If the Central Wing was where the Smashers smashed and worked and toiled away, and the Eastern Wing was where the Smashers ate and bathed and slept, then the Western Wing was where the Smashers did one thing and one thing only: Have fun. As the prime hub for anything and everything to do with entertainment, the Western Wing was absolutely jam-packed with all the necessary facilities and equipment, royally perfect in quality and infinitely diverse in quantity, to endlessly satisfy the pleasure-seeking Smasher and forever stave off the suffocating holds of boredom and monotony. There were three massive home theaters that regularly screened both the classics (Mario: The Godfather, Gone With the Wind Waker, 12 Angry Smashers) and the more modern flicks (R.O.B-E, Sex in Mute City, The Meta Knight Rises); a massive swimming pool that looked over the stunning view of the entire city; machine-run bookstores and cafés that seemed to promise peace and tranquility, but often rained books down on the heads of unsuspecting patrons and spill hot coffee over caffeine-addicted Smashers. There was a sprawling gym packed with the perfect machinery to hone such beautiful bodies as Ike and Wii Fit Trainer; over a hundred different courts, ranging from tennis to soccer to basketball, many of which were regularly hogged by the Mario characters; even a monolithic abyss of a stadium that functioned occasionally as a public venue for concerts featuring the humble, grass-roots shows of the K.K. Slider and the elaborately epic performances of the Elite Beat Agents. Music, sports, arts, you name it; the Western Wing had it all.

With all the right tools and essential capital, the Western Wing was, predictably, a popular destination of choice to kick back and relax in the evening, and it was no exception among all four Dung Beatles tonight – all except one, that is.

"Come on, Yoshi!" Ness pleaded as he grabbed Yoshi by the arm and attempted to pull him towards the Launch Star that would blast them towards the Video Game Room. "You promised to join us for Mario Party tonight! What gives?"

"I have something really important I need to do, OK?" Yoshi pried Ness's hand off of him and smiled back reassuringly. "Listen, just choose the computer to control my character and let him play for a while. I'll join you guys in ten minutes and pick off from where he left off. Sounds good?"

No, it doesn't sound good at all you fucking stupid dinosaur, computers don't get huge nasty blisters on the palms of their hands when they're playing Paddle Battle or Tug o' War, do they. It sounded good enough to Lucas and Toon Link, however, both of whom impatiently seized the adamant youngster and dragged him away to the Launch Star before he could stall any further.

And so Yoshi walked down the corridors of the rooms that housed Smashers whose names begun with L, M, N, O, and P. The hallway was deserted, but Yoshi still shot furtive glances of guilty paranoia behind him, and jumped at every small, insignificant sound – the squeaks of the floorboards, the creaks of the walls. In his left hand he held the large-sized plastic bag from today's shopping trip, which, to any passing observer, seemed to be weighed down by some heavy, round object. Despite the confidence he had displayed earlier, Yoshi's heart punished itself against his ribcage in unease and his stomach tickled itself with fluttering butterflies of mild panic. His pace quickened ever so slightly as he imagined what would happen if someone just happened to come out or round the bend when he was trying to sneak into Luigi's room. What do you think you're doing? they would ask. What have you got in there?

He stopped in front of a green door that had a giant white 'L' painted in its center. He looked left, right, and left again, ensuring that the corridor was indeed devoid of any intrusive presence. With a sharp intake of breath, Yoshi punched in Luigi's code on the numbered buttons next to the doorknob as quickly as possible.

On the left of every door of each Room was a small device that scanned the Smasher's ID Card to verify the rightful identity of its inhabitant before granting access. Should, however, the Smasher have left his or her ID Card in the room – or, in Yoshi's case, completely misplace it – there was the second option of keying in a four-number code set by the residing Smasher. It seemed like a reasonably safe method of entry at first – who, after all, could guess the correct combination of four numbers out of the ten thousand possibilities that existed? Of course, it was entirely possible to correctly guess the code and bypass whatever features of promised security that the method was supposed to entail, as Ness and Yoshi discovered one rainy afternoon when a frustrated Luigi confiscated the former's yo-yo after he smacked the back of the green plumber's head one times too many. With an apology out of the question (Ness once famously stated that apologies were for "pissy luckers" – at least, that's what Yoshi thought he said), the psychic prankster enlisted Yoshi's help to break into Luigi's room and retrieve his precious weapon once and for all. Every Smasher was given only five attempts to input the correct code, failure to do which on the sixth try would result in an alarm going off. The duo, however, did not need so many chances, for they managed to crack the code in just one try.

"What series of four numbers would validate Luigi's pathetic existence the most?" Ness had asked.

"Well, that's easy," Yoshi had replied, and immediately bounded over to the numbered buttons to type:

2 0 1 3

"Year of Luigi," Yoshi muttered, and for the second time in his life, he heard a barely-audible click resounding within the mechanism of Luigi's doorknob. He shot one last sweeping glance behind him. Then, open, walk through, ensure the bag doesn't smack against the doorway, close. The dinosaur was gone and the door was closed before a full second had even expired.

Luigi's room was almost exactly as how he remembered when he infiltrated it last. The walls and the ceiling were painted a very light, friendly green, illuminated by a small chandelier of sapphires, emeralds, and rubies – spoils, Yoshi was told once, from Luigi's ghastly hunt for Mario in his haunted adventures. The wardrobe was neatly organized with a variety of clothes and sport equipment, from personalized soccer jerseys to a tennis racket that had a green 'L' stitched in its netting. His bed was ordinary enough – wooden legs, white bedsheet, a silver Luma pillow. The wall next to his bed, however, was anything but. It was covered entirely with papers and papers of varying dimensions and colors, letters and notes that poured in from all over the universes to serenade Luigi with words of adoration and encouragement that poured directly from his (surprisingly) many fans' hearts. Your brother is sooooo overrated. I like you so much better! read some pink-inked words bleeding from a green heart of construction paper. Just want to tell you that Dark Moon has to be one of the best games of all time. Amazing job. If you ever find yourself in Clock Town within three days of this letter, come visit me. Buy you a milk. read a faded parchment of a postcard that illustrated some kind of massive archaic clock. And, the last few lines of some formal-looking lined paper: Every day you continue to give our Timmy the smiles he needs to emerge victorious in his arduous battle against shell cancer. Though you may have not known it, thank you sincerely for breathing new life into this shattered family of Koopas. Best regards, Shelly Koopton. It was such a beautiful thing, this collage, that not even Ness had the heart to lay a finger on any of the precious paper.

He did, however, have utmost heart in using a permanent marker to scribble on Luigi's desk a microscopic doodle, above which read a taunting 'Yours'. Yoshi didn't exactly know what the doodle was supposed to be and why it was so small, nor did he possess the vocabulary to aptly describe it, but if he did indeed know, the word would be phallic.

The doodle was no longer there, replaced by some jarring scratch marks on an otherwise immaculate desk. What was still there, however, was exactly what Yoshi was looking for – a brilliantly white and fancifully designed treasure chest, adorned with golden swirls and a single red ruby, a trove of what was supposed to be some of Luigi's most precious things. Kneeling down, he pulled the chest from underneath Luigi's desk and began taking out its content – the Gameboy Horror, a pin that illustrated Luigi poking his head out from a circular hole, a crisp brown envelope sealed with a golden Official Nintendo Seal of Quality which, Yoshi was sure, contained a congratulatory letter that commemorated the Year of Luigi…

Once everything was strewn in a mess around the chest, Yoshi turned to the shopping bag. With careful precision and delicate hands, Yoshi, slowly, ever so slowly, lowered it into the chest and wrapped the empty parts of the plastic around the body of the egg, in an attempt to provide some cushioning. As an afterthought he took a random assortment of soft-enough objects – an extra pair of gloves, a Bag of Pork Chips, a tourist shirt that promoted some town in the Animal Crossing universe, a fan-made scarf that featured a triumphant Luigi beating his older brother to a pulp – and threw it over the egg, further concealing its pernicious form. Yoshi stood up and stared at his handiwork. An absolute mess of a chest, overflowing with things that shared no common value and surrounded by miscellaneous other objects of equal randomness. He nodded his head in satisfaction, and turned to leave, grabbing a bag of dried fruits as he did. "Sorry about the mess, Mama Luigi," Yoshi smiled to himself as he opened the door wide, turning his head to cast one final inspection. "I'll be sure to clean up before you get –"

'What in Arceus's hell do you think you're doing?'

"YOSHI!" The green dinosaur leaped up so much that his head slammed against the ceiling, such was the extent of the shock of Lucario's sudden appearance – which shouldn't have been that surprising, given the fact that his room was diagonally opposite Luigi's. The bag of dried fruits dropped from his hand as Yoshi attempted to slam the door behind him. "Lu – Lucario!" he stuttered in reply to the Pokémon, who, not for the first time, glared at him with eyes that made anyone thankful that looks couldn't kill. "I – I – Well, the thing is, I –"

Lucario narrowed his eyes at the faltering dinosaur and was just about to blast the dinosaur with a series of accusatory questions when a voice suddenly echoed in his mind: "Relax! Yoshi, he is a-just trying to have some fun!"

Lucario raised up a paw to halt Yoshi's incoherent babbling. 'Do I want to know?' the Pokémon asked simply.

Yoshi ceased the stream of half-baked excuses he was about to spew and gulped. "N-no, I really don't think you do, actually," Yoshi stammered, attempting to wince a smile as if what Lucario had witnessed was a big fat joke instead of a painfully suspicious trespassing. His heart seemed ready to burst forth from his chest as the second it took for Lucario to react crawled to an excruciating minute. Please, don't go into the room. Please don't go into the room. Please don't –

'Then don't tell me.' Lucario sighed and began to march past Yoshi. Time returned to its normal state of flow and relief flooded every cell of his nerves, brutally pricking his skin as if thousands of Shiek's needles were poking into his entire body. Everything is gonna be alright, everything is gonna be OK. Before the dinosaur could sigh out the pent-up relief that threatened to blow up his lungs, however, Lucario whipped right back around and shot him a warning look.

'One word from Luigi about something missing from his room, Yoshi, and he will hear about this. Do not expect a second chance of mercy from me, for I will not tolerate such despicable acts as theft.'

"I didn't steal anything!" Yoshi laughed nervously, trying to stifle whatever guilt that might creep into his voice. "Honestly – all I did – if you really want to know – uh, Ness's yo-yo –"

Yoshi's voice trailed off as the Pokémon ignored him completely and walked on down the hall. He remained silent, just for a second, held back by a momentary uncertainty that rooted itself in an uncomfortable break from character, the lack of confidence in successfully bridging a gaping slash of a rift he himself had partially carved. But the split second of hesitation passed, and Yoshi, remembering the raw waves of pity that had taken hold of his entire emotional state during dinner, called out:

"Hey, Lucy! Lucy!"

Lucario turned around again. 'What do you want now?'

"I –" Yoshi paused briefly as he walked hurriedly next to Lucario. "I – I kind of wanted to say – Well, that I'm sorry. About what I did today. Running away and pushing you down the hole and all that. I… Yeah. I'm sorry."

To say that Lucario was surprised would be the understatement of the year. The Pokémon completely abandoned the dignified image he had always worked hard to display and maintain flawlessly and instead stared dumbly at Yoshi with his jaws stretched open for three whole seconds. Then, remembering himself and remembering who he was talking to, Lucario straightened himself up, shut his mouth, and said, in a tone that attempted to recover as much of his composure as possible, 'Are you… You're not serious, are you? You're just joking around like you usually do, are you?'

"No, 'mon! I really mean it. Like, seriously, honestly, from the bottom of my heart." Yoshi tapped his chest with his finger to show just how bottom of his heart it came from. "I was being an immature asshole and left you to do all the work. It was totally stupid of me and you have every right to be pissed off." He smiled again, a lot more sincerely this time, as he and Lucario continued their walk to the elevators that would take them to their respective destinations. "Why don't I make it up to you? Next time we go shopping, I'll go and buy everything, and you can just sit back and relax for the day! How's that sound?"

'Well…' For what seemed like the thousandth time that day, Lucario was beginning to feel uncomfortable again. Whatever happened to the infuriating, bratty Yoshi who could never fail in annoying him until his Aura turned red? 'Well, I don't think you'll see me around much, anymore. I quit.'

Yoshi let out a dramatic gasp, a social cue that was supposed to emphasize the registered shock of the news, but whose insinuated exaggeration was completely lost on Lucario. "What! Why? It's not – it's not because of me, is it?"

'No, no. Just – I think I'm a little too busy to continue to commit myself to such periodic services. Nothing to do with you at all.' Lucario returned the smile that Yoshi had flashed him earlier, though it was only a slight stretch of the flaps of his muzzle compared to Yoshi's cheek-splitting fissure. 'You shouldn't think so highly of yourself, Yoshi. You didn't really think that you alone would be reason enough for me to quit, did you?'

"I guess not." Yoshi breathed an internal sigh of relief. Any other time he would be high-fiving the other three Dung Beatles, bragging that it was he who drove Lucario up the wall so much that the Pokémon was forced to quit simply because he was his partner… But the Dung Beatles weren't here, an internal switch of some sort had been flicked, and now the only solace he took in was the exact opposite: the fact that he, Yoshi, not the sole factor responsible for Lucario suddenly quitting. "Well, if you'd like, maybe I can buy you some Poffins? Free, to make up for what I did!"

'That – well, why I do appreciate the gesture, you really don't have to –'

"Aw, come on, Lucy, I'm doing this because I want to. You like the pink ones the best, right?"

'Yes, I do, but like I said –'

"Pink it is, then," Yoshi concluded happily as he punched the 'Down' button on the elevator. "You sure you're too busy to join back as my partner? I mean, it's really only about an hour or two of your time every Tuesday."

'I'll have to see about it,' Lucario replied, still a bit miffed by this sudden turn of events as he and Yoshi stepped into the elevator… But this, this didn't feel half as awkward as it did when he was sitting with the Fire Emblem Smashers. The cursory discomfort that came with any social interaction was there, but, for what seemed like the first time – maybe a true first time, in fact – Lucario felt something else dilute the awkwardness, a feeling that was somewhat… Somewhat…

Somewhat pleasant.

Perhaps it was because he had only an entity of one to deal with, or perhaps it was because the dinosaur wasn't forcing him to partake in conversations whose subjects he had zero grains of interest in. Whatever the reason, the fact remained that he had managed to draw an inexplicable enjoyment, no matter how small or fleeting, from the few words that he and Yoshi had exchanged – a monolithically magnanimous feat, given Lucario's general distaste towards all things that involved banter.

"Where are you going?" Yoshi asked, as the elevator stopped at the sixth floor, where the Residential Area began.

'Charizard's asked to see me for a few minutes. Just wants some general advice on how she should fight Samus, who she's going against this coming tournament.' Lucario stepped out and turned to face Yoshi. 'Well… Goodnight, then, Yoshi.'

"Yeah! Goodnight!" Yoshi waved cheerfully even as the doors began to close. "Once again, super sorry about what happened today! If you want, you can come join me after you're done – I'll be playing Mario Party with –"

The door closed and Yoshi's voice was immediately cut off. Rather than make his way towards Charizard's room, however, Lucario stayed rooted to the spot for what might have been a full ten seconds, staring at the closed metal doors that, quite recently, exuded, for the first time in his entire stay in the Smash Mansion, a welcoming, warm comfort in the presence of some other.

A reluctant smile found itself on the normally stoic face of the Aura Pokémon, and with a slight shake of his head to revert to his original state of impartiality, Lucario finally broke his trance from the elevator and walked, with what seemed like a slight whimsy in his steps, to where Charizard was waiting for him.


"Once again, I'm terribly sorry about this, sonny," Professor E. Gadd apologized as he pressed a button on the wall to open the garage door for Luigi. "To think that all the ghosts would evacuate the moment just one of them hears that you'll be coming! Well, I suppose it can't be helped, my boy. You really did make a reputation for yourself in the community of the dearly departed, it seems – and not a favorable one at that!"

"I think I can live the rest of my life without being in their good tomes," Luigi grinned as he turned the ignition of his personalized kart that he most frequently used in his kart racing adventures. "It was nice catching up with you anyway, Professor. You sure you don't need me to stick around? Maybe help you out in your other research? I don't have any matches this Saturday, either, so no rush there."

"Don't be so patronizing to me, sonny. I may be old, but the only time I'll ever need the lean, green, sucking machine is to get rid of some pesky Boos – and when I need some housecleaning! Ho ho!"

Luigi drove forward slowly, stopping right when his seat was next to E. Gadd. "Well, feel free to call whenever else you might need me, Professor. I won't have any new games to work on for a while, and life at the Smash Mansion is slowing down, for once." Luigi checked the brakes of his kart one last time before turning to face the elderly scientist. "I'll see you soon! Thanks for your hospitality, as always."

"Farewell, Luigi! Until our paths cross again!" E. Gadd waved his hand as Luigi drove out to the driveway. The green plumber raised a hand in farewell, just before his kart roared to life and shot into the darkness of the night. The younger brother of Mario zipped through the dark, forested path, humming a soft tune as he thought of nothing but the comfort of his own residence that would await him once he set foot back in the Smash Mansion.