It's nearing the end, and this is the part where I dial up the confusion to 11.
And in case you were wondering, my timezone is est, so any date/days that may be wrong/late to you are correct to me.
Writing this is very funny to me, but not in an actually funny way. More like in an ironic fashion.
:D
Chapter 10: The chapter where everybody wakes up
Meta Knight didn't sleep for more than an hour.
It's a habit of his really, he doesn't need sleep any more than the average High School student, and it's a semi-congruent fact that he was simply waiting. Waiting for Ribbon to wake up. It was perhaps 7:00 O'clock in the morning, that is to say he didn't have a clock so he was estimating.
Estimating the appropriate time to strike, perhaps 2PM, 1PM if all things are in order. He was just waiting for Ribbon to wake up. Wonderful, we he wasn't aware of her sleep schedule, nor how long she took to get up in the first place.
He had already gotten a mental image of the area in his head, or at least what he assumed the area to be. It was a fairly simple structure with paths leading to places of interest, idiotically. Instead of keeping things ambiguous in terms of importance like an actual smart person would, they essentially were calling for someone to attack.
"Mmmm, mom I said I want to-" Ribbon suddenly opened her eyes. "Oh, what day is it?"
"Probably Thursday." Meta Knight replied.
"Oh hey Meta Knight."
"Morning." Meta Knight replied. "We're striking at around 1:00, you understand the plan well enough?" Meta asked.
"Yeah, hostages, get Kirby and all that." Ribbon said, confirming she had at least listened to the essentials. "Uh, Meta Knight is there anything to eat around here?"
"Nope." Meta Knight replied.
"Did you look?"
"If I look, it's highly probable I'd come back with nothing and just waste our time."
"Well, I guess that makes sense." Ribbon sighed. "But I am hungry."
"Well, you'll get over it." Meta replied. "There will eventually be one day where you'll be lost at sea and have to either not eat, or eat your friends."
"Huh?"
"Don't worry about it." Meta Knight replied. "Just get yourself ready."
"How?"
"You just wait." Meta Knight said. "Just wait for something interesting to happen."
"Well, can't we do anything besides wait?" Ribbon asked looking around. "I know it'll probably be done by today and all, but like don't you have something else to-"
"Ribbon hush." Meta Knight said whispering. "I hear something." Meta Knight looked around the area, and it appeared to be coming from the forest around the area. Meta Knight listened closer, and the rustling got louder, and louder while Meta Knight quietly watched, with Ribbon watching in anticipation.
Then from the bushes, out came a Scarfy. The Scarfy looked around, seeing Meta Knight and Ribbon but not looking to be particularly interested in them. "What do we do?" Ribbon whispered.
"You said you're hungry, yes?" Meta Knight asked.
Ribbon paused. "No." she quickly said. "I'm not eating that."
"Then you clearly aren't hungry." Meta Knight replied. "If you truly were hungry you could ask me to kill it."
"I mean…" Ribbon looked at the Scarfy, who appeared to be more interested in a rock on the ground than anything else. "I don't have anything to cook it with."
"And?"
"And… I don't want raw food?" Ribbon said, confused.
Meta Knight rolled his eyes. "Ribbon, it's either you eat the Scarfy, or you don't eat at all."
"But, It's too cute, I don't want to kill it." Ribbon said, sounding semi-desperate.
"Well, I could always kill it." Meta suggested. "So what will it be?"
Ribbon looked at the Scarfy, then at Meta Knight who was simply waiting. "Just be quick about it." But before anything less than PG-13 could happen, something landed next to them. It was a box, one of unknown origin. Meta Knight watched as a box got knocked on its side, and out came a boxed up piece of paper.
The paper rolled to a stop not that far away from him, and once the paper stopped moving, he looked around. Meta Knight mostly looked near the direction the box had came from, but he saw nothing upon first glance. Deciding it was likely important, he un-balled the paper.
"What the hell is that?" Ribbon asked, quickly covering her mouth. "Sorry."
It was a note. The note said the following:
"We know you're here. But I'm not sure if they do. I can potentially help."
Meta Knight turned the note around, and saw that there was nothing on the back. That was all that was on the note. "What does it mean?" Ribbon asked.
"It means, that presumably the individual who saw us last night probably wants to help." He replied. "Though it could easily be a trap, so I'm not buying it."
"Why not?" Ribbon questioned. "It could make this far easier if we have a…"
"Person on the inside?" Meta asked.
"Yeah that."
Meta sounded rather clam, but his voice still had a tiny bit of annoyance within. "Ribbon, if you got a note from an unknown origin that said to follow them to a dark alleyway in the middle of the night, would you go?"
"But, that's not that, is it?" Ribbon asked, glancing at the box. "Can you at least check the box, maybe there's something else in there?" she suggested.
"Hm." Meta replied, as after making sure there was nothing else in the area yet again, he walked over and snatched the box up moving it back to where he and Ribbon were. The box was the same cardboard color as any other box, though he didn't know how these things acquired cardboard.
The box was already open on the side so he could peer in. There weren't any packing peanuts, so whoever did this didn't know the basic fundamentals of packing anything. Though more importantly, something else caught Meta Knight's eye.
It was what looked to be a key.
"A key?" Ribbon asked.
"Yes, a key." Meta replied.
Ribbon stopped and pondered to herself for a moment. "Maybe this means they really are trying to help us?"
"Perhaps."
"Is that all you're going to say."
"Yes." Meta Knight replied. Then, nothing else was said. The Scarfy "just disappeared" and Ribbon conveniently found herself with a decent meal for breakfast. But that's only two people waking up at this time. Truth be told there were many more things happening at Castle Dedede...
It was the morning, and they had successfully found a parachute in the storage room. For the Knight- or night they had slept in the guest room, and had a very awkward time. But that is another story. For now the main story starts when Bandanna Dee landed on the ground, maybe a few feet away from the castle door.
Dedede was still on the Halberd sleeping like a baby, so he had to get most of the things ready. The first stop he had to make, as mandated by himself. Firstly if they were going out, he would have to pack food to last at least a week, as you never knew when Dedede might get kidnapped, or possessed.
So naturally he stopped in the kitchen, and when he opened the doors, nobody was in there. It was empty, eerily silent like a Kirby Battle Royale online lobby. But the food wasn't gone, so atleast he could stock up. He went through the kitchen, his footsteps awkwardly breaking the silence of the area until he found King Dedede's Super Star Food Storing Carrying Case Deluxe ™
It was a suitcase with Dedede's face on it.
Bandanna Dee grabbed the suitcase, and unzipped the zipper that surrounded it. The inside of the suitcase was a dark black, as black as American Publ- uh… as black as the color black. Bandanna Dee went over to the stainless steel refrigerator, and opened it.
…
Everything was gone.
There were no pizza slices, or canned bread. No chocolate pudding, no ice cream. Nor were there any apples, oranges, or parsnips! Who takes parsnips unironically? What kind of monster would do this?!
But Bandanna Dee didn't have to worry, or atleast hoped he didn't. He knew Dedede had secret stockpiles for situations like this, secret hatches where he kept food. Bandanna Dee, carrying the suitcase behind him, went towards his own room. There was a patch in the ceiling where Dedede usually kept sweets, and it shouldn't be tampered with.
But as Bandanna Dee opened the door, he saw the hatch was open. King Dedede couldn't have done it, and none of the Waddle Dee could look up far enough to actually see it without growing a neck. But who could've done this, and more importantly, why? Why would whatever did this go so far as to take this secret stockpiles?
Well, there was always the other one, the one in the guest room. Bandanna Dee walked through the halls and couldn't help but notice they were empty as well. Maybe it was just a slow day…
Yeah, that was it.
Bandanna Dee entered the guest room, and thankfully Poppy was sleeping in there, so perhaps it wasn't all that bad. Bandanna Dee then looked upwards. The hatch in the ceiling was open. Something had been in this room as well.
"Ok, something is going on here." Bandanna Dee said to himself. He then looked over to Poppy. "Hey." He said. "Get up."
"Poyo?"
"Yeah, uh we're going somewhere and I don't think the king would want to here alone." He said. Poppy then quickly sat upright.
"Poyo."
"Yeah, uh whatever that means, just follow me for now." Bandanna Dee told them, to which they quickly got out of the bed as if they hadn't slept at all, and instead had been playing the long con. There was only one food stockpile left, that being the throne room. Bandanna Dee opened the door, but before his hand pushed the door open, he felt something rather sinister.
Despite something telling him not to, he opened the door.
The room was empty, besides a person on the throne. It was Adleine, and she was just sitting there like she was waiting for him. Or just bored. Either one. Bandanna Dee walked into the room with poppy, and the door shut behind him. "Hello." Adeline said.
"Hi?"
"Poyo."
"Fancy meeting you here, isn't it?" she asked.
"Not really, I expected you to be somewhere."
"Were you looking for something?" Adeline asked. "Perhaps I could be of assistance?"
"I don't think you can, sorry." Bandanna Dee said, moving forward slightly. "By the way, have you seen the other Waddle Dees?"
"No." Adeline responded. "Never."
"…" Bandanna Dee looked around, expecting for something else to happen. Nothing did. "Okay, I'm just going to uh… get ready… if you're coming later."
"Ok." Adeline responded.
"By the way, I don't think the king would like you sitting there."
"…"
"Could you just get off?" Bandanna Dee asked. "Off the throne I mean." Adeline stood up. She walked over to Bandanna Waddle Dee and just stared at him for a few seconds.
"Just a day." She said out loud. "You'll do fine."
"Poyo?" Poppy asked. Adeline didn't respond. She just walked out of the room, and slammed the doors behind herself. Bandanna Dee waited as of something else was supposed to happen, but nothing did. Bandanna Dee walked over to the left of the room, and the hatch there was open as well. There was something clearly wrong. Bandanna Dee knew this, so he went out of the throne room. Near the west of the castle, was where the Waddle Dees slept, and just in general congregated.
The walk there was silent, as not even the pitter patter of feet were heard in the mass void of silence that the castle had become. Everyone had to be asleep, that's the only possible explaination. The door to where a majority of the Waddle Dee slept was slightly open.
Bandanna Waddle Dee peeked inside of the room.
It was empty.
The castle was empty.
What had happened?
...
Bandanna Dee walked back outside the castle, and Adeline was there by the time he reached his destination. He looked up at the Halberd, and waited for Dedede to parachute down.
Well, Dedede came down alright, but he seemed to have forgot his parachute. Again. Dedede fell out of the sky, face first, and landed buried I'm the ground. Bandanna Dee pulled Dedede put of the ground quickly, and, while he looked dazed, he seemed fine.
"Oh hey Bandanna Dee." Dedede said. "You got the food?" he asked.
"Uh... about that." Bandanna Dee chuckled nervously. "There's no food."
"I must be going crazy, because I swear you just said there's no food." Dedede replied. "Nice joke..."
"..."
"Wait a minute..." Dedede looked at the suitcase. "No..."
"Yes..."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO-"
somewhere:
Kirby didn't know where he was, but he did know it had been a long, long time since he had gotten out. He couldn't really see anything out of his location. The other day he had heard somebody talk, but they hadn't spoken again. Kirby had just woken up, maybe ten minutes ago, and he was hungry.
"Poyo?" Kirby asked, getting no response as per usual. Atleast for the first few seconds. A voice did sound out eventually.
"Hello Kirby." The voice said.
"Poyo?" Kirby asked. "Poyo!" Kirby said, demanding to know who is person was.
"Today is a big day Kirby." The voice said. "We'll finally get to see them." Kirby cocked his head to the side in confusion. "We'll finally be able to see them."
"Poyo?" Kirby asked, wanting to know who them is.
"They said they want to see you Kirby." The voice said. "All of them say they've met you before."
"Poyo?" Kirby askedz repeating the previous question.
"Don't worry, it'll all be over by today, though your friends might not make it." Then the voice didn't speak to Kirby again. Instead, Kirby felt the world shake, as he got the feeling he was moving. Moving into an unknown place.
To be continued.
fun fact: Kirby.
Have a good day, and I'll upload Chapter 11 10PM EST.