Author's Note:
Guess who's back, back again?
Well, now...it's been a minute, hasn't it? That hiatus was a bit longer than intended. I barely used my laptop during that time, and some days I didn't even turn it on until the evening hours! I imagine that would be unfathomable for some.
So, I would've used this author's note to talk about my vacation. As I've stated before, I had planned on attending a vacation in the last week of July - a family vacation to Myrtle Beach! But alas, due to a family medical emergency, those vacation plans had to be nixed. The family staycation at least helped make up for things; it was a lot of fun.
But now here I am, after the staycation, back to pick up right where I left off. I was originally pining to return to this story in August, but it took me a while to get going again after abstaining from writing for about a month. Also, I unfortunately lost two extended family members in a short span, and that put a damper on my mood. Hard to get back in the groove when you're faced with tragedy...twice in the same month, no less. I feel like my mental state is good enough now to write on a more consistent basis.
If you watch wrestling (like me), you might have heard Cody Rhodes mention the catchphrase "finish the story". And well, that's what I came back to do - finish this story. Obviously, I have to do a lot of catching up, but it's no challenge that I'm not used to. So to do just that, I've been publishing not one, not two, not three...but seven consecutive chapters of Smash Life for seven consecutive days. Barring any interruption. I did want to do this for a full week, but things had to be pushed back since I was running a bit behind.
Now, about this chapter - it's mainly about Trails of Reverie, which was released to the Switch on July 7 (would've been the original publication date had I not gone on hiatus). Honestly, I don't know much about the Trails series compared to the Tales franchise. And also, this is obviously my first chapter back from hiatus and it's not a Seinfeld parody. I might be a little rusty, so don't have too high expectations.
Anyway, I know many of you are excited about me being back. Hopefully, I'll get all caught up by November, sometime around Thanksgiving. And if not..well, it is what it is. Feel like I said too much in this author's note, and so I'll stop talking. Here's Chapter 394!
Episode 394: Incognito
If you ever needed a quick reminder that pigs were flying in the air, here's a good one to hang your head around - Dr. Albert Wily and Professor E. Gadd were working together to build a new machine. Along with Dr. Neo Cortex.
A few years ago, the thought of Wily and E. Gadd on the same page wouldn't have sounded out of the ordinary. But after a falling-out that resulted in Wily hating E. Gadd's guts, it remained to be seen if the two would ever get along again. But one surprisingly peaceful conversation later, and the two geniuses were back on working terms.
What new machine was Wily, E. Gadd, and Cortex building? It was a machine meant to bring Raiden out of Subspace. As you might recall, Raiden has been stuck in Subspace for a long while, and Polygon Man stressed the importance of freeing the mercenary to potentially even the odds with Dimentio.
Link and Zelda, both curious about the progress of the machine, stopped by E. Gadd's mansion while also bringing Mario along with them. It has been roughly two weeks since work on the machine started, so Link and Zelda held out hope that at least some progress was made past the blueprint stage.
"Just so you know, I was in the middle of my tea party with-a Jennifer," Mario reminded Link and Zelda, while he was munching on a few scones that were offered at the party. Peach had baked those scones herself.
"Nice crown, by the way," complimented Link, smiling as he was eyeing the crown that was on Mario's head. Mario saw the crown and quickly exchanged it for his usual plumber hat.
"It's a tiara, not a crown..." As Mario corrected Link, Zelda rang the doorbell before knocking on the door. It was the second time that she had done this routine.
"I know that they can hear me," said Zelda, wondering what was taking Cortex's minions so long. At long last, someone finally answered the front door - that someone being Dr. N. Gin.
"DANG IT! I was hoping for a hot supermodel girlfriend," lamented N. Gin, who was met with disappointment when he saw Zelda, Link, and Mario standing on the doorstep. "One of these days, my wish will come true."
"Good afternoon, N. Gin...where are your clothes?" Zelda looked at N. Gin and saw that the cyborg was only wearing his underwear. The exposed belly of N. Gin was certainly not a welcome sight.
"Me and the boys are playing strip poker." N. Gin looked down at his heart-patterned boxers and was starting to feel embarrassed. "As you can see, I'm losing."
"Tiny feels a draft!" Tiny shouted as he wandered into the foyer, his hands covering his exposed nether regions. The mutant tiger scurried out of the foyer, as Zelda and company caught a brief glimpse of his butt.
"...erm, can you take us to the lab?" Zelda asked N. Gin, as she desired to get a move-on before she and the others get flashed. "We'd like to see how E. Gadd is coming along with the machine."
Zelda: Yes, Polygon Man knows about the machine that E. Gadd is working on. Sometimes, I wish that we had never told him. Every day he calls the mansion, asking if the machine is done yet and if E. Gadd needs any assistance. Tell him no, and he'll act even more incessantly. Patience is clearly not one of his virtues - and neither is it a virtue of Master Hand. Huh, maybe it's no wonder that Master Hand and Polygon Man made up that easily.
So N. Gin led Mario, Link, and Zelda down to E. Gadd's lab, where E. Gadd was seen gathered with Wily and Cortex. The three bright minds were standing around the machine they had been working on, as they took the time to admire it.
"Well, gentlemen, we have made excellent progress thus far," Wily said to E. Gadd and Cortex, using a cloth to wipe away the sweat from his forehead. Obviously, the robot inventor was working hard. "This may be our finest creation yet!"
"It looks so magnificent, I could just kiss it..." said Cortex, feeling all sentimental as he walked towards the machine with his arms outstretched. Wily shrieked as he held Cortex back.
"No, Cortex, stop it! I have first dibs on kissing the machine. E. Gadd says that I can be the first person to kiss it after it's all finished."
"Fine then, have it your way..." So Cortex put his arms down and then proceeded to stroke his chin, as he took into consideration the machine's potential. "...you know, if it were left in the wrong hands, this machine would be great for world domination!"
"Not entirely sure about the world domination part, but I'm just happy that we could put our heads together to create something extraordinary," remarked E. Gadd, happy to be working alongside Wily and Cortex...who both frowned and turned their heads to E. Gadd almost simultaneously.
"Well, you are pretty basic, so world domination sadly doesn't interest you," Wily responded to E. Gadd as he waved off the inventor, before bringing his attention back to the machine. "Now let's keep working, shall we? Cortex, if you could, please give me the quantum flux capacitor?"
"One quantum flux capacitor, coming right up!" replied Cortex, getting down to business as he rummaged through a pile of gadgets that E. Gadd had in a large spare box. Cortex was tossing stuff out all willy-nilly as he searched.
"Watch how you're throwing that stuff!" E. Gadd advised Cortex, watching in peril as Cortex was tossing gadgets over his shoulder without a care in the world. "I plan on donating most of those gizmos to the thrift store."
"Then you should've done that earlier, then," said Cortex, who kept on throwing stuff until he reached the bottom of the box. No quantum flux capacitor was in sight. "Do you not have a quantum flux capacitor, E. Gadd?"
"I may have donated one to charity," E. Gadd sheepishly smiled as he twiddled with his fingers, while Wily angrily smacked his forehead. "It was for a good cause!"
"As if any charity would ever need a quantum..." Wily was about to snap, only to keep his emotions in check as he ran his hand down his face. One has to wonder how many shenanigans Wily had to put up with E. Gadd and Cortex during the building stages of the machine.
"Lots-a of smooth progress, I see," remarked Mario, as he and the others made their presence known to E. Gadd and the others. Realizing that he was still in his underwear, N. Gin shrieked as all the scientists' eyes were on him.
"You're not meant to see me like this!" N. Gin screamed as he scurried out of the lab, retreating back to the space where the minions were having their strip poker. N. Gin was one bad hand away from going commando.
"Meh, I'm used to seeing him without his boxers," commented Cortex, cringing as he recalled the few instances where he saw N. Gin butt-naked. Those awful memories were soon replaced, as a brilliant idea entered Cortex's head.
"We are all trying our best," E. Gadd said to Mario and company, as Cortex pulled out his phone and was typing away. Like he was sending a text or something. "Our quirks are hard to manage, as you can imagine."
"Some more than others," stated Wily, choosing not to say which person he was throwing more shade at. Didn't want to disrupt any positive vibes. "E. Gadd is just as troublesome as I remember him, and Cortex...Cortex, what are you doing?"
"Not right now..." replied Cortex, who didn't want to be bothered as he was chatting with someone through what appeared to be through means of text communication. After receiving a responding message, Cortex let out a squeal of joy.
"What? What are you so happy about?" Wily and the others looked bewildered, as Cortex looked so happy that he wanted to go a happy jig. But not at the risk of being laughed at.
"I just spoke with Professor Burnet of the Alola region, and she says that she has a quantum flux capacitor she can give us. She said she'll be on our way! Excuse me, I must go celebrate..."
"That's not really anything worth-a...celebrating about," said Mario, only for Cortex to let out a big cheer as he ran past Mario and out of the lab. Mario slowly turned his head to E. Gadd, asking, "What's gotten into him?"
"He's just happy that he made a connection," replied E. Gadd, having the answer for Mario that Wily did not have. Wily looked at E. Gadd, even more bewildered than before.
Link: So this is a minor reason why we recommended Cortex to Wily and E. Gadd, but as it turns out, Cortex is really good at making connections. He got on the good side of all the Pokemon professors, surprisingly enough, and he was also instrumental in bringing Dr. N. Tropy when he was needed. The man could reel in Dr. N. Brio if he wanted to! *ponders to himself* Wonder what Brio is up to...
It has been a minute since Dimentio last showed his face around the mansion. The last time the jester paid a visit to the establishment, it was move-in day at Omnis Adest and hardly any residents were home. Made for a personally lackluster experience from Dimentio's perspective.
Dimentio made plans to visit the mansion today, and he hoped that there would be more action than the last visit. He teleported to the mansion as he arrived at the front yard, looking to cause as much chaos as necessary.
"Ooh! What is this I spy?" Dimentio said quietly as he saw two ladies who weren't mansion residents out in the front yard, playing tennis - Juna Crawford and Altina Orion, two members of Rean Schwarzer's Class VII. Juna was playing primarily to get her tennis fix in for the day, and Altina was playing pretty much because she was the only Class VII classmate who agreed to Juna's challenge.
"Here comes a hot one!" shouted Juna, serving the tennis ball to Altina as she threw the ball up in the air and struck it with all her might. Altina just stood there and watched as the ball flew past her right shoulder, and she did very little to return the ball.
"Honestly, I'm getting tired," Altina yawned, as a disappointed Juna looked at her classmate with a "Seriously?" look on her face. "Think I'm going to call it quits."
"Couldn't you have told me that two matches ago? You were barely giving it your all - felt like I was just playing against myself!" Juna grew even more upset as Altina officially called it quits by dropping her tennis racket on the ground.
"I'm all tuckered out - go find somebody else to play with." Altina sat in a lawn chair next to the one that Roy was sitting in, as she relaxed and slowly drifted asleep. Juna looked towards Roy, wanting the swordsman to do something.
"Hey, don't look at me; I have no control over her mood," Roy said to the frowning Juna, as he was in no mood for playing any sort of tennis. His body wasn't up for it. "And I'm not playing with you either. Not after the last time."
"Like I said, hitting you below the belt was an accident," stated Juna, as Dimentio was eavesdropping on the conversation from afar. "Or it may have been intentional. I won't say."
"That's strange, shouldn't they be at Omnis Adest?" Dimentio quietly asked himself, weirded out from seeing Juna and Altina outside of their natural habitat. Suddenly, a loud scream was heard from the backyard, alerting Roy and company.
"You guys heard that? That was pretty loud..." asked Juna as she turned her head, with Dimetnio teleporting away to avoid potentially being caught. Juna looked at Altina and saw her classmate fast asleep. "...really, Altina? That didn't wake you up?"
Being the busybody that he was, Dimentio teleported to the backyard to investigate the source of the scream. In the backyard, he saw two members of the Special Support Section - Elie MacDowell and Randolph "Randy" Orlando - and the latter was on the ground being manhandled by a Shadow Heartless.
"Get him off me, get him off me!" shouted Randy as he wrangled with the Shadow Heartless, internally questioning why Elie wasn't helping him. Dimentio, meanwhile, was questioning what Elie and Randy were doing away from their townhouse home.
"I don't know, it's very amusing to see you struggle," remarked Elie, oddly entertained by Randy barely putting up a fight. Fortunately for Randy, help was on the way.
"No need to fear...Owain is here!" a certain myrmidon shouted, looking to pounce and take hold of his big opportunity. Owain showed up in the backyard and struck the Shadow Heartless with his blade.
"Oh, this is great...Mr. Shouts-A-Lot has come to save my butt," mumbled Randy, as the Shadow Heartless was flung off of him. Randy watched as Owain was relentlessly attacking the Heartless, but to Owain's chagrin, the Shadow Heartless refused to be defeated by any means.
"Why...won't you...die?!" No matter how many times Owain struck the Shadow Heartless, the Heartless refused to go down for the count. "Please die, you'll soil my reputation around here!"
"That would imply that your reputation was ever solid to begin with," Elie quietly remarked, as she, Randy, and Juna watched Owain struggle to dispatch his target. Soon, Owain was nearly out of breath.
"Owain, stop!" Marth shouted to Owain from afar, as Owain was forced to end his fruitless onslaught. Marth showed up, as the Shadow Heartless was on the ground writhing in pain. "I did not tell you to go that far off."
"This might be the most indestructible Heartless I've ever faced...at least I hope it is," Owain said to Marth, taking the time to catch his breath as Marth knelt down at the downed Shadow Heartless. Upon further inspection, Marth noticed the Heartless...was a phony!
"This isn't a Heartless...it's someone dressed up as one!" Marth grabbed the head of the Shadow Heartless and ripped it off...revealing the Heartless impersonator to be a lizard.
"Gex?!" Elie and Randy uttered the name of the lizard, as a perplexed Dimentio looked on. Gex donned his black sunglasses, finding himself to be the center of attention (which he obviously didn't mind).
"Ack! I've been foiled!" exclaimed Gex as he stood up on his feet, taking off his Heartless costume and tossing it to the side. "Now I feel like O.J. Simpson at Robert Kardashian's house."
Randy: I gotta admit, being around Gex has become quite a learning experience. We have learned a lot about pop culture through him - and he seems to know who owns a condo and who doesn't. He must be in a whole lot of celebrity circles.
Elie: Lloyd has tried to forbid us from interacting with Gex, going as far as calling him a "bad influence". I think he's just jealous.
"Gex, why on earth did you dress up as a Heartless?" Marth questioned Gex, while also questioning how the lizard survived Cut Day. Marth saw no redeemable qualities in Gex whatsoever.
"To keep my fellow community members on their toes," replied Gex, thinking that he was doing a good enough job up until the point Owain interfered. "The lesson of the day, ladies and gentlemen: expect the unexpected."
"I was ROBBED!" shouted Owain, salty over the fact that his heroics were wasted on a lizard cosplaying as arguably the weakest Heartless species in existence. "Robbed of my big moment!"
"Oh please, mister - you dub drinking water out of a water fountain a 'big moment'. Pretty soon you're gonna make that phrase lose all meaning."
"Why I oughta..." Owain was incensed with Gex, as he looked to get his hands on the lizard and wrangle his neck. Sensing what Owain was about to do, Marth whistled into his fingers as a fellow Smasher in Captain Falcon was summoned.
"Hey, Owain, cool off man!" shouted Captain Falcon as he ran over to Owain, holding the myrmidon back from Gex. Owain was putting up an awful lot of resistance.
"No, I need my big moment! Just let me take one crack at him!" Owain struggled to fight out of Captain Falcon's grasp, as Falcon was holding tightly to his arms. In his mind, Owain was looking terribly weak.
"If only Lloyd were here to see this," Elie said to Randy, who joined the young woman after getting up off the ground and dusting his jacket off. "Too bad he's busy having lunch with Rean."
"Lloyd Bannings and Rean Schwarzer, having lunch together? This I must see!" marveled Dimentio, having gotten his answer for why members of Class VII and the Special Support Section were present at the mansion today. After seeing enough outside, Dimentio teleported away.
"Give it a rest, Owain; you'll exert all your energy," Marth warned the myrmidon, who wouldn't relent until he got his hands on Gex. As Marth stood there with his arms folded, a certain giant hand appeared behind him.
"Ahem..." the giant hand spoke to Marth, who turned around and was understandably spooked to see Master Hand floating behind him. Although Marth could hardly tell, Master Hand looked pretty serious. "...we need to talk."
Palutena was by no means a great chef, but that didn't mean that she couldn't work on her craft and one day gain above-average culinary skills. The goddess of light had made (or in her mind, "perfected") a new kind of hot dog chili, and wanted chili dog connoisseur Sonic to give it a try.
"So, Sonic, what do you think?" Palutena asked Sonic, who was in the kitchen trying to consume the chili dog that Palutena made for him. After reluctantly chewing, Sonic eventually found the courage to swallow.
"It's...not that bad!" Sonic offered his two cents, playing off the nauseous feeling that he was having. His face had turned green for a split second but fortunately, nothing came out of Sonic's mouth.
"That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said about my cooking! Surely that means you'll eat the rest of that chili dog." That was a no-go for Sonic, as the blue hedgehog was about to toss the chili dog into the trash can when Palutena wasn't looking.
"Uh, sure! I'll eat it later." So Sonic stuffed the chili dog in his imaginary pocket and was about to leave, but not before he saw Palutena staring at him with beady eyes. "Any reason as to why you're looking at me like that?"
"I prefer that you finish the rest of that chili dog now." With Palutena clasping her hands together, Sonic was sadly left with no choice. But the blue hedgehog did have an out.
"Uh oh! I hear Rean and Lloyd calling me. Gotta jet!" Sonic took off into the adjacent dining room, running faster than the speed of sound. Palutena just stood there, under the assumption that her ears were playing tricks on her.
"That's weird, I don't hear anyone calling..." As Palutena stood there befuddled, she failed to notice Dimentio entering the kitchen and floating past her. Dimentio floated into the dining room...
...and there, he caught Sonic trying to hide underneath the table hoping that Palutena wouldn't spot him. But it wasn't Sonic that Dimentio was looking for...he was looking for Rean Schwarzer and Lloyd Bannings, and he would find the two gentlemen sitting at the dining room table enjoying lunch.
"Very glad that we could hang out like this," Rean said to Lloyd, as he and the man were eating seasoned steaks - obviously cooked and prepared by Pyra herself. Mythra even at her best could never.
"Agreed - I've been meaning to have lunch with you for the longest," Lloyd responded with a smile, taking a bite from his steak fries - a side that came with his steak. Rean settled for a healthier option, a Caesar salad.
"And you know what the best part is? Our meals are free! Could you imagine having to spend $20 for a refill at Dingo's Diner?"
"I would imagine it - if I didn't have to pay ten bucks for a single extra ketchup packet." Lloyd looked ruefully to the side, as Rean shook his head feeling the man's pain.
Lloyd: I'm not joking - Dingodoile made me pay actual money just for some extra ketchup. At first, he denied giving me any, claiming that I already had ketchup at home. Does he not know what it's like to live with a bunch of other people? Obviously not.
"Switching gears...there's something that I wanted to show you," Lloyd said to Rean, reassuming his prior demeanor as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a note.
"Is that a note? For me?" inquired Rean, taking a keen interest in the note as did Dimentio. Dimentio hovered a bit closer just to get a closer view.
"Not a note...a letter. Let me read it to you." Clearing his throat, Lloyd unfolded the letter about to read what was entailed. "'To whom it may concern...I hope this letter finds you well. Thanks to my many connections, I have found out where you and your accomplices currently live. Be warned that I am coming to visit you. Be warned. Sincerely and see you soon...C of the Miserable Sinners.'"
"The Miserable Sinners?!" The very name brought back memories to Rean, as he had previous encounters with the group. Then the instructor reached into his pocket, as he had something he wanted to show. "That reminds me...I've received a similar letter myself!"
"You have?" Indeed - Rean pulled out a letter from his pocket and showed it to Lloyd, who skimmed the letter from top to bottom and saw the identical similarities. "I see..."
"These Miserable Sinners sound intriguing," Dimentio quietly remarked, desiring to add the group to the coalition just based on their name alone. "If only there was a way that I could meet them..."
"Sonic! Is that you hiding underneath the table?" Palutena called out from the kitchen, spotting Sonic in his hiding spot. Dimentio teleported away as Palutena entered the dining room, with Sonic forced to emerge from underneath the table.
"Yeah, you got me..." Sonic sighed, only to look nervous when Palutena revealed the chili dog that he had yet to consume whole. "...oh, is that my chili dog?"
"You said you were going to eat it. Better now than never!" So Palutena handed Sonic the chili dog, and Sonic took the frankfurter nervously holding it close to his mouth...
"Sonic! You must come outside," Lavenza called out to the blue hedgehog as she entered the dining room, just when Sonic's tongue touched Palutena's chili. An immense wave of relief washed over Sonic once Lavenza arrived.
"Lavenza! Thank you for saving...I mean, what's up?" Sonic had to change up real quick, especially when he mindfully looked over his shoulder and saw Palutena frowning at him.
"He's Pit, he's outside being weird. He claims..." Lavenza leaned in close to Sonic as if she was about to say something not meant to be heard by innocent ears. "...he claims that he is 'Him.'"
"Oh? So he claims to be a demon that wears high boots and speaks in a creepy voice?" Much to the chagrin of Sonic, Lavenza had no idea what he was talking about. Luckily for him though, Donkey Kong did as the eavesdropping gorilla was chilling at the dining room table far off from Rean and Lloyd eating a banana.
"If Pit is 'Him', can I be Mojo Jojo?" asked Donkey Kong, only to be met with blank faces from Sonic, Palutena, and Lavenza. The gorilla lowered his head seconds later. "Worth a shot..."
Donkey Kong: I can easily pull off being Mojo Jojo. Just dye my skin, wear a fabulous purple cape, speak in a funny manner, and have random epiphanies because I created the three perfect girls that would become my arch-nemeses... *pauses* ...just about everything except for the unexpected epiphanies part.
"I strongly urge that you come outside and see what Pit's doing," Lavenza suggested to Sonic, not giving him much of a choice as she took the blue hedgehog's hand and led him to the backdoor. A foot away from the door, Lavenza looked back at Palutena. "You should come as well, Lady Palutena."
The mansion was getting new furniture today, and Mega Man was tasked with moving said furniture inside. Mega Man knew that moving the furniture wasn't a one-man job, which was why he elected a certain Kremling to lend a hand.
"No, K. Rool, the couch doesn't go there," Mega Man informed King K. Rool, who was bizarrely placing a large couch in the front yard. "It has to go inside." Maybe K. Rool was opting for an outdoor living room.
"But it won't fit through the front door," K. Rool pointed out, leading Mega Man to smack his forehead. K. Rool was befuddled by Mega Man's reaction. "Why don't YOU try and squeeze it through, genius?"
"Have you tried turning it?" Taking up on Mega Man's advice, K. Rool picked up the couch and made another attempt to put it through the front door. The only problem was, he was holding the furniture vertically. "Not like that, K. Rool."
"...I give up." K. Rool called it quits as he dropped the couch on the porch, before taking a seat on the porch steps. "You can get that couch in there since you wanna be such a know-it-all."
"Just trying to help." Fortunately for Mega Man, K. Rool wasn't the only worker that he had to deal with. He had recruited another person. "Where's Jacky with the other furniture?"
"Hey-o!" shouted Jacky Bryant, pulling up to the mansion with his car - and plenty of furniture in the backseat. The racer brought his car into the driveway and got out of his vehicle.
"There you are! Move-in day won't be a success if we're missing the...JACKY, YOU FORGOT TO PUT YOUR CAR IN PARK!" Mega Man looked panicked as Jacky's car rolled into the garage door, and he and Jacky could only watch.
"Heh, more like I forgot to turn off the ignition," Jacky smiled sheepishly, realizing that his car keys were still in the car. The garage door was busted, as Mega Man fell down to his knees.
Mega Man: The furniture in the living room was getting old and worn out, so it was about time to replace it. One thing I should mention about the old living room couch - rumor has it that Wario left one of his credit cards underneath the couch cushions. But he has like, a dozen of those. He should be fine.
Wario: *staring into the distance, hyperventilating with fear*
"Nice going, Jacky, you wrecked the garage door," Mega Man scolded the race car driver, who ran inside the garage to turn his vehicle off. Jacky looked relieved as he exited the garage, holding his car keys in his hands.
"Eh, Mr. Game and Watch was planning on replacing it anyway," responded Jacky, not sweating any that the caused. The racer turned around and looked up, and saw a masked man on the rooftop peering down. "Hey Mega Man, who's that?"
"Who's what?" Mega Man looked up at the masked man, who suddenly jumped off the rooftop and jumped over Mega Man and Jacky's heads. The masked man stuck a perfect landing on the ground, close to where Juna and Altina could see him.
"Rean didn't bring us here just so you could sleep all day, you know," Juna frowned at Altina with her hands on her hips, as Altina was in the lawn chair struggling to stay awake. Then the masked man approached, clearing his throat.
"Pardon me, ladies..." the masked man spoke, garnering Juna and Altina's attention as the latter was now awake. For the most part, the masked man seemed cordial. "...but do you know where I can find Rean Schwarzer and Lloyd Bannings?"
"They're both inside the mansion," answered Altina, and without saying a word, the masked man darted past Mega Man and Jacky as he took off. That left Mega Man and Jacky exchanging glances, and Juna and Altina would do the same.
"Is it just me, or did he look...familiar?" Juna asked Altina, believing that she and her comrades had crossed paths with the masked man before. Where those paths crossed, she could not recall.
"That was a strange interaction," remarked Jacky, not sure what to make of his first impression of the masked individual. Just then, Jacky's car was backing out of the garage by itself, causing Jacky to panic. "Now why is my car in reverse?!"
Sonic and Palutena followed Lavenza outside, as they were led to the mansion's basketball court. A decent crowd was present, and they were all surrounding Pit, who was accompanied by B.D. Joe. For whatever reason, Pit was all blinged out.
"You're just in time," one of the folks outside, Ken Masters, said to Sonic and Palutena as he was recording Pit on his phone. Pit was posturing, and would continue to do so until he noticed Sonic and Palutena standing by.
"Yo, yo, yo! What's crackin?" greeted Pit, using the kind of lingo that he would use to trick people into thinking that he was even remotely hip. "I'm Pit, and I'm HIM!"
"This is kind of my fault," Sonic admitted to Palutena in an apologetic manner, as Palutena was taking note of Pit's new look. In addition to his bling, Pit was also wearing sunglasses.
Sonic: Introduced Pit to a few slang terms as a tactic to boost his confidence. One word that I taught him was "Him"; it's a word that a lot of football and basketball players tend to overuse. Much like how most dudes overuse the word "woke"! I never really told Pit how to be "Him", and, well...there you go.
"When Pit shoots, he don't miss," boasted Pit, demonstrating as he grabbed the basketball off of the concrete and shot it towards the net...only to completely airball. "You guys weren't meant to see that."
"Don't sweat it, Pit - next time it'll be nothing but net!" B.D. Joe assured the angel, as he brought Pit's confidence back up. Palutena looked toward B.D. Joe for answers.
"B.D. Joe, what's the meaning of this?" Palutena asked the taxi driver as she walked over to him, only to stop when B.D. Joe held his hand out. And Pit was fine with how B.D. Joe was treating his so-called mother.
"Ease up, Lady Palutena! Pit was just trying to flex, that's all. Trying to stay on his A-game, you feel me?" From the looks of it, B.D. Joe was "hired" to be Pit's hype man. A solid choice Pit made if we're being honest.
"Oh my...Pit, what has gotten into you?" So far Palutena's first impression of the new-and-improved Pit was a negative one, and Sonic, meanwhile, was trying to keep as much of an open mind as possible.
"Nothing, Lady Palutena - I'm just trying to be Him," replied Pit, as B.D. Joe was about to give the angel a pat on his back only for his hand to be slapped away. "Hey, no touching! Thought I already laid that out in the contract."
"You made B.D. Joe sign a contract...?" one of the on-lookers, Spring Man, furrowed his brow at Pit as B.D. Joe realized his error and retracted his hand. Having seen enough, Palutena returned to the mansion, storming off.
"He's still getting paid, don't see why that's the issue." Too bad Pit hadn't figured out how B.D. Joe would be getting paid, though. Soon enough, Pit saw Palutena making her leave and was upset. "Lady Palutena, where are you going?"
"I have things to do...in the kitchen," replied Palutena as she hasted to the mansion, her second-hand embarrassment from Pit largely evident.
"Sonic, you have to end this," Lavenza stressed to the blue hedgehog, as she also felt second-hand embarrassment from Pit acting like he was the man. "If you don't, it might snowball from here."
"I mean, he looks pretty harmless," Sonic gave his honest thoughts, watching as Pit was flashing his bling to everyone. 50/50 chance that those gold chains of Pit's were fake. "We'll just let him have his fun for now."
Marth was in Master Hand's room, getting chewed out by Master Hand...or so you might assume, given who he was speaking with. Rather, the hero-king was explaining to Master Hand his involvement with Junpei's baseball team, the Omnis Adeste Fideles.
"They're like a Heartless extermination group," explained Marth, as Captain Falcon stood next to the hero-king nodding in agreement. Captain Falcon wished to voice his support for Marth, but Master Hand forbade him from speaking.
"And you think that this group is necessary?" questioned Master Hand, who was awfully curious about how long Junpei's baseball team was out snuffing Heartless. "Do you honestly believe that there's anyone at Omnis Adest who can't fend themselves from the Heartless?"
"I mean, Gex is still there, somehow." Taking offense to the example that Marth used, Master Hand gasped as he flicked the hero-king in his face. Marth yelped in pain.
"Haha, sucks to be you," Captain Falcon laughed at Marth's expense, only to realize that he just spoke. The racer quickly covered his mouth with his hands, as he received a fate similar to Marth - flicked in the face.
"Gex is first class, and you know it..." said a defensive Master Hand, with no definitive proof of why Gex was so "first class" in the first place. "...and why get the baseball team up in this tomfoolery? Baseball should be their priority - not killing monsters!"
"Obviously, they're not playing anyone anytime soon," stated Marth, more than extremely confident of the fact, as the masked man from earlier was lingering just outside Master Hand's room. "This extermination thing keeps them busy, and not having their time wasted."
"Alright then, smartypants, how about you field a baseball team for them to face? Given who you recruited as your 'overseers'..."
"Hello," greeted the masked man as he entered Master Hand's room, after a brief knock on the door frame. With the hood over the masked man's head, Master Hand flinched in anticipation of Organization XIII invading his digs.
"Hello to you...whoever you are," Master Hand returned the favor, fearing that the masked man was going to pull a fast one. The giant hand had two human shields readily available, just in care. "And you are...?"
"You may call me..." The masked man hesitated, holding his breath as if he wasn't comfortable with revealing his true identity. "...you can refer to me as C. Dutiful leader of the Reborn Imperial Liberation Front."
Snake: A masked guy came in and asked me for directions...I can just tell that he's a foreigner. How I'd love to choke every single one of his kind out. I'm a take-no-prisoners kind of guy, as you already know - and boy, do I enjoy it.
"Pleasure to meet you...C," responded Master Hand, who wanted to press C with questions about his true identity. Wanted to command him to take that mask off, and show the world his beautiful face. "Who invited you?"
"No one did - I came here on my own accord," replied C, adding even more mystique to his aura with every word that he spoke. "But I'm not alone - my allies are also in town."
"Better not tell Snake," Captain Falcon whispered to Master Hand and Marth; realizing that Falcon spoke, Master Hand aggressively backhanded the racer.
"I am on the hunt for these two individuals." C reached into his pocket and pulled out two photos, showing them to Master Hand. Rean Schwarzer was in one; Lloyd Bannings was in the other. "I was told that they were at a place called Omnis Adest, but I couldn't find them there."
"Ah, Rean and Lloyd! They're having lunch as I speak," said Master Hand, as a now satisfied C placed the photos back in his pocket. "You can find them in the dining room."
"Then that is where I'm headed. Thank you for the tip." Giving Master Hand a two-finger salute, C backed out of the room before taking off. With C gone, Master Hand redirected his attention to Marth as he was not done yet with the hero-king.
"If you're gonna be Mr. Overprotective, then watch over these eight," Master Hand said to Marth, handing him a list; Marth saw that it was the same list that was all the rage in the last episode. "I'd like for you to keep a close eye on them...just in case."
Red the Pokemon Trainer was out and about, testing new fishing spots in town, and after his work was finished he decided to head back home. As he was on his way back to the mansion, carrying his Super Rod, he passed by E. Gadd's mansion where he saw Komodo Joe interacting with a Noivern chilling at the front.
"You think you're better than me? You think you're better than ME?!" Komodo Joe taunted Noivern, as Red stopped to watch the interaction take place. Taking offense, Noivern bit Komodo Joe's snout, leaving him screaming in pain.
"Don't worry, Joe, I got you!" shouted Komodo Moe as he ran out of the mansion to save his brother, only for Noivern to smack the Komodo dragon away with his wing. Komodo Moe was sent flying, crashing against a tree. "Ow...never mind..."
"Ha, they both learned the hard way," Red chuckled as he continued his trek, while Noivern terrorized Komodo Joe as if he were a giant Poke Doll. "Never mess with a Noivern. Wished I had learned that lesson sooner..."
Noivern was in E. Gadd's front yard for good reason, for it was the ride Pokemon of a Pokemon professor from the Alola region - Professor Burnet. Burnet specialized in the study of dimensions and alternate realities, and such expertise gave Cortex all the reason to contact her.
"So what's your call?" Wily asked Burnet, standing with E. Gadd and Cortex while Burnet was inspecting the machine. "Do we need another flux quantum...whatever that thing is that E. Gadd foolishly donated to charity?"
"Quantum flux capacitor," E. Gadd corrected Wily, while Burnet was busy inspecting the machine all over. "And it was donated for a good cause. Zombie Squad, look it up."
"What a waste..." Cortex muttered under his breath, as Burnet was all done with her inspection. Burnet turned to face the trio of inventors, who all brightened up.
"I can tell you one thing - this machine needs more than just a quantum flux capacitor," Burnet provided her analysis, seeing that the machine had a ton of potential to be a rousing success. "You're gonna need a lot more hands on deck to finish this bad boy."
"Did you say, more hands on deck?" Cortex was smiling with glee as he pulled out his phone, giddy to call somebody. Anybody. "Who do you recommend?"
"Why must he be like this..." groaned Wily, finding Cortex's behavior quite appalling. Burnet, however, was digging the moxie that she was seeing.
"I'd give Dr. N. Tropy a shout, this seems like something right up his alley," recommended Burnet, and just like that Cortex's smile instantly turned into a frown. Cortex would much rather stick his hand into a busy beehive than ever make contact with Tropy.
"Pfft...I'd rather take a chance with Brio," replied Cortex, who hadn't forgotten his recent past with Brio - more specifically when he teamed up with Brio for his Man of the Mansion campaign. "Can I call somebody else instead?"
"Cortex, you must put your pettiness aside, for the greater good," E. Gadd urged to the evil genius, but fortunately Burnet had a second choice in mind just in case N. Tropy wasn't considered an option.
"Okay then, what about Winston of Overwatch?" recommended Burnet, as that was a choice Cortex was fully on board with. "That watchpoint is close by, is it not?"
Learning of Rean and Lloyd's current location, C rushed to the dining room to speak with the two gentlemen. But much to his chagrin, as he later found out, Rean and Lloyd had already left.
"They left not so long ago," Musse Egret said to C, as she was in the dining room eating some ice cream. The Ice Climbers were supplying her with their newest ice cream flavors.
"Don't eat so much..." Nana stressed to Musse, not liking how much the girl was eating the ice cream in rapid succession. The Ice Climber turned to Popo, saying with urgency, "...she's going to get brain freeze!"
"Then let her get brain freeze," responded Popo, as he was encouraging Musse's incoming headache. "The severity of it will determine how much she likes our ice cream. Or how good it is." Nana would be baffled if she wasn't accustomed to Popo's foolish behavior already.
Popo: Wanna know the one thing I love about people with a sweet tooth? They're hardly subjective. You just give them anything sweet, and they automatically love it without fail. You could give them literal crap, with sugar sprinkled on top, and they'll devour it in a heartbeat! In fact, I'll make poop-flavored ice cream, just to prove my theory right.
"Did they tell you where they went?" C asked Musse as Dimentio was quietly lingering in the dining room, out of sight and out of mind as he kept a close eye on the masked man.
"Nope, they didn't say," replied Musse, who had ice cream all over her mouth. Popo was too busy being prideful and beaming with joy to give Musse a napkin, so it was up to Nana to complete the task. "I'll let Rean know that you asked about him!"
"Forget it...you don't have to tell him a thing. I'll find him myself..." C walked away from Musse, as he ventured from the girl and headed close to the pantry. And that's when Dimentio made his move, as he teleported from his original location.
"Why, hello there!" Dimentio greeted C as he teleported right in front of the masked man while making sure the conversation was private. "So I arrive, like a varsity football player planning to ask his girl out to prom!"
"Are you...asking me out on a date or something?" C was greatly befuddled by Dimentio, who didn't leave behind a great first impression. Dimentio recognized his error, as he looked to redeem himself.
"Ah, where are my manners? Skipped past the introduction. I am Dimentio! And who might you be, kind sir?"
"C...call me C." Even around an evil maniac like Dimentio, C still refused to disclose his identity. He kept it close to his chest.
"Then C I shall call you! I can tell at first glance that you are a man of high caliber."
"One thing I can say is, that I'm not that thrilled to meet a jester such as you."
"But looks can be deceiving! My reputation isn't as vile as you may believe. I'm just a humble entertainer...with a slight hint of chaos."
"Your idea of entertainment doesn't sound ideal. All the more reason to not trust you..."
"That's the beauty in it! Life can be rather mundane, don't you think? It needs a spark."
"Well, I don't find your entertainment values that interesting. Good day to you." C was about to leave, but Dimentio couldn't afford to let him leave.
"No, wait!" Dimentio held his hand out, just a mere second after C made his first step. "Part of me couldn't help but eavesdrop on you earlier. You said you were looking for Rean Schwarzer and Lloyd Bannings, yes?"
"I am. Do you know them? Any idea where I can look?"
"I've never met them personally, but I know that they reside in this city. I can help you look for them.
"That would be ideal. We can look for them together."
"Splendid! We'll keep in touch..." And with that, Dimentio teleported away, as C couldn't believe that he was putting his trust in a jester. A chaotic one, at that.
Yukari was more upbeat than usual in past weeks, for she was promised her own spin-off show from the Force Five. It was pitched to her by Falco, who wanted to do anything possible to placate the short-tenured Force Five cast member. Yukari was so anxious to hear the details of her show, that she was sitting in the Star Records room waiting to speak with Fox and Falco.
"Fox and Falco will be with you shortly," Ayaha Oribe informed Yukari, who was unable to contain her excitement. The chances of Yukari potentially being disappointed were pretty high.
Yukari: So stoked about my own spin-off show! I'm just so glad that Force Five getting canceled wasn't the end for me. Now I get a few bragging rights over Touma. *smiles*
Ayaha: Fox and Falco never had those negotiations with Yukari. They kept pushing it back a week, with the hope that Yukari would forget. It was mainly Falco's idea.
"She's all yours..." Ayaha said to Fox and Falco upon exiting the Star Records room, seeing the pilots hiding outside the entrance. Both pilots were looking inside, staring at Yukari.
"Alright, Mr. Pitch Idea, what's your game plan?" Fox asked Falco; since the pitch came from Falco, it was the avian pilot's responsibility to deal with Yukari.
"I don't know," Falco admitted candidly, as Fox pinched the crown of his nose. "My plan was to wait it out and hope that Yukari would forget."
"Obviously, your plan sucked. So are you gonna man up, and tell her?"
"I'll tell her when she starts asking for us. I'll have what I plan on saying to her figured out by then."
"Hi," a girl came down the hallway to greet Fox and Falco, who both turned around and saw Tio Plato. Standing at Tio's side was Zeit, the team pet for the Special Support Section.
"Sup," Fox greeted Tio before he and Falco turned their heads back, only to later notice that Tio was still looking at them. "Uh, nice dog."
"Thank you! That means you'll watch him for me, right?' One thing eventually led to another, and now the pilots were stuck with babysitting duties.
"We never said that we..." It was too late, as Tio brought Zeit over to the pilots before Fox could finish. "...I can't watch him, I'm allergic to dogs."
"Would that mean you're also allergic to..." Falco was about to say, only for Fox to instinctively put his hand over the avian pilot's beak.
"Cafe Leblanc doesn't really allow pets, so I'm entrusting him to you guys," Tio explained to the pilots, backing away as she had a cafe to get to. "Take good care of him!"
"He looks like he can take care of himself," remarked Fox shortly after Tio departed; the pilot stood up as he brought Zeit with him. "I'll go play with the dog; you figure out a way to man up and break to Yukari the bad news," Fox said to Falco.
"Is it too late to switch roles?" Falco asked Fox, who ignored his friend as he brought Zeit down the hallway. Falco moaned as he looked inside the Star Records room at Yukari, fearing for the worst.
It was official. Instead of keeping Omnis Adest safe from monsters, Marth's group and Omnis Adeste Fideles were put in charge of keeping the eight Smashers on the list safe and free from harm. The news was relayed to Chrom from Captain Falcon via phone call, as Chrom was on the phone near the Omnis Adest pool area.
"Wait a minute, I'm on that list!" Chrom spoke into the phone while watching over Nemona and Arven's Pokemon going ham on a Heartless. That Heartless was in fact Gex still dressed up as one. "Does that mean I'll have to protect myself from...myself?"
"Considering that you can't protect your own grandkids, I wouldn't encourage it," replied Captain Falcon, who was immediately met with silence as Chrom scowled. "What's with the silence? It's the truth!"
"Like I told you, the ice cream truck guy looked trustworthy. Even if he gave drugs in secret to the adult customers." Chrom looked over and saw Nemona's Lycanroc and Arven's Mabostiff treating Gex like a ragdoll. "Sorry, Falcon, but I have to go."
"Yeah, Mabostiff, show that Gex who's boss!" encouraged Arven, smiling with glee as Mabostiff was trying to tear Gex's costume apart. Gex's head was fully exposed, the fear palpable on his face.
"That'll teach him not to trick us," grinned Nemona, satisfied with the punishment that Gex was receiving. After ending his call with Captain Falcon, Chrom rushed to the scene.
"Alright, that's enough," shouted Chrom, as Lycanroc and Mabostiff brought their torture of Gex to an end and left the lizard on the ground. "It's abundantly clear that this Heartless is nothing more than an imposter."
"And I would've gotten away with it too if it weren't for those meddling kids!" Gex hissed, channeling his inner Scooby-Doo villain as he pointed at Nemoan and Arven with contempt. Leaving with a huff, Gex fixed his costume as he stormed off.
"I'm living at this place called Omnis Adest, in Seattle," said a certain redhead, speaking into the phone, as Chrom saw Kotone Shiomi walk past. "You're in Seattle, too? What a coincidence!" Kotone had been a resident of Omnis Adest ever since the events of episode 370.
Kotone: For a moment, I was worried that I wouldn't have a place to stay. But a nice dog named Isabelle convinced me to stay here, at Omnis Adest. It was perhaps the best decision I've made ever since I winded up in this universe.
Minato: Yeah, I still don't know anything about that Kotone chick, and neither do my friends. Yet she claims to be a leader of the SEES. *snorts* She reminds me of those girls at my school who had a crush on me, and think that they know me personally and junk. She hasn't exhibited that kind of behavior yet, but...soon.
"Professor E. Gadd? He has a mansion," Kotone carried on with her phone call, as the context of her conversation was of much intrigue to Chrom. "Don't know the address, though. You'll have to ask somebody."
"Wait right here," Chrom instructed Nemona and Arven, as he went over to speak with Kotone. Nemona and Arven sent Lycanoc and Mabostiff back inside their Poke Balls, respectively.
"Okay. Looking forward to seeing you soon. Take care!" Kotone ended her call with the mystery person, later greeted by Chrom as she put her phone back in her pocket.
"Hate to be nosy, but who was that you were speaking to?"
"Just the man responsible for me being here. He's a little unappealing...but he's more pleasant than he looks."
Cortex made contact with Winston, and Winston hurried to E. Gadd's mansion to inspect the machine. Studying the machine reminded Winston of his past creation.
"This is very much like the ray gun I had built to take care of Organization XIII!" remarked Winston, who had gotten over Master Xehanort almost destroying his gun. Took him about a week or so.
"Great, so does that mean you can use any leftover parts for this machine?" E. Gadd asked Winston, hoping for a yes...but the way Winston turned his head and smiled nervously suggested a no.
"Unfortunately, I had to repair the gun after Xehanort used his Keybalde on it, so I have no leftover parts remaining." Bad news for E. Gadd and company, as Wily faceplanted unto the floor.
"This is hopeless..." muttered Wily as he got back up on his feet a split second later, growing frustrated as he wanted to pull his hair out.
"Maybe you're not asking the wrong people," said Burnet, turning to Cortex and smirking in a way that made the evil genius uncomfortable. "I know a guy who's available..."
"I am NOT contacting N. Tropy," Cortex said as he folded his arms and looked in the opposite direction, his defiance showing greatly. "No way Jose."
"Who's Jose?" questioned Winston as he scratched his forehead, only to later mentally slap himself as he realized his foolishness. "Oh, right...my bad."
"Why not call that bald-headed fellow?" E. Gadd asked Cortex, needing to be a bit more specific as Cortex gave him an inquiring stare. "His name is escaping me at the...oh, yes! Dr. Nitrous Brio! Him!"
"Brio and I...we haven't seen eye-to-eye ever since he tried to backstab me," responded Cortex as he lowered his head, thinking about the time he worked with Brio in 2020 up to the moment of betrayal. "He'd be my last resort option. Very last resort."
While his friend was figuring out how to make amends with Yukari (and not suffer any blowback), Fox was off babysitting Zeit. Choosing to keep things simple, Fox took Zeit outside to do some regular dog activities. Such as playing Frisbee, for instance.
"Go catch!" shouted Fox as he threw a Frisbee; Zeit, who was lying on the ground, watched as the Frisbee flew over him before yawning.
"I think you're doing it wrong," someone called out to Fox, who looked over and saw Wazy Hemisphere. Wazy had his back against the tree, chilling in the shade.
"Says the man who can't dress properly. You look like a woman." Fox saw that the Frisbee had landed on the ground not that far from Zeit, and Zeit was in no mood for retrieving it.
"So is that your go-to insult? Criticizing my looks? Talk about scrapping the bottom of the barrel." Wazy was getting under Fox's skin, and Fox wouldn't let him get away with it for much longer.
"Zeit, ATTACK!" Fox commanded the dog to attack Wazy...but Zeit remained where he was, as he let out a big yawn. Fox looked back at Zeit, disgruntled by the canine's lack of initiative.
"Zeit's a good boy. He knows better than to harm a member of the Support Section." Wazy folded his arms behind his head, confident in knowing that Zeit wouldn't lay a paw on him.
"He's literally standing right there. Bite him, or something!" Fox was barking orders at Zeit as he pointed at Wazy, but Zeit was hardly moving an inch. C, meanwhile, was observing from another tree in the backyard.
"No sign of them outside," C said quietly, making his move from the tree as he sneaked past Fox, Zeit, and Wazy without being noticed. "I better hurry up soon...the others might get worried sick about me!"
Although it was mainly available for the Omnis Adest residents, the Omnis Adest Community Center was also available to mansion residents and tower denizens alike. After all, the building came with a bunch of perks, such as an indoor basketball court. Knuckles was out on the court right now, and he was playing against...against Cloud.
"Let's go, Cloud!" cheered Aerith, as she and Tifa were sitting on the bleachers rooting for Cloud. Sadly for them, Cloud was hardly giving it his all - not that it was a surprise.
"C'mon man, shoot!" Knuckles barked at Cloud, who was standing in place dribbling the ball. Cloud was taking his sweet time, as Knuckles was losing his patience.
"Can I just go into the lane instead?" asked Cloud, wanting the basketball scrimmage to be over with. Knuckles was like two points away from winning anyway, in a landslide victory.
"Go ahead, be my guest." Knuckles positioned himself under the basket, looking to block Cloud's layup attempt. Cloud ran to the basket, showing off some nimble speed, before catching Knuckles off-guard as he changed up and dunked on the echidna.
"Wow! Way to go, Cloud!" cheered Tifa, shocked by Cloud's dunk attempt just as much as Knuckles was. Cloud's huge dunk cut the lead down to 30, as Knuckles was ticked.
"Cloud, how could you?!" questioned Knuckles as he angrily got up, acting as if Cloud had shot his best friend point-blank right in front of him. "You made me lose my blackness."
"...all because I dunked on you?" Cloud furrowed his brow, failing to understand what the big deal was. Maybe he should've settled for a jump shot instead. "I'm much taller than you are, no offense."
"That's beside the point. You're supposed to know your role. Know your role! Now I have to reconsider how black I am..."
"That's it, I'm not playing basketball with this drama queen. I'm out." Cloud had planned on quitting anyway, but now he had an incentive as he walked off the court. The swordsman grabbed his water bottle off of the bleachers as he exited the basketball court altogether.
"He'll come back," an optimistic Aerith assured Knuckles, believing that Cloud was up in his feelings - when Knuckles was in his feelings the most. The echidna was even having identity issues!
Knuckles: I couldn't protect my blackness when it mattered the most. Now Aerith's gonna tell everyone about Cloud's dunk, and I'll be the butt of everyone's jokes. Even worse, people will start questioning my ethnicity! Maybe I should stop acting paranoid. *pauses* Or just stop playing the race card.
As he walked through the hallway of the community center, drinking from his water bottle, Cloud couldn't help but hear some light-hearted commotion from a room up ahead. Curious, Cloud went to the door where the noise was coming from and took a peek inside. Three individuals - two girls, and a guy - were in the room, eating lunch. Serving the lunch was Chef Kawasaki...oy vey.
"I'm guessing I didn't get an invite," Cloud spoke up, standing in the doorway as he commanded everyone's attention. Everyone stopped eating as all eyes were on Cloud.
"Cloud, welcome!" Chef Kawasaki greeted the swordsman, before placing his pot full of slop down on the table. Cloud dared not to question what was inside the pot. "Say, have you met the new guys staying at Omnis Adest?"
"Don't think that I have, and I don't care to..." Quite frankly, Cloud had no choice in the matter as Chef Kawasaki was ready to do some quick introductions.
"Some masked man with the hood over his head left his friends in my care, while I was asking for chocolate sprinkles to put in my mashed potatoes." What a terrible thing for any sane person to do - putting chocolate in mashed potatoes, AND entrusting Chef Kawasaki to take care of someone. "These three are his pupils - Lapis Rosenberg, Swin Abel, and Nadia Rayne."
"We are called the Miserable Sinners," Swin Abel, the lone male of the group, said to Cloud wishing that he could shake Cloud's hand. But he was in no mood to get up from his seat; Cloud was hardly in a handshaking mood anyway.
"Well, you guys don't look that miserable," remarked Cloud, one foot out of the door as he was prepared to leave. He had seen - and heard - enough. "Talk about fake...advertising." Cloud's eyes drifted to one of the Miserable Sinners - Lapis, who looked like the youngest out of the bunch.
"Cloud is such a cute name," commented Lapis, who believe it or not was a doll. A Rosenberg doll that was made at a workshop, hence the surname. "I'd give it five stars!"
"Yeah...I think I'm gonna leave." On that note, Cloud backed away as he was gone for good. Or so he would've been, had he not bumped into someone. When he turned around, he saw Aerith right behind him.
"Where are you going, Cloud?" Aerith smiled playfully, walking towards Cloud as she made the swordsman back up into the room. The flower girl looked past Cloud and saw the Miserable Sinners, and gasped happily. "Ooh! Did you make some new friends?"
"How nice of you to bring your girlfriend," Swin smirked at Cloud, knowing full and well that he just got under the swordsman's skin. "Must be nice having one."
"You do have me," Nadia said to Swin, expecting the young man to acknowledge the fact, but Swin just gave her a blank stare and looked away. Nadia was met with disappointment afterward.
"That's it, I'm gone...enjoy your stupid lunch," Cloud gave these parting words to Swin and company, as he left the room officially for good. Aerith watched as Cloud left, wondering why her boyfriend was such a buzzkill sometimes. Or all of the time.
"Have you guys been to the mansion yet?" Aerith curiously asked the Miserable Sinners, taking much more of an interest in them than Cloud could possibly care to do. "You will love it there!"
"We're waiting on our leader to return," Nadia explained to Aerith, as he and her friends were willing to stay for as long as needed. "We're in no rush!"
Cloud exited the community center, not only wanting some fresh air but also to escape from anyone giving him props for having a girlfriend. Shortly after the swordsman stepped foot outside, he heard some evil laughing.
"Doesn't sound like Dimentio, that's for sure," remarked Cloud, keeping his eyes peeled for the bad guy. The originator of the evil laugh made his appearance, as Infinite teleported right in front of Cloud, hovering above.
"Greetings..." Infinite greeted Cloud, who assumed that the jackal was either looking to pick a fight or just lecture like a typical Organization XIII member. "...Cloud Strife, isn't it? The man who couldn't save Zack Fair, his only friend."
"He's not my only friend, you know." As Cloud took offense to Infinite's comment, a question was spurred in his mind. "Also, how do you know Zack?"
"I know all about your failures. You watched Zack die right in front of you, and yet you couldn't do anything to stop it. Pathetic..."
"You don't know the whole story. It wasn't like I let Zack die by choice."
"Oh, I know the story, Cloud...I know all about your story. It's no different from the stories of other cretins I've dealt with."
"How about you stop talking and start fighting." Although he wasn't equipped with his Buster Sword, Cloud was up for a bare-knuckle brawl - even against a foe like Infinite. "Better yet, you can even send in that Zack Fair imposter."
"So you know it was I who sent out the imposter. You are a smart one. But that wasn't an imposter, mind you; the more correct terminology is..."
"NO, PLEASE, I BEG OF YOU, DON'T CHOKE ME OUT!" someone was heard screaming from a distance, and it sounded like Gex. "I have a family!" Not wanting any unwanted company, Infinite let out a groan.
"We will speak again; goodbye, for now," Infinite said his farewell to Cloud, before teleporting away from the community center. Cloud's bare-knuckle brawl would have to wait another day.
"So much for that fight," said Cloud, before looking over and seeing a familiar face manhandling a Shadow Heartless - Tawna Bandicoot. The Heartless that Tawna was wrangling with wasn't a Heartless, but rather Gex disguised as one.
"Look over there, there goes one member of my family!" Gex told Tawna as he gestured to Cloud, while his entire head was exposed. Tawna, unimpressed still had the lizard in a headlock. "Why are you still choking me? Can't you see that I'm not the real deal?"
"You fooled me, so this is what you get," replied Tawna, applying pressure until Gex started crying uncle. Hearing the word of surrender, Tawna dropped Gex to the ground before dusting her hands off, smiling.
"Nice to see someone kicking some Heartless butt," Cloud said to Tawna in a joking manner, as Tawna looked at the swordsman and chuckled.
"Ha! Sucks that I wasted my energy on an imposter. Still worth it, though." Tawna looked down at Gex, who was being overdramatic as he clutched his neck and gasped for air.
Tawna: Mario reminded me that if I'm ever in Seattle, I gotta be on the lookout for Heartless and Nobodies. A tip that he gave me for identifying Heartless was to look for anything that's black and naked, or black and wearing clothes. Thought those directions were racially tinged at first, but Zelda bringing up the yellow eyes bit made things a whole lot clearer.
"Gex, why are you still here?" Cloud asked the lizard, having believed that Gex was one of the folks given the boot during Cut Day.
"Because...we're family," replied Gex as he slowly rose up to his feet, riding the "Cloud's family" trope for as long as it was convenient. Cloud's blank stare forced Gex to give his answer straight. "I showed Master Hand some texts. Specifically, pictures of me cosplaying as James Bond that I sent to my ex-girlfriend. Worked like a charm!"
"Sadly I can see why..." remarked Tawna, knowing from limited experience how gullible Master Hand can be. The blonde bandicoot walked up to Cloud, and asked, "...can you show me where the grub is? Like, a vending machine or something? I'm kinda starved."
"I can show you all the hot spots if you like," replied Cloud, willing to show Tawna around Omnis Adest - but he was NOT doing a full-on tour. "Just for any future visits."
Rean and Lloyd were both expecting a visitor today, as C was desiring to see them. In the meantime, the two gentlemen were having fun in the gaming room as they awaited C's arrival.
"Nice shot, teach," Kurt Vander said to Rean, watching his instructor play a game of darts with Lloyd from the pool table. Rean nailed his dart close to the center.
"Were you trying to poke fun at me just now?" Rean turned to ask Kurt, smirking; Kurt eyed around the gaming room as he held his pool stick.
"No, I was just saying nice shot...but keep it up, though." Kurt returned to his pool game, striking a cue ball with his pool stick. His opponent, Gerudo Ganon, couldn't help but be impressed.
"Here I was thinking that I'd have an easy victory..." grumbled Gerudo Ganon taking his turn as he lined his pool stick up with the cue ball. As the pool game went on, Dimentio appeared in the far corner of the gaming room, spotting his prey in Rean and Lloyd.
"X marks the spot..." smiled Dimentio, watching as Lloyd threw his dart at the target. Slippy came across Dimentio and gasped in shock when he saw the jester.
"Mother..." uttered Slippy, before fainting on the floor; Dimentio stared at Slippy's unconscious body, awfully proud of himself.
"I just love it when that happens." Vamoosing before anyone else saw him, Dimentio vanished out of sight, locked in on his main targets.
One would have to imagine how Pit being "him" would be received by his fellow Cafe Leblanc baristas, as well as the cafe patrons. Deciding to go to work today, Pit was walking the walk en route to the cafe, with B.D. Joe accompanying him along the way.
"Hey Samus, guess who I am?" Pit asked the bounty hunter as he crossed paths with her in the hallway, with Samus stopping to hear what stupidity came out of Pit's mouth. "I'm HIM!"
"...you are a nobody," responded Samus, keeping it real with Pit as she continued on her way. Pit watched Samus leave, looking over his shoulder while shaking his head.
"As a wise man said...once a hater, always a hater," B.D. Joe said to Pit, while making a mental note not to put his hands on the angel. Gotta honor the contract he signed. "Don't let haters like Samus keep you down!"
"She hated me since the day I was born; she'll never get with the program," remarked Pit, before going back to his perky self as he continued walking the walk. Soon Pit reached the cafe, delighted to see the bunch of patrons that were inside.
"A Staryu ate my fishing rod," Big the Cat said to Dr. Stewart, showing the doctor whatever was left of his fishing rod. Just bits and pieces. "Almost bit my hand off, too."
"I find that extremely hard to believe," responded Dr. Stewart, as his eyes were immediately drawn to Pit. He and Big were staring at Pit, not sure what to make up the angel's get-up or newfound bravado.
"Let's be honest - you dudes aren't nowhere close to my level," Pit said to Big and Dr. Stewart, with the latter not caring about being on Pit's wavelength. "Because that's all it is...and that is all it's gonna be."
"When Pit shoots, he don't miss! WOO!" exclaimed B.D. Joe, pretending to shoot a basketball into the hoop. Big looked around the cafe, hoping to find the invisible basketball hoop.
"Face it...neither of you can ever be Him." Pit stared at Big and Dr. Stewart menacingly, before walking to the counter. Surely Pit's scathing words cut in deep.
"Did you get any of that?" Dr. Stewart asked Big, who was as equally confused as the doctor was as evidenced by him scratching his head.
Big: Pit's probably right, I can never be Him...I mean, it's already tough being Big. Being Him would be too much on my plate.
"Haven't given that sushi shop a try yet," Ash Carbide spoke with Tio Plato at the counter, as the two were waiting to be served by the baristas. "I did hear that the California roll gives you the hives."
"That's a rumor Elie made up to keep the sushi shop 'sacred' if you know what I mean," explained Tio, keeping this info as confidential as she could. Soon Pit approached the counter and jumped over it to reach the other side.
"Pit, that was totally unnecessary," Joker scolded the angel, not liking how he was almost kicked in the face. Joker was later met with confusion when B.D. Joe joined Pit behind the counter. "Why did you bring along B.D. Joe?"
"I'm Pit's hype man," B.D. Joe explained to Joker, who dared not to further question anything for his own sake. Just keep his mouth shut and let things play out.
"Yeah, 'cause I'm HIM!" boasted Pit, puffing his chest to let Joker know what the big deal was - that he was the big deal.
"He's saying that he's 'the man,'" Kirby whispered to Viridi, keeping her in the know by explaining to her the newest hip lingo. Much to the pink puffball's surprise, Viridi wasn't all that disappointed with Pit's new persona.
"Eh, Pit acts his cutest when he's delusional," Viridi shrugged, as Pit immediately got down to business. Pit quickly fixed two bowls of curry and served them to Ash and Tio.
"I wanted orange curry," Ash said to Pit, taking a gander at his curry and not liking how red it looked. Looked redder than blood, even. "But thank you anyways."
"When Pit shoots, he doesn't miss," Pit said in a bragging manner, as he proceeded to shoot an imaginary basketball with one foot in the air. The angel lost his balance and fell backward, almost crashing into Joker and falling to the floor.
"You definitely missed your step, that's for sure," remarked Joker, trying his hardest not to smirk; Pit recovered quickly as he got back up on his feet, pretending that his fall never happened.
"Oh dear..." said Lavenza, observing Pit from afar as she and Sonic were sitting at a table in the cafe. Sonic wasn't paying attention to Pit, for he was focused on giving away Palutena's chili.
"She literally gave me a whole pot of chili because I 'liked' her chili dog," Sonic explained to Pigma as he showed him a small pot of chili. "You have to take this off my hands!"
"I would, if I were insane," Pigma rejected Palutena's chili, as he was offended by how grotesque the chili looked. "I might be a walking garbage disposal, but I do value my well-being..."
"Sonic, enough is enough," Lavenza said to the blue blur, who was silently debating stuffing the chili down Pigma's mouth to make the pilot change his mind. "Pit is losing his marbles!"
"The dude is always losing his..." Sonic was about to say, only to look over and see Pit screwing up on his job while trying to be cool. "...okay, I'll set him straight."
Lloyd had prevailed over Rean in their game of darts, having taken the instructor to school and left him in his dust. Now, the two gents were walking through the mansion, thinking about what they should do next to bid their time.
"It's not too late for a table tennis match," Rean said to Lloyd, unaware that the evil jester by the name of Dimentio was floating above unseen.
"What, you wanna get schooled there?" Lloyd asked with a smirk, as he and Rean shared a laugh together. However, that laugh was soon short-lived as Dimentio appeared in front of Rean and Lloyd.
"Well, well, look what we have here!" said Dimentio, whom Rean and Lloyd both recognized from the Heartless invasion that took place at Omnis Adest. "Rean and Lloyd, hanging out like first cousins!"
"It's Dimentio...stay alert," Rean said to Lloyd, as he and the man both drew their weapons. The instructor was anticipating Dimentio making his first move.
"Relax, gentlemen! I didn't come here for a fight. You see, I just wanted to do a good friend of mine a quick solid."
"Like a guy such as yourself even needs friends. Now get lost, or we'll have to show you the hard way..." Rean got into a fighting stance, with Lloyd following suit, as Dimentio chortled at them both.
"You'll show me the hard way? Laughable. Here's my reverse card!" With a snap of his fingers, Dimentio summoned an invisible box that encased Rean and Lloyd. Rean and Lloyd tried to break out but to no avail.
"We're trapped!" shouted Lloyd as he attacked the invisible box with his twin tonfas, only for the walls to remain perfectly intact. "What is the meaning of this? HELP!"
"Help, we need help!" shouted Rean, feeling helpless as his sword wasn't doing much to break the walls down. Dimentio enjoyed seeing Rean and Lloyd struggle.
"This is just something to make things easier on my end. Away we go!" exclaimed Dimentio, who snapped his fingers again as he and the invisible box both disappeared.
"Lloyd?" said a member of the Special Support Section, Noel Seeker, as she came running down the hallway after hearing Lloyd's cries for help. "Where did you go?" Unfortunately for her, she came too late...
C was slowly running out of time (and patience), as he had yet to find his two targets. As the masked man snooped around on the roof of the mansion, he was slowly losing hope.
"They better not have left this mansion already..." C muttered under his breath, before looking out below at the front yard and seeing Juna, Altina, Elie, Randy, and Wazy all congregating outside. "...their pupils are still here, though."
"Oh, Mr. C! Special delivery!" cooed Dimentio, as he appeared on the roof with the invisible box containing Rean and Lloyd. C turned around and was surprised that Dimentio kept his end of the bargain.
"You actually found them? I cannot thank you enough." C's trust in Dimentio was validated, as Dimentio snapped his fingers and released Rean and Lloyd from their prison. Once freed, Rean and Lloyd both took the time to notice C standing before them.
"Wait a minute...it's C!" exclaimed Rean, pointing at C as Dimentio was taken aback by this sudden twist of events.
"There's a history between you two?" asked Dimentio, who was under the assumption that Rean and C had never interacted before. But evidently, they did.
"This man...this man was my senior and Crow Armburst classmate. Not only that, but I know his identity. I know the man behind that mask. He's none other than..."
"Silence...keep it to yourself," commanded C as he held up his fist, preventing Rean from spilling the beans. For a moment, it was silent, and it was too silent for Dimentio's liking.
"Well? Are you going to kill them or what?" Dimentio asked C, as he was losing his patience; confused, C slowly turned his head to Dimentio.
"Whoever said that I was going to kill them?" C wasn't the only person confused, as Rean and Lloyd were both in the same boat.
"The way you were gung-ho on finding these gentlemen, I assumed that you were out for blood. But alas, I was misled..."
"I never misled you. My intentions were to find Scharzer and Bannings and report to them the happenings in Crossbell. Killing them was never in the cards."
"So that's why you wrote us that letter!" Lloyd said to C, who confirmed as such with a nod of his head. Dimentio was suddenly beside himself.
"Yes, that is correct. I was informed that you were in this city, and now I've found you. Even if the way I did so was not intended."
"Lloyd, are you up here?" asked Noel as she showed up on the roof, bursting out through the door as she saw Dimentio, Rean, Lloyd, and C altogether. "Woah..."
"You sir have ruined my plan, and wasted my time...begone with you!" Dimentio said to C, before firing an energy blast at the masked man. C was unable to counter in time as he was struck and fell backward.
"Oh no!" Noel ran to the edge of the roof, along with Rean and Lloyd, as C crashed to the ground. C was writhing in pain, as Juna and the others who were outside came over to investigate.
"It's that masked guy we saw earlier!" Juna said to Altina, as C was struggling to get back on his feet after his nasty fall. "Did he fall from the roof or something?"
"If he did, he definitely has a few broken bones," inferred Wazy, as Elie tended to C and made sure that he was okay. Dimentio looked down below, salty that C didn't appear to be seriously injured.
Wazy: Hanging out with those ladies was the worst decision I've made today. Some man jogging past the mansion had the audacity to assume that I was a woman by mere association!
Randy: I was also hanging out with the ladies. *shrugs* No one assumed my gender.
Wazy:...certainly, that guy's assumption had nothing to do with my sense of fashion.
"Are you okay?" Elie asked C as she helped the masked man up to his feet, although he was struggling. Dimentio descended down to the front yard, as Elie and company were on guard.
"I assume that all of you are without your weapons," Dimentio said to everyone except for C, as he was charging up some energy in his hand. "Perfect! All the better to..."
"WOOF, WOOF!" some loud barking was heard, which momentarily caught Dimentio off-guard; then a split second later, a laser was fired at Dimentio's hand. That laser came from Fox, who was with Zeit as he held his Blaster out.
"I was hoping to see your face again..." Fox said to Dimentio, who was nursing his hand as he massaged it gently. Dimentio later shook off the pain, as he became incensed.
"This is none of your business, McCloud," Dimentio hissed at Fox, not a fan of interruptions. Who even was a fan of those? "But if it's a fight you want..."
"Why not pick a fight with us?" Randy shouted at Dimentio, who glanced over and saw that he and his friends had their weapons drawn. Elie was the lone exception, tending to C.
"Ah, so you do have your weapons. Time to make mincemeat out of you!" Dimentio charged up energy, eyeing his opponents as Elie escorted C out of the battlefield.
"You can take my place, Zeit," Elie said to the canine, who barked in response as he jumped into the ensuing battle. Elie brought C to safety as Fox came over.
"Much obliged...Miss MacDowell," C said to Elie as he sat down, taking a moment to recuperate from any injuries he sustained. "Wish I hadn't left the Miserable Sinners at that Omnis Adest...could've helped me deal with that Dimentio fiend."
"They're at Omnis Adest, you say?" Fox asked C, knowing just the person to call as he took out his phone. Not used to seeing a fox speak, C flinched.
Cloud initially didn't want to give Tawna a full-on tour of Omnis Adest, but that's what the swordsman winded up doing. Every time Tawna inquired about a certain spot, Cloud had no choice but to show it to her. And the longer things dragged on, the more tired Cloud became at the end.
"That took up a lot of my time..." remarked Cloud, reflecting upon the tour that he inadvertently gave to Tawna as he spoke with the blonde bandicoot near the community center.
"Cheer up - I did you a big favor," Tawna said to Cloud as she smacked the swordsman on her back. The Miserable Sinners - Swin, Lapis, and Nadia - all followed Chef Kawasaki out of the community center. "Those the new guys?"
"No, just visitors." Just then, Cloud's phone rang, and Cloud took out his phone as he answered the call. "Yes? Hey, Fox...yeah, I'm still at Omnis Adest...the Miserable Sinners? Yeah, three of them are...want me to tell them to go to the mansion? Sure thing."
He might not have any parts to add to the machine, but that didn't stop Winston from lending a hand in the machine's configuration. The gorilla was tinkering with the machine, until...
"Whoopsie, Daisy!" exclaimed Winston as he caused a small break in the machine, as evidenced by smoke coming out from the spot he tinkered with. The gorilla smiled sheepishly, as Wily facepalmed.
"Winston is officially removed from the shortlist," E. Gadd quietly announced to Wily and Cortex, who were both in agreement. Winston couldn't be trusted near any machinery that wasn't his.
"Dr. Cortex! Someone at the door wants-a to see you," Mario called out to the evil genius, who was hoping that it wasn't N. Tropy. If it was, Cortex was sure to badmouth Mario for letting him inside.
Upon learning from Mario that someone wanted to see him, Cortex ran out of the lab and to the foyer. When he showed up at the front door, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. The evil genius had to rub his eyes, as standing in front of him...
...was his old partner and Academy of Evil classmate, Dr. Nitrous Brio. Brio looked understandably nervous, as if he was fearing retaliation of some kind.
"Uh, h-hello, Cortex," Brio nervously greeted his old friend, as Cortex acted like he was seeing a ghost. A kind of ghost that he would blast to bits with his ray gun. "Long time no see."
"Brio? Is that really you?" Cortex asked out of disbelief, certain that Mario and company were playing with him. But he was face-to-face with the real deal. "What do you want?"
"Well, you see, I've been working on an invention and, uh, I thought maybe I...or we, could..." Brio was shuffling his feet, with anxious anticipation as Cortex was frowning at him.
"Let me guess, you want me to collaborate with you? After that time you cost me my man of the mansion job and stabbed me in the back afterward?"
"Never had much of a chance, to begin with..." muttered Link, one of Cortex's biggest competitors as far as the man of the mansion race was concerned. Most times, Link wondered how far Cortex would've gotten without anyone's help.
"I have realized the error of my ways, over time," Brio said to Cortex, who wasn't ready yet to believe a single word that came out of Brio's mouth. "I did what I did because I was tired of living in your shadow. I'd like to make amends for all the trouble I caused - not only to you but everyone else."
"And why should I trust you?" questioned Cortex as he folded his arms skeptically; Brio was about to give an answer, but then...
"I have fury...chocolate chip fury!" bellowed a certain Beanish, as the bespectacled evildoer by the name of Fawful showed up carrying a tray of chocolate chip cookies. Everyone in the mansion was equally shocked to see Fawful in the flesh.
"Fawful?" uttered Zelda, as she was the one thinking that she was seeing ghosts. Much like Brio, Fawful hadn't shown his face since he got his butt kicked in the 300th milestone episode.
"Yes, Fawful and I, we're still together," confirmed Brio, as the partnership they started sometime around episode 300 was still enduring to this very day. "He also brought cookies as a peace offering."
"I made them myself," stated Fawful, not sure if this very fact would make Mario and company reluctant to give his cookies a try. "Are any of you in wanting of some?"
Berkut: The Ice Climbers are not very good competition, I'm afraid. Their ice cream expenditure has endured much success, for who knows how many years. They're not making it easy for us to completely demolish them. Sadly our brownies don't have the...Hmm? A Beanish person made chocolate chip cookies, you say? I hope they make them on the regular so that we can crush them till they submit. Now that is the kind of competition that I could get behind. *smirks*
"I see that you and Fawful are still-a together," Mario said to Brio, as Fawful held up a chocolate chip cookie and held to to the plumber.
"Yes, it's just us two," confirmed Brio, who sounded sorrowful in response as Fawful tried to bring the cookie closer to Mario's mouth. Mario had to push Fawful's hand away.
"We were in the process of building a one-of-a-kind machine," explained Fawful, forced to eat his own cookies when he took the hint that Mario, Link, and Zelda weren't interested. "Me, Brio, Topper, and Eggplant Wizard! But Eggplant Wizard dropped out, and Topper...abandoned us."
"Eggplant Wizard left the project because he didn't have the 'brains' to make his contribution. Gutless coward. As for Topper, he had to leave because 'da boss' had summoned him."
"Dimentio..." Link muttered under his breath, recalling the fact that the Broodals were working under Dimentio. "What kind of machine were you working on?"
"As Fawful said, it was a one-of-a-kind machine...one that can grant access to parallel universes!" said Brio, as Mario and company all perked up - Cortex perked up especially. "We summoned a nice, young lady during a test run..."
"...then the machine went kablooey," Fawful would finish for Brio, as he and Brio lowered their heads in shame. "Since then, we have been in the searching of finding anyone capable enough of getting our machine back in tip-top shape."
"All of my previous options were exhausted, and so I had no choice but to speak with E. Gadd. I fear that he's our last hope..."
"Funny coincidence - I'm working on a machine like that with Professor E. Gadd and Dr. Wily," stated Cortex, as Brio and Fawful brightened up in a hurry. All of a sudden, things were pushing up daises for the duo.
"Then that means you'll let us on board!" an optimistic Brio asked Cortex, who wasn't so keen on the idea as he made a skeptical face. "That is if you trust us...it's no big deal."
"I trust Fawful more than I trust you. I have no reason to believe that what you're saying is true. But if you can get our machine going...then so be it."
"So...partners?" Brio extended his hand to Cortex, who left his former partner hanging. Whatever animosity Cortex had toward Brio remained.
"If you want that handshake, then you'll just have to regain my trust. That said, I do look forward to doing business with you..."
It was thanks to Sonic that Pit had embarked upon the era of "Him". Lavenza implored the blue hedgehog to nip things in the bud before things got out of hand, and that was what Sonic had planned on doing.
"You the man, Pit! You the man!" B.D. Joe hyped up Pit, clapping his hands enthusiastically as he followed the angel out of the bathroom. "Pit Shiesty!"
"He really followed him to the bathroom..." Sonic had this to say about B.D. Joe, as he was watching Pit from down the hallway. Heaving a sigh, the blue hedgehog walked over to Pit, who was happy to see his faux life coach.
"Sup Sonic! Guess what? I'm still Him!" exclaimed Pit as he flexed his bicep, despite the lack of muscle definition. In his mind, there was plenty of muscle to be found. "I can't thank you enough for that advice you gave me."
"Heh, don't mention it. Uh, about that...that wasn't really advice."
"What...what do you mean?" Pit was almost devastated, as he lowered his sunglasses.
"I was just teaching you sports player lingo. But for real, you should just focus on being yourself."
"Be myself? Why can't I be Him? It makes me look cool and makes me confident!"
"Confidence is good, but pretending to be someone you're not...not so much. It's about being comfortable in your own feathers...er, skin."
"People do like it when you're your true, authentic self," B.D. Joe said to Pit, thinking that Sonic was making some valid points. Pit was left in thought as he contemplated things.
"Let's face it, Pit, being Him isn't about wearing bling, wearing the coolest shades, or shooting imaginary basketballs. It's about being who you truly are."
"Pit!" a certain myrmidon shouted from afar, as Sonic and company saw Owain armed with his sword looking for a fight. "Word has spread that you are 'Him'. Is that correct?"
"Uh...why are you asking?" asked Pit as he eyed around; a confrontation with Owain was certainly not in his plans for today.
"Because I've come to take your title! I shall be the one who will be called Him!"
Owain: Being fooled by Gex was not a good look for me. Left a bad taste in my mouth. That bad taste was further aggravated when Marth broke the news that we were going from slaying Heartless to being "guardian angels". How can I possibly show off my bravado as a "guardian angel"? It's impossible! That's why I must defeat Pit to become "Him", and keep my glory intact.
"Be ready, Pit!" shouted Owain, sword in hand and charging down the hallway while letting out a battle cry. Before Owain could strike, B.D. Joe held out his hand to stop the myrmidon in his tracks.
"You wanna be Him, huh?" B.D. Joe asked Owain, who was debating striking down Pit's hype man with his sword. "Then go ahead. Be Him. The title's all yours."
"Surrending on Pit's behalf? I'll take it..." Preferring to fight Pit to the death, Owain was forced to accept the surrender as he put his sword back in his holster. "...from now on, Owain will be referred to as 'Him'! Friends and strangers alike shall rejoice!"
"Have fun!" Pit called out to Owain, who walked away feeling like the man once again. The angel took off his sunglasses and gold chains and handed them over to Sonic. "That was some pretty good advice you gave me just now. Sure needed it."
"Always looking out for ya," Sonic assured Pit, putting the gold chains and sunglasses in his imaginary pocket. "While you're still here...want some of Palutena's hot dog chili?"
Yukari was still in the Star Records room, waiting for those negotiations with Fox and Falco to happen. The negotiations would finally begin, as Falco bravely entered the room with some bad news to share.
"Hi, Falco!" greeted Yukari, surprised to see that the avian pilot was alone. "Where's Fox?" Yukari looked around and saw Fox nowhere in sight.
"Family situation," Falco quickly replied, alarming Yukari with his body language as he took a seat at the Star Records desk. "So, uh, about that spin-off show that I promised you..."
"What about it?" Yukari had her head cocked to the side, slightly fearful of what information Falco was about to share with her.
With Dimentio present it was up to Rean, Lloyd, and Noel to band together and teach Dimentio a lesson. If they had known about the secret ladder that Kasumi revealed in episode 350, they would've been at the front right now. But instead, the trio had to settle for a slow-moving elevator.
"I hope that we're not too late," Noel said to Rean and Lloyd, as the trio raced out of the front door...only to run into an invisible wall after going down the porch steps. "What the..."
"Rean, help! We're trapped!" Juna called out to the instructor as she, Altina, Elie, Wazy, Randy, Zeit, C, and Fox were all seemingly trapped inside an invisible box. Noel tried to break the box down by firing with her submachine guns but to no avail.
"It's not worth it - those walls are indestructible," Lloyd said to Noel, speaking from experience, as Noel ended her onslaught after her bullets bounced off of the invisible wall. A second later, evil laughter.
"Ciao," greeted Dimentio as he appeared above the invisible box, looking down at Noel and company with a wicked smile. "Look - I have your friends trapped! Oh, and Fox, too, I guess."
"I'm a friend of theirs," Fox said to Dimentio, before looking towards Noel and company for any sort of validation. "Right, guys? Right?"
"You let them go this instant!" Rean pointed at Dimentio, completely ignoring Fox as he was more concerned about his pupils. Dimentio could only laugh in response.
"Must not know me well - I don't listen to peons like you," Dimentio said to Rean, getting under the instructor's skin as Rean angrily gritted his teeth. "Makes it all the more easier to make 'unpopular' decisions."
"Better not hurt them," Lloyd lashed out at Dimentio, fearing that the jester might harm everyone in the box. But that was what Dimentio was about to do, as his fingers were ready to snap.
"You know, I was taking it easy with this group...but now I feel like sending a message. So consider this message..."
Before Dimentio could send his message, a large cross axe was thrown at his head, leaving the jester in pain. Consequently, the invisible box dispersed, and Dimentio was stuck trying to pull the axe out.
"Oh, dearest me! This is the worst paper cut I've ever had..." Dimentio writhed in pain, struggling to pull out the cross axe. C looked up as he recognized the weapon that was lodged in Dimentio's head.
"That axe...it belongs to..." said C, before turning around and finding relief when he saw the Miserable Sinners - Swin, Nadia, and Lapis. And the man who brought them over from Omnis Adest?
"Hey, Fox - brought the Miserable Sinners, just like you asked," Cloud said to the pilot, as he brought the three at the perfect on time.
Cloud: Did some small talk with the Miserable Sinners - thought that it would make Aerith happy. Didn't learn that much, other than that Nadia has a big crush on Swin. Kinda reminds me of how Barbara acts with Rayman. When I asked Lapis about her past, she just started crying. Little kids can be so sensitive sometimes...even those wielding a giant axe.
"This is simply not ideal..." said Dimentio as he finally pulled out the axe, before tossing it onto the ground not caring if he struck anyone. "...no amount of magic could easily patch up this wound!"
"Then why not some glue," Randy suggested to Dimentio, making the others giggle much to Dimentio's great chagrin. "Since you are made out of paper."
"Cracking jokes at my expense, I see...I won't let you get away with it next time. Can't believe that I must run off like a coward...this wound will take time to mend."
"Your Organization flunkies know a thing or two about running off like cowards," quipped Fox, and Dimentio was tired of hearing all the jokes. The jester was developing a seriously bad mood.
"Don't compare me to them! Blegh...I'll be back." Dealing with a major head injury, Dimentio teleported away as the cross axe was retrieved by Lapis.
"Thank you for saving the day, Lapis," C thanked the doll, who after retrieving her axe ran up to C and hugged him. C hugged him back. "Yes, yes, I missed you as well."
"Are you okay?" Nadia asked C as she and Swin checked to see if their leader was okay. From the looks of it, C seemed fine.
"At one point I wasn't, but I'm much better now. I'm glad that we are together again." Not wanting to interrupt a feel-good moment, Lloyd and Rean both approached C.
"Well, well...looks like all of the Miserable Sinners are in town," remarked Rean, having a gut feeling that Swin, Nadia, and Lapis were lurking around. "What's the special occasion?"
"Said that you wanted to report something," Lloyd said to C as he folded his arms, interested in what C wanted to share. "So what is it?"
"A revolt is taking place at Crossbell," C gave the news to Rean and Lloyd. "The aggressors have to be contained at once. That is why..."
"How about this - why not let Claire Rieveldt handle it?" Rean suggested to C, who was wondering what the instructor was hinting at. "She is a commissioned officer, after all."
"So what you're saying is, leave it to the Railway Military Police?" C asked Rean, to which Rean nodded his head with a convincing smile. "What can we do on our end?"
"Seeing how your lot stopped that jester...specifically her," responded Lloyd as he gestured to Lapis, slightly intimidated by the doll's cross axe. "...I think you should stick around for a while."
"Ever met Master Hand? You ought to speak with him," Rean said to C, as Zeit ywaned and walked away. Remembering that Zeit was his responsibility, Fox chased after the canine.
"Zeit, wait up!" Fox called out as he ran after Zeit, catching up with the canine in time. Suddenly, the sound of a broken window was heard, as Falco was flung out from the sixth floor.
"I HATE YOU, FALCO!" Yukari was heard shouting angrily from up above, as Falco fell to the ground with a thud. Falco was lying in pain, in no condition to move his limbs.
"Did you tell her?" Fox came over to ask Falco, who let out a pained "Yeah..." as he nodded his head. Falco manned up, and Fox had his respect.
Falco: It's official... *sighs* ...Yukari hates me. I hate that I have a big mouth.
It took some convincing, but Cortex managed to get Wily and E. Gadd to add Brio and Fawful to the team. Mario, Link, and Zelda were peeking inside the lab, as they watched Brio and Fawful officially being welcomed.
"We'll let you work on the machine with us, but on one provision," E. Gadd said to Brio, as he was laying down the law - something that he was too shy to do with Cortex's minions. "You can't claim to be the sole inventor of it."
"And you can't kiss it either," added Wily, who had already determined which spot on the machine he was going to kiss. "I have first dibs."
"The former provision might be a dealbreaker, but the latter won't be much of a problem," responded Brio, before shaking hands with E. Gadd and Wily as he was officially onboard. "Glad to be part of the team!"
"Now, who is in the enjoyment for some cookies?" asked Fawful as he presented his plate of chocolate chip cookies to E. Gadd and Wily. Much to his dismay, neither of them were interested. "I didn't stay up all night in the kitchen for nothing..."
"Let me make your work feel worthwhile," Burnet offered to Fawful as she grabbed a cookie and took a bite. The professor made a funny face as she chewed. "E. Gadd, if you and the fellas need a hand...I'm your gal."
"You also have me," Winston offered to E. Gadd and company, who were lukewarm as they stared blankly at the gorilla. "Or not..."
"It'd be best if we saved these cookies for that young lady," Brio suggested to Fawful, seeing the sign that Burnet didn't care for the cookies too much. "As a way to cheer her up during her current predicament."
"Cortex and Brio working together again is going to be something else," Zelda whispered to Mario and Link, interested in how Brio would get along with fellow bright minds. "They better not butt heads a lot."
"Well, if it means the parallel universe machine is finished on time, then so be it," responded Link, as he soon turned his attention to Mario to ask a burning question on his mind. "But I gotta ask you, Mario...about that list."
"What about it?" asked Mario, who had a tea party with Jennifer to get back to. His worst nightmare was Poochy scaring down all the scones.
"Cloud said that you were acting weird about it when Master Hand first brought it up to you. Thought that list was only for you?"
"No, I just didn't want anyone to see that list and make any baseless assumptions. That's all it was. To this day, I still don't know what that list means."
"We can figure out what it means together," assured Zelda, as she rested her hand on Mario's shoulder. Meanwhile, a hooded Organization member was looking at Zelda and company from a distance, as a dark corridor was summoned behind him.
"Meh...I'll stop by and investigate this machine later," muttered the Organization XIII member, who sounded an awful lot like Vexen. The member went through the dark corridor, making his leave.
Rean and Lloyd took C to Master Hand, asking if the Miserable Sinners could be added to Omnis Adest. While Master Hand didn't have the final say these days (he delegated that to Link and Zelda), he did let the Miserable Sinners hang out at the mansion until Link and Zelda's return. C and his troupe were brought to the cafe, where one of the baristas was acting like his true, normal self.
"Two cups of joe for the new guy and his girlfriend!" exclaimed Pit as he gave coffee to Swin and Nadia, who were both sitting at the counter.
"She's not my girlfriend, but thanks for the beverage," Swin thanked Pit as he accepted his coffee, while Nadia looked on wondering when Swin would stop being in denial.
"Glad to have you back," Pit said to Pit, happy that the angel ditched the gold chains and sunglasses. Pit smiled as he returned to the coffee machine.
"I'm telling you, I saw Dimentio with my own eyes!" Slippy said to Sans at the counter, as Sans didn't believe that Slippy was telling the truth. "I saw him!"
"I am HIM! Do you hear me?" a reinvigorated Owain asked the cafe patrons, as many of them were tuning him out. "I am HIM!" Pit was amused as he watched Owain posturing like he knew how.
"How was Zeit, was he a good boy?" Tio asked Fox, as she was stroking Zeit's fur. Zeit looked noticeably more livelier now than he did while with Fox.
"Eh...he was alright," replied Fox, giving the most positive comments that he could offer. Elsewhere, Sonic was still trying to give away Palutena's hot dog chili.
"You have to try out this chili," Sonic said to Musse and Ash, presenting them with the chili. Obviously, neither Musse nor Ash were interested.
"I'd rather not; I don't have the stomach for it," replied Musse as she walked away; Chef Kawasaki entered the cafe, and Ash caught sight of him.
"Bet he'd want your chili," Ash said to Sonic as he gestured to Chef Kawasaki. Seeing Kawasaki as his last hope, Sonic sped over to the chef.
"Hey Sonic, do you know if Cafe Leblanc carries chocolate syrup?" Chef Kawasaki asked the blue hedgehog, as he was en route to the counter. "My mashed potatoes could use some!"
"Wanna know what works better on mashed potatoes?" asked Sonic, before showing him the chili that so many people reasonably turned down. "Palutena's famous hot dog chili!"
"Sounds...disgusting, but I'll give it a shot." So Chef Kawasaki accepted the pot of chili from Sonic, who now felt like a free man. "Come to Papa!"
Chef Kawasaki: People say that my cooking is on par with Lady Palutena's, but that would imply that my cooking is bad in the first place. And sure, Palutena isn't the best cook around, but she has a few hits every now and then. I reckon this chili is one of them. *eats a spoonful of the chili, then grimaces as he swallows* Mm..delicious.
"There! All done," announced Rean, who had just finished writing a letter to police captain and good friend Claire Rieveldt, before inserting the letter into an envelope and sealing it shut. "I'll have this sent to Claire soon."
"Just a heads up, you're missing a stamp," Lloyd said to Rean, sitting at the table with the instructor; Rean noticed that the stamp on the envelope was nowhere to be found.
"...I'll be right back." Rean got up from his seat and headed to the cafe exit, only to bump into an entering Cloud. "Oh, pardon me, Cloud! Uh, do you know where I could find some stamps?"
"In the gaming room," replied Cloud, as Rean brushed past the swordsman and exited the cafe. As Cloud went to the counter, he would cross paths with C.
"So you're the man who brought my pupils to the mansion, safe and sound," C said to Cloud - better that someone like Cloud get the job done than an oaf like Chef Kawasaki. "You have my gratitude."
"Don't mention it. I hear that you're going to join Omnis Adest soon. Any truth to that?"
"Nothing is set in stone as of yet. But that said, I do look forward to dealing with that jester again. Been told that he's a problem."
"Trust me, he's not the only bad guy you'll encounter." Cloud looked to the side, recalling the moment he shared earlier today with a certain jackal. "Not the only one..."