Star's Allies
Chapter 23 - Absolute Arrival
Magolor dove right into the building. Most of it clearly abandoned, it was crystal clear that the enemy was behind all this.
Francisca helped to shuffle Kirby along as the group traversed on with the ruined hallways.
Partizanne especially proved to be an extremely useful guide.
"I am the ONE! That knows most of the facility from top to bottom, you see. Experience the wonderful Partizanne, the glory of her knowledge!"
Well, maybe not that useful.
Still, they pressed on, with Taranza on guard in case something popped up. Technically, he was the only one to show it on the outside. In truth, all of their nerves were ready and prepared. They had anticipated an enemy somewhere within; it was simply too natural, what's with the layout and the chase beforehand.
"It's… silent," Francisca remarked.
Taranza responded with a mumbled "Mhm."
"It's… waaaay too silent… sis…?"
Flamberge, feeling her hand tugged on, looked at Francisca.
"I feel like something bad happened here," the ice mage told her.
Flamberge sighed. "No worries, Fran. All will be well in the end."
RUMBLE
And a beat profoundly strong bursts through the walls.
This… strange beat continued, in a systematic manner, quite literally to a beat.
Magolor tensed. "Get ready, yeah? I think it's close."
Taranza laughed. "You think? It's definitely waiting for us, for sure. Why is there the possibility of not encountering the giant monster?"
"I'm trying to not get us jinxed by Mother Luck here-"
The ceiling broke apart, as the rumbling intensified.
"See? I told you!"
Magolor continued to berate Taranza, whilst the other group tried to catch up with them, their pants of fatigue sounding resoundly across the facility, beaten only by the giant beats circulating around the air.
THUMP
THUMP
The beats never ceased. Truly, it was a wonder, as it steadily hummed across the facility.
The group had approached a door, one especially close to crumbling. It was a grand door, seemingly towering over all of them, adorned with the symbol of Jamba. Royal red and gold covered the edges, as pink tinted the centre of the grand entrance.
Behind Taranza, King Dedede ran up to them, Susie sighing as they caught up.
"Hey; haaaaaaaah- we finally caugh' up to you guys…"
Taranza turned around, his hands twitching from nervousness. "Good to meet you here. We should regroup before we head in," he whispered.
Susie gave a stare at the king before entertaining herself by watching the small talk rush over the entire group. The few robots she had taken with her will help. The mecha they carried will be especially useful to her. The Mark 4 should do well.
Meta Knight jogged up to them, as Galacta readied his lance. "Ah, to see the glory of battle. What a wonderful sight it will be," Galacta Knight mused.
"There's no more time to be a-wasting, I think. We should head on in," Meta Knight offered.
"No, wait- we're missing someone," Magolor mumbled.
"...boss, you sure you're heading in there with 'em?"
The faint mumbling from the pirates a corridor away was present.
"Course I am! Pirates' honour," Daroach chuckled.
They presumably turned the corner, and Daroach was there, with his crew the last to arrive.
Magolor smiled. "Well, we're all here now."
"And you're quite sure we're not missing someone? I could be missing, you know," Taranza snarked.
"...But you're here."
Taranza had to facepalm on that one. Sometimes, the jovial mage did not get the sense of humor he was exuding.
Truly, must it be-
The door creaked open. The sound chilled Francisca to the bone, noticeable by her shivering and discomfort due to shock.
Zan Partizanne held her sisters close.
Magolor took a leading step forward, as the others followed. "We're seriously doing this?" Taranza questioned.
"Definitely. No reason to turn back now."
The room they entered was a circular one, the road winding till the centre, a shadow of a being standing in the middle.
The room was particularly big, and any attacks prematurely fired would be noticed immediately.
They took small steps, as they snuck around and around the circular room.
Their footsteps light and their breaths caught silently, the large group slowly made their way up the spiralling platform, up a massive 'core' of sorts, a giant pink heart, glowing ever so slightly as it floated, suspended by invisible forces from the ceiling and the floor, as it thumped, thumped, thumped.
"Well, if that ain't scary, I don't know what was," Taranza remarked.
Kirby's eyes glistened over the soft light emitted by the heart. They still look unfavourable to the outside world.
Francisca went to try and grasp it. Partizanne immediately gripped her hand. "No, take caution," she said.
Francisca lowered her hand and backed off.
Kirby hobbled along with her, as his reclusiveness shined along with the pink, giant heart.
Magolor contemplated. "Hmm. Well, I suppose the only way to do this would be to destroy it then, hm?"
"I'll 'ave a piece of tha'!" King Dedede volunteered, swinging his giant mallet to and fro, as he built up momentum.
Within seconds, a flying hammer was brought down upon the heart, a resounding squelch booming from the impact.
King Dedede pulled his mallet away from the eldritch abomination, and inspected the damage. "Huh," he mumbled.
There was, infact, no damage at all. It's as if all of it was negated, the hit simply never taking place in the first place.
King Dedede then turned around, smiled like a thousand suns, beaming with joy. "Hey, got any other plans?"
The effect was ruined by a slap courtesy of Susie, who scoffed and sent her hand flying at the penguin's face. "Never take things like this seriously, you…"
She then went on a long tangent, which extended to a couple of minutes as best, with the rest of the group uncomfortably watching this lady ream out a king.
"Aye lass; what the hell," Daroach commented as Susie finally stopped.
"Needed to get that out of my system, see. Anyone else willing to smack that heart to bits?"
A hand rose up. "We will," volunteered the sisters, as three elemental weapons were thrown at the heart.
A clear TING was heard, as the tips hit their mark; and yet it was to no avail, as the heart remained unaffected, the weapons bouncing off and clanking on the ground.
It was notable, that the tips of the weapons no longer had their respective elemental colors.
Flamberge looked at their weapons. "Ah, great. Well-"
The air grew hot, cold, and jittery at the same time, as a blast rang from the heart, blowing out a ring of elemental attacks.
"Duck, duck!" Taranza yelled, as it hit him full force.
The spider was blown back, as the group crowded near the heart were pushed all the way to the base of the spiral slopes.
Some, who were not as near, heeded the advice thoroughly.
"Boss!" one of the mice yelled.
Daroach rolled back to stand, as he responded, "I'm fine! Are any of ye' hurt?"
"Nay, boss!" came the yell from the Squeaks.
"Wonderful!" the captain exclaimed.
"Ahh. Anyone hur' ove' here?" Dedede asked out of goodwill.
"I'm fine. Probably."
Taranza deadpanned. "Mate, you're always fine."
"Finer than my wine," Magolor shot back.
"You don't drink wine!"
"Can't say I can't-"
"What about Kirby? I laid her down as I threw my ice..." Francisca suddenly pressed.
She paled. "Check on Kirby, quick."
"Lady, he'll probably be fine. He's Kirby," Taranza suggested.
"But what if-"
A pink, round ball stood up, his figure clearly seen by those below him.
He stood nearest to the heart.
Taranza exaggeratingly pointed. "See? Fine."
The heart stopped glowing. The sudden chill swept through their bodies.
"Okaaay, might've spoken too soon."
Magolor facepalmed. "Taranza, you and I need to have a long talk about jinxing events like this."
The heart changed colors, as the glowy pink went to just pink to a menacing purple. "Yeeeeaaah, about that talk…"
The heart soon detached from its position, as it flew into Kirby.
A few shouts of Kirby echoed through the facility.
It became prevalent why the shouts turned to screams soon after.
Kirby bloated. Full on bloated, as if he couldn't take another meal. His arms and feet retracted into his body, leaving him in a giant ball-like state. A mask appeared out of nowhere, as feathers flew from all over. Within seconds, a bird came into appearance, with Kirby right inside it. It grew from tiny to small to big to very big, as the head broke through the ceiling.
Accompanied by the sudden transformation was a chilling message.
"Hate. Order."
This one word repeated itself across the room, as all who can see felt true, genuine fear.
"Chaos. Overrule."
This other word became clear after Kirby gained arms and legs, a small robe-like cloth acting like pants, and gold structures pierced straight into his hands, chest, back, and head.
And yet, Kirby still grew. This huge mammoth turned gigantic, as the feet crushed what remained of the old altar.
Below him, were people panicking over the fact that they had just lost one of themselves along with the revival of the so-called god.
Novus could only gawk in surprise from all this. This wasn't expected. Termina isn't like this.
Magolor bit his lips, as Taranza readied his weapon of choice.
Nearly everyone else was stunned, except for a select few, who chose to gawk instead.
As 'Kirby' grew taller, so did the mysterious beat. It soon turned into words, however; spat straight out of this behemoth.
"Ah, wonderful. A new body. Order has already broken down. Prophecies, lost to time."
With a swift turn, Termina stood tall above them all, his head peeking through the ceiling of the base. The ceiling stood no chance, shattering upon impact to the growing deity.
"You have got to be joking," Taranza muttered.
"Yar set too many flags too damn fast, you idiot," Daroach bluntly told him.
"Well I'm sorry my powers in jinxing us became oh so useful in the past few days or so! What could be worse? What COULD go worse!?" The arachnid ranted.
"Matey, I'm a pirate, and even then I don't set this many flags all at once. Yar horrendous."
Magolor groaned.
The building shook once. Twice. Even thrice.
Termina took a step. And another. And yet, another. He confidently strode across the ceilings and floor, breaking and creating rubble underneath.
Susie drawled, "I'd suggest we; oh, I don't know; run?"
Dedede agreed rather quickly, and in an especially nervous manner, by nodding his head.
The facility began to collapse, as the Squeaks squeaked and the remaining few brave enough to watch the building on them, diverting the falling yet broken ceiling away from them.
"Everyone okay?" Taranza redundantly asked, despite having a set of two (or is it four?) eyes, all of which are capable of seeing quite perfectly.
"Yes, yes, we're fine here. Anyone hurt?" Magolor queried curiously.
A Squeak jumped up and down, vaguely gesturing at its' nibbled ear.
"Past injuries don't count. Aaaaanyone else? No?"
Magolor sighed. "Fine then… we just had a building collapse on us, and that god or deity or whatever leaving on us."
"Man, what a coward, am I right?" Taranza attempted to crack a joke.
By the way of the stares of people watching him, they didn't get it or internally cringed so badly that they wanted to puke.
"Man, tough crowd…"
"I feel ya', buddy…"
Taranza and King Dedede shared their failures at jokes. It was quite bad.
"Okay… then-"
And so, the giant arena appeared out of nowhere, replacing the facility.
"What the hell!? You can't just make things appear from outta' nowhere!" Dedede complained, once he saw the so-called 'ground'.
"No order. Also affects the expected. I value unexpectedness. Your existences block that path. Sooner or later, I will raise this barrier on my own, so you can feel the power of Termina, all by yourself."
Termina straightened his bird-like mask, harboring no emotion. Only a calculating stare to the deep and far reaches of space.
"Of course, the power has its limits. I will win, of course; objective not immediate. I should have eliminated your way of leaving now."
The few who owned ships paced back to try and get into their ships. As for those who don't have such a comfortable and enjoyable space, living in that fool's pit is not a good idea.
Magolor stood by, watching the bird's every move. Susie similarly stood her ground, her ship coming to her instead.
"Ah, here's the walk back."
The sky changed. From a black darker than black, it had changed to a surreal blue and purple mixture, with white dots littering the entire top.
Magolor widened his eyes at the sight behind the bird, clenched his fists, scowled at the sky, and tactfully ran back to his ship. Silent was his voice, as he zoomed across the broken building that was the Jamba base.
Taranza, who watched his friend go, returned his gaze to the dominating figure that was Termina, and followed suit.
"Holy damn in the name of Popsta'…"
Susie arched her eyebrows at the quip Dedede threw. Dedede threw a familiar face at Dedede, to which the king blandly stated, "Hey, I can have some of my moments too, ya' know?"
A sigh came from Susie. "You're a mess. My ride's late…"
Susie checked her surroundings. "It should be able to just fly in…"
"What are ya' waiting for, anyway? You should'a evacuated wit' some others back thea'."
"I am not a woman to be taken lightly, you know?"
Dedede quickly waved his hand back and forth. "Oh, nonono. I don' mean it like tha'! It's jus' tha'... You know; your ride isn't coming? Like, at all? We're dealin' with some lunatic god over here, so of course there had to be some trick up the guy's sleeve!"
"I will repeat what I said, before." Susie pointed a finger at Dedede, clearly accentuating him.
"You're a mess."
"Yea', I know it all already… you still repeat 'em anyways…"
"Preparation done, turf mine. Clear," Termina boomed, as the building fully collapsed, turning to scraps and dust.
"Reform, into perfection, please. And wait."
The Squeak Squad were gone long ago, following their captain. The sisters were still there, silent in melancholic expressions at the thought of what they were conditioned to worship.
The knights had already piloted their ship, from the sounds of things, too. Novus was running off following the Halcandran to his ship, so he wasn't there, too.
A whirr of an engine came by.
Susie's ride came through.
"Ah, there it is."
Dedede gave her a questioning look.
"You invested in anothe' one?"
A shiny, big, and extra sexy mech suit flew near them, as Susie hopped on
"This is the sixth one. Ah, here we go. All good." Turning to Dedede, she mentioned, "We don't count the hundreds of failures. They don't count."
Dedede facepalmed. "The cost-to-efficiency usage doesn't even work..."
To that, Susie had only two words.
"Shut up."
Dedede sighed. "Fair enough." Behind him, a fleet of ships went by. "Ah, the cavalry. Finally."
"Perfect. Now we can kick ass."
The two bickered their way as Dedede jumped on the mech ("You're too fat!" Susie yelled, as Dedede squawked and immediately went on a tangent about how he's plump), leaving the three sisters, stepping on the rubble of their past home.
"Flamberge…" Francisca muttered.
"I know."
Zan Partizanne wistfully looked forward.
"All we can do is wait for the truest of heroes to do their work, then? We're not suited to battle that."
"And abandon our friends?" Francisca retorted. "No thanks. Keep that plan to yourself, sister. I'll at least be of some use to them."
Flamberge extended a hand out to her sister. "Francisca…"
"Just… let me leave, okay? Please. Kirb needs me. She needs us."
Francisca shuffled nervously. "Aaand… I want to repay her, too. For her stories, and for her friendship with me."
Flamberge smiled. Zan Partizanne can't help but chuckle.
"You've grown, sister."
"We commence the change. Reform, once again."
The planet flattened, from a spherical object to a disc, gravity falling downwards.
"Perfection. Turn."
And the disc rippled, red falling out from its sides, with a shell of a structure left behind, a glassy texture of a disc as the product.
"Perfection. Turn."
The air shimmered, as it enhanced the world around it, turning the sky into a mad festival of shimmering lights and noisy colors.
"Perfection. Tur-"
A star shot of the Lor Starcutter cannon.
A yell from Novus cemented it was their doing.
"We fight! Fight against this behemoth of god! No, a facsimile of god!"
Rallying was one of his many talents as a teacher, after all, despite all these years.
An 'aye' of cries could be heard from the neighbouring ships, Waddle Dees and Squeaks ready to fill their respective ship's weapons.
"Aye! Hoist them cannonballs over yonder!" came Daroach's flamboyant and over the top scream. Nevertheless, it worked with his crew.
"Alright, men. Let's give them hell!" was Dedede's shorter rally.
"Wow, you suck at this," Susie remarked.
"Ooooooh, thanks," Dedede drawled, sarcasm dripping from his voice. This snark and sarcasm cannot be good for his health. Maybe a local visit to the castle's therapists may work after the battle…
Anyhoo, the two ships fired their cannons and heavy machinery. Inside a cockpit, Meta Knight gave a thumbs up and Galacta Knight flipped the switch.
A massive railgun hoisted itself on the top of the Halberd, as the few Waddle Dees standing on it slipped off from the sudden appearance of said weapon.
The Waddle Dees on the deck were wincing at their plight.
"Fire at the eye. Common weak point, I'd say."
"Ah, the tricks betwixt us all, nay?"
"Galacta, please just fire it."
Galacta gave a mockery of a salute. "On it, comrade."
And the laser that came cleaved through the air, aiming for the right eye on the mask of the beast.
Magolor and Taranza, seeing that, sent their respective colored dark and light balls at the eagle of a god.
"Interruption? Kill the interrupters, so I may not become the interuptee. Wing."
And the wings spread out, eyes sprouting from all over his body, with Termina dodging all of the attacks that came for him, flying.
"Oh damn!" was Taranza's response.
"No, wait. There's a new weak spot!" Magolor quickly pointed out. "Those eyes scattered around his body! It must be some sort of air surveillance, but it's a definite weak spot!"
Hearing that, Taranza relayed the information to the rest of their fleet. "Aim for the new eyes! Magolor said so! He's also very s-"
Magolor muffled the spider before he said anything compromising.
"What he said!" was what he eventually backed up with.
Ignoring the many eyes of Another Dimension, focused his sights on the giant.
But his focus was wavering. He could not get the images, the sensations of that one moment in time where he was abandoned, split in half forcefully by a Kirby who was tearing up at the sight.
No, no… Purge those thoughts out, now…
Unwavering focus is all we need. All we need to win!
Saving Kirby is top priority. Because he has once saved me.
With a renewed resolve after that quick bout of trouble, Magolor had the ship fire a volley of stars. If only he knew the ship was like this from the beginning.
Novus smiled at his creation serving so well in the current situation. At least he had an impact on this new generation. Or, one of them, anyway. Maybe a close descendant, or a far-off one. No matter; Magolor still had his gift of piloting, and he knew the Halcandran would succeed.
Victory was in his thoughts. He could calculate it. Victory was imminent.
A beam of surging light came right at them, chipping off part of the mast and the small left wing. Lor was in pain and very, very injured. It lowered itself gently, as to not make its passengers panic.
Too bad Taranza was already panicking. Magolor, on the other hand, scrambled to try and land his heavily injured starship on the disc-like ground. A stronger volley came from the three remaining ships on air in response.
Crashlanding again, Magolor coughed, and picked up Taranza and Novus on the way out. They were approached by the sisters, worried of their condition.
They had landed fairly well, honestly. Close to the three on ground level, too.
"See? We can help now!"
"Yes, yes, I know, I know…" Zan Partizanne chimed in, relenting, yet smiling.
Daroach was angered, sure. A part of their fleet was shot down like nothing. And Termina had only shot one attack, too. Just one. And it caused a ship to fall.
It was too quick to even measure and one hit will send them down. Thus, the solution is…
"FIRE! FIRE, FIRE FIRE!"
...Become an arsonist! No, wait, that's wrong.
His main commanders did their jobs well. Looks like the doc kept out of the way though. Better for him anyway.
The flurry of cannonballs made their way to the guy, sure, but they weren't hitting their targets very well. Sure, it might hit once in a while, but they'll run out of cannonballs first before dealing mortal damage. Which is why he's playing distraction while the real damage comes from Susie's rockets and Meta Knight's railgun laser.
At this point in the battle, at least three eyes were hurt, from what he could tell. They were closed, not open, so that had to be some sign of some sort. The speed the bird went through was fast. Really fast.
He caught a glimpse of it though. And he had enough confidence to relay that information.
Currently, the remaining eyes were on the back and its forehead. As soon as the bird turns, they are going to pummel it as hard as they can with their current setup of combined weapons.
With ten flaps, Termina swiftly banked, and Susie's ship jolted down along with the Squeak's own (seafaring) ship.
"Fire!"
And it rained like hell.
Meta's laser came piercing through, and the rockets timed itselves to fly and hit its target.
Their cannonballs were a distraction, yes, but the amount of them made it a worthy distraction.
The back eye closed up, confirmed by a scout of his. Good. Now all that was left is the forehead eye.
Or was it the mask eye?
It's not important right now. All they needed to do was to hit the thing with another thing.
Simple enough. Rinse and repeat, as they say. Adapt, sure, but stick to your roots.
And this was their roots.
Termina charged them head on, intending to take the two floating (and one not floating) ships down with both of his massive wings.
It provided them with a great opportunity, though. And if they miss…
Well, he'd be experiencing the famed locker itself.
"Fire!" rang through the airspace, as the giant laser fired and rockets pummeled the mask's eye.
All five hit, they shattered simultaneously, as Termina fell down, skidding on the ground.
Stopped by friction, the beast appeared dead. He was clearly not moving, and not a rise in his chest informed them that he was breathing.
They… did it.
"Yattaaaa!" Daroach yelled out.
Dedede raised his arm up, befitting a king basking in glory of a victory well fought.
Meta Knight rose and took his Galactica from its sheath, and re-sheathing it, signifying a battle done. Galacta imitated the act.
Down on the ground, Novus smirked at this outcome, all fated to happen from the beginning.
Approaching the body of the supposedly dead being, it shrunk down to a much more smaller size.
"Ah, now that was unpleasant, wasn't it?"
All of them froze in their steps. The air became chilling.
"Truly, that was wonderful. Wonderful… Now, imagine the fight, ten times harder… because I'm smaller."
Termina walked forward, his shrunken self still towering over the six on the ground
"You also risk hitting your teammates down here, hm?"
Daroach flinched upon hearing that. They were effectively blocked from firing off any attacks from the air this way. But wasn't Termina dead?
"W-why are you not dead!?" Taranza exclaimed in surprise and confusion.
"Dear child of the light, I am a deity. I do not need such material things to live. Air and food are meaningless."
Termina straightened his lopsided mask, slightly loose after the laser and missiles hitting it.
"You, too, will become meaningless. Now, enjoy your stay in this world for some moments longer, before you are erased. Then…"
With a sounding leap, Termina flew to them at such a fast speed that the air rippled around him. Closing the distance, he yelled out his last words before the new battle.
"LET IT BE KNOWN THAT YOU ARE MEANINGLESS!"
That was when black oozed out of his orifices, covering himself with a black coat, like fresh new paint.
Now, he was Void Termina.
Termina, God of Chaos
Typically known as the antithesis to Andromeda, this buff fellow is quite powerful, in his ability to cause chaos, literally altering order to chaos.
As such, he is seemingly strong and without weakness, however it's his motivation to act, to make chaos happen, that hinders him. It is also worth pointing out that his attacks as a giant have longer recharges due to the power needed for the attack to work, because of him being bigger.
Some also may say he is the progenitor and original creator of the Jamba Heart, as a representation of corruption and chaos out of a whim.
AN: Yeah, about the upload (and the big gap between chapters).
Motivation is something that drives me to update. As it turns out, I wrote about 5% of this chapter, left it for some time, and then proceeded to binge-write the entire thing in about two days.
Yeah… that might explain my writing to you readers. Sometimes, I write about 1000 words in a session. Other times, I finish an entire chapter in a session. It's not exactly a stable thing.
Then again, I did feel refreshed after coming back to writing this after a break or two.
Now, the stakes are high as our group battles Termina. What will happen from here on out? Only time will tell, I suppose. That, and if I can finish the next chapter. We should see the final boss, at least.
As for Heroes in Another Dimension, it will be briefly mentioned, but since this work of fanfiction has altered things so much, I'm willing to leave it out of this fic. I think it adds unnecessary length to the fic, and it simply an extra to a story well built despite how well done it is ingame.
Anyhoo, off to the next one.