Kirby's Dreamland 4
Written by Meta_Knight

Prelude

It was a calm peaceful day. Well, at least as peaceful as it ever gets on Pop Star, the planet with the annoying bad habit of getting taken over by various entities, be they nightmares, balls of black goo, or overeating penguins. It had been calm for a while now, and Kirby and friends were almost bored out of their skulls, exept for Kirby, of course, but mostly because he didn't have one. A visit to the beach was all they could think of to relieve boredom. Meta Knight was practicing his swordplay with ChuChu, and was dismayed at being beaten by something that didn't even have hands. Kirby was being buried by Nago, but never got that far because it is extremely hard to bury a rubber ball. Dedede, well, was working on a sand sculpture. While masterfully done, WHAT it was remained in dispute.

"It appears to be some kind of rodent." Meta Knight appraised as he continued with practice.

"No, I think it's an eagle." Pitch countered while seeing how high he could fly.

"Wrong, wrong, wrong! It's a statue of ME!" Dedede roared when he had had enough.

"Poyo!" Kirby cried as he balanced on the top.

Suddenly, crashing through the "statue" came Rick, balancing artfully on top of a rolling Gooey.

"Not again..." Dedede moaned in dismay.

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"Master, the spherical one has been located."

"You know your orders! I shall observe from here. Next time you interrupt, it should be for a better reason than a progress report."

"Y-y-yes, sir."

"Go now, this time I will not tolerate failure."

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"Really, Kirby, this is a little embarassing."

"Poyo!"

"May I please have my mask back now?"

"Haaaaiiii!" Kirby squealed as he waved the trophy high in the air.

"Oh, honestly." Meta Knight grumbled as he snatched it back.

Then it happened. All grew quiet as if the life of the planet had just been drained away. Kirby's playful shouts could not be heard over the silence that surrounded them. Then, the sky began to darken as a familliar sight covered the skies. Dark Matter had come to Pop Star once again. Just as that thought began to dawn on the party, a ball of darkness broke off from the main cluster and hurtled towards them.

"Move!" Meta Knight tried to shout, but it was lost in the silence.

The ball hit with an explosive silence even more oppressing than the silence that proceeded. Kirby, Meta Knight, and Dedede were the first to recover. The silence surrounding them had lifted as well.

"You know, Meta. We could probably read your lips if you didn't wear a mask." Dedede grumbled as he got up.

Kirby was unusually silent. The rest of the group uncovered themselves from the sand.

"Let's go."

With that, Dedede hopped on his Wheelie, Meta Knight sprouted wings, and Kirby dialed his warpstar. The rest grabbed on to Coo and flew off. And thus the heroes were off. Or were they.

Back in the crater left by the bombardment, Kirby uncovered himself and looked around. Green Greens was unusually empty.

"Poyo...." 

Part 1: Kirby's Adventure
Chapter 1:
Green Greens

Kirby trotted silently along. His warpstar was not responding. He was getting to the point of near exhaustion when he stopped. He suddenly realized why the warpstar would not respond.

A warpstar was the standard vehicle given to Star Warriors at the beginning of their training. If someone who wasn't a Star Warrior tried to ride it, nothing would happen. That being the case, it would have to be in use by another Star Warrior of equal or greater rank. It couldn't be Meta Knight though, he had wings. As far as Kirby knew, no other SWs were anywhere near Pop Star, let alone on it. Something was going on, and chances were Dark Matter had something to do with it.

Kirby continued along for a few more minutes until he reached a cliff on the edge of Vegetable Valley. The chasm was deep, so he couldn't climb down, his only chance was to float across, and while his floating was almost infinite, Kirby knew he could not cross without his warpstar. Needless to say, the warpstar was the core of his dilemma, and if he had it he wouldn't need to cross the gorge anyway. He had to try something, so he took a deep breath.

He floated out to about halfway when he began to feel light-headed. He was to high up to exhale, but if he didn't, the lack of air would knock him unconscious. He crossed his fingers to the best of his ability, having none, and exhaled. He accelerated toward the ground, realizing too late that he was right over Whispy Woods's woods. This was going to sting. He clozed his eyes and prayed that somehow he would suvive, because it wouldn't be much of a story without him. He braced for impact.

He never hit. Streaking across the horizon came his warpstar, a yellow blur against the darkened sky. It caught him meters from the canopy of the forest, and not a moment too soon. It landed gently on the forest floor, leaving Kirby trembling in a pile of leaves at the base of a tree.The tree, however, was not happy to see Kirby, and showed so by dropping a disproportionate apple on his head.

"Hey! Puffball!"

"Poyo."

"Look at me when I talk to you!" The tree dropped a Gordo on Kirby's head.

"POYO!!!!!" Kirby jumped onto the tree's nose.

"Oh Kirby eheheheh nice to see you again I didn't see you down there please don't hurt me..."

Kirby, however, was not paying attention. He was concentrating on the apples in Whispy's branches. He opened his mouth wide.

"Oh, and before you think about eating those apples," Whispy cried triumphantly. As the apples detatched from the branches, some of them turned into Gordos. As the fatal fruit were sucked in at Kirby, he smiled as best he could given te circumstances. He swallowed the conglomeration. The Gordos conveniently had the spike power, so, in sucking up a few, Kirby completed the ultimate art of the Star Warrior: Power Roulette. The light he emitted was blinding. The spectrum swirled around him in a dazzling aurora, illuminating the surrounding foliage. Then, the light died down. Standing in the clearing was Kirby, glowing.

"Look, I'm really sorry, can't we just forgive and forget?"

Kirby paid no heed. He stood in the clearing and began to focus all his energy.

"Is this really necessary?"

Kirby began to glow brighter.

"Uhhhh, hello?"

But for Whispy it was already too late. True mastery of the Power Roulette brings forth the forbidden power, Crash. Whispy had no chance. Kirby unleashed the power with a deafening explosion, lighting up the darkened sky. For miles all that could be heard was the roar of true power. Then, all was silent.

Kirby lay unconscious in the middle of a large crater. The forest had been leveled. The warpstar lay off to the side, recharging. Nothing bore witness to the beauty of open sky over Green Greens. The Dark Matter controlling the area retreated back to the main force to avoid obliteration in the blast. Though it was quiet, Kirby still had a long way to go to unravel the mystery enveloping Pop Star.

Chapter 2:
Gelatin Lake

After recovering his Warpstar, Kirby continued on his journey to find his friends. His next stop was at an unfamilliar landform. Right in his path was a large lake with an unbroken surface. Kirby reached out and poked it with his foot. Solid. He studied it carefully, then placed his other foot on it. Still nothing. He walked out a distance, and still the surface of the lake refused to move.

Considering it a blessing, Kirby ran ahead across the mysterious solid lake. Then, he stopped. His foot was stuck in something. He looked down. The lake had trapped his foot, and he was sinking. He struggled to free himself and prepared to dial his warpstar, but he was already beneath the surface.

As he was sucked deeper and deeper down, he noticed he could still breathe. Puzzled, he looked up. The lake "water" was filling over the hole he created when he fell. It moved like water, yet was solid around him. His feet bumped against the bottom. He tried to walk. Surprisingly enough, he was able to freely move again.

He wandered on for quite a ways when he reached a deep gorge. Not wanting to repeat what happened in Green Greens, he prepared to just float down. When he tried to suck in a deep breath, he again noticed the viscousity of the liquid surrounding him. He would be unable to inhale anything while within the mysterious lake. He then gained an idea, the liquid would carry him to the bottom. He jumped.

Realizing the fall would take a while, he pulled out a Game Boy, (Insert minigame selection screen here), and decided to play Blockball while he waited to reach the bottom. By the time he reached the bottom, his high score was roughly 2,345,450,689 points. He was a true master.

After the interesting interlude, Kirby noticed a large bubble encasing the largest platter of food he had ever seen. Once inside the bubble, Kirby began to suck up any food in sight. After a full 10 minutes, the pile of food as no less diminished. Seeing the Herculean task ahead of him, he began again. 10 minutes after that, he suddenly realized what brought him to the mysterious lake in the first place. With the spell of the food extinguished, he ran into the connecting bubble.

At first he didn't notice anything. It was just a normal bubble in an abnormal lake. He didn't notice the pair of dark eyes looking at him through the wall, either.

The eyes, of course, belonged to one of Dark Matters loyal servants, Hydra Slime, a previously unseen Kirby boss. Hydra Slime had the ability to change size and shape at will, meaning it could gain enough size to fill in a canyon and act like a normal lake. Until Kirby walked into its trap. The food was meant to distract the puff, so HS could end his life without too big a fuss. Aparently, his love of food was exaggerated, so now it was time for the backup plan; Kill Kirby in any way possible. Now it was time for the plan to come into effect.

"Mwahahahahahahaha! You have fallen into my trap, Kirby!"

Kirby made no effort to resist. He merely walked to the point Hydra Slime asked him to, all the while looking for its core. Back at the Academy, where Star Warriors learned thir stuff, Kirby remembered hearing about the various servants of Dark Matter. Hydra Slime was among them, famous for its ability to form matter around its real body to make itself look larger. The core was the only thing that could be dameaged, and was always near the eyes. Kirby had just about found it when Hydra Slime swung.

Kirby dodged out of the way as a tendril of slime slapped down where he was a second ago.

"Your efforts are useless, puff. I am EVERYWHERE!"

"Nope, you're really right THERE!" Is what Kirby would have said, could he say anything but "Poyo!" "Kirby!" and "Hai!" along with various other sound effects. Instead, Kirby just sucked a stalagmite off the floor for Rock power, and pounded onto Hydra Slime's core.

"Don't you realize your efforts ar fut--" was all HS could get out before realizing what happened, as the lake drained, leaving the valley free from Dark Matter's taint.

Noticing he was a long way down, Kirby dialed his Warpstar. It answered immediately, meaning whatever used it initially had no further use for it. Kirby would need it all the way, there was no telling what could have happened to MK and the others. He hoped on an flew towards his next destination, Frosty Peak, a mountan next to, what was hpoefully his last stop, towering Mt. Dedede.

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"Sir, he's dispatched Hydra Slime."

"How many times must I tell you that I do not tolerate failure. If I must deal with your incompetence again, I'll send you after Kirby yourself."

"Y-y-yes, s-sir."

"Good. Go now. I shall continue tracking his movements from here.

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