Chapter Eight
The Party Continues
"So what's your name?" Jimmy asked, leaning against the wall casually.
"Jennifer," replied the brunette standing near him. "I'm really lucky I was able to come; I just turned 18 a few days ago."
"Is that right?" Jimmy mused, rubbing his chin. He stood from his leaning position and said, "May I make you a drink?"
"Sure," she replied with moderate interest.
Meanwhile, Spitz and Dribble were over by the snack table, where Spitz was gazing upon a lovely young female feline.
"Should I go talk to her?" Spitz asked, looking up at his friend.
"What have you got to lose?" Dribble replied, taking a sip of punch. "You've got an advantage, too. You haven't been fixed."
"Heh, heh, heh, that's true," Spitz chuckled.
"Just don't make a fool of yourself when you go over there," Dribble cautioned him, patting him on the back.
Spitz nodded, took a big gulp of his Pepsi, slammed the cup down on the table, and approached the she-cat, who looked lazily over at him as he drew near.
"Um, er, uh…" Spitz began, "Um… hi, I'm Spitz and…" But the female cat was already visibly starting to lose interest, and so Spitz blurted out, "Have my litter!"
The cat hissed at him and scratched him across the face, leaving red marks on him, and then stalked away.
"I probably deserved that," Spitz mumbled.
In another corner of the room, Orbulon was entertaining a bunch of small children with tales from his space travels. He had attached a translator box to his throat that transformed his native language into perfect English, and gave him a voice much like James Earl Jones.
"And then," he said, gazing at each child, "The Zorks from planet XK-12 fired upon my comrade Spiff! The rest of us could only watch in horror from the sister ship as his spacecraft, spewing smoke behind it, dropped towards the planet surface."
"Did he die?" asked a little boy in a frightened voice.
"Surprisingly, no. He managed to defy all the odds and make a brilliant landing."
"Ooo," went all the kids.
"But then, a hideous Zorg attacked him!"
"Oh no!" cried another little boy.
"Spiff fought for his life, I tell you," Orbulon said, shaking his head. "But in the end, the Zorgs won. They took him to their cave lair and dropped him into a vat of ice cold water."
One of the little girls began to cry, and so Orbulon changed the subject and said, "Who wants to know what it's like to travel at light speed?"
"I do!" said almost all the children in unison.
"Hey, Wario!" said 9-Volt, approaching the portly party host, who was snuggling two Mr Pibb cans into the hamburger-shaped hat Mona had given him. "Want to have a video game competition?"
"Ah, I don't know, kid," Wario replied slowly, and 9-Volt noticed that he had caught Mona's gaze from across the room.
"Oh come on," he jeered, poking Wario in the stomach. "Are you afraid I'll kick your butt?"
"No way!" Wario bellowed. "It's just that…"
"One game of Mario Party, and then I'll quit bugging you."
Wario sighed. "Fine, fine… Pop it in."
9-Volt inserted the Mario Party 5 disc into the nearby Gamecube (which was attached to a gigantic big-screen TV) and brought up the main menu.
"Hey, are you playing Mario Party?" called Mona. "Count me in!" She bounded across the room and leapt over the couch, landing next to Wario.
"Hey, I want to play too!" Spitz meowed, walking over.
"Yeah, me too!" agreed Dribble. Before Wario knew it, everyone at the party was begging to play the game.
"Wah, hah, hah!" Wario laughed. "It's so nice you all want to play against me. But, the sticky wicket is, a Gamecube only has four controller slots."
"Ahem," coughed a voice from within the crowd, and Dr. Crygor stepped forward with a tool box.
"Step aside," he said, pushing away the people in front of the Gamecube. Within five minutes, he had attached what looked like a wall that ran halfway across the room on both sides, and it was lined in all directions with controller sockets.
"How on Earth did you make that?" asked one guy, amazed.
"I didn't make it," Crygor said with a shrug. "It's from Pelican. I just keep it with me for exactly this kind of situation."
And so the game of Mario Party got underway. Although there was only a limited number of playable characters, the game compensated by giving each duplicate a different set of colors for their clothes. The game was great fun for everyone, and although it ran a little long for full detailing, let's look at some of the highlights.
Turn 26's minigame was a button masher. Everybody watched in astonishment as Orbulon's thumb moved so quickly it made a buzzing noise.
"How did you do that?" Wario asked, befuddled.
"By defying body mechanics," Orbulon answered as if it were nothing unusual.
"How do you do that?" Wario persisted.
"I can't tell you," Orbulon answered.
"Why not?"
"I'd have to kill you."
Wario laughed. "That's a good joke!"
"It's not a joke," Orbulon responded with a straight face. Wario quit laughing, and the game went on.
The last five turns ran VERY long because due to the sheer number of people playing, it was guaranteed that two people would be on a space at a time, which meant a duel. But by 9:45 the game ended, with Jimmy being the winner.
"Aw yeah!" Jimmy exclaimed, jumping up. "Let's do a little dance for the winner!" and he proceeded to break out into a 'Can't Touch This' style dance.
"No fair!" Wario bellowed. "I demand a recount!"
"Okay, Wario," said Becky, whom Mona had invited. "You got one star."
"Yeah? And how many did Jimmy have?"
"31."
Wario didn't speak again but made an aggressive dismissive gesture and looked away.
"Aw, it's okay, big W," Mona cooed, putting her arms around Wario's neck. "You're always a winner in my book!"
Wario laughed. "Ha, ha, ha! I'm always a winner in my book, too!"
There was laughter all around, and the clock hit ten o'clock as the party rolled on.