The word tents is typically used to describe a camping getup, or what you're stuffed in when your kidnappers ask for ransom in the midst of a massive forest. But it will be much more in this story. You may notice the connection between tents and tense, but be known that tents with be very important in the chapter as well as feeling tense. Maybe the tents are the tense parts of the story? Or perhaps you might find in the midst of all this chaos Bandana Dee decides to go camping (he won't). I guess we'll see in around 10 chapters or so.
…
No...
There are no tents in this chapter?
Hm.
"You guys ever been to space?" Bandana Dee asked as they approached the upper atmosphere. "You don't need to breath or anything, just so y-" Bandana Dee was interrupted by some object flying past them at high velocity, seemed to be screaming something about TEYZZ-LA or something, but as quick as it appeared it was gone, and Dark Meta Knight responded.
"Of COURSE, I've been to space." Dark Meta Knight spoke in a haughty manner. "We've all been to space at one point or another."
"Yeah, I think we fought Dark Mind in space way back then, unless that was just some weird vortex dimension." Shadow Kirby said with a shrug. "What about you Emory?"
"...yeah." Emory spoke before clearing her throat (or just mimicking that noise). "A few times, arguably."
"What do you mean arguably?" Bandana Dee wondered. "Was it like half in space, half on your home planet?"
Emory let out a weird groan, "Well, I guess it's more like... I might have been, but I'm not sure." she spoke in a strange tone. "Generally, I didn't really get out much before I got here."
"Well, where'd you come from?" Bandana Dee questioned and was met with silence from her and the other two. "I mean, you don't have to answer, just figure I'd ask."
Dark Meta Knight grumbled, despite not being able to hear Emory, he seemed generally aware of the conversation. "Sometimes it's better to keep your mouth shut."
"Wow, like that doesn't make me want to ask even more questions." Bandana Dee said with a sigh as the warpstar began to break out of Popstar's atmosphere. "Whatever, let's just focus on the now, we're just gonna hang out on the spaceship?"
"Well, there's a bit more to it than just that, mate." Emory said with a careful tone. "There are very important drives on that ship that will be crucial to our plan."
"Which is?"
"To shatter that black prism, duh." Dark Meta Knight reminded him. "Or just kick his ass."
"Right, Ecal was his name, right?" Bandana Dee said, and he got a nod from Dak Meta Knight. "Yeah, come to think of it, uh..." Bandana Dee was about to mention Emory, but he decided not to to keep the situation friendly. It was obvious there was SOME connection, and while he hadn't seen Ecal, him being a black prism and basically the opposite of Emory look wise didn't paint that dim of a picture, though Bandee couldn't really be sure.
"Once we get there, be aware that there might be some... hostiles on board, but you have that paintbrush of yours." Dark Meta Knight reminded Bandee as he watched the odd infinite paint splotch on the end of the brush flutter in the wind behind him.
It was honestly easy to forget, he had NO IDEA how Adeline constantly kept it by her side when he'd probably forget it every day. It just wasn't as memorable as a spear, a spear has dexterity, a spear has a point, and his spear?!
Oh yeah, it belonged to Dedede.
Ugh.
Just mentioning that guy left a bad taste in his mouth, moreso than usual now as his spear was one of his most prized possessions. He didn't need a spear though, he could do perfectly fine on his own, and that's exactly what he's been doing for a WHILE now!
Emory quietly interjected into his thoughts. "So, this Dedede fellow..."
Bandanna Dee groaned, "Don't mention him."
"Don't mention who?" Shadow Kirby asked.
"Don't worry about it." Bandanna Dee responded. "He's not important."
"Oh, are you and Kirby going through a breakup arc?!" Shadow Kirby asked as space debris twinkled past the warpstar. "You guys are gonna make up in the third act and come together to defeat the bad guy, right?"
"NO, not Kirby, De-" Bandanna Dee stopped himself. "Nobody."
Dark Meta Knight picked up on what he cut off, "He's clearly talking about that idiot, Dedede." he noted. "I think he worked for him at some point based on what I've heard from the shadows."
Bandana Dee couldn't help but chuckle, "The shadows?" he wondered. "Is that your boyband?"
"Sometimes Deta sneaks around into dark closets and listens to gossip in his free time!" Shadow Kirby announced. "Like the other week he found out that there was this weird building that appeared in the forest with an M on it, but when he went to check it out, it was empty besides some rocks."
Dark Meta Knight sighed, "Regardless," he said. "Dedede."
"Isn't that the same guy who beat you back into Mirror Purgatory?" Shadow Kirby asked. "Shame he doesn't have a cool Mirror World counterpart, would really complete our trio."
"You mean group of four?" Bandana Dee corrected.
"No, trio." Shadow Kirby confirmed, shaking his head back and forth. "I mean, there's Kirby, Meta Knight, and Dedede."
Bandanna Dee piped in once more, "I'm a part of the trio- I mean, group as well."
"How come I've never heard of you, then?" Dark Meta Knight pondered a bit too loudly.
"I came around a few years after you were defeated to be a part of the main group, so that's probably why." Bandanna Dee inquired. "Still, kinda weird there isn't a Shadow Bandanna Dee."
"Well, you'd have to look into the Amazing Mirror first for one to show up, but Dedede shattered it, so that's not happening anytime soon." Dark Meta Knight said, sounding a bit dejected. "Unless someone finds all the pieces, but that's like looking for a sand grain in a sea of rice."
"Huh?" Bandanna Dee said, turning towards Dark Meta Knight.
"What?" he asked back, narrowing his eyes. "Am I not allowed to make metaphors?"
The warpstar then stopped, and Shadow Kirby made an announcement, "We're here!"
They were in front of a large, impressive ship that certainly looked to be important. The ship had the letters 'P.C.A' written on them in bright white, it was a rather compact ship all things considered, essentially a box floating around orbit in Popstar, seemingly no way in or out.
Bandanna Dee looked around for any entrances, "How are we-"
"DIVEBOMB!" Shadow Kirby yelled, smacking his warpstar into the side of the ship and breaking through a panel on the wall which led into an interior. Multiple objects were sucked out and into space! Dark Meta Knight hung onto a light fixture, while Bandana Dee held onto his legs with one hand as the paintbrush almost got sucked into the void behind him. Thankfully, the ship seemed to enter some sort of repair mode, and the hole was patched with some sort of nanotech, closing the vacuum.
Bandana Dee hit the floor with a thud, and picked himself up, his face feeling sore as heck from the impact. "Owwwww..." he complained. "You co—"
"WARN US NEXT TIME!" Dark Meta Knight finished for him, jumping off the ceiling fan he was hanging on and landing with a CLANK on the metallic floor. "That was cool though."
"Coolness over safety," Shadow Kirby shrugged, and they noticed he was still on the warpstar. He hopped off, and the warpstar flew into the corner. "We'll be back!" he told it.
Emory shot herself out of Bandee. "And here we are..." she said to herself. "I guess I should welcome you all to the P.C.A common room," Emory spoke as they overlooked a dark room with was rather nicely furnished, a chair and table that were matted out with high quality fur sat slightly displaced in the center.
"What's that stand for, P.C.A?" Bandee wondered, and Emory was quick on the uptake, or perhaps the denial.
"I don't know." she spoke quickly. "This just feels common room-y., and the letters outside said P.C.A so I put two and two together."
…
Everyone silently nodded, and walked out of the room into a strange hallway. It was a grey floor with dark squares seemingly placed in random spots on the tile. The walls made the hallway seem more like a tunnel than anything, and they looked left and right, each direction stretching on and turning towards the same direction.
"Anyone else getting some weird déjà vu for some reason?" Shadow Kirby wondered. "Feels home-y."
"Sort of, yeah," Dark Meta Knight said, peering ahead and noting on the wall there was some sort of panel. The group walked up to it, and on the panel was a map, though it was on a faded cracked screen which read, 'H_ _AS_ 9' in the top right. The words 'You are Here' showed in the bottom left in a hallway which was connected to the rest of the ship, which consisted of nine rooms.
There was the C_m_n Ro_m which they were just in, so Common Room, but the others were listed and practically unintelligible... except one.
*_T_H_N
*H_N ST_
*L_ _01
*M_E_N_ _O_
*E_C_PE PO_S
*B_R_S
*C_T_L R_OM
*RESTRICTED AREA!
"We can head to the meeting room and go over out bearings there." Emory spoke, floating to a turn right down the cavernous hallway. "We also should find a few important resources," she spoke, and the three followed behind her. "One more thing," she said, taking a deep breath.
Dark Meta Knight piped up, "Yeah?"
"DO NOT GO ANYWHERE ELSE YOU DON'T KNOW!" Emory commanded in a rather harsh tone. "Unless prompted by me, do NOT go anywhere other than the Meeting Room and Common Room, UNDERSTAND?!"
"Yeah, sheesh." Dark Meta Knight said, clearly not taking her seriously. "Who pissed in your cereal?"
Emory floated closer to Dark Meta Knight. "Look." she said in a low tone. "This is not something to joke about, this place is dangerous."
"..." Dark Meta Knight looked over to Bandee like he was supposed to do something, and Bandana Dee just took a look away, feeling the tension raise to insane levels. "Alright," Dark Meta Knight grumbled. "Me and the Kid are going to go check the Common Room for a moment."
"Bye Em, bye Bandee!" Shadow Kirby said, running headfirst down the hallway back towards the Common Room, and after a strange glance from Dark Meta Knight, he followed suit as metallic CLANKS against the floor faded off into the distance.
…
"I'm sorry, Kirby's Boyfriend." Emory said in a low tone. "Also, sorry about earlier, mentioning that Dedede fellow."
"It's alright," Bandana Dee said, ignoring the nickname and turning towards the prism. "Just bad memories."
"Yeah, I know a thing or two about that." Emory confirmed, turning towards the map. "Things out of your control that just sort of spiral up and up, until it's a burning inferno, and all you can do is watch."
Bandana Dee felt the metaphor and nodded. "Yep, but that's just life, isn't it?" he asked, and Emory didn't respond. "Well, I guess I don't know how old you are, but life goes on even after adversity, and no matter what you just have to sort of keep going..."
"Keep going?" Emory questioned, floating close to Bandee's face. "Where do you go after something like that!?" she asked, seeming ever-so-slightly offended.
"I mean you have to accept that things suck and just continue on with life." Bandee explained. "You can't dwell on the past forever, even if thinking about it annoys you, you don't get anywhere by moping."
"But you were just sleeping in Kirby's house for the last past month, how is that getting past your stuff?" Emory questioned.
"It's getting away from the main problem that I had and doing something else with my life," he explained. "And I was getting to the process of getting out of Kirby's house... totally."
"What was the problem anyway?" Emory wondered, and Bandee looked away.
He shrugged, "Doesn't matter, point still stands." he said, turning and looking down the hall. "Now, where's the Meeting Room!?"
"Deta, are you okay?" Shadow Kirby asked, and Dark Meta Knight sat on the chair in the middle of the P.C.A Common Room. "You seem tense."
Dark Meta Knight shook his head as he closed his eyes, "Let's just focus, those two should be busy."
Shadow Kirby nodded, "Right," he said again, and there was a long pause before continuing. "The plan."
But when Dark Meta Knight opened his eyes to remind Shadow Kirby, he wasn't in the Common Room anymore. He was in a small metallic corridor, maybe small enough to constitute as a vent, an incredibly shiny metal showing a reflection shimmering as his glowing orange eyes stared blankly through his slashed and scratched silver mask.
Then, he saw something else in the reflection.
"WELCOME B'MARK."
A glitchy robotic voice said as it echoed through the strangely barren halls of the Meeting Room, a room which seemed to consist of nothing but a single black chair overlooking some sort of window, but other than that the room was nothing but a barren set of white tiles stretching onto the floors and ceilings.
"That doesn't sound like a name..." Bandana Dee muttered, Emory floating to the center as he spoke. He got a strange chill sensation, like he was being tested for something he wasn't aware of, quietly waving the paintbrush he had midair.
"Probably just a glitch in the system." Emory responded softly. "Look around, there should be a button or something around here somewhere."
Bandana Dee hopped over to the chair to see if there was anything on it, but oddly found a piece of paper with a note written on it in a strange language he didn't quite understand.
A mixture of familiar yet foreign squiggles and symbols, some repeating in a pattern of strangeness that all seemed like a moving jumbled mess of worms crawling onto a blank sheet in attempts to make a fraction of an utterly inconsolable message.
"Okay...?" Bandana Dee wondered aloud. "Hey Emory, I found this-" Bandana Dee turned around hoping to find Emory, but instead found... nothing. The room seemed darker, somehow, like the bright white lighting from the surroundings began to fade.
"Sis?" a childish muffled voice that wasn't his asked. "Sis, are you coming to bed?"
"Yeah, just a minute!" another distant voice replied.
The shy voice continued, "You're not supposed to be out at night, Mr. F will-"
"The Security Guy wont know, he never checks the camera feed, plus he's gonna be off on that planet soon anyways, so who cares?" the voice pondered. "Come on, nobody will tell, Maddie is too scared to even talk to us, her mother is too busy looking at herself in the mirror and it's not like the Chief even comes around this part of the ship often!"
"I guess..." the shy voice muttered. "What did you want to show me anyways?"
"The thingy!" the girl voice responded. "In the Director's Office!" she said, and Bandana Dee turned around to see the door to the room slide open, though instead of a child he found Dark Meta Knight barreling into the room like a rampaging beast and OH MY G-
[===]
-OD DAMN IT he just ran into somebody! Dark Meta Knight fell directly on top of whoever this was, and for a moment was about to beat the crap out of this guy before he realized it was Waddle Dee. "Oh."
"Geez, were you late to the edge lord club or something?" Bandana Dee asked as Dark Meta Knight picked himself up, still clinging onto the painrbrush. "Also, OWWWW!"
"Something was chasing me, through the vent, back-" Dark Meta Knight turned around and pointed towards the open door, but instead of seeing the reflective metallic surfaces that he was just sprinting down, he saw a typical hallway with nothing out of the ordinary. "What the heck?"
Badana Dee grumbled, "You doing okay?" he wondered.
"Shut up." Dark Meta Knight responded before clearing his throat. "Look, I know what I saw, one moment I was in that Common Room, the next moment I'm going through a vent, and then I end up in here!"
"Hey, calm down," Bandana Dee suggested which made Dark Meta Knight want to clock him in the face. He then spoke, "Emory did also kind of disappear, and I think I heard some weird voices coming from the door before you busted in."
"What did they say?" Dark Meta Knight asked, genuinely perplexed.
"Something about a Directors Office, kinda sounded like two kids in all honesty." he muttered. "Though they couldn't have been here, could they?"
"I hope not, would hate to have to babysit."
"Don't you do that with Shadow Kirby?"
"Shut up." Dark Meta Knight snarked back. "Regardless, we need to find Emory and the kid and make sure they're alright."
"We're fine!" a childish female voice spoke, which made Dark Meta Knight jump and slash his sword in its general direction.
"What's wrong?" Bandana Dee asked.
"You didn't hear that?" Dark Meta Knight pondered. "The female kid voice like you just described?!"
"Not... just now, no." Bandana Dee responded taking another glance around.
"Poor sheep, blind to the wolves guiding them, hm?" the female voice asked, and Dark Meta Knight circled around, pointing his sword at the air as his eyes darted back and forth, a loud beep beginning to fill his ears.
Then, the door opened-!?
KSF-V2-ACT: INITIALIZING...
"HUH!?"
"HOLYCRAP!"
"AUGH!"
"Took you lot long enough." Emory sighed as Bandana Dee felt his eyes attempting to close. He felt incredibly tired, and looked over to see that they were all in the Meeting Room though it looked far different than the bland room that he saw when he entered.
The walls were sleek, with black panels extending down the middle which had a bunch of data he didn't know the source of, a nice wooden floor. The lights were bright, and there were multiple computing devices which were plugged into a screen Emory hovered in front of.
Emory cleared her throat, "I've brought you all here for a special reason." Meta Knight said with a PowerPoint ready on screen. "As you all know, we have Ecal as a rather big issue."
The screen went to the next slide labeled 'The big reveal?' in red text."
"Deta, what do you think it is?" Shadow Kirby asked.
"Why are you asking me?" Dark Meta Knight shrugged. "Could be Santa Claus for all we know."
"Who the heck is Santa Claus?" Bandana Dee asked.
"Can we focus?" Emory pondered. "This is important!" she spoke before continuing, and the powerpoint behind her seemed to shut off rapidly. "Ecal is very powerful, a creature with the ability to replace memories with naught but a word."
"Supposedly..." Dark Meta Knight muttered, and Bandee turned towards him for a second to find he was looking away.
"It's apparent he did this to your friends, Kirby's Boyfriend, and I know- I believe I know the purpose." she spoke, and then took a brief pause. "Are you all aware of Mind Shards?"
"Mind Shards?" Shadow Kirby pondered.
"Well, your... your soul is made up of multiple shards, Heart Shards, Dream Shards, Mind Shards, and a few others we don't have names for." she noted. "Mind shards contain... well, memories, events that happen in your life and make up who you are."
"So, he's somehow accessing mind shards and changing them?" Bandee asked, and Emory confirmed as much.
"Something like that, though it's more like a sort of corruption, he can't delete memories, but he can corrupt them to the point where if whoever affected tries to think of them nothing comes up." Emory explained. "He must've done that to your friends."
"Well, how do we stop him?" Bandana Dee wondered.
"We need to un-corrupt the Mind Shards of your friends, so we'll have to go into their heads and break the corruption, of course." Emory explained, like that was an utterly normal sentence. "We go into their SOUL, then-"
"Hang on-"
"Let me finish-" Emory pleaded, but Dark Meta Knight wasn't so sure.
"Nononono, how the hell do you expect us to sneak into-"
"LOOK." Emory shouted. "I would've explained better I you let me speak, but clearly you're enough of an INCESSANT TWIT THAT I HAVE TO YELL!" she said, and that shut him up as Shadow Kirby and Bandana Dee exchanged glances. "Those weird experiences you all just had, that was you entering a fractured SOUL."
"HUH?!" the trio all said at the same time.
Shadow Kirby seemed shocked, "That was-"
"YES." Emory confirmed, and Shadow Kirby cowered back a bit. "With my help, I can allow you to enter the SOUL of any person, so long as they're not too mentally active, would be dangerous otherwise." she explained. "So, in conclusion we need to find your friends, one-by-one, and enter their SOUL to destroy the corruption, GOT IT?!"
"Yes, sheesh." Dark Meta Knight muttered. "Women, am I right?" he whispered to Bandee who just gave him an annoyed look. "Whatever."
"Now, onto more important matters, since you know them, who's the weakest link of your group?"
Bandana Dee was about to say Dedede, but he had no clue if he was even corrupted, not that he would care much even if he was. "Adeleine."
"Well, then that's out first target, where can we find her do you think?" Emory pondered.
"Dunno." Bandana Dee responded quickly.
…
…
"Oh."
…
…
"Yeah." Bandna Dee said a bit awkwardly, looking to the side.
…
…
Emory grumbled, "Any guesses?"
"We didn't really talk much." Bandana Dee admitted. "I mean, not since the whole... thing with Ribbon, even when she was summoned by that Dream Rod, we just sorta... interacted, it was weird, I mean we're friends, but we aren't really friends to the extent where I would just know where she stays, y'know?"
"We could always lure her out with that paintbrush you have, or use some ship tech to track It, maybe?" Dark Meta Knight noted, and Bandana Dee looked towards... the...
…
Well.
Normally in these sorts of situations he would ponder what to do next, come up with a plan, set a trap, or do anything else of the sort that could help him fix the corruption in his friend's minds, but instead, as the rest were silent, he just stared blankly at his empty hand in utter disbelief.
The paintbrush was gone.
...and that wasn't even the worst of their troubles, as something listened in from just outside the door.