Using Gooey’s
unusually large tongue as a ladder, Kirby, Nago, ChuChu,
Adeleine, Rick, and Waddle Dee climbed out of Dark Matter’s
underground fort, with Gooey right behind them. King DeDeDe was
standing in front of them, with his back facing them. He turned
around suddenly, and stared at Kirby with vacant eyes. DeDeDe
mumbled, “I’m sorry, Kirbyyyy…” DeDeDe collapsed right in front
of ChuChu. Gooey poked him with his tongue.
All of a sudden, King DeDeDe
floated into the air surrounded by a large, hazy sphere. He fell
again, but looked up. With his last bit of strength, he told
Kirby the situation.
“Dark Matter is extremely
powerful (gasp) this time. You need (wheeze) the star rod. Dark
Matter has broken it and (pant) put it on six different planets.
The Warp Star will take you to each (puff) different planet.”
And with that, Dark Matter took DeDeDe to Dark Star to prevent
him from giving away any more clues.
Since Nago, Adeleine, Rick,
ChuChu, and Waddle Dee had been through a lot that day, Kirby
sent them back to Dreamland to recover. He and Gooey, however,
found some spare Maximum Tomatoes, and were re-energized.
After fighting their way
through Green Greens, Castle Lololo, Bubbly Clouds, and Float
Islands and defeating their respective bosses, Kirby and Gooey
came to the Boss of Pop Star: Whispy Woods. Whispy had long
since been promoted by DeDeDe, and now was the most powerful bad
guy on Pop Star.
When Kirby and Gooey were
fighting Whispy, they had to use up their spare Pep Brews after
some unfortunate encounters with apples. That was all the
medicine they had for now, so they were limited to
their spare lives. They did beat Whispy, though, and retrieved
the end of the Star Wand and a free Warp Star to Ripple Star,
where Kirby had earlier helped a fairy save the star from Dark
Matter.
Ripple Star had been expanded
by quite a bit, but the fairies remembered Kirby, and gave him a
free tour. Among the changes were a sweets factory, a beach, and
a large museum. Kirby wondered what the relevance of this was,
but he was polite and continued the tour. At the end of the
museum, there was one of those “STAFF ONLY” rooms. Kirby made a
mental note to come back.
Three Days Later
“Where IS it???” Gooey
screamed. Yes, after a long and useless trip through Ripple
Star, the Star Rod piece was nowhere to be found. Every square
inch of the fairy planet had been searched. Or so they thought.
“Wait! The museum!” Kirby
pointed to the large building. “There’s a Staff door there.
Let’s go!” But Gooey sat still. “What now, Gooey?” Kirby asked.
“We can’t GO there,” Gooey
replied.
“WHY NOT???”
“We’re not Staff,”
Kirby slapped his forehead.
“Come on, Gooey.”
Later, at the museum: “Here it
is!” Kirby reached for the handle of the Staff door. It was
locked. “Looks like a power is needed,” Kirby muttered
thoughtfully. Luckily, the gift shop sold Power Stars for just
the occasion, whatever that was. Kirby pulled out his Handy
Dandy Museum Card and bought a Rock/Cutter power.
“Isn’t
credit great?” Kirby said as he swallowed the
magical star.
“What about me?” Gooey asked.
“I didn’t forget you,” Kirby
replied. He pulled a star out of the shopping bag. Gooey
swallowed the star and accessed the power inside. He immediately
launched three missiles, which homed in on the nearest enemy,
which, unfortunately, was a stuffed toy of Whispy Woods.
