Chapter 64: A Mess of Power - Part 2

The remaining Bukisets did not notice that one of them had been killed. It had happened before and was always ignored. Those nearly mindless fighting machines didn't care about each other and never hesitated to follow their instincts. Their instincts, however, never told them to do anything but search or battle.

The torrent of wind had thankfully stopped, but the rain was coming down harder than ever. It pounded on Kirby's Parasol as he flew over the battle, searching for a sign of pink below. He just had to find her.

Every so often, lightning would flash. Kirby would always count the seconds between the lightning and thunder. He noticed that that period of time was decreasing in length with every flash.

Then Kirby heard something. The noise was coming out of the phone and he was amazed by it. Surely the Halberd couldn't be back...

"Meta Knight, Sir?"

Meta Knight: "Go back to Mecheye, Sasuke. Bringing the weapons was your only duty in this war."

Sasuke: "But Sir, the message that we got which summoned us here was too strange to not question."

Meta Knight: "What are you talking about?"

Sasuke: "When Meta Drone sent us the message to come, his voice sounded... different to say the least."

Captain: "Finally! Go, Sir Meta Knight! Tell them all about Meta Drone's problem! Word must get out! If we keep this a secret, we'll never get him fixed!!!"

Sasuke: "Secret? Well, it's no secret now. Everyone at the base heard that message. It made some laugh and others vomit. I didn't particularly like it myself."

Meta Knight: "I hate it and Meta Drone doesn't seem to care that I do. He's listening to this conversation right now."

He's not the only one who's listening, thought Kirby. I wonder how much Meta Drone's voice has really changed. Come to think of it, I wonder why Meta Drone's voice has changed.

Sasuke: "So, any idea as to the reason this dramatic change occurred?"

Captain: "Yeah, Sir Meta Knight. I've been wondering about it myself."

Meta Knight: "Those at fault are Kirby and Tac. Kirby for causing Meta Drone to short-circuit and essentially die..."

I never did that! thought Kirby. Meta Knight's got the wrong guy!

Meta Knight: "...and Tac for 'repairing' him with bad programming."

Captain: "Tac?! Don't tell me you trusted that piece of filth!"

Meta Knight: "It was necessary. There was no one else to go to."

Captain: [censored]

Sasuke: "Come on, Cap. Stop swearing. I've told you a hundred times."

Captain: "Oh, yeah? Well, that's a hundred times too many! People who don't swear are in denial of all the bad stuff that happens to them! And by 'bad stuff', I mean-"

Sasuke: "No, Cap. Don't say it."

Captain: [censored]

Sasuke: "This is disgraceful."

Captain: "Wahahahahahahahaha!!!"

Meta Knight: "Shut up a minute, you two! Focus! There are more pressing issues than this pointless bickering. Now, we can currently do nothing about Meta Drone, especially since I'm stuck on a weaponry ship with him and the Captain."

Sasuke: "Stuck? How? And is there any way I can be of assistance?"

Meta Knight: "As a matter of fact... you can help us! We are trapped inside a force field that can only be destroyed from the outside."

Sasuke: "Say no more. I'm on my way!"

Captain: "Finally! What a miracle! I thought I was going to be stuck on this thing forever."

Meta Knight: "Yes. I imagine the improbability of a safe trip to the ground was quite high."

"Yeah, dudes. It was, like, really unlikely... and dou-"

Captain: "Shut up, Meta Drone! You give me a headache!"

That's Meta Drone?!! thought Kirby, his eyes widening. Man, that's nothing like how he sounded before. I understand why they hate it.

Meta Knight: "Yes, Meta Drone. Please refrain from speaking until spoken to."

"So, how do you like it?" asked Gooey when it was over. "My new bug is working like a charm. Let's hope Sasuke fails to release Meta Knight from his airborne force field. Them staying trapped would probably make your mission easier, not to mention be extremely funny." Gooey chuckled.

"It was nice to hear from them again." Kirby smiled, but the terrible weather and severity of his situation prevented him from giggling. "But... I don't get why they think I was the one who made Meta Drone short-circuit. I don't remember doing any such thing."

"I don't understand either, but it doesn't matter really. You should be congratulating yourself if you indeed have messed him up. It's not an easy task to kill one of the Meta Clan and you sure have given them quite a..." Gooey paused, looking for the right word. "...headache."

"Yeah, really."

Kirby went back to searching.

The dark warriors were everywhere. Amid the rain, Dark Matter essence, and explosions, Kirby was having a difficult time searching.

His Parasol was admittedly a help, but it could only do so much. By now, Kirby was soaking wet and unhappy.

Then he saw her. Or what looked like her.

There was a pink warrior on Dark Matter's side that was holding three of the Meta Army in the air while raining punches on the soldiers in front.

Yup. That was her alright.

"I see Chuchu!" shouted Kirby into the phone.

"Excellent!" cheered Gooey back.

Kirby flew down and positioned himself directly above Chuchu.

"Uh," he said. "What do I do now?"

"Well," answered Gooey, "you gotta capture her somehow and then bring her back into her senses out of Dark Matter's power. You might want to leave the battle to do that."

"Is there any summonable net-like ability that I could use here?"

"Let me look. Just a sec."

Kirby watched Chuchu rapidly defeat seventeen more enemies in the twenty-three seconds before Gooey came back on the phone.

"This is amazing," said Gooey. "The combination for Trapper ability is Parasol plus Ice. You really have hit a stroke of luck with that new toy of yours."

"Okay!" replied Kirby.

"But be careful," Gooey warned. "I don't yet know what effect this ability produces."

Kirby summoned Ice ability, combining it with Parasol to become Trapper Kirby! The red stripes on the umbrella turned blue and the star was replaced with a metal plate that lay horizontal when Kirby held the new Parasol over his head.

Kirby activated his ability. Aiming the Parasol at Chuchu, he fired. The canopy of the Parasol shot downward at the pink octopus as the stem to it extended.

The instant the metal plate made contact with Chuchu, the canopy inverted and encased her. The stem then retracted.

Kirby, using the strengthening side-effect of this power, held Chuchu in the Parasol above his head and sped off away from the battle.

King Dedede surveyed the scene. The battle was dragging on.

He looked down into the field.

"No!" he shouted suddenly. "Kirby must not be allowed to escape with Chuchu!"

As Dark Matter shared a bond with all under his possession, it knew that Chuchu had been captured and that Kirby had been the one to do it.

Instantly, the thoughts of all Dark Matter's forces changed. Their only mission was now to kill Kirby.

Kirby looked back as his warpstar sped away and saw a tidal wave of dark warriors coming at him. They were all piled on top of each other, clamoring to get at him and traveling at an amazing speed. His eyes widened as he attempted to speed up and get away before the dark wave could overtake him.

Dark Matter reached out one of its giant tentacles to stop Kirby from escaping. Kirby dodged by quickly veering off to the left as the tentacle made a swipe at him.

Kirby flattened himself against the warpstar and held Chuchu in the Parasol in front of him, hoping to increase his aerodynamics and so fly faster. He sped though the air like a bullet, but the wave of piled-up enemies was closing in, ready to break over him.

Faster, faster, faster! His speed was making the rain sting on his face.

Dark Matter stretched out another tentacle and Kirby jumped off the warpstar to dodge the attack. Kirby flipped over the tentacle and the warpstar glided under it.

Kirby landed back on the warpstar and looked behind to see the wave crash back down into Fantasy Meadows. Dark Matter had failed to catch him.

Kirby flew on until his breathing slowed and returned to normal. He looked up at the Parasol. It was undamaged. He wondered why Chuchu wasn't struggling against it. She couldn't be... dead.

Naah, thought Kirby. Something this mediocre could never kill her. It's probably the Ice component of this ability that's keeping her still. I sure hope it's nothing serious.

Flying over a barren plateau in Yogurt Yard, Kirby decided that now was the time to land and open up the Parasol.