Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story. The OC's belong to their respective owners.

Three Days After Dark Ruby's Death

BGM: Menu 2 (Super Smash Bros Brawl)

An arena was filling up, crowds were cheering and had foam fingers, people were lining up in droves for snacks and drinks as they looked onto the field with anticipation.

"Welcome one and all to the extended season of the Strikers tournament! I am your host, Peter Port with my good friend, Doctor Oobleck!"

"Docto-... oh. Yes! And joining us is the one and only, Mayor Pauline!"

"Thank you for having me again." Pauline smiled.

"You know, the funny thing is that we were going to do this a few days before, but unfortunately, the Red Sky incident threw a wrench into the plans. There had to be some major clean up in this arena." Port said.

"You think that'd bad? New Donk City got hit hard by it. There were so many Grimm and shadow creatures running amock that I worried we wouldn't survive. Luckily, it dissipated and my city cleaned up within a few hours. Heck, we even celebrated with a mini Mario Kart tournament!"

"Ah, yes, the famous New Donk Minute." Oobleck chuckled.

"Now then! For the folks at home wondering why we said "extended season", let's play a small recap of what happened during the finals."

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The monitor showed Bowser's logo. "DID YOU THINK I'D TAKE THAT LOSS STANDING DOWN! NO! I AM GOING TO WIN THIS ONCE AND FOR ALL! GIVE IT UP FOR MY NEW AND IMPROVED TEAM! BEHOLD! THE SUPER TEAM!"

"And that's all we're going to show you. Although you have to admit, it was a heck of a team up against those robots." Port said.

"Yes, of course! A beautiful team display between Team JINXY and Team MAJC!"

"I swear it should be called Team MAJCCZ…" Pauline mumbled.

"Anywho! Now that we got everything situated, we got the Finals to play out! Team JINXY vs Team MAJC!" Port exclaimed.

"Yes, and the Strikers Tournament also came up with a new option to play with. Battle League! …Unfortunately, Battle League is extremely controversial, what with the new sets of armor and apparently, Hyper Strikes don't feel as powerful as Mega Strikes, and apparently test audiences didn't like what they saw and the general public felt it was a major step back than how it was originally, so it's only recommended for rookies and those who don't play much of soccer at all." Oobleck said. "Soooo, jumping off of airships is flashier than popping out of a portal! Honestly, I can agree…"

"Indeed!" Port nodded.

"Now let's remind everyone of the scores between JINXY and MAJC!"

Team JINXY - 0

Team MAJC - 0

"Yeah, Bowser interrupted at the very beginning of the match." Port said. "But I can imagine it will be quite the match between these two. They've worked their way up the board and here they are about to unleash chaos onto the field!"

"Oh! And we just received word that both teams just walked out of the locker rooms!" Oobleck exclaimed. "And I also received word that both Anthony and Jade have gone into the teleporter and are up on the airships!"

The crowds cheered as both teams walked out onto the field.

Team MAJC - Anthony, Mona, Zoey, Camrin - Goalie: Jen

Team JINXY - Jade, Iris, Nyx, Xena/Yagami - Goalie: Black Yoshi

End BGM

"Never imagined I'd ever see this happening." Nyx said.

"Heh, neither did we." Camrin grinned.

"Ohohoho, I'm gonna enjoy the heck out of this!" Mona grinned, and then Anthony landed gracefully in front of INXY.

"Alright, let's roll." He said.

BGM: GCN Luigi's Mansion (Mario Kart 8 Deluxe)

The rest of them looked up to see Jade free falling to the ground. She then flipped a few times and then used her Poltergust to fire wind to slow her descent until she gracefully landed in front of them. "Let's get wild!" She smiled, putting the Poltergust away.

"Alriiiiiight, let's get this underway!" Port exclaimed as the crowd cheered. Jade looked into the audience and smiled, blowing a kiss toward Futaba's direction. Futaba blushed, smiling as she caught it while Akira playfully elbowed her with a wink.

End BGM

"This is going to get fun." Anthony smiled.

"Oh, I wholeheartedly agree." Nyx grinned as the Lakitu came with the ball in his fishing pole.

"Alright, same rules apply as last time! Anything goes! Eight minutes on the clock!" He said as both teams got into position. "Ready… and… STRIKE!" He let go of the ball.

BGM: Bowser's Galaxy Generator (Super Mario Galaxy 2)

Jade immediately snagged the ball and then passed it to Nyx who quickly ran toward the goal, swiftly dodging Zoey and Mona's attacks as she lobbed the ball over to Iris who flipped over and kicked the ball toward the goal, but Jen swiftly stopped the ball in her tracks with her gun as it dropped down as Camrin slid to steal it and lobbed it over to Mona who headbutted it toward Anthony.

Anthony swiftly side stepped to avoid Iris, where he noticed Xena teleporting to his location. He smirked and then kicked the ball to the electric fence, where it rebounded and landed near Zoey who swiftly kicked the ball into the goal, but Yoshi snagged it with his tongue, swallowed it, then he used the egg to throw it toward Nyx as she cut through a rope trap as a tube came out of the ground, where the egg went inside, going through a loop-de-loop and then at the other side, it glowed with energy and spat out the egg where it exploded as it became a massive fireball.

Jen quickly shot at the ball, but realized it wasn't slowing it down as she swiftly dove for it, but she missed it and it went toward the goal.

"And Team JINXY gets the first point of the game!" Oobleck exclaimed as the crowd went wild.

"I would say we're taking "Anything goes" a little too far, but then again, we used lightning rods on Nora last time." Anthony chuckled.

"Let's not forget how we handled the Super Team!" Nyx reminded, causing Anthony to smirk.

"Ah yes, how could I forget?" He smiled and when the ball returned, Anthony took the ball and passed it to Mona who quickly kicked the ball over to Camrin where he prepared to kick it, but Xena slid past him and stole the ball from him.

"Thank you~!" Xena smiled, rushing toward the goal as she spun around to avoid Zoey as she then kicked the ball into the air. "Yagami!" She said as Yagami came out and kicked the goal toward the goal, but Jen stopped the ball in its tracks as Zoey immediately snagged the ball right after, passing it to Camrin as he lobbed it over Iris's head where Mona eagerly caught it and then dug her foot into the ball as it sailed past Nyx and Jade.

Yoshi got into position and caught the ball, but from how hard Mona kicked the ball, he was pushed into the goal. "Yooo…"

"Team MAJC is on the board!" Pauline exclaimed.

"Ha ha! That's what I'm talkin' about!" Mona fist pumped, high fiving her boyfriend as Nyx smirked.

"Alright, now it's a game." She said, as she took the ball when it returned and then she kicked the ball over to Iris, front flipping to avoid Zoey sliding to steal the ball as she then got into position and kicked the ball high into the air, unleashing her Mega Strike as she pulled out her Gunblade and swung her sword down with enough power to split the ball into six.

Jen got into position and proceeded to shoot four out of the six balls, letting two slip by her as Iris landed on the ground. "I'll take it." Iris chuckled, glancing at the scoreboard.

JINXY - 3

MAJC - 1

"Let's not get too cocky here. It's anyone's game." Nyx said as they got into position and then Anthony took the ball, suddenly backflipping to pass it to Zoey as she quickly kicked the ball toward the goal, then noticed Nyx and Jade flanking her. She then grabbed the ball with her feet and then front flipped between the girls, holding the ball with her ankles as she gracefully landed and kicked the ball, curving it to where Yoshi just barely missed it, scoring a goal.

"A pleasure." Zoey did a curtsy bow and walked off with a pleased smile on her face.

"What the hell just…?" Nyx wondered. How did she manage to do that?

The ball was reset as Jade ran toward the goal, dodging Anthony flanking her as he turned around and chased after her, picking up the pace as Jade shifted her eyes before lobbing it over to Nyx, but mid-air, Camrin did a triple flip and kicked the ball out of midair and ran off with it.

"Oh clever… not clever enough though." Nyx smirked, pressing a button as the grass underneath Camrin produced honey to slow him down.

"Blegh! What…?" Camrin wondered as Nyx ran over and stole the ball.

"Thank you so much, honey!" Nyx quickly ran off with it.

"Hey! He's not your honey, he's mine!" Mona yelled.

"That was just a pun."

"...Oh. Want me to lick that?"

Nyx lobbed it into the air and then pulled out her crossbow, firing a bomb arrow into it that sent it flying into the goal as Jen tried to slow it down with little luck.

JINXY - 4

MAJC - 2

"That can't be healthy…" Zoey said.

"Speak for yourself!" Mona licked her fingers clean. "That was rather sweet honey!"

Anthony chuckled. "Well, I'm sure things will get heated up soon enough." He said, and then he took the ball once it was reset as he lobbed the ball over to Zoey, but Xena levitated and took the ball for herself, but as soon as she landed, Mona slid underneath her, tripping her up.

"Wah?!" She yelped.

"Don't mind if I do~!" Mona smiled as she ran toward the goal, passing it to Camrin, who passed it over to Zoey, who passed it over to Anthony as JINXY tried to intervene, but then Anthony lobbed it to Mona who got into position and used an uppercut to launch the ball into the air for her Mega Strike.

She jumped up high into the air to chase after it, slugging it repeatedly until there were eight balls in total as she gathered them all up. "Hehehe~!" She giggled and then launched herself toward the goal like a meteor.

"...Yo…?" Yoshi whimpered with a sweatdrop as he tried to throw eggs at the wild demon that was coming toward him, but it wasn't enough.

"SPECIAL DELIVERY!"

There was an explosion the moment Mona crashed into the ground.

"Awawawawawawawa!"

End BGM

Once the dust settled, Mona and Yoshi were in the goal together, all eight balls in the goal as Mona was upside down and tangled within the net while Yoshi had stars circling over his head. "Worth it~!"

JINXY - 4

MAJC - 10

"Well… that's… one way to do a Mega Strike." Iris sweatdropped, scratching her head as Mona got up with a goofball grin, managing to get herself out while Yoshi shook it off.

"Yoooo…"

Mona giggled. "Thanks for cushioning the landing for me!" She said and skipped out with a hum.

Anthony laughed. "Well, she definitely keeps you on your toes, doesn't she?"

BGM: Checker Knights (Kirby Air Ride)

"No doubt." Nyx laughed, and then once the ball reset, Jade took the ball and passed it to Iris who ran past Camrin as he caught up to her, but she lobbed it over to Xena who proceed to unleash her Mega Strike, kicking the ball high into the air.

Right on cue, Yagami came out and flew up high into the sky where she met the ball. "Let's mix things up a little~!" She smirked, the ball circling around her as she unleashed a powerful energy wave into the ball and sent it crashing down, splitting into eight balls as Jen prepared to fire… but the balls went in a zig zag pattern.

"...Wha…?" Jen blinked as she tried to fire, but her bullets couldn't touch them as all eight went into the goal, causing the crowd to cheer as Yagami landed next to her twin.

"Booyah!" Yagami smiled, high fiving Xena as she went back inside of her.

JINXY - 12

MAJC - 10

"It's anybody's game here! With about a minute left on the clock, it's bound to get exciting!" Oobleck exclaimed.

"Alright, let's rock and roll!" Anthony said.

"Yeah!" His team got into position as did JINXY, and when the ball was given to him, he flanked to the left to get past Jade and passed the ball to Zoey as she would see Jade in front of her, so she proceeded to curve the ball and go around Jade as it went toward Camrin who lobbed the ball to Anthony as he used his Dust Staff as a boost and then kicked the ball above Yoshi, threading the needle in between and scoring a goal.

Once the ball was reset, Jade passed it to Nyx as she kicked the ball toward the goal, but Jen caught it and tossed the ball in the air, shooting it in midair as it landed near Mona as she quickly turned around and ran toward the goal, passing the ball to Zoey when Jade got in the way and used her Poltergust to suck the ball up and shot it away where Xena caught it and kicked it toward the goal telekinetically, but Jen activated her Weather powers and shot the ball with wind bullets, pushing the ball away as Mona hopped into a mini tornado and kicked the ball as Yoshi caught it, but the wind pushed him into the goal.

JINXY - 12

MAJC - 12

The buzzer sounded immediately after. "It's a tie! We're going straight into overtime!" Port declared.

End BGM

BGM: Sudden Death (Mario Strikers Charged)

Nyx looked at Anthony. "May the best chess player win."

"Same to you." Anthony agreed, and once the ball touched the ground, both he and Jade fought for the ball until it slipped past, then Mona eagerly snagged it and went toward the goal, but Iris slid and stole the ball, tripping Mona up as she turned around and passed it to Jade where she kicked it as hard as she could and kicked it to Nyx, but Zoey intercepted and lobbed the ball to Camrin, but Xena flew toward the ball and kicked it toward the goal, but Jen swiftly shot it up to knock it down as Anthony stole the ball and ran toward the goal.

"Zoey!" Anthony cued as he kicked the ball toward Yoshi as Zoey pulled out a pineapple and threw it toward Yoshi.

"Wah!" Yoshi yelped as he looked at both objects coming toward him.

"Yoshi, tactical maneuver!" Nyx called to him as he immediately used his tongue to grab the pineapple and swung it into the ball, hitting the electric fence and bouncing off where Nyx took it for herself, then Yoshi gobbled up the pineapple happily. "Good boy!"

"Smart dino…" Anthony chuckled as he ran after her. "You really trained your dinosaur well!"

"Thanks!" Nyx smiled, lobbing it toward Iris as she curved the ball right after, but Jen dove and caught the ball, throwing it to Anthony as he ran toward Yoshi again, having an idea as he kicked the ball toward Camrin.

"Operation: Nullify!" He called out to his team.

"Right!"

Operation what now? Jade thought as she tried to suck the ball up with the Poltergust, but no suction power came out. "Huh?" She wondered as Zoey had secretly pulled the tube out of the vacuum, then she turned around and tripped Xena up from trying to telekinetically stop Camrin from the ball while Anthony got in front of Nyx and pulled out a rose. "For you, my dear."

"Uh… thanks…?" She blinked, staring at the rose as Zoey came sliding in and tripped Nyx up. "Wah!"

"Sorry, Ms. Shadow." She apologized as Camrin kicked the ball toward the electric fence and used his momentum to jump and wall ride the electric fence.

"This is for you, Mona!" He kicked the ball toward Yoshi where he caught it, but the ball was filled with electricity.

"Awawawawawawa!" He yelped, dropping the ball as Camrin dropped down and kicked the ball into the goal.

End BGM

"WE HAVE A WINNER!" Port yelled as the crowd cheered.

MAJC - 13

JINXY - 12

"How in the heck did he…?" Jade wondered.

"Jade, remember that mysterious order that came in the mail requesting you make electric absorbent shoes that can release the energy into anything when the shoes hit something?" Anthony asked with a sly smile.

"Yeah, I remember making tho-... wait, how did you know… about… that…" Her eyes widened. "Oh my gosh, THAT WAS YOU?!"

"Yup!" Anthony grinned.

Nyx laughed. "Oh, that's good. Managed to slip one past us!"

"...You know what, I'm not even mad." Jade chuckled.

At that moment, another Lakitu came over with the trophy, causing Mona's eyes to sparkle. "Here you are, Strikers Champions! The trophy is-" Suddenly, it was snagged away. "Wha?!"

"HONK!"

They would turn to see that the Goose had grabbed it for himself. "Aw no, my shiny trophy!" Mona pouted.

THUD!

The sudden thud was enough to knock everyone to the ground as they saw Petey towering over the Goose. Petey turned toward his teammate and nodded as Hammer Bro gave him a hammer and gave it to the Goose.

The Goose blinked, looking at the hammer… before dropping the trophy and snagged the hammer out of his leaf. "HONK!" He then waddled away with the hammer in toe.

"That works." Camrin chuckled and then picked up the trophy, handing it to Mona. "Here you go. You definitely deserved this."

"Wait, we were in this thing… for me?"

"Yeah. Thought your cave could be a bit more lively." Camrin winked.

"So when you mentioned the Strikers Tournament on our way home from space…"

"Thought it'd make a nice story to tell. It wasn't just so we could snag the treasure as a team. It was for you… especially considering everything in the cave had melted, minus that Shine Sprite." Camrin grinned.

"...Oh Camrin!" Mona smiled, hugging him tightly as JINXY smiled at this.

"Welp, good game, Anthony." Nyx said.

Anthony chuckled. "I look forward to our next bout." He said, the two of them shaking hands as they all walked away, but then Petey brought out his limbo gear and invited them all to limbo with them.

"And there you have it, folks. The game has come to an end!" Port exclaimed. "And everyone's doing the limbo!"

"Until next time everyone. We'll see you at the next exciting Strikers tournament!" Oobleck said. "I'm Doctor Oobleck!"

"I'm Port!"

"And I'm mayor Pauline!"

"And we'll see you guys next time!"

Later, in Toad Town…

"I never would have imagined that my own invention would be used against us." Jade said as they were walking back home.

"Eh, it happens." Iris shrugged.

"I knew Camrin was wearing different shoes, but I didn't think anything of it. I thought he just replaced them with new ones." Nyx shrugged it off.

"Well, at least they were in good hands." Xena said.

"Regardless of who won, it was still awesome!" Futaba said as she was walking with them.

"Yeah, it was." Jade smiled, turning around and kissing her on the cheek. Futaba giggled and returned the favor. She then turned to her team. "Hey, I'm gonna head off. We're having a dinner and movie date tonight."

Nyx smiled. "Alright, you two lovebirds go have fun." She said as Jade took Futaba's hand and they walked in a different direction.

"Those two are so cute together." Xena said.

"Yup." Iris nodded.

"...Say, have those two ever had their first kiss yet?"

"They kissed each other on the cheek." Nyx said.

"No, I mean on the lips."

"Oh… I… don't know, have they?" Nyx wondered.

"Beats me. If they did, they probably didn't think it was that big of a deal." Iris shrugged.

"Yeah, you're probably right."

"Eh, let's not worry about it." Xena said as they walked into their home.

With the lovebirds…

"So… you want to do it?" Jade asked.

"Let's give it a shot. I think I'm ready this time." Futaba nodded as the two looked each other in the eyes, both of them leaning in, but before their lips could touch, Futaba blushed a deep red and pulled away. "Ah, I'm sorry!"

"No no no, it's okay!"

Futaba sighed. "Dammit, every time…" She mumbled. "I don't know why I always chicken out…"

Jade gently caressed Futaba's hair. "You're just shy."

"I don't get it! You had plenty of first kisses on every other guy and gal you dated, so you have this locked down pat! Me? I haven't had any! I'm dating a first kiss master and… to be honest, I want my first kiss to be absolutely perfect, but no matter how many times we try it… I chicken out at the last minute. I just resort to kissing you on the cheek, the forehead, the nose… I don't know why I have a hard time with the lips."

"Hey, it's going to be okay, Futaba." Jade said, planting comforting hands on Futaba's shoulders. "When you're comfortable with my lips-"

"Which I am… your lips are quite soft on the rest of my face."

Jade giggled. "I'm not holding this against you. When you feel ready, I'll be waiting."

Futaba sighed. "It's a good thing you're so patient. I try! I really do… I don't know why I'm so shy about it…" She mumbled as Jade leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. "Thanks, that makes me feel better."

Jade smiled, taking Futaba's hands. "We'll try again some other time."

"And many other times after that…" Futaba added before chuckling. "So, you wanted steak, right?"

"Of course! …Wait, I'm a first kiss master?"

"I said what I said!" Futaba grinned cheekily, causing Jade to laugh.

Meanwhile, at Vacuo…

"Hmhmhmhm~" Mona hummed as she placed the trophy down next to the back wall, near the Shine Sprite.

She grinned, rubbing her nose with a grin. "Looking shinier already!" She smiled as she walked out to rejoin her team, heading back to Windfall.

Ibuki: *sighs happily* Jade-chan and Futaba-chan are so cute together!

Yup, they sure are! Also, this was for Flash and Cody who more than likely didn't see this coming! Surpriiiiiiise! Hope this made your day even better!

Ibuki: Nintendo Direct incoming!

Wonder what'll show... those rumored Zelda remakes and Metroid Prime remake, perhaps? Who knows, but I do wonder if we'll see more Mario Kart 8 DLC. It's a long shot, though.