Minor edits done on 21/11/13.

A/N: To any new readers: apparently this thing has undergone (and hopefully is still undergoing) some sort of improvement in quality over time, so if you can tolerate the first ten or so chapters, then keep going! It gets better, I guess.


Chapter Twenty-Eight: Shadow Dragon


~*Evening of the Second Day*~


The sunlight was retreating to give way to the stars by the time they settled down for a rest. The ocean lay on the horizon, a few hours' walking distance from their current position on the plain.

Red and Lucas climbed atop a mound of boulders to witness the arrival of night as it overtook their dusty surroundings. The three swordsmen sat down at the base of the mound, resting against the stone and letting their thoughts wander.

There was a flash, and Ivysaur emerged from its Poké Ball to curl up next to the two boys. Meta Knight's attention flickered to the source of the light for a moment. Marth tapped his foot in a random rhythm as Ike scribbled something into the dirt with Ragnell's tip.

"'We were here'?" Marth read, looking at Ike quizzically.

"The real question is 'who is we'," Ike quipped. Marth shook his head.

"Here's something with an actual purpose." He tossed something to Ike. The mercenary poked it warily, being barely able to see in the darkness.

"This bread's safe?" Ike asked him.

The Altean wasn't listening, as he had stood up to distribute more food to the others. Ike tentatively took a bite.

Meta Knight stared at his food uninterestedly, then up at the sky.

"What is it?" Marth asked him as he settled back down. The masked knight sighed before standing up and beckoning him to follow. Marth hesitated, and then stood up slowly.

"Keep them occupied," he whispered to Ike, throwing a thumb over his shoulder at Red and Lucas. Ike nodded silently and with a frown, watched the two walk away.

When Meta Knight believed they were out of the others' earshot, he halted and faced Marth expectantly through the V-shaped slit of his mask.

"I believe you wanted to discuss something," Marth said slowly, crossing his arms.

"The children," Meta Knight replied. "Why you took them under your wing so boldly."

"Do you suspect them of treachery so swiftly? They're young."

"Judging by your skill with the blade relative to your age, I have faith that you've encountered turmoil that required its refinement – I mean neither compliment nor insult. Based on that, have you considered if they have experienced any trial in likeness?"

"I have made many enemies," Marth responded hotly, shifting on his feet uneasily, "but also invaluable friends on my journeys. You cannot be the judge of that because you were never there. Why do you close your heart? They have not been hostile at all."

"As it is with all, my experiences shape who I welcome and who I am wary of. In this case, looks can be deceiving – I have encountered my fair share of rivals who are more powerful than appearances warrant."

"So you do not trust them? Do you not remember what they told us of their plight? Lucas seeks out a lost friend to whom he is indebted to – he was clearly troubled when we found them! And what of Ike?"

"What of the other?" Meta Knight shot back with equal force. "He could be an agent of the Subspace Army!" The animals under his possession act upon his every command. Think of how he could betray us!"

"Then why have you withheld your protests until now?" Marth's voice rose to a yell. "Why did you save them?!". He cringed immediately after, dearly hoping the others had not overheard. He looked over his shoulder, then back at Meta Knight. Barely over a whisper, he continued, "Why did you not just let them fall if you were unwilling to seek their allegiance in the first place?"

Meta Knight's amber eyes nearly glowed in the darkening night. His gaze tipped to the floor before he replied, "The physics of this world would rule that choice unlawful. If I had let them fall, they would have died. Did you know that?"

Marth paled. "They would have... died?" An invisible beast clawed him in the stomach. He turned away briskly, glaring out to sea and running a hand though his hair.

"May I remind you that I gathered my information by eavesdropping while I was imprisoned on my battleship, which we have still yet to locate," Meta Knight spoke evenly. "In this world, one cannot kill another."

The Altean took a deep breath and returned to the conversation.

"Forgive me for even considering that," he apologised, nearly tripping over his words. "I-If I had known—"

"—But you did not," the masked knight interjected, "so you are forgiven."

Marth looked at Meta Knight. The yellow eyes had lost their fiery glow. "Please don't share that with them." He shook his head in a barely perceptible motion as he said, "I cannot trust you any more than I trust Lucas and Red. For all I know, this pursuit of your ship may be aimed to harm or hinder."

"The same applies to myself," Meta Knight agreed. "Our circumstances are merely fuelled by a wealth of half-answers and assumptions. We have nothing more to guide us, no solid evidence to found our motivations. We know something peculiar is happening around us – the next thing to do is figure out who is on which side."

Marth nodded, then bent down and offered his hand.

"To discovering the truth," Marth asserted.

Meta Knight reached out with his own hand and they shook on it.

"To discovering what we must know, not what we desire to know," Meta Knight added.

They withdrew without protest and cast their gazes back to the rock mound.

"Will we search into the night?" Marth inquired.

"The air seeks to move me," Meta Knight replied. "I would like to keep travelling, but the others must consent."

They made their way back together, united in their uncertainty.

Ivysaur had returned to its Poké Ball and Ike was on top of the boulder when they returned. He and Red were watching as Lucas focused hard on his outstretched palm. A fireball popped to life and hovered there neatly. Ike recoiled in surprise.

Meta Knight and Marth exchanged glances.

Ike cried out and fell back slightly, but caught himself before he tumbled off the rock. Upon seeing the other two, he climbed down cautiously and made his way over to them.

"Figured out what you needed to?" he asked them.

"Nearly," Meta Knight replied. The Crimean's face fell, but Meta Knight asked, "Is it fine if we travelled a little further tonight?"

Ike thought for a moment before saying, "Anything is fine with me, though you'll have to inform Red and Lucas of that."

Marth looked at Meta Knight and pointed to Red and Lucas. The squat knight grunted in compliance and walked over to them.

Ike watched as Meta Knight passed him. He questioned Marth, "What were you talking about?"

"The… hazy nature of our situation."

"What in particular?"

Marth exhaled, and then explained, "We talked about why we let Lucas and Red – complete strangers – come along with us."

"Ah…" Ike paused in understanding. "We're all strangers – this world's a stranger." Marth nodded in agreement. "We can't put our trust in each other without keeping a wary eye on our backs, can we?"

The Altean stared at him. "That's correct."

Ike was failing to hide a smirk. "You look surprised. Don't worry, I'm not psychic." He began making his way to the others, but stopped to say over his shoulder, "Trust me."

Marth remained still before following.

"Do we have to?" he overheard Red say as strode over.

"I told you, I'm fine," Lucas told him firmly. He extinguished his fireball.

"Alright," Meta Knight interrupted as Marth stopped next to him.

"What's going on?" Marth asked.

"There's a bit of uh... sibling tension, per se," Ike informed him. "One's fussing over the other." He spun around to face the quarreling boys and said loudly, "Let him decide on his own, Red. Anyway, majority rules."

"Okay, I'm ready to go," Lucas said as he slid off the rock carefully. "Red?"

A sigh, followed by, "I'm coming." The Pokémon trainer landed on the dusty ground beside him.

Meta Knight was observing the sky again, though this time his focus wasn't wandering aimlessly.

"Do you see something?" Marth asked, moving over to stand beside the squat knight.

"Those lights are moving," came the reply. Meta Knight pointed into the distance.

Ike joined them and looked skyward as well, closely followed by Lucas and Red. The night was still young, so it was relatively easy for all of them to spot the cyan-tinted lights growing gradually larger.

"It's coming this way," Lucas commented. "What is it?"

"If I'm not mistaken, those are the exhaust flames of my battleship."

"Your battleship?" Marth wondered aloud. He'd seen those lights the previous night outside the abandoned fortress. The sight of the accompanying unnerving draconic silhouette flashed in his mind.

"Yes. Let's observe what happens."

And so they did. They waited as the stars began to bloom and the plain became shrouded in darkness. The cyan lights grew, and soon the shape of the battleship was visible against the starry backdrop.

"How convenient, it's coming this way," Red said. "What now?"

The battleship Halberd hadn't yet shifted its course, and Meta Knight was confident that it wasn't going to.

"We should conceal ourselves," Meta Knight instructed the others. "I have a feeling its current captain is preparing for a landing."

"There's hardly anywhere to hide," Lucas languished.

"The rocks will do," Ike replied, gesturing to the others to move. The mercenary jogged over to crouch behind a large rock. Meta Knight was sure to keep the Halberd within eyeshot and squeezed himself into a niche between two boulders. Lucas and Red climbed onto the smaller boulders, concealed by the taller adjacent ones. Marth hid next to Ike.

Wordlessly, they kept their eyes glued to the flying battleship, which was indeed approaching their position. They held their breath as the humming of the Halberd's engines became audible and the battleship began to descend.

"What do we do when it lands?" Red asked Meta Knight softly through a crack between the rocks.

"Speak up. I cannot hear you over the noise."

The Pokémon trainer repeated his question, though much louder.

"Peace!" Meta Knight's yellow eyes peeked through the crack. Red put a hand to his mouth and Lucas shook his head to himself. "Bring the others."

"We're here," Ike responded, pulling Marth onto the rock.

"Good. We'll have to move swiftly if we are to board my ship unnoticed, though the cover of darkness should ease this for us. Just follow me and I'll lead you through one of the side entrances."

Lucas and Red looked at each other.

Meta Knight sighed. "If you wish, you may decide not to follow me."

"N-no," Lucas said, shaking his head quickly. "We'll come."

"And we're not backing out, either," Ike spoke up on Marth's behalf as well as his own.

"Then I must thank you. Now, look lively. On my mark, we'll move."

Meta Knight stared straight ahead and the other four waited for the command. The Halberd, now within a hundred metres, was lowering itself onto the ground slowly and whipping up a small dust storm as it did so. Then, the humming suddenly dropped in pitch.

"Let's go!" Meta Knight ordered, slipping out of his niche and beckoning the others quickly as he began to run across the plain.

The others charged after him, all keeping anxious eyes on the hulking battleship. They couldn't help but feel it would retreat in an instant, or unseen enemies would emerge from the darkness. The plain at this point seemed to stretch out much further than it actually was, and their steps felt smaller and smaller. Perhaps it was all an elaborate trap.

But soon, the Halberd's form began to block out the sky, and they were cloaked in its foreboding shadow.

The three swordsmen quickly pressed themselves against the Halberd's cool exterior plating. Red and Lucas crouched beneath its underside and kept watch for a possible ambush from the outside. Meta Knight gripped Galaxia in one hand and inched towards the nearest door, his footfalls barely audible. Marth unsheathed Falchion silently and followed Meta Knight, while Ike accompanied the two boys.

Meta Knight was one footstep away from the door. He held out his arm to stop Marth in his tracks, then he tapped the metal door with Galaxia. Nothing happened. He banged it harder, then jerked away. Two seconds later, a purple blur burst out of the door with a glowing sword in its clumsy hand.

Marth was on it in a split second, cutting it down in one slice. The Primid disintegrated into fog.

"Get back – Roaders incoming!" Meta Knight hissed to the Altean. Marth spun around and slammed himself against the Halberd's side just in time for a squad of single-wheeled vehicles to speed across the spot he'd just been standing on.

Meta Knight assisted Marth in defeating the foes. Ike stood sentry at the door and peered down the dimly lit corridor within, Ragnell raised and ready at his side.

"The coast is clear," he called to Red and Lucas. The boys scanned their surroundings warily before rushing up to the older mercenary.

The Roaders raced around the Marth and Meta Knight in erratic circles, stirring up dust. A Roader approached and Marth brought his sword down – he sliced a cloud of dirt. Meta Knight swung his sword in a deadly pattern, but he only succeeded in cutting the air in another Roader's wake. The heads of the swordsmen began to spin almost as quickly as their foes were taunting them.

Out of luck, a Roader collided with Marth's blade. Meta Knight managed to fell another. The defeated foes disintegrated into fog as the Primid had. Then, a blur obscured Meta Knight's vision.

"Hragh!" He was bowled over and landed several metres away, skidding painfully along the ground. His cry caught the attention of the other three. The three remaining Roaders retreated back.

"We're wasting time," Ike shouted to Marth, who was standing a distance in front of them. "Leave them!"

"They're swift, so that's impossible," the Altean replied. In the time his attention wavered, one of the Roaders screeched into high gear and shot towards him.

"Move, Marth!" Lucas yelled, heat welling up within him. He stepped to the side and cried out, "PK Fire!"

Marth threw himself to the ground as the fireball blazed past and defeated the Roader. He didn't have enough time to recover before the two remaining Roaders sped at him. Marth could only hold Falchion in front of himself defensively.

"Pardon me!"

Meta Knight burst into his field of vision and defeated the Roaders with a slash of Galaxia. The two swordsmen froze in their positions for a moment. When the last purple remnants of their enemies dissipated, Meta Knight eventually lowered his sword and Marth slowly rose to his feet.

The speeding Roaders, though no more, had taken the breath away from all five of them.

"Are you okay?" Red asked the two.

"Yeah," Marth breathed, still somewhat winded.

Ike was taking his first step onto the Halberd, but Meta Knight hurried over and shuffled past him.

"I'll lead," he suggested quietly.

"That might be a good idea," Ike replied. The others gathered around the doorway, waiting for Meta Knight's briefing.

"The main objective is to regain control of the bridge, which is the topmost section of the Halberd," Meta Knight explained. "From there, we will be able to cancel out any other operations the enemy might be allowing.

"We'll head straight for the bridge, but the path will be littered with not only traps that the Subspace Army has placed, but also those I installed prior to their invasion that were designed for other... unwanted guests. You need not worry about becoming disorientated if you raise your guard and under all circumstances keep from straying. There will likely be resistance en route and when we arrive at our destination.

"Is that clear?"

He received four nods in response.

"Great. Arm yourselves and we'll advance."

A ping followed by a flash heralded Squirtle's release. Three swords clinked in the darkness and Lucas revived his dormant PSI. The five warriors stepped into the Halberd one by one, the soft resonating of metal replacing the crunch of dry dirt underfoot.

Lucas poked his head out the doorway to survey the plain once more, before pulling the door shut as soundlessly as possible.


So apparently it's referred to simply as 'Falchion'. My bad ._. I also tried correcting some other errors for this chapter onwards.

Misleading chapter title is midleading, but it's called 'Shadow Dragon' for a few reasons (among others). What do you make of it?

Hey, guys.
Heeey...
GUYS!
Nobody voted on my poll since the last update. If I can reach 10 (4 more) I'll be a happy camper. At the moment I'm an alright camper.