Chapter 15

Meta-Knight's sword sliced clean through a brawn bot. Meta-Knight, Agumon, Geno, Ness and Marth were lost in the hedge maze. They had finally been tracked down by the Brawn Bots, The Shadow Hands and various other foes. Of course, they were no match for the heroes.

Agumon led the group, focusing on blasting holes in the hedges, since simply looking for the exit proved to be too much trouble. Ness and Geno where in middle of the group, blasting incoming foes with their projectile attacks. Marth and Meta-Knight took up the rear, slashing at any enemies who got too close.

"Meta-Knight! Can you fly above the hedges and check if we're near an exit yet?" Asked Ness. Meta-Knight nodded and flexed his wings before shooting upwards for an aerial view of the maze. He quickly scoped that area and saw the edge of the maze dead ahead.

He used the mach tornado and shot downward onto the incoming brawn bots. "Exit dead ahead! Keep going, Agumon!" Meta-knight called out as he continued running with the group.

After another minute or so, Agumon blasted his way through the final hedge. And on the other side was a small clearing, complete with a river and the entrance to a forest.

"No way! It's my home!" Exclaimed Agumon. "Hey, Meta-Knight! This is the forest we met in! " Meta-Knight found that hard to believe. The forest they met in was not only on the other side of the base they'd just left. But it was also on the other side of a gigantic chasm.

"I seriously doubt that, Agumon." Meta-Knight replied. "Your home forest was on the other side of that base, over a chasm."

"Actually, Meta-Knight" Began Marth. "That hedge maze is amazingly huge. Before we decided to cheat, we turned many times. This could be the very same forest he speaks of."

The heroes turned back to the hedge maze as their foes began climbing out of the hole Agumon made. BrawnBots and E-series Robots came through while Shadow Hands simply flew over the top of the hedge, ready to attack.

"Ugh! We don't have time for this!" Yelled Ness. "PK FLASH!" He shouted and a blinding green light flooded the area, causing all the heroes aside from Ness to cover their eyes. As the light began to clear, it could be seen that the enemies were blinded much worse than the heroes were.

"Now's our chance!" Shouted Geno and he ran off into the forest. The others were quick to follow. Geno seemed to have a habit of weaving through the trees of the forest as if he was trying to evade his own team, but they managed to keep up. They kept going until they eventually found a clearing...

XXXXX

Knuckles trudged through the forest carrying the wrecked shadow bug machine. Tails wasn't very far behind, with his laser arm aimed right at Keramon.

"Tails, How much further is the Tornado?" Grunted Knuckles. He was getting tired of carrying the massive machine. He was also having trouble manoeuvring through the trees.

"Not much further, No need to worry. It should be right ahead now!" Replied Tails. Keramon grumbled to himself too. He wasn't going to run away now. These two would easily catch him now, and if he did somehow manage to escape, that wizard guy that he worked for would kill him for failing his part of the plan so horribly.

Finally, they arrived at the clearing where the crashed Tornado was. Knuckles heaved the machine over to the Tornado and placed it down next to it. "Whew. Finally. Alright then, Tails. You get to work and I'll guard the prisoner." He said

Tails nodded and began dismantling the machine, looking for parts he could use to fix the engine and the wing. He seemed pretty happy with the results. "This shouldn't be too hard! The plane should be up and running in about half an hour!"

Keramon down on a small rock and knuckles pulled a rock from the ground for himself to sit on. "Just say if you need any help, Buddy." Knuckles said.

Tails didn't need help though. Knuckles kept guard on Keramon, who was twiddling his claws nervously and giggling to himself. As Tails said, it didn't take long for him to finish. Just under half an hour later, Tails wiped the sweat fro his forehead and stretched out. "Hey Knuckles! I'm finished! Well, mostly. There isn't a proper power source so we'll be going pretty slowly."

Knuckles stood and gestured for Keramon to come with him. "So are we going right away, or should we try and get a power source first?" Knuckles asked. Tails shook his head

"No. We should go now. 1, We need to find Sonic, Shadow and Eggman quickly. 2, Some big evil plan is going on right now in this world. 3, I think it'll be a safe bet to say that those three are more than likely involved in some way!"

Knuckles agreed and gave Keramon a small shove forward. "Ok, Creep. Where are we going?" Asked Knuckles.

Keramon gave a light nervous giggle. "W-well. There is this large ship flying around over the continent. According to my boss, that ship holds the key to the whole plan. So there, I guess?"

"Ok then. But if this turns out to be a trap, we're not gonna be happy!" Said Tails as he hopped into the drivers seat. Suddenly the group heard rustling from the trees behind them. Knuckles raised his fists in preparation and Keramon floated beside him. Then Geno burst out from the forest and froze in his tracks at the sight of the Echidna.

"Uh-oh..." Geno muttered before Marth, Ness, Agumon and Meta-Knight came out from behind him, colliding with him and collapsing in a heap.

The five newcomers rose to their feet quickly, prepared to fight if it came to that. Tails, who had just turned on the Tornado's ignition, had exited the plane with his laser arm ready. They all stood there in silence for about a minute and a half, waiting to see who would make the first move, when a voice finally broke the silence.

"Help! Is there anyone there? This is King Dedede, Requesting assistance!" Tails knew that name AND that voice. It was the same guy that contacted them back on Mobius that convinced Sonic to teleport into this world in the first place! The voice was crackly and grainy, as if it was coming out of an old radio transmitter. But there wasn't enough power in the Tornado to run it's radio... unless there was a chaos emerald around!

Meta-Knight's wings unfurled and he leapt into the plane, to try and reply, but the signal had already been lost. "Dedede..." He muttered. "He needs our help."

"Wait a sec" said Tails. "You know that guy? "

Ness ran ahead towards the tornado and the plane's engine began whirring louder. "Hey... wait a sec..." Began Tails. "Why is the Tornado reacting to you..?"

Ness reached into his backpack, and pulled out the Jewel power source he swiped from the hammurs base. "It's probably because of this."

Tails' eyes lit up. "You have a chaos emerald!" He swiped the emerald from Ness's hands and opened the engine up, slamming it inside. "Ok, Knuckles. Keep ahold of Keramon and get on board. We have to go help that king guy!" He shut the engine and climbed into the pilot's seat. Meta-knight blocked his view by standing on the front of the plane.

"So you want to help Dedede? Well then I'm going with you. We all are!" Meta-k night declared, much to Agumon's dismay. Tails wasn't to happy with this. For one, was it even possible for eight people to fit in or on the Tornado? But he mostly didn't know if he could trust them after what happened with Keramon.

"...Ok, but if you try anything, I'm gonna drop you with a barrel roll" He answered.

"Not a problem" Said Meta-knight as his cape once again unfurled into wings. "I'll fly along side you. I simply wanted you to give my friends a lift."

Marth sat in the passengers seat of the plane, while Tails piloted. Knuckles stood balancing on the left wing, keeping a tight grip on Keramon's arm. Ness stood on the right wing, using his psychic abilities to keep himself from falling or moving at all. Agumon sat on the tail of the plane, with his arms and legs wrapped around it, fearing the fall. When the plane took off, Geno had once again taken his Star form and flew alongside Meta-knight and the Tornado as they made their way to castle Dedede.

XXXXX

Castle Dedede was under siege. There were shadow hands swarming the place. The exits were literally sealed due to how many shadow hands were cramming themselves in. The waddle dee and waddle doo guards had all already been defeated or had ran away. The only three people left in the castle who were not shadow hands had taken refuge in the King's bedroom.

Nameplate: King Dedede

"Help! Is there anyone there? This is King Dedede, Requesting assistance!" The king yelled into a radio transmitter. He had it installed after the whole Tabuu incident, just to be safe incase there was ever another attack.

A man in green stood by the bed. He shivered in fear but kept a brave face on as best he could. "N-now what do we-a do, Dedede?"

Nameplate: Luigi

Luigi had been staying at castle Dedede since the Subspace fiasco. Mostly since Dedede needed someone to install the Radio transmitter. Over by the door, standing guard stood the final figure. A small round figure with nothing more than huge feet, short stubby arms and a cute head for a body. He glared at the door while pointing his spear at it, expecting the hands to break in at any moment.

Nameplate: Bandana Dee

"Your Highness. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this door isn't going to hold forever..." Said Bandana dee. Bandana Dee was King Dedede's royal advisor, as well as he oldest, closest friend.

"Ok... We need a plan. Dee, stick with guardin' the door while me an' Green check out the room for exits." commanded the king. Luigi and Bandana Dee accepted their roles and did so. Luigi began looking around the walls of the room for any possible cracks or weak spots. Dedede got down on all fours and lifted the covers of his bed to check underneath. Nothing but empty plates and dust. Luigi reached the room's window and carefully peered down without opening it. Directly below was the courtyard and it was completely swarmed. Shadow Hands flying all around, trying to force their way into any possible entrance to the castle. "How's it goin', Green? Find anythin'?"

Luigi shook his head. "Nope. No exits, no secrets... no hope..." He simply stood there, looking out of the window at the carnage below.

"Hey now! Don't go talkin' like that, Boy! What about Kirby? He was here before we got attacked right?" Dedede pointed out. He couldn't watch his friends lose hope now. Luigi pointed out the window, to a meadow on the other side of the courtyard.

"He went to go-a play over there before the attack. We've got no way to-a contact him" Luigi replied, without moving his gaze. He let out a sigh and he looked down to his feet in despair. Dedede looked over Luigi and out to the meadow and his mind sparked an idea. Nothing proper yet, it required a little more thought. But they were trapped in the room anyway. They had time to think.

CREAAACK!

"Sire! The door! It can't hold much more!" Shouted Bandana Dee. The door was quite clearly, buckling under the pressure of the attacks of the many Shadow Hands on the other side. Dedede no longer had time to think and had to force the idea out.

"C'mon, C'mon, C'mon!" chanted Dedede as he thought as hard as he could before it occurred to him! He raised his mallet and activated the jet within. It was was to small to carry them to safety, but there was one thing it sure as heck could do. "Happy trails, Green. Go find Kirbeh!" He released the attack and smashed his hammer into Luigi, breaking the window and sending Luigi hurtling all the way into the meadow Kirby was in, screaming all the way.

Dedede turned back to Bandana Dee who was stabbing through the cracks at the hands. "C'mon, Dee. It's your turn! We need to get you outta here!" Bandana Dee ignored the king, keeping to stabbing through the cracks. "Dee! You have to go! Now"

"...No can do, Sire. I'm not leaving you behind." He replied, sternly. The door's top hinge burst off and fingers began to force they way in through the top of the doorway. Bandana Dee stumbled backwards a little in fear.

"Well then... Ah'm sorry, Lil' Buddy." Dedede said softly before grabbing Dee by the top of the head, tossing him into the air and pelting him out of the window with his hammer like a baseball. "...Good luck guys..."

The door finally burst into pieces and the shadow hands entered, towering above Dedede by sheer numbers. "Sorry, fellahs! Mah plan ain't done yet! If ah'm goin' down, ah'm goin' down fightin'!" He climbed up onto the windowsill with his mallet in hand and activated the jets. It wouldn't be enough to support him in flight, and he couldn't just puff-up and fly all the way over the courtyard. He leapt from the window and swung his jet hammer downwards. He began to fall towards the Shadow Hand horde, hammer first, with a battle cry echoing loudly from his beak...

XXXXX

The wasn't a cloud in the sky, over the meadow. Unfortunately for the young star warrior wandering through, there wasn't much food either. The small, round, pink creature waddled along, humming a song to himself before stopping in his tracks when he saw an apple tree on top of a nearby hill.

Nameplate: Kirby

"Puyo!"He exclaimed as he began running up the hill with a large smile. He reached the tree and wound backwards as he prepared his signature move. Kirby's mouth opened wide and with the force of a Tornado, he began to suck up every apple on the tree. After gorging himself, the insatiable Kirby sat down at the base of the tree and just looked up at the sky. That was when he heard something odd.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHOW!" screamed Luigi as he face-planted into the grass directly in front of Kirby. Kirby watched inquisitively as Mario's younger brother pulled himself to his feet. "Kirby! Thank-a goodness I found you!" Exclaimed Luigi. Kirby didn't reply and looked upwards again. "Kirby? What is it?" Luigi looked upwards just in time to see Bandana Dee collide with him. Kirby giggled happily at the sight.

Bandana Dee hopped up right away and grabbed his spear, which was lodged into the dirt. Luigi pulled himself upwards again too. "Ok then. We have Kirby. Now we just have to go back and rescue the King."

Luigi's eyes widened. "Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. Are you-a NUTS?! We-a just got outta there!"

"Yeah we did. And we did it to get Kirby! Now that we have him to help us, we need to go rescue Dedede!" Retorted Dee.

"Dee. The king left himself-a behind to-a let us escape. He wanted us to be-a safe!" Luigi said.

Bandana Dee glared at Luigi. "King Dedede is my best friend and regardless of what you want, I'M going back to help him" Kirby hopped up and gave a determined look before standing by Bandana Dee's side.

Luigi sighed. "I... Ok, fine. I'll-a come with you. But I'm-a tellin' you, this is just asking for-a trouble!" Bandana Dee turned back to the direction the castle and began running. Kirby followed by his side and Luigi behind them. They had been launched quite a distance and it may take a while to get back to the castle from this far away...

OOC NOTES TIME:

BANDANA DEE! He is a last minute addition that I decided to add as I was writing this very chapter! Why did I add him? I'm not too sure really. But it felt necessary.

Ponies will be arriving in 4, count 'em, 4 CHAPTERS TIME!

I haven't really got much else to say so, hope you enjoyed this chapter too!