Chapter 20: Epilogue – Best Friends, Tomorrow and Forever
"Engines."
"All green."
"Reactor output."
"All green."
"Life support systems."
"All green."
"Excellent. We're ready for takeoff."
"Yup!" Sailor Dee hopped down from a ledge above, easily being caught by Ledo.
"Sailor Dee, be more careful. There was no guarantee I would've been able to catch you from that." The young man sighed.
"I trusted that you'd be able to catch me!" he flapped his arms in annoyance.
"I do not understand the logic behind such actions."
"Not everything needs to be logical!" Sailor seemed to pout.
"Yeah, but… oh, never mind…let's report to the bridge for now." He sighed in response, allowing the Waddle Dee to hop down and walk alongside him.
"Sir, we're…huh?"
Upon entering the bridge, Ledo noticed that only Captain Vul and Axe Knight were there. He assumed that the other Meta-Knights were spread throughout the ship, but he couldn't even sense Bio Gale in the shadows. Perhaps she may have followed them if they decided to do some training that day.
"Oh, good morning." The captain turned to the young man and Waddle Dee, who saluted.
"Sir, we've completed maintenance. The Halberd is ready for takeoff." Sailor Dee explained as Ledo handed over a clipboard.
"Very good…" Vul turned away for a moment before suddenly turning back, as if noticing something. "Say, kid, you trying out a new wardrobe or something?"
This new outfit the young man was wearing was a simple pocketed shirt and belted jeans combination that was a far cry from his charcoal grey pilot suit. Due to this, he wanted to question how the bird didn't notice something so obvious but opted out.
"Sailor Dee made it for me to wear when I'm off-duty and for when he wants to wash my pilot suit…" That matter was a long session of arguments and lectures between the Waddle Dee and Chamber that Ledo wished he blocked from his mind.
"Ah. I guess that makes sense. With all the technology that's in that thing, you think it's a good idea?"
"Of course! I just have to remove some of the technology stuff before I wash it! Although Chamber took forever to explain to me how to do so..." the Dee spoke up.
"Negative. I believe that our conversation lasted approximately three hundred thirty-six…"
"Enough, I get it." Captain Vul grumbled, cutting the AI off.
"Um…sir, where is everyone?" The young man suddenly asked.
"Some of them are off training. The Head Nurse is with them because of course she would be. As for Lord Meta Knight, I believe he went out to the Secret Sea."
"Usual patrol?"
"Bingo." Vul began to light his pipe. "You two did your work for the day. Go take it easy and prepare for takeoff."
"Understood."
Sailor Dee and Ledo saluted before exiting the bridge.
A few hours later, the young man gave an exhausted sigh.
"I recommend that you take a break, ensign Ledo."
"I know, Chamber…" he began to walk slowly down one of the hallways of the ship.
He had taken to undergoing intense workouts in order to keep himself in peak physical condition to both work on the ship and to participate in combat. Normally, he would relax by assisting Sailor Dee with cooking, but the Waddle Dee was still working on the laundry. To his lack of surprise, the pilot suit seemed to be giving him a difficult time.
"…now is about the time." He stopped walking. Looking around quickly, he raised his hands in front of him and caught a pink ball that was rocketing towards him. There was no doubt about who it was.
"HIIIII LEDO!" Kirby gave a big smile.
"Hello, Kirby, how are you today?" he smiled back.
"I'm great! How about you?"
"Things are fine. If I seem a bit tired, I just finished working out today."
"And you were still able to catch me!? How!?" the child pouted, shaking his arms.
"Hypothesis: your actions are too predictable, as you appear to arrive on the Halberd around the same time every day."
"Then I'll just do it while you're working out!"
"Please don't…" the idea of Kirby smashing into him like a bullet while doing pull-ups made him shudder.
"Oh! Knuckle Joe and NESP are doing boulder chess today! Wanna go watch them?"
"What's…boulder chess?" for some reason, the young man had a very bad feeling about this. The pink puff and his friends weren't the most gentle or careful people around, so some of their games could become dangerous in a snap.
"It's chess, but you move around giant boulders! Come on! It'll be fun!" he grabbed Ledo's hand and dragged him off.
"Ch-Chamber! Inform Captain Vul about my whereabouts!" He shouted, trying to prevent himself from stumbling.
"Roger. Contacting the bridge now."
"This is gonna be so much fun, Ledo!"
"Just please make sure it's safe…!" he tried to keep himself from falling.
"Of course, it's safe! You'll have me with you!"
"…yeah, I guess you're right." Such a thought put his mind at ease.
Meanwhile, Meta Knight touched down upon a cliff tucked away on an island within the Secret Sea.
"This seems like a good spot…" he thought to himself before looking around him.
There was no one else there. Noting the absence of others, he lifted his mask, setting it on the top of his head and pulled out a fishing rod from his cape subspace.
"It's been a while since I had time to do this, but I should be able to pick it back up quickly…" setting a worm as bait, he cast the line into the sea.
Noting the bobber's position in the water, he took a seat on a nearby rock and waited. Despite the knight's steel-like sense of patience, he was only able to pick up fishing fairly recently after Kirby showed him how to do it. It was an entertaining experience to him, as his student was desperately trying to prove that he was capable of being patient, only to become distracted by a group of butterflies. That ultimately led to him losing his fishing rod and needing to jump into the lake to retrieve it. He gave a quiet laugh upon revisiting that pleasant memory.
Suddenly, he heard a loud noise from above followed by branches cracking. In one swift movement, he lowered his mask, unsheathed his sword and readied his stance as he turned around to face the enemy. Upon seeing what it was, the blue puff lowered his sword in slight confusion.
"Chamber? What are you doing here?" he looked up at the mech.
"Ensign Ledo had requested that I observe you."
"I see…is he off with Kirby right now?" the knight returned his sword to its sheath.
"Affirmative."
He had a hunch as this was around the time it would normally happen, but it was better to make sure about it. "I appreciate his concern, but I'll be fine. You can return to the Halberd." He stepped back to his rock and took the rod back into his hands, raising his mask to sit on top of his head.
"Lord Meta Knight, I have determined that continuing to observe you here is the better option for the welfare of my pilot."
Before the knight could reply, he thought for a moment. "…by welfare, I assume you mean that his mind will be more at ease if he knows that you're with me in case I'm ambushed?"
"Affirmative."
He could only sigh in response. "Very well. Although I'm positive I can handle myself in an ambush."
"Overconfidence can lead to drastic consequences in the field of combat, Lord Meta Knight."
"…I know that." That was when the bob slipped underwater.
"Boulder chess? I've never heard him talk about that game before…" Meta Knight tossed the fish he had caught back into the sea.
"Even after hearing Kirby's brief description of the game, I do not understand what the logic behind it is."
The knight cast the line back out. "Sometimes there is no logic to the games Kirby and his friends come up with, Chamber." He gave a sigh. There was a moment of silence before he reeled in another fish.
"Lord Meta Knight, there is an incoming message from King Dedede." The AI was met with a slight groan.
"Ugh…what does he want…" he picked up his cell phone. "What is it?"
"What? No "hello"!? Isn't that a bit rude of you?!"
The knight sharply exhaled.
"So, whatcha doin'?"
"Minding my own business. Like you should be doing."
"OI! I'M TRYIN' TO MAKE POLITE CONVERSATION HERE!" the king began to shout, only to be quieted down by a voice recognized as Bandana Dee. "Um…so…onto the actual reason that I'm callin' you. I dunno if you know, but next week it'll be a year since the princess and tin can crashed here."
The blue puff jumped a bit in realization. He had completely forgotten about that!
"Yes, what about it?" he questioned, pretending that the matter hadn't slipped his mind.
"Well…uh…me and Bandana were thinkin' we have some kind of party for them. I know we don't really know when princess's birthday is and that tin can will say somethin' 'bout not having one, but I…er…Bandana…was thinking we treat the day he landed here as one."
"Are you sure you're not the one who thought of it?"
"S-SHUT UP!" there was a bit more panicking from Bandana in the background. Dedede cleared his throat before speaking again. "Sooooo…you ok with the idea?"
"Yes, I think it would be a nice surprise for Ledo."
"Great! We're gonna have it next week! You better not overwork him before then or I'll make you regret it, ya hear!?"
"Yes, yes, I know. I don't plan on it."
"You better not, dammit!"
"Alright, goodbye."
"Bye!"
He hung up with a sigh. "…almost one whole year, huh?"
"Affirmative. Almost a year has passed since Ensign Ledo and I have landed on this planet."
"It's a bit hard to believe, but I guess time flies as they say." He threw his line out again.
"Agreed."
A faint smile crossed Meta Knight's face. "I look forward to seeing how far you and Ledo go, Chamber."
"…the feeling is mutual, Lord Meta Knight."
The main story is finally complete! I plan on doing at least four extra chapters for this story, but if your destination is the end of the main story, this is your final stop!
Writing this has been quite an experience. It started out as a simple idea I had been thinking about in late May while playing Super Robot Wars Z3.2 and grew into this sprawling story. Despite my habit of deprecating myself when it comes to things I've worked on, this is probably one of the few works I'm legitimately proud of.
I don't plan on saying too much during the extra chapters, so I'll be giving my thanks in this chapter.
GundamBailey: My beta reader, who also encouraged me to actually write and post this story. Without him, this story would have been only an idea floating around in my head. Not only that, but several of his ideas and suggestions of the story helped round out this entire story. Honestly, I think this story wouldn't be as great as I think it is without him.
Everyone who has read this story up to this point: I cannot thank all of you enough. I thought that barely anyone would notice this little crossover outside of those in my own friend group, so you can imagined how surprised I was when I saw all the reads, follows, bookmarks, and favorites. So, to all of you who read this, I give you a massive thank you.