The landscape that lied before the three knights was too breathtaking for words.
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Underneath Dreamland lied a large jungle-like area, that had somehow went undiscovered for perhaps centuries. It was an incredible sight for certain.
The Waddle Dees that dwelled in the cavern were not that different from surface-world Waddle Dees. They played and frolicked around the trees, some were even playing small hand-made instruments such as drums or sitars.
It was a village of Waddle Dees.
They were quite timid of seeing strangers in their land, they murmured amongst themselves in perplexity. What would three knights be doing in their humble village? The small creatures wondered if they should be afraid or not.
Their fear seemed to subside once the chief Waddle Dee appeared. Certainly he would know why outsiders had invaded their home.
The chief Waddle Dee actually appeared no different from a regular Waddle Dee. The only visible difference was a small leaf crown on his head.
"Pray tell, what are outsiders doing in our land? Have you come to hunt for our treasure?" The chief asked defensively.
"No, we have come to investigate the possibility of your land connecting with another titled 'The Broken Village'. Do you know of such a place?" Meta Knight asked.
"Never heard of such, but I don't like the sound of that place." The chief shuddered. "Why would you want to find something like that? Are you three thrill-seekers? Or are you just nuts?"
"The Broken Village is connected with many cases of temporary loss of sanity. It is a dangerous place, but that is exactly why we need to find it." Blade answered.
"Oh, so that's why knights are here." The older Waddle Dee mumbled. "You heard the rumors. About what this place does to people's heads…well, it's commonly known as 'cave madness', but…lately it's been something more than that…"
The chief sighed. "About a month ago, an outsider broke into our village. He wanted our treasure, and he was a violent criminal. However, before anyone could get hurt, he stumbled a bit too far into the cave. He came back a frazzled twitching wreck. Just what he could have seen back there is beyond me…nothing like that ever happens to us Waddle Dees here."
"So we need to go further into the cave." Meta Knight said in confirmation. "Thank you for your time."
"Uh…" The chief leaned towards Sword and Blade. "Does he have a death wish? Or is he just nuts?"
"It could be both. He hasn't slept in days." Sword whispered.
"Oh boy…" The Waddle Dee muttered. "You two are gonna have a handful. I don't need to be a shaman to see that in your future. I wish you luck with what lies ahead. You're gonna need it."
"W-Wait! Sir Meta Knight!" Sword and Blade called, noticing their lord was departing.
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"Sir Meta Knight, are you quite sure that you want to go through with this?" Blade asked, showing concern.
"Certainly. This is a mission. Sir Arthur is relying on us."
"You hold him in such high regard, but I believe that Sir Arthur wouldn't want you to push yourself this far." Sword replied.
"There is no reason to worry for my sake. However, if you feel that you are in danger, you may return to the castle." The knight said with indifference.
"No." The brothers replied sternly. "We are not leaving you here. We made a promise, that no matter what dangers lied ahead, we would always be there by your side."
"…I assumed you would say that." Meta Knight's eyes flashed green. "You do realize that The Broken Village might be ahead. A place where one's nightmares are made reality?"
"Which is exactly why we should turn back. At least until you're in better condition." Blade tried to reason with his lord.
"I have heard enough of this nonsense." The blue puff's eyes flashed red for a split second. "If you have any doubt towards me, turn back. I will find The Broken Village, alone. Just as it was meant to be."
"…We have no doubts." They both replied softly.
The blue knight nodded, then turned away from his knaves to continue their quest.
Meta Knight didn't want to be so cold to his knaves, but he wanted them to leave him. They were becoming far too aware of his state of mind. And this cave would only make it more apparent as they went deeper into it's depths, if the rumors were indeed true.
He hated being so weak.
Nothing but silence echoed between them, the air was tense. Sword and Blade were too nervous, afraid to upset Meta Knight further in his condition. He normally wasn't this irritable, but the lack of sleep must be the cause.
The brothers wished they could do something to take him away from his own nightmares, but it unfortunately was out of their hands. They could only plead for him not put himself into more danger, something he was paying no mind to.
Suddenly, the blue knight spun on his heel and turned towards Sword and Blade. His posture showed that he was somewhat riddled with aggravation.
"Sword, Blade, I do not know what could possibly be so amusing that it would warrant such uproarious giggling, but I ask of you to stop."
"…Giggling?" Sword said, baffled.
"Sir Meta Knight, we haven't made a sound." Blade protested.
The blue puff paused, he glanced around the forest-like cave's area. The Star Warrior's eyes glowed a vibrant orange, something the knaves had not seen before. Unknown to them, orange signified confusion. Something all parties were feeling at the moment.
"Did you not hear it?" Meta Knight asked.
"I didn't hear anything." Blade said. "I don't hear anything now either except for the two of us."
"…I was certain I heard faint laughter." Meta Knight pondered softly. "Very well then, I suppose it's nothing of concern."
Sword and Blade turned to each other and exchanged frightful glances.
"Blade…he's hearing things now…"
"It was just as Dragato said." The red haired knave whispered in a low tone. "He's showing signs of Schizophrenia."
"Hey Mety~" Falspar sang. "I think someone is looking your way!"
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Falspar jabbed a thumb across the room towards Letty. She was absentmindedly eating a cookie, only to look up in their direction, then quickly avert her gaze with slightly red cheeks.
Meta Knight moved away from the green puff. "Well, it certainly couldn't be because of your volume, could it?"
"Yes, my hair does have a lot of volume to it! How could anyone resist?" Falspar grinned, running a hand through his red locks.
"I don't know him." Dragato denied..
Sector H was currently awaiting their next mission from Sir Arthur. Until then, they were buying time in Beta's shop. Thankfully, Falspar's childhood friend didn't mind them staying there as long as they didn't touch the equipment.
"Uh, Beta, what is that?" Jecra asked, pointing to what the black puff was currently working on,
Whatever the white eyed puff was so focused on was made of metal. They almost appeared to be red metal butterfly wings, much to the onlookers' amusement or bafflement.
"Haha! Butterflies? That's really manly Beta." Falspar chuckled.
"Says the guy who uses more hair products than any woman I've ever met." Beta rolled his eyes.
"Hey, it takes hard work to be this good looking!" The red haired puff pouted, sticking his lip out childishly.
"So…back to the point." Jecra interjected. "What are they?"
"These, are artificial wings I've been inventing." Beta stated proudly. "There are several Demon Beasts that can fly, so to even the playing field we're gonna have these. This is a prototype."
"But…butterflies?" Falspar snorted. "I mean, why not something cool like a dragon?"
"Do I have to say it again to get it through your hairspray infected skull?!" Beta shouted. "It. Is. A. Prototype! You'll see, these wings will be one of the most helpful machines on the battlefield!"
"Okay, sure." The green puff smirked. "We'll just need to get some tutus and ballerina slippers to match our new wings."
"Remind me, why am I your friend again?" Beta groaned.
While the two puffs exchanged insults, Dragato stared at the wings with interest.
"Sir Meta Knight, are these not similar to your wings?"
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Beta froze. He eyed the blue knight with interest, a grin underneath his odd mask. "You…have wings?"
The black puff was leaning across the counter, far too close for Meta Knight's tastes. The mechanic had a gleam in his white eyes, something that was a bit discomforting.
Everyone in the room was staring at him.
"…They are not organic. My cape can shift into wings that allow me flight." Meta Knight explained.
"Show me." Beta leaned even closer.
The blue Star Warrior hopped off of the stool he sat on, becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the situation. However, he summoned his wings in the hope that it would satisfy the mechanic.
Beta stared at the blue puff's wings in awe, almost frothing at the mouth. Jecra stared in shock, while Letty gazed at the knight with a small gasp.
Meta Knight quickly lowered his wings, becoming cloth once more. Beta stood still, accessing his thoughts on the rare sight.
Suddenly, the black puff held out a fistful of money. "Take my money. All of it. All of it for that cape."
"My cape is not for sale!" Meta Knight raised his voice, shocking everyone present, including himself. "Sir Arthur gave me this very cape after graduation from training! To sell a gift from him would make a mockery of his generosity!"
Beta visibly drooped. "…Okay. I understand. If I were you, I wouldn't sell something like that either. And I really do love money…so that's saying something."
The black puff turned to his red butterfly wings, then began to work on them once more.
"So Sir Arthur gave you that cape?" Jecra said with wide eyes. "You must really be special to him if he gave you something like that."
"Ah…I am no different from any other soldier here." Meta Knight replied modestly, his eyes shining a pale pink.
"…Did your eyes just turn pink?" The blonde squinted.
"No, it must have been a trick of the light." He replied.
"Meta Knight's eyes change color with his moods!" Falspar tattled to Jecra,
"Falspar…" Meta Knight frowned.
"No way! So what do all the colors mean?" Jecra asked, much to the blue puff's chagrin.
"Well…" The red haired puff put his hand to his chin. "I know green is whenever he's thinking really hard. And blue is whenever he's happy, haven't seen that color from him in a while."
"One can only wonder why." Dragato frowned, sarcasm evident in his voice. "It couldn't be because he has to deal with a moron who happens to be green , could it?"
"How dare you talk about Sir Arthur like that!" Falspar pointed at the light purple puff.
"Yeah, yeah, that's nice." Jecra waved. "So what does pink mean?"
"Oh, well his eyes have turned that color of pink a lot lately. Especially whenever he's around…" The puff with the mohawk mused. "Wait a minute…"
Falspar grinned, nudging Meta Knight. "Are you embarrassed? Is that what pale pink means? Is Mety shy~?"
"Falspar…" Meta Knight hissed under his breath.
"Aha!" He grinned. "You are! Oh look, you're doing it again!"
Meta Knight tried to turn away from the laughing green puff, hiding his eyes behind his navy cape. He was thankful that at least the mask was covering his flushed cheeks.
"Aww, Mety just wants his sempai to notice him!" Falspar chuckled.
Suddenly, the green puff was yanked back by the hair from a force behind. He turned around, prepared to tear into whoever dared touch his hair.
"Dragato, get your frilly girly hands off my-AAAH! Ohpleasedon'thurtme…"
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The one that had grabbed him was none other than Gisela, the Iron Fortress. He paled, his eyes shrunk to microscopic dots.
"Idiot." Gisela grunted under her breath, her red eyes narrow and intimidating.
The green puff gave a silent sigh of relief when the black puff released his hair. He quickly hid behind Meta Knight. The fully armored Gisela strode towards Letty, the pink puff looked up at her sector's leader sheepishly.
"Letty…why weren't you at our training session?" Gisela's hard gaze was on her.
"Um…well…" She stuttered. "I was eating my lunch."
"Oh, is that so?" The black puff looked at her with a bemused expression. "If I didn't know better…I'd say that you were here to gawk at a couple of boys!"
Gisela's fist made contact with the table, making the pink puff squeak in alarm.
"Y-You know that isn't true, Gisela!" Letty stuttered. "W-Why would I want to look at a couple of newbie boys?!"
Gisela grinned a bit. "That's what I thought. Keep that up, and you'll be strong in no time. Just like me."
"Ah…I don't know if I'm cut out for that." The blonde girl said softly. "I-I mean…I can't even fight well at all…"
"Letty, look at me." Gisela demanded. "You're not gonna accomplish anything with that attitude of yours. Straighten up and be something. It's embarrassing with you acting so meek all the time."
"B-But…I…" Letty whispered in a faint voice. "I don't know if I…"
"Letty, be honest." Gisela slammed her hand on the table. "Do you really wanna be one of those little weakling girls that only end up a housewife, or do you wanna be a strong warrior who only has one person to look out for: herself?"
"I-I wanna be a warrior…"
"Good. You're making the right choice. Trust me on this one, smartest decision you'll probably ever make." The black puff smirked in satisfaction.
Some of the Sector H soldiers strained to hear their conversation from across the room with little success. They pitied the poor pink puff, she certainly didn't look like the type that would join an army. Letty seemed more like a girl that would be content spending her days in a domestic life.
"She's too cute to be a soldier…" Falspar stated quietly.
"The poor girl…" Jecra frowned.
Meta Knight glanced at Letty, the pink puff was quite visibly upset by the conversation. Why such an innocent pure girl would choose to take part in a war puzzled him. The blue knight could only slightly hear her soft sweet voice at a distance, a large contrast from Gisela's louder and rougher voice.
"Y-Yes, I understand Gisela." Letty replied.
Meta Knight could have sworn that he saw the pink puff turn to glance at him briefly before her attention returned to the large black puff so close to her.
"Gisela!" Candeloro's voice was heard from the doorway of the room. "Gisela, why did you ditch us?"
"Wasn't ditching. Letty, here didn't show up for training. So I looked around and found her here, and I think she was looking at the noob boys."
"Goodness, Gisela." Shenandoah glanced at Letty. "Letty never agreed to train with you. We all train together."
"Yeah, but she needs a little more help." The large puffball frowned.
"Gisela, you know that she hasn't been in the GSA as long as us!" Candeloro shouted. "Give her some time! And if I didn't know better, I'd say you were the one who was ogling the noob boys! You like tormenting the one with the Mohawk a lot…"
The orange puff gave a cat-like grin at Gisela's frustration. The pony tailed puff gritted her teeth.
"Drop dead."
"Oh, throw your little temper tantrum." Candeloro waved her hand dismissively. "Letty, it's alright. Nobody can be as perfect as Gisela. She can't expect that much of you."
The black puffball snorted. "Dang right."
Candeloro rolled her eyes.
"I believe everyone is forgetting why we are here." Shenandoah interjected. "Sir Arthur should be here any moment to give us our mission."
"Please let it be a battlefield mission!" Gisela rubbed her hands together. "I'm sick of doing these little errands lately. I wanna let loose on a Demon Beast."
"G-Gisela, don't say that!" Letty squeaked. "Think of what happened at Hotbeat!"
"If I had been there, the outcome would have been different." The spear wielding puffball retorted.
"Flying too close to the sun, Gisela." Shenandoah warned.
"Good morning, everyone." Sir Arthur greeted as he entered the room. "Oh, everyone's here! Good, I won't have to run around the base then."
"Sir Arthur, if I may ask…why do you want all of us here together?" Jecra asked.
"I'm actually glad you asked that, Jecra." Their leader responded. "In light of the recent Demon Beast attacks on the new sectors, I have developed a new method of how missions will go for those new sectors."
"No…" Gisela whispered. "No…"
When Sir Arthur said the next sentence, Falspar would have rather died.
"On this mission, Sector H and Sector S will unite as one team!"
Sword and Blade were frightened for their lord.
Ever since Meta Knight had claimed to have heard giggling, he was on edge. The blue knight would look left and right, as if something was escaping his line of sight each time. It was troubling the two knaves, and it only made the Star Warrior more tense.
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"Sir Meta Knight…shouldn't we rest?" Sword suggested. "It's been a few hours."
"Besides, this spot looks peaceful." Blade pointed out the crystal area they were currently standing in.
Meta Knight agreed, but his posture was still uptight. Sword and Blade needed him to stay in place for a while so he could relax. Unfortunately, that place happened to be an unfamiliar cave. Which may or may not lead to a place where his paranoia would only increase.
"It's taunting me…" Meta Knight thought bitterly. "It's making me appear insane…"
The sad truth was, the blue knight probably knew he was acting irrational.
"Sir Meta Knight…you need to rest." Blade said gently. "I know it may be hard to, but you really need to for your health."
"I cannot deny it any longer." The puff admitted. "I am so very tired…"
His gloved hands reached underneath his mask to rub at his eyes. Despite the fact that their superior was acting somewhat like a sleepy child, Sword and Blade had to admit that the action was undeniably cute. They never would have guessed that Meta Knight would have such a soft childlike face.
The blue knight lied down on a small mattress he had somehow managed to fit into his cape (how that worked still boggled their minds). He curled up on his side, the armor clinking a bit as he did so.
"Wouldn't you feel more comfortable without the armor?" Sword suggested.
"Would you feel comfortable without yours?" Was his somewhat sassy reply.
Sword and Blade resisted the urge to chuckle at how their knight was acting like a cranky toddler. Still, they could hardly blame him. The man must have been awake for days with barely a good night's sleep, and the effects had certainly shown.
They could only hope that he would not be tormented by nightmares this time. His sanity was taking a harsh toll as an effect of them. Though they knew not what his nightmares contained, his knaves did know that he was suffering. They wished so badly that they could ease his pain somehow…
"Sword, Blade…how long will you continue to stare?" Meta Knight asked, somewhat awkwardly.
"Oh, uh…sorry Sir Meta Knight." They both apologized as he turned over on his mattress away from them.
The two knaves decided to settle down for the night as well, both tired from walking through the seemingly endless cave. They knew they had much further to go, according to what Kirby, Gooey, and Armin had told them.
Meta Knight shifted around, still awake, until he finally seemed to find a comfortable position. He suddenly felt a wave of peace envelop him, and slowly his body began to relax. It was an odd sensation after being used to the discomfort of his own mind keeping him awake, and the relentless nightmares taking hold of his dreams.
He gazed at the multi-colored crystals that surrounded him, their faint glow oddly comforting to the veteran puff. They reminded him of a child's nightlight, something that provided security. It was an unfamiliar feeling, the need to be secure. But at the same time, it felt all too familiar.
Meta Knight's eyes began to close, his breathing becoming more even. The veteran had almost drifted off to sleep, his mind at ease for once in the past few weeks.
And then, something made his blood run cold.
Something had snapped him out of his calm state. Something had disrupted the quiet and gentle atmosphere of the area. His knaves still asleep, Meta Knight was the only one to witness it.
It was a sound.
It was the sound of a fleshy gurgle.
Author's Note: Yes, this is where things finally pickup. Th Sector H gets their first real mission as a team...with Sector S. Sir Arthur, I hope you know what you're doing. Also, the insanity has finally reached it's highpoint. Now tell me, where else was there a noise that was described as a fleshy gurgle? It's not too hard of a guess.
Also, reading over this chapter, Gisela is really turning out to look like a bully. She's so tsundere though. And Letty is the ordinary one out of the sector, but Gisela is really trying to shape Letty in her image. She's just too soft for Gisela.
So, this arc is now going to transition into the next phase, the action and fleshed out backstories. Thank you for being patient this long, so now we're going full swing next chapter. Prepare yourselves.
Leer Justice, out.