Several more days had gone by, and as expected, Kirby had yet to come back. Dedede had already set off that morning to look for him, even if it meant going through that sinister mirror.

Gooey sat outside with a parasol over his head. Though he no longer felt that he needed it, one of the Waddle Dees was nice enough to give it to him anyway.

Waddle Dee walked outside, he looked happy this morning. "Oh, there you are Gooey!"

"Do you need somethin'?" Gooey asked.

"Uh...Just wait here for a second!" Waddle Dee said as he turned around and yelled. "He's over here, sire!"

"Good," Dedede yelled back as he stepped into the garden. He was being followed by two round creatures...It was Kirby and Meta Knight, the former of the two sprinted towards Gooey before the Dark Matter had a chance to say anything.

"Gooey, you're here!" Kirby yelled as he playfully twirled Gooey around. "I'm sorry I left without saying anything, but you're HERE! I have so much to tell you!"

"Me too," Gooey replied. "I got a lot to tell you."

"So this is Gooey?" asked Meta Knight as he stared at the Dark Matter for a moment. "He looks...very different from the last time we've met."

"That's because he's been mutating like you said," Kirby explained. "First he turned grey, then he grew a tongue, and then-"

As Kirby tried to tell Meta Knight what had happened since they last met, Gooey couldn't help but wonder...did Meta Knight always have an extra pair of hands? He wore a cloth the last time Gooey had seen him. But now, he had a pair of webbed hands with long fingers sticking out of his back...Or maybe they were what Kirby fins looked like?

"Hey, Kirby?"

"Hm?"

"Where are your fins?"

"My what?" Kirby asked curiously.

"Your fins," Gooey said while pointing at Meta Knight. "He has fins, so where are yours?"

Kirby looked puzzled, though thankfully Meta Knight stepped in. "I think he's asking where your wings are."

"Oh...I don't have 'em," Kirby said with a shrug. "Not yet, anyway."

Ah, so Kirby didn't have wings...perhaps this was something only given to Kirbies with a Blade form?

"Hey, kid."

Dedede walked towards Gooey and sat down, he gave the young Dark Matter a warm smile. "Don't forget...even though Kirby's my rival, I'll always be around if you ever need a dad to watch over you again...all right?"

"Yes, sir!" Gooey said cheerfully. He was happy to be able to spend time with Dream Land's king. And if he ever got lost again, he could always come back to the castle to see him. Besides, a King always had to look out for his people...or something along those lines.

After everything had settled down, Gooey started to follow Kirby home. From what Gooey could recall, Kirby told him that he was split into four, and that he had to collect shards to fix a mirror. He also had to save Meta Knight, who was trapped in said mirror. Gooey was sure that there were other details too, though he had trouble remembering everything. One thing he recalled, though, was how Kirby could "copy" his enemies. This was an ability that was rare for Dark Matter, so he had to wonder how it worked.

"So how do you copy people?" Gooey asked. "Do you jus'...look at 'em?"

"Uh...I usually inhale them. And if they have something I can use, I can borrow their ability for a while."

"OK," Gooey replied. "I think...some Dark Matters can copy, too." The only example he could think of was his home's guardian, Lord Miracle. But even then, there weren't many examples that Gooey could think of.

"Are you...the only one of your kind that can copy?"

"Nope, others of my kind have this ability too," Kirby said as he carelessly swung his arms. Gooey's eyes widened in disbelief. "So this is normal?"

"Uh...for me it is" Kirby replied. "Although...come to think of it, I don't think I've ever shown you any of my abilities, have I?"

"No."

Kirby stopped as he tried to think of something, he was thinking about what he could use as an example. Perhaps Gooey could suggest something?

"Can you copy me?"

"I don't think so..." Kirby replied. "I could inhale your parasol, but-"

"It's OK, the sun dun hurt anymore," Gooey said cheerfully. Kirby didn't seem to believe him. "Are you sure? Because I wouldn't want you to get sick or anything."

"I'll be fine, trus' me!" Gooey insisted as he handed Kirby the parasol. Though unsure at first, Kirby inhaled the parasol and a new one appeared in his hand. He twirled it around for a moment before spitting out what looked like a star. "It's something like that."

Gooey was astonished, he had seen a few abilities that stemmed from the copy ability, but he'd never actually seen someone COPY the abilities. And if Kirby could copy something as small as a parasol, imagine what he could do with a hammer or a sword?

"How do you learn to copy?"

"Uh..." Kirby rubbed his head as he tried to think. "I dunno, it just sort of...happened, I guess."

That wasn't exactly helpful, but Gooey figured that he shouldn't complain. Besides, there was no way someone like him could have such an ability. Especially since he didn't know how to fight to begin with.

The duo finally made their way back home. Gooey had forgotten how small Kirby's house was, but he was happy to be back nonetheless. Kirby immediately jumped to his bed and let out a deep sigh. "Ah...It's good to be back."

Gooey had many more questions that he wanted to ask, but it was probably best to let Kirby rest for now. Besides, he hadn't been home in a while.

In the meantime, Gooey figured that he would look for something to do. He grabbed some paper and a purple crayon from under the bed and started drawing. He tried to draw a bunch of flowers on the paper, but they looked more like scribbles. Still, Gooey was proud of his work.

Next, he attempted to draw his and Kirby's friends. He drew Kirby, Rick, Chuchu, Nago...then he realized that he started to run out of room, so he drew Coo, Kine, and Pitch on another page. After that, he moved on to drawing King Dedede with his Waddle Dees. All that was left was Meta Knight. Gooey decided to draw him with his brother, since he thought that they were similar to one another.

...All of the drawings looked like scribbles, but Gooey didn't seem to care. He liked how they looked, and that was good enough for him.

"Wake up, it's dinner time!"

Gooey could feel Kirby shake him, there was a sweet smell in the air. When Gooey opened his eyes, he could see that there was a plate next to him with a slice of pizza on top.

"...How long was I asleep?"

Kirby shrugged. "I dunno, you were passed out by the time I woke up."

"Hm..." Gooey looked down in shame, he couldn't help but feel as if he was being kind of rude.

"I like your pictures, though," Kirby said as he looked at Gooey's scribbles. "I really like the big fat flower you drew."

"That's Dedede," Gooey said with a chuckle. "And those are Waddle Dees."

"Ah, then who's this one?" Kirby asked while pointing at another picture.

"That's you."

"And this one?"

"That's my brother!"

"Oh, that's so cool!"

Though it had been several days, and even though he'd changed yet again, Gooey was happy to finally spend some time with Kirby. After all, he couldn't help but think of Kirby as another sibling. He may not have been created by Lord Zero, but he still fell from the same sky that Gooey did. That counted for something, right?

And thus, the Dedede arc concludes. I did mention that this was going to be a much smaller story, but then my mind started asking "what about DL2/3? :)