JMJ
Chapter Ten: A Breaking Point
"Poyo?" asked Kirby cocking his head as he stood at Tiff's side like a child next to his mother.
"Is he coming?" asked Tiff.
The first light of dawn cast a long shadow along the grass behind her as she looked up at Takori in the sky.
"Not that I can see," said the bird.
Hovering in place as best as he could he squinted into the mists of early morning in the direction of the castle, but the whole castle looked dead asleep still except for the faint blinking of one of the many TV screens hanging on the side of a balcony.
"I'm surprised you're even lettin' him in on this," Takori snorted. "It's not like we need his help, anyway, after all the help he's always been in the past!"
Then he landed on a branch of the nearby tree.
"Yeah," said Tuff putting his hands idly behind his head, "I don't think you should've trusted him in the first place, Tiff."
Before Tiff could answer, Takori laughed loudly. "If I know Escargoon then he's probably telling King Dedede and Susie the whole thing, and they'll be waiting for you all to catch red handed trying to sneak into Susie's room."
Tiff shook her head and Kirby watched her intently.
"No," she said. "I'm pretty sure he meant it. I mean, I know he's not exactly trustworthy. I'm not gunna lie, I don't like him anymore than you guys, but if he doesn't show up I don't think it's because he doesn't want to be here. He thinks that King Dedede is in more trouble than the rest of us, and he's jealous of all the attention Susie's been getting anyway."
"Hmph, serves him right," said Takori. "Serves the both of 'em right, I say. If they let themselves be tricked by these people like they tried to trick us all for years and years then they deserve whatever happens to them, and it will be no business of ours."
"It'll be our business if Haltmann Works Company decides to do to them and the castle what they did to Wispy Woods," Tiff retorted crossing her arms.
"If Kirby can defeat Wispy, he can defeat a metal Dedede and Escargoon with one nub behind his back, right junior?"
"Poyo," Kirby said though not quite as wholeheartedly as he might have.
How much he understood of the conversation was difficult to tell for certain, but Tiff knew that he understood at least the seriousness of it.
"Look one more time, Takori, please," said Tiff politely.
Takori rolled his eyes. "Oh, alright, fine, but this is the last time."
As he took flight again he muttered, "Watching for Escargoon, what's this world coming to. Now watching out for him, I would understand, but no one cares about my opinion."
"Well, do you see him?" asked Tuff.
After pausing quietly and looking around in the direction of Castle Dedede he shook his head, "Nope! No sign of anyone."
"I have a bad feeling about this," said Tiff rubbing her chin.
"But everything looked pretty normal when we left," said Tuff. "I mean, besides the remodel of the castle and everything, but all the Waddle Dees were up and acting normal, and Mom and Dad were still sleeping in bed normal. I think I even heard King Dedede snoring in his room."
But Tiff was not listening. She was looking in the direction of the castle herself with her hand still lingering under her chin. Then she began to pace.
"Well, you wanna go check on him in his room?" demanded Tuff.
Tiff sighed.
"Well, we can, but then we'll have to be careful," she said. "Takori will have to take Escargoon's place as lookout."
"What?" said Takori. "Why me?"
"Because you're small and no one expects to see you at the castle?" suggested Tuff with a shrug.
"Right, and if he's not in his room…" Tiff said.
"Yeah?" asked Tuff.
"I'm pretty sure that means that Susie really is up to no good."
As they returned to the castle with Takori and Kirby, Tiff and Tuff led the way quietly to Escargoon's door. Tuff tried one of the latch knobs. It was not locked. Quietly he pushed it open and peaked inside. Tiff peaked above him, Kirby peaked below him, and Takori stood on Kirby's head and arched his neck around the side of the door.
"Escargoon?" Tiff called in a quiet voice.
"Looks empty to me," said Takori.
"Shh, Come on," whispered Tiff.
"Poyo," whispered Kirby.
Tuff nodded.
They slipped inside, and Tiff closed the door behind them.
Escargoon's book shelves and work tables appeared untouched save for the high tech new gizmos and equipment from Haltmann Works Company, but everything was neatly arranged. The light fixtures were new and the nightstand was robotic. Looking back at the door Tiff saw a very high tech lock that might even have been able to keep King Dedede out. One of the options on the little holographic screen was "blast shield". One of those new holographic TVs was glowing in the wall too, and a holographic globe replaced his old one in the far right-hand corner. There was no sign of a struggle that Tiff could see at first.
"He's probably already up causing trouble," remarked Takori fluttering up onto the bed post.
Tiff's eyes narrowed onto the bed covers. Maybe it was long shot, but judging by how neat and tidy the room always was and just knowing Escargoon, it would be unlikely that he would get up without making his bed if it was just a normal morning. She shook her head at the mess of covers and the upset pillow.
"I don't think he came back here after he talked to me last night."
"What do you mean, Tiff?" Tuff asked.
She pointed out the bedding.
Tuff crossed his arms. "So?"
The light of morning trickled in upon golden beams through the windows with a clear view of the sea between the half closed curtains. Although Tiff knew that ominous feelings did not always mean anything, she could not shake the idea that there was something eerie about how normal it looked. It was as if the normalcy was a façade just as much as Susie was, and the more she thought about the façade of Susie, the more she felt rather ill.
It was not like any trick that had befallen Dream Land before to her knowledge. Susie's apparent prompt, gentle nature could have fooled anyone. Still a part of Tiff at that moment could not help but hope that somehow Susie was not in on any foul play even if the company was sort of like Mr. Chip, but Susie this seemed deeper than that incident. Tiff could see no way something as severe as a kidnapping by Haltmann Works Company could go on without Susie knowing about it—perhaps two kidnappings unless instead of having been kidnapped both Escargoon and Meta Knight had been…murdered.
Tiff gulped.
"So! Now what are we supposed to do?" demanded Takori snapping her back to the present. "He's obviously not here."
"Let's check Susie's room," Tiff said, "and this time, Takori, you stand watch."
"Right."
With that uneasy feeling still in her mind, she suddenly felt a prickle of fear when she realized that Kirby could not be seen among them.
"Kirby?" she called.
"Poyo?" Kirby asked poking his head out from leaning under Escargoon's bed near the nightstand.
"Kirby what are you doing under there?" Tiff demanded.
"Maybe he found something," said Tuff.
Looking very disappointed, Kirby held up an empty tin. Upon further inspection the others saw cookie crumbs tumbling to one side as Kirby tipped it.
"Figures that even with all this espionage, Kirby's still only thinking of his stomach," remarked Takori.
Tuff snickered.
Tiff smiled too. At least Kirby acting normal seemed to encourage her if sunlight filtering in through a window did not.
"Come on, Kirby," said Tiff gently, "remember, we're supposed to be finding out what happened to Escargoon and Meta Knight. We're going to Susie's room next."
Kirby looked up at her with a puckered brow at the mention of Meta Knight, and he nodded as he set down the tin and scooted upright again.
Then as everyone left the room and closed the door behind them, they hurried to Susie's room. This time, first Tiff knocked upon the door.
No answer.
"Try it," whispered Tuff.
Tiff turned the latch. "It's locked."
"Well, then you try climbing out on the outside," said Takori. "Too bad you don't all have wings."
"Well, that was the original plan," said Tiff, "but now I'm not so sure, especially since it's broad daylight now."
"Well, I can pick the lock," announced Tuff smugly as he pulled out a pin from a pocket in his pants. "These old castles have terrible locks."
"Poyo! Poyo!" said Kirby suddenly tapping Tiff on the arm.
"Just a minute, Kirby," said Tiff.
Instantly, Tuff put his pick to the lock and after some time messing around with it, he said, "Hmph. It wasn't locked."
"Oh, she must have one of her own locks," said Tiff.
"Yeah, like the one in Escargoon's room," Takori declared.
"Right," said Tiff.
"Then are we're gunna do the window idea, after all?" asked Tuff.
But before anyone could answer him they all stopped suddenly as they heard a loud yelling from below. It was a very familiar one too— the boom of the king himself. Faint thought it happened to be from this far away, when they held their breaths they made out: "Where's that lousy slug when I need him!"
"Looks like King Dedede doesn't know where Escargoon is either," said Tiff in a hushed voice. "Just like I was afraid of."
"Well, are we going to climb up into the window or not?" Tuff asked crossing his arms.
"No, let's go see if Susie's with King Dedede first," said Tiff.
At once they set off down the corridor again and down the escalator. They were about halfway down when they saw King Dedede bursting from the dining room. Seconds later he noticed them coming down.
"Hey!" he demanded. "Have any of you twits seen that no good lazy slug Escargoon?"
Tuff shook his head.
"Not a clue," said Takori.
But Tiff frowned. This was no time to keep secrets.
"I think I know what happened to him," she said even though it was a little unnerving to be on a one way track headed for that angry bear of a penguin's form.
At the bottom of the escalator Tiff half expected Dedede to grab her, but he only gave a strange leer to Takori now resting on her head before leaning uncomfortably close to her face.
"Whatchyu talking about, girly?" he growled.
"Susie and the Haltmann Works Company," said Tiff. "Escargoon was going to help me unmask them, and now he's disappeared just like Meta Knight. He's not in his room. We just checked, and he didn't meet us at the meeting spot."
"He was conspiring with the likes of you?" Dedede snapped. "And whaddya mean Meta Knight's missing too? Where's his cronies Sword and Blade?'
"I think I saw Sword and Blade yesterday. I'm guessing they went out to find Meta Knight. Meta Knight was going to spy on Susie, and I haven't seen him since he told me," said Tiff boldly. "Escargoon must have went to spy on her without us too."
"And the same thing that happened to Meta Knight must have happened to him too!" cut in Takori now fluttering in Dedede's face. "And you just been sitting on your fat lazy butt and letting that metal girl walk all over you like a chump the whole time as they take over your stinking castle!"
"Takori!" snapped Tiff. "That's not gunna help!"
"Well, he's right, you know," muttered Tuff under his breath.
King Dedede meanwhile growled and swiped at Takori, but the bird was too fast and zipped upwards towards the ceiling.
"We don't have time for this! We have to confront her right now!" shouted Tiff. "King Dedede, where is Susie?"
"How should I know where she is?!" demanded Dedede very angry now. "I was just about to ask Escargoon, but if you're telling me that that Susie and her Haltmann Company was trying to make a dupe out of King Dedede, she's gunna be found and I'm gunna make her answer for it!"
With that he spun around and stormed away with his crimson robes bouncing behind him as he growled, "Where's my mallet!?"
"No, wait!" cried Tiff. "We gotta—" and although she was just about to run after him, Takori suddenly swooped into her face.
"Wait!" he said, "Meta Knight and Escargoon aren't the only ones gone missing. Now Kirby's gone too!"
Tiff gasped. Both she and Tuff turned around.
No Kirby.
"Oh, no!" Tiff cried.
#
Kirby had not been idle since he tried to get Tiff's attention when they were picking Susie's lock. He had been trying to tell her that he thought he had just seen Susie pass down another corridor after she had paused to see what they were doing. He did not have time to try to explain things to Tiff, so he left the company to see for himself.
Quickly he bounded after where he thought he had seen Susie disappear and, yes, it had been Susie. He was about to call out to her when he too heard Dedede booming below. He paused and then hurried again after Susie. Susie looked over her shoulder once, but otherwise pretended not to notice him as she promptly went down a dark corridor and made for what was a servants' passage (used now only by the Waddle Dees unless Tiff and Tuff were sneaking about) behind an old tapestry. There were no Waddle Dees now, but after Susie closed the door behind her, Kirby opened the door again and called down to her, "Poyo!"
Susie did not answer but Kirby could see very strange wires or tubes that were not in the castle anywhere before. They pulsed with an energy and a light that Kirby did not like. Still he pressed on bravely not sure exactly what he would do when he caught up with Susie. He was not even sure exactly whether Susie was on his side or an enemy's, but he determined to catch her. He could not see her anymore, but he could hear her humming the Haltmann theme from the advertisements and the tune led him downwards.
After winding around these passages with strangely not a Waddle Dee in sight save for a few sleeping against the walls that did not wake up when he passed by, Kirby at last made it to a large lower-level chamber, and one that he had been to before. It was a bit a like a hanger, but he knew that it had at least been used once to house that giant firework thing with which King Dedede and Escargoon played ring around the rosy with him and the others until the game got mean like Dedede's games often did.
Nothing was in the chamber now except for Susie and more of those wires that he could perceive. She stood as though she had been expecting him for a long while and she looked very prompt and professional, he thought.
"Kirby," she said casually enough so that Kirby felt it okay to approach her. "It's nice to see you. I would like to tell you a little story. Would you like that?"
"Poyo?" asked Kirby cocking his head.
He did not feel too sure about this whole thing, and Susie did look a little eerie in the glow of the pulsing wires.
"Not long ago I met someone. This person impressed me very much. He was strong, bold, daring— everything that you could hope a knight to be. I was so impressed, Kirby, that I, well…" she shrugged. "I gave him a complete remodel just like the castle he serves under." She laughed then in her tinkling way.
Kirby followed Susie's gaze upwards, and in the high crevices of the stone's décor above a pillar with some image of a previous king in the short line of Dedede's, he saw to his surprise a person whose armor reminded him very much of Meta Knight's except much bulkier and advanced. He was shaped very much like Meta Knight too.
Kirby blinked with uncertainty.
"Let me introduce you to the newly created Mecha Knight," said Susie holding a hand proudly up to her fighter, and his apparent one eye glowed keenly before leaping in between Susie and Kirby with perfect feline grace. "Far superior to the prototype."
Kirby backed up a pace.
"I will let you two get reacquainted," said Susie calmly brushing her hair back a little. "And there will be no more obstacles to the Mother Computer and the Star Dream."
Here she laughed. It was not her pretty tinkling laugh either but a downright very unpleasant sort of laugh— a deranged laugh. Loudly, it echoed in all directions and Kirby shifted his eyes briefly to where their reverberations bounced just in case there was anything else he should know about that was ready to face him, but he still was not sure about the figure in front of him.
Was it really Meta Knight, his role model, his master, his sensei? Or did it just look like him?
"Poyo?" Kirby demanded of the Mecha Knight.
"Hmph," was all the figure responded with, but it definitely sounded like Meta Knight's voice.
Kirby would have said more, but it was at that moment that Mecha Knight attacked with a sudden grappling clawed hand that was not one of his natural limbs and moved quite abruptly. Kirby was not able to move fast enough to avoid being blown clear across the wide dark chamber, through the doorway and into the corridor wall in a very similar position as the first time he had entered this chamber with Tuff a few years back; facing this strange enemy that was Meta Knight but not was far more of an unbearable experience than Dedede being mean and rough with his toys.
As Kirby fell to the floor, Mecha Knight already leapt from where he had clutched to a wall and was coming at him again. Hurt and confused though he was, Kirby used every ounce of skill and strength he possessed to get out of the way, and just barely did he escape the blow as he began running through the halls to the main level. Where Susie had disappeared to he had not the slightest idea, but he had no time to think about her at the moment.
#
Susie held up that computer pad that she always carried with her like a secretary with a clipboard. For the past few days she had used it to show merchandise, directions, and commercials to her customers, but as she swiped this time and made her holograph screen appear, there was nothing fun or colorful about it. It looked like a screen from a war room. Her face, admittedly looked very warlike too as she hovered shiftily behind a wall in the main level of the castle.
She had cleared away some time ago from the mess that would result with Mecha Knight and Kirby. After all, they would probably be destroying the foundations of the castle before long. Her escape route was easy to access seeing as she stood only some yards away from a garden exit.
"Time for the final phase of the remodel of Castle Dedede," she said as she reached out to touch a holographic button on her screen, but just as she was about to touch it something very large and very heavy swung in her direction. A furious growl accompanied it.
More prepared for war than she appeared in her cute makeup and neat secretary outfit, she leapt deftly out of the way of that mallet leaving its user to release a growl in further rage.
"You ain't touching a stone of my castle, you powder-puff hunk of metal!" snarled Dedede
Again he swung his mallet and ended in hitting a pillar as with a slight gasp Susie leapt back again. Dust shook from castle, and it was dust from the stone itself. A third time he swung and slammed a border edge of a holographic television screen.
It sparked and sizzled, but Dedede did not pay much heed to it, with his eyes blazing at the elusive pixie. In fact it seemed to add to the dramatic effect and gave him more resolve and appropriate atmosphere as he took a leap with an aim to crush Susie flat with his mallet or his feet or simply a body slam, which would have probably been enough for such a small slim figure as Susie's compared to the great weight and bulk of Dedede. She stood trapped against a pillar too. No escape it seemed, but Susie still had a trick up her sleeve that he was not prepared for.
With a quick swipe, she was propelled upwards very fast. As she landed behind him before Dedede could recover from his surprise and from the crumbling stones which fell on his head, she pulled out the same gun she had fired at Escargoon the night before. She fired just in time for Dedede to see it. At first a look of great fear took him.
Then of course he was buzzed in the brain so could not respond with anything but reflexive involuntary movement for a few seconds. Eyes bulged and teeth clenched. He still held onto his mallet, though. When the fuzz ended he shook his head and blinked woozily, but as he saw that he was not severely injured he tried to take up his mallet again.
"That's it, Susie!" he snarled.
Then the floor beneath them heaved, and in his woozy state Dedede dropped his mallet and fell back against the wall. Susie slid back but managed to keen an agile pose as Kirby and Mecha Knight burst onto the scene.
Kirby already looked battered and bruised. He needed something to fight back with, and the tumbling mallet was just what Kirby needed. When he saw it he could almost hear Tiff shouting at him to suck it up, which he quickly did. With renewed energy he could face Mecha Knight now as Hammer Kirby. Triumphantly he faced Mecha Knight then and burst him through the garden door. He chased after him.
Now in silence, Dedede managed to force himself onto his feet. He did not seem to notice Susie standing right next to him as he blinked at the gaping hole where the door used to be.
"My castle…!" he moaned throwing back his head, and then he fell forward flat on his face very heavily.
Susie promptly swiped another sleek metal sheet which transformed into a hovering tray. She pressed a few buttons on it this time to send it to the roof where it would be picked up by a reverse transporter to the Mother Ship. Then with a scowl on her face she went to her computer pad again to detonate the final mechanizing of Castle Dedede and everything else that had been sold in Dream Land.