Leap Through the Rip

Chapter Ten: Green

Meta Knight barely registered himself lunging forward, kicking the face of whoever was in front of him—a "proper" demon beast that hadn't been jailed—and was hurtling down to the stage where he saw Popon standing idly, like he wasn't just about to be killed. The next second, there were yells, shouting, basically a cacophony of panicked voices.

Why wasn't Popon moving? He was going to die!

"Get down!" something barked, and Meta Knight managed to distinguish a familiar yowl before the lights went out, plunging the entire auditorium into darkness—and not contributing to Meta Knight's efforts. For the love of—he couldn't see anything! Where the heck was Popon? Where was the stage? Platform-thing? Was Popon already killed anyway?

After trampling on another demon beast's lap, his streak of good (?) luck ended and that specific demon beast gave out a very unforgiving growl. Following that, he felt a very sharp object—oh holy hell. The thing just stabbed him in his right foot. He swung his left foot over, kicking the thing in its face and narrowing his eyes to get a good look of it. Oh, he'd kill it, and make it ever regret it stabbed his foot in the first place—wait, no! He was supposed to be going for Popon! The green stacked-up balls thingy could die!

Biting his lip nervously, Meta Knight decided to tear away from that demon beast. It roared unforgivingly, but it was nothing compared to shrieks of the other demon beasts around, prisoners or not. He was plummeting down to the stage, where he could barely make out Popon's figure, and the demon beasts by his side, as confused as everyone else was.

"What are you doing?!" A singular voice managed to cut through the panic, and could probably be heard by everyone, but it didn't stop the confusion in the slightest bit. "Even if no one can see anything, or if we can't have a dramatic execution, he must be killed!"

Uh oh—nope. Nope. They were going to kill Popon before Meta Knight could even reach there. Ugh, why was everyone standing?! If they were all seated, he'd be by Popon's side in a flash. He was shoving his way through the crowd, catching small glimpses of the stage once in a while, before he finally toppled onto a wooden floor—different from the carpeted floor that the seats were on…

He was up in no time once it struck him he was where he needed to be, and, swallowing the lump in his throat, yelled, "Popon! Where are you?!"

"Run!"

Meta Knight didn't know why, but Popon was speaking normally. Without his usual drawls. Great. That alarmed Meta Knight even more, but all he registered next was a blow to the side and him on the ground, coughing, and he wasn't sure if he was coughing up blood or not but he didn't care. There wasn't any time to think about that.

Vee— He grimaced. He couldn't feel her loitering at the back of his head. Whatever. He'd have to try. Vee, can you see?

"Sort of!" The reply was echoed, a little distant, like she was really far away. It was comforting to know she was still there, though. "Get up! Popon's just there! To your left, a couple of paces—"

A sharp scream resounded, and Meta Knight was sure it was familiar, but it wasn't close enough to be Popon's. He dove to his left where Vee said his friend was, but he felt nothing but the cold air and Vee took in a sharp intake of breath.

"Duck!"

What—

"Down!"

She grabbed control of his senses and forced him to collide with the cold floor, where he nearly choked and he was sure this time he coughed up some blood. What did Vee think he was made of?

He heard a splotchy sound, like something disconnecting—he saw dark green bits fly, but he didn't even know what it was. He just felt the floor literally opening up beneath him and he was falling the next second.

It was a long fall. A really long fall.

He couldn't process his thoughts while falling, though. Everything was collapsing on his fragile mind and he was still trying to make sense of things. Where was Popon? Where was Marilyn, even? Or the others he knew not as well but still? Wait—he didn't have time for falling! He had to go find them!

Just as that thought finished, he landed.

"Ow!" It was rocky, and it only injured him more than he already was. He winced. "Vee, what just happened?"

"I don't even—" Vee began, before gulping. "Wait! There's something—up ahead—hey, you, go check it out!"

He didn't really have a choice. It was dark, but at least dimly lit by the eerie torched along the walls. He walked down the only path he could walk down cautiously, because he was extremely sure something would jump out and eat him from the darkness. He wished he had eyes all over his face and at the back of his head. It would make life so much less terrifying.

Vee scoffed. "I am a living radar. I sense nothing ahead. Quit being so paranoid and move."

Easier said than done.

He hesitantly increased his pace, and hurriedly ignored the torches when he realised the holders were carved to resemble skulls. There was something odd about that passageway… he couldn't quite name it, but… hm.

It was getting darker, or maybe it was just the flames that were wearing out. They did seem to be getting smaller, but whether they had always been that small or slowly died to that size was beyond Meta Knight. Not that it really mattered—he had more important matters on his hands. He couldn't be worrying about small details like the different sizes of the flames.

He had been spotting small splotches of something, but he couldn't really make it out, neither did he want to investigate it. Small splotches of something that looked like a liquid was not really his ideal preference, because he had bad experience with small splotches. Namely, the thing that comes out of your skin when you do something stupid like trip and fall and cut yourself.

"What—gross!" Except he couldn't see, and he was bound to step on it sometime. He was walking like a completely awkward normal stiff person when his foot came into contact with something completely gooey and sticky and… ew.

Instinctively, he swiped it off his foot—and it felt very… weird. Gooey but watery, and it smelt really weird. …Well, it didn't smell weird, it actually smelt a little familiar and a little disturbing. What was it exactly?

"The spots on the floor?" Vee helpfully provided.

Oh. That made sense.

Meta Knight lifted his hand closer to the flickering flames, where he could barely make out the green substance on his fingertips, but when he did, he immediately recoiled and wiped it off against the wall with a yelp. "Get it off!"

"Hey, calm down!"

Wait—green?

He huffed and turned back the direction he had been heading in. There were other things to worry about—like where he was heading for. All he could do was wonder whether it was really Popon's blood or not at the back of his head.