Chapter 4 – Déjà Vu (A Never-ending Halloween?)

"The weight of my sins couldn't be more apparent."

"What does that even mean?" I asked.

Meta Knight gripped his cape, held it like a shield against the world. "I've always tried to bring order and justice to Dream Land in my own way. But the truth is I've been a fool... lying to myself and everyone around me... I deluded myself into believing steel and fury would be Dream Land's salvation.

"Kirby's way was unsustainable—that is what I told myself. It's how I built pride and an ironclad will. What I thought was a symbol of strength only blighted Dream Land. It's never worked... I am a failure, and I can no longer be a part of this flying monstrosity's operation. I apologize, my friends..."

Before we could respond, Meta Knight enveloped himself in his cape and vanished.

Has everyone here lost their mind?

"You're all useless to me!" Kirby screamed, frightening the crew.

"Kirby!" I said without realizing it.

He slowly turned to me, but instead of looking into endless pools of rage, I saw obliviousness, then regret.

"I lost myself again, didn't I," he said, more of a realization than a question.

"Just for a bit," I said. "But at least we know you can be snapped out of it... kinda."

"Sorry..."

Sailor Dee gasped. "If Kirby can be brought back from that, maybe we can snap Lord Meta Knight out of his funk after all!" He scuttled off the bridge, his voice echoing back to us, "I'll go find him! He's done this a few times, but he never leaves the ship!"

Captain Vul brought a palm to his face in frustration and embarrassment, then turned his attention back to the monitors. I took the opportunity to pull Kirby aside and out of the crew's earshot.

"The other you might've been harsh but... he ain't exactly wrong," I whispered. "The Halberd is pretty ineffective without Meta Knight in charge, and who knows if he'll be back to normal any time soon. If we're handling this Dream Land situation, it might be time to call in another battleship..."

Kirby got the gist of what I was saying. "We were talking about Lylat earlier," he said, "but do you think it's necessary? I've protected Dream Land for as long as I can remember, and I've rarely gone for outside help."

I guess even a puffball has his pride.

"I just have this... really weird feeling," I explained. "It's the same feeling I got with the haunted house and the costume curse. Call it superstition or supernatural, but this is the season for that kind of stuff."

"It's not even Halloween anymore."

"When we're talking about the most popular holidays, the spirit of the holiday is rarely contained to the day itself." Examples of holidays encroaching on each other spilled across my mind. "Think of it like a Halloween marathon on TV, or the Hallmark channel and how they unleash a black hole full of Christmas movies overflowing with washed up 90's stars all through November and December. Even if it's not Halloween now, the spirit is still there."

Kirby gave me a narrowed, skeptic gaze. "So, what you're saying is that we're being haunted by the spirit of Halloween."

"Uh... I guess that's one way to put it."

"At the very least, I agree that something's fishy about all this. Maybe it's better to be safe than sorry." Kirby bounced over to Captain Vul and tugged on his jacket like a child in need. "Captain, would it be possible to contact Star Fox from here?"

Captain Vul's beak turned up in a sour curl, but he obliged. The largest screen at the center of the bridge buzzed to life as a call was sent out to the Great Fox. We waited about a minute for the call to go through, but instead of a fox we were greeted by the face of a human.

"Hiiii!" Kirby waved, but I was a bit unsettled by the change.

"Niko? Where's Fox?" I asked.

"He's busy dealing with a problem," Niko said.

"I wonder if it's a bigger problem than ours," Kirby thought aloud.

"And here we were calling him for help," I said. "You think we should do him a favor?"

"I don't see why not," Niko interjected. "You scratch his back, I scratch his back."

"...When does he scratch our backs?"

"Fox doesn't have to do anything for you."

Kirby grunted and nearly pushed me aside. "Alright, you listen to me. Shut your FANBOY MOUTH and get Fox here now!"

"You don't have to be nasty," Niko murmured, slinking out of view.

Kirby turned to me and winked.

"I thought you lost it again," I said.

He giggled. "I just wanted to know what it felt like while still being in control of myself."

Guess I couldn't blame him. As much as we like to stress courtesy and kindness, sometimes being loud and rude gets the best results.

Fox McCloud came into view and took a seat. No matter how hard he tried to contain it, exasperation was written all over his face at the sight of us. "Why is it that every time you people have a problem, you come to me?"

"Wait... who else is there?" Kirby asked.

"There's a Yoshi situation, which... you'll have to see it to understand, but naturally it got dumped in my lap."

"We have a situation in Dream Land and was hoping for the backing and resources of the Great Fox to help contain it."

Fox sighed, massaged the bridge of his snout. "How about this: you keep Yoshi out of my hair, and we'll talk about this Dream Land thing."

"We need to do this fast," I said. "Things keep escalating here."

"Then you better get over here before I escalate my fist into Yoshi's face."

"We're on our way!" Kirby said, holding an improvised salute until the feed cut out.

"We'll stay on top of things here until you return with reinforcements," said Captain Vul, a very broad, very public scowl on his face.

"Good luck, captain!"

Kirby latched on to my wrist and pulled me along. We went down a side corridor and through a door, out onto one of the ship's decks and into the howling winds. I consider my fear of heights to be in line with that of a normal person, so it was understandable for me to crawl across the deck on my hands and knees after seeing the dwarfed landscapes of Dream Land below and feeling the wind literally try to sweep me off my feet. Kirby bopped along without a care. A rogue gust could've sent either of us plummeting to the earth below; I think he forgot that, between the two of us, he's the only one that can fly.

A twinkling star zipped along the skies before making a beeline straight for us. The warp star came to a screeching halt in the center of the deck, waited like a loyal pet for Kirby to acknowledge it. Kirby turned around and finally noticed me.

"That's a silly way to get around," he said, suppressing a laugh.

I felt my cheeks burn. "I'm not being silly," I said, managing to stand upright.

Kirby patted the surface of the warp star with comfort and familiarity. "There's something I wanted to show you. I've been thinking about some things you said about the warp star..."

"You mean finding a better way to touch down without crash-landing face-first into the ground?"

"Uh... that too. Anyways, I've been working on alternatives. Take a look at this!"

The warp star quaked, its movements rapid and erratic as it stretched, twisted and turned, kicking up stardust in its wake. In a poof of smoke, it transformed entirely into a contraption of the sky. The nose of the vehicle, and its base of power, was the star; its body whisked outward, its carriage like a pearly, crystalized gale.

I recognized this from Milky Way Wishes—Kirby used it to infiltrate and destroy Nova's core.

"No way," I murmured, circling the star chariot in disbelief.

"I knew you'd get a kick out of that," Kirby said, beaming. "But that's just one of the starship's forms! Check this one out!"

Kirby slapped the chariot, prompting another round of transformation. This time its body thinned and stretched a bit; the star split into two smaller clones, spaced along the elongated form like two wheels. What was once a star chariot morphed into a shooting starcycle.

I could swear I saw a pristine gleam wash over it once the process was complete.

It took a lot of effort not to throw myself onto the starcycle. "Where have you been hiding this!"

"I don't normally bring out the vehicles unless it's an emergency, and this seemed like one, yes?"

I nodded, my eyes glued to the starcycle. I'm not a schemer but I could admit that I was contemplating several ways to take one home with me.

Kirby leapt onto the starcycle, which hovered to life from his touch. "C'mon, let's go! We're running on borrowed time here!"

He didn't have to tell me twice. I jumped on the seat behind him and braced for takeoff. The stars gave a soft whirr, and then we were off. I hadn't even realized we were moving until we left the Halberd behind. Soon, we punched through a cluster of clouds and kept along until we pierced Popstar's atmosphere. Behind us, Dream Land melded and shrank into the rest of the landscapes that made up the star-shaped planet Kirby called home.

"Lylat, here we come!" Kirby said once we were a good distance away from Popstar.

We picked up an immeasurable amount of speed, blasting into the depths of space, a streak of light against the dark cosmos.