Star's Allies

Chapter 22 - Definite Devotion

They flip-flopped between avoiding and firing at this… new Marx, as the Lor Starcutter gracefully danced their way across the bullet hell that was incoming.

"Aw, shi-"

A slice of energy pierced through, sending mayday alarms across the Lor.

"We're trying to get away here! Right!?"

"NO!" Magolor bombarded. "We are taking him down, and then we'll get away!"

Another barrel roll was performed, and everything flipped.

"Oi, you're insane! Your piloting skills are wack!" Partizanne complained.

"My piloting skills is what's keeping us alive right now, and I'd apprec-"

"Focus on the damn wheel!" Taranza hollered, as another slice narrowly missed them.

"Ah, uh- yeah."

The Lor Starcutter circled the merged being, as it opened fire on the now swerving Marx.

"We're shooting at Marx?"

"Yeah, Kirbs; that's kinda the main thing here that we've been doing the past few minutes," Taranza remarked.

"That's kind of blunt," Francisca added.

"Ehhh, we've got it all covered. Marx'll be fine!"

And the ship went to another barrel roll, sending all of its occupants tumbling all over.

"Magolor! Keep it steady!"

"Do you want me to dodge or not!?"

The ship took another hit.

"Piece of s-" Magolor started. "YEAH, WE GET IT, DODGE ALREADY!" Taranza frantically yelled out.

Lor Starcutter dove down, avoiding a horizontal swipe, as the blades went vertical a few seconds later, causing Magolor to yank it hard to the left, as he fired down on a small and fast moving target.

It wasn't exactly easy, per se.

Taranza webbed his foot to the control room floor to stay stable. A few moments passed, and the ship rolled again.

"Hey, Magolor! Want some easy stick-ons?"

"What are stick-ons?" The focused Magolor asked.

"This!" Taranza cheerfully shot out, webbing Magolor's body to the control deck.

"Oh, thanks. THIS ISN'T USEFUL AT ALL!"

Taranza took offense to that.

"Are you insulting my prowess at web making? This calls for-"

Kirby was decidedly done and kicked Taranza. "Kirby! Why did you turn against me!?"

"Can we not fight right now-" Kirby said, halfway, before flipping over due to the 'dodging' ship.

Morpho Marx chose that time to shoot out a great spell of attacks.

Golden orbs began flying around, all in a beautiful yet deadly pattern. It specifically formed a giant butterfly, with extra orbs here and there, forming mini flowers.

The orbs rushed for the Lor.

"Aw, cripes!"

"Why... can't we just dodge them all? It's must be really easy for you, as I, the great Partizanne, can tell!" Partizanne helpfully added, changing tone midway through.

"...sister, I am very sure that Magolor can dodge them all… not."

Francisca sighed as her two sisters bantered.

"Oi! Have some faith in me, would ya'? I'm tryin' to-"

"Focus!" Kirby commanded, as a flurry of slow moving diamonds flew in a circular pattern, all over the ship and everywhere else.

"Yeah, what he said!"

"Taranza, I need you to help me here. Can you?" Magolor asked of the spider.

The arachnid nodded. "Of course! Anytime; so, what am I doing again? I don't know how to operate all your thingamabobs and doohickeys and whatchamacallits and whatever else you name your appliances."

"Help me watch for Marx over there," Magolor pointed to a big screen on his right, "so that I can get this done faster."

"Ready, chief!"

"Don't call me chief!" Magolor responded.

"Okay, boss!"

Magolor sighed. "Don't call me boss, either!"

Another barrel roll was implemented against Marx, as the flying jester now shot a glamorous yet dangerous pattern of flowers, with himself as the focal point. To an observer looking from above this might even be considered gorgeous. To the people in the Lor…

"H-how many more has he got!? I can't dodge forever!"

"How many times-" Flamberge started, before being interrupted by-

"YES! YES!"

And Magolor threw the switch, firing back in the small time frame between each sequence of attacks.

"Kirby, you still with us?" Magolor asked.

"Being thrown around isn't really what I do, but yeah, I am," Kirby acknowledged the question.

"Great," Taranza muttered. "He's finally come to his senses."

The spider took a cursory glance at the puffball. He was shivering.

Kirby's eyes tell it all. "...Nevermind."

"How much longer, Magolor?" Partizanne zapped out.

"Egh, I don't know-"

Alarms blared as a bullet shot through, the control room.

"FOCUS!"

"Then stop asking me questions!" Magolor retorted.

Flamberge laughed. "He's got a fair point."

Taranza chuckled, as he oversaw how bad the situation is right now.

One very angry pseudo-god being is currently pummeling them down.

That isn't really on his agenda.

"...Magolor, you mind if I bring the three sisters with me out there?"

"Mate, you've got to be insane. I still need to dodge, you know! You'll go flying off!"

Taranza tapped his foot. "Then tone it down a bit, wouldya? Alright… If you would follow me, ladies?"

"Gentlemanly. Oh; of course. Certainly," Flamberge agreed.

Magolor sighed yet again as he looked at the weird guy currently slumped over at the ground. Novus, was it…?

Right, Novus.

Still untrustworthy, in Magolor's opinion.

He really didn't want to get caught up in this god-goddess feud thing.

And especially after the same god came after them twice…

He was starting to get second thoughts about inviting such a sorry lad inside his ship.

Magolor sent the ship tumbling and rolling again as the barrage of bullets continued.

"Oi… augh-"

Magolor turned his head for a moment, and saw Novus, who started to wake up. The ship alarms blared, as the Starcutter took another hit. Another yell of "Focus!" and Magolor was back on commanding the ship to dodge like hell.

"H-hey… you can't just manhandle the ship like that!" Novus protested.

"What do you know about it?" Magolor questioned, half not paying attention.

"I'm the one who made the damn ship, and you're manhandling it."

"What?" Magolor blurted out in surprise. "You're the one who made this ship?"

"Well, I had a hand on it; I'm the one who made the blueprints and wrote the code, yeah; so I definitely made it! All those fools who helped me make it died anyway…"

Magolor shivered for a moment, before Novus approached him. "You see, the ship has a mind of its own. It's just that this one's a quiet one. We programmed it like that. A self-sustaining A.I."

"Huh. This wasn't in the manual," Magolor commented.

"We didn't put it in the manual. It's more of a pilot and vehicle bond, though the artificial intelligence is still there, making decisions on its own. Sure, it lets you have control, but sometimes, it's better to just let the ship move on it's own. I didn't program a voice into it, but I sure as hell made sure there's a mind in there, somewhere."

"Ah, so you're useless?" Taranza snarked.

"Not exactly; in fact, I have contributed the most to the project itself, my ideas being-"

"You get that's sarcasm, yes?" Taranza deadpanned.

"Absolutely not, no," Novus apologetically responded.

"CAN I LAND A DIRECT SHOT, GO-" Magolor started.

Novus took time to inspect how Magolor handled the weapons system.

"...Why are you mashing? You should be holding it down."

"...What?" Magolor stopped.

"Here; ah, god sake; yup, hold it long. Flip this…" Novus flipped a small lever, as a blaring of sounds activated.

"Fire!" Novus commanded, and a star bullet fired across space, aiming for the butterfly.

"You missed," Magolor informed the weird man.

"Wait for it."

A few seconds passed. A few more, wasted.

And then the bullet curved.

"What the hell!? I could'a done that the entire time!?" Magolor said, gobsmacked.

Taranza sighed. "I thought you knew this ship, being the pilot and all."

"This wasn't in the manual, Taranza!"

Novus allowed a smile to himself. "There, easy! Now we kick back and relax!"

The ship immediately got caught in another barrage of fire.

And it nearly hit everything. It did hit a lot of things though.

"Kick back and relax- you're a fool!" Magolor yelled, as more alarms blared after the attack.

"Well, er-"

"We're far from done!" Magolor stated, as he piloted the ship ever closer to Morpho Marx.

A barrage of stars were flung onto them and yet it was dodged beautifully by Magolor, who lifted the ship up and crashed the entire thing on top of Marx.

A howl rang across the field of space, as Magolor quickly got out and turned around, the ship beckoning to his will.

Magolor lifted his hand from the controls, as the ship began to autopilot again.

Marx began to shoot out his bullets in a much more frantic manner, almost at random, as the field began to become covered with bullet hell.

Taranza noted an opening in the seemingly random pattern. "Marx isn't shooting any below us, just lower the ship and dash for it."

The ship acknowledged that advice and ran itself at incredible speeds, as the space closed and Marx was hit with a face full of Lor Starcutter, the mast nailing the butterfly jester.

Kirby winced.

Partizanne looked at the screens. "...Is he okay?"

"After getting smashed by a boat? Probably not. Then again, we did shoot him. A lot."

Flamberge scoffed. "He's Marx; the guy could handle it. Honestly, if he gets back up again, I won't be too surprised."

"Don't forget that Morpho's still in there, too. I can see the similarities," Kirby mentioned. "Damn. You deduced that?" Taranza queried.

"I sorta did, yeah," Kirby commented, slightly proud.

"Wait, really? No wonder I saw butterfly wings."

"Then… Marx is still alive in there!" Kirby said, hopeful.

"Wow. That's sick. Hey, Magolor; what about inviting one more passenger on board?"

"...Magolor?" Francisca started.

Novus stared at the screens.

Magolor stared at the screens.

Kirby turned to truly look at Marx, to see the jester, his wings unfurling, returning to their original shape, before going black, no longer rainbow-colored, as teeny tiny butterflies shone and shimmered out of him, floating everywhere.

"No. That can't be. MARX…!"

Morpho was gone. But Marx was dead.

Kirby turned to Magolor. "Bring him here. Bring him here! He must be still alive! He can't be dead. Sometimes, he does this!"

Magolor did not turn to face the puffball, who now had the beginnings of a few tears.

"Sometimes, he does this. Just; please!"

Francisca turned away.

"P-please…"

Nobody faced Kirby.

They brought the ice-cold body onboard. Marx was not breathing.

It was confirmed; the jester was dead.

Novus began with a sigh. "And here I thought the man who wished to live was dead. And I was true."

Kirby gripped Novus. "Don't act like this is all true. Please, just please…"

Kirby was trying his best to help Marx. To help Marx in continuing to live. To help Marx.

But Marx was not there to recieve or respond to Kirby's pleas. Tears were now freely rolling from Kirby.

"This is too sudden. Too sudden…"

Taranza could only stand in silence as Kirby started to wail.

Francisca was ushered out by her two much more matured sisters.

"Condolences, Kirby," Flamberge hugged the pink ball.

The pink ball was ignorant of the world outside.

Inside was a wreck of a living being.

A person, who he had grown to like again was dead; the mischievous yet likable Marx, gone.

Magolor faced away from Kirby. He knew not to intrude.

An alert distracted him. King Dedede's voice rang through the nearby speaker. "Hey, so, this was Susie's ideah; bu' we've followed ya-"

"Hey, king? Shut up for a minute, will you?" Magolor somberly drawled.

"Hey- wha- Ya' can't ju-"

The speaker was turned off.

A few moments later, it turned back on again. "Magolor. Don't be such a di-"

That was Susie. Magolor immediately muted her.

His friend needed the silence.

Better than anyone, at this time.

Magolor could only pilot the ship closer to their goal.

The key to stop it all.

The original Jamba base.

Kirby started to beg him to at least pick up the body.

Magolor ignored the puffball. They were too close. Too close to the end. Too close to the goal.

Too close.

The mourning only lasted until they had landed on the planet, and even then, the crew was still in a bad mood. Novus didn't even know how to interact with a crew this bad, being the outlier of the group. The newcomer.

Francisca could only comfort Kirby, after being told by both her sisters.

Despite them totally not needing to. She could've handled it.

Despite all that, the group marched on, the body of Marx still on the Lor, as a fellow ship landed as well, with multiple robots climbing out, complete with Susie and King Dedede.

Taranza himself was in a similar mood, though it peaked his interest to see the two climb out. He couldn't keep his mind on the forefront though…

Was all that talk about contenders just a lie?

Morpho had mentioned it was a test.

Marx had died. That wasn't a test. Or was it…?

This was more troublesome than he thought. A particularly nasty theory popped up. Was it a test for Marx or a test for them? And… what about the prophecy? Didn't it need Marx, too?

All this is confusing.

"Your shit stank, rat!"

"Lady, you curse more than a sailor at sea."

Taranza turned his head back at the other group.

Daroach was there.

"What the hell did you say!?"

"Lady; sincerely, piss off."

Taranza smirked. Well, at least someone is on happy terms with this adventure. Daroach definitely smiled there.

"I am not dead."

Taranza froze. He had heard that correctly.

...Did he?

"...What?" the spider mumbled.

"Indeed, the test was for you. The trickster child was doomed to fail from the beginning. You are more important in the long run, child of light."

Taranza scowled. "How dare you say that Marx was unworthy of this. You broke my friend's heart. Into pieces."

"You are more important in the long run. Marx's story was done a long time ago. He had his redemption, and he did it well. He had no qualms."

"You didn't care about him at all, did you?"

Shamelessly, Morpho confirmed that. "No. I did not. It was for the greater good."

"Fuck you, Morpho."

"When will you learn? I saw his thoughts; they were negating your eventual progress. Thus, I took my chances after Andromeda busted her job."

"You gods are one-sided, so blind to us mortals," Taranza stated. "You have no right in deciding the right and wrong."

"What's done is done. Marx walked the path laid out before him. There was nothing else I could do to fix the body of his."

Taranza webbed up the butterfly.

"What's done is done, eh? Pah."

Grabbing the cocoon of web, Taranza smashed it to the ground beneath him, killing the lone butterfly.

"I have eyes everywhere, lives everywhere. You cannot kill me."

"I know. But I sure as hell can do that," Taranza pointed to the dead scout.

"True enough. The power of being a god does not prevent me from that end. In the meantime, however, I really am weak. I need to wait another couple centuries again… A bother."

"You killed a friend of mine. You think that's a bother."

Morpho stopped for a minute, almost stunned.

"...Perhaps we got off on the wrong foot. We higher beings still do have good intentions, however misguided. I am sincerely sorry for your loss."

"Ha! Go be sincere in hell. You're a terrible person, to have done such a thing in the first place," Taranza spat.

"I seek challengers. I do not know if they will pass or not, but challenge them I will. It is in my nature to do so. I cannot help it."

"Curb your nature, then. Leave me be now; or, you can apologize at all the others. I'm sure you get one hell of a beating," Taranza sneered.

A sigh came from the deity.

"Well enough. I owe it. Without a proper body or host, I really am retired here, at least until the next regeneration. I'll head to them."

"Good. Fuck off, will you?"

A certain jester watched this all happen. He smiled, and a second later, he was gone from all prying eyes.

Black.

Darkness, seeping all around.

Black.

The dirty, dirty colour, crawling from within, trying to be free.

Kirby was in shock.

Inner turmoil, roiled and roiled.

Kirby was having a panic attack.

No. Marx is not dead. I didn't fail a third time…!

No.

No.

No.

No!

NO!

NO!

Kirby's eyes were glazed over. GGlazed glazed over, like a dead man walking, hope glistening, but waning, as the utter fool that was the Kirby a second ago disappeared.

In its place was a mess; truly, a mess, even reaching the state of his mind before-

No.

It surpassed it; truly a breakdown from one of the legendary heroes and protectors of Dreamland.

It hurt so much to see failure.

To see costly mistakes.

After consecutive successes, the first failure hurt.

The second nearly tore his heart out. The third ripped it out completely.

The shining, pink heart, was beating, beating, beating.

Beating, with a slow tock here and there, so heavy on his chest.

Heavy, heavy, heavy.

All the weight pushed him down deeper.

Kirby peered out of his eyes.

The world seemed so small. Unimportant.

And yet the sounds of the beating heart persisted. Calls and responses never reached the puffball, unresponsive as everything remained black.

Blotched to hell, black was the new colour of choice inside. The heart was the only unaffected piece left, the one not strung upon the intricate stage of the world.

It floated there helplessly, yet with tranquility, as it bobbed up and down according to the ticks and tocks of Kirby's own heart.

Everything became closer. Close, close…

The walls shrunk some more. Definitely closer.

The eyes, enlarging, bigger and better-

And presto; Kirby was there.

Unresponsive, helpless, stranded in this hell of a void, running for who knows what and feeling like they should go off themselves.

But Kirby was long gone, long, long gone.

"A pitiful fool."

The voice, calm and collected. Yet it rang like mad, like bells; strung across the entire world.

The bird made its descent, ever closer to the nonexistence.

"A failure of creation. To think, the amount of sense in this…"

"UNACCEPTABLE!" it roared, as its claws grew, Kirby still running and screaming. No way was he going to inhale that. There was no conceivable way to beat that.

It all ticked and tocked, and everything was gone.

The black remained, as it always was. Something, however, was new.

A white being, splotched in this inky sea of darkness.

Mesmerizing, to say the least.

Kirby stopped running. Turned, to face the creature.

It had a face. Two ovals, one circle.

Eerily similar to Kirby's own.

Two hearts appeared. One pink, the other purple.

Now, all together now.

Two purple, two beings.

…

"Kirby's not responding…!" Francisca increasingly panicked. The puffball had fallen on the planet's ground. Fallen; and he can't get up. Lost, from the telltale sights in his eyes.

"...Shit. Quick, we need to head to the base. There must be something of value there!" Magolor stated.

"There isn't… actually," Francisca added, despairingly.

"Ah. Well, we've come this far. If we back down now, it'll all be for naught," Magolor pressed on.

Francisca looked at Magolor like he was insane, suggesting such an idea. "Kirby's injured in the head here, and you're planning to leave it be? What if it's serious!?"

"Sister-"

"None of that! I don't want to hear it!"

Taranza sighed. "You know, we better get moving. I'm sorry, but it's for the better."

"Did I catch you all on a bad time?" Morpho intruded.

Zan Partizanne instantly went alert. "WHERE ARE YOU!? I want to stab this spear of mine… maybe not… but still YES!"

"I am but a voice, the figment of the deity," Morpho responded. He took a cursory glance of the situation, and immediately blanched. "Bad timing. I should leave."

Taranza tsked. "And to think you nearly apologized. I would like to still hear that, please."

Some people in the group turned to face Taranza.

It was then that King Dedede caught up to them. "Ey, sorry I'm supah late. Been tryin' ta' do something wit' crazy gal over ther'."

It was also then that Dedede caught sight of the haunted looks. "H-hey, what's wit' all the faces? Can't I- wait, why did ya' hang up on me? Was it my sexy voice?"

Flamberge curtly and sharply quipped, "Sincerely, bugger off."

"Bah, tough crowd."

"Shut up and go, dammit!" Taranza jeered.

"Okay, fine- jeez."

King Dedede somberly walked away, wondering what could've gotten all of them in such a bad mood.

"Back to the topic at hand: We're too close to the goal to go back off now," Magolor prompted.

"You could've been more empathetic to Kirby, you know! You're… you're…" Francisca argued.

Magolor backed off. He didn't know how to handle this. Put on a show and run with it, or…

Taranza glanced at him. A signal of support.

Flamberge, meanwhile, inched closer to her sister.

This… tension, wasn't something they needed now.

They were so close to the end goal. To off the big bad and go home.

But now…. why were emotions getting in the way…?

Magolor squeezed his hand. With an ebb of a smile, he walked past Francisca and to the base's insides.

That mask soon cracked, as he heavily shivered and shook, on the hinges of his wits as Taranza held back the feisty red mage from blasting him to bits.

As Magolor walked off, another ship descended down into the atmosphere.

Meta Knight's battalion was here. on the decks of the flying ship, was the ruins of the Squeak Squad's ship.

...All this was not part of the plan at all, but the help from all the people gathered on the planet might just be of help.

Taranza had his hands full holding a pissed off Flamberge back, as well as preventing a crying Francisca from continuing to cry.

It did not work out for him.

Instead, Flamberge grabbed onto him, and dragged him off.

"An odd sight, hm?" Susie commented, watching the fiasco roll out.

"Yeh, well, in our cases, everythin's an odd sigh' at this poin'."

The whirring of machinery came from above them, as Susie and Dedede watched on.

"And to think they botched their own ship and still brought it anyway."

The Squeak Squad's ship was not in a presentable state. The wood had broken off, not only at important joints but also everywhere else.

Most importantly, is the amount of nagging the Squeak Squad did to bring the whole ship with them.

"The firs' pirates in the black sea, o' course I want to get my ship there!" Daroach had said at the time.

Ten hours later and a load of fixes, they had turned their own ship into a space vessel...

Which completely failed as a strong wind wrecked their entire boat.

It was just an average wind, too, and yet that was enough to topple the vessel.

Daroach was understandably mad at it, though he quickly got work on a second vessel.

The mouse captain was certainly an eccentric one, trying to build a ship with scrap.

The second try was even more painful. With an approach in explosives this time, they had essentially created a massive firework; of which was detonated within minutes and blew a hole straight in the castle courtyard.

Nevertheless, they packed the first ship and left for space with Susie's corporation.

Not exactly a sweet gondola ride like Susie had hoped.

The amount of chattering in the whole place was annoying enough, but multiply that by two and you've got twice an annoyance.

She didn't even get a wink of sleep last night, what's with the party hosted in the kitchen.

Susie groaned, naturally.

"Ah, honestly, I think we're goin' to be just fine," Dedede reassured her.

"With a whole gang of misfits like this, are you quite sure?"

"Absolutely not, Susie! No, instead we'll just have to rely on each other."

Susie started to walk off in her own pace, parting with an insult. "You're irredeemable, Dedede."

"Hey- wha' was all tha' for! Wait, come back-"

Meta Knight glanced at the situation from the upper balconies of his ship, shrugged and went downwards to exit. Galacta Knight did the same. Part of their training, duel, and subsequent fight was on the planet, after all. Who would deny the landscape?

Novus simply remained in a stillshock, unable to comprehend the group dynamics, being a latecomer to the party.

The sisters were tense, with one on the fringes of worry.

Daroach readied his squad and pushed onward.

All of them had different reasons being here. Some to help, others for their own interests. In the end, everyone was there, hands ready and feet walking towards the big great bastille.

Morpho Marx, Parasitic Tribulation

This Marx had been overtaken by Morpho, who wanted a good challenge, setting up a trial for our heroes in the form of a borrowed body, modified to its will. Unfortunately, the body itself seemed to have deceased, which poses multiple questions to our heroes…

On the conditions of this so-called deity, or the morals it abides by. Nevertheless, it is the final frontier, before our multiple heroes reach the zenith of their adventure.

AN: Writing this was a major pain.

I'm sorry for the wait, but writing that Marx battle was painful in more ways than one. It certainly drawled on, and it didn't help that I didn't quite know how to exactly write such a scene, mainly due to the unfamiliarity of the ship's capabilities, other than some copy and paste attacks from Return to Dreamland.

Then again, most of this fanfic had been nothing but improvisation and a jumble of ideas, so I'm not too surprised.

With that, I'd like to part with a good luck and a goodbye. Here's to the next one!