True to Magolor's words, it didn't take long at all to get to Halfmoon- maybe ten seconds, but no one kept count. It seemed stars, planets, and space dust bent around the ships in a distorted tunnel and zipped by so fast that they may as well have been briefly seen billboards on an otherworldly highway. Halfmoon itself could be classified as 'distorted' and 'otherworldly' too for the bizarre landscapes the entourage saw below- ethereal fields of stars that coalesced into paths and walls, green fields with palm trees and overgrown grass, rocky cliffs with stalactites and stalagmites posing a hazard to anyone who dared to climb them, and pools of water that defied gravity with waterfalls flowing up, down, and sideways. Seeing how unstable a large chunk of the terrain was, the first piece of solid grassy ground that came into view served as the landing site, but it was still somewhat tricky from the gusty wind on the planet's surface. The Halberd and the Lor flanked the Squeaks' airship to shield it from the wind, seeing as the floatier vessel might have begun to drift if left exposed to it for too long, and once all was situated, the entourage themselves noticed just how windy it was outside from how difficult it was to move in a straight line… for most of them, anyway.
When the Squeaks stepped out of the airship, Daroach was grabbing his hat to keep it from blowing away, and Spinni's cape billowed out behind him. Digi's UFO was still mobile, but the wind did make it wobble a bit. The only one completely unfazed was Storo, his large form not budging in the slightest.
"Jeeeez, this place must suck for anything that flies," Spinni remarked.
"Wind speed of almost fifty kilometers per hour detected," Digi noted haplessly. "Increased power being allocated to acceleration and stabilization of the travel mechanism… This place doesn't make moving easy."
"Truly," Daroach concurred, glancing about.
The ones leaving the Lor didn't fare much better. Nem was completely fine, her heavy frame completely impervious to the wind's stirring, but Marx and Magolor stuck close to her while she kept a careful grasp on them. One of her hands cupped around Magolor at her side to keep the magician from blowing away, while the other hand cupped around Marx, the jester perched atop her head so as to keep her hat in place.
"You better keep still up there," the robot said pointedly, her gaze shifting upwards.
Marx giggled. "Ohoho, I'll try.~"
"Gyah! Not you," Nem corrected. "We're friends, so it knows better than to run off, but still."
Any possible meanings to her words- the hat just sprouting legs and running off, or suddenly lurching upwards and sailing off into the wild yonder on a big gust of wind, or something else equally ridiculous- were lost on her company, who simply gave her some odd and amused looks.
Meta Knight and his armored form weren't so easily blown away, and while King Dedede certainly did have to put in more effort than usual, his rotund build fared better than the smaller figures. Bandana Waddle Dee clung to one of the king's hands to keep from blowing away, which the bigger figure didn't protest. Kirby, on the other hand, was fine to contend with the wind himself in spite of his small and puffy form, but he nonetheless didn't protest when Meta Knight stuck close and occasionally draped a wing around him or reached out to grab him if he started to drift. Captain Vul and Sailor Waddle Dee, on the other hand, stayed back in the Halberd to keep watch, giving salutes as Meta Knight and his company left the ship.
"Show those lubbers who's boss!" Captain Vul exclaimed.
"We'll hold the fort down!" Sailor Waddle Dee declared.
"We must've caught Halfmoon on a bad day," Bandana Waddle Dee remarked haplessly, shuffling along next to King Dedede.
"It was like this the last time I was here," Kirby noted nonchalantly. "If you try to run, you zoom. It's kinda fun, but if you see something cool, going back to get it is a pain."
"This place sure isn't our Popstar," King Dedede mused, glancing around and holding his hat to his head.
Shortly, the entourage was sequestered between the Lor and the airship, still feeling the gusts but being much less bothered by them. Kirby grabbed his radar and Digi glanced at his, the two of them glancing around for potential locations.
"There's definitely a big one and a few smaller ones lying around in the cliffs," Kirby noted, looking up from his radar to paths of stationary stars and steep pieces of purplish-colored rocks. "The further up you go, the wind isn't so bad, so once we're there, it won't be so hard to go where you want to."
"And there's some lying around the surface, judging by the position displayed," Digi added. "Whoever can contend with the wind should look around on the lower altitudes."
"Right," Kirby concurred with a nod, glancing around. "So that would mean… King Dedede, Meta Knight, Storo, and Nem should stay on the surface. You guys won't get blown around so easy." He glanced between Magolor and Marx. "And both of you can open black holes, so we should have one of you on a different group so it's easy to move the meteorites."
"Oh, come on, can't we-" Marx started, but was cut off.
"We'll take Marx," Meta Knight quickly chimed in, shooting the jester a side-eye.
"Then we'll take Magolor," Kirby declared.
Marx deflated, albeit still grinning while giving Meta Knight a side-eye in return. Nem, however, seemed rather content to keep him around, giving the jester a playful squeeze and grinning.
"And someone else needs to carry the radar," Kirby noted, glancing to the ones designated for surface searching and unstrapping the radar from his body. "Meta Knight, will you take it?"
"Of course," the masked one easily answered, reaching a hand out and taking it.
"Someone has to guard the treasure," Daroach piped up, glancing at the airship. "Squeaks, whose turn is it?"
"Mine!" Spinni declared, raising one hand. "Nothing's gonna get it on my watch!"
Kirby glanced around again. "Then we're all good! Me, Waddle Dee, Daroach, Magolor, and Digi are gonna search the cliffs while Meta Knight, King Dedede, Storo, Marx, and Nem search the surface. Captain Vul, Sailor Waddle Dee, and Spinni are staying back to hold the fort down."
The entourage was fine with their arrangements and shortly were setting off, Kirby and Meta Knight at the helms of the bunches (though the former with Digi close by for navigation). Of course Meta Knight's entourage with their bulky frames and heavy armor (or a hefty hand holding onto him, in the case of Marx) had no issue walking around on the surface, but Kirby's, on the other hand, huddled together and linked up just to be sure no one was carried off by the wind. Kirby's hands grabbed Bandana Waddle Dee's hand on one side and a mechanical arm sticking out of Digi's UFO on the other side, while Daroach grabbed Bandana Waddle Dee's other hand and a grabbing device from Digi's UFO held firmly to Magolor. Daroach was able to keep them somewhat stable by planting the Triple Star cane firmly into the ground, and Magolor held up a magic barrier to stave off some of the wind.
"This place has beautiful scenery," Daroach mused, gazing around the star-filled landscapes. "So many shiny and sparkly things…~"
"The stars here aren't gargantuan blazing celestial bodies, either," Digi noted. "They're surprisingly solid and tactile, something like Warp Stars but without the ability to be utilized as a travel mechanism. Considering the square meterage of the average treasure chest, I estimate we could fit… approximately forty-six of them into one."
"Remind me before we leave and we'll test that approximation," the head Squeak replied with a grin.
"I wonder if you could cook with them," Kirby wondered, getting pensive for a second.
He got a few funny looks from the Squeaks, while Magolor seemed more amused than anything and Bandana Waddle Dee looked inquisitive.
"Cook with them?" Bandana Waddle Dee asked. "Like putting a cherry on top of a sundae, but it's… a star?"
The pink puffball's face lit up. "A super star sundae!" he exclaimed. "I would eat that!"
"Of all the things to study… their potential culinary uses aren't something I would've thought of," Digi's voice trailed off.
"Well, I mean, those fancy rock salts are what you get normal salt in the shakers from, right?" Kirby kept on. "What if you ground up one of those little stars over a roast?"
"A super star roast," Bandana Waddle Dee mused, sounding enamored by the thought.
Magolor giggled. "That'd be one fancy roast.~"
"A very fancy roast," Daroach concurred, mulling it over. "Imagine it glittering, like those cupcakes with gold leaf flakes on the icing swirls…"
Kirby perked up some more. "Gold leaves?!" he exclaimed. "What kind of a tree has those?! I wanna plant one!"
The head Squeak chuckled. "It's not an actual leaf, Kirby. It's a sheet of gold as thin as paper."
"Ohhhh," Kirby acknowledged. "And you can put it on food?"
"You can," Daroach affirmed. "If you visit some really fancy restaurants, they have cupcakes with gold leaf pieces sprinkled on top, milkshakes with gold leaf flakes, steaks covered in gold leaf… It's pricey, but you feel luxurious eating it."
"Wow, a gold-plated steak sounds really nice," Bandana Waddle Dee mused.
"I know a few of those places," Magolor chimed in. "I'll have to take us out sometime and you can see."
Daroach perked up, giving the robed one a glance. "You do, do you?"
"Oh, yeah," Magolor easily replied. "There's one a few dimensional hops away that has these little winged creatures that feed you grapes while they cook your meal. You have to make reservations months in advance… so it's good for travelers who plan to swing by after a long trip.~"
The head Squeak eyed him, grin spreading. "Now that sounds like a wondrous time.~"
Digi too perked up, saying wistfully, "I wanna go too…~"
Some of the sparkly stars made makeshift bridges to jump and walk on, Kirby's entourage proceeding carefully as they crossed them. They were easy to step on and only bounced or wobbled slightly, but with the stars' relatively small sizes, only one, maybe two, figures could crawl on a single one at a time, and as they rose higher up towards a star field, they were laid out more akin to stepping stones than a bridge. Daroach crawled up first, using the Triple Star cane as leverage to keep steady in the wind, and the rest of the entourage followed, still holding tight to each other so as to not get swept away. However, among the pretty stars, another shiny entity made himself known when he turned to peer at the entourage, eyes glowing- a Laser Ball.
Kirby noticed him fairly quickly, giving a small cry of surprise as he turned his gaze on their company. "Laser Ball! Hold on!"
The other noticed too, Bandana Waddle Dee likewise giving a small cry of surprise and the others giving a small jolt.
"Mischief detected!" Digi exclaimed. "Activating cannon mode!"
Their round and shiny company was firing a laser from his eyes in moments, but Digi's cannons nullified the hit before it could make contact with any of them. Kirby, on the other hand, opened his mouth and started inhaling, Laser Ball's eyes not glowing but rather shooting wide as he was drawn in. Shortly, one of Kirby's hands had a staff in it with a shiny ball (albeit blue in color instead of orange like the foe bestowing it) atop it, and a jester hat adorned his head. With a poof, Laser Ball was no longer causing trouble and was rolling harmless off a nearby star.
"Thanks, Digi," Kirby said simply.
"Well, getting shot up with lasers would break our travel formation and make scaling the terrain harder by several magnitudes," the one in the UFO remarked. "We can't get broken up."
It wasn't particularly long before they reached the closest thing to solid ground they were going to get, the stars bunching up and flattening out into something resembling a field after a bit more climbing. The 'ground,' or at least, what was underfoot, glittered and sparkled, small particles of light in seemingly every color of the spectrum floating and dancing around the bigger yellow stars that gave it a walkable surface. The wind had apparently petered out too, a slight breeze still able to be felt but not strong enough to blow anyone away if they let go of the others. Kirby turned loose, and the others followed suit, the pink puffball taking a few steps on the bigger stars with no trouble. Some of them bounced and wobbled as he did, scattering some of the light particles temporarily like dandelion fluff in a meadow.
"The closest one is this way," Digi said, floating westward. "It's not a big one."
"Let's go," Kirby declared, strolling to the west too. "Let me see the radar for a second."
Digi's apparatus shifted around for a second, but a mechanical arm held the radar out where Kirby could see. Four spots lit up- two to the west rather close together, one north, and a bigger one northeast. Stars spread out to the west, making a nice place for a shiny meteor-egg to land, and from what he saw and the radar's indication, the northward ones were probably going to necessitate climbing. Sheer purple cliffs rose up to the north, some fog-like clouds and scattered starry 'bridges' between them, and the meteor-eggs had probably managed to nestle themselves among the crag. It would be a nice place for a winged creature, for if the draconic ones hatched with flying appendages, they could jump off and glide, then climb back up and practice using their wings some more. Certainly a place like Halfmoon would warrant such, just like the oceanic ones were equipped with fins…
"I wonder if that giant one came from here," Kirby mused as he strolled along, glancing at the sky.
"The dragon you saw?" Daroach inquired, glancing over.
"The one that made the sky look dark too early?" Magolor added.
"Yeah, that one," Kirby answered.
"Oooh, that might explain things," Bandana Waddle Dee caught on. "This place's sky always looks like the night sky on Popstar, and they blend in with their environment!"
"Deep space resembles the night sky too," Digi noted. "An organism that massive could prowl around in the far reaches of the stars much easier than it could on a planet this small. If they really are blending in with the environments they hatch in, given that one's presumable size, it has to be a more mature specimen, so it probably hatched in some far-off place before the invasion started."
Kirby thought for a second. "When you put it that way…"
However, after a bit of venturing, the stars underfoot thinned out into mostly light particles, leaving traversing by foot a troublesome thing to consider. Of course, flying was no issue, but something caught Kirby's eye- two bright white parallel lines snaking into the distance… A track, or so it seemed, just one without a cart readily available. His eyes followed it to see where it lead, and it dipped down rather sharply towards the ground before shooting up again and snaking towards a set of purple cliffs with foggy clouds about their upper reaches. It was in the same direction they were headed, so surely, it would be worthwhile to check it out.
"A track!" he exclaimed, pointing towards it with his staff. "We should see where it goes! Let's look for a cart and see if we can ride it!"
"It would be wonderful if it lead to a treasure stash," Daroach mused, taking notice. "There's only so many possibilities for a track in a place with no formal civilization."
"Maybe an ancient treasure stash!" Digi added.
Magolor giggled. "I think you'd have to go a little further than Halfmoon for that.~"
The entourage started looking- Daroach strolled along the furthest edge of the starry field and looked down below, Bandana Waddle Dee and Kirby looked along the ground to see if perhaps one had fallen through the starry gaps, and Magolor and Digi both looked around from an aerial perspective. Surely there was one laying around- Kirby had ridden them before through starry tunnels and over starry fields, it just had to be in a different place. The particles of light amongst the stars shrouded things, so even if a cart was rusty and dull, it wouldn't be impossible to lose it in the bright colors.
And sure enough, a metallic glint bigger than the usual star or particle caught his eye- the silver corner of a cart, sticking out of some piled up stars and particles. Kirby perked up and immediately waved the others over, going to pull it out of its heap, but the moment his eyes could see inside, another set of eyes peered back at him- the shrouded ones of Bio Spark. Instantly the little ninja was jumping into action, lobbing kunais right between Kirby's eyes, but the pink puffball ducked down, letting the blades fly past (albeit nicking one pom-pom on his hat). Bio Spark jumped out of the cart, presumably to attack, but he was met with a beam from Kirby, stunning him and making him fall in a harmless heap.
"Kirby!" Bandana Waddle Dee exclaimed. "Are you okay? That guy was just hiding!"
"I'm alright," Kirby affirmed nonchalantly. "But I found a cart!"
The others darted over at the commotion, noticing the limp little ninja while Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee went to nudging the cart out of its starry heap. It was noticeably bigger than they were, the two of them having to stand on their tiptoes to peek over the edge, and the general principle held true for Magolor and Digi too, albeit with the obvious absence of lower extremities upon which to stand. Daroach could comfortably peek out with his taller stature, but still crouched down a bit so as to not have an unstable center of gravity in a moving object. It was quite cozy inside too- Kirby took up at the front, Digi and Magolor took up on one side in the middle with Daroach across from them, and Bandana Waddle Dee was at the back. A black hole from Magolor got it situated on the track, and Bandana Waddle Dee pointed his spear out and pushed against one star to get the cart rolling.
"Don't forget to keep watch!" Kirby exclaimed as it started to move.
"I'm watching the radar!" Digi declared.
"I mean so we don't get attacked!" Kirby quickly clarified.
With another push, the cart was rolling quicker… then promptly dropping downwards as the track took a dive. With the decrease in altitude, the wind was quickly felt, and the entourage hunkered down to keep from getting blown out. Daroach clutched his hat to his head, the smaller ones huddled up, and the cart started to zoom with the strong winds propelling it. It was like riding a roller coaster on a big downward drop, but shortly they were flattening out before zipping upwards, the propulsion from the downward drop's speed easily carrying them uphill. The wind shortly died down, and Kirby peeked over the front of the cart again- they raced towards the purple cliffs. Some smaller starry 'cliffs' floated in midair, and some of the pointy rocks started to reach up around them. A flock of Bronto Burts, however, grabbed Kirby's attention as the cart zoomed towards the pink winged ones.
"Look out, guys!" Kirby called, ducking down.
It was as much a message to the Bronto Burts as it was to his companions, for the ones in the cart followed suit and ducked down, but the Bronto Burts weren't quite as quick. Some of them turned to look at the zooming cart with wide eyes and scrambled out of the way, but an easily felt whump could be heard as a few smashed right into it. The cart shook but stayed on the rails with no trouble, but one smaller winged figure bounced right into the cart, looking as dazed as he was surprised at suddenly being surrounded by bigger figures.
"Oh, hi!" Bandana Waddle Dee exclaimed.
"Maybe I should've used a black hole," Magolor mused simply, studying their new company. "It would've… hurt less."
"Maybe a native organism would know where any shiny objects are located!" Digi piped up.
"A very good bet," Daroach concurred, likewise studying the smaller winged one. "Say, Bronto Burt, would you-"
Bronto Burt certainly didn't look thrilled at any of them and fluttered his wings, ramming into everyone in turn with awkward flight as he made his way out.
"Sorry!" Bandana Waddle Dee hollered after him, peeking out again.
Digi and Daroach both deflated, for apparently there would be no insider info from a native organism.
The closer they got to cliffs, the more the rocks shot up around them- the track didn't quite touch them, but if they were to jump out, they'd have somewhere somewhat close to land. Some curved overhead, resembling a half-clenched hand or a busted ribcage made of rock, and Noddies could be seen sleeping on them along with the occasional shrouded face of a Simirror peeking down. What was instantly concerning, though, was a the skull-marked side of a Bomber traipsing towards the end of one rocky curvature.
"Bomber!" Kirby exclaimed, pointing his staff at it and mustering up the beginnings of a beam. "Brace yourselves just in case!"
Daroach quickly reached into his cloak and pulled out his magic wand, saying, "Leave it to me."
The Bomber waddled to the edge of the cliff, but Daroach shot a beam of ice at him that froze the walking warhead solid right before the cart passed underneath the rock. Had he fallen, the ones in the cart probably would've gotten blown off the rails.
"We're getting close," Digi noted, studying the radar screen. "These two actually look like they're gonna be extremely close together, relatively speaking. One might be at the top of a cliff and another at the bottom, but finding them both at the same time shouldn't be hard."
"I wonder how baby dragons play with each other," Bandana Waddle Dee mused. "If they hatched close together, they must've been up to something…"
"Maybe an eating contest," Kirby replied. "They're always hungry."
"I know I'll never get a scientific study of the black hole known as Kirby's stomach, but maybe I could study one of these hatchlings if we find one sufficiently small…" Digi's voiced trailed off. "There has to be an upper limit…"
Kirby glanced backwards for just a second and said simply, "I mean, if you wanted to feed me a bunch of stuff to find out, I wouldn't mind… Just don't poke me with those pointy things in your study. Some of your tools look scary."
"It's not that," Digi replied without missing a beat. "The data I already have would indicate there's not enough food on several planets combined to even start getting an idea of an upper limit on you."
Magolor giggled. "You just defy science, Kirby.~"
"He really does," Digi concurred.
Kirby thought for a second. "… I guess you have a point. There was that one time I swallowed a giant truck…"
"That big one we saw might be able to swallow a giant truck," Bandana Waddle Dee said, getting pensive for a second.
If it was as big as it seemed… it probably could, Kirby figured.
The track curled around one big cliff and carried them upwards, the speed decreasing but still staying reasonably quick. A few kunais from little ninjas, an incoming explosion or two, and a flock of Bronto Burts tried to impede them, but a beam from Kirby, a black hole from Magolor, a round of cannon fire from Digi, or a beam of ice from Daroach took care of it. The stars thinned out the further up they went, the track eventually being held up by the rocks instead of starry trails before it flattened out like a country road instead of a roller coaster. The planet's ethereal nature became apparent in different ways- some of the cliffs didn't appear structurally sound at all but held up perfectly fine, and waterfalls seemed to flow upwards on a few with Blippers swimming in suspended pools. Shortly, though, the track ran out, and the group was jumping out onto the top of a cliff.
"A little further northwest," Digi noted, giving the radar a glance. "We should be close."
"Lead the way!" Kirby said with a grin.
Digi did so, the others close behind. Stone columns and spikes rose up on some of the rocky surfaces, the latter necessitating careful movements to weave between them or to simply fly over so as to not get jabbed. Some fog filled the air in the direction they went, making it somewhat difficult to see what lied further beyond, but the structures' silhouettes and most of their colors were visible, not causing a complete impasse. Still, the entourage stuck close just to make sure no one got lost.
"If I recall correctly," Daroach piped up, stepping around a group of pointed stalagmites, "Magolor, I believe you and Marx had mentioned something about a Nova in reference to this planet… Is there an ancient treasure to be found here?"
Kirby perked up, noting as he hovered over the pointed rocks too, "I blew Nova up by throwing Marx into it."
"That doesn't mean the remnants aren't valuable," Digi noted matter-of-factly.
Magolor giggled. "There's no treasure remnants here.~ You'd have to visit several planets to collect enough essence to summon it, and like Kirby mentioned, it got blown up so there's no guarantee it would still work. You'd be hard-pressed to find its remnants without scouring the whole galaxy."
"How unfortunate," the head Squeak said, deflating.
"It's probably for the better," Magolor replied. "Those ancient artifacts can be a lot to deal with."
"Tell us about it," Bandana Waddle Dee mused under his breath.
However, at that moment, some wild cries of dismay graced their senses, followed by two smaller figures bolting out of the fog towards them- Gators, snapping their jaws but oddly enough not even bothering with the entourage as might otherwise be expected. Kirby held out his staff, Bandana Waddle Dee clutched his spear, and Daroach reached for his wand, but they scurried right past without even looking at them. The group paused, giving each other some puzzled glances and looking into the fog for any signs of what they might have been running from.
"… That was weird," Kirby noted.
"Concerning activity for an apex predator present," Digi said, looking into the fog. "Those Gators likely wouldn't be running away from just anything-!"
Right as he said it, something big thrashed around in the fog ahead and another cry, like that of the Gators, came, but was quickly cut off as the bigger figure lurched out. It wasn't close enough to see all of its features, but from what they could make out, it was a quadrupedal creature with what looked like wings folded against its back and a long tail thrashing behind it, standing around three Kirbies tall. Following the cut-off cry came a noticeable crunching sound, like wet snow but louder… and it probably wasn't wet snow. Instantly the entourage froze, Kirby getting a concerned look and some more frightened glances traveling around.
"So much for an easy egg grab," Bandana Waddle Dee said, sounding unnerved.
"Shhhhh," Digi hushed him, giving him a nudge with a mechanical arm.
They quickly discovered that being quiet was a moot point when two glowing yellow eyes looked their way, the bigger draconic entity apparently staring straight at them. It was still, blinking for a moment before tilting its horned head sideways. Moments thereafter, another set of soft orange eyes seemingly peered up from the ground, staying rather low for a second before a splashing sound graced the air as those eyes too rose further up and a similarly large figure came crawling up. A small growling sound came from the first one to be seen, presumably calling its sibling out of a pool the entourage couldn't see.
"It knows we're here," Kirby said softly, clutching his staff.
"And there's two of them," Magolor lamented.
"The eggshells should be close to where the orange-eyed one is," Digi noted, keeping his voice low too. "But analysis would indicate that we won't be obtaining them easily with limited visibility and two hatchlings in the way…"
The first one's wings spread out slightly and gave a small flap, not one that was going to get it off the ground, and it became apparent that they were not attached to its back. The way they unfurled made them resemble something akin to an angelic visage, not quite fitting with the figure ominously staring back from the fog. When it took a few steps forward, the fog parted around it like water against a ship's hull, more of its features becoming apparent but, most alarmingly, a snout with blood dripping from its sharp fangs emerged first. If the Gators running were any indication, the sound akin to snow crunching was probably one of their friends meeting a swift end in the dragon's jaws. Two beady yellow eyes peered back at them, seemingly floating within two gaping holes in its head, and its body was covered in silver scales that reflected light like an oil slick. Its wings, unlike its body, were feathered like a bird's with shimmering silver on the outer side and a soft rainbow peeking out underneath. It paused and even sat down, studying the entourage with its beady eyes while a yellow tongue licked the blood from its maw and its sibling sauntered over too.
Seeing as it, oddly enough, wasn't getting aggressive straight away, Kirby piped up with a simple, "Hi!"
The rest of the entourage looked at him as though he'd lost his mind, but the dragon, however, leaned its head down to study him closer. It wasn't snapping, but merely blinking and looking him over, but when it opened its maw, he was scurrying backwards in precaution. Even so, it still didn't bite him, but rather let out another growling sound, which seemed to throw the one behind it into a frenzy. The orange-eyed one started scrambling over, its mind apparently moving faster than its legs did for how awkward it ran, and leaped at the entourage with snapping jaws. It too was similar in physical characteristics to its sibling, albeit only around two Kirbies tall, with white scales and feathers instead of silver, and with noticeably smaller wings furled so tightly that they may as well have been tied in a knot. Its jaws went to close on Digi, but Magolor quickly reached out to grab the edge of his UFO and pulled them both into a dimensional rift before the dragon could snap them shut, reappearing a meter back or so.
"Hey!" Kirby exclaimed, shaking his staff at the two hatchlings. "That's not nice!"
The smaller hatchling went for him next, but a beam from his staff made it think twice and lurch backwards with something of a whimper. The bigger one got back on all four of its limbs, crouching close to the ground and baring its fangs while letting out a guttural growl.
"Need to get bigger…!"
The smaller one likewise snarled, albeit with a barely coherent voice they probably wouldn't have been able to understand if not for the other dragons they'd heard, "Hungry…! Devour… all…!"
"Well, we're doing this," Daroach said flatly, busting out the Triple Star cane.
"Freshly nascent juvenile detected," Digi noted, looking at the orange-eyed one. "It likely cannot control its limbs, or temper, very well, and is clumsy but even more needlessly aggressive. Its sibling does not appear much more mature but was likely holding off on the initial attack so its smaller kin could score a bite on perceived easy prey."
"I don't appreciate being perceived as easy!" Bandana Waddle Dee exclaimed, pointing his spear at the yellow-eyed one.
"Oh, prepare to be proven wrong, you little gremlins," Magolor said, a magic sphere starting to take form between his hands.
"Let's show these ones they can't just run wild!" Kirby declared, waving his staff. "And let's get those eggshells!"
'Run wild,' the hatchlings certainly seemed set on, for with snarls and snapping jaws, they were lunging at their company.
Author's note: Happy Halloween, Diwali, and Day of the Dead, my lovelies.
I would just like to note pre-emptively that my activity is likely going to slow down a bit for the next few months. The end of the year in healthcare is always rather busy for multiple reasons (at least, in the US, where I am located), but this year in particular has me quite occupied for even more reasons than usual. To put it simply- the system is completely broken, corpos are in charge that have never set foot inside one of their own clinics, and I, for one, have zero issue giving them a piece of my mind but simultaneously have to appease the powers-that-be if I want to be financially secure. I truly do love my job, but heavenly days, sometimes I just have to tell people to act like grown adults and remind them that people, both patients and colleagues alike, are people. What can I say except… the long hours are both a blessing and a curse.