Nowhere To Go But Up

On The Move

Magolor hovered around the cockpit of the Lor, with a spring in his figurative step. He was humming cheerfully, clearly in a good mood. "I made so much progress today." He typed into LOG 460. "I helped out Bandee, and even managed to speak to all of them face to face. Of course, it was behind a disguise, but at least none of them seemed to notice. I made an effort to keep them away from the forest, which would give me some more space, but I don't know how much longer I plan to stay here. I asked the Lor to scan the planet for a better place to set up camp, but moving might be risky. Will update when I have more information.'' He paused. "Hey Lor, do you have any results on the scan?'' The robotic voice that came back was like music to his ears.

"There is an avian archipelago high above Castle Dedede. There are 6 islands in total, two below the clouds, one in, and three above. You can stay up there if you'd like. It'd certainly be easier to see outside then, but appearing physically would be inconvenient."

Magolor pondered this choice, then answered. "By the time I'm ready to show up in front of them again, I won't really care if they immediately know it's me. Let's go after it gets dark, but until then, I'm gonna take a nap." He put on his pajamas and climbed into bed, where sleep came quickly.

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"Bravo, Kirby. You've truly earned your reputation as a hero." Magolor floated down to the four heroes, applauding slowly. This is a bit weird, I should probably try changing my tone to be more normal and less... schemey. "Your help defeating Landia was invaluable." Why do I feel like something very bad is about to happen? "Ah, at long last, it's mine! The source of limitless power... the Master Crown!" I thought I didn't want this. He put it on and began shuddering, as if he was charging up for something. Suddenly, all the fear vanished from his mind, as did happiness. All that remained was hatred.

Reality seemed to fade as Magolor was transported to a dark abyss. "There is no need to fear the darkness, young one." The darkness was speaking to him. "Join with us. If we work together, we can eradicate those who wronged you in the past. Is that not what you've wanted for so long?"

The voice of the abyss was gentle and reassuring, so much so that Magolor wasn't able to see just how terrifying the words were. "Yes, I'll do that."

"Excellent. Return to your consciousness, and repeat after me:" Reality returned, Magolor could feel his body again. "Obtaining this crown has been my ultimate goal all along!" He repeated, giving in to the desires of the voices in his head. It continued until the internal abyss said, "And for being such a big help in all this, your planet gets to go first!" Magolor hesitated, for just a split second. He repeated the line, even though something inside him didn't agree with it. It must just be another insignificant weakness that will fade like the rest. The wicked wrath pulsing within him overrode all reason. There was only primal rage.

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Magolor woke up in a cold sweat. He grasped the sheets on his bed, eyes darting around the room. It was all in the past now. It wouldn't hurt him. It can't. He wouldn't let it. He looked at his phone, face down on the nightstand. He checked the time. 11:25 pm. It was almost time to go, but first, he needed to take care of something. He knew Bandee would still be awake, keeping an eye on the forest. Bandee was the most normal of the four heroes, but had a tendency to keep things under wraps unless they were absolutely sure it was something to worry about. Given this, there was no way they'd told anyone about the note he left, but they'd absolutely keep an eye on the forest in case Magolor tried anything.

Using a photocopy of the map he'd drawn, he exited the Lor and left the forest to the east, where he was least likely to be seen. Taking a very long path to get somewhere straight ahead, he readied the canister he brought with him, and gripped the rope on the ground with one hand. Taking care to stay out of the line of sight of the window, he pulled the rope, hoping the pulley system he'd rigged in just 3 minutes worked. It did. The rope hoisted the window upwards, prompting a "Huh?" from inside. He threw the canister through the open window and let go of the rope. He saw some white smoke billowing into the room, along with sounds of Bandee panicking. He waited a minute, then opened the window again. He propped a rock nearby on top of the rope, keeping the window open as the smoke escaped. This was a very wrong thing to do. He felt like he was only a few steps away from returning to the awful villain he'd been not long ago. This was better though, right? He was just ensuring Bandee got a good night's sleep. He wasn't going to hurt them or anything. He simply wanted them to sleep well. Was that so bad?

He returned to the woods, went into the Lor, and checked the time: 1:43. He began hitting buttons on the console, and pointed to a destination on screen. It didn't do anything, but he enjoyed the theatrics. The ship rose above the mist, and continued rising to the collection of islands in the sky. After getting above the clouds, Magolor looked at the monitors around him to see what the islands held. One of the three he could see was overgrown, with some hints of civilization. It interested him, but he figured people would notice and ask questions. Clearly there was some kind of society on that one. The island at the top was obviously not an option for now. Most of it was just a big castle that was clearly well-maintained. Some of the lights were even on. The middle island showed the most promise. It was run-down, dilapidated, and bore a decent amount of resemblance to Halcandra. Maybe he could land the Lor there, use some environmental storytelling to make the Lor look like a replica of the real thing, and then go from there.

He landed at the far east, gave some commands to the Lor, took some supplies outside, and grabbed a rusty sheet of metal off the ground. On it, he wrote with a black marker, "Cheap replica-door doesn't even open :(" He rubbed some dirt on the sides of the Starcutter to make it look worse for wear, and laid this sign against where the door was. He grabbed some more sheets of metal, stacked them together to make some kind of shelter, and lay down in his more faded outfit, on a grungy pillow, with a dirty blanket on top of him, to blend in more with his surroundings. He'd done all this because, if the Lor got stolen in his sleep despite all of his fabrications, he'd rather not be inside when that happens. He'd go in during the day when he was sure no one was watching, get to work on building the theme park for the heroes who weren't Bandee, give the Lor some shutdown commands for when he left, and sleep outside. As he patted himself on the back for his plan, he drifted off into a contented slumber.

That feeling of satisfaction didn't last long.