"There could be some logical explanation," Duster suggested half heartedly.

Kumatora didn't stop or even slow as she glared over her shoulder at him. "Your dad has to know what that place is and what that guy was talking about! He's the one who sent you after the Egg in the first place! Ionia barely ever talked about it to me, and she said she didn't know anything about it other than it was supposed to be important!"

"I don't know if you've noticed," Duster panted as he rushed after her, "But my dad's memory isn't exactly the best. At the castle, he kept saying things like "or so I seem to recall"- and he said that while he was talking about things that were important. One of them was the Needle itself! Does that sound like a guy who knows exactly what's going on and is playing chess master?"

"He was probably trying to cover his tracks! He wanted to have an excuse for if we stumbled across something the way we did."

"Come on Kumatora! Why would he send me after the Hummingbird Egg if he didn't want me to use it?"

"To keep those stupid Pigmasks from getting their grubby hands on it, obviously! I don't know what's going on here or why he's lying to us, but I'm going to find out! I'll get him for lying to me, that cheap bas-"

"Hey!" Duster said, grabbing her shoulder and pulling her around to face him. "Don't talk about my dad like that!"

For a moment, her anger was shoved aside by her surprise, and then Duster went on.

"Besides, if we're talking about people lying to us, we never did find out why Ionia was acting suspicious before."

Kumatora yanked away and opened her mouth wide to retort.

But before she had a chance their ears caught the faint sound of something that was definitely not a forest creature coming closer.

Duster gripped her wrist again and pulled her off the road.

They dove behind a big mess of thorn bushes just as a Pork Ship went past. The notes of their theme lingered in the air even after they went past, the same way the foul smell from the vehicles remained.

Once she was sure they were gone and there weren't any more coming, Kumatora braced herself- started to pull herself up, when Duster (who hadn't let go of her hand since he'd pulled her into hiding) tugged her down again.

The knowledge that the Pigmasks were around kept her from yelling again, and when she turned around and actually looked at Duster, her anger began to fade away.

He let go of her- held his hands in the air- his expression looked so hurt that for a moment she wondered if she'd punched him without realizing it.

"I stand by everything I said about my dad," he said quietly, "But I'm sorry about what I said about Ionia. I mean, that behavior was suspicious, but there could be some completely innocent reason."

"…you're right about Ionia's behavior- well, now you are, anyway. Your dad's behavior is way more suspicious, but I guess there could still be some sort of logical reason. And in any case, what I said isn't going to change the truth, whatever the truth is, so all I accomplished was bugging you… sorry. And I promise I'll wait to hear what your dad's explanation is before I punch him."

"And you won't punch him at all if he has a good explanation, right?" Duster asked patiently.

"Yeah," Kumatora agreed. "Come on, let's go see what those pig jerks are up to."

Duster nodded, a trace of his usual smile appeared before being covered by determination. When they reached the path again, he took a step in the direction the ship had taken, before stopping, frowning.

"What is it?"

"They're going in the same direction we were. They're headed towards the village."

Kumatora glanced in the direction of the village, even though all she could see were trees, before looking back at Duster. "Could be a coincidence. Come on, let's go find out."

It wasn't coincidence.

Kumatora mentally cursed herself for even suggesting that it could've been as she and Duster carefully peeked into the village.

It wasn't empty anymore. Instead, it was crawling with Pigmasks. They seemed to be searching for something. Or someone.

Were they looking for them? And where were Boney and the two geezers?

Kumatora crept closer and Duster followed, ducking behind the closest house and listened to the Pigmasks talking to each other.

"This is so boring. I can't believe we have to check this dump again."

"You'd rather stand still for hours doing nothing but staring into space?" another asked with a sardonic chuckle as he tried the door to the house he was standing in front of but succeeded only in rattling the knob. "but I have to admit, I am surprised at being back here. The Commander made us go over everything with a fine tooth comb before."

"I'm surprised the Commander didn't come himself again."

That helmet-headed jerk wasn't here himself? Drat.

Kumatora had been thinking of a ton of different schemes to try to lure him out of the village and then get him alone and then beat Lucas's location out of him. But if he wasn't here-

"I'm not surprised. The Commander's been different since he got the Captive."

"What?"

"I haven't noticed any difference. What makes you say that?"

Kumatora wanted to know that too. She pressed herself closer to the house as if getting that little bit closer would get her the answers she wanted.

"What, you guys can't see it? It's obvious!" the Pigmask said, throwing up his arms irritated.

"If it's so obvious, then it shouldn't be too hard to explain it, right?" challenged another Pigmask. They were all more interested in this conversation than in the search. They were all looking at him, and some were even drifting closer.

"Well- he's always so busy all the time."

That prompted laughter.

"The Commander's always been busy, genius!"

"I think he has been busier lately," another added, thoughtfully, "but there's a lot going on right now, not just that Captive he's got. There's those glowy things- they're called needles, right?- he has to take care of, and then there's this 'move everybody to NPC' thing, and there's the fact that the Ultimate Chimera is still running around loose-"

"Don't forget about the group of troublemakers that the Captive is from."

"Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about them. They haven't really done much, have they? I mean, they've gotten some of the Needles, and that's about it, right? And I heard someone say that the boy the Commander captured was the one who was pulling the Needles for them, so they can't do that anymore either."

"Especially since no one can get inside that temple place. Those stupid frozen vines keep everybody out."

"Well, with this move over, maybe the Commander will have more time."

"Hey, why are we moving them all to New Pork City anyway?" another one of the Pigmasks- a pink suited one- asked tentatively.

They all turned and stared at him and he waved his hands in the air frantically.

"Uh- it's just a question, you guys! I mean, yeah, it's out in the middle of nowhere here, and there's only a single store and a hotel and a whole bunch of houses, but it's not like it's a dump or anything. They took good care of their town. I wasn't surprised that some people wanted to move, but I don't understand why we had to make sure that everyone moved there…"

One of the other ones slapped him on the back of the head. "Duh! We were told to! That's why we're doing it."

"I was just curious why!" he squeaked, holding onto the back of his head.

"I don't know either, but it doesn't matter. The Commander told us to do it, and so we do it."

"While I agree with that, does anyone have any idea why the Commander wants us to take anyone we find here right to base so he could interrogate them himself?"

"See? That's the type of thing I'm talking about! The Commander would never have given an order like that before!"

"You really think so? The Commander always prefers to do things like that himself. He's not like Mr. Fassad, who always makes other people clean up the messes he makes."

"That's true, but it is unusual that the Commander would insist on doing it himself. I mean, the original orders were just to take anyone we found to New Pork City."

A sudden noise rang out, startling everyone. The noise seemed to startle the Colonel most, perhaps because it was coming from him. He quickly pulled out one of those machines they used to communicate. "Yes sir?"

"This is an order directly from his highness Master Porky." The next thing the man said was drowned out by the Pigmasks' confused squeals. "Quiet down!"

"Sorry sir!" the Pigmask apologized profusely, "it's just- are you sure, sir?"

"Positive," the voice said, practically leaking disdain all over the ground. "Now, should you find any more stragglers, your orders are to bring them directly to New Pork City, straight to the Empire Porky Building, and give them to the scientists to be placed into the "Nice Person Hot Springs". Do you understand?"

"Yes sir! Take them to NPC, Empire Porky Building, scientists and Nice Person Hot Springs!"

"Correct."

The communicator clicked off, and the colonel sighed in relief.

"Nice Person Hot Springs? What are those?"

"No idea, Private. What I do know is we need to finish up here and return to our real work!"

"Real work? Is that what they're calling it now?"

Another slap to the back to the head. "Come on dolts, back to the ship. There's obviously no one here, and just sticking around here isn't going to make anyone show up. Let's go."

The Pigmasks began to drift towards the ship, but they didn't stop talking.

"Wow, King P actually gave us orders? I thought he was just a myth."

The colonel gave a disgusted sigh. "Private, stop talking. It makes you sound stupid. Of course King P isn't a myth! Why do you think the army exists?"

"We sure don't seem to exist to take care of enemies the way most armies do," muttered the major, before wincing as the colonel slapped the back of his head.

"Quiet you! Now, is everyone here?"

They were quiet for a couple of moments as they looked around- and then the colonel face palmed. "We're missing Hiss. Hiss!" he bellowed, leaning over the side of the ship. "We're leaving!"

No response.

"I swear I'll leave you here and then you'll have to walk all the way back to base!"

After a moment, a blue Pigmask came trotting up from the direction of Lucas's house.

"We should've realized we were missing Hiss earlier," one of the Pigmasks commented as he got closer. "Since he's friends with Sheep and all."

"Sheep?"

The latecomer pulled himself up onto the ship. "Sheep's friends with the Captive," he drawled lazily.

"Oh really? What does he say about him?"

"He's a lot like the Commander, but more cheery."

The colonel snorted and went to the front, but the blue Pigmask kept talking.

"Actually, Sheep and I have a bet going. Rainer's getting in on it too. Sheep thinks that the reason the Commander is keeping the Captive with him and not letting the scientists have him is because-"

The door slid shut, cutting off the rest of it.

It startled and irritated Kumatora so much she almost dashed after it as it began to rise into the sky before pulling away.