Playing with the Squeaks certainly made time pass faster, Kirby occasionally having to remind Nem that their casual card gaming did not entail anyone getting thrown off the airship if they lost and Digi occasionally getting accused of using X-ray vision to see everyone else's cards. The pink puffball would, of course, chime to say there was simply no way Digi would do such a thing- someone acting friendly and trying to help stop a potential draconic invasion would never do such a thing, surely. King Dedede's competitive side came out if it appeared he wasn't going to win, Spinni was prone to outbursts whether he was winning or losing, and Storo and Kirby himself were just there to have a good time. Occasionally Digi would dart off to check on his running machines, leaving Kirby to play for him, and Nem too would run off to see if the sea had come into view, leaving her cards face down and swearing to enact horrible vengeance on anyone who touched them. It was a jolly time- gaming, snacking, jesting, and sarcastically bantering.
Nonetheless, after quite a few rounds had gone by, Kirby's entourage ventured down to the lower floor while Digi went to work on heaven-knew-what, and it wasn't long before things were stirring again.
"Nem! Look! That's it- that's the ocean!" Kirby cried, darting to the front window and pointing towards the horizon.
"Huh?! Where?!" Nem exclaimed, darting over from one of the side windows.
He pointed some more, standing on his tiptoes slightly in an attempt to put his eyes level with hers. "Right there, straight ahead! You see that line on the horizon? Where there's a different color of blue and the clouds get sorta cut off? That's the ocean!"
She perked right up, both eye sockets shooting wide and a small spark coming from her empty one. "No way! That's all water?! Does it really reach the sky like that?!"
"Well, it doesn't exactly reach the sky, but yeah, all water!" Kirby affirmed. "It just looks like it reaches the sky because it stretches so far, you can't see the other side!"
She blinked, then turned and grabbed him with both of her hands cupping around him as she gave him an intent look. "No. Way."
The pink one giggled. "Yes way!"
"You said you had a lot… but you seriously have that much?"
Kirby nodded, giggling some more.
The armored one turned loose, plopping down on the floor right there with a clang, Daroach looking slightly amused to her left and Meta Knight silent as usual to her right. Kirby nestled up beside her too, which got him an odd look for a moment from the axe-toting one, but Nem didn't protest.
"This world is nuts, and honestly, I like it," Nem remarked with a smirk.
"Well, you seem nuts and I like you," Kirby responded with a grin, getting a side-eye in return.
The pink puffball started rattling off all the things to be done at the beach, and Bandana Waddle Dee plopped down next to them to join in too- building sandcastles, looking for shells, sunbathing, swimming, snorkeling… Of course, the dragon eggs and their remnants were a priority too, and judging by Digi's estimates and one of the monitors by Daroach, they were getting close to some. Kirby couldn't help but to wonder if maybe some of them, if they found one on the smaller side that didn't contain a baby dragon, could be made into a tasty omelette with onions and cheese… but the question remained of where a frying pan big enough to make such a dish would come from. Surely a dragon egg omelette would be delicious, but the impracticality of it all made it so inconvenient to try. The pale yellow sparkling sands of the beach started to come into view further out than the trees, and the clear ocean waters sparkled too with the sun beaming down on them- truly, it was a lovely sight.
Nem, however, got a glimpse of something else and jumped up the moment she saw it. "Is that a ship?" she asked reluctantly as if not really wanting to hear the answer, darting closer to the front window.
"Huh?" Kirby inquired, likewise jumping up and dashing closer. "Do you see something?"
"A ship?" Bandana Waddle Dee piped up, likewise following along.
"The mast of one, yes," Meta Knight chimed in to affirm, pointing ahead with his sword.
Daroach didn't seem too bothered one way or another, but Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee had to look for just a moment to see what Meta Knight and Nem were pointing out- sure enough, it was the mast of a ship, pale blue in color with a rolled sail at the top of it. It wasn't moving, and its position indicated that it must've been docked either at the water's edge or on the beach itself. Maybe someone was just out enjoying the weather and feeling a sea breeze on their face, maybe someone was on a voyage and needed to stop for whatever reason… but Nem certainly didn't seem to consider those possibilities.
"Are you guys at war?!" she exclaimed, reaching back for her axe and glancing among them frantically. "This is a voyaging vessel, not a combat one, right?! Look, I'm not at the top of my game at all, but I think I can-!"
"Hold on, Nem," Kirby cut her off. "What do you mean, war? Why are you worried about seeing a ship?"
"Because a big ship means war!" she easily replied, looking at him like he was stupid. "And that's a big ship! The only time a big ship launches is when a ton of people are about to die, right?!" She glanced upwards, grabbing her hat's brim with her other hand. "Shut up! Shut up!"
The ones close to her studied her, and King Dedede came rushing out of the treasure rooms at the mention of 'war' with his hammer in hand. The others weren't quite sure what to make of her reaction, and Kirby was certainly befuddled and concerned all the same.
"… What's this about war?" King Dedede inquired, striding closer. "Did someone just declare it?"
"We are not at war," Meta Knight said simply, casting Nem a glance. "If we were, I would handle it. There's no need for concern."
"His Majesty would know if we were too," Bandana Waddle Dee added.
Kirby giggled, eyeing her. "You know, some big ships are bad, but not all of them," he said simply. "It's a nice day! Whoever's in that one probably just wanted to go sailing."
"If they are bad news, I don't intend to let them take our treasures," Daroach said simply but confidently.
Nem glanced among them, clearly unsure what to make of it all, and deflated. "Gyah, so that's how it is…" she said, easing up and taking her hand off of her axe's staff. Again she glanced upwards and said quickly, "And I'm not starting one either! Gyah, you are the worst!"
"Starting a war is a bad idea," Kirby said nonchalantly.
"Make sandcastles, not war," Bandana Waddle Dee added.
Nem certainly seemed fine with making sandcastles instead of war from the nod she gave, for the hisses of "Shut up! Shut up!" were clearly not directed at them as she fiddled with her hat some more.
At that moment, though, Digi came zipping out of his study, a grabber-like device coming out of his UFO that held two devices. "When we're not making sandcastles, I have something that'll help us," he noted.
Kirby darted over to see what they were, and Digi turned one over to him to inspect. They were rectangular and silver, an antenna coming out of the top right portion akin to the one on Digi's eyepiece and small screens with radars much like the one on one of Daroach's screens took up much of their front surfaces. Two buttons were underneath the screens, one red and one black, and on Kirby's was a strap for easy carrying.
"That's a dual dragon egg radar and communication device," Digi noted. "It will scan for dragon eggs in the area with a complex system of ultrasonic waves, electromagnetic waves, microwave frequencies, and secret techniques to pick up on objects with attributes akin to the meteorite Nem provided us with. It'll give you an approximate size as well as a location and a count of those objects detected within a two kilometer radius. In other words… it scans for dragon eggs and it'll tell you where they are and how many there are. The black button turns it off and the red one will let you open a video call with the other device."
The first half of his explanation completely flew over Kirby's head (he only recognized 'microwave' but was still befuddled as the context wasn't the cooking of food), but the latter made perfect sense. He grinned and studied it, glancing to Daroach's screen to take note that, indeed, they looked strikingly similar. Digi's UFO opened up slightly where the grabbing device was coming out, and it retreated inside along with the device, re-appearing inside.
"I figure I'll keep one and you keep the other," Digi noted. "It's in good hands either way, right?"
"Right!" Kirby affirmed with a grin.
"You made something like that in that short amount of time?" Bandana Waddle Dee inquired, scurrying over and looking at the device too.
"Sure did!" Digi affirmed. "Having a radar on the ship is nice and all, but that's not gonna help us out so much if the eggs and egg remnants are underwater or in a forest or among some cliffs. We need something portable."
"That's impressive," Nem acknowledged.
Kirby pressed the red button and, after a second, was staring at mostly Digi's belly and the inside of his UFO. The pink one waved playfully, some of his entourage getting in the view as well just to see what he was seeing, and a mechanical arm angled Digi's device up so he could see Kirby through the screen.
"Hiiiii~" Kirby chirped, grinning.
"I see it's working," Digi chuckled.
The call was shut off shortly thereafter, and the two of them switched off the devices.
"So we won't miss any treasure," Daroach remarked, mostly to himself.
"So we can complete our ultimate objective smoother," Meta Knight voiced different ideas, glancing over to the head Squeak for just a moment (and getting ignored).
"We'll know if our friends need help if we decide to split up," King Dedede noted.
Kirby put the strap of the one he carried around his body and said cheerfully, "Thanks, Digi!"
"No problem," Digi replied, darting over to the front window. "By my estimates, we're getting close to some."
Kirby too darted over to the window, as did Nem. The airship started to descend, getting closer to the beach and preparing to dock, and as it did, the other ship became easier to see- a majestic vessel, predominantly pale sky blue with a brighter blue emblem decked out in stars, massive oars on its sides, and a pair of angelic white wings towards the stern. Nem's empty socket narrowed while her intact eye studied it, but Kirby, on the other hand, perked right up.
"Is that the Lor Starcutter?!" the pink puffball exclaimed, a huge grin gracing his face as he practically plastered himself against the glass. "You guys!" He glanced backwards and beckoned his other friends over.
King Dedede and Bandana Waddle Dee scurried over to get a good look too, perking up just the same. There wasn't any mistaking it- a ship like that wasn't something seen every day, and as far as anyone knew, there wasn't another like it.
"It totally is!" Bandana Waddle Dee cried, bouncing a bit.
"He's back on Popstar!" King Dedede likewise exclaimed, getting a happy look. "And out of trouble this time, let's hope!"
Nem glanced over to them, still looking dubious. "You guys swear you're not at war?"
"No, no, no, no war!" Kirby amiably shot down the idea, giving her a grin. "That's Magolor's ship! I mean, I guess I did have to fight him and that ship that one time, but that's all in the past! He's our friend!" He looked to Daroach. "He knows all about treasures too! I need to introduce you all!"
The head Squeak got a sly smile. "If he has good taste and doesn't try to steal our bounty, I'd love to get acquainted.~"
Nem, though, started clutching at her hat again and frowned. "Oh, you just love to point out the obvious as if that's gonna make me see your side, don't you?! Gyaaaah…!" She shook her head, sighing heavily and nestling her hat down snugly.
"Bad hat," Kirby said simply.
"Yes, bad," Nem said pointedly.
Soon, though, the airship was much lower to the ground, close to the other massive ship, and the hatch was opening and unfurling slightly to make something of a ramp down. Kirby scurried down it before anyone else did, Nem hot on his heels with one hand reaching slightly backwards so as to grab her axe at a moment's notice, followed by Bandana Waddle Dee and Meta Knight, then King Dedede, and then the Squeaks. The sand was warm under their feet, soft and only slightly damp, and the sea's waves lapped gently at the water's edge. Pretty shells and smooth stones were scattered about, small pink conches and gemstone-like pieces of granite dotting the pale yellow with the occasional orange starfish. Palm trees grew both away from and close to the water's edge, albeit much more sparse than the forest they had just sailed over, and coconuts hung from them that looked about ready to fall off. Further off, there were some smaller islands that dotted the water's surface and grey slate cliffs that rose up out of it, but off into the horizon, as far as the eye could see, stretched beautiful clear blue water where Blippers and Walfs swam peacefully.
A side hatch opened on the bigger ship, a ramp extending downwards and another figure coming out. A smallish dark umber creature garbed in fanciful blue and white robes with gold accents emerged to glance around at the sound of another vessel coming close, and shortly exclaimed, "What is-!"
"Magolooooooor~!" Kirby cried, darting over to the Lor's ramp.
The robed one gave a jolt of surprise, then got ahold of himself and cried, "Kirbyyyyyyy~!" while throwing his hands out to the side.
Kirby dashed up the ramp and Magolor flew down it, the two of them throwing their arms and hands around each other and tumbling back to the bottom in a heap.
"You're baaaaaaack!" Kirby exclaimed cheerfully, clutching his friend.
"I've missed youuuuuu~!" Magolor replied likewise, nuzzling up close. He turned loose and turned to the others, giving a playful wave. "Hi, guys!" Shortly he was exchanging pleasantries with King Dedede, Bandana Waddle Dee, and Meta Knight whilst shaking their hands happily.
"I've got some other friends with me too!" Kirby cheerfully noted. He gestured at Magolor and said, "This is Magolor!" before turning back to the others. "This is Daroach, and Spinni, and Storo, and Digi-" he gestured at the Squeaks in turn, "-and together they're the Squeak Squad! Daroach is their leader and he's got all sorts of abilities too, Spinni is really fast, Storo is huge and strong, and Digi is really smart like his grandpa!"
"Nice to meet ya!" Spinni said with a grin.
"Greetings," Storo said simply.
"If the smiling pink bottomless pit calls you a friend, you must be good company," Digi said, appearing to study their new company under his eyepiece.
Daroach tipped his hat, getting a slight smirk. "I hear you're a connoisseur of treasure as well."
Magolor giggled. "Well, I did get really enamored by something shiny and gold that one time, hee-hee!"
"He sure did!" Kirby affirmed with a grin. "It possessed him and everything! Things got kinda crazy!"
"'Kinda' is an understatement," Meta Knight remarked.
Kirby couldn't help but to chuckle a bit at the memory, and Magolor did too- chasing down someone possessed by a sentient crown through the deep reaches of space on the back of a dragon was certainly something that wasn't easily forgotten. Maybe it hadn't been all fun and games at the time, but that was all in the past- the one next to him was a friend.
"Nice to meet you, Squeaks!" Magolor greeted them happily.
"And this is Nem!" Kirby said, gesturing at the armored lass. "She's a robot with a big axe!"
Nem, however, suddenly reached up to grab her hat, hissing, "Sh-shut up! Shut up!"
The robed one flinched slightly, crying, "Ah…!"
Another cry of "Gyaaaaah!" came, the armored one turning away and pacing back and forth.
Kirby giggled a bit at her antics, noting softly, "She's a little weird.~ She got locked up for a long time with just her hat for company, so now she yells and swears at it all the time."
"Oh, I see," Magolor said with a nod, keeping his voice down too. "So she's crazy?"
"Yeah!" Kirby affirmed with a smile.
They watched as she paced back and forth, getting more vocal and making wild hand gestures as she did. "You sack of spare parts, this means nothing! You think you can mess with me like that?! You think I give a damn?! What you want and what I want are two completely different-!" She paused, clutching her hat and hunching up like she was bracing for an attack of some sort. "Gyaaaaaaaaaah…!"
"… Well, isn't she a colorful one," Magolor gave a cheeky reply, not particularly fazed. "Nice to meet you, Nem!" he called nonetheless.
Her gaze snapped up and she went right back to grinning, her hands turning loose of the hat as she said, as if absolutely nothing was amiss, "Nice to meet you too~! Gyahahaha~!"
"What brings you to Popstar this time, huh?" King Dedede inquired of the robed one. "You just couldn't stay away, could you?"
Magolor giggled. "Of course not! I've visited a lot of planets, but this one? I just love it on Popstar!" He got a bit of a hapless tone and shook his head as he started to explain, "A bit of a crazy story, actually… I was planning to pay you all a visit, but while I was making my way to Dream Land, I got attacked by a dragon!"
The mention of a dragon instantly garnered everyone else's attention- it seemed there were quite a few attacks to go around.
Magolor sighed, shaking his head again. "I actually managed to fight it off this time, but… that is the third time this has happened! I mean, the first two might've been entirely my fault, but still! I had to make an emergency landing to check things out, which brings me to… here."
Concern entered Kirby's countenance fairly quickly. "That sounds terrible!" he exclaimed.
"They got you too?!" Bandana Waddle Dee cried.
"Oh, it was, and they did!" the robed one affirmed, throwing his hands aside and looking up at the sky dramatically. "And that's not even getting into that crazy asteroid storm several dimensions away that slowed me down! The celestial planes have been crazy lately!"
"Sounds like you've had a rough journey," King Dedede noted, half amused and half pitying.
"I sure have," Magolor said haplessly, wilting like a flower before perking up again. "But, seeing Kirby and his friends again makes everything better! What are you guys doing out here?"
"We're looking for dragon eggs!" Kirby answered. "You probably haven't been here long enough to see them, but we've been having pretty meteor showers for several weeks now! It's looking like those meteors aren't actually meteors and they're actually eggs, and those eggs are hatching into dragons that aren't nice at all! Nem came crashing down on one, the Squeaks were trying to collect them but a dragon chased them off, and just this morning, Meta Knight had to fight off a dragon that attacked a town, and one ran off with Waddle Dee!"
"It was scary!" Bandana Waddle Dee affirmed.
"The little one I fought was no joke," Meta Knight noted.
Magolor couldn't help but to look a bit startled himself. "Dragons are attacking Popstar?! No way!"
"Wouldn't be the first time something like this has happened," King Dedede remarked.
"Well, I came at the right time, then," Magolor noted, giving a little nod of declaration. "If Popstar's in trouble, I'll help you guys out! I'm way too fond of this planet and its inhabitants to let that go!"
Kirby, though, perked up, and got an even bigger smile than usual. "Magolor!" he cried, grabbing one of the robed one's hands. "You might be just what we need! The meteor-egg that Nem crashed in on had runes carved on the inside that none of us know how to read! You've been to a lot of planets and studied ancient stuff… Do you think you could give it a try? Maybe you know what they say!"
Magolor too perked up, grabbing Kirby's other hand and returning his gaze intently. "Ancient runes from far-off places? I've studied plenty of those! Show me the way and I'll do my best!"
Kirby nodded and darted off back to the airship's ramp, the robed one close behind and the others turning to follow too. Surely, if anyone could decipher the text, it was Magolor- travelling a multitude of dimensions, studying ancient artifacts, and getting acquainted with far-off worlds had to count for something. It was as good of a bet as they were going to get. Digi opened the door, and Kirby scurried to the meteorite (that was still being scanned and prodded at by the smallest Squeak's machines) before jumping on its edge and motioning Magolor up too. The robed one followed, his gaze darting around with intrigue.
"And this was already on the inside, you said?" Magolor inquired.
"Sure was," Nem affirmed.
"That's one intelligent little dragon," the robed one remarked, scanning the runes with his eyes. "These are super ancient! Like, older-than-the-Lor ancient!"
"That's really old… right?" Kirby inquired, glancing over.
"Really, really old," Magolor replied.
Digi too zipped up, glancing down at the runes. "I have a carbon dating analysis going… so if those results turn up a relatively young rock instead of an ancient one, that might give us a clue as to what kind of dragons we're dealing with. Ancient beings that are just now hatching, or the progeny of an ancient being that has survived millennia amid a changing starscape."
"Or tell us you made a mistake," Spinni playfully remarked.
Nem and King Dedede both started to snicker, but Daroach busting out his magic wand and giving them a pointed look while brandishing it made the two of them as well as Spinni shut up.
"But you can read them, can't you?" Bandana Waddle Dee inquired.
"Of course I can!" Magolor easily affirmed. "It's just not easy, but I think I can make it out for the most part." He floated down closer to the right side of the meteorite's concave surface, where the symbols started, and looked them over. "Let's see… This first line here… 'We shall seek their voices, and they shall scream for deliverance that will never come.'" He gave a slight jolt. "I do not like the sound of that."
The others got uncertain themselves, a few uncomfortable glances going around. Kirby's face fell, King Dedede looked concerned, Meta Knight and Nem both got narrowed eyes, and Digi looked taken aback.
"A-are you sure that's what it says?!" Bandana Waddle Dee cried, his eyes going wide.
"Who is 'they?'" Meta Knight wondered pointedly.
"Let's see if it tells us," Magolor replied, floating along the runes a bit. "This line here… Oh, goodness… 'Life shall become naught but an evanescent wisp before the jaws that rend the heavens.'"
Some of the others got even more worried looks, for that definitely did not sound pleasant… and even if Kirby was unsure what a large chunk of those words meant, he could tell such.
"What is it trying to say?" the pink one asked mildly, still looking concerned and clearly perplexed by the words. "Why are they saying life isn't but a wisp? And what does…-" he paused to concentrate for a moment, "ev-ann-ess-scent mean? That sounds so weird…"
"They're using 'naught,' a classier word for 'nothing,' which is different than 'not,' as in 'lacking the characteristics of,'" Daroach explained. "If you wanted to be fancy, you could say there is naught in one of Nem's eye sockets, because it's empty. That's different than saying Kirby is not a square."
It started to make sense, and Kirby's expression lit up slightly. "Ohhhhh! So they're saying life would be nothing but… whatever the rest means?"
"Precisely," Daroach affirmed. "'Evanescent' refers to something fleeting, something that fades very quickly. Essentially, imagine a candle after you blow it out- you know how there is a small wisp of smoke that disappears in a few seconds? That's what they're describing life as. It's saying there's a set of jaws somewhere out there that tears apart, or rends, the heavens, and standing before them, life is like that little puff of candle smoke."
Kirby's face fell again. "That's not good…" his voice trailed off before he glanced to the one looking the runes over. "Magolor, does it say anything else?"
"'For our glory, our Great Champion, our shelter and blessing, we must not hold off,'" he finished reading. "That's all it says. Not much, but it's a start."
"You guys think 'they' is us?" Spinni piped up, not sounding too thrilled. "These little pests don't seem to like us at all…"
"I sure hope not…" Bandana Waddle Dee's voice trailed off.
"That sounds like a reasonable assumption," Meta Knight, on the other hand, had to concur.
Kirby, though, carefully jumped down onto the meteorite's hollow inside surface, taking in a big breath of air for a moment just to be extra careful as he descended, and looked at the glyph depicting the winged circle. "We're still not sure what this is," he noted softly, looking it over.
The others knew what he was referring to, and shortly, the others (save for Storo who could easily peer inside, and Digi and Daroach who could fly for a vantage point) were hopping onto the edge, Nem being the first to do so and Bandana Waddle Dee pulling himself up last with a helping hand from King Dedede. If the runes had been deciphered, that was a much better state than where they'd been even half an hour earlier, but questions still remained- where those eggs were coming from, why they were so hostile, what set of jaws rent the heavens, the same question Kirby was posing in that moment… and those answers probably weren't going to come so easily.
"That's gotta be what their home planet looks like," Nem proposed, perching herself on the edge and looking down. "That last line mentioned shelter, right? Just look at it. It's got asteroids and whatever else orbiting it."
"You ever seen a planet with wings?" Spinni countered, not quite buying it.
"Maybe not a natural one, but anything is possible," Nem brushed him off. "Besides, nothing gets someone riled up and aggressive quite like some good old-fashioned conquest." She grabbed the brim of her hat and muttered, "Figures you'd say that, fuckwad. Go to hell."
"Hey," Kirby said, giving her a glance.
If she was swearing after that, she was doing so under her breath where he couldn't hear.
"I have an airship that looks like me, so maybe these dragons have a planet that looks like them," Daroach mused. "It's not unreasonable. If these little ones are flying around the galaxy, they need to know where to land."
"Well, the way 'Great Champion' is written, they're putting emphasis on those words so that must be someone important," Magolor noted, floating over the picture too. "Maybe this is their 'Great Champion.' Our own great champion is round too, right?"
Kirby giggled, the robed one giving him a friendly pat.
"That might be it," Bandana Waddle Dee piped up. "Kirby, you've faced a lot of round enemies, haven't you?"
The pink one gave him an affirming nod, quickly running through his escapades in his mind. "Yeah! There was Dark Matter, Zero, Star Dream's true form, Void…" He giggled. "I guess being round is really popular!"
"Their eggs look round too," King Dedede remarked. "What if that's just a really special egg hatching? One that sparkles and shines?"
"The egg of their 'Great Champion,'" Storo concurred.
"There's way too many variables to isolate here," Digi remarked, his UFO zipping around slightly.
"There are," Meta Knight concurred. "We need to collect more pieces. This is a starting point but it's far from telling us what we need to know."
Kirby turned and leaped out of the meteorite-shell, landing softly on the ground outside of it. "Before we collect more pieces, though," he started, wearing a happy look as always, "let's take a break. Nem has never been to the beach, so she needs to see what it's like to go swimming and make sandcastles! The meteorite-eggs aren't gonna walk off."
"And I need to finish checking up on the Lor, but I didn't return to Popstar with an empty ship," Magolor chimed in, flying out too. "Are you guys up for a beach cookout later? I brought all the good foods from the planets I've been visiting, and I can't finish it all alone!"
Kirby himself got sparkling eyes and gasped in glee, King Dedede and Bandana Waddle Dee looked thrilled, and Daroach looked intrigued. The others certainly weren't protesting, getting grins themselves.
"I just met you but I already like you," Spinni remarked.
"Ordinarily I'd offer Castle Dedede's banquet hall for an occasion like this, but there's nothing wrong with the beach," King Dedede mused.
"You need to visit more often," Kirby said with a big smile.
Magolor giggled. "I do.~ I really do.~"
The pink puffball was darting outside again, and the others weren't too far behind, Digi lagging slightly while he made a quick note in one of his systems of what the runes meant. In no time, Daroach was combing the sand with a metal detector, King Dedede was picking a nice place to sunbathe, Storo was collecting shells, Spinni was throwing off his cape and diving in the water with a snorkel, and Meta Knight was practicing some moves on a hapless cliff's rocky side. Nem, however, still seemed entranced, stopping the moment her feet hit the sand and clutching at her hat with one hand whilst making a slight growling sound. Kirby took notice, bouncing over to her with a smile, along with Bandana Waddle Dee.
"What's wrong, Nem?" the pink one asked, stepping beside her and grabbing her hand that wasn't grabbing her hat. "You just don't know what to do, do you?"
"It's hard to know where to start when you're on the beach," Bandana Waddle Dee added, patting her other side. "But we can show you everything, don't worry!
"That's right!" Kirby affirmed.
Nem started to grin, turning loose of her hat and glancing aside to them both. "Sorry, that thing is just… messing with me and won't freaking stop.~ But you're right, this is all new to me… so maybe I should check out the water first. That's what had me all worked up in the first place! I'm sure it's not like swimming in lava, but I'll just have to see for myself."
"Then let's do it!" Kirby cheered, darting towards the sea and tugging Nem along, Bandana Waddle Dee following close behind. "Let's go see what's at the bottom! If we're lucky, we might find something cool!"
"Are you gonna jump in wearing all your armor?" Bandana Waddle Dee asked. "Might make it harder for you to move around with all of that weighing you down."
"I don't take my armor off," Nem replied without missing a beat. "And I don't leave my axe sitting around either. I gotta stay ready."
They didn't protest, even if they did find her attitude a bit odd.
Nem's footsteps clanked much less on the sand, the soft ground padding her heavy boots as she moved, but she certainly made the biggest splash as the three of them jumped in. Kirby and his bandana-wearing friend were certainly moving their arms and legs trying to reach the bottom, but Nem hardly bothered- she stared up at them with a grin as she sank like the chunk of metal she essentially was, reaching her hands up as if beckoning them closer for a hug. A stream of bubbles left her empty eye socket, and those bubbles carried heat, undoubtedly created from her hot sparking core turning some of the water to steam. She reached the bottom first, turning as she sunk and landing on her feet, Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee following in a few moments but still paddling so as not to touch the bottom. Nem seemed to take note of their mannerisms and started flapping her wings, floating a bit above the sandy bottom too. Their surroundings might have been tinted in a pale shade of blue, but they were still quite lovely- bright green sea plants wavered gently around them, a school of Blippers swam further off, some large clams blew bubbles, and delicate anemones in shades of orange, yellow, and blue decorated the sea floor. Spinni even waved at them from the shallower end, a gesture Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee happily returned.
They couldn't talk, of course, but that was fine- Kirby motioned at a big clam and swam over to give its top shell a tap like knocking on a door, to which it opened up. Bandana Waddle Dee understood just fine that he was searching for pearls and likewise swam over to tap another clam, which was also empty. Nem studied them as they did so, and Kirby started making hands gestures to her in an attempt to convey what they were doing… for better or worse. He drew a circle with one hand and pointed inside the clam, then nodded 'no,' and Nem seemed to understand fine from the way she nodded with a grin. She fluttered her wings and made swimming motions with her hands as she went over to a clam too, a very large one. She stirred up a bit more dirt as she moved, but apparently was not weighed down too much by all the heavy metal comprising and coating her body. She tapped it, making the whole bivalve itself shake, but when it didn't open up like the other two had, she grabbed its two shells and pried them apart. Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee couldn't help but to be a bit taken aback by her forceful mannerisms, for surely the clam felt attacked, but what was inside it grabbed their attention- a gently shimmering silver pearl. Her expression lit up, and she held the clam open with one hand on its upper shell and one foot pushing down on the bottom one as she reached in to retrieve it. The moment she sprang back, the clam shut tightly again, burrowing down into the sand.
She looked over, and Kirby nodded before pointing upwards. Shortly they were swimming back to the surface, Nem not lagging behind despite having so much more mass, though she certainly did make more waves as their upper halves bobbed on the surface. Water poured from her empty socket for a second, then more steam came out as the lingering liquid evaporated.
"I got it!" the armored lass exclaimed, holding the pearl up while paddling with her other hand. "Let me guess, this is the organism's true form, isn't it? If I crush it, will we be able to take control of its shell?"
Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee both gave her funny, if amiable, looks.
"What, no!" Kirby exclaimed, studying her with a hint of amusement. "That's a pearl, a precious object that forms inside clams, which are those shells we were tapping. They're pretty, but they're hard to find. You got lucky!"
"And the pearls aren't living, either," Bandana Waddle Dee added. "Just the clam is."
It was Nem's turn to give them a funny look, her empty socket narrowing. "Gyah? Then what were you trying to do?"
Kirby giggled. "What did you think I was trying to do, Nem?"
She had no trouble explaining, bizarre though it was. "Find one of those organisms- a clam, I guess- with enough space inside for you to crawl in and use it as a shield! I mean, you tapped one, drew a circle with your hand- you being the circle- and pointed inside, so I thought you were trying to tell me that it wasn't suitable when you shook your head!" she elucidated. "And besides, the ones you two tapped were empty and opened up easily, so those shells were probably lackluster in the first place! I mean, only an idiot would leave their vessel open and unguarded, right? So if they were open and unguarded, then they must've sucked in some way! Then I get to that last one, which won't open, and there's this little shiny dude inside, so it didn't suck!" She looked to the pearl. "But it's not even alive?"
Kirby couldn't help but to laugh at the explanation, and Bandana Waddle Dee thought it outlandish too. Nem only studied them even more at their nonchalant reactions, letting out a sigh of "Gyaaaah…" as she nestled her hat down further on her head.
"Nem, you're silly!" Kirby laughed. "No, I wasn't trying to use a clam as a shield! If you tap them nicely, sometimes they'll open up to show you what's inside! I was trying to tell you that the shell didn't have what we were looking for, because pearls are round, and the ones me and Waddle Dee tapped were empty. That's all it was- just us looking for pearls."
"I think you scared the one you tapped and made it close harder," Bandana Waddle Dee noted. "Normally they don't mind giving their pearls up."
Nem blinked, appearing to mull their words over for a second. "… So that's how it is here," she remarked blankly. "I was trying to assert my dominance and tell it that shell was ours now… Guess I didn't need to do that."
Kirby smiled, but paddled closer to her and gave her a friendly pat on the side. "You don't have to do that.~ We're just having fun, Nem.~"
"You could probably fit that pearl in your eye socket," Bandana Waddle Dee suggested. "You had a rock in there before, right? A pearl might be nicer."
"If you found it, you get to keep it, and using it as an eye would probably make it harder for Daroach to steal it," Kirby added. "He really likes shiny things."
Nem glanced to the pearl, her intact eye narrowing on it for a moment, then shoved it right into the empty socket. It somewhat resembled an actual eyeball, albeit one turned backwards in its owner's head, but didn't look any less out of place than the rough-edged rock had earlier. Its surface was much shinier than her intact solid black eye, and its pale silver color didn't mesh at all with the black, gold, and cyan comprising the rest of her, but at the very least, it kept the dancing sparks from escaping.
"If he tries to, I'll get worked up and blast him with my eye laser," Nem said with a smirk, the pearl-filled socket narrowing.
"You wanna go look for some more?" Kirby asked. "Or we could race each other in the water!"
"We could look for a Bling Blipper!" Bandana Waddle Dee added, his eyes lighting up.
Kirby's eyes too lit up at the idea. "You know what? Let's have a treasure hunt! We each go off to look for all the cool things we can find underwater in half an hour, then we let Daroach be the judge!"
"How about we just have two teams?" Bandana Waddle Dee replied. "I'll stay with Nem. She's not familiar with this world's oceans, and someone who is should stick with her just in case."
"That sounds good!" Kirby agreed.
Nem, however, smirked some more. "You're just gonna give your opponent an advantage~?" she asked mischievously.
"If it's against Kirby, it's not an advantage," Bandana Waddle Dee brushed the idea off. "Trust me."
Kirby himself giggled, but from Nem's expression, she didn't seem quite so convinced of the bandana-wearing one's sentiments. Nonetheless, it was a perfectly agreeable idea, and off they went, Kirby on his merry way and Bandana Waddle Dee keeping a close eye on Nem, albeit less for her sake and more for the other living creatures around them.
. . . . .
Back on the beach, however, amid the sunbathing, metal detecting, and shell collecting, Magolor was buzzing around his ship. The control room was still perfectly functional, no doors were jammed shut, and though a few objects might've been in places they hadn't been before the dragon attack, the Lor's interior was just fine. The outside looked okay, but just to be safe, he checked over the parts regardless. The mast was intact and functional, the wings were still secure, the emblem hadn't fallen off, and the oars were still in one piece, but that didn't mean they weren't damaged, and the robed one carefully looked them all over to be sure.
"If I ever see that sucker again…" Magolor's voice trailed off as he inspected the yellow star on the emblem, "I'm gonna blast it to the next dimension! Yeah! That'll teach it!" He gave a mischievous giggle, clapping his hands together softly.
"You sure do have a fancy ship," came another voice behind him.
A small jolt of surprise followed. "Huh?" Magolor replied, turning around quickly.
None other than Digi met him, the green Squeak wearing a grin as he hovered there in his UFO. "Didn't mean to startle," he said simply.
The robed one perked up. "Oh, Digi!" he cried amiably. "What's up?"
"I won't lie, I'm pretty interested in your ship," Digi replied, zipping around a bit and glancing the giant vessel over. "The Lor Starcutter, was it? This thing looks crazy sophisticated."
Magolor beamed with pride as he replied, "The one and only! It's a beast.~ You wouldn't happen to know about the ancients, would you?"
Digi met his gaze, pausing for a moment. "The ones with the crazy advanced tech that you just can't find nowadays…?" he asked, more like a gasp. Shortly, he was zipping closer to Magolor, looking the robed one straight in the eyes from mere centimeters away as he said, voice dripping with excitement, "Don't tell me this is an ancient artifact…!"
The one he addressed chuckled, not fazed at all. "It sure is.~"
That sent Digi over the edge, and he zipped around at light speed as he cried, "No way! An artifact from the most advanced civilization to ever live! I think I'm pretty good with machines, but those people?! If half of what's rumored to exist in the books I've read is real, well…!" He paused for just a second. "You could rule the universe with their creations!"
Magolor chuckled, nodding emphatically. "Yes! That's exactly right!"
Back to zipping around Digi went. "This is crazy! This is everything I ever wanted to see, and it's real!" Again he paused suddenly, turning to look at Magolor. "You're not lying, are you?"
"I would never.~"
More zipping, Digi not missing a beat. "Yes! The statistical improbability of this is so small that it's difficult to quantify! Of all the ships in the universe, one that's an ancient artifact showing up coincidentally when we're out voyaging has such a low chance of happening that it may as well be zero, or at the very least, two to the negative hundredth power! There are so many zeros in that number if you express it as a decimal without using scientific notation!" Back over to Magolor he flew, his eyepiece flying off and clattering behind him for how fast he moved. "Can you show me its cool features…~?!" he asked, uncharacteristically akin to a drooling fanboy.
Magolor giggled, clapping his hands together happily. "I'd love to! I could actually use some help, now that I'm thinking of it- I need to make sure its parts still work, and it's easier to do that with an extra set of eyes. You can tell me if its emblem is firing stars and the mast is creating gusts like it's supposed to! We can even take it for a spin together!"
"Yes!" Digi enthusiastically cried, his UFO doing a flip and his detached eyepiece clattering around inside as it did so. "Oh, this is the best!"
Magolor himself started zipping off too, motioning Digi to follow along. "C'mon! Let me show you the cool stuff I've got on the inside too!"
Digi certainly wasn't going to waste time, following along as fast as he could while a mechanical arm emerged on his UFO's interior to put his eyepiece back in place.
By any account, it was a good time. Nem and Bandana Waddle Dee put up a valiant effort in their treasure hunt, but apparently Kirby was just too good, for he turned up with an honest-to-goodness treasure chest of pretty shells, shiny coins, pearls, and gemstones, the chest itself apparently having been partially buried next to a slate cliff in the water. The armored lass occasionally paused to yell at her hat or simply yell at the sky, hurling insults underwater that her company was thankful they couldn't hear, but she very much seemed to be enjoying the ocean. Storo had an ornate sandcastle going, Daroach turned up a nice set of shiny objects, and Digi lost his composure multiple times when seeing what was behind the doors in the Lor (which Magolor took great amusement with). King Dedede was content in the sun, and if trouble struck, Meta Knight would definitely be the first one to fight back, for his sword never left his hand. Whether he was swimming, building sandcastles, lying in the sun, or just poking around, Kirby was smiling, and to see so many of his friends in one place and smiling too made it so much better.
Maybe the runes on the meteorite weren't pleasant in the slightest, but surely, in a place so happy, a threat so ominous wouldn't take hold. Surely.