Chapter 21
Fumu sat up, wiping sweat from her brow. Sword, who was sitting beside her, rose to his feet. He wiped his white gloves against each other before heading towards the bathroom sink, washing them off with soap.
Blade laid on a towel on the restroom's tiled floor, his wound clean and "bandaged" by long socks and a laundry pin. Sword and Fumu did the best they could to fix Blade up while Bun stood guard at the bathroom's front door, listening for intruders. After washing his hands, Sword stood aside to allow Fumu to do the same. Blade chatted with them a bit after the painful wound cleaning was over. Sword smiled as he listened to his friend cracking a fashion-related joke about his sock bandage, glad to hear his friend sounding more like his old self.
No sooner did Fumu dip her hands under the faucet did Bun freeze, shoulders shaking as he whipped his head around to face the group.
"Footsteps" Bun hissed.
Sword cursed under his breath and stepped forward, unsheathing his weapon.
"I'm going to go deal with this. Hide in the cabinets if you can, kids" Sword stated. He then cautiously crept forward, sword drawn as he slid out through the swinging bathroom door.
Sword observed an unarmed Waddle Dee heading down the hallway in their direction, towards the bathroom. Sword took note that although the Waddle Dee was most certainly possessed and its bodily needs neglected, it was at least allowed the dignity of utilizing indoor plumbing. Still, it couldn't be allowed to reach its destination. Sword leapt forward, delivering a kick to the clueless Waddle Dee's face. The Waddle Dee spun backwards from the surprise attack and attempted to tackle Sword, a telegraphed move that the knight easily dodged. He then delivered a blow to the back of the Waddle Dee's head with his fist. The Waddle Dee slumped forward and fell to the floor face-first, the spirit of Dark Matter escaping it. Sword breathed heavily, shoving the body aside with one foot. He was not particularly good in hand-to-hand combat, having spent his life learning swordplay, but a Waddle Dee without a weapon was nearly harmless. He figured even Bun could knock one out.
The warrior headed back to the bathroom, stepping inside. He gestured to Fumu, and the two then hoisted Blade up as gently as they could. Blade let out a stifled groan in pain, his wound spotting a dull red against the bandages.
"Meta Knight was right; this bathroom will get too much foot traffic. We have to get out of here. I know where we can hide safely" Sword said as the four exited the restroom.
The group walked through the castle's eerily empty halls, heading to a rarely-used corridor on its ground floor. Sword then stopped, gently transitioning Blade to Bun's shoulder before standing in front of an odd rusty door.
"This is an unfinished expansion to the castle" Sword said. "It was started by one of Dedede's ancestors centuries ago, but never completed. No one ever comes here."
Blade's pained grin was hidden behind his helmet. "Oh yeah...I remember when Meta Knight showed us this place! Good thinking."
Sword easily broke the fragile, rusted lock, grunting with effort as he heaved the large door open. Inside, there was nothing but blackness. Bun felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end; the bathroom was much friendlier.
"It's kind of creepy in here, I know..." Sword said. "But we'll be safe, and that's what matters."
He withdrew a torch and matchbook, both of which he had found during their journey through the castle's hallways and awkwardly tucked into his belt. Now that they were back in the castle working torches were thankfully plentiful, prepared with flammable materials, not soaked down with rain, and never too far away from an easy way to light them. Sword never realized how much he'd appreciate such simple technology until that moment. He lit the torch, casting a fiery glow around them, and entered the chamber first. Fumu and Bun, with Blade hopping in step with them, warily followed behind him.
Meta Knight and Shieldmaiden stood in the dining hall of King Dedede. The two were still breathing heavily, barely over their first battle, when they suddenly heard a loud thud against the dining room's door. Both raised their weapons in readiness, just as the door burst open. A flood of spear-wielding Waddle Dees burst through, pushing and shoving against each other in their haste to get in. Meta Knight held Galaxia high, the sword sensing its master's intent and glowing brightly. He aimed right at the advancing crowd and fired a sword beam, the blast sending a group of Waddle Dees flying in all directions. Other Waddle Dees stepped over their fallen comrades, brandishing their spears. Shieldmaiden rushed into the group with her shield out, bowling over several more. Tiny wisps of Dark Matter began to float from the Waddle Dees who were too wounded to battle. The room began to fill up more and more as the Waddle Dees filtered into the room, hopping on the table and crawling over the chairs like a swarm of insects. The two Star Warriors backed up slowly, the advancing crowd of Waddle Dees forming an impenetrable wall of spears. The two combined could handle a few at once, even small groups, but every single guard in the castle's forces had been summoned by Dark Matter at the same time.
"There's too many of them!" Shieldmaiden shouted as she held up her shield, spear attacks bouncing off her buckler and armor in all directions.
Meta Knight nodded between parrying blows with his sword. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the dining hall's open window.
"We have to fly" he said, swinging his sword in a broad arc to keep the horde of attackers at bay. He turned around and faced the window, throwing his arm forward to cast another sword beam. The blast forced the Waddle Dees who advanced behind them to flee, leaving a briefly cleared path through the flood of guards.
"Go!" Meta Knight cried, dashing through the cleared path of Waddle Dee guards and barreling through the window.
As his round form began to fall, his cape instantaneously transformed into wings. Straining against gravity, he angled out his descent into a controlled dive and sailed onto a balcony a few floors below. Shieldmaiden followed suit, feathered wings spreading as soon as she jumped out of the window. The Waddle Dees crowded at the window, possessed eyes glowing purple as they all shoved at each other in an attempt to witness where the Star Warriors went.
Meta Knight landed on the balcony, panting. Shieldmaiden landed shortly afterwards, gliding in an unsteady rocking motion before crashing to the ground in a heap rather than landing gently. Meta Knight looked down curiously, seeing his own blood drip onto the stone floor; in the heat of battle, he didn't even realize he had been punctured multiple times. Shieldmaiden had a wound in one of her wings that hindered her ability to fly well, the feathered appendages being the only unarmored part of her body besides her eyes.
"We can't keep this up forever" she stated glumly.
Meta Knight's eyes glowed fiercely, though he said nothing in response. He knew she was right.
"We cannot back down" he said, voice wilting as the adrenaline wore off and the pain from his wounds began to hit him. "We have to neutralize Dark Matter on the ground as much as possible while Kirby does so from the air."
Shieldmaiden nodded, holding her shield out in front of her. They both remained on the castle balcony, wounded but not willing to run, and waited for the flood of Waddle Dees to follow them outside. Already they saw their foes disappear from the dining hall's window. Below them, visible against the dark green grass of the countryside, was a horde of thin, brown bodies. Already the Cappies were flooding out from the village and storming towards the castle, every single possessed individual responding to its dark master's call like ants rushing out of the hill to protect their queen.
Shieldmaiden looked up to the black sky, cyan eyes dimming. Even if they could knock out every single possible host for Dark Matter in all of Dreamland while somehow surviving the onslaught themselves, the being would at best be stalled for a time. If Kirby wasn't able to stop Dark Matter with the power of its relic, they were doomed.
Kirby flew through the air on Warp Star. Without having passengers to worry about, he was able to push his celestial vehicle into high gear. Zipping through the sky faster than one could blink he hurtled towards the center of Dark Matter, which still lurked over Pupu village.
Dark Matter's tendrils sensed his presence as he passed and tried to grip him; however, any time one managed to touch Warp Star it would be seared into black smoke. Kirby's mysterious relic protected him as he flew.
Within minutes, the young boy reached the epicenter of Dark Matter. The black presence had grown until it dominated over the entire village, slowly swirling in a huge circle as if it were a hurricane. The large red-ringed eye opened, emerging from its center, to focus on the intrusion. As it watched Kirby fly towards it, its pupil dilated. It sensed a strange aura around the tiny creature, something far more threatening than a mere weapon. Its eye could see it, a wide field of divine power surrounding Kirby that was invisible to the eyes of living creatures. Dark Matter's eye constricted to a tiny dot. Slowly it descended from its place in the center of the vortex, the black clouds that surrounded it clinging to its form and slowly wisping away. From Kirby's point of view it almost looked as if the massive cloud was giving birth, the large, black form with an unblinking eye in its center slowly descending from its cloud home.
Dark Matter then turned to face Kirby, whose speed slowed slightly as he watched his enemy. A ring of strange, tan growths suddenly sprouted in a neat ring around the circumference of its round form. Its eye focused on Kirby, unblinking. Slowly, Dark Matter floated towards him.
Kirby stared at Dark Matter, feeling a foreign and unusual feeling for the creature. Anger. He was deeply angry that this thing had taken over his adopted homeland. He was angry that it hurt his friends and dared to possess Sword. Angry that they had to survive dangerous conditions in the jungle just to retrieve a power source to stop it. The anger in him boiled and grew, turning into a full blown rage. His eyes began to take on the glow of the relic, dimly glowing gold from within but advancing to a full bright shine if they were two flashlights. The golden mist began to sweep around him and Warp Star again, fully visible as it was before. As Kirby focused, feeling compelled to channel all of his anger at the being staring at him, the relic in his hand began to change. It morphed in his hand, the metal turning hot and almost liquid-like for a brief second as it slid past his skin on his hand. The relic had transformed into a scepter, the fused golden disc sitting on top and glowing so brightly that from a distance it looked like a second sun. Kirby willed it so. He pictured all of his energy being transferred to the scepter, to the disc on top of the scepter, and willed it to smite Dark Matter down. He wanted Dark Matter obliterated.
The newly-formed scepter responded to his will, as quickly and effortlessly as if it were an extension of his arm. The power felt as if it flew through his arm into the scepter. The bright energy on top began to glow brighter, a white flame erupting from the top of the disc. Kirby then shouted a war cry and thrust the newly-formed scepter forward. The fireball of divine light flew towards the air at light speed, hitting Dark Matter before it could react.
Dark Matter's ethereal 'body' shook violently from the impact, a number of its tan growths splintering off and plummeting to the ground. Its eye rolled upwards, body drifting listlessly for a moment. Kirby advanced closer, frowning deeply, as his scepter charged up again.
Dark Matter then snapped back to attention, eyes dilated. It shot a beam of black lightning out of its eye, the blast hitting Kirby almost instantaneously. Warp Star veered off course, causing Kirby to be distracted from his shot and having no choice but to cling to the vehicle. He focused on Warp Star, straightening himself as quickly as possible. Dark Matter sensed that his attack worked and fired more shots, the lightning cracking through the air as if they were in a thunderstorm. Kirby, whose mind was focused on defending, threw up a golden, swirling orb around himself and Warp Star without realizing it. The blow still rocked him, but he was able to stay on course. The shield faded and Kirby's glowing gaze hardened, the fire forming at the tip of the scepter again.
Dark Matter glared at Kirby. The ethereal being's body then shook violently, the remaining pieces of its tan growths flying off of it in all directions with the force of a bullet. Dark Matter was careful to aim the growths in his direction, each piece being twice as large as Kirby himself and hard as a boulder. Kirby angled his Warp Star until it was nearly vertical, using the same force that he used to keep Blade stable to keep himself from slipping off. One growth missed him by inches, a flash of brown entering his vision before it blew off beside Warp Star and tumbled into the countryside below them.
Kirby's brow furrowed. He charged his scepter, the brilliant flames blowing off of the top of the scepter as if it were a torch, and fired a series of blows at him. Dark Matter tried to dodge, but the flames were too quick. One hit him after the other, the white hot fire illuminating the inside of his body in a brief flash as if it were through a veil. Dark Matter's speed slowed to a stop. Its eye rolled upwards as it shut closed. The black ball of mass began to quiver, small explosions erupting from random parts of its surface. Kirby realized what was going to happen and flew back a good distance. Dark Matter began to glow red and black, like the surface of the sun. It then exploded. A blast flew through the air, the shockwave causing Warp Star to tremble so violently that Kirby shut his eyes and clung to it. The heat from the blast seared his skin, causing him to cry out in pain. After a few seconds, the roar of the explosion dimmed to a rumble. Cautiously, Kirby slowly opened one eye. What he saw made his jaw hang open.
Dark Matter was gone. However, in the blast site there was what appeared to be a small hole. Through this hole, Kirby could see strange colors shifting like a kaleidoscope – greens, purples, blues, the faint twinkle of stars. It was as if he had knocked a hole in a wall and was peering through the other side, into a new room. The transformed relic, which he still held in his quaking hand, still glowed brightly. The sky was still black. In his heart, Kirby could still sense that something was still wrong. Dark Matter's presence hadn't been eradicated.
Slowly, cautiously, Kirby approached the portal. As he got closer, he watched the sky around him begin to blur. Everything seemed to get sucked into it the closer he got, as if it were swallowing the sky itself. Kirby felt the pull growing against him, as if he were at the mercy of an enormous vacuum. Heart pounding, Kirby held tightly onto Warp Star and the relic as he slipped through the portal. The hole then shrank, growing more and more tiny, until it winked out of existence.