A/N: Man, school finals are killer...but I have another chapter ready for you readers! I think this chapter is gonna be filed as a filler though, 'cause I don't think it's really my best for a chapter. But I'll let you decide that for yourself.

And the one time I try to do a chapter without a holiday, and it ends up being holiday related. Kinda. Maybe? It's not a national holiday, but...eh, whatever.

For this chapter, witness what happens to the smashers when they have crazy tricks up their sleeves to unleash onto their housemates, on a day that I shall dub Jester's Day.

Replies:

Twin Cats - Haha, yeah. And yes, Crazy Hand was involved in that. XD Love comes in all shapes, sizes, forms, and orientations! But it's too bad not many realize this, since most people assume that on Valentine's Day, it's only about romantic love. You can express love in many different ways, whether it be from friendship to family (or in Wario's case, pranking XD). And that's sorta what I slipped into the Smashentine's Day chapter. Symbolism(?), yeah!

LilacFoxGirl1 - It sure is. XD About the other idea, I might incorporate it into other stuff. It depends. Thanks! Yep, That's what's called foreshadowing. :D

ChaosSmash64 - Jeez, if you've laughed that hard, then prepare yourself for the rest of the chapters! Thanks for reading!

TACO - Nice name. (Made me hungry for some tacos...) Thanks! I had fun writing that. I know, right? Pit should've known beforehand. XD I'm not too sure about Jigglypuff myself. I guess it's better than her doing something worse, huh?

Second Chancing - A warm welcome back! And I shall try, thank you!

MidnightPulse987 - I think it'll be a while before something like that happens, luckily. Gracias! I'm original with names, aren't I? XD

The Lone Ice Rose - Hurrah! The reviews are working for you! And thanks so much for telling me about your anticipation!

Destiny Willowleaf - Wow, thank you! And sure! If I'm being credited, that's fine by me.

KoopalingFan - Thanks dude! Okay, gotcha. I read somewhere that if you write numbers over a certain amount, it's okay to write it as a number.

RubyDarknessAngel - via PM.

Alright, I've kept you up here long enough. It's new chapter time!


With Smashers Like These:

Welcome to the Prank Mansion - Part 1


The last thing Toon Link had remembered from the previous night was immediately flopping into his bed. After groggily changing into his pajamas with barely open eyes and sluggish movements, he didn't even put away his Master Sword or his shield, having dropped them both to the floor just beside his bed. The guys at the Smash Mansion sure know how to tire a kid out with late night Globe Trotter on Wii Party.

So now, as Toon Link opens his eyes for the first time in 7 to 8 hours, he doesn't expect to see four young faces staring back at him, all with smug grins plastered onto their face.

"Good morning, Toon Link." Nana greets with snark, batting her eyelashes. "Glad to see you're finally up."

Toon Link widens his eyes, startled by the sight of Nana, Ness, Popo, and Diddy Kong before him.

"...What's going on? Where am I?" he questions, frantically darting his eyes between each of the four. Taking in his surroundings, he notices he's outside in the Smash Mansion's courtyard, located behind the house. He also discovers that he can't move.

Toon Link glances down. Within seconds of looking down, he puts together two things that are very wrong.

One, his body is tied up in thick ropes.

Two, his tied up body is currently inside a barrel.

The déjà vu is setting in so fast, Toon Link manifests a thought bubble and mentally envisions himself being hit by a train, labeled 'PAST EXPERIENCE' in bold, black letters on the train's side.

"Are you ready to fly?" Ness asks Toon Link with a wide grin.

"What are you guys doing!?" Toon Link thrashes his rope-bound body around inside the barrel, only gently rocking it side to side with his effort.

"You won't need your Wind Waker where you're going!" Popo says. Diddy Kong does a monkey chuckle as he flashes a toothy smile.

"Lemme OUT! What the heck!" Toon Link voices while doing a last resort shimmy inside the barrel.

"Popo, release the tension source!" Nana orders, pointing behind, or in Toon Link's point of view, above the Hylian.

"Roger!" Popo salutes and runs to where Nana had pointed. The other three youngsters take two steps away from the catapult that the barrel is loaded on.

"Guys, come ON!" Toon Link helplessly pleads.

"Ready?" Nana says to her ice climbing partner.

"No!"

"Aim!" Ness points at an upward angle towards the sky.

"I DON'T WAN'T TO DO THIS A SECOND TIME!"

"FIRE!" Nana and Ness yell together.

Popo conjures an icicle, then slices the rope that had been holding back the catapult basket. With a springing sound, Toon Link suddenly launches skyward and sails through the air, flying over the Smash Mansion roof while screaming, all in the glow of the early morning sun.

"Success!" Popo and Ness give each other high fives in celebration of the launch. Ness turns to Diddy Kong.

"Thanks for the barrel, Diddy." Ness says, shaking Diddy Kong's hand in an official manner. "Pleasure doing business with you."

The red clad monkey does a little dance by alternating hops on each of his feet.

Meanwhile, Nana is still staring up at the sky in thought with a gloved fist just under her chin.

"He should've landed by now..." she quietly says to herself.

"Hey Nana? What's the matter?" Popo asks with concern.

"I didn't hear Toon Link land. He should've landed in the front yard." Nana says, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Well, we did launch him pretty far..."

Nana suddenly has a blank stare, then faces the boy in the blue parka.

"Popo, what are the measurements for the catapult's angle launch?" she nervously asks. Popo points his eyes up for a bit.

"132 degrees...?" he replies.

"...Which spans to?"

"...20 feet."

"WHAT!?" Nana takes a step back from Popo and presses her hands to the sides of her face. "That's WAAAAY off! It's supposed to be as closely accurate as possible to the catapult from The Wind Waker!"

"Whoops..." Popo scratches the back of his head and looks off to the side.

"He's gonna be in for a landing now." Ness comments, getting a look at the sky for himself. "Where do you think he'll end up?"

.x.x.X.x.x.

"AAAAAAAHHHH!"

Inside a barrel, Toon Link sails over the town of Smashville at neck breaking speed with his hair being blown back by the wind. He starts passing over a region with largely populated Animal Crossing trees.

~o~o~o~

"With the measurement of the pull back range, and with the velocity and direction he's going in...I say he's probably gonna end up in Smashville Park." Nana calculates. Ness puts his hands on his hips and whistles, then closes his eyes and shakes his head sorrowfully.

~o~o~o~

Toon Link then begins to finally descend in flight, which is right when a nearby pond is coming up.

"Oh, no no no NO NO!" the Hylian reacts with widened eyes. He was never really much of a good swimmer.

SPLASH!

The barrel splashes down within contact of the water's surface, sending a mass of more water upward, which then rains back down to the pond. A few startled geese take flight due to the disturbed atmosphere.

Aside from the subduing ripples, the water becomes still...

...Until a few bubbles form onto the water's surface.

Toon Link's suddenly shoots up from the shallow water, sitting up and gasping for air. Unbeknownst to his knowledge, he had entered a territory of Cheep Cheep fish that reside in the pond. This means that now there are several Cheep Cheeps either sucking on the top of his head, his ears, a cheek, or his shoulders and chest.

Soaked to the skin while still in his pajamas, Toon Link's head sinks closer to his shoulders while his facial expression forms into a vengeful glare. With narrowed eyes, Toon Link calmly brings a hand to his face to yank off a suctioned Cheep Cheep, then tosses it back into the pond.

~o~o~o~

"Toon Link is going to be peeved when he gets back." Ness states, keeping his head down.

Popo sadly lowers his head and sighs. "I'll go get the Heart Containers ready..." he says, shuffling his feet in a slow walk as he heads for the house.

~o~o~o~

There were things that went on at the Smash Mansion. These things sometimes being more crazy than other things. And sometimes these things were so nonsensical that even Crazy Hand would have a hard time processing it.

But there is one thing that's clear now. And this thing is just as clear to those who take the event seriously.

Hands resting in the water, Toon Link tightens them into fists. His eyes narrow further as he officially declares one thing in his mind:

The Great Prank War of the Smash Mansion has begun.

.x.x.X.x.x.

Now, some time into the late morning, the smashers are currently spending their free time doing as they please in the mansion.

Pit, Link, Ike, and Marth are sitting on the couch in the living room and watching The Big Subspace Theory on the TV. Lucario is privately meditating in his quarters. Olimar is out in the courtyard, supervising the Pikmin's interactions as they play with Ivysaur. Kirby and Yoshi are in the kitchen, putting the final touches on a quadruple tiered PB & J sandwich that they're planning to eat together (even though they cleared 3 plates at breakfast). Everything is in balance for now.

That's when Master Hand's voice rings through the intercom to remind the smashers why they live in the mansion in the first place.

"Good afternoon, Smash Brothers! It's time to begin your brawling sessions for the day!" Master Hand's voice crackles out of the speakers. In the living room, Link and Ike initiate exasperated groans.

"We're still brawling today?" Link wonders, knitting his eyebrows in annoyance at the thought. Pit temporarily closes his eyes and shrugs.

"I guess so." he says, opening his eyes. The angel then stands up from the couch and reaches for the ceiling to stretch, spreading his wings out in the process. "It is a weekday."

"But today is...you know...the day..." Marth reminds the others, cautiously darting his blue eyes back and forth.

The four suddenly find themselves set into a thick silence. As the only noise in the room is the sound of the TV, Pit stops stretching and looks at each of the swordsmen.

"...Oh no." Ike breathes fearfully, staring off into space with wide eyes that have shrunken irises. If everyone in the house knows what today is, and there's a good chance that they do, then they're all pretty much screwed.

"Please head to the respective stations, check your schedules, you know the drill. Hurry hurry, chop chop! Time is money!"

The guys exchange glances between each other, warily. They all know full well what today is. And because of today, the Smash Mansion will be drastically transformed.

Anyone can be fair game to a crafty jokester. Anyone can either be victorious in carrying out their act, or pay the price for their regrettable failure. Anyone in the mansion is vulnerable to someone's sneaky work.

No one will be safe.

Link gulps in apprehension.

After another silent moment, all of them rise from the couch, then slowly disperse to head for the mansion's teleporters.

"Be careful out there." Marth warns as he turns to his friends for what could be the final time. Link, Ike, and Pit nod with understood caution.

"We'll try." they assure the Altean prince. After a moment of darting their eyes, the quad then finally breaks up to depart in different directions.

.x.x.X.x.x.

The Smash Mansion's movie theater is nearly filled to the last seat with video game characters. A soft chatter is heard throughout the room while the spectators wait for the scheduled brawl to begin.

Meanwhile, in the dimly lit surveillance room, a pair of white gloved floating hands known as Master Hand and Crazy Hand are inside. Master Hand shifts from one spot to the next as he hovers over a control panel containing many buttons and switches.

"Ah...nothing like a traditional brawl to kickstart things around here." Master Hand speaks aloud to his brother as he now floats behind a microphone installed on the panel.

"I can't wait!" Crazy Hand exclaims, becoming a fist and shaking himself excitedly.

Signaling that a match is about to start, the lights in the movie theater dim slowly and the sides of the screen elongate.

"The match is starting!" Olimar states with delight from his seat. The chatter subsides immediately and the housemates direct their attention to the cinema screen. Text displays in a window on the screen prior to the fight.

Match Type: 3 Minute Knockout Fest! (Free For All)

Teams: None

Stage: Pokémon Stadium 2

Items: Off

Master Hand clears his non-existent throat to do the announcements.

"...3!"

On the screen, Mario pops out from a green pipe and jumps onto the stage's left platform.

Jigglypuff emerges from a Poké Ball below Mario's platform and briefly dances.

"2!"

King Dedede is carried onto the stage, courtesy of several Waddle Dees, then touches down on the platform across from Mario.

Wolf drops down from a Wolfen and swiftly lands on on his feet, below King Dedede's platform.

"1!"

The four opponents each get into a fighting stance, ready to annihilate each other mercilessly.

"GO!"

The fighters all lunge at each other, forming a cluster in the center of the stage. Mario pulls back his arm to release the first punch when King Dedede stops him.

"WAAAAAIT!" The king yells at the top of his lungs with shut eyes, blowing back Mario's hair and forcing his red cap off. Mario, having closed his own eyes due to the sudden exposure, now opens them and slowly blinks. Jigglypuff and Wolf drop out of their defensive stances.

"...What?" the plumber asks, lowering his fist and staring at King Dedede like he had 3 heads.

"Uh..." King Dedede scratches his head as he searches his brain for something to say. "Um...we should talk about...something...that involves...something!"

"Dedede, we're about to start a brawl!" Mario throws his hands out in front of the Dream Land king.

"It's KING Dedede!" The penguin corrects, leaning in closer to Mario's face to emphasize his title. Mario lowers his top eyelids and looks off to the side.

"Yeah, sure. Dedede." he mutters with lack of interest.

"If you're going to say my name, say it right!"

"Look, can we just start this brawl already?" Wolf interjects with impatience, stepping over to the two.

"Jigglypuff!" Jigglypuff agrees, hoping to not create more conflict.

"Hey!" King Dedede turns to Wolf, poking his gloved thumb onto his own chest, "Saying my name the right way is important!"

"Not really." Wolf bluntly remarks.

"YES IT IS!"

"Look, Dedede—" Mario starts, putting up his hands.

"KING DEDEDE!"

"NO ONE CARES!" The lupine shouts at the king. As a reward, Wolf is pelted by a Waddle Dee from King Dedede and falls over onto his back, landing right on top of Mario's hat. Mario gasps with fright.

"My HAT!" Mario runs over to the spot and effortlessly flings the wolf off of the accessory, sending him flying right into Jigglypuff.

"Oh good, it's not ruined..." Mario says, placing the hat back onto his head.

Knocked over onto the floor, the balloon pokémon flashes an angered glare that accompanies a patch of dark red on her face. She does a high pitched growl in her throat, slightly baring her teeth.

"JIGGLYPUFF!" She squeaks in agitation, ballooning up to launch Wolf off of her body and into the sky, causing him to begin screaming. Within seconds, she uncaps her marker and scribbles emblems of herself frowning onto Mario and King Dedede. She then closes her marker and stands in her original spot, crossing her arms in a huff.

Wolf faceplants onto the stage floor with a smack, ceasing to scream within impact of the surface.

King Dedede, with a big Jigglypuff frowny face on his own face, blinks in bewilderment.

"...Oh, it is on NOW!" King Dedede declares, jumping into the air and raising his hammer to advance on the others. The scene then becomes a dust cloud of fists, paws, a boot, several glimpses of a smasher's head, the sound of shouting voices saying taunts and remarks, and swirls and stars revolving around the cloud. The smashers in the theater watch the dust cloud onscreen, some partially confused and some partially wordless in astonishment.

"...Well, that's one way to start a fight." observes Luigi, sitting with Princess Zelda, Red, and Kirby.

Not too long after the comment, the screen depicts all four of the brawlers being shot in four different directions out of the fading cloud, each signaling their knockout with a brightly colored blast. Because of the earlier argument between the fighters taking up time, the timer then counts itself to zero.

In the surveillance room, Master Hand is taken by surprise by the whole ordeal and doesn't know what should happen next.

"Er...Sudden Death?" he speaks into the microphone, unsure of what just happened.

The four brawlers appear back on the Pokémon Stadium 2 stage, showing blank looks on their faces with their damage percentages at 300%.

"Uh...what?" Mario voices absent-mindlessly, idly standing in place where he has spawned.

"What just happened?" Wolf wonders as he directs his gaze on each of the fighters.

"Jigglypuff?" Jigglypuff says, looking around also.

"I have no idea." King Dedede says with furrowed eyebrows.

The smashers stand in silence for a moment to take in the logic of their previous situation. King Dedede looks down at his hammer and timidly twirls the handle.

"...Well, it's the Sudden Death round, so— "

"HIYAH!"

Jigglypuff up smashes Mario unexpectedly and sends him directly upward, causing him to be KO'ed instantly with 313%.

Wolf and King Dedede have their necks craned to the sky, King Dedede gulping as the blast's light reflects onto him. They return their attention to the pokémon on the stage.

Jigglypuff stares the both of them down with a cold glare, narrowing her eyes as she readjusts her footing and brings her arms out to her sides in readiness.

"...She's all yours, King Dedede." Wolf expresses from below the king's platform. King Dedede looks down, even though the platform he's standing on isn't transparent.

"Why don't you go fight her?"

"Because I like my face the way it is, thank you very much."

"We're in a brawl, you scaredy!"

"Says you, Mister I-Always-Stand-In-My-Spot-Until-Someone-Comes-Towards-Me!"

"It's easier on my robes, fleabag!"

"Don't make me come up there and KO you right now!"

"I wanna see you try!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh yeah?!"

"YEAH!"

"Seriously?" Sonic comments, sitting between Donkey Kong and Samus in the theater. Donkey Kong facepalms with an gruff exhale while Samus shakes her head as she looks at the cinema screen.

"JIGGLLLYYYYPUUUUFFF!" Jigglypuff runs towards King Dedede and Wolf at full speed.

"AAHHHHHHHH!" they scream in terror as they find themselves glued to their spots. Before Wolf can get kicked out of his misery, Jigglypuff slips on something in her path and falls down.

"Jig?" Jigglypuff says in perplexity as she sits on the ground. Wolf and Dedede stare at this. In turn, they loudly burst out laughing.

"Hahaha!" King Dedede laughs as he jumps down from his platform. But then he too slips and falls onto his back, which causes Wolf to laugh even harder.

"Ahahaha! Hahahaha!" the wolf laughs, pointing with a finger and using the other hand to clutch his side.

Angered by this, Jigglypuff rises to her feet and prepares to walk, not even taking a full step before finding herself tripping again and landing on her backside. King Dedede attempts to get back up as well, but he ends up tripping and falling backward, landing onto an unsuspecting Wolf.

"Ahahaha—OW!"

"Karma." Fox states from his seat in satisfaction, seated next to Falco. Without even looking away from the screen, the Star Fox teammates briefly high five each other.

"Get offa me!" the Star Wolf member complains, pushing the penguin off his body. King Dedede falls forward and flat onto his face as Wolf gets up and brushes himself off.

"Do not..." the king warns in a muffled voice, then pushes himself off of the stage floor to stand, "...treat a king like THA—"

King Dedede trips and falls back down on his face just as he stands up.

Jigglypuff carefully gets onto her feet this time with success. She looks around the stage to find banana peels littered everywhere.

What are banana peels doing inside a Sudden Death round?

A banana peel then plops down before the unacknowledged Jigglypuff, the pokémon stepping back after the peel had landed. She looks up at the simulator's artificial sky. An abundance of banana peels begin to rain down onto the Pokémon Stadium.

Jigglypuff widens her already large eyes as she now realizes what is happening.

"Jigglypuff!" Jigglypuff warns the others, trying to get their attention as she frantically waves her arms around. King Dedede lifts his head from the ground while Wolf decides to see what Jigglypuff is going on about.

"What, Jigglypuff?" King Dedede asks. But it is already too late.

A banana peel lands on the king and prompts him to trip again even after his fall. Wolf receives one as well and falls to the ground, along with Jigglypuff as she gets swept off her feet by another peel. Scattered banana peels takeover the wills of the three smashers on the stage, tripping them over and over in an endless cycle.

"WHAT—IS—HAPPEN—ING!?" King Dedede shouts as he is repeatedly annihilated by a banana again and again, even starting to spin in a consecutive circle because of Smash Brothers logic.

"What? What is this? Why are there bananas everywhere?" Master Hand, watching the event on the screen, says as he darts to different spots in the air, trying to understand what's going on. "It's supposed to be raining Bomb-ombs, not banana peels!"

"Hahahaha, that's hilarious! Ahahahaha!" Crazy Hand cackles, shaking around uncontrollably. He eventually drops to the ground in a laugh attack since he can't hold himself up any further while laughing.

"MWAHAHAHAHAAA!"

Lucario, silently viewing the misfortune of the smashers in the sudden-death-turned-banana-death round, has a good idea who and why someone might have done that work onto the poor souls. After all, it marked the official start of an intense war that would rage on throughout the day inside the mansion, and to even greater lengths if there are the few wise guys (in which there always are).

Jester's Day wasn't something you could hope to safely avoid at the Smash Mansion.

"It begins..." Lucario quietly speaks.

.x.x.X.x.x.

Now being noon, and quite some time after the banana peel mishap was cleared up, the whole of the Smash Mansion is presently grouped together once again in the living room for a meeting. Master Hand and Crazy Hand float in front of the crowd of smashers as they wait in silence for their caretaker to say his announcement.

"Now, I know you are all aware of what happened during the Pokémon Stadium match earlier," Master Hand begins. Crazy Hand chuckles in memory of the incident, which warrants Jigglypuff, Wolf, and King Dedede to shoot dirty looks his way. Mario is lucky that he wasn't caught up in the reign of banana peels.

"And while it is being looked into, I cannot help to think that the purpose of a certain 'holiday'—" the hand does air quotes with his fingers before going on, "—today has influenced the presence of the banana peel storm during that match. So for today, all scheduled brawling will be canceled."

Aside from some cheers of "Yes!" and a few fist pumps, some exchange glances with each other while others try to wrap their heads around how someone could do such a dastardly trick. How could one be so clever?

Fox raises his hand with something to say. "So Master Hand, are you implying that some of us here might have been involved in the banana peel incident?" he questions.

"Maybe so."

A murmur of tentative conversation washes over the 35 plus characters in the living room.

"I just want to make it clear that while you are free to participate in your own festivities, any damage or alterations done to any part of the Smash Mansion, and to the respective properties, will result in immediate and severe consequences."

"Consequences like...the Endless Punishment?" Red asks.

Just like last time, a lightning bolt strikes down on the ground outside and causes everyone in the room to flinch, except for the Hands and the pokémon trainer.

"That can apply." Master Hand nods. Somewhat.

Another silence slips in between the group as they contemplate the stakes at risk. If they mess up even once, they'll get handed the mysterious Endless Punishment that Master Hand had mentioned to them on the first day they moved into the mansion. No one even has the slightest idea what the punishment is. And they don't want to find out anytime soon.

"Any questions?" Master Hand airily offers.

The smashers reply with an open silence.

"Okay then. You are dismissed."

The Hand brothers float out of the living room not too long before the smashers begin to split up to go elsewhere. In particular, Meta Knight quickly spreads his bat wings and flies straight to the grand staircase, then flies up to the second floor where the first half of the bedrooms are. Before you can even say Galaxia, a loud slam from Meta Knight's door echoes throughout the house.

"Sheesh, someone's in a hurry." Bowser comments as he heads in the general direction to one of the mansion's lounge rooms.

While the rest leave to go about their day, Sonic and Falco walk up the grand stairs together and reach the second floor. As they travel down the hallway, they notice that Meta Knight's room door is now wide open, and the lights in the room are off.

"His door is open now?" Sonic wonders out loud, glancing at the room in surprise. "Man, that is one mysterious guy."

"Probably wanted everyone to know that they should leave him alone," Falco guesses as he looks at the room himself. "he takes naps with the door open sometimes, since he turns off the lights in his room."

"Huh..." Sonic continues walking in step with Falco when another thought emerges in his head. "...Does he sleep with his mask on?"

"I have no ide—" Falco starts, then stops in his tracks and stares off into space as he registers what the hedgehog had said. Before long, a mischievous smirk slowly appears on Falco's beak, his eyes narrowing with delight. "...Wanna go find out?"

"Oh no." Sonic takes a step back from the bird and defensively holds up his hands. "I don't like where this is going." he says, quickly shaking his head.

"Come on, it won't hurt to know! We won't tell anybody." Falco persuades, elbowing the blue blur. "It'd be great for Jester's Day~!"

"I think I'll pass."

"Alright, fine. I'll see for myself."

Falco walks away from Sonic and goes towards Meta Knight's room. He pokes his head in the doorway.

"You know, I don't even think he's in here! Making noise to get people's attention, huh?" the avian says as he crosses over the threshold.

"Hey, don't go in there!" Sonic runs to the space near the doorway and puts his back to the wall. "I'm pretty sure Meta Knight won't be too happy to know you invaded his personal space!"

"What's he gonna do? Stare me down to death with his oh so scary mask on?"

Sonic looks around in a nervous state, as if Meta Knight would appear right in front of him from out of thin air. "Falco, you should leave while you're still recognizable to people!" the hedgehog warns as his ears lower on his head.

"And miss this opportunity? No way. I walked in here to figure out this guy's deal, and I am gonna leave with some answers—"

There is an abrupt pause in conversation between the two smashers. Sonic grows anxious from the lack of Falco's voice.

"...Falco?" Sonic checks, ever so slowly craning his neck to get a look inside the darkened room.

"...AAAUUUUGGGHHHH!"

Falco sprints out of the room with his hands up in the air, a horrified expression on his face. He doesn't look back once as he runs down the stairs.

"AAAUUUUGGGGHHHHHH!" Falco screams as Sonic watches him flee.

Quietly, Meta Knight then strolls out of his room and looks in the direction that Falco ran, his eyes tinted a frightening shade of red. Sonic looks down after hearing the familiar clank of the sword fighter's armor, signaling his presence.

"...Did he see you without your mask on?" Sonic asks. Meta Knight blinks, which in turn shows his eye color go from red to its normal yellow, then he brushes off one of Falco's blue feathers from one of his pauldrons.

"No, I just don't appreciate uninvited guests in my room." he answers, watching the blue feather drift to the floor.

"So...what did you do to him?"

The round knight looks up at Sonic, locking his eyes with the hedgehog. Sonic patiently waits for Meta Knight's response as they both stare at each other. A beat of silence envelops the air around them.

"...I'll see you at lunch." Meta Knight flatly dismisses as he wraps his Dimension Cape around himself and swiftly walks towards the stairs.

Sonic, left to stand in his spot, observes Meta Knight disappear down the grand stairs. His open-ended answer makes his departure all the more ominous.

"Oh...kay..." Sonic says at a loss for words.


Oop, looks like this is gonna be a multi-parter as well! And on a random note, I want to share something.

Remember that show on Cartoon Network, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends? If you do, remember how the Foster House itself always had all sorts of rooms and hallways that seemed to expand in quantity with each episode?

Think of the Smash Mansion in this story like that. It's easier than trying to explain each and every room, utility, and passage the Smash Mansion has. Pretty sure the writers of that show didn't have to explain themselves!

Anyway, see you at the next update!

CrystalClearCourier