I still don't own any Kirby-related parts of this story.
Using Gooey's unusually large tongue as a ladder, Kirby, Nago, ChuChu, Adeleine, Rick, and Waddle Dee climbed out of Dark Matter's underground fort, with Gooey right behind them. King DeDeDe was standing in front of them, with his back facing them. He turned around suddenly, and stared at Kirby with vacant eyes. DeDeDe mumbled, "I'm sorry, Kirbyyyy…" DeDeDe collapsed right in front of ChuChu. Gooey poked him with his tongue.
All of a sudden, King DeDeDe floated into the air surrounded by a large, hazy sphere. He fell again, but looked up. With his last bit of strength, he told Kirby the situation.
"Dark Matter is extremely powerful (gasp) this time. You need (wheeze) the star rod. Dark Matter has broken it and (pant) put it on six different planets. The Warp Star will take you to each (puff) different planet." And with that, Dark Matter took DeDeDe to Dark Star to prevent him from giving away any more clues.
Since Nago, Adeleine, Rick, ChuChu, and Waddle Dee had been through a lot that day, Kirby sent them back to Dreamland to recover. He and Gooey, however, found some spare Maximum Tomatoes, and were re-energized.
After fighting their way through Green Greens, Castle Lololo, Bubbly Clouds, and Float Islands and defeating their respective bosses, Kirby and Gooey came to the Boss of Pop Star: Whispy Woods. Whispy had long since been promoted by DeDeDe, and now was the most powerful bad guy on Pop Star.
When Kirby and Gooey were fighting Whispy, they had to use up their spare Pep Brews after some unfortunate encounters with apples. That was all the medicine they had for now, so they were limited to their spare lives. They did beat Whispy, though, and retrieved the end of the Star Wand and a free Warp Star to Ripple Star, where Kirby had earlier helped a fairy save the star from Dark Matter.
Ripple Star had been expanded by quite a bit, but the fairies remembered Kirby, and gave him a free tour. Among the changes were a sweets factory, a beach, and a large museum. Kirby wondered what the relevance of this was, but he was polite and continued the tour. At the end of the museum, there was one of those "STAFF ONLY" rooms. Kirby made a mental note to come back.
Three Days Later
"Where IS it???" Gooey screamed. Yes, after a long and useless trip through Ripple Star, the Star Rod piece was nowhere to be found. Every square inch of the fairy planet had been searched. Or so they thought.
"Wait! The museum!" Kirby pointed to the large building. "There's a Staff door there. Let's go!" But Gooey sat still. "What now, Gooey?" Kirby asked.
"We can't GO there," Gooey replied.
"WHY NOT???"
"We're not Staff,"
Kirby slapped his forehead. "Come on, Gooey."
Later, at the museum: "Here it is!" Kirby reached for the handle of the Staff door. It was locked. "Looks like a power is needed," Kirby muttered thoughtfully. Luckily, the gift shop sold Power Stars for just the occasion, whatever that was. Kirby pulled out his Handy Dandy Museum Card and bought a Rock/Cutter power.
"Isn't credit great?" Kirby said as he swallowed the magical star.
"What about me?" Gooey asked.
"I didn't forget you," Kirby replied. He pulled a star out of the shopping bag. Gooey swallowed the star and accessed the power inside. He immediately launched three missiles, which homed in on the nearest enemy, which, unfortunately, was a stuffed toy of Whispy Woods.
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