Dark Matter stood there with his cloak on his chest. It was hard to see Gooey knocked out like this, and yet it was the only option Dark Matter could think of.

"Oh, oops!" Nightmare said as he brought a hand over his mouth. "That wasn't supposed to happen!"

Dark Matter growled before he headed over to Gooey's side. He nudged him gently. "Gooey, are you OK?"

Though stunned, Gooey didn't seem to have the foggy look in his eye anymore. Dark Matter let out a sigh of relief. Although Gooey was stunned, he was no longer under Nightmare's control.

...But he wasn't done yet. Normally, Dark Matter wouldn't use this form for fighting, but he switched into his True Form as he faced Nightmare.

"So I guess that just leaves you and me." Nightmare said with his arms crossed. "So you want the Star Rod? Come and get it!"

Dark Matter's fins rotated quickly as he propelled himself towards Nightmare's direction. In order to get the Star Rod, all he needed to do was aim at the hand holding it.

Nightmare waved the Star Rod as he sent a barrage of stars towards Dark Matter's direction. The blob quickly dodged the attacks before he shot lasers from his eye. It was hard to aim without his mask, but he should be fine as long as he aimed somewhere in Nightmare's direction.

Fortunately, he managed to hit Nightmare's body. Unfortunately, Nightmare was ready to retaliate with more stars. One of them managed to hit Dark Matter, which sent another surge of light coursing through his body. He felt as if he was going to fall apart, but he needed to hold himself together.

Quickly, Dark Matter detached his fins and launched himself in Nightmare's direction. He bounced off of the demon's face and managed to knock him back. Dark Matter's fins quickly grew back before he hit the ground.

"Is that the best you can do?" Nightmare grumbled as he quickly grabbed Dark Matter with one hand. "Why aren't you flailing your sword around like before? I liked that one better."

"Because I don't exist purely for your entertainment!" Dark Matter yelled angrily. "You can call me your toy all you like, but I'm not going to succumb to your influence."

"Tch...such a hypocrite!' Nightmare said as he began to squeeze Dark Matter. "YOU were the one who wanted everyone else to succumb to YOUR influence, so why is it wrong for me to do the same thing."

"B-Because unlike you, I KNOW that it's wrong." Dark matter grumbled. "I refuse to stoop to your level!"

Nightmare glared as he squeezed Dark Matter to the point where he could barely breathe.

"You can act all high and mighty all you want," Nightmare said sternly, "but in the end you're in MY world. And what I say goes."

Dark Matter felt as if his eye would to pop out of its socket. He wanted to take down Nightmare, but the demon wouldn't let him go.

Suddenly, a blue blur flew by and grabbed the Star Rod that Nightmare was holding. Before the duo could see who it was, Nightmare was suddenly hit by a barrage of stars.

"Gah!" Nightmare shielded himself from the attack. As he did, Dark Matter was pulled out of Nightmare's grasp by a long, pink tongue.

"Gooey!" Dark Matter yelled in relief. "Did you get the Star Rod?"

"I ate it," Gooey replied as he released his brother and allowed him to fly on his own. Afterwards, he opened his mouth and waved the Rod around with his tongue. "I couldn't let him keep it."

"Right, so how do you suppose we go about this?"

"Um..." It took Gooey a moment to think. "How about you bring me close to Nightmare so I can hit him."

"It sounds careless...But I think it could work." Dark Matter said confidently. "I doubt it'll hurt him as badly as it hurts us, but if that's what Kirby used to defeat him, then we'll have to give it everything we've got."

Gooey nodded in understanding as he landed on top of his brother. He tucked his fins into his body and tightened his tongue's grip on the Star Rod. With Gooey prepared, Dark Matter flew towards Nightmare's direction.

"Hmph...Star Rod or not, I'm still going to take you down!" Nightmare said bitterly. He quickly teleported behind the duo and momentarily opened his cape. He released many empty stars, which shot in several directions.

"Hold on tight!" Dark Matter told Gooey, he felt the young Dark Matter form arms as he held onto his brother's back. Dark Matter quickly turned himself as Gooey shot a large stars in Nightmare's direction. A few were able to hit him in the chest. They knocked him back a bit, but he quickly regained his composure as he charged at the duo.

"Gah!" Gooey held tightly as Dark Matter dodged Nightmare's attack. The elder blob slowed down as Nightmare waved a hand, he threw more empty stars at the duo.

"G-GAH!" One of them managed to hit Dark Matter in the eye. It burned so badly that he couldn't keep his eye open. Meanwhile, Nightmare was preparing another attack.

"Brother, look out!" Gooey yelled as he pulled his brother out of the way of the stars. After a moment, Dark Matter recovered enough to be able to see again, though a pain still lingered. It was as if he'd stared at the sun for too long.

Nightmare dashed toward the duo, but once again Gooey waved the Star Rod. He waved it so much that it was able to slow Nightmare down.

The fight went on for a little while longer. Soon, it reached a point where neither Dark Matter nor Nightmare could keep up, anymore. Either one could be knocked down at any second. But if Nightmare was tired, then now was a good time to deliver the final blow!

"Are you ready, Gooey?" Dark Matter asked his brother. Gooey nodded as he charged the Star Rod.

"Not so fast!" Nightmare yelled as he attempted to swat the duo, but he was too late. Gooey swung the Star Rod so hard that a star bigger than the others managed to bring Nightmare to the ground. The demon landed with a loud "thud" while Gooey and Dark Matter gently landed beside him. Dark Matter swapped forms as he looked at Nightmare. From the looks of it, the demon was slowly dissolving into light.

"Hehe...You may have won, but know that you'll never get rid of me! And who knows? By the time I come back, I'll probably find a new toy to play with!"

Dark Matter hissed in disgust as Nightmare disappeared. Afterwards, he looked down at Gooey with a look of relief on his face. "I'm glad that it's all over, now."

"Yeah...but how are we gonna get outta here?" Gooey asked with a puzzled look, Dark Matter couldn't help but mirror the look on Gooey's face. "That's...a good question."

As if their question was answered, the world around them began to crumble. Dark Matter held onto Gooey while a portal opened above them. Quickly, they were pulled in by a strong force.


"..OOEY!"

"BLADE!"

"ARE YOU OK!?"

"COME ON, WAKE UP!"

Dark Matter's mind felt fuzzy as someone lifted him from the ground and started shaking him. When the blob could finally focus, he could see that Dedede was looking at him with concern. When the blob looked around, he could see Taranza let out a sigh of relief. Meta Knight stood next to him with a hand on his chest. Meanwhile, Kirby hugged a groggy Gooey. The young blob didn't have the energy to pull his tongue back into his mouth, yet Kirby held onto him and gently rubbed his cheek against him as if to tell him "Welcome back."

"You OK?" Dedede asked. Dark Matter lazily wrapped his cloak around Dedede and yawned. "...I'm just glad that it's all over and done with."

"I hear ya, kid." Dedede replied as he hugged Dark Matter back. "Once Nightmare was gone, I was happy to just go home and sleep like a log."

"So what should we do with the Star Rod?" Taranza asked. "It's not damaged, is it?"

"Uh..." Gooey barely lifted his tongue off the ground, Taranza took it from the younger blob's tongue as he looked down at Kirby. "So will the fountain be OK if we put the Star Rod back in its place?"

"Yep," Kirby told him. "Once you put it back, the Fountain of Dreams should go back to normal."

With that in mind, Taranza floated over to the fountain and placed the rod back where it belonged. Quickly, the black substance dissolved and turned into water. Mist began to form, and the stars returned to the sky. A colorful aurora began to dance above the Fountain of Dreams as well. Rainbow Resort finally lived up to its name.

Dark Matter could feel himself relax as his eye began to close, but it quickly opened as Dedede gently shook him. "You know, there's one more part of the plan that we still need to do."

"Hm...? What was it, again?" Dark Matter asked cluelessly. He nearly screamed as Dedede lifted him high above the ground, the penguin twirled around a few times before he threw Dark Matter into the water. It tingled as it touched his skin, but other than that he appeared to be just fine...if a little grumpy.

"You didn't think we'd forget about throwing you into the water, did you?" Dedede asked while he crossed his arms.

"Hey, you could've been a little nicer about it!" Kirby scolded as he gently brought Gooey to the water. As for the others, Meta Knight sat there contentedly while Taranza bathed under one of the streams that came from the fountain.

Despite being in such a cold place, the water felt so warm and comforting. Dark Matter could feel all of his stress and anger melt away, it was almost as if he was bathing back on Dark Star.

...Then again, this was probably better than what he had on Dark Star considering he had a much better family here.

"Hey!"

Dark Matter turned his head, Kirby swam towards him while Gooey sat on his back. "Whaddaya think? The water's nice, isn't it?"

"...I'd say it is," Dark Matter replied as he allowed the water to gently hold him. "To me, it just feels like a warm bath."

"Dunno...It needs more bubbles," Gooey added drowsily. Kirby's only response was a shrug.

"You know, Kirby...I did tell Dedede that I wanted to see this place," Dark Matter said as he looked up at the aurora. "And now that I see this place as it's supposed to be, I don't think I'll be able to get enough of it."

"Hey, we could always come back."

"I hope so," Dark Matter said contentedly. All in all, he was happy that Nightmare was gone for now, which meant that he would finally be able to rest.