"Wh-what's there?" she stammered. "Is that you, Meta Knight? Is this a test?" She gulped and gripped the sword tighter.

Something jumped, cackling, out of a tree. "Is that you, Meta Knight?" it repeated snidely, then started cackling again, now so hard it could hardly breathe.

"What are you?" she asked anxiously.

It stepped out of a shadow. "Ooooh, is the weird little Waddle scared?" a little red bird taunted.

She relaxed. "Oh. You're just a Bronto Burt."

"Just a Bronto Burt? I oughta have my friends come after you, Waddle Weird," it sneered, then began flying toward her, poised to attack. She held her sword up, ready to defend herself, but someone wearing a blue bandana hopped out in front of her. Waving a spear around, it scared the Bronto Burt off.

"Hey, hey, buddy. I wasn't really gonna hurt your friend here," the annoying bird muttered as it flew away.

Her rescuer turned toward her and gave a little bow. "Oh, Bandana Dee." She greeted him with the standard Waddle Dee blank stare, which he returned. "Thanks. I could've taken care of myself, but thanks." He tilted his head and closed his eyes, in the Waddle Dee way of smiling. "What are you doing out here? Patrolling?" He shook his head, then beckoned her to follow him. "What? Where do you want me to go?"

He rolled his eyes, then walked over to her and touched his forehead to hers. "What are you doing?" she questioned aloud in confusion.

"Can you hear me?" She suddenly heard in her head, just like before. Just like back when she used to be able to hear all the Waddle Dee.

She frowned and thought back, "Yeah, but how are we doing this?"

"Simple," he thought back. "We're both outcasts, so the only way we can be part of the one mind is if our minds are close together. We can both do this with any Waddle Dee."

"You're an outcast? I'm an outcast?!?" she panicked. "No, I can't be an outcast!"

"Calm down, it's not that bad," he comforted her. "I got kicked out for being too independent thinking, like you probably would have been eventually. But, since it didn't come to that, you got kicked out because you became like 'The Pink Devourer.'"

A look of deep sadness came over her face. "I'm an outcast. No wonder I can't hear them. No wonder they won't talk to me..."

"Yeah. I don't think you realize how close you were already, though."

"What do you mean? I was nowhere close to being kicked out," she huffed.

"Yeah, you were. Didn't you notice they weren't letting you help with the kids anymore?" he pointed out.

"Well, maybe that's true. But so what? A lot of the Waddle Dee never help with the kids."

"And you weren't allowed to cook anymore either."

She sighed. He was right. She knew she had somewhat known she was getting close, she had just been telling herself she wasn't. "Great. Thanks for making me depressed."

"Don't be. It's thanks to you I learned to think out of the box, not just be happy with the way things were."

"What?" she asked, confused.

He changed the subject abruptly. "The reason I came to find you is me and Kirby are going to have some fun with DeDeDe and Escargoon. You wanna join us?" he offered.

"Have fun with them how?" she inquired, somewhat suspiciously.

"You'll see. You in?"

She thought about it a second, then shrugged. "Sure."

He pulled back, gave her another 'smile,' then beckoned her to follow him again. This time, she did.

They soon found Kirby, hiding in a room close to the throne room. "So what are we going to do?" she asked, getting a little bit excited.

"This, poyo!" Kirby giggled mischievously, showing her a piece of paper. On it were three stick figures, one pink, one with a blue hat, and one just-plain one. Pointing slowly to each of the three and then to different locations on a map of the castle, Kirby slowly, painstakingly, explained the plan.

"So we're going to have you go in and act like you're looking for treats. When DeDeDe and Slug Boy are distracted, you want me and Bandana Dee, acting like regular Waddle Dee, to come in and put sneezing powder in their tea? Isn't that... juvenile?" she shook her head.

Bandana Dee touched foreheads with her again. "Do you have a better way to have some fun?" he inquired, only semi-seriously.

She thought for a second, then narrowed her eyes mischievously. "Yes, actually, I do," she said aloud.

*********************************************************************************************

Like originally planned, Kirby ambled in, happily singing. "Poyo, snacks, poyo!" he grinned when he saw the king's massive pile of teacakes and sandwiches. Kirby Dee, from her spot in the line of guards, looked at him urgently and shook her head. He pouted, but kept moving around randomly until the king, who was busy stuffing his face, noticed him.

"Escargoon, what is that annoying little pink puff doing in here?" he grunted.

"I don't know, Kingy, being an annoying little pink puff, maybe?" Escargoon replied sarcastically.

"Whatever," DeDeDe muttered. "Have one of them stupid Waddle Dee get me some more tea."

"Who are you calling stupid?" she asked indignantly. Since she didn't have a mouth to move, they couldn't tell it was her who was talking. Plus, the Waddle Dee just ignored her, so they weren't blowing her cover.

"Who said that? Did you hear that too?" DeDeDe humphed.

"Yes, yes, I did. But who could've said it?" Escargoon wondered in annoyance.

"I said it, Slug Boy," she announced, like it was obvious.

Kirby grinned from his spot in the corner, then shoved Bandana Dee out in front of the throne.

"Was that you?" DeDeDe asked him. Bandana Dee shook his head and shrugged. But then he pretended to see something above him, causing him to cower in fake fear. "Wh-what's going on?" the king squealed, starting to sound like a little girl.

"I have come... to give you a warning," she continued, ominously. "I am the magical protector of the Waddle Dee. You have treated them unfairly. And so, I have come... to haunt yoooooou!!!!" she finished with a moan.

"AAAAAH!" DeDeDe and Escargoon screamed simultaneously. The king tried to jump into Escargoon's arms as Escargoon tried to leap into his, causing them to run smack into each other and both fall over.

She managed to hold back her laughter, but Bandana Dee and Kirby failed miserably. Bandana Dee's shoulders shook with silent hoots, Kirby rolled around on the floor. It didn't matter, the king and his advisor were too scared out of their wits to notice. "Get Meta Knight!" DeDeDe finally shouted. "Don't let anyone leave this room!"

"Oops," she whispered to herself. Kirby and Bandana Dee both leapt up and ran away through the secret passage they had used to enter. Just before they left, Kirby gave her a 'Good luck, old friend. Nice knowing you.' sort of look. She just kept doing her blank stare to fit in with the other Waddle Dee, even though she wanted to give him the evil eye.

Meta Knight soon showed up. "What is the problem, sire?" he asked, his eyes a normal yellow.

"There's some sort of Waddle Dee ghost haunting me in here! You gotta save me!" His Royal Plumpness pleaded.

Meta Knight's eyes turned red in obvious anger. "What did this ghost sound like?" he inquired, his voice scarily calm.

"Like a ghost!" Escargoon scoffed.

"No, no. Male or female?" he huffed.

DeDeDe thought for a second. "Like a girl, although what does that matter? There is a ghost in my throne room!"

Meta Knight spun around. "Kirby Dee," he declared. "Step forward, or you are a coward."

She gulped and waddled slowly towards the trio.

"Come, introduce yourself to the king. And use respect," he ordered tersely.

She nodded, then turned to the throne. "Um, hello. I'm a Waddle Dee. I'm the Kirby Dee. I've been your servant for years, and recently I've learned how to talk." After Meta Knight glared at her, she added, "Sire," and an awkward curtsey.

"Apologize," Meta Knight commanded.

"I'm sorry for scaring you, Your Highness, and for insulting you, Your Chief Advisorness," she squeaked. She wasn't the least bit scared of DeDeDe or his shelled buffoon, but Meta Knight... that was a different story.

"Please, Sire, forgive my new pupil. She has only recently found the ability to talk. She obviously needs to practice controlling that ability," he said pointedly, his gaze shooting invisible daggers at her.

"She's your pupil? What could you possibly want with a scrawny, moronic Waddle Dee?" DeDeDe scoffed, stuffing a cake into his mouth.

Kirby Dee was about to fight back verbally, but Meta Knight spoke first. "Simply to train her to not be moronic and scrawny, Your Highness." He bowed, then beckoned her to follow.

He led her silently to his training room. Once he had shut the door, he turned to her again, his eyes still red. "Why on earth did you do that?"

"I was having some fun scaring the King and Slug Boy with Kirby and Bandana Dee, but those traitors jumped ship before you showed up," she informed him, mad at first. But after he was silent for a moment, she hung her head down in shame.

"Was this plot their idea?" he huffed, turning his back to her.

"No, sir. It was mine. They originally wanted to just put sneezing powder in his tea," she admitted.

He sighed and shook his head. "As my pupil, and as a future hero of Dreamland, I expect you to do better in the future." He turned back to her, his eyes a disappointed orange now. "Remember that your actions reflect back to me," he turned away again. "Go to your place in the library and sleep. I will stay here and decide how you are to be punished tomorrow."

"Yes sir," she whispered, and with her head hanging down, trudged out of the room.

He thought for awhile, then an idea suddenly came to him. He chuckled as he thought of it. If he had judged her personality correctly in the past weeks, which he supposed he had, this plan would work perfectly. And if not, he would think of something else.