Chapter 11: Boxed In

Kirby opened his eyes. He was in a dark corridor he didn't recognize. In front of him was Kracko's eye, which had stars sparking from it as they had from the blue-suited Poppy Brothers Senior once he had been hit.

"Error... Error..." Kracko was repeating. "Error: target underestimated. Damage taken: significant. Procedure required: interaction postponement."

"Yes!" Gooey's excited voice cut through Kirby's bleariness. "You did it, Kirby!"

The eye rolled to the side and fell through a large, square hole in the floor next to it.

Kirby struggled to get up. He had lost his Needle ability. Upon managing to stand, he went over to the hole and looked down. Below it he saw the tube full of metal bars, but Kracko was gone.

Kirby had made it into Castle Lola.

But he could only blurt, "What was that thing? Kracko? What is it?"

"Kracko..." said Gooey seriously. "Well, no one really does know exactly what it is. What we do know is that it believes itself to be some sort of protector of the peace in Dream Land. Whenever anything is not in its 'proper place', Kracko goes after it and destroys it. Obviously, most Dream Landers do not spend their time doing what you've been doing, so Kracko... You get the picture. The only person in Dream Land I know of who can control Kracko is King Dedede. When he gives Kracko a command, it will follow it, because Dedede's the king."

"Oh."

Kirby felt like there was something he was forgetting, something he wanted to ask Gooey about. It was something Kracko had said...

He tried hard to remember what it was, but couldn't before Gooey spoke again.

"Did you make it into Castle Lola? I can't quite tell from the information my scanners are giving me."

"Yeah."

"Excellent!" said Gooey happily. "Well, I suppose I should tell you what to do now that you're here. You should be in a corridor right now, which I happen to know is the back entrance to the castle. This is not just a castle, by the way, but also the headquarters of Royal Shipping, which is so named because of its initial funding from King Dedede. Lololo and Lalala started this business many, many years ago, back when they arrived on this planet. I'm a longtime friend of theirs, and I've also been one of their best customers, so I should be able to help you get the Star Rod shard from them easily."

"Okay." Kirby was starting to get tired of Gooey's speeches. There had been quite a few of them by this point.

He walked along the dark passageway until he came to a door, which he opened and walked through.

The room on the other side contained lots and lots of huge boxes. The boxes were so large, each one was tall enough to extend from the floor to the relatively low ceiling. They were aligned like walls, creating a passageway that ended with a choice of left or right.

"I heard you go through a door, Kirby," said Gooey. "You should now be in one of the Royal Shipping storage rooms. I'll call the proprietors via my other telephone line to tell them you're here."

"Gooey..." asked Kirby, "why couldn't I have just gone in through the front door instead of trying to find this secret one?"

"Ah, yeah, that." Gooey faltered a bit. "Well, I didn't want you to draw attention to yourself in open airspace. I knew Kracko would probably already be looking for you, and sending you on a trip up close to its usual territory was sure to alert it to your presence in Castle Lola. You can see how well that part of the plan went; Kracko found you anyway. But you managed to defeat it for the time being, so it won't bother you here again! The other part of the plan, though, went very well, I must say. You managed to get quite a lot of combat practice in Butter Building, and even eliminated a notorious Dream Land villain as well!"

"Alright," said Kirby. He was actually rather glad he had taken the long route.

"So anyway," finished Gooey, "I'll be calling Lololo and Lalala now."

Kirby heard Gooey punch in a telephone number on another phone, and then heard ringing. It rang three times before someone picked up.

"Yes?" said a faint male voice.

"Hello, Lololo. Gooey here. I want to alert you to the presence of my new associate, Kirby, who has just entered your castle via the back door."

"Gooey..." responded Lololo. "This Kirby... What is its purpose?"

"Kirby's a he. Er, are you all right, though? You're not acting like you usually do."

Kirby heard a click and knew Lololo had hung up.

"Uh-oh," choked Gooey. "Kirby, something's wrong. I think Dark Matter has control of Lololo and Lalala."

"Should I run?" said Kirby anxiously.

"No. Uh... Ergh... If Dark Matter has found a map of this place by now, it'll know exactly how to get to you."

"I shouldn't run?"

Gooey moaned in clear frustration with the situation. "No... You need the Star Rod shard here. Kirby, you will probably have to fight Lololo and Lalala. But, do not kill them. If you can manage to just knock them out, Dark Matter will lose its control over them."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"Okay, I have an idea. These two have a similar physiology to Dream Landers, so they won't be instantly killed by percussive hits like those from star shots. It's probable that hitting them with one or two of those will do the trick."

"Alright."

There was silence for a short while as Kirby stood waiting. Then, two figures rounded a corner ahead of him.

They were indeed similar to Dream Landers, but they were different in significant ways. They had no visible mouths, for one thing. For another, their eyes were large and circular. Also, they each had a small point on their lower backs like miniature tails. Their feet were white and their bodies were blue and pink respectively (the latter of which wore and orange bow behind the head). And they had short, thin arms that ended in large white gloves. They both turned to face Kirby. The pupils of their eyes were diagonal slits, proving their possession by Dark Matter.

Then Kirby gasped, for something else turned the corner after the two.

It was spherical, about Kirby's size, floating in the air, and made of what looked like super-condensed black smoke. Yet, it was the blackest black Kirby had ever seen.

And then, it opened its eye.

This eye was another object unlike anything Kirby had seen before. It had a red sclera and no iris. White veins permeated the sclera as though the eye were heavily bloodshot. Its pupil was round, and as dark as the smokey blackness that housed the eye.

It stared at the Dream Lander, completely silent.

Kirby didn't know what to do. What was this thing? It looked very bad...

Without warning, it struck. Before Kirby had any time to react, it was upon him.

Everything went black. Kirby lost all feeling in his body. He tried to scream, but no sound escaped his mouth. He didn't even know if he had a mouth anymore.

A horrible feeling of slowness crept over him. He felt sick. He could sense something closing in on him in the darkness. The closer it got, the slower everything seemed to get.

But just as he felt as though everything was about to slow to a stop, stars erupted in front of his eyes as if he was copying an ability. Feeling rushed back into his body. The darkness lifted.

The black sphere burst off of him and sped back down the corridor to the left, out of sight.

"Kirby!" he heard Gooey cry out.

"What... What..." Kirby was shaking. And just then he realized he had fallen over.

"Dark Matter was possessing you! What happened? Where did it go?"

"That... Dark Matter?"

"Yes!" Gooey was frantic. "Where is it? Can you see it?"

"No. It's gone."

"But where did it come from? How is it you were suddenly being possessed?"

Kirby rolled over, slowly coming to his senses. He looked back towards where the eye had stared at him. There was nothing there. Lololo and Lalala were gone too.

"Lololo and Lalala came here," explained Kirby sluggishly. "They were possessed. Then, this black ball came too. It was an eye. It opened... and came at me. Everything went black... It felt terrible... But, stars flashed and the thing sped away."

"...Okay." Gooey was apparently satisfied with Kirby's vague account. "Well, I suppose I should be viewing this as good news. Apparently Dark Matter, and yes, that was Dark Matter, can't possess you if you have even a single shard of the Star Rod inside you."

"Wow." Kirby was glad to feel a bit relieved by this. "That's... good." He slowly went about getting to his feet.

"Indeed. Now, you said Lololo and Lalala were nearby? Where are they now?"

"I don't know." Kirby was puzzled by this. "They disappeared."

"Hm. Well, go look for them. I wonder why they fled..."

Kirby walked forward into the hallway at the end of the T-intersection.

Immediately, two huge boxes sped along the corridors to his left and right. Before he could react, they smashed him between them.

He yelled in pain and pushed back, but with complete futility.

The two boxes were crushing him. He couldn't breathe...

He opened his mouth wide in a vain attempt to inhale one of the boxes, and it crumpled suddenly. Then the box shrunk and entered his mouth!

He had a split second glimpse of Lololo turning and running off down another corridor. But he couldn't do anything about that at the moment, as he was speeding forward uncontrollably, the other box pushing him onward.

He turned around as quickly as he could and shot the star at the box, which exploded!

He was blasted backward, and so was Lalala, who had been pushing the box from the other side.

Both combatants got up quickly. Lalala hastily grabbed a box on her right and pulled it in front of her.

Kirby inhaled, but the box didn't budge. Yet as soon as he stopped, it suddenly sped at him. The box slammed into him, knocking him back.

He got to his feet once more. His face would definitely be sore after this fight.

The box had stopped moving again. He tried inhaling a second time, but the box still didn't move.

He stopped inhaling, and then immediately resumed doing so as the box came at him.

It worked. As the box reached him, it entered his mouth, and he immediately shot it back at Lalala. But the projectile missed as she scurried down another corridor.

Before Kirby could do anything else, he was hit from behind by another box! He fell forward, his back starting to ache as well as his face.

He spun around and tried to suck in this box, but to no avail. Yet, when he stopped, the box still didn't move. He tried inhaling again, but no matter whether he was inhaling or not, the box remained immobile.

He went right up to the box and pushed it, but not even that could move it.

He was perplexed. He tried turning and inhaling one of the boxes that made up a side of the corridor he was in. This didn't work either. He tried moving it physically by grabbing it and forcing it, but couldn't.

It was time to ask about this.

"Gooey?"

"Yes?"

"How come Lololo and Lalala can move the boxes easily and I can't at all?"

"Superstrength," explained Gooey simply.

"Oh."

"You need to be careful, Kirby." Gooey's tone became more serious. "They will likely try to trap you in an area of this storage room by blocking all exits with boxes. With your current abilities, from that there will be no escape. Avoid being 'boxed in' at all costs."

"Right."

Kirby turned around and walked down the corridor Lalala had run through.

He kept walking straight, passing other corridors on the left and right.

All of a sudden, a box on his left hit him in the side. It must have been placed at the end of a side corridor to fool him! He ran in a different direction, turning corners at random.

He stopped at a four-way intersection and rotated on the spot, waiting for Lololo or Lalala to pass by.

Something blue sped past to his right. He ran in that direction, but Lololo spotted him and moved one of the big boxes in front of him.

Blocked, Kirby skidded to a halt and ran in the opposite direction. He turned left at the intersection. But halfway to the next corner, he saw a box move to cut him off.

Oh-no! he thought. If they trap me in here...

He ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction, running straight through the intersection. Just as he got to the end, a box slid out to block him, but he ran right up next to the box and inhaled before it stopped moving.

It shrank and entered his mouth. Before Lololo could duck out of the way, Kirby hit him in the face at pointblank range with a star shot.

Lololo was blasted backward. He slammed into the box behind him and slid to the floor.

Despite this hit being quite powerful, Kirby figured he himself would not have been knocked out had it been him on the receiving end. Lololo and Lalala must not be quite as resilient as Dream Landers, for Lololo slumped to the side, eyes closed.

Kirby looked around. He was in another T-intersection, but one path from here led to a dead end, and another led back to the four-way intersection, which he was sure was now completely blocked off. This left him with only one way out.

He ran towards it, but Lalala had already turned the corner at the end of it. She quickly pulled a box between her and the oncoming Dream Lander.

Kirby, eyes wide, ran back to the four-way intersection to make sure it was all blocked.

It was. He was boxed in.

He stood in silence for a moment. Almost paralyzed from anxiety, he managed to squeak, "Uh..."

"What happened?" Gooey cut in worriedly. "They didn't... trap you... did they?"

"I'm stuck," said Kirby in despair.

Gooey growled a word that Kirby didn't know.

"What?"

"Sorry," apologized Gooey, though he sounded very frustrated. "But..." Then he sighed, calming down a bit, yet his voice was still noticeably stressed as he continued, "I suppose there's no other option; I have to send in reinforcements. I was very much hoping to avoid this. They're really going to have to stick their necks out for you to get you out of this fix, Kirby."

Kirby remained uncomfortably silent, and moments later he heard Gooey dial a number on his other phone. It only rang once before someone answered.

"Hello," said a girly voice on the other end.

"Uh, hello?" said Gooey. He sounded taken aback, as though this wasn't the person he had intended to call. "Who is this?"

"It's Chuchu. Who is this?"

"Gooey."

Kirby then heard a very faint voice that sounded like it was coming from someone talking in the background of Chuchu's end.

"His name's Gooey," said Chuchu. "Kind of a weird name, isn't it?"

The speaker in the background said something else.

"'Kay," said Chuchu.

Then she must have handed the phone over to the other person, because that voice spoke clearly, "Hey Gooey old pal! It's been ages since I last heard your voice. Got your email about how you're handling the missing Star Rod business. Sleeping's just not as restful without it, you know? Do you? I know you don't sleep, so I gotta tell you these things. So, you calling to give us an update or ask for help or what? Just so you know, we may be real busy real soon; getting worrying reports from Iceberg, and you know what that could mean. But it's great to talk to you no matter what's going on. So what's going on?" The voice was of average male pitch and somewhat racing.

"Hello, Rick," replied Gooey, sounding a little relieved. "Who was that who answered the phone?"

"Oh, Chuchu?" said Rick. "She's our new fighter. Haven't had one in ages, you know. Got lots to tell ya."

"Unfortunately I don't have time for that right now," cut in Gooey solemnly. "We have a situation."

"You never just call to chat, do ya? I'll put you on speakerphone. Everyone's here at the moment. You can fill us in."

"Thanks." Gooey then proceeded to tell Rick, Chuchu, and whomever else was there, Kirby's story so far, though he did not reveal Kirby's real name to them. Gooey also made it clear that Kirby could hear him speaking, and would be able to hear them if they spoke as well.

The listeners kept quiet throughout the explanation of the events that led to their involvement.

"That's some Dream Lander," said a second male voice, which was lower and sort of smooth sounding.

"Hey Kine, he can hear us right now," said a third to the second. This voice was scratchy and higher than average in pitch. "Hey Kirby, good stuff you've been doing."

"Uh, thanks," replied Kirby.

"Okay," interrupted Gooey. "We don't have time for you to talk with Kirby. Dark Matter is slowly spreading as we speak."

"Right." Kirby recognized Rick's voice. "Talk to you later, Gooey."

They hung up.

"Who..." began Kirby.

"The League of Animals for Protection," explained Gooey. "L.A.P. for short."

"Gooey? ...Is that you?"

Kirby jumped and turned, startled. Lololo was walking toward him, but his pupils weren't slits anymore. They were circular and had purple irises around them now. Yet his eyes were squinted, and he was rubbing his head, which was clearly aching significantly.

"Who are you?" Lololo had a strangely muffled voice.

"I'm Kirby," said Kirby. "I... I just freed you from Dark Matter's possession."

"Lololo?" said Gooey.

Lololo stared at Kirby. "What? That sounds like Gooey."

Kirby reached into his mouth and pulled out the cell phone.

"We talk to each other with this," he said.

"Lololo!" said Gooey from the phone. "You're not possessed anymore! Wonderful! Kirby, why didn't you tell me you had freed him? He can get you out of here! I called the L.A.P. for no reason!" He sighed pointedly. "Well, they'll have left already, so I'll leave them a message in a bit. Hopefully they'll get it before they jump in to try to save you."

"Don't be so hard on the guy, Gooey," said Lololo. "He's only a Dream Lander."

What's that supposed to mean? thought Kirby. He then, as best he could, made a face that asked this question.

Lololo seemed to second-guess himself upon seeing Kirby's expression.

"Well, I think he's a Dream Lander," he said. "Come to think of it..." He addressed Kirby. "Shouldn't you have a name like Kikiki? I'm pretty sure Dream Landers follow that rule."

Kirby was very frustrated he could not tell Lololo his real name at this point.

"Kirby isn't an ordinary Dream Lander," said Gooey proudly. "Didn't you hear him say that he saved you from possession by Dark Matter?"

"Yeah, sorry." Lololo put a hand behind his head. "I'm not on top of things today. That was an odd thing to say, though." He then added somewhat jokingly, "I wasn't aware there was anything that owned me."

There was silence for a few moments as Kirby (and presumably Gooey) processed this new information.

"What?" said Lololo, eyeing Kirby quizzically.

"You don't remember any of it?" said Gooey.

"Any of what?"

More silence.

"What's going on?" said Lololo.

Gooey explained all about Dark Matter and Kirby's mission, but with not nearly as much detail as he had given the L.A.P. He was evidently impatient and trying to get things moving again as quickly as possible.

"Hmm," said Lololo when Gooey had finished. "Now that you mention it, I think I heard King Dedede say something about Dark Matter a number of years ago. It was something like... you've been warning us for too long."

"Yes, Lololo," said Gooey, clearly annoyed. "It's true that ever since I came to Pop Star, I've been warning everyone to set up protections against the inevitable arrival of Dark Matter. But, now you see I was telling the truth! Dark Matter is here!"

"I'm sorry Gooey, but your story isn't very believable. Look, for one thing, I think I'd know if I'd been 'possessed' or not. For another, if Dark Matter really is here, how come it took so long to get here? And why is it here now? I heard you've been here for thousands of years. Is that really true? Oh, and for another, I have trouble believing your tale about this Dream Lander. You can see where I'm coming from, right?"

"Hey," interrupted Kirby, surprising himself. Maybe impatience was getting to him too. "If you want proof Dark Matter's here, meet up with Lalala. I didn't knock her out, so Dark Matter still has her."

"There, see?" said Gooey. "This 'Dream Lander' is on top of things."

"Alright," said Lololo. "Let's find Lalala. I'll get to the bottom of this."

Kirby picked up the phone and put it back in his mouth. Then he and Lololo walked down a corridor and Lololo pushed away the box at the end of it. They continued through the aisles for some time until they came to a door in a wall.

"She won't have stuck around in the storage room," said Lololo, opening the door, on the other side of which was a long hallway.

As they passed one of the doors, faint noises could be heard from the other side. Lololo gave Kirby a silent glance, opened the door, and entered the room with him.

The room was full of filing cabinets, and Lalala was rummaging through one of them. She turned as they entered.

"What?" exclaimed Lololo, apparently upon seeing the pupils of her eyes.

Lalala wasted no time in hurling the cabinet at Lololo, who put up his hands and caught it, sliding some inches backward from the impact. Papers flew from its drawers.

Then she threw another one. Kirby ran forward and inhaled it. Lalala quickly picked up a third cabinet, but Kirby hit her with a star shot. Just like Lololo had been, she was blasted backward into a wall. The cabinet she'd been holding slammed to the floor, papers bursting out of it.

Lalala fell over, unconscious.