Chapter 6: Stannous Chloride

Upon entering the Dimensional Mirror, Meta Knight could already feel an eerie presence around him, but he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. The only thing he saw upon arrival was a cloudy and sunny area that could easily be walked on.

"Whatever's causing this must be deeper in the Mirror World..." he uttered to himself.

Not only that, but whatever is causing this is no doubt the being that attacked Axe Knight's group as well. Despite protests from some of the other members of his crew, the knight then decided to head to the Mirror World himself. He didn't really understand why, he had done solo missions several times for Kurabe, and all of them were a success. It was likely his crew just being concerned for their leader as usual, a thought that he greatly appreciated regardless. However, he then began to develop another feeling on top of the eerie feeling of whatever evil presence was in this mirror. It was the feeling that he was being watched. He attempted to ignore it and continued forth further into the Mirror World.

Later, he came upon a massive area with several platforms. This area additionally had a giant mirror in the center with golden framing and wings. There was also another one on the platform below it. Admittedly, Meta Knight had some difficulty getting to this area due to the labyrinth of mirrors that came before, but he was thankful that he made it here. Not only that, but he now had an idea of how this world worked. It appeared that every single mirror he came across was a "door" to a new area. This effectively made the Mirror World a giant labyrinth of a world. While he didn't mind it that much, it would have been nice if he was warned about this beforehand. Regardless of what had happened, he had a new question: where does he go from here? There were two mirrors in this area. Which one should he enter?

Before Meta Knight could make a decision, he could feel a large mass of negativity being focused directly at him. He turned around, only to be completely stunned by what he saw. It was a dark-colored figure that looked like an almost perfect copy of himself.

"Hello, Meta Knight... or would you rather I call you "Mety"?" The copy said, words laced with arrogance and scorn.

"Are you... me?" Meta Knight asked, taking a moment to process what he was seeing, and his blood internally boiled upon hearing the mocking tone this figure was using towards him.

The doppelganger chuckled. "The answer is both yes and no. Not like it matters, because after today..."

He drew a silver-colored blade. "There will be only one Meta Knight."

Before the knight could respond, the copy immediately lunged towards him, forcing him to block the incoming strike. The two then began to fight each other blow for blow, neither one landing a single hit or moving an inch. With one more clash, both warriors were sent skidding across the platform.

"Just... who are you!?" The knight shouted towards his opponent.

"Hmph, you should already know who I am. Though... I guess I should make sure you know the name of the man who's about to destroy you... my name is Dark Meta Knight."

While normally someone would be surprised by this revelation, the knight was not. It was no wonder why the copy felt so strong.

"It's as I expected. This... dark copy is just as strong as me..." Meta Knight thought to himself.

It was then he came up with a new plan of attack.

"If he knows what I'm going to do, then..."

Just as Dark Meta Knight made a rush to attack him, the knight performed his teleportation technique. However, instead of attacking Dark Meta Knight from behind like the copy was expecting, Meta Knight instead teleported directly underneath him and delivered a powerful slash, leaving a deep scar on Dark Meta Knight's mask.

"Damn it...!" The copy uttered, flinching back and immediately covering his eye as he ignored the pool of crimson dying his glove red from it.

However, his anger soon seemed to be completely replaced with smug confidence.

"You're quite the fighter, Mety." Dark Meta Knight said before lunging at the original yet again.

Just as before, the two warriors got into a deadlock. However, that wasn't going to last.

"You're way more of a challenge than that worthless student of yours, you know."

This statement made Meta Knight freeze for a split second, fearing what may have happened to Kirby. With an unnoticeable smirk, Dark Meta Knight slashed at the knight, severely injuring him, and even shattering part of his mask.

"Well, Mety, this is goodbye!"

Before the knight could do anything, Dark Meta Knight kicked him up into the air and threw him into the mirror.

"Now... to ensure my victory."

With several quick movements, Dark Meta Knight cut the mirror into several pieces which were then scattered around the Mirror World.

By the time Meta Knight regained consciousness, he was in a bleak and ruined area. It took him a moment for his memories to come back before he immediately started slamming his fist on the mirror door.

"Someone?! Is anyone out there?!" he shouted.

No response.

"Please! If anyone can hear me, I need you to let me out!"

Nothing.

Quietly, he slumped down to the floor before slightly flinching in pain. Right, he should probably treat that injury he got from the battle earlier. Thankfully, he always kept a first aid kit in his cape subspace. All he had to do was follow the basic procedures that both Kurabe and Bio Gale taught him. But first, he quickly grabbed a spare mask from his subspace.

After treating his injury the best that he could, Meta Knight decided to walk around the place he found himself trapped in. Though after a while, it began to feel like aimless wandering. However, it at least gave him a chance to think about that dark copy, that so-called "Dark Meta Knight", and how much of a coward he was. Using Meta Knight's concern for his student to deliver a hit. There was clearly nothing honorable about that copy and frankly, it scared him. Could it just be a dark reflection and nothing more? Or... was it a part of him that he purposely chooses to deny? In other words, could it be manifestation of that certain impulse that had taken him over once before when Kirby was escaping from the destroyed Halberd? No, he shouldn't think about that.

Putting that aside, he began to think about his student, who no doubt noticed what was going on with the Mirror World. Even if he hadn't noticed, there was a chance he heard about it due to a lack of contact if a full day had already passed. Regardless, his only hope was that nothing bad happened to him.

While walking through the unknown area, Meta Knight came across what appeared to be a floating mirror shard.

"Could this be a clue on how to get out?" He wondered, walking towards it to take a closer look.

Once peering through it, he was shocked by what he saw. Beyond glass shard, was Kirby... and a yellow Kirby, followed by two other Kirbys that were red and green, making the group four in total. They were currently fighting against a living stone pillar. Said pillar strangely reminded the knight of Whispy Woods.

"Kirby!" He called out, but then it was obvious that Kirby couldn't hear or see him.

It was at this point that Meta Knight's mind began overflowing with thoughts. Why were there four Kirbys? Is that what his dark copy was referencing earlier? But there was one particular thought that stood out more than the rest.

"I'm glad he's safe. I know I can trust him with this, I just hope he'll be ready for when he must fight that faker..." He uttered, both relieved at the sight of his student and furious at the thought of that doppelganger.

Later, Meta Knight returned to the giant mirror he had woken up in front of. As time passed, the world outside became more and more visible, likely because of the fragments being returned to their proper place. At one point, the knight decided to go on another walk to ease his worry about the entire situation. Like before, Meta Knight found another "shard window", as he decided to call it.

"Hopefully, I'll be able to see Kirby's progress." He said out loud. In the time he was stuck in this place he decided to voice his thoughts, just so that he could hear something inside this otherwise soundless place.

The shard was this time in a grassy and sandy area that resembled a desert. When he looked around further, however, what he saw froze him in place. It was his copy, but now he was a perfect reflection down to the finest detail. Even the scar he gave the copy was gone. Even worse, he was fighting only one Kirby, his Kirby. Setting aside his anger at the fake, Meta Knight decided to focus his attention on to his student, who was using an ability even himself was unfamiliar with. Kirby had a pair of angelic wings, a halo and armed with a bow. Kirby was using his new wings to the best of his ability, flying around and staying as far away has he could from the fake. Another thing he noticed was that Kirby wasn't trying to talk the fake down. Meta Knight remembered the previous fights he had against the puff, in which the child kept trying to end the fight with reasoning.

"Has he figured out that he's fighting a fake?" He wondered, before starting to chuckle a bit.

"Of course he's figured it out. He's spent enough time with me to know how I act. There's no way he could be fooled by a fake." Meta Knight said with absolute confidence.

It was then that he noticed his fake was struggling to keep up with Kirby's onslaught of arrows. This confused him at first until he realized why.

"Since he's my copy, it stands to reason that he knows everything I know, and since I've never seen that ability before."

Just as he said that one of Kirby's arrows hit the faker's mask dead on, making it start to crack.

"This game will be over soon." Meta Knight said, satisfied with this outcome and happy for his student's safety.

After being hit by that attack, Dark Meta Knight's attacks became more frantic, as if he was just blindly swinging his blade in the hopes that at least one attack would connect. This wasn't meant to be, however, as Kirby kept gracefully dodging each stroke, almost as if he was dancing in the air. This was a side of Kirby that Meta Knight had rarely seen. The child was calm and deadly serious, a side of him that only comes out when Kirby is fighting someone or something that he deems to be evil. As Dark Meta Knight got angrier, Kirby remained cool headed. The doppelganger was clearly exhausted, both from the many direct hits he took and all the missed attacks.

"This is your chance, Kirby. Now!"

Right as Meta Knight yelled that out, Kirby dashed towards the fake, grabbed an arrow, and jammed it straight into the middle of Dark Meta Knight's mask, shattering it upon contact. As a result of this attack, the fake's façade vanished, and he turned back into the form that Meta Knight faced off with. Without another word, he wrapped himself in his cape and vanished away.

"Run, coward. Your days are numbered." The knight uttered as Kirby grabbed the final mirror shard.

When Meta Knight cycled back to where the mirror he entered was, he saw the four Kirbys, each with a different Copy Ability, getting ready to fight against Dark Meta Knight. The doppelganger was once again pretending to be the original.

"Drop the act, faker!" He yelled out, gathering everyone's attention.

"Meta-sensei!" All four Kirbys yelled out with joy, while Dark Meta Knight simply stared at him coldly.

"Fine then, Mety. If you want to see your student get slaughtered by my true form that badly, then who am I to deny you?"

With that said, he dropped the facade once more and got in his fighting stance. Meta Knight got ready to strike, but just he was about to move, his previous injury reopened, preventing him from doing anything but giving a slight flinch in pain.

"Damn it..." He cursed under his breath.

"Don't worry Meta-sensei! We can handle him no problem!" The pink Kirby shouted up to his teacher with a smile.

Meta Knight weakly nodded, disappointed in his inability to act, yet proud of his student.

"Good luck, Kirby." He uttered.

The fight began, though you couldn't exactly call it a fight. Dark Meta Knight, despite being a copy, still had the strength and skill of the original. However, none of that mattered when he was up against four Kirbys, who had the advantage of numbers that could easily end up overpowering the fake. He would send one of the Kirbys flying, only to be hit in return by another one. The different abilities each Kirby had certainly didn't make things any easier for him. The yellow Kirby was using the Cupid ability that the pink one had been using earlier, using the range advantage to keep Dark Meta Knight from moving around freely. The red Kirby was using the familiar Fighter ability, pelting Dark Meta Knight with a barrage of punches. Red then kicked Dark towards the green Kirby, who smashed the fake with a mighty swing of the hammer ability. Dark Meta Knight struggled to stand back up.

"Is that the best you got?" He spat out, trying to come off as superior despite all the damage he had taken, cracks visible all over his body.

He then heard a scream coming from above him. It was the pink Kirby, wielding the Sword ability.

"Shatter apart!" He yelled and with a mighty slash, Dark Meta Knight exploded into a hundred shards of broken glass.

The fight wasn't over yet however, as a portal appeared in the middle of the battlefield, forcing the Kirbys inside of it.

"Kirby!" Meta Knight yelled out.

Acting quickly, he threw his sword Galaxia into the portal, hoping that it would give Kirby the edge over whatever lies ahead.

As Meta Knight began to treat the wound that had reopened, he began to think about everything that happened. More specifically, he began to think about his doppelganger. Yes, Dark Meta Knight lacked honor and clearly showed that he would use any dirty tactics he could to win, but there was one particular thing that truly bothered him. It was the fact that he used the knight's bond with Kirby against him, allowing him to gain the upper hand in battle and easily take him down.

"Have I really become that weak...?" he uttered.

If he really had become that weak, why? Could it be because he showed emotion and it's his emotions that are making him weak? No, that isn't the case. Kirby, his own student, wore his heart on his sleeve and defeated many powerful enemies before, including Dark Meta Knight. Then, would the fault lie in himself? Is his strength really that weak? He, who had defeated his own mentor, the former "second greatest warrior in the galaxy"? Wait a minute. If his mentor was the second strongest... then who's the greatest warrior in the galaxy? If anything, they sound like they'd be a good person to fight against if he wanted to get stronger.

"Um... excuse me?" A familiar voice suddenly said, bringing Meta Knight out of his thoughts.

He looked next to him, expecting to see Kirby, but it definitely wasn't the Kirby he was familiar with. The way this greyish Kirby looked reminded him of his dark copy, which instantly put him on guard.

"Who are you?" He said, trying his best to not sound antagonistic.

"Well, I'm Kirby! Sorta... kinda. My name's actually Shadow Kirby. Let me explain the best that I can, it's a bit confusing." This new Kirby said, scratching his head.

Sensing no ill will coming from him, Meta Knight loosened up. "Very well then." He replied.

With a nod, this darker Kirby began. "So... um... you know this place is called the Mirror World, right?"

"Yes, I do."

"Ok, so... when you enter the Mirror World, you do it through the Dimensional Mirror. When you look into the Dimensional Mirror or enter through it, it creates a copy of you and normally can make whatever you wish into it come true. But then this guy named Dark Mind appeared and made the mirror only reflect bad things!"

"Wait, how do you know this? You couldn't have been created until after Kirby entered the mirror."

"I asked a lot of people here what happened! You think I wouldn't think to do that!?" The dark Kirby gave a pout that was an exact copy of Kirby's own pouting expression. He guessed that meant that this child was trustworthy, or at least the most trustworthy he could find around this area.

"So, by that logic, then... Dark Meta Knight..." saying that name out loud put a bad taste in his mouth. "He is essentially my worst traits in physical form, correct?"

"Yup!"

"Then what about you? You seem to be the exact same as my Kirby."

"Are you saying I'm a bad person for trying to protect my home!? That's so mean, you know!" The child pouted again in annoyance.

"That's not what I meant..." Meta Knight sighed in slight frustration. "My copy was a deplorable, narcissistic, and honor-less coward. You, however, are not evil in the slightest. If you are Kirby's dark reflection, why are the differences so minor?"

"Let me correct you real quick. I'm not his dark reflection. If anything, I'm his shadow." Shadow Kirby said simply, as if that explained everything.

At first, the knight was completely confused by that statement. However, once Meta Knight started to think on it, the more sense it began to make.

"I see, Kirby has little to no negative aspects, so of course his reflection would be the same."

"Yup! I'm glad to see that you understand!" Shadow Kirby replied in a cheerful tone. That was when the knight got an idea.

"Shadow Kirby. You consider this world your home, correct?"

A single nod was all that he received.

"Can I trust you to act as its guardian?"

Shadow Kirby's eyes widened.

"You mean you'll trust me with such a super=important job?" The child questioned with excitement.

"Of course. You are Kirby, after all." Meta Knight said.

Shadow Kirby suddenly jumped up and hugged him, much to his surprise. "Thanks, Meta-Sensei!" The child squealed with delight.

"They really are almost the exact same..." Meta Knight thought to himself, chuckling internally.

Soon after they concluded their talk, Meta Knight and Shadow Kirby witnessed the four Kirbys fly off on their own Warp Stars, a clear sign of victory over the being known as Dark Mind.

"Well, I suppose that's your cue to leave, Meta-sensei." Shadow Kirby said in a surprisingly calm voice.

If there was one difference Meta Knight was able to spot, it was that Shadow Kirby was slightly calmer than the regular Kirby. There was a heavy emphasis on "slightly".

"That it is. Farewell, Shadow Kirby. I'll make sure to come visit you when I have the time." He said, receiving a small smile in return.

With that said, Shadow Kirby summoned his own Warp Star and went to say his own goodbyes to the Kirby quartet. Before Meta Knight took flight though, he looked back at the giant mirror.

"Next time you show yourself to me, I'll be ready."

With that he took off to join up with his student.

Meta Knight and Kirby finally made it back to Dreamland proper. After leaving the Mirror World, the four Kirbys became one again, which was just fine with Meta Knight. Handling one hyperactive child was enough, he wasn't sure if he could handle four of them.

"Kirby, I must ask. How did you know that faker wasn't me?" While he was confident that Kirby knew, he wanted to know Kirby's thought process.

"Ah well, there's two reasons really. The first is that he acted nothing like you. He didn't fight with honor for one thing, he didn't even give me a sword for our fights."

Meta Knight nodded, seeing the logic in his student's words. "And the second?"

"Well, when I sensed his emotions, the only thing I could sense was anger and sadism, nothing else. Even when you get angry, you still give other emotions but with him, it felt like an endless pit of malice."

"And you don't sense any of that from me?"

"Of course not! You're way too nice for that!"

Meta Knight simply chuckled at his student's enthusiasm. "You did well today Kirby. I'm proud of you."

Another chapter that was finished somewhat quickly despite my schedule. I'm quite impressed. I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone for the support! It means a lot to me!

Omake (Bonus)

MK: "So far so good. Hey, that's-!"

DMK: "That blueberry again, here of all places."

MK: "I found you, faker!"

DMK: "Faker!? I think you're the fake Knight around here. You're comparing yourself to me? Ha! You're not even good enough to be my fake."

MK: "I'll make you eat those words!"