Phazon: All right then, I'm making one minor altercation to the Bomb + Cutter attack, but it's the same attack overall. Right now, I'd like to respond to KirbyDjinn.

The wand to rod changes have been made, and as far as Kirby's knowledge of the Dark Matter, I never gave any specific point as to when this story takes place, though I know it's way after Kirby's other fights with Dark Matter. Just follow along with it. And by the way, I've completed Kirby 64 in its entirety and know about O2 being the final boss, not the Miracle Matter, so you do not need to tell me what I already know. That is all, and thank you for the review.

This chapter will be relatively short, seeing as it only wraps up the adventures on Pop Star, so we won't be getting too deep into Rock Star until the next chapter.

Disclaimer: The characters, storyline, setting and all of that in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards belong and are the sole property of Nintendo and HAL Laboratories only, and I don't have them locked away in chains anywhere. Best to get the legalities out of the way before someone tries to sue. I aim to give the readers something to enjoy, but not have my story deleted by an NOA executive.

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Wilting Whispy

"Look out, Ribbon!"

King Dedede came in, swinging at the tree stump that was viciously trying to take the Crystal Shard away from the fairy. It growled and howled upon feeling the thump of the King's hammer.

Kirby faced the Whispy Woods and spoke. "Seems you're always getting planted where I can find you."

The tree expressed his bitterness as well. "Things haven't changed, have they, little puffball?" The Whispy Woods looked out of the corner of its right eye and signaled two of the four saplings to take aim and blow violent winds at Kirby.

Upon hearing the inhalation of air, Kirby shut his eyes and stood his ground. His last recollection before reaching the Whispy Woods was collecting a Sir Kibble knight and Poppy Brother, creating a Bomb and Cutter combination. He'd been taught that this new concoction required speed and concentration, so he had to wait.

Adeleine and Waddle Dee held the other two stumps back as the other two perked up and blew gusts of wind towards the stationary Kirby. This was the opening Kirby had been waiting for.

"Waddle, Adeleine, let go!"

The two did, and Kirby instantly ran towards one stump, jumped over the powerful gust, and placed a strange black star on its body. In an instant, Kirby was behind the second stump, vanishing and reappearing all over the stump until its eyes nearly popped. When it returned to normal, the stump was face to face with a grinning Kirby.

"Enjoy the explosions!"

He backed away as the stump realized that it also had a strange black star device on its body. It shook furiously, dug into the earth, but it didn't budge. Kirby stood in the center of the battlefield and watched in amazement, as did his crew. The black stars detonated and the stumps cried out for their other brethren to help them, but they didn't. The explosions were small, but the energy within was enormous. Smoke and dust billowed everywhere. When it cleared, the stumps were only half of their former self.

"I say," Ribbon whispered to King Dedede, "Kirby's quite the little ninja with those stars of his."

The Whispy Woods grew furious and ordered the unharmed stumps to attack, yet they were quickly held in place by Adeleine and Dedede. Waddle and Ribbon stood firm behind the other two stumps, and Kirby turned back towards the Whispy Woods and grinned.

"Say good night to your saps," Kirby said as he vanished instantaneously. Adeleine backed up as Kirby instantly appeared in front of her and placed a black star on the stump and vanished. The process repeated for the last three and Kirby took his place before the great tree in mere seconds.

"My saplings," the Whipsy Woods cried, "retreat to the earth before you are destroyed!"

But it was far too late. The second the four saplings tried digging into the ground, the multitude of black stars detonated and their bodies immediately began to disintegrate from the fiery explosions. The dust cleared once again, and there were four tiny craters within the dirt path. Now the Whispy Woods was furious. It began to glow a violent red as steam billowed from all sides of it.

Adeleine felt the earth tremble beneath her. Suddenly, she gasped as she saw something escaping from the tree and coming towards her. A lump in the earth crept faster and faster until a root plunged from the ground and emerged beside Adeleine. Waddle Dee and the King noticed similar roots appearing next to them and began attacking the roots, but their feeble punches and jabs had little effect.

Kirby stepped in and quickly threw a black star onto two of the roots, while the other two retreated to the earth. Those still on the surface took the force of the explosions, but they did not show any damage and they didn't shriek out in agony. Instead, they followed their companions back into the earth.

The Whispy Woods was angry once again. It began to glow a violent red as it shook to and fro furiously. Many apples emerged from the tree and landed alongside the warriors. Adeleine bent down to pick one up, but Kirby whizzed over and stopped the girl before she made a grave mistake.

"What's the matter with touching one of these apples?" Adeleine asked demandingly.

She soon found out as the tiny apples popped and exploded before her very eyes. The earth began to tremble again as the four roots were seeping from below and emerging. Adeleine looked back to Kirby, who had long vanished and was back to chipping away at the roots. King Dedede and Waddle Dee tried latching onto one of the roots and holding it in place, but the Whispy Woods noticed this and took action. Turning in their direction, he blew a harsh gust of wind their way until they could hold no longer. They went in separate directions, but remained within the battlegrounds.

The Whispy Woods was in a desperate situation. The roots were stationary, and couldn't attack like the young saplings could. The most that the giant tree could do was hope that the intruders would touch the explosive trees or be blown away by the wind, but both of the attempts were avoided. The tree could feel its life force fading…fading…faster as the young star warrior continued hacking away at its roots.

"Retreat, quickly!" The Whispy Woods shouted in an enraged howl. It was glowing even more profoundly than ever, and Kirby smirked when he saw how crossed the tree was.

"Just one more sequence", he thought to himself as the Whispy Woods once again let forth a mass amount of apples. Adeleine was sure not to touch them this time, though. Ribbon swiftly flew to Kirby's side.

"Something troubling you, Ribbon?"

"I know no one said it, but I don't believe this tree has been possessed by Dark Matter, as far as I know. If it were, we'd notice something demonic about it."

Before Kirby could respond, the roots emerged again, and Kirby instantaneously vanished from Ribbon's side, transporting from one root to the other as he planted black stars on all four roots. Kirby reappeared alongside Ribbon as he told her to watch the fireworks.

The Whispy Woods tried pulling the roots back into the ground, but they were held back by the explosive stars. It shook furiously, shaking off more apples and even some leaves as it desperately tried to get the stars removed from its roots, but the roots were not going anywhere. The Whipsy Woods would be going somewhere, though.

"Noooo……"

Four simultaneous explosions banged around the field as the roots took the full force of the explosions, and the surge of these blasts went straight to the center of the Whispy Woods. It warbled, garbled, and groaned as the potent power burned away at its life, little by little. Finally, there was an explosion that came deep from within the Whispy Woods as its life ended there on the spot. When the smoke from the explosion cleared, the gang was ecstatic to find the final Crystal Shard fragment on the planet floating before them. As usual, Ribbon added it to the ever growing one that would continue to expand as their adventures continued.

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"Wait a second, you guys. There's a problem here."

Everyone stopped walking down the path and turned back to Adeleine, who was looking towards the sky.

"If the rest of the shards are on the other planets, how are we going to get there?"

"Simple," Ribbon quickly responded, "the Queen mentioned to me once before that the shard, if powerful enough, can be used to get to different destinations. But it's a rare occasion that we've ever needed to use it for interstellar travel."

"No problem," Kirby bucked up, still with his ninja power, "I'll just teleport myself there." He vanished and reappeared behind Waddle Dee. "After all," he said as he vanished again and reappeared behind the King, "I am the pink puffball that could." He vanished once again and was behind little Ribbon.

"Sorry Kirby," Waddle Dee spoke up, "but the effects of that tiny teleport of yours are only useful in combat and you can only vanish and reappear for very short distances."

Kirby's hope was dashed as he gave a long frown, but there was no longer any time to frown. The Crystal Shard floated before them with an aura surrounding it. It flashed profoundly as it became a visual star that showed locations of other planets and such. The planet shown on the star was of a rocky sort, with lots of terrain and dry, arid deserts.

"Rock Star," Ribbon said, floating in front of the star, "very dry and hot there. But if there are Crystal Shards there, we can't waste any more time. The journey in between planets takes very little time."

And with that, the fairy flew into the star and vanished like that. Kirby, Waddle Dee, Adeleine, and King Dedede all looked to one another and back to the portal that led to the next planet.

"Looks like we're gonna be leaving Pop Star for awhile," Kirby declared as he jumped into the portal.

Waddle, the artist Adeleine, and King Dedede followed suit as they all jumped into the portal. When they were all in, the star reverted back to the shard with the aura surrounding it. It shot towards the sky, leaving Pop Star behind and heading towards Rock Star.

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Kirby groaned as he turned on his side. He noticed he was not on Pop Star anymore, for there were no more trees, creeks with flowing water, or birds that were cheeping or chirping. Instead, he awoke to a dry desert, cactuses about, and the sun beating down on his body.

The puffball heard some other groans as Adeleine, Waddle, and Dedede awoke from their slumbers.

"Looks like we made it," Adeleine said. "But where did Ribbon go?"

Like lightning, Ribbon was flying towards them from a different direction.

"I found some old ruined places some distance from here when the shard started reacting again. Come on, we've got a long way to walk."

"WALK?" Adeleine whined emphatically. "Goodness, Ribbon, I'm just a little kid. I shouldn't be doing this."

Adeleine felt something overcoming her as she was lifted onto the King's heavy back. "I regret this, kid, but your painting skills are gonna do us some good. So either put up or shut up."

And the little painter girl did shut up.

It was always hot in the scorching deserts of Rock Star, which is why barely any people inhabited this region, save for the foes who became accustomed to the climates.

Suddenly, Waddle Dee looked ahead…it wasn't a mirage…it was a fountain of water just begging for human lips.

"Guys," Waddle Dee called, "I can see the water from here!"

Kirby rolled his eyes. "Waddle, there is no water over there." Suddenly, he looked in the same direction and his eyes widened. "It's the most delicious piece of chocolate double fudge cake I've ever seen!"

Kirby and Waddle Dee ran towards…what they believed they saw, when suddenly, the sand trembled and the ground swallowed Waddle Dee whole.