eNeMeE'd slithered through the plains, sniffing out a place that would've been suitable. He didn't know the land as well as Escargoon did, but it was fine. It wasn't like he had time he couldn't waste. The more time he spent wastefully, the more— as he quickly realized thanks to the help of his Noddys— he was able to unlock within this limited form.
Disgusting as it may be when he gasped and gurgled, spitting up his own essence from his throat so he could thrum it was a watery growl, slowly but surely he felt more and more in control. Even a modicum of control had meant death for his enemies. Meta Knight had sought to steal it from him, and yet here he was. Helpless, fainted knight in shining armor, dragged along by this mountainous dragon.
It would've been worse had he left a slime trail like some snail, but thankfully he was a higher form of being. The only thing at the back end of him was Meta Knight tethering him to the world like a ball and chain to an escaped prisoner. He rolled around uselessly, banging and clanging against various rocks that eNeMeE just so have happened to glide over.
With a miraculously small amount of getting lost, eNeMeE managed to catch the sight of his own monsters in the distance, and quickly changed course towards them. The Noddys toppled after him, rolling over each other and keeping their respectful distance from their master and maker so as to not overwhelm him with another bout of returning his magic.
The construction seemed to be going well. Well enough, considering the workers. When he'd arrived and collapsed into a heaving and hefting mush of a man, they'd all dropped their tools and clammored down the scaffolding to try and get to him.
Escargoon looked like he'd just watched a rat come up from a sewer grate when the demon had made his arrival, and was far too mentally ill-equipped to tell the workers to do anything. And though he may have looked physically exhausted, eNeMeE was far from.
"What're you doing!?" eNeMeE roared and the Waddle Dees startled. "Get back to work!"
Quickly having remembered themselves, the whole construction crew went wide-eyed and scrambled back for their tools. Some even ran into each other, squeaking while trying to get back in place.
eNeMeE grumbled and spat out his cat from his sludge. He landed onto the grass with a bit of a thud. Completely unstained, too. He quickly recovered himself and dusted himself off.
"How- why are they-" Escargoon sputtered.
"They listen to me because I'm their creator, fool." eNeMeE scoffed, and waved the Noddys over.
He was ready for a bit more feeding, whilst he had the time. The Noddys did not wait, and quickly began pouring into his back to dissipate into the magic of his being. Escargoon's face scrunched up in disgust at the wet and loud slorching that accompanied.
"I'm not making you watch." eNeMeE commented idly.
Escargoon took the invite to look at his ongoing building with eager vigor, which made eNeMeE smile nastily.
"Since when've you been the creator of Waddle Dees?" Escargoon dared to have a bit of sass.
"Since I saw them and decided I wanted a few. Sort of." eNeMeE answered back. "Once your light is finished, and I conquer this hick planet, I'll bother to explain. But for now, that's all you're getting."
He rested, feeling like a cat lying in a sunbeam. Being fed, being around Meta Knight, and having his machine built for him by a force he could trust.. Yes, and to top it all off, his cat had lived too. Perhaps the situation was not all bad.
"And you created Noddys too?" Escargoon decided to push. "I thought-"
"You're curious, are you? Don't you have anything else better to do than sit here and ask me foolish questions?"
Escargoon looked down, squeezing a rolled up piece of paper in his little snail mittens. Since the Waddle Dees could act with little to no direction, no, he very clearly didn't have anything else better to do than just to wait for the inevitable. He could, perhaps, chat to the catman that eNeMeE had brought over, but he doubted they had much to say to one another.
The resident demon was far more intriguing to literally anyone than some stumpy little businessman. Of course Escargoon was curious, who wouldn't be in wonder and reverent awe of eNeMeE's majesty— even when he was making a mess of himself right now?
"Well, I suppose," eNeMeE circled his hand in the air, "I could spare you some information while we wait."
If he'd enabled Escargoon's weird little fantasies of 'learning' or whatever, he knew the snail would find him more trustworthy. It's what mortals called 'bonding'— not that eNeMeE ever did any of that, ever. To ensure Escargoon's loyalty, he'd have to bend down and participate in some.
"I'm sure you have questions only the emperor of the universe can answer." eNeMeE was only half sarcastic.
Escargoon wasn't as eager to ask another question as he had been, which had irritated the demon to the point of two open huffs. Escargoon peeked at him, saw he was still 'eating', and looked the other way again.
"If you can command Waddle Dees without havin' to feed them, why didn't you just turn them on Susie? She was after 'em."
eNeMeE laughed openly at the question, and Escargoon winced.
"They weren't a problem in the first place. Meta Knight was just being a wimp. And as if I would let them get in the way of my own, personal revenge. Have you ever personally wiped the light from someone's eyes? Watched them go limp, little snail?"
Escargoon was silent, but the taste of fear told eNeMeE all he needed to know. He giggled a bit at the terror, but calmed himself down.
"It's not something you could understand, clearly. Violence wins every situation, and Waddle Dees are a fairly useless monster in the department of fighting. They are laborers at best, and mindless pets at worst."
Escargoon waited another moment, until eNeMeE had become irritated by the silence again. Was this going to be a consistent thing for every single question?
"I can't get anything out of Meta Knight about it, but I never heard about the war until-"
"The war?" eNeMeE parroted excitedly. "Oh, the war! The war, the death, the violence! The best time of my life in eons! There was no better time to be alive for a demon than during the war. Razing and pillaging, conquering and destroying, genociding and spreading despair amongst my enemies as I grew to be taller than mountains! I could squash whole cities under my palm— and I did! Just for fun!"
eNeMeE cackled aloud, recalling all the great times he had in war. The uh, the.. The great times he- the memories he had of the war. Yes, there was certainly something there! He knew there was some stuff he did in line with his little dump of excitement. He just couldn't exactly recall the details, but he didn't put it past himself.
"Great times. Even greater times after, though a bit more bland. Having everything you could ever want gets boring. I was kept from murdering most people by that stick in the mud over there." eNeMeE jabbed his thumb over at his purple cat, who chuckled nervously. "Bad for sales, bad for reputation, might cause some 'unnessecary' hostility from other warlords, the whole stupid 'political' shebang."
eNeMeE sighed heftily. He knew it had been partially his fault too— his inability to kill as much as he'd used to. Oh sure, he still killed thoughtlessly. But it wasn't really him, it was symptoms of the culture he'd stolen. Poverty, homelessness, bigotry, redlining, economic devastation.. Sure, they all belonged to him, and he loved them, but it's one thing to kill indirectly and another to feel someone struggle under one's claws and beg for mercy.
"Apparently commanding militias to uproot governments and assassinate presidents or whatever isn't 'political' but me killing one or twelve villages of innocent civilians is 'bad for company image'." eNeMeE sneered, and the salesman decided to look away completely from the horrid, spiteful glare the goo monster was offering on a silver platter.
Perhaps now he could do some right and proper destruction, like how he did in the days of war. Oh, what a blissful and wonderful idea that was. He could drag Meta Knight along with him, make him witness it all too. Yes, what a perfect picture of mental torture that would be. Meta Knight, helpless to eNeMeE's second grand massacre.
"Now that there's no company, I suppose I'd just do as I did in war. Conquer and take until I can make a new empire, throttle the universe for its wealth, all that good stuff." eNeMeE sighed, wistfully nostalgic. "Just like how it was. It's been too long since I was in power."
Escargoon gave a moment to think, and thankfully did not dawdle on the next question as he'd fumbled the previous.
"You've got a plan to turn back to normal?"
"Yes, of course I do. Uh, see, I just can't tell you it. Too secret. And, well, you know.. I doubt you know much about magic, the- the uh, the explanation would be lost on you."
eNeMeE always found a way. Evil was unstoppable, and being its official representative across all corners of the galaxy, he was expected to be at the forefront of its progression. That, and he wasn't going to be stuck as a blob monster. No way.
His cat was looking at him nervously, as though he'd wanted to say something.
"Well? Spit it out." eNeMeE gurgled.
"When I summoned you from the Dream Realm, uh, something went wrong with the whole.. Spell." His cat dug one of his feet into the dirt bashfully. "I'm sure you'll be able to find your way out, sir, but I don't know one."
"I don't expect you to know the slightest lick about magic, so of course you messed it up. Why didn't you just get a mage? Moron ."
eNeMeE flicked the salesman's head.
His finger passed through, out through the other side.
His head flickered and wavered like a hologram, giving absolutely no pushback. Like air. Like nothing. Like.. Like smoke. Like nothing, like nothing? Why- Why was nothing there? His finger went straight through, and the salesman was still standing, in fact, he'd looked caught. eNeMeE tasted his ongoing fear, rather than just the abrupt limpness of death. He wasn't dead. There was just..
It was a trick. It was an illusion.
Escargoon may've not caught onto what had truly had happened, and perhaps all three of them had taken a second. The Noddys saw instantly what was about to happen, and halted progress for the sake of their master. The Waddle Dees had spectated idly, almost eager.
eNeMeE pulled his hand back like he'd just been burned. He lurched upwards, features twisting along with a horrible open maw of distinct, melting teeth. eNeMeE hacked and coughed, smoke expelling from his mouth in clouds of black, like they came from the freshly sparked fire kept confined inside his innards.
The salesman tried to run. eNeMeE was faster. He clasped onto the fake beneath his claws faster than a Wolfwrath on an innocent child. Or, well, he would've, had someone not gotten in the way. A Noddy with a long shepard's cane and sleeping cap had pulled his salesman to the side quickly, and batted away eNeMeE's claws with the end of their wooden stick.
eNeMeE hadn't half the mind to talk. He overpowered the Noddy and their feeble attempt at a saving grace with a single fist, and in seconds they had been reconstituted into his magic. Their betrayal meant nothing when they could be unmade so easily.
eNeMeE crushed the fake against the ground next, Escargoon reeling nearby from the dull thud and the evident pain on the salesman's face. eNeMeE snarled rabidly, his essence dripping down to drip through the salesman's head.
eNeMeE pressed down on his chest, and felt the little creature yield underneath him. The illusion faded, revealing a purple onion creature with a big mage hat. Or something. eNeMeE couldn't see a lot of it.
"How dare you- how dare you be him!" eNeMeE hissed.
The onionperson didn't have the ability to defend themselves. eNeMeE did unto them as he did unto those two knaves. He waited until they had gone limp, and simply pulled them into his body for safe, dead keeping. He would make a proper example of them later, when he had conquered the universe once more.
Escargoon flowed with horror and revolt from the whole display, only just barely hiding it by not looking directly at eNeMeE. He could taste it, and it was wonderful. But not the sort of thing he'd wished, right now. The bitter atmosphere hung heavy over his mind like a horrid fog he couldn't do much else about now.
All he could do was sit down, brood, and accumulate power. He slapped back onto the floor lazily, and motioned for the Noddys to continue what they were doing. They hesitated, but they obeyed.
It was a nice long couple of seconds.
He heard Escargoon choke back words. Or maybe he was whimpering in fear whilst attempting to say something.
"Save it." eNeMeE grumbled. "I don't want to hear it. He's been gone for a while now anyways."
Escargoon got the picture, and everyone continued to work on their respective jobs.
It'd been a little bit since the Noddys left the castle, ditching an army of fainted Waddle Dees and various structural damages. Tiff, Kirby, and Gryll hadn't been trapped in the castle by any means— they just got out of the rooms the same way they'd gotten in— but it was still slightly difficult to navigate with Gryll newly stressed out by the kidnapping of their old college acquaintance.
Again, another reason why Tiff hadn't wanted them to come over, but no use in crying over spilt milk. They needed to find that goop wizard before anything happened to that onion guy. Stars only knew what could possibly happen to them.
Gryll wanted to immediately save their friend, but Tiff was thankfully able to reason with them. With an innocent civilian in eNeMeE's grasp, and apparently the immediate powering up via Noddys, they needed to prepare themselves before a confrontation. They had tried to reunite with Sword and Blade— after they'd been left out in the cold under the forcefield Gryll had created— but they had completely vanished.
The three had looked for a while, but didn't end up finding hide nor hair of them. Wherever the two knights had gone, the trio didn't have time to find them.
Tiff hadn't wanted to use it, but she'd directed Gryll towards the Fountain of Dreams, where now they'd finally arrived. Gryll had a brief stint of wonder at the beautiful colors of the surrounding trees, and the sparkling, neon water that poured from the fountain's basin to the pond below.
They'd disembarked from the broom, and with a bit of direction, Kirby had floated to the top of the fountain and plucked the Star Rod. A loud, almost mechanical 'thoom' akin to a power outage accompanied its unplugging. The water had stopped pouring, the fountain went dark, but the sparkling and beautiful water remained.
Kirby hopped back over to the two, presenting the Star Rod to Tiff. Tiff pushed it down gently with one of her fingers, ushering it back into Kirby's nubs for safe keeping. He knew how to use it, so of course he should be the one who had it.
"Um, do you mind if I..?" Gryll wondered. "No, no, it can wait until later. We have to go save Barby."
Gryll had taken more than apparent interest in the Star Rod, but yes, it could and should wait until after. In fact..
"Gryll," Tiff put her hand on Gryll's nonexistent shoulder, "I know it'll be hard but.. Please leave this to me and Kirby. We'll save your friend for you. You're already stressed out enough, and-"
"No, no way." Gryll spat back. "You are literally a kid. Kirby's just a little toddler! I'm the oldest one here, I need to help you. I'll fight alongside you, and make sure to keep you two safe."
"I don't mean to be rude, Gryll, but you're way out of your league-"
"I can't leave two kids to go fight a demon. I just can't. I know magic, I can defend myself, and not to mention, it's my old college, uh, acquaintance that got taken. I know him, so it's my responsibility to help him too."
Tiff knew they couldn't get anywhere very fast unless they rode on Gryll's broom with them, but putting them in danger was a very, very bad idea. Gryll was about as skittish as a Cappy, and about as acquainted with monsters as someone who'd lived under a rock for two years.
Facing eNeMeE without having first numbed yourself to all the horror that could come from him was simply out of the question. Tiff couldn't imagine someone like that not freezing at best or running away at worst when the actual pressure was laid on. She knew that with a creature as despicable as the one they were up against, there was no chance he would not abuse any lapse in judgement made or let anyone escape as soon as they were in his sights..
"Fly us, then as soon as we find him and land, fly away immediately." Tiff was stern. "You'll get hurt if you don't."
"Absolutely not. I'm coming with you guys, and that's final. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't. Also, I'm calling age and saying that what I say goes. And I'm going with. He looked like he was stuck on the ground, and having aerial support could be more useful than you think."
With the Warp Star having been removed from Kabu and made into the very Star Rod that Kirby held, Gryll would be the only person in the air. Kirby's floating was far less fast and covered much less ground than their broom.
"I'm calling rank by experience," Tiff crossed her arms, "you'll get hurt otherwise! Gryll, seriously!"
"Tiff, seriously. I'm going to help Barby, and I'm going to help Kirby too."
The two stood off. Tiff hadn't ever really.. Seen anything like this before. People weren't ever typically so adamant about helping. It was like looking in a mirror. It was almost uncanny, like she had been scolding herself for foolishly rushing into battle alongside Kirby all those years ago.
"If I can't convince you otherwise, then alright." Tiff sighed. "But if you get hurt, please run away."
"..I'll- yeah." Gryll relented, swallowing hard.
Tiff could already tell they were scared, but their brave face had been strapped on for the sake of others.
"We have the Star Rod." Tiff tried to reassure them. "Kirby beat eNeMeE in seconds when he first created it. I don't think there'll be a lot of action, it'll just be a couple seconds and then it'll be done."
Gryll sighed and grumbled something under their breath. Something about 'having to be calmed down by a kid' being pathetic. Tiff decided not to respond to that because it wasn't really relevant.
Tiff looked down at Kirby.
"Kirby, I know it's going to be a bit harder if we do it this way, but we can't kill eNeMeE, okay? It's very important we don't. So try not to shoot too many stars at him, just enough so he can't fight us any more."
Tiff explained, figuring Kirby might've forgotten the whole discussion they had with Meta Knight down in the dungeons yesterday. Kirby had been too busy trying to squeeze through the bars in the adjacent cell to be paying attention.
Kirby stared at her blankly before it clicked. He narrowed his eyes, determined to see her request through for the sake of the universe.