Chapter 2

Tiff and the cappys weren't the only ones who had seen the bounty hunter's ship land in the forest, up at the castle a figure clad in a silver mask, dark armor and a royal blue cape had also been watching the ship from his vantage point on the balcony of one of the castle's towers where he had his living quarters. From the castle he couldn't get a very good look at the ship, though he was certain he could make out what looked like a orangish yellow body and a slim green windshield. With so little to go on he couldn't be sure of what he was seeing, but for some reason what he could make out gave him an unpleasant feeling, as if something bad was about to happen. Or maybe, due to the outcomes of strange ships landing in Dreamland in the past, he was just being paranoid.

While he was considering this he became aware of the sound of a motor running and looked down toward the road, spotting King Dedede's limo roaring toward the castle. He watched the draw bridge lower and then the car drive into the the courtyard. Once it was there he saw the vehicle stop and then the king and his snail chauffeur hop out.

"Escargoon! Why did you pull outta there like that!?" Dedede was angrily demanding of the snail. "I nevea told ya to peel out like a weak old banana!"

"With all due respect, your highness," the snail named Escargoon replied, flinching slightly as if he expected the king to hit him. "With her aiming that weapon of her's at it us looked like she wanted to sending us blasting off like a rocket."

"You're too paranoid!" Dreamland's ruler roared into his face. "She was jus' bluffing!"

"She sure didn't look like she was bluffing," the king companion remarked, obviously the smarter of the two. "Given your reputation and all she probably would have fired." he made a slightly smug face, closing his eyes and lifting his arms. "I mean it's not like you-"

His statement was cut off by Dedede smashing him flat into the ground with a large wooden mallet the monarch seemed to have pulled out of nowhere. "Ah shuddup!" he commanded, no longer willing to put up with the snail's snarky attitude. 'Who asked ya anyway?"

The figure watched Dedede storm off into the castle, quickly followed by his long suffering snail companion who was now wielding the mallet and looking very ticked off. He had to wonder who the two had been talking about. Was it the pilot of the space ship he'd seen landing only moments ago?

"Sir Meta Knight," a voice spoke up behind him.

The armored figure, upon hearing his name, turned to face the speaker, a slightly taller figure than himself clad into blue armor.

"Yes?" Meta Knight spoke, his voice a flat baritone.

"Would you like Blade and I to go down and see if we can find out what was in that ship that landed?" the figure in blue armor asked of him. "It might be what the king and Escargoon were talking about just now."

Meta Knight considered the request, wondering why it brought back that bad feeling from before. For all he knew the person in that ship had just been Sirica, the daughter of a female star warrior he'd fallen in love with before she'd sacrificed herself, coming by to pay Tiff and the cappys a visit. If it was her...

He nodded to the figure in blue armor. "If you wish, Sword Knight" he told him. "Be as quick as you can, find out all you are able to and then come back here quickly and give me a report."

"Yes, Sir Meta Knight," Sword Knight nodded his head then rushed off to find his companion Blade.

Once the knight had taken his leave Meta Knight turned his attention back to the balcony and looked back toward the forest.

I do hope it is not who I fear it is...

Turned out Samus actually did enjoy Kawasaki's cooking. This fact proved to not only cause major shock to Tiff and the cappys but it made the chef feel extremely touched and happy that Kirby hadn't been the only one to enjoy anything he'd made. When she complimented him on his cooking he nearly melted into a pile of joyful tears.

"How can she eat that stuff?" Tuff asked, unable to wrap his head around the whole thing.

Samus had heard him. "Compared to some of the things I've eaten this food is not that bad," she told him. "You should give him more credit, at least he's making an effort."

"Oh..." he said nothing more. The boy had never thought about that.

Kirby squealed happily as Samus handed him a bowel of soup. "Here, you can have this, I'm full now." he gratefully took the bowel from her and literally inhaled it.

A little while later after Kirby had finished up the rest of the bounty hunter's lunch, she and the children left the restaurant. By then the streets, which had been crowded with curious cappys only minutes earlier, had emptied out. This was thanks to Chief Bookum making the crowds break up and go back to their lives. That didn't keep the cappy's from watching her from a distance though, as she and her children companions walked through the streets.

"You have a nice little town here," she told them, as she looked at all the happy residents. "It's so quiet and peaceful here."

"Yeah it is," Tiff agreed. "It's one of the best places to live, most of the time."

The hunter looked down at her curiously. "Most of the time?"

Tiff opened her mouth to explain but her words were cut off by the sound of a loud, scratchy, obnoxious voice calling out. "Kirby! Hey kirby!"

She turned her head toward the direction the voice had come from just in time to see a small green bird come flying over toward her and the children and come to a stop in front of Kirby where it then hovered and started shouting abuse at the little pink star warrior.

"Where have you been?" the bird shouted in bad temper. "You were supposed to bring me my lunch hours ago, junior! What is taking you so long?" he started poking Kirby on the head with his beak, making the little puff squeal in protest. "Why are you so lazy? Can't you do anything right-"

That's when the bird suddenly noticed Samus. "Ah!" he now flew in her face, screeching "Who is this broad? Is this why you're taking so long, junior?" he now addressed her. "Hey there, missy. You have got some nerve holding this boy up like that. Don't you have any manners-"

The rest of his lecture was cut off by Samus blasting the little bird clear across Dreamland with a low powered charge from her arm canon. The children stared at her in shock, mouths hanging open. She let her arm drop and remarked. "That has got to be the most obnoxious and rude bird I have ever met, and I was raised by them!" when she noticed the children staring she said. "Don't worry. I didn't hurt him, much. He'll be back to squawk another day."

"Wow," Tuff remarked. "she took out Tokori without a second thought, not that he didn't deserve it..."

Samus heard him and looked down at the boy. "Was he a friend of yours?"

"Not really," he admitted as Tiff made a face. "He just kind of lives around here."

"He took Kirby's house!" Lalala spoke up.

"And makes him sleep in his nest and clean up the house like a slave," Lololo added.

"He does that, to a baby?!" Samus exclaimed, indignant. "Then I don't feel bad for shooting him." she rested her hand on her arm canon, looking like she was about to lose her temper. "Maybe I should have fried him..."

Tiff decided it was time to change the subject. Much as she had to agree that Tokori deserved to be punished for how he treated Kirby she wasn't going to support killing him. "Would you like a tour of the castle?" she asked her.

"Castle?" the hunter asked, then remembered the castle she'd seen when she'd landed. "You mean the one on the hill? Where your king lives?" She frowned, not sure she'd enjoy that very much, especially if she ran into that loud mouthed blue penguin again. "Are you sure that would be a good idea after what I just did to him?"

Tiff wasn't sure how to answer that so she said. "If we keep you out of sight you should be okay," she told her. "We live there too so it's not like you're barging in." she started up the road toward the castle, gesturing for the bounty hunter to follow her. "Come on, we'll show you around."

Samus was about to deny the request but then she realized that maybe she'd be able to find her friend in that castle. It looked pretty big and probably took a lot of people to maintain it. He might just be there, maybe have even offered his services to the king she'd met earlier, though she couldn't figure out why he'd subject himself to that, given how rotten the "king" of Dreamland was.

She said. "Very well then, please escort me to the castle."

Sword and Blade didn't have a lot of trouble finding Samus Aran's ship, since it hadn't been landed very far into the woods and it's colors stood out from the landscape around it. Once they discovered it's location the duo paused a moment to look it over, a sense of awe washing over them at the sight of it.

With its colors and shape and just other worldly design it took the two a moment to fully comprehend what they were seeing. As one, they stepped closer to it, being extremely cautious, as if they expected the machine to attack them. However it did no such thing, being made of metal and having no sentience, it merely sat there, silent, lifeless, and simply a piece of Chozo technology.

"Blade, you ever seen anything like it?" Sword asked his companion.

Blade, not much for words, shook his head, making no comment. What did his friend expect him to say? They hadn't lived apart for as long as he could remember so whatever Sword saw he did too. He felt the same way his companion did, though he was more than a little curious about the ship and whoever had occupied it.

"...You think they're still around?" he finally asked. "Think they're inside of there?"

"There's only one way to find out," Sword responded. "Come on, let's see if we can get closer."

Moving forward proved that nobody was inside of the ship. If they had been the two were certain they would have caught some kind of movement through the visor like windshield but nothing, unless the occupant was simply holding still and watching them, waiting for the duo to make their next move.

There didn't seem to be any way in, not that they could see anyway. Neither swordsman had any desire to try breaking in. That would be going too far. What right did they have to even think about pulling such a stunt anyway?

Sword stood there a moment, trying to figure out their next course of action. They obviously couldn't get inside the ship and they were given no reason to make the effort. He turned back to Blade.

"Maybe we should head back to the castle now and give Sir Meta Knight our report," he suggested.

His friend nodded, realizing it was the only thing they could do currently. "...Let's head back."

Tiff could tell Samus was impressed by the castle by the way she paused for a moment once they had reached the grounds and took a moment to let everything sink in. She noticed her attention lingered for a moment on the playground and then on the large fountain in the middle of the court yard. Then she noticed her eyes move upward and scan the walls and balconies of the towers, as if she were looking for someone or something.

She's trying to find her friend, the girl realized.

"Come on," she said aloud. "Let's head inside. We'll be able to search better from the inside."

The hunter looked down at her and nodded.

Tiff and the others led the woman inside of the castle, showing her around the place, pointing out certain rooms and answering questions when she had them. As they walked along the girl noticed quiet a few times that their bounty hunter friend would pause and take a moment to look around to see if she caught sight of her friend.

The girl finally said to her. "I don't want to come off as rude or anything, but could you maybe describe what your friend looks like? It would make things a bit easier for us."

Samus paused a took a moment to think. "He might have changed since I last saw him," she replied. "It's been quite some time since I've seen him."

"I'm sure he hasn't changed too much," Tiff responded.

The hunter let that sink in a moment then said. "Well he's kind of short," she began. "But short to me probably isn't short to any of you." she looked down at them all. "I am quite a bit taller than all of you after all. "

Tuff remarked. "You're almost as tall as Whispy Woods."

She didn't know who that was but she'd take his word for it. "Anyway, hes kind of short and wears armor." she continued her description. "He also owns a sword that's a bit odd. It's not shaped like most swords, oh and he wears a cape." she added.

Tiff considered the description a moment then glanced at the other children as realization washed over her. By the looks on the others faces, save for Kirby who seemed oblivious, they all came upon the same conclusion as well.

"Umm," the girl said after a moment. "the name of your friend... it wouldn't be Meta Knight, would it?"

By the look on the hunter's face when she said the name of the former star warrior, the answer was a big resounding yes.