And thus, the final battle begins between Dark Matter and Zero.

From what Gooey recalled, Iceberg was a cold and lonely place. And just like the last time, Gooey could feel the lonely aura he'd felt back when his brother invaded Popstar on his own. There was no mistaking it, his brother really did come back for this invasion.

"Is something wrong?" Kirby asked Gooey. "Because you're allowed to back out of this at any time."

"I'm fine," Gooey said quietly, though there was an unusual bitterness to his tone. "Brother is here, so be careful!"

"Brother...?" It took Kirby a moment to realize who Gooey was talking about, "I hope the Heart Stars will be enough this time. Because I don't think we have time to grab the Rainbow Sword."

The duo went through a large castle. and at the very top awaited Gooey's brother. He'd possessed Dedede once again.

"When Lord Zero decided to invade this planet, I knew we would meet again," Gooey's brother said quietly. "You even brought that pathetic blob with you, though I doubt he'll be of any use to you!"

Gooey winced at his brother's harsh words. He knew that their reunion wouldn't be a happy one, but it didn't hurt any less.

"Enough small talk, Dark Matter!" Kirby yelled as he stepped in front of Gooey. "Now why are you back here?"

"Didn't you know? We wanted to cover this world in darkness," Gooey's brother said as he raised Dedede's hammer. "I will admit, the last time was due to my own selfish actions. But this time, I'm just here to protect Lord Zero. Even if it means the end of my life!"

"But if Lord Zero didn't send you to attack us before, then why did you attack Pop'tar in the firs' place?" Gooey asked angrily. "What did this world do to make you angry?"

"This world was too happy for my liking." Dark Matter argued. "After all, why should I be the one to suffer while everyone else gets to frolic without any concern?"

"You would've loved it here if you jus' gave this world a chance! You could've made friends here, and you could 'till make friends here if you jus' 'top!"

"What do you even know about me, you little pest? All you do is sit there and let YOUR so-called friends kick you around!"

"AT LEAS' I HAVE FRIENDS YOU ANGRY JERK!" Gooey yelled angrily.

...There was an uncomfortable silence as Gooey quickly covered his mouth. Kirby stared at him, and the expression on Dark Matter (or Dedede) was that of shock, but it quickly shifted into anger as he knocked Kirby aside and struck Gooey with his hammer. "I DON'T NEED TO TAKE THAT FROM THE LIKES OF YOU!"

Gooey flew into a wall, he laid there with the wind knocked out of him. Just as his brother was about to attack again, Kirby inhaled his hammer and spat it back at him.

A part of Gooey had hoped that Dark Matter would've recognized him, at least a little bit. However, it seemed like he managed to strike a raw nerve instead. Dedede wasn't lying when he said his brother was hurt, it just didn't occur to him HOW hurt he was.

Once Kirby managed to defeat Dark Matter, he ran over to Gooey's side and helped him sit up. "Are you OK?"

"I...yeah," Gooey said as he winced in pain. Kirby gave him a sympathetic look. "Don't worry, we'll bring down Zero as soon as we can."

"I WON'T let you do that!"

The duo looked back, they could see Dark Matter escape from Dedede's body. He shifted into his true form and flew high into the sky. "I WON'T let Lord Zero die because of you, I CAN'T let him die!"

Kirby threw his arms up in defeat. But before he could say anything, the Heart Stars he collected gathered together and formed a striped rod with a heart at the end.

"Is that apposed to help you beat Zero?" Gooey asked.

"I think so," Kirby replied. He grabbed the rod and it took him high into the sky. He started dueling with Gooey's brother yet again. As they fought again, however, Gooey noticed that his brother was much...weaker than before. He only stayed in his True form, he didn't even bother switching into Blade form like last time.

Gooey heard a groan coming from Dedede, he scooted over to the penguin's side and lied down for a moment.

"Ugh...what was all that about?" Dedede asked as he sat up. He looked like he was worried about something.

"Brother took over your body, again," Gooey replied. Dedede looked down and yawned. "I'm aware, but I honestly feel bad for the poor guy."

"But why?"

"Well-"

A light started to catch Gooey's eye, hovering over him was a single Heart Star. If he ate it, he could probably get the same kind of power that Kirby had right now. But he couldn't hold onto it for too long, not without burning himself.

"What's this s'posed to be?" Dedede asked as he looked at the Heart Star curiously.

High in the sky, Kirby was able to defeat Gooey's brother once again. His body tumbled down somewhere far away. But once Brother was gone, a sinister white cloud still loomed over them, Zero came out of the dark clouds while laughing.

"I guess he really was too weak to defeat you a second time," Zero said in an almost-mocking tone. "I knew I should've killed him when he failed his mission the first time."

Gooey let out an angry growl, he grabbed the Heart Star with his tongue and swallowed it. He felt as if a fire had formed in his belly. But at the same time, he felt an entirely new power awaken inside of him. Gooey extended his fins and headed towards Zero as fast as he possibly could.

"Gooey, wait! Come back!" Dedede yelled. Gooey ignored him, he could already see that Kirby was having trouble. He tried to dodge the blood that Zero kept shooting at him. Zero would even create more Dark Matter just to throw them at Kirby. While Zero focused on Kirby, Gooey opened his mouth and spat stars at his creator.

"What is the meaning of this?" Lord Zero yelled before he looked at Gooey, he let out an annoyed huff. "I see...so this planet has its own Mock Mattter to protect it. How pathetic!"

"We'll see who's pathetic!" Kirby yelled as swung the rod in his hand, which caused more stars to strike Lord Zero. As far as Gooey could tell, Lord Zero didn't recognize him even WITH his fins out...or at least the young blob hoped it was the case. The outcome probably wouldn't have changed regardless.

The fight would go on for a little while longer, Zero would shoot his own blood at the duo while Kirby and Gooey would strike back using Stars. Once Zero had been defeated, the duo began to look at each other proudly.

"Hehe...I knew we could do it!" Kirby said proudly. And yet, Gooey could still feel the hateful aura. He looked back at his creator, who gouged his own eye out in a final attempt to attack the duo. The eye was going fast, and it was going after Kirby.

"LOOK OUT!" Gooey yelled as he pushed Kirby out of the way. Lord Zero's eyeball knocked the Heart Star out of Gooey's stomach, it hit Gooey like a boulder to the chest. His fins had fallen off of his body, and he was starting to lose consciousness. He was being pulled by Popstar's gravity.

Although it was faint, he could hear Kirby call to him as he fell. However, with Zero gone, he was happy to know that Popstar was safe. He would never get the chance to say it, but he was thankful that Kirby had given him a home...

...He was thankful to have been Kirby's friend until the end.

"...ey!"

"C... on, wa.. ..!"

...Gooey could hear voices, but they sounded so far away. His whole body was in pain, but his chest and stomach especially felt like it was burned. He couldn't tell where he was, either.

"Goo... Plea..."

That was Kirby's voice just now, wasn't it? But he shouldn't have died, did this mean that Gooey failed to save him?

"Come on, Gooey! Wake up!"

The pain in Gooey's body started to feel worse. Once he regained his senses, he could feel Kirby hug him. He could also feel tears coming out of his eyes.

Gooey started to open his own eyes, staring back at him were Dedede and the Animal Friends. They looked as if they had just witnessed the death of a close friend..

...But Gooey wasn't dead...

He wasn't dead!

With what little strength he had, Gooey hugged Kirby lightly. Tears were starting to fall from his eyes as well.

"I...I'm happy...I got to be...your friend."

Kirby jumped in shock as he looked back at the group in disbelief. He then looked back at Gooey and hugged him tighter.

"Don't you EVER do that again, do you hear me!?" Kirby wailed. "You...you weren't waking up, so I thought that you might've...might've..."

"We thought you were a goner, kid," Dedede said as he sat beside Gooey and patted him. "You had us worried sick. I mean, what would I tell the Waddle Dees if you'd died on us?"

"What would I tell Nyupun?" Chuchu added.

"Or Ado?" said Coo.

"I don't think any of us would know what to do without you, Gooey," Nago added.

Soon, everyone had surrounded Gooey as well, he felt so much love and kindness radiate from his friends that he could barely speak.

He could never go back to the life he once shared with his brother, but he was OK with that. After all, he was already home and he couldn't be any happier...

Although...Speaking of which, where WAS his brother, anyway? Did he flee again? Was he even alive? Gooey wished that he could apologize about what he said to him and explain everything. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like it would happen anytime soon.

Still, he hoped that his brother was going to be OK, wherever he was.