Is it possible? Am I actually updating? Yes! I know...it's been forever! But this time, I won't have to worry. Why you ask? Because, I've finished writing the story. I'll be updating once a day until this fic is done.

Thanks for all the reviews in the meantime, and I hope you enjoy. The battle for the final two Sparkling Stars begins now. Enjoy!

Chapter 24

The Sky Sea

"I'm telling you, Sire. The Sparkling Star is extremely unstable. Using it as a power source for a weapon would be incredibly dangerous," said Escargoon, knowing that Dedede would not be happy at his findings.

"…So what you're sayin' Escargoon," said Dedede menacingly. "is that the Sparkling Star's are completely useless. You can't find one way to utalitarianize them?"

"…Not exactly…I think," said a slightly bewildered Escargoon. "We wouldn't be able to use the Star itself as a power source for a weapon. But if I could drain the star's power…then maybe..."

"Well, get back to the labortarian and get back to work!"

There was a loud boom and Waddle Dee ran into the room. "Sire, we're under attack!"

Dedede looked nearly mortified. "Is it Kirby?"

Dee shook his head. "No…but I think that they're some of his friends."

Dedede looked around. "Where are Capsule J and Sir Kibble?"

"They still haven't returned, Sire," said Dee.

Dedede growled. "Get all of our soldiers positionated to defend the Sparkling Star!"

Knuckle Joe delivered another blow to one of Dedede's guards as he and Rocky continued to fight there way through the castle. The fight was simple. The guards were no match for Joe's strength or Rocky's defense. "Jeez, these guys aren't even trying!"

Rocky sighed. "Don't lose focus already." He had just crashed into another soldier. Joe was right, this was way too easy. "They probably have most of their troops positioned around the Sparkling Star."

Joe smirked. "If they're no better than these guys, we'll be out of here in no time!" Joe knocked out another guard. "C'mon! The throne room's down this way!" Joe took off down the corner.

Rocky shook his head and continued to follow him. Joe entered the throne room, which was now deserted. "Nobody's here…now what?"

Rocky looked around. "Strange…where would they be keeping the Sparkling Star anyways?"

Joe punched the floor. "Man! Come on, let's keep looking!" They turned for the door, but as they approached, they met trouble.

"Cappies," Rocky growled. General Shroom stepped to the front and looked contemptibly upon them.

Poppy Bros. Jr. was holding onto Kirby for dear life whose feet seemed to be fused to the Warp Star. Needless to say, this didn't help Kirby's ability to see. On the other hand, there trip had been unhindered.

"Kirby, we're coming upon Grape Garden!" shouted Poppy Jr. Kirby "Mmphed" in response.

They soon passed over a snowy mountain range and came to a rather incredible sight. After the mountain range, the ground seemed to disappear. All that could be seen for miles was a sea of cloud. Mountains surrounded the entire area. "Wow…Kirby look at that! It's almost like you could walk onto them...is this where the Sparkling Star is?"

Kirby "mmphed" a bit more then tilted downwards to descend upon Grape Garden. From what he could see, Poppy was right, there was nothing but a huge layer of cloud. It was going to be difficult to find the Star in there. They landed on a mountain side on the edge of the cloudscape. Poppy Jr. let go as Kirby looked around, it all looked the same.

"So now what?" asked Poppy Jr.

"Don't know…it'd be really dangerous to try and climb down with these thick clouds, though…but flying through them blind could kill us, so we really don't have much choice. Let's just move very carefully." Kirby hopped off the Warp Star and walked to the edge of the cliff. The cloud seemed to almost be connected to the cliff, and Kirby couldn't see anything below it. "Well...uh…wha?" Kirby had grabbed the ledge to see if there was any solid ground below him, but instead found himself laying flat on the ground…ground? These are clouds…it was the strangest feeling. What his body was pressed against wasn't solid…but it was still holding him up.

"Uh…Kirby, what're you doing?" asked Poppy Jr.

"…I don't know…Poppy, does it look like I'm just lying on the clouds?"

Poppy tilted his head in confusion. "Well…kinda."

"…I'm going to let go of the edge then." Kirby took his hands off the rocky cliff but still stayed in the same place. Kirby pushed himself up. "Um…Poppy, I think that we can walk on these clouds."

Poppy slowly put a foot out onto the clouds and tripped from putting his foot down to fast. "…Wow…"

Kirby looked around. He still saw nothing but cloud around him. For what it was worth though, from where he was standing he couldn't really tell if the shapes in the distance were mere clouds or something more. Kirby brought out the Warp Star again. "We can cover more ground…cloud…whatever…this way. Come on."

"Great…" Poppy grabbed back onto Kirby and the two zoomed off through the vast expanse. "So...it doesn't look like there's much out here."

Kirby sighed. "No…wait…wait! Look! There's an opening!" They passed over a rather large hole in the surface of cloud. The Warp Star circled around and dropped into it and came to a sudden halt. Kirby looked around. Kirby couldn't see any ground, but he now saw building tops sticking out. The "solid" clouds were still all over the place, but they weren't as tightly packed as the ones above. Kirby also noticed that there were several more openings from the top looking almost golden-like in the daylight.

Kirby eyed each of the buildings and settled on an almost icy palace. "Let's start there."

"Why?" asked Poppy Jr.

"Cause it's the closest…this is gonna take awhile." Fortunately, the Warp Star ride was, at least, brief. Kirby and Poppy Jr. dropped to another solid cloud in front of the palace entrance. "Well, if they don't outright try to kill us, I guess we'll know that the Sparkling Star's not here, right Poppy?...Poppy?" Kirby turned to see Poppy Jr. However, Poppy Jr. was kind of…blueish…on the skin too and…not moving so much. He was frozen. Kirby looked around, but only saw the castle. He didn't see anybody, but there was no mistaking it, whoever was here was definitely an enemy.

"Hmph hmph hmph hmph…" came a deep, growly laugh that seemed to surround Kirby.

"Who are you!" Kirby demanded.

"So rude, didn't you like are little welcome?" said the voice mockingly.

"What did you do to him?" Kirby yelled.

"I ain't done nothing to him. My associate has put him on ice. Hmph hmph hmph hmph. Would you like to meet him?" Kirby was silent in his response but glowered furiously instead. "I'll take that as a yes. Sir Pengy, I gots another bloke to put in the freezer. If you can beat him kid, maybe he'll turn your friend back from a popsicle stick. In the unlikely case that you survive, head over that way to Bubbly Clouds. We'll…talk about your Sparkling Star then." The voice went silent afterwards.

Kirby looked around waiting for an attack. He quickly turned towards the castle as a short blue penguin with large white eyebrows a pelican-like beak waddled out the front gate. "So, you must be Kirby. That was our boss just there, by the way. Says that we've been hired by the ruler of Dreamland to knock off some guy playing hero…let's see how well you play." Pengy shot out a blast of ice, which Kirby easily dodged. "Not a complete fool…" Pengy shot several more blasts of ice. Kirby still easily dodged them. "Hmm…not just playing are you?"

"Stop wasting my time!" yelled Kirby. "You're right! I'm not playing around! This is serious!

"…So it is. Very well, let's fight seriously." Pengy huffed up and then exhaled a huge stream of ice. Kirby got hit and was sent flying. He slowly got up, shivering. "You…you're still standing? Nobody's ever gotten up after that…You're stubborn, I'll give you that."

Kirby had had enough. He jumped up and rushed Pengy. Pengy sidestepped Kirby as he tried to tackle him. He then hit Kirby with another stream of ice. Kirby could feel his body temperature dropping from the icy breath. Ice began to form on Kirby's back. I can't…I…I…Kirby was losing conscious thought. It was too cold. His body was beginning to shut down. There was only one thing left for him to do. He struggled with all his might, turned around, and opened his mouth. It was over in moments. Kirby was a solid block of ice.

Waddle Doo and Kracko watched the battle from a distance. "So much for Kirby…" said Waddle Doo.

Kracko laughed. "Hmph hmph hmph. He certainly wasn't as tough as you made him out to be. Now onto business. Waddle Doo, we agreed on two million Deden within the week, correct?"

Waddle Doo nodded vacantly. "Yeah…"

Kracko eyed his fellow cyclops oddly. "What's wrong with you my old compatriot?"

Doo's eye slightly narrowed. "It's…not over…"

Kracko laughed again. "As sure as I'm floating here, Doo, the guys a snow cone. What makes you so sure it ain't over?"

Doo's focus on Kirby's frozen body was unwavering. "The kids got more power in him than anything I've ever seen. I don't know what he is, but he's a lot more dangerous than he looks."

"From where I'm standing, he don't look like he's gonna be a danger to anybody for a while…what the?"

As Kracko finished his last statement, Kirby shattered through the ice and leapt high into the air. Kirby began to shiver as his body turned a shade of blue. Ice shards suddenly shot out from his head. A golden band formed around his head, and a six pointed crystallized star rested on the front. He had become Ice Kirby.

Kracko's pupil seemed to shrink. "What the heck was that?"

Doo's eye widened. "That's Kirby's power. He can take powers from those he fights and use them against them. He brought down one of our airships by doing this…"

"…we're going back to Bubbly Clouds." Kracko flew away from the battle.

"…right boss…" Waddle Doo moved away then looked back. "Who is this guy?"

Kirby faced off with Pengy who stopped attacking after Kirby transformed. "…How…interesting…" Pengy shot out a blast of ice. Kirby stood there and just as it was about to hit him, he opened his mouth and swallowed the ice. "Eh?" said Pengy confusedly.

Kirby spat out the ice and it plopped onto the ground, now a single block. Kirby then kicked it and it swiftly collided with Pengy who got knocked off his feet. He got back up and chuckled. "Heh, not bad." Kirby shot more ice, which Pengy was able to dodge. However, that was all he was able to do now. Kirby was not letting up on his attacks. Pengy leapt behind the doorway of his castle. Kirby ran after him and jumped just before reaching the doorway. Pengy leapt out and shot out a huge blast of ice, but it was too late. Kirby had just landed behind him and before he could react, Kirby shot a continuous blast of ice at him.

Pengy quickly stopped attacking and dropped to the floor as ice began to slowly form on his body. Everything was fading away until! "s…to…p…STOP!" Kirby stopped his attack. Pengy heaved as he slowly got up. "…you…you win…heh…well played…"

"Fine," said Kirby. "Now defrost my friend."

Pengy chuckled. "Right…come on." Kirby followed Pengy outside. Pengy stopped in front of Poppy Jr. and began to inhale. It was as if the ice was being absorbed right off of his body. His facial color returned to its fleshy color. Slowly Poppy opened his eyes and yawned. "Kirby…? Where are we? Did we get the star…oof, I got a headahce" He slowly sat up and stretched.

Kirby helped him up. "The Sparkling Star's over there in Bubbly Clouds. Are you ready?"

Poppy shook his head as if trying to wake up. "…Yeah! I was just feeling a little groggy. Lets go!"

Kirby brought out the Warp Star and he and Poppy hopped onto it. The two shot off toward Bubbly Clouds

Meta Knight turned and walked away from the Fountain of Dreams. Blade saw Meta Knight and followed him. "Sir, where are you going?"

Meta Knight sighed, but did not turn to his comrade. "Kirby has taken too long. I am going to Castle Dedede…I will take the Star of Sealing myself."

To be Continued

Alright, see you guys tommorrow. Review please!