Kirby and the Rod of Darkness

Chapter 12: Friends or Foes?


Shadread was displeased when he found out one of his minions was freed. "Hmph," he said, "So I've lost control over Marx."

"Don't worry about him, Shaddy," Parallel Susie said as she entered the room, "He wasted too much time anyway. Besides, you still have me and King What's-His-Name and those two charming knights." She was referring to King Dedede, Meta Knight, and Dark Meta Knight, who had now joined the villainous crew.

Mirrobo also entered the room. "Beep beep! Status report! Utilizing the control signal at full strength took a lot of energy, but I am now fully recharged."

"And I'm fully recovered," Parallel Susie added, "but my Business Suit still needs a few more repairs before it can fight again."

"Very well then," Shadread answered, "It looks like it's time to send out the three captives."

Meanwhile, Kirby and friends had finally returned to Dream Land in the Lor Starcutter. Having parted ways with Marx, they were currently eating ice cream, a refreshing treat after spending time in the heat of Mustard Mountain. Kirby had strawberry, Magolor had vanilla, Taranza had chocolate, and Susie had Neapolitan. (Susie loved ice cream but she didn't want to hog it all, especially since finding more would not be difficult.)

Kirby noticed his ice cream was pink like him, which gave him an idea. He drizzled chocolate syrup over it in the shape of eyes and a mouth and used two cherries for cheeks, so it looked like his face. "Aww, it's almost too cute to eat!" Susie commented, spotting his creation.

Kirby inhaled his ice cream and swallowed it whole. "'Almost' was the key word," he grinned.

The other two were pondering their recent encounter with Marx while they ate. "So Marx was being controlled by Shadread too," Taranza told Magolor, "That explains why he was acting crazier than usual."

"There's something I don't understand, though," Magolor responded, "Both Coo and Daroach had bright red eyes, and neither of them remembered anything that happened while they were being controlled. But Marx's eyes looked normal and he remembered everything!"

"That's right!" Susie chimed in, "And what about Parallel Susie? She was acting like Marx did at first, but later she acted more like Coo and Daroach did. Then she appeared to be knocked out when she was defeated, but she wasn't freed from Shadread's control."

Kirby looked up from the pile of cherries he was currently devouring. "Maybe that's because we only damaged her Business Suit," he guessed, "We never attacked her directly."

"Kirby!" a voice cried out all of a sudden. It was Bandana Waddle Dee, who rushed into the doorway with a panicked expression. "You gotta come to the castle! The king has returned, but he's going bananas!"

Upon arriving at Dedede's castle, it was clear that something was off. On the outside, the castle was still glowing as it had been before; on the inside, its inhabitants were in chaos. Some Waddle Dees ran about frantically while others cowered in their hiding places. King Dedede, his eyes bright red, was on a rampage. He was trying to pound Waddle Dees with his hammer and knocking down objects. "He just appeared out of nowhere and started attacking us and making a mess of the castle!" Bandana Waddle Dee explained worriedly.

"He must be under Shadread's control!" Kirby said, "The only way to return him to normal is to fight him, I'm afraid."

Bandana Dee was reluctant, but he knew he had no choice. "Forgive me, Great King!" he shouted, and he charged at Dedede while pointing his spear at him. But the king merely smacked him with his hammer and sent him flying across the room.

"Bandana Dee! Are you okay?" Kirby asked, hurrying to the fallen Waddle Dee's side. While he helped him up, a group of Waddle Dees with parasols caught Dedede off guard by diving down from above and hitting him with their parasols. Another one sneaked behind him, twirled him around on top of his parasol, and finally tossed him forward.

The king got back up and started inhaling like Kirby, forcing everyone else in the room to run as fast as they could against the gale that resulted. Magolor, on the other hand, knew how he could fight back. With one swift move he went behind Dedede and snatched his hammer from him. The king stopped inhaling and turned to face the mage, who then swung his own hammer at him; as a result, he went flying right into his throne, knocking it down. "A home run!" Magolor cheered, holding Dedede's hammer in the air.

"That was a bit drastic," Taranza remarked.

When the darkness left King Dedede, all the Waddle Dees rushed to his side. "Huh? What happened?" he murmured as they helped him up. Then his eyes widened when he saw the condition his castle was in. "AAH! What happened to my castle?!" he hollered. Various objects were scattered around on the floor, some of them broken, there were holes smashed into the walls, and the gash in the carpet from Meta Knight's sword was still visible.

"D-don't worry, Your Majesty! We'll get it fixed up!" Bandana Dee answered. Magolor quickly hid the hammer behind his back when Dedede looked in his direction.

As soon as they exited the castle Kirby, Magolor, Taranza, and Susie heard a commotion from above them. Up in the sky, a swarm of Bronto Burts and Birdons was flying overhead in a panic. "Something must be going on over there!" Susie observed.

So they all rode a Warp Star to where the swarm was coming from, a rocky cliff that was part of Sacred Square. At first all was calm and quiet. Kirby spotted a sword placed on the center of the cliff, so he grabbed it and became Sword Kirby...after which two figures swooped at him and his friends. They jumped out of the way, now finding not one, but two masked knights standing in front of them, their eyes red and their sharp swords pointed at their opponents. "Meta Knight and Dark Meta Knight!" Kirby exclaimed, "So they're being controlled too!"

"Ha! You think I'm afraid of those little swords?" Magolor said. He was holding an Ultra Sword that was, in fact, much bigger than the two knights' swords. He swung his enormous weapon at them twice, missing the first time but landing a hit the second time. He tried swinging a third time but was struck by blades shot by Dark Meta Knight before he could finish.

"Magolor!" Kirby, Taranza, and Susie, who were keeping their distance from the Ultra Sword's attacks, all cried out at once.

Before Magolor could get up Meta Knight and Dark Meta Knight charged at him, only to be pummeled by the spinning arms of the Business Suit. Susie had moved the machine between them and their target just in time. Kirby and Taranza then joined the fight, the latter tossing magic webs at Dark Meta Knight while the former used his sword to fight Meta Knight. Finally, Kirby managed to take both knights down with a single spin slash. Their masks broke as soon as the darkness left them, revealing their Kirby-like faces for only a second before they promptly flew away.

Once again, all was quiet. Magolor and Susie put away their weapons and rejoined Kirby and Taranza. "I guess all our friends are back to normal now," Kirby said. He would never say it to their faces, but he often thought King Dedede and Meta Knight were very good at being controlled by evil forces. He also had to admit that Meta Knight and Dark Meta Knight made a great team when they worked together, though most of the time they didn't exactly get along.

Suddenly, Susie spotted something up in the sky. "Look up there!" she said.

The others looked up, seeing a large number of dark rods floating above. "Are those Rods of Darkness? I thought we already destroyed the one that was on Popstar!" Taranza was puzzled.

"Either Shadread made more of them or more likely, he's sending a bunch of them to Popstar for some reason," Magolor answered, "Looks like we'll have to keep an eye out for them." So everyone left Sacred Square, prepared to continue their search.


Next time, something spooooky is coming...