Since starting the story, I have picked up WarioWare Gold. I actually really like the designs of the characters, so I've retroactively changed the designs of the characters that were featured in that game. Some of their designs were drastically different than the ones I was using (a lot were from the Gamecube version) while others were just changed to the new animation style with no other changes to their looks/outfits, and still others were somewhere in the middle. Other characters who did not appear in Gold, such as Sensei and The Monettes, will keep their Smooth Moves designs. For those wondering why Penny isn't featured in this story? In short, I'm changing up the canon a bit so she's not yet born.

Chapter Six.

Training with Kindergartners.

It hadn't been until Danny had agreed to train with Kat and Ana that he'd made a discovery; for the second time, his clothes were destroyed. Luckily, Sensei had spare outfits for days, and was willing to part with one. Now, Danny was clad in a green shirt and blue pants, with brown sandals. Being invincible, Danny wasn't sure how the clothes were supposed to feel, but as long as they did their job, he wasn't too concerned about that. What he could tell, though, was that the outfit was a bit more fragile than his previous outfit. He'd have to be careful; he'd hate to accidentally strip himself to his skivvies.

Danny refocused and walked out to the large gardens, where Sensei had instructed him to meet him, Kat, and Ana when he was finished changing. The gardens were lush, with the high walls of the dojo around them. The area was fairly large, about fifty feet in all directions, giving them plenty of room to move around. Danny still didn't like the idea of fighting these kids, he was afraid he'd accidentally break a bone, and the thought of seriously hurting an innocent child didn't sit well with him. But he'd already agreed to this, so he put on a brave face and walked to the center where Kat and Ana stood with Sensei. Ana's eyes flashed, and her lips formed a smile, a sign of excitement for the coming events. Kat meanwhile, rolled her eyes in exasperation, and gave Danny a "Took you long enough" glance.

"Are you quite ready, Mr. O'Connor?" Asked Sensei, "we have a lot of ground to cover, so I'd like to get in a good amount of time before…" Sensei didn't know how to finish that sentence, so he stopped himself short. "Anyway, is there anything else you wish to discuss before we get started?"

"I...I don't think so. How are we gonna do this?"

"Simple." Said Sensei. "You will fight with Kat and Ana. I understand your reluctance but I assure you, these two will be fine. In fact, I'm more worried about you." Before Danny had time to question that, he took a look; Kat and Ana were gone. Before Danny had time to wonder where they had gone, he felt a powerful gust of wind. Powerful enough to slide him back a few feet. He noticed Kat a few yards in front of him, holding her sword like she'd just split a log in half, smirking wickedly.

Danny was about to fly towards her, when he was struck from the side, causing him to spin wildly. He could see a flash of orange: Ana! He managed to slam his feet into the ground to stop himself, trying to regain his bearings. Then in a flash, both Kat and Ana flew at him, and with a powerful slam, Danny was sent flying backwards, slamming into a wall, a barrage of shurikens pinning his shirt there. Kat was smirking again, while Ana was grinning like she was at Disneyland. Sensei walked over to Danny.

"You just got beaten...by little girls." Danny realized the irony here.

"Well alright then." He said, pulling off the wall, ignoring the tears in his shirt. "Time to take off the kid gloves." He walked back over, cracking his knuckles. The girls were gone again, but this time, Danny was ready. He put up an arm, blocking a sword strike from Ana, then pushing her back. She rolled and stumbled back quite a bit, and for a moment he was afraid he'd hurt her. But then he saw her grinning ear to ear, a lack of blood or bruises. Again, Disneyland. Kat flew at Danny, but he managed to block her sword, and even yanked it from her hand, throwing it into the wall high above, it'd be a real pain for her to get it down.

"Hey!" Cried Kat, "not fair!"

"Very good, Mr. O'Connor!" Praised Sensei.

"What?!" Demanded Kat, "why are you praising him?!"

"Kat," said Sensei, "there is no such thing as a fair fight. Even if there was, the last person you would expect one from is the demon. You must now try to defeat Mr. O'Connor, without your sword." Kat looked back at Danny, only to see he wasn't there anymore. She looked around frantically. He was six feet tall, and wearing bright colors, with green eyes and blond hair. How the heck had he managed to evade her sight? Her thoughts were interrupted when someone grabbed the back of her shirt and hoisted her into the air.

"Hey!" Cried Kat again, "Put me down, this is just bullying." Danny could see an orange blur approaching, so he held the pink haired ninja towards it, thinking it would make her slow down. Sure enough, it did. Ana slowed down to try to rethink her strategy. Danny took the opportunity to grab Ana in a similar position, kicking her sword away. Now, both ninjas were in his hands, and the first thing he thought to do? Start spinning.

Ana squealed with delight, laughing and having fun, forgetting this was a training mission. Kat tried to hide her enjoyment, but a few gleeful giggles did sneak out before she could stop herself. Then, without warning, Danny let go. Both flew back a good distance. Kat and Ana tried to recover from the dizziness and lunge at Danny. But he took off and away at high speed. Kat and Ana saw they were heading right towards each other, and weren't able to stop in time. They collided with each other, both stunned.

"I must say," said Sensei, "that was very clever. I wouldn't have thought to do that." They continued their training for a few hours, both sides having victories and losses in the pseudo battles, before finally deciding to call it for the day. Danny's curfew was soon.

"It's been...an experience for sure." Said Danny. Sensei nodded. Ana ran over and hugged Danny.

"Thank you!" She cried, like he just gave her a present, "that was so much fun." Kat tried to deny it to herself...but she'd had fun too. Danny patted Ana's shoulder, the best he could do about returning the hug.

"Will you be here tomorrow? We must keep training." Insisted Sensei.

"I should be free tomorrow," Said Danny, "but starting Monday I'll have school again."

"Surely the school will understand," said Sensei, as if going to school wasn't a good enough excuse not to practice for saving the world, "that they cannot teach to a destroyed city."

"You'd be surprised." Danny said, only half kidding. "Well anyway, I should probably be home soon."

"Farewell, Mr. O'Connor." Said Sensei, "if you continue to train with Kat and Ana the way you did today, I am sure that we will all be safer when the demon shows his foul hand."

…

At first it had seemed like a great idea, but now, Mona was majorly questioning the wisdom of her decision. She stood atop one of the tallest buildings in Diamond City, looking down to the cold, unforgiving streets below, and the bevy of cars driving on them.

"Danny has that danger sense." Said Mona to herself, "I really hope he senses me in time." She took a step to the edge, but stopped herself, getting cold feet. "You could always text him... oh wait, I don't have his number." Mona started again, only to stop again, "you can find him at school...oh wait, he may not be there." She started again, when out of the blue, she felt cold and wet. She looked at the sky, rain was slamming down, pelting her body with icy drops.

"Was it...raining five seconds ago?" Mona figured there were better ways to draw out Danny, but as she turned to get back onto the roof and leave, she felt her foot slip out from under her due to the wet stone under her feet. Mona slipped, and barely managed to grab the ledge. Now, here she was, hanging for dear life over Emerald Street during rush hour, and it was raining. Mona was in pretty good shape, so normally she could pull herself up. But with the slipperiness from the rain? Mona was lucky she was still hanging on. There was only one logical thing to do.

"HELP!" Mona screamed at the top of her lungs. Her grip was getting looser every second. A few more, and Mona would be taking the express route straight to terra ferma. She made the mistake of looking down. The ground, easily a few hundred feet down, now seemed even lower, a few thousand feet now. Her fingers began burning, and she knew there wasn't much time left. "DANNY!" She shouted. "IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, I KINDA NEED A HERO RIGHT NOW!" And with that, her fingers finally slipped off the ledge. Mona became aware of the horrid sensation of falling, knowing it was to her death. The cold, wet air felt even colder and wetter as she fell, as the top of the building went further and further.

But suddenly, Mona felt the fall slow, and something warm against her back. She felt strong arms wrap around her stomach, but not in a harmful way, and relief flooded her.

"Hi," the voice Mona wanted to hear said. "Maybe next time you wanna base jump off a building, bring a parachute."

"Thank Palutena you're here, Danny." she said. "Before you ask, I had a very good reason to be up there."

"Oh?" Said Danny, "Care to enlighten?"

"I need to talk to you about something." Danny landed on a different roof top and set Mona down.

"Well," he said, "I'm listening."

"So…" Mona clearly was thinking hard about how to phrase her next sentence, as evidenced by the fact she was playing with her hair and avoiding Danny's gaze for a moment.

No point beating around the bush. Thought Mona. She looked at Danny and finally got it off her chest. "Can I...crash at your place for a while?" Danny's eyes widened, clearly not what he was expecting.

"But...why?" he asked her.

"Look, I really really need a break from my dad. I just cannot deal with him after he nearly got me killed. But I can't go to where I'd usually go to avoid him, it's the first place he'll look. I need a new hiding place. So...please?" Mona then gave Danny her best puppy dog eyes. She could tell he was mulling it over.

"I...I guess." He said. "Just...be prepared for some screeching. I've already missed my curfew and when my mom sees I brought a girl she doesn't know home…" Danny was half expecting Mona to cancel now, but instead, without a word, she wrapped her arm around his shoulder and jumped, swinging her legs up.

Danny took the que and moved his arms to catch her, now carrying Mona. He could swear he felt Mona's pulse quicken as he lifted her, but he couldn't be sure so he wrote it off as nothing.

About five minutes later, Danny landed on his front lawn, and set Mona down. For a large portion of the flight, he'd been rehearsing in his head just how he was gonna tell his mother that Mona would be staying for a while. Time was now out, and he just had to use whatever he could grasp from the bed of straws. Danny opened the door and gestured Mona inside. Danny could smell the cigarette smoke, and soon saw the image of his mother sitting in a chair with the lamp on. That meant one thing: big trouble.

"Daniel Albert O'Connor." His mother basically snarled. "Who in the world do you think you are?" She stood, walking towards them. "First, you miss your curfew, and now you bring some random broad I don't know into my house, without asking? Trying to get a quickie in without me noticing?" Danny's face flushed at the suggestion, but he knew better than to protest mid-lecture. "Oh, you're looking at two weeks of-" but before his mother could really start tearing into him, something unexpected happened.

"SHUT UP!" Shouted Mona. Both mother and son looked at Mona, stunned. "Your son has a damn good reason for missing curfew. He saved my life, and not for the first time. Maybe you don't watch the news, but your son is a superhero. He's saved a lot of lives in just a few days and the last thing he needs is some old bag yelling at him. So, how about, instead of nagging, you make him a sandwich?!" Mona paused, hearing a gurgling sound. "In fact," she resumed, "make us both a sandwich! NOW!" The older woman's gaze darted between Mona and Danny a few times. Then, something happened: For the first time in...ever, Danny's mother yielded, going to the kitchen to make the sandwiches. Once she was out of sight, Mona turned partly around and looked at Danny.

"So...she always like this?"

"You haven't seen every side of her yet." Danny confessed.

"When will I see the nice side?" Pressed Mona.

"If she even has one…" Danny offhandedly said. The girl turned fully to face him. Her hands on her hips and her eyebrow arched. Clearly, she wanted to hear more. Danny cleared his throat and began. "That old myth about how storks deliver babies? I'm pretty sure that's what happened, because I know literally nothing about my dad. I have a feeling that may have affected my mom. She drinks, nearly constantly, and that...well you can imagine it doesn't put her in a good position to do much of anything, least of all be nice. It's only when the planets align that she actually acts somewhat nice." Mona was silent for a moment, as if mulling over what Danny had said.

"Don't worry." She finally said. "I'll make that nice side come out more often."

…

"So, that kid thinks of himself as some kinda superhero?" Butch sat in a rundown apartment, its previous owner dead in an alley behind the building. He took a seat on the lumpy bed, noticing a rat scuttling across the floor, about the size of a fireman's boot sole. He played with the idea of frying it but decided to spare his life for now, maybe he'd even give it a name. "I notice he tends to go where the danger is. I'll be sure to test his reflexes later on. I got some good ideas for that." Butch smirked wickedly. "But, tell me, demon. Why did you just take control of me like that, without some kind of warning?"

"I told you," said the demon's voice. He could hear it in his ears, as if the demon was sitting next to him. "I have my own affairs, and we just happened to come across some right at that moment. I had forgotten to explain it to you then and there, but I will not have to wrest control from you if you help me out."

"I guess I could make a note of that," said Butch, "what exactly is the thing you gotta do?"

"I plan to wipe out the entire Iga Ninja Clan," said the demon. "Those two little girls we saw are part of it. Due to events a long time ago, I have a personal interest in seeing them all wiped out."

"Oh, what the hell?" Butch figured, "What's the blood of two little girls on my hands? Sure, if you sense them, let me know. I'll wipe them out for you."

"You are a kind host," said the Demon. "We shall make a great team."

"We sure shall." Said Butch. Both had their own plans for what they wanted to do. Which side would ultimately get what they wanted? If Butch were to ask, he may not like the answer.