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Kirby and his friends arrived in Sand Canyon. The land was mostly dry, but there was some plant life scattered around. On the first path, Kirby and Gooey were accompanied by Rick.
They were walking along when they were stopped by a strange sight. Talking mushrooms.
"Please…please help us…" One of them whispered.
"We are Geromazudakes…We can't breathe properly…with the tulips here…"
"Please…get rid of them…"
Kirby knew a way this could work out for both of them. Kirby picked the tulips carefully, making sure he got them by the roots. Then he placed them in a water bottle Rick had been keeping. He was rewarded a Heart Star by the Geromazudakes.
When they met up with the others, Kirby immediately gave the tulips to ChuChu. She blushed and said a quiet thank you.
"Aaaw…" Gooey said, thankfully out of ChuChu's hearing.
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On the second path ChuChu joined them.
The three were on their way when they noticed a very angry woman She was round and yellow with red hands and black feet. She was furiously sweeping inside a building.
"Of all the…how dare they leave me here…" she grumbled.
"Excuse me, miss? Why are you so angry?" Gooey asked.
"Angry?! Who said I was angry?!" She shouted.
Kirby and ChuChu held their heads and Gooey fell on the floor in shock.
"Sorry kids. My name is Obachan. Some idiots left the windows open here and a sandstorm blew in. Now there's all this sand and guess who has to clean it up all by herself?"
"Um…you?" Gooey said.
"Yep. Now if you kids will excuse me, I have a mess to clean up."
Kirby, Gooey, and ChuChu looked at each other. All three picked up a broom and began sweeping.
In one hour the building was sand free.
"Thank you kids. I would have been here for three weeks if you hadn't shown up." Obachan then handed them a glittering Heart Star.
On the third path, Pitch stood in for ChuChu.
They had been walking for a while and still no sign of Dedede, floating or otherwise. They ran into a panicked chick-like creature with an eggshell on their upper body.
"Oh, please calm down! Don't touch that! Stay still!" He shouted at some Gordos.
"Having some trouble?" Pitch asked.
"My name is Caramello. I was asked to watch these Gordos, but they won't listen to me!" He replied.
Kirby thought for a moment, then had an idea.
"Poyo. Does Caramello have a newspaper?" Kirby asked.
"Sure." Caramello handed the pink puffball a newspaper. Kirby rolled it up then approached a misbehaving Gordo. It rumbled at him and was about to charge at him. Kirby whacked the Gordo in the face with the newspaper.
"Bad Gordo! Bad!" Kirby whacked it again.
"They just need discipline." Pitch said as the whacked Gordo calmed down.
Kirby handed the newspaper to Caramello.
"Do you think you can handle them now?" Gooey asked.
"Yeah, I can now. Thanks guys!" Caramello gave Kirby a Heart Star in exchange for their help.
Meta Knight, Sword, Blade, and Sailor Dee continued their work on the Halberd. Sailor Dee could work on the back of the ship now that he had a gas mask. Sword and Blade were helping Sailor Dee with the gears and tailpipe, until they ran into a technical problem.
"Um, Sir Meta Knight dude sir? We have a problem." Sailor Dee said, his voice slightly muffled by his gas mask.
Meta Knight approached the three.
Sword pointed to the inner mechanisms on the Halberd. "See this part? It needs to be screwed in but we don't have that kind of screwdriver."
"I guess that means we'll have to go to the store for one." Blade suggested.
Meta Knight sighed inwardly. "Sword. Blade. I need you to come with me."
"Hey, while we're there, can we get groceries?" Sword asked.
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The three knights arrived at the town's store to find a screwdriver, and on Sword's suggestion, restock the fridge.
"I don't really like coming here." Meta Knight said to his knaves.
"Why not, sir? Is it because of the customers?" Blade asked.
"No. They don't bother me."
"Then why?"
"It's because…" Meta Knight was standing on the tips of his feet trying to reach a box of cookies. "I'm too small for everything here…" He thought.
Somehow, the sight of their superior struggling in a futile attempt to grab something out of his reach was somewhat…odd. They had usually seen Meta Knight as a powerful and sometimes intimidating authority figure. Times like this made the blue warrior seem so small and vulnerable.
Granted, they weren't any taller than Meta Knight, but still… Blade approached the blue knight and lifted him up. Meta Knight grabbed the box and hopped off of Blade's shoulders.
"…Thank you for your assistance, Blade." Meta Knight walked to a different section of the store.
"So…I guess he doesn't like it here because he's so short?" Sword said.
"He's too proud to ask for someone's help or a ladder." Blade replied.
"Meta Knight's cape can turn into wings. Why can't he fly here when he needs to?"
"The force his wings create would knock everything over, and it might scare some of the town residents."
Sword thought for a moment. "Have you noticed how Meta Knight is usually standing on something when he's in public?"
"Maybe he likes to feel taller?"
Then the two realized something.
"He has a height complex?" They both said.
The thought of Meta Knight having doubts and insecurities was somewhat foreign to them. He always seemed so valiant. Since they had a discussion on the reason behind his mask, the two knaves had begun thinking about him in a different light.
A few moments later, Meta Knight returned with the proper screwdriver.
As the three knights returned to the castle, there were questions on Sword and Blade's mind.
"Sir Meta Knight, the king has been missing for a few days. What do you think happened to him?" Sword asked.
Meta Knight thought for a moment. "I think a larger force is involved."
"Do you think Kirby can save Dreamland this time?" Blade asked.
"…" Meta Knight's only response was to look up into the dark clouds above in deep thought.
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On the fourth path, Kirby and Gooey were accompanied by Nago.
They continued on their way until they ran into a girl with long black hair with a ponytail wearing a kimono.
"Excuse me. My name is Hikari. I can't find my brother, Donbe. Can you find him? He's short and has long light blue hair." She said.
The three agreed to find her brother. After a short time of walking, they found a small cavern.
A strange enemy that had the appearance of a giant broom with a face attacked them.
Haboki jumped high into the air, then crashed into them, slamming them into the ground. Kirby quickly inhaled Haboki, becoming Clean Kirby.
They traveled further into the cavern and found Donbe. Kirby, Gooey, and Nago reunited the siblings. Hikari gave Kirby a Heart Star.
"Oh, sis! I thought I would never see you again!" Donbe clung to his sister.
"It's okay now. We're together again." Hikari patted her brother on the head and held him close to her.
Gooey could feel the sting of tears in his eyes. Why couldn't he have a loving family like that? Why didn't he have family that he could cry to when something was wrong? Family that would tell him everything would be okay and reassure him? It wasn't fair. Fumu and Bun had their parents and each other.
Kirby didn't have any family, but Fumu and Bun thought of him as a member. Gooey pondered over this. Did Kirby ever wonder if there were others of his species? Did he ever long to learn of his origins?
Gooey sighed internally. Kirby probably didn't care about that kind of stuff. He had all the love he could ever want from Fumu and Bun. It just wasn't fair.
"Gooey poyo, is Gooey okay?" Kirby lightly shook Gooey.
"Yeah…" Gooey composed himself. "Yeah, I'm fine. It just makes me feel funny when I see families together."
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On the fifth path ChuChu joined them and Nago returned with the others.
"Hey, did you know that a friend of mine lives around here? She's an octopus too." ChuChu said. "Can we visit her?"
One question on the boys's minds was how an octopus could survive in this type of environment. Maybe she had tons of bottled water like Kine?
After a small amount of time passed, they met ChuChu's friend. She looked like ChuChu except yellow with a white and pink sailor hat.
"Nyupun!" ChuChu yelled.
"ChuChu!" The two octopi hugged.
"So, what have you been up to?" Nyupun asked.
"Oh you know, community service. Looking for a missing king. Saving Popstar."
"Saving Popstar? Looking for a king? Sounds pretty important to me."
"Well, it's sort of crazy how things work out like that."
"You always walk into crazy stuff." The two octopi hugged again.
Kirby felt left out so he joined the hug too.
"Kirby?" ChuChu blushed.
"Aww! Is he your boyfriend?" Nyupun asked while Gooey chuckled in the background.
"No, he's not… I mean…" ChuChu blushed a deeper red.
"He's so cute! Do you know where I could find someone like him?"
Kirby didn't know what they were talking about, but the conversation was making him nervous.
"You two are so cute together!" Nyupun chuckled while Gooey was trying not to laugh.
"Uhh…uh…" ChuChu's untire body was the color of tomato. "We have to go! It was nice seeing you!"
A Heart Star landed in a very confused Kirby's arm stubs while being dragged away by ChuChu. Gooey hopped along behind them.
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On the sixth path, the trio consisted of Kirby, Gooey, and Coo.
Suddenly, Kirby tripped over a strange object. It looked like a rectangular robotic head. The trio decided to take it with them, deeming it important somehow. A little walk later and they found what appeared to be a robotic body of the same design.
They found two arms and the bottom of the body. With all the parts in hand they were approached by an old man in a lab coat.
"Did you find my R.O.B.?" He asked.
"What des that mean?" Gooey questioned.
"It stands for Robotic Operating Buddy. He's my greatest and most cherished invention."
Professor Hector took the parts and arranged them together to form R.O.B. again. Once the robot was complete, the trio was awarded a Heart Star by the scientist and robot.
Kirby and Gooey finally reached near the end of Sand Canyon. They came across two layers of platforms. Suddenly, the two were suddenly attacked by an army of miniature raccoons and foxes. Then a larger raccoon and fox appeared.
"My name is Pon." The raccoon said.
"I am Con." The fox said.
"Um, excuse us. We're trying to find a penguin. Possibly a floating penguin?" Gooey said.
"Is that penguin a friend of yours?" Con asked, rubbing his paws together.
"Um, sort of. Wait…" Gooey then realized he made a terrible mistake.
"That penguin has made a mess out of our home!" Pon pounded his fists.
"You said you knew him. That must mean you are here to spread more damage." Con said.
"No, poyo! Kirby and Gooey only want to help!" Kirby cried out.
"Help? Look at that dark cloud. That wasn't there before until you showed up." Pon pointed to the cloud above,
"You know, you haven't exactly been trying to help Sand Canyon, you know." Con pointed out.
"Me? You haven't helped at all either!" Pon yelled in retaliation.
"Stupid tanuki!"
"Greedy kitsune!"
"Enough! We need to get rid of what's causing the problem in the first place." Con turned towards Kirby and Gooey.
"We need to get rid of them."
The tanuki and kitsune duo dropped a spiked bomb at Kirby. The pink puffball grabbed Gooey and dodged.
Some small raccoons charged at them. Kirby inhaled them and repelled them at Pon's direction. Kirby and Gooey dodged another spiked bomb and inhaled the small raccoons and spit them back at Con's direction. Con threw another spiked bomb, but the two dodged with ease.
A small army of foxes stampeded towards Kirby. He used his inhale ability and spit them back at Pon and Con. The tanuki and kitsune both fell to the ground.
The Heart Stars gathered around and dispelled the darkness from Sand Canyon. Light was restored to this area of Dreamland. Pon and Con steadily returned to their feet.
"Why…why did we get so angry?" Pon said.
"I don't know. I'm sorry I called you a stupid tanuki. Even if you can be sometimes."
"I'm sorry I called you a greedy kitsune. Even though you are often."
The duo turned to Kirby and Gooey.
"You said you were looking for a floating penguin?" Pon asked.
"Yes, we heard that he went to this area." Gooey said.
"He did come by here. Then he passed us and floated in the direction of Cloudy Park." Con answered.
"Then our next destination is Cloudy Park." Gooey said.
"Thank you, poyo!" Kirby waved at Pon and Con. The two waved back and wished them luck on their journey.
Gooey hoped they wouldn't be too late. The king was always one step ahead of them. If they didn't hurry, Dedede could meet a terrible fate. Gooey knew it was very possible, but as long as they collected Heart Stars everything should be fine. He could only hope.
Author's Note: All I can say is, it must be pretty embarassing to be one of the strongest warriors in the universe, but can't even reach a box of cookies from a high shelf. There's much more to Meta Knight than being a Star Warrior and teaching Kirby. He's got problems and feelings too.
