A stream trickled and babbled along though the Green Greens, its chilly water splashing against some rocks that stuck up through the surface. Reflected in the water was the sun in the sky, a few clouds, and a filthy Sir Kibble and Blade Knight.
Cutter sighed as he gazed into his reflection. His armor was very messy, and he'd lost his scarf at some point during his and Dagger's run from the police. "It's no good... we can't go around looking like this. People'll recognize us and report us to the police for sure..."
Dagger looked down at his reflection as well, noting that he was still covered in smashed fruits and vegetables as well. "Wewash," he said, setting down his picnic basket and scooping up some of the water from the stream. He used it to clean his face and wash some of the food off of his shirt and fake beak.
"Yeah, but, um... I can't do that." Cutter kicked his foot at the ground nervously.
Blinking, Dagger tilted his head to one side. "Buh...?"
"My armor... isn't exactly stainless steel." Seeing that his friend still didn't understand, Cutter facepalmed. "It would rust if I tried to wash it."
"Yuu CHEAP!" the Blade Knight blurted, crossing his arms.
"I'm only cheap because Dedede's cheap!" Cutter snapped, shooting a glare at his friend. "He doesn't pay me a whole lot, y'know!"
"Oh... Isorry," Dagger said, ducking his head down.
"...It's all right." The Sir Kibble's expression softened. "What're we going to do, though? How're we supposed to prove that Dynablade was the one who stole the crops, and not us?"
At that, the Blade Knight shrugged, but suddenly wrapped his arms around himself and shivered when the wind picked up. "It COLD!"
"Oh sheesh, Dag', it's not that bad." That having been said, Cutter turned around, and immediately shuddered when the wind blew through his visor, chilling him. "SCRAPMETAL is it cold!" he exclaimed, snapping his visor shut. "Aw scrap, why'd I have to lose my scarf...?!"
"Yeah, that might be a good idea," the 'Kibble said, opening his visor again and shivering. "Once we get warm, we can plan our course of action... Let's see..." He glanced around, thinking. "We can't go home, 'cuz they'd be expecting us there..."
"There!" Dagger exclaimed, pointing out at a nearby cave. It seemed innocent enough, and as far as he could see there was nothing in it, so the Blade' began to make his way over to it.
"Um... y-you s-s-sure about that, Dagger?" Cutter asked, skittering after his friend. "It looks kindof... d-dark in there, and I don't really like caves..."
Reaching behind himself, Dagger grabbed Cutter and set him on his head. "Itbe 'kay," he said with a smile. With that, he walked into the cave.
...Only to be chased out by a wild Grizzo moments later.
The bear-like creature was foaming at the mouth, roaring ferociously as it chased the two Helpers around. Cutter was clinging to Dagger for dear life, while said Dreamlander was booking it to someplace other than the cave. Eventually he was back at the stream, which he took no notice of, and thus wound up splashing straight into it.
Seeing the duo splash into the water, the Grizzo snorted and stomped away.
"BRRRRR!!" Dagger crawled out of the stream, shivering as the freezing water dripped from his hair and clothes. "ItCOLD, Cuh'er!" he said, stomping his foot for emphasis. When his friend didn't respond, though, he looked around, confused. "...Cuh'er?"
The question was immediately answered by frantic gurgles that came from under the water. Rushing over to the stream and looking down into it, Dagger saw the two glowing eyes of a Sir Kibble staring back at him.
"...Oh." The Blade Knight reached into the stream with a shudder, grabbing Cutter by the paw and drawing him up out of the water. Still holding him up in the air, he gave a bright smile that extended past his fake beak. "Hi Cuh'er!" He cocked his head to one side. "...Whynot move?"
The 'Kibble twitched a few times before speaking. "BECAUSE. MY ARMOR. IS RUSTED!"
"...So... whatdo now?" Dagger cocked his head to the other side.
"F-f-first let's warm up, I'm f-freezing... th-then, let's find me a n-n-new suit of a-armor... Then... let's find s-something to EAT! I'm s-starving!"
Dagger froze for a moment, still holding Cutter up as whatever microscopic gears within his head began to click into place. Suddenly he pointed up into the air in triumph, accidentally flinging Cutter into the air. "Ihave fuud!" he exclaimed, and his friend clanged to the ground behind him.
"...Yes, I packed some sandwiches," came Cutter's muffled voice, as he was currently laying face-first on the ground. "But are they any good now?"
"Iunno." The Blade Knight opened up the picnic basket that was hanging off of his arm and pulled out two very soggy sandwiches. "Hereare!" he announced proudly, holding the sandwiches up... only for them to disintegrate in his hand.
"Are they edible?" Cutter asked. Suddenly realizing that his friend probably didn't know what that word meant and not wanting him to hurt himself from thinking too hard about it, he spoke up again. "Nevermind. Just pick me up, please?"
"Buh'kay," Dagger said, turning around and picking his friend up. "Um... Ihave this..." He reached into the picnic basket again, this time pulling out the Maxim Tomato he'd taken before."
"...I a-appreciate the thought, Dagger, b-but th-that should p-probably be s-saved for an e-emergency."
"Buh'kay... Find warmplace?"
"Y-yeah, let's d-do that first."
"Buh'kay."
With that, the two headed off to another part of Green Greens (or, rather, Dagger headed off, and carried Cutter with him). Shortly afterward they found a fire and quickly rushed over to it... only to rush away when they made the unfortunate discovery that it was actually the hair of a Burnin' Leo. They then came across what they thought to be another fire, only to find that it was a Plasma Wisp.
"S-since when is fire green, anyway?!"
"Iunno!"
While our Helper duo was running for their lives, another duo was elsewhere, heading to a nearby store. Said duo, as one might guess, was Blast and Jolt, who were currently away from the police for the moment. Blast was holding a small bag of gold in his gloved paw, looking it over.
"Wh-where are we goingzzzz, Momma?" Jolt asked, ducking as Blast swatted at him in annoyance.
"We're going to buy a few things that'll help us," Blast growled, glancing back at the money in his hand.
"But that'zzzz all our money!" Jolt yelped, rubbing his electric paws together nervously. Once again, this caused a bolt of electricity to shoot out of his paws, nearly striking Blast.
"AAAGHH!!" the Poppy Bro. screeched in annoyance, chucking a small bomb at the Plasma Wisp, who dodged. "THAT'S one of the reasons we need to buy some stuff!" He took a few seconds to cool down before he went on. "And anyway, we'll be fine... Once we get this stuff, we can capture Cutter and his stupid pal and turn them in to the police for the reward money!"
"If you zzzay zo, M-er, Blazt."
As Blast continued to lead the way to the store, the sound of whining met his ears. He ignored it for a while, but soon it started to grate on his nerves. He shot a glare at Jolt. "I hate your stupid whimpers!"
"Th-that wuzn't me..." Jolt said, blinking.
The Poppy, still looking over at the Plasma Wisp as he walked forward, was about to say something when he bumped into something, which nearly caused him to fall over. "AGH! What the--?!"
Suddenly he froze, staring at what he'd bumped into. His eyes widened, and slowly his lips curved into a malicious smile. "Things just keep getting better for us, Jolt..."
Meanwhile, Dagger had finally gotten himself and Cutter away from the enraged Plasma Wisp. Normally a chase like that would warm someone up, but the Blade Knight's clothes were soaked, so he was still freezing. He was also getting somewhat worn out from constantly running from things, and was panting heavily, his tongue now looking to be twice its normal length.
"Itired..." he panted, eyes half-lidded. Another chilly breeze blew by, causing him to shiver. "And Icold!" Immediately afterward, his stomach let loose a terrible growl. "AND IHUNGRY!!" With that, the Blade' threw himself to the ground.
"A-at least y-you c-c-can still m-move," Cutter stammered, shivering underneath his rusted armor. "C-c'mon, we have to t-try to find s-something before we f-freeze to d-death!"
"Ino find... nuthing!" Dagger whined, hopping up and slowly plodding forward, eyes downcast. Not looking where he was going, he eventually wound up bumping into something, and looked up. "Buh?" Seeing what it was, his already huge eyes went wide.
"Wh-what is it, Dag'?" Cutter glanced around when his friend moved him, and startled. "Holy scrapmetal!"
Dagger had, quite literally, run into an enormous stone fortress. There were steps leading up to the front door, which was guarded by, interestingly enough, a Sir Kibble and Blade Knight, which gave the duo odd looks. (Or, the Sir Kibble did, anyway; the Blade Knight's face was hidden by his helmet.) Also by the door was a small radio playing some happy music, which... seemed rather out of place, given how serious the guards looked.
Cutter blinked, a little surprised to see a duo of the exact same species as him and Dagger standing there. Once he got over his surprise, though, he spoke up nervously. "U-um... c-can we enter, p-please...? W-we're f-freezing a-and h-hungry... a-and I need a new s-suit of armor, s-since this one's r-rusted..."
The two guards exchanged glances, and the Sir Kibble turned back to face the Helper duo. "We're guarding this fortress for a reason," he said coolly. "Besides, this isn't a hotel."
"Nor is it Halloween," the Blade Knight snorted in his deep voice. Cutter gave another start when he saw what he thought was the pink part of the Blade's helmet move, realizing that that was really a tongue.
Holy scrapmetal, they do all have long tongues! he thought to himself. I thought it was just Dagger...
That Blade', meanwhile, gave his helmeted counterpart a glare. "Buh. Nocare." Pointing at his fake beak, he continued, "Like it!"
"It looks ridiculous."
Dagger made a face in response, waving his gloved paws at the side of his face, dropping Cutter in the process, and sticking his tongue out (or... pointing it forward, anyway).
"I hate to interrupt this serious discussion," started the Sir Kibble guard, clearly annoyed, "But if that's all the business you have here, please take your leave."
"Y-yeah... c-c'mon Dagger, we don't want to c-cause trouble," came Cutter's muffled voice from the ground.
"...'Kay." With that, the Blade Knight retrieved his friend, shooting a glare at the guards before walking away from the fort.
As the two began to leave, though, the music coming from the radio abruptly stopped. The guards looked at the radio in confusion, turning up the volume just as an announcement started up:
"Attention everyone! We interrupt this program for an important news bulletin: Two criminals are wandering about Green Greens! They are wanted for stealing a great number of crops from Dreamland's farms, as well as assaulting two innocent bystanders! Their physical descriptions are as follows: a Sir Kibble with red feet-may or may not be wearing a scarf and armor covered in food-and a tall Blade Knight with messy hair-may or may not be wearing a fake beak and clothing also covered in food. If you have any information regarding the aforementioned individuals, please contact the Green Greens police immediately!"
If Cutter and Dagger had been cold before, the news bulletin they heard chilled them to the bone (or it would for Cutter, anyway, if he had any bones). The two guards exchanged glances before looking back at the Helper duo that was now quite eagerly taking their leave.
"Hey, get back here!" the Sir Kibble called, darting after the two Dreamlanders. His Blade Knight companion followed, unsheathing his sword.
"Run run run!!" Cutter yelped, Dagger readily obeying. The Blade Knight was fast, but unfortunately the two guards were faster, and eventually overtook him, tackling him to the ground and stirring up a dust cloud. Armor clattered, weapons clanged, but there would only be one winner, and when the dust cloud cleared... Dagger stood victorious!
"Iwin..." the Blade Knight panted, swaying around with a silly grin on his face before collapsing.
"Great job, Dagger!" Cutter cheered. Suddenly he perked up, getting an idea. "Hey! Take me and those two behind the bushes for a sec..."
Dagger obeyed, pulling Cutter and the two guards' unconscious bodies into some nearby bushes. Once there, he carefully helped Cutter out of his armor, and the 'Kibble immediately switched his armor with the guard-'Kibble's.
"Agh, this is a little big..." He shifted around in the new armor uncomfortably. "But at least it's not wet or rusted..." Glancing at his unconscious counterpart on the ground, he gave a wince. "Um... I-I'll give this back later, I promise!"
Seeing what his friend had done, Dagger cocked his head to one side. "Ichange too?"
"Yeah, you'd better... your clothes are still soaked, and it might be a good idea to use that guy's helmet."
The large Dreamlander nodded, taking off the other Blade's helmet.
Seeing one large eye (which now donned an "X" for a pupil) on the Blade's face, Cutter gave a slight yelp. "I didn't know they had one eye! Um, y-yeah, Dagger, you'll definitely want to wear that helmet...!"
Dagger shrugged, not seeing what the big deal was, and put on the helmet. It was see-through, at least on the inside, so he could still see without anyone seeing his face. As well, it was pretty big on him, so it covered his fake beak. Once that was done with, he switched shirts, boots, and gloves with the unconscious Blade'. As an afterthought, he reached into his picnic basket and pulled out one of the miscellaneous objects he'd put in there earlier-a second fake beak-and stuck it on the Blade's mouth. "Hehehe! Now helook ri... riduh... ri..."
A faint snap! sounded.
"...Ow."
"Don't hurt yourself, Dagger. Anyway, um... now let's drag these guys out to the front of the fortress," Cutter said, grabbing the Sir Kibble and beginning to drag him. Dagger did the same with the Blade Knight. "With luck, the police'll think they're us!"
"Buh!" Dagger exclaimed. "But theynot donuthin'!"
"Yeah, and neither did we... so when we prove that Dynablade's the real culprit here, they'll leave both us and these guys alone."
"...'Kay."
Once the two had dragged the unconscious guards over to the fortress, Cutter looked over them. "Uh oh, wait! This guy has grey feet... that announcement said I had red feet, didn't it? Scrap..."
Dagger looked over the unconscious 'Kibble, then grinned. "No wurry!" he said, reaching into his picnic basket and pulling out the Maxim Tomato again.
"GAH! Dagger, what're you doing?! We don't want to revive-"
Suddenly the Blade' tossed the tomato at the unconscious Sir Kibble's feet. The fruit splattered there, getting tomato juice over the puffball's feet and staining them red. "There!" he said proudly, nodding.
"...Ah," Cutter said, blinking. "Yeah, I guess that works... I guess we can go into the fortress now, too." He looked up at it, trying to judge how tall it was. "Looks pretty tall... Hey! I know! We can go up to the top and see if we can spot Dynablade flying around!"
"Buh'kay!" Dagger said, happily rushing into the fortress, Cutter skittering behind. When they opened the door and stepped in, though, they both jumped about a foot in the air as a furious voice echoed throughout the halls:
"TRIDENT, YOU ARE AS DRUNK AS A SKUNK!!"
"Whash a shkunk...?"
"...Good question."
The two Dreamlanders exchanged glances before poking their heads through a partially-opened door in the hallway to see what on earth was going on. In the room was a short table at which two strange-looking knights were seated, one looking considerably tipsier than the other. The sober one wore a horned helmet and a skull mask and had a giant axe at his side, whereas the intoxicated one wore a crescent moon symbol on his helmet, as well as a jetpack on his back, and had a large trident at his side. Standing at the foot of the table by a chalkboard was yet another knight, this one wearing a helmet with three points and goggles that looked like insect eyes, and having an enormous mace sitting nearby.
Cutter shuddered at the enormous weapons, and turned his attention to the chalkboard instead. Written on said chalkboard in big letters was an extremely cryptic message, possibly related to what the three knights had been discussing, which read:
"TOPP SEEKRIT PLANZ."
"Listen, Trident..." began the goggled knight in an exasperated manner, "I know you've had a rough week, but could you please try not to get totally smashed before our meetings?!"
"Shhhhurrr... Hic!" said the drunken knight, apparently named Trident.
"Anyway... You-know-who was telling me that we need more recruits for Operation Halberd."
"Oh, oh!" The knight with the skull helmet suddenly hopped up, waving his paw around. "I have a question, Mace!"
"Yes, Axe...?" Mace asked, rubbing his forehead and giving an "I know I'm gonna regret this" look. Axe was a genius when it came to math and mechanics, but when it came to everything else...
"I think our operation name is dumb. No-one's gonna know what 'Operation Halberd' means! It needs a better name, like... 'Operation Take Over Dr-'"
Mace lunged forward, covering Axe's mouth with his paw and glancing around nervously. Cutter and Dagger ducked out of the doorway just in time to escape his notice. "Shhhh! The whole point of having an operation codename like that is to make sure no-one else figures out what we're doing!"
"...Ooooooooh! I get it."
"You'd better." Mace sighed, backing up over to the chalkboard again. "Anyway, as I was saying... You-know-who was telling me that we need more recruits for Operation Halberd. The problem is, though, we need to recruit people without the other You-know-who's noticing."
"Hic! Makesh shensh to me!" Trident slurred, swaying around on his chair.
"Why can't we just say their names, Mace?" Axe asked, crossing his paws. "It's a little confusing with all the 'you-know-who's...'"
"Because there might be spies around... Besides, you know who the first 'you-know-who' is."
"But how do you know that I know who the first 'you-know-who' is?"
"Because he's our boss!"
"But do you know that I know that you know that the first 'you-know-who' is our boss?"
"I... what?"
"See? That's what I meant! It's confusing!"
Mace stood there for a moment, twitching, before saying slowly, "It wouldn't be confusing if you would stop INTERRUPTING!"
"...Oh, okay."
"I shink-hic!-tha'sh a good idea..."
"No-one asked you, Trident."
Cutter was starting to get rather bored of this senseless conversation, and began to make his way down the hallway. "C'mon Dag', I don't think we'll learn anything from these guys..."
Dagger glanced over at his friend, then through the crack in the door again. "But Iwanna heer!" He giggled when Trident swayed to the point where he tipped his chair over. "Theyfunny!"
"Come on, Dagger!" Cutter grumbled, grabbing his friend by the tongue and starting to drag him off. "We don't want to get spotted by these guys... otherwise we might be in big trouble!" With that, he began to make his way up to the top floor of the fortress, heading up a few flights of stairs. Dagger started walking by himself partway through, Cutter letting go of his tongue.
When the duo finally made it up to the top floor of the castle, they immediately began looking through the windows. The top of the castle was above the trees, giving them a fairly clear view, but, unfortunately, no Dynablade.
"I don't see anything..." Cutter said with a groan, slumping down into a seated position. "Rusty scrapmetal, this is hopeless!"
Dagger hadn't given up yet, though, and was still looking through each of the windows he came across. "Luuk!" he exclaimed cheerfully, pointing out one of the windows.
Cutter, surprised, hopped up and rushed over to the window that his friend was looking at. "What is it, Dagger?" Upon looking out the window, he had a clear view of a mountain off in the distance. On top of it was a bird-shaped rock. "That's just a rock, Dagger..." he said with a sigh. He was about to walk away from the window...
...when the "rock" suddenly flew off the mountain.
The Sir Kibble startled. "D-did you see...?!" he blurted, glancing over at his Blade Knight companion, who returned the surprised glance. Without speaking, they immediately rushed back down the stairs to the first floor of the house, only to be stopped by a familiar knight.
"Woah, wait a sec," Mace said, crossing his arms and examining the two Helpers with a critical eye. He was dragging his weapon behind him, which, by some miracle, didn't damage the floor. "Was it you two that KO'd the Sir Kibble and Blade Knight outside the fortress?"
Dagger's eyes widened beneath his helmet, and Cutter felt as though he'd just been tackled by a Chilly. They'd been found out... and now they were going to be captured by these knights with insane weapons! Sure they could try to fight, but that mace had to be at least three times his size!
Throwing himself onto the floor, Cutter practically started sobbing. "I'M SORRYYY! WE DID IT! IT WAS ALL OUR FAULT! PLEASE HAVE MERCY!!"
Mace blinked, giving the 'Kibble a funny look. "...Okaaay, sheesh, I was just gonna thank you guys. We'd heard about those crooks earlier, and we turned them in to the police for some reward money. Thanks for leaving 'em outside, too. If the police came into the fort, we'd be in for it."
"Yuuwel'km!" Dagger said with a grin. He started to lick Mace, but Cutter stopped him.
"Eh...ehehheheh... Yeah, I-I knew that... I was j-just testing you," he said, inwardly very relieved.
"So, yeah... you guys want anything in return or something?" Mace asked. "We could probably give you some of the reward money we got if you want, or..."
Suddenly both Dagger and Cutter's stomachs roared, and the two Helpers blushed.
"...Or we could treat you to lunch, that might work," Mace said with a laugh. "It's all right, it won't hold up our meeting any." That happy look was soon replaced with an annoyed one, when he glanced back at the room he'd come out of. "Not like our meeting's really going anywhere... ugh. Anyway, follow me." With that, he began to lead the two into the meeting room where Axe and Trident were chowing down on a large amount of food.
Seeing the food, Dagger's saliva practically poured out from underneath his helmet, which he eagerly took off in order to eat. Doing this, however, revealed his fake beak, as well as the fact that he had two eyes.
"SCRAP! Wait Dagger, don't--!!"
It was too late-Axe had already caught a glimpse of the Blade Knight's face. "Hey, wait a second..." he said between bites of a watermelon. "What's with the fake beak? And didn't our Blade Knight guard have one eye...?"
Mace just stood there, stunned, slowly glancing back in the direction of the entrance where whom he believed to be the culprits had been sitting. "But then... that means..."
"Nice going, Dagger," Cutter growled beneath his breath.
"THEY'RE THE CROOKS!" Axe blurted, spitting partially-chewed-up watermelon every. He jumped up, rushed over to the phone, and picked it up, dialing the police. "Hello, police? There's been a mistake... the real crooks are inside the fortress here!"
"WHAT?! Axe, what are you doing?!" Mace exclaimed in a panic. "Don't lead them in here!" He rushed over to the chalkboard, quickly beginning to wipe off the "TOPP SEEKRIT PLANZ" that he'd written down before. "Quick, before they get here, someone grab those two thieves and take them outside!"
Trident blinked a few times, glancing around. "What two theevsh? Hic!"
The goggled knight spun around, only to find that Cutter and Dagger were already gone. "AAGH!!"
"Run, Dagger, run!" Cutter yelped, hopping up onto his friend's head as the Blade Knight ran as fast as he could through the fortress, out the other side. They came across a strange-looking switch, cleverly concealed in a very inconspicuous place: right in front of the back door. Not spotting this switch in time, Dagger tripped over it, setting it off, but quickly scrambled back up and ran away before he could see what it did.
It was a good thing he did, too, because mere seconds after he managed to get away from the fortress, it blew up in a brilliant explosion.
Mace coughed and hacked, eventually managing to push himself up out of the ruins that once were their fortress. He was grey all over from the explosion, and rubbed his goggles so he could properly see what had happened. After twitching a few times, he finally screeched out, "WHO THE HECK INSTALLED THAT SELF DESTERUCT SWITCH?!"
Axe was the next one to make his way out of the rubble. "Well... Trident said it was a good idea." He glanced over at the third knight, who, still drunken, had taken no notice of the explosion.
"...Did Trident happen to be INTOXICATED at the time?!"
"...Maybe?" Axe gave a hopeful grin. "Um... at least the police won't find our top secret plans this way?"
With a groan of despair, the goggled knight threw himself down onto the ground. "I'm surrounded by morons...!" he sobbed.
"Awww, it's okay, Mace! We still love you!" Axe said, patting the knight on the back.
"Yesh, we do!" Trident babbled, moving to hug the knight but winding up falling over instead.
"I hate you guys."
Meanwhile, Cutter and Dagger once more found themselves on the run from the police. They could hear the alarms on the police-Wheelies far behind them, but those alarms were gradually getting louder.
"We're gonna DIIIIE we're gonna DIIIIE we're gonna DIIIE..." Cutter sobbed, snapping his helmet shut. "...Well actually, we're gonna get arrested... and THEN we're gonna DIIIE...
Dagger wasn't paying attention, though, instead looking for somewhere to hide. Suddenly, something shiny caught his attention, and he rushed over to investigate. There, lying in the grass, he found two rather large rainbow-colored feathers. "Buh!" he exclaimed excitedly, picking up the feathers and reaching into his picnic basket. There, he found the last item he'd packed: a few lengths of rope, which he used to tie the feathers around his arms. Now his costume was complete! "Look, Cuh'er! Ia birdy!"
Cutter did not look. "Th-that's nice, Dag', but don't you think we should be RUNNING RIGHT NOW?!"
"...Oyea." With that, Dagger took off running again, only to stop a few minutes later.
"N-n-now what?" Cutter opened his visor again, only to jump back when he saw a steep cliff that dropped off into a large expanse of water in front of him. "RUSTY SCRAPMETAL!" Hearing the sirens grow louder, he turned around, now able to spot the police off in the distance and getting closer every second. Cold sweat leaked from the Sir Kibble's armor as he trembled. "D-D-Dagger... wh-what are we gonna do...?!"
Dagger blinked a few moments, calmly looking out over the cliff, back at the rapidly-approaching police, at the feathers he'd tied to his arms, then out over the cliff again.
"We fly."
Cutter froze, not sure he'd heard that right. "We what?!"
But the Blade Knight didn't listen, instead spreading his makeshift wings, and jumping off the cliff.