Chapter 5: The Five Tests (Part 1)
"Ensign Ledo, query, why you are accepting Meta Knight's offer?" Chamber questioned.
"He said he had a solution to contacting our allies at his battleship. Besides, we can also learn more about Dreamland from the air." The young man answered.
"Agreed, although I recall that Magolor said the same thing." His AI replied.
"Right, but we just met Magolor yesterday. I'd rather we discuss these matters with someone we know more about."
The ensign didn't say it, but that incident with the so-called Master Crown that the mage had mentioned made him feel a bit untrustworthy. As the mech flew through the sky, the young man could see Kirby's Warp Star flying alongside them on the screens inside the cockpit.
"Hmph! I thought I was pretty good as a host!" their pink puff guide pouted as the young man read the translation.
"Kirby, you're a good host, honestly! Just your home is a bit cramped…" the young man sighed.
"It's a joke, Ledo." Kirby smiled. It's at least good that the puff isn't mad at him.
Last night, the young man had told the pink puff about Meta Knight and his offer to have the pilot and his mech join his crew on the Halberd. His pink host seemed surprised at first, but then he found it amusing and joked that it was probably an excuse for the knight to get a closer look at Chamber. He didn't seem bothered by it at all, actually. In fact, he said he saw it as an excuse to visit his mentor's base and battleship more. The puff claimed that it's very rare for him to board the Halberd to do anything but fight his mentor when something bad happens. With Kirby's assistance, the ensign contacted the knight to notify him that he will come to the base and further discuss joining the crew of the Halberd.
However, this wasn't the only reason that Kirby was guiding them to the base. Today was supposed to be a training day for the two puffs, but upon arriving at the meadow at the usual time, his mentor was strangely absent. This made Kirby worried, as Meta Knight almost never missed a training session. Even if he did miss it, he would usually call Kirby in advance so the two could reschedule it for another day. However, the puff never received any calls from his mentor, heightening his worry. He had even checked their training ground in Yogurt Yard, where they trained abilities considered too hazardous for their usual meadow like Fire and Bomb. The only reasons Kirby could think of that would force Meta Knight to miss training without notice were because Dreamland is under attack, he overslept (which has happened more than the knight would like to admit), he's too injured, or he's sick. Especially in the last two cases, he would still let Kirby know in advance if he couldn't make it, even giving the Halberd crew members orders to do it if he can't speak for any reason. In other words, it's usually a bad sign to not hear anything. It was for that reason that the puff decided to guide the pair to Meta Knight's base in Orange Ocean.
Soon, the island came into sight. It was the largest of the islands in the ocean and the only one that had what looked like a massive domed mountain on it. This dome mountain is actually where the hangar to the Halberd is hidden. There was another large building to the side of it. That was the main base. The puffball landed on the shore of the island with the mech following. Ledo exited the cockpit and Chamber slowly lowered him down to the sand.
"You said that Meta Knight practically lived on his battleship, didn't you?" the young man asked, Chamber translating.
"Yeah, he does. He has an additional home here at the main base. He likes to keep some of his things in his room at this base after that one time I sank the Halberd…" Kirby scratched the back of his head.
Even though Meta Knight was thankful that he and his entire crew got out alive, he was irritated that some books and a few valuables were unsalvageable. His student still feels guilty about it to this day.
The two went up to the base's gate and Kirby rang the buzzer. A camera opened up on the front of the door and scanned over the two visitors. It took a few minutes before it was satisfied and returned inside the gate. A red light on the gate turned green, indicating that the two were allowed to enter. The two walked up to the next door and rang the buzzer. The metal door in front of them opened to reveal a Waddle Dee wearing a white and blue sailor cap.
"Hi, Sailor Dee!" Kirby said cheerfully.
"Oh? Kirby? I didn't know you would be coming today!" the Dee seemed to be surprised.
"I came because I was worried about Meta Knight, but I was also guiding him to this island." The Waddle Dee then looked at the young man. "Um…would you happen to be Ensign Ledo?" The young man was a little shocked to hear the Dee use his title. He nodded in response to the Dee. "Lord Meta Knight has been expecting you. Please follow me."
The servant allowed the puff and the young man to step in and follow him.
"Hey, is Meta Knight okay? He wasn't at the field where we usually practice today." Kirby asked the Dee.
"Outside of eating his breakfast faster than usual, yes, he's fine."
"Well, why wasn't he at the meadow today?"
"He said he had to make some preparations."
"Does it have to do with Ledo joining the Halberd?"
The sailor-capped subordinate froze. "Y-yes…" he uttered.
"What kind of preparations did he have to make?" the ensign asked, Chamber translating.
"You'll see in time…" the Dee stopped next to a door. "This is the door to his room. Kirby, please wait outside." The servant knocked on it and said, "Lord Meta Knight, Ensign Ledo is here to see you!".
"Let him in." a voice on the other side of the door replied.
"Um…I'm sorry, but… I have to confiscate your pistol before you enter. It's for safety purposes." Sailor Dee said nervously. Ledo nodded and gave him the pistol. He opened the door and entered.
Meta Knight's room was simple and tidy, almost too much, like the owner only stayed there once a month. Though the reason for that was probably because this was in the main base, where he rarely stayed. The knight's room was likely a lot different on the Halberd itself. There was little furniture outside of the bookcase, bed, dresser, and desk that faced the window. He probably preferred to use natural sunlight when working. The room's owner sat at the desk, reading a book. He stood firmly in the room, as if this was a military inspection. The knight closed the book and turned to Ledo; his cape wrapped around himself.
"As I told you yesterday, I came here to further discuss joining your crew. You said that your ship is a solution to my problem. Care to explain?" the ensign asked through Chamber.
"The Halberd, as I mentioned, is an aerial battleship. You can contact your allies if needed and still continue to explore Dreamland. It is even possible to go into space." The last part of that was what peaked the young man's interest.
"Could the Halberd really go into space?" the translation asked.
"Yes, it has gone into space quite a few times." The blue puff shifted a bit.
"Then I would like to officially accept your offer to join." Ledo said, as translated by Chamber.
"Very well. However, due to your background in the military, I'd like you to undergo a few tests before we formally accept you as a member of the Halberd crew."
"What are these tests about?"
"I use these tests to determine your observation ability, engineering skills, and your combat ability. You will need to have all three of these to a certain capacity to be able to work on the Halberd. Do I make myself clear?"
"Understood."
The knight nodded. "The first of these tests is an interview with me." Meta Knight opened up a drawer on the desk and took out a pen and notepad. "I'd like you to start by talking to me about why you'd like to join the Halberd crew."
Ledo nodded and began to speak, Chamber following "You suggested that I join the crew because you believe that you have a solution to my problem. I wished to continue to explore Dreamland while still being able to potentially contact my allies."
The knight nodded and wrote down some notes. "Tell me about yourself."
"I believe I have told you all you need to know about myself."
"That answer does not suffice. Tell me about your background."
"…I am an ensign in the Galactic Alliance at war with the Hideauze. I am the pilot of the Machine Caliber Chamber."
"How old are you?"
"In human years, sixteen."
That answer made Meta Knight look up from his pad. "That's quite young."
"I believe it is the standard age for military service within the Galactic Alliance."
"I see. How long have you been in the military?"
"As long as I can remember. If it helps to give you an estimate, I was about to reach the 145,000 hours needed to be granted citizenship and be allowed to visit Avalon for four weeks."
"So, is it correct to say that your whole life has been about training to fight in the military?"
"Correct."
"You mentioned this place called "Avalon". Would you care to go into detail about that?"
"Avalon is the homeland of the Human Galactic Alliance. Those who live there are given freedom to sleep, eat, drink, and reproduce as they see fit. I had previously had an interest in going there, but that has waned over time."
"I see. Is military service required within the Galactic Alliance?"
"Correct. Those that are considered unfit for military service are disposed of."
The ensign could've sworn that he saw Meta Knight's eyes flicker white when he looked up from his notepad. "...I...I see. What kind of training are you required to do before entering service?"
"The Alliance requires us to have close combat training, pilot Machine Caliber, and to overall prepare us to become soldiers."
"I've noticed. Do you have any hobbies?"
"Is this relevant to the interview?"
"Answer the question."
"The Galactic Alliance finds such things inefficient."
"Would you consider carving those fangs of yours a hobby?"
"I do not know."
"I see. Tell me what you like and hate."
"Again, is this relevant to the interview?"
"Answer the question."
"I don't know what I like. I hate the Hideauze."
"Why did you reply with 'I don't know' to the question about what you like?"
"I haven't really thought fully about what I like. I've been too busy fighting the Hideauze to do that. Thinking about anything but defeating the enemy in battle means certain death."
"…I see. You're not that sociable, are you?"
"The Galactic Alliance determined such a thing unnecessary during war."
"Ah. That would explain it."
That was when Ledo began to kneel, continuing to keep eye contact.
"Why did you just kneel?"
"Meta Knight, you become nervous when someone you don't know is taller than you in a one-on-one conversation, don't you? Is that one of the reasons why you tend to stand on top things?"
The knight looked up from his notepad, trying to hide that his eyes had turned orange from surprise. "Why do you say that?" he asked.
"Ever since I entered, you've always had at least one of your hands on your cape at one time. You also tend to twitch whichever hand is holding your cape whenever I answer. It gives me the impression that you'll warp if I become a threat to you. Based on your fighting style during your practice sessions with Kirby, I assume that you are ambidextrous with a slight preference towards using your right hand. While you do keep eye contact with me a majority of the time, you still tend to break it if I keep it up for too long just to write something down. You appear to fiddle with your pen with your right finger, as if you're about to take it apart and put it back together, a common habit that engineers tend to have."
Meta Knight was silent for a few minutes. "I only intended for you to pick up on me fiddling with the pen, as this was to test your observation ability. I can see now that what you lack with in social skills, you excel with in observation."
"Are social skills even necessary?"
"Despite what you may think, yes. You will need to communicate with both the other crew members and potentially the outside world. However, we can likely help you with that. I was like you at one point, and now I can easily hold a conversation if needed." The knight stepped down from his chair. "Follow me to your next test. It should have been prepared by now."
Exiting the room, the knight was tackled by a familiar pink ball.
"SENSEIIIII! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU WOULDN'T BE AT PRACTICE TODAY?! I WAS WORRIED! I THOUGHT SOMETHING REALLY REALLY BAD HAPPENED TO YOU!" Kirby cried, holding his teacher in a tight hug.
"K-Kirby! Get off of me!" he shouted, trying in vain to detach his student.
"Your student really cares for you, doesn't he?" Ledo asked while Chamber translated.
"Yes, I'm quite grateful for that, but…when he does something like this…it's embarrassing…" the knight sighed and turned to the puff "I apologize for not notifying you about missing our training session today. I had to make preparations in case Ledo decided to undergo some tests to join the Halberd crew. I ordered Mace Knight to call you about this, but it's obvious you didn't hear from him…" he mumbled something about needing to have a word with him later before continuing "We should have enough time to make it up later today."
He tried again to release himself from the child's grip, but to no avail.
"Please let me come along!" the pink puff demanded.
"…what?" his teacher appeared to be stunned.
"I'll be here to encourage him!" Knowing how stubborn Kirby can be when he makes up his mind, Meta Knight could only sigh as he motioned for Sailor Dee and Ledo to follow him.
They came to an open-air pad situated next to the base. This seemed to be a combat range for large vehicles. Off to the side was a sort of bunker attached to the main base used to observe whatever would be tested there.
"Ledo, step out into the combat field and await further instructions." Meta Knight ordered. The young man nodded and entered the field. "Is it ready, Captain Vul?" the blue puff asked.
"Heh. Of course, it is." The bird turned to Sailor Dee. "BRING HER UP!"
The Dee saluted and pushed a few buttons before pulling a lever. The ground in front of Ledo opened up and a giant metallic…thing was elevated to the top in front of him.
"You're gonna make him fight the Heavy Lobster?" Kirby questioned.
"Ledo is a mecha pilot, so this trial will test his piloting abilities. I spent part of last night calibrating it to go faster than it normally does." Sailor Dee explained.
"He just needs to use Paint to cover the eye." The three crew members sighed while shaking their heads.
"You want me to tell 'em about this test?" Captain Vul asked.
"No, I can do it myself." Meta Knight then took the speaker microphone. "This is your second test, Ledo. Use Chamber to destroy the Heavy Lobster! Use whatever means you can as long as you do not destroy this base.".
The young man was a little suspicious at how seemingly easy this task sounded.
"CHAMBER!" The mech backflipped its way into the arena, lowering its hand to pick up Ledo. Although the group of observers were in a bunker, he heard the familiar voice of Kirby shouting something to him, likely due to him taking the microphone.
"Ji ji bi shi, redo!"
"Chamber, what is he saying?"
"He is saying "you can do it". It appears these are words of encouragement."
"I see."
Upon entering the cockpit, the Heavy Lobster roared to life. It started by launching miniature versions of itself, which were easily dodged thanks to the mech's Gravity flight system. Then came the flamethrower, which moved quicker than the young man expected. Normally, he could just disintegrate it or at least damage it heavily with the deflector beam, but it was moving too quickly to do so at this point.
"Chamber, can you get a lock onto it?" Ledo asked.
"Negative, ensign. Object is moving too fast to get a proper target. There is a high risk we could destroy the base." The Heavy Lobster charged at them forcing them to dodge again. However, just as they got out of the dodge, they were hit by one of the miniatures.
"Negligible damage received. Continuing combat."
"Not even a dent…" If Chamber can't use his beam weapons, then he'll just have to come up with another solution.
"Weapon…weapon…weapon…" Ledo mumbled, scanning around the field, continuing to dodge. His eyes fell upon a pole sticking out of the ground. "That's it!" suddenly, the mech was hit with something else. "Chamber, what's our status!?" That was when he noticed a red splotch on the side of his cockpit.
"Negligible damage received. However, ensign, part of the camera is blocked by something."
That was when he remembered the conversation Chamber overheard from Kirby.
"Chamber, that's paint!" Another glob was shot out of the Heavy Lobster. Pulling the pole out of the ground, the robot threw it at the mech like a javelin, bursting the glob of paint and punching a hole straight through it. "Destruction of enemy confirmed." Ledo sighed in relief.
He carefully landed the mecha and exited, being lowered to the ground. In front of the door to the bunker stood the bird captain they saw Meta Knight talking to earlier, but he seemed furious. His reaction to them confirmed this.
"Ji shibi! Ji ray ji de koha bi de teevo!"
"Chamber, what is he saying?" Ledo pulled up the holographic screen.
"It appears that pole you used was a powerline and you took out power to the main base."
"…oh."
"The weapons on this craft would have likely resulted in destruction of the base if they missed their target. We were unable to get a proper lock on the Heavy Lobster with them." Chamber translated for Ledo.
"Really? Nothing else? Geez…some alliance you guys work for…" Captain Vul sighed as he began to light his pipe.
"We did not land with any proper external equipment. We must apologize for not notifying you earlier." The mecha responded.
"I'll let you both go this one time, just don't repeat this incident. You're lucky we had all our important equipment hooked up to a generator." Meta Knight walked up from behind the captain.
The familiar pink figure of Kirby ran up to the young man. "That was awesome! I thought you'd be super good at piloting, but you're super-duper good!" he exclaimed.
The ensign nodded and turned to the masked puff "Did we pass the test?".
The knight paused for a moment as if he was thinking.
"Outside of the fact that you took down the power in the base, I'd say you did a nice job, kid." Captain Vul commented.
"Yes, I believe so as well." Meta Knight nodded.
"You hear that, Ledo?! You passed!" Kirby jumped up and down in excitement.
"Yeah, yeah, congrats, kid." The avian captain then tossed down a large toolbox in front of the ensign "Now get to fixing.".
The young man looked at the toolbox in confusion.
"This is your third test. You must repair the Heavy Lobster."
Ledo glared at the blue knight "What was the point of me destroying it then?!" he shouted, with Chamber translating.
"It allows us to get two tests done back-to-back, that's why." Vul turned his head to breath out the smoke from his pipe "We don't normally do this kind of test since we don't get any robot pilots as recruits. Lord Meta Knight wanted to test your piloting capabilities, so he suggested we have you fight the Heavy Lobster. I didn't like the idea because we'd have to destroy such an expensive mech. Then he suggested having you repair it for your engineering test, and I thought 'fair enough, let the kid fix what he broke'."
While this line of thinking seemed reasonable to Ledo, he still couldn't help but think it was unfair to suddenly burden him with such a task.
"The rules for this test are simple…" Meta Knight began to explain, raising a finger for each rule he named off "Rule one: Upon completing your repairs, the Heavy Lobster must be able to function. Rule two: there is no time limit on this test, so take as long as you need. Rule three: you can only use the tools that we give to you. Rule four: the repairs must be done without any assistance. Are my instructions clear?" The young man nodded.
"Um…ensign…? How should I say this…?" Sailor Dee hesitated as he spoke.
"What is it?" Ledo's words were translated.
"We…we're going to have to confiscate the device that lets you talk to Chamber." The ensign's eyes widened upon reading what was said.
"Ledo, I understand that you need that device to understand our language, but we are testing your abilities, not Chamber's." Meta Knight explained.
"Is there any other way to do this?" Kirby asked, concerned for the young man and how he would react.
"This is to make sure we know how capable he is with machinery. It's required if he's going to work on a battleship." The knight replied.
"Agreed, but with reservations. I will only accept these conditions as long as the ensign is constantly observed in case he falls into danger."
"Chamber?!" the ensign appeared to be shocked that his own mech would agree to this proposal.
"I shall have my men take turns keeping an eye on him. Captain Vul, hold onto the device for him."
"Understood. Kid, just give me that thing when you're ready." After a moment of hesitation, Ledo removed the communicator from his collar and handed it to the captain. He then took the toolbox and walked over to where the wreckage of the Heavy Lobster was.
"How long do you think he'll last before he gives up?" Captain Vul asked Meta Knight.
"I'm at least giving him a chance before I say anything."
"Eh…I give him a week at most." They then heard a loud crashing sound followed by angry mumbling as Ledo stumbled over some of the strewn about parts. "Less than a week."
"Let me know if anything happens. Kirby, let's go do our training session."
"Okay…" the pink puff sighed as he began to walk off with his teacher. He briefly looked back to take a glance at the young man as if hoping for his success.
Four hours passed and Ledo was nowhere close to completing the Heavy Lobster. He sighed and sat down on the ground to stare at the broken robot. How was he supposed to fix this? He knew nothing about the technology in Dreamland or this Heavy Lobster thing! That was when his eyes began to wander. He could see that Captain Vul guy was watching him from inside the bunker, as Meta Knight had promised Chamber. Speaking of Chamber, he noticed that the paint from the Heavy Lobster fight was cleaned off. That was likely the result of Meta Knight asking his men to do so. Looking around more, they seemed to have moved on to fixing the main base's powerlines. As for the base's owner, he was likely still training with Kirby. Off training, while he sat here working on this piece of scrap metal. No wonder why he wanted to wait on it, that was what he planned on doing while he fixed this thing. This whole situation made him feel…isolated. He pulled out a device attached to a lanyard and stared at it. This was given to him by Captain Vul at about the two-hour mark. He had explained through Chamber that pushing the button on this would call whoever was in the bunker at the time out in case he wanted something to eat, he was finished, or he gave up. To Ledo, though, the last one wasn't an option right now. He had to finish this as quickly as possible, there's a chance that his allies could contact him while he was sitting here!
In five more hours, he was able to reattach the legs. At least he thought he did, he just guessed based on how it was wired. Due to how late it was, Ledo started to think he might have to pull an all-nighter to finish this. Even then, there's a chance he might not even finish this by morning. That was when he heard a growling sound. At first, he believed there was an animal behind him, until he remembered he hadn't eaten since this morning. The young man sighed, reaching for the pager. Before he could use it, he heard the door to the bunker open. Turning around, he saw Sailor Dee standing there with a tray of food. On top of his hat, he balanced the device he used to communicate with Chamber. This was likely his dinner.
The Waddle Dee sat down next to him and gave him the tray. He took the communication device in his stub and pulled up the familiar holographic screen that served as translation notes.
He began to speak, Chamber's text translating it into Ledo's language "We thought you were hungry and thought you should have something to eat. I'm sorry we didn't make lunch for you today.".
The young man shook his head and took a piece of bread "It's fine. I guess I made you guys busy by taking out the powerline.".
While speaking, he heard the AI translating his words into Dreamland's language. Sailor Dee nodded, examining the work on the Heavy Lobster so far.
"So far I only attached the legs. I'm not even sure if they're on right because I don't know anything about Dreamland's technology." The ensign sighed.
"I don't see any problems on the surface, so you probably got it right." The translation read.
"I just want to get this done as soon as possible."
Sailor Dee appeared to be thinking, as if trying to decide if he wanted to say whatever it is he wanted to say. "Ensign Ledo, may I say something?" The ensign nodded. "Well…um…I feel that you're too focused on getting results."
The young man was a bit confused. "Explain."
The Dee shifted a bit. "I think you're too focused on jumping to the end of the process. You seem to focus too much on one thing and forget to look at the bigger picture…have you ever done a jigsaw puzzle?"
"What's a jigsaw puzzle?" The ensign asked in between bites of food.
"You've never done one before? Oh…uh…they're a puzzle you solve by connecting pieces to each other until they form a picture. They're quite fun!" "Do you know what the picture is beforehand?"
"Yes, but…"
"What's the point in doing them then?"
"Because it's satisfying to complete it yourself and relaxing! Let me talk!" The Dee's sudden outburst made him jump a bit. "You see, Lord Meta Knight sometimes invites Kirby over and they spend the whole afternoon working on one of these 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles. I remember they have a lot of fun with it. That might be one of the reasons Lord Meta Knight enjoys working on machinery, actually. If you think about it, machinery is just a giant puzzle!"
Ledo was silent so he could process what he just heard. "Are you allowed to tell me that?" he asked.
"I don't see why not..." the Dee scratched his head.
Upon finishing his meal, Sailor Dee took the tray and returned back to the bunker, communicator in hand. It seems he would be watching him for at least part of the night.
"I guess I should begin work on the engine…" he thought. The engine had to be repaired before it was placed back in the machine. That was easier said than done, as the impact from the pole shattered it in a few places. In fact, Ledo was pretty sure no number of repairs would make it work again. Sailor Dee's words echoed in his head. "Why would he tell me something like that? Is that supposed to be a hint?" he thought to himself. He took a drink of water from the thermos of water the Dee gave him at dinnertime.
This would be a long night.
Huh, so this chapter is a lot shorter than I first thought, at least when compared to the previous one. Originally, this and the next chapter were going to be one chapter, but I was worried about it being too long. This is why I ended up cutting it in half.
I won't lie, I did have to rewatch some of the early episodes of the anime to help get down Ledo's interview answers.