A few more days had gone by, and the leaves continued to fall out of the trees. Gooey knew now that this was normal during Autumn. He had to wonder if it had to do with the colder weather, like everything else did on Popstar.

Gooey and Kirby were taking a path that lead to the forest. The more trees there were, the more the path was covered in leaves. Although Kirby didn't mind stepping on them, Gooey hovered over them so they wouldn't stick to his body. Though at this point, most leaves were old and crunchy. They didn't taste very good, either.

"So how long is camping apposed to be?"

"About...two days." Kirby explained.

"Oh, so we're not gonna go home for a while."

"Nope, we're gonna be outside most of the time." Kirby explained. "We'll get to play all kinds of games. And at night, we'll roast marshmallows and tell each other all kinds of stories."

"I dun have many stories, though..."

"You could always tell us more about your brother," Kirby suggested. Gooey looked away, a bitter expression formed on his face. He really didn't want to think about him after what he did.

Kirby frowned as he noticed Gooey's anger, he rubbed the side of his face as he tried to say something. "Uh...you know what? I think Coo's telling most of the stories anyway."

The duo moved further into the forest until they found their friends. Rick and Coo were trying to set up a tent, Chuchu was near the water with Kine and Pitch, and Nago sat under a tree with a basket of fish beside him.

"Hey, guys!" Kirby yelled as he ran towards the group, Gooey followed him as everyone greeted the duo.

"Hey, I'm glad you made it!" Rick said as he tried to tie the tent down. "I was startin' to think that you wouldn't show up."

"Why wouldn't we?" Kirby asked excitedly. "It's been a while since we've done any camping."

While Kirby talked with Rick, Gooey began to examine the area. It looked like most of the leaves here were put into neat piles. There was also a container here full of food, as well as a pile made from sticks. Once he was done looking around, he landed next to Nago.

"Hey there, Gooey!" Nago greeted as he took a fish out of his basket. "Wanna try one?"

Gooey took the fish from Nago's paws with his tongue and dragged it into his mouth. The fish wasn't cooked, but Gooey didn't mind. It was still fish, after all.

"It's nice to go camping every once in a while," Nago said as he sat back against the tree. "It's kind of like going on a small adventure."

"Like what Kirby does?"

"Well...you usually don't have to worry about someone like Nightmare or Dar...er...anyone else trying to take over Popstar," Nago said as he looked away from Gooey. The Dark Matter gave him a bitter look, which made Nago a little uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry, Gooey. I wasn't trying to-"

The cat was cut off as he heard an argument at the river. Chuchu and Pitch were fighting over something. Although Kine tried to calm them down, he didn't make any progress.

"Give me a moment," Nago sighed as he headed towards the river. Shortly after Nago had left, Gooey started to hear voices. They didn't sound like they came from anyone here, so he decided to investigate. He hid in the bushes so nobody would be able to find him.

Not far from the campsite was another path. Here, Gooey could see two monsters walk along the road. One of them looked like a walking skull while the other was purple and spiky. He even carried a ball with spikes on it.

"How do you think the others are doing? Do you think they're missing out?"

"Not really, all I've seen so far are foxes and dead leaves."

"Yeah, but it's not bad out here. I can see why Kirby wanted to stop us back then."

"I just wish he didn't have to sink the Halberd. I mean no disrespect to our captain, but lemme tell ya...puffballs are stubborn."

So these monsters had a captain? Not only that, they've encountered Kirby before. Perhaps their captain wanted to take revenge on Kirby? and that was why they were out here? Gooey would have to keep an eye out for them, later, should they go through with their plan.

Later that day, the group gathered around a fire. Rick was telling the group about a time where he tried to climb a mountain with his girlfriend...or something along those lines, Gooey didn't really pay attention.

He was still thinking about those monsters from earlier. What were they doing right now? Were they still getting ready to attack Kirby?

"Are you OK, Gooey?" Kirby whispered in order to get his friend's attention. Gooey frowned. "Yeah, why?"

Suddenly, the marshmallow on Gooey's stick had caught on fire. Kirby inhaled it before anyone panicked, but doing so moved the flame on top of his head.

"Is...everything all right?" Chuchu asked as she tilted her head.

"Everything's fine," Kirby assured her before looking back at Gooey and whispered. "You can tell us if something's wrong, Gooey. I promise we'll take care of it."

Gooey thought about it for a moment until he nodded. "OK, I saw mon'ters talk about you earlier. They said you...sank a bird? And then they talked about their captain and puffballs being 'tubborn."

It took a moment before Kirby understood what he was saying, he smiled in amusement. "I don't think those were monsters, Gooey."

"Yeah they were," Gooey argued. "One of 'em was a walking skull!"

Kirby let out a sigh. "If you really think there are monsters out here, then Coo and I will go look for them later. All right?"

Gooey nodded. He was sure that Kirby could take care of those monsters, himself. In the meantime, he sat back and listened to Rick's story...Which had gone from mountain climbing to fighting a hoard of Gordos.

Not even Gooey could believe this story.

Later that night, Kirby took off with Coo in order to look for the monsters. Meanwhile, everyone else went to sleep. Chuchu and Kine were sleeping in the water, Pitch slept in a nearby tree, and Rick, Nago, and Gooey slept in the tent.

There was no sign of Kirby as time went on, but he should be fine out there...right?

Nago yawned as he sat up. Rick and Gooey started to do the same shortly after.

"Those two have been gone for a while, haven't they?" Nago asked. Rick quietly nodded as he let out another yawn.

"What if the mon'ters got him?" Gooey asked. Rick shook his head in disagreement. "Nah, he'd probably taken care of 'em by now."

"True," Nago said as his ears pointed downwards. "But...maybe it wouldn't hurt to look for him?"

"Suit yourself," Rick replied as he fell back onto his pillow. "I'll...watch the camp while you're gone..."

"Can I come with you?" Gooey asked. Nago stayed silent for a moment. He nodded quietly. "Yes, but I don't want you to run off on me. All right?"

"I wun."

With that said, Nago and Gooey left the tent and headed further into the forest. Although Gooey didn't want to run into those monsters, he still wanted to make sure that Kirby was all right.