Week 9 Story: Mango's Gambit

King Mango was confident as he saw an entourage of people, with one man at the front of the group, approach his castle.  The leader at the front was none other than King Hungrybeast.  King Hungrybeast was once viewed as the least respected king in all of the 7 kingdoms, though this was no longer the case.  Over the past three years, Hungrybeast had been conquering more and more territory.  The pain and anguish that he had experienced from the ridicule of being the most disrespected king had taken a toll, and created a powerful king.  King Hungrybeast had been viewed as the most powerful king for some time now, being feared by all who had seen his game-play.  For in the 7 kingdoms, the pride of a king was their ability to compete at the game Super Smash Brothers Melee for the Nintendo Gamecube.  Kings and knights would play each other 1 v 1 with prize pools or even territory and kingdoms on the line.  Hungrybeast exclusively played the character Jigglypuff, which was widely regarded as the lamest character in the game.  Despite the lame character, Hungrybeast had mastered the art of cheesing his opponents.  He had become a tyrant as his skills in the game grew more powerful.  For the past year or so, Hungrybeast had traveled throughout the kingdoms challenging anyone brave enough to sit next to him and play him for five minutes.  Through his success, King Hungrybeast had acquired a vast amount of territory--six out of the seven kingdoms.  Only one kingdom remained untarnished by Hungrybeast's lame jigglypuff--Mango's.  King Mango was a Super Smash Brothers Melee Legend, though considered by many to be out of his prime.  As Hungrybeast reached the door to castle, King Mango knew he was the last hope for the 7 kingdoms.

When they sat down in front of the CRT TV, King Mango had a strange aura about him.  For the first time in a long time, King Hungrybeast was nervous.  They played the first set, and Mango picked him apart.  Hungrybeast was in denial...he hadn't lost in years!  "Again!" Screamed Hungrybeast.  King Mango obliged.  "Alright, I'll play you again.  If you win, you get my kingdom.  But if I win, you give back all of the kingdoms you have taken.  And you lose your title of kingship."  Hungrybeast thought about it for a second..."Fine!" He screamed.  As they started their first game, Hungrybeast knew he was in trouble.  Mango was playing out of his mind! He quickly won the first game, followed by the next two games to capture the set.  Hungrybeast's reign was no more.  Mango became revered as a national hero, and stories are still told to this day of his sick melee skills.

Author's Note: The story that inspired me to write this story was the Gambling Match from the Mahabharata by C.A. Kincaid.  In the original story, Yudhishthira gets himself into a game of dice throwing and gambles away his life and wealth, as well as his brother's  and their wife.  I was also inspired by reading a fellow student's version of this story which included Yahtzee.  I love the Super Smash Brothers Melee community and the characters I used were based off of real professional players.  I thought it would be cool to have my favorite player beat my least favorite player with everything on the line.

Bibliography: Bibliography: The Indian Heroes by C.A. Kincaid (the Mahabharata story)

Mango (with the long dark hair in the middle) playing Super Smash Brothers.

Source: commons