Something wet was dripping on the spot under his eye.

Was the world always this blurry? Bandana Dee's eyes flitted open. His head throbbed. He couldn't even see anything. He only felt the hard, uneven ground his back was lying on and the liquid – water, presumably – that was trickling onto him. Was he dead? That was funny. No, he wasn't.

The last thing he remembered was falling. Falling in the darkness for a very long while, then a sharp pain, and then… that was that. Oh, right. He tested moving his right hand. All he got in response was no smooth movement and a whole load of pain. He probably broke his wrist, or something to that equivalent. From that… that skull creature and from when his hand slipped in grabbing the ground's edge.

His spear wasn't with him. He remembered dropping it. That wasn't good.

Where was he?

It was silent, apart from the dripping of water on his face. Using every bit of strength he could muster, he rolled away from it. It slid down his face along with gravity. He was probably alone, then. Alone underground? An awful prospect. With no weapon and a broken wrist to boot. ...Actually, hadn't someone plummeted right after him? Right? It was –

"Bandy, you awake?"

Right.

Bandana Dee felt inclined to reply, but it was so numb he forgot how to. What was he supposed to say? Whatever. He wasn't alone. Good. That was good. Probably. As long as Kirby wasn't too injured.

Groggily, he sat up. His ears began to ring. His eyes were adjusting to the darkness rapidly; though he still couldn't clearly, he could make out jagged rocks and bumpy surfaces. They were underground. In a cave? He looked up and found light struggling to stream through the tiny cracks above. Possibly an opening that had been collapsed after the earthquake.

His throat was dry. "Kirby, are you injured?" He considered lapping the liquid up as a last-ditch attempt, but decided against it. It may not even be water. He was thirsty, but not to the point where he wouldn't be able to do anything until he got some water.

That probably meant he was out cold for a while.

"A few scratches, but I'm allll okay." His voice didn't sound very far away.

Bandana Dee breathed out. The temperature was relatively warm, too. Not cold, not hot. So he wouldn't have to worry about hypothermia or the like.

"That's good."

He wished he could say the same about himself. By the looks of it, his right hand was useless and his head felt like it had been bashed over with a boxing bag. The rest of him just felt sluggish like he had just woken up from a thousand-year slumber.

"What about you? I think you busted your wrist somewhere along the way, but I couldn't see anything else. Sorry. If I could eat a doctor right now I'd be able to."

"No, no, it's fine." No eating of doctors, not here, not anywhere. "You're right; I don't think I can use my right hand. That, and I'm just groggy. Did you find anyone else?"

"Nope. I don't think Marx fell. His wings are super cool, by the way. Do you think he'll let me eat him if I ask nicely? I want to try them."

Maybe, maybe not. Bandana Dee turned around. By then, his eyes were more or less adjusted to the darkness of the cave. It might've originally been a big cave, but a good large portion of it was blocked off by a large pile of rocks that stacked all the way to the ceiling. From the earthquake, it must've been. The nruff carcass was lying a few feet from him. So they hadn't moved much. The blood on it looked dried, so that confirmed Bandana Dee's suspicions on how long he had been unconscious.

Kirby was sitting on a rock on the other side, next to something that looked like an entrance. A passageway? Bandana Dee was relieved. With how much the cave had collapsed, it was possible that all their escape routes had been blocked out. At least they could still proceed somewhere.

Bandana Dee never found Kirby's big grin so reassuring before. "D'you need something for your wrist?"

Bandana Dee grimaced, looking down at said hand. "I don't think we can do anything for it. You don't have anything with you, do you?"

"Nope, sorry. Absolutely nothing. Didn't think I'd get eaten by an earthquake today."

"It's okay. Have you seen my spear?"

"Nope, sorry, too. I tried looking for it, but I didn't find it."

Figures. Even if it was in the same place as them, it was probably crushed beneath rocks. "That's fine. Is there any water?"

"There's a dirty puddle I stepped on."

"Never mind."

Bandana Dee scooted against the nearest wall, leaned on it, then sighed. The whole incident was a mystery, but he didn't have time to be mulling over that. His top priority was getting out into safety. If they even managed to get back on land above that would be fine – they could run to the village where they'd be safer than wherever they were now. The odds of that being a smooth journey were becoming more unfavourable by the second, seeing as how Bandana Dee had nothing but his feet to defend him, a distinct lack of water, and a passageway that might lead into a dead end.

On the bright side, which was looking pretty dull, Kirby was uninjured for the most part, and Bandana Dee had seen him fight efficiently twice before, so he didn't have to worry about that. He also looked pretty relaxed about it, which in turn eased Bandana Dee. Bandana Dee strived to remain calm in all situations, but if he had a panicking ally on his end, no doubt it'd make him panic, too.

He rubbed his eyes with his good hand. "Can you tell me what happened? When I fell. I knocked out halfway."

"Oh, yeah, that. So I jumped after you, right? It took me some extra effort to reach you because you were further down, but I managed to grab you before you smacked the ground and get you away from all the falling rocks and whatever. I think you were passed out by then, though. Maybe it was the whiplash or something."

Did it work that way? "Oh. Thank you. How long have I been out?"

"No problem. A Bandy in need is a Bandy indeed." All right. "I don't know. I don't have a watch. Maybe enough time to chow through a few hundred watermelons."

That didn't sound good. "...And how much time would that be, exactly?"

Kirby tapped his chin thoughtfully. "A few hours. But not that many. Maybe three or four."

Three or four hours. That was awfully long. And also dangerous. If Bandana Dee were in Kirby's place, he would've been afraid that he was going to die. Wasn't it a pretty big issue if one was unconscious for more than five minutes, or something or other?

Not that that mattered. He was awake now. The ringing in his ears had died down and he was starting to feel more alive again. He considered drinking the stepped-on puddle because there was absolutely no certainty they'd be able to get out of the cave before he died of a lack of water, then reasoned that there'd probably be more dripping water along the way and they could always come back. A risky decision, but nothing about this situation wasn't risky.

"Did you go inside there yet?" Bandana Dee gestured to the entrance.

"Not yet. I thought some carnivorous rocks might come and eat you if I left you alone." Kirby shrugged. "I peeked around. It looks like another room. No one's around, but it goes further in, so we could try heading there. Do you think we can dig up some diamonds?"

Probably not. Bandana Dee pushed himself off the wall. "That looks like our only option. Let's go."

Kirby bounced to his feet, tilting his head. "You sure? You feeling all better now?"

Bandana Dee forced a smile that probably wasn't fooling anyone. Kirby hovered over his expression for a few moments before nodding brightly and heading towards the entrance. Bandana Dee cleared his throat.

"...If push comes to shove, then I can fight, a bit, but – "

"Got it! Kirby at the vanguard! ...Hey, that's a really cool title. Let me be in front some other time. And then put it in the newspapers."

Kirby entered the next room with no hesitation. Bandana Dee followed, eyes trailing over the cave interior. It didn't look that much different from the previous room; horribly dark, completely bare apart from the rocky surfaces. He did see another puddle forming in the corner, so at least he could put aside the thought of having to desperately lick all the puddles they came across up.

Had there always been this underground cave beneath the forest? Bandana Dee hadn't known. He supposed no one did. Nobody had ever seen any merit in digging in a forest. There was a pretty high chance one could dig something interesting up, but nothing that was a necessity. Maybe children did. And never too deep. But there had to be some form of entrance and exit – no one had ever discovered it?

Kirby drifted around the room a bit, but he didn't seem to find anything. There was another entrance at the end of the room, but Bandana Dee couldn't see what was past it. Visibility was so poor. Not that that was surprising. They barely had a light source.

"It's a pretty narrow passageway," Kirby described, peeking into the entrance. "I think. We gotta walk in a single file. Probably."

"'Probably'?" Bandana Dee pressed, craning himself to have a look inside. No matter how hard he strained his eyes, he couldn't see a thing.

"It's super dark. I can hardly see anything. I don't think there are any cracks in the ceiling in there. If I get surprise-attacked, I wouldn't be surprised. Actually, I would be. Then I might die of a heart attack."

Bandana Dee rubbed his temple. "...That's not good."

"Right, it's not. I have super senses, though, so I'll manage. As usual."

What was the as usual supposed to mean? Bandana Dee felt miffed. Well, no point thinking about it. Kirby was right; if they could see even less than they currently could, it'd do nothing to secure their safety. But they could only proceed forward.

They didn't actually have a choice. Bandana Dee inhaled deeply. "I'm ready whenever you are."

"That's good! I'm always ready."

Kirby began marching into the passageway. His footsteps notably became slower as he proceeded in. Bandana Dee's was the same – there was no such thing as being too careful. With every step, Bandana Dee found himself tensing up, like something was going to leap out of the darkness and maul him. He wondered how Kirby was feeling. His playfulness was toned down, but that was to be expected in a situation like this. Was he nervous, too? Bandana Dee really couldn't tell.

Suddenly, Kirby looked like he flinched and stopped walking. Bandana Dee immediately halted. They were plenty of strides in. Did something happen?

"Kirby?"

"Oww…" Kirby was rubbing his face. "There's a sharp turn here."

Bandana Dee looked up. Kirby had run into a wall. There was a sharp turn, indeed. He couldn't blame Kirby, given how dark it was –

…

He could see.

It was getting brighter. The passageway was lighting up. His vision was sharpening.

Brighter and brighter, but they weren't moving.

Bandana Dee grabbed Kirby with his good hand and delved back into the darker parts of the passage. The passageway was slowly being illuminated. Someone was there. Someone had a light source and was approaching the passageway.

Then it stopped brightening. Kirby wriggled.

Someone sighed from further into the cave. "More of you?"

It was high-pitched. Like Kirby's, but even more so.

Bandana Dee remained silent, but his breath sounded like he was beating on drums.

"I already heard you… the two of you, I'm guessing. Now, will you come out? Before I get mad."

Kirby looked back at Bandana Dee. And, in a more-than-loud voice: "Should we go, Bandy?"

Bandana Dee almost choked on his own spit. Kirby was giving him very few choices here. Whoever was there didn't say a word.

"U-Uh, well – it's – we have to." Bandana Dee was reassuring no one but himself.

"Mm-hm. I thought so, too. Okay!" Kirby pushed off Bandana Dee and darted round the corner of the passageway.

Bandana Dee spluttered and hurried after him. When he turned around the corner, he found that it opened up into another cave, which in turn had yet another entrance at the back of it. In the centre stood – floated, actually – a strange creature Bandana Dee didn't recognise at all. He couldn't even see the inside of it, only that it had golden eyes and everything else was draped over in an attire of blue, white and gold. Its hands were detached, covered with white gloves, one of them holding a lit oil lamp.

Before he could digest this all in, Kirby saluted. "I'm Kirby!"

The creature blinked like it was surprised, scanning over the both of them. "Huh."

"Can you show us the way out?" Kirby asked innocently.

"You can go out the way you came in," the creature said dryly. "You're not welcome here. Especially not past here. So I'd appreciate it if you turned back and leave, and bring whatever comrades you brought with you."

"Comrades?" Bandana Dee echoed.

"The fools who made it further in, yes. I thought all of you had run away by now, though."

"We didn't come with anybody," Bandana Dee replied, before furrowing his brows and looking over at Kirby. Kirby glanced back. "Do you think they're the other minions? If they fell into these caves like us?"

For once, Kirby looked like he was drawing a blank. "That would make sense, but… it wouldn't! They wouldn't be able to leave. Well, not without me seeing them. 'Cause it was blocked there. And I was there the whole time. And there wasn't any alternative route we saw, right? They would've had to pass by there."

That was true. Then who were those fools the creature was talking about? Bandana Dee shook his head. Not important. They had to focus on escaping.

The creature was clearly stubborn, so Bandana Dee would have to be more patient with it. "Can you tell us where we are?"

The creature rolled its eyes. "You know that one already."

"We don't," Bandana Dee said, trying to sound as sincere as possible. The creature wasn't buying it. Bandana Dee steeled himself. "Never mind. Can you please show us the way out, then? We just want to get back to the surface, we promise. We didn't come here intentionally. We just want to leave."

"Then turn back, then keep walking, then you'll find the exit. Which is what I was saying. You can't get lost unless you drill a hole in the wall."

So there was an exit, according to what the creature was saying – except whatever path they had was lost to the aftermath of the earthquake. It probably didn't know that yet.

"We came from there." The creature remained silent. "What happened was… we were in the forest on the surface, then there was an earthquake. The both of us fell into the cave, and half of the cave was blocked off by rocks from the earthquake, so the only path we could take was the one leading here. So… whatever exit there might be there is blocked."

"Oh." The creature's eyes lit up with realisation. "Oh, well. Too bad."

Bandana Dee's nerves almost froze over.

"Too bad?"

The creature shrugged, nonplussed. "Too bad."

What did he mean, too bad? He just said too bad. That was it. Nothing else.

Kirby tilted his head, then looked back at the creature. "This is Bandy," he said politely, gesturing to the waddle dee, all with a big smile on his face. "Isn't there another exit? Or another way we could leave."

The creature tapped its scarf with its free hand. "Hm… if you could teleport? But I guess you would've done that already."

Kirby beamed. "Then there is another exit out of here!"

The creature narrowed its eyes. "And why would you say that?"

"I mean, you didn't say there weren't any other exits." This time, Kirby shrugged – triumphantly. "It's not 'too bad' for us if we can leave! But you won't bring us there?"

"I am not bringing you anywhere and you are not moving past me," the creature said stiffly. "I don't know what sort of ruse the both of you are trying to pull, but, frankly, I'm not interested. If you can't leave because the cave is blocked – I don't care. That's your fault, anyway. So it's your just desserts. You can stay here and rot. Just don't do it in front of me."

There it was – the creature was referring to something Bandana Dee had no clue about. What did it mean by it was their fault? Did the killing of nruffs instigate it? It couldn't be. They'd been doing pest control for years and years now. It mentioned comrades but the creature mentioned they ran away from past it to the entrance that was blocked after the earthquake. They couldn't have run away if it was after the earthquake, since it was blocked, but none of their castle comrades would have fallen through before the earthquake. The time frame didn't fit.

Someone else had probably paid this creature and whatever laid beyond a visit. Then they ran away before the earthquake. Bandana Dee wouldn't know who those people were and why they came; at the very least, he knew the creature was mistaking the both of them as part of that group of people. Which wasn't true.

Bandana Dee glanced over at Kirby. The puffball looked back at him. If Bandana Dee had to hazard a guess, Kirby must've figured that out, too. It wasn't rocket science.

He just had to be honest all the way and the truth would surface somewhere. "We were on the surface, exterminating nruffs to control their population number. Because if they reproduce too much, it's a problem to the environmental balance," Bandana Dee said in a rush.

The creature stared. "'Nruffs'? What are those?"

It didn't know? "They're wild… animals… they look like boars, but they're not really the same."

"Oh," the creature cut in with a hint of recognition in its voice. "Those wild beasts that live in the forest."

Bandana Dee's face lit up. "Yes, those are nruffs!"

"And?" Impatient again. "What does that have to do with anything? Just because you claim you were doing a good deed doesn't mean I'll change my mind and let you past here."

Bandana Dee figured that already. "No, I just wanted to tell you how we ended up here."

"Don't care. Not important."

"It is – "

Kirby tilted his head upwards then back again at Bandana Dee. The waddle dee paused, before breathing out softly. Ignore the creature's sharp comments. Because it was listening, even if it was irritated.

"We only managed to get rid of two when we were attacked by unfamiliar enemies – "

"No, the ground started shaking first," Kirby corrected with a grin.

Bandana Dee, flustered, nodded. "Oh, right. The ground started shaking first. Then we were attacked by some unfamiliar enemies, so the ally who was most adept in the air was preoccupied and couldn't save us from falling." Never mind Kirby could sort of hover around. That would complicate things. "Then we fell. I injured my wrist" – Bandana Dee gestured to his injured hand – "in the process, and was knocked unconscious for a while, but Kirby here was awake the entire time. He didn't leave the cave we were both in until we were both conscious and ready to move."

Did that work? Did a contradiction show up somewhere?

The creature only continued staring.

"Okay. And?"

Bandana Dee's sharp inhale almost sounded like a squeak.

Nothing? How else could they prove they weren't part of that group? Was it even possible, with how little they had, and how little they had to go on? Maybe they had to resort to just beating the creature up. But no, they didn't know how powerful it was or what it could do, and Bandana Dee was already injured and weaponless. Not a good idea.

"And…" Bandana Dee started slowly, "...is there… nothing..?"

"Nothing? It's a very nice elaborate story, so, thank you. I don't hear many stories down here." Did it live in here? "Pretty bland at the same time. Why were you killing nruffs? See, you have plot holes."

Did it still think they were cooking up a lie to deceive him? Bandana Dee clenched his good fist. "I… I said it earlier. If their population – "

"Yeah, disrupts balance, and all that." The creature waved him off. "Why do you care to that extent?"

What did that even mean? "Because it'll disrupt everybody, and it's dangerous, and the forest is close to the village, and it'll affect the villagers," Bandana Dee tried.

"Okay, and?"

Bandana Dee deflated. He was really running out of steam. What on Popstar was so important further in the cave that the creature had to be this stubborn about just helping them to leave? He couldn't figure it out, and he couldn't make a proper argument. Maybe they'd just have to go smash some holes after all.

All of a sudden, he felt someone pat his shoulder twice. He looked up. Kirby had the expression of someone who was not stuck in an underground cave with an annoying warden.

"'Cause we're from Castle Dedede," Kirby said simply. "We're minions, actually, so we do the dirty work for the king, and the king's supposed to care for the villagers. That's why we gotta do stuff like this!"

Bandana Dee looked at the creature.

It was silent.

"Minions from Castle Dedede, hmm…"

The creature lifted the oil lamp.

"...Fine."

Bandana Dee's shoulders jolted. "Fine?"

"Well, I don't really believe you." Kirby rolled his eyes at the creature's words. "But you were trying to look for a hole in my theory, and it is pretty hard to make up such an intricate lie, isn't it? And I do know the people who came before you aren't from Castle Dedede. So, fine. I've got something to confess, though: I'm not the boss around here."

Bandana Dee hadn't thought about the creature's living circumstances, and while he hadn't quite thought it lived alone, he hadn't quite assumed other creatures lived in the caves, too. But if the creature wasn't the boss, and it was already this hard to convince, then…

"So I'll take you to the boss," the creature explained slowly, "and we'll leave it up to the boss to decide whether it's okay for you to leave. I have to warn you: he doesn't quite care about my approval. If he doesn't think you should leave, then he won't let you. He's the boss for a reason."

Were all creatures in the cave this stubborn? Bandana Dee swallowed. "Understood."

Kirby clapped his hands. "Okay!"

"So we're in agreement? Nice." The creature turned around. "Sorry, we've got a bit of travelling to do before we get there. Follow me."

More walking? As the creature floated ahead, and Kirby picked up the pace behind it. Bandana Dee settled for moving last. In a single file, they walked into the next entrance which led to yet another tunnel; this one was much longer than the previous tunnel, which Bandana Dee could see thanks to the illumination of the lamp.

But still no signs of any other life. No bats, no rats, no animals you'd normally find in a cave. They were underground, but… shouldn't some other things live here, apart from this creature and its boss? There was no indication of it. The only sounds he could hear were their footsteps and the idle dripping of water.

Speaking of water. "Excuse me."

"Did you fart, Bandy? You're excused!"

"I didn't," Bandana Dee said exasperatedly. "Um, sorry, but it's been hours since we've landed in here and we haven't had any water. Do you happen to – "

"Yes, we have a source of clean water," the creature answered without turning around, "but it's further ahead, past the boss, so if you're going to drink from it at all you're going to need his sacred stamp of approval."

Bandana Dee shut his eyes and nodded several times. It was like everything was working against their favour.

"But if you're desperate, you can always drink the cave water," the creature added as an afterthought. "It's not completely clean or safe, but I don't think you'll become terribly ill if you take it."

"Oh. All right. Thanks." No, he'd rather pass on that. He couldn't risk his health yet. "Has this underground cave always been here?"

"No comment," the creature said flatly.

Figures it wouldn't let information about the cave spill so easily. "Do people not come here often?"

"No comment."

"What's your name?"

"No comment."

At this point, Kirby turned around to look at Bandana Dee. "For some reason, I don't think we're going to get any answers out of No Comment here."

Clearly. Bandana Dee decided to keep his mouth shut. The more he talked, the thirstier he got, and if his talking wasn't even yielding any answers, then it was just pointlessly detrimental to him. He'd close his mouth and save his words for this creature's boss. More likely than not, it was going to need even more persuading than this creature.

The rest of the trip was in silence. They snaked through a series of tunnels and caves, but even with how long they walked, its simplicity never changed; it was just one entrance after another. It wasn't a network of caves because it was impossible to get lost. It was a pretty strange layout for an underground cave, as it dismissed all possible security benefits that could be earned because it was underground, but Bandana Dee wouldn't ask. He probably wouldn't get an answer.

Finally, the creature slowed its pace significantly, although not completely, and he looked back at them without turning completely.

"We'll be there soon. Be polite to him, even if he's severely rude to you. It won't do you any good otherwise. Also – "

The creature's words were not cut off by either of them. Instead, a sharp pain spiked through Bandana Dee's head and a loud sound followed.

LEAVE!

Bandana Dee cringed and almost held his head. Soundwaves pulsed in his mind.

Kirby stilled. The creature ahead of them stopped with their halt, then shrugged nonchalantly.

"Ah, that's him. He's quite foul-tempered, as you may have just witnessed."

Kirby put a hand up to his chin. "Telepathy?"

"Yes. His tongue is unable to form proper words, so he communicates with others through telepathy. Or angry roars. That's about as mind-boggling as he gets, though. He can't read minds or such like, but he does breathe fire."

"He doesn't sound like he wants to talk," Kirby huffed, as if he'd been conned.

"He's in an extremely foul mood because of the intruders before you, and he probably will be for the rest of the day. Be polite."

Bandana Dee's breath was becoming more audible to his own ears. He nodded at the creature's advice. They were in for a ride. They'd been on one ever since the ground started shaking under their feet.

The lamp lit the tunnel. Bandana Dee strained his eyes. It seemed to be the end of the passageway, and, yet again, to no one's surprise, it opened up into another room. Beyond the light's reach, in the darkness, Bandana Dee could make out a large form, a large structure… no, it wasn't a structure, it was moving –

A roar bellowed from the room in front, the force strong enough to make Bandana Dee's feet skid backwards on the ground. His hand momentarily gripped onto his bandana before he settled to steady himself on the rocky wall instead. The fire in the lamp was puttered out, and then darkness swallowed the three of them.

Or four of them.

Did you not hear us the first time? We asked you to leave.

"Kinda harsh, Landia," the creature muttered indignantly. "I'm right here."

Green eyes opened up in the black darkness.

Not just two. Eight.

Bandana Dee felt like a bucket of cold water had been splashed onto him.

You absolute fool, Magolor. Of course we saw that. Have them leave at once. We will not explain ourselves all over again to a pair of imbeciles.

"Now, now," the creature – Magolor – said placatingly, "you already ran all of those felons out of the cave – "

We did. And it seems that there are two felons left. We specifically said to have all of them leave, by persuasion or force, and this is no different. Only you have brought them to us. We have no time for this. Leave.

Bandana Dee steeled himself. He couldn't see anything, could only hear the angry voice in his mind, but if he wanted to get anywhere he would have to do something himself.

"I'm sorry to intrude in your home, but," he started slowly, hoping this Landia wouldn't interrupt him, "we're from Castle Dedede, and we only arrived here because of an accident. We were hunting nruffs in the forest, then there was an earthquake. We fell through the ground and winded up in these caves. Your… Your… um, Magolor told us there was an exit the way we came from, but it was blocked because – "

The earthquake was your wrongdoing, the voice seethed. If you are trapped here, then it is the price you have to pay for having the gall to disturb us. You can live your few remaining days here. But not in our chamber. Your very presence is a bother.

"Landia, you were the one who caused the earthquake," Magolor pointed out.

We would not have caused any earthquakes had they not angered us.

So it was Landia who caused the earthquake, and the people who came before them caused Landia to cause the earthquake. In a roundabout sense, those people were indirectly responsible for it. They didn't belong to that group of people, though.

"That's, um, well…" Bandana Dee composed himself. "Like I was saying, the both of us aren't from that group of people. We're from Castle Dedede. I'm sorry that some others intruded and disturbed you, but it isn't… we didn't partake in it. We just want to leave. We won't disturb you anymore or… or touch whatever belongings you might own. Or do anything. Except walk and leave."

You claim you are from Castle Dedede.

"Y… Yes."

You are workers from there? Prove it to us.

Bandana Dee balled his good hand into a fist and squeezed it hard. "We don't have any – "

A space-shattering roar boomed from the cave. Bandana Dee clutched his ears; hot liquid pooled inside them. The vibrations shook the ground he stood on. Was this how it caused the earthquake – ?

"Aw, Landia, go easy on them." Magolor shook his head disapprovingly. "Their ears must be bleeding by now."

YOU! Be quiet. You lead them here buying their story without anything to back it up. We should send you back to where you belong.

"I didn't think there was a need for proof. Actually, I did," Magolor corrected himself without looking sheepish, "but I followed some simple logic and decided they probably weren't lying. They could be really skilled liars. Even if they are, you got rid of most of their companions. Even if they ran, they wouldn't have any – "

Did we not just tell you to be quiet?

Magolor stopped talking. Bandana Dee uncovered his ears with uncertainty. Magolor had told them Landia would probably be rude to them and was foul-tempered, but he wasn't expecting this. He reached out into thin air and tried to look for Kirby. Maybe the pink puffball had several good ideas in his head.

Strangely, the loud-mouthed Kirby had been silent the whole time. Was he thinking? He hadn't disappeared, had he?

"Kirby?"

"I'm here," a familiar, high-pitched voice replied with its usual cheer. Bandana Dee's nerves settled down.

And you still have the nerve to say that you are here when we told you to leave. Leave now. If you wish to be killed here, know that we will not grant a swift and painless death.

But they had to keep going. Bandana Dee didn't want to be finished off. Not like this, if any way at all. Definitely not.

"Is there anything we can do to make you believe us?" he tried.

You should be asking yourselves that.

He already had been. "Kirby, do you..?"

Someone coughed in front of him. "This place smells like smoke."

"Landia spent a few minutes burning down a bunch of those felons," Magolor elaborated, "which is a few more minutes than he normally does. There's no ventilation around here so it'll probably take a couple more hours for the smoky smell to go away. Maybe it'll take the rest of the day."

Learn to be quiet when you are told to, Magolor, Landia hissed, all eight eyes narrowing. We see that these people have nothing to their names. Take them away, and do not disturb us.

Bandana Dee took a step closer to Landia. All eyes whizzed towards him and he growled.

"If we can't do anything to make you believe us, then I can promise that we'll put all our efforts into finding the culprits – well, whoever decided to visit you – and we'll stop them if you want us to."

His gazes regarded Bandana Dee coldly. We are not interested. We know their goals, and they are a group of simple fools. We can easily stop them ourselves should the need arise.

"Then – what else could we – "

Nothing. Leave.

His heart felt like it was going to drum right out of his ribcage. "If – "

We said to LEAVE!

The last word was punctuated with a roar of fire – it lashed out to lick at the walls of the cave, and Bandana Dee flinched, even though the flames didn't reach the tunnel. Heat flooded over his skin. In the split moment that the cave had brightened, Bandana Dee had seen him: an orange, four-headed dragon with a crown settled on his head.

Stale cold silence followed. Sweat trickled down the side of his face. He had faced fire before. He had, many times, and he'd even sparred with burning leos, but none of those experiences could compare to what he had just faced. It wasn't a good feeling. How was Kirby holding up? Bandana Dee hoped he was okay.

When he found the confidence to look into the eight green eyes, he almost got another fright. They held no more hostility. But something else.

He heard metal shift against metal. Magolor spoke up.

"Well, then I'll lead them back there."

No, Landia said suddenly. There is no need to.

Bandana Dee blinked.

Magolor was equally confused. "What?"

We changed our mind. They may pass. Magolor, lead them to the exit. You go with them to the forest, and then you must immediately return.

"What?" Magolor said, again, but not because he didn't understand Landia's instructions. Bandana Dee could empathise.

Green eyes enlarged and once again, flames fanned out against the cave; only this time, they brushed against the wall, and when the fire stopped, the cave remained bright. Bandana Dee found small torches lining the wall that were now lit. The four-headed dragon drew backwards into a more relaxed position, eyes less concentrated with hostility.

We changed our mind, Landia repeated, sounding less threatening than before. It was a nice change of pace.

Magolor dramatically let out an exasperated sigh. Then he lifted his lamp. "Help me relight this, please."

Relieved he could see properly again, Bandana Dee looked at Kirby, who looked back at the waddle dee, still with a smile. Heck, had he stopped smiling even in the darkness? Probably not. Bandana Dee wished he had that kind of trait. It was all too reassuring.

The top Landia head puffed a soft flame towards the lamp, which Magolor had opened, relighting what he had blown out. Then he craned his heads to regard Kirby and Bandana Dee.

You say you are from the castle. You look after the village, yes?

Not really, but… "It's… somewhat a part of the job," Bandana Dee replied hesitantly.

Landia snorted out four rings of smoke. We, too, once looked after a village, but it was a long time ago, and it is very far away. We can empathise with your situation. However.

He leaned forward, baring his fangs. Bandana Dee jolted backwards, his good hand reaching for his spear – curses, he didn't have it.

If we find that you lied about anything in here, we will know how to find you. Do not have any doubts about that. Bandana Dee nodded. Do not come back here.

"We won't," Bandana Dee promised.

Also. Your compromise to find whoever dared intrude into my cave and stop them. We will take it. Landia raised his heads. Because we are agreeing to let you go.

Even though he had just rejected that offer? What exactly made him change his mind? Bandana Dee wanted to ask, but it didn't feel like a very good idea at all. So he settled with a, "We'll do it."

"Just when you said you didn't care about that." Magolor shook his head.

Silence. You would have gone after them, regardless of whether we asked you to or not. All eight eyes bore into his. They are planning to take over Castle Dedede.

Bandana Dee lurched forward and found nothing to grab onto. His eyes widened. "...They're what?"

Kirby made an unidentifiable noise next to him. Magolor raised a brow.

They intruded here with the purpose of trying to recruit us into their ranks. We refused, then chased them out.

"And burned half of them to death," Magolor unhelpfully added.

Landia ignored him. Their leader personally visited us. But they were disguised, so we cannot tell you for sure who they were. They had wings that were a bit like ours. They were teal and black.

That wasn't much to go on. They were careful enough to go under a disguise, though, and… from the leafan incident, Bandana Dee had already guessed that someone was trying to do the castle – the king, specifically – harm; this just confirmed it. Someone was out there trying to take over Castle Dedede.

Bandana Dee breathed. Thank goodness Meta Knight was already on it. Now he just needed to get back to the castle to get this information delivered to him. That might be tough. He still didn't have a very good grasp of where they were, apart from underground, beneath the forest – and Magolor had taken them for a long walk from where they first were.

Don't think about the bad prospects, think about the good ones.

Out of habit, Bandana Dee blurted out, "Is there anything else you can tell us about them?"

Landia snorted. Had there been anything, we would have told you already.

He knew that.

Almost with an air of indifference, Magolor glanced at the wall like he wasn't interested. "Are you feeling kind enough to let them drink from the spring, by the way?"

The dragon growled. It has barely been a few hours since the earthquake!

"Well, people die within a few hours."

Fine.

The heavy weight in Bandana Dee's stomach lightened with gratitude. "Thank – Thank you."

"Thanks, Landia!" Kirby cheered, referring to the dragon like he was an old friend. "D'you happen to have any good food 'round these parts, too? I could do with a bite or seven!"

Only water! Landia snapped, hissing. Leave afterwards and do not return for any reason.

"Aw. Don't you get lonely?"

No. Go.

Magolor rattled his oil lamp, as if to command the pair's attention. He started floating towards a wide tunnel that was beside Landia's stone platform. Bandana Dee obediently followed, this time opting to walk beside Kirby instead of behind.

"Don't faint yet. The spring isn't far."

It wouldn't get any worse, Bandana Dee told himself.

16 June 2018

Someone asked for Magolor, and I never disappoint.

It's really long. Because 1. I had time to, somehow 2. I wanted to spend as few chapters as possible in this part of the story. I could've split it into two chapters, but I couldn't find a good timing. So. Anyway. Yeah. Here. 6.8k words. We'll be back to average 3k in the next chapter, don't worry – or do.

Landia is definitely a mum friend.