Chapter 22: Bonus 2 – The Sky and Your Message

"Lord Meta Knight, you sometimes address yourself as Kirby's rival, even though you're also his mentor. Is there a reason for that?"

Meta Knight gave an awkward cough upon hearing that sudden question from Ledo. "It's…a bit complicated…"

"Y'know, you always say that but then when you actually explain whatever it is, it becomes stupidly simple…" Dedede grumbled, munching on an apple.

The monarch had come to the ship to briefly discuss some matters in the kingdom with the knight on the bridge. Bandana was running an errand for him and wasn't able to come. He invited the young man to join them when he arrived to report the completion of his daily maintenance work.

"It's actually quite complex this time…" the knight calmly retorted.

"Oh, so you admit most of the stuff you try to hide is BS?" the king gave a smirk.

"No, it's because I rather not give out too much about myself." The knight gave a glare.

"Chamber, what do you think?"

"I believe you already know the answer to why, ensign."

"I do?"

"Replaying audio."

Meta Knight seemed to jump upon hearing that, and the reason was made obvious once the audio began to play.

"H-how is my own student stronger than me!?"

The slurred speech and hiccup was enough to make Ledo recall that memory. About one month ago, the knight had a particularly intense duel with Kirby and apparently lost. Usually, Meta Knight would have shrugged it off and just gone to train more, but something about that battle caused him to instead return to the battleship and down a dame blanche. At least that was what Sailor Dee had told him. He didn't see his condition himself until the early evening when he was drinking some ice water at the table while he waited for the Waddle Dee to finish his shift. The knight had been at the table as well but appeared to be in a bit of a daze. The reason why hit him the moment he downed another cup of sake, noting that the entire bottle was half full at that point. This recorded conversation was from shortly after the young man asked if he was ok. The response he got was laden with slurring, the occasional sob, and several hiccups. All of which required the young man to take a moment to decipher before understanding exactly what had been said. It played out exactly as Chamber recorded.

"*hic* h-how is my own student stronger than me!? I-I'M supposed…to be his…teacher and…*sob*"

"Lord Meta Knight, are you talking about Kirby?"

"H-he's growing up too fast…and-and…I'm weak…I'm just that weak, aren't I?!"

"I don't think you're weak…"

"I'M WEAK! *sob*"

"Sir, I think you have to calm down and take a drink of water…"

"I…I-I'll have no… *hic*"

"Just take the water!"

"There's…nothing more I can…I can teach him…I'll soon have nothing to teach him… *sob*"

"Sir, I'm going to have to cut you off."

"PISS OFF! AND WHO THE HELL SAID YOU CAN PAT MY HEAD?!"

"You should just stop…"

The audio cut off there.

"This is all the relevant data I have." Chamber responded. Meta Knight was already in a corner, faintly screaming in embarrassment. Dedede furrowed his brow.

"Geez. Must've been pretty plastered if he coughed up something like that."

"Absolutely. I had to restrain him to force him to stop drinking." He was still a bit sore from it. "I'm honestly surprised you didn't make a joke about it. Usually you're the first to do that."

"No way, man. That's a legitimate cry for help. That's where I draw the line." He bit into the apple again.

"Well, what do you think can be done to help?" The young man asked.

"I dunno! What do I look like, one of them psychiatrist guys?"

"You don't need to be a psychiatrist to help."

"Man... uh…." Dedede scratched his head. "...how 'bout he just tells someone? You know, when he's not totally wasted? Bandana can talk to you about all the times I vented to him whenever I lost to that pink lump. Though I dunno if that'll work for MK. Geez...I dunno what then..."

"Maybe he could just tell Kirby?" Ledo's suggestion was met with a burst of hysterical laughter from the king.

"Good joke."

"I'm serious."

"...what?" the king immediately turned to him in surprise.

"I'm serious. I think it would be better for everyone if he just tells Kirby."

"I believe such judgement is beyond the limitations of your post, ensign."

"Maybe, but I don't think he'd like the other option…"

"That's not the point! You're expecting Meta Knight, of all people, to straight up say something that's on his mind that easily!? The guy who will clam up about all the problems he's been hidin' until we twist his arm enough!?"

"We have no other options, so yes."

"Do you have any idea what you're sayin'!?"

"Tomorrow…" that caught their attention. The knight in question slowly stood up, gradually regaining his composure. "I'll…do it tomorrow…"

The king seemed taken aback by this development. "Wha?! What's with the sudden change of heart!?"

Meta Knight wrapped his cape back around himself and shifted a bit. "Ledo…has a very good point. While I do prefer to keep a lot of things to myself, if I wish to prevent such an… embarrassing incident from repeating itself, I should tell Kirby." He seemed to shudder, the audio playback still firmly in his mind.

"I guess that means this meeting's over then…" Dedede scratched the back of his head. "Well…uh…good luck, then…"

The blue puff gave a nod as the king left the bridge.

"Lord Meta Knight, are you really going to do it?"

"Yes, but…I don't think I will in person…"

The young man tilted his head at that reply. "Don't you think it would be better to do it in person?"

"Think about what you heard. Do you really think I'd be able to convey those thoughts in person?"

The ensign thought for a moment. "…fair enough."

"You'll be the one writing it."

"What?! But isn't this your…" he stopped himself and cleared his throat. "I don't mean to be rude, but I feel it would be more fitting if you would write it."

"Ensign, come here for a moment." Hesitantly, the young man walked over and knelt to his level. "Hold out your hand." Upon doing so, the knight placed one of his in it. He could feel a faint quiver emitting from it. "Do you understand now?"

"You're anxious, sir?"

"Extremely." He returned it to his cape and began to walk towards the door. "Come to my room after you have completed your maintenance duties tomorrow, ensign."

"Yes, sir."

With an acknowledging nod, he left the room.

"Ensign Ledo, Sailor Dee requests that you come to the main hanger."

"Tell him I'll be there soon."

The next day, Ledo finished his assigned work and headed to his superior's room. Honestly, he was curious about how they were going to go about this letter writing business. He didn't remember Meta Knight having any type of computer in his room, so it would likely be written by hand. While Ledo's own handwriting wasn't unreadable, it wasn't the most formal thing in the world. Who was he kidding! This is a letter to Kirby, the last person who would care about handwriting! As long as it was readable and got his superior's thoughts across, it would be fine, right? Thinking further about it, would Kirby care if he wrote it instead of his own teacher? Surely, if the situation was explained he would understand, since the puff seemed to know his mentor better than anyone else in Dreamland. Even then, would he feel a bit hurt by the fact that Meta Knight never told him about this or the fact that he had such a hard time telling him he had to have someone else write a letter to explain it? Or the fact that the thought of telling him in person was paralyzing enough to ask someone to write a letter? Was he thinking too much about this?

Upon reaching the door with familiar insignia, he gave three knocks.

"Lord Meta Knight, it's Ensign Ledo, may I come in?" the young man asked.

He could hear some paper shuffling before he got a response.

"You may."

He tapped a button on the wall beside the door, sliding it open and walked inside.

The knight was already at his desk and instantly turned to face Ledo the moment he entered.

"I appreciate your help with this." he commented.

"I know. I'm happy to help." The young man sat on the floor, not wanting to make him more nervous by towering over him. "Oh…uh…Captain Vul said to give this to you." He handed him a plastic bag.

The knight took it and looked inside, slightly turning his head as his eyes began to turn magenta. "…he's quite sharp…"

"What is it, sir?"

"Hypothesis: it is lemon drops."

"Correct…I ran out last night…" he clearly sounded embarrassed.

The young man wanted to ask if this was simply because he ran out or it was because he ate all of them out of nervousness last night but was against it.

"Anyway, that's not what we're here for…" he opened the bag and poured the yellow candies into a metal dish on his desk. He then pulled out the small (and noticeably empty) jar from his cape subspace and poured the rest of the bag into it.

"How are we going to write the letter, sir? Will it be by hand or will it be typed?" the ensign questioned as the knight hopped down from his chair.

"We're going to type it."

"But you don't have a computer in your room…"

He could've sworn he heard the puff suppress a laugh.

"No, but I have something else we can use."

He walked over to a chest he kept by his filing cabinet out of sight and opened it, taking out a black…thing with letter keys. It was similar to the machine that Bandana had shown the young man during one of his trips to Castle Dedede. The name of it had escaped him.

"Ah, it's one of those typing machines!"

"The term is typewriter, Ensign Ledo."

"Yes, that!"

"Correct. This is what we'll be using to write the letter." The knight began loading a piece of paper into the machine.

"Ah…but Lord Meta Knight, I didn't know you had a typewriter."

"It was a gift...from an old friend." He sounded strangely nostalgic when he said that.

"Is it one of Kirby's friends?"

"No, this is someone that Kirby never met."

As curious as this made Ledo, he opted not to pry into it. While the knight was already secretive about his life here on Popstar, his life prior to coming to the planet was something he kept even more closely guarded. The most that he ever mentioned about it was that, like Kirby, he was not born on Popstar. The young man had discussed a few theories with Chamber, but it was all just his own speculation.

The typewriter was heavy when the knight handed it off to him, and he could already see that he had typed up the introduction.

"To my student, Kirby," it read.

"What do you need me to do now?" Ledo asked, sitting down on the floor.

"You type what I tell you to. I'll try to keep my thoughts as straightforward as possible, but I don't think it'll be that easy…" he seemed to advert his eyes.

"You just need to tell him how you feel, don't you?" the young man asked.

"That's a bit..."

"Lord Meta Knight, this is the reasonable course of action." Chamber spoke.

"Are you telling me what to do?" something about the way he said that sent a chill down the ensign's spine.

"I am merely stating what I believe would be the most logical decision in this situation. Ultimately, as it is with Ensign Ledo, what you do is your own decision."

He gave a nod. "...I see." He turned away from the young man. "Let us begin." He took two lemon drops from the metal tray and slipped them under his mask.

After several hours of work, it was finally complete.

"Sir, what do you think of this?"

Ledo handed the completed pages to Meta Knight, who began to read through it.

"To my student, Kirby," it began.

"I'd like to start off saying that the reason why I'm writing this letter to you has nothing to do with you being in trouble or anything of that nature. I needed to get something I've been thinking about off of my mind that is highly related to you. You may be questioning if there is something wrong with me right now, as I am not one to talk about my thoughts or emotions, but I feel I should be transparent about this particular subject if we are to continue to have this relationship. I believe you already know well that I am your mentor, but I have also considered you a rival as well. This may have stemmed from my own feelings of vanity and how I desire to constantly become stronger. The more I think about all the times I've lost to you and I've been brainwashed, the more I start to become frustrated with myself and feel that I am weak. In contrast, you have been growing constantly stronger. In addition to this, it has come to my realization that you are, in a sense, growing up too fast for me to keep up. There will come a point in time where there will be nothing more I can teach you. When that time comes, I know in my heart that I can no longer be your mentor and I honestly don't know how to feel about it. It might just simply be a combination of frustration and dread about the future. I'm not entirely sure. Whatever you decide to do after you finish this letter is up to you. I will not be angry with you, so do not take that into account. I'm sorry if this letter seemed a bit disorganized, I never really had a chance to organize my thoughts on this. Regardless of what happens, I will continue look forward to seeing your future endeavors.

Sincerely, Meta Knight."

Upon finishing the letter, the blue puff gave a satisfied nod.

"Thank you Ledo, this definitely helped." he said as he began to drop some heated sealing wax on the envelope fold.

"I'm always happy to help within reason, sir. You know that."

"Indeed, I do, and I am eternally grateful for it." His eyes briefly turned sky blue for a moment. With a single quick motion, he stamped the wax, leaving an imprint with his insignia. He then wrote "To Kirby" on the front of the envelope.

"Could you deliver it for me?" he handed the letter to the ensign, who shook his head in reply.

"Lord Meta Knight, that's not my job. My job was to help you write it."

The blue puff hesitated for a moment before giving an understanding nod. "Then I'll get one of the other knights to-"

"Lord Meta Knight. This is something you have to do. No one else." The sincere tone of Ledo's voice caused the knight's eyes to turn orange for a moment before returning to their normal yellow.

"...I understand." He slipped it into his cape subspace and hopped down from his chair.

"Would you like me to come with you?"

"I appreciate the offer, but I'll be fine on my own." The knight wrapped his cape around himself and walked to the door with the young man. "Besides, I'm sure you have your own things to do today."

"I don't have much going on today, but I'll see if Sailor Dee needs my help with anything."

With a nod, Meta Knight opened the door and they walked out together.

"Well, be safe when you go out, sir."

"I will. I've said this before, but I'm extremely grateful for your help today." The other gave a nod.

"It's not a problem, sir." Ledo said with a smile as he walked towards the main hanger.

The knight headed in the opposite direction. The sooner he got this letter to Kirby, the sooner he could get all of this off his mind.

A few days have passed since the letter was delivered to Kirby. A response had yet to come, whether it be in-person or sent via the mail. What made Meta Knight even more anxious is that his student never brought it up during their one training session in the past few days.

"Don't you think he just needs time to process what he read, Lord Meta Knight?" Ledo questioned.

The knight had requested that the ensign come to his room after maintenance duties so they could talk. It appeared that the knight was taking Dedede's advice to let himself vent to someone he trusted. Sailor Dee and Captain Vul both briefly mentioned being called by the knight to his room for similar reasons.

"While Kirby's reading skills are a bit below average for someone his age, I think he would have read it completely by now." He flipped over a sheet of paper, placing it in a pile of completed paperwork.

"My judgement is the same as Ensign Ledo's. Reading and reading comprehension are different by definition."

There was a sigh as the knight reached over to the metal dish and slipped a lemon drop under his mask. "I understand that but…"

Suddenly his cell phone began to ring.

"Lord Meta Knight, incoming call from King Dedede."

The knight seemed to groan before answering it. "What do you want?"

"IS THAT HOW YA GREET A FRIEND?!"

The sudden shout caused him to nearly drop the phone. "Just calm down and get to the point."

The monarch cleared his throat before speaking. "Y'all wouldn't happen to have seen Bandana 'round your place, have you?"

If the knight wasn't wearing his mask, he would've been seen raising an eyebrow. "No, why would Bandana be on my ship?"

"The hell would I know?! He said he went to visit that pink marshmallow like two days ago and hasn't come back!" That was indeed quite strange.

"Did you try calling him?"

"Several times and it went to voicemail each time! Most I got is a text sayin' that he's busy right now! For real, what the hell is he doing? What's so important that he can't even give a short explanation 'bout what he's doing over there?! Better not be one of them rebellions or imma sock 'em so hard his great granny's gonna feel it!" the anger and frustration building in the king's voice was obvious.

"Did you try actually going to Kirby's house to ask what he's doing?" There was a pause from the other end. "Do that."

"WHY THE HELL SHOULD I DO THAT!? I HAVE NO DAMN REASON TO GO TO THAT THERE PINK LUMP'S HOUSE AND-!" Dedede's yelling was suddenly drowned out by what sounded like an avalanche of Waddle Dees before the phone hung up.

With a heavy sigh, the knight placed a hand on his head.

"Do you need some time alone, sir?" he looked up in surprise, as if he had forgotten that the young man was still in the room.

"No, you can stay…"

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

The knight began to tap his desk as if thinking. "You can think of something for me to do."

The young man pursed his lips. "Did you try reading?"

"Yes. I even alphabetized all of them."

"Even in the reading room?"

"Yes."

"Did you try exercising?"

"Yes, I followed your routine."

"Did you do any training?"

"Yes, and invoked the wrath of the Head Nurse because I didn't warm up beforehand."

"Did you go on patrol?"

"Yes."

"Did you see if the others needed help with maintenance?"

"Yes, they told me not to worry about it."

"Did you take a bath?"

"Twice."

"Did you talk to Chamber?"

"Affirmative."

"As Chamber said."

"Do you want to go visit Dedede?"

"No, I don't. If you heard how he is on the phone, he's going to be in a bad mood. He's honestly the worst when he's in a bad mood."

"Then I got nothing, sir. I'm sorry."

"I see..." the knight replied with a heavy sigh as he ate another lemon drop. At this point, he wasn't even trying to hide how he felt through it.

The young man thought a bit more, trying to reflect further. What are some things he has noticed the knight do to relax other than what he has mentioned already? His mind recalled something about doing jigsaw puzzles with Kirby. Based on his own collective observances of both puffs, they seem to greatly enjoy positive social interaction (although it's less obvious with the knight due to his cold appearance). This seemed to match up with another behavior observed by both him and Chamber, that of his superior becoming more relaxed when doing an activity with another person. Could this be a possible solution? Well, he has no other options, so it should be worth suggesting.

"Lord Meta Knight, Sailor Dee mentioned something to me about jigsaw puzzles a while back. Would you like to do one together?"

The blue puff immediately turned to him, his eyes turning orange.

"Y... yes...I would quite like that..." he slightly averted his eyes, which had begun to flicker to fuchsia. It appeared that he wasn't expecting that sudden question. The knight hopped down from his chair.

"We keep them all in the reading room. It's the best location for them, I believe."

With a nod, the ensign followed after him.

The following day, Ledo was working one of the ship's main cannons when his attention was drawn by a voice.

"Excuse me, you work on this battleship, right?"

The young man turned to see a bird standing there. He immediately recognized it as Birdon, one of Kirby's many Helper friends who also delivered mail in his spare time.

"Yes, I do. Are you here to deliver something?" he asked.

"Well, I wouldn't be here otherwise."

"Fair point. What do you have for us?"

"Let's see here…I know I only had one thing that was addressed to someone on the Halberd." Birdon rummaged through his mail bag for a few minutes.

"I have a letter here for…I believe this would be for Meta Knight…" the bird handed the young man an envelope.

His eyes widened upon reading the front.

"Th-thank you very much! I'll get this to him right away!" the ensign replied quickly.

"Uh…you're welcome, but what's with the sudden reaction?"

Before anything else could be said, Ledo rushed inside of the ship.

The front of the envelope clearly read "To Meta-sensei".

"Lord Meta Knight! It's Ensign Ledo!" he knocked heavily on the door.

From inside, he heard faint grumbling about being startled by the sudden knocking.

"What is it?" a reply came back.

"A letter from Kirby just arrived!"

There were several fast steps before the door quickly opened.

"Thank you very much, Ensign." The knight replied, taking the envelope.

"It's not a problem. I'll just be getting back to work now."

As he was about to walk off, he heard his superior speak again. "…just wait a moment."

"Is there something wrong?"

"This is indeed most curious…" the blue puff uttered, his eyes turning green.

"What?"

"The handwriting on this envelope doesn't look like Kirby's…it's too neat. However, he's the only person I've ever allowed to call me "Meta" …" He turned over the envelope to show a pink circular seal that had been stamped with an emblem resembling the Warp Star. "Not only that, but this wax seal on the back is unmistakably his…" he stared in deep thought.

"Hypothesis: Kirby had assistance with writing it."

"That's likely the case. It's probably because he really wants to get how he feels across." Meta Knight turned his back to the young man as he wrapped his cape around himself. "Ask Sailor Dee to finish your maintenance work. I would prefer it if you were in here while I read this letter, if you don't mind…"

Ledo was admittedly surprised by that statement. Why exactly would he want such a thing? "Chamber, notify Sailor Dee of the change in schedule."

"Roger."

Upon hearing that confirmation, he followed the knight into his room.

Carefully taking a letter opener, Meta Knight began to tear along the fold line on the top of the envelope. As he took out the two sheets of paper, he could feel Ledo's anxiety over him from across the room. There was nothing left to do but read it now. With a sigh, he took a lemon drop from the tray on his desk and slipped it under his mask, unfolding the letter immediately. It was also written on a typewriter, but he noticed that it seemed to be a different model. Quite strange, since he didn't remember Kirby owning a typewriter. He should stop delaying this and just read it already.

"To Meta-sensei," it began.

"I'm sorry it took me a while to respond! I was so surprised by what you said in your letter that I REALLY had to think hard about what to say before I did! I know it probably would've been a ton better to tell you in person, but Bandana said I should write a letter instead. Actually, he's just writing down what I'm saying right now since my handwriting isn't good! Something about how it would help my mind clear up, I dunno. Even now I don't really know where to start with this! I guess the best thing to start with is that you shouldn't be so worried about feeling like you're weak or how you'll soon have nothing to teach me because of how strong I've become! In fact, I think you still have a ton more things to teach me, you're just focusing too much on one thing! There's more to life than fighting, you know! It's always funny and kinda irritating to me how you can say that you're weak when you summoned and defeated the greatest warrior in the galaxy! Just because you could! I don't understand how you can still say that you're weak even after doing that! Despite what you say, I'm pretty sure that you hold back during our duels as well! You keep claiming that you don't, but I think you just don't know that you're doing it. I don't remember what the word for that is. You've also said for yourself that your strength has grown over the years! It's funny since you keep calling me impatient, when it seems you're more impatient!

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you're stronger and better than you think! I feel safe knowing that you're here for me if I need you! Even if you don't believe me when I say that I'm just gonna keep telling you that you're wrong until you believe me! But I just want you to know this one thing, since it's super important! Whenever I say you're the greatest mentor in Gamble Galaxy, I've always meant it 100% with all my heart! Because of that, no matter what happens or what you say, you'll always be Meta-sensei to me! Please don't forget that!

Your favorite pupil, Kirby."

Silence filled the room upon the conclusion of that letter. Ledo continued to wait in worry for a response of some kind from his superior. Soon, one came in the form of a faint tremble.

"Lord Meta Knight is everything all right?" he asked with clear concern in his voice as he slightly approached him.

As the ensign got closer, the knight slipped another lemon drop under his mask, briefly noticing a streak of wetness. Was he crying? However, the aura he gave off wasn't that of sadness, it was…joy? Well, if it was joy, then that meant everything was fine. Though, he admittedly was still a bit worried for him, if only due to how sudden it was.

"…ensign, check the bottom drawer of my dresser to see if I have a spare frame." The knight managed to utter as he reached into his cape subspace and pulled out a white handkerchief.

"Yes, sir." He replied with a gentle smile.

A few days later, Ledo and Chamber went to Kirby's house. About a day after the puff's letter was received, he called the duo and asked if they wanted to hang out. With everything that happened the past couple of days combined with the ensign's own workload and Kirby occasionally being too tired after an intense training session, the two hadn't been able to do so in quite a while. The young man agreed with this sentiment and suggested they go out for a picnic today. The other, of course, agreed to it and suggested inviting a few of his Helper friends to join them. The plan was to meet up at Kirby's house before they headed off to Green Greens, where the others would be waiting. Of course, he had to run this plan through Meta Knight and Captain Vul, who both gave him permission to go. While it was mentioned that some of the Helpers would bring food to the picnic, it obviously wouldn't be enough if Kirby was going to be there. To compensate for it, the young man helped Sailor Dee pack and cook an additional basket of food for it.

Upon his arrival at Kirby's house, he knocked on the door.

"Hey, Kirby! It's me!" Silence.

He knocked again. "Kirby! Did you oversleep again!?" Silence.

He tried knocking again. "Kirby, come on! We have a picnic scheduled for today! If you don't want to miss it, let's go now!" No response. Ledo gave a sigh as he turned the door handle. It was unlocked.

"Strange..." he opened the door and entered. There was no one inside.

"Where could he have gone...?" just as he thought that he sensed something rocketing towards him from behind. He immediately turned around, but before he could react to the object, he was tackled by a familiar pink ball, instantly collapsing to the floor upon impact.

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, Ledo!"

Of course.

"Ah...hello, Kirby..." he uttered, slightly pained by the impactful greeting.

"Oh, I'm sorry, you're not hurt, are you?!" the puff seemed to panic.

"No, I'm fine, thanks." The ensign replied.

"That's a relief...anyway, I finally got you!" Kirby giggled in amusement as he hugged him.

"It doesn't count. You ambushed me."

"What?! That's not fair!" his pink friend pouted.

"Chamber, would ambushes count?"

"Negative, ensign."

"NO FAIR! YOU ALWAYS SAY I HAVE TO CHANGE TACTICS!" he repeatedly punched his chest so childishly that Ledo had to keep himself from laughing.

"Alright, you win. Come on, we have a picnic today, right?"

"Ah! Right! The picnic!" the pink puff's demeanor immediately changed as he scrambled out the door.

Getting up off the floor, the young man noticed something on the wall that he hadn't seen before. It was the letter he and Meta Knight wrote, framed and hung on the wall.

"Come on, Ledo! Let's go!" Kirby called.

"I'm coming!" he took one last look at the frame.

"Like master, like student." The young man thought, smiling to himself before leaving.

I'll freely admit, this chapter was highly influenced by a joke doodle I did on Twitter, with an idea I thought of while playing Kirby Fighters 2, and a certain anime I streamed with a friend.

Jokes can sometimes be the deepest lore, you know.