Heroes of Dreamland, Book 5: Nintendo World: The Fate of All Worlds (OLD)

Dungeons and Dragons?

Meta Knight's POV:

There is a warm smile on my face as I stroke Sakura's feathers and she sings. Of course, I do not enjoy being stuck in a cage, and I am a little bit frightened of what might happen to us in our time here, but being close to her, allowing myself to be in love with her... It is a feeling that I very much enjoy.

Suddenly, her quiet song (which I assume is some Human song, as I have never heard it before,) stops mid-note as we hear some sort of clawed creature scraping at the door, while several small voices make annoyed grunting sounds. As a silhouette of a small, horned head appears in the non-see-through small, square window of the heavy aluminum door, I cautiously remove my paw from her wing and reach around behind me, taking hold of Galaxia's hilt. Without looking away from the door, Sakura reaches for her sword as well.

"What do you think it is?" she whispers so quietly that I can hardly hear her. The whatever-they-ares outside the door are obviously able to hear her just fine though, as they all start excitedly chattering.

"Nomp nomp! Nomp-nomp?" one speaks happily and curiously in a not-high-pitched-yet-childlike voice.

"Nomp! Nomp-nomp!" another disagrees with it in the exact same voice, but sounding bossy.

"Nomp? Nomp nomp nomp?" another wonders, again with the same voice, but this one seems cautious.

"Nomp nomp nomp!" the last one orders, with no difference in voice from the other three, but as if it is the leader.

Suddenly, a grin breaks out across my face under my mask. I know that voice, and the fact that there are four creatures that all sound to be exactly like each other confirms my suspicions. "It is Landia, I would bet my mask on it!'

"Nomp! Nomp! Nomp!" all four voices start happily cheering, while the clawing noise changes to one of the four of them dancing around. Sakura giggles a bit, which only makes me feel happier. It is good to see her slowly becoming herself again.

However, her happy moment does not last long at all before she becomes frightened. "We need them to be quiet. If they keep making that much noise, someone's bound to come look and see what's going on. And I don't want Snake-Lady to get ahold of them."

"Landia, my dragon friend. Can you please be quiet?" I request.

"Nomp? Nomp-nomp!" the cautious one agrees with me quietly. Again, I have to smile a little, even amidst my worry. That one is the one I rode on during our flight back to Popstar from the alternate dimension we had battled Magolor in. Kirby rode the leader, of course, Bandana mounted the happy and cheerful one, and Dedede was honored by the bossy one by being allowed to be his rider.

The other three, however, keep making noise. "Why did they even come here?" Sakura frets. "We can't leave them out there, they'll be seen in no time!"

"Hm," I agree with her, frowning as I begin to try to make a plan. "I am assuming that if you had a way to pick these locks, you would have done so by now."

Frowning over at me, she tells me, "I have a way to pick the locks, I just can't as long as that thing is watching me." She yawns and stretches as a way of nonchalantly gesturing over to a camera that is nailed to the ceiling, which I avoid looking straight at. After all, we do not want to raise any scientists' suspicions.

Closing my eyes in thought, I murmur, "Is there not a camera outside the door as well? Why have the dragons not already been seen?"

Sounding confused, Sakura mutters, "They really should've been. Unless someone disconnected the cameras? But who, and why?" After a moment's pause, she scoots her cage across the floor so she can get a better look at the camera. "This one's off, too. What's up with that?"