Chapter/Tale 3: Stuck with my Worst Enemy: Dark Heart Niva Episode 3

Author's Note Intro:

What's up, guys? Hope you enjoyed Star Allies as much as I do that day. Anyway, time to get right into this end of chapter 3. As usual, the two girls will attempt to escape the Dark Ship while finding out something worthwhile. Hopefully, they'll get the answers to some questions they've had. What will they find out? Who knows? Let's find out, but before that, I will also reference Star Allies somewhere in this chapter; I still want to fit some kind of backstory from Star Allies into my story, since it does take place after the main game series it's an either-or situation, but I don't think they'll change the story any time soon, just there for us to remember, and also I'll go back and add the music theme to each chapter that seems to fit as part of my editing. Oh yeah, there will be a cutscene back on Popstar at the end, and I'll apologize if there wasn't that much action in there. That's all and enjoy the chapter!

Stuck With My Worst Enemy: Dark Heart Niva- Episode 3

Kailaine's POV: Zeraila, My Parallel Alter Ego

Oh. It's you again. I'd figured you'd end up here sooner or later. Bet you're wondering how we're holding up. Well, put it simply, it's not okay for us. After a few days of failed attempts and fighting old demon beasts, and of course, letting my other evil side take control of me, I was about to throw in the towel.

So far, we've found nothing new about them, all we found was the lore behind each planet and that's it so far. The only other interesting thing we found out about was the lore behind Aquarius Star, and who would've guessed that the most underrated character would be the prodigy hero? Well, I bet none of us saw that coming.

Speaking of that, after a nice cooldown in the ship's hot tub, it was already night time. In our own prison ball, we watched the battle with Bandana Dee and the supposedly lunatic possessed queen Arecena through the screen that the major characters of this chapter, Zane and Stark, were staring at all day long.

The fight scene escalated to the part where Bandana Dee somehow wrecked a giant colossus without even trying and finishing it off with a god move. We all had our jaws dropped after seeing that.

Stark exclaimed wildly. "Holy freaking crap! Coral wasn't lying about what she said about that kid! You know, Kirby's choice of party members never fails to surprise me. I guess turning him human was a big mistake after all. And yet, the princess and the paintress never fails at that either. Yep, this is going down as one of the Top 10 Anime Fights. Zane, are you- what… what are you doing?"

It seems that Zane was inserting soy sauce in his portable curry and flambé it with barbecue sauce. "Oh yeah, that's what I need in my life, baby! Nothing like a little soy sauce with barbecue can't handle for a moment like this! Bring it on!" Honestly, I don't think those two go together that very well.

"Wow, you never fail to surprise me like that, with that weird habit of yours. But not as weird as seeing the princess, or should I say, Zeraila appear more often than usual?" Stark sweatdropped as he turns over to me, or Zeraila, that's her preferred to be called name, glaring at him with devilish eyes. He turns back quickly and sighs. "In fact, she's glaring at me like she's been infected by a demon frog."

Apparently, Zeraila, the name of what everyone's calling me, was riled up and danged pissed off after being spied on while taking a bath in the ship. Still, I find this really weird for everything to be that realistic, but that's not important right now. So, for now until I turn back into my angel side, just call me Zeraila, if you please. Thanks.

Back to the real subject, I was still fuming but yet chuckling wickedly as I stare at them evilly. I calmed down afterwards. "Hmph, the nerve of you people! If I wasn't imprisoned, I would've beaten the stuffing out of you all!" My hair was all white and everything about me was both red and white, including my dress, and my eyes were ruby red. I sighed as I leaned back in the prison ball.

Adeline wasn't used yet as to seeing me appear like this more often. She always ask question about my other side, and my answers were pretty simple, yet I have still to figure out why though. It sucked more not knowing the reason why. And if that wasn't enough, we still haven't found out anything yet. And the more we attempted to escape, the more security becomes more amped up. I'm pretty sure you must be thinking somewhere along the lines that with my Zerosterlia mode, I could've just busted our way out.

What, you think I didn't try that already? That was a total bust. And for some reason, it feels like we're both chained to the ship somehow. I don't know, but it's a feeling I just have. With that, even though this form is powerful, it wastes a lot of energy on me and I'll just turn back whenever I overuse my power. As long as I don't overuse it, I'll stay as Zeraila then.

Adeline, on the other hand, maybe she could've created an escape portal to wherever it leads, right? Well, you thought wrong. Apparently, that's out of her league or something, I don't know if that's the issue. An escape is possible, but in a place like this, it's pretty useless. Well, with this, all we can do is hope for some damn miracle.

While the drama was going on, the knightess Coral entered along with someone else who appeared to be a knight. I can't tell the gender, but that person had on a white cloak and the hood was covering the head. The person walked to the two pilots along with Coral, and just stood there mysteriously.

Coral greeted us first. "Well, it's nice to see you two again, especially considering all the times you've tried to make a run for it. It was hilarious, by the way." The other person didn't seem to talk that much but just stared at us with some blank look.

The two pilots turned around to them. "Oh, hey Coral. What are you doing here with Solaris?"

"Apparently, my shift at Aquarius Star is over, and so by our master's will to test the pink kid of mischief and his power, we all are obliged to test not only him, but each and every one of his allies, considering how much he managed to make during his last debut with the Jambastion Mages. Man, everyone today still calls them a cult." Coral sweatdropped. "Eh, no matter. Kirby and his allies will eventually come to Skylight Star sooner or later once they realized what really caused time to reset after Gyrozalta was defeated. Then, another threat will be more major than the previous one back at Aquarius Star, and guess who's gonna have a little fun with them?"

The cloaked figure, who I'll assume is named Solaris, sweatdropped. "I am, the knight of Lumine Light, Solaris."

"That's right, Solare!" Coral smacked Solaris on the back. "Now listen, although you're gonna test Kirby, master ask that you pay attention to that masked swordsman that wields the legendary blade of cosmos, Galaxia. From what I've heard, he seems to have a history with the war long ago, not to mention where he got that sword, and rumors spread that he fought against the most powerful warrior in the galaxy and actually won! Not much is known about him other than those facts, but maybe Skylight Star can explain it all to you. Got it?"

"Eh, whatever. If that's what master wants, then I'll do it. Heard the guys gonna take something he owns on Popstar right now and haul it after the events. Can't wait."

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot, you two," Coral points at them. "You two need to help the others find Dark Crystals pronto, since Dark Soul is too lazy to even help warp the ship back to the princess' home planet and he wasn't even there after the party defeated the queen. Where was he, by the way?"

Both of them just shrugged. "How should I know? That guy disappears and always going off somewhere without any trace. He's impossible."

"Ugh, never mind. Just do it! And no complaining about it either! We've got a lot to execute in only a month's wait, and we can't afford any twists to happen nor can't we afford those group of dingalings to stop us now somehow, and we've got more than just these two to capture later on. The plan's ruined if any of these things slip up. Got it?"

They nodded and complied before sighing. "Good. Now get to it, or else! Master doesn't have anything to say right now, so it's always the same as before. Now do me a solid and get your lazy asses out there and do it already! Don't worry, those two won't make it out anyways."

"Yes, ma'am," They sweatdropped before all of them left the room. Solaris looked at us before leaving us by ourselves.

"Well, here comes another attempt at this, with another fail to add to the list," Adeline grumped. "So far, it's up to the point where no matter what you do, the outcome is always the same. And by that, I mean, we've gotten nowhere every time! It's pointless now!"

"Hey, complaining isn't gonna get us nowhere! So, we may not have gotten any new details or successfully escape, but that's not gonna stop us! Listen, we are literally the main reason why Kirby and his friends are risking their lives as cursed humans to save us, since we're the damsels in distress, but I am no damsel at all! I'm a princess that just so happened to slay the same force that is now back again so many times in any shape or form, even at the mention of them! Now we're trapped in some weird-ass ship of dark hell, and everything's realistic for some stupid reason! They may say what they plan to do with us, but it's a lie, I know it, and I don't plan on sticking around to find out, and neither should you!" I said.

"But won't that beat the point of Kirby coming to our rescue?"

"Just because the princess is saved by her shining knight in armor doesn't mean the crisis over. It's over once the dark lord is defeated for good, then it's over! Hear me out, right now, what we don't need is to be a stumbling block for them as well as Zero's secret weapon, because being their secret weapon is the worst of them all, and I don't want that. What we really need is make their job easier for them so we can actually help them for once. For starters, I think we should escape as soon as possible, because I have a feeling the longer we stay here, the harder it's gonna be to even step foot outside this prison ball. I can sense something is tying us to the ship, making our escapes a fail. It's like we're on a magnet or something. If that's really what's keeping us here, then we need to find out what it is and get rid of whatever it was. Then, maybe we'll make a break for it on whatever planet this ship lands on and we'll fare on our own until we find Kirby and the others. I don't know how it's going to work once we manage to escape, but that beats being trapped in here, am I right?" I tried my best to explain to her.

Adeline takes some time to process all of this in her head, then she slowly nodded. "All right. I understand, Zeraila."

I smiled. "Now that's what I wanted to hear from you. So, how about we find out what's up with this ship and why Dark Matter's losing power? Since this is like a real ship, there should be a core reactor or something that keeps the ship stable. Maybe we should see how they were able to pull it off with this."

"Hmm, I did hear something about a core reactor that relies on Dark Crystals to even move on to the next planet. Just think of it as Super Mario Odyssey, you know, collect enough Power Moons and the ship will sail to the next area. That's why they need Dark Crystals. So they carry it all to the reactor that's somewhere in the Central Engine Room that's on the bottom floor. Seems like it's guarded by something though." Adeline explained.

"Okay then, first things first, we change out of these bathrobes before anymore perverts' stares at us. We'll make our move later on, because it seems late at that time." I said to her, but it seems she was already done by then. I shrugged and did the same, in my original dress. With that, among the conversation the others had, there was something that was intriguing about it. I decided to ask Adeline about it. "Hey, Adeline. Remember what they were talking about earlier today?"

"Yeah, they said something about Kirby and Meta Knight. What about it?"

"They said they were also testing each and every one of Kirby's allies, considering how much he was able to make during his last debut with some mages who most people consider them to be a cult. What did they mean by that?"

Adeline thought for a moment, then it hit her. "Oh! I see what they're talking about. They're talking about the other incident that happened after the Robobot incident, the Star Allies incident."

"The Star Allies incident?"

"Yeah, that's right. From the look on your face, I'll assume Kirby forgot to tell you about that, didn't he? Well, from what I've heard, far into space there was someone who tried to perform a ritual of some sort on a crystal heart sealed and locked. When the ritual was attempted, the seal was broken, but however the heart shattered into mini pieces and scattered all across the Galactic Galaxy as meteors. Some hailed on Popstar and crashed near people randomly. The hearts were split into two colors: Pink and Purple. Most of those were purple, and all who touched it will turn evil and corrupted, whereas the pink hearts will do nothing, it seems. Apparently, one of the pink hearts hit Kirby, and when he saw the purple cloud hovering over Dedede's Castle, he sets off to find out what's causing it."

"Wow, that's crazy. But what happened when the pink heart hit Kirby?"

"Well, it turns out the pink hearts actually does give him a new perk. It gave him the ability to pop out pink hearts from his body and throw them at his enemies to make them his friends to help him out. And whenever he does that, he treats them as his actual friends rather than just allies. With that, he went to find the purple hearts and stop them for whatever reason. After that, a giant fortress came and landed on Popstar, in which they go investigate, known as the Fortress of Shadows, Jambastion."

"Jambastion? Now I can't help but feel I've heard of a fortress like that before," I wondered.

"While doing that though, they encounter the invaders in that fortress, the Three Mage Generals of Jambastion: Francisca, Flamberge, and Zan Partizanne. After defeating them and escaping the crumbling fortress, they chase them into space and all the way into the galaxy right to their base, where their leader was doing the ritual to gather all the hearts. After beating Zan Partizanne, who made sure to prevent Kirby and his allies from interfering, the leader, who they call Hyness, came over to them right after knocking Zan out of his way. Then he starts rambling on about the reason for doing this is to revive their dark lord, and he explains the reason, but Kirby thought he was actually insane because he was speaking too fast for him to understand that. Then he attacks, and when Kirby knocked off his hood, let's just say, he regretted seeing his face."

"Wow, he sounds like he had his mentality knocked off from birth. He's creepy."

"Oh, but that's not what's worse about him. Kirby said that he fought the second time by summoning the three mages to him and draining their life force to replenish his, and that he used their bodies as living weapons! Then, once Kirby defeated him again, he went to the heart and he realizes that there's not enough Jamba hearts to complete the ritual, since the last few were pink and one dissolved into Kirby. So, what he really did was summon the mages and sacrificed them to the heart as an offering and even himself to revive their dark lord. With the Star Allies Sparkler, they chase the dissolving heart into a battle arena in space where they confront the dark lord they cared so much about."

"Okay, that guy is jacked up in the brain to even do that! Wait, what kind of dark lord that crazy guy's even talking about?" I asked.

"Well, when it took form, it was some kind of humongous beast hellspawn that Hyness only mentioned once before sacrificing himself. He called it the Destroyer of Worlds, Void Termina. Yeah, Kirby said he had to beat it by destroying the eyes on its body, then going inside to crack the heart open. When he did, the four of them were ejected out of the body after Kirby, and even Kirby doesn't know what happened to them after that. Then, going in the second time, the soul somehow resembled him in many ways, but the last form it took on was surprisingly Dark Matter. After that, he and his allies destroyed Void Termina's core, and he saved the galaxy. The end."

"Void Termina… I think I've heard of it before, but I could be wrong. Isn't that some god of destruction or something? There were many other ones classified as destructive beings, but how come I've never heard of Void Termina? Something's not right here." I start to speculate more and more. I didn't reach a solution to that. Then, another thought came to mind. "Hey, what about Meta Knight?"

Adeline wasn't sure about it, seems so, but she goes to tell anyways. "Meta Knight? Hmm, about him… not that much is known about him other than the facts that are known. For what Kirby says about him, both Meta Knight and Dedede are classified as Anti-heroes, although he's not sure of the ambitions behind Meta Knight's reasons for doing so. As before, he and Kirby dueled each other in the past multiple times with Kirby being victorious. Despite this, Meta Knight wishes to get stronger and stronger, up to the point where he summoned the Clockwork Star Nova to fight the strongest warrior in the galaxy. Seems to be the case with him, but you'd have to be as crazy as him to take on a warrior that was sealed away for their destructive power."

"The Strongest Warrior in the Galaxy? Isn't the warrior named Galacta Knight?" I wondered to myself. "That's the only top-ranked warrior that's too godlike, but of course, there's more than just one of those knights in the galaxy."

"Yeah, I don't know why he'd want to do that, but he has his own reasons for this. Other than that, I don't know what history he has with Skylight Star, though," Adeline sighed. "Who knows how old he is?"

I know quite a lot about each planet in my galaxy, so this should be easy to explain. "Skylight Star? That planet is basically a sky planet where there's a sea of clouds underneath the floating islands all over, and under the cloud sea is the main land, where your only way to the sky world known as Solatora is to shoot yourself way up there with full force. Anyway, light is the main element, but time is another element there as well as the use of flight, although wind is the main element of Aura Star. Other than that, this is where massive wars takes place in the sky. You can see massive battleships, fortresses, and all others things are pitted against each other in a struggling battle. Of course, that's not all to it. Creatures are constantly around such as dragons, harpies, cyclops, doomers, flying Mantras, unicorns, even angels and demons are there as well. And they sometimes attack islands on occasions rare, but no one knows the reason behind this. They came to the conclusion that the guardian angel of Celestial Lighthouse might be behind this, but they're not so sure. Other than that, they have these Air Ride Tournaments every once in a while, where they use mechanoid star machines to race across the craziest tracks ever made. Finally, there's the issue on Angelmons."

"Angelmons? Aren't they a fusion of both angels and demon beasts of some sort?" Adeline guessed.

"Yeah, that's right. No one knows how it was possible to fuse both the number one things that doesn't mix to be one, but it happened. There was a tale called "The Birth of the Angelmon Princess" that explains the origins of this fusion. The first Elemental Princess of Light was said to be naughty like a demon, as in she was mischievous. She often caused trouble and acted defiantly and rude to others, Princess Deva, she was like a little kid, a problem child or rather a problem princess. It was then, one day, a scream was heard from her room, and when the soldiers went to check it out, she was seen on the floor in agony. They offered to help her up, but she yelled at them and refused. That's when she felt pain surging through her and it seems she was hesitant, but never would anyone thought that she'd actually apologize for the first time, and the reason for that showed up when she transformed all of a sudden… into an angel. The angel took over Deva's body and used it to make amends and apologized to the people while explaining that Deva is what we call an Angelmon, and that she came out when she became at her meanest. Every time she became mean, the angel will take over her body and apologize every time. It seems that every person who's an Angelmon and acts mischievous for a certain period of time, the angel inside will take over them. Apparently, I do know someone who's is now cursed as an Angelmon and she's the Elemental Princess of Light, Dinah. Yeah, she's a jerk sometimes, especially when we played that dreaded King's Game… oh god, anything but that game… "

"An Angelmon Princess? Wow, I can't imagine what it's like having two sides reside in you. Wonder how long she was able to last not being mean to anyone." Adeline said. "Then again, that doesn't seem to appeal to you, Zeraila. You don't act that much rough around this time."

"What are you talking about? Of course I'm always rough in this form! Not to mention how pissed off I can be! Oh never mind! How about we go check out that reactor or something and see what's keeping us from leaving the ship, okay?!" I shouted.

"Alright, alright, god Zeraila! If I had that form, there's no way one little thing would trigger me." Adeline sweatdropped as she melted a hole in the prison and leaped out. I came after her and she went through the door with me following behind.

Objective: Head for the Central Engine Room on the bottom floor! Find out what they keep in there!

Mission Start!

The path as before was now a bit unsafe, but I didn't give much of a care anyways as I just knocked down the guards in a flash second without even trying. Adeline sweatdropped and growled a bit more as we progressed on.

The farther we went, the more security was sent to stop us. I know being kidnapped is one thing, but damn, Zero's gonna have to do better than that to stop us. I mean, why didn't he just warp us back home if he wanted us that bad? He could've taken over the galaxy by then, but honestly I don't even want to know what goes on in that head of his. I don't think he has one. But pondering over that fact made me think that it's not a flaw in his plans. It's like he's waiting for something by doing this. Yeah, like hell I'm waiting to find out what it is.

Another thing is about Dark Soul. He's a real creep, to be honest, and somehow almost resembles Nightmare, but in the form of Dark Matter. Honestly, I don't know his real intentions, for it seems he always wander off on his own doing whatever it is he does. They say he does have enough power to warp, but if that's the case, then why didn't they use him earlier when they first attacked? Hell if I know, but I don't get him at all. After all, this does seemed stalled for some reason and it's like they're waiting for something… if only I got more answers than questions, then maybe I would understand more.

But it's not like you'll get the answers to every problem right away, especially when you don't know whether that's the solution to the crisis. For example, Zero seems to have planned ahead of time to make sure nothing else interferes, for example, the 14 spirits and the Star Ring. Getting rid of what killed him in the first place as one of the sacred weapons and the spirits that created that was his first initiative after the weapons Kirby used were no more. After that, pretty much the rest followed. Whatever weapons Kirby used to destroy them are now ineffective for whatever reason now. Well, since the Sacred Weapon Star Ring has been shattered, who knows where the pieces are? So it all comes down to finding another way to stop them.

The main issue is their hostages, us. Obviously, I had beef with him before, but to attack against Popstar, it seems more personal like a grudge than just blind assault. For one thing, they're always saying about how I'm gonna serve as their unlimited dark fountain of energy for them. But as before, that may not be their actual intention for me. Something about this feels off though. If I had some sort of dark energy inside me that's the strongest, then maybe because of the curse that's why they refer to me for their go-to source. And when they found out I was on Popstar, they didn't have to worry about that since they knew what the curse will do anyway, and who lives there happens to be Kirby. Not a coincidence. I know they need me, but what do they need Adeline or any of my other childhood friends for? Mostly Adeline, because I don't know what use she'd be to them. And maybe kidnapping people for info seems kinda pointless unless one of them have what they want.

I know I'm worried about Kirby, hearing how he and his friends managed to survive through the three planets so far, but it's about Kazela, my little sister. She's been gone for almost a decade and now if I had to guess, she must be about 10 years old now. The day she disappeared, I thought she was dead almost. Losing mom and dad was sickening sorrowful enough, but she's all I have left, it seems, of my family. She had lost her memories, so she doesn't remember much, but thanks to Kirby, she's slowly regaining them little by little. I don't know how he does it, but for a star warrior that had no trace of his true origins or any parents or relatives, he does make a good older brother to her. Hmm, maybe I should see if Kirby or Karly had any parents or relative of some sort somehow once this is over.

Adeline's voice made me snap out of my thoughts as she points to the elevator that leads straight to the Central Engine Room. We entered inside as the freakishly realistic elevator takes us straight there.

Central Engine Room

The door opens wide to show a room with lots of realistic mechanical things that I'm sure my friend Zetra can point out. It was lit and well-constructed, like the inside of a ship would have. The interior was made out of some sort of mechanized metal white and grey and some other color that I can't point out at the moment. It does feel like an engine room, it has the elements of a normal engine room. Power cords installed to the ground was filled with a negative aura flow in it, and it circled straight to the core of the ship.

Adeline shuddered. "Gosh, first the baths, then the food and real ship inclusive rooms and areas, and now a real engine room? Yeah, you're right. There's no way that all of this can be real. Something's fishy. Just how are they doing it? Why?!"

"Exactly! That's my point! This seems to lead straight to the core if we follow it. Let's go, Adeline," I urged. "We should hurry now before they come- Look out!" I jumped at Adeline and pushed her out of way, avoiding the shot blast that was fired by surprise.

"W-what was that?!" Adeline cried out. My eyes glowed and simmered down as I discovered what shot the surprise attack.

"There's another Demon Beast guarding the reactor. It's further ahead from here. Let's take it out quickly before we draw any more attention here!" I declared, dashing through the hallway straight to the reactor. Adeline rushed behind and we both came into a halt in front of a giant area that has a door behind it that may lead to the core, unfortunately, it had a Demon Beast for a bodyguard.

"What the heck is that supposed to be?" Adeline asked.

It was a robot of some kind. Its arms were dual machine guns and dual gun blades were its legs for some reason. The color of it was now purple and black, the body was a massive fat armor, and its head was a lizard, literally with red eyes. It stared at us and roared.

"Another one… it's a Bullet Lizablade. Never thought I'd see that one again. Oh well, at least it wasn't the Unicorn from Hell that showed up, otherwise… I would've murdered it in a split second. Anyway, let's take it down quickly or we won't get anywhere." I cracked my knuckles. "Heh, at least I've found something to take out my anger on."

Lizablade loaded its dual guns and roared.

Escaping the Despair- Boss Battle

Zeraila & Adeline VS. Bullet Lizablade, Demon Chimera of Dark Matter (Boss Battle 1- Grandia 1 HD/Xerom Arrives- Tales of Hearts)

Boss Description: Also formerly a Demon Beast in Nightmare's Era, this mutant lizard, by an accident made by Nightmare when it swallowed bullets and bits of a broken blade before the fusion, is on par with the other demon beast Dragoon Serpentera in terms of firepower and strength and many more. Just why are they remastering fallen Demon Beasts into stronger chimeras in the first place? Nonetheless, you know the drill- take it out!

Engage Battle!

The demon beast aimed its left arm and fired. It was like mini explosions that followed us on the ground and we evaded swiftly. Circling around it, I jumped on its arm and sweep kicked it across the face, followed by an axe kick and a forward smash punch, blowing it away with the wind effect. It rebounded from the wall, somehow landing on its sword feet.

The lizard was distracted by me, it didn't notice in time to react when it got whacked by a giant sculpture made by Adeline. It was then she knocked it off its blade legs with the sculpture and with her brush she smacked it hard and against the wall. Then, she tossed crayon daggers after that; they each dug through the armor.

Pissed off, it fired with both gun arms this time. Bullets ricocheted off the walls in a frenzy and we evaded them all. It wasn't long before it ran out of bullets. So, it switched out the gun arms and traded places with the blades for the feet, and so they were on its arms now. It snorted and charged.

I made a temporary sword with Crystal Blade to counter the rush attack made. The sounds of a duel echoed and I parried every single attack and managed to push it back and tossed the sword right at it. It cleaved it in two with one sword arm. The other one ended up melting, due to Adeline's acid paint attack, and the armor also melted as well.

It was exposed as a skinny body that showed a dark crystal in the chest. The skin closed the crystal like regeneration. Lizablade was now in rage. Without even trying, I just punch it in the chest and knocked it back. Rushing at it, I attack in a flurry of moves and snapped my fingers, causing fire to consume the demon beast.

The lizard managed to shake off the flames, being scarred and burnt. It slashed the air like a maniac, sword beams shot out of nowhere. Don't know why, but it struck nowhere near any of us.

It wasn't done yet, but Adeline made sure of that by finishing it off with a hail of paint which made the lizard melt into nothing and soon it shattered, dropping a dark crystal behind.

"Heh, well, that was much easier than I thought it'd be." Adeline chuckled.

Bullet Lizablade has fallen! Victory! (Stage Clear- Kirby Mass Attack/Normal Victory- Grandia 1 HD)

You are now Level 14, the same as Kirby's party!

Kailaine and Adeline's Friendship increased a lot!

You got a Dark Crystal!

After that demon beast has fallen, the doors leading to the core of the ship opened up like a switch. The dark crystal was picked up by Adeline, which she stored in her pocket. She looked around to see if anyone else was coming, but no one else came.

"Well, at least no one's coming. That's a relief," She sighed. "I think we should hurry, Zeraila-"

"It's Kaila now," I corrected. "Zerosterlia has reached its limit, so I'm back to normal Kaila again." Everything that changed ever since I turned into Zeraila returned back to the default status. My eyes were sapphire blue again.

"Oh, then in that case, we should hurry, Kaila. I don't know, but who knows how much attention was drawn here?" Adeline stated, heading towards the door and I followed after.

Core of Warship Dark Matter

The room was expansively big and almost maze like with the stairs. There was something about this that looks familiar. It looks like the inside of a mechanized pocket watch with shifting gears, but in the form of a reactor room that had sources, backup power, and all other stuff you'd normally find. No one was around, for some reason, so that's good, I guess. It was lit up well. I thought it'd be dark and red or something.

"Huh, so this is the reactor room of the ship. Weird." I stated.

"Weird about what?"

"I had much higher expectations when I was first kidnapped. I thought they'd put me in an eternal slumber all the way back home to find myself trapped in a crystal or maybe I'm forced to watch what my home planet has become while I was gone. Heck, none of those things happened, although at least something similar to those would be what someone would expect them to do to me."

"Pretty reasonable, but how does going into a reactor gonna answer the question as to why we can't literally step foot outside the ship?" Adeline asked.

"How should I know? After all, the best way to find the answers is to think of a possibility you wouldn't expect to be the answer to that question. In our case, the best way to find the source of what's keeping us here is to look in a place we'd least expect it, so the core reactor was my first initial guess. We won't know for sure unless we check it out and confirm it ourselves. The other answers could be solved by Kirby and the others on their own. Come on, let's go check it out and not waste any time."

We traversed through the maze of stairs in order to reach the center. It was tiring and painful, like we're running a stairway marathon. Eventually, we've manage to reach the center, gasping and wheezing.

There it was, the core reactor of this living ship. It was a crystal heart of purple, and it's floating above a pedestal that was big, surrounded by seemingly 8 pillars circling around it. The heart pulsated like a living heart. Even though this is a living thing, the inside looks mechanical.

It was labeled as, "Heart of Darkness."

"The reactor is a heart? And to think Dark Matter never had one. But that doesn't explain why they can feel emotions or talk at all. It's like they've adapted easily to act like us." I stared at the heart. "But, you know, this reminds me of how the sacred palace of the 14 spirits looks like in my dream earlier. The Cosmic Heart Shard was in the middle, and all 14 spirits were the pillars around it. All of their energy is transferred to the center to maintain the stability. If all of them weren't there, the core would be easy to take over, shatter, or corrupt. That's exactly what they did at home."

"Without the spirits or the gems that stabilizes the heart, it wouldn't end well. But I still don't see how that keeps us here. There's supposed to be at least something to fill the pedestals there. There's nothing in any of them. Just what do they use to keep the stability if they gradually losing dark power? What would be able to supply them with enough for stability?" Adeline asked. "I hardly doubt a single Dark Crystal would be enough, but they haven't found that much."

"Dark Crystals… I see, they're rare to find nowadays because there was no need for them unless it was necessary. I'm not even sure how many there are left. When you hear about certain planets in the Cosmic Galaxy, each has a specific element tied to it. Normally, when you want Dark Crystals, you'd most likely think they originate from Shadow Star, but apparently that's not the case. That planet's element is mostly psychic, and understandably it's called Shadow Star, but those are two completely different things. Besides, that planet's basically like Tokyo or Japan or whatever you'd like to call it. Back to the point, I don't think there's a planet where these crystals originate from, but it seems pretty popular back then." I elaborated.

"Hmm, maybe back then because it was the effect of using it cause them to be rare? Aren't Dark Crystals dangerous, since it uses dark energy and stores them inside? If that's the case, then why do I even have this one around?" Adeline looks at the crystal, appearing to be in a trance. After a while, she shakes her head and drops it. "Ugh, I don't think it's a good idea to hold onto this. But where do they keep all the crystals they find?"

"I don't know. But maybe they're planning on keeping something in those pedestals in the future for something, otherwise it won't work if they have the same thing on each; you must have something different for each of them. I'm not sure," I theorized. "For sure, I thought we'd find the source of this, but I guess that logic doesn't apply here, it seems. Maybe we should head back, this was pointless after all-"

"Hey, Kaila. Look at this." Adeline was near the core, staring at something like she saw a ghost and was too pale to move.

I sighed and walked over to her. "What's wrong, Adeline? It's just a mechanical living heart, nothing to be surprised about. All hearts does that, you know."

She appears to be in shock, her eyes twitching and her body shaking, and her face looks like she saw something disturbing. "Yeah, but would it make it any creepier if the heart turns into a living human?!"

"Huh?" I asked again. "The heck are you talking about?"

Adeline grabbed my head and turns it in the direction of the reactor heart. My eyes widen and blushed as I almost let out a high-pitched squeal, but covered myself mouth quickly. "Oh my- did I just see a living beating heart turn into a human right now?!"

"Ah, that was a great nap I had. Too bad it started on a sour note." It was a girl that was standing there in the middle of where the heart of darkness was supposed to be. Her hair was radiant pink and long, and there was an artificial headband that was in the form of cat ears. Her eyes were colored pink and her tan black skin marked with ancient holographic writings. Her body had a sexier appeal and her boobs were bustier than ours even, and to add to that she had some sort of solar veil she wore; she does seem like she's wearing heels from my point of view. Oh, did I forget to mention she had a tail too? She rubbed her eyes for a while before looking at us and smiled.

"Well, I'd never thought I'd get visitors who would come to see me after this predicament I caused."

I slowly approached her, cautious of the unexpected. "Okay, just so we're not mistaking what we just saw, are you actually the ship's heart of darkness, which somehow assumed the form of a human?" This felt awkward.

"Why, thank you for noticing the obvious, and it's nice to feel a pure aura for once, Princess Kailaine and Paintress Adeline," She giggles.

"Huh? How did you know who we are? We didn't even introduce ourselves yet!" Adeline asked, quite surprised.

"I've been in here for as long as I can remember, I think. I've been able to sense all kinds of energy unknown to these behemoths of Zero, to say the least. That's the fate I've been cursed to serve ever since his wish was forcibly granted. What a sad life that is now." She sighed.

"What do you mean by that? What are you exactly?" I asked. "And what's your name, most importantly?"

"Oh, my name? I've been given the name Niva by my masters when I was born, so you can call me that. Anyway, with introductions out of the way, let me explain myself. You may be wondering why I'm a heart inside a being of darkness that doesn't feel emotions, am I right? Well, a long time ago, on a distant land or dimension, there were people of an advanced civilization that you folks know only as "The Ancients", located on a planet named Halcandra," Niva explained.

"Wait a minute, The Ancients?" I asked. "Are you serious? That wasn't a fairytale?!"

"Of course not, silly. I'm serious," Niva meowed, licking her arm like a cat. "The ancients were, as before, an advanced civilization and they crafted many legendary treasures, like for example, a sentient ship known as the Lor Starcutter and the Master Crown, a crown of unlimited power, but it doesn't stop there. They go on to create multiple treasures and sentient beings and artifacts with sentience, such as a robot known as HR-D3. You may not know this, but you know about the Star Rod on Popstar? Yeah, they seemed to have created that as well as to give the people of Popstar the ability to dream."

"The Fountain of Dreams and the Star Rod actually came from them?" Adeline marveled. "I think we should be grateful for that."

"That's right. The Star Rod isn't the only weapon they made. There are also numerous weapons they made, but who knows how many there are? Then, they decide which planet is most suitable to keep each one or entrust someone with it. If the weapon is made by multiple pieces or energy, they'll scatter the pieces across the planet hidden until it was necessary for them to be rebuilt, or they entrust someone to keep it with them during their lives. Apparently, it seems they like Popstar the most for obvious reasons, but on rare occasions, they'd give some of them to other planets just in case it was in danger."

"I see, then. What about you, though? Those superiors you mentioned were the Ancients, right?" I asked. "They gave you the name Niva, so does that mean you're created by the Ancients as well?"

"That? Well yeah, the one other know creation of celestial species they crafted were comet-like cats made of machinery and debris known as Clockwork Stars. They gave each and every one they've made the ability to grant a single wish from anyone who summons them by collecting the Seven Star Power Energy from the fountains of different planets. Soon, they made a race full of Clockwork Stars throughout the different kinds of galaxies there is. We're able to grant whatever the person desires in a blink of an eye. While that sounds amazing on the outside, it's really not. The downside is that we're obliged to grant any wish, no matter how evil or twisted it is; also, we can't grant another wish in a couple of years once that wish is done. We're also made to solve any crisis that the planet can't handle themselves, like the time when the Sun and Moon fought on Popstar." Niva shook her head and sighs heavily.

"Too bad things went the way they did that time," added Adeline.

Niva continues on.

"Even so, there are other mysteries that doesn't seem to fit together. With many different things happening at once, we don't know what really caused this mess to happen. That Great Galaxy War 200 years ago… the birth of Nightmare Enterprises and his second attack then, the rest are unknown. Sorry, I went off-topic. Anyway, that ability came with consequences, for as certain individuals use that power for their own selfish desires, resulting in events that are familiar to you. There were many who were forced to grant those wishes and were unexpectedly fated to be destroyed."

"Wait, what do you mean by fated to be destroyed?" Adeline asked. "What happened on Popstar, could it be...?"

"Twice it happened. Obviously, you're aware of that one time when the Sun and Moon was fighting, and whoever summoned Nova to stop the fight got backstabbed and that guy's wish to take over the planet was accidentally granted. The other time was when one was used to reactivate a mother computer known as Star Dream. Somehow whoever reactivated it got their hands on a blueprint for the machine and programmed it to fuse with that Clockwork Star, making it a genocide comet. After that, it seems that was the end of it… until now," Niva said, foreshadowing something.

"Don't mean to be rude, but what does this has to do with you again? Why are you a heart for this ship thingy?" I questioned.

"That's what I'm getting to. To put simply, I'm a Clockwork Star. All of them have hearts similar to the one you see now, the Nucleus of a Nova. These pillars protect the Nucleus Heart, and should anything happen to them, the heart will be vulnerable to anything. This is how the hero, Kirby managed to stop that comet from colliding into Popstar. I don't know, but it seems this was how Zero actually succeeded in corrupting the Cosmic Heart Shard, the source of crystal energy on your planet, by banishing the 14 Gem Spirits and somehow shattering the Ancient's Sacred Weapon of your planet: The Star Ring, seeing it as a hindrance to his plans as part of it. The first part of his plans was to first get rid of anything that opposes or serves as a threat to them, or maybe use some of them to their advantage. It was then they decided to pay a visit to the Clockwork Stars in the meantime."

"Does that mean the one they summoned… is you?!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, unfortunately it was me who answered the call, but when I did, the next thing I knew was masses of them jumped at me and slowly invaded my Novanic Form. Due to their influence, I also fell prey to this form and they used my Novanic Form as their ship and transformed the inside to a design of their own. They then trapped me inside my own heart somehow and I was forced to adapt to a human form, the one you see now, but I remain trapped as a heart for the remainder of time. I was made to control their dark stability since they possessed my body and they're infused with me, meaning anything that happens to them, the same will go for me. But, do you know what's keeping you from escaping?" Niva asked.

"That's what we're trying to find out! Wait, you know what's keeping us from escaping?" Adeline asked.

Niva sighs and says: "The truth is, they forced me to grant their wish to make sure the individuals they capture to never be able to escape this place ever until they arrive at Crystal Star."

After hearing this, we both yelled in unison. "WHAT THE HECK?! WE'RE STUCK HERE BECAUSE OF A FORCED WISH MADE BY DARK MATTER?! OH HECK NO!"

"Heck yeah that's the truth," She sighs. "That does sound like a waste of a wish, but I guess that didn't matter to them, because everything else was set in motion. All they had to do was wait for the bait's curse to take effect and turn everyone into humans to drain their original bodies' energy and convert it to dark energy. The last thing to do is to capture the targets and make it back to your planet for whatever it is they desire."

"So basically, this was the main trap all along," I shuddered.

"And we played right into it without knowing." Adeline finished. "To think they'd actually have the brains to pull off this extremely cheap, crazy, stupid convoluted plan that actually worked because we were so oblivious to it. So, that's the end of the road for us, huh?"

"I guess waiting for Kirby to save us now really is our only option left. This sucks," I sighed. "Well, now we've got an answer that we can't do anything about anymore. But, just to be sure, since the Star Ring is also a weapon crafted by The Ancients, if there's more than one, then why did Zero only target the Star Ring if he knew there was more than one sacred weapon that can harm him?"

Niva didn't at first understand, but after processing it a bit, she may have come to a conclusion. "I'm not entirely positive, but about the Star Ring, maybe there was something special about it that you may not have known before that caused them to break it. Maybe someone in your family knew the secret behind this and something more lore-like that triggered this, probably someone you'd least expect to know the secrets… but I doubt anyone comes to mind when hearing about this. Perhaps your personal guard knew, but who knows? Speaking of which, what happened to him?"

"I… I don't remember after that… I hope he's okay though…" I shook my head.

Niva shook her head again. "Eh, I'm sure he'll be okay. Anyway, there must be something about the Star Ring that makes Zero break it into pieces and all other things that occurred after that. That's one of the mysteries, but if you wanted out of here, then that's a problem, since I'm the reason why you can't escape. If you want to leave that badly, then… you don't have a choice… but to resort to this…"

"Wait, you mean… no, that's crazy!" I immediately realized what Niva meant by this.

"Yeah, if you want to get rid of this ship and escape, you'll have to destroy me inside the heart," Niva declared. "If the heart is shattered, then the wish will be canceled and you'll be free from the wish's chains of imprisonment that's keeping you here." Niva's face showed a sign of no regrets.

She smiles. "No holding back, princess. If you can…"

Adeline and I looked at each other, not saying a word. Well, we got what we came for, but never would I thought that our only chance of escaping would lie in the hands of a young female clockwork star that turned human, forced and possessed by Dark Matter. I've always wanted to see a clockwork star, but not like this though. So much for that hope. This young comet girl has so much she could be doing right now if they hadn't possessed her and forced that wish out of her. Now, not only her, but everyone in the galaxy is being dragged into this dark mess left and right no matter where you go, no one's truly safe from the said-destruction that awaits them all if nothing's done to prevent this.

The only way for us to get out is to… kill Niva… no, I don't want any more casualties happening anymore! There has to be another way, there has to be… we can't kill her because of Dark Matter; I want to get out of here, but I'd rather be stuck here if it meant killing an innocent person to do so… What's a princess to do in a situation like this?! I made my decision when I thought of something.

"What's wrong, princess? I don't mind sharing the same fate as the others as long as I'm free from their grasp, although the shell they've possessed will create a shell replica, only without my Novanic body and power. Come on, do you want out or not?" Niva impatiently meowed.

"No," We both replied.

"Eh?" said Niva. "What do you mean "No"?"

"There's no way we're just gonna leave knowing that killing a Nova or anyone innocent was our ticket out of here! You've still have an infinite time or whatever life ahead of you! I refuse to let anyone die this time, considering how much lives they took and possessed! Don't mess with us here, Niva! There has to be another way we can all escape together without having to kill you in exchange, I know you know that!" I shouted at her.

"Yeah, true, but how am I supposed to leave here when I'm stuck as a heart?"

"Don't forget, you are also cursed as a human, just like Kaila and all who have been affected by the curse!" Adeline added. "You're trapped within that position, unable to leave your chains, but don't worry! We'll find a way to free you as well and escape together! All three of us here! We promise! Please give us a chance, Niva!"

After much thought, silence from her was broken when tears flowed out of her human eyes. She wiped them off, still sniffing. "… All right, you got me. Killing me would've been the most effective method and the quickest to leave, but since you don't want me to die that badly, I suppose I'll take your word for it. You're right anyways."

"The only thing is how…" I huffed and exhaled. "I don't think any of us has an effective arte to simply separate her from Dark Matter that easily. There has to be something around this ship we can use to free her, because as far as I can tell, there's nothing in the room that'll just simply release her from the core pedestal. Best we head back and find another way."

"That's okay. I'll wait here until you can free me with whatever you find. You might wanna get going, though. I hear the rumbling of a group of soldiers marching here right now," Niva warned.

"Oh crap! We've gotta bail, Kaila! We'll see you later, Niva! We promise!" Adeline drew an escape portal for us out and we jumped in it, warping back to the start and with Niva waving bye and assuming the form of the Nova Heart Nucleus, as if nothing ever happened.

Looks like the next time you see us, we'll find a way to escape the ship along with Niva, now that we know the truth behind this ship and all. Until then, take care of Kirby for us. But, for some reason, I can't help but feel something else is happening on another planet… eh, I'm sure it's nothing.

Mission Complete! Info found about the ship of darkness! You found out that this ship is actually made out of the body of a summoned clockwork star, known as Niva, and her wasted wish was to keep you from escaping! Now you'll have to find another way to escape without killing Niva as a last resort. Better hurry up.

Meanwhile… on Popstar…

The citizens on Popstar were all okay, if you were wondering. They continued on about their daily business, but they were all still worried about Kirby and the others who were risking their human lives to save Kailaine. The Cappys were frantic.

If you're wondering about the commander, Blazel, who we haven't heard since the end of the prologue in a while, he was still recovering from a fatal wound in his arm and not mentioned, a blow near his heart. He's okay though, so don't worry. The Cappies, now human, tried their best to treat and nurse him back to health.

Escargoon, now temporarily taking over the castle with the aid of human Tiff and Tuff, along with Sword and Blade Knight, were basically watching over Blazel as he explains some of their backstory of Crystal Star to them. They tried to see if they can find out more about the incident now.

It wasn't easy finding that sort of thing though. Answers will be answered with more questions, and you don't get much on the other way around anyways in a tough spot like this. For now, they had to believe that everything will be alright.

Since Popstar was of no use to Dark Matter, there'd be no reason for them to head back, right? Of course not! What else do Popstar have that they'd forgot during their first attack? Who knows? They won't come back in a little while or something…

Sword and Blade Knight went to check under the castle for other reasons. Things have gotten mild ever since Meta Knight went to chase after Dark Matter a few weeks ago, raising some concerns. They went to help rebuild the town and help the others who were injured as well during those remaining days ago. What a tough task that was, considering the damage that was done in by that much.

The two knights entered casually into the underground basement of Castle Dedede, apparently trying to make sure of something. The doors opened wide, a massive storage to keep a giant warship in, the Halberd… They went inside…

Only to find out it wasn't there.

They both gasped. "Wait a minute! What happened to the Halberd?! It was just here the last time we checked! How?!" shouted Blade.

"More importantly, who the hell's that over there?" They both drew their swords at the cloaked figure. That person turned around and faced towards the two human knights as they both charged at will.

"Hmm, being hasty, aren't we?" The figure smiled as he parried off their frontal attack with a swift of an arm. Both of them continued to swing attacks at him, who swiftly dodged each swinging blade without even trying.

"Tch! What's up with this guy?!" Sword grunted, continuing to attack. "He's not even trying at all!"

"Damn, what a pain! Take this!" Blade tried to roll and backslash him from behind, but without anticipation, the figure punched both of them at once and kicked them aside away from him.

"Sorry, I wish not to waste my time with you runts, not especially when I've got what we've forgot to get as well."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Don't tell me… you…!"

"About time you've figured it out, not that it'll matter to you since you can't do anything about it. With this, I'll take my leave here. Later, suckers." He warped in a flash of light in an instant.

The two knights managed to get up, but now they're wary of what has been stolen. At that time, both Tiff and Tuff came down to the basement and rushed over to them.

"Sword! Blade! Are you two okay?!" asked Tiff.

"Yo guys, what happened here?! Did someone attack you?!" said Tuff.

Sword and Blade looked at each other and said, "Someone's stolen the Halberd!"

"What?! No way!" They gasped in unison.

"As if that earlier assault was bad enough!" Blade growled. "But who would steal the Halberd at a time like this?"

"Blade… could that guy have something to do with Dark Matter as before?" Sword came to a conclusion.

"No… we have to warn Kirby and the others about this! They could use that against them somehow!"

Save your Progress? Yes.

Now Saving… Save Complete!

End of Episode 3!

Author's Note Summary:

Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed Episode 3 of this! So, after playing Kirby Star Allies, lots of lore was spit out from Hyness and that gave me an idea for this part of the chapter. So, besides that, I also used the ancients as part of it as well, since the people that banished the mages seems to be the Ancients. Some parts of it are also based off what I thought about it, like the Ancients created the legendary weapons that were used to slay certain final bosses, most specifically, Dark Matter, and that some were given to certain individuals, like Daroach's Triple Star Cane, used to slay Dark Nebula. It's just my theory that I used in this chapter.

Aside from that, there's Niva, one of the clockwork stars. Apparently, she somehow got possessed and was forced inside her own heart when they took over and used her Novanic Body as the ship and shaped it into a form of their own. The mechanical parts inside were all parts of the inside of a regular Nova. Don't know how it was possible to do this, but it happened anyway. Now, they'll have to find another way to free Niva since conveniently there's no button that says "Release Heart." You didn't think they'd just leave something ironic right there, right? So, there must be another method they used to do this in the first place. Who knows?

And from the last bit there, the Halberd's been stolen. It looks like you can tell where this is going after all. Anyway, just let me know what you thought about this chapter in your reviews, and I'll see you next time! Bye!