Alrighty then! This is the first story I've worked on in a long time, and the first one I've posted on I'll be following the general plot of Revenge of Meta Knight from the game Kirby Super Star (great game, a shame I don't own it) during this story.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Kirby series… but I assure you, my lawyers are working on acquiring the copyrights for Meta Knight.

Prologue: Prelude to a Conqueror

I am Sir Meta Knight.

I am older than most of the people I know, having been around through the fiercest years of the war between light and dark. I have seen many things. More to the point, I have done many things. Some I am proud of, and for good reason. Some I would prefer to pretend never happened at all. Of course, most of the things I have done fall somewhere in between.

There are also those things we do that are both something to be proud of and something to be ashamed of.

As it happens, my greatest pride, and my greatest sorrow, are the same thing.

I was younger back then, somewhat less rational, as I suppose all people are. I had thought that King Dedede's methods for ruling the planet were greatly inadequate. Or to be more accurate, I knew it, and so did everyone else that mattered. (The Cappies don't count – they didn't really care who ruled, and paid little to no attention to such matters.)

So I decided to fix the problem.

My methods were certainly questionable. Over the course of the next three years, I built myself a grand warship, the Halberd. It was the greatest vessel in the land.

Of course, even the greatest ship won't go anywhere without a pilot. I knew from the start that I would be unable to pilot the whole thing by myself – it had far too many dials, switches and gauges for me to keep track of.

So I hired a crew.

I didn't really like the idea of putting my ideas out in the open, but I knew that if I wanted to ensure my men's loyalty, I had to tell them what they were signing up for. I wandered about various towns and villages, always listening to the rumors I heard. I searched for six months, and in the end, only six people had consented to work for me.

They were enough.

On the outside, maybe you wouldn't have expected great things from them, but as a team they worked wonderfully. I spent another month making sure I had chosen well… need I have bothered?

First was Captain, a rather surly hawk with a violent temper and a tendency to blurt things out in tense situations. Though his experiences mostly related to sea-faring ships, I figured he could easily switch from the water to the skies. And why not? Hawks can fly well enough by themselves. I got the distinct impression he was deeply honored to fly a ship like the Halberd.

The next four I hired mostly for their respective technical skills, although after a bit of training they were the best fighters on my ship, after myself of course. Meta Axe ("Chet") I hired for his quick thinking skills. Of the four, he seemed the most calm and collected. I didn't find out about his fear of heights until later – how often do you get on board a flying fortress when you fear falling off to your doom? I considered his choice of weapon highly unusual, and still do, but Chet's skill at throwing it convinced me of its uses.

Meta Chain ("Mace"), on the other hand, was somewhat like Captain in his tendency to think in terms of brute force. I think his experience on board helped to mellow out his personality a bit, since nowadays I send him on missions to places where tactics and thinking are required. Unfortunately, sometimes (more often back then) he overlooked crucial things in his plans. Mace dislikes battle due to the size of his weapon, but when he hits people… he hits them.

Meta Lance ("Skew") fell somewhere in the middle of the previous two. To be honest, I hired him only because of his skill in programming machines to do his bidding – it was only until I had seen him in battle that I learned of his highly adaptable skill set with his lance. While I dislike continuous attacks because they leave me wide open for a well-planned counterattack, it seems Skew has learned when to go all out and when to fall back and regroup for the next assault. This same philosophy extended to his machines' AI – avoid attacking until the best possible time, and utilize maximum force once you get some momentum.

Meta Trident ("Verge") completed my handpicked set of warriors. He spaced out a lot, and stayed in his quarters most of the time. He likes reading instruction manuals to everything… the rest of my crew were weirded out for almost a week before they started getting along better. Verge is the most sensitive member of my elite, but since he's the best pilot I've got, next to Captain of course, I tolerate his eccentricities gladly.

And then there was Sailor Dee, the last member of my crew. A Waddle Dee seeking to prove himself, he contributed pretty much nothing to my operation, but I hired him anyway. I have a soft spot for intelligent people who can't get ahead in life…

So we seven men finished building the Halberd, and when everyone was on the bridge, I signaled Captain to begin taking off.

"Reactor 1, output normal."

"Adjust the balancer to… 0003!"

I paused for a moment as the ceiling panels moved aside for the battleship. Finally, after three long years, our preparations were complete!

"Let's raise the anchor."

"Check anti-gravity plant. 1, 2, 3, OK!!"

The Halberd slowly began rising. As it ascended into the skies, I turned to face my elite.

"Release the sails, solar level 288!"

I spoke to my men, to prepare them for the battles ahead.

"The time has come. The time to show our power! Dream Land's lazy lifestyle will end! I will rule!"

And just like that, the Halberd's long flight began.

Aright! The story picks up next chapter, when Kirby boards the Halberd in a pitiful attempt at stopping it! Read and review please!