The School Scam Tiff is ensnared by the grip ofDirk, Kirk, and Smirk combined into one monstrous form. Details First aired January 25, 2003 March 27, 2004 Episode # 67 Episode # (US) 67 Copy Ability (Abilities) featured Fighter Monster(s) featured Dirk, Kirk, and Smirk Character(s) featured Kirby,Tiff,King Dedede,Dirk,Kirk,Smirk Screenwriter Sōji Yoshikawa Director Hiroyuki Yokoyama

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This article is about the second episode involving theDedede Academy. For the other two, seeeNeMeE Elementary andTeacher's Threat.

The School Scam is the 67th episode of theKirby: Right Back at Ya! series. In this episode,King Dedede rebuilds theDedede Academy and hatches a new plan to tormentTiff by appointing her as a teacher at the school and forcing her to tend to threemonster transfer students namedDirk, Kirk, and Smirk, who cause chaos in the classroom. After Tiff fails to control them, King Dedede andEscargoon then make a public show of dismissing Tiff from the school and tarnishing her reputation onChannel DDD. To get her revenge, Tiff receives self-defense training fromMeta Knight and then returns to the school to deal with the delinquents directly. The three monster students retaliate by combining into a single creature, whichKirby must defeat with theFighterCopy Ability, destroying the academy for a second time in the process.

This episode is a direct sequel toeNeMeE Elementary. It also marks the final appearance of theFighterCopy Ability in the anime series.

Characters[edit]

The following characters appear in this episode:

Cast of "The School Scam"
Character	Selected quote
Primary characters
Kirby	"Wha? Ooh, POYO!!"
Tiff	"I'm taking charge, here, and you're taking a hike!"
King Dedede	"They remind me of me when I was a kid!"*laughs*
Dirk	"You're even more fun to pick on than the last teacher!"
Kirk	"We don't take orders from no stoops, you stoop!"
Smirk	"You ain't such a bad brawler for a teacher. Too bad I gotta clobber ya!"
Secondary characters
Cappy villagers	*singing*"At Dedede Academy, the students know they must obey the rules!"
Chef Kawasaki	"It's my job to provide good nutrition. Great food makes a great student bodies! Today we have my special lima bean liver-wurst stew!"
Chief Bookem	*sighs*
Doron	(no dialogue)
Escargoon	"It's certainly ironic that Tiff teaches math. It sounds like her teachin' days are numbered!"
Gangu	*sighs*
Honey	"I'm staying home! I'm afraid of those bullies!"
Honey's father	(no dialogue)
Honey's mom	"Now, I'm sure they're not that bad, Honey. Why don't you give them a chance?"
Iro	"You wanna take a textbook?"
Iro's father	(no dialogue)
Iro's mother	(no dialogue)
Lady Like	"Speaking of Tiff, where is she?"
Mabel	"The only art you three understand is the art of making life miserable!"
Mayor Len's grandchildren	*laughs*
Melman	*sighs*
Meta Knight	"You want me to teach you self defense techniques?"
N.M.E. Sales Guy	"Sounds like you could use some new blood in that student body of yours, to challenge the children."
Professor Curio	"I had eggs and tomatoes thrown at me."
Sir Ebrum	"Perhaps your sister is in a bit over her head, Tuff."
Spikehead	"My notebook is getting soaked!"
Spikehead's father	(no dialogue)
Spikehead's mother	"But you used to love going to school!"
Tokkori	"Your teaching's okay. It's your students that's[sic] hopeless!"
Tuff	"You better stop 'em or they'll wreck the class."
Waddle Dees	(no dialogue)

Locations[edit]

• Dream Land
  • Castle Dedede
  • Dedede Academy

Plot synopsis[edit]

The episode begins withKing Dedede providing the opening narration by recapping what happened in the episodeeNeMeE Elementary. From there, he plots to rebuild theDedede Academy so he can put the kids ofDream Land in their place. Some time later,Tiff is holding an impromptu class out in the Dream Land countryside, where she is attempting to teachKirby and the other kids about mathematical equations. Her lesson does not appear to be getting through to them, and a short while afterTokkori arrives to mock the students, it starts to rain, forcing the session to end early. Meanwhile, King Dedede andEscargoon dial upNight Mare Enterprises, who sends them three new transfer students for their school:Dirk, Kirk, and Smirk. These three hooligans proceed to openly disrespect King Dedede and Escargoon before proceeding to the academy, which they intend to wreck. King Dedede then corners Tiff and pleads with her to teach at the academy, promising her that she can teach anything she wants with no interference from him or Escargoon, in exchange for helping out the new transfer students who have "minor socialization issues". Tiff decides to askMeta Knight if it would be a good idea to take this offer, and he suggests she at least give it a try, so she agrees to teach.

Some time later, Tiff's class begins as her students gather and sing the school's anthem, and Dirk, Kirk, and Smirk have taken up the back row seats. The class begins auspiciously as Tiff is hit with an eraser left on top of the door as she opens it. Tiff silences the laughing classroom and proceeds to introduce her assistant teachers, who enter and line up beside the door. As soon as they get in position, however, Dirk and Kirk toss eggs and tomatoes at them. Tiff tries to get these two in line, but they defy her. Before a standoff can ensue, however, Smirk tells them to go with it for now, and wait for a better opportunity. From there, after Tiff casually dismisses the other teachers, she begins her lesson, but is shortly interrupted when a shoe is tossed at her. She demands to know who threw it, and asks the three delinquents to raise their feet up as proof, but the shoe does not appear to fit any of them. Tiff attempts to brush this incident off and proceeds to hand out textbooks to her students, but Dirk ends up discretely taking two. Shortly afterward, Tiff gets hit by a textbook tossed at her, and she demands that everyone show their books to prove they did not throw theirs. Since Dirk took two, he still has one left over after tossing the other, meaning Tiff cannot accuse him. For their next prank, Kirk uses a suction cup attached to a fishing rod and catches Kirby with it, yanking him around the classroom and making Kirby look like he is disrupting the class. Tiff is fooled by this and tries to stop Kirby, berating him after the two crash through the window and King Dedede and Escargoon mock the two of them.

Later on, Escargoon runs a specialChannel DDD report where he slanders Tiff and mocks her for the situation she found herself in at the academy, warning that she may be fired soon for her "incompetence".Tuff defends Tiff to their parents as they watch this broadcast, but Tiff herself is not there with them. Instead, she heads to Meta Knight's quarters and asks him to teach her self-defense techniques, so she will be better-prepared for the next class. After a training montage covering an indeterminate length of time, Tiff returns to the school uninvited after the hooligans make a mockery of all the other teachers and terrorize the students. This includes placing a live centipede inHoney's lunch, tossingMelman from the bungee-jump platform, tossing Kirby atChief Bookem then proceeding to bat Kirby around using tennis rackets, and finally tossing a paint kit atMabel.

After every other teacher has given up, Tiff makes her entrance, looking to exact vengeance on the three delinquents. She challenges them to a fight and they accept, then she proceeds to gracefully parry each of their attacks, causing them to knock themselves down. Once all three bullies are incapacitated, the rest of the students begin to cheer for Tiff. She stops them, however, as she does not wish to be congratulated for using violence against her students. She then proceeds to plead with the kids to never take learning for granted in an impassioned speech that ends up being broadcasted on Channel DDD to the rest of Dream Land. Once she finishes her speech, she proceeds to leave the class, but is stopped by King Dedede, who insists that he has had a change of heart from her speech and wants her back in as a teacher. Before they can get far, however, Tiff is grabbed by the foot and held aloft by the three delinquents, who have quietly merged into a totem pole-like monster.

Dirk, Kirk, and Smirk proceed to toss Tiff hard to the ground, and the other kids try to fight back by tossing their books at the monster. The monster retaliates by spitting junk at them, but Tiff instructs Kirby inhale this hail of objects, and he gains theFighterCopy Ability. Fighter Kirby and the monster proceed to brawl and trade blows, crashing through the wall of the school in the process. Once outside, King Dedede and Escargoon activate the electric fences around the school to prevent Kirby from escaping the fight and watch the two battle. After more trading of blows, Kirby gets knocked into the electric fence and zapped. From there, it looks like he is about to lose the fight as he is grabbed and tossed into the fence again, but Kirby manages to catch himself and punch the fence down. From here, Kirby finds an opening and finishes Dirk, Kirk, and Smirk off with aRising Break, causing them to crash through the roof of the school and destroy the academy in a massive explosion which launches King Dedede and Escargoon away with the school's bell. Later on, Tiff returns to her old class set-up, trying to teach the same equation from earlier, but finds her students sleeping again. The episode ends as Tiff remarks that this is still better than her experience at the academy.

Differences between versions[edit]

• In the Japanese version, it is shown that the reason Professor Curio is leaving the class is because the delinquent students threw swords, knives, and spears at him which hit the blackboard. He is frightened again when a double axe is thrown at him as well.
• In the Japanese version, there is an extra scene where Gangu is being used by the delinquent students in an electrical conductivity experiment.

Dialogue differences[edit]

• In the Japanese version, Meta Knight tells Tiff that she should take the teaching position in order to challenge herself, even if it turns out to be a trap.
• In the Japanese version, when Dirk and Kirk are tossing eggs and tomatoes at the other teachers, Tiff asks them to share their food with the class, and the two retaliate by telling her she should go home and clean instead of teach. Tiff responds by telling them she will do that, but first she will clean up them.
• In the Japanese version, King Dedede and Escargoon tease Tiff after she crashes through the window with Kirby by sarcastically remarking that she is not allowed to use violence at their school.
• In the Japanese version, when Spikehead and Honey are complaining to their mothers, the mothers try to calm them down by telling them that the "bad teacher" was fired.
• In the Japanese version, Tiff taunts Smirk by insinuating that he wets his pants and has to wear diapers.
• In the Japanese version, Tiff's impassioned speech is completely different in character. She pleads with everybody listening to not be too hard on teachers, because they tend to have it rougher than people think.
• In the Japanese version, when the delinquents combine into their monster form, they all speak at once, instead of just Smirk in the English version. They also call out their names repeatedly, though Smirk's name is mentioned the most.
• In the Japanese version, Fighter Kirby calls out the names of his attacks as he uses them.
• In the Japanese version, as King Dedede and Escargoon are launched along with the school bell, they complain about the bell's noise.

Trivia[edit]

• This episode marks the first time thatMayor Len's grandchildren appeared in an episode without their grandfather.

Gallery[edit]

• 
  King Dedede cries loudly after reminiscing on the failure of his academy.
• 
  Tiff struggles to keep her students awake for her math lesson.
• 
  Dirk, Kirk, and Smirk emerge from theMonster Delivery System.
• 
  King Dedede gives Tiff a teaching offer for the academy.
• 
  Tiff is greeted by her class with a prank.
• 
  Tiff brings in her five assistant teachers.
• 
  Tiff is hit in the back of the head by a shoe.
• 
  Tiff is struck by a book thrown at her head.
• 
  Kirk uses a fishing rod to mess with Tiff and Kirby.
• 
  Tiff tackles Kirby, thinking him to be acting of his own free will and disrupting the class.
• 
  King Dedede and Escargoon mock Tiff after she and Kirby crash through the window.
• 
  King Dedede and Escargoon slander Tiff on T.V.
• 
  Meta Knight uses an intense training regiment to teach Tiff self-defense.
• 
  Honey and Spikehead plead with their mothers not to send them to school.
• 
  Kirk adds a live centipede to Chef Kawasaki's curry pot.
• 
  The delinquent students push Melman off of the bungee-jumping platform.
• 
  The bullies whack Kirby around using tennis rackets.
• 
  Tiff slams open the door to make herself noticed by the delinquents.
• 
  Dirk gets struck by his own chair after trying to throw it at Tiff.
• 
  Smirk crashes into the blackboard after Tiff dodges his punch.
• 
  Tiff catches her breath in the wrecked classroom, having defeated the delinquent students.
• 
  King Dedede and Escargoon try to stop Tiff from giving up her position after her rousing speech.
• 
  Kirby inhales the projectiles spat out by the monster formed from Dirk, Kirk, and Smirk.
• 
  Fighter Kirby faces off against the amalgamated bullies.
• 
  Kirby gets zapped by the electric fences surrounding the school.
• 
  Kirby is grabbed by the monster.
• 
  Kirby finishes his opponent off with a Rising Break.
• 
  Tiff returns to teaching mathematics in her impromptu class.
• 
  The final shot of the episode

Japanese-exclusive scenes[edit]

• 
  Removed scene showing the weapons that were thrown at Curio
• 
  Removed scene showing Gangu being used as an electrical conductor

Names in other languages[edit]

• Kirby: Right Back at Ya! episodes

• Articles which list Japanese names
• Articles which list Italian names
• Articles which list Portuguese names