Where Did Rifty Come From? - Blog Posts

Kirby and the Purple Butterfly Chapter 1

It was a cold and breezy afternoon in Dream Land. Winter had just begun, and the snow was already starting to fall. Kirby loves the winter, where the ground becomes as soft as the cotton candy clouds in the sky, and the stores in the Waddle Dee Village begin to sell more sweets for the holidays.

Kirby wanted to celebrate the start of the season by having a picnic with his best friends, so he gathered all of his supplies into a basket, wrapped his cute little scarf around himself, and rushed over to Castle Dedede. When arriving in the castle halls, Kirby bumped into Bandana Waddle Dee, one of Dedede’s loyal servants.

“Bandana! Do you know where Dedede is? I’m inviting the both of you and Sir Meta Knight over to a friend picnic! I want to celebrate the start of winter together with you guys!” exclaimed an excited Kirby.

“Aww, that’s really sweet, Kirby, but I don’t think his majesty is available at the moment. He’s currently in his throne room trying to think of a plan to make sure Dream Land is-”

Kirby interrupted them, not hearing the other half of what Bandana Dee was saying.

“He is in the throne room right now? Okay, I’ll just go ask him myself!” He went to the doors, too excited to reconsider.

“K-Kirby! Wait! You didn’t let me finish!” Bandana Dee pleaded.

Kirby burst through the throne room doors and was greeted by a distressed Dedede sitting at his desk almost buried in papers.

“Dedede! How are you doing today?” shouted Kirby.

“K-Kirby?! What’re you doin’ here? Don’t ’cha know I’m busy right now?!” screamed the king in return.

Kirby hopped up onto Dedede’s desk.

“But isn’t today the perfect day for a picnic? Surely you have time to hang out with lil’ ol’ me?!” she asked, with starry excitement in her eyes.

Dedede picked Kirby up and carefully placed him back down next to Bandana Waddle Dee and returned to his desk.

“Look Kirby, I’d love to play with you right now, but Dream Land can’t defend itself without me! It is my duty as king to make sure that you and all the other dreamlanders are all safe and happy, and I plan to keep that promise from now on. Please understand, and leave me alone!” exclaimed the king.

Kirby and Bandana Dee left quickly afterwards. Dedede grumbled to themselves, “I wish I knew how to read Meta Knight’s blasted handwriting…”

”Wow Kirby!” said Bandana Dee. “That’s the nicest his majesty has treated anyone today. He must really like you a lot!” they teased.

“Yeah!” replied a nervous Kirby. ‘Dedede must be really busy this time. He doesn’t normally act like that!’ he thought to himself before asking Bandana another question. “Where’s Meta Knight? I’d still like to invite both him and you!”

“He should still be at the Halberd nearby!” replied the Waddle Dee. “I can take you there right now!” 

Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee then headed over to Meta Knight’s airship, ‘The Halberd’, which was parked outside the Castle near the hangar. When he was inside, he saw Meta Knight and his crew training with a couple of village residents.

“Oh Meta Knight!” exclaimed Kirby.

This startled the knight and nearly made him fall over. Luckily, he still had a sword to support himself.

“Kirby!” Meta Knight exclaimed. “You cannot just go around surprising people like that, I could’ve gotten hurt! Just please be patient and wait for me until I can speak with you.” the knight explained. Kirby apologized and patiently waited for Meta, while Bandana Waddle Dee silently watched through the window.

After a couple of minutes, Meta was ready to speak with Kirby.

“What was it that you needed me for now?” he asked.

Kirby then took a small handful of confetti from the basket and threw it up into the air.

“I wanted to invite you for a picnic to start off the winter! Dedede said he was busy, but surely you can still come, right?” Kirby asked.

The knight shook his head.

“My apologies, Kirby, but I promised a few of the villagers that I would teach them how to sword fight today, and their training has yet to be completed, so I’m afraid I cannot come, ‘tis rather unfortunate.” he said while discreetly eyeing a bar of chocolate he saw slightly sticking out of Kirby’s basket.

“Oh, ok.” Kirby nodded silently and left the scene.

On his way out, Kirby looked to Bandana Waddle Dee. “Well, surely you can still come, right Bandana?” he asked with hope still in his eyes.

The Waddle Dee unfortunately shook their head.

“I’m sorry Kirby, I still have my own business to attend to! Apple juice won’t make itself! I hope you enjoy your picnic though!” they quickly explained before heading off.

‘Even Bandana Waddle Dee is busy today! What is happening?’

Kirby looked all over Pop Star and even beyond, but no matter where he went, all his friends were busy with their own important duties. At that point, all the food in Kirby’s basket became too cold, so in defeat, Kirby returned to Planet Pop Star, feeling empty-handed.

By the time Kirby had returned to Dream Land, it was nighttime, and the cold winter winds were at their strongest. Whilst trekking through the heavy snow, Kirby spotted something in the distance. Over a field of flowers, that Kirby had never seen before, opened an inter-dimensional rift shaped like a four-pointed star, differing from the usual five-pointed ones. Out from it came another one of Kirby’s species. They were similar to Kirby in shape and size, though only slightly smaller, with their only distinctive features being their lavender hue and their small turquoise horns. Before the rift closed, a luminescent butterfly came from it and landed on the starborn’s face shortly after. Kirby cautiously approached the newcomer and lightly tapped them, but there was no response to be found, they were unconscious.

‘Poor thing!’ Kirby thought to themselves. ‘If they were out here any longer, they could freeze!’

Not wishing that upon them, Kirby quickly grabbed the picnic blanket from his basket and wrapped it around the other astral, scooping them up and bringing them inside of his house. He carefully put them on his soft couch and wrapped them in a fluffier and cozier blanket, lighting the fireplace to make sure they were as warm as possible. Kirby then thought of other ways to make sure their new houseguest could be kept nice and warm, and decided to start making some hot chocolate in the kitchen.

A few hours had passed by since Kirby had taken in his new guest, who slept pretty soundly while Kirby was making their cocoa. When Kirby started putting the finishing touches, his new guest quickly woke up in a cold sweat, which startled Kirby a little.

“Oh, you’re finally awake! You looked cold, so I made hot chocolate! This’ll help warm you up for sure!” said Kirby, while grabbing the tray with two mugs of cocoa on it.

The guest looked around the room in a panic, frantically asking questions.

“W-Who are you? Where am I?” they asked in a panic.

Kirby did her best to calm them down.

“Woah woah woah! Let’s calm down here. I’ll start off simple. I’m Kirby and you’re in my house! I found you outside in the cold and took you in so you wouldn’t freeze!” she explained. “Now enough about me, who are you?” she then asked.

The other starborn paused, struggling to form an answer before mumbling “I don’t know…”.

Kirby was shocked by this. “You don’t remember who you are? Not even your name?! That’s horrible!” they exclaimed, to which the other starborn simply shook their head.

Kirby took a moment to think about what she could do to help.

‘I can’t possibly imagine how that must feel, not knowing who you are’ he thought to himself, before an idea popped into his head.

“Well, I’ll just give you a name then! How does that sound?” he proudly stated.

“That could work,” nodded the other starborn.

“Let’s try something simple then! You look like me, and you came out of an interdimensional rift, so how does ‘Rifty’ sound?” they explained.

It took the other starborn a second to think it over, before smiling softly.

“Rifty…I’d like that!” they said cheerily.

Kirby was very happy to know that their choice was appreciated.

“Yay! I knew you’d like it!” She said with joy as they handed Rifty a mug of cocoa.

“Welcome to Dream Land, Rifty”

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