Chapter 1, Part 3

Much to Meta Knight's surprise, the tour hadn't been as bad as he'd expected it to be. The Dees were more accepting of him and Kirby than he'd though; way too accepting compared to other species he'd encountered. It made him wonder whether they were just being polite…but part of him hoped that they weren't, and he acknowledged that side of him. He wasn't particularly sure he'd remember all of their names, though, but he was sure they wouldn't mind—

"Well, there aren't too many people who you might need to remember, but the people in these tent might be useful—well, to Kirby and Dedede, of course." The aforementioned duo suddenly became alert. "One of these guys is the next leader, but…don't get the wrong idea, he doesn't play the part right now. So pleeeeease don't get the wrong idea."

Meta Knight stared up at what looked to be a park shelter, but with tent sides attached around it, snapping himself out of his previous thoughts. He noticed steam rising from a built-in chimney. "Is this a kitchen, I'm guessing?"

"Hm? Wow, you guessed right; it is. It's a little modern, just for convenience."

"Making it a tent sounds like a fire hazard to me," Meta Knight pointed out flatly. "Is it just for looks?"

Bandana Dee paused, turning to the puff. "Our tribe's not in the stone age or anything, but we like traditions. Most of our stuff can be cooked over a fire or in a regular brick oven, without having to use gas or anything. But if we need extra food cooked, we give these guys a job and they get to have some fun."

Kirby and Dedede (and even Meta Knight, subtly) licked their lips in anticipation.

"Well, here we go, guys…" Bandana Dee lifted the tent flap aside for his quartet members, and then let it go after them. The newcomers glanced around curiously before they heard shouting.

"Where's the mozzarella? Grab that sauce! REGGIE, WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING OVER THERE?! Get SERIOUS!"

"But Miki!" A Dee with a stained chef's hat, apparently Reggie, popped up from staring in an oven. "My lasagna might be burning!"

"Don't you know when your dish will be done?" the same voice from before snapped. Some quick glances revealed a short, somewhat-annoyed female Dee with an assistant chef's hat—in other words, not as tall as Reggie's impractically-heightened hat. Her fur was perfectly clean, as well as her dishrag and hat. "Straighten up, Reggie; cooking isn't a game!"

"I could cook in my sleep!" Reggie boasted.

"I'd shove you in the oven if you did that!" The Dee snapped her dishrag. "Put your stuff up and then check the lasagna! Ugh…"

"Miki," Bandana Dee called. "I um, I brought some visitors…is now a good time?"

Miki's face instantly softened, and she put her work on the counter, modifying pot positions as she made her way over to him. She looked the quartet over.

"Oh, hi!" The Dee appeared quite happy as compared to how bossy she'd been. "My name is Miki. I'm the assistant chef here and Reggie's the boss; in other words, I manage a lot of stuff around here. Keep stuff clean and tidy and not burnt." She turned back slightly. "Isn't that right, Reggie?"

The other chef was busy at the sink, rinsing off dishes. "Huh? Yeah, Miki. I'll save you the dishes this time, though."

The Dee's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Watch the food. Anyway—" She turned back to the newcomers. "—you must be our guests!" Her glance flickered from Dedede down to Kirby and Meta Knight. "I must say, you two are good-looking. I wouldn't mind serving you guys in my kitchen." Her tone was mischievous as she glanced the puffballs over. "Reggie, would yooooouuuuuuuu mind?"

Reggie pouted.

Miki continued. "But, I heard you guys are special guests, like…oh shoot." Miki rushed over to a dish on the stove. "Reggie, I thought you were watching these pots!"

"No, I was watching the lasagna!" he shouted back.

"Stop doing the dishes!" Miki smacked the Dee on his cheek. "I told you, you do the dishes while you're waiting on something, not when everything's about to come out! Now we have visitors, so as the next chief, you should leave this to me and introduce yourself! Wash your hands!"

Reggie washed his hands and a spatula, drying both off. "Miki, I've totally got this covered; I'm—"

He blinked. Though he had responded to Miki's mention of them before, only now had it registered that the quartet had been standing there the whole time. He acknowledged Bandana Dee's presence, but decided to make a good impression on the visitors first.

"Oh!" Reggie whipped around, the frying pan smacking into the cabinet. Miki sighed in frustration as the top fell off, making her way over to it and screwing it back on. Reggie dashed over to the quartet and bowed in an over-dramatic fashion.

"Hi you guys! Er, uhhhh…important visitors! My name's Reggie, and I'm the future chief!"

Kirby brightened up, Dedede's mouth opened slightly, and Meta Knight just blinked. Reggie apparently noticed this, shifting awkwardly. "Eheh, yeaaahhh…I know I don't really look it, but I'm gonna be in charge in a few years. I'm already kinda in charge of the kitchen…well, as far as actually doing the labor, that is."

Miki cast him a glance at this.

"Anyway, I'm the next chief! So my granddad, he um…he lets me work here because he wants me to get experience as a normal Dee before taking on his position!"

"It's because we can't cook his lasagna 'right'," Miki cut in coolly. Reggie's foot twitched, but he pretended to ignore this.

"So, I work here for now! And I'm really awesome—er, well, I think I am. Do you guys?"

The quartet, still dumbfounded, took a few seconds to nod. Reggie apparently sensed the dead-end in his conversation and instead focused his attention on Kirby. "So, you're…uh, you're Kirby, right?"

"Yup!" the pink puffball chirped.

"And you're, uh…" Clearly, Reggie hadn't bothered taking any information about the trio of newcomers to heart. He glanced over to Bandana Dee, hoping that his tribemate would step in and help him out. Bandana Dee obliged.

"Reggie, this is Kirby of the Stars, the famous prophecy hero. Most notably, he banished Nightmare, Necrodeus, Dark Nebula, Dark Matter, and a handful of other villains into either defeat, or retreat for their decades. He loves eating."

Reggie brightened up at hearing this, and Kirby grinned in return. "Well hey, Kirby! You must be pretty strong, to beat off all those monsters."

The puffball nodded.

"Huh…" Reggie looked somewhat confused. "Ummm, you talk a lot?"

"Kirby doesn't really prefer to," Meta Knight stated, putting on a poker face. Something about Reggie didn't sit right with him, but that didn't mean that he had to be flat-out rude, especially to a future figure of respect. "Hello Reggie; my name is Meta Knight and this—" He motioned to the king. "—is King Dedede, the current ruler of Dream Land. He recently expanded his empire, so there are one or two other areas currently under his control as well."

The penguin puffed his chest out. "Why thank you, Meta Knight." He offered a hand for the Dee to shake. "Pleasure doin' acquaintance stuff with fellow rulers."

"Erm, well, yeah, that's cool…" Reggie stood on his tiptoes. "But I can't reach—"

Dedede doubled over to shake the Dee's hand properly, then stood up, rubbing his back. Reggie rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, sorry about that. I better get used to stuff like this when I'm in charge." He turned toward Bandana Dee. "Hey, maybe Bandana here can make me a pair of stilts."

Bandana Dee shrugged, hoping that this was confirmation enough to satisfy Reggie until he forgot about it…hopefully.

"But…" The chef turned back toward Meta Knight, and the sapphire puffball noticed that the Dee was uncomfortably more observant than he had been when he was talking to the others…No; it was just his imagination; there was no reason the Dee should pay attention to him over Kirby. Meta Knight shoved the odd feeling out of his mind, permanently, so he could converse with Reggie like a normal person.

"…Meta, was it? Or do you like to be called by your full name?" the chef added meekly, noticing the warning glare Miki was giving him at calling the puff 'Meta'. "In here, we just give everyone nicknames if their name's too long. Uh, no offense."

"You can call me 'Meta'. I'm aware of your customs, so I'm not offended," he replied easily.

"Okay, thanks. Um…" Reggie shifted to the side. "…so, what did you do for a living? Erm! I mean, 'do'; not 'did do'! You certainly don't look like the type to be unemployed!"

Meta Knight wasn't particularly sure if he should be insulted at what Reggie was saying, or sympathetic at the fact that as a future chief, he was botching a conversation up with important visitors. Regardless of his earlier suspicions (he really needed to shake that habit), he still wasn't thrilled with the fact that the chef would be in charge of Bandana Dee and his family one day. Hopefully the chief's job wasn't anything too difficult. "Well, I used to be a soldier and part-time strategist, then I added some beginning engineering to my skills, and now I work with a mechatronics crew on projects as director. I also work with another Dee, and we take computer programming jobs together. Sometimes I'll offer myself as a wanderer for hire, when I need a spice of something new."

It wasn't his complete portfolio, but it worked well enough either way. The Dee was apparently impressed, which inwardly pleased the puff. "Wow, you're pretty cool! For being, uh…how old are you, anyways? If you don't mind me asking."

"Hm…" Meta Knight casually stopped to think for a few moments. "Maybe around twenty-five, normal years. Can you translate or convert that?"

The Dee blinked, as if startled. "Hm? Oh yeah! Of course I can! Uh, did you do fighting first, or nerd stuff? Ugh, sorry! I-I mean, book stuff!"

"Fighting first." Meta Knight shifted his position slightly, hoping to appear somewhat taller. At this point, he couldn't tell whether or not the future chief was really aiming to offend…but he had no reason to, really…

"Reggie," Miki interrupted. "While you're busy blabbing with him, the rest of your guests are just standing there. Learn proper chiefsmanship or whatever you want to call it, and treat all of them equally. Unless one of them is…I dunno; go back to chief school."

The Dee deflated. "But Mikiiii…can't I do that later? There's things to be cooked right now!"

It was about this point that Meta Knight noticed a strange smell. He decided to voice this. "Ummm, do you all smell anything out of the ordinary? Is something burning?"

The other quartet members sniffed the air, with Reggie and Miki following, the assistant's face in particular falling in dread. Reggie's eyes widened.

"MY LASAGNA!" Reggie grasped his cheeks in disbelief before rushing over to the oven and grabbing potholders in a mad dash to preserve his dish. "MY BEAUTIFUL LASAGNA IS GETTING RUINED BY OVERHEATING!"

The quartet could only watch the chef skeptically, while Miki merely gave him a flat stare. Meta Knight turned to Bandana Dee and whispered, "Is he really your only option for future leader?"

"I don't think Reggie's that bad…" Bandana Dee answered quietly. "He's really nice, I just—"

"EEEEYOWCH!" Reggie shouted, almost dropping the lasagna pan. "BAD IDEA!"

Bandana Dee flinched as he watched Reggie frantically slosh his paws in a bucket of cold water. "He just…could be a little more mature, that's all. His heart's in the right place."

"I see." Meta Knight blinked, watching Reggie do a dance while waving his hands around. "I think 'a lot more mature' might be better."

"Reggiiiiiiie…" Miki seethed, trying to keep her cool—well, outwardly, at least. The assistant grabbed the lasagna dish and ripped the foil off the top. "If we didn't have visitors, I'd have some very impolite words to say about this…"

"I know, Miki—wait. You never swear; how could you—"

"CHECK THE PASTA, REGGIE!" The assistant turned back to Bandana Dee and the others. "I'm sorry; with it being so close to dinner, it's probably not the best time for in-depth conversations. When everybody has all-day projects like area setup, we pretty much become Restaurant De-Dee. How 'bout you come back and chat with us tomorrow, when everybody will be out after we serve them?"

Bandana Dee nodded before turning to his friends. "Sound good to you guys?"

"You didn't tell me we could've eaten here!" Dedede hissed. "I had to eat a can of noodles for lunch! What about my health?"

"Mr. Potato-Chip-Lover," Meta Knight muttered.

"But Meta, you like potato chips too…" Kirby pointed out, earning him a slightly-annoyed stare from the sapphire puffball.

Bandana Dee waved his paws. "Guys, guys. Are we all good?"

The two puffballs nodded.

"Fine…" The king crossed his arms before brightening up and glancing further into the kitchen. "Hey, that lasagna doesn't actually look too bad…maybe—"

"The sauce is seasoned differently," Miki cut in. "Just a warning. Reggie, prove yourself to be a proper chief. Do you have anything to say to our guests before they leave for now?"

Reggie walked back up to them, rubbing his paws together. "Heheh, hope to see you guys around. If you ever need me, just ask for Reggie. Everybody knows who I am; I'm really popular."

Meta Knight had to resist rolling his eyes. Yeah, I wonder HOW you got that popular…You'd have to use rocket science if you wanted to find why someone COULDN'T remember you, and I'm a rocket scientist…

"Oh, and if you ever have trouble remembering my name, just remember this and you can tell people the general idea—'chef' is only an 'i' away from 'chief'!" the cook shouted as the quartet left out the door, with Kirby waving goodbye.

Once they were a reasonable distance away from the chef's tent (though not completely out of earshot; they could hear Reggie screaming about something yet again…), the other quartet members finally felt as if they could voice their thoughts.

"I don't like him," Meta Knight stated flatly. He wasn't about to mention the weird feeling he got from Reggie, because he was naturally suspicious of new situations, but this…He couldn't tell; was this from too much newness, or was it from something more?

Bandana Dee pouted, somewhat genuinely. "Aw, come on, Meta…! You love Italian food…I swear he's a good guy once you get to know him!"

"What I want to know is, why didn't you feed me?" Dedede interrupted, irritated. "I wouldn't have eaten anything! …Can I still have some?"

"Don't worry, Great King; you can have some…just, we weren't expecting you guys to arrive until tomorrow, but I figured I'd take you around to see everybody today so we didn't have to do that tomorrow."

Kirby blinked. "So where are we sleeping? In a tree?"

"I'm not camping out wilderness style!" Dedede protested, forgetting that Kirby loved to sleep outdoors and would naturally be the first to suggest sleeping in trees and such. "I'll—"

Meta Knight clapped his paws. "Don't worry. Bandana Dee planned everything out. Right, Bandana?"

Fortunately, the Dee nodded. "Most of us are sleeping in tents on the beach, for tradition's sake. We have several tent sizes you guys can use." He glanced at Kirby and Meta Knight. "Though, you two may have to share a tent with someone."

Kirby smiled mischievously. "Poyo!"

"Why do you keep saying that?" Meta Knight asked, giving the puff a questioning look. "You don't even bother using a pattern. Is talking really that bad? You know how to speak, but even those Dee children talk more than you do!"

The pink puff nodded. "Poyo…heehee…"

A Dee pulling a cart of fruit strolled by, causing Kirby to lose his focus.

"Suikaaaa!" the puff whined, starting to trail after the Dee. Dedede scooped the puff up, hurrying to keep up with Meta Knight and Bandana Dee, who'd chosen to ignore the duo and continue walking.

"…but we're off-topic. I just don't like Reggie. I'll still be polite to him and give him a chance to prove himself; I'm just not getting the best image right now. Is that clear?" the sapphire puff murmured.

"Whattaya talkin' about?" Dedede asked, suddenly catching up with the group. Meta Knight turned to the king and the puffball, somewhat annoyed.

"What do you think of Reggie?"

Dedede blinked. "Huh? Uh, I guess he's a cool guy. If he cooks pizza, maybe you guys could be buddies, Cheese Fan."

Meta Knight was not amused.

"Meta, just…give him a chance. He's not been himself lately," Bandana Dee pressed.

"Hm?" Meta Knight's eyes narrowed. "Why's he not been himself? Is he more serious than normal, or less?"

"Well…" Bandana Dee hesitated. "Reggie's been acting a little weird for the past few days. It's nothing huge, but—I dunno, something's just off about him. He might just be stressed, with having to deal with the party. Either way, I don't think how you saw him now would be a proper indicator of how good a chief he'd be, or even what he'd be like as a chief."

"So…Meta Knight probed. "What do you think he'll be like as a chief?"

Bandana Dee simply blinked. It took him a while to think of an answer. "You know, I have no idea."

"Poyo!" Kirby cheered. Meta Knight made a face.

"Yeah…maybe 'poyo' describes how his reign will be…Crazy."

C/N: Yayyyy. More OCs. So unprofessional. But, my comfort is that I've never seen a Waddle Dee OC before. Or if there ARE any, they don't rank that high of a status in-story. I think most OCs in this archive are match-ups for Meta Knight or something. I dunno; I'm just guessing because that's the first and only category that came to mind. Outside of self-inserts but I'm not going to get started on those. You're here for a story, not a rant!