"Mate, I'm sorry." Rick admitted. "If I'd had any idea of what they were planning, I'd have fought them off."
"Darn right you should've." a sharp, pointed remark noted. I looked up to see Coo perched on a branch above us. "Without your help, I could barely keep them from getting to the Forest Guardian himself. "
"Nice to see you, Coo." I told him. He snorted.
"The forest guardian needs to be guarded, huh? Interesting." Marx said with a grin. "You'd think a sentient tree who guards an entire forest would be able to defend itself."
I buried my head in my hands. "Please don't get into that again."
"And now I'm still hungry," he remarked. I didn't blame him; we'd gotten so caught up in chatting, laughing and having the times of our lives that we hadn't actually eaten very much. "Who do those guys think they are?"
"You seriously weren't aware you guys had a king?" I ventured. Marx and Rick both blinked at me.
"I've never left this forest in my life." Marx admitted. "If there's some sort of king ruling over this place, it's news to me." Rick nodded in agreement.
Coo smirked. "This isn't hard, guys. King Dedede lives in that massive colorful castle a few miles away. 'Castle Lololo,' I think it was called?"
"If you guys haven't left the forest, how do you know that?" I asked.
"I'm a bird. I can fly. I've seen that castle just down the road from here - its proximity to the forest would explain why they think they own this place. It's built right by the beach - right where the Float Islands Archipelago begins." Coo remarked; Marx and Rick were nodding vaguely, though I'd guess they had no idea what Coo was talking about either. "Just because you guys don't have a life doesn't mean I can't. I'll have you know I've been up to the peak of Candy Mountain and met the legendary Dyna Blade."
Marx rolled his eyes. "I'd be impressed, but I don't know what that is."
"Case in point." Coo remarked. "This delusional royal probably just decided to collect a bunch of apples for his, I don't know, apple collection? I doubt it'd be too hard to get them back. Rick's strong, but not fast enough to keep up, and Kine's, well, Kine." He seemed to be talking to himself more than us at this point.
"So why don't you go?" Marx snapped. clearly frustrated with Coo's ego. I couldn't blame him.
"That's what I was on my way to do when I heard you guys chattering." Coo replied. "Someone's gotta step up to the reins. You guys just hang out and deal with the situation for a few hours; I'll be back with the apples. Keep an ear out; I'll hoot if I need anyone's help carrying them back."
With this curt notice, he spread his wings and flew off, leaving us bewildered.
Rick shrugged. "Sorry about him, mate. He's always kind of like this." I gave him a weak smile in return.
"It isn't your fault-" I started to say, but quickly I was interrupted by a hungry growl from my stomach, which sent Marx into a fit of giggles.
Rick smiled a little. "We'll just have to wait until Coo gets back with the food. I've known him for a long time, I'm certain he's got this in the bag." He passed a furry paw in front of his face in a massive yawn. "That said, I'm pretty tired. I'll be taking a nap if you need me." With that, he curled up in front of a larger tree, its branches noticeably stripped of apples, and fell asleep.
"Have a good one, Rick." Marx said with a smirk before turning to me, his tone hushed; was he trying not to alert Rick? "How about you and I grab a bite to eat?"
"Didn't they take all the food?" I said in confusion.
"Not all of it." he said cryptically. "Come on!" He hopped on his beach ball, somehow kicking his stubby little feet across it for a burst of speed. Having no skills like that, I dashed after him as quickly as I could - he was hard to keep up with even so.
Eventually, we arrived in a darker area of the forest where not a lot of sunlight was breaking through the dense canopy of trees. I squinted, seeking out anything that could hint at what Marx, whom I was desperately hoping I could actually trust, had planned. It looked like the spear-armed creatures had been pretty thorough; there wasn't an apple in sight. There were even areas that looked uprooted, as though edible mushrooms had been taken. The forest seemed deeply disturbed; heck, I doubted that even if Coo could bring back the food, he'd be able to put everything back where it was before. Though, I supposed, if Rick had faith in him, it would be apt to let him handle this. It's not like Marx or I would be of much help.
"Hello." A voice said behind Marx and me, and we both jumped. It was a deep, gravelly voice, not unlike the voice of the one-eyed creature who'd made off with the apples. When I turned around, however, a very different sight greeted me. The guy standing before us looked kind of like those elves you'd hear described in fairy tales. Despite looking like a wizened, aged adult, he was only about my height - mind you, I was twelve - with a blue hat with a white bauble at the end. His similarly blue shirt had a ruffled collar with comically large golden buttons running down its front, and to top off the "elvish" look both his ears and yellow shoes went up to a point at their ends. The grin on his face, however, seemed genuinely friendly.
"Hey." I ventured back before tentatively offering him a hand. He took it, shook it heartily (with a little more force than I would've liked), and then extended his hand to Marx - before doing a double take at Marx's handlessness and retracting it with a nervous laugh. Marx rolled his eyes.
"You need something or what?" Marx shot. I glared at him; did he want to make enemies?
"Oh, no, just a small favor, you see." the man said. "But we haven't been properly introduced; Mr. Poppy Sr., at your service. I own a small family business around these parts."
"Family business? What do you make?" I asked of the elf, genuinely curious.
"Explosives." What? When he saw Marx and me inching away, he threw his hands up as though surrendering. "Oh, no, no! It's nothing like that! We have stringent background checks on everyone who buys from us, and even then we only allow our creations to be used for fireworks and excavation, and other such nonviolent purposes. We won't sell to anybody like that unscrupulous man who calls himself a 'king.'"
Marx and I glanced at each other; the man's reassurances were helpful. "An enemy of Dedede's can't be all that bad." I offered.
"Ah, if only I were that courageous." He said with a sad smile. "Ever since my dear wife passed -" here he waved away my attempts to say I was sorry for his loss "- I've had to take care of all five of my sons. The Poppies Jr. are somewhat of a handful, you see, and our dear 'King's' edict has only worsened the situation. When those vicious creatures raided our cabin while we ate breakfast, my children ran off. I fear the worst; if they haven't angered the King's soldiers somehow, they have surely run off into the deepest neck of the forest, where no doubt our guardian Whispy Woods will be already upset about the travesties committed by the raiding soldiers." I shot a pre-emptive glare at Marx, not wanting him to mouth off to a kindly old elf more than he already had.
"So you want us to find them?" I ventured.
Poppy Sr. laughed, shaking his head. "I would never ask such a thing of two young children. I only ask that you keep an eye out. If you see my sons anywhere, please let them know that their father is looking for them." I nodded.
"We'll make sure to do that. And don't worry about the food thing," I added, hoping to perk him up a little. "A friend of ours - Coo - is going off to deal with Dedede right now."
"My!" Poppy Sr. exclaimed. "Do you mean to tell me that you two children are friends with one of Whispy's appointed Animal Friends?"
"Is that a big deal?" I asked Marx. He shrugged; clearly he'd already tuned out the conversation. "I only just arrived in the forest, but Marx has known Rick, Kine and Coo for a while now." Or I supposed. He'd been acting pretty familiar with them, whereas he was acting cold and distant to this kindly old man he'd just met. I'd have to have a talk with him later about that.
The old man in question, meanwhile, jumped up in surprise before grabbing both of my hands. "I am very lucky to have met you two children. Anyone who has the trust of the Animal Friends has my trust as well; once this whole situation is resolved, please feel free to stop by at any time if you need a place to hang your hat. We're somewhat crowded, but I'm sure we can make room."
"Thanks!" I told him before shooting a glare at Marx; he spat out a halfhearted "thanks" as well. We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways - Poppy Sr. wanted to be there at his cabin in the case that his children returned.
"Man, Adeleine, you are going to freak." Marx promised, apparently ignoring the exchange we'd just had. "Rick's brought me some of these apples before, but I'd never had them directly picked like this." I shot him a weird look - what did he mean? - before hearing some laughing and chatting that wasn't coming from Marx or myself. I looked around; all I could see besides Marx and myself was several trees. One of them, granted, was larger than most of the others, with moss and ivy covering much of its wizened bark in a way that made it stand out amongst the vast forest. I need to paint that tree later, I thought to myself. It had the sort of natural beauty that I'd never been able to see in the city, and that's the sort of thing I like to have a keepsake of.
The laughing, however, was not coming from any discernible source, which is why I eventually deduced the obvious. "The treetops! Marx, I think Poppy's kids are up in the trees!"
Marx gave me a bored look. "You're still on that?"
I gave him a withering look. "Marx. Please. What did Poppy ever do to you?"
He shrugged, uninterested, before walking ahead of me towards the massive tree. I grabbed his hat in response. "Hey!" he reacted.
"Marx. Listen to me." I told him. "I'm glad I met you and you're a very nice person when you want to be. But you need to stop being a jerk when you don't. Even to Rick; sure, maybe his beliefs are a little, um, unbelievable." I ignored his snarky "you got that right." "But he's not hurting you in any way, heck, he's not trying to force his beliefs on you. He's one of the nicest people I've met, I think he's earned a little respect for his beliefs."
Marx opened his mouth to speak, but I wasn't done. "No, Marx. Rick didn't antagonize you - he's one of the nicest people I've known - and neither did Poppy. Heck, Poppy's an old man who needs help, and you were nothing but a jerk to him! You need to stop acting like this to people. I'm sure you're not such a jerk, but you're sure acting like one." I concluded, glaring at him. "I'm not sure whether to be flattered or worried that I'm not on your 'hate' list."
Marx muttered something under his breath - it sounded something like "it's phony applause; I bite you."
"Was that a threat?" I was more bewildered than mad - it seemed very out of character for him. Plus what I'd heard didn't make a lot of sense.
"It was nothing." Marx said, averting eye contact. "Let's just climb up." He had what looked like a hurt expression on his face; what had I possibly done to warrant that? I'd meant what I said; he wasn't a jerk, he'd just acted like one.
"I'm sorry." I offered, hoping to extend an olive branch. He just sighed.
The tree in front of us was our best bet for climbing up; it had several convenient holes in its bark, perfect for reaching the treetops. I used the holes as footholds, grabbing onto an oddly branch jutting out between them. In more than few seconds, I was up in the treetops. Marx, fortunately, was right behind me; I'd been worried about him after my outburst.
Up in the trees were, as I'd predicted, a fivesome of little elf children. They were lounging in the canopy of branches, among several of the most delicious looking apples I'd ever seen. All of them were ripe and ready for the picking; however, none of the Poppies Jr. had picked one.
"You do it." one of the kids was saying to one of his brothers. He had a high-pitched, childish voice; I guessed he was quite a bit younger than Marx and myself.
"No, you do it." the brother replied in a similarly squeaky voice.
"I asked first."
"I asked louder."
Marx was giving me a wide-eyed grin, trying to get my attention. I ignored him - these kids really had to get home. "Guys? Your dad is looking for you."
The first Poppy Jr. turned to me. "But I don't wanna go home! There's no food back there."
I sighed. This was going to be annoying. "Then you and your brothers can grab a few apples on the way back." To lift their spirits, I continued, "One of my friends is going to deal with those soldiers. He'll have your breakfast back soon, I promise."
This seemed to lift the kids' spirits. They started chattering amongst themselves, and finally plucking apples from the branches.
Marx himself grabbed a couple. I grinned, glad this was finally going well; however, something grabbed my attention. Did that branch just… shudder?
"This is what I was talking about! I knew those idiot soldiers hadn't come over here; their boss mentioned it himself!" Marx seemed very satisfied with himself. "Grab a couple, Adeleine! They'll keep us going until Coo gets back."
Something about the whole situation seemed very… off to me. "Marx… what did that soldier say about not coming over here?" I noticed that the Poppies Jr. were staring at us, noticeably worried. I definitely got the feeling that something was wrong here. The forest, previously chattering with life, had gone eerily quiet.
"Well, yeah!" He laughed. "Everyone in this forest believes there's a sentient tree that protects it. No one's going to 'steal' apples from Whispy Woods! But you and I know that's a ton of-"
The branches were really shaking now. Marx's eyes widened, and I heard several of the kids shouting and yelling. I looked around, trying to figure out what was causing it…
But before I knew it, we were all sprawled out on the forest floor. Ow. That makes two painful falls in one day.
"Who dares…" I heard a deep voice remark. It wasn't deep in the same way the soldiers' leader was, or even Poppy's. It was kindly, and yet menacing. It was authoritative, yet it carried no more volume than the sound of wind whispering through the trees.
With trembling legs, I turned around to the tree I'd climbed not minutes before, praying the inevitable wasn't true.
It was.
The massive tree I had remarked on minutes before was glaring at me. The holes I'd used as footholds? Their misshapen, natural look had faded; they were wide, glaring, symmetrical. The third foothold, below the branch I'd used, was gnarled into the shape of an angry mouth. There was no question about it. My idiotic judgement, combined with my desire to get the kids home, had resulted in antagonizing Whispy Woods himself.
Guardian of the Forest!
Whispy Woods
His voice was deathly quiet, but it commanded a subtle authority that made all of the clamoring children instantly listen, trembling in fear. I gave them worried looks before turning back to the angry tree. Surely he wouldn't take it out on the kids, right?
"Had you simply awoken me to ask, I would have kindly offered you as many apples as I could. I would not turn away innocent children, after all." I opened my mouth to speak, but apparently he wasn't finished. "But! You, children, are anything but. You intended to clamber away and rob me - which makes you no better than the food thieves who robbed the rest of the forest I am sworn to protect."
"The Poppies were hungry, and their father was worried about them! What else was I going to do?" I argued. Marx, wide-eyed next to me, begun inching towards the Poppy children. I didn't follow. I doubted Whispy would allow us to run - and furthermore, I doubted making an enemy of an ancient tree deity would help us in the long run.
"Again, child, you could simply have asked." he stated flatly. I groaned. Why hadn't I? I knew what the tree was, I should have known that Rick would be right…
It was because of Marx. I didn't want to make an idiot of myself in front of somebody who'd mocked the idea of a living tree deity - just seconds after I'd lectured him about the way he'd treated Rick! And here I was, shouldering what could only be described as karma.
"You and your friends are all implicit in this act," Whispy continued as I turned around to look at Marx and the Poppies - who were attempting to get away! Immediately, several massive roots, which could be from none other than Whispy himself, shot out from the ground, forming a barrier between them and the forest beyond. "The Poppies intended to quietly rob me of my apples. Your friend plucked several apples - and you encouraged it."
He was right. "I'm sorr-" I started, but immediately I was interrupted by Marx. It was almost hard to hear him over the various panicking Poppies and the sounds of the gnarled, twisting roots.
"Yeah? You would've given away apples if we asked? Well, I'll give you some advice. If you don't show that you're not just any old tree, people aren't gonna think to ask." Marx argued. I shot him a look, but he ignored it. "That stupid King took everyone's food, and people are starving, and you're hoarding some of the only food left in the forest with one of the most pathetic excuses I've ever heard! What did you do when those soldiers took all the other apples, huh?" I was shushing him now. He still ignored it. "What kind of guardian are you?"
...Crud. He'd done it now.
The screaming, panicking Poppies went deathly quiet, and Whispy's roots, previously constantly twisting to form an impassable cage, stopped moving. It was like time stood still before he spoke next.
"It is apples you want, correct?"
Oh, good! He was going to take Marx's errant comment in stride and let bygones be bygones. (I didn't really want to consider that Marx kind of had a point…)
Whispy's branches started trembling above us. Before we could register what was happening, a massive avalanche of apples started raining down on us. Worse, these apples were targeted. It wasn't like he was going to kill us with apples, but judging from the bombardment of my noggin, he was going to make us feel as much pain as possible for Marx's comment. I started dashing in circles to avoid the storm of apples, but it was difficult. Over the thundering sounds of apples hitting the forest floor, I heard the Poppy children screaming, and I cursed myself for getting them into this.
"Whispy, please! Can't we talk this out?"
His eyes looked strangely sad for someone who was trying to bury us in apples. "Some lessons must be learned the hard way, child."
"Bugger to that!" I heard Marx shout from… where was he? I couldn't even see him at this point. "Hey, Poppies!" I heard his voice go down a notch, to where I couldn't hear him. I was a little concerned, but I nevertheless turned my attention back to Whispy.
"I really do want to apologize." I pleaded. "I shouldn't have encouraged what happened." Whispy just stared at me with those sad eyes.
"Okay, guys, here's the plan." Marx told the Poppies. The children had immediately imprinted on him - a tweenage kid who seemed just the proper amount of "rebellious" and "edgy?" Heck yeah! "You guys specialize in explosives, right? Family business?"
"Yeah."
"Yep."
"Sure."
"Do you guys have any on you?" Marx asked. The Poppies blinked at each other.
"Dad says we're not supposed to have any," one of the Poppy Jrs. said. "He sent you and that girl, right?"
Marx grinned mischievously. "Look, Whispy's mad at us and we're probably going to die." He figured embellishing wouldn't hurt. "If you guys have explosives that can get us out of this mess, I promise not to tell your dad," he said with a wink.
The five brothers looked at each other before the smallest of them shamefully dug into his pocket, producing a small, cartoonish bomb. "It's not very powerful… I made it myself."
Marx laughed with glee. "It doesn't need to be powerful. We just need to stick it in that jerk's mouth and watch him go up in flames. How do you light this thing up?"
"You just pull the little pin; it'll go off a few seconds after you do that…" one of the brothers said. "But we can't destroy Whispy Woods! He's the forest guardian, and Dad loves him! Even if we killed Whispy Woods, Dad would just be mad at us!"
Marx growled a little. "If he were here, I think he'd understand." Before the kids could argue, he grabbed the bomb from the smallest Poppy with his teeth and dashed towards the tree.
"Marx, what are you doing?!" my attempts to reason with the tree were failing. Nothing was working. And Marx stepping in? Probably not a good sign. And what was that in his teeth? Was that a bomb?
"Whoa, Marx! Bad idea!" He grunted at me, unable to articulate due to his mouth being occupied.
"So this was your plan." I turned back to Whispy, bewildered, as he spoke. "Distract me, then allow your friend to finish me off. To blow me up."
"What? No!" I shouted fervently.
"You had the same motives at the beginning." Whispy stated, matter-of-factly. "I doubt any difference would be made now."
"I don't want to kill you!" I protested. "I mean, I agree with a lot of what Marx said-" did I just say that? "-but it's obvious a lot of people here need you!"
"...Even now you continue your facade." Whispy said. I didn't get what he meant for a second until I saw what Marx was doing. He had pulled a pin on top of the bomb with a tooth - now it was flashing both red and black. I dashed over - if he was going to dump it in Whispy's mouth…
"Why are you trying to protect that thing?" Marx asked me. I looked over at him, eyes wide - when I realized he had spoken. He'd spat the bomb out. Into Whispy's gaping mouth.
That's when I did one of the dumbest things I'd ever done. It would not be the last. I reached my arm into the gaping hole, feeling for the bomb. This was idiotic. If he decided to bite down… or, more likely, if Marx's bomb went off, it'd be all over. However, Whispy seemed to offer no resistence as I felt around the sharp bark on the insides of his hollow trunk before feeling something round and smooth. I immediately grabbed it, retracted my arm, and stared at the bomb I'd just picked up.
It was flashing twice as fast. Time seemed to slow down. It was going to explode any second. I had to make this shot, toss it as far as humanly possible, or I was going to blow everyone up - and if we survived, Whispy would find a way to be even more upset at us.
I winded up my arm and threw as hard as I could. It wasn't very hard - upper body strength is not my forte. The bomb flew up for a moment before it started to plummet, horizontally, towards the Poppies. They were going to get blown up!
That's when a powerful gust of wind picked it up. Had I been thinking, I would have almost thought it Deus Ex Machina, a term that describes a moment in which a random occurrence saves your, and everyone's, hide. But no. Turning around, I realized that Whispy was blowing out an incredibly powerful gust of wind, directly at the bomb, which hadn't touched the ground yet, and was flickering much faster - but it was light enough that it sailed along with the gust. I admit - I was shocked. I didn't factor in that he might want to help me get rid of the thing. Before I knew it, the bomb was out of sight - though a few seconds later, we heard an explosion a good distance away.
I silently prayed that no one had been hurt.
The apples had stopped dropping, and Whispy was… smiling? He was still staring with those sad eyes, though.
"I admit, I misjudged you, child. Though you encouraged the thievery of my apples, you nonetheless saved my life, rather than threatening it. I am almost willing to forgive-"
"'The petty thief is imprisoned but the big thief becomes a feudal lord.'" I interrupted, fed up. Whispy blinked at me.
"What?" He said, quietly.
"Marx was right. You've been hoarding all of this food here, when residents of your forest really need it. Punish us if you must, but none of us had any way of knowing not to pick apples from a tree, especially since all of us were starving."
He opened his mouth to speak. I continued, not caring what he had to say, "Marx was wrong in trying to blow you up. And we're going to have a talk about that later." He shrank a little. "But everything he said? That was right." I picked up one of the apples. "You, as a 'guardian,' shouldn't need to be protected. You should have protected the forest when those soldiers came through, taking everyone's food. But you didn't do anything. You wouldn't attack the soldiers, because they didn't bother taking your apples.
"They didn't need the apples they took. They were just taking the forest's supply because a greedy king told them to. The Poppies were hungry and wanted to have breakfast before going home to their dad, and you attacked them." I realized, briefly, that I was starting to tear up. That didn't make sense - I wasn't sad, I was just incensed. "Marx was right." I told Whispy, looking down at my round friend. "You aren't much of a guardian at all."
"You dare…" Whispy seemed to be getting angry for a moment, but calmed down, sighing through the wind. "You are, of course, right. I protected my own bark and branches over my forest earlier today, and I owe everyone whom I swore to protect the deepest of apologies. Even as my fury grew at those who threatened the forest, I did nothing because I feared for my own safety." I stared at him, saying nothing.
"When you arrived, I let loose all of my fury at the greedy thief King and his men on a group of children. It is not, I admit, my finest moment, and I would like to offer my deepest apologies. I would also like to thank you for saving my life when it was threatened by your friend here." he turned to glare at Marx.
"Sorry." Marx muttered. "But you were being kind of a jerk too."
Whispy turned back to me. "I do not recommend you continue your friendship with this one. He is obviously troubled, and I can see nothing but pain and sorrow for his future and the future of those who come close to him."
Marx was incensed. He was about to let loose on Whispy, I could tell, but I spoke before he could.
"Thanks for the advice." I said coldly. "But Marx is my friend." Marx shut up immediately - he seemed surprised at my response.
"Then I wish you the best of luck." Whispy said with a somber tone.
I decided it was time for a subject change. "Coo still hasn't come back yet, by the way. He was headed to Castle Lololo, but-"
Whispy's eyes widened. "Castle Lololo? Why on Popstar would he go there?!"
"To take down Dedede!" Marx said, aggravated. "Wasn't that the entire point?"
"Dedede does not live in Castle Lololo." Whispy stated. "It seems Coo's assumption will cost him greatly. Dedede's fortress lies atop a mountain across the sea. To get there, one must reach the edge of the Float Islands, cross the seas, and climb the fearsome Mount Dedede."
"...What?" I breathed.
"Indeed, Dedede's 'claim' to the land of dreams stretches further than even his ego can cover. If Coo wishes to take him down, it will be a long and perilous journey. That is what I would say if he had not already wandered, unguarded, into Castle Lololo."
"What do you mean?" Marx asked.
"It means, child, that he has already wandered into a trap. He may be captured as we speak."
Captain Doo didn't understand why he kept getting stuck with the hard gigs. First he had to go around all of Dream Land leading an army to steal food from angry citizens. Next, he had to deal with the twins of Castle Lololo. (Rumor had it that, to top it all off, he'd be on laundry duty that night.)
"We're so glad you arrived." Lololo and Lalala, owners of the Castle Lololo, a massive structure which had a colorful, pastel appearance and a structure that almost appeared to be made out of toy blocks, said. The twins were children, from the sounds and looks of it, but they creeped Captain Doo out. And he was not easily scared - he had to listen to Dedede's rants day in and day out, for Nova's sake!
"Yeah, I'll give Kabula one thing. She's fast." Doo muttered. "You said you had something for the king?"
"Yes… a bird wanted to see him." the twins said, again in perfect synchronicity. "We had a nice chat with him, and he'll be ready to meet His Majesty." Captain Doo inwardly groaned. After dealing with Lololo and Lalala, most of their victims were too traumatized to even talk.
His fears were confirmed when Lololo unveiled a large, stiff, purple bird from a box he had been hiding. Had Captain Doo not known any better, he would have thought it to be a corpse. Its eyes were wide, unblinking, and perfectly frightened half to death.
"Yeah, I'll be sure to get that to him." Captain Doo said, hoping to finish the exchange as soon as possible.
"Thank you," the twins said, "but we are not yet done with you." Captain Doo started to break out in a cold sweat. What did they want with him?
"You will require a bag to transport the bird in." Upon the twins saying that, Lololo pulled out a large burlap sack, sticking the unconscious owl inside. Lololo tossed the burlap sack to Captain Doo, who caught it, a little fazed. "Have a nice journey."
Coming from anyone else, Captain Doo would have appreciated the gesture of wishing him well. But he really just wanted the conversation to end - and fortunately the twins seemed about as eager as he did to make that happen.. "Yes, well, goodbye." he said gruffly, dashing out to the balcony where he'd parked Kabula. He hoped to Nova he'd never have to deal with them again.
"I cannot thank you enough." Poppy Sr. said to Marx and me. "I wish there was something I can bestow to make up for the troubles you went through."
"I hear you can totally hook us up with some sweet bombs." Marx said with a mischievous smile, which was met with a glare from Poppy.
"As grateful as I am, I know just enough to not be callously handing bombs out to ten-year-old boys." Poppy stated, incensing Marx.
"I'm twelve-"
"Marx. We're not going to need bombs." I told him. "It's going to be cut-and-dry. We're going to go into the giant pastel castle and find Coo, find out what's happening, and figure out how best to get him to Castle Dedede." He groaned.
Meanwhile, the Poppies Jr. were clambering around their father, who had pulled in a wheelbarrow on our request to load with all the apples Whispy had dropped. With Whispy's blessing, he was going to try to pass them to those living in the forest in the meantime, while we'd try to help Coo solve the Dedede problem.
"There is much good you have done, Adeleine." stated Whispy. "You reunited a kind man with his children. Even if he cannot repay his debt of gratitude to you, I would be happy to pay it for him."
"He doesn't owe me anything!" I argued. "And besides, you're already doing enough by making up for the apple thing - you just have to keep it up."
"Even so, this will help you on your journey." Whispy replied.
"I appreciate the offer, but it's not really much of a journey for me. We're just heading into the castle and seeing what's up so Coo can figure out what's going on."
"I certainly hope it is that cut-and-dry. Perhaps, then, Coo should take this when the time comes. Until then, however, I would like you to have this." Whispy's branches shook, and I cringed involuntarily. However, the only thing that dropped out was a single tiny glowing star.
"What is this?" I picked it up. It felt warm to the touch.
"Keep it. Keep the Sparkling Star." Whispy said cryptically. "When the time comes, you will know what to do."
"Alright." Marx said with a grin. "No more apple-hoarding, all right?"
"On my honor as a Guardian."
"So I guess we're leaving now, huh?" Marx asked me.
"Hold on." I told him. Without explanation, I ran over to Poppy, who was getting ready to leave with his kids. "Hey, there is one favor you could do for me."
"Anything." Poppy promised. "Except for the bomb thing. That is one wish I will not grant."
I laughed. "It isn't that," I explained. "But if you run into the hamster Rick or the fish Kine, I want you to tell them not to worry. We're just leaving for a little while, we just need to find Coo, and then he'll head up to Castle Dedede and deal with the problem. We won't be in any danger."
Poppy nodded. "I will pass on your knowledge to the best of my ability."
At least I hope we won't be in any danger… I thought. Earlier today, I didn't even realize that we'd even have to leave the forest. I thought Coo had this under control. If we can't find Coo…
How much danger would we have to put ourselves in?