Early update as opposed to my normal 7pm-midnight eastern schedule. I got Guitar Hero World Tour today so I'll be too busy playing that…

January 9: King Dedede: Paranoia

For King Dedede, the self appointed King of Dreamland, he was quite worried about his kingdom. How was it faring against the forces of evil with out him there to protect it? Were his citizens safe? What about his castle? Every day King Dedede had been questioning about why he became a Smasher. At first, the idea seemed like a good one, but soon paranoia got the best of him. After finding out that Meta Knight was also a Smasher he panicked. He was hoping that Meta Knight would keep his kingdom safe while he was gone. Each day seemed like unending self inflicted stress on King Dedede.

King Dedede was also unbelievably paranoid about the littlest things. He feared that everyone was out to get him and assassinate him, in fact the first snowfall of the season scared him, he thought that it was an airborne chemical that was there to poison him. That's why Meta Knight was normally with him, to 'protect' him.

For most of the other Smashers they had all betted on how much longer it would take until the stress would break Dedede. A week, a month, a year, never? The bets were all over the board. They made sure to make his life hell, and more complicated than it needed to be. "Did you hear about Dream Land's economy dropping?" They all whispered similar things, just loud enough for Dedede to hear. The sour look on his face was almost always worth it.

For that reason King Dedede was constantly trying to get out of the Smashers, in order to go back and protect his country from the made up threats of dragons, famine, the economy, locust. Well made up save for the economy, but then again everywhere was suffering. But this didn't stop King Dedede's paranoia.

"Please you have to let me out!" He begged Master Hand.

Master Hand just stared at him and coolly replied. "No, you signed a contract, until the next game is made your soul belongs to me!"

"Then let me just be a long distance Smasher, I'll come back for the tournaments! My country needs me!" Dedede pleaded. It was actually a rather sad sight to behold.

"No means no!" Master Hand snapped. "Your country will do fine with out you."

"But the economy! THE ECONOMY!" Dedede cried.

"Its doing horrible everywhere else." Master Hand reassured him. "And in fact prior to it crashing world wide, your country was doing its best in years. With out your being there. NOW OUT!"

"Please!" Dedede pleaded.

They all knew not to mess with Master Hand. The moment you tried to stand against him would end in much pain. Dedede was suddenly sent flying out of the house by a powerful explosion.

"My Liege, are you all right?" Meta Knight asked appearing beside him.

"The economy." Dedede cried.

"My King, please try to relax. I'm sure that you could just request a week or two off on R&R. You can then go to Dream Land and inspect their current state! You shouldn't anger Master Hand, wait a week, hopefully he will have forgotten by then."

Meta Knight then dragged King Dedede home where he tried to calm him down.

Horrible news attacked Dedede that night. There on the front page of the newspaper was such dreadful news: Due to the recession in Dream Land, they had to shut down the warp star manufacturing plant. "Dream Land is doomed!" King Dedede shouted.

"My King, you are over reacting." Meta Knight said.

"No I'm not." Dedede cried. "This is the start of some horrible times. The warp stars were our chief export. With out them…"

Meta Knight handed King Dedede a nice warm blanket and a hot cup of tea. After drinking the tea Dedede was feeling rather drowsy. "Now then," Meta Knight said directing the King to his bed. "Just go to sleep, I'll contact somebody and figure out some other things. And inform you in the morning."

Snake was smoking a cigarette out in front of his house. Meta Knight walked towards him bringing with him a newspaper. "Your expertise is sneaking right?"

"Yeah." Snake replied.

"Then I have a job for you. Something doesn't smell right about this." With that Meta Knight passed the newspaper.

Wow… 10 days of staying on schedule and posting every single day… this is great… I'm jinxing myself saying this I know it… I'm experimenting a bit with writing a story ark into this story. Whether or not I eventually abandon it is a different question all together…