Chapter 6: The Five Tests (Part 2)

When Ledo opened his eyes, he did not recognize the room he was in. The ceiling above him seemed to warp the more he stared at it. This caused him to turn over and see that he was laying on something.

"Bii no'mi faka kakaji, zo." he heard a voice.

He shot up quickly and took a look around to see the voice's owner was Captain Vul. It was then he realized that he was inside the bunker that overlooked the testing ground. Outside the window, he could still see the wreckage of the Heavy Lobster.

The captain placed the cup of coffee he was drinking on the table and activated the communication device from Chamber. Before him appeared the holographic screen and he spoke again.

"Can you read this?"

Words appeared on the screen in front of him. The ensign nodded groggily. He had no idea what happened to cause him to be brought inside. "You fell asleep out there. Simple as that." The captain seemed to know why the ensign was confused and continued "Lord Meta Knight came out to check on you and saw you face down on the ground. You gave everyone a heart attack before we realized you just fell asleep. Guess it was how young you are and how you weren't responding to us that made us panic." The young man glared at the avian.

"I appreciate your concern about me, but I am an ensign in the Galactic Alliance. I would appreciate it if you did not see me as just some normal child."

"Yeah, but according to Lord Meta Knight, you said in your interview that you were sixteen in your years. I don't know what that means in this Alliance thing you're in, but here, it means you're a kid." He took a sip of coffee. "Honestly, I think you're too young to be talking about being a soldier. Kids like you should be out enjoying life, not out fighting wars." he took another sip "But, I guess it's none of my business. Normally, I'd reject your request to join the Halberd due to your age, but I've seen in the Heavy Lobster fight yesterday that you have something about you. That, and Lord Meta Knight has final say in what we do. But, even then, there's a chance that the only reason you're so good at fighting is because you have that tin can's AI helping you out." Another sip.

"Is that an insult?" The young man commented, feeling a strong desire to walk over and punch his lights out.

"It's an observation, kid. These tests will speak louder than anything you say." He took another sip. "Oh, but I guess you're not here to listen to me ramble, you better go out and get back to fixing the Heavy Lobster." The Heavy Lobster. Right.

Ledo shot up off the sofa he was laying on and ran outside. Captain Vul took another sip of coffee as he watched the young man begin his work again. That was when he noticed the tray with a croissant and bowl of fruit on the table next to him. He had forgotten his breakfast. The young man could probably eat it later.

It was hot that afternoon. Actually, it was just humid according to Sailor Dee, but that wasn't much better. The Dee explained over his forgotten breakfast that humidity makes it feel hotter than it actually was. He also brought out a cooler full of bottled water, likely to help him deal with the heat. Thankfully, the clouds were blocking the sun and a sun umbrella was set up over him, but both only provided so much relief. He had even removed the upper half of his pilot suit to expose his tank top underneath to let heat escape, but it didn't help too much.

"It's awful out…" He thought, wiping some sweat from his face. It had taken several hours of hammering to remove dents, rearranging wires, and patching up holes, but the engine looked like it could function. "I should probably test it before putting it in the Heavy Lobster just in case." He thought. The ensign turned it on, and it began to sputter to life for a moment before stopping again. It reminded him of Axe Knight and his leaf blower earlier today, how it took him several fast pulls on the cord to get it to putter to life before it stopped. It meant that there was something was still not right with this engine.

"Zoooo redoooo!" Ledo recognized the voice behind him to be Kirby.

The puff should know that he couldn't understand his language and that Chamber was taken from him yesterday. Though, based on his experiences from being around the child, he probably forgot. He took a minute to think of what the puff might be saying. Based on his tone, he was likely saying hello. The ensign waved in his general direction. The pink puff ran over happily, stopping just beside where his friend was sitting.

"Mi' no jimi biita?" the ball looked at the engine sitting in front of the young man and tapped it. It seems he did indeed forget about Ledo not having Chamber.

"Kirby, I can't understand what you're saying. Can you go ask for my communication device?" he pointed to the bunker, hoping that would help Kirby figure out what he wanted to say. The pink puff tilted his head before nodding and walking back towards the bunker.

The young man took a drink of water. What could possibly be the problem with this engine? He put it back together as best he could, but it still didn't work. Maybe it was like that leaf blower. The ensign started up the engine again. It whirred for a few seconds before breaking down, releasing rings of bluish smoke from its exhaust. He threw the empty water bottle onto the ground in frustration and fell backwards so he could stare at the umbrella protecting him from the sun.

"Damn it…" he clenched his head, trying to ignore the warping of the umbrella.

"Kami no biiray?" His view was suddenly blocked by the familiar pink shape of Kirby. He shot up, nearly hitting the puff as he did. In his stub, he held the communication device from Chamber with its screen powered on. The text on the screen read "Are you okay?". The look on the puffball's face was that of worry.

"I'm alright. I'm just frustrated with this test…" Ledo sighed, placing his head in his hand. "I assume you came here to visit me and Meta Knight?" the young man asked, to get a nod from the puff.

"Yup. I wanted to see how you were doing." Kirby explained. "Hey, can I watch you?"

The ensign nodded. It would be good to have company outside with him, so he didn't have to suffer in this weather alone.

"Yay! Oh! Captain Vul told me to tell you to take a break now! He said something about you gazing up at the ceiling like you had vertigo or something!" the puff exclaimed. The avian was more observant than the young man first thought. As much as he wanted to try to finish the repairs, that would be a good idea, since the pink ball would probably force him to and damn what he thought about it.

"Alright, how should I take a break?" Ledo asked.

"He said you should take a bath." Kirby said, bluntly. The young man sighed. Thinking about it, he probably should.

Even in the bath, Ledo's mind wandered towards fixing the Heavy Lobster and his conversation with Captain Vul. He decided to spend some time marinating on them. First, it was his conversation from earlier. Vul had commented that his piloting skills could be the result of Chamber's input instead of Ledo himself. The thought of that bothered him, even though it was probably just because the captain knew nothing about how Machine Calibers even worked. The AI in the machine supported the pilot in combat. While they did have an ability to control the mech on their own, that's generally only if the pilot is absent, unconscious, or going rogue. The machine and pilot were a team. If anything, they won the Heavy Lobster fight in the first place because of their teamwork!

"What an ignorant old bird…" the ensign grumbled, turning over. Wait…he has two more tests after this…could they have something to do with him physically fighting!? That could explain why the subject was brought up so suddenly. The last thing Vul said stuck out in his mind: "these tests will speak louder than anything you say". It reminded him of a phrase that Chamber had explained to him: actions speak louder than words. If he really is as skilled of a soldier as he thinks, he'll have to prove it by completing these tests. His mind then turned towards fixing the Heavy Lobster. It was technology he had never seen before and he had an idea of what the thing looked like, but he was supposed to put everything back together in a way that worked. Wait a minute! Something about that sounded familiar! His mind recalled his conversation with Sailor Dee from the previous night.

"A puzzle…that's it!" Why didn't he think of it before!? He just had to think of the Heavy Lobster as a giant puzzle!

Kirby had been sitting next to the door to the bath. Although baths are shallow, he was still somewhat concerned due to that time a few days ago that Ledo almost drowned. Speaking of which, he hadn't heard anything from inside the room for a while. The puff debated whether or not he wanted to knock on the door to ask if everything was okay. Suddenly, the metal door slid open and the ensign started to run back to the testing field. The young puff smiled as he noticed the young man's dynamic change in energy from before his break. Kirby sprinted after him, excited to watch him work.

The buzzer was rung about three and a half hours later. It was so sudden that it made Captain Vul fall out of his chair and drop the newspaper he was reading. Upon standing up, he was shocked to see the complete Heavy Lobster looking back at him. Beside the machine stood Ledo, arms crossed with confidence burning in his eyes, and Kirby cheering happily. Captain Vul slowly picked up a phone on the console in front of him and dialed a number. "Lord Meta Knight, you might want to get over here." He uttered. It seems the captain was still processing this new information. Now, if the Heavy Lobster worked after these repairs…

"All systems green. Everything is in working order. A bit of polish is needed on the exterior, but I guess that's the result of a pole being tossed through it like a javelin. All weapons are in working order." Outside of Meta Knight mumbling his observations while Vul tested the Heavy Lobster's controls, the bunker was mostly silent. Suddenly, he turned behind him to face Ledo and Kirby.

"Well done, Ledo. I'd say you passed this test." The ensign sighed with relief upon reading what was said.

"Great job, Ledo! You passed!" the pink puff cheered.

The knight then turned to his student "Kirby, could you take Ledo to the kitchen? I'd like him to take a break and get something to eat. He'll need it for the next test." The young puff nodded as he pulled on Ledo's hand as if asking him to follow him.

It wasn't until the two of them left the room that Captain Vul began to speak. "Now that we're alone, Lord Meta Knight, is there any reason you want that kid to join the Halberd crew?" The knight turned to his subordinate, staring with unblinking yellow eyes.

"I wanted to help him, and I'd like to continue to observe both him and Chamber. At least those were my initial reasons. After that interview with Ledo, it's clear that he'll have a hard time adapting to live anywhere else in Dreamland."

"Didn't you say he was only going to stay until he could reunite with his allies?"

"I did. However, I believe he might not even be from this dimension. If I remember correctly, there has not been a major war in this galaxy for several centuries, which directly contradicts what he said about being currently at war with the Hideauze."

"You don't seem like you really want him to go back. Is it because of what he said about the Alliance disposing of those they deem useless?"

"That is...quite bothersome to me. However, it will ultimately be his decision whether he wants to go back or not."

The captain could only shrug. In the end, it's Meta Knight's final decision that determines whether the kid can join the crew or not and he shouldn't come crying to him if something bad happens.

"Oh, by the way, I believe you lost that bet you made yesterday. What would you like to pay up?" The knight mused.

His captain turned to him in surprise. "Huh?"

"I believe you said you bet that Ledo would give up in less than a week from this test. You lost, so what do you…" the rest of what he said was drowned out by Captain Vul's angry grumbling while he hit the console.

"Where are we going now, Sailor Dee?" the pink puff asked.

"I assume we are heading to Ensign Ledo's next test." Chamber replied.

"That's right." The Dee said.

The young man had been on break for half an hour before Sailor Dee entered to tell him to follow him.

"Will I have to give you my communicator again?" Ledo asked through Chamber.

The Waddle Dee suddenly froze. "Y…yes…you'll have to…" he squeaked, worried about how the ensign would react.

He only reacted with a sigh. "Very well. At least tell me ahead of time." His words translated.

It didn't take them long to arrive at the next location. The room was large and enforced with metal. On the outside there was a windowed room, likely an observation room. In that room stood Meta Knight and Captain Vul, as if they had been waiting for the group to arrive. It didn't take long for Ledo to piece together that this was a combat room. It seems his guess about needing to undergo a combat test without Chamber was right. "Kirby, please enter the observation room." Meta Knight said through a microphone on the console. The puffball nodded and looked at the ensign.

"Good luck, Ledo! I know you can do it!" he smiled before heading into the observation room. In a few minutes, he could see the puff trying to pull himself up to watch.

"This is your fourth test…" the knight began until he noticed Kirby slipping back down to the floor. "For the love of…Vul, can you please get him a chair from the closet?"

"On it."

Ledo watched in amusement. The blue puff cleared his throat and started again "This is your fourth test. You will be fighting the Meta Knights. Your only rule for this test is do not kill.". That was when Sailor Dee held up the laser pistol that was confiscated earlier. "Please use all your combat capabilities to win. Do you understand?" the ensign nodded and took the pistol. Captain Vul then spoke "The test will begin when Sailor Dee enters this room."

"I wish you the best of luck, Ensign Ledo." Chamber said, knowing fully well what was going on. "Thank you, Chamber." He removed his communicator and handed it to Sailor Dee, who ran towards the observation room.

To the right of him, he could hear the largest metal doors in the room slide open and the footsteps of his opponents on the metal floors. They walked until they were about a meter from him and then stood, ready to attack. Out of the corner of his eye, the ensign saw Sailor Dee open the door to the observation room and enter. The moment the Waddle Dee closed the door, the Meta Knights sprang into action. It was so sudden that the ensign's first reaction was to dodge. Chamber had previously discussed the weapons of the Meta Knights with Ledo. Axes could be used for cutting and throwing. Maces are best to throw but can be used for melee. Tridents could be used to stab and be thrown. Javelins are used almost exclusively for throwing. However, this knowledge did not help in the midst of being constantly attacked and needing to dodge. Thankfully, the ensign was fast enough to avoid these attacks, but it gave him no room to counter.

"I can only keep this up for so long…" he thought, dodging a tossed axe, followed by a trident stab. There seemed to be a pause in the fighting, causing him to take aim, only to notice a javelin being tossed at him. He managed to dodge that but was dragged straight into a mace attack.

"Are you kidding me!?" he uttered as he slid underneath it. It seemed they weren't letting him get a chance to attack. It'd be best to wait for a chance to attack, but the knights reacted quicker than he expected. The ensign jumped back to dodge an axe slash and again to dodge a tossed trident, which nicked his right leg.

"What's the point of them giving me my pistol back if they won't let me use it?!" he thought in frustration. Next came the javelin, which he sidestepped. "Maybe I could…!" he tried to grab the javelin embedded in the ground only to get shocked. He turned to see a mace being swung right at him. The damage it could do would be deadly. Ledo charged forward towards Mace Knight and shot a laser to cut the chain. He felt a fragment of the chain whip his back, but he only pushed forward and hit him with a shoulder tackle. The ensign immediately regretted this action when a burst of pain shot through his shoulder. The force of the impact caused Mace Knight to slam into the wall. "One down…" he thought. Another axe was tossed at him, but he barely dodged it, having his pained arm get scraped. The young man began to think that mistake cost him this fight.

That was when he noticed something. The Meta Knights were attacking in a pattern! So, the next to attack would be the trident! He shot his pistol down the middle towards Trident who dodged it, hitting Javelin Knight instead. Ledo stepped out of the way and delivered a swift kick to Trident, throwing him across the room. Axe Knight seemed to be shocked by this development, allowing the young man to charge forward. Gritting his teeth, he grabbed Axe Knight and slammed him backward in spectacular fashion. Panting heavily, he stood up to see that all of his opponents were laying on the ground. It didn't take long for the adrenaline to wear off and he gasped in pain from his arm, the electric shock, and the other injuries obtained from this fight. Although hurt, he still won, and that was enough for him to keep standing strong. Kirby exited the observation room first, running over to the young man in panic.

"Redo, kami no biiray? No doh mika mee! Ji' ji no mikaji!" he tried to seemingly drag him along, which was somewhat easy due to the ensign kneeling down to talk to him. He probably should reiterate to him that he doesn't know what he's saying. The rest of the observers then exited, walking over to where Ledo stood. Sailor Dee handed the communicator to Ledo, who placed it back on his collar and pulled up the holographic screen, preparing for them to speak.

"Geez, kid. I didn't know those Alliance folks taught you how to suplex people!" Captain Vul said.

"What…is a suplex?" the ensign panted, experiencing another bout of pain.

"Don't worry about it. Worry about taking a break for now." Meta Knight replied before opening the wall to expose an emergency phone line. He dialed a number and waited a bit before answering "Hello, infirmary? Send some medics to the combat chamber at once!"

The avian captain began to talk again "Don't worry about out here, you should rest before your next test."

Ledo was shocked to hear that. "We're...going to have… the next test so soon?!" He hadn't even fully recovered from this fight!

"Well, you'll be taken care of by Kirby, so you won't have to worry." Vul seemed to laugh. The young man could only purse his lips as he was guided by Kirby and Sailor Dee to the observation room.

"Ensign Ledo, I must apologize for my lack of support." Chamber said.

The ensign shook his head. "It's not your fault. I wanted to come here and do these tests to join the Halberd." He took a bite of his sandwich.

"As an autonomous pilot support system, it is my duty to support the pilot."

"That's true, but you can't during these tests because they take you from me."

"Correct." "That's something out of your control."

"Agreed. Although my database says that apologizing in this situation would be one of the most reasonable courses of action."

The young man sighed "Then I'll accept your apology."

"Thank you, ensign." Ledo flinched a bit from pain and looked outside at Sailor Waddle Dee.

The Dee had been cleaning the floor of the combat chamber on Captain Vul's orders. The avian captain had been ordering some of the foot soldiers around ever since they came back from taking the Meta Knights to the infirmary. They were likely preparing the room for his final test. Interestingly, the leader himself was nowhere to be seen.

"Chamber, did Meta Knight mention where he went off to?" the young man questioned.

"I believe Sailor Dee mentioned that he was going on a brief walk to stretch himself." The AI replied. That seemed reasonable. If the knight was sitting for a long period of time, he would likely want to go take a walk.

He then turned his attention to Kirby, who sat on the opposite side of the room. The puff had swallowed a roll of bandages earlier and was using what Chamber had explained to be the "Doctor" copy ability. The puff had been using this ability to brew various concoctions in order to try to help Ledo in some way. However, it's obvious that none of the medicines he made so far would help, as they would end with him creating fire pillars, sparks of electricity, and an ice spray. Then there would be the occasion where he just blew himself up. The ensign continued to eat his sandwich, watching the puff as if he was witnessing a bad comedy routine.

"IT'S FINALLY COMPLETE!" the pink puff held a shining green potion above his head in victory.

He ran over to Ledo and offered it to him. The ensign could only stare in confusion. "What is this?" he asked through Chamber.

"It's a healing potion! Meta Knight wanted me to make this for you!" Kirby exclaimed cheerfully, shoving the bottle into the young man's hands.

The young man stared at the concoction. He wanted to ask Chamber his opinion on drinking this, but the response would probably be along the lines of "I leave the decision up to you, ensign". He sighed and drank the whole bottle. The consistency reminded him of the blended fruit drink he had at lunch, but the taste was refreshing, as if the taste reflected its apparent healing effects. It seemed to work well, as he began to feel the pain throughout his body disappear and the wound on his arm heal.

"Sorry it took a while to make, it's really hard to make! But I don't care as long as it makes you feel better!" he smiled.

"Thank you." Ledo nodded.

That was when Captain Vul entered the room.

"Alright kid, get out, it's time for your last test."

The pink puff gave a look of worry. "But shouldn't he rest a bit more?" he asked.

"It's been thirty minutes. That should be plenty of time." The captain sighed.

The pink puff turned back to the young man "Good luck Ledo, I know you can do it!" he sounded cheerful when he said it, but the ensign could still detect some worry in his voice. He followed Sailor Dee out into the combat chamber and waited for further instructions.

He did not have to wait long. He heard Meta Knight's voice from a ledge above him. "This is your final test." The knight announced. Something was thrown into the ground in front of Ledo. His eyes widened in horror when he saw that it was a sword. "Draw that sword and duel me!" Although simple, the very phrase made him freeze. He had been told repeatedly that Meta Knight was the best swordsman in Dreamland, and now he has to duel him?!

"Sensei, have you lost your mind!?" the voice that came over the microphone was unmistakably Kirby. "You know that Ledo can't use a sword! Why are you having him duel you?! Are you gonna hold back?"

"I've never held back in my life, Kirby." The knight scoffed.

"You big liar! Yes, you have!"

"Mostly dodging is not holding back! Now please be quiet!"

Ledo then saw Captain Vul trying to wrestle the microphone away from Kirby. It seems the pink puff's grip was stronger than the young man thought, as the avian captain was visibly struggling to keep him away.

Meta Knight cleared his throat and began to speak again "Allow me to clarify this test for you. You do not need to defeat me in this duel. All you need to do is impress me enough with your skills. Your only rule is that you can only use that sword I tossed for you."

It didn't take long for Ledo to piece together what this specific test was actually about: adaptation. At least that's the only explanation that made sense given that Meta Knight already knew that Ledo could not use a sword and would easily be destroyed by him in an actual duel.

"I assume I cannot have Chamber with me in this fight?" he asked through the AI.

"Correct. This test will begin when you draw that sword." The blue puff nodded, turning his back to wait.

"Good luck, Ensign Ledo." Chamber said.

"Thank you. I'll need it."

The young man removed the device from his collar and handed it to Sailor Dee. He stared at the sword as tension rose in the air around him. It was almost suffocating. It was reasonable to be nervous in this case. He breathed in deeply through his nose and exhaled from out of his mouth, repeating the exercise until he felt a bit calmer. He then took the sword in his hands and calmly removed it from the ground. It felt lighter in his hands than expected.

Almost instantly, Meta Knight turned back around and threw off his cape, unfurling his wings. Jumping down, he landed perfectly before the ensign. Immediately the knight thrusted his blade forward, forcing the young man to barely dodge.

"He's fast!" Ledo thought, stumbling a bit to regain his footing. That was one of the things he remembered from watching the knight train with Kirby. The young man tried to cut at him, only to be parried. It was hard, like the impact could've ripped the sword out of his hands. There was no way he could win by directly fighting him, he knew it. His best option for now would be to try to block or dodge his attacks.

The knight swiped at him, nearly knocking the sword out of his hands. Then came another flurry of attacks, which he was barely able to block. His hands felt stiff and he wanted to shake the strange numbness off them, but he couldn't. He jumped back to avoid the final blow. So, his opponent was fast and hit hard. That's what he learned from that attack. Ledo himself attempted to mimic the furious slashing of the knight, but was easily parried each attempt, nearly losing the sword again. His hands began to hurt more and more. The blue puff jumped back and lunged at him like a drill. This was quickly dodged, but barely. Turning around, the young man thrusted the blade forward, but it was easily dodged. The miss caused him to lose his footing and be nicked with a slash on his right side. Almost instinctively, he gave a sweeping kick aimed at his opponent's feet but instead hit his left side. Meta Knight was thrown to the other side of the room, barely managing to land on his feet and grumbling something under his breath. Upon regaining his own footing, Ledo watched his opponent carefully. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Sailor Dee covering Kirby's ears while the child was confused. The blue puff glared at the ensign, eyes briefly flickering red. He charged forward at him, spinning his sword to create a tornado. In a panic, Ledo put his full weight into a downward chop in order to counter. The echoing of metal rang out as Meta Knight's blade was embedded into the ground and Ledo's hit the ground behind him. The young man barely had the energy left to raise his head. His opponent was also panting, but he didn't know if it was in anger or exhaustion.

"Zo zomiji, meezo redo…" The knight said once he was able to finally catch his breath. There was a faint cracking sound before a burst of shattering metal. Ledo gathered enough energy to raise his head and see a cape being wrapped around the ball in front of him. He managed to catch a glimpse of a white eye that glared at him in a mix of anger and surprise before it sprang up and away.

"That was a lucky hit…" the ensign thought.

Suddenly, the power went out and the combat chamber was filled with the panicked murmuring of those in the observation room. Ledo looked around but couldn't see anything due to the darkness, made even worse due to the fact that the window that provided natural sunlight had been covered by a darkening screen in preparation for evening. Several tiny footsteps could be heard followed by the light buzzing of metal being cut. When the door fell, several unidentifiable squeaking blobs entered. The young man tried to search around for any signs of what was happening only to feel a sudden burst of pain below his lungs. He slowly began to lose consciousness as he felt himself fall into the arm of an unknown figure. The last thing he heard before completely passing out was a voice he did not recognize.

"Biimita zobiika, zo."

I'd make a snarky comment like "gee, I wonder who knocked him out...", but I feel like it's obvious.

Yes, the area below the chest (the solar plexus, if I remember correct) is a prime target if you want to knock someone out. This may be a work of fiction, but I like to keep some elements true to life.

Looking at the full version of this chapter, it was a good call to split it in two. It would've been double the length of this chapter if I had combined them.