Star's Allies
Chapter 7 - Dark Destruction
The colosseum rattled and shook as the ground below cracked. Canyon dust blew with the wind as two strikingly similar figures rose up from the ground.
The two knights told in the tablet were here. They were covered in the dark of the colosseum, as they flew quickly into the shadows. However, one knight was much more pronounced than the other. Another thing that came out of the ground was also a sword. Taranza picked that up, interested in it.
The ceiling where the two knights fell under.
Magolor readied his spell, as Taranza fumbled around with his support (and a sword). Susie just took out her blaster and shot the first attack immediately at this obvious knight.
To her surprise, what came out to fight her was a sort of… paladin? It had white armor with pink accents, wielding an ungodly large rapier or lance. Who cares about its weapon anyway? All she knew was that this guy is an enemy!
The second knight flew right by the first as he landed on the floor.
Susie's eyes widened. She knew this person.
"Meta Knight's here… and who's that?"
"No idea, mate," Taranza responded as he swung the sword around, aiming its pointy edge at the two sword-wielding men.
The two magician stood guard at the back, preparing their spell (in Taranza's case, on his five off-hands) whilst the knights watched all three of them.
Meta Knight had been obvious, due to the 'M' on his shoulder, but this new guy was really mysterious!
His wings were as white as that of an angel's, while Meta Knight had his iconic black wings. They seemed like a duo of opposites.
"Meta Knight! And… Undark Meta Knight!" Taranza yelled at the two opponents.
"Let's be friends!"
The two responded by flinging sword beams at the other duo.
"Alright then, no friends today…"
Taranza shot some magic web at the winged knights as he built his new plan of attack with Magolor.
Susie took a much easier strategy instead, using her blaster to shoot at the moving targets. They all missed with the knights' incredible speed, going here and there in a blink of an eye.
"You're missing! Amazing!" Taranza stopped to congratulate her.
"Ah, shut up Taranza!"
…
Her next shot landed. The knight just shrugged it off by reflecting it back with his shiny armor.
'They reflect lasers? What kind of armor is that?'
No time for questions, Susie rolled right and began to keep on trying to rapid-fire her blaster, which resulted in heat.
Her gun overheated. Shit. Susie dropped the million degree weapon.
…
"Guys, I'm gonna run back to the ships to get more guns, so hang tight alright?"
"Don't just up and leave-"
Susie was gone.
Well, that sucked.
"Alright Taranza, plan B!"
Plan B included them trying to set up a magic missile directed to the white knight.
It was a somewhat crude 'cannon'. It had a net of web as a way of launching their projectiles at the knights. It also had a barrel, which is the 'cannon' part. "It counts, you know!" Taranza laughed as he took two knights at once, though he was mostly focused on the rapid slashes Meta Knight swung at him. In other words, it was a glorified slingshot.
Magolor loaded his magic missile into the 'cannon' and proceeded to pull on the web, releasing it like a slingshot.
WHAM!
"...what sort of defense is that?"
It hit him square in the face, but the mask held such a protection against the attack that it manages to readily reflect the projectile. It's one of those bosses. The ones who just tank attacks to no end or mirrors them back to the opponent.
Magolor loaded another ammunition and fired that.
It became much clearer that this knight is that type of boss after his second try when their missile was brushed off by this white knight's attack.
He quite literally let it brushed it off to the side using his weapon. It was a show of power, and it looked like the knight was winning.
As Taranza moved on to also dueling with Meta Knight, Magolor kept the missiles running as he loaded projectiles onto the barrel, slinging the webbed net as fast as his hands would allow him.
He had to move the cannon and dodge attacks, too. It seemed like this white knight preferred ranged attacks… He couldn't get him to do melee at all!
Magolor looked over to his left and saw Taranza playing a game of dodge with Meta Knight.
…
Taranza narrowly avoided Meta Knight's swoops and sudden slashes as he tried to do one-on-one melee with Meta Knight. He already tried to hit Meta Knight from far away, but the knight's multiple sword beams forced him to reconsider.
Now, he's currently trying to get a hit in, which Meta Knight parried ferociously, serving as an extra attack for Taranza to avoid as he danced on the colosseum floor.
A swing, dodge, and-
Taranza flipped forward to deliver some magic into this annoying knight. It struck home, but Taranza was quickly struck back by the trained swordsman. Taranza flipped his sword around and tried to stab Meta Knight, he got a slice in, but Meta Knight also swung at him, so he retreated after that first strike.
"What a speed demon…Eh?"
His slice cut deeper than he expected. Might Meta Knight's build actually be a 'glass cannon', where his attacks are high and he has an overall low defense? With his agile speed and quick thinking in most cases, his build of skills did make sense.
That meant that his attack can deal a lot of damage!
Taranza's got his attack plan now.
Taranza looked over to Magolor to see how he's doing.
Magolor was chanting, purple aura beneath him as he held his hands up in a prayer.
Taranza turned back to his opponent to see that Meta Knight also stopped fighting, looking at Magolor.
"Well, this'll be easy."
Taranza sliced off his mask in one, clean cut through the middle.
He backed off after seeing Meta Knight's face.
"Kirby?"
Meta Knight turned from Taranza to Meta Knight as his eyes widened. His body collapsed onto the ground.
Meta Knight went into some sort of sleep mode.
Well, that went well. He looked back over to Magolor and saw a giant, two-horned monster standing in his place with a petrified opponent right in front of him, ready to attack until whatever happened just happened.
This was confusing and scary at the same time.
Taranza hollered.
"What the hell!?"
Magolor had never been better. The raw power he had was ecstasy! It had been like when he had the crown, but less corrupt than that, now that he had a strong will.
Time to beat this white knight up.
Magolor flung blue-ish energy at the white knight. He parried the ball after stumbling slightly at his stupor, and began a game of tennis between the two.
Magolor batted the ball like crazy, pummeling his attack into the knight. Magolor smiled at that, his mouth forming a crescent.
It had formed a dent on the knight's armor.
"Alright, see? Easy peasy, Magolor!"
"I would rather appreciate it if we didn't use this magic. It scares people."
Magolor was also having a casual conversation with himself as he shot around attack at his enemy.
"You know I don't like using soul. It's tiring, and I don't have the best memories of the word…
After all, this form was what nearly endangered Kirby back then.
"It's powerful too, so it's amazing! Look at all these controls!"
"Please stop trying to use my body like a toy."
"All I do is watch from the sidelines! Let me have some fun once in a while!" The other Magolor pouted.
"Fine…" Magolor groaned at this request. He really was being cautious. At least he can communicate this time rather than being completely overtaken. He could supervise…
"Oi, don't fling the black hole, you know that'll take a lot of energy from me-!"
A black hole manifested itself, threatening to drag in the injured knight.
Susie brought with her a multitude of guns. There's a bazooka, a revolver, and a lot of spare blasters.
It had taken her a few minutes to pick and sort, but finally, she can come and help!
A black hole was currently in the arena.
Taranza had stepped off to the side as the hole opened and closed within milliseconds, ensuring that it will only pull on Magolor's target.
"Oh, hey. Remember that blimp which we fought?"
Susie nodded.
"Yeah, that is him," Taranza pointed at the blue mass. Susie raised her eyebrow. "...but even crazier. I don't even know what's happening at this point…"
Susie glanced at what looked like a brave knight fighting a massive demon.
With no context, it really looked like the one she should be rooting for is the white knight.
"Right, right, so… what can we do?"
"We can sit here and wait!"
"Lovely."
"Whee!"
"Hey, slow down!"
Magolor was trying to calm his soul down as his body rampaged on the poor man in white.
"Ooo! What about this?"
Magolor delivered a slash to the knight's face. His mask split in half after all the battering it took.
"Uh… it's not my fault, so goodbye!"
"Hey, wait-"
Magolor was dragged back by an invisible force as he was tugged back to the safety on his body, back to his old self with what seems like a sleeping knight in front of him.
"Phew…"
Clapping came from his side.
"Bravo! You've managed to turn into a monster."
"That was my soul form."
"I didn't know your soul could be that ferocious," Taranza commented.
"Well, it might've been altered by some plot I did back then… Eheheheh…"
Magolor laughed awkwardly as the knight beside him twitched.
"Anyways… you brought Meta?"
Taranza had brought Meta Knight near the white knight too. "Of course."
The two knights were now bound up in Taranza's web.
"So… what'll we do?"
Susie mumbled for a bit before voicing her opinion.
"I can rip their armor pieces off and sell them!"
"No. I don't think they'll appreciate that."
"Aww…"
"How abo-" Magolor prompted, before getting interrupted by darkness.
Meta Knight was unbound, his sword in hand, as he sliced Magolor in the dark.
The white knight targeted Taranza instead, sensing the biggest threat on him.
He swung his weapon so hard that it managed to take out Taranza. It was a solid hit to his head.
Two of their biggest fighters are down, having made the mistake of not confiscating their opponents weapons.
It was a dumb moment shared by the two.
Magolor fell down as soon as Meta Knight's cape went back behind him.
Susie was left alone as she saw the two maskless knight float up into the air, their eyes devoid of emotion.
A chain linked up between them, linking Meta Knight's left hand with the white knight's right hand. The white knight switched his weapon to his off-hand. Now flaring with purple mist all around, they began to circle around in the air.
With their respective weapons ready in hand, they charged together to Susie, who already had her stock of guns in a pile beside her.
She fired like a madman.
Taranza woke up in a strange place. It was beside the Dreamstalk, with his house right beside him, as he slowly stood on the soft grass. A nearly identical spider sat on the Dreamstalk's lowest leaf, humming to herself as she gazed off to the sun.
Taranza turned his head, and he saw this girl. "Sectonia?"
"What? Sectonia? You know she's dead, right?"
Ouch.
"Well, who are you then?"
The spider hopped down from her perch.
"I am the soul. The one who guides as a sub-conscious and one who you may be deep inside. The way I appear is quite strange, really… I thought you left Sectonia after that airship fiasco?"
Taranza's soul answered, questioning her own appearance. After all, Taranza had already gotten closure. Why did his soul appear like this? Taranza put one of his hands on his chin as he thought of the question.
"Well, we're still really close friends. It might explain why my own soul looks like my best friend."
"Yeah…" Taranza's soul nodded. She decided to move on to another topic. "So, you know about that monster Magolor turned to?"
"What about it?"
"I can turn you into one, though I haven't seen its appearance myself… In short, it's your soul form. The form when your body reaches critical overflow of spirit… or you force it out by negotiating with your own soul."
"Soul form, huh…"
Taranza did not want to turn into whatever Magolor was. But, he's pretty sure that he's knocked out anyway, and Susie's left alone on the colosseum. Crap.
I'll have to chance it…
"Can I use this soul form then?"
A swift reply came back.
"You could, but I'll need recompensation…"
He'll have to pay his own soul back?
"...such as?"
"I get to play around for a while- oh, maybe you can come talk to me! It's dreadfully boring in here, and it's the first time I've met you."
Taranza wasn't sure if this was double personality or it was literally his soul. His soul had a completely different personality and appearance, how could he be sure? Paranoia kicked in.
"How will I be sure that you are my soul?" Taranza questioned.
"Oh, simple!" She smiled. "We're both linked. Here." She raised her left hand. In an instant, a nearly invisible white line sped from his soul to Taranza himself.
As he moved around, the line followed, as if he was tied to it.
Seems like good proof. She sounds truthful, too.
I'll really chance it…
Taranza thanked her for her confirmation and went on to discuss his soul form.
"What limitations are there on my… well… soul form?"
"Don't push it too far. You can take more damage, yes, but sometimes I don't even know what can happen to your abilities. The only constant thing i know is that your power in magic will be increased."
Gee, very helpful.
"You know I can hear those, right? I just choose not to comment on them."
Wait, fu-
Taranza swore as his soul laughed at him. "Don't worry about it! I'm just messing with you! I won't abuse them!" His soul then wished him luck, as she gave her final advice. "Now then, get back out there and pummel some knights!"
Taranza was whisked off to the waking world. His soul went back to the bottom of the stalk, this time singing as she basked in the warm light. Her power was currently being tapped into, yes, but she didn't mind that much. She was being repaid, after all.
Taranza woke up for real this time, to see Magolor still on the ground as he looked around for any signs of battle. Before he could even help however, he looked down upon himself to see the physical changes of his soul form.
His body was somewhat matching that of a moth.
Well.
This reminded him slightly of Sectonia's other form and the giant spider he turned into.
So… is there a power boost?
Taranza tried to form his web.
Web did not appear.
Instead, what came was a ball of light, shimmering brilliantly.
Taranza smiled and shot the shining light.
The white knight noticed the attack, and veered right, avoiding Susie's shots and the light at the same time. As the ball travelled and the white knight flew off, Meta Knight was dragged himself by the chain linking both knights together.
Unprepared, and with incredible chance, the ball hit Meta Knight, who was being dragged up by his cohort unintentionally.
The blast flung Meta Knight so hard that the chain broke.
He crashed onto the colosseum wall as the white knight dove for Taranza. Susie turned to Meta Knight, as she turned her focus to the valiant knight.
Meta Knight blasted off the wall into the air, as his sword began to take a different color. His weapon burst out fire and that ignited quickly as he swung the sword to his right.
A verdant green flame began encompassing the blade, enveloping the entirety of the Galaxia as the green pyre enlarged his sword. It stayed on there as Meta Knight began swinging his sword like crazy, dashing to Susie. The battle was getting pretty heated (literally).
Meta Knight swung his sword once more in a full rotation, sending green fireballs all over the area.
It rained pyre.
Taranza had his new wings burned by the fire. Susie jumped into her weapon pile as her weapons were busted under the rain. It was chaotic.
Meta Knight, however, forgot that his ally would also be hit by his rain of fire.
The green flame lashed out, affected by gravity, as it turned into bullet hell.
The white and purple Knight tried to dodge as best as he could, but the numbers of the attack were astounding; some of the flames managed to hit the white knight.
Taranza, still on fire, screeched, as the fire never went out. He collapsed due to the intense heat and sustained damage, reverting back to his spider form.
A peek of blue eyes came from the weapons pile.
Susie, hidden under her stacks of guns, safely came out and started firing again.
Taking a quick look to Magolor and Taranza, Susie sighed.
"Why are these guys so incompetent?" Susie wondered aloud, as the two magicians were passed out, and yet she was not.
She started her bullets up on the white knight again. As soon as she started, the knight stopped. Bravo. A still target. Susie fired as she kept her attention to Meta's flame attacks.
The white knight held his rapier/lance up above his shoulder, not raising it vertically. It looked like he was about to throw the damn thing.
As he raised his weapon, he was knocked himself by a dark pulse of magic. Susie turned to her right.
Magolor was standing, albeit shakily, but still. He was awake.
'So he wasn't useless after all!'
Susie did a small celebratory dance as she went off guard. Then, she stopped, just to make sure she wasn't about to be attacked. She directed her eyes to Meta Knight. He stood still.
Then, he fell out of the air, landing on the ground as he coughed up half of a dark heart. His mask already broken, Meta's eyes returned back to its original color. Magolor approached the dark knight.
Susie promptly slapped and snapped at him. "You forgot to take off their weapons! Their weapons!" she ranted to the surprised magician.
"It was a mistake… Taranza's at fault too…" Magolor pointed out, as he gave a half-baked apology.
"I know, but he's unconscious right now…"
Magolor nodded, as a white flash came speeding back at him. "Look out!"
Magolor took his magic and smashed the knight's body.
He recoiled back, before shouting with some sort of medieval accent.
"Oi, ye' natives! I'm tryin' ta' have a good time competition with me mate, and ye' cometh here and ruin my show!?"
Magolor was really apologetic now.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry…"
Susie was even more pissed. "So you say sorry to this stranger but you won't even give me a straight sorry?"
"I said sorry, woman!"
Galacta Knight, as his name turned out, was summoned into Dreamland. He had just been broken out of his crystal, eager for another fight, when some sort of ball with a floppy hat shoved something through his mask. He'd collapsed after that.
"So… you're in friendly competition with Meta Knight here?" Magolor pointed to the knight on the ground.
"Well, I may have contesteth with this man, yes."
"Okay then…"
Susie went off to pick up Taranza while he chit-chatted with the time-space knight.
"Can you give me a detailed past with Meta here?"
"Well, he wished for I when Nova was heah, and thus, I came."
"Okay…."
This guy is weird!
In the distance, on the ruined colosseum, was Susie, dragging the spider as she returned back to Magolor. It looked like she was swearing at Taranza, actually. Might've been a bad idea to leave those two alone…
Anyway, the heart's still there, half broken…
Where's the other half?
"Do you happen to know where the other half of whatever you spat out is, actually?"
"Hm? Thou do naught know? I did see that, yes…"
So, the other half is on the edge of the colosseum, then.
Nice.
"Okay then sir… Please stay here, alright?"
"Yes, yes, child of dark, I will stay…"
Magolor rushed back to his ship to begin the extraction procedure of this Jamba heart piece. Hopefully, it'll stay there…
This is why he needed to be quick!
As Magolor took his safety precaution gear, Taranza was slowly aroused by an irate Susie.
"Finally! Took you long enough, Taranza…"
"What happened?"
"Shit happened, that's what!"
"We beat it?"
Susie directed Taranza's vision to the two knights on the arena, not fighting. She was furiously pointing at them, as Taranza looked head on.
"Ah. I see."
Taranza collapses again as soon as those three words came out, fatigue oppressing him, sending him back to unconsciousness.
"Come on! Don't just up and collapse on me! I don't want to carry you myself back to our camp!"
…
Magolor exited the Lor with a bottle. Bottles were the best containers, after all. It's a wide known fact. Perfect for the dark hearts he was about to scoop.
He edged to the small crater his blast left in the wall. A small half of the heart lay nearby. He slowly scooped it up using his hand as he felt pain sorrow guilt anger hatred malice-
Into the bottle.
Magolor was out of breath already.
The next one, then. He prepared a second bottle for a reason.
As he approached the knights, he saw Meta stood up, staggering all the while. A brief exchange was done.
"Hey."
"You again?"
"Yeah. Me again."
Meta Knight ended it there. He began looking around for his mask.
Magolor scooped up his next half of the Jamba Heart as Meta Knight found his split mask.
"So. I assume you helped me and Galacta be free of the curse?"
As Magolor cringed on the onslaught of emotion, he answered a small "Yeah."
"Well, thanks. Seriously. I'll be off now." Meta Knight turned to Galacta. "We'll fight some other time. Postpone it, I don't know. Go enjoy Dreamland, or something. That seal might come get you again."
"Yah, yah, ye brave knight. Go back to yer ship."
After this brief exchange of words between rivals, the two knights headed off in separate directions, Meta Knight off to find Halberd, and Galacta exiting the colosseum to wander Dreamland, as Meta Knight had suggested.
Magolor stood there, wondering what just happened.
Huh.
What a weird friend Meta's got.
Magolor secured the two bottles and headed back to his ship. Taranza already laid in his bed as Susie grumpily exited as the captain of the Lor stepped in. She passed him with a small comment or two, but it was tiring, and they needed rest. At least, this time, they'll have a longer break time…
"Hffff…." Magolor flopped to his comfy bed as he stored the dark hearts on his shelf. There were multiple complications this day, but it all worked out. He'll need to get started on that soon…
Magolor pondered for a while before falling asleep, notes littering the bed as he collapsed himself.
…
Susie was wide awake. She's finally got a final draft of her now full-step plan, and her company will be in better shape than before. With her expeditions during in between the chaos, she had gathered a lot of valuable things, like gemstones from that one cave, fruit native to Dreamland, and quite a lot more.
She was set in sail for her Shoppe's future. A photo of her family sat on her desk. She glanced at it for a while, as if remembering the good values her parents had taught her long ago.
A good few minutes passed. Susie stood up from her seat and decided that now would be a good time to sleep. She locked the door of her office (yes, her ship now has more security!) and went to her personal room. In there, as the moon shone on her through the reinforced glass her windows were made out of, she gazed off into the moon, as fell asleep soon after.
All was well. The canyon silent, sans a few critters around the cliff. No one was outside. Peace was here, in this area, right now.
Over in the icy mountains, the dragon lay calm, against her newly hatched sons and daughters as she herself stood watch over them, protecting them at all cost. The moonlight beamed down on the mouth of the cave, a stable source of light for the dragons. That was enough for them.
…
Meta Knight stood among his crew in his conquered Halberd. After finding the Halberd tucked away behind the colosseum with his generals tied and his troops locked, he set sail his battleship once more to scout the planet in search for villainous threats and potential assets.
"Hey, sire?"
Meta Knight turned to his second-in-command.
"Yes?"
"We're approaching the target. The rat."
Meta Knight nodded.
"Good, good. He'll be a valuable asset for those who'll travel in the sea."
A moment passed.
"We'll need all of Dreamland if we hope to defeat the treachery that is the corruption I've experienced…"
…
Galacta Knight approached a large castle on the hills as he entered the town stood in front of it.
"Hey, Meta Knight's got a new look!" one of the townspeople said, a Waddle Dee.
"Really? Where?"
A crowd formed, with Galacta in its centre.
…
"Wha's tha' noise!?"
"That would be the Waddle Dees circling a knight of some sort," Bandana Waddle Dee jokingly responded.
"Huh?"
Dedede ran for the nearest window, thinking that Bandana was serious. His eyes looked long and hard, but he found it. It may be a tiny speck down there, but the knight was obvious enough to spot.
"Wait, is it actually…?" Bandana also took a look, squinting his eyes as he did so. "Hm, what do you know. There is a knight down there."
"I'll go n' meet 'im."
…
Galacta Knight was crowded by the Waddle Dees, half wishing that maybe he could send them to outer space. It was getting annoying.
Too bad Meta told him about the 'we don't randomly attack here' rule. Took him a while to get that, but he's had practice since then.
As he traversed the sea of Dees, a fat penguin on royal robes approached the crowd. As the Dees split, allowing this penguin to cross, Galacta enquired. "Who art thou?"
"The name is the 3D; King Dedede. Pleas're to mee' you, bra'e knight from uh… Anytown!" Dedede pronounced himself, greeting Galacta.
"The greatest of welcomes to you too, king." Galacta bowed.
"Uh..." Dedede was unfamiliar with this situation. He'd never had a subject bow to him like this before…!
"Well… be at e'se, and com' into my castl'. I can invite you to our suppe'."
"Very well."
Galacta Knight flew to the castle doors. King Dedede followed, eager to discuss details and exchange stories with this mysterious knight!
Meta Knight & Galacta Knight, Knighted Swordmasters
Two very different knights, they have a somewhat good rapport with each other, as they have both fought each other on multiple occasions throughout the multiple incidents on Dreamland. Both corrupted by the Jamba Heart, they have now been chained together as one, and have gained astounding abilities, extending their mastery of the blade even further as they attack. While Meta Knight seemed to love to melee, Galacta prefers to fight in range, instead. These two complement each other, covering for any weaknesses their opponents might have. Unfortunately, Meta Knight switched tactic mid-fight, screwing off their perfect coordination.
AN:
Finally, this chapter is over! See how the chapter names line up now? It's amazing!
So, yeah. Galacta's here, plus Meta Knight. Also, the soul stuff and that one mention of 'child of dark' will hopefully play a better role in future chapters. I would love to expand more on the plot and lore of this story.
First true use of soul in this chapter, an alternate form given by a manifestation of your soul. In the case of Magolor, due to *ahem* natural progression in his soul, his form is the one from RtD, just… you know.
For Taranza, I wanted his to mimic Sectonia slightly, and debated whether I'd use his Dark Taranza shtick (Clash Deluxe) or I'd go with a moth. It ended up being a moth, due to his personality. It also has some resemblance to Sectonia's bee form, I suppose. His moth form looks like a moth with Taranza's horns and a pair of giant white wings, just to counter Sectonia's color scheme. His abdomen has some faint black stripes going horizontally around him.
Also, rat's gonna come into play here. That's nice. Next 'world' (in Kirby game context) will be a break from traditional 'arena style boss rush mode extra hard no plot lol' style.
Again, thank you to the supporters of this fic, and I'll see you all in the next chapter.
icanwrite13: Breaks are nice, especially when situations turn hectic. This is properly shown in the multiple break scenes, where they just have a small bit of fun here and there. The world's not all doom and gloom, after all.
rachael. : Hm. Lore… We got masked knights here now, so that's nice… Thanks for the compliment!