A/N: I know this is not supposed to be a gift, but this is actually my holiday gift for you: a new chapter and let you guys know that I'm still alive. My health condition has not been so great due to the stress of my school work, my part-time job, and I also had to take care of the ones that I love. Even though I was tested negative for COVID-19(Thank goodness;;), but there were so many other things that caused me to fall behind in everything.
Thank you guys for always being patient with me! Just wanted to let you guys know that I'm still alive!
"Here we are," a voice squeaked to its gang. "This planet has loads of treasures! We will be the riches Squeaks in the galaxy!" His squeak was high yet charismatic. He was a gray mouse with a red hat, a jagged red cape, and long yellow claws on each of its hands.
"Oh, we'll be rich all right," the smaller yellow mouse with a red cape and a pair of triangle shades squeaked.
"Then we can start ruling over people!" The large blue mouse with a red bandana, a redshirt, and a black eye patch squeaked. His squeak is deeper than the first and second mouse.
"My research better be worth it," the mouse with large swirly glasses and a large green mustache squeaked. His squeak was rather shaky.
"Come along, boys," the leader of the four mice spoke up. "We're ruling this town tonight!" He said as he stood tall as the view of Cappy Town emerged right before his eyes.
********
It was another peaceful day at Cappy Town, or should we say, it LOOKED peaceful from a distance until you hear someone screaming. Usually, it'd be Dedede who screams at Escargoon to do something for him, but it was not Dedede this time.
"AHHHH!" One cappy screamed. "SOMEONE ROBBED EVERYTHING IN MY HOUSE!!"
Then another cappy screamed, "MY STUFF IS ALL GONE!!"
Citizens of Cappy Town were not the only ones who had their valuables stolen.
"MA THRONE!" Dedede screamed in terror. "WHERE IS MA THRONE AT??!!"
"OH NO, MY WALLET! ALL OF MY THINGS ARE GONE!!" Escargoon screamed.
"MY VIDEO GAMES!!! WHAAA-HAHAHA" Tuff bawled as his video games were gone. "Who would steal my video games? Who would do such horrible things!?"
"Hey, girly! I know you can solve dis mystery!" Dedede said as he burst in.
"I would assume Dedede has something to do with it," Tiff said to herself. "But it seems Dedede is freaking out too! Now, who can possibly rob the whole kingdom within one night?"
"It's probably dat dere Kirby!" Dedede said.
"Will you please stop making assumptions without having actual evidence?" Tiff said. "You never learn! Just give me a time to look over the whole kingdom and try to find some clues!"
"I will help you," Meta Knight said from behind Tiff's back, hanging upside down.
"GAH!!" Tiff, Tuff, and Dedede all yelped as Meta Knight randomly appeared again as usual.
"Meta Knight! What did I tell you about sneaking behind me?" Tiff said. "Seriously, no one gets used to it."
"Apologies," Meta Knight said. "But we must quickly act in order to catch these burglars. They may strike at any time."
"They?" Tiff asked. "How do you know it's 'they'?"
"There were different footprints," Meta Knight said. "There were at least four different footprints. Interestingly, none of them seem to match anyone in the whole kingdom, even you, me, his majesty, sir Escargoon, Kirby, his majesty-"
"Doncha blame me!" Dedede said. "Ima victim here too, ya know!"
"He never SAID he was blaming you!" Tiff said. "He said none of the footprints matched yours! Geez! How is he ruling our kingdom if he barely understands the spoken language?"
"HEY!" Dedede screamed, provoked.
"Your majesty, please! There is no time for that!" Escargoon said. "Tiff, Meta Knight, we're counting on you to catch the thieves!"
"Hold on, we need to make sure Kirby is all right, first," Tiff said as she ran out of the room. Meta Knight swiftly and quietly followed after her.
When Tiff and Meta Knight arrived at Kirby's house, they heard panicked complaining, but not Kirby's voice. "Tokkori? You too?" Tiff asked.
"They stole my bed, my blanket, my furniture, my food, everything!" Tokkori said.
"Where's Kirby?" Tiff asked.
"As usual!" Tokkori said. "You guys are more interested in Kirby than me! What makes me less of Kirby!?"
"Oh stop complaining and just tell me where Kirby is!" Tiff said. "After all, you do nothing but freeload off of him!"
"He's sleeping on the tree over there," Meta Knight said after looking around. Kirby was the first thing he noticed or wanted to notice, after arriving at Kirby's house.
Kirby was quietly snoozing on the tree.
"Kirby! Please, wake up!" Tiff called. "We have to solve the mystery of the whole kingdom being robbed!"
"Po... yo...?" Kirby woke up as he rubbed his eyes.
"Come on, Kirby," Tiff said as she took her hands out. "Come along, we need to crack this case!"
"Poyo!" Kirby said excitedly as he hopped out of the tree.
Kirby joined Tiff and Meta Knight, and they all walked around the kingdom in order to search for more clues. They interrogated every cappies since they were all robbed by an unknown burglar. Tiff did most of the interrogation. Meta Knight looked around for clues and listened. Kirby, well, Kirby acted like the usual Kirby.
********
"I can't believe they cleaned me out!" Samo complained about his bar full of empty shelves where there were supposed to be bottles of drinks. "How am I supposed to stay in business like this?"
"Even the glasses are gone," Tiff said as she looked everywhere and took pictures.
"Poyo, poyo..." Kirby said.
Meta Knight stayed silent.
********
"I predict I can no longer tell my fortune without my orb," Mabel complained. "Cappies will no longer be able to get help from me."
"Everyone, at least I know that you're more of an advisor," Tiff said. "You don't really need it, don't you?"
"Poyo?" Kirby said.
"I still need to stay in business!" Mabel yelped.
"Hmm... okay," Tiff said as she took notes.
Meta Knight stayed silent.
********
"Oh, no, THE BOOKSTORE! NOT THE BOOKSTORE!!" Tiff exclaimed in disbelief and shock.
"Yeah, I had new books today, and they took that away too!" Biblio complained.
"What about my favorite encyclopedia!?" Tiff said.
"They cleaned me out, Tiff! Your favorite encyclopedia is gone too!" Biblio yelped.
"I will track these jerks down all the way to the end of the universe if that's the last thing I do!" Tiff said as she gritted her teeth and snapped the clipboard in half.
"Poyo, poyo!" Kirby said.
Meta Knight stayed silent.
********
"All of my pots and pans are gone!" Kawasaki cried.
"I'm surprised that the food is not," Tiff said as she looked inside the refrigerator. "Wait, no. I'm not surprised." Tiff said as she closed the door.
"Poyo, poyo!" Kirby said as he took care of the leftovers.
Meta Knight stayed silent.
"Kirby! Let's go! We can eat later!" Tiff called. "You come along too, Meta Knight!"
"Poyo..." Kirby reacted in disappointment as he followed Tiff out. Meta Knight silently followed after him.
********
"They must have been desperate," Tuggle said. "The groceries, frozen food, everything disappeared!"
"Not again, this happened during the pandemic," Tiff said as she continued to jot down notes, and yes, she has been taking notes the whole time.
"Poyo, poyo..." Kirby said, disappointed once more.
Meta Knight stayed silent.
********
"They took everything out of this store and I can't afford to make up for all of these!" Gengu said.
"At this point, it seems like it's more than four people or creatures that robbed the whole kingdom," Tiff analyzed. "Four creatures cannot possibly rob THAT much."
"Unless..." Meta Knight spoke, finally breaking his own silence.
"Unless what, Meta Knight?" Tiff asked.
"Unless it's that gang..." Meta Knight said.
"What gang?" Tiff asked.
"Follow me, Tiff, Kirby," Meta Knight said.
********
Meta Knight brought Tiff and Kirby into his research room.
"These are the guys," Meta Knight said as he presented the image of four strange-looking mice. "They are called 'Squeaks', the most feared thieves of all time. Spinni, Storo, Doc, and finally Daroach." Meta Knight explained as he pointed at each one respectively. "Spinni, the speed of the Squeaks. Storo, the Brawn of the Squeaks. Doc, the brain of the Squeaks. And finally, Daroach, the leader of the Squeaks. They're the most infamous burglars of all time. Together, they make uncatchable thieves. Even if one gets caught, the other helps them escape."
"Must be a pain in the neck to find them," Tiff said.
"Poyo?" Kirby said.
"But I'm sure we can all catch them," Tiff said. "You and Kirby are unbeatable after all!"
"Perhaps," Meta Knight said. "Before we fight them, we must find them. They may strike quickly at any time, any place. But if my judgment is correct, they will not strike here anymore as they robbed every single valuable here. Nothing more left to steal here. They will move on to the next place. It may be anywhere. Somewhere on this planet. Somewhere in the galaxy. Somewhere in the universe."
"How will we able to find them?" Tiff asked.
"I guess it's time to take this out," Meta Knight said.
"Halberd?" Tiff asked.
"No, we have to save the ultimate weapon for the ultimate moment," Meta Knight said.
"What do you mean 'ultimate moment'?" Tiff asked.
"Haltmann Works Company," Meta Knight explained. "They're planning something big. But that's not important right now. The more important thing is catching these four criminals."
"So what are we going to use instead of your Halberd?" Tiff asked.
"Separate spaceship," Meta Knight said. "That is meant for smaller use. I engineered like the Robobot Armor. We should have enough weapons to track them down and capture them."
"All right, do we need to bring anything else?" Tiff asked.
"You have to bring me!" Tuff's voice came from behind.
"Us too!" Fololo and Falala's voices came from behind next to Tuff's voice.
"When did you guys get here!?" Tiff asked, surprised.
"How did you come in here?" Meta Knight asked calmly although he was more concerned about how they came into his research room.
"We just followed you guys all the way because it seems like you guys are gonna go on another fun adventure!" Tuff said with his hands behind the back of his head.
"Fun!? FUN!?" Tiff raged. "Do you think this is just another video game???"
"Well, you drive a spaceship, fight bad guys," Tuff said. "Seems like a video game to me."
"Fine, you can go ahead and think of it as a video game," Tiff said. "But you need to think of these as a video game WITHOUT reset. You mean, once you lose, you don't get a revive. Understand?"
"Must you twist it into the dark?" Tuff complained.
"No, I must twist it to REALITY!" Tiff said.
"But I believe more the better to find the ones we are looking for," Fololo said.
"I think it would be better if all of us go together," Falala added.
"Including us!" Iroo, Honey, and Spikehead all exclaimed from the door.
Tiff facepalmed and groaned. "Ugh, you guys really, really need to stay out of trouble when it's obviously avoidable. How do you expect Kirby, Meta Knight, and me to take care of all of you guys?!"
"You guys don't NEED to take care of us," Tuff said full of pride.
"No, you are all vulnerable," Meta Knight said as he shook his head. "We must pay extra close attention to all of you."
"See?" Tiff said.
"But you are all welcome to come along," Meta Knight said.
"META KNIGHT!!" Tiff screamed in anger.
"All right! The captain has decided!" Tuff said excitedly. "Everybody get on board!" Fololo, Falala, Iroo, Honey, and Spikehead all boarded on Meta Knight's ship.
"Meta Knight! What are you thinking?!" Tiff said.
"Although this is a dangerous mission," Meta Knight said. "It will be a great practice for not just Kirby and me, but also for you."
"Practice for what?" Tiff asked.
"For the 'ultimate moment'," Meta Knight added.
"What is this 'ultimate moment' you're talking about?" Tiff asked.
"You'll see," Meta Knight said. "And I have a huge feeling that you will eventually be a huge part of that 'ultimate moment' when the time comes." Meta Knight silently went on board. Kirby excitedly followed after Meta Knight.
"Sometimes, he really is the biggest mystery of Cappy Town," Tiff grumbled to herself before she stepped inside the spaceship. "All right! Everybody all buckled up and ready to go?!" Tiff asked the passengers.
"YES!!" "Poyo!!" "..." They all exclaimed excitedly.
"All right, Meta Knight!" Tiff said as she said down in front of the control system next to Meta Knight. "Let's capture these burglars!"
Meta Knight silently activated the spaceship and lifted off.
Tiff, used to all the hero work she does for both Kirby and Meta Knight, inserted the information of Squeak Squad to track them down.
"You have become even more intelligent than before," Meta Knight complimented.
"Not surprised," Tiff scoffed. "Just wish that there is at least one more cappy who is as smart as I am."
********
"Um, boss?" Doc said in the Squeak Squad spaceship. "I think we're being tracked down."
"What!? For real!!??" Spinni started to freak out. "We can't be tracked yet, we're only getting started! At this rate, we'll never be rich enough to take over the galaxy and be shoved in Intergalaxial prison instead!" As fast as Spinni moved, he also talked really fast as if he was rapping.
"Calm down," Storo said. "We'll smash them down whenever they get close to us."
"Storo is right," Daroach said. "Let them come. We will gladly welcome them to their doom..." Daroach squeaked his evil laughter.