Meta Knight's POV:

With a heavy heart, I sit down on one of the window seats in the Lor Starcutter's sitting room and stare out the window as we take off. First, the dark window that was buried while we were on the ground fills with light and reveals a last view of the castle proper and the Star Warriors' Garden, all of them starting to look rather faded. As Dreamland quickly disappears into the distance behind us and the giant, normally-friendly shape of Planet Popstar takes its place, I sigh and lean back against the wall before closing my eyes and beginning to try to think.

Well, this adds another complication to everything else, that is for sure. How are we supposed to save Dreamland if we are not even allowed there anymore, or on any of the other four points, for that matter? I mean, I suppose we could go anywhere we wanted anyway, but now there is technically a reward offered for our arrest, being named 'outlaws' and everything. At least, I think that is how the whole 'outlaw' matter works. And speaking of matter, for, er, that matter, what are we to do with the Dark Matter that just keeps multiplying across the planet?

After I've thought for several minutes, trying to think of what we should do, Magolor and Kirby enter the room. "Hey," Magolor sighs as he hops into an armchair that sits next to the grand piano in the center of the room. "Any ideas, my not-so-dear resident genius?"

Opening one eye, I question in a flat tone, "Since when am I the resident genius? And does that make you the resident clueless dead-weight?"

With a giggle, Kirby declares as he sits down on the opposite side of the window seat from me and Magolor gives me a sour stare, "You've basically been the resident genius ever since Mags first came to Popstar and you started actually helping me instead of just taking the king's side all the time."

Snorting a bit, I disagree, "I did not ever just 'take the king's side,' Kirby. Remember, my fighting you helped to train you several times. And that time when Daroach stole your 'cake,' I only interfered because I did not want you letting Dark Nebula out into the universe. Of course, I should have assumed you'd be able to defeat him in the first place, but I knew you had no idea what was going on and would be caught off-guard."

Rolling his eyes, the young pink Star Warrior weakly jokes as he leans back and puts his paws behind his head in a tired manner, "Hey, you could have just tried explaining the whole thing to me. Maybe that would have helped?"

Smirking under my mask over at him, I retort, "Oh, but I did try to explain things. You were too busy screaming 'gimme cake, poyo!' at the top of your lungs and whaling away on me with the Sword Ability to listen."

While Magolor snickers a bit, Kirby closes his eyes and blushes up at the ceiling. "Hey, you left the sword lying around. I figured you wanted to fight me for the cake. In my mind, you were gonna go take it and have a picnic all by yourself somewhere and eat the whole sweet, strawberry-y, delicious thing for me. At least, I think that's right. I was a lot younger then, so I might not be remembering the whole thing right."

Magolor giggles again. "Did Meta-Not leave swords lying around often? Doesn't exactly seem like a very safe thing to do when little kids are around. Must've never taken Babysitting 101, huh, Mety?"

"Training the Warrior of the Stars is hardly the equivalent of babysitting," I snort quietly with a sharp glare cast in Magolor's direction.

As our Halcandran 'friend' just makes a mocking sort of face at me, Kirby answers said 'friend's' earlier accusation with, "Yeah, he did that all the time. I think he never really wanted me to touch the swords, though, because he always started fighting me the instant I copied their abilities. Sometimes- usually, actually- I didn't even want that ability, but whenever I called to him to try to ask if I could go on without fighting him, he just ignored me. Of course, part of that is prob'ly because 'Poyo poyo poyo! Poyo poyo?' never really made too much sense to anybody other than me."

Giving him a look, I murmur in disbelief, "I always started fighting you once you got the sword because I wanted to duel you with a sword, and approximately ninety-five percent of the time you showed up with something else, so I always left a sword there for you in case of that. You truly have always thought that I did that purely by accident, and then just took sudden, random offense at your using the sword?"

Opening his eyes again, Kirby nods slowly. "Yep, that sounds about right."

Groaning, I cannot help maskpalming and muttering, "What did I need to do to make the purpose of the sword clear? Hang a giant flashing sign over it that said 'GET IT!!!' or something??"

With a shrug, Kirby murmurs thoughtfully, "That wouldn't really have helped. I wouldn't have been able to read it back then, you know."

Giggling again, Magolor snickers, "Listening to you two reminisce is almost as fun as being generally annoying while Kury's trying to cook. Speaking of whunch," he suddenly springs out of his chair, "I'm gonna go try to get her to make us some food so I can do just that."

"Poor Sakura," Kirby snickers as Magolor leaves. Growing more serious, he turns and presses his paws and face to the window and stares at the starry planet outside that we are currently orbiting around. A second later he asks, still with his face against the glass, "Whaddya fink we shud do, Meh-uh Nait? Ah mean, 'bout da Dahk Ma-er n' Dahk Sholar n' shtuff?"

"First of all, you should quit talking into the window so that I can properly understand you," I chuckle a bit and then wait as he does so. As all mirth then quickly drains away from me, I give him a studious look and ask, "Well, my friend. What do you think we should do?"

He thinks for some time, paws crossed and eyes closed. Finally, he sighs and rubs his head. "I dunno. I'm not that good at plan-making other than 'go kick the badguy into the next Galaxy while grabbing as many snacks on the way as I can find.'" Looking out the window again, he suggests slowly, "I guess we should try to find a way to get rid of all of the Dark Matter? The Crystal Gun is on Ripple Star, so I guess we could ask Taffeta and Ribby if we could go get that, since they're still on our side- for now, anyway." He muses for a little longer but then sighs, "But that might not work too well away from Ripple Star. We can't use the Star Rod, 'cause it's broken. And I have no idea where the Love-Love Stick went after I used it, since that was way before I came to Cappy Town to stay... It might be somewhere inside my house somehow, but knowing my luck, even if it ever was, Tokkori probably stole it."

Nodding slowly, I agree with him, "None of those three things sound like they would work too well for us, especially since I do not think we should risk going back to your house unless we absolutely have to, especially since there is hardly any chance that the Love-Love Stick is actually even there. Is there any other option you can think of?"'

A couple more minutes go by with no noise but the soft, steady, almost-comforting ticking that comes from a small wooden analog clock on the wall. After awhile though, Kirby shakes his head and admits, "No. Sorry. I don't think even all of us together could make enough Light to get rid of all of the glop. It's not like Darkness; it doesn't just dissipate at the sight of Light. You have to actually touch it to it, and that uses up the Light, so you have to make more before you can do it again. We'd need a whole army of Star Warriors to do it that way, prob'ly even more than exist right now."

Again, I nod and look thoughtfully over at him. "So for the moment it sounds like there is nothing we can do for that problem. Is there something we can do about something else?"

"Well, with Dark Solar, we have no idea where he's hiding out at or whether we'd be able to take him on yet without some kind of special super-anti-Dark-thingy. And with Patch Land, the Mirror World, and Floralia, we'd have to fix the Fountain of Dreams to fix them, and find some way to make the Dimension Mirror the heart of the Mirror World again. And we also can't fix the Fountain of Dreams, unless someone or something tells us how. If it's even possible, I mean..."

"Exactly," I agree with a slow nod. "So perhaps we need to find ways of figuring this all out?"

Frowning, Kirby looks over at me, seeming a little bit irritated. "Why do I have the feeling that you already have some sort of a plan, and you were just making me think through this as some kinda training thingy?"

With a smile to myself, I look out the window and agree, "That instinct might be correct." As my smile quickly disappears, I suggest quietly, "I have a friend who knows more about Dark Matter than anyone else besides the awful monster who created it."

 "Really? Who?" Kirby muses as a tired-looking Sakura comes in carrying two bowls of steaming noodle soup. With a grin, Kirby completely forgets what we were talking about and grabs one of the bowls before slurping it down in the blink of an eye. "That was fast. Thanks, Sis!"

As she gives Kirby a small smile and hands me my bowl, she apologizes, "I didn't want to put up with Mags' constant heckling and ingredient-snitching for very long, so I just made instant noodles. Well, that, and I'm kinda exhausted. Last time I slept was the day before... before..."

She trails off, seeming to suddenly grow sad at something she can't quite remember, but almost seems half-glad to be unable to recall. "Several centuries ago?" I joke half-heartedly in an attempt to brighten her mood, and then feel a little bit happier when she laughs softly. "Actually last night, but in all fairness, that was more of a pain-induced unconsciousness than a restful sleep. Please, sit, unless you have other noodle deliveries to make. This conversation is one that would bear well for you to be a part of it."

"Okay. I'm done with the noodle deliveries anyways," she yawns and flops into the armchair Magolor vacated not too long ago. "What are we talking about? Doomsday Version 500.0-or-so?"

Nodding, Kirby agrees, "Exactly," before grabbing my soup bowl and eating all of it for me in another single slurp. When I give him a hardly-amused glare, he just grins and shrugs. "You weren't gonna eat it anytime soon anyway, right?"

With a roll of my eyes, I mutter, "Most likely not, but it still was not yours." After a short pause, I then murmur, "Where were we? Ah, yes. My friend who knows about Dark Matter."

Seeming to perk up some, Sakura inquires, "Who would that be?"

"Well, she is known by many names among the Star Warriors- The Guardian of the Stars, the Friend of the Stars, the Friend of Light, the Rescuer from the Comet, the Mother of the Lumas..." Since both of my friends just blink at me in confusion, I finally sigh and plain out state, "To put it more simply, Princess Rosalina of the Comet Observatory." Still they show no sign of recognition, making me groan again. "How can you both have never heard of Rosalina? Surely Mario would have mentioned her to Kirby at some point on our quest to find the non-heroes, at the absolute least!"

"Oh yeah, I kinda remember hearing something about her now," Kirby nods slowly, but is obviously lying. "Doesn't she do a thingy... with... you know... a magical thingy?" He blushes and continues while I give him an annoyed glare, "I know what a Luma is, at least. Since she's the mother Luma, she's the biggest one, right?"

In irritation, I glance over at Sakura to see if she is anywhere closer to knowing who I speak of. "Sorry," she shakes her head bashfully. "I've never heard of her either. How would you and Mario know about her?"

With a grunt, I get up, wrap my cloak around myself, and start to pace back and forth across the room. In a mutter, I grump under my breath, "They don't know about Princess Rosalina. Do they live under a rock? One of the Star Warriors' greatest allies, and they-"

"They are right here," Sakura reminds me with an offended huff as she crosses her gloves. "Why don't you just explain who she is?"

Slightly disgruntled, I muse, "Your hearing has gotten better since before your most recent time excursion." Pausing my pacing in a place where I face away from them, I then tell them both, "No one really knows of her origins. I know more about her than most, but all I know is that she hails from the Mushroom Kingdom. She flies around the Galaxy on a starship known as the Comet Observatory, offering aid to the helpless wherever and whenever she can. During the Second Star Warriors' War, she was one of our greatest allies, even though she never wanted to be officially known as such. The one and only hope for captured warriors was if the good Princess Rosalina somehow managed to bring them back. Additionally, she is the adopted mother of the entire race of Lumas. That, to be honest, is all anyone really knows about her."

"She sounds pretty awesome to me," Kirby comments, "but all that still doesn't really ring any bells."

Meanwhile, Sakura seems to be thinking hard about this description. Suddenly she questions, "How does she know about Dark Matter? And how do you know she knows?"

Shrugging, I admit, "To the first inquiry, I do not know. To the second... Well, as I said, she and I are friends. She prevented a monster from carrying an injured me off away from battle once, and then many years later, I helped to move some of the Star Warriors' books from the Academy to the Comet Observatory where they would be safer. That day, I had a chance to speak to her, and I noticed that there was a jar of Dark Matter sitting on a shelf in the library.

"When I asked her where it came from as it pressed itself angrily to the side of the glass jar, obviously wanting to get out and possess me, she only cast it a deeply sorrowful glance and told me, 'The same place all Dark Matter comes from, little warrior. An awful place. A place that I hope you never have to see.' As the sadness on her face only grew stronger, she gave the jar a sad pat and whispered, 'I know I wish I'd never had to see it.'"

After thinking back on that day for a moment, I sigh heavily and close my eyes. "To see that sort of pain on the face of a being so... so... well, almost angelic and ethereal... it would ache the heart of any being of Light. It seems so often that the brighter one shines with Light, the more the Darkness wishes to make them miserable."

Seeming sympathetic, Sakura murmurs, "Sounds to me like her life hasn't been all sunshine and daisies either. She sounds really cool, like Kirby said."

Nodding, I agree with a small smile, "That would be an understatement for the centuries."

We are quiet for a moment, but then Sakura and Kirby both start to speak at the same moment.

"So, guys, I guess we should go find Ro-"

"Meta, I think we also need to-"

"One at a time," I interrupt with a shake of my head. "Kirby, were you going to say that we should go find Rosalina?"

"Yep," he nods with a tiny smile.

After giving him a single nod, I turn to Sakura. "And what were you going to say, Flower?"

Crossing her arms, she sits up straight, a firm, steady look that I don't think I've ever seen on her before written all over her face. "I was going to say, news about our outlaw-ness is gonna travel fast, so we need to travel faster and tell as many points the truth as possible. Besides which, if we're taking on essentially everything Kirby has ever fought before, all at once... This is gonna be worse than Nightmare on a sugar high, men. We're going to require backup, and lots of it too."

"Did Fluff use his Light on you again?" Kirby wonders dubiously, only half-teasing, while I frown at her a little bit.

Blushing, she disagrees, "No. Sorry. Just got back from the army, I guess you could say." Forcing herself to relax, she goes on, "I was just going to suggest that maybe you two could go talk to Madam Luma Lady-"

"Princess Rosalina," I correct with a huff.

"Fine, Princess Rosalina. The rest of us could split up and each go to a different place to find allies. Like, we could possibly send Mags to Halcandra, Taranza back to Floralia, Fluff to Patch Land, the Fairies to Ripple Star, Bandana and Shadow to the Mushroom Kingdom... I'm not sure who'd go to Pokemonland and Hyrule. If we could trust Clerk, I'd send him to Hyrule, but since we can't... Maybe he and I should go together. If we could just get in touch with Sir Arthur and explain things, we could get him and the Star Warriors of Star World on our side. Nintendo City's probably already completely against us."

I have to admit, this does mostly sound like a plan, but I can see a few issues with it. "That still leaves Pokemonland, and would it really be a good idea to send Bandana and Shadow alone to the Mushroom Kingdom?"

With an ashamed frown, she murmurs, "You're right; that was dumb of me to even suggest. Sorry... it must just be because I'm so tired." Once she's thought it over again, she murmurs, "Maybe Mags could go with them instead of to Halcandra. I don't think that planet would really be up to helping us, seeing as how they're still struggling with healing their planet like they have been ever since the First Star Warriors' War."

Rolling my eyes, I mutter, "Well, if they hadn't gone back and done the whole 'industrialization via NME' thing a second time right after the planet actually managed to recover from the first mess, they wouldn't still be struggling." Growing gentler when she glares at me, I go on, "To return to the actual conversation, you are probably right." 

Sad, Kirby offers his opinion. "It makes sense, but I don't really wanna split us all up all over the Galaxy like that. I mean... I dunno. I just kinda feel like... If we do that, then... We'll, we'll, well..."

"Never seen each other again?" Sakura finishes what we are all three thinking in an almost-whisper. "I know, I kinda feel that way too. But what should we do instead? There's only so many of us... We're going to have to split up if we ever want to cover enough ground." Trying to smile, she adds, "Besides, the more points we visit, the more likely we are to find a way to defeat General Dark Soloser."

In a quiet voice, I sigh, "Agreed. We should probably go explain things to the others, first things first and such."

Shrugging, Kirby agrees, "Yeah." After a second of quiet, Kirby suddenly runs over to Sakura and hugs her, and then comes and does the same to me. "You guys be careful, got it?"

With a disgruntled chuckle, I step away from the hug and remind him, "You will be coming with me. It's not like you have to tell me 'goodbye.' Besides which, none of us are going anywhere just yet."

Blushing, he agrees with a small laugh, "Oh, right." But his smile quickly disappears as he crosses his paws and kicks at the ground absentmindedly. "Still. I hope we all make it all right."

"Me too," Sakura says in a whisper as the sad look from earlier casts a shadow over her face again. "Me too."

"I'll go tell the others," Kirby suddenly dashes off, and I go to follow him with a groan of annoyance, knowing he most certainly will get at least some of the details messed up. But right before I leave, I suddenly pause and look back at Sakura. "Flower, are you all right?"

She doesn't move or reply, and a second later, she actually flickers, making me start a bit. "Flower?"

Jumping, she glances back at me. "Meta? You're still there? It's been like five minutes. Don't you want to catch Kirby before he tells Magolor to take us all to Earth or something?"

With a half-smile, I murmur, "That might not be the worst idea. Our Ancient friend there might be able to help us." But then I frown. "It has not been nearly five minutes. It had been less than one when you said that, probably."

Shaking herself, she sighs, "Must just be how tired I am. Time feels a lot longer than it should because of that, I guess."

"Time," I murmur quietly to myself as a new shadow of fear passes through my heart. That flicker, almost like the way things were back in the box when the system started crashing... A now-helpless Time Pedestal... After thinking it over for much less than a minute, I go over and tell her, "Promise me you'll tell me if either anything strange or if time stretching out like it just did happens to you again. Please."

As the same fear seems to appear on her face, she nods slowly. "I promise."

Gently, I place a glove on her face and study her eyes for second, watching the way the starlight from outside the ship reflects on them, making them almost sparkle. That warm chestnut is most definitely my favorite color these days. "Please, don't let me lose you, dearest. I love you, Flower, and losing you, when you have become so precious to me..." I don't say anything else, just swallow a lump in my throat and look away for a second.

Sometimes I wonder why I ever dared to let someone steal my heart like this when the inevitable states that it is only going to eventually end up broken worse than it ever has been before. And yet at the same time, it also seems like the most wonderful thing I have ever done.

Nodding slowly as I glance back at her, she puts a glove on top of mine and stares down at the green plaid cushioned chair that she still sits on. "I would never leave you on purpose, but it's not up to me. You know that." Looking back up at me, she adds, "I love you too, so much. Even when I can't remember you, I still miss you and love you, even though it's almost like I've never met you before. I miss all the others too, of course, but..."

"It's a little bit different," I smile slightly to myself before taking a deep breath. I feel as if there is something else I want to say, but I am not sure what that would-

A pipsqueaky voice suddenly squeals, "Would you two yahoos please come and tell me what the hey Kirby means by 'Guys! We have to go everywhere but Halcandra, right now!'?"

Pulling my glove away before Magolor can see and singsong at us, I clear my throat, wrap my cloak around myself, and then as Magolor zooms back in, I turn to Sakura.

"Shall we go try to explain the plan more thoroughly?" I suggest, still half-smiling to myself under my mask.

With a half-hearted laugh, she agrees, "Of course."

"Good, 'cause I'm about as lost as I can get, 'cept for when I program the navi computer all wrong," Magolor grumps, completely unaware of how untimely his interruptions can be. "Why in the taters would we go everywhere but Halcandra? How would that help anything?"

With a bemused sigh, Sakura follows after him, but then stops at the door and tells me with a nearly imperceptible wink, "That's my favorite shade of pink, by the way." 

She keeps going with a quiet giggle while I frown and pause for a second, unsure of what she meant, until finally I figure it out and sigh irritatedly with a blush and an unwilling grin. Thank you, mask, for showing my emotions to Magolor again, although it doesn't really seem like he noticed that, thank goodness.

But as I hurry to catch up with the other two, Magolor coughs into his glove, "Mightwannagetthatpinkeyelookedat." When I give him a glare, he just giggles like a little schoolboy, obviously enjoying himself. "What'd I say? Just stay away from me; I don't wanna catch it."

Rolling my eyes, I ask in mild disgust, "Will you ever grow up, Magolor?"

Shaking his head, he disagrees as he floats lazily along with his gloves behind his head, "No sir-ee. I'm enjoying my fifth or sixth childhood way too much for that, thanks just the same."

"You enjoy everything far too much," I huff in half-agreement as I wait for him to climb the ladder up to the control room before beginning to ascend myself.

Well, at least now we have a plan, and a plan is better than nothing. The only question that remains is whether it is a good plan that save us all, or just end up with all of us beyond saving.