Chapter Six:
Parting Ways and Going Home
Shadow Matter's very being began to distort and slowly disintegrated, surrounded by a blinding beam of light that ripped away at the monster. For Shadow Matter, every atom in his very body was splitting and dissolving. His eye dimmed and flashed, the trident dropped from his hands, and he dropped to his knees as they gave out under him.
"Curse you, Kirby!" He wailed, "This is not the end, there is more of me out there! One day, my brethren will take their revenge and avenge my defeat and loss. Until then, YOU CAN HAVE YOUR THRONE BACK, PRINCE FURRNUTSO!"
As everyone watched on, the creature that had used the Lion Warrior Doofustacar Barkleyastum Toneygus to take over the cat kingdom planet let out one last scream of rage before fading out of existence as the darkness departed the room. The Magic Furry Star Staff glowed and whatever remained of Shadow Matter vanished for good.
Just then, Toneygus reappeared from thin air, still limp on the floor. Meta Knight approached him, followed by Kirby, Dedede, Fuzzyton, Furrnutso and their Waddle Dee pals, all wondering what came next.
For a short time, Toneygus lay still. And then, they heard him breathing. Seconds later, the lion awoke and stood, scratching his head with a paw.
"What happened?" He asked, "And... who are you guys?"
It took a while to bring the lion up to speed on what had happened with Kirby being the one to tell him that the Magical Furry Star Staff had exorcised Shadow Matter from his very body. Once the story had been told, the lion took it pretty well, despite the shock he was feeling. He then looked at Furrnutso, lowering his head in apology.
"Don't worry about it." Dedede told him, "At least you can make amends and new friends, everything that you did with taking over the kingdom wasn't you. So now, everyone can see the real you."
"Thank you, King Dedede." Toneygus said, he bowed to Kirby and the others, "And thank you both for saving me from that horrible monster. May we eventually meet again."
"Perhaps it's time for us to go home." Meta Knight suggested, "We have done our duty. The planet is saved, its people are free and the rightful ruler of this world has been restored to the throne."
Furrnutso meowed, "We are in your debt for helping us."
"May I assist in cleaning the mess that the monster possessing me caused?" Toneygus offered, "Your majesty?"
Furrnutso bowed his head to the lion. "Yes, you may, Lion Warrior." He then turned to Kirby, "And as for you, young Kirby. To thank you for saving us from tyranny, you can actually have Fuzzynuts as your very own pet cat."
Kirby was amazed. "Wow, I can have a cat?" He exclaimed, "That's great, thank you, your highness!"
Fuzzytons meowed and rubbed his head against Kirby's round body, purring happily. The pink puffball scratched the cat's head, looking forward to the fun days that were waiting for them to happen. King Dedede smiled at Furrnutso, who mewed happily, and Toneygus extended a paw towards the cat king as the sun shone through the windows.
-Sometime later-
-Aboard the ETM Ding Ding (on the way home)
Kirby smiled as he stroked Fuzzyton upon his soft and furry head, scratching the back of his pointy ears and fiddling with his whiskers. The two of them sat together by a window, watching the stars streak by as the Ding-Ding traveled at warp speed, transporting the pink puff, his new pet, King Dedede and the others including Meta Knight back to Planet Popstar.
He looked at the little cat laying next to him and fiddled with his whiskers. Wow, what an amazing reward for saving the universe; a pet cat for Kirby.
While the heroic pink puffball was busy giving his newfound pet all the attention Fuzzyton so needed, Dedede and Meta Knight were chatting amongst themselves about how much of a joke that Shadow Matter being really was compared to Nightmare, who was a tough customer, whose defeat was only ensured thanks to the power of the Star Rod.
And speaking of the Star Rod, it had been separated from the Fur Staff in order to disband the Magical Furry Star Staff, restoring both rods back to normal.
Kirby sat back, holding Fuzzyton in his arm, and looked out the window at the vastness of space once more, thinking of a hopeful future. As far as everyone else knew, the universe was safe and all was well. That was good enough for Kirby, especially since it would be a long time before he had to deal with any sinister beings akin to Shadow Matter again.
Now, it was time to rest and enjoy his time with a cute alien cat as his pet...
The End
