Disclaimer: I don't own any of this stuff. Please don't sue me. The plot and original characters are used with permission.
Sorry for the rather long wait. I ended up getting a bit more free time on my hands this week, and it turned out to be enough to get the chapter done a bit earlier then I said it would. This one was again written by me.
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Chapter 10
Meta Knight
4:30 P.M. 6/11
Slowly, I opened my eyes. The last thing I could remember was battling with that bastard Vaati in the forest. (Oh yeah...I smacked my head kinda hard, after I saved Rikku. I remember now.) I thought. But that happened in the forest...I was in a bed now. (Where am I?) I thought. This definitely wasn't the mansion. I sat up in the bed, to try to figure out where I was. It was a nice sun-filled room, with two beds. There was a big window, behind the two beds. A ceiling fan was on above me, and the room seemed to connect to another one. I moved around, and surprisingly I felt perfectly normal, it was almost as if I hadn't been injured at all. I pushed the covers of the bed away and stepped onto the ground. There was a small set of stairs near the beds, that led down to what appeared to be a bar. Standing behind the bar was some sort of blue creature. It kinda resembled a humanoid frog, it's skin was blue all over and it had webbed feet. It's eyes were kinda bulged out, and wide like a frog's were, but it had two small circles on the side's of it's head for ears and two small antenna's on top of it's head. It had a scarf around it's neck, and it was wearing a pair of brown over-alls.
The creature looked at me as I walked down the stairs and said. "Helloz there howz iz you feeling?" In a very odd and funny accent. It drew out seemly random words in it's sentences. It had a male type voice.
"Umm...I feel perfectly fine I guess...whoever you are..." I said back to him.
"Good, Good Mz Yuna, and Mz Rikku were worried about you. Theyz were in here for hourz." The creature said back to me.
(So, Rikku and her friend had been here...Rikku must have brought me here after the fight, but that still didn't answer the question of where "here" was.) I thought. I decided to continue into another room instead of asking this verbally-confused creature. There was a door off to the side of the bar. I walked up to it and it opened by it's self when I got near. (Reminds me of my old flag-ship...) I thought as I stepped through. The door led to a hallway, that dead-ended at an elevator. I walked inside of it, I stared at the buttons and pressed one labeled "deck". (All of this seems awfully familar...) I thought, as the elevator doors closed, and the elevator began moving up. When the elevator stopped, the doors opened up into a short hallway, that led into a big room. I could hear voices coming from it, normal ones. Although I couldn't quite make out what they were saying.
" Rikku! fryd ryja E dumt oui ypuid pnehkehk cdnyhkanc ehdu dra Celsius?!?!?!" I heard a male voice yell.
" Ur! lyh ed ymnayto! oui yld mega ra'c kuhhy fnalg dra bmyla!" I heard a female voice say.
I recognized it. It was Rikku's voice, but what in the world was she saying? Curious I stepped out into the room the voices were coming from. It was a big room, there two small sets of stairs, on a raised portion of the room, where I was. Below the stairs, were all sorts of controls and computers and stuff. At the very front of the room were several seats, and no window in front. I could tell what this place was now, It was an airship. I could recognize it because the although the design was different, it had many similarities with my old war-ship the Halberd. The ship wasn't moving however, and seeing as how it had been landed next to the mansion it was likely we were still there. There were 5 people in the room. Off to the side, leaning against the wall was Rikku's friend Paine. Near the center Yuna was standing, facing the center of the room. In the center was Rikku, and a short man with a blonde Mohawk in mechanic's over-alls. He had goggles over his eyes. Over in a corner, was another man with goggles on his eyes. He was darker-skinned then the others, and had on some purple flying clothes.
Yuna was the first to notice me. She looked at me and said "Oh! your up Meta!" Everyone in the room turned to look at me after Yuna said that.
Rikku dashed up the steps, and picked me up hugging me tightly. "Meta! your ok!"
I squirmed around, in her arms finally breaking out of them and back onto the ground. "Don't do that... And why wouldn't I be ok?" I said back to her
"Well you hit your head pretty hard... Me and Yunie had a hard time healing you... and sorry... I can't help but want to hug you when your mask is off!, you just look so cuddly!" Rikku replied.
I felt my face with my hand. (HEY!! MY MASK IS GONE!) I thought. Not only that my gloves were too, so was my sword.
"Let me get one thing straight... I. AM. NOT. CUDDLY. Now where's my armor at?" I said back to her.
"It was laying next to the bed we put you in. You didn't see it?" She said back to me.
(I guess I missed it...I'll have to go back to the room and get it) I thought. "So why did you bring me to your airship?" I asked Rikku.
"She thought it might hurt your pride, if everyone at the mansion saw you injured, so she brought you here instead." I heard Paine say from the corner.
(She did that for me?...) I thought. I opened my mouth to say something, but got interrupted by the short man. "E fyhd res uid!" He said, pointing to me.
"Ur! Crid ib ymnayto!" Rikku said back to the man.
The two of them began yelling back and forth at each other in whatever strange language they were speaking. I turned away, and looked at Yuna, who walked up the small set of steps next to me.
"Don't worry about them, they argue all the time." Yuna said to me assuringly.
"Who is that odd man anyway?" I asked Yuna.
"Oh that's Brother...He's Rikku's...well...umm her brother." Yuna said. "Oh, and that guy over there is Buddy, he helps navigate the ship."
"Hi, there" I heard Buddy say from across the room.
"Why are they talking in all those funny words?" I asked Yuna.
"That's the Al Bhed language, it's their native tongue. Brother doesn't speak very much English." Yuna replied.
I nodded, and listened to the two of them argue for a couple of minutes before finally becoming annoyed and saying "Rikku?...Can we leave now?"
She turned to me and said "Umm...Sure, if you feel good enough!...don't we need to get your stuff out of the extra bedroom first?"
"Yeah...I need it." I replied back to her.
"Yna oui rybbo hof? Fa'na veqehk du mayja!" Rikku said to Brother, before turning, and walking down the small hallway towards the elevator.
I began following her, and Yuna followed me.
As I passed Brother, I heard him mutter "Meddma nihd" under his breath.
Regardless, I pretended I hadn't heard it, and we continued to the elevator. The three of us stepped in the elevator and Rikku pressed one of the buttons. The doors closed, and the elevator began moving down.
"Your brother is a strange person..." I said to Rikku.
"You'll get used to him... He isn't always that annoying." She said back to me.
"That language you spoke...that Al Bhed.." I said to her.
"What about it?" Rikku replied.
"Could you...teach me some?... sometime?..." I asked her, in a low tone of voice.
"Sure thing Meta! It'll be fun!" Rikku said back to me excitedly.
"Hey Rikku, I got an idea." Yuna said to Rikku. She walked over to Rikku and whispered something into her ear.
Rikku got a smile on her face and nodded, as the elevator doors finally opened up again back at the area I had woken up in. We stepped, back up the steps towards where the beds were. The blue creature that was in front of the bar was gone now. When we got to the top of the stairs I glanced at the bed I'd woken up in, and sure enough all my armor and weaponry were next to it laid against the wall.
I walked up to the bed to pick them up, but before I could I heard Rikku say "Hey Meta, could you come over here a second?"
"Sure" I said back to her. She was standing on the other side of the second bed.
I walked over to where she was and said "What is it?"
"Oh, um look at that over there!" She said pointing to a spot on the wall over the bar.
I stared at the spot, for a few seconds and said "I don't see anythi-"
I couldn't finish because Rikku put her hand around my shoulder and quickly spun me around, facing the steps where Yuna was standing with a camera. The camera flashed, and Yuna and Rikku laughed.
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!?!" I asked the two of them.
"We wanted a picture of you, but we didn't think you'd go with it willingly" Rikku said, smiling.
She was right, I hated having my picture taken, but that didn't give them the right to trick me into it. The picture came out of the camera, and Yuna pulled it out and showed it to Rikku and me. The picture was of us two, standing in front of the big window. Rikku had her arm around my shoulder, leaning on me, and had a big smile on her face. I was just kinda standing there, a look of surprise on my face, and a small smile on my face. Why the smile was there, I had no clue, but apparently I had smiled. Rikku and Yuna looked at the picture and laughed again, before setting it, and the camera down.
"Can I please get my stuff back now?" I asked the two of them frustrated.
"Yeah, sure. Hey Yunie we'll catch you later, go ahead and go." Rikku said.
"Ok, I'll see you two later." Yuna said, still giggling. She turned and walked down the stairs and out of the room.
I sighed, and walked back over to my gear, putting all my armor back on and putting my sheathed sword back on.
"Oh come on Meta, no need to be so grumpy. It was just a picture" Rikku said.
I opened my mouth to say something but got interupted by a voice that said "You two are very odd mortals..."
I looked at Rikku, she had a startled look on her face. There was no way she was the one who'd said that, the voice sounded like an old man's.
"Who's there!" I said, to pretty much thin air.
The same voice from before sighed and said" Sheez do all mortals freak out at disembodied voices?"
"Typically yes..." I said back.
"Fine, then I'll make this quick. My name is Bestivous, and I've been watching you Meta Knight." The voice said.
"How so? And how do you know my name? And where are you for that matter?" I said back to this "Bestivous."
"Because I have magic powers. Not only can I see things, I can also speak into people's minds, like I am now to you and your friend over there." Bestivous said back.
"And why have you been watching me?" I asked Bestivous.
"Because you interest me mortal. I decided I would offer you my help." He said back.
"Help me with what? Scaring people?" I said back.
"Shut up mortal before I change my mind! I decided to help you defeat your current enemy. The man known as Vaati." Bestivous said back.
I chuckled and said "No thanks, I can handle him myself."
"Then why has Rikku had to intervene twice now?" He said back in a mocking tone. "Vaati didn't need anyone to help him, and he kept up with you just fine."
"Shut up!, What do you know!" I yelled back at him.
"Oh I know quite a bit actually. Regardless, I came to offer you power. If your interested, come to the attic of the mansion." Bestivous said.
"And if I don't come? What then?" I said back to Bestivous.
I waited, but there was no answer. (I guess he's tired of talking) I thought. I turned and started walking down the steps back to the bar of the room I was in.
"Your not really thinking about going are you? I heard Rikku say. She was following me.
"Yes I am. That bastard knows too much for his own good, and I plan on getting to the bottom of who he is." I said back to her.
"Well I'm coming with you!" She said firmly.
"No your not. This could get dangerous, I'm going by myself." I said back just as firm.
"Exactly, it could be dangerous! I'm going with you" Rikku replied.
"Are you sure your up for it? If it's a trap we'll have to fight our way out." I said back to her.
"Yes, I'm up for it. Hang on a second." She said.
She closed her eyes, and all her clothes vanished in a bright light! My eyes widen in surprise, and I tripped and fell to the ground, in shock. However instead of becoming naked, some armor appeared on her out of the light along with a sword. I'd seen Yuna do this earlier, but I had no clue Rikku could do it as well.
Rikku opened her eyes, and giggled. "What's wrong?" she said to me.
"NOTHING, NOTHING!" I said back.
That just made her laugh more. "Well? Let's get going, I told Brother we were leaving anyway." She said to me when she was done.
"Fine fine, if your that determined..." I said to her. "Now how do we get out of here?"
"Come on, I'll show you." Rikku said, leading me back to the elevator.
She pushed another button, and the elevator again went down. Only this time, it continued going down, extending out of the airship and touching the ground outside of the mansion. The two of us stepped out, onto the yard of the mansion and began walking towards the front door.
5:00 P.M. 6/11
I glanced, at the back yard. There was a good number of people standing around two fresh gravestones. One said "R.I.P. Ramza" and the other said "R.I.P. Armond." (I guess we missed the funeral services...I wonder who the Armond guy is though? We only heard of Ramza dying.) I thought, as I looked back to the mansion. Regardless, the two of us continued into the mansion. We walked, up the flight of stairs all the way up until we reached the top floor. There were a few people on some of the floors, some heading to their rooms, others sobbing, probably from the funeral. But it was apparent most of them were either in their rooms, or outside in the back yard. When Rikku and I got to the last floor, I turned and to look down the hallway for a way up into the attic. Right at the very end there was a staircase going upwards, almost as if Bestivous was inviting us. I motioned for Rikku to follow me, and the two of us went up the stairs, up into a very dark and dusty attic.
When we got to the top, the stairs rose up, and closed behind us, closing our only possible exit save from a window across the room.
"Welcome Mr. Knight. I'm glad you decided to come." The same old man's voice from before said, as a portal opened up in the middle of the room, and a short stubby old man with a big white moustache floated out riding on top of what appeared to be a small cloud. Instead of hair, he had a green orb with a star on it on his head.
"I assume your Bestivous correct? Well I'm here, now get explaining on why the hell you summoned me here in the first place." I said to him.
"Fine fine, sheez, damn mortals are always so impatient. I asked you to come here because I have an offer for you." Bestivous said.
"Very well...what is it? I asked him.
"You see, I have the power to send other people to different places in time, and even to other dimensions. And sometimes problems arise in the past, that threaten the future. So someone has to go and fix them. So, I find someone I believe is worthy, of taking on the job, and send them to take care of it." Bestivous said.
"And you were hoping, I would be kind enough to do one of these jobs for you?" I said.
"Yes, but there's a reward of course." Bestivous said back to me.
"Oh really? You should have said so earlier...And what might this reward be?" I said to him.
"Anything you want it to be, money, power, romance, fame. You name it and it's yours. I warn you though it can get dangerous sometimes. I can't be held responsible if you die. Do we have a deal little warrior?" Bestivous replied.
I thought about it for a few minutes. I suppose it could be troublesome... but who knows? Maybe it would be worth it in the end.
"Yes...We have a deal" I said to him.
"Good good, now then, what do you want for your reward?" Bestivous asked me.
I thought for another few minutes, before finally saying "Power...I want more power...enough to crush my enemy." I said back to Bestivous.
"Very well then, finish the job and I'll increase your power considerably." Bestivous said.
He raised his hand, and a portal opened up in front of the window across the room.
"Step into the portal and you'll be sent to the problem area. Once there find out what's wrong, and fix it, and then I'll open another portal to teleport you back...Oh and before I forget, you have to go by yourself... Your friend over there can't go with you." Bestivous said.
I turned around and looked at Rikku who'd stayed quiet this whole time. She looked...pretty in her armor. She had a sad look on her face though.
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine...Go back to the airship and wait for me to come back." I said to her.
"You sure?" She said to me in an uneasy tone of voice.
"I promise..." I said back to her.
"O...k...I guess..." She replied. She was still worried about me, I could tell.
The staircase opened back up, and Rikku finally walked back down it, after looking at me for a few minutes.
After she was gone, I turned back to Bestivous and said "Well...I'm ready"
He moved, off to the side and wished me luck, as I walked forward, and stepped into the open portal in front of me. Immidietly there was a white flash, and I got a killer headache. I could feel myself losing consciousness...slowly...blackness...
My eyes jolted open again, as I woke up. I was laying on the dirt. (What was I doing?...) I thought, confused. Oh yeah, I'd agreed to take that job. But that still didn't answer where I was... I picked myself off of the dirt and looked around. There was a bunch of trees everywhere. (Am I back in the woods, near the mansion?) I thought. No, that couldn't be it. The trees were much too big, and numerous for this to be woods. Not to mention it was unbelievably humid, and there were a lot of odd looking plants all around. This was not woods, this was definitely a jungle. I checked around, and unsheathed my sword. I needed to find out what was wrong, so I could fix it as quickly as I could. I wanted to spend as less time here as I possibly could. I started walking through the jungle, slicing through the thicker portions of it, in random directions. I needed to find some people as quickly as I could.
I kept going, like that and eventually I came to what looked like a small beach. There was sand everywhere, and the water was definitely salt water, by the smell. I turned, and started walking along the shoreline, and ended up going a circle. (So...I appear to be on a small circular island...) I thought, as I ended up back in the spot I had started from. I could tell from the footprints I had made in the sand. I decided to make another walk, and see if I could find any signs of life anywhere. When I had gotten a good ways around the island and looked up and noticed something. There was a small moutain, on the side with a cave at the bottem of it. What was strange about it though, was that it was carved into the shape, of an odd-looking head. The head looked like it was of an animal covered in fur, wit a little curl at the top of it's head. The mouth and nose were extended outwards from it's face. Even odder, a little ways across the water, directly across from this stone face was some sort of building. It too, was made to look an animal, some sort of humanoid crocodile.
I pondered what in the world all this could mean, when I heard a sound come from a bush, a little ways ahead. I turned, to see what was, to find a green creature come out of the bush, and stare at me. It looked like the weird building, like a humanoid crocodile. It walked on two legs, but it had a crocodile's body, along with sharp teeth, and claws and a tail. It stared at me and grunted, making odd noises before running dead at me. (Hmph, foolish little thing) I thought. It was dead long before it reached me. When it got in my range I unsheathed my sword, and stepped forward, swiping at the creature. It fell to the ground, quickly, a deadly slice across it's chest. I'd damaged most of it's internal organs and as such, it died in merely one blow. It had some good dangerous natural weapons, with the claws and teeth and stuff, but it had nothing on a legendary fighter like myself I thought.
Almost instantly I heard another rustle come from yet another bush. I drew my sword, and looked around, for what caused it, when suddenly, I felt a large weight jump on my back
"ooh ooh AHH AHH AHH!" I heard something shout into my ear.
Taken by surprise, I jumped into the air, and threw whatever was on me, onto the ground and landed, ready to lay a killing blow with my sword. However, what I saw was not another one of those green crocodile monsters, but rather...well...a monkey...A small monkey. But this was no normal monkey...It had a hat on...A red one, and a red shirt, with yellow stars on it. It's tail was also really curly. I looked back up at the carving in the side of the island, this monkey kind of looked like the carving...But it wasn't a carving of him.
"Umm...Hi there?" I said slowly to the monkey.
" OOH OOH OOH!" the monkey said, hopping up and down very excitely.
It, moved over to the opening of the cave under the carving and started waving it's hands.
"You want me to follow you or something?" I said to it.
"OOH OOH" It grunted back, dashing into the cave.
(Well...There's obviously nothing else to find around here...I may as well follow it.) I thought, as I stepped into the cave. Surprisingly there were torches hung up on the wall. They were lit and gave off a good bit of light. The small monkey was up ahead, staring at me. When it saw that I had followed it in, it waved it's hands again, and ran further in. I followed it, to find that it had stopped yet again, a little ways ahead to see if I had kept following it, and it repeated it's self. We did this process over and over again several times, before finally the monkey led me out of the cave and into a large opening in the forest. There was a large tree house in the center of it, and cave off to the side.
The small monkey walked up in front of the tree house, and waved it's arms around again. "OOH AAH AAH AAH OOH EEH!" The monkey said excitedly, up into the tree house.
A few seconds later, I saw several more monkey's pop their heads out of the door. They looked at me, and all of them jumped down onto the ground and started hooting excitedly. There were now five of them, including the small monkey from before. Just like the little one, every single one of them looked odd. One of them was orange, and had extremely long arms. It's face kinda drooped a little bit, making it look kind of old. It had on over-alls over a small white shirt. Another one next to it, was really tall, the other 4 were just barely taller then me, and the small monkey was actually shorter then me, but this one towered over me. It's arms looked really muscular, but it was cowering in the corner like it was scared of something. It had on a small hat, and a white shirt, with what looked like a small blue vest over it. The next one looked even weirder. For starters, it had hair. While it's fur was brown, at the top of it's head it turned blonde, and had been tied into pig-tails. Even more stranger, it had on shoes, and a blue shirt that covered up most of it's body, although another small white shirt could be seen underneath it. The last of them looked the most normal for a monkey. It was the second biggest out of the 5 of them. It had a tie on, with the letters "DK" on it. It's face looked really familar... I could have sworn I'd seen it before... (It's the same face that was carved into the side of the island!) I thought as it finally hit me.
"OOH OOH AAH AAH AHAH!" I heard the small monkey shout, as I again felt a weight on my back.
I quickly yanked him off of me, and through him to the ground. "Annoying little monkey..." I muttered under my breath.
All 5 of the monkeys, jumped as I spoke and again began hooting excitedly. The monkey with the tie pushed the monkey with the pig-tails forward, and the other 4 watched the two of us.
The monkey, looked at me and to my surprise, opened it's mouth and said "Umm...Hi there?" In a female voice.
I jumped in surprise. "You can talk?!?!?!" I said to her.
"I can... The others can't though." She replied.
"Why?!?! Monkey's aren't supposed to be able to speak English?" I said back.
"Well, you see...there's this tale that Cranky tells us every now and then, that one day a masked warrior would come and save us from a disaster. And he seemed to believe it so much, that he demanded that I study the language of the ancients, so that when he warrior came we could communicate with him" The monkey replied.
This was getting hard to believe. "Look , are there any human's around here? I really need to figure out what this "disaster" is that I'm supposed to prevent. And a human would help a lot more then you." I said to the monkey.
"Human? What's that? Some kind of food? I've never heard of anything like that around here...Hang on a sec, let me ask the others." She said.
She turned to the other 4 monkeys and said "EEH AAH AHH EEH OOH?"
The monkeys all grunted back, and she turned back towards me and said "Nope sorry, they don't know what a human is either."
(Great...Just great...I'm stranded on an island with a bunch of crazy monkeys...) I thought.
I sighed and said "Well then I guess you're the only help I've got...Hurry up and explain what the hell I have to do."
"Well shouldn't we introduce ourselves first? Hi I'm Tiny Kong!" The monkey said.
"Meta Knight..." I said bluntly.
"Hi Meta Knight!" Tiny said back to me.
She pointed to the other 4 monkeys said "These are my friends, Chunky Kong, Lanky Kong, Donkey Kong and..." She said pointing to each of the monkey's as she named them.
Before she could name the small monkey, I heard it say "OOH OOH AAH A-"
I quickly spun around and kicked the tiny monkey square in the face, before it could again, hop on my back. "WILL YOU STOP THAT!!!" I said to it.
"Oh, that's just Diddy, he likes you." Tiny said.
"eeh oh" Diddy said, as he walked over to the other Kongs.
"Yes yes, how nice to meet you all" I said, sarcastically. "Now what the hell am I supposed to do?"
'Well... The Kremlings invaded not too long ago. Diddy said you ran into one of them. The walking green thing." Tiny said.
"Ok then, I guess I'm off." I said, turning to walk away.
"No wait! We got rid of the Kremlings already, there's just a few of them still around here and there. Diddy was getting rid of them when he found you, and you fit the description of the masked warrior, so he brought you here." Tiny said to me.
I stopped and turned around. "Ok then, what ELSE is wrong with this place?..." I said frustrated at this damn island.
"Well, there is fire in cave of the not fire." Tiny said back to me.
"What?" I asked her.
"Maybe I worded that wrong. There is cave fire now, in old non-fire place." Tiny said.
"That doesn't make any more sense, then the first sentence." I said back to Tiny bluntly.
"Oh...sorry...I still haven't mastered this language yet... I guess I don't know how to say it." She said back.
I sighed again and said "Fine...Just come and show me!" I said, again turning to leave.
Tiny turned back to the other Kongs and said "EEH AAH AAH AHH EEH OOH EEH" before following me back into the cave I had come here in.
"Sorry, I was telling them what we were gonna do." She said. "I suppose I'll lead you"
She got in front of me, and led me out of the cave back onto the beach area. We started walking around the island. I felt the need to ask her something. Apparently they were no humans here, but the Kongs didn't even know what humans were.
"Hey Tiny...what year is it?" I finally asked Tiny Kong.
"Oh, you don't know?" She replied, afterwards she told me what year it was.
I stumbled in surprise. She had to be joking. The year she'd just told me, was millions of years behind, what it was when I stopped through the portal. I knew Bestivous said he would be sending me into the past...but THIS far?
"Are you ok?" Tiny asked me.
I stood back up straight, and said "Yeah, of course I am."
"If you say so" Tiny replied.
We continued walking until finally, Tiny stopped and pointed back up at the island. I looked where she pointed and saw a cave going into the island again. But there appeared to be no way up there. There were no footholds on the side of the island leading to it or anything.
"That's the place up there, but we'll need to find a way to get up there. It's too steep, even for me. We could go back and get Diddy. He could fly us up there on his rocket jet-pack." Tiny suggested.
"No thanks I got this covered." I said back to her, not wanting to go back to those apes.
I spread my wings out from behind my back and Tiny gasped at them. I picked her up, and took off, flying towards the cave entrance. I flared my wings when I got close to the entrance, and dived down landing right in front of the cave. I let go of Tiny, and she fell to the ground.
"That was awesome!!" Tiny said, getting back up.
"Yes, yes it is, now can we get on with it? What's wrong here? It looks like a normal cave to me." I said to Tiny.
"Come on, I'll show you." She said, leading me into the cave.
We walked a little ways into the cave. Like the one leading to the Kong's home, this cave too was brightly lit. But this time it wasn't by torches, but by a bunch of light blue crystals which were all over the walls. They all glistened, by some unknown source of light. (I bet Rikku would like this place...It's pretty...) I thought. I wondered what Rikku was doing back at the mansion. I wondered how much time had passed since I left back there. (She's probably goofing off with that Yuna girl...) I thought.
I turned my attention back to the cave. I needed to get out of here as quickly as I could.
"So?...I still don't see anything unusual" I said to Tiny.
"We have to go further in...This part of the Crystal Caves hasn't been affected yet." Tiny replied.
She told me to follow her, and the two of us continued further into the caves. The ground was getting harder and rougher as we went. Suddenly a loud roar, came from somewhere in the cave. The entire cave it's self started shaking.
"That's what's wrong with this place." Tiny said, after the noise subsided.
I nodded and we kept going. It seemed like the further in we went, the more rougher the ground got. Also it was beginning to get much hotter. After we were pretty deep into the cave, I noticed something. Some of the blue crystals were...melting. Some of them barely showed any signs, while others were almost completely melted to the ground. (Well...I suppose I found the problem Bestivous.) I thought, as Tiny and I walked into an opening of another part of the cave. In the center of the room, was a massive pool of lava. The floor was melted, as well as most of the crystals. The majority of the light in the room was coming off of the lava it's self. Not to mention the room was blazing hot, and the pool took up about 80 of the entire area here.
When we stepped in, we immidietly heard the same roar from before, only this time it was a lot closer. In fact, it was coming from a room directly across from this one. I squinted my eyes, and saw another opening in the wall leading in the same direction the roar was coming from. I flared my wings again, and prepared to take Tiny across, when I heard an odd buzzing sound. I turned my head, to see a bunch of large bees coming from cracks in one of the walls of the cave. At least they resembled bees. They were black with yellow stripes, but they had spikes going all along their back. Also they had pretty large stingers. They all looked pretty pissed, whatever had just roared had probably upset them. Seeing as how we were closer to their hive, it was likely they thought Tiny and I were the cause of the disturbance.
"AHH! Zingers!" Tiny said, pointing towards some of the bees.
"Don't worry, I got this covered too." I said flaring my wings. Seeing as how most of this room was submerged in lava, I couldn't fight on the ground much.
There was a good couple of "Zingers" already coming towards us, but there were even more still coming out of an apparent hive behind the cracks of the wall. I drew my sword, and prepared to strike. I'd have to strike from as far away as I possibly could if I wanted to avoid running into those spikes, or even worse a stinger. All of a sudden, a couple of Zingers dive-bombed towards me from the ceiling. I waited, and dashed to the side quickly, as one tried to bring it's stinger down on me. I slashed it in the face, and rolled backwards as yet another one attacked me. It too didn't last long however, as I quickly recovered and slashed it too. I flared my wings again, and took off into the air killing another Zinger.
I started flying directly over the lava, where most of the Zingers were hovering anyway. They charged to meet me, and I quickly disposed of several of them. They had no choice but come near me to attack, and my sword could reach them before they could reach me. Another Zinger tried to attack me from behind, but it was too slow. I turned and delivered a fatal slash. Another came from the side, but I flew up, and sent a wound to it's side sending it into the lava. A third charged me straight on. I quickly send a stab to it's head. But suddenly I felt something ram me in the back hard. I flew forward, and smacked a wall, feeling a sharp pain in my back. I turned, around to see what had hit me to find one Zinger was missing it's stinger. I had a bad feeling in my back that I knew what happened in it.
All the Zingers dive-bombed towards me again. They were attacking as a group. If I attacked one, I would just be hit by all the rest of them. I had to try regardless, and slashed at the nearest one. I flared side-ways and barely avoided another stinger, only to be hit yet again by another one, this time to the face. I again flew back, hitting the same wall as before. Another Zinger reared up to attack me, when suddenly a red feather came out of nowhere, and hit it in the face, stabbing into it. The Zingers tuned in the direction it came from, and almost all of them were shot down in seconds by the same feathers. I looked to see what was firing them to find Tiny Kong, standing near the entrance of this room with a cross-bow of some kind in her hand, where she'd gotten it from I had no clue. (Damn...she's a good shot) I thought, as she shot down several more Zingers. Their attention as now entirely on her, and it seemed as if they'd forgotten I was even here.
Now was my chance. There were still Zingers coming out the wall, and I had to find a way to stop them. Getting back up further into the air, away from the lava I looked around the room for a way to do. Soon I spotted a large stalactite, hanging just above the cracks in the wall. Better yet the heat from the lava had weakened it some, there was a good chance with enough force I could knock it down. I glanced back a Tiny, she was still going strong, so I headed right for the stalactite. When I got closer I saw that there was what a cracked spot near the top. I started whacking at it as hard as I could with my sword. (YES! It's starting to break) I thought, as I continued hitting it with all my strength. Eventually, I finally broke through. The stalactite fell down with a thud into the lava. Eventually it would melt, but for now the Zinger hive was blocked off. I looked back over at Tiny, she was still fighting of the last of the Zingers. I flew over to where she was, and the two of us finished off the rest of the group.
"Well...that got dirtier then I'd hoped" said to Tiny.
"Yeah...Those Zingers are nasty...Oh um...You still have those stingers in you..." She replied.
"Oh yeah..." I said to her, as I pried the two stingers out with my sword. Fortunately the wounds weren't too bad, I'd probably be ok without any treatment
"I suppose we should continue before more come" I said to Tiny.
She nodded and I picked her up and carried her over the lava pit. But I noticed something. The lava pit was...Bigger. It had grown during the battle somehow. Shrugging it off, I landed near the entrance to the next part of the cave, and let go of Tiny. The two of us looked at each other, and stepped forward into the next room.
There were several small pits of lava in this room. Unlike the massive pit in the previous one, this room merely had several small pits scattered all over the ground. But that was about the only thing of interest here, there were no monsters. (Odd...I could have sworn that roar from earlier came from in here) I thought. There were no more entrances or exits here, save from the one we came in from.
"Well, I guess we better search elsewhere. Whatever it was, it's not here." I said to Tiny.
The two of turned to leave, when we suddenly heard the same roar we'd heard twice before. It was definitely coming from this room, it sounded so close there was no doubt about it, but what was causing it? I pondered this, when suddenly one of the small pits of lava in the ground began bubbling, and the ground started shaking below us. I stared at the pit, and my jaw dropped, as a long slender dragon rose out of it. It's body was red, and it had a mane of fire that came off of its head and went down a little ways off of it's body. It had blue chameleon like eyes, and sharp looking claws. It's body was also really long. Also I noticed it had a small purple gem on it's head.
Right next to me, Tiny shrieked and shouted "Valvagia!"
The dragon, apparently named Valvagia, rose completely out of the pit, and began flying around the room. It roared yet again, and spewed out flames.
"He's the one causing the lava, if he keeps up he could destroy the whole island!" Tiny said, fearfully.
(Not with me around) I thought, as I flapped my wings a couple of times. Valvagia roared at us again, and flew up at the roof of the cave, ramming his tail into it. The impact caused several large boulders to begin falling down from the roof. Leaving Tiny to fend for herself, I took off into the air after Valvagia. I flew to the side, to dodge an oncoming boulder and landed on top of Valvagia, ready to give it a fatal stab. The second I landed on him however, I was forced to jump back off. His body was incredibly hot. (I suppose that should have been a given...He did just come out of a pit of lava.) I thought, as I pondered another way to damage Valvagia. I flew back after Valvagia, who'd flown away from me while I was giving my feet a few seconds to cool. I glanced back down at Tiny, who was still dodging the boulders falling from the roof of the cave. Focusing back on the dragon, I flew close to it's side, and sent a slash into the beast. It went in, and I hurt it, but Valvagia barely flinched from the pain, and whipped it's tail at me. I didn't have enough time to get away, and I flew back and hit the ground.
By now, the boulders had stopped raining down on me, but I still needed to come up with a new strategy.
"Meta Knight!, distract it, and bring towards me!" I heard Tiny shout at me, raising her cross bow.
(Stupid monkey, if my sword barely made a scratch what makes you think that damn cross bow can do any better?) I thought. I got back up off of the ground, and flew back into the air after Valvagia again. He looked at me and snapped forward with his mouth, in an attempt to bite me, but I flew to the side and sent another slash into it. It had the same effect as before, but as Valvagia went to whip me again, it roared again. But this time it wasn't an intimidating roar but one of pain. I looked back at Valvagia to find it tumbling out of the air and into the ground, a red feather stabbed into it's left eye-ball. I looked over at Tiny, who had a smile on her face, proud that she had just taken down a dragon. But Valvagia wasn't dead yet, he was still thrashing around. I bee-lined for the ground, and sent a forceful stab into Valvagia's left eye. He howled in pain, and in fear of being attacked again, quickly slithered his way back into one of the lava pits. The ground rumbled beneath me and Tiny, as Volvagia moved around beneath us. I kept a defensive stance, waiting to see what the dragon would do.
Eventually, Volvagia came out of another one of the lava pits, flying straight up quickly and again ramming the roof of the cave. The rain of boulders from before came back, but the ceiling was being weakened. If Volvagia kept on ramming it like this, it would come down on all three of us. I glanced back at Tiny, who again raised her bow, and flew up after Valvagia again. I swerved around some boulders, and stopped right in front of Valvagia taunting him. He snapped his mouth towards me again, and I floated downwards quickly, effectively dodging it, as a red feather flew towards the dragon. However Valvagia quickly turned his head, and the arrow bounced off of his scales. No good, he'd figured out the attack strategy, it wouldn't work a second time. I flew a few feet away from Valvagia, desperately trying to come up with a new plan of attack. If I could just get his other eye...He'd be blind... But I would need him to be on the ground. I couldn't touch him, and any sword attacks were useless anyway, plus he'd gotten wise on the feather attack. Things seemed grim... I needed a way, to hurt Valvagia quite a bit while not directly touching him. I could whack him on the head...but with what? I'd need something big. Then it hit me, literally unfortunly. While I was thinking a boulder from the roof, collapsed on top of me. It broke upon crashing to the floor, but not before giving me a severe bruise. But I didn't care, I'd just figured out how to take this bitch down once and for all.
"Tiny!, shoot some more feathers at him! I have an idea." I said to Tiny.
She nodded and began shooting rapidly at Valvagia, who evaded them all. But I merely needed his attention on something besides me. Immidietly I flew up into a corner of the room, and waited. I would likely only get one shot at this, if I missed Valvagia would have the attack plan, and would make sure not to put himself in it's path again. Valvagia had swooped down at Tiny, and was quickly over-whelming her. I had to do this quicker. I waited, and sure enough another boulder fell from the roof, in the middle of Valvagia and I. Quickly I charged forward, flying as fast as I possibly could and I rammed the boulder with all my strength. I watched the boulder fly...And smack Valvagia clear on the head, knocking it out. Tiny looked up at me, as I swooped down, sending a stab into the dragon's right eye. Both of it's eyes were now gouged out, and bleeding badly. Slowly but surely, Valvagia's breathing slowed down...And finally stopped. We were victorious.
Tiny shrieked in delight that the fight was over, but was quickly frightened again by a voice that said "Well done Meta Knight, you did quite well."
I recognized the voice instantly. It was that old man Bestivous's voice.
"Yeah, yeah now hurry up and get me out of here I'm sick of this damn place." I said back to him.
"Very well, but first do you see that purple crystal on Valvagia's forehead? Grab that first before I teleport you." Bestivous said.
I glanced back at Valvagia, and saw the gem he was referring too. Quickly I jabbed my sword at it, and pried it off of Valvagia's head.
"Alright, I got it. Send me back" I said to Bestivous.
"But first...send her back outside" I said, glancing back at Tiny.
"Wait wha-" Tiny replied, but in the blink of an eye she was gone. And a portal opened up in the center of the room.
'Hmph. This is the last time I ever baby-sit a family of annoying monkeys." I said to noone in particular as I stepped into the portal.
A white light again surrounded me in all directions. And like before I could feel myself getting light-headed...and losing consciousness.
7:30 P.M. 6/11
My eyes slowly opened back up again. I was laying on my face, on a hard floor. I groaned, and sat up as I heard some thunder clap in the distance. I looked around, and sure enough I was back in the attic of the mansion. Some lightening flashed outside of the window, and I could hear the patter of rain as it hit the roof. The stairs going back down to the actual mansion were closed up, and Bestivous was near the window looking outside. He seemed uneasy.
"Well? I did my part of the bargain, it's time for you to hold up yours." I said to Bestivous, who turned around to look at me.
"Hmm? Oh yes, the power you asked for. Don't worry I intend to give it to you. Here give me your sword and the crystal you got from that dragon." Bestivous replied.
"How long was I gone anyway?" I asked Bestivous, as I handed him what he asked for.
"Oh, about 3 hours. Give or take a few minutes." Bestivous said back to me.
He took, the crystal in one hand, and moved his other hand near the hilt of my sword. There was a flash of light, and I had to look away, but when I looked back there was an indention in the hilt of my sword. The crystal in his other hand rose up slightly into the air, above his hand and it too was covered in a blinding light. I turned away to protect my eyes, but when I turned back, the crystal didn't look any different. Bestivous nodded his head and handed the gem, and my sword back to me.
"There you go. Now put the crystal into the hilt of your sword." Bestivous said to me.
I did as he said, and sure enough the crystal fit perfectly into the indention. Yet...My sword didn't feel any different.
"What is this a rip-off? Nothing's changed!" I said in an angry tone of voice.
"Oh no. Much has changed actually, you just don't know how to activate it yet. Here, let me help you out, since you mortals can barely accomplish anything these days." Bestivous said.
He raised his hand, and my sword flew out of my hand, and stabbed into the wall across the room.
"Call to your blade Meta Knight. Concentrate with your mind, and call to it and it will come." Bestivous said to me.
(Concentrate and call to it with my mind?) I thought. I closed my eyes and concentrated. (Ok sword...Umm...Come to me now!) I thought. I opened my eyes and the sword was still across the room.
"No, you have to be more forceful then that Meta Knight." Bestivous said.
I grumbled and closed my eyes again. (DAMN IT SWORD GET BACK HERE NOW!!!!) I thought. Instantly I felt a weight, fall into my hands. I opened my eyes, and there my sword lay. It had appeared right in my hand.
"Good, good, now for the actual power. You see, with the power of that crystal your sword can now become a total of 3 other weapons, all with different powers. For instance, concentrate with your mind again and command your sword to become a trident." Bestivous said to me.
I decided to try without closing my eyes this time, and merely stayed at my sword while concentrating. (OKAY SWORD! TURN INTO A TRIDENT!) I commanded in my thoughts. A purple light came out of the crystal, in the hilt of my sword, and covered the entire sword it's self. When the light faded, I wasn't holding a sword, but a three-pronged yellow trident. I decided to test it, and attack forward at nothing in particular a few times. This trident was far lighter then my sword. As such, I could attack much faster and I had a better attack range. yet it didn't seem to have the killing power that my sword did.
"Also, that trident there has the elemental power of lightening entwined with it. As such, it can absorb lightening and thunder, and even shoot it out. Here try it out, just merely thrust the trident forward." Bestivous said.
I nodded and turned to a wall, thrusting the trident forward, but not hard as Bestivous had said. Instantly, a bolt of lightening shot out from the prongs of the trident, and crashed into a wall, leaving a big black mark. The lightening had quite a punch to it it seemed. I could already tell it would be useful.
"Good, now then for the next weapon. Concentrate and command your trident to be a ball and chain." Bestivous said.
I again nodded and did the exact same thing I had done to turn the sword into a trident, only this time I commanded it into a ball and chain. Again, the purple light came over the trident, and when it faded I was now holding a long chain. At the end of the chain on the ground was a black ball with several white spikes all over it. Eager to try out my latest weapon, I flung it around a few times. It was rather slow, since it took a certain amount of time for the ball to actually move, but it did have a bit of force in it. It seemed like a more defensive weapon then anything, but it still seemed useful.
"Now then, one left. Concentrate again and command the ball and chain to turn into an axe." Bestivous said to me.
I repeated the same weapon change process I had done twice before and again a purple light came over the ball and chain. When it faded, I was holding the handle of a deadly looking axe. Once more I tested the weapon out. It was fiercely powerful. I felt like I could chop a brick wall in half. But it's attack range was quite small, I would only be able to use it for close-encounter situations. I could swing it at about the same speed as my sword though.
"There you go, and don't forget, you can change any of the weapons to a different one anytime. There's no order you have to go through or anything...Well? Happy?" Bestivous said to me.
I changed the axe, back into my good old trusty sword and nodded my head saying "Indeed. It will take some practice, but I will be unstoppable with these! Let me know if you need anything else done old man. I'll be happy to oblige, with rewards like this." I said back to Bestivous smirking.
(That damn mage doesn't stand a chance against me now!) I thought, as I turned to leave.
"Wait!, Now I think it's time I told you the bad news..." Bestivous said uneasily.
"Bad news?" I said, turning back to Bestivous.
"Yes...It isn't about your new powers no rather...Well... Maybe you should just see for yourself. Look outside the window." Bestivous said.
I walked over to the window and stared outside. Some more lightening flashed, and I could see a good view of the yard of the mansion. Nothing seemed out of order.
"So what?...It's storming" I said to Bestivous.
Bestivous walked over next to me, and opened the window. He put his hands out into the rain and cupped them together. A few minutes later he pulled them back. I stared at his hands in disbelief. The rain...Wasn't rain. It was red... A dark red.
"Wha-...What?" I said to Bestivous confused.
The liquid had a very familiar scent...A scent I knew all too well, but it just couldn't be possible!
Bestivous looked me square in the eyes and said "It's...It's raining human blood..."
7:45 P.M. 6/11
---
PLOT TWIST!
For those who are curious. Meta Knight was sent into Donkey Kong 64, although after the events of the game it's self. Volvagia, was a boss from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (he was the "Goron Eater" that you fought at the end of the fire temple.) If I got some of the stuff wrong, then I apologise. I splunked the internet for hours looking for DK64 stuff, and the best I could find of the Crystal Caves level, only showed about 2 of it.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it! don't forget to R&R.