Nowhere To Go But Up

Simplicity

"New record! Great job Kirby, you got a platinum medal!" Magolor called out as an extravagant emblem appeared above the door Kirby had come out of. "Up next is round two of the race! And just so you know, I'll be kicking it up a notch from the last one." He opened a door. "Actually, after this race, do you mind taking a break for a day or two? I need your help with something." That couldn't have been the right way to go about this.

"What do you need help with?" Kirby looked at Magolor in a way that indicated he didn't like where it was going.

"Oh, it's nothing like last time. I just want to hear about your past adventures. A friend of mine is in a difficult position, and I think knowing more about the cause might help me fix it."

This explanation seemed to satisfy Kirby for the time being. "All right, I can do that. But first, let's race!"

It was closer than the previous race, but Kirby had won again. A little disappointed, Magolor headed in the direction of the Lor Starcutter, indicating for Kirby to follow him. They had made it about halfway there when...

"Hey, what's going on? It doesn't look like Kirby's done yet." The voice belonged to Bandee, who was walking alongside King Dedede.

Magolor smiled. "Oh, I'm just bringing Kirby to help me with something in between. When we're done, we'll get back to it!"

"No you're not." King Dedede stepped forward. "You're bringing all of us. If you're planning something bad again, I'll be sticking around to pummel you."

"Oh, of course! That won't be a problem at all!" Magolor played it off, but if they asked too many questions, they might take matters into their own hands. He understood them well enough to know they wouldn't willingly hurt Taranza or Sectonia, but their methods didn't usually have all that much nuance and probably wouldn't help them at all.

The four of them entered the Starcutter, which seemed more welcoming with every visit. Magolor led them to the study, tilting his head back and forth to the rhythm of that song he still couldn't get out of his head. He had set up a significantly more comfortable chair, since this would likely take a long time. The chair was, of course, for Kirby. As the pink hero sat, Magolor noticed King Dedede's interest in a visor he was keeping on the shelf.

"Hey, King Dedede, please don't touch that. It took me weeks to make."

"What is it?"

"That's a colour changing visor I made. I used that to make my eyes look green in the Nix costume, and it also has a blacklight function which lets me read things that were written in invisible ink."

"Mm." Dedede feigned disinterest, then took another look at Magolor, and the mess of papers on the table. "Anyway, what are we doing here?"

"Well, technically, I didn't invite you two. But the reason I asked Kirby to come in here was to tell me about some previous adventures. I want to see if I can figure anything out from them."

Bandee immediately picked up on how strange that sounded. "That implies that there's something you need to figure out, and soon."

Of course, it was the exact issue Magolor was trying to avoid. "Oh, you got me." He didn't plan to elaborate.

"So, Kirby. I generally understand how things started. King Dedede stole all the food, you stopped him, and that spawned a bunch of other events, like Meta Knight trying to take over Dream Land, and Marx getting blown up because of some kind of misunderstanding, but it's clear that between then and now-"

"A misunderstanding?" Kirby cut him off.

"Well, that's what I've heard. Is it wrong?"

Dedede started explaining. "That guy got blown up because he swindled Kirby into summoning a wish-granting star and then used it to take over the planet! There was no 'misunderstanding'."