Chapter 7: Go Forth, Vacuum Man!
After a brief discussion of tactics, Popopo and Gooey decided that Popopo should suck and blow (both literally) enemies to smithereens.
This is what Popopo did. In his first encounter with enemies (specifically two Waddle Dees) he inhaled one Waddle Dee and spat the little guy into the other one. They collided and disappeared in a shower of stars. Popopo continued in this fashion. He also flew over gaps in the ground and structures that were too large to jump over. (As you may or may not have picked up, all Dreamlanders can inflate and fly.) Popopo also called Gooey whenever he needed a warpstar to take him somewhere.
Popopo finally made it to the center of Vegetable Valley, where there was a forest called Whispy's Woods. In Whispy's Woods, Popopo met with the ruler, Whispy Woods! Popopo tried to suck him in, but Whispy Woods' roots went too deep into the ground and he did not budge. Whispy Woods was a big tree with a face and a nasty temper.
"Ha, ha, ha! What a futile attempt to uproot me!" jeered Whispy Woods in a low, haughty and airy tone of voice. "You cannot defeat me! I am the ruler of Vegetable Valley and offspring of the Great Deku Tree himself!"
"Just watch me!" retorted Popopo. He was having a lot of fun playing the hero and beating up the bad guys.
"Fool!" shouted Whispy Woods and a great wind emanated from his lips, blowing Popopo into a nearby tree.
"Oww..." groaned Popopo.
"There's more where that came from!" laughed Whispy Woods as he started shaking his branches. Apples started coming down on Popopo, hurting him.
Popopo faced the onslaught and inhaled an apple. He shot it right into Whispy Woods' nose.
"Yowch!" hollered Whispy Woods. "You'll pay for that one!"
Roots started coming out of the ground like spikes. Popopo managed to dodge most of them. He inhaled more apples from Whispy's branches and shot them at him.
"All right! Now I'm really angry!" said Whispy Woods as he transformed into Pissedy Woods!
Pissedy's branches shook and apples rained down on Popopo. The roots grabbed Popopo and held him still as a harsh wind seared him.
Popopo struggled and flailed as he was smashed and cut by the tree. Popopo opened his mouth wide and took the deepest breath he had ever taken. The trees bent, apples went right in, Pissedy Woods' leaves were torn from his branches.
With a mighty scream, Popopo ejected the contents of his mouth into Pissedy Woods' right eye.
"Noooooooooo!!!!!!!!!" Pissedy Woods, now Whispy Woods again, screamed as the roots around Popopo loosened, the wind died and the apple barrage stopped.
Whispy Woods' jaw hung open and out came a small pink and white fractured thing. Popopo had recovered the first out of seven pieces of the star rod!
"Congrats, Popopo!" exclaimed Gooey. "That sounded like real winnings! Have enough breath to tell me the details?"
"Yeah, I guess I do," said Popopo and told him.