A/N: Warning for Gore, as per the usual. However, there's also just plain 'ol brutality in this chapter. Not toward someone who bleeds, but he does have his own version of blood.

And when I say this certain someone is being shown brutality, I mean, like, Omni-Man "Think, Mark!" type-stuff. The dialogue in that part is also inspired by that scene.

You have been warned.


Magolor was slipping. Days, and still not a single clue on Kirby's whereabouts. Worse yet, the pink equine from before--Pinkie Pie--somehow kept appearing in Castle Dedede. Without the use of portals. Her power scared Magolor. She wanted to help him find Kirby. Every time, he'd tell her it wasn't possible; and she'd return to her own world, mane literally deflated with dejection.

Just one more thing for Magolor to feel guilty about.

Dedede was putting more and more pressure on him, because Dream Land was beginning to reach its limit. Civil unrest was on the rise. The kingdom was beginning to demand answers. Magolor focused, opening yet another Dimensional Rift to yet another plane of existence. He ran a magical scan. No sign of Kirby's energy signature; just the confused gaze of a floating Human boy with snow-white hair and glowing green eyes. Defeated, Magolor closed the portal in the supernatural teen's face and opened a new one leading to yet another world.

If Magolor didn't come up with a lead, and soon, it might not only be his life at stake.


King Dedede, Bandana Waddle Dee, and Meta Knight gazed down on the land from the balcony of Castle Dedede; the sunset's normal beauty tainted ominously by the similarly colored torches of countless citizens.

Their numbers held every race thinkable (sans the endlessly loyal Waddle Dees); Bronto Burts, Waddle Doos, Scarfys, Bonkers', renowned enemies Chillies and Burning Leos alike; even the theiving Tacs were unhappy.

"King Dedede!" The crowd roared. "Where is our hero?! Where. Is. Kirby?!"

"He never changed!" A Cappy insisted shrilly, hopping around and tossing her namesake mushroom cap up and down in agitation. "He's the same scheming tyrant as always! When was he going to tell us?!"

"Your Highness!" Escargoon, Dedede's royal judge (who Dedede only kept around because he did his job well, despite not exactly being the most impartial) urged from behind Dedede. "The useless egg wizard has had no luck! If you don't want an insurrection I suggest he be executed! They don't care who, but the mob will not be satisfied until someone's blood is shed! Who better than the one who banished the marshmallow to NOVA-knows-where in the first place?!"

"That's enough outta you!" Dedede roared. "This isn't a barbaric country! I'm not gonna sacrifice a prisoner to appease my rightfully angry subjects, and it says somethin' 'bout your qualification to be a judge if you're willin' to do that! Now, go back to your quarters and leave the advice to the royal advisor!" Dedede said, gesturing down at the trembling, sweating, yet determined Bandana Waddle Dee.

Escargoon glared at Bandana. He'd always been jealous toward him; indignant that a "mere" Waddle Dee had taken the position he so desperately desired. His blatant racism toward Dedede's (secretly favorite) most loyal subjects irritated Dedede to no end, but he was competent, which, again, was the only reason Dedede kept the crotchety old fool around.

"Sire, you're going to let that tiny little nervous wreck direct you during a crisis of this magnitude?!" Escargoon roared, indignant. Snapping (and probably not helping his currently very fragile image) Dedede whirled around and slammed his giant mallet in front of Escargoon, cratering the floor of his own balcony.

"Continue to question mah decisions an' be a racist ol' asshole, and it'll be you gettin' executed."

The slimy old coward was--literally--shaking in his shell.

Dedede stomped hard enough to crater the floor again. "Now, return to your quarters like I ordered. Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?"

"C-c-crystal, your Royal Highness!" Escargoon panickedly saluted and, despite being a snail, fled back into the castle fast enough to kick up the dust that had settled from the crater Dedede had made.

Dedede sighed and turned back around to gaze at the roaring crowd surrounding his castle again.

"Bandana..." Dedede sighed, scrubbing a mittened hand down his face tiredly. He sighed once more and looked his advisor, who was standing to his right, in the eyes. "Any ideas?"

Bandana looked downward in shame. "N-none, Great King..." he said, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. Before Dedede could comfort his greatest supporter, Meta Knight spoke up from his left.

"I could rally my crew and the Halberd and crush this rebellion instantly."

Dedede looked over at Meta in horror. His eyes were glowing red. They had been for the past few days. He'd finally given up on the whole reclusive act, but whenever he did show himself, he was snappy and irritable, and acted downright murderous toward Magolor.

The second day after his self-emposed exile ended, he accompanied Dedede for his usual morning breakfast delivery and progress report from Magolor. When Magolor reported his usual inability to find Kirby, Meta Knight had attacked him. Viciously.

Dedede had never seen him break his normal knightly code of honorable combat. It was terrifying. He just lost any grace and dignity and dove upon Magolor with all the fury of a wild Grizzo. It took Dedede and fifteen Waddle Dees to pull Meta off of Mags, who had to spend a day in the infirmary just to be safe.

Him and Dedede had nearly come to blows after that, their fight broken up only by Bandana. Poor, wonderful Bandana, who had taken over Kirby's role as the voice of reason in his absence. Dedede had been absolutely infuriated at the shit Meta had pulled. He had nearly killed Mags! He had nearly destroyed their only possible hope of getting Kirby back! Meta had only roared back that they had had no luck so far, and that Magolor was useless anyway.

Dedede had said some things he shouldn't have. He'd snapped, saying, "Yeah? Well at least Ah'm doin' somethin, and NOT SITTIN' IN MY DAMN BASE, ON MY ASS, sulkin' and gettin' jack shit done!"

After that, Meta had drawn Galaxia and damn near jumped on Dedede, too, but Bandana had intervened. Ever since, things between Dedede and Meta had been tense, and Meta's eyes had been glowing red. Constantly. Dedede had been around Meta Knight long enough to memorize what each of his several eye colors meant. He knew they only turned red when he was truly pushed to the edge, which was difficult to accomplish.

They hadn't been any other color since that near-fight.

"Meta... after everythin' Kirby taught you... you're still willin' to do that?" Dedede asked, trembling in disgust and barely-contained rage.

"Do. Not," Meta Knight warned.

"No!" Dedede said. "What's wrong with you? Why've you been so fuckin' crazy ever since we lost Kirbeh, huh? You don't see me stealin' everyone's fuckin' food, so what's your deal? Why're you bein' such a fuckin' dick to everyone? What happened to all that calm, collected knight bullshit? We're supposed to be friends, workin' together to find Kirby, not tearin' each other apart! For fuck's sake, Meta Knight, just talk to me!" Dedede snapped, the stress and despair of the past shitshow of a week and loss of his best friend finally catching up to him and pouring out all at once. It felt like he was losing everything. He'd lost Kirby. He was losing his kingdom.

He couldn't lose Meta Knight, too.

Meta Knight, surprisingly enough, didn't snap back. His eyes--finally--changed color, briefly glowing green--a sign that he was deep in thought. Then, however, they settled on white; a color Dedede hardly ever saw.

It meant despair.

"I am sorry, my friend," Meta Knight apologized, looking broken. "I feel powerless, and I have resorted to childishly lashing out and pushing away everyone I have left as a result."

Everyone I have left, Dedede mentally replayed the words, remembering how close Kirby and Meta Knight were.

Are, Dedede mentally corrected.

"I... do not know what to do," Meta Knight said, causing Bandana to audibly gasp and Dedede's beak to drop. Meta would... would never admit something like that. If even he had given up, then...

Maybe they really were doomed.

Thinking this over, Bandana gazed out across Dream Land, the first terrified tears falling to the ground and glittering orange in the fading sunlight. The crowd was steadily growing more and more violent.

Their pitchforks were so sharp.

"We need you, Kirby," he whispered.


Far-Flung Hero of the Stars

Chapter Twenty: Soul-Melter


"So, Zero built this monster; right here in Hawkins," Mike recapped for Steve, Robin, Erica, and Hopper; as well as for Joyce (the awesome-sounding mom that Kirby remembered Will saying had never given up on him even when everyone else had when he and the others were telling Kirby about their previous experiences with the Upside Down a few days ago); and the bald guy, Murray, who hadn't stopped staring at the Kirbies for quite a few minutes, before tearing his eyes away and running off somewhere.

"To stop El," Mike continued. "Kill her, and pave a way into our world."

"And he knows that doing that would make me so sad I wouldn't be able to beat him," Kirby added.

"And that almost happened," Nancy said. "But Kirby's heroic energy or whatever flared up and he saved us," Max finished.

"Poyo!" Kirby said proudly, nubs crossed.

"Not so fast, marshmallow," Hopper said with a glare. Upon being caught up by Mike about how Kirby and Zero were related, he'd nearly had a heart attack at the thought that he'd let such a thing stay in the same room as his daughter.

Luckily, Mike was able to quickly clarify (after explaining how Kirby had summoned his three counterparts as well) the differences between the two, and how Kirby's species worked.

Mike and Kirby had also both explained Kirby and Zero's past conflicts in Kirby's own universe. Hopper had told Joyce about Kirby the very day he and Kirby last spoke, and Joyce had insisted he was probably harmless (despite Hopper mostly believing Kirby's story, he still couldn't help worrying, and had confessed as much to Joyce).

Now that she knew what he really was, Joyce wasn't sure about Kirby, but after being told of how he'd saved Will and the others at the pool, had offered a genuine, if shaky, thanks.

"I'm still pissed," Hopper continued. "Well, sorry!" Kirby huffed. "I didn't find out until days after we last met that another Void had been messing with you guys!"

"Would you have told me if you had known?" Hopper asked, hardened eyes boring into Kirby's. NOVA, he really was as scary as Chief Bookem could be at times. Kirby squirmed, before looking away in shame.

"Would you have given me the chance to explain anything beyond the fact that I was the same species as your enemy?" He countered.

Hopper blinked, though his gaze retained most of its intensity.

"Touché," he conceded.

"Look, man," Tuffy began. "I know it's hard to trust us, but Zero was our enemy first. If we're against him, how bad can we be?"

Hopper scrubbed a hand down his face. "I wouldn't say I trust you," he began. "But I know you're not trying to kill us, and if Kirby here," he gestured at the pink Puff, "really did save my daughter twice, then I'll give him the benefit of the doubt."

"So will I; if he saved my Will," Joyce said uneasily, yet firmly.

"At this point, you know, with me, it's just whatever," Steve said indifferently. "I barely even understood what all that 'alternate universe', 'reincarnation', 'Zero' shit meant. All I got out of it was that the little cream puffs are just as powerful as the Mind Flayer and are on our side, so," Steve threw his arms out to his sides in surrender, "whatever."

"Alright, alright," Hopper stopped the conversation from straying further off-topic. "The Kirbies are on our side. That's all that matters with them, for now. Mike," Hopper addressed, causing the head of the boy in question to snap up perhaps a bit too quickly. "How big is the Mind Flayer--sorry--Zero's--monster thing?"

"Fucking gigantic," Tuffy said before Mike could respond. Keeby turned to his red counterpart. "Would you say at least thirty feet?" He asked. "Yeah," Tuffy said, nodding gravely with crossed nubs. "Mr. Police-Chief Man? Sorry, but it kinda destroyed your house. Kirby made it worse when he swung a giant sword around in there."

Rather than become angry at the blatant nub-pointing, Kirby had the decency to look ashamed, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry, poyo," he giggled. Hopper merely heaved a sigh as he stared blankly into the middle distance, clearly trying to process the unbelievable supernatural mess his life had become. That he could casually say at this point that his cabin had been destroyed by a fight between two elder gods, and giant energy swords were involved...

Jesus.

Joyce watched the brief interaction, feeling a mix of emotions. Like Steve, she could barely follow the insane stories about Kirby and Zero (she had to admit, it was good finally having a real name for her family's tormentor, rather than a made-up label) and the (much more briefly explained) adventure that had gotten Kirby trapped in the Human world. The explanation of Kirby and Zero's species was a bit easier to follow, but no less out of this world.

Opposite of Zero he may have been, just the fact that the two were of the same species made Joyce feel uneasy about this 'Kirby' thing. Not helping her uneasiness was his apparent ability to speak perfect English, despite not only definitely not being Human, but also being a self-proclaimed alien, on top of that.

But hearing about how he'd cried every time El was hurt, and how he had so fiercely defended the psychic girl and Joyce's son, Joyce's wary heart couldn't help but soften a bit. The pain on Kirby's face when he had explained what Zero had done to his friends in his homeworld was real, Joyce could tell, and so were the tears he'd nearly shed recounting the story of how Zero had shrouded his planet in darkness and twisted his friends beyond recognition.

The look he'd get on his face was unsettlingly similar to Will's on the rare occasion he'd open up to her about his horrific experiences during the week he'd been trapped in the Upside Down, usually after a nightmare about said experiences.

Joyce couldn't help but feel grateful that in her world, Zero was mostly contained. In Kirby's universe, he had roamed free, spreading his darkness from planet to planet (that in itself was terrifying to think about; the most Zero had been able to accomplish in her world was to kidnap and possess her son and kill Bob, along with countless others. It was still horrible, of course, but compared to how much this 'Zero' had allegedly done where Kirby was from, she was very lucky that that was the extent of the damage Zero had been able to inflict on her own life).

But watching the four colorful aliens interact with each other, she was reminded of how they were (allegedly) just as much children as her own son.

They were so much different than the only other member of their kind she'd interacted with (through her son when he had been possessed, who would scream, make demands, and emotionally manipulate and take advantage of her love for the real Will) that she really could believe they were cosmic opposites.

The fact that they had such high-pitched voices and were too adorable to believably be evil helped. And they were so childlike, what with the red one having just deflected blame for breaking something onto his pink counterpart like they were two young siblings in trouble over a broken vase.

Their mannerisms and personalities weren't otherworldly or terrifying, like her son had been when he was possessed by one; they acted so Human, and they clearly weren't evil.

And if they somehow were, then they were the best actors she had ever met.

"Okay, so, just to be clear, this... this big, fleshy spider thing that hurt El," Steve began, pointing at El, whose head was currently laying comforted in Hopper's lap, "it's some kind of gigantic... weapon? A weapon that's being... remotely controlled by the Mind Flayer, who is actually just them," Steve gestured at the Kirbies, "hopped up on, like, bad energy, or something?"

"Yup," Tuffy lazily confirmed.

"But, instead of, like, screws and metal, the Mind Flayer--sorry, uh--Zero--made his weapon... with melted people."

All Puffballs except Tuffy looked away in embarrassment. Zero was really not giving their race a good look. Tuffy, defensive as ever, just gave a childish "hmph".

"Please keep in mind that we're not all like this..." Keeby pleaded. "Yeah," Tuffy huffed. "I'm sorry your only other experience with our race was with a fucking psycho, but there's a lot more to us then that."

Steve just held his hands up in surrender.

"Look, I've got nothing against you... little marshmallow-Flayers. I'm just making sure I'm up to speed," Steve dropped his hands tiredly into his lap after throwing them resignedly out to his sides.

Tuffy glared for a few more moments, before looking away. The other Puffballs quickly recovered from their brief depression.

Joyce, with an anxious note of hope in her voice, asked, "Are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?"

"Kirby beat the shit out of it, but... yeah, it's still alive," Max said.

"Um... hey... little... uh... 'Kirby?'" Joyce asked, causing the Puff in question to snap back to attention after having drifted away into his thoughts. "That's... your name... right?" Joyce asked. "Mhm," Kirby hummed quietly. He and Joyce looked into each other's eyes. "Right. Kirby... how did you say you beat this thing, again?" Kirby's eyes brightened a bit.

"I used the positive energy I'm made of! I made a giant Ultra Sword with it and sliced the monster's face in half!"

Joyce blinked, shook her head as if she didn't believe she'd heard that right, and looked confusedly at Max. Max simply nodded. "It's true," she confirmed. "Look... Ms... Will's Mom?" Tuffy began. "Uh--Joyce," Joyce provided. Tuffy nodded. "Alright. Joyce. Kirby learned about you guys' past encounters with Zero from Mike and the others, and then he told us about it, so we know you used positive memories to free Will of Zero's control a bit back when he was possessed, right?"

Joyce blinked, but nodded.

"I know it was a lot at the time, and you might not have caught all of it, but if you think back to what Mike and Kirby told you about Zero back in our world, you'll see positive energy is always what beats him. That's why reminding Will of happy memories loosened Zero's hold on him," Tuffy said. "So when Kirby used his own positivity back at the cabin, it hurt him really bad. Instead of having to hope emotions can work, he just kinda weaponized positive energy itself."

Kirby puffed up proudly, wearing a big smile.

"That's how we need to beat Zero," Tuffy said, before snorting bitterly.

"But, yeah. If there's one thing we know about Zero, it's that he always comes back. No matter how much love or whatever you throw at him."

"You can say that again," Mike sighed.

Will looked upward thoughtfully, heart shrinking and swelling in turn as he recalled that night. Shrinking at the recollection of how badly he'd wanted to help his loved ones, but was unable to; swelling at the happy memories and support of his loved ones. That whole year after he was rescued from the Upside Down... everyone treated him like glass. He knew it did come from a place of care, but it was too forced.

But that night, the amount of support and love he was shown reminded him of how not alone in this he was. Even if he'd felt alone most of this summer, just remembering that night was enough to remind him that, as ignored as he was at times, his family and friends would always be there for him.

He remembered how that swell felt. That rush of happiness at being comforted at a time when he felt most alone, trapped helplessly in his own body; it pushed Zero back, cold giving way to warmth. Not completely, but just enough to free his hand from the internal grasp of Zero's Dark Matter; just enough for him to send a message.

"C-L-O-S-E-G-A-T-E," he accidentally muttered aloud.

"What?" Max asked, looking over at him. He suddenly realized what he'd said, and his eyes widened. In all the chaos with El's leg, they never got the chance to question Dustin further about the Gate apparently being reopened by... Russians?

Kirby gasped.

"Will, that's it!" He exclaimed happily.

"If we close the Gate again--" Will began. "--we cut the brain off from the body--" Max continued. "--and we take this sucker down!" Tuffy finished with his usual fiery enthusiasm, punching one nub into the other to mimic punching a fist into an open palm.

"Theoretically," Lucas added.

"Yoo-hoo!" Murray called from the other side of the food court, walking toward them all while waving papers around. "Yoo-hoo!"

Tuffy's excitement vanished, replaced with annoyance as he rolled his eyes. Murray had left after the whole explanation about Voids, muttering about how the government had probably hidden their existence and about how badly he wanted some Vodka.

Before the explanation, though, he had poked and prodded the "alien life-forms, Joyce!" from every angle, testing their elasticity and trying to figure out how their skin worked, while asking question after question about how they were related to the world's governments and if they had escaped from a "CIA black site", whatever that was.

"Oh, great. The Coo-Coo Man's back," Tuffy said, receiving a laugh from Keeby and a jab in the side and reminder to be polite from Kirby.


With the group gathered by a bunch of tables, the Puffballs perched on the shoulders of their respective Humans, Murray slapped the papers he'd acquired down on a central table, Hopper and Joyce looking over them with him.

The Kirbies, to the shock of the Humans who didn't yet know they could do such a thing, Hovered off their Humans' shoulders and floated over Murray, Joyce, and Hopper to see what the pages meant.

The two looked up, Joyce and Murray's jaws dropping. Murray quickly composed himself and muttered, "Okay, well, that's one more thing to study."

Tuffy did his best to send him a "forget it" look, but without the ability to speak while holding his breath, he couldn't be sure if the message had been received or not.

Joyce did several double-takes trying, but eventually was able to tear her eyes away from the four floating Puffs.

"Okay," Murray said, looking back down at the sheet of paper, which appeared to be a map of some sort. He tapped the center with his pointer finger. "This is what Alexie called 'the Hub'."

The Kirbies wondered who Alexie was.

"Now, the Hub takes us to the vault room," Murray continued, moving his finger around the map accordingly. "Okay, where's the Gate?" Hopper asked, only interested in the ultimate goal.

"Right here," Murray answered, pointing to a specific square on the map that most likely represented a room. "I don't know the scale on this, but I think it's fairly close to the vault room; maybe... fifty feet or so," he said, pointing at the bottom left corner of the map and sweeping his finger diagonally back and forth between the bottom left corner and the top right corner.

"More like five-hundred," Erica said matter-of-fairly as she walked up to join Hopper, Murray, Joyce, and the Kirbies at the table.

"What, you're just gonna waltz in there like it's Commie Disneyland or something?" She asked derisively. After picking up his dropped jaw, Murray, miserably failing to maintain his mask of dignity, replied, "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Erica Sinclair," she said proudly. "Who are you?"

"Murray... Bauman..." he said, sounding as if his pride had just been mortally wounded. "Listen, Mister Bunman," Erica began, "I'm not trying to tell you how to do things, but I've been down in that shithole for twenty-four hours."

Lucas looked at his younger sister in a mixture of shock, anger, awe, and the protective fear of a big brother.

"And with all due respect, you do what this man tells you," she continued, pointing at Joyce and Hopper as she said this, "you're all gonna die," she said with utter confidence, like it truly was a mathematical certainty.

Tuffy's laughter burst out as an exhale, causing him to stop hovering and fall onto Joyce's head as he laughed, causing the woman to startle. "I like her!" Tuffy said. He then Hovered over to Erica and settled onto her head. The girl's eyes widened in childlike excitement, but she quickly plastered her mask of cool confidence back on, crossing her arms and smugly smirking. Everyone else just watched on with wide eyes.

"I'm sorry, why is this four-year-old speaking to me?" Murray asked in disbelief, staring at Hopper and Joyce as if they had the answer.

"Um, I'm ten, you bald bastard!" Erica said indignantly, causing Tuffy to explode into hysterical, proud laughter atop her head.

"E-Erica!" Lucas admonished, trying to take responsibility and keep his little sister in check around the adults. "Just the facts!" She defended.

"She's right," Dustin said, backing Erica up, causing the girl to smile smugly at Murray. "You're all gonna die, but you don't have to." He stressed.

"Excuse me," Dustin said as he squeezed past Erica to get closer to the table. "Sorry, may I?"

"Please," Murray encouraged with a purely spiteful grin, gesturing at the paper.

Dustin sat down at the table. Keeby, finding that he gravitated more toward Dustin than Lucas, Hovered over to sit on Dustin's shoulder. The boy briefly grinned toothily at the Puff, before looking back down at the paper, dead-serious.

"Okay, see this room here?" He asked, circling the square at the bottom left corner of the page that Murray had called the 'Vault'. "This... is a storage facility," Dustin said, circling the square. Murray stared in wide-eyed disbelief as the fourteen-year-old humiliated him.

Kirby just wondered if the storage room was like Mace Knight's (formerly) secret Maxim Tomato stash on the Halberd.

"There's a hatch in here that feeds into their underground ventilation system," Dustin continued, drawing a line with a nearby pencil from that corner of the map to the same top right Gate room Murray had earlier indicated, thinking it was a path that was walked, rather than crawled through.

Kirby noticed there was a drawing of what looked to be some sort of machine inside the square representing that room.

"That," Dustin stressed, "will lead you to the base of the weapon."

Kirby's eyes narrowed down at the sheet in light of this new information.

So, they're using some kind of weapon to hold the Gate open, he thought.

"It's a bit of a maze down there, but between me and Erica, we can show you the way," Dustin naively assured, as if that was actually going to happen. "You can show us the way?" Hopper asked slowly, in a condescending, skeptical tone.

"Don't worry, you can do all the fighting and the dangerous hero shit--" Hopper nodded along, as if he was actually going to allow any of that, "--and we'll just be your... navigators," Dustin finished, he and Erica looking up at Hopper with a dorky grin and a smile, respectively.

Hopper nodded in agreement for about two seconds, before nodding in the opposite way.

"No."

Dustin and Erica's faces fell, Dustin looking shocked and Erica somewhat offended and skeptical that Hopper could do it on his own.

Heedless to their looks, Hopper smiled falsely as he continued shaking his head. The smile dropped.

"Nope!" he repeated simply.


"Well, that settles it," Erica said in a "don't say I didn't warn you" tone as she joined the kids--both Human and alien--in standing in the middle of the lounge area. "He's gonna die. They're gonna die."

"Yep. Most likely," a bitter Dustin agreed.

"Nope!" Kirby said cheerfully. Dustin turned to look at him, eyebrow raised questioningly. "They're not gonna die!"

"And how d'ya figure that?" Tuffy asked with crossed nubs and a tapping foot. "Because," Kirby said slowly with a teasing smile, "I'm sending you three--" he pointed at Keeby, Greeny, and Tuffy, "--down there with them."

"What?!" Greeny cried, probably the loudest he'd been since Kirby had summoned him to this world. Tuffy gave off the impression that his nonexistent brow was raised.

Sensing the question, Kirby walked over toward his three counterparts., hugging them, before turning it into a team huddle. Tuffy squirmed a bit, but complied. "I'm sorry we haven't spoken in a while, poyo," Kirby said somewhat guiltily. "And I'm sorry I dragged you guys into this mess. I don't know how I'm gonna get us home, but I'll find a way. But for now, poyo, I need you guys to trust me, like you learned to throughout our adventure in the Mirror World."

Kirby paused, looking downward thoughtfully.

"I wanna stay up here and protect all these Humans, poyo, and especially El. It's her Zero's after. Hopper, Will's Mom, and the Bald Guy are just shutting that machine-thingy down so Zero's body stops working. I need you guys to go down there with them and make sure they do that safely."

The other Puffballs thought for a few moments. When they were first created, they wouldn't listen to Kirby, too wrapped up in their own extreme personalities. But as Kirby learned to come to terms with the parts of himself they represented (fierce protectiveness, anxiety, and optimism) and learned to balance those parts of himself, he was able to reach out to them one-by-one, getting through to them until they eventually learned to listen to him. There had been several obstacles in the Mirror World they had been unable to overcome by their lonesome; but together, with all four of them combined, they were always able to get through. They just had to work together.

They trusted Kirby then, and they would trust him now.

Despite their wildly differing personalities, they looked up, made eye contact with Kirby, and gave a simultaneous, equally determined nod.

Kirby smiled gratefully back, before pulling them all to his sides in a big hug. Even if they didn't talk much anymore, they would always be brothers.

When he released them from the hug, Kirby pulled out his Cell Phone. "You guys have your phones, right?"

The others each whipped out their phones in turn.

"... of course."

"Why wouldn't I?"

"You betcha!"

Kirby nodded with a goofy smile. He was happy he wasn't alone in this. Even if it meant he'd have to face Zero without the added power of three other Voids on his side, he wanted to make absolutely certain that nobody--that, NOVA forbid--the worst didn't happen to any of the Humans tonight. He needed his counterparts to safely escort Joyce, Hopper, and Crazy Bald Guy.

Dustin smiled down at the Puffballs. "You know, we could've really used you guys down there."

"Could've used you up here, too," Mike countered, though it was done in a friendly tone.

"Yeah, man. We missed you, dude," Lucas said.

"Yeah. Big-time," Will agreed.

The four moved in for a group hug.

"I missed you guys, too. Big-time," Dustin said, echoing Will. The boys smiled at each other the way only the best of friends could.

Kirby could tell they had been friends for a very long time. Their bond was so strong.

...

It reminded him of Dedede, Meta, Bandana, and himself.

Kirby's smile turned sad. They were his best friends. Even if he spent the rest of his (functionally immortal) life trying, he'd find a way back to them, someday.

For now, though, he had an old foe to stop.

His Copy Palette pulsed warmly, Matters swirling in time with the love around him.

Kirby sparked.

A soft, pink-yellow glow surrounded his body, flowing like early morning fog over the ground.

He loved his friends.


The quiet before a final battle was always so deafening.

Kirby was used to it. Well, he was used to feeling it.

It wasn't really a feeling one could ever fully "get used to", though.

Joyce gave Will her reassurances.

Hopper and El had their moment.

Kirby and his three colorful brothers...

Were staring at an escalator.

"Hey," Tuffy said thoughtfully. "I know we have all your memories, Kirby, but you probably still remember more than we do."

A moment of silence.

"So... does any of this seem... y'know... familiar?" Tuffy asked. "Hmm..." Keeby hummed thoughtfully. "You know, I do feel like we've seen stairs like this before. Don't they move?"

"Yeah," Kirby agreed.

"Hey, I think I know where we've seen this before," Tuffy suddenly said. "Where?" Kirby asked. "Oh, y'know," Tuffy playfully taunted, though there was a certain edge to it Kirby couldn't quite put his mouth around. "Somewhere cold?" Tuffy hinted. "Somewhere deserted, maybe?"

"Hmmm," Kirby and Keeby hummed in unison. "Yeah, not really ringing any bells," Kirby eventually said. Tuffy suddenly lunged at him and took him by the nonexistent shoulders, shaking him back and forth as he shouted in his face.

"Don't you get it, you imbeciles?! Shiver Star is our Earth!!!"

"Oh," Kirby said quietly, then thought about that sentence a bit more, causing his eyes to widen. "Oh, oh, ooooohhhhhhhh, wait!!!"

"Yeah!" Tuffy said as he finally let go of his dizzy pink counterpart.

"Woah," Keeby said. Greeny timidly squeaked, "Are you saying--"

"--yeah!" Tuffy cut in. "All the Humans there died! I dunno how Adeleine and the small villages here and there throughout Dream Land exist, but Earth's fucking dead in our world!"

The other Puffballs plopped heavily onto the floor and stared blankly at the escalators, mouths slightly agape as they reeled at the realization.


After goodbyes and 'good luck"'s were exchanged, Kirby parted ways with his three counterparts, who went off with Murray somewhere, probably to wait for Joyce and Hopper as they said their goodbyes to their children. Steve, Robin, Dustin, and Erica had left to head up to Weathertop, where Kirby had spent his first day with the Human kids. There, they planned to use Cerebro to "relay with the Russians' radio tower", whatever that meant.

To Kirby's understanding, all that was to say that it would allow Dustin, Erica, Steve, and Robin to guide Hopper, Joyce, and Murray through the underground Russian base where the Gate was from afar, via radio.

Before they went their separate ways, Tuffy had pulled Kirby aside by the metaphorical shoulder and summoned two bubbles from his Copy Palette, each containing three of the several packs of fireworks he'd gotten from the store earlier.

"Just in case," Tuffy had said. "If that fucker comes back, light him the hell up."

Uneasy, yet grateful for the get-out-of-jail-free card, Kirby had accepted the bubbles and swallowed them, sending them into his Copy Palette for safekeeping. Each firework pack would individually probably only yield the Bomb ability, but if it came to it, Kirby would combine those bubbles and the six total packs of explosives they held to produce the Crash ability. With that, he would be able to defeat Zero's monstrous new body in one fell swoop.

If push came to shove, which Kirby hoped to NOVA wouldn't happen.

Tuffy kept the other three of his total five firework-containing bubbles for himself, stored safely in his Copy Palette in the event that his group ran into an emergency of their own.

It had been a fight, getting Hopper to agree to take the red, yellow, and green Puffballs down with him, but Kirby had insisted, and--eventually--won out. Hopper wanted to infiltrate the underground base, not launch a full-on assault, but Kirby assured him that his fellow Puffballs could just knock out any guards along the way before others could be alerted, that way alarms wouldn't go off and they wouldn't be facing the full wrath of the entire base at once.

At least, not until they were closer to the Gate.

Meanwhile, Kirby's group would head to Crazy Bald Ma--Murray's--house to wait this whole disaster out. Kirby was ready for a final confrontation with Zero, just in case. He was testing out one of his new moves with the ability he'd gotten from the piece of Zero's body that was in El's leg when Mike and Max, supporting the limping El, walked over to where Kirby was waiting for the others by a trash can, ready to go. Hopper had just finished saying goodbye to his daughter, and had reminded Mike to be careful.

Mike eyed Kirby's glowing, electric nub in jealous awe.

"Sweet Copy Ability! Nice cap, too."

"Thanks!" Kirby beamed. "I've never gotten this ability before, but I think it's like Ness's PSI. This is his cap..."

Max raised a brow. "Who's Ness?"

"He's another Human friend of mine."

At the wide-eyed looks El, Max, and Mike gave him, Kirby quickly amended, "He's not from the same universe as me. I actually have a lot of Human friends from different universes. Long story short, we like to get together in a certain place every now and then to compete in friendly tournaments, since we're all heroes and stuff."

"Woah," Mike said. "You've really gotta introduce us to these people when this is all over. If this 'Ness' guy has that power you're using, he must be pretty cool."

"He is!" Kirby said proudly. "He defeated the evil alien Giygas! That's how I know we can defeat Zero!"

Mike, Max, and El all shared a bewildered look at the 'Giygas' part, but quickly shrugged it off with small smiles.

"Now that's a story I've gotta hear," Max said.

Nancy, Jonathan, and Will soon walked up, the ridiculous amount of keys for Murray's house on the ring he'd given Nancy jangling as she stuffed them into her pocket.

"Alright, let's go," she said, clapping to end the chatter and get the group moving. Mike, Max, and El picked up the pace as much as they could, what with the state El's leg was in. Kirby nearly ran off ahead of them to wait by the doors, but hesitated and turned to look back at Hopper and Joyce, who were near a bench watching their children go.

Kirby knew the look in their eyes. They were scared for their children's safety.

It was a look Kirby sometimes got from Meta Knight; oftentimes when he'd accidentally hurt Kirby a little too much during sword training.

Kirby looked briefly at the doors to the mall (doing his best to avoid thinking too deeply about the ramifications of his recent realization about Shiver Star, which he was probably never going to tell his new Human friends about), before looking back at Hopper and Joyce.

He made his decision.

"Hold on a second!" He called back to Nancy as he ran toward Hopper and Joyce. He ignored Nancy's exasperated "What?" and continued on his way, coming to a stop in front of the bench.

"Hey, Hopper? Ms. Joyce?" He addressed, looking up at them. Hopper raised an eyebrow. "Kid, you've gotta get goin'," he reminded.

"I know, poyo," Kirby said quietly, looking downward as he fiddled with his nubs. "But... I just want you to know..."

Kirby smiled brightly up at them.

"I'll protect them. With my life. El and Will are gonna be just fine, poyo, so don't you worry!"

Kirby swiftly hopped up onto Hopper's shoulders and nuzzled his face, ignoring the surprised man's scratchy stubble and bushy mustache and comforting his friend as much as he could.

Then, he hopped down, winked, causing a small yellow star to emit from that eye, and said, "Good luck!" to the two parents, before turning and running back to join Nancy and the others.

Hopper and Joyce just looked on, stunned, before a resigned smile grew on Hopper's face. He was surrendering El into Kirby's care, and he had the feeling that she was going to be just fine.

He would trust the little marshmallow. He didn't have much of a choice.

"I think they're in good hands, Joyce," Hopper said. Joyce was nervous as always--unlike Hopper, she never would be completely confident with anyone but herself or Jonathan when it came to her son's safety, but she decided she'd just have to trust Kirby. Even despite her wariness, though, something was telling her Will was in good (metaphorical) hands.

"Yeah," she agreed, voice a little more steady than it had been recently.


As the group walked briskly out into the warm July night, El began to grunt in pain. "El, you're bleeding," Max noticed with concern. Kirby ran a little faster so he was beside Max, Mike, and El, rather than behind them, allowing him to get a look at El. She was bleeding from both nostrils.

Kirby frowned, worried.

"Are you okay?" Mike asked. "Yeah," El weakly answered. She continued groaning in pain as Mike and Max helped her into the car through a door in the back, laying her down in the seat. The row of seats in front of them contained Lucas, Will, and Max. Kirby hung onto the backs of their row of seats and peeked over Will's shoulder as Nancy attempted to start the car.

It sputtered.

"What's wrong?" Jonathan asked as she tried again, only to be met with more sputtering. "I don't--"

More sputtering.

"I don't know," Nancy said.

The engine continued sputtering for long, long moments.

"You can't be serious. Come on!" Nancy hissed. "Didn't your mom just buy this car?" Lucas asked. "Yes," Nancy tersely replied in a half-hearted attempt to reassure the young ones, throwing a hand up in disbelief and annoyance. "I'm sure it's fine!"

"Did you leave the lights on?" Will quietly asked.

"No."

"Do we have gas?" Lucas asked.

"Yes!" Nancy snapped.

She twisted the key in the ignition with such intensity that her arm twisted in a strange position to accommodate.

"Come on!" She growled.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Just stop, stop!" Jonathan urged, grabbing her elbow. He opened his door and exited the car. "Pop the hood."

Nancy got out shortly after him.

Kirby and his friends exchanged worried glances, before both Kirby and Will tensed, eyes widened. "Guys..." Will began grimly. "He found us!" Kirby finished.

Nary a moment later, the engine of another car roared. Kirby instinctively tensed at the sound, both because of what it meant, and because of the memories it brought back of the last time he'd heard it.


It was getting too bright. Kirby had to squeeze his eyes shut and look away. He knew he should probably get away, too, but at this point, he didn't think he'd be able to. The lights were blinding him even through his eyelids.

Before Kirby knew it, something that felt like cold metal slammed into his face. His small, bouncy body was sent flying.

All Kirby could do was scream. "Poyoooooooo!"


Kirby's eyes, squeezed tightly shut in fear, snapped open when he was broken out of his trance of remembrance by Nancy slapping on the window of the nearest door.

"Back in the mall!" Her voice came through clearly, even through the glass. "Back in the mall! Go! Go, go, go!"

Lucas, Will, and Max scrambled out the door Nancy had banged on while Kirby, Mike, and El tumbled out the back door they'd come through. "Go! Go! Go!" Nancy continued shouting as Billy's car continued revving.

"Go! Go! Go!"

Kirby ran inside with the others, barely containing the tears that wanted to emerge as the memory of that cold metal impacting his face replayed over and over.

He felt Zero's gaze burning into the back of his head.


Billy had apparently taken the "ignition cable" of their car. Kirby didn't know exactly what that meant, but the gist of it was: their car wasn't going anywhere without that part. Kirby had briefly weighed the pros and cons (just like Meta Knight always taught him, trying to train the impulsiveness out of him) of calling a Warp Star, but he knew that wouldn't work. The Warp Star could change size depending on his needs, but not that much. There'd be no way it could fit all of them. And with how fragile Humans were, it was probably a bad idea even if it could.

The Warp Star wouldn't allow them to fall off unless they wanted off (which was why Kirby could do his beloved loop-de-loops and stay on just fine) but it couldn't do squat to save them if Billy shot them down and destroyed it with a dark energy projectile or something. That wouldn't be a problem if they flew low, but they couldn't do that because Billy was waiting for them at that level.

In other words, they weren't goin' anywhere.

Kirby wracked his nonexistent brain (that wasn't to say he wasn't smart, as much as Dedede liked to joke about his biological lack) for some sort of logical solution to this that didn't involve his first (impulsive, that Mexican accent echoed in his head) instinct; which was, as usual, to bash his way out.

Alright now, Kirby. There's no need to think like a Bonkers. There's gotta be some other way out of this...

Despite his resolve to avoid a direct confrontation unless it was absolutely necessary, Kirby found himself mentally replaying his last battle with Billy; recalling the attacks he'd used and trying to come up with tactics of his own for the battle he knew was probably coming.

Hey, at least I'm still technically thinking and not acting completely on impulse, right?

Mike was vainly radioing Dustin for help in the background, repeating the same message over and over. Lucas was practicing with his slingshot. El was standing near him, just wondering what to do. Jonathan was pacing. Nancy was wrangling a gun out of the holster of a dead Russian guard who had been killed when El had flung the display car earlier. Will and Max were watching.

Kirby was practicing with his new Copy Ability, levitating and clutching his head, eyes closed, an electric energy field surrounding his body and a ball of psychic energy over his head. He released a battle cry as he let it burst dropped back to the ground.

"That feels like... El's power..." Will noted somewhat warily as he felt that familiar tingle along his skin, seeing Kirby could do far more with it than just telekinesis.

Kirby frowned as he looked down at his nubs, letting them light up with electrical psionic energy once more.

"It's PSI," Kirby said in recognition, remembering all the times Ness had kicked his butt with it during the Smash Bros. tournaments.

("PK Thunder!" Ness's voice echoed in his head)

"It's not the exact same as El's powers, but similar, since it's also psychic. Instead of moving things, though, it lets you attack with pure psychic energy. I think I'll call this Copy Ability..."

Kirby hummed thoughtfully.

"ESP," he decided. "Fitting," Nancy murmured. Kirby looked thoughtfully at his nubs, still sparking with psychic power. "I don't understand why I would've gotten this from swallowing that piece of Zero-Monster that was in El's leg, though."

"Well, Zero's psychic," Will said, as if it should've been obvious. "Huh?" Kirby asked cluelessly. "That's how he's connected to everything in the Upside Down, and to his hosts. It's psychic. That's why, if we close the Gate, everything connected to him on our side dies. The psychic connection gets cut off," Will elaborated.

"Oh!" Kirby said, grinning in realization. That was right. Voids were psychic, weren't they? Mind power. How else could they recreate physical things from memory alone; physical things they could control with their minds?

How else did Zero control Dark Matter?

Because all Dark Matter creatures were just pieces of him, he had a psychic connection to everything that was physically separate from the rest of him.

That was why Gooey was good; when Kirby swallowed and accidentally imbued him with positive energy, Zero's evil influence was removed; Gooey's psychic connection to Zero and all other Dark Matter snapping and leaving him as his own person. The only reason he survived was because Kirby's positive energy replaced the lifeline that was the connection to Zero.

It filled the void left by that lost bond and kept Gooey alive even after he was separated from his creator. He was still made of Dark Matter, but Kirby's positivity made him good; gave him the ability to shoot stars, even, instead of dark lightning. It was also why Gooey was so... well, Gooey.

His Dark Matter-composed body didn't like the positive energy filling it, but that positivity held his unstable body together all the same, even if his energies were constantly clashing against each other.

It was why he was always practically on the verge of melting, and why he was so scatterbrained. It was why his body was bright blue instead of pure black; why he had a tongue, why he had two eyes instead of one.

Kirby had never thought to wonder how Zero had torn his own skin open only to immediately heal it seamlessly, or how he'd thrown the resulting globs of congealed blood with such precision, even with no limbs.

How he'd somehow managed to completely gouge his own eye out without the ability to touch it.

Kirby shuddered at the memory.

"Well, anyway, PSI is powerful. It was powerful enough to turn Giegue into Giygas, destroying his mind. It'll be powerful enough to fight our way out of this, too," Kirby said with a determined glare, the humming electrical energy around his nubs fizzling out as he looked intensely out the windows of the mall's doors, where the headlights of Billy's car still shone from where it sat blocking any possible escape from the mall's parking lot.

While Will and (especially) El appeared disturbed by the casual mention of the literal mind-destroying power of PSI, Max merely stared at Kirby with an unreadable, almost disappointed expression.

"You're gonna kill him, aren't you?" She asked quietly. Kirby's glare immediately disappeared, his gaze previously fixed in Billy's direction instead turning toward Max with a double-take. He was horrified.

"K-ki--of course not!" Kirby said, waving his nubs frantically to deny that he'd do such a thing.

But if it comes to it... he guiltily added in his head.

"Look, if I beat him up enough, the Dark Matter Zero's possessing him with will be forced out of his body. Just like with El, remember? That way, he won't die when the Gate closes," Kirby assured.

Then, he blinked.

"Actually, in that case, I kind of need to fight him. Like, right now. We need to get that Dark Matter out of him before the Gate closes; or else he'll die, too."

Max thought for a long moment, that expression of hers, no longer fixed on Kirby, instead staring into space as she considered his words.

"Okay," she said quietly. "Just... don't hurt him too bad."

Then, her gaze hardened into that familiar glare, actually bringing Kirby relief at the return of her normal self. Though he could tell it was more a mask than anything else, considering the sheen in her eyes, he'd take that over the sad expression any day.

"Got it?" Max demanded.

"Wait, wait, wait," Nancy said, squinting skeptically. "You're gonna fight him?"

"I fought him once before," Kirby pointed out. "At the pool; and you saw me beat El--sorry about that, by the way!" Kirby sheepishly apologized to the psychic girl, earning him a weak smile.

Nancy bit her lip. "Yeah, but... that wasn't just you. You had your little friends that time, and Billy--no offense, El--is physically way stronger."

Kirby determinedly glared in Billy's direction again. "I've fought stronger things," he said with the absolute certainty of someone who had seen things. "If you say so," Nancy said in a resigned, 'don't say I didn't warn you' tone. Kirby briefly shivered as he remembered all the times Dedede had practically crushed him with that awful trip-tackle attack of his (not to mention the dreaded Jump Attack) and when he had fought and almost been crushed by HR-D3 what was--he believed--six days ago at this point.

His heart briefly shrank at the sudden realization of how long it had been since that fateful trip to Halcandra. If only he hadn't been so willing to beat up Landia... he wouldn't be stuck here right now.

Kirby shook his head.

Enough of that! That's all in the past. It's a good thing I'm here, because now I can protect these Humans from my problem. I can't afford to get distracted right now. All that matters for now is beating Zero. I can... I'll worry about getting back home later.

Kirby was beginning to scare himself with how often that thought repeated.

(I'll worry about getting back later.)

WHEN?

"Rrrrgggghh, shut up!" Kirby growled, clutching his cap-wearing head.

He froze as he realized that he'd just said that out loud.

"Um..." Nancy said. "Dude, are you okay?" Max asked. "Yeah!" Kirby replied, turning around to face his Human friends with his normal bright smile.

It clearly wasn't fooling them.

"Voices," El said. "H-huh?!" Kirby exclaimed, taking an involuntary step backward. How did she know?! Was it because she was psychic?!

"I hear them, sometimes, too," El said, much to Kirby's surprise. "My voice. Telling me what I've done wrong. Telling me it won't get better."

Kirby felt a sad sort of companionship. She knew what this was like?

"You'll get back home," El said firmly, pinpointing the source of his worries with her usual frightening accuracy. Kirby felt a small smile slowly grow on his face, becoming a grin. She couldn't have known whether he could actually find a way home or not, but the sheer certainty in her voice...

Something about it made him feel... strong. Resolute. Sure.

Kirby nodded firmly. "Yeah! You're right!" He said.

El smiled at him almost... playfully.

"Go."


Kirby walked out the doors of the mall, the switch from an almost obnoxiously air-conditioned space to a warm summer night hitting him like a wall.

Billy's car was still sitting there, at the far end of the parking lot, headlights practically blinding Kirby. Kirby forced down the panic that came with the memory it brought him.

It's not moving, it's not moving...

Having calmed down, Kirby glared determinedly at the car.

He took a deep breath.

"ZERO!!!" He screamed, head inclined toward the sky.

The silence was deafening in the wake of such a loud scream. It stretched on for a few, agonizing moments as Kirby's cry echoed through the parking lot.

The driver's side door of Billy's car opened, the sound distant as it slammed closed. The man himself, or rather, the one controlling him, stepped out and began to walk toward Kirby.

Kirby decided to meet him halfway, and started toward him as well.

The two met at the center of the parking lot, Billy's face utterly blank.

"Puffball," Zero acknowledged simply, by way of greeting.

"Zero," Kirby nodded back. Billy's mouth formed a sick smirk. "I see you didn't quite appreciate what I did to your friend."

Kirby glared furiously.

"That's right!" He exclaimed. "How'd you appreciate that giant cut down the middle of your face?" He retorted.

Billy scowled.

"Greatly," Zero sarcastically answered through him. "I see you've learned how to weaponize your own Matters," Zero observed casually. "Yeah!" Kirby confirmed angrily, feeling very much like a threat.

Zero was visibly unfazed by such an emotional display.

"I'm gonna use that power to stop you!" Kirby declared, shifting a foot back as he entered a battle stance, not paying heed in the slightest to the fact that the body Zero was puppeting utterly towered over him.

"Don't be so foolish," Zero chided. "Most Voids take centuries, occasionally millennia, to harness such a power and become fully mature. You have admitted yourself to being a mere twelve years of age. Those pathetic Humans," Zero pointed at the mall, "are older than you. You aren't even ready for such power, and you think you, an undercooked Puffball, can stand up to an ancient such as myself with it?"

"Technically, poyo," Kirby began, "I'm older than you. This latest reincarnation of yours is only, like," Kirby muttered as he thought about how long it had been since he'd last killed Zero, "six years old," Kirby said.

"Enough with your wise comments, Puffball," Zero snarled.

"Mentally, I am ancient. Voids only retain memories between incarnations if they are of the same Matter as those past incarnations. If you were a Destroyer such as myself in your past life, which your mental immaturity and seeming lack of memory would seem to suggest, that is why you no longer remember. But I have been a Destroyer for my past three lives, and before you ended my first negative incarnation with that accursed Love-Love Stick, I had existed in that incarnation for eons."

Zero, through Billy, looked down at Kirby with pure scorn.

"You are just a premature child."

"Poyo!" Kirby cried, the familiar accusation of immaturity getting a rise out of him; as he levitated into the air and sent a ball of psychic energy at Billy. It knocked him back a bit, but besides that, he remained on his feet. "Temperance, child," Zero spat. "I am not finished."

"Oh yeah, you are!" Kirby retorted, levitating into the air as another energy ball materialized over his head. Something suddenly wrapped around him with crushing force, breaking his concentration and causing the energy ball to dissipate. The force that had wrapped around his body threw him back to the ground.

Kirby opened his eyes just in time to catch a tendril of Dark Matter snake back toward Billy and turn back into a normal Human arm. Zero glared.

"You do not even wish to know how I found you?"

Kirby paused.

"I thought so," Zero said. Had he the ability to feel such things, there might have been smugness in his tone. As it stood, it was up to Kirby to be the emotional one in this conversation. He glared furiously at his evil counterpart, irked to no end that Zero had information he wanted; and by extension, control over the conversation.

"You really haven't realized it on your own, yet?" Zero asked, making Billy's eyebrows raise in faux surprise. "I suppose you really are every bit the emotion-driven, unthinking child I initially suspected, after all."

Kirby knew he shouldn't be giving Zero the (facsimile of) satisfaction, but he physically flinched upon hearing the dig at his intelligence. His glare intensified.

"Anyway," Zero continued, not caring about Kirby's visible offense, "the piece of my vessel that I implanted in the Human girl's body allowed me to track her to this place. Then, you purged it from her with your Matters and swallowed it to gain the Copy Ability you have now."

"Technically," Zero gave a smile lacking feeling, "it was the fault of both of you."

Kirby flinched. That familiar nagging voice he hated so much returned.

My fault.

His own voice.

"Alright, enough stalling!" Kirby said, physically shaking his head as if it would rid him of the guilt. "Why do you want to talk so bad?! What do you want, poyo?!"

Zero forced another smirk onto Billy's face.

"As foolish as you are, making yourself my enemy, as a fellow Void, I do hold a certain respect for you. You have proven yourself a worthy opponent, so I believe it is only fair that I warn you..."

Billy spread his arms wide as if in welcoming; his eyes rolled back and the corners of his lips quirked upward in a horrifying imitation of a smile, causing the red eye that had suddenly appeared inside his mouth to appear as if it were glaring.

"I am coming," Zero spoke the words telepathically, no longer interacting with Kirby as if he was really there and not just using Billy as an extension of himself, but as the incomprehensibly powerful being from beyond that he really was, communicating from across worlds and using a much more insignificant being as the mortal vessel for what was only a tiny piece of himself; a representative on this plane.

Kirby stared in horror at the terrifying image as more words were beamed into his head from across space and time.

"The Soul Matter generated by all the miserable souls trapped in my amalgam of a new body has made me even more powerful. No longer am I of only the Matter Most Dark. I now have the power of Soul Matter, as well; a power great enough to allow me to slowly transfer myself out of that worthless realm of rot and fully into my flesh body on this plane. And when I have been fully transferred into this realm, I will cast that flesh vessel aside and assume my true new form in all its glory!"

Zero had begun shouting at the tale-end of his rant. The uncharacteristic emotion Zero was displaying was horrifying to Kirby; the mad-Void's plans even more so.

"I will no longer be Zero. I will be Zero Three!"

Though he was terrified at the idea of Zero fully escaping the Upside Down, the concept of such a thing happening also made Kirby all the more determined to stop that plan from coming to fruition.

"Not if I have anything to say about it, poyo!" Kirby challenged.

Billy's smile sharpened, causing the glare from the eye in his mouth to sharpen in turn. "With any luck..." Billy's mouth closed, sealing that awful eye away, and his normal eyes rolled back into place. He was now glaring with them. He transformed his arm into a spike of Dark Matter and sent it rocketing straight at Kirby, who was still too stunned from the rapid transformation to be ready.

https/youtu.be/6fRYIHGm6Ic

"You won't."


Vs.

The Hand of the Void

Zeroed Billy EX

Zero's remotely-controlled body on Earth, built for the express purpose of killing El, is made of around thirty melted Humans. All the suffering souls trapped within the beast have generated--and imbued Zero with--Soul Matter, making him more powerful than ever--powerful enough to begin transferring his full essence out of the Upside Down and into that body! If he succeeds in getting his whole being across to Earth, he'll be too powerful to stop. Since all connected to Zero share his now boosted power, the possessed Billy has been made even stronger! Kirby! Free him of Zero's influence and stop this evil plot!


The Dark Matter-spike struck Kirby sharply in the stomach, sending him flying. It followed him through the air, morphing into a giant hand, grabbing him, and slamming him into the asphalt, halting his impromptu flight.

As the hand retracted, Kirby lifted his head up from the small crater he had formed. Small, glittering pieces of gravel fell from his face as he glared at Zeroed Billy. Zeroed Billy charged at him. Kirby narrowed his eyes, and let the instinctive (albeit basic; it was up to him to refine his Copy Abilities) knowledge of this Copy Ability's moves take over.

Right before Billy would've collided with him, Kirby disappeared with Vanish.

He reappeared in midair behind Billy, who was unable to react in time and was struck with an explosive ball of electrical, psychic energy: the technique known as PK Electroshift.

Kirby fell back to the ground, just in time for Zeroed Billy to punt him into the air as if he were a football. Kirby reoriented himself in midair and summoned a Warp Star for the first time in this world. It flew in from behind him, catching him as he fell lower.

Kirby let out an enraged cry as he charged straight at Zeroed Billy, smashing into him with the Warp Star and flying around with him still stuck to the front of it. Kirby wanted to think of it as payback, but Billy hitting him with his car the night of his arrival to this world had been a complete accident, and he wasn't even under Zero's control at that point, yet, anyway.

It was still a bit cathartic, though.

Kirby did a loop-de-loop through the air, before beelining for the asphalt, front of the Warp Star (Billy still stuck to it like a bug to a windshield) aimed straight at the ground.

Impact. Dust everywhere. A decently-sized crater in the center of the parking lot.

With his Warp Star having been destroyed on impact, Kirby was reduced to standing as he squinted through the dust, coughing.

A fist flew at him through the gloom, too quick for Kirby to react, and connected with his face.

Billy took staggering steps toward Kirby, before collapsing onto his hands and knees. His breaths were labored and heaving. They turned into groans.

Something was squelching.

Kirby coughed as he sat up; the punch having knocked him flat on his back.

The squelching got louder. Groans turned to pained almost-screams. "Billy?" Kirby asked as he got to his feet. What was going on? Was Billy trying to fight it? "Billy?"

Billy began screaming as the squelching got louder and louder. He slowly turned his tear-stained face upward to make eye-contact with Kirby.

His eyes were devoid of the usual malice. His voice was, too, when he suddenly spoke.

"K-" he devolved into a brief coughing fit. "Kir-Kirby..."

"Billy!" Kirby cried. Had he weakened him enough to force Zero out? Did he just need one more big push?

"Kirby..."

The groans and squelching disappeared, everything was dead-silent.

Kirby waited with baited breath.

Billy's lips parted.

"Run," he whispered.

All of a sudden, the screams returned in full force. The squelching gave way to wet tearing.


"Dedede?" Kirby asked, concerned, as his rival continued to squirm on the ground. The storm that was the Hyper Zone whirled and whooshed overhead.

"K-Kirbeh... Kirby..."

Kirby's mouth hung open in horror. Dedede met his gaze.

"Help me!" He cried as his stomach ripped open.


Kirby was snapped harshly out of the bad memory by another punch to the face, followed by a fist squeezing his entire body like a stress ball. Kirby cried out as he felt himself go airborne.

But this time, the hand that held him wasn't letting go. Kirby opened his eyes. Through the fingers caging the entire front of his body, including his face, he was just able to make out Billy's own face. There was no trace of the real Billy there, anymore. All that was left was an animalistically enraged Zero. Past his head, the night sky and neon lights of Starcourt Mall whirled around and around as he flew Kirby through the air.

There was bloody, torn skin surrounding two open wounds on his shoulder blades, red mixing with black. And from the two holes protruded two somewhat small, yet effective black limbs vaguely shaped like wings, flapping rapidly. They were black and goopy, yet dripped a viscous, blue liquid; a drippy liquid Kirby recognized as the familiar sign of Soul Matter.

He's... getting stronger...

Zeroed Billy made a sharp downward arc and threw Kirby into the ground. Kirby barely had time to cry out before Billy propelled himself straight down at the Puffball, fist-first.

Punch.

Zeroed Billy crouched over him, teeth clenched, face twisted in wrath and utter hatred.

Punch.

The small crater formed from their initial impact deepened.

Punch.

Kirby was briefly blinded by a white flash, felt power pulling away from him, and heard the telltale clink of an Ability Star bouncing away. His head felt a little lighter; a bit colder than before.

Punch.

Heart and Dream Matter spurted from his mouth.

Punch.

A small puddle made from the stuff getting smacked out of him formed beneath his body.

Punch.

"You-"

Punch.

"Have-"

Punch.

"Defied-"

Punch.

"Me-"

Punch.

"For-"

Punch.

"The-"

Punch.

"Last-"

Punch!

"Time!!!"

Zeroed Billy stood and backed off, panting. His fists were dripping pink and yellow.

Kirby groaned, letting out small, hiccuping sobs. He rolled over onto his stomach and vomited, yet more of his lifeblood spilling out of him as pink and yellow liquid, hearts and stars swirling about lazily within it like the rainbow swirls of the Halberd's fuel. Kirby spat a glob of it out.

Thank NOVA he didn't have teeth.

"Why must you make it come to this?" Zero quietly inquired.

Kirby spat out the last of the Matter from his mouth, turning to look at Zero. He staggered to his feet, one eye squinted shut in pain. If Kirby had blood or was capable of swelling, that eye would probably be black for weeks.

"Why are you even fighting for them?" Zero asked, head tilted curiously; just like most Puffballs did when they were curious about something. Zero's curiosity was clinically detached. He still genuinely seemed mildly interested in Kirby's answer, nonetheless.

"Are they truly worth such pain? Look at you, weeping and leaking your own Matters all over the ground. It's pathetic. And for what? Worthless life-forms that will never live a quarter as long as you will?"

Kirby remained silent, contemplating this. He hadn't really thought of that before, how he'd almost certainly outlive most of his friends.

"What will you have of them in two-hundred years? Regrets that you caused yourself such pain fighting for them? If I were to not finish you off right now, you would live to see this planet crumble to dust and blow away. Their lifespans, your attachment to them... by the time your own current life ends, the chapter of your life they had been part of will feel like a blink. As someone who has eons-worth of memories myself, I know this."

Kirby still did not answer.

"In what will seem like a mere moment in a few centuries, their lives will have come and gone. So, why?Why do you, a Void, stoop down to their measly level? Why do you put an eternal being such as yourself in such danger for mortal beings so much lower than you?"

"Because," Kirby coughed, bitterly spitting out another glob of his Matters, "they're my friends..."

"Your 'friends'?" Zero sneered mockingly. "Even if such a concept actually meant anything, my point still stands. These beings who you have become so attached to will be dead long before you reach Voidkind's generally agreed-upon age range of adolescence. This struggle--this pain you put yourself through for them is so utterly pointless it makes me genuinely long for the ability to sincerely laugh at it."

Kirby glared. "You're wrong..." he growled. Zero raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"They won't be gone. Even when their bodies stop working, even when their bodies turn to dust, even when this planet turns to dust... I will always... always remember them. I will always love them. And no matter how much you think they're not..."

Kirby shouted now, tears leaking from his eyes.

"Those things are real!"

Billy's (Zero's) eyes became lazily half-lidded, as if Kirby was boring him. His wings had long since retracted back into his back, the flesh mended flawlessly back together, as if it hadn't been violently torn open.

"Friends aren't just physically living things! They're the memories we have of those people! The care we feel for them long after they're gone! If their short time living can still have an impact on me thousands of years from now..."

Kirby's nubs sparked, then his whole body burst with light. His pain began to melt away. He felt his strength returning. His squinted eye fully reopened. He flung himself at Zeroed Billy, nub-poised for a punch.

https/youtu.be/VpxzYvvtsIQ

"Then they'll always be worth it!"

Kirby's nub connected with Zeroed Billy's face, releasing an explosion of compressed positive energy on impact that sent him flying backward. He stood and hurled spikes of Dark Matter at Kirby. Kirby moved too fast for the Human eye to follow, yet so smoothly all the same, movements so unnaturally fluid. He cleanly dodged every spike hurled his way, twirling gracefully out of the way of each one.

Dark spots appeared on Zeroed Billy's arms, before lifting off his skin and forming into small blobs of Dark Matter. A cloud of countless of these blobs quickly formed, and the entire cloud was hurled at Kirby at once.

Kirby spun in place so quickly he became a blur, repelling the entire cloud with his rapidly spinning nubs and forming a path right down the center where they all parted around him like river rapids around a rock.

He hadn't realized the cloud was just a distraction.

As soon as it cleared, a fist took up Kirby's entire field of vision, striking him directly in his face and sending him flying. Mimicking what he'd seen Simirrors do before, Kirby vanished in midair, only to reappear behind Zeroed Billy and hit him with an entire beam of Heart and Dream Matter.

Zero broke out the big guns after that.

Each of them pulled out new tricks and attacks they hadn't used before. Energy beams collided in midair. They met each other mid-charge a few times, fist and nub colliding and generating massive explosions that knocked the both of them back. They zipped about with inhuman speed. They punched, they kicked. They snarled and roared like the colliding cosmic opposites they were.

But Kirby was winning. Zeroed Billy was getting slower, and Kirby wasn't letting up at all. He continued charging, punching, kicking and blasting, screaming furiously all the while.

Kirby charged forward, jumped up, and punched Zeroed Billy in the nose, producing a distinct crack.

He flipped in midair, and even with seemingly no means of propelling himself again without touching the ground, still rocketed at the underside of Billy's head, planting a solid uppercut on his chin. Still suspended in midair, eyes glowing white and swirling with pink and yellow, he then spun in midair, striking the side of Zeroed Billy's head with a solid roundhouse kick.

Another punch.

Another kick.

Another teleportation.

Another energy ball.

Kirby reeled back, and fired a massive ball of energy at Zeroed Billy.

Kirby landed, waited to see what would happen.

Zeroed Billy got up. He snarled.

"Insolent little-"

He fired a spear of Dark Matter that impaled Kirby, the business end of it emerging from the other side of the Puffball's body and being embedded deeply into the asphalt on which he stood.

Zero breathed a sigh of relief.

Kirby(?) flickered and vanished.

Zero barely had the time to wonder what had happened before he was surrounded by countless Kirbies, all either glaring or smiling triumphantly. Some were laughing and taunting him with their annoying "poyo"'s. He spun helplessly in circles, utterly confused and not knowing what to do.

There was the sudden sound of a teleportation, then, a weight dropped onto his head.

"Surprise!"

And then--

Agony.


Zeroed Billy screamed an utterly inhuman scream that gradually deepened to monstrous levels as Kirby pressed his nubs, alight with positive energy, firmly into Billy's temples. The good old decoy trick had worked perfectly, and the subsequent distraction with several clones had worked just as Kirby had intended. He didn't know what it was about Matter Mode, but he didn't have to think. If he needed something to happen, it just happened, as if on instinct. It always felt like he was moving on autopilot.

Regardless, this ended now. Zero was getting out of Billy's head; for good.

Zeroed Billy's whole body was now outlined with the same glow as Kirby's nubs. Just like he'd done with El, Kirby was essentially burning the Dark Matter out. Billy screamed and thrashed, but Kirby was not letting go, no matter how deafening or otherworldly his screams became.

Eventually, he went limp, albeit still on his feet. He stopped screaming, stopped struggling. His head tilted back, and Kirby, sensing his job was done, let go, dropping back to the ground. Billy lightly seizured as his eyes rolled into the back of his head and his mouth fell open, Dark Matter shooting upward and out of it like a geyser.

As soon as the last of it had exited his body, his eyes rolled back into place, his mouth closed, and he fell to the ground, unconscious, Kirby catching him with his enhanced strength just before he hit the ground. Kirby lowered Billy's body gently to the ground, before glaring up at the Dark Matter as it condensed above him.

Those familiar orange spheres appeared. It was slightly larger than the average Dark Matter though, and multiple orange eyes soon opened all over it, reminding Kirby of Miracle Matter. Rather than one singular Dark Matter, it seemed more like Billy had been possessed by three fused together.

All the eyes glared.

"THIS. IS. NOT. OVER. WHEN I CROSS FULLY INTO THIS WORLD, I WILL ANNIHILATE YOU AND EVERY LAST ONE OF YOUR WORTHLESS LITTLE HUMAN PETS. MARK MY WORDS, PUFFBALL, YOU WILL KNOW THE TRUE MEANING OF-"

Kirby's eyes became half-lidded, unimpressed.

The same look Zero had given him earlier through Billy.

He raised a nub and casually blasted a small energy beam at the Dark Matter, disintegrating it in just a few moments.

"Alright, now that that's done..."

Kirby looked down at the (deeply) unconscious Billy. Thank NOVA Zero made his hosts extremely durable, or else the battle might have killed Billy. As it stood, though, he would probably just be out for a few hours; and maybe a bit sore later.

Kirby had not only attacked physically, but with pure positive energy as well. As such, it would probably take Billy longer to wake up from that than it took Adeleine to wake up from the beatings he'd had to give her in the past to free her.

Kirby smiled softly down at Billy, stroking his face with a nub. He gave Billy a few congratulatory pats.

"It's alright. You're safe, now," Kirby whispered softly.

"I've got you."


Mike and the others had just gotten finished flipping that God-forsaken car over so they could take its ignition cable and get out of here when something opened one of the front doors of the mall.

Everyone tensed at first, afraid it was the possessed Billy, having defeated Kirby and gotten tired of toying with the rest of them.

Then they saw the pink Puffball in question, body glowing pink and yellow like it had at the cabin and dragging an unconscious Billy behind him by the ankle with almost unsettling ease, considering their size difference.

Everyone ran over, calling Kirby's name. He visibly brightened when he saw them, the glow around his body intensifying almost imperceptibly. "Kirbs!" Mike called as he scooped the glowing Puffball up and hugged him tightly, laughing. "You were awesome! We didn't get the chance to watch but we all saw the flashes of light and heard the explosions and stuff out there!"

Mike set Kirby down, ignoring the way his skin tickled strangely where it touched Kirby's glowing body.

Max looked down with wide eyes at her unconscious brother.

"Is he... okay? Did you get that fucker out of him?" She asked.

"Yeah," Kirby sighed in relief. "Zero's out of him. He's gonna be okay, now."

To both Kirby and everyone else's surprise, Max suddenly dropped down and hugged the pink Puffball. "Thanks," she said, voice a little unsteady. Kirby's look of wide-eyed surprise was replaced with a bright smile, and he tightly hugged her back, the glow around his body pulsing.

Max pulled away, stood, hurriedly scrubbed away a few tears, and playfully smiled down at Kirby. "Alright, don't expect me to ever get that lovey-dovey again, got it?"

Kirby giggled. "Got it!"

Then, the glow around his body faded, and the swirling colors and shine in his eyes vanished. Kirby swayed on his feet a few times, before falling flat onto his stomach. Ordinarily, a bubble would emerge from his nonexistent nose and his sleeping cap would appear on his head.

However, as he was currently fighting with every fiber of his being to stay awake, he was able to just stop himself from sliding past the threshold into sleep.

"Whoa, Kirbs," Mike said, worried. He kneeled and scooped Kirby up. "Are you alright?" Kirby yawned. "Yeah, poyo, just tired."

"Can't blame you there," Mike chuckled. "We've just got a few questions, though. Did Zero say anything... weird, somehow? It's just..." Mike bit his lip. "El's powers aren't working."

Kirby's eyes widened, sleepiness forgotten. "Not working?" He asked, head tilted. "Yes," El whispered sadly.

"Did Zero say anything about El's powers?" Nancy asked hopefully. "Yeah. You know, like some kind of villain monologue?" Lucas asked.

"No," Kirby answered, then he thought for a few moments. His eyes widened. He snapped his nub. Somehow. "Oh, wait! Guys, what if I didn't get the ESP ability from Zero's psychic powers in that piece of him, but El's? What if it kinda... drained her while it was in there?"

Everyone's eyes widened.

"Kirby... are you saying you... took my powers?" El asked hesitantly.

Kirby shrugged. "Uh. My--my bad?"

"Is--is there any way you can give those back?" Jonathan asked shakily. Kirby shook his head sadly. "Billy knocked the ability out of me and it vanished. And it doesn't work that way, anyway."

El stared at him blankly. Everyone else looked some degree of scared.

"Don't worry, though, poyo!" Kirby said. "You said your battery's run low and recharged before, right El?"

El furrowed a brow, but answered nonetheless. "That's it, then!" Kirby said triumphantly.

Kirby hopped out of Mike's arms and began pacing back and forth in front of them all, still with his bright smile.

"You overused them at the cabin, then really overused them throwing that car, and in between all of that, that piece of Zero was inside your leg, draining you. Remember what I said a few days ago? Destroyer Voids usually don't Inhale like I do, but they still copy the abilities of others like I do. Us Voids don't take all of someone's power, though! You'll probably be drained for a lot longer than usual, but your powers'll naturally come back eventually!"

Everyone's eyes gradually widened throughout Kirby's speech, and by the time he'd finished, El was giving him a small smile. They looked reassured.

Kirby's own smile faded a bit as he remembered how this conversation had started in the first place. They wanted to know what Zero had said...

Kirby sighed as he looked at them all.

"Actually... there's something else you guys need to know, too. Something really, really important."

"We're listening," Mike said on everyone else's behalf.

Kirby explained.


"So this... energy..." Nancy slowly began, looking a bit sick. "This energy that's turned people who had previously died into monsters in your world... Zero's been powered up by it... because of all the souls he absorbed to make that weapon of his."

"And... now he's using that power to slowly cross over to our side, using that body as a... receiver, I guess, until he's all the way through; at which point, we're basically screwed," Lucas finished.

"That's... that's basically it, yeah," Kirby regretfully confirmed.

"Jesus. Jesus," Jonathan said, voice wavering, as he punched bridge of his nose and began pacing.

Nancy visibly plastered on a mask of optimism, clearly trying to be the reliable adult and reassure the kids.

It wasn't working very well.

"Well, let's just let Hopper, Joyce, and Murray do their job and close the Gate to cut off his connection to our world before that can happen. While you were fighting Billy, we took the ignition cable from that display car El threw earlier, meaning, we can leave, now," Nancy said.

"Oh, cool!" Kirby said. "Because he was super mad when I forced him out of Billy and his giant monster body is probably on its way."

Nancy grimaced.

"Alright, then. I guess we should probably leave as soon as possible."

She clapped her hands.

"Alright, everyone. Get up, get your stuff, and let's go."

Everyone followed her instructions. Mike offered Kirby a ride on his shoulders, which the tired Puffball gratefully accepted. Max and Lucas helped El walk, letting her lean on them for support. Jonathan and Nancy worked together to carry the unconscious Billy. They were about to start toward the door when--

From the massive skylight above them, the sound of glass shattering. One of the panels of glass in the massive skylight had been broken. Everyone startled and turned around as shards fell to the floor.

Then, a distorted version of a laugh Kirby knew quite well echoed eerily throughout the whole foyer from above.

"HEAH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

Kirby's eyes widened.


https/youtu.be/dFkxJPRv65g

A/N: I'm not quite sure how I feel about the fight scene, but what can you do? I want to pump out the last few chapters before I go on vacation to Upstate New York for three weeks, but this took a lot out of me; for obvious reasons. This is, at the time of this writing, currently the biggest chapter in this fic!

We'll see how the next few weeks pan out.

And yeah. Don't know if anyone caught this, but Dedede, Meta Knight, and Bandana falling apart with Dedede being the one trying to hold everyone together and almost fighting Meta Knight in (albeit selfish) defense of Magolor and his seeming inability to find Kirby was a direct parallel to how Mike, Lucas, and Dustin (the latter being the one trying to hold them together) were during season one when Will disappeared and Mike got into a fight with Lucas over El's usefulness in finding him. Here's that scene, by the way, for those who haven't watched Stranger Things.

https/youtu.be/yJftfMysx-A

Goodness, I forgot how much of a masterpiece that scene is.

Normally, Will and Kirby are the ones who hold their respective groups together, but in their absence, Dustin and Dedede, respectively, are the ones who have to take over that role.

I just love parallels!

On a more real note... YA'LL. This thing took ALL WEEK. So, please share your thoughts on it in the comments, even if they're short. It keeps me motivated and makes me feel like writing this giant thing was worth it. I'll also answer any questions you may have (as long as they don't spoil the finale, that is!). Speaking of the finale, there will be two more chapters of that, then a post-finale chapter for our characters to cool off, followed by an epilogue, which brings us to twenty-four total chapters (I messed up the count saying twenty-five last time; that's been fixed).

With that said, I hope you all enjoyed, and I'll see you all...

Next time...


https/youtu.be/wfXleu3LsgY

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The Eternal Rivals