"This is insane! Do you know how long it took to make the Halberd? The cost? Where will we find workers, hm? Unless you assume the five of us will just re-build it ourselves..?"
Luigi wasn't listening to him. He'd been poring over the blueprints to the battleship for a good ten minutes, occasionally marking it with a piece of white chalk and making mental notes of things they'd need. Meta Knight shook him harshly.
"You're seriously not considering making us build it by ourselves, are you?"
Luigi didn't look up.
"No, of course-a not. Don't you worry about it, I've-a got a plan."
"A plan? Why haven't you told us? At least tell me! Come onnn!"
Luigi sighed, standing up and placing his hands on Meta Knight's shoulders.
"Look-a, I have a mission for you. Now-a this is important. We have to a-make sure they're not-a on any nearby worlds. You're the only one of us who can fly. I want you to scout-a them out as much as you can. Let me worry about the rest, okay?"
Meta Knight was still for a second. Luigi knew he didn't like being told what to do, and that Meta Knight resented him because he thought he was being foolish, but he really needed it done, and he was the only guy for the job. Meta Knight gave him a strange look, somewhere between distaste and pity, then sighed.
"Which ones?"
Luigi pulled out a map and began circling parts of it with a red marker.
"Check the Mushroomy Kingdom first, to make-a sure it wasn't just another one of-a Bowser's tricks, then-a Hyrule Castle so we know it wasn't Ganondorf. Wario isn't smart enough to make a plan that's evil like-a this. Wolf...I'm not-a sure about him. He never-a seemed to have a vendetta against anyone but Fox. And you..."
"Me? What makes you think I'd do something like this?" Meta Knight challenged.
"Look, you don't always seem like-a the good guy. I'm-a just covering my bases. Besides, you really think I'd ask you to do this if I didn't-a trust you?"
Meta Knight grumbled something under his breath, snatching the paper away from him and pushing past him.
Luigi shook his head sadly. He'd come around eventually. In the meantime, he needed workers, and fast. He turned to Lucas, who was playing sullenly with the odd creature he kept in his pocket.
"Lucas, can you-a come here?"
Lucas stood and scrambled over to him, excited to help.
"I need-a you to talk to the Waddle Dees and Pikmin. They can-a help us build the ship."
"Where can I find them?"
"Well-a King Dedede keeps some-a Waddle Dees in his room, and the rest are-a back at his castle. Olimar keeps some-a Pikmin in his room as-a well, and the rest are-a in the courtyard."
Lucas tilted his head.
"I've never seen any Pikmin out there."
Luigi sighed.
"You really thought-a Olimar was planting petunias out-a there?"
Lucas giggled–god it was refreshing to see him smile.
"I guess that was kinda suspicious, huh? Yeah, I can talk to them. I'm not sure if they'll listen to me though. They're very loyal."
Luigi nodded.
"Just-a try, okay"
Lucas gave a mock salute and rushed off into the mansion.
"Let's-a see, what else?"
He turned and noticed Nana sitting there.
"Hey-a, can you-a help me with something?"
Nana sat up straight and nodded eagerly.
"Anything!"
"I want you to-a go to my room and look-a under Mario's bed. There should be a vent. There's some-a tools in the garage you can use. I need all the coins from in there. You-a might need a wagon."
Nana's eyes widened.
"Tools?"
"Yeah, like-a screwdrivers?" Luigi made a motion with his hands.
"Oh, no I can't do that..that's a man's job."
Luigi was surprised. A fighter like her, subordinated by several men, it was unheard of that someone like her would be such a–well a girl. She was young, yes, but strong. You'd think she'd take the example of some of the older, feminist women of the group. He stared at her a second, then shook his head.
"There's-a no such thing as 'man's work'. Just-a do it."
She looked unconvinced, but headed off to the garage anyway. Luigi sighed.
"Mama mia..."
Squirtle and Jigglypuff bounded up to him.
"Jiggly?"
Luigi didn't need to understand her to know they wanted an assignment too. He thought for a second, then put his finger up in an "a-ha!" motion.
"Do-a you two have any friends?"