Chapter Text
Tiff wandered through the new world with interest. Tuff followed behind her. Sometimes she heard him dramatically sigh, though she ignored his played-up disinterest. She looked up at the decrepit buildings in awe.
It was a wonder, really. She’d asked the other Kirby and Waddle Dees what happened to the people who’d been here before, and gotten… less than satisfactory answers. All most really knew was that there used to be an advanced civilization here, one so advanced that they had the power to capture a species capable of destroying their planet, before vanishing.
Eventually Tiff had met a Waddle Dee with a purple hat who’d explained a little more on a prophecy. Apparently they fled both because the planet was starting to sink under the water and a prophecy stated that some sort of creature would come down to destroy the rest of the population related to the other one (though, the Waddle Dee said that part of the story had debatable credibility).
Suddenly, she paused. Something big was falling from the sky.
It was hard to look at as the sun glinted off it, parts of it falling off as it soared down through the atmosphere.
“What’s that..?” Tuff muttered.
The sky went purple as crystal after crystal flew down. Tiff’s eyes widened.
“Well, we should find out!” she said, grabbing Tuff’s wrist.
“I- wait up!” He struggled alongside her as they started sprinting.
The water suddenly rose up as the meteor crashed into the sea. Tiff paused at the shoreline, not wanting to get as close as to get caught in danger.
She watched in awe as through the fog an island became visible, one black and charred with a volcano at the top.
Looking up, she saw a warp star. She waved to the other Kirby who was presumably on the warp star. He flew down.
“Hey!” he said, Elfilin beside him on the star. “We uh, should really check that out. What do you need?”
Tiff hesitated. “Can we come with you? In case you need help?”
So, Tiff and Tuff followed Kirby and Elfilin through the island, noticing several Waddle Dees talking in hushed tones around some sort of purple and black clawed heart. They kept their distance as Kirby and Elfilin waddled over to it, looking up at it.
“I can’t believe it! It’s just like the legend says!” a familiar voice called. Tiff jumped back, concealing a yelp. Behind her stood Astronomer Waddle Dee, the one who’d told her about the reason everyone left this planet in the first place.
Tuff also looked startled. “What legend?” he asked them quickly as they walked up to the meteor. Tiff got closer as it became apparent that it didn’t seem to cause harm. Tuff followed cautiously behind.
“Hi Tiff,” they said, waving a paw. Tiff waved hi back. “So many meteors rained down so suddenly… We all wanted to investigate when this one landed so close to our town. But I never thought a volcanic island would emerge from the depths of the ocean.” Astronomer Dee said more to themself than anyone. “Oh! I haven’t introduced myself to anyone but Tiff, have I?”
“Yeah,” Tuff grumbled. “Who are you anyways?”
“I’m Astronomer Waddle Dee. I’m studying the mysteries of the universe!”
“Oh! Like Magolor?” Kirby asked.
“Does he? I’ll have to ask him what he knows,” Astronomer Dee said. “Since arriving from Popstar, I’ve been reading old astronomy books that were left here. First I had to learn to read this world’s writing though. It wasn’t easy!”
“Recently I’ve been learning about the legend of the meteor,” they continued. “Needless to say, I’m shocked it’s not just a fairy tale. According to the legend, meteors have fallen to this world many times before. If this is the star of darkness mentioned in the legend, the star that brings disaster…” Astronomer Dee trailed off.
“Kirby… I have a really bad feeling about this…” Tiff heard Elfilin whisper. “Something horrifying may be unleashed on this world from inside there. I’m… I’m scared.”
“What do they mean?” Tuff asked Tiff. “What if this is the star?”
“The legend said that it would destroy the planet,” Tiff responded. “Similar to what Fecto Elfilis tried.”
“What-a-what?”
“Fecto Elfilis,” Tiff sighed. “The thing both Kirbies fought to save this planet.”
“Oh, that guy.”
“And I can beat it again!” Kirby chirped suddenly, turning to Tiff and Tuff with a determined look on his face.
“Well, it’s said that the meteor will rain with darkness and light,” Astronomer Dee continued. “And the disaster born from the star of light consumes everything.” Tiff noticed Elfilin’s ears droop. “But the legend also says if stars of light come with the meteors, disaster can be prevented. You may not even have to do any fighting.”
Kirby pointed at a cyan-blue crystal. “Like that?”
“Maybe!” Astronomer Dee said. The five of them approached the crystal. Astronomer Dee turned to Kirby. “Do you suppose that shining stone is part of the crystal that surrounded the meteor?”
“It looks like it, from what I saw,” Tiff said.
Kirby picked up the crystal, before it floated up and started glowing. A small creature became visible within, and floated back down. Kirby gently reached out a paw to touch it, and the crystal shattered, freeing the creature. It quickly flew circles around Kirby, letting out a cheery warble before turning into light and flying towards the meteor. Crystal formed over it.
“Woah…” Tiff mumbled.
“Oh my! It must be one of the stars of light!” Astronomer Dee said. “A small portion of the sealing crystal has been returned to its original form!”
Elfilin paused, humming to themself. “Oh! He says he’s a Starry!” they told them.
“Which is?” Tuff asked. Tiff elbowed him, shooting him a glare.
“He says they’re sentient creatures. Ones that can become the sealing crystals! He’s speaking to me through my head.”
“Could he do that to all of us..?” Tiff asked. Elfilin paused.
“He said no.”
Tiff nodded. It was disappointing, but she wasn’t even from this universe, so it was to be expected.
“He says that when all the Starries get together, the sealing crystal will be restored,” Elfilin went on to explain. “They can keep the star of darkness from coming back to life!” Kirby nodded, smiling.
“Well, I’m pretty good at collecting crystals! If they’re even a little easier to get than last time, we’ll be fine,” he said, smiling.
“Yeah!” Tuff added.
“We should guide them here to the star of darkness,” Elfilin continued.
“That makes sense… you can use the warp star, like we did to escape Nightmare’s base!” Tiff said.
“The Starries may have landed in places where the meteor fell,” Astronomer Dee told them. “Let’s start by searching the nearby plains!”
“Yeah! Oh,” Kirby turned to Tiff and Tuff. “Can you go let the little me know this is going on? He doesn’t have to help, but if he wants we’ll set out tomorrow. I just think he should know.”
“Got it,” Tiff told him.
“You have to fly us off though,” Tuff told him.
“Oh, right,” Kirby paused, before calling his warp star over. “Hop on!”
Tiff found Kirby with Acore, playing with the animals. She smiled.
“Oh, Kirby! Looks ‘ike Tiff’s here!” Rick said, before turning around “You ‘ere to pick him up?”
Kirby eagerly turned to Tiff. “Tiff! Hi!”
“I just needed to make him aware of something. The other Kirby wanted me to tell him.” Tiff smiled at Kirby as he ran over to her.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Well…” she paused. “Something’s threatening the Forgotten Land. We have a way to stop it! The other you’s doing it right now. He just wanted me to let you know.”
Kirby’s eyes widened. “Can I go help him?”
Tiff hesitated. “If you want, I suppose.”
Kirby nodded, before turning to the rest of the forest creatures, bidding them goodbye and running past her.
Tiff’s thoughts were interrupted by her mom later that day.
“Tiff? Are you okay?” she asked.
“You’ve been acting off since you got back from that Forgotten Land,” her dad added. “I’m sure Kirby will be able to handle that “Star of Darkness” or whatever it’s called just fine on his own.”
“I know… It’s just… maybe it’s just about the whole thing about him going missing.”
“I understand…” Mom told her, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. “It’s only been four months since we found him. It’s perfectly okay to still be afraid.”
Tiff paused, before an idea hit her. She turned around to face her parents.
“Could I maybe go with them? I’ll have both Kirbies. I’m sure it’ll be safe,” she told her parents.
Both of their eyes widened, and they looked between each other. There was a moment of silence before either of them spoke.
“I suppose…” Dad said reluctantly.
“But you’ll need to stay by the Kirbies!” Lady Like told her. “And pack lots of food, and I may have some pepper spray I could give you somewhere since I’ve thankfully never needed it…”
So, Tiff walked down to the other Dreamland with Tuff (who’d also talked their parents into letting him help Kirby) with a shoulder bag. She saw the Kirbies and Elfilin talking with this universe’s Dedede.
She carefully approached, gently nudging Tuff to try and get him to knock off his death stare at the other Dedede and hoping her own look wasn’t as obvious.
“Hey, uhm, other Kirby, can we talk to you for a moment?” she asked. The other Kirby perked up.
“Yeah! What do you need?” he asked, turning to them.
“Can we help seal the meteor too?” Tuff asked.
“Sure! More friends are always good!”
“Yeah,” the other Dedede said. “We’re plenty used to travelling with a group. Much more fun that way!”
…Tiff very quickly figured out what that meant. She hoped her expression didn’t give too much away, or at least as much as Tuff’s was.
“Is Dedede coming with us?” he asked.
“Yep!” the other Kirby chirped.
“Y’all got a problem with me?” Dedede asked, still smiling. Tiff could at least tell he didn’t seem genuinely mad, but that concerned her more. The thought of Dedede being able to lie was probably worse.
“No,” she dissimulated. “It’s just our Dedede can be rather… bumptious.”
“Yeah… whatever she said!” Tuff added. “And he’s a massive jerk!”
“Trust me, I could tell that when I met him…” the other Dedede’s smile became slightly more forced.
“As long as you actually pull your weight around here, I’m sure we’ll be able to manage having you around,” Tiff told him.
“Maybe you will…” Tuff grumbled.
The other Kirby seemed like he wanted to say something, but Dedede placed a hand in front of him. “Don’t cha’ worry. I’m more than planning on doing that.”
Tiff was still hesitant, but she nodded. Suddenly, the Kirby she knew better perked up. “Do you want to join us? We’re talking about plans for doing this all!”
Tiff nodded slowly. “That’s probably good.”
Tuff rolled his eyes, but followed as the three of them discussed tomorrow.
Tiff ended up spending that night in Waddle Dee town. It was a nice place, the same sort of small town Cappy Town was. Dedede had treated them all to dinner, oddly enough. She couldn’t quite tell what game he was playing, but she didn’t want to let her guard down yet.
She and Tuff were staying in the observatory tower for the night. She’d heard it’d been left unattended for a while.
The Kirbies seemed to be okay with Dedede, so that was a good sign at least. Tuff had already fallen asleep for the night, but Tiff couldn’t. There were countless ways for this to go wrong…
She had Kirby with her. That brought her hope, at least. She was sure with the help of the Kirbies and Elfilin, they’d be okay.
With that, she set aside the book she was reading and turned off her bedside lamp, before heading to sleep.