Authors Note: I don't know if there's a way to get these characters never spoken of personalities wrong but I apologize if they don't seem right, this is just the way I see them. The italicized stuff is a much more complicated translation of Kirby's thoughts, not by him though, they are more so being translated by the narrator.

Any Comments/Constructive Criticism/Reviews are still very much welcomed, with a thanks to those who reviewed, Favorited, Story Alerted and all that cool jazz :)

Side Note: Kirby and all of his friends and Kirby64 are owned by Nintendo and Hal.

Chapter 2: The Only Way To Win

"What in the name'uh Pop Star is goin' on here!" King Dedede was now standing beside the pink hero, much to his surprise, along with Waddle Dee and Adeleine nearby.

Kirby suddenly screeched out a string of odd sounds at the three, in his strange little language, with a few understandable warnings.

He tried to get the three of them to leave for their own safety, but just as he pleaded the King took out his huge hammer, Adeleine her paintbrush, and Waddle Dee seemed ready to fight empty handed.

Kirby tried to protest again but went ignored.

"Ribbon!" The female painter called, "We know you're still in their somewhere!"

The King shook his head in a lackluster manner, "No no! Ain't Kirby supposed ta be the one to say somethin' sentimental like that?"

"Yeah," She sighed, "But Kirby can barely form a full sentan-" Just before she could finish she was hit with a strange black crystal.

"What the?" The King looked up just in time to dodge the next one and tried to smack back the others with his hammer, but not to much avail as Ribbon only shot more from the void hole where her heart should have been.

Kirby knew that as much as his friends wanted to help, he was usually the one who had to attempt the final battle on his own, give or take a fight or two.

He ran up to Ribbon, dodging one of her incandescent arrows that hailed from her magnificent wings. It seemed her range of attacks were far worse than they thought.

He inhaled a dark crystal and could nearly feel the tears lace his eyes as he painfully spat it back at her face.

It had to hit her eyes. He wasn't quite sure why she still had two of them, since Zero usually formed itself in the vision of one. But with the form she had taken on now, well... one eye wouldn't make her look any less frightening and...depressed..

"Ribbon!" Kirby called out as the fairy fell back from the hit, only to recover quickly enough to spew three more black crystals.

The fight continued and much to Kirby's surprise his friends were actually helping him quite well.

Adeleine was busy painting her own dark crystals and giving them to Waddle Dee to toss at their foe, not to mention her short supply of Maxim Tomatoes coming in handy. She couldn't paint too many she always proclaimed, it was against the laws of her canvas and paintbrush. Even to the point of the paint refusing to touch the canvas. It was a known fact that healing items were far more complicated to paint than any other.

King Dedede was doing nicely in tossing hammers (who knew he had more than one?) straight at the evil form of Ribbon.

The crew continued to fight until all but small shades of the darkness began to disperse from around their friend.

"This is it Kirby!" Adeleine shouted, akin to any anime where the main character had one more hit to defeat his enemy in a match of life and death. At least, that was the odd thought that seemed to cross her mind at that moment, she quickly shook it off.

Kirby nodded, his face a melancholy shade of anger, trying to hid the hurt. He inhaled another dark crystal and-

Was this it? Would she be alright after this? Despite his positive nature he highly doubted she would.

In the past his friends always seemed to recover just fine after possessions. But this was different.

As the ancient 'Scrolls of Light Matter' the gang passed by on their journey read, No soul could ever come back from the center of the Dark Heart's soul, for the price was to claim a life.

Dark Heart. The newly formed planet upon which Dark Star had once resonated. It was the literal manifestation of Zero's own hollow heart still barely connected to it's soul. A soul which now Ribbon was resting lifeless within.

This horrible planet, drenched in it's own aura of painful emotions in the form of the planet the group was now in. Pretty dark of a tale if you asked Kirby and his friends and knowing it was only a small part of it didn't really help any.

Kirby could see the red puffs of moisture flow out of the demon eyes that had replaced his best friend's.

Regular possessions never caused a red liquid to surface like that, this was truly the end.

Some insurmountable circumstance had presented itself to Kirby and for once the little pink puff ball wasn't sure if he wanted to win this battle. Not if it would cost him more than he could handle.

He took note, nearly two hits ago, that he himself had at least three hits left.

"KIRBY!" The King shouted, snapping the hero out of his stupor.

The puffball lifted his hands to his friends, signalling them to leave, finally deciding, if one of his friends-if she had to go, then he would make the same sacrifice.

There was no way he wanted the others to have to witness such a thing. He knew they cared about him just as much as he cared for them, even the King was not immune to having an at least somewhat friendly bond with him. So he did his best to wave his small paws in an effort to shoo them off.

The three smiled and nodded, thinking nothing more than that all was good and Kirby would beat Ribbon and she would be restored to normal.

Never had Kirby actually been the one to be so much more in sync with the situation at hand until that very moment.

As soon as the three left he stood there and stared at his fairy friend.

He hesitated, "Ri-bbon."

She ignored him and shot a crystal, knocking his Hp down to two. He walked closer to her. There just had to be some way out of this before anything really bad had to happen. Some way other than his current deadly solution.

He whispered her name once more.

A sudden spark of light seemed to twinkle around her. She was hearing him...or perhaps Kirby was seeing things in an attempt to retain any hope in this situation. The latter seemed to be the case as all the fairy did was shoot him with a sparkling arrow, knocking his health down to match hers.

1 to 1

Now this was the tricky part. He had to hit her at the same time that she hit him. That way, when she left, he could go with her.

Something in him told him it was the only way.

It was such a powerful and undeniable bond he had with her. A companionship so small to start, yet very important, had grown into such a huge part of all that they were.

Though, he knew he would do the same thing no matter what friend of his was in such a dangerous situation...

He knew he would. ...Wouldn't he? But, for anyone else could the same solution have ever even crossed his small but adorable mind?

"Finish her off Kirby!" The King shouted.

Wait... Who would protect Dreamland without Kirby around?

The pink puff was now trying to answer this odd question that had never once entered his head up until this point.

King Dedede was pretty powerful, he could certainly hold his own. And Adeleine's cunning wit and intelligence could make up for the King's utter lack of the latter. Not to mention Waddle Dee and his quick inventions and knack for problem solving, that would keep the group together and going.

What about himself though. Wasn't he there for just that reason, to protect Pop Star and even the universe...

But...

Kirby was well aware of his own lackadaisical and sometimes dopey demeanor, but it took him until just now to realize...

Why had Ribbon waited so long to pull off her finishing attack?

She kept giving him time to think, contemplate to himself. Staring at him as if to say, 'I don't want to fight you. It doesn't have to end like this.'

Maybe the tales told in those 'Scrolls of Light Matter' were rubbish, and perhaps Dark Matter was wrong, it certainly wouldn't be the first time such an evil creature would lie.

Kirby smiled at this revelation, though it would only bring sadness to those who knew that despite the fact that his evil nemesis would indeed lie, the scrolls would never have any scribble of false-ness within them.

The sweet little pink hero, utterly unaware of his mistake in taking this possessed Ribbon's pauses as that she still retained a little bit of control, stopped thinking to himself just long enough to get ready to try to talk some sense into Ribbon once again, his final plea.