Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story.

BGM: Luigi Raceway (Mario Kart 64/7)

"Wahoo!" Inkling Girl drove off of a ramp and landed perfectly on the road. "Stay fresh!" She yelled, throwing a Koopa Shell at a Shy Guy that knocked him off the road, and then a Bullet Bill launched out of nowhere and then it turned back into Luigi after a few seconds and he used a Mushroom right after, being neck and neck with Inkling Girl. "I'm not gonna let you win, old man!" She taunted, only to see that Luigi was giving off quite a stare. "…Yeesh! Take it easy! I didn't mean it! No need for that death stare!"

"You kids today need to be taught a lesson in humility!" Luigi smirked and then drove off.

"Oh, I don't think so!" Inkling smirked as they floored it, going inside the tunnel before coming out of it a few seconds later.

"Luigi and Inkling are neck and neck! There's no telling who's going to win this race!" A Lakitu reporter exclaimed. "Wait… what's that popping out of a bush?"

Both of them would notice a Yamper popping out of the bush and charging at them, having a happy smile on his face. "Wah!" Luigi exclaimed.

"Whoa!" Inkling Girl exclaimed as both of them swerved around it as it turned around and chased after them.

"Does anyone know who's dog that is… and why it's chasing the two of them?" Lakitu wondered. "Hey Professor, what do you make of this?"

"Oh, it looks like a corgi… but it also looks like a Pokemon." E. Gadd mused. "I have never seen such a thing like it before!"

"Well, it seems to be chasing those two for some reason! Wonder if it likes plumbers and squids…"

"What the squid is it doing?!" Inkling yelled.

"No idea!" Luigi exclaimed, as they ran over two ? Boxes as a coin popped up for Inkling.

"Ugh! Who puts coins in item boxes?!" She turned around. "Here, fetch!" She tossed it back to the Yamper, but it didn't even look twice and kept chasing them. "Seriously?!"

Luigi, meanwhile, had a Mushroom as he pushed it into his kart where it sped up and left Inkling in the dust, crossing the finish line. "Wahoo! Who's the number one now, Weegee!"

End BGM

"And Luigi crosses the finish line! He won the race! Inkling comes in second and Koopa comes in third!"

Luigi walked over to the stands to retrieve his trophy, but the Yamper got in his way. "Yamp! Yamp!" It barked happily.

"Oh, hey little guy." Luigi smiled, petting its head affectionately as it suddenly jumped up in his arms and licked his face. "Ack! Hahaha!"

A Pokeball opened up and Hoopa examined the creature. "I think it wants to come with ya."

"You think?" He asked as the Yamper nodded its head.

"Yup, but I'm not sure what Pokemon this is…"

"Yamp!"

"I think it's a Yamp." Hoopa mused. "Judging by its look, I think it might be an Electric type." He said as he opened up a hoop and reached inside, pulling out a Fast Ball. "Ah, here we go!"

"Hmm, an Electric type… it was on the Luigi Circuit…" Luigi grinned. "I think I'm gonna call ya Circuit!"

"Yamp!" Yamper barked, seeming to like the name.

"Here ya go!" Hoopa said, handing him the Fast Ball as Luigi gently poked Yamper's nose with it, where it went inside the ball… and three shakes and a click later, it was his!

"Gotcha!" Luigi smiled and put it away, but then Circuit popped out of the Pokeball and barked happily, then noticing Marshadow pop up from Luigi's shadow and curiously looked at the Yamper, where it proceeded to lick its face, causing Marshadow to blink in surprise, wipe its face and blushed a bit before disappearing back into the shadow.

"Aw, don't be such a stick in the mud, Marshadow!" Hoopa told it.

"Come on, you. Let's go show the others." Luigi said and then walked off with the Yamper right behind him.

Back with the others…

BGM: Gloomy Galleon (Donkey Kong 64)

Yang was sitting on some boxes in a fetal position. "So what's got ya down?" Shantae asked as she had Bolo take the wheel. "I've never seen you so mopey before."

"Oh, you know… just my aura completely vanishing thanks to that asshole." Yang muttered.

"K. Rool sucked all your aura out?"

"Yeah, and normally I can take hits like a champ but… now I can't…" She sighed. "I didn't think it'd be that bad, and I thought I'd make it out okay, but what happens? What freakin' happens?! I get one-shotted by a damn Kritter with a club!"

"Ooof, that'd probably sour anyone's mood…" Shantae winced. "Probably damaged your pride too."

"Yeah, it did… and it hurt a lot…" Yang groaned.

"But hey, look at the bright side, you're still alive!" Shantae grinned.

"It feels like I'm nothing without my aura…"

Shantae sighed. "You know, I can relate to your predicament."

"Really?"

"Yeah, there was a time when I lost my genie powers all because of Risky stripping my powers away from a magic lamp. I was left human for a good while before I got my powers back after destroying the Pirate Master with Risky. So I know what it's like being stripped from something that you take for granted. I know what you're going through, I've been down that road."

"Yeah, but… have you ever been stuck in a bucket of bolts and nearly killing your friends over it?"

"I… uh… okay, you got me there…" Shantae rubbed her arm.

"I'm not sure how I'm ever gonna live with myself… I mean, I nearly killed my teammate, my sister… and a few of my friends! I mean, how the hell is someone going to get over that?"

"Uh… with time…? I don't know… I haven't gone down this route!"

"Exactly… I'm just… I don't even know."

"But hey, look at the bright side, you got your friends whi'd be willing to share some of that pain for ya. You can't always be a brick wall!"

"But I attacked my friends! You didn't as far as I know! Without my aura, I'm nothing."

"…Alright, I can't take this anymore…" Blake grumbled and walked over to Yang.

"I'm just going to get in the way."

"Oh, now that is entirely not true." Shantae said. "There's a thing called adapting, you might want to use it."

"But how can I? I'm worth-"

SLAP!

The slap was loud enough that it was heard by everyone, surprising everyone except for Sky.

"How can you be so selfish…"

Pause BGM

BGM: Roxas (Kingdom Hearts II)

Blake glared at Yang who looked at the faunus in surprise. "You think you're the one that's bothered by this?! You think you're upset that you were fighting your friends? How do you do think we feel?!" She shouted. "You talk about being so upset that your aura being drained and the fact you're horrified that you were fighting us, but… do you think we're okay with you being in there? Had we known you were in there, we would've held back!"

"Then why didn't you hold back?!" Yang yelled.

"Because we didn't know you were in there, dammit!" Blake yelled back. "We could've killed you without even realizing it! You're lucky that it was your aura that was drained, your life could've ended along with your aura! Hell, RUBY is lucky that she didn't lose a sister! I'm lucky that I didn't lose one of my best friends! We're all grateful, not to mention lucky that you're alive, but honestly, it's completely selfish of you to think that YOU are the only one bothered by this. How do you think we'd feel if we had accidentally killed you? How do you think WEISS would feel if we found her and told her that you died because we didn't know that you were in KAOS?"

"I… I…"

"She's right…" Ruby stepped in. "If we did any more damage… we could've lost you…" She started tearing up. "I could've killed my sister… how do you think I'd react if I did the killing blow? I could've killed you! We all would've been heartbroken if you died! I don't know what I would've done if I had been the one that slayed my own sister." She quickly hugged her sister, burying her head in her chest. "Please… don't be stupid and blame yourself…"

Yang said nothing, but hugged her sister tightly. "You're right… I'm sorry… I didn't mean to be so selfish…"

"I know it can be hard, Yang…" Blake put her hand on her shoulder. "But you shouldn't blame yourself for what K. Rool did. Let us take some of the hits for you. Like Ruby said, we're family… practically sisters. We don't want to lose you… so please, don't be selfish and blame yourself… this isn't you."

Yang teared up and hugged Blake. "I'm so sorry…"

"It's okay." Blake smiled, hugging her back as a tear escaped her eye.

Kazooie popped out of Banjo's backpack. "Hoo boy, this is better than that reality TV crap."

"Kazooie!"

"…What, did that kill the mood?"

End BGM

Resume Gloomy Galleon BGM

"Sorry for being so moody…" Yang sighed. "This… took a lot out of me more than I thought."

"Don't worry about it, Yang." Ruby wiped her tears. "We'll help you get through this. We're a team."

"Yeah, we won't leave you high and dry." Blake smiled. "We'll stick together."

"Thanks, you two." Yang smiled, giving her sister a noogie and hugging Blake again, then the three parted as Chunky walked up to them.

"Chunky sorry for nearly killing blonde girl…"

"Aww, it's not your fault, big guy!" Yang smiled, wrapping an arm over his shoulder. "You were just helping out. Don't sweat it!"

Chunky smiled and gave Yang a bear hug in response, where Yang returned it with a smile and the two parted after that. "Hey Yang." Tifa caught her attention. "Since you can't tank any hits right now, I'll teach ya how to block, and also having you fight calmly. I'm sure being calm is the key for you firing off that Hadoken."

"Oh come on, I know how to block." Yang said.

"Yang, you're a raging bull that's 'punch first, block never'." Ruby pointed out. "Heck, you never bring out your shield in a Smash match!"

"She's not wrong." Blake added.

"Alright, that's enough out of you two!" Yang rolled her eyes and then chuckled. "Alright, sure, I'll look forward to that."

"Excellent." Tifa chuckled. "Come on, we can start right now. I'm sure there's room inside." She said, where she opened up a hatch and hopped in where Yang hopped in after her.

"Good for them!" Ruby smiled.

"Sooooo…" Kazooie looked at Blake. "If ya don't mind me asking… are you and Yang…?"

"Oh goodness, not you too…" Blake sighed.

"Huh?"

"Sorry, the rumors have been spreading like crazy in the Smash Mansion that Yang and I are a thing and it's kinda gotten annoying."

"Oh, sorry…"

"Oh no no no, it's okay! You didn't know." Blake said. "I'm still wondering if it was either Wario or Dedede who made up that rumor… I asked Wolf but he said he's not one for starting rumors."

"Eh, I'm sure one of them started it up because they were bored." Ruby said.

"That's what I've been thinking." Blake nodded. "Anyway, Yang and I aren't an item. I'm kinda interested in someone else… and I'm not sure who Yang is seeing right now."

"Who's the lucky guy?" Banjo asked.

Blake blushed. "Um… well…"

"It's Sun. She liiiiiikes him!" Ruby teased.

"Ruby!"

"She's blushing!" Ruby giggled.

"Guh-huh! Well, I'm sure this Sun person is quite the character. Good for him!" Banjo smiled.

"Thanks…" Blake blushed.

"So when's the wedding, lover girl?" Kazooie teased.

"KAZOOIE!" Blake yelled.

"Ah! Her cheeks are turning redder!" Ruby teased.

"We're just… really good friends, that's all!"

"That's how it staaarts~!" Kazooie teased.

"Ugh…" Blake turned to see Donkey and Diddy making "kissy" faces at her. "You're not helping!" She exclaimed, causing the two Kongs to giggle.

End BGM

Suddenly, the boat started rocking. "Whoa!" Shantae exclaimed. "Bolo, did you hit a rock?"

"No, not that I'm aware of!" Bolo said.

"Are they getting rough down there?" Tiny wondered.

Rotty looked to the side of the ship. "Uh, we got a problem!" She said.

"What is it?" Shantae asked as she looked over, seeing a large fish headbutting the ship, and then it disappeared, only for to breach over the water. "It's… a fish!"

"It's a mechanical fish!" Tiny exclaimed. "I think K. Rool built that thing!" She said as the fish dove underwater again, right as Yang and Tifa came above deck.

"What's going on?" Yang asked.

"There's a mechanical fish trying to take us down!" Ruby exclaimed, feeling it hit the ship as it breached over the ship again, landing in the water again.

"I'm going in after it!" Yang declared.

"What?! No!" Tifa pulled her away. "You can't fight well in water, no one can! That thing'll eat you alive!"

"She's right, we have to think of something that will hurt the fish." Blake said.

"Agh, where's a Penguin Suit when you need it!" Yang groaned.

"Wait! I got it!" Lanky exclaimed and pulled out a whistle that was in the shape of a swordfish. "I know just the thing for a situation like this!" He exclaimed and blew the whistle. "Thank goodness Cranky made this so he can hear it underwater!"

"He?" Ruby asked.

"Over there, look!" Bolo called out. "There's something approaching us!"

They would all look to see a dorsal fin fast approaching them before it disappeared under the water. The mechanical fish jumped out and aimed to take a large bite out of the ship, but suddenly a swordfish breached out of the water and slammed into the underbelly of the mechanical fish, sending it into the water as it turned around and snarled at the intruder. "Was that a swordfish?!" Blake yelled.

"That was Enguarde!" Tiny exclaimed, watching the two fish go at it. The mechanical fish bit down, but Enguarde avoided it and stabbed it a few times before whacking it away with his tail. The Kongs were cheering the loudest over the fight while Blake was drooling over Enguarde.

"I… want to meet the winner of this fight when it's all over." Blake said.

Rotty noticed something in the corner of her eye. "Look out!" She yelled as the others looked up and saw a ship approaching… and then it rammed into them.

"Argh!" Bolo exclaimed. "What gives?!"

"Alright men! Take no prisoners on that ship! Make 'em walk the plank!"

"Aye aye, sir!" The Kremlings exclaimed and started boarding Shantae's ship.

"Wait… that voice…" Yang whispered as she saw K. Rool aboard the ship, giving her a smirk.

"Ahoy there, firecracker!"

"YOU!" Yang screamed, clenching her fists and quickly running toward the other ship.

"YANG, WAIT!" Ruby yelled, but a lot of Kremlings boarded the ship to overwhelm them. "Agh!"

Yang glared at K. Rool when she got on his ship. "Get down here NOW. I want to kick your ass!"

K. Rool chuckled as he walked down the steps. "Do you really think you have it in ya to fight me? Your aura is gone, and your tankiness has tossed out the window. Ya know, I can do it again if I wanted to! Just watching you squirm is music to my ears." He smirked. "You know, I really oughta thank you for that beating you gave me when we first met, where now I can return the favor ten fold."

"Keep talking and I'll-"

"You'll what? Punch me? You wouldn't even last five seconds, you glass cannon! …Or would you be just straight up glass at this point? AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Grrrr…. RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" She screamed, punching her fists as her hair caught on fire and her eyes turned red. "I'M GOING TO FREAKING KILL YOU!"

BGM: Crocodile Cacophony (Super Smash Bros Ultimate)

K. Rool chuckled, taking out his Blunderbuss and put it over his shoulder with a smirk, doing a 'come at me' taunt. Yang charged ahead, quickly punching K. Rool in the gut and then followed up with an uppercut, quickly delivering several right and left hooks and then delivered a nasty punch to his gut, then punched him in the head and then unleashed a Shoryuken to knock him back.

"Heh…" K. Rool brushed it off. "You done yet? I let you had your fun… now it's my turn!" He exclaimed, aiming his Blunderbuss at her and pulled the trigger, shooting out a cannonball where she ducked and ran over to punch him, but K. Rool pressed a button where the Blunderbuss suddenly sucked her up. He let out a chuckle and pressed the release button, aiming at the mast and pressing the trigger, launching Yang out and smacking her into the mast, make her fall down but K. Rool grabbed her by the throat and tossed her into the ground, raising his foot up and stomping on her stomach, making her cough out some spit, then he sucked her back in and shot her out toward the wheel.

Yang hit the wheel and fell over groaning, but she shook it off. "Wow! You're still kicking? Maybe I should've added more power to releasing ya!"

"SHUT UP, YOU BASTARD!" She screamed, summoning her Xiao Long Arm and running toward him, punching him with her Arm but he caught it with his fist.

"Pfft, attacking me with this thing?" He yanked it out of her arm and tossed it into the water. "Let me show ya real punching power!" He exclaimed, sucking her up with the Blunderbuss and shooting her up in the air, where he jumped up in the air, bringing out his boxing glove and punching her straight into the ship, then he landed on her stomach for good measure, making her cough out blood. He then grabbed her by the hair and tossed her to the side. "What's the matter? I thought you were stronger than that!" He said, casually holding a few strands of hair in his hand. "Oh, lookie here, I have your hair. Whatever shall you do?"

"RAAAAAAAAAH!" Yang charged at K. Rool like a mad woman and punched him as hard as she could, but he smirked and blew into his hand, the strands of hair flying to Yang where it went into her eyes. "Agh!" She cried, lowering her arm.

Perfect! K. Rool smirked, puffing out his chest, his stomach armor glowing and she bounced off of K. Rool when the punch connected, then he aimed the Blunderbuss at her and fired a cannonball, hitting her dead center in the chest as she slammed into the deck, groaning. "Heh! Don't tell me you're expiring already, firecracker! I thought you were stronger than that!" He said, watching Yang struggle to get up. He then looked at the other ship and smirked, having a genius idea. He suddenly went invisible a few seconds later.

"Nnngh…" Yang groaned, wiping blood from her nose. "Where are you, you coward…?!"

"AAAAH!"

Yang's eyes widened, knowing who's scream that was as she turned around to see K. Rool holding Ruby hostage, holding the Blunderbuss to her head and smirked at Yang. "NO!" She screamed, jumping over to the ship. "DON'T YOU DARE!"

"Ah ah ah! One move and your sister is a goner!" K. Rool smirked, causing Yang's eyes to widen, forcing her to back down after landing. "That goes for the rest of ya, too!"

"Nnngh, coward!" Blake yelled.

Ruby growled, attempting to elbow K. Rool in the gut but she felt sharp pain in her elbow. "Ow!"

"Ah ah ah, little speed demon! I have belly armor, your little elbow won't do anything!" K. Rool smirked, still holding the Blunderbuss to Ruby's head. "What's it gonna be, firecracker? You or your sister's head?"

"Y-Yang… please…" Ruby begged, frightened tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Ruby…" Yang whispered, frustrated, angry tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Well? I'm waiting!"

Yang clenched her fists, before the fire in her head extinguished and her eyes went back to normal. "I… I yield…"

End BGM

"That's a good girl!" K. Rool smirked, then everyone heard the sound of a Pokeball opening up and Dàhuô popped out.

"Tepig Tep!" Dàhuô growled, embers coming out of his nose and glared at the king, but suddenly a Kremling stepped on his back to pin him down, aiming a sword at him.

"Make one move and you're bacon!" The Kremling threatened.

"Stand down, Dàhuô… we lost…" Yang whispered, not noticing dark clouds rolling in.

"No…" Ruby whispered as everyone else wanted to do something but found themselves pinned by Kremlings as K. Rool dragged Ruby over to Yang, the Blunderbuss still aimed at her head before dropping the girl. Yang looked down at her sister.

"I'm sorry…" Yang whispered as K. Rool aimed the Blunderbuss at her, smirking.

"I could strap you to an anchor and watch you die a slow death, but where's the fun in that when death comes instantly?" He smirked, his finger on the trigger. "Any last words, firecracker?"

"…Go fuck yourself…"

"Ooooh, someone's got a mouth on her! Don't worry, I'll make this nice and painful as possible." He smirked, aiming at her head as everyone stood still, Yang closing her eyes and holding her breath as K. Rool chuckled. "Farewell."

Suddenly, a lightning bolt slammed into K. Rool. "YAAAAAAH!" He screamed as everyone looked on in shock, making the captain fall over.

"Kaptain! You okay?!" A Kremling yelled, as everyone looked at each other and quickly punched the daylights out of the Kremlings to free themselves while at the same time, Enguarde skewered the Mechanical Fish one last time as it exploded as bananas started floating to the surface of the water as Enguarde nodded in satisfaction.

"Urgh…" K. Rool groaned and then looked around, seeing everyone glaring at him as he got up. "I may be an insane croc, but I'm not stupid." He said. "Everyone, retreat!"

"We lost?" A Kremling asked.

"Oh no… we won." K. Rool smirked and then looked at Yang. "See you around, hot head… if you survive that long! AHAHAHAHA!" He laughed, pulling out his helicopter pack and then flying off while the Kremlings got on the ship and took off.

"What is he talking about? How did they win?" Shantae asked.

"I think I know why…" Sky said, looking over to Yang who stood there for a few seconds, a shadow cast over her eyes.

"Tepig…?" Dàhuô looked at Yang with concern, before Yang fell on her knees.

"Dammit!" Yang cursed, punching the ground while tears fell from her eyes. "Dammit… DAMMIT!" She yelled, crying uncontrollably while everyone stood there, not sure what to do while Chunky gently knelt down and picked up the firecracker, cradling her.

"There there, girl! No need to cry! Chunky will make you feel all better!"

"This is a major blow… isn't it?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah… it sure is…" Blake whispered, watching her teammate cry while off in the distance, a raven watched the scene before it. It then turned around and summoned a red portal before flying off, unaware of a crow watching the raven disappear into the portal and it closed behind it. It let out a soft caw and looked back at the boat.

Meanwhile…

"Alright, ice queen! We're being nice to ya and giving you a meal." A Kremling said, opening up an icy door after punching a code. "Get it while it's ho-… hey, where's you go?!" He asked, looking at an empty cell, unaware of the prisoner above him clinging to the ceiling. "Hey! We got an escap-" Weiss dropped down, landing on the Kremling. "OOOOF!"

Weiss karate chopped his neck to knock him out, sneaking out the door as she looked at the Kremling, sticking out her tongue while pulling down her eye socket as she closed the door behind her, then she jumped into the shadows undetected.

"Time to bust my way out of here." She whispered and disappeared in the shadows.

You've got nowhere to go but up at this point!

Also, I will admit... I sometimes have those moments where i'm so focused on a single character that I don't really think about said character's friends responding appropriately or something similarly. As Coon1337 pointed out in the last review, Blake calling Yang out was my response to it. Sorry about that, y'all! We all make mistakes, that's what makes us human. Oversight is our thing, sadly.

I was going to have a scene where JNPR gets another Assist Trophy, but I thought that would have killed the mood.

Anyway, see y'all in the next chapter where things will hopefully look up from here!