Chapter 6 - Alliance

It seemed like hours had passed since they left the ground. Daisy, however, hardly noticed. All she seemed to notice was that they were flying on a flimsy stick bird and they were flying just above the cloud line.
"Do we have to fly this high?" Daisy asked, half expecting the bird to break apart at any moment.
Adeleine replied, "If we wish to find Meta Knight, yes. Just relax."
Daisy had probably never heard more ridiculous words in her life.
They fell into another long silence, and then, Adeleine cried, "There it is!"
Daisy followed the direction Adeleine was pointing at and caught sight of a giant air-ship just breaking cloud cover. Even from that distance, she could tell it was a massive vessel; intimidating in every sense of the word. It looked like a strange, metal, bird with four wings and rockets where the tail feathers would be. On the front of the vessel was a giant mask similar to the one she'd seen Meta Knight wearing.
"Let's go," Adeleine said, "Hopefully, they won't shoot at us."
Daisy was about to ask what he meant, but as they moved closer to the ship, it no longer became necessary to ask. As more details of the flying ship began to emerge, she could make out numerous cannons, pointing outward from the top half of the ship. Along the bottom half of the vessel, she saw a much larger cannon that stuck out just beyond the nose of the ship. She became even more afraid of the ship, as well as it's supposed captain, by the second.
Just then, two small shapes popped out of the bottom part of the ship and began flying towards Daisy and Adeleine. As they flew closer, Daisy began to assertain them as small creatures wearing jetpacks. These also appeared to be somewhat similar looking to Kirby, but were wearing some form of mechanical suit.
"Halt!" one of the guards ordered, "state your names!"
Adeleine stopped his bird and said, "I am Adeleine, and this is Princess Daisy. We come to see Meta Knight."
The two flying guards looked at one another for a moment, then the first one ordered, "State your business with Lord Meta Knight."
"It is a matter of grave importance," Adeleine replied, "for Meta Knight's ears only."
The two guards looked at each other again, then the second said, "We'll escort you to Lord Meta Knight. No tricks, understand?"
Both Adeleine and Daisy nodded, and followed to the two flying guards towards the bottom of the vessel. They flew in through a large entry way and landed inside an incredibly large hanger bay. The floor and walls were colored blue and purple, shining with a top grade polish. In the hanger were a large multitude of small flying vehicles, which looked similar to, and were just as imposing as, the vessel they were housed in.
After dismounting their bird, which desolved back into ordinary paint, Daisy and Adeleine followed the two guards through a series of corridors that seemed to stretch on and on. Daisy wasn't the least bit surprised, not when considering how big the ship looked from the outside.
After some time, they reached an elevator, which took them up quite a ways until they reached what was deemed to be the top floor of the vessel. When they stepped out of the elevator, the found themselves in an unusual command deck.
It was rather large, with several computer stations manned by several small creatures, again similar to Kirby, but red colored with sailor hats. The front had a giant viewing screen that displayed a forward perspective of the outside of the ship. Towards the center-back of the deck, there was an old fashioned rudder wheel manned by a small caped figure. Daisy only saw the back of this person, but knew it immediately to be the one called Meta Knight. Standing next to him was another armored figure, likewise with a sword, and about the same height as Meta Knight.
"What do you want?" Meta Knight asked without turning back.
"Lord Meta Knight," both guards humbly replied with bended knee, "We brought you the two strangers approaching the ship earlier."
Meta Knight turned halfway to glance back at both Adeleine and Daisy. Both held their breath when they met the gaze of that mysterious, yellow eye.
"Return to your stations," Meta Knight told the guards, who snapped a sharp salute in reply and turned on their heels towards the elevator.
After the guards had left, Meta Knight, and the knight next to him turned fully to face their new guests.
"Welcome aboard the Haldberd. This is my First Officer: Blade Knight," he said, gesturing towards the knight next to him. Blade Knight bowed humbly upon being introduced.
"Just who might you two be?" Meta Knight continued.
"I am Adeleine, and this is Princess Daisy," Adeleine replied, "We are friends of Kirby."
Meta Knight said nothing at first, so Blade Knight asked, "What is your business here?"
"We've come to warn you of a great danger," Adeleine replied, "not just to you and us, but to all of Pop Star."
Adeleine then went into length to explain Princess Daisy and her appearence, as well as the danger of the person who sent her to Dreamland: Mario.
After Adeleine finished, Meta Knight continued to remain silent, eyeing both of them with hardly any emotion. He then turned to Blade Knight and asked, "What say you, Blade Knight?"
"It's an incredible story to be honest," Blade Knight said, "and for that, I find little reason to trust this Princess or Adeleine."
Meta Knight nodded in agreement, "Yes, this much is true. And without evidence to support their claims, I would be inclined to agree with you. However, we must not forget that these are friends of Kirby. And if he is willing to trust them..." Meta Knight trailed off as he fell into deep thought.
"Please," Daisy pleaded, "you have to believe us. Everything Adeleine has told you is the truth, and we must do something to prevent disaster!"
Meta Knight looked up suddenly at Daisy, then, turning to face Daisy full-on, said, "Let's suppose for the moment that I believe you. What would you have us do?"
Daisy tried to build herself up as she prepared her answer, "To build an army. A defense force, some form of resistance to stop Mario when he comes."
"This would be a difficult task," Meta Knight said, "For the denizens of this world know little of fighting, and are ill equiped to defend themselves should the need arise."
"Then evacuate the planet," Daisy continued, "have the denizens flee Pop Star; find other places to hide."
"This, too, would prove most difficult," Meta Knight replied, "and the bottom line is you still have no proof. Without it, you will convince no one into leaving."
Daisy was on the verge of crying. It looked as though Meta Knight was about ready to throw her and Adeleine back out the way they came.
Finally, she fell to her knees and clasped her hands as she cried imploringly, "Please! I beg of you! You must believe me! I am speaking the truth, and something must be done before it's too late!"
Meta Knight stared at her with emotionless eyes. Blade Knight also seemed to be staring at her, though one could hardly tell since there was no distinguishable face to be found on him.
"You seem quite adamant about this matter," Meta Knight finally said.
"I am," Daisy said as tears welled up in her face.
Meta Knight turned away and remained silent for a short time, after which, he turned to one of the sailors and said, "Get the Gim Squadron in here."
The sailor nodded and queued a microphone as he began to tansmit the message. The sailor talked in what sounded to Daisy as a 'yada-yada' language, leading her to wonder if it was understood.
As it turned out, it was understandable, because a short time later, out of the elevator, five small robot-like beings trotted out. They were all small, wore baseball styled caps, and had one arm, that periodically emerged from an opening in the robot's face, and a pair of legs.
The 'gims' trotted in and snapped into attention when they came just behind Meta Knight. Meta Knight then turned around and looked straight at them, saying, "I need an interdimensional transportation device. You boys up to it?"
The gims looked puzzled for a second, then conviened a small ways away from Meta Knight to discuss. Daisy tried listening in on their debating, but could only make out faint computerized murmuring. When they finished, they all started nodding in unison, showing that they were up to the challenge.
"Good," Meta Knight said, "Get to work on it."
And with that, the gims dashed off to start their new project.
Daisy looked over to Meta Knight as a small, relieved smile began to form on her face, "So you do believe me?"
"I do," Meta Knight replied, "and I believe our best course of action is to flee from this world."
Daisy felt her heart skip a beat, "To...What?"
Adeleine also spoke up, "We can't just leave Pop Star like this!"
"We don't have any other choice," Meta Knight replied, "If what she says is true, then this Mario has made a grab for power. More specifically, for conrtrol over your kingdom, Princess."
Both remained silent as Meta Knight continued, "Therefore, it stands to reason, that when he does arrive, he'll have an entire army on his side, ready to fight. The Haldberd alone will have no success in stoping him."
"And as you said earlier," Daisy replied, "there's little hope of creating an army here, right?"
"Exactly," said Meta Knight.
"But what good will running away do?" Blade Knight asked, sounding somewhat disappointed in Meta Knight's course of action.
"My plan is this: we are going to take Princess Daisy's plan to a much larger scale," Meta Knight said, frankly.
"You mean," Adeleine said, "go to warn other worlds?"
"Yes," Meta Knight began to explain, "we can't assume Pop Star is the only world in danger. He will surely go to other worlds and attempt to conquer those worlds as well. If that's the case, then the best course of action is to warn these other worlds of the coming danger. And once their made aware-."
"-They'll join us in fighting Mario." Daisy finished, sounding more hopeful now than she did before.
"Precisely," Meta Knight said.
"Well," Adeleine said, "maybe there are some allies here we could-."
Before he could finish, one of the sailors immediately started crying out in it's yada yada language in a panicked tone. Meta Knight turned to the sailor and yelled, "What?! What's she doing in this area?!"
"Go to red alert! All hands, battle stations!" Blade Knight cried out.
The command deck erupted into a frenzy as the different crew began excitedly chatting amongst each other in terrified tones. Sirens were blaring throughout the ship and red lights flashed from everywhere. Daisy and Adeleine simply stood there in utter bewilderment.
"Um...Blade Knight," Daisy asked as Blade Knight hurriedly grabbed the wheel, "what's going on?"
"We've got company," he said simply, "Dyna Blade's approaching our position."
"Dyna what?" Daisy asked.
Adeleine was the one to answer, "Dyna Blade. The avian goddess of the mountains."
"And now she's coming here," Meta Knight added, "only heaven knows what she wants."
"Coming about, sir," Blade Knight said as he turned the wheel. Sure enough, the vessel began shifting to it's port side (left) until it was facing a dark silouette steadily approaching the ship.
Meta Knight began shouting orders to the crew, "Arm all gun batteries! Have repair crews on hot standby!"
The sailors gave confirming 'yadas' and braced themselves as they stared intently at the silouette as it grew on the view screen.
Adeleine, meanwhile, started calling for Meta Knight, "Meta Knight! Meta Knight, wait! Don't attack yet!"
Blade Knight heard this and seemed near shock, "Are you mad?! Surely, you've some idea what this thing is capable of! If we lower our defenses now-!"
He was interupted by a piercing screech that echoed off the metal hull of the Haldberd. Everyone winced at the noise; Daisy practically fell to her knees again. Then, after the screeching had stopped, she looked up, and saw Dyna Blade. The majestic bird hovered in mid-air infront of the Haldberd, it's eyes seeming to glow with a kind of other-worldly intelligence. The bright colors of it's feathers glinted in the sunlight, as though they were made of metal. Daisy felt her heart start to melt at the meer sight of it. She couldn't bring herself to believe this sort of creature could do them any harm.
The crew, however, did not look so touched. They sat there, expecting the gargantuan beast to lash out at any given moment. But instead, it simply hung there, staring at the ship with blue, glowing, eyes.
"What's she waiting for?" Blade Knight thought aloud, hardly masking the tension he felt.
Meta Knight was also curious as to what this creature was doing. Then, something managed to catch his eye: a small something on top of the creature's head.
"Sailor, magnify grid 32, 41, and enhance," he ordered.
One of the sailors complied, punched in the appropriate command, and the screen zeroed in on the top of Dyna Blade's head until they were able to clearly see a small, pink, smiling puff-ball bouncing in the middle of Dyna Blade's crown of feathers.
"It's Kirby!" Daisy exclaimed, giving an inward sigh of relief.
The command crew made their sighs of relief resoundly clear, with most of the sailor's slumping back into their seats.
"Stand down red alert," Meta Knight said, exasperatedly, "and see if we can't provide room in the hanger bay for our new ally."
The sailors quietly tended to the orders, the sirens were silenced, and the red lights vanished.
"I think I'll step outside to greet our guests," Meta Knight said as he strode towards the elevator, but not before taking one last look at Kirby as he continued to smile and wave at his ship. No one could tell, but some might have guessed that Meta Knight cracked somewhat of a smile at that moment.
Daisy, in the meanwhile, simply stared at Kirby with utter amazement. It was apparent from the opinions of the others that Dyna Blade was one to be feared, and yet here was this small, practically innocent, little creature, who seemingly was not only able to keep her calm, but convinced her to join their side at the same time. It looked like there was no end to the mysteries surrounding him. Still, she couldn't help but smile; seeing his smile seemed to make her feel more at ease.

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