Look, a one-shot! Also, I am almost done with the last part of Chapter 4 of Frozen Hearts, so be sure to look out for that! Enjoy!
"Kirby, you are sure you want to do this?" I asked. I drew my cape tighter around me as Kirby unloaded the rest of the climbing gear from the van.
"Of course, poyo! Climbing fun!" Kirby jubilantly replied. "Beside, this mountain not so big."
"This mountain is huge, Kirby! And very cold as well." I shivered just looking at the mountain- and that's saying a lot for me, since I can normally stand such cold temperatures. Why did I already have a bad feeling about this trip?
Kirby handed me a heavy backpack filled with whatever my student had stuffed in there. How was I ever going to survive this climb? Climbing a hill was hard enough, let alone a mountain; steeped in my thoughts and worries, I was aware of Kirby's mouth moving, but his words did not reach my ears. When I finally came back to reality, my student was looking at me expectantly, holding a dark blue parka. "Thank you, I'll put it on later." I took the coat from Kirby and stuffed it into the backpack when he wasn't looking.
"Come on, Meta Kni, let's go. Before it gets dark, poyo," Kirby called, starting up the trail. I hefted the backpack on my armor-clad shoulders and followed the pink puffball.
Most of the climbing was relatively uneventful. There were many boulders in the way, and sometimes we had to shoot ourselves out of cannons, which we already do in Dreamland. There was this one time where Kirby and I had to ride a floating platform up and around huge icy spikes. I was completely in awe of the ice jutting out of the cliff walls, but Kirby acted like he had seen it before. After the platform stopped, I flew over some moving ice, the pink puffball latched onto my feet. Whenever I landed on some ice to rest my wings, he always whimpered and asked, "Meta Kni, please hurry. Cold feet, poyo." I keep forgetting that he doesn't have boots like me. Kirby grabbed a few Maxim Tomatoes on the way upwards and we soon reached the magical door that would take us closer to the summit. I was beginning to think that this climb wouldn't be so hard after all, that it would all be fine. You wouldn't know how wrong I was.
The minute Kirby and I stepped out of the door, we were caught in a raging blizzard. I immediately lost sight of Kirby amidst the swirling snow; my calls for him were drowned out by the snow-filled gales and inclement weather. I also lost my pack to the wind, and I hoped there was nothing important inside. The snow stung the exposed parts of my body and chilled my metal armor. I instinctively wrapped my cape around me and shivered until the ground caved underneath me. I plunged straight into freezing water, my armor dragging me down. "Stars, it's cold!" I thought, gasping. I took in a mouthful of water and accidentally swallowed it, figuratively freezing my body from the inside out. My limbs had somewhat frozen from the sudden cold and I tried to kick up, knowing that time was of the essence. Struggling for breath, I pushed my way to the surface and awkwardly made my way to a sturdy piece of ice. A gale of wind pushed me and I went tumbling back underwater. I was quickly losing strength, but failing to escape the water and its frozen grasp meant nothing good. I climbed onto a safer piece of ice and hauled myself out; I was drenched from head to toe. I laid on the snow and quickly rubbed myself to get warm; obviously my cape wouldn't be much help now since it was wet. As I lay there trying to warm up, something round and blue rolled up to me. It released a flurry of blue gas; it seeped into my mask and froze my eyes shut. I didn't feel like attempting to take off my mask and clearing the ice away since it would probably freeze my hand there. By now, my teeth were audibly chattering and I was shivering violently. The winds chilled me to no end and I couldn't feel most of my body. My armor was most likely frozen to me, and I was about to suffer the same fate. Making it to the top now was impossible, and that was fact. I struggled to take one more step, but ended up crashing face-first into the snow. It seemed so warm against my frigid body, like a fuzzy blanket that invited me to snuggle up with it; yet I willed myself to keep dragging myself over the ice. Forward, backwards, the direction didn't matter as long as I kept moving. The strength I still had drained out of my arms as I slid over the icy ground. At last, I ran out of strength to keep moving. I was about to keep dragging myself forward but my mind's survival instincts kicked in. I was no longer in control of my body as I curled into a small ball and shivered harder than ever before, the blizzard dumping snow on me. "K-k-kirby… I'm s-s-sorry…" With my last ounce of strength, I reached forward as if I could grab the summit, then blacked out.
I woke up on a soft surface next to the roaring flames of a fire. I felt nothing and could barely move. Then I noticed that I could see again and that most of my armor, including my gloves and boots, was gone. My mask was still on my face, wet as ever, and my cape was still damp. Soft paws caressed my foot; I opened my eyes and saw… Kirby?! How had he been able to find me under all that snow? The pink puffball was in a light purple fur jacket and had sparkling tears in his blue eyes. He looked convinced that I was dead, probably because of my extremely low temperature. I couldn't bear to see him like that, so I had to try my best to comfort him. "Kirby, you're… okay." With great difficulty, I reached out my arm to him and he looked in my direction. Upon seeing that I was still alive, he jumped on me. "Poyo!" he exclaimed, nuzzling the bottom part of my mask. "Poyo thought Meta Kni dead."
"I would've been, if you hadn't found me." I replied, patting Kirby's head. "But how did you find me, little one?"
"Tripped over snow," Kirby explained, "and find Meta under snow. You very cold when poyo find you."
"And I still am," I shivered. Kirby handed me the parka that I had stuffed into my backpack (had he found my backpack too?) and helped me sit up against the cave wall. I gratefully put it on and realized what a fool I had been. Why hadn't I put the jacket on before stepping through the door? I nearly slapped myself, and I would have, if Kirby hadn't stopped me. "Not your fault," the pink puffball said, going back to bandaging my foot. "Poyo fault for making you come."
"It isn't your fault; it was mine. I'm the one who forgot to put the jacket on in the first place," I sighed. Kirby grinned at me, as if he had accepted my apology, and in doing so, he accidentally let the bandages drop to the floor. He panicked, trying to scoop them back up, but it was too late. I had already seen underneath. My right foot was extremely swollen and frostbitten, the skin red and raw. Kirby looked very worried as he redid the bandages and secured them tightly with a safety pin. "We should get off this mountain, Kirby. It'll be nightfall soon." I noted. The little Star Warrior looked out of the cave in alarm and realized that the sun was seeing, dying the blizzard snows a palette of reds and oranges.
"Meta stay here. Kaabii back soon. And pwease don't go anywhere," he replied, dashing out of the cave. Go anywhere? It wasn't like I could; I longed to chase after him, but how could I? My injuries prevented me from walking, and I wasn't about to fly into a blizzard to look for him, not after I had nearly frozen to death. I had almost fallen asleep next to a dwindling fire when Kirby returned with a huge, flat branch. I had no idea what my student was planning as he loaded all of our equipment onto the branch. I got my armor back and as soon as I had got all of it on, he helped me limp over and climb into the back of the branch. Then he pushed it out of the cave and jumped into the front.
The branch sled got us to the magical door in record time. I still had the jacket on and my cape was wrapped around me, but the wind and snow still managed to get through. The ride was quite exhilarating, even if it was chilly, and Kirby seemed to enjoy it. After we went through the door, everything calmed down. My left arm was draped over Kirby, who helped keep my injured foot off the trail. Together, we limped down the side of the mountain until we reached the van. Kirby jumped into the back and helped me climb in after him. He threw a blanket over me, and soon after, he had two cups of hot chocolate ready. Kirby downed his and snuggled up in the blanket next to me as I lifted my mask and sipped the hot drink. Before long, the little Star Warrior was asleep, and I wasn't going to be the one to wake him up. "Thank you, Kirby…" I whispered, stroking his head. "For everything…"