Knight Errant

Part 8

Spark: Kirby! I've got an enemy ship on my radar!

Kirby: You do? There's something on my radar too, but it's not showing up as an enemy ship on mine.

Kirby had been with the Star Warriors for twelve years now. It had taken a while for him to adjust to life in outer space, but Kirby loved being a Star Warrior more than anything. Right now he was on a patrol-he'd been on patrol for about a week.

Spark: *more urgently* Kirby! We've been given orders to move on-it's not a threat to us at the moment. If it were up to me I would attack it, but-

*Spark waits for a reply from Kirby*

Spark: Oh, forget it! You're on your own staying here! I'm leaving!

*Spark's ship leaves*

*Kirby doesn't hear Spark's words, nor does he see Spark's ship leave. He's too busy radioing the other ship.*

Kirby: Hiiiii! My name's Kirby! If you're not an enemy, please reply! I like meeting new friends!

?: Kirby? That Kirby…? *pause* It must be! I knew I recognized your voice from somewhere! *to someone else* Hey! You're never gonna believe who's on the other end! It's Kirby!

Kirby: Hi, Knuckle Joe! Is Silica with you? She was with you the last time we met.

Silica: Yeah, I'm with him. What else did you expect?

Kirby: It's great to be talking to you guys again! I haven't seen either of you two in a long time!

Knuckle Joe: I know! Where have you been? What were you doing for the last twelve years?

Kirby: What do you mean?

Silica: Kirby, we thought you were dead!

Kirby's blue eyes widened in confusion. What did Silica mean when she said she and Knuckle Joe thought Kirby was dead? Sure, he might not have seen them around the Star Warriors' base. In fact, he had completely forgotten about them; he didn't know them nearly as well as his friends back in Dream Land.

Kirby: What? Why would you think that?

Knuckle Joe: No one's seen or heard from you since you left Cappy Town twelve years ago.

Kirby: How haven't they? I leave messages for them almost every day-but that would explain why they haven't been replying. It makes me sad.

Silica: Maybe your messages aren't going through.

Kirby: That's exactly what I think! I think my friends back in Cappy Town have a broken radio. That's why they're not getting my messages! I wonder why they haven't fixed it or bought a new one?

In a flash, the image of Silica and Knuckle Joe's ship on the display screen vanished, replaced by a flashing countdown: "Warping in 3…2…1…"

Kirby: What's happening? I didn't press any warp button!

Before Kirby could even say good-bye to the two Star Warriors, his star ship warped away, back to where the rest of his patrol was gathered. On his display screen was the red-armored figure of his commander, Shaughnessy, or Essy as he was known by his brigade.

Shaughnessy: I don't even want to know who you were talking to back there. We have a patrol to do; let's get going. You shouldn't go out of your way to talk to other ships like that; it can get you into a lot of dangerous situations.

Kirby: But they were my friends!

Shaughnessy: It doesn't matter who they were! You should be more cautious about contacting other ships. Leave it up to whoever's leading the patrol, in this case, me.

Kirby: Okey-dokey, Commander Essy! I won't do it again!

Later, in Dream Land

Knuckle Joe: Yo! Long time, no see!

Meta Knight: Ah, Knuckle Joe. I have not heard from you in some time. How are things going for you and Silica?

Silica: I'm doing fine. Let's get down to business.

Meta Knight: Proceed. What made you decide to contact me?

Knuckle Joe: Kirby's alive! We found him!

Meta Knight: What?

Meta Knight could not hide the surprise in his voice, despite his usual stoic manner. Like everyone else, he had believed that Kirby was dead after his twelve-year disappearance.

Blade: Wot's that you're saiyin'? Kirby's alive? An' you saw 'im? Wonder where 'e's been all this time; 'ow could Kirby 'ave disappeared for twelve years without no one seein'-

Meta Knight: Blade Knight-

Blade: It's amazin'! 'Ow'd you two ever find 'im? That must've been some luck! I'm sure lots of other Star Warriors were lookin' for 'im in the past twelve years, but-

Knuckle Joe: Shut up already! I can't get a word in over you!

Silica: Anyways, we'll send you the coordinates of where we encountered his ship.

Meta Knight: There is no need to do that. Kirby has most likely moved from that area. However, if you still have the signal frequencies that you used to talk to Kirby, we can use those to access his star ship.

Silica: So in other words you'll be hacking it?

Meta Knight: Precisely. Send us the signal; we will begin at once.

*Silica and Knuckle Joe send the frequencies.*

Sword: Great! We'll start by taikin' a look at Kirby's messages.

Some Time Later

Sword: Wot?

Silica: What's wrong?

Blade: 'Is messages are blocked! I didn't even think you could block messages!

Knuckle Joe: Blocked? As in, he doesn't receive any messages?

Silica: But why would Kirby want to block messages from anyone?

Sword: 'Oo knows? I can't imagine Kirby wantin' to block us out on purpose.

Knuckle Joe: Hold on, can he still send messages?

Meta Knight: I would assume not. If he could, surely we would have received a message from him by now. This is all very strange.

Silica: You can say that again.

Meta Knight: Knuckle Joe, Silica, thank you for your help. We will look into this further at a later date.

A Few Days Later

Silica: Sir? I've found out something that would be of great interest to you.

Sir Arthur: And what would that be? Would it have anything to do with the message I got from Sir Meta Knight a few days ago?

*Silica scowls slightly.*

Silica: So he told you already that Kirby's alive?

Sir Arthur: Yes. Don't look so disappointed.

Silica: I'm not disappointed!

Sir Arthur: You can't hide your feelings as well as you think, Silica. That aside, you still did a good job. Without you and Knuckle Joe, we would still think Kirby was dead.

Silica: So now what do we do?

Sir Arthur: We will locate Kirby and find out why he's been missing for so long. Twelve years is a long time for a Star Warrior to be missing in action, and I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking something is wrong.

This part is a lot shorter than previous parts, but it's very important. The story has hit a significant turning point. Also, this chapter indirectly makes sense of some of the little idiosyncrasies throughout the fan fiction so far.

Coming up next:
Action, adventure, intrigue...and an old friend from Kirby's past enter the playing field in the next exciting installment!