Apologies for the delay everyone; I have suddenly been drowned in university work leaving Sundays as my only guilt-free writing day. Also, I've been feeling very much under the weather and not up to writing. I also rewrote much as this chapter as it wasn't really to my satisfaction before. But it is now.
Thanks to everyone for the reviews by the way, especially ChipTheCat and CallieSizemore601 for their multiple reviews! And Callie, as for your comment in your last review, well, you anticipated what I had already wrote. :)
Wings Of Change: Part 5
Dedede was profoundly bored. He had constructed a number of increasingly-complex golf courses and played on them until he had absolutely perfected his game on each one. A lack of good competitors didn't help the situation. And it wasn't as if he could open up his old Nightmare catalogues and order anything. He needed some excitement. His rivalry with Kirby provided that excitement.
He had noticed for the past couple of weeks Kirby making more frequent appearances at the old knight's quarters, still dragging that cape behind him. The odd thing about it was how it seemed to billow at times as if caught by a breeze even though Dedede had made absolutely sure there were no draughts in his castle. Apart from visiting Meta Knight more often, Dedede had also noticed Kirby making daily forays to Whispy Woods for some secret purpose. But what purpose? Dang it! Dedede just had to find out what was going on!
He took out a few robotic spy cameras cunningly disguised as various bugs. He'd never say this out loud, of course, but Escargoon did have a knack for technology that had come in great help on many occasions. He set a few to tracking Kirby and released them while he had another game of golf. They wouldn't notice them; they were very much more miniaturised than ever.
"Whoa!" he cried after he got the first results back some time later. "So that's what they're up to! Since when could they do that?"
Who'd have thought it? Another power? It was amazing really though he was miffed that Meta Knight had hidden this for many years; he was supposed to be his servant and be honest with his liege! At least Kirby had an excuse. It really wasn't fair; why did they have so many powers and he had none?! Best thing he could do was order monsters. He was, he had to admit, jealous. He wanted to fly too! Still, it was hilarious watching Kirby messing things up. Maybe he could edit it all together and produce a good video for entertainment purposes backed up with appropriate music. Yeah, now there was an idea…
"Huh? What's that?" he mumbled to himself upon noticing a box that definitely wasn't there before. Who could have left this here? A present for the king? Well, it was about time! He deserved presents! He didn't bother looking at where it came from such was his joy at receiving a present.
He eagerly yanked the ribbon and peeked inside. There was a set of instructions and… something else. Strange. It almost looked pitch-black even though that was impossible.
It seemed to call out to him. Would he go back to those times, those old times? It was certainly alluring; a most intriguing proposition. Something to cure his boredom? He would feel like a king again, a true king. Make that clear to everyone. What harm would it do? He was king, was he not? He had power over the small-fry, the cretins, his subjects. Unleash it. This is what he wanted. When was the last time he did this? It was tempting, enthralling and addictive. This would be fun. Of course it would be fun. Go on, it would allow him to get one over his rival. He gained pleasure from it. He loved it, in fact. Very much. It was desirable, yes?
These words seemed to form without him thinking them, almost as if someone was whispering to him. He shook his head and again stared at the box. It was practically reaching out to him. Do it.
Dedede yelped, as if stung. Had something… sunk into him? Strange, now that blackness had vanished. He shuddered a little. And then…
Yes. This would be fun.
"I can't do it!" Kirby howled.
"You can and you will," Meta Knight insisted. "One more time!"
Kirby picked himself off the hard earth, wincing a little from the after-effects of his latest crash, feeling his head throb painfully, and threw his wings open once again. Strange how the Wing Ability had come so naturally to him but this was an entirely different kettle of fish. It was not as instinctive as it looked.
"You use too much energy which means you tire yourself out prematurely," Meta Knight lectured. "You will save energy if you fold in your wings towards your body when on the upstroke. The key point is that you want more lift, less drag. I know I can deflect more air than you as I have longer wings but you will improve when you have them at the right angle." He strode over to Kirby and with the teen's permission, adjusted his wings to the position that he meant. "A high lift-to-drag ratio means that you require very little thrust to propel yourself through the air which as you may gather, saves you energy. Consider also the thrust-to-weight ratio. If this is greater than the strength of the local gravity, then flight shall occur without any need for forward motion or aerodynamic lift."
"What does that even mean?" Kirby groaned wearily.
"It means nothing if you do not get yourself into the correct position so you can fly easier."
"Easy for you to say! You've been doing this for years!" Kirby snapped.
Kirby had been getting increasingly frustrated with his inability to stay in the air for long. Even launching himself off the ground was an inconsistent exercise and as far as having to open up his wings in mid-air went when falling from a great height, he was fortunate that he had a soft body and that the lesson to return his wings to cape form just before he crashed had sunk in. For someone who had been able to easily pick up new skills via copying and then having a base to build on to further develop said skills, this was an exasperating experience to say the least.
This was, Meta Knight supposed, why it was considered better for their species to develop their wings later in life. They were less likely to get frustrated with the procedure since they had many years in learning about the experience from others. They had years of maturation and growth behind them giving them a deeper understanding and patience in regards to such an activity. Crucially, by the time that most of their species had developed wings, they had gotten the most worrying and stressful parts of their life experiences out of the way.
Kirby was not only a seasoned warrior having taken part in countless brutal battles despite his youth, he was also of an age in which he was experiencing various biological changes, mainly cognitive and emotional in his case, especially pertaining to a sense of identity. He had also been working very hard lately; too hard truth be told. He was understandably stressed.
Kirby already had practically all of his childhood disturbed or even outright destroyed by what he had endured in his short life; growing wings had essentially cut off his childhood all together.
"You cannot expect to pick all this up straight away," Meta Knight said calmly, ignoring the outburst. "It is not the same as a Copy Ability in which you inherently understand the mechanics involved. You must be patient with yourself. This is learnt, not innate. Practice makes perfect."
"I keep practising but I'm still not getting it!"
"You will. I have every confidence in you. Now we'll do this once more before we move onto dimensional warping again. You have become quite good at that I notice."
Kirby obediently dashed forwards (he wasn't even going to attempt flying from a standing position yet) before kicking off the ground and spreading his wings as far as he could, letting the wind flow around his body. He tried to evoke Meta Knight's lessons and adjusted his wings accordingly, gritting against the familiar wobble. I'm not going to fall this time! I will fly properly! He remembered to keep his feet held against his body and tried not to over-exert himself as he turned a corner. His wings flapped hard and after a few minutes, he could already feel the strain. How does Meta Knight make it look so easy? Why can't I do it like him? What am I missing? I just wish I could get it right. Oh, no, don't wobble! Focus! Focus!
Meta Knight looked towards Kirby in the sky who was trying to keep to the air currents. Kirby had actually made good progress in a short space of time, all the more impressive considering his youth, but nevertheless, the young Star Warrior was annoyed at what he perceived to be his own failings. The old knight noted ruefully that it was probably because of his own harsh training methods and high expectations from someone with so much potential that this feeling had rubbed off onto Kirby. Still, he would progress even more if he wasn't so obviously distracted.
Meta Knight preferred the off-hands approach for most things (flying was the exception in this case; there was no way Kirby could pick up all the necessary techniques on his own) and that included any personal discussions. If Kirby wanted to talk to him about something then Meta Knight would wait until Kirby opened up; he felt it better this way rather than pushing the youngster. Still, Meta Knight wondered if he should open the discussion first; it had been so long since he was Kirby's age that he supposed he had forgotten entirely what it felt like.
Kirby's latest flight ended with him falling into a large, muddy patch. At least it softened his fall.
"You did manage to stay up for considerably longer this time," Meta Knight consoled. "And your speed is excellent. Once you have improved and perfected upon your control, you will then be truly able to master the art of flying in that you can move onto flying and using your Copy Abilities at the same time. But this will take time; you understand that, right?"
Kirby extracted himself out of the mud wordlessly and looked at the stains on his patterned cape. He realised he had sustained a number of small cuts and bruises from his constant crashes. He wandered over to the river and began to clean himself. He sighed heavily. He bet his mentor hadn't had the same problems as he was currently having.
"Meta?" he said in a small voice after a while. "Can… can we finish early today? I'm… I'm just not getting it."
Meta Knight reached out to his young protégé and wiped the last bit of mud away. His eyes glowed with concern; he had never heard Kirby so lacking in confidence before now.
"A break would be helpful, yes," Meta Knight replied. "I think we should also take tomorrow off as well and then we'll run through gliding again. You have been working hard these past weeks." He paused briefly, inspecting his student, looking at his tired eyes. "You've been going out every night to practise even after our training, haven't you?"
The teen knew he couldn't deny it. "Yeah."
"You're overworking yourself," Meta Knight admonished him. "I know you're eager to fly but doing so much is more of a hindrance than a help and it won't help you get better any faster. In fact, it can be a detriment to the process of learning. You're exhausted and that can be dangerous, especially considering the other work we must do. You must be patient with yourself. I have told you this before."
"I've not been able to sleep anyway," Kirby shrugged. "I figured it wouldn't make much difference."
Meta Knight frowned. "Nightmares?"
His young charge appeared uneasy. "Sometimes. But not always."
His mentor hesitated for a moment. "How would you like to go to Kawasaki's? Perhaps we may take some refreshment and discuss matters further."
Kirby looked up at the unusual proposal. He knew that Meta Knight meant refreshment for himself; nothing short of the apocalypse would make his mentor take his mask off in public even to eat or drink. Still, he appreciated the suggestion. He nodded and got to his feet, letting his mentor lead the way back to town. He was unusually silent for most of the journey.
"Kirby?"
"Mm?"
"You seem troubled, my friend. Is there anything I can help you with?"
Kirby faltered. He knew that he would have Meta Knight's confidence no matter what he told him but he didn't want to burden him with what he assumed were trivial issues; Meta Knight had been rather hectic himself in teaching Kirby new things and locating monsters. Also, if he was supposed to be an independent Star Warrior then surely he could deal with his problems alone, right? He felt utterly confused.
Then again, it would be good to get things off his chest.
"Meta, I—"
Both heard a car screeching down the road, driving at insane speed, and winced at the noise. Escargoon pleaded with the king to drive more slowly but Dedede ignored them and carried on, leaving the Star Warriors choking on dust.
"What… do you think, Kirby?" Meta Knight coughed.
"I think that Dedede's up to no good again," Kirby frowned. If Tiff was here, she would say that Dedede was definitely up to no good and that the only reason he still wasn't ordering monsters was because he hadn't the means to do so. Kirby was prepared to give Dedede the benefit of doubt nowadays but something told him that today would be different. The king was sadly addicted to monsters, making Kirby and Meta Knight's job a constant battle. What was it in his psyche that made him so? He wasn't sure and Kirby wished Dedede had chosen a different day to raise his suspicions.
"Yes," Meta Knight mused. "There was something…"
By the time they returned to town, they saw that the square was already full of people there by demand of the king and the Waddle Dees had wheeled in a cinema-sized screen. Dedede held a box. Meta Knight wrapped his cape around himself and frowned. The king did not look right.
"Sire, I don't know what you're planning but knowing your mental capacity, it can't be a good thing," Escargoon muttered. "Oh, hey, the two slowcoaches have finally arrived," he added, seeing the Star Warriors. "I think his Majesty's a little more unhinged than usual if you know what I mean. Deal with him won't you?"
"It'll be fun," Dedede said, his eyes a little glazed. "It'll be real fun."
Dedede stood and puffed himself up importantly. This was going to be fun. It was always fun getting one over that there Kirby.
"Cappies, I have some fantabulously shockin' news that will blow your puny, little minds!" he manically grinned. "Now, ya'll know little Kirby's a goody-goody, beating up monsters an' so on, but it seems he's been hidin' a little secret an' it don't seem fair if it ain't shared out. It might be dangerous if I don't tell ya'll. Not only that, but someone else who has a secret as well: Meta Knight!"
What?
"And it's gonna be fun!" And before he could be stopped, Dedede opened the box.
To everyone's great alarm, a black entity suddenly burst into the air and surrounded Dedede as an eerie mass of dark energy. Everyone scrabbled back towards the surrounding buildings while Escargoon fled to the safety of the limousine. Dedede absorbed the dark mass, already possessing a small part of it in the first place. A violent, black-streamed wind blew around the king as the dark energy gained power. There was another cry of alarm from the crowd as he grew three times his normal size. His aura shimmered darkly as the puppet king lifted his heavy hammer with incredible ease.
Yet the transformation was not done. Beside the king, a number of small, ocular beings materialised out of thin air. Their red irises focussed on the two Star Warriors before them, those beings of light.
Meta Knight had phased Galaxia into existence the moment the black mass emerged. However, Dedede fixed his full attention onto Kirby.
"I'm gonna show everyone who you two really are!" Dedede declared.
"Oh, my! What's wrong with the king?" one of the Cappies cried out.
"Possessed again?" Escargoon groaned from the sidelines. He reflected that he probably should have realised this in the first place. "Why does he make a habit of this?"
Kirby grimaced. What was Dedede's problem with unleashing monsters? Normally, he would take it on chin, being that sort of person, considering that he dealt with this on a regular basis, but today he plainly was not in the mood.
Dedede launched himself towards Kirby with a number of the ocular creatures following behind; only a couple went for Meta Knight. Kirby quickly dodged a couple of the faster eyeballs but was violently struck in the side by the hammer, sending him crashing against a tree. He would have some severe bruising later. Wincing, he avoided the next barrage by phasing to another spot, feeling only a small amount of dimensional sickness. He hadn't managed to reach the point where he could immediately strike after reappearing but he hadn't a Copy Ability yet anyway. Kirby scowled. Every once in a while, it annoyed him greatly how he never seemed able to fight properly without copying something to augment his abilities. Every other warrior he knew didn't need that. Sure, it gave him a hell of a lot more flexibility but…
"I gotta show your true form, Star Warrior," Dedede said. "Both of you. It told me to."
Star Warrior? Dedede never called him that. Meta Knight also heard. His eyes glowed green whilst he fended off his attackers, sword slicing the air faster than anyone else would have deemed possible. Each slash drew blood and streaming, dark energy from the creatures yet they did not slow down.
Kirby desperately looked about for a suitable ability to copy. He saw the Cappies staring at him from afar. Couldn't they throw him anything? Couldn't they be, you know, useful?
Meta Knight was obviously used to it but his protégé was finding his cape a real drag, preventing him from moving as freely as he once did. He tripped up once and when Dedede swung his hammer downwards, he managed to get a little tangled up.
"Just take it off, Kirby!" one of the bystanders called out.
He ignored them and had to make do with some leaves to transform into Leaf Kirby. This had the advantage of at least providing him with a temporary shield when he was assaulted by the ramming eyeballs. Like Meta Knight, his attacks also drew blood and particles of darkness. He fought back hard, leaves whipping directly against their red-rimmed eyes, but he was being overwhelmed.
(Quite unintentionally, the particles drifted over the gathered Cappies like a raincloud, naturally drawn, as it was, to the masses, being part of a mass itself. Something in the air subtly changed.)
Meta Knight raced over to Kirby's side and forced back one of the attackers with a powerful swipe. "Concentrate on bringing down Dedede," he grunted. "Something seems to be controlling him. If we stop him, these other creatures may perhaps back off."
"Yes, sir."
Kirby launched razor-sharp leaves at Dedede who yelped with pain. He dodged a potentially lethal blow and spun to the side, leaves dancing around his body. He sent them flying against the king again and once more after avoiding another strike. One of the eyeballs sped towards him, streaming dark particles but Meta Knight blocked its path and stabbed at it with Galaxia. It keened and followed up with a full-scale assault against its attacker.
Emboldened, Kirby pummelled one of the other eyeballs before returning his attention to Dedede. He charged himself up, ready to unleash a powerful leaf storm. He felt a little bit sorry that he had to do this to Dedede but it was the king's fault anyway that all this was happening.
"Show yourself, Star Warrior!" Dedede yelled.
Then, a red-rimmed eye opened in a place where it should not have opened and made the bystanders feel very sick though truth be told, they were already feeling sick, not to mention strange. The eye looked directly at Kirby who froze in his tracks, staring at this very wrong eye, before he was, without warning, utterly blasted head-on by a beam of darkness.
There was a cry of alarm from the bystanders, mingled with Kirby's scream, when, once the darkness faded away, Kirby lay sprawled on the ground. That wasn't the most alarming thing though. It was the things protruding from his back. The energy crackled all over his body but they were concentrated most heavily around his wings. Strange wings they were indeed.
They seemed very familiar, the darkness told them, only somewhat larger than the last time they had seen them. Were they not the sign of someone possessed, controlled or turned? Were they not the sign of a demonbeast?
The possessed Dedede stomped over but not before Meta Knight had reached Kirby first with Galaxia glowing brightly. The pink puffball was conscious though only just. The pain was incredible. He struggled to get up and did not seen aware that his wings were on show, wings he still could not properly use, wings that looked… demonic.
A large hammer was pointed in both warriors' direction. The eyeball creatures floated in one spot. "I know you both. I have seen your true forms. You too shall reveal yours, Meta Knight."
Meta Knight's eyes glowed silver, something that they very rarely did. To another gasp from the crowd, he let his cape smoothly transform into a pair of wings, relishing the chance to have them spread out freely. Escargoon raised an eyebrow; he had been somewhat surprised when he had seen the videos but then considering that these two were Star Warriors with all sorts of talents, perhaps it was not so surprising at all. What was surprising though, was the way the crowd was acting. Close up, their eyes were tinged red and now they were heading towards the battlefield. Escargoon sighed; why hadn't he left this place for somewhere more normal by now? On the plus side though, at least he would be able to lord it over them later by saying that he hadn't been affected.
"They remind you of your nightmares, yes?" Dedede said in a voice very much unlike his own, a subtle influence. "You fear them. They are like monsters, aren't they?"
"Demonbeasts! They're demonbeasts!"
Kirby flinched. The way they sounded, the way they were looking at him… It was just like his dreams. He tried to revert his wings back to cape form but he found they were stuck and a wave of searing agony coursed through them. Was it the monster's attack or his own fear causing this? They hurt badly, quivering against the harsh shock they received.
"I'm not a demonbeast!" he cried, his eyes watering with pain.
"Kirby. Do not respond. They are not themselves," Meta Knight said, noticing the cloud in the sky.
"You always bring monsters here because the monsters are always after you. We lived in peace before you came here. Can't you see you're a monster yourself?"
"I'm not a monster!" Kirby howled, feeling his heart pound horribly fast.
"You carry the sign of a monster with those demon wings."
"These are just wings! What's wrong about them? How does that make me a monster?"
"Monster! Demonbeast!" Their eyes glowed like flames.
Kirby found himself trembling with a mixture of emotions. Why should they treat him this way? Why should he be seen like this when they had no problem with his prior appearance? He could not help what had happened. He had accepted it and he would accept it even more when he could fly properly. Surely that was alright?
"Monsters!"
They rushed towards the pair faster than they would have normally done and for a moment Kirby did not know what to do. Meta Knight took to the skies. Kirby tried the same but in his panic, he struggled against the air. He yelled out for his Warp Star instead and to his fantastic relief, the star came zooming towards him after only a few seconds. He leapt on the star and took it up to a safe point. He breathed heavily, more unnerved than usual. He noticed Meta Knight beating his wings and scooted up a little to let him land. The mob below shouted to them while Dedede was lifted up by a strange force, followed by the floating eyeballs.
"See how easily I can take these weak minds?" the voice spoke, now not sounding like Dedede at all being far more menacing and cold. "See how pathetic they are? Why do you waste your time saving those who clearly do not deserve it? Look at this king; a most pitiable example of a mortal as I have ever occupied one. And yet you have helped him before. Why do you bother? Why do you care?"
"If we don't, who will?" Meta Knight answered. "We help those in need and serve to protect others when it is in our power to do so because we cannot bear to stand idly by and watch lives be ruined and destroyed. We take on these tasks so that we can all live in peace and happiness. We look out for each other. We care and love for each other and strive to better ourselves. It is called living. It is something you will never understand."
"And yet," the voice whispered, "see when I revealed your true form, look how they reacted when I opened their hearts. They do not care. They have hate and darkness. And there will always be darkness."
"There are some who do not care, who have hate and darkness, who do not care for the help they receive. But we still help because it would pain us to not help. We will always stand strong. And there will always be light."
"Will there be when I see you both destroyed, the greatest Star Warriors who ever lived?" It then turned to face Kirby directly. Despite his pain, the young Star Warrior stood straight. "Will you have the audacity to challenge me, Kirby?"
Kirby narrowed his eyes at the eldritch abomination currently occupying Dedede. "I will."
A nasty laugh filled the air. "I shall be keeping my eye on you, little Star Warrior. Be glad that today is only a taster. We will fight many times against each other. And we know what the outcome will be."
Kirby and Meta Knight stood their ground as the dark energy suddenly erupted from Dedede and joined the black cloud poisoning the sky. The mass shimmered briefly before soaring away to a far distance, making preparations, making plans to extinguish the light for good.
As soon as it left, Dedede fell to the earth with a heavy thud and yelled loudly, but since he landed on his substantial stomach, he wasn't really injured. The Cappies stood about blinking, wondering what was going on. They saw Dedede groaning on the ground, wondering why his stomach hurt so much, as if something had latched onto him there. They saw Kirby and Meta Knight land as well, with wings spread wide open once Kirby sent his Warp Star back to Kabu. They were confused, not to mention a little wary.
"You both have wings?" Mayor Len said. "You've never shown them before."
"Yeah. No problem is it?" Kirby asked suspiciously.
"Noooo…" He carried on the word for too long, hesitated that bit too much. "It just reminds me when you were possessed that time, Kirby and that some of the monsters have similar wings…"
"It's not the same!" Kirby snapped. Maybe they were still a little disorientated from the dark influence. Maybe he was a little disorientated from the dark influence but Kirby felt his earlier worry and anger bubble up again. They stood at a distance, not seeing if either of them were alright from their battle. "Just to let you know, we're not injured too much, thanks for asking."
"Um, we haven't asked that yet," said Gus.
Kirby gave a forced smile. "Really? My mistake."
Meta Knight looked down at Kirby and resolved that he was definitely going to talk to his young charge afterwards.
"Ow… my tummy hurts…" King Dedede moaned.
"Your Majesty, are you OK?" Escargoon cried, rushing over. "Of course you are; you've been through this before. I don't want to see a sight like that again by the way. Eyes don't belong there…"
"Ugh, didn't know that was goin' to happen," Dedede grumbled. "Thought it was jus' a little ol' box an' a nice present."
"So you took it of your own accord?" Meta Knight confirmed. "Did you check where it came from?"
"Hey, never look a gift horse in the mouth; it was free!" Dedede declared. "Oh, hey, you showin' them little wings of yours! What happened to make that happen?"
Meta Knight frowned. "It sounds as if you know about our wings already, sire."
"Heh, heh!" Dedede laughed, much like his usual self. "I've gotta keep an eye on my subjects jus' in case ya'll up to no good against me! I knew alright! I was goin' to put a show an' tell everyone about it! It would be real fun!"
Things might still have gone OK for Dedede if he had just admitted to spying on them though he still would have got a severe dressing-down for violation of privacy; it was the principle of the thing even if the wings themselves were not seen as a problem, Dedede not fussed by such things at all. But then he flicked the screen on.
The crowd watched with incredulity as the pair's capes fluidly transformed into bat-like wings. On-screen, slightly out of focus, they saw the young hero sustain a number of bumps and bruises as he attempted to copy the techniques Meta Knight was teaching him. They saw his sharp, determined gaze often broken by frustration as he failed to grasp true flight, as he plummeted into the earth countless times and landed in mud, water, whatever. Dedede and Escargoon found this very amusing and even a couple of the citizens tittered at his funnier falls. Most of the video was, in fact, a compilation of Kirby's failures, with some catchy music in the background. The bit where Kirby got his cape caught on a tree branch was hilarious and the part where he was hit on the head by a passing fish after falling into the river... utterly priceless.
The citizens laughed mainly with relief that nothing truly sinister was going on and wondering what they had been thinking earlier. Obviously it was to do with a monster but Kirby and Meta Knight had defeated it and saved them once again. It was all fine.
"Can't keep away from the ground, hey, Kirby?" one of the Cappies said, sniggering.
"Now, now," said Mabel. "He's trying his best, the poor dear."
Kirby's cheeks were red with embarrassment and anger. So not only had they momentarily had their suspicions of him, reminding him of how being a hero could be so utterly thankless at times, never mind the mitigating circumstances, they were now laughing at him. He had reached his breaking point.
"You spied on us," Meta Knight said flatly.
"Well, you were up to somethin' interestin' so I thought why not? Besides, you're my sworn knight; you're supposed to be straight with me from the get-go."
"Perhaps so, but I did not want you to know too much about me when my purpose was to wait for a new Star Warrior whilst you kept ordering monsters. Besides, who knows what you may have done with me knowing that I… could be construed as a monster? It has happened before."
"Good point," Dedede frowned. "I haven't used you to do my tyrannical biddin' much have I? An' I guess that ain't goin' to start now. But," he chuckled, "that embarrassed you good an' proper so that's good enough for me! I got one over you both! Especially Kirby!"
"You may do so with me but not with Kirby. He is not your sworn knight. You should not spy on your subjects."
"If we didn't spy, how are we supposed to know if no-one's planning a riot against his Majesty?" Escargoon said. "He's such a lazy, overweight tyrant it's a wonder no-one has rioted yet! And no-one does tyranny better than the king."
"Yup. So it's just as well Kirby ain't plannin' a riot 'gainst me ain't it, squirt? Uhhhh, Kirby?" he said, noticing that the puffball was unusually quiet. Meta Knight looked at his charge and realised that he looked ready to explode.
The Cappies also watched the pink puffball. His wings trembled madly.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Everyone jolted with shock at that furious cry. His wings shook with violent emotion and sent spasms of hot pain rushing through him yet Kirby didn't care about trying to control them. Dedede literally threw himself backwards in the car beside a pale Escargoon as Kirby gave him the mother of all death glares that basically said 'I will end you.'
"What is your problem with me?!" Kirby screamed. "What is it with you?! Why do you keep treating me like some sort of rival? It's pathetic and I'm sick to death of it! Ever since I arrived here, you've always been trying to hurt me and humiliate me even when I was no threat to you whatsoever! The first thing you did to me when I crash-landed here was throw me off a cliff! Have I tried to steal your throne? Have I tried to harm you? Have I done anything to you that might be seen as bad so I deserve this treatment? No! I would have no problems with you whatsoever if you just left me alone. Hell, you can be friendly at times. You can do nice things; you've even done nice things for me once in a while but then you just completely ruin it by doing stuff like this!"
"Heh, heh, no need to be so mad, Kirby," Dedede tried placating him, smiling sickly-sweet in order to hide his fear. He didn't think Kirby would act like this. "No real harm done, right? An' no-one was scared or anythin'; they had a laugh an' laughin's good. I'm supposed to keep my subjects happy ain't I? An' you did beat that monster in a way; I mean, it did leave after all an' no-one got hurt or anythin'. Well, the Cappies didn't get hurt I suppose. But I didn't even order it. I didn't know what was goin' to happen exactly. It were just delivered to me an' I thought, hey, might seem fun."
"Fun?! FUN?!"
"Start the car!" Dedede yelled with real terror to Escargoon during this tirade. The car, in time-honoured tradition, refused to start when one absolutely needed it to right away.
"I should just let the monsters do away with you when you've unleashed them! Who then has to destroy them so that everyone else is kept safe? Me! Who has to put their life on line every time because of the monsters? Me! And that goes for the rest of you!" Kirby snarled, turning to the Cappies who, as one, wisely took one massive step away. "I'm not expecting to be showered with praise every time or whatever. I'm just doing a job. But you know, some acknowledgement of what I'm going through, of what I'm doing, would be nice, not just a half-hearted thanks!"
"We do acknowledge what you're doing, Kirby," Mayor Len protested.
"'It's just as well we have Kirby here. Imagine if we had to do such horrible business ourselves'," Kirby mimicked. "'It's look as if these monsters are getting out of hand. You better hurry up and beat them or we might think you're slacking on the job.' I can think of plenty examples. I'm not a little kid anymore in case you haven't noticed; I do pay attention to what you're all saying! Not only that, you blame me for when things go wrong, as if I brought the demonbeasts here myself! Well, thanks for your vote of confidence! Do you know how much it hurts when you belittle me like that? Do you know how much it hurts when I'm being beaten by a monster? It hurts a lot!"
Meta Knight narrowed his eyes at the Cappies. It sounded as if Kirby had been bottling this up for ages.
"And now I've got these wings, you're probably gonna think I'm even more weird or monster-like! Because I'm not like you. Should I be ashamed of who I am? No! Why should I be?"
"We don't think you're weird or monster-like at all, Kirby," Kawasaki protested. "What gave you that idea?"
"When I asked you lot, starting with Gengu, about wings like that Batafire had and you said they made you think of demonbeasts." Gengu winced. He had forgotten about that.
"And stop making me do everything for you!" Kirby ranted. "You want me to destroy demonbeasts? Fine, that's what I'm here for. That's my job. But don't saddle me with all the petty jobs you can't be bothered doing yourselves like delivering stuff or clearing up the garbage you all throw away. Can't you see that I'm exhausted?" For the first time, they then noticed the grey bags under Kirby's eyes. "I'm not a miracle-worker! The odd time I did refuse to do something, you acted so disappointed that you practically guilt-tripped me into doing more stuff! Just because I'm supposed to be seen as a hero, if that means anything, it doesn't mean you can keep taking advantage of me! I've had enough!"
"Get it goin'!" Dedede bawled.
"You're not getting away this time!"
Escargoon managed to start the limousine just in time and put the pedal to the metal as if his life depended on it which, in the current circumstances, was not an unreasonable assumption. Without even bothering with a running start, Kirby took to the air and full of rage, began chasing down the pair like an ancient Fury. It was with some irony that he was flying perfectly.
Meta Knight gave the Cappies a cold stare. "I hope this is the last I hear of any problems being caused for my student," he whispered icily. "He cares for you all deeply. I expect for you to care for him too." He then launched off the ground, leaving them all to think deeply about their actions, and began his pursuit.
"FASTER! FASTER!" Dedede shrieked, walloping Escargoon's head.
"I'm going as fast as I can!"
Before Kirby could do some serious damage, however, Meta Knight pounced on him, pulling him to the ground. The tyres squeaked gratingly as the limousine sped into the distance.
"Let me at him!" Kirby yelled, struggling against Meta Knight's tight grip. "Let me go!" His mentor pushed down on his wings to stop from them striking his hard mask. "Get off me!"
"To do what?" Meta Knight rumbled. "You might do something you'll regret and I won't have that. You may not even forgive yourself if you lose control completely. Dedede embarrassed you, yes, but that is no reason to fight him, especially as you get along with him fairly well nowadays. And everything else that happened was down to that dark entity. Listen to me!"
"Get off me now!"
"Not until you calm down!"
Kirby kept on struggling, too angry to care, not wanting to calm down, unwilling to give up the fight, and kept on fighting against Meta Knight's strong hold until he began panting for breath. Once Meta Knight finally lessened his hold, Kirby managed to tear himself away and sped towards the forest, wings madly beating the air.
"Kirby! Get back here! We must talk!"
"Go away!"
"Kirby!"
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Meta Knight stopped in his tracks and wondered if he ought to follow. Gone were the days in which as a child, the only bad thing Kirby suffered from were nightmares. Everything that had happened recently had proven too much for Kirby. How long had Kirby been feeling like this? Hadn't he talked to anyone about this?
The old Star Warrior sighed to himself. He had responsibility for Kirby and he had failed him.
