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fallen-starlight · 2 years ago

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Snippets of Sailor Dee’s time in the crew, written as practice for personality as well as aligning the backstory. Takes place right before Super Star Ultra. Aka the Meta Knight learns to care arc.

The tea was sweet. Captain Vul was always a traditionalist when it came to tea, always refusing sugar or any other sweetners. Yet here Meta Knight's cup was, as sweet as he always took his tea. Clearly, Captain Vul was trying to sweeten him up before making an asinine request.

"So, Sir, how did you find your tea?" Captain Vul asked, sweetly.

Meta Knight sighed and put down his cup. "Out with it."

"Do you remember me talking about needing a few extra hands around for ship maintenance?"

"Roughly."

"Because the only other person here who can even steer the ship is Axe Knight."

"I'm aware."

"Who is a combatant, and therefore will not be able to steer during the big event."

"Does any of this rambling have a point?"

"Therefor!" Captain Vul slammed his hand on the table. "I have been conducting several interviews and believe I have finally found an acceptable addition to our crew!"

"We are parked on the Rainbow Islands," hissed Meta Knight. "They could easily be a spy for the King of Dreamland."

"I asked and he said he doesn't know Dreamland's King. The lad hasn't ever strayed from his home island."

"If they have never strayed from their home, I doubt they have much useful experience."

"Ha! I assure you he is the most qualified for the job! He may speak a little too plainly for my taste, but He was the only one who remained after my empassioned, 3 hour long speech about the glory of the Halberd!"

"Yes, I suppose being able to tolerate such a speech would be a useful skill." Sarcastically grumbled Meta Knight as he sipped his tea.

Slighted, Captain Vul gave a short huff. "We are leaving the day after tomorrow. We can scan him for any way to transport information to Dreamland's King when he gets aboard, as well as block the signal to access the King from our ship. For my sake at the least, give him a chance."

Captain Vul, in a way, had a point. In the event that Captain Vul couldn't work, voluntarily or otherwise, the only other being aboard the ship with a notion on how to fly the Halberd was Axe. Meta Knight himself only knew the very basics of the steering wheel, however, he had been banned from it three "incidents" ago.

"Fine"

Captain Vul stood up with pride. He hadn’t been able to finish his sweetned tea.

"However-" Said Meta Knight. The tone deflated Captain Vul's prideful stance, if only slightly. "He will be subject to the same rules as the others. All of them."

"Yes, Milord."

☆☆☆☆☆

The new recruit was unlike the others. He didn't look to be joining out of necessity, like Sword and Blade, nor out of admiration, like Mace and Axe. He had that doe eyed look of someone on their first day of the job, confused with the newness of it all rather than the grandeur of the Halberd.

The rest of the Meta-Knights began to get rowdy upon seeing the new recruit. They fell back in line with one swift glare, however Meta Knight did share some of their concerns. Their potential recruit was a soft looking Waddle Dee, clad in a white sailor's cap.

Meta Knight glanced to Captain Vul. Was this really the one? Captain Vul nodded, and turned back to the Waddle Dee.

"Well? Introduce yourself!"

"Oh, right," the Waddle Dee gave a sharp salute. "I'm Sailor Waddle Dee. Nice to meet you."

He won't last a day.

☆☆☆☆☆

Despite fighting with a parasol, Sailor did decent in his test battle. Not great, not bad, simply decent. He blocked more than he attacked, but Meta Knight supposed that was the nature of fighting with a parasol. There were strategies where that fighting style could come to use, if properly honed.

Sailor Dee bowed to Sword, his opponent in the test battle, then turned to Meta Knight and saluted. He said nothing, yet his eyes sparkled in anticipation.

"Passable." This satisfied the Waddle Dee, who smiled with his eyes. "So long as you follow the rules of the crew and rules of probation, you may stay." The other's cheered behind him, excited for their new friend's accomplishment.

Sailor Dee lowered his salute and turned his head, confused. "The rules of probation? I only heard about the rules of the crew."

Meta Knight eyed Captain Vul. "There are only two rules for the probation period. Rule 1, you must train everyday. Rule 2, you must defeat me in a challenge of some sort."

☆☆☆☆☆

"A challenge that I can beat Lord Meta Knight at," muttered Sailor to himself, fruit in hand as he sat at the dining table. "What could someone like him be bad at?"

"You're over thinking this, Sailor." Trident Knight said, walking over the the newest member with Javelin and Blade in tow. "It can be anything! And you have plenty of time! Being honest, Lord Meta Knight probably won't be accepting any challenges before the takeover." The other two nodded in agreement.

"You wanna know how I beat him?" Asked Blade. Without waiting for an answer, Blade continued, "I challenged him to a game of tetris!"

"I beat him at a speed multiplication test," said Javelin.

Trident laughed, then added their own story. "I beat him at a silly face competition, with Captain Vul as the judge. See? It really can be anything!"

"Yeah, but I ain't good at multiplication, silly faces, nor tetris. I'm worried it'll take awhile to find something I'm good enough at for a challenge."

Blade patted his back. "You will. I know it. We've all been there with the same anxieties as you. Besides, you have a few months until the invasion is over."

☆☆☆☆☆

"You're not on cooking duty today."

Sailor Dee turned to the gruff voice. Truthfully, he barely heard it over the sizzling of the breakfast he was cooking. Wrapped in his cape like it was a blanket, Meta Knight was standing in the doorway, gruff voice the only evidence that he had just awoke.

"Captain Vul told me to cook breakfast today, Milord."

Meta Knight grumbled something, the only word Sailor Dee could pick out was "laziness". He plopped himself in his usual spot, pulled out his usual book, and didn't ask anymore questions.

"Milord?" Sailor Dee waited until Meta Knight turned to him to speak. "Shall I start the coffee pot?"

"Please."

Soon, Sailor had some food on serving plates, and the other members of filed in. They served themselves as Sailor Dee carried the pot of Coffee, along with sugar and cream, to the table.

Sword eagerly scooped himself a hearty serving. "Smells delicious, don't it," whispered Sword to Blade. "Of course, anything smells good compared to Meta Knight's cooking."

Blade whispered something in response, something that Sailor didn't catch, but it made Sword crack out in a sudden loud cackle. "You can say that again!"

"Say what again?" Asked Meta Knight. The crew chuckled, and refused to elaborate on the matter.

☆☆☆☆☆

"Oh he's going to kill us!"

"What do we do, what do we do?!"

"Shhhhhh! Keep it down for one!"

Sailor Dee rounded the corner. "What are you two screaming about?" He stared at his two crewmates, Mace and Trident, as they stood as still as a statue. The crew's laundry was in a basket in-between them, and clutched in Mace's hands was one of Captain Vul's shirts. They dunked it into the laundry basket at record speed.

"Nothing! We weren't screaming! The washing machine is just loud!" Proclaimed Mace. Trident elbowed them slightly and Mace elbowed back.

Sailor stared blankly at them. "Cool. So what's wrong with the shirt?"

The two of them looked warily to one another, then parted to Sailor could examine the shirt. It tore at the seam and one of the patches showing Captain Vul's accomplishments were loose. The other two hastily made excuses.

"Yeah we know we should've washed it more carefully-"

"We didn't think it would tear so easily and-"

Sailor Dee interrupted them, "calm down! It's an easy fix. Just tell me where a sewing kit is."

Mace Knight sniffled away his tears. "You'll fix it?"

"Yeah, just need the sewing kit."

Trident Knight looked hopefully towards him. "And you won't tell the Captain?"

"I promise. Please tell me where the sewing kit is, I am begging you."

"Second drawer in the cleaning cabinet." The three of them turned to find Meta Knight standing in the doorframe. Mace and Trident stood still as statues.

"Thank you, Milord." Sailor Dee bowed, then made his way to the sewing kit.

He was sitting at his personal desk, mending shirt, when two sharp knocks were heard from the door. He half heartedly hid the shirt between him and the chair. "Come in!"

Meta Knight stepped in and closed the door behind him. "How's the shirt doing?"

Sailor pulled it out from behind him. "It's coming along, Milord. Seams almost fixed, then just need to do the patches. Maybe touch up on a few of the others so they don't come loose any time soon." Meta Knight stared at it for a long moment. Long enough for Sailor to become fidgety.

"Almost unnoticeable. Good job." With that, Meta Knight left the room before Sailor could thank him for the praise.

☆☆☆☆☆

They landed on a bustling planet known for it's street markets and ship parts. There was a shopping list of parts needed, spread across the Meta-Knights. Sailor Dee, who didn't know where to find the typical ship parts, was sent to get food, already ordered, from a restuaraunt that was marked on the map. It was unfortunate. The others promised to show him where they got their usual ship purchases from when time wasn't an issue, which had to be good enough for now.

For such a simple task, Sailor Dee didn't anticipate a shadow to need to follow. Meta Knight lurked a short distance away, neither drawing nor diverting attention to himself. Sailor Dee stopped. Meta Knight stopped. Confused, Sailor Dee walked over to Meta Knight.

"What is it, Milord? Why are you following me?"

"You are not yet in the clear of being a spy for Dreamland," said Meta Knight.

That was fair enough. Meta Knight seemed to not mean it in an insulting manner. This time, Meta Knight remained at Sailor Dee's side as they made their way to the resturaunt.

There weren't many booths that caught Sailor Dee's eyes. He had no need for trinkets to place on his desk or jewlery to wear to say he was here. But there was one that caught his eye on the way. It was a simple booth, lacking any advertisment, painted in pink, green and white. The vendor handed out small treats on a stick to their customers.

"Do you like Dango?" asked Meta Knight.

Sailor Dee looked at him, confused. "Dango?" Meta Knight gave a slight gesture with his head to the three-colored booth. Sailor shrugged. "I've never had it before. What is it?"

"It's sweet." There was a pause where Meta Knight could have elaborated, however he didn't.

Sailor Dee hummed. "I like sweet."

Meta Knight hummed back, saying nothing more. They arrived at the resturaunt, the staff recognized Meta Knight, and they recieved the food without problem. Meta Knight took half of Sailor Dee's load from him with ease.

On the way back they stopped at the three-colored stall again. Meta Knight ordered two Dango. He recieved them in a paper bag, adding it to the pile he was carrying.

Sailor looked at him, confused, however didn't ask. That night there was a dango in a paper bag on Sailor Dee's desk. It tasted better than expected.

☆☆☆☆☆

They landed on a different planet. Meta Knight had heard some on the people in the street market from the last planet talking about dangerous beasts on this one, so a detour was planned to eliminate them.

Sailor remained glued to Javelin and Axe. The planet was supposedly inhabited by regular citizens. Personally, Sailor didn't believe it. The mountains and deep caverns only echoed the howls of the beasts.

"It's coming," plainly announced Javelin.

Axe Knight brought out his weapon. "Heard." Sailor Dee grabbed his Parasol and opened it.

The beast looked like a two story tall wolf, painted like it came from the local emo teen shop. It had a name that Captain Vul had mentioned several times, yet it escaped Sailor. Compared to Javelin and Axe, Sailor could do no damage at all. It was fast and powerful.

It's large maws wrapped around Javelin. Before it could bite down, Sailor ran in and jammed his parasol in it's mouth. During it's struggle, Sailor dragged a stunned Javelin a safe distance, before Meta Knight swooped in and took care of the rest.

"Thank you," Javelin mustered out. "Sorry about your weapon."

Sailor eyed the parasol, now bent with holes where teeth pierced it. "I think I need a new one."

Meta Knight sheathed his sword. "Better than the alternative. Head back, you three. I'll do a final look around."

"Heard."

☆☆☆☆☆

It is said, the Captain always goes down with their ship. Well, Captain Vul had been the first to flee, so then it must be the Sailor who goes down with the ship.

The others had evacuated safely already. Meta Knight had chased Kirby out of the ship. Sailor was all who remained.

Sailor Dee ran about the cabin, doing what little he could to lessen the crash. He managed to angle it into the ocean. It was already going to be a burning wreck, but it hopefully would be in relatively one piece and in shallow enough water to recover.

The metal screamed as it protested the damage done. He didn't have much time. He turned to where he was told the escape pods were and ran.

☆☆☆☆☆

Meta Knight landed on the cliff where the rest of his crew were waiting. They cheered for his well-being as he approached, crowding around to ask many questions on what they were doing now. Meta Knight gave them a once over to see if there were no injuries. It seemed all good, except-

"Where's Sailor?"

Captain Vul's face paled. "He was with you when you were battling Kirby, Milord. We thought he'd be with you."

Meta Knight opened his wings for flight again.

☆☆☆☆☆

He spotted him, floating amongst the wreckage. He has been trapped in a crashed escape pod, unable to get out without falling into the water. Sailor had spotted him first, waving in the escape pod until he had Meta Knights attention. With a quick yank, Meta Knight had the escape pod righted enough to let Sailor open the hatch.

"Thank you, Milord."

"Are you injured?"

Sailor Dee looked down to his left foot. "My foot hurts. It got banged up when I was getting in here. I think I got some bruises elsewhere, but it's my foot that hurts the most."

"Sorry."

"For what? Rescuing me?" Asked Sailor. He put his hands up to be picked up from the wreckage. Meta Knight, as expected now, didn't explain. He did, however, grab Sailor Dee’s hands and begin to fly back to shore.

His wings were getting tired now. The knowledge that he was near exhaustion only served to make Meta Knight try harder. They had to make it to shore.

They didn't. After only a few minutes, Meta Knight and Sailor spotted a sail boat approaching them quickly, being operated by the rest of the crew. All of them had come together to help find Sailor and be sure the two of them were alright. Meta Knight brought them both down, safely. The crew fussed all over them, glad they were as okay as they could be given the situation. Unbeknownst to them, Meta Knight smiled.

☆☆☆☆☆

The next day, Sailor Dee was resting on a cliff, staring off into the sunset. Meta Knight approached him.

Sailor Dee looked up to him, ruefully. "Don't know if I'll be able to complete Rule 1 in full now," Sailor Dee remorsefully laughed, gesturing to his bandaged foot. "I'm sorry, Lord Meta Knight."

"Don't be. As far as I'm concerned, you passed and completed your probation period."

Sailor Dee turned around, shocked. "Don't go giving me any special treatment or anything, Sir. I haven’t even completed Rule 2!"

Meta Knight shook his head. "You have already had me beat several times now, I'm afraid." At Sailor Dee's confused look, Meta Knight elaborated.

"My Meta-Knights are meant to be the strongest crew in the universe. For awhile now, I had been only focusing on physical strength. I had forgotten that what makes a crew truly strong is their loyalty to one another, dedication to trying their best, and compassion for helping one another out. Somewhere, I must of forgotten about that. Your loyalty, dedication and compassion outweigh my own. It seems I still have much to learn."

Meta Knight looked back towards Sailor Dee. His eyes were glistening, so close to crying. "Permission to speak freely, Sir?" He choaked out.

"Permison granted."

"I was going to challenge you to a cake baking competition because I heard you weren't good at cooking."

A beat, and then Meta Knight laughed. With a friendly pat to Sailor Dee, he rose, then offered a hand to help his subordinate up. "Perhaps when the Halberd is rebuilt. Captain Vul can be the judge."

They left the cliff side, facing the encroaching night's sky. Meta Knight leading with Sailor Dee right behind.

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