A/N: Thanks for your patience, guys! Meant to work on this earlier, but life has been a little busy right now and sometimes it's been hard to motivate myself to write this. However, I'm ready to share this with you guys and I hope you enjoy. We're getting closer and closer to the game's release, and I'd love to hear what you're looking forward to most (besides finding out the full roster.) I'm personally looking forward to hearing more about the single player/story mode, as well as trying out the Smashdown mode with some of my friends.

Anyway, here's the chapter! Enjoy!

Chapter 12 – The King Has Arrived

The judges were now reunited, and it's almost like nothing changed. With the exception being that there was still no tables or chairs, and all five of the judges were sitting on the musty floor. Fox sighed, "We really gotta do something about this, guys. I'm not crazy about sitting on this floor."

Samus scoffed and turned toward Fox, "We know. We get it. Maybe you should go do something about it since you're so vocal about this."

Fox didn't respond and directed his eyes toward the notebook in his lap. His notes were a mess; complete scribbles of names and some stuff that they can do. He directed his eyes back up toward the stage to see, noticing a large, crocodile-like figure on the stage. He gasped and looked over to his fellow judges, all of whom were not actually looking at the stage to see this giant figure stomping onto the center stage.

"How long have you been up there?" Fox gasped as the crocodile with a golden crown and red cape stood center stage, a smug look on his face.

"Me?" The crocodile asked, putting his hand on his golden chest. "Not too long, but clearly you peasants were too stupid to not hear me come in."

The rest of the judges looked upstage to see the crocodile speaking to Fox. Samus sighed, "Not stupid. We just do not care."

"Yeah," Pit declared, "We're not stupid! We're just lazy."

The crocodile rolled his eyes, "Whatever, I'm King K. Rool. Bow down before me. You're looking at the King of the Kremlings, the leader of the Kremling Krew."

"As a princess, I don't bow down to anyone. I'm definitely not going to bow down to someone who's not even wearing clothes," Peach gagged as she stared at King K. Rool's body. "Do you have a shirt or something that you can put on, your body is...distracting, and not in a good way."

"No, and I'm taking that as a compliment, Princess Peach. Do you not remember me? We used to play baseball together."

Little Mac turned his head over to Peach and lifted an eyebrow, "You guys played baseball together? Peach actually played baseball?"

Peach squinted, trying to think back to her Mario Slugger days. "Ah, yes, I vaguely remember you." She turned over to Little Mac and scoffed, "Also, I'm actually quite athletic. I've played a ton of different sports. I'm a little surprised that you didn't know that, Little Mac."

Little Mac shrugged, "Personally, I don't really care or pay attention to what you do, so it was just a surprise to me."

"Well," Peach began, not paying any mind to Little Mac. "Mr. K. Rool, what have you been up to since Super Mario Sluggers? Any big titles you've been in?"

K. Rool brushed his right foot against the hard stage and hesitated to say anything, "Well, no. I've just been enjoying some time off. You know, ruling my kingdom, reading some books."

Fox started to chuckle, "So you're a washed-up video game character, aren't you? Why should we even consider adding a washed-up fighter to the roster?"

"Um, I don't mean to be that guy," Peach began, "But all of you are washed up as well. There hasn't been a recent Star Fox as far as I know. Same goes with Kid Icarus and Punch-Out. Samus gets a pass, pretty sure Metroid is still pretty relevant."

"Okay, well it's not a competition," Fox rolled his eyes.

"I mean, I don't mean to brag but..." Peach began.

"I know what you're about to say, and you're definitely bragging," Fox interrupted.

"But I am the most relevant and famous panelist here. Everyone knows Mario, and by extension, everyone knows me as well," Peach declared.

"...And everyone knows that you're dating Mario," Samus teased.

Peach grumbled, but chose to verbally ignore Samus's joke, "Point is, we include irrelevant fighters into Smash all the time. Why are we judging this...creepy crocodile...for not being in a game since a decade ago when we have the Ice Climbers, who were literally only in three games, two of which were Smash Brothers games?"

"Speaking of irrelevant fighters," Pit interrupted. "Do you guys think Geno is going to audition? I kind of hope he does."

"Let's stay on topic here, Pit. Do you think that would be possible?" Fox glared. Pit looked back down at his notebook as if to signify that he was just a little embarrassed about Fox's comment.

"Okay, you know what? I hate to say it, but Peach is correct." Samus sighed, "King K. Rool, please tell us more about yourself, why don't you?"

"Well," King K. Rool smiled and stood tall, "You could call me Donkey Kong's Bowser, but I'm obviously way better. I'm super strong and powerful, and will be the best villain that your roster has ever had."

Fox gave K. Rool a fake smile, "Well, we will definitely see about that. Feel free to show us what you've got."

King K. Rool looked around the stage, "So...um, who do I get to fight? I get to fight someone right?"

Peach let out a slight gasp, "Oh my gosh, I almost forgot. Luigi isn't here anymore. He kind of blasted off, so we need to...find a replacement, don't we?"

"Well, since you brought it up, maybe you should be our new Luigi?" Samus smirked.

"Nope. Absolutely not. We have plenty of other people who can do it instead." Peach crossed her arms and slid back from the other judges.

Wii Fit Trainer slowly, and slightly awkwardly, walked onto the stage and waved. "I just overheard you all mention that you need someone to be a punching bag like Luigi was. I can be that punching bag! After all, I am a trainer." The Wii Fit Trainer smiled and blinked, standing tall with her arms behind her back.

Fox joined his hands together, "Well, that problem's just been solved. King K. Rool, please just show us your moves already."

King K. Rool took out a cannon (also known as his blunderbuss) and pointed it right at the fitness instructor, who was facing him toward the side of the stage. His crown inexplicably turned into a pirate hat as the cannonball was spit out of the blunderbuss, heading toward Wii Fit Trainer. She dodged the attack, but as she got closer, she was sucked into the cannon. The Kremling turned around and shot her out, causing her to fall to the ground.

Wii Fit Trainer got up from the ground and starting to give a deep breath, right before jumping up in the air and kicking King K. Rool in the face. K. Rool slid back. The two stood still, glaring at each other before the King threw his crown at the trainer, as it smacked her across the face, it ricocheted back toward him. He grabbed the crown and put it back on his head.

Wii Fit Trainer started dashing to K. Rool, but as she began to attempt her attack, the king puffed up his stomach, pushing Wii Fit Trainer back toward the edge of the stage. King K. Rool jumped up into the air and activated his helicopter backpack (which again, showed up out of nowhere). This allowed him to gain more air. As he started to fall to the ground, he landed right onto Wii Fit Trainer, causing her to fly off the stage, careening toward the judges. The five judges ducked as Wii Fit Trainer fell on her butt toward the end of the auditorium. She smiled, "Wow. Well done. I really worked up a sweat."

"Alright, well we've seen quite a bit here, haven't we?" Fox asked. "Just a question, King K. Rool, what ideas do you have for your final smash?"

King K. Rool returned to center stage and smirked, "I have a Blast-O-Matic cannon that I haven't used in a couple of decades, and I'm going to attack anyone who gets in my way."

"Alright, cool, we'll make sure to perfect that if we let you in," Fox began. He jotted down the words 'Blast-O-Matic' into his notebook before turning his head over to the others. "So? Any opinions here?"

"I'm not gonna lie," Samus began with a sigh, "You kind of suck, as a person, or crocodile, or whatever you are. However, your moves not only are creative but also showcase your pretty awful personality. No offense."

"None taken," King K. Rool smiled.

Peach cleared her throat, "Yeah, that stomach attack kind of grossed me out a bit, I'm not going to lie. But, we don't really get a lot of villains that come here to audition and you really delivered. I think people will enjoy watching you on the battlefield."

Pit gleamed, "I know I will. You're so cool!" The angel paused, before clarifying, "I mean, not like, ethically, but like as a fighter, that stuff was really cool to watch! I liked that cannon thing, and I think we also need more heavyweight fighters in Smash Bros."

"Alright, great insight, I guess," Fox stated. "Little Mac? What do you think?"

Little Mac shrugged, "I don't know what else I can that hasn't already been said. Your Final Smash idea seemed pretty cool and was clearly a nice reference to whatever you've done decades ago. I'm not sure what that is, but it sounded like a good idea."

Fox turned his face back toward the King, "Yeah, I'll just echo what others have been saying, this was a pretty solid audition. I feel like we haven't had a lot of auditions recently where we all agreed on something, and this clearly is a first since maybe the very start of this morning? I think people will like seeing another Donkey Kong representative and will be interested in seeing you back in the public eye."

"So does this mean that I'm in?" King K. Rool smiled, clapping his hands together and bending in closer.

"No... not yet, we still have to vote," Fox explained.

"Yeah, calm your tits!" Peach shouted.

King K. Rool blushed as he crossed his arms, covering his chest.

"Alright," Fox announced, "All in favor of including King K. Rool, say I!"

"I!" The entire panel announced in unison.

King K. Rool smiled, "Yes! Now I'm in, right? I can't wait to find Donkey Kong and stick it to him!"

"Yes, you're in now, congratulations. Just go already!" Fox responded, dryly.

King K. Rool clapped as he walked off the stage with a confident swagger. Samus and Peach made a gagging sound as he disappeared from the audition room. Fox rolled his eyes, "I can't believe we agreed to let him in."

"Well, we have to be fair. We can't just not let someone in because we hate them, right?" Pit asked, sweetly.

"Well, we didn't let Waluigi in because we hate him, didn't we?" Little Mac asked, pouting his lips.

"No," Samus began. "We didn't let Waluigi in because he was unprepared for his audition. Not just because we hate him."

Fox organized his papers and checked the time, "Alright, it looks like we have time for one more audition and then we're done with day two! Then we can all go to sleep!"

"Wow! Today went by pretty quick," Samus said, "I can't believe we've made it to the end of the day already."

Peach scoffed, "Are you kidding me? Today felt like forever. It feels like it's been almost three months if you asked me."

"Yeah," Little Mac retorted. "It feels like literally ages ago since Simon and Richter auditioned. Maybe it's because you and Fox were gone for like, half the day?"

"Just think guys, by Friday, we're going to have our full roster, and then we'll be able to start promoting the newest iteration of Smash Brothers!" Fox stated with excitement in his voice.

"A roster that someone, somewhere will surely complain about, I'm sure," Peach complained.

Fox responded with a smile, "Well...you can't please everyone, now can you, Peach?"

As King K. Rool was on his way out the building, the lobby much emptier than he remembered it being. He noticed Donkey Kong, waiting by the door, looking out the window. King K. Rool decided to sneak up behind him, and shout.

Donkey Kong jumped as he turned over toward the Kremling. He began to angrily glare at King K. Rool.

King K. Rool smiled menacingly, "I'll see you on the battlefield this December. You better be prepared."

Donkey Kong's eyes widened and his jaw fell to the floor as the Kremling walked out of the building, blurting out an evil laugh while Donkey Kong gibbered angrily. It was going to be the return of an ugly rivalry.