Tiers and Hopes, Book 2

Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken

Unbowed (adj): not bowed down; not subdued

Unbent (vt): freed from flexure

Unbroken (adj): not broken; not violated; whole, intact; not subdued, untamed

-Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed

Kirby's POV

Day 10

I feel great! I've never felt like this since—well—ever. For the first time in months, I can smile and laugh and share my joy with everyone around me. There's no smothering gloom or sneering faces or harsh voices telling me that I'm "low-tier trash" or a "filthy casual". I can look in the mirror and see the hero who fought for Dreamland, not some naïve little pink puffball.

Luigi is to thank for most of it, but I can also thank myself. I've stopped assigning a value to myself based on a piece of paper. The reason why I was in the dumps was because I was starting to believe my hecklers. But they're wrong, and I've demonstrated that to them countless times. Thanks to my new Kirby-cide technique, I've started to prove that I'm far from useless. That I could win a Smash battle if I put my mind to it.

Fox, Marth and Falco are no longer bothering me, and they want to be my friends again. Really? After what they pulled on me? I don't hold grudges against people; that's what most of my fans like about me. But just because they're showing remorse doesn't mean they're automatically back in my circle. Fox, especially, crossed the line with his vicious display that day.

But—I'm not thinking about that anymore. I'm not thinking about the times I was used as a ball or dumped in a trash can. I'm not thinking about the food items chucked at me or the way they tried to use cake, my favorite food, to torture me. I'm not even thinking about the shard of glass I used in a twisted attempt to escape from the pain. I'm only thinking about the future, and the days and opportunities stretched out before me like a freshly paved road.

...

Day 11

I got to battle Marth today. Mr. High and Mighty Marth, with his blue hair, vain attitude ("Everyone, please watch me!"), his big f—ing sword and his Tipper (Just the tip). He was the first of my tormentors to come around, but it doesn't change the fact that he willingly participated in humiliating me and made a big show of being high-tier. It was nothing short of satisfying to copy his f—ing Tipper and penetrate him with "just the tip". Adrenaline zipped through my veins as I floated and flitted about him, attacking with lightning fast jabs and kicks, knocking him around with my Hammer and slashing him with my own sword. The punchline was the "Kirby-cide". Marth was great about losing to me, by the way, shaking my hand and gushing about my finishing move. After the match, I was less angry at him, but I still wasn't ready to let him back in.

After I took a shower, I hung out with all of my friends. We sat around the GameCube, taking turns playing Luigi's Mansion. I love that game! Not only do I get to play as the person who saved my life, but I also get to help him rescue Mario! I'm well on my way to 100% completion with this game, but I don't care about collecting all of the gems and capturing all of the Boos. My favorite part is getting to fight that mean ol' blob of ectoplasm and show him what it really means to be a hero and a brother!

Pikachu and I are doing great, and he's continuing to stitch up the still-raw wound between him and Luigi. He's taken down all of the signs decrying Luigi's side-special as cheap imitation, and he's put an end to the smear campaign with Pichu's help. Alas, Dorf and Koopa have a hard time getting the memo, but they never cared about Pikachu's Skull Bash. They just wanted to pick on Luigi more severely than they already were.