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The sounds of cicadas and buzzing Bronto Burts pierced the summer air of Dream Land, not a cloud was in sight making the bright sky clear. From the fields you could occasionally hear the sounds of farmer Waddle Dees swapping idle chatter while transferring crop in wood wheel-barrel carts. It was a quiet day, the many servants within Castle Dedede went about their duties in a slightly more laid-back manner on such a nice lazy day. Days like these were common but never underappreciated as King Dedede himself felt it was the perfect time to go out and sunbathe. He didn’t do it to work up a tan, but to simply soak in the warm rays of Mr. Sun and get a healthy dose of his Vitamin D. So with a pair of sunglasses, a magazine, tray of iced tea, and a lounge chair carried by his Waddle Dee servants he strolled through the castle to one of its balconies to truly relax on a nice summer day.
At least, he thought he would have if it weren’t for the large winged disturbance squatting on his roof.
“Will you just get down from there!” King Dedede shouted, his eyes squinting from the sun. He stamped his feet in annoyance and put a hand over his forehead to shield out the sun’s rays. “Geh, why’re you even up there anyways!? Shouldn’t ya be with Meta Knight?”
Not a single response came from the winged fuchsia figure holed up on the roof of Castle Dedede. Said figure, Galacta Knight, glanced down to King Dedede standing on the castle balcony. His piercing red eyes traveled from King Dedede’s to each of the Waddle Dees surrounding him. He counted five, including a bandana-clad one accusatorily pointing a spear at him. He let out a dismissive grunt and slowly turned around, facing away from King Dedede and the Waddle Dees. Instead of acknowledging the angry presence from below he chose to ignore it and lazily sat down, turning back to the small pile of apples he had stowed away for safe keeping.
“What do we do Great King?” Bandana Waddle Dee sputtered as he clutched his spear. “I could go get Kirby… Meta Knight?”
King Dedede shook his head. “Nah, no need for that. They’ll just end up makin’ things complicated and he ain’t causin’ trouble.” He scratched the back of his head, glancing down to the cowering Waddle Dees behind him. “Well, not much anyways.”
Unlike King Dedede’s would’ve been perfect lazy summer day, Galacta Knight’s day was neither lazy nor perfect
Galacta Knight was effectively homeless and in every sense of the word he was displaced.
Since NOVA’s destruction, with it was any of the wishes it granted. Including the one the Heroes of Yore wished that had sealed Galacta Knight away. Galacta Knight had been freed from its cosmic grip trapping him in time and space. Unfortunately, time and space continued to mercilessly roll on while Galacta Knight stayed. The people that worshipped his power had long since faded into obscurity. The ancient people Galacta Knight served so valiantly and so loyally only to be betrayed by had too faded into obscurity. All of this left Galacta Knight terminally aimless. There was no one to serve. There was nobody to seek revenge against. His title as the Aeon Hero, Galacta Knight, was essentially useless in the current era.
At first, Meta Knight had taken Galacta Knight under his metaphorical wing but to Galacta Knight it quickly grew harsh living under Meta Knight’s steel boot of authoritarianism. The way that he took not-so-subtle pride in lording over the once ‘Greatest Warrior In The Galaxy’ made Galacta Knight’s skin crawl in a way like no other. The only silver lining to Galacta Knight’s prior circumstances was that he was modestly taken care of by Meta Knight and by proxy his entire operation. Three fair meals a day, a shower that ran lukewarm water, and a personal barrack all to him. All of that given in return that he offer his power in protecting Dream Land as a fellow Meta-Knight. That, and it meant doing grunt work for servants and being treated like a rookie soldier preparing for a war that would never come. For Galacta Knight who had pride as bottomless as his own stomach he very quickly deduced that homelessness was a far better outcome than serving Meta Knight. He was Galacta Knight! He wasn’t made to clean hulls and toil underneath ungrateful eyes! He’s a knight of high station, he should be serving someone well respected and of great status and in return be treated equally so. In his time he was worshipped and feared, respected and revered, doted on and celebrated.
Alas, those times were over.
For the first week after leaving Meta Knight he took to drifting all over, around, and under what Dream Land had to offer. It wasn’t like there were active predators to get shelter from, and even if there were such things Galacta Knight knew he was more than capable to defend himself which made shelter and security the least pressing of issues afflicting him. Galacta Knight would find places to sleep and campout in such as the dense forests, the rooftops of villager’s houses, or out in barns. Anywhere he could fit himself and nobody would cause him trouble. Occasionally, he would get Waddle Dee farmers who would shoo him away in the morning or a random wild animal would bare their fangs for Galacta Knight encroaching on their territory but one glance at his imposing figure, piercing gaze, and lance would send them scurrying away. Recently, in an attempt to get solitude from the populace that feared him, Galacta Knight took to using Castle Dedede’s roofing as a new base of operations. It was quiet, high up, and was warm during the day and cool during the night.
“Don’t you ignore me!” King Dedede shouted, his face reddening.
“C-Calm down, Sire!” Bandana Waddle Dee said exasperated.
Galacta Knight’s brow furrowed as he chewed on the apple, it was bitter and hard and not at all sweet as he’d expected it to be. He glanced at the pile of apples he managed to swipe from Whispy Woods. What a waste he thought as he went through the trouble of entering Whispy Wood’s woods to forage for food and steal the apples from his tree. Still Galacta Knight would continue to eat them anyways as food was hard to come by when you had no money to buy food in the first place.
King Dedede had enough; he was positively annoyed and utterly dumbfounded at what he was seeing. When he had heard rumors of a “bird-like monster” on top of the castle that “stared at you” from his Waddle Dees he laughed them off for the most part, assuming they had seen a weird looking Flappy that got lost on its way migrating. It wasn’t uncommon for the most part as King Dedede knew the Waddle Dees concocted many strange and weird rumors out of the goings-on in his castle. Like there is a ghostly Waddle Doo in the castle library that you can only see for a moment at midnight or perhaps you can hear strange noises coming from the castle’s storage room when the sun just starts to rise. King Dedede would simply brush it off and continue as normal. He only just now personally investigated because his servants were wary to set up his lounge chair on the balcony for his afternoon sunning and snoozing. What King Dedede hadn’t expected to find was Galacta Knight taking refuge on the roofing of his castle and if going by when the rumors started, he’d been doing it for a while.
Seeing that he was getting no response by shouting King Dedede rifled through the inner pockets of his robe until he found what he was looking for; a generously sized rock. He tossed it in the air and caught it, feeling its weight. It was a bit of an extreme measure to take but King Dedede figured if anyone could handle this means of getting attention it would be Galacta Knight. Finally he took at a step back, pulled his arm back and harshly chucked the rock at Galacta Knight. It hit him squarely in the back of his head with a loud thump.
“AYE!?” Galacta Knight shouted he felt the area he’d been hit and then quickly turned around to face King Dedede with a violent glare.
“Ahaha, that went an’ got your attention!” King Dedede hesitantly laughed, ignoring the angry glare shot by Bandana Waddle Dee. King Dedede took a small step back as Galacta Knight’s eyes only continued to pierce him with annoyance. The penguin king’s expression turned from jovial playfulness to annoyance. “Now get down from there, you’ve been scarin’ my Waddle Dees and my castle isn’t for free loaders to come and do as they please.”
“Leave me Your Highness. I shan’t intrude on thy meek servants!” Galacta Knight shouted in a huff, his wings flaring with warning.
King Dedede rolled his eyes. “Well you’re scarin’ them plenty by being up there. Get down here, that’s a order from yer king!” King Dedede shouted back, placing both hands on his hip.
Galacta Knight shook his head. “Thou strikes me and now thou ask of I to obey thy word? Foolishness!”
King Dedede huffed “Cause I’m the king of this castle an’ what I say goes!”
“Thou art no king of mine!”
“Last time I’ve checked, there’s no other king to serve! Now come down here before I come up there and bring you down myself!” King Dedede shouted back.
King Dedede’s words unintentionally struck Galacta Knight harsh enough for the knight to hesitate his next words and the two stared at one another with intensity, neither particularly desiring to back down. King Dedede noticed the large half-eaten apple in Galacta Knight’s hand. King Dedede’s eyes narrowed as he realized that it was an apple from Whispy Woods which were notorious for being hard bitter fruits meant more as a physical deterrent than as a means to propagate.
King Dedede, after seeing violence did not work, decided to use diplomacy. “Those apples…” he said.
“T’would be none of thy concern.” Galacta Knight said, almost possessively.
“No, no, they’re just awfully bitter aren’t they? You can’t possibly be satisfied with those crummy things, right They’re uh, they’re beneath you!”
Beneath him.
Galacta Knight continued to stare at King Dedede before hesitantly nodding in agreement. King Dedede smiled gently, he took a step closer as if he were coaxing a stray feral kitten. “Well, I got better apples an’ more if you’re hungry so just come down already won’t you?”
Galacta Knight sloppily wiped his mouth of the bits of apple and its juices with the back of his glove. He pursed his lips into a distrusting pout. He had already played this game with Meta Knight and it ended badly which made him hesitant to accept any help. First he accepts some food and accommodation and then he’s forced to do demeaning tasks like scrubbing toilets to earn his keep. Galacta Knight was beneath being a pitiable servant for meals. The meals weren’t even that good, far too modest and reserved. On the other hand, his ravenous appetite was winning out and more food, food that was better and came from opulence no less, began to outweigh the perceived risks in his head. It certainly did help that, in Galacta Knight’s eyes, King Dedede was technically king and not some uptight warmongering general and a king’s offer meant he would be well taken care of.
“Thou jests?”
King Dedede shook his head, happy to have made some progress. “No, I do not jest and I ain’t yanking your chain, I’m bein’ serious here. I can’t just have someone live on my roof! …It’s a bad look an’ I want to sun myself.”
Galacta Knight stood up. Hungry as he was, he could at the very least see through getting a proper meal. He collected his lance and shield and with a harsh flap of his wings he hopped from the roof down in front of King Dedede and met King Dedede’s gaze apprehensively. “Hmph…I trust thee but know this, if thou decide to betray me there shall be mighty consequences Your Highness! Lord Meta Knight may have played me for a fool but I shan’t have it happen again.” Galacta Knight huffed as he crossed his arms.
King Dedede laughed. “Noted.”