Marissa contemplated the parchment in front of her. They made great progress simply buying their way through items previously, however this was not America. And capitalism wasn't always that effective in other places.

"Life's nectar..." She read the phrase over again. As she read, she was doodling and making notes in the dirt.

"Hey!" Marissa jumped at Elenast's voice.

"Oh, hey Elenast."

Elenast plopped down next to her friend. "Whatcha doin?"

"Trying to figure out this clue," Marissa said, turning back to the parchment. "It's so vague! On a literal level, it could be water... However it could be something abstract like an emotion... BUT that's coming from my cultural perspective... BUT seeing as I can read and speak the same language as all of these people indicates that their views on the sub-"

Elenast grabbed Marissa by the shoulders. Her immediate response was to pull her head back and widen her eyes, giving the impression of a frightened manatee. "Stop overthinking these people! We're making a sock for Pete's sake! What is something Nintendo that means life?"

Marissa returned her head to its correct position on her neck. "... Be more specific."

"Oh my gosh. I'm talking about the mushrooms."

"Oh. OH. OOOHHHHH."

Link walked over from the log where he had been sitting awkwardly with Ike and Meta Knight. "What's going on?"

Marissa grinned. "We need a mushroom!"

Link furrowed his brow. "Pardon?"

Elenast ignored his question and asked everyone, "Are we near the Mushroom Kingdom or something?"

Ike stood. "I think we're getting close to a des-"

"Shut up," Elenast said.

Marissa gave Elenast a look. "You can talk, Ike."

Out of spite, Elenast drop-kicked as many pinecones as she could find.

Ike cleared his throat. "I've noticed that the air is getting warmer and drier, so I think we're getting close to a desert of some sort."

"Yeah, you're right, Ike," Marissa said. "But how dry?"

"Very dry."

"Would you call it... Dry dry?"

"Sure."

Elenast stopped with the pinecones and smiled. "Yessssssssss. Let's go!"

"Rock it," Marissa said, grabbing her Pokeball and starting to walk. Elenast followed. Ike nudged Kirby awake, and the boneless mass of pink ran for Elenast.

Ike stopped walking and looked around. "Where's Meta-"

But as soon as he started talking, Elenast loudly requested that Marissa sing a loud song. Ike gave up and followed.

Link followed dutifully behind Marissa, when a thought occurred to him. "Is this really safe?"

Marissa turned around. "Hm?"

"Well..." Link glanced at the ground. "Will you be okay? You might get dehydrated..."

Marissa gave him a smile. "I'll be okay! And I promise if I start feeling bad I won't say anything and I'll suffer quietly so you won't have to worry!"

"If you start feeling bad please just tell me."

Elenast watched them and engaged in heavy breathing. What if she faints? There will be no white dress but there will be grabbing! AAAAAA!

"So... How about that song? LUCKY YOU WERE BORN THAT FAR AWAY SO, WE COULD BOTH MAKE FUN IF DISTANCE, LUCKY THAT I LOVE A FOREIGN LAND FOR, THE LUCKY FACT OF YOUR EXISTENCE..."

Link sighed inwardly. Hopefully the walk wouldn't be that long.

"This is so weird..." Elenast said.

Marissa took a few steps. "I feel flatter than usual..." She looked down at her chest and wept in her head.

LOK had arrived in Dry Dry Desert.

Link and Ike instinctively walked the the front of the group.

Elenast said, "You know, we really just need to run up and punch a- AAAAH!"

A shrieked stream of profanity came from Marissa seconds later.

Ike and Link weren't prepared to face the giant... Plumber?

Elenast, holding Kirby, looked up and smiled. "Mario!"

Marissa, who was being helped off the ground by Link, made the same observation. Mario himself stood over them, but larger than usual. This didn't last long. When he encountered the tip of Ike's sword, he shrank down.

He made an Italian gaspy noise. "Eh?"

Marissa made a face. "There is literally no way Link can talk and you can't."

"Eh... Ciao!" Mario ran and jumped to hit a block, which popped out-

"MUSHROOM!" Elenast and Marissa yelled together. Oddly enough, it was Kirby who jumped into action. He vaulted off of Elenast and inhaled the mushroom before Mario could reach it. He held it out on his tongue to proudly display the green spotted fungus.

At this moment, Meta Knight showed up. "I didn't know you had left, I had gone to-"

Mario ran up and tried to grab the mushroom. In response, Meta Knight slashed him with his blade, and Mario flew out of his own dimension. Ike and Link raised their eyebrows in approval. It was pretty metal.

"As I was saying, I had gone to seek more of our items."

"And?" Link asked.

"I found nothing, however I did see a cave system north of here."

Marissa rolled her eyes. "Right. Great. Okay. You found a feminine symbol in eroded rock."

Meta Knight glared at her. "I was thinking we should explore there next."

"Don't talk to her like that," Link said.

Meanwhile, Elenast was trying to convince Ike to take the mushroom out of Kirby's mouth.

"C'mon."

"No."

"Do it."

"No."

"Ladies love a man who can remove fungus from the mouths of star warriors."

"No. He'd be more comfortable with you doing it anyway."

"Shut up."

Kirby whined. "Aiiiiiii..."

Elenast's resolve broke. She bent down. "Aww, Kirby! You want me to take that out of your mouth? Okay. We can't have Kirby being uncomfortable, can we?"

Ike wondered if hitting his head of one of the floating blocks would be enough to knock him out.

Marissa walked over. "The list said Life's Nectar, right?"

Elenast nodded. "Let's juice this mushroom."

Then Marissa fainted.

Hi friends! Sorry if this looks sloppy, my internet was moving as fast as an old person when you have to be somewhere, so I'm using my phone! Just a quick chappie to tide you over... We're going to try to update this every Friday from now on!

oh, and the deadline for the fanfiction thing is November second!

thats all, don't forget to smile!

-Frank