As Meta Knight pulled himself from bed, he tuned out the joyous squeals of his captive murderer. It was much too early for him to be up, and it was much too early to listen to anything eNeMeE had to say. Not to mention how he was still a bit sore and dazed.. He wouldn't be back in fighting form for a little while longer. Even in darkness, he had a premonition that his sight probably wouldn't be the best either.
He adjusted his mask, making sure it was tight to his face, then almost left. He felt it best to stand infront of the door, looking at the light beaming through the boards. He had everything, but going outside.. There was danger to that.
"I think I will rest more." Meta Knight had announced quietly.
"No!" eNeMeE had almost whined. "You've sat in that bed and done nothing like a lazy sack of rocks for long enough! I- WE have things to do."
"Since when was this a matter of the both of us? I am not your ally, demon."
"Because if I said I, you'd think I'm up to something."
"And would you be up to something?"
"That's none of your business." eNeMeE huffed. Meta Knight could practically hear his pout.
"Then I suppose it's nothing to care about."
He'd said it in such a way that it was clearly sounding somewhat teasing. Obviously the wizard had gotten up to some night-time evil while Meta Knight was passed out, but to what extent was unclear. But it's not like it'd be hard to get any answers..
"What? How could you say that? Are you stupid? I'm clearly up to something evil right now. I have a whole evil plan, Meta Knight. I am- no, no, infact, I told you from the moment I got stuck-"
"You're stuck?"
"I'm NOT stuck. From the moment I got stuck playing your babysitter-"
"That still implies-"
"SHUT IT. SHUT IT ALL UP. Let me SPEAK . I'm not stuck. I told you from the moment I got here with YOU that I had an evil plan. I told you that. I know I told you that, that this is part of an evil plan, and I will kill you with it. And it's all coming together."
"Clearly."
Meta Knight had not moved. eNeMeE had stayed by his side while he slept, at least it appeared that way. Meta Knight knew he hadn't moved, because when he woke up, he was still in bed. His wizard 'familiar' was getting more and more mobile and capable by the minute, so if he wanted to leave, he probably could've. Should he have had the ability..
If he was stuck in this room, he could've only possibly talked to a very few amount of people. The Waddle Dees, who patrolled the halls at night, his knaves, the cabinet minster's children, Escargoon, or a third party. For any evil plan or scheme, the last two on that list would be much more susceptible to eNeMeE's words.
"Are you going to leave?" eNeMeE pressed.
"I am just thinking about how you have revealed yourself to next to everyone who could ever want to destroy you." Meta Knight said flatly.
"Not that it matters. No one could ever destroy me. Not permanently. So it doesn't matter. I'm too strong to be destroyed."
"Yes." Meta Knight was tempted to add an 'unfortunately', but he figured that was enough.
He heard the click and clack of armor from down the hallway, and waited patiently for it to grow close before knocking on his own door. He'd caught the attention of someone, at least. He'd heard the unravelling of a paper and a throat-clearing cough. Oh boy.
"eiUGHugehgeUIGHueguuig. Tiff, soroight, eriugheriugeirurgtqwowrwrhuhwrwi." Blade spoke succinctly. "reIGheiugHEURgtuehutgerhgergiIUERGerghergueGHuwuWORhueriguRG, wiughurguREugergt, erigtutugwugwrguiwrgtrtgowg. iREUGrewowriurgirgirhgirgt."
"Thank you, Blade." Meta Knight kept his voice flat to not express his relief in knowing his theory was correct.
Ah, and.. Every day, Tiff surprised him more and more. And so young.. She would grow up to be a great monarch, should she so choose to be one. Though, perhaps she wasn't the type.. That doesn't matter right now.
The information he'd had now was invaluable, and it couldn't and shouldn't reach eNeMeE's ears. Too much had already been soiled just by the fact that he hadn't been able to control the wizard before. Now, well.. There was a plan. Some sort, a small one. If Gryll could truly help them, or if their classmate could, or whomever, then they would be in luck.
"How can you understand him? He's just speaking gibberish! Order him to speak Common."
eNeMeE demanded. Another good sign. Yes, Tiff and his knaves had at least thought this through while he'd slept. Though he wouldn't doubt if it had just been Tiff's idea and Sword had just caught on.
"He does not speak it."
"Then how is he understanding you!?"
"How can you tell if he understands me?"
"HE DOES!"
Meta Knight was quiet. Yeah, no, he couldn't really argue with that, could he. But eNeMeE couldn't do anything if he didn't answer, did he?
"Blade, I will be remaining in my room for the time being. Continue with your duties."
The clanking of armor sounded once more as Blade departed, leaving Meta Knight to once more shed Galaxia and crawl back into bed. He wouldn't be getting any sleep, he could tell from the angry yammering of the demon all around him. But if it was to protect others, it was worth the torment. For his own sake, he hoped they would find something soon, lest he starve to death and that same demon go on a massacring rampage because of it.
But for now, all Meta Knight had to endure was the pain of eNeMeE's voice, and the agony of his presence.
Tiff was relieved to see the castle still standing when she awoke. The sun over the horizon was even more of a great promise. Another day had come and everyone was still alive, and there to see what was in store next. And oh boy, was there so much to do.
She'd stretched, brushed her teeth, then went to the main room of her family's flat. Her mother and father were already awake, cooking breakfast together. Tuff wouldn't be up for a while longer, and Kirby was busy looking up at Tiff's parents like a hungry puppy. Really putting on those cute eyes, and of course her mother had relented a few 'appetizers' to the pink puff. He was just too cute to say no to.
After a nice family breakfast, Tiff thought of the day ahead of her. There was a niggling thought in her head that told her that today would be only exponentially worse. The storm was yet to come, the clouds just had yet to swirl properly overhead and bring a downpour.
"Dear, is something wrong?" Her mother asked.
"Dedede was up to something yesterday and he'll be up to something again today. If you guys hear anything, make sure to stay safe too."
Tiff felt a bit bad to coat the situation in a shadow, but if they'd found out the gravity of the issue.. Well, it'd probably worry them both sick. They'd never done much before, and she didn't need them doing anything now; especially not getting in danger or in the way.
After being sent on her way with the coos of 'be careful', Tiff and her good friend Kirby were both off to find the knights. If anything had developed over the night, she needed to know and needed to know stat .
Tiff had rushed down the castle stairs, through the halls, speedwalking to keep her pace and not tire out. She saw all the Waddle Dees doing patrols, and she momentarily thought that the other knights would be doing the same. It'd be near impossible to find them in a castle this big. She hadn't bothered to learn their routes, ugh. Hopefully at least one of them was still in their shared room.
When knocking upon the door, she heard Sword say 'come in'. Yes! Thank goodness he was still there.. Despite all logic dictating he should've been working at that moment.
"Good morning, Sword." She greeted with forced pleasantness.
"Mornin'."
"Did anything happen last night? Anything at all?"
"Nothin' of any worry, really. Couldn't get to sleep last night is all." Sword probably would've scratched the back of his helm had it not extended multiple inches past the back of his body.
Her relief was instant. No, nothing had happened. Thank goodness.. Infact, she didn't have any nightmares last night. Very odd, considering who was in residence.. Perhaps he didn't have the ability to do that right now either?
"Eh, eNeMeE was yelling all night, surprised ya didn't 'ear it!" Sword had humored, slightly, waving the remote control in his hand around.
No, she hadn't heard any of the yelling, but maybe she should be glad for that. He could've been stringing a whole line of curses and vexes, and she wouldn't want to be in the radius of that. The thick bricks of the castle had protected her ears.
"Well, I'm glad nothing happened." Tiff sighed. "Has Meta Knight woken up?"
"Yea, Blade went and told 'im everything. Doesn't seem like he'll be comin' out his room, though, after what he told 'im."
It may've been a bit dull to sit in a dark room doing nothing but sleeping.. Tiff felt extra bad for the knight, knowing he was stuck in there with his worst enemy. Hopefully Gryll would get back to them soon, if they ever did. Who knows how much time they had until someone mistakenly opened up Meta Knight's door? There's no way they'd ever get the wizard back into a pitch black room willingly like that ever again.
"Where's Blade right now?"
"He's busy with 'is rounds."
"And why aren't you?"
"Well.."
The television had been on the whole time, and another one of Dedede's awful television shows was playing. They'd gotten better in production quality over the past two years, but they were still the half-entertaining, mostly-propaganda shows that they were when they'd begun airing.
"I can't believe you! You're watching TV at a time like this? What's wrong with you!?"
Tiff had hissed. The incompetence of Sword just soared in her brain with all but a single instance. Hopefully Blade wasn't just as bad, but considering how often they were around eachother, she didn't doubt he was just the same knight with a different coat of paint.
Tiff huffed and was about to stomp out, but Blade had slammed open the door right before anyone could go anywhere.
"eiGHErtgherGErgheRIGHregergerughRIGrtg!"
"There's invaders coming from the north?" Tiff had parroted in disbelief.
There had never been any Popstar-native invaders before! And Blade said they appeared to be hostile since there was a whole army coming. Tiff wanted to take the optimistic route and say maybe they were just like the Pengi; a group of people lost and looking for a land to rest, but the timing was much too off. This was either a horrible coincidence or it was something to do with eNeMeE. Tiff was logically favoring the latter, but hoping for the former. He had a lot of employees, she doubted they'd all gone up in smoke with his company. Most of them had probably escaped; as far as she remembered, the place had been eerily empty considering its gargantuan size.
"I don't want to think they're actually hostile, but lets get the Waddle Dees all braced for any possible impact. We could have some sort of scuffle on our hands.. Ugh, that wizard is just going to draw more and more problems the longer we don't have any way to get rid of him."
"eriuGHIERgirehgierGHERIGIerhgergierGHERIG. Waddle Dee, soroight, ertguiehrgieruhgiuerhg."
Well, Blade was proactive and had thankfully already warned them. Alright. Tiff looked to Kirby, who looked back at her with an 'alright, I got you, lets go do this' look on his face. After a few cosmic creatures, a small little batalion of regular people was comparatively nothing. Kirby could just suck them all up or use their abilities against them, like he always did.
Tiff had stood and waited, and watched as the army approached. As they drew closer and closer, the Cappys took notice too and had begun to bar their doors and shut their windows. Any incoming fight didn't need to have any innocent bystanders in the line of fire. Kirby's fights have been rather prone to some uh, collateral damage nowadays.
The four stood on the edge of town, watching and waiting with a keen eye. The Waddle Dees did the same from the castle, spears and canons at the ready if need be. Tiff was just hoping it wouldn't have to come to that, but it probably would. She wouldn't be surprised.
Sword had handed her a pair of binoculars, and much to her surprise, the army was composed all of one species.
"Noddys? And they look like they're eNeMeE's monsters, not the native ones.."
Tiff had seen native Noddys before. They were more capable of individualism than the monsters. They were smarter, less creepy, and a tad less silent and malicious. She couldn't make out any special individuals from the crowd, they were all the same color, and they waddled (albiet sleepily) in time. Their eyes were wide and focused, and they were coming.
Tiff didn't remember if when the Noddys sent by NME were all wiped out, or if a few had escaped. Seeing the army, though, it was clear that they had escaped and multiplied en-masse, much like the Scarfys had. They'd had two whole years to raise up their population, and most likely unabated. Wherever they'd come from must've been absolutely decimated, if the Scarfy's terror was any reference.
"If Kirby eats even one of those, he'll go comatose and we're going to have to go find that flower all over again." Tiff explained. "We can't afford confrontation like that."
"'Ere Kirby, eat this."
Sword offered his namesake to Kirby, which Kirby held in his nubs before stuffing it into his mouth. He did a cool little magical transformation, got a cute hat, and the sword reappeared, stuck to his nub like glue. He was ready, but Sword was disarmed. Well, he was a bandit once, he could probably use his fists. Not like the Noddys would be too much of a danger.. Unless they'd somehow figured out how to be one in the years they'd waited.
"They must be here to fetch their creator. Somehow he must've sent out a distress signal, or he contacted them while we weren't looking."
Tiff mused the idea around in her head. Nothing was impossible with magic.. Ugh! She hated being out of her element here, why couldn't eNeMeE be based in science? She might as well just be whamming her head into a desk, because anything and everything was probably possible with a creature made out of magic! And that's a huge maybe, because maybe he couldn't! But maybe he could! Ugh !
Whatever, she can gripe on this later. More important matters were at hand. Eventually, the Noddy army had come to a stop, leaving a sizable distance between Cappytown and their invasion. A singular Noddy with a long herding cane appeared from the crowd. Its cane was held by its hat, which had wrapped around the entire length like a snake, clinging tight like an appendage.
It wore a small green cape. Tiff had the feeling she knew what the cape was made out of, but she couldn't put her finger on it. The memory was too distant. It was a familiar green, anyways. That, and it had one more thing different in comparison to the other Noddys. It wore big triangular glasses, much like the ones its creator wore.
Yeah, no, this is definitely something to do with eNeMeE. As if their very presence here wasn't telling enough, the appearance of this little guy was enough to clue even the most dimwitted of doofuses in on what was going on. Yet here this Noddy was, proposing a negotiation rather than an immediate battle. Certainly a more pleasant alternative..
"I'll go see what it wants."
Tiff marched forward with Kirby into the 'no mans land', keeping their eyes strictly on the Noddy. When Tiff noticed Kirby was following, she stopped.
"You can't come with me, if you bring a weapon to a negotiation, they won't talk to you. Just stay with Sword and Blade, I'll be fine." Tiff knew she could defend herself if need be. Magolor would probably be telling anyone that much.
Kirby poyoed softly, and stood in place before quickly waddling back to the two knights. Tiff continued on before standing infront of the rather grand looking Noddy, who stared at her unblinkingly.
"Why are you here?" Tiff asked, simply.
The Noddy, using its (comically large) cane, pointed to an emblem in the smack dab middle of the fluffy rim of its hat. Tiff hadn't noticed it before, but now that she was up close, she could see the same little logo that had been used on NME products. It was the demon's silhouette; plain and clear.
"What?" Tiff questioned with mock confusion.
The Noddy tapped at the emblem once more, now seemingly agitated.
"Are you here to avenge him after Kirby destroyed him twice?"
Perhaps if she just played dumb, they would leave. I mean, it's not like he could be in direct contact with them right now. Or maybe he was. Or maybe he wasn't. He probably wasn't, because if he was, they would just be ramming the castle gates and not coming towards the town.
The Noddy narrowed its eyes at her before banging the bottom of its staff onto the ground multiple times. From the crowd drew a man of a different species. He'd looked very familiar, yet unnervingly different. He wore navy clothing, baggy stuff that draped around lavender arms and wrists. His face was the same shade, and he wore these dull orange glasses that didn't seem to catch the light of the sun correctly. The reflection was too dim and controlled on the lenses. His hair was this washed out magenta color with green tinge along the edges, as if he had some highly iridescent grease in it.
He hobbled, walking as though his little pink potato feet ached. His smile was slightly pained, and it did nothing to mask the very obvious 'Stars help me, I'm in so much pain right now' look on his face. She could see it in the way the edges of his smile twitched and his eyebrows told her of his remorse.
He'd made his way over as if every step was one made ontop of a bunch of little plastic toy bricks. When he stopped, he'd almost looked relieved.
Tiff recognized him. But.. What was wrong with him? Why was he purple ?
"Hey.." The ex-salesman croaked. "I'm going to need my boss back."