Chapter 76: Slice of this Spoiled Life

The wheels of the shopping cart rolled over the grimy floor of the shopping center. Villager was using his upper body strength to push the metal contraption past the foggy store windows. "Are you sure this is the right way to the food court? I haven't been on this route before."

Villager was bit disappointed that he had to pair up with somebody on this trip. He wanted to find more food for the group by himself but they wouldn't let him go without assistance. It's has nothing to do with Shulk himself, in fact he quite loved the guy. The boy just wished he could just prove to them that he was capable. Nah, he shouldn't think like that, they only did it out of concern; parental instinct. "I've been on this route before it's totally fine. Hey look! We're here."

The room of the food court was in the shape of a massive circle. Various restaurants ranging from: Italian, Mexican, Chinese and what not was built into the rounded walls. Just like the majority of the mall, this place wasn't kept, if not worse; tables and chairs overturned, slices of pizza and hot dogs rotting on the ground, and that musky scent that is hard to ignore. It was worse than a highschool cafeteria, but it was one of the only places where they have food.

"So what are you feeling tonight? Tortillas chips? Chocolate frosting? Spam?" Asked Shulk.

"I'm thinking of pasta." Villager said with a joyful smile.

The Hom frowned slightly. "Again? We've been cooking pasta for the past five… no six days in a row."

Villager continued pushing the cart towards the center of the room. "I know. But it's the closest thing we have to an actual meal. Remember what Gunner tried to do yesterday?"

Shulk resisted the urge to barf. "I don't think I can look at mayo the same way again… never mind, let's just do our job. Which places are you going?"

"I'm going to Marco's Pizza and Hot dog Palace; you?"

"The Chinese place and the ice cream parlor."

Villager was perplexed. "I thought the ice cream was melted last time we checked?"

"The toppings could be fine though. I'll let you know how it goes. Just holler if you need help." Shulk waved to the boy as he hopped over the counter of Wang's Sunshine and disappeared into the back. Villager went under the counter flap and opened the door to the kitchen. "What is on the menu today?" Villager opened the door to the large industrial freezer and displayed great disgust. He always forgets what lies here; since these appliances lost power long ago the meat and all the other preservatives turn rotten. One can taste the mold from here.

Villager shut the fridge and shivered. "That was so gross, got to remember!" The Newcomer pulled out a marker and wrote a big black "X" on the door and walked away to the pantry. This had to be the most favorite spot in the entire building; whole shelves of pasta! There were other foods safe to consume as well, but his eyes were on the angel hair and macaroni.

He grabbed boxes and jars and tossed it into his bag, duck the flap again to dump the contents in the cart. Then he proceeded to walk into the establishment of Hot dog Palace. The freezer was already opened and Villager shook his head in nausea. "So much for the hot dog… oh and the buns as well. Ew." He closed the door, his eyes caught a little cardboard box sitting below the fryer.

"Hello… what's this?" The young mayor went on his knees and opened both flaps; bottle of condiments were inside, the majority of which were ketchup and mustard. Villager took a bottle of mustard and squeezed it tight. The ever so pleasant yellow liquid squirted out from the nozzle. "Looks to be okay." He wiped a finger against the tip and put it in his mouth. "Taste okay too! I think I found the jackpot."

"Found what?" Villager flinched and turned around, instinctively pressing against the yellow bottle. He breathed in a couple of times until he noticed that he had just spray a stream of mustard into Shulk's neck and cheek. He couldn't tell if he was angry or disappointed.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry, Shulk!" Villager took some napkins from the floor and began to wipe the teenager's face. "Didn't mean it like that! Saw something nice here turns out it was condiments. You spooked me so, yeah, but at least there was no mayo and-"

"Stop. I get the picture" Shulk took the napkins and finished up wiping his face. "Good thing it didn't get on my shirt. I came to check on you, how's your end doing?"

"I found more pasta and other stuff in the Italian restaurant. That and I did find this." He pointed to the box. "How about you?"

"Bags of rice, a handle full of fortune cookies and loads of chocolate goodies from the ice cream parlor." Shulk said. "Wait, did you said condiments. Wouldn't they be spoiled already?"

The boy shook his head. "No, it looks like it's still fresh."

"That's good to hear, I don't know how a bunch of ketchup and mustard could help us much by themselves."

"I've heard mustard and ketchup carries calories, so..."

"You mean straight from the bottle?" Shulk rest both hands on his hip. "Villager, it will take a lot of mustard and ketchup to make yourself full. Not to mention it's gross to eat it by itself."

Villager blinked before smiling. "At least its not mayo!" The boy carried the box and walked over to the cart.

"I thought I told you not to remind me!"

"Sorry!" Villager chuckled. "I couldn't resist."

Shulk laid out a small smile. "Alright, but if Gunner gets any funny ideas with the mustard you're going to be the one who takes the bite!" They both chuckled as Shulk positioned behind the cart and grabbed the rear with his arms. Still heavy; but not like last time. "Ready?"

"Ready!" Villager laid in the spot directly under the metal construct Shulk was carrying. The Hom dropped the cart onto Villager's hand. The load that was scavenged today shrunk and warped until it fit into the kid's pocket.

"That move of yours never ceases to amaze me." Shulk pulled the mayor up to his feet. "C'mon, let's see what the others are doing." The pair of Newcomers traveled to the first floor, moving past and eyeing the benches and dust around them until a feminine voice demanded their attention.

"Hey! Shulk and Villager! You're already done with getting supper?"

Shulk turned to the establishment to his right; A white fitness trainer doing yoga on the carpeted floor and the boxer in green punching the stuffing out of a punching bag. He waved. "Yeah, just about. Hope you like pasta."

Wii Fit face was pure with dissatisfaction. "Again? Ugh..."

"Yeah, we'd had a feeling you wouldn't like it."

She ended her pose and stood up. "Are you kidding? It felt so wrong shoving that stuff down my throat. Although I must admit, it felt… fine? If that makes any sense."

"Yeah… I get it." Villager nodded, he didn't get it at all. "So you and Mac are working out to lose the pounds?"

"Not in the slightest." Little talked in between hay-makers and gut punches. "After Greninja, Wii Fit and I were done with our jobs we went here to relax, get the endorphins flowing through our systems."

"Yeah, we took out the clutter from the glasses store, the jewelry store, the tech store and several other places I can't think of at the moment." Wii Fit said.

"How about the basement?" Shulk asked.

She shook her head. "We removed a bunch of the ruble but it's still blocked. There is still plenty to remove.I wonder what caused it? Looked like an earthquake ran through there."

"Knowing how much of a crap-sack this world is I'm not surprised." Commented Little Mac.

"Wait, you said Greninja came with you? Shulk peered inside the gym. "I don't see him."

"He left."

"Left?"

It was Wii Fit turn to speak now. "He wrote that he needed to go do something. Probably doing meditation again."

"Ah..." The teen nodded his head. "Got it. Hey, we're going to deposit our load in the security room. Want to come with us?"

"Nah, me and Mac are going to have a battle after our workout. One on one style." Wii Fit gave a thumbs up.

"A battle… that would mean that one of you will turn into a trophy. Doesn't that kind of make you nervous." Shulk said.

"Not really." The trainer unscrewed a bottle of water from the floor and took a sip. "I did at first, when I got defeated in a fight once my world was covered in blackness for a moment before I came to consciousness again. Oddly enough I felt well rested too."

"I get that we can't get hurt permanently, but… It just feels bizarre to me. I guess it's one of those things I have to get used to." The Hom admitted.

"It's not that bad, Shulk!" Villager beamed. "Think of it as getting a big long nap in a very short time!"

"But… we also technically die in the process."

"We can be revived."

"Yeah… okay." It's going to be a long time before he can get used to this. "Anyways, we'll best be going now. Rosalina is expecting us soon. See you later, guys."

"The same to you." Little Mac tossed Shulk a pen. "And if you see Greninja give this to him. His previous one ran out of ink."

"Got it. Goodbye Mac." Shulk and Villager waved the bodybuilders as they continued walking away. After a handful of turns they reached the broken escalator. Shulk looked up high at the many steps he will have to climb. "Always forget how tall this is. It'll be a pain going up this."

Villager pulled out a red helmet and wore it over his head. "Only if you do it the hard way. I'll only be gone for a moment, shouldn't take very long." The boy did a running start.

"Hard way? Villager what are-" The balloons coming out of Villager's helmet interrupted him. The boy playful wave him a fake goodbye as he rose and rose higher up in the air.

"Oh… you mean that. I hate when he does that." Shulk muttered to himself. "How can a couple balloons carry the weight of a full grown child anyway?"

Villager flapped his arms like a bird, propelling the air under him to lift his body all the way to the floor containing the security room. "Ha, I always love doing that! Who doesn't like balloons anyway?" He took off his helmet and put it back where it came from. He knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Cried an elegant voice. The mayor wrapped his hand around the handle and pulled. Rosalina and Luma were setting a pot of water on top of the burner of a portable stove. Gunner watched intently as she sat by to watch the process. Upon seeing Villager she jumped to her feet and walked to the kid.

"Nice to see you here, Villager. Just in time too. You have the stuff?"

Villager reached into his pocket and dropped the cart besides him. "Thank the universe for pocket dimensions in little pockets."

"Clearly!" Gunner inspected the contents of the cart. "Let's see: Pasta, mustard, canned preservatives… oh you god more canned pesto!" The shooted said with glee. "This dinner is going to be great!"

"You're a fan of pesto?" Asked Villager.

"Are you kidding me? I used to eat these straight off the can without a fork. It was like heaven in a can!" She held the canned product within her palm, VIllager could have sworn saliva was forming in the corners of her mouth,

"Ew! That's gross. You're supposed to eat it with something." Spoke the mayor.

"Hey, don't knock it off till you try it!" Gunner half-jokingly replied. "I'll be right back, this need to be put in the pantry." The "pantry" was the closet inside the security room. It was a bit tacky but the shelves made it very convenient for storage. Gunner pushed the cart inside the pantry and closed the door behind her.

Villager turned to Rosalina. "Wow… she's getting more happier. I'm glad to see her coming out of her shell. How'd you do it?"

Rosalina giggled and turned on the small stove. "Honesty, Gunner and I just talked about random conversational topics until it came to space. Turns out she has a soft spot for the cosmos. Luma had a hand in opening her up too." She patted the star creature on the head. "The rest is history."

"I can clearly see the results." He looked at the pantry door. "Nice to see her expanding her social circle. Good for her. Good for her."

Villager turned to the princess to see potatoes and broccoli lying on a piece of towel paper on the floor. "Woah, is that what I think it is?"

"Your eyes don't deceive you my dear child. Today, I looked into the previous food we scavenged and it turns out these were packed-up tight in several unmarked containers. These are very fresh as they come, must have been packed before the outbreak of those… monsters." She coughed in hand to change the subject. "We'll be having mashed potatoes, cooked broccoli and pesto pasta tonight. I'm helping Gunner directly to make this dish."

Villager rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Yeah, that's probably for the best."

A sly smile formed on her face. "The chocolate pudding and onions was an interesting combination. But sometimes such creativity needs to be supervised. I applaud her for trying though."

"So how long until dinner is ready?"

"Consider how small the burner and the how large the pot is, I'd say for quite a while." Rosalina answered. "But I have the patience, it's lucky we managed to find a stove that didn't require a constant flow of electricity."

"Yeah, doing it caveman style isn't my thing."

Gunner came out of the pantry, pesto and pasta in hand. "I'm back! What'd I miss?"

"Nothing much." Said Rosalina. "I'm about to put salt in the water. Want to learn more?"

"Oh sure thing." Gunner sat by the luma, petting it as Rosalina went to work. "Want to join Villager?"

"Love too! But I have to run some errands with Shulk! See you till supper." Villager waved goodbye as he exited the security room.

"See you later!" Said Gunner "And if you see Greninja, tell him I need my glow stick back!"

Villager hopped over the railing and fell to the bottom floor. He put on his helmet and used his balloons at the last second for a perfect landing. "That took a long time, I was about to climb up there myself."

"I was talking to Rosalina. We're going to be having mashed potatoes and broccoli too."

Shulk rose an eyebrow. "I thought the only good food was dry food?"

"Turns out it was packed really well." The boy explained. "However, it wouldn't be ready anytime soon."

"We can kill time by looking at the shops or checking up on the rest of our people." Suggested Shulk. "In fact, we can do both."

"Yeah, totally man! I wonder how everyone else is doing?"

"Let's find out."

Mega Man pulled off the drawer and placed it on the counter. His blue robotic hand shuffled through the junk that laid inside. Sword was using the tip of his sword to cut open the tape on the cardboard box. "No luck?" Asked the blonde Mii.

The android frowned. "Receipts and bible, how is it going on your end?"

"Give me a sec." Sword finally sliced the tape and opened the flaps, he couldn't hold back his disappointed. "Board games and stuffed animals."

"We have to find, there has to be one here somewhere."

Brawler leaned against one of the shelves, peering inside an antique vase. He was feeling bored and frustrated at the same time. "Yeah… looks our little search is going fantastic."

"Oh, come on man! You're not even trying!" Sword objected.

"Trying? We already did tried." The fist-fighter pushed himself off the shelf and place the vase where'd he found it. "We checked a lot of the stores. And Every single one of them didn't have a VCR. What makes you think we're going to find one here?"

"We haven't tried all of them yet." Said Sword. "We haven't gave the tech store a proper look."

"Dude, VCRs are ancient technology at this point. It'll be a cold day in hell before the shops with plasma screens and high blu-ray crap sells that. What is this place, a thrift store? You think our chances are better here?"

Sword closed the flaps of the box. "It almost sounds like you want us to fail."

"No, I'm just saying it the odds are not in our favor and we should be spending our time on more wisely."

"There's nothing else to spend our time on, Brawler. At least with this we'll probably get more information on the outbreak."

"Or maybe is just an hour long video of an average joe scratching his balls, you ever think about that?"

"Have you gotten enough sleep last night? You seem more bitchy than usual."

The vase that Brawler had place just moments ago had fallen off of the shelf and crashed straight to the floor, shattering into pieces. Brawler cringed at the sound. "Thought I placed that more securely." He massaged his eyes, groaning with annoyance. "This isn't working, Mega Man are you sure you can't start up the damn video tape yourself?"

Mega Man rolled his eyes. "No, Brawler. I don't have any device that can play a video tape inside my body."

"Come on, you have a lot of wacky gadgets. You're telling me you have never fought against a robot master that had something like? TV Man? Video Tape Man? VCR Man?"

"No, Dr. Wiley would never have made a robot master like that?"

"I set the bar pretty low for him; what kind of genius makes a robot that only shoots bubbles? An insufferable one apparently. You know it's sad to see someone be smart yet incredibly dumb at the same time."

"Nah, it wasn't like that." Replied Mega Man. "Personally, I think he was running out of ideas."

Brawler looked outside the store and saw Villager and Shulk walking down the mall floor. The kid noticed them inside and bumped his elbow into the side of the Hom. The fist-fighter turned back to his companions. "Heads up, Mr. Sunshine and Future Eyes are coming our way."

"Mr. Sunshine?" Sword stood up and focused his eyes at the visitors. "Oh… you mean them."

"Hey Brawler! Wonderful day isn't it?" Villager brought out the biggest smile he had all week. He jumped on the counter and sat right on the wooden surface, eyeing the Mii's face.

Brawler deadpanned. "You're kidding right?"

"Hey Sword, searching the stores again for that VCR?" Shulk observed the many artifacts and old fancy collecting dust around the room. "How's that front going?"

"Eh..." the swordsman massaged his temples.

"That bad?"

"Considering how big this place is you expect there will be a device like that hanging around. The stores here that do have their personal security system are only CD players and the disks."

"Why not focus your research on the disks instead?" Asked Villager.

"We have considered that. I crudely powered up one of the players and examined all the disks we found but it only showed people shopping and stuff, that's it. Nothing about the outbreak. It did confirm that the people living here were human or human-like but we kind of already knew that."

"So we're back to finding a needle in a hay sack." Said Brawler.

"That's too bad. Well I hope you guys find what you're looking for. I sincerely hope it goes well. See you at dinner." Shulk and Villager headed to the exit of the store when the fist-fighter called out.

"What are they making?" Brawler asked.

"Mostly mashed potatoes and pasta."

"Pasta again? At least we got more choices this time." The Smashers in the thrift shop resumed their search for the ever-missing VCR.

"So what next?" Spoke the young mayor.

"We just saw the rest of the Miis and Mega Man so that leaves… that leaves… Greninja. That's right! Greninja." The Hom remembered the favor that was given to him by Gunner. He turned his head around to speak to the three fighters. "Hey guys, quick question: Do you know where Greninja is? I need to ask him for a thing."

Sword pointed out his finger then moved it in a curved direction to his left. "He should be chilling out by the huge water foundation outside, said he was going to chill their for a while."

"Thanks." Shulk went outside scanned his eyes towards the water foundation. The stone structure was roughly around the size of a large minivan. It wasn't working, of course, but it still managed to retain its beauty in a despair-ridden land like this. The water was transparent and clean, before it was so murky that no one could see through out. Shulk wondered if was the Pokemon's doing? Well he certainly wasn't around that was for sure.

"Uh… Sword, I don't see him at the fountain at all. In fact, I don't see him around at all."

Sword perked up his head. "Really? He seemed pretty adamant about staying there." The Mii joined the pair of Smashers outside, narrowing his eyes to the space Shulk was pointing. "So he did leave. I wonder if he went back to the security room to rest and… oh… wait! I see him now."

"Where?" The Hom asked.

The Mii lifted his index finger. "At the far end of the wall over there. You see?"

"Yeah I see him too! Huh, he looks more flustered than usual." Villager pondered.

"Guys." Shulk squinted until he got a better view from a distance. "Am I going crazy or is Greninja carrying a sniper rifle and large pink purse?"