Disclaimer: Kirby belongs to Nintendo and HAL Laboratory.
Adeleine returned home from school that afternoon. She might have homework for math, language arts and science today, but her excitement focused more on her upcoming trip to Ripple Star two weeks from now. A young Cappy by the name of Honey set foot into the house shortly after.
"Hey, mom!" Honey called over, "we're home!"
Honey's mom glanced behind her as she was mixing cookie batter in a bowl.
"Come on inside, dear," she spoke, "the Yuletide party is a few hours from now."
"Oh, nice!" Honey chirped, "who's going?"
Honey sat down at the table. Adeleine sat next to Honey while she pulled out her homework.
"Well," the mom giggled, "I think the other parents will be going, and I hear Meta Knight would be there. Apparently, he's a bit of a card shark."
Honey raised her eyebrow as she rummaged her backpack.
"What about Kirby?" Honey asked.
"We can certainly invite him if you want," Honey's mom winked.
Honey's mom reached for the oven and pulled out a tray of cookies, taking some time to lay the cookies on the cooling rack. Adeleine relished in the scent of freshly baked cookies even as she was in the middle of working on solving math problems in one of the worksheets.
"So how about you, kids?" Honey's mom asked, "got any plans before the party?"
"I'll be meeting up with Iro and Hohei after we finish our homework," Honey proclaimed, "Adeleine?"
"I dunno, I guess I can go with you," Adeleine shrugged, "or maybe just do some painting. I have a couple that I'm still working on that I want to finish up soon."
Honey's mom nodded as she removed her oven mitts and returned her focus to arranging the cookie batter on the tray.
Hours passed and Adeleine met up with Honey, Iro and Hohei at the front door outside.
"Alright," Honey's mom announced, "everyone inside."
Honey's mom opened the door and her husband followed her inside. Honey, Iro and Hohei followed suit. Out of the corner of her eye, Adeleine spotted Kirby scurrying down the pavement while a dark blue blob followed him close behind. She blinked twice as a realization clicked in her head.
"Gooey?"
The blue orb perked up and waved its tongue at her, its dopey eyes slowly drifting apart before focusing back again. Once Kirby stopped just before Adeleine, she waved her hand at him.
"Heya, Kirby," Adeleine smiled, "glad you could come."
"Poyo!" Kirby waved back.
For a moment, Adeleine shifted her gaze between Kirby and Gooey.
"Say, Kirby," Adeleine asked, "where's Elfilin?"
Kirby blinked twice before he shrugged.
"Poyo," Kirby sighed.
Gooey didn't say anything, but Adeleine knew he understood what Kirby was saying. Still, she gestured the pink puffball and the positive incarnation of Dark Matter into the building.
"Well, come on in!" she persuaded, "I'm sure you'll have lots to tell Elfilin afterwards."
"Poyo!"
They all set foot inside and looked around. The interior of the building wasn't decorated completely as of yet, but they took note of holiday themed place mats and a tablecloth. A festive rug sprawled across the living room floor and a wreath hung on the front door. An evergreen tree stood upright in the middle even if ornaments or tree lights weren't added yet. A wooden box sat next to the tree; probably holding the decorations. Mayor Len was chattering with the adults in the dining room. Meta Knight sat at the corner of the room, keeping to himself. Kirby wandered around a little until he spotted the veteran knight from afar.
"Papa poyo!" Kirby chirped and waved his arm.
Meta Knight's eyes flashed pink in mere embarrassment and averted his gaze. Kirby strolled towards the veteran knight and stood on the tips of his feet.
"Poyo?"
"Fine, I suppose," Meta Knight sighed, trying to regain his composure, "and you?"
"Poyo poyo!" Kirby chirped, "Gooey poyo!"
"Well, I suppose that is—" Meta Knight started.
The veteran knight paused for a moment but then a thought echoed in his head regarding Elfilis not being exactly stable around Dark Matter.
"—Unfortunate," Meta Knight finished.
Kirby gave his father a confused look.
"Not to worry," Meta Knight blurted, "it's just some things I've been dealing with."
Kirby thought over the response for a moment before he nodded.
"Poyo!" he waved his arm.
"You too," Meta Knight nodded back.
Kirby left the dining room and met up with Gooey and Adeleine in the living room, who were in the middle of playing Go Fish with the cappy kids. The human child paused and shifted her gaze towards Kirby.
"Hey, Kirby!" Adeleine called over, "wanna join us?"
"Poyo!"
Kirby sat down next to Gooey.
Adeleine started to shuffle a deck before she handed a few cards to Kirby. He fumbled with them a little, trying to get a grip on the cards with his arms. The pink puff checked on Gooey, who wrapped his deck of cards with his tongue. He was trying his best to focus on keeping his tongue dry; something that came with difficulty. Adeleine and Hohei exchanged glances as they both examined their own cards. Gooey squinted his eyes, unsure of how this game worked. Kirby noticed this, so he waved his arm to get the dark blue blob's attention.
"Poyo?"
Gooey blinked over at Kirby, his eyes slowly drifting apart for a moment before he focused them again. Using his limited speech, Kirby started demonstrating the rules of Go Fish to Gooey. All the while, Adeleine kept up with the game with the other cappy kids.
Outside the house, meanwhile, a Squeak with red fur squinted his eyes as he fiddled with a small dagger with a lockpick, being slow and quiet with the lock on the gate. Three of his underlings kept watch and on occasion checked on the sheep from a distance, careful not to make a sound. With a soft click, the lock sprang open. The lead Squeak held it away from the sides of the ring holding the lock in place, suppressing any noise. He silently pulled the lock from the gate and opened it.
The lead Squeak nodded to one of his underlings and darted off into the shadows. One of the Squeaks with the most magic talent climbed on top of the fence with such ninja-like prowess. Looking one sheep in the eye, the mouse-like creature's eyes flashed softly. The sheep flew into a panic, startling all the other sheep and causing them to bolt out of the gate.
Back in the house, the party continued on with Mrs. Sato setting out the platter of cookies on display. The guests lined up to serve themselves food at the kitchen counter. At the same time, Meta Knight held onto his cards, briefly glancing up at the other adults.
"I fold," Officer Borun sighed, too nervous with the veteran knight's excellent poker face, "you know that kinda feels like cheating."
The Cappy police chief placed his cards down onto the table. Mayor Len sweated and narrowed his eyes, trying to see anything from Meta Knight…only to find the bright yellow eyes from the visor of his mask. He let out a breath and set his cards down on the table, resting his head on one of his heads. Gus also folded at the power of the veteran knight's poker face. Curio folded as well, not having a great hand to start with.
"Well," Mayor Len chuckled nervously, "shall we go grab some food?"
Meta Knight set down his cards, consisting of a 2 of hearts, a 3 of diamonds, a 5 of clubs, a 7 of spades and a 4 of diamonds as he pulled in the pot, making everyone else groan in disappointment. Meta Knight lightly pushed his winnings into his pocket dimension, eyeing Curio, Borun and Gus who didn't seem ready to quit yet. Mayor Len stood up from the table and entered the kitchen. He briefly made a brief glance out the kitchen window. The cappy mayor noticed his sheep weren't out in the field.
"Hmm," he muttered to himself, "I wonder if they went to find some shelter. It sure is cold out there."
Kirby was in front of Adeleine and Gooey while they were waiting to serve themselves some food. Once Samo left with a full plate, the pink puffball proceeded to help himself to some holiday delicacies. He may have been tempted to take as much food as he wanted, but being among guests was just enough of a reminder for him to save some food for the others. Kirby settled for taking one piece of food from each platter before he made his way towards the dinner table. Before Kirby could even sit down, Mayor Len approached the kids.
"Hey, kids?" he called over, "I need one of you to go outside and check on the sheep pen real quick. I can't see them out there and need to make sure they are all locked up still. Whoever does it can have dessert a little bit early."
Adeleine and Gooey shared glances before she nodded.
"Leave that to me!" Adeleine grinned.
Kirby focused on Adeleine before he inhaled his entire meal.
"Poyo!"
The mayor let out a sigh.
"Alright," he advised, "I'll leave it to you, then. Don't stay out too long, though."
"We'll be right back shortly," Adeleine winked.
Adeleine, Gooey and Kirby raced towards the door. The human child put on her coat and scarf before she led the other two outside. As soon as they arrived, they noticed the sheep weren't inside the fence and the lock to the pen has been left on the ground a short distance away.
"Wait a minute," Adeleine muttered to herself.
Adeleine took a moment to inspect the gate. Kirby scanned his surroundings, hoping to locate any wandering sheep. There were a couple stragglers wandering around but largely they were seemingly not in the area; at least not close by anyway. The pink puff started to float into the air to look around, only to hear a startled yelp from Adeleine. Kirby puffed out some air and dropped onto the ground and shuddered as he spotted a Squeak restraining the human child while holding a blade to her throat.
"Poyo!" Kirby panicked.
"Scream," the renegade Squeak threatened, "and I'll cut your throat."
Those words caused Adeleine to freeze in terror. Kirby frantically checked the immediate surroundings for Gooey. The indigo blob was merely startled and frozen up, but the Squeak didn't bother looking at him. Kirby narrowed his eyes and took a few steps closer, eyes looking for whatever he could use to gain a copy ability. Unfortunately, he suspected the nearby lock might give him the metal copy ability, which wasn't a great choice. His eyes locked onto the knife next.
"Just give yourself up, come quietly and no one has to get hurt," the Squeak demanded.
To emphasize his point, the Squeak pushed the blade a little closer. At that point, Gooey snapped out of his trance and his tongue lashed out, snatching the knife away and swallowing it. He spat out a sword and whipped it around at the Squeak with his tongue. The rodent got startled, which cued Adeleine to struggle to free herself. He got a nasty cut for his troubles right across the forehead. A small amount of blood found its way into his eye, impeding him from trying to get back into the fight. He was too fast to catch as he darted off quickly. Seeing that the ambush failed, the other Squeaks also made their retreat, as the events happened too fast for any of them to step in to help. Kirby sighed before he approached Gooey while Adeleine rubbed her shoulder.
"T-Thank you, Gooey," Adeleine stammered.
Gooey made a faint sound of acknowledgement before he ate the sword he created.
"Poyo?" Kirby called over.
Adeleine glanced over her shoulder.
"Well," she asked him, "you got any plans to round up the sheep? The sooner, the better!"
Kirby took a moment to think before he nodded.
"Poyo!"
Kirby sprinted back into the house and found the mayor in the kitchen. He waved his arm to get his attention. Mayor Len spotted the pink puffball coming over.
"Kirby?" he paused, "what's the matter?"
Kirby used his body language and limited speech to explain the situation regarding the sheep.
"Oh, my," the mayor sighed, "well, everyone back inside. This'll have to wait until morning."
Kirby sighed before he went to retrieve Adeleine and Gooey. The human child hung up her coat and scarf before settling in the living room.
"My goodness," Mayor Len pondered, "it sounds like quite a harrowing experience. I'll have to ask Sir Meta Knight to keep an eye out for those hooligans."
While Hana entered the living room with a tray of Yuletide cookies, the mayor focused his eyes on Meta Knight. A moment passed before the veteran knight gazed back.
"Yes?"
Mayor Len's forehead sweated nervously.
"W-Would I be able to trouble you for some assistance?" he requested, "it seems that the kids were attacked by someone when they were out checking the sheep pen. I wasn't able to get all the details from Kirby, but I was hoping you could go take a look. I'm worried they might come back, or they could try and hurt someone else."
The mayor let out another sigh.
"I'm sorry for springing this on you, I know it's your time of—"
"It's no trouble, Mayor," Meta Knight cut him off.
It didn't matter if this was on one of his few days off. Things like this can't wait.
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