Hello, hello! And thank you for stopping by!

I suppose I should start off by introducing myself! I'm Pyro-Link and this will be my third story on the site. I'm a huge fan of the Kirby series and thus I love to write stories about it.

This story is in fact an AU (Alternate Universe) in which all the familiar characters, from all the games to the show even are thrown into one huge melting pot set in the present day. It's mainly humor, but like the original games, it can have a pretty dark underbelly at times - I really wanted to capture that particular aspect of the original series.

I've had a great time writing this, and I hope you all enjoy and get a chuckle or two!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Kirby series, it's character, and what not. I do however own this story and my adaption of the Kirby world!

IT'S STORY TIME~!

Amongst Other Things... - 1 - And So It Begins!

His pencil creaked uneasily.

Moving it slowly across the piece of paper that was caked in dark eraser smudges and riddled with tears, he attempted to execute a few steady strokes. Careful, careful…just one line at a time; just one line at a…his shoulders fell. Shoot.

Cringing, he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before he cracked one eye open to witness his newest mistake. He let out a sigh, grabbed his eraser, and furiously scrubbed at the stray mark - unfortunately, it only resulted in yet another tear to the paper and he idly noted the paper's growing likeness to Swiss cheese. He wiped his damp forehead and gripped the pencil tightly with a renewed sense of determination. He would finish this!

His pencil suddenly emanated a few snap, crackle, and pops that were certainly not part of a well-balanced breakfast and were instead from the tight grip he secured on the poor pencil. He glared at it.

He really did not need this now. Not now, of all times in his life, not now did he need his stupid pencil to go and break and…

There was suddenly a grunt of annoyance behind him.

The youth poked his head over his shoulder, causing his pink hair to bounce slightly.

His form was small, with somewhat short arms and legs to accompany a proud height of five foot three; however, the curves of his face told him to be nearly twenty age-wise. Bright pink bangs flew messily across his forehead as some appeared to have a gravity system of their own in the way a few strands boldly stuck almost straight up. He wore a loose, faded red shirt and equally baggy jeans.

He looked at his friend with a pair of light blue eyes as his feet rotated the swivel chair he sat in in an anxious, back and forth manner. Next to his head, he twiddled his pencil restlessly. "Yeah, Meta Knight?"

On a very plush bed across from the youth sat a very disgruntled man; he had no qualms about voicing this either. "You're filling out a resume, Kirby," he stated, "not writing a speech for the President. It can't be this hard."

The older man, namely Meta Knight, wore dark clothing, donning a black band tee shirt beneath a plain, unbuttoned blue shirt. He wore dark jeans over his legs that hugged down to his ankles. His hair was dark, and black-blue strands jetted out in layers over his forward and around his face; the one exception was in the back, where the hair had been pulled into a short ponytail. The man's most prominent and distinguishable feature, however, was by far his silver mask that covered most of his face - save for his piercing pale eyes that were seen through a v-shaped cut.

"And yet it is!" Kirby insisted, twiddling the pencil faster and accidentally hitting himself int he head; Meta Knight rolled his eyes as Kirby rubbed the area gently. "It's not like I have a whole lot to put on it," he soon added.

"Did you put down Nightmare's Dealership? You worked there for a couple years," Meta Knight suggested.

Kirby slumped in his chair, hugging it around the back and resting his chin on the top. "Like I said, I've got pretty much nothing," he repeated. "Being a coffee boy at a car dealership is nothing on a resume…and working at a place called Nightmare's Dealership as a coffee boy is even worse." He frowned before he rambled, more to himself, "You'd think he'd have the common sense to use a different name…I mean, Nightmare? Really?"

Meta Knight ignored Kirby's piffling and stood up. The youth's brows rose immediately as his eyes carefully followed the Knight. "What's up?" he asked slowly.

The Knight began crossing the small room over to Kirby. "I'm just going to look over what you have so far."

Kirby bit his pencil between his teeth as he took a sudden interest in his Metroid poster on the wall to his right. "I don't think that's a good idea," he managed out .

Meta Knight stopped, falling back heavily on his right foot. "And why is that?"

Kirby lowered his face, hiding it behind his chair and leaving only his wandering eyes that tried in vain to avoid the Knight's gaze visible. "It's not done yet."

Meta Knight rolled his eyes once more. "I know that. That's why I'm looking to see what you have so far." Before Kirby even had a chance to turn in his swivel chair, the Knight was at his desk and swiping the youth's resume off it. He looked over it carefully. His forehead slowly creased as his eyes went further down…

It was during this time that Kirby made the very wise decision to use his swivel chair and its maneuvering capabilities to find somewhere safe. Using a single polka-dotted sock, he scooted the chair what he deemed a safe distance away from the Knight in the direction of the door. It would only be a matter of time until…

"Kirby?"

Just a few feet more feet… "Mm?" he replied distractedly. "AH!" Kirby jumped a good foot when Meta Knight suddenly appeared in front of him, halted his mode of escape with a swift foot, and shoved the youth's resume in his face. Kirby gave the Knight a questioning look as he gingerly pushed it away from his face.

"Why exactly are there watermelons drawn all over your resume?"

Kirby gave a weak smile. "Inspiration?"

Meta Knight stared at him with a rather discomforting glare that requested for Kirby to shut his mouth before he swiftly ripped the youth's work of art in half - Kirby gasped in horror - crumpled it up, and tossed it in a convenient trash bin behind him.

Kirby stared down sadly at it for a moment. He looked up. "Was that really necessary?"

Meta Knight ran a hand through his hair tiredly, ignoring the youth.

This wasn't working. He was trying - honestly trying - to help Kirby get a job. He got him a few interviews…Kirby was late for two of them and simply missed the last one. He gave him a recommendation at his own job with Mayor Dedede…Kirby managed to send the Mayor into a furious rage in a mere two minutes.

Today, he had handed him a resume that couldn't have been easier if he had color-coded it. And what did Kirby do?

Draw watermelons, of course.

"Kirby, do you even want a job? Or do you want to go broke?" he finally asked, exasperated. Kirby shifted his eyes away from his friend's own guiltily. "Because I've helped as much as I could. At this point, you're the one that's going to have to do something if you want to get anywhere."

Kirby let out a heavy sigh and slumped over the swivel chair. "I know, I know…you've been doing a lot to help - nearly all of the work, actually, and I'm really thankful for that - but…" He slunk even further down, muffling any further words in the fabric of the chair.

Meta Knight hastily brought him back up with a yank of his shirt.

"…don't know what to do now," Kirby finished audibly.

The Knight crossed his arms and gave a glance to the trash bin beside him. "Filling out the resume would have been good for starters," he pointed out, "but you've already messed that up." Kirby groaned and banged his head against his chair in frustration. He muttered an unintelligible syllable or two.

Meta Knight gave a wide roll of his eyes and an irritated sigh before he pulled the youth up once more. "I didn't quite catch that," he remarked edgily.

"I said fine," Kirby enunciated in irritation. "I'll fill out the stupid resume."

Meta Knight nodded approvingly and quickly procured an extra copy of the resume ("You mean you were expecting this?!"). Kirby gave it a crude look but grabbed it anyway. Scooting over to his desk he set to work once more.

He grabbed his pencil and rolled his wrist a few times similar to a runner stretching his legs for a marathon until he deemed himself ready and set the graphite to the paper.

Outside, a pair of robins were having a very pleasant day. The skies were blue, the clouds fluffy, the sun warm but the breeze refreshing - all of those lovely clichés jam-packed into one lovely Summer day. They sat pleasantly on the branch, exchanging pleasant chitter-chatter with one another and having an overall pleasant time until…

"THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!"

The two robins froze and stared with a look of horror at the nearby window before quickly flying away.

Meta Knight lowered his hands from his ringing ears and mentally decided that Kirby was to pay for his hearing aid and any further expenses should he go deaf. "No, it's not," he snapped while Kirby wrung the air above him in frustration. "At least finish the first question before you complain again."

Kirby slammed his pencil down and turned around. "For your information I did. That one was easy," he said snootily. Meta Knight glared at him.

"I hope so - it's your name."

Resisting the urge to counter the Knight's remark, Kirby, in a stunning show of maturity and steely determination, set out on the grueling task of conquering the rest of the questions. Meta Knight sighed and sat back down on Kirby's comfy bed to rest his eyes for a moment as he listened to the furious scratching of the youth's pencil.

After a minute or two, Kirby pounded his fists against his desk in a sudden revelation. Meta Knight started.

"Ah ha!" he shouted happily.

Meta Knight slipped a finger through the v-shaped cut in his mask to rub at his eye wearily. "What? Did you finish?"

Clearly, whatever epiphany Kirby had happened upon was truly brilliant as he whirled to face the Knight nearly bursting with excitement. "Nope!"

It also had apparently nothing to do with his resume…

Meta Knight let his head hit the wall behind him with a painful sounding klonk. He did, however, give an exasperated gesture to Kirby for him to continue.

Kirby appeared unfazed by the Knight's frustration. "Well, you see I was thinking - "

"Perish the thought," the Knight commented dryly.

Kirby ignored this interjection, " - and I suddenly realized: why should I work for someone else when I can work for myself?"

Meta Knight lifted his now-aching skull from the wall to stare at Kirby.

He was about to remark that hell had a better chance of hosting the Winter Olympics than Kirby 'working for himself' when he looked at how excited the youth was and he couldn't help but withdraw the comment. With a hint of undeniable curiosity he instead asked, "And what would you be doing exactly?"

Kirby grinned widely. "Well, you know how the mansion I inherited from my parents is really really big, right?"

"Yeah?" Meta Knight rubbed his temples in an effort to shoo off his incoming headache.

Kirby continued on, "And most of the rooms are empty, right?"

"I guess so…Kirby, where are you going with this?"

"And there's a bunch of space, ri - "

"The point Kirby; get to it."

Kirby pouted somewhat, having not been allowed to complete his amazing build up. "Alright, alright…so what if I rented out the rooms for pay?" Kirby proposed with a confident air about him.

Meta Knight, admittedly taken aback that Kirby's idea was genuinely intelligent, paused and blinked for a moment or two in surprise. As this receded, his eyes narrowed once more and he joked, "What? To unsuspecting strangers that could be criminals, pyromaniacs, psychos - or all of the above?"

Kirby's perky smile fell a fraction. He considered this. "Poyo, when you put it that way…" Meta Knight gave a small laugh and Kirby looked at him.

Meta Knight waved a hand dismissively before he spoke to Kirby more kindly than he had all day. "I'm kidding - I severely doubt that'll happen," he said, blissfully unaware of the fact that he would be completely contradicted in a couple chapters. "It is a good idea - surprisingly. In fact, it could actually work." Kirby pumped a fist victoriously with his friend now on board.

The resume sat lonely and untouched on the desk as the two proceeded to talk about the specifications for the idea, covering any supplies they would need, the advertising, and - most importantly - the profit. Meta Knight had swiftly assumed the position of partner to Kirby, thus making off with half of any money they earned. Kirby wasn't so sure.

"Are you kidding me? You have a job, Meta Knight," Kirby reminded him. "What do you need more money for?"

Meta Knight scoffed, a scowl on his lips. "Despite contrary opinion, being a bodyguard for the mayor doesn't pay much," he explained. "'Generous' isn't exactly the word I think of when I think of Mayor Dedede."

Despite this admittedly good reasoning, Kirby held up an adamant pout. If Meta Knight would be earning half of the profit - assuming that they even earned any profit in the first place - then his dream of going to Culinary School would take ages to achieve. It could take years before he would be able to pay even half the tuition…

Eventually, though, he relinquished and the Knight was promoted to partner. Kirby wasn't particularly enthused, however.

Meta Knight rose a hand to his defense. "Hey, you're not the only one with bills to pay," he attempted.

In the youth's mind, he fiddled around with the prospect of his idea. His smile began to grow on his lips as he voiced his excitement to the Knight, "I can't believe I never thought of this before," he commented happily. "This is going to be great! We'll get to meet new people, fix up my parents' old house, and - if that's not enough - I'll practically get paid for just living here!" He gave a victorious laugh.

Meta Knight nodded. "True…but there's a lot more than just 'living' here that'll make us money, Kirby," he warned. "There's still a lot to do before we can even begin interviewing tenants."

Kirby waved a hand dismissively. "Aw, how hard could it be?"

Meta Knight remained silent for a moment, contemplating a few things. He shrugged. "I suppose we'll find out soon enough."

So, what'd you guys think? Good? Bad? Somewhere in between? Hope you guys like my take on the Kirby universe!

See you all later!