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It has been a few days since the GSA announced that they were on their way. Everyone got things prepared as fast as they could. Now there's nothing to do but wait because the GSA should be arriving any minute now.
Meta Knight is very stressed. His cape is so tight around him, Kirby can see the seam where his mask touches his face. Kirby whistles in worry. “I will be fine,” Meta Knight tells him. “If you want to stay here and meet them with me, you may, but it will be boring adult stuff.” Bleck. Adult stuff. Kirby sticks out his tongue. “They’ll be here soon. I will come back to you, I promise.”
Well. If Meta Knight promises, that means he’s telling the truth. Meta Knight has hardly ever broken his promises! Kirby looks up at the sky then bounds off towards the castle, pulling out his phone. Maybe he can convince some of his friends to play Possession with him!
Many friends will play Possession with him! They all gather at the front doors of Castle Dedede, Kirby equipped with the fancy new hammers he got in the Forgotten Land. One of them is tucked into his pocketspace, though. Kirby looks around at his friends and nods firmly. He closes his eyes. He starts counting and hears everyone scatter. Thirty seconds later, Kirby opens his eyes, the music humming beneath his skin. They lift their hammer high over their shoulder and run into the castle. They’re after Shadow first. He is so good at finding everyone else.
A flash of grey fur and Kirby perks up immediately. Shadow rushes past them, yelling a taunt in the waddle dees’ language, and Kirby chases after him with their hammer high. Kirby swings. Shadow ducks. Kirby misses. No! They were so close! Kirby hisses in frustration. Shadow blows a raspberry, leaping over Kirby and slapping the top of their head on his way down. Kirby skids to a stop, nearly slamming into a wall.
A spear waddle dee walking by asks if they’re alright. Kirby gives them a thumbs up before spinning around to chase after Shadow. Shadow is standing on top of one of Dedede’s statues, balancing on one foot. Kirby puffs out their cheeks thoughtfully. If they try to float up there, Shadow will jump off before they can reach him, but if they DON’T try to float up there, Shadow will stay up there until he wants to get caught.
Shadow stares at Kirby for a moment before jumping off. He sways to one side, dodging the hammer strike and ducking under the next. “Come on, Kirbs,” he says. “You can do better than that.” He rolls to the side as Kirby steps towards him.
Kirby leaps into the air and does a flip, slamming the hammer into Shadow's head. Kirby’s counterpart yelps, dropping his stance. Kirby slams two more hits into him. Shadow goes down, and Kirby beams. Shadow scoffs, dusting off his fur. He retrieves a Hammer Ability from his Copy Palette. “Well. We can’t let everyone else have all the fun.” He inhales it and gains the classic striped headband.
Kirby nods determinedly. He thought he heard Bandee talking, so they’ll just have to head in that direction.
Wait, where would he have heard Bandee talking? WHY would he have heard Bandee talking?
Kirby gasps. The spear waddle dee! They had a red ribbon on their spear! Just like Bandee! They took off their bandana to blend in! Kirby has to admit it’s a smart play. But not smart enough to defeat them! Kirby chirps to draw Shadow’s attention and points in the direction that Maybe-Bandee went. Kirby lifts their hammer over their shoulder and creeps down the halls, watching for any waddle dees, Shadow right behind them.
They pass a few of the elder guards, who roll their eyes at the two’s suspicions. One of them wishes them luck at finding Bandee. Another one tells them to stop playing in the halls. Kirby leans around the corner, Shadow standing on his tippy toes to look over his head.
The two watch a hand reach into a pocketspace and pull out a trusty faded blue bandana. Bandee puts his bandana back on and Kirby yells, “BOO!”
Bandee squeals. “Nooooo!” he yells, dashing down the hallway. Kirby chases after him, hammer held high. They pass Meta Knight, two puffballs, and somebody that looks like Knuckle Joe. That must be the GSA.
“Excuse me.” A hand grabs Kirby's scruff as he runs by and Meta Knight lifts him into the air. Kirby squeaks in displeasure. “Are you playing Possession?” Kirby nods, beaming. “You know Dedede gets sad when you play Possession.” Kirby frowns, looking up at Meta Knight with the saddest eyes imaginable. That's just not true at all. Dedede doesn't like it when they play Possession AROUND him. That's why they try to avoid his side of the castle as much as possible when they play! Meta Knight sighs. “Go play outside.” Kirby gives him a thumbs up. He isn't going to, of course. He's just agreeing so Meta Knight puts him down. Once Meta Knight does put him down, Kirby runs down the hall towards where Bandee disappeared.
“Kirby!” Bandee yells. “Kirby! C’mon, I wanted to get further!”
“No!” Kirby yells in reply. He swings at Bandee, who ducks, grabbing at their bandana so it doesn’t go flying. Kirby jumps and slams the hammer down, narrowly missing Bandee. Bandee jumps to the side, rolling across the floor. They hit the wall and Kirby smacks them with his hammer. They sit there, stunned, as Kirby hits them two more times.
Bandee sighs. They stand and take a hammer out of their pocketspace, testing it with a swing. “Let’s go find everyone else.”
The two of them creep through the halls until they hear Shadow yelling Kirby’s name. They run towards his voice and jump back just in time before Adeleine trips over them. Shadow jumps over the two of them. “After her!” Bandee and Kirby turn around, following quickly. As many people as possible need to chase Adeleine, because she’s taller than everyone else and that makes her fast. Ribbon is right behind Adeleine and Kirby takes a swipe at her. He misses completely.
Adeleine turns the corner and Kirby spots the fuzzy light blue of Fluff. Kirby yells wordlessly. Fluff squeaks. “GO GO GO!” he yells. The others who were hiding in the same place run away, the Possessed chasing after them.
They lead them in loops in the halls, heading towards Dedede's side of the castle. “Against the rules!” Kirby yells. Sailor laughs, waving her hat in the air with a whoop.
Adeleine trips, falling on her face. Ribbon stops flying to check on her. “Save yourself,” Adeleine says. “Go on without me.”
Bandee slams his hammer into Adeleine's side and goes to hit Ribbon as well. He misses, Ribbon flying away. Kirby jumps onto Adeleine, hitting her several times. Shadow continues chasing the rest. Adeleine laughs and rolls over. She holds her hand out and Kirby gives her a hammer from their pocketspace. “What are we waiting for?” she says as she stands.
Kirby beams and they start chasing the others again. Sailor is peeking around a corner, yelling in alarm when she sees Kirby approaching. “No!” She runs. Kirby rounds the corner, skidding across the floor and slamming into the wall. Bandee and Adeleine do not skid across the floor, turning the corner easily. Kirby gets to his feet, shaking his head. They need to stop running on the newly mopped floors, the janitors must be furious at them every time they play in the castle. Kirby floats over the shiny wet area before gently touching back down and continuing to run.
Kirby hears Bandee splutter and say, “SAILOR!” Sailor laughs. Kirby catches up to them and makes a questioning noise. “She threw a rock at me!” Kirby loudly chirps in disapproval and Sailor blows a raspberry.
They run around the halls, swinging and missing. Eventually Kirby realizes that he recognizes the room they’re being led into. It’s a meeting room! The GSA could be in there! “CHEATERS!” he yells.
“NUH UH!” Sailor yells. Adeleine speeds up and the uncaught scream. Kirby laughs, hopping up and down as they run. Well, even if they do run into them, they’re having fun!
They run through the room, seeing Dedede and Meta Knight on one side and the GSA on the other. Kirby wonders why Meta Knight isn’t in his chair. The uncaught say hello and the Possessed say goodbye as they rush out the door.
On their way out, Bandee smacks Gooey. He splats on the ground and Shadow pounces, hitting him several times for good measure. Kirby and Adeleine continue after the rest. Adeleine swings and nails Ribbon. Ribbon smacks into the wall and Kirby catches her with his hammer, bouncing her a few times. Ribbon can’t really hit people because she can’t carry the hammers, but she likes to be chased anyway.
“Ooouch,” Gooey says around the hammer he’s holding.
“If you’re going to say that, stop playing Possession,” Adeleine tells him.
“Ooookaay.”
Kirby takes off after Sailor and Fluff, Shadow right behind. Sailor and Fluff split up at a crossroads. Shadow heads after Sailor and Kirby heads after Fluff. Fluff swings out a strand of yarn and swings himself into the rafters. He’s all knitted and fuzzy when he comes into the Surface Realm, but he can still use his ravel abilities, which Kirby finds unfair when they’re playing games! Fluff balances on the rafters, wrapping his whip around a beam to lean down and look at Kirby. He sticks his tongue out. Kirby huffs and charges up his hammer. He slams it against the wall, shaking the beams. Fluff wobbles, nearly falling down. “Hey! Be careful!”
“Down!” Kirby demands.
“You have to catch me, those are the rules,” Fluff says.
Adeleine, Ribbon, Bandee, and Gooey catch up to Kirby. They all stare up at Fluff. Fluff almost always wins Possession because he climbs up into the ceiling. Bandee looks like he wants to pull out his spear. But that would be cheating because he can only use the hammer instead of his Ability. Fluff can only use his ravel abilities because he hasn’t been caught yet.
Bandee throws his spear at Fluff anyway.
“Hey!” Fluff says, retracting his whip so he doesn’t get hit. “That’s cheating!”
“I didn’t see anything,” Adeleine says. Ribbon and Gooey agree.
Kirby shakes his head and slams his hammer into the wall again.
Fluff topples over. He catches himself with his yarn and starts swinging like it’s a vine. “After him!” Adeleine yells.
They chase Fluff around the halls until they burst out one of the doors and Fluff stumbles across the cobblestone sidewalk, blinded by the sudden sunlight. Shadow and Sailor are standing there, hammers at the ready. They swing and Fluff goes flying, skidding across the grass and coming to a stop next to the castle walls. Everyone jumps on him and batters him with their hammers until he’s flat like a pancake. Fluff makes a sad wheeze. “I surrender.”
“All in favor of throwing him in the fountain?” Sailor says. Everyone cheers, dropping their hammers in the grass. Kirby claps excitedly.
“Nooo…” Fluff says. “Not the fountain, I’ll be wet for hours…”
Adeleine lifts him up, the flattened yarn puffball flopped over her arms. “Into the water you go.” Everyone follows her and watches as she heaves Fluff into the fountain.
As everyone does after being flattened, Fluff goes back to normal, except he’s now soaking wet. He rolls out of the fountain onto the ground with a sad plop. Water goes everywhere. “Dom is going to be so mad at me…” Fluff mumbles.
Kirby pats his head, squishing water onto the ground. “Fun?” he asks.
Fluff sits up, looking at Kirby. “...It was fun.”
Kirby beams. “Good!” The others start to play in the fountain while Fluff finds a good place to start to dry off. Kirby has had a good time playing. He is going to go take a nap now. Kirby looks between the pop flowers and lays down. He is dozing off within the minute.