A/N: I'm back from my little break. During the start of the school year, I'm away at sports and like last year, I was unable to really update any of my stories. Now that I've gotten into more of the writing mood again, I can get focused.

Before I continue with this author note, let me warn you as a reader right now, both the top and bottom author notes may get a little lengthy, but I do have some important things to say...(for once…)

The chapter starts out with…no, not Meta-K02, but another. If anyone remembers, Hardy was the dentist demonbeast that appeared in episode 32, I believe, when Dedede and Bun got cavities and ordered him. There was one thing about Hardy that still has me thinking…

Hardy wasn't evil.

While some demonbeasts in the anime easily passed as 'evilest of the evil', not all of them seemed to be that…bad. Hardy even smiled when Bun thanked him for getting rid of his cavities and I felt almost bad for the poor guy when Kirby had to go get rid of him.

The main goal of this chapter was to really reveal the views and thoughts of the demonbeasts and some of their lifestyles.

A thing that may prove useful for you readers, especially if you cannot recall some of the lesser remembered demonbeasts, to go to some site where you can easily look up the demonbeasts that show up in this story. I suggest Kirby Wiki since it has the complete demonbeast list.

I have already planned out to use several of them from the anime and will not be creating any OCs. The names of the demonbeasts MAY be changed a little to fit the story better. I will have a brief info section on each demonbeast at the bottom author notes if the demonbeast mentioned is not well known.

Disclaimer: Cosmicgiraffe does not own any characters mentioned in this chapter. All characters, excluding Scipio, belong to their respected owners, including HAL and Nintendo. Cosmicgiraffe does not own any third party rights over the Kirby franchise. Plot is fan-based by Cosmicgiraffe.

X—X—X

-Chapter 3: New Recruit-

Hardy carefully slid himself down a few more steps, feeling the rusted iron panels bend slightly under his weight. Already, he had lowered himself seventy eight floor levels. He came out to another landing with a split path, one a walkway stretching over the vast expanse of darkness and the other leading back to the spiral staircase continuing to lead downward. He glanced at the sign post's digital display.

57

He felt his heart sink. He still had three more street levels to go. To descend down further and further away from the comfort of the bright neon signs, street posts, and trafficking cars in their sky lanes and to venture down into the 'bad neighborhood' made him feel edgy. He needed street level 54, and until he reached it, he would have to push forward and remind himself of the horrors he had just escaped from.

Two animal type females strutted by, glanced at him and giggled, smiling maliciously at him with their large pursy lips. Their slurred words were too difficult for him to make out and he ignored them, starting back down the stairs.

By now after climbing down 51 flights of stairs, he should have been more at ease, but he still could not feel comforted, for each street level was a complete new world…

The floor numbers at each level was unneeded, because the stairs and streets told it all. From the one hundred and seventh floor of the city, his home level, the stairs had been made out of copper and were relatively well kept. The people were nice, not extremely talkative, but well mannered in the course of actions and words. Most of them held small jobs and were no more than simple accountants, clerks, or dentists like he was. Upon descending down a few floors, he was met with a group of demonbeasts of an entirely different social class. Many of the people here were mechanics and plumbers, workers of the labor class.

The builders' level could easily be heard long before he reached it. Large wheels of saws grinded through metal sheets to be sent down to the factory workers two floors below them for the materials to be made into products that would later be sent all the way to the higher social class levels.

From floor to floor, the workers changed…the talk changed…the dress changed…the social classes could not have been any more well divided up than they already were. Every last demonbeast seemed to be carefully cataloged…

56

Hardy peeked out into the streets lined with bars and pubs. For the last 12 levels, nothing really had changed. The demonbeasts here wore open necked shirts, low waist pants and skirts, and long heavy chains of gold and silver around their necks…highly appalling to one from a life of strict formal wear and rather distant relationships.

The sounds of gunfire and a fight breaking out in one of the nearer bars made Hardy retreat back to the stairs and to continue his way downward.

His hands were long sore from clutching the railings up to the point the flimsy bar could have snapped off and he felt dizzy looked back up from all the way he had come. He stood there, looking up at the heavenly lights…why was this world so dark? A low sinking feeling filled his body…as if he had ventured down into a mine…he was afraid for whatever was going to happen next…afraid to turn back…and afraid to go forward. The lone message that had showed up in the inbox of his phone had saved his life. He was so sure of that.

The scariest part of it was probably the fact that it had come just seconds after his boss gave the word that he was fired and left jobless…

He slowly popped open his cell phone, scrolling through the assorted directions the same, unknown caller had left until he found the very first one. Opening it, he read its eerie message.

"To stay alive, leave your office NOW!"

Upon reading it for the first time, Hardy had thought there was some bomb threat and he had run out of his office with only a few of the papers he had planned to take with him in his briefcase and a hat. Moments after disappearing around the walls of the cubicles in the work place, he heard the doors of his office smashed down and shouts filling the air. It was at that moment did Hardy realize he was being hunted down…by the Imperial Police…

Keep going…keep going… Hardy thought, pushing himself to get the guts to face whatever lay ahead.

55

His body was back to shaking now. He was just one level away…

The dentist-demonbeast began to walk more slowly, fear renewing itself in him. If only he had more courage…

"Could ye' a walkin' any slower?"

Hardy's first instinctive reaction in the darkness was for the small lamp he used to see into his patients' mouths to turn on. As it did, the bright light caught the drunk buffalo demonbeast full in the face and he cursed, swatting the lamp away with a hoof. Hardy clattered down the rest of the stairs before he burst out on to level 54, gasping out. Behind him, the buffalo roughly shoved him out of the way and came past him, rubbing his eyes.

"D***upper city folk…"

Hardy grimaced, wiping the soot off his gloves as he watched the other demonbeast disappear into the cover of the shadows, still cursing.

He looked back to the stairs and was stunned to find no further stairs led down. Level 54 was the final floor level of the entire city…whatever happened to level 53, level 52, or any level down, he could not imagine. Seeing that the two hundred-story buildings were built upon level after level, he guessed that the rest of the building below was only to hold up the immense weight of the rest of it. If there truly was a first floor, he would never get the chance to know because at that moment, he caught sight of a figure standing out in the street…waiting for him. It was hardly the size of a laptop computer standing upright, but a demonbeast no less. As soon as he saw the figure, it began walking away towards a building not too far from where he stood now.

Hardy gulped, glancing down at his phone.

Follow him.

He gasped out, holding the drill on his back out in front of him, looking from shadow to shadow. These people were watching him!

But even so, he came forwards and entered the building, the door shutting behind him without a sound.

Complete darkness surrounded him. Not even the streets were as dark as this. Hardy could only hear his heavy breathing and the mechanical heart in his chest beating loudly. Then, glaring lights shone down on him, blinding him. He squinted, unable to see anything.

"NAME."

The voice shook the room, making Hardy jump. His heart nearly stopped, leaving his body frozen to where he stood.

"Hardy…just Hardy…" He squeaked.

"JOB."

"A simple dentist…nothing more!"

"YOU KNOW WHY HERE?"

"No Sir! I know nothing!" Hardy cried out, feeling obligated to call this speaker of the deafening voice a formal title.

A long pause came before the voice came back, even louder.

"DROP PHONE."

Something by his feet clattered to the floor and Hardy glanced downward at his phone that had fallen from his shaking hand. He watched as the same small figure that had led him in, come and take the phone and brought it back with him into the darkness. Before he could say anything, the thunderous voice returned.

"YOU WATCHED. HOW FEEL?"

"Not good Sir…"

"PHONE. BODY. ALL WATCHED."

"Yes Sir…"

"EMAIL. THOUGHTS. TALK. ALL WATCHED."

"I'm aware of it Sir…"

"YOU BELIEVE IN?"

"What?"

"YOU BELIEVE IN?" The god-like voice boomed again, not bothering to explain.

"POLICE COME. KNOW WHY?"

"No…" Hardy choked out.

This was the answer that he was afraid to hear. These people knew the reason…

"YOU SOLD. BUYER CALL UP NME. POLICE TELL BOSS FIRE YOU, THEN COME GET YOU."

"Sold? To who?"

"BUYER FROM UNIVERSE."

Sold…the thought of it alarmed him. What did this voice mean by 'sold'? Did someone literally put him up for sale in some catalog for buyers to just come and buy him?

"What do you guys want from me?" Hardy said with a trembling voice.

"JOIN. FIGHT CROWN. FREE PEOPLE. NO MORE SELL. LIVE FREE."

Rebel against the Crown? Rebel against Lord Nightmare and his still yet to be crowned prince? He stood up, backing away towards the doors.

"I…I don't want to be a part of this…"

"TURN NOW. POLICE COME. SEND YOU TO E."

Hardy's hand froze from where it was in the air, reaching towards the door. This voice had just said the evil word…the E.

In demonbeast society, you never, ever spoke of the E. The E was the place to die; he remembered one demonbeast put it. The demonbeast Hell. No one knew what its 'E' stood for, but the single, stand-alone letter was powerful enough to bring a noisy room down to silence.

The E was not just some imagined place, it stood as a single tombstone, the distance of a good mile or so between it and its neighboring building. Demonbeasts who worked in buildings nearby said the place rotted with the smell of death. Maybe that part was stretched a bit, but its building was true enough. All those sent to the E, always demonbeasts who were going to be put to death and sick and elderly demonbeasts…

Hardy collapsed to the floor, sobbing out. He could not hold it back. Fear had taken over him and he was left with nothing. He could see it now, he would forever be trapped, left to roam about these dark streets and to beg for a few coins to survive…but above him, a new voice came.

"Aw…Duston. Ya' made the guy cry…"

"SORRY…"

The lights were turned on and Hardy looked up to see two figures before him. The smaller one jumped up on to the larger one's shoulder before turning back to him.

"We just get the big guy ta' do all the talkin' cause he's the scariest. He's really a good guy…but kinda' dumb…"

Then, the larger figure tossed back Hardy his phone and he leapt to catch it before it smashed to the ground. The figure was about to talk when his smaller co-worker nudged him and instead continued talking.

"Hey, we took the listenin' device out, you can make free phone calls now without anybody listenin' in…and as long as ya' don't go back, the Imperial Police won't get ya' for it."

"JOIN?"

Hardy looked back at the two, still trembling. These two struck him as a rather odd pair. They did not seem as threatening as they had seemed in the darkness…but what was this group? Some kind of rebellious organization? He was not so sure he wanted to mix himself in with these kinds of things…

"But…why did you send for me? I don't understand…"

"Hey, look. Someone on the run from the police is probably the few whose eva' goin' to agree with us that we need to break free from Lord Nightmare. Everybody else is gunna' be too scared to do anythin'. I was once in that spot too. I didn't mind being ruled o'er that much…oh, but man, things change…"

Making big judgments had never been easy things for Hardy to make. Each time he was about to tell his answer, he held it back, trying to weigh the options around him for the less painful path. These two seemed like they were in the same position as he was: wanted demonbeasts on the run from the police…but to fight the Crown? That was beyond absurd!

…but then again, wasn't this a worthy cause that he always imagined a great hero would fight for? He was far from being a adequate sidekick, much less a hero…maybe this was not a good idea...

By now, the smaller demonbeast was tired of waiting and he leapt down, his shrill voice coming straight at Hardy's face.

"Hurry up and make the stupid decision already! You don't got no choice either way. Turn back, the cops will get ya'. Join us and you can make yourself useful."

"Alright…" He said hoarsely at last. "I'll join…"

Then, the larger demonbeast came and gave him a hearty thwack across the back.

"GOOD YOU JOIN."

Then, the smaller demonbeast slowly smiled.

"Welcome to the Anti-Loyalists. We've gotta' mission for ya'."


Nightmare watched Meta-K02 be dragged away, carried by the two guards. For a few moments, his fists curled with anger, but then slowly…slowly, his face fell into an unreadable one.

Meta-K02's small gold eyes continued to look at him, pleading for some mercy before Nightmare turned, unable to bear watching him be taken away with such disgrace. His master drifted off, disappearing into the darkness without looking back.

The guards moved quickly, leaving no time for Meta-K02 to stay and watch.

They took his down a few halls, down into a room where assorted handcuffs were storage away in what resembled a long filing cabinet that could be pulled out from the wall. The guards selected one and placed them around his wrists before shuffling him out of the room, now only needing one guard to drag him along while the other walked behind him.

Meta-K02 had never seen so many halls…each with so many rooms before…he hadn't had the chance to do so until now. Somehow, he missed living in a smaller world where everything had been comforting…but he hadn't appreciated it then. He wondered if he'd ever appreciate this larger one.

They took him into a second strange room with carpeted flooring and a panel full of buttons on the side. The guard on his left pushed on the top one and the entire room began to lift. Meta-K02 got the strangest sensation as the room ascended and his stomach churned. His body swayed slightly before the guard holding his handcuffs pulled him upright.

"Never been in an elevator before, huh?"

That was the first and last thing that guard said to him. His hostile glare made Meta-K02 cower back to looking at the floor. Finally, after a long minute of silence, the doors opened before a small hallway with a single door before them. The guards unlocked the door by typing in a password, took the handcuffs off of him, and threw him into the room.

Meta-K02 landed on his face, looking up only to watch the door close and lock itself. Slowly sitting up, he looked around the bare room. The room was empty, most likely an extra room that never was used and just left alone. The only notable piece in the cylinder shaped room was a wide window on the far side of the room where the pale glows of the neon lighted city shone through. He turned back to the door, deciding that there was no way of getting out, and came over to the window. He jumped up on to the window seat, gazing out into the city.

He had thought he had seen everything of the city, but now was proven wrong. From the very base of the palace all the way to the horizon line, all he could see were buildings in their spectacular lights. Why was everything down there so colorful when everything in the palace was not? He was awed by the new hues and shades of the lights…

Something up in the sky made him turn away from the fantastical colors and to stare hard out into the darkness of space. Gradually, he could see the small white dots that glowed dimly in the dome of black. He wondered what happened to those lights. Somehow, they did not look like that they were mechanical or an electronic device that had been connected up to the sky…everything in his world was artificial…perhaps they were banished neon signs because they didn't work?

Although he would not realize it until the due amount of time passed, he would remain in the room for several days…no one coming into the room or leaving it…as if he had been forgotten…

The two foremens entered the empty room, looking about them as they set down their work bags. The cylinder shaped tower room had remained empty for far too long and now that the extra space was needed, the room would need renovating.

They set about taking measurement of the room, locating the various pipes and wires that were hidden behind the wall with their equipment. Neither of them noticed that they were not alone…behind them, a small figure stood.

Finally, the leopard demonbeast stood up and turned around, stopping as he saw the small blue puffball who looked up blankly at them.

"Hey, Darrel, there's a kid here…think he's lost?"

"What's your name, kid? You from the palace?"

The puffball did not say anything but kept looking at them. His mouth was halfway open, panting a little like a thirsty animal. Darrel opened his canteen of water, offering it. As his hand came out, the puffball suddenly came at him and bit him hard.

"Ouch! God! The kid's got teeth like a shark!"

He wrenched his hand away, looking at his arm were the puffball had sank his teeth into. Two drops of blood formed, gleaming in the small amount of light.

The puffball wiped his mouth, his small white canine teeth exposed as he grinned eerily. Then, he let out a low hiss, his wings opening up. The two demonbeasts stood up as the puffball stepped back a few paces.

Then, the puffball leapt into the air.

Screams filled the room as he attacked them. The puffball went for the leopard demonbeast's throat, landing his teeth on the target and ripping away. With a gurgled cry, the demonbeast collapsed to the floor, blood pooling around him.

The other foreman was left cowering against the wall as he watched his co-worker die before his eyes. Then, the puffball turned, his red eyes gazing towards him.

He made a run for the door, panicked tears streaming from his eyes when his leg was pulled back. He fell to the floor as the puffball grabbed him, not letting go. The foreman screamed out as the puffball came forward, trying to get at his neck. He kicked the terror off of him, snatching his phone out of his bag and dialing the only number that he could about…the Imperial Officer Station number.

He watched as the puffball rise up again, wings opening up. He couldn't move…

"Imperial Officer Station. How may we help-"

He never got the chance to say any words. His last screams were the only thing that the officer answering his call heard before the line went dead.


Customer Service swore under his breath as coded inscription filled the screen. The holographic display flickered as he pounded his fists against the control panel. He stared at his digital watch, unable to sit down and handle things at his own leisure with valuable time ticking away. Without even looking away from the screen as its server error stubbornly appeared, he kicked at his executive chair and let it go spinning off into the darkness of the room.

He rolled up his sleeves and began to type, his fingers flying across the keys. He submitted it and waited. The computer considered his input painfully slow…growing slower and slower with computers at ever Imperial Officer station connecting to the network to respond to the distress call that had been sent from one of the palace towers. To beat the majority of them to a few moments on the network was crucial to everything he had.

Then, the same error message appeared on the screen.

You are not authorized to access admission to this database. Contact an administrator for further assistance…

This was his own computer that was not allowing him to log in! Grabbing his cell phone out of his pocket, Customer Service quickly dialed in one of the few phone numbers he knew at the top of his head.

"Bonjour?"

"Goan," Customer Service gasped out. "Get me an open service line on the network! I got here too slow!"

He heard Monsieur Goan get to work on the other side of the line and he imagined his friend's six arms each working at a different computer. Then, his own computer began clearing up, all of its error messages disappearing and soon, was replaced with the familiar desktop. Customer Service grinned, opening up the network. Immediately, he was met with the same distress call message and the floor plan of the palace with a pinpoint focusing on the eastern tower room.

Then, into his phone, he said,

"One more thing: get me Scipio's coordinates…exact coordinates."

Moments later, a box opened up on the monitor and a pair of numbers appeared, one the X-Coordinate and the other the Y-Coordinate. Customer Service watched as the X-Coordinate continually increased, signifying that Scipio was running along one of the corridors.

"Goan, you're incredible. Signing off. Get up to my office and meet the others back at the room."

He entered the coordinates in, and the system immediately located the security cameras in the same hall way, centering on Scipio and his guards…

Down in area H-243, Scipio's eyes narrowed as he ran past dead and wounded guards that lay across the hall. Three intruders against sixty-seven Imperial Guards…

Unbelievable…the lot of them…

A low moan at his side made him turn to a guard with four bullet wounds on his hips and arm. A low ranked officer…Scipio could tell that from how young the falcon-demonbeast was. He came forward and picked the guard up by the throat, bringing the struggling figure close to his scarred face.

"Wherez are theyz?" He hissed.

If he could just get an answer from the guard, maybe he would not have to waste so much time with these fools…while these men sat around and complained, the intruders were getting away…

"Who?"

"THE INTRUDERZ!" Scipio roared, shaking the unfortunate guard violently.

The guard suddenly fell limp and Scipio realized he just killed the man. Releasing him, he turned to the survivors who all immediately pointed down the hall to the left, still gawking at their dead associate. The commander turned back to his own group, who all flinched into rigid attention.

"Two of youz to ze other hallz…the rest of youz, come with me! Any demonbeast doing suspiciouz thingz iz to be arrested!"

He watched as the men divided themselves and set straight away to investigate the other halls. Then, Scipio and his men continued, their boots thundering down the hall.

They came past screaming demonbeast maids whose laundry baskets had been disturbed and left lying on the floor along the path of blood.

The Imperial Officers just came out into a new hallway when the emergency lock gates slammed down in front of them and behind them. The guards were thrown into disarray, unsure of what to do.

"What iz the meaning of zis?" Scipio shouted, gazing eye to eye with the security camera watching them. "Openz up the gatez!"

Customer Service swallowed, trying to keep his confidence from failing. Trying to keep eye contact with the lizard general and staying calm was easier said than done. Then, putting on his best voice of authority, he spoke into the intercom.

"We apologize. The gates will be opened momentarily…"

Could I have said anything stupider than that? Customer Service thought.

Scipio began swearing loudly, threatening and cursing. Customer Service was rather impressed by the threats the lizard came up with in his anger and frustration, although horrified at the word of them. Scipio stopped, breathing heavily but still staring at the screen. He turned, came up to the metal gate, and began hammering against it with his tail.

His tail was heavy and Customer Service was stunned as he watched the gate start to cave in under the power. He now saw how easily Scipio had been able to snap one demonbeast's spine from a long while ago. Anything trying to fight against that kind of power would surely perish.

The gate was now lifting up slightly off the floor, unable to fight Scipio. The other guards just stood back and watched with awe as their leader physically took care of it himself. Then, he stopped hammering and moved off screen where Customer Service could not see from the security camera.

He leaned forward, trying to see what the lizard was doing when the camera was ripped off the wall, leaving the screen with static bits of black and white.

Scipio hadn't been stopped…Duston, Walky, and the new guy would be in trouble…he couldn't do anything about it but hope that the Imperial Guards had been stopped long enough when suddenly, the door to his office slammed open.

"Freeze!"

Customer Service gasped as he looked behind him to face two Imperial Guards with their guns drawn out, pointed at him.

"Put your hands behind your head and stand by the wall!"

Thoughts swam through his head as he followed their order, shaking hard. They caught him stopping Imperial Officers…the punishment for that could not have been any less than a horrible death for treason.

They handcuffed him, jabbing their guns into his back.

"Caught one of the rebels…but say, your Customer Service…answer me."

"Y…yes…"

"This is going to be good…Lord Nightmare's is going to love-"

Gun shots sounded and Customer Service felt the two guards drop dead behind him. He turned, meeting Monsieur Goan's gaze as he lowered his pistol.

"Goan!" Customer Service cried out.

Monsieur Goan rushed over after closing the door behind him and unlocked the handcuffs and shuffling the dead bodies away. He brought his chair over and Customer Service collapsed into it, feeling his wrists. But pain wasn't the top thing on his mind as of now; more important issues came to mind.

"Do you think I've lost my cover? Like…that those guards were ordered by someone else who knew? "

"Peut-être…"

"Goan, you're no help. Couldn't you have gotten here any earlier?"

Monsieur Goan sighed, shaking his head. Customer Service held his head in his hands for a few minutes before he breathed out, turning back to the flickering screen.

"This won't be good…I hope Duston and Walky…and that new guy have gotten past the other guards..."


Hardy cringed as glass shards flew into the air, the wailing alarms ringing in his head. All the palace walls were bathed in blood red with each flash, a rather unwelcoming reception to his first visit to such a grand citadel. Ahead of him, his two new co-workers were standing back to back at the intersection and firing away at the Imperial Guards, forcing them to take cover. Shouts came and the cries of wounded guards filled the hall.

Duston was doing the actual labor of shooting and an experienced work of it too. He stood taller than the demonbeasts around him, composed of nothing more than a trashcan body with arms and legs. The trashcan lid formed the roof of his mouth with his furrowed eyes resting on top. Chains of ammunition were strapped across his back, flailing wildly as a flag would in a violent storm…though the heavy weaponry was almost unnecessary-Duston's body reeked with the smell of decaying matter and it alone was strong enough to cause faint headedness…but only for the guards who were all animal type demonbeasts.

Completely oblivious to the stench, Walky jumped up on to Duston's shoulders, his shrill voice shouting out as a few daring guards came out and battered the metal walls with bullets. The small microphone demonbeast was not a new face to Hardy…and he was probably the most shocking face. Less than a month ago, he recalled that this pop-singing star had finished his twenty-third album and to see him now…fighting against Imperial Officers was something Hardy could not comprehend.

Amidst the fray, Hardy was the only one standing there, not useful to really anything…but to be part of the shooting, he'd gladly choose to stand aside. He held glanced down at his unused revolver gun…the replacement of the comforting dental tools in his collection that he so proudly cherished. Also with him was a black sack, special electron-charged ropes, and a muzzle…all part of the mission, he was told. All part of the mission…

"New guy!" Walky shouted to him. "Get yer' hide outta' the way! There's guards comin' behind ya'!"

Hardy looked back, crying out as a bullet shot past his single eye. Not needing a second warning, he darted past Duston and Walky and out of the line of gunfire. The two soon followed after him, firing a few shots back at the guards before catching up to Hardy, even passing him.

"You gunna' get shot in the head if you don't get runnin'!" Walky called out. "Look out!"

Hardy ducked his head as bullets were fired, missing him and bombarding the metal walls. In his haste, his foot slipped and he skidded across the broken glass that had fallen from the various security cameras Duston had fired at. He came sliding around the corner, finally scrambling back on to his feet. A compartment on his dentist-specialized body snapped open and dental fluoride spilled out across the floor.

The Imperial Guards burst out, taking the sharp turn and slipped. The front men fell, causing the men behind them to fall on top of them. For any guard left standing, they were drawn to a halt by the confusion.

Hardy grinned, feeling self-pride when he slammed into a wall. He looked up with a dazed expression with Walky shouting to him.

"Don't gloat o'er the gun shot until the battle's been won!"

Hardy blinked back and got up, leaving the guards to swear and curse at one another as they tried to pull themselves free and reorganize their force.

A few hallways down, they stopped and Hardy bent over to catch his breath.

"We must have lost them…"

"Maybe them, but more are gunna' be comin'!" Walky answered.

"LESS TALK. MORE RUN." Duston said, looking around them and down the hallways.

"Yeah, big guy, but we still gotta' find where the heck they put elevators around 'ere! There's only one elevator line that goes up to the tower…Boss shoulda' given us more directions…"

Hardy quickly scanned the area, stopping upon sight of a single bulb that lighted a small patch of hall down the longest one where a door with a large panel resided…

Walky was still talking to Duston in a quiet voice when Hardy turned back to go relate his findings.

"…and worst thing now is if Scipio comes…or gets there first…Boss said to watch out for 'im…"

"Hey," Hardy broke in before Walky could say anything more and pointed to the doors. "Isn't that an elevator?"

All three of them turned to the glowing doors…just as Imperial Guards appeared on the other end of the hall, staring back at them.

"Speak of the devil, look whose here…" Walky growled.

Commander Scipio pushed his way forward to see why his men had so suddenly stopped and looked up at them. No one moved for a full moment before Scipio roared out.

"ARRESTZ THEM!"

"Go, go, GO!" Walky shouted.

Both sides charged forward, each running to be the first to reach the elevators. The Imperial Guards all had their spears and pikes out as they ran, a wall of certain death. One failure…and it would be over…

Duston snatched Hardy off of his feet and Walky jumped on just as the trashcan demonbeast let Hardy go skidding down the hall like a bowling ball in its alley. Walky controlled the direction, using his own body to tilt Hardy to the side as if he was riding a surf board and jumped up and struck the elevator's panel, calling it down.

On the other side, Scipio had copied and grabbed a porcupine demonbeast. The guard rolled up into a tight ball as the commander let him fly. Hardy screamed as he smashed into the guard, halfway between either side. Both stood up, swaying from dizziness.

"Knock a few punches inta' im'!" Walky shouted, jumping up and down in urgency.

Hardy looked up just as the guard brought his fist back and hit him hard. Hardy gasped out as he was struck over and over again, unable to get away. Then, the guard reached to grab his spear and ran forwards. Hardy sidestepped and lost his balance, landing on top of the guard.

The elevators doors opened and Walky leapt in.

"Send im' back and get on!"

Following the instructions, Hardy lifted the guard high above his head and threw him with all his might. He heard the sounds of clattering as the porcupine crashed into Scipio and the other guards. Hardy was whisked off as Duston grabbed his arm and threw them both into the elevator.

In the elevator, the three heard Scipio momentarily curse and scream out with threats before the noise died down as the elevator rose upwards. Hardy stood up, almost falling back to the carpeted floor. The feeling was indescribable…and he remembered standing on the stairs…wondering what an elevator felt like…

"Woo hoo! We did it!" Walky laughed out with relief. "For a sec there, I thought we were gunna' lose…"

"WHAT DO WHEN STOP?"

"Well, here's what the Boss said to do. He said ta' get up there, see if the prince is there, grab him, and leave. Not too bad I guess…"

"Wait, this is all for the Prince?"

"Yep. The Boss said the Prince is crucial to the revolution. Duston, you got the password for the door right?"

Duston opened his mouth and dug through the loose aluminum cans and decaying food product before he pulled out a slab of metal that had numbers scratched into its surface.

The doors opened and the three stepped out into the short hall, looking directly to the single door that stood before them.

Duston came up to the panel and pressed in the password and the doors slid open. Hardy had been in the back and both Duston and Walky stood in the way from him being able to catch his first glimpse of the real life prince. He was more intrigued than ever to see this heir to Lord Nightmare's throne.

But Duston and Walky did not move. They remained standing there at the door frame, staring into the room.

Hardy pushed his way forward and stopped as he felt water drop on his arm. He looked down at the drop of red before slowly, slowly gazing upwards.

The walls bled with a darkening red that streaked across the room from the window to the door, hauntingly smiling at the three. They found the two foremen demonbeasts quite easily…they were all over the room, ripped apart by some terror.

But sitting in the largest pool of blood was young Prince Meta-K02, happily licking his hands after dipping them into the crimson drops. He gave them the brightest smile Hardy ever seen, his gold eyes watching them innocently.

Walky seemed to regain some of his composure because he came forward and said,

"Alright, let's bag this sucker and get outta' here!"

"What?" Hardy asked with a horrified expression. "Him?"

Walky turned back to him questionably, although he tapped his foot with worried impatience.

"What else did ya' think the bag was for? That and the muzzle are for the kid."

"But how could we-"

"Trust me. You've eva' seen a blood sucker sittin' all happy in blood and you know it mean no good. The kid's gunna be all cute and cuddly til ya try to take im' outta there."

"DUSTON HEAR GUARD."

The three froze and listened. Outside the room, the sound of the elevator arriving to its stop rang through the deathly silence. Then, the doors opened and Scipio came marching out, blood dripping from his face where the porcupine's pricks at stabbed into.

"Duston! Hold em' offa us!" Walky screamed.

The trashcan demonbeast grabbed the door with both hands and threw all of his weight against it, grunting as the guards outside fought against him. Swords and daggers came poking through the gap, attempting to widen it further.

"Whataya' just standin' there for? Muzzle the kid and throw im' in the bag!"

Hardy snapped back to where he was standing, Walky jumping on him.

"Me? Why don't you do it?"

"I don't got no hands! Ain't that somethin' you can see?"

Hardy held his breath, looking down at the little blue puffball. Put a muzzle on a child? He did not know if he had the heart to do such a thing. But in the urgency of the situation, Duston struggling to keep the guards out and Walky screaming into his head, he did it.

He came from behind Meta-K02 and carefully brought the muzzle around the puffball's mouth, loosely letting it wrap around his head, about to strap it down when the puffball's eyes turned red. He threw Hardy off of him with such a powerful force, shaking the muzzle off of him and letting it drop to the ground. With his wings flared up, Meta-K02 hissed. Hardy looked up and caught a glimpse of small, white canine teeth before it disappeared back into the Prince's mouth.

Suddenly, Walky threw himself upon the puffball, knocking both of them to the floor. He used his head to hit him and keep him pinned to the floor as he called out to Hardy.

"Get im' while I distract im'!"

Hardy got back up and grabbed the muzzle as PrinceMeta-K02 swatted Walky to the side and stood up. With his back turned to him, Hardy leapt forward and tackled him. In seconds, Meta-K02 was clawing at the muzzle, unable to get it off. The puffball plopped down to the floor, eyes turning back to gold as he struggled.

"Good. The blood sucker's been takin' care of. Put im' in the bag; I'm gunna' go help Duston…"

Walky ran over to his friend, helping him take off one of his long guns and wedge it between the door and its frame before they ran back to where Hardy had sadly tied Meta-K02 up into the bag. The black bag looked alive as the puffball squirmed and kicked at it. Duston picked up the bag, opened his mouth, and dropped Prince Meta-K02 in as if he had been a bag of garbage to be disposed. The trashcan demonbeast took the ropes from Hardy and with one sound punch, smashed the wide windows. Glass rained down until all fragments had dropped to the floor, the cold air rushing in.

Duston quickly tied the glowing electron-charged rope around a sturdy beam that had once held the window up and Walky jumped up on to his shoulder. Hardy suddenly realized what was happening.

"We're going to jump out the window…" He said hoarsely.

"YEP."

Duston grabbed him before he could run and tucked him under his arm. He got up on to the window seat and…

Hardy screamed as the trashcan demonbeast jumped, leaping clear out the window and into the open air. They free fell through the air, nothing stopping them as wind rushed past them. Hundreds of feet up from the tallest buildings…

Then, just as the rope pulled taut, Duston kicked his legs out and they swing spiraling around the perimeter of the tower, sailing over the bridges connecting the lower towers to the palace…

The three came directly towards another bridge and Duston's feet landed. They crashed into the walls, two of them whooping and laughing out with exhilaration while the other one curled up into a tight ball and shivered.

"Come get us!" Walky tauntingly shouted up to the Imperial Guards who had broken through the door and were now looking down at them from the tower.

"GO SEE BOSS. HURRY."

"Hmph. I wish we got some video of this…"

Hardy stood up, shaking hard. His eyes opened and he looked at the two, angry but relieved that the worse was over.

"But how are we going to get past the rest of the guards? Surely there are more of them now out in the halls…"

"Yeah, that's why we've got to make it to the Boss's office. It's not the best…but it's going to have to do…come on, afore' some guard sees us."

With that, the three of them ran back into the palace, disappearing from sight.

X—X—X

A/N: Geez these are long chapters. Too much to include...I ended up cutting part of it up to make into the next chapter. I really see the point of 'smaller' chapters. People are too busy to read long chapters and it hurts the eyes after a while…

Lots of things to leave a note of. But first, let me mock the way I use to write author notes…

Oh no. Meta Knight was kidnapped. Whatever will he do? Hehe. Customer Service is doing suspicious stuff.

*stares*

I think I'm going to go throw up…but first, let me explain some of my motives for this chapter and of course, the small profile for our Anti-Loyalists. By the way, there are 6 of them. One still has yet to be introduced into the plot. Since the chapter starts out with Hardy, I'll go and lecture about him.

Hardy: Move out Meta Knight because someone else is going to be taking a step up to the major character platform. Did I ever mention how underappreciated he is? He's a dentist…probably not most people's idea of 'cool', but doesn't that make him the perfect character to build upon? He doesn't strike me as the very daring kind and would rather just blend in with the crowd. (I admit, perhaps one of my biggest reasons is for my own stupid comical reason because he somewhat kind of looks like those denture wind-up things that chatter as they go.)

Walky: Being a walking microphone, the first obvious occupation I could have given the little guy was a pop-singer. But there's more to him than what might be thought of him. His story behind why he shifted his neutrality to being full out at war with Nightmare will be coming up.

Duston: His name is from the Japanese anime. In the dub, his name is Trash Basher from the episode: A Trashy Tale in the dub where Dedede had sent all of the trash to NME so Customer Service in turn, sent it all back with Trash Basher who started spewing the junk everywhere. Being a walking trash can, I imagined his dialogue to be loud and rough, hence is why all of his dialogue is capitalized and rather...*ahem*, not conscious about grammar.

Just for the fun of it…

"DUSTON. BIG GUY. NO SPEAK GOOD ENGLISH." ;)

Monsieur Goan: In the story, he's one of Customer Service's closest friends. He's silent because no one has taken the bother to study French, but he's quite observant and listens in closely on to what is being said. When he's not on his cooking show, he's hacking into the NME network to download information the Anti-Loyalists will need. Pretty sweet job, eh?

And finally, about Customer Service…

Although numerous 'sources' claim that Customer Service is completely evil, I disagree. I feel that somehow, he only works for Nightmare just because it's his job and that he loves his job so much that he can't refuse. Everything that I can say about him right now is that Customer Service is all out bent on successfully pulling off this revolution and will stop at nothing now that he's seen a small chance in Meta-K02.

This chapter really was an experiment for me with characterization since nearly all of the demonbeasts from the anime had so little show time to truly have much personality. Any thoughts about them? I'd be glad to hear.

The E? Gee. I wonder why Cosmicgiraffe took the bother to go bold the letter. *Rolls eyes* Expect more to come with that in the next chapter…

Please review! R&C (Read and critique or criticize) :D