King Dedede's blimp was going rather slow, and Kirby was gaining rather fast. Kirby knew he would catch up to the blimp in time, but the king had other plans.
A glass dome was put up over the basket of the hot air balloon, similar to how the dome rises on Kirby's starship.
Mr. Tick-Tock glanced around wildly. Neither he nor Kirby knew what was happening.
Four iron, pointed, cylindrical objects pushed their way out of the back and front of the hot air balloon's basket. There was one open end with metal inside in some form of pattern.
Finally, the balloon snapped off the basket and the four iron rockets started up, and the basket zoomed toward the castle before Kirby could reach his friend.
The basket made it to Castle Dedede first, and entered through a skylight in the throne room. King Dedede called in twenty of his Waddle Dee guards and ten of them carried Mr. Tick-Tock to the dungeon. The remaining Waddle Dees were hastily ordered to start up the castle's main defense, the airship Kabula.
Kirby was nearing the castle, and was closer to rescuing his friend when a giant face with a sinister smile and malevolent eyes appeared in front of him, then proceeded to shoot cannonballs at the poor puff. A cannonball found its mark and knocked Kirby out of the sky.
At that moment, Kirby wished for nothing more than to be saved. Suddenly, stars the colors of the rainbow circled around Kirby, then rushed at him. The stars' light dissipated until Kirby could be seen riding the Star Chariot! The Galactic Nova was still partially alive despite the beating given to it, as its parts and pieces still floated around, and it remembered Kirby never got his wish, as someone intercepted and stole it. The Galactic Nova stayed true to the legends, and granted Kirby's wish to be saved from falling by granting him the Star Chariot!
Kirby laughed and drove his chariot back up to Kabula. He could never get inside the castle if he had a seemingly living airship shooting at him!
Kabula had been heading back up to the castle, threat being dealt with, when she heard a strange whizzing behind her. Kabula turned back to see Kirby on a chariot made of clouds, stars and ribbons. She immediately started firing at Kirby, who dodged and fired a row of stars right at Kabula's pink front.
Kabula seemed slightly fazed by the sparkling barrage but kept on plowing on with more cannonballs. One ill timed cannonball crashed into the star crest on the front of Kirby's Star Chariot, causing a small crack to form.
That distracted Kirby enough to stop firing momentarily and glance down at the star crest, giving Kabula a chance to break out a new form of ammunition.
Kirby looked up just in time to see a huge Gordo flying straight for his Star Chariot, and dodged just before it hit. Kabula was now firing a mix of precise cannonballs and fast Gordos.
Kirby had to put more effort into defense than offense, as there was barely any moving space, but luckily one hit from a star made a cannonball explode in midair, something Kirby used to his advantage, but sadly tried it on a Gordo. The Gordo didn't explode but kept plowing straight for the star crest, and it hit, causing a bigger crack to form.
Kabula still wasn't done, however, as she stopped firing momentarily and gave herself more altitude and opened up her tip to reveal an even bigger cannon. That cannon fired a huge bullet the size of Kabula herself that was black with white arms. The bullet even had Kabula's face on it.
Kirby dodged the first bullet, and the second, as well as the third, each of which were a bit lower than the other, but was caught off guard as an unexpected fourth bullet followed the path of the second bullet, which was unfortunately, where Kirby was right then.
The bullet shattered upon hitting the star crest, but managed to put a major crack in it. The star crest now had multiple fractures extending outward, and a few more cannonballs would do Kirby in.
As Kirby recovered from the blow, which had shaken the chariot almost to the point where Kirby would have fallen off, Kabula aimed a Gordo and the Gordo found its mark, almost breaking the Star Chariot into pieces.
The Waddle Dee in Kabula's "control room", which was nothing more than a room with microphones connected to Kabula's radio, yelled into a microphone, "I have an idea! Do a barrel roll!"
Back in the skies, in the battle above Mt. Dedede, Kabula heard something come in on her radio. She might have to remember to thank those Waddle Dees after she won this fight, although Kabula was broken and almost defeated, she had to be in better shape than that puffy pink ponyan.
Kabula backed off, and Kirby took it as a retreat, taking a moment to breathe. Kabula started spinning in place, and Kirby thought he made her malfunction. Kabula rushed at Kirby full force, and Kirby started shooting his stars again, but Kabula hit him at the same time he shot, and the sheer closeness of the stars made Kabula cave in on herself, catching on fire as her inner mechanisms overheated, making the ammunition tank explode and shoot all its contents into the sky.
Yet Kabula went down with a smile, not being able to do anything different and knowing she had sacrificed herself in saving her king.
One of the cannonballs from the ammunition tank hit the star crest on Kirby's Star Chariot, and it shattered, taking down with it the ribbons and causing the cloud Kirby sat on evaporate.
Kirby screamed, wanting the Galactic Nova to grant another wish to be saved by another Star Chariot, but instead, something unexpected caught him.
Meta Knight had seen the warpstar land, and took it to the nearest Kabu to hospitalize it. Meta Knight had been watching the fight, and had seen Kabula defeated.
Meta Knight caught Kirby in midair by use of his wings, and Kirby thanked him with a "Poyo!"
Meta Knight nodded and flew toward the castle. This was not his fight, but it only seemed right to help Kirby reclaim his friend.
As Meta Knight and Kirby spiraled up the mountain, one of the hidden cameras saw them.
The Waddle Dee in the surveillance room screamed into his walkie-talkie, "Sire! The Pink Terror defeated Kabula and he and his friend Batman are coming! And fast!" The king's voice came over the walkie-talkie, "What?!" There was a small beep and King Dedede's voice was relayed to all the Waddle Dees in the castle, "Waddle Dees! Kirby and Meta Knight are coming up the mountain! Defend the castle at all costs! Protect the dungeon!"
Meta Knight dropped Kirby off on the wall of the castle, as well as two sparking wires. Kirby inhaled both of the wires and flashed white before he transformed into what Meta Knight knew he would: Hammer Kirby!
Kirby, with his new ability, glanced back at Meta Knight fading away in the distance and jumped off the wall, ready to do whatever it took to get his friend back.