Chapter 41: The Dreamlander Limit

What was interesting about the capture was that it was quick. The Meta Clan made a net out of vines and sap. Then they located Kirby, who was currently lost in his own madness, and threw the net down on top of him. Kirby started screaming the moment he was covered and when the Meta Clan got off their warpstars (which remained stationary in the air), he screamed louder and struggled against the net.

All of the Meta Clan held their ears, including Meta Knight, who shouted, "Kirby! None of that! Stop! I have a call for you!"

Kirby quieted, confused, and Meta Knight produced the cell phone.

"Look what we caught," said Meta Knight.

Another warpstar landed. This one disappeared, depositing Marx on the ground. He was bound tightly, but not gagged.

"Kirby, help!" yelled Marx. "They kidnapped me right from behind you after you gave me the phone! I'm not a traitor!"

"Our stealth is quite unmatched," confirmed Meta Knight. "Kirby, now that we have you–"

"No you don't!" yelled Kirby and began inhaling.

Nothing at all happened, except for all the trees bending in Kirby's direction.

"There is no escape for you, Kirby," said Meta Knight.

"Kirby! Kirby!" yelled Gooey from the phone. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes, I can hear you!" Kirby yelled back, close to tears.

"I'll give you two minutes," said Meta Knight, laying down the phone by the edge of the net, just out of Kirby's reach.

"Kirby," said Gooey. "I'm sorry."

"No," replied Kirby, "Isn't there something you can do?"

"I'm sorry," repeated Gooey, "It's too complicated."

"Gooey, you gotta help me," pleaded Kirby desperately. "They're gonna kill me."

"I'm sorry," said Gooey again. "I can't help you. I work for Mr. Masked Psychopath now."

"Why?" Kirby whimpered.

"It's for the good of Dreamland," said Gooey, hopelessly.

"No!"

"Goodbye, Kirby."

"Time's up!" said Meta Knight, removing the phone.

Kirby lay there, mortified. A horrible sadness consumed him.

"Yep," said Meta Chain. "There's nothin' like finding out your best friend's an asshole."

Kirby did not move. His eyes were open and terrified.

"Well, Kirby," began Meta Knight. This was his moment. This was the perfect time for gloating with a victory speech. "This is it. You lost. I won. It was inevitable. It would have happened on the Halberd if it weren't for that rodent. Now I see. You're nothing alone. You always had help with everything, up until recently, when your phone was taken. I see you now, cowering under that net. Just losing a friend does this to you. Your spirit may be willing," he drew his sword, "but your pink flesh is weak."

Meta Knight tossed the phone to Meta Sword and said, "Meta Sword, I want you to use that phone to take a picture of me. Gooey should see this."

Meta Knight held his sword above Kirby as if he was about to drive it into him. "Remember, Kirby," he said. "It's all business."

Kirby watched the sword with fear beyond any that a Dreamlander had ever felt before.

"Take a picture now," instructed Meta Knight, "and take another one after the sword goes down."

"Got it," said Meta Sword. "I've taken the first pic– HEY!"

Meta Sword had suddenly fallen over for no reason. Then they saw Marx. In his squirming around, trying to get free, he had inched his way over to Meta Sword and knocked him down.

"You fool!" yelled Meta Knight, turning to face Marx. "You die! Now!"

"No!" screamed Marx and Kirby.

"I don't even know why we've been keeping you alive," continued Meta Knight. "We have no need of your lying, your screaming, your–"

Meta Knight stopped. He looked up into the sky.

"I smell it too," said Meta Blade.

"Something's burning," said Meta Axe.

"Something big," said Meta Lance.

"But what?" said Meta Chain.

"Burn!" yelled a powerful voice from above.

"No! It can't be!" exclaimed Meta Knight.

But it was. A strange spiky cloud loomed overhead and a thunderbolt struck a nearby tree.

"Fire!" yelled Meta Sword.

He was right. The cloud had started a forest fire. The trees around the clearing were burning.

"Wait!" shouted Meta Knight. "Let me kill Kirby!"

POW! Meta Knight suddenly lay on the ground. He had been struck by lightning.

"Meta Knight!" shouted the Meta Clan.

Meta Sword and Meta Blade lifted up Meta Knight and put him on a warpstar. Meta Chain wound his chain around the warpstar. He then lifted off on his own warpstar, pulling Meta Knight behind him. The rest of the Meta Clan jumped on their warpstars and flew off immediately.

"Gooey! Send two warpstars!" yelled Marx into the phone that the Meta Clan had miraculously forgotten to take with them.

Two warpstars landed nearby, but Marx was tied up and Kirby was under a net that was stuck to the ground.

"Crud!" yelled Marx in frustration.

Kirby inhaled a lot of fire and combine two Fire abilities to transform into Comet Kirby! Kirby used his ability to shoot upwards in a blaze of fire and disintegrate the net. Kirby then freed Marx. They hopped on the warpstars, Kirby ate the Maximum Tomato on his, they flew upwards, and the rest of the clearing was consumed in fire.

"We did it!" Kirby yelled in triumph.

"I hate to spoil your fun," said Marx, "but now your communications with Gooey are finally over. You left the phone back down in the clearing."

Kirby looked down. It was like a sea of fire below him.

"Oh, no," said Kirby.

Kirby looked back up. Marx was gone.

"Not again!" cried Kirby.

That powerful voice was laughing. Kirby now recognized it. He barely had before; it had sounded so different. It now sounded... insane. Kracko loomed in front of Kirby, cackling.

"Blaahaahaahaahaa!" It sounded like a cross between a cackle and a scream. Kracko shrieked crazily, "Oh, yes. Everyone runs away from Kirby. For Kirby is a crazy Star Warrior. He is sooooo powerful, but he can't stand a little sadness. No, no, no! Blaahaahaaaaaa! He doesn't even have any friends! They're all traitors! Yes! Traitors! He can't even hold on to the good in himself long enough to prevent his friends from turning on him! He must be bad luck! He must! He can't even hold onto a phone! How does it feel to be a loser, Kirby!? Yes, yes!!! A LOSER!!! HAA, HAA, HAA, HAA, HAA!!!!!"

Something strange was happening inside of Kirby. It was a horrible clashing of emotion. His confusion was persistently asking why Kracko was acting this way. His sadness was reacting to his having no friends and being a "loser". His frustration was begging him to find Marx and the next shard. His annoyance was wishing Kracko would stop laughing. Then there was an empty hole of no emotion. Every Dreamlander had this empty hole to dump their emotion into and use to try to remain calm. Kirby tried. He screwed up his face. His eyes narrowed. His mouth curled into an upside-down U. He shook all over. A new emotion was gripping him. It filled the hole. No Dreamlander had ever felt this emotion before, and Kirby had just been overloaded with it.