The ship that came to retrieve us, and the only working ship aboard the Enterprise, was none other than the Lor Starcutter. Magolor came and picked up the remaining twenty-eight of us, and a group of Waddle Dees was there to help the wounded. With a quick flip of a button, the interdimensional transporter brought us right back to the Enterprise.

"I'm so sorry," Magolor said, "I would have been here sooner, but I had to fix the interdimensional transporter. NME's monsters damaged it when the Enterprise was attacked. It's almost like he purposely damaged our ships so we couldn't come to help you guys...Anyway, Arthur wants to meet with all of you when you are able."

We were taken directly to the infirmary and given the care we needed. Amai treated us, but her movements were mechanical. She was going through the motions, her emotions hidden behind a wall of hurt.

After a few days, we were allowed to leave the hospital. None of us had said anything over the past few days, but we received several visits from the soldiers aboard the Enterprise who had survived NME's attack. Joanna, who recovered quickly, held Detriment yesterday for everyone who had fallen. Arthur had been there, as had I, Amai, and Nicolette, but Arthur seemed agitated and retreated to his office right afterward. No one had seen or spoken with him since our arrival.

Now, the twenty-eight of us who had survived the ninja battle and NME's attack were standing in front of Arthur's quarters once again, knocking on the familiar wooden doors. They opened immediately and Arthur was standing with his back to us. He was leaning on his sword, staring at the ground. Papers were scattered everywhere, and the room was a mess. Every glass display case was shattered, and the maps on the walls were slashed. The group hung back nervously, and I alone approached Arthur.

"Commander?" I asked hesitantly and touched his arm.

He didn't move, but instead, he said, "This war is at its end."

I sighed and closed my eyes. "It seems that way, Sir, but NME-"

"-is doing everything he can to destroy us," Arthur interrupted, and when he turned around, fury spewed from his maskless face. "He's too strong for us now. We've lost every planet we had an alliance with due to betrayed loyalty or defeat in battle. They're in NME's hands, so we have no more sources of incoming soldiers. The day NME attacked the Enterprise, he also attacked every Starfighter we had, and we lost ⅔ of our Starfleet - The Centurion, Millenium, Torus, Venus, and Galadon have all been destroyed. Huge battleships came from NME, Destrayers, we think, and obliterated them and all of the soldiers on board. The only two starfighters left are the Enterprise and the Vul."

Suddenly, the doors opened and Captain Vul stepped in, grief and anger flaming in his eyes.

"All of my men are ready aboard my starfighter, Commander," he said with a salute. He looked at me, and I felt his pain. His daughter Val had been killed in the monster raid that killed Jecra.

"Good," Arthur said. "We'll need them for our attack."

"What?" Amai asked, blinking her eyes like reality was suddenly coming back to her.

"Didn't you just say we're down to two starfighters?" Nicolette asked. "You expect to launch an attack on Nightmare with only a few thousand soldiers?"

"Yes," he said, his blue-purple eyes flashing. "We cannot sit around and wait any longer. We are launching a sneak attack on his two base planets. They are not far from here."

"We've tried these before, Arthur," I said tiredly. "These sneak attacks almost always end badly for us."

"You would rather sit here and wait for Destrayers to show up and defeat us, too?" Arthur snapped. "Not me! If I'm going to die, then I want to die fighting the enemy. We need to show him that we are not bugs to be squashed, that we are a force to be reckoned with. If we don't act now, he will come and destroy us. Vul will take his starfighter to NME's grassland base planet a few thousand lightyears away. We will move the Enterprise over the other planet and airdrop in."

The group gasped. We had never moved the Enterprise unless it was an emergency. I had never seen it actually used in battle, but only as a holding and training space for soldiers.

"I will lead the charge with the Enterprise soldiers," Arthur said, "And a few soldiers will stay behind on the ship in case anything happens, but NME shouldn't know we're coming and only defend against those of us on the ground. Vul will do the same. Gather your things, soldiers. We'll depart tonight."

...

I was allowed to eat one last dinner with my remaining friends before we left. Vul joined me, Nic, Ren, Amai, Dragato, Joanna, Arthur, Falspar, and Nonsurat. It felt strange, looking at the ten of us quietly eating around a table. We hadn't done this in ages. I remembered back to when Nicolette first joined the army, back when our group took up two tables instead of one, back when Jec and Garlude and Blizz were still alive.

I quickly shook my head, forgetting the memory, and ate the rest of my dinner.

A few hours later, Vul rejoined his soldiers on the Starfighter Vul and left for their target planet. Magolor went with them on his Lor Starcutter. Those of us on the Enterprise were airdropped above a large planet into a forest. I landed gently, carrying Nicolette like I had done a few days ago, and quickly made camp. Me, Ren, Nicolette, and Amai shared a campfire. The other soldiers paired off in groups of four for their campsites. There was a feeling of finality in the air. Arthur, Dragato, Nonsurat, and Falspar sat around a fire close to ours, quietly making plans for the attack we would make against Nightmare when the night fell.

"Meta Knight," Arthur suddenly whispered, and I stopped cutting wood to look at him. "You and I are going out to find NME's fortress so we know where to attack. We will rest when we return." I nodded and walked with him to the forest's edge.

The sun rose from the east through the trees, flaming blood red. To the west, large clay rock formation rose up in formidable mounds, guarding a deep canyon gorge. The rock hit the forest quite suddenly close to our camp and surrounded us in a circle. We were staying in an island of trees in the middle of a desert.

Arthur and I traveled swiftly and quietly out into the gorge, leaving behind the safety of the trees. Long shadows stretched across the hard red and brown ground beneath our feet. The sky was clear of clouds but still felt overcast and heavy, for the planet had a red sky rather than blue. It felt like a place straight out of a nightmare.

We reached the edge of the canyon and peered down inside. At first, we couldn't make anything out. The circular rocks and strange shapes all blended into the landscape. Then Arthur spotted a structure down below in the center of the canyon by a deep winding scar in the rock where a river used to flow. It was an old abandoned red castle, stripped of the precious metals that once covered its exterior walls, and holes and cracks covered the roofs. Arthur looked at me and nodded, and we descended down the canyon walls.

The rock was smooth like it had been worn down by rain over the years, and we had to grip little rock spires that stuck out from its sides to keep from losing control of our fall. Slowly and carefully, we made it to the bottom of the gorge and followed the old river to the ruins of the castle. Sudden monster cries bounced off the walls around us, roars of dragons and the shrill squeaks of bats, but we couldn't pinpoint where they came from because of the bowl-like canyon acoustics. We had no choice but to keep moving and keep our guard up.

"Soldiers I've sent to NME's base planets have often reported NME using the ruins of buildings to house some kind of transporter to get his monsters to and from the planet," Arthur whispered to me as we neared the castle. "They think that the buildings were once in use, and the transporters were there because someone once used them. What do you think?"

I looked at the broken castle spires and the withered trees in the old courtyard. "I think this was once a beautiful kingdom," I said, "and this didn't use to be a desert canyon, but a lush tropical gorge." I pointed up the steep sides of the canyon at traces of old, withered vines and clefts in the rock where waterfalls used to be. "What on earth is the transporter NME uses?"

"We'll find out in a moment," Arthur said. We were at the steps of the castle. There were no doors at the entrance, just a sad, gaping black hole where great iron doors used to hang, like the open mouth of a body. I grimaced as more howls, growls, and groans echoed around us, and we crept into the castle.

We walked into a giant room with doorways that lead to different parts of the castle. It was dusty and dark, but the floor was surprisingly clean from dirt. It was still well used. Most of the roof had caved in, destroying the passage to most of the hallways, but the rubble had been removed from one hallway straight ahead. I walked down it, refraining from using Galaxia as a light lest I accidentally attracted monsters, and peered into the darkness the best I could. Sunlight was seeping into some room ahead, and I walked faster towards it. Arthur followed me.

The hallway ended in the remains of a throne room. The sunlight came from holes in the roof, and the debris had destroyed nearly everything in sight.

Everything except a giant machine in the center of the room. I hadn't noticed it until light suddenly sprang up inside of it, illuminating a bright floor base and blue top coming from the ceiling. Arthur and I jumped behind piled of debris as little lights flashed and the machine beeped and suddenly, a giant floating mollusk appeared, glowing with red eyes and sparking with electricity in its tentacles. It looked around suspiciously, then flew out of the castle and out into the west.

"I believe this is our transporter," Arthur said once it was gone, and I exhaled the air I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

"How did it get here?" I asked, looking over the machinery. It was advanced, far more advanced than what I expected the denizens of this planet would have known how to use.

"Most of the time, someone from the planet buys one from Nightmare and orders monsters to terrorize someone they don't like on their planet," Arthur said. "At least, that's what our spies gathered while out on missions. Some are still in use by people ordering from Nightmare, somehow thinking he's part of a company and not a terrifying evil warlord."

"I think the ruler of this planet used Nightmare's services, then," I whispered as it buzzed to life again. I had seen this before, back when I was with Nightmare. I vaguely remembered using one to get around myself. "The monsters they summoned must have destroyed this place long ago."

"What I want to know is, if this is a transporter, where is Nightmare?" Arthur looked suspiciously around. We could still hear monster cries outside the walls. I suddenly shivered and stepped down off the platform. A cold chill filled the atmosphere, and I suddenly felt like we were being watched. Arthur tensed just like I did and looked at me.

"We should leave," I whispered, and he nodded vigorously. I spotted a hole in the wall and made for it just as a bright blast of light from the transporter filled the room. I scrambled through to the outside and Arthur followed as host of monsters appeared.

"Run, swiftly and quietly, back to base," Arthur ordered, and I pumped my legs as fast they could carry me. We ran out of the dusty castle courtyard, hiding behind old fallen boulders and debris, and didn't stop sprinting until we reached the canyon walls. When we stopped to turn around, we saw a band of monsters standing outside the castle, surveying the land for us. We had barely made it out.

"We'll have to wait until it's very dark to bring every soldier here," I panted as we climbed back up out of the valley. "There's no way we can move the whole fleet of soldiers stealthily in broad daylight. We almost didn't even do it with just the two of us."

"If only we had our ninjas," Arthur said longingly and shook his head sadly. "At least we know where we're attacking tonight. We've found his base; now, we need only to dismantle it and force him from his hiding." He suddenly stopped and looked at me strangely. "I know you and Nicolette have seen him. Tell me honestly: do you think we can beat him with what little of our army remains?"

I stared straight ahead as we ran out of the canyon. I didn't want to tell Arthur that I didn't know how to beat NME. In all my years of training with him, I had never discovered his weaknesses. No monster or warrior had ever even been able to land a physical hit on him.

So I only said quietly, "I don't know."

...

The sun was high in the sky when Arthur and I returned. All of the other soldiers were asleep or trying to fall asleep, waiting for night to come. It had grown very hot, and the trees provided little shade from the brutal sun. I stepped quietly over sleeping soldiers and made it to my camp. Amai had put the fire out and was resting fitfully against a tree, murmuring and kicking in her sleep. Nicolette was passed out by Galeren, but Ren wasn't asleep. He was staring at the canyon I had just come from and merely nodded at me when I greeted him.

"Can't sleep?" I whispered. He shook his head, sweat glistening on his forehead. His white hair was tied back in a ponytail, and he had one hand on Nicolette's shoulder and the other resting on his helmet.

"Nic's not sleeping well," he said, then stroked her blonde hair. I looked away uncomfortably. "She keeps saying Jecra's name."

I sat down on the ground and put my head back against a log, trying to ignore the heat but finding it impossible. "No one has been well since the Ninja Special Forces betrayed us."

Ren shook his head, anger glinting in his eyes. "I wish I could've killed Yamikage. I don't think we'll ever see him again. That little piece of gordo!" He grit his teeth and closed his eyes. "No one hurts my girl and gets away with it."

I restrained myself from snapping my eyes open and glaring at him. His girl? What did that mean? She wasn't his girlfriend. Nic had never agreed to any such thing.

As I thought, my mind began to wander, replaying memories of Ren and Nic, then of Nic and me, and before I knew it, I was lost in a fitful slumber.

I was reliving my memories in my dreams, watching them happen over and over when suddenly, everything turned black. I was confused-was this another dream?

Then golden dust appeared, and I saw Nicolette in front of me, floating in a black void. Her eyes were glowing, and her hair was swirling around her. Saying nothing, she reached out towards my hands.

As soon as she touched me, I was plunged into her mind, floating in a dark void. This was not what her mind normally felt like. Yet the darkness was oddly familiar - I had been in it before. I was about to call out to her when I saw Jecra floating in front of me, his body crumpled and bleeding and his cape torn and ragged.

I suddenly knew where this was. Had Nicolette tapped into my most secure memories and was making me relive this terrible place? Why was she replacing Jecra with me? She was somehow seeing into what I thought was my memories of Nightmare's monster creation void, his space where he corrupted, killed, or created beings.

I had been created there.

"Are you injured?" asked a raspy, thin voice. Jecra groaned and moved his left arm in response, like he was trying to fight, but he dropped it and fell silent. A loud cackle filled the void, and two huge, bony hands appeared above Jecra. He pointed his two index fingers toward each other and they glowed red, then a mysterious red light appeared between them. "Then take some of this, and your fading life will be restored."

The red light floated down to Jecra and disappeared under his mask, being absorbed into his body. His body lit up with red light, lightning flickering out from him, and moments later, his eyes snapped open, glowing red, and he growled. NME's laugh filled my ears as I watched Jecra regain control of his limbs and stand up, bowing before a mighty warlock that was materializing behind him...

Suddenly the vision was gone and I was sitting back under the trees. The sun was now low in the sky, sinking behind the clay rock spires in the west. Arthur was sitting on the edge of the camp, looking out toward the castle. Nicolette was wide awake and gasping, but Ren was asleep now, and Amai was still sleeping. I quietly crawled over to Nicolette, cold sweat from terror and not the heat, dripping down my face.

"Meta, I just saw the most terrible thing," she gasped, looking at me with terror. I gathered my thoughts and pushed her back out of her face. "I-I saw Jecra-"

"I know," I snapped. "You tapped into my dreams, Nic!"

"W-What?" she stuttered.

"Your dream! You shared it with me, and you used my old memories to make it!"

She looked at me in confusion, then shook her head. "No, Meta, I think I saw something-"

"Nicolette, relax, it was only a bad dream," I said. She cocked her head at me, now feeling angry.

"That didn't feel like a dream," she retorted. "That felt like I was watching something real."

"Listen to me," I said firmly. "I was dreaming about my own memories when you suddenly entered my mind. I know that void, Nicolette, that's where I was made!" She grew quiet. "I think you accessed my own memories and dreamed about Jecra because you miss him. You used my own memories, Nicolette. It couldn't be a vision. Jecra is gone..." I looked away sadly, "...forever."

Nicolette took a deep breath, looking at the ground and nodding, then looked back up like she was going to say something to me when her eyes grew wide and she gasped. She was looking past me toward something in the west. I heard other cries of astonishment as other soldiers woke up and saw something, too, and I turned around to find a figure walking toward us from the canyon.

I walked to the edge of the forest, keeping my hand by my blade, and Joanna joined me. Arthur and The Sage stood behind us, and Ren and Amai woke up and joined Nic. Soon, a crowd of soldiers was watching with us as the figure grew closer, outlined by the setting sun. Suddenly, I recognized him as his silhouette became clearer, and my heart skipped a beat.

"Jecra!" Amai cried out with joy, and she pushed past me and sprinted toward him. For a moment, I forgot everything Nic had said to me as joy filled my heart. But then I heard a small voice.

M-Meta... Nicolette thought to me, and I wheeled to look at her. Her face was white, whiter than I had ever seen it before. I quickly looked back at Jecra, and my joy turned to bitter sorrow when I saw his eyes. They were blood red and menacing, not the happy purple I recognized.

"Amai, stop!" I cried out and ran after her. But I was too slow, and she had a head start. She reached Jec before me and threw her arms around him, kissing his ear and hair and crying on his shoulder. "Amai, get away! It's a trap!"

"Oh, Jec," she laughed and leaned back to look Jecra in the eyes. He was carrying his shield in his left hand and his sword in his right hand and hadn't made any moves to hug her back. I kept running as fast as my legs could carry me, screaming at Amai. I saw Jecra pull his sword behind him and I felt nothing but dread, pure dread. Suddenly Nic was by my side and shouts of surprise from the crowd behind us rose in the air. "Jec, we thought you were dead-"

Squeeeeelch. Amai's words were stopped short and replaced with gagging as Jecra's sword appeared through her back, dripping red with her blood. Gasps rose from behind us.

Amai grew still, her hands behind Jec's head, but his eyes narrowed and flashed. He kicked her off of his sword just as I reached him, and her body fell to the ground. Her eyes were wide open in shock and horror, and blood trickled from her mouth. Her stomach convulsed as she tried to breath, but Jecra's sword had gone right through her chest and punctured her lungs. Nicolette stopped by Amai to hold her, but I kept running at Jec, my eyes blazing red with fury. He raised his bloodstained sword into the air and roared like a beast, and suddenly monsters rose out of the canyon and filled the air, dragons and birds and mollusks and bears, swooping from the air and crawling from the ground. Then he raised his shield and ran at me.

Our swords clashed as the monsters met the army. I heard the cries of beast and person alike as the battle suddenly commenced. Monsters ran past me and flew overhead as I swung at Jecra, but I couldn't stop any of them. Nor could I land a hit on Jecra. It seemed like whatever NME did to him made him stronger and faster. He parried my attacks easily with his shield, then swung mercilessly at me. Left, right, left, right, his sword pulled and dragged mine to and fro. Then he yanked his sword away and thrust it toward my chest. I barely blocked it before he turned in a circle and hit my shoulder.

I winced and somersaulted out of the way as Jec swung at my head, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nicolette pick Amai up and run away from our monster-infested camp. I looked back at Jecra and brought Galaxia in front of my face as Jecra raised his sword and swung down over and over, hacking away at my strength. Someone cried in pain behind me, and I turned to see the mollusk creature wrap its tentacles around Ren and squeeze him, shocking him with electricity and electrocuting him.

"Rahh!" Jecra yelled, and a sword beam flew past my face and blew up a monster behind me. More soldiers cried behind me as I drew Galaxia across Jec's face, leaving a long scar across his mask. I looked up at Jecra's eyes and saw them flash to purple for a moment, and then fade back to red.

"Meta..." he groaned, and his arms dropped to his sides, sword and shield clattering to the ground. "Please...end..." He suddenly looked weak, and his face grew pale. I was about to swing, but hesitated.

He was so close to death, but he hadn't completely surrendered to NME. Why? How?

Suddenly, his eyes burned red once more and he lunged at me, knocking me onto my back. His hands closed around my throat and squeezed so I couldn't breathe. My grasp on Galaxia's handle faltered and it slipped out of my fingers.

"Meta Knight!" I heard Nicolette yell, then a loud monster shriek drowned out her voice. She gasped, and I heard her draw her sword, but the monster was stronger than she was and she fell to the ground. Every soldier was falling.

"Jec.." I gasped, clawing at his hands. He squeezed harder and I choked in pain. Galaxia glowed, and I felt her calling to me. She was in my reach. And I knew what I had to do.

"Jecra," I said again. His face didn't change. My fingers stretched out and wrapped around Galaxia's handle. My energy flowed into it, and I closed my eyes. "Forgive me, brother." Then I plunged my sword into Jecra's side.

His eyes widened as the sharp blade hit him, and his grip on my throat loosened. I rolled over, knocking him onto the ground, and pulled Galaxia out. His hand found his sword and he swiped weakly at me, but he jumped out of the way. He laid there gasping as a pool of blood formed by his side, and I waited next to him, not sure if he was defeated.

I looked away in bitter sorrow, wiping his blood off of Galaxia with my cape when I suddenly heard him whisper, "My son..."

I whipped back around to him. "What?"

"This...is for...my son..." he whispered, and his hand reached up to his neck and ripped the medallion off. "Make sure....he is taken....care....of..." I ran to his side as he raised his arm in the air, clutching the medallion. "I...I couldn't resist NME...the desire...to see Joseph...was too strong. I...I am weak."

"No, my friend," I said, tears forming in my eyes. "You have been very strong. Your love for your son has kept you from fully becoming a monster. You are a hero, Jecra."

He closed his eyes, his body shaking. "Tell Amai...and Joe...I..I love...them very....much..." he groaned, and his head fell to the side. Then his shaking arm fell limply and the locket opened in his hand, revealing the picture of Joe. The light of Jecra's Warp Star flickered, then went out.

I took a deep breath, then placed my Warp Star over Jecra's and whispered, "Sleep well, Star Warrior." My Warp Star lit up, then went dull.

It was done. Tears dripped down my face as I stared at my fallen friend. Jecra was dead.

As if on cue, the monsters battling the rest of the fleet began retreating, like they knew Jecra had fallen. Though my arm hurt badly from the wound, I raised Galaxia and chased down the monsters that remained, slicing them in half and stabbing them and destroying all that could not escape. Those that did slid over the edge of the canyon and fled back to the castle Arthur and I had found. But there was a black cloud over the castle, obscuring it from view. Thunder echoed in the valley, and a nasally, crackly voice reached out to me across the land.

"You've won for now, but just wait. Tomorrow will be the last battle you'll ever fight."

I turned from the valley, torn cape billowing in the sudden breeze, and raced back to the camp. Arthur, Dragato, and Nonsurat were tending to the wounded, nursing a wounded shoulder himself, while The Sage, Falspar, and Ren, both badly injured, gathered the dead.

"Meta Knight!" Falspar exclaimed. "What happened? Your arm! It looks terrible!"

"Where is Nicolette?" I demanded, wrapping my cape around myself and wincing. Falspar sighed and pointed to the left. When I turned, I saw Nic was helping gather the dead, but among them was Amai. She looked up and saw me staring at Jecra's dead wife, and she broke down into tears and ran to me.

"I-I couldn't..." she sobbed, pressing her face into my shoulder. The wound throbbed, but I didn't feel any pain anymore. "D-did y-you -"

"I did," I said solemnly.

"Did J-Jec know w-what he d-did?"

I swallowed and closed my eyes, wrapping my arms around Nicolette. "No, he did not." Her sobs lightened as she wiped her eyes.

"I-I guess it's a g-good thing he d-didn't know," she whispered, but the tears were falling down my face now. I hugged Nicolette tighter, feeling suddenly weak and helpless.

"NME's coming," I said through choked sobs. "He spoke to me, Nic..I...I'm scared."

I heard footsteps behind us, and then Arthur said quietly, "I radioed Vul to send us a ship to get back up to the Enterprise. NME's monsters destroyed everything we had here."

"How many are gone?" asked another deep voice. It was The Sage.

"Too many to count," Arthur replied. My shoulders shook as I wept quietly. Guilt crushed me as I blamed myself, cursing my inability to keep my guard up. How many could have been saved if I hadn't let Jecra be taken away?

"Do not trouble yourselves anymore today," said a deep voice behind me, then I felt a warm glove touch my injured arm. Suddenly, I felt very tired, and Nic and I both fell to our knees. Every feeling was sucked from memory, and clinging to the world seemed to grow very hard and heavy. "Sleep now, young soldiers. Tomorrow has enough worries of its own."

Nicolette collapsed across my chest as I fell down onto my back, and my eyes were only open long enough to see The Sage with a hand gently resting over both of us, his Warp Star glowing brilliantly as he took our worry and pain from us and replaced it with a heavy, deep, restful peace. A large dark blue ship suddenly appeared out of a hole in the sky, and I saw a familiar blue alien jumping around on the deck, but everything blurred away into a world of darkness...