Chapter 63: A Mess of Power - Part 1
"I'm glad that's over," said Captain Birdbrain, "but we're still stuck in the air!"
"Quiet, Captain," replied Meta Knight. "I know we'll land this craft somehow. For now, just keep hovering." He then turned to Meta Drone. "Send a message to the secondary arsenal ships. They're needed."
"Message sent, dude," answered Meta Drone.
"Good. Let us hope they arrive quickly."
Meta Knight looked down at the battle. Without weapons, the Meta Army was beginning to lose. Unable to defend themselves, some were (to put it lightly) having doubts about fighting. Those that decided to retreat were quickly taken by Dark Matter and turned against their fellow warriors. Many more became casualties of hand-to-hand combat against some of Dark Matter's still armed forces (like dogans with clubs or q-berts with fire breath).
"Uh, dude," said Meta Drone suddenly, "there's a... a... thingy... and it's all... moving towards us... yeah, it's, like, gnarly..."
"EXPLAIN THINGY!" roared Meta Knight.
"There is an anomaly approaching the ship," replied Meta Drone in the robotic voice he had once always spoken in.
Meta Knight stared. He had somehow startled Meta Drone into using old programming.
"Aw, man," said Meta Drone. "I dunno where that came from. I was, like, talking... but it was all, weird... and... and, like-"
"Shut up!" interrupted Meta Knight, disappointed that the reversion had not been permanent. He then looked around, seeing if he could spot the "anomaly".
He didn't have to look far.
Flying toward the weaponry ship was a strange, grey platform. But the platform didn't seem stable. It was constantly throbbing, creating ripples all over its surface. Standing on top of it was a line of black and white... things. They looked a bit like Dreamlanders, but were white on top, black underneath and had white feet. Their heads/bodies were elongated and featured shell-like swirls at their backs. There were eight in all and each one carried a different weapon. Here's the list of weapons: spear, club, electricity-firing wand, boomerang, sword, umbrella, flame-thrower, ice-shooter.
"We are the Bukisets," said the things in unison, talking in low, gruff, but surprisingly resonant voices, "wanderers of space. Fighting is our fuel. War is what we seek. Our search has led us here. We wish to fight in your army."
Meta Knight was ecstatic, but he hid his emotions from the Bukisets. "My, my, my," he said smugly. "The legendary Bukisets wish to fight in the Meta Army? This is a pleasant surprise."
The Bukisets did not reply.
"Down to the battlefield! Fight Dark Matter's minions!"
The Bukisets nodded in unison and flew down into the fray.
"Sir Meta Knight!" squawked Captain Birdbrain. "Wait! Don't let them go!"
"I already have," replied Meta Knight, "and it's a good thing too."
Captain Birdbrain swore loudly.
"What's the matter, Captain?" asked Meta Knight.
"You don't get it, do you?!" shrieked Captain Birdbrain. "You were so absorbed in thinking about the Bukisets joining that you didn't remember that we're stuck up here! You could have asked if we could hitch a ride on that thing they travel on. They could have @&$#ing brought us down!!!"
"Oh."
"No!" shouted Gooey. "No, no, no, no, no! We just missed them!"
"You mean the Ripple Star Fairies?" asked Kirby tentatively.
"Of course the Ripple Star Fairies! They would have been extremely valuable allies if you just arrived a little sooner!"
"I'm sorry..."
Gooey sighed.
"Oh, well," he said, "it's not totally your fault."
Kirby gave the phone a quizzical look, even though he knew Gooey couldn't see him. It wasn't Kirby's fault at all!
"Well," said Kirby, "what do I do now?"
"I suppose we'll have to figure out a way for you to stop the war," replied Gooey. "Since I wasn't counting on you missing the Ripple Star Fairies, I haven't procured any plans yet. Wait just a moment. Maybe I can think of something."
Silence.
Another bolt of lightning appeared for a split-second in the distance. Kirby heard the thunder seven seconds later. He wiped his eyes to dry them of the rainwater running down his face and continued to wait for Gooey to say something.
"Here's an idea," said Gooey finally. "This is the best I can come up with in such short notice. Try getting into the center of the battle and transforming into Monolith Kirby. Maybe that'll stun 'em long enough to... uh..." Gooey faltered. "Oh, just try it! It'll at least buy me time to think of something else! My mind isn't cooperating like normal. I gotta clear it and get thinking!"
Kirby had already hopped on his warpstar and flown off toward the battle.
The reserve weapons had arrived. Now that the Meta Army was once again equipped, they were fighting even harder.
The balance of the battle was forming again. The Meta Army was definitely accumulating more kills than casualties, but Dark Matter's forces seemed endless.
"Charge the Wrath Cannon," ordered Meta Knight for the twenty-sixth time.
"I can't, dude," replied Meta Drone.
"What?!"
"The cannon... is, like, fried... we've been usin' it so much... yeah, it's a major bummer, dude."
Meta Knight growled under his breath.
"Is there anything you can do?" he asked.
"Uh... nah..." replied Meta Drone. "It'll have ta, like, cool down."
Meta Knight sighed and looked down into the battle. He could see the Bukisets doing their thing down there. Powerful fighters they were indeed. A wake of destruction lay in their path.
Meta Knight remembered the stories. The Bukisets were created long ago as incarnations of war and they live to make the universe as bloody as possible. The myths said that their weapons contained amazing amounts of power and nothing could stand in their way. No one had even proved that they were alive. They would fly down on a battle, pick the side with less numbers (so that they could kill more of the opposition) and ensure its victory through massacre of the other side.
Something in these images sparked Meta Knight's memory. Then it suddenly occurred to him.
"Captain," he said, "can you fly?"
"Of course I can!" squawked Captain Birdbrain. "I'm a pelican!"
Silence.
"Oh..." said Captain Birdbrain in understanding.
"Well," said Meta Knight, "since I believe Meta Drone's anti-gravity thrusters are still operational, why don't we all just fly to the ground?"
"Uh, dude?" said Meta Drone. "You sure that's, like, a good idea? I mean, if y-"
"Shut up!" interrupted Meta Knight again. "Let's go!"
Meta Knight carefully rolled up his cape and fastened it to his upper back, not wanting to destroy it like he had the last one on unfolding his wings.
Meta Knight spread his wings and jumped from the weaponry ship only to slam into an invisible wall and slide down a curved surface to lie just below. There was apparently an orb-like force field encasing the ship.
"Sir Meta Knight?" said Captain Birdbrain, emerging from a hatch in the top of the ship. "What just happened? Are you all right?"
Meta Knight got up, folded his wings, unrolled his cape and walked around in a circle on the invisible floor.
"Meta Drone," said Meta Knight, "I thought you said that the Wrath Cannon destroyed the force field."
"Meta Drone, shush," said Captain Birdbrain before the robot could speak. "I think I can explain this one.
"Meta Knight, the force field was destroyed by the Cannon, but then the energy from your blade left a power-oriented residue of the field behind. We've been continuously firing through the new field and I think that has strengthened it. The only way to get out is to have the field destroyed from the outside."
"I am amazed, Captain," said Meta Knight. "That was the longest bit of coherent speech I have ever heard you say."
"Well," replied Captain Birdbrain, "I really hate Meta Drone's new voice."
Kirby landed and, before anyone could attack him, summoned two Stone abilities to become Monolith Kirby!
Instead of a kaboom, what followed were the shouts of angry fighters as they were pushed away from the spot where Kirby had transformed. Monolith Kirby was now in everyone's way.
But that did nothing to stop the war. The soldiers simply fought around Kirby, who trashed his power and flew off on the warpstar that he had sunk into the mud with his once-massive body.
"Well, that didn't work," said Kirby. "What do I do n-"
"I've got it!" interrupted Gooey. "Now I get why I can't focus! Stopping the war isn't our first priority! We need Chuchu!"
"Oh!" said Kirby, surprised. "Uh... Why?"
"Don't you get it, Kirby? We need the star rod and only with Chuchu's help can we get it! You were right about saving her first all along! I should have listened."
Kirby considered telling Gooey that that wasn't exactly why he had wanted to save Chuchu first, but then decided not to. Might as well let Gooey have his opinions.
"Kirby," continued Gooey, "your new assignment is to search for Chuchu in Dark Matter's forces."
"That's gonna be really hard," replied Kirby. "There are millions of Dark Matter minions and they all want me dead. How am I going to find the one that's important among the swarm of others? I'd have to fight through every single one."
"Nonsense, Kirby. Just look at the mass from the sky! The pink shouldn't be too hard to find."
"But the rain is obscuring my vision! I'll have no chance of seeing her from up here!"
"Then use an umbrella!"
"But there aren't any around here!"
"Then I'll send you one!"
The phone then emitted some rummaging noises.
"Darn it!" said Gooey. "I guess I don't have an umbrella. After all, I very rarely go outside."
Kirby groaned and looked down at the battle.
What he saw was the most amazing coincidence he had ever experienced. Right below him was a strange creature that was using an umbrella to bash Dark Matter's forces.
The creature swung at one enemy, causing it to bounce away in a broken state. The creature then inverted the umbrella at another clump of enemies, blowing a powerful air current at them which made them tumble over and bash each other accidentally with their own weapons.
Kirby inhaled. The creature (which you should know by now to be one of the Bukisets) hung onto the umbrella and was pulled up toward Kirby as well.
Kirby decreased the speed at which he was inhaling, causing the Bukiset to hang in mid-air.
I need to separate that thing from the umbrella, he thought. Maybe if I cut him off...
While still inhaling, Kirby summoned Cutter ability to become Cutter Kirby!
Kirby threw a Cutter boomerang, removing the hand of that Bukiset from its body. He inhaled just a little more and caught the umbrella in his right hand.
The Bukiset's hand shuddered and fell to the ground. Then the hand and the Bukiset each emitted a POW-like noise and turned into smoke.
Kirby held the umbrella over his head, wiped his eyes again and flew high enough to scout the terrain some more.
"Kirby!" said Gooey suddenly. "There is an amazing amount of power located right above you! What is it?!"
"Power?" asked Kirby, confused. "All that's right above me is the umbrella I stole from a fighter just now."
"Aaaah!" yelled Gooey. "The power reading is so high!!! Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!!!"
"Eat it?" said Kirby. He was getting rather scared. Gooey seemed to have gone insane.
"Eat the umbrella!"
"But, this thing is the only way I can see the ground below. I need it to keep the rain out of my f-"
"EAT IT!!!"
"Okay! Okay!"
Kirby ate it, held up his hand... and an umbrella-like object appeared in it. The handle was green and the canopy alternated red and white stripes that pointed toward the center where a yellow star was perched. Kirby had transformed into... Parasol Kirby!
Kirby held the Parasol down in front of his face and stared at it wide-eyed.
"Kirby," said Gooey calmly, "it seems that I have another series of combo-abilities to add to my list. I believe the number is no longer 78 but 91. Also, you can now summon Parasol at any time. I shall keep you informed. Get looking for Chuchu."