Information

Dedede has a minion!

Kirby the Puffball

Dedede
Legacy Name: Dedede

The

Scribble Cybill
Owner:

Acrylics

Age: 15 years, 3 months, 1 week

Born: January 19th, 2009

Adopted: 15 years, 3 months, 1 week ago (Legacy)

Adopted: January 19th, 2009 (Legacy)

Pet Spotlight Winner
January 4th, 2021

Statistics

Level: 16
Strength: 25
Defense: 13
Speed: 11
Health: 11
HP: 11/11
Intelligence: 3
Books Read: 3
Food Eaten: 0
Job: Unemployed

He's a Name You Should Know!

Located on the Planet Popstar, the country of Dream Land is an idyllic place and is home to a variety of many unique inhabitants, both as ordinary as the many Waddle Dees that roam the land and as extraordinary as the planet-saving hero Kirby. But for every notable hero, there will always be someone envious of the limelight. His name is King Dedede, the hammer-toting self-proclaimed King of Dream Land.

A selfish king at most times, Dedede's track record for ruler is one with a lot of faults; stealing food, ordering around the people of Dream Land, butting heads with his rival Kirby, and he's not inclined to fufill any kingly responsibilities either. Who's to say Dream Land even needed a king in the first place?

Beginnings of a Rivalry

While it's still unclear what first spurred him to go for such a lofty title as Dream Land's king, one thing's for certain Dedede's rivalry with Kirby started quite some time ago. Being quite the eater, Dedede is known to have a great love for all kinds of food, and one day, his love for food got quite out of hand when he stole all it from Dream Land. When the people of Dream Land couldn't stand up to the king's greed, the normally easygoing Kirby rose up to the challenge of reclaiming the food, fighting many strong foes along the way, until confronting Dedede himself. The land's food supply was restored after Kirby triumphed over King Dedede, and the noteworthy rivalry began between penguin and puffball.

The Nightmares in Dream Land

Ever since his defeat at the hands of Kirby, Dedede worked to better himself for next time they meet. He practiced daily on his hammer skills, his strength, and how to fly by inhaling air like Kirby could. He was doing his best to make sure that he'd not get duped by that pink puffball again, but something interrupted his training schedule one night. A sudden outbreak of nightmares were affecting the kingdom, even shaking Dedede himself awake. Nightmares hardly often occur in Dream Land, since normally the energy flowing from Fountain of Dreams brings peaceful sleep to the people, fueled by the legendary Star Rod at it's center. Dedede concluded something was wrong with the Fountain of Dreams and went to investigate.

Dedede arrived at the Fountain of Dreams and his suspicions were confirmed when the energy flowing off of it was the cause for the nightmares. In his haste, Dedede broke the Star Rod powering it and called several trusted individuals to safeguard the pieces. Unfortunately, the land would be without dreams, but Dedede was not prepared to face whatever was behind all this. Lack of dreams did however stir a certain inhabitant to action.

Trying to relax after his experience, Dedede played around in the fountain's waters for a bit, and then Kirby showed up. Treating the fountain like a kiddie pool was one thing, but Kirby was even more furious about the missing Star Rod and how Dedede had left the people unable to dream. Before he could properly explain himself, Kirby stormed off to go get it back.

Kirby came back with the Star Rod fully restored and ignored Dedede's pleas not to put it back in it's pedestal. In doing so the puffball unknowingly released the force that was corrupting the fountain, Nightmare. Both in panic about this dark entity, the king made a quick decision to believe in Kirby's strength to take this foe down. Based from his own experience, Kirby is the strongest person Dedede knows (other than himself of course!), and it proved to be true when Kirby defeated Nightmare, restoring the fountain and peaceful sleep to everyone. After that, Dedede continued his life as usual and worked on his training. If Kirby was that strong, then Dedede was going to get stronger.

An Invasion of Living Shadows

While merely just a self-proclaimed title, Dedede's reputation as Dream Land's king may have made him the target of some rather curious creatures known as Dark Matter. There have been several accounts of this mysterious off-world species directing their capabilities of possessing living creatures towards the king in particular.

The first incident had occurred when a lone member of the species took control of King Dedede, putting him in an unnatural state of sleep, after having shattered the Rainbow Bridges that connect the lands. Even after that one was driven off, much thanks to Kirby and the power of the Rainbow Sword, other members of the species continued to follow. In the second invasion, Dedede was possessed yet again, along with several notable creatures of Planet Popstar, but as before, Kirby came to the rescue. The third invasion however was smaller scale with only Dedede and two other inhabitants being the targets of Dark Matter, but it is believed that Popstar was not their target this time. A while after Kirby set off to help the distant planet, the Dark Matter didn't show up since.

It is unknown what motivated the first Dark Matter or the species as a whole to target the planet, but it's been a long time since any have showed up. Though there have been rumors of a dark swordsman lurking about on occasion..

Settling the Score with Kirby

After Kirby had saved Dedede all those times from Dark Matter, the king thought about burying the hatchet--no, the hammer, with Kirby. He had always tried his best, but it just was never good enough unless Kirby bailed him out; it just gave him such a sense of inferiority, living in the shadow of a pink puffy rival. Dedede wanted closure, to have one last chance to prove he was stronger than Kirby, so he finally made a decision to take all that training he'd done to set forth a plan that will finally secure a victory for him. In the next few months he would clobber Kirby real good this time, and make it one the puffball will never forget!

Dedede put his plan into action and began stealing all of Dream Land's food once again to bring Kirby out, perfectly reminiscent of how their rivalry began in the first place. He called Phan-Phan, Mr. Tick Tock, the Fire Lions, and many others to his castle and told them to stand by for Kirby's arrival, and even revamped his Kabula and stationed her in the castle's airspace as the first line of defense in hopes that the zeppelin would just blast Kirby out of the skies! The odds were stacked in his favor but should they all fail, Dedede had one final trick up his sleeve that was nearing completion. Kabula then reported in and informed Dedede that Kirby has been sighted and will be engaging in battle shortly. The show was about to begin! Dedede headed to his quarters to make some more adjustments to his secret weapon, just in case.

Unfortunately, all the preparations Dedede made weren't stopping Kirby; the puffball had already taken down Kabula somehow, and just blew through Phan-Phan, Mr. Tick Tock, and the Fire Lions. He was already making his way for Dedede! Pardoning his loyal bandanna-wearing wingman, the king gripped his newly-upgraded hammer tightly and put on his new iron mask. This was his final chance. Standing in the very same wrestling ring the rivalry with Kirby started, the rivalry would end.

After a bit of an odd delay, Kirby showed up and entered the other side of the ring. Picking up the hammer Dedede offered him, both penguin and puffball were ready. Dedede put up the best fight he could but it just wasn't enough. Every hit he delivered to Kirby and the puffball would just retaliate with greater force. With one final hit, Kirby had broke the king's mask in two and sent him flying straight through the roof!

All that training and planning, it was for nothing. Being launched out of his own castle was proof that Kirby was the strongest after all. Dedede had to accept that. But to discard how he had felt for so long was not an easy task; he would still envy Kirby, feel inferior to Kirby, and never get to feel like the star with Kirby around. It seems that Kirby is the hero Dream Land needs, and everyone would love Kirby. That's just how it's going to be then.

Regaining his footing after landing, Dedede sulked his way towards the sunset, not caring of where he'd be going. He let out a sigh looked back at where his castle had stood one more time. He noticed a bunch of Waddle Dees were following him, the one with the bandanna in particular leading the group, and looking a little roughed up. Did that little shrimp stick around for him? He was still quite sad over his loss but there was some relief that he was the star to some folks after all..

In More Recent Days

These days, his rivalry with Kirby is still ongoing, yet not as persistently as it used to. However, it does seems that Dedede has grown a unique sort of respect for the puffball over time, possibly looking back on the greater problems that they had to work together to overcome.

To be willing to put aside his grudge with Kirby for the sake of the greater good is his best quality really. He isn't the best king, but surely he's not as bad as he could be. Could he be trying to prove his title to the people, would like to be seen as a hero, or trying to be a better person in general? It's anyone's guess really.

Credits and Sources

This pet is a fanpet of King Dedede
from the Kirby video game series by HAL Labs / Nintendo

Writing by me, based off events from the game series

Official artwork from the Kirby franchise used for this page (c) HAL Labs and gotten via kirby.wikia.com
Google font used: Kavoon