Viking. Sea Lion. Circus Performer. When else have those words ever been strung together in a sentence?! Seriously, leave it to Nintendo... Anyways, Pompy's fight and music are great, he manages to be surprisingly intimidating both for being the first boss, and for doing the kind of tricks I'd imagine seeing from a trained seal at a circus. (Those are things, right? I've never actually been to a circus.) I can't believe how little there is of this cutie in general, let alone hypnotized; am I the first here?

Pompy's got no dialogue, so I'm basing his personality off his mannerisms in the fight and his title of "the Presumptuous". Hopefully it works!

---

Pompy was not having a good day.

First, those idiotic apes had bested him in combat and turned what should have been a glorious display of his battle skills and showmanship into a show of him being pummeled and launched into the sky. Then, he'd crash-landed in front of some sort of crowned crocodile, who seemed to interpret his arrival as an attack of some kind, and before Pompy could protest, he'd found himself fired out of a cannon directly towards DK Isles. The soaring sea lion finally crashed down, amazingly enough, in front of his arena... which he'd found half-disassembled and horribly hot.

The next few minutes had consisted of Pompy barking orders, and Tucks frantically running about, reassembling the ring.

Now, Pompy was lounging in the water, fuming; he was going to have to report this to Lord Frederik, and he would be lucky to get away with just a tongue-lashing. Maybe he could just wait for the apes to reach Skowl; either the owl would defeat them, and the Snowmad's conquest could continue unapposed (and Lord Frederik could refreeze Pompy's section of the isles...), or Skowl would lose, and his wouldn't be the only failure. In the meantime, he could relax, the Tucks waiting on him hand and foot as he plotted revenge.

At least, that was what Pompy thought until a snake of all things dropped from above. He said his name was Kaa, and he was hoping to meet the brilliant performer he had heard was in the area, maybe see him at work? Pompy rolled his eyes, and called for a pen. A Tuck waddled over, and before the snake could react, Pompy had written his name on Kaa's back. The exasperated sea lion shooed him away; there, he had his autograph, go show his friends and leave him alone.

Kaa glared; he'd SAID he wanted to see the performer at work. He had a trick of his own, and while it certainly couldn't compete with anything Pompy could provide, perhaps it could enhance the sea lion's performance? At the very least, it couldn't hurt to watch. Pompy smirked at the snake; he'd watch, he said, but it had better be entertaining. If it wasn't, he'd give Kaa about 3 seconds before a small army of Tucks hurled him away. The snake snickered, and agreed; by the time he was done, Pompy wouldn't have a single complaint left in his head!

Pompy raised an eyebrow at the snake's strange wording, but his attention was soon drawn by the pools of color flowing through Kaa's eyes. He'd seen rainbows before, when the water splashed just right, but somehow the spirals put them all to shame, drawing in his thoughts, his troubles, and gently washing them away. Kaa bobbed and weaved his head through the air, and Pompy followed along, his mouth hanging open; he didn't want to miss a single ring. The snake beckoned with his tail, and the sea lion joined the performance, unaware of how his pupils had shrunk. Kaa swayed about in a chaotic dance, and Pompy spun admist the coils, his eyes never leaving the snake's. Ring after ring of the snake's body wrapped around Pompy with soft and soothing scales as ring after ring of color filled Pompy's vision, a dopey smile creeping up on the Snowmad's face as he began to pant.

Kaa smiled as their dance reached a finale, the coils settling around the spellbound sea lion. He told Pompy that he had a way to make what he was feeling last forever, to make their performance never end; did he want that? He'd teach him.

Pompy had never nodded faster in his life.

Kaa smirked. He thought so. Pompy was clever to trust him. So clever, he knew how he should trust his teacher, his master, to take care of him. How since he trusted his master, he would trust his master with all his thoughts and free will, and let his mind filled with colors and blissful obedience. How he didn't need to be clever, how he could just be a cute, silly sea lion, and how being a cute, silly sea lion would make his master happy. How he would give his master anything he wanted; meals, entertainment, protection, anything - and in return, his master would give him all the praise and adoration he could ever ask for, in words, in colors, in coils.

Pompy barked joyfully. There was nothing better than Master; not his coils, not his voice, not his eyes - nothing! All he needed was him! His master gave him a loving squeeze, and with a PING! Pompy burst into the widest, goofiest grin anyone present had ever seen.

Kaa snickered as he looked at his new pet; his eyes flooded with colors, his tongue flopped out, happily panting without a care in the world, Pompy was quite a sight. Kaa booped his nose with his tail, and Pompy's eyes crossed as he looked at it in curiosity. Kaa smiled, heart warmed by the sight. Admittedly, he might need to fix that and give Pompy a bit more intelligence; adorable as it was, pets without a little independence and functionality tended to get problematic.

A curious poke from a Tuck snapped Kaa from his thoughts, and reminded him there were other people here; already, the Tucks were poking him and Pompy with fishbones, some waving their flippers in front of Pompy's face to no avail. Hypnotizing them all was doable, but he didn't think that walrus would be fond of Kaa hijacking what had to be at least a small portion of his army. And hypnotizing him seemed like a suicide mission. Honestly, he'd be lucky if the Kongs kept him busy enough that he didn't notice Pompy going missing.

So Kaa did something he almost never did; he negotiated. Normally, without his hypnosis.

As it turned out, the Snowmads (or at least some of their foot soldiers) were surprisingly reasonable. While they all held a grudge against the Kongs, none of them were raring for a rematch, and it was doubtful Pompy would fare any better the second time. Beyond that, while they were willing to follow Pompy, and they respected him as a warrior.... none of them really liked his personality outside of a trance. There were only so many circus props you could set up with little to no thanks, or even consideration that you might like a warning before a massive sea lion flopped down or sped through where you were standing, before you started to get fed up. That being said, they were going to need normal Pompy back at some point; if the invasion succeeded, Pompy was going to need to run some of their operations, and if they failed, he was not going to do well in the heat. In the meantime, though...

---

Pompy popped out of the water, barking and clapping his flippers as the audience cheered; his tongue hanging out, colors spiraling madly in his eyes, he was simultaneously a ridiculous sight and the picture of bliss. Kaa sucked on a popsicle as the Tuck to his left took a picture. Kaa tossed a fish with his tail, and Pompy caught it, balancing it like a ball on his nose as he twirled. The sea lion tossed it into the air, and with a leap, gulped it down to wild applause. Kaa cackled as Pompy laid his head on the seats, patting his pet with his tail. According to the Snowmads, Man had come up with a similar idea; something called Sea World? If so, then he had to give Man credit; this was genius.

He'd keep his word for a change; Kaa had no desire to try his luck with an army that, while friendly, had kept a stern eye on him to be sure he wasn't hypnotizing any more of their members, and had made it clear that if anything happened to Pompy or any of them, the rest would be coming for him. If all of them were entranced or eaten, he'd be contending with Lord Frederik. He'd free Pompy eventually, though he was half-tempted to let him remember the experience, if only to see the look on his face. But that would be endangering his troops as well, so that was out. Eh... maybe he'd make it a trigger. The Tusks had already given him permission to make normal Pompy a bit nicer, more appreciative, and leave a trigger that would send him spiralling (pun intended) into a silly, smiley sea lion, so long as he saved it for when Pompy was out of action. Combining the two would be interesting...

In the meantime, Pompy was asking if Master wanted a ride? Kaa smiled, and wrapped himself around Pompy, telling him what a good boy he was. Pompy beamed, tail wagging behind him as he leapt through the air. Kaa looked at the audience below him, the lights he was passing, and the spray of water around him, and broke out into a grin almost as wide as his pet's.

Sometimes, life was just good.