Chapter 99: Prince of Thieves: Daroach
The damaged blimp hovers beside the edge of the top of Dark Castle, and as everyone gathers not far from it, some of them readying themselves for a potential battle, the entrance opens. Out of it come five Squeakers: one red, one blue, one green, and two yellows.
And that's all...
And the five of them are now bouncing erratically around Sweetie Belle.
"Help!"
"You must help us!"
"Come with us!"
"Save the boss, please!"
"The boss has become crazy! Help!"
"Hey! Hey! Calm down!" shouts Sweetie Belle above their voices as she signs to them to calm down. "One at a time. What's going on? No, wait, let me guess. Daroach as been corrupted by some purple heart?"
The Squeakers restart bouncing while repeating "Yes!" before the red one starts talking alone. "A weird purple heart fell beside our new hideout!"
"The boss got interested in it and tried to take it!"
"But the heart disappeared in him!"
"And he became crazy!"
"Now he keeps the treasure all for himself!"
"And he used Necrodeus' scepter to brainwash everyone else!"
"We are the only ones who could escape!"
"With Megasqueak!"
"Wait, I thought we called it Squeak Prime?"
"Nonono. Doc called it Megasqueak. It's Spinni who calls it Squeak Prime because he finds it more cool."
"I find Squeak Prime cooler too."
"Meh. Megasqueak sounds better."
As the Squeakers start talking to each others, Sweetie Belle and some of her friends start sweating at this.
"How did we get from 'Daroach became evil' to 'What's the best name for the mecha'?" asks Elline.
"Squeakers," simply answers Sweetie Belle.
"Hey! Forget about the name! We have more pressing matters! Like saving your friends!" shouts Adeleine, stopping the mice.
"Yeah!" shouts Yin-Yarn. "Beside, didn't your boss settle for Unisqueak? I prefer it."
"You aren't helping!"
"No, he's right! If the boss says that we take Unisqueak, then we take Unisqueak! Squeak!"
"Squeak!"
"Ok, so, back to saving the Squeaks," says Sweetie Belle. "We have no idea where your new hideout is. If you want us to save Daroach and the others, you will have to show us where it is."
"No choice."
"Yeah we have no choice."
"The boss won't be happy."
"But it's the only way to save him."
"We will just have to change hideout, again."
"Awww... But I love our actual hideout."
Sweetie Belle raises an eyebrow. "You remember that your previous hideout had Daroach's hat on top of it, right? I didn't think you cared about keeping it secret."
"Seriously?" asks Taranza.
"Uh... Maybe the boss actually doesn't care."
"You know, I was starting to have doubts when he asked us to sculpt the mountain in his image."
"Ah yeah, Doc yelled at him because of this, we could hear him all the way from the top of the hat."
"I remember. It was something about learning a lesson and keeping our hideout secret."
"No kidding," says Elline with a facepalm. "It's a hideout. A HIDEout! To HIDE! It must be kept secret! So it must be discreet!"
Claycia giggles. "And a mountain sculpted in Daroach's image is not discreet at all."
Adeleine groans in exasperation, a hand covering her eyes. "It's Daroach... Remember, the guy tried to hit on us in the party, going on about how girls like us deserve to go with a handsome guy like him."
"Yes, I remember," says Claycia with another giggle.
Sweetie Belle rolls her eyes. "That guy, really..." She looks back at the Squeakers. "We should go before we lose more time. Who knows what Daroach is now up to."
"Isn't it obvious?" asks Yin-Yarn. "Either he's preparing to hunt all the treasures of the world for himself, or he's preparing to hunt all the girls of the world."
"Squeak!" answer the Squeakers with a bounce before they climb back inside the blimp, followed by Sweetie Belle and the others.
As they take off, the Squeakers start to talk. "We're lucky we found you!"
"We were searching you and Kirby everywhere!"
"And then, we saw this rainbow light!"
"We immediately knew it was one of you!"
"Speaking of, where's Kirby?"
"Busy finding where those hearts come from," answers Sweetie Belle. "Meanwhile, I suppose I'm the one charged to make sure that Popstar doesn't explode because of them. So far, I have already saved it three times. Well, more like two because I doubt that Taranza would have been able to find a way to bring Sectonia back to life."
"Thanks for the reminder that my evil quest was doomed to fail," says Taranza.
"And even if you had succeeded, Sectonia would have killed you before ruling over Popstar all by herself. You really were stupid," Yin-Yarn says.
Taranza gives Yin-Yarn a deadpan look. "I was corrupted. I wasn't thinking logically. And Sweetie and Kirby blew up the only thing that could have brought her back to life in thousands of light-years around a few months ago! I was doomed to fail from the start, I knew it, and I didn't care back then!"
"It just shows how much you sucked as a bad guy. Adeleine and Gooey's goal at least weren't impossible and suicidal," says Yin-Yarn.
He then gets slapped on the face by Adeleine using a fan, the girl slapping him so hard that he's sent on the floor. "Stop being hard on him! He's still hurt by Sectonia's death! It's only natural that he would get such a goal while corrupted! And you can talk, but he managed to capture Sweetie Belle. Tell me you were able to do better."
"I managed to capture Dedede. Back then, he was still considered stronger than Sweetie Belle. Does it count?" answers Yin-Yarn.
"Dedede's an idiot. He's easy to fool," says Sweetie Belle. "I immediately identified the Yarn Waddle Dee as a fake when he entered the room. Dedede didn't even see that something was wrong when there was one right in front of his beak."
"Sorry Yin-Yarn, you lost this clashing contest," says Ribbon.
"Not a big surprise. The guy got easily beaten by Sweetie Belle alone," says Adeleine. "If there's someone who sucked as a villain, it's him."
"So this make Yin-Yarn the worst villain?" asks Elline.
"Erh... I don't know," answers Sweetie Belle. "Between him and Dedede, it's hard to say. Remember that as a villain, Dedede's act of villainy was to steal all the food of Dreamland. So, a country-scale of what a bully does at school." At this, she starts thinking. "Maybe we should do a battle between Yin-Yarn and Dedede to see who's the worst villain. What do you think, Yin-yarn? Yin-Yarn?"
Not hearing Yin-Yarn answering, Sweetie Belle looks in his direction, only to see him now at a corner of the room, totally depressed.
About ten minutes later, the blimp reaches an island that is actually just the top of a mountain showing above the ocean, with no sign of life. However, the sculpted head of Daroach at the top of the island proves the contrary: this is the Squeaks' hideout.
"The new hideout is a maze of tunnels inside that island," explains the red Squeaker. "The only entrance, also the main exit, is at the top, on the hat of the sculpted head. It's the platform for the airship, you see. But we learned our lesson from last time and we prepared a lot of secret exits everywhere in the mountain that can only be opened from the inside."
"We don't think the boss will try to escape. He will rather remain beside the treasure and protect it. But just in case..." The blue Squeaker gives a communicator to Sweetie Belle. "Take this, so we can remain in contact. We will keep watch, and if the boss comes out, we will warn you."
"Eh. When you want, you can be smart," says Yin-Yarn.
"Where is the treasure room?" asks Sweetie Belle.
"Right at the center of the mountain, a little under the level of the sea. It's the lowest part of the maze."
"This means that we will have to find our way in this maze all the way from the top of the mountain to the bottom," resumes Claycia with a sigh.
Sweetie Belle groans, rubbing a hoof between her eyes. "I hate mazes... And I feel like this one will be the worst."
"Oh yeah," says the red Squeaker. "In the case we would get invaded, we placed many traps, and we made no maps. We had to memorize everything."
"Sweet... You know what..." She grabs the green Squeakers and places him on her back.
"Eh?"
"You, you come with us. You will guide us, and thanks to you, we won't lose hours in there."
"What?! B-but-but-"
"Don't worry. I'll protect you. And also, you will be able to throw your bombs and help us fight."
"No-I-Bu-"
"Your courage will be remembered! Squeak!" shout the remaining Squeakers excepted the red one.
"We're approaching the top of the hat. Prepare to jump," says the red Squeaker.
Hearing him, Spikezilla opens the door, and everyone assembles in front of it, Sweetie at the head. She looks down as the airship soon flies just above the hat, a staircase leading inside the mountain visible near the edge. The airship is close enough to the ground that they all can jump without risks, so this is what they do, everyone quickly landing on the platform.
With a wave to the blimp as it starts flying around the mountain, they climb down the stairs and enter the hideout.
It starts with a long spiral staircase as they move down the head, two windows forming the eyes, then follows with a tunnel going in two directions: forward or to the right, the two directions going down.
"So, what's the quickest way to the treasure room from there?" asks Sweetie to the Squeaker on her back.
"Uh... To the right. But it's also where we placed the most traps between the two."
"But you will tell us about them, right?" asks Ribbon.
"O-of course. I don't wanna die. But most of them should be visible. You know, electric floors, automatic turrets, and so on. But there will be also a few crushers, for example, which you won't be able to see."
"And I suppose that I have to thank Doc for all of those."
"Squeak."
"Thought so."
"And the first one will not be far."
"And what will this be?"
Before the Squeaker could answer, she spots the trap: a succession of big, wide metal doors opening and closing in a certain pattern, with absolutely no space between the doors. One error and they would end up crushed.
"I see..."
"The first three doors should be easy to pass. You just have to run to the next one when it opens before the one you're in closes. At the fourth door, do not run to the fifth directly when it opens! The door will close almost immediately! Instead, you will have to jump back to the third door, and only then you will be able to go through the fourth door to the fifth door. You will have to immediately run to through the sixth one right to the seventh one, then jump back to the sixth one, and finally, you run through the last few doors without stopping."
Adeleine writes all of this down on a small paper, nodding. "We will have to go two or three at a time. It will take time..."
"Don't worry," says the Squeaker. "There's a button at the end to stop the doors. It will be the case for most of the traps. One of you will have to pass it, then press a button to stop it and let the others pass without dangers."
"Oh, thanks the stars," says Yin-Yarn in relief.
"But whoever decides to pass this trap will have to watch out at the other side. There's a turret, and it will fire almost as soon as they pass the last door."
"Well then..." starts Sweetie Belle before she places the Squeaker on Rick's back. "I'll go. This turret won't be a problem for me with my magic."
The filly then gets in front of the first door, and looks at it for a few seconds at it opens and closes. After half a minute, when the door opens again, she runs to it, and when the second door behind it opens the next second, she quickly runs again. Following the instructions of the Squeaker, she's able to pass all the doors, and once she's at the other side, she immediately puts a shield, stopping the projectiles of the turret mounted on a wall at her left. Once the turret stops firing to cooldown, Sweetie Belle drops the shield and fires a magical beam at it, destroying it in one shot. With the turret destroyed, she's able to press the button and stop the trap without risks.
The yellow Squeaker dropping from above and trying to headbutt her from behind doesn't count. Sweetie Belle deals with him with a simple backward punch without even looking.
The doors stop closing, letting everyone join Sweetie Belle. Once the filly has levitated the Squeaker on her back again, they continue.
More turrets follow the one destroyed by Sweetie, along with some Squeakers trying their chance against them (Gooey eating a green one to get the Bomb ability), and two more traps: an electric paved floor, the electric slabs turning on and off in a certain pattern, and a succession of moving lasers. They are easily passed, Coo flying above the electric floor to the button, and Taranza teleporting behind the lasers.
After the lasers, they reach a junction, with a tunnel going down to the left and another slightly going up to the right. The squeaker tells them to take the right one, and not far further, they find another junction, but instead of taking one of the two tunnels in front of them, they go down a ladder to a third tunnel.
If the Squeaker wasn't there, they would have definitely lost hours finding their way in this maze.
After passing a trap consisting of spiked walls of various shapes coming out of the floor and moving down the tunnel, threatening to impale them, they encounter Storo trying to stop them. The big mouse hasn't changed his fighting style at all, using his strength allied with his weight to attack by body slamming, swinging his hammer, or simply punching them. But against all of them at once, he doesn't last long, and the party quickly continues, leaving Storo's unconscious body behind.
"We may encounter him again," warns the Squeaker. "There are secret passages that only the boss, Doc, Spinni, and Storo can use a little everywhere. Storo will probably use them to find us again."
"Noted," says Adeleine.
"Googoogoo!"
"Gooey's right. No matter how many times they come back, they won't be able to do anything against all of us," says Elline.
"Yay!" shout Sweetie and Ribbon.
They pass a black door and appear in a room with a familiar trap: different parts of the ceiling came down to crush them. But at those parts of the ceiling are also added parts of the floor rising up to the ceiling, and parts of the walls too. Half a minute of avoiding being turned into pancakes later, a new black door appears, and they pass it, appearing on a platform above water.
The level of the water regularly changes, rising, then lowering. When the water reaches a certain level, it gets electrified.
"As you can see," starts the Squeaker. "this place is filled with water that gets electrified when it rises too much and reaches an electrified device. You will have to swim in it, and pay attention to when it rises. When it starts rising, you have to quickly hurry and swim to one of the many air pockets above it where you will be able to jump on a platform while waiting for the electricity to stop. And by the way, this trap can't be stopped. You all will have to pass it."
"Lucky us we all know how to swim," says Sweetie Belle.
"The birds may have more problems" says Taranza.
"They will cling to Kine," says Adeleine.
At this, they wait for the water level to start to lower itself, stopping it from being electrified, before they jump in it. While at first, reaching the pockets of air in time isn't a problem, it quickly becomes one when the pockets become more rare, and moving lasers appearing to serve as obstacles to slow them. By the time they reach the end of this path and pass the next black door, they have gotten a couple of close calls.
They reappear in a more classic tunnel where they encounter Spinni while Squeakers throw bombs at them from platforms above. Sweetie Belle is well used to Spinni's speed by now, and perfectly knows the best way to deal with him: creating a shield right in front of him to stop him. Once he's stopped, she traps him inside a cubic shield, leaving a few small holes here and there. From the holes, she then uses her ten cannons to fire at him until he falls unconscious. Simple, quick, effective, and no way to escape if you aren't strong enough to destroy her shield. The perfect technique for anyone that prefer to use speed rather than force. It also works for the ones who prefer using their brain, at the condition that they don't possess a powerful weapon or that they don't pilot a mecha.
With Spinni and the Squeakers knocked out, they continue through a few more tunnels and traps, until Sweetie Belle hears Dedede's anthem playing from her device. So she takes it and accepts the call.
«Hello Sweetie. So, you couldn't come, uh? What was it, this time?»
"Daroach," she simply answers.
«I see...»
"Right now, me and the others are in the Squeaks' new hideout, traversing a maze full of traps. Sometimes, I feel like I'm the unlucky one."
«Ah ah! I assure you, traversing a trapped maze is nothing compared to what me and the others just got through! We just finished fighting Meta Knight corrupted by one of those dark hearts.»
Ouch... "How was the fight?" asks the filly, uncertain.
«At first, it was okay, like a normal fight against Meta Knight. Just a little more violent than usual, closer to Dark Meta Knight. But then, he duplicated himself...»
Sweetie Belle sweats at this. "Meta Knight... duplicating himself...?"
«Yeah, it was as bad as you think. At least, the Meta Knights shared the damage they took. Hurting one was also hurting the others, so it was quick. Now, he's with us.»
"Those hearts can really give any power. I now fear what it will be like when I fight Daroach. Remember, he now possesses Necrodeus' scepter. By the way, you never told me what power it gave you. I'm curious."
«Ah! I got biceps!»
"...........What?"
«Ahahahahah! You should've seen me! I was even taller than usual, and my arms were real tree trunks! I could have lifted an elephant!»
«But he had nothing in the legs,» she recognizes Broom Sunglasses saying.
«Shut up! I don't have legs! Of course I can't have muscles there! However... The throne room will need some repair...»
Sweetie Belle facehoofs. "Seriously? We repaired it just a f-"
«Uh? What's that?» Dedede suddenly interrupts.
"What?"
«Waaaaahh!»
Almost immediately after she hears Dedede screaming, a huge earthquake takes everyone by surprise. It lasts for almost one whole minute before it slowly stops, almost everyone now on the floor.
"What the heck was that?!" asks Adeleine.
"It's the first time I see an earthquake since I came to Popstar," says Claycia.
"Dedede? Dedede, what happened? Dedede?" asks Sweetie Belle.
After a small silence, Dedede answers with a small voice. «A huge space fortress just landed on the planet.»
Oh, please, not again. "How huge?"
«About as huge as the Access Ark.»
"Ugh! What is it with planet-sized spaceships landing on Popstar?!"
«And this one as a big red eye at the front, with horns and bat wings.»
"Ok... This screams evil. Whoever is inside it must have something to do with those hearts. And a red eye? Reminds me of Zero."
«This is what Meta Knight thought just now. You know what it means.»
"Yup. You, Kirby, and the others go invade it to deal with whatever is inside. Meanwhile, I finish my business with Daroach, and if nothing else comes, I will join you."
«Somehow, I know that something will come. You already fought Taranza, Adeleine, and Gooey, and you're about to fight Daroach. There's still Dark Meta Knight and Marx to check, and I'm almost certain by now that at least one of them got corrupted.»
Sweetie Belle sighs. "That's what I thought too..." A shiver traverses her body. "If Marx got corrupted..."
«If Marx got corrupted, then good luck. Now, we must go. Call you soon again, maybe,» finishes Dedede before ending the call.
...
"So... A planet-sized spaceship? Again?" asks Taranza.
"Yeah... Or more like a fortress, apparently. Kirby and the others will deal with it while we make sure that the dark hearts don't cause too many problems behind."
"Which we've been doing since the start," says Yin-Yarn.
"Wait, where are..." suddenly shouts the Squeaker as he looks around. "Oh n-RUN! NOW!"
Not asking questions, Sweetie Belle start running, using her magic to push the ones slow to start just as the ceiling suddenly drops where they've been the previous second. They don't stop running as more sections of the ceiling drop behind them, until they reach a black door and pass it.
But now, they enter a room similar to the one with the ceiling, floor, and wall parts trying to crush them, and like in the previous room, they have to survive until another black door appears. But this time, the Squeaker tells them to not take it, saying that this door isn't a good one. So they remain in the room and wait a little more as it gets harder to avoid getting crushed. Eventually, a second door appears, and they pass it.
Doc is waiting for them at the other side, the old mouse piloting his UFO-like vehicle. With it, he fires some lasers that get deflected by Sweetie Belle while Gooey throws some bombs and Taranza throws some energy balls. Doc's vehicle is quickly destroyed by all those attacks, and the mouse falls on the floor slightly burned and half unconscious. Nago finishes him with a little punch.
"We're not far! From here, it will be the first to the left toward another black door, then down three ladders and a staircase to a last door," informs the Squeaker.
So they follow his instructions, having to deal with a passage full of streams of fire coming out of the walls and floor, more turrets, more moving lasers but much more numerous (even forming figures like stars or squares), spiked ceilings going down as they move down the ladders, and the staircase itself that reveals to be a conveyor belt going up while more turrets fire at them, including a statue of Daroach with eye-lasers.
And then, as they approach the last black door, the hideout suddenly shakes again, a loud crash came from somewhere.
"What now?!" asks Taranza.
They then hear the squeak Squad's anthem coming from Sweetie Belle's belt, and the filly takes the communicator given to her by the red Squeaker.
«Squeak! Sweetie Belle! The hideout was hit by a big laser!»
"What? What shot this laser?"
«I don't know! It came from... too far! From the West!»
"The West... It's the direction of Dreamland. You mean the hideout was hit by a laser shot by someone all the way from Dreamland? Who could-No, wait." She sighs. "Marx... But why..."
«Uh... One of my comrades just told me that he saw something in the laser before it crashed into the hideout.»
"Something in the laser... I have a bad feeling. I don't know if Marx is corrupted or not, but he probably fired this laser at someone. And that someone has now crashed into the hideout. We will have to go find out who it is and see if it's a threat later. Right now, we're almost at the treasure room."
«Wow! You were quick! Alright! Kick the boss' butt! I can't believe I just said that!»
Sweetie Belle ends the call before prompting the group to advance and pass the last black door, entering the treasure room.
It's a big circular room filled with treasures that the Squeaks gathered, and between two piles of treasures, sitting on a throne made of gold coins and gems somehow holding together, is Daroach.
When Daroach spots them, he starts floating, getting out his wand while Storo, Spinni, Doc (inside another flying vehicle), and a dozen Squeakers come from behind some of the piles of treasures.
Daroach points his wand at Sweetie Belle and fires his ice beam, and the filly and everyone behind her jump out of the way before charging at the Squeaks, the Squeaker on Sweetie's back deciding to go hide. Daroach and the Squeakers at his side start throwing bombs at the heroes, and they're destroyed by the black lightning bolts of Taranza's fake Sectonia while Gooey counters by throwing his own bombs. Doc surrounds his vehicle in electricity before charging, and Sweetie Belle counters him by doing her fiery comet attack, the two of them clashing. Claycia quickly sculpts a hammer before using it to counter Storo's own hammer before the big mouse is hit by Adeleine's paintbrush. Spinni, meanwhile, throws his shurikens while jumping from pile of treasures to pile of treasures, only to be attacked in mid-jump by Coo, the owl headbutting him before clawing him. Ribbon, Elline, and the remaining animals go to deal directly with the Squeakers as more of the small colored mice are coming.
Doc is the first to go down, his vehicle easily getting destroyed before he's knocked out by Sweetie Belle who immediately turns toward Daroach, the leader of the Squeaks being attacked by Yin-Yarn and Spikezilla to stop him from throwing his bombs. But then, Daroach takes out Necrodeus' staff, and fires some kind of dark magical beam from it at Yin-Yarn and Spikezilla. The next instant, the two of them are turned into statues of gold, not able to move anymore.
Everyone looks at the golden statues in shock, then at Necrodeus' staff, some of them gulping.
Daroach then uses the staff to fire another beam, this time at Storo's hammer. Some of the gold around then starts levitating toward the hammer, gluing themselves to it until it turns into a huge golden hammer. Storo then slams the hammer on the ground, creating a big shockwave and causing the room to shake, boulders falling from the ceiling as a result.
As many of the treasures fall from the piles as a result, Daroach raises Necrodeus' staff again, and more gold is levitated before they form golden statues of himself that start attacking the heroes with their claws.
And as if this isn't enough, Spinni takes from the treasures the three pieces of a Dragoon and assembles them before climbing on it and taking off, the Dragoon passing through the ceiling.
Sweetie Belle goes to attack Daroach while the others deal with Storo and the remaining Squeakers. Taking everyone by surprise, the Dragoon with Spinni on it suddenly burst out of a wall and charges straight at Gooey at a speed so great that everybody can barely see him before he disappears into a wall, leaving Gooey unconscious behind. A few seconds later, Spinni comes back again with the Dragoon, and this time, charges at Taranza. The spider thankfully teleports and avoids it. But the Dragoon still manages to knock out Ribbon before it exits the room again. At the same time, Kine barely avoids being turned into a statue of gold as Daroach suddenly targeted him with Necrodeus' staff without warning. The beam instead hits one of the Squeakers.
Frowning, Taranza surrounds Storo in a magical net like he did to Sweetie Belle. After a couple of seconds, he frees Storo, and the big mouse suddenly starts attacking the Squeakers around him. Storo then sweeps the floor with the hammer just as Spinni comes back again with the Dragoon. The yellow mouse is rammed right on the face by Storo's hammer, and he crashes on a wall while the Dragoon, without pilot, loses control and ends its course into a small pile of treasures. Before Storo could enjoy his victory over Spinni and the Dragoon, he's hit from behind by a magical beam, and he's turned into a golden statue too.
With most of the Squeakers now knocked out, Daroach is pretty much alone, but with Necrodeus' staff, he remains a big threat. He proves it by using the staff to fire dark lightning bolts toward the ceiling. The lightning bolts then bounce from the ceiling and fall back all over the room. While the lightning bolts rain everywhere, Daroach uses his wand to fire ice beams after ice beams, and randomly fires a magical beam at one of the heroes in the hope of turning them into golden statues.
When the lightning bolts stop raining, Sweetie Belle knocked Daroach away with her weapon in Staff-mode. While propelled by the hit, Daroach is then crushed by Adeleine's painted Ice Dragon jumping on him, before he's hit by a laser coming from a copy of Bastron's head made by Claycia. Before he can recover, Elline hits him on the back of the head in her paintbrush from multiple times.
As he's attacked by Elline, a purple aura appears around Daroach before he suddenly uses his wand to knock away the fairy paintbrush. Daroach then teleports in the middle of the room and raises Necrodeus' staff, and all the treasures in the room start flying toward him. Before long, Daroach is surrounded by all the treasures, which form a giant statue of himself almost reaching the ceiling.
Daroach then starts using the statue's two giant floating claws to pound the ground and create shockwave pillars that somehow home in the heroes. Pounding the ground also causes the room to shake again, leading for more boulders to fall from the ceiling. Heck, by now, some parts of the ceiling are starting to break away, leaving holes to whatever room or tunnel is above. After pounding the ground a few times, Daroach theme fires lasers from two big red gems forming the eyes of the statue, and at the same time, Necrodeus' staff pokes out from the statue's chest and starts firing magical beams.
Avoiding the beams as best they can, the heroes who haven't yet been knocked unconscious or been turned into golden statues use their best attacks to damage the Daroach statue, Sweetie Belle firing Ultimate Doom Lasers after Ultimate Doom Lasers without stopping, especially after seeing the statue reforming little by little if they don't damage it enough. After enough attacks, a hole to Daroach himself is opened in the statue, and they quickly attack him until Daroach uses the statue's hands to shield the hole.
By the time the heroes are able to destroy the hands, the hole has closed, and Daroach restarts firing beams from the eyes and the staff while the hands reform. Once the hands have reformed, Daroach uses them in a more direct way, trying to claw the heroes, punch them, or crush them. The statue also starts advancing toward his nearest enemy, each step sounding with a big STOMP! and making the room shake a little. One of the punches almost manages to hit Elline, but the fairy is saved just in time by Claycia pushing her out of the way, taking the hit in her place, crashing into a wall. Before she could recover, she's hit by a magical beam, turning her into a golden statue.
Despite this and Elline's desperate cries, the heroes manage to open another hole in the statue to attack Daroach directly, and by now, the statue starts to crumble, first losing its ears, then the hands.
But as everyone thinks that the fight is about to end, something suddenly comes out from one of the holes in the ceiling, and the next instant, Daroach is slashed repeatedly. This finishes him, the statues crumbling completely and burying him in a large pile of treasures while a dark heart comes out and flies away.
The being who just attacked Daroach then turns to the heroes, revealing his identity as he readies his sword while he lands on the ground.
The Lone Swordman's Shadow
Dark Meta Knight
"Oh. So that's who was in the laser," says Sweetie Belle. "I should have thought about it."
She looks around at her friends. From the starting team, only Taranza, Adeleine, Elline, and the animals remain.
She quickly points a hoof at Taranza. "Go throw a pink heart at Daroach!" She then points at Adeleine and Elline. "Adeleine! Elline! You should work together!" She finally points at the animal who are all grouped together. "You all! Attack Dark Meta Knight with everything you have to open him for me and whatever Adeleine will do!"
They all nod before Taranza teleports, the animals charge at Dark Meta Knight, and Adeleine starts painting something. At the same time, Dark Meta Knight charges forward to slash at the animals, but while he manages to slash Rick, the hamster immediately retaliates with a punch on his mask. The dark knight quickly recovers to parry Coo's claws before punching away Pitch. He slashes at Nago who protects himself with his arms while ChuChu, on his head, gives back a series of fast punches that forces Dark Meta Knight to fly back. Dark Meta Knight then quickly turns around to slash at Kine trying to headbutt him from behind, and the fish jumps back to avoid it.
After a few seconds of the animals attacking him, Sweetie Belle decides to attack with her weapon in Ten Beam Swords-mode, using an opening left by Nago using his tail to trip the knight to slash him dozens of times from all directions. Just as Dark Meta Knight manages to fly away from the swords, he's hit by two small beams, then by two more beams, and two mores again. As he deflects the next two beams, he spots Adeleine sliding on a Rainbow Rope painted by Elline. The human girl is now armed with two painted laser guns from which she fires her beams. Before Dark Meta Knight could attack her to stop her, Taranza and Daroach appear at his left and right, the two of them using a fake Sectonia and Necrodeus' staff to fire dark lightning bolts at him.
To their surprise, Dark Meta Knight already falls to the ground half unconscious.
But then, they remember that he came here inside a laser from Marx. Dark Meta Knight probably fought the jester and, like each time, got a serious beatdown in return. No wonder he's already weakened.
But then, a purple aura appears around Dark Meta Knight as he rises in the air. Dark Meta Knight then disappears inside a purple cloud that quickly divides itself into four Dark Meta Knights!
"Ugh! Of course he gets the same power up as Meta Knight!" shouts Sweetie Belle as she readies her ten beam swords, which she turns into double beam swords each covered in an element like fire, ice, water, electricity, and wind, produced from the weapon itself.
One of the Dark Meta Knight charge at her while the three others charge toward the animals, Adeleine, and Taranza, leaving Daroach free. But it doesn't last long because the Dark Meta Knight who has charged at the animals creates mirrors from which giant versions of his sword come out, knocking out Rick, Kine, and Nago with them. With half of the animals out, the Dark Meta Knight decides to focus on Daroach. But it doesn't mean that the remaining animals decide to remain here doing nothing. Coo, Pitch, and ChuChu all move after the Dark Meta Knight who just attacked them to avenge their friends.
Adeleine can't do much against the Dark Meta Knight constantly attacking her. She does her best to avoid being slashed, and manages to slap him a couple of times with the Magical Paintbrush, but her body is quickly littered with dozens of painful cuts. but then, Elline uses an easel to paint a human knight, with a sword and armor, before she transfers the painting into Adeleine, turning her into a real knight. Now armed with a sword, the girl can better protect herself, but Dark Meta Knight remains the superior swordsman in this room.
As Taranza flies around the room to escape the Dark Meta Knight attacking him while firing energy balls and magical webs, and Daroach does the same while firing ice beams at the Dark Meta Knight chasing him, Sweetie Belle faces her own Dark Meta Knight, and is the one having the less problems against him. With her ten elemental double beam swords, it's rather the Dark Meta Knight who has problems. Quickly, the Dark Meta Knight decides to give up the fight against her, and flies toward Adeleine. at two against one, without counting the weak fairy, it will be easy.
But he's suddenly slammed by one of the Dark Meta Knights trapped in ice, Daroach having trapped him before throwing him. with none of the Dark Meta Knight now attacking Daroach, the mouse goes help Taranza with the animals, and Sweetie Belle goes help Adeleine, ramming the Dark Meta Knight attacking the human girl. But quickly, the Dark Meta Knight trapped in ice is freed by the one he rammed into, and from there, the fight takes a more chaotic turn.
The knights decide to attack randomly the heroes, not focusing on only one of them, and the heroes quickly follow their example, resulting in heroes and dark knight moving everywhere while projectiles fly in all directions, from sharp shockwaves to beams, passing by tornadoes, energy balls, fireballs, spikes of ice, or lightning bolts, for the most commons. Not a second pass also without some giant swords coming out of mirrors. The worst comes when the four Dark Meta Knights simultaneously enter four mirrors, and those four mirrors divide each into three mirrors, creating a total of twelve mirrors, each with a Dark Meta Knight in it. The heroes know this attack, so they know that two third of the Dark Meta Knights are fakes that would break into mirror shards when attacked, the shards homing on them. This attack could easily be defeated because the fakes didn't move, contrary to the real one.
But it seems that Dark Meta Knight learned his lesson from his fight against Meta Knight, because none of them are moving. No way to know which ones are the real ones! So when the Dark Meta Knights come out of the mirrors one after another, the heroes have no choice but to attack them blindly until they find the real ones, meaning that they have to avoid the mirror shards homing on them, which is a lot.
But like Dedede said, this power up has one big weakness: the four Dark Meta Knights share the damage they take. And with Dark Meta Knight already badly weakened by his fight against Marx and by the first part of this fight, it doesn't take longer before they start showing signs of exhaustion, the knights slowing down, getting hit more easily, using less their magic...
The Dark Meta Knights do a last desperate attack by flying back to back from each others before surrounding themselves in mirrors from which come giant swords.
Only for Daroach to appear inside the mirror ball, just under them, before firing lightning bolts at them with Necrodeus' staff.
Three of the Dark Meta Knights disappear while the remaining one drops on the floor. He tries one last time to get up, slowly raising his head, before he loses consciousness, the dark heart coming out of him.
The fight over, they all breathe a sigh of relief.
"Eheheh. And then, corrupted Marx comes out of the ceiling," says Daroach with a chuckle.
A shiver traverses everyone else still conscious before they look up at the ceiling. After a few seconds, seeing nobody coming out of the holes, Taranza gives Daroach a small slap on the back of his head. "Don't jinx it like that!"
Stats
Page generated in 0.041 seconds
Total duration
659 users online
785,097 hits today, 2,244,100 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Or half the reason he bothers with the latter is because he doesn't make that distinction in the first place? Actually, that's probably why the Phantom Thief archetype is generally a ladykiller... (Note for Lucar's sake: this does not involve literally killing ladies)
9956751
Yeah, probably why, and also because mysterious bad boys are stereotypically well liked by girls. (And thank you for the note, even if i already knew about this expression, it's nice of you to think about me)
good chapter! i liked it!
I love the picture for Daroach!
*visualizes Marx with dark heart powers*
And I thought battling a giant navy blue Skarmory that throws Birdarangs was hard...
Golden hammer? Debris falling? Storo ripped off Magolor Soul!
*Void Termina intensifies*
Wait a minute. If Dark Meta Knight was possessed, then why did he attack Daroach, who was also possessed?
9956989
We... kinda established last chapter that that's a deliberate thing Lucar has been doing.
DMK in this story has a history of breaking mind control then breaking the controller.
9956989
Marx Soul, but worse...
At least, Marx Soul had no idea what he was doing, attacking by instinct, but Marx corrupted by a dark heart... 
The dark hearts corrupt them. It doesn't mean that everyone corrupted by them becomes allies. In the contrary, if their goals while corrupted clash, then they would rather attack each others in a big battle royal. For exemple, Taranza wanted to conquer Popstar with Sectonia at his side, it clearly would have clashed with Adeleine's goal to turn the planet into a twisted painting and with Gooey's goal to plunge the world in darkness. Daroach's goal was to get all the treasures of the world for himself, and Taranza would have not liked it, getting all of Sectonia's crystals stolen. And then, there's Dark Meta Knight, whose goal is to become the number one. The strongest warrior of the universe. Even if to become it, he must backstab other strong warriors at their weakest. Daroach was an easy target at this point, so Dark Meta Knight finished him, easily getting rid of a rival for the title of the strongest.
9957012
I know, but this takes hinting at Void Termina to a whole new level. I mean, aren't pillar shockwaves pretty specific to Void Termina? (And no, I didn't forget about the bosses in Kirby 3D Rumble and Kirby's Blowout Blast.)
9957014
The dark jester with a laugh only a mother could love, made even more powerful because he knew his purpose was to conquer Pop Star and the surrounding planets and because he was powered up by the dark heart, and made even scarier by his defeat...
GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!
9957014
I always sort of assumed that DMK's goal was to stab everyone forever. Before the Jamba Heart got involved, at that. (As far as the canon timeline goes, I assume that much harder, and the Star Allies just point him in the direction of people who actually deserve it)
9957221
It's hard to judge Dark Meta Knight's goal in canon. In The Amazing Mirror, he was just created by Dark Mind to serve him. In Triple Deluxe, he is NOT the one who corrupted Sectonia. The corrupted mirror itself is the real responsible. DMK was just brought back to life by the mirror to protect it from Dedede. After that, it's hard to guess what he want. Revenge? Conquer the world? Fight everyone to become stronger like Meta Knight (but more violent)? Or just satiate a thirst of blood? A need to fight and kill? You can see which direction I decided to take with him.
9957250
Well that troll was fun
Oh Daroach.
Omg Daroach is beeping adorable
9957250
DMK got TKO
I think that's missing a letter.
11857158
Thanks.