He still couldn’t believe it.
Fumu had abandoned him. Left him here with Joe’s devil of an
aunt. (She’d made him clean dishes!)
Worst of all, though he would be
loath to admit it- he was homesick. This was the longest he’d
ever been away from his family and it was starting to get to
him. He didn’t like being in this unfamiliar house, in an
unfamiliar city… and on an unfamiliar planet.
He sat on the worn couch, leaning
back and staring at cracks in the ceiling. He was bored, adding
to everything else. Jarle had gone out to buy some things and
had told him not to touch anything. Not that he would listen.
The TV was a little different
than the one his family had, and the selection of channels didn’t
seem to be much better than the one he had back home. He figured
out how the remote worked quickly enough and flipped through-
news, more news, a black and white movie in a language he didn’t
know, commercials…
He hopped down off the couch and
went over to inspect some of the other things around it. The TV
was on a stand and there were other things below it, weird
machines he’d never seen before. One had a thin slot in the
front and all sorts of buttons. It looked a bit like the DD-VCRs
or whatever they were called that Dedede had given out along
with his TVs earlier that year. Except the only things to put in
them were videos of the king, so no one really used theirs.
Bun gave up after a moment and
wandered over to one of the tall cabinets by the wall. It was
covered in dusty knick-knacks and other odds and ends that Jarle
had piled there. He looked through it, careful not to move
anything too out of place- he had a feeling she would be able to
tell despite the mess it was.
He opened the bottom cabinet.
There were all sorts of binders and boxes of things. In truth,
he was hoping there was some sort of game playing gadget
leftover from when Joe lived there… They probably didn’t
have CubeGames here, but he could hope.
Grumbling to himself, he backed
out of the small space, and inadvertently knocked a few boxes
out as well. A smaller one opened and spread its contents over
the graying carpet.
Pictures. Old photographs, dozens
of them. And he could see why they had been hidden.
Joe as a baby and Meta Knight
were the easiest to recognize in several of them. Jarle herself
showed up rarely; he assumed she was the one holding the camera.
And the other… There was a tall man with wild blonde hair in
almost all of them. Always smiling.
“Joe’s dad…” Bun said
quietly to himself, thumbing through the photographs. It was
even stranger to see Meta Knight in with them. Joe’s age
changed throughout- in some he was only an infant, but in others
he looked to be a year or two old. But beyond that there was
nothing. No photos of Joe as an older child.
There was something else in the
box, some kind of flat gray disk. He picked it up carefully,
examining it… It looked about the same size as the slot in
that other machine.
He set the photos back and
carried the disk to the TV and put it in, hoping he wasn’t
going to break anything. This was too interesting though.
The machine below the TV whirred
at it activated. The TV screen went black for a moment before a
new picture appeared. It was blurry at first, the view shaking.
He heard a male voice he didn’t recognize.
“Do you know how to use it?”
“Of course I do!” That
irritated voice could only be Jarle, he thought. “Shut up and
let me do this!”
“I think you’re holding it
upside down…” Suddenly the view stabilized and he saw Joe’s
father again- only upside down. “Yeah, it’s supposed to go
like this.” The world spun and everything was upright again.
“There we go!” He grinned widely and waved. “I’m on
camera!”
“Very good Jecra, any other
amazing insights you’d like to offer?”
“You’re no fun…” Jecra
rolled his eyes before looking around. Jarle moved the camera
and Bun could see more of the room. It definitely wasn’t the
current dingy apartment; it looked like a rather nice larger one
or maybe a house.
“Where’d he go?” Jecra
wondered aloud. “Hey! Mety, get back in here, we got the
camera working!” There was a muffled reply Bun couldn’t make
out. Jecra left suddenly.
Jarle mumbled something under her
breath behind the camera, pointing it around randomly for a
moment. Finally she settled on something- baby Joe sitting in a
rocker of some sort. “And how’s my nephew today, eh?” She
zoomed in on his face- he appeared to be scowling. “Cheerful
as usual, I see.” Baby Joe waved a little rattle with a star
on the end and made a burbling sound.
“Come on,” Jecra said off
screen. “You don’t want to be in the movie too?”
“I’m more worried about your
sister not wanting me in it…” The voice was unmistakably
Meta Knight’s- and as Bun saw when Jarle moved the view over,
he looked exactly the same as he did now- save for a small star
on his left shoulder.
“Damn right I don’t.” And
suddenly the screen went black. But only for a moment- when it
came on again it seemed Jecra was holding it instead.
“Jarle, you said you’d stop
doing that.”
The camera showed her sitting on
the couch. She sighed. “Yeah yeah, sorry. The beach ball can
be in your little movie too.”
Meta Knight was standing off to
one side, his cape around him. “What do you mean, a movie?”
“Oh, like… home movie stuff.
Just recording stuff about our lives. I want a record of Joe
growing up. And other assorted… things.” Jecra panned the
camera over to his son, who cooed and shook his rattle more
vigorously- though he still looked rather angry about something.
“We can get embarrassing baby videos to blackmail him with
when he’s older.”
Meta Knight actually chuckled.
“I’m sure he’ll love that.”
“Hey Jarle!” Jecra zoomed the
camera in on her. “Any comments?”
“You’re acting like a
complete buffoon.”
“Aw, I love you too.”
Jarle… smiled, of all things,
and shook her head. “Are you going to be playing with that
thing all day?”
“Of course!”
“Just try to put it down when
you help with dinner, all right?” She smiled again. Somehow
the expression suited her; Bun just didn’t expect it from her.
“Hey, creampuff.” She was looking at Meta Knight. “You get
to do dishes.”
“It’s not polite to make
guests do dishes.”
She laughed. “Sorry, you lost
the title of ‘guest’ long ago. You get dishes- deal with it
or you don’t eat. And I’ll get you a stepping-stool since I
know you can’t reach the sink.” She grinned, showing teeth
and Bun thought he saw Meta Knight twitch.
“This thing is so great… I
got a good deal on it too…” Jecra sounded giddy as he panned
the camera around some more, randomly zooming in on things as he
got used to how it worked. “Hey I wonder what this button doe-”
The screen went black.
Bun waited, actually hoping that
wasn’t all of it… It came back on a moment later to show
Meta Knight with an undoubtedly amused expression, and in
another part of the house.
“How did you break it so fast…?
I thought you were good with electronics.”
“I don’t know!” Jecra
exclaimed, behind the camera again. “It must have been a
problem with the manufacturing… but I fixed it.”
“Wonderful. Now what? Are you
going to film Joe eating or something inane like that?”
“Nah. Hey, I’ll film you for
a bit.”
“…Why?”
“Because I want to, damnit.”
Meta Knight stared at the camera.
Jecra sighed. “Well it’s no
fun if you’re just going to stand there.”
“What do you want me to do?
Dance?”
“As much as I’d like to have
that to show to the guys once we get back, I think it would be
far too creepy.”
“You don’t have to film
anything, you know.”
“Yes I do. I have this new
camera, and it must be used! It just wouldn’t be right if I
didn’t.”
Jarle’s voice rang out from
another room. “Hey! You two get in here and help me cook! I’m
not your maid! And if you bring the camera I’ll break it in
half!”
“Ah damn. Guess I’ll have to
do more later…” The screen went black.
Bun watched and waited for the
picture to return. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. How
many years ago must it have been recorded? He wasn’t sure how
old Joe was…
For a few more minutes the scenes
were more or less random experiments of the camera’s
abilities. Sometimes Meta Knight was there, other times not. At
one point it seemed Joe himself had gotten his hands on the
camera, judging from the completely bizarre views for some
parts. Bun idly fast-forwarded, trying to get to a good part.
When he stopped, it showed an
extreme close up of Baby Joe- now a little older and with his
face covered in cake and frosting.
“Finally!” Jecra exclaimed.
“It would have been awful if I couldn’t record his second
birthday. I wonder if I’m using the right disk…”
“Great, crisis averted. Can you
set the camera on the tripod?” Jarle asked.
“Fine fine…” There was much
fumbling and shaking of the view as he snapped it into place.
Now the view showed a round table, with Joe in booster seat,
happily stuffing his face with cake.
“He’s going to be sick from
all that,” Jarle pointed out, pulling the rest of the cake
away. “And he’s not even going to remember any of this.”
“That’s no excuse to not have
cake and presents. And speaking of presents… I’ll be right
back!” He hurried off screen.
Jarle sat back for a moment,
sighing. “Hey beach ball.”
Meta Knight had been there the
entire time apparently. He walked closer to the table. “Yes?”
“Does it annoy you?”
“Does what annoy me?”
“How obsessed he is with this
brat.”
Meta Knight’s body tilted to
one side. “I wouldn’t call it obsessed. He rarely sees Joe,
I think he’s allowed to be… He doesn’t bring him up very
much when we’re on deployment. I can handle this much.”
She smirked. “Ah. Well, I heard
you guys made some sort of breakthrough against Nightmare.”
“We did. We found one of their
main stations for their Internet transfer system. If we can
destroy that it would cripple them.”
“What happens when you guys
beat Nightmare?”
Meta Knight was quiet. “What do
you mean?”
“I mean, what happens to you?”
“I don’t think anything would
happen to me…” he said, sounding confused. “You mean what
would I do?”
“Yeah.”
“…I’ve never put much
thought into it.”
Jecra appeared on the screen
suddenly, carrying a small box. “I have, no worries. I’ve
decided he can live with us.”
“The glorified beach ball cannot
live with us.” Jarle scowled at him.
“Oh, it’ll be fun. We can
still go and travel and all, and when Joe’s older he can come
with.”
“How about instead you stay
home and take care of him?”
“Nah, I think I’ll leave that
to you; you’re much better at it.”
Jarle hit him on the shoulder-
hard- and Joe laughed.
“Auntie!” he exclaimed,
reached for the cake. “Cake! More!”
She sighed and shoved the entire
the entire thing over to him. “Eat until you puke. See if I
care. I’m just not cleaning it up.”
Jecra sat at the table, setting
the box in front of him. Meta Knight hopped onto a chair as
well.
“What is that?”
“This…” Jecra said, opening
the box with a little flourish, “is something I’ve been
working on for a while. Technically Joe can’t have it until he’s
older, so I’ll hold onto it until then, but for now…” He
pulled out a gold chain, and then the green and gold pendant it
was attached to.
Jarle’s eyes went wide as she
saw the blue and gold starburst design on the front. “That
belonged to our grandfather. The symbol’s our family crest…”
“Yep. It’s been passed down
for generations.” He opened it, revealing a blank spot where
one would normally put a picture. “But, I added a secret to
it. Joe will have to find out what it is on his own someday.”
“How mysterious,” Meta Knight
commented, his tone light as Jecra handed the shiny trinket to
the boy. Joe held it for a moment, eyes wide. Then, he dropped
it and went back to eating his cake. “And what would you have
done with it if you never had a child?”
“Huh? I’ve always planned on
having one. Joe was a bit unexpected but…”
Jarle raised an eyebrow. “Planning
with who, eh? I don’t think the beach ball here would fit very
well with that plan.”
Jecra’s glared at her. “You
know what I mean! I just… Well, it didn’t work out that way…
Hey, what did you get for Joe, anyway?” Changing the topic
quickly.
“How about taking care of him
every damned day while you’re out saving the universe?” She
sighed. “I got him some new toys. He’s all ready destroyed
his old ones.”
“Destroyed?”
“Yeah. Breaks them into pieces.
The kid doesn’t know his own strength.”
Joe picked up the pendant and
then threw it across the room, looking at his father. He laughed
as Jecra went to retrieve it.
“See, this is why he can’t
have it until he’s older,” Jecra said, now holding the
pendent out of his reach.
Joe reached for it. “Gimme!
Gimmeeee!”
“Promise not to throw it?”
“Promise!”
He handed it to him. Joe
immediately threw it at Meta Knight and laughed like it was the
funniest thing in the world.
“Maybe it annoys me sometimes…”
Meta Knight said under his breath.
“Huh?” Jecra looked confused.
“Nothing. I’m afraid to say I
didn’t get him anything. I didn’t even know it was his
birthday,” Meta Knight said.
“Oh, that’s okay. We sort of
had to guess on what his real birthday was anyway…” Jecra
said sheepishly. “I think it’s enough that you came.”
Joe’s gaze turned to Meta
Knight then and he smiled. “Beach ball!”
Meta Knight’s expression
twitched.
“Smart boy…” Jarle smirked.
“Well that was a fun party.” Joe decided then to put his
cake-covered hands in his hair- as naturally spiky as his father’s,
and turning it into gooey mess. “Now give the brat a bath; he’s
disgusting.”
“No!” Joe exclaimed upon
hearing the word ‘bath’, sliding down from the chair and
toddling awkwardly away. Jecra caught him easily, scooping him
up under one arm. “No! Nooo!”
“This is what I have to deal
with all the time, my dear brother,” Jarle said, grinning as
Jecra carried the squirming toddler away. “Get him before he
touches the furniture or something.” She looked at Meta
Knight. “Guess who gets to clean up the rest…”
“…I had somewhere I needed to
be,” he said quickly, starting to leave. Jarle stepped on his
cape. “…But, maybe I have a few minutes…”
“Great. Get something to get
the frosting off the table,” Jarle said, approaching the
camera. She leaned over, and hit something because the screen
went dark again. Bun waited.
When it came back on again it
seemed to be in the same place, but the room was dark, the only
light coming from the kitchen nearby. Bun waited a few moments
but there was nothing… Who was filming this? Bun wondered. No,
it would have to be a mistake- maybe the camera turned on by
accident or Jarle hadn’t turned it off right…
Frustrated, he reached forward,
holding the fast-forward button until something changed. He hit
play again and the screen showed Meta Knight sitting at the
table, a mug of something between his hands in front of him.
Apparently Meta Knight hadn’t
noticed that the camera was on. This became plainly obvious as
he put the mug down, his hands moving to the sides of his mask.
There were two soft clicks and he moved it away from his face.
Bun was entirely sure he wasn’t
ever supposed to be seeing this. He was also thinking how before
he’d been positive that the mask was permanently fused to Meta
Knight’s face. What could he possibly look like underneath?
And when he saw he couldn’t
help laughing a little. Not a mean laugh- sort of a delighted
and confused one.
He was Kirby. Well, he looked
like Kirby- he had the same face. It should have been obvious;
their body shape was so similar. He even had the same rosy
cheeks. His eyes were different though- they were pale amber
ovals and a little spooky looking.
Meta Knight set the mask on the
table and picked up the mug to drink. A sound came from off
screen, a door closing, and then soft footsteps. The light from
the kitchen was obscured slightly as another figure entered.
“What are you doing up this
time of night?” Jecra asked, his voice hushed. “We have to
leave early tomorrow; you should get some rest.”
Meta Knight glanced over at him.
“I don’t sleep very much. You know that.”
“Eh, yeah. But, still...”
Jecra came up behind him, putting his arms on the back of the
chair. “Nervous?”
“I’d say it’s more anxious…
Our group has one of the most important roles in the upcoming
attack. We have to do everything perfectly… Just got Joe to
sleep, I take it?”
“Eh, yeah… Oh, I feel kind of
sorry for pushing him on Jarle like this. He’s a handful.”
“Look at the bright side- once
this is over you’ll get to deal with him every day if you
want. Tantrums and all.” Meta Knight grinned, looking up at
Jecra’s less than thrilled expression. He turned his eyes back
to his drink. “Were you serious about what you said earlier?”
“Refresh my memory.”
“You said after the war, I
could stay with you.”
“Well, of course. Unless you
have something else you’d rather do.”
Meta Knight shrugged. “No. I
don’t have anyone waiting for me, if that’s what you mean.”
“I don’t see why anything
should change after we destroy Nightmare for good. It’ll be
great- all of the traveling and none of the fighting for our
lives.”
“Jecra… with your mouth I
think we’d still end up getting in trouble somewhere…”
“Less of it then,” Jecra
said, moving around the chair to sit in the one next to it. “Where
would you want to go first? One of those ridiculously expensive
vacation places? Someplace tropical…”
“I would like to relax for a
while…” Meta Knight closed his eyes. “Anywhere where I
wouldn’t have to do anything. For weeks, if not months.”
“That’s the ticket then! We’ll
take the most relaxing damned vacation anyone has ever known. We’ll
be waited on hand and foot. I bet since we’ll be famous for
killing Nightmare it’ll all be free too.”
Meta Knight smiled- and his eyes
had changed color, glowing a soft blue now. “I just hope it
doesn’t take that much longer to do it…”
“Hm? Do what?”
“Mm, nevermind. You’re
taunting me with all of this vacation talk, you know.”
He laughed. “Sorry. I’ll make
it up to you.”
“I thought you said you wanted
me to get some rest…” Meta Knight finished his drink
quickly. “Have I been designated by your sister to sleep on
the couch again?”
“Yeah, but she’s asleep, she
won’t know. She sleeps like the dead, believe me.” Jecra
stood up, Meta Knight following his example. They both paused
for the moment- and then the screen went black.
Had the camera’s batteries
died? Bun looked at the TV, wondering if it would come back- and
then he saw the reflection of the couch in the screen- and
someone sitting on it.
He whirled around, heart jumping
into his throat. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to it was an
accident-“
“Quiet,” Jarle said, a remote
in her hand. “I actually wasn’t sure where I’d put this.
Thanks for finding it for me.”
Bun was still for a moment. He
was still alive? “U-Um… You’re welcome?”
Jarle wasn’t even looking at
him. “That was one of the last recordings I have of him. Shame
the beach ball had to be there too, but he and my stupid brother
were pretty much inseparable. I never understood it…”
Bun didn’t say anything. He
wasn’t really sure if he should or not.
She leaned back on the couch. “It’ll
be thirteen years to the day next week. He was twenty-six.”
She shook her head. “…He was still just a big dumb kid to
me. I’d always heard he was completely different in battle,
though. He was one of their best… It’s probably why
Nightmare decided to take him, of all people.”
“Um…” Bun swallowed hard.
This was much too sensitive of a subject. What could he say? “Um…
I… I think I’d be really sad too if something happened…
happened to my sister…” He realized then he hadn’t ever
thought of it before. Not like this. Fumu had been there all his
life- for her to suddenly not be was unthinkable. And
right now he didn’t know where she was or if she was okay.
“Of course… You don’t
realize how important something is until they’re gone, right?”
Jarle asked. “…Why are you crying?”
The tears had come without
warning. Nothing had even happened, it was just the thought of
it was so horrible and it could really happen, just like
it had with Jarle. “Be-because I d-don’t know if F-Fumu is
even alive…” he choked, sobbing now. “She l-left me here
a-and…”
“She did it so you’d be safe.
Big sisters have to look after their dumb little brothers.”
“B-but-“
“Stop it. She wouldn’t want
you to cry like this and feel sorry for yourself.” She didn’t
say the words harshly. She sounded kind of amused. “Oh, same
thing I’ve been telling myself for years. Doesn’t work very
well.”
Bun reached up under his striped
hair, rubbing his eyes. “Is it st-still that bad?”
“…Only because I let it be. I’m
that type. I’m too stubborn to just forget. I’ll hold a
grudge for years for the sake of holding it. It would piss him
off if he was around.”
Bun sniffled. “Well… he’d
want you to be happy even without him…”
“I know. I never listened to
him when he was here, though. Habits are hard to break.” She
looked back over at him. “You and Fumu get along pretty well?”
He nodded. “Yeah… usually.
She has a pretty bad temper, though, and she’d rather read
books than go out and play.”
She grinned. “I see. Jecra was
a little pest when he was your age. He was always tinkering with
things and breaking them to put them back together. And even
then he liked fighting. He took classes, everything he could- he
loved it. They say Star Warriors show the traits early on, some
kind of penchant for fighting… I’d always hoped otherwise,
but once he was older we found out for sure… He was so happy,
the idiot. He’d worshipped them as a kid, then he got to be
one…”
“Was there anything about him
you did like?” Bun asked.
“Of course. I just said it.
Even if it annoyed me I liked those things about him...”
Bun, hesitantly, went over to sit
on the couch- not too close to her. He wasn’t really sure if
talking about her brother made her happier or not. “Do you…
have any other videos or anything?”
“Of him? Yeah… Older ones,
when we were kids. I don’t think I’ve watched those in years…
What, you wanna see them?”
“Um… Well, if you want.”
She stood up. “Sure, what the
heck. Nothing else to do today.” She went over to the cabinets
and started searching around.
Bun sat back and smiled. Maybe
Joe’s aunt wasn’t completely bad.
“Hey… I have a weird question…”
“What?”
“Um… How come you always call
Meta Knight a beach ball?”
She grinned. “Because when you
smack one of his kind across the room, it feels a lot like
hitting a beach ball.”
Bun wasn’t sure if he should
laugh at that or not, but he did anyway.
His stomach hurt a little; it did
that when he was nervous. And now he wished more than anything
that he knew if Fumu was okay.
Everything happened so fast.
Enemies came swarming in through
the hallways, armored soldiers and all manner of creatures.
Dozens of them- far too many to fight off in this closed space.
Meta Knight didn’t know why the defense systems hadn’t
stopped them. Yamikage himself was nowhere to be seen.
Kirby had fallen to the ground,
perhaps unconscious as enemies poured into the room. Meta Knight
fought them off as best as he could, but there were too many.
Sword and Blade were starting to get overwhelmed and Joe couldn’t
use his ranged attacks for fear of hitting a friend or sending
the entire place crashing around them.
Meta Knight dashed over to Kirby,
picking up his still form under one arm. “Everyone, we have to
get out! We can’t fight all of them!” He didn’t know where
they could go, but then there was a light. One of the small Kabu’s
eyes glowed, and then another- showing a way to escape.
“Joe! Come on!” he shouted.
He cut a path through the enemies and made sure everyone was
there. And they ran.
He didn’t know where Silica was
now. Joe ran ahead of him, and behind him Sword carried Fumu on
his back, Blade at his side. The hallways seemed endless, room
after room, countless fallen warriors from countless
generations.
Finally they came to a dead end.
Surely the Kabu wouldn’t have led them here, unless…
The wall swung open revealing a
hidden path. They ran down quickly and it closed behind them.
Yamikage walked up to it several
minutes later, placing his hand on the stone. There was no
reaction.
“Well then… We’ll have to
force our way in, now won’t we?” He laughed. “You can’t
escape from me, Meta Knight…”
The group sat exhausted in the
hidden room, a huge Kabu statue over them. This one looked more
like the one in Dreamland. Thankfully Silica was already there,
the statues having led her away from danger as well.
“What… just… happened…?”
Joe panted. “You said this place was safe…”
Meta Knight stared at the ground
in front of him. He didn’t know either. He just knew that
everything had gone worse, more so than he could possibly have
imagined.
“I thought the defenses
destroyed anyone but Star Warriors…” Blade said.
“I guess they didn’t since
they were with Yamikage…” Fumu pondered.
Joe gritted his teeth. “Those
first Star Warriors weren’t too bright…”
“They couldn’t have known
that some of them would eventually become traitors…” Meta
Knight said softly. “I don’t know why they did anything they
did, but it does us no good arguing over it now.” He turned
his attention to Kirby, who slept fitfully beside Fumu.
“What happened back there?”
she asked softly.
Meta Knight didn’t have an
answer. “Perhaps we should wake him…”
“Good idea. Especially if they
find us,” Joe agreed, walking over. He nudged Kirby with his
foot. “Okay, get up now!”
“I don’t think that’s going
to work…” Fumu muttered. “He’s having a bad dream, I can
tell. He’s been having a lot of them lately.”
“Yes, I’ve noticed.” Meta
Knight nodded. “If Nightmare still exists then it would be
expected for his presence to influence Kirby in some way. I’ve
been having some unpleasant dreams myself.”
“Weird, I’ve been having a
lot of good ones,” Joe mentioned.
“Star Warriors tend to be more
sensitive to things like this.”
“Yeah, I figured… Hey, who
was that ninja guy?” he intoned. “You acted like you knew
him.”
“I honestly wish I didn’t…”
“He was a Star Warrior that
went to work for Nightmare, wasn’t he?” Fumu asked. “Yamikage?”
Meta Knight nodded solemnly. “It’s
unheard of for a Star Warrior to defect… I met him, years ago
when he was still on our side. Even then there was something…
disturbing about him…”
Silica was busy checking the room
for other entrances but there appeared to be none aside from the
way they got in. “If they find a way in here, there’s not
going to be any way for us to get out.”
“Try not to worry, Silica. We
wouldn’t have been led to a dead end.”
She said something under her
breath. Meta Knight turned back to Kirby and Fumu. Kirby
suddenly stirred, mumbling something in his sleep. His eyes
opened halfway, unfocused.
“Kirby!” Fumu exclaimed,
shaking him. “Wake up! Come on, this isn’t time for a nap!”
“Poy…” Kirby sat up slowly,
rubbing his eyes. He looked around, eyes unfocused for a few
moments. He had no idea where he was. “Poy… o?” Suddenly
nothing made sense. There was the tomb and then there was a vast
field. And then there was nothing but darkness. His dreams but
not dreams.
“Kirby,” Meta Knight put his
hand on his shoulder as he noticed him staring off into space.
“Are you all right?”
Kirby shook himself, trying to
focus.
“What happened just now?”
Meta Knight asked, turning Kirby to face him. “When Yamikage
appeared? Do you even remember?”
The little Star Warrior’s
expression changed quickly, confusion to anger and then he cried
out, falling back. Meta Knight caught him, holding him up as
Kirby curled up, hands covering his eyes. “What is it?”
Kirby barely heard him. All he
could process was the deluge of fragmented images that flashed
through his mind. Places, people, things. He remembered seeing
them, and yet he knew he never had. He felt Meta Knight grab his
arms, pulling them away from his face. He opened his eyes,
looking up at him…
Red. All around, a setting sun.
It hurt his eyes but he couldn’t look away. A million emotions
he couldn’t place. Meta Knight was there and there was blood.
Everything seemed to go in
reverse then. Too many images again, darkness and light and it
stopped again. He saw Yamikage. From his dreams again, too many
nightmares. He remembered everything hurting so much and he was
helpless. But, that had never happened.
Kirby’s eyes were once again
unfocused, his body trembling for reasons none of them could
understand. Meta Knight could only hold him, powerless to do
anything.
“What’s happened to him?”
Fumu asked desperately. “Did they do something to him?”
“I don’t know!” he snapped.
“Damnit…” Kirby suddenly calmed, his eyes refocusing again
as the images started to subside. “Kirby?”
He stood on his own, relief
washing over him as the images actually stopped. “Poy…” He
rubbed his eyes. He felt dizzy.
“What was that?!” Joe
exclaimed. “You’re scaring the hell out of us!”
“What happened?” Fumu asked.
Kirby stared at her blankly.
“Poyo…” He had no idea how
to explain it. “See… Bad dreams…”
There was a sudden deep rumbling
in the distance and everyone froze. Silence fell, and they
waited but there was no other noise.
“They’re looking for us…”
Silica hissed, weapon in hand. “Meta Knight! We have to
escape.”
“We will!” he snapped. “We
can’t have Kirby collapsing again if we have to fight.” Too
much happening too fast… He brought his hand up underneath his
mask briefly, rubbing his eyes. He winced at a sudden pain, and
looked to see he’d managed to re-open his cut during the
escape at some point. Wonderful.
There was another crash, louder
this time. Meta Knight nodded. “I guess we will have to worry
about this later… Will you be all right?” Kirby nodded a
little. And before Meta Knight could speak again, a passage
opened at the base of the Kabu there. “Thank you…”
Joe paused, staring up at it. “So
how come you guys don’t just blast all the demons that got in?
They’re not Star Warriors.”
To everyone’s surprise, the
Kabu’s mouth moved and it spoke slowly. “Enemies cannot
reach here.”
“…Sorry to break this to you,
but they did.”
“We cannot activate the
defenses yet.”
Meta Knight looked up as well.
“There are other defenses?”
“They cannot be activated.”
“Why not?” Joe demanded.
“Defenses would destroy every
living thing in this place. They cannot be activated yet.”
Silence.
“It sounds pretty effective…”
Silica mused. “Let’s get out so the rest of these guys can
get zapped!”
“How do we get to the ship?”
Sword asked as they ran through the tunnel beneath the Kabu.
Glowing gems in front of them answered- once again they were
being shown the way.
“And what if they’ve all
ready found it?” Joe asked.
“We hope that they haven’t,
or we fight them off there,” Meta Knight said plainly.
The tunnel twisted and turned as
they followed the lit path. At the very least their ancestors
had provided ways to escape, even if their defense mechanisms
were less than conventional.
Finally the wall opened at the
end, opening into the same cavern they had arrived in, the ship
in the distance.
“Yeah!” Joe exclaimed,
running faster. “Let’s get out of-“
He stopped, sensing something to
his left and dodging as a fireball hit where he once was. He
landed hard, as everyone looked over at the source. A group of
soldiers and smaller demons had been waiting for them.
“Everyone to the ship!” Meta
Knight commanded. There was nothing blocking their way- they had
a chance.
He stopped suddenly, motioning
for everyone to keep going as he unsheathed Galaxia, the tip
glowing brightly before he swung it in an arc. The Sword Beam
hit the approaching enemies, severing limbs and torsos and
slowing the approach of the rest. He heard the ship’s engines
roar to life behind him.
“Come on!” Joe shouted. They
were all in the ship and Meta Knight dashed over, Silica
providing cover fire as he ran through the open hatch.
“Let’s get out of here!”
Everyone gathered on the bridge
as the ship rose, watching as the demons below tried to get at
them.
Joe laughed. “Ha! Those guys
don’t have a clue what’s going to happen. Bastards…”
The view outside darkened as they
went back through the tunnel.
“We should arrive out at a
different point…” Meta Knight said.
“And then?” Fumu asked
quietly.
“And then we still have a
mission to accomplish.”
A dark armored figured snarled a
curse, throwing his mace to the ground. “Bah! And we were so
close.”
His companion, a somewhat
lizard-like fellow just lifted a scaly eyebrow. “You really
think you could have beaten one of the legendary Star Warriors?”
“Sure I could have! I just didn’t
get a chance…” He sat down heavily against the wall as other
disappointed demon beasts milled past. “So, now what?”
“I guess we’ll get orders to
clear out soon enough…”
“Eh, I need a vacation… This
place is pretty relaxing, though. I could probably sit around
here all day…” He looked up as he saw a little flash of
light. “Hey, look.” He pointed.
“What?”
“One of those funny little
statues. I wonder why it’s glowing like that?”
The lizard demon flicked his
tongue out curiously. The Kabu’s eyes were indeed glowing. And
then another. And another. “That is weird…”
“It’s getting brighter.”
“Yeah…”
Silence.
“REQUIREMENTS MET.” The voice
came from nowhere, booming.
“What the-?”
“DEFENSES ACTIVATED.”
“Oh fu-“
“INITIALIZE DECONTAMINATION.”
“We don’t get paid enough for
this shit.”
They saw stars before them as
they emerged back out into space, and breathed a collective sigh
of relief. But, the hardest part of their journey still awaited
them. They still had to get into Nightmare’s new base
undetected. It would require an incredible amount of luck…
The ship’s old computers
suddenly blared a warning.
Sword made a choking sound from
behind him. “S-Sir… it’s…”
Meta Knight could all ready see;
it was impossible to miss. They’d probably been waiting out
there the entire time.
A fleet of Destrayar hovered
around their small ship, dwarfing it.
“No…” Fumu’s shook her
head slowly, Kirby shrinking back beside her.
“How did they…” Blade said
quietly.
“Yamikage must have known about
this exit,” Meta Knight said, his voice flat. “I should have
expected it…”
“We have to get away!” Joe
exclaimed.
“We won’t be able to
outmaneuver them in this ship. They’ll destroy it and take
Galaxia from the wreckage.” He half wondered why they hadn’t
already. No… Yamikage had said he needed him alive.
“Then…”
“That’s it, then, isn’t it?”
Silica stepped up beside him. “Unless you have some plan?”
He was silent for a long moment,
eyes closed… “You’ve used those ships before.”
“Destrayar? Yeah…” Silica’s
eyes lit up. “That’s right… They have a small crew, and I
know how to get to the bridge. There’s enough of us, we can
get through.”
Suddenly a red beam shot from the
underside of the closest one, enveloping the ship and drawing it
closer. The main screen flickered, and Yamikage’s face
appeared.
“Leaving so soon?” He
snickered. “We still have so much to catch up on, Meta Knight…”
The old knight was silent, his
eyes flashing red.
“Going to accept your defeat
silently? Very well then… Just come out of your ship
peacefully and we might not open fire.” His eyes narrowed and
he vanished from the screen.
They drew closer to the massive
ship, a panel opening in the bottom to bring in the merchant
vessel.
Meta Knight spoke in a low voice.
“We don’t know how much extra security they might have…”
“We have to try,” Silica
insisted. “If you can provide a diversion, I can get to the
control room.”
“Alone?”
“I’ll take Joe with me. We’ll
be fine.” She grinned. “Right, Joe?”
“Of course!”
Meta Knight nodded. “Kirby,
Sword, Blade and I can help you get there…”
“What about me?” Fumu asked,
stepping forward. The look on her face showed she knew perfectly
well she wasn’t going to be much help in this situation.
“Stay with us. I gave you that
gun- use it.”
She lifted the weapon slightly,
her expression uncertain. There was no time to worry about it
now, though.
Everyone was quiet, their eyes on
the view outside their ship.
“We’re in their docking bay,”
Blade announced. “Should we go out to meet them?”
“That would be best. Everyone.”
Meta Knight wrapped his cape around himself and left the bridge.
The rest followed.
