3-3 Rooftop Rumble

Crash is still not in Smash. A shame, but there is still hope. Anyway, what else... Oh, I've been getting back into Portal! So there's that. And I have Don't Starve Hamlet, I've got my eye for Pyra/Mythra in Smash, and Hollow Knight Silksong is still not here yet. Good, good.

Insert Unnecessary Disclaimer Here.

The 15th floor of the hotel, the former Master Suite belonging to Hellen Gravely, now transformed into the laboratory of Dr. Elvin Gadd. The hallways still retained the opulent decor it used to have, minus the creepy King Boo fan art, thank goodness, but still had plenty of technological doodads lying around. Some wires and extension cords snaked around into the rooms, connected to outlets outside, some connecting to large machines of unknowable use, others keeping the security cameras active. A perfect floor design befitting a mad scientist.

Oh, there was also a huge army of ghosts there, roaming around, looking for anything to use as melee weapons against the soon to come invaders. At some point, memories of the very previous hotel invasion they had suffered flashed through their minds, and how they had utterly failed to defeat the intruder back then, despite their numbers. That had smothered the flames of bravery they had down to a small ember. And then it was stepped on when they heard the news that they had lost their greatest asset, Dingodile, squashing that flame into nothing. Now was the time to panic.

One goob, wielding a mop as a weapon, was quaking in its metaphorical boots, watching as the floor counter on top of the elevator door slowly rose all the way to fifteen. Right now it was stopped at thirteen, and any second now, it would rise and be the countdown to their doom.

And then it began to rise. The goob flinched.

Fourteen. The goob was sweating like crazy.

…

Thirteen. Wait, it was going back down?

Twelve. Yeah, it was. The goob calmed down at the sight.

Eleven. Maybe they weren't coming after all.

Ten. Yeah, they probably gave up, deciding to just go home and bide their time till their inevitable brainwashing.

That was good. For a second there the goob was actually worried they were going to-

Eleven.

Oh no.

Twelve. Here they come.

Thirteen. They were all screwed.

Fourteen. It should have just stayed home and watched Boo and Toad's Excellent Adventure, instead of being here, getting horribly beat up.

Fifteen. Here they came. The goob took a deep, cleansing breath, stopped shaking in fear, and steeled itself. This was no time for fear. If they were going down, they were going down in a blaze of glory.

The doors parted open, and the ghost's attention were caught by the girlish screaming of the goob standing in front of it, who had chosen to jump out a window in fear. So much for bravery. Though any other ghost would have reacted similarly, considering who their opposition was.

The legendary scourge of ghosts, the mansion cleaner, the saviour of Evershade Valley, and the Hotel Hellion himself, Luigi, along with other people they didn't know or care about (his brother's name was Marvin, right?) were standing in the elevator, wielding the ghost hunting pack Dingodile had used to hunt them, and which was going to be used again, on them.

The two groups had a stare down with each other, one group confident, the other fearful and nervous. In spite of their larger numbers, and greater armaments, the ghosts were hopelessly outmatched. Any sane sentient creature, dead or not, would just give up and surrender themselves out of danger. But these were brainwashed goons, not at all meant to be thinking rationally. They were not paid to be sane. Heck, they were not paid to begin with! They just listened to orders. And their orders?

"ATTACK!" One oozer shouted a rallying battle cry, raising his weapon to the air. The other ghosts joined in with their own roars, before charging at the heroes.

Luigi, bereft of his usual fear, aimed the ghost hunting weapon at the charging army, pointing it for a specific part of their body. He pulled the trigger, firing a beam of light that flew through the air, piercing the mind-control helmets of the front running ghosts, destroying them. Those freed ghosts just floated in place, confused and disoriented, while their still brainwashed brethren continued their attack.

Mario, Crash and Coco jumped out of the elevator, while Luigi and Aku Aku stayed behind, waiting for the weapon to cool down while the mask protected against any incoming attacks. Mario whacked one hammer in the face with his hammer, with enough force to send it flying into the wall, taking several ghosts with it.

Crash was doing his usual thing, spinning and crashing through things. He had grabbed two oozers by their tails, and was now flailing them around, whacking ghosts left and right, cutting a path through them.

Coco went with a more athletic approach, jumping on top of their heads to stomp the helmets to bits. She bounced off a goob's head, catapulting herself into the air. She turned on her back, took aim, and drop kicked a slinker hard enough to send him bowling over to a group of goobs, knocking them down like bowling pins.

Polterpup sat in the back of the elevator, gnawing on his leg.

Everyone was doing their part of ghost butt kicking, slowly whittling down the gathered army and freeing them from N. Trance's control. And as he watched it go on on the security cameras, the more panicked he became.

"No no NO! Why do you all suck so bad! It's a bunch of rats and some squishy humans!" He complained out loud. "It looks like I have to do everything if I want anything to go right today."

The giant egg creature got up from his chair, passing by E. Gadd as he made his way to the back exit. "Where are you going, Dr. Eggman?" E. Gadd asked.

"Back outside. You're fired, by the way. It's got nothing to do with you, it's just that you suck and I hate you."

N. Trance left the room, slamming the door shut and leaving behind the doctor to start crying.

The array was almost finished charging anyway. Just a few more minutes.

The giant, vault-like door to the camera room, and by extension, E. Gadd's lab started to glow a hot red color. Luigi was firing a concentrated energy beam at the hinges to force it open, while the others took care of the last few ghosts.

"Remember guys, be gentle with E. Gadd. He's pretty old and frail." Mario felt the need to point out as he saw Coco roundhouse kick a goob hard enough to embed its head into the wall. He got a thumbs up from Crash, which, being honest with himself, didn't really calm his fears.

Once the hinges were fully melted, the door fell off, hitting the ground with a loud thunk, the ghost hunting machine sizzling and hot, Luigi had to drop it on the floor. It probably wasn't meant to sustain fire for that long.

Behind the door, Dr. E. Gadd was sitting on his chair, bawling his eyes out, wet tissues littered all over the floor.

"Ooooooohhhh, how could he leave me! I did it all for him!" He sobbed out. "I built his machine, I created his helmets, I sorted out his undergarment drawer! Is that not enough!?"

It was a pretty terrifying and disturbing sight, all things considered. "I don't want to look at this." Coco said, walking up to the doctor. She calmly raised her tablet, aimed, and whacked the helmet off of E. Gadd's head, knocking him off the chair in the process.

The scientist rubbed his back in pain as Mario and Luigi helped him to his feet. "Oooohhh criminy, my head. Oh, that was humiliating."

Once he was back on his chair, he finally felt like himself again. "Ah, Luigi! Mario! Thank goodness you two came here! And- Oh?" His eyes landed on the pair of anthropomorphic bandicoots that were also in the room, one waving happily at him with a dopey grin. "What's this now? A pair of Marsupus Erectus specimens? In this area of the world? How did the two of you get here?" As he spoke, he grabbed Crash's face, pulling his mouth open. "And what horrible dental work you have right here! Do you even brush your teeth?"

Crash didn't seem to mind the manhandling, just letting it happen. Aku Aku did mind, floating in front of the doctor to put a stop to it. "Please stop criticizing my children's dentistry."

"Oh, and a magic mask, too? My, this night may not be so terrible after all. Oh, but where are my manners. I am Professor Elvin Gadd. Professional Inventor, specialized in research in the Paranormal and Supernatural, founder of Gadd Science, Incorporated and the Starbeans Cafe franchise!"

The bandicoots introduced themselves to him in return, Coco with some very noticeable enthusiasm. It was hard to come across geniuses in her dimension that weren't bent on world domination. Finally, the floor level bar had been jumped!

"So, we were wondering if you could help us out with- " Coco was trying to say about her invention, but E. Gadd interrupted her.

"As interested as I am in examining the work of a fellow genius, we have bigger fish to fry. There are only 20 minutes left until N. Trance's array is fully charged and brainwashes the entire planet!"

Luigi and Crash gasped in horror. They didn't have much time.

E. Gadd hopped off the chair, and began to sift through some of the drawers in his lab. "It's a good thing that even in my addled, enslaved state, I still had the decency to program a deactivation sequence into the machine. What kind of scientist would I be if I didn't do that."

"A stupid one, obviously." Coco said, eliciting a chuckle from the professor.

"Yep, I learned that the hard way. Honestly, I was so excited to help a scientist of alien origin, but nooo, this one wants to enslave the planet, and steals my employees and mine's minds just to get that done! Of all the hullabaloo to deal with on this night. Now where did I- Aha!"

Out of one of the drawers, he pulled out a canister of green goo, one very familiar to Luigi. "Is that Gooigi?"

"Yep! I was hoping he hadn't been misplaced during the whole ruckus here. He can help you shut it down while the four of you deal with N. Trance. He is waiting for you outside, and he is not going to let you foil his plans without difficulty."

At the push of a button, the goo was ejected, plopping into the floor with a gross squish. It convulsed for a bit, before suddenly rising up and taking a familiar form of a certain someone in the room. A near perfect clone of Luigi, made entirely of goo. The cleverly named Gooigi. He looked around, and waved hello to everyone.

"... Okay, what is that, and how do I get my own?" Coco looked greatly intrigued by the creature, walking up to him and poking him experimentally. It just made Gooigi jiggle in place, showing no reaction to her prodding.

"There is no time for that. But I will show you after this whole debacle is dealt with. Now, hurry! If this world is brainwashed, I won't be able to sell my stuff anymore!" The professor pointed to the door to the outside, where N. Trance awaited them.

With Gooigi in tow, the heroes dashed through the door to the hotel's rooftop access. Their rooftop rumble with their egg shaped enemy was soon to occur.

E. Gadd stretched his back as he watched the others run off. He had a good place to watch the fight through the cameras without having to get directly involved. He trusted Luigi and his brother, and their newfound friends seemed capable, but just in case, he was going to prepare the bunker for the potential apocalypse that would ensue. In case of emergencies.

"Hmmm, I feel like I'm forgetting something crucial… Meh. Better go check if I'm still stocked up on coffee beans. Perhaps the post apocalyptic world will still appreciate a good coffee, even while brainwashed. What do you think, Polterpup?"

The ghost pup barked at him. Yeah, coffee did sound nice.

Crash kicked the door outside open, and shivered violently at the cold winds that blew past. It made sense, given how high up they were.

There were large wires and extension cords, giant tubes thicker than Mario was wide, snaking around the exterior of the hotel, all the way to a giant set of satellites visible on the rooftop.

With their skills in platforming, they made short work of the ascent, bouncing off the walls until they reached the top. Meanwhile, Gooigi was left behind to make the climb the normal way. The goo creature sighed and shook his head in sadness.

Luigi, Mario and Coco landed on the roof, sticking their landings perfectly. Crash tripped on his way up, smashed face first onto the floor, before recovering and posing along the others to pretend that never happened.

N. Trance was floating in mid air, the moon sitting behind him, the jets on his mech suit working at full blast to make himself look properly awesome for the moment. He had a strong glare on his face, directing it right at the heroes.

"I've brainwashed many dimensions before in my time. They don't call you the master of hypnotism just because you invent a brainwashing device. They call you that when no living beings can stand a chance against you and fall under your command, with no eggs cracked! But you people have been the most annoying pests I've met in my entire lifetime! Seriously, you're all really annoying!"

"We pride ourselves in that." Coco boasted, the others chuckling along with her.

"I noticed." N. Trance growled out. "But it doesn't matter! In 10 minutes, my satellite array will broadcast the signal and brainwash this stupid planet into submission, you guys included! All I have to do is stall for time. And what better way to waste time, then with… "

Suddenly, the hotel started trembling, startling the heroes. The sound of powerful rocket thrusters grew louder and louder as they searched for the source. The search was unnecessary.

Rising up from underneath N. Trance, a giant, legless mech suit, a hole where the neck would be with just enough space to fit the egg alien, giant arms ending in what looked like turbines, held up by a powerful rocket thruster at the base. N. Trance slotted himself into the hole, and tested out the arms.

"Your scientist friend helped me make this thing! Even went ahead and added some little doodads he himself invented. Now isn't that deliciously ironic? Destroyed by a creation your own friend made!" N. Trance laughed maniacally.

"I mean that isn't really new." Mario remembered back to all the times E. Gadd inventions had been used against them. Which were quite a few times. This was just another notch on the rewards card. 5 more incidents like this, and E. Gadd would make him a new Flat Screen!

But back to the ensuing battle.

"Now, everybody huddle together, and say "Eggs and Bacon!" BAHAHAHAHAAA!"

Boss Time

One of the turbines started whirring, sucking air into it, along with the heroes.

"Is that the Wealth Suckage thingy? From Mario Party?" Mario yelled through the rushing air. "Everybody hang on to your coins!"

"Wait, this is a money vacuum? It looked a lot more deadly in the schematics."

Gooigi, who had made his way to the top during N. Trance's introduction, walked into the scene. His sticky, gooey body left him unaffected by the suction, while he watched as Crash struggled to keep money from flying out of his pocket. He was clearly failing at it.

"Gooigi!" His genetic donor shouted at him, hanging on to a random antennae. "Deactivate the thingy!"

Oh, right, that was what he was supposed to do. E. Gadd had taught him everything he needed to know in regards to Gadd tech. And by taught, he meant stuck information into his gelatinous matrix. Still, knowledge was knowledge, and Gooigi used said knowledge to work on deprogramming the satellite array. He wandered up to the access panel, and started tapping away at it.

That did not go unnoticed by N. Trance, who stopped his money suckage to react. "Hey, stop that, you gelatinous… thing! You will not be boiling my plans!"

The other arm suddenly shifted, changing shape into a very familiar looking water nozzle.

"Uh oh, everybody protect Gooigi! That's Fludd!" Mario shouted. The sound of water pressure rising could be heard, and a massive stream of water fired out of the arm cannon, aimed for Gooigi.

He was already engrossed with deactivating the machine, so someone had to step in and save his life. That someone was Crash, who jumped into the path of the water beam and tanked it with all his might. The beam made him slowly slide backwards, but he stood his ground, even as the water forced his lips apart, his teeth being no match against the power of the water jet. Someone should really go help him.

"Get out of the way, bandicoot! I'm trying to wash away the goo trying to stick up my machine!" N. Trance increased the power of the Fludd attachment, trying to water Crash into submission.

With all his attention away from them, they had the perfect opportunity for an attack. "Okay, now what? He's pretty high up in the air." Coco pointed out.

"Oh, that's not a problem." Mario simply pulled out his hammer and tossed it Luigi's way. "Hey, Luigi! Knockback Bros?"

Luigi fumbled a bit with the hammer before properly catching it. "Huh? Oh! Oh yeah!"

Coco watched in interest as the two bros got together. Then things got weird when Luigi slammed Mario with his hammer, squishing him. He didn't seem affected by it, though. In fact, that was what he wanted, since it made him small enough for Luigi to then punt him with the hammer.

N. Trance only had enough time to notice a red and blue ball head straight for his face, and smash into him with enough force to send him and his mech suit spinning, ending his water barrage. Crash was still standing after all that, his teeth barred before opening his mouth to let a torrent of water pour out of it, and giving a thumbs up. Mario flew back to the rooftop, sticking a perfect landing, and high fiving his bro.

"Gaah! My beautiful face!" The mech straightened back out, its pilot glaring daggers at the Mario Bros specifically. "Oh, I gotta deal with you idiots first if I want to save my plan of world domination, aren't I?"

His arm cannons changed again, opening up and glowing an ominous red. "Initiating "Liquidate Loser's Lives with Lethal Lasers" sequence!" A stream of red, searing hot laser fired out, aimed for the heroes. Mario and Luigi jumped away in time, while Crash and Coco simply ran away when they struck. N. Trance began moving them, slowly chasing after his targets in the hopes of incinerating them.

Gooigi was still at it. Around 25% through, if you wanted to get mathy. Getting rid of N. Trance would surely make things easier for him and everyone else.

"What now?" Luigi asked his brother as they dodged their trailing laser.

"Keep the lasers away from Gooigi. Other than that, I have nothing!"

The bandicoots were in a similar bind too. They were too busy dodging their own laser. In fact they had quite a few close calls with it, if their singed bottoms were anything to go by.

What they needed right now was a distraction. And if earlier in the night was anything to go by…

"Dobedobedoh, canned food for the apocalypse, dobedobedoh." E. Gadd hummed as he gathered stuff for the bunker. He could see everything on the camera feed, and how everything was going well, but you could never be too sure about the end of the world.

Meanwhile, Polterpup was sitting on the professor's chair, watching everything. He was waiting for the time when he would show up to play with his owner. And that time… was later. Right now was time for a nap.

He wasn't coming was he.

"Come on, boy! Where are you?" Luigi called out. Still nothing.

"Your stupid dog isn't saving you this time. Now die!" N. Trance cranked up the power, making the lasers much larger than necessary. The arm cannons were starting to glow red, close to overheating. Maybe if they could get him to crank more power. But how?

Coco had an idea. She remembered back to a time before this one, at a gaming competition. How she managed to throw off a particularly troublesome opponent, a goth girl with a lowercase n on her forehead that reminded her a lot about Cortex, by heckling her about her gothiness. Perhaps here it would be just as effective here.

"Hey, Humpty Dumpty!" She called out to him. He turned to look at her, still firing the lasers. "If we knock you out of that suit, will you crack open like an egg?"

"Uh, no. I respect the egg reference, but nothing's gonna happen to me if I crash. Not that you'll be alive to see that happen anyway."

"Oh, I can agree, chances are if you did break, nothing would come out. Nothing inside that head of yours, you know?"

The egg alien's eye twitched at the line. "Calling me a "no-brainer," eh? Well see about that when I disintegrate your brain."

The lasers started to converge behind the bandicoots' path, leaving Mario and Luigi free to do what they wanted. Coco just needed to keep up the aggro. She didn't disappoint.

"Aww, I guess your ego is as fragile as an actual egg shell. Maybe you're just jealous that the chicken who's butt you came out of was always smarter than you in every conceivable way." Coco continued her roast, jumping on her brother's back to let him deal with the running while she focused her brainpower on the insults. "We were really lucky to have had the chicken come before the egg in our dimension, cause if you're anything to go by, our intelligence average would have dropped down to the decimal range."

"Shut it, fur face!" The bandicoots' roasting was working. His focus was all on the two marsupials, and not on the plumbers, who were prepping up for another bro attack. This time, they were going all out, or for a more familiar, they were going advanced.

Before N. Trance knew it, Mario was slammed into his face again. "Ow! Stop doing tha- OW!" And again. "This mech is expe-" And again. "Your going to bruise my fa- "One more time. "I hate you!" And another, for good measure.

The mech was sent a fair distance backwards, spinning out of control. All those smashes were starting to cause some serious damage. A sensible alien invader would take the chance to go at it and eradicate the opposition from a safe, danger free distance.

"I have HAD IT, WITH YOU DIRTY RATS AND YOU STUPID HUMAN MEATSACKS." N. Trance was not a sensible alien right now. His ego had been hit one too many times tonight. Now was not the time for sane and safe. Now was the time to crush people, painfully.

Before the heroes could react, N. Trance shot forward and slammed his two giant metal fists onto the roof, knocking them over onto their butts. He pretended to crack their knuckles, glaring daggers at them as he did. "I am the master of hypnotism. I won't let my title be lost because a bunch of losers decided to show up and ruin everything!" One fist started to spin, and he went in for a drill punch on the Mario Bros.

"Uh, how much left do we have on the whole deactivating thing?" Coco asked as she watched the Bros jump away from the drill punch, which embedded itself onto the roof and kicked up a cloud of debris as it drilled a hole inside.

Ignoring it all, Gooigi was having a good time. He was almost through with his job, giving the others a thumbs up to show his progress. He just needed to bypass one more firewall, after this round of solitaire. Where the heck was the 5 of diamonds anyway?

Okay, that was good. Just a bit more distracting, and the world was saved. Staying alive, though, seemed to be the hard part.

"Criminy, that looks dangerous!" E. Gadd exclaimed. "One hit by one of those Mega Drill Arms (Patent Pending) and they'll be nothing but paste! It was a good idea to set up the bunker, then."

Still, worry started to creep into the old scientist's head. These were his friends after all. Along with a few strangers he didn't know, but were friends of his friends. Just sitting around in the safety of his lab, doing nothing, felt wrong, even though he had let them do all the work plenty of times before. Probably the sight of their impending deaths was triggering the sympathetic and compassionate centers of his brain to start acting up.

The smoking remains of the ghost hunting pack he had designed caught his sight. Polterpup was gnawing on the hose, until he noticed the doctor's gaze. He looked at the thing in his mouth, before presenting it to the professor.

Maybe it was about time he returned to the ghost hunting business, just for this one night.

"Polterpup, hand that over, and find me a screwdriver. I think I can fix this."

After a good few minutes, N. Trance had done it. He had caught the bandicoots and the brothers, holding them in his giant, metal hand. His suit was sparking and smoking, barely holding up after the beating he had received, and all the pressure he was putting on its systems. Still, not much power would be needed to squish them.

They all stared at him, some in fear, others with bared teeth and snarls. Just one squish, and they'd be dead. The next step was obvious.

Time to monologue.

"Alright, I've got you right where I want you to be. Clearly there's no chance of you being saved. I'm floating a good ways away from the roof, and you don't have the hunter pack, and that stupid mutt isn't anywhere to save you. Now, I'm just gonna hold onto you guys while I squash the goo thing and let you watch as your stupid world falls under my control."

The FLUDD attachment opened up again, aimed at the unaware goo creature. It's groaning and sparking didn't really spark confidence in its function, but N. Trance was too deep in the moment to care.

"Gooigi, watch out!" Luigi tried to call out. But his clone didn't listen. Just one more card and he was sure to win.

"He can't hear you, green guy. Or he doesn't care enough to listen. I don't know what the guy's like, anatomically or personality wise, so I can only make assumptions." N. Trance taunted.

Water pressure started increasing in the arm, while the others could only struggle as they tried to do anything to release themselves from the mechas metal grip. It would have all been unnecessary, though. The arm ended up breaking open, water spraying out of it through all the cracks and opening, some getting into their faces, and none reaching Gooigi.

"Agh! Why won't anything go right tonight! Screw this, I'm just gonna crush him! And you guys will get front row seats!"

The thrusters on the back flared up as N. Trance prepared to charge down at Gooigi, intent on crushing him. He charged forward, aiming the fist containing the heroes right at the satellite. He didn't care anymore about saving his satellite, he just wanted to get this night over with. He could rebuild the machine, he could regather his army. He just wanted to stop his head from feeling like a cracked egg, damnit!

The bros and bandicoots could only watch the ground approach faster and faster, bracing for the inevitable.

Until a blast of energy hit the arm, freeing them in midair, and causing N. Trance to spiral out of control. Mario managed to flip in midair and stick his landing, while the others just slammed onto the floor unceremoniously and ungracefully. The giant mech slammed into the building, sparking and smoking due to its terrible state.

The heroes turned around to locate the source of the energy blast. Professor E. Gadd, wielding the repaired ghost hunting pack, its business end smoking, was standing triumphantly by the satellite. "Hohoho, I do still have it in me after all… Oh, my back." And he hunched over in pain soon after.

Still, it was impressive. The bandicoots cheered for him while Mario and Luigi rushed over to help him up to his feet. "Hahaha! Good job, professor! Right on time!"

"Yep, I saved the day, I am never doing that again. Oof, climbing up the stairs with this heavy thing on my back. Huff, I am leaving all the heroism to you from now on. Criminy, I'm tired." The professor gasped out, buckling over as the exhaustion kicked in.

They couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. But the entertaining moment was short lived. The smoking stump of the mech's hand slammed onto the roof, startling them. N. Trance hauled himself back onto the building, his giant machine on its last legs, but still with enough power for one last attempt at eradicating them.

"Ugh, I'm sick and tired of you crazed maniacs raining on my parade!" He yelled at them, a crazed look on his bruised and burned up face. "All I wanted to do was enslave an entire planet into a mindless army! Is that too much to ask?! What did I do to deserve this?! I've been a good egg!"

"Aww, is this your first time losing?" Coco said in fake sympathy. "Well get used to that, egghead, this is how things work around these parts!"

"Yeah! In this dimension, the Mario bros always win! And I'm guessing it works the same with yours, right?" Luigi asked. Crash's affirmative nod gave him the answer.

N. Trance rolled his eyes. "Yeah, celebrate all you want. I'm not leaving until at least one of you dies!" A panel on the mech's chest opened up, revealing a small stash of bob-ombs, and a timer attached to them, counting down from 30 seconds. "Now, where is the eject button on this thing?"

"It should be the fourth button to the left, magenta, next to the one for the massage chair activator." E. Gadd helpfully explained.

"Oh, thanks. Found it. Now, say goodbye, losers! AHAHAHA, BAHAHAA!" The egg alien spent some time laughing maniacally, instead of pressing the button that would save his life. And that was his mistake.

The heroes didn't react in fear. In fact, they looked quite happy, and it confused him. It wasn't till he followed their gaze that he found out why. The dang ghost mutt was standing in front of his mech, looking up at him with the stupid look on his face he's had had the entire night.

"What are you looking at? Go find a fire hydrant to desecrate, or something!"

Well, Polterpup did find something to desecrate. It was no fire hydrant, no. He decided to walk closer to the mech, lifted his leg, and answered the call of nature.

"Oh, OH, gross. What do you think that's gonna do, blow up my me- " Apparently, of the many things E. Gadd had added to the giant mecha, water resistance was not one of them. The mech sparked, before it exploded into a magnificent ball of fire that blinded the heroes. N. Trance was sent screaming into the distance, on fire and utterly humiliated.

Debris fell onto the roof as the blast settled. The heroes uncovered their eyes to see their handiwork, and Polterpup sitting by the edge of the building, wagging his tail happily.

"Aww, good boy Polterpup!" Luigi welcomed the ghost pup into his arms.

And as for Gooigi, he finally finished his work. The satellite array audibly shut down, the dishes lowering down with a thud. He gave the others a thumbs up, with Crash returning it with his own.

Victory!

"Ho, boy, that was crazy. Now, how about we get your thing finished, Coco?" Mario turned to the bandicoot girl.

"Oh, oh yeah!" She remembered exactly why they had come to the hotel in the first place. Out of her overall's pocket, she pulled out the Diviner, and showed it to E. Gadd. "So, I was working on this thingamabob that's supposed to detect mad scientist brain waves. But some… complications means I haven't not finished yet. We're sure with this we can find our baddies behind this whole dimensional fiasco, so do you think you can help me finish it?"

"May I have a look at it?" E. Gadd reached for Coco's Mad Science Diviner. The Bandicoot handed it over to him, and stood next to him to see him look it over with the scrutinizing eye of a fellow genius.

"I'm currently missing the relevant brainwaves to be able to make this thing track mad scientists. Apparently, no one sells brain scanning machines on the black market." She complained.

"It's the same here. Annoying, right? Thankfully, I managed to build my own for my own use. I have it next to my Death Laser."

"Ah, you have one too?" Without warning, N. Brio popped up in between them, startling everyone. Somehow he had managed to make it all the way to the top floor without their knowledge. "A fellow connoisseur of the Death Laser, I presume?"

"Of course. What self respecting scientist doesn't have one? Let's head off to my lab. We'll finish the device there." E. Gadd answered.

The trio of geniuses walked back inside the building, leaving behind the Mario Bros, Polterpup and Crash. The latters stomach suddenly began to growl. Poor Crash was hungry.

"Well, since they're gonna be busy for a while, why not grab some lunch? I know the chef in this hotel, and he makes a great Cheep Cheep dish with garlic butter that's to die for." Luigi suggested, Polterpup panting in his arms. Before the others could answer though...

"Oi, you three's ain't going nowhere."

The three seized up, and slowly turned around to see that Dingodile had appeared behind them, staring at them with an intimidating glare. They prepared themselves mentally for the fight that would ensue. But it would never come.

"Without me making ya dinner!" His glare turned into a wide smile.

The three sighed in relief. It seems the hybrid Australian was perfectly happy about them freeing him from hypnosis.

"Seriously, thank yous fer saving me from that whole brainwashing thing. I was just cooking up some grub at home when this egg alien thing abducts me and brainwashes me. Ain't that crazy? Glad you thought that bugger a lesson."

"Ah, it's no problem." Mario said, chuckling after calming down.

"And that's why I'm gonna reward yous with some dinner, made by yours truly! Let me tell ya, you're gonna love my new recipe for Roadkill Pie. It's got extra skunk in it." He started leading the now once again nervous trio back into the building. That did not sound delicious in the slightest.

And as for Gooigi? He was left on the roof, forgotten. The goo based life form started whistling a little tune to himself as he waited for when the others would eventually return to find him.

"Oi, ain't you coming?"

Oh, nevermind then.

Next time, our tri-chapter interlude, were Bowser and Cortex hate each other.