Tokkori

I've always known I was meant for something bigger. Ever since I was knee-high to a grasshopper I've known that. My ma never kicked me outta the nest, I jumped out, 'cause I knew it was too small for an important bird like me.

Folks around here just don't get just how important I am. They think just 'cause I'm a tiny bird with an annoying tone they can all just ignore me. Them Cappies! They all think they're so special, so great and big and mighty and all. They ain't. They's as dumb as dirt. You think I'd let anybody treat me the way that king treats them! No sirree! I ain't gettin' taken in by nobody!

I'm much too smart to get taken in. I never will be. When it all comes down, I intend to be the one bird who sits on top of the whole heap. I'm gonna be the smartest, fastest, strongest, and most important bird in the whole of dreamland.

People think us birds is weak. They look at a small feller like me and they think he can't do nothin' to protect himself. Well they got a surprise comin', because this here bird can watch out for himself better'n anybody around! He kin grab the prize before anybody else and stake his claim to what rightfully is his! The early bird gets the worm, says I, and this here bird intends to be the earliest of the bunch.

One time, I thought the world was finally getting around to realizing that. They finally found out I was royalty (I hadn't known that precisely, but I'd figured there was somethin' special in my family), and they were gonna find me my treasure. And then they went and called the whole thing off because of some stupid mumbo-jumbo that they found buried in a cave somewhere.

Idiots!

They ain't never gonna get it right!

Guess that's why I always just figured to do things myself. People never can understand how to do things proper, so I gotta do it myself. That one time I was with Kirby in the race, we would lost the whole thing if I hadn't been there to steer us to victory. I was the one who told Kirby to get up and cross the line. If he'd listened to me sooner, he mighta won that race. But no. He wasn't gonna listen to a little bird like me.

And the funny thing is he got the glory for that race! I ask ya!

That's another thing. Here I been around in Dreamland all my life. I been helping out the folks hereabouts for years with all kinds of advice. I been shifting for myself, managing my own affairs, and no one so much as notices me. Kirby just drops out of the sky, and the Cappies decide to throw a party for the pink puffball! They build a house for him!

I never got treatment like that. When I was little my brothers and I fought for out food. We didn't get no special consideration. Every single critter in the woods was after us to eat us, and if we didn't look out for ourselves, we'd end up as dinner. We needed to be strong, fast, smart. Not just that, we had to be stronger, faster, and smarter than everyone else, because the critters would stop when they caught the slow ones. We looked out for ourselves and nobody else.

That's the way it was and it still is. That annoyin' kid with the poofy hair that comes by, he asks why I don't have family that visit. I'd like to tell him it's 'cause I ain't got no family. They all got killed, 'cept me. I bet that'd impress him. I bet then he'd realize what a great bird I am.

Kirby ain't got no family either, come to think of it. Not surprising, considering how he handles himself. He don't look out for himself worth a hootle. He just bounces along merrily, taking knocks and not hitting back. The only people he looks out for is that one bossy girl and her brother. But for some reason everybody seems to think he's some kinda great guy! Everybody likes the kid, and he's the most scatterbrained beachball this side of Popstar! Why if it wasn't for me…

Huh.

Now that's funny. Here I been going on about how I look out for myself and nobody else, and all the time it ain't really true.

I look out for Kirby. I do. Sure, the kid's annoyin' and all, but he's a good one. And he's the only one that's really gotten along with me, more or less. Every so often, I guess I do try to make help him stay safe. I warned the townspeople about that one grouchy guy with the purple face that came here looking for him. I helped him in the race. I went along with the bomb squad to take down the tower in that one NME base.

Wonder why I did that…

Maybe… Nah. I know why. If Kirby ever kicked the bucket, I'd have to move. The townspeople wouldn't let me live here no more, and I be stuck without a meal ticket.

That must be the reason. I'm still looking out for myself

Because I know I'm an important bird.

Slightly different tack on this one. Many thanks to everyone who reviewed, and also Ivynajs for helping out with details.