EPISODE 1-2

Mimi was rooting through her closet, tossing her various outfits aside as she tunneled deep into the back. Nastasia sat on Mimi's bed, shifting uncomfortably and actively wishing she had not agreed to this. The only other person present was Dimentio, who was hanging in midair in the corner of the room, with his usual cheerful expression.

Finally, Nastasia had to ask, "Um, what are you looking for, exactly?"

"Hang on," Mimi called from deep in the closet. "I think... yeah, I got it! Hang on!" She tugged as hard as she could, trying to free her treasure from the closet's mysterious layers. "I almost got it!" she shouted.

Dimentio stepped up behind Mimi, grabbed her around the middle, and gave a large tug. They both went sprawling down on the ground, but Dimentio was prepared and did a backwards roll, sticking his landing on his feet. Mimi tumbled backwards and hit her head against the baseboard of her room.

"Ow!" she yelped.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that," Dimentio said. "I thought you would tuck and roll."

Mimi stood up and straightened her pigtails. "How would I know to do that?"

Nastasia shook her head and put her hand over her face.

"I thought we had a thing," Dimentio explained. "I suppose we don't, then?"

"I never know what you're talking about, Dimentio." Mimi bent back down and picked up her treasure- a book with a plain, pink plaid cloth cover. "Here, this will have all the advice we need. I wrote down everything I ever learned about boys in it."

"Oh, it's your diary," said Dimentio.

Mimi ignored him. She sat down on the bed next to Nastasia and opened the book. "Okay, the writing's a little hard to read, so bear with me."

Nastasia and Dimentio peered over Mimi's shoulder and looked at the book. It was written in pink, cursive, with all the is and js dotted with little smiles or hearts.

Dimentio gagged.

Mimi slammed the book shut. "Girls only, Dimentio!" she scolded. "You can go wait outside and wait with O'Chunks."

Dimentio shrugged. "Fine by me," he said. "And so I am gone, like the strip of bacon left too close to the dogs nose. Ciao!" And he teleported out.

Mimi sighed with relief. "Glad he's gone," she said. "I swear, he gives me the creeps sometimes. Anyway, back to the book."

Nastasia had to let go of her secret hope that Dimentio would drag Mimi off into some sort of conflict that would distract her from the task at hand. But Mimi's resolve would not be wavered, and now she was stuck sitting on the bed with her, going over one of her old diaries and forcing herself to think about how the Count would never love her.

She was afraid she was going to start crying again.

"Now this chunk here," said Mimi, grabbing a handful of pages, "is from when I was in love with Rick. Rick was a smart guy, and you're smart. Rick liked me cause he thought I was sooo smart, too. Anyway, Rick was working on this math problem for his job. I think he build machines or something? Anyway, saw what he was doing and told him he had to substitute the variables, or something... we went out for like three months after that." She thumbed through the pages. "This next chunk is from when I was dating Steve. Steve bought and sold Catch Cards, and he was kind of a geek, but it was okay because he was a cute geek. He used to pull on my pigtails and make ringing noises like they were bells. See, make a note of that, Nassy. And after that I went out with John, and he noticed me this time, because I was wearing this supercute new pair of shoes..."

Nastasia glanced at her watch. Three minutes had passed- not nearly long enough for Mimi to loose interest. She groaned inwardly.

Outside Mimi's door, Dimentio had called over O'Chunks and they were listening in.

"That poor lass," O'Chunks whispered. "Somebody ought to help her."

"I'll pull the fire alarm if you can make smoke somehow," offered Dimentio.

"Nah," said O'Chunks. "We just have to get her to change gears."

"Explain to me how staging a fire wouldn't get her to change gears," said Dimentio, crossing his arms.

Count Bleck and Tippi were sitting at a table in the inn together, sharing a dinner of Shroom Fry. The crowd was thin that night- the only other people present were a mouser and a bob-omb at the next table, and two X-Nauts at the bar. Bleck and Tippi were sitting in the corner, as isolated from the rest as they could be.

"A quick dinner and then we'll retire to our room," said Count Bleck, taking another forkful. "We'll probably not want to go out after dark in this town. I just wouldn't want to start any trouble." He took a bite.

Tippi flapped her wings impatiently. "It's not a problem," she said quickly. "I don't even know if I really want to spend too much time sightseeing around this place..."

Count Bleck sighed. "This isn't what you had in mind, is it?"

"No, no, it's fine," Tippi said quickly. "I just... well... this isn't what I had in mind."

"There are many other places we could go," Count Bleck said quickly. "Petalburg is very nice this time of year... or what about Poshley Heights? Not to mention how close we are to Mushroom Kingdom. Have you ever seen snow? Shiver City is always lovely."

Tippi laughed. "Oh, Blumiere."

Count Bleck stroked her back with his finger. He loved the sound of her laugh so much, and still remembered how badly he'd missed it.

"Blumiere," Tippi repeated, "I don't care where we go, as long as we're there together."

"Thank you," said Count Bleck. "That's so... sappy of you." He was smiling when he said it, though.

They sat together for a while longer. It was quiet in the dining room, especially for the town's standards. Every now and again there would be noise from movement, but overall it was very soothing.

Suddenly, Count Bleck turned around in his chair to face the two X-Nauts. Tippi glanced over and saw them suddenly turning back to the bar, and she realized that they had been staring at them.

"Can I help you?" asked Count Bleck, somewhere between 'polite' and 'annoyed.'

"Nah," said the first X-Naut. "It's nothin', we're sorry. I just never saw anything like you before."

"I never saw anything like you before, neither," Count Bleck said. He purposefully mimicked their speech, and it made Tippi giggle. Then he tipped his hat. "I'm from the Tribe of Darkness," he continued. "And this is my wife, a pixl. And you are... X-Nauts, am I correct?"

"Yeah," the X-Naut replied, looking back cautiously. His silent partner hunched even further over the bar and muttered something under his breath.

"Still live on the moon, then? Asked Count Bleck."

"Nah," said the X-Naut. "Well, not really, anyway. Our army isn't doing a lot these days."

"Is that so," said Count Bleck to himself. Then he took a card out of his cape and handed it over to the X-Naut. "Well, if you ever feel like you need a change of pace, look me up. My organization is always looking for new faces."

The X-Naut took the card. "Thanks, man," he said. "We'd better get going. Come on, Gary." He gave his companion a tug, then put a few coins down on the counter. then they left, leaving just the mouser and bob-omb as the only other patrons in the dining room.

Tippi was staring at Count Bleck with interest as he tucked his cape back in place and went back to his meal. He looked up at her as he noticed her staring. "What?" he asked with a shrug. "I'm thinking of expanding our organization."

"I've never seen you act like that before," said Tippi.

"Like what?" Count Bleck asked.

"Never mind," Tippi said, and continued to eat.

"No, really," he pressed. He leaned over on the table and put his head next to hers. "What did you mean?"

Tippi thought for a moment. "Well," she said carefully. "I've never seen you act like just another person before... like you really fit in where you were. You just looked so natural, striking up a conversation with them. I must say, I like that a lot."

Count Bleck laughed, and Tippi smiled. "Is that so?" he said. "Interesting, mused Count Bleck. I must remember that for future reference. You don't think I ever acted like I belonged before?"

"No," said Tippi. "I only ever knew you as a man from the Tribe of Darkness who was going against his society to follow his heart. You never fit in- you were always going against."

They both finished eating in silence. Count Bleck was pondering what Tippi had said. And Tippi knew that when you really connected with someone, you didn't always need to talk.

Back at Castle Bleck, the minions were all gathered in Count Bleck's back room. Mimi was sitting in a chair adjacent to Nastasia, for some one-on-one coaching. O'Chunks and Dimentio, while present, were standing to the side and letting her work her 'magic.'

"Now, Nastasia," Mimi was saying, "If you want boys to fall for you, you have to make sure you look cute. That's the first thing they'll notice."

"K... um, how do you think I should do that?" asked Nastasia.

"Oh, lots of ways," Mimi said. She twirled her pigtails as she thought, with a dreamy look settling across her face. "We could change your hair, buy a cute new outfit, and see what works best... that's what I do to look cute."

"Oh!" said Dimentio in surprise. "That's what that is?"

Mimi spun around, leaning over the back of her chair, and glared at Dimentio. "What?" she snapped. "Don't you think this is cute?"

Dimentio put up his hands. "Oh, no, it's fine. It's fine."

"What did you mean, then?" asked Mimi.

Dimentio shrugged.

Mimi turned back to Nastasia. "How long is your hair?" she asked. "Maybe you could try wearing it down. Or if you don't want it in the way, we could try a nice braid, or maybe pigtails."

"Well..." Nastasia thought.

Dimentio interrupted, "Well, if you really want to know, it's unappealing when you try so hard to look cute, Mimi."

O'Chunks put his face in his hands. "Oh, chunks..." he groaned.

Mimi jumped on the floor and began to twist her head and body into the giant spider. "WANNA SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DON'T TRY?" she snarled. "MIMIMIMIMIMIMIMI!"

Dimentio snapped his fingers and disappeared. Mimi crawled across the floor and onto the ceiling.

Then Dimentio reappeared next to Nastasia. "Goodness," he said, "I didn't mean to upset you so much."

Nastasia straightened her glasses. "You know," she said, "I appreciate the thought, but I don't think this is what I want after all."

Mimi dropped from the ceiling. "Nonsense!" she said cheerfully. "We're just not warmed up yet!"

Nastasia jumped off her chair and headed to the door. "Um, I'm gonna have to ask you to stay out of my love life... 'K?" She slammed the door shut behind her.

Mimi sighed and backed up to the wall. "Oh dear... we've made it worse, haven't we?"

"Oh, no, that was splendid!" Dimentio said happily. "Don't give up!"

"You're right!" Mimi jumped up. "Maybe we just need some more help! I know someone who could give us a whole new perspective on this!"

"'Ey!" O'Chunks said suddenly. "I may not be the smartest one in the room, but I don't think there's anyone we could call to make this situation any better!"

"Why don't we call our old friend, Mr. L?" Mimi said. "He might be able to help!"

O'Chunks shook his head. "Now, see, I don't consider that helpin'. And what does 'e know aboot these things, anyway?"

"He's a guy," Mimi explained. "I mean, he's a normal guy. He'll be able to tell me what I'm doing wrong!"

"A fresh perspective never hurt," said Dimentio. "I'll call for him immediately."