The Arrow of Time

Extrication

The sun had just set on the horizon. Meta Knight sheathed his sword and sat in front of a table to eat the chocolate cake he had snuck out of Castle Dedede. Showing very little restraint, he wolfed it down in under a minute. He looked out at the moon. It was quiet, peaceful. Somewhat uncommon, what with people like Marx and Magolor around. The quiet didn't last long. His trusty Sailor Dee scampered onto the deck. "Sir Meta Knight! Something's wrong!"

"Elaborate."

He flailed his hands around. "I was standing guard while Axe and Blade went into the armory, but I don't know where they went!"

Meta Knight went into the ship. He sprinted in the direction of the elevator to take him down to the armory, and paused when he got there for Sailor Dee to catch up. A strangely long time passed. He looked around the floor they were on, but saw no one. He hit the button on the elevator with the intention of leaving the ship entirely and regrouping. Halfway to the bottom floor, the elevator stopped unexpectedly. The door did not open. Meta Knight, stricken by panic, tried to pry the door open. It didn't work. He pulled out his cell phone in an attempt to call for help. As he was doing so, a sound came from above him, and the elevator filled with smoke. In a fit of coughing, the last thing he saw before falling unconscious was the time on the phone. 9:00 pm.

--- -. . / -.. --- .-- -.

Gooey was on his way back to Kirby's house, where he lived with Kirby and Elfilin. The two of them were still out doing something or other, he didn't remember. While he was making his way through the forest, he heard an odd noise. It sounded like a clock ticking. He went to the source of the noise, and saw the clock. The hand had just struck 10:00 pm. He had scarcely seen the clock before complete darkness descended upon him, and he felt himself being dragged away. Try as he might, he couldn't comprehend his surroundings, and eventually he lost consciousness.

- .-- --- / -.. --- .-- -.

"You sure you don't want to stay over? It's just intuition, but something about tonight is giving me bad vibes." Magolor said from the screen on the computer.

"Are you sure your intuition isn't just you being clingy?" Taranza grinned.

"I guess it wouldn't be the first time."

"I really am tired though, so I should be going to bed." Taranza pulled the knot on his scarf to the other side of his face.

Magolor nodded. "Okay. Good night. I love you."

"I love you too." Taranza disconnected from the call, and started getting ready for bed. Before he closed the laptop on his desk, he took notice of the time being 11:00 pm exactly. He landed in bed and pulled the covers over himself. He rolled to one side and opened the drawer in his nightstand to pull out the book he was reading. Instead of the book, an explosion of white dust came from the drawer. He coughed, and felt his eyes start to water. The dust continued filling the room, and he could no longer see. Eventually, he felt someone grab him, but he was no longer capable of resisting. He wasn't quite sure when he lost consciousness.

- .... . / - .... .. .-. -..

The quiet, slow stream of refreshingly cool water rolled through the forest where Coo dwelled. Night owl that he was, he was used to being awake at the odd hours of the night. The time had just turned to 12:00 am when an unseen projectile flew out from a bush and knocked him into the stream. He tried to fly out, but his feathers were too heavy to get him out of the water. The stream started to speed up, and it took Coo a short distance before he collided with a rock and his eyesight began to fade. The last things he remembered were Rick jumping towards him to pull him out of the water, and Kine shouting that Coo was crushing him.