Chapter 16: Meta
"Alright, Kirby," said Gooey, "can you see Orange Ocean Harbor in the distance to the north?"
"Uh-huh."
"Fly in that direction."
Kirby did so.
But, when he was nearing the harbor, he stopped. He could see something there that gave him pause. Docked in a gigantic, circular harbor next to the main one was a massive, intimidating aircraft. It had a long metal body with towers built upward out of it.
It also had guns on every surface, more turrets and defenses than Kirby had thought even existed.
"There's... something there," he said nervously. "What is that?"
"It's called the Halberd. Sah-koo-rye warned me about this. It is a flying warship built by the Meta Clan, a group of warriors whose goal is to take over Pop Star. Their leader, Meta Knight, is possibly the most feared being in the Starred System."
"And, he has the shard?" asked Kirby, dreading the answer.
"Actually, I don't know."
"Huh?" This wasn't the answer Kirby had expected.
"My sensors definitely point to the shard being aboard the Halberd, but I'm perplexed as to how it could have gotten there. The Meta Clan does not work for King Dedede, so they could only have acquired the shard by theft. But, why would they want it?
"Well, enough of my musings," continued Gooey, interrupting himself. "Kirby, your mission is to board the Halberd and recover the fifth Star Rod shard. Then, you must destroy the Halberd itself. We cannot allow it to remain a threat to peace in Dream Land. You are ideally placed for this mission. Find the shard and take down the Halberd."
"But, it's so big," said Kirby, aghast. The ship was indeed gigantic, considerably bigger even than Castle Dedede. "How am I going to destroy it?"
"You'll figure it out, I suppose."
"I'll figure... You suppose?"
"Oh, and one more thing... Heh, I didn't expect I would be able to do this, but I should not have underestimated the technology at my disposal. I have just successfully hacked into the Halberd's communications system. Hopefully we'll soon know what the Meta Clan is plotting and why their unveiling of the Halberd has coincided with Dark Matter's arrival on Pop Star. I will transmit to the phone all conversations my equipment picks up."
"But, how am I going to destroy-"
"We'll deal with that later, Kirby. For now, focus on getting that shard. Also, I'm picking something up already. Here it is."
Kirby heard new voices speaking from the phone.
"Reactor one output normal," said one.
"Adjust the balancer to zero-zero-zero-three!" said another.
"Let's raise the anchor," said yet another.
"Check antigravity plant." Kirby couldn't understand what any of the voices were saying.
A fifth: "One!"
A sixth: "Two!"
A seventh: "Three!"
The fourth: "Okay!"
An eighth: "Solar level 288!"
The third: "Excellent! Release the sails!"
And, as the Halberd's gigantic bat-like wings unfurled, a voice spoke that was different from the others. It was the lowest voice Kirby had ever heard, lower than he had thought it was possible for a voice to be. But it wasn't gruff in the slightest. It conveyed confidence, authority, and most of all power.
"The time has come," it said. "It's time to show our new power. Dream Land's lazy lifestyle will end! Its corrupted monarchy will fall! I... WILL... RULE."
Meta Knight... thought Kirby.
"They're taking off!" exclaimed Gooey. "Kirby! Quick! Board before they ready their guns!"
Kirby leaned forward and sped toward the Halberd. As he got closer, more voices came from the phone.
"K-Kirby's here! He's flying this way!"
"Oh, my gosh! What are we gonna do?"
"He'll get in the way. Get rid of him!"
"Prepare the guns!"
"It's no good! He's too close! They won't be ready in time!"
"Oh no! Oh no! What do we do?"
"He mustn't interfere with our plans!"
"Lord Meta Knight, what is your command?"
Meta Knight: "Soldiers near the deck, prepare for battle! All others prepare for takeoff!"
Kirby's Warp Star crashed into the top of the Halberd's hull, and Kirby flew off it. Then the Warp Star flew away.
"Okay, I'm on the Halberd."
"On it. Good. Now you need to get in it. Find a hatch or something."
Kirby quickly located a hatch and entered through it.
He dropped down onto a deck inside the ship. He was greeted by a dark metal corridor and sounds of machinery. The resident soldiers wasted no time in attacking.
Two floating, orange, translucent spheres with eyes shot lasers at him. He dodged the lasers and inhaled one of the orb-like enemies, copying the sparking beam ability he had used without success against Kracko.
"Beam ability!" declared Gooey.
Kirby used Beam ability to shoot a ray of sparks through the other spherical enemy, which disappeared in a burst of stars.
A short robot with a baseball cap and an arm and hand instead of a face swung a yo-yo at Kirby. It hit him in the side, the impact sending stars flying from his skin, and he lost his Beam ability.
He spun around to face the yo-yo wielder, and an enemy that looked like a knight's helmet with feet threw a blade at him like a boomerang. The blade sliced through his back, but left no physical damage as more stars flew in every direction from the cut. Even though Kirby no longer felt pain from attacks, he could not let them use up the shard's power.
He inhaled and swallowed the helmet enemy as soon as it caught the spinning blade, copying Cutter ability! The yo-yo wielder swung its yo-yo again, but Kirby cut through its string with his own blade. Then he threw the blade, which sliced through the enemy, making it burst into stars.
He threw his boomerang again, slicing through another floating ball enemy. Then he threw it again at a Poppy Brothers Junior that was coming at him with a bomb. This PBJ was wearing yellow, rather than blue like the ones in Butter Building. Though the PBJ was eliminated, more were approaching quickly, along with other soldiers. Kirby rushed forward to meet them.
He sliced through a few opponents with his blade before one of them could counterattack. As he threw his blade at a sword wielding enemy with light purple armor and glowing feelers, it cut the blade in two with its sword, and Kirby lost his ability. But then he inhaled the swordsman and swallowed.
Stars flashed in front of his eyes. A green-and-yellow hat much like the blue-and-white hat for Bomb ability appeared on his head, and a yellow sword with a blue hilt appeared in his hand.
"Sword ability!" declared Gooey.
Kirby quickly sliced through another PBJ with his new copy ability, parried an axe attack from another small soldier (which wore a skull mask and viking helmet) and drove his sword into it. Then he did the same thing to an enemy that was fighting with some sort of trident, knocking its weapon away and thrusting his sword into its armor's eyehole.
Sword ability took Kirby far into the Halberd. As he entered a door and found himself in an even darker area, more voices spoke.
"Kirby's in the rocket valve!"
"We need more forces in that area! Quickly, quickly!"
An elevator arrived on Kirby's floor and four enemy swordsmen stepped out of it. Two were of the kind he had fought briefly earlier, while the other two's purple armor was darker, and yellow eyes glowed from within their helmets.
"Get 'im!" shouted one of them; it was impossible to tell which since none of their faces could be seen.
They rushed at Kirby.
He blocked one of the darker swordsmen's attacks and spun around, slicing through one of the lighter swordsmen, which disappeared with accompanying stars. He parried another attack from the other lighter swordsman and then jumped out of the way of an attack from the other darker swordsman. Kirby cut through that darker swordsman, but was immediately cut himself by the other. He lost his ability.
He dodged another slice from the remaining lighter swordsman and inhaled the remaining darker swordsman, then shot the star at the lighter swordsman, finishing off the quartet.
Kirby walked over to the elevator and pushed the button to call it. Apparently it had already moved to another floor, for he had to wait a few moments before it came. When it arrived, it was carrying a number of PBJs. The two in the front pulled out bombs, which he inhaled and swallowed, copying Bomb ability. He swiftly tossed a couple bombs into the elevator, destroying all the PBJs before they could escape.
He entered the elevator, and looked at the buttons inside to see that he was on the third floor. He could ascend to the fourth floor, or he could descend to the second or first. He decided on impulse to go down to the second.
He pressed the button. The doors shut. And immediately he felt three sharp objects stick into the top of his head.
He yelled in surprise and pulled from his (now hatless) head three miniature daggers, three "kunai". He looked upward to see a roundish, shrouded, ninja-like enemy clinging to the high ceiling of the elevator above him.
He inhaled, but the ninja held fast to the ceiling. It was somehow managing to maintain a grip strong enough to prevent being pulled into Kirby's mouth.
So instead he thrust the kunai into his mouth so that he could shoot a star at the ninja, but at that same moment the elevator stopped on the second floor and the doors opened.
On the other side of the doors were two strange looking enemies that resembled pineapples with eyes, helmets and little feet. Kirby spun to face them and immediately spat the star at one of them, defeating it. Then he jumped out of the elevator, dodging two attacks at once. One attack was the remaining pineapple enemy opening as though there was a hinge on its back and firing a bomb into the elevator, and the other was the ninja jumping down, attempting to slice Kirby with a knife.
The bomb hit the ninja, destroying it. Then Kirby inhaled the remaining pineapple enemy and swallowed it to copy Bomb ability again.
A door lay before Kirby. He entered it. What lay beyond was a massive hallway with cannons lining its walls. Black marks of explosions were everywhere.
For a split second, he considered making a run for the other end, but then he abruptly jumped back through the door and closed it. The sounds of a barrage of ammunition on the other side confirmed his decision as being the right one.
So he got back on the elevator and pressed the button for the first floor.
The doors opened onto another small enclosure. Kirby stepped out into it. At the opposite end of the room was a door, which was guarded by a floating, reddish-gray, somewhat dome shaped robot.
"Intruder," said the drone in a high, robotic voice, promptly shooting a javelin at Kirby.
He dodged easily and threw a bomb at the enemy. The bomb exploded right on target, blasting the drone into a wall, stars and sparks flying from it. Without giving it time to fire more javelins, Kirby threw another bomb, finishing it off.
He walked through the door... and fell seven feet into an area on the side of the Halberd. He looked up and saw a gigantic engine nozzle pointed in his direction.
"Kirby's behind the nozzle now!"
"Fix him!"
"Initiate takeoff! We'll blow Kirby away!"
"Okay! Main engine ignition!"
Gooey's voice joined the others. "Kirby! Get out of there!"
Kirby inflated and tried to fly back up to the door as quickly as possible, but...
"Now! Take off!"
Fiery air blasted Kirby. Stars burst from every part of his body (and of course he lost Bomb ability). He shot away from the Halberd like a bullet, flew hundreds of feet through the air and landed back in Orange Ocean.