Hi guys, this is the latest chapter of Noob. Sorry I didn't publish in a while, I couldn't find the time. The first Act is almost over, so I'm going to finish what I started with the final chapter and then I will post the changes that will be made in the editing process.

Thank you to o realisticFantasy o and AcidVesuvi for your reviews. I'm really glad to hear that you guys enjoyed the story so far! :)

And thank you to everyone who has added it to their Favorites and Alerts. It means a lot to me :)

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Smash Bros. Peace!

Enjoy~!

Noob

Chapter 4

Recruitment (Part One)

…

It is currently 6:00 PM in the Eastern Time Zone of Reality, approximately 1 hour after the Players shut off the Wii U. The Characters assumed that the Players went to spend some time on this unfamiliar-sounding system, as it seemed, called the "PlayStation". The Nintendo Icon, Mario, felt a bitter aftertaste in his mouth after repeating the word "PlayStation" to himself, while Link, trying to repeat the same thing, had bitten his tongue, but that's as far as managing to say anything goes for him.

Nevertheless, the Characters didn't seem to mind, because they were eager to meet the new recruit to the Roster that Captain Falcon had unlocked.

The entire Roster rushed over to the same Lounge where they met Alexis, now to meet Falco. Alexis, sitting in her cubicle, staring up into the blankness of the ceiling heard the rupture from the other side of the door which distracted her from her track of concentration. Within that hour, the human had thought. She thought about quite a bit of things. In fact, so much things, it's a wonder how she managed to fit all of her thoughts within the hour given. First she dreamt about home, and what would happen if she came home. By the seams of how things sound to her from the outside realm, they wouldn't have noticed. The very notion of that breaks her heart, especially when Samus told her that the reason that the System was shut off because Player 2, who was recognized by the Bounty Hunter to be Samantha, hated Alexis so much that they went to go do something else.

Alexis knows very well that Samus wasn't trying to be mean per say, because everything that was explained by the older woman was told with a solemn expression, but the honesty was spread on so thick, that she might as well have said "They're playing another game and it's all your fault."

The human had been hiding in her Cubicle ever since, clouding up her mind with all sorts of thoughts. The hostility she felt from Samantha made her feel more welcome behind the television screen. Though, Alexis didn't feel any form of resentment towards her schoolmate, but instead, agreed with her. Alexis feels as if she can't keep up with these Characters, and even if she got training from Captain Falcon, it wouldn't work. C'mon, his arm doesn't light on fire when he punches someone, Alexis reasoned within the walls of her mind. What makes Lucario think that the same will get accomplished by me?

A light knock was heard on the door, causing her to lose track of what she was thinking about. She cautiously glanced at the door and invited the visitor in with the casual "Come in."

What a pleasant surprise! It was Peach and Zelda! Don't you remember? The two who suggested that suicidal kick explosion-tactic to her? As much as Alexis doesn't appreciate the fact that they gave her a MoveSet that will end her life probably faster than being transported to the Central Hub, that isn't the problem she's having right now. Her problem is the lacking privacy in this Mansion. Whenever she escapes from one person, she ends up running into another. From that whole goose-chase with that stupid Ike Train getup to Samus, since it was the Bounty Hunter who initiated that conversation in the first place. Now it's these two that won't leave her alone.

The Human stays silent as the two Princesses enter the room. Zelda had her back perched up and cautiously glanced anywhere but Alexis' eyes, ambling slowly and silently further into the room, while the less sensitive Peach ran up to Alexis as jumpy as ever.

"Oh Alexis!" Peach gaped, holding both of Alexis' hands within her own, "We have been looking all over for you!"

As if it was her cue, Zelda piped up as she sat herself on the floor directly across from Alexis. "Samus told us that you ran away crying and she wanted to know if you were okay." Zelda smoothly explained.

Oh Crap! Did she really see me do that?! Alexis felt her cheeks color after hearing about herself look silly in front of someone as cool as Samus. Zelda lightly places a hand on the Newcomers knee. Alexis gazed down at Zelda who seems genuinely concerned for her. Her eyes were big, and Alexis made note of how blue they were at this moment, but the Human shook out those thoughts before she could creep herself out anymore in a single day.

"Alexis, are you okay?" Zelda asked softly as Peach took a seat beside Alexis and wrapped her arms around the young girl and leaned her head on her shoulder. Alexis never felt that much comfort from anyone in a long time. The last time that she hugged her own mother was when she was just a child, but ever since, she's never been hugged. The human girl squirmed lightly in Peach's hold, since she wasn't very comfortable in it for someone who hasn't been hugged in almost a decade. But from that Peach only squeezed tighter.

"Alexis, you're not going to escape from my hug, I hope you know." Peach grumbled playfully, in which the human laughed lightly, not really sure what to think at the moment. Being here in the videogame left her pondering about these mixed messages. On the right hand she is stuck in a reality that is eating away at her life, the right hand being the dominant. But in the left hand is the impression that she wouldn't be missed much whether she's there or fallen victim to the 'Central Hub'.

She slowly stopped squirming in Peach's hold only to balance out the conflicting thoughts in her head, absent minded to Zelda's original question and straying away from the Hylian's gaze. At the small pause and lacking response. Zelda frowned slightly. "I understand that you want to be alone, Alexis." Zelda risen up, receiving Alexis' attention once again without a single glance, but she knew it was there, so the elf smiled sincerely, "But just know that you're not really alone. We'll be in the Lounge if you want to see us." And with that, the princess walked out of the room with Peach trailing close behind. Before Peach was out, she swiftly turned to Alexis and squinted her eyes, pointing at the girl with a gloved finger. "I'll let you get away this time. But until the next time that we meet, it will be me who will have the last laugh!" She turns another time out the door and down the hall, Alexis heard the Princess mimicking evil laughter heard from movies.

"Muahahahahahahaha!"

At that, Alexis couldn't contain her laughter. She envied the Toadstool Princess for her bubbling energy for a moment, but soon after had gone back to thinking. But only 15 to 30 minutes until she had made her conclusion.

Zelda was right; Alexis isn't alone. This reality is all that she had left. And even if she never comes home again, it wouldn't bother anybody. And if she was fated to be 'eliminated' by an update from the Central Hub, then so be it. Until it happens, Alexis knows now not to mope about it, but fight fate as best as she could with these Characters who are willing to help her. Zelda, Peach, and Master Hand are trying everything that they can to help her, now it's time for her to do everything in her power to help them.

All in the meanwhile, Ike and some others like Fox and Samus (debatable, but in the long run, yes) had been so kind to her and she's done nothing but complain. Now thinking back on it, this is the best chance that she has at being appreciated as a person as opposed to the life she had before. She had no friends, her brother hates her and her mom just doesn't care.

This is her chance to value herself until her final day as a human. Perhaps even her final day alive.

Alexis is going to fight. She's going to live up to the reality that requires her to fight, and show promise to those fictional characters who believe in her.

The human sprung from her little bed and strode outside of the door, greeted by the hallway lights that shine brightly over her head, in contrast to the dimly lit lamp in her room. She squinted her eyes, glaring past the obnoxious rays of artificial lights and into the crowd of people, monsters and animals ahead. It seemed to her that the entire Roster was huddled in together, probably greeting with the newest Character. The curious Alexis tried peering over to see exactly who they have greeted into the mansion, but the crowd is so thick that some the Characters who could fly had to carry some other Characters just so they could see as well. She sighed to herself, and carried on with the original mission.

She wants to find Captain Falcon and talk about training. But even if she finds him to further delve into the subject, the last time she brought the topic up, he didn't seem all that interested. In fact, he didn't seem like he was even comfortable with the idea given by the fact that he postponed to talk about it after the System was shut down by Reality. However, Alexis urged herself to press on fourth to see him. Perhaps he needs a little convincing?

But even if he wasn't able to train her, then she mentally prepped herself for rejection. The thought of that made her bones shake lightly. She hopes that it wouldn't have to be like that because this is a realm in which she must learn to defend herself.

She makes a turn down the hallway on the left, where she remembers the Narration Chambers. Sigh, all the memories she had with this place; a chill down her spine as she remembers being told what her fate was to be in that very room. Nervously, she lightly taps the door with her knuckles, in hopes that the giant, floating, disembodied hand would be behind the door.

"Coming~!" an unfamiliar voice sang in soprano behind the door, startling the human slightly. But it was pushed open by the other hand that she had met during Classic Mode. The hand was a lot more spastic and looked fully capable of just dropping onto the floor and break out in a paroxysm of uncontrollable willies, wobblesandheebie-jeebies.

… Alexis wouldn't be lying if she told you that those were the terms she'd use to describe the mess in front of her. The human instead responds to the hand by backing up slowly, foot after foot. She would have dashed down the hallway and into another path, if not for the hand shouting "Human!" at her.

The girl froze in place and turned her head, wide-eyed at the hand.

Take a breather, Alexis. Time to be brave, because you need to be from now on. She reminded herself as she stepped closer to the hand cautiously. But cautiously was too slow for the Hand, so he hollered:

"GET OVER HERE SO I CAN TOUCH YOUR FACE!"

Before continuing any further, Alexis decided to be a little braver to not run away. But instead, to question his motives.

"… Why do you need to touch my face?"

"Why does that matter?" The Hand countered with a nonsense rebuttal.

"… Because, you're not explaining why you want to touch my face," Alexis stated, becoming less scared of the floating hand and more annoyed, "and where I come from, touching people's faces would be considered creepy and offensive."

"But this isn't your world, is it?"

"No, it isn't."

"Well, touching people's faces is a custom in this kind of culture. You have offended us." The Hand told her as its fingers curled up into its palm, shaking slightly. And if you listen closely—

Wait! Is it crying!?

Alexis walks closer to the hand, and with a deep breath, she poked at one of its fingers. The fingers altogether loosened and broke away from its palm. She then lifted the giant index finger and brought it to her left cheek. It was only like that for a second until she broke away, but the hand was persistent and continued to poke her face. Alexis glared at the hand but managed to say nothing about how uncomfortable it was, but instead she asks "So, I was wondering where Captain Falcon was. Do you know?"

"… Maaayyybeee."

"Listen, I need to speak with him about training. I didn't come here to play games with you." The human's statement was stern enough to even surprise herself. At this, the hand snickered, but tried hard to close it in.

"Alright, I'll tell you. But only if you can gather some Characters for me."

"Why don't you just call them up on the speaker system that you guys have here?"

"It keeps casting those death glares at me!"

"Nonsense!" She barked at the Hand, "How can it? It's an inanimate object! It can't—!"

"—Do you want to find Captain Falcon or not?"

"Yes, but this is just stu—!"

"DO YOU?"

"… Fine?" she sounded somewhat nervous at the thought of getting lost in a mansion she still doesn't know her way around. There was no point trying to argue with the Hand anyway, since he had the advantage of being bigger and most definitely stronger than her and that she never intended to fight anyone when the System was shut off. Nevertheless, she'll take up his little challenge, if it meant that he'll find Captain Falcon for her. Though, this would have been much easier if this was Master Hand she was talking to.

"Alright. Who do you need?" she breaks from her train of thought.

"Alright, I need Jigglypuff, Bowser and Toon Link."

"Do any of them speak English?"

"No."

"Then how am I going to get to them?"

"… Touch their faces… They'll know!"

It is currently 7:00 PM in the Eastern Time Zone of Reality.

Mission One: Jigglypuff

Alexis had departed from the hand in the moment that he said that.

Touch their faces? She thought to herself bitterly, Things are only going to get awkward, real fast. But, he's in charge: What do I know?

She was headed down over to the West Wing, where the pools and most recreational areas were. As a human, she figured that the area would be littered with Characters, seeing as people would love recreational activities that the Mansion had to offer; why not the Characters?

Ambling over to the Pool Area, surprised to see that no one was really using the pool. Sure, there were Characters there, like Mega Man and Greninja. But the issue was that they weren't swimming rather than just nervously staring at their reflections in the chlorinated water, and on occasion, poking it to watch it ripple small waves in response. So far it was only the two of them in the area, but Alexis wanted to check around and see if either one of the Characters knew where Jigglypuff was.

"Hey, excuse me?" Alexis called as she approached the two Characters, who jumped up in response. "Have you seen Jigglypuff around? The twitchy Hand wants to see them."

The little robot in blue raised a brow that slid under his helmet but said nothing, as the Pokémon proceeded to ignore her, still poking at the water. The girl sighed as she discovered that both of these Characters can't speak English, though she couldn't help but notice their immense anxiety towards the pool. It bugged her seeing these tough fighters so afraid of getting wet, and she could tell because of the melodramatic tension in the air.

She kneeled down between the two Characters at the edge of the pool, glancing side to side at each of the Characters to earn their attention. Both of the Characters cautiously watched her as she silently dipped her whole head inside of the pool, unknowingly startling Greninja and Mega Man. They sat there, staring at the strange human who shortly after a minute blew bubbles from her nostrils. The bubbles that rose to the surface caught the Characters by surprise, but an inaudible chuckle escaped Mega Man's lips before rising her head up above the surface, as her wet hair slapped her back and she smiled at them.

"See? There's nothing to be afraid of." She chuckled, witness to Greninja plunge his webbed hand into the water curiously. She rolled her eyes and laughed. "Perhaps you guys need a little bit more convincing. Here." She demonstrated by standing up, winding back, running fourth and jumping into the water with her legs tucked in and curled into a ball, surely a big enough splash erupted from the cannonball to whip both of the Characters with the jumping water. Surely, getting them by surprise, but no one was hurt. They glance over at Alexis who was standing in the shallow end of the pool, who couldn't help but giggle.

Alexis loves the pool. So much that she joined the swim team and participated in competitive swimming. She wasn't the best in the team, and in her final year of high school, she couldn't manage to actually make the team. But she is certainly glad that the Smash Mansion had a pool, confident that she'd be the best swimmer on the Roster. That bubble of confidence popped when she realized that Greninja had already jumped inside of the water and did laps around the pool.

Okay, maybe the second best swimmer. She told herself after remembering the Greninja was a water-type Pokémon, as explained to by Lucario once. She chuckled to herself, watching the animated creature eagerly lapping about the entire pool. Look at him go! The little guy's such a graceful swimmer.

She turns her head to Mega Man who intently gawked at the water-type Pokémon. Alexis grinned at the little robot and offered to help him into the pool. Step by step, the adorable robot hero safely went inside of the water and treaded about the shallow water. In that moment of observation, she couldn't help but feel like a doting mother while watching these Characters swim. But she soon realizes that she wasn't the only one watching her baby birds fly—erm, swim.

Then she noticed that a couple more Characters peered in through the window that revealed the hallway. There was Shulk, Kirby (who she had mistaken for Jigglypuff before realizing that he didn't have the same face), Charizard and Link.

… Well, he looked like Link, but much smaller, with giant cat-like eyes that stared particularly at her. His tunic was less detailed and his arms were longer than his stubby legs: like a cartoon. Putting two and two together in her mind: Toon, as in Cartoon and Link as in the Elf Boy in a Green Tunic. This must have been Toon Link, given how disproportional all his limbs were and how big his eyes were.

"You!" She pointed at him, while trying to scurry out of the pool after him, without noticing how red his face was when he turned and bolted away from her, down the hall.

"Hey, get back here and let me touch your face!" Alexis was quick to rise out of the pool but was called out before she could make it for the door.

"Um, excuse me… Alexis?" Shulk was heard from behind her. She swiftly turned around and saw Shulk twirling his foot into the ground shyly as the Dragon and Dreamland Hero stood behind him, staring at her curiously.

"May I help you?" she asked curtly, losing track of where Toon Link would have headed as time passed.

"How did you do that?" He asked, pointing at the pool timidly.

"… You mean swim?" She questioned, earning a nod from all three of them in response. She sighed. "Just jump in. It's easy."

"…" Shulk silently glanced down at the pool and then gazed up at Alexis with a concerned frown.

"What's wrong now?" she questioned.

"… I'm sure I speak for all three of us when I ask if you can help us with that… Can you help us with that?" He replied, as all three of them gazed up at her with puppy-dog eyes. "Please?"

Are they kidding me!?

But after staring dead straight into their mopey eyes, the human sighed, feeling defeated. She figured that Toon Link had run too far away from her to successfully find him. Why was he running in the first place? I thought it was Link that I made the bad impression on. Was he scared that I was going to touch his face? I was told that it was custom… Maybe a custom that no one likes, but it's still a custom.

Snapping away from those thoughts, she instinctively shook her head and turned to face Shulk with a small grin, happy to know that she can be of some use to these Characters. "Alright. I'll show you guys what I know."

Toon Link's little feet had patted against the floor running faster than his little heart pounded against his chest. He didn't know why he was so afraid of the Human. Perhaps because his bigger counterpart was a bit freaked out by her, maybe? But he couldn't understand why because Link doesn't match up in wave lengths like how Samus and Zero Suit Samus, or Zelda and Sheik share theirs. Although, he's never seen Link even talk to the girl, except for that one time when she first transported into the Character Menu room after her first match with him and, casting Link a glare so vicious that the entire room could feel the tension of her scalding temper and his trembling reaction to it. Knowing his ultra-cool counterpart, it wasn't fear that made Link tremble, more than the fact that he doesn't really like starting a conflict.

A couple of edged corners treaded through the narrow hallways, two flights of stairs and a final left turn later, he runs into his rather out-spoken friend Pit, who was seen talking to another scary lady named Palutena. Toon Link gulped so hard at the sight that it literally dropped down to the bottom of his tummy, and as he attempted to make a U-Turn back down the stairs…

"Hey, there you are Toon Link." Pit called out, having Palutena gawk at him with starry eyes and a grin.

Uh oh.

"Aww, it's my snuggle-sized Link-muffin!" She cooed as she picked up the boy frozen in place and cradled his rigid form in her arms. Pit rolled his large eyes at the regularly calm, cool and collected Goddess playing sucker to both forms of the Hero of Time. Both she wanted to snuggle the same, with each of their own different motives.

Toon Link was frozen in place, wide-eyed as he was being babied and witnessed Pit trying hard to contain his laughter until Zelda scuttles by with a plate of Food of all different sorts. The selection ranged from cakes to sandwiches that would typically look tasty to the human eye.

"Yo Zelda, what's with the Food?" Pit asks the Princess as he carefully eyed the platter. Palutena glances at the plate as well, gripping Toon Link even tighter in her arms.

"Oh hi, Pit, Palutena." Zelda nodded at both of them and glanced down at the struggling Cartoon Elf in green. "Toon Link." She addressed as if she was oblivious to his rampant squirming, then gazing at the plate, she announces to the three of them, "We're getting things together because Peach and I are throwing Alexis a 'surprise party'. I heard from Master Hand that these are customs that Humans plan to celebrate for their friends to inform exactly how much they appreciate them."

"… Do we appreciate her?" Palutena raises an eyebrow at Zelda, as if being skeptical.

"Well, she did technically save us from death…" Pit mused.

"We don't know how long she is staying, but what I see is someone who is far away from home and feels isolated in a world where she doesn't belong." Zelda explains her perspective, "I'll admit that I don't understand how she feels, but I can imagine that it would feel very uncomfortable to her. And if we distance ourselves from her, it would only make her feel worthless."

"Zelda, she doesn't belong here." The voice of an Italian plumber was heard from another room, but there were his footsteps to be heard coming closer and closer. It was Mario, strolling about the area until he heard the discussion between the Hyrulian and the Goddess. When he said that, his voice was somber, but still received an irritated huff from Zelda.

"I think we know that, Mario." She rebukes tastelessly, but before she could add any more to her rebuttal, Mario swiftly cut in to express his point of view.

"I know you know, Zelda." He adds in, more calmly than he intended. "But you don't see what I'm seeing." At this, Zelda folds her arms as she turns to Mario with a cold gaze.

"Explain yourself." She demanded. "Inquiring minds must know…"

"Heh, that's so like you Zelda." Mario chuckles, but cut it short and delved straight into his perspective. "But my concern is that you guys are welcoming her to stay, she's going to get comfortable here."

"But that's what we want—!"

"Zelda, she doesn't belong here, and I think that, eventually, she's going to leave us. If we show her this kind of support, she'll have a hard time leaving back to wherever her home is."

"Yes, but I don't think it will help if we isolate her."

"Actually, I think it would." Palutena chimed in her piece in defense of Mario, adding more to his statement. "I think the less we involve her in our lives, the more she'll strive to go home to her world. And the more she strives, the more likely it would be to actually happen."

Mario nods at Palutena, "Don't you want to see the human reunite with her Family? Don't you think you're being selfish?"

"Selfish!?" Zelda snapped at both of them, with Pit's approval as he casted the opposing team a hard stare. "I'm sure I speak for everyone with dignity when I say that we should be grateful that we are able to live and breathe like this!"

"Tch. Zelda, Zelda." Mario shook his head in a patronizing demeanor. "You know this might affect the way the Players will see us. Did they ever cross your mind? I mean, they give us our purpose. What if Alexis were to change that?"

"I personally think that Master Hand was right in sending her to the Central Hub." Palutena adds in smoothly with a sharp briskness in her tone, "With no means of spiting anyone of course."

Zelda glanced at the ground thoughtfully before swiftly turning the other way with Pit and Toon Link trailing behind her. Before trailing about her original path for the surprise party, she spoke her final word to them, solemn.

"I'm going to accept the fact that we both don't know what's going to happen to us, because Master Hand couldn't even tell me. Farewell." And with that, she made her leave from a debate that never really settled anything.

Note to self: DO NOT, and I mean NEVER AGAIN try to teach a giant Fire Breathing Pokémon how to swim! Alexis thought to herself, as her feet sloshed along the hallway carpet. The whole swimming lesson experience was a mess.

First there was Charizard, who eagerly hopped into the pool and fell victim to a panic attack immediately. He clawed his way, barely scraping the surface splashing everywhere around him, managing to scare Greninja and Mega Man clear out of the water. Alexis dove into the water to help him, knowing very little that Charizard was frightened enough and his aggression was through the roof. The large creature was clawing at her rampantly as she tried helping him out of the water. When they reached the pool steps, the Pokémon scrambled out of the water and fly his way out once his whole body was out of the pool.

Then there was Kirby, who when she told to dip underwater, the deadly helium balloon creature would only float, no matter how much those stubby little arms paddled. When he tried, he'd only rotate like a beach ball on the surface, and when she tried helping him underwater, Kirby would only pop back up. On her final try with helping Kirby, he sprung so high up, he hit the ceiling and proceeded to leave a dent in it!

Finally, there was Shulk, who was okay until Robin-(M) waltzed into the room smashing cymbals together.

What decent person smashes cymbals together when they're NOT playing in a marching band!?

The moment Shulk saw him was when he almost drowned! Alexis doesn't even know why she attempted to rescue him. He's a videogame Character! He can't die permanently through drowning because artificial water can't fill up artificial lungs! And Alexis, who doesn't know a lot about CPR, mindlessly punched Shulk in the gut in a repetitive cycle, thinking that it would have helped him, when really, he was fine. Her state of panic had prevented her from hearing him shouting at her. It was only then when he pushed her back into the pool and stormed out of the room had she realized her error and cursed at herself for it.

When she confronted Robin about it, the Tactician said that he was 'experimenting' the 'strange device' that he found in the 'Music Room' and wanted to show his friend Shulk. The excuse that was presented didn't save Robin from the innate growl from Alexis before she too stomped out of the Pool Hall.

Now a half an hour had passed and she moped about the halls, feeling ashamed of herself. She had been slightly hungry for a while now and had been roaming throughout the West Wing of the Smash Mansion looking for a kitchen to make a binary-coded sandwich. It was that before she would look for Jigglypuff, Bowser or Toon Link any further.

She ambled until the scent of warm food glided amongst the soft breeze of the chilling air conditioning and skidded against her nose. Following the scent, it lead her into one of the Kitchens where Ike was seen taking plates and plates of Food out of the large oven, unwary of Alexis who involuntarily drooled at the sight of Food. Never mind that, Food that actually smelled like food, and not just looked the part.

Ike must've been just as hungry as she was, given that his gluttonous nature delved into the plate and pigged out on a multitude of assorted snacks. Alexis crept up beside him and poked his arm, startling him a bit.

"Oh my Gosh! Alexis, I'm so sorry!" Ike piped up too suddenly, his words and apology shooting like rapid-fire. Alexis placed a hand at Ike's shoulder, reassuringly.

"Ike. Calm down. I'm not going to bite you." Alexis comforted the Mercenary before gazing at the Food. "However, I would like a bite of those yummy burgers you're cooking up and hogging all of. Do you mind?"

Again, Ike panicked slightly as he stepped away from Alexis and freed himself from her hold, gulping down the last of what he ate. "I'm sorry, Alexis, but as much as I'd like to share with you, I shouldn't even be eating any of this myself." He admitted nervously.

"… Then why are you eating it?" Alexis questioned him, cynically.

"Well, it's hard to explain…" he shuffled his glance shyly between locations, "But for the first time in my life, I never fully realized how… good this Food feels. It never really left as much of a tingling effect in my core before."

"Well, can I have a taste so that I know what you're talking about?" She proposed, in which Ike responded by taking a fry and handing it to her. She popped the chip in her mouth and her heart immediately skipped a beat.

The fry actually tasted like a real fry. And if she were to be specific, they tasted like the ones at that fast food place that Samantha always goes to. Normally, Alexis wouldn't even touch anything that has been prepared through a deep fryer, but she's been scraping along with bite sized pieces of tasteless sandwiches for what seemed like days, she's ready to eat every fry on that plate.

"Ike. This is what we humans call taste." She explained to him. "We taste food from our world to determine our preferences and decipher between what is edible between what is not."

"Taste?" he tilted his head to the side and pondered. "If this is what you humans get out of food from your world, then consider me envious."

Alexis chuckled at Ike's statement, as her eyes automatically scanned for anything to eat lying around and out of Ike's reach when she spotted a nice red apple sitting on the counter. When she leant out an arm to reach out for it, Ike was quicker to snatch it before she could.

"I'm sorry Alexis, but I can't have you ruin your appetite." Ike chided, which briefly reminded her of her own mother.

"EH!? Ike, what do you know about the word appetite? You're a computer programmed with a bottomless pit for a stomach! You don't know when to stop!" Alexis whined like a child, in which Ike didn't have a proper response. She continued to complain, seeing as he didn't use the short time given to argue back. "And what do you care about my appetite? Is there something you're not telling me?"

*Ding*

That was the noise heard from the oven, in which Ike hastily took out a full turkey dinner from and stacked it on top of the other plates.

"I'm sorry, I have to go. I'll chat with you later." Ike told her in haste as he made a mad dash into the hallway.

And just as she was beginning to think that the select group of people in the Mansion respected her and actually perhaps even liked her, she now questioned that thought and was feeling a drastic drop of her already plummeting confidence.

There I go again; messing everything up, again. She sighed as she felt her heart sink. First Link, then Toon Link. Kirby, Shulk, Charizard… and now Ike. Yeah, even Ike. How could I mess up that bad?

In the midst of her getting lost in her own sulking, she gets a clean dish towel thrown at her face.

"Jiggly!"

Removing the cloth from her eyes reveals an annoyed Jigglypuff with a bandana on her head and one of those hand-sized brooms within her paw. After a moment of trying to calculate who the Pokémon was, her head wrapped around the memory of Jigglypuff from the cartoon she used to watch in her childhood. Alexis could have sworn that there was something awfully familiar about the pink creature whom she'd find walking about the Mansion on occasion.

Before Alexis could say anything, Jigglypuff pointed at the ground underneath the Human to reveal the mess of water that she was making. She bent over to wipe up the puddle for the neat-freak Pokémon, who had more sass than she anticipated for, but it did have the right to get annoyed with her. That pink balloon creature probably spent precious time trying to clean this place up, and now this pesky human was splashing around puddles beneath her feet.

Alexis placed the towel on the floor beneath her as her onesee dripped onto it. She bent over to squeeze the pant legs of her pajama suit and moved onto her arm sleeves. Glancing at her horizon, the sound of large, heavy steps that became louder and quaked about the room as the came closer, she witnesses the giant-turtle lizard, who she recognized as Bowser swamping his way over to Jigglypuff and hoisted the balloon in his large scaly arms. It was a cute sight to see these creatures snuggle like this; despite Bowser being one of the most freakish creeps of nature Alexis had ever seen. She spited herself inwardly as she held out her arms and approached the two creatures, blaming herself for ruining a moment between these two.

Just touch their faces. They might not like it, but it's the only way.