Author's note: Hiya! How is u gys doinn (I spelled that wrong on purpose 3)?

Okay, chapter 13 is here. I feel sudden hatred for this story. Maybe because it's going on too long…I want it to end already! Still, we have about four or five more chapters to go. I hope you aren't tired of it. That would just make my job harder _ !

Anyway, I want to thank all you reviewers that have ever reviewed! Thanks! So, please R&R!^^

13

The Underground Temple

We sat in a circle in the throne room again to eat breakfast. It was incredibly silent since there wasn't really anything to say. It wasn't because we were nervous or anything, it was more like anything important was talked about too much already. I wanted to break the silence somehow but I just couldn't find a way.

"So, what exactly are we eating anyhow?"

Everyone glared at Marx for even making a sound. I was probably the only one not glaring; I was simply looking at him to be polite. I thought about what he said and studied the plate in front of me. It looked like a brown rock covered with moss and some weird blue goop.

"Ribbon made it, so it must be good!" Kirby took a bite and smiled, "See, it's good! Yum!"

Marx gave him a blank stare. "Okay. One, you can eat anything you idiot and two, that didn't answer my question."

"Um, um! It's bread with icing on it!" Ribbon giggled as Marx's mouth just about dropped to the floor.

"What kind of messed up combination is that? And for the bread, it's GREY!" He stuck out his tongue and shoved the plate toward Kirby.

I examined mine. "What's this fuzzy green stuff, then?"

Ribbon placed a finger on her chin. "That…that was on there when I opened the bread bag!" there was a loud sshft sound as slid all of our plates slid at Kirby.

"Hey!" he yelled, "I'm not a living dumpster! Why can't you throw it out if you don't like it?"

"Aw, Kirby," Marx whined, "C'mon, eat Ribbon's mouldy bread or else you might hurt her feelings, right Ribbon?"

She blushed. "I don't want Kirby to be hurt! Why am I blushing?"

"Our author is making you do it…" Bun said suddenly, "Hey, have you seen Fumu?"

"What author? That was crazy! Like him!" Nikki pointed at Marx as she yelled this to the whole room.

He cackled and turned to Bun. "I'm sure she disappeared and now she'll never bother you again…EVER!" I swear that after he spoke the word 'EVER' I could here evil music and thunder in the background.

"Yeah! No more nagging!" Bun did a fist pump then stopped, "Wait, that isn't good."

"Speaking of which, Meta Knight isn't here either…" I thought out loud.

"Hm, good observations Dee!" Marx grinned at me lovingly, "I'm sure they've been possessed and are wondering around looking for people to torture and kill."

Simirror gave him a fierce look. "How can you say it so calmly, you sadistic clown!"

"Oh noooo! MY POOR METY!" I'm sure you can guess that was Nikki, "I must…save him!" She struck a dramatic pose with fake tears in her eyes.

Everyone began to rush around in a panic. Marx sat down, placidly sipping his coffee. "Now, now people. I'm sure there's nothing to worry about. You have the power crystal, right Ribbon?"

Ribbon looked at him, eyes as big as saucers. "Ah, yes! Certainly, behind the throne! Let me get it!" she flitted to the throne and pulled out a bag. She opened it to reveal a small crystal. She muttered something under her breath and let go of the crystal. As it hit the floor it grew to its maximum size.

"Oh, gimme!" Nikki grabbed the giant item and gasped, "It's heavy but…I must save Meta Knight with it! I must!" She dragged it away with her to the hallway, "META KN—"

"ARE YOU INSANE?" Marx flew out of seemingly nowhere and knocked Nikki onto the floor. I hadn't noticed his transformation. It surprised me.

The crystal bounced on the ground a few times before rolling over to Ribbon's feet. She smiled. "Oh good! It didn't break!"

I turned my attention to Marx, who was collapsed on top of Nikki. She tried to shove him off herself. "Ew, you're all ugly! Get off and—what happened to your hat? Are you really Marx? Or are you an impostor? You're in another form, aren't you?"

Marx looked up at her. "Um, what the hell, yes, no, and yes." He fell down again and closed his eyes, "Ooh, I don't feel good."

"What? Are you alright?" I dashed over to Marx and fell at his side. I shook him a few times, "Hey, wake up…"

"His hat's messed up," Nikki kept pointing at Marx's hat, "see, the colours are lighter and the sides are reversed!"

Sure enough, after staring intently at his jester hat, I noticed that the colours were indeed lighter and reversed. "Fuchsia and baby blue but only in his soul form…wow, you actually saw that! You're amazing Nikki! So smart even though you aren't! Oh, I think that almost rhymed!"

"HEY! Why the hell is my hat the topic of a conversation and what did that even mean? How can you be dumb and smart at the same time?" Marx glared at the two of us while starting to float in the air.

"They can be if…they're dart!" Nikki laughed maliciously. She seemed to have fun teasing him.

"Dart is already a word," I pointed out, "How about smumb?"

"Actually, if you wanted, a word can have two or more meanings. Such as May and may. Or too, to and two." Marx blurted out for no apparent reason, suddenly not angry, "Sometimes the words can be completely different types like, what you were saying, dart is a noun. If you were creating another meaning for it then, in your case, it could be an adjective."

Nikki glared at him. "You aren't supposed to be taking part in this conversation! You're supposed to be annoyed!"

"Well that's just too bad isn't it?" he transformed back and shook his head, "Ow, I have a headache…"

"Maybe you're getting a cold. NO! A cold!" I ran over to him and gave him a gigantic bear hug.

"Sorry to interrupt and all, but we should be more focused on finding Meta and Fumu and freeing them!" Simirror yelled from across the room.

As if in response to her, Meta Knight jumped down from somewhere and smacked Simirror out of the way with his sword. That is, he only resembled his former self. His cape and body was grey when it should've been navy blue and his eyes were a blood red colour.

"Hey, he looks kinda like Dark Meta Knight!" Kirby pointed out loudly, "minus the red eyes."

There was a long silence. Then everyone started to panic again. Everyone except Marx and Ribbon (and me too, I guess). He looked at the crystal and then looked at Ribbon. She nodded and took it over to Meta Knight. "Okay, stand still Meta. I'm just going to—" a light suddenly flashed and a dark cloud hovered over Meta Knight's body.

"Okay, now what?" I asked. The Dark Matter just kept floating there, not doing anything. No one else did anything either, "Aren't we going to fight it?"

"No, we're going to sit here and stare it to death," Marx replied in a sarcastic voice, "Of course we'll fight it!"

"Hey, no need to be angry…" I looked at the creature again, "It isn't moving, so shouldn't we just kill it now?"

There was no answer from anyone after I said this. That was when I remembered something someone told me a long time ago. Dark Matter could read minds. If this was right, then everyone was trying hard not to think. I struggled to do the same until Nikki broke the awkward silence.

"NO! Gimme my Meta!" She grabbed a small brown thing tucked into her collar. It grew somewhat and became a sword. She slashed the Dark Matter straight through the middle. It made that disgusting gurgling sound as it disappeared.

I ran over to her side. "Nikki! Are you okay?" She looked at me and smiled while waving the sword in front of my face.

"Oh yeah! Sissy Nikki is always okay!" She pointed her sword at Meta Knight now, "I saved you, so you owe me!"

He got up and wrapped his cape (now navy blue as it used to be) around himself. "We need to find Fumu. I believe that she has escaped the Dark Matter that was after her." He walked past Nikki, totally ignoring her.

Her mouth moved up and down a few times but nothing came out. "H-he ignored me! He hates me!" She began to cry so I gave her a hug.

"I'm sure he doesn't hate you." I tried to comfort her. I felt something bite my arm. It was Marx's teeth piercing into my skin, "Hey, let go. That hurts!"

"Does it?" He let go and spit on the ground, "Good, we have more important things to do besides talking to that!"

Nikki scowled at him. "You're a meanie. You shouldn't spit inside either!"

"Meanie. Is that it?" He sighed, "We need to look for Fumu, like Meta Knight said."

I nodded. "I somehow feel that she'll come running in screaming her head off, though."

Of course at that moment Fumu stumbled in, shrieking. It seemed that she wasn't possessed. She tackled her brother and they both fell to the floor.

"It almost got me, but I was lucky enough to escape and kill it!" Fumu got off of Bun and took a deep breath, "We need to get out of her soon, before another person is attacked!"

"Um, no. Nikki, Bun and Dedede are staying here, remember?" Marx stated this gently. He was exposing himself, which wasn't a good thing.

"I don't care! We need to evacuate the castle! No one will care about your stupid plan if one of the people here dies!" She yelled in sudden anger. Marx looked ready to faint, which I couldn't understand.

"Th-then you don't," he began to choke, then an evil look flickered in his eyes, "I really hate you. It doesn't matter what you think because you are nobody and you could never come up with a plan anyway! Well, can you? CAN YOU? Tell me if you have because I'm sure you're friends would love to have your plan and not mine."

I walked over and wrapped my arms around Marx just in case he attempted violence. "You should calm down now. She didn't mean to hurt you. She was just scared like everyone else."

He glanced up at her. "Is that true?"

"Um, yes." I think Fumu understood the situation. This really wasn't the time to pick a fight with Marx. Well, no time was good, but especially not now. It would never end.

"Oh, I understand!" He smiled sweetly as he turned to everyone else, "Okay. I guess we should get going. Onward to Drawcia's lair! Wooh!" No one cheered, so he went on, "Let's just go."

So we left the castle, Nikki, Bun and Dedede behind us. Apparently Dedede was in the bathroom throughout our important discussion, which was just plain annoying. He came out before we left not knowing anything. Yet, he still waved. It was a kind gesture that made me feel warm and fuzzy.

Okay, never mind that. The journey was long and hard, taking its toll on us. We walked for what seemed like days without a break. Well, it was only about an hour but what would a story be without hyperbole? So we finally reached our destination. Along the way Marx made us stop at some place in the forest and drop off Fumu and Simirror. He said that it was a special place which needed guarding. I wasn't so sure about that.

"Okay, we're here," Marx murmured in front of a giant fissure. It looked black and never ending.

"Where? Does Drawcia live in a hole in the ground?" Ribbon asked, gripping the miniature version of the power crystal to her chest.

He grinned. "Hell yeah! Isn't it cool? I wish I could live underground, never having to face the world again…okay, let's go!"

"Um, that was a weird thing to—oh! A starfish!" Kirby ran over to the little sea creature and picked it up, "It's dead. Hey look! A slot in a rock shaped like this starfish!"

"What are you standing there for? Put it in!" Marx was shaking with excitement. I'd never seen him so happy. It made me feel good too.

Kirby nodded and inserted the starfish. Nothing happened for a while then the ground began to shake. The fissure widened and a structure grew from it. As soon as the dust cleared I studied the building. It was grey with paint running out of some of the sides. For some reason this paint didn't seem to affect the building's colour. The size of it was…plain gigantic. It must've been at least two thousand feet tall.

"There, now we just have to reach the top!" Marx giggled, "C'mon people!"

We all groaned and started our long climb. I could already feel the pain in my body.

Author's note: The starfish is…kind of random. Think of it as a tribute to Fuko Ibuki of Clannad. I've been watching it a lot lately so it got stuck in my head.

Hm, nothing really went Marx's way this chapter. Yet he still remained happy. That's so cute XD!

I would also like to say that I'm sorry my updating is getting slow. I'm sorry :S

Now please review! Nova is begging you! (83)-O