Only one Winter chapter because I couldn't think of anything else at the time plus, I was ready for this story to end.
Popstar continued to grow colder even after the night the candy had been collected. Gooey slept on the floor with a heavy blanket wrapped around him, though the fire in Kirby's fireplace had gone out hours ago. He was shaking, and his body was starting to feel sore.
"Gooey, wake up!" Kirby yelled excitedly. "It's snowing!"
The Dark Matter groaned bitterly as he moved out of the blanket, his body still shivered from the cold. He could see that Kirby was looking outside his window. Gooey climbed Kirby's bed and looked outside. Instead of rain, white flakes fell from the sky. There were so many flakes that the ground looked like it was covered in a large, white blanket.
"Wh-what do you c-call this again? W-winter?"
"Yep, it's Winter!" Kirby replied. "We got a lotta snow last night, though. So that means we can build snowmen and do some sledding...Doesn't that sound fun?"
Gooey nodded. Though if he were being honest, he'd rather stay home and sleep all day. Kirby frowned, as it seemed like he picked up on Gooey's mood.
"Are you all right? You don't have to go outside, you know."
"No! No! I'm fine," Gooey told Kirby. "I-I can't wait to go!"
Kirby still looked worried, but he hopped off of the bed and headed over to the door. "All right, but let me know if you wanna come back here...all right?"
Gooey nodded as he followed Kirby outside. The ground was cold to the touch, so Gooey brought out his fins and hovered over it. They felt stiff and frozen, but they should be fine if he kept moving them. And if they fell off, then they could always grow back.
There were less creatures out here aside from the occasional Waddle Dee that walked by. It was as if the whole world had fallen asleep, and yet Kirby didn't seem too bothered by it.
The duo stopped in their tracks as Waddle Dee suddenly stopped in front of them. He wore a scarf and he sat on a large disk...a sled, right?
"Hey, guys!" Waddle Dee greeted. Just then, King Dedede appeared. He sled down the slope on his stomach.
"No fair!" Dedede complained. "I fell off my sled, so that shouldn't count!"
"Forgive me, Sire. But I still made it down first."
Dedede glared at Waddle Dee for a moment before his attention turned to Kirby. "Whaddaya lookin' at?"
"I dunno," Kirby said with a shrug. "But it looks to me like you lost the race."
"Then how 'bout we have our own race? Right here! Right now!" Dedede demanded. "I won't even use the sled this time!"
"Oh, it's on!"
Gooey floated there with his eyes half-closed. Although he cared about Kirby and Dedede, their rivalry always seemed to happen out of nowhere. It was a strange relationship, one that he could never completely figure out.
"Well that happened..." Waddle Dee said as he stepped out of the sled and picked it up. "So how are you doing today, Gooey?"
"C-cold," Gooey replied. Waddle Dee nodded in agreement. "I wasn't expecting it to be this cold, myself."
"Wh-what about D-Dedede?"
"He can handle the cold better than the rest of us," Waddle Dee replied. "If it were any colder, though, then I don't think he'd be out here sledding right now."
That sounded about right. After all, a king needed to look after his people...even if the world was frozen.
Gooey started to follow Waddle Dee as he walked up the hill, though he struggled to keep his fins moving. From the looks of it, Kirby and Dedede had already made it to the top. It didn't take long for them to slide down the slope. Gooey couldn't tell who won, he found it hard paying attention.
...Actually, his vision was starting to get kind of blurry, too.
"You know...if we had any food on this hill, we'd have a Gourmet Race on our hands," Waddle Dee said before he looked at Gooey. "H-hey, are you all right?"
"I-I'm fine...I..."
Before Gooey could say another word, his fins fell off his body and he collapsed on the soft snow below him. Everything was a blur to him, yet he could hear Waddle Dee panicking.
"K-Kirby! Your Majesty! Something's wrong with Gooey!"
"What happened?"
"I don't know, he just...collapsed."
"Gah! I knew he sh...'ve ..ayed ..."
"Whi.. way's ..ur house, Kir..."
Everyone's voices started to sound faint, and Gooey found it hard to breathe. He felt something get wrapped around him before he passed out completely.
When Gooey regained his senses, he could feel that he was somewhere warm. When he opened his eyes, he could see that he was back in Kirby's house.
"You all right, kid? You had us worried out there for a moment."
When Gooey looked up, he could see that Dedede was holding him. It took him a moment to realize that he was wrapped up in Dedede's robe.
"Wh-where's Kirby?" Gooey asked.
"He's outside makin' soup," Dedede replied.
"Why...why not make soup here?"
"'Cause it's kinda hard to cook while I'm sittin' here. I could barely even fit through the door."
He wasn't sure why, but this scenario reminded Gooey of when he first came to Popstar. But when he got sick then, it was because of the sun. This time, however, it seemed like the cold was what had gotten to him.
"This...this happened before."
"Whaddaya mean?"
"When I come to Pop'tar, I got sick. Kirby and his friends took care of me after they found me."
"Ah, so this takes you back, huh?" Dedede asked while smiling. "And this was after Zero got rid of you, right?"
"Yeah...But I dun wanna get sick like that."
Dedede responded with a shrug. "Sometimes it just happens, all you can do now is rest up until you're better."
"Well...I dun like it!"
"That's too bad!" Dedede replied as he playfully squeezed Gooey. "You're trapped here whether you like it or not!"
"Nooooo~!" Gooey cried out, though he cried out in fun rather than anguish. He winced as the pain in his body started to flare up, and he quietly settled back into the robe.
"Ah gees," Dedede said while he petted Gooey. "Hopefully, Kirby'll be done with the food soon."
"Hopefully..." Gooey repeated.
The duo stayed quiet for a while, though it was the kind of quiet that came from comfort rather than loneliness...or something along those lines. A little more time had passed before the door slowly opened. Kirby and Waddle Dee carried two bowls each on their heads.
"Is Gooey awake, yet?" Kirby asked as he handed Dedede one of the bowls. The bird replied with a nod. "Yep, he's been up for a while now."
Gooey frowned. Though Kirby was always patient with him, he couldn't help but worry about him getting angry whenever something went wrong.
"Sorry, Kirby."
"What are you apologizing for?" Kirby asked as he placed the other bowl near Gooey's face. "You just got sick, that's all."
"Yeah, but...I didn't wanna ruin your fun." Gooey argued.
"Look, Gooey. Sometimes you gotta worry about yourself." Dedede said sternly. "That's what I do when I get sick."
"That's what you do all the time," Kirby teased, which earned him a glare from Dedede. "But he is right, you know. If you're not feeling good, then you just gotta make sure you rest up, OK?"
"But what if you wanna do something fun?"
"You don't always have to worry about what I want," Kirby suggested. "Besides, you've done plenty of stuff on your own, haven't you?"
Of course he did, but he felt bad if he took off on his own without Kirby.
Then again, Kirby also had his own adventures that he'd have to go through, too. So it was only fair that Gooey would do his own thing sometimes, right? And if he ever felt lonely, he could always spend time with someone else, like Dedede or Chuchu for example.
With that in mind, Gooey picked up his bowl of soup and ate it. The soup was hot, but he enjoyed it regardless.
With all this done, the last arc is upon us...the Zero arc (AKA Dream Land 3)