Before we begin time for a teaser
An 8 year old Angry Luigi and his pals look at an arcade machine which sucks them in.
Angry Luigi is seen running from Pac-Man.
Angry Luigi, Alem tuber, Mario, and Luigi are kicking crabs and Koopas in the sewers.
The teaser shows DK grabbing Angry Luigi.
Mario rushed around and hit a block, becoming Fire Mario.
Gear up for the tracks
Angry Luigi, Bill, Savannah, and Jason drive in Neo Bowser City.
Luke races with the Sugar Rush racers.
The teaser ends with all the arcade characters high fiving each other.
On to the actual story
On June 2nd, Aria was thinking of what kind of gift she should get for Luke. Her father's half birthday was in a few days. While his party was rumored to be an amazing one that would take place at the city's Four Seasons hotel, Aria didn't want her gift to be too over-the-top.
Luke's thoughts were racing as they always do around this time of the year. Why? Because he heard that none of his siblings would be able to come to his "Halfway To 25" half-birthday party. He felt very upset by this news.
Chalice saw the disappointment on Luke's face. She hated to see him upset.
"Luke…" she says.
Luke sniffs. "What, Chally?" He says.
"You don't need them. Just forget them." Chalice says. "You don't need to worry about them being at all your parties. Just move on. They only brought you pain."
"Not all of them brought me pain, Chally!" Luke screamed before pointing out the ones who were always there for him. It was them that he invited. Not the ones who brought him pain. At that point, Chalice understood who he was talking about, and that was Luna, Lori, Luan, Leni, Lily, and Lincoln. The others often brought him pain. He didn't invite Lucy, however. He had his reasons.
Chalice sighed and tried to contact them. Luna answered first and said she's coming and bringing Sam with her as well as their newly adopted daughter, Clover, who was 5. Lori says she would be coming with Bobby, but wouldn't be bringing her kids as they plan to leave them with Ronnie Anne and Sid that day, and Bobby would be paying them to babysit. Luan and Benny were also going to come and they were bringing Beckham along. Leni was coming to Luke's party, and would be bringing her friend Fiona to meet Luke. Lily wasn't going to be able to come due to the travel distance since she moved back to Michigan, but would send her gift tomorrow, hoping it'll get there on or before the 15th. Lincoln and Stella said they would be able to make it, unless something came up for either of their jobs that would prevent them from doing so. But one of them would be able to come if they weren't needed at work.
"See, Lukey? Five of those siblings are coming to celebrate!" Chalice says cheerfully.
Luke smiled a bit.
"I wonder if I should have my own half-birthday with Edwin. We were born on the same day…" Aria says.
"Edwin is like his mother. He doesn't like to celebrate a lot." Luke says. "But I guess you do deserve a half-birthday. Six and a half is a pretty big deal."
Aria squealed as Luke smiled and began planning.
On June 13th, Aria goes to give out invitations. She looks for her friends, but realizes she doesn't have any. She began to cry. Chalice sees her daughter in tears.
"I don't have any real friends who like me for me…" She sobbed. "Nobody will come to my party!"
The next day, Aria just laid in bed for most of the morning.
"No one cares…" She sniffed. "I just won't get out of bed today…"
Chalice came up.
"What is it, Mom?" Aria says sadly.
"Happy half-birthday, sweetie." Chalice says with her half-birthday breakfast.
"It doesn't feel like a happy day…" Aria says as she eats the pancakes and eggs. "This day isn't special at all!"
Chalice felt bad for her daughter. Aria ate her breakfast and cried. Aria then left home.
She walked alone, crying. "Nobody likes me…" She sobbed. She sat in the park, shedding tears.
Lucy sees Cuphead trying to make a party for Edwin. Edwin hisses.
"Is Edwin autistic?" Cuphead asked.
"Sigh. No. He doesn't like this, Cuphead." Lucy says.
Meanwhile, Aria is still sad.
Leni sees her. "Happy half-birthday, Aria!" She says. But Aria starts crying.
Leni holds her. Aria tells her everything.
"I'm sure you're going to make real friends." Leni says and goes to help her.
Aria sniffed. "No one likes me for me…" Aria says.
"Your Aunt Lola had that problem. I'm sure you'll find a group of friends." Leni says.
They arrived at the park as kids were playing and having fun.
"Hey." One of the skaters says and skates over to Aria. Aria looked nervous.
"You wanna hang out?" he asked. Aria notices he looks older than her.
"Um…no, thanks…" Aria says, nervous.
Aria goes to find kids her own age.
There were some 6 year olds going to see Luke's movie. Aria walks up to them.
"Um…could I join you?" Aria asked. The kids nod and allow Aria to join them.
Before she knew it, Aria made 2 new friends who were liking her for her.
She then goes back to the park and sheds tears. They approached her.
"Oh…hi…" Aria says.
"So…happy half-birthday." Tori says.
"Can we come to your party?" Felicity asked.
Aria nods. She was only smiling half-heartedly as she walked home.
She guessed Luke would give her a home party. She came inside the house, but saw nothing. She tears up.
"They forgot!" Aria sobbed, throwing a fit. "They didn't want to give me my half-birthday at all!"
Her friends decided to invite her to celebrate at a restaurant. Aria accepted and went with them.
Luke was setting up. He knew his daughter would be upset with him for forgetting.
Lucy got Edwin a coffin. Edwin smiled a little.
With Aria, she felt upset that she wasn't getting her day.
"Oh, right…your dad may be a little overprotective of his day." Felicity says.
Aria frowned. "I know. Which is why I regret being born on December 14th." She says.
"You regret something that was beyond your control?" Tori asked. Aria nods.
"The point is…today is my half birthday! And no one cares!" Aria screamed.
Lucy came, accidentally scaring the kids.
"What, Aunt Lucy?! What is it now?!" Aria sobbed. "What do you want?!"
"I have a nice surprise." Lucy says, hugging her niece. Aria sniffs and follows her aunt.
Aria wouldn't let go and hugged Lucy tighter.
"Where are we going?" Aria asked.
Lucy leads Aria to Chuck E. Cheese's, where there were decorations in pink, yellow, and gold, her favorite colors. There was even a picture of her with the words "Aria Alyse Huntington is 6 1/2!" on it.
Aria was confused. "What's going on?" She asked.
They head inside. "Happy half-birthday, Aria!" Everyone says.
"You all remembered!" Aria says, crying tears of joy.
"Of course." Lucy says. "I can't stay. Edwin can't be without me. Cuphead can't take no for an answer. Edwin told him no party and he couldn't listen." Lucy then leaves.
Aria then hugs her parents. Chalice smiled at her.
"Do you like your surprise, sweetie?" Chalice asked.
Aria nods. "I love it!" She says.
Luke soon dances with his daughter. Aria's friends came with gifts.
Aria opens Tori's gift, which was a cowgirl doll. She smiled at it.
"Thanks, Tori." Aria says.
"It's your half-birthday. Everyone needs a friend." Tori says.
Luke got her a new dress and Chalice got her a unicorn plush toy. Aria hugged both of her parents.
"Thank you!" Aria says.
"You're welcome!" They say.
Aria sees Charity's present. It was an Encanto-themed karaoke machine.
"You're going to have so much fun with this, sweetie." Charity says to Aria, who smiles and hugs her.
Soon, it was piñata time, and Aria sees it looks like a pink flower. Aria sees a baseball bat and grabs it before falling over. Luke helps her as they hit the piñata together, allowing candy to fall out of it.
Soon, Aria was eating her candy. She wondered about her cake and where it was.
Chalice soon entered the party area with Aria's half-birthday cake. It was a cake laden with edible flowers and had a toy version of Aria on it. It read "Happy Half-Birthday, Aria!" in pink icing and it had 6 and a half candles.
Aria squealed as Luke lit Aria's candles and led everyone in the singing for Aria.
Aria smiled and thought of her wish.
She wished her dad would get a good half-birthday, then she blew out all her candles. Luke helped her cut the cake.
That night, after Aria was in bed, Luke's thoughts raced as he got ready for bed.
