Chapter 62: A Slight Delay
"Fall back! Regroup!" shouted Meta Sword to the other generals. "The soldiers can handle the battle for a few minutes!"
In the midst of the Meta Army the generals assembled.
"Meta Knight gave me this force field," said Meta Sword, pushing a button on his belt, "in case we needed a short time-out from fighting to develop our plans."
The generals stood in a circle and all around them the soldiers ran past, occasionally climbing over the invisible dome that surrounded them. Here's a recap of who was there: Meta Sword, Meta Blade, Meta Lance, Meta Chain, Meta Axe, Silver Kibble, yellow-suited Poppy Brothers Senior, Dekabu, the legendary Crazed Donut Hole General, Big Wheelie, and Yamikage. Meta Drone, the remaining general, was not present, being currently airborne with Meta Knight and the Wrath Cannon.
"Are we winning?" asked the legendary Crazed Donut Hole General.
"I'm not sure," answered Meta Sword. "There are so many of them. We don't seem to be making any headway."
"Meta Knight said he wanted a quick war," put in Meta Axe. "If we start to win, maybe Dark Matter will retreat."
"Doubtful," said Silver Kibble. "The eye is persistent. Nothing can be gained for it by retreating."
"Then we force them to surrender!" said Meta Blade.
"We'd need to actually win the war for that to happen," replied Meta Sword, "and that would defeat the whole purpose of the surrender."
"But, don't we just want to destroy Dark Matter?" asked Meta Chain.
"Yes, we draw out the eye," answered Yamikage, "and it will be destroyed by the Wrath Cannon."
"Any idea on how we can accomplish that?" asked Meta Blade.
"Maybe we blast the darkness with bombs," put in yellow-suited Poppy Brothers Senior.
"Sounds good to me," replied the legendary Crazed Donut Hole General.
"An excellent idea," said Silver Kibble. "Enough confusion with bangs and light may distract the eye."
"Suppose we harness a large amount of light," said Meta Sword, "and shine it in Dark Matter's eye. What do you suppose that would do?"
"Well, since its armies require the thoughts of Dark Matter to fight," answered Meta Axe, "they would stop."
"...and then we reduce them to roadkill," rumbled Big Wheelie.
"What light source shall we use?" asked Meta Lance. "The sun is hidden behind clouds."
"Does anyone know where Escargoon is?" asked Meta Axe suddenly.
"Who?" said everyone else.
"Escargoon," continued Meta Axe. "He's the new recruit. I met him when I looked in the construction chamber back yesterday. He had built a gigantic version of the Halberd's laser cannon and was calling it the Death Ray. That thing should produce enough light to distract Dark Matter for at least a few seconds."
"But Escargoon's probably back at the base," said Meta Lance. "We still need another light source."
"No. When I met him, he was in the process of building a tank. Apparently, no one but him knew how to work the Death Ray and he needed to be with it to make it fire."
"So, he's here somewhere," said Meta Sword. "I sure hope we can find him. This Death Ray sounds like it should work."
"I send Kabus," said Dekabu. "They find Escargoon."
"Perfect," replied Meta Lance. "This dark battle is about to get a whole lot brighter."
"Whoa," said Kirby as he approached Fantasy Meadows. What else was there to say?
The clouds may have been dark, but they were bright compared with the battlefield. Dark Matter essence lay over its half of Fantasy Meadows like a blanket. Bangs and shouts raged from the war below.
Kirby had never before seen an actual war. It was so amazing, yet so terrible. And throughout his wonder, the warpstar drew ever closer to the battle.
Suddenly, the warpstar began to shudder. As it did, the air started to get very cold. Kirby felt like he was back in Ice Passage. But why was the warpstar shuddering? Those that had taken him and Chuchu into and out of Ice Passage never shuddered.
"Kirby!" shouted Gooey. "This is no ordinary cold you're flying through! Get off the warpstar, now!"
Kirby quickly jumped off the warpstar, which exploded seconds later. But as it did, Kirby did not feel the heat of a blast of fire. Instead, he felt another wave of cold sweep over him.
"How did you know I was cold?" he asked.
"My sensors were reading the presence of an ice-based monster in your surroundings," answered Gooey.
"Oh..." said Kirby slowly. He had just seen what Gooey was talking about.
After taking a picture of the monster, Gooey replied, "This is one of NightMare Enterprises' patented monsters. Its name is Yuki, the abominable snowman. It has a detachable head for throwing at enemies and the ability to turn its surroundings into ice. You'd better kill it. Warpstar speed will be needed to reach Fantasy Meadows before the Ripple Star Fairies arrive. I'll bet Yuki was purchased by Meta Knight and placed at this exact location just so that it could prevent you from getting to the battle."
"Fire should do away with this baddie," said Kirby, summoning Fire and Needle abilities to become Fire Arrow Kirby!
Yuki threw his head at Kirby, who just barely got out of the way in time. Remember, Yuki's height (with head) is over 20 times that of Kirby. As I've said before, really big! Anyway Kirby shot the head with a Fire Arrow, melting it into a large puddle on the ground. Kirby then shot six Fire Arrows into Yuki's body, which melted as well.
"Well, that was easy," said Kirby, trashing his ability. "Meta Knight should put more care into picking his minions."
Then Kirby stopped. The puddles of Yuki were moving. They clumped together, froze solid, and Yuki reemerged from the ice.
"Uh-oh," said Kirby.
Over in Fantasy Meadows, it was beginning to rain.
"Get off, you beasts!" yelled Meta Blade, slicing a birdon in half with his sword.
"There's too many of them!" shouted Meta Sword. "We'll never get them all off this tipped-over tank at once!"
"Does anyone here have some sort of wind-oriented attack?" asked Meta Lance, who had an impaled enemy on each of his enlarged trident weapon's three spikes.
Yells of "Nope!" and "Not me!" answered Meta Lance's question.
"Why don't we just blow up this place?" asked yellow-suited Poppy Brothers Senior.
"Sounds good to me," replied the legendary Crazed Donut Hole General.
"We're here to save Escargoon, not blast him to pieces!" answered Meta Axe.
"Wait a second," said Meta Blade. "What is this tank made out of?"
Meta Axe embedded the blade of his weapon in the forehead of a dogan and gave his analysis. "Super-steel alloy. Not a metal that I'm particularly familiar with, but I know it's very strong."
"Very strong, eh?" said yellow-suited Poppy Brothers Senior, bouncing back and forth on his two feet while juggling three bombs in the air. "Let's test that theory."
At this, the legendary Crazed Donut Hole General opened up his donut hole and said in a much more robotic voice than his usual crazed gruff one, "Glass ball filled with nitroglycerin armed. Launch in ten seconds. Nine, eight..."
Yellow-suited Poppy Brothers Senior dropped his bombs to the ground, screamed "RUN!!!" and bounced away at top speed. The other generals also fled in terror.
"...three, two, one..."
A large glass ball shot upward out of the legendary Crazed Donut Hole General's donut hole. The general then withdrew inside the grey helmet he always wore (deadly Crazed Donut Hole Bombers wear green helmets) and waited for the subsequent explosion.
KAPOW!
"Maybe he needs to be cut down to size," said Kirby, summoning Sword and Spark abilities to become Darth Kirby!
Slice! Slice! Slice! Kirby barely made an impression in Yuki's body of snow. A wave of cold suddenly swept over Kirby. Though most of his body was then encased in ice, Kirby used his light saber to free himself.
"Want a clean cut, Kirby?" said Gooey. "Use Sword and Beam abilities. It's bigger, better, and hits long-range."
Kirby summoned Sword and Beam abilities to become Sword Beam Kirby! The hat characteristic of Sword Kirby appeared yellow on Sword Beam Kirby's head and his sword glowed white.
Kirby stood back from Yuki and, before the abominable snowman could attack, jumped into the air to make a long vertical slice with his sword.
The slice shone in the air and flew, like a slow beam of light, towards Yuki. The Sword Beam cut Yuki in half and the snow that made up the monster's body splattered to each side.
"Yes!" said Kirby, trashing his ability.
But then the snow reformed into Yuki again. He was still unhurt.
"Darn..." moaned Kirby. "Back to square one."
"Congratulations, CDHG," said Meta Sword testily, activating the force field again. "You have just created a crater using the nitroglycerin capsule that I believe Meta Knight forbade you to use unless there was an emergency." The rain dripping into Meta Sword's helmet was putting him in a bad mood.
"Are we winning?" asked the legendary Crazed Donut Hole General.
"No," answered Meta Sword. "Not now that you've destroyed the Death Ray!"
"I guess we need another light source, then," said Meta Lance.
"I disagree," replied Silver Kibble. "This light-blasting plan of ours has been thwarted."
"Well, we should check inside the tank," said Meta Axe. "Thankfully, that was not destroyed. I hope Escargoon is alright."
"But, how do we get in?" asked Meta Sword. "The tank is sealed off and, as we have discovered the hard way, indestructible."
"Silence, please," said Yamikage. "I shall attempt to teleport inside."
The rest of the generals kept quiet as Yamikage stood on one foot with his hands together, forefingers and middle fingers extended, and closed his eyes. Then, slowly, he faded away.
Seconds later, Yamikage emerged from the hatch in the top of the tank (which, now that the tank was on its side, opened parallel to the ground) and laid Escargoon on the ground.
Yellow blood was leaking out of the left side of Escargoon's eyestalks and out of numerous places on his left arm. There was also a small crack in the left side of Escargoon's shell. He was unconscious and had clearly fallen hard on his side at some point during the battle. One guess as to which side that was.
"This guy's had some severe trauma," said Yamikage, stating the obvious. "The inside of the tank is splattered with blood."
"We need to get him back to the base!" said Meta Lance.
A seat suddenly appeared atop Big Wheelie. "I'll take him," he said.
Meta Sword put Escargoon on the seat and turned off the force field.
"Let's hit the road!" said Big Wheelie, zooming off through the battle, hopefully to safety.
Kirby summoned High-Jump and Stone abilities to become Meteor Kirby! Once again transformed into a falling rock, he smashed down on Yuki, leaving a hole in the monster's belly. Since that didn't seem to actually hurt Yuki, Kirby summoned High-Jump ability to become High-Jump Kirby.
Kirby flew into the sky, dodging Yuki's head as it came shooting at him again. When he was high enough, Kirby summoned two Stone abilities to become Monolith Kirby!
KABOOM. Kirby flattened Yuki under his massive stone body, but after he transformed back into regular Kirby, Yuki recollected and appeared once more.
Needless to say, Kirby was getting very frustrated.
"Fire!" roared Meta Knight and the Wrath Cannon sent another deadly ray of destruction down into the battle. This was its sixteenth discharge.
After a discussion of the broken windshield, Captain Birdbrain agreed to remain stationary in the air until some way to get down for repairs presented itself. However, the problem was, as Meta Drone had calculated but not said, the chance of presentation of such a way in their current situation was 10,783 to 1.
Meta Knight looked down at the damage and then up into the sky. His eyes spied a number of bright stars that had not been there minutes before.
"Here they come," he muttered.
Shooting down from the sky came streak after streak of white light. As each one arrived just above the battle it would turn into a childlike humanoid figure with translucent wings. Each of these figures wore differently colored jackets and hair ribbons. They were all lined up, facing the Meta Army. Then the brightest light shot into the center and revealed a figure twice the size of the others, which wore a golden crown, round crystalline glasses, black hair with two ponytails, and a long elegantly colored robe. The figures numbered exactly 201 (one hundred on either side of the crowned one). The Ripple Star Fairies had arrived.
Lightning flashed in the sky, followed three seconds later by a rumble of thunder. The storm was getting fiercer. Rain and wind swirled around the battle.
The Queen of the Fairies (the one with the crown) turned to the Fairies on either side of her. "Ribbon," she said, addressing the Fairy to her right. Ribbon had a falling sheet of red-orange hair and wore a red ribbon in it. Her jacket was red with yellow buttons. "Blitz formation. Distract the eye of Dark Matter."
The Queen then turned to her left. "Jewel," she said. Jewel had dark brown hair, which was held in a bun on either side and topped with a green ribbon. Her jacket was yellow with red buttons. "Crescent formation. Take out the Meta Army's weapons."
Lastly, the Queen looked forward and gave her finishing lines, "I will activate the arial blockade of magic. Engage!"
After many more minutes of frustrated battling, Kirby had gone through the following additional abilities (in this order): Fire Sword, Jet, Rocket, Aura, Drill, Giant Snowball (this was Gooey's idea), Ninja, Comet, Snare, Electric Wrecking-Ball, Spike Shooter and Berserk. Yuki had also twice hit Kirby with his head and because warpstars could not travel around Yuki, Kirby was deprived of maximum tomatoes.
Finally, tired and sore all over, Kirby suddenly got an idea.
What if I inhale Yuki's head and swallow? he thought. Without a head, he'll die!
As Yuki once again threw his head at Kirby, Kirby inhaled it. He then swallowed to become Ice Kirby!
Ice Kirby watched Yuki, waiting for the snowman's body to keel over or melt to signify death, but that never happened. A new head grew out of Yuki's body. Kirby's plan had failed. Yuki was apparently indestructible.
"That's it!" said Gooey excitedly. "Ice ability! Of course!"
"What?" said Kirby, confused.
"Since you can't kill Yuki, encase him in a block of ice! Then you can get away and hop on a warpstar without him being able to stop you!"
"Okay!"
Kirby ran at Yuki, who threw his new head. Kirby kept running and the head hit the ground in back of him. As always, the head then disappeared and reappeared back on top of Yuki's body. Right after that happened, Kirby jumped over Yuki in a freezing swirl attack, encrusting the monster in a vertical ring of ice.
A terrible wave of cold swept over Kirby. He had gotten too close to Yuki without a continuous attack. Yuki was emitting freezing air into its surroundings.
Kirby began to feel a layer of ice forming on his body. The cold was freezing him into an ice cube! In his freezing state, Kirby heard the smash of ice. Yuki had broken the ice ring.
Kirby quickly summoned Fire ability to remove the ice, but instead combined it with his Ice ability to become Melt Kirby!
Kirby transformed into a purple ice cube and then lit himself on fire, melting into a steaming pool on the ground.
Silence.
Yuki waddled over to the pool and looked down at his slightly purple reflection in it. Suddenly, Yuki emitted a choking noise... a gasp... wheezes, coughs. The great monster straightened up, expelling from his mouth a cloud of the noxious steam he had inhaled, and then... slowly... Yuki fell... twitching... to the ground.
The pool reformed into regular Kirby.
"Well, that worked," he said.
"Engage the force field!" shouted Meta Knight. "Now!"
"Dun worreh, dude," replied Meta Drone. "'Sup already."
Meta Knight relaxed. If the force field hadn't been activated, the Wrath Cannon would be a sitting duck for the Ripple Star Fairies.
Meta Knight watched as a crescent-shaped cluster of lights flowed though his army. He had hoped that the extra weapons at the Meta Base would not need to be used.
Down in the battle, the Meta Army was trying its best to hold onto its weapons, but to no avail. The Fairies were too fast. A soldier's weapon would be gone before he even knew what was happening. The Fairies were swooping down on the battlers and taking their weapons, which disintegrated in the Fairies' hands.
"Darkness... recede!" shouted the Queen of the Fairies, holding her arms lengthwise. Following these words, a glittering barrier began to form around her. This two-dimensional sparkling wall spread outward from the Queen. When it touched the ground, all those under the control of Dark Matter appeared on one side and all those in the Meta Army appeared on the other.
And now that Dark Matter had been successfully paralyzed by the shining Fairies in its eye, the battle came to a standstill.
"Charge the Wrath Cannon," said Meta Knight for the twenty-third time.
"Uh, but dude," replied Meta Drone, "don'cha think that's, like, bad... 'cause it'll, like, destroy the force field an' all?"
"Just do it! This is our only hope!"
"Okay, dude."
"Once you have it charged, aim about ten feet below the Queen and fire."
Uh... To make a long story short, Kirby got on a warpstar and took off for Fantasy Meadows.
Okay. Back to the war.
"Stop this senseless fighting!" boomed the Queen's voice over Fantasy Meadows. "You are killing off Dreamland! War must stop or all will be lost!"
The Wrath Cannon fired, blasting the invisible force field around Meta Knight's weaponry ship to pieces. The light streaked toward the magical barrier.
What followed was a nasty smashing noise, like the breaking of glass only a thousand times louder. The shot had blown a hole in the barrier. (Of course it then continued to the other side, causing another explosion and killing more of Dark Matter's forces.)
For a split-second, all the Ripple Star Fairies stopped what they were doing to stare in disbelief at the hole in the barrier.
With its sight finally restored, Dark Matter whirled its black essence around at a very high speed, throwing off the Fairies. Dark Matter then reached out with one of its tentacles and snatched the mortified Queen of the Fairies out of the air.
The barrier vanished, the Queen was engulfed in darkness, and cries of "Retreat!" issued from the terrified Ripple Star Fairies.
Each one of the Fairies subsequently shot into the night sky. A minute later, they were but bright dots among the stars. A minute after that and they were gone.
Exactly two minutes and eleven seconds after that... was when Kirby arrived at the scene.