Author's Note:
Much of this chapter's content hinged on the Seattle Mariners making it to the next round of the playoffs...and they pulled it off! Had they been eliminated, I would've been in trouble. At least I can count on the readers of this story to leave behind a few reviews for me to answer...
"Simple question: Where is 9S and A2?"
With all the Overwatch hoopla that took place in the last chapter, I frankly had no room for them. But they will appear soon. A JRPG enjoyer has some Persona news:
"Big announcement! Persona 4 Golden and Persona 3 Portable will be released on January 19, 2023! Do you have something in mind for them?"
Oh really? I may have something in mind - unless something else comes up. Moving on:
"I only have one suggestion. Just please have Marie show up. That's my only wish."
Marie is long overdue for an appearance. All the Persona stuff I've done, and Marie doesn't appear ONCE? Time to change that. Ending things with David:
"Will other bit characters from Overwatch like Efi, Brian, and Alejandra make cameos? Will Infinite appear or reappear for the Sonic Frontiers chapter? Will 9S show up in the next chapter? Is anyone in the Smash Mansion a fan of Bray 'The Fiend' Wyatt? Does Pit sometimes pull a Daniel Brian with the No chants? And finally, what are your thoughts on Jon Moxley renewing his AEW contract for another 5 years? (Five more years of him insulting WWE and his former Shield buddies)."
Small cameos, perhaps. Infinite may appear (or reappear) after the Frontiers chapter. 9S will show up soon. Can't think of anyone who's a Bray Wyatt fan. Pit does to a "No" chant, on certain occasions. And I can see why Jon Moxley resigned with AEW since he likes it there and it fits his vibe. He's like the face of AEW - has been since the very beginning, in my opinion.
Episode 356: PepRally
It took them only a day or two, but the Omnic robots were able to repair and complete Overwatch's Seattle watchpoint after the Junkers (and Gnasty Gnorc) tried to wreck the place. With the watchpoint completed, Overwatch agents were free to frequent their time there - or at the original watchpoint located in Gibraltar.
As Winston stated in the last episode, the new watchpoint was built to counter the possible threat of Organization XIII. Master Hand had terrible memories of the mayhem the Organization caused five years ago, and didn't wish for a repeat should Giovanni summon them from Sora's universe. Therefore, he figured that the Overwatch crew could send Organization XIII back to where they came from before Dimentio got a hold of them.
No one from Overwatch was familiar with Organization XIII, so they asked Sora, Riku, and Kairi to stop by the watchpoint and tell them a bit more about the evil group of Nobodies. Much to Winston's chagrin, only Sora agreed to stop by - but on the plus side, at least Sora brought some pictures!
"This is the leader of Organization XIII, Master Xehanort," Sora explained to Tracer and Winston, showing them a picture of Master Xehanort in the watchpoint's interrogation room. It was the most flattering picture of Xehanort that Sora could find.
"The darkness must've turned him into an evil elf!" remarked Tracer, making note of Master Xehanort's noticeably pointy ears and dark skin. Winston glanced at the pictures lying on the table and picked up one that caught his eye.
"I assume that this is his grandson," Winston said to Sora as he held up a picture of Young Xehanort; it was a pretty good guess, but little did Winston know how wrong he was.
"Nope! That's Young Xehanort - Master Xehanort from the past." Awfully hard for Winston to grasp, as the gorilla was looking at the picture of Young Xehanort and scrutinizing it greatly. "Someone traveled back in time to recruit Xehanort's past self into the Organization."
Sora: Overwatch brought me in to tell them everything I know about the Organization. I printed the images off my Gummiphone with Zero's printer, so I'm well-prepared. Should be a breeze!
Winston: Apparently, only Sora wanted to fill us in about Organization XIII. His friends weren't interested in coming. *sighs deeply* I can already sense my brain being tied into knots...
"Crikey! That's one way to spur a possible time loop," remarked Tracer, imagining how a villain could work with the younger version of himself without breaking any time-space continuum rules. "But who was this 'someone'?"
"This guy right here - Ansem, Seeker of Darkness!" replied Sora as he held up a picture of Ansem - but not the Ansem who lived in Radiant Garden. Tracer and Winston both looked at the picture together.
"That's impossible - we met Ansem around Christmas last year! Surely you got this long-haired bloke mixed up with somebody else." No, Tracer - Sora knew exactly what he was talking about.
"The Ansem you met during the holidays was Ansem the Wise. The guy in his picture is Ansem, Seeker of Darkness - Master Xehanort's Heartless."
"I am so lost..." Winston admitted to Tracer, scratching his noggin as he tried to figure out what correlation Master Xehanort had with Ansem the Wise. Fortunately, Sora was there to explain.
"Ansem, Seeker of Darkness is a Heartless, and he came about when Xehanort was masquerading as Ansem while taking over Terra's body. Xehanort split his heart from Terra's body, and then POOF! Ansem was born."
"Um...tell us a little something about this one," Tracer said to Sora, switching up the subject as she pointed at a picture of Xemnas. Xemnas was the leader of the original Organization XIII if you might recall.
"That's Xemnas, he's a Nobody who was created around the same Ansem was. When Ansem and Xemnas were both defeated, Master Xehanort was resurrected from the dead, pretty much."
"But how does that..." Winston was about to argue with Sora, only to save his breath as he got up from the table and marched over to a phone that was connected to the wall. "...sorry, I can't take this anymore."
"Who are you going to call?" Tracer asked Winston, who was quickly dialing a phone number - not that he couldn't stand Sora, he was just unable to understand the stuff that was coming out of Sora's mouth.
"I'm calling Isabelle, so she can send someone to pick up Sora. This doesn't make any sense!" You know it was bad when an intelligent primate like Winston had trouble understanding the origins of the Organization XIII members.
"Oi, well, you'll just have to wait, then. Pharah said that Isabelle is helping Master Hand with a pep rally, so she's got her hands tied."
"A pep rally? For what team?" Winston thought of what sports team in Seattle deserved a pep rally, and soon it came to him. "Oh, I should've known..."
Even with Dimentio and Organization XIII and all that jazz, Master Hand couldn't lose sight of the stuff that was going on in Seattle. Take, for instance, the Seattle Mariners - after twenty-one long years, they finally returned to the playoffs! The hometown team advanced to the next round of the playoffs and was on a roll.
To drum up support for the Mariners among the residents, Master Hand wished to organize a pep rally to produce some team spirit. He asked Link and Zelda to secure a gym, but when that didn't work out (not to say that Link and Zelda cared enough to put in any effort), the pep rally was decided to be held at the mansion's lecture hall.
"Take one, take all!" Master Hand said to the residents, who were in the foyer grabbing some Seattle Mariners merch. Hats, jerseys, keychains, and even scented candles were some of the free items the residents were allowed to take.
"Always wanted a new butt wipe!" gleamed Pigma as he selected a Mariners tank top; Master Hand didn't care how the residents used the merch, just as long as the foyer was completely cleaned out of merchandise.
"Sorry for asking, Master Hand, but what's a mariner?" Yoshi cautiously approached the giant hand and Isabelle, asking a question that had been weighing on his mind. He believed that Master Hand was the best person to ask.
"It's a fancy name for a sailor," Master Hand answered Yoshi's question, as the answer left Yoshi slightly underwhelmed. Yoshi was expecting to hear something cooler. "Don't give me that look, I didn't come up with the name!"
"Should've remained the Pilots..." an eavesdropping Ken Masters mumbled under his breath as he selected a Seattle Mariners keychain, only to later look up in realization. "...isn't that what the hockey team was called?"
Master Hand: Pigs are indeed flying in the sky - the Seattle Mariners actually made the playoffs! How convenient of them to do it after Link and Zelda got married. I feared that the universe would implode upon itself, given that the Mariners last made the postseason in 2001 and that's when 9/11 happened, but we're still living. I'd love for everyone on this planet to still be alive when the Mariners win their first-ever World Series. The first of many, I'll say.
Zelda: The Mariners are on the losing end in their playoff series, so Master Hand wanted to hold a pep rally to give the team a boost. I did my best not to talk him out of it.
"ALL RISE!" shouted Mario, who entered the mansion while rocking his New York Yankees hat and Aaron Judge jersey. Nobody in the foyer was reacting to what Mario had said. "I said, ALL RISE!"
"We're all standing," the Luminary pointed out to Mario, who looked around and saw that not a single person was sitting down. Mario felt like the biggest buffoon in the land.
"I'll just say this: the Mariners won't get past-a the Yankees. You heard-a it here first." Mario flinched in anticipation, thinking that Master Hand would backhand him for his guarantee. Instead, Master Hand crept closer to the plumber.
"Perfect timing, Mario!" Master Hand said to the plumber, who slowly opened his eyes and stopped cowering in fear upon seeing that Master Hand had no bad intentions whatsoever. "I want you to be at the pep rally today."
"I can be there - Princess Peach included." Mario was confident that Peach would join, while also assuming that Spyro and Hunter would be a hard sell. "I'll rep my home-a team, and Peach can follow my lead..."
"Who said that you were repping the Yankees?" Master Hand grabbed a Mariners t-shirt, and tossed it to Mario who was looking disappointed. "You'll be my master of ceremonies!"
"Why me? Is Link not available?" Link was the more practical option since he was, you know, the man of the mansion. Unless plans somehow changed.
"Link was available, but he's an Oakland Athletics fan, so...he's a lost cause." For Master Hand, Link being a fan of a Mariners' division rival was a red flag.
"Chin up, Mario, you're gonna kill it!" Ken encouraged the plumber, who wasn't satisfied with being in charge of the pep rally. Mario was looking at his t-shirt with a despondent face.
"If it makes you feel any better, I wrote out this script for the pep rally," Isabelle said to Mario as she ran over to the plumber, handing him a 50-page script which he looked through. Some of that content was bound to be omitted.
"So basically you want me to talk-a about the Mariners like how I would-a do with the Yankees, except-a that I'm lying," Mario stated after skimming through the script, only for Master Hand to angrily point his finger in the plumber's face. Mario shuddered in fear.
"Say one negative thing about the Mariners and I will shank you..." Master Hand threatened Mario, who was shivering in fear as Master Hand slowly backed away and turned his attention to those in the foyer. "...don't be bashful, everyone! Grab as many items as you need."
"Sucks that Link can't root for another team," Cappy said to Mario, hoping that Link understood the uncompromising position that he inherently put Mario in. But at least Link dodged a bullet!
"Does anyone want this Seattle Mariners drinking hat? Who knew that they still even made these?! If nobody claims it, I'll give it to Master Kohga..."
Samus: Did a small little "background check" on Berri, and I made a discovery that I wish I had known earlier. Turns out that Berri is dead, and I reckon her death may be the reason why Conker has been drinking his cares away. Just a hypothesis. Reviving Berri might be in the cards, and I can only think of one person that can make it happen...
With the new Overwatch watchpoint built in Seattle, the mansion residents had direct contact with any Overwatch agent. With this in mind, Samus contacted Mercy and brought the nurse to the mansion. Samus had a simple, yet daunting task for Mercy, and it was up to Mercy to decide if she was game.
"I need you to revive this chick," Samus said to Mercy, who was in the bounty hunter's room being shown a picture of Berri. Mercy took the picture and looked at it, bothered by how much skin the chipmunk was revealing.
"That may be arranged," responded Mercy as she handed the picture back to Samus. If Mercy could not only save Genji's life but also resurrect fallen allies, then reviving Berri wouldn't be much of a problem for her. "How long has she been dead?"
"Beats me - I've yet to find her remains." Not much confidence was instilled into Mercy when Samus said this; rather, it made the nurse hesitant.
"You have to find her remains?" Mercy was so used to reviving people on the spot, that reviving someone after their body has been dug up from the grave might be a problem for her.
"Yeah, some weasel shot her to death and she got sucked into space. Might be able to find her remains in the Gunship." Now Mercy was more hesitant than ever, as she had little faith in Samus holding her end of the bargain.
"Depending on how long Berri's been dead..." Mercy stopped speaking, as Sonic stopped by Samus's bedroom door. Sonic clicked his fingers at Samus, who knew what the blue hedgehog stopped by to ask.
"Have you found Berri yet?" Sonic asked Samus, asking the bounty hunter that same question periodically ever since the events of episode 354. The constant asking made Samus annoyed over time.
"Not yet, give me some time," replied Samus, as Sonic looked away and shook his head. Samus was just playing it safe, which Sonic didn't like. "I'm still working on it."
"Always the same old response! You're turning into a broken record, Samus. Well, gotta go!" Sonic sped away, as Samus heaved a heavy sigh. Mercy empathized with Smaus, playing her hand on the bounty hunter's shoulder.
"As you can probably see, I have to get this done soon..." Samus said to Mercy, who received a small taste of how adamant Sonic was in regards to having Berri on board. Anything to make Conker happy again.
"I'll see what I can do," Mercy assured Samus, giving the bounty hunter false hope - and she strongly resented giving her false hope in the first place.
Mario sat alone in the living room, trying to memorize his script in time for the pep rally. As a Yankees fan, it disgusted him to see how much positive stuff he would have to say about the Mariners.
"'Best team in the AL'?" Mario cringed when he read one of the lines on the first page out loud, as King Dedede took a seat next to the plumber on the living room couch. "Just thinking that feels-a wrong."
"I have recently taken a lover," King Dedede bragged to Mario, as the fat penguin remained in the dating pool. Unlike Waluigi, who was taking a hiatus from romance, King Dedede refused to give up until he found his forever flame.
"Well, that's great. Congratulations. Who's the unlucky...I mean-a lucky lady?"
"Pharah's mom, Ana. Ran into her at the new watchpoint." King Dedede ended up with...Ana? Mario looked up from his script, disgusted.
"You're messing with me. There's no way you met-a Ana and had a positive-a interaction out of it."
"Oh, big time. I know it sounds unbelievable, but it happened."
"What kind of gun-a does she wield?"
"The biotic rifle. Twelve rounds in a clip, and can fire darts like crazy. Puts anyone to sleep."
"Mama mia..." Mario had to put his script down, as he struggled to make any sense of King Dedede and Ana being an item.
"What?" King Dedede was laughing his butt off, failing to understand what the big deal was. For him, it was love at first sight.
"Okay, never tell-a Pharah, and secondly..."
"Okay, good, a pact. A pact. Although I may have to break it tonight when I tell Pharah later tonight. Sounds good?"
"Mama mia..." Mario was left facepalming, as he now feared for King Dedede's livelihood. Pharah would obliterate Dedede if the truth ever came out.
"Hey, Mario," Waluigi greeted the plumber as he entered the living room, once again flaunting his shirtless body. But only this time, though, he had actual definition on his chest. "Guess who's been working out?"
"Not now, Waluigi, get-a lost!" Mario was so frustrated right now that he was snapping at any person that dared to speak with him. He'd even snap at Peach, given the state that he was in.
"Yeah, get the heck out of here, idiot..." King Dedede frowned at Waluigi, not caring that the lanky man was slowly developing a six-pack. He was more concerned about his new lover.
"What did I do?" wondered Waluigi as he left the living room, his back hunched over in sadness. If Mario and King Dedede wouldn't appreciate Waluigi's gradual physical transformation, then what was the point of exercising?
Waluigi: Thought for sure that working out would garner respect, but nobody seems to care. Working out simply won't do it for them! Might as well cross "growing a beard" off my list.
"As far as stopping by the watchpoint-a tonight, cancel that," Mario recommended to King Dedede, who was going to the watchpoint regardless of how many times Mario talked him out of it. "and please, for the sake-a of Overwatch and everyone else, never, ever, ever see her again."
"I think you're underestimating Pharah," said King Dedede, acting as if he knew how Pharah's heart worked. Despite the limited interactions he had with her. "I think more than anything, she wants me to be happy."
"No, not more than anything. She doesn't even know-a you like that!"
"I have a good thing with the mom..."
"Don't call-a her 'the mom.'"
"She's been going to the same ATM that I usually go to."
"Then go to a different-a ATM machine, man!"
"I did...alright, I'll withdraw my money from the bank instead. It's...the last thing in the world I would want to do is upset Pharah."
"Okay, so we're good." Mario returned to reading his script for the pep rally, relieved that he and King Dedede reached a common ground.
"Yeah." Not a fully confident "yeah", but a "yeah" nonetheless.
Winston had to take a break from Sora, as the stuff that he was telling him about Organization XIII so far almost made his brain hurt. The gorilla returned to the interrogation room hoping things would be less confusing from here on out, but little did he know how wrong he would be.
"Here's Master Xehanort back when he took possession of Terra's body," Sora said to Tracer and Winston as he showed them a picture of what appeared to be Terra - but only with silver hair, yellow eyes, and darker skin. "He called himself Terra-Xehanort."
"And he also stole Ansem the Wise's identity around this time," said Winston, who was slowly piecing everything together; he wished to know how Master Xehanort took possession of Terra, but that was a conversation for another day.
"Yup! Forced his heart unto Terra, and worked under Ansem the Wise and even masqueraded as him too." The thought of Master Xehanort forcing his heart unto Terra sounded awfully suspect to Winston.
"Taking over the bodies of young men...what a sick, perverted old elf Master Xehanort is!" frowned Tracer, willing to die on the hill that Master Xehanort was an evil elf. She would even fight tooth and nail to prove it.
Riku: Couldn't be bothered with informing Overwatch about Organization XIII, so I let Sora take it. It's not my job to cure any possible headaches; I'm no doctor.
"Wait until you get a load of this guy," said Sora as he held up another picture of an Organization member. It was a young man who wore a silver helmet with glass that concealed his face and a black-and-red bodysuit. "This is Vanitas; he has a special connection with Ventus."
"Is he like Ventus's evil twin?" inquired Tracer, which prompted Sora to grab another picture - but he held this picture face down, saving it for later.
"Not quite...Xehanort created him after extracting the Darkness from Ventus's heart. He's the leader of the Unversed - monsters created from negative emotions."
"I would like to know what he looks like under that mask," requested Winston, and that was Sora's prompt to reveal the picture that he held face down. Unmasked Vanitas was in the picture, as Tracer and Winston leaned in close.
"He looks just like you!" Tracer exclaimed to Sora, taking note of how vaguely similar Vanitas was to Sora in terms of facial appearance. Winston marveled at Vanitas's visage as he adjusted his glasses. "He must be your evil twin."
"Nah, he looks like me because my heart replaced him as the missing piece in Ventus's heart. He thinks of me and Ventus as 'brothers', in that way."
"But how can that be possible, how did your heart find its way to..." Winston was about to ask, only to stop speaking as he slammed his glasses on the table and massaged his temple. "...we are going to have to do so much research."
What pep rally would be complete without a mascot to pump up the crowd? Master Hand asked the Mariners organization if he could borrow their mascot, and the team obliged much to Master Hand's delight. Master Hand waited outside the mansion with Isabelle, anticipating the arrival of the Mariners' mascot.
"Party-planning committee just got done decorating the lecture hall," Link came outside to inform Master Hand, wearing a different shade of green; notably, the Hylian wasn't wearing his usual green tunic.
"How can you wear that on a day like this, Link?" Master Hand asked the Hylian, who was confused for a brief moment before understanding why Master Hand was so upset. It was because of the Oakland Athletics jersey that he was wearing.
"Chill out, it's just a baseball jersey." Link was repping his team colors, holding up the part of the jersey where the Athletic's logo was. The sight of the logo was enough to send Master Hand into a stir.
"Isabelle, rip that jersey off of Link." Heeding Master Hand's command, Isabelle rushed over to Link and tried to pull the jersey off of his body. Isabelle was unable to even get a single tear. "Use force, woman!"
"I'm doing my best, Master Hand!" shouted Isabelle, who was clearly holding back her strength as she pulled on the hem of Link's jersey. Link just stood there, unaffected, as he let out a yawn.
Link: My team didn't do well this season - finished last in the American League. But at least they weren't worse than the Washington Nationals. If they can win a World Series, the sky's the limit for any other team. Even the Mariners.
Isabelle ultimately gave up, letting go of Link's jersey as she was out of energy - despite her not giving it her all. The Shih Tzu gave up at the right time, as the Mariners team bus pulled up to the mansion.
"There he is!" gleamed Master Hand, full of joy as the team bus parked itself at the side of the road. Dante stepped out of the mansion and saw the team bus, beer can in hand.
"The hits just keep on coming..." the demon hunter remarked, wiping his mouth with his sleeve as he walked down the porch steps and tossed his can away. Littering on the ground while Link was around was a very daring move.
"Look alive, Link and Isabelle! Here comes the mascot," Master Hand said to the Hylian and Shih Tzu, as the bus door opened. A moose mascot exited the team bus, wearing a Mariners jersey that had double zeroes. That let everyone know that he meant business.
"What the..." Dante crinkled his nose as the moose mascot took out a Mariners flag, and waved it in the air. The mascot was also pumping his fist.
"Link, Isabelle, meet the Mariners Moose! First seen at the Kingdome April 13, 1990." The Mariners Mascot embraced himself to Master Hand and company, holding out his hand to each person for a high five.
"Put it up there," Link said to the Mariners Moose as he held his hand up, only for the Mariners Moose to totally fake him out. Link partially blamed the jersey he was wearing for his snub.
"That'll teach ya," Master Hand said to Link, who was staring into the palm of his open hand. There was no worse feeling than being snubbed by a mascot of any kind, no matter the sport.
"I'm sorry, Master Hand, but what does a moose have to do with a team called the Mariners?" asked Dante, who was tempted to take the Mariners Moose's head off. He was curious about who was wearing the costume - imagine if it was a woman.
"It was either a chicken or a guy named Spacey the Needle." Given those choices, Dante was perfectly fine with a moose being a mascot for the Mariners.
Master Hand: Mr. Spacy the Needle had won a mascot contest in 1979 - when the Mariners were looking for a mascot that could rival the infamous San Diego Chicken. Guess who came in second? A man wearing a diaper. I'm dead serious, there is no punchline...a man in a diaper finished second in a mascot contest. A guy wearing a hat resemblant to the Space Needle while on stilts doesn't sound as bad, does it now?
"A marmot mascot would've been nice," commented Dante, who thought that the Mariners should've gone with the state animal - the Olympic Marmot. Dante was hugged by the Mariners Moose, as he shoved the mascot away.
"Watch it, Dante!" Master Hand yelled at the demon hunter, as the Mariners Moose nearly fell to the ground. "Almost knocked his head off." It was standard for every mascot in America to keep their head on; having it off for any reason was no bueno.
"Eh, it's no biggie. He would live." The Mariners Moose fastened his head back on, as Dante returned to the inside of the mansion. "A moose...of all animals to choose from..."
King Dedede sat alone in the lounge, reflecting upon his...erm, fling with Ana. There was no visible evidence that suggested the fat penguin was even with Ana, but the fact that he couldn't share his secret with anyone ate at him. Dedede was not good at keeping secrets, so trying to hold his tongue was awfully hard on him.
"That'll teach Donkey Kong to not wipe his boogers on Jigglypuff while she's asleep," Young Link discussed with Toon Link, as the buddy cops passed by the lounge. Toon Link stopped and took a peek inside the lounge, spotting King Dedede.
"You seem tense," the young Hylian said to King Dedede as he stepped inside the lounge, with Young Link having no choice but to follow his partner-in-crime. "You want me to give you the chills?"
"Do your worst," King Dedede gave the green light to Toon Link, who positioned himself behind the fat penguin. Toon Link took an imaginary egg and cracked it over Dedede's back.
"There's an egg on your head and the yolk is running down, the yolk is running down..."
"I'm in love with Pharah's mom...we might even go out for dinner."
"There's a knife in your back and the blood is gushing down…" Toon Link paused what he was doing as he looked at King Dedede after hearing the secret escape the fat penguin's lips. "...I really would have appreciated a heads-up that you were into dating mothers. I would have introduced you to mine."
"Don't you only have a grandma, though?" Young Link asked Toon Link, who continued to stab King Dedede with an imaginary knife. Toon Link wielded his imaginary knife with both hands for added effect.
"It's never too late to find a sugar mama. Especially one who can prepare you bowls of soup." Ana was pretty old herself, so she would definitely count as a sugar mama.
Things were chugging along with Sora, Tracer, and Winston, as Sora was showing and explaining more Organization XIII members. The Keyblade wielder had moved on to an Organization member who shared a part of his heart - Xion.
"Xion is a replica made when the original Organization existed," Sora explained to Tracer and Winston, who both believed that Xion looked like Kairi. But to others, Xion resembled somebody else. "She was created from my leaked memories!"
"Brain fluid," said Winston, believing that's what Sora had meant when he mentioned, "leaked memories". Boy, he was wrong. "They used the memories from the brain fluid to bring Xion to existence."
"No...they just took my memories and used them to create Xion. No brain fluid necessary!" Realizing how gradually befuddled Winston was, Sora had no choice but to move on. "Xion returned to the good side after Roxas's heart called out to her, through me."
"Who is Roxas?" Winston asked Sora, who didn't even bother to explain as he shuffled the pictures moving on to the next member. "And how do hearts even call out to each other?"
"And this is Saïx - he was once Xemnas's right-hand man in the original Organization." Sora held up a picture of Saïx, who at one point in time caused a bevy of problems for the mansion. "Once we defeated him, he became a good guy!"
"I'd hate to run into him - he looks pretty tough!" Tracer commented on Saïx, while Winston was bothered that Sora didn't answer his questions. Perhaps it was for the best if he didn't...
So what were Cloud and Aerith up to, while they were in Arcadia Bay? The two were at a local diner called Two Whales Diner, which was a popular joint among the college students in town. In a way, Cloud and Aerith both felt like fish out of water sitting among the young folk.
"I feel old," Cloud said to Aerith, as a pair of male college students entered the diner. Aerith, who was seated across from Cloud near the diner window, giggled in response to Cloud's confession.
"Here comes a police officer," Aerith told Cloud as a police officer entered the diner shortly after the college students arrived. The officer didn't have a doughnut on him; he was slacking off. "Still feeling old?"
"One middle-aged police officer with a big gut isn't going to change a thing." Cloud tapped his finger on the table, waiting for him and Aerith to be served. Fortunately, the swordsman didn't have to wait any longer.
"Sorry if I kept you both waiting," a waitress approached Cloud and Aerith, apologizing to the two as she held a notepad and an ink pen. "It's been busy with all these college students."
"Maybe we just came at the wrong time." Cloud expected the waitress to hand over the menus, but the waitress was just looking at Cloud and Aerith funny. "Something wrong?"
"Cloud Strife, is that right?" The waitress pointed at Cloud, who frowned for a bit before reluctantly nodding his head. The waitress then moved her finger to the right as she pointed at Aerith. "And you must be Aerith Gainsborough."
"That's me," chirped Aerith, embracing the fact that she was easily recognized; as for Cloud, the waitress was giving him strange vibes. "Who knew that we were so popular around here, Cloud!"
"I'm Joyce Prince - you know my daughter, Chloe, from the bed and breakfast?" Chloe was the only normal person that Cloud and Aerith encountered at the bed and breakfast, all things considered. "She's told me a few stories about you."
Joyce: Been nagging Chloe for months to find a job, and thanks to some encouragement from Max, she finally found one! Working at a bed and breakfast... *smiles* ...she's really following in my footsteps. I remember her telling me that her boss abruptly left after two of their tenants left during the evening. Wonder what that's all about?
"Left a lasting impression on your daughter, that's nice," Cloud said to Joyce, who couldn't tell if the swordsman was being sincere. With the tone of Cloud's voice, it was often hard to tell.
"I'm just happy that she's finally working," smiled Joyce, before clicking her ink pen as she was ready to take Cloud and Aerith's order. "Can I get your order?"
"Do you serve hamburgers?" Aerith asked Joyce, fearing that she was asking a redundant question; Joyce's chuckling didn't make the flower girl feel any better.
"We serve the best hamburgers in Arcadia Bay!" The way Joyce said that almost made it seem like her statement was the Two Whale Diner's tagline. "Hamburgers for both? With fries?"
"We'll take the burgers and fries," answered Cloud, as Joyce jotted down the order on her notepad. "I'll take a glass of water, by the way." Ordering a glass of water showed how parsimonious Cloud was when it came to spending money.
"I'll have a lemonade, please," Aerith made her request known to Joyce, who wrote down the drinks that Cloud and Aerith wanted. Cloud wished to talk Aerith out of ordering a lemonade but knew there would be no point in doing so.
"A glass of water for Cloud, and some lemonade for Aerith..." said Joyce as she finished jotting down the order on her notepad, clicking her ink pen after she was done writing. "...your food will be ready in a jiffy. Let me go fix your drinks."
"Thanks," Cloud thanked Joyce, who nodded her head as she walked away. So far the hospitality of the Two Whales Diner slightly allured Cloud...the patrons, not so much.
"A glass of water, really Cloud?" Aerith voiced her displeasure with the swordsman, who crinkled his nose as he looked past Aerith and saw a certain rabbit sitting at the back of the diner. "You can be so basic sometimes."
"Not all the time..." Cloud was fixated on the rabbit sitting in the dinner, whose fur was colored cream. The Chao that was accompanying this rabbit was the real kicker.
"Are you even listening to me?" Aerith could tell that Cloud was half listening to her, and so she snapped her fingers twice to make the swordsman snap out of whatever trance he was in. "Are you seeing a ghost?"
"...I have to go to the restroom." Cloud abruptly got up from his seat, running to the restroom with absolute swiftness. Aerith was left befuddled, unable to recall when Cloud had that much get-up speed.
"Yup - definitely saw a ghost!" Soon Joyce returned to the table that Cloud and Aerith sat at, holding a tray that came with a glass of water and lemonade. Joyce sat the glasses down, before noticing that somebody was missing.
"Where did your friend run off to?" Joyce asked Aerith, who instead of providing Cloud's current whereabouts just gave a simple shrug.
Cloud not being at the mansion wasn't much of a big deal for the residents; they were used to the swordsman being absent when he was at the psych ward. Aerith was gone for over a year, so her absence didn't affect anyone either (save for a few select folks). But with Cloud and Aerith both absent from the mansion? That created quite a void.
As Tifa sat at the counter in Cafe Leblanc, she was wondering what kinds of fun Cloud and Aerith had down in Arcadia Bay. With those two not around, the closest friend she had was Barret. And if Barret was off spending quality time with Marlene, then Tifa had to stick with...Sephiroth. Tifa never considered Sephiroth a friend, so she had no initiative to hang out with the one-winged angel.
"a bunch of sailors were unable to play cards on the ship," Sans said to the baristas and patrons alike, telling sailor jokes while wearing the freshest Seattle Mariners hoodie on the joint. "problem was, their captain was standing on the deck."
"I feel bad for smiling at that one," remarked Joker, who had to look away from Sans so that the skeleton couldn't catch him smiling. But Sans saw Joker smiling anyway, and was emboldened to tell another joke.
"i know one sailor who went to college - never passed a class 'cause his grades were below sea level." Sans didn't make Joker laugh with that pun, but he did cause Pit to laugh hysterically.
"A sailor actually going to college, now that's hilarious!" Pit laughed as she slammed his fist on the counter, slamming so hard that he nearly caused a bowl of curry to spill. Tears were even running down Pit's eyes.
"Would be just as hilarious if you went to college yourself," Tifa quipped to Pit, not imagining the angel lasting a single semester in college. Heck, she doubted that Pit would even make it past the midsemester."
"most sailors don't buy new hats; they're that afraid of cap-sizing," Sans told another joke, this time hoping to make someone other than Pit or Joker react positively. He was mostly focused on Tifa, who was standing her ground.
"Nope! You can't get me to laugh." Tifa had a stone-faced look on her face as she folded her arms, daring Sans to make her laugh. No matter how hard Sans try, Tifa would refuse to budge.
"why is that? too busy thinking about someone? like cloud?" Sans was sneering away at Tifa, whose blushing and eyeing around the cafe brought forth much suspicion.
"Tifa likes Cloud!" Pit chanted as he pointed at Tifa, trying to start up some drama in the cafe. Much to Pit's dismay, the atmosphere in Cafe Leblanc remained the same as no tension was to be found.
"Get back to work, Pit," Joker commanded the angel, who stopped pointing at Tifa as he resumed his barista duties. Regardless, Sans's insinuation left a big mark on Tifa, who found herself in an uncompromising position.
Pit: Tifa probably likes Cloud, but she's too scared to admit it because she's afraid that Cloud might like Aerith instead. And if Tifa were to confess her love for Cloud, she might end up in a love triangle. But it's all good, I have a friend who has experience from being in love triangles. He gets all the ladies, so he's used to the struggle.
Rex: Don't let Pit fool you. I've never been in a love triangle. Pyra and Mythra have never confessed their love for me. *pauses* Well, maybe Pyra considered it, but that has been already nipped in the bud. Also, did Pit insist that I "get all the ladies"? How does he know this? Why would he care to know?
"Would you look at the time!" said Tifa, glancing at the clock on the wall as she left the cafe. Sans watched as Tifa left, grinning from ear to ear.
"Guilty as charged..." snickered Sans, believing that his insinuation had set things in motion. Tifa's departure from the cafe did nothing but raise the levels of suspicion even more.
Tifa hurried away from the cafe, looking for another place to relax and unwind. As the martial artist went down the hallway, she was stopped in her tracks when Cloud teleported in front of her holding a Translocator.
"Wait, this isn't Master Hand's room," said Cloud, who ended up in an unintended location...and the worst possible one at that. The middle of the hallway, where Tifa saw him front and center.
"Hi, Cloud!" Tifa greeted the swordsman, happy to be briefly reunited with her friend. Cloud looked up and saw Tifa, realizing that he had to teleport back to Arcadia Bay soon. "Shouldn't you be in Arcadia Bay?"
"I was just testing out this thing Sombra gave me." Cloud was showing off his Translocator to Tifa, contemplating whether or not doing so was the wisest move to make. "My own Translocator."
"That's cool. So you wanna speak with Master Hand, I assume? Want me to take you to his room?" Before Cloud could accept Tifa's offer, he heard Master Hand shouting from down the hallway.
"ONE MORE HOUR UNTIL THE PEP RALLY STARTS!" shouted Master Hand, giving the residents this terribly loud reminder. The giant hand got rid of roughly ninety percent of the merch in the foyer; the remaining ten percent went to the Yiga Clan.
"Maybe another time, when Master Hand's in a different mood. For the record, I was never here." Using his Translocator, Cloud teleported back to Arcadia Bay, leaving no trace of his presence. Just as Master Hand came around the corner.
"Didn't even bother saying goodbye...same old Cloud." Tifa was left smiling after the exchange, as speaking with Cloud left her in high spirits. Master Hand came across Tifa, misperceiving why the martial artist was happy.
"Smiling because the Mariners will win tomorrow?" Master Hand asked Tifa, who wiped that smile off her face in a hurry. Even with the smile gone, Master Hand was unconvinced. "Don't try and hide your team spirit, Lockhart."
Cloud exited the restroom of the Two Whales Diner, with the expectation that his food was already served. When the swordsman returned to his table, guess who Aerith was speaking to? That cream-colored rabbit that Cloud saw earlier.
"Look, Cloud, it's Cream the Rabbit!" Aerith said excitedly to the swordsman as she pointed at the rabbit, who was none other than Cream. Accompanying Cream was her Chao friend, Cheese.
"I already know who Cream is," stated Cloud, holding in the urge to question why Cream was at the diner. The fact that Cream was unsupervised left Cloud with a bevy of questions. "Hey, Cream."
"Hi, Cloud!" greeted Cream, as her unbreakable spirit and everlasting joy sadly had little to no effect on Cloud. Cloud truly had no soul. "Mind if I sit with you and Aerith?"
Cloud: Got a feeling that I'm being watched...you guys around was bad enough, but now I've got Big and Cream to worry about. Why do I feel like Amy is behind all of this?
"Go ahead and take a seat," replied Cloud, showing courtesy as he stepped to the side and allowed Cream to take a seat next to him. Cream sat down, and Cloud sat next to her.
"Sorry the burgers took so long," Joyce apologized to Cloud and Aerith as she returned to their table, placing their burgers on the table. The waitress was surprised upon seeing Cream. "Oh! Who's your rabbit friend?"
"Her name's Cream," Aerith introduced Cream to Joyce, as Cloud was staring at Cream with a suspicious side-eye. Something about Cream chilling in Arcadia Bay seemed off to Cloud, while Aerith on the other hand didn't mind.
"Do you serve kid's meals?" Cream asked Joyce, using her cuteness to get whatever she wanted; better use that cuteness of hers to the fullest, and not let it go to waste.
"I'll see what I can whip up in the kitchen. You two let me know if you need anything!" On that remark, Joyce left Cloud and Aerith alone as she hasted to the kitchen. Aerith took a bite out of her burger, looking pleased as she smiled with delight.
"These burgers are pretty good," critiqued Aerith, oblivious to how Cloud was acting around Cream. Cloud ate his burger while keeping his side-eye on Cream, who was humming happily to herself.
Sora was more than halfway done, as he was explaining more Organization XIII members to Tracer and Winston. The Keyblade wielder was currently talking about Xigbar, who like Saïx was major trouble to the mansion five years ago.
"Why does he wear an eyepatch, love?" Tracer asked Sora, her attention brought to the black eyemask Xigbar wore over his right eye in his picture. "Is he a tryhard?"
"Xigbar got into it with Terra in his original persona, and lost his eye during the battle," explained Sora, as Winston was looking at the pictures of the Organization members that he hadn't been introduced to yet. One picture caught his eye.
"Your friend Riku was in the Organization?" Winston asked Sora as he held a picture of Riku in a black form-fitting bodysuit while wielding his Keybalde. "Not that I'm particularly shocked..."
"No, that must be Riku's evil twin," assumed Tracer, holding out hope that one of Sora's friends had an evil twin in the Organization. "It has to be an evil twin, it has to!"
"Close, but no cigar!" said Sora, with Tracer snapping her fingers in disgust while Winston demanded an explanation. "That's a replica of Riku; Young Xehanort traveled through time to recruit him."
"Young Xehanort was a time-traveler in his youth...fascinating," remarked Winston as he scratched his chin, allured by how capable Young Xehanort was. The past version of Xehanort was one member Winston would have to be on the lookout for.
"Actually, he didn't get time-traveling powers until he first met Ansem. Anyway, the Riku Replica's heart was brought from the past and into a new vessel, and that's how this Riku, Dark Riku, joined the Organization."
"Hearts can seem to do all sorts of things!" marveled Tracer, as Winston was feeling the opposite of whatever emotions Tracer had. You could say that the gorilla's brain was actually in knots.
Winston: So in Sora's universe, hearts can not only "speak" to each other but can also travel through time. Not even my finest research can equal such immaculate mysteries!
At pep rallies, it was standard to have things like cheerleaders, balloons, and banners, among other stuff. Master Hand couldn't afford any cheerleaders, but he did have balloons and banners aplenty.
"The high school near us won't let me borrow their cheerleaders," Master Hand discussed with Link and Zelda in his room, while the Hylian couple was inflating balloons. Fox and Falco were decorating the banner. "Therefore, we should..."
"We are not dressing the female residents in cheerleading costumes," interjected Zelda, shutting down Master Hand's idea which she saw coming from a mile away. But as it would turn out, the joke was on her.
"Whoever said anything about female residents and cheerleading costumes? I was thinking of a male cheerleading squad. Heard of the Yell Leaders, from Texas A&M University?"
"That won't work out," stated Link, saving himself and Zelda from having to do any unnecessary work. "We can't just steal a college team's tradition!"
"Seattle Seahawks stole the 12th Man from Texas A&M," Fox said to Link as he injected himself into the conversation, with no factual information to back up his claim. "This would be more of the same."
"I know what those Yell Leaders are all about," confessed Falco, shaking his head to let Link and Zelda know that he wasn't interested in the gig. "Can't make me wear white overalls."
Falco: Yell Leaders at Texas A&M are nothing but cult leaders. All they do is stand in front of the student section at football games, and tell the gullible college students what to do. The brainwashed students follow their every command! Nothing but a bunch of guinea pigs over in that part of Texas. No wonder their football team hasn't won a championship since the start of World War II. What's worse, they had to "claim" that championship, too. Can't even win a title the right way!
"Shirt guns are locked and loaded!" announced Isabelle as she and the Mariners Moose entered Master Hand's room, both wielding shirt guns in their hands. The Mariners Moose shot a shirt out of the shirt gun in his left hand, accidentally breaking a window.
"Since you're a guest, I'll let you off the hook," Master Hand pardoned the Mariners Moose, who was showing relief on his face. If anyone focused hard enough, they could tell.
"Over here! Hit me with your best shot!" Fox called out to the Mariners Moose, wanting the mascot to fire a shirt at him. The Mariners Moose fired away, striking Fox in the midsection by accident.
"Yeah, I'm not taking any chances..." said Falco, after seeing the pain that Fox was in. Fox was lying in a fetal position, clutching his stomach with one hand and grabbing his Mariners shirt with the other.
Mario convened with Peach, Spyro, and Hunter at his house, showing them the script that he was forced to read. The plumber was still very hesitant to lead the charge of the pep rally, knowing that he had to suppress his Yankees fandom.
"I know how you feel, Mario," Spyro sympathized with the plumber, who was sitting on his sofa staring at his script with heavy contempt. Mario almost wanted to rip his script into shreds. "Having to hype up the team that will beat your Yankees in the playoffs..."
"Don't you even dare..." Mario said threateningly to Spyro, who was smiling teasingly at the plumber. Spyro successfully got under Mario's skin, and he planned on keeping it up should the Yankees remain in the playoffs.
"If you ask me, the Yankees are overrated," said Hunter, as he too was playing with fire; Mario gave the cheetah an offended look. "They're like the Dallas Cowboys of baseball - nothing but hype!"
"YOU TAKE-A THAT BACK!" Mario jumped from his sofa and leaped at Hunter, only for Peach to catch him and drag him away. Mario tried to fight out of Peach's grasp, as he wanted to get his hands on both Spyro and Hunter.
"Give us a moment," Peach said to Spyro and Hunter, before dragging Mario into the bathroom and closing the door. The princess gave Mario time to compress and release his anger. "Better now?"
"Eh, I guess..." After a brief moment or two, Mario was calm again as his anger subsided. The plumber looked at his script, clutching it tightly. "...sorry, Peach, but I can't do this. I'm not up-a for it."
"If it makes you better, we'll be in attendance. We'll sit front and center!" As long as Peach was there to support him, Mario believed that he had nothing to worry about. He could care less about Spyro and Hunter's moral support.
"Okay, but if I mess-a up, please don't laugh-a at me." Not like Peach would ever laugh at Mario anyway (unless under extreme circumstances), but Peach zipped her lips to give Mario her full assurance.
"You done in there?" Spyro asked Mario from outside the bathroom door, as Hunter knocked on the door. "Thinking about how the Yankees will choke in the playoffs again?" Peach slowly opened the door, giving Spyro and Hunter a glare that sent chills down their spines.
"There will be no more Yankees slander until the end of October..." Peach said to Spyro and Hunter, smacking her frying pan in the palm of her hand. The princess then turned to Mario, and asked, "...the playoffs end in October, right?"
"Early November," Mario corrected his wife, with a high amount of confidence that his Yankees will be in the World Series by then. Regardless of what Spyro, Hunter, or anyone else said about his team.
Sora was almost done going through Organization XIII, as he was down to the last three members. The Keyblade wielder showed Tracer and Winston one member and notably, it was the only member to have facial hair.
"This is Luxord; he had a few run-ins with Captain Jack Sparrow," explained Sora, before smiling as he reflected upon the adventures he had with Jack Sparrow on the high seas. A pirate's life was definitely for him.
"Captain Jack Sparrow is a movie character..." Winston pointed out, only to be shushed by Tracer; Sora was lost in a trance, going down memory lane, as he snapped out of it seconds later.
"He claims to have met Peter Pan...let him have this," Tracer whispered to Winston, as Sora put the picture of Luxord away before grabbing two pictures of the last two Organization members to be introduced.
"These are two members that I'm not that familiar with - Marluxia and Larxene," said Sora, showing Tracer and Winston two Organization members with long hair. One had pink hair, the other blonde.
"For two ladies who are evil, they sure look pretty," Winston commented on Marluxia and Larxene's looks, as Sora stifled his laughter. Winston furrowed his brow in a hurry. "Please don't tell me that the pink-haired one is a male..."
Aerith: Joyce was right, the Two Whales Diner does have the best hamburgers in town! (Even if we eat another burger here, I'll still stand by that statement.) Cloud was a bit scared to pay for our meal, but that's just typical of Cloud to be frugal while on vacation. Sadly, he didn't bother paying for Cream's kid's meal; Cream had to pay for that in quarters and nickels.
When Cloud and Aerith were finished with his food, Cloud hoped that Cream would vamose and leave him and his lady friend alone. But nope, even when Cloud and Aerith exited the Two Whales Diner, Cream was trailing behind.
"Where do you plan on going next?" Cream asked Cloud and Aerith, interested in which locale the two were headed; the rabbit was willing to spend her entire day with Cloud and Aerith.
"A place where you'll stop bothering us," replied Cloud, leading Aerith to nudge the swordsman in his side. The nudge wasn't enough to make Cloud change his tune.
"I think we should go to the park." Sounded like a good idea to Cloud - Cream could play on the playground, and Cloud could hang out with Aerith and not worry about anyone annoying him.
"Well, I like the way you think. Hopefully, the park won't be...too crowded..." Cloud trailed off as he saw a giant cat riding on his bicycle. But it wasn't why a giant cat was riding on a bicycle in Arcadia Bay that made Cloud frown...it was who this giant cat was.
"Good afternoon, friends!" Big the Cat waved to Cloud and company, as he rode past the three on his set of wheels. It was a miracle that the bicycle had yet to collapse from Big's weight.
"Hello, Big!" Cream waved to her feline friend, as Cloud was feeling some type of way. Cloud didn't just see Big every consecutive Friday - he also saw the cat at random spots in Arcadia Bay, all over town.
"He sure knows how to make an appearance," Aerith said to Cloud, who had enough of Big's constant appearances as he ran inside the Two Whales Diner. "Where are you going?"
"Gotta use the restroom," replied Cloud, taking out his Translocator once he was inside the diner. Aerith looked worried, assuming that Cloud had the runs; she had never known Cloud to make multiple bathroom breaks in a short timeframe.
The pep rally was set to start soon, as several residents were filing into the lecture hall to find their seats. The early bird gets the worm, as the saying goes. Sans stood outside the lecture hall in his Mariners hoodie, telling a few sailor-themed jokes to anyone who entered.
"a dog becomes a sailor when he embarks," Sans said to the Duck Hunt Dog, who walked into the lecture hall wearing a dog sweater. The Mariners-themed dog sweater. "nice threads, by the way."
Ganondorf: I was put in charge of putting that dog sweater on the Duck Hunt Dog. Putting it on like it was putting it on a baby - except that the baby will bite your hand if you touch him the wrong way. Is there a right way to touch that mutt? *pauses* Shouldn't be saying that out loud, should I?
"did you know that sailors learn their trade in an apprenticeship?" Sans asked Samus, who drew near to the lecture hall entrance; Samus was attending the pep rally merely to satisfy Master Hand.
"Go jump in a lake, Sans," Samus said to the skeleton as he was about to enter the lecture hall...only to be stopped by Sonic. Samus knew what Sonic wanted for her, as she heeded the blue hedgehog.
"Any progress yet?" Sonic asked Samus as he rubbed his hands together, expecting the bounty hunter to give a progress report. Seeing Samus chatting with Mercy heightened Sonic's expectations.
"We'll talk after the pep rally." Samus gave Sonic this false sense of hope, as she maneuvered past the hedgehog and looked for a seat. Sonic was left satisfied as he returned to his seat next to Crash, Crunch, and Coco. The Crash clan was invited to the pep rally, along with Rayman and his friends.
"Crash, what's in that water bottle?" Rayman asked the bandicoot, who was shaking up some concoction in his Mariners twist-top bottle. After being questioned, Crash held his bottle away from Rayman hissing at the limbless hero.
"Smells like an expired Wumpa shake," inferred Crunch, sensing a pungent smell from Crash's water bottle. Crunch snatched the bottle away from Crash, who feared for the worst as his brother took off the cap and grimaced. "It is expired Wumpa shake!"
"Crash! You promised to throw out those Wumpa shakes yesterday," Coco scolded her brother - did Coco honestly expect Crash to keep and uphold a promise? Should've known better.
"I can toss the Wumpa shake out to you," Tifa offered to Crunch, the smell of the expired Wumpa shake reaching her nostrils even from afar away. Tifa was doing everyone in her row a huge favor.
"Please do..." Crunch said to Tifa, holding his nose as he handed the water bottle to the martial artist. Tifa took the water bottle and exited the lecture hall, as Sans saw her.
"been thinking about your precious cloud lately?" Sans asked Tifa teasingly, and Tifa ignored Sans as she hurried to the nearest bathroom. Once inside, Tifa approached the sink and drained the Wumpa shake from Crash's water bottle.
As Tifa got to cleaning out the water bottle (didn't matter much that it was done over the bathroom sink, since the bottle belonged to Crash), Cloud teleported himself inside the bathroom. Realizing that he goofed up, Cloud smacked his forehead.
"I can never get the hang of this thing..." grumbled the swordsman, as his voice was like music to Tifa's ears. Turning the water off from the faucet, Tifa turned around and saw Cloud.
"Back so soon?" Tifa smiled at Cloud as she used the hand towel to dry the insides of Crash's water bottle. She might have to replace that hand towel later.
"Sombra didn't tell me how to use this thing. But I'm doing my best with it. Just like last time, I was never here. Bye." Hoping to teleport himself to Master Hand's room one day, Cloud teleported away from the bathroom.
"He actually remembered to say goodbye this time..." After Tifa was done cleaning out the water bottle, she threw the hand towel in the trash - perhaps deliberately. That hand towel had so many of Crash's mouth germs, it might as well be thrown away.
Tifa: Cloud saw me twice a day, and it was no coincidence I was the only person that he saw. That has to mean something...right?
Aerith waited outside the diner for Cloud's return, and Cloud didn't keep her waiting too long as he showed up outside. Cream was still accompanying Aerith, much to Cloud's chagrin.
"All better now?" Aerith asked Cloud, who was hiding his evidence as he had his Translocator in his pocket. Aerith never once thought that Cloud was secretly using the Translocator - and Cloud wished to keep it that way.
"Burgers must've given my stomach problems," replied Cloud as he held his stomach, confirming Aerith's fears that he indeed had the runs. Aerith would be floored if Cloud admitted such out loud. "Shall we head to the park?"
"Let's go!" exclaimed Cream, as she tagged along with Cloud and Aerith to the park. If Cloud could kick Cream as far away as possible out of Arcadia Bay, he'd do it in a heartbeat.
Sora was all done at the watchpoint, as he had told Tracer and Winston everything they needed to know about Organization XIII. The Keyblade wielder met with the two Overwatch agents outside, as he waited for his ride.
"Well, it was nice speaking with you, Sora!" Tracer said to Sora as he shook hands with the Keyblade wielder, appreciating him for taking time out of his day to speak with Overwatch.
"Much agreed, and I hope that we won't have to endure this ever again," Winston agreed with Tracer, who gasped in shock at what her primate friend just said. Winston sheepishly eyed around.
"What do you mean?" Sora asked Winston, who was feeling the heat as Tracer stared at him with her hands on her hips. Sora looked visibly hurt.
"I meant to say...I hope we don't have to endure fighting Organization XIII after we defeat them!" Winston saved himself some trouble, as Sora eased up and reverted back to his friendly, smiling self.
"That's the spirit!" exclaimed Tracer as she pumped her Winston, thoroughly impressed by how her friend pulled himself out of a sticky situation. "Would you like a banana smoothie?"
"A banana smoothie? Don't mind if I do!" Responding to his stimuli, Winston followed Tracer back inside the watchpoint. Sora remained outside, expecting his ride to show up at any minute.
"Jacky Bryant had better checked his call history," remarked Sora, who gave Jacky a call only for the racer's phone to go straight to voicemail. Frankly, Jacky did check his call history, as he pulled up to the watchpoint in his red vehicle. And he wasn't alone.
"Right here, this is the right spot!" King Dedede shouted from the passenger seat, directing Jacky where to park at. Jacky parked his car, as King Dedede hopped out of the ride.
"King Dedede? You're not attending the pep rally?" Sora asked the fat penguin, who allowed a duo of Waddle Dees to exit from Jacky's car. Every great king needed an entourage for most occasions.
"He asked me to take him to the watchpoint so that he can speak with Pharah," explained Jacky, daring not to question why King Dedede wanted to speak with Pharah so badly. The truth was bound to disturb him.
"It's because I have the hots for her mom, Ana Amari," King Dedede confessed his love for Ana to Jacky and Sora, expecting the two to be proud of him. Instead, Jacky and Sora were left in disgust.
King Dedede: Can't hide it any longer - I have to make it known that Ana and I are a fling. Pharah must know. The whole world must know. But I'm gonna start with Pharah first, it'll be simpler. I don't think she'll react too harshly unless her mom already broke the news to her.
"Cool...that's cool," Sora said to King Dedede, smiling awkwardly as he tiptoed to Jacky's car and quickly hopped inside. The Keyblade wielder gave a look to Jacky that beckoned the racer to take him home at once.
"Good luck!" Jacky shouted to King Dedede before driving off down the road; facing the watchpoint, King Dedede puffed his chest as he and his Waddle Dee entourage approached the entrance.
The lecture hall was packed, as the Seattle Mariners pep rally was set to begin. While those on stage - Mario, Link, Zelda, Isabelle, Master Hand, and even the Mariners Moose - got set, some rap music was playing in the background to pass the time.
"Why did Master Hand choose to play trap music in the background?" questioned K.K. Slider, clearly not a fan of the music selection. The fact that he couldn't select what music should be played ate away at his soul.
"He claimed that rap music was 'standard' for pep rallies," explained Knuckles, who was hoping for food to be provided at the gate. "As a hip hop fan and rap artist myself...I don't get it."
"None of the Mariners players were able to make it," Isabelle informed Master Hand, who was mildly disappointed; it should be known that Isabelle made no effort to give the Mariners organization a call.
"I blame the jet lag from Houston to Seattle," grumbled Master Hand, thinking up any possible reason for why no player from the Mariners squad couldn't make it to the pep rally. Not that they would want to anyway.
"Can't wait to take-a all this crap off," Mario said to Link, decked in the hottest Mariners gear; Master Hand had Mario wearing a Mariners cap, jersey, and sweatpants. It made Mario feel rotten.
"And I can't wait until the Mariners are eliminated from the playoffs," responded Link, who was likely over the pep rally shenanigans. The Hylian shifting his eyes suggested something different. "Not that I despise the Mariners or anything..."
"Link, please take that Athletics jersey off before Master Hand has a fit," Zelda commanded her husband, who did as he told as he went backstage to take off his jersey. Way to look out for your man, Zelda.
"The Mariners' mascot looks suspect," Spyro said to Hunter as he and his cheetah friend sat front row with Peach. The Mariners Moose was posturing on stage. "Least he doesn't have a dead look in his eyes."
"Imagine if that was Gnasty Gnorc in that costume," snickered Hunter, as Spyro was laughing along with his cheetah friend. Peach shushed Spyro and Hunter, as the rap music died down...meaning that the pep rally was about to start.
"Good afternoon, everyone!" Master Hand greeted the crowd, as Link returned to the stage wearing his usual green tunic. "I'm your principal, Master Hand..."
"Wrong introduction!" Isabelle called out to Master Hand, standing off to the side with Zelda; Master Hand apparently forgot that he wasn't inside a gym.
"Scratch that, I mean...I'm the master of ceremonies, Master Hand! Or, the opening act for the true master of ceremonies, I should say."
"He's not the one hosting?" Ganondorf asked quietly, fearing that the pep rally would've gone off the rails if Master Hand was in charge. "Thank Hylia..."
"Give a warm welcome to the true emcee, Mario!" Master Hand moved out of the way, as Mario stepped up to the microphone stand that Isabelle had prepared for him. Mario was greeted by applause, as he gulped nervously.
"You got this, Mario," Cappy whispered these encouraging words to the plumber, who was nervously pulling on the collar of his jersey. Mario saw Peach, Spyro, and Hunter in the front row, with Peach giving two thumbs up.
"So, uh...how about them-a Mariners?!" Mario triumphantly asked the crowd, only to be met with the response of awkward silence. The plumber had his fist held in the air; the only sounds made were a few coughs.
"GO ASTROS!" someone in the crowd shouted, as a collective gasp was heard. Everyone turned to the guilty party, Alph, and Alph was shuddering in fear with all the attention on him. "Maybe next year..."
"Save your Astros support for another time, Alph," Master Hand said to the astronaut, making a mental note to reprimand him for interrupting the pep rally. "Carry on, Mario."
"I'm glad that Alph mentioned-a the Astros," Mario addressed the crowd, using Alph's random outburst to build up some momentum. He was hardly following the script. "Since the Astros are the Mariners' current opponent."
"Not now, Mr. Moose," Isabelle said to the Mariners Moose, who was wielding a shirt gun dying to fire a shirt at the crowd. Spyro didn't appreciate how the Mariners Moose had the shirt gun pointed in his direction.
"If you think that the Mariners will beat-a the Astros, then give a shout!" Mario waited for a response, but not a single person shouted. Maybe if the teams were swapped around, Alph would shout. "A bunch of pessimists, I see."
"WOOO!" shouted Peach, providing Mario with whatever moral support he needed to keep going on. Her cheer gave Mario a small boost, as she had her husband smiling.
"I mean, how good-a are the Astros anyway? Nothing but a bunch-a of cheaters. They had to bang on trash-a cans to win because-a that's what they are! They're trash!"
"It's funny 'cause it's true," Bowser said to the person sitting next to him, Meta Knight, as he and several others were chuckling. Alph, the lone Astros fan in the lecture hall, was in no laughing mood.
"But it's okay, the Astros can still win-a the World Series this year..." Mario paused as he looked around at the audience, letting the silence marinate. "...ONLY AFTER THE ASTROS FAN TURNS-A OFF THEIR SWITCH!"
"That's my joke!" Hunter laughed as he pointed at Mario, while many others were laughing along with the cheetah. "I didn't even know they had baseball games on the Switch!"
"He's going off the script..." observed Master Hand, as Link and Zelda expected the giant hand to be incensed with Mario's performance so far. "...and he's killing it! Tell Isabelle to fire the shirts."
"Got it," Link said to Master Hand, before beckoning Isabelle to fire away with the shirt cannons. Isabelle fired a shirt into the crowd, as the Mariners Moose did the same.
"Ow!" Spyro winced in pain as the Mariners Moose fired a shirt in his face. The purple dragon didn't think that it was an accident...he believed that the Mariners Moose hurt him on purpose.
"Nice-a catch, Riku!" Mario pointed at the Keybladie wielder; who miraculously caught a shirt with one hand. "You're a better catcher than anyone-a in the Astros outfield!"
"Sora's missing out," Riku said to Kairi as he tossed his shirt away; he just wanted to show off in front of the crowd. Alph saw the shirts firing all over the place, as he cowered.
"Master Hand, may I please leave?" asked Alph, as the pep rally so far was not to his liking. The Astros slander was getting to him.
Alph: A few years ago, it was cool to be an Astros fan...then the Astros got caught cheating, and everybody hates them now. Just saying that you're an Astros fan in public gets you weird looks. But it's all good; every team cheats. *pauses* That's what I usually tell myself as a cope.
With Overwatch on friendly terms with the Smash Mansion, Overwatch agents were obligated to let anyone from the mansion into their watchpoint. Even if it was a jerk like Kazuya Mishima, any Overwatch agent had no choice but to grant them access. The same was applied to King Dedede, who was chilling in the main office area.
"Pharah will be with you in a minute," Baptiste informed King Dedede, before walking away and muttering under his breath, "Don't know why you think she would want to speak with you..." King Dedede looked at his Waddle Dees who were both doing absolutely nothing.
"Entertain me, boys!" King Dedede commanded the Waddle Dees, who did the most entertaining thing they could think of - playing patty-cake with their stubby hands. Dedede was not amused. "That's it, you're both fired..."
"Hello, your Majesty," greeted Pharah as she entered the main office, addressing King Dedede in a way that had the fat penguin smile from ear to ear. King Dedede loved those ego strokes.
"Much greetings, future stepdaughter." The term "stepdaughter" didn't sit well with Pharah, who looked confused and disgusted. The kind of reaction that King Dedede expected. "Oh, your mother never told ya?"
"My mother never told me what?" Pharah didn't like how the conversation was going, with King Dedede creeping towards her. The security chief backed off for good measure, as King Dedede was primed to blow her mind.
"That we're together. Ana and I are in love!" King Dedede had his arms out, anticipating Pharah's reaction, and Parah...showed no reaction whatsoever. A drop of sweat ran down Dedede's face, as the silence was defeating.
"She's already married." Talk about the ultimate wham line; King Dedede stopped smiling as his jaw dropped to the floor. His precious heart was broken into a million pieces.
"B-B-But we had such good chemistry...she came unto me first, so I knew for a fact that..."
"You thought that one conversation with my mom meant that she liked you? Must say a lot about your love life."
"I see that you've broken his heart," Baptiste said to Pharah as he returned to the office, seeing King Dedede was left frozen in shock. Dedede's mouth was gonna dry out at any minute.
"He got what was coming for him." Pharah's mom was off the market - and she was already off the market for a pretty long time. "Mind helping me move this bird out of the premises?"
Mario was keeping the energy levels up at the pep rally, forfeiting his script as he was now hyper-focused on slandering the Seattle Mariners' playoff opponent and divisional rival, the Houston Astros. Mario was throwing so much shade, that Astros fan Alph asked to be excused.
"Astros may be up 2-0 in the series, but it won't matter once the Mariners reverse-a sweep them!" Mario shouted into the mic, as he was making a guarantee; Peach was cheering to keep the flow going.
"I for one hope not," muttered Samus, who hoped for the Astros to beat the Mariners tomorrow so that he wouldn't have to hear any more of Master Hand's doting. The bounty hunter was struck in the face by a shirt, which was fired by the Mariners Moose.
"He's getting too close for comfort..." Spyro said to Hunter, as the Marines Moose was standing on the floor firing away with his shirt cannon. For whatever reason, Spyro was a repeat target of the Mariners Moose's shirt barrage.
"When I say 'go', you say 'M's!'" Mario said to the crowd, ready to lead the audience in a few chants. As the pep rally carried on, Master Hand observed from the side.
"And he thought he would do a horrible job," Master Hand snorted to Link and Zelda, with Link grateful that he wasn't the one to emcee the pep rally. Especially for a rival team.
"Master Hand...I just got off the phone with the Mariners organization..." Isabelle nervously approached Master Hand and company, putting her phone away as she had some shocking news to share. "...the man who was supposed to play the Marines Moose had his mascot suit stolen."
"So who's that right there?" asked Link as he pointed at the Mariners Moose, who was firing shirts into the crowd...and directly at Spyro. Spyro had enough of the mascot by this point.
"That's it!" frowned Spyro as he hopped out of his seat, lining himself up with the Mariners Moose. The Moose ceased the firing, anticipating what maneuver Spyro was going to pull off.
"No, Spyro, don't!" yelled Master Hand, but it was too late as Spyro charged into the Mariners Mascot and sent him flying into the stage. "His head comes off, you'll break the mascot...code?"
The Mariners Moose's head came off from the impact, and the person under the garb was revealed to be some green goblin creature. Everyone gasped as the Mariners Moose's identity was revealed.
"It's an ugly goblin dude!" exclaimed Rayman, as his friend Barbara saw the goblin creature as ripe for the killing. Barbara unsheathed her axe, as Rayman had to hold her back.
"Just let me behead that green freak!" Barbara shouted at Rayman, apparently in the mood for chopping people's heads off. She was in that decapitating mood when she stepped inside the mansion.
"That's no ordinary green freak...that's Gnasty Gnorc!" stated Spyro, as Gnasty slowly rose up to his feet holding onto the stage for support. The pep rally was put on pause, as everyone was focused on Gnasty.
"Uh...I can explain," Gnasty said to the crowd, as everyone's eyes were upon him - including the eyes of those who were standing on stage. And Master Hand's eyes as well, although he didn't have any.
"How many times do I have to teach you this lesson, Gnasty?" Spyro crept towards Gnasty, as he was cornering the Gnorc; Gnasty grabbed the Mariners Moose head, about to make a run for it.
"YOU'LL NEVER CATCH ME!" Gnasty ran past Spyro, as he high-tailed away from the stage. Spyro chased Gnasty through the aisle, chasing the Gnorc out of the lecture hall.
"Who wants to see the Mariners kick the Astros' butt-a as hard as Spyro will kick-a Gnasty Gnorc's butt?" Mario asked the crowd, and he got a decent response of cheers much to his surprise. Mario was truly in the groove.
Jacky chose not to take Sora back to the mansion, instead deciding to take the Keyblade wielder out to lunch. The racer returned home, pulling up into the driveway as he and Sora got out of the car.
"Thanks for lunch, Jacky!" Sora thanked the racer, eating a doughnut he got from Krispy Kreme; the Keyblade wielder had ordered a doughnut burger, oblivious to how many calories that sucker had.
"Glad that you enjoyed it," responded Jacky, holding a box full of glazed doughnuts that he planned to share with Akira. Unless he decided to change his mind. "I wonder how King Dedede's love confession turned out."
"Special delivery!" Pharah shouted from up above, as she threw King Dedede onto the driveway; Dedede landed on the concrete, his heart still broken.
"Ana Amari...loves me not," lamented King Dedede, before collapsing face-first onto the concrete ground. Next time, Dedede should inquire about someone's marital status - or better yet, don't give his hopes up so easily.
Toon Link: Ana has a husband, and she didn't tell King Dedede? What a bummer. If there is any good news to be had, my grandma is always available if Dedede wishes to stick to the sugar mamma route...
"Please, Spyro, spare me!" Gnasty begged the purple dragon, who chased the Gnorc out of the mansion. Spyro rammed into Gnasty, hitting him with so much force that his costume came off. "Ack! I've been exposed!"
"What an ugly bodysuit..." grimaced Jacky, cringing at the sight of Gnasty wearing a tight yet ill-fitting black bodysuit. So tight, that it made his body small so that he could fit into the costume properly.
"You don't have to do this, Spyro..." Gnasty was sitting on the ground as he had his hand out to Spyro, who was taking a few steps forward. But then Spyro saw Pharah flying above, and came to a stop.
"You're right, Gnasty - I don't have to do this," Spyro agreed with Gnasty, who smiled in relief as his begging for mercy worked like a charm. "But she can!"
"Who's she?" Gnasty soon looked up and saw Pharah, who unleashed a rocket barrage on Gnasty and had the Gnorc screaming. Gnasty ran for his life, running from the mansion premises.
"That oughta teach him a lesson," remarked Pharah, watching from up high as Gnasty was running in his ugly bodysuit. The tightness of the bodysuit made Gnasty's running look off-putting to Pharah.
"I don't think he'll learn that lesson anytime soon," said Spyro, knowing for a fact that he was bound to cross paths with Gnasty in the near future. Gnasty's constant appearances had become inevitable.
Cloud and Aerith had a good time at the park, even if Cream was with them. Well, Cream didn't bother Aerith, but Cloud had many suspicions about the rabbit. You could imagine how happy Cloud was when Cream decided to leave him alone.
"I'm going to be leaving now," Cream said to Cloud and Aerith, bidding her farewell to the two friends at Arcadia Bay Avenue. Better late than never, as Cloud probably thought in his mind. "It was nice seeing you!"
"Bye, Cream!" Aerith said her goodbye to Cream, who was waving back as she and Cheese walked away. Aerith was slightly dismayed that Cloud wasn't saying a peep. "Say goodbye to Cream, Cloud!"
"Take care," Cloud said to Cream, with the best farewell response that he could muster. The feeling of being watched still had Cloud by the neck.
Mario was pooped out after the pep rally was over, as he was at home resting on his sofa. Master Hand stopped by to commend Mario for a job well done.
"Thanks for taking on the role, Mario," Master Hand thanked the plumber, as his expectations for Mario at the pep rally were blown out of the water. The fact that Mario didn't rely as much on his script was a plus in Master Hand's eyes.
"Anyone-a better than an Athletics fan," quipped Mario, as he and Master Hand shared a laugh together. Peach approached Mario, offering a bottle of water, and Mario asked his wife, "Did I do a good job?"
"No...you were fabulous," replied Peach, handing Mario his bottle of water; Mario took the bottle and screwed the cap off, taking a big sip. "Our support worked to perfection!"
"I guess it did work, in a way," said Spyro as he and Hunter appeared, the two friends wanting to give Mario some props. "You did a great job, Mario."
"A shame that your Yankees won't do a great job in the playoffs," joked Hunter, before gasping as he covered his mouth; either Peach would hit him with her frying pan, or Mario would put him on blast.
"They'd still do better than your team," Mario fired back at Hunter, leading to a collective laugh from everyone in the living room. Including Hunter, who was laughing awkwardly.
"Ain't that the truth..." As he awkwardly laughed, Hunter bent down and leaned in close to Spyro, whispering in his ear, "...do I even have a baseball team? How many cat teams are there?"
"There are none," Spyro whispered in response, as Hunter pulled away from Spyro and continued with his awkward laughing fit.
Master Hand: Even with the shocking intrusion of Gnast Gnorc, the pep rally was a success! Hopefully, the team spirit that was raised can will the Mariners to a World Series berth. One can only hope.
Zelda: Master Hand has grown in a lot of areas over the past year - mended relationships, made friends out of his former enemies, and ceased his greed. But one area he has yet to grow in is his sports fandom. Maybe if the Mariners get eliminated tomorrow, Master Hand will fall back into reality.
