"You're doing great, Kirby. Just keep moving when I tell you to. Move to the right!"
His labored breaths came up in a small fog, gripping the controls to the Robobot tightly as he quickly had the Halberd swerve to the right. His small body was trembling, sweaty, and he shook in sheer terror. Their opponent was large; larger than the Halberd, the warship that seemed massive enough on its own. Not only was their opponent larger than a small planet, it had a destructive AI that would surely obliterate them if he made one small mistake, if he was half a second too slow.
Never before had Kirby felt so hopeless.
But he couldn't give up. His planet-no, the entire universe-was at stake. If he lost, the whole universe would fall to the wrath of Star Dream, the computer who was programmed to drive towards the goal of eternal prosperity, connected to the planet-sized vessel called the Access Ark.
The front of the outer shell of the Access Ark had since fallen apart, revealing the face that hid beneath. Large, moon-sized eyes opened slowly, the metal creaking and groaning as the deep blue irises locked right into Kirby's exhausted ones.
The air was freezing cold, as they were above the planet's atmosphere. Kirby could feel the sweat clinging to his body slowly freeze over, his paws trembling as the planet-sized machine readied another attack. Deadly red light filled his vision, and he couldn't see.
"Move, Kirby, move! Move down!"
Kirby quickly followed Meta Knight's orders, shifting his controls to make the Halberd move downwards.
However, he was too slow.
Pain. Kirby felt a burning pain in his head as the Halberd groaned and shook at the blow. He could feel it; the damage being done to the Halberd, he could feel it. He was connected to the machine, and it hurt. Silent screams tore out of his raw throat, his head spinning as the red hot pain grew overwhelming beyond comprehension.
Despite the agony ripping his head apart, despite the odds slowly turning against him, Kirby kept going. He continued to fire at Star Dream, hoping and praying that piece by piece, the machine would fall apart. He would defeat this enemy, or he would die trying.
He could feel it all; every blow from the various items Star Dream threw at him, every gust of frozen wind, every small detail that the Halberd felt, he could feel as well. He would not give up, however. No matter now much pain he felt, he would never give up.
The pain slowly started to fade.
Meta Knight's orders to move in certain directions were followed, sometimes before they were even given. Kirby could feel, his heart's temperature decreasing with every movement, it almost felt like he was becoming a machine himself. He could feel it… or could he?
Left. Fire. Up. Down. Fire. Right. Fire. Left… up… fire...
Slowly, the Access Ark fell, defeated. Kirby felt the coldness in his heart fade, replaced with burning agony as the nearly destroyed machine suddenly opened its crazed azure eyes and fired a beam at the Halberd, which pierced through the left wing of the warship.
Kirby was almost glad that the pain returned; the cold, empty feeling he had before had nearly suffocated him. He never wanted to feel that again.
"Kirby, can you hear me?! We need to take down the Access Ark, now!"
He blinked, nodding his head even though the elder knight wouldn't be able to see it. He let his Robobot and himself detach from the Halberd, which was still smoking from the blow it took. Kirby noticed that the pain he felt when connected to the Halberd faded away, which he was thankful for.
The hope he had lost slowly returned to him. It filled his senses, his heart, his entire being.
He would win. He would protect his home, his planet, the universe