Chapter 79: The Greatest Marxman - Part 2
"Shut up, Captain! For the last time, we did not forget anything!"
"Well, excuse me, Sir Meta Knight, but I know we left something behind. I don't remember what it is, but I get the feeling it's something really huge! We shouldn't be back here at the Meta Base. There's something important still on Pop Star!"
"Please, Cap," interjected Sasuke. "Give it a rest, will you?"
"I'm telling you," persisted Captain Birdbrain, "don't get out of this ship! You're just going to remember and come scrambling back in! You'll return to this ship just as fast as our retreat when Castle Dedede fired at us!"
"Wait!" exclaimed Sasuke. "That's it! I know what we left behind!"
"You do?" burst out Captain Birdbrain. "Tell us! Tell us!"
"We left Masher and Captain Stitch back at Castle Dedede," answered Sasuke hollowly.
From inside the spherical ship, Marx spoke to two steel doors that barred his entry to the Meta Base.
"Requesting entry," he said. Then he cleared his throat and said, in perfect imitation of Meta Knight's voice, "Password: Lord Pop."
The doors opened. Marx flew his craft in. The doors closed. Then doors leading into the base opened, filling the dock with air.
Marx got out and flew softly into the bowels of the Meta Base.
This is it, he thought. Even Meta Knight himself will be destroyed in this blast, but I won't! The fires of this bomb will finally sterilize Mecheye once and for all!
"What's going on?" asked Escargoon, coming down from the cargo car. "I thought we were going back to the Meta Base."
"Change of plans," replied Meta Knight. "We're heading back to Pop Star. Seems we left both Masher and Captain Stitch there, so-"
Meta Knight stopped. He had just realized something.
"Wait a minute," he said. "Where did you come from? I thought you fell into the Dark Cloud after your crash while pursuing Dark Matter."
"I did," answered Escargoon, "but I was only under for a split-second before I landed on this ship. Our Captain saved me before Dark Matter could possess me."
"It was a lucky catch," put in Captain Birdbrain modestly.
"WARNING," said a robotic voice suddenly. It was coming from the ship itself. "WARNING. A BREACH HAS BEEN DETECTED IN THE SECURITY SYSTEM OF THE META BASE. ALERT LEVEL: RED."
"Captain!" shouted Meta Knight quickly. "Take us back to Mecheye! Now!"
Watching from the observatory, Grill, Kirby and Chuchu saw a small orange blast on Mecheye.
"He did it!" shouted Grill. "Yes! We got them!"
Then there was another fiery explosion, this time much bigger than the first.
"What's going on?" said Grill.
"I warned him," put in Gooey solemnly.
Now there were more blasts appearing all over the planet, which began to shake slightly as if being repeatedly punched by some giant.
Whole chunks of the planet started breaking off, and yet the explosions continued to increase in number and size.
The trio simply stood there aghast. All eyes were wide.
Soon all of Mecheye was nothing but a smoldering orb of fire and rock, cracking everywhere and shuddering violently.
Then... slowly... it cooled off... and the explosions ceased.
All that remained were colossal masses of rock, orbiting around a nonexistent core, with asteroids all around.
The arsenal ship landed on one of the rocks, but the crew did not get out.
"HOLY..." began Captain Birdbrain. He then rattled off every swearword he knew... and very loudly.
"I... can't... believe... it..." said Meta Knight softly. "The base... gone... and everyone who was still working there with it. Not even a single scrap of metal remains."
Silence.
"This must be Kirby's doing," finished Meta Knight.
"Wait a moment..." said Escargoon. "Look on the bright side."
"THERE'S A BRIGHT SIDE TO THIS?!!" roared Meta Knight.
"J-j-just listen to me for a second," continued Escargoon, wincing away. "If this really is Kirby's work... then he must think you are dead."
Silence. Meta Knight would have raised an eyebrow had his face not been hidden behind a mask.
"...and that gives us," finished Escargoon, "the element of surprise."
"Yeeeessssssssssss," replied Meta Knight. "Soon I shall have my revenge. Mecheye will be avenged."
"As for these rocks here..." said Escargoon. "Since Mecheye is gone, they deserve a new name. A name is needed that will contrast this wasteland with Pop Star, the planet that ostracized you long ago."
"An excellent idea. The name shall represent loss and desolation. Everyone shall fear it."
"I hereby dub this planet..." said Escargoon dramatically, "Rock Star!"
"What?!" interrupted Meta Knight. "That's a terrible name!"
"Can you think of a better one?"
"Well, I'll need a moment."
Silence.
"Time's uuuuuuuuuuup!" sang Escargoon. "I'll be upstairs in the cargo car, using the laptop I keep up there to broadcast this new name everywhere in the Starred System. As I once worked for King Dedede, I have access to certain decree-making files of his, not that he ever used them. Don't worry: this won't blow our cover."
Meta Knight didn't stop him. He simply sighed and ordered Captain Birdbrain to fly them back to Pop Star.
After Mecheye's destruction, Grill had gone into deep anguish. Not because the Nova Corporation had now thoroughly screwed up and destroyed a whole planet, assuring that no one would do business with them ever again, but because she had truly cared for Marx. They had been close friends for a long time.
Anyway, Kirby and Chuchu were dumped into another spherical ship and unceremoniously shipped back to Pop Star.
Kirby didn't really know how to feel about this whole ordeal. So, he asked Gooey about something else to see if he could keep his mind off what had happened.
"Uh, Gooey," said Kirby. "The only people I noticed who worked at the Nova Corporation were Marx, Grill and those onion things. That's pretty small for a corporation."
"Yeah," answered Gooey. "I noticed that too. It's probable that everyone who had worked there before left the company after the Dream Course accident. That must be why we haven't seen much from the Nova Corporation for so long."
Kirby heard a slight whimpering sound beside him. He looked over and noticed that tears were leaking from Chuchu's eyes.
"So many lives lost," she sobbed. "Mecheye wiped off the map. It's just too much."
"Chuchu!" interrupted Gooey way too forcefully. "It's nothing to cry over. The Meta Clan had already exterminated every creature on that planet."
"How can you two be so heartless?" retorted Chuchu. "An entire planet... gone in an instant. And all because of that freak, Marx!"
"That 'freak' was destroyed with Mecheye. We should be putting this whole ordeal behind us. Besides, it is possible that Meta Knight was in the Meta Base at the time."
"So, you mean..." said Kirby expectantly.
"Yes," finished Gooey. "Meta Knight's interference may have been put to rest."
"Isn't there some way we can find out for sure?" asked Kirby.
"Uh," replied Gooey. "Not really. I'll run a scan of Rock Star to see what I can find."
"Rock Star?"
"Yes. It seems that what remains of Mecheye already has a name. Anyway, here goes."
Silence.
"Hmm..." said Gooey after a while. "I found something, but only that one thing. I'll see if I can get a closer look."
"What is it?" asked Chuchu impatiently.
"Ugh!" sputtered Gooey. "Ack! Bleah! Oh, that is terrible."
"What is it?!" repeated Chuchu.
"It's the left half... of the lower part... of Marx's jaw," answered Gooey shakily.
"Scanners have spotted both Kirby and Masher, Sir," reported Sasuke. "Shall we proceed with Plan J?"
"Where are Kirby and Chuchu's location?" replied Meta Knight.
"Our scanners are not capable of finding Chuchu at such distance, Sir. But Kirby is situated in Bubbly Clouds."
"You may proceed. You may also allow Masher to destroy whatever he pleases to get at Kirby. Bubbly Clouds and Cloudy Park are of no use to me."
After the arsenal ship had left him behind, Masher had made his way southeast. What was left of the Meta Clan found him half-submerged in the waters of Ripple Field, traveling aimlessly toward the distant Float Islands.
"New destination, Masher," said Meta Knight over the ship's loudspeaker. "Go to Bubbly Clouds. I will set your target when you arrive."
Just as he had done on the "green star", Masher scrunched down and then shot upward, but at a west-northwest angle.
"Kirby!" shouted Gooey suddenly. "Remember that huge NME-certified monster that destroyed Castle Dedede?"
"Yeah," said Kirby.
"Castle Dedede was destroyed?!" shrieked Chuchu.
Two warpstars flew down to Kirby and Chuchu.
"No time to explain," said Gooey quickly. "That monster is heading your way at an amazing speed! Take these warpstars and get the heck out of Bubbly Clouds! Fly to Nebula Belt. It won't be able to reach you there!"
Kirby and Chuchu did as they were told.
WHOOSH!!!
Masher landed in Bubbly Clouds. But the clouds had predictably not supported his weight and he fell right through.
CRASH!!!
Masher landed far below at the base of Capped Mountain.
"We're too late, Meta Knight," reported Sasuke. "Kirby, and presumably Chuchu as well, have already fled Bubbly Clouds and are headed for Nebula Belt."
Meta Knight growled under his breath and then said, "Nebula Belt is too far above the land mass below it. Masher will never reach them. If they had just stayed in Bubbly Clouds! Masher would have been able to get at them from Capped Mountain!"
"You've gotta admit, though," continued Sasuke, "that they knew what they were doing. They cannot stand up to Masher. He'd kill them in one hit."
Silence.
"Shall we go back for Captain Stitch?" asked Sasuke.
"No," answered Meta Knight. "I hated that thing."
Silence.
"This isn't fair," said Meta Knight, his voice shaking with either anger or sadness. "We were just about to fulfill our dreams with the Halberd, but then Kirby showed up. I've slowly lost everything since then. My army, my base, my friends. I don't know why I go on. Screw Dreamland! Let them all perish. You'll get no more help from me!"
Meta Knight unsheathed his sword and held it over his head, seemingly ready to slice himself in half, but everyone else in the arsenal ship rushed in to stop him. Unfortunately, Big Wheelie got to Meta Knight first.
Meta Knight was knocked down and run over. Galaxia spun off and stuck in the floor of the ship.
"Holy #$%&, Meta Knight!" yelled Captain Birdbrain. "Don't you ever scare us like that again!!!"
"I won't need to," snarled Meta Knight as he removed Galaxia from the floor.
Meta Knight made a slice in the air, which fired a vertical sword beam through the ship's controls. The beam also shattered the front windshield.
"What the %#&$ are you doing Meta Knight?!" screamed Sasuke and Captain Birdbrain together.
"What's going on now?" said Escargoon, coming down from the cargo car.
"I'm going solo from now on!" roared Meta Knight.
Galaxia began to glow. Meta Knight plunged it into the floor and the ship's engine died instantly.
The arsenal ship began to plummet, but without tipping into a nosedive. And the artificial gravity prevented the crew from rising upwards.
"Meta Knight!" rumbled Big Wheelie. "Stop! You're insane!"
Big Wheelie revved up his motor and drove as fast as he could towards Meta Knight, who spun around a split-second before impact.
No one saw Meta Knight's attack, but Big Wheelie suddenly exploded, blasting Sasuke out the broken front windshield. The explosion also ignited both Meta Knight's cape and Captain Birdbrain's coat. Meta Knight's cape then lit the strap to his mask on fire and it fell to the floor.
Captain Birdbrain shrieked, stopping to drop and roll.
Meta Knight turned toward Escargoon and bared his full set of sharp-spiked teeth that were no longer hidden by his mask.
"O-o-oh!" moaned Escargoon. "Don't hurt me!" He raced to the hatch in the ceiling that led to the cargo car.
But that was when the ship fell into the Dark Cloud.
Silence.
Meta Knight surfaced above the black miasma, slowly flapping his wings. Both his cape and epaulets were gone. And, without his mask, he no longer wore anything on his body. His eyes were burning red and his mouth was still a sharp-toothed grimace.
"This is the end, Kirby," he growled. "I'm coming for you."