Chapter 51: The TACtical Advantage

In the northwestern part of Rainbow Resort, there is a small suburb of Neo City. This innocent-looking neighborhood was never where one might expect great mischief to fester.

The Meta Clan's warpstars were nearly out of power now as the defeated group landed at a place near the end of the very long Sack Boulevard. They proceeded to enter a rather run-down shop.

A little bell rang as Meta Knight pushed the door open and the Meta Clan was greeted by a sly, yet commercialistic voice.

"Welcome, welcome!" said the voice. "Welcome to Tac's Repair or Snare! How may I be of service?"

After this greeting, the speaker slunk out of the shadows in the back of the building. He was a cat, dressed in a ninja's outfit, and carrying a sack with strange green-and-white designs on it.

"Hello," said Meta Knight in his most icy tone of voice.

The cat made a little shriek and its eyes widened.

"Meta Knight!" he squeaked. "What are you doing here?"

"We require your assistance," said Meta Knight slowly as if the words cost him a great deal of effort to speak.

The cat's eyes narrowed to their usual slits and he replied loftily, "Oh, really? Why come here for assistance? You don't need me. I'm just Tac, the 'terrible alley-cat'. You have your own tech boy and your own thieving skills. Why come here for my less-than-up-to-scratch abilities? Or have you come to gloat again? C'mon, bring out that old metal bucket o' brains. What slanderous stunt does Meta Drone have for me today?"

Silence.

Then, the Meta Clan parted and Meta Sword laid Meta Drone down at Tac's feet. Tac's eyes widened again. This was clearly not what he had expected.

Tac just stood there for a number of seconds, staring wide-eyed down at Meta Drone. Then he slowly narrowed his eyes again and looked back at Meta Knight.

"Would..." began Meta Knight and stopped.

"...you..." encouraged Meta Axe.

"...fix..." continued Meta Lance.

"...him?" finished Meta Blade.

Tac made no indication that he had heard this hard-spoken question. He stood there for a few seconds without moving at all. Then he slowly smiled; and even though his ninja suit covered his mouth, it was obvious that he was grinning.

"No..." he said slowly, savoring the moment.

"What?!" exclaimed Meta Knight.

"I will not fix him," said Tac. "Good day to you." He turned to slink back into the shadows.

"We will pay you!" shouted Meta Knight.

"No," replied Tac, walking away, "your groveling and disappointment are enough for me."

"We will secure your place with us again!" shouted Meta Knight, hoping against hope that he could cheat Tac out of this favor.

Tac stopped.

"I have a better idea," he said. "This shop of mine doesn't get much publicity. However, I have reason to believe that, with the Meta Clan's connections, I can finally get some profit."

"I would never advertise your business," spat Meta Knight.

"Then I will never fix your robotic companion," retorted Tac, turning to walk away again.

"Stop!" pleaded Meta Knight.

Tac stopped.

"So, you'll do it then?" he said without turning around.

"Yes," whimpered Meta Knight.

"Pardon? Didn't catch that."

"I'll do it!" shouted Meta Knight.

"Excellent!" cheered Tac, turning around, beaming. "Now, where is the specimen?" He picked up Meta Drone and turned to walk back into the darkness.

"Come... if you dare," he said in an evil-sounding voice.

The Meta Clan exchanged glances.

"If you couldn't tell," continued Tac without turning around, "that was a joke. Follow me!"

Meta Chain shrugged and followed. Meta Knight quickly went next. Meta Sword and Meta Blade held hands and went after that. (Hey, they are best friends.) Meta Axe and Meta Lance slowly brought up the rear.

The following is an excerpt from Curiosity File #19 in Gooey's data archives.*

I have run across an interesting piece of evidence that there was, at one point, an additional member of the notorious Meta Clan. His name was Meta Snare and he was the Meta Clan's thief and (before Meta Drone was created) technical expert.

However, after Meta Drone's appearance, Meta Snare seemed to participate less and less in the Meta Clan's capers. Eventually, all evidence of Meta Snare's continuing assistance of the Meta Clan ceased. My theory is that he resented Meta Drone's greater skill with electronics and finally left the team, feeling unneeded and unwanted.

I have continued to gather evidence and have formed a hypothesis as to where this "Meta Snare" has run off to. He has probably opened a shop somewhere in Rainbow Resort that deals with thievery and mechanical reparation, his two skills. Although, I have yet to determine how he evades the ever-watching LAP.

As my research continues, I feel that there is becoming less and less information to draw from. I fact, Meta Snare seems to have gone to great lengths to erase all evidence that he ever existed. Even the sources I check repeatedly to uncover more of his secrets seem to be disappearing. I do not know why this is happening, but it seems that Meta Snare is more resentful of the Meta Clan than anyone in Dreamland. Why he continues to pursue a criminal life, however, remains open to many explanations.

*The Curiosity Files are incidents or people that Gooey has researched extensively, either because he was curious or because he was bored.