Chapter 19: Overpowered

: "Kirby has gotten past the switch rooms!"

Captain: "No fair! He cheated!"

Kirby had entered the middle of a long hallway. The wall opposite him had six doors in it.

Kirby asked Gooey which one to take.

"Take one of the ones at either end," answered Gooey. "Best to search the outside of the ship before moving too far inward. Besides, while you're outside, I can send you Maxim Tomatoes."

"Alright," acknowledged Kirby. He then took the rightmost door.

: "Kirby is heading toward the left wing."

Meta Knight: "Enough of this nonsense. Meta Elite, head him off."

: "Sir!"

: "Sir!"

: "Right away, Sir!"

: "Yessir!"

: "By your command."

: "We'll get 'im, Sir."

Meta Knight: "Soldiers in L1 quarters, Kirby is in your area."

Kirby was now in another hallway. There were a number of doors on his right. An enemy Kirby had not encountered before was patrolling the corridor. [description of a Mace Knight]

Kirby ran towards the mace wielder. It swung its mace, but Kirby blew freezing air at it, freezing the enemy solid.

The doors on the right banged open, and out rushed tons of enemies. There were six types of enemies: green swordsmen, darker swordsmen, ax wielders, trident wielders, hovering drones, and mace wielders.

Reacting quickly, Kirby ran to one of the doors and blew at all the enemies coming out of it, freezing a whole squadron at once.

He then slid the frozen statues at other enemies. Each one hit burst into stars.

As soon as he had used up the frozen soldiers, Kirby began blowing at the other enemies, but a thrown trident jabbed into his back, causing him to lose Ice ability.

Kirby grabbed the trident and put it in his mouth. He then shot it at the nearest enemy. After that, he began to inhale.

Many of the crowding enemies were sucked into his mouth. Kirby spun around and shot the large star, blasting more enemies.

Suddenly, swords, spears, axes, tridents and maces smashed into Kirby. All his opponents had attacked at once!

Kirby threw them off him and inhaled again, catching a multitude of enemies close to him in the vortex.

Kirby ran a ways down the hall with what must have been a giant star in his mouth.

As soon as his opponents began to follow, he spun around and let loose a star shot, which expanded in size to fill the whole corridor and plowed through the oncoming crowd.

Few soldiers were left after this powerful attack.

Kirby ran towards them again.

A mace wielder swung its mace, but Kirby inhaled both enemy and weapon and swallowed, copying Stone ability for some reason!

Kirby jumped over a darker swordsman. As the swordsman swung its sword, Kirby transformed into a heavy stone, breaking the sword and reducing the swordsman to stars.

He then transformed back and repeated with process with a trident wielder.

But, a sword collided with his stone form. Then an ax did as well. So did a spear.

Kirby didn't want to turn back into his relatively vulnerable normal form, but he was a sitting duck just like this.

Kirby transformed back and immediately inhaled. But, the instant the green swordsman was in his mouth, the ax came down again, cutting him.

He spat out the star on reflex, missing all enemies, but then spun around and inhaled the ax wielder. He swallowed, copying Cutter ability!

Kirby dodged a spear and threw his boomerang at the flying drone, cutting through it with the usual starry results.

All that was left was one more mace wielder and another flying drone.

Kirby ran at the mace wielder, which swung its mace as Kirby threw his boomerang.

The boomerang sliced into the enemy, which let go of its mace, causing it to fly at Kirby and smash into his face.

Kirby lost his ability, but then quickly inhaled the mace and shot down the final hovering drone with it.

: "No! All those soldiers..."

: "That giant star attack! That just wasn't fair!"

: "It's hard for a whole platoon to focus on one single opponent. This is so sad."

: "Don't worry! We got the Meta Elite on their way! Surely they'll be able to handle this guy."

Kirby exited the hallway, entering a gigantic docking bay of some sort, though there was nothing docked in it.

A door opened far above him on the opposite wall. There was nothing connected to this door; it looked as though walkways from aircraft usually docked here could connect under it.

Six things dropped from the door to the floor across from Kirby.

"Kirby! Got ya!" said one of them, but Kirby couldn't tell which, as they were all in full armor.

"Now you get a taste of our power," hissed another.

"You won't survive this fight!" jeered a third.

"All our opponents are terminated," droned a fourth.

"We are the best of the Meta Clan," said a fifth.

"We are the Meta Elite!" finished the sixth.

Those of the sextuplet then introduced themselves.

"Meta Sword!" [description]

"Meta Blade!" [description]

"Meta Axe!" [description]

"Meta Chain!" [description]

"Meta Drone!" [description]

"Meta Lance!" [description]

There were a couple seconds where Kirby simply stared at the posed figures before him.

Then, all six of them shouted, "Fight!" And they raced at Kirby.

Kirby dodged a quick sword slice from Meta Blade. He then evaded a flaming spear that had been shot at him by Meta Drone. Meta Chain tried to smash him with his mace, but Kirby leapt aside, just barely managing to get out of the way in time.

But then Kirby felt three sharp prongs pierce his backside. Meta Lance had skewered him on the end of his trident. Kirby was lifted off the floor and then repeatedly smashed against it, unable to move.

And then Meta Sword leapt towards him, slicing with his sword.

Kirby inhaled. Meta Sword somehow resisted being sucked into Kirby's mouth, but as he struggled to maintain his unmoving stance, his sword was sucked away from him.

As Meta Sword exclaimed, "My sword!" Kirby swallowed, copying Sword ability.

Kirby quickly made a slice behind himself, cutting through Meta Lance's weapon and dislodging its head from his back. He then spun around, holding his sword out so as to hit Meta Lance with it. But, Meta Lance jumped away before the blade could penetrate him. Kirby then saw electricity spark from Meta Lance's left hand and another trident materialize there.

Kirby yelled in surprise as Meta Axe's ax passed all the way through his body. Stars flew in every direction and Kirby lost his ability as quickly as he had gained it.

Kirby turned around and was about to inhale when a spear shot by Meta Drone hit him in the side. Kirby was knocked onto his side, and then he shrieked as his whole body lit on fire.

Kirby rolled onto his feet. But, unable to see through the flames and stars blazing around him, Kirby stumbled. ...And, Meta Chain's huge mace crushed him beneath its spiked mass.

As soon as the mace was off him, Kirby started running. The flames around him had been put out when he had been flattened. Meta Lance threw a trident at him, but he dodged. Realizing that he should have inhaled, Kirby spun around and inhaled at random.

One of Meta Drone's flaming spears, which had been about to hit Kirby, entered Kirby's mouth. Kirby swallowed, copying Fire ability.

Kirby breathed fire at Meta Blade, who had been about to attack. Blade Knight stopped in mid-stride and spun his blade like an electric fan in his hand, preventing Kirby's fiery breath from reaching him.

Kirby breathed fire at the other members of the Meta Elite as well, repeatedly preventing them from attacking. Then, Meta Blade and Meta Chain attacked simultaneously, on opposite sides of Kirby, who jumped out of the way just in time.

Kirby jumped again, and again, into a corner. Now they couldn't attack him from opposite sides, but how could he possibly win this fight?

Flames spewed from his mouth again and again, but his opponents would not come near. Meta Drone shot a flaming spear at him, but he inhaled it and shot the star at Meta Blade, who destroyed it with a swipe from his sword.

Suddenly, Meta Lance pointed his trident at Kirby and its hilt extended. Before Kirby could react, he had been speared by the trident, with its middle prong between his eyes.

Kirby lost his ability.

Meta Blade jumped towards Kirby and planted his sword in the top of Kirby's head. Meta Lance held Kirby up high. Kirby was then hit with another of Meta Drone's flaming spears, which set him ablaze again. Meta Axe threw his ax at Kirby; it hit him in the side and stuck there. Kirby was then struck on his other side by Meta Chain's mace.

Kirby hit the ground. The blow from the mace had dislodged all the weapons from his body, and he was somehow not on fire anymore.

The members of the Meta Elite picked up their weapons. This fight was so unfair...

Meta Blade held his sword to his side, and Kirby saw it start to glow. He readied himself.

Meta Blade spun towards Kirby in a moving, spinning, slicing attack. Kirby inhaled, but Meta Blade swerved around him and sliced into him from behind.

Kirby was cut repeatedly as Meta Blade spun continuously. And, after four hits, Kirby felt the next one tear his skin very painfully. The one after that hurt just as much. Kirby had run out of 'defensive star power'.

Then Meta Blade stopped and Kirby heard him collapse on the floor. Apparently he couldn't keep up the spinning for long. But, Kirby, even though he was in pain, was not about to turn his back on the rest of the Meta Elite.

This turned out to have been a wise decision, for immediately after Meta Blade stopped, Meta Axe threw his ax at Kirby.

Kirby inhaled just in time and swallowed to copy Cutter ability. He then threw his Cutter blade in an arc so that all four of the Meta Elite members in front of him had to jump out of the way.

Wasting no time, Kirby ran to the side, away from the Meta Elite and towards the door underneath the one they had entered through.

As Kirby caught the blade he had thrown, Meta Sword (who was still swordless) leapt out of nowhere, blocking his progress. But, Kirby made a swipe at him with his blade and managed to get past.

Kirby thrust the door open at the same time as a flaming spear struck the wall next to it, barely missing him. He ran through the door and was met by powerful winds. This area was another hanger, but it was longer and clearly for smaller aircraft. Like the larger hanger, though, it was empty. It was also partially exposed to the open air outside the Halberd.

There was a strange new enemy in this room. It looked somewhat similar to a Waddle Doo, but it had a green, robotic eye. [remaining description]

Suddenly, it rocketed at Kirby using what were evidently jets on its back. Without stopping to think, Kirby inhaled it. He then heard a similar rocketing sound behind him and turned around to see Meta Lance. Meta Lance apparently also had jets, because he was flying fast.

Kirby shot the star at Meta Lance. It hit him dead-on and blasted him backwards into his fellows, who were still in the doorway.

Kirby turned again and ran through the opposite door. The next area was a hallway. It had a door halfway through it on the left and a corner where it continued to the right. There was also a door at the corner.

He ran forward and struggled to speak, his voice pained by the cuts on his back, "Gooey, they're after me! Where have you been? Why didn't you tell me the Meta Elite was using up all my defensive power?"

"I can't speak while any members of the Meta Clan are nearby," explained Gooey, while his voice shook with anxiety. "I can't let them know you have a contact."

"Any way you can get a Maxim Tomato to me in here?" asked Kirby. "I've been hit bad..."

Before Gooey could reply, Kirby reached the corner, prompting a response from the Meta Clan.

: "Kirby has arrived at the left wing."

"Oh!" reacted Gooey. "That's just what I needed. You see, I don't actually know where you are on the Halberd without them updating me. Heh."

"So can you send me one?" urged Kirby, turning right at the corner to enter the left wing.

"Oof. Well, I'm not sure about that. It's a given that I'm not going to be able to penetrate the Halberd's main plating with a Warp Star, but if you get out onto the wing, it may be possible."

The wing was a long, bending hallway that was slanted so that Kirby had to run up an incline. Kirby remembered the bat-like quality of the Halberd's wings and reasoned that this must be the solid edge.

He was a ways into it before the Meta Elite rounded the corner behind him. Kirby kept running and eventually spotted a door to his left. He went through it.

Now Kirby was in a room where the metal was lighter-colored and the ceiling was low. The room was long and tapered to a corner of wall and floor in the direction he was facing. He ran in that direction and shouted, "Gooey! Try sending one now!"

"The accuracy of the Warp Star's flight isn't going to be very precise, Kirby," replied Gooey. "You're running and the Halberd is moving, so—"

"Send it! Please! I'm cornered!"

The Meta Elite entered the room as soon as Kirby had finished shouting. Kirby continued running, but when the ceiling got too low, he turned to face his opponents. Once again, this was a lucky move, as Meta Lance had just thrown a trident his way and he was able to dodge it.

Suddenly, there was a huge thumping-crashing noise, accompanying a Warp Star as it shot diagonally downward through the wing halfway between Kirby and the Meta Elite. Then, explosions erupted from the holes it made in the surface of the wing.

Kirby was blasted upward. He lost Cutter ability as the flames of the explosions burned him painfully. He flew into the air outside the wing.

...And then he landed on the Warp Star.

"Gotcha!" exclaimed Gooey.

Through the pain of his burns, Kirby saw the Maxim Tomato in front of him. He had no idea how it had survived the trip through the Halberd's wing, but he ate it quickly, and experienced wonderful relief.

"Thanks, Gooey," said Kirby once his cuts and burn had healed.

"I sure am glad to see you back at full heath, Kirby," replied Gooey. "It looks as though the Meta Elite are too powerful for you to defeat with your current abilities. Hopefully, if you find the fifth Star Rod shard—"

But then Kirby and the Warp Star were hit by the Halberd's cannons. Kirby was dislodged from the Warp Star, which spun back towards the wing and exploded.

Kirby fell towards the wing himself, but was met by a multitude of additional explosions.

: "Something has hit one of the rockets on the left wing!"

Fire was everywhere. Kirby was back inside the wing, so he ran towards the main part of the Halberd, dodging out of the way of more blasts. Flames licked him and shrapnel collided with him, adding bursts of stars to the maelstrom of debris.

Kirby soon spied a duct that had been revealed by one of the explosions. He leapt into it and continued running. Before long, he was safe from the flames.

Kirby stopped. He felt as though he needed a moment's reprieve from all the action. He waited for the inevitable response from the Meta Clan.

: "Serious damage to the left wing! Approximately 74%!"

Captain: [censored]

: "We're gonna lose balance!"

Meta Knight: "Lower the sail! Increase right wing power!"

: "Where's Kirby?"

: "He has moved into the duct."

: "What is he trying to do?"

: "Is he lost?"

: "He's not moving."

: "Well, there's only one reason why he would be in that duct. He must be trying to take down the other wing too."

: "Yeah, I see. That's the duct that connects the two wings, isn't it?"

Captain: "In that case, I have an idea. I think it's time we pitted Kirby against our secret weapon!"

: "But, Captain, we agreed we wouldn't use it except as a last resort! We're not supposed to reveal that we were the ones who stole it from King Dedede!"

Captain: "Kirby isn't affiliated with the king, so we don't have to worry about that! And besides, there's no way he can survive a battle with steel seafood! Ha! Hahahahahaha!"