10. The NME Strikes Back! (1/2)

copyrighted characters belongs to their rightful owners blah blah blah...

by the way, i'm satisfied with most of the chapter... altought i don't know if i "forced" the flow a bit in the middle... but well, you'll see, won't you?

anyway! i hope you'll enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writting it!

i'll try to update as quickly as possible, as always.

note: this chapter is a bit more violent than the others... but well, that's why there's a pg-13 rating, isn't it?

during the night... a strange dream came from the fountain of dreams... it was a small, disformed dream... a black dream that slipped throught the star rod's control protection and flowed to the small puffball, filling his mind with forbidden pictures...

he stood in the field next to cappytown... but the town was... different. gigantic strange buildings made of crystal stood everywhere and the sky was plunged into a perpetual darkness... and yet, it was so unreal... so beautiful.

dedede's castle stood tall above the town, it's strange glowing purple walls shining into the darkness like a priceless gem. the moon glowed into the sky peacefully and thousands of beautiful dreams could be seen, flowing from the castle courtyard and flowing toward the world...

he had never seen such a city before...

but then, suddenly, the moon and the stars were covered with a veil of darkness. a great, dark power came to destroy the peace of this city from beyond reality.

a gigantic white shadow, following by a black, a blue, and a grey one, appeared. thousands of monsters, their hearts pitch-black with evil, fell from the sky and begun to

ing destruction and pain to all.

the white shadow chuckled in a voice that made nightmare sound like an angel... this voice... it was filled with so much anger... so much hatred... if pure evil had a voice, it was this one, without a doubt.

but then, a blinding pink light appeared and consumed the veil of darkness. the shadows, one by one, dived toward the unknow pink light, trying to destroy it... but the shadows were all driven away, one by one.

the people of the small city came out of their houses, no longer afraid. even the king, who was strangely similar to king dedede, came out to fight!

together, with the pink light guiding them, the people of the crystal city chased the forces of darkness from their world... and even took the battle to the skies! people fell from the sky, joining the people in their fight and soon enough, the forces of darkness were overwhelmed.

however, the white shadow suddenly screamed and a white, blinding light consumed the people. great cataclysms struck the city and the forces of darkness begun to gain back ground.

then, the pink light and four friends rose. the four friends were awfully similar to beings kirby had seen before... the first looked exactely like king dedede and wielded stardux, the legendary hammer. the second looked exactely like metaknight and wielded galaxia. the third was a human girl, wielding magicka, the living paint

ush. the last one was a fairy, wielding the ripple rod, a weapon strangely similar to the star rod.

each of the four friends' weapons glowed and then, the pink light pointed a huge crystal at the white shadow. the crystal transformed into a transluceant sword with two blades and then fired a gigantic beam at the white shadow, destroying it.

with the white shadow gone, the forces of darkness retreated...

kirby stared at the scene... he wondered... he had the feeling he knew all those people... but why? all this scene... it felt so... familiar...

then, the pink light appeared before him... and as the light subdued, kirby saw the being beneath the veil of holy light...

kirby stared, totally confused... at himself.

his reflection smiled...

"someday, you will understand..." he said, in a somewhat high-pitched voice that was identical to him exept just a little bit deeper...

then, everything faded and the pink puffball awakened, the dream finished.

kirby looked toward the sky... and noticed that it was already daytime. he had slept for a very, very long time...

he didn't knew what to think of this dream... but one thing was sure. he hoped that what he had experienced yesterday was a part of the dream as well!

kirby jumped and landed on his feet. he looked around, smiling. a new day begun and he would probably play all day long with his friends! this would be very fun!... or maybe he could train with metaknight or something?... or maybe he would run into that serty guy again? he was nice.

the wind blew... and kirby heard a strange sound... kinda like armor? must be metaknight!

kirby turned around to face metaknight. he had been right! he was there!

"puyo!" happily said kirby.

strange... no anwser.

kirby noticed that tuff, fololo, and falala were there as well. he happily called to them... but once again, no anwser.

"i don't know..." begun fololo. "... but he doesn't look that much evil. are you sure you just had a bad dream?"

"kirby would never betray us! it's common knowledge! he's our friend!... well, duh!" said tuff.

metaknight kept on staring... and kirby frowned. why was metaknight upset like that?

"puyo?" he asked, knowing very well that he wouldn't understand but well, it didn't stopped him form asking...

"well... i'll admit it." said metaknight, suddenly relaxing. "maybe it was just a dr..."

metaknight didn't finished his sentance. he had seen a detail about kirby... a detail that wasn't there before...

"what the..." metaknight's eyes widened. he had not seen that just now...

metaknight approached kirby... "puyo?" he asked, not that it made any difference.

metaknight grabbed kirby and turned him upside down! then, he proceeded to shake him!

"puyoyoyo pupupu!" screamed kirby, panicked as he was shaked like a bag of potatoes!

clung!

a single, empty capsule fell down from somewhere.

metaknight grabbed it and inspected it...

"so... it was not a dream..." he said, grasping the capsule.

metaknight turned to the others and shown them the capsule. tuff grabbed it and read what was written on it...

"so... what's written on it?" asked falala.

"well..." said tuff. "copy ability item supply item. manufactured by nme for use by byrki."

"byrki?" asked falala. "never heard of someone named byrki! maybe kirby stole it from a monster?"

"look inside." said metaknight.

tuff read what was written inside it... and his eyes widened.

"what's wrong? what's written inside?" asked falala, not understanding why tuff got all tense so suddenly.

"re... read it yourself..." said tuff, giving the capsule to the pink round being.

falala read it... and her eyes too widened.

"hey! i want to know what's so special about that capsule! what's written in it?" asked fololo.

falala gave the capsule to fololo. he read what was written inside aloud...

"special order of agent serty number k-013 for use by agent ds-211 kirby." read fololo.

he looked at kirby, smiling. "hey! that's weird! that agent ds-211 happen to have the same name as you and to have the copy ability!"

it took a few seconds for fololo to realise it... "wait a minute! an agent named kirby who has the copy ability? this can only mean that..."

"... that kirby is a nme agent." finished metaknight.

fololo dropped the capsule as everyone exept for metaknight stared at the pink puffball in disbelief.

"this... this is a joke, right? tell me it's a joke, metaknight! kirby cannot be... one of them, can he?" asked tuff, refusing to believe this...

they all stared at each others... kirby, him, didn't knew what to do...

"kirby... why? we tought that you were our friend!" said falala, crying.

kirby looked down, not daring to look at his friends. this capsule was a special gift from serty. serty had taken one of the capsules he had been given and wrotte that inside before putting a small star inside the caspule, resealing it, and giving it to him. kirby had used the capsule to use the ball ability and it had been one of the most fun abilities he had ever tried. using this, he had been able to roll around at such speeds and bounce so high!... and he had tought of keeping the capsule as a souvenir of his days with serty... but he had never tought that the capsule would be used as a proof that he went to the nme base.

kirby begun to cry, not knowing what to do. maybe they were right? maybe he should have never accepted to follow serty. he had gone to the nme base and accepted the enemies of the star warriors as his friends... he had turned his back on them all. he was a traitor!

metaknight unsheated galaxia... but hesitated. altought kirby was a traitor, he felt that the pink living ball was special to him. he had watched over him for so long... could he truly do this?

metaknight pointed the holy blade at kirby. "i never espected you to turn away from us... but what must be done... must be done."

metaknight raised the sword, winding up for an attack... but... his arm got stuck in that position. he couldn't

ing the sword down and strike... he just couldn't. his left eye turned blue... and then, slowly, so did his right one... and after a few seconds, a water drop fell from his mask... a tear.

"i... must... do... this!" he said to himself.

but... his arm refused to move. he cannot strike kirby... even if he betrayed him, he just can't...

kirby looked up to metaknight...

kirby tried to say something... but suddenly...

there was a strange, grey blur and galaxia was knocked away from metaknight!

the responsible for this turned to face the group... and everyone's eyes widened... but kirby's more than anyone else!

706 was standing there...

bash!

a purple dream matter had seemingly came out of nowhere and punched metaknight right in the face using the fighter ability!

it was wilde!

"i knew it! it was a good idea to follow you!" said another dream matter, this one larger than the others...

it was mash!

706 jumped, placing himself between metaknight and kirby!

"byrki is our friend. we will not allow you, a worthless star warrior, to touch our friend!" said the small nz dark trooper. altought he was small... it had been surprising how quickly and with how much strenght the small thing had knocked galaxia away!

"leave kirby alone!" ordered the knight!

"kirby? heh! if he was the pink demon, we would know it!" replied wilde with a harsh tone. "do he looks like that evil monster, kirby, to you? no! he is byrki, our good friend!"

"ok... now that is confusing..." said tuff. "but i think i finally understood! maybe that kirby is some kind of... well... double agent or something?"

fololo turned to tuff. "double agent? you mean, those people that work on both sides at once... but really are the friend of only one side?"

"yeah! exactely!" said tuff. "when he's here, kirby acts normally and he must also disguise himself as byrki to take on the nme from the inside!"

"you're so smart, tuff!" said falala.

"really? err... hey! i said something smart! like my sister! so cool..." said tuff, proud of himself.

mash, 706, and wilde stared at each others... and then turned to kirby.

"really? well... you're all wrong! kirby cannot speak and our friend can! how's that to you? come on byrki, say something!" said 706.

kirby frowned. he was in deep trouble now. without the serum, he was stuck with being able to only say "puyo"... and they didn't knew that he was, in truth, kirby. they would probably think he has hurt that byrki guy or something if they learnt he was kirby... he didn't wanted to

eak the hearts of his friends and that, on both sides... what to do?

kirby turned to metaknight, who was staring at him... and then, he turned to 706, who was staring at him too...

so much stress... so much pressure...

kirby couldn't take it and began to cry!... which caused both sides to be upset!

"great! see what you done, 706! you made byrki cry, big meanie!" scolded wilde, slapping 706 with all of her strenght!

"ow! not my fault!" said quickly 706.

metaknight, tuff, and the others just kept staring...

"leave kirby alone!" ordered metaknight.

"leave byrki alone!" ordered mash.

metaknight jumped toward his sword and took it in his hands. then, he jumped toward mash! mash prepared to punch...

"puuuuyoooo!" screamed kirby as he jumped between the two!

slaaaaash!

baaaaaaam!

both of their attacks struck kirby unstead! everyone froze in their tracks as kirby was almost cut in two from one side, and almost totally crushed from the other.

kirby fell down, serious hurt... a torrent of crimson liquid flowed from both injuries...

"oh no! i'm too late!"

it was serty, who had just arrived on the scene...

"you morons!" he screamed to his friends as he dashed toward kirby...

metaknight pointed his sword at serty. "i will not allow you to..."

"shut up!" screamed the dream matter. "i don't care where you loyalty belongs! kirby is gonna die if he doesn't get treatments!"

both sides stared at the pink puffball in disbelief... serty took out a capsule and opened it. out of it came tomato slices... maxim tomato slices... serty forced kirby to open his mouth and forced the slices into his throat, hoping that the injuries weren't fatal...

for a second, nothing happened... and then, kirby's wounds closed... serty made a few steps backward... he was so embarassed... all of this begun becease of him...

"ok... could someone explain to me what just happened, here?" asked both tuff and 706, at the same time.

"i'm so sorry everyone... it's all my fault... i... i lied in the report. i lied... i did not fail in my plans... i... succeeded. kirby... was at my mercy but then... something happened that changed my view on the situation."

the green dream matter turned to metaknight.

"a few days ago... you were on the roof of the castle... don't you?" asked serty.

"i have nothing to say to a nme agent!" replied harshly metaknight.

serty ignored the harsh comment. "that night, i couldn't sleep and flied to the roof. there, i ran into you... and you confused me for kirby and explained to me your dilemna, thinking you were discussing with kirby."

metaknight's eyes widened. he couldn't believe it! he had revealed all of his worries to the enemy!

"following that night, i realised... that the star warriors weren't quite like father nightmare had told us. i wanted... to show kirby that we weren't like everyone said... to show him how we truly were. i injected a serum to give him speech abilities and used his similarities to agent byrki to help him infiltrate the base. then... he lived with us for a while."

the nme agents' jaws dropped... they couldn't believe it...

"you mean that... he wasn't..." wilde didn't finished her sentance.

"byrki died shortly after his arrival. i found his body in an abandonned teleportation room. the one you all tought was byrki... is in truth, kirby, the pink demon reborn."

mash, 706, and wilde stood there... and finally realised that for all this time, they had befriended and played with the enemy as if he was one of them...

metaknight turned to kirby... "so he really did betray us..." begun the knight... but serty interrupted him!

"no! no! kirby did not. i told kirby that i wanted him to choose his side from his own free will and this is why i

ought him to the base. kirby had not chosen a side by the way he got back here... he couldn't

ing himself to betray the ones he respected the most. kirby... has great respect for you, metaknight."

metaknight turned to serty... "so... he did not betray us in truth... but still, i don't have any reasons to trust you. you are agents of the evil emperor, nightmare."

wilde stepped foward, offended. "evil emperor? who was murdering thousands of innocents and

inging terror to the galaxy for all those centuries? it was the star warriors! you are all spawns of the pink demon! no-good monsters that care for..."

serty interrupted wilde. "stop! do you think blaming metaknight will do any good? he was, just like kirby, protecting his friends... just like we were."

mash closed his eyes... "i still believe that the star warriors are evil, however. if their movement is allowed to be revived... they could consume the entire world!"

"consuming the world? actually, i think that the nme has a strange way of protecting people... with all of their whole world enslaving and destroying business." said metaknight.

kirby slowly got up and noticed that he was still alive. not only that but he noticed his friends, arguing...

"the nme never did anything! it was the star wa..." yelled 706!

"the nme's crimes cannot be forgiven! ever!" yelled back metaknight!

"puuuuyoooo!" screamed kirby, causing both sides to stop.

kirby advanced toward metaknight... and kicked him! the nme agents cheered!

then, kirby approached mash... and kicked him too! metaknight, tuff, fololo, and falala cheered!

kirby stood in the middle, upset at both groups.

"kirby..." begun metaknight.

kirby did not listen. he had enough, enough! he had no intention of allowing them to hurt each others any longer...

suddenly, there was a strange sound... and all the nme agents exept for serty ran away!

"sorry! gotta go!" yelled mash.

"what the..." serty couldn't say anything as they sped off, away from them...

serty turned to kirby. "anyway... i'm just happy to see that you're in a good shape."

"kirby..." begun metaknight. "you cannot keep the nme and those who walk on the path of the star warriors from fighting each others forever. you must choose a side..."

"oh! you and your..." begun serty... but the two couldn't argue as there was a deafening sound.

booom!

the sound of an explosion to be more exact... and the screams of terror of cappies!

large columns of smoke rose from cappytown...

"cappytown... is on fire!" said tuff.

metaknight grabbed serty by where his neck was supposed to be and raised him above the ground!

"what kind of trick is that, monster?" asked metaknight in a threatening way.

"i... i don't know! i didn't knew those three would show up! i wasn't there during the

iefing!" he quickly replied.

judging from the surprise in his eyes... he was saying the truth. metaknight let the green puffball go. he turned to kirby and then, kirby understood. kirby nodded and everyone ran toward the town...

when kirby, metaknight, tuff, serty, falala, and fololo arrived on the scene, the entire town was on fire! various bodies were on the floor... obviously, this wasn't a fake attack, like when duales attacked.

the nme forces had attacked... and already, there were many casulties... and on both sides judging from the various

oken nme items laying around and pieces of

oken armor.

"what... happened here?" asked serty, looking around...

...and then, there was a deafening sound... the sound of someone punching with a lot of strenght!

only one person could strike with so much physical strenght... well, kirby only knew of one person like that. knuckle joe!

baaaaam!

"take that!" yelled knuckle joe, punching a monster right in the face and making a gigantic hole in his face, killing it instantly.

knuckle joe was not alone however. sirica was there as well, fighting the best she could.

"there's too many of them!" yelled the female warrior.

"way too many!" yelled back knuckle joe.

metaknight couldn't believe it... the two were there, fighting a real moving wall of monsters... he had never tought that the nme would someday launch a full scale assault on popstar, never, ever...

leading the charge were mash, 706, and wilde...

the three landed in front of knuckle joe and sirica...

"huh? what are those?" asked the fighter.

"no idea! they look a bit like kirby... exept the small black one!"

wilde grinned. "so... knuckle joe and sirica, i presume? knuckle joe... i am very, very skilled with the fighter ability and i always dreamed of fighting jecra's son in an one-on-one fight using the fighter ability..."

knuckle joe stared at the purple puffball. "what? you..."

"time is a terrible thing to waste, knuckle joe!... too bad yours is up!"

wilde jumped toward the warrior and the two begun to fight...

during this time, sirica stared at 706.

"heh! you look a bit small to be a high-ranked nme monster! i'll slice you into pieces in seconds!" she said, confident.

"i am a nz, an elite soldier of the nme. i am mightier than any monster you ever fought in the past. defeating you will be as easy as stealing candy from a baby." stated 706.

"confident, i see! well, i guess it's time to send you back to your master... in little slices!" she said as she dashed toward the black enemy.

then, the two began to fight too...

serty dashed toward mash, confused. "what... what is happening here?"

mash smiled. "good news! we finally tricked dedede into buying an entire army, thus allowing a full scale assault!"

serty smiled at the news... but his smile quickly disappeared. "that's good!... but... why are there so many civilian casualties? the cappies are peaceful! they shouldn't offer much resistance!"

mash's smile widened. "actually... we're not capturing this planet. our orders were clear... we must leave no building standing, no survivor. men, women, children... even the plants and the animals! we're nuking the entire planet!"

serty widened his eyes in horror... why? why was the nme destroying such a peaceful world? it was not as if popstar was like that hydra planet they destroyed a century ago...

"serty, father nightmare has decided that popstar's very existance is a threat to the nme. it must be destroyed at all cost for our safety."

serty became enraged at such a decision. "no! i refuse to believe this! father nightmare would never murder innocents!"

mash stared at serty... he was looking at him with such arrogance... "serty serty serty... yamikage was right. you were not ready psychologically. serty... if we let the inhabitants of popstar survive, they will revive the star warriors! everyone know that it was on this very world that they were first created..."

"non-sense!" yelled serty! "non-sense! do they look anything like what the legends said they were? is cappytown anything like the legendary crystal city, rainbow resort? is king dedede anything like his ancestors? no! popstar changed! it's no longer the capital of evil as it once was! why didn't father realised this?"

"i had enough, serty! we told yamikage all about this throught the transmission channel... and he is disappointed with you! are you with the nme or not?" asked mash.

serty turned to metaknight... "yes... i am with the nme... and i shall serve nightmare's cause..."

serty took a capsule labelled beam ability!

"... by turning against those that twisted the ideals of the nme to pursue their selfish desires!"

he thrown the capsule, releasing it's content and then inhaled it, gaining a strange clown-like hat and a small blue rod!

serty took a battle stance.

"so... you turned against your father, nightmare? you turn away from us?" said mash, not really surprised.

"my loyalty to nightmare and the nme is undying... and as such, i shall cleanse it's ranks from corrupted monsters like you!" said serty.

mash winded up for a punch and struck only air as serty jumped next to metaknight. he whispered to the knight...

"you can use galaxia against him. he's no good with inhaling and copying."

metaknight whispered back, a bit confused... "why are you helping us?"

serty smiled. "the nightmare i know would never kill innocents. may they be in the ranks of the nme or the star warriors... monsters are monsters and must be terminated!"

the knight and the green puffball pointed their respective weapons toward the black puffball and then dashed foward.

"take that!" yelled metaknight.

"beam attack!" yelled serty.

"die!" yelled mash.

slaaaash!

zaaaaaap!

mash missed his attack... but metaknight and serty did not! using galaxia, metaknight made a deep cut in mash's face... but this was not enough to kill the hardly puffball. however, mash did not survive the beam attack that followed. his entire body was shocked from the inside, causing the internal organs to turn to the same color than his skin...

wilde heard the sounds of the attacks and jumped away from knuckle joe.

"maaaaash!" she screamed!

with tears in her eyes, she dashed toward mash's dying body with no regards to her own safety. once she made it in close, she could only see that she was too late... she turned to serty...