Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Green greens, Dreamland

Adeleine was sitting comfortably under a tree, drawing in her sketchbook and humming a little tune. She loved the scenery Popstar had to offer, the whole planet was just filled to the brim with beauty and creative merit. Even the inhabitants were very colorful and creative as well, one could watch them interact and never get bored. It was truly an artist's paradise...

The young girl looked up at the sky and frowned a bit. Although the planet itself was beautiful regardless, the gray overcast in the distance made the artist feel somewhat uncomfortable. Perhaps of the possibility of rain or even a storm. She probably shouldn't really be out considering the possibility, but the clouds were still away a bit, so might as well take the opportunity to be outside while there was still light out. She was about to go back to doodling in her sketchbook when she heard a voice call to her.

"Addie! I've been looking for you!" The young girl looked back up and saw her pink-haired fairy companion Ribbon, flying up to her, a small smile on her face as usual.

"Hey Ribbon. What's going on?" Adeleine asked as she closed her sketch book, bookmarking the page she was drawing on with her pencil.

"Well, Dedede and Kirby need your help back at the castle. Driblee accidentally doused Burning Leo's head and then a fight broke out between them and they ended up trashing the garden." She sweatdropped and placed a hand on her head. "Ooooh… I had no idea a Driblee and burning Leo could cause that much damage to a location..."

"Oh! So, Kirby and Dedede just needs help fixing the garden?" Adeleine asked as she got up, before something dawned on her. "Wait… Since when did Dedede have a garden?"

"After the whole Void Termina and 'Another dimension' incident, he figured he needed a nice place to relax and stuff, so he had a little garden set up buy his castle. It's actually pretty impressive. Well... or at least it was before the big showdown that happened." Pushing the image out of her head she continued.

"He has the other dream friends there helping but thought he could use your help too. Because of your artistic eye." Adeleine smiled brightly at this, helping other was something she really enjoyed doing. So she tucked away her sketchbook and started walking from her spot.

"Alright! I'm more than happy to help! Let's go!" And the two made their way two castle Dedede, to assist in cleaning up a mess made by two rowdy helpers.

Dedede's castle

Adeleine stood at the entrance of the garden, eyes wide and mouth agape at the area in front of her. After several seconds of dumbfounded silence, she slowly lifted a single hand and pointed to the garden and managed to ask:

"...Driblee and Leo did all this?!"

To say the garden was a mess would be a huge understatement. There were shrubs and hedges either burnt to a crisp or still ablaze. Trees were knocked down, a statue was broken with there pieces scattered across the ground, flower beds were flooded, making the ground in some parts extra muddy, mud was plastered all across the area and even the castle wall, the sidewalks were cracked, and there were even a few craters scattered among the tarnished garden. As Ribbon stated earlier… How could a Driblee and burning Leo possibly do that much damage to a location?

"Yeah… that was basically everyone else's reaction when they saw the garden..." Bandana Dee sweatdropped while rubbing the side of his head. He thought for a minute and stopped rubbing his head as the atmosphere suddenly turned dark and ominous.

"Except for Gooey… he just… stared at it. With a blank expression and just drooled..." Adeleine and Ribbon looked at each other in concern, then atmosphere suddenly turned back to normal as Bandana causally shrugged it off.

"Eh. He's pretty weird. Anyway, Susie is right over there. She's got a list of things that need to be done. You should go see her to find any jobs you can do." The little dee pointed over to a slender young woman with magenta pink hair, speaking with a mouse in a red top hat and cape. Adeleine nodded and made her way over with ribbon trailing behind her. By then Susie finished her talk with Daroach and he left to go perform the task he was assigned with, as she wrote something down on the tablet she was holding. As soon as Adeleine was two feet away from her, she looked up from her tablet.

"Oh! Adeleine! Just the girl we wanted to see! There are a few things we need to get done that could use your area of expertise. The woman greeted cheerfully, but still retained an air of formality.

"Hi Susie." Adeleine nodded, but the girl knew that Susie was someone who took work rather seriously, so it was best to just get the point of the matter. "Bandana Dee said you had a list of things that need to get done. what is it we need to do?" Susie looked down at her tablet and scrolled through it for a few moments...

"Well, the statue over there could use some work," She started as she jabbed her thumb towards an empty podium where, The animal buddies, Bandana Dee, Meta knight, Marx, King Dedede, and a (few helpers Consisting of a bonkers, knuckle Joe, Bugzzy, and Como.) were gather pieces of the broken statue and trying to reconstruct them. Well, Dedede was more off to the side, crying about the broken work of art and talking down everyone's ears about to be careful with each piece and such. Marx looked like he was resisting the urge to tackle the fat king, as he was gritting his teeth while kicking a large rock over to the others.

"We don't have many tools such as buckets, so if you could paint some up to help clear away some of the flood waters that would be much appreciated." She then moved her hand towards one of the many various flood waters over saturating the landscape.

"And if you could help out with some of the flower beds too. Since most of the flowers were decimated in the fight. Taranza can help you with that when he's done with his chores." Adeleine and ribbon looked at each other, then back at the former secretary.

"So, that's it?" Ribbon asked, a little surprised that was all that had been asked of them. Adeleine shared the same look of surprise. Granted, it's not as though they wanted to work all day, but they figured that they would be given more things to do.

"Yes. With all the extra hands we should be done very soon." She tucked away the tablet, and began walking away.

"Now, If you two would excuse me, I must tend to my own tasks in the garden. I trust you two can handle this just fine." the young women explained simply, leaving the pair standing there for a moment.

"Well, might as well we help with the statue first." Ribbon shrugged. And so, the pair proceeded to walk over to the team that was carrying and placing together several rocks into two sections. The statue was supposed to depict King Dedede... Although, only his feet and lower waist were complete… his torso and head were still being pasted back together. Bandana Dee had finished trying to paste a piece of the king's face back in to place, but the little waddle Dee looked at the appearance of the head with uncertainty. He seemed to lighten up a bit.

"O-Oh! Adeleine!" He said. A bit surprised that the girl was assigned to assist them. "I didn't think you'd actually be helping out here. But, I'm glad you're here anyway!" he looked back at the statue's head.

"Did I put the piece in right? Because, I think the statue looks kind of off..." The young artist turned to look at the large stone head of the king herself. As to be expected, there were still several cracks covering it's surface and there were still giant chunks missing. But it took the aspiring artist less than a second where Bandana Dee had gone wrong in placing the rock chunk.

"Alright. It's in the right spot, it's just upside down." She explained as she walked over and pulled at the rock chunk. Thankfully the glue was still pretty wet, so the piece of stone popped off only after a few tugs. She rotated the piece around and pasted it back onto it's original spot. She stepped back, put her hands on her hips and nodded approvingly at the statue.

"Yep! that's much better!" She stated. As she looked at the broken statue, she began to ponder.

"Hey, Dedede!" She called catching the king's attention rather quickly.

"Yeah Adeleine?" He asked rather decently. Adeleine was probably one of King Dedede's favorite people out of everyone in dreamland. After the adventures of the crystal shards, he really took a liking to the girl (Not that way, ya weirdo!) and was even ecstatic when she joined along during the Jamba heart crisis.

"Do you think you could make the same pose your statue had? I'd like to make a reference so it'll be easier to put together."

"Well, sure thing little lady! Your the best artist I know! Vividria comes at a close second, but your still the first artist I'd hire." He then made a rather simple, yet cheesy pose. Dedede stood straight up, put his left hand on his hip, and raised his right arm, making a peace sign with his hand, and grinned a wide toothy grin. Adeleine wasn't that surprised by the pose. She summoned her canvas and went to work painting the pose. She looked at the king from different angles to paint each side of him, she also used a gray color scheme to match the pallet of the statue. As she was making her reference, she could over here Marx asking Coo for help in lifting a stone that was much to heavy for him to do on his own. Coo agreed to assist with annoyance, most likely so the jester wouldn't pester him. The artist didn't really pay too much attention to it and simply continued to paint. In a few moments later she finished and nodded. Bandana Dee, Ribbon, Meta knight and Dedede then came over to look at what she had created.

The painting was of four stone Dededes in each corner of the canvas, each facing a different direction.

"Wow! Thanks Addie this is great!" Bandana Dee praised brightly.

"Yes, this will help quite nicely." Meta knight nodded

"You really don't disappoint kiddo!" Dedede laughed lightheartedly, while putting his hands on his hips.

Suddenly there was a loud pop noise followed by a screech and splat. Everyone turned around and saw Coo laying face first in a large mud puddle with a rock laying on the ground a few feet away from him. But surprisingly, on top of the rock was a large party popper, painted gray like the rest of the rock, with a small trail of smoke emitting from the noise maker. Marx, meanwhile, was hooting at the result of the prank. The owl glared darkly as he got up of the ground.

"Marx! I swear! That's the third time this week you've gotten gunk in my feathers!" Coo snapped at the arm-less jester while trying to groom all the mud out of his wings. "First it was peanut-butter, then cotton candy! Do you have any idea how long it takes to clean those out?!" Marx took a few moments to calm down a bit after his loud laughter, before bringing out his wings to shrug.

"Well, in my defense, cleaning the garden is pretty boring. I'm just trying to spice things up a bit." Meta knight merely scoffed at Marx's excuse.

"Believe me… that fight between those two helpers was enough to, how you say 'spice things up a bit.'" he looked away and muttered under his breath. "Who knew they were actually so capable..."

"Gee, I really missed out on something good huh?" Marx pouted a bit then gave a devilish grin, "Well, I guess I could always ask for an encore performance..."

"NO!" he jumped a little when Dedede, Bandana Dee, Meta knight, and even a few helpers yelled at him. Some in anger and other in a panic. After a moment of awkward tension, everyone who shouted relaxed a bit and just turned back to what they were doing, still slightly embarrassed for their reaction.

"Anyway… STOP. We already have enough to worry about now, and we don't need you screwing with us right now." Coo snapped with finality as he finally managed to groom the last of the mud out. However the rope, some of the helper were using to move the lower-half of the statue, snapped and the hulking mass ended up falling forward towards the unsuspecting animal buddies. By the time they realized what had happened… It was too late. The statue had completely toppled down on them, pinning them under the massive weight, catching the attention of everyone around them. Marx quickly looked wide eyed at the shocked faces around him.

"Okay! That wasn't me that time! Everyone saw that right?" he said, before every quickly ran to the animal buddies' aid. Adeleine quickly painted up a giant purple ninja, jumped on it's back, and moved it toward the fallen statue. The helpers had tied some of Como's webbing to the statue and attempted to pull it back up with Bandana Dee, Meta knight, Dedede, Marx, and Adeleine's ninja hoisting it off the ground and off the squished animals. Thankfully, with all their combined strength, the hulking piece of rock was lifted back up and onto it's feet where it belonged. After that was done Dedede gasped in concern, quickly rushed over, passed Rick, Kine, and Coo (Who were on the ground moaning in pain), and up to the half of his statue.

"Is the statue gonna be okay!?" The king asked in complete concern as if it were a child that had fallen down. Meta knight facepalmed in disbelief and exasperation while Marx let out a loud "Hah!" at the king's ego. Meanwhile, Adeleine hopped off her ninja (Which disappeared in a splash of multicolored paint), and quickly went over the trio's aid.

"Are you guys okay?!" She asked frantically as she, Ribbon, and Bandana Dee helped up the animal buddies to their feet.

"Owww… Could be better." Rick admitted as he rubbed his head in pain. "We're not exactly full of stuffing y'know!"

"But if we were, wouldn't that make us more… vulnerable to the elements?" Kine asked with his typical dopey nature.

"Kine. Figure of speech."

"Well, it would be a whole lot of fun!" Marx called, overhearing the small discussion. "You wouldn't have to worry about getting hurt too badly. But then again, I guess it would be easier to bust your guts!" then the jester began to cackle at his joke, only earning him a few unamused looks. However, Adeleine did giggle a tiny bit. She always seemed to find Marx's jokes (If they weren't featured around insulting people) funny. Even if the joke itself was bad, the tone he would say them in seemed to make up for it. Sometimes Ribbon would make a small chuckle of her own, and Kirby would smile and laugh too. He always cared about others feelings. However, the others don't exactly share the same sentiment...

"Marx that was terrible!" Coo squawked angrily ruffling his feathers and shaking his head disapprovingly.

"Aw, come on! It wasn't that bad. Adeleine gets me!"

"You just get back to fixing up my glorious head, clown boy!" Dedede groaned as stood next to the incomplete second half of his statue. "If I hear one more prank or lousy joke outta you, you'll be helping Driblee and Burning Leo with their chores!"

"What are they doing?" Ribbon asked with a tilt of her head. Dedede smirked at the question and looked to his castle.

In the halls of Castle Dedede…

Several guard waddle dees and waddle doo were standing over Burning Leo and Driblee. Watching them intently as the two helpers were on their knees, scrubbing the long castle hallway floor with toothbrushes. Toothbrushes!

"Keep scrubbing boys!" The tiny cyclops demanded. "The king says you two gotta clean the floor of every hallway and every room in this castle!"

Back in the garden…

"Uhhh… isn't that a bit… excessive?" Ribbon asked as she sweatdropped with a nervous smile on her face. Dedede merely laughed, and pulled out his hammer.

"Hey! Serves those two right for trashing my garden! They're lucky I didn't choose to give `em a whacking!" he spun the hammer in his hand for a moment. But then it flew out of his grasp and smashed into the statue, causing a large section of it's head and the peace sign making arm, to fall off. Everyone stared at the scene silently with flabbergasted expressions on their faces, processing what just happened. And then the horrified shriek that emitted from Dedede's throat, rivaled the death cry of Marx soul himself. Soon followed the mixed sounds of Marx and a few helpers laughing, the animal buddies groaning in agony at the set back, and Bandana Dee trying to calm the king who was near hysterics. The aspiring artist looked around at what going on and an expression of concern blossomed on her face, she then proceed to take a few steps towards the group.

Seeing where this was headed, Meta knight sighed, walked over to Adeleine and gently put his hand on her arm. Therefore stopping her in her tracks and causing her to look down at him.

"Ermm... Adeleine… Perhaps it would be best if you did something else." He said calmly as he guided her away from the madness. "I believe you've done enough here. We'll finish up the statue."

"Really? But, I can-"

"We can handle it. You already made a perfect reference for us to go off of. Besides, you and Ribbon should par take in something without such… insanity."

"But I-" Adeleine went to protest but stopped when she saw Ribbon shaking her head. Clearly not wanting to partake in the scuffle that was occurring behind them. Adeleine looked at Meta knight and gently nodded.

"Alright, we can find something else to work on." She sighed as she and her fairy companion walked away from the small construction site. Kirby was walking by when he spotted them, and began to dash over to them with a bubbly smile.

"Addie! Ribbon! Poyo!" He said happily as he approached the two girls, who looked down at him in surprise yet delight.

"Kirby! Hey! I'm happy to see you today." Adeleine said happily once the puffball was in front of her. Kirby smiled back, then gently grabbed the sleeve of her smock and began leading her through the garden and over to a large pool of water that was currently occupying on of the flower beds. Several helpers consisting NESP, Poppy bros. jr., Gim, Wester, and Chef Kawasaki. She was surprised to see Taranza was also there, holding about three buckets.

"These were all that were left in the shack." He explained as he placed them on the ground.

"How 'bout painting some buckets to help? Poyo?" he asked, reminding her of the other assignment that Susie had informed her of earlier.

"Oh! Right! Hold on!" Her canvas appeared beside her once again, and with a few strokes of her brush, she had painted a portrait of a small tower of empty metal buckets. In a moment several buckets tumbled out of the canvas and onto the ground. Each helper grabbed one, (while Kawasaki grabbed two), and they all scooped up the as much water as the buckets could hold and began marching out of the garden and over to the back cliff, where a huge lake was behind the mountain.

Adeleine painted up some more buckets to deal with the miniature lakes that had formed in the garden, Ribbon and Kirby each snatched one, while Taranza grabbed four, holding one in each hand. As they were scooping up all the water Taranza stopped after the fourth bucket and stared at the water with an unreadable expression in his eye. For a second, he swore he saw Sectonia staring back at him… as Ribbon and Kirby went off to dump their buckets, Adeleine noticed Taranza's odd behavior and decided to walk over to him. She keeled down next to him and looked into the water as well.

"Hey. Are you okay Taranza?" she asked gently, the mage jumped a bit when he heard Adeleine's voice, spilling some water from the filled buckets he was holding. He had been so focused on looking at his reflection he hadn't noticed her approach. He then sighed and ran a free hand through his hair.

"I suppose I could be better..." He admitted. "It's just rather difficult to move on from...*sigh* sorry. I-I don't want to pester you with some silly personal issues." he quickly got up, and forced a smile. He didn't want Adeleine, or any girl for that matter, to see him in such a state.

"I'll be alright, don't worry about me. You just...focus on your work, I'll focus on mine." Adeleine still wasn't convinced by this.

"Are you really sure you're alright? I'm always here to talk."

"Absolutely!" He said confidently as he turned around and began moving towards the moat keeping his head turned and focused on Adeleine. "I assure you I have everything under control."

And then he collided with Magolor and Daroach, dropping the buckets he was holding, and drenching them and himself in water. Adeleine cringed at the turn of events. He did not have things under control…

"Taranza! Dude! Watch where your going!" Magolor scolded as he and Daroach glared at the anarchic. "If you have eyes on the back of your head then I'd think it would be more beneficial to use them."

"Sorry, I am pretty clumsy." Taranza sighed in embarrassment as he picked up the buckets he dropped. Daroach gave a heavy sigh and began to wring some of the water out of his cape.

"It shows. But next time, try to throw the water onto any embers and not us. And I already had a bath this morning, thank you very much!"

Adeleine, thinking quickly, painted up some towels and ran them over to the three who were still soaked.

"Here. Uhhh, how about you guys go dry off? And we'll handle… whatever it is you were doing."

"Well… Me and Daroach were on our way to help Susie and Gooey clear away some of the dead plants." Magolor explained as he wrapped the towel around himself. "Besides, aren't you and Ribbon already helping with clearing away the water?" Then right after he said that, Ribbon came flying back with the empty bucket, but paused when she saw the three boys soaked and covered with towels.

"Uhhh… what happened to you guys?" she asked. Magolor and Daroach then proceeded to glare at Taranza again, who then proceeded to look away awkwardly.

"Nothing to worry about." Adeleine quickly interjected before the mage and thief could start pointing fingers at Taranza again. "There's been a little change of plans Ribbon, we need to help out Susie and Gooey now."

"Adeleine. You don't have to do that." Daroach insisted, despite still being wet. "We can manage just fine, you two still have a job here. It wouldn't be right to give you more work."

"Besides, Taranza can help us after dousing us in water!" Magolor added cheerily earning a shocked look from the floria regent.

"What!? B-But I-" he stammered. But he was then being pushed by both the mage and the thief before he could slip away.

"Come now, it's only fair." Daroach stated, nudging the protesting archaic along. Leaving the Artist and confused fairy behind. The former looked behind her to see the flooded area had shrunk significantly, due to the helpers scooping up most of the water while Adeleine was having a conversation with the males who had just left.

About half an hour later, due to Adeleine, Ribbon, Kirby, and the helpers combined efforts, most of the flooded area were reduced to much smaller puddles. Adeleine was hauling one final bucket as she made her way to the side of the cliff to dump it out.

"Alright! We're just about done here!" Ribbon cheered as she flew ahead, a bit of the water contained in her bucket, sloshing out as she flew. Adeleine smiled at her friend's optimism. However, her smiled faded a bit when she thought back to Taranza… The sad look in his eyes, how he quickly tried to mask it when she asked… She knew that he had a troubled past, many of them did, but it still made her feel kind of bad that she couldn't properly comfort him.

"I just wish I could-"

She was cut off when she slipped in the mud, dropping her own bucket, slid down a steep slope, and nearly fell into a patch of Gordos. However, the back of her smock got caught on an exposed root, so she was left dangling over the long spikes. Everyone turned their heads after hearing her scream and saw the apparent peril she was in. Dedede, being the closest to her at the moment, rushed over… and nearly wet himself when he saw all the gordo spikes that were sticking up at him. And seeing that Adeleine was dangling out of arm's reach… Dedede took a deep breath, pulled out his hammer, and jumped into the gordo patch.

Several of the Star Allies facepalmed when they heard Dedede's own horrified shriek. Deciding to take action, Magolor teleported over to where Dedede was now clinging onto the root with one hand, and grabbing Adeleine's arm, trying to hold her away from the gordos, with the other. Seeing the wizard, Dedede quickly held Adeleine towards him, insinuating him to take her. Magolor, (after internally eye-rolling at the King's cowardliness) floated down, took Adeleine, hoisted her up over his shoulder, floated back up, and set her back down on solid ground. Then he turned around to look at the gordo pit, just in time to see Dedede scrambling to pull himself up onto the edge and out of the pit. By then many of the Star allies had come over to check on Adeleine and/or laugh at Dedede's expense.

It was mostly the latter.

"Hahahaha! Oh man! That was rich!" Marx laughed loudly, his little body shaking with laughter. "Not only were you dumb enough to jump into the pit, but you shrieked louder than Addie did!"

"So, our 'great king' can look at a dark entity of mass destruction in the eye, but can't handle a patch of gordos?" Daroach chuckled a bit himself, he too did find the king's reaction humorous. Dedede's face instantly turned red at the thief's remark.

"Hey! Just so you know! Gordos are practically indestructible! At...At least that weird Void thing had a weakness! Meanwhile, these spike balls can survive a nuclear explosion for all I know!"

"Which probably isn't much~!" Marx added as he twirled and balanced perfectly on one foot. He was suddenly met with a large hammer just inches away from his face.

"You trying to say I'm some kind of idiot, ya freak show?" Dedede asked darkly, looking more than ready to punt the limbless jester to the other side of Dreamland. Marx stared at the hammer threatening his face for a solid ten seconds before looking up at King Dedede and sticking his tongue out at him for a brief moment before saying:

"You said it not me!" the jester then dodged a hammer swing at his head, and soon the two were running all across the area with Dedede trying to whack Marx and the boy laughing and dodging every swing. Everyone watched them, unsuprised by the development. Marx always seemed to get on Dedede's nerves from time to time, which isn't too big of a surprise as the jester always had a thing for causing mischief and the king never took much of a liking to those hi-jinks. It didn't help that the boy also had some dirt on his record, as he tried to take over Popstar once in past before. During the Jamba heart and Void Termina crisis, everyone had gotten pretty used to Marx trying start up something that would hit a nerve with the self-proclaimed king. To the point where it was even kind of entertaining.

"Hey Kirby, remember when that used to be you and the king?" Bandana Dee asked as he pointed to the scene. Kirby smiled innocently and nodded.

"Still is, sometimes."

"Why is there even a gordo patch here in the garden anyway?!" Taranza asked completely bewildered by the fact that a pit full of gordos was even present. Why would such a thing even be needed for a garden of all things?!

"I know his majesty tends to… Favor gordos, as both a defense and a weapon. So, it's very possible he could have added it as the garden was in development. Maybe as a means to train." Meta knight suggested, but it was evident in his tone that he was just as baffled as Taranza. Suddenly they heard giggling and heads turned to see the halacandran wizard laughing cheekily to himself. He opened on eye and stood up straight when he noticed the attention had now shifted on to him.

"Actually… That was my idea." Magolor confessed, but he was still smiling behind his scarf and his eyes didn't lose that spark. "When Dedede was still building the place I suggested maybe installing one." Unsurprisingly this earned him a lot of strange looks from everyone. (besides Dedede and Marx who were still running around)

"And why, pray tell?" Meta knight asked eyeing the halcandran suspiciously. Magolor merely shrugged in response.

"I don't know. I just thought it would be funny." He giggled. Everyone looked at him in disbelief for a long moment before Coo flew up to a small, dry, dead tree that was right by the mage, and launched a wind cutter right at the tall piece of wood. Causing it to fall and land right on top of Magolor, who went from a giggling pest, to groaning in pain. Of course, the tree wasn't enough to actually cause him serious pain, but it still managed to hurt. (Plus he now had a few splinters, and those can hurt!) The magician narrowed his eyes in anger and two orange flames flared up in his hands. He not only burned the truck that had fallen on him, but he even shot a fire ball at the owl, who quickly pulled up to avoid being scorched by the flames. However, the blaze of fire did up hitting Dark Meta knight...

Daroach and Meta knight were suddenly holding back the blood thirsty mirror warrior from attacking the magician, who was being held back by Bandana Dee, Taranza and Rick from attacking Coo. Kirby was in the middle of it, trying to calm everyone down, while also being forced to dodge attacks, with Coo perched on his head. And Gooey was just sitting there, chewing on a random stick.

Adeleine, Ribbon, and Susie just stood there in disbeilf at what was occurring. Apparently, leave it to the Star Allies to defeat a literal god and yet, turn chores into an impossible fighting ground. Adeleine feeling responsible for all the bickering taking place, felt obligated to jump in and do something. So, she began waving her arms in hopes to catch everyone's attention.

"Hey! Guys! Quit it!" She called but she was ignored unfortunately. She pulled out her paintbrush and was about to paint up a creature to catch more attention. But Susie gently placed a hand on her arm, and pushed it down.

"Leave it to me to solve these antics." Susie stated as if it were just another day at the office, (Honestly, she had half a mind to scream and pull her hair out at the display of events before her… but let's be real here, nothing was worse than working with customer service…She could handle this.) and casually pulled out her remote and pressed a button on it. In an instant, her huge bulky mech, also known as her business suit, teleported in front of her. She jumped up into it's cockpit, put down her visor, and swung the bot's arms down onto the ground. Doing so caused a loud banging sound and even generated a small shock-wave, which knocked Dedede and Marx off balance. Adeleine even stumbled a lot after the attack and she and her fairy companion looked up at the giant suit with wide eyes.

Everyone who was messing around stopped and looked over at her, a few of them even slunk back at seeing her in her business suit (Mainly Dedede). Susie slowly lifted the arms of her mech up of the ground, turned her head to the Star allies…

Then raised her visor and smiled brightly.

"Ok! Now that I have your attention, the garden is still 50% in disrepair. If we continue our current routines as planned, I estimate we should be done at around late afternoon." She stated causally, as if she were just holding a normal conversation, causing everyone there to anime fall at her change of tone. She then proceeded to jump out of the cockpit, land on the ground, and press another button on her remote. And in a flash, her business suit teleported out of the garden.

"I'll be clearing away the remaining burned shrubs. I still have the list of things that need to be done written down, so if you need any reminders come talk to me. Ok? Ok! Buh-bye!" And with that she swiftly spun back and made her way back to the dead plants she was clearing out prior to Adeleine's situation. After that intimidating presentation from the woman, everyone looked at each other for a moment... Then awkwardly went back to doing their jobs. Adeleine stood there for a moment longer, watching everyone go before deciding to go find another chore to do.

Ten minutes later...

Adeleine was on her knees planting some tulips in one of the cleaned areas of the garden, further away from everyone else. However, she seemed rather distracted and even frustrated and didn't notice Ribbon or Kirby who appeared right behind her.

"Adeleine?" The fairly asked gently, causing the artist to jump a bit at the surprise arrivals. She looked over her shoulder and confirmed it was indeed Kirby and her pink haired companion holding a watering can.

"You okay? Poyo?" the little puffball asked with that worried expression.

"Sorry guys… It's just… Well, Everyone is just driving me crazy… A little bit. It almost feels like, I'm not needed..."

"What?! Of course you're needed! You are such a big help!"

"Why you think that?" Kirby asked confused by this. He understood that the painter could get frustrated with some of the Star allies antics at time (granted not as much as others) but he couldn't understand why she would feel unneeded.

"Well… I could be doing more to help..."

"You're doing fine!" He insisted.

"Yeah! Lots of things wouldn't be able to have gotten done without you!" Ribbon added firmly. "there's the reference you painted up for King Dedede's statue You helped paint more buckets, and even hauled some of the water. And even now! You're planting flowers! So, there's no way you haven't been helping." The artist sighed but made a small smile, appreciating her friends support.

"I guess you guys have a point." She said politely, however inside… she said something else…

"That's not what I didn't feel needed about..." She then turned her attention to the watering can in Ribbon's hands.

"Ribbon, do you think the flowers are really going to need that can? I mean look." She pointed over to the approaching dark clouds that swallowed the light blue sky more and more with each passing hour."Looks like there's some rain coming our way."

"Oh! Well, I guess you're right. There won't be much need for this after all." The fairy stated with a slightly embarrassed smile for not noticing the forecast earlier.

"Well, we should be able to get done soon before the storm hits! Anyway, me and Kirby are going to go help Daroach prune some hedges, but we'll come over once we're done!"

"Okay." She nodded and the pink pair ran off to complete their new task. After she saw them leave, Adeleine let out a long sigh.

She knew everyone was happy with her help in the garden. And she knew she was playing her part well. But, what she was upset about is how whenever she tried to help someone or try to solve a conflict, she would just be waved aside. She knew she could help, but no one seemed to be letting her assist… Maybe she was being nosy. After all, everyone had things they want to keep to themselves and didn't want to drag others into fights. But… it still made her feel bad.

Adeleine looked at the view of dreamland from the high elevation she was on. She was about to turn back to planting some more tulips but something caught her eye. In the sky a small portal appeared and two figures fell out, one smaller than the other. The artist raised a hand above her eyes to focus more on what she was seeing, and spotted the two figures seemingly float down into a slightly more wooded area that wasn't too far away from mount Dedede. This was enough to peak the child's curiosity. She looked at the small area she was tending to. She wouldn't lie, she felt guilty for running off and leaving her task. But then again, everyone seemed to have everything under control, and she'd try to make this quick.

So Adeleine painted a kracko as quickly and quietly as she could. When the cloudy creature popped into reality, she quickly climbed on the turned to see if anyone in the garden had noticed. Everyone was still quite some distance away, focused on their own things, but she figured it wouldn't hurt to be sure. When she confirmed that no one had spotted her, she looked back over the edge or the rocky mountain that Castle Dedede perched upon, and ever so gently urged the painted kracko to float down. A few minutes pass, but Adeleine finally managed to make it to the bottom before hopping off the painted cloud and onto the green grass. She took a breath and began walking away from mount Dedede to investigate what she saw.

Chapter Text

Adeleine wandered through the meadow and stopped when she reached a small wooded area. She sighed again and looked at her shoes. She wasn't going to lie, she felt guilty for leaving, but she still wanted to investigate what she saw… She spotted a nearby rock and decided to step up on it to maybe get a better view of the area ahead. Admittedly, it wasn't that big of a height difference, only a few inches at best. But, at least she saw a little bit ahead. Nothing too special though. A few stay waddle dees, some star blocks, and a couple bronto burts that were flying around… The young artist pouted a bit and put her hands on her hips, as she looked at the scene. She knew she saw something fall from the sky... But it didn't seem like any of the native creatures were all that disturbed, and were just walking around as if nothing was out of the ordinary. She wasn't going crazy, was she?

No, odd occurrences such as that weren't uncommon in Dreamland.

So then… Where exactly did they go? Maybe they landed further within the small forest? That would make more sense as to why she couldn't see them from where she was standing.

"ADELEINE!"

The artist stumbled and nearly lost her balance at the sudden shout. She flapped her arms trying not to fall from the small stub of stone. Once she regained her balance she looked up in shock as she saw Ribbon flying down towards her, looking pretty upset.

"Wha- Ribbon!? H-How did you-" The artist stammered, but the fairy didn't let her finish and put her arms on her hips in anger.

"Adeleine! I went to the tulip garden to see how you were doing and you were gone! I thought you went off to go do something but then I looked down the mountain, and I saw you running through the meadow of Dreamland! What do you think you're doing out here?! Why are you running away!?" Adeleine stepped back in surprise at the claim.

"I wasn't running away! I saw something fall out of a portal that appeared in the sky and went to go find it." the fairy just looked at her in complete disbeilf and crossed her arms in a huff.

"Really Adeleine? You expect me to believe something as ridiculous as that?" Now it was Adeleine's turn to cross her arms at Ribbon's response.

"Ribbon… you first arrived on Popstar by falling from the sky, okay? Magolor ended up in Dreamland because his ship came crashing out of a portal in the sky, the Haltmann works company literally in invaded the entire planet from space, and don't even get me started on the Jamba hearts! So, you have no room to call what I just said, 'ridiculous.'" Ribbon opened her mouth to retort, but then she stopped and thought about what the artist had said for a moment... She mellowed and looked away while sweatdropping.

"T-Touche...Adeleine..." she admitted feeling a little ping of embarrassment from irony and hypocrisy her eailer statement. Especially considering literally half of Kirby's friends (Or at least allies) had arrived in crazy and bizarre ways. After all, this was Dreamland for crying out loud. A tribe of mole people could crawl up from the ground and it probably wouldn't even be anything out of the norm.

"Well, if that's the case, then maybe we should go tell the others, or at least Kirby? What if they're monsters or something even worse?!" She asked.

"We will if it is. But let's try to see them first. Maybe it's just some visitors Or someone who needs help?" Ribbon's tongue poked the inside of her cheek as she though about it for a moment.

"A-Alright, Addie. B-But we go back to the castle to get help if they're dangerous!"

"Deal." Adeleine nodded and held out her hand to the, still somewhat concerned, fairy who promptly shook it.

"So where did you see them land?" Ribbon asked after they made their little deal. Adeleine looked down the path again and pointed up ahead.

"I don't know exactly where, but I know it was somewhere around the wooded area up ahead." The artist started walking off, while Ribbon hesitated a moment while looking back at Mt. Dedede...

"I have a feeling the others won't be happy we left without telling them though..." She said to herself before following Adeleine. The pair made their way down the path and towards the small forest, as they approached the trees, there was an arrow shaped sign that read:

"Stay on the Path"

"Ohhh… I remember this place..." Adeleine sighed glumly, slumping down slightly as she looked down the path in annoyance. Her fairy companion sharing a similar expression. The girls proceeded to walk trough the patches of trees decorating both sides of the path. The small forest looked so much bigger inside. The various bushes, the stumps. Small as it was, if you weren't on the trail, it could be very easy to get lost in here, mostly by going around in circles do to how shockingly similar everything looked. They should know… It happened to them once. They were stuck in there for hours until Coo managed to find them…

They knew better now, so whenever they stepped off the path, they would tie a string to one of the trees near the path so they know were to go. However… neither of them had conveniently brought string with them that day… They passed a large dead tree that towered above them on the left side of the path. Adeleine gave it a brief glance as they passed, she always felt slight unease every time she walked by it, like it was always about to fall on her. But she shook it off and continued on. After a few minutes of walking and seeing nothing, the pair had reached the other side of the forest.

"Looks like they landed somewhere off the trail." The artist concluded, while looking back into the small woods. Ribbon looked at her in concern and quickly shook her head, realizing what that sentence could most likely entail.

"Adeleine, it's not worth getting lost in these woods again! Let's just head back, tell the others about what you saw and we'll take it from there."

The artist was quiet for a few moments. Truthfully, she knew that would be the best course of action at this point. However… A part of her was stubborn. She wanted to figure out this strange situation herself! Wanting to prove her use! She's helped stop monsters and villains! She's capable! Yet… Why do the star allies keep pushing her aside when she tries to help them?

"Alright Ribbon… Let's head back." She said gently, as she walked back. She couldn't exactly argue with Ribbon about something like this. She didn't want to come off as cocky or selfish. As they were making their way back up the trail, there was a noise that reached the ears of both explorers.

"I swear. We're just going around in circles! We've passed this tree twice!" A faint voice complained within the woods. The two stopped and spun around, looking to see where the voice could have come from, but they saw no one.. Before either of them could say anything, another voice replied to the first, seemingly sourcing from a small slope that was off the trail.

"I know where I'm going! Trust me. I've been here before." This voice was feminine as well, but it sounded younger than the first. Adeleine and ribbon looked at each other before looking back at the hidden source of the voice. Adeleine grabbed her brush and painted a glowing star on the trunk of the nearby tree before she and Ribbon made their way down, Adeleine still marking tree trunks as they went, the two voices as their guide.

"So was I. And it was only for a few moments. Same as you!"

"No, I was here longer."

"By a minute at most!"

The two girls eventually reached two large bushes that concealed the owners of the voices. Nodding to each other, they looked through the bushes to find two other girls. One of them was a small fairy with the figure of a paintbrush, and the second was a girl wearing a large purple hat, and long blue hair.

After hearing the rustling of leaves, both of them turned and spotted the artistic duo staring at them in surprise. Looks were exchanged, eyes were blinked, until the little paintbrush fairy decided to break the ice and waved to them.

"Oh! Hello! You two must be residents here!" She greeted happily. "Sorry for the disturbance We were just coming to visit dreamland here! Taking a look at it in it's full glory! Although..." She looked up at the darkened clouds above and sweatdropped. "I suppose we may have picked a bad time..."

"Uhhh… who are you two?" Ribbon asked, confused at who these two even were. She and Adeleine have never met these two before, however, they did have a small hunch on who they may be... Kirby and Bandana Dee mentioned to them about a paintbrush fairy, that they helped save dreamland after all it's colors were stolen that one time. (Adeleine had nightmares for weeks after that experience…) So… could this be the girl?

The fairy made a small gasp.

"Oh! Sorry! How rude of me!" She then bowed her head politely. "My name's Elline. And this is my friend Claycia!" The larger girl smiled gently, and bowed her head as well for a brief moment before looking back up at the two.

"Pleased to meet you. And who might you two be?" She asked. Adeleine straightened up a bit at the question and smiled brightly.

"I'm Adeleine and this is Ribbon." she gestured to the fairy beside her, who waved at the pair. Elline and Claycia then noticed the paintbrush Adeleine was holding and the beret on her head.

"OH! Are you an artist?!" Elline asked in delight at the sight of the appearance of the girl. Adeleine blinked a bit in surprise at how they could tell so easily. (Gee, wonder how...)

"Huh?" she asked with a small tilt of her head. Then she remember her paintbrush and hat. "Oh. Y-Yeah! I am! And judging from you're clay-like appearances, I'm guessing you two are into art too?"

"You bet we are!" Elline cheered happily, pumping her fist in the air. "Claycia sculpts things, and I paint them all to look pretty! It's kind of our gimmick."

"Wow! You guys are like an art team! Kind of like me an Addie!" Ribbon squealed in glee, but then chuckled nervously a bit. "Well… to be fair… the 'art' part is more of Adeleine's thing. I just help her fly and stuff."

"Come on Ribbon! You're art has improved a lot from where you began!" Adeleine encouraged. It was true after all. While Ribbon was nowhere near the skills of a professional, her art had some noticeable improvements each time she drew.

"Umm… If you don't mind me asking… what were you two doing out here anyway?" Claycia suddenly asked.

"Well, we were back at the castle fixing up the royal garden, When we spotted you two falling from the sky, so we decided to run down here and see what's up." Adeleine explained simply.

"A castle? You have a ruler?" Claycia asked intrigued by the news. Adeleine smiled nervously at the question, slightly looking away as she rubbed her head.

"Well… Sort of. He claims to be the king of dreamland and no one seems to complain about it. Not anymore, anyway..." Elline Immediately tapped the side of her head in thought for a few moments. (An action Adeleine found rather adorable) before she brightened up in realization.

"Hey! I think I remember Kirby mentioning being friends with someone like that!" She said gleefully towards Claycia. Although the sentence wasn't directed towards them, Adeleine and Ribbon's eyes widened in surprise.

"He did?!" They asked simultaneously. Their theory of the fairy girl's identity further confirmed.

"Yep! He and Waddle Dee told me all about him and a knight they hang out with. I even drew some pictures of them! Look!" Elline then pulled out a journal from hammer space, flipped through the pages before stopping and showing Adeleine and Ribbon the two doodles that decorated the page. Ribbon giggled at bit, while Adeleine sweatdropped and smiled nervously. The art style was a little messy, but cute in it's own way. However… The designs that she put together… were a bit… lack for a better word, off...

Though she couldn't help but wonder what Dedede and Meta Knight's reactions would be if they ever saw these small masterpieces.

"Wow... Very… interesting designs." Ribbon smiled with a small sweatdrop of her own. "Though I'm not surprised that Kirby wanted to bring them up. He does have a long history with them."

"Hold on... You two know Kirby?!" Elline asked excitedly at the pair after that information was disclosed. Ribbon nodded cheerfully.

"Yeah! We're his friends! In fact, he's back at the castle garden, helping clean up!"

"Clean up?"

"Uhhh… Long story..." Ribbon sweatdropped as she thought back to all the damages.

"Well, that's still great to hear! Claycia! Maybe we can stop by and help out!"

"Well, we were almost done anyway. So, it's totally fine for you guys to come and visit! I'm sure Kirby will be happy to see you two." Ribbon explained.

"Oooooo! This is so exciting! We get to see our friends again! And maybe meet some new faces too! I hope I'll have enough room in my journal."

Adeleine smiled at the pair's enthusiasm, It would be a delight for Kirby and Bandana Dee to see their friends again. And Elline would surely be intrigued by the rest of the star allies too.

She thought back to the time in the garden... And sighed as she put a hand to her forehead.

"Oh? Is something wrong?" Elline asked. Adeleine looked up startled. She didn't think anyone would notice! Was she that easy to read? Before Adeleine could even say anything, Ribbon beat her to it.

"Well, Addie feels kind of… unneeded." She explained, much to the artist's increased shock. "We were helping our friends fix things, and well… Every time Adeleine tried to offer help, they would push her away and stuff."

"Ribbon!" She said with exasperation.

"Is everyone being mean to you?" Elline asked with concern, then her cheeks puffed a little. "I hate bullies!" Adeleine sweatdropped a little, but held her hand up and decided to clarify a bit. She didn't want the star allies to get in trouble with someone that hadn't even met.

"Well… They're not exactly mean… But, I feel like I'm not doing enough to help…" The artist put her hand down when she saw Elline relax a bit, then walked over to a nearby log and sat down. "You see, back in the garden, A few fights happened and I wanted to try and help, but every time I reached out to them, they just kept on dismissing me. I know that there are somethings that they want to keep me out of but still… Every time I walk away… I feel useless..."

"So… That's what you were upset about?" Ribbon asked as she remembered Adeleine's odd behavior.

"Yeah… pretty much… that's kind of why I came down here by myself to see what fell, without telling anyone..."

"but… but what if it was something really bad!? Like a monster or something!?" Elline asked in worry.

" Well, then I would go back for help… but…"

"Oh no… Addie… don't tell me that you were planning on facing it by yourself before I showed up!" Ribbon gasped. Adeleine was silent for another moment…

"I will not confirm nor deny that…." She said with a sweatdrop. Resulting in a facepalm from Ribbon.

"Ohhhhh Addie!" she groaned. Claycia then cleared her throat and made her way over to Adeleine.

"Okay. Let me just say, they have a point. It's a bad idea to go running off into something head first, but I see your frustrations. When people don't ask for your insight or help on something can make you feel worthless, especially if you think you can solve the problem. I've been in that position before." She sat on the log beside Adeleine and continued.

"But, you know… Sometimes being a support is an okay thing too. It's good to want to help people but, you need to take it from the other person's point of view. There are going to be things we want to keep to ourselves and things that they want to keep you out of. And they don't push you away because they don't need you or that they don't like you. It's only because they don't want to bother you or drag you into something they don't think is worth your time." Adeleine looked away and held back an annoyed groan.

"Well I know that. But I feel like maybe I should stand my ground more. I know I can help! But… I don't know why… One of them clearly had something bothering him but when I asked him if he was okay, he just said he was fine, even though he was clearly not."

"Adeleine… This is something I don't just tell anyone, but..." She gathered her thoughts, took a breathe and began to explain her story. "You see, I was possessed by a monster called Dark Crafter a while ago… It was difficult for me to talk about to others, even Elline! But, it's something I learned to open up about over time. You can't just, force yourself to talk to people about issues you may have. It can be a delicate topic."

"Yeah… I kinda get what your talking about." Adeleine nodded and looked up at the gray sky… "I was possessed, twice, by a terrible thing called dark matter… It was… scary, to say the least… I still haven't fully opened up about it…"She looked down at her feet and clutched her arm

"And then in the same adventure as my second possessing… there was…." She began to recall memories of Shiver Star, gripping her arm tighter at the memory. Elline looked concerned but also a bit confused at her recoil, while Ribbon sighed sadly, put and hand on her chest and shook her head. Claycia, while not know just what Adeleine was recalling, knew that it was pretty dark for her to have that kind of reaction. So she gently put a hand on her shoulder in a reassuring way.

"You can help people, but it's best to do it at a slower pace. I can tell you know what it's like to be in that position where something is bothering you a lot, but don't know how to voice your concerns or bother others with them. Ultimately, people will open up to you when they feel it's time. And this applies to more than just inner demons. I'm not saying don't offer to help. You still can take the initiative with some things… but all in all just be 'I'm here whenever you need help. Don't be afraid to talk to me or ask.'" Adeleine was quiet for a bit, but eventually nodded.

"Okay… but what about all those fights I tried to stop?" she asked next.

"Well, this advice can also help when it's with things such as fights. When two people are having a dispute, it's no good trying to stop it if you don't know how. Let's say, to people are having an argument about…" Claycia tapped her chin for a bit, before her face brightened up. "the Kingdom trade." She held her hands out and a lump of clay materialized in them. She pulled it apart, and molded the two large chunks in her hands, into two human figures. Once she set them on a nearby stump the began to move around, moving their arms, and pointing accusatory at each other.

Claycia then set down another clay figure. A miniature replica of Adeleine, who looked at the pair in concern. Ribbon, seeing this, lightly squished her cheeks with her hands in adoration at the figure.

"Aww! It's so cute!" The fairy cooed delightfully. Claycia smiled proudly at the compliment before looking down and continuing the demonstration.

"Now, obviously, you don't want them to fight and you want to stop them." The clay Adeleine goes over to them and attempts to break them up, but the two figures only look at her in annoyance.

"But… Do you know how to handle a situation like this?"

"Well… umm..." Adeleine looked at the scenario in confusion for a bit be fore shaking her head in defeat.

"Okay. let's try another scenario. Let's say two people are having a physical dispute." The clay figures then go from arguing, to a full out brawl. Tackling, punching, roughhousing, any action that inflicts physical pain onto the other.

"Now, It's understandable you want to help fix this one too. But… Here's what could happen."

The miniature Adeleine then runs into the dispute in an attempt to stop the fight, but ends up being attacked on accident. Soon the other two clay figure are looking down upon the miniature Adeleine's dazed form lying on the ground.

"You could end up getting hurt from the fighters, with them not meaning to. And granted that could stop the fight, at the risk of your own safety, but they could easily just continue the brawl without paying you much mind."

Adeleine nodded a bit in understanding at what Claycia was trying to get across.

"I think I'm starting to get it now."

"So you see? I'm not saying, 'Stay out of every conflict' But know which ones you're capable of solving before jumping in blindly. It's easy to be blinded by your urge to help, but just know you can still help in others ways too. You got it?"

"I… I think so." Adeleine stood up from the stump with some more confidence in herself. "I just got to be more aware of when I'm needed and to be more prepared to help in bigger situations that I'm not used to! Right?!" Claycia lightly facepalmed. She didn't seem to quite understand the point of her explanation. But at least she got some of it. Suddenly a strong breeze blew through the forest that nearly knocked Adeleine off her feet from surprise.

"WOAH! That was new!" she commented after regaining her balance. The wind continued to blow through the woods shaking the branches above their heads. Then, one of the overhanging branches breaks and falls near the group, barely missing.

"Yikes!" Ribbon yelped at the near-miss.

"The wind is picking up!" Elline squealed. Adeleine managed to look up through the small hole in the canopy that the branch left. There was no rain, but the wind was getting stronger by the second, and the gray storm clouds… seemed to be swirling…

"Wait a minute… those are no rain clouds!" She pieced together as a horrible realization dawned on her. The trees creaked at the strong winds, a few more twigs fell.

"We need to get back to the castle! Come on! Follow us!" As Adeleine began taking of back up the trail of stars she left behind on the trees Ribbon, Claycia, and Elline followed until they all reached the main path.

"Come on! Hurry!" Adeleine called and the group continued rushing down the path, several trees fell around them. The four dodged them as best they could. But then the trunk of the massive dead tree, tumbled down and split the two parties apart. Adeleine and Ribbon one side, Claycia and Elline on the other. Elline attempted to fly over but was nearly hit by a falling branch, if the wind hadn't knocked her back first. Claycia caught her before she hit the ground.

"Claycia! Elline! Are you guys okay!? We'll come back!" Adeleine shouted over the wind. But Claycia quickly responded before either of them could make a move.

"It's fine! You two keep going! Me and Elline can find somewhere else to stay!"

"Yeah! We saw a cave while we were wandering around! And we won't get lost this time! That path you painted will be a huge help!" Elline added.

"Are you sure?" Ribbon asked from the other side of the fallen tree. Claycia nodded, despite knowing they couldn't see her.

"You two just go find shelter at the castle! We'll meet up with you afterwards!" Ribbon nodded, grabbed Adeleine's sleeve, and pulled her along the path back to the castle. The artist looked back at the fallen tree for a bit longer before picking up the pace back to Castle Dedede.

"Claycia! We need to get outta here!" Elline wailed as the wind blew through her hair. "Things are definitely taking a turn for the worst here!"

"Right!" They began to run back up the trail, but took a few seconds to look back at the path Adeleine and Ribbon had run down to return to Castle Dedede.

"Poor girls. I hope they get back alright." Claycia said quietly to herself, before continuing to run for cover.

Meanwhile back at Castle Dedede...

The wind howled loudly across the countryside. Trees collapsed, branches snapped, blocks were blown from there positions, signs were ripped from the ground, and the creatures who roamed the fields fled for shelter, all for the same reason.

On the horizon… A massive tornado was making it's way through Dreamland, and everyone who was at Castle Dedede could see it clearly.

"Oh sweet NOVA! IT'S A TWISTER! A TWISTER!" The self-proclaimed king shrieked and flailed his arms in a panic. The rest of the Star Allies were still in the garden when they saw the tornado form, which was a shock in and of itself.

"Crikey! There hasn't been a natural tornado in dreamland for years!" Rick stated in shock as the wind ruffled his fur. He quickly grabbed coo's foot before the wind could even have a chance to blow the owl away. Magolor turned to look at Marx who didn't seem that bothered by the current events.

"Well Marx, you said you wanted things to spice up. Well, here ya go!" he gestured towards the destructive cyclone tearing up the landscape. Marx only snorted and brought out his wings to shrug in response.

"Yeah… Ooooh, a tornado! I'm really scared!" He said, his tone dripping with sarcasm. Well, unfortunately for him, his words came back to bite him when the winds picked up even more and his wings got caught in the powerful gust. He would have been completely blown away, had Daroach not grabbed Marx's clawed wing at the last second.

"Okay! Okay! I take it back! This is pretty scary!" The jester practically wailed at nearly being whisked away by the wind, with the thief's hand was the only thing at the moment keeping him from doing just that. Eventually, Daroach pulled him back onto solid ground and Marx instantly retracted his wings, not wanting to risk getting blown off his feet a second time.

"EVERYONE! INTO THE CASTLE! NOW!" Meta knight shouted catching everyone's attention from the massive tornado coming their way. Seeing that the cyclone was nearing mount Dedede, and clearly capable of causing some damage, everyone wasted no time in retreating into a sturdy palace.

"Well, so much for the garden… that we worked so hard on too..." Coo added briefly looking at the now restored area, before heading inside the castle for cover along with everyone else. Inside, Dedede saw a passing waddle Dee and went over to it.

"Go gather up everyone in the castle, and tell Driblee and Leo that their punishment is being cut short!" The waddle Dee nodded and went running down a nearby hallway. Meta knight was the last to come in, he checked the garden to see if anyone else was left and when he confirmed it was empty, he ran inside and the doors closed and locked behind him.

"O-Okay! Let's do a head count!" Bandana Dee announced, he then took out a clip board and began reading off the names, people saying "here!" or something along those lines. But then when he got to two certain names…

"Adeleine and Ribbon!"

Silence. Bandana Dee looked up with and expression of fear beginning to form on his face after hearing no response. Dedede felt uneasy by the silence too.

"Hey! ADELEINE! RIBBON!" He called when he saw that the artist and fairy hadn't answered. He looked around frantically, but then shouted again. "WHERE'S ADELEINE AND RIBBON!?"

"They didn't come in?!" Marx shouted,

"Are the still out in the garden?!" Kine asked.

"No, I checked before the doors closed, and neither of them were out there." Meta Knight confirmed.

"I'll look for them great king!" Bandana Dee volunteered as he raised his hand. "Maybe they're somewhere in the castle!"

"I'll go too! Poyo!" Kirby added, and with that he turned around and went off in search of the artist duo. Bandana Dee stayed a moment longer when Dedede tapped him on the back of his head.

"You go with that pink marshmallow. If you find them, you'll know where we'll be!"

"Understood, Great King!" He saluted before taking off himself. As soon as Bandana Dee left, Dedede turned to the rest of the Star Allies.

"Alright! Everyone else! Follow me!" He began began running down a hallway with everyone else trailing after him. As they were making their way down the hallway, everyone could faintly hear the wind blowing against the walls of the castle. Eventually they made it the end of the corridor only to find it empty.

"There's nothing here." Dark meta knight stated unimpressed. Dedede simply rolled his eyes and keeled down onto the floor.

"Keep your mask on, D.M.K! I'm getting there!" Ignoring the "Don't call me that!" from the mirror knight, he pressed the tiles on the floor in a certain order and suddenly a synchronized jingle of Dedede's theme was heard. was heard, and a section of the floor began to lift up before them, revealing an iron door. There was a metallic click and the door lifted open

"Impressive. Isn't it?" Dedede boasted proudly, practically relishing in the surprised looks on everyone's faces. "Say hello to the 'DDD Panic Room!' A 180 Square foot room. Complete with designer furniture, a buffet, a coffee machine, a wine closet, a fireplace, an air hockey table, a surround sound stereo, a 40 inch flat-screen TV with a blue-ray and switch, back up generator, and a hot tub!" Everyone stood and looked at him in disbelief for a few long moments.

"Wait… You have a hot tub down there!? Is this supposed to be a panic room or a man cave?" Sir kibbles asked.

"Hey! Isn't the point of these things meant to make you feel safe!? I decorate it how I want and you can't judge me for it!"

"Sire, with all due respect, I don't recall this 'panic room' at all." Meta knight stated as he eyed the passageway into the floor. "If it was here, I believe it would have been most beneficial during the majority of attacks that occurred here in Dreamland." At this, Dedede rubbed the back of his neck and grinned nervously.

"Well, yeah. I mean, I only got it installed last week." Almost everyone nearly collapsed to the floor after hearing that. Susie merely propped her chin on her hand as she pondered for a moment the smacked her palm.

"Oh yes. I remember. You came to me and asked for some materials for it." She reminisced. "I knew the mechanics of that door seemed familiar."

"Yeah, that's great and all, but helllllo?" Knuckle Joe gestured to the window, the gray sky the wind blowing weak branches down from the trees. "GIANT CYCLONE OF DEATH, RIGHT OUTSIDE!"

"GAH! Right!" Dedede jumped at the reminder. He turned his head to the large group behind him. "Quick, Everyone down inside! Single file..." And then proceeded to climb down the ladder before anyone else could even make their way over.

"RIGHT, AFTER ME!" He added quickly as he descended down into safety, much to everyone's irritation.

"You know what… I'm not even that surprised." Magolor sighed, unimpressed as he glanced to the side. Marx summoned his wings and shrugged again.

"Well who cares? I'm going in for that buffet and hot tub!" With a flap, he flew up and dropped down into the panic room without even using the ladder. There was a silence and then…

"Is… is that a body pillow of-"

"NOPE!"

...

As that was going on, Adeleine and Ribbon had managed to make it halfway up the mountain before the tornado formed, but it was approaching quickly and the wind growing stronger. They finally pulled themselves up on the ledge, stumbled to the castle entrance, and tried to push open the doors. But they were locked down due to the tornado's appearance. Ribbon pondered for a minute before looking up at the window and pointed to it.

"ADDIE! LOOK!"

"We're going to have to break a window to get inside."

"Yeah but it's too high up!"

"But if I carry you up to the height of the window, you can use the crystal shard gun to smash the glass and we can fly inside!"

"But Ribbon! The wind! You could get blown away!"

"I haven't yet! We still have time before the tornado actually gets to the castle, and the extra weight from you should be enough to keep me weighed down enough to keep me from being blown away." She paused for a brief moment and thought about what she had said, then proceeded to wave her hands frantically and shake her head.

"N-Not that I think you're heavy Adeleine! I-I just meant-"

"I know what you mean Ribbon!" She stated in a deadpan manner before looking back up at the window with determination. "Lets go!" Ribbon quickly flew over to Adeleine and grabbed her back, took a deep breath and began to lift her into the air, just high enough to be at level with the window. Adeleine took out Ribbon's crystal shard gun and aimed it at the large window, but it was a bit difficult for her to aim due to the wind-speeds picking up.

...

At the same time, Meta Knight was assisting Vividria down into the panic room when he heard the sounds of running feet heading their way. Kirby and Bandana Dee came down the hallway, without the artful adventurers.

"GUYS! We can't find Adeleine or Ribbon!" the latter shouted as soon as they arrived

"WHAT?!" Dedede shouted from the panic room in horror.

"We looked everywhere for them! They're nowhere in the castle." The waddle dee explained frantically. Meta Knight looked out the window when he heard small clinks on the glass surface. twigs and small rocks were being blown at the castle, and the sky was turning green...

"Bandana dee! Kirby! It's time for you two to head down as well." He said, realizing the tornado has come too near.

"What about Adeleine and Ribbon?!" Bandana Dee asked in concern, but was nudged along by Meta knight.

"I'm afraid they'll have to find somewhere else to shelter..." He sighed solemnly, urging the waddle Dee to safety. The headgear wearing servant hesitated, clearly not wanting to abandon two his friends, due to his loyalty. But, he eventually headed down, a spark of guilt flashing in his eyes as he made his way down the ladder. Kirby on the other hand, stood his ground more defiantly and shook his head harshly.

"WE GOTTA FIND THEM!" Kirby protested but was cut off by the sound of one of the windows breaking. Meta knight grabbed his paw and began to pull him down into the safe room with everyone else.

"And I understand that, but we can't with these conditions!" He responded firmly. Kirby began to pull back a bit, not wanting to leave two friends of his behind in such a perilous, and potentially deadly, situation.

"B-BUT-"

"LOOK! WE'RE OUT OF TIME!" Dedede shouted from within the bunker. "Listen… I don't want to leave them out there either, but how can we help them if that tornado axes us first?! It's too risky!" Kirby looked at the floor for a moment longer, still conflicted on what to do… he looked back out the window and saw the debris flying by as the tornado's rein of terror continued. The longer he stayed out then he would be putting himself and possibly the others in danger. But at the same time, Adeleine and Ribbon could still be in danger!

"Besides! Adeleine and Ribbon are able to take care of themselves! They might not be the strongest, but they're not helpless either." Coo added from below. Kirby looked back out the window one more time before sighing and going into the panic room. He felt guilty… but he should have more faith in Adeleine and Ribbon. They have gotten stronger since the quest for the crystal shards, hopefully they can manage until the tornado passes. Meta Knight recognized the slight worry on Kirby's face, before entering the panic room himself.

"I understand you're concern Kirby… But for now, all we can do… is hope they'll be safe..." And with that, the panic room door was shut and locked. Preventing any outside forces from getting in. Meanwhile, in another part of the castle, Adeleine and Ribbon were crouching on the floor, surrounded by glass shards. Adeleine slowly got up, being very careful not to touch any of the glass on the floor, as Ribbon fluttered her wings and lifted her little body off the floor.

"That worked better than I thought..." the small fairy said in relief.

"Yeah… But now what?" Adeleine looked around.

"HELLO!? ANYONE!?" She called out, then her eyes fell upon of dirt and mud trailing down a certain hallway.

"The others must be down that hallway! Come on!" the artist concluded, the two quickly followed the trail down the hallway.

"DEDEDE! BANDANA DEE!" Adeleine shouted but received no response. They eventually reached the safe room door at the end, where the trail conveniently ended. It didn't take them long to figure out where everyone was.

"GUYS! IT'S US! LET US IN PLEASE!" Adeleine yelled again as she knocked on the door. But there was no response.

"KIRBY! DEDEDE! META KNIGHT! ANYONE!" Ribbon cried as she and Adeleine continued to pound and kick the metal door, in hopes they would be heard. Sadly however they're cries were drowned out by the thick, enforced, metal door. Adeleine looked up and saw in one of the windows that the sky had turned green and the tornado was getting closer to the castle. Realizing the danger, Adeleine remembered a very important rule when it came to tornados...

"WE NEED TO GET TO A ROOM WITH NO WINDOWS!" she yelled to Ribbon with urgency.

"Well… WHERE?!" The fairy yelled. Adeleine thought for a minute and remembered the storage room in another part of the castle.

"Come on Ribbon! We gotta get to the storage room!" the two then began sprinting back up the hall, to the room they broke into, and down another hallway. Thankfully, after all the times she visited castle Dedede, she knew the layout well. Not was well as Dedede, Meta, Kirby, and the waddle dees of course, but enough to know where she was going. Adeleine and ribbon eventually reached a door and entered. The lights flickered as the duo walked down the hallway towards the storage room. While they knew everyone was most likely in that panic room from earlier, they still called out for their friends, in hopes that they could somehow hear them. Perhaps some of them had taken refuge in the storage room as well?

"DEDEDE! MARX! RICK! TARANZA!" Ribbon called out. Nothing but the howls of the winds was her answer.

"GOOEY! MAGOLOR! SUSIE!" Silence...

"META KNIGHT! DAROACH! COO! KINE! DARK META KNIGHT!" no answer. As they passed the guest bedroom, Adeleine took a deep breath and shouted out for one last person.

"KIRBY!" Only this time she did get a response, but not a good one. The window in the guest room broke off and was blown hard into the door, which swung open, and hit Adeleine. She screamed as she was then knocked against the wall and hit her head. She was silenced as her form slumped down into a sitting position. Ribbon gasped in absolute horror at what had happened to her friend. Adeleine heard her fairy companion faintly scream her name in horror and concern as her whole world went black…

….

….

….

…

…

..

..

.

.

"….Adeleine!"

"Adeleine!"

"Adeleine! Please wake up!"

Adeleine slowly opened her eyes to her friend Ribbon, shaking her awake with a worried look on her face

"Ugh… R-Ribbon?" the artist asked, still dazed from what had just happened. The fairy lit up the second she saw Adeleine come through.

"Adeleine! You're alright! Thank the Crystal of Joy!" Adeleine shook her head as she sat up a bit, she looked to her left and saw in the guest bedroom, that the glass window was on the floor and there were a bunch off gray clouds blowing past the large hole very quickly.

"Huh? What's going on outside?" Ribbon looked to the hole in the guest bedroom where the window used to be and gasped in shock.

"I don't know! But It looks like the tornado has just reached the castle!" Ribbon then proceeded to grab Adeleine's wrist and pull her towards the storage room door. "Come on! We need to get to the storage room before anything else bad happens!"

"R-Right!" The two quickly made their way over to the end of the hall, where the door was. Adelien grasped the nob and pulled it open.

And as soon as Adeleine opened the door, she stopped herself midstep from plummeting. The duo gasped in horror at what was below them… They were looking down right into the center of the tornado, and the various things spinning around within it.

Adeleine and Ribbon slammed the door shut and leaned their bodies against it in horror. This… this couldn't be real! Could it…? Dreamland was a weird a wacky place sure, but even it has it's standards! Adeleine looked over at Ribbon who shared the same look of shock.

"What the heck is happening?!" They unintentionally asked at the same time. They then fled down the hall until they reached the other door of the hallway. Adeleine, grasped the handle, took a deep breath, and opened the door up a crack and peeked outside. Before slamming the door shut in a panic.

"Same thing?" Ribbon asked

"Same thing." Adeleine nodded. She was in disbelief. Did… did the guest room and hallway somehow get yanked out of the castle by the tornado?! She knew tornados were capable of destroying buildings but this was ridiculous! Adeleine sat in the hallway with her back against the wall, covering her head with her hands. She could hear the wind blowing by the destroyed window in the guest room, but… She looked up and nothing seemed to be flying into the hallway from the guest room. There were no crashes, shatters or anything of the sort.

She knew she shouldn't be anywhere near the window during a tornado but… curiosity got the best of her… she slowly stood up, summoned her art easel, and held it in front of her like a shield, in case anything flew at her. Ribbon saw what she was doing and looked up at her in confusion.

"Adeleine? What are you doing?" Adeleine didn't right answer away. She looked at the guest room in determination and said:

"Ribbon… stay behind the canvas." And started moving towards the doorway. Ribbon looked startled and was about to pull Adeleine back, but then she noticed how… strangely calm it was in the guest room. After thinking for a few moments, she flutters over to Adeleine and stays hidden behind the large canvas. As they reached the door way, Adeleine saw that aside from the broken window… everything was still in order. The bed, the chairs, even the knick knacks! Ribbon peeked out from behind the canvas and looked suprised as well! Adeleine slowly lowered the canvas board, after seeing that nothing was flying at them and looked at the window.

Outside several creatures and objects were flying right by them. Star blocks, trees, those yellow… things that are always decorating the path on each of Kirby's adventures, and even living creatures were floating around the cyclone like they were pieces of paper caught in the suction of a vacuum. However, some of them didn't even seem too bothered. A Sir Kibble sitting in a beanbag chair reading a magazine, completely at ease like it was a normal day, was blown by the girl's window. He looked up from the page he was reading, noticed the two girls staring at him confused, and decided to wave hello to them. The fairy and the girl exchanged glances for a moment before awkwardly waving back at him.

After that brief interaction, the Sir kibble went back to reading his magazine and flew off. In the second after he left their sight, Kracko came spinning past them. His single eye wide and looking around with panic, a bit of electricity sparking from his sides. Adeleine and Ribbon both ducked to avoid the volts. The remained below the window for little longer until the heard the sound and sensation of the crackling lightning fade. Adeleine peeked up to see if it was safe to continue viewing the mayhem outside.

A few waddle dees on a wooden mine train came flying by. The contraption, despite not being on any tracks, was operating like normal and the waddle dees seemed perfectly at ease. A few of them looked over at the artist and fairy and waved at them, the one at the front even taking off his hat to them. Feeling a little more at ease, the two waved back to them with a little more cheer. After the short greetings, the mine train took off like nothing happened.

"You know… This isn't too bad!" Ribbon smiled, clearly more at ease with the situation.

"Yeah… as long as you don't look straight down." Adeleine added. Suddenly the room began to shake and spin a bit. Causing the two to look at each other in concern.

"Uh oh…"

The section was thrown out of the cyclone and lingered in the air for a few moments longer, before plummeting to the world below. The people inside the structure certainty noticed the change, and the two were hugging each other screaming as the structure fell. Furniture was rising off the floor, tumbling, and Adeleine and Ribbon were rising in the air a bit themselves. Much to their growing terror.

After what felt like hours the structure landed roughly, and the artful Adventurers fell back down onto the floor along with the rest of the furniture. After a few crashes, the two laid still on the carpet for a few moments longer…

"Are we dead?" Ribbon's muffled voice asked, with her face pressed into the mat. Adeleine slowly got up and made her way to the broken window. She peered outside and saw that her sight was obscured by several tree branches and oddly enough… cyan leaves. She turned and shrugged at Ribbon, who just looked up from the carpet.

"I think we landed in some sort of tree. But… It doesn't look like any kind I've seen."

"Really? Let me see." With a fluttering of her wings, Ribbon flew over to the window to take a look herself, and she didn't seem any more familiar with strange leaves.

"okaaaay… This is definitely not normal. By Popstar and Ripple star standards..." Adeleine bit her lip and left the guest bedroom before going down the left hallway to the storage room door. She knew there wouldn't be a familiar room filled with miscellaneous things on the other side… but… Taking a breath, she opened the door to see a white tree trunk with several branches. She gently stepped onto one of them, when she heard a deep creaking noise. Clearly, the weight of both the room and the hallway was putting enough strain on the tree. Luckily she felt her feet lift off the branch as Ribbon held her in the air and they carefully desended down the odd tree.

Adeleine didn't know what she was expecting when they reached the ground, but this certainly wasn't it. They were standing in a peaceful forest, with several twisting trees, covered in beautiful cyan leaves and white bark. The grass was a green like normal, only it had light blue streaks going across it. Flowers, almost as tall as her, were spread out throughout the environment. The light blue sky had faint traces of stars scattered among it despite it being day.

"Hey… Ribbon?" She asked while never tearing her gaze away from the scenery.

"Yeah?"

"Call me crazy but, I don't think we're in Dreamland anymore."