Three sets of footprints- one small, one bigger, and one massive set- decorated the sand as the troupe heading west ventured along in it, Digi watching the radar and Meta Knight watching for enemies while Spinni and Storo followed closely along. Three dots lit up on the radar, all relatively close to each other, and though it would take a bit of trekking, it wasn't anything they couldn't reasonably drag back to the ships by sundown. The skies were clear, the sun was warm, the sand underfoot was slightly damp, and the occasional gull would fly overhead while letting out a croon to some scattered flock mates. Meta Knight might've been indifferent, but to the Squeaks, it was as great a treasure raid as any- no security systems to dismantle, no guards to sneak past, no convoluted dungeons to map out, just a pleasant adventure on the coast with big golden objects literally sitting around for them to collect.
"If we find one that hasn't hatched, you guys think we can raise the little dragon as a pet?" Spinni mused as they strolled along.
"A pet dragon would be nice," Storo said simply.
"And where would we put that?" Digi asked amusedly, his UFO turning around for a moment so he could look at them. "Our airship's interior square footage is already chock-full of objects of inestimable value that we could not possibly bear to part ways with! We may be able to wrangle a hatchling, but some species of reptiles hatch at only ten centimeters in length and grow to over two meters long- that's a fifteen-fold increase! Never mind that these dragons are hatching from eggs far larger than average!" He turned back around. "We don't have space for a dragon."
"Not with that attitude," Spinni remarked.
Meta Knight couldn't help but to give the shade-wearing Squeak a side-eye. "Considering the aggression they show at such a young age, that is not likely to end in your favor," the masked one too thought it ridiculous.
"You two are no fun," Spinni said, shaking his head.
"Then go ahead, try to prove us wrong," Meta Knight replied without missing a beat.
"Careful, before I steal that mask off your face," Spinni shot back.
The one wearing a mask simply gave a flick of his cape and didn't even bother looking at the one he addressed as he responded, "Go on. Come meet your doom."
Storo, though, gave a soft glance to his shade-wearing friend. "Calm down, Spinni," he said gently.
Spinni shut up, but he certainly looked like some choice words were running through his head from his disgruntled frown and crossed arms.
"You didn't get too cold last night, did you?" Storo inquired, glancing to Meta Knight.
"Not at all," the masked one replied. "I've been in much more precarious places. I just wanted to keep my eyes out in case something threatening made itself known."
"Having a knight and a guard robot is cool and all, but you know we have security systems," Digi noted.
"I do," Meta Knight replied simply. "It was out of precaution, not because I doubt our allies."
At that moment, though, a stray burst of water came flying their way from deeper in the shallows, and a quick glance revealed the red body and disgruntled face of a Flotzo as the culprit. Quick as lightning, Meta Knight held up his sword to deflect the attack, and Digi's UFO started to shift its parts around again.
"Unfriendly organism detected!" the smallest Squeak cried. "Activating cannon mode!"
Sure enough, two cannons emerged from the sides of his UFO, and pretty soon, the Flotzo was making a break for it. The inside of Digi's cannons started to glow brightly and two bursts of energy sailed out of them at their aquatic assailant, to which quite a big splash followed despite Digi and his UFO both being rather small in size. Whether they hit or not was hard to tell, for the red creature had ducked below the surface and quite a bit of sediment was disturbed, but either way, no more attacks followed.
Digi laughed, the glow in his cannons quickly fading but the cannons themselves sticking around. "I should keep these out just in case," he mused. "Can't ever hurt to have a cannon handy."
"Constant vigilance," Meta Knight said.
"Oh, we stay vigilant, alright," Spinni remarked with a smirk.
Had they not had other objectives, and had Meta Knight not been there to listen, the Squeaks might've started bouncing ideas around for what their next heist could be, but seeing as the masked one would certainly quash any attempts at thievery not related to dragon eggs falling from the sky, they left that topic alone. Perhaps that was the knight's real goal- to dissuade them from any mischief and to keep them in line. (Meta Knight certainly wasn't going to outright say that, indeed, that was one of his objectives.)
Nonetheless, the shade-wearing one piped up and said, "You know, with as long as those meteor showers go on and how many streaks you see through the sky, I'm kinda surprised we're not seeing more of those eggs laying around everywhere."
"A planet is a big place to hide," Storo said simply.
"And just because we see them in our sky doesn't necessarily mean they'll land here," Digi noted. "They could just be passing through our atmosphere on their way to somewhere else." His UFO vibrated in the air for a second as he haplessly bemoaned, "I love studying, but this lack of concrete information is killing me…"
"Be patient," Meta Knight said, giving the smallest Squeak a glance. "It'll come to you in due time."
A few cream-colored cephalopods- Squishies- traipsed out of the shallows to study the small entourage walking around in their territory, but Spinni was quick to lob shurikens at them to keep their curious tentacles away (even if they meant no harm and just wanted to study their company). Storo couldn't help but to pick up some pretty shells scattered among the golden sands, and Spinni and Digi both had to take a moment and admire them while Meta Knight couldn't have been bothered about them. On a few occasions, one of the Squeaks caught sight of something sparkling in the shallows, only to rush over and discover it was merely a soda can or a busted piece of a machine or the like rather than any sort of treasure. Still, after a bit, the shallows stopped being so shallow, and it became apparent that treading on solid ground wasn't going to cut it if they were to reach the nearest egg.
"Time to see if these things hatch underwater," Digi mused, hovering over the sea and peering into it. "You guys down?"
"If it's for treasure, heck yes!" Spinni cried.
"Lead the way," Storo answered.
Meta Knight wasn't too fazed either way. Digi's UFO started shifting again, the red outer shell of the vehicle in particular rearranging to mostly cover his dome save for the front for visibility and the lights shifting to be closer to that newly-formed window as well, then dropped into the water while a propeller and rudder emerged from the back end. The cannons stayed, but shifted to the bottom half of the vessel and changed shape slightly to be thinner and more round, the whole thing looking much more akin to a submarine with energy torpedoes than a UFO with energy cannons. Storo too jumped right in, creating a gigantic splash as he did, and Spinni followed as well, hardly creating any splash with his quick, precise movements. Off they went, Digi keeping an eye on the radar and Meta Knight keeping close to the vessel.
Blippers swam beneath the surface, some of them getting close to study their company and getting dissuaded from being too close by Meta Knight's sword or Spinni's shurikens, but a green fish with prominent teeth- a Barracu- on the other hand, wasn't nearly as docile. One of them took instant notice of their unusual company and made a beeline over, going for Digi's submarine but meeting a fist from Storo instead that made it see stars.
"Thanks, Storo!" Digi said.
His larger comrade couldn't open his mouth to reply, but instead gave a simple nod.
Among the sea grass and anemones, some big clamshells rested, and Spinni wasted no time in darting over to them like a speeding torpedo to check them for pearls. A Craby or two tried to grab his cape as he did, but a shuriken lobbed at them, even underwater with its force dulled, told them to back off. The shade-wearing Squeak checked five in quick succession, but a slight frown graced his face when he turned up without a sparkling sphere of nacre. Digi and Storo too bemoaned such, albeit not as visibly.
However, what they certainly weren't bemoaning was a particularly big clam at the bottom of the water, its shell wide open, but where a pearl might have sat instead was a large golden sphere. It wasn't as big as Nem's, but still it was big enough that it could only hope to fit conveniently in Storo's arms. Digi rushed over right away, firing some energy torpedoes at some Barracus that wanted to chomp down on his submarine, and the others were fairly quick to follow.
The lights on his submarine reflected cleanly off the egg's surface, letting them see plainly that it was intact. Nacre clung around the bottom of the egg but didn't make it all the way around its surface, indicating that the clam must have been irritated by its intrusion (for good reason) and tried to envelop it, but the bivalve alas hadn't been successful in its endeavors. A pearl with a golden interior would've been quite a treasure indeed… but once the dragon inside started to hatch, maybe it would've been less 'treasure' and more 'liability.' Nonetheless, it was a lovely sight- the golden sheen on the celestial eggshell, the shimmering silver of the nacre, the way the light danced around on the shiny surfaces. The Squeaks certainly had their eyes on it, but their company wasn't quite as concerned with appearances.
When Meta Knight tried to take his sword to the nacre to dislodge the egg, Storo quickly reached out to stop him and instead grabbed the clamshell, to which the masked one relented and likewise grabbed the shell. Spinni likewise took hold of it, albeit not being nearly as much help in moving it as Meta Knight or Storo, but Digi refrained, instead scanning their surroundings to chase off any mischievous sea life as they surfaced again. A few Blippers had to be scattered by his energy torpedoes, and a Barracu was left seeing stars after trying to make a meal of Spinni's head.
When they got to the surface again, they quickly took note of a small island nearby, and all in unison started to head that way with the clam.
"We're strikin' it rich!" Spinni exclaimed. "A gold-filled pearl! Well, maybe it's not a pearl but it looks like one!"
"It carries a lot of artistic value," Storo noted mildly. "And monetary value."
"And scientific value too!" Digi exclaimed. "An unhatched egg! This is perfect for collecting information!"
"We need to be mindful of how we approach this," Meta Knight said. "Did you all not get accosted by a dragon hatchling when you tried to take a different egg?"
"Yeah," Spinni affirmed. "But this is different, right? We're in the ocean- it's not like things with wings go for swims all the time!"
Meta Knight was only half convinced, but the other Squeaks were certainly content- maybe it was possible, but surely, a winged species wouldn't congregate out in the middle of the sea. The island they headed for didn't seem big enough to host a dragon nest either- it was enough to spread a picnic blanket over and maybe have an umbrella with a beach chair underneath, but surely no adult or adolescent of the draconic species would stick around there for long.
Storo, however, soon piped up with a different though. "Can whoever is shaking the clam stop? It's not heavy, but it's making it harder to hold."
The other two holding it looked at each other and paused, and Digi immediately perked up.
"Cut it out, Meta Knight," Spinni said flatly.
"It's not me," Meta Knight replied without missing a beat.
As if on cue, the clam gave a shake, and the ones holding it had to grip its shell extra hard. Wordlessly, Digi's UFO switched back into a submarine, and into the water he went.
"This thing is mad!" Spinni exclaimed. "We took it to the surface and it must be trying to dive down again!"
"Move quickly," Meta Knight said. "We'll be able to dislodge the egg easier if we're in our natural environment."
Again it gave a slight shake, and the ones holding it moved faster towards the island.
Shortly, Digi's UFO emerged from the water, and he said, "There wasn't anything underneath to mess with it either."
"Keep it that way," Meta Knight said. "The clam is giving us a piece of its mind."
"Roger that," Digi replied, his UFO shifting back to a submarine and dropping down again.
To the island they went, Digi keeping watch and supporting the shaky bivalve from below and Meta Knight, Storo, and Spinni carrying it along until they reached the shallows. Its twitching was even more apparent when they could stand on their feet again, but at the very least, it was easier to walk and push it along in the sand than it was to keep a firm grip on it while swimming. A lone palm tree and a few hibiscus bushes decorated the small piece of land, and Digi wasted no time in blasting the three coconuts out of the tree's branches before they could fall and explode when they got near. What was a bit more troublesome was a spiked plant-like creature- a Totenga- that moved along in the sand towards them, but it was no trouble for Meta Knight, who immediately struck it down with a flurry of sword strikes.
"Okay, let's get this egg out if this clam is gonna give us trouble," Spinni remarked as they pushed the clam onto the dryer part of the sand, the clam itself giving a thump.
Storo stepped into the shell and grabbed the egg, giving it a tug while Meta Knight and Spinni held the shell down. The nacre along the bottom started to crack, and with a few more tugs, the egg broke free. The clam shifted around slightly, and Meta Knight gave it a nudge towards the water, but instead of any violent twitches, it merely seemed to scoot itself along gently until it could dive again. What was left in Storo's arms was a lovely sight indeed- a golden sphere, its bottom half coated in a gently shimmering pearlescent sheen…
But when it twitched too, much more noticeably, everyone around it gave a jolt.
"Did… Did that thing just move…?" Spinni asked uncertainly.
It twitched again, Storo gripping it harder to keep it from slipping out of his grasp.
"It did!" Digi cried. "It wasn't just the clam! The egg is moving!"
Wordlessly, Meta Knight pulled out his sword, backing away slightly and saying, "Put it down."
The big Squeak did so, gently setting it down like it was an egg of the more fragile variety. Again it twitched, practically coming off of the ground for a second.
"Signs of life detected!" Digi exclaimed, zipping around it while everyone else backed away. "Being underwater has not adversely affected the embryo's ability to thrive! The shell is not porous like a bird's egg, thus giving this species increased fitness for the aquatic environment!"
Another twitch, a hairline crack forming along the egg's golden surface.
"Digi, back away from the egg!" Spinni cried, not looking so enthused.
The one in the UFO either couldn't be bothered or didn't care, for he did no such thing. "It's hatching!" Digi kept on, still zipping around. "It typically takes a bird or reptile several hours to a few days to break through its shell, so this little one must-!"
Crack!
It apparently didn't take hours or days, for in moments, part of the shell was busted out and Digi found himself staring into an eye through the hole- a solid black eye that he could see his own surprised expression reflected in. He too backed away hurriedly, and with a screech, the top half of the egg was broken off and the little one inside unfurling with teeth already bared. It didn't have wings, but that certainly didn't make it any less imposing- large finned protrusions went down its back and decorated the sides of its forelimbs, still big but clearly more fitted for swimming than flying. Two beady black eyes stared back at them from its snarling face, serrated teeth lining the inside of its mouth. It wasn't armored with heavy scales, but its hide looked thick and rough just at a glance, colored light sea green for the most part and pale sandy yellow on its underside. Its forelimbs only possessed two claws each, while its webbed hind limbs didn't have any, but from the way it growled immediately on laying eyes on them, it wouldn't be shy about using those claws, not to mention the sharp teeth in its maw. Maybe it was slightly shorter than Storo when it completely unfurled, but it certainly wasn't small, and if it was going to be aggressive, they would certainly have to watch themselves.
"… These little ones are powerful," Digi said flatly.
"Did you seriously need to see it bust out of a meteorite to figure that out?" Spinni remarked, grabbing a shuriken in each hand.
The 'little one' in question stepped out of the egg and towards them, a low growl escaping its maw as it stared them down. "Voices…" it said, its own voice guttural and its eyes narrowing. "Devour… voices…!"
Meta Knight instantly stepped forward, pointing his sword at the dragon and saying, "If you intend to come to this peaceful planet and wreak havoc, you will answer to me! I will not let you run amok!"
The hatchling wasn't dissuaded, taking another step forward and lowering its head to look straight at Meta Knight, touching the tip of its snout to his sword. The Squeaks stood still, and Meta Knight's eyes narrowed in turn at the hatchling, both of them studying each other… until the hatchling's jaws opened and tried to crunch the masked one's sword. A metallic clang sounded as its teeth collided with metal, but Meta Knight wasn't so bothered, instead giving a shove of the hilt sideways to make the blade move even while the creature had it in its maw. Rather quickly, the dragon decided that having the inside of its mouth prodded and sliced wasn't so pleasant, turning loose with its jaws while a black substance trickled out of one corner. Another snarl escaped it, the hatchling pouncing and jumping, but Storo easily intercepted it, grabbing its forelimbs to keep them from clawing into anyone while the hatchling looked him in the eyes next. The biggest Squeak's arms twitched just a bit, for the little one was not holding back its force in the slightest, but the dragon's attempts to brute force its way out simply were not working at all.
"Hey…!" Storo breathed as he held it off, looking right into a snapping set of jaws and furious black eyes.
While the beast was grappling with Storo, Meta Knight didn't waste any time in leaping into the air over the dragon, jabbing his sword straight down as he dropped. Even if it wasn't covered in scales, breaking the creature's skin wasn't easy- its hide was tough, but nonetheless his sword pierced through with its bottom half buried in the dragon's back. A loud screech followed and the hatchling let up on Storo to instead thrash aside, rolling onto its back in presumable hopes of crushing its assailant. Meta Knight, however, was quicker than that, yanking his sword back out right as the creature shifted its weight and giving a flap of his wings to stay out of its way. More black liquid trickled out of the dragon's wound- the creature's blood, apparently.
"Get outta here with that act!" Spinni cried, lobbing his metal stars at the dragon's underside.
"Readying battle protocols!" Digi exclaimed, his cannons starting to glow again.
The dragon thrashed its claws to knock aside two of Spinni's shurikens, but one stuck itself into its belly, eliciting another growl. Digi fired his energy projectiles, but their foe opened its maw and something started to well up in its throat- an energy projectile from the beast itself, one dyed black like its blood and eyes. The two attacks met in the air, neither one reaching its target before fizzling out against the other.
"Well, I guess we're doing this!" Spinni exclaimed.
"We are," Meta Knight easily replied, giving a flick of his cape and pointing his blade back at their foe.
Whether they wanted to be or not, the dragon was certainly on the attack. With a growl, it pounced again, going for Meta Knight first with swiping claws, but the masked one deflected the hits with his sword while Storo balled up a fist and hooked it in the side of the head.
"I had a feeling I should've brought my hammer," the big Squeak mused simply.
"Don't worry, big guy! We'll manage!" Spinni exclaimed, lobbing more shurikens.
The hatchling went stumbling after Storo's punch, and more of Spinni's metal stars stuck into its hide, but it was still going. It opened its mouth with a hiss and started to prepare another ball of energy, but Digi was already doing the same and fired, nullifying its attack with his own. Some more followed from the smallest Squeak, but the dragon wasn't going to stay in place and take the hits, instead leaping aside with forceful but awkward movements into the water and kicking up dirt as it did. Its company knew better than to chase after it, but it didn't seem to be running- the waters around the island became murky, and though they could see the slight waves on the surface as the beast circled the land, it was too cloudy to see exactly where the dragon was underneath.
"Centripetal acceleration increasing," Digi noted, watching the dragon as it made quick laps around the island.
"That thing's gonna-!" Spinni started, but quickly silenced himself.
With speed that Spinni would've killed for, the dragon shot out of the water like a bullet right at them, its fins folded back for a more aerodynamic shape and its jaws wide open. Digi shot a few energy projectiles, but only one hit his target while Meta Knight gave a flap of his wings to rush to meet the dragon. The masked one wasn't caught in its maw, but instead jabbed his sword upward, breaking skin on its lower jaw and effectively throwing the creature upwards. A flurry of sword strikes followed, and though the dragon likewise swiped with its claws, they only clanged against the knight's mask. Back onto the ground the dragon fell in a thrashing heap, and back into the water it scurried. One of Spinni's shurikens caught it on the back as it disappeared into the sandy murk again, albeit with even more haphazard movements as if it was having trouble using its legs.
"This little guy…!" Spinni exclaimed, watching the water.
"Stay on guard," Meta Knight said, following the small waves on the surface with his eyes too.
Storo, however, looked to the lone palm tree and grabbed its trunk, yanking it clear out of the ground. He got a few surprised glances, but no one said a word- the Squeaks certainly knew what he was up to, and Meta Knight had an idea of what he was doing too. When the dragon shot out of the water again, the big Squeak wielded the tree like a bludgeoning weapon and smashed it down on the hatchling, stopping it in its tracks and leaving it sprawled on the sand. A few soft hisses escaped its mouth for just a second and its claws twitched slightly, but in a few moments, its eyes were drifting closed and it was lying still. The ones left standing looked at each other, then back at the dragon… then up at the sky in surprise as what looked like a sudden tractor beam came down. It enveloped and whisked away the fallen hatchling, taking it off into heaven only knew where before any of them could even try to grab it.
"What-!" Spinni cried.
"Unknown force detected!" Digi cried, his UFO shaking a bit as he looked upwards.
Meta Knight and Storo both didn't say anything, the former clutching his sword while he stared holes in the sky and the latter merely looking startled. There wasn't anything overhead- it wasn't overcast, and they had a clear view of the sky from the (newly) treeless island. All that there was to look at were a few puffy cumulonimbus clouds and a few tapering cirrus clouds between them- no bigger dragon, no spacecraft even. The hatchling had well and truly been sucked into the stratosphere by something they couldn't see, it seemed.
"Digi, you can't detect anything, can you?" Meta Knight inquired, glancing to the smallest Squeak then back to the sky.
The smallest Squeak likewise studied the expanses overhead, then even gave his radar a glance before replying, "Nothing."
"I don't get the feeling we're alone, but if we do have company, they are hiding themselves well," the masked one said flatly. "Don't let your guard down."
Sheepishly, as if another dragon might suddenly manifest, Storo strolled over to the eggshells and picked up the pieces, carefully stowing the smaller broken bits in the mostly intact bottom half as he cradled them in his arms. The others watched their surroundings carefully as he did so as well, but when nothing happened, they eased up.
"Let's call Kirby," Digi said, looking to the radar in his UFO. "Can't hurt."
. . . . .
Back in the slate cliffs, though, Capp'n was on the war path, pointing her flipper cannon at Kirby's bunch and firing. The pink puffball, Bandana Waddle Dee, and Magolor all scattered, but Nem, on the other hand, stayed right in the cannon ball's path for a moment with a wild grin before finally deciding to dodge.
"Magolor, get the egg!" Kirby called, forming a sandy fist.
"On it!" the magician replied, concentrating for a moment.
A black hole opened right behind the golden shell halves, and Capp'n certainly took notice of someone interfering with her nest. She let out a mighty squawk and pointed her cannon at Magolor next, her eyes full of fury.
Nem, however, had other ideas. "Your nest looks like a sack of spare parts!" she hollered, her pearl-filled socket narrowing and her hands brandishing her axe. "Over here, you blithering waste of resources! I'll fry your eggs and feed 'em to your underlings! I bet they taste delicious!"
Immediately, the cannon was no longer pointed at Magolor and instead at Nem, a wild screech escaping Capp'n's beak as she fired it. In moments, the golden eggshell was getting sucked into the black hole, completely unhindered by the one decorating her nest with it.
"That is cruel!" Bandana Waddle Dee exclaimed, giving Nem a wide-eyed glance.
"Keep taunting her, Nem!" Magolor, however, encouraged it. "She's distracting Capp'n, guys! It'll help us!"
Indeed, the rotund bird seemed far more intent on busting Nem into spare parts as she fired twice more with her cannon in quick succession, a loud wham sounding as the cannon balls blasted small craters into the rocks. However, Nem couldn't dodge the last one perfectly, and a loud CLANG filled the air as one cannon ball hit her square in the belly. Her armor held up perfectly fine, but she couldn't help but to stumble for a second from the force and her intact eye twitched, even if there was still a grin on her face. Nonetheless, Kirby's sandy fist pounded Capp'n easily without the bird paying him much attention, though when Bandana Waddle Dee went to jab at her flipper cannon in hopes of dislodging it, he quickly found it pointed at him next.
"Wah-!" he exclaimed, seeing the inside of it start to light up.
However, the cannon ball didn't hit him, or hit anyone at all, when a bed of purple needles made of what resembled a poisonous fluid sprang up beneath Capp'n and knocked her off her feet. The cannon ball flew off into the distance, a crack echoing from someplace far away, and the magician behind the attack couldn't help but to have a giggling fit for a second.
"Thanks, Magolor!" Bandana Waddle Dee cried, getting his wits again quickly.
"Oh, no problem~!" Magolor called back playfully.
With Capp'n down, Bandana Waddle Dee gave a thrust of his spear at her cannon to dislodge it, attracting her attention again as it came loose. As she got up, however, brandishing her sword while her cannon hung haphazardly from her flipper, she quickly had to parry a hard hit from Nem's axe when the armored one rushed her next.
"You call that a cannon, bird brain?!" Nem taunted, her intact eye narrowing. "Where I'm from, you'd get your ass kicked!"
Nonetheless, a furious screech escaped Capp'n and she pointed the cannon at Nem again after haphazardly fending off Nem's blow… or at least, she tried to, for when she moved her flipper quickly to point it, the cannon came loose and was inadvertently flung off. Maybe a cannon ball would've come flying out, but only another screech followed, the bird holding up her sword angrily and going for Nem while the armored lass charged up for a moment. With a spinning slash that scattered embers, Nem parried the hit, the force knocking Capp'n away. It was a fine opportunity for Kirby to summon up a dust devil and for Magolor to ready a cannon of his own (albeit one made of magic), which Capp'n was too busy focusing her ire on Nem to see coming in time. She swung her sabre to fend them off, but still found herself getting overwhelmed and stumbled backwards with a disgruntled squawk.
"You suck at this, birdie!" Nem taunted, grinning wide.
Another furious screech followed, Capp'n's eyes darting around as if she couldn't quite decide who to focus on. Apparently it wasn't Nem anymore, for she looked to Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee next, running at them with her sword waving in the air. The spear toting one jabbed at her sword as she swung it to deflect her hit, while Kirby kicked up sand that made her start to squint. Her empty flipper went to rubbing one eye as she jumped back, but the eye that didn't have sand in it quickly noticed a sword as big as her own about to slash down on her- Magolor's Ultra Sword. She scrambled to block it, haphazardly swinging her sabre in its path, but such was a perfect opening for Kirby to muster up another dust devil. With another screech, Capp'n stumbled back and fell, her sabre clattering onto the rocks and one flipper reaching for it for a moment before stopping.
"We did it!" Bandana Waddle Dee exclaimed, holding his arms in the air.
"Yes!" Kirby likewise cried happily, bouncing a bit in place.
"That was easy, wasn't it~?" Magolor chirped.
Indeed, Capp'n wasn't moving, her eyes drifting closed and movements ceasing.
Nem studied the limp bird for just a moment, still holding her axe as if ready to strike, then slowly put it on her back again, albeit still holding its staff. "Oh, will you shut up, you warmongering tool?!" she shouted, her gaze going upwards. A heavy sigh followed and she clenched her fists for just a moment, smiling but with her intact eye narrowing.
"What's it saying?" Kirby inquired, strolling in front of Capp'n, closer to Nem.
The armored lass shook her head, easing up. "Oh, just the usual awful things that I am, yet again, actively choosing to ignore," she replied flatly.
"Bad hat," Kirby said, giving the hat a glance before turning back to Capp'n. "We should probably get her back on her nest, though. We got what we needed, but those unhatched chicks are probably gonna get cold without her sitting on them. Nem, give me a hand."
"You can have both my hands," Nem replied.
Kirby and Nem eased their way under Capp'n to pick her up and carry her back to the nest, Nem flying to get the large bird situated upright as she had been before (even if slumped over). Magolor helped keep the bird steady and Bandana Waddle Dee made sure the eggs were situated comfortably, their mother's fluffy and rotund body easily warming them again even if she herself was out cold. Kirby carefully set her sword on the edge of the nest and Bandana Waddle Dee retrieved her cannon which, while busted, could probably be repaired again with all of the objects strewn around amongst the straw… at least, hypothetically.
With a poof, Kirby was ditching his Sand guise and curiously looking at the cannon. "I have a feeling about this thing…"
"You do?" Bandana Waddle Dee asked, holding it out a bit.
Wordlessly, Kirby opened his mouth and started to inhale, to which his spear-toting friend turned loose of the cannon and let it fly into Kirby's mouth. In a few moments, Kirby's getup was changing- a three-cornered black hat was atop his head with red feathers decorating its left side much like the one Capp'n wore, a sabre was across his back, and on his left arm was mounted a small wooden cannon.
"Oooh!" the pink puffball exclaimed, glancing at the cannon and lightly playing with the sabre. "This is nice! I'll call this one Pirate!"
"Pirate!" Bandana Waddle Dee cried, his face lighting up. "That's cool!"
"It suits you well," Magolor said with a wink.
"You can have a weapon in both extremities," Nem said with a smirk.
Kirby giggled, putting the sabre across his back again before grabbing the radar device. "We should probably-"
However, at that moment, the radar screen shifted and a different voice entered the mix. "Kirby? Can you hear me?" came the voice of Digi.
The pink puffball immediately had the device in both hands, smiling and giving a wave at Digi's likeness on the other end. "Hi, Digi!" he said cheerfully.
The other three crowded close too, giving waves, winks, and smirks of their own. The same happened on the other end too- Spinni and Meta Knight got in close, while Storo's head was completely cut out of view even as the big Squeak waved.
"We just saw a dragon hatch," Digi explained.
"And it went off the rails!" Spinni added emphatically. "Like, totally went off the rails!"
"It showed aggression the moment its eyes saw light," Meta Knight affirmed.
Kirby and the ones around him got surprised looks at the mention, the pink puffball himself and Bandana Waddle Dee in particular letting out little gasps.
"Are you guys okay?!" Kirby exclaimed.
"Did you beat it?!" Nem cried.
"Yes and yes," Digi answered. "But once Storo slapped it with enough force to make it lose consciousness, an unseen force sucked it up and it disappeared into thin air, like the suction beam on our ship but not on our ship! There's nothing in the skies over here and I don't see anything that I could analyze."
Another jolt of surprise followed, Magolor looking at the sky in a startled state and Nem grabbing her axe again.
"That happened to us!" Bandana Waddle Dee exclaimed, leaning in closer to the screen. "Remember, guys?! When we beat the Devourer of the Forest!"
A jolt of surprise followed from the Squeaks on the other end, while Meta Knight took it in stride.
"They're on to us!" Spinni exclaimed.
"Not good…" Storo's voice trailed off.
"Further analysis direly needed…" Digi mused haplessly. "Undesirable pattern of disappearance noted..."
"Stay calm," Meta Knight said quickly. "It's a bit unsettling, but panicking will do us no good."
"Hang on," Magolor chimed in, likewise getting closer to the screen. "Can I see the egg? Maybe it says something."
"Guys! Show Magolor the egg!" Digi said on the other end, the view from his device shifting around for a moment presumably as he moved it outside of his UFO's dome.
Kirby handed the radar off to Magolor for a better view, but he and the other two certainly crowded around it, Nem still holding her axe. Meta Knight and Storo held the halves of the eggshell and Spinni held up a smaller piece from where the dragon had first peered out, and though they were not as striking as Nem's meteorite, there were certainly things to be seen on the inside surface. A small string of runes was on one half, Spinni's piece completing part of one letter, and on the other was what looked like either a bizarre stick figure or a set of claw marks, all of which had a faint aqua glow. The magician studied them for a second, his eyes narrowing in concentration, while the other three simply took their images in.
"Well, maybe it did have less surface to work with, but this one must have hatched early or just wasn't as smart as its sibling that came out of Nem's," Magolor mused. "It says 'DEVOUR.' Just that single word, written with a lot of emphasis like it would be shouting if it was speaking it."
"Well, it tried to do that," Spinni remarked.
"Can you tell what this is?" Meta Knight inquired, glancing at the haphazard marks. "This isn't a word, is it?"
It certainly didn't look like a word compared to what was on the other half. One purely vertical scratch mark, situated in the center, was longer than the rest, with three slightly shorter lines crossing both it and each other at a single point. Two of the shorter lines were more vertical than horizontal while the third shorter one was completely horizontal, and three even shorter lines branched off of the horizontal one. Whatever it was, or even what it was supposed to be, certainly wasn't clear.
"If it's a word, it's one I don't recognize," Magolor replied.
"It looks like a horribly-drawn figure of a slender someone with three conjoined bodies, a tail, tree limbs for arms, and no head," Nem remarked, her intact eye squinting.
"It kinda does," Bandana Waddle Dee mused, likewise squinting a bit.
"That guess is as good as mine," Magolor said, handing the device back to Kirby. "We just got one too, but I'll have to read it once we get back. I had to use a black hole to get it and I dropped it back at the Lor for safekeeping."
"We fought a really big bird with a really fancy nest, and she was using it as decoration," Kirby explained, tilting the device towards Capp'n's nest.
Instantly, at the sight of so many sparkly things decorating such a huge nest, the Squeaks on the other end practically had their eyes bulging out of their skulls and excited cries escaping their mouths. Whatever words they may have said, however, were cut off whenever Meta Knight quickly reached out and turned off the call, Kirby's screen going back to showing a radar.
"Maybe showing them the nest wasn't such a good idea," Bandana Waddle Dee mused.
"It'll be fine," Kirby brushed him off. "What are they gonna do, steal the nest? Capp'n is sitting in it with her eggs and she's got the Buccies to protect it too. That would be like stealing candy from a baby in broad daylight- you just don't do that."
"I don't think any of that would make a difference to them…" the spear-toting one's voice trailed off haplessly.
Kirby only giggled. "Well, either these dragon babies can teleport or there's a bigger one beaming them up from space," he said simply. "We should stay alert just in case. Baby birds always have Mommy or Daddy close by, and maybe it's the same for these dragons. They'll be mad if they hear we beat up their kids."
"They'll be mad at what I do to their faces too," Nem remarked, glancing around as if she might see the hypothetical parent dragons hiding in the rocks.
"We're pretty well-equipped to deal with that, don't you think?" Magolor mused, not bothered at all.
Another giggle came from the pink puffball. "That's right!" he affirmed, giving the radar one more glance. "And we've still got eggs to gather- are we ready to keep going?"
"Right behind you," Bandana Waddle Dee affirmed.
"Always," Nem easily answered.
"Lead the way," Magolor chirped.
Off they went again, leaving the fanciful nest and the ruler of the roost sitting on it behind.
. . . . .
"No, no, no!" Digi cried in panic, zipping around with his grabber arm reaching out. "Meta Knight! Turn it back on!"
The masked one, however, had the device clutched tightly in his own hands, not doing such. "You don't need to bother that bird who is merely trying to create a nice environment for her unhatched chicks," he said flatly, jumping out of the way. "Let it go. You have plenty of treasure already."
"You don't get it, Meta Knight!" Spinni protested, reaching for the radar too but being unable to retrieve it from Meta Knight's grasp.
"I get it perfectly well- you lose sight of common decency when you see something that sparkles," Meta Knight easily replied, holding the radar over his head to keep it out of Spinni's hands then jerking it down to avoid the flying Digi. "Stay focused. We have one priority right now."
Storo looked like he debated trying to grab the radar too, but didn't quite want to put the nacre-coated golden pieces down.
"If Popstar gets overrun by this invasive dragon species, your days of carefree treasure hunting will be over," the masked one kept on, still dodging the smaller Squeaks. "Is that what you want? A world where you can't walk under the sun or sneak through forests without fighting a horde of treasure-hunter-hunting dragons bent on devouring you? Even worse, just consider that they get a taste for gold and gemstones- they may devour all the remaining treasure in the world before you can hunt it!"
Of course, the dragons having a taste for treasure hunters was worse than merely having a taste for treasure in the masked one's mind… but that seemed to snap the Squeaks out of it. Spinni stood down, Digi paused, and Storo deflated, while Meta Knight gave them a stern eye from under his mask.
"… He's right," Spinni acknowledged.
"… Fine," Digi said, albeit reluctantly.
"You have a point," Storo concurred.
Meta Knight too eased up, holding onto the radar for a moment before relinquishing it back to Digi. "Let us keep going. We still have much to find in the grand scheme of things."
Shortly, the radar was back in Digi's UFO, and the four of them were setting off again towards the next closest blip on the screen. Their eyes were keeping even better watch than they had been before in the event that another draconic figure tried to reveal itself from the nothingness the hatchling had apparently vanished into, for apparently, there wouldn't be much to warn them before an attack.