Chapter 10
When next day lazed itself over Dream Land, Meta Knight returned like clockwork, and the two resumed training right away. Meta Knight worked Magolor even harder than before, punishing failure with stern scoldings and whaps against the wizard's head with the flat of his sword. Magolor took it all with the same determination he'd been maintaining, but he did think to question the sudden change in the knight's method.
"Are you working me this hard because we're doing this in the Lor instead of out in that cave?" He asked respectfully.
"No," Meta Knight answered. "I'm working you this hard because I want you to get better."
With that mystery solved, Magolor found himself taking on the regimen with even more resolve. The training ended when his tired, strained little body refused to continue, and the next few days proceeded in the same fashion, until his dash was as straight and accurate as the path of an arrow, meeting up to Meta Knight's standards.
"Now we're ready to work on your phasing." He announced.
"Oh, I'll go set up some walls, then!" Magolor said as he gravitated towards the starting line. His progression ceased when Meta Knight abruptly blocked his way.
"That won't be necessary."
"Huh?" Magolor blinked his glowing eyes in confusion.
Meta Knight stood his ground on the metallic floor, holding his gloved hands out in front of himself like he might tackle the little wizard.
"I shall be your wall for this exercise. I want you to try phasing past me, and if you fail, I'll stop you."
"You?" Magolor blinked a few times more, less in confusion and more in surprise. "Are you sure that isn't dangerous?"
"There's no need for concern," he answered simply. "I probably won't hurt you."
"Er...I didn't mean..." Magolor shook his head at himself. "Nevermind. How do you want me to do this?"
"This would be the part where you're using your magic," Meta Knight instructed. "But only while you're dashing. Imbue yourself and try to get past me while coming at me head-on. We'll see how it goes from there."
Magolor gave a quick nod before positioning himself a bit of a distance away from Meta Knight, lining himself up, then raising his hands vertically to form a half-box in front of his eyes, making sure the knight was directly in the center of this box, and therefore, his path. Moving his hands ahead of himself in tightly rolled fists, Magolor internally prodded the heart of his power into a controlled beat, which throbbed eagerly in anticipation of its use, pumping out a cool current of magic. He tilted himself forward, and then began to run in his hovering. With his target rapidly approaching, he spun himself into spiraling motion, the addition of his power making a shower of white particles dazzle around his form. But much too soon, the effect stopped as Meta Knight's hands clamped down on the little alien's sides, halting him with a jerk.
"Try again." Meta Knight said simply, before pushing Magolor back like a balloon, in a not very gentle shove.
Silently, Magolor returned to his starting point. He tried again, this time with spinning just before reaching the knight instead of in advance, but it only gave the same result, the blue knight stopping him just before he would have otherwise smacked into his metal mask.
"Remember, you're trying to get past me. Focus on that." Meta Knight lightly scolded.
Magolor nodded to this, again saying nothing. He raced at the waiting knight, turning sharply into his spinning, concentrating on the golden floors behind Meta Knight as he closed the distance. A different kind of shimmering light circled around Magolor like rings around planets, violet and neon in their brightness. He heard the sound of a clap, a pair of hands coming together as if to catch something, only to succeed in hitting empty air. Magolor slowed down, stopped, and looked ahead. No one was there. He turned around, just in time to watch Meta Knight doing the same, they both now facing eachother.
"I believe you've figured it out." Meta Knight said with a single nod. "Now, try again."
Magolor, suppressing some sheer glee, did as the knight said, and got back in place. He ran through the motions again, at least a dozen times more, nailing the skill again on each attempt, before gaining Meta Knight's approval.
"We're done training, Magolor." Meta Knight finalized as his hands slipped themselves back under his cape. "You're able to fluently use every skill you've told me you have. You can handle practicing it all on your own at this point."
"At last!" Magolor exclaimed excitedly to the masked knight over the glimmer of the gold and colored bricks, raising his fists victoriously to the ceiling yet again. "Now we can finally try my race together!"
"Right, yes." Meta Knight responded. "How much time do you need to set them up?"
"I need to make adjustments to my blueprints now that I know how fast I can go! And then I'll need to set up the stages themselves, all four of them...and I can tweak them as we test!"
Magolor began making his familiar motions of a bouncing elastic ball, bringing his hands together with a solid, gloved clap.
"I can't believe it!" He continued, smiling with his eyes. "After making all these stages by myself, I get to have someone helping me test them out! This will make things go so much smoother! You don't even know how happy this makes me, Meta Knight!"
"And you're doing it all for Kirby." Meta Knight stated, but in such a way that he was also vaguely asking.
"Yes, I am! It's something I've been working on for him, to apologize for everything I've done. I've been working on it since I got here! Boy, it feels like it's been so long now..."
"Hm. Interesting timing." Meta Knight said nonchalantly.
"Oh?" Magolor turned to face the knight, his yellow eyes opened curiously. "How so?"
Meta Knight returned the gaze with a flat stare. For a moment, he didn't speak, which gave Magolor an impression that the knight might have said something he didn't mean to.
"... It's just interesting, that's all. That you came back, doing all this for him."
"But...you said it was interesting timing..."
Meta Knight sighed, visibly, audibly, and exasperated.
"If I tell you about this, you must understand that it's something you cannot be a part of. No matter how much you may want to be part of it, I will not allow it. It's not something you can rightly attend."
"Attend...? What is it?" Magolor edged a little closer to the knight, his hooded eyes wide with curiosity.
"It's a party." Meta Knight answered simply.
"A party?!" The little alien exclaimed in utter disbelief. "You? You go to parties?!"
Meta Knight shifted, looking at Magolor with such an intense stare, it sucked the shock right out of the oval wizard.
"I mean—" he quickly defended, nervously playing it off as a joke, pressing a hand to his scarf. "I didn't think you to be the kind of person..that would go to parties..but..ha ha..what would I know about parties..? I've never been to one, I've only seen...heard...about them...on other worlds I've been to..."
"... It's not just any party," Meta Knight began to explain, his stare easing, but no less serious. "It's an anniversary party. It's being held for Kirby. I've been aiding with the preparations."
"Kirby's having an anniversary party?!" Magolor started again with considerable excitement, but the knight's eyes flexed on him, and he quickly calmed back down. "That's...really great! I had no idea he was going to have an anniversary!"
"Yes, and you're not invited." Meta Knight noted.
"Wh—well, er...why not? You really don't like me so much that you won't let me be there...?" Magolor asked, reaching out and opening his hands as if the answer were something to be held.
"Try to think about it logically, Magolor. This has nothing to do with any disdain or grudges that could be held against you. It's an anniversary party. Many of Kirby's friends will be there. Friends he's known for years. Give it some thought about what that would mean if you attended."
Magolor tried to do exactly that. He closed his glowing eyes in deep thought, seeing a big party with the many friends Kirby surely had. Hello! He imagined saying to them, I'm a friend too, it's nice to meet you!
Hello, Magolor! They answered. Let's all be friends!
I would like that very much! Thank you!
How did you and Kirby meet?
The vision burst like a popped party balloon. Magolor's eyes opened wide, almost horrified. A big group of friends that Kirby has known for years, what was he going to say to them? That they met because he wanted to use Kirby to do his bidding under the pretense of being someone in need? And that Kirby had to fight him because he became a nightmarish abomination, indulged on power and hatred? Or would he outright lie to everyone, like he lied to Kirby in the first place?
Suddenly, he saw that group of friends again, but they did not seem so friendly anymore, standing over the little alien like towers against the sun, glaring, judging, talking him down.
How could you do such terrible things to our friend?! You're horrible! You're a monster!
"I'm sorry!" Magolor cried aloud, pressing his hands to the top of his hood, shaking his head.
"I believe you've given yourself some clarity on the situation." He heard Meta Knight say.
Setting his hands back down at his sides, Magolor looked at Meta Knight with a lamenting gaze.
"It would be pretty awkward..." he said to the knight. "Introducing myself to a bunch of strangers that are long-time buddies of Kirby's..."
"Not to mention, King Dedede and Bandana Dee would be there, and they don't know that you've changed your ways. They'll probably think you would crash the party if you suddenly showed up there. And the focus for this celebration is on Kirby, held by his close friends. It would be the wrong time and the wrong place to make yourself known, simply enough. You could introduce yourself at some point, but it would best not happen at such a prominent event. You should keep your attention on what you came here to do. You still haven't even found Kirby, have you?"
"No...no, I haven't. I haven't seen him at all. But if he's having a party, then he can't be too far away, right?" Magolor's gaze became slightly perked with hope. "All I really wanted was to tell him I'm sorry, and make this gift for him, to show him I mean it. So he knows it's not another trick...and...well...if he doesn't forgive me, then that's okay...as long as I got to tell him, so that he knows I'm sincere...that's really all I came here to do."
"He usually doesn't stray too far from Dream Land, unless it's another crisis," Meta Knight turned to look towards the ceiling, contemplatively. "And he knows we're holding this event for him, it's not going to be a surprise party."
"How much longer until the party happens?"
"A week from now."
"A week, huh?" Magolor looked upwards as well, a hand to his belted scarf. "It's going to take at least a day to set up these races, and another to test them... And I don't even know how long it will take to find Kirby."
"It shouldn't matter if you finish your gift before or after the party, but if it is going to be after, then you may need to wait a while. The festivities might last a few days."
"Sounds like it's gonna be a big, fun party!" Magolor said, his eyes folding into happy lemon arches. "I'm glad Kirby is going to have a great time with his friends!"
Meta Knight resumed putting his hidden eyes on the little wizard, whom continued to smile with the prospect. The knight felt slightly surprised that he was truly putting Kirby's happiness over his own.
"Magolor. You say it will take a day for you to set up your races?" The blue knight asked for confirmation.
"Should, yes. Since I can use my powers to help with that, it takes a lot less time to set things up! I had to do it all by hand before, but now—!" He jovially raised a hand, a white glow materializing and circling around the beige glove. "Now I'm magical! I can set everything in their places in mere blinks of the eyes!"
"In that case, I shall return tomorrow. We can run your races then."
"Awesome! Meta Knight, you're the best!" Magolor bobbed over the golden floor, reaching a hand out with obvious intent of shaking the knight's hand. Meta Knight obliged, a hand slinking out of his dark cape to meet with Magolor's waiting palm.
"None of this would've been possible without you," Magolor continued as their gloved hands shook firmly. "I'm so glad to have you as a friend!"
The lemon smile faded as Magolor felt Meta Knight's hand snap out of his palm like a hand retracting from touching something vile. His empty hand remained hanging in the air, his eyes blinking in confusion at the knight.
"Magolor," Meta Knight started, his eyes connecting with the little alien's in a very grim lock. "You conducted yourself dishonorably. You lied to us about many things. You had us fight your battles for you. You tried to take over Pop Star because we were 'such a big help'. You sent the ship we helped you repair to attack us. You tried to kill us all. You may have changed your ways, and I have provided you with aid, but we are not friends. You can think of me as a mentor. Nothing more."
With that said, Meta Knight excused himself from the track, and then from the Lor Starcutter. Magolor continued to hover over the floor, staring, his hand still held before himself, empty. After a few moments, that hand slowly moved back down, and after a few minutes, Magolor's expression shifted out of surprise, into gloom.
"Well," he said aloud, to himself. "I can't say I don't deserve that."
The little wizard exited the race track and migrated to his metallic blue workroom, his drafts waiting on the metal desk. He began making the needed adjustments to his blueprints, calculating approximations of his speed into the drafts, running the markings through the printing machine, making new lines on the fresh papers warmed from the Lor's energy. All the while, he dejectedly wondered to himself if the reaction he got from Meta Knight was the kind of reaction he could expect from Kirby as well. Tolerance, but no forgiveness, with friendship out of the question. But no matter what fears he harbored in anticipation of meeting Kirby again, he kept himself focused on making his races as challenging and fun as they could be. Even if Kirby never wanted to play them, even if he might still try to drive him off...he could leave Pop Star in peace knowing his apology was heard, his gift given, and that he tried his best to repair what his vengeful ambitions destroyed.
Magolor spent the rest of the day and a portion of the evening having the Lor manufacture more bricks and gadgets for his race tracks, sending each piece to its designated place through magical light. Once everything was ready for testing, he went to bed, thinking about what he would say to Kirby, running words and sentences through his head over and over until his thoughts were silenced by the void of sleep.
During the chill of the desert night, the Lor Starcutter directed some warm light to rest on its dreaming pilot, in a hold like that of a comforting hug, a consoling embrace. Magolor slept well, but he wouldn't know why.