//------------------------------// // Chapter 19: Here Come the Squeaks! // Story: Of Copy Abilities and Friendship // by MeeM //------------------------------// Chapter 19: Here Come the Squeaks! “Poyo...” Kirby said weakly as he awoke. Everyone was unconscious, but the Lor didn't seem to be badly damaged besides the engine which was pouring heavy amounts of smoke. Kirby and the bug queen were the only ones still conscious. “Explain this disturbance, you little devil.” “Poyo!” Kirby said with an angry look. Chrysalis face-hoofed. “Just speak up! Talk!” the queen said in anger. “Poyo,” Kirby said while shaking his head. He walked over and woke up Marx who eventually helped everyone else up. Kirby told Meta Knight what happened, and he made sure to tell Dedede. “I’ll keep a close eye on her,” Dedede said. “Alright everyone, I’m gonna stay here and get the engine back up and running. You guys go on ahead. According to the Lor, the empire should be around ten minutes away, so you're gonna have to walk the rest of the way. Good luck,” Magolor said. And with that, they exited the Lor and began to trudge across the snowy plains with Burning Leo using her fiery hair to keep them warm.The blizzard was brutal, Kirby's eyes stung, he shivered like a hummingbird’s wings, and despite Leo’s attempts, they were freezing cold. On the horizon, Kirby spotted the empire. It was so hard to make out in the blizzard, but he saw a black spire at the top. There was also a train station near them, and it seemed abandoned. Eevee was shivering on Marx’s hat, but after they passed the train station, Eevee jumped off into the snow falling beneath it and re-emerging in a new form. “Glaceon!“ Eevee said as Driblee picked her up and placed her on her crown which slightly froze into ice from the storm as Eevee's now white and blue paws touched it. Eevee now had a crystal-like design in the vein of ice crystals and now seemed happy and making snow angels till they caught up with her. The closer they got, the more dark magic filled the already cold air around them. After a while of trudging in the cold, they finally reached the empire which thankfully had some kind of aura the prevented the blizzard from getting in. The streets were abandoned, but once they reached the gate to the now dark black castle, weird ponies began to come out at a fast rate to surround them, causing Fluttershy to cower. Then through the crowd, a few familiar faces came but with a twist: the Squeaks had black skin now and Daroach now looked the same as when he was possessed by Dark Nebula; Storo’s muscles were bigger; Doc had repaired his UFO; Spinni seemed faster and carried shurikens that held dark magic; and the Squeakers had mad faces as oppressed to their usual smiles. “You are trespassing on the great King Sombra’s empire! Leave or die,” Daroach said. Meta Knight, who didn’t have the nicest first impression with the Squeaks, spoke up. "I’ve cleansed countless individuals, and you will be no exception!” Meta Knight announced as he drew Galaxia and lit it up with lightning magic. Daroach gave a sneer grin as they charged in ready for battle. Daroach started by teleporting all over the place and charging up his blizzard staff while Storo threw a few heavy punches. Doc, hungry for revenge, fired some lasers and a couple napalm bombs while Spinni dashed around and threw shurikens and the occasional bomb. The Squeakers simply hopped around trying to be some kind of nuisance to them. Daroach teleported behind them and fired his charged ice beam, freezing the few who didn’t manage to get out of the way. Doc dispensed a few weird-looking waddle doos that were black as opposed to their usual orange. Daroach set off a few fire bombs to limit their maneuverability as Storo went to take advantage of it with a ground pound on top of them. Glaceon and Driblee used water and ice to stop the bombs while Celestia and Twilight put up shields above them but struggled to throw Storo off of them due to his weight. Kirby inhaled some stars launched by Daroach's Triple-Star Cane and spat them at Storo, causing him to be knocked back and flinch a little. Applejack was having trouble catching up to Spinni to buck him while Doc capitalized on Applejack's failure and used the Electro Whip that he installed into his UFO. It was similar to Kirby's Beam Whip. Rainbow Dash rushed in and slammed hard into Doc's UFO, cracking the glass slightly. Daroach teleported up to Meta Knight and began to use his sharp claws to cut him. Meta Knight parried the scratches then countered with his Meta Multi Thrust combo, knocking Daroch back. Celestia used a shield to help protect them while firing concentrated light at the Squeaks. Doc fired a bigger napalm at Kirby, who inhaled the blast gaining a new ability. “Bomb!“ Kirby said as he now had a blue one pom pom jester hat and carried a bomb in his nubile. Raichu tried to electrocute Spinni but he dodged it just in time. “Kirby I have a idea!“ Marx yelled over the explosions and spells. Kirby ran through the chaos and dove toward Marx, just barely avoiding a bomb from Storo. “Kirby, this may sound crazy but… inhale me!“ “Poyo?!“ Kirby said in surprise. “Just do it! Copy my immense power and be sure to spit me out after doing so!“ Kirby nodded sadly as NESP let out a burst of Psi energy, leaving the Squeaks wide open to attack. Kirby, with a heavy heart, inhaled his best friend while Raichu jumped off Marx's hat. Kirby copied Marx's power then spit him out inside a star toward Daroach, knocking him out of the sky. Kirby then gained one of his most powerful abilities as he announced, “Crash!“ He now had a rainbow version of his regular crash helmet, with far more cosmic power. He began to build up energy. “Everyone gather around Kirby!“ Meta Knight said. “Are you crazy?!“ Francisca said as she began to charge up her soda blaster by shaking the glorified Super Soaker to make it more explosive. “Just do it! Trust me!“ Meta Knight said. They all gathered around Kirby while Celestia held her shield up. Kirby began to scream with power as he charged himself up, his power building rapidly. Celestia's shield began to crack as Kirby completed his charge. “Alright everyone, now shield yourselves as hard as you can! Get down!“ Meta Knight said as they all gathered up and shielded themselves with Kirby now outside the shield. And then Kirby unleashed the Supernova. The force was unlike anything they had ever felt. The explosion continued for two straight minutes as the explosion formed a mushroom cloud as Kirby did a flip, letting out his power in one massive explosion. If you were just passing planet Equis, you would see the Crystal Empire engulfed in a bright white light. As the explosion and smoke finally cleared, the Squeaks and the crystal ponies now looked normal again. The darkness that was with them had left them and now gathered into a ball that flew up into… “The throne room!“ Twilight said.