The forest was cold and dark, creatures could be heard howling in the distance.

Nago held onto Gooey as the duo moved through the forest. Though Gooey never had a problem being out in the dark before, there was something unsettling about going through a forest at night. There were all sorts of creatures hiding in the shadows, and any of them could attack the duo at any moment.

There was a fire in the distance. It wasn't big enough to cause any damage to the forest, but it was still big enough for the duo to see.

"What was that?" asked Gooey.

"I don't know," Nago replied. "But I'm pretty sure that was Kirby just now."

Quietly, the duo got closer to where the fire was. Sure enough, Kirby was here fighting a monster. The other two monsters sat closer to a campfire while Coo watched from afar. He was probably expecting Kirby to win this fight, yet Kirby himself looked like he had trouble keeping up.

Gooey looked around, he saw that there was a sword lying on the ground in front of him. Perhaps Kirby managed to knock it away from the monster he fought? But from the looks of it, the monster already had his own sword. Knowing this, Gooey took the sword off the ground with his tongue and examined it.

"What do you have there, Gooey?" Nago asked. Before he could answer, Gooey saw Kirby stumble backwards as the monster flew into him. The Dark Matter panicked, so much so that he accidentally swallowed the sword. Normally, one would expect to be cut in two upon swallowing a sword. And yet, Gooey felt as if something had woken up inside of him...He quickly slipped out of Nago's paws as a newer sword formed in one of his nubby arms.

"Gooey, wait!" Nago yelled as he tried to chase Gooey. Kirby and the monster looked over at Gooey's direction. But when Gooey tried to strike the monster, he was knocked into the ground. Gooey's sword had turned into a star before it disappeared.

"What's going on?" asked one of the monsters in concern. Their leader looked back at them, a familiar silhouette formed in front of the fire. "Calm down, it's just one of Kirby's friends."

...Wait a minute, were those wings?"

"Meta Knight?" Gooey asked as he got back up. "You're the mon'ter?"

"And you need to work on your swordsmanship," Meta Knight replied coldly.

"Why did you have a sword, anyway?" Kirby asked. Gooey looked down in shame. "I might've...eaten it."

"What was that?" Kirby asked in complete shock. Gooey sank lower into the ground. "I ate the sword."

Suddenly, Kirby picked up Gooey and twirled him around. There was a sense of pride in his voice. "I can't believe it! You can copy! YOU CAN COPY!"

Could he really? Gooey had heard of Dark Matter that could learn how to copy their opponents, but he never thought that he would ever be one of the lucky ones. He was sure that if Lord Miracle were here, he would've been proud of him.

"Wait, what happened?" asked the skull-shaped monster as he ran towards group and looked at Gooey. "I thought puffballs were the only ones who could learn the Copy Ability."

"You'd be surprised," Meta Knight replied. Gooey looked at the monster with a puzzled look on his face. "So these mon'ters are your friends, Meta Knight?"

"You could say that, yes."

"So then...why did Kirby sink your bird?"

"Remember when I told you about Meta Knight taking over Dream Land" Kirby interrupted, which earned him a harsh glare from Meta Knight.

Oh, right...like his brother, Meta Knight had also tried to taken over Dream Land. And yet...

"Why did you do it, though?" Gooey asked. "Were you angry like Brother?"

"I...wanted to put an end to Dream Land's lazy lifestyle," Meta Knight said as he wrapped himself in his cape. "I didn't want to have another incident like we had with Nightmare, but I learned the hard way that Dream Land was in good hands once Kirby sank my ship."

"Nobody's let Meta Knight live it down since then," Kirby added with a smirk.

"...Yes, needless to say, I've regretted that decision since that incident." Meta Knight said quietly. "Nonetheless, I plan on restoring my ship to its former glory. And once I do, it'll be MUCH better than it was before."

Although Meta Knight had his issues, Gooey knew that he was a good person. Taking over Dream Land was pretty extreme, but it seemed like Meta learned his lesson since then. He just hoped that his brother learned HIS lesson, too.

"Anyway, maybe we should go back to our camp?" Kirby suggested. "After all, I'll bet Gooey wants to show everyone that he has the Copy Ability, too."

"Very well," Meta Knight said quietly. "We'll be here if you need anything else."

The group bid farewell to Meta Knight's group. Since Gooey now had the copy ability, he had a bit of training to do tomorrow.

...Come to think of it, he hadn't done any actual training since he was banished from his old home. He couldn't help but wonder what his brother was up to right now. Was he still angry? Or maybe he regretted what he did? Gooey didn't like the idea of his brother coming back, but he had to wonder if Lord Zero ever punished him. And if he did, it would've either been because he failed his mission or went against their creator's wishes.

"Kirby...?"

"Yeah?"

"How long...did it take for you to forgive Meta Knight?"

"Why do you ask? Are you thinking about Dark Matter, again?"

...Was it that obvious?

"Listen, Gooey...Sometimes people do bad things, and sometimes it can take a long time to forgive them. But whether you want to forgive them or not is up to you."

But could he really forgive his brother for attacking Popstar? Especially when he could come back and do it again?

It was something he would have to think about for a while, but he was certain that he wouldn't have to worry about it for a while.

The morning was cold, Gooey could feel himself shake under the blanket. He missed the warmth that the sun used to give before Autumn happened, and he hoped that he would feel it again soon.

He crawled out of the tent and stretched. Kirby, Nago, and Rick were trying to revive the fire, which seemed to have gone out last night.

"Mornin', Gooey!"" Rick greeted. "Did you sleep well?"

Gooey yawned, Rick shrugged in response. "Can't say I blame ya, I had to be dragged outta the tent this morning."

That sounded about right, everyone else would probably be in bed right now if they didn't have to check on the fire.

Actually, maybe there was a way to keep everyone warm while the fire was out? Gooey grabbed one of the burning logs from the fire pit and swallowed it. His mouth burned, but now he was able to breathe a small flame from his mouth.

"Gooey, be careful!" Kirby yelled as he walked over to Gooey's side. "You don't wanna use Copy Abilities for every little thing. I've had to learn that the hard way."

Yeah, well...it wasn't like Gooey was burning the forest down or anything. He'd be fine as long as he didn't do anything crazy.

"I'll go look for some more firewood," Nago said as he headed into the forest. "Keep an eye on Gooey, all right?"

Kirby nodded before looking back at his friend, who continued to breathe the fire. Rick looked at Gooey with a curious gaze. "So when did he learn how to copy?"

"Last night, actually," Kirby replied. "I thought I could teach him a few things later."

"Oh, maybe we could play for a little bit?" Rick suggested. "We could get him to copy the Stone ability."

Kirby's eyes widened in excitement. "Oh, that's a good idea! Gooey could roll you around all day if you wanted."

Oh, right...animals were able to enhance the abilities of others, weren't they? Gooey never needed such help before, so he was a surprised to see how eager Rick was to play with him using these abilities. Perhaps he was as proud as Kirby was last night?

Nago returned with several pieces of wood in his paws, he dropped most of them into the fire pit as he brought one of them towards Gooey's mouth. Once it caught on fire, Nago dropped the wood into the pit so the others could burn as well.

"OK, Gooey. You can stop, now." Kirby said while he patted his friend's back. Gooey stopped breathing fire, he could see Rick grab a rock near the tent before offering it to him. "Hey, wanna see if you can use the Stone ability?"

Gooey nodded as he took the rock from Rick's paws. But when he tried to use the Stone ability, he managed to set himself on fire. He wasn't injured in any way, but it DID startle him pretty badly. He had the Sword ability knocked out of him last night, so how was he supposed to get rid of the one he had now?

"You gotta spit out the Fire Ability first," Kirby pointed out. "Just pretend you have a piece of food stuck in your throat and you wanna get it out."

Was that how it worked? It was worth a try at least. Gooey concentrated on getting rid of his ability. Once he felt something build up near his throat, he spat it out. What came out of his mouth was a star.

"All right, NOW try eating this," Rick said as he grabbed another rock off of the ground. Gooey grabbed it from Rick's paws and swallowed it. This time, he started to feel kind of heavy, he managed to turn himself into stone...well, a stone with wonky eyes anyway.

"You're doing great, Gooey!" Kirby praised. Gooey turned himself back to normal and smiled, things were looking good so far.

"Great, now hop on my back while using the stone ability," Rick told Gooey. The Dark Matter did as he was told and climbed onto Rick's back. But instead of turning to stone, he managed to turn Rick into a round boulder. Gooey was astonished. He started to roll Rick around, he found it to be kind of fun.

He couldn't believe all the praise and encouragement he had gotten after gaining such a new ability. It wasn't a Blade form, and it would probably be a long time until he could gain such a form. But for now, he was happy to have learned a new ability while he lived on Popstar.

Perhaps one day, he could even help Kirby on one of his adventures? The very thought of it excited him.