Sword and Blade, Loyal and True / Hour of the WolfWrath

Sword and Blade, Loyal and True/Hour of the WolfWrath is the twenty-sixth episode of Kirby: Right Back at Ya! (twenty-fourth in English airing). It is one of the most popular episodes of the anime. The episode basically revolves around Sword Knight and Blade Knight, and also features WolfWrath and Galaxia Kirby (who would later return in "Crusade for the Blade". It is also one of the episodes to reveal parts of Meta Knight's past, the others being "Dark and Stormy Knight", "Here Comes the Son", "Ninja Binge", and last but not least, the aforementioned "Crusade for the Blade".

Episode Plot
King Dedede orders up another monster from Nightmare Enterprises, this time being a crimson wolf-like monster. The NME Salesman introduces the creature as WolfWrath, and Dedede tells it to go defeat Kirby. But WolfWrath becomes out of control and gets away from the king. Escargoon is surprised and says, "I don't think it's housebroken!" Angry, King Dedede hopes that WolfWrath better not wreck his castle, as his castle "ain't no doghouse", but the NME Salesman laughs and admits that WolfWrath doesn't take to well to training. He tells him that "he's kind of a hot dog and if you try to break him you'll get burned" - in other words, if Dedede tried to tell it what to do, it would attack him instead. So, despite Escargoon's warnings of how dangerous it is, the king orders for everyone to lock up the whole castle, just to make sure WolfWrath doesn't get out completely, and the guards lock up the whole castle just as Dedede has commanded them.

Meanwhile, Sword and Blade are just walking through the halls when they spot WolfWrath, much to their surprise, and they decide to go tell Meta Knight right away. They find Tiff and question her on where he is, and she suggests that he may be outside with Tuff and Kirby. Realizing that the two kids may be in danger, the two knights ask her to come with them to make sure they are okay. Meanwhile, Tuff and Kirby are playing soccer when they are suddenly attacked by WolfWrath. Meta Knight comes just in time to protect Kirby and fight against WolfWrath, while telling Tiff, Sword, and Blade (who happened to come just in time to make sure Tuff and Kirby were okay) to get them to safety. Meta Knight remarks to WolfWrath that they fought each other once and that this time only one of them will survive. The two fight, much to Dedede and Escargoon's anger, as WolfWrath was supposed to be fighting Kirby. However, the salesman stays calm and tells them not to sweat it - after all, he knows that that monster can wipe out a whole army of Star Warriors.

The fight later proceeds into the castle walls, where Sword and Blade tell their master to let them take over. MK tells them to stay back and he and WW do a clash in mid-air (one of those deals where you know one stays standing and the other falls and doesn't get up). Meta Knight of course falls over, and WolfWrath runs away. Sword and Blade check to see if their master is okay, and are shocked to discover that he has one of WolfWrath's fangs embedded in his forehead, which causes him to be completely paralyzed, but not before pleading to them to protect Kirby. Not wanting the king to find out, Sword and Blade cut the wires of the castle cameras before getting MK to the safety of Tiff's family's living room. The cutting of the wires of the cameras is to Dedede's and Escargoon's anger. Dedede says that it's all fuzzed out and Escargoon suggests calling the cable guy. Meanwhile, in Tiff's family's living room, Sword Knight tries to pull the fang out of MK's forehead, but it just won't budge. Blade Knight suggests that no one can help Meta Knight unless WolfWrath is defeated, and Sword and Blade decide to go after the lupine beast on their own, telling the others to take care of Meta Knight. Kirby wants to help, but Tiff stops him and tells him that he's staying with her and her family.

As Blade and Sword look for WolfWrath, they manage to find a hole at the top of one of the walls, which the canine managed to make. WolfWrath is then seen going through a video game-styled maze, and as he does so, Dedede and Escargoon angrily call for Waddle Doo and the Waddle Dees within the kitchen to bring the king ten different appetizers and make it snappy, as the king said that his last ten-course meal was un-appetizing. As Waddle Doo and the Dees finish making the ten courses and proceed to bring them to his highness, WolfWrath manages to jump into the cooking pot and proceed to burn the whole kitchen. Sword and Blade decide to check out the kitchen, where they find flames within it, therefore also finally finding WolfWrath. They attempt to fight him, but WolfWrath manages to easily overpower them thanks to his heat vision, powerful fire attacks, and ability to see through smoke. Thankfully, Tiff, Tuff, and Kirby come just in time to save them both and make sure the two are okay as Kirby proceeds to suck up the smoke. After the two get out of the smoke, Tiff tells Kirby to blow the smoke right back, and Kirby does so, blowing WolfWrath away in the process.

Afterwards, Kirby and the gang retreat to Meta Knight's living room, where Tiff is seen tending to Sword and Blade's wounds and re-polishing their burned armours. Sword and Blade feel guilty and apologize for not staying to protect Kirby when MK told them to, and Tiff forgives them, knowing that the only reason they were reckless was because they knew their master was in trouble. Tuff asks the two how they met him as everyone knows how loyal they are to him, and the two relate a tale of their past, doing a flashback to the end of the war between Nightmare Enterprises and the Galaxy Soldier Army, which had ended in favour of the monsters. Back then, the two were bandits before meeting their future master, because the struggle had turned the galaxy into a wasteland, and they had to become so in order to survive. Meta Knight was running alongside the cliffs of a canyon when Sword and Blade stopped him. Before they could rob him, WolfWrath attacked them both, tossing them around like rag dolls. Meta Knight stepped in to save them, and fought against the lupine behemoth until he led him right into a lake. As the flashback ends, Sword and Blade let their friends know that the weapons hung up on the walls of the living room were used by them to rob and steal, and that now they remind them of what fools they were before meeting their master. Their friends then question them on how they are going to defeat WolfWrath, as not even MK could stop it, and Sword and Blade explain that WolfWrath sets fires to re-energize himself. Just then, smoke comes into the living room, letting them know that WolfWrath is coming back.

Back in the throne room, King Dedede is busy eating his food while Escargoon is checking the cameras. Suddenly, they both are surprised to see that WolfWrath is indeed barbecuing the whole castle. The NME Salesman says his oops and explains what he guessed he forgot to mention - that WolfWrath needs to set fires to get the strength for his attacks. Angry, Dedede finally decides to throw WolfWrath out of the castle, and orders for everyone to put out the fires with their hoses and turn on all sprinklers, and everyone does so. As all that happens, WolfWrath happens to be caught being hit by one of them while he was busy setting a fire, and runs away (after all, WolfWrath hates water), going into the castle courtyard and scaring away many Waddle Dees as he does so. Sword and Blade quickly notice this and suggest that WolfWrath is trying to get away from the castle. They jump down to meet him in combat once again as Kirby and his friends watch. As Sword and Blade do battle with WolfWrath, it is apparent that Kirby wants to help again, so he takes Galaxia from Meta Knight's sheath to Sir Ebrum and Lady Like's surprise and jumps down to aid in the battle, also to Tiff and Tuff's surprise. Realizing that Sword and Blade may need Kirby's help after all, Tiff calls for the Warp Star, which Kabu sends to Kirby. Using the Warp Star, Kirby shoves the fiend away and he runs down the castle's hill as Sword and Blade give chase.

WolfWrath eventually stops at a lake, seeing that it is filled with water, and tries to fend off the two knights, who dodge all his fire blasts and edge him closer to the lake. WW jumps the minute they bring down their swords, then runs away again as the two give chase again. But then WolfWrath notices Kirby coming at him and ducks below the Warp Star as it rushes at him, and Kirby clobbers him on his forehead with Galaxia, only to be shoved away by him. But Kirby sucks up Galaxia and becomes Galaxia Kirby, and gets on the Warp Star again, blocking all of WolfWrath's fire blasts and even causing him to accidentally slip his foot into the water, causing him to writhe in pain and flop around like a fish out of water. This causes Blade and Sword to remember how Meta Knight saved them both, and they remark that water is WolfWrath's one weakness. After WW knocks Kirby off the Warp Star again, the two knights manage to wrestle the canine into the lake with a great deal of difficulty, and Kirby watches as it happens. Taking this chance, Kirby gets back on the Warp Star one more time and prepares to use his Galaxia Sword Beam. WolfWrath throws Sword and Blade off of himself just in time to witness Kirby preparing and then unleashing his Galaxia Sword Beam. WolfWrath tries to stop the Sword Beam with one more fire blast, but it is futile, and he is split into two by the Sword Beam, after which Sword and Blade rejoice knowing that Kirby was able to master the very Sword Beam taught to him by MK way back in earlier episode "Kirby's Duel Role". Having been severely weakened by the water and cut cleanly in half by the Galaxia Sword Beam, WolfWrath explodes.

Back at Castle Dedede, the fang embedded in MK's forehead dissolves and MK regains consciousness, and everyone rejoices and Tiff thanks Kirby for helping out. Back at the lake, Kirby lands, having detransformed after destroying WolfWrath, and strikes a pose with Galaxia. Blade and Sword do one more flashback to when they both pledged their allegiance to Meta Knight as thanks for saving them both, and Meta Knight told them that they would search for a new Star Warrior that would defeat Nightmare and bring justice to the galaxy. From that point on, they both became his loyal followers. As the flashback ends, Blade and Sword proudly look at Kirby in his pose with Galaxia and light shines down on him as the episode ends.

Edited/Removed Scenes/Items

 * All references to any talk about WolfWrath being born in the Fires of Hell are removed in the English dub, just to avoid religious connotations.
 * This episode is one of the episodes to originally have profanity - for example, Sword Knight says "Damn Chilidog". All are removed from the dub.

Trivia

 * Galaxia Kirby is actually Sword Kirby using Meta Knight's sword, Galaxia (whose name was not revealed until Crusade for the Blade).
 * This episode is one of the few episodes of the anime not to have the usual star-shaped iris fade-out (the others being Crusade for the Blade, Fitness Fiend, Masher 2.0, Caterpillar Thriller, The Kirby Derby - Part I, Prediction Predicament - Part I, Scare Tactics - Part I, Snack Attack - Part I, Fossil Fools - Part I, Born to Be Mild - Part I, Air-Ride-in-Style - Part I, Air-Ride-in-Style - Part II, Cappy Town Down, and Combat Kirby).