Chapter 18: The Great Eye
"Gooey," said Kirby while on the warpstar that was headed for the lair of Kracko, "I haven't been doing much on this 'mission' of mine but battling enemies."
"Things are bound to get more interesting," replied Gooey. "Y'know, not much happens in Grape Garden. What about those cannons that the Poppy Brothers Juniors set up for you? What about that giant war-machine that Meta Knight's creating? What about the fact that some star rod shards are being guarded by hidden bosses? What about all the different powers that you're going to get? What about—"
Kirby interrupted loudly, "WAIT A SECOND! WHO IS META KNIGHT AND WHAT GIANT WAR-MACHINE IS HE CREATING?!"
"Ack!" coughed Gooey. "Forget I said that! Never mind for now! Just watch out for Kracko."
Kracko saw Kirby the moment that Kirby landed. Kirby stepped toward Kracko (who was just an eye) and readied himself for combat.
"So, you have come again, Star Warrior," said Kracko.
"Yeah," answered Kirby, "and this time you gotta hand over the star rod shard when I beat you."
"Beat me?! You won't even be able to catch me!!!" yelled Kracko and dived into the clouds below it.
Immediately, clouds closed around Kirby and he was trapped in a gigantic hemispherical arena.
Kirby looked around... Where was Kracko? Suddenly, the floor under Kirby started to shake. Kirby jumped aside just in time and Kracko rose out of the floor with cloud still around him like a ghostly blanket. The clouds around Kracko were still attached to the floor and it flew at Kirby, trailing the layer. Kirby dodged and Kracko sank back into the floor. This happened over and over with Kracko trying to ram the ever-dodging Kirby.
Kracko then figured he would never make any headway doing this and it jumped out of the clouds, conjuring the four spikes around itself. Kirby inhaled the spikes and became Needle Kirby! He transformed into a spike ball and Kracko started dropping bombs. Knowing that his spikes could not withstand explosions from bombs as big as these, Kirby inhaled the bombs to become Bomb Kirby! Kracko dropped into the ground again and the battle restarted; except this time, Kirby was trying to hit Kracko with bombs as well as dodge.
The battle was going nowhere fast. No damage had even been dealt, yet. Kracko then decided to start shooting electric beams at Kirby. One of the beams hit a bomb that Kirby had just thrown and both opponents were caught in the explosion! Kirby was hurled against a wall and Kracko was thrown from the floor.
"Ooooooh, you're good," acknowledged Kracko, "but can you withstand my Waddle Doo army?"
Waddle Doos suddenly started streaming from Kracko's eye. In no time there was a huge multitude of them under it.
"I notice a flaw in your plan," said Kirby. "Your Waddle Doos are too close together!" Kirby began to inhale. He inhaled all the Waddle Doos and shot them all back at Kracko. They hit it hard and knocked it right out of the sky.
"Looks like I missed one," said Kirby and sucked in the lone Waddle Doo behind Kracko. Kirby then became Beam Kirby and sliced Kracko through with his electric whip.
There was a deafening explosion and Kracko flew high into the air. It landed, flaming, back on the floor and started rolling away.
"Come back here!" shouted Kirby and ran after it.
"You sure you want me to?" replied Kracko without the slightest hint of pain.
Immediately, the flames surrounding Kracko died and Kracko shot back into the air. Kracko conjured the four spikes again. Kirby got ready to inhale them, but Kracko wasn't done yet. Each of the spikes became three. Now Kracko had twelve spikes and they circled around it. Then, suddenly, they stopped and attached themselves to the eye. Clouds formed around Kracko and it began to throb with power. Sparks shot from every inch of Kracko as it loomed over Kirby. The battle had only just begun.
Or had it? Kirby made another slice with his beam whip. It hit the clouds surrounding Kracko and a High-Jump Dan popped out. Kirby inhaled it and became High-Jump Kirby. Kracko moved to the top of the dome they were in and Kirby performed a High-Jump. Kracko dodged and Kirby sailed on through the ceiling.
Kirby emerged into the open air. POW! Kracko zapped him from behind and flew into a huge cloud in the distance, which immediately turned dark and stormy.
"Gooey," said Kirby, "should I pursue Kracko into that stormcloud?"
"You don't have a choice, Kirby," replied Gooey.
"Alright," said Kirby quickly so as not to change his mind, "I'm going in!"
Kirby jumped on the warpstar that he had left there earlier and flew toward the black cloud.
CRACK! Kirby was thrown from the warpstar when a lightning bolt came out of the cloud. He landed back where he had boarded the warpstar.
After getting a maximum tomato from Gooey, Kirby consulted him as to what to do.
"You've obviously got to enter the cloud in a different way," said Gooey. "The cloud reminds me of something. My scanners can't penetrate it. Does that spark anything in your memor—"
"The warp-cannons!" exclaimed Kirby. He flew down below the cloud and, sure enough, there was a warp-cannon and a torch.
"That's it!" shouted Gooey. "Good luck!"
"Thanks," said Kirby as he lit the fuse and entered the warp-cannon. "I'm going in."