Zelda yawned softly as she descended down the steps to the first floor. She hadn't been able to get the greatest amount of sleep, and so she decided to simply start her day off a bit earlier than usual. With her battle against Lady Palutena coming up pretty soon, she thought it best to possibly use this earlier time of day to her advantage and train a bit.
Zelda made her way across the main hallway that led to the dining area, which was only occupied by a handful of early wakers. Upon walking through this spot in the mansion, the next thing she heard was none other than Link quick tiptoeing around the corner. As he speedily approached where she was standing, she noticed that he was snickering convivially under his breath, the look on his face like that of a child causing mischief.
She was unsure of what he was doing at the moment, especially when this wasn't the most particular hour that he would engaged in any antics. "And just what are you up to right now, Link?" she inquired out of curiosity. "I've never seen you up this early before."
Link just continued to chuckle like he was already, his laughter the kind heard after a hilarious joke was told. He stopped laughing a few seconds later, looking at her as he wiped a tear from his left eye. "Oh, it's nothing, Princess," he responded.
"Be truthful. It's evident that you're up to something right now," Zelda replied matter-of-factly.
"So you know how King K. Rool is about when he wakes up in the morning?" Link asked. "You know, how he thinks he'll lose a big amount of the day if he ended up sleeping in?"
"Yes, I am aware of how he is," the princess answered.
The boy dressed in green responded, "And I'm sure you know that Steve knows a thing or two about constructing things quickly. I mean, he can pretty much build with those blocks of material at the speed of lightning."
Just then, Steve came strolling across the area. He stopped and nodded at Link upon looking over at him before continuing with his business.
"Steve truly does possess some great abilities when it comes to crafting," Zelda said in agreement."
"And you know that I seriously underestimated King K Rool's strength during our last battle," Link carried on, "as well as how I have to fight him and Wolf in the tournament."
Zelda wondered where all of these things he was telling her at once were leading to, and she wished for him to get to the point regarding what he was up to at this moment in time. "So what does all of this have to do with right now?" she asked.
"Well, there's no way I was going to lose a second time to that crocodile, so I hatched an idea and had Steve help me carry it out."
"And what might that be?"
"You see," Link explained, "K. Rool gets up as soon as he sees the sunrise peeking in from the other rooms. But he wouldn't do so if he wasn't able to see it, so I had Steve build a wall near the entry to his room. That way I've been able to get extra fighting practice in before he's even up." He stopped for a moment let out yet another short snicker. "The reaction he has every time is priceless."
"Every time?" Zelda inquired. "You mean you and Steve have pulled this shenanigan more than once?"
Meanwhile…
King K. Rool blinked his eyes open, yawning as he stretched his arms and prepared for a new day at Smash Mansion. The first thing he noticed as soon as his eyes adjusted to the room's surroundings was that it was rather dark. It looked the way it did when it was really late at night, which he knew quite well wasn't the case.
"What the-" he mumbled to himself as he looked around in confusion.
The crocodile looked over at clock that rested on the stand where he kept his crown. The instant he realized that it was pushing eight o'clock, which was two hours later than he always got up, his eyes widened in with shock. He very seldom slept in for this long; it was the only he could work on getting stronger than ever before any of his competition was even awake.
How did I not see the sunrise like I usually do? he thought.
As he slipped his crown carefully onto his head and stood up, he made his way through the dark room and over to the door that he always kept shut. As soon as he grabbed the knob and opened the door, he was greeted with the sight of a bunch of large brick blocks stacked on top of each other, forming a wall that covered his doorway.
"Not again," he muttered despondently with a facepalm.
"Link! Steve!" King K. Rool roared from his room, his voice powerful enough to be heard throughout the mansion. "When I get my claws on you…"
The few people that were eating their breakfast in the dining area stopped, setting their utensils down and looking around, wondering what it was that the crocodile was shouting about.
From where she had been standing, Zelda heard the booming voice of K. Rool, who sounded like he was being extremely serious at the moment. She casted a concerned glance over at Link, who did nothing more but laugh at the antic in that moment.