PART 21: Light in the Dark
Slowly but surely, Kirby opened his eyes and lifted his head. The ground beneath him was smooth to the touch, and as he regained focus, he realized he was in a tent. Next to him was a smooth wooden table with a bowl of steaming soup sitting on it. As he got up, he realized he had been lying on a blanket. It was hard to make out the colors of everything, as it was apparently still dark, but he could make out the outline of a nearby lantern. Fumbling in the darkness, he reached it and turned it on.
The tent and blanket were green, the table was surprisingly smooth, and the soup looked old and fresh at the same time. Engraved in the side of the wooden table was a symbol. As he looked closer, he realized it looked like a five-pointed star.
Before he could examine anything any further, a figure burst into the tent and turned off the lantern. Kirby whipped around as the figure pinned him to the ground and put a hand over his mouth.
"Shh...don't struggle. Don't talk." it whispered. Kirby nodded and kept perfectly still. At that moment, two other figures burst into the tent. Kirby noticed that the silhouettes looked quite a bit like Waddle Dees. One of them pointed toward Kirby and the figure holding him, and the other quietly sneaked toward them. The figure didn't move.
The Waddle Dee reached them and looked around, but he didn't seem to notice them, even though they were both a foot away and in plain sight. The Waddle Dee then walked closer and closer, and when Kirby was sure they were both about to be caught, the Dee walked straight through them.
Kirby's eyes might as well have popped right out of his head. He was absolutely flabbergasted. Was he a ghost? How was the Dee able to walk right through him as if he wasn't there? He had touched the lantern without difficulty...
Eventually, the Dees left, and the figure released Kirby from his grip. Kirby stared at the silhouette, and a million questions rushed through his mind like a runaway train.
"Who are you?" he said, releasing the first question that had appeared in his mind.
The figure stepped...no, rolled...out of the shadows. Standing on a blue and red beach ball, bouncing from foot to foot like a Poppy Brother, was an armless, legless creature with brown feet attached to the round purple circle that was it's body. It was wearing a large, blue and red jester hat with two bobbles, and it had a red bow tie just beneath its mouth. It rolled closer to Kirby and bowed as well as something without arms could.
"My name is Marx," it announced proudly, "a Star Warrior at your service."
Kirby stifled a gasp of surprise.
"You're a..." he stuttered.
"Yup." it replied.
"And I'm with..."
"That's right."
"And that means..."
"Nope, Meta Knight isn't here."
Kirby's heart sunk to his stomach.
"Sorry..." Marx muttered.
"It's fine. It's not your fault." Kirby assured him.
"Oh. Well, I'm glad to see you recovered from the arrows well. Admittedly, some of our archers need a little...um...practice."
"I don't think it was them making the arrows hit me. They were moving at rather unnatural angels, all things considering."
"Well, I'll have to tell their sensei that, won't I?"
"Huh?"
"It means teacher. Anyways, we're having a small celebration to honor our victory...and your safe return. It ought to be a blast...wanna join in?"
"Well, I might as well..."
"You really need to lighten up, ya know that?" Marx teased. Kirby smiled slightly.
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The Waddle Dees rushed into a cave far away from the place where they had believed Kirby was staying. As soon as they entered, they lined up in rows and saluted like soldiers.
"Did you find anything?" said a voice.
"No, sir. No sign of the Star Warriors anywhere." one of the Dees replied.
"Look harder. I know they are around there somewhere."
"Yes, sir!" the Dees replied in unison.
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When Kirby asked about how the Dees had not seen them, Marx explained that he had mastered the ability to become invisible and intangible. Only things he had touched and continued to touch before and while the spell was in effect could see and touch him, but would not be able to be seen or touched by anything else. It was slightly confusing.
"That's how we've been able to hide the tent where we're having the celebration. It gives me a headache, but I can keep something invisible and untouchable as long as I want." Marx finished. Kirby nodded, although he barely understood a word that had just been said.
Kirby could now see a huge green tent in the background, and they were getting closer to it.
"Is that..." he began to ask.
"That's right." Marx interrupted.
As soon as they approached the tent, someone leaped out of it and looked at them. That someone was wearing a dark green bandanna with a gold emblem in the center, and had dark purple skin and spiky blue hair that stuck out from both sides of the bandanna. They were wearing blue boxing gloves as well.
"Knuckle Joe!" Kirby exclaimed.
"Kirby! I haven't seen you in ages!" Joe replied, giving Kirby a playful punch on the shoulder as an afterthought.
"Joe! I didn't expect to see you here...where's your dad?" Kirby asked.
"Somewhere else," Marx interrupted, "I thought you knew that this was a different generation of Star Warriors..."
"A what?" Kirby asked, puzzled.
"A different section...a different part of the main thing...that's why you haven't heard of Marx or any of the others in here before...you and Meta Knight are literally in a league all your own." explained Knuckle Joe.
"About those others...it's about time you got introduced to them! To the celebration!" Marx interrupted, grabbing the star warrior by the arm and almost rushing him into the large green tent.
But he was interrupted by someone else coming out of the tent. Someone round and pink that looked...exactly...like...Kirby.
"Huh?" Kirby asked, staring.
"Oh don't worry, Kirby...its just Enna. She's a shape shifter. Or he is. Or it is." Knuckle Joe explained, slightly confused himself.
"You always ruin all my fun, you know that?" Enna said, sticking out a comically large tongue. He/she/it turned towards Kirby.
"Oh, you must be Kirby!" it exclaimed, "Joe has told us all a lot about you after he joined us."
As it spoke, it transformed into Knuckle Joe himself instantly, but kept on talking as if it didn't even realize it.
"Anyways, I heard you defeated Nightmare" – it transformed into Nightmare instantly as well, giving everyone quite a shock – "by yourself. Great work."
"Does it always do that?" Kirby whispered.
"Yeah, I do, actually...why? Is there something wrong with that? Is it suddenly a bad
thing?" Enna answered defensively.
"No, I didn't mean to offend you..." Kirby apologized, realizing Enna had turned itself into a rain cloud and had turned away from him. Enna turned into a giant smile and grinned.
"It's OK. Don't worry about it. I get offended easily, sometimes without realizing that I'm one of the only people who can change shape like this." Enna explained.
"Do you have a favorite form? One you like to stay in normally?" Kirby asked, filled with curiosity.
"Of course!" it replied, as it transformed into a small angel that looked like Ribbon in a costume.
"That looks like Ribbon in a costume." Kirby said, thinking aloud.
"It IS Ribbon in a costume. Or at least, that's where I got it from. I use it quite a bit, but it's not my regular form." Enna explained, laughing.
"What's your regular form?" Kirby asked. For a split second, Enna's facial expression looked unsure, but a split second later, Enna transformed into a set of periods, one after the other, so it looked like "..."
"Err, nevermind. Let's go." Kirby said, as Enna turned into a shadow and followed him.
As soon as Kirby entered the tent, he was stunned. He had walked into a tent that had not seemed large from the outside, but seemed like an enormous mansion from the inside. Golden decorations and large mirrors decorated the walls, with almost everything having the Star emblem engraved somewhere on it.
Eventually, they stopped at an enormous golden door that was twenty times their size. Engraved in the doors center was the star emblem. Knuckle Joe walked over to the door and pushed it, and it steadily creaked open.
"We really need to fix that." Enna joked as the door finished creaking and stopped, revealing an enormous dining room.
"Who owns this place?" Kirby said, saying his first thought.
"Nobody. It was abandoned, "Marx explained, "but we found it...we guessed it belonged to an old Star Warrior, with all the emblems around. We don't really need all these tables either. Our group isn't that large."
Kirby saw all kinds of different people around him. All kinds of different races...types, colors, personalities...there was something that looked like a girl-shaped prism, if that was even possible, and she (?) was even glowing different colors of the rainbow. What looked like electric sparks coursed through her, and she was sitting with her arms crossed, looking far too serious.
Standing, believe it or not, on another table, was a Waddle Doo. He was talking cheerfully and animatedly and was making crazy gesticulations, suggesting that he was either drunk or just entertaining people. Or possibly both. Just above his eyes was a pair of green goggles that looked like something a pilot would wear. Kirby could barely make out his words, but he heard them.
"C'mon, Shard...joke a little! Lighten up for once!" he yelled, extending his hand to the prism girl. The prism girl, who Kirby guessed was named Shard, looked visibly annoyed. Quite literally, in fact, as the sparks and the rest of her with them had turned bright red.
The Doo looked scared all of a sudden, until Shard turned back to a greenish color and grabbed his hand. He breathed a sigh of relief...until Shard turned red again and the man was suddenly electrocuted. A few seconds afterward, she grinned smugly as the Doo fainted.
"Shard, was that really...necessary?" asked a large rock-like person sitting at the same table as the Doo. The rock had massive fists and a large round body, was brown, and looked like it had holes for eyes. Kirby had a sudden memory of Golems from his adventure in the Mirror labyrinth.
"Yes, Terra. Yes, it was." Shard said, as casually as if she electrocuted a teammate every single day. Kirby resisted the urge to laugh, and he watched as a group of Waddle Dees in nurse's caps ran toward the Doo, picked him up, and carried him out of the room.
"If you say so...I kind of think it was a bit...erratic." Terra replied, shrugging. He turned towards something, and then looked around frantically.
"Wait a minute...where'd my food go?" he yelled, looking under the table. Kirby almost jumped backwards as a small black mouse ran around him, scurried behind him, and changed back into Enna, who now had a leg of chicken in his/her mouth. Terra, as well as quite a few other people, noticed the group for the first time.
"KJ!" yelled Shard, glowing yellow and showing a large amount of emotion for the first time.
"MARX!" yelled Terra.
"ENNA!" screamed another voice, as a person Kirby had not noticed before jumped out of his seat and ran towards her, arms outstretched. The person in question was the same size as Kirby and was dressed in thick robes, and had what looked like a wand somewhere on his belt, which was barely visible underneath the aforementioned robes. The wizard, if that was what he was, was not wearing a hat, and you could barely see his eyes behind a thick mass of black hair. In fact, thanks to the robes, you couldn't see much of him at all. Kirby realized it was probably a Simirror without a hat.
Enna ran towards the wizard, turned into the fairy-like form from before, and jumped into the wizard's arms. Kirby stared for a few seconds at them, until Enna grabbed one of her arms with her free hand and ripped a large chunk of it straight off. There was no blood, or flesh, or anything for that matter. It was like ripping a chunk off of a piece of paper. Kirby's jaw dropped, and Enna noticed and turned towards him.
"Can you put me down for a second, Verra?" she asked, as the chunk of her arm she had just taken off changed into a rose. She gave it to the wizard, who placed her on the ground. With that, Enna walked towards Kirby and looked him straight in the eyes.
"Is there something wrong with you?" she snapped angrily as she walked closer. She transformed into an enormous fireball with glowing eyes as she said this. "Are you one of those people who still think there is something wrong with loving something that isn't your species?"
Kirby had no idea what she was talking about. He had been shocked because he hadn't known Enna could rip off a chunk of her arm, not to mention so casually. Behind him, Marx and Knuckle Joe backed away.
"I don't know...what are you...talking about?" Kirby stuttered as Enna began to burn even brighter. At those words, Enna stopped. She then changed into the fairy form again and walked closer.
"You didn't know? You aren't a racist?" she asked him, looking slightly guilty.
"A what?" Kirby asked her, having never heard the word.
"A racist. It's one of those people who think that their race and species is better than everyone elses, and they call people of the "lower race" or "lower species" insulting names, and they won't give them jobs or let them marry anyone of another species, or even be in the same room as anyone of another species, and so on." Enna explained. "There have been a lot of inter-planetary civil wars...ever since I was a baby. Some of them are still happening."
"And you thought I was a racist?" Kirby asked.
"Yeah, actually. I'm sorry," she said, visibly shrinking. "There was a war about that, too...a few species thought they were superior to shape-shifters, who are naturally peaceful, and attacked the planet I was born on for land, fame, and riches. Eventually, the shape-shifters fought back and won. But there are still a few people who don't think my kind deserve any rights at all."
The topic seemed to interest a few of the others, and they gathered around to listen. Noticing this, Enna sat down on a chair and turned towards them.
"There are a lot of other species that get the same treatment," she continued. "A certain one I can think of is one you definitely already know about. Waddle Dees. A lot of people took advantage of the fact that they are loyal and carefree, and Holy Nightmare sold them as mere servants. They don't seem to mind, but it's been like that for so long, that only the current generation's great-grandparents would remember anything even resembling freedom."
When Enna finished explaining it, she then proceeded to introduce Kirby to everyone.
"This is Verra, a Simirror wizard," she said, pointing towards the wizard. "We're in love, if you haven't figured that out already."
"That is K.J, you know him already," she continued, pointing towards Knuckle Joe.
"That is Marx, the psychic Dreamlander," she said while motioning towards Marx, who grinned. "He's nice, but he keeps to himself whenever possible."
"That is Terra, the powerful Fire Rocky," she said, motioning towards the rock-like person. "He's nice too."
"That's Shard, the overly-serious-Plasma-Wisp," she said, pointing at the prism girl, who scowled. "She doesn't talk much."
"And I'm Enna, the super-cool, fantastic, nice, awesome shape-shifter!" she yelled, turning into a giant set of grinning teeth.
"You forgot me!" someone else said, as the Waddle Doo burst into the room again, fully recovered.
"And me..." said a floating green prism.
"And me!" said a green-haired person in the background that Kirby guessed was the same species as Knuckle Joe.
"Oh yes, these guys!" Enna exclaimed, turning into a giant glove and pulling them over. "Introduce yourselves!"
"I'm Ace, the Capsule J general!" the Waddle Doo exclaimed. "I'm the one who gives them the orders, commands the fleet, and steals all the beer!" A few people chuckled.
"I'm Jackie, the inventor! Pleased to meet you, Kirby, we've all heard a lot about you!" said the green-haired Knuckle Joe, furiously shaking Kirby's hand. Jackie was wearing glasses and a lab coat.
"I am Infinity, a Mind Matter. One of the last of my kind." said the floating green prism. As it "spoke", Kirby's hand rang as if someone had just crashed two cymbals together right in front of him.
"And that's about everyone." Enna finished.
"Welcome to our...erm...base of operations," said Knuckle Joe.
"We plan to get some nuclear warheads soon, to match the theme." Ace joked
sarcastically.
Shard opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. Instead, he turned around and headed toward it.
"I've got it," she said, heading down the hallway towards the door. She ran back into the room only seconds later, the sparks in her body glowing white with fear.
"EVERYBODY, HIDE! RUN! WHATEVER! NOW!" she screamed. As if to prove her point, there was a loud pounding noise.
"Oh no..." Ace whispered. "They've discovered our hideout...This is the end..."
"Everybody, run and hide! This is an emergency!" Knuckle Joe yelled, grabbing Enna, who turned into a large megaphone. Behind them, Infinity seemed to be being pulled towards the ground. It seemed to be struggling to float back upwards.
"What's wrong with him?" Kirby asked.
"Too much emotions. He can't handle it." Terra explained. At that moment, Marx closed his eyes and the Enna megaphone disappeared from Knuckle Joe's hands and appeared floating in front of him.
"Everyone, get close to me immediately!" he commanded, yelling into the megaphone. Everyone in the room did so, and Kirby had a strange feeling he had just become invisible.
The door fell down, and Kirby could make out a familiar voice from afar.
"Find them! Search everywhere! Kill everything you see or hear, even if you don't actually see anything!" the voice commanded. It sounded oddly like...Meta Knight?
At that command, the entire room shook wildly. And hundreds of different things walked through the door. Waddle Dees, strange things with skull-like masks and miscellaneous weapons; machines wielding Yo-Yos, Simirrors (Verra snarled and Enna made a "shh" sound at the sight of them), Burning Leos, Waddle Doos, and all kinds of other demons were in the group. And as they all walked into the room, everyone else was completely silent.
Suddenly, Enna turned into a mouse and scurried away from everyone else. None of the demons seemed to notice the mouse.
Verra began to sweat as he watched Enna scurry away. Marx scowled in a "What the hell are you doing? Abandoning us?" kind of way. Kirby watched Enna scurry up the wall, and then suddenly turn into a tiny spider and crawl onto the ceiling.
What she had not realized was that someone had seen her transform. A demon wielding a mace swung it at the ceiling, and it smashed through the roof. Kirby couldn't tell whether it had hit Enna or not, until suddenly, a formless black orb appeared and hit the ground. Instantly, it turned into the fairy-like shape.
Instantly, Marx's eyes glowed and Verra was covered in a black aura.
"Do. Not. Move." he whispered.
The one who had thrown the mace picked Enna up off the ground and slung her over its shoulder.
"Destroy this place," it ordered. "We have what we came for, and the proof we need. I'm taking our little catch to Commander Meta Knight."
Kirby's jaw dropped. Marx scowled. Knuckle Joe clenched his fists. Shard turned a deep shade of black. Verra struggled to escape Marx's bind on him. Ace looked like he had just been stabbed. Terra was not smiling. Jackie looked like he was about to cry. The emotions overwhelmed Infinity, who fell.
Meta Knight had betrayed them all. Enna was either dead or about to be. And the sanctuary Kirby had just come to know was about to be destroyed.
As the demons set the building ablaze, everyone could hear a cheer that proved that things had most definitely gotten much, much worse.
"MOVE OUT! IN THE NAME OF THE BLACK FOG!"