A/N: 22/7/14 - A quick sentence edited in. And thus the word count is no longer 99 666 :(
Chapter Thirty-Four: Deep Darkness
~* ? *~
Tabuu's glass wings folded and faded away.
A defeated deity lay among twenty-one lifeless trophies. After wiping out every living thing that had trespassed on his domain, Tabuu realised that he would receive no more interdimensional assistance. But at this point, he would not need it.
He sought out the sites where the Subspace Bombs had been detonated over the past days. On a side thought, he congratulated the lowly Robots for perfecting the bombs in such a short time.
Reaching across to Lien, the Bound World, was like feeling his way around a pitch black room. One by one, his mental probe latched onto each sphere, and he caught glimpses of the world. He saw the dusty plains, the Monolith, the Smash Brothers' Stadium. He drew the spheres around himself, like a cocoon, and once he had a firm grip, channelled his power into slowly expanding the spheres, thus pulling more of Lien into Subspace.
The spheres were not in optimal positions, as no Subspace Bombs had been detonated near the snowy south-east and the forested central regions. The process required all his focus, but with all resistance eliminated, he could continue uninterrupted.
*.*.*.*.*
Among the stillness, there was a dazzle of light. Twenty-one trophies were reduced by one as a puffball let out a moan.
"Uwaaa..."
A furious headache hammered at his skull and threatened to split it in two. He squeezed his eyes shut. Had he ever felt a pain this acute?
Something in his throat seemed to suddenly materialise, and despite his ache, he coughed it out. He lay still for a few more moments, taking deep breaths, until the pain faded away.
He opened his eyes, and found he was surrounded by dizzying darkness. A shiny, golden object caught his eye. It was a badge, finely moulded into the form of a familiar face.
King Dedede's face.
Kirby spun around, searching for anyone that was nearby. Perhaps the penguin king knew something he did not? Alas, there was no one in sight.
He was alone.
*.*.*.*.*
A forsaken fortress had been dragged into darkness. Its rubble had remained untouched for over a day, since the Subspace Bomb had been detonated by a world-weary commander and two faithful underlings.
But then, a light shone in the darkness. Two people sat up, dazed and sore.
One was moustachioed and clothed in green. He stretched before noticing something was stuck to the end of his nose.
The other was a boy wearing a baseball cap. He rose sluggishly as if from a deep sleep.
The two started upon noticing each other's presence.
"Where are we?" they said.
The boy cautiously rose to his feet and took a step back. "Do you know anything about this?" he questioned, regarding the man and his moustache with slight suspicion.
"W-What?" the man stammered. "No! I-I have no idea what's happened..." He looked about anxiously, and that was when he noticed – with a shock – that the sky had changed to one he did not recognise, nor one he thought existed. But somehow, it was familiar...
The boy also looked up, and suddenly felt more displaced than before.
"You... look about as lost as I am," he began. Judging by the way the man was taking in his surroundings and wringing his hands, he appeared very high-strung. The boy relaxed, hoping it would help calm the man's nerves. "My name's Ness. What's yours?"
"Me?"
"Well, there is anyone else here?"
The man chuckled nervously and said, "I'm Luigi. Nice to meet you... especially at a time like this..."
Ness frowned at Luigi's silence, but when he stopped to think about it, he himself did not feel at ease. A long moment of looking up at the dark, swirling sky was enough to make him feel queasy. It took him a second longer for a horrible sense of déjà vu to make his stomach turn.
He shoved the thought to the back of his mind. He saw that Luigi was staring cross-eyed at an object on the end of his nose, and so moved to pull it off, with more effort than he thought was required.
"So, if you don't know what happened, were you brought here?" Ness asked as he turned over the shiny object – a badge – in his hand. That was when he noticed there was an identical object attached to his shirt.
"I must have been; I presume you were, too. What's the last thing you remember?"
He had to think about that. For a while, the memory evaded him until it hit him like the shot that had knocked him out.
Tossing Luigi's badge back and detaching his own, he answered, "I was with someone, and we were being attacked by this man with a moustache."
Luigi seemed to flinch at that. Hesitantly, he said, "Do you remember what he looked like?"
"Well, he was... big, and he had this crazy zigzag moustache." He shrugged. "That's all I've got."
"It's enough. I know him."
Ness's suspicion kicked in again for a second.
Luigi must have noticed, for he assured him, "I-I'm not allied with him. No way."
"I wouldn't have believed you if you said you were."
"Uh — "
"Take it as a compliment."
Luigi smiled crookedly and shook his head. "So, the last thing you remember was — "
"Pushing the other guy out of the way of the shot."
"A shot?" Luigi frowned. "From a big gun?"
"Yeah."
Silence ensued as Luigi mused before he concluded, "You were trophified."
"Trophy-what? What's that mean?"
Luigi briefly explained.
"So... if I was turned into a trophy," here, Ness became aware of himself pacing back and forth, "how was I revived?"
He saw that Luigi was staring at something behind him.
"I think he helped us," Luigi said, slowly. This prompted Ness to turn around.
"Is that a trophy?" he asked, staring at the silver figure of a person of penguin likeness.
"Yeah." Luigi held up his own badge. "This has his face on it."
They both looked between their badges and the trophy several times.
Sensing their mutual agreement, Ness asked, "How do we revive him?"
"Touch the trophy's base."
For a moment, it sounded too easy. Nonetheless, he and Luigi approached the trophy, and he touched the trophy's golden base with a finger.
"Ah!" Ness shielded his eyes from the flash of light that followed. "You didn't warn me about that!"
"Sorry! Sorry, I forgot!"
He blinked his eyes a little more, and then he and Luigi leaned over the person they had just revived. The penguin grimaced and moaned. When his vision cleared, he saw the two sets of eyes that were looking down at him.
"Who!" he cried, sitting up almost too quickly for Ness and Luigi to avoid. "Ooh, that wasn't good for my head..." The penguin massaged his forehead.
"Are you okay?" Ness asked.
"'m fine. Wait, lemme get a good look at you two." The penguin peered hard at them for a long, still moment. Luigi tried not to fidget.
"Um, do you — " he began.
"Well!" the penguin interrupted, clasped his hands together loudly. "The name's Dedede, King Dedede! And it looks like my little doohickeys worked."
"You mean these?" Ness spoke up, holding up his badge.
"Yes siree! Those Timed Badges saved you from a fate worse than death."
"Oh, my," Luigi said weakly. "Thank you. Do you know how we got here?"
"I do! Long story short, I rounded your trophies up and brought you to this here fortress." He threw his arms out to behold the building, and noticed the gaping hole in the ceiling. "...Sweet mother of Dreamland, we're in Subspace."
"Where?" Luigi and Ness cried.
"Subspace. We weren't here before! Hoo boy..." He looked at his two companions and noticed their puzzled expressions. "I suspect you wanna better explanation."
They nodded.
"I'll keep talkin' if you team up with me." Dedede offered up a hand and waited for their response.
After a moment, Ness and Luigi shook hands with the penguin.
"Fantastic! Now, let's be off!"
"To where?" Ness asked.
"No idea. But don't worry, I know what I'm doing. Hang on a second." Dedede lumbered over to the room's altar to retrieve a large wooden mallet.
"Come along. I'll talk while we walk." Dedede hefted the mallet over his shoulder, narrowly missing Luigi's head.
He led the way out of the dusty fortress. They went through a hall and stopped at the double doors for a moment before Dedede pushed them open.
"Welcome to Subspace," he began, turning to face his allies. "It's a strange place, where the clouds pulse and the ground doth glow.
"In this world, there is no sun, no plants and no animals. Instead, energy radiates every corner of this place, so much so that it nearly feels like the air itself has been electrified." He stepped onto the aforementioned ground and continued on, followed tentatively by Ness and Luigi. "Subspace's guardian is an entity called Tabuu, and he's the secret commander of an army – the Subspace Army. Not a very tactful name, mind you, but enough to get the job done. And what a job his forces have done! Pulled the area around this fortress into his world, and if Tabuu's had his way, more places have fallen. If we don't put a stop to this, the whole world'll be dragged into Subspace, and be subjected to Tabuu's rule!"
"How do we stop this 'Tabuu'?" Ness asked slowly, simultaneously absorbing Dedede's spiel. "And why does he want to pull the other world into Subspace?"
"To answer your first question: by sheer force and numbers. Your answer your second question is as good as mine. The guy's an enigma – no one in the army knows about him, 'xcept Master Hand, I presume."
"Master Hand?" Luigi echoed, staring at his own gloved palms.
"You've got the right idea. He's this huge disembodied glove – seriously, I've seen 'im with my own two eyes! Anyway, Master Hand's being controlled by Tabuu's chains of light, so it looks like all the orders are comin' from 'im. Also, some none-too-nice guys from the other worlds 'ave attained the highest ranks in the army, and 'ave been on the offensive to eliminate any potential resistance. You two, among others, were known to the army."
This revelation was greatly disturbing to the two.
"How?" Ness asked stiffly, adjusting his cap
"Dunno. You done anything remarkable in your life? That's the only reason I can think of. By the way, 'ave I lost you yet?"
They shook their heads slowly.
"Good." Dedede stopped to scan the area they were in. "Hey! Do you see that?" He pointed into the distance. "It's gotta be a trophy."
Ness and Luigi followed his finger and saw a silver figure. Amongst the Subspatial darkness, it seemed to float in mid-air.
"What a splendid development!" Dedede rubbed his hands together. "You know how I said sheer force and numbers would overcome Tabuu? Well, this is the beginning. Troops, advance!"
With that, he marched ahead.
*.*.*.*.*
Kirby paced around the trophy for a moment. Where had he seen this man before?
Nonetheless, he revived him, and only after the light died down did he remember why the man's face was familiar.
"This. Isn't. Over…" Wario muttered as he rubbed his face and sat up.
Kirby backed away, unsure of what to do with Peach's kidnapper.
"Hey, you!"
The puffball blinked.
"Where're those kids? I've got a score to settle with 'em." He scratched his head as he got to his feet. After staring at Kirby for a second, he exclaimed, "Hey, weren't you at the Stadium? What's your deal?"
"Pyo."
Wario pouted. "What's that supposed to mean? Why are you just standing there? What do you want from me?"
Kirby shrugged, and pointed into the distance at a cluster of faintly cyan spheres. The lifeless form of Master Hand was off to the side.
"I'm the one that's asking questions, not you!" He crossed his arms with a huff and spared the spheres a glance. "Fine, if you're not gonna give me any answers, I'll be off."
Wario shouldered past the puffball and walked away. Kirby stared after him for a while before deciding to leave him be. He doubted he would be able to get the message through to him, anyway.
So he resumed his search for his allies.
*.*.*.*.*
Tabuu knew there were intruders in his realm. He had known as soon as they had been revived from trophy stasis. The movement had begun from four life signatures, three of which he had not detected before.
He knew what they wanted to do, and he need not worry. It would be easier for them to reach him. Then, he would return them to their rightful states.
So with that, he summoned a glass staircase that would lead the Interloper and his allies to his Great Maze.
*.*.*.*.*
"This here is Bowser, King of the Koopas," Dedede began, leaning heavily on said person's upright trophy.
Ness opened his mouth to ask what a Koopa was, but he thought the better of it and let the penguin speak.
"He was allied with the Subspace forces. He actually held one of the highest positions in the army before he ended up like this." Dedede scratched his chin, presumably to spare a thought on how the King Koopa had been reduced to such a state. He then turned to his allies and asked, "So, do you think I should revive him?"
Luigi frowned, and Ness spoke his thoughts.
"Wasn't your plan to gather as many allies as you could?"
Dedede grinned and replied, "Heh, that's right! Just testing you. Stand back, though. From what I've seen, he'll be none too happy when he comes to."
With that, Dedede bent down and touched the trophy's base. Once Bowser had regained his senses, he spun around, his eyes darting in all directions.
"Who knocked me out?" he roared. He then faced Dedede. "You!"
Dedede said nothing as Bowser leered at him.
"You're gonna pay for your interference!" His nostrils flared angrily as he paused, and then his eyes widened in sudden realisation. "Now that I think about it, where's Ganondork? Ooh, if I get my hands on him, I — "
Without warning, Dedede raised a hand and flicked him on the muzzle.
Ness and Luigi looked on in bewilderment, Bowser even moreso at the penguin's brazen gesture.
"What was that for?" he cried, rubbing his nose. "You wanna fight?"
"That's enough, Bowser," Dedede huffed. "We're never gonna get anything done if you don't shut up and listen for a moment."
"Who put you in charge?" Bowser sneered. "How did you even get here?"
"My allies."
"Your what? Oh."
It seemed Bowser had only noticed the reserved plumber and the young psychic at that moment, for he raised his eyebrows when his eyes met theirs.
"Who's the kid?"
"I'll tell you all you need to know if you team up with us."
Bowser narrowed his eyes at the penguin. "I don't even know what you're up to."
"Join us, first. But if you must know: we have a common enemy."
Bowser rumbled lowly and flexed his clawed hands, then said, "Fine. I dunno what I was gonna do before I got knocked out, anyway."
Luigi had not realised he had been holding his breath until Bowser had spoken. He did not feel entirely comfortable letting it go, though, since he had no way of predicting if Bowser would be cooperative in their current situation.
"Excellent. You've made the best decision," Dedede said, slapping Bowser on the back.
"Spare me the flattery and start talking."
"If you say so. But I won't tell you everything straight away - I'll save it 'til I have a more complete audience." Dedede faced all three of his allies. "Come, now. We now have a great responsibility on our shoulders, and it's imperative that we get the job done. Let's to our future comrades!"
Just as he pointed emphatically into the distance, he was bowled over by a weight.
"Wahaha!" Wario cackled and stood over Dedede, whom had been thrown onto his back. "Found you! You'll pay for the strife you've caused me!" He waved a finger in his Dedede's face. "Now, where's my Cargo?"
Ness, appalled by the sight of the man, rushed over to Dedede's side, followed by a confused Luigi. The two helped the dazed penguin to his feet.
Wario's jaw dropped. "Y-you've sided with him?!" he exclaimed.
Ness stared at him coldly and said nothing as he nodded.
Wario turned to Bowser, who had his arms crossed. "They're not serious, are they, Bowser? Why are you just standing there? We can beat 'em!"
The King Koopa also remained silent.
"Don't tell me you — "
"Yes, he's joined our side," Dedede proclaimed as he dusted himself off.
"How?! Why — "
"He'll tell you if you join him," Bowser interrupted sourly, his eyes elsewhere.
"I never thought you would side with Luigi," Wario spat.
Said plumber flinched at the mention of his name and dreaded the back-and-forth he sensed was brewing.
"You never struck me as a particularly bright one," Bowser shot back with a snarl.
"You're a traitor!"
"You're incompetent!"
"How low must you be to side with the enemy? The interloping fugitive, of all people?!"
Bowser threw his head back and unleashed a vicious roar. Subspace itself seemed to react, as there was a distant crackle of lightning before Bowser charged at Wario.
Luigi shook his head and covered his eyes.
Then, there was an unexpected shout, followed by a green-tinted flash.
"Shut up!"
Ness stood with his arms outstretched as the two brawlers cried out and collapsed. He froze. It had slipped his mind that the effects of his PK Flash had changed while he was in the other world, but now that the effects seemed to have reverted, he was puzzled. He let out a sigh of relief when Bowser and Wario rose sluggishly, not yet down for the count.
"You didn't warn us about that," Luigi quipped, peeling his hands away from his face.
"Sorry."
Dedede rubbed his eyes and said, "At least it made those two stop."
"Hey, don't go around thinking you're higher and mightier than the rest of us, " Bowser growled as he got to his feet, shoving Wario away as he did so.
Wario elbowed the King Koopa, and the latter was about to retaliate when Dedede cleared his throat loudly and slammed the head of his mallet on the ground.
"Save your feud for later," he demanded. "I think since you two are so disagreeable, I should explain everything. Consider yourselves privileged. You might be able to think more clearly in the meantime."
"If it means working with this guy, then count me out," Bowser grumbled, jerking a thumb at the man beside him.
"But you were on the same side as me before," Wario argued. "You're so fickle. Perhaps it's a good idea you don't want to cooperate."
Ness conjured up a small-scale PK Flash that exploded in his palm.
Seeing Bowser and Wario flinch, Dedede said, "If you don't want another one of those, then listen to me."
"I don't need to listen to you," Wario responded. "You can do whatever you want. I'm done." He turned to walk away.
"So, what will you do?"
Wario stopped in his tracks.
"Why are you keeping him here?" Bowser asked, whirling on Dedede.
"If you two would shut up and clear your pride-clouded heads for a moment, maybe you would know!"
"'Pride-clouded'? Just who do you think you are, saying that?"
"...Ness?"
"Will do."
"No!" Bowser and Wario cried, shielding their faces with their arms.
Ness's PK Flash dissolved and he looked on in exasperation.
"Shall you listen?" Dedede pressed. "Or shall you choose to make things more difficult for everyone?"
His addressees hung their heads in defeat.
"I'll take that as a begrudging 'yes'. Now then, I'll tell you of the real enemy."
Ouch, Kirby meeting Wario gave me writer's block for a bit. But now we have a chapter :3
Um, what do you think of the chapter? Reviews and concrit are appreciated!