Chapter 23: The weakness
Ryu sat in his throne, strumming his claws on the arm. Suddenly, Red Wyvern, his top general was rushing up to him, his claws clacking on the stone floor. Red Wyvern bowed, his wings draped over his shoulder like a red, scaly robe.
"The army has attacked Dreamland, my lord." Wyvern reported.
Ryu smiled, showing off all of his sharp teeth and stood up his as he walked toward a kind of panel with a dragon skull on it. He put his large hand on it and it started glowing bright red. In a flash of light, there was a red portal as bright as fire glowing in front of him. He turned to his general and pointed out his clawed finger.
"Good. Our decoy is working. Wait for me to return and make sure my troops remember their place." He said in his deep, snarling voice.
"Yes, sir." Wyvern said as his master walked through the portal.
Back in Dreamland, Link, Kirby, Sonic, Metaknight, Dedede, and Escargoon were plotting out a strategy. Metaknight was using his sword to move little figurines of everyone. He even made Dedede's and Escargoon's together.
"Alright, here's the plan. We know that the leader of this army is the biggest soldier with the horns on the side of his face. Dedede and Escargoon will cause a distraction while Kirby flies above and bombards any enemies left behind. Sonic, you'll make sure that none of them stray. If any do, strike them down and also cut off their retreat. As for me and Link, we'll handle the rest of the army and the leader ourselves. Any questions?" Metaknight said.
Dedede and Escargoon raised their hands. Metaknight saw this and had a good idea on what they were thinking.
"Any questions NOT about our battle positions?" He added.
Both Dedede and Escargoon lowered their hands. Link nodded, Sonic gave the thumbs' up, and Kirby smiled a cute smile. Dedede and Escargoon simply muttered under their breath.
"I hate being bait." Dedede whispered.
"That's easy for you to say, YOU may not turn into a fancy dinner." Escargoon whispered back.
The army of Dragonoids marched through the meadows, smashing anything in their way and anyone who was against them. The largest one was right in the middle as they continued toward a nearby castle. Little did they know that their leader had set them up.
"Stay on target for the castle. There is no breathing soul that stands in our way." The leader said.
Just then, the strangest thing happened. A series of bullets started firing from out of nowhere and pelted the ground like hailstones, causing some of the troops to either stagger backward or scatter. The leader flinched and looked up to see Dedede and Escargoon in an old-fashioned car with a Gatling gun near the side door.
"Nobody but Kirby messes with MY kingdom!" Dedede said as he pressed buttons on his vehicle.
"Only his royal highness chooses who comes and who goes on Pop Star." Escargoon said, firing the gun repeatedly.
Bullets and missiles flew everywhere, striking down some of the army, but there were still many more to go. The leader was about to return fire when something dropped from the sky and exploded, causing a fraction of the army to get blown into oblivion. Kirby was riding a Warpstar, dropping shiny blasts of energy from it. The leader snarled in anger and then pointed forward with his mighty claw.
"ATTACK!" The leader roared, almost deafeningly.
Some Dragonoids charged with their weapons at Dedede and Escargoon's car while others shot streams of fire into the air to try and shoot Kirby out of the sky. They were having little luck on either of them, seeing as Kirby could easily fly away while Dedede's car swerved past some or ran over others. When almost half of the army was gone, the leader turned around.
"RETREAT!" He roared in fear, but other people had different plans.
Sonic sped right across them, stampeding over anything in his way and began to run in a small perimeter-circle so that they couldn't escape. As he ran around, Sonic smirked as some tried to back away, but were also trapped with each other.
"Face it, you're not going anywhere." He said as he sped back and forth again.
The leader saw that they were trapped and tried to retreat to the sides, but when Sonic cut right through a troop that tried, he chose otherwise. Just then, Link and Metaknight leapt in and began hacking and slashing their way through the remnants of the army. The leader began plowing through his own troops toward the fighting duo and produced a large club with spikes covering every inch of its receiving end.
"You will not interfere with Lord Ryu's plans. I'll make sure of it." The beast growled.
Link and Metaknight had already beaten almost every troop when they saw the leader wading his way toward them, club raised high. Metaknight threw off his cape to reveal batlike wings. In another second, he was gone and flying in the air to avoid the club's swing. Link quickly dove and rolled on impact. When the club hit the ground, the leader quickly brought it into a horizontal swing that Link quickly leapt over to slash the thing's legs. The dragonoid grunted in surprise as he looked at his wound and glared back up at his opponent. The beast then suddenly caught Link, not with his club, but with his fist in a backhand that hit the hylian hero full on. Link tumbled over the ground and was about to be crushed by the club. However, Metaknight swooped down and quickly snatched Link, causing the club to hit nothing but the ground.
"Uh…Thanks." Link said, a little confused for words.
"You can thank me later. Right now, we've got a leader to take down." Metaknight replied.
Metaknight flew in close and let go just when Link was above the leader. Link flew through the air, his sword out like an arrowhead and the Dragonoid leader looked up to see Link drive his sword right in between his eyes. In another second, he flopped to the ground, as still as a statue. They won…or so they thought.
A red portal had just appeared at a castle and Ryu emerged from it. He wouldn't fit in there, seeing as he was twenty feet tall, but he didn't need to go in. He simply waltzed over to the wall and smashed it open with his foot. He looked down and saw several small knights draw their swords in an attempt to attack him. However, Ryu's thick hide combined with his enormous size easily repelled the attacks, so he decided to kill these things in one fell swoop and belched a large blast of fire at the several knights, scorching everyone and everything inside. When he explored the courtyard, he had expected the Key Item to be there. However, his hopes faded as he saw nothing, that is until he sniffed the air and smiled.
"So that's where it is…You had me fooled for a while, pathetic king."