Pigments
Djeeta and Gran still couldn't quite believe what had just happened: Lu Woh had kidnapped Kirby and Meta Knight right before their very eyes. The dragon had been so fast that they weren't able to even try to prevent him from taking away the puffballs.
But the twins were determined to rescue them even faster.
The part of the crew that had witnessed the scene was quite alarmed by what had just happened: Kirby had been on board for barely 24 hours, but everyone had grown very fond of him. Knowing the dragon's reputation as a pragmatic extremist, they were willing to go head-to-head against it.
However, Gran and Djeeta called for their crew to stay calm. The island of the six dragons was not easily accessible, and they couldn't ask the two dragons they knew that were on board to take all of them there with their magic. Fediel quickly informed them that she was the only one that could take them to the island, as Wilnas had teleported away at the very moment he had noticed Lu Woh's presence disappearing along with Kirby's and Meta Knight.
"Then take us there" Djeeta said to Fediel. It was not a request: it was an order.
Although usually one of the six dragons would never give in to the commands of a mere mortal (even if the mortal in question was the Singularity), Fediel decided that this time she could concede. She encompassed the four of them in his arms and transported them to the island.
The first thing that greeted them upon arrival was a loud roar. A huge, wide-winged bipedal crimson dragon, Wilnas's true form, was battling Lu Woh's serpentine body. The dragon of light was keeping its claws closed around something, that the captains deduced were Kirby and Meta Knight. Lightning bolts and flames collided in the air, creating shock waves.
"Oh no... I hope Kirby and Meta Knight are okay" Lyria said worriedly, afraid of the two puffballs getting caught in the crossfire.
"This is bad" commented Fediel, in a serious tone. Gran and Djeeta looked at her, waiting for explanations."Wilnas and Lu Woh are discussing the existence of Kirby as a possible threat to our world. If they start fighting seriously... Well, Galleon is not going to like how the island is going to look like after this."
"Excuse me, but how is Kirby a threat?" Vyrn wanted to know, somewhat annoyed at the attitude of the dragons."He is the sweetest and happiest little thing I've ever seen, alongside Lyria."
"It's complicated. We could say that it's a threat in the same way you four are a threat" Fediel answered, crossing her arms. "Even if the people of the sky regards you as heroes, your existence disrupt the balance of the world to such an extent that it has become depentant of your actions."
Those words stirred up a memory in the mind of the twins.
"Instead of being the harbinger of destruction, the singularity turned out to be a powerful force keeping the scales upright" Yuni revealed them.
"So to the world, Gran and Djeeta are..." the girl in blue asked her.
"Irreplaceable. Once lost, the world is doomed" Cosmos' envoy answered.
What if for Kirby's world he was irreplaceable too?
"In that case, that is just another reason for you dragons to leave him alone!" Djeeta yelled at the dragon.
"Has it escaped your 'balance' perception or something that there is a REAL threat and that only Kirby can help us destroy it? " Gran reproached Fediel too.
"Do not lash out at me, as I was only explaining why Lu Woh is acting like that" Fediel retorted ."Attacking the anomalous pigment this early was his choice alone. Galleon, Wamdus and me decided that it was better to study it before acting. And Ewiyar is doing whatever they are doing."
(If they had been on the deck on the Grandcypher, they could have seen certain female fluffy cat yawning at the same time that Fediel had mentioned Ewiyar).
The captains still didn't understand why Lu Woh and the dragons were so hell-bent on Kirby when the real danger was Nightmare. Fediel looked like she was going to elaborate more about what she had explained, but a loud noise brought their attention back to the fight. Two attacks from Wilnas and Lu Woh had collided and caused a huge explosion in the air, the shockwave knocking down several trees in its path.
"Galleon is definitely going to be mad after this. The Golden worked so hard on this island and those two are just tearing it apart" Fediel stated, thinking of the earth dragon.
"Can't you do anything to stop them?" Lyria asked her, as a plea.
"If I returned to my original form, my miasma would neutralize Lu Woh's healing aura and leave your two friends totally exposed to Wilnas' blistering flames" she explained. After all, she was Fediel the Black, dragon of darkness and death, the exact opposite of Lu Woh the White.
"We have to stop them somehow..." Gran growled.
" Oh, I think I got an idea" Djeeta exclaimed suddenly. "Lyria, summon Colossus!"
Lyria didn't have a clue of what Djeeta was thinking. Her partner sometimes had crazy ideas, but right now it was more important to stop the two dragons than to worry about what recklessness she was about to commit.
Lyria raised her hands and summoned the colossal armor-like primal beast that served as the Valtz Duchy's guardian. Djeeta asked the primal beast to grab her and her brother and run until they were under the dragons. Lyria and Vyrn protested at the idea, but it was too late: Colossus had already taken the two captains in its hands, to cover them from the dragons' attacks, and had started walking towards the dragons at a fast pace.
"Djeeta: this is madness" Gran affirmed, guessing what his sister intended to do.
"Can you think of anything better?"
"No, not really" he admitted.
Up there, Meta Knight and Kirby weren't exactly having a good time.
Lu Woh had them immobilized in his claws, squeezing them hard enough that they couldn't move, but not enough to crush them. In that state, Meta Knight couldn't use his abilities to teleport or even attack with his weapon, and Kirby had lost his copy ability and had nothing to inhale. All they could do was trying to push with their legs to force their captor's claws open. Captor who, at the moment, seemed to be ignoring his efforts. Lu Woh was focused on his congener, whom he argued with in a strange language as they exchanged attacks. At least the light dragon's strong claws kept them safe from Wilnas' devastating fireballs.
Despite his fierce appearance, Kirby had recognized Wilnas. He had tried to call the name of the first friend that he had made in that world to ask they to stop fighting the other dragon, afraid of them getting hurt. But the voice of the hero of Dreamland was lost among the noise of the battle, drowned by the roars and yells of both dragons. The only one who could hear his screams was Meta Knight.
"Hold on there, Kirby. I think I almost got it" the knight said to Kirby, while he pushed. If he could get the claw to give a little, he might be able to use Galaxia.
"Is this my fault, Meta?" Kirby asked sadly. "If I wasn't here, I don't think they'd be arguing, poyo."
"No, Kirby: it's not your fault "Meta Knight assured his friend, without ceasing his efforts. "Some beings are too stubborn to realize that they are wrong and they don't listen to reason."
"So Lu Woh is acting like me when the Squeaks stole my cake and I got so angry that I didn't listen to you or Dedede?" Kirby asked as he looked down, embarrassed by the memory.
"Something like that, but you have the excuse of being a child and this dragon seems to be a divine creature way too old to be behaving this irrational way" Meta Knight said, frustrated. "Damn dragon: first he burns my wing and now this..." he added mentally.
Suddenly, something crashed into the dragon's claws, startling both puffballs.
"Kirby, Meta Knight, are you two okay? We're going to get you out of there" they heard Gran say.
"Gran? How did you get up here?" Kirby asked, surprised.
How did they get up there? Because Djeeta's crazy idea had worked out. Once they had gotten close enough to the dragons, she had asked Colossus to throw them into Lu Woh's legs. Colossus wasn't a primal beast with the ability to reason far beyond his function, so it didn't object to the idea. The beast just threw them both and then proceeded to wait for their return. While they were crossing the air, the twins had covered themselves with Phalanx, the quintessential protection spell, to mitigate the damage caused by the attacks of the two dragons.
"Don't worry about it: the important thing is to get you both back to safety..." answered Djeeta, as she drew her sword and plunged it into the claw of the dragon that imprisoned Kirby. Gran did the same with the other one.
The sudden pain caused the dragon's claws to open, allowing Kirby and Meta Knight to fly away. Gran and Djeeta jumped immediately after, falling into Colossus' arms. The two puffballs landed on the shoulders of the armor, tired. Despite his exhaustion, Kirby happily greeted Colossus, who returned the gesture with a shake of its head.
Of course, this whole endeavor had not gone unnoticed by the dragons. Lu Woh crouched down to where Colossus stood and glared at Gran and Djeeta accusingly. Wilnas for his part, temporarily stopped attacking him when he saw that Kirby and his friend had been released.
"Singularity: stay out of this" Lu Woh warned telepathically to Gran and Djeeta.
"No, I don't think we will" he replied, holding the penetrating gaze of the dragon without being intimidated.
"You know that with your current strength you can't defeat me, so don't interfere with my purpose"
Djeeta raised her sword towards the dragon's snout.
"Leave Kirby and Meta Knight alone" she threatened it. "You will have to go through us before you get to them."
"As you wish, then. I can easily break your divided body without crushing your colors" the dragon bellowed, before charging into an attack.
Noticing this, Wilnas charged the dragon of light in a fury, slamming it to the ground with such force that Gran, Djeeta, Kirby, and Meta Knight had to hold on tightly to Colossus to keep them from flying away, Djeeta dropping her sword in the process.
Wilnas pinned down Lu Woh beneath his legs. The dragon of light roared in cold anger.
"Why are you so stubborn, Wilnas?" was the message that Lu Woh sent telepathically, for everyone to hear. "That creature is a danger to our delicate world."
"Look who's talking about being stubborn: the one who attacked without even bothering to talk to them first. And I thought we had left those practices behind"
Lu Woh growled and, in a quick movement, used the length of their body to bite into Wilnas's neck, the crimson dragon howling in pain. That was enough for Lu Woh to shake him off. Before Wilnas could counter, Lu Woh hit him with its tail.
Kirby couldn't stand that situation anymore: he wouldn't allow those two to continue fighting over him. In one quick move, he grabbed Djeeta's sword and charged at the dragons before anyone could stop him.
He was so focused on stopping the dragons that he had almost not noticed that, by taking Djeeta's sword, he had not acquired the 'sword' copy ability. Instead, a golden helmet, ornamented with white plumes, had appeared on his head, and the sword (which had become fancy looking, with a golden handle and a pure white blade) was now accompanied by a shield decorated in a similar fashion to the helmet. Despite this unexpected new copy ability, he knew what he had to do.
Lu Woh unleashed a hail of spears at Wilnas, but Kirby jumped to intercept it, yelling as he raised his shield:
"Elemental Phalanx!"
Immediately, a protective barrier rose between Kirby and the light dragon, weakening the attack to the point that it only tickled Kirby.
"Stop fighting each other! Aren't you friends?" Kirby yelled at the dragons, very upset. The two beings looked at the puffball, bemused." I know you are arguing because of me. If it's because I shouldn't be in this world, I promise I'll go. But please: let me defeat Nightmare first" he begged to the dragon of light. "I never wanted to cause trouble..."
Lu Woh looked at Kirby thoughtfully. Now that the dragon of light had stopped to examine him closely, there was no doubt that the heart of that creature was pure. Had he been wrong? "No, having a kind soul doesn't change what this pigment is: an anomaly that endangers the delicate balance of the Sky Realm..." the dragon thought.
"See? Do you really think this little thing would destroy our world?" Wilnas said telepathically.
"While I agree that he doesn't seem to have ill intentions, this is not a matter of what the anomalous pigment wants: it's about what they could do to this world" he replied, in a stern tone. "His mere existence goes against the principles of this world. In its current state, it is likely that the Sky Realm can't handle a being made up of only positive energy. If a sudden outburst of negative energy happens because of that, the consequences could be irreparable."
"Likely? I thought you were the most rational of us, but look at you: attacking innocent beings because a conjecture. You said the same thing about the Singularity and look at them now"
"The case of the Singularity is exceptional. When we were awoken for the first time in this age, we had no way of knowing that the weight of the world was so tied to its destiny that eliminating it would make the balance collapse."
"Then make another exception and give the little guy a chance. Or are you going to let the one who calls himself Nightmare taint our sky with his corrupted pigments? Futhermore, as long as Kirby stands at the Singularity side, there is no way something like that will ever happen."
Lu Woh weighed Wilnas' words. Within a few seconds, a white light engulfed the dragon's body as he re-incarnated into his mortal form. Seeing this, Wilnas breathed a sigh of relief and did the same thing.
Colossus, once it noticed that the danger it had been called for was over, waved goodbye and disappeared wrapped in particles of light.
"Wilnas! How are you? Did you get hurt, poyo?" Kirby asked while running towards the redhead, worried.
"Easy, Kirby" the dragon calmed him down, patting him gently on the head. "I know the fight seemed violent, but it wasn't that bad for us."
"Kirby, are you okay?" Lyria asked as she ran towards them. She, Vyrn and Fediel had seen the whole scene in the distance." You scared us when you jumped like that to stop that attack..."
"That shows that you haven't been around Kirby much long" Meta Knight chuckled lowly. "That's not even close to being the most reckless thing he has ever done."
Kirby returned the sword to Djeeta, his body and the weapon returning to their normal appearances.
"Would you look at that: it took my sister and I a while to learn the Paladin's path and Kirby just goes and becomes one by touching a sword" Gran lamented. But the amused smile on his face betrayed his words.
"Paladin, poyo?" Kirby wanted to know, curiously.
"They are knights who protect their allies" Djeeta summed it up.
"Oh! Like you, Meta" Kirby said to his friend, beaming.
"No, not like me" he denied. "Paladins use holy magic. My soul, on the other hand, is too touched by the darkness of the cosmos to be worthy of it " he added dramatically.
"Isn't Galaxia a holy sword?" Kirby said, looking at him with the suspicion that his friend wasn't telling the whole truth.
"Good grief: this blueberry is so edgy..." Vyrn muttered, rolling his eyes "Edgy Blueberry: that is going to be his nickname from now on" the little dragon noted mentally. "Surely, you haven't even bothered to study white magic because you are too into your dark knight role" he asserted to the blue puffball.
"You speak nonsense" the knight replied, hiding his embarrassment because Vyrn was partially right. The only one who had managed to read through him like that before, had been Dedede.
Lu Woh then approached the group.
"I have decided that I will not go after Kirby again, as long as he keeps his word to leave this world when the being who calls himself Nightmare has been either killed or expelled from this world. And as for you... " Lu Woh added, pointing to Meta Knight " attacking you was a mistake. Accept my apology."
"There's no need to apologize: it was a good fight" the knight replied, his answer disconcerting the dragon. "I don't get a chance to face rivals of your caliber very often."
"Hehe, this is something you don't see every day: Lu Woh admitting his faults " Fediel laughed, as she passed her arm over the aforementioned's shoulder. "Which reminds me..."
Fediel made Lu Woh turn and look at the destruction he had wrought on the island in his fight against Wilnas.
"I'm going to take this lot back to the Grandcypher. I don't want to see either you or Wilnas over there until you fix this mess" she forbade them threateningly, like a parent punishing their children.
"But Wilnas is our temporary cook" Lyria reminded Fediel. "We need him."
"Well, I guess he can go back to prepare dinner. But when he's done, I want him here to fix the forest" she replied as she prepared to transport the group back to the Grandcypher.
"Wait a minute" Lu Woh requested. "Singularity: I must warn you both about something: there is another irregular pigment."
"Oh, are we going to talk about Nightmare now?" Djeeta told him, a little angry.
"I am not talking about the being from the stars that is painting the dreams of mortals in black" denied the dragon. "Although diluted by the darkness of the cosmos, his pigments still fit within this world's palette. Even if he succeeded in his task, the balance of the Sky Realm shouldn't be affected."
Those strange words disturbed Gran and Djeeta. Did Lu Woh just imply that Nightmare was a creature native to the Sky Realm?
"The pigment I'm talking about is way smaller, which makes it more difficult to detect" Lu Woh continued. "It appears to be a neutral force, but a misjudgment on the part of this creature could have catastrophic consequences. I'll make it my job to find and contain this pigment, but until then, be careful."
The warning of the dragon only created more questions, making Kirby thoughtful. If Lu Woh wasn't talking about Meta or him, who was that "pigment" that he had mentioned? Dedede didn't make sense: while the king had the authority to be a judge; he had never acted as one. Maybe it was Bandee, but that made even less sense. He wasn't even sure that his two friends had actually followed him.
"I wonder how they are" the little hero thought, missing his friends. "And what happened to Magolor? Did he really betray us?"
After Lu Woh's enigmatic words, Fediel led the group back to the Grandcypher, where they were greeted by the relieved faces of the crew. After informing them that the matter with the dragon of light was settled, they each went their own way.
Kirby went looking for Yuni to tell her about his adventures that day; however, Cagliostro stopped him on the way. The alchemist asked him to accompany her, since she needed to share something with the little puffball and the captains. Kirby guessed that she had discovered something about the monster that had attacked them the day before.
Gran and Djeeta, for their part, went to show Meta Knight his cabin. The knight was grateful that he was finally going to have some time to be alone since his arrival in the Sky Realm. Although, before he could make use of his new room, the alchemist arrived accompanied by Kirby and, after a brief introduction to Meta Knight, she made them go to her own cabin.
Meta Knight immediately recognized the demon beast that was held captive on Cagliostro's desk, as he had fought some like that one in the past. A "Terribleye", though the most terrible thing about the being was its name. It was not the most powerful demon beast, as its weak point was too obvious, and they had been often used as a reconnaissance unit for Nightmare Enterprises. Their looks were also kinda inspired by the Dark Matter species, though their power differed, and this demon beast was less of a threat than those dark beings.
It still was dangerous, as it was capable of setting up an uncrossable magic area. Upon trapping someone in that area, the beast would take the form of a creature or monster that had appeared in the captive(s)'s nightmares... which didn't work if nothing had appeared in their victims' dreams.
When Meta Knight explained this to Cagliostro and the rest, she proudly nodded.
"This confirms my first hypothesis. Since this creature transformed into the hydra that appeared in Gran and Djeeta's dreams, I asked for volunteers in a controlled environment and watched how the creature reacted. In some cases it transformed and in others not" the alchemist clarified. "That way, I ended up reaching the conclusion that our fellow knight just confirmed."
The alchemist paused dramatically before continuing.
"Then I thought: ''why would someone create a creature with such a limited function?'' And I deduced that maybe this is just one of the many creatures that Nighgtmare guy can create. So I ran some more tests, cross-checked them with information I had around here about certain procedures, and realized something... Tell me, Sir Meta Knight: are demon beasts fears, phobias, and nightmares in general that have been given physical form?"
"That is indeed correct" Meta Knight confirmed, amazed at Cagliostro's deductive ability. "Though no one has ever discovered how that villain manages to do such a feat."
"Wow, poyo. You are so clever, Cagliostro" Kirby praised the alchemist.
"Of course I am. One did not create a science out of nothing just to have the body of her dreams" she replied, doing a twirl that ended in a bow. "Although I would like you to teach me some tricks to be even more adorable: you have taken my position of being the cutest one in the world" the alchemist added with a sweet voice that at the same time sounded acted, while she squeezed Kirby's chubby cheeks a little harder than the little puffball would have liked.
Djeeta and Gran let out a cough, bringing Cagliostro back into focus.
"Okay, let's get back on topic" she said, turning back into scientific mode. "There's still one last thing I need to check, but for that I need Vyrn to use his powers."
That surprised everyone. The two heroes of Dreamland were surprised because they didn't know that Vyrn had powers. The rest, because they didn't understand how Vyrn's powers were going to affect that creature.
"But my powers only work with primal beasts" Vyrn reminded the alchemist.
"Trust me: I know what I'm doing."
Cagliostro freed the Terribleye. The being immediately cast its gaze on Meta Knight and began to transform, engulfing itself in a small amount of smoke. Those present prepared for combat. Out of the smoke appeared a figure all too familiar to the two puffballs: Mecha-Knight, the robot Meta Knight had been transformed into by the Haltmann Works Company during their invasion.
Although this Mecha-Knight fit in the palm of one hand. The creature seemed not to have recovered from the combat of the previous day, and had stayed small despite its transformation.
Kirby shot the knight a quick look of dismay: that the beast had taken that form could only mean that Meta Knight had recently dreamt of what had happened during the invasion. He was relieved instead to see that his friend didn't seem too affected by it.
The knight, for his part, had just grabbed the mini Mecha-Knight by the jet-packs when it launched itself at them, like someone grabbing a small mouse.
"So the transformation has gone wrong, huh?" Meta Knight mocked the demon beast. "It seems that Nightmare is losing faculties. He's going to have to try harder if he wants to use my nightmares against me."
"Look at the way it struggles: it's more adorable than scary" Cagliostro also mocked, maliciously. "Although I won't ask why it looks like a mechanized version of you."
"And I appreciate it: I don't like to talk much about it. But at this size it's too ridiculous to take it seriously."
"If Dedede was here, I'm sure he'd want to keep it as a pet" Kirby commented.
"Or crush it with the hammer" replied Meta Knight, amused. " With the king, you never know."
"Well, let's not waste any more time" Cagliostro interrupted them. "Are you ready, Vyrn?"
The red dragon, on the other hand, had his doubts about what Cagliostro wanted him to do.
"I don't know... what if this being wants to continue existing? Perhaps there is another way."
"Poyo? Continue existing?" Kirby asked, not understanding what Vyrn meant by that.
"Vyrn can return primal beasts to their original form" Lyria explained to Kirby.
"Basically, a primal beast is created by giving physical form and purpose to ancient legends and concepts. No one can even explain how Lucilius, the Astral who directed the investigation dedicated to it, ended up discovering the way to do such a feat" continued Cagliostro.
Gran and Djeeta grunted at Lucilius' name, a gesture not lost on Meta Knight. He made a mental note to ask about it later, as he didn't want to divert the current subject any further.
"Lyria can partially or fully absorb the power of primal beasts, allowing her to summon a manifestation of them at will. Vyrn, on the other hand, returns them to their concept form, freeing them from their physical forms" Gran explained, to put them in context.
"In short, Vyrn's power kills primal beasts" Djeeta completed bluntly, receiving reproachful looks from Lyria and Gran. "What? They didn't call dad the beast killer for nothing" she excused herself, shrugging her shoulders and putting some resentment in the word "dad".
"I see " Meta Knight said, sensing where Cagliostro's ideas were headed, although he did not know the repercussions that would arise if her theory was confirmed. "Vyrn, I understand your doubts about ending the existence of this demon beast, but there is something you should know about these" he told the dragon. "When Nightmare creates a demon beast, the first thing he does is to take away their will and their emotions, in order to make sure they will never turn against him. He does that before they can even process that they are alive. Tell me, would you like to live an existence like that?"
"No, not really" he admitted. "And it's not very different from what happened to some primal beasts..." Vyrn made a gesture to fill himself with determination and added: " Okay, let's do this."
Meta Knight removed the mini Mecha-Knight's robotic mask, to reveal the being's eye, and released it. The demon beast began to flutter around them, launching toy-like missiles.
A red aura erupted from Vyrn's body and enveloped Gran and Djeeta. The twins waited for the creature to be close to them and made a quick crosscut towards the creature, which returned to its original form before starting to turn into particles of light.
"And eureka!" Clagliostro joyfully exclaimed upon seeing this."As I thought, if primal beasts are materialized concepts and legends, and creatures like that one are materialized nightmares and fears, Vyrn should also be able to return them to their original concept form. And it has worked! Yet another proof that I'm a genius!
The monster finished vanishing. The only thing left of him was a strange substance.
"Elfilis..." Kirby blurted out. The substance had somehow reminded him of the so-called "ultimate life form".
"Do you recognize this material?" Cagliostro asked, curiously.
"The last bad guy I defeated started to melt into a similar liquid. Now that I look at it closely, it also looks a bit like the water that flows from the Fountain of Dreams." As he said that, Kirby reached out to touch the substance" but it is more viscous. Yuck.
"And what is it?" insisted the alchemist. It was clear that at the appearance of the substance was not something that formed part of her hypothesis.
"In some worlds they call it ''Dream Matter'' " Meta Knight answered. "Its main property is ''to make dreams come true''. With the right treatment, it seems that it has a variety of uses, from interdimensional travel to the ability to grant wishes. It is theorized that an ancient civilization we call "The Ancients" created their technology and system of magic from Dream Matter."
"You've been reading Susie and Magolor's research, haven't you?" Kirby inquired.
"Something good had to come from tolerating them" he replied. Although he hated them both, especially Susie, what they had learned about the ancient civilization was too interesting to ignore.
"Fascinating" Cagliostro commented. "So, instead of using the elements that make up the world, Nightmare used this Dream Matter to create his own brand of primal beasts."
"That explains why the aura of that monster seemed familiar to me…" Lyria realized.
"The question is, why does this Nightmare know the method of creating the primal beasts, the greatest secret kept by the Astrals and something that only they could do because the nature of their power?"
"Cagliostro, what are you insinuating?" Vyrn asked with a trembling voice.
The color drained from the faces of Gran and Djeeta. First Lu Woh's ambiguous words, and now Cagliostro's discovery. The pieces began to fit into a sinister puzzle.
"Nightmare is not an evil wizard" Gran began to say, in a tone that indicated the seriousness of the matter. "We are about to fight another Astral."
.-.-.-.-.-
The centuries had changed the forest, but Phoebe was still able to find her way through it easily. Her brother was going after her, and knowing that he would accompany her until the end comforted her.
Phoebe's heart felt crushed by a strange pressure. What could be the cause? The fear of rejection? Her desire to see him again? Her regret for having lied to so many people she loved? Maybe it was all at once.
The feeling grew as she got closer to her old home. Just a few more steps and she would be there.
But at the entrance to the place where she was "born", she found something she didn't expect: Sandalphon, Zooey and a blue penguin dressed in red hammering away at the wall of the Astral Research Facility that she had once called "home". No matter how much they insisted: the door would not show itself to them.
"Phoebe? Morphe?" Zooey asked, surprised when she noticed that they had arrived. The penguin stopped hitting the wall and turned towards them. "What are you doing here?"
"That's what I'd like to know" Morphe admitted, casting a pained look at her sister. Although he had already guessed the reason why his sister had gone to that island, he was still waiting for a confirmation from her.
Phoebe's heart sank. Had they discovered her lie and come to reprimand her? Were they going to take her back to the Grandcypher without giving her a chance to talk to him? It couldn't be that: Zooey had been as surprised to see them there as she had been.
There was only one reason why the Supreme Archangel and the Arbitrator could be in that place: they were after him. Which means he hadn't come for her like she had hoped: he had come to endanger the Sky Realm.
Phoebe clenched her fists in anger…how dared he?
"Who are these kids? Are they primary beasts like you? " the penguin asked curiously.
"For the last time, Dedede: it's 'primal' " Sandalphon corrected the penguin, without hiding his annoyance.
"And I told you that I'm King Dedede, feathered boy" the penguin said back, as he leaned on the wall.
Phoebe couldn't help but wonder if these two had had this conversation before.
"Wait, Sandalphon isn't the most outgoing person in the Grandcypher…when has he met this Dedede guy? What's more, where did that weird penguin even come from?" she thought confused.
"Anyway, are you alright, little one?" asked the penguin, approaching her, in a conciliatory tone. "You look a bit nervous. I know that my strength can be a bit scary, but I'm a nice guy deep down" he added with a smile drawn on his beak, extending his hand towards her.
Phoebe eyed the hand with mistrust.
"I'm sorry, Dedede. Phoebe doesn't trust others easily" Zooey informed him.
"Don't worry, I get it. I wouldn't trust a strange being either" he agreed understandingly. "The last time I did it, the damned guy betrayed us and became a god who wanted to conquer the universe. We defeated him though."
"I can't believe you. The things you say have to be fake... You can't just talk so casually about defeating gods and stuff like that!" Sandalphon snapped.
"I care less than the number of fingers on Kirby's hand what you chose to believe in" Dedede replied, crossing his arms haughtily.
"Order, you two" Zooey announced, calling for harmony ."I had hoped that you two had finally started to get along after last night...We have a common goal, so can you put your differences aside for a second?"
Sandalphon and Dedede muttered "fine" halfheartedly.
"Phoebe " Zooey began to say to the girl, in a reassuring and understanding tone. "I don't know what worries you or why you and your brother have abandoned the Grandcypher to come here. But you can trust us. You know this Astral Research Facility, am I right?" she asked the other with a sad smile, sensing the truth.
Phoebe nodded sadly. She couldn't run anymore. Perhaps telling the truth would make the pressure in her heart go away.
"I'll tell you everything, if you promise to keep Morphe safe" she finally asked.
"Sister? What are you going to do?" the aforementioned replied, a little uneasy at that request.
"You can count on it!" Dedede exclaimed with a proud smile, patting the boy on the shoulder with such force that the king nearly knocked him to the ground. Luckily, the penguin noticed this and quickly caught the kid before he fell." Ups. Sorry, kiddo" he apologized.
"Although I would like to know something first. Why are you here and who is Dedede?"
Oh boy, the next four chapters were so fun and yet so hard to write. I think I'm going to suffer translating them. The next three chapters are focused on the endeavors of Sandalphon, Dedede and Zooey, with the fourth one being the conclusion to this arc.
So about the six dragons: in my opinion, they seem to be genderfluid (or at least I headcanon them as genderfluid). Actually, in canon, they don't even seem to have genders at all on their real forms, "choosing" a gender when they become mortals, and probably can incarnate on whatever they want later [ see Ewiyar choosing to be a cat of all things; or Galleon being an Erune and a Darph at the same time]. So yeah, that is why I tend to use multiple pronouns when I write about a dragon in their real form. I don't have this issue when writing in Spanish.
A curiosity about the translation process is that I reverse translate back to Spanish by using a translator, which ends in some funny results, as the translator often interprets "Gran" as an abbreviation for "Grandma"