Four stages. Four stages of complete mayhem with his Mirror counterparts. Or was it five stages? Kirby had lost count.

They were finally facing off against Dark Mind, right after Kirby's duel with Dark Meta Knight. The dark copy of his friend had shattered, hopefully gone for good instead of just defeated. Now, him and his friends were fighting the real source of all the problems, the one who had enchanted the mirrors for evil—Dark Mind.

Having just finished an intense battle, Kirby hadn't really been ready for this fight, especially after he almost dropped his copy ability. But Meta Knight had managed to toss Galaxia through the portal before it disappeared, so he wasn't completely unarmed. It had been difficult, making it through these warped biomes in this...mystery dimension, but despite the fact that his opponent kept resurrecting himself from the Mirrors' powers, the pink puffball had made good use of his weapon and had rarely lost his grip on it. He was tired, yes, but failing would be an infinitely terrible option. The power from Galaxia kept him motivated.

"Yeah! You got 'im!" Red Kirby cheered as the pink puff landed yet another final blow on Dark Mind.

Yellow sighed, not as optimistic as the others. "That's what you said last—wha—"

Dark Mind started burning, with the enchantments laid on the mirrors beginning to fade. The Kirbys thought to celebrate, but the area began shaking, and everything around them suddenly turned blood red. Kirby could see nothing but a flat sheet of the terrible color as he felt his body get very—

"Oof!"

Kirby, along with his mirror counterparts, hit the floor, wherever the floor was. All the puffballs could see was the ground they were standing on, which was a rock-solid surface suspended over what appeared to be a bottomless pit. They couldn't see anywhere else; whatever else may have been there was covered in thick, blood-red clouds.

The puffballs picked themselves up, feeling Dark Mind's presence already swooping over them. Instead of his previous demonic form, however, the villain now appeared to be a giant, floating eyeball. Kirby felt sick to his stomach staring at it; he wasn't quite sure whether the form was magic...or partially electronic. It may have been both. He tried to calm himself by gripping Galaxia—

Wait.

Where was Galaxia?

It wasn't in his paw…

His eyes widened. I dropped it. I must have let go of it somehow! What am I gonna DO; I can't beat him without Galaxia!

His dark blue eyes darted around the area in a panic. There was nothing but the empty platform, Dark Mind, and his counterparts standing in the area. Red was shooting fireballs, Yellow was waving her Beam wand, and Green was launching lightning strikes. Not one of them had the Master Sword with them. Kirby was devastated.

"No..." the puff whimpered, dodging an attack from Dark Mind, who was stronger than ever. "Oh..."

He had to defeat Dark Mind! It wouldn't be fair to the others if he just ran around in a panic dodging hits! But what could he do?

Shadow Kirby.

The sound of his shadow counterpart appearing was one that always surprised him. It was a simple set of three notes that indicated he had used the power of the mirrors. Kirby had never been absolutely sure on how he just appeared out of nowhere; perhaps he could ask after this. But why was Shadow Kirby here, of all places, in the middle of the battle? Did he plan to fight? Kirby could never tell when he had an ability because his hats didn't always show up. They had a battle to fight now; they couldn't stand around doing stuff that wasn't going to help them defeat Dark Mind!

Shadow Kirby walked toward his normal counterpart as Dark Mind swooped down upon the platform. Blue eyes met blue eyes, each wanting to know what the other was thinking. Kirby's eyes flickered to the Master Sword in his counterpart's paws for a brief moment.

Why is he here? What does he want with that? Is he going to fight for me? I don't want that. I hope he doesn't do that. But what if he wants to us? I need that sword!

"Here." He placed the Master Sword back in Kirby's paws. "You dropped this."

Kirby sighed in relief as he nodded to his Mirror counterpart. "Thanks; I—"

"Look out behind you," Shadow Kirby added quickly.

Kirby whipped around and smashed his sword into Dark Mind just in time. The floating eyeball recoiled and flew back some. Red, Yellow, and Green started attacking it to give Kirby some time to recover. As he nursed his paw from the awkward angle of his blow, it suddenly occurred to him to look for Shadow Kirby. He turned around...but there was no trace of his counterpart.

Kirby stared around the area, wondering where he could have gone. Now that he could fight Dark Mind, he kind of wished that Shadow Kirby hadn't left.

Was that his only purpose of coming here? To give the Master Sword back?

Kirby shook his head. Perhaps he would never know...

C/N: This is based on an actual in-game event, which is where the cover comes from. It won't trigger if you never lose the sword, however.