Chapter/Tale 4: Platinum & Dragalares DxD: Act 6
Author's Note Intro:
Hey guys! I'm back! Honestly, I don't have that much to say this time, so let's just get on with the main event, okay? It's time to duke it out with the boss of Skylight Star and hopefully stop him before time is up! Will they be able to pull it off? Let's find out! Well, you all know the drill, so let's get on with the needless violence part of the boss act! Enjoy!
Now loading Act 6… Load complete!
Meanwhile…
While the fight was about to start or somewhere in that time frame, the other party was too busy defending the city against the many monsters that the Halberd had attracted earlier. They ranged from all sorts of monsters you'd see in a skyworld to ones that don't seem to fit, but at the same time it kinda did.
The four princesses of Wind, Fire, Aqua, and Light were all exhausted from a wave of monsters in a zombie survival. Having used up all of their energy, there were out of mana, but it appears that the last wave of monsters have ended for good. They dropped to their knees in a temporary victory. The town and all of its damages were ceased for now.
"Ew, thanks a lot, Adena," Merina complained. "Now my clothes are soaking wet!"
"Please, all you're wearing is a tank top, black shorts, and white flats. It'll dry up in a few minutes, honey," Adena bluntly answered. "Also, that's your excessive sweat coming from your body."
"You're one to talk! You're a mermaid, for crying out loud!" Adena shrugs to that remark.
"Come on, Merina," yawned Callie, who positioned herself to take a nap on the ruined ground and sleep like a cat- no wait, she's half cat and her cat ears and tail have popped out at the moment. She does this all the time. "At least you don't have to wear something as embarrassing as I am wearing. But I don't mind it at all anyways."
"Callie! Why are you napping right in the middle of the town now?!" Merina crawled over to the napping Callie, unaware that her dog ears and tail have popped out. The gale princess then accidentally barks out loud, and almost attracting unwanted attention to herself.
"Says the princess who barked out loud just now," Adena smirked. Merina realized this and irks back in embarrassment. "Anyway, we should head back and check in with the others for the time being. Merina, pick up Callie and let's get out of here. Dinah, we're heading back."
However, Dinah was nowhere to be found at the moment. "Eh?! Where did the angelmon princess run off to now?! Wasn't she here a second ago?" Adena gasped.
"Actually, she ran off to the lighthouse where everyone else is without warning," mumbled Callie, being picked up by Merina and was still in a daze of sleeping. "Said something about looking for Meta Knight once she flew off."
"Dinah! You've gotta be kidding me! You better not die on us on the way there!" Adena shouted, hoping her words would reach her. But she's way long gone at that point, already soaring through the horizon of the descent of the sun that would soon turn into darkness eventually.
"Honestly, I can't imagine what it's like to have to share a body with two split personalities," Adena shook her head. "Well, if that's what she's planning to do, then I guess the two of them made up their mind already. I hope it doesn't cost them…"
"Adena, stop monologuing and help me carry Callie back!" groaned Merina. "Why does everyone always try to make me suffer the most?!"
"Gee, quit complaining, Merina!" Adena shook her head once again. "It's bad enough with what's happening now, but it's gonna eventually get worse from this point forward. What else can that one eyed freak throw at us now?"
"Oh, and Fololo and Falala are gone as well," Callie muttered, leaving the two princesses in another state of shock.
"Are you serious right now?!" They both yelled. Callie nodded slowly and transformed into her cat form, landing from Merina's breasts and into her hands. She didn't care much about it.
"Yeah, they'll be fine… probably," She yawned. "So will Dinah, especially when she has something important to claim back right now."
"And what would that be?" Merina questioned. "Answer me, furball!"
"Don't worry, you'll figure it out once it's over," Callie meowed and rubs her head against Merina's chest before taking a nap.
"So much for the princess of fire," Merina sweatdrops. "But will they really be okay as she claim so? Specifically Dinah."
"That all varies on why she went after Meta. Either way, anything can happen in a twist, so we'll just have to wait and see the outcome later. Right after we deal with sleeping beauty here. Try not to drag behind, Merina," Adena shrugged, already heading to the tower.
"I knew you were making me do all the heavy work! Why me?!" Merina complained, barking in a dog tone as they walked back to the base.
That reminds me, what has become of the heroes at the lighthouse? Let's watch and see!
Now back to the fight…
"Taste the power of the Demon Beast Knight, Peganoa, you filthy mice!" Peganoa shouted as he summoned his weapon and charged full force at us.
Brawl with the Dark Invaders- 21th World Boss Battle
Party VS Peganoa Knight, Demon Pegasus Beast Undefeated (Nothing is Promised- Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth/The Dreadnought- Tales of Destiny 2)
Boss Description: The fourth possessed shell of Dark Matter; Peganoa Knight is what you would say to be related to Meta, Morpho, and the all-famous Galacta Knight, although we have no way of confirming this for sure. Nevertheless, as a Beast Knight who was released from his crystal prison seal that is similar to Galacta's by the previous Angelmon Princess Deva, just like Queen Arecena, he ended up attempting world domination with an army of scrapped angeloids and beast knights of 10,000,000 in total until he was beaten by the one known as the Masked Angel, whose identity is so painstakingly obvious the second the title was mentioned. Anyway, you know the drill, but be warned. Anytime in the fight he will unleash his beast form, Skylares, at any given moment! Be careful!
Warning: You have 30 minutes to defeat all of his phases before the invasion starts or the battle is forfeit… probably. Ah, who knows? Try to take him down before the time is up, okay?
Peganoa Knight attacks with fury! Time to duke it out! Now go!
"It's time to die, you little mice!" Peganoa emitted powerful waves that knocked us back and off our feet.
Skidding across the floor, Aege had already made his first cocky move and attempted a first strike at Peganoa with a horizontal kick. "You ready for this?! Hya!" He backflipped bounced off the twin lance and boosted down. He spin kicked multiple times before Peganoa counter with a full blow to the gut, sending him backwards.
As Aege flew into a pillar that crumbled to pieces, we had let our guard down in that instant. Well, almost did. Peganoa threw fast blows at everyone else in a speed no one could predict to counter it, knocking them aside like ragdolls. When he went at me, I immediately blocked his stab that push me back a little bit, and it hurt as hell!
Peganoa then lunged for a melee attack, and I swiftly dodged them all on edge. The second I dodged a low sweep, Aege rushed out went for the kill again, grabbing him and kicking him for a launch attack into a pillar. The knight bounced off and upwards when Aege tried to punch him into a crater, leaving him open for a down spike kick into the ground.
Aege rolled backwards and grabbed Saito without warning, tossing him into Peganoa, who just pounded into the ground and the two collided with each other. It was meant as a distraction so he could combo him as a surprise, but Peganoa shot light lasers at him and exploded without warning. He grabbed Saito and tossed him at Aege as payback, tossing them back with the others who recovered from his earlier attack.
"Guys, get your heads out of the clouds and do something!" I shouted, while dodging all of Peganoa's twin lance attacks at the same time. "I could use some help here!" I was able to land an uppercut on him and knocked him back a little bit before flicking spectral bullets at him and fast.
"We would if we hadn't got knocked out!" shouted Dedede.
"BULL!" I called out. I made a thin yet sharp javelin out of light and hurled it at the Pegasus, pinning him to a pillar and snapped my fingers, making it explode on will. It caused a paralysis status that made him stiff for a few moments.
Despite that, he didn't care about the javelin that pierced his right shoulder and exploded. Peganoa then slowly started walking towards us, affected by the paralysis. He didn't hesitate to raise his blade and fire more beams. I whacked them aside like nothing. Looking at the rest of the party, I rolled my eyes and groaned as I held my hand out and healed them with light.
"There you all go," I huffed. "Hopefully there won't be any complaints in the middle of a freaking battle! I thought you all wanted to beat the living crap out of him, not be the ones to get beaten the crap out of by him! If not, then that makes you all-"
"Can it, you cheeky bastard!" shouted Dedede as he leaped from the crater. Everyone else got up, triggered and angry, ready to kill. Hopefully not bloodshed, but still.
"Finally! Seriously, you all suck if you're gonna be that way from here on out!" I retorted smugly.
"Shut up, Kirby!" Everyone yelled, but I didn't care. By that time, the paralysis has worn off already on Peganoa, giving him the chance to backdash away from an all-out attack. Everyone jumped from their attack and went all out on the knight.
Peganoa jumped back and stands his ground, first by blocking Dedede's Hammer Toss, followed by a barrage of spears tossed by Bandana Dee and a splash boomerang staff by Aqua. He took a lot of damage from the overflow of constant attacks and was caught off guard by Dylan and Dash in a duo attack, chained for another attack- a high kick from Karly, and the last two went for the kill. A chain spark pushed everyone back.
"Feh! Interesting… but you're sadly mistaken if that display of yours will stop me! I'm unstoppable!" Peganoa shouted.
Phase Two Activated!
His body color then took a shift to a pair of dark, red, white and purple or whatever, but just like Arecena, he's changed completely.
"Huh, this seems familiar, where have I seen this before- oh wait, the queen did that last time too. So cliché," Dash groaned.
"Don't care. It's not like he gets stronger just from doing that," Aege mocked. "The only thing he's getting is my fist rammed through his stomach!"
"Oh ho, you wish," The Pegasus chortled. "Just think of it as a small exercise activity and that I was just only warming up. Now the real fun begins!" His cape then transformed into angelic wings, just like Meta Knight.
"No way, just like the time we fought that butterfly knight…" Dylan stuttered.
"Butterfly knight? What are you talking about, Dylan?" I asked.
"When Meta and I were at Timeless Canyon, we encountered a butterfly who then transformed into a living knight who calls himself Morpho Knight. He did the same thing too with his cape, and he was incredibly formidable too! Said he had some beef with Galacta Knight or something like that. Now that I think about it, you don't suppose he's like the other two knights, could he?" Dylan summarized.
"Are you serious? Then that would mean… no, let's leave that matter for later," I ordered. "But I suppose we could find out a bit from this brawl."
"You done? Good. Let's take this outside, shall we?" He lifted up his blade and stabbed the ground with it, opening the roof of the lighthouse immediately, launching all of us into the air at mercy.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" We all screamed, hurled into the open sea sky. And Aqua's already at her limit.
"OH GODDAMMIT! THAT UNICORN'S THE WORST!" She clenched onto Bandana Dee again and held him tight.
"Aqua- ack! You're holding on too- ack!- tight again!" He choked out.
"For your information and for the last time, I'm a Pegasus," Peganoa smirked. "Sink that into your brains for when I send you lot to hell." A swift slash of his blade, and it was enough to blow us backwards.
Without realization, we had landed on some kind of tower circle in one piece. The knight flew up and levitated to where we were. I quickly got up and spotted rails nearby; Peganoa was moving backwards anyways.
With that, I shouted to everyone, "Guys! Get onto the rails and go!" I jumped on one of them. The rest followed.
Rail Riding
When riding on rails in battle mode, especially in the side-scrolling action fusion RPG mode, keep in mind the angle will shift from 2D to 3D constantly. Just like in Air Ride, the controls remain the same, but with a few changes. First, melee attacks won't work unless the enemy is close by. Second, you can counterattack if the enemy swoops in on you or your teammates. Third, to change rail lanes, just press A and flick the left stick to do so; you can avoid targeted attacks that way too. You can still jump in place in your lane. Finally, I suggest that you use long ranged weapons or attacks on this one. Well then, have fun!
The rails took us straight to the enemy, around and over the spiral towers that loomed nearby the lighthouse. Peganoa descended and hovered backwards, preparing to strike while we're riding on the rails. It was a good thing Sonic taught me how to do this in Smash, otherwise I wouldn't last a second here. Seriously, it's way harder than it looks.
Anyway, the Pegasus motioned his blade and slashed through the air, making hails of light shards fire at command. Most of us evaded, while the few parried them aside. Aege, once again, leaped for another rush attack after a shard pierced his left shoulder.
His fist was caught and Peganoa socked him in the gut, flung him backwards into the rail. Aege bounced back and boosted forward and got his revenge by freezing him in a ripple, rushing around him and attacking at the same time. After that, he snapped his fingers, and Peganoa took every single hit landed and the last one knocked him further backwards.
He skid backwards in midair and teleports back to his original place. He flips and soars towards each of us with his blade in front. Aiming for me, I ducked and he missed. Karly jumps to avoid the attack, and he missed. Dedede parried the attack and dodged. Bandana Dee side dodges as well as Aqua, who managed to strike him in the back after jumping into the air in advance with relentless staff.
After that, he zipped around and bounced into a spinning spike ball that shot drill horn needles from every angle and direction, turning into a bullet hell rail stage. And that means lots and lots of dodging. But it's really hard to do so if you're riding a rail, especially when the path curves left and right, up and down, loops and so on.
That moment, the rails took us to a spring pad that shot us into the air all at once, and Peganoa backdashed away, unaware that I was right behind him instantly because of Solatea's ability to teleport freely in battle and took a horizontal spike kick after I grabbed him by the wings and launched him further back. Spinning backwards, he skids in midair and flies off, after making it rain thunder of light everywhere.
Landing onto the cut off part of the rails with everyone else, we were ascending upwards spiral a nearby tower, and a spring bounced us the remainder of the ride and onto the roof of it. We witnessed the knight as he soars off into the horizon and radiates energy around him; debris and thunder levitated at his mercy like he's god.
"Oh Jesus! Move your bodies, suckers!" Aege warned us, already dashing ahead of us. We had to run too.
Peganoa unleashed a destructo-beam of light at us, one that was large enough to eradicate the whole planet. I snapped my fingers and warped everyone away from the beam as it shaves and clears out multiple towers at once.
We reappeared to a nearby tower that wasn't blasted to smithereens, watching the knight go trigger happy on the remaining towers, causing instant destruction everywhere. The beam ceased then.
The knight then flew up and soared around the area, whistling with his two fingers for a command attack. On cue again, a swarm of light missiles popped out from the wonders beyond the cloud sea like Japanese snake dragons, positioned and locked loaded like a rocket launcher. Seriously, can they use another attack other than elemental missiles? It's starting to become a cliché now. Oh well, nothing I can do about it but to do my job.
It had never crossed our minds about the time limit, but I suppose it'll end once we deal with him in a few moments. Anyways, I decided to change things up a little as Nimbus was gonna take his role in this part. He agreed to it luckily.
Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. Just to be clear, I never mentioned that spirit attacks can merge with an ability's attack. However, doing so will consume your mana greatly, so overuse is not an option. Needless to say, the spirit's attacks are limited to countering specific enemy moves, such as the elemental missiles for example. It's powerful, regardless, and the stun time is extended than the usual stun time. Just watch out for your MP, a fair warning to you. Half of each member's skills are MP based. This one time, I'll activate the attack for you.
Magic Attack: Jolting Lance! 5 stars left!
"Let's do it! Jolting Lance!" Nimbus shouted. At once, I placed out my hand fixed at the swarm of missiles that were fired, and in the center was an oval shaped light ball, fused with Jolting Lance that was about to develop in a matter of seconds. Just as soon as they were gonna hit us, Aege froze the mass of them in a huge time ripple in a second, giving us the chance to attack.
At that moment, we both unleashed a medium sized pole beam shot at the grouped together missiles, piercing through them all and knocking them all over the area and out of control, whereas the lance struck Peganoa and pinned him midair, stunning him in midair and forcing him to obey at whim.
With this, I swung him around like crazy like a hammer to a nail, ramming him into walls and towers and eventually flung him across the sky, which coincidentally had him crash into the main lighthouse from the open rooftop. When we got there by teleportation, he was immediately stunned and on his knees. Another chance to attack again presents itself once more.
Turns out Aege put an end to this by launching Saito at him for the finisher, and it ended in success. After the rebound, the knight was flipped into the air and landed backwards, with his weapon landing stuck to the ground. That ends that. Saito wasn't very happy with that surprise attack.
"Ow, what the heck, Aege?! Haven't you tossed me around enough like a volleyball, you sleezeball?!" Saito continued to rub his head, which now spurted a bloody leak like a broken geyser and Aqua came to heal him, who just came over her fear of heights… probably.
"Who cares about how you feel, stupid? All's fair in love and war, and you just experienced the love factor of it!" Laughed Aege.
"Where's the love in throwing your own friend at your enemy for payback?!" Saito cried out, whimpering as he calmed down when Aqua kissed him on the head, healing him miraculously.
"It's everywhere- in the suffering of others! Be more grateful next time!" I'm beginning to question their friendship as of this moment. "Plus, you just help take down Skylight Star's greatest threat as of many years ago that nearly took over the planet as opposed to Aquarius Star. Isn't that amazing?"
"It would be if you hadn't chucked me at him, and right into his horn too! It hurts!" Saito groaned. "Thanks for the impalement! Agh, I didn't know a Pegasus horn can impale people!"
"Huh? His horn?" Karly asked. "So, that wasn't for decoration then, that horn on his mask?"
"Well duh, we fought a pegasus knight. Of course the horn's real. To be exact, he might be a special kind of Beast Knight for all we know so far. Well, I can tell his powers are around exactly on the same level as Meta Knight, as but maybe even higher than that. Either way, he was a tough opponent as opposed to Arecena, but it's kinda a shame it ended like this. Oh well," I shrugged. "At least we made the job easier for Meta Knight now. Now all we have to do is stop the countdown and cancel the war for good."
"You might wanna reconsider that chance happening, Kirby," Karly grunted, shaking her head over to the knight on a knee, managing to get up.
"I'm afraid that won't be the case, at least for you maggots," The knight cackled, ignoring all the scars on his body. "A real warrior would never assume the battle's over, would they? I'd never go down that easily by the likes of you mice. I'll admit, pink warrior, you and your band of mischief making rejects are quite formidable, even at the face of darkness. Huh, I should've seen this coming, but it doesn't matter."
Peganoa Knight sheathed his weapons away as he spoke and slowly walked over to the lighthouse circle, as if he was checking on something. His smirked echoed to our ears when it wasn't supposed to reach them. He then activated a trigger that confused and made us scramble around for the answer in our minds as to what he did. He walked back to his original spot accurately and shakes his head.
"Huh. That's odd. Even after all of this fighting, we're still ahead of schedule? Time really does fly by. Oh well, more fun for me. It's amazing to believe that all of this was possible because of one naughty little princess; kinda a shame she was nothing more than just the sum of what was supposed to make a whole angelmon, not to mention after one loses their real body somehow, the other two personalities are forced to share whatever's left of that body, causing a switch-out every time," Peganoa explained. "That's why they never have a true form anymore. No one knows the actual cause of it, but I may have an idea of how, since there are many methods involved on this. I wonder if you can figure out why?"
"Why are you telling us all of this? Did you have something to do with it?" Bandana Dee asked.
"That is something you lot can figure out for yourselves if you put your mind to it. But before we get to the last part of the fun, I'll just say that if you manage to figure it out the answer, a little disclaimer is that I had nothing to do with it at all. That was the result of Crystal Chaos, the tragic event of the Cosmic Galaxy 8 years ago or maybe it's the result of something related to that? Enough chit-chat. Not that you all will stand a chance, but I'll confirm your answer to that question after this, deal? Give that enough thought before I wipe you all from the face of this planet," Peganoa cackled as his body started glowing and crackling with electricity.
"I had a feeling things would come to this, so with whatever's left of half an hour, why bother fooling around?! I was gonna save this for the war, but you all are in need of a full blown-out extermination! Now you fools shall taste the power of the Undefeated Beast Knight, Peganoa! Cower to my beast form, Skylares! HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Peganoa shouted, gathering energy like an overdose of pills.
"This isn't gonna go well, isn't it?" Dash pointed out and we nodded. "Well, brace for impact."
At that moment, it was already too late for us to do anything about it but to confront the crisis face to face. The knight went super saiyan and by the time we knew it… everything went white.
Final Phase Activated! (Look at me!/Boss Battle 2- Mischief Makers)
When the light ceased, we were on a giant floating platform, large enough for a beast. The sky has turned dark like nighttime, white clouds were replaced with black, and the cloud sea barfed explosive thunder diarrhea everywhere, and the winds were immensely strong enough to blow someone away. I realized I was back to normal, as it seems I dropped Solatea at the light burst.
What laid out before me was a sight unbelievable. In the midst of the crying sky, floating down was a monstrosity that was supposed to be the planet's biggest threat. A Pegasus, no, it's a dragon. It's both. I saw a horse that was silver around the body, gold on the mane that was needles for hair; its eyes were devil red and the head was identical to both a horse and a dragon- a fusion of both rather. Its front legs were horse hooves with silver dragon claws shaped like hands while the rear legs were dragon bases, scaly and repulsive. The mouth was larger and looked like a water mutant whose jawline and entirety of its mouth went past the eyeballs when it wasn't supposed to, and the teeth were grouped to a million of them.
The tongue was slithery like a snake and longer; it was disgusting. The tail was a twin-tail like a celestial phantom fox. The wings were almost like knight wings; more like it was dipped in a fresh coat of blood when they arc together to form a circle, making a red sun appear. The armor was something that might've came straight from Highschool DxD, one fit for a dragon emperor. And lastly, the horn on his forehead was way longer than usual, literally a body lance of corrupted justice. I have no idea what I am looking at, but it means business.
"What in the actual heck?!" Cried out Aege. "That's his beast form?! He looks like he came from Highschool DxD with the whole armor and everything!" Some of us look at him in confusion and disgust for those who knows about that anime.
"What?! It's only because that's the only anime that Dinah watches when I'm with her! Yet, ironically it's supposed to disgust females like her and she still likes it. I can't imagine why though." That's the power of the plot; it does wonders.
"Oh, so that's why he's kinda a perv," I thought.
"Ask questions later! We're in big trouble now!" Aege warned us of the beast. "We've only got 15 minutes left to take him down!"
"WHAT?!" Everyone gasped.
"So it took us all 15 minutes to beat two phases combined of a knight?! Oh wow, we are screwed," Dedede groaned.
"It's not over yet, guys! We can still take him on!" I shouted.
"Look out!" Karly grabbed me and jumped out of the way. I realized that a giant lance struck from the spot where I was standing a second ago. I didn't even notice that coming!
"Holy crap! That was close!" I gasped.
"RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" The beast roared. Light lances appeared around his body and hurled them directly at us with a nod to the head. It was coming at a speed that I couldn't even predict. We had time to guard against them, not enough time to react any other way against the machine fire.
Scratches and blood spilled over the floor from our gashing bodies. We gasp heavily at every second for a break. It's only the start of his final phase and here we are, already on death row for the execution to come.
"Shoot, this is ridiculous! Any more than this and we're screwed! But we ain't seen nothing yet! We'd better do something about it!" Aege growled.
Before we responded, the beast then radiated light at the tip of its horn, and instead of firing directly, it held it in place and flashed. For a warning, I noticed something falling from the sky and then I backdashed, witnessing the attack that was lightning and fast that attempted to get me. There was more where that came from as it was a relentless attack breaker and more targeted and made us run like sissies.
Skylares didn't give us a break with his attacks as he jumped up and exhaled light shots from his mouth, a shining burst wall Gaia exploded onto the arena after leaving a trial of it behind. Avoiding it was hard enough, but when the enemy goes trigger happy, you're screwed on this one. And that's exactly what Skylares did. While the burst ceased, he summoned thousands of lances in the air and fired them all at once in a downpour and he flew into the background, spreading his wings to let the feathers fall. At us.
But the feathers weren't holy when they exploded. It wasn't heaven. It was hell for us. This battle is hell. There was so much we can take in our old forms, but now I see why humans have a hard time in battle. There's a limit to each of them on how much they can take. And in that perspective, that's what I experienced myself.
No matter what we do, it's simply what I can't find myself say to be impossible. This isn't like when we fought Arecena before, this guy is some kind of invincible being. None of our attacks were effective on him, neither our Daemon Crystals, Overdrive moves nor other methods did the trick when it was supposed to. As a result, we wasted our mana and energy for nothing as a futile attempt and we were done on our knees just begging for mercy.
It's a miracle how any of us are still alive despite the fact that we all got owned in the most executive ways like victims in a killing game disguised as a battle royale gone wrong. This isn't going well at all, just like fighting Gyrozalta. Oh wow, now those two planets are exactly alike when I think about it.
Still, it wasn't going to change the fact that we're all screwed. I struggled to get up from a spill small of red blood that was mine, connected to almost everyone else's too.
"Damn it, we don't have much time before the war begins and we haven't laid a scratch in on him. Tch, we're all out of energy, and running away is out of the question way before the fight ever started. What now?" I thought in my head.
"This is so cliché! He decides to pull out his trump card at the very last minute since he can't handle us at two phases ago! Okay, what's with the whole recycled concept cliché between these two planets now?!" Dash groaned at his own limit.
"Never mind that! We should've gave him the axe when we had the chance, and now he's unstoppable! This is not how I imagine my death was gonna be, at the hands of a Dragon Pegasus in DxD armor! I have regrets; thanks for the regrets, you big-breasted princess cousin!" Aege woe and groaned before pointing at the dark sky. "You know, it turns out to be kinda funny- at the same time we're about to die, I can see a silhouette of what exactly looks like Dinah flying towards us right now while we're about to get the axe. Now that I think about it, that's way too much of a coincidence!"
"You're probably thinking of her boobs again, Aege," gasped Saito. "Too bad that's all we're gonna remember anyway. That's something only a pervert would say at their final moments, their only regrets are not being able to touch them treasures. I feel ya, man. At least we can die as men of culture."
"No, look over there guys!" Aege shouted. As we look into the sky where Aege was pointing at, we found ourselves quickly snatched away before Skylares could finish the job. Regaining consciousness, I noticed that we were in midair and soaring around in the sky safely.
"Huh? What? How did we-?" I started to question.
"That was a close one, any later than that and you wouldn't have made it," A feminine voice spoke, one that I was familiar with already. A feeling of squishiness is what I recognized on my back.
"What?!"
"It's gonna be okay, Kirby. We got you." It was the big-breasted angelmon princess, but it was the angel side of her.
"Wait, Dinah?!" I gasped. "What are you doing here?!"
"Actually, it's "we", sweet cheeks," I heard Dinah say, but the demon side of her was right next to me, holding Karly, Bandana Dee, and Aqua.
"There's two of you?! But how?!" I shouted. "Weren't you in one body when we first met?!"
"Save the questions for later, pinky. Right now, we've got business to take care of here," Angel Dinah spoke. "First things first, we've gotta take care of you."
"But what about the beast knight here?! None of our attacks harmed him at all, and his offense is way brutal and unforgiving on us!" Karly shouted. The twins grinned.
"It'll be fine. In fact, the cavalry has arrived just now!" A flash of light popped from the dark sky and out shot a laser of light that struck Skylares directly, finally giving in a critical hit. The beast growled and demanded to know where it came from. Little did he knew that it came from the one that bested him many years ago.
Out of the horizon was the answer to our problems. It was the Halberd! And that means only one thing: the return of the prodigal hero, the Masked Angel, our ally and friend, Meta Knight, who waved at us in time.
"META KNIGHT!" We all cheered as the twin princesses went towards the deck of the ship and landed gently on it, letting all of us down. I was the last to be let down. The others were carried by two blue and pink kids in which I recognized in shock.
"Fololo! Falala! What is even going on anymore?!" Meta Knight jumped from the command deck and onto the deck with ease. He gives a chuckle at the sight unfolding before him, then turns to us.
"Just as I thought, he was invincible once he had transformed into that demonic figure. No different than from before; after all, you all did what you could do and frankly, that's exactly what I needed. I'll take it from here to clean up the mess I should've finished before. You guys take it easy and rest," He smiled back at us, then he jumps all the way from the ship and onto the floating arena that Skylares was on.
"Woah, he's gonna take Skylares on himself?! That's insane!" Aege shouted. "And that's what I like! Kick his horse butt for us, tin man!"
"Hey, I can't heal you if you don't hold still, Aege!" Angel Dinah requested.
At that moment, the fight began to wage on against the Demon Pegasus in his beast form against a knight in his standard form. I wonder what he sees through his eyes now…
Meta Knight's POV: Dragalares DXD!
"Heh, it's been a while, Skylares. Remember me?" I softly chuckle to the monstrosity.
Apparently not. His eyes lit an intense feeling of rage and hatred towards me, but not in the slightest I was fazed by it. Of course, I knew this time it was the work of Dark Matter that drove the motive home, but what's the difference in that anyway?
I gave a suppressing smirk at him before launching Galaxia in the air and catching it without effort. Skylares wasn't pleased at all and was ready to give it his all. So was I. But I can assure you I was determined to end it once and for all.
"DIE!" Skylares shouted, launching a fist at me.
"Finally, I was wondering when you were going to make your move then," I grabbed his fist without even trying. Then, I lifted him up and slammed him on the ground repeatedly and quickly before a single kick to his face that knocked him backwards.
Skylares growled and lunged for me with more attacks, but I swiftly dodged them with ease at a speed faster than the blue blur, not to brag about it. One attack after another, Skylares was in fit of rage when I kept constantly dodging his attacks no matter how much he tries. With that, I slashed at his stomach and judo flipped him by the neck over me, smashing him to the ground.
He vanished and reappears outside of the arena, then he exhaled a swirling tornado drill from his mouth while he circled around. I stood in place as the attack hits, but fails to do the job right. In the midst of that confusion, Skylares rushed for a surprise attack, but I saw through easily anyways. When he was that close to me, another kick fell upon him, followed by a fury of hack and slashes on the way before then.
The impact managed to put cracks in his armor and blood from it too. The undefeated was ironically was about to be defeated, just like in the tournament. Skylares was at his breaking point, and decided to go trigger happy when he did the same thing he did to everyone else- a bullet-hell madness.
In response, I stabbed the ground and unleashed one Mach Twister that took care of the trash in a matter of seconds as they fall to the side like noting and explodes. The twister continued forward and pulled in the beast and spun him around the vortex until the twister fades away.
Gaining control of his momentum, the beast was enraged and charged in his mouth a solar beam and fired directly at me, hoping to end the fight for good. It was large enough to bust a hole in the planet for eternity. I laugh it off as I counterattack.
"DIE, MASKED ANGEL! I WIN!" He cockily roared.
"NOT HAPPENING!" I raised my right leg up and when the beam was near, I slammed it down right on the blast, and to this day, no one would ever think to destroy a laser just by a single axe kick. And that's what I did; it shattered to pieces like it was made of glass. The beast was in shock, sweatdropping and with his mouth dropped, and so was the mouths of everyone else. Except Dinah, who split into her two personalities and were cheering.
"W-what?! You took that down with a single kick?! IMPOSSIBLE! Such a thing was never attempted before, and you! You did it like it was nothing! You twisted maniac!" Skylares roared.
"Just because it seems impossible doesn't always mean it's impossible. That's what this world we live in is all about that motive- to make the impossible possible is what this universe does best, and that also means I can do this!" I felt the power of the summon ring in my hand that I got from the ruins dedicated all to me.
"Alright, Skylares. Let's play."
I grasp the power of that ring and instantly transformed, not into a beast like him, but in a way that I can still become like him. Because I summoned the other half of him. Then, without realizing it, I had my appearance change, just like Bandana Dee; instead of black, blue and purple, it was gold, silver, and prism- my hair was entirely gold and my outfit preset colors were silver and prism. My eyes were red, and my black cape was angelic white. I also had a golden halo above my head. I noticed that my left hand was now in the form of a dragon's sacred gauntlet, one that was silver and had a red jewel similar to Galaxia's and with four gold spikes at the end of it. I had Galaxia in my right hand, but the jewel is now shining gold. This is something I can definitely work with.
"What?! This can't be! You are-!" Skylares gasped. "Brother… what are you doing here?!"
"I was wondering the same thing myself; maybe I should be asking you that as well," I spoke with the words of a different voice. "Or maybe I should be asking the one who's using you like a puppet that. Either way, it doesn't matter now. Time for me to take out the trash."
"Just as cocky as ever, brother! I don't know how you are able to work with that masked fool, but either way, you will fall to me just like the last time we fought!" Skylares snarled. "You're not even in your full beast form at all!"
"Whoever said that I couldn't defeat one without a full transformation? Just try your luck against me, the Angel Dragon Pegasus, Dragalares!" I grinned.
Summon Ring activated! Meta Knight summons Dragalares!
"Alright, you asked for it! Now die!" Skylares yelled, then began his first strike flying at me.
With that, the jewel on my left hand flashed instantly as I also began my attack as well. "Let's go! Sol-Boost!" I smash my fist into his swinging fist, causing a shockwave that blew everything away. I grinned because of the Sol-Boost, giving me more power than usual to overpower Skylares. The impact knocked Skylares back and against the lighthouse.
When he bounced back from the lighthouse, he warped in the air and summoned portals that spawned snake dragons. They bounced around and lunged at me, but I decapitated them in one strike and they exploded at will with Galaxia. Skylares then made a ball of light that controls the cloud; it rained thunderbolts everywhere that were targeting me. I parried them with my left hand and they evaporated.
It was then he swooped in and tried to land punches. As I did before, I kept on dodging those fast hits with ease. Well, he did manage to land one punch to the face directly, but I didn't flinch or took damage from that. The only thing that took the hit was my mask.
And it cracked. "Big mistake, pal."
In response, I grabbed his shocked fist and yanked him in, returning the favor with an uppercut with my left hand, knocking him into the air. I immediately jumped from where I was standing to hack at him with Galaxia with rapid fury and hurled him further through the sky with a punch.
Skidding to a complete halt, he fires lances at me that were made around his body, so I countered with Mach Tornado, this time creating larger cyclones and firing them in place rather than moving around with it. The clash was short, the vortex was strong enough to repel them all and strike Skylares. I then spread my wings and spots of light popped in various areas, firing spectrum missiles at a fast rate.
They swarmed all around and exploded everywhere on his body, leaving blood to leak over his body. In that confusion, I used drill rush and pierced through his body, grinding against him and pushing him back in the air. Skylares was pinned completely and was forced to withstand the blade drilling his body while being launched across the sky. After that, I ceased the drill and socked him with my left hand. He was at his knees as he was about to fall, but he still stood.
"Hrrrgh… how did you get so much powerful after all the years you've spent in the sanctuary sealed and imprisoned? This is so absurd!" Skylares gasped for a breath. "
"Who can say for sure? But right back at you with that same question as well, for you've spent your time trying to recreate the past of that incident of the war. It never crossed anyone's mind about your methods of an army of 10,000,000 at your disposal; how, though? It should've taken years… unless it was the bidding of the darkness that still lingers in you," Dragalares answered.
"I did that out of my own will, not because of darkness. It was to reclaim what that fool stole from me those many years ago- my title and my place on top again… never before had I been humiliated like that in my entire life! I had the entire domination in my hands- and he just slapped that out of them like it was nothing! For the remainder of the time I ended up spending sealed away in this lighthouse, I felt nothing but hatred and agony and abandonment after I suffered the same fate as that Ultimate Warrior in the galaxy. That all changed when I was freed out of my prison later on. I got another chance to start all over, and I'm not going to let you destroy all of my hard work again that I worked so hard to rebuild! Not to you, brother, but to this fool you're possessing right now!" Skylares roared.
"The darkness is slowly revealing your true feelings, and it won't be long before it consumes you whole. Then, I'll make sure that dark puppeteer gets it quick and painless for good." I declared.
"ENOUGH GAMES! I'LL BE THE ONE TO END THIS BRAWL QUICKLY!" Skylares screamed. He then arcs his wings together after flying up into the air to form the red sun. "THIS ENDS NOW! SOLAR BLOOD FLARE!" The sun revealed itself and turned bloody red as it passes energy to his wings to fire a devastating beam.
"This is new. Still, it's no match for the power we both wield. Let's finish cleaning up this mess, shall we?" I grinned.
Mystic Star Arte Activate! Finishing Move! Dragalaxia Darkness DXD! (Switch On! - Highschool DXD Hero)
I charge right at Skylares once he fired the scarlet lasers at me. I maneuver through the barrels of lasers with ease, increasing my speed and fending off some with my left hand, while I sliced through the beams with my right. I kept on at it until I was closing in on him to prepare for the final strike.
Skylares' beam that he fired at me widen larger than before, but I sliced through it no problem, and then I prepare for the strike. "Taste some of this!" I punched him with my left hand and sliced him with my right, and I unleashed a fury of attacks like crazy until I knocked him into the trap- right where I want him.
"KNOW MY POWER!" I lifted up my cape and darkness begin to surround him. When it goes completely dark, I make my move. A yellow light flash and dims away in the dark, ready to strike the prey.
"DRAGALAXIA DARKNESS!" I roared, swinging one single strike to Skylares that hacked and diced him in a second that has yet to come by, just like in Smash.
"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!" The beast screamed, having his body covered in explosions as he starts tumbling down the sky and right into the open roof of the lighthouse. "DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!"
I retracted my cape and smiled, doing a victory dance and tossing Galaxia into the air and catching it. "So much for undefeated, only to fall to the Masked Angel! What a shame."
Skylares has been defeated! Victory! You won the world boss battle!
You gained 900 experience points! All party members are now Level 22!
Health has extended to 700!
All stats have gone up by 90!
Meta Knight earns the title "Masked Angel DXD!"
Meta Knight can now summon Dragalares! He's the elementalist of Light!
Item Retrieval: You got another Piece of Something! (What is it, really?)
Next Level in 900 experience points!
World 4: Skylight Star All Cleared!
Soon after, I flew over to the lighthouse to where Skylares was lying in defeat. As before, Dark Matter underlings were expelled faster and faster until a bright light fills the screen, freeing Skylight Star from the blinding grasp of Dark Matter. As usual, the last to go was the one from Skylares, turning him back into his original form and regained his original colors. Same goes for me as well. Sheathing Galaxia, I dust myself off after the fight was over.
"Activation Process canceled. Releasing all Angeloids and Beast Knights from invasion." Well, that's the end of that. Can you believe I finished him in just five minutes before they were unleashed once again? Yeah, probably not.
"Meta Knight!" I heard everyone call out to me as they were running towards me from the dock Halberd on the side. I smile in relief.
"That was awesome, Meta Knight!" Dedede complimented me. "Man, you just took him down without even trying!"
"Thanks for saving our butts back there, man," Kirby smiled. "I knew you'd come through in time. It seems we're all getting stronger despite the fact that we're cursed as humans in our own way."
"I appreciate it, Kirby, and to everyone else," I replied. "But I must apologize for almost staking your lives against him."
"It's okay, we did manage to handle him well enough for you to end it, and that's what matters in the end," Karly smiled. "Speaking of which, I think they also have to thank you too as well." She motions over to the swarm of the awakened Angeloids and Beast Knights that were there without warning. They appear to be grateful and not murderous. I sigh in relief.
A shining light was summoned with silver energy in a crystal. It floats down into my hands after the crystal shattered, revealing to be a white star with two rings, the fourth of the Gem Star spirits.
Congratulations! You rescued the fourth Gem Star, Platinum! You are halfway there! This is the marking point of 8 spirits rescued so far! Only 6 more left! Keep it up!
"Platinum! I'm here!" The Gem Soul rushed to the Gem Star, who then transformed into another version of Kirby's puffball form. As a female, she had silver hair that were twintails banded with star hands, her eyes were silver along with her body and feet, and she wore a halo over her head. She hugs Nimbus back in relief.
"Yes, I'm okay. Thank you, Nimbus," She smiles. "I'm really grateful."
"I know, but the one to thank are these guys here, specifically this guy here; I assume you've heard of the Masked Angel, right?" She floats over to everyone.
"Thank you all for saving me and the others as well. I thought I'd never see the hope of this galaxy's future once again." Platinum blew kisses at us all, and everyone blushed.
"Well, we try anyways," Shrugged Aege. "So, that leaves us to a total of 8 spirits so far out of 14. We're halfway there."
"All that's left to do is to figure out the answer to that question that knight asked," Saito reminded us all. "Or better yet, figure out the truth behind whatever happened between Meta Knight and Peganoa Knight."
"Ngh…" On cue, we heard the groan of the fallen knight that managed to get on his feet afterwards. "How foolish of me…"
"Alright, you little crack! You're gonna get it now!" Aege was gonna attack again until Saito stopped him.
"Hold on, hothead. We haven't even interrogated him yet and you're just gonna pounce on him after he beat us all up? Idiot, at least wait until we resolve this whole thing," Saito stopped Aege.
"Fine, but just this one time," Groaned Aege.
Everyone else was about to pounce as well, but I waved my hand at them, signaling that I'll handle this, and they ceased their attack.
Peganoa dusted himself as I approached him. He seemed calm and not hostile at the moment, almost as if he had already accepted the situation he was in. "Perhaps we may have gotten off on the wrong foot the last couple of years, and I'll admit that's my fault."
"You're just throwing up the towel just like that? That's new."
"Well, at least I won't have to redo my hard work for another round this time. But there's no point of starting something that's already been settled years ago. Of course, I did want to fight you again, but not with the invasion and all the other participants at my side. I won't deny this time was all my doing, but you're wrong about one thing. I had attempted world domination before in the past, but this time I had never intended such a thing to occur," Peganoa revealed, making everyone gasp, especially the Angeloids and Beast Knights.
"What are you talking about? That was the whole point of rebuilding us, isn't it? Wasn't it to recreate the invasion on Skylight Star once again?!" One of them shouted.
Peganoa shook his head. "It would've been so, but the one who wanted the war this time was the servants of darkness itself. I had come to that conclusion myself, and it wasn't that hard to figure out anyways."
"Servants of darkness? You must be referring to Dark Matter, are you? More specifically, one of the Zero Seven Knights brought this about, is that what you meant?" I asked.
"That's right. In fact, the me you all dealt against was nothing more than just a hollow shell of a puppet's past personality, holding the present one prisoner in the void of darkness, unaware of anything around themselves. That's what it felt like for me," Peganoa sighed. "It was also the same for the once lunatic mermaid queen Arecena as well, as her actions were caused by her past personality brought out by darkness; she only changed once she was defeated. For that time, it was like her true self was chained in darkness and was freed at that moment. You see what I mean?"
"No, not exactly," Aege shrugged as everyone shot nasty looks at him. "I'm just kidding, everyone. Of course I knew what he meant by that. I think it's more accurate to say that Dark Matter is more than just a puppeteer- Dark Matter is a Motive Eater- a being that controls a person by just triggering motivation of their past sins and crimes, thus the body is nothing more than just a hollow shell of one's past and is motivated to commit the same crime again. Much to say that they feed on the sins of people they possess, right?"
"That means the real reason of why they possessed my mom was much deeper than that! I think if what you say is true, it most likely means they end up gaining something from doing that to innocent people!" Aqua gasped. "Dark Matter may be more deadly than we had originally thought they were if that theory was to be confirmed."
"I see you understand now. Those underlings wanted the second attack this time, not me, all in an attempt to stop their greatest threat yet, and they don't care how far they'll go to achieve their goals. How unfortunate that I ended up a prey of them like all the rest, but for now they're gone at least. Unfortunately, today's damages won't be that easy to repair instantly or the destruction from a few years ago are left broken today. I guess I'll have to fix them after I finish the repairs on these creatures and a slight reprogram now."
"Not until you give us the answer to that question from before. Speaking of which, what did you plan to do with them all if world domination wasn't your motive this time? And the other one, you asked what was the cause of the rise of Angelmons and the loss of their original forms? Care to explain?" asked Saito. All the others agreed with him too.
Peganoa shook his head. "After Crystal Chaos; to answer both those questions, it's because mainly of how the entire Cosmic Galaxy was involved in it and none were allowed to escape that apocalyptic event. The invasion took place before that event, no doubt about it. After I had left Skylight Star for some time and returned to the lighthouse after Crystal Chaos years later on, I went to take a look at the fallen knights whose remains somehow appeared from the Skies of Suffering. There I saw them in the process of reconstruction, but it will take a few years before they were complete. I did a little remodeling during that time, and I spent the years living at the lighthouse."
"I see, so what happened after that?"
"It was fine and all until one day, a thought had struck me while I found the container seal that kept me for a while. I had never questioned my own existence then; I thought I knew who I was, but after seeing this, I realized I may have missed a major chunk of my life. So, I guess you can say my motive was why? Why was I sealed away in the lighthouse in the first place? What happened then? Who sealed me away? What am I to the world? But most importantly, how did I get out of there in the first place? After that, I decided to find out those answers myself. From that time, I spent each day rebuilding every single angeloid and biologically reforming the beast knights, hoping they would be the key to unlocking the past," Peganoa explained.
"So the countdown was originally meant to complete the construction of those two groups?" Bandana Dee questioned.
"Yes, it was. But because of those mischief makers, I can assume that they hacked into the lighthouse's systems and screwed up the coding for them all, triggering the hidden program that had them all unleashed for war while I was possessed; probably they infected it as well, but I can see everyone's back to normal, so the virus in each of you is erased completely. The beast knights aren't robots, but there's this thing where you can actually mess with a living person's genetics and play operation with them, so that explains that part. Angeloids are indeed robotic, but they are made with a piece of human DNA and biomedical methods and robotics. When I was working on them, I mainly used crystals as their core, but they needed Spectrum Crystals to act as the heart. However, they were destroyed years ago in that invasion, so I needed another reliable replacement. That leads into that other question."
"You mean the Angelmons?" I recalled. He nodded.
"Indeed. Take these two for instance," Peganoa directs to Dinah, who were now evenly split into her two personalities. "A perfect example right here. I had looked up another source, but I couldn't grasp the meaning of it at first; they needed an Angelmon to do so. Further details were locked until notice in a digital manual I found in the lighthouse. I was confused at first, but when I thought back to when I was released, I realized what it meant- that I needed the help of an Angelmon to complete that phase. The problem was finding out where some were. They weren't that common a species then, but they've rapidly grew over time by the time I came back. The cause of that species isn't well specified, but we all know them as people who transform into one of their two personalities- an angel side or a demon side. Together they share one main body in which the person's appearance changes whenever they switch out via many factors. In fact, I found out a few weeks ago about the one defect in them. If a person who is an Angelmon loses their original body somehow, the other two are forced to be together in each other, causing them to switch out every time. Eventually, as a result, they'll separate individually and stay that way until their body is recovered through any means possible, just like with these two here."
"Hold on, are you telling us the reason why they lose their original bodies?" Kirby asked.
"As I said, I found there were more than one method of doing so. I then realized that what they really wanted was the body of one, but I wasn't sure of how it was possible. Diving into more, more information was available, and I discovered specifically that to replace the core hearts for all of the Angeloids and Beast Knights, what they wanted was the body of an Angelmon's aura. In other words, one body is enough to replace your cores. I had no idea how to pull that off, since the methods weren't fully explained. If that's all it takes, then I can assume it was the work of Dark Matter."
"In a nutshell, the answer is because it was caused manually with unknown methods you haven't discovered?" Karly asked. He nodded. "So they'll be stuck like that forever?"
"Ironically, it's just as easy as putting them back together just as splitting them. I don't know why, but luckily, the body doesn't disappear after usage, and they are kept inside orbs. It won't affect anybody, if that's what everyone was thinking," The two groups exhaled in relief. "I made sure of that way before I learned about this unwittingly. I suppose those beings were behind this while I was possessed and may have used that method to finish your births. If I had to guess, I say it'd be the Angelmon Princess of this time, so I guess that means it was her. Give this to her, would you?"
Peganoa snapped his fingers and in his hands was an orb that he handed me. "It'll take the next day for them to regain their old body once again, but it's better than being stuck split, right?"
"Been there, done that," Kirby and Dedede shudders in unison.
"Anyway, that's about enough of that. To make a long story short, what happened today was entirely their fault. That should answer your questions, to say the least. Some of my questions were confirmed, but there are others that still bugs me today. One of them is how I ended up here in the first place, but to be more specific, why did the former princess release me from that seal, or why did my awakening trigger the hidden program in everyone in starting the war? No, a better question would be who's responsible for that program? That I'll search for somehow. Right now, I shouldn't hold you all here for the day. You'd better get going after them the chance you get, because they're heading towards Lunadark Star next," Peganoa said as a portal popped up nearby. "Probably they started their mischief already."
"Well, thanks for that information. I'll be sure to remember that on the way there," I smiled.
"No problem. Just a reminder, you've got almost half of a month left to stop them before they place the princess' life at jeopardy. I think you'll be fine. But I think you should watch out for one of their members that calls himself Dark Soul the most. He's definitely up to something even if he hadn't shown up as much as he does. You'll find out once you arrive at Shadow Star then- just trust me on this on," Peganoa spoke with urgency.
"Oh yeah, that reminds me, where the heck is that sucker? He only showed up three times and that's it! What does he do with his time anyway?" Kirby wondered as he guides the captured citizens to the portal and the last one went in. "I guess you can't expect him to just show up every time, otherwise it becomes cliché as well. No use in wondering that now. Let's get going guys. We're taking the Halberd back this time."
"I guess I must leave now," I slowly backed up. "But I hope you find what you're looking for in the end, Peganoa. We've definitely have to duel again for fun some other time."
"I agree. If I find anything, I'll be sure to let you know any chance I get. Anyway, best of luck out there, Meta and take care," Peganoa smiled and waved off, and I did the same, smiling too.
"You too," I chuckle.
"Hey, Meta!" Both Dinahs yelled from the battleship. "Hurry up already!"
I headed towards the edge of the lighthouse and leap onto the ship's deck with ease. I waved off at Peganoa and the group of warriors as the Halberd takes off on its own and sails across the relaxed cloud sea because of the tide of the night.
"Um, Meta Knight? I was meaning to tell you, your mask has a huge crack in it," Kirby pointed out. "Shouldn't you fix that by now? We all know how much you hate to go on without showing your face to the public, so…"
I shrugged. "Don't worry about it, Kirby. I knew there will be a time when I won't have my mask anymore. Back then, I was afraid of showing myself to the world, and this mask serves as a reminder of what I've become so far because of this. It means I'm also afraid to come to terms with my unsolved past, but now I have faced a part of it today here, and I'm willing to keep moving forward in the world, confident in myself. You and everyone else also help me realize that, and I must thank you as well."
"You're welcome, I guess. But I'm glad we helped you realize that in the end, and everything worked out! You've got your own Halberd back too! Now I just realized, how are we going to keep this around for the rest of the trip?" Kirby asked.
"We'll figure out something tomorrow. Besides, your temporary little sister is worried sick about you right now," I teasingly joked.
"Don't even go there." Kirby fumed in embarrassment. "It's only until we rescue Kaila, okay? I know she misses her sister, even if she doesn't act like so. Karly's probably jealous, but she still cares either way. So are the rest of her friends too. At least Kailo and Kirie are checking in on her and Adeline, who I haven't seen in a while, and I was hoping to meet her on the day that went awry unexpectedly. At this point, there better be a miracle of some sort that would twist the plot around in our favor. We could've done this adventure in a single day, but you know things can never be that easy. Sorry, I got too deep into that touchy subject."
"It's okay, Kirby. I know what you mean," I said. "For now, let's just take it easy for the flight and relax ourselves. You definitely need to get some rest once we get back."
"Okay, Meta." Kirby smiled, walking off.
Later on at the Clocktower…
"Kirby! What happened to you?!" The three girls cried out to him.
"It's okay, we're fine now. No need to get all riled up, shorties," Kirby joked. "We've survived worse. So, how was your call with Blazel? Did everything work out?" Kazela ecstatically nodded.
"Of course it did! You should've heard him the entire call what he sounded like! But still, it went well even after all those years. He was tearing up emotionally, but he's fine now. He even said that I'll be a great princess one day when I'm older. He's still how I remember him," Kazela smiled. "Oh, and they're working on that Chaos Gate now, so you don't have to worry about that. The downside is that it'll take a couple days to finish."
"Thanks for that, you guys," Kirby patted their heads.
"Well, Maddie and I should be heading back now," Mackenzie said. "Marco will get mad at me if I'm not back, and so will Maddie's parents, because you know what happened earlier with Merina, right? But if you need us or it's the other way around, feel free to call us anytime. Merina, Kazela, make sure Kirby watches out for you two, okay?"
"We will, you little genius. Now off you go and be careful. I'll see you later, Maddie," Merina hugged Maddie. "Say hi to Mom and Dad for me, okay?"
"I will. G'night, Merina. Night, everyone." Maddie waved goodbye as they both left the area.
"So, what now? In a few days, everyone captured will be able to return home in the Gamble Galaxy safe and sound, including Fololo and Falala. It's not safe to put them in anymore danger." Karly asked. "Too many innocents have gotten hurt at this point."
"We're taking a 10 year old lost princess with us. How completely ironic to say that about them. (And I forgot how old they were)." Dedede replied. "Oh, did you forget they whooped your sorry butt earlier before? Oops, my bad! I almost forgot about why you were wearing those little girl clothes now! At least we all can forget about your old costume now; someone complained about that in their review of the cover picture!"
"Dedede, I'm gonna kill you!" Karly chased Dedede around the area for a while. Well, actually, thank god we don't have to see her in that outfit anymore, and I'm pretty sure that most of the boys were glad too.
"Anyways, it's late and we should definitely get some shuteye now," Aqua yawned, clinging onto Bandana Dee's arm. "But I'm hungry though. Definitely no seafood for me."
"We've still got leftover curry from yesterday," Angel Dinah offered. "You still want that?"
"Yeah, of course," Aqua yawned more.
The other Dinah turns to both Aege and Saito. "Hey Aege, Saito, you plan on doing anything tomorrow or so?"
"Nope, why?" They both asked in sync.
"Good, because you're coming with us for the ride. No complaints either."
"Yeah, sure. It's better than being stuck here anyways. I could use some more needless violence here and there time to time," Aege agreed. "So does Saito. Hopefully, I get something out of this."
"Oh, trust me, Aege. You'll definitely get something worth your time, I guarantee it," She smirks.
"Thanks for that, Prez," Aege shrugged. "Alright, Rias, I'm hitting the bed for the day. Smell ya suckers later." With that, Aege took himself upstairs. Everyone else wanted to chow down on the leftover curry from yesterday, and I must say, I rate it 5-stars. After that, everyone decided to turn in for the day. I stayed up a little later than usual to finish reading my book.
Both Dinahs were also up as well, seeing as it to clean up after the filthy animals went to bed with satisfied bellies. Angel Dinah came up to me. "You're up late, Meta Knight. Is something wrong?"
"I'm fine, I just tend to stay a little later in case anything happens, but still it's a habit of mine. Anyways, I have yet to finish the last chapter of this book after I had fallen asleep yesterday. Usually, but what Peganoa said about Dark Matter is something I can't shake off, especially Kirby, since he's the first one on Popstar to encounter them before; saying Dark Matter is some kind of Motive Eater… I have never heard of such a thing being possible to manipulate someone by their past personality, and that bothers me if that is confirmed, considering the revival of Void Termina earlier before."
"Dark Matter, huh? Well, in some way, I think that may be true; if they're gathering necessary materials to make their plan work, then that would be plausible if they feed off the sins of others they possess. It would make more sense to call them Sin Eaters. Well, the last time, Zero whisked off the souls of innocents instead for his plan. I don't know why either," She replies.
"If that wasn't enough, he said to keep an eye on Dark Soul. I just can't shake off the feeling that I've seen him somewhere before in the past, but I can't put my finger on it. I have yet to understand their origins or how Zero was able to obtain such means of defense that easily. Such answer are worth remembering for the future. Yet, there are a lot of things we never question at all. But remember when Peganoa said the former Angelmon Princess released him from the seal? That also happened with Galacta Knight as well. Peganoa, however, when he was released, that activated the hidden program within all of the Angeloids and Beast Knights and made them go trigger happy. I think he was affected too. I don't know the answer, but I can only deduce that this was the work of Haltmann Works Company. Everything we did had something in common, well… a lot in common actually," I sighed. "This is so much to comprehend."
"I know that feeling, but although thinking about is very important, I don't think it's a good idea to keep your mind on that all the time. I'm sure the answers will come when you need it, so don't worry too much about it," Angel Dinah said. With that, I smiled.
"Thank you for that. I guess I'm way over my head now. Oh, that reminds me. I was supposed to give you this orb before- it's supposed to turn you two back to normal by tomorrow." I reached into my side pocket and pulled out the orb, handing it over to her. She squeals a little bit when she receives it.
"Oh, thank you, Meta! I thought we'd never get our old body back again!" Without warning, she lungs at me and suddenly she did the one thing I'd never thought she'd do to me, or anyone would've ever seen coming- the taste of her slender lips on mine. My head starts fuming in red and dizziness on first contact. And… that was my first time. She left me speechless and grasping for words or a reaction at least.
"W-what-? W-why did you-?" I stuttered. Dinah smirks at pats my head.
"That's a secret," She teases me. I blushed and fumed. "Now what do you say we watch some Highschool DXD?" The other Dinah came in abruptly.
"Uh, no thanks, I'll-" She cuts me off.
"Don't give me that crap! You had a gauntlet literally based off the Boosted Gear and moves similar to that too! What, is it because you can't stand the visuals? Come on, I only watch it for the plot! Everyone does!" She giggles.
"Lies." I thought.
"Now, let's get going and watch some DXD! No backing out, Meta!" The mischievous Dinah grabs me and drags me to the room where she was watching the show. I moaned and admitted defeat. Guess I can't help it after all. Maybe it won't be as bad as I thought.
And that's how I basically spent my night at Skylight Star, watching anime for the "plot" and not for the boobies. You all know it's a lie.
…
"Well, that's the Masked Angel for ya. So much for keeping his identity a secret… not that nobody gives a crap about it anyways. Moving on, there's three of us left for them to meet yet, so I we're doing good so far. But where the heck is Dark Soul? I haven't seen him around since Aquarius Star and not even today! Man, he's really something, all right. With that, I'll just extract the contents of his vessel to replace our own and ensure the security of our precious. Oh yes, everyone will be thanking me later on!"
Now Saving… Save Complete!
To be continued for World 5: Lunadark Star…
World 4: Skylight Star Complete! End of Chapter 4!
Author's Note Summary:
Sorry about the holdup, guys! The chapter bosses always consumes much of my time anyways, and the fact that I had to keep on top of my grades as well. Yep, it was a pain. But who cares?! I hoped you liked this chapter! I just had to end it there because of the Smash Direct, and I've gotta say, the new Adventure Mode is looking great, especially that opening cutscene and the fact that it's literally a Smash RPG too! At the same time, I was disappointed at first, but the DLC is where I'm placing my bets for Bandana Dee and Geno and hopefully Shantae to get in. My favorite part is the adventure mode, World of Light, and guess who the true main protagonist is? That's right! The true top tier of smash, our boy, Sakurai's baby boy, KIRBY! AW YEAH! You don't fugg with the pink puff when you murder his friends! After that, I got hooked to seeing everyone's reaction to this. Thank god I was able to see it the entire fourth period on a free day! The one thing I was shocked about was that Sakurai pulled a Thanos on us and murdered every fighter possible… except Kirby, because you know why and the fact that he's the only one able to outrun the speed of light with the warpstar. Kirby is OP. No excuses. I might reference that in later chapters.
Sorry about that, but let's get into more trivial matters at hand. I'll only have time to explain a few, but let me know what you were wondering in your reviews about this chapter, okay? So now, I'll explain. I think I should cover the boss fight with Peganoa first. To be honest, he acts more like a Meta Knight boss fight on the first phase a bit, but he acts differently, being able to deal with multiple opponents at once unless he can't. His second phase was basically Sonic on rails and Kid Icarus: Uprising, in which I somehow had a hard time writing that part, and I also based one part of his attacks on Gwain Saga, in which Geo fights Gwain. After his second phase, he shrugs it off and starts talking lore-wise before turning into Skylares. His design is what it obviously is, a fusion of a dragon and a Pegasus wearing armor and looks like a beast titan hybrid standing up. Of course, he went full beast mode. What happens after that, well, for some of you, you know what I mean. Truth be told, I had planned this for a while before I even got to this segment.
Anyways, I could go on, but I have to end it here for now because of the backstory after that. Honestly, I don't think I explained what I said clearly, but I hope that answers your question somehow. The lore basically explains itself, so there shouldn't be any confusion, but if you do, just say the word and I'll answer it via PM or I'll explain the rest the next chapter with Kaila. Nonetheless, I still hoped you like it. Next time, we'll see the princess and the painter make their attempts again at escape, but this time for the safe release of another victim as well. Who knows? Things may be different.
With that, I'll close it off here. If I have to improve anything or if something still bothers you about whatever, you know the drill. One update, though. I've also edited the rest of the previous chapters as well, so if you read it again, you'll note major and minor changes to the script. Just a heads up. Thanks for reading and don't forget to main Kirby and practice with him before December 7th in the World of Light in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate! That's all and see ya next time!
P.S. Let us not forget all of the fighters who've fallen and despaired in the World of Light in their behalf… Kirby, you are their last and only hope! Go forth and save them all from their terrible fates! You can do it!