Chapter 55: The Power of a Rival
"Kirby! Chuchu!" said Gooey suddenly. "Nightmare is on the move!"
"Really?" replied Kirby. "Are you sure?"
"Absolutely! I'm always sure! But I don't know why."
"You don't know why you're sure?" said Chuchu with a puzzled look on her face.
"No," answered Gooey. "I mean I don't know why he's moving."
"Oh," said Kirby and Chuchu together.
"However, I also have some bad news," continued Gooey.
"Oh, no," said Chuchu. "What is it?"
"Since your battle with him, Nightmare seems to have grown a considerable amount."
"B-b-but..." stammered Kirby. "How?"
"It is possible that Dark Matter has just fed on a great bounty. This would cause Nightmare to grow."
"Well, I'm glad he's leaving," said Kirby.
"I don't think he's leaving," replied Gooey. "He's just... writhing around, or something... Wait! What's this?! Kirby! Chuchu! Get out of the water now! You've gotta see this!"
"Initiate Nightmare attack formation A!" shouted Meta Knight as the Meta Clan arrived at the Fountain of Dreams.
Nightmare turned and saw the seven warriors jump at his cloak-covered part. The Meta Clan began hacking and smashing Nightmare's cloak.
Nightmare swiped at the Meta Clan with his floating hands.
"He's fighting back!" shouted Meta Knight. "Now, initiate Nightmare attack formation B!"
The Meta Clan jumped on Nightmare's hands. Nightmare shook his hands to throw the Meta Clan off them, but the Meta Clan was too fast. They used the propulsion of Nightmare's hand jostling to throw themselves onto his face. The Meta Clan then drove their weapons into his eyes, but the weapons would just shoot back out again.
"We need something to force them in!" hissed Meta Knight.
Nightmare, still unhurt, clapped his hands to his face, hoping to squash the Meta Clan.
"Perfect," said Meta Knight with a complete lack of sarcasm as he and his crew were crushed by the hands.
Kirby and Chuchu surfaced from the water. They immediately saw Nightmare, who was at least ten times the size he was when they fought him, with his hands pressed into his face.
But then, Nightmare quickly withdrew his hands to reveal that his eyes were going haywire. Bright sparks and pieces of shimmering Nightmare essence were shooting out of them. Nightmare's cloak flew open and the Meta Clan jumped out.
Nightmare was writhing around, howling in pain.
"No!" he yelled. "It is impossible! No weapon can harm me!"
"I beg to differ," replied Meta Knight.
Dark clouds gathered over the battle. Meta Knight raised his sword. Kirby looked at the sword. It seemed quite normal, except for its slightly orange color.
"Behold!" shouted Meta Knight as lightning struck the sword, causing a great light to shine off of it. Sparks were everywhere and Meta Knight's cape nearly tore from his back as it was blown by the wind. A blast of electricity shot from either side of the sword, then again on either side higher up. After that a huge jolt sent the lightning back up into the sky.
"...the power of the sacred sword Galaxia!" finished Meta Knight, his usually amber-yellow eyes flaming red. The sword was shining gold. It now had four extra points around its edge, which pointed forward on the sword.
As Nightmare shrieked in disbelief, Gooey was ecstatic.
"I can't believe it!" he exclaimed. "I've been looking all my life for that sword and now it's right in front of me! This is the best d—"
Gooey stopped, he seemed to have just realized something.
He swore and continued, "This is the worst day of my life. The exact person I would least want to possess Galaxia is now wielding it. This means the Meta Clan does have the power to destroy Dark Matter! This is bad..."
Nightmare shot a barrage of dark star bullets at Meta Knight, who slashed through any that came close to hitting him. Meta Knight then jumped toward Nightmare's shimmering spike of energy and plunged Galaxia into its center.
Nightmare let loose a long wailing scream. A black blood-like substance gushed from his mouth. Each of his hands melted. His shoulder plates and necklace exploded. His face cracked and shattered. His cloak set on fire and burned to ashes. The shimmering spike of energy got smaller and smaller around the sword before disappearing altogether. Finally, only his horns were left on the ground, but as the wind blew, they disintegrated and the dust was swept away.
Meta Knight picked up his sword, which had transformed back into its former much-more-normal-looking shape and returned it to its sheath. His eyes were their normal color again.
"Excellent work!" he said as the rest of the Meta Clan gathered around him, saying how cool that was. "I suppose we are now powerful enough to commence the siege. Meta Drone, send a radio message to Captain Birdbrain to pick us up at the Fountain of Dreams and bring us to our base on Mecheye."
"Yo, message sent, dude," replied Meta Drone.
The rest of the Meta Clan gave Meta Drone a forlorn look.
"What are we going to do with him?" asked Meta Blade.
"I don't know," answered Meta Knight.
"But sir," said Meta Axe, "this is NOT the way a robot should sound!"
"I know!" shouted Meta Knight. "But we can't do anything about it!"
"I'll bet Tac purposely messed him up," hissed Meta Lance.
Each of the rest of the Meta Clan expressed their agreement and then they also expressed just how much of a @%$&# Tac was.
Kirby and Chuchu had already flown away on their warpstars. Avoiding confrontation with the Meta Clan, they had agreed, was essential. They didn't want any unnecessary delays in their mission, or fatal wounds to their person for that matter. They streaked away in the direction of Neo City, glad that their troubles with Nightmare were a thing of the past.