Excess Express at Day (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)
Erza was in the dining car and happily eating Strawberry shortcake. "Strawberry shortcake for breakfast?" A voice asked as she looked to see no one in particular. "Down here." She looked down to see Carla.
"Hey, you know me, when I see strawberry shortcake, I go for it." She said.
"Knowing you, I'm not surprised." Carla muttered. "But I thought you'd have something, shall we say…healthier for breakfast."
Erza shrugged. "I had a blueberry muffin, does that count?"
"That depends…did you have a little shortcake frosting on it?" Carla asked, causing Erza to blush in embarrassment. "I knew it." She chuckled. "Anyway, I'm just here to gather some food."
"For Wendy?"
"Yeah. She's currently knocked out; apparently there was a side effect to that medicine that the nurse gave them. Apparently, there's an 18 hour drowsiness side effect. The nurse told me that after the three of them walked out of the infirmary."
"That explains why it was so quiet." Erza said. "How much longer?"
"I'd say around…an hour." She replied. "Anyway, I'll get some breakfast ready for Wendy before that ghost girl eats everything in sight."
"About that…she came in here ten minutes after I did. She basically ate the whole breakfast buffet."
"You're kidding me!" Carla exclaimed. "Did anyone else come in besides you and Yuyuko?"
"Lucy, Yukino, Gray, Juvia, Worldwalker, Mokou, Yukari, Minene, Lily and Mario." Erza replied.
"I see." She nodded as Happy walked in.
"Man, I am hungry! I can't wait to have some fish for breakfast!"
"Yuyuko ate the whole breakfast buffet. We'll have to wait until lunch." Carla said.
"WHAAAAT?!" Happy yelled as anime tears ran down his cheeks. "B-but my fish!"
"You'll just have to grin and bear it." Carla said as she walked away while Happy walked away saddened right when Youmu walked in.
"Why's Happy all sad?" She asked.
"Yuyuko." Erza replied.
"I was afraid of that." Youmu sighed when a penguin walked up to them.
"Hello there, Erza, right?" He asked.
"That's me." She said.
"Come to my room, I have to tell you something." He said as Erza nodded as they both went to his room.
"Well, I guess I'll just have a doughnut." Youmu said as she walked over to the desert bar…to see it completely empty, causing her to sweatdrop. "Oh for crying out loud, Lady Yuyuko…"
Pennington (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)
"I was impressed by your detective skills yesterday." He said. "Allow me to introduce myself; I am Pennington, a detective just like you."
"Technically…I'm not a detective." Erza told him. "I'm just a mage from a guild called Fairy Tail."
"Oh, you don't have to be so modest…I was planning to visit you yesterday but you simply disappeared before I could even blink. Anyway, there's something that caught my attention the other day."
"What is it?"
"Our dear businessman rat friend came in the other day to find out that his briefcase was stolen…and not just that. Golden shells, earrings, Chef Shimmi's cooking ingredients…all of them were stolen today."
"You sure the cooking ingredients were just eaten by Yuyuko?" Erza asked.
"The ghost girl? Nope, she didn't even touch them…though I am amazed that she ate up the breakfast buffet in seven seconds." He said. "There was also a note in his room that there will be a sticky surprise later today."
"A threat."
"Bingo." He said. "I want you to look around the train to find any clues and find the culprit. As of today…everyone on this train is a suspect."
"Including you?" Erza asked.
"…Okay, not EVERYONE." Pennington said. "Now, if you'll excuse me…I'll go ask the train conductor about the roof. I keep hearing clanging around on the roof and it's giving me a migraine." He said and walked away.
Clanging around? I wonder if Hikari and Hades are on the roof. Erza thought.
Up above…
Hikari panted, gripping her sword tightly. "Do you want to take a break?" Hades asked.
"No…I need to keep doing this. Battling on moving objects is quite…interesting." She replied.
"Okay." Hades said as he snapped his fingers as a Mimicutie appeared in front of her.
Back inside…
"Let's see…" Erza walked around in her detective outfit. I know the Dragon Slayers are innocent…they're currently knocked out so they wouldn't do anything. She thought. Juvia is more interested in Gray than blowing up a train. Her eyes widened. Wait a second… She hurried over to room 12 and then opened it to see Vivian reading a magazine. "Where's Minene?"
"She went to the item shop." Vivian replied as Erza nodded and went over to the item shop.
"Hmm…" Minene looked at the items. "What the heck is this?" She wondered, holding a figurine.
"That…is an amiibo. It's one of a kind!"
"I see…and who is this guy?"
"You never heard of the Radiant Hero of Legend?!"
"No..." Minene said as Erza walked in. "Oh hey, Erza."
"Do you have any plans for today?" Erza questioned.
"Besides walking around and hanging out in my room with Vivian? Nothing much."
"What about blowing up a train…you like to make things explode."
"Okay, just because I have grenades, C-4 and a gun does mean I blow things up for fun! There's a thing called calculation and studying the various things before I make my move."
"There's a threat that there will be a sticky surprise later today and it will be on this train." Erza said.
"I do not deal with sticky items. That's too much of a hassle."
"I see. Thank you." Erza said as she walked away.
"Wait, Erza…" Minene caught her attention as she turned around…only for her to toss the Ike Amiibo. "I wonder if you can absorb this amiibo thing and have this guys outfit and sword." She asked.
"One way to find out, I suppose." Erza said as she put the amiibo in her pocket and walked out.
"Wait, you gotta pay for that!" The Toad cashier said while Minene walked out. "Aaaand they're gone." He sighed.
Erza kept walking as she walked out of the dining room car…only to bump into Zip Toad. "Oh, sorry." She said.
"It's my fault, I didn't know where I was going." He said as they walked away before Erza stopped.
"Hey…do you know anything about a sticky threat?"
"Sticky threat?" Zip Toad asked. "What sticky threat? I don't know a sticky threat! Get off my back, woman!" He said and took off.
…Interesting. Erza thought as she followed him until she then tackled him to the ground.
"Gah! What are you doing?!" He exclaimed as Pennington walked up to them.
"Let me see your pockets." Pennington said as he dug through Zip Toad's pockets and then pulled a briefcase out. "Aha! You have unnecessarily large pockets to put a briefcase in here! And here, I was going to question that elf boy about the sticky threat!" He said as Link walked by.
"Two days on this train and suddenly, you're called an elf…" Link muttered as he kept walking as Pennington opened the case.
"Aha! The missing items AND the sticky threat!" Pennington exclaimed.
"Well, crud…" Zip Toad muttered.
"As soon as we stop at Riverside, you'll be questioned." Pennington said as Erza took out the amiibo and changed back to her casual outfit.
Does this thing have magic properties? Erza wondered as she walked to her room.
Very much later…
Riverside Station (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)
The train stopped as Pennington, the conductor and Zip Toad walked out...and he was smirking. "Wipe that smirk off of your face." Pennington said.
"Heh…you gullible slicks…" Zip Toad smirked. "You thought it was Zip Toad…" He said as he suddenly transformed into Doopliss! "BUT IT WAS ME, DOOPLISS!" He yelled as he quickly got away after Pennington and the conductor were left speechless.
"D-did that just happen?" The conductor asked.
"I'm just going to pretend like that never even happened." Pennington said as everyone else walked out.
"Where's Zip Toad?" Erza asked.
"It's complicated." The conductor sighed.
"Well, why did we stop?" Natsu asked. "Besides needing to refuel?"
"This gate is basically shut tight for some reason. Can you guys go check it out?"
"Sure." Worldwalker nodded as they walked into the station.
"Where's Hikari and Hades?" Luigi asked.
"They're exhausted, so they're resting in the train." Mokou replied as they walked into the station…and then suddenly a heavenly light appeared behind the train and Palutena and Pit revealed themselves.
"Alright…time to get that ghost up to Skyworld." Palutena said, and then noticed Pit folding his arms with a troubled look. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know why…but I'm having déjà vu..." Pit said as he helped her climb up in the back.
"You probably had a dream about this." Palutena said.
"Did I?" Pit tilted his head before they went in.
Inside the station…
"So we need a key for this elevator?" Luigi asked. "Great…"
"Don't worry. I'll find it." Yukari said as she made a gap and walked in…and then came back out a few seconds later. "Here we are!"
"Well that beats trying to find a key in this place." Luigi said. "Could you imagine the tedious task to that?"
"I wouldn't say tedious…I think it'd more be like 'taking a long time that you need a sandwich in the middle of it'." Worldwalker said as they all looked at him weird. "What?"
"Hold on…what's the weight limit?" Natsu asked.
"Oh…you might be on to something there." Yukari said. "Considering it doesn't hold any room…" She said and made a gap. "We'll just go down this way!" She grinned as they walked in the gap…and when they walked out of the gap, they saw several strange creatures hogging a lever.
"What the heck are those?!" Luigi exclaimed.
"I dunno, but they're hogging that lever!" Mario said as Wendy and Flurrie looked at each other and nodded.
"SKY DRAGON'S ROAR!" She yelled as Flurrie added her own wind to up the power of the roar, scattering the creatures everywhere as Worldwalker pulled the lever.
"Well, I can safely assume that the gate is open." Worldwalker said.
"Come on, let's go back!" Natsu exclaimed as they nodded and went right into the gap and back into the train.
"ALL ABOOOOARD!" The conductor yelled as he got in and the Excess Express took off.
In the luggage car…
"WHOOOA!" Palutena yelled as she was stumbled after the sudden jerk and faceplanted…and adding insult to injry, several luggage bags fell on her. "Ow…" She groaned.
"You okay, Lady Palutena?!" Pit exclaimed.
"Not really…." She muttered as Pit folded his arms.
"I swear, I think I lived through this once before." He said as Ghost T. looked at them from the door.
"Heh, that'll keep 'em busy for a while." He smirked and then took off.
*totally not referencing Sora's Adventure in Rogueport*