Antimatter
By tikitikirevenge
The Shore, The Statue
"Kine…" said Coo, "is floating… upside-down?"
"Yes," said Chuchu impatiently. "Now, can we get going?"
"He could be dead," said Coo.
"What?" said Chuchu. "That's ridiculous. If he was dead, he'd be turning blue, right?"
Everyone paused after she said that, trying to think of a reply to that remark which wouldn't sound absolutely ludicrous.
"I think he's dead," Kirby said finally.
"Why would he be dead, though?" said Rick, wading over to Kine's still form.
"Maybe he choked on that frog," suggested Kirby.
"Nah, that was Gooey," said Chuchu dismissively.
"When was the last time we all saw him alive?" said Coo.
Everybody thought a bit.
"We were talking right before we found the frog…" said Nago cautiously.
"Good, that's a great start," said Coo. "Now, we just have to work out why he died."
"He's not dead," said Pitch.
Everyone turned and gasped in shock.
"You're dead!" cried Kirby. "We killed you!"
"…what?" said Pitch.
"…a shark killed you!" corrected Kirby.
"Anyway," said Pitch, "it looks as if he has merely fainted."
"How would you know?" countered Coo.
"Because," said Pitch.
"Why would he have fainted?" said Chuchu.
"Don't ask me," said Pitch.
"Maybe we should give him mouth-to-mouth," suggested Rick.
"That wouldn't work," said Coo. "Fish can't drown."
"Pitch, give him mouth-to-mouth," said Chuchu.
"Over my dead body!" snapped Pitch.
Chuchu jumped on top of Pitch and smothered him to death.
"I said, give him mouth to mouth," repeated Chuchu.
The demand didn't elicit a response from Pitch.
Still wading through water, they pushed Pitch along until they reached a beach.
"Oh. My. God. Dry. Land." said Nago, crawling out of the water and lying down to bask in the sun.
"Come on, we haven't been in the water that long," said Chuchu dismissively.
"Six days, four hours, and thirty-three minutes," said Rick, who had already splayed himself flat upon the sand.
"Well," said Coo, "I got to fly, so ha."
Rick swiped at Coo but missed, probably because they were nowhere near each other.
"Helpsch," said Gooey, whose tongue was already stuck its full length in the sand.
"Well," said Kirby, "let's go find a way to get Kine to wake up."
Rick and Nago muttered incoherently.
"Actually, dry land is kind of nice," said Kirby.
He jumped down between them and fell asleep.
Chuchu and Coo looked at each other.
"So," said Chuchu, "it looks as if we'd better do this – alone."
Cue drum roll.
"It's not really alone if there are two of us," said Coo.
"Shut up," said Chuchu, glancing behind her to watch Gooey struggle in the sand.
"Yes, sir," said Coo.
And so Chuchu and Coo went for a walk together in the middle of an unknown beach deep within Ripple Fields. It didn't actually last very long; about three minutes in, Coo made the mistake of speaking.
"Where are we going?" he wondered out loud.
"Silence!" cried Chuchu, diving into Coo and knocking him down into the water, before pummelling him with her tentacles.
"I'm wet!... my feathers!" gasped Coo, climbing out.
"You completely deserved that," said Chuchu, putting on her most innocent-looking face.
"Hello?" said a friendly, quiet voice from behind them.
Chuchu and Coo turned around, momentarily distracted from their little fight.
The voice came from another weirdly-shaped Dreamlander. This one was shaped a bit like a jagged diamond. But not really. Do you want a picture, maybe? Too bad. (I guess you just have to have played the game to understand.)
"Oh, um, hi…" said Chuchu, dropping the pebble that she was holding behind her back.
"Hi, there," said Coo.
"Oh, hi," said the Dreamlander. "My name is Pukapa."
"Wow," said Chuchu, "I really needed to know that. Thank you."
"I'm lonely," continued the Dreamlander named Pukapa.
"Really?" said Chuchu, looking quite shocked. "He's lonely." She turned to Coo. "Did you hear that, Coo? What's-his-name here is lonely."
"That's horrible," said Coo, with genuine concern. "Do you want to join us? We're on a quest to…"
"No, thank you," said Pukapa.
"Well," said Coo, "I can't really help you, then."
Pukapa the Dreamlander made a very distressing sad face.
"Oh, fine, what do you want?" said Coo, giving in.
"A gigantic statue of myself!" proclaimed Pukapa.
"A what?" said Chuchu.
"I said-" said Pukapa.
"I heard you," interrupted Chuchu.
"But-" said Pukapa.
"Okay," said Chuchu, "this is how it's going to work. First, you leave us alone, forever. Then, we give you your giant statue. Okay?"
Coo looked bored.
"I want the statue first!" said Pukapa.
Chuchu grabbed a single Star Block that was floating in the air. "There!" she said, brushing her hands. "A statue of you. Go eat your heart out."
"That doesn't look like me!" said Pukapa.
"Have you ever seen yourself in a mirror?" said Chuchu.
Pukapa considered that. "No… but I've seen me in the water."
"Well," said Chuchu as sweetly as she could, "that's what you look like. Your reflection must have been distorted by all the waves."
"Really?" said Pukapa.
"Yes," said Chuchu.
"Thanks sooo much!" said Pukapa. He raced off, carrying the Star Block with him (somehow).
Chuchu and Coo stared after him.
"Well," said Coo, "at least someone on all of Pop Star is happy."
"Just doing whatever it takes for a little privacy," shrugged Chuchu.
A Heart Star floated out of the ground where the Dreamlander had been standing moments previously.
"We should take that," said Coo.
"Yeah," said Chuchu.
Neither of them moved.
"You get it," said Chuchu.
Neither of them moved.
A/N:
1. Yes, I made that name up. Pronounce it all Japanese-style. (Just a bit of creative license so I don't sound as dull as a raincloud.)
2. I'm reformatting the chapters so they're easier on the eye. I've finally come to the conclusion that you need more whitespace on a computer screen than on a paper page.
3. Oh, and GIVE ME MORE REVIEWS – or Kirby will send me to eat you.
