Disclaimer: I do not possess the ownership rights to any of the franchises depicted in this fanfic.

...

It was morning on the fourth day of summer vacation, and Aversa was bored. At that moment, her mother entered the room and approached her.

"Hello, Aversa. My book club is meeting at the mall this week; what do you think of you kids coming along?"

"The mall? That's great! I'll be able to visit Lyon at Slushy Dog!" She opened the door to the backyard and called out to James, who was sitting under the tree with Nowi and Chrom. "Mom says that we're going to the mall."

Her brother was shocked and indignant. "NOOOOOOOOO-wait, can Chrom and Nowi come to?"

Aversa turned to Lyria and said, "He wants to know if his friends can come." She nodded, and her daughter yelled back, "She says yes."

"Oh, Ok. I just need to finish first. -OOOOOOOO! I'm done; we can go."

...

In some fifteen minutes, the group arrived at the mall. After they all got inside, Lyria put Aversa in charge and left for her club meeting.

"All right, mom gave us $30, so that's $15 for me and five bucks for each of you."

"What?" Chrom protested. "Surely we could divide the money more evenly than that..." James stopped his friend.

"Just let it slide," he whispered. "You wouldn't like her when she gets authoritarian."

"I. Heard. That. Fortunately for you, I'm too eager to see Lyon to respond to that. We'll meet back here at twelve for lunch, got it?"

"Say, I now notice that one of our company is no longer present. To emphasize that, I would like to sing a song..." James cleared his throat.

"Oh no," his sister said, putting her head in her hands.

"OH WHERE, OH WHERE HAS MY PERRY GONE? OH WHERE, OH WHERE COULD HE BE?"

...

Perry, in fact, had gone over to a nearby vending machine, where he pressed the A, 1, B, C, and 3 buttons and a hatch opened in the side of the vending machine. He slid down it and ended up in a room with a giant, ominous looking portal. In a moment, Major Basilio walked up to him, with Ricken in tow.

"Hello, Agent P. Sorry about the mess; your mall hideout is undergoing renovations, so we have to meet in the experimental portal room. Anyway Dr. Riffrat has recently purchased some suspicious items: four helicopter blades, 400 helium balloons, and a whopping 6000 light bulbs. You need to find out what he's up to and stop him." Perry saluted and left.

"So, sir, when do you think R&D will be finished with the portal?"

"Oh, they already finished it."

"Really? Why haven't they used it yet?"

"They're afraid it will summon an illuminati demon."

"...Seriously?"

...

At the food court, James and Nowi were performing an experiment. At that moment, Miriel, who was sitting next to them, asked James a very important question.

"Why are you wearing an ice cream cone on your head?"

Nowi stopped her stopwatch. "3 minutes and 37 seconds."

"Well, that was the most useless thing we have ever done," Chrom added.

Everyone was silent for a moment. Then, James spoke up.

"Why are you studying on summer vacation?"

"It's as good as any other time."

"But...it's summer! No school! No teachers! No big essays assigned on Friday and due on Monday! All you have to worry about are bullies!"

"There are no bullies attending our school."

"What about self-styled tough guys?" Nowi chimed in, just as Vaike came over.

"Hey, hey, hey!" he said, knocking some of Miriel's books onto the floor. "How's it goin', peeps?"

"Nobody thinks you're cool, Vaike," James said.

"I think I'm cool," he retorted as he slurped up the remains of his drink and tried to crush the plastic cup on his head. After failing to do so within a minute, he nonchalantly tossed it behind him. "Sooo...is this table taken?"

Everybody said yes.

"Aw, man! Hey, wait, why are you wearing an ice cream cone?"

Nowi stopped the stopwatch. "1 minute and 28 seconds."

"Great! Anyway, I'm going to get a drink, you guys can deal with Vaike." James walked towards the snack bar.

"So..." Chrom asked. "How's the wrestling team?"

"Oh, it's great! I really like that I have a place where I can hang out with like minded tough guys!"

"Didn't I hear Mark Flex say that you were 'the wimp of the team'?"

"Uhh...moving on..."

James came back with a can of Slick(TM).

"What did I miss?" he asked, putting his unopened drink down on the table. Vaike eagerly snatched it up.

"Ooh, thanks!" He proceeded to rigorously shake the can, blatantly missing the label. "I always like my lemonade shaken, not stirred." When he opened it, however, the soda sprayed right in the face, drenching him. Everybody in the room laughed. That is, except for Chrom (who was worrying of what Vaike's reaction would be), Miriel (who disapproved of mockery), Nowi (who was polite enough to withhold her laughter), and James (who, honestly, didn't care).

Vaike was enraged. "Why didn't you tell me that wasn't lemonade?!"

"I was being polite by not interrupting you."

"Well, you're gonna pay for this! I challenge you to a duel!"

Everyone in the room gasped. James took it like a gentleman. "Very well. The weapon?"

"Thumbs. 12 O'clock, in the mall parking lot."

"Better make it a quarter til. I'm meeting my mom for lunch."

"All right. Don't be late." Vaike stormed off.

There was silence for a moment. Then, Chrom spoke up.

"Well, this promises to end badly."

Author's Note: As you can see, Raging Bully won the poll. Sort of. There was a tie, and I picked this episode over the other. Aside from that, I have another announcement: I will be leaving for vacation this Sunday, and I won't get back until next Thursday. However, I will begin working on the next chapter on the night I return. Anyway, stay safe, and have a good day!