PART 7: It Arrives, It Arrives
Slowly but surely, Kirby's eyes opened a day later, for he had recovered at last. Realizing where he was, who had saved him, and how long he had to save his home, Kirby wasted no time slinging Meta Knight over his shoulders and jumping onto his warpstar. By instinct, he grabbed Meta Knight's sword as well, wasting no time to do poses as a green hat appeared on his head and he became Galaxia Kirby. Kirby kicked off the ground, and the warpstar rocketed immediately rocketed towards Pop Star.
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Standing at the entrance to the enormous escape ship, a round donut-like silver rocket as big as the country itself, made out of titanium over five thousand feet thick, was Chief Bookem, holding a list of people's names like it was the Book of Life itself. He was quickly checking off people as they entered the ship, to make sure they were not missing anyone. To him, this list WAS the Book of Life, for one mistake would cost someone thiers. They had been preparing for this for a very, very long time...the ship had been hidden underneath the sea in the case of such an emergency, and the list came from official goverment records (also known as Dedede's servants and the filing cabinets). Family by family, they entered, and family by family he checked off thier names. It was a long process, but it worked, and it would ensure everyone's survival, as long as they could get everyone on and escape in time.
Chief Bookem had failed to notice one detail, though... one name was missing from the records.
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Calculating how fast the warpstar could move and how far away Pop Star was from him, Kirby figured he could reach Pop Star in about a half hour, provided there were no interruptions. That might not be fast enough, but for the love of everything he cared for, he had to try. Kirby hit the side of the Warpstar with his left foot.
"Dedede's Castle, Dreamland, Pop Star." he ordered, noticing a red eye far in the distance. The warpstar immediately sped up and swerved left as Kirby faced the eye, Galaxia in one hand and Meta Knight, still slung over his back, in the other. The eye got steadily closer and closer to Kirby, as beads of sweat gathered on Kirby's forehead, the warpstar getting closer and closer to the eye at the same time. In mere seconds, the eye was less than half a mile away from Kirby, and Kirby realized the eye alone was over ten thousand yards in diameter. The black fog itself was even larger, and it seemed to be sucking away light itself like a black hole. The black fog stopped in front of Kirby, silently waving around in the fashion of mist, staring at him with it's enormous eye, which was always watching, never blinking. Beads of sweat fell from Kirby's forehead, but he held Galaxia in front of him. The black fog did not blink... in fact, it opened an enormous black mouth, covered in fangs made of the fog, fangs that seemed real and unreal at the same time... with these fangs, it appeared to grin menacingly, towering over Kirby and his warpstar in all its million yards of terrible glory.
Kirby was afraid. Kirby was very, very afraid.
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Tiff had intentionally locked herself into her room in the castle. The day before, she had managed to remove her name from the records completely, hoping they would not notice she was missing. She was alone now, the only person left on the planet, and it was raining, thunder breaking the depressing darkness all around her. She had made a doll of Kirby, and she currently hugged it softly.
She hadn't even gotten a chance to say goodbye.
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The black fog moved towards Kirby slowly, it's body moving around slowly like a black mist. It's eye stared at him constantly, unblinking. As it got closer and closer to Kirby, the very air, or lack thereof, turned very, very cold. Kirby felt like he was caught in a glacier, and it was then that he realized that he was slowly beggining to freeze solid. Kirby struggled as the front of his warp star turned into solid ice. The warpstar didn't move as it began to slowly freeze into a solid glacier. Remembering the nightmare, Kirby jumped off of the warpstar, Meta Knight slung over his back, the sword in his hand, right toward the eye of the black fog.
As Kirby got closer and closer to the eye, he began to slow down. His face began to turn blue as he continued to slowly swing the sword. The rest of Kirby's face turned a shade of bluish white like water, said water beginning to turn into blocks of ice. Slowly, Galaxia turned into an enormous blue icicle, Kirby's body slowly freezing with it. Slowly, the same began to happen to Meta Knight's body as Kirby slowly got closer and closer, attempting to strike the eye just once...
The rest of Kirby's body froze, his face forever frozen as one of pure, righteous fury. He was stuck in the position of attacking, the sword in his arms.
The fog laughed, a laugh that boomed through the solar system, deep and cold, icy like a tundra. The fog opened it's enormous "mouth", and swallowed Kirby whole. It then flew away quickly, headed towards Pop Star.
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The huge escape ship's doors began to close shut as the last person, Chief Bookum himself, entered. Rockets on the bottom of the ship activated and with an enormous roar, the ship burst through the clouds and the atmosphere, entering space.
As the ship rose, Cappies looked into space for the first time through the enormous windows...looking at it in all it's glory. Some of there stared at thier own planet for what they knew would be the last time in awe, others just stared at the wonders of his space Young children sat on the shoulders of thier brothers or sisters, moms or dads while some of thier other family members idly chatted.
It was one of these children that asked the question on everyone's mind...
"What's going to happen to us?"
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Tiff opened a music box and stood near the window, looking into the sky while the music box played. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she thought of Tuff, and she thought of her mom and her dad, of her friends, of Kirby and of Meta Knight, of the Waddle Dees... but she simply couldn't go. She belonged here... she knew she did.
She hadn't got a chance to say goodbye to any of them... not one. She hadn't even told them she wasn't going... but if she was going to die waiting for Kirby, so be it...
For she would stand her ground, waiting for him... until the very end.
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One of the young Cappies looking through the window saw something that caught her attention. It was small and red...and it was getting bigger, like a balloon being inflated. Having no idea what it was, she skipped over to her mom, who was idly gossiping with a few of the other older women.
"Mommy, what's that?" the girl asked, tugging on her mother's dress. Her mother didn't answer her, so she asked again, pulling on her mother's dress harder and harder.
"Not now, dear..." her mother responded, giving her daughter an icy stare. Ignoring her mother, the daughter pulled again, and the mother gave up. The daughter pointed to the window, and pointed at an enormous eye, which was steadily getting closer and closer and closer. The mother stared at it in horror, her face turning white.
"T-t-t...THE BLACK FOG!" she screamed, and suddenly, everyone else noticed it. A shockwave of panic was sent through the building...people ran every which way, screaming thier lungs off like it was the end of the world.
And it was.
Chief Bookum blew on his whistle suddenly, and everyone was quiet. With a megaphone in his hand, he turned towards everyone.
"EVERYONE, INTO YOUR ROOMS NOW. DO NOT MAKE A SOUND. I REPEAT, INTO YOUR ROOMS. DO NOT PANIC. DO NOT MAKE A SOUND." he ordered. In a paniced rush, everyone raced by him into thier rooms. Chief Bookum looked at the ship itself now.
"Activate Stealth Mode." he commanded. From the outside, the ship and everyone in it appeared to completely disappear. The eye reached the ship, followed by the rest of the black fog and a million other eyes. They stared into the ship's windows as if they knew something was really there.
Chief Bookum stared at them back, unknown to them. He was staring death in the face, and niether side was blinking.
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The fog touched Pop Star's atmosphere and slowly began to spread over it like a virus. The normally yellow Pop Star slowly began to turn a shade of black as it spread over the planet's sky, blocking out the sun. Tiff stared in shock as everything went dark, the fog covering the sky like a blanket.
In mere minutes, it covered the entire planet in darkness. Tiff looked into the fog in horror as an enormous eye appeared over Kirby's house in the fog. On the ground, an image of the same eye appeared and the fog began to spread down towards that eye. As soon as it touched it, it began to spread along the ground in all directions, sending out a thick black mist that covered everything in fog. Slowly, it creeped towards the castle.
Knowing the end was nigh, she got on her knees.
"Forgive me, family..." she prayed. "Forgive me...everyone..."
Before she could say anything else, the fog engulfed the wall, destroying it. It was now touching her feet.
"Forgive me, Kirby..." she finished as she jumped from the castle wall into the fog.