Chapter 65: A Mess of Power - Part 3
"Something has distracted Dark Matter's forces!" shouted Meta Sword, impaling two enemies at once on his sword. "Now is the time to strike!"
"Yeah, let's go!" replied Meta Blade, spinning around to slice all the enemies around him.
Meta Axe ran through Dark Matter's forces, hacking wildly with his ax. He plowed right through them. Needless to say, it wasn't pretty.
Meta Chain swung his mace, throwing about ten enemies into the air at once. Meta Lance impaled an enemy on his trident and then used it as a club in much the same fashion as Meta Chain's mace.
"Bomb fountain engaged," said the legendary Crazed Donut Hole General in his robotic alternate voice, shooting a shower of bombs in every direction. The noise of explosions was deafening.
The yellow-suited Poppy Brothers Senior joined in the fun with his own cascade of bombs.
Dekabu opened his mouth wide and about thirty Kabus spewed out of it. As the Kabus tackled some of the opposition, Dekabu jumped with his mouth still open and landed on another group of enemies, swallowing them whole.
Yamikage, fast as a bullet, performed a multitude of combos on the enemies with his dagger and ninja-stars.
Silver Kibble threw his cutter as a boomerang, slicing through an arc of enemies. He then caught the blade, made a series of quick slashes with it, and the enemies in front of him fell to the ground in pieces.
Even Big Wheelie arrived at the scene, having successfully carried Escargoon to safety. He simply drove right over the opposition, flattening them into the mud.
After a brief minute of confusion, Dark Matter's forces returned to fighting the Meta Army instead of chasing Kirby.
"Meta Blade, want to see a cool new attack that Meta Knight taught me?" asked Meta Sword in the midst of fighting. He was shouting to Meta Blade from quite a ways away, but the other warrior still heard him.
"Sure," answered Meta Blade, shouting back.
Meta Sword faced the dogan in front of him. Just as it swung its club, Meta Sword flipped over the dogan, dodging the attack and making a slice with his sword that cut the enemy in half down the middle.
"That was the Hyrulean Jumping Parry attack," he said smugly.
"That's pretty good," said Meta Blade, "but watch this!"
Meta Blade cleared a space around him of enemies and held his sword with both hands, pointing it back over his shoulder. As he concentrated, the sword began to glow and emit red sparks. Just when the enemies around him had closed in and were about to attack, he swung his sword downward to smash it flat on the ground.
What followed was a gigantic explosion that blasted the enemies around Meta Blade apart.
"It kinda hurts to perform," he said, patting the marks on his armor where he had burned the shiny paint off, "but wow does it kill." He looked around at the blasted enemies around him. "Did Meta Knight ever teach you that one? It's the Ostian Flare Blade attack."
"Yeah, he might have mentioned it," replied Meta Sword, "but I go for defense more than offense." He quickly held up his sword to block a feather bullet from an attacking birdon and then impaled the hapless creature. "You shouldn't have to sacrifice health for some big explosion."
"Whatever," said Meta Blade as he resumed fighting.
Kirby inverted the canopy of his Parasol again so that it was back to normal.
It was a sunny day in Yogurt Yard, which was quite a different setting than that of Fantasy Meadows.
Kirby prepared to fight Chuchu if necessary. He knew she was still under Dark Matter's control.
But when Kirby looked at her, he found that she was encased in a cube of ice.
So that's what happened to her, he thought. I hope that doesn't hurt.
"Kirby," said Gooey suddenly, "I have compiled information and can now tell you how to use this ability. You can capture foes with the Parasol, freezing them inside of it. You can then either release them as a block of ice, use them still inside the Parasol as a club, or shoot them out like a cannonball."
"Oh," replied Kirby. He didn't really know what else to say.
"So, how's Chuchu?"
"She's frozen in the ice cube in front of me."
Silence.
"What do I do now?" asked Kirby.
"I'm thinking," answered Gooey. "Flat out releasing her would be hazardous. Dark Matter would make her fight you to the death. But you can't just leave her in there. That solves nothing."
"I get the picture," said Kirby. "No melting the ice; no leaving it intact. This isn't helping."
"Hmm. Maybe if you free only her head... but no that wouldn't work. You know how good of a fighter she is; she'll break free of the remaining ice in nothing flat."
"Still not helping."
The ice was beginning to melt on its own.
"I must admit I never thought any of this would happen," continued Gooey. "Maybe with more research on your abilities I can come up with one that will provide a solution, but the chances of that are slim. In truth, I don't even know how to counter Dark Matter's hold on her."
Kirby sighed and looked at Chuchu again.
He stared into her eyes. They were bloodshot and wild, with slits down the middle for pupils.
Though Kirby didn't realize it, the very tip of her head had already thawed.
"How did you free Lololo and Lalala from possession?" asked Gooey.
"Well," answered Kirby, "after knocking out Lalala, I remember somehow getting Fire ability and burning their packaging. Lololo then became so concerned that he just snapped out of it."
"What about Lalala? She was knocked out, so it couldn't have been concern that freed her."
"Um, I dunno what happened to her. She was in her right mind by the time she woke up."
"In that case, I have it!" said Gooey triumphantly. "There are two ways for you to cure Chuchu. One: conjure up within her a very strong emotion to counteract Dark Matter's hold. Or two: knock her out."
"Knock her out?"
"Think about it! You told me that a Marx figure in Marx's mind was keeping Dark Matter out. Plus, those under Dark Matter's control never sleep."
"Wait," interrupted Kirby. "They never sleep? I didn't know that!"
"Well, now you do," said Gooey in an impatient tone. "As I was saying, if the victim loses consciousness, his or her mind will shut down. And since the mind is what Dark Matter has a hold on, it'll no longer be able to maintain possession. The Marx figure was acting as a subconscious force against Dark Matter. If the mind is put in such a subconscious state, it will be cleansed of intruding orders."
Silence.
"It's worth a shot," finished Gooey.
"Oh, come on!" complained Kirby. "I need more than that! Chuchu is probably one of the best fighters in Dreamland. How am I supposed to knock her out without being ki-"
Kirby suddenly heard a cracking noise. Chuchu was breaking free of the ice. Not knowing what to do, Kirby did nothing.
With a smash, Chuchu blasted off her ice shell.
As she faced Kirby, he tried to come up with something to say or do that might buy him some time.
"Uh, hi... Chuchu," he said, his voice quavering. "Remember me? It's Kirby. You wanna go... find Marx and get the last star rod shard... or something?"
"Remember me, Kirby?" said Chuchu. "My name is Dark Matter. You have been in my way for too long. Now, you shall perish!"
"Uh, oh."
POW! Chuchu punched Kirby right between the eyes with one of her tentacles, sending him flying.
Kirby hit the ground and stood up, rubbing his wound.
"Now Chuchu," he said in the same quavering voice, "I don't want to hurt you..."
"Good," replied Chuchu. She had her tentacles extended and the ends balled into fists. "That'll make my job of killing you a lot easier."
"Here I am, Meta Knight," shouted Sasuke, emerging from his weaponry ship to stand on top of it. "Now, how am I to set about destroying this invisible force field that so confines you?"
The ships were close to each other, but not so close as to make Sasuke's shouting unnecessary.
Sasuke looked much like a red Dreamlander. He had the same mouth as one, the same absence of nose, the same feet, and the same arms. But his eyes were very different. They were big, dark blue and glassy, bulging out of his body like crystal balls. Sasuke also wore a shallow, cone-shaped, yellow hat.
"Why are you not using the radio communications?" shouted Meta Knight back.
"I fear someone may be tapping the line," replied Sasuke loudly.
"What are you, paranoid?"
"Kirby had our communications bugged on the Halberd. Who's to say he isn't doing that again?"
Meta Knight considered reprimanding Sasuke for causing pointless inconvenience, but decided against it.
"Very well, Sasuke," he shouted. "Just get us out of here!"
"I already asked," replied Sasuke, "how?"
"Just blast it with your ship's laser guns!"
"Yes, Sir!"
Sasuke went back inside the ship.
The guns on the ship's underside pointed forward and fired.
A ray of red light emitted from the guns, connecting them with the force field.
After a whole minute of holding the lasers steady, Sasuke turned them off. They had had no effect.
"I'll be back with more weapons, Meta Knight," shouted Sasuke, reemerging from a hatch in the top of the ship. "Maybe something else will be able to set you free."
"Why didn't you just bring all the weapons with you this time?" shouted Meta Knight.
"I didn't think I'd need them!"
Bah, thought Meta Knight. No wonder this guy does only odd jobs. He always jumps to conclusions.
Sasuke jumped back down into the ship and flew away.
Chuchu ran at Kirby, who summoned Fighter ability to become Fighter Kirby!
Chuchu threw punch after punch as Kirby blocked each one, slowly walking backwards as Chuchu advanced.
"Please, Chuchu," said Kirby, "stop."
"It is not Chuchu who you are fighting," retorted Chuchu. "It is Dark Matter in Chuchu's body!"
While throwing five punches at his face, Chuchu slipped one of her tentacles underneath Kirby and grabbed his foot.
Kirby felt himself be pulled through the air by his right foot. Using her tentacle, Chuchu swung him over her head and slammed him into the ground on the other side. Then she brought him back over and slammed him again. Then again... and again. Over and over and over.
After nine slams, Chuchu wound up and threw Kirby as far as she could... off the plateau.
Silence.
A warpstar flew down out of the sky to below the plateau and the supposed spot where Kirby landed.
A minute later, Kirby had flown back up and dismounted the warpstar, which disappeared.
"That really hurt," said Kirby in a flat, determined voice.
"What?" exclaimed Chuchu. "How are you not dead?!"
"First, Dark Matter," answered Kirby, "you should know that it takes a lot more than that to kill a Dreamlander. Second, no wound is so bad that a maximum tomato or two cannot cure it. And third..."
Kirby paused.
"...I'm not afraid to fight back," he finished, summoning two Hammer abilities to become Huge Hammer Kirby! A gigantic hammer/mallet appeared in Kirby's hand, the head of which was twice Kirby's size!
"Fight back?" said Chuchu. "And damage this precious body?"
"You said it yourself: it wont be Chuchu that I'm fighting," answered Kirby. Then he said in a lighter tone, "Besides, a little bonk on the head should be enough to put Chuchu asleep and that will spell your demise."
Kirby twirled his Hammer.
"If it's a fight you want, Kirby," said Chuchu, "then it's a fight you'll get!" She raced forward.
Kirby swung violently with his Hammer. To him, it felt no heavier than if it was made of cardboard.
Chuchu jumped backward, out of the way, and then tried another rush. But she had to jump back again as the Hammer came back around.
Kirby was spinning with the Hammer, using centrifugal force to keep going. Around and around he went. Then he slowly started moving toward Chuchu.
Chuchu, however, jumped over the swinging Hammer, flying through the air and landing on Kirby himself.
Kirby quickly swung the Hammer over his head, dislodging Chuchu.
Now Kirby was quite dizzy from all that pointless spinning, but he didn't let that show. Instead, he started going crazy with the Huge Hammer, swinging it in random directions, pounding it into the ground over and over.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Chuchu could just barely stay out of the way. Kirby's movements were so wild and unpredictable.
In his insane banging, Kirby was starting to cause the plateau to break. Unbeknownst to him, cracks were forming in the stone and pieces around the edge were already falling off.
"Kirby! Stop! You're going to kill me!"
Kirby stopped and nearly fell over with dizziness, but he had noticed the change in Chuchu's voice. She was back to normal.
"Gotcha, Kirby," said Chuchu.
Kirby realized too late that he had been tricked. Chuchu wasn't cured after all, and in seconds she had pulled Kirby's Huge Hammer from his hand.
"I think I'll flatten you with this here hammer," said Chuchu, winding up.
BOOM! Kirby felt the blow like a house falling on him. He whimpered softly in pain and looked at Chuchu. She was winding up again.
Then Chuchu hesitated with the Hammer raised and Kirby noticed the slits in her eyes phase slightly towards circular and then back again.
Kirby knew this was his only chance. He summoned the first ability that he thought could have a chance of saving him. It was Fire plus High-Jump, which equals Jet Kirby!
Kirby turned over on the ground and fired his thrusters propelling him right into Chuchu.
When Kirby slammed into her, they both flew a short distance to the edge of the plateau, where they landed in a heap.
Chuchu gave Kirby two quick punches, throwing him off of her and into the center of the plateau.
"That's IT!" she yelled. "Now you die!"
Chuchu grabbed the Hammer, swung it back, and unleashed as much force as she could to bring it down on Kirby... who managed to dodge at the last second.
BOOM!!!
Silence.
Crack, crack. Crack! CRACKKKKKK! The plateau had withstood its last blow. It was breaking apart.
Kirby felt the floor give way beneath him and tumbled down with it. Rolling over and over in a landslide of rocks and dirt, he fell.
Somehow... miraculously... he ended up on top of the rocks, instead of underneath them, when he came to rest.
Chuchu was not so lucky. She was crushed under a pile of boulders from the rockslide.
As the dust slowly settled, Kirby held the phone to his mouth.
"Maximum..." he said, coughing, "tomato..."
"I'll get right on it!" replied Gooey, his cheerfulness coming as a sharp pain for Kirby.
When the maximum tomato arrived on a warpstar. Kirby simply inhaled. He was too hurt and tired to get up. The warpstar disappeared before it would have entered his mouth as well.
Finally, Kirby's pain subsided and he got up.
"What happened to Chuchu?" asked Gooey.
"I don't know," answered Kirby. "Maybe she was buried when the rocks broke."
"Well, you'd better find her. She's the reason you're out here."
"Okay..."
Kirby looked around.
"Uh," he asked, "is there any ability I have at my disposal that may help me find a buried octopus in a field of rocks?"
"Nope," answered Gooey.
"Then how am I going to find her?"
"Let me think for a sec."
Silence.
"Here," said Gooey, "I have just sent instructions to your phone to beep when you are close to her. The phone has scanners that will pick up small movements. It should recognize her breathing."
"Okay."
Kirby walked around. Eventually (duh) the phone started beeping.
Kirby summoned Fighter ability to become Fighter Kirby! He then pushed and kicked the large rocks around him aside.
Chuchu lay there, slightly squashed and bleeding in numerous places. Kirby felt a pang of sympathy, or sentiment, as he looked at her. He was so sorry for what had happened to her.
As Chuchu opened her eyes, all Kirby's feelings turned to joy. Her pupils were back to normal, meaning she was finally free of Dark Matter!
"Ow," she said.
Chuchu looked up at Kirby.
"What happened?" she asked dazedly.
"I saved you," answered Kirby, making a long story short.
Chuchu tried to get up, but made a pained expression with her face and fell back down.
Kirby jumped down into the small hole Chuchu was in and helped her to her feet... or tentacles... or whatever.
"What you need," said Kirby, "is a maximum tomato."
Chuchu ate the maximum tomato, while Kirby told her the whole story of what had happened while she was possessed.
After Chuchu had learned what Kirby had been through, she gave him the biggest hug an octopus could give a Dreamlander.