That morning Meta Knight woke up very early. The sun was only just rising. It was normal for him, as he got up at 4 a.m every morning back at Dreamland. He decided to practise his sword skills (As if they could even be improved, they were so good) outside the clearing.
The air was crisp and there was a gentle breeze coming from the depths of the forest. As he was beginning his first swing at an imaginary opponent, a noise came from behind him. He turned and saw the little Mimikyu staring blankly at him.
"K-kss?" Mimikyu hissed in a questioning sort of tone. Meta Knight stared back, silently.
He knew what it was like for Mimikyu. What it was like to be ignored, to conceal their identity, to hide their true self. Even if Mimikyu's true for was so gruesomely terrifying people were known to die from the shock of it, it was easier to weak a mask rather than to suffer consequences.
"Greetings, Mimikyu. Why are you up so early?" He asked softly.
"Kyu, Kss." Mimikyu started moving towards Meta Knight in interest. Meta Knight did not back down, though. He sheathed his sword, and kneeled down to Mimikyu's level, one foot behind him. They stared at each other for a solid minute. Mimikyu suddenly revealed a shadowy claw and tried to grab Meta Knight's mask. He jumped back, his eyes red and the sword pointed at the disguised pokemon. Did the pokemon who nobody could remove the mask, just try and REMOVE the mask of someone who also doesn't remove their mask?!
His expression changed when he back looked at Mimikyu. He realised that they were just like each other.
"Do not do that again, Mimikyu, or face the consequences. You know, we're not so different you see?" Meta Knight extended a gloved hand in a gentle manner. His eyes reverted to red for a few seconds. "I do not allow anyone to look under their mask unless they want to suffer a painful death. Doesn't that sound familiar?"
Mimikyu hissed quietly in agreement, moving slowly towards Meta Knight. Mimikyu's shadow claw extended towards Meta Knight's hand slowly. They shook hands (Well claws for Mimikyu, and the handshake felt strange because the claw wasn't exactly... solid). Inside the rag, the Mimikyu understood Meta Knight, because they were the same.
And Meta Knight understood Mimikyu.
***Three Hours Later***
When Team Rocket woke up, they saw Mimikyu and Meta Knight training. At first Jessie didn't understand (And almost tried to stop Meta Knight) but then saw that they were just training.
Mimikyu threw a shadow ball towards Meta Knight, who absorbed the blow with Galaxia. He then concentrated, jumped up into the air and slashed downwards using his sword. The energy formed into a bright yellow Sword Beam shooting towards Mimikyu, who jumped out of the way. Collateral damage were a few trees were cut in half from the Sword Beam. Team Rocket flinched at the outburst of noise.
"What're they doing?" James pondered. "That beam looked powerful!"
"Looks like they're training early in the morning." Meowth stated.
"Well, Bewear's gone to look for berries, so that means we can go look for that Ultra Beast!" Jessie sneered. "And maybe we can at least find it this time because All we really did yesterday was give Meta Knight a tour of Mele Mele Island. Maybe we can even catch it..."
"...And give it to the boss!" James and Meowth replied. Smirks grew on their faces like plants.
"Mimikyu! Meta Knight! Let's go!" James yelled to them, pointing to the forest around them. They instantly stopped.
"Today we shall scout the shore and near there." Meta Knight ordered, sheathing his sword and wrapping himself tightly in his cloak. The cape looked comfortable.
Jessie nodded. "Come, Mimikyu!" She returned Mimikyu to the Pokeball it lived in.
"Follow me, everyone!" Meowth instructed, walking off into the woods. Jessie and James quickly followed.
"Now, we probably don't have much time before Bewear comes and nabs us all, so we better be quick." Meowth noted. "We better get moving."
After a few minutes of walking at a brisk pace, the group found themselves out of the forest and in a part of the town. Meta Knight tensed at the sight of so many people walking through the town. He felt tiny and vulnerable. At least in Dreamland he was normal height! Dreamland... he felt his eyes bull to a deep grey colour. As he was thinking about his homeland, he bumped into somebody. He looked up and saw an old lady with a smile on her face.
"My sincerest apologies, madam!" Meta Knight apologised and bowed. "I was not looking where I was going."
"Don't be sorry! You're quite a unique one, around here." The old lady smiled. "You can come visit me by the fruits stall back there." She pointed to a large stall with fruits stacked in piles underneath the gazebo.
"Thank you, madam. I will be on my way now if you don't mind." He bowed gracefully and left. He quickly caught up to Team Rocket who were starting to wonder where he was.
As they neared the beach in silence, Meta Knight could sense that something was making him feel lost. It wasn't that the people of Alola were a bit too friendly, the place just seemed off. He preferred the peace and quiet of his private library back home.
He began to miss home.
"You see, this is the beach. You know what a beach is, right?" Jessie asked.
"Indeed, I know. Back in Dreamland, the bright sun turned the ocean orange, and thus was named the Orange Ocean. I kind of... ruled it." Meta Knight answered, his eyes changing to emerald green. As they walked along the beach, they looked out for any signs of peculiar activity.
"Enjoy the beach with us, Mareanie!" James chucked his pokeball into the air and released Mareanie. She leapt into the air and attached herself onto James head.
"Gah! Not again..." Team Rocket sighed, as James was poisoned by the Mareanie. His faced turned bright purple and Mareanie settled on his shoulder, hugging him.
"Are you okay, James?" Meta Knight asked. "Do you need a doctor?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine. Mareanie always does this! Every time I tell her to stop... it just doesn't work." He droned dopily, shaking his head to clear the poison.
"That is good to hear." Meta Knight wrapped himself in his cape, and continued walking. After some time of searching for the beast Tsurara, a strong wind picked up as a large helicopter (Which Ash and his friends boarded before, they just couldn't see Team Rocket because they were directly below them) flew over them.
"Come on! Where is that stupid beast?!" Jessie pouted angrily. "Why can't it just show its' face?"
A enormous, but far off roar answered her. Jessie froze. Her complain was answered, but she wasn't so sure after hearing the howl.
"What was that?" She asked herself in fear. She heard padding of footsteps sprinting towards her, large, loud footsteps. She listened intently to the footsteps, where they were coming from.
"Mareanie, be on your guard." James whispered. Suddenly, he heard a shriek come from behind her. He whirled around to see Tsurara, who had pushed Jessie into the sand (Like it did to Ash) face first. She jumped back up, brushed off the sand from her hair and face. She was steaming mad now. Mareanie stood defensively in front of James, Meta Knight next to him, sword drawn. Jessie threw the Luxury Ball up into the sky, where Mimikyu appeared from it.
Mareanie made a move towards Tsurara. Suddenly, the three tails on Tsurara struck the sand defensively. Something vibrated from the tails and Mareanie cowered, annoyance and pain. on her face. Mimikyu hissed in the same tone. There were weird soundwaves emitting from the tails, but the humans could not hear it. To the Pokemon, however, it was an earsplitting screeching noise that burrowed its way into their head like a worm.
"Mareanie, are you okay?" James consoled, placing a hand softly on Mareanie (But not on the spike on the top of her head). Jessie caught sight of Meowth (Who was also a pokemon), who was covering his ears.
"What's wrong with you guys?" Jessie asked. "Why are you all wincing?"
"That sound... It's crazy! It's messing with my head!!" Meowth cried. "What the heck?! It's like someones hammering the inside of my head with a sledgehammer!"
"What noise?" James and Jessie looked at Meowth, then their pokemon and the three tails still slapping the ground. A hint of confusion flashed on their faces.
"Let me deal with this." Meta Knight thundered. "May the beast feel the electricity coursing through it's body!" Meta Knight stood between his friends and Tsurara. Tsurara screeched, and hacked at Meta Knight, who blocked with his gleaming sword.
Tsurara attempted to freeze Meta Knight with its icy breath, but he dodged. Meta Knight aimed a stab at Tsurara's clawed foot, but something stopped him. He was outlined in a fuchsia glow. He was lifted into the air, and Tsurara swiped at him harshly and he was sent flying into the ocean. As Tsurara focused on Meta Knight, the tails stopped using their magic.
"Mareanie! Use Knock off!" James called to Mareanie as soon as the vibrations of the tails hitting the ground stopped. Mareanie leapt at Tsurara, who was watching Meta Knight sink into the ocean, and slapped it multiple times in the face. A red mark slowly formed on its jaw. It roared in pain and anger. It lifted Mareanie into the air using some sort of psychic powers, and bowled her into James's face, tumbling to the ground in a heap.
"Mimikyu, use Wood Hammer!" Jessie cried, pointing at Tsurara. Mimikyu looked at the wolf-like Ultra Beast, then Jessie. It hissed bored way and stayed still.
"Mimikyu if you don't attack it, it might kill us all!" Jessie reasoned desperately. The beast was edging closer to her, baring bloody canine teeth. She screamed as Tsurara leapt at her face, fangs poised to kill-
Meta Knight jumped in front of her, sword ready to parry. The wolf bit down on a mouthful of electricity and metal. Meta Knight threw Tsurara off the sword which was covered in maroon blood. Tsurara stared at Meta Knight, then looked at Mimikyu. An idea raced into it's head, knowing about Mimikyu's disguise.
It began to walk away, back to Team Rocket and Meta Knight. When they were going to sigh with relief that they were okay, a coral glow surrounded Mimikyu, who hissed out of confusion. The rag was slowly coming off. Mimikyu's claw tried to hold down the disguise, but the beast lifted it right off. Two glowing white eyes blinked from Mimikyu.
Tsurara laughed, circling them without looking at Mimikyu. Everyone glanced at where the fuchsia glow was coming from, and all eyes (apart from the beasts) fell upon the true form of the Pokemon.
Everyone there saw Mimikyu's true form.
And they all fainted to a dark abyss of insanity.
***
"Walking down a long tunnel. Again." Meowth grumbled. "Why on earth am I even here?" The tunnel was murky and dark. He could barely see anything in front of him. A small bright dot of light was in front of him.
"Should I trust the light?" He asked himself. The dot was becoming bigger as he walked towards it. "But every time I wake up, it's when I walk into the light!" He ran into the light, and finally exited the tunnel, but it wasn't what he thought it would be. The landscape was swampy and barren. He hadn't woken up at all! Where on Alola was he?
He called for his best friends, but they were gone. As he walked around, he spied a broken metal object on the ground. He gasped, for he knew what it was.
He had found Meta Knight's mask on the ground. Broken. Destroyed. It was splintered and mangled, bright crimson blood staining the metal. Meowth picked it up, shuddering. It's just a dream. Just a dream. The cream coloured cat told himself. This is fake and this mask doesn't exist and Meta Knight will be okay-
Suddenly he heard a voice cry out to the far left of him.
He looked around to find blue puff himself, but something was definitely wrong.
He was dying.
Meta Knight was looking at him, but his face was so covered in blood and scratches that he didn't see a face anymore. The cat saw the shine of a glowing white eye, staring at him, he saw a grimace of pain. Meowth gasped as Meta Knight fell sideways and didn't stand back up.
He was staring at the dying body of a new friend...
He rushed to his friend, falling to his knees. Why was he like this? The blue puffball's fist clenched in pain as he seemed to be in immense pain. Meowth put a paw on his friend's crippled state. He felt the body rise and fall in the rhythm of breathing, and the weak pulse of a heartbeat, slowly weakening.
"M-meta Knight! Stay with me, come on!" Meowth yelped, forgetting it was a bad dream. The cat gently shook the warrior, but the puffball's warm lifeblood stained his hands. Meowth gasped as Meta Knight coughed, and the rising and falling of breathing stopped. This couldn't be happening... This wasn't real.
Fear bubbled from inside of the cat. Meowth looked at the dead body, then at his own bloodied paws.
"Meta, no..." Meowth stuttered. "It's just a dream, Meowth. A dream. Not real. The real Meta Knight is alive and well. Now, if it's a dream, WAKE UP!!" He added in a scream, slapping himself. He pinched himself but that didn't help.
Meowth heard padding footsteps coming from all around. Meowth's heart raced, why couldn't he wake up? Why was Meta Knight broken, dead right next to him? He looked up and screamed as Tsurara pounced on him, tearing him to pieces with ice talons, blood flying everywhere like a fountain of red-
He opened his eyes in a gasp. He was still on the beach, the same place when he fell unconscious. He got up and yelped in shock. Speaking of Mimikyu, it was hissing at a large figure, with an ice mane, claws like swords-
The wolf was still here!!
"Mimik! Mimik!" Mimikyu screeched. Tsurara batted Mimikyu to the sand before throwing the poor thing into the ocean. It had been only a few minutes.
Meowth was now the one who had to wake up his friends. Mimikyu had been defending them, all this time!
He bared claws and slashed at his friend's faces to wake them up. Jessie sat up with a gasp, mumbling something incoherent.
"Meowth, did you just scratch me?!" Jessie yelled before trailing off. She pressed a hand to her head, which was aching. "Uh... thanks, I needed that. What the actual heck just happened?"
"JESSIE! THE WOLF THING IS STILL TRYING TO KILL US!!" Meowth howled. She looked at Mimikyu then Tsurara.
"Oh my gosh, how long have we been passed out? I'm surprised we didn't die from Mimikyu. I guess we're lucky, huh." Jessie muttered, getting up and gasping at the sight of the wolf. Meowth shrugged. "Now I know how you feel when you always pass out."
"It's hardly been any time since then. Mimikyu's still fighting that wolf." Meowth replied.
James was in the same mood. Imagine your best friend just slashing your face, then expecting you to be grateful. Well, if they slashed your face to break a spell that could kill them, you would be thankful.
"Did you wake Meta Knight?" James asked. Meowth shook his head.
"You guys focus on getting that thing. I'll just gently wake him up, as I don't think he'd be very happy if I wrecked his mask. To be honest he probably would kill me if I did so much as scrape the mask." He concluded, moving towards Meta Knight who was out cold. Meowth remembered the vision he had.
His blood stained my paws. He was mutilated, destroyed.
The cat shuddered and sighed.
Meta Knight is okay. He is here, definitely not dead and he is alive and well. Just passed out from Mimikyu, that's all...
He turned Meta Knight onto his back. His yellow eyes were dull and lifeless. Meowth gently shook his arm. "Wake up, Meta Knight!" He muttered. "C'mon, wake up! You even in there?!" He knocked on the mask, making a hollow metal sound. The haunting image of Meta Knight dead loomed in his mind like a ghost.
After a few seconds, Meta Knight's eyes returned to their natural glow. He got back up and the Pokemon cat sighed in relief.
"Was I unconscious?" He asked blankly. "I remember walking down this long tunnel-"
"No time to explain what happened, Meta! The beast's attacking us, it threw Mimikyu into the ocean!" Meowth explained worriedly.
"Mimikyu! Shadow Ball!" Jessie crowed, but seeing that Mimikyu was nowhere to be found. "Mimikyu? Mimikyu, where are you?"
"It was thrown into the ocean, but it still hasn't come back..." Meowth explained. Meta Knight nodded and dove into the ocean. Meta Knight made sure that he would not look at the Pokemon while rescuing it.
"Mareanie, wake up!" James yelled, picking up Mareanie before adding "Use Sludge Bomb!"
Marranie blinked, screamed at the sight of Tsurara and used Sludge Bomb on the monster.
"I'll use Fury Swipes!" Meowth grinned, flashing his claws. He leapt off the sand, aiming at the wolf's face. He actually hit and he landed on the wolf's nose, though it was a bit too small for him to actually climb on.
He stared into the beast's unimpressed eyes and laughed awkwardly. As he slid off the muzzle of the beast, he poked the wolf in the eyes and raked his claws on the snout, making Tsurara growl, pressing her paw to her eyes and snout.
As Tsurara was distracted, a soaking wet Mimikyu, after being saved by Meta Knight, hurled a massive, colossal Shadow Ball at her. It hit her square in the chest. She stumbled backwards. The blood clouded her eyes and she decided to make an escape through a portal.
"Well, that was close." Jessie said, picking up an exhausted Mimikyu before putting it back into the pokeball. "If Meowth didn't wake us up... We could've been killed!"
"So, now that we're not either dead or being attacked, what was up with the monster making us all pass out and duking out with Mimikyu?" James asked.
"I had a very strange dream before Meowth woke me up," Meta Knight said. "And when I woke up, I saw the demon beast trying to sneak attack us but Mimikyu was saving us all. I was... walking down a long tunnel."
"Me too!" James interrupted. "And at the exit was a beach like this one. There wasn't anyone there, but that demon beast came out of nowhere and attacked me! But before I woke up, I s-saw Jessie getting torn a-apart... It was horrifying..."
Jessie gasped. "What?! I was torn apart by THAT thing of all creatures big and small?"
"Yeah... that thing had your... neck in its jaws. It was so graphic, you had such a sh-shocked face... You had died. It looked way too real." James's eyes teared up at the memory. Jessie was one of his best friends, and seeing a vision of her like that was terrible.
"I had a similar vision, but I was in the forest when I was attacked." Jessie added. "And YOU were the one dead in my dream. You had been kebabed to a tree with Tsurara's claws through your chest..."
"What did you see, Meta Knight?' James asked.
"I saw... Kirby and Galacta Knight. But they were trying to kill me, and they cornered me for the beast to come and end my life. I saw everyone dead... You guys and people on my world." His eyes turned a brown colour, signalling fear, which the old knight never had. It returned to their regular colour within the moment.
"Did you have a vision, Meowth?" James asked. Meowth nodded before shivering. His friends could see the fear in his eyes as he quaked. They decided not to nag him about it because both of them had terrible visions.
"Well, whatever happened in the vision, it's not real." Jessie said. "This monster obviously doesn't like you. Or any of your kind." She added to Meta.
"Then, instead of looking for the beast, we should focus on finding Kirby. He likes sweets so we should look around the shops near the island." Meta Knight stated.
"What if the twerps have him?" James thought aloud. "They wouldn't give him up to people like us, but with Meta Knight here... We can persuade them to let Kirby be with Meta Knight!"
"Well, they'd probably just send us blasting off again with that Electric Z-move of theirs." Meowth shrugged.
"Do not fret, my friends. They wouldn't dare attack you or I if I reveal myself to them and Kirby. If they do use the move, I can absorb it with my sword." Meta Knight smirked underneath his mask. Mischievous grins approved his plan.
"Sounds like a plan, doesn't it?" The original Rocket trio said.
Suddenly, as they were about to set off, Bewear flew from the ocean and nabbed them. Good timing, wasn't it? This bear does NOT like them leaving at all.
__________________________________________________________
Author Note: Last chapter was filled with Kirby and Galacta Knight, so this chapter was for Meta Knight and his adventure with his new friends, Team Rocket. This is the chapter that strengthens their friendships and lets the Pokemon Characters trust the enigmatic Meta Knight. Meta Knight had saved them, Jessie and Mimikyu specifically, and the Trio have now accepted him as a part of their group, so no more death threats needed to follow Meta Knight's orders.
Mimikyu and Meta understand each other because they know what it's like to wear a mask and to be different on the outside.
Thanks for reading!
From NovaKirby2830