I'm not dead, my fans! After almost three whole months of me being ridiculously lazy, I have finally decided to get off of my and write some more Reflections.
Sicris: Oh wow, you must be doing almost TWO pages a month now!
Mohawk: ACK! How did YOU get here?!?
Sicris: Poof! And I was! Oh, and by the way, the Black Knight is signing autographs and passing out free samples of his warp powder at the local Target.
Mohawk: WHAT? SWEET! I'm outta here! Now hurry up and say the disclaimer! (zips off into the distance)
Sicris: (sigh) Darth Mohawk owns next to nothing – just me and the other OC to appear in this chapter. He doesn't even own me, but that's a secret you'll learn later.
Chapter Two: Stranded in the ForestBack on the bridge, my men had reassembled after learning that Kirby was now safely off my ship. Some of them were having a harder time holding in their glee than others.
"Kirby's been blown to the ocean!" exclaimed Chet cheerfully. "That ought to take care of him!"
"That was sure close," agreed Skew. "If we hadn't taken off when we did, we might have lost one of our engines!"
"What's our next step, Sir MetaKnight?" asked Verge.
I had thought about this for a while before giving the order to accelerate. Given Kirby's track record, it was highly likely that the Star Warrior would survive being blasted off the Halberd. Furthermore, after recovering from the fall, he would probably try to get back onboard, which would severely jeopardize my plans.
"Chart a course for Grape Garden. Until we get there, you four are dismissed."
Chet, Mace and Skew all bowed and left the room, but Verge stayed behind for a moment. "Sir MetaKnight, I highly doubt Kirby would have died from being blasted off the ship. What will we do about him?"
I turned to face him. "Don't worry. I have a plan," I said, as a figure stepped out of the shadows…
---
In a certain part of the forest, the woods were quiet. The birds chirped happily, and the forest animals skittered about, gathering food for their next meal… until two large figures crashed into the ground from above, sending the wildlife panicking away in all directions.
Kirby dug himself out of the ground with a grunt, then helped Sicris get up. "Well, that was quite a landing," the Star Warrior commented.
"I'm never going skydiving again," complained Sicris heavily, stretching himself to make sure nothing was seriously broken or otherwise injured. "But more importantly, we have no way to get back up to the Halberd, since we got separated from the Warpstar. What do we do next?"
Kirby paused for a moment, mulling the problem over. After a few seconds, he said, "I don't think the Warpstar was destroyed; it's probably hanging around somewhere in this forest. We can use that to get back up to the Halberd."
"Right. Let's go," declared the other warrior as he pried his lance out of the ground from where it had lodged itself. He then began trekking through the forest in a direction he hoped the Warpstar laid.
They walked through the unfamiliar terrain for a while, and eventually reached a small lake. "You know, this forest seems pretty safe," commented Kirby.
"Of course, it's perfectly safe," groused Sicris. "It's likely filled with all sorts of nasty creatures and demon-beasts. What could possibly happen? Maybe one or two hundred demons with a couple of big ones bringing up the rear, you know?"
At that moment, a small, round monster wielding a sword leapt from the bushes and jabbered angrily. Sicris immediately brought his lance down upon it, killing it in a puff of smoke. "See? Perfectly safe."
No sooner than the words had left his mouth, however, than a large contingent of evil beasts emerged from the trees surrounding the lake as well as the lake itself. Each of them was fairly diminutive in stature, but held a black weapon at the ready. Some of the stronger ones used red weapons to denote their superior status. And all of them looked like they wouldn't have any qualms with destroying the two warriors they had surrounded.
"You were saying, Lord Sarcasm?"
Sicris merely sighed and lifted his lance.
The lakefront immediately erupted into mortal combat. The small demons were about as smart as their size implied, and as a result Kirby and Sicris had no trouble dispatching most of them. As the field cleared, however, a pair of elites stepped out of the way, revealing a large, spherical iron-plated beast with massive fists and spiked shoulder-guards. Upon further inspection, Kirby found that the monster also had a red bow on its head.
"I never thought I would see one of the Dark One's men wearing a bow," commented Kirby as he torched three demons with the ability he had stolen from another earlier in the fight.
"Probably because you haven't seen enough of them yet," replied the silver-clad warrior, sweeping his lance through two more foes and impaling a third on the end. He followed up with a wide sweep, clearing out the last couple of small foes, leaving himself and Kirby free to face the iron warrior.
The beast roared and rushed forward, attacking ferociously with its giant fists. The impact of his blows sent Kirby and Sicris sliding back with each hit, despite their blocking the attacks with their weapons. Fortunately for the pair, the fiend had to back off after a minute of heavy hits, giving the pair a chance to regroup and launch a counterattack. This went on for good five minutes.
During one such break in the action, Kirby got Sicris's attention for a moment and said, "This is taking too long – he's wearing us down so he can kill us easily when we falter. We need to take him out before we slip up!"
Sicris nodded, then gestured to the left. Kirby nodded and dashed towards the mighty beast, which brought his fists up to guard against his foe. Kirby's attack was soon punished, however, as the beast connected with a vicious uppercut that sent him flying into the sand some twenty feet away.
"Well, that could have gone better," muttered Sicris as he readied his lance and pointed it at his assailant in preparation for the inevitable barrage that was to follow.
But instead of attacking, the monster bellowed a furious cry and stood straight up before crashing down onto the turf. The two warriors scanned the beast cautiously, anticipating the action as a ruse. As it turned out, they need not have bothered – the beast suddenly exploded in a cloud of dark smoke, leaving nothing behind except for a small shiny object.
"A poison dart?" mused Sicris after examining the thing more closely.
"Precisely," said a squeaky, almost whiney voice from behind them.
The two warriors spun around. The voice they had heard belonged to a cloaked figure dressed mostly in a dark maroon color. The figure was a little taller than Sicris (decorative feather included), and had a metal plate on his forehead guarding his eyes. In his left hand was a sharp throwing knife, obviously meant for self-defense.
"So, what are you two doing here?" asked the figure.
"Why should it concern you?" replied Sicris, his eyes narrowing.
"Ooh, touchy," smirked the cloaked man. "It wouldn't, perchance, have anything to do with the massive warship up in the sky, now would it?" When neither of the other two responded, he smirked again. "I thought so. Now, how about I offer you a deal you would do well to accept?"
"Let me guess," interrupted Sicris. "You want to join us on our merry way back to the Halberd so you can 'help' us out. What's in it for you? And your appearance here was far too convenient. No, I think you were sent here to get rid of us so MetaKnight doesn't have to worry about us ruining his plans. And besides, I don't truck with ninjas. They shoot poison darts at people while they're on the toilet."
"That seems unnecessarily harsh," said Kirby. "MetaKnight's troops are probably well-trained; wouldn't having a ninja around be useful?"
Sicris mulled it over in his head for a moment while looking the ninja over. "Fine," he said. "It'll be easier to keep an eye on you if you come with us. We will discuss your… payment later."
"Oh, don't worry about paying me," said the ninja with a smirk. "If MetaKnight has the cash to go building a gigantic warship, then there's bound to be plenty of valuables on the ship itself. I'll just take what I want, and I'll leave you guys when I've got enough. Sound fair?"
Kirby nodded. "Let's go," he said, and started walking toward the other side of the clearing.
Mohawk: (poofs back into existence with an arcane rune under his feet)
Sicris: What took you?
Mohawk: The line was ridiculously long. I swear, it stretched out from the back of the store to the back of the parking lot! I forgot that the Burger King was so popular…
Sicris: Riiight…
Mohawk: Anyway, that's Chapter Two for you. Kirby and Sicris have been joined by a mysterious ninja. What will happen next? Will they get out of the forest in time to prevent MetaKnight from taking over the country? Why would they want to?
Sicris: Wait, what
Mohawk: (coughs nervously)
Sicris: Read and review for the next chapter. Hopefully it won't take 3 months like this one did… (glares at author)
Mohawk: (Uses warp powder)