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."

After gently waking Kirby and Bandana Dee up, they made their way to the exit as stealthily as possible. "We've made it," she whispered, relieved, but a fearful roar interrupted her. Something started to shake the walls, causing boulders to rain down, covering the entrance.

"You spoke too soon," Meta Knight sighed, glaring at her, as if her whisper had alerted the... whatever it was.

"Sorry," she quietly squeaked.

Kirby and Bandana Dee, who were both still on the edge of slumber, began to stumble off in two different directions. "No, don't!" she hissed. "Get back here!"

"I will go after Bandana Dee, you follow Kirby," he ordered when they, of course, didn't return right away.

"Okay," she agreed. But as soon as she had crossed the floor, separating the four heroes into different quadrants of the huge cavern, another roar echoed off the walls. Rocks fell down in a perfect X-shape, piling from the floor to the ceiling.

"It is a trap!" Meta Knight gasped aloud, a bit too late.

"Yeah, I kind of noticed," she murmured nervously. At least they could still hear each other. "Kirby? Bandana Dee? Are you okay?" she called. It didn't really matter anymore if they were heard or not, she decided.

"Kirby, poyo!" Kirby shouted. There was nothing from Bandana Dee.

"He cannot speak, how will we tell if he is not injured?" Meta Knight questioned calmly.

She thought for a second, then called out, "Bandana! Tap the tip of your spear against the rocks once for yes, two for no. Are you all right?" One tap answered her. "Good," she sighed, relieved.

"We are separated, there is no way for us to help each other," Meta Knight said, still cool and collected.

"Does nothing frazzle you?!?" she squealed, panicked.

He chuckled. "Very little ever does." His voice growing grave, he continued, "But your panicking will not help with anything. Do you understand, all of you?"

"Poyo!" came one voice.

Tap. went one quadrant.

"All right..." replied the last.

The cave grew light. "Did you do that, Sakura?" Meta Knight inquired, sounding fascinated.

"No. I think it's our monster that did," she told him.

"I see." After he had had a moment to observe his surroundings, he announced, "These rocks are too thick to dig through. Do each of you have a door in your quarter?"

"Poyo."

Tap.

"Yes, sir."

"Good. It appears that the only way we will be able to get back together is if we first split up," he told them sagely. "Each of you should go through your door, I will as well. Stay vigilant, hopefully we will rendezvous soon."

Kirby left, nervously humming. Bandana Dee went his way as well, thumping the ground with the wooden part of his spear.

A few minutes passed. "Have you gone yet, Sakura? I cannot tell."

"No," she replied. "This is the first time I've been put in a position where fighting alone is a possibility. I'm not scared so much as..."

"Anxious? Nervous?" he asked kindly.

"Yeah," she whispered, shuddering a bit.

"You will be fine," his voice called out to her, growing fainter. "Do not keep the rest of us waiting because of your hesitation."

"Yes, sir," she replied, then shuddered again. She really was alone, now. Not just separated from her friends by a wall, but by who-knew-how-much space. Drawing her sword, she began cautiously down the tunnel that the door led to. She sang softly to herself to keep herself strong, hoping they would all find the others again quickly, without mishap. "They're strong, and you are too. This will be easy," she whispered, trying to convince herself.

*************************************************************************

"Master," the 'monster' muttered up to the sky. Invisible, it existed as almost just a breath of wind. Its blowing back and forth through the cave doing surveillance had made Meta Knight think there was a large monster, but in reality he had no way of attacking anyone himself. He was not defenseless, though, to be sure.

"Yes," a voice thundered down, bored-sounding. "Those 'heroes' aren't giving you any trouble, are they? They are tiny, surely you can handle them."

"Of course, master," the one in the cave reassured him. "I have split them up, they have all wandered deeper into our trap."

"All right. Make sure they never find their way out, Waking Noddy, or you will be sorry."

"Of course, master," he agreed, chuckling darkly as he wound through the cave toward Meta Knight first. He could only deal with one hero at a time, might as well start with the hardest to break.

Waking Noddy had been just a simple Noddy once, but NME had turned him into something much more than that years before. Even though NME was long gone, he still retained his powers. He caused nightmares, just like a regular Noddy, but his happened while you were awake. You couldn't actually be harmed, but it was fun watching people go from being brave to curling up into tiny, weeping balls when faced with their worst fear. The only way anyone could get out is if they convinced themselves it wasn't real, a very difficult task indeed. Only a very few had ever succeeded in this before.

It soon caught up to Meta Knight, who was walking around in what was basically circles. "Now, little hero, what do you fear most? Always calm, cool, and collected, yet there must be something that frightens you," the monster thought, almost cheerfully. After studying the Star Warrior for a moment, he laughed to himself. "Mm, mm, I see. Prepare yourself, Star Warrior. Are you ready to be scared?"