Another night had fallen on Castle Dedede. The three knights had finally drifted off into much needed sleep, after several hours of tending to His Majesty's most ridiculous requests. Even though they were sleeping in their armor, it was still a very appreciated break. Not a sound interrupted the peace of the night…
Suddenly, the knight's door swung open. King Dedede ran in the room and began to play a trombone loudly while stomping his feet, followed by Escargon crashing two cymbals together repeatedly.
"AAAGH!" Sword and Blade yelled, holding onto each other in alarm.
Meta Knight stirred awake, slightly clutching his pink blanket. The noise seemed to not have had much of an effect on him.
"Wake up ladies!" Dedede yelled, playing a few notes on his trombone again. "I called you ladies to humiliate and demean you."
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Sword mumbled several choice words underneath his breath while Blade checked the clock in the room. It read 3'o clock un the morning. They had fallen asleep at eleven that night.
"King Dedede…you can't expect us to work with full effort if we don't get enough sleep…" Sword complained.
"Was that whining I heard?" Escargon slammed the cymbals again. "You're lucky His Majesty has allowed you four hours of sleep after what you've done!"
"For what reason have you awoken us, Your Majesty?" Meta Knight asked with respect in his tone.
"Come with me to the kitchen." The king ordered.
The knights and snail followed the penguin down the dark hallways, the light from the moon leaking in through the windows. Once at the kitchen, the king voiced his request.
"I want a sandwich." Dedede declared.
"You woke us up at 3 in the morning for a sandwich?" Blade said, slightly miffed.
"Who wants a sandwich at 3AM?!" Sword crossed his arms.
At that moment, Armin bounded out of the kitchen, holding a ham and cheese sandwich.
"Oh boy, 3 AM!" He squealed, then ran upstairs.
Dedede smirked.
"Fine. We'll make your precious sandwich." Sword grumbled.
"And you better not put any 'surprises' in it either!" The penguin said as the knights walked into the kitchen.
Dedede had departed for his throne room along with his snail advisor, leaving the three knights to their task.
"So…what kind of sandwich does he want?" Blade asked.
"He wasn't specific, so I guess that means he just wants a sandwich." Sword answered.
A few moments later, they brought a plate of turkey sandwiches to the irritable king. Dedede inspected his meal with interest, then suddenly pelted Escargon with the food.
"This is not what I want! Clean this mess up!" Dedede raged.
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While Blade busily cleaned up the discarded and ruined sandwiches, Sword was quickly growing impatient.
"Okay then…how may I take your order?"
"I want a Double Triple Balty Deluxe on a raft, 4x4, animal style, extra shingles with a shimmy and a squeeze, light axle grease, make it cry, burn it, and let it swim." Dedede snapped his fingers.
Sword turned to Meta Knight, who shrugged in response.
"Was any of that even possible? How do you make food cry?" Sword asked, incredulously.
The penguin king groaned. "Here, take this cook book, it'll help you." He thrust the book into the dark green knight's hands.
"Now hop to it or you'll be the one crying!"
"I already feel like it…" Sword thought, frowning underneath the armor.
The three knights returned to the kitchen to fill out Dedede's order. After several painstaking efforts, they finally finished his monstrous sandwich.
Getting it up the stairs was the difficult part. Sword and Blade held the platter on one side while Meta Knight held the other side. Slowly, but carefully, they arrived in the throne room with the gargantuan sandwich.
Dedede inspected his oversized meal, then took a bite. "Hmm, not bad. Not bad at all."
Sword and Blade gave an internal sigh of relief.
"Now, onto your next task." Dedede grinned.
The sigh of relief was quickly sucked back in, dread welling up in the two knaves's hearts.
"The three of you are to scrub the kitchen floor after the mess you've most likely made."
"Okay, so we need to get the mops?" Sword asked, not liking the creeping grin forming on the king's face.
The king chuckled. "Mops? Who said anything about mops?"
-
"I can't take much more of this!" Sword barked.
The three knights were currently scrubbing the floor on their hands and feet, using brushes far smaller than their own hands. Blade looked at the clock. It read six thirty.
"Sir Meta Knight, even you have to admit that this is somewhat absurd…" Blade turned to his superior.
"Consider these given tasks the ultimate tests of endurance." Meta Knight responded.
"But I'm so sleepy…he made Blade and I play music with pieces of tissue paper. Tissue paper!" Sword grumbled. "He wouldn't even let me play my ukulele instead!"
"Which is probably for the best. Even King Dedede doesn't deserve that." Blade chimed in.
"Oh, so all of a sudden you're a grand master music critic? I bet you couldn't even play a kazoo!" Sword shot back.
"I bet I could play a kazoo better than you."
Meta Knight silently chuckled at his knaves, his eyes turning pink for the moment. It was very true that he felt his knaves did not deserve to share in his punishment, but having them around was certainly uplifting. Even though the constant lack of sleep and continuous cycle of unrelenting odd tasks was starting to take it's toll on him, he tried to remain resilient in front of his knaves.
(watch?v=NCR0-Scvyz4)
Suddenly, the three knights heard the sound of humming getting nearer. The source of the sound was coming from an unfamiliar Waddle Dee. Unlike the other Waddle Dees in the castle, this one was an orange color. Very similar to the Waddle Dees that often roamed the hills and grasslands of Dreamland.
The orange Waddle Dee bounced into the kitchen with a mop in hand followed by a bucket, and wore a pair of headphones on his head. He happily cleaned the floor while singing along with his music, not seeming to notice the three knights at all.
"Money don't matter if it feels for you.
Money don't matter if you're
Hah! Hah! Hah!
Money don't matter if it feels for you.
I used to worry everyday.
Now I got better things."
The orange Waddle Dee twirled his mop around, then opened his eyes. He finally seemed to notice the knights on the now cleaned floor. He glanced around the room and removed his headphones.
"How did I get in the kitchen?" He mused, then shrugged his shoulders. "What are you guys doing on the floor?"
"Well…we were supposed to clean it…" Blade trailed off, still somewhat confused by the strange turn of events.
"Well, looks like you won't have to now. I guess I got too caught up in my music."
"…Who are you?" Sword asked, deciding to get to the point.
The Waddle Dee turned away from them. "I go by many names…some call me 'the orange one'…others call me 'that one guy'…I am even known in some parts as 'the cleaning guy'…however, most just call me…"
The orange Waddle Dee turned around and struck a pose with his mop. "…Chris the Janitor!"
"It is my duty to clean things, as I am a janitor. Wherever there is a mess, I will be there! IN THE HALL! But at least I don't have to clean up my act! HEY-O!" Chris the Janitor fell to the floor laughing at his own joke.
Before any of them could respond, Chris the Janitor suddenly clapped his paws. "Wait! There was a reason I was supposed to go to the kitchen…Oh yeah! I was supposed to give a message to Sir Meta Knight and his two buffoons!"
"I'm going to ignore that remark. Who's the message from?" The dark green knight asked.
"Um…it's from King Dedede! He said to report to the castle gardens. Now if you will excuse me…I am needed elsewhere…" The orange Waddle Dee then backed up into the shadows of the castle's hallways, effectively disappearing.
After a beat, Blade turned to Meta Knight. "This is going to be one of those days, isn't it?"
"It would seem so." The blue knight calmly replied.
-
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The three knights made their way to the castle's gardens, to their uncertain doom. They were greeted by King Dedede, a grin stretched across his face once again. The penguin king most likely had yet another ridiculous task for them.
"Look at these flower bushes!" Dedede pointed to the shrubbery.
"Uh…yes, they're very nice?" Sword replied, not sure where Dedede was going with this.
"They desperately need trimming! You three are to trim these bushes…with these."
Dedede held out three pairs of safety scissors. The kind that took great time and force to even cut through paper, much less a plant's branches.
."So…I hereby decree by LAW that you must become…GARDENERS…!"
Sword and Blade stared at Dedede in silent shock, wondering if he was serious. The look on the king's face said it all.
The three took the safety scissors from his hands, quietly accepting their fates.
"I'll be watching, so don't think you can just trim the hedges with that fancy sword of yours Meta Knight! You can't fool ol' Dedede so easily! And one more thing…" The king of Dreamland's voice grew low, a dark shadow grew over his face.
"Don't any of you dare mess with the petunias…" Dedede stomped inside before the three knights could offer any sort of response.
The three knights tried to accomplish this very difficult task, but it became irking very quickly. Trying to cut through the plants was like attempting to fight off a bear with a ping pong paddle- It just wasn't reasonable.
After what seemed like hours, when in reality it was only forty five minutes, they finally managed to trim one bush.
"So, how many do we have left?" Sword asked, regaining confidence.
"We have twenty nine more to trim." Blade answered.
The little confidence Sword had recovered was then swept away like a paper in the wind. They were going to be occupied with the garden for a long while…
It was about noon when they finally finished trimming the bushes. Their hands ached and the fatigue was creeping in from the combination of labor and lack of sleep. There was no doubt that once they returned inside the castle, Dedede would gleefully give them another arduous task requiring a supernatural level of patience.
Sword and Blade were really impressed with their superior. Meta Knight was taking most of the punishment without a single complaint, strength the two knaves wished they could acquire. They were well aware Meta Knight didn't sleep that much on a normal basis, but he wasn't showing any visible signs of exhaustion like them.
The three knights reported to the king's throne room, prepared for another crazy task from the penguin. The king in question had a big grin placed on his face as he noticed his three knights in his presence.
"So…you three finished the bushes?"
"Yes, Your Majesty." Meta Knight nodded respectfully.
"And the petunias?" Dedede crossed his arms.
"Not a single petal or leaf was harmed."
"Good job. Now what I'll have you to do next…"
Sword and Blade braced themselves.
"You three can have an hour break in the lounge. But only for one hour."
Sword and Blade blinked in disbelief.
"Well, are you just going to stand there, or are you going to the lounge? Do you want to clean the bathrooms instead?" Dedede huffed.
Sword gave a small gasp. "No no no, Sire. We greatly appreciate the break!"
Sword and Blade scuttled off with Meta Knight following close behind. The king of Dreamland's grin grew wider.
"Sire, why are you giving them such a long break?" Escargon slithered next to the penguin. "Come to think of it, why give them a break at all?"
Dedede chuckled. "Oh, I figured why not put them in a false sense of relief. They need their rest for what's coming next…Bahahaha!"
"Sire, you don't mean…" Escargon winced. "I almost feel sorry for them. Almost."
"I'm just glad I don't have to be the one to do it this time…" Escargon thought, with a small relieved smile.
Unknown to King Dedede and Escargon, a certain employee had heard the entirety of their conversation.
-
Sword, Blade, and Meta Knight arrived in the lounge for a much needed break. Sword flopped down on the room's couch, while Blade rummaged through the refrigerator for a snack. Meta Knight sat down at the little coffee table in the middle of the lounge.
"So, what sort of task do you think King Dedede will give us next?" Blade asked.
"I don't know…" Sword was face down on the couch. "I just want to sleeeep…"
"Sword, don't fall asleep. Both of us know that if you do, you'll feel twice as tired when you wake up." Blade informed.
"I knooow…" Sword whimpered.
"Sir Meta Knight, aren't you the slightest bit tired?" Blade asked his superior.
It took a few seconds for the blue knight to acknowledge someone was speaking to him. He slowly turned to Blade.
"No…I'm not-" Meta Knight was cut off by a yawn. "I'm not sleepy…"
"You're lying." Blade replied, as he was making a sandwich.
"I'll be alright." The Star Warrior assured.
"If you say so…" Blade said, a tone of worry evident in his voice. "But if you need it, you could rest while we cover for you. I'm quite sure that we could keep King Dedede from finding out-"
"No, Blade. I said I would be alright. It would be dishonorable to leave you with my work. I have been in far worse situations before."
"Very well then." Blade sighed, still worried for his superior.
It was blatantly obvious that Meta Knight was growing tired. He would barely sleep on normal nights, but this was too much, even for someone like the blue knight. Many nights, Blade would often awaken to see Meta Knight standing at the window, looking at the stars above as if he was looking for something. Just why his superior did this so often was beyond Blade.
Suddenly, a familiar Waddle Dee donning headphones entered the room.
(watch?v=NCR0-Scvyz4)
"So, how are you guys holding up?" Chris the Janitor asked.
"We're doing well so far. Tired, but we're still in one piece." Blade answered.
"Is that so? Well then, let me fill you three in on something you might want to know." The orange Waddle Dee said as he walked over to the coffee pot.
He poured the coffee into a mug, then sipped the brown substance. Chris's eyes widened.
"BLUH!" He exclaimed.
"What? Is something wrong with it?" Sword asked groggily.
"No, this is really great coffee! You should try it!" Chris replied cheerfully, then took another sip from his mug.
Blade sweatdropped. "There was something you wanted to tell us?"
"Oh, right right!" Chris nodded. "Look, you three are gonna need all the energy you can get. King Dedede's got something really nasty planned."
"Let me guess, toilet duty?" Sword propped himself up with his arm.
"Worse."
"Worse? What do you mean?" Blade questioned.
"Just trust me on this." Chris took out three more mugs, poured the coffee from the pot, then dumped several spoonfuls of sugar in each mug.
"I'm not particularily fond of coffee." Meta Knight commented.
"Drink it anyway. You three are going to need it. Dedede means business with this one."
"How do you know what he has planned? Don't you have your own job to worry about?" Sword asked.
"I know because I'm Chris the Janitor. I know what goes on here and in the town. I hear things…lots of things…" His face darkened slightly.
"Good luck guys! You're gonna need it!" The orange Waddle Dee said, suddenly chipper, before retaining his previous shadowed look.
Chris backed out of the room dramatically, leaving the three knights with their coffee.
"Sir Meta Knight…what on Pop Star does King Dedede have planned for us?" Sword asked, a twinge of fear settling in.
"We will soon know." Meta Knight replied, then lifted his mask up slightly to take a sip from the mug.
Meta Knight frowned a little. Even with the large amount of sugar mixed in, he could still taste the bitterness of the brown liquid.
-
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"All right ladies! Here's your next job!" Dedede said gleefully as he lead the knights to their destination.
They were traveling upstairs when suddenly a powerful stench hit them. Meta Knight and his knaves were almost certain that the nauseating odor had something to do with the task the king was assigning the three.
"We're here!" Dedede grinned, a gleam in his eye as they stopped in front of an unfamiliar door.
"Where is 'here'?" Sword asked, not certain if that was a wise question to ask.
"I'm glad you asked! Behind this door is the storage room!" The king answered.
"We have a storage room?" Blade questioned.
"Yes, we do! But you see, this room hasn't been cleaned out for a while…several months to be exact. So that's where you three come in! I don't want to clean it, and I was gonna make Escargon do it, and since that little invasion mishap happened…"
"We've been assigned to clean it in Escargon's stead, I presume?" Meta Knight inquired.
"Very good, Meta Knight!" King Dedede clapped, then opened the door.
The moment the penguin opened the door, the small from earlier was back with a vengeance. It was overwhelming! But that didn't even compare to the state of the room…
Junk of every magnitude was clattered somewhere in the room. It was like the time all of the village was covered in trash. In short: it was like the castle's very own garbage dump.
"Hmm, that's odd." Dedede mused. "The carpet is supposed to be a cream color, not green…"
It was a wonder the carpet could even be seen.
"King Dedede…what is this?" Sword pointed to a large leafy object resting in a cooking pot.
"Oh, well…it was a bowl of chili. Now it's more of a house plant!" Dedede replied nonchalantly.
Sword heaved, feeling quite ill after the king's explanation.
"How can anyone live like this?" Blade whispered, taking in all the disarray of the room.
"Well, good luck ladies!" Dedede slammed the door behind him, leaving the knights with the disgusting room.
"Sir Meta Knight…this is far worse than when we cleaned out the Halberd." Blade said.
"By several levels, yes." Meta Knight agreed with the light green knight.
The three began working, trying to ignore the horrendous smell. The knights were seriously contemplating burning their gloves after it was all over.
"Oh lord!" Blade cried, cringing in shock.
"What? What's wrong, Blade?" Meta Knight looked up to see his petrified knave.
Blade pointed to a discarded bathtub filled with a brown substance.
"It's a tub of gravy!" The light green knight gagged.
"Hey…" Sword said quietly. "Did that chili plant thing…move since we've been here?"
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"Now that's just ridiculo-" Blade stopped short. "Wait, it was on that side of the room earlier, wasn't it?"
"I believe it was." Meta Knight confirmed.
"Sir Meta Knight…do you hear something growling?" Sword asked, feeling at unease.
The Star Warrior nodded slowly. The three knights slowly turned to the chili plant with caution, it's venus fly trap-like appearance and rusty red color was certainly unsettling. It actually looked quite similar to the Pokemon Carnivine. The growling grew louder, and it was undeniable that something was in the room with them.
Suddenly, the chili plant lunged from it's spot with a garbled shriek towards Sword. It's fangs sunk into the uncovered skin of his arm, refusing to let go no matter how hard the dark green knight tried to pry it off.
"It won't let go! It's trying to eat me!" Sword cried, still attempting to shake the chili abomination off.
Unfortunately for them, Sword and Blade had left their weapons in their room.
Sword's vision was going dark. Most likely from some type of venom in the chili plant abomination's teeth. He began to stuble as Blade and Meta Knight were trying to pry the plant from his arm.
The last thing he saw was Meta Knight drawing Galaxia.
-
"Hey…hey guys! I think he's waking up!"
Sword slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he was aware of was that everyone in the room was staring at him. Among the people in the room was Blade, Meta Knight, Chris the Janitor, Armin, and surprisingly King Dedede and Escargon.
It occurred to Sword that the voice he heard before was Chris the Janitor. What had happened? Why was everyone gathered together like this, and why did he feel so disoriented?
(watch?v=PAsmu7ayRCM)
"Sir Meta Knight! I had the most strange dream! King Dedede made us clean out a storage room (when we didn't even know there was one previously) and there was a weird chili plant abomination that looked like a Carnivine and it attacked me!"
Meta Knight only stared at the knave in silence.
"…It wasn't a dream…was it?"
The blue Star Warrior nodded in confirmation.
Sword's eyes widened. "…Take me to the hospital."
"It's already been done." Chris answered. "Doctor Yabui checked you out and you should be fine now."
Sword looked at the clock. It read seven at night.
"How long have I been unconscious?"
"About a week." Chris answered nonchalantly.
"A week!" Sword sprang up.
"Hahaha! I'm just joking with you! It's only been a few hours."
"Hmph. So what happened to the chili thing?" Sword questioned.
"Sir Meta Knight defeated it." Blade answered, at Sword's side.
"Then King Dedede whacked it's remains with his hammer, set it on fire, put the ashes in a box, beat the box with the hammer and set it on fire, then put those ashes in a steel box and buried it ten feet underground. It was really cool!" Chris said excitedly, with Armin nodding every few seconds.
"For the record, I had no idea that thing was alive!" Dedede added. "That thing has ruined chili in my eyes for the rest of my life! …Nah, probably only for the rest of this month."
"To think that such a thing was created by molding…" Escargon shuddered. "I'm glad I wasn't the one cleaning the storage room…"
"Okay, now I have something to say, so I need everyone else to leave." Dedede announced.
Escargon, Armin, and Chris the Janitor left the room. It was just the king and the three knights now.
"I suppose we have to finish the job?" Sword asked, squeezing his eyes shut.
"No, not today." Dedede answered, surprising all three knights. "You aren't ready to work yet. If your fine by tomorrow, you can start again with Chris the Janitor."
Dedede began to walk out of the room. "You can do whatever you like until then, as long as it's not property damage or another invasion. And uh…if you mention this again I'll deny it, but…if you had actually been hurt by that thing, well…I would have felt mighty guilty about it."
Sword felt a bit of shock hearing this from Dedede, but he would take it.
"This conversation never happened." The penguin king said as he left the room.
Sword breathed a sigh of relief. "Sir Meta Knight…you saved my life from that…thing."
"Your life wasn't in danger. Dr. Yabui said that the poison wasn't lethal." Blade pointed out.
"Still, at the time I thought my life was in danger. It could have eaten me. Just throwing that out there."
Sir Meta Knight gave a soft chuckle. "I wouldn't have allowed that to happen."
"Still, you seemed quite calm for someone that just defeated a creature born from the long process of chili in a pot molding." Blade voiced his thoughts.
"A large sum of the Demon Beasts were far stranger and had far more strength." The blue knight stated.
"True, very true." Blade sighed. "It's just so hard to believe that Nightmare was defeated after so long. Some days it seems like it's only been a short while ago, and others it seems like eons have passed."
Sword nodded. "I know what you mean. It's been strange not having a Demon Beast terrorize the town every week. Not that I'm complaining."
"It was so difficult to comprehend…" Meta Knight's voice was quiet. "…that after thousands of years…after Nightmare had taken so much…his reign was at long last over."
"We have Kirby to thank for the peace that's been given to us." Blade said.
"Without him, Nightmare would still be among us. We would have been at his mercy." Sword nodded.
"Nightmare had no concept of the word 'mercy'…" The Star Warrior said with a low tone.
"Um…excuse me…were you talking about Nightmare?" A small voice said from behind them.
The three knights turned around to see Armin, his eyes wide in wonder. They briefly wondered how long he had been standing there.
When the Waddle Dee received no response, he continued. "I don't know that much about Nightmare. I've only been living on the surface for so long…but I've heard him mentioned a lot. Chris the Janitor told me about Nightmare a little and a group called the…uh…the Galaxy Soldier Army."
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"Chris the Janitor knows about the GSA?" Sword turned to Blade, then Meta Knight.
Armin nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, he said something about Star Warriors too. Isn't Kirby one of those?"
Sword and Blade slowly nodded, completely absorbed with Armin's words.
"Chris the Janitor told me a story. It was about a place that everyone was afraid to go, even members of the GSA! It was really scary, but fun! You should talk to him sometime. I'm sure he wouldn't mind telling you the story. He should be in the lounge."
Armin then waddled down the halls, leaving the three knights perplexed.
"Sir Meta Knight…" Blade breathed. We're going to see Chris the Janitor, right?"
The blue Star Warrior nodded in a serious fashion.
-
Sword, Blade, and Meta Knight arrived in the lounge to find the Waddle Dee they were looking for. Chris the Janitor was drinking a cup of coffee while watching the TV on Channel DDD. He looked somewhat bored, which was quite understandable.
"Chris?" Sword said, getting the orange Waddle Dee's attention.
"We were just talking with Armin. He told us something quite interesting." Blade continued.
Meta Knight stepped forward. "We were told that you contained information on the GSA and Nightmare, then shared this with Armin. Is that correct?"
Chris shook his head in confirmation. "Was that a bad thing?"
"No, but what we want to know is…" Blade started.
"…How you know so much about the GSA and Nightmare." Sword finished.
"Only a select few know of the GSA and it's exploits. How did you learn of such?" The blue knight asked.
Chris the Janitor suddenly peeked out the door and looked from side to side. He faced the three knights.
"…Come to my office."
The orange Waddle Dee motioned for them to follow. They walked around the castle until they stopped at a closet door.
"The Janitor's closet?" Blade asked, somewhat questioning the Waddle Dee's credibility.
"Come inside." The janitor ushered them in.
Inside was a round table, a bed, a small recliner chair, and a TV resting on a box, as well as a few other boxes lying around. Chris the Janitor sat at the table, waiting for the knights to get settled.
(watch?v=7ZlLMyU6yuw)
"Allow me to explain myself. You see, I was not always an incredibly dashing janitor. Once, I was something that was a far cry from the lovable and handsome janitor I am now."
Sword rolled his eyes, while Blade remained skeptical. Meta Knight remained the same.
"You see, once I was an incredibly dashing and handsome thief! I was the best there was when it came to thieving! I ran as fast as the wind and was as quiet as a cardboard box."
"That's an…interesting analogy." Blade said.
"So you were a thief once? You can't really tell." Sword pointed out.
"Oh it's true. Don't judge by my appearance, I had the stickiest paws you could ever imagine! I had everything by thieving. Money, food, and I got to travel. However, that all changed one day…"
"What does your life story have to do with the GSA?" The dark green armored knight interrupted.
"I'M GETTING TO THAT!" Chris jumped on the table and was in front of Sword in less than a second. The green knight jumped back a bit in shock at the unexpected movement.
"Geez, so rude! I thought that knights were supposed to be chivalrous and classy." Chris huffed while sitting down. "I don't tell just anyone about my past. This is kind of an emotional thing for me."
"We understand completely." Meta Knight nodded for Chris to continue.
"Anyway, that all changed one day when I decided to pull off the ultimate theft. Robbing from King Dedede's treasure room. A move that will henceforth be known as, a terrible mistake in my thieving career."
Chris sighed. "I remember it so clearly. I snuck into that room and saw gold, silver, gemstones of all kinds! It was incredible! I started stuffing my sack with the treasures and started out the door, then I got the scare of a lifetime."
"In the shadows, I saw a towering figure wearing a coat and wielding a gigantic hammer! He had a grin stretched all across his face and I was cornered! Then he leaned down and said, "Where do you think you're going, little man?". I was so scared! Then he picked me up by the foot and said that I would be doing hard labor. So he made me become a janitor and do various jobs similar to the ones you were sentenced to."
"So you're a janitor by force? But you seem to appreciate your job." Blade asked.
"You see, being a janitor for that time made me realize something. As a thief, I had riches. Riches that I gained through ill gotten ways. During my times of thievery, I always felt like something was missing from my life. Here, I found it. A home. A home where I was welcome and always had friends to turn to when I needed them, and they could turn to me when I was needed. Being caught by King Dedede was a blessing in disguise!"
Chris the Janitor then cleared his throat. "And that's how I went from an incredibly dashing thief to an incredibly dashing janitor."
"…That was a very nice story, but I'm still not sure what this may have to do with the GSA." Blade said.
"Armin mentioned a story that was told to him. A story involving an area that anyone, including members of the Galaxy Soldier Army feared." The blue knight brought up the story.
"That was probably the story you wanted to hear, but I couldn't tell it in it's entirety without explaining my career as a thief. I took out quite a bit of the full story for Armin, as I'm not sure what he would think of me if he knew I was once a thief…or the general horror of the full story." Chris smiled sadly.
The orange Waddle Dee dimmed the lights in the room for effect, then began his tale.
"As a thief, I mentioned I traveled a lot. I saw many many places. Cities, countrysides, mountains, snowy landscapes…but there was one place that really struck me. One that's burned into my memory."
Sword and Blade leaned in closer, noticing the janitor's change in tone. Meta Knight's eyes flashed green for a split second.
"Have any of you ever heard of a place called The Broken Village?"
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Sword and Blade shook their heads, then turned to their superior.
"…I've only heard of such a place in little spoken rumors. I had passed it off as a place of stories children often told to frighten each other."
"No…no…it's not a rumor. It's far from it. That's the last place on Pop Star a child should be. I suppose you've never heard about the…occurences… there…" Chris gulped.
"What sort of occurences?" The blue knight inquired.
"…It's said that The Broken Village is a place where nightmares can truly hurt you. It's a place where grass doesn't grow, all the buildings are broken down, all the trees are withered and dead, and not a soul resides there."
"I suppose it sounds rather unsettling, but nothing unusual for an abandoned area." Blade protested.
"That isn't what's so special about the place. That's just the seasoning. The Broken Village is known to have some effect on anyone that enters. It causes the person to go mad after being there for too long."
"Chris, are you really serious about this?" Sword scoffed.
"I'm being serious! I've seen the place myself! I was there!" Chris panted. "I had met some former GSA members, survivors of the war with Nightmare a few years ago…they figured that something must have been in that village. Something important. I thought that perhaps it could be treasure. That maybe it was a hoax and it was a coverup for someone's hideout…"
"So you went with the GSA survivors into The Broken Village?" Blade asked.
Chris nodded. "We planned to search the place thoroughly for anything. It was me and about five of them. I wanted the treasure, they wanted the glory of discovery. However, it turned out that wasn't the only reason they were there…apparently there was more to The Broken Village then I thought."
The orange Waddle Dee looked at the three knights with a serious expression. "We were walking through the village, and it was unsettling, yes, but we kept going. Then suddenly, one of them started acting really strange…"
"In what way were they acting unusual?" Meta Knight seemed intrigued.
(watch?v=9S7-pAVIUjI)
"He suddenly stopped in his tracks. He looked at the ground for the longest time, then he looked at us with a completely blank look…His eyes went wide and he opened his mouth. He started screaming and fell to the ground! He was flailing on the ground while he was shrieking and pulling at his hair and clawing at his own face!"
Sword shivered and huddled closer to Blade, who shuddered at the description. Meta Knight's eyes were visibly glowing green, his interest completely on Chris's story.
"We didn't know what to do, so we tried to calm him down. He was still screaming and cringing like he could see something that we couldn't. Then he jumped up and screamed one more time. He collapsed. One of them decided to take him back while the rest of us continued. It was a very bad decision."
"There's more…?" The dark green knight gulped.
"Much much more." Chris shook. "We were on our way again, when we started feeling much more on edge. There were four of us left, when suddenly another one started acting odd. This one stared at the ground like the first one, then started crying. He cried and cried, then started screaming like the other guy. He got into the fetal position and started whispering a flurry of words. Couldn't understand a thing he was saying."
"They were survivors of the war? What could have caused them to act in such a way?" Blade questioned.
"It was the village. It's madness was taking over. Another one started crying too and clawing at the ground. He was yelling, "Death lies beneath our feet!" Then, "I am emerging!". Then the last one, oh the last one…He started to scream like the others, and he was pointing at something. The ground…"
Chris breathed shakily. "He said that it was coming for him. It was coming for them all and it was going to devour us…And then…I started to see it too…I could hear it…It sounded like distorted wailing…something otherworldly…I've never heard something so frightening in my life…"
By this point, the poor janitor was breathing rather hard. The three knights were completely absorbed with the horror of it all…the fact that well trained GSA survivors of the war suddenly deteriorated into a mass of insanity…it was too frightening to imagine…
"All of us managed to get our senses back just enough to hightail it out of there. Once we all calmed down and were well away from that accursed place, we all talked about what had happened. What we heard…what we had seen…"
"We could all agree on one thing. We heard a distorted voice screaming and wailing, not unlike the way we were behaving. However, some of us saw a variety of things One of us claimed to have seen large clawed hands crawling around, while another said he saw a man with a cape that depicted space itself."
"Nightmare…" Meta Knight thought.
"But what I saw…I saw what looked like a Star Warrior huddled into a corner in fear. Then other Star Warriors…I could see visions of Star Warriors and their neverending torture at the hands of that man with the cape…The last thing I saw before recovering some of my senses…was what appeared to be… a white round figure with long tentacles…"
Chris shivered. "It got closer and closer…and that garbled distorted voice got louder and louder…I couldn't take anymore! So we ran! We ran and ran until we were far from that forsaken place! And I've never been back since."
The three knights were completely silent. The room fell quiet for several minutes. Finally, someone spoke.
"Do you know the location of The Broken Village?"
It was Meta Knight. His eyes flashed green, visible to everyone else. Chris only stared in horror at the blue knight.
"No…" The orange Waddle Dee said after a long silence.
Meta Knight continued to stare at Chris, not convinced by his claim.
"Sir Meta Knight…I can't tell you. Nobody ever needs to go there again. Those were veteran GSA soldiers, and you heard what they were reduced to. Don't go to that place. Don't try to look for it. Don't even consider trying to go there."
The Star Warrior folded his hands. "I suppose that you will not allow me to see this cursed village with my own eyes?"
Chris sighed. "I can't do that. I can't stop you from going there either, but I'm giving you fair warning. Sir Meta Knight, if you enter The Broken Village, you might leave a different man. For better, or for worse."
-
The blue knight and his knaves entered their room, preparing to rest for the night. The Waddle Dee's words were still echoing through their heads. The thought of a place like that existing, a place so nightmarish that fully trained veteran GSA soldiers would be reduced to maddened beings…
Sword and Blade fell asleep after much difficulty, but Meta Knight's mind would not allow him to rest. His curiosity was captured, and his craving for knowledge was to blame. He wanted to find that place and explore it thoroughly, discover it's secrets.
However, what also fueled his desire to find The Broken Village were the illusions themselves. Seeing the visions the forsken land had to offer could very well drive him mad, yet deep down he knew that there was something more to this. It was undoubtable that Chris had seen Nightmare in his illusion. That alone would have been enough to capture the blue knight's interest.
The Star Warrior's mind was settled.
The moment he could be free of this probation, he would find The Broken Village.
Author's Note: Well, this has been an interesting chapter. We've gota new character, Sword was attacked by a chili plant abomination, and we get more information on The Broken Village...
...Meta Knight likes a life of adventure.