A Walk Among Giants, Chapter 36: Fanfare.
Greetings kind lad/lass, so you hath cometh for more on this epic tale I have to tell? Well then, sit back and get comfortable for I have lots to tell.
Kind regards to:
The noble UltimateCCC: it probably had been a while, with him being such an important figurehead, and his time in smash.
The fair ShadowStarr23: *looks at the camera* "Here it comes!"
"Hmmm, say Zelda, Samus?" Master hand says while he observes the battle.
"What is it sir?" Zelda asked while stepping forward. They were in a different viewing platform where Master Hand did his voice overs and controls various other functions. He had Samus and Zelda at either side of him at the time who were of course there to help him assure things go smoothly. Midna was a few paces behind them having accompanied Zelda.
"Who is that man locked in battle with Marth right now?" Master hand said while he stroked his chin/lower palm in thought.
"Ah him" Samus says, pulling up her tablet with his info. "That would be Chrom, Lucina's father, current exalt of Ylisse. He is currently here as Robin's guest." She tells him while handing him the tablet and he looks it over.
"Hmm yes I remember, he declined our initial invitation to join the tournament. Which is such a shame seeing as how he seems to be an excellent fighter." MH said as he watched Chrom holding his own against Marth. "I'd like both of you to retrieve the man after his match, let us see if we can't convince him to join the next smash." He says as Chrom knocked Marth out of the stage and the crowd began to roar as he was almost KOed.
"As you wish" Samus said plainly and motioned towards the door with her head to Zelda. The hylian princess nods and they both head out followed by the twilight princess.
Meanwhile…
Chrom lands after his aerial attack and dashes towards the blue prince who was preparing for a counter. Chrom anticipated that Marth was up to something however based on how calm Marth just stood in place as he dashed at him. Marth however had also planned for this as in the few seconds Chrom hesitated it allowed Caeda to sneak up on him with a powerful upward thrust. Chrom was almost sent flying off into the distance and he cursed himself for being so careless and letting his guard down. He jumps away from the blast zone and safely lands back unto the safe areas of the stage, he came back into view of the camera that recorded matches. Sumia comes crashing near him moments later as they had finished comboing her and pushing her back with heavy smash attacks. She quickly gets back to her feet and glances back at her husband before turning back towards the opposition.
"I'm afraid we're going to have to change up our tactics dear, we're getting pummeled!" She says as she tries to catch her breath.
"I hear you" he says as the other pair moved in on them, "say Sumia" he says with a smirk.
"Hm?" She hummed while slightly turning to him.
"Let's try risen in the middle shall we?" He says while she turns her gaze back at the other duo.
"Way ahead of you dear!" She says as they get in position.
The crowd was roaring and chanting in excitement while some fans held up banners of their favorite character. A few balloons floated off here and there while streamers flew around.
"Wow I'm amazed that Chrom lasted this long in there with Marth, usually he's all slice and dice and off you go." Ike said, leaning back in his seat crossing his arms.
"Heh, classic Marth he's just toying with them, he wants to enjoy this one." Roy said with a large grin on his face.
"I don't know guys, Chrom looks like he has something up his sleeve…" Link said with a shrug before taking a huge bite out of a hotdog.
Lucina shifted around in her seat looking on with worry, Roy was right Marth was just toying with them, but now it looked like he was setting up his finishing blow. She had seen this act countless times to know when it was coming. Although at second glance she also saw her father and mother preparing something of their own, she smirked knowing exactly what they had planned. Beside her Pittoo let out a long exaggerated yawn while throwing his head back.
"Man this is taking forever…" He says before taking a sip of his drink. Right before the crowd went ballistic and a few smashers around them rose from their seats.
GAME!
"WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED!?" Ike called out while pointing out at the stadium.
"It was all just one big blur one second, then all the contestants were just gone." Roy said slowly before settling back in his seat. Link however was too busy choking on his hotdog to comment while pounding his fist to his chest.
"Apparently the last two contestants cleared out around the same time so Master Hand is deciding what course to take." Peach says from far back twirling her little umbrella in her hands.
SUDDEN DEATH!
The announcer called out while Marth and Chrom reappeared back onto the stage. "Oh yeah now that's more LIKE IT!" Pittoo cheered.
Marth wasted no time dashing at his opponent while Chrom looked dazed. He quickly composed himself however when he saw Marth dashing towards him. Marth tries to deliver a quick upwards dash but Chrom rolls behind him and takes hold of the prince, tossing him a good distance away while the crowd cheered. The way Marth took off let Chrom know they were both at a very high damage percent, hence why it was probably called sudden death. Marth quickly stumbles back onto the stage and prepares his next attack. Chrom decides to meet him halfway with a counter, he just needs one good hit in, one hit and he bests Marth.
"Oh my gods' I can't watch…" Lissa says covering her face with her hands but had her fingers separated so she could peek through the gaps. Link spat out the piece of hotdog lodged in his throat finally with the help of Ike. He sighs before picking up the slobbered food, shrugging and popping it back into his mouth.
"Not just going to waste perfectly good food you stuck up pricks!" He says to the few who gave him looks.
"Yeah it's not like it's everyday we get to enjoy an actual hotdog. Toon says finishing off a hotdog, "Good stuff!" He says patting his stomach while Link gives him a look.
"Hey you little turd, was that MY hotdog?!" He exclaimed.
"No…" Toon says sheepishly, "hey man it was just sitting there with no indication that it belonged to anyone!" Toon protested while Link scoffed and crossed his arms.
"Oh yeah because a half eaten hotdog obviously doesn't belong to anyone!" Link says in a huff while Toon leaned back in his seat.
"Yeah see you get it pal, now why don't you go get us another round!" Toon says while shooing away the older hylian. Link looked like he was about to strangle the little hylian until he saw Zelda giving him a stern look. He just waved them off and stomped away grumbling to himself.
"Holy mackerel!" Ike said very high pitched while nudging Shulk, "did you see that!" He says as Marth was close to KOing his opponent, however they were both being a little too cautious and opted for defensive stances rather than offensive.
"Uh huh" Shuk said while he was busy reading up on all about Chrom, now that he didn't have to hide it he could actually do field research in the field.
"I kinda miss the old you…" Ike said with a sad sigh.
The crowd roared again when both contestants managed to land a hit knocking each other back, but it wasn't enough. And that's when it happened, the bomb-ombs started to drop from the sky apparently. Marth tried to move forward but he quickly had to retreat as a bomb fell directly in his path. Chrom was having much luck either as he had to keep dodging and or putting up his shield. There was too much going on and he couldn't think straight anymore, the only thing going through his mind was to survive. And that's when it happened Marth dropped in front of him charging his neutral smash attack. Chrom quickly put up his shield as Marth jabbed forward making it shrink significantly before a bomb also landed on it. The sound of glass shattering rang throughout the stadium as Chrom fell in place. He quickly got back up but found that he couldn't move as he was stuck in a daze. Marth wasted no time and quickly slash at him, sending him flying off the stage and exploding in a flash of light.
GAME!
AND THE WINNER IS… BLUE TEAM!
The crowd all rose from their seats while clapping and cheering and throwing confetti and streamers around. The chutes in the back opened up and the contestants all stepped out.
"Great match out there, you had me on my toes" Marth said while shaking Chroms hand.
"Are you kidding, my heart was racing the entire time" Chrom replied while breathing out slowly, "couple more seconds and I would've had a heart attack" he adds while wiping his brow.
"Chrom, Master Hand would like to have a word a person" Samus says approaching the bluenette.
"Oh by all means let's go meet the big man himself" Marth says motioning them out.
"I guess it couldn't hurt" Chrom says with a shrug as they head out.
"Is that a good or bad thing?" Sumia whispered to Caeda.
"In this case I presume it's a good thing, a very good thing" she whispered back while Sumia silently ohs.
"Lucina, Dark Pit you guys are next, against Ryu and Ken" Peach calls out while the fighters step towards the chutes.
"Finally, let's get this show on the road!" Pittoo says excitedly while entering the chute.
Lucina looked on nervously; however, she remembered how much Ryu did by himself and now there were two of them. "You got this sweetie I'm rooting for you!" Sumia says as Lucina enters the chute. She gives her mother a quick nod before it closes transporting them to the portal room.
"Gentlemen, how would you guys like to make this battle more interesting!" Pittoo says while messing with the controls. He shows the control screen to the other two who give it a quick glance and just casually shrug. "Right on, let's get this show on the road!" He exclaimed while they stepped into the portal pads.
"What exactly did you do?" Lucina asked, concerned seeing the mighty grin on his face.
"Oh don't worry you'll see" he assured. But before she could protest again he just grabbed her by the face and pushed her into the portal pad. They are then both engulfed in light and reappear on the battlefield stage while the crowd begins to cheer.
3.
2.
1.
Go!
The announcer quickly calls out and Ryu and Ken waste no time and move in for a pummeling. "HADOUKEN!" Ryu shouts as he thrusts his hands forward sending the blue orb hurling at the duo. Pittoo quickly jumps out of the way while Lucina side stepped the attack only to take another orb to the face.
"What the hell did you get us into!?" Lucina says as she slowly gets back up.
"The best fight of our LIVES!" Pittoo shouts over excitedly before being punched into the ground. "YEAH!"
"You freaking psycho!" She shouts at him before being double hadouken blasted off the stage.
"Oh my baby!" Sumia shouts as Lucina is almost KOed.
"Jeez, they're being tossed around like rag dolls out there!" Ike says, "super exciting stuff eh?" He adds while nudging Shulk and shoving some popcorn in his mouth. However he spat out the snack when he saw that Shulk was once again immersed in reading. "What the hell are you doing now, the file on Chrom wasn't even that big!" He states while motioning to the little device in the blonde man's hands.
"That is correct, however you can't tell me you aren't a tad bit curious about these two individuals. I mean their fighting styles and postures are rather unique, we've never seen anything like it. And the most important thing is how they fire the burst of energy from the palm of their hands like that." Shulk explained while motioning towards the stage where Ryu shot out one of those said energy orbs.
"Alright, fair point..." Ike admits while they both shoved their faces in the device and scanned through the text.
"Uhhh I don't think Lucina knew what she was getting herself into" Lissa says as the bluenette disappears in a flash of light.
"How did she reappear like that?" Sumia asked, watching as Lucina came down on a little platform.
"Oh that's because they set their match to 5 stocks rather than the usual 1" Raven answered.
"How are they in such perfect synch?" Robin says as the street fighter duo push the dark angel to the edge with a double spinning kick and then stomp him out of existence. When he comes back down on the platform Lucina shoots him a quick glare before they both jump back down. When they land the stage starts to shake and the fighters try to hold their footing. A bright light engulfs the stage momentarily blinding everyone just before the rumbling stopped. When their vision cleared they were all now on the big blue stage atop the falcon flyer.
"Woah what was that!" Toon says while he jumps up in his seat.
"Oh that was a scrapped implementation Master Hand had for this tournament where stages would switch at random, of course there were the options to pick which. However in the end Master Hand decided it was not worth the headache to implement and scrapped it. There is a prototype of the system that was made however which is what you see here, there were some bugs so you can expect this fight to get really crazy." Link says casually before taking a huge bite of a hotdog.
"Link you've kinda been eating all day, maybe you should slow the roll you know. Or you're just going to make yourself sick," Zelda tells the hylian who just waved her off.
"Pfft, nonsense my dear, my immune system is iron clad!" he states while pounding his fist to his chest. And then taking another bite of the hot dog.
"Hey weren't you with Marth and Chrom?" Toon says while scratching his head.
"I was, but then he dismissed Samus and I so he could have a chat with them," Zelda replied.
"SHORYUKEN!" Ken shouts as he knocks Pittoo into the air who quickly composed himself and flew under the falcon flyer. Lucina saw the falcon flyer begin to slowly disintegrate meaning it was going through the blast zone. She looked around and found a little platform hovering above the automobiles down under and quickly jumped towards it. She spots Ken coming at her from above, most likely to knock her to the ground where she'll quickly get sent to the blast zone. But before he could strike she did her upward dash sending him away as she grabbed ahold of a sphere floating nearby. She looks down and sees Pit holding back Ryu while Ken spots her and prepares for another attack. He dashes towards her and she lets go of the edge and drops onto the automobiles down below and Ken quickly follows.
"Perfect!" Lucina says to herself with a slight smirk, he took the bait. As soon as he landed in front of her she quickly dashed at him and grabbed him, before kicking him off the racecar onto the track below. He begins to run and dash like mad as the stage was leaving him being, Lucina waited patiently gripping her sword tightly for the opportune moment to strike. Ken leaps forward and dashes in the air to reach safety again but Lucina was prepared, she jumped towards him charging her jab attack and when they were face to face she thrusts forwards giving him a big push back. He crashed onto the track and before he could stand back up he had exploded into a flash of light. "Yes!" She said excitedly as the crowd cheered while she safely landed back onto a platform. She turns to see Pittoo and Ryu were still locked in combat as she dashed towards them. She takes hold of Ryu quickly. Pittoo charges a powerful attack and sends him straight into the blast zone and he disappears in a flash of light. Just as the street fighter duo respawn the stage began to rumble again and is engulfed in a white light momentarily blinding them before it faded. Everything was tinted a reddish orange now and there was a burst of lava flowing in the background, they were now all standing on the Pyrosphere stage.
"Alright stay vigilant and try not to die" Pittoo says before taking a deep breath and rushing in.
"Wait what?" Lucina asked but he was gone, she groaned but followed after him dashing towards their opponents. Ryu jumps into the air preparing to come at them with an aerial attack while Ken goes for a spinning kick attack. Lucina however rolls behind Ken to avoid the attack while Pittoo fires an arrow in midair canceling out Ryu's attack. Lucina wasted no time and quickly began to combo out Ken giving him as much damage as possible for a potential KO.
"HADOUKEN!" Ken shouts as he tries to blast Lucina who jumps away from the attack. Pittoo sees the projectile coming at him and puts up his shield, sending the projectile straight back at its source. Ken gets hit sending him back while Lucina takes the opportunity to charge an attack and releases it upon landing in front of him. Ken goes off stage and seemingly falls to the lava below, however he didn't resurface as expected which confused the bluenette. He wasn't out either as there was no explosion of light indicating a KO either. She slowly lowered her weapon to her side as took slow cautious steps forward towards the edge. The stage began to rumble again before a sharp screech echoed throughout the vicinity and everything went quiet including the crowd. Even Ryu and Pittoo stopped fighting momentarily to see what the commotion was. Ken was then seemingly launched into the air by an unseen force at great speeds and crashed back onto the stage in a daze. The rumbling continued as something large was apparently making its way up from beneath the stage, Lucina turned back towards the edge confused seeing as how all the fighters were on the stage and no one else was scheduled to be in the fight. A purple hand extends out and roughly grabs the edge of the stage with its claws before another arm comes out and does the same. Two pairs of wings slowly raise up before the head of the creature finally comes up. Its bright yellow eyes scan the stage before landing on its intended targets. Lucina quickly back ups before she turns to Dark Pit mouthing the words "What the Hell?" He just grinned however and told her to run. The creature screeches again before dashing forwards and swiping at them with its claws while the combatants quickly try to move out of its way.
"What the hell is that!?" Lissa exclaims in complete shock.
"Ridley…" Samus said plainly from the back and crossed her arms before grumbling to herself while shaking her head.
"Oh come on Sam, you know that's not the real Ridley. It's just another one of Master Hands' projected fighters!" Link says while patting her on the shoulder.
"Seriously what the hell did you get us into!" Lucina reiterates while grabbing DP by the toga.
"Just try to stay alive will ya!" He responds while slapping her hand away. "One more thing, try to do as much damage to that thing as possible. If we do, we will significantly turn the tide of battle!" He says before dashing off again.
"How do I keep getting myself into these situations…" She groaned before dashing off after him.
*Meanwhile…*
"So what do you say?" Master Hand finished his proposal while leaning forward in his chair and staring intently at Chrom.
"Hmm, everyone you say?" He responds while looking in thought. He turned towards Marth who was patiently in the back with his arms behind his back. "If you say sometime in the foreseeable future then I guess it wouldn't hurt!" Chrom says with a shrug while Master Hand let out the breath he was holding.
"Excellent, then we shall need to meet once more before you leave so we may discuss this in further detail" Master Hand says while they shake hands. "Please enjoy your stay with us in the meantime" He adds while Marth opens the door in the back and motions them out. "Hopefully this will stop all the angry demands I've been getting…" MH says to himself while placing his hands on his hips. Just before he began to cough out uncontrollably again and rushed over and leaned against a desk in the back. "But how!?" He says looking at his palm as some black particles flaked away.
"My mind is made up, besides that battle we had was just so exhilarating!" Chrom says while they walked down the hall.
"Well usually battles have a lot more to them then that at times, there's also items, hazards and the newly implemented stage bosses." Marth says.
"Yeah well who knows what newly implemented mechanics they might add next time" Chrom states.
"Touchè" Marth replied.
"I wonder how Sumia and Lucina will take the news of me being accepted into the next tournament, I'm sorta excited I can't wait to tell them!" He added while Marth slowly lowered his head and chuckled.
"Well if I had to take a wild guess, I'd say there's going to be a lot of screaming," Marth replied.
*back in the arena*
Lucina screamed.
The concept of space travel wasn't anything she and everyone she knows ever considered or let alone gave any thoughts to. Yet here she was clambering up the side of a spaceship/rocket whatever it made no difference to her as the one she was previously on just blew up.
"So this is what it's like to be that little furry guy?" Pittoo says while happily flying around. "This shit is exciting!" He states.
"It's Fox, and no, this is terrible!" Lucina says, stomping her foot in frustration. "I can't believe I let you talk me into this!"
"Head ups!" Dark Pit shouts and they both duck as Ken goes over them with a high jump kick.
So that's what it's like to be you guys huh…" Toon says while nudging Fox.
"Not exactly, it's usually more exciting and dynamic with all the dogfights, '' Fox proudly states while Falco scoffs at him.
"Yeah right it's just you going around in circles like a headless chicken looking for your target and barrel rolling like your life depends on it. Before we get Slippy on the coms crying about how he has one on his tail." Falco remarks with a casual shrug of his shoulders.
"Barrel rolls work!" Peppy pipes up and pressed a finger against Falco's beak and gave him a stern look.
"And don't oust Slippy like that, you come crying to me as well. 'Help me out Fox! There's one on my tail Fox!" The Starfox leader replied mockingly.
"Hey, it's a different deal for me. I don't come to you unless I absolutely have to, like for example if you have a damaged critical component on your starfighter and you try to go in for evasive maneuvers. You are literally going to tear yourself apart before the enemy does, capish!" Falco claims before crossing his arms and lowering himself in his seat.
"Yeah, yeah" Fox waved him off before taking a sip of his drink.
"Oooooh the stage is changing again! I wonder what'll be now!" Pit said in the back while hopping in his seat.
"What I miss, guys?" Link says as he comes tumbling down the rows with a large plate of nachos.
"Stage switch" Ike says quickly before looking back down on an internet guide on "how to hadouken for beginners."
"Noice" Link said before taking a seat, he then shifted around uncomfortably in his seat before unbuckling his pants. He then lets out a sigh and leans back while crunching on his nachos.
*Arena*
Pittoo shot off a few arrows baiting in the other fighters while Lucina prepared a heavy attack to counter them. Typical tactic of theirs when suddenly the arena started to shake again albeit more violently this time. "Somethings up…" Dark Pit whispered in a serious tone instead of his quirky one. Then it happened the dark particles started to come swarming out of the ground in droves, like a wasps nest that had just been provoked. It began to circle around all the fighters in the arena that seemed to look like nothing but empty space. Then they all felt a powerful gust slam against them as they tried to stand their ground. Worst yet the ground seemed to be giving in below them making them drift helplessly. The swarm then encircled and swallowed Ryu in a brief second, one moment he was there the next he wasn't. Ken called out in complete shock seeing his partner obliterated like that. He turns to the duo as if to ask "is this still part of the game?" Before he himself is swallowed by the swarm.
"Pittoo!" Lucina called out as she seemed to be slowly drifting towards the swarm as well. He quickly extends his hand and grabs her arm, keeping a very firm hold on it. "It's coming" she says looking behind them to see the swarm begin to circle them like a hungry shark.
"Hang on blue, the ride is about to get bumpy!" he says while she tightly latches herself to him. His wings began to glow giving him the momentum to start to move and he did so away from the thing around them. It took notice however and began to chase them down; he knew they must not be in the arena anymore because his wings weren't locked to arena rules anymore. They were making good headway until the powerful gust slammed against them, halting them.
"Dark Pit!" Lucina exclaimed as the swarm closed it.
"Don't let go!" He shouted over the howling of the gust. He wrapped his arms tightly around her as she did the same and closed her eyes tightly. The swarm rushed through them plunging them into total darkness. All she could hear was the howling gusts rushing past her before what sounded like a child crying out in frustration, it was loud and piercing like nails on a chalkboard. However despite this she didn't dare open her eyes, for the first time ever she actually felt the beat of Dark Pit's heart, and here she thought he didn't have one. Was he actually scared perhaps? Regardless she felt like hers was about to rip out of her with how fast it was going. She thought she heard him say something but despite him being literally next to her it was like all sound was being drawn out.
"WHAT?" she shouted as loud as she could but even she couldn't hear herself she doubted he could. And there it was again, the child. It sounded like it was in distress, like a lost toddler at the supermarket who couldn't find his parents. She instantly opened her eyes and looked around, but all she could see was a swirling mass all around her. They were in the eye of the storm so to speak. And the 'child' spoke to her, he spoke to them…
*outside*
"I hope it's the bridge!" Link called out with a mouth full of nachos. Pit came waltzing in from the back with a bucket of popcorn he quickly went to grab before the entire arena started to shake. Link was on the verge of eating a soggy chip but with everything shaking violently he just ended up smearing cheese all over his face instead. Meanwhile, Pit was unintentionally tossing popcorn everywhere. Palutena spilled her large drink all over Viridi drenching the little goddess, Ike and Shulk while tightly hugging each other while looking around all freaked out, Ilia and Mist both stood in the corner of the room tightly gripping each others hands, Sumia tightly held unto her seat but kept her eyes on the stage unlike everyone else. But all she saw was an empty void, the stage and combatants and more importantly her daughter were just gone. Lissa however thought it was all part of the experience and had the biggest grin of amusement on her face as if she was on a roller coaster ride.
"Emergency booster seat!" Toon Link shouts and his seat rockets off the floor and straight into the ceiling. But instead of breaking through and escaping like he had hoped all he managed to do was get his head stuck in the ceiling.
"W-w-w-what I-I-I-In t-the n-n-n-name of s-s-skyword is h-h-h-happening?!" Pit says as he jitters around tossing popcorn everywhere.
"Samus!" Zelda exclaimed.
"I know! I know!" The bounty hunter shouted back as she tried to head for the door but to no avail, the floor literally felt like jelly. They all then covered their ears when they heard what sounded like an ear piercing cry. They could hear the spectators outside begin to panic, shouts and screams of terror began to erupt from the crowds.
"Dammit!" Samus yelled in frustration tightly clutching the wall and trying to regain her footing.
"Where's my baby!?" Sumia shouts still looking at where the arena used to be as seeing some sort of mass begin to swirl. And she could've sworn every now and then she saw a face in there. She crawled over towards the front pressing her hand against the glass trying to get a better look for any signs of Lucina. The lights were flickering constantly so every now and then there would be glare obstructing her view. The mass began to swarm the arena engulfing it in darkness along with all its individuals.
"Oh not this shit again!" Falco says as he clung to his seat for dear life and watched the arena getting engulfed. And instantly all the brawl veterans got a sense of dejavu and most importantly ptsd. There were flashes every now and then and not from the lights from the mass itself it seemed. The entire structure seemed to groan as it was being engulfed and the flashes became more intense. Sumia pressed her hand against the glass and she saw the face briefly again. It reminded her so much of baby Lucina, and she could only stare completely baffled at it. The swarm seemed to have formed some sort of contorted limb on the other side of the glass she was on and pressed it against where she had her hand. She looked at the black mass pressed against the glass before looking at the mass again that let out another violent flash and she saw the face briefly again.
"Lucy…?" Sumia whispered gently. Just before the swarm of dark particles started to engulf the room in darkness.
Out in the hall Marth and Chrom were clinging onto the walls trying to keep balanced while everything happened. Right before Marth noticed the particles come swarming into the hall. "GET DOWN!" he shouts while dragging Chrom with him to the floor. The exalt braced himself for what was about to come but the swarm seemed to pass right over them and just vanish.
GAME!
AND THE WINNER IS… BLUE TEAM!
Came the announcer over the loud coms followed by erupting cheers from the crowds. "Do I even wanna know?" Chrom said as he and Marth just laid there on the floor completely lost.
"Not really..." Marth said bluntly.
"Samus hold on!" Zelda called out as the bounty hunter came marching down the hall and straight to the control room. Zelda was right after her and they passed by the two bluenettes and disappeared down the hall.
"I'll meet you back on the viewing platform" Marth said and got up, going after the two women. Chrom just slowly stood up and walked back to where everyone was while scratching his head.
"I'm so confused…" he says to himself before pushing open the doors and walking into a mess.
"I know you guys like to excite us and all with all this fofo mumbo jumbo and all, but a little heads up when you're going to pull something like that would be freaking appreciated next time!" Tetra blurts out while slowly getting back up on her seat. "And what in the heck are you doing up there you idiot!" She adds while looking up at Toon who was furiously kicking his legs trying to unstuck himself from the ceiling.
"Whoo that was awesome, lets go again!" Lissa shouts excitedly while raising her hands in the air.
Meanwhile the chutes in the back open up and the disoriented fighters kinda just stumble out looking lost. "Lucy!" Sumia cried and tightly hugged the bluenette. "Are you alright, what happened out there!?" Sumia adds while pressing her hands against Lucina's face.
"I think the stage might've malfunctioned with all the flipping that was going on," Pit said as he brushed his hair out of his face.
"Ya think!" Viridi remarks while wringing her shirt.
"Hey are you both alright?" Chrom asks as he approaches his wife and daughter.
"I think so?" Sumia replied but kept her gaze on Lucina who seemed elsewhere at the moment. "Right Lucy?" She says, shaking Lucina's head gently.
"Huh? Oh right!" She quickly replied while pulling away from Sumia. "I think I've had enough matches for today, why don't I show you guys the theatre like I promised hmm?" Lucina proposed while taking both her parents' hands.
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt" Sumia says while looking at Chrom who just nods.
"You wanna come?" She asked Pittoo who just blankly looked at her. "I want a rematch" he states bluntly.
"Pittoo" she says while grabbing his arm.
"I'm fine" he states bluntly while brushing her off "I'll just get a new partner" he says while grabbing Pit by the shirt and dragging him off. "Hey fellas, what do you say to a do over?" He says while walking after Ryu and Ken.
"But Pittoo!" Pit whined but his dark counterpart wasn't hearing it.
"Jeez what got into him?" Lissa says coming in between all of them.
"We should go, the theatre isn't often free so we should use it while we have the chance." Lucina states and walks off dragging her parents along. She gives a final glance at her partner but he immediately avoids her gaze.
"That's the place that had the moving pictures right? This I have to see!" Lissa says excited
*meanwhile*
"AGAIN, SERIOUSLY!?" Samus exclaimed while slamming her hands on MH's desk. He just leaned back in his chair, rubbing his head slowly.
"Ok so I may not have entirely dealt with it" MH replied while the other three gave him flat looks. Right before the back door bursts open and in steps Mario, Peach and Link who was eating… Again.
"We-a got-a problem out-a there!" Mario says standing in front of MH and crossing his arms. "People are-a asking lots of-a questions" he says while MH sighs.
"You know the drill, calm the masses, and don't let rumors fly!" MH replied.
"Little easier said than done with what just happened, mister!" Peach speaks up while placing her hands on her hips.
"I think we're fine for now, the only prominent rumor thus far was a stage malfunction" Link says before taking a bite of a mini pie.
"Good let's keep it that way, apparently only we were affected by this, the crowds remain in the dark, so to speak." Zelda adds while MH breathed a huge sigh of relief.
"At least we have some good news," MH says.
"None of this is 'good news' you jackass!" Samus interjects.
"I know relax" he said while he stood from his seat and walked over to a large window in the back of the room overlooking the large arena.
"Relax? You always instruct us to keep order around here and make sure everything is stable. Well that's a little hard to do when we have Crazy glitching the literal fabric of space!" Samus says before crossing her arms.
"I mean, she's not wrong," Link said, shrugging his shoulders before pulling out a large pretzel and dipping it in cheese.
"Clearly this still needs to be sorted out, and I know we may have put pressure on you to return so this is also kinda on us too." Peach begins and then turns to glare at the other Elites' before turning back to MH. "We see that now, so I guess you need to set your priorities straight and I guess so do we." She tells the hand while taking a seat on the desk.
"Then I trust you guys can run this event, and on top of that get us back to the norm once this is over?" He asks the Six while still keeping his gaze on the arena.
"Go well-a take over-a from-a here, I'll-a personally be-a looking for the-a new-a fighters." Mario replied.
"Then I guess this is goodbye for now." He says looking back towards them and just like that he snapped and was gone.
"Alright-a" Mario says walking over and sitting on the desk, "we-a know the-a drill. We-a tell everyone it was-a stage malfunction. Samus and Zelda you-a bring me the-a new potential candidate. Lets-a see here, ah alright so it-a seems Ken has-a caught our eye bring-a him to-a me. Peach you-a keep setting the-a matches, Marth and-a Link I need you-a guys back at the-a mansion, we have some-a fighters who already lost-a interest here."
"Alright let's move out team, go go power smashers!" He says walking off with his hands in the air, "but first I need a quick visit to the snack-"
"No you've had enough" Zelda says, grabbing him by the collar and dragging him away.
"But I haven't had the chance to try the cotton candy yet!" Link whined as she pulled him away.
Mario sighed and looked down at the controls, he then activated the next match. Sonic and Amy VS Sheik and Impa…
*later that afternoon*
"And then, and then she threw the monster down a hatch and then it was like 'rawr!' and she was like 'good riddance!' And then she pulled the latch and it was shot out into space, into space!" Lissa said in rapid succession while tugging on Raven's sleeve. Of course she was blubbering on about the movie Lucina had shown her earlier.
"So Lucina took you to the theatre..." Raven replied.
"Motion picture is quite an interesting feat, sis, say Lissa why don't you tell her about the one with the brothers." Robin remarked with a sly smile on his face while his counterpart glared at him.
"Ohh that one was sad, anyway-" Lissa begins while Raven plotted Robin's demise, worst yet he managed to sneak away from them and left her there with Lissa's long excited ramblings. "Hellooo are you listening?" Lissa says while waving her hand in front of the tactician.
"Naga help me I am…" Raven replied plainly.
"Ah there you are" Marth says coming into the room with the two ladies. "You wouldn't happen to know where Lucina is by any chance? And that partner of hers?" Marth asks while Raven rolled her eyes.
"What did they do now?" She asks not looking the least bit surprised.
"No nothing like that, we just need some info about the stage malfunction from earlier." He assured the tactician who stopped to think for a moment.
"Hmmm, last I checked they were in the theatre for a 'Lord of the rigs' marathon…" Raven replied looking unsure.
"WHAT!?" Lissa blurts out suddenly, "they said we were going to finish the trilogy tomorrow!" She adds in a huff.
"Relax I just came from there, all the kids set up a video game there" Marth assured the princess.
"Oh, well then your best bet is the woods out back by that pond, a few of us were going to meet out there to sit around the fire and swap ghost stories." Raven says while Lissa squealed in delight.
"That's right, what are we waiting for, let's go!" She says excitedly and races out the room. Raven just sighed and followed after the hyperactive princess while Marth took out his phone to check his messages.
Bounty Huntress: (I got the grumpy one.)
Prince of Althea: (alright I'll get his partner and meet up with you in a bit.)
Marth replied and headed off. He had to admit though It was a nice day for a fire, assuming of course Ike and or Roy weren't the ones starting it because they're a bit too much of pyromaniacs for it. As he is about to head into the woods he sees Ike and Roy come rushing towards him carrying arms full of lighter fluid and giggling like little girls. "Guys," Marth says sternly, standing in their way, "we talked about this several times now."
"Awh come on Marth we have to make this exciting for our guests!" Ike says while looking down at the lighter fluid then back at Marth.
"Just this once, pleeeeease!" Roy said with large puppy dog eyes.
"Guys come on blowing up our guests and maybe half the woods isn't exciting let alone ethical." Marth says while crossing his arms.
"Noone is going to blow up Marth, relax, we got this, we're experts at this!" Ike tried to assure him while nudging and winking at Roy.
"Do I have to recall for you both all the times you guys turned a simple fire into an enormous fireball?" Marth replied then held up his hands, "because I can tell you right now I don't have enough fingers to list them all" he adds then points down at the ground.
"Fine" Ike says and drops his hands letting the containers fall to the floor.
"Guess we'll settle for a snooze fest that'll bore everyone half to death." Roy says walking away with his shoulders slumped.
"I'm sure your wife, and your sister will thank me for keeping them from spontaneously combusting." Marth remarked sarcastically before calling over a few Mii's to take all the lighter fluid to a secure location where Roy nor Ike can get their hands on it. When he arrived at the clearing there were a few smashers moving large logs around a fire pit they had set with stones. "Lucina, can I have a word?" Marth calls out to the bluenette who was setting firewood down.
"Sure" she says getting up and wiping off her hands, "what's up?" She asked curiously.
"Actually I'm going to need you to come with me for questioning" he says and her expression quickly changed.
"What's wrong?" She quickly asked, a little worried.
"Nothing much, this just concerns about the stage glitch that happened to you and Dark Pit earlier." He assured her.
"Oh well I don't know where he is at the moment, he stayed to fight in the arena and last I heard we were doing smash runs with Dark Link." She replied but he shook his head.
"That's not a problem we already have him" he says while motioning with his head towards the mansion.
"Well that's a surprise usually-"
"Samus got him," he interjected.
"That, that would explain it" she says, "Mother I'll return in a bit I just have to sort something out" Lucina called out to Sumia before following after the blue prince.
"Oh alright dear" she replied.
He leads Lucina to a small room with a single bulb hanging from the ceiling and a squared table with 4 metal chairs around it. Samus and Dark Pit were already seated on one side when they arrived.
"Alright let's get down to this, keep in mind anything said in this room is confidential and you are not allowed to relay this information to anyone outside this room under any circumstances, understand?" Samus begins while Marth and Lucina take their seats. "You are here in regards to the glitch that took place earlier, now I'm sure you remember you encountered this very same glitch in the triathlon correct?" Samus says while Lucina nods her head.
"We need to know exactly what it is you saw, this is important. Is there anything you could tell us about this experience that differed from the past?" Marth says while leaning forward. Lucina looked up at her partner and the two just stared at each other for a solid minute before Lucina breathed out slowly before she proceeded.
"There was a swarm…" She began.
*sometime later*
"All these glitches are starting to get on my nerves" Pittoo says under his breath as he and Lucina walk out of the room.
"I'm sure they'll take care of it" Lucina says, "why don't you come join us at the campfire to take your mind off things? I know you really need it." She offered but he just scoffed.
"Pass," he said plainly.
"We'll be making s'mores though" she adds and he turns to look at her for a moment before turning his gaze straight ahead again.
"Alright I might go, but only for the s'mores though!" he says while she just smiled to herself and shook her head.
"Sure whatever floats your boat" she replied.
"So what do you think?" Marth says as he stared out the open door where the duo disappeared.
"It's worse than we thought, we weren't aware of its effects being able to trigger in the city as well. That means we are dealing with something on a much larger scale." She says then looks in thought for a moment. "For the most part it only seemed to affect us, as we saw with the crowds earlier they remained oblivious and clueless as to what occurred." She says as she analyzes some footage. "This is from the highlight reels today slowed down significantly," she says, sliding over a tablet to Marth. He takes it and sees the battle from earlier with Pittoo and Lucina against Ryu and Ken. Ken of course launches an attack against them before the stage begins to fade and rumble. In a blink it looked as if Lucina and Pittoo conjured up a swirling black mist that launched away the other two and depleted their stocks. It then fades and they appear again in the middle of the stage looking completely dumbfounded while the crowds stood and cheered. Marth rewined it a bit to the part where the mist surrounds Lucina and Pittoo pausing it at that point before sliding the tablet back to Samus.
"Tell me, what do you see there?" He says while she looks at the paused frame.
"Is that a face?" She says while zooming in and enhancing the picture.
"This coincides with what Lucina's mother told me as well, she said before the arena was engulfed, something was calling out to her. She believes it was her daughter however" Marth says while Samus just stared at the screen looking in thought.
"It's definitely evolving that's for sure," Samus said, "learning" she added while Marth cocked his head to the side.
"Learning?" He asked her confused.
"When we were engulfed, it knew about Ridley this time," Samus replied, keeping her gaze down.
"That would explain your sudden mood change shortly after" Marth commented.
"That's beside the point, we have to figure something out before this thing learns more than it needs to, or worse yet finishes forming whatever it's trying to form." Samus says, running a hand down her face in frustration. "It would be nice if we got the jump on the enemy first for one" she says.
"Well we won't know anything for sure until Master Hand returns and we give him our full reports. Until then the best thing we could do is make sure things don't fall apart here" Marth says before getting up. "Try not to isolate yourself and mingle a little. It wont do us any good to worry ourselves and in turn worry the others." Marth adds before he turned and left, Samus just leaned back in her seat and sighed.
*outside*
"It's actually a really nice day today" Lucina says enjoying the breeze that blew past and watching the sun set as they walked.
"It's damp today," Pittoo replied plainly.
"Can't you ever just appreciate anything for once?" She says while he looks up in thought.
"S'mores sound really good right about now if that's what you mean" he replied with a grin while she growled under her breath and turned from him. "Oh come on, that was funny!" He says with a slight chuckle but she was unamused.
"PICHU!" came a sudden cry from deep within the woods.
"What was that?" Lucina asks, stopping in her tracks.
"Not our problem, that's what" he said and kept walking.
"Pittoo!" She groaned lamely but knew it was hopeless. She did hear the cry again and began to head towards it to see what was up, it sounded in distress. And she figured after what happened in the arena Pittoo's had enough about hearing cries of distress from out of nowhere, especially after what they saw…
"Pichu!" She heard it more clearly now and picked up her pace. Eventually coming to a small clearing and seeing a tiny version of Pikachu curled up under a tree. "Pi-chu!" It cried again until it noticed Lucina a few paces away.
"Hey there, are you lost?" She asked the little creature that wiped its little eyes. She slowly shook her head while Lucina nelt next to her.
"Chu" she replied while Lucina sort of looked around.
"Where's Rosalina when you need her…" She remarked, she wasn't going to be able to understand a word.
"Chu" Pichu says again while tugging on her pant leg and holding up a badly drawn picture in crayon.
"Right of course you're looking for Pikachu'' Lucina says and looks around again, "any idea where he went?" She asked the little mouse who shook her head again. "Well come on I'll help you look, everyone should be spread around here making campfires," Lucina assured the little mouse.
"Pichu!" The little mouse replied happily and climbed up her arm and sat on her shoulder.
"Alright, judging from where we are, I'm willing to bet your group is definitely this way." Lucina says, giving Pichu a pat on the head and heading off. "I think I remember now, Pikachu was your big brother, correct?" Lucina asked.
"Pi!" The little mouse replied showing her little drawing again.
"Ah right so you're Pichu then" Lucina says looking at the badly scribbled words. The little mouse nodded again, "Well Pichu my name is Lucina, pleasure to meet you" She tells the little mouse who happily nuzzles up against her cheek. And shocked her a little in the process but she pretended it didn't affect her tho.
"Jiggly!" They hear from above before Jigglypuff landed in front of them. "Puuuf!" It said placing its little hands on its hips, or rather side of her head.
"Oh hello" someone said coming out of the bushes, it was a girl with long brown hair wearing a black dress.
"Puff!" The balloon pokemon said while pointing at Pichu.
"There you are, we've been looking everywhere for you. You have Pikachu worried sick" The girl says when she sees Pichu.
"Oh Pichu is with you? I found her lost in the woods near where we set up" Lucina explained before placing the little mouse on the ground, but Pichu just hugged her leg.
"Yes ma'am, we told the little one to stay put but she wanted to help her brother and got lost instead, silly thing." The girl replied while Pichu hid her face in embarrassment.
"You must be one of the guests right? Who are you with?" Lucina asked.
"Oh pardon me where are my manners, and yes, my name is Green and this Jigglypuff here is my Pokemon, i'm here because of her." Green replied while patting Jigglypuff on the head.
"PIKA!" Pikachu exclaimed while coming out of some bushes. "Pi, Pika Chu!" He says sternly while glaring at Pichu.
"Oh come on now Pikachu no need to be so harsh she only wanted to help." Green says while the electric mouse crossed his arms.
"Chu…" Pichu replied apologetically while still keeping a hold on Lucina.
"Pika…" Pikachu replied more calmly, most likely accepting the apology.
"She seems to have taken a liking to you it seems." Green says seeing as Pichu was still latched onto the bluenette. Lucina looked down and knelt next to the little mouse who looked up at her.
"Well here we are as promised back with your group" Lucina said while Pichu happily nodded. "And I'm sure we'll see more of each other around alright."
"Pichu!" the little mouse replied before giving Lucina a hug and running back towards Pikachu who hugged his little sister.
"Well thanks again for the help Lucina '' Green says before turning to the Pokemon, "we better tell Red and Charizard the news" she says as they begin to walk away.
"Jiggly," the balloon Pokemon replied.
"I don't think Charizard would appreciate that" Green replied as they all disappeared behind the treeline. Just then Lucina's phone buzzed and she took it out seeing a message from DP.
Angel of Dark: (where you !? Ur mom is driving me crazy!)
Lucina kinda chuckled a little and began heading back to their little site where the majority of them gathered.
"See there she is!" Pittoo says while motioning towards Lucina who came into view.
"Sorry guys something came up" she says before taking her seat around the fire.
"Ok let's get this thing raging then!" Roy says, taking out a small bottle of concealed lighter fluid before Marth yoinks it away.
"No, we're not doing that" He says and pocketed it.
"Oh come on, this fire sucks!" Roy said and crossed his arms.
"So is that a no on the so called 'flamethrower' too?" Mist asked before Marth turned to Ike and Roy in disbelief.
"How in the world did you guys get a flamethrower!?" He asks.
"We didn't" Ike says before he and Roy turn to face Raven. And then everyone else turned to look at the tactician.
"What?" She asked before blowing out her marshmallow.
"Yeah where did that come from?" Robin asks, turning in his seat to face her, as he could vividly remember his counterpart chasing him across half the mansion with that thing.
"Hey I had permission!" She protested while looking at Marth.
"And you lost that when you got trigger happy and scorched half the mansion if I recall correctly," Marth replied.
"Yeah, Mario's super soaker feels like a freaking tital wave" She says while slowly rubbing the back of her head. She recalled after enough chaos Samus and Mario quickly rushed to apprehend her, and did so in under 30 seconds.
"Can't you make fire with your tomes though?" Mist asked which Robin turns to her.
"Exactly! thank you!" He says before turning back to the other tactician with a 'wtf' look.
"Well regardless such contraptions are not allowed to be in the possession of inhabitants" Marth assured everyone.
"You're telling me there is such thing as a device capable of spewing flames like a dragon, without the use of magic?" Chrom says looking in thought.
"That's a bit of a simplification but in hindsight, yes" Roy says with a casual shrug.
"Not gonna lie that actually sounds like something that would be interesting to see" Lissa says while a few others nod in succession.
"Not in the hands of any of these lunatics you won't," Marth says while shaking his head.
"Why don't you show us then?" Lissa proposed and everyone else just leaned in and stared at Marth intently. He opened his mouth but he didn't say anything, he just sat there with his finger held up lost in his thoughts.
"I really shouldn't..." He says while rubbing his arm slowly.
"Come on bud these guys came for a show let's give them one!" Roy says while patting Marth in back.
"I mean even if I wanted to, I don't even know where it was placed when it was confiscated" he says while a few people 'awh' silently.
"It's in the contraband room on the third floor next to the control room the Elite Six have up there, in the dark green chest labeled 'not a toy' in big red letters." Roy just says casually before taking a bite of his s'more. Before he noticed everyone just staring at him for being so oddly specific. "What? Me and Link are good chums. He tells me things" he says before licking chocolate off his thumb.
"Sadly I think he's right, Link and Zelda are in charge of confiscated items" Marth says with a sigh.
"Regardless it's probably a very bad idea" Caeda says, placing a hand on Marths shoulder.
"We're still doing the flaming tower right?" Dark Pit says while looking around. "I mean I can even fly up and make the flames even taller" he says while nudging Ike.
"Marth said no…" Ike says while hanging his head.
"Yeah he 'confiscated' the lighter fluid as well" Roy adds.
"Wow this fire does suck" Pittoo adds before Lucina lightly shoves him.
"Stop eating so much sweets you'll ruin your appetite" Lucina says as Pittoo shoves another s'more into his mouth.
"Blue, nothing can ruin my appetite" Pittoo says while waving her off and preparing another treat. That is until Dark Link came out of the woods out of breath, making a few of the others jump in their seats startled.
"Dude, there is the biggest arm wrestling match out back right now! This Ken guy is unstoppable!" He quickly blurts out.
"Oh really? This I have to see!" Ike says, getting up from his seat and running off.
"Iiiiiike!" Mist called out but her big brother was gone.
"Ooh! shock arm!" Roy says and runs after him.
"I'm game, screw this!" Pittoo says, jumping over his seat and running off with Dark Link.
"So that just happened..." Lilina says.
*dinner…*
The commons rooms were all fully converted into personal dining rooms for guests, it looked really well put together with fancy silverware and tablecloths. And more importantly there were the Mii's dressed as servants to make the evening go smoothly. As smooth as an evening can go with a mansion full of deranged smashers. Lucina, Chrom, Sumia, Lissa and Robin/Raven all met up there along with Palutena, Viridi and Pit.
"So tell me about my 'other self,' what is he like?" Lissa begins by asking Chrom while they settle in and get their food. He and Sumia however glanced at each other briefly before he awkwardly clears his throat.
"You mean her?" Chrom corrected and Lissa pouted, setting down her silverware while looking disappointed.
"Hold on what? Why is Raven the only one who gets an opposite?" She says pointing at Robin he and Raven just look at each other and shrug to themselves. "Why do you get special attention from the universe?" She says turning towards Raven who sighed.
"I wish I could answer your question but I myself don't even know" Raven replies while Lissa crosses her arms with a disappointed pout.
"The way you talked about Robin got me excited to think I had my own twin out there!" Lissa adds sinking in her seat.
"Hey you still have Chrom, you know your actual brother" Robin assured her.
"Eh, he's boring!" She says waving him off.
"Im right here!" Chrom stated, waving his arms about.
"Oh not you! the other one!" she quickly adds. "He's quite the boring one I assure you" she says.
"Hey the universe is infinite so who knows, maybe you do have an opposite somewhere out there!" Palutena assures her.
The doors then suddenly slam open and Pittoo comes waltzing in without a care and a massive grin on his face. "Fuck man! What's for dinner? I'm famished from kicking ass all day!" He says grabbing a chicken leg and biting into it while taking his seat next to Lucina. "Oh yeah, that's good shit!" He says looking around the room and pointing at his chicken leg, all the while Lucina buried her face in her hands.
"Pittoo!" Palutena whispered harshly, "we have guests!" She scolds him. Chrom, Sumia and Lissa however just stared at him with blank stares. He just kept chewing with a clueless look on his face while staring at the Goddess.
"Oooh right!" He says, setting his drumstick down and licking his fingers. "How do you do? I'm Dark Pit!" He says, extending his hand to Lissa. All the while Lucina started banging her head on the table lightly. Lissa just stared at his extended hand for a bit before dropping her silverware, gripping a drumstick tightly and taking a big bite of it. Before setting it down and licking her fingers before tightly gripping Pittoo's hand in a shake.
"Well I'm Lissa!" She says enthusiastically. All the while Pittoo turns back to Lucina while pointing his thumb back as Lissa.
"See, her I like!" He says while still shaking her hand.
"Lissa…" Chrom groans while pinching the bridge of his nose.
"What? You always tell me to respect others' customs. I'm just respecting the customs!" She protested. Just then Pit shoots up from his seat with a big grin.
"Oh, if that's how you roll then you'll love me and Link's tradition-"
"Nope!" Palutena quickly interjects, grabbing him by the shirt and sitting him right back down.
It's been a pretty decent-ish day so far, so Lucina still held on to a little bit of hope that dinner would go smoothly as well. However Dark Pit was sort of letting his 'Pittoo' show if that made sense. That is until he pulls a bottle of hot sauce out literally labeled 'underwords flame' with a picture of Hades slapped on it. "Let me tell you about good customs around here, I mean assuming you 'heros' are brave enough." Pittoo says with a big evil grin, and as the others looked at each other…
Soooooooooooo, guess who got majorly side tracked with other projects… Yeah that's right, this gal! *points thumbs at self*
Well I actually remembered "hey didn't I leave my chapter half finished?" And well here I am. I kinda wish I wouldn't get so sidetracked being this close to the end and all, but hey shit happens. Regardless I really really don't want to have to force myself to write, because it is known that if you start treating something you like as you would work, you'll not enjoy it anymore and be more put off to actually do it. That and I have a habit of doing things kinda half-assed if I'm not in the mood. Which I mean I already had to redo my story once before because of that, I mean yeah I was shooting out chapters like there was no tomorrow but wow was it bad! anyway I should stop rambling now and let you go on with your reads or whatever it is you do after.
Reviews are very much appreciated, and suggestions are still very much welcomed. No need to be shy either about asking and or saying things. I'll see you all at a later date I presume. Toodles! (* ^∀^)ﾉｼ
Next Chapter: Thorn in my side…