Time and space.

People think it's a strict and straightforward path, but it's much more than that.

In a universe of universes known as the multiverse, it's a reality of endless possibilities, altering histories and a good many of these worlds house the answer to the greatest question known to man, the question that is always asked and what keeps us awaken in the night...

What If?

Follow, follow The Observer, for we are about to dive into this universe of universes and see a whole new universe.

Years ago, a battle was fought on an island between heroes of justice and a madman. Victory came at the price with one soul changing forever and another losing her life. But in another world, that soul survived and lived to see her rival change forever.

Since that day, they shared many adventures together and fought many battles, making more new friends along the way and surviving many perils despite all the odds.

Now, they may be facing their wackiest adventure yet, one filled with... emotion.

-November 24th, 202X-

Dimension: 60680519

Somewhere in the Mushroom Kingdom

Storm clouds rolled across the sky, pouring rain down upon the world as thunder rumbled and lightning exploded. In a forest, two figures ran as the rain fell around them, covering themselves as best they could to avoid getting wet.

"Not much further..." The first one said, a human girl, "As soon as we get to that house, the sooner we can ride this rain storm out."

Just ahead, a tall house stood, lights aglow in the windows. But there was much more to this house than met the eye, it seemed to look like a playhouse, a much bigger version. The two figures made it to the porch, racing to the front door while the rain seemed to come down even harder than it ever had before.

The first of the two figures tried the doorknob, finding it unlocked. The door opened and the duo went inside, closing the door shut behind themselves. With that settled, they threw off their rain coats, revealing their identities.

The Inkling-turned human Meggy Spletzer shook her head and took off her beanie, making sure that it wasn't completely drenched. She then put it back on her head and wiped the heels of her boots on the carpet. Her friend, Desti the Octoling, former leader of the Octoposse, shivered and examined her clothes, making sure they weren't too wet.

"You alright?" Meggy asked.

"Yeah?" Desti said, she shivered, "Just cold. You?"

"I'm okay. Just gotta rest for a while."

"Weird house."

Meggy looked around the foyer, seeing that Desti was right. The place looked very strange, cartoonishly strange. Then again, it was probably due to the odd funhouse aesthetic that the girls were seeing.

Plus, the place was a little dim, not much light to illuminate the area. Desti brought out a flashlight and handed it to Meggy, the former Inkling turned it on and took another look around.

Creeeeaaaaaak!

The girls turned, seeing a door to their left slowly move on its hinges. Then...

Thud!

Meggy and Desti wheeled around, just in time to see the front door lock itself and become barred. Their hearts thudded; something was wrong.

"A-At least we can leave after the storm ends?" Meggy asked hopefully.

"Why don't we look around first, pass the time...?" Desti suggested.

"Y-Yeah, l-l-let's do that."

"And we were going to a Thanksgiving meet up at Steve's farm, not a Halloween party."

Meggy and Desti wandered around the house, exploring their surroundings with caution. Desti pulled out her Splattershot, just in case if she had to fight. Something clanked, sending a chill up the girls' backs. They wheeled around, a crowbar had fallen over on the table, it rattled in place for a bit and then it stopped.

Slowly, the girls walked through the hallway, peaking around curiously and cautiously. A light flickered, making an electrical buzzing noise before it flickered off. Then it turned back on again.

Meggy shrugged, Desti rolled her eyes. They walked on at a slow pace, even as the floor beneath their feet creaked with each step the two ex-rivals took.

Just then, Meggy held up her hand and stopped in her tracks again, so too did Desti. They could hear voices, just on the other side of that door from across the hall.

Wondering what it was about and who was talking, the duo crept through the foyer and into the hallway towards the red door, that was ajar. The voices got a little louder the closer Meggy and Desti became, then again, it was probably due to how far they were from the door.

Meggy touched the door gently and opened it slowly, finding that it led into a kitchen. The girls kept their distance, their eyes widening, as they saw the house's only occupants; a bizarre black colored humanoid duck, a red guy covered in red hair with cartoonish eyes and some yellow looking fella who resembled a bear.

"Let's keep talking emotions..." The duck said, "What emotion do you feel, Yellow?"

"Sad..." Yellow replied, "I don't have cookies."

"You, Red?"

The one called Red was silent.

"Talking about our emotions helps us understand one another, how can we be happy, that's an emotion by the way, IF we don't discuss it or teach others..." The duck quipped.

"I feel lonely." Yellow said in a sad voice.

"Now, this is creepy..." Desti whispered.

"The only ones in the house with nobody around..." Meggy nodded, "That's sad."

"VISITORS!"

Meggy and Desti yelped. They had just been spotted.

"Oh, visitors make us happy! What an emotion we're feeling!" The duck came over and pulled the girls into the kitchen, much to their dismay.

"New friends." Yellow said, his voice sounding sad.

"Making new friends." Duck Guy said, "That makes us feel an emotion; Happy."

"I'm getting creeped out." Meggy remarked, "That's the emotion I feel right now."

"Just what are you guys?" Desti asked.

"We're just a group of lonely fellas, our parents are gone and all we have is each other." The Yellow one said in his somber tone.

"W-Well, if you have each other, none of you have to worry about being alone." Meggy said, "Desti and I were just trying to find shelter until the storm lets up."

"Oh, you're not leaving until we discuss emotions..." Duck Guy cackled, "Starting with; Love."

"We'd love to stay and chat, but we gotta go..." Desti said sheepishly, "Sorry to interrupt."

The lights in the room flickered and dimmed, the trio of... weirdos... slowly looked at Meggy and Desti with ominous facial expressions that gave the two Splatfest champions the creeps.

"You're rude..." The bear said.

"And that makes us... Angry..." Duck Guy said.

The Red creature made a growling noise.

"I feel..." The Red Guy said, "Murderous!"

"Ok..." Meggy squeaked, "RUN!"

Desti fired off her Splattershot, splatting the duck, the bear and the weird Red Guy. Then they ran out of the room as fast as they could, bolting through the hallway of the house while the Duck Guy howled, "OUR EMOTIONS WE FEEL ARE NOT PLEASENT RIGHT NOW!"

"We landed in a horror house, didn't we?" Meggy asked.

"You're telling me..." Desti remarked, "And those guys are equally as wacked as Francis."

The duo heard a sound and turned, finding the Red Guy suddenly right behind them, his eyes glowing with a sinister vibe. The Duck Guy appeared; his eyes gleaming dangerously as he let off an odd slasher smile.

"Tell us your emotions, girls." Duck Guy said, "Why don't we discuss... Fear... and... Anger?"

"Determination would be more appropriate." Desti said, "We're DETERMINED to get away from you guys."

Meggy threw open a door and grabbed Desti by the arm, dragging her into the nearest room and the girls slammed the door shut. Meggy picked up a board and stacked it up on the door's lock as the door vibrated, those crazy guys were trying to get in and there was no doubt they were out for blood.

"Ok, what do we do?" Desti asked.

"It's still raining outside and we got those guys after us..." Meggy assessed, she looked around and spotted a computer-looking device upon a desk, "Access that computer, see if we can find something that can help us."

Desti put down her weapon and sat down at the desk in front of the mysterious device, she started clicking on the keyboard and the computer screen blipped to life. At first, it showed a blue loading screen and emitted a beeping sound. But just then, the screen began flashing some odd rainbow-y colors and electronic beeps went off, confusing the girls.

Then, a face appeared, staring at them ominously with creepy digital eyes and a bone-chilling smile.

Desti jumped with a yelp, Meggy gasped and the girls hugged each other in a frightened manner. The computer thing was alive, it was sentient. The computer then spoke: "I can show you..."

An image appeared on screen, showing... No, it couldn't be, it couldn't...

Francis laughed, laughed evilly. Then the image changed, showing Sephiroth behind Desti... IMPAILING HER!

"I-I think that's from another universe..." Desti whimpered, "Thank Cod that it didn't happen to me here in the universe."

It showed another image, one where Meggy was impaled.

"No!" Meggy whimpered.

Colin the Computer cackled, cackled maniacally and began showing the girls even creepier images, showing zombie Octolings, showing a mutant Inkling monster. Desti screamed, unnerved and uncomfortable by what she was seeing, even Meggy was feeling discomfort.

Discomfort, a strong emotion.

Colin kept showing images and he didn't stop laughing. Meggy acted quickly, not wanting to see any more from this creepy thing. She grabbed Colin and threw the computer across the room into a wall. The computer smashed, the laugh becoming distorted. Then, it was offline, leaving the girls to breathe a sigh of relief. Until...

"YOU HURT OUR FRIEND!"

Bird Guy, Red Guy and Yellow Guy were in the room, having broken through the door. Meggy and Desti yelped and prepared to fight.

"Hurt, strong emotion." Yellow Guy said.

"We'll hurt you..." Red Guy said in a bone-chilling manner.

Desti grabbed her weapon and splatted the trio, Meggy pulled out her own Splattershot, ready to fight. The Red Guy lunged with a roar, his arms outstretched, claws bared and intent on ripping the girls to pieces.

Meggy and Desti quickly bolted from the room and fled through the hallway, looking around for a place to hide. They tried a door, finding a very odd-looking clock inside one room. The clock's eyes opened and spotted the girls, it let off a tick tock nose and began hopping towards them.

The girls yelped and shut the door, they ran upstairs and bolted inside a bedroom. Meggy pulled up a bed in the way of the door, knowing that those guys would be coming for them, they were not gonna give up by a long shot.

BANG, BANG, BANG!

Meggy braced herself, so did Desti, their hands firmly gripping the handles of their weapons. Their hearts pounded intensely, their mouths feeling dry.

"Hopefully we'll make it to that Thanksgiving party." Meggy whispered.

"Y-Yeah..." Desti nodded.

The banging stopped. Just then, Meggy realized something and turned around. She walked towards the window, which looked real, and peaked through it. Then she put her ear to the wall, listening carefully. No pattering, no thunder, no lightning.

'The rain's stopped.' She thought.

"What is it?" Desti asked.

"Desti..." Meggy said, "I think the rain just stopped."

The girls hugged each other happily. That meant they could leave, but they still had those guys to deal with. However, it sounded like they'd given up. Or had they?

Meggy and Desti worked to move aside the bed and they opened the door, they walked into the hallway, looking around the area cautiously. The lights flickered, Bird Guy and his pals were nowhere to be found. Slowly, the girls headed downstairs, looking around and making sure that there were no surprises waiting.

Both action girls walked through the hall, keeping an eye out for trouble. If those guys had given up, then getting to the front door would be no trouble. Hopefully, that door had unlocked itself. Then again, there were... other methods of getting out.

Creak-creak-creak! The two BFFs walked slowly, carefully, their weapons ready. Their heartbeats had slowed down, they felt relaxed but still cautious. They turned a corner, walking through a door, and finding themselves back in the foyer. No trouble, they'd made it. However, it was quiet, too quiet...

Desti glanced at Meggy, Meggy glanced at Desti. They glanced at the wall, at the windows, around the room.

They approached the front door slowly, just a little further more...

"LET'S TALK ABOUT THE EMOTION; SURPRISE!" Bird Guy howled, appearing from the shadows in front of the girls.

Meggy and Desti shrieked, they'd been taken by surprise. Red Guy and Yellow Guy appeared, the odd trio surrounding the duo with ominous glares. Sure enough, they'd been taken by surprise.

"Meggy?" Desti asked, "What do we do...?"

The former Inkling thought about it, then an idea came to her.

"Hey, guys." Meggy put down her Splattershot. "Let's talk about... being polite."

"Ooooh..." Yellow Guy said, "Polite."

"Uh, yeah." Desti said, putting down her weapon as well, "It's important to be nice to others and while nice people can invite you to their place, there's a time where you have to see them off when they're ready to leave. We're very sorry we bothered you, we were trying to find shelter and just happened across your house."

"And you guys are very, very nice, when you're not being mean." Meggy added, "We didn't mean to upset you, and upset is what you're feeling right now. But you left the door unlocked and let us into your house so we could ride the storm out. You were generous, very generous. And if you want, we can come back any time."

"Really?" Yellow asked.

"Of course..." Desti said sweetly, "Why would we want to never see you nice boys again? Or, if you wanted to, you can come visit us any time. So, would you please let us leave? We were just passing through and today is Thanksgiving, a day to be thankful."

"My, my..." Bird Guy remarked, "That was really interesting."

"Indeed." Red Guy nodded.

"So..." Meggy stammered, "You'll... You'll let us go?"

"Oh, of course." Bird Guy said, "We can't keep you forever, our most sincere apologies."

"Apologetic..." Desti quipped.

"That's an emotion." Meggy said.

"It is?" Yellow asked.

"It is..." Bird Guy nodded, "We hope you girls enjoyed your stay, our apologies for... our hostility. It's quite rude when people turn us down. But you're free to leave."

Meggy and Desti thanked Bird Guy and headed to the door, finding that it was unlocked, much to their relief. Bird Guy did the honors of opening it and the girls walked outside to the smell of fresh air and the sight of a sunny sky with no rain.

"Bye!" Bird Guy called.

"See ya." Yellow said.

The girls waved and walked down the front porch, walking through the woods together. As the house faded from sight, Meggy and Desti were on their way. They'd remembered to reacquire their weapons before they left and their Splattershots were safely at their side, both girls felt nothing but relief, knowing they were safe.

"We should tell the guys about this." Meggy said, "They'll probably be wondering what we got up to during the storm."

"Nah..." Desti remarked, "I'm sure they'll figure it out. It was raining and that probably delayed the Thanksgiving party. Hopefully, Steve's place won't be too wet from that rain."

"That'll be frustrating if the party gets delayed." Meggy then brightened, "Say, we should discuss that with those guys if we see them again."

Meggy and Desti giggled, discussing emotions was quite an experience and a little hilarious. For now, their emotional state was happiness and hopeful. Today had been quite the strange one, but when you were a member of the SMG4 Gang, it was important to often expect the unexpected such as wacky adventures like this...

The End