Chapter Three:
The Cat Spaceship
-Less than an hour later-
After collecting the Star Rod and recruiting Meta Knight along with a couple Waddle Dees, Kirby, King Dedede and their friends were ready to go and met back up with the space cats. "Let's do it." Dedede told Prince Furrnutso.
On the cat monarch's command, a blue light beam appeared around the group and Kirby found himself being beamed up to the cats' spaceship. At this point, there was no turning back and nothing else had to be done.
No sooner than they were aboard, Kirby and crew took their time to take in their new surroundings. Looking at the interior of the spaceship and the cats who used it, these animals sure were far more advanced than anyone else was.
In fact, Kirby was mind-boggled by how these cats had evolved in terms of intelligence and were capable of doing what other races in the universe were able to do, the question of how it was possible would have to wait another day.
The ship's bridge was fully-functional with blinking lights and beeping equipment, operated by cats wearing helmets on their heads as they worked at knobs and levers built into the large white-colored control console.
Huge monitors were flickering, showing various images such as a grass-covered countryside with a daytime sky. Heck, the room almost smelled like sunflowers. Did this ship have some kind of air-conditioning? If so, then wow...
"Dear friends, welcome aboard our advanced state-of-the-art ship we known as the ETM Ding Ding." Prince Furrnutso said in a series of chattering meows, the other cats in the vicinity ceased their activity to salute their leader.
"It's one of our first exploration ships that we've been building in our factories for years." Fuzzyton added, "Our main intention in regards to space exploration is to search for new planets beyond ours just like yours for instance."
"Wow, you cats got everything aboard this spaceship." King Dedede said, he was sitting in a comfortable-looking seat and taking a look at an on-screen diagram that appeared to be a map of the ETM Ding Ding's interior.
The King of Dream Land pressed a button and a portrait of a cat sitting on a bedroom wall popped up on the screen, another button pressed allowed the screen to show the bedroom and then a spacious living room appeared.
"Oh yeah." Dedede remarked as he looked at a vault, "Looks like I just found a place where we can store the Star Rod for safekeeping during the journey, looks like we don't have to worry about anything."
Prince Furrnutso stepped forward; a paw raised. "But first," He meowed, "We must merge the Star Rod with the Magic Fur Rod if all of us are to stand a chance at restoring freedom to our planet."
Hearing the cat prince mention a 'Magic Fur Rod' made Kirby curious. "What's a Magic Fur Rod?" The pink puffball asked curiously, "Does it happen to be the cat planet's version of the Star Rod except it's a magic cat rod?"
"Yes." Fuzzyton replied, nodding his head. "The Magic Fur Rod is our most valued artifact, designed with the intent of maintaining peace and balance on our planet."
A group of cat guards came forward with a box and opened it up, revealing a fur-covered magic rod inside; The Magic Fur Rod. Dedede brought out the Star Rod and held it next to the Fur Rod, comparing and contrasting both artifacts.
The next thing anyone knew, there was a bright glowing light and everyone shielded their eyes as the Star Rod and the Magic Fur Rod interacted. When the light had faded, it appeared that both rods had merged into one.
Kirby looked at the unified McGuffin, his eyes widening with amazement when he saw the cat face upon the tip of the newly-created Magical Furry Star Staff, the weapon that would restore freedom and peace to the Cat Planet.
"Now that's been taken care of..." Prince Furrnutso mused with a low growl and a meow, "Let's put the weapon away for the time being." He turned to a helmeted cat, "Captain, set course for our home planet..."
"Aye, aye, captain." A cat meowed, the captain started meowing out orders to the other cats in the area and machinery beeped more than ever before. Kirby made his way to the ships' living room, ready for the long journey.
King Dedede held on to his seat and Meta Knight headed off somewhere to strap himself in, a computer buzzed repeatedly and the cats began meowing a countdown as the ship got ready to do something. "Zero!" Fuzzyton mewed.
KA BWSH! The ETM Ding Ding left Planet Popstar's gravitational axis behind and its engines roared like wild as the ship jumped into sub-light speed as all on board headed for the Planet of the Cats...
