Waddle Dee|ワドルディー

I suddenly hear a clang, followed by a grunt of frustration from Meta Knight. Cautiously opening one eye, I'm astonished to see that I've somehow parried his strike and am, for the moment, holding him off.

"Beginner's luck," he harrumphs, launching another attack at me. He seems to be in a worse mood tonight than most. While he's usually rather kind, fair, and gentle towards us Waddle Dees, he's definitely got quite a temper to him, which I've obviously gotten myself on the bad side of here.

There's a good chance that I'm not going to make it out of this alive, but I still have to try. And whether I'd admit it aloud or not, I kinda look up to the guy and wanna impress him. To tell the truth, all of us Waddle Dees kinda look up to him. Not many people are actually brave enough to actually stand up to the King, after all, for fear of meeting the heavy end of a giant hammer.

Honestly, I don't really know much of anything about Sir Meta Knight, but I know that he's been through a lot in his life, way worse than I've ever been through. So now, I narrow my eyes in determination and block his next attack, then send a strike of my own towards him.

"You wish it was just beginner's luck," I murmur just a little bit smugly, as he gazes at me in wonder.

While his eyes change to a deep green of confusion and surprise, he muses, "This cannot be." He swings around me and tries to attack from the back, but I somehow manage to block him again. Starting to gain a small sense of confidence, I feel a hint of what would be a determined smile if I had a mouth grow over my face.

"Attacking from the back? That's low even for you, Sir Knight," I chuckle as I swing my sword in an attempt to knock Galaxia out of his hand. I'm getting into this. Strange as it sounds, seeing as how I'm a servant and have been my whole life, having this sword in my hand feels right. It's hard to explain, but it's as if I've finally gotten my hands on something that I've always been meant to have.

As he makes a swing at my face, he replies in mild annoyance, "Ah, I see you know me. Now it is my turn, both to ask a question and to attack." I parry again, really starting to enjoy myself. "Who are you, who do you work for, and how do you do this, when you are just a simple little Waddle Dee?" he continues, interjecting an attack from his sword in between each question.

"Hey, I only asked one question, which you didn't even answer," I humph right back. "And besides, there's really no need to insult me." Unfortunately, in allowing this insult, I also let my guard down. A moment later, my sword is on the floor and his sword is pointed at my throat. Welp. I should've known I couldn't beat Meta Knight. Fresh sushi, anyone?

Closing eyes, I prepare for the worst and defiantly tilt my head up, offering him a better target for a final blow. When after several seconds, it hasn't come, I finally dare opening one eye. Meta Knight stands in the corner, sword once again sheathed and cape wrapped tightly around himself, looking at me in something distantly resembling curiosity.

Finally, he speaks, while I still sit there, Kirby watching nervously. "Who taught you how to use a sword, or Copy Abilities, for that matter? You're just a Waddle Dee."

I go to get up, only for him to let go of his cape and stand ready to reach for his sword again. With a gulp, I kick out the Copy Ability, making the little sword not far from me vanish along with the hat on my head. Even so, his eyes are still narrowed, tracking me nervously as I stand up and dust myself off.

Feeling a bit irritated by his unjust suspicion, I can't help a little bit of sarcasm. "No one taught me anything. And again with the insults, Sir Knight? Waddle Dees are pretty strong creatures, you know. And we're not simple, either, thank you very much. We can communicate with each other telepathically. It's sort of like we're all one big mind, working together," I explain, feeling a sensation of warmth run through me as I say that last bit. Maybe I'm different from the others, more now than ever before, but they're still where I belong.

"Is that so?" he mumbles, pondering this new piece of information I've just given him as he continues to eye me cautiously.

Moving to the corner of the room farthest from him, I ponder over what to say next. Since he's let me live this long, hopefully if I say the right things, he'll decide to let me go. Even though I can't believe I'm saying so, I feel a bit grateful when Kirby comes to stand just in front of me, like a small guard. "To answer your earlier questions, Sir, my name is, um... Well, I don't really have one. None of us Waddle Dees do. Other than Stupid, Moron, Pathetic, Simpleton, Squirt, etc., etc., you know. All those good things that people call their slave labor force. Speaking of which, I work for King Dedede like any other Waddle Dee, and to answer your final question from before, I really have no idea how I've been doing all this. I'm as much in the dark as you are... No, wait. You're more in the dark than I am; at least I don't have a bowl on my face that blocks ninety-five percent of the light around me."

Meta Knight looks at me, his eyes glowing orange in irritation at my mild insult. I'd better take it down a notch; my now-verbal big mouth and I are enjoying ourselves far too much. Not exactly earning myself membership in the Being Alive club here. "So you do not know how you can inhale and copy abilities like a Sta- ahem, like Kirby can?" he slowly questions in a musing manner. Then, his eyes suddenly flash an angry red. Eep, I've somehow gone too far. That's... not good. Like, really not good. Goodbye, Popstar. It was a decent life while it lasted...

With his sword suddenly pointed at me again, I flinch as he accuses, "You are another one of the king's monsters he has ordered Escargoon to try and create, are you not? You have taken over this innocent little Waddle Dee. That is terrible, and I will fight you until you have released it from this wicked possession."

Waving my hands around urgently, I exclaim, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! No, I'm just a regular Waddle Dee, or I was, anyway. I'm still one; I just seem to be able to talk. Well, and other stuff too, apparently." Then with a murmur of sad surprise, I add as I notice something that leaves me feeling something like a fish out of water probably would, "I can't hear the other Waddle Dee anymore. I'm alone. It's so... quiet." As soon as I've finished saying that, I sigh deeply, wondering what's caused all of this. This whole night has been crazy so far, and something tells me that this craziness isn't gonna let up anytime soon. "I can still feel all of them, but I can't hear them."

The masked knight closes his eyes in deep thought as Kirby glances from me to him and back, obviously not entirely sure of what's going on. That's okay; I know exactly what's going on. I'm apparently a complex puzzle that Meta Knight just has to figure out. As long as I keep him interested, I get to keep living. This is good, no?

"Has anything out of the ordinary or unusual happened to you recently?" he asks out of nowhere, still not opening his eyes back up.

Harrumphing, forgetting about my newly-discovered loneliness for the moment, I reply, "Unusual? No. Cruel and unusual, such as being forced to work outside, at night, in a horrible storm, with water, which is great at conducting electricity; yes." Then I think for a second before adding, "Well, I guess there was something weird. While I was working on laundry in said miserable conditions, there was a comet. It was electrified somehow, I think, and I was watching it, thinking it was ever-so-amazing, when it hit me out of nowhere. That's all I can remember, before Sparky here shocked me back to consciousness with a jolt from the Spark Ability and I started running away."

The two of us glance over at Kirby, who's now messing around with a spear, having apparently decided that our serious 'grownup' talk is too boring to waste his time on now that any imminent threat to me seems to have passed. Trying to pull off a move without using a Copy Ability, he swings around and falls over his own feet, breaking a precious-looking vase in the process. After looking up and seeing us both glaring at him, each for a different reason, he giggles apologetically and gingerly puts down the spear in the middle of the gray stone floor.

"So," Meta Knight muses with an almost imperceptible roll of his eyes as he turns back to me. "Was it the comet that did this to you, or Kirby?"

"I don't know," I shrug. Then, my face changes to a look of determination as a sense of power flows through me, power that I'm eager to test to its limits. Dead serious, I add, "What I do know is this: now that I have these new powers, I'm gonna go boss Dedede and Slug Boy around. I'm gonna make them pay for what they've done to us Waddle Dees over the years. I'm sick and tired of all of us being treated like worthless slaves when the only reason we're here is our own goodwill, and I'm finally going to stand up for us and do something about it all."

The mysterious soldier glares at me, his eyes red again. Whoops. Someone kindly tell me to shut up or something next time I launch on a poorly-thought-out tirade, please? "While I whole-heartedly disagree with the king's treatment of your kind—"

"People!"

"Fine then, people. But still, you have this amazing power that no other Waddle Dee has ever been blessed with before, and you are going to use it for harm? Is that truly what a peaceful Waddle Dee would want to do? Although you are quite different from the others, do you not care even a mite what they would think of your rash actions?"

With a sigh, I relax and acquiesce, "I guess you're right. But the way they order us around, like we're their slaves... It just makes me so mad. Of course, all of the others are perfectly happy with our lives. Serving is what they live for. But me... I want to know and understand things. I don't want to just be a servant my whole life; I want to learn how to be something more than that."

His eyes change to a sympathetic blue. Gee. Apparently I said something right for a change. That's good... "I see. Perhaps we will find something to explain all of this in the library. Come!" he orders, then as if remembering something important, he grabs up and tosses me back the sword I used just a few minutes ago to duel him with. "Arm yourself. 'Slug Boy,' as you called him, will be less likely to interfere with us if you have a sword." Shaking his head, he gives a soft laugh and finishes, "He would probably be so dumbfounded to see an armed, determined Waddle Dee that he would just stare at you in that typical ignorant, arrogant way of his."

"All right, Sir Knight," I nod, inhaling the sword again and mentally giggling at my little rhyme. I'm not good at descriptions, but I love rhyming and putting words together into rhythmic streams. It's one of the main ways I keep myself from going insane during long days of hard work. "You're probably right, sir. You seem to tend to be." After a moment, I question, more serious, "Why did you decide not to kill me?"

After glancing over at me, he offers me a cursory, "I'm not sure yet, to be honest. Something about you seems trustworthy. I don't sense any evil intent from you, aside from the outburst against Dedede and his snail crony, which I can hardly hold against you, just going by your social position. Other than that, I am not sure."

Swallowing slowly, I murmur nervously, "You liable to change your mind on that anytime soon?"

Meta Knight doesn't answer, seeming to be only half-listening to me at the moment. "What shall I call you?" he suddenly inquires half to me and half to himself as we walk quickly out of the training room and toward the castle library. Trust me, the place really isn't that great, but if Meta Knight thinks we need to go there, then we probably actually do.

Giving a nervous laugh, I remark, "Well, at least if you're looking for a name, that means you're not planning on doing me in too soon, right?"

"Kirby, Kirby, poyo!" A totally-oblivious Kirby sings happily as he waddles past us on his way to the kitchen. As soon as he heard that there's gonna be boring, dusty old books involved, he lost interest in this occasion. That's my guess, anyway. The kid pretty much lives for food, as I can tell you from years of experience with guarding the king's food from the little puffball's bottomless pit of a stomach.

"Kirby..." Meta Knight murmurs almost silently, off in his own little world. Without warning, he suddenly gives a small gasp. Turning around swiftly and pointing at me, he shouts in amazement, "You! You are the Kirby Dee! I felt I recognized you from somewhere." He seems to pause, then shake something off. "Yes. That is all. That's where I knew you from..."

In utter confusion, I furrow my brow and wonder aloud, "'Kirby Dee?' Well, that name makes sense, I guess, but what does it even mean? Why are you so amazed, Sir Knight?"

"Come, I forget how it all goes. But it has something to do with the storm, and now it is even more urgent that we get to the library post-haste!" Suddenly nervous, he breaks out in a run that I can barely keep up with.

"You know, this isn't the way to the library," I call ahead to him around a moment later, huffing and puffing from the sprinting that definitely is not part of my daily 'workout regimen.' "I should know; I spend at least a tenth of my time dusting never-touched books in there."

He chuckles quietly and informs me, "Not the king's library, little one. My library."

He goes on to lead me through so many dark hallways and spiral staircases that eventually I don't have any idea of where I am anymore. "I don't think I've ever cleaned down here..." I muse nervously as I gingerly sidestep a still-lived-in spider web. Ewugh. I hate spiders.

"The king never comes down here, so it would be pointless," he shrugs, turning into a door on our right.

He's telling the truth, but I can drive the point home even more, so I do. Rolling my eyes, I retort, "The king never really goes anywhere- aside from the dining room and the throne room, of course. All of our cleaning is pointless."

He chuckles again. He seems to be doing that a lot, doesn't he? At least he finds me amusing now instead of threatening or monstrous. "Anyway." His eyes glow pink in amusement as he leads me to a desk.

Incredulously, I look at him and deadpan with just a touch of sarcasm in my voice, "This is your library? A desk?"

He reaches out and knocks a vase off of the object currently in discussion, which I leap for and barely manage to catch right before it falls to the floor. "No, it is not," he informs me (rather smugly, I might add,) as a door opens in the wall.

Without another word, the blue knight leads me in through a dark tunnel and up several sets of staircases. We then walk through a door and-

"Wow..." I murmur in amazement. It echoes through the somehow well-lit room: "Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow..."

It's huge, two stories tall, and every single solitary space on the wall is absolutely crammed with books upon books upon books. "What? How? When?" I stutter, full of awe as I slowly turn around in a circle, allowing my eyes to drink everything in. It's beautiful, a room so full of all sorts of knowledge. Knowledge that I can't get to, sadly, because I don't have the key...

As he beckons me to follow him and then leads me past bookshelf after bookshelf, he explains, "This room has been here for hundreds of years, but I only turned it into a library shortly after my arrival here, so still many years before now. I use it as a place to keep these books safe from the king's crazy 'sell-everything-worth-anything' stints. Plus, it provides a place where I can read in solitude and peace."

After pausing and glancing back at me, he goes on, "I have books on magic, power, evil, good, hate, love, history, literature, poetry, art, fighting, peace, even some cookbooks. And there are countless other topics contained in here too, of course."

Disbelieving, I interrupt, "Whoa whoa whoa. Wait a minute. You saved cookbooks? But why?"

With a smile in his voice, he shrugs and replies, "I simply could not bear the thought of a world without cookies, little one."

"The great and powerful Meta Knight cares about cookies?" I mutter, but he goes on to clear his throat and look at me in a way that quite clearly says 'shut up.' "Yes, Sir," I sigh, and then go back to luxuriously absorbing every detail of the giant room. Oh, if only I could use all of this treasure, kept in this wonderful room with so many huge windows with window-seats and so many comfy-looking chairs to explore it in... There's more books here than anyone could ever read in one lifetime, but I'd spend my whole life in here anyway, learning everything there ever was to know. I'd definitely be way more than just a servant then, that's for sure...

Interrupting my thoughts, he muses thoughtfully, "I also have books on what we need to know. Let us see... 'The Prophecies of the Star Warriors.' Kirby and I are both in there, you may be too." He pulls that volume out and hands it to me over his shoulder, not deigning to turn and look at me. Lucky duck, having all of this knowledge right where he can get to it anytime... I have to admit, I'm jealous. "'Threats to Dreamland.' I do not think you would be in there, but..." He pulls it out too, handing it to me as well.

We go on this way, until with around fifteen books piled high over my head and me trying my hardest to keep them balanced and not drop any, he sits us both down at a reading table and takes the stack from me. After setting them carefully out on the flat wooden surface, he scans over their titles again, then selects one for him to check out while simultaneously handing me one.

In shame and borderline sorrow, I inform him in a whisper, "Um, I can't read, Sir Knight."

He stares at me in astonishment as he sets the book he holds back down on the table. "You cannot?"

I sigh and shake my head at him embarrassedly. "In my defense, servants aren't supposed to be smart, or they'll get 'ideas.' Woooooo!" I murmur creepily at the end in a weak attempt at humor, waving my hands around like a ghost. Settling down with a giggle, I then announce, "I like being able to talk. It's pretty nice not having all of my thoughts be stuck in my head. Well, and the heads of all of the other Waddle Dees, but that's still not the same as actually being able to talk out loud, you know?"

He looks at me, his eyes still pink in amusement, but they quickly return to their normal golden-yellow. "All right, then," he sighs, picking back up his book. As he reads, I wait, looking at the paintings on the wall and stuff to pass the time. At one point I open a book longingly, thereby causing a sneezing fit from the dust inside. Definitely not the effect I was going for, but all right then.

"You really need some Waddle Dees to dust down here," I cough as soon as the sneezing has died down some. Glancing over at him, the sneezing vanishes completely as I'm astonished to notice that he seems to look... fearful.

Running back to the desk as quick as I can, I demand in a dreading way, "What is it?" Then, as my voice grows scared, I whisper, "Am I a... badguy?" That would be problematic for a number of reasons.

"No," he murmurs thoughtfully as his plain, light gray, mitten-like glove pauses on the page. Looking up to me, he continues, "It is not you who is the 'badguy,' although you are very much involved. Here, read this."

I glare at him, seriously wondering if he's just intentionally mocking my ineptitude now. "Really, Sir Knight?"

"Oh, yes, that's right. My apologies, I will read it to you instead." After clearing his throat, he begins after muttering something about how informal this prophecy book-writer was, "'Not many years after the Warrior of the Stars-' that would be Kirby- 'arrives on Planet Pop Star, a terrible storm will occur in Dream Land. During this storm, a Waddle Dee will be given the powers of a Star Warrior. She will be the only girl Waddle Dee.

"'This Waddle Dee will carry on her shoulders a huge responsibility. A great monster, terrible and full of power, is the one who will give her these abilities, through a cursed rock sent by him through space. It is her task to weaken him, but she will never destroy him.'"

Gulping, I awkwardly chortle, "Erm... Sorry, Sir, but I think you've got the wrong Waddle Dee."

He looks up at me for a second, emotionless, then returns to the book. "I do not see any other Star Warrior-like Waddle Dees anywhere," he points out in a mutter. Then, returning to a normal tone and volume, he goes on, "'She won't be alone, for she will have three friends to help her along the way, three friends who are all already heroes in their own rights.'" Closing his eyes, he thinks aloud, "Kirby, the king, and I probably, although the king is not exactly what one could call heroic."

After a short pause, he opens his eyes and keeps reading. "'She will have a time of peace to be trained by the one who wields Galaxia.'" He rolls his eyes at that bit of the passage. "I know that a true warrior is not ever supposed to be jealous, but I find it highly annoying that Kirby and my sword are mentioned by name, whereas I never am.

"But as I was saying: 'After this peace, the monster will come, and Dreamland will be cast into darkness such as it has never known. This Kirby Dee (or Super Dee, as some will call her) will be our only hope.'"

"This isn't fun anymore," I whisper hoarsely, trying to process everything he just told me. Me, fight a monster? That could never really happen... Could it? I'm just a Waddle Dee. Even if I want to be more, even if I could be more, I'd never be able to fight a little monster, much less a giant evil one that wants to cover the world in darkness.

Meta Knight looks up at me and sees the expression of sheer terror on my face, and then flips shut the book with a soft thump. "You will be able to do this," he tells me comfortingly, reaching across the desk and patting my hand gently. "The Ancients only wrote prophecies if they were confident in the end results." I look out one of the huge windows and notice that the storm's ended and that the full moon is out now, bathing the land in a soft light. Thousands upon thousands of twinkling stars dot the deep blue sky, which is the same color as Meta Knight's Dimensional Cape, I observe in my head. At least the change for the better in the weather is something to be happy about.

"Where does the light in here come from, when it's so dark outside?" I suddenly inquire, eager to give myself some sort of distraction from the huge load just dumped on my shoulders.

"Magic," he whispers, and then chortles quietly as my eyes grow wide. "It is very late. Rest. I will return in the morning, and then your training will begin." Getting up, he heads for the staircase down to the first floor of the library but suddenly pauses and turns back to me. "You have quite a road ahead of you, Kirby Dee, but I am confident that you will be able to come through. It takes far more than just bravery to be willing to cross swords with me." With that, he swiftly spins around and leaves again.

After he's left, I lie down on a couch, and almost all of the light instantly disappears from the huge room. But I just can't sleep after the day's excitement, (who could?) so I get up with a stretch and a yawn. Being followed by a sphere of soft light, I pull out a thin, simple looking book. Next, I sit down on a window seat and open it with a sigh of determination. Finally, using the few phonics skills I've managed to acquire over the years from listening to Meta Knight's (mostly unsuccessful) lessons with Kirby, I begin to sound out a few simple words one at a time.