Heroes of Dreamland, Book 1: Kirby and the Monstrous Lightning (OLD)

World 4 Level 1- Heroes Separated

Their first afternoon spent in Cookie Country had gone pretty well. They had made good progress, even after Sakura told the others to avoid any Waddle Dee. At first, Kirby had stared at her in disbelief, but she had stormed, "The Waddle Dee never do anything to actively hurt anyone, if you run into them, that's your own fault for being clumsy. They just get sent to the front lines to get plowed over, and no one cares," her eyes flashed.

"I have to agree, sending the most peaceful and least capable soldiers to the front lines is despicable," Meta Knight mused as he sliced through a Knuckle Joe that leaped at him. "The Monstrous Lightning is a coward, just as DeDeDe is."

She had nodded firmly, jumping up and flapping over a Waddle Dee as she did so.

They had even made it to a mid-boss, a large Waddle Doo with electricity powers. It hadn't given them any trouble at all.

In fact, this was all too easy for Meta Knight. So easy, in fact, that he had taken to trying to guess whether certain enemies had come to fight voluntarily, or by force, to pass the time.

Now, they were in a cave, ready to rest for the night. "I'll take first watch tonight," Sakura announced.

Shaking his head, Meta Knight disagreed, "I can. I am not tired yet, my friend."

She shrugged. "I'm not either, really. Although the two little guys sure are." They had built a small campfire, which Bandana Dee and Kirby were sitting next to, as close as was safe. Snoring, peaceful, they were both even cuter than usual, if that was possible.

He stood up and drew his sword, holding it up so it began to glow. "We could duel for awhile, keep ourselves sharp," he suggested.

Hopping up, she nodded once. "Okay, but let's go a bit farther into the cave. We don't want to wake the Sleeping Cuties," she giggled a bit at her own joke.

He shrugged, unimpressed. "That sounds like a logical plan." He grabbed a torch, then they walked a bit farther into the cave. After wedging the torch between two rocks, where it was sturdy, they began to fight.

He won this time, much to her chagrin. "After we tied the race earlier, I wanted to win at this," she huffed and puffed, worn out.

He shook his head once, and as soon as he had caught his breath, reminded her, "Swordplay is not a competition, my friend. It is an art."

"It may be an art, but it is an art I like to be best at. I'm just a competitive Kirby Dee, I guess," she admitted. Then she heard something. "What was that?" she asked, a little bit concerned.

"I am not sure," he murmured, "But it is probably nothing to be worried about."

A wind blew past, blowing out the torch. Without even thinking about it, they both held their swords up. This produced enough light to see each other by, but not as well as they could with the torch.

"That was not just regular wind," he whispered. She started to reply, but he held his spare hand out, gesturing to her to be silent. "It is breathing."

"We can't possibly have covered enough ground today to be to the local boss already," she replied, almost too silently for him to hear. Gulping, she continued, "What could be big enough to breath that loudly, and why didn't we notice it before?"

"It must have been farther back in the cave when we arrived," he decided. "We should return to the other two. It would be wise to find somewhere else to stay for the night."

She nodded once, then realized he wasn't looking at her, so she whispered, "Okay. Should we put out the fire?"

"No, it will keep the monster from guessing we have caught on to the fact that it is here."