Nowhere To Go But Up

Mist

"Hey, is everything supposed to be white outside or is my body still broken?" Magolor asked his ship. They'd landed in some particularly dense mist, which Magolor had regrettably not asked about before landing. "What is mist, anyway?"

"Mist is the impenetrable white substance we are surrounded with. It's not dangerous on it's own, but it can make things difficult when you can't see anything. Of course, it's also night time, so natural light will not be as strong here, especially given that we are in a forest." The Lor's response was enough for Magolor to conclude that they really were unlikely to be found, although he was unsettled by his surroundings.

He tried opening the door and the moisture in the air made his ears flatten against the sides of his head. "Egh, that is not pleasant." He recoiled.

"Whatever you do, I wouldn't recommend going outside without an objective. I know you tend to get distracted easily, and I wouldn't want you getting hurt because of it." If the Lor knew how to be ingenuine, Magolor hoped she wasn't doing it now. He returned to the Captain's quarters (already enjoying being able to call it that again), and started typing LOG 459.

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This had to have been a waste of time. Bandee could tell the sun would come up soon, but they still had found nothing. The fact that they couldn't see didn't help much, but at least they were careful with the terrain. They'd use the spear to find solid ground in front of them, making sure never to take a step without first checking the ground for stability. They wanted to go back soon, but realized they weren't entirely sure how to escape. They planted their spear into the dirt in front of them, made a few steps towards it...

And stepped on an unstable rock.

It was so unexpected they let go of the spear, tumbling down the cliff. No way they could get back up to it now. Not with the bleeding. Not with the sleep deprivation catching up to them. They landed against a tree, in a rather convenient amount of leaves. They'd just rest a little while, and keep going later.

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Using a hand-drawn map and a compass, Magolor had drafted a relatively simple first stage of the plan. He'd simply find a way out of the mists, keep tabs on life in Dream Land, and look for whatever openings he could find. The sun was up, however, so he would take extra caution. Slipping a damp cloth under his hood to help with that damned headache he still had, he quietly exited the Lor Starcutter.

Soon after he left, he heard a sound. It seemed to be from something alive. Snoring? But who? Who could have wandered into this neck of the woods at this hour and then fallen asleep? He picked up a stick off the ground and cautiously approached the source of the snoring. No one had leapt out of the mist at him, and he was definitely heading in the right direction. He examined the ground. It'd been traversed recently. He followed this trail until he saw them. Bandee, fast asleep, injured. He checked their surroundings. No supplies. They'd come out here all by themself in the middle of the night with nothing to aid them in leaving. A rather foolish move, he thought. Ducking behind the tree the sleeping waddle dee lay against, he lightly poked them with the stick he'd picked up. No response. Magolor considered what to do here, and then returned to the ship.

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"Dedede, calm down. I'm sure they're alright, wherever they are." Meta Knight was perched on the side of the throne, consoling the king.

"You don't know that." The King was fearing the worst. "They could be anywhere. They're so small I don't even know where to start looking!"

The Knight scanned the room, hoping to find something that would help ease King Dedede's mind. "Look here." He was pointing to the window. "This window opens from the inside, and not from the outside. If they left through the door, they would have alerted at least one of the night guards, but none of them had anything to report. The window remains undamaged, which must mean that they were in their room, by themself, and then left on their own accord. If we consider why they would do that, it must be because of something they saw in the middle of the night. But the only place there is for them to look is toward the misty forest. It'd be borderline impossible for them to have seen anything suspicious in the forest itself, but if we scour the perimeter, we should find them. Does that sound okay?" Meta Knight was making a few leaps in logic, but the idea was solid.