GAME OVER

"Do you see it?"

"That speck of light?"

"Yes. He has fallen again."

"What caused it this time? Was it the machine?"

"Yes. It is time for him to restart."

"..."

"The hero of Dreamland must return."

"Must he?"

"He expels the darkness. You see him unfit?"

"Youth with so much victory grow arrogant."

"You suspect mutiny? Of a child?"

"Never has such a naive being given this much power."

"I see. He heart is pure, though."

"For how long? After so much tragedy, things might change."

"Your point has been made. What do you propose?"

"Send another. From the beginning."

"What? Another? Who could possibly do better?"

"I see another four as strong as these."

"Are you suggesting a trial-and-error restart?"

"Yes."

"..."

"Give them a chance at redemption."

"This will change everything. All history will be backwards."

"The universe would be in more experienced hands."

"Does experience equal skill?"

"No, but experience creates skill."

"..."

"How much more despair must Popstar endure? Send someone else."

"It is true. The darkness always returns."

"..."

"I have decided. We will entrust new heroes."

"If they fail, all will return as it was."

"They will not fail. Are you ready?"

"OKAY"

3

2

1

...

-

A low rumble shook what remained of the wooden shack, signifying the approach of the Halberd. Magolor dropped the bag he had been filling with supplies from their temporary camp and dared to peek outside of the window above the sink. The bulk of the warship dominated the sky, wings draping over the land like bony, possessive fingers. Against his will, the Halcandran shivered with a tremor of fright. The inside of the ship was just as frightening as its outer appearance...

"PSST! Mago! Get your furry butt in gear! We have to get ready to run for it!"

Magolor turned around to confront Marx, who was tapping his foot impatiently. The jester carefully balanced his own bag of supplies on top of his duel-colored hat, insistent on pulling his own weight.

"Shove as much crap as you can in that bag be ready for the signal. As soon as the Halberd is gone, we gotta meet Spiderman and Lancelot in the forest. Unless you like sitting here waiting to get caught and turned into a throw rug."

He did not try to argue, though Magolor wanted to remind his friend that Taranza and Galacta were not fond of the nicknames that they did not even ask for. It was a waste of breath, though. Marx established long ago that he did as he pleased. Maybe that's why his bounty is so high. Not that Magolor's was any lower. Ah, the joys of being a rebel.

The Halcandran finished packing as much food and first aid supplies as he could get and held it tightly in his disembodied hands. As they waited for the sounds of the Halberd to fade, Marx nudged him lightly, almost startling him.

"Hey, hey, hey... Don't look like that! We'll get out of this. We've got a plan, remember? Yep! The perfect plan! We do some meeting up... maybe some improvising... running for our lives... storming that blasted blueberry's castle, and finally wipe that smug look off his face! I call dibs on locking him in the dungeon! Heeheehee~!"

Though the crazed optimism usually cheered him up, Magolor could not fight back a sense of dread that something would go horribly wrong. Their journey towards the castle had been suspiciously easy. He did not want to fall into another trap. Not again. The nightmares of his mistakes still kept him awake each night, half-hoping that morning would not come and bring more fear and disappointment.

"I don't know if it will be that easy Marx... I mean... about our plan... Do you really think we can beat Meta Knight?"

"That's what I just said. Don't you have faith in your best buddy, Marx? The four of us can take out one old man playing around in his Halloween costume. We do that, get rid of the two henchmen, and lock up his bratty little kid in jail. Easy as it gets, Maggy! Trust your buddy!"

When he did not get the response he wanted, Marx sighed and spoke more honestly.

"Look, you think I don't know that this looks really bad? It's gonna be hard. Like, ridiculously hard. My ingenious plan might not work, but we're not going to die. You got that? We've come too far to drop dead! We started at the bottom, built up a team, and now we're close enough to victory that we can realistically believe that we have a chance of getting to the top! The castle is just a few miles away, and Metal Head is out cruising. I think. If we can beat him to the castle, we can surprise him. Just imagine what happens after that! We can sleep at night without bats under our pillows, roll around in the grass outside, or do whatever the hell we want!"

"Marx."

"Hold up. I'm not finished yet-"

"I don't hear anything."

Both fell silent, hardly daring to breath. They heard nothing. Marx carefully leaned towards the window behind Magolor, hoping to see the Halberd as a speck in the distance.

Instead, he an excellent view of an armored cannon aimed directly at the shack.

"G-Get on the floor, Mag! He landed while I was rambling! Why didn't you shut me up?!"

They flattened themselves on the floor while Magolor mentally slapped himself for letting his guard down. As much as he wanted the words of encouragement, he should have waited until the group was together again. Now they were trapped.

"I'm sorry, Marx. I didn't think. What should we do now?"

"Obviously we can't walk out there without getting blown to bits. T-Bo and Gala probably went with standard procedure and found somewhere to hide. So we can't call for help. Fear not! The All Mighty Marx will solve this problem! We... um... We just gotta... and uh... Pass."

"That doesn't help at all! Be serious, please!"

"Hey, hey, I passed it to you, but I as your friend I'll give it another shot. Hmm..."

Though he covered it well with humor, Magolor could tell that Marx was frightened. He had never gotten this close to the Halberd before. The Halcandran envied him for it. The jester interrupted before his mind could delve into unpleasant memories.

"Okay, okay. I've got a crazy plan, but it might work. Random fact: you will hate me for it."

Magolor's ears flattened, and his lip curled back in a snarl.

"If you think I would get on that ship-"

"But listen! Listen! If we 'surrender' we might live another day!"

"NO, Marx! Getting blown up will be more pleasant than that! I told you about-"

Marx hardened his gaze at his upset companion.

"I know what happened, but you've got me this time! It'll be different! Hear me out! We play along, they'll try to lock us up somewhere in there, we bust out, commandeer that sucker and escape with the Halberd!"

The jester giggled with delight while Magolor began to wring his hands nervously.Marx was always dangerously bold, but stealing the Halberd? With Meta Knight probably on it? They would never get away with that. The masked swordsman would tear them limb from limb for trying such a thing. For even thinking about it. And yet... Magolor saw the reasoning behind the plan. They could not escape the broken down shack, and the decaying wood could not protect them from the blast of a cannon. If they ran for the forest, it would be the same result. The only place they could realistically go without immediately dying was the battleship parked outside. Even then, time was limited. Magolor finally found his words, though they were barely above a whisper.

"Do you think we can play along well enough to escape?"

Seeing that his words were getting him somewhere, the jester smirked with a hint of pride.

"Of course! We're good liars! If Meta Knight's up there, we tell him exactly what he wants to hear! 'We're sorry we encouraged rebellion... We didn't mean to hide the last Star Warriors from you... Let me make you some tea... May we sing your praises while giving you a massage? How about a bubble bath?' Well, I don't think he wants that, but you get what I mean! We've sweet-talked our way out of messes before, and we can do it again! I'm better at tricking people than you, so let me do most of the talking. Okay? Let's leave a note and our stuff for Big T and Gallie Guy. When the coast is clear, they'll come back. Oh! If we can convince Meta to take us back to the castle, the others can meet us there! It goes perfectly with our plan! Marx, you are so smart!"

He smiled victoriously, although Magolor looked rather nauseous. Knowing that this was the best they could do, the Halcandran finally gave in. He carefully stood up, avoiding being seen through the window and went to unlock the door. With a pencil in his mouth, Marx quickly threw a note together and used his foot to shove it all of their belongings under the couch.

"Hey, hey! We're ready to go! Remember, big winning smiles, Mags! We are giving up, we know nothing about where Terry and Go-Go are, and we will do whatever he wants. Got it? I gotta count on you, Maggo!"

"I-I got it. Let's just get this over with..."

-

After that, we... Ugh... Sorry. This story never gets any easier to tell. Maybe I'm telling it too fast? Yeah, that's it.

Maybe I should start from the beginning. Before the surrender... Before I made friends... Before I met Meta Knight...

Let's start from the very beginning... back when I traveled alone to Castle Dedede for the first time.

That's when I ran into a little puff named Kirby, and my life changed forever.