Star's Allies
Chapter 17 - Lurking Loss
A day before the untimely arrival of Jambastion at the castle's doorsteps, Taranza had been talking with Marx's Soul.
"See, we've both done some great deal of hurt, so let's avoid that…" Soul Marx tipped over the conversation.
"How about a premonition?"
Taranza tilted his head. "A premonition?"
"Ever heard of 'the calm before the storm'?" the soul asked. Taranza blanched. "Ah, something's about to come, right?"
"Correct." the soul sighed. "With my knowledge on Hyness, the madlad will probably strike tomorrow."
"Is that a joke? I know you're a jester and all, but you can't be serious."
Soul Marx stopped. "...I admit, it's an assumption, but it's one I made in full confidence."
"I see. I'll watch out for it. Any other things you want me to know about?"
Taranza talked cheeringly to the soul for a bit before they bid goodbye and left Taranza alone in Marx's room, with an awake Marx at his sight.
"I saw your talk with me. With my soul, I mean," the jester corrected himself.
"Please ignore all of my soul's ramblings."
Taranza was confused by this. "Hah?"
Marx hummed. "My soul is a bit crazy in there. I should say that the last time my… true self came out, I was split in two and basically, uh, I died, so…"
Marx had no idea why he spurted that out. But then again, he couldn't cry over spilt milk.
"So cool!" Taranza eyes gleamed in the moonlight.
"Eh?" Marx had not expected this reaction at all.
In an overreaction, Taranza went over and gripped Marx's face harshly, causing the jester to yell in pain. "Your tale is amazing! Wow, I've never heard of this before! Please, tell me-"
Taranza then promptly collapsed on the floor, releasing the shocked Marx as the spider tumbled down.
…
"Out of line."
Marx was displeased at his soul's interference. That was certainly not the first impression he wanted to make.
"Yeah, yeah, sorry. Got a little excited there," his soul cheekily replied.
Taranza held a hand up to his face. "Can you not do that again without informing me? I woke up watching myself act like… well, not me."
His soul laughed, shedding a few friendly tears. "It's what I have to do sometimes, get a good laugh in, alright?" the soul choked out.
"Okay, okay, let me just regain control and I'll be off on my way…" Taranza slowly slipped away, leaving a hacking reflection of him behind.
"Never gets old. Maybe I'll try again next time."
…
Marx looked worryingly at the spider. Was he insane? He looked visibly insane when he talked to him. What was up with that?
The arachnid rose from the floor as Marx watched in confusion. The next line he spouted out wasn't what he expected.
"Darned soul, I swear…" Taranza mumbled. The spider then turned to Marx and stood up, clearly with a different behaviour. "Let's start over, shall we? The name's Taranza, and what you just saw just now was my soul."
Soul. Right. The one word which caused him nightmares. "Ah, uh…?" Marx didn't know how to handle this situation. Clearly, the spider was pissed. Is he actually insane?
Marx shook the thought off his head. Taranza's expression changed again. "Right, so… you are?"
"Marx. Nice meeting you." Taranza chuckled. "Alright, now that introductions are out of the way, I'll excuse myself now…" Taranza slipped out of the room, leaving Marx alone. "Weird guy," the jester mumbled, trying to sleep it off.
Taranza, having exited the room, stretched his hands and hobbled off to his own temporary dwelling. Entering his own room, the spider opened the room's windows, allowing the fresh night air to flow in.
Taranza hopped on the bed, and within seconds, was snoring away.
Back in present day, the morning brought many troubles, including a massive army outside the castle.
Flamberge took a deep breath. Not a good day, especially with the mission. She breathed in and out. She needed to remain unseen, unnoticed.
Preparing herself for what's to come, Flamberge raced down the fifth floor, searching. Francisca's extraction was key here.
Across the hallway was Magolor. Flamberge stopped herself as she hid. Magolor was there. Oh, how she wished there was a distraction.
A mass of black flew up the fifth floor and crashed through the hallway's windows. Multiple creatures of similar stature soon followed. Magolor, who began to worry, shot off a ball of shadow and ran for his life, popping his teleport right to the ship mid-run. Flamberge pumped her fists in the air.
Flamberge allowed herself to smile at the convenient black goo. Pointing her finger, the fire mage directed the monsters into where Francisca should be right now. They needed her alive. She was her sister, after all.
One of the black goop stumbled to her, jiggling for directions. Irritated, Flamberge slapped the offending creature and shot her hands off to the door where their target is (hopefully) asleep.
No mistakes needed to be made. Pleased with the consistency of her stealth, Flamberge walked up to a room and checked. She promptly ran soon after, disappearing off into the door's right, just in case.
After multiple room checks, Flamberge became frustrated. She could not locate Francisca at all; not even a peep or a sound from her sister came. Isn't she in danger from these natives? Annoyed, she left the castle, thinking that they must've hid her sister somewhere. It wouldn't matter if she found her or not, anyway. They were going to bring back Termina soon, and her search would have to wait. As much as she hated it, Termina's resurrection had been top priority. That, she could not ignore.
In reality…
…
Kirby woke up groggily as the puffball felt something consuming his foot. A quick glance proved that it was something dark. Kirby was off to sleep again.
Hold on, that wasn't right. Kirby checked again, and this time was when the pink ball had panicked badly. Kirby let out a horrendous scream, waking up the rest of his comrades who had fallen asleep in the same room that night.
"Wazzuh? Wha- AIEEEEEEEEEEE-"
Coo flapped before looking up and saw that they were creeping up on the ceiling, too.
Rick responded by torching the thing alive, while Kine simply hopped on to Rick and didn't let go for fear of death. Oddly enough, the only one who got ignored by the creatures was Francisca, as she woke from her slumber amongst her new friends.
"Uh… Eh?" Francisca woke with a groggy start. Matter was everywhere. "Why is there… black goop, ahaha?" she confusingly laughed, still half-asleep.
"Ehe, play with me!" Francisca brazenly approached the miniature dark matters and hugged it directly, causing it to disappear upon touch. Francisca laughed again. "Hide and seek? Sure, my sister always played that… The shadows never catch her, ah…"
Francisca collapsed. Kirby, who was by then was swallowing the beast and shooting it out had himself preoccupied by the amount of things he had to check. Speaking of which, Francisca half mentioned something something 'sister' in her rambling. Could one of them be the cause in the hellhole?
Kirby perused the line of thought, giving it some time before cutting the line of thought and moved it directly to the point where the problem lay.
Who sent these monstrosities?
Kirby sent a look at the downed black sludge and paced around the room, thinking, before deciding to carry Francisca off to a safe place. Priorities.
Hiding Francisca under the bed, Kirby shot off into the night, fully intending to investigate why.
Hyness sent Jambastion off to Dreamland, speeding off to the star-shaped planet in order to enact the other part of the plan. Bored of multiple escapes and the lack of fun, the cultist had turned its sights on the planet directly.
Landing on the planet, Hyness cackled a quick "Kekeke." and began the next step. Waiting for the correct time of day, as the troops weren't going to be in top condition at night.
Thus, Hyness waited.
...
Hyness had run out of patience. The patience meter the cult leader had was wasted on both the trip here and the invasion of the planet itself. It was now morning, at least. Hyness decreed an order, to nobody in particular. "Mobilize, our troops-ke, our star-spangled-"
Hyness was cut off right there when alarms began blaring. Someone somewhere had breached the castle. And the cultist is going to make whoever it is pay. Hyness looked around for Zan Partizanne. "You guard the place. I going to kill, hunt for our lord; yet I cry for them all!" An unclear order spouted out of Hyness, but Zan Partizanne got the gist of it. "Right away! On guard I be! Right."
Hyness nodded, head shaking erratically as his nods eventually became crazed, spinning in all directions. In a sickening crack, Hyness abruptly stops and heads out the antechamber, leaving Zan Partizanne on guard. The cultist had to guard the spectator. Couldn't leave him free, after all.
Jambastion was on alert as Magolor and Taranza infiltrated the base. Magolor, who was careful enough to sneak around the place, filled with enemies, managed himself through a series of levitations. On the other hand, Taranza leapt across his webs to wherever Magolor would go. Together, they both crossed into the inside of the bastille.
Magolor, feeling lonely, decided to engage in some small talk with Taranza. "Hey, so, it's about time we talked things out, yeah? What'd you want to do after this whole ordeal is over?"
Taranza pondered that for a bit, before responding, "Yeah, maybe I'll go back to my house and settle down."
Magolor's interest was piqued now. "Oh really? I didn't know you were that type of guy." Taranza laughed. "Of course I am! I'm just repaying my debt to Kirby, after all! Not a big fan of adventures in the first place. Come on, you could tell, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, of course I can," Magolor waved it off.
Magolor turned his attention back to the hallways they were pacing in, with an eerie silence ringing across it all.
It was, in fact, too silent. Magolor slowly nudged Taranza, who turned and looked at him. "Eh?" the spider questioned.
"It's too quiet. I've got a bad feeling about this," the magician confided. Turning a corner, the two snuck around it, expecting company.
What greeted them was a pink ball, slightly hurt but still standing just fine. Kirby.
His heart leapt out of his chest as Magolor stumbled back before casting a spell. Magolor fired it on reflex, nearly hitting Kirby as the pink ball dashed out of the way. Taranza, ignorant of the situation, simply waved at the panicked Kirby.
"Hey hey! You're here! That's great! I was hoping for some extra support," Taranza cheerfully greeted.
Calming down, Magolor apologised (which Kirby accepted) and moved on. "So, what's the situation?"
"Room's clear. We're heading to what I think is the main room now. It's a main room when there's a big bad door blocking the way, right?" Magolor chuckled at that. "O' course it is! It's been the staple of grand designs since forever. Though, you may want to ask King Dedede about that one."
"Aah, you might be correct. Oh well, we're too deep in this," Kirby gestured around himself, "to back out now."
"True, true. So! Let's move, then?" Taranza tried to get the group moving. Nodding, Magolor followed Kirby, who was eagerly showing them the path to the door.
That was exactly when Taranza popped his seemingly innocent question in mind.
"You know, I've been thinking." The spider stopped in his tracks. His head hung down, as if in shame.
Magolor turned around to look at Taranza- no, his friend. Magolor turned around to look at his friend. Kirby, curious as to what the spider had to say, simply commented. "What've you been thinking? The strategy of battle already?"
What came next shocked them both.
With an earnest smile, Taranza told it all.
"Hyness has some really good ideas! The prospect of a god!" Taranza swung his hands open, smiling devilishly. "A god, one which will unite the world under his reign!"
Taranza looked at both Magolor and Kirby.
"Termina! He is the one who will reign over the universe! And I worship him, of course. Since you're both opposing him, I suppose I must eliminate you both now. What a pity." Taranza hoarsely laughed. It was a sad laugh.
"I was never your friend. You were simply a means to an end. And now, goodbye." By that sentence, a ball of shadow was flying to Taranza's face, Magolor stricken and half-crying at the hell he was witnessing. It was a complete 180.
Is Taranza secretly… with them?
Shaking the thought off his head, Magolor back off slightly. Taranza, unamused and still standing, simply chuckled.
"What a waste of life."
Ten pillars of light shot up from the ground below. Catching the two off guard, Tarana pulled his last move. "I will be joining Termina at last! I'll be rid of this mess!"
Ten hot plasma-filled pillars bombed the hallway catching Magolor and Kirby in them. It left a smoking Magolor and a further weathered-down Kirby, now actually looking hurt. Magolor screamed in the air. "Why!? Why now!? Why, at this crucial moment, do you want to do this?"
Magolor gripped his hood. "I thought we were friends!"
Taranza snickered. "Haven't I already explained it to you? You're a means to the end. Termina will be revived. And I will follow the strongest player in this game. Not you." The arachnid's grin turned wider as Magolor looked despairingly at the sudden turnaround.
Kirby shouted. "We'll just have to take you down, then!" Kirby shivered in place, looking worried he hadn't actually fought Tarana before, and yet he usually would have full confidence against someone of his stature like this. This unnerve he was feeling… It reminded him of a terrible, terrible fight.
Zero Two.
The white, bloody eye had been the topic of nightmares for days even for the hero of Dreamland, cursing the pink ball wherever he ventured in his sleep.
This act of fear was noticed by Taranza. "Oho? The great Kirby, afraid? I didn't expect this, truly."
"We'll just take ya' down, then!" Magolor announced. In a swish of motion, Magolor threw away his scarf and revealed his weapon
"Interesting, child of the dark. Interesting."
Magolor had an eye for a mouth. He began to fall back, about to hit the ground, when his other eye started wiggling about in its socket. Magolor parted with the one horrified Kirby and one amused spider. "I'll let you handle it from here."
His eye rolled, as the soul surfaced. "Sure. Will do."
The magician's soul smirked, as his body lay midair in an awkward position. Magolor…? laughed, as he turned into Soul Magolor. "Finally, no restrictions. The power; oooo! The Master Crown did me well. Except the shit mental stuff, oh, none of that.
His mouth (eye?) smiled, his eye twisting in its socket. Magolor Soul turned to Kirby. "Hey. It's me again. The one you sliced with a goddamn sword."
Magolor sent the puffball a calming expression with it's eye. "Don't worry. I'm on a side now. It's been more fun than you can imagine. Let's get it started, shall we?"
Kirby, knocked out of his stupor, nodded and readied himself. It was crazy, but it was up to his levels of crazy. Putting the thought of the disgusting monster aside, Kirby moved into a stance.
Taranza, who calmly waited for his opponents to be done, smiled. "As he's said, we'll get it started."
Another round of plasma blasted out of the floor again. Soul however, had a different tactic. Black mist was billowing out of his eye, encapsulating the area. Taranza stopped smirking.
After a few seconds of pitch black, Kirby's vision cleared. Undamaged, the puffball stood in confusion as Tarana lost his cool and started to burst out incoherent words.
Magolor and Kirby weren't damaged at all. The magician had devised a counter. "Not so smug are you now, huh?" Soul taunted.
"Oh boy."
Taranza blanched, and sent a barrage of light bullets to the two, officially starting off their battle.
King Dedede surveyed the damage. He had already sent out the better part of his army to negate most of the forces currently rampaging in his castle. Drinking a cup of tea, the king had a serious face on as he picked up his hammer.
What was a king if they didn't participate in war once in a while? Dedede knew this well, after antagonizing a lot of people in his country. It took him a year to solve most of the hell he brought on himself, a war he partook in himself. Now, he was off to war with the big bad. Not an ideal pick, but the king couldn't complain.
His hammer ready, the king stormed off to help defend the castle against the heavy troops of Jambastion.
Elsewhere, Susie picked up her gun. No way in hell was she going to leave the situation alone. She was proud to engage in business, and there is no business if the other party is gone. So, for her safety and her business partner, she was going to have to shoot a couple of rounds into the troops below.
Marx himself was off sleeping. He was a heavy sleeper. In contrast, Rick, Kine, and Coo were defending themselves against a storm of black goo creatures, blasting (and sometimes accidentally hitting the walls with one of their attacks) them with their normal elements.
Francisca was unconscious under a bed. Nobody bothered the young mage. Nobody at all. It was just a black, dark entity, who watched her as she lay on the floor. The entity had hid inside of her and was now ready to rampage the castle from the inside. Termina's orders had always been vague, but the entity shrugged it off. It was commonplace in this day and age after the defeat of Zero Two. Now, another Zero will be built, starting from square one. The entity readied itself, as it called to all shadows, all of the same. They will restart again, after the death of Zero and Zero Two.
Always, from Zero.
AN: And the story continues! Here's where it begins to head to the deep end.
There are interesting situations I'd like to put the character through. We've had a lot of boring things; now here's the fun stuff! The next chapter will contain an extra, and after that we'll be back with our main show. Back on track again!
Anyways, thanks for reading, and I bid you all adieu. Here's to the next one!
Guest (inchwyrm): Indeed! A reunion at last, eh? Happy or not, the plot goes on!
…?
Confusing, confusing. Confusion.
Everything was happening while Magolor and Kirby faced off against Taranza. But somewhere else at the same time, there exists another Taranza. And this Taranza doesn't seem too happy.
I wonder. Why so? Chuckling to myself, at the sight of battle, I lift up and up. It was time to make my visit.
…
An orange butterfly left the scene.
There was ground. The ground was lifeless; without life, as Taranza froze in place.
"A premonition, yes?"
A black void was not what Taranza expected when he woke up in the dream world. Something's off. It's cold.
The warm sun his dreams usually had was now nonexistent, vanishing into nothing as the blackened landscape proved to be a depressing atmosphere for him.
In front of him was a person; no, a being, one radiating an aura of malevolence that Taranza shivered upon casting his eyes on the creature.
"A premonition, yes?" the being repeated, cocking his head..? The being doesn't even have a head. It had a mask, somewhat similar to a crow's face. It's body (if you could call it one) was a black, red, and purple mess, all coalescing into a swirl of color as it's stubby, feathered hands crossed, suddenly swung apart like that of a madman, cackling.
It laughed. And it laughed. And it laughed. In a 180 turn, the being stopped laughing. Taranza stood there frozen, unable to comprehend what was even in front of him.
"Excuse me, my son. I am one of dark malice, the progenitor, the god. Termina. And you, my son, have a role to play." The being; Termina; smiled, with a smile so wide it expanded up to the sides of his mask. "The role to die."
It went on a tantrum. "YOU MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO LIVE! YOU ARE A WORTHLESS CRETIN, ONE WHICH THE WORLD HAS TURNED ITS BACK UPON! And what would your love say, should she still be alive? A useless piece of shit, I'd say," the being explained mockingly, from mad to calm, from itself to a mirror image of Sectonia, half flower and half covered in the same substance the original creature was.
Taranza widened his eyes. This was a nightmare, right? It isn't logical… Sectonia was dead. She was dead. I helped in killing her.
In an act of bravado, Taranza shot a cluster of light attacks at the self-proclaimed god. The being raised it's hand to counter it. Taranza, seeing this, swung up to him to deliver a blow. He shot web at the being, to restrict his movements. With it all set up, he can't miss.
And yet he did. His fist phased right through, as Taranza bellowed out a cry and followed it up with another light attack.
No matter how much he threw at the monster, nothing connected. Not one attack hit the so-called god. "Are you quite done, my child?" he asked, like some loving, doting father.
Taranza wasn't one to take the question in a kind way. Thus, he charged the being. Ranged attacks didn't work, so melee had to be the way, right?
The next second was agony. The creature retaliated, fisting Taranza to the ground with a crash, bits of the dreamworld cracking under the immense pressure. Taranza fell to the ground, his eyes bloodshot as he looked at the being. It all happened in slow-motion.
Blood. Taranza screamed. The pain was instant, and like a bomb, it spread out, as his… his-
His lower abdomen was no more, crushed into pulp with one swing of the giant's fists, as pain comes rolling in, Taranza tearing up at the pain, the pain, the pain pain pain pain pain pain-
It wasn't a dream. None of this feels like a dream.
The spider let out a yell, a shriek, anything to keep his mind off the damage. Would he be crippled for life? The question never made it to Taranza's head, as he processed everything and anything in a panic. The arachnid was hyperventilating, his breaths ragged and off the beat, his eyes swinging from side to side looking at his would be murderer.
It wasn't a dream-
"You you you you you youaaaaa-" Not even a coherent sentence could be formed as Taranza once again yelled to the nonexistent sky of the dream world, of the nightmare world he was in.
The creature backed up, not with fear, but with amusement. "As the child of light, I would suspect that you would resist and persist more… perhaps I was wrong." The being started to dance. "Oh! How I enjoy your malice, your hatred for me, those emotions, the hate-"
He stopped abruptly. "It seems our time is up. My battalion is here. And you, my child, shall fight against it. Oh, how I would revel at the sight of your blood dripping down from you… as your hate drips down to the person who killed you. I must say, I enjoyed this quite a lot. And thus I bid you goodbye." Termina had a sickeningly sweet smile as he approached the spider.
Taranza could only sniffle as the creature raised his foot, right above his head, and plopped it down right on top. 'Squish' wasn't even a good word to describe it. It felt like a migraine at first, but then you notice your eyeballs popping out, as your head became a mess of blood and gore, leaving your body all alone-
…
Taranza awoke in a panic. His heart rate skyrocketed, as his surroundings looked off. He wasn't in the castle anymore. With that, Hyness stepped in, greeting him.
"Welcome to Jambastion! How may I serve you, dear customer? I have hearts, dark hearts, and lots of love, love, love, love, love!"
"So, how may I help you? Ke?"
If anything, the small piece of acted sanity simply unnerved the spider even further. It took him a while to even notice the bindings around him.
"Oi, shut up!" the spider yelled.
"Kekekeke. My god, Termina, has blessed, blessed the world! And I ruin it for him, yes? What a great and loyal follower, yes!?" Hyness gripped the sides of Taranza's head. With strength, the cultist began shaking it back and forth. "You and you and me! Are going to have some fun. Fun, fun, fun, fun, kekekekeke!"
Things didn't look so good now.