-Chapter 9-
The wind was strong as it was blowing across the Halberd deck. Meta knight stood on the edge of ship, watching the Orange Ocean below. It was unusually gusty today, his violet cape was flapping violently at the wind.
Could this weather be an omen? The masked knight thought to himself.
Green, star shaped islands began to appear across the ocean. He could see the little dots moving about, his army was training on the islands below. It has been about two months since King Dedede agreed to merge his army with Meta knight's. Training his Waddle Dees has been a nightmare, they only knew how to use spears and they could barely use those! Fortunately Meta Knight's own soldiers have been worrying about them. King Dedede worked with some of the other soldiers that had signed up or were "drafted," which involved kidnapping them. Meta Knight knew exactly who to get, he kept the list of all those entered all of the Helper to Hero tournaments and there were hundreds of them. He took them whiter they were willing or not.
"Hey, you think they all actually stand a chance." A voice called from behind, there stood King Dedede; standing tall in his red robe. He had his hands on his hips, the King was having a lot of fun training, though he was ill tempered with the soldiers at times.
"I honestly cannot tell you." Meta Knight turned slightly toward Dedede. "Even with intensive training, I still have my worries about the army. There is still a form of uncertainty in the air."
The halberd began to descend; the islands can be seen much better now. There were knights of all kinds training citizens of dreamland. Some look similar to Meta Knight, others looked completely different .
The Halberd approached one fairly large island, with two palm trees on top of a hill. At the hill's base was Bandana Dee, with a spear in his hand. Across from him was Kirby, he had a red and purple headband with a yellow star on it. Kirby also had a spear in hand, his eyes locked on his opponent with a glare. Behind him though, were seven, almost identical other Kirbys in the colors of: Yellow, Blue, Red, Green, Purple, Brown, and White. They all looked at the two competitors with a large amount of curiosity in their innocent eyes. King Dedede and Meta Knight approached the edge of the ship as if it were the front seat to a movie.
"Where did all of them come from?" King Dedede had sheer terror in his eyes. One Kirby was enough, but Eight?
"They are all members of Kirby's species, ones that are close to him." Meta Knight's eyes became green. "They were scattered across the galaxy, searching for them was difficult and capturing them was even more so."
"So that's where you go during break time! Guess you really are serious about this whole army thing." King Dedede seemed annoyed at the fact that there were more Kirbys. But if Meta Knight's Paranoia is true, then this decision may just save them all.
"The Yellow, White, Blue and Brown ones were resistant, but formable opponents. The others came quietly." Meta Knight looked back to the battle, which was just starting.
Bandana made a sudden lunge at Kirby with his spear, the sharp end aimed between Kirby's eyes. Kirby's angry expression faded to surprise and leaped backward just in time for the enemy's spear to hit the ground instead. Bandana struggled to pull his spear out of the grassy ground. He saw Kirby charging from the corner of his eye, his hopeless pulls became more frantic. Kirby just came closer, spear aimed at the waddle dee. Bandana realized it was no use, he bolted just as Kirby was within feet from him. Bandana stopped at the edge of the island, about a 100 feet or so from Kirby, who was now confused. Bandana wiggled his arm a bit and another spear materialized in his hand. He turned around to face his opponent.
"If you got eight Kirbys, I doubt you need anyone else! Not even your own army!" Dedede joked. But the Knight's eyes remained locked on the battle between Bandana Dee and Kirby.
"You must remember who we may be dealing with your majesty." Meta Knight responded.
"Every single villain from every single one of Kirby's adventures…" Dedede muttered. Meta Knight was getting a bit frustrated with the King's laxness to the situation. This was potentially the end of the world they were dealing with, and he is looking at it as if it were just another small quest. The masked Knight sighed.
Kirby seemed to be getting the upper hand in this training duel, but Bandana kept battling on nevertheless. Their spears clashed, both just waiting for the other to trip up, but none would back down.
"Do you think we can win this?" King Dedede slumped, his pride shrinking. Meta Knight turned to the King with curiosity. He was confident just a minute ago, what was the sudden change?
"…We have a chance." Meta Knight responded "But it is slim." The King gained a look of sorrow and regret. "But when the time comes…" the knight continued.
Kirby took the end of the spear stick and jabbed it into Bandana Dee foot. The waddle dee jumped back rubbing his foot in pain. Just as Bandana recovered, something whacked his head senseless. It left Bandana confused, his sight became doubled. Kirby was visible, but it was as though there were two of him, and two of everything else. The pink Kirby raised the wooden handle of his spear in the air, Bandana shut his eyes from the painful double vision.
"I will fight until my death." Meta Knight said sincerely. Kirby whacked the waddle dee three times on his head before he fell over, knocked out. The other Kirbys cheered and ran to embrace their Pink warrior friend.
"Until death…" The king repeated. He didn't like the thought of dying a hero. If he was going to be a hero, he wanted to live to see every minute of the fame. After all, even with some of even minor crimes the King has committed to his people, he wondered if he was really going to a paradise and not purgatory.
The white ceiling slowly faded into clear view, he blinked a few times to wipe the blur from his eyes. Was this the hospital? No. He could see the purple hallway outside, he was in the mansion. He rubbed his eyes, what happened earlier? A silver object appeared in his mind. The Crown! He remembered. And that hideous transformation…wait transformation? The Halcandran shivered.
"Glad to see your up Magolor." A voice came from the doorway. Marx appeared, a white bandage wrapped around him, from his forehead to between his legs. He looked exhausted, the ends of his hat sunk to the ground. "You almost killed me…" He chuckled half-heartedly.
"W-What?" Magolor sat up quickly. Kill his best friend? Impossible!
"Well you weren't aware of it at the time. It was the crown, it overtook you." Marx stepped in the room weary. "I'm just glad your back."
"What's with the bandages?" Magolor asked curiously. Marx sighed, he knew what he was about to say Magolor was NOT going to take lightly.
"…You got a giant sword and sliced me in half." It came out a little more bitter than Marx had intended. Drawcia and Nightmare had healed them both back to health, but not fully as it would take a while. Plus Magolor's injuries were light compared to Marx.
"Oh…I'm sorry…" Magolor lowered his head. Turned into some uncontrollable monster and damn near killed his best friend, great news to wake up with. And next I'll end up eating someone. He thought bitterly to himself.
"…don't pout, I'm alive now. Don't get so down over it." Marx sat next to his friend on his bed. Magolor's sorrowful expression wouldn't budge. But it wasn't just Marx he was sad over; he just realized he broke his promise to Aureole. When he became corrupted by the crown, he became everything Aureole warned him against. Everything they hated. A tear slipped from his eye, Marx's eyes widened. "Come now, don't cry!" But there wasn't much he could do, the tears were running like a river down Magolor's face.
"Look I'm sorry! Really sorry! It's just…I have other things on my mind too!" Magolor sobbed, his words barley auditable. Marx wanted to face palm, but he had no arms.
"I hope you know you also brought back the forth key, if that makes you feel a bit better!" Marx looked at the Halcandran. Marx felt a little embarrassed being around the crying guy.
"I did?" The sobbing subsided a bit, Magolor rubbed his eyes.
"Yeah, in fact we already located the last temple!" Marx leaped in the air and a grey ball appeared under him. "So let's get back to business! Whatever things are on your mind can most certainly wait." Marx said this a bit more cheerful, glad Magolor wasn't in a weeping, depressed state anymore.
"Yeah, I don't know what came over me…" Magolor said.
"But due to the extensive damage you did to me earlier, I kinda have to stay on the sidelines this time."
"So you can't come?" Magolor asked desperately.
"Of course I'm coming silly, you think I'm gonna miss the action?" Marx giggled. "I just can't really fight, I need this giant 'cut' to heal. It would be a serious mess if it split again."
"Marx I'm really sorry…" Magolor sighed. He was pretty guilty about it, even if he couldn't remember what he did.
"Don't worry about it, now if I was dead maybe you should panic. But thankfully, I managed to convince Galacta Knight to go get reinforcements. They came just as I was going die!" Marx sounded pretty impressed with himself for thinking ahead at the time. Magolor smiled under his white scarf. "Now come on!" Marx leaped off the bed and started toward the door.
"Marx wait!" Magolor held out his hand out as if to stop Marx.
"What?" Marx turned around puzzled. "You not gonna apologize again are you?" He smirked.
"No…I need to tell you something…" Magolor motioned Marx to come over back to the bed. "When we get all of the keys…I may not go back to Popstar with you guys."
"Huh? Why? Don't you want to get back at Kirby and take over?" Marx was astonished.
"Marx I have things I need to set straight back on my home!"
"Oh, with that general? Just overthrow him and takeover yourself!." Marx said. Magolor cringed at the thought. Then he remembered the voice and what it said when they got the first key:
That crown…it has a firm grip on you, even more control over you than you realize. Power corrupts child. The words echoed. If Magolor didn't take over, that crown surely would have made him.
"That Crown…." Magolor said his thought out loud. He clenched his fist, anger burning in his eyes. "The crowns power corrupts everything…"
"Uh…Magolor-"
"I wouldn't take over, that stupid crown would! It would turn me back into a monster, a monster worse than the Metal General ever was! I would just be another tyrant, and I would live with guilt following me at every corner."
"Whoa…Magolor." Marx stepped back from his fuming friend. "Just relax-"
"As if I didn't have enough guilt betraying Aureole and Kirby when they helped me!" Magolor's expression softened into sorrow.
"Who's Aureole? And didn't you trick Kirby?" Marx was starting to get annoyed.
"Not at first! Kirby offered to get my ship parts back so I could go home. When we crash landed on Halcandra, I talked him into slaying the dragon!" Stress, guilt and frustration were Magolor's voice. "I didn't expect the crown to turn me evil or power hungry!" He turned to Marx. "Don't you see? I'm just a fake! A wannabe hero smacked into the path of evil and sent to hell for his crime! I DESERVE TO BE HERE! I DESERVE TO SUFFER!" He began to weep. "Suffer as I did on the surface, only to know pain, misfortune, and everything that qualifies for a living hell!"
"Magolor." Marx was at a loss of words, just a blank stare at his friend. I just had to go and set him off didn't I?
"I wanted to leave from since I found out about the factories as a child, I used my computer and researched a lot things that could possibly help me get away from Halcandra…" He stared at the ground. "Every kid on the block laughed at me, hated me." He said bitterly. "Hated me because I reminded them of what was coming to them in a few years. They could have comforted me and been nice to me, but instead decided to dump their pain, fears and anger on me! And I had to carry it for them. My life sucked as is, so I hated them back, because it was the only thing I felt I could do as a child."
"I…I can somewhat relate." No liked Marx too much on Popstar either.
"I had one friend…her name was Aureole. She was nicer than the others and got me to play with them. Even when everyone else died around me in the factories, she was still there. She never changed or let everything get to her." He smirked. "She didn't want me to go through with facing the general, hell she even warned me about Landia. But I was so sucked up in my vendetta against the general at the end of the day, that I didn't listen." A tear fell from Magolor's face. "She wanted me to never become like the General, she said I was so good I would go to a paradise. If only she knew how wrong she would be…I betrayed her…I…I-I let the power get to me…" He pulled the crown from the behind his cape. It's golden sheen shined brightly, it hurt both Magolor and Marx's eyes. Magolor raised it toward the ceiling.
"Magolor?...Don't do it." Marx came close, but his friend stepped back.
"I have to end it now, I can't even live with this in the afterlife!" Magolor clenched his eye and held the crown tight. "Dark Mind was right, I'm weak!"
"No Magolor! NO!" Marx rushed toward Magolor as soon his hand began to plummet to the ground. Marx knew if the crown was destroyed, Magolor would be punished by Nightmare. He knew the cost would be his life.
Marx closed his eyes and braced for impact into his friend. But he stopped, something surged within him. He slowly opened his eyes to Magolor's lower body. He looked up to see Magolor's face filled with terror. Some type of current was flowing through Marx's body, something strong. Then he realized…the crown was on his head. Marx groaned, the power was robust and yet soothing, enriching and pleasurable. He didn't want to take it off, so this is why his soul lusts for its power. He understood now, and Magolor got to feel this every day? Then why was he so miserable?
The power became intense, too intense. It began to burn, like a fire. Now Marx was glowing and groaning. A crimson cloud seemed to be fogging over his sight, he could see Magolor moving back, the crown dropped from his hand to the floor, but it didn't shatter. Magolor was calling out to him, but the sound was fading. Marx began swaying, the crown was off his head, but it still felt as though he were burning. The redness was getting dense, until he could see nothing but red, he couldn't even hear Magolor panicking anymore. He felt his body give way and dropped to the ground, the redness turned to black.
It was a small grassy island, the wind was strong but not too overwhelming. The Orange Ocean was shimming under the sunset. Meta Knight stood by the edge of the island staring at the sun, hope glimmered in his eyes. The True Arena tournament was starting in few hours. He dreamed that one day he could build his army again, and he was another step closer to fulfilling that dream.
A small black dot appeared in the sun, it came closer and closer. Becoming a winged creature, a light speed it stopped in front of Meta Knight. It was a jester, a sort of manic one with large crazy eyes. It had sharp fangs with a tongue stinking out, brown shoes, a tall blue and dark magenta jester hat with large ripped puffs. He had blood red wings with blue hearts on the tips and multicolored scales. It grinned in an evil fashion at the masked knight.
"Marx?" Meta Knight stepped back drew out his golden sword. He recognized Marx immediately in his twisted state.
"Well, well if it isn't Meta Knight..." Marx's voice was different, deeper, more menacing. "You know, you have to be one of the few people I respect on this forsaking planet."
"I thought you were soundly defeated by Kirby!" Meta Knight scowled.
"I was…but I crashed into nova and pieces of him fused and revived me, created a new me!"
"As if revealing you're true colors wasn't revolting enough." Meta Knight said bitterly, his eyes began to glow red.
"Heheh, you were always so serious. Made you different from the others, I like that. Me and you have some common ground."
"What could you possibly mean? You and I are nothing alike!" Meta Knight became confused.
"We both hate that Popstar is constantly invaded, we want something to be done. No one would care though, they would just simply leave everything to Kirby…" Marx snickered. "But what if he were gone? Darkness would fall over dreamland and the planet. I came to show the world what would happen in such an event!"
"You will do no such thing!" Meta Knight lashed out a beam from his sword, Marx disappeared quickly however. He reappeared after the beam passed, laughing.
"What's happened to your aim over the years Meta Knight? Training doesn't seem to be doing a damn thing for you!" Marx Soul laughed wildly at his own joke. Meta Knight growled and his eyes were almost as red as the Marx Soul's wings. His world may be fragile and defenseless, but it was his home and he was clearly going to defend it.
"Don't test me Marx. Or I will surly show you I am no force to be trifled with!" Meta Knight's anger was blazing.
"You're really going to protect this dump, Ha! You're protecting nothing but a facade! This peaceful world hides under Kirby, without him this world is pathetic! Weak! I would leave if I were you, take the Halberd and move to new galaxy and test others worthy of your strength! I have endless power, nothing can stop me! Not even Kirby!" Marx laughed manically with pride. Pride that Meta Knight despised, he wanted to crush it, to kill it. Destroy the pride and Marx along with it. He made an evil smirk under his mask.
"If you think you're so powerful, then why don't you attend my True Arena Tournament. It will start in a few hours, but you can still sign up. Kirby will be attending." Marx Soul's eyes dilated at the opportunity.
"Yes! Perfect timing! He'll never see me coming! Where is it?"
"At the Arena obviously."
"Well then, it was nice chatting with you Sir Meta Knight." Marx Soul said playfully. "I'm off to prove to the world my strength." He teleported from sight, probably to sign up. The sun and all its beauty were visible again to Meta Knight. It soothed his anger a bit.
If Kirby fails to defeat you Marx… He scowled in thought. Then I will surely send you in the direction to learn: the Greatest Warrior in the Galaxy is not a force to be reckoned with!
"Marx…..Marx?" a voice called out to him. Marx's sight was clearing. He could see Magolor's worried face above him.
"Ugghh…what happened?" Marx slowly lifted himself up.
"Did it give you a nightmare?" Magolor's voice trembled. Marx looked at Magolor despondently. "Marx I'm-"
"I'm fine. It was just a memory." Marx quickly responded. But it wasn't a fond one, he was a real asshole to Meta Knight back then; or at least his soul was. Back when Marx and his soul were one, now his soul is more of a split personality…and a real aggravating one at that. Meta Knight is slow to forgive when you lash too many blows at anything he calls serious, especially his training. The masked Knight will probably be out for Marx's life if he encounters him back on Popstar. Shame, Marx really respected Meta Knight.
"That's good…come on w-we should g-get back to the others, there leaving soon right?" Magolor tried to brush off the awkwardness and tension in the air.
"Yeah…Magolor?" Marx looked at his friend who started toward the door.
"Yes?"
"I sorta understand now, when you talked about the crowns giving you nightmares and bad memories." Marx said softly. "I…I-I…never mind come on." He wanted to talk more, but too much has already happened. The two walked to the door way side-by-side, nothing was said. Neither of them had the will to say anymore since so much was let out already. Both Marx and Magolor just wanted to leave this place...and all their regrets with it.
-End of Chapter 9-
Author's Note:
Sorry this took so long, broken flash drive and school work got in the way. But everything is fixed now. This chapter was actually going to be shorter, but my imagination started going wild when I finally got to start typing again. So much fun, now the chapter flow should return to normal. Thanks for your patience everyone!
