Chapter 80: Familiar Faces
When Kirby and Chuchu arrived at Nebula Belt, Gooey spoke suddenly.
"Kirby," he said quickly, "I'm getting call waiting. Hold for a minute."
"Okay," replied Kirby, slightly surprised. Who could possibly be calling Gooey?
Silence.
"Oh, Kirby," said Chuchu.
"Yeah?" answered Kirby.
"I just wanted to say that I am not leaving your side," continued Chuchu decisively. "Wherever we go above this Dark Cloud, something always turns up. Whether it's Meta Knight or Dark Matter or some big monster, there's no reason why I should flee while you deal with it. I'm not going anywhere."
Kirby was saved the trouble of responding by Gooey coming back on the line.
"Uh," said Gooey, his voice shaking. "We've got a problem. Let me play this for you. I recorded that call."
"Hello, Gooey," said a voice from the phone.
Kirby recognized the voice, but couldn't remember who's it was until Chuchu exclaimed, "It's Rick!"
Rick continued, "Bet you didn't expect that I, Dark Matter, would figure out your location. Now that I have a secure line to your place, I will trace it and eliminate you from those who stand in my way. Even though I have no proof of you plotting against me, I have been looking through the LAP's files and have noticed that you were the only one of the so-called Protectors of Dreamland that I haven't encountered yet. I'm coming for you. Enjoy your last moments of free will!"
Silence.
"It's a bluff," said Chuchu tearfully. "Dark Matter may have the bodies of the LAP, but it doesn't have their smarts. I once watched Rick trace a call. Dark Matter can't possibly know how to perform such a complicated procedure. You're safe... but my colleagues... are..." She wavered off and looked down at the Dark Cloud.
"I'm sorry, Chuchu," said Kirby softly.
"When I took the job I had no idea I'd participate in anything like this, but if you hadn't convinced me to come with you, Kirby, instead of hiding, I'd be possessed... just like..." She wavered off again.
"Well, actually," commented Kirby, "it was Gooey who did the convincing, remember?"
"Oh, yeah." Chuchu smiled.
ZZWhoosh!
A sword beam had suddenly shot at Chuchu from below, who, amazingly, managed to dodge, the crescent missing her warpstar by less than an inch.
"WOW!" exclaimed Kirby, overly impressed by Chuchu's dodge. But there was no time to applaud.
More sword beams streaked toward them from out of the Dark Cloud. Now on alert, Kirby and Chuchu managed to dodge repeatedly.
Eventually, the last beam came in the form of Meta Knight himself, flying at Kirby, sword-first. When Kirby dodged this bizarre bullet, Meta Knight swung his sword wildly around, firing jagged and unstable-looking sword beams in every direction.
One of the jagged beams came in contact with Chuchu's warpstar, which split in two.
Chuchu fell, screaming, toward the Dark Cloud, but Kirby flew his warpstar quickly under her, breaking her fall with his head.
"Hey, dude!" shouted a voice.
It was Meta Drone. Meta Knight turned to face him, flapping his wings to stay hovering. When he did, Kirby saw that Meta Knight was maskless. Then Meta Knight gave Meta Drone a hate-filled look, baring his sharp teeth.
Transfixed by that face, Kirby did not use his warpstar to fly away. Chuchu was clearly staring as well, for she made no comment.
"Dude!" continued Meta Drone. "Ya, like, deeeeestroyed the ship, dude! Yer, like, whacked, dude! I mean, dude! You were all POW and ZAP and, and, like, CRABOOSH, man! Yeah, it was wicked awesome, but ya, like, killed us, dude! Oh, and by the way, dude, Plan J, like, f-"PASHfzzzzkkzzshssk...k...kk.
Meta Knight had impaled Meta Drone through the robot's eyepiece. He held Galaxia there for a few more seconds, while Meta Drone pitifully sputtered, "f-f-fa-a-a-a-a-ial-fail-ail-a-fa-ailed-ail". Then Meta Knight made a series of violent slices, reducing Meta Drone to at least twenty small fragments, which all fell into the Dark Cloud.
"Hey, what's that?" asked Chuchu, pointing upwards.
Kirby looked up, getting a split-second glimpse of hundreds of what looked like bright stars hurtling towards them before...
SeeeeuWOOOOOSH!!!
Flaming white shots flew down from the sky like bullets, creating a powerful wind that blew Kirby and Chuchu quite a distance away. Lucky, Chuchu remained clasped to Kirby's head.
From their new hovering location. Kirby and Chuchu watched as bolt after bolt of these strange dazzling comets streaked at the Dark Cloud. But, as each one arrived at the Cloud, it would veer off sharply, causing the powerful (and apparently magical) wind it was creating to blow the Dark Cloud apart.
"It's the Ripple Star Fairies!" exclaimed Chuchu in awe.
Meta Knight was nowhere to be seen. He had been knocked out when one of the Fairies collided with his head. He was now falling through the Dark Cloud toward Green Canvas far below. (Green Canvas is a relatively small golf course southwest of Neo City.)
A crater-shape was now forming in the Dark Cloud. The Fairies were beginning to slowly blast it apart!
King Dedede surveyed the scene. Castle Dedede could not be repaired. The entire operation there had failed.
"NIGHTMARE!!!" shouted King Dedede suddenly, speaking Dark Matter's words.
Nightmare flew down to the rubble on which King Dedede was standing.
"What is it, Dark Matter?" asked Nightmare quickly.
"My Dark Cloud," said King Dedede, shuddering slightly for no apparent reason. "It is under siege. The Ri-Ripple Star Fairies have retur-urned. I'm trans-ansferring all thought to my eye. I shall subdue them easily-ly."
King Dedede collapsed on the ground, as did all those under Dark Matter's control. Suddenly, almost all life on Pop Star was unconscious.
SNAP!
"What was that?!" exclaimed Chuchu.
SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!
Every time the noise sounded, a Fairy would inexplicably disappear.
Kirby flew the warpstar in closer, just close enough to see what was going on without being blown back by the strange wind the Fairies were making.
SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!
Long black tentacles were stretching up from the Dark Cloud and waving around in jerky, erratic movements. Every time one came in contact with a Fairy, the noise would sound and the Fairy's light would extinguish. The unconscious Fairy would then fall into the Dark Cloud.
A warpstar flew down to Kirby's side and Chuchu got on it.
"Let's go!" she said as she climbed off Kirby. "We gotta help them!"
"How?" asked Kirby.
"The Dark Cloud can't possibly be what's attacking the Ripple Star Fairies. Only the eye of Dark Matter itself can produce tentacles like that. The eye must be below Nebula Belt right now!"
White flames encircling her body, Ribbon made another pass down at the Dark Cloud, dodging three black tentacles and sweeping off a few more Dark Matter fumes.
Flying back up to pass downward again, another Fairy flew up close to her.
"Ribbon!" shrieked the Fairy. "Dark Matter's too strong! We're taking too many casualties! We must retreat! We'll never get a crystal to the ground at this rate!"
"Stay strong, Flare," said Ribbon as she reached the peak of her ascent. "We can still win this!"
Ribbon swooped downward again.
"Ribbon!" cried out Flare. "We can't continue! This is madneEEK!!!"
SNAP!
"Kirby! Fight the wind! We're almost there!"
"Chuchu! I just realized something! You have to turn back! Only I have the power to vanquish Dark Matter! You'll just get possessed! Besides, I need to go down into the Dark Cloud! Beating Dark Matter in this terrible wind isn't going to happen!!!"
"Ribbon!" shouted Jewel, stopping Ribbon from making another diving pass. "I'm going to fly into the Dark Cloud!"
"What?!" replied Ribbon. "No! That's insane!"
"The indent will give me a good head start," continued Jewel. "I can make it to the ground if I concentrate!"
"But you'll be possessed!"
"Not until I've buried my crystal in the ground!" Jewel held up her crystal. It was light purplish-blue and had a shallow diamond shape. Each Fairy was carrying one. "The power of my crystal will force Dark Matter's eye out of its Dark Cloud long enough for the rest of you to subdue it!"
"Jewel! You can't!"
"We've lost too many Fairies. This is our last stand! I'M GOING!"
Jewel shot downwards at the Dark Cloud.
"Jewel!" shouted Ribbon. "STOP! COME BA-" SNAP!
Jewel plunged into the Dark Cloud.
Fwuff.
There it was: the great eye of Dark Matter.
Thunderstruck by this overwhelming image, Jewel failed to concentrate on keeping Dark Matter out of her mind.
"Oh, my God..."
SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!
The wind stopped.
Every last Ripple Star Fairy had been taken by Dark Matter.
The black tentacles began to recede.
"This is my time," said Kirby to Chuchu. "I've gotta go get this over with before the eye moves."
Chuchu flew over and hugged Kirby.
"Okay," she said softly. "Good luck."
Kirby hugged her as well.
"All right," interrupted Gooey. "I know this is a very touching moment, but KIRBY NEEDS TO GO RIGHT NOW!!!"
The pink pair parted and Kirby sped off into the Dark Cloud.
Dark Matter's eye was still there. It was looking upward, making sure it hadn't left behind any straggling Fairies.
Kirby summoned the Great Star Rod of Light. The instant he did so, however, Dark Matter's eye turned to look at him.
"Give it up, Dark Matter!" shouted Kirby. "You should have known I'd hunt you down in the end! I won't allow you to suck the life from this planet! Your reign ends now!"
Dark Matter closed its eye.
"foolish dreamlander," said a low, choked voice, which seemed to come from the very air around Kirby.
"What?!" exclaimed Kirby. "Who's there?"
"it is none other than eye, dark matter, who speaks," said the voice.
"But I thought you couldn't talk."
"Who are you talking to, Kirby?" asked Gooey.
"Can't you hear the voice?" answered Kirby.
"No, I can't."
"heh, heh, heh, heh, heh," continued the voice. "you know so little about me. it is true that eye cannot speak as most organisms are able to do, but now that you are within my dark cloud, eye can communicate telepathically with you."
"So, it is you, Dark Matter," acknowledged Kirby.
"Kirby," interjected Gooey, "what's going on?"
"I can't talk to you right now, Gooey," said Kirby, unceremoniously closing the connection.
"another bit of information that you are oblivious to," Dark Matter went on, "is the fact that eye do not feed on 'life force' or any of that nonsense. eye feed... on dreams. eye, myself, do not dream. you have no idea how agonizing it is to roam space endlessly, sleeplessly, for a planet somewhere in this galaxy that can sustain me. eye was the one who polluted the fountain of dreams in order to increase the severity of the dreams of those under my control. and eye was, until recently, using your fellow dreamlanders to produce electrical dream enhancers in the dungeons of castle dedede. once eye have every being on pop star strapped into one of those, eye will become invincible."
"Empty threat Dark Matter," retorted Kirby. "Castle Dedede was destroyed... and now I will destroy you!"
"hah, hah, haaaaaaah. you don't get it, do you? now that you have brought out your weapon, the great star rod of light, you are vulnerable. all eye have to do is separate you from it and my dark cloud will ensnare your mind."
Oh, no, thought Kirby. I hadn't thought of that. Aaah! I hope Dark Matter can't hear my thoughts!
Silence.
"speechless?" asked Dark Matter. "eye bet you're considering not fighting. that would be a wise decision on your part. eye will give you the option of backing out now."
Whew! thought Kirby. It can't read my mind. All right, this is it.
"Dark Matter," announced Kirby determinedly, "I am NOT backing down now. We're gonna end this... TODAY... RIGHT HERE!"
"so be it," finished Dark Matter. "if it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get. you're in my world now, kirby. once your body is mine, eye shall force it to perform the most severe and strenuous labor any dreamlander has ever undertaken..."