Chapter 25 – A Ghost & a Snowman

Abandoned Snowland – Shiver Star

Minutes later, we gained sight of the planet known as Shiver Star. Judging by the name, it sounds like an ice planet. But when we saw it from the window of the Lor Starcutter, something about it looked…familiar.

"So that's Shiver Star?" I asked.

"Yep. A lone ice planet in the middle of deep space." Magolor said.

"Uh…hey, guys. Does that planet look familiar to any of you?" Maguro asked.

"Yeah…it actually does." Arle said. "It kinda looks like…"

"Oh my God! That's Earth!" Ringo shouted.

"R-Really?!" Misuki asked.

"No doubt about it! That planet looks EXACTLY like Earth!"

"There's even the Moon right there!" Lidelle added.

"No freaking way!" Raffina shouted.

"Uh, guys. What's Earth?" Adeleine asked.

"It's the planet our world is based on. The spots on this planet look identical to the ones there." I explained.

"I see."

"You guys don't have to worry. This isn't the actual Earth. Shiver Star has always looked like this." Magolor said.

"Oh. I see. Sorry for freaking out then." Ringo said.

"It's okay, Ringo. We understand." Adeleine said.

After that misunderstanding, we made landfall on the Earth look-a-like planet and got off to look around. It was…surprisingly pretty. First off, snow was everywhere. That's to be expected. But there were also Christmas trees all over, snowy mountains in the background, and these crystal pillars sticking out of the snowy ground. And even on said snowy ground were rainbow-colored snowflakes that reflected with the sunlight here. It was like a winter wonderland that never seemed to end.

Why can't our planet be like that?!

"Woah. This place is so pretty." Lidelle said.

"Yeah, I agree. It's really beautiful." Misuki said.

"It's been a while since I've seen snow this pretty. Let alone any at all." Arle said.

"Y-Yeah, b-but i-it's…fr-fr-freezing here. I-I c-can b-barely…st-st-stand." Raffina stuttered.

"R-Raffina's…r-r-right. I-It's t-t-too…c-cold." Ringo agreed while also stuttering.

"Really? Is it really that cold?" I asked. "Cause I can't feel it."

"Y-You're…s-s-seriously n-not c-cold…A-A-Ami?"

"No, not really. It's probably these powers that I have. They made me really comfortable when I was stuck on Star Lavadom earlier."

"W-Well, g-good f-for…y-y-you." Raffina sounded upset.

It was weird, though. In this snowy planet, I'm extremely warm. Maybe it is my ability doing this. Or something completely different. I wasn't really sure anymore.

"I'm sorry, guys. Maybe if I held your hand…" I said while reaching for Raffina's hand. Once I did grab it, I held it tight to make her body heat up. I've seen this being done on TV before, but I wasn't sure if it worked in real life.

But then after a few seconds…

"H-Hey…I don't feel cold anymore. In fact, I feel…really warm. It's actually kinda relaxing…" Raffina grew a nice small smile on her face from being so relaxed from the heat coming from my hand.

Ay one point, she eventually fell asleep.

W-Woah!

"Raffina! Hey, Raffina!" I shouted.

"H-Huh?! Oh, wow. Did I really just fall asleep?"

"Yeah, you did. You looked so relaxed too."

"Wow. I feel so warm and relaxed now. Ami. Whatever you just did really helped a lot. Thanks for that." Raffina said with the same small smile from before.

"Sure, Raffina. No problem." I said cheerfully.

"Hey, Am. You think you can do that for us too?" Ringo asked. She, Arle, Misuki, Lidelle, and Maguro were freezing as well.

"Uh…sure, I guess."


Soon after, everyone felt all warm. But for some odd reason, they weren't as relaxed as Raffina was. Nor did they fall asleep during the process. It was weird, and it had me thinking about what made Raffina so different.

But eventually, I had to put the thought in the back of my mind. As we had a more important thing to deal with.

"So the Puyos have reached all the way here too?" I asked.

"Sounds like it. Right now we're on our way to meet up with our friend, Susie. Who somehow got here after the Air Ride race." Adeleine said.

"I see. So where is she anyway?"

"Magolor said that she called from the factory here. So that's where we're going to start looking."

"Okay, then. I hope the walk isn't far. We may be warmer now, but…"

"Amitie…"

"What was that?" I asked.

"I think someone called your name, Amitie." Lidelle said.

"Amitie…"

"Yeah, I can definitely hear it. Someone's calling out for you." Misuki said.

"Really? But I don't see anyone." Adeleine said.

"Amitie…"

"You know…now that I listen to it, it sounds really familiar." Raffina said.

"Amitie…"

I took a good listen to it myself and after some thinking about it, I figured out who was the owner of that voice.

"Oh, geez." I said.

"What?" Adeleine asked.

"Hey, Arle. Can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Uh…sure, Amitie."

Once me and Arle were a little farther away from the group, I began whispering into her ear.

*Whisper* *Whisper*

"Huh?"

*Whisper* *Whisper*

"Really?! How'd he get here?!"

*Whisper* *Whisper* *Whisper*

"Oh. I see. Yeah, I'll do it."

Once we joined the group again, everyone was curious about what we just said to each other. But before we told them, Arle went over to Ringo, took the ribbon from her hair that was holding up her trademarked ponytail, and tied it over Ringo's mouth.

"Uh…Arle. What are you doing?" Maguro asked.

"Just watch." Arle said while tying the last tie. "Okay, Amitie. It's done."

"Great! Thanks, Arle!"

I then faced the path in front of us with a little more confidence (and peace of mind) inside me as I called out the person calling my name.

"Rei! Are you here?!"

*mumble* Ringo perked up once she heard that name.

"Huh? Who's Rei?" Adeleine asked.

"Well…"

"Amitie." Before I could answer, Rei had appeared in front of us with a blue aura around him and his normal look of unamusement.

"MMMMMMMMMMMMHMHMHMHMHMHM!" Ringo started freaking out in fear over the sight of one of the twin ghosts. But thanks to Arle's hair ribbon over her mouth, her screams of terror were muffled.

And thus, our eardrums were safe.

"R-Rei's a…ghost?!" Adeleine asked.

"Yep. That's the jiff of it." I said.

"Amitie." Rei said my name again.

"Rei. What are you doing here?"

"Not sure."

"Well, do you know how you got here?"

"No."

"Do you have any idea what's happening right now?"

"No."

"Is it just you around here?"

"No. Yu's here too. Don't know where she is, though."

"*phew* Thank God."

"And Yu is…?" Adeleine asked.

"Rei's twin sister. She's a lot more cheerful than he is. And easier to talk to."

"I see."

"How long have you've been here, Rei?" Raffina asked.

"A few days." Rei said after thinking about it.

"Geez. And you've been here on this snowy planet by yourself for that long?"

"No. I got a friend."

"Really? Who?"

"Chilly!"

Then, out in the distance, we saw what looked like a snowman heading towards us. It had two balls of snow piled on top of each other, yellow balls for hands, a bell around its neck, and a green bucket on its head. It also had big black eyes with angry-looking eyebrows over them. It kinda looked cute, but I'm not sure if I should say that to it. Don't want it to make it angrier than it already is.

At least I think its angry…

"Chilly." Rei said.

"Chilly. Chilly Chilly."

"Sorry. I found my friends here and wanted help."

"Chilly."

"Hey, Chilly." Adeleine said.

"Hiiiii!"

"Chilly!"

"Wait, you guys know this…snowman?" Arle asked.

"Yeah. This is Chilly. He lives here with a bunch of other chillies"

"Other chilly's?" Lidelle asked.

"Yeah, there's more than one. But this one special. While most chillies wear a blue bucket on their head, this one has a green one." Ribbon explained.

"Why?"

"We're not really sure. But it makes him stand out. That and the fact that he's the only one that can talk."

"He talks?!" Raffina asked.

"Chilly."

"It's one of those "one word means everything" languages." Adeleine said.

"I see."

"So, Chilly. Where did you find Rei at?"

"Chilly. Chilly Chilly. Chilly."

"He said that he was minding his own business when Rei just fell from the sky. And when he went to go check on him, he didn't look phased about the whole thing." Lidelle translated.

"Yep. That sounds normal." Arle said.

"So, Rei. Were you with Yu before coming here?" I asked.

"Yeah." Rei said.

"Okay. So you and Chilly were looking for Yu then?"

"Yeah."

"Chilly."

"Chilly said that he was helping Rei out when he ran off somewhere." Lidelle translated.

"Okay. this is starting to make sense now."

"Really?" Raffina asked me.

"Well, kinda. We still don't know how Rei got here in the first place. And unless we find Yu, we won't ever know."

"Yeah, true. We better find her and fast."

"Alright, Rei. We'll help you look for Yu."

"Thanks, Amitie." Rei said with his usual depressed tone.

"Chilly. Chilly Chilly."

"Chilly said he wants to help too." Lidelle translated.

"Chilly Chilly. Chilly!"

"And that he can help get rid of the Puyos here, too."

"Great! The more help the better! After all, this planet is big." Adeleine said.

"Puyos?" Rei asked.

"We'll explain on the way, Rei. Let's just start looking for Yu." I said.

"Okay."

"Uh…Amitie. What about Ringo?" Maguro asked.

I then looked over at Ringo, who still had Arle's hair ribbon over her mouth. She had stopped freaking out from earlier, but her eyes were all puffy from the crying she did from the fear. Her face was also red. Looking like she was running out of air.

"sigh. Okay, Arle. You can take it off now."

"Alright." Arle said as she started untying the ribbon. Once it was completely off, Ringo took a few big deep breaths and wiped her watery eyes a bit.

"Th-That wasn't necessary, you know." She said. Sounding rather angry.

"Yes, Ringo. Yes it was." Me and Arle retorted.

With that out of the way, we continued making our way through Shiver Star. Now with three things to do. Meet up with Kirby's friend Susie, clear the Puyos here, and find Yu.

Gee. Being a hero is a lot harder than I thought…

AUTHOR'S NOTE: 2 new party members have been added. Although Rei has been planned for a while, Chilly was a last-minute addition. I'm currently playing as him in Star Allies. And let's just say I've never had more fun using the Ice Ability.

Shiver Star is going to be the setting for the next few chapters. Like I said before, there aren't that many ice worlds to choose from. So it's this and another one I'm planning to use.

That's all from me. Feel free to review, favorite, and/or follow the story. Thanks for reading. Later.