Hey, everyone, welcome back. Sorry about the drought there. I had a little writers block for a while. Any reviews or comments or tips on what to improve would be awesome! All characters, places, items, etc. are owned by Nintendo and not by me.

Chapter 6: Manhunt

King Dedede and his crew headed back down the staircase. Dedede was angry and concerned. Wario had a history of working by his own rules and stealing things. King Dedede was already hesitant to let Wario join them, and he had made sure that the greedy idiot was under his watch the whole time in his group. Still however, the meeting with R.O.B. was a perfect time and place for Wario to sneak off. Everyone was too amazed by the robot to pay attention to Wario. King Dedede called up Knuckle Joe and Waddle Doo.

"Hey, it's King Dedede. Has either of you two seen Wario? He got away from me and I'm afraid he's stealing something."

"Nope."

"I haven't seen the fool."

"Great… He could be anywhere…"

XXXX

Outside the building, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong walked up to the blockade. As the duo neared the front doors, a Pianta approached them.

"Sorry pals. King Dedede is on a mission right now. Only authorized folk can enter."

Using superb charade skills, Diddy told the Pianta that he and Donkey Kong were called in by Dedede as backup.

"Oh, I'm sorry, you two. I had no idea. Wish he'd have told us that, I wouldn't have slowed down the operation as much as I am right now… Er… Well, good luck." The tree-topped Island dweller rambled on. Donkey Kong nods at him and joins Diddy in the building.

XXXX

Down in the Information Storage floors, the five-member group moves onward. Wolf, Leon and Panther, however, trail off together, mysteriously disappearing from Waddle Doo's eyesight.

"You two could've been quieter." remarked Wolf once the trio had gotten a good distance away. "It might be a good plan to knock out Waddle Doo. He could probably predict what we did."

"What about that man? Lied or Lyan or something. Do we take him out too?" questioned Leon.

"No. That man is pretty well known for his lies and truth stretching. No one will believe him… Gentlemen, we have company." responded Wolf. Suddenly, Waddle Doo turns the corner, finding Team Star Wolf. Or at least Wolf and Leon. Panther had quickly hid.

"Hey, there you are! Where's Panther Coroso? Wasn't he with you too?"

"Oh, I have no idea! He must have wandered on his own!" said Leon, speaking with a highly unconvincing innocent tone. At that moment, Panther jumps down from the ceiling onto Waddle Doo, knocking the soldier over. Waddle Doo struggled to escape from the mercenary's grip yet he could not escape. The last thing the Doo remembered was seeing Panthers dark colored, slightly furry hand collide with his face.

"Lier X. Agerate. Where is he?" wondered Wolf, slightly frustrated. X. Agerate was at that point fleeing the building without even a glance back, not wanting to get hurt by his tendencies to warp facts.

XXXX

The Kingdom of Hyrule had been facing very difficult times in the immediate aftermath of The Creators' leave. Shortly after hearing the news, Hyrule's greatest hero, Link, had left the company of Zelda and Impa to reflect on his past, and what he had done to protect the nation, possibly with the assistance of The Creators. He was taking the abandonment very roughly, in a similar way to how Mario took it.

Zelda was facing a really hard time herself. She wasn't handling Link's absence well. He had helped her with the tougher decisions she had to make as leader of Hyrule. The decisions she's forced to make now are the hardest she's had to make since the rise of Ganondorf many years ago. The one big thing on her mind is finding her best friend. The Head Knight of Hyrule approached the Princess, who had just called him in.

"Yes, Princess Zelda? What do you need?"

"I wish for you to send several of your knights out to go search for Link."

"Princess, wouldn't it be better if all the Knights were here in Castle Town to keep the Kingdom in order? Link is fine by himself."

"Not all of the knights will be out, only a handful. Besides, the Kingdom is fine. There have been no real uprisings or dissidence among the citizens. Even the other races are handling this crisis quite well. Certainly better than the Mushroom Kingdom. Did you hear? Princess Peach Toadstool was kidnapped once more…" Zelda said, dropping off at the end."

After a pause, the Head Knight responded. "Yes, Princess. I will send out a dozen Knights to find Link."

Later that evening, Zelda stood in her wardrobe room, and pulled out an interesting uniform. She turned around and saw Impa approaching.

"Princess, what are you doing?" Impa asked. She looked down at what Zelda was holding and sighed.

"I am going after Link."

"The kingdom needs you here Princess. It's not a good time for you to do that again."

"It is my choice what I do and what I do not do, Impa! You do not control me!"

"Zelda." Impa said firmly and to the point. Zelda could tell if Impa was mad by what the Sheikah called her. "It is not a wise move to leave the Castle." Impa left Zelda, irritated. The Princess looked down at her disguise, shed a single tear, and put it on.

XXXX

Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong went downstairs in the Creator's building and found the unconscious body of Waddle Doo lying on the ground. Shocked, they continued to move further down the stairs.

The Star Wolf trio approached the secure vault in the lowest floor of the building, well below the street level. Leon had entered the combinations and passwords they found in a safe of its own upstairs. As Wolf, Panther and Leon entered the vault, they see several strange relics. An orb with a logo Wolf hadn't seen in years, a sandbag with eyes and a trophy in chains of a blue man with wings. Wolf gasped, extremely shocked at what he saw.