Chapter 26: Touchdown on Ripple Star

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"Yes…everything is as predicted. The Shard is near its completion, the planet's inhabitants corrupted or left for dead, and the Star Warrior is bringing the jewel straight to me."

"But sire, I have been monitoring the activity of this, um…Kirby fellow, and he took out Pix by himself and managed to uncover fragments our forces were unable to locate."

One bloodshot eye opened. The henchmen felt its blood go cold and feet planted in place as it watched- one by one- all of the eyes open.

"Our forces?"

On instinct and for fear of being killed with just a blink, the henchmen dropped to his knee and stared into the endless veil of darkness. The air pressure thickened and he felt his lungs tighten as the shadows around him began to grow. "A-a thousand pardons, my lord. Y-your forces, not those of a vagrant such as I."

Seconds dissolved into minutes as three eyes slammed shut. "You forget your place." Another eye opened. "Test my patience and you will die." Two closed, one opened. "You forget that I know all, can become all, see all. There is no conceivable angle where the Star Warrior can surprise me. He shall not even make it this far. I consider it unjust that the beasts' of Pop, Rock, Aqua, Neo, and Shiver were able to duel the Warrior in combat when I was looking forward to staring into his face before he died."

"Sire?"

"Let him come. It matters not. The planet is beyond saving and all that matters now is the Shard." The remaining eyes closed. "Return to me with news of the death of the Star Warrior and his entourage or you shall meet death through me."

The henchmen shot to his feet. "Y-yes, sire! Right away!" And out he vanished.

All went silent again until one eye opened. "The plan is almost complete."

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"This wasn't you planned it!"

A glowing red fireball rocketed towards the infested Ripple Star. Meteorites and stars clung to the orb before being whipped off into space, a piercing hum threatened to rip apart everyone's eardrums, and Adeleine clutched her easel in fear. "We're all gonna die!!"

Ribbon kept her eyes trained on Ripple Star, precious, corrupted Ripple Star. The darkness stretched to almost every corner of the planet. For a moment, she shut her eyes, hoping that when she opened them, it would just be a horrible nightmare. The invasion and attack were just dreams, right?

Her wings fluttered through space as fast as they could, but still they kept up with her. Ribbon felt her lungs catch on fire as she dodged one Dark Matter ball, a second, and a third- the Crystal Shard slipping from her grip.

"For the planet…for the Queen…for everyone-"

Everything went white.

Her eyes shot open; Ripple Star was as dark as the day she left, but that ended today. No more running or crying. Ribbon's hands clutched the edge of the barrier as it prepared to penetrate the surface. "Everyone hold on! We're breaching the darkness!"

The barrier crashed against the thick, dark layer with a clang as jolts of black electricity sparked without control in different directions. Dark Matter threatened to inch its way around the barrier, inching the sphere back towards space. The pressure between the light and darkness sent surrounding meteorites in a flying frenzy as they became attracted to the opposing forces. More darkness slithered from around Ripple Star and made its way towards the barrier. Bloodshot eyes peeked from beneath the darkness and focused on Ribbon.

She returns with the shard. Corrupt her and return the jewel to him.

"We're gonna be stuck here forever!" Adeleine shook Waddle Dee up and down. "They're gonna keep us in space for the rest of our lives!"

"Guys, if we just push, I know we can past it!"

Ribbon, Kirby, and Waddle- still dragging Adeleine- pressed against the barrier as hard as they could. Their arms began to wear, but the Dark Matter continued to press them back. After watching this pathetic show of strength, Dedede gathered his hammer and motioned for the others to clear a path.

"You guys are too slow and weak! You need REAL power if you wanna break down a wall!" Dedede leaned back, held his hammer above his head, and slammed it with full force onto the barrier. The impact shot into the barrier like a cannonball fired at full force without warning as the shard burst through the darkness veil. All at once, the shard plunged past dark clouds through the crimson skies faster than ever.

Dedede turned towards the others. "Now what were you worried about?"

Before anyone could answer, Ribbon looked to her side. "Everyone…do you feel that?"

"Yeah, we're slowing down." Waddle Dee watched the incoming buildings grow in size as the shard slowed its descent.

The shard slowed more and more until it floated inches from the ground. Once there, it reverted back to its jewel form as it floated into Ribbon's hands.

As the five landed on the ground, they felt the air pressure around them increasing as darkness swirled overhead. The dead silence of Ripple Star punctuated the feeling of emptiness emanating from the now lifeless planet. Just one thing could be here: evil.

"Wow." Adeleine took off her hat and stared at the red sky. "This sure isn't Pop Star."

"Your queen runs a planet like this?" Dedede didn't try to hide the insulting tone of his voice; having lived in a lavish castle that never came under attack from Dark Matter.

Ribbon stared at the buildings, the empty buildings. Where were her friends? Where was the kind mother fairy that always had trouble with her groceries? Had they all been corrupted or taken hostage? Are you all alive? No! It was foolish of her to believe that their souls could be tainted. They had worked through sweat and tears to make the Crystal Shard pure and resistant to darkness. No one who had a hand in its creation would fall to evil.

To her left, Ribbon saw Queen Gretchen's castle- or what was left of it- in ruin. The gates had been torn apart, now in impossible twists and bends while the guard posts remained empty. For so long I've been away from my home, yet each day has been spent dreaming of my return…but what is left? Ribbon's head dropped. She had a responsibility. She had made a promise that could not be broken.

She drifted towards several empty homes- doors ripped open and roofs torn to bits. Where is Dixie? Where are all of the children who always played around the central fountain? Is this home?

It was home, but objects once familiar now filled Ribbon with uncertainty and dread. A quiet howl from above caused her to quiver as she approached the almost bone-dry fountain. A red eye peeked out from a pool of black water and stared back at Ribbon before the fairy picked up a stone and flung it into the pool.

"Ribbon…"

Ribbon raised her hand to silence Waddle Dee. "I'm fine, just…give me a second." She placed the back of her left hand on her forehead and calmed herself. Can I…we…do this? What if all of the shards aren't enough? Failure may not be an option, but it's still a possibility. How can- Before Ribbon could continue, she looked to her right and saw Kirby staring at the sky with expressionless eyes. Is he so confident that he won't even speak?

For a second, Kirby thought he saw Ribbon staring at him, but he kept his gaze on the sky until Ribbon got everyone's attention.

"Dark Matter continues to spread and corrupt the planet, but with the Shard, we still have a fighting chance. There is little time left, but whatever time we have must be used well. I know nothing about the core of Dark Matter or its life force." She looked to the castle again and thought she heard a voice, but no one came. "My kind…the planet's inhabitants are all but gone or corrupted by evil. I doubt any possibility that they are alive, but one thing is certain: if left as it is, the darkness will engulf all of Ripple Star, but I doubt it will end there." She turned to face the others. "At that point, it may spread to the rest of the galaxy until it swallows everything that has breath. I doubt Dark Matter knows any bounds, but it must not succeed. All that stands in its way is us."

The wind continued to howl as the message became clear. Everyone thought Kirby would be the one to speak, but it was Adeleine who groaned and shook her head. "Guys, are we really ready to die here?"

"Adeleine, after everything you've been through, you're not allowed to fear death."

Adeleine turned to Kirby, who stared back at her with the same unmoving eyes.

"You already have your motive for being here, and we've been doing this since we started on Pop Star. You don't get to be afraid of dying because you've faced it many times already."

"If the plan of this Dark Matter is to cover the entire galaxy-" Waddle Dee began.

"Then we have to gather the rest of the shards-" Dedede continued.

"Clobber the Dark Matter and kick it out of the galaxy-" Kirby finished.

"But wait. Ribbon said that the people who live here are corrupted, but that doesn't mean they're dead. We can still find a way to save them first and then deal with Dark Mat-"

"There's no time for that. If we save the fairies, Dark Matter will still exist. We find the Shards and get rid of Dark Matter and everything else will go back to the way it was. Even if we tried to save the others- and Ribbon, hate me all you want for this- Dark Matter will just go after others. If this…thing could take over an entire planet, what makes you think it'll stop and let us save a few people? I don't care if we run into witches or giant knives or have to run through rainbow colored fields. We're crushing Dark Matter before it can come after us."

Adeleine searched for an answer, but it never came.

"Right, so we've spent enough time finding these shards and beating everything thrown our way. We have to keep going forward from here."

Oh, is that a fact?

Ribbon whizzed around. Did she hear that? It came from…all directions, right? She looked towards the sky and saw the darkness parting. "What's this?" Why is the sun coming out all of a sudden? Is the darkness that erratic?

As the darkness began to fade, Kirby walked forward with Dedede and Waddle following behind. "Let's go, Ribbon. We've been planning long enough."

Waiting a few seconds, Ribbon watched Adeleine run after the others and waited until her wings began to move. Swallowing the lump in her throat, a newfound determination swept her body as she flew towards the others, but she spoke low so they could not hear her.

"Just wait, my Queen. Soon it will all be over."