Chapter 4: Mt. Dynablade

Wind rushed over the Green Greens, carrying with it the very girly scream of a certain Sir Kibble.

"...Cuh-turrr..."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-what, are we dead yet?" The Sir Kibble opened his eyes to see nothing but blue skies and clouds around him, as well as a mountaintop off in the far distance. "Hey, this doesn't look like heaven... What's going--?" Suddenly he startled, looking down to see water far below him, looking back to see the cliffside they'd just left, and finally looking beneath to see Dagger with feathers tied to his arms, flying gracefully through the air. "...You can fly," he said flatly, twitching.

"Buh-huh!" Dagger said cheerfully, laughing as he did a loop-de-loop. Cutter fell off at first, but the Blade' caught him on his back.

"N-n-never do that again," Cutter whimpered, covering his mouth as he tried to hold in what little food he'd eaten that day. Once the nausea passed, he looked around, soon forgetting the fact that he'd almost been killed and becoming completely absorbed in the beautiful sights around him. "Wow... th-this is amazing, Dagger!"

"Yah!"

The 'Kibble had to sit back a bit, thoroughly amazed at the turn of events. "This is incredible..." he said quietly. "You Blade Knights are amazing! I mean... there's a lot I didn't know about you guys. First I find out you all have long tongues, then I find out some of you have only one eye, and now I find out that you guys can fly!"

There was a pause before Dagger glanced over his shoulder, blinking. "...We not."

"...Um." Cutter blinked a few times as well. "Then... how are those two feathers supporting both your and my weight?"

Suddenly Dagger froze in mid-air, and, after hovering there for a second or two, the duo began to plummet.

"I HAD TO QUESTION THE LAWS OF PHYSICS, DIDN'T I?!"

The two Helpers screamed in terror as they dropped through the air, rapidly approaching the water below them. As they listened to the roar of the wind around them, though, they noticed that it had begun to change direction. Soon afterward, they heard a strange bird cry pierce through the howling wind.

Through the sky flew an enormous bird, with feathers of all colors of the rainbow and a large jewel on its chest-the mighty Dynablade had once again shown itself. This time, though, instead of diving down to scoop up crops in its talons, it was diving down to catch the two Helpers on its back. Once it had accomplished this, it flew in a graceful arc, turning back to the way it came-towards the mountains. Soon it landed on a flat, grassy plateau, lowering itself so that Cutter and Dagger could get down.

Cutter and Dagger stumbled and hopped respectfully off of the great bird, the latter immediately turning around and gazing up at the creature in awe. "Buuuuh..." he gasped, eyes widening. The bird was truly a sight to behold with its beautiful feathers, enormous talons, and sharp beak... but despite all this, it actually looked rather friendly.

Dynablade leaned over, clucking happily as it nuzzled Dagger's side with its beak. The Blade' was a little surprised at this, but just giggled, playfully shoving the bird away. "Hi, Bladeburd!" he said, waving a feathered arm.

The bird just clucked again happily, but soon its expression became a lot more suspicious as it eyed Cutter. Ruffling its feathers and raising its wings slightly to appear even larger than it already was, Dynablade gave a warning caw.

It took a second for Dagger to realize what was going on, but eventually he figured out that Dynablade probably saw Cutter as a threat. Not wanting his friend to get hurt, he quickly darted between him and the bird. "No!" he exclaimed, waving his "wings" around. "Hefriend!"

Dynablade still wasn't entirely reassured, still eying the 'Kibble suspiciously. Said 'Kibble was stumbling around dizzily, face green and eyes spiraled, before he finally collapsed and decorated part of the plateau with the contents of his stomach. The bird reared its head back in surprise, while Dagger just cringed, opting not to turn around.

Cutter's action, however, reminded Dagger that he didn't have much in his stomach at the moment (and the 'Kibble didn't have anything in his stomach now), so he looked up at Dynablade again. "Um... Yuuhave fuud?" he asked, kicking his foot at the ground nervously.

At that question, the bird perked up and stepped aside, revealing... all of the crops it had stolen before, all in an enormous pile!

"BUH!" Dagger exclaimed, eyes nearly bugging out of his head when he saw all the delicious fruits and veggies. "Thankyuu!" With that, he charged over at the pile, happily gobbling up some of the food.

Meanwhile, Cutter groaned, sitting up and wiping his mouth. "I... I d-don't think that 'Kibble's gonna w-want his armor b-back, now..." he said, sounding somewhat dazed. He shook his head, glancing around. "What happened, anyw-" Suddenly he hopped up, glowing eyes widening at the sight of the mountain of food. "Holy scrapmetal! That's all the stolen crops! But... why hasn't Dynablade eaten it all himself...?" he wondered aloud, cautiously keeping an eye on Dynablade as he walked over to Dagger.

Said Blade Knight, after eating quite a bit of the delicious food, sat back and gave a contented sigh. "Yumm..." he said, licking his fake beak, but accidentally slapping his tongue against his face as a result. "...Ow."

Seeing that, Dynablade clucked in amusement, nuzzling Dagger again before walking off.

Cutter darted backwards away from the bird as it walked by, then looked over at Dagger, confused. "That's really weird... Why's he so affectionate towards you?"

"Iunno," Dagger said with a shrug. He looked back over at Dynablade, but did a double-take when he saw what it was standing next to. "BUH?!"

"Huh? What it is, D-WHAT THE?!"

Dynablade, it turned out, was standing next to a huge nest, looking over two enormous eggs, one of which was beginning to crack open.

"He's a... she!"

"...Momma Bladeburd!"

"Well, that explains why she's hoarding food," Cutter said, rubbing the top of his helmet. "Must be for her chicks, when they hatch..." He looked over the nest, noticing shell fragments leading out of it and towards a path that lead down the mountain. "And that explains why she's so affectionate towards you, Dag'. Looks like she thinks you're one of her chicks."

Dagger gave his friend a sly grin. "My cawstoom... guud," he said with a smirk that extended past his fake beak.

The 'Kibble just rolled his eyes at that, doubting that the quality of his friend's Halloween costume had anything to do with this. "There's also the possibility that Dynablade's just not very bright."

Immediately Dynablade whipped around, screeching at Cutter and flapping her wings angrily. Seeing the armored puffball yelp and dart behind Dagger, she nodded, as if to say, "Hmpf!" before turning back towards her nest.

The egg in said nest was getting more cracks by the second, before finally part of it busted open, revealing a little beak. That beak began to chip away more and more pieces of the shell before the egg finally shattered, revealing a large chick covered with fluffy yellow down.

"ItKYUUT!" Dagger squealed, gazing at the chick with starry eyes.

"Y-yeah, I guess if you like birds..." Cutter mumbled as he poked his head out from behind his friend.

Dynablade, meanwhile, nuzzled her new child and reached over to the food pile, picking up some of the food in her beak and setting it down in front of the chick. The chick immediately began to gobble up the food greedily.

"Let'sgo see!" Dagger exclaimed, rushing up to the nest, Cutter following. He watched the newly-hatched chick eat, and cocked his head to one side. "...Bruth'r?" he asked.

Suddenly the chick looked up, shooting a glare at the Blade Knight.

"Oh. Sist'r?"

The chick gave a happy chirp before going back to eating. Meanwhile, the egg next to her began to crack open, and Dynablade watched it attentively.

"Well, it's nice that you're getting along well with your, erm... family, but..." Cutter pulled Dagger aside while Dynablade was distracted, and whispered to him. "We need to get out of here and show someone all of this so we can clear our names."

"But... wannastay!" Dagger whined, drooping.

"I know... But you can come back here as much as you want after this, I promise! Just trust me, okay?"

"Buh'kay..." With that, he and Cutter began to make their way over to the path that lead down the mountain. When they did so, though, Dynablade squawked loudly and reached over, grabbing Dagger by the back of his blue shirt and setting him down in the nest. "HAY!"

"Oh no, I forgot...!" Cutter gasped, placing his paws at either side of his head. "That third chick's gone, and Dynablade thinks Dagger's her chick!" He began to pace worriedly, thinking. "Um... um... um... Oh!" Getting an idea, he looked up. "Hey Dynablade, what's that?" he asked, pointing off to something in the distance.

The bird blinked, giving a confused cluck as she looked over her shoulder. While she was distracted, Cutter rushed up to the nest, grabbing Dagger by the arm and quickly leading him away. By the time Dynablade turned to face the nest again, the two were already gone. She startled, looking from the two chicks in her nest to the direction she'd last seen Cutter in, and gave a worried cry.

Dagger, who was now partway down the mountain, looked over his shoulder upon hearing the caw. "Buhh..." he whimpered.

"It'll be okay, Dagger... We just need to get that third chick back. It probably needs its mother, anyway," Cutter explained.

"Buh'kay..." the Blade' whined, though he didn't sound too sure. He and Cutter made their way down the mountain, looking around.

"Those chicks are only hatchlings, so it couldn't have gotten far, I don't think," the 'Kibble said, glancing around. "We'd better hurry, though, 'cuz if something bad happens to it..." He gave a shudder. "I don't want to think about what'll happen."

"And you won't have to, 'cuz you can see what happened!"

The duo instantly spun around to find Blast and Jolt standing and hovering there. Jolt was now wearing goggles and what looked to be yellow rubber gloves, and Blast was struggling to hold... the third Dyna-chick!

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Cutter exclaimed. "What the scrap are you guys doing here?!"

"We heard a zzzcream," Jolt buzzed. "Zzzzince Momma-er... Blazt zzzzays that not even a girl could zzzcream zzzo high pitched, he figured it wazzzzz you."

Cutter's face turned red at that. "Oh. Eheh..."

Dagger, on the other hand, glared. "Whatyuu do?!" he growled, furious that they'd captured one of his "siblings."

"This little chick decided to run a little too far away from its nest, so it's ours, now!" Blast said with a snicker. "I don't know what kinda' bird this is, but we're gonna turn it over to some scientists, and then we're gonna turn you guys over to the police for some reward money! We're gonna be rich and famous!"

"You heartless...!" Cutter growled. "That chick needs to go back to its mother! Let it go!" Seeing the Poppy grinning maliciously back at him, though, he took a few fearful steps back. "Um... please?"

"Well, Cutter, why don't you make me?" Blast asked, reaching behind himself and producing a large bomb.

"Yuu bad!" Dagger spat, charging forward.

"NO, DAG'!"

Immediately Blast chucked the bomb at the two Helpers, causing it to explode at their feet. Somewhat fortunately for them, though, it wasn't a regular bomb, but a smoke bomb. "Get 'em, Jolt!"

"Yezz, Blazt!" With that, Jolt darted into the smoke cloud, able to see with the help of his new goggles. The cloud cleared, revealing the Plasma Wisp hovering proudly over the duo, which were now tied and gagged. Blast had also taken this opportunity to shove the Dyna-chick into a cramped cage.

"HAH! We did it! We're finally gonna get revenge on these two losers!" the Poppy cheered, holding up a gloved paw and hi-fiving Jolt. He wasn't zapped, however, due to the smaller Dreamlander's rubber gloves. "See, Jolt? I told you those things would be a good buy!"

"Yezzzz, I guezz zzzzo," Jolt buzzed. "Now whatzzzz?"

"You watch these guys while I go get the police," Blast said, turning around and starting to rush off.

Cutter gave a muffled whimper underneath his gag, looking frantically over at Dagger to see if the Blade Knight had any ideas (which wasn't likely). When he did, though, he was surprised to see his friend using that fake beak to saw at the gag, and eventually managed to slice through. No wonder they don't make those fake beaks anymore... he thought to himself.

Mouth now free, Dagger lifted his head and screamed out, "MOMMA BLAAAAAAAAAAADE-BURD!!"

There was silence for a moment, before the wind started to pick up. Slowly it got more and more forceful, and Blast eventually had to stop and cling to the ground to keep from getting blown away. Jolt frantically rushed up to his friend, clinging to his arm to keep from being gone with the wind. Finally the wind stopped, and the two Dreamlanders heard a dull thud behind them.

Blast stood up, blinking. "What, is that all you-" He turned around, finding one very angry Dynablade about two inches away from his face. "...got?" he finished in a squeak.

"...I think I would wet myzzzzelf if I had a bladder, zzzzzz..."

Before either of the villainous duo could do anything, Dynablade leaped into the air and snatched the two in her talons, and began to take off. Blast squirmed around frantically, unable to grab any of his bombs as both of his arms were pinned to his sides. "ZAP IT, JOLT!" he screamed. "HURRY!"

"I can't, zzzz..." Jolt whimpered as he hung from Dynablade's talon. She was carrying him by his paws. "Thezzze rubber glovezzz block my electrizzity... Guezz thozzze weren't zuch a good buy after all... Zorry, Momma."

By this time, Dynablade had carried the two high up over the water, and let them go.

"MY NAME IS BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAST!!" the Poppy Bro. Sr. screamed as he and his Plasma Wisp companion plummeted into the water.

Meanwhile, back with Cutter and Dagger, Dagger had managed to free himself by sawing at the ropes with his beak. He freed Cutter as well, and quickly rushed over to the cage where the third Dyna-chick was held. "Yuu 'kay...?" he asked worriedly.

The chick just looked up at him fearfully, giving a few frightened chirps.

"Um... where's the key?" Cutter asked, looking around. "We need to get that bird out of there!"

"Iunno..." Dagger said with a whimper. "How getout?"

"I'm not s-" Feeling the wind pick up, Cutter's eyes widened. "WOAH! H-here comes Dynablade!" With that, he grabbed onto Dagger, who grabbed onto the heavy cage to keep from being blown away.

When the bird landed, she lifted her wing, pushing Cutter and Dagger away with one of her pinion feathers. That having been accomplished, she gazed down at the cage, and jerked her head forward, striking the cage with her beak and causing the door of the cage to break open. The chick, still a little nervous, poked its head out of the cage and looked up. Instantly recognizing his mother, though, he darted out, chirping happily.

"Hah! Guess we don't need the key, huh Dagger?" Cutter looked over at his friend, but was confused to see the Blade Knight drooping and gazing ahead forlornly. "Huh? Dagger, what's wrong...?" The 'Kibble followed his friend's gaze, finding Dynablade nuzzling her chick. "Oh... I see."

"...Notfair," Dagger mumbled, looking away and pouting.

"Well, Dagger, that is her real chick," Cutter said with a sigh. "Would you rather it be all by itself and have Dynablade still thinking that you're her chick?"

"...Nuu, but... like Momma Bladeburd..."

Before Cutter could say anything else, though, Dynablade turned toward Dagger and nuzzled him. The Blade' brightened up considerably, giggling and hugging her beak.

"Huh... guess she's grateful that you helped her," the 'Kibble observed. Suddenly realizing what the bird might do next, he looked away nervously, only to jump about a foot in the air when he saw the bird in his face. "Um, y'know, I should probably get going now..." Before he could leave, though, Dynablade nuzzled him as well. "Er... y-you're welcome."

With that, the bird straightened up, reaching her wing down to the ground. Her chick eagerly climbed up onto her back, and she looked down at the two Helpers, keeping her position, as though inviting them to ride on her back as well.

Dagger grinned, looking over at Cutter. "Let'sgo!" he exclaimed, grabbing his friend by the paw.

"W-wait! No, I didn't agree to this!" Cutter yelped as the larger Dreamlander dragged him onto the bird's back. "Wait! NO! WAIIIIIIT!" Too late, though-Dynablade took off for the top of the mountain again, making it up in only a minute or two. Once there, she let the two Helpers and the chick down, and lead the chick over to the nest.

"I hate flying..." Cutter whined, covering his mouth to keep from gagging again.

"We doit!" Dagger cheered, hopping up and down and flapping his arms about. "We savechick!"

"That's true..." the 'Kibble said, watching as the third chick joined its siblings for the first time and began to eat. "I guess we're heroes again, huh?" He smiled at that-as much as he hated going through stuff like this, it made him feel good to know that he'd helped someone.

The two Helpers sat back and watched the three chicks play around in the nest. After a while, Cutter spoke up again. "D'you suppose these guys have names?"

"Yah," Dagger answered with a nod. He pointed at each of the chicks as he stated their names: "Sist'r, Bruth'r, and... uh... Uth'r Bruth'r!"

"...Creative," the Sir Kibble muttered with a sweatdrop. He noticed Dynablade perking up and walking away for a moment, and sighed. "Somehow I don't think their mother's going to call them that, though."

The Blade Knight cocked his head to one side. "Whynot?"

"Well, beca-"

The puffball's sentence was cut off by a horrible screech, and both Helpers whirled around to find that Dynablade was under attack! They couldn't tell just what it was, though, since the bird's massive form was blocking their view.

"Momma Bladeburd!" Dagger cried in horror, rushing up to the bird. When he got closer, he was able to see just what was attacking her, and screeched to a halt.

"What's wrong, Dagger?" Cutter asked, rushing up to his friend. "Who's-KIRBY?!"

"Huh?" The pink puffball, who was wearing an Indian-style feathered headdress and some face paint, looked over at the two Helpers. "Cutter? Dagger?! What are you doing h-WOAH!" He jumped back just in time to dodge a snap from Dynablade's beak.

"Momma! Momma Bladeburd!" Dagger yelped, rushing up to Dynablade and tugging on one of her legs. "Nofight! Hefriend!"

"Y-yeah, Dynablade... Kirby's a friend! I'm sure he didn't mean to hurt you..."

"Yeah, of course!" Kirby said, holding up his paws in defense. After a moment, he glanced over at Cutter, whispering, "...Why not?"

"Because Dynablade's not stealing the food for no reason!" Cutter whispered back, jabbing his thumb over at the chicks in the nest.

"Oh. ...OH!" Kirby did a double-take when he saw the nest. "Wuh-oh, I didn't know she had kids! Uh... sorry, Mrs. Dynablade!" He looked at the massive bird and gave her a sheepish grin. The bird just dug her talons into the ground, giving an annoyed cluck.

"Shesteal fuud... forchicks!" Dagger said with a nod.

"Yeah, and we wound up at the wrong place at the wrong time, so... long story short, the police thinks we stole the crops," Cutter explained. "We've been on the run from them for a long rusty time... I'm exhausted."

"Well, I can get your name cleared for that one," Kirby said with a nod. "The police'll trust my word. As for Dynablade, though... she can't keep stealing food like this."

"Yeah..." The 'Kibble rubbed the top of his helmet. "Who on earth would give her a ridiculous amount of food for free, though?"

Suddenly the two Helpers perked up, and exchanged glances.

---

Whispy, not really able to get up and move around his forest in order to talk to other people, always appreciated company. So when he saw Cutter, Dagger, and Kirby approaching, he greeted them with a smile. "Hello!" he called. "How are you three today?"

"We're doing good, Whispy!" Kirby said with a smile.

"Yeah, and we were wondering... can we have some apples?" Cutter asked.

The tree nodded. "Of course! After how you helped me, I'd be happy to lend you all the apples you needed. My forest is full of them, especially in this season!"

The trio exchanged grins, and Dagger spoke up. "Webe... rightback!" With that, they rushed off, and returned with Dynablade's nest with the three chicks in it, all of them chirping hungrily. They then shoved the nest directly underneath Whispy's branches, nodding.

Whispy gave the nest a startled look, not really expecting this. Oh well, they were his friends, and he'd agreed to help them. "Well... all right, then." With that, he shook his branches, causing apples to come falling down into the nest. Before they even hit the floor, the birds snapped them up, swallowing them whole.

As he fed the chicks, the tree looked over at Cutter and Dagger again. "Would you two like some apples as well?"

"NO."

"...Just wondering."

"Tired of apples, huh?" Kirby asked with a snicker.

"You have no idea..." Cutter grumbled.

Suddenly the pink puffball perked up, getting another idea. "Oh! Whispy, when you get tired of that..."

---

It was finally Halloween night, and people in houses all across Dreamland were getting food, candy, and other treats ready to hand out to the trick-or-treaters. Farmer Ramble in particular was gathering together some candied fruits he'd prepared specially for this night, smiling to himself as he wondered what funny sort of costumes he would see this year.

No sooner had he picked up his bowl of treats did he hear a knock at the door. (Of course, the person at the door had been knocking for quite a while-he had just knocked loud enough for the Cappy farmer to hear.) "I'm coming," he said with a chuckle, heading over to the door and opening it.

Standing at the door was Dagger, wearing a fake beak over his mouth and two massive feathers on his arms, holding up a bag. "Trick-er-treet!" the Blade' said with a smile.

At his side were what appeared to be three other children of species that the old Cappy couldn't quite identify, all dressed up as identical birds. They looked up at him with their "fake" beaks wide open, chirping, "Tweet-tweet-tweet!"

Ramble laughed, placing a few candied fruits in Dagger's bag, and holding out some fruits for the other children, who eagerly scarfed them down. That accomplished, he turned back to look at the Blade Knight again. "Your costume looks nice, Dagger, but I must say, your friends' costumes are very convincing!"

Dagger just grinned.

Chapter 3: The Meta Knights' Fortress << Previous