Heroes of Dreamland, Book 1: Kirby and the Monstrous Lightning (OLD)

World 1 Level 4- Training Begins

Early the next morning, Meta Knight strode into the library, followed by a chipper Kirby. The room instantly flooded with light, and he looked around, trying to find Kirby Dee. He finally spotted her sitting on one of the bookshelves, her back up against the wall, sound asleep. Her hand was resting on a pile of books.

He stood underneath the shelf and called up, "Come, it is time to begin our training."

"Wakey, wakey, poyo!" Kirby sang out. When that didn't work, he floated up to her and blew a puff of air into her face.

She leapt up in surprise, and fell off the shelf onto the floor. "Uuuuunh..." she moaned, her face in the woodwork. Then, in distress, she popped up. "Oh, shoot! I'm late! The king'll want his breakfast and-"

"Calm down," Meta Knight ordered. "The other Waddle Dee will take care of that. You are no longer just a servant, little one."

"What?" she asked in confusion. "I can really talk? That wasn't a dream? I'm really... free?"

Kirby giggled. "Silly Waddle, poyo."

Meta Knight's eyes glowed their amused green. It was a happy shade of green, she thought. Like freshly mown grass. "No, it was not a dream, little one. What were you doing up there?"

"What?" she asked blankly. For some reason, she decided not to tell him about her trying to learn to read. Plus, there was one other reason she had been up there, so she would tell him that one. "Oh. Um, I missed sleeping on the shelves with the other Waddle Dee. So I made do with what I had. The couch was too soft."

He looked at her in what was obviously disbelief. She could tell, even if he did have a mask on. "Too soft?"

She blushed and rubbed her head in embarrassment. "Once a househould servant, always a household servant. Right?"

He chuckled. "Well then, Household Servant. Come, your training begins now." He swiftly turned around and walked out.

When they got through the passages back into the main part of the castle, she noticed a group of Waddle Dee. She walked over. "Hi, guys. What are you doing?" They ignored her. "Hey, guys. It's me. I can talk now, but I'm still me. One of you." One of them looked at her for a second, then looked away and waddled off, as if she was just another inhabitant of the castle, one not even worth obeying. "Why are they doing that? It's like I don't exist," she sighed. "Maybe this being-able-to-talk thing isn't all it's cracked up to be."

Kirby gave her a hug. "Friend, poyo!" he comforted her with an adorable grin.

She looked at him gratefully. "I've never had a friend before."

Meta Knight frowned to himself from where he had paused up ahead of them. "Why not? You had all those others. Did they not like you?"

She shrugged, even though he couldn't see her since he had his back to them. "It's not that they disliked me. I was just... different. They didn't understand that. There aren't really friends or enemies among the Waddle Dee. It's sort of like we're all part of one big thing, working together, each part doing what it needs to do to take care of the others."

"Is that so?" he mused, then started walking again.

She looked at Kirby, who giggled. "That's Meta Knight, poyo." She nodded in understanding, and they both followed Meta Knight to the training room.

"It's still dark outside," she yawned as they walked through the door. "I don't even get up this early as a servant, except for when I'm on baking duty."

Meta Knight ignored her. "Get a sword ready," he ordered. She began to inhale one lying on a weapons rack, but he shook his head. "No. You may learn the other Copy Abilities, but the sword you will learn on its own. It will serve you well when there are no foes to swallow. Kirby has learned that lesson the hard way a few times, but still; he refuses to learn this art."

Kirby shrugged at her. "Poyo," he nodded in assent.

"All right," she agreed, putting her hands on the sword. It was much harder when she wasn't using a Copy Ability, she quickly discovered. Heavier, too. She grunted as she tried, and failed, to pick it up.

Meta Knight chuckled, still not turning around. "Not as easy as it seems, is it?"

She glared at his back. "Quit laughing at me. I could take you out at any time, just by swallowing this sword. Last night proved that."

He shook his head. "Not necessarily. I was not expecting a Waddle Dee to have any fighting talent. I went quite easy on you."

Her confidence fell. "Oh."

Walking over to a window, he continued, "That is your first lesson. Whereas what I just said is true, you cannot just take what an opponent says at face value. Listening to a foe's taunts will keep you from ever succeeding in battle."

She closed her eyes in concentration. "Okay."

He suddenly drew Galaxia and spun around. "Let us begin."

She opened her eyes, then narrowed them. Looking at him in determination, she declared, "Bring it on, Sir Knight."

He nodded. He slowly circled her, and then suddenly, he swiped. She managed to duck the attack, but not parry. "How much does this thing weigh?" she muttered, barely managing to duck another strike, still struggling to get the weapon off the ground.

"It is not anywhere near as heavy as a tub of laundry. Think of it as one of those," he suggested as he swung at her again, not even breaking a sweat. Kirby sat on a wooden bench, watching them in excitement.

"It was much easier last night," she huffed and puffed.

"Nothing worth doing is ever easy," he replied sagely.

She glared at him. She knew he had had years of practice, but still. He made it look unfairly easy.

Anything he can do, you can do too. You have to be able to. You're the Kirby Dee. She told herself mentally, then concentrated. It's a chore. You can lift a tub of laundry... with help, anyway. But. You can pick this up by yourself. Find your balance, and-

She suddenly heaved the sword over her head and swung up, managing to parry his next strike. "Good," he nodded. He swung again, and, now that she was actually fighting, he began to truly fight back. With his next attack, he easily knocked her sword out of her hand. "But not good enough."

She sighed. "Again," she ordered.

"Yes," he agreed.

This time, she actually succeeded in picking her sword up right away. She managed to parry a few times, but he quickly knocked her sword away again. "Better," he nodded.

They kept going, and she slowly but surely did get better. After days of practice, rather than just standing in one place, they had begun leaping all over the training room as they dueled.

Kirby continued to observe every day. The day they actually started fighting all over the place, instead of mostly standing still, outside now, he started to laugh. "Dance, poyo, dance!"

They both stopped and stared at the little pink fluffball. He continued to giggle, then inhaled an extra sword lying around and began to mimick what had been happening, spinning and dodging an imaginary opponent's attacks.

She began to giggle, then laugh. "He's right. It does sort of look like a dance."

Meta Knight smiled to himself. "Perhaps. I think this has been enough for the day."

She sighed, dropping the sword to the ground and lying down in the tall grass. "All right."

"Take the rest of the day off. Tomorrow, I will begin to teach you a new skill, even as we continue your sword training." He spun around and left, and she soon fell asleep in the sun.

She woke up, startled, around sunset. She frowned, trying to discover what had awakened her. She didn't see anything, so she began to settle back down, eager to continue napping. But soon, she heard a strange rustle nearby. She leapt up and grabbed her sword, then looked around herself nervously...