Chapter 39: Daroach

One day, Kirby had been returning from a spelunking trip underground in the great cave. While he didn't go there too often, it was something he liked doing from time to time because he enjoyed exploring the area, even with its various unusual guardians. While he was travelling down a shaded path with the intention of donating the spoils to one of the museums in Dream Land, he happened to sense something… off… for lack of a better wording. After pausing for a minute, he quickly jumped and then noticed a familiar mouse with a red cape and hat standing where he had previously been.

"I see your reflexes are sharp as ever." The mouse said, slightly tipping his hat.

Kirby, while flattered by that complement, tilted his head in confusion. "What are you doing here, Daroach?" But before the mouse could respond, the child pouted. "Wait a minute, you're not here to steal my lunch, are you?"

"I don't steal food Kirby. And don't mention the cake, that was a mistake." He replied in an amused tone. "Nor do I intend on stealing anything from you. In fact, I'm not interested in thieving right now, rather, I'm here for your help."

The child blinked, too surprised to comment on the mention of cake. "You need my help? I'm not really good at the whole stealing thing."

"Oh, I'll be the one doing the stealing, don't worry. It's the location that I'll need help with because it's underground." Daroach elaborated on.

"What do you mean? Like the great cave?" Kirby asked, already excited at the prospect of another adventure so soon.

"Glad to see that you caught on quickly. Yes, it's in a location that's similar to the great cave."

The puffball nodded, but another question came to his head, something that didn't quite make sense to him. "Ok, I guess you need me because of my experience with caves. But what about the rest of your friends? Why aren't they here to help you?"

Daroach nodded in reply at that, as if he already knew that the child would ask that particular question. "Oh, the rest of my crew isn't in the best condition to do pull heists right now. It's nothing bad right, just had a bit too much to drink. You'll understand when you're older."

The child shrugged in reply, actually knowing what Daroach was talking about, recalling a time he saw Dedede acting a little more odd than usual, with Bandana Dee telling him the king drank too much wine. But, there was no need to mention this to Daroach.

"Ok, so where is this underground cave then?" Kirby asked.

"It's underground." The rat joked, smirking at the annoyed pout Kirby aimed at him. "For a serious answer, you recall Yogurt Yard, yes?"

"Yeah, I do!" Kirby remembered the area from when he fought Heavy Mole during the Fountain of Dreams incident. While he had been there a few times since, he hadn't heard anything about an underground treasure there.

"Good. You see, after your little bout with that mole, the underground structure became perfect for hiding treasure. I learned that a few people buried treasure down there, and as a treasure hunter, I just have to look at it for myself."

"Really? It has?" Kirby was a bit confused. Honestly, he thought he would've heard about something like this already. Then again, it had been years since then and a lot has happened, so maybe it wasn't too much of a surprise. "Ok, do you know where exactly in Yogurt Yard it is?"

"Underground." The lack of a smile told Kirby that the self-proclaimed treasure hunter wasn't joking this time.

"Oh, so it's just all underground..." The puff uttered.

"Yes, if I knew exactly where, I wouldn't be asking for help. But since it's a complete mystery to me, I need an expert on caves and this planet. That'd be you."

"Ok, then! I'll help you!" The child immediately replied, always happy to help someone he considered a friend.

"Alright, what do you want in return?" Daroach asked. Years of experience training him to expect there to always be a catch to a deal. Of course, he forgot who he was talking to.

"Oh, I don't need anything!"

The mouse seemed shocked at that. "...wait, seriously? Nothing?"

"Yup!"

"Look, kid. We have a thing called honor amongst thieves. I can't just take your help for free, even I'd feel bad about that. There's gotta be something you'd want in return."

Kirby scratched his head. "Well... um... I can't really think of anything right now, but I'll tell you if I think of something. How about that?" The mouse king of thieves, self-given title, sighed but nodded. "That'll do for now, I guess. Now come along, my feet start to hurt if I stand around doing nothing for too long. Always on the move, that's how the Squeaks work."

"Ok! Let's get going then!" The puff called upon the Warp Star, which instantly flew to his position.

He hopped on and motioned for Daroach to join him. "Just to get there. I don't want us using this thing to make the job easy."

"I thought thieves would like easy jobs?"

Daroach scoffed, but didn't seem offended. "Two-bit thieves maybe, but I'm an artist of my craft. The harder the job, the more satisfying the treasure."

"Oooh! Yeah, that makes sense!" Kirby had immediately thought of how delicious his post-training lunch was after a hard day's work and was now drooling at the thought of food.

"...Look, kid, I'll buy you dinner after this is over, if that's really what you want in return." The mousy thief stated in a very unsurprised tone.

The child seemed startled at that sudden statement, but became extremely happy. "Really!? Okay!"

As Daroach was about to make another comment, the Warp Star flew faster than he expected, struggling to hold on. It seemed that mentioning food turned on the turbo setting in the child's mind.

Quickly, they landed in Yogurt Yard, with Kirby seeming to land the Warp Star perfectly for once. Of course, food is a massive motivator for Kirby.

"...Alright, still not used to that level of speed. Give me a sec." A dizzy Daroach croaked out, trying to regain his composure.

The puff nodded in reply and looked around. Yogurt Yard was seemingly unchanged from when he last visited the area, which was during one of his training sessions last month with Meta Knight. Most was that there were a few more holes in the ground, likely from people attempting to find the treasure that Daroach mentioned. Honestly, it was a massive area, so he didn't really know where exactly they would start.

"So, what to do first? Got any ideas, cave master?"

Kirby pondered for a moment and smiled. Pulling out a copy essence he carried around with him, he inhaled it, gaining a helmet with a drill on it.

"Now I'm Drill Kirby! Follow me, Daroach!" The puff shouted, the powerful drill tearing through the ground as he jumped into it.

"Perfect!" The thief chuckled as he followed after the pink puff.

Kirby's drill pierced through the ground like it was paper, making Daroach consider keeping a drill on hand for future adventures. Soon, Kirby's drill created a hole that the two gently fell from, landing on solid ground. There was no doubt that they found themselves in a fairly impressive and complex-looking cave system. Kirby turned on a lamp that he carried during his cave expeditions.

"Well, let's get going."

This seemed to surprise Daroach. "That's it? No plan other than, move around?"

"Well, we don't know anything, so how can we make a plan?" Kirby asked earnestly. The straightforward response made the mouse thief pause and admit that the puff made a valid point. "Besides, that's generally how I go about looking for treasure. I just wander the great cave until I find a chest."

"And if you run into traps?"

"Then I'll handle it! It's nothing new for me anyway, especially since I've regularly fought some of the guardians in the Great Cave."

Daroach sighed, knowing full well what kind of nonsense Kirby dealt with on a regular basis. "Well, you're the expert. Lead the way, kid."

Kirby smiled and started walking. Oddly enough, he didn't mind being called a kid, at least by Daroach. It seemed to be more of a nickname than anything meant to offend him.

After about thirty minutes of walking, the duo couldn't find anything of interest. It was mostly just rocks, which was expected of these caves.

"Stand back kid, I'm gonna try something." The thiefly gentle-rat called out, stepping in front of the puff.

"Huh? Oh, ok..." Kirby uttered, wondering what the thief was going to do. He got his answer in the form of Daroach pulling out a bomb from his cape. "Oh, I see! That should be fine to do!"

Thankfully, he knew from experience that the caves in Yogurt Yard wouldn't cave in easily, so he didn't have to worry about that.

"Exactly. If we can't find anything, we'll just force our way around the fun way."

"Sounds good to me!"

With that, Daroach let loose and chucked the bomb at the nearest wall of rock, clearing the way for them.

"Wow, I think this might go quicker than I thought!" The puff said as he advanced forward.

Though that thought soon disappeared, as Kirby saw that behind the newly created entrance, was a lava pit, with another entrance on the opposite side.

"Well, I hope you don't mind flying, Daroach." The puff said.

"No. No flying." He bluntly stated, confusing Kirby.

"Why not?"

Daroach pointed at the area above them, where a bunch of sleeping Scarfy were floating.

"...Oh. Well, do you have an idea of what to do?" The child tilted his head.

"Kirby, do you remember what I can cast with my staff?"

"Ice, right?"

"Right, so I'll just freeze the lava and walk across without angering the floating heads of doom and murder."

"Ok, let's do that!"

Daroach aimed his weapon of choice and fired a frosty bundle of magic that slowly, but efficiently, cooled the surface below.

"Alright! Let's quickly run across!"

"No, we'll slowly run across. We don't want to risk breaking the ice, right? I don't mind risking myself every once in a while, but if a safe option is at all possible, I take the safe option."

"Oooohhhh, ok."

Kirby perfectly understood what he meant. While he would normally run across to make sure he quickly got to the other side, there was a chance this ice would be different compared to ice he was used to.

"Don't worry, you'll get a chance to run later when a boulder inevitably chases after us."

While it was phrased like a joke, Kirby could tell he was somewhat serious. Not only that, but there was a chance that they could be chased by something worse, like maybe Heavy Mole if he still lived here.

"Hey, Daroach. How long have you been a thief for anyway? Since you seem so experienced, I imagine you've been at this for a while."

"Indeed, I have been a thief since my younger days." The rat thief chuckled.

"Oh, so you're old now?" Kirby asked bluntly, which turned Daroach's chuckle into a full-blown laugh.

"If anyone else said that, it'd be an insult. But it's from you, so I'll take it in stride. Yes, I suppose I am rather old, probably around old mask head's age."

"Mask head?" Kirby asked, prompting Daroach to pull out a familiar looking mask.

"You mean Meta Knight!?" The child exclaimed in shock. He then blinked. "Wait... how did you get that?"

While the information Kirby just heard made him more interested about the thief, especially if he was as old as his mentor, it was overshadowed a bit by the question of how he obtained one of his masks. Meta Knight often kept duplicates of his mask under strict lock and key. Even if Daroach stole it directly from the knight himself, his reflexes were sharp, and he would no doubt catch him in the act due to how secretive he was about showing people his face. But anyway, Kirby had another question to ask.

"How do you know that this is the right direction?"

"I can smell it." Was the simple answer.

"Oh, you mean like a gut feeling gained from years of experience?"

"No, as in I can smell gold and diamonds. The nose knows, as you know."

"Oh, I didn't know gold and diamonds have a smell!"

"It's subtle, but once you've been around it enough times, it's easy to make out."

"Ooooh! That makes sense!" What Kirby had found in the Great Cave was multiple objects crafted from various materials, so it would make sense that he didn't exactly know the smell of gold or diamonds by heart. At least in his mind.

"...So, how'd you get the mask?"

Daroach glared at him and squinted his eyes. "You're not letting that go, are you kid? Fine. If you must know, it was a gift. I helped him with something, and he gave me a spare mask in return. It's really not that interesting of a story really."

While Kirby could tell there was a lot Daroach was choosing not to say, what was said satisfied his curiosity. For now.

The puff then nodded. "Ok, so are we any closer to the treasure?"

"Shouldn't be much longer. Though, something is concerning to me. Any idea as to why I'm also smelling oil and machinery?"

Kirby immediately knew. "Oh, that's probably Heavy Mole."

"A robot you've fought before? Well, it shouldn't be too much of an issue. You're the expert though, so I'll let you decide how we handle this."

"I'll see what happens. Maybe we won't have to fight them since they aren't doing anything like guarding a piece of the Star Rod."

"Well, if we can avoid fighting, that's fine by me. All that action is bad for my poor back." The thief joked, seemingly not taking the situation seriously. Kirby could tell that he was on edge though, as evident by how hard he was gripping his magical staff.

"Don't worry, I can handle it!" The child said in an attempt to brighten his mood.

"I know you can, that's why I asked for your help. Now, I'll let you go out first. See if you can get this mole to leave us alone."

"Okay!" Kirby ran ahead towards the smell of machinery and oil. "Hi Heavy Mole! How's it going?" Kirby casually asked.

The machine looked at him, but showed no signs of aggression. "Kirby. I take it you are exploring the cave system I created?"

"Yup! I hope that's not a problem."

"As long as you don't cause any issues, I won't stop you."

"Ok! I won't! Thank you!"

As Kirby was going to signal to Daroach that it was safe to come out, Heavy Mole spoke up once more. "I take it you have a friend with you? I can sense a rat."

Daroach was about to storm out and yell at the insult, but restrained himself.

"As in, my rodent radar is going off."

Both Kirby and Daroach didn't know how to respond to that, but Kirby quickly shook it off. "Yeah, I have a friend with me! He's Daroach, a great thief!"

"Treasure hunter!"

"Yeah, that's what I meant!"

Heavy Mole rolled his singular eye, but he clearly wasn't bothered by this comedy routine. "As long as he doesn't make a mess or steal from me, he can continue with you. Now, I must be on my way, tunnel systems don't build themselves."

Without waiting for a reply, Heavy Mole took off, leaving Kirby and Daroach by themselves. The rat thief let out a breath he was unaware he was holding.

"Dang kid, you sure know how to handle big, scary machines."

"Yup! They might be scary, but they're really nice once you get to know them!" The puff happily replied.

"Yeah, well, I don't have as great experiences with big ol' machine. One time a place I was raid- investigating was filled with robots that exploded upon contact. Not fun, wouldn't recommend it."

Kirby tilted his head, honestly curious to hear more about that. Of course, he knew that Daroach meant that he raided the place with his gang, but he didn't say anything. "Oh, where were you investigating?"

"I don't remember the name, or rather, the original name. It was a planet the Haltmann people got to. Before you laid the smackdown on the big boss. Anyway, that's off topic and I'd rather get back on topic before the mole changes his mind."

"Ooooh, ok! So where are your treasure senses telling you to go now?"

"Just a little bit ahead of us. I also can hear what sounds like wings flapping. But it's not aggressive flapping, so whatever is making it, isn't hostile. At least for now. Now come on." Daroach took off running immediately after he finished speaking, surprising Kirby with the level of speed he just witnessed.

Blinking for a moment, Kirby then ran after him.

Thankfully Kirby was able to catch up, mainly due to Daroach standing still, staring intently at a treasure chest. Presumably the chest he was after.

"Oh, did you find the treasure, Daroach?" He asked.

"Yes, but here's where we face our final dilemma."

Kirby looked confused. "What's that? Is it opening the chest? Are there more traps?"

"Oh no, opening is no problem. Ain't a lock in the world I can't get through. And traps aren't an issue either, I don't smell anything unusual. No, our problem is a bit more complicated."

"What is it then?"

"Remember when the Mole said not to take anything that belonged to him? What are the chances that he considers this treasure his?"

Kirby scratched his head. Honestly, he didn't think about that until Daroach brought it up. "Maybe... um... we could ask him?"

"I appreciate how kind you are, but no. That'll just tell him what we're up to. And I'd rather avoid a fight and I'm sure you wouldn't want to fight a friend."

The child smiled. "That's right! But what are we gonna do now?"

Daroach smiled and reached into his cape. After a few seconds, he pulled out an identical chest. "Seeing as this chest is locked and it looks like it hasn't been touched recently, the mole possibly doesn't care about it. That said, I'll replace it with this chest in my hands. Keep a look out while I do the ol' switcharoo."

"Oh, well, ok!" Admittedly, Kirby thought that the mouse was just going to give up, but then again, he was a master thief. "But, wouldn't it be stealing if it was Heavy Mole's?" Kirby couldn't help but ask.

Daroach expected this question would pop up eventually. "Don't worry. I have something of my own in this chest I'm leaving. Think of it as a trade. I get what I want and he still keeps his treasure."

"Oh, well that's good!"

"Right, well let's do this. Get ready to run. Or better yet, get your Warp Star ready."

"On it!" With a whistle, the puff summoned his star to his side. "It sure would be nice to have one of my own. Well, let's go!" Daroach quickly swapped the two chests and jumped onto the warp star. With a nod in reply, Kirby sped off.

Thankfully the return to the surface was uneventful, which Daroach appreciated.

"Well, that went well!" Kirby happily exclaimed.

"Yeah, no major roadblocks or unnecessary explosions. A job well done." Kirby was happy about that, but he was also curious. "What was in the treasure chest you left for Heavy Mole?"

"Oh, that old thing? Just a diamond I found awhile back."

"Ooohhh! That's a really nice gift!" "Not really a gift, but sure. Let's go with that. Now, let's crack open this chest, shall we?"

"Yeah! I'm excited to see what's inside!"

The thief smiled, knowing that as a treasure hunter in his spare time, Kirby understood the joy of discovering something. "Alright, here we go."

Daroach opened the box and Kirby quickly looked inside.

"Oh!"

Inside of the box, was a baseball.

"Well, was this what you expected, Daroach?" Kirby asked, somewhat expecting him to be disappointed. To his surprise though, Daroach simply smiled and closed the chest.

"I wasn't expecting anything, kid. The value of treasure is different to each person. To someone, this is just a ball, to another, it's the most important thing in the world. I simply like collecting treasure, the value of it doesn't matter to me. A successful hunt is a successful hunt."

The puff stared in disbelief for a moment, shocked at how happy Daroach was about the treasure, but the explanation made a lot of sense to him, lessening the blow it delt and making him smile. "Well, I'm glad it worked out well!"

"Yup. Well kid, this was one of the better hunts I've been a part of. I gotta get back to the Squeaks though. Need to tell them what I've been up to."

"Ok then! Well, I had a lot of fun, Daroach!"

"Good, hunts should be fun. Next time you go on a hunt of your own, give me a call. See ya around, kid."

"Ok! I will! See you!"

The child waved as the rat thief left. With a smile in his direction, the child continued his day merrily, his heart full of excitement from the treasure adventure had had just participated in. He then paused and realized something.

"Wait, didn't he owe me a meal?"

It's been a while since I've posted, but I'm still alive! Sorry it's been a while!

I know I have a series of oc x canon one-shots I've posted on AO3, would any of you be interested if I posted them here too? I was thinking of doing so since it's a thing I would do while I'm working on major chapters of my other works. Please let me know if you are interested in me posting them here!

Anyway, I hope to get the next chapter of GranEssex Chronicles done soon!