Today was Channel DDD's premier, and Avina was awakened that morning to a knock at her door. She had been working around the clock the last couple days with little rest, determined to meet her deadline and pushing herself to the point where Escargoon grew concerned for her health. After submitting the rest of the finished clips, she spent the rest of the previous day making any necessary changes to them, as ordered by Escargoon, and teaching some Waddle Dees how to run the equipment in the sound booth. All she wanted to do this morning was catch up on some sleep. She crawled from her bed to answer the door and was greeted by Captain Waddle Doo holding a clipboard in his nubby arms. Standing next to him was a Waddle Dee holding a big cardboard box with big letters spelling "TV" on it. "By decree of his majesty, the King, every household in Dreamland is to receive a complimentary television set for the launch of Dream Land's first TV service."
"Is that so?" Avina said tiredly with a level of skepticism. "Well, tell him I said thank you."
"Broadcast starts at noon." Waddle Doo saluted as the Waddle Dee handed the box over to the video editor.
Avina nodded as they made their leave and closed the door behind them. She hoisted the heavy package onto the table and eyed it dubiously. Just how much of a fool did the king take her for? She got a sneak peek of just about every programing Channel DDD had to offer. As far as she was concerned, she had better things to do than watch that tubby tyrant's pretentious propaganda. "Might as well open it," she sighed after staring at the box. She had no intention of watching for any extended length of time, but she didn't want to seem disrespectful.
As she looked over the unit, Avina spotted two infrared sensors. What kind of TV was this? Upon further inspection, she noticed that one of the sensors resembled the webcam on her laptop. Did the king intend to to spy on his subjects? She had been living under a similar regime with NME for as long a she could remember, and given the sort of clientele they usually served, she wouldn't be surprised if Dedede was attempting such a set up.
That afternoon Avina sneaked into the dungeon where she found the king and his lackeys in what resembled a surveillance room filled with TV monitors showing the Cappy families settled in front of their sets, seemingly enjoying the garbage that Dedede called 'entertainment.' Her hunch about the second sensor on the TV sets was right. She ran back to her quarters with a mischievous grin curled on her lips; she was going give Big Brother a show he'd never forget.
"Time to put part B of our plan to action, Escargoon!"
The snail cringed. This was the part he was dreading most. He was about to follow his boss' lead when a waddle dee tapped him on the shoulder. "What is it?" he snapped impatiently. The waddle dee pointed to one of the monitors on which they saw Avina performing an interpretive dance in her underwear. Escargoon cranked his head up to the monitor and dropped his jaw in shock.
"Escargoon, you're on in—" The king stormed back in, shoving a few waddle dees in his path, and froze in his tracks upon seeing Avina's provocative dancing. "What the heck is she doin?" If there had been a pole in her room, she'd probably be spinning all around it. He kept watching with his jaw agape until the editor pulled out a big poster sign that read 'What are you looking at, pervs?' and held it over her midsection, throwing a dirty look toward the camera on her TV. She stuck her tongue out and placed a sticky note on top of the lens so they could no longer see her. The king's face turned beet red with rage. "The nerve of that gal!"
"Forget about her, sire," the snarky snail said. "She's not our target audience anyway."
Avina threw her clothes back on, snickering as she imagined the look on the king's face. Never before had she felt like she could express her disdain for governmental invasion of privacy and possibly get away with it. She resumed watching the fighting robot program when she got a call from Dan. "What?! You guys witnessed my little practical joke?!" Avina exasperated a rough sigh. She couldn't say she was too surprised; just a little annoyed that NMEs gaze could reach that far so inconspicuously. "Thank you for letting me off with a warning, Dan. You're a pal."
Avina pressed the end button on her cell phone with a groan. Totalitarian oppression even from a thousand light years away. Lovely! On the bright side, NME employees didn't have to pretend to like the company's policies, but active protest against them or questioning the will of Nightmare himself had dire consequences. The program was suddenly interrupted by a 'news bulletin' of a 'monster' attacking Dream Land. It looked nothing like any monster she was aware of in NME's catalogues, and the 'live footage' looked faker than a 1970's 'Globzilla' film!
"Kaaabiii Kaaaabiiiiii"
"You heard it! That critter's headed our way 'cause it's lookin for Kirby!"
Kirby? Did he mean the little pink tyke that visited her the other day? What would the king have against him? He seemed like an okay kid. Another 'RAWR' from the 'monster' made the video editor burst into another fit of laughter, drawing the attention of Meta Knight who was rushing down the hall. "Is there something funny?" the knight asked.
The grinning video editor turned toward the knight and pointed to the television set. "Who is King Dedede trying to fool with a monster like that? You can see the zipper!" A heavy silence grew between the video editor and the knight with the only sound coming from the television set. Surely, none of the citizens of Cappy Town were going to fall for such a phony looking monster, right?
Meta Knight bolted out of sight without saying a word. Avina stared in confusion into the empty doorway. "Did I say something wrong?" Oh well. Might as well watch the 'drama' unfold.
"All of Cappy Town is doomed unless Kirby goes away!"
The king winked and a swirly background appeared as he began chanting "Kirby must go away," in a hypnotic monotone voice.
"Pft! If you're going to brainwash the unsuspecting general public, you need to be less obvious about it!"
Moments later she heard voices down the hall repeating the king's chants in a zombified trance, and a knot began to form in Avina's stomach. Do the people actually believe this is all real? She worked for one of the largest propaganda machines in the galaxy for as long as she could remember, but she hadn't considered the possibility that many folks out there have probably never even seen a television set until today. She suddenly felt terrible. Avina had had enough of the king's blatant misinformation, and turned the TV off. Sure, she was involved in tons of material of similar nature at NME, but she rarely watched any of the actual broadcasts in her free time.
Many minutes passed as she played on her GBA when a familiar voice startled her.
She paused her game and turned to see Meta Knight at her door. She laid her GBA off to the side and invited him in.
Meta Knight stepped in and made his questions brief yet to the point. "What do you know about the king's broadcast?"
Avina told Meta Knight about the surveillance room next door to where she worked. "As for the monster, I don't really know. But I'm sure there are other parts of the studio I have yet to see. I wouldn't be surprised if he has a whole set of miniature models somewhere down there."
"I see," Meta Knight's eyes turned green again and he ran off.
"You're welcome," Avina rolled her eyes. She stepped out her door to see where the mysterious knight was heading. She saw him stop at a door down the hall, and paused to listen to the conversation he was having with two younger sounding voices. She saw him and Kirby rush out with a young blonde girl with a ponytail and a younger boy with teal streaks in his hair. The door was left open; perhaps the kids' parents were still there? She figured it wouldn't hurt to introduce herself to the neighbors, so she approached the open door and knocked.
"Oh, are you back already?"
"No," Avina walked in. "I just moved into the room down the hall and I wanted to introduce myself." A dignified middle-aged couple sat together in front of the TV set up in the corner of their family area. "My name is Avina, and I was hired by the king to do some video editing for Channel DDD."
"Ah!" The silver haired gentleman replied cheerfully. "It's a pleasure to meet you, my dear! I am Prime Minister Sir Ebrum, and this is my lovely wife, Lady Like."
The lady next to the prime minister spoke. "Please, come in!"
"Thank you." Avina sat herself a few feet away from the couple.
"So you made all this?" Sir Ebrum pointed to the destructive scene on the television set.
"Well, I did the bumpers, promos, and commercials, but the waddle dees are doing most of the live stuff."
"Look!" Lady Like gasped. "It's Kirby!" The young puffball appeared on screen, looking gigantic amidst the buildings.
"Just as I suspected," Avina said to herself.
The scene cut to Dedede and Escargoon in their tank with the king yelling when the young girl appeared in the frame shouting, "Kirby proved your monster battle is bogus!" The picture went snowy. Just when it was finally getting interesting! What a killjoy!
The signal returned a few minutes later with a shot of the king looking beat up and dazed. The camera panned along the trashed studio and the young girl talking about the monster hoax. But Avina was more shocked by how quickly they wrecked the set. They were only off the air for a few minutes. "Do your kids do this on a regular basis?"
"Exposing the king's schemes?" Sir Ebrum inquired. "Why, yes."
No wonder he's always so grouchy, but that still didn't explain what he had against Kirby.
"This is all a king sized misunderstandin! Any events and situations depicted on Channel DDD are purely fictional!"
Nice try, but at this point, you might as well just say you would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for those meddling kids and that pink puffball.
Dedede and Escargoon proceeded to perform a cancan dance on screen, which was abruptly cut off by the color bars.
Really? He even slapped his dopey mug on the test pattern?! This king really does have an ego the size of his belly.
Channel DDD got off to a pretty good start, at least for every part the video editor was involved in. Her next course of action was to seek an audience with the king and request a nicer computer with professional grade editing software. She would continue making any new promos or bumpers as needed, and work with the waddle dees to teach them a few techniques and effects. Once they got the basics down, she'd be ready to return to NME.
"How much are we talking?" Dedede eyed the video editor.
Avina ran through her calculations for the average price of top-of-the-line software along with a computer with enough power to run it.
"That's the amount you guys charge for monsters on special! Ya think I'm gonna trust that much money on those incompetent dumdums?"
"You underestimate the Waddle Dees. They've been handling the live editing, and are doing quite well."
"I don't care if they can push a few lousy buttons in the sound booth! My answer is final! Escargoon?"
The snail servant escorted the video technician out of the throne room, speaking softly out of the king's earshot. "Sorry, his highness is still sour from their first attempt. Try asking him again in a few months or maybe a year."
Avina sighed irritably. She pulled out her phone and sent a text to her supervisor at NME. "Better keep emailing me any new jobs that come along. Looks like I'm gonna be here for a while."