Nowhere To Go But Up

Recovery

As the Halberd rose above the clouds and began to approach the dock at Endless Explosions, Meta Knight sat on the dock. He thought about how he'd explain this to Kirby, Dedede, and Bandee, but couldn't seem to come up with anything. Maybe the ride down on the Halberd would give him some inspiration? As it approached, he stepped toward the cockpit, but someone else had opened it first.

"Meta, what happened? Why did you disappear in the middle of the night?" Bandee was asking, but the more immediate thing of note was that all three of the people he'd saved Planet Popstar with were here right now, and one of them was running towards him at full speed.

King Dedede grabbed him with both hands and hugged him before noticing how messed up his clothes were. "What happened to you?" Meta Knight, still too stunned to respond, just noticed the interior of the Halberd as Dedede hauled him inside. "All right, we're going." The engine made some kind of sound and the ship moved away from the dock.

"Why are you all here as if I vanished without a trace?" Meta Knight was standing in the corner of the room now, attempting to appear calm and collected.

Kirby looked at him, confused. "But you did do that. We couldn't find you anywhere, and you didn't say anything!"

"I'm sorry, Kirby, but it should have been made clear to you. I asked Dedede to pass on the message."

"No, you were looking out the window while I was coming to bed, and a minute after I lay down, you said, 'hold on a moment', jumped out the window, and hadn't been seen by anyone but your crew since! What were you even doing in a place like this? And why are you burnt?"

Meta Knight walked over to the window and stared off into the sunset. "I've been played for a fool." He went to a nearby chair, sat down, and didn't speak for several minutes.

King Dedede was obviously tired of this. "Is there a SINGLE PERSON, ANYWHERE on this planet, that is willing to actually ANSWER A QUESTION PROPERLY?!?"

Kirby looked up from his pile of food. "I am!" He had raised a spoon in the air.

"Thank you, Kirby." Dedede sat back down, dejected.

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Magolor was seeing himself through the eyes of a third person. He seemed to be floating in a black sphere within a larger white sphere. He was unconscious, and yet he could see. Did that make sense? He saw the black sphere start to shrink. This version of himself that he saw would soon be consumed by the light. The him he was looking at awakened, and began hypnotically waving his hands around. The white infinity that stretched out around him began to change shape. Instead of pure white, it started looking like Another Dimension. Magolor, and the translucent being in the black sphere who was also Magolor, scanned the area.

There was Magolor. Obviously hurt, with torn up clothes, and looking as if he were completely dead. Translucent Magolor was fading quickly, so he focused all his attention on dead Magolor. Squeezing his eyes shut, he waved his hands in an unfamiliar motion. Some kind of aura started emanating from translucent Magolor as this was happening. Dead Magolor's ear twitched slightly. Whatever was happening, it was working. Translucent kept going. At this point, dead Magolor had clearly become barely alive Magolor. He had made a sound, after all.

Translucent Magolor vanished, leaving only observer Magolor and barely alive Magolor, who would take several days to do anything interesting. Observer Magolor, feeling contented, looked down at his own hands, and saw himself fading away. It was fine. Nothing to worry about.

Magolor awoke feeling a stronger resolve than ever, and also a bit of a headache.

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