"I just have to ask," Nem said, eyeing Kirby as well as their surroundings as they ran, "what the hell was that you were doing? You just swallow stuff and spit it out if something threatens you?"

"First of all, 'hell' is a bad word!" Kirby replied, shooting her a friendly but pointed glance. "And yeah! I inhale things and I can spit them out! Sometimes what I inhale gives me special abilities based on what it was, and I call those copy abilities! Like, if I inhaled Blade Knight back there, I would've gotten Sword, and I'd be swinging a sword around!"

Nem looked a bit miffed at his quip about 'hell,' but at the rest, she perked right up. "Hold up! So what happens to- er, what's he called again- Blade Knight in that case? Do you just eat him?" she inquired, then getting a wider eye, "Were you gonna eat my axe?!"

Kirby laughed. "I mean, kinda, yeah! I'd swallow him- or your axe, if it grants one- to get the ability, but he's not just gone forever! Next chance I get, I'll show you!"

The armored lass shook her head, looking ahead again. "Oh, I'd like to see, that's for damn sure…"

"Hey! That's a bad word too!"

"Oh, shut the fuck up!"

"Hey!" the pink puffball fussed, looking a bit miffed.

Nem paused for just a second, looking a bit startled and holding a hand over her mouth, then piping up before following along again, "Gyah-! S-sorry!"

Kirby didn't seem to dwell on it for more than a split second afterwards. "By the way, is your eye okay? Having a rock stuck in it must hurt!"

"Oh, don't worry about it," Nem brushed it off, shoving some underbrush aside. "I tried putting flowers in there and those lasted about thirty minutes tops, but this rock is holding up nicely."

He glanced over. "You put flowers in your eye?"

Nem looked amused. "Well, yeah! The actual eye that's supposed to be there got smashed eons ago, so I gotta put something there!"

Kirby perked up, casting her a glance again as he jumped over a rock. "Oh!" he cried, realizing she apparently didn't have an eye that would be hurt by such. "What about one of those giant gobstoppers? Have you tried putting one there? Then you can have a tasty snack whenever you want it!"

Nem perked up, looking curious and smirking. "The hell- er, heck- is a gobstopper? Sounds like something I'd use to crush someone's head!"

"No, no, no crushing heads!" Kirby replied, still smiling but giving her a funny look. "It's a big ball of sugary goodness and different layers have different flavors! They last a while and they're eyeball-shaped, so it serves two purposes!"

Nem chuckled, looking amused. "Well, that's… a little disappointing.~"

A little faceless creature with a wide hat and a broom- Broom Hatter- appeared to be sweeping up a pile of leaves as they approached, or at least trying her best to, seeing as the forest floor was littered with them. Kirby gave a light jump over her pile, but Nem wasn't so careful and darted right through them, scattering the leaves and making Broom Hatter give a jolt of dismay. The little yellow creature quickly made a sweeping motion at Nem's feet, making her stumble a bit with some clanking sounds, and shook one tiny fist in the air.

"Damn!" Nem fussed, finding her footing. "Er, sorry, darn!"

Kirby, though, stopped and gave her a pointed look. "Did you really have to do that? And you keep swearing, too!"

Broom Hatter made some more sweeping motions as Nem paused too, shoving the uncouth one slightly with the broom as if trying to sweep her away. Clearly, the armored lass wasn't budging, and some metallic clanks followed as Nem stood there, completely unfazed, while Broom Hatter gave her some haphazard whacks with her broom.

"Do what?" Nem inquired with a funny look, her gaze darting between Kirby and their faceless company.

"Run through her pile! You could've just jumped over it like I did!"

"Is it really that serious?" Nem wasn't too convinced, her intact eye landing on Broom Hatter incredulously.

Broom Hatter, as if in silent response, raised her tiny fist again and shook it.

"Tell her you're sorry!" Kirby said pointedly. "It's important to her!"

The armored one appeared thoroughly taken aback, but nonetheless said, "I'm s-sorry."

Wordlessly, Broom Hatter patted Nem's side, then went back to sweeping up her pile of leaves. Kirby appeared satisfied too, going right back to smiling, but Nem couldn't help but to study him some more as they kept on as if unsure of the entire exchange. A few three-eyed creatures on strings- Comos- dropped down from the trees, taking in their company intently but otherwise not moving. They weren't particularly precarious to be around, but did serve as something of an annoyance for the way they suddenly dropped down only when drawn closer to, getting in their faces and making Kirby and Nem swerve to avoid them.

"These little guys," Nem breathed in slight frustration, giving a swing of her axe to cut down one string in front of her.

Kirby giggled. "They're just curious! They drop down to see me too!"

Como gave a slight jolt as Nem severed his string, flailing a bit as he dropped onto the ground and clearly seeing stars for the way he sprawled out with all three of his eyes swirling around. However, some more strings were severed when what looked like a sharpened golden boomerang sailed through the air, which Kirby perked up at with a grin while Nem took more of a battle stance. The little blade's sender was another smallish figure comprised of a suit of golden armor with seemingly no one inside (or at the very least, whomever it housed being obscured from view) that stood upon a sloping tree trunk that had fallen quite a while ago judging by the moss covering it. Much like a boomerang too, the blade swerved and landed in the little gold one's hand, half a dozen or so Comos flailing and falling with their strings severed in its path.

"Sir Kibble!" Kirby exclaimed, grinning and turning to the armor suit. "This is perfect! Nem, watch this!"

Nem certainly was, expression curious but slightly incredulous, which in turn became somewhat hesitant as Kirby opened his mouth and started inhaling. Sir Kibble himself seemed caught off guard, twitching a bit before he was drawn in, and though Nem was grinning, her intact eye was quite uncertain as Kirby swallowed their company. Just like that, however, with a poof and a little burst of yellow stars, Sir Kibble was laid out on the ground next to Kirby, motionless but still all in one piece with his blade attached to hit helmet, and on Kirby's head was a golden helmet with an identical blade on top. Nem blinked a few times, her eye shooting between Kirby and the unconscious Sir Kibble, while the pink one seemed perfectly content.

"See~?" Kirby chirped, grabbing his own blade. "Sir Kibble is fine and he'll wake up soon enough!"

Another blink followed. "… Wow. That's… something."

With another giggle, Kirby set off again, and traversing the brush became easier with him throwing the bladed boomerang as he ran to clear an easy path. Nem couldn't help but to slice down a few Comos' threads, each time shooting a glance at Kirby as if to see if he'd chastise her, but he never did- the Comos didn't seem upset as much as they did stunned. What was noticeable, though, were what looked like scratch marks in some of the tree trunks closer to their bases, and on the ground were piles of wood shavings scattered amongst the leaves and moss.

"Oh, you're gonna get me into trouble here with all that, aren't you…" Nem's voice trailed off as she glanced around.

Her company chuckled. "Well, I don't mean to!" Kirby piped up, giving her a smiling glance.

"Gyah-!" she cried, pausing again and clapping a hand over her mouth for a moment. She shook her head haplessly, letting out a sound someplace between a heavy sigh and a growl as she looked upwards for a moment.

Kirby, though, paused too and looked around, taking note of their surroundings. "You see those big cuts? The dragon must've come running through here! We're going the right way!"

"Oh, those?" Nem replied, not giving them much thought. "Those were probably-"

At that moment, though, several, and a few moments later, quite a few sets of eyes peeked out from behind the trees, at which point Kirby perked up and Nem took a battle stance with a growing smirk.

"Gyahaha!" Nem laughed, glancing around excitedly. "These little guys!"

There were at least two dozen of them, all blinking in unison before trailing out one by one, and Kirby was certainly on edge next, for the two of them found themselves surrounded. Their company all looked the same- a rounded pale umber brown critter with short, stubby legs and thin arms with tiny four-fingered hands, wearing red beanies over their bushy black locks that tumbled down to just above where their legs started. In their hands were makeshift axes, comprised of polished rocks affixed to sturdy sticks with yellow twine. Their faces were simple with only two black eyes peering back, but the way their beanies drooped down to cover the upper portions of their eyes made their expressions seem inadvertently flat and peeved. They didn't make a sound, instead eyeing their company with some rhythmically bouncing in place and swinging their axes at their air, all of them with their gazes firmly affixed on Nem and Kirby.

"Um…" Kirby's voice trailed off, his gaze travelling around. "Did we upset you guys…? We're looking for a dragon! It carried off my friend, Waddle Dee! He's not as round as me but he's about as tall and wears a blue bandana!"

They didn't say a word, but one did leap at the pink puffball with his axe swinging down, to which Kirby threw his blade to deflect the hit.

Nem laughed. "Kirby, you ever met these little guys~? I call 'em Slashies! Most of the time they're busy cutting and carving wood, but if they see someone new toting a blade, they gotta challenge ya! I've gotten jumped several times now!"

"Slashies, huh? No, I haven't met them," Kirby replied, throwing his blade again when another leaped at him. "So they won't just let us through, will they?"

"Nope! We're fighting!"

Three of them leaped at Nem, and she merely giggled while clutching her axe for a few moments while the edge started to glow slightly- some sort of charge attack, surely. When the Slashies got close, she unleashed a spin attack that left embers burning in the air around her for a few moments and sent the hapless creatures flying. They certainly weren't getting up after they hit the ground several meters back, their eyes dazed and axes sprawled out of their hands, and just like that, the rest of the beanie-wearing critters were moving. Some ran and some jumped, but they all closed in on the forest's visitors regardless.

"Oh, goodness!" Kirby cried, glancing around as he gripped his blade.

One took a swing at the pink puffball, to which he threw his blade to knock the axe out of his hand, but swiftly Kirby had to jump out of the way as two leaped towards him with their own swinging down. Their blades got embedded into the ground, but as he held one hand up, his own blade returned and whopped them both on the backs of their heads as it curved, stunning them and making them fall limp on the mossy floor. Two more leaped at Nem, but with a heavy swing of her axe, she deflected their hits with enough force to throw them clear into the tree canopies, the leaves and branches rustling and some Comos dropping down in fright. Another, however, came at her from behind, holding his axe up and swinging it down for her head- surely, her hat wasn't going to protect her like her armor would.

"Nem, look out!" Kirby called.

Clang!

She turned halfway around, swinging her axe faster so as to bring one of the blades between her and the Slashy like a shield. The little woodsman's axe bounced right off, and a swing of Nem's sent him flying too.

"… Thanks~!" Nem chirped, winking at him with her intact eye.

Kirby, though, had three Slashies running at him next, to which he clutched his boomerang and likewise rushed at them in turn, his movements quick enough to sweep through all of them and leave them spinning in place before sprawling on the ground, dazed. Nem eyed him for a moment, grinning as she studied him, but turned back to face one that ran at her.

"Oh, you just never stop, do you?" she fussed, swinging her axe to meet her foe's.

"They do seem determined, don't they?" Kirby replied, throwing his blade at another one.

"Gyah-!" Nem cried, her expression going funny for just a second at Kirby's response.

Nonetheless, the hapless Slashy trying to overpower her quickly found himself disarmed by her force, his axe landing a meter or so away as she parried the hit. The armored lass was about to go for another hit, but the fact that he didn't have his axe registered quickly for the little woodsman, and he scurried away into the underbrush before she could bring hers down on him.

Kirby, however, found himself with six little Slashies running at him in quick succession. Two jumped, and he threw his bladed boomerang at one while darting aside of the other as he swung.

"Ah…!" he breathed, his gaze darting around at all of them.

When his boomerang returned, he threw it again at the one nearest him, knocking his axe out of his hand, then quickly grabbed it again as four came running in close. He clutched the blade, jumping into the air and diving down with it in front of him, sending off a wave of energy as the blade hit the ground that knocked all four of the Slashies back. They stumbled for a moment, then dropped their weapons and fell, sprawled haplessly on the ground.

One more jumped at Nem, but with a swing of her axe, she easily slung him backwards and into the trunk of one of the trees nearby.

WHAM!

The poor Slashy's eyes went huge as he slammed into the trunk, the whole tree shaking from the force. He appeared stuck to it for a moment like a sticker, then slowly fell off, seeing stars just like the rest of his troupe.

Kirby paused, looking at Nem with a smile, but Nem seemed to be looking at nothing, still holding her axe as if there was a lingering threat.

"Oh, I know you could've ended that instantly," she said matter-of-factly.

"I mean, maybe I could've," Kirby piped up nonchalantly.

The armored lass gave another jolt, her intact eye looking uncertain for a moment as she glanced over to him. "Gyahaha~!" she laughed, going back to looking blissful. "You're alright, Kirby!"

He giggled. "You're really strong; it's almost scary!" he noted, then running over to the poor Slashy she'd just downed, "Is this guy alright? That last hit was a hard one! Sheesh, you could really hurt someone if you're not careful!"

Nem blinked, studying him awkwardly as he crouched down to nudge the little woodsman. "I, uh…" her voice haplessly trailed off.

Kirby rolled her target over and looked at him for a second, taking note of his eyes that had drifted closed but his hands that twitched slightly when the handle of his axe was nudged into one. The pink one giggled, getting up again and calling, "He's alright!"

Nem blinked, still studying him, then eased up and laughed herself some more. "I guess that's a good thing.~"

However, a poof and a little starry burst followed as Kirby's gold bladed hat vanished, and he looked to another Slashy laid out not too far away. Nem couldn't help but to be slightly amused as he opened his mouth and inhaled the axe-toting creature, another poof following as Kirby became garbed in a red beanie too with an axe likewise in his hand, albeit one with a more refined, sharp metallic blade in place of the polished stone edge.

"Oooh!" the pink puffball cried, his expression lighting up. "This one's new! I feel like a proper woodsman now!" He took a second, taking a few swings with his axe, and turned to Nem. "This is great! You and I can match now!"

Nem studied him awkwardly, but nonetheless replied, "We can.~"

At that moment, though, the two of them heard a roar from deeper in the forest and shared a glance, wordlessly nodding before taking off again. The armored lass stayed closer to Kirby, slicing down some of the thick underbrush too, albeit with much larger sweeping motions compared to Kirby's smaller but quicker ones.

"Does that feel natural to you?" Nem inquired, watching him for a few moments.

"Yeah!" Kirby easily replied. "That's part of my abilities! I pick the skills up pretty quick!"

"I see that," Nem noted. "I had to practice for a while to get it down, but… you seem to be handling yourself really well for someone that doesn't regularly swing an axe around."

Kirby giggled. "Have you been swinging yours around for a long time?"

Another laugh escaped Nem. "You could say that."

"You know, my friend Meta Knight has been swinging his sword around for a long time too, and he's really good at it! Maybe you're like him!"

A hapless look crossed her face as she cut through a bush's branches. "I sure hope not- gyah-!"

However, at that moment, the ground underneath Nem caved in and she began to flutter her wings to keep from falling in, Kirby giving a quick jump aside to keep from slipping in on the edge too. A dirt pit met them with crude spikes at the bottom, formed from sharpened sticks and carved rocks.

"That is devious!" Nem exclaimed, looking down into the pit.

"That would've hurt!" Kirby likewise cried.

However, before Nem could flutter her way back onto the intact ground, a spear came down from the trees and clanked against the armor on her back, getting her and Kirby both to glance up at the canopies. A rotund, winged, and primarily yellow insectoid creature- Pierce- peered down at them from further up one tree, another spear already in hand to throw.

"Do I look like easy prey to you?!" Nem fussed, brandishing her axe at the bug.

The next spear was launched at Kirby, which he parried with his axe. "C'mon, let's keep moving," the pink puffball advised, jumping to the other side of the hole and motioning Nem along.

Nem looked as though she were debating it for a moment, but pried her gaze off of the oversized bumblebee and set foot down on the other side of the pit too, darting after Kirby as another spear sailed at where she'd been moments before.

"We've gotta be catching up," Kirby said, hacking down a dead shrub and pushing some grass aside. "That last roar didn't seem too far away."

Nem laughed. "It better run if it knows what's good for it," she remarked.

An amiably funny look followed from the puffball. "You really like to fight, don't you~?"

"You could say it's my primary function," Nem mused, not fazed. "I'm not used to things being… relaxed and peaceful."

"Really?!" Kirby exclaimed in surprise. "Don't you lie in the sun and take naps?"

"Oh, I love the sun, don't get me wrong!"

However, at that moment, another voice graced their senses, one that Kirby immediately perked up on hearing. "You guys!"

"Waddle Dee!" Kirby hollered, looking around.

Out of some brush scurried another certain figure, and though he looked a bit roughed up from his bandana sideways with some twigs stuck in it and some scratches on his body, it was unmistakably Bandana Waddle Dee that came darting towards them.

"You guys!" the spear-toting one cried again, practically stumbling over his feet. "That dragon! Oh my goodness, I was so scared!"

Kirby and Nem paused, and Bandana Waddle Dee stopped too upon reaching them to catch his breath. He breathed heavily, shaking his head and getting ahold of himself while Nem studied him and Kirby gave him a hand to keep steady.

"Are you okay?!" Kirby asked, haplessly prying some of the twigs stuck in his bandana out.

"I'm okay," Bandana Waddle Dee replied. "I got lucky! This other big guy with a hat kinda like yours, Kirby, intercepted that dragon and I was able to slip away while they were fighting!" He studied the pink puffball for a moment, then piped up again, "Come to think of it, he was carrying an axe too! Kirby, did you get a new ability?"

"Big Slashy," Nem noted, mostly to herself.

"Yeah!" Kirby answered, waving his axe for a second. "I'll call it Woodsman! I was using Cutter earlier to show Nem how my powers worked, but I thought it would be fun to match!"

Bandana Waddle Dee turned to Nem next. "You're Nem, is that right?"

"That's right," Nem affirmed.

"Nice to meet you, Nem," Bandana Waddle Dee replied, holding one of his tiny hands out.

The armored lass took his stubby hand in her thumb and forefinger, breaking into a big grin. "Gyaaaah, it just feels so nice to hear people actually saying my name…!" she cooed before turning loose and taking up her weapon again. "Where's the dragon at, huh? I'm gonna bash that thing's face in!"

In no time, some more growls and thrashing sounds graced the air, Bandana Waddle Dee motioning up ahead of them. Some of the tree canopies shook, and several loud thuds followed.

"They're up there still," Bandana Waddle Dee answered, glancing between the direction of the commotion and his company. "Are you guys gonna go and-!"

"Hell yes!" Nem hollered, already taking off.

"Hey!" Kirby yelled back before running off after her. "You're swearing and you're leaving us behind!"

Bandana Waddle Dee deflated, musing, "Well, I guess we're doing this," to himself before likewise taking off after them.

Nem cackled as she hacked down the underbrush, dashing towards the sounds while making her own with her clanking boots. She burst into another clearing, one that appeared completely artificial and only recently made judging from the freshly snapped trunks, flattened underbrush, and battered ground, but the cause readily apparent. There was the dragon again, its fangs biting down onto a much bigger axe belonging to a much bigger Slashy. His color was more a dark umber than pale, his stumpy feet were covered by boots fashioned from several pieces of carved wood held together by yellow twine, and his axe, while scratched and scuffed from heavy use, was made of sharpened grey iron. He wasn't as tall as the dragon, standing around twice as tall as Nem and perhaps around four Kirbies stacked on top of each other, certainly not small by most standards… but his combatant didn't seem to care at all.

"Big Slashy!" Nem exclaimed, taking it in.

Shortly, Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee were bursting in too, right as the dragon ripped the axe free of Big Slashy's hands and bit down. The big woodsman gave a jolt of fright as his axe's handle was splintered from the force and the dragon shook his head savagely while trying to bite through the metal, and while it may not have been successful, the metal was certainly scratched and dented by its fangs. It took a moment, but the dragon apparently saw that it wasn't going to take a chunk out of the axe and flung it aside, embedding it deeply into another trunk, before pouncing with snarling fangs and flashing claws. Big Slashy's eyes shot wide and he tried to scurry backwards, those snapping jaws getting far too close for comfort…

But they didn't connect when Kirby leaped into action and knocked the dragon's maw aside with a hard swing of his own axe, giving Big Slashy just enough of a window to dodge. The big woodsman blinked for just a moment, then picked himself up and darted off into the forest without so much as a sound towards where the smaller Slashies were.

"Hey!" Kirby hollered at their foe, clutching his own weapon. "You need to calm down!"

He certainly had the dragon's attention, getting two green beady eyes staring him down at the end of a snarling snout.

"Oh, because that's always a good idea," Nem remarked, clutching her own and taking a battle-ready posture. "HEY!" she thundered. "Over here, you braindead, spineless, dirt-eating, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, thimble-headed sack of spare parts!"

Just the sound of her yelling was enough to take its attention off of the pink puffball, but what she was yelling was plenty to get the attention of both Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee. The latter looked a bit startled, seeing as he was right next to someone intentionally trying to anger a snarling dragon, but as soon as it turned its attention on Nem, Kirby darted over likewise. Their growling company took a single step towards them, crouched down like it was going to spring, but it stopped for a moment and opened its maw with actual words coming out, garbled and hissing though they may have been.

"Happy voices give sustenance. Devour all and grow big."

It sounded more like gravel crunching than any natural voice, enough to make the ones hearing it pause.

The armored lass, though, had other ideas. "You're not devouring jack shit!" Nem hollered back.

Another step closer it came, snarling even more. Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee set to clutching their weapons too, all three of them getting a good look into a set of fangs covering a mouth that was like a black hole.

"Okay, guys, are we in this together?!" Kirby inquired.

"Yes!" Bandana Waddle Dee affirmed.

"Let's go!" Nem cried with no hesitation.

The forest's devourer certainly wasn't going to wait either, snarling and leaping moments later.