#average-egg

The Nightmare Wizard was bored. Since his defeat, he’d been cast into a strange, pseudo-dreamworld, and there simply wasn’t much to do in a weightless, starry void. Thus, he settled for his favorite past-time: tormenting the honorable knight of Dreamland.

Now, Nightmare would’ve preferred to torment King Dedede, who shared most of the blame for thwarting the wizard’s plans. But King Dedede, like all of those light-blooded Dreamlanders, was protected by the Star Rod. The knight, however, was a creature of dark magic, which left him vulnerable to Nightmare’s magic.

With a shimmer of starlight, Meta Knight appeared. He scowled, his glowing eyes narrowing beneath his mask. With a smirk and a casual flick of his wrist, the Nightmare Wizard made the knight’s armor vanish.

Meta Knight’s scowl deepened even as he shifted, clearly uncomfortable with his bare face. 

“Dear, little knight. You’re a long way from your master, aren’t you?” Nightmare cooed. “Strange. I’d assumed he kept you on a tight leash.”

Whether Meta Knight bristled from the remarks about his appearance or the acknowledgment of his fealty was unclear. Nightmare knew both observations discomfited Meta Knight, but the wizard wasn’t clear on the particulars. Why someone like Meta Knight, Wielder of Galaxia, would take any pleasure in subservience was lost on Nightmare.

“How my liege treats me is hardly business of yours,” Meta Knight replied. “What do you want?”

“Ah, to the point. I like that about you,” the Nightmare Wizard purred. “See, sweet Meta Knight, you’re going to be my entertainment for a while. It’s so dull here.”

Meta Knight growled. He didn’t like endearments either, which was why Nightmare made sure to absolutely saturate everything he said with them.

“Simmer down, little bat. I’m not going to torture you or anything gruesome.”

Not in this dream anyway. Perhaps another.

“I just want to play a little game, and as you know from experience, you can’t escape me.”

Nightmare materialized an elaborate silver and rose gold chess set. 

“I’ll even allow you the first move,” Nightmare said.

Meta Knight tilted his head and frowned. “I have no idea how to play chess.”

“What?”

Meta Knight nodded. “I’m a master of Connect Four, though.”

The wizard almost laughed. He’d overestimated this boy. All along, Nightmare had thought Meta Knight might be a little more dignified than his lord, but evidently not. What a foolish, silly creature this little knight really was. Trying to put on airs of elegance and class when he was uncultured at best. “Connect Four?” Nightmare scoffed. “Any imbecile can play Connect Four! I’d expected something like that from your airhead liege but from you? You’ve disappointed me, dearest.”

Meta Knight reached into his dimensional cape and produced the offending game. “Perhaps you should just admit what you really fear–that I would completely destroy you in a game of Connect Four.”

“As if,” Nightmare said. “Don’t be absurd, little one.”

“The only ‘absurd’ thing is your insistence that you would prevail.”

Nightmare leaned forward. “You have a lot of confidence for being the lapdog of a self-proclaimed king. How about a wager?”

“Name it.”

“Your freedom. If I win, I get you to do with as I wish,” Nightmare said, mockingly trailing a finger down one of Meta Knight’s blush-marks.

The knight’s flinch was nearly imperceptible. “And if I win, you have to send me pleasant dreams for the next millennium.”

Pleasant dreams? Nightmare balked at the thought, but he ultimately decided it didn’t matter. Meta Knight wouldn’t win. It couldn’t be that hard to win at such a childish, low-brow game.

Of course, that was until–hours later–Nightmare, trying desperately to keep his growing frustration at bay, insisted that the wager be settled by determining the best fifty-one out of one-hundred.