A horned silhouette rose behind the smaller ball as vile eyes pierced through the darkness. A jagged smile was the only feature to catch the dim light. Had the prey known what lurked just out of view, it would have flown away. Now, it's fate was sealed-
Click
"Bogg, have you gotten rid of those globs yet?" Frozen, the revealed green devil stood poised with one foot high in the air. Beneath it, a tiny corpuscle of Dark Matter panicked at the sudden light in the chamber and scurried away.
"Well, I almost had 'em," snapped the green imp, "before ya had to go an' turn on the light, ya nutty dame." His face twisted at a thought. While looking Broom Hatter up and down, he tagged on, "Or, dude? I forget which one you are."
"Same here," admitted the sweeper. Producing a small coin from out its conical hat, the cleaner gave a quick flip. "Today, I am a man."
"Mazel Tov." The fiend rolled his eyes. "Now, if ya'd excuse me, mada- sir," he corrected the title, "I need to get back to smashin' these pesky boogers. Don't ya have yer own rooms to clean?"
"I've done my floor," the warlock relayed, "and all the others and most of yours. Pull some weight, newbie. At this rate, the castle won't be cleared out by the time the King gets back." After some more scolding and lackluster threats made with a broom, as none can take those seriously, the currently-a-guy left the worker to continue on with his slow pace.
"Resortin' to stampin' out ooey-gooeys," the goblin told himself, stepping on a slower of the unknowns. "How did I sink this low?"
He knew the answer, of course. You can only mount so many offensives against the Rainbow Resort in an attempted siege before people catch on to your motives. Apparently, however, he was still riding in the clear. Just to play it safe, Squeaky Bogg tried to lay low after his failed attempts to satiate his megalomania and, instead, turned to tantalized his taste for treasure.
Rumors were rampant about the horded haul hidden within Dedede's domain. Towers of teetering trinkets stretched as high as Kawasaki's short stacks, which betrayed their own name. The pickings were ripe for the plunder, but breaching the defended walls was quite the hurtle. Unless colored pink or a looming, black eye, no one got through the front gate. The prior effectively had a key to the front door, and the latter was gone for good. Or, so it seemed.
During its previous parlay at Pop Star, the black scourge stretched its treacherous tentacles into the hearts of the Dream Lands. However, it also riddled the land with dark seedlings. Of no concerning threat, these leftovers of the visit are easily dispatched -- a simply footfall does away them. However, to one who had been under their control not once but thrice, any Dark Matter is unacceptable.
For this reason, King Dedede took a vacation while his abode was cleaned of the pests top to bottom. A daunting task, even the tidy obsessed Broom Hatter needed some assistance. Naturally, there aren't many in Dream Land who would willingly volunteer to do the terrible tyrant a favor, so any offers made were never given a second thought.
And thus is how the nefarious imp came to get within the fort of the one detested more than himself, hunting out the traces of the being feared by all. Doing a good job, or even a decent one, was not his top priority. Despite security being low and trust being high, he wasn't just lead to the treasure horde. Gullible and simple, yes, the lot of Dream Landers are. Stupid, unfortunely, no. Most of his floor was nothing but hallways and empty chambers. Who needed that much dead space, anywise?
This is why Bogg wasn't eliminating his targets as expected -- on sight. Rather, he was selecting. With short hops and sweeps of his tail, the minor nuisances were disposed off, but the quicker of the lot managed to flee to another nook. With his choices narrowed down, he was left with the slipperiest of the slimes, the one which could most believably get out of his grasp.
"You blundering oaf!" yelled the sweeper as the dark speck inched by. "I ought to turn you into a newt! ... if I had any witch powers, that is."
"I dunno what happened," proposed the fiend with a fake front of panting. "It just slipped by me, I guess. C'mon, let's get it!"
"Oh, no! I'm not getting dragged into your mess," denied the delegater of duties. "I've cleaned up enough of your problems, literally and metaphorically. This one is all yours. Don't let it get away this time!" Feigning frustration, the goblin stumbled after the black blob while secretly steering it towards the treasure room.
"Oh dear," flatly exclaimed Bogg after a few minutes of false chase, "I believe the whatzit ventured into this locked room." Light flooded into the sealed chamber as a spiked ball crashed through the secure door. "Guess I better go after it." With a slurp and smile, he returned his chained weapon to his stomach.
With lusting looks, the green fiend trodded among the many spoils from years of sovereignty. The countless jewels, while enticing, were not what he had his sights on. There were whispers of a prize beyond monetary measure. Amidst the sparkles and glistens, it was an old, rusted chest that caught his eye. The container alone was a relic and hinted to the age of that held within. The cargo wasn't likely to be old memorabilia and family photos. Those would have been dumped into a damp basement rather than this illustrious hall.
The box was made of aged wood, trimmed in tarnished bronze. A flimsy latch barely held the lid closed, but the immense weight of the top half made that unnecessary. With a greedy grin, the goblin positioned himself before the mighty coffer. He struggled with opening the trunk, both in reaching the grand structure and grabbing it without having arms. Eventually through standing on the tip of his tail and prying with his horns, the mighty lid swung open.
A cloud of dust billowed forth on a cool breeze, blinding and gagging the lunatic. He fanned away the fumes to feast his eyes on what wonder he had discovered -- an empty crate.
"By the stars," blurted out the maniac in absolute astonishment, "it's a rare Invisible Topaz of Ninini!" His tail frantically felt around the vacuous container but found nothing outside of a few splinters. "Say, there's no gems in here, unseen or otherwise. Lame!"
"What do you think you're doing?" a woman's voice suddenly asked. Startled, Squeaky hopped into the chest. He reacted before realizing that the speaker was unmistakeably female and not just questionably like his hat topped task master. With the fear of losing his minimum wage, ulterior motive job passed, and realized as not that big of a deal to start with, he pondered just who this mystery person was. Hoping to grab a peek at her, he tried to squint a look through the warped boards of the box. He saw her face, but it was from her passing through chest.
"Get out of my bed, whoever you are," ordered the phantom face. It was pale and eerie with black holes for eyes. Not the space, sucking kind, although that would be cool. The abrupt, and a bit alarming, appearance gave the fiend another fit of fright. This one popped him right out of the trunk and around the back. The dark dressed damsel fazed through the chest.
"Forget that I can do that? Kind of a ghost, here."
"Oh, no! It's Kindar Spirit back for revenge from beyond the grave!" lamented the lunatic.
"What? No! I'm not Kindar." Mixed with shock, Squeaky also showed some concern and confusion.
"Ew, was that all dust I inhaled?" Getting back to his senses, what little he had access to originally anywise, he quickly tumbled around the base of the large chest to the other side.
"If it didn't work before," the specter spoke, emerging through the container once more, "what made you think anything would change now?"
"You assumed I thought about it," Bogg poorly tried to counter, not realizing who looked worse from the statement. The ghost quickly grasped that she was not dealing with a genius. Again, she questioned what he was doing in her bed. "You sleep in a box? Gotta say, I'd be tryin' to figure that puzzle out instead o' who's in it."
"Well, I don't really sleep, in it or at all. I just wait out the warmer months --" The spirit stopped herself. "Hey, don't change the subject! You, here, why?"
"What? A guy off the street can't take a stroll through a royal palace without bein' interrogated?" The harsh stare the imp earned suggested otherwise. "Okay, okay. If ya must know, I'm just here to ... are, um, you and the King buddies or whatnot?" Emikalia tilted her hand side to side while wearing an uneasy face. "Lookin' to liberate some loot from da loser." She laughed, uncertain if at or with.
"Oh, so a thief, are you?" she questioned. "Then why are you looking in this closet for something to take?"
"This is a closet!?" shrieked Bogg as he took in the size. "Er, I knew that. Yeah, I don't wanna take anythin' too valuable. I'm all noble like that." The dead girl's eyes rolled. The fleshy eyes in room scanned the apparition up and down. "So, you seem like the type who knows this place pretty well. Where's the good stash kept?" The request had a quizzical look. "You know, the stuff worth stealing. The fudge coated, the peanut butter sandwich, the double chip."
"Wait, aren't those types of cookies?" questioned the apparition. "Thought you were looking for treasure? Think you want the, um... pantry."
"That is treasure," the imp insisted. "So, know where, doll-face?" Quite bothered by the annoyance, an idea came to her.
"Yeah. Yeah, I know where the 'stash' is." Skimming backwards along the floor, she beckoned for him. "Just this way." Following with gullible gluttony, the ghost and goblin came upon a metal cylinder. "This is a secret chute that will lead right to the hoard." With a joyful squeal, Squeaky hopped down the hole but was surprised that it ended so quickly.
"Hey, I think I got stuck on somethin' down here. Too dark to see anythin', tho'. Got a light?" He was pleased at the distinctive sound of a match. "Ah, good you're a step ahead of me." He waited, but no light came. "Hey, what's the hold up?" He felt a violent shaking as his body seemed to turn end over. "What's goin' on out there?"
After a violent explosion, Bogg found himself spiraling through the air at an amazing velocity. Amidst the tumbling, he caught glimpses of geist leaning against a cannon.
"This better lead to a seeecreeet roooooommm..."
And now, an alternate ending:
"I'm Amika. Onoz, I'm being eaten."
"Ommy-nom nom. I eated you now." He said.
Vore~!
- end
