Hello friends! Sorry for the delay, it took me a while to really get the fight down. This one is actually one of the shorter chapters, but I hope it's good. Enjoy!
-Joost
Out There In The Dark
Chapter 3: Nil
Zero glared down on Kirby and Gooey. Malice swirled inside its deep, red eye as it stared down at the little pink nuisance and the traitorous deviant. Such a pitiful sight, it thought. Neither 'hero' had any idea who, or really what, they were facing.
Kirby remained stoic and held the Love-Love Stick up and towards Zero. Gooey, still afraid of his creator and former leader, kept behind his friend.
Zero's gaze became uninterested, as if being faced against the two was quite beneath it. It mused about how much of a danger Kirby could truly be, if any. It felt as if it had better things to do with its time, the prospect of conquering Pop Star being far greater than facing the planets' pink defender. Without much hesitation, it fired a volley of blood from several slits on its body at the hero.
A large splat sound resonated throughout the Hyper Zone, and Kirby was obscured by red. Zero thought that was it, but when the blood was swished away by the Love-Love Stick with ease, its eye widened.
The glob of bodily fluid was swatted away, and Kirby returned the gesture with a shot from his weapon. The impact pained Zero, a feeling foreign to the galactic terror.
Gooey built up some courage and spat out his own star at Zero, where it too hit the beast. It hurt as well, and then something within the leader snapped. The inky black clouds within the Hyper Zone started racing faster than before, and the Dark Matter troopers who were observing the scene drew in closer.
Zero deemed Kirby and Gooey to be worth its time now, seeing something within the two that it hadn't before. It swayed up and down as the clouds whizzed by, prepared to fight.
Kirby swung the Love-Love Stick and Gooey spat out stars in a synchronized rhythm, each projectile colliding with Zero at a blistering pace. Zero fought back with more volleys of blood, each just barely missing its targets.
The drones in the distance grew closer and closer, and seeing them gave Zero an idea. It winced and produced juvenile Dark Matter troopers and launched them at Kirby and Gooey. They flew past, one of them smashing into Gooey and leaving a light bruise on his side.
"Poyo!" Kirby exclaimed, angered at the sight of his friend being hurt again. His speed intensified, more hearts coming Zero's way.
Zero then chose to barrel towards Kirby and Gooey, slamming into them. Peculiarly, he kept going, escaping the hero's view and flying into the distance. From such a way away, the pink puffball couldn't hope of hitting it with the Love-Love Stick, a fact Zero was aware of. It took the opportunity to shoot more globs of blood at the pair.
Kirby and Gooey dodged the blood expertly, much to Zero's chagrin. When it returned to the playing field, Gooey was the first to fire back, striking the red eye.
A low, snarling sound reverberated from Zero's body at the impact, its eye closing for a moment. From there, more troopers formed and tried to tackle the heroes, but to no avail.
Meanwhile, back on the surface, Rick, Kine, Coo, Nago, Pitch, and ChuChu were in disarray. All were arguing about what on earth was going on in the sky. From where they stood, the only way they could tell that anything was happening was from the occasional Dark Matter trooper flying out from the clouds and quickly turning around and soaring back in.
"Guys, you know I can't fly that high!" Pitch cried, annoyed with the constant pestering.
"You and Coo are the only ones who can fly! You need to go up there and help Kirby!" Kine countered, a strange scowl on his face.
"Kine, you know I'm no good in storms!" Coo added, holding up his wings. How his feathers shuddered just from the high winds alone was proof.
"Fellas, we have to do something to help those two! Kirby and Gooey are all alone up there, fighting who knows what," said Rick, feeling the most worry for his companions.
"Well, why should we help Gooey?! He's one of them! Those… things!" ChuChu interjected. She was the most upset at the brief revelation of Gooey's past, almost devastated.
"Hey! Don't you dare think Gooey is like them! We know he's not!" Nago was nearly ablaze with anger at ChuChu's assumption.
"Will you all shut it?! All your yappin' is driving me CRAZY!"
King Dedede's bellowing voice overpowered all the rest. Everyone went silent and turned their heads towards the regal penguin. His face was gleamed with pure annoyance, feeling like he was surrounded by children, an ironic train of thought for him.
"Look, y'all keep arguing about how you're gonna help that little pink twerp, when you keep forgetting something big! It's Kirby! He'll be fine up there," King Dedede shouted, making sure to keep his words fast to avoid being interrupted. "If he can beat me, he'll surely be able to beat that menace up there!"
The rest glanced at each other, shocked and a little ashamed to be told off by Dedede. Their eyes, all conveying the same message, seemed washed up and tired. It'd been a long day.
All of them, even Dedede, looked back up to the clouds and hoped that Kirby and Gooey would be okay.
More stars and hearts plowed into Zero's body, each time making faint, red veins more and more pronounced along it. The leader of the Dark Matter clan was beginning to feel something new. Something akin to fear. Fear for a possible end of the thing it took for granted.
Kirby and Gooey were becoming ever more tired and exhausted, the constant dodging through the heavy, muggy air growing increasingly tiresome. They kept attacking Zero, however, determined to see the end of Dark Matter.
The darkness was closing in on the Hyper Zone, the clouds flying around at a speed almost impossible to recognize. The troopers that used to be dotted in the distance were now just meters away staring intently at the battle.
At long last, however, Zero's form couldn't take any more abuse. With one final smack from the Love-Love Stick, the Dark Matter decided to take a measure against its opponent. Its eye hemorrhaged. Blood squelched as it tore its way out of the white nest, sending the carcass out of the Hyper Zone and into space for a purpose it originally hoped it'd never need. Now facing just the blood-red eye, Kirby and Gooey had a feeling they had done it.
Zero's eye darted around, trying desperately to ram into Kirby and kill him. Such a blunt tactic would be futile, as the eye was its weakest form. The Love-Love Stick struck the eye repeatedly, blood getting flung away and staining a number of clouds.
The eye managed to hit Kirby again and again, stunning the star warrior. Before it could hit the pink hero again, Gooey bashed himself against the eye and spat out stars. Together, the heroes hit the eye one final time.
A horrible scream came from the eye as it began to collapse in on itself. It spun around wildly in vain, still trying to hit Kirby and Gooey. Its power had finally faded. The two friends huffed as they watched the eye slowly die.
Zero had finally been destroyed.
A veil of silence was cast over the Hyper Zone as all the onlooking Dark matter troopers flew around in horror at the defeat of their leader. One by one, they vanished, fading away into nothingness as Kirby and Gooey watched.
Gooey, however, was the last one remaining by the time the others disappeared. At first Kirby was fearful the same fate would befall his friend, but when nothing happened to the little blue blob, they both tilted their heads and gave each other a baffled look.
Whatever twist of fate that let Gooey exist beyond Zero was one Kirby was thankful for. Giving his friend a great big smile, the pink puffball raised the Love-Love Stick up in the air, causing it to glow.
A blinding sea of rainbow engulfed the interior of the Hyper Zone.
On the outside, the massive, black cloud began to rumble. Its size gradually diminished, in tandem with the growing sounds. At its peak, three beams, red, green, and blue respectively, shot out from the cloud. They held their places for a moment, waiting.
Then, the Hyper Zone burst apart violently, the explosion rocking the entire planet. Light returned to Dream Land as Kirby and Gooey hovered above where the dark cloud once resided. For a minute they just enjoyed the welcoming view. The revived landscape looked better than ever before, life making a blissful return.
They had done it. They beat Dark Matter. They won. For good was an idea they weren't sure of, whatever happened to the white shell Zero's eye burst out of being beyond them, but for now, Pop Star was safe.
Kirby and Gooey flew back down to the castle perched atop the Iceberg. They were reunited with their friends, all rushing to give them one big hug.
"Hey! You guys did it!" Rick commended his friends.
"Yeah! How was it? What was it like up there?" Kine asked with a wonderous glint in his eyes. Kirby just giggled and used his paw to mimic an airplane flying around.
"Gooey…" ChuChu said. Everyone paused and made way for the octopus to approach. She looked down on the googly-eye blob.
Gooey knew why she was eyeing him. He hopped up and presented his form that more closely resembled Dark Matter. The orange petals stood out from his deep blue coloration.
ChuChu took one look at Nago, who gently nodded. Returning her gaze to Gooey, she hugged him hesitantly.
"Even if you're one of them, you're still out friend," ChuChu said with a smile. Gooey's reaction made the others beam from ear to ear. He landed on the ground and wiggled around with joy.
"Hey Kirby," King Dedede said indifferently. Kirby pulled away from his friends and stood next to the king.
Dedede just peered down at the pink puffball and gave him a small thumbs-up. "You did good," he said.