Chapter 10: Sun, Sky, A New Breakthrough
"…sore…" Ledo groaned as he turned over in bed.
"Reasonable course of action: try to fall asleep and let your body recover."
"I'd love to do that, Chamber, but…ack!" pain shot through his body.
It had been a week since the incident with Susie happened. Meta Knight kept true to his word when it came to giving out his punishment. Thankfully, he was done after today. There was at least a bright side to this past week, Ledo's language ability had improved significantly, almost to the point where was able to speak near-perfect sentences. While he occasionally needed help from Chamber, he was mostly independent. It seems those lessons from Sailor Dee and Meta Knight finally paid off.
"Ensign, incoming call from Magolor." Chamber suddenly said.
"Well, answer it!"
The holographic screen of his translator showed that he was connected to the call.
"Hellllooooo, Ledo! How's it going?" the mage chirped as a video feed of him showed up on screen.
"I'm tired from working all week, but I'm doing well." He replied.
"It's great to see that your language abilities have improved since I last talked to you! Oh, you said that you were working all week? That Meta Knight is such a slave driver, isn't he?" the mage seemed to laugh.
"It was my punishment for investigating his true appearance." The ensign sighed.
"Oh, that changes everything! At least you seemed to get off easy from it! You know what he did to me when I tried to do that? He put me in a sleeper hold! I was out for a whole day, I believe!" Enough of the small talk now.
"Magolor, was there something that you wanted to tell me?" the young man asked.
"Oh, right! It's about the thing you asked me to do!" the mage's reply made it sound like an afterthought. "I have good news and bad news. But, because I'm such a nice guy, I'm gonna let you pick which you want to hear first!" he responded cheerfully.
"Give me the bad news first." Ledo sounded a bit impatient when he replied.
"Good, that might be the longer of the two." That didn't sound good. "Chamber told me his hypothesis about you being separated from your unit because you were attacked while the ship was doing an emergency teleport. If his hypothesis is correct, you are more than likely not even from this dimension."
The young man couldn't hide his shock. "What do you mean!?"
The mage continued "I can't exactly prove it, but I think there was a glitch in the teleportation system that created a dimensional rift. You fell through this rift and drifted through Another Dimension for…six months, I believe Chamber said you were in cryostasis for, before being spit back out into space and crash landing on Popstar. And the rest is history!" he clapped. However, all this information was so much for the young man to process.
"…and the bad news?" he managed to utter.
"Oh right, that. With the usual pattern of rifts closing and opening whenever they feel like it, your chance of returning to your to your original dimension is about 2% at most."
"Even with the Lor Starcutter?"
"Even with the Lor Starcutter. But even if we could, we don't know where your allies are in that dimension. I mean, you could send a distress signal, but you'd probably be six feet under by the time someone receives it!" Magolor's cheerful tone was a bit unnerving to him upon hearing that.
"So, I can't return to my unit…" he uttered.
"…yeah, pretty much." The mage commented.
"If this is the bad news…then what's the good news?!" the ensign yelled.
Magolor seemed to flinch a bit in response before speaking "Oh…uh…I did manage to find some data from your dimension. I didn't know if you wanted me and Chamber to translate it for you." Some data? Could it be from the Galactic Alliance?
"I would like that, thank you."
The mage nodded. "Well, you already know where I'll be, so what time would you like to meet?" he dipped back into his cheerful way of speaking.
"Maybe around 11 in the morning? That should give me enough time to finish my duties and ask Meta Knight for permission to leave the ship." The young man replied.
Magolor smiled "Well then, see you tomorrow! Good night, Ledo!"
"Yeah…good night…" the call ended.
The ensign stared at the ceiling of his room. "Ensign Ledo, do Magolor's words weigh heavily on your mind?" Chamber asked.
"Chamber, do you really believe that we're in a different dimension?"
"I have hypothesized that idea, but lack sufficient evidence needed to prove it."
The ensign did not know how to respond to that.
Everything was just too much.
Hopefully, he could just fall asleep and think about it tomorrow.
"So, let me get this straight: You're from a whole different dimension and you probably can't return to your unit?" Captain Vul asked.
"Correct."
"And even if you could, it'd probably be thousands of years before someone picks up your distress signal?" the avian captain continued.
"Correct."
"I see…" Meta Knight commented, briefly pausing while eating his breakfast. This time, the ensign couldn't identify his tone of voice, which slightly worried him.
"So, now that you two know you can't go back to your original dimension, what are you going to do now?" Vul was the one to ask that.
"I…have not decided that yet…"
"We do not know much about the outside world, so it would be best to stay in an area we are familiar with. Reasonable course of action: continue to work on the Halberd." Chamber commented.
"Quite telling when a tin-can has more decision-making ability than you…" Vul seemed to sigh.
"What do you mean?" Ledo asked.
"You know what I mean!"
The young man could've sworn that he heard Meta Knight suppress a laugh. That was when he remembered.
"Magolor also told me that he discovered some data from my dimension. He asked if I wanted to meet up with him, so may I have permission to leave the ship with Chamber after I finish my work today?" the young man asked.
"You can leave after you finish eating." The knight suddenly said.
"Huh?" Ledo was a bit surprised by that response.
"You completed your punishment without complaint, and I believe you deserve to be rewarded for that. Go ahead."
"…thank you very much, Lord Meta Knight." The ensign said with a bow and left the dining room.
When it seemed like the young man was out of earshot, Captain Vul spoke up.
"Are you happy that he's staying?"
"Whatever makes you say that?"
"I may be old, but someone as skilled in archery as I am still needs to have a keen eye for things. I noticed you hiding a smile."
The blue puff only chuckled to himself.
"Hello, Ledo! Welcome to my humble abode!" the mage greeted him upon stepping inside the Lor Starcutter.
"Thanks for agreeing to meet with me, Magolor." Ledo responded. "What do you need me to do while you translate?"
"Oh…uh…I have a few favors to ask…since I can talk with Chamber remotely while translating." The mage handed him a camera. "Start by taking this camera and taking a picture of Dyna Blade!"
"Dyna...Blade?" the young man asked in confusion.
"A big bird, ask Kirby he knows everything about Dyna Blade, he did fight and befriend her, after all." The mage smiled.
"...at this point I'm not surprised he fought and befriended Dyna Blade…but why a picture?" he asked.
"This camera turns images into data, I plan on using Dyna Blade's data to help decode the data from your universe. It's complicated." That was a strange answer, but if it allowed him to translate, it was probably fine.
"Understood. I shall return with the picture." He replied.
"Very good! You can take Chamber with you!" Magolor explained.
"Thank you again."
Just as he was about to head outside, the mage called out to him again "Oh, by the way, I hope you don't mind, but I asked Kirby to help you with these favors today!"
"That's fine." He calmly replied and walked outside.
"Chamber, do you mind being left here?" he asked his mech.
"Ensign Ledo, why do you wish for me to remain here?" the AI responded.
"This Dyna Blade is a giant bird, correct? Then that means she'll likely be scared off if I take you with me."
"Agreed, but with reservations. The path to the mountain has a high probability of being dangerous."
"I'll have Kirby with me." The ensign responded.
"I recall you saying the same thing several weeks ago on a trip around Dreamland where you crash landed several times and were in severe danger of drowning."
The young man could only sigh "We shouldn't need the Warp Star this time, so there's less risk of that happening. Besides, I can call you at any time if I need help."
"If you say so, ensign. I will leave the final decision to you."
There was silence between them until he heard something speeding through the air towards him. He grabbed it, and in his hands was a familiar pink ball.
"HIIIIII LEDOOOOO!" Kirby exclaimed cheerfully, waving from within his grip.
"Hello, Kirby." He responded.
"Hee hee…I didn't think you'd catch me so easily!" the puff giggled.
"I believe you've done this every time we've met. Of course, I'd catch onto it." Ledo shook his head.
"Then I'll just have to start thinking of new ways to outsmart you then!" the child seemed to pout.
"Anyway, Magolor said that you'd be helping me out today. Can you start by guiding me to where Dyna Blade is?" The ensign continued.
"You mean Candy Mountain? Yup! Come on, let's go!" He began to drag the young man off towards Peanut Plains.
In a shaded area close to Cocoa Cave, the Animal Friends were playing cards.
"I declare clubs." Kine said, throwing down an eight.
"I think you can just say "change to clubs"." Coo responded.
"Ya'll think we'd figure out how to play Crazy Eights after four games." Rick added.
"I think we did!" Pitch smiled.
"We should've played Go Fish…" Nago yawned.
"You only say that because of the name!" Chuchu grumbled.
That was when they heard a familiar sound running out of the cave. "Oy! It's Kirby!" Rick shouted. Upon hearing his friend's voice, the puff skidded to a stop, but was thrown into the ground by Ledo's momentum.
"I…never thought I'd be so happy to hit the ground in my life…" the ensign moaned.
"Owwwww…" Kirby moaned.
"Oh my gosh! Are you okay, Kirby?!" Chuchu cried.
"Never been better…" he uttered.
"It seems he brought Ledo with him." Coo added, looking at the young man picking himself up off the ground.
"No, you aren't! And it's because of that stupid robot boy!" The octopus pouted.
The ensign hesitated to speak, as if trying to remember names. Finally, he said "…Rick, Coo, Kine, Pitch, Nago, and Chuchu correct?"
"Ayyy! You remembered our names!" Rick seemed to applaud.
"It sounds like you've gotten better at talking." Coo pointed out.
"I had taken some language lessons while I was on the Halberd."
"The Halberd?! You mean you work for Meta Knight!? That's so cool!" Pitch exclaimed.
"Yup! Now I have an excuse to go there whenever I want!" Kirby said happily.
"But don't you already do that, Kirby?" Kine questioned.
"I guess, but now I can do it more often!" he cheered.
"Heeeeyyyyy, Ledooo, where's that robot of yours?" Nago stretched.
"While I am not physically there, I am present."
"Wait, what?!"
Ledo took off the communication device from his ear and held it out.
"As Ensign Ledo and Kirby are going to encounter the wildlife of this area, it was decided that remaining at the Lor Starcutter was the reasonable course of action." Chamber explained.
"Wildlife…wait, you're gonna go see Dyna Blade!?" Kine exclaimed.
"Magolor asked me to take a picture of her to help with translating some data."
"Well, couldn't you go get it yourself?" Chuchu huffed.
"I don't know where Dyna Blade's nest is…" the ensign sighed.
"Oy, mate, could ya turn down the jealous a bit?" Rick followed up.
"Jealous? Who's jealous? Not me!" she continued to pout.
"You clearly are…" Coo shook his head.
"Well, then, why don't you guide him up to Dyna Blade's nest, Chuchu?" Kirby asked.
"WHAAAAA-!?" she began to gasp.
"Is that a "no" then?" the pink puff asked.
"Oh, that reminds me!" Pitch suddenly said "Kirby, are you going to participate in the Megaton Punch Championship today?"
"Wait, that's today?!" he panicked.
"Uh-huh."
"AHHHHHH! I NEARLY FORGOT!" the pink puff screamed.
"Did the soldier boy make you forget?" Chuchu pouted.
"Well, we're sorry for holding both of you up!" Kine said.
"N-no, it's fine! I guess we'll just meet up at the championship!" the puff uttered as if trying to organize his thoughts.
"Alright! See ya later, Kirby!" Rick exclaimed as the duo headed off.
"You think we should've told him it was in another hour or so?" Kine asked.
"Yes, you should've!" Chuchu snapped.
"Now, where were we?" Coo asked.
"I think it's my turn, since Kine was the last one who played." Pitch said, drawing a card. And then another. And another. And another. And another.
"…wait, you seriously don't have anything you can play?" Nago questioned. The young bird shook his head.
"Club, 8, or both, Pitch." Chuchu grumbled.
"I know, I don't have anything!" he continued to draw cards from the deck.
"Kirby, I cannot comprehend why the person known as Chuchu acts so hostile towards Ensign Ledo." Chamber suddenly commented.
"Oh, Chuchu sometimes gets jealous of other people. Though I think it's also because Ledo pointed a gun at her when he first met her because she reminded him of one of those Hideauze things you both talk about." The puff replied. Well, that's one way to muck up a first impression.
"Speaking of which, you never told me what they look like." The puff added.
"I believe Chamber might have an image in his database…" the ensign uttered.
It didn't take long to reach the top. Candy Mountain provided a magnificent view of the land below. The young man couldn't help but gaze in awe. Upon turning in the direction that led towards the nest, Ledo and Kirby saw the familiar figure of Taranza laying on the ground.
"Hey! Are you okay!?" the young man shouted. No response.
That was when they started to run over. "Taranza, are you all right?!" Kirby shouted.
"I'm…okay…just tired from…rock climbing…" the spider mage gasped, feeling around on the ground until he found a canister of water and began to drink from it.
"…why were you rock climbing?" Ledo asked.
"Well, you see…it started when Dedede banned me from doing parkour in the castle…" Taranza began.
"I do not understand the logic of your actions, Taranza. From what I recall, you are not in the most optimal physique for neither rock climbing nor parkour." Chamber said.
"It's because I want to find another hobby!" the spider mage exclaimed.
"I believe you mentioned that to me before on my trip to Castle Dedede with Meta Knight." Ledo recalled.
"Ah, yes, I see you remember now." The assistant smiled.
"Huh? Dedede let you into his castle again?" Kirby asked.
"Meta Knight wanted me to accompany him there." The ensign explained before he noticed Taranza staring at him. "What is it?"
"How have your language skills improved in only about two and a half weeks?!" the spider mage exclaimed.
"Ensign Ledo has been taught every day."
"Huh, I guess that makes sense." Taranza scratched his head.
"But, anyway, let's head to get a picture of…" Kirby began to talk, but was cut off by a boulder that ran him over. Horrified, Ledo and Taranza looked up the mountain.
"HA HA HA HA! THERE'S NO WAY YOU CAN BE THAT BLIND!" The ensign recognized the voice from Ice Cream Island.
"MARX, YOU GREMLIN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" the spider mage was forced to dodge another boulder.
"I dunno! I thought it'd be fun pushing boulders down this mountain! It's just a bonus that I actually hit someone!" he laughed.
Kirby dusted himself off as he picked himself up and yelled "Doing that is dangerous you know!"
"Naw, ya think? So…are Apple Boy and the two Christmas Cakes here as well or is it just the pale-looking wreck and Taranza?" the jester asked.
"No, it's just Taranza and Ledo…wait, where'd he go?" the pink puff looked around and couldn't see him until he heard struggling from back up the mountain. The two of them ran up to see Ledo holding Marx in a headlock.
"Agh! Let me go! It's just a prank, bro!" The ensign then suplexed him into the ground.
"Let's go." The young man continued to walk up the mountain, Taranza following after. Kirby walked over to Marx.
"You need help?" the puff asked.
"What do you think?" the jester mumbled from within the ground. It took a bit of time for him to be pulled out.
"Danke schön…" Marx spit some dirt out of his mouth. "Mein Nova…some people really are stuck ups…"
"Not everyone likes to be pranked, you know. Maybe if you try to be nice to them, they won't react to you so violently!" Kirby smiled. The jester only stared back in indifference.
"Nah…that doesn't suit me." He huffed.
"I'm sure you can incorporate it into yourself somehow! You just have to start!" The puff exclaimed. "Come with us!" he reached a stub out.
"With that pale-looking wreck? Maybe when hell freezes over…" The jester grumbled. Kirby only smiled as he dragged Marx off. "HEY! WAIT! WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME?! I DIDN'T AGREE TO THIS! STOP! HALT!"
The group reached the nest a short time later. There were three giant baby birds in the nest.
"Chamber…what are these?" Ledo asked.
"I believe they are Dyna Blade's young." The AI responded.
"Wow! For someone that acts so smart, you're really dumb!" Marx snarked.
"There are no birds in space, so the ensign is unfamiliar with them." Chamber responded.
"What do we do now?" the young man asked.
"Well, Magolor said he wanted a picture of Dyna Blade, right? So, we wait for Dyna Blade!" Kirby exclaimed.
"SKREEEEEEEE!" A loud sound echoed through the sky above them.
"Speaking of which…" Taranza commented. A giant bird slowly floated down from the skies above. The ensign couldn't help but tense up in response to the massive gust of wind and had to brace himself.
"SCHEISSE! I'M GONNA BE BLOWN AWAY!" Marx shouted as Taranza held onto his foot. Soon, the wind began to stop, and he looked up to see the same giant bird majestically towering over him.
"Is this…?" he began.
"Yup! This is Dyna Blade!" Kirby said, cheerfully. The young man didn't know how to react.
"Ensign Ledo, remember that you need to take a photo." Chamber spoke.
"Ah. Right." He abruptly said.
"Hold on a second!" the pink puff stopped him before turning to the bird.
"Dyna Blade, my friend needs to take a picture of you for something! Can he take your picture please?" The bird tilted its head, as if thinking about what Kirby had just said. Normally, the ensign would've been surprised by this, but he had seen more than enough in his time in Dreamland to believe that speaking to a bird was possible.
"Chirp." Dyna Blade replied.
"Kirby, what did she say?" Ledo asked.
"She said it was fine." The puff smiled. The young man stepped forward and took the photo.
"Thank you!" he yelled.
"Chirp!" the bird replied as she turned her attention to her chicks.
"So, now what are you two going to do?" Taranza asked, as they began to walk back down the mountain.
"Chamber, has Magolor received the picture?" the young man asked.
"I have confirmed that he has received it…incoming call from Magolor." The AI spoke.
"Put him through." He heard the voice of the mage on the other end.
"Hello, Ledo! I got your picture! Did anyone ever tell you that you have some potential for photography?" he began to ramble.
"Magolor, what do you need?" the ensign questioned impatiently.
"Sorry! Sorry! Looking through what I translated with Chamber so far, could you possibly get some seismic data? I believe this might help us understand what this data is about more. I remember reading something about the Megaton Punch Tournament going on today. Could you possibly go to that?" That was a strange request, but he had to oblige.
"Understood."
The young man hung up. "What did Magolor say?" the puff asked.
"He wants me to collect seismic data from the Megaton Punch tournament." Kirby's eyes widened upon hearing that.
"OH MY GOSH! I TOTALLY FORGOT I'M PARTICIPATING IN THAT!" he yelled while summoning the Warp Star and grabbing Ledo, who Taranza grabbed onto.
"Wait, what about me?" Marx yelled.
"What about you?!" the spider mage shouted as they flew off.
The jester stared, dumbfounded.
"That son of a bitch!" he shouted.
The stadium was extremely crowded due to the event, but thankfully, Ledo and Taranza were able to get front row seats due to being early enough. It was curious to the young man why people were so excited about this event. Based on its name, he assumed it to be some kind of fighting tournament. He would ask Kirby, but the puff said he had to go warm up or he'll cramp his arm like last time. Apparently, that was how he came in second the last time.
"Taranza, you wouldn't happen to know what this tournament is about, would you?" the young man asked.
The spider mage seemed to sigh as he swallowed a piece of watermelon.
"I think the Megaton Punch tournament originally started because Dedede wanted to humiliate Kirby, but it backfired horribly, and it somehow became a quinquennial event." He explained.
"According to your statement, that would mean the previous tournament was five years ago." Chamber asked.
The mage nodded "It'll make sense why it's quinquennial when you see how it goes."
"Dedede started a tournament just to humiliate Kirby?" the ensign questioned.
"Yup, and that wasn't the only time. The most infamous and recent is the Cake Royale, where he made this thing called the Kirby Printer to make copies of Kirby to participate in the tournament. The winner of the tournament got this massive cake, hence the name. Boy, that whole thing was a riot, especially since it was several years in planning, he probably spent a majority of his fortune on it, and Meta Knight entered, which messed up his original plans for it." Taranza laughed to himself.
"You didn't stop him?" Ledo asked in response.
"Nope. Dedede's stubborn, so even if we did, he's probably going to do it anyway. The Cake Royale specifically was a train wreck. It went so horribly wrong for Dedede that you want to look away, but you can't." The ensign didn't know how to respond to that.
"Look! It's Taranza!" a female voice was heard from the other side of the bleachers. The young man turned to see a girl in a red hat and green smock running towards him with another girl flying next to her running towards the two of them.
"Taranza, do you know them?" Ledo asked.
"Oh, uh…yes, that's Adeleine and Ribbon. They stop by Castle Dedede once in a while." The spider mage commented.
"Oh! You must be Ledo!" the girl Taranza identified as Adeleine said.
"I do not think we've met before." The ensign replied.
"No, we haven't, but I've heard about you from Dedede! The one day he was talking about a white-haired soldier boy who started working for Meta Knight. Said things like he's really stubborn and kind of stuck-up, but actually pretty nice when you got to know him." Dedede said something nice about him? That was quite interesting.
"Oh, is that thing on your ear how you talk to your robot?" she added.
"Yes." He removed it and showed her.
"I am Ensign Ledo's Autonomous Support Enlightenment Interface System. You may call me Chamber." The AI said.
"Wow, it's just as Dedede said! That's amazing!" the girl was amazed by this new sight.
"And Taranza said that you were Ribbon, correct?" He turned to the fairy.
"That's right! Kirby talked about you in a letter he sent me recently! It's nice to meet you!" she shook his hand.
"Based on your wording, I believe that you two are Kirby's friends." Chamber said.
"Yup! We helped him on a few adventures as well!" Adeleine exclaimed. Ledo was unsure of how to go about this situation, usually Kirby was here to help move the conversation along, but here he was on his own. Well, Taranza was with him, but he was mostly on his own.
"Is something wrong?" Ribbon asked in concern.
"This is going to sound a bit strange, but this seems to be a pattern with everyone I met so far…" the young man sighed. "What is your crazy trait?" he directed it at Adeleine first.
"Me? Oh, I can paint things and they come to life." The girl replied straightforwardly.
"Is that it?" Chamber commented.
"That's it."
He then turned to Ribbon.
"What about you?" she seemed to fidget a bit in response before replying "Me? I have this magic crystal and can fly!"
"Nothing else?" Ledo asked.
"Nope." Those responses shocked the young man.
"That's…not what I expected..." he uttered.
"Why not?" the artist questioned.
"Query: have you met Kirby's other friends?"
"Oh." The girl hummed knowingly.
"I don't know, Marx seems pretty normal." Ribbon mumbled.
"Of all people, you choose Marx?!" the ensign began to exclaim until a voice came over the loudspeaker.
"The Megaton Punch tournament will begin in 5 minutes!"
"Ah! I should get ready!" Adeleine murmured to herself as she pulled out an easel.
"What's she doing?" the ensign asked.
"She wants to paint the winning punch." Ribbon explained. It seems he'll soon get the answer to his question about this tournament.
"Besides, I have to say that outside of the fact he seems to have a new hobby every week, Taranza is probably the most normal, followed by Bandana." Adeleine quickly added.
"…I'm right here you know…" the spider mage sighed.
A few minutes later, what appeared to be a talking microphone stood near the center of the arena.
"Gooood afternoon, citizens of Dreamland and welcome to the Whatever-Annual Megaton Punch Tournament, my name is Walky and I shall be your host for today's event!" he paused to let the audience applaud. "For those who have never had the privilege to see the Megaton Punch Tournament, the rules are simple! You punch through this block of concrete! Break them with the strongest punch to win!"
The rules for this event were more straightforward than Ledo expected.
"I know you all are not here to hear me talk, and this is one of the few times I will not be offended by that, because we have a tournament to start!" The crowd roared.
"Round One! In this corner is the hot-blooded spikey haired fighter, Knuckle Joe!" A young fighter jumped into the arena, bowing towards the audience. "And in this corner is the Hero of Popstar, known as "the Pink Devil" to his enemies, Kirby!"
Kirby jumped into the arena, the streams on his headband flowing behind him, and blew a few kisses into the audience. That riled up the crowd. The two competitors jumped on top of the blocks and readied themselves to punch the blocks.
"Now, as you can see, it takes the right balance of focus and strength to break the blocks!" The announcer speaking and the crowd cheering while the participants were concentrating seemed counterproductive to the young man and his AI. Suddenly, the person known as Knuckle Joe jumped into the air, punching down into the slab of concrete, breaking it and cracking the ground. Among the cheering crowd, Ledo felt the ground below him shake.
"Chamber, what was that?" he asked.
"It seems to be some kind of earthquake, ensign."
"He caused an earthquake with his punch!?" the young man shouted.
The screen behind Walky lit up on Knuckle Joe's side, reading "175 Mt". "175 megatons! That's gonna leave quite a mark!"
A mark?
"Chamber! What's a megaton?!" just ask the ensign questioned that, Kirby punched his block.
That caused a massive jolt in the stands and a crack to open in the ground.
"Good Nova! What a punch! It seems that the Pink Devil is in top shape today! But I guess that's a requirement if you have to save the planet every other week!"
The screen on Kirby's side lit up with "184 Mt". "Did you see that folks!? 184 megatons! The winner of this round is Kirby!" The crowd roared. Knuckle Joe seemed to briefly wipe an eye before fist-bumping Kirby. Based on their behavior, the two of them are probably friends.
"Ensign Ledo, I have looked through my database and have come up with the following: A megaton is a unit of measurement that describes the amount of energy released in an explosion or another highly destructive impact such as a meteor strike. According to the database, those two impacts were greater than that of hydrogen bombs, which were considered devastating weapons during the time before the Galactic Alliance existed." Chamber spoke.
"And this is just from punching?!" Ledo shouted.
"It appears so."
The ground then quickly began to repair itself, surprising the young man further. This was too much to wrap his head around.
"Now that the ground has repaired, let us begin round two!" The talking microphone announced. "In this corner is the heavyweight hitter, Iron Mam!"
A heavily armored ball-person slammed into the ground. "And in this corner is, of course, Kirby!" The pink puff jumped into the arena again. The two competitors then took their places on top of two new blocks of concrete. The same pattern followed, with Iron Mam causing a giant earthquake upon breaking the block.
"186 megatons! Just a bit over Kirby's winning punch in the previous round! Can the Pink Devil pull through on this one?!"
There was a brief pause before Kirby punched the block, causing another massive earthquake.
"190 megatons! The Pink Devil wins again!"
"Taranza, is this even safe!?" Ledo shouted.
"Why do you think they only hold this tournament every five years?" That…made a lot of sense.
The ground reset and new concrete blocks were brought out.
Walky began to speak again "This is the final round, folks! In this corner is the winner of the previous tournament and advisor to King Dedede, Bandana Dee!"
The Waddle Dee stepped up to the block as he shyly adjusted his bandana. It seems he wasn't really used to having this much attention.
"And, in the other corner, Kirby!" The crowd applauded as Kirby jumped onto his concrete block.
"Wait, Bandana was the winner of the last tournament?" Ledo questioned.
"I find that to be highly illogical considering Kirby's previously exhibited strength." Chamber commented.
Bandana stood normally, his body rising and falling as if taking deep breaths and then punched the block. That caused everyone in the stadium to jolt more than any of the previous punches did.
"Wow! That was a big one! 195 megatons! How will the Pink Devil respond? Will he be able to beat that or will it be a repeat of the previous tournament where he can barely make a dent?!"
After the microphone said that, the young man noticed Kirby twitch for a moment, as if disturbed by what he heard. He didn't move his position for several minutes.
"Folks, it seems like the Pink Devil has a problem! Could it be nervousness? Shyness? Or does the tournament five years ago still weigh heavily on his mind!? Who knows! Maybe he just loves the dramatic effect of pausing and…"
Walky was cut off by Kirby screaming as he jumped into the air and punched straight through the blocks into the ground. There was a massive earthquake that caused Ledo to almost fall off of the bleachers but was caught by the spider web Taranza created.
"Good Nova! What a punch! As expected from the Pink Devil! How big was that!?" The screen showed "201 Mt". "201 megatons! I don't believe it! The winner of this annual Megaton Punch Tournament is Kirby!" The crowd went wild as Kirby waved towards them. Bandana tackled him in a hug. The young man could only stare in awe.
"Ensign Ledo, that punch was 201 megatons. According to my database, it was stronger than one of the deadliest volcanic eruptions in recorded human history." Chamber said.
There was no proper way for the young man to respond to that.
Shortly after the tournament, Kirby took Ledo to a tree on a hill to eat lunch with his friends. Bandana had brought a basket of sandwiches for the group and was now talking with Kirby, Ledo, and Knuckle Joe. Meanwhile, Taranza and Ribbon watched Adeleine put the finishing touches on her painting.
"Ensign Ledo, incoming call from Magolor." Chamber suddenly said. The call was answered.
"Hello! Thanks for getting the seismic data! It was quite helpful!" the mage chirped. "Are you done translating yet?" the young man asked.
"Um…no. I need you to collect some more data." Ledo heaved a heavy sigh. "Oh, don't worry, you might be interested in this as well! I want you to do some studies on Kirby's copy ability!" Magolor replied.
"What does this have to do with the translations?" The young man grumbled.
"Combat studies." The mage replied. Fair enough.
"Very well." He hung up.
"Good to see you got back into the hang of things after the previous tournament, Kirby." Knuckle Joe laughed. "Yeah, but I do these things for fun." Kirby commented. "What happened at the previous tournament?" Ledo asked.
Bandana spoke up "Well…I won that tournament. At first, I was really happy about it, since I never won. In fact, I used to be the first opponent Kirby faced! But after several years of training to become stronger, I managed to beat Iron Mam!" the Dee looked proud of it. "But then I got a ton of attention for it and I couldn't stand being the center of everyone's attention!" The Waddle Dee covered his eyes, only showing a reddened face.
"People were probably like that because they heard you beat Kirby." Ledo added.
"That win had nothing to do with my skill!" The Dee shook his head.
"I believe what the ensign means by that is that people may have only heard the part of the story where you won the tournament. If you won, that would mean that you defeated Kirby and they focused only on that aspect." Chamber analyzed.
"That makes a lot of sense." Bandana Dee nodded.
"I can explain everything!" Kirby spoke up "The tournament five years ago was the same day I had a training session with Meta Knight. He had me training with the Fighter ability that day and I hurt my punching arm somehow during that. I don't really remember how, but that's not really important. I didn't think much of it at the time, but fast forward to the tournament, where I was actually surprised that Bandana was my final opponent. I had completed the last two rounds with no problems. I had only a tiny bit of pain in my arm, but no problems. Then, when I punched the block during the final round, I heard a loud cracking sound and my arm really, really hurt. I actually cried a bit!" the puff explained.
"Kirby, you were bawling when me and Bandana carried you out of the arena." Knuckle Joe mumbled.
"I'm sorry, it just really hurt!" the puff cried.
"So, Bandana won by default?" Taranza questioned.
"Yup. Turns out he actually sprained his arm during training and participating in the tournament made it worse." The Dee responded.
"Oh yeah, I remember that! Dedede let you stay at his castle!" Adeleine commented.
"Probably because I panicked and that was the first place I thought to take you that had a doctor…" Bandana laughed nervously.
"Honestly, I felt worse for Meta Knight, since he felt guilty for not noticing it earlier. I was also a bit angry at him over it...but Dedede let me stay at his castle for a few days!" Kirby added.
"Now, Kirby, you stay 'ere! But it's not 'cuz your my friend or anythin', I just can't let muh rival be taken down like this!" Knuckle Joe said, doing an impression of Dedede. That made the others laugh.
"Hey, Kirby, take a look at this!" Adeleine turned her canvas to show a beautiful painting of Kirby landing the final punch. "That's really pretty!" The puff smiled. "This is quite amazing for someone your age…" the young man uttered. "Thank you! I'm glad all of you like it!" The artist beamed. The call from the mage then entered the ensign's mind.
"Kirby, Magolor said he wanted me to do some studies on your copy ability." Ledo spoke up.
The pink puff smiled "Which one do you want to see?"
"He didn't say which ones." The young man replied.
"Then I'll just show you a bunch!" the child exclaimed before continuing "Right after I finish eating."
Everyone collectively rolled their eyes.
Looking up what a Megaton is really puts into perspective how strong Kirby can be. 100Mt is the hypothetical measurement of one of Russia's prototype hydrogen bomb weapons. 200Mt is the measurement of Mt. Krakatoa's eruption, the second most destructive and deadliest volcanic eruption in recorded history. Science is fun.
And yes, sprains are awful. I sprained my ankle when I slipped on the stairs about two or three years ago and it was awful. I used to be able to faintly feel the pain if I did a ton of walking or running.
Also, I hope you readers don't mind the shift in separation style. I know I originally used the horizontal lines to indicate a change in perspective to keep the language barrier intact, but I think this would be easier to tell when I scene change happens or time passes. Let me know what you think.
The next chapter will be where the spoiler warning for Gargantia fully starts. One of the big plot twists in the series will be spoiled, so if you haven't finished watching the series, I recommend that you do so. If you don't care for spoilers, then disregard this.