Limitless lights lined a night sky. Each pinpoint stuck to the pitch black expanse, gently wavering its soft light in a silent chorus with the stars surrounding. Each blinking beacon cast its beams far and away and down till they reached the surface of another star -- Pop Star. Only this speckled sky was visible, and the partly lit, pallid, placid plains below were just as eventful the lazy night overhead.

Somewhere, amid the black in between, however, something stirred...

A sinister shape spotted the speckled stretch, small and rounded with jagged fangs. A second soon joined it. This one was horned with a pronged tail. The pair grew into a group, then several, and finally a swarm. The army of nightmarish creatures soon drowned out the starlight, and this was exactly what they were.

The sky was not just full, either of stars or scares. It was also missing something -- the characteristic rings that surround Pop Star. These shining circles shield the world below from otherwise unwanted threats. Sure, the repellent is powerless against an overwhelming force, or even a moderate one, but it does wonders for keeping the lowest of dregs, those lesser fears and dreads, from bothering anyone in the dream-like land below.

"And that," finished explaining a bespectacled squid, "is our situation." A hand immediately shot out from the gathered audience with enthusiastic calls for attention. "Yes," the speaker pointed with a tentacle, "the fellow in the back."

"Yeah, I'm just a little curious," wondered the selected Madoo as he floated above the crowd, "... why are we listening to you? Really. Why? I don't even know why we all just showed up at your house."

"Because," Squishy calmly answered, "I have these glasses. I have to know what I'm talking about." The murmurs and whispers tended to agree with the reason.

"Hey... hey, you," called out one not from the group, not even from Dream Land for that matter. It was a less than fiendish fiend of which was spoken speaking to the speaker. "Look at me."

"Now, as you can see," continued the learned-looking mollusk, "these ... minor frights are not much of a threat."

"Hey... I'm gonna bite you," furthered the ignored imp.

"In fact, they aren't any real danger," the eight-armed explainer went on without breaking pace. "They're just really, really... really annoying." He snagged away tentacle #5 sharply. "Ow. Would you stop that?"

"Yeah-hah. I totally bit you. What!?"

"So, as you can see," Squishy flatly wrapped up the seminar, "this may be Pop Star's greatest peril in years."

"You mean... the only?" innocently corrected a single-eyed shellfish.

"... Yes."

"Seems like you guys need a hero." A grim voice called out from the darkness. All eyes, in pairs or alone, turned to the warrior in the shadows. A yellow eye beamed brightly through the armor's eye slit.

"Oh, phew, what a relief," praised the previous Peezer. "He knows where we can find Kirby. I heard that Ripple Star opened up an all you can eat buffet, and he hasn't been seen since."

"N-no. No, that's not it at all." The knight reconsidered. "Well, okay, sure, that is what happened to Kirby, but that's besides the point." The fighter struck an awe inspiring pose for the many in attendance. "I shall be your hero."

"Why do you have to do it?" questioned an umbrella hatted blob. "And who even said we needed saving?"

"What? Isn't it obvious?" answered the grim guardian. "Aside from the fact that one of those things is still biting Squishy-"

"Meh," interrupted the squid. "It's not so bad. Kinda tickles."

"Grr," said the un-menace. Honestly, rather than growling, it said "grr".

"As I was saying," continued the self stated savior, "I am the only one cut out for it. Or, no, instead, let's put all our faith in the small fry with the frying pan. Or, how about the cyclops with the parasol? Better yet, his slow cousin who brought a row boat on dry land. I'm scared now."

"It just so happens that I thought there was going to be water here," Waddle Dee poorly defended his actions.

"Fantastic." Sarcasm! "As 'impressive' as the rest of you are," the white knight continued with his argument and the sarcasm, "you don't compare to this!" The warrior held his weapon up high.

"What, what is that?" asked a pink fly. "Is that a broom?"

"Whoops. I forgot I was cleaning my place earlier," confessed Bukiset. "Say, Hothead, would you mind coming over here? I, uh, won't copy you."

"Well, okay," believed Q-bert's long lost brother, "but it better not be like the time you said you wouldn't copy Pengyou lied to meee!"

As Bukiset walked down the grassy knoll, he knew this was his big chance. Even if they didn't want a savior, they would get one. Without the pink blob around, he could truly shine and rise to prominence. With luck, he would last longer than others, he thought, passing a dried-up Gooey by the side of the path, holding a sign that stated "Will do blob-related things for food".

Perhaps, he thought, he could rise up past Meta Knight, who would then have to return to the role of villain. He could even surpass Kirby! Why, he could get his own TV show!

...let's hope not.

But in all his thought, Bukiset, for just a moment, wasn't watching where he was going, and walked right under a ladder. A tan, mushroom stalk-like being wearing a green mushroom cap stood on the ladder, placing blocks in the air that seemed to defy gravity and simply hang there.

"Bukiset: Swordsman of the Stars!" Bukiset exclaimed, holding his sword up. Unfortunately, his arm bonked against the ladder, and it began to fall. It hit two of the hanging blocks, and though Cappy managed to grab onto one, the two the ladder hit fell and hit Bukiset, knocking him over. "Ouch!"

"How do you like being humiliated, huh?" Waddle Dee, who was sitting in a rowboat on land, said. He then began trying to row it away.

"I hope no one saw that," Bukiset said, standing up.

"Um, I did?" Waddle Dee said.

"No one important," Bukiset answered. Waddle Dee held up a sign of a face sticking its tongue out, then resumed rowing. "Now then..." Bukiset looked at the three paths in front of him. A sign pointed to a snow-capped mountain said "METROID" on it, while another pointing towards a castle said "ADVENTURES OF LOLO" on it. The last sign pointed down a path and was labeled "WEIRD NIGHTMARISH CREATURES THAT AREN'T REALLY A THREAT". "Ah!" Bukiset exclaimed, and made his way down the path to deal with the not-very-threat.

"These guys ain't bad at all," admitted the alabaster avenger. "They even put a sign up for themselves. That is more helpful than it is annoying."

"Fool!" murmured one of the frights hidden nearby. "Little does he know that the path leads not to us, but rather to his doom!...icile!"

"My 'doomicile'?" questioned the white knight, who was nearer by than the minion of mischief -- or semi-mischief, at least -- had believed. The thing was also much less hidden than it had thought, as well, behind only the post of the sign, which covered little of its body let alone the wet paintbrush currently in its clutches. "What exactly is a 'doomicile,' pray tell?"

"Well, they are like a domicile," the found fiend struggled, running its paws over its horned head, "but only full of doom!"

"Muh-huh," the self-appointed savior tried to ignore. "You do realize that I don't live there, right? Don't you think I'd realize if a sign were pointing to my house?"

"Waitaminute, if that isn't your home, then whose is it?" wondered the slight horror.

All eyes followed traced down the trail -- very much beaten dirt -- till they found the simple, round house and the just as simple Slow Cousin Dee -- very much still in a boat.

"Forget you guys!" announced the mouthless one to no one, seemingly, as he was quite a distance away and had no real reason to suspect being under surveillance. "I'm going home! Which is right here." After a few painful-to-watch minutes of trying to fit his raft through the door, it slammed shut behind him, followed by another loud sound. "Eegads! It is so very kinda annoying in here!"

"Doooooooooooom!" boomed the twisted black creature, shaking and clenching its claw dramatically before itself.

"Yeah, pulling one over on Slo-Co isn't all that much an accomplishment," burning Bukiset explained.

"Oh yeah?" recoiled the reviling thing. "Then how do you explain," it spoke gaited to ready some revelation behind it, "this!"

"That's a rock," dispatched Dream Land's defender. "You obviously just picked up it up just now. Gansan's missing a leg and everything."

"Only two rocks?" the now double stones displayed their offense. "How unoriginal is this design?"

"Like you are one to talk about stealing or design," Tamasan was indignant -- and present, for some reason.

"Careful, guys," warned the white one. "My obscurity detector is about to blow." The pale protector stopped a moment, rolling his lone eye up into his helm in search for some sort of rational thought -- a rarity recently. "Why do I even carry this around?" At that, he stopped carrying it around by shoving the device down the demi-deviant's throat. Bukiset dispatched the annoyance, as well, with the simple command "Sweet Stuff's starfish Tinsel," which was apparently more than enough to cause an obscurity overload in the detector and most witnesses' heads.

"Great, now I'm down to one rock."

"Do not fret, small crippled rock thing," the valiant avenger proclaimed. "There is nothing to fear while Bukiset is near!"

"Fear?" echoed the last remnant of Gansan. "What is there to fear on Pop Star? We have a mountain made out of marshmallows for crying out loud."

"You mean, you don't know? Haven't you heard the news?"

"I'm a rock who was laying out near a path," explained the earthwork. "Who do you think talks to me?"

"Good point. In any case, a great peril has befallen our fair land. You see-"

"Oh, no!" lamented the stone. "Dark Matter has come back, hasn't he?" The soldier shook his head. "Did... King Dedede steal all the Twinkling Stars again? No? The Dream Spring got tainted? Extra-dimensional thieves? ... Did... someone take Kirby's food?"

"Quit suggesting better plots!" shouted the swordsman. Recomposing himself awkwardly, as he did just raise his voice, speak to a rock, and both, he continued calmly. "Dream Land is under siege by ... spooks!"

"Thooose... don't sound intimidating at all?" Gansan guessed.

"Their name is a work in progress," rushed the one-eyed. "The important thing is that I'm saving the world. And you, for you are in the world."

"Oh, so that's why you're taking me with you," the mineral mentioned the travel taken by the troop. The one-third sat on his shoulder. "That covers that, but why, exactly, do I have this tag on me that says 'Use in case a Stone Club needs copied'?"

"That... that is your imagination," fibbed the fighter.

"And where are we heading to?" the pebble pondered.

"I dunno," dodged the defender. "To stop these frights."

"Well, where are they coming from?" the rock tried to narrow down.

"Space." That didn't help. "Something about rings and breaking, I dunno."

"The multicolored barrier rings that shield Pop Star from evil have been breached?!" gasped Gansan. "Why did they fail? How do we get them back up?"

"You know, those are a lot of good points, and it seems like somebody should have made them while we had this whole brain storming thing going on at Squishy's place," wondered the white warrior. "... Oh well!"

"So, what is it that you plan to accomplish, then?"

"Saving people, duh. That's what heroes do. And, I know someone in dire need of some right about now." Gazing up, the rock head realized where they had arrived.

"Eegad! It's Slo-Co's newly named Doomicile!" An unpleasant thought hit the stone. "It took you that long to get from there to here?"

"I'm really out of shape, okay? My diet is entirely donuts and gumdrops." Even after just delivering this statement, Bukiset still tried to dramatically kick down the door. "Enough of that. I'll just use my burning blade."