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Galacta Knight eyed the entrance to this... 'Merry Magoland' with suspicion, the bright colors and jolly music blaring in his ears. He turned to stare at the knight beside him with half-lidded eyes.
Meta Knight held his cape a little tighter, looking like he was regretting every choice he had made to get to this point.
"Don't look at me like that," the knight started, a little defensive. "Magolor suggested this, not me."
Right. Kirby's little friend. The floating creature, Magolor, had overheard Galacta Knight's very reasonable complaints to Meta Knight about having nothing to do after the knight's crew had banned them from fighting with each other. Something about property damage and needing to restock the Halberd's first aid kit.
Magolor had grinned and suggested they check out his amusement park later, if they were really so bored. Meta Knight had hesitated, then shrugged. ("It couldn't hurt," he had said.)
So now they were here.
Meta Knight started walking and Galacta Knight followed suit, looking around the park as they went. There were several golden statues of some of the people he had seen around Popstar so far, many waddle dees laughing and playing games, and-
"Why do they have your mask in that cart?"
Meta Knight turned, probably about to answer the warrior, but he had already flown over to the stand, looking over all the masks it had on display.
Meta Knight's mask was among them, made of somewhat cheap looking plastic painted to look like metal. There were also a few of his other friends. A few different variations Kirby, the king, that bandanna-wearing waddle dee he ran into the other day, and Magolor.
"See anything you like?" The waddle dee in charge of the stand tilted their head. "There are other's in the back if you'd like to see them!"
Galacta Knight pointed to the poorly made mask. "How much for... that."
"Oh, no, they're completely free! We just ask that you return them before you leave, that's all."
Hm. How uncharacteristically generous. From what the warrior had seen from Magolor, the Halcandran could be a tad... greedy. Not that Galacta Knight had any of Dream Land's currency anyway.
"Thank you," he nodded as the waddle dee passed him the mask.
By now Meta Knight had caught up, looking curiously at the interaction. Galacta Knight scoffed. He could be polite!
...Just not to him.
The warrior swapped out his own mask for the fake one, grinning at the knight beside him. Meta Knight chuckled quietly, and Galacta Knight wished he could hear that sound more often.
The knight brushed past him, digging through the back of the cart and pulling out another mask that he couldn't quite see. Galacta Knight stood up straighter, trying to see what the other had grabbed, but he moved it out of sight again before placing it onto his own mask.
Meta Knight turned around.
The mask had two gold painted horns on top, the plastic sparkling as the sun hit it. It also had a visor shaped not unlike a four pointed star, and the ruby red plastic tinted the knight's amber eyes a sharp orange.
Galacta Knight let out a startled laugh, his own armor staring back at him. Soon the two were both laughing, though Meta Knight wasn't nearly as loud.
Eventually the two returned their masks, both preferring to have their own armor instead, but Galacta Knight still found himself smiling afterwards.
Maybe this would be more enjoyable than he thought.
"You made it!" Magolor smiled as he noticed them walking up to him. "I'm sure you two are having an awesome time?"
"We haven't started any of the games yet, actually." Meta Knight pulled some star coins out of his cape. "We'd like to start a Tour though."
When Galacta Knight sent him a questioning look, he gestured towards the sign next to them. "Groups of four get to compete with each other for stamps. You earn more points each round depending on which place you get, and whoever gets the most points wins the whole Tour."
He smiled as the warrior's eyes widened. He figured he'd like it.
The first game Magolor had chosen was 'Bomb Rally', the name catching the warrior's attention before fully selling him when he learned he was allowed to throw bombs at his friend.
Their other opponents, a waddle dee and a waddle doo, gave them a friendly wave, readying their frying pans as the countdown started.
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!"
Magolor blew a whistle, hurling the bomb towards Meta Knight.
He smacked it with his pan, sending it towards Galacta Knight with a competitive smile. The warrior flared out his wings and hit it back as hard as possible.
The two went back and forth for a while, the bomb flying faster and faster with each hit. He felt the pan reverberate as the sound of metal on metal rang through the air repeatedly.
"Um... y-you're supposed to pass it to the rest of us too..."
Clang!
Meta Knight swung the pan slightly too early, the bomb hitting him directly in the face with an earsplitting crack before exploding. He heard Galacta Knight cackling as he was knocked to the floor.
"Yikes! Looks like you're out for this round, Meta Knight!" Magolor clasped his hands together, not looking at all upset. "What a shame!"
Magolor held out a hand for him but he got himself up anyways, stumbling to watch from the sidelines in embarrassment. They replaced him with one of the staff members, and the game started again.
Luckily for him though, the others held up quite well against the temporal warrior. Galacta Knight lasted about twenty seconds before he got too eager and missed the bomb completely, hitting the grass with his frying pan instead and leaving a dent in the dirt underneath.
Meta Knight gave Galacta Knight an amused leer as he stormed over to the sidelines, completely charred and smoldering.
"Not a word you pathetic excuse for a knight," he spat, sitting down in the grass with his arms crossed. "At least I didn't get last."
"There's still time. We have three more games to go, after all."
Galacta Knight rolled his eyes. "Yippee."
"Stop knocking me off the edge you horrible- AGH!"
"That's the point of the game."
"Well go target someone else then!" Meta Knight charged up his starship, launching Galacta Knight off the edge again. "SON OF A-"
"I bet you thirty star coins I can get more bullseyes than you with my eyes closed." Galacta Knight tossed the shuriken into the air and caught it again in his other paw.
"Please don't. I don't think Magolor would appreciate getting impaled a second time," Meta Knight replied, glancing over at the waddle doo apologizing profusely from across the dojo and at Magolor, who bit into a maxim tomato.
Meta Knight looked down at his basket of eggs. "You know, I never noticed how many bomb-related games this park has."
"I think I cracked most of my eggs..."
"Now... for the winners!" Magolor addressed the four and the small crowd that had stopped to watch.
"For first place we have... Waddle Doo!" Applause rang out and the doo smiled sheepishly, standing proud on the highest podium. Galacta Knight's breath hitched.
"In second place stands Waddle Dee!" Shame coursed through the warrior. He couldn't possibly have... No. He could still beat-
"And lastly," Magolor grinned. "Tied for third place is Meta and Galacta Knight!"
...
"WHAT?!" Galacta Knight shouted in outrage, though it was drowned out by the booming fireworks for the winning waddle doo.
Meta Knight looked equally appalled, fuming from where he stood on their shared podium. "How could we have possibly tied?"
Magolor shook his head in faux disappointment. "Don't be a sore loser, Meta Knight! I don't make the rules!"
"This entire amusement park has your face carved into it."
"That's besides the point. The point is that you two lost! Fair and square." Magolor crossed his paws (somehow). "Just enjoy the rest of the park! There's always other chances to win."
The Halcandran left them alone, fireworks still popping above them as the waddle doo thanked everyone. Galacta Knight sat down on the podium in a huff.
Meta Knight sat down next to him, looking up at the quickly dimming sky.
"That was... enjoyable, despite... well, you know."
The warrior smiled slightly, smacking the knight with one of his wings. "You can just say it was fun, idiot."
"...Yeah, it was fun."
The two had flew back to the Halberd after playing a few of the other games. Galacta Knight had somehow managed to get a plush Magolor from a crane game (Meta Knight supposed every amusement park had to have at least one) that the knight was sure was rigged, much to the surprise of himself and a nearby staff member.
The warrior yawned, showing off his small fangs. Meta Knight had to stifle a yawn himself, the sun having set just before they had gotten back.
"I think I'll be retiring for the night." Meta Knight waved, starting to walk towards his room in the Halberd. "I suggest you do the same."
Galacta Knight had been staying in the Halberd's spare bedroom for some time now. Originally it was so Meta Knight could keep an eye on him, but now they were just waiting for him to find his own place to stay.
At least, that was what he kept telling himself. No one had actually started looking yet.
"Wait!" Galacta Knight called out, gliding in front of the knight. He waited.
"I got you this." Galacta Knight handed him a key chain shaped like a gem apple, decidedly not making eye contact. "From the souvenir stand."
Meta knight squinted at him. "...You didn't steal this, did you?"
"What? No!" He snapped. "I traded it for those dumb stamp things."
The knight looked down at the keychain in his paw and then back at the warrior, somewhat skeptical.
"You're welcome," Galacta Knight sneered.
"Thank you." Meta Knight blinked at him slowly.
Galacta Knight rolled his eyes and walked towards his room with the plush still in his paws. There were a couple feathers on the floor. "Good night."
"Good night, Galacta."
Meta Knight put the keychain in his cape. He'd find a good place for it tomorrow. The door to his room opened and closed with a creak and a click, and the Halberd was silent.