OFF: I remember that years ago, I wrote a fanfic known as Beginning of the End which attempted to mix the anime and the games to form a single story. Although I had some popularity with it, I was a lot less experienced and although my knowledge of the games was good, my knowledge of the anime was very limited back then. Likewise, I adjusted my views of the setting and my portrayals of the characters, causing me to run into a dead end regarding the consistency of my characters.
Although I begun a remake, it crashed and burned due to having not waited until I had cemented the personality of the primary antagonist, causing me to write myself in a corner.
I have recently regained interest in the setting due to various factors both in canon and fanon and found myself wishing to write again... but although I think Beginning of the End could use a final version, I figured that I might as well work on a different idea.
This idea will use the anime setting as a primary base and involve Meta Knight, Kirby's mentor. But although there are a lot of Meta Knight-centric fics around, I hope that my idea will turn out to be original.
Please note that the prologue will be very dark. The fic will lighten up beyond the prologue chapters but I thought that warning people might be a good idea.
HONOR THE PAST
PROLOGUE PHASE 1:
The Dream Soured
Months have passed since the final battle with Nightmare. The NME, the great galactic empire that had once been so close to conquering all of the known universe collapsed like a house of cards, its very society destroying itself in the wake of its ruler's death. Indeed, the Demon Beasts, lacking free will, floundered without orders and the few of Nightmare's followers that held free will, failed to keep the empire together, the once mighty NME separating into a serie of shrinking remnants that fought pointlessly over ever dwindling ressources.
With the great threat passed, the alliance of planets and demon hunter organizations begun the long and arduous task of rebuilding the many civilizations that had been enslaved by the dark lord. Peace had returned to the galaxy and it was all thanks to Kirby and Meta Knight, the last of the Star Warriors.
Well, people credited the two but Meta Knight knew that it was Kirby who had fought and destroyed Nightmare when the destined time had come. He had trained him the best he could and in a way, the time of destiny had come much quicker than he had expected or hoped. The pink spherical creature was but a baby, a mere child and yet the fate of the entire galaxy had been put on his shoulders. It was more than such a young Star Warrior should have been asked to deal with, far more... in a way, it still surprised the older Star Warrior that his apprentice had managed to defeat the dark lord in such conditions.
Still, this meant that his task was fulfilled. With Nightmare defeated, the prophecy states that it will take a millenium before enough darkness has built up in the cosmic order for the dark lord to return to life. Until then, peace will reign.
A single question remained in the mind of the masked Star Warrior though. The prophecy had stated that Nightmare would not be defeated until three hundred years from now, the time that Kirby would have reached adulthood. Yet Nightmare was indeed dead, his grip over the world ruined. What effect would this have upon the cosmic order? Would the universe enjoy three extra centuries of peace? Or would the cycle continue or normal? Or... would this cause adverse consequences?
To be fair, he did not know. All that he knew was that it was now his task to train Kirby and to prepare the revival of the Star Warriors. The organization had been decimated by the war against Nightmare and it would take many generations for it to recover in time to face the revived NME. But still, he would be long dead by the time this issue came to pass as would be Kirby and everyone he knew. This was for the distant future, for the descendants of their descendants to face when the time comes.
At long last, he could come at peace with his past and forget everything. The war is won, the struggle is over. He can now sit in the shade of a tree, close his eyes, and enjoy the breeze while Kirby enjoy his childhood. No need to train so hard anymore, indeed. Just... resting and letting him live, playing with all his friends...
Within its sheat, the living blade Galaxia, glowed silently. Although the masked knight did not know it as he drifted into the land of dreams, the blade's cosmic nature resonated...
Deep within cosmic emptiness, far from the light of stars, far from the touch of life, slept a power older than any civilization, predating the very cycle of life and death. An ancient power... ancient and terrible.
In the vacuum of the cosmic order, Nightmare's destruction caused a great void, expanding through space, the power of darkness collapsing upon itself. Without the usual build-up of darkness caused by his continued reign, the shockwave tore through the fabric of reality and reached the very edge, far from the eyes of the living.
The universe shuddered, the shockwave tearing into the fine void that separated emptiness from reality.
Brought out of its lifeless sleep, the power stirred and breathed. The very universe shuddered, retracted, crawled out of reach of the power as it reached out motionlessly, its icy, thoughtless fingers reaching to the warm light of life. Existence still elluded the power but already, fragments of the eternal, timeless void formed. A vile cancer gripped the very fabric of reality, blemishes that the darkness could not stamp out. The blotted the light of the stars, consuming and voiding anything in their paths like a malignant disease.
Slowly, so slowly that it was almost unnoticeable to any living thing, the universe's shaking begun to slow down... bit by bit... ever so slowly...
The gap between the universe and the power begun to close...
Meta Knight's eyes shot open. A strange dream had filtered into his mind, a dream made of strange concepts that were practically incomprehensible. A dream that spoke of infinity, of the relationship between cosmic eternity and the void before and after existence. A dream that spoke of a terrible, long forgotten secret. He did not know why such a dream would be remembered. The feeling of vague threats was not uncommon and was often not based on reality, especially in a mind scarred by past experiences like his own. Nightmare is dead, the great dark lord and embodiment of fear was vainquished. The universe will remain at peace for at least a millenium.
Dedede's eyes closed for a moment, his entire frame relaxing, his chin falling on the open palm of his paw. The blinding lights of his castle's throne room begun to fade and then, out of a sudden, he jerked himself awake, eyes shooting open, chasing the sleep out of his body.
Ever since the NME had been exposed as a front for Nightmare's operations, the stock holders for the company had withdrawn all of their fundings simultaneously resulting in the total collapse of the company. He had heard that pockets of Demon Beasts still existed but with Nightmare's death and the NME discredited, no one had risen to replace NME's old trade.
This had caused Dedede to realize just how dreadfully his life as a king was. He had relied on Demon Beasts for so many things and now that they were gone, he found himself with barely a motivation to stay awake. Sure, he knew Kirby was still out there, being praised as a hero while everyone ignored him but without any Demon Beasts, he was forced to ration what little servants he had left and accept that the cursed pink puffball was now untouchable.
Still, he had to stay awake. Excessive sleep had begun to make his eyes go red, his eyesight weakening from lack of use. If he didn't have to be forced to take eye drops, something he hated, he had to discipline himself into staying awake. This was no easy task, what not with the lack of anything happening.
Still, he did as he did every day, pressing the button on the remote on his throne, turning to the tall blue monitor...
As usual, only static answered. He sighed loudly and depressedly, looking down at his feet, his various servants looking at the penguin. Escargoon and the other servants couldn't help but feel pity for their majesty. Sure, he has always been a bully and one could say that this was karma in a way... but he looked so pitiful now, sitting on his throne alone day after day, none of his decisions changing the lines of anyone, sleeping away his life...
Even Waddle Doo, Dedede's aged and desillusioned guard captain, was starting to regret the situation. He didn't pity Dedede per see, he was glad to be finally able to have civil conversations with the inhabitants and being free to finally do his actual job, which was keeping the peace, rather than clean up after Demon Beasts. But it had been ages since Dedede had cared about any of his reports, given any orders, or anything. Besides, the state of the king was ruining the morale of the army and although Waddle Doo hated to admit it, he kind of... felt vulnerable knowing that they no longer had Demon Beasts to augment the army's strength.
Escargoon, the strange snail-like creature that acted as the king's advisor, stood at the side of the throne, thinking deeply. There had to be a way to cheer their king up. He then thought about the various ways a king could entertain itself...
Make a visit to the town and interact with the citizens? After years of bullying them, they openly hated him and prefered him in his castle. Then maybe more banquets? No, the king ate a lot and it would both be insanely expensive and very unhealthy for the king to abuse them. Besides, Dedede may get sick of eating.
It was then that an idea came to him. A jester! Most courts use a jester to entertain the king!
"My majesty!" he exclaimed.
The voice of the eldely advisor broke the depressing silence causing every single living being in the castle to turn its gaze toward him. The king turned to look at his advisor, his interest obviously grabbed.
"Why won't we hire a court jester? Surely will this bring some entertainment to our little fortress and help pass time? This non-stop silence can only be bad for your health, after all!"
The king slumped into his chair and adjusted his position, rubbing his chin with one paw, deep in thought. Although he wasn't the smartest monarch, Dedede had found himself alone with his thoughts very often since the NME's collapse, allowing him much pratice when it came to using his brain.
King Dedede was maybe more of a self-proclaimed king bully than a proper monarch but if there was an aspect of being king that he did well, it was knowing the inhabitants of his land. Unfortunately, this also meant that he knew that no one would accept to work for him as a jester. Sure, in the past he'd ignore that fact and try to bribe or bully them into going along with it but without Demon Beasts, there was no way to force anyone into becoming his jester and he knew that no one in his castle could act as a jester.
In such a case, his usual solution would be to call a Demon Beast to fill the gap... but sadly, that option was out. Thus, he sighed deeply and slumped into his chair again, depressed and sleepy.
Escargoon, too, deflated as he noticed his king's reaction and also realized the flaw behind his suggestion.
Indeed, it seemed that this was set to be yet another common day in this post-NME era in Dreamland...
... until the transmitter's monitor, which previously displayed static, suddenly came to life.
At this moment, everyone in the room turned to look at it. Dedede half-expected to see the logo of the NME and the usual salesman but was greeted by a... very different sight. Instead, there seemed to be a white background with a single symbol in the center, at the top, replacing the NME logo. It was a red zero with a black z crossing through it, forming a strange emblem of sorts. At the spot where the NME salesman would be was instead a strange round-ish figure with jet black spiky hair, a visor that allowed one to see yellow eyes, and a purple cloak covering it. No arms could be seen on the strange figure's body and the details in the cloak's opening seemed kind of... vague somehow.
"Huh? Who are you? How did you contact me?" called Dedede, definitely awake although annoyance had filtered into his mind.
"Salutations. We assume you are the great, noble king Dedede, yes?" compared to the NME salesman's warm, joyful tone, the figure had a slow, oily tone of voice that seemed befitting of a gentleman...
"Yeah, that's me. Who are you? What do ya want?"
The figure somehow adjusted its visor despite having no visible arms or hands and then, blinked underneath it. Escargoon squinted but for some reason, he couldn't shake off the feeling that despite the visor, there was only one eye rather than two underneath it...
"We are the Dark Matter Collective. After the collapse of the NME Enterprise, we have recognized the opportunity that this represents for us. It is our desire to take over the trade of Demon Beasts all over the galaxy."
Escargoon rubbed his chin and turned to his king. Dedede seemed over-joyed but the advisor remembered all too well how the previous venture of that kind had ended. "My majesty, surely you must remember how the NME repaid our loyalty to them as customers, months ago? I am not convinced."
The king froze, the memories of Nightmare's assault on his kingdom souring his mood. Taking ahold of his feelings, the king adjusted his position yet again and stared at the figure.
"Demon Beasts, ya? Well, you better not be another front for Nightmare, well the late Nightmare's dirty little operations. We got swindled once, I'm not gonna be swindled twice!"
The figure seemed to have expected this. It posed tall and proudly, staring down the penguin and his advisor. "Oh, do not be worried, great, noble king. Unlike the NME, the Dark Matter Collective is not only opening the market of Demon Beasts once more but shall enter it as an ethical, legitimate business. We are in no way related to Nightmare and his operations, instead using our own technologies to produce high-quality, obedient Demon Beasts."
Dedede and his advisor looked at each others. The various Waddle Dees shifted incomfortably while Waddle Doo stood in the doorway, staring at the monitor...
"Really? Well, you got a Demon Beast that could work for me as a jester, then?"
The figure nodded slowly. "Yes, noble king. We have a vast inventory of Demon Beasts who can fulfill a great variety of roles and tasks from lowly janitors to expert assassins, including loyal bodyguards and even Demon Beasts that can help in energy generation and even the recycling of used products. Whenever your need be great or small, the Dark Matter Collective can fulfill it."
And at that moment, that wicked spark that had died months ago in the penguin's eyes was once more ignited. His expression deformed into a smirk for the first time in months and thoughts and plans long forgotten were started to be rebuilt in his mind.
"Say... now that you mention it... I have a... pest... to get rid of. Alright! I'll take two Demon Beasts. One to be my jester, the other one, I want your strongest one!"
The figure simply looked at Dedede for a moment. The pause was very noticeable and yet, no change of expression came to the mysterious entity. It was as if the king's words had not even registered. Dedede was about to repeat his request when suddenly, it spoke up.
"Ha yes. So you wish for one of our fine Demon Beasts to... exterminate... that pest for you?"
"Yeah! Exactly that! What's your best Demon Beast?" replied the king.
The figure seemed to stare into empty air for a moment and then refocused its gaze toward the king. "Well, we do not wish to bother a potential customer but pray tell... what is the target which you want eliminated?"
That... was a strange question. The NME salesman had never asked that kind of question. This made the king raise an eyebrow but well, he chose to carry on anyway.
"It's a really annoying pest. Small, pink, round, squeal 'poyo' all the freakin' time. It inhale all the food that comes its way and can also eat up creatures to gain super powers. It's about as small as a Waddle Dee. Why did you ask anyway?"
At that moment, the figure's gaze sharpened, boring through the king. Dedede's smirk vanished, finding himself momentarily startled and intimidated by such a gaze. He blinked but the figure had that same generic, somewhat uncaring gaze as before now...
"Hmmm... we see. Good. You see, noble king, we, the Dark Matter Collective, unlike the unlamented NME Enterprise, are concerned with the quality of the products we sell to our customers. We needed a description of the target as to sell to you the Demon Beast that will be perfect for you, that will exterminate your pest, this Kirby, with no chance of failure."
Dedede didn't seemed convinced though. "Yeah yeah. And what about my jester?"
"In fact... we have the perfect Demon Beast for you. Your teleporter is still working, is it not?"
"Yeah yeah. What about my jester?" repeated the king, not paying attention.
It was then that the NME teleporter suddenly came to life. Everyone in the room braced for whatever kind of Demon Beast would appear. Escargoon calculated the distance between himself and the closest cover, Waddle Doo put a paw on his sword, the various Waddle Dees made sure they knew where the nearest spear racks were just in case...
But instead of a crazy-looking monstrosity, what appeared was... some kind of adorable light purple ball-like being with big clown shoes, a jester hat, a little red bow tie, and massive cute eyes. Not only but it was also bouncing on a large beach ball, a smile on its face.
"We introduce to you Marx, one of our finest creations. This Demon Beast is not only a splendid jester but an extremely skilled and deadly assassin."
Dedede glared at the small jester-like Demon Beast as it balanced on its ball, smiling innocently. Escargoon and the various Waddle Dees stared at it. Sure, not all Demon Beasts are huge but all those sent by the NME at least looked kind of fearsome in some way or another. That Marx thing was so innocent and harmless-looking that even Kirby probably looked scarier than it.
"Hey. You're sure that this thing can do it?" asked Dedede to the black figure.
"Satisfaction guaranteed." stated the figure. "We guarantee that within one week, that Kirby pest you speak of will be... eliminated. As a show of good will, this first Demon Beast will be completely free. Likewise, if in one week Kirby is still not... gone... then the second Demon Beast shall also be free."
"Hey! That is a pretty good deal, I like it!" went Dedede, recovering his smile.
The figure's gaze turned to Marx. "Now Marx, we expect results from you. Serve your master and do not shame the collective."
"As you command. The will of the collective is my will." Not unsurprisingly, Marx's voice was just as high-pitched and adorable as one might expect of such a cute-looking Demon Beast. What chilled absolutely everyone in the room was the droning, completely emotionless monotone with which it answered the figure.
"Will that be all, sir?" asked the figure, this time to the king.
Dedede scratched the back of his head. That was quite a crazy situation but he guessed it was a good deal. So he got ahold of himself and then nodded. "Yeah! I think I like ya! So I call you again in one week, right? Give you my appreciation?"
"That will not be necessary." said the figure. "We shall contact you again, noble king. Until then, the Dark Matter Collective salute its customer."
And at that moment, the monitor's transmission ended, the display blackening and then turning back to static. With the transmission terminated, Dedede shut down the machine and then turned to see Marx, still balancing on his ball.
"Hey hey hey!" he called. "You're quite the gloomy king, aren't you? Bothered by that big bad Kirby, aren't you? Not to worry... I can fix that easily!"
Dedede rose an eyebrow yet again. Demon Beasts didn't tend to be very chatty in the past so he was actually surprised that this one spoke to him first. Still, after all the failures he saw in the past, one that had a bit more initiative couldn't hurt so he accepted the situation, getting off his throne and standing up to get a better look at his newest servant.
"Yeah, I was told that. So what kind of powers will you use to clobber that Kirby?"
"Well..." Marx said, looking away as he thought for a second. "It vary. Open casket or closed casket?"
This made the king and everyone else raise an eyebrow. Noticing the collective lack of understanding, Marx rolled his eyes and elaborated. "What I mean is... when I'm done with him, he's still recognizable or I utterly smash him?"
The king brought a paw to his chin. Frankly, he hadn't really thought about it. On one hand, Kirby being beaten up to such a point that not even his friends would be able to recognize him would do a wonder to satisfy Dedede's desire for revenge. On another hand, this also meant that he wouldn't be able to parade the insufferable pest's corpse around town to demonstrate that the pink thingy wasn't the hero they all thought it was.
So he made his decision. "Still recognizable."
The jester nodded and then smirked evilly. Now that was an expression more worthy of a Demon Beast!... although the fact that it was so small and so cute still made Dedede wonder if the Dark Monster collection whatever wasn't overstimating their creations. Marx looked like he couldn't harm a fly.
"Right then. Then, my majesty, I shall set out to rid you of your little problem. There will be no need for other orders. I'm a pretty self-sufficient Demon Beast, you see! Just relax and in a few days, your Kirby problem will be gone forever!"
"It better be! Or the king shall be unhappy!" said Escargoon, deciding it was the moment to assert his position.
Frustratingly enough, the intimidation attempt didn't work at all. Marx simply chuckled to himself and bounced on his ball, making his way out of the throne room, slowly but surely heading toward town...
A day had passed since Dedede had received his newest Demon Beast. Everything was still as normal as it had ever been for months now but for some reason, Fumu couldn't help but feel creeped out. Apparently, an adorable jester-like person constantly balancing on a ball had been hanging around town, asking about Kirby. The questions it asked didn't seem to make sense. What did Kirby like, who his friends were, what did he wish to do when he was older, who his parents were, what was his favorite food or favorite sport... it really, really seemed interested in Kirby for some reason.
On one hand, the questions had seemed innocent but after returning from playing all day with her brother and Kirby in the fields, she had passed by the throne room and heard Dedede chuckling to himself. It had been that weird jester thing, discussing... something... with the penguin. She had tried to overhear what they were saying but for some strange reason, all the jester did was telling the king jokes.
She had a bad feeling about this. It was just so... weird.
She sighed to herself. Without proof she could not accuse the jester thing of anything and who knows, maybe it was just really her own mind playing up? After all, Nightmare is gone. She was there, by Kirby's side, when he was destroyed after all...
"Hey hey hey! What's the matter? You seem kind of blue!"
Fumu was startled and glanced quickly only to find that jester thing she had overheard telling jokes to Dedede. It balanced on its ball right by her room's door, its huge, blank eyes staring at her. Although surprised she quickly got ahold of herself, staring fearlessly at the strange thing.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" she called, not having any patience at the moment for what could be potential trouble.
"Whoa! I'm sorry..." went the jester-like thing, slowly slipping off of its ball before smiling at her. "The name's Marx. You're Fumu, right? Kirby's friend?"
"Marx? So you're the one who've been asking all kinds of weird questions about Kirby!" she said, clenching a fist. Such assurance, it must be a Demon Beast!
"Yep! Kirby's kind of famous after all. He beat Nightmare and saved the galaxy! That sounds really awesome, really!" he said before his smile faded, his expression turning sad. "You know, I'm a newcomer to this planet and I don't really have friends at the moment. The king hired me as a jester but well, I've been wondering about becoming Kirby's friend. He does sound like a nice guy from what everyone told me after all..."
This... was not what she had been expecting. She didn't know how to react.
"I know it's weird but a famous person like Kirby... I didn't know if he'd want to talk to me. So I asked around to see if I could find a way to talk to him, befriend him..."
Marx got back on his ball, his sadness melting back into a huge grin. "Say, you're Fumu, right?"
The girl nodded, not sure what to say at this point.
"Maybe you could introduce me to him? Then, maybe, we could all be friends! I'd like that!" his grin faded a bit. "I'd like some friends after all..."
Fumu looked carefully at Marx. The way he stared at her, his eyes full of hope... she guessed it explained everything about the whole situation. After all, it is rather easy to forget when she interact daily with Kirby and see that he's really just a nice kid like her. On most of the planets around the universe, Kirby must probably be seen as some kind of super hero.
"Right then, I will introduce you to Kirby. If you just want to make friends, then why not? We can always use more friends."
She smiled at the jester-like entity. He stopped bouncing on his ball, smiling at the girl widely in gratitute...
"Oh! Yeah! Sorry for standing in front of your room like that. It's rather late right? I'll get going then! See ya!"
"See you." she waved goodbye as Marx went on his way.
Well... she guessed that was it for that mystery...
Yet another beautiful day, yet another day spent playing in the fields. Fumu had planned to spend a part of the day just reading by a tree's shade but her brother had convinced her to go play with him and Kirby so here she was, in the fields. As usual Meta Knight had come to watch for about a few minutes and then sleep. Another typical day in Dreamland after the collapse of the NME.
Or so it was until, after finishing a game of ball, the three kids saw someone approach in the distance, from the town. For a moment, there was confusion as to who it could be but Fumu quickly recognized the figure as it grew close enough for her to notice it.
"Hey! Marx! Over there!" she called.
Marx sped up as much as he could without jumping off his ball.
"Hey hey hey!"
Bun, Fumu's brother, and Kirby both stood there. The newcomer was quite strange although Bun was less surprised than the pink Star Warrior. After all, Fumu had mentionned the jester-like person and everyone in town had spoken of the various questions he had asked. Still, he was rather surprised to see that Fumu's description of him had been no exageration.
"Fumu? That's Marx, right?" said Bun.
The girl nodded, motionning to him. "Yeah, this is him!"
At this moment, Marx looked extremely awkward, having all those gazes upon him. He leaped off his ball and dragging it around with him by pushing into it with one foot, approaching Kirby.
"Errrrhm... the name's Marx! I'm... really glad to meet you! You... you wanna play?"
The pink puffball blinked rapidly, looking the weird jester over. Then as Marx pushed the ball into his small fingerless limbs, Kirby smiled very widely.
"Poyo!" he went before grabbing the ball and throwing it at Bun. The ball was thrown back, Fumu intercepting it this time.
Meta Knight watched. He had noticed the strange one coming over and had watched very carefully, making sure not to miss any details. There was something that bothered him about the situation. For that Marx being to appear suddenly despite no spaceships coming to Dreamland lately, this made the knight very suspicious regarding what the jester might be. However, fact is, Nightmare is gone and with him, the NME Enterprise. How could Marx be a Demon Beast if there was no one to send Demon Beast to Dedede to begin with?
Still, he kept his suspicions and stared at Marx, watching him, just in case.
Minutes begun to pass and as the game ended, Marx suggested another one. Yet more minutes passed... and another game came. Then another one... then another... then another... then another... Minutes became hours and it dawned upon Meta Knight that if that was a Demon Beast, it was sure taking its sweat time and bothering with a lot of stuff that would normally drive Demon Beasts beserk. Demon Beasts do not have hearts, they can't feel friendship and don't care about such things.
And by the time the sunbegun to set, Marx had not attacked or shown any signs of malice. In fact, Marx took back his ball, declared that he wishes to play again tomorrow, and then was on his way. It was... strange. Why would a Demon Beast go through such things?
Maybe he should just investigate the circumstances of Marx's arrival, just to be sure...
The week progressed quickly. Already, it was four days since Marx's arrival. Marx had continued his visits to town but instead of questions, he had simply hanged around, being friendly to everyone. By then, he had begun to play with Kirby regularly and he was starting to become part of the background. It seemed that his appearance had brought good to all of Dreamland, not only giving Kirby a new friend to play with but also cheering up the king. By now, rumors of how funny Marx could be had leaked from the castle and the jester had enlightened the population with his sense of humor. Indeed, Marx was quite the jester.
Meta Knight could not help it though. He had searched for days for an answer and while he could usually get Dedede to betray the fact that he had summoned a Demon Beast, the penguin king had just thrown jokes about Meta Knight's age or him being paranoid instead. Likewise, it seemed that no one knew where Marx came from or how he came in Dreamland. It seemed he had just appeared out of nowhere and begun to befriend everyone. It was madening.
Even Sword and Blade had begun to take a liking to Marx. It was just something about the way he spoke... and it made Meta Knight suspicious. For all his innocense, he was convinced that Marx is far smarter than he appears. But this still held a fundamental question... if Marx is an enemy, why do he bother befriending everyone? No Demon Beast he knew would have such patience...
Yet another day without answers. It was starting to grate on the knight. He started to make his way toward his room to rest and think over the situation when he heard a noise that was starting to become familiar in all of the castle and its surroundings. Namely, it was the sound of Marx's ball as he bounced on it.
"Hey hey hey, knight guy!"
He turned to face the strange being. He would not be swayed. He would find the truth.
"You look kind of gloomy. There's a problem, right?"
"Who are you truly? How did you come here?" said the knight, turning to face the jester proper. "What are you after?"
"Still not trusting me, right?" said the jester, just as happy as before.
Meta Knight's silence was all that Marx needed. He slid off his ball and stared at the masked knight very carefully for a moment... "So you wanna know right? Fine then, I'll show you."
Marx stepped back, closed his eyes... and then, there was a blue flash of light, like some kind of vortex, like the very air splitting in two and reuniting and suddenly Marx was back on his ball. He opened his eyes and begun to balance again on his ball.
"I'm able to teleport. It normally got a short range but I was able to hijack one of the NME's old networks to make it here. As for why I came... I told everyone already. Jobs for jesters are not necessarely easy to get and I wanted to meet the famous Kirby, become his friend. I see what they said about his mentor was true too..."
Meta Knight glared at the jester.
"You should cheer up, knight guy. Just smile and relax, okay?"
And with that said, the jester was once again bouncing away. So the jester had teleported all the way to Pop Star, taking advantage of the teleportation path created by Nightmare. On one hand, that would explain how he appeared in Dreamland despite having no spaceship. On another hand, he couldn't shake that strange feeling about Marx.
... but then, he had spent time with Kirby for four days and had not harmed him in any way. All he had done was playing with him. In fact, he had been nice and helpful to the townfolk and even he had to admit that getting Dedede out of his gloomy mood had actually been a good thing. The king no longer spoke of his hatred of Kirby or of wishing for Demon Beasts. He was acting pleasant for the first time in, well, pretty much ever.
Maybe it was just paranoia, as Dedede has stated. Why would a Demon Beast do such things when they have no hearts? This made no sense...
He guessed all he could do now was go back to his room and think it over...
Last day of the week since Marx arrived...
"Hey hey hey! It's me!"
"Poyo!" called Kirby, Fumu and Bun also waving as Marx arrived as usual. It seemed that he had become part of the routine by now.
"So what are we going to do today? I say we play ball!" said Bun.
"Nah!" went Fumu, wagging a finger at her brother. "I say we play a word game! I've got to have that rematch with Marx!"
"Poyo Poy!" chirped Kirby happily, not caring which game they would play. Either way, it would be fun.
The jester smiled sweetly. "Yeah! We definitely should! But say, it's been about a week since I arrived, right?"
There were nods from everyone. Marx carried on. "Nice! Then I got a surprise for all of you! Come on!"
"A surprise? I like surprises!" went Bun.
Kirby jumped on his feet. "Poyo! Yay! Poyo!" It seemed he agreed.
Meta Knight watched as the four friends left the fields together and headed toward the various fields of vegetables and fruits grown by the inhabitants of Cappy Town. The masked knight already knew why Marx was leading them there. Yesterday, he had spoken with some of the city residents and they had revealed that Marx had spoken with the owner of the watermelon fields, using the money from his job at Dedede's castle to buy a whole watermelon field for Kirby to eat.
At this point, it was really obvious that Marx was sincere. He had countless opportunities to attack the town during the week and his attitude had never changed. In a way, Meta Knight kicked himself for suspecting him in the first place. After all, with the NME gone and the remnants falling apart, it was only a matter of time before someone took advantage of the technology Nightmare left behind for better causes. And well, if Demon Beasts could be teleported then why not normal people?
So he decided to doze off.
As for the four, they soon recognized the location. Marx had been warned so many times not to bring Kirby here but she guessed that he knew already. After all, it was becoming apparent that he was much smarter than he appeared.
As they reached the fields of watermelons, Kirby stared at all of the fresh, tasty-looking fruits. He could feel himself salivating from the thoughts of all those watermelons and could barely keep himself from inhaling them. Sure, Fumu would be angry and Bun sad but so many watermelons...
Marx was still bouncing on his ball, smiling happily. "Here we are! I spoke with the owner of this watermelon field and agreed to let me buy the field. As a show of thanks for accepting me... here is my first surprise, to Kirby! All of those watermelons are yours!"
"Poyo?" went Kirby. Really, they were all his?
Fumu, her, stared at the jester. So that was the big surprise he had been talking about? Noticing the expressions of both Fumu and her brother, Marx smiled.
"Don't worry, I have a surprise for you too! Once Kirby is done with his, which shouldn't take long!"
Kirby didn't hesitate. He ran forward and then, opened his mouth wide as he inhaled. The sheer strength of his inhaling tore the watermelons out of the fields, causing them to fly toward the pink puffball and sink into his mouth, one by one. It was a whole field, dozens of them, all of them delicious. And true to Marx's words, the gluttonous pink puffball inhaled with such enthusiasm that within a few minutes, every watermelon was gone.
Satisfied, Kirby stepped back and then sat down, smiling as he rubbed his belly curve...
"Alrighty. Now for my second surprise." Marx said, his tone suddenly darkening, his smile deforming into a hateful, sadistic smirk.
It was then that a golden three-fingered limb emerged from his back, each finger ending with a long, sharp-looking claw. His claws grasped the characteristic shape of a detonator.
Fumu's and Bun's eyes widened in horror.
click.
The serie of explosions was deafening. Kirby's eyes widened in pure pain as the sheer strength of the explosive watermelons' explosions forced his mouth open. The chain reaction thrown him upward and he began flying like some kind of pink round rocket, flying straight into the sky and toward the town...
"And now, for the third surprise!" Marx's cutesy voice had nothing gentle in it anymore, the joyful glee now psychopatic.
And with a tearing sound, Marx's back exploded in purple energy, the two golden limbs reveiling themselves to be massive golden bat-like wings, the wings' membranes being reflective hexagones somehow. A massive, disgusting tongue hung from the deformed grin and the bow tie turned into a golden necklace, the central red gem glowing darkly. Hovering over the two, Marx grinned evilly.
"You... you..." stuttered Fumu in pure shock.
"Too easy! It was really too easy! What did your parents feed to you, everyone of you in this dumb place? Gullible soup? I had more difficulty tricking mice!" he mocked.
"K-KIRBY!" called Fumu, running after the direction the pink puffball had flew in while her brother lingered, staring horrified at the figure that moments earlier had been his friend.
"Wh... why Marx..." he whispered before running to follow his sister.
Marx didn't care though. His mission is completed. Now all he needs to do is confirm the kill. Without wasting any time, the Demon Beast beat his wings, sending himself flying into the blue skies...
TO BE CONTINUED...
