Avina browsed through the collection of videos; each clip more amusing than the last. She was almost in tears from chuckling so much on some of them. They were argually an improvement over the original raw footage in her eyes, and given the limitations in the software on that PC, some of the editing in the clips were quite impressive. She was highly tempted to share some of them on the Internet. The video editor was shaken out of her trance when a small voice greeted her. She shot around in her swivel chair and saw what resembled a solid pink Waddle Dee with a smiling mouth and less pronounced rosy cheeks. He gazed curiously around the studio with his bright blue eyes. "Hey there," Avina greeted. "Where did you come from?"

"Poyo! Poyo!" The puffball cheerfully bounced up and down. She wasn't sure who this fellow was or where he came from, but his limited speech suggested he was still very young. She looked around to see if there was anything in the room to entertain him with when she noticed him typing stuff on keyboard for the graphic generator.

She rushed over to the puffball. "Sorry, but these aren't toys." Avina paused for a moment to look at what the tyke typed out on the monitor. Amidst the cat like typing, she found what looked to be a line of dancing puffballs like him followed by a less than sign next to the number 3. She doubted he had any idea what they meant, but she found it cute nonetheless.

(insert a line of dancing ascii kirbies that will not show up properly)

Avina led the puffball to a chair next to her own at the computers and invited him to sit. "So, what's your name?"

"Kaabii!" the puffball raised his nubs.

Kaabii…Kaabii…Kirby? "And what brings you to the castle?"

"Tiff! Tuff!"

"Oh, are they friends of yours?

Kirby bounced on the chair. "Poyo!"

"I see. Want me to page them down so they know where you are?" Avina reached out for the phone when she heard a young feminine voice down the hall calling out the puffball's name. Kirby faced the door, looked back to the editor and hopped off the chair, waving goodbye.

"See ya around, kiddo!" Avina waved back as the puffball happily ran out the door.

"There you are, Kirby!" the young voice exclaimed in relief. "I was looking all over. Please don't run off like that again."

"Poyo!"

Avina strolled back to the graphic generator where Kirby's graphic was still displayed on the monitor. Feeling mischievous, she saved the puffball's work as "DDDgraphic," trying to hold back her snickering. It's not uncommon for a few amusing bugs and errors to show up on the first couple days of broadcast. As she clicked 'save,' another voice, much deeper and speaking with a Spanish accent dragged her back to reality. "If I may interrupt," The editor shot around and saw a masked figure in a dark blue cape standing in the doorway. How the heck did he get there without making a sound in that armor? Was he some sort of ninja? "You must be Avina correct?"

"Yeah," the editor answered slowly. "And you are?"

"I am here to show you to your room," the warrior stood stoic. "You may call me Meta Knight."

"Oh, uh, thank you, Meta Knight!" Avina bowed her head.

The knight turned his back as his cape billowed behind him. "Follow me."

Avina followed quietly through the winding castle corridors, wondering to herself how she'd find her way around the place. "I do not mean to pry," Meta Knight broke the silence. "But how long have you been working for NME?"

"Uh…" Avina thought long and hard but was unable to come up with an answer. "I'm not sure to be honest; I don't remember much prior to my life at Nightmare Enterprises."

"Is that so?" Meta Knight pondered as his golden eyes shifted to an eerie green. Avina was a little unsettled, but decided it was best not to ask. Finally, they arrived at a door on the third level. It was a bit of a hike from the studios in the dungeon, but Avina didn't mind; she figured the exercise wouldn't hurt. Meta Knight unlocked the door and handed her the key. Avina took a moment to look around her new room; it was a bit larger than her one-room apartment in the NME space station. She laid her bag of personal belongings onto the full-size bed and strolled over to the large window. The view of Dream Land was breathtaking! She could not remember the last time she had seen natural sunlight and blue skies, apart from the occasional footage she'd work with on a computer screen; the fresh air and warm beams of natural sunlight bouncing off her body felt so soothing. She turned back to thank the knight, but he had already vanished. 'Talk about rude,' she thought. At least the little pink kid was courteous enough to say goodbye.

That evening King Dedede peeked in the door to the staff kitchen and found Avina sitting at the table with her laptop, glancing every so often at the pot on the stove. He felt his stomach growl; whatever she was cooking smelled really good, but he wasn't going to admit that to this new editor. He decided to step in and mess with her a little. "Slackin' off, I see?"

Avina turned away from the stove and saw the king leaning on his arm against the doorframe grinning smugly. "Your Majesty," she stammered. "What brings you down here?"

"Just thought I'd stop by and see how you were coming along."

"If you must know," she stated flatly as she resumed stirring, "I'm a third of the way through. I'm just taking a lunch break."

Dedede raised an eyebrow. "At 6:30 in the evening?"

"I was so engrossed in my work today that I didn't eat anything around noon."

"What?" the self-proclaimed king couldn't fathom the idea of missing a meal. "Man, you artsy types are weird!"

"Aw, your so sweet sire," she smirked playfully.

Dedede grew even more confused. "That wasn't meant to be a compliment."

"I know, but I take pride in being weird because normal is boring!"

"Okay, now you're starting to weird me out."

"Oh, sorry," Avina saw the king growing uneasy so she toned down her quirky side a little. He was clearly not used to being around someone who was not afraid to return his jabs, at least not in her way. "Want some chili mac? Though I'm sure a man of your status has special chefs on staff that are more highly trained than me."

"Yeah, but they're all off tonight," the king scratched the back of his head, looking annoyed.

"Food's almost ready, and my offer is still open if you're hungry," Avina smirked.

Dedede grumbled and approached the stove, staring at the food dubiously. "This ain't gonna make me all kookoo like you, is it?"

"Sire," Avina chuckled as she spooned some chili mac into a bowl. "I bought all my ingredients from the convenient store in town. I highly doubt they'd sell anything that would make people 'kookoo like me.'"

The king frowned. He didn't want to trust this loopy editor, but a king's gotta eat. Figuring he had nothing to lose but his sanity (and let's be honest, Dedede didn't have a whole lot of sanity in the first place), he seated himself at the table and sampled the bowl in front of him. His eyes widened briefly; it wasn't too bad, but he wasn't going to admit that to this know-it-all editor. "Eh, it's better than the slop my substitute chefs make at least."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Avina said dryly.

Dedede proceeded to scarf down the rest of his bowl. He held his beak in the air and crossed his arms when it was empty. "Hand me some more!"

"Oh, so you do like it." She said playfully.

"I never said that!"

Avina responded with a smirk. "But you wouldn't be asking for seconds if you didn't like it." She knew she probably shouldn't be pressing the king's buttons, but he was so much fun to mess with. And she didn't mean any harm or disrespect with her playful jabs. It was just how she was.

"I don't like it!" He shouted. Then he muttered more quietly, "But I don't hate it neither."

"Okay. So you're indifferent about my cooking. I'm cool with that."

"Yeah, whatever. Now dish me up some more! I'm hungry!"

She gave him a look. "What's the magic word?"

Dedede was growing sick of the editor's attitude. "Who are ya, my mother? Gimme more of that stuff before I smack ya in the noggin!"

Avina rolled her eyes. She was pretty sure the king wouldn't follow through on his threat, but she realized she was pushing her luck, so she just served him another helping. She barely knew Dedede, but Dan gave her a good heads-up about him, so she knew better than to expect good table manners from him. For a grown man he could be quite childish and stubborn.