that this portal opened completely naturally in the middle,” Dedede raised his free arm to gesture at the crowd around him, “of this group of people with absolutely no world threatening strings attached?” With the regular threats to the so-called peaceful dreamland, he was rightfully skeptical of the wizard’s words.

   “Well we are likely the reason the rift has opened,” Magolor waved a dismissive paw, not paying the large penguin much attention, “they do tend to form near hot spots of magical energy.” Still muttering to himself, he was pulled out of his musings by a tug on his cape. Glancing down he saw the smiling face of Kirby.

  “So where does it go? Have you been there before?” Kirby asked excitedly. Similar questions echoed Kirby’s as the group of friends demanded answers from the cat-like alien.

   “~Well Kirby,” Magolor cheerfully responded, pausing to build suspense. “I don’t know!” The sing-song answer caused the crowd to stir even more, everyone muttering their own questions and theories to each other. Ignoring the noise Magolor continued, “I’ve never been to the dimension this rift leads to and it feels very different from our own. Whatever world this leads to is rich in magic, but it appears to have been hidden and stifled. Very interesting. I may just have to take a rain check on our picnic for an impromptu trip.”

   “Aww you’re leaving already?” Kirby pouted at the thought of one of his friends leaving early, but he quickly perked up when an idea crossed his mind. “Hey wait! What if we both went!? It could be so much fun! Just imagine all the new friends we could make and the new foods we could try!” Kirby began waving his paws in the air in excitement, “We could-“

   “Hold up!” Kirby was cut off by Dedede who stepped between the puffball and the portal. Behind them the group of friends had grown louder, everyone debating their own stance on exploring the new portal. Crossing his arms and ignoring them the king continued to speak, “I’m not about to let you run headfirst into some random portal on the word of a known liar. Who knows what’s really on the other side of that thing!” He threw out his arms in exasperation. Seeing Kirby open his mouth to argue he gestured to Meta Knight who had appeared by his side during the commotion, “Back me up here Meta!”

   “I must agree with King Dedede, it would be unwise to mess with something as unpredictable as an unexplored dimensional rift. Even with Magolor’s ‘expertise’ on the subject it can easily be dangerous to those unprepared,” Meta Knight calmly explained.

   “But we went into these all the time while helping Magolor rebuild his ship,” argued Kirby

   “Yeah and every time we did something tried to kill us!” Dedede retaliated.

  “But it didn’t kill us!” Kirby’s stubbornness matched Dedede’s. “And Magolor said there wasn’t anything hostile!”

   “And when has trusting that egg ever gotten us anywhere good?” Dedede said.

   “Well regardless of anyone’s thoughts on my honesty or desire to join, I must bid you all a-duo.” Magolor interrupted the argument to make his statement. “Until next time Kirby,” With a short bow he darted through the rift and disappeared from the scene of the picnic.

   “Hey! Wait for me!” Dedede and Meta Knight were unceremoniously shoved aside as Marx quickly followed Magolor through the portal, cackling the whole way. A panicked Chilly soon followed hoping to create a small amount of damage control for the inevitable chaos that would be caused by Magolor and Marx running loose in a new dimension. 

   The jester’s sudden action broke the tension as various members of the friend group made their own moves for the portal, each with their own reasoning in mind. 

   Daroach was the next to reach the rift, joining the expedition for the adventure of exploring a new world and discovering new treasures. Susie followed after, curious about what kind of knowledge and technology may be on the other side of the portal.

   Shadow, wanting to prove his bravery, and just as curious as Kirby about a new world’s food, ran to the portal next. Pausing in front of it he couldn’t help but throw a taunt Kirby’s way, “betcha you and Fluff are too scared of a little portal to follow us huh?” Turning quickly he disappeared into the rift with Dark following behind him.

   Dedede and Meta Knight failed to react in time as Kirby, taking the bait, charged forward dragging an unwilling Fluff behind him into the portal. Panicking, the two adults quickly followed with a few choice swears. Bandanna, not wanting to leave their king to the unknown dangers of the new world, chased after them.

   Seeing all of her friends leave before her Adeline grabbed one of Taranza’s six hands while Ribbon grabbed another and began to drag the hesitant spider towards the rift. “Come on! They could all be in danger, we need to be there to help out,” Adeline huffed as she pulled him closer. Taranza didn’t trust anything to do with other dimensions after the problem with the dimensional mirror, but he allowed himself to get dragged to the swirling portal, his worry for his friends conflicting with his fears. Soon everyone in the group had abandoned the picnic in favor of a dimensional adventure.

Chapter Text

Traveling through dimensional portals was never very pleasant, especially when you weren’t using some sort of transport to make the trip easier. The turbulence varied depending on how far apart the two dimensions were on the astral plane, and this had to be one of the worst portals that Kirby had used yet. Kirby was beginning to regret his reckless decision just a little as the rough ride went on. It felt like he was being squashed and stretched across space and time itself. 

   Looking to side he could see Fluff wasn’t faring much better, clinging to Kirby like a lifeline with his eyes squeezed shut. Kirby remembered that he wasn’t a big fan of dimensional travel despite coming to Dreamland often.

   After what felt like forever, but in reality was only a couple of minutes, the two friends were dumped unceremoniously out the other end of the portal and into the clearing of yet another forest. Dazed from the rough trip and landing, Kirby opted to continue laying face down in the grass for a little bit. His close up viewing of the dirt was soon interrupted by someone pulling him to the side with a hissed, “move!” He heard Fluff yelp in surprise, meaning he must have been pulled to the side too. 

   But he wasn’t focused on his friend or even the person holding him up at the moment, the sudden movement had made it clear to him that something strange had happened. Instead all of his attention was on his limbs or rather the additions to them. Kirby had known his body felt off the moment he left the portal, it felt similar to when he would change forms in Patchland but without being made of yarn. Looking over his paws- no, his hands, he began to wonder why he changed. Noticing just how much longer his new arms were he began to stretch and wave them, testing his new limits with an excited smile. 

   He was abruptly reminded of the person holding him under his arms when they let out an amused chuff before speaking, “do you think you can stand on your own now kid?” Turning his head, man having a neck felt weird , Kirby came face to face with a stranger, an oddly familiar stranger. They looked like they were the same species as Adeline, a human if he remembered right, only much taller. 

   Kirby nodded, still trying to puzzle out who the stranger was as they released their hold on his arms. Standing on his new legs Kirby had quickly adapted to his new, but still very strange form. He took a step back to try and get a better look at the helpful human. 

   They had tan skin and long, black hair, a mischievous smirk showed off their buck teeth. But it was the outfit that allowed Kirby to connect the dots in his mind. He gasped at the realization, they were wearing Daroach’s clothes! And if I was changed by the portal then others might be too!

   “Daroach is that you?!” 

   “The one and only,” he gave a small bow, tipping his hat before returning the question, “And you’re Kirby I presume?”

   “Yep!” Kirby placed his hands on his hips, posing with a bright smile. A small groan from behind him reminded Kirby that he had come through the portal with a friend. Spinning quickly on his heel, Kirby spotted three more humans.

   Despite becoming a much different species, it was easy to recognize Dark Meta Knight among them leaning against a tree. The cape and infamous mask gave his identity away to anyone who had ever seen the mirror knight before. Even as a human he was shorter than Daroach. His armor plated arms were crossed as he glared at the two near his feet. Despite his grouchy show, Kirby could see a glint of amusement in the faint, yellow glow of his eyes.

   Kirby guessed that the person sitting on the ground holding their head in their hands was his friend Prince Fluff. The former puffball dragged his hands through his blue hair causing it to stick up in messy clumps, knocking his small crown askew. Kirby could hear him muttering under his breath, “a little warning the next time I’m dragged into another world would be nice.”

   Patting him on the shoulder, Shadow crouched next to the frazzled prince snickering at his misfortune. “Come on Fluff it ain’t that bad,” Shadow tried to comfort their friend, “you shapeshift all the time in Patchland.” He had adjusted to his new form quickly as well. Shadow’s color scheme was just as monochromatic as Dark’s was, a stark contrast to the colorful prince.

   “In Patchland I’m made of yarn, not whatever this is,” Fluff grumbled, waving an arm to gesture around them.

   Kirby made a move to go over to his friends. He was stopped by a hand on his shoulder as Daroach pulled the pink haired kid back just in time as someone else came out of the portal.

   Like his mirror copy it was easy to tell who the new arrival was from his mask alone. Meta Knight landed in a crouch, quickly standing up straight with a dramatic flare of his cape. And was immediately bowled over by the next person to come out the portal behind him.

  The force of the impact caused the two to roll away from the portal in an ungraceful tangle of wings and limbs. Snickers and laughs came from the gathered friends. 

   Meta Knight was the first to recover, successfully detangling himself from, judging by the clothes, King Dedede. He held out a hand to help the much larger king up.

   Dedede grabbed the offered hand and pulled himself to his feet. Grumbling something about reckless puffballs, he dragged a gloved hand down his face. His hand froze halfway through the motion. Eyes widening, he brought his other hand up to feel his face. “What the he-“ He was cut off when he felt a hand on his arm. Turning he saw Meta Knight looking up at him. He jolted back with a loud scream, unprepared for the sight of the now humanoid Meta Knight. In his shock he overbalanced and fell to the ground again, landing with a thud. Dedede stared at Meta Knight in stunned silence before surging back up to his feet. “Meta?! Is that you?! Why the heck do you look like that?!” 

   It was then that Dedede noticed the snickers echoing around him. He whipped his head around in surprise, looking from one strange face to another. “You!” He had spotted the human dressed as Magolor. Jabbing a finger in his direction, Dedede stomped towards the young wizard. “What did you do, and more importantly why?”

   Magolor held his hands up as a show of innocence. His elbows stuck out at awkward angles as he tried to calm the king. “Now now Dedede. I didn’t do anything this time, but I do know what happened.” Magolor hovered higher in the air, in an attempt at avoiding Dedede’s increased reach. However he had forgotten to account for his own legs, giving a high pitched yelp as Dedede used the offending limb to tug him down to eye level.

   “Well how bout you share with the class then?” Dedede growled out, glaring at Magolor.

   “Well I’d love to share! But think it would be better for me to share with everyone once they’re all here.” Magolor gestured to the portal, almost hitting Dedede with his arm, as another person arrived, stumbling out of the rift.

   The blue bandanna and spear were a dead giveaway to the former waddle dee’s identity. Dedede let go of Magolor’s leg to go help Bandanna to his feet. The king crouched down next to his right hand dee allowing them to use his shoulder to steady themselves. While Bandanna shook off their daze from the portal, Dedede shot a glare back at Magolor. “Anyone else we need to wait for before we get some answers?”

   “Tut tut, so impatient aren’t we?” Magolor lazily leaned back in the air. The look was ruined as he tried to cross his arms, struggling not to tangle the additional limbs. He gave up with a huff, letting them dangle by his sides. “There are three more on their way. They should be here in a minute or two.”

   With an eye roll Dedede turned back to Bandanna, explaining to them what little he knew of the situation and checking how well they were adjusting to becoming human. Meta Knight had since moved to stand next to the two.

   Kirby decided to take the moment of peace to look around the small clearing. 

   He spotted Susie leaning stiffly against a tree by herself, subtly tugging at her sleeves. She looked like she was lost in thought, staring into the forest around them as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. It must be weird suddenly having legs and feet when you never had them before, Kirby at least had the same number of limbs as before.

   A flash of color caught Kirby’s eye and he turned to see Marx sitting on a tree branch. He was laughing as someone at the base of the tree tried to, unsuccessfully, convince him to come down. By process of elimination and the small bucket they were wearing as a hat, Kirby guessed that the person on the ground had to be Chilly. Kirby smiled at their antics as Marx fell backwards to dangle from the branch by his legs.

   Kirby walked over to Shadow and Fluff. Fluff was now standing, still a little unsteady in his new form. The young prince gave Kirby a glare as he approached, giving him a lighthearted punch to the arm once he was within reach. “A little heads up would have been nice buddy. You didn’t have to drag me in, I would have come with you if you asked,” he said with a smile, dropping the fake glare.

   Kirby rubbed his shoulder with a laugh, “sorry Fluffs I’ll try to warn you next time. No promises though!” Kirby tilted his head to the side with a bright smile, “Are you feeling better now though?”

   “Eh, it’s still pretty weird but nothing I can’t handle,” Fluff puffed out his chest in mock confidence. “It’ll just take a little getting used too. Like when I first came to Dreamland.”

   Their conversation was cut short by a shout of, “incoming!” Kirby watched as Adeline and Ribbon came from the portal, Adeline only looking slightly frazzled as she took a few steps away from the portal with Ribbon riding on her shoulder. Adeline and Ribbon appeared unchanged, unlike the rest of the friend group. 

   After them Taranza, Kirby guessed, tumbled out onto the ground. Daroach moved to help the former spider to his feet as Adeline and Ribbon stared at the surrounding allies turned humans in shocked silence. Kirby could see them trying to connect the dots in their minds.

   Magolor brought the attention back to himself with a sharp whistle. He waited till everyone’s eyes were on him before clapping his hands together. “First I must say it is quite surprising to have had all of you follow me here, I’m flattered.”

   “Get to the point!” Was shouted from somewhere in the crowd.

   Magolor glared in the direction of the voice. “However, I can see that many of you are confused and would like to know what has happened. As you all know, you have just traveled through a portal to a different dimension. What you didn’t know is that sometimes when using natural portals such as this one, the portal’s own magic will change your form to better fit with the inhabitants of the world you’re traveling to. Think of it like a disguise to blend in with the locals. And by consensus it would seem that this world is populated by humans.” He pointed to Adeline, who had raised her hand, “Do you have a question?”

   “Er yeah, a few actually,” she took a deep breath in, “if you’re human now why are you floating? And why do so many of you still have glowing eyes? Shadow and Dark are still grey! Humans don’t come in grey. And why is Ribbon not a human? Why-“

   “Woah, slow down a bit,” Magolor interrupted her stream of questions. “To start, portal given forms almost always have some imperfections in their appearances. Eyes for example are typically the same color they were before. As for why I can still float, you keep the same abilities you had in your normal body. All that’s changed is our appearances. And Ribbon probably stayed the same for the same reason you did.” He looked over the crowd, “any other questions?”

   Kirby’s hand shot in the air, he didn’t wait to get called on as he blurted out his question. “Is this permanent? Are we gonna be humans now forever?”

   Magolor chuckled, “No, you can only use this form in this dimension. Once you go back home you’ll be back to normal. But even in this world with concentration you can switch between forms at will. However I wouldn’t recommend running around in your normal body as you never know how the locals may react.”

  Taranza asked the next question, “So do you know where we are in this world? Or where these other humans may be?”

   “Not a clue! That’s part of the fun of exploring a new world after all.” Magolor brought a hand to his chin in thought, “though with so many of us it would be wise to have a base of operations. Somewhere to gather more information on this world.” He snapped his fingers, “And I have just the thing!”

   Magolor squinted his eyes in concentration as the figure of a small ship took form over the palms of his hands. The miniature Lor Starcutter began to glow as Magolor raised his arms, launching the ship into the sky. The Lor cut a trail of light into the sky as it looped around the clearing. It soon came to a rest on the ground once more full sized. Once the magical light show died down a ramp extended from the ship, giving soft thump as it hit the ground.

   “As a show of friendship you may all use the Lor Starcutter as a temporary home away from home during our little adventure,” Magolor said, giving a small bow at the entrance to the ship. He straightened to give a nonchalant hand wave, “as long as you behave like civilized people and don’t destroy my home of course.”

   The group of friends began to move towards the ramp. Many were unsteady on their new legs as they made their way to their temporary home. Just as Kirby was about to set foot on the ship's ramp a loud crack sounded in the distance. The sound was quickly echoed as more cracks filled the forest.

   Magolor waved his hands through the air, giving a small curse as his arms tangled again, causing the Lor to vanish from view. He dropped from the air, landing on his feet only to stumble on the new limbs and fall on his back.

  The allies quickly gathered into a defensive circle. The Meta Knights stood at opposite ends with their swords drawn and Daroach and Dedede covered the other corners. The younger members of the group were pushed to the center, despite all of them having proved their own prowess in battle before. Kirby refusing to hide from the action pushed his way to the front of the group.

   With the sound of branches snapping underfoot several humans walked out of the tree line. Kirby couldn’t recognize any of their outfits, they wore black cloaks and funny pointed hats. They must be from this universe then. For whatever reason the strangers were pointing sticks at them as they approached. Kirby had long learned not to underestimate anything pointed at you, even sticks, and figured they were some sort of weapon. Many in the group of friends had learned the same lesson.

   Both sides remained on guard, neither wanting to lower their weapons as they stared at each other. The standstill lasted for what felt like several minutes. The tension was broken when a lady from the stranger's side cleared her throat. She took a step forward, lowering her stick, “Hello we’re from the Ministry of Magic. We came to investigate a strange surge of magic and would greatly appreciate your cooperation. We mean no harm so if you could all lower your, er, weapons?” She cast a critical eye over the two swords and hammer pointed in her direction. 

   The allies shared glances with each other, silently deciding whether or not to trust her. Dedede straightened his back before addressing the strange official, “How bout you put away yours first, then we’ll talk.”

  She gave a small nod, flicking her hand to signal for her group to stand down.

   Seeing the strange sticks put away the star allies sheathed their own weapons. But even with their weapons away they remained wary of the newcomers.

   The stranger smiled brightly at them, “Thank you. Now I have a few questions for you all.”

Chapter Text

Jane has worked for the ministry for several years and has been on the field for most of them. When you’ve worked as a magical law enforcer for as long as she has you tend to find yourself in strange situations. Strange has just become a new normal for Jane and it takes quite a bit to faze her these days.

  However she can’t claim to have ever been threatened with a giant mallet before.

  Jane had been filling out a mountain's worth of paperwork that morning when an alarm went off informing the department of a spatial distortion. The distortion was of no real concern, likely just a temporary portal opening up in the middle of the woods. This was a surprisingly common occurrence. She would send a patrol out later to investigate it.

  Ignoring the alert, Jane picked up the next sheet of paper and began to skim over the legal jargon when a different alarm went off. This alarm was meant to alert officials of unregistered magical use, and by the looks of it this was a large spell. Jane sighed, placing her climbing pile of work to the side and began to build a team of aurors to send out. She decided to come along for the investigation, seeing that both alerts came from the same spot it could spell trouble.

   Looking at the group in front of her Jane knew today was going to be interesting. Whether it was going to be good or bad was still in the air. At first glance she had almost mistaken them for a group of muggles who had gotten lost in the wrong place at the wrong time. It wouldn’t have been the first time.

   But that idea was dispelled when a red caped man pointed a wand back at her team. Unlike his three companions and a few teens who seemed to favor muggle weaponry.

   There was no sign of the spatial disturbance, it was likely it had faded naturally by now, leaving the four adults and their band of young teens as the prime suspects of the magic surge. They were all clearly suspicious of Jane and her team, refusing to stand down until she and her aurors did first.

   Jane was sympathetic, nobody liked getting in trouble with the ministry especially when it involves your kids. She’s seen this happen hundreds of times before. Parents wanting to help their kids with their magic would sneak off somewhere they think they won’t be noticed. But underage magic no matter the circumstances is still illegal. Seeing how protective the adults were Jane knew she would have to tread carefully with her questions. 

   It didn’t help that several members of the group were clearly not fully human. The ministry never had a good rep when it came to mixed blood. This made those with magical creatures in their ancestry even more wary of officials.

   Getting them to lower their weapons would be a good start. She clapped her hands together at their cooperation, “So to start I think it would be a good idea to share our names. I’m Jane Pendergrass and this is Nil, Wargen, Summit, and Heathersworth.” She pointed to each auror in turn.

   The group glanced between each other before a pink haired boy stepped forward with a bright smile, “My name’s Kirby!” With the short kid taking the first step the rest of the group soon began to share their names.

   Dedede was the man who threatened her team with a mallet while the two sword wielders were Meta Knight and Dark Knight. Likely brothers. The red cloaked man with the wand was Daroach. Shadow, who looked like Kirby’s monochromatic twin, was announced by a teen dressed as a prince who was named Fluff. A kid who called themselves Bandanna stood next to Dedede wielding a spear almost twice the height of themself. Susie was a polite girl, despite wielding what muggles called a gun, with hair a brighter pink than Kirby’s. Marx was introduced after he had fallen from a tree, surprising several of the aurors, and helped up by Magolor and Chilly. Taranza leaned on Adeline, who for some reason had a fairy on her other shoulder. Strange names for a strange group Jane supposed.

   “Now that introductions have been made, have any of you seen anything strange recently?” Jane watched as they glanced at each other with either varying degrees of nervousness or like she had referenced some sort of joke.

   “Er, define strange,” Dedede spoke up.

   Jane raised a brow. “We originally were alerted to a spatial disturbance in this area, these typically take the form of small, temporary rifts.” This got a few small reactions from the group. “Soon afterwards we were alerted to a surge of magical energy. This could have either been caused by multiple spells at once or one large, powerful spell.” 

   She paused, waiting for someone in the group to admit to casting magic. She only got mutters about knowing nothing of varying believability.

   Jane sighed and straightened her back, “I understand not wanting to admit to breaking the rules but they’re there for a reason. Underage magic not supervised by a professional is dangerous. The ministry can be forgiving though if you simply admit to practicing out here and understanding that what you did was wrong. I can get you off with just a warning but only if you fess up.” 

    Her gaze became more stern, “However if you wish to keep up your claim of ignorance we will need each of you to hand over your wands for inspection to prove your innocence.”

~~~

   Magolor listened to the official’s questioning with rapt attention, filing away the information about this world she was unknowingly sharing. Wizards must be abundant here and their magical children have to be supervised while using their powers. Their government also has a way of tracking the use of magic as well. The summoning of the Lor Starcutter was likely what had alerted them to the allies presence. However, whatever they’re using to detect the use of magic seemed to only give them a location, nothing specific about the caster or what the spell was. 

   When the lady announced they would need to present their wands for inspection the friend group turned to huddle together. “They want wands, we don’t have wands,” Dedede whispered with a hint of panic.

   “Wow, not even an hour in and we already broke some kind of law,” Marx quietly snickered, earning him a few glares and a punch to the shoulder from Chilly.

   “Daroach has one, maybe they’ll take that?” Taranza suggested.

   “What about the rest of us? She said she wanted all our wands,” Chilly said.

   “Well that is all our wands, unless someone’s hiding one,” Ribbon said

   “Would my paintbrush count? I can kind of do magic with it,” Adeline asked.

   “Maybe. Two is better than one anyways, I say we give it a shot,” Fluff said.

  They broke their huddle, Adeline and Daroach moving to the front of the group. They held out their ‘wands’ to the official. Two of the strangers came forward to take them. They began muttering something causing the ‘wands’ to give a faint glow.

   While Daroach’s wand and Adeline’s brush were being examined Jane gave the group a strained smile. “Thank you. But we need all of your wands please. Withholding your wand from a ministry official is a punishable offense.” It seemed she was starting to run out of patience. 

   Magolor could see the adults struggling to think of a way out of this mess peacefully, and without revealing their otherworldly nature. But without knowing the laws of this world it was hard to find loopholes. 

    Magolor sighed before bringing out his patented Magolor eyes (tm) and carefully moved his way to the front of the crowd. “I’m sorry miss but those are the only wands we have. We didn’t know we needed them or that we were not supposed to be doing magic.” 

   “How could you not know that? These are basic laws,” Jane was too shocked by their supposed ignorance to call them out as liars.

   The ears on his hood drooped backwards as he put on his most pitiful face. “Our village was cursed long ago and all contact with the outside world has been cut for almost two centuries. The curse has only just now been broken, but none of us have heard about these laws before. We’re sorry we broke your rules, we didn’t know we were doing anything wrong.”

   Everyone was staring at Magolor in shock, no one expecting the sudden sob story. “So you’re saying that none of you have ever heard of the Ministry of Magic or it’s laws? And that despite all or most of you being magical in some way only two of you have a wand, one of which is a paintbrush?” Jane sounded exasperated, dragging a hand through her hair as she tried to process Magolor’s cover story.

    “Yeah the curse breaking must have been what alerted you too. None of us actually did any magic,” Taranza called out from the group. At least someone had caught on. “We just wanted to take a look around for the first time in forever and then you show up threatening to arrest us for nothing! If we’re supposed to follow your rules I want to at least know what they are first.”

   By now the rest of the allies started to catch on and began voicing their own complaints and woes. The noise in the clearing steadily rose as they got louder.

   “Alright! Alright,” Jane threw her hands up in a placating manner, “this is going to take some paperwork but we’ll figure this all out.”

    Success! No one was safe from Magolor’s patented emotional manipulation. “We’re going to need to take a small field trip to the Ministry to get you all registered. We’ll also need to find a school willing to take you all since none of you have ever gone to one. To get there we’ll have to do tag along apperation in turns. How many are left in your village? I can send a team to retrieve them as well.”

   “They’re dead,” Shadow quickly lied. “Er, without outside help or whatever the others all died cause,uh, reasons. Very sad.” A few in the group bowed their heads, Daroach and Adeline taking off their hats.

   After a beat of awkward silence Jane cleared her throat. “Yes that’s uh, quite sad. I’m sorry for your losses and that we were unable to aid you in time. But no time like the present to get your registration over with. It will likely take a while so please gather together in groups and we can be on our way.”

~~~~~~~~

   Apparition was unpleasant and loud, clearly the least superior method of teleportation. It took several trips for the team of aurors, as they were called, until the entire group of friends were reunited within the ministry. The group was left alone in the room they had appeared in as Jane and her team left to find and file the proper paperwork for their situation.

   For a room in a magical government building it was rather boring. Chairs lined the walls ranging in an assortment of sizes, the biggest towering over even Dedede himself while the smallest looked more suited to a small cat. Tables were scattered around the room, varying in heights like the chairs. Most tables had a few newspapers on top, likely meant as a form of entertainment for whoever was stuck waiting. 

   Now alone the group split up to begin picking their chairs and explore the room.

   “Hey wanna see if I can balance my ball on that,” Marx pointed towards the largest chair with an oversized sleeve.

   “You’re going to do it regardless of our answer,” Chilly replied, rolling his eyes. “But sure I’ll watch.”

   “Ha bet I can climb the chair faster than you frosty!” The jester made an immediate dash for the chair. Chilly followed at a slower pace, taking careful steps to avoid tripping.

   Magolor took a stumbling step forward, laughing as he followed his friends. He was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. Giving a dramatic sigh he turned to look behind him.  Magolor raised a brow at the trio standing there, “And how may I help you?”

   Kirby gave a friendly wave that Magolor happily returned before flicking his gaze back towards Meta Knight and King Dedede. Meta Knight’s expression was unreadable behind his mask, as always. Dedede however looked worried, though he was trying to hide it behind a metaphorical mask of annoyance.

   “We would like to speak with you for a moment Magolor. There are a few questions we believe you can help us with regarding our, situation.” Without waiting for a response Meta began to walk away, his cape flaring as he turned around. Magolor swore he was doing that on purpose just to be dramatic.

   Dedede moved his hand from Magolor’s shoulder to his arm and began to pull him towards the corner Meta and Kirby were walking to. The king's grip was tight but not painful. Unless he resorted to teleporting or violence there was no hope for Magolor to break out of it.

   Accepting his fate with the utmost grace, Magolor allowed the king to drag him across the room. Not wanting to bother with walking he decided to make use of the free ride, just barely hovering over the floor to make it easier as he hung from Dedede’s hold.

   Dedede did nothing to stop this as they reached the interrogation corner. He lifted his arm and dropped the Halcandrain on his feet. “To start I’d like to say that I in no way support or encourage your lies and in fact implore you to stop.” Dedede raised a finger, “however that was some quick thinking that got us out of what could have been a much worse situation than our current one. So uh, thanks for that.”

    “Your skills in deception have indeed helped us this time Magolor. But I would like to discuss something else first,” Meta shifted the cape wrapped around him, “The rift we originally used to get here has disappeared. Is it safe to assume that you have the ability to bring us back to our home dimension yourself?”

   Magolor put a hand to his chin in thought, “That depends. Safe, guaranteed travel through dimensions for a group this big takes some energy. It’ll cost you.” Magolor smirked as Dedede’s and Meta’s expressions became irritated. His evil chuckle was cut short by a slap to the back of his head, pushing his hood over his eyes.

   Readjusting the hood Magolor gave Kirby a hurt look. Kirby was unfazed by the Magolor Eyes (tm) and chastised his friend, “Magolor what have I said about tricking people into thinking you're still evil because you think it’s funny?”

   Magolor sighed and dropped the fake pout, “not too. ‘Because friends don’t trick each other into thinking they’re turning evil again because it’s mean and others don’t find it as funny as you do.’” Which Magolor thought was stupid, I mean who doesn’t love seeing peoples shocked faces when he says stuff like that? It’s hilarious, and Marx thinks so too. But Kirby’s the friendship expert so he has no choice but to take his advice.

   “Good job!” Kirby’s smile was back. He gave Magolor a head pat as encouragement for learning to be a good friend to others.

   Magolor pushed Kirby’s hand away. If he was hiding a small smile behind his scarf no one had any proof. “Anyways what I said about it taking a decent amount of energy was true. But I can do it easily, so don’t worry your pretty heads about getting back home. I could do it right now if things start to get messy, though it’ll take more concentration than if I was outside. They have some strong wards on this place. Rather fascinating really.”

   “Speaking of that magic stuff, how safe would you say we are here?” Dedede asked, glancing around the room. “Not to bash on the hospitality but I’d like a heads up if these people turn out to not be as friendly as they seem.”

   “Many of them have a decent amount of magical power, but I can’t say anything about their ability to use it. None we’ve met so far are near me or Taranza’s level but I can sense that there are many more mages within this building. While it is likely we could hold our own in a fight with them we would be at a severe disadvantage. Our best bet would be to find a smaller area to barricade and prevent them from overwhelming us with their numbers if not fleeing outright.” Magolor held up a finger as he described their odds.

   “But we don’t have to fight them right? They’ve been really nice so far,” Kirby interrupted.

   “Don’t worry Kirbs, they seem genuine in wanting to help so far,” Magolor comforted the pink haired boy, “We just gotta keep up our little lie so they don’t figure out we’re inter-dimensional beings who aren’t even human! Who knows how they’ll react to that.”

   The trio gave Magolor a deadpan look.

   “Thank you for your assistance Magolor, you may return to your friends now. We will simply have to wait and see how this all plays out if we wish to continue exploring this new world,” Meta Knight dismissed Magolor with a nod.

   “Right, well if anyone would like to leave just give me holler. I’ll see if I can fit you into my schedule,” Magolor said cheerfully. He gave Kirby an open handed nose boop that Kirby happily returned with a laugh. He turned with his own cape flourish, Meta’s not the only one who can be dramatic around here, and made his way towards Chilly and Marx. This new world was rather interesting, Magolor was excited to see how this adventure would turn out. And with his friends here the fun could only increase. Even if they had to fight a swarm of wizards it would be worth it to learn more about this place, though he did hope the peace would last for at least a little longer.

~~~~

   Dedede, Meta, and Kirby watched as Magolor walked across the room. They saw him make it halfway before he managed to stumble on thin air. He barely managed to save himself from face planting into the tiled floors, pin wheeling his arms for balance. Dedede couldn’t hold back his laugh as the hooded mage gave himself a small fist pump in victory before making the rest of the way to his friends.

   Despite the tendency to lie and warped concept of friendship, Dedede could tell that Magolor was trying to be better. And though Dedede didn’t trust him half as far as he could throw him, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t give the kid a chance. Magolor has already proven to be a powerful and knowledgeable ally. And when the Halcandrain wasn’t being a pain he could be rather fun to hang around with. He certainly kept Marx entertained for better or for worse. Kirby had taken to teaching him more about proper friendship, which was a process. Dedede didn’t know much about Magolor’s past or how things worked on Halcandra, but friendship obviously wasn’t a priority there. But Magolor seemed genuinely enthusiastic about gaining more friends and learning how to be a better one, so he couldn’t be all bad. Sides he’s still a kid like Kirby and a concerning amount of their other former enemies.

   Dedede looked down at Kirby and smirked. Before either Kirby or Meta could realize what he was thinking Dedede leaned down and swiftly ruffled both of his companion’s hair. Now that they actually had hair he could have fun with it. Kirby loudly protested his treatment but ultimately accepted his fate. Meta froze in shock before slapping Dedede’s hand away with a scowl. “Alright shorty squad, enough with the serious stuff. We’re in a new dimension, let’s have some fun while no one’s trying to pick a fight with us.”

   The nickname was met by protests from both members of the shorty squad. Laughing, Dedede ignored their complaints as he led them back to the main group.

   Ribbon had helped Adeline drag one of the smaller chairs over to a low table. The young artist pulled some paper and crayons out of her satchel and spread the art supplies across the table, offering them to anyone who wanted to doodle with her while they waited. Many of the dream friends had joined her, finding it more entertaining than looking through the newspapers scattered around the room.

   Bandanna smiled and waved the three over to join them at the table. Always happy to spend time with his friends Kirby ran over to the group and sat between the former waddle dee and Fluff. The prince of Patchland was having a friendly drawing competition with Shadow but happily moved over so Kirby could join in. Dark, refusing to play with others like usual, had managed to perch himself on the back of Shadow’s chair where he watched over the battle of the crayons providing unwanted criticism. Daroach had pulled a chair behind them and was trying to place a paper hat he had made from one of the newspapers on Dark without the mirror knight noticing.

   Dedede pulled his own chair over to the table. He looked around wanting to see what the rest of the group was doing.

   Meta Knight had grabbed a newspaper. Sitting on the back of Dedede’s chair he flipped through the paper. He was probably trying to learn some more about this new world, then again Dedede knew the knight enjoyed reading so it might just be a preference on the available activities. Maybe both. Interestingly the pictures on the paper seemed to move on their own, more magic no doubt.

   Taranza was sitting next to Susie by the wall. To an outsider he probably looked really twitchy, he kept moving his head from watching what Susie was doing to looking around the room every few moments. Dedede wasn’t sure how it felt to lose several pairs of eyes but it looked like Taranza was still getting used to no longer having a 360 degree line of sight.

   Susie was too distracted to really care about the plights of her current companion. She was angrily tapping, banging, and swiping at her cellphone. It was obvious she was getting frustrated with the device as she ripped the back off and swiftly began to reassemble it. There must not be any service here, which was strange because between her and Magolor the two had some of the most powerful tech abilities and it wasn’t often for them to be unable to get a signal.

   Magolor, Marx, and Chilly were still entertaining themselves with the large chair. Magolor seemed satisfied with having reached the seat of the large chair and sprawled himself across it claiming it as his spot. Chilly sat on one of the large arms, kicking his feet over the edge as he watched Marx on the very top of the chair. Marx was cackling in victory as he balanced on not one, but two balls on the edge of the chairs back.

   For a bit it was peaceful in the waiting room, which was a Nova send when it came to this group of friends. Which lasted until the door opened and Jane stepped in flanked by two of those auror guys. Her smile turned to a confused frown at the sight of the three kids playing on the largest chair and more so at the two knights standing on the backs of Dedede’s and Shadow’s chairs. She was quick to bring her smile back but it didn’t seem to reach her eyes.

   “I’m sorry about the wait but we have managed to get most of the paperwork in line. We simply need to speak with the adults for a moment if you can follow me.”

   “We will be happy to speak with you ma’am. However may I suggest we leave one of us behind to keep an eye on the children. They can get a bit... rowdy at times,” Meta’s eyes glanced towards the three on the chair.

   Jane’s eyes followed his and she suppressed a wince, “Yes that is perfectly reasonable. Whenever you're ready can the three who wish to go follow me.”

   The four adults glanced at each other weighing their options. “I vote Daroach stays,” Dedede was the first to voice his opinion.

   Meta nodded, “that does seem to be the best option.”

   “Me?” The space thief raised an eyebrow and pointed at himself before shrugging, “sure I can stay with them till you guys finish whatever you need to talk about. I trust you’ll fill me in when you get back.”

   “Why the hell do I have to go?” Dark said, irritated at being roped into this. He narrowed his eyes at the others, “I didn’t even want to be here in the first place.”

   Dedede jabbed a finger in Dark’s direction, “Because me and Meta here actually want to know what they have to say and between you and Daroach, Daroach is a lot less likely to try and convince the kids to commit arson because he’s bored. And I trust him not to let the kids convince him to commit arson. We need to leave someone who’d actually watch them.”

   Dark swatted Dedede’s hand away and jumped off the chair. He stomped towards the door muttering threats under his breath.

   “And I thought you were a drama queen Meta,” Dedede said, rolling his eyes as he followed the mirror knight.

   “I resent that remark,” Meta replied as he walked next to his King.

   “Yeah, yeah. We’ll be back in a moment guys. Please for the love of Nova don’t destroy the place while we’re gone,” Dedede called back to the allies as they followed Jane out the door.

~~~~~

   They were led down several long and twisting hallways. People bustled past them carrying stacks of paper, strange objects, or both. It was a busy and chaotic place but somehow Jane managed to weave her way through the crowded halls without bumping into anyone.

   By the time they reached their destination, a door that lead to a simple office, Dark looked like he was going to hurt the next person who touched him. Dedede was beginning to feel a touch irritated too and was relieved to enter the empty office and sit down, at least in castle Dedede it was a lot easier to avoid bumping into the multitudes of dees running around. Meta seemed unfazed by the trip and stood next to Dedede ignoring the offered chair.

   Jane placed a large folder of papers on the desk in front of the three. Opening the folder she shuffled through the papers before selecting a handful to pull out. She pushed the folder to the side and spread them out in front of her and picked up a quill? 

   Dedede knew some people still used quills. But for someone in a large government to use them, it just seemed impractical. Pens are much easier to use and you don't have to keep dipping them in ink. Perhaps it was an appearance thing. A nudge to his shoulder brought Dedede’s distracted attention back to Jane.

   “Alright first we will need to create records for each of you. We’ll start with you Mr. Meta Knight. Is That your full name, do you have a wand, have you ever attended any magic schooling, what is your age and birth date, and do you have any inhuman heritage that you are aware of?”

   “That is indeed my name, no I do not have a wand nor have I been to any form of magical school that you would recognize. I am unaware of my exact age or date of birth as our village failed to record such things due to times of crisis seeing them as unimportant. The same goes for my heritage, as far as I and the others are aware we are completely human.” 

   Jane scribbled his answers down before grabbing a different sheet. Her eyebrows furrowed at the mention of the villages record keeping skills but she withheld her comments. She looked up at Dark Meta Knight next. “Is Dark Knight your full name, any relation to Meta Knight, do you have a wand, have you ever attended any magic schooling, what is your age and birth date, and do you have any inhuman heritage that you are aware of?”

    “My name is no-“ Dark was cut off by a sharp kick to his leg. He growled at Dedede and continued, “Yes it is Dark Knight, but I have no-“ Another kick and a glare from both Dedede and Meta. Dark returned the glare and growled the rest of his answer, “Fine. Yes I am related to that heathen, we’re uh...” he waved a hand around trying to stall for time as he thought of an answer.

   “We’re twin brothers Miss Jane,” He was saved by Meta.

   “Yes, twins. Like my… twin, I do not have a wand nor have I been to any of your magic schools. Not that I would need anything like that. I don’t know my age or birthdate either, nor my heritage.”

    Jane nodded and wrote it all down. She pulled out a third sheet and turned towards Dedede. “Is Dedede your first or last name, and what is your full name?”

   “My first? Name? That is my full name ma’am. If you don’t count titles of course.” Dedede answered.

   “You don’t have a last name?” Jane sounded floored. She was willing to forgive the lack of birthdates for now but honestly this was getting ridiculous. These people knew practically nothing about themselves. Their village must have been in dire trouble for it to be this bad. She sighed and rubbed a hand through her hair, she had a feeling this was going to be common. “What title?”

   “King, on account of me being the one in charge of what was left of our village,” he answered with a half-truth.

    “Ok. Next questions, do you have a wand, have you ever attended any magic schooling, what is your age and birth date, and do you have any inhuman heritage that you are aware of?”

    “No, no, and I don’t know for the last three,” he responded.

    Jane gathered her papers and restacked them, straightening the pile. “As no one else from your village has survived, am I to believe that between the four of you you are the guardians of these children? And if so I need to know who has custody of each child and if custody is shared.”

   “Right, yes. Our kids. That we have custody of. Me and Meta can claim most of them.” Dedede hadn’t really thought about it before but the number of feral teens running around without parents was a little concerning. Dedede began counting them off on his fingers, “Kirby and Bandanna for sure. We can claim Fluff, Chilly, Taranza, Marx, and Magolor as well. Shadow is Dark’s kid and if anyone else tried to claim Adeline Daroach would fight us over it.”

   “And what about the young lady with the pink hair, Susie I believe?” Jane asked.

   Dedede could see both knights stiffin slightly at the mention of her name. As much as he claimed otherwise it was clear Meta hadn’t gotten over what happened during the Haltman invasion, which was perfectly reasonable. Dark had likely heard the stories and wasn’t planning on letting anything like that come anywhere close to happening to him. “Daroach has custody claim of her.”

   “Thank you. With that out of the way for now, we need to talk about our laws regarding magic. Here it is required that every witch and wizard attend and graduate from a recognized magical school before they are allowed to use their magic freely. As none of you nor your wards have completed the necessary schooling you will need to attend one now that you have joined our society. We have contacted one such school that is willing to take you in. All adults capable of wielding magic will need to take a specialized course in order to catch you up to legal standards. It shouldn’t take more than a year or two at most as I’m sure you already have some form of basic understanding regarding the material. Children regardless of age will have to start in the first year and will progress normally. Headmaster Dumbledore of Hogwarts has agreed to house and teach both the adults and children of your group. Any Squibs, those who are unable to preform magic, will be offered housing as well since all the adults will be away. Money for the necessary school provisions will be provided as well as transportation when needed. Does that sound reasonable to you?” 

    Dedede could only stare at her as he took a moment to process the information. Why couldn’t they just have one normal day in Dreamland. First you're having a nice picnic and then you’re being arrested by magic police from another dimension after being turned into a different species and told you have to go to school. At least they’ve been nice so far.

   “Yes Miss Jane. We greatly appreciate your hospitality during this confusing time. The offer of housing and education is welcomed. Are there any other laws we should know about?” Meta thanked her. 

   “We’ll provide you all with some pamphlets on wizarding law before you leave today. But one of the most important ones is the need to keep magic secret from muggles, people who can’t perform magic and don’t know of the magic world. Which shouldn’t be too hard since legally you can’t do any magic at the moment unless in self defense,” Jane answered. 

   She leaned down to open a drawer in the desk. She took a moment to rifle through its contents. Grabbing what she needed she sat back up holding an orb between her hands. The orb shone with a bright light that slowly shifted between colors. “This is a magic detector. It’s a basic test that tells us if the holder is capable of performing magic. We’ll need each of you to hold it so we can record how many will be attending actual classes and to get a gauge on your potential power.” 

   She held out the orb to Meta first. Taking it in his gloved hands the orb’s color shifted to show more purples and blues but didn’t dim.

   At Jane’s insistence he passed it to Dedede. In his hands the colors tended to show more yellows and reds, only slightly dimming.

   It was handed to Dark next. The knight scowled at the orb behind his mask as it took on a monochromatic color scheme. Despite the darker colors it shone brighter than it did in Meta’s hands.

   Jane took the orb back and stood from her chair. “Thank you for your time. We’ll return to the waiting room where I’ll pull the rest individually for some quick questions and to test them for magic.” She opened the door and led them back down the halls. “I’ll give you a moment to fill Mr. Daroach in before I start.”

~~~~

   “What is your full name, do you have a wand, what is your age and birth date, and do you have any inhuman heritage that you are aware of?”

   “Daroach, yes, and unknown,” He presented his wand which was taken and swiftly registered. When offered the orb shone in similar intensity to Dark’s showing swirls of blue and red.

   “What is your full name, do you have a wand, what is your age and birth date, and do you have any inhuman heritage that you are aware of?”

   “Kirby, sometimes, I’m 103, April 27, and I dunno.” When given the orb it shone brightly with all the colors of the rainbow but pink was prominent.

   “What is your full name, do you have a wand, what is your age and birth date, and do you have any inhuman heritage that you are aware of?”

   “Fluff, no, I don’t know the year but October 14, and unknown.” For him the orb gave off a dimmer, but still strong light, and shone in shades of blue.

   “What is your full name, do you have a wand, what is your age and birth date, and do you have any inhuman heritage that you are aware of?”

   “Shadow, only if I find one, same as whatever Kirby said, and I don’t know.” For Shadow the orb shined with the same intensity as Kirby but with greys and blacks.

   “What is your full name, do you have a wand, what is your age and birth date, and do you have any inhuman heritage that you are aware of?”

   “Bandanna dee, no but I do have a spear. 

   “A spear is not a wand.”

   “I’m not sure for those last ones.” Their orb was dimmer and had oranges and blues.

   “What is your full name, do you have a wand, what is your age and birth date, and do you have any inhuman heritage that you are aware of?”

   “Chilly, no, 14 but I don’t know the date, and unknown.” Chilly’s orb was of average intensity, showing off whites and pale blues.

   “What is your full name, do you have a wand, what is your age and birth date, and do you have any inhuman heritage that you are aware of?”

   “Magolor, nope, don’t you know it’s rude to ask someone their age~, and not that I know of.” When given to him the orb was nearly blinding, the colors swirling between purples, blues and some red.

   “What is your full name, do you have a wand, what is your age and birth date, and do you have any inhuman heritage that you are aware of?”

   “Marx, nada, fives a normal human age right? And who knows?” Giving him the orb gave similar results as Magolor. The colors inside swirled chaotically.

   “What is your full name, do you have a wand, what is your age and birth date, and do you have any inhuman heritage that you are aware of?”

   “Taranza, no, um 15? I don’t know the day, and I don’t think so.” His orb shone brightly with a variety of electric purples.

“What is your full name, do you have a wand, what is your age and birth date, and do you have any inhuman heritage that you are aware of?”

   “Adeline, no but I can perform magic with my paintbrush, I’m 13, March 24th, and I’m fully human.” When she held the orb it gave off an average amount of light with a swirl of colors.

   “What is your full name, do you have a wand, what is your age and birth date, and do you have any inhuman heritage that you are aware of?”

   “Susie Haltman, no, I’m 16, born on April 28th, and unknown.” Susie’s orb gave off a dim light with swirls of pink, blue, and electric green.

   After the questioning and tests the group of friends were released from the waiting room. Jane offered them temporary rooms in the ministry but they declined saying they had a place to stay back at the clearing they were found in. Apparating the second time wasn’t any more pleasant than the first. Back where the adventure began Jane bid the group farewell, promising to send correspondence soon regarding their enrollment into Hogwarts.

Chapter Text

With a crack echoing through the forest clearing the last of the aurors had left. The dream friends (and extras) were finally alone again. They waited a few moments in silence, listening to make sure no wizards had stayed behind to spy. Who knows with strange, magical governments.

   A few looked towards the more magic sensitive members of their group, asking their opinions with a silent look. A handful of head shakes let the group know they were truly alone now, breaking the tension. 

    There was a collective sigh of relief throughout the group. It was a miracle the Dreamlanders managed to get through that without a fight breaking out or revealing their inhuman nature with how little most knew about the species.

    The relief was short lived as Dark unsheathed his sword, pointing it at Magolor’s throat. “Open the portal wizard. Shadow and I will be taking our leave from this escapade of yours,” he growled, his eyes glaring behind his mask.

   Several of the friends let out startled yelps at the unexpected action, a few gave angry ‘heys’ as they moved to stop the mirror copy.

    Magolor, not expecting to suddenly be assaulted with a sword, threw up his hands in surrender. He took a few hasty steps backwards before tripping on a root sending him to the ground. Scooting backwards to put more distance between him and the sword still pointed at him, Magolor tried to talk Dark down, “h-hey there buddy! There’s no need for that, all you had to do was ask.”

   “Hey! It’s not nice to threaten your friends Dark,” Kirby stepped between Dark and Magolor. The pink child puffed out his chest and gave Dark a disappointed glare. Really, it’s like none of the friendship lessons were getting through to the mirror copy. “You’re supposed to ask nicely, this is not nice,” Kirby continued to scold the monochromatic knight giving Magolor time to get back on his feet and put more distance between himself and Dark’s sword.

   Dark glared at the child standing in front of him. He didn’t lower his sword but made no moves to use the blade either. Both narrowed their eyes at each other, refusing to back down. 

   The glaring contest between them was interrupted by Meta Knight. Meta grabbed Dark’s arm and forced him to lower his weapon, earning him an irritated hiss from his mirror copy. “There is no need for fighting Dark. Sheath your weapon and we can discuss our next actions like mature adults or I will be forced to defend the others from your unnecessary aggression,” Meta’s eyes flashed behind his mask as he released Dark’s arm.

    Dark pulled his arm back with a growl, shifting his glare to yet another person. He shoved his version of Galaxia into its sheath. Pulling his cape over his shoulders, he straightened his back ready to begin an argument with his original. His words were halted by a quiet mumble by his side.

   Shadow was standing next to Dark, his arms were crossed as he glared at the ground with an irritated expression. 

    “Speak louder if you wish to say something Kirby,” Dark said turning some of his attention towards the grey child.

   Shadow startled, not expecting to be heard. He quickly pulled his face back into an irritated glare. He pulled his arms closer to himself as he spoke in a mumble again.

   “Kirby I am not in the mood for such games. We should be going back to our home, I have no time for this if you do not speak up.”

   “I said maybe I don’t want to go back!” Shadow raised his voice.

    Everyone was silent. The friends watching the argument turned to see Dark’s reaction. The mirror knight stood still, his mask hid his expression but it was hard to miss how his eyes seemed to darken. 

   “And what do you mean by that?” Dark asked in a calm tone.

   Shadow huffed and glared at the ground. “I didn’t mean forever or anything like that. I just thought it be cool to at least look around a magic school. You’re always telling me where I can and can’t go and you didn’t even ask to see if maybe I didn’t want to leave yet.”

   Dark gave a displeased hum, but refrained from voicing his thoughts.

   “We need to plan our next move carefully as well Dark,” Meta moved to change the subject. “The moment Magolor opens a portal the ministry will be alerted. I’m unsure of how forgiving they’ll be with a second offense so soon after the first. I would rather avoid creating trouble with them, so we must be prepared to act swiftly if that is what we want to do. And as young Shadow has stated some may wish to remain and explore. I say we discuss our options and take a vote of action,” Meta stated. He turned to look back towards the group without waiting for Dark’s response.

    “I think we should start with the pros and cons of staying,” Daroach suggested, “I’ve learned it’s always good to plan for the adventure ahead of you.”

    “Oh oh! I know a pro!” Kirby waved a hand in the air, his arm practically a blur, “We can learn all kinds of new magics! And it would be fun!”

   “There would be a lot of interesting knowledge and history we could learn if we went, not just about using magic but for creatures and artifacts too,” Magolor added, standing behind Kirby. His suggestion earned a few flat glares from the group. Magolor rolled his eyes and huffed at their reactions. “I can be interested in knowledge without planning something evil you know,” he muttered.

   “We could have a chance at making new friends and allies here,” Fluff suggested.

    “Those of us that already know some magic can learn how to use it better,” was Chilly’s addition.

   “And I believe that exploring this world could be an exciting adventure. Who knows what treasures you can find in a magical school,” Daroach said, adding his own pro. “Alright let’s look at some cons.”

   “We don’t know any of this worlds culture or laws. And we know nothing about the people and their potential hostility or how they will react to us,” Taranza was the first to speak.

    “Con, it’s a school. School is boring, I doubt even a bunch of wizards can change that. Plus they expect me to do it too,” Dedede argued.

    “Taranza has a point. We don’t know the laws of this world and anyone who remains will be under the supervision of the ministry. A foreign government we know little about but is able to track our use of magic,” Meta Knight said.

   “About the tracking-,” Magolor tried to say before being spoken over.

   “Where would we even stay. The school doesn’t open up until later in the year and we don’t have anywhere to live until then if we wanted to stay since Magolor can’t summon the Lor,” Susie added. She scrunched her face in distaste, “and I’m not going to be sleeping outside in the middle of the woods if I have the choice.”

    “You know I could just-“ Magolor tried again.

   “What if something happens to dreamland while we’re away? It’s been peaceful recently but disasters are pretty common and we don’t have any form of contact,” Adeline said talking over him.

   The conversation was picking up and people were talking over each other, each throwing out their own ideas. Magolor could feel the ears of his hood fold back, annoyed at being ignored. He hated being ignored, especially when he was actually trying to help. Raising his own voice Magolor joined into the loud argument, everyone trying to be heard over the other.

   The argument had quickly turned into a shouting match, the quieter dreamlanders quickly backing out while the more confrontational friends continued to get louder. 

   A piercing whistle brought the argument to halt, causing several members of the group to flinch in pain. Holding their hands over their ears they glared at Daroach. The leader of the squeak squad twirled his wand with a smile, “Well now that I have your attention once more, I believe it’s time to move on to the next part of planning for an adventure. How can we remove some of these cons from our list?”

   Magolor was quick to step forward and quicker to speak, “I know how to solve a few of our problems.” The halcandran gave a smug look as the attention returned to him, “With some simple runes I discovered while studying magic, and a bit of help from Taranza, I’ll be able to create a small area where our magic use will be untraceable.”

   “As long as they’re quick spells and we take turns,” was muttered under his breath. Raising his voice again he said, “Meaning I’ll be able to summon the Lor Starcutter again. My offer of shelter for those who chose to remain here still stands.”

   “Well that sure is convenient,” Dedede said skeptically, raising a brow, “got any more solutions you wanna pull out of your hat?”

    Magolor huffed at the dismissive tone, “I do actually. You act like this is my first time exploring a different dimension. Anyways,” He brushed off his cape and stood taller, “With the runes I’ll be able to open the rift briefly without detection so some can stay and the others can leave without the ministry noticing. As for communication with dreamland I should be able to set up some way for us to talk between worlds, the Lor already has the capability to do so, so it shouldn’t be to hard too upgrade some phones to have the same ability. This way anyone staying will be able to know if some world threatening event happens while we’re away.” He finished with a smile and a cheerful tone, pleased to be the center of attention. He’d show them all what a good  friend he was. Kirby said friends help each other right?

    “That… actually does sound helpful,” Dedede grumbled out. The king crossed his arms and shot Magolor a smirk, “though since you are the reason we’re stuck here in the first place you’d better know what you’re doin.”

   “Wha- None of you had to follow me!” Magolor said in a harsh voice, bristling at the comment he glared up at Dedede. It wasn’t his fault these people would jump in strange rifts without second thought, at least he knew what he was doing when he decided to explore the portal.

    “Sheesh, take a joke wiz kid,” Dedede rolled his eyes at Magolor’s dramatics. “Well if that’s everything everyone has to offer I guess it’s time to start voting on who stays and who goes.”

   Magolor gave a small huff but backed down. “Well I believe I’ve made it clear that I’m staying here. Anyone else who remains is welcome to stay with me,” he said, his voice returning to its usual singsong tone.

   “Well don’t count me out of the fun,” Marx said with a grin, slapping Magolor on the back with an oversized sleeve.

    Chilly gave a small shrug and stood by his friends, “I’ve always wanted to explore more of our world so why not this one as well. Besides I can’t really trust you two alone.” 

   “Pssh you’d be bored without us frosty,” Marx laughed, swiping at Chilly’s hat in revenge.

   The former snowman snorted, pushing the other away with one hand and keeping the bucket on with his other. “Guess your right shorty,” he joked earning him an indignant ’Hey!’

   “Daroach will be staying as well,” Daroach said with a tip of his hat, “who would I be to deny the call of adventure in this strange world. I’m sure there will be mysteries and treasure aplenty even in a school.”

   “I guess it would be fun to meet some other humans,” Adeline added, “erk, no offense to you guys of course!”

   “It’s fine Addy,” Ribbon said with a giggle. She gave Adeline a small pat on the head from her perch on the artists shoulder. “Well if my bestie is staying guess I’ll be coming along for the ride.”

    “I wanna stay too,” Kirby cheered, bouncing in place. He turned to the still undecided members of the group, “Don’t you guys wanna stay for at least a little bit. It’ll be like a fun adventure!”

   “Any day with you is an adventure,” Fluff said with a laugh and eyeroll. “But Patchland should be fine in its own and you did say I’d still be in contact with them,” the prince said, considering the offer. He smiled, “guess I’ll stick around too. Like you said Kirbs it could be fun and I’m happy to meet new friends. Shadow?”

   The mirror puff shrugged his shoulders with a bored look, “sure why not? It beats hanging around the castle all day.” Despite the act it was easy for his friends to see the curiosity and excitement in his eyes.

   “Since arrangements for our living space have been made I’ll remain here as well,” Susie commented with a flip of her hair. Her blue eyes sparkled in a way that set some on edge, “afterall there’s still so much new data to collect from this world. Even if it seems a little, behind the times.”

   Dedede made a noise of frustration and crossed his arms, “Well what sorta king would I be if I just left my subjects to run around some weird dimension without any guidance.” The decision was met by a cheer from Kirby, and Dedede struggled to keep his annoyed facade up.

    “Your only the king of like half of us. And self proclaimed at that,” was muttered within the crowd but Dedede couldn’t point out the offender, opting to glare at the majority.

   “If the great king is staying then so will I,” Bandanna said with confidence, raising their spear. Dedede chuckled at the sight and patted his loyal servant on their head, pushing the blue bandana over their eyes.

   “I will remain as well,” Meta Knight said curtly.

   “What, do you not trust us or something,” Marx jeered with a fanged grin.

   “No.”

   “Well it looks like most of us will be staying after all,” Daroach said, looking over the crowd. His eyes landed on the last member to decide, “Taranza have you made a decision yet?”

    The former spider had stood silently, wringing his hands in thought while the others called their choices. On one hand he was truly not fond of messing with other dimensions and their inhabitants. On the other most of his friends would be here and it be quite lonely to go back alone. On the third hand he only had two now which was rather unpleasant, but not unbearable. On the fourth training his magic further could be interesting as well as learning new spells. But on the-

   Taranza flinched as a hand snapped it’s fingers in his face, breaking his train of thought. “You still with us buddy?” Daroach asked with a laugh.

    He adjusted his scarf, trying to hide his obvious distraction, and looked over the crowd. The others looked back expectantly, most with happy smiles on their faces. Taranza cleared his throat before speaking, “I’ll stay as well. Magolor said he needed my help right? And it could be fun!”

   Kirby was practically vibrating with excitement as he crushed Taranza in a hug. His loud cheer causing several of the friend groups ears to ring.

   “Alright, alright. Kirby please stop crushing my lovely assistant,” Magolor said, floating over to separate the two, “especially if you’d like to have a place to sleep tonight that isn’t the ground.”

   “Oops sorry,” Kirby said, releasing Taranza. He gave a small gasp for air as he was let go.

   He wasn’t given much time to recover as Magolor grabbed his now free arm to drag him away, chattering about the runes needed and how to place them.