A/N: Hello, everyone! And welcome back to Tales of Smash!
I don't really anything important to say besides a couple things.
1). I will occasionally check back on previous chapters and fix any errors in them (spelling, etc.)
2). The main goal I honestly wanna have for this story is to essentially be if Smash Bros. was basically a saturday morning cartoon/ a sitcom, of sorts.
But yeah, that's all I have to say.
Enjoy!
Update: I fixed an error within the King Dedede and King K. Rool conversation for people who wanna read this chapter again.
Disclaimer: I do not own Super Smash Bros. That belongs to Masahiro Sakurai and Nintendo.
Chapter 2: Royal Workings
King Dedede definitely wasn't the most respected fighter around.
Sure, he could commit a kind act every now and then, but majority of the time he was pretty selfish to mostly everyone he interacted with.
Expect for Luigi and Ness—he considered them to be a part of his small friend group.
But other than those two, the king of Dream Land was pretty much on his own.
And speaking of the self-proclaimed king, he himself was wandering down the mansion's halls with a trailing Meta Knight beside him, a dejected look written on his face.
"I just don't get it, Meta Knight," The king began. "What's it gonna take for me to get the respect I deserve around here?"
"Where is this coming from?" Meta Knight spoke, a hint of surprise apparent in his deep voice.
"Because of that dimwitted K. Rool! Sayin' he's got all this "class" and "charisma" with him! How come I ain't got none of that?! I'm at least one hundred percent more likable than that scaly freak! I even saved nearly everyone here in this mansion from that Tabuu guy! Where's my recognition?!"
"It's not like K. Rool is enjoyable to be around either,"
"Still! What's wrong with me that I get nothin' around here?!"
"Well for starters, you're narcissistic, uncivil, egotistical, self-centered, possibly a psychopath, a sociopath, unintelligent, you pushed Roy down the stairs twice, you're disrespectful, a coward most of the time, you let people do all the work for you, you're unmannered, insolent, you steal, and you insult everyone around you,"
"...Huh, what did you say? I blanked out there?"
Meta Knight facepalmed. "Oy vey,"
Later that afternoon, King Dedede had planted himself on the living room couch as he, Luigi, and Ness browsed the television for something good to watch. But the king of Dream Land couldn't help but hold a look of annoyance as he flipped through the multiple channels, as well as some incoherent mumbling.
And his friends were quick to notice.
"Um, are you-a okay, Dedede?" Luigi asked as politely as he could.
"Yeah, you look pretty upset," Ness agreed. "Is something wrong?"
"I'll tell you guys what's wrong!" King Dedede exclaimed, rising from his seat. "It's that no one in this darn mansion besides you two ever seems to respect me! I'm a king! And as king you shall treat me with the upmost loyalty! But noooooo! Nobody ever wants to do that! What's it gonna take for me to earn admiration?!"
Luigi and Ness both shared a collective glance.
"Maybe you-a should start by being nice-a to everyone else besides-a me and Ness," Luigi said. "If you're nice-a to everyone, maybe everyone-a will be nice to you-a too."
"Yeah... And you might wanna say sorry to Roy for pushing him down the stairs," Ness told.
The king of Dream Land put thought into it.
Should he be nice to everyone around him, resulting in everyone earning his trust and at the very least showing admiration for him? Or should he continue being the self-absorbed snob that he is now?
And thus, the king made up his mind.
"Nah, that's too much work," King Dedede sighed, slumping his head back against the soft cushions. "Ugh, if only there were an extremely convenient miracle to just happen right in front of me."
"Do you wish to get the respect you so rightfully deserve?" A new voice suddenly piped in.
This peeked the king's interest. "Yes?"
"Do you wish to have all the admiration from everyone around you?"
"Yes,"
"Well come on down to the New Donk City Gym!" The voice happened to be coming from a commercial on the television of a quite muscular man lifting weights. "Here you'll get to pump up those muscles and get those calves fit! We have dumbbells, barbells, treadmills, bicycles, and yoga! All to your hearts content! So come on down, or stay round!"
A lightbulb flashed above King Dedede's head. "That's it!"
"What's it?" Ness asked.
"Exercising! If I show that I have some muscles on this body of mine then maybe people around this darn place will finally see who they should be worshipping!"
Luigi couldn't help but raise a brow. "Exercising? But-a, uh, don't you hate-a working out?"
"Of course I do! It's the worst thing ever! But if it means I'll finally get some recognition around here, then it's worth a try!"
"...What?" Ness asked, genuinely confused.
"Havin' muscles around here is the only way you're ever gonna gain respect, Ness. And that's what I should be gettin'!" King Dedede then rose from his seat before facing his two friends. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some matters to attend to." The king then rushed off, leaving a trail of dust behind him.
"Something tells-a me this isn't gonna end-a well,"
The fitness center was a regularly visited spot within the Smash Mansion. Most of the residents simply came in, ran the treadmill, attempted to lift some weights, and then leave.
Expect for the Wii Fit Trainers, who always seemed to visit the room on a daily basis—unsurprisingly.
Speaking of which, the two fitness trainers happened to be in this very room at this very moment—unsurprisingly once again.
The Female Wii Fit Trainer, who's real name happened to be Stacy, stood on a blue mat as she positioned herself in a high lunge, all the while the Male Wii Fit Trainer, who's name happened to be Alex, stood in a half moon pose beside her.
"Are you doing okay there?" Stacy asked, looking over to her companion.
"Never better," Alex replied, stretching his arms with a wince. "Just, uh, my shoulders kinda hurt a little from all this."
"Well it looks like we don't have anybody to help tutor today, so let's take a break from this, shall we?"
Not even her words lasted for a second as King Dedede busted through the doors in a dripping sweat.
"Hey, you two! " the king said between pants, skidding in front of the duo. "I need you two to help me exercise!"
Stacy was stunned at the king of Dream Land's words. "You need us to do what exactly?"
"I need you two to help me exercise! You know, the thing you two always bugged me about doing for the entirety of last month! I need that!"
"Oh! Well, me and Alex would be glad to help you!" Stacy was ecstatic that the self-proclaimed king was finally letting himself into a healthier life, but Alex thought otherwise.
"Um, Stacy, could I see you for one second?" Alex lightly pulled his fellow fitness trainer away and out of the king's earshot. "Honey, are you sure this is a good idea?"
"What do you mean?"
"Don't you find it a little weird that Dedede of all people suddenly wanna start exercising?"
"Not really. Wario came in yesterday and actually tried to lift some weights. It was actually impressive."
"But don't you think he's doing something we don't know about?"
"Hun, you worry too much. I get it, Dedede may not be all that great, but maybe he's turning over a new leaf," Stacy placed her hand on his cheek before kissing the other. "Trust me, ok?"
Alex couldn't help but smile as he looked into his wife's gray eyes. "Ok, I trust you,"
"Hey, lovebirds!" The sudden yell caught the attention of the two fitness trainers as they both looked to see King Dedede on a deactivated treadmill. "Any of you know how to work this thing?!" The king then spotted the power button very quickly. "Never mind! I got it!"
The king pressed the button, and without a second later, the treadmill instantly began running at around 500 miles per hour. He simply couldn't handle the speed of the machine, trying all his might to keep up, but ended up tripping and rocketed into the wall.
"Ouch..."
Both Wii Fit Trainers couldn't help but sigh.
"This may take a while..." Stacy said.
King Dedede's exercise routine didn't go as smoothly as you'd think.
First, the Wii Fit Trainers positioned him to stand in a tree pose. But, that definitely didn't go well considering he didn't exactly have legs.
And that ended with a faceplant.
Next, he tried to lift some weights. You would think that since he's used to holding a large mallet that could break the strongest of stone, it would be pretty easy to him. However, there was a big difference between wood and pure iron.
And that ended with a painful crash to his large stomach.
Then, he went to do some pull-ups. Sadly, he could barely even lift himself up.
And that ended with the bar breaking and landing on his head with a clang.
Eventually, he did some jump roping. To which he ended tripping over the rope.
And that ended with, yet again, another faceplant.
Failure, after failure, after failure—with no sign of succession in sight.
And the king was just about fed up with it.
"That's it!" King Dedede fumed as he pulled himself up from the floor. "None of this stuff is working! How am I supposed to work out if everything I do goes horribly wrong?!"
"Calm down, Dedede," Stacy attempted to soothe the seething king. "We get that stuff may have not suited you so far, but how about we try some mediating instead. It'll help ease your mind."
"How about this?" The king simply walked over to the glass entrance doors. "I quit!" He tried to push the doors, but they wouldn't budge.
"Um, you're supposed to pull it," Alex told.
The king did what he was told and pulled, this time the doors actually opening. "Oh... Uh, thanks," He then took his leave.
Both Wii Fit Trainers weren't really phased by the king's anger—they actually saw it coming sooner or later.
"Don't worry, he'll be back," Stacy spoke.
Alex raised a brow. "How do you know?"
"Hun, this is Dedede we're talking about. He'll come back before you know it."
"Stupid exercise. Why would I even try that?" King Dedede grumbled as he went inside the fridge a took out a can of soda. "I'm the great King Dedede! And a king should never need to exercise, unless you're on the verge of death or something." He then took a sip from his can.
"Well well well, if it isn't my least favorite fatty around here," A new voice arose into King Dedede's non existent ears.
Sadly, he knew exactly who that voice belonged to.
"What do you want now, K. Rool?" The self-proclaimed king groaned upon the reptilian king's entrance, slightly crushed his soda. "Come to make my day worse than it already is, eh?"
"Sheesh, can't a guy just come into the kitchen to grab something to eat? No wonder nobody likes you around here besides that plumber and that weird kid,"
The king of Dream Land crushed the soda even more. "Hey! You don't talk about my friends like that,"
"Oh! I'm sorry! Did I hurt your feelings?"
King Dedede groaned. "You're actin like everybody in this mansion likes you too,"
King K. Rool scoffed. "At least I don't make myself look like an utter fool,"
That's what made King Dedede snap.
The king of Dream Land fully crushed his soda, his pupils shrinking to the size of flies, before stomping over to the king of Kremlings, planting an accusing finger on his chest. "You now what? I've just had about enough of you. How about we settle this? You, me, backyard, tonight. Got that?"
King K. Rool didn't seemed threatened by this one bit. Instead, he grinned.
"Fine—if it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get," The grin on the Kremling king didn't disappear as he exited the room, completely forgetting the thing he came to get.
King Dedede crossed his arms with a scowl as he watched his fellow king leave. "And all this happened because of some dumb costume. Hmph, he's gonna get what's comin' to him,"
The Wii Fit Trainers still continued to occupy themselves within the fitness center like usual, both of them seemingly meditating all the while waiting for King Dedede's inevitable return.
And before they knew it, or before Alex knew it, the king busted through the glass doors.
"Hey! You two! I need ya help again!" The king of Dream Land blurted as he rushed over to the couple.
"I told you he'd come back," Stacy glanced at her husband with a smirk, for which Alex rolled his eyes.
"Listen! Forget all that quttin' stuff I was talkin' about earlier! I need the both of you to help me get some muscles quickly!"
"Is there a special occasion?" Alex piped in, standing next to his wife.
"...Kinda! But will you just help a poor soul like me out for a minute?"
Stacy thought for a moment.
Should they help the pleading king out with their gifted specialty that could possibly help him develop into a different person? Or, should they decline and let the king continue being his usual self-absorbed self?
She looked over to her partner for some advice, yet he gave her but a simple shrug.
Thankfully, in King Dedede's case, the fitness trainer had made up her mind.
"We'll help you, Dedede,"
"Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank-"
"On one condition," Stacy reached into her pocket and pulled out a freshly washed blue headband. "You have to wear this."
King Dedede took the headband from her. "Uh, don't you have anything less tacky?"
"Well, I do have one Wario used befo-"
"Nevermind! I'll just use this one," The king of Dream Land placed the band around his head, although it did feel a little tight. But as long as he didn't have to wear whatever Wario used previously, then he was A-OK.
And thus, the training began once again.
And cue the epic training montage music.
The first step on King Dedede's exercise routine: the treadmill.
Thankfully, he didn't use the one he tragically tripped on earlier.
The Wii Fit Trainers put the machine on at a decent 5 miles per hour, which was essentially a cakewalk for the king. But then it reached 10 miles per hour, which made the king bring up his speed.
Then it was 15.
Then it was 20.
Then it was 25.
And the numbers kept getting bigger and bigger, yet the king didn't slow his role. It was quite impressive how someone this big could run so quick.
No offence.
The second step on King Dedede's exercise routine: push-ups.
Now that might of sounded easy, but there's a twist. He had to do one-arm push-ups.
And not only that.
He had to do it with random objects stacked on his back.
It was already tough enough for the king to get into position, but he eventually succeeded. And then came the items.
The fitness trainers first stacked a trio of heavy books, which didn't really seem to challenge the self-proclaimed king. Then, they stacked some wooden blocks, then a Metal Box, then a Bumper, then a POW Block, then a Sandbag, and even a napping Pikachu.
How all of these things stood on King Dedede's back without a sign of falling over was beyond baffling.
The third step on King Dedede's exercise routine: sit ups—but with rocks in your hands.
Apparently, Stacy said it was to help your head feel less stressed.
She wasn't wrong.
Success, after success, after success—with no sign of failure in sight.
It was astonishing how much progress the king of Dream Land made compared to before—and in the nick of time too.
"Well, it wasn't easy, but I think that work out was a success," Stacy said, taking a sip from her bottle of water. "How do you feel, Dedede?"
The king in question was definitely not his normal self anymore.
He was absolutely RIPPED! Probably double than the time he was corrupted by the Jamba Heart piece back in Dream Land—minus the shredded clothes and corrupted temper.
Who would've thought that in around an hour of exercise someone could conveniently become extremely jacked?
"How do I feel? How do I feel? I'll tell ya, I feel absolutely jacked!" King Dedede boasted proudly, flexing each of his newborn muscles. "Look at these puppies! These things look like they could cut glass! Or maybe a car! Heck, I feel like lifting seven fridges right about now for no apparent reason!"
Stacy was glad to know that the king practically enjoyed their session of exercising, but Alex still couldn't shake this skeptical feeling off of him.
"Well we're very happy to help you out,"
"Thanks for the workout you two! I'll be sure to pay ya in...uh...somethin'!" The self-proclaimed king took his leave from the room, almost nearly breaking the doors off their hinges from his immense strength. "Hope they pay in Gordos..."
Alex and Stacy both watched the king depart, but Alex caught a glimpse of his wife at the corner of his eye, her hands on her hips.
"What?" he asked, raising a questioning brow.
"I told you he was turning over a new leaf," Stacy replied, a sly smirk written on her face.
"How would you know?"
"He said thank you, hun. When have you ever seen Dedede say thank you to someone that doesn't relate to food?"
"Well...um... Er..."
Stacy placed a sympathetic hand on her partner's shoulder. "You don't need to worry anymore, hun. Nothing bad is gonna happen to anyone, and nobody's gonna get hurt. Ok?"
Alex didn't really know what to think of anymore. He wanted to believe his wife, but at the same time he just had this bad feeling in his gut that wouldn't bother to leave him be.
It was either his wife, or his thoughts.
And he came to a conclusion.
"Ok, honey," Alex spoke, gently placing his hand atop of hers.
"Good," Stacy pecked her husband's cheek. "Now let's go make some dinner. I'm pretty sure everyone's about to get hungry soon." After packing her bag of necessities, she began to exit the room.
With a deep sigh, Alex followed suit.
"I just hope you're right, honey,"
It was around 9 PM once King K. Rool stood outside in the mansion's backyard, his patience increasingly getting shorter and shorter by each passing second.
"Ugh! Where is this fool?! It's been past thirty minutes and I'm gonna be late for pedicure soon enough!" the reptilian king snarled, arms crossed.
Funny enough—kinda—his answered was pretty much found as a swole King Dedede came through the backdoor, the moon shining off each of his new pecs.
"Right here," the king of Dream Land said, bravery apparent in his tone.
The king of the Kremlings couldn't help but hold a befuddled stare to his fellow king's new form. But that confusion soon turned into deviousness.
"So, you ditch the hammer for some muscles,eh? Didn't think you had it in ya," King K. Rool snickered.
"You could say that I guess," King Dedede had to partially agree. "But who needs a hammer when I have these!" He boldly flexed his muscles without a care in the world.
King K. Rool scoffed. "Don't think just because you decided to work out means this'll be easy for you," The reptilian king stretched his claws with a toothy grin.
"Please, this'll be a cakewalk. Once I'm done with you, you'll look like a beaten sausage! Or, uh, a burnt tire! Yeah, that!"
"...What?"
"Nothin'! Let's just get this over with!"
The two kings glared down each other as silence loomed amongst them, all expect for the sound of a lonely cricket.
Chirp.
Chirp.
Chirp.
Chirp.
And thus, the fight began.
King K. Rool destructively charged to the king of Dream Land, his claws tearing the ground beneath him. He lunged high with a clenched fist as he brought it down against King Dedede's face, knocking him back.
King Dedede dusted himself off as he quickly sat back up before rushing to the reptilian king, tightening his fists. He attempted to punch his stomach, but King K. Rool caught his hand with ease. He tried to use the other but the reptilian gripped that one too.
And he had a pretty strong grip.
Luckily, using all the strength he could muster, he flung the reptilian king behind him with brute force.
King K. Rool clawed the dirt as he skidded back, stopping himself from tumbling over.
"Hmph, you're more of a challenge than I thought," he spoke roughly.
The king of the Kremlings pulled out his pair of boxing gloves from who knows where before slipping them on.
King Dedede found this quite amusing. "Heh! You think those gloves are supposed to scare m-"
BAM!
The king of Dream Land couldn't even finish his sentence before a glove was met across his face. He fell over in a daze as stars whirled around his head, and his vision blurred as if he saw three King K. Rools stir around him.
"Mama, is that you...?" King Dedede said groggily. Though he shook his head and came to a realization that the one standing in front of him was not in fact his mother, but King K. Rool—his toothy grin visible.
He kicked the reptilian back before sitting back up.
The king was no longer messing around.
In a matter of seconds, King Dedede ran at full speed towards the reptilian king, the moon flashing on his gritted teeth. And not a moment later, the king landed an uppercut against King K. Rool's jaw.
The king of the Kremlings staggered back, feeling a shooting pain where the king of Dream Land had punched him. But he paused once he felt something loose in his mouth. He sharply spat out what was inside, and what he saw him enraged.
His own tooth.
King K. Rool glared at the self-proclaimed king with a growl, his opponent doing the same—minus the growl.
The two kings charged at each other before rapidly throwing punches, each punch hitting the other.
It went on and on and on. Punch after punch after punch after punch, one of them being successful to touching their target.
Almost looked as if it were ripped out of an action movie—but if the movie had a horrible budget.
Minutes went by as the attacks never ceased, the two kings growing antsy to at least hit their target to end this cycle.
However, King Dedede had an idea. He swiftly kicked his foot against the one belonging to the reptilian king, knocking him off his course. And before he could hit the ground, the self-proclaimed king landed a hardy fist against the reptilian's golden gut.
It somehow didn't crack but the force of it was enough to knock the king of the Kremlings out cold. Which only meant one thing...
King Dedede had won.
"...I won?" Even the king was bewildered. "I...won? I won! Ha ha ha! In ya face! Nobody" The king proceeded to laugh uncontrollably as he happily jigged around the unconscious body of King K. Rool.
Although, his joyous victory didn't last long.
"King Dedede!" a yell sounded from behind him.
The king of Dream Land's mood turned from joyful to unpleasant in an instant. He turned around and was met with a group consisting of Luigi, Ness, Stacy, and Alex, all of their expressions morphed into looks of anger.
"Uh... What's up, guys," King Dedede nonchalantly greeted as if they didn't see a body lying beside him.
"Dedede, when me and Alex helped you exercise earlier, we thought you were starting to become a different person," Stacy sternly began, arms crossed. "Was the real reason you wanted us to help you was to just beat someone up?"
"I had a feeling that would happen," Alex thought to himself.
"What?! No!"
"Then why did you really want our help?"
The king of Dream Land was greatly stumped on what to say. Though he let out what his mind spoke.
"Look! All I wanted was some gosh darn respect around this place! As a king, it is guaranteed you treat thy king with some decency. But do I get any of that? No! I don't! Is it hard to ask for some for once?!"
"That's because-a you treat everybody horribly-a, Dedede!" Luigi scolded. "How do you-a expect everyone to be nice-a to you if you're not nice to-a them?"
"Uh..."
Dedede, you can't just only be nice to me and Luigi," Ness spoke up. "You have to nice to everybody. If you treat everyone like trash, how do you expect anybody to give you respect."
King Dedede had to admit, the kid had a point. "I...never really thought of it that way. Have I really let all of my selfishness and arrogant acts get the best of me, which made me end up lying about my owl personal goals and end up fighting someone out of pure spite...? Nah,"
"Oh, brother..." Alex facepalmed with a groan.
"Wait..." a grumbled voice piped in.
The group faced to where it came from, only to be met with a struggling King K. Rool who made an effort to pick himself up. The king of the Kremlings slid off his boxing gloves before stepping beside his fellow ruler, placing a hand on his back.
"Dedede, you may be a stupid, fat, irresponsible fool of a king... But never in all my years of being alive have I seen someone grow some muscles just to take me on—Donkey Kong doesn't count,"
"You sure he wasn't talking about himself for a sec?" Alex lightly joked, though Stacy elbowed him in his shoulder.
"But, you know what you've earned?"
"...What?" King Dedede asked curiously.
"My respect,"
That was all King Dedede needed to hear.
"Your respect...? Your respect..." The king of Dream Land had to set in what his fellow king had said.
"You okay-a there, Dedede?" Luigi asked with concern.
"Your respect..." A wide grin had formed on the self-proclaimed king's lips. "Ha ha ha! You hear that world?! I earned someone's respect! You hear it?! Respect!" The king burst into hysterics.
The group, including King K. Rool, couldn't help but crack a smirk at King Dedede's celebratory jig.
"I've never felt this proud in life! You know what? How about I dish everybody up some dinner—my treat!" Nobody could even stop the king before he took off back to the mansion. But what he didn't notice, however, was the piece of paper saying "KICK ME!" written on his back.
And wouldn't you know it, King K. Rool was the one who placed it on him.
"Sucker," The king of the Kremlings confidently snickered.
It turned to be around the time most of the Smash Mansion's residents hit the hay and wished each other sweet dreams. A few of those residents happened to be Luigi, Ness, and King Dedede, who were just about to head to their respective rooms.
"So-a do you plan on getting-a rid of those muscles-a soon?" Luigi asked the king of Dream Land.
"Probably," King Dedede answered. "May have to order a years supply of pizza though. Do you have any money on you?"
Luigi deadpanned.
Not long after, King Dedede ended up bumping into someone. And that someone happened to be Roy.
"Hey! Could you watch where you're going! You could've fractured one of my precious abs!" he yelled at the sword user.
Roy in particular couldn't care less. And just before King Dedede knew it, the Young Lion delivered a quick punch into the king's gut before walking off.
"Oooooo..." King Dedede winced as he fell over and clutched his stomach, not expecting the teen to use that much force.
"Told you you should've said sorry," Ness deadpanned.
Hope you enjoyed another chapter of Tales of Smash!
I really tried my best with the fight scene, but I'm extremely horrible when it comes to writing fights, so I tried my best. (I also apologize with how semi-confusing this entire chapter is).
Now I don't wanna sound like I'm begging or anything, but if you could leave a review, I would really appreciate it!
Anyway, until next time!