Author's Note:
So while I was writing this chapter, there was a wintry mix in my hometown - nothing but freezing rain, sleet, and snow raining down from the sky. An odd coincidence, I will admit, especially given the central basis of this chapter. Granted the snow didn't last for long, but it did give me some motivation to keep on writing. Now on to the guest reviews:
"How soon will we see the Advance Wars characters show up? Is Berkut wanting to kill Alm going to be a running gag? Are Jude and Milla wearing their outfits from Tales of Xillia or Xillia 2? And finally, what are your thoughts on Dark Souls getting a Switch port?"
The Advance Wars characters will hopefully appear soon, Berkut's desire to kill Alm will be a running gag, Jude and Milla are wearing their outfits from Xillia 2...AND CRASH BANDICOOT: N SANE TRILOGY IS GETTING A SWITCH PORT?! Oh wait, it's the game that people have compared N. Sane Trilogy to, Dark Souls...don't really know much about that game, but I bet Dark Souls fans are stoked about the Switch port. Here's another anonymous review:
"Will you include quote and curly from cave story?"
Sure I can. Now let's see what Derick Lindsey has to say:
"Quick question: Is Shulk still injured?"
Yes, Shulk is still injured, although I overlooked bringing up his hand injury in the previous chapter. I'll make mention of the injury in this installment, to keep the running gag going.
Episode 109: Snowstorm
The city of Seattle is known for many reputations. It's known as the city that single-handedly started the grunge movement, led by Kurt Cobain and his record-breaking grunge band, Nirvana. It's known for being the birthplace of many companies, such as Microsoft and Amazon - although Microsoft technically started in the Seattle metropolitan area, but it still counts. Moreover, Seattle is known for being a very rainy city, as it constantly rains in the Emerald City, and the citizens have to adjust to rain on a consistent basis.
Throughout much of the week, there was nothing but rain in Seattle, with not a single instance of sunlight. The highest temperature the week was 52 degrees, which meant that it was very chilly outside. You'd be a fool to walk around in Seattle without the proper gear on.
While the past couple of days have been rainy, a different weather phenomenon would begin today, as the residents were in the Smash Mansion eating breakfast. Dunban, the cook for today, had made everyone eggs, bacon, and hash browns - the quintessential breakfast in America. Although it was the Pacific Northwest, Dunban also made some grits, for those who wanted any.
"Dunban, King Dedede is doing some sick and twisted things to his breakfast," Wendy Koopa would notify the Homs, as she saw King Dedede squirting loads of ketchup on his grits. He was smiling like a madman, like he was a sociopath pouring out blood on his victims.
"Leave him alone, Wendy - ketchup on grits is an actual delicacy in the South," explained Dunban, as Wendy cringed. Grits with ketchup just sounded disgusting to her. "You should try it one day!"
"I think I'd rather take my chances with Palutena's 'breakfast stew'..." remarked Wendy, who cringed even harder when she witnessed King Dedede consuming his grits in one giant gulp. The sight of that was enough to make Wendy sick to her stomach, and so she had to leave the breakfast table in a jiffy.
Palutena: What is this "breakfast stew" that Wendy spoke of? *smiles* Oh, just a new creation of mine, it has all the works! You just mix orange juice and coffee together, and pour it into the pot, and then you add the bacon and the sausage and the ham and...why are you making that face? You wish to try out some of my breakfast stew? Well why didn't you say so! Stay right where you are, I'm gonna make you a bowl of my stew! You'll fall in love after your first spoonful!
Link, who was quickly becoming bored as breakfast continued on, had his chin rested on the palm of his hand. He would look outside the nearest window, and would find himself astonished by what he saw falling from the sky. No, it wasn't rain, for the substance falling down was solid, and white...that meant one thing.
"Look you guys, it's actually snowing outside!" exclaimed Link, pointing at the snow outside. Some residents hopped out of their chairs to look outside the windows, as they marveled at the snow descending from above.
"Oh wow, it's snowing, so magical..." Cloud said sardonically. Easy to say that the swordsman was not the most excitable guy around - not even snow can cheer the guy up. Maybe he just hates the cold. "What, you want us to make you hot chocolate and tell you bedtime stories while the snow continues to fall, like you're some little girl? Bet you that's not even real snow, might be just a dusting. The forecast didn't call for snow, if the local news is anything to go by."
"Just a dusting, huh? We'll have to see about that..." Link would leave his seat, exited the dining room through the back door, and arrived outside, where he saw that it was snowing harder than he thought it was. Bunches upon bunches of snow were on the ground. Link would make a snowball, and head back inside, eyeing Cloud. "Hey Cloud, think fast!"
Upon command, Cloud would turn his head around, only for Link to throw his snowball at him. The swordsman was understandably angry at Link, as he rubbed the snow off his face. Didn't help that the others were laughing at him; Aerith might be the only person spared.
"Hey Link, that was not cool, and it wasn't funny either," Cloud scolded the Hylian, who was laughing along with the others. Cloud never felt so angry with Link before. "You can't just throw random snowballs inside the mansion like that!"
"But it wasn't a snowball, for it was 'dusting' outside," clarified Link, using Cloud's own words against him as he snickered. "Therefore I threw a dustball at you. Big difference if you ask me."
"Do you see this Link?" Cloud dug into the snowball, and pulled out a rock. "There was a sharp rock inside the snowball you threw at me. You could've seriously injured me, or something even worse!"
"Quit your crying Cloud - don't be such a baby!" said Rinea, as Cloud shot a glare at her, tossing the rock unto the floor near the Duck Hunt Dog. He could've seriously injured the mutt, or something even worse!
"Cloud ain't no baby - he's just a little girl!" mocked Doc Louis, as everyone laughed at Cloud yet again. Cloud just got angrier, as he got up and glared at Link, who put him in this situation.
"If it's a snowball fight you want, Link...then it's a snowball fight you shall get," the swordsman said to Link, extending his hand to the Hylian. "Got yourself a deal?" Link would look at Cloud's hand for a moment...before shaking it, signifying the makings of what could be a vicious snowball battle.
"Aw sweet, a snowball fight!" exclaimed Sora, desperately wanting to be a part of things. He was never involved in a snowball fight before. "Mind if all of us can be participants in this snowball fight? The more people involved, the better!"
"No Sora, it'll just be between Link and I. And besides, snowball fights aren't fun unless you enjoy getting pelted by snowballs. Guarantee you'll be crying from getting too many snowballs to the face. But if you want your own snowball fight, then knock yourself out..."
Aerith: Link and Cloud having a snowball fight... *shakes her head* ...sometimes I wonder how those two get into such situations.
Zelda: Nobody has ever died from being in a snowball fight...as far as I'm concerned...so I think Link and Cloud will be perfectly line. Unless either one of them brings a snow plow to the fight. I just hope it doesn't come to that. Link and Cloud would never think of doing such things.
Over at Luigi's home, everyone's favorite lanky plumber was wrapped in a blanket, as he checked his thermostat. He did not expect the weather to be so cold today - it was like a heat wave struck Seattle, except that heat was actually cold temperatures and snow. The cold was enough to make Luigi's teeth chatter!
"Just finished watching the news today...they said that it wasn't even supposed to snow today," Daisy would approach Luigi, cradling Charles in her arms. "What's the temperature on the thermostat?"
"I j-j-just turned it u-u-u-up to s-s-s-s-s-seventy nine-a degrees..." replied Luigi after he was done adjusting the thermostat, tugging on his blanket as he let out a breath of fresh air. "It would-a be g-g-g-great if we ah...ah...ACHOO!"
Out of nowhere, Luigi would let out a sneeze, one that got snot and mucus all over his blanket. Charles, easily entertained by his dad sneezing, would happily clap as Luigi wiped the snot away from his nose. The poor plumber must be feeling very ill.
"D'awwww, you must be coming down with a cold!" said Daisy, as she patted her husband on the shoulder. "How about we take you back to your room so you can lie down? It'll make you feel better!"
"No, Daisy, I feel-a fine, honest! That was just one-a lousy sneeze, doesn't mean I'm-a sick!" Contrary to what Luigi believed (or what he wanted to believe), he was very much sick, and so Daisy would have to walk her man to the master bedroom, where he would lay Luigi down and pull the covers over him and stuff.
"I'll tell Mario - or should I say, Dr. Mario - to come over so he can check on you." It has been a very long time that the doctor was in; time for him to work his magic on his twin brother. "Anything you need before I go?"
"No-a thanks...just tell Yuffie to stay away from-a me. Don't want to make-a her sick. Also, she might be very bad-a company..."
"I shall tell her once I'm downstairs." Daisy would kiss Luigi on the cheek, before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.
Thankfully for Luigi and Daisy, Mario was not feeling sick, as he was in the living room washing his pet dog Poochy. Yoshi, who had taken a great liking to Poochy, was there to help Mario in washing the dog. Though that wasn't the only reason for being at Mario's home...
"Simply can't thank you enough Mario, for letting me come to your place for breakfast," Yoshi thanked the plumber, as he scrubbed Poochy. Unlike most other dogs, Poochy wasn't even fighting back when being washed...he was truly one strange canine. "Birdo showed up at the mansion, and I knew in that exact moment that I had to bail."
Yoshi: Birdo was being her usual obsessive self again this week...so one day, I was just heading to the bathroom, minding my own business, and once I stepped inside the bathroom, the toilet made this weird flushing noise. Made me paranoid, thought some invisible ghost was using the bathroom. Then to my shock, Birdo would rise up out of the toilet, drenched in toilet water, and blew a kiss at me! That was my cue to run out of the bathroom, screaming for as long as my lungs allow me to. Can't decide which was more creepier - the fact that Birdo arose out from the toilet, or the fact that she knew precisely which bathroom I was going to...
"No problem, Yoshi - I can only imagine-a what it's like having an obsessive-a girlfriend," said Mario, wondering how miserable his life would've been if Peach was on the same level of obsessive behavior as Birdo and Amy (during her crazy obsessive phase). Such behavior wouldn't even be tolerated from a princess. "Good-a thing Peach was never like-a that. Has Sonic ever given-a you any advice for handling such-a girlfriends?"
"Aside from telling me, 'You just gotta go fast!' and stuff...he has hardly given me any good advice at all," responded Yoshi, who was suspiciously looking around just to ensure Birdo wasn't spying on him. "I could never outrun Birdo, she'll always know where to find me...crap, what if she knows I'm here?! You gotta hide me, Mario!"
"Calm-a down Yoshi, you got-a nothing to worry about. Try not to think-a much about Birdo, and you should-a be fine." A knock was at the front door; Mario stopped washing Poochy to see who it was. He would open the front door, and see Daisy.
"Hey Mario - are you still doing your doctor thing?" the princess would ask the plumber, as a smile slowly grew on Mario's face. "Your brother is a little down under the weather, I'm afraid..."
As Cloud stated before, the forecast called for rain today, and not snow. The snow was coming down even harder now, as the snow on the ground was piling up. Layton and Luke, desiring to discover the cause of this phenomenon, were outside investigating the snow.
"Now I know I'm not a weatherman by any means, but I do know that humidity is a determining factor in precipitation," remarked Layton, as a small bit of snow landed on his finger. Today's humidity was around 81 percent. "What I don't understand is, how could it be raining for four days straight...and then it's snowing outside?"
"I've read that it usually doesn't snow in Seattle in January, so this is quite a peculiar case," added Luke, as he and Layton were standing near Master Hand's Lamborghini, investigating the snow. Keep that in mind as we chug along. "Someone must've had a weather machine, and something awry happened to the machine causing it to snow! But that's just a theory of mine..."
"Who would invent said machine in the first place? I would say Dr. Cortex, but he hasn't invented anything ever since moving into the mansion. The only other people I can think of are Dr. E Gadd and Dr. Wily, who according to Master Hand is building a contraption to send Sora and Aerith back to their dimension. So it can't be them."
"Then maybe it was the work of some evil entity who has the power to control the weather...you know what, can't even think of who that would be. Running out of ideas..."
"PROFESSOR HERSCHEL LAYTON AND LUKE TRITON, WATCH YOUR HEADS!"
This shout came from Sonic, who appeared out of the shrubbery with Crash, Pit, and Kirby. Layton and Luke turned around and saw the four, all wielding snowballs. The four would throw snowballs at the two detectives; Luke duck the snowballs, as Layton tried to take the snowballs like a man. One snowball struck Layton in the head, knocking him out cold as he fell to the snowy ground. The pelting of the snowballs would continue until Luke ran away out of fear.
"Yeah, you better run, if you know what's good for ya!" Sonic shouted at the young detective, before exchanging high fives with Crash and company. After the high fives were exchanged, Sonic would look out before him, and gasped in horror. "Oh no...oh no, oh no, oh no..."
"What's the matter Sonic?" Pit would ask the blue hedgehog, as he and the others followed him not to the unconscious Layton, lying down in the snow...but rather to Master Hand's Lamborghini. Sonic was inspecting the side of the car, and saw a scratch on the driver's side.
"You guys see what we've done?!" Sonic, now acting like a madman, pointed at the scratch on the Lamborghini. "You guys see what we've done with the snowballs?! Master Hand is gonna have our heads for sure!"
Master Hand: Like anyone else, I would've put my Lamborghini in the garage, so snow won't pile on top of it...but how else will I be able to look outside my room, and see my precious baby in all her glory! I even had Mr. Game and Watch clean her off, so I can ogle at her. I'm going to pay Crazy Hand a visit, so I'll be leaving my Lamborghini unattended...she better remain spotless once I return.
"What's with all the commotion you guys?" asked Tails, who came outside with Aku to see what Sonic and company were up to. Sonic was the only one causing the commotion, as he was on the ground lamenting like he just found out he was going to serve a life sentence in prison. Kept banging his fist on the ground in sorrow.
"Oh my goodness, whatever happened to Professor Layton?" asked Aku, looking at the ground and finding Layton, still unconscious. Crash was doing his best to wake up the detective...by licking his face. Save that stuff for the Duck Hunt Dog. "You were having a snowball fight, weren't you? When Cloud said you could have your own snowball fight, he did not say that you could hurt others!"
"Sonic get up, I know you didn't mean to knock out Layton like that," Tails would help Sonic off the ground, under the assumption he was lamenting over Layton. "We'll just take Layton to the fitness center, so Leia can wake him up with her smelling salts!"
"Tails you ignorant bum, you don't understand!" wailed Sonic, being even more dramatic, as he fell into Tails' arms. "We accidentally got a scratch on Master Hand's Lamborghini, see?" Sonic would point at the scratch left on the car, although Tails wasn't all that concerned. "Master Hand is gonna kill us all!"
"Chill out Sonic, it's just a measly scratch, it's not gonna hurt anyone." Sonic, even more disgusted by Tails' ignorance, would slap the fox silly. "Hey, I'm just saying!"
"Good grief, Tails, how ignorant are you? Have you completely forgotten about Master Hand's fascination with the Lamborghini? He treats that dumb thing like it's his one and only child - merely touching the Lamborghini means that you're on MH's hit list. So think of what leaving a scratch on his car will do to ya!"
"If you're that overwhelmed about that scratch left on the Lamborghini, we could use some scratch remover to get rid of it," explained Aku, as Crash kept licking Layton's face. Common sense would tell the bandicoot that his method wasn't working. However, Crash could never understand common sense.
"Yeah, you're right, some scratcher cleaner could do the trick," Sonic agreed, becoming more calm, as he rested his hand on the Lamborghini and leaned against it. "What do we possibly have to lose..."
As if things couldn't get any worse for Sonic and company, the Lamborghini would suddenly fall apart, as all the car parts came crashing to the driveway. Sonic would look astonished at what remained of the vehicle, and would fall to his knees, acting like he had seen his life flash before him. Master Hand was definitely gonna kill him now!
"Yeah, I think we're gonna need more than just scratch cleaner to repair that Lamborghini..." Aku had this to say, as Sonic put his face in his hands and sobbed. Today might as well be his last day alive, when Master Hand comes back and sees the damage done. Repairing the Lamborghini might take forever.
"I'll just...take Layton to the fitness center so Leia can wake him up," Tails told the others, as he grabbed Layton and flew back inside the mansion. Sonic would continue crying, as Luke returned to the premises.
"Professor Layton, are you still there?" the young detective would ask, as he looked around for the professor. "Did you already run away?"
Lucina: Poor Father has been feeling very miserable as of late...and no, it has nothing to do with his hair, which is starting to grow back a bit more. He's just bummed out that he was forced by Roy to be a part of his silly k-pop group, and he is very miffed by Roy's strong determination to make this group work. It was bad enough that Roy had his group, "Straight Fiyah" (that name still irks me to this day) do dance rehearsals, and now...and now they're going to practice their singing...which is a good thing I bought these in advance. *holds up ear plugs, before inserting them into her ears* I expect everyone else to do the same.
With everyone doing their best to stay warm during the cold, Lucina was in the living room, seated near the fireplace and doing what else? Reading the latest edition of Swordsman Weekly, of course! What could be more important than that?!
As Lucina read her magazine, Chrom would approach her daughter. Lucina wouldn't mind her father's company, if not for the very person accompanying Chrom, Alm. Alm's presence with Chrom gave Lucina an uneasy feeling of what's about to come.
"Hello there, sweet daughter of mine..." Chrom would smile at Lucina, making her sigh. Lucina always hated it when Chrom said such expressions to her. Made her feel uncomfortable. "Reading the latest edition of Swordsman Weekly, I see? I strongly recommend checking out the feature on Strider Hiryu - a great read, if I do say so myself!"
"Cut to the chase, Father, what do you want?" Lucina would look up at Chrom, as Alm placed several sheets of paper on the table in front of Lucina. "What are these papers for?"
"Those papers you see before you contain song lyrics," explained Alm, as Lucina stared at the sheets of paper in front of her. "Lyrics for the k-pop songs we're going to sing. We just need you to..."
"Why did you even make song lyrics for, you don't even know a single lick of Korean! Most notable k-pop stars today sing their songs almost entirely in the Korean language. What possibly makes you believe that singing some English songs will be any good?"
"We may not know the Korean language, but you do - therefore, we want you to read the lyrics we wrote, and then translate them to Korean and then we'll just go from there. Easy peasy!" Lucina still wasn't convinced, for there was one more hurdle the members of Straight Fiyah had to go through...
"Even if the songs were written in Korean...would you be able to speak the Korean language? And before either of you ask, I'm NOT teaching you how to speak Korean. It wouldn't be a valuable use of my time."
"I'm sure there are some language apps we can use to master this Korean language," said Chrom, who was hardly feeling optimistic at all. Lucina could even hear the prince's cynicism seeping through his voice. "Why don't you just read the lyrics? Roy wrote a huge chunk of them, in case you may be wondering."
So Lucina begrudgingly picked up the sheets of papers, and would began to read - or in her case, skim - through the lyrics Roy had wrote. As she had figured beforehand, the lyrics were absolutely terrible, and vomit-inducing.
"'You are the sunshine of my love...the waves crash at the pulse of my love...my burning passion swells up as our love grows...'" Lucina would read some of the lyrics, grimacing more and more as she went along. "...why does almost every line have the word 'love' in it?"
"As I have stated, Roy wrote a huge chunk of them," answered Chrom, starting to have a little sympathy for Lucina the more she skimmed through. "I had asked him to get a ghostwriter, but he said that ghostwriters are for 'sorry musicians who have zero confidence and can't write complete sentences'...which is quite ironic, I'll say, since most of Roy's lyrics have incomplete sentences and grammar mistakes in them."
"I'm starting to see them now..." After she was done skimming, Lucina would hand the sheets of paper back to Alm. "Why don't you hand the lyrics back to Roy and tell him that he has gained my approval? You can just tell him that you gained the approval of several others as well. I'll give you a list."
"But what good would that do for us?" questioned Alm, as Lucina devised a plan - a plan that would bail Chrom, Alm, and the others out of Roy's delusions of grandeur.
"Just go do as I say...I'll just have a word with the leaders of Star Records. They should be able to squash Roy's hopes and dreams, if they haven't already..."
Lucina: I'd hate for Father and Robin to do something they wouldn't like to do. I'd hate even more for Father and Robin to be forced to do something they wouldn't like to do, while at the same time risk being humiliated and having their reputation destroyed. So Roy's silly k-pop group? It has to end.
In the fitness center, a still unconscious Layton was seated in a chair, as Leia held up some smelling salts to the professor's nose. With Leia was Tails, who had brought Layton to the fitness center while Sonic was likely preparing himself for imminent, unavoidable death.
And after several seconds of Leia holding the smelling salts near Layton's nose...Professor Layton finally woke up!
"NO CLAIRE DON'T TOUCH THE HONEY BUNS, THOSE THINGS WILL KILL YOU!" Layton shouted out as he woke up, before calming down as he got a sense of his surroundings. Felt awfully chilly, albeit more warm than it was outside. "Wh-Where am I?"
"You're in the fitness center, Professor Layton!" Leia would happily tell the detective, who began to rub his head. "Tails brought you here by himself - told me that Sonic had knocked you out with a snowball to the head."
"Well I do remember Sonic and his friends attacking Luke and I with snowballs...should've gave us a warning. I think Luke ran away out of fear. I could've done the Matrix to dodge the snowballs, but I don't think my back would be able to handle it...would be a hoot for the ladies, though."
"Even if you did the Matrix, Sonic would still think you're boring regardless," stated Tails, before the phone suddenly rang nearby. "I'll go pick it up." Tails would fly out of the room to answer the phone, and returned a moment later with the phone in his hand. "It's for you, Leia." Leia would take the phone from Tails.
"Hello, who is this?" Leia would say into the phone, only to be greeted by a familiar Italian voice. "Dr. Mario?"
Link was feeling awfully good about throwing that snowball at Cloud - a lot more than he really should. It was the first time in a seemingly long time the Hylian had an upper hand on Cloud, and it felt good. Made him feel like a boss, like he was on the top of the world and couldn't see down.
While Cloud was probably still feeling pretty salty about that snowball to the face, Link was in his room, brandishing his sword, when Mewtwo entered his room, holding a note in his hand.
"Cloud told me to give this to you," the psychic Pokemon informed Link, handing the Hylian the note. Link would open up the note, and read it:
Outside in front of the Smash Mansion. 1 o' clock sharp. Be there, or be squared...
"Are you sure this note is for me?" Link asked Mewtwo, just to make sure. Mewtwo could only grunt in response. "This doesn't look like Cloud's handwriting to me, can't imagine Cloud's handwriting being any good."
Mewtwo: You would ask me who would win the snowball battle between Link and Cloud, what with me being a psychic-type Pokemon who can look into the future...but if you want to know so bad, I can tell you. *closes his eyes as he looks into the future* Yes...yes...I can see it clearly now...the winner of the snowball battle...is a swordsman. A blonde swordsman. That's all I can tell you.
"Since you want to make things difficult..." Mewtwo grabbed the note, and then a pencil, and had his back turned as he scribbled something furiously. Once he was done, he returned the note to Link. "How about now, are you convinced?"
"Sure am!" exclaimed Link, as he saw Cloud's name written at the very bottom of the note. Written very legibly too; Mewtwo had great handwriting for a Pokemon with but three fingers. "I should head outside now, so then I'll have the upper hand advantage on Cloud." Link would put away his sword, as he exited his room.
Having received the call from Dr. Mario, Leia would make her way to Luigi's home, where she would find Dr. Mario in Luigi's room along with Rotom. Luigi was still very much sick, as he was dealing with a runny nose, coughing, sneezing, and also congestion.
"Your temperature is...103 degrees!" announced Rotom, as he took the temperature for Luigi with a thermometer, taking said thermometer out of Luigi's mouth. "Good grief Luigi, your temperature grew a couple degrees since the last time I checked it! You sure you aren't developing a fever? Excuse me while I record the reading, zzrt!" Rotom would take the thermometer and leave the room.
"What is the diagnosis for Luigi, Dr. Mario?" Leia would ask the mustached doctor, as Luigi eyes start to turn red and water. Poor Luigi looked like he was done, ready to end it all.
"Luigi appears to be suffering from-a the common cold," replied Dr. Mario, who was too busy stroking his majestic mustache. It was almost like a hobby to him. "He's dealing with coughing, sneezing, congestion, and a wide-a variety of nasal problems. Our patient has-a complained about a lack-a of smell; Yuffie was downstairs burning some-a thing up in the kitchen, and everyone-a in this house was-a able to smell the smoke except-a for Luigi."
"Thankfully Daisy took-a care of things before the house-a caught on fire," remarked Luigi, before letting out a giant sneeze. It was so big, it almost caused the bed to shake and quiver. "My sneezes could've put-a out the fire if necessary..."
"Hmm, no wonder there was a burning smell when I entered this household...thought Princess Daisy was making a fire. You want me to use my smelling salts on Luigi? I brought some salts with me, just in case."
"Honestly I wouldn't risk-a it - the high concentration of the smelling salts-a could burn Luigi's nasal mucosa. That's what I got-a from Wikipedia. I don't even know-a what this nasal mucosa is, but it sounds-a pretty important, so we better not-a bother it." Some doctor you're supposed to be, Dr. Mario. Not knowing what a nasal mucosa is...then again, who does?
"At this-a point, I wouldn't mind if you just-a chopped my nose off...my nose-a is becoming stuffed, and it's bad enough-a with the ah...ah...ACHOO!" Luigi would sneeze once more, this time nearly jumping out of his bed. However, he did get mucus all over his bed, and Leia nor Dr. Mario were willing to clean it up. Maybe Yuffie could do it, to make up for nearly burning the house down.
"We could have Luigi take a shower - the steam could alleviate his nose," suggested Leia, as she glanced at the master bathroom. "Luigi may not be in the mood to get out of the bed himself, and I don't feel like carrying him to the bathroom..."
"Then get-a Daisy to do it..." moaned Luigi, as he wiped his nose with his sleeve. Too sick to even notice that there was a box of Puffs tissues, lying on his nightstand ready to be used. Perhaps he wasn't a Puffs guy.
So Dr. Mario went downstairs to fetch Daisy, and when Daisy came to the room with Dr. Mario, her yellow princess dress was nearly covered in soot, as she was holding a rag and a duster in both of her hands.
"What is the problem, is Luigi feeling any better?" the princess would ask, before glancing at her husband and seeing how more sickly he had become. Daisy gasped, as she dropped her cleaning items to the floor and rushed over to check on Luigi, patting him gently on the head.
Daisy: What did Yuffie do in the kitchen? Oh nothing, just warming up a hot pocket...in the stinking oven. Just one. Stinking. Hot Pocket. To be fair, she has never had a hot pocket before, so I'll give her a pass, since her curiosity hampered her decision-making. Next time around, she won't be so fortunate...
"Daisy...can you...take me...to the bathroom?" Luigi would ask his wife, as he slowly looked up and into her caring eyes. "I need...to take...a shower..." Any other moment Daisy would question why Luigi would need to take a shower, but with her man sick, Daisy had to be Luigi's caring genie.
"Anything for you, my love!" replied Daisy, as he took the covers off of Luigi, and picked up the plumber, holding him in her loving arms. Daisy was a very strong woman, and Luigi didn't weight that much, so Daisy carrying Luigi was like carrying a medium-sized flower pot to her.
"I feel a sneeze-a coming on..." Luigi was getting ready to sneeze for the nth time, but Daisy, rising up to the opportunity, would cover Luigi's nose with her fingers, ending the sneeze before it could happen. "Thanks a bunch-a, Daisy..."
"No problem, Luigi!" Daisy smiled as she carried her man to the bathroom, kicking the door open like she owned the place...which, technically, she does. Daisy would come to a stop when she stood in front of the shower stall, expecting Luigi to hop down...but Luigi didn't move an inch. "Okay, Luigi, we're here...it's safe to hop down now. Don't be shy!"
"Would-a you be a dear, and place-a me on the floor?" Yet another request for Daisy to fulfill; the princess would groan, as she gently placed Luigi on the floor, on his feet. But unfortunately for her, her work wasn't done just yet. "Now would you open-a the shower stall for me and turn-a the water on?"
"Gotta do everything myself, do I..." Daisy would do as she was told, opening up the shower stall and turning on the water, putting it on the warmest setting possible. "Before you ask, I'm not undressing you, you're gonna have to do that yourself. I'm not your maid."
"Can you do it for-a me, just this once?" Luigi would clasp his hands together, as he looked this would be a her at Daisy, with begging, pleading eyes. Daisy groaned yet again; this would be her third and final wish, fit for a genie. Actually, it would be her fourth wish. Talk about overstepping your boundaries! Daisy and Giovanni...those two will never learn.
"After this, you better not ask me for anything again..." Daisy would say this before closing the bathroom door, as Dr. Mario and Leia looked on.
"Something I should-a mention...Luigi has a strong-a tendency to be very demanding when-a ever he is sick or injured," Dr. Mario explained to Leia, remembering that one time Luigi injured his foot and was very demanding to Cloud and others.
The snow was still falling down from the cloudy skies, and not a single person knew why. What was supposed to be a day of rain was instead a day of snow, and Layton and Luke were supposed to solve this mystery behind this snow day...that was, until Sonic accidentally stalled the mystery by knocking Layton out cold with a snowball.
With Layton still recuperating in the fitness center, that left his dear apprentice Luke all alone, seated near a tree and hoping that Layton would come back for him. Little fella was so loyal to Layton, that he expected the detective to look for him, and bring him back to the mansion. But unfortunately for Luke, Layton wouldn't be coming any soon, and so the young lad had to remain in the cold, shivering his shoes off.
Luke: I'm pretty used to the cold...Layton and I adjusted to the cold temperatures when we traveled to the Azran sanctuary, with our friend Aurora. It was there at that very sanctuary that Aurora sacrificed herself, for the sake of the Azran people. Aurora was such a sweet girl... *starts to tear up* ...gone too soon... *wipes away tears* ...but she said that she can be reborn as a human...and I'll be waiting for her return...Whoever said I was in love with her? We were just good friends. And what do you mean I'm blushing?!
Luke knew very well that if he stayed out in the cold any longer, he would risk getting frostbite, and he didn't want to put Leia in any precarious situations. So the young apprentice would make his way back to the mansion by himself, when all of a sudden...
...a giant Delibird popped out from the snow, startling Luke and nearly making him scream. This giant Delibird was actually a robot, as its head opened up; three individuals would hop of the robot, sticking a perfect landing on the ground, and their names...were Jessie, James, and Meowth.
"Prepare for trouble!" exclaimed Jessie, striking a pose.
"And make it double!" exclaimed James, also striking a pose.
"To protect the world from devastation..."
"...to unite all people within our nation..."
"...to denounce the evil of truth and love..."
"...to extend our reach to the stars above..."
"...Jessie!"
"...James!"
"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth, that's right!" Meowth would finish off the Team Rocket motto with this classic line, expecting Luke to feel intimidated. But instead...
"Bravo, bravo, bravo!" the apprentice clapped, disappointing Team Rocket, as Jessie angrily gritted her teeth at Luke. "Encore, I demand an encore!"
"Now now, Jessie, I told you using our motto on others doesn't work anymore..." James tried to tell Jessie, as he pulled the angry redhead back from Luke before she could lay a finger on him. "We should just retire our motto, and leave it at that!"
James: Undoubtedly, the respect Master Hand had for us was short-lived, thanks to Giovanni and his scheme. Him wanting to poison the entire mansion so he could raid all the Pokemon in the sanctuary was pretty low of him, but at the same time pretty expected behavior. But I don't know why we were punished, we had nothing to do with it! We even refused to fill the sprinkler system with poisonous gas!
Meowth: We did prevent Mario and that Sora kid from stopping Giovanni's reign of terror, so there's always that. That still doesn't give Master Hand a reason to lose his respect for us!
Jessie: Exactly, Meowth, and the three of us are going to work together to gain that respect back! This snowstorm in Seattle has to be Giovanni's doing, and once we prove it to Master Hand, he'll have no choice but to respect us again!
"Say, weren't you three in trouble for working with Giovanni?" Luke questioned Team Rocket, placing his finger underneath his chin as he looked inquisitively at the trio. "Master Hand did mentioned that Giovanni was banned from the mansion for good, but he never said anything about you guys..."
"Well don't encourage him to ban us, just hear us out!" Meowth said to Luke, ready to plead his case on behalf of him, Jessie, and James. "We didn't WANT to be a part of whatever Giovanni was cooking - we just tagged along because he was our boss! We were just being loyal lackeys, and in turn, our alliance with Giovanni may have doomed us for good! Master Hand won't even respect us anymore!"
"Uh huh...and what possibly makes you three think that you can regain Master Hand's respect and trust?" Why Master Hand would even respect Team Rocket, Luke wished to know.
"Glad you asked us that, for we know the perfect way to regain Master Hand's respect...by stopping the very snowstorm in this city!" replied James, leaving Luke somewhat intrigued. The young lad wished to learn more.
"One of Giovanni's goals as head of the mansion was to freeze the Smash Mansion entirely, after the Pokemon were stolen, so that nobody could rescue the Pokemon," explained Jessie, as Luke nodded his head. "He had several Team Rocket grunts to come over to the mansion, and build a machine that would freeze the mansion...but I assume the machine went haywire, and as a result, there's snow and frigid temperatures in Seattle, and possibly throughout the entire metropolitan area. We plan to find this machine and shut it down, before the weather conditions become more hazardous."
"Then we'll brag to Master Hand about what we did, and he'll respect us again!" added Meowth, receiving glares from Jessie and James. "...minus the bragging part, hehe..."
"Well, since you've become desperate for some respect...and I have nothing to do right now with Layton away..." Luke thought to himself, as Team Rocket leaned in close with smiling faces. "...I suppose I can help you three find that snow machine you speak of." Meowth and company were glad, as they felt like doing a group hug with Luke...which they did. "Shall we start looking now?" asked Luke, his voice slightly muffled by the group hug.
Outside in front of the mansion was Link, waiting for Cloud to arrive. It was one o' clock, and the ex-SOLDIER was nowhere to be found. Was Cloud going to be a no-show, or would he take the Shadow route and attack Link with a vehicle, such as a snowplow?
Wanting to know what the hold-up was, Link would call Cloud on his cellphone, hoping for the swordsman to respond. But all he got was the following:
"You have reached the voicemail of... 'YO YO YO IT'S YA BOY BARRET WALLACE!'" the voicemail message sounded, as Link raised an eyebrow in confusion upon hearing Barret's voice. "Please leave a message at the tone of the..." Link would hang up the phone, when he realized the error he made.
"Whoops, contacted the wrong number," Link chuckled out of embarrassment after ending the call, before glancing at the wallpaper on his phone. In fact, it wasn't his phone at all, since he had borrowed it from Shulk. However, the phone's wallpaper - an image of Cloud and Aerith together - made Link feel concerned. "Isn't this Cloud's cellphone? No wonder I called Barret by accident!"
"Used to be Cloud's cellphone," affirmed Shulk, as he took his phone from Link. "Cloud gave me this phone, said he was doing it out of solidarity. Probably because of my injured hand. It's past Christmas, and people are still giving me unwanted gifts..."
"Hey, if being injured meant receiving gifts, I'd injure my hand as well! Thanks for letting me use your phone, Shulk. Starting think Cloud might be a no-show..."
"Whoever said I was going to be a no-show?" asked a muffled voice, as Link and Shulk looked around in confusion. They would turn their attention to a nearby snowman, who wasn't there before...and popping out from that snowman would be Cloud, who began pelting Link (and because he was in the way, Shulk) with snowballs. Link and Shulk would run away from the flurry of snowballs, back inside the mansion.
Cloud: Lost all feeling in my fingers, toes, and even my pubic area...but it was totally worth it. You know, having this snowball battle with Link might teach me what it's like to have fun again...huh, never thought I'd say that.
"There's more where that came from, Link!" shouted Cloud, as he chased after Link into the mansion, still throwing snowballs. The snowball fight was alive and well.
Meanwhile, Sonic and company remained in the driveway, doing their best to put together Master Hand's Lamborghini. They weren't car repairmen, but that still didn't stop them from giving their best effort.
"Alright guys, I think we got the car fixed..." remarked a proud Sonic, hands on his hips, as he looked at the fixed Lamborghini. However, it wasn't 100% fixed, as it began shaking until all the car parts collapsed on the driveway yet again. Sonic would fall to his knees in failure, seeing his end coming soon at the hands of Master Hand. "Oh, it's hopeless, Master Hand's gonna kill me!"
"You mean he's gonna kill us, we'll all be killed too just by association," stated Kirby on behalf of himself, Pit, Crash, and Aku, as Sonic tried to look on the bright side. If there was even a bright side to begin with. "We're all in this thing together."
"Too bad Master Hand can't kill me, for I am but a floating immortal witchdoctor mask!" flaunted Aku, resulting in him receiving glares from Sonic and company. "What, I'm just speaking the truth!"
"Shut up Aku, nobody gives a darn...why don't we have Jacky repair the Lamborghini? He's a car expert, and he has probably fixed cars before...though I don't think he ever had a case this serious before."
"No, we can't have Jacky fix the Lamborghini," replied Sonic, now in panic mode. "He'll be forced to tell Master Hand what happened to the Lamborghini in the first place, and then we'll be in deep, deep trouble! Let's just keep on trying to fix the vehicle, before we have to resort to desperate measures."
Sonic and company did not know what time Master Hand would return. But it was nigh imperative that the Lamborghini was properly fixed before the giant hand's arrival...
Up in the Star Records room, Chrom and Alm were showing Fox, Falco, and Itsuki the song lyrics Roy had wrote. After gaining the approval of Roy, Chrom and Alm were told by the ginger swordsman to show the lyrics to the Star Records heads, for final confirmation. After reading through all the lyrics, trying to understand the meaning behind each and every verse, Fox and company finally came to a consensus...
"These lyrics suck major goose eggs, and you guys suck just as much," Fox would say to Chrom and Alm, before tossing the lyrics at the two. The blatant disrespect.
"But how do we suck, we didn't even write the lyrics!" Alm had to explain to Fox, feeling very offended about being told that he sucked. "Roy wrote the majority of the lyrics by himself!"
"And you two bozos didn't encourage Roy to write better lyrics, and therefore you both suck as a result of your horrific conformity," stated Falco, twirling his Blaster in his feathery hand. "How can you expect to be taken seriously by the k-pop community, with crap lyrics like those? I'd hate for those lyrics to be translated into Korean, and sung by blokes like yourselves! Can you even sing, for that matter?"
"Roy insists on having a singing coach to visit the mansion, and teach us how to sing and 'show us the ropes of fine singing'," responded Chrom, picking up the lyrics off of the floor. "The singing coach's name is Ulala, I think." That name might sound familiar to all you Space Channel 5 fans out there.
Marth: Roy's original plan was to have that Joanne chick serve as our singing coach, but frankly Joanne had a very predictable falling out with Master Hand, and vowed to never return to the mansion ever again. So Roy had to resort to his Plan B - contacting a woman by the name of Ulala, and have her come to the mansion to give us some singing pointers. Not sure if Roy is aware of this, but...Ulala is NOT a singer, but a FLIPPING SPACE REPORTER! *groans* That guy, I tell you...
"Ulala is the best person Roy could think of?" Itsuki raised an eyebrow, understandably miffed by Roy's selection. "Yikes! Wonder how that will turn out..."
"It won't be any good, trust me," Fox would say to Itsuki, before returning his attention to Chrom and Alm. "You two take those 'lyrics' back to Roy, and tell him that we won't sign his silly k-pop group until he comes up with better lyrics. Tell him it's an order for the mighty Fox McCloud and Falco Lombardi!"
"...and Itsuki Aoi," Itsuki had to speak up, refusing to be overlooked by his fellow Star Records mates. "Don't forget about me!"
"Yeah, don't forget about Itsuki either. I'm against Roy's k-pop group as much as the next guy, but if he's dead serious about starting a boy band, then we just have to let things pass for now. Sorry you two had to be forced to partake in Roy's...delusions."
"None taken, hopefully Roy will change his mind about this whole thing sooner or later," remarked Chrom, as he and Alm left the Star Records room. As soon as they departed, they would walk into Lucina.
"So, how did it go, what did Roy say?" Lucina would ask her father, wishing to know what business he and Alm had with Fox and company.
"We told Roy that you 'enjoyed' the lyrics, and how you thought they were an A plus, and he got all excited. He then told us to show the lyrics to Fox, Falco, and Itsuki, and all three of them panned the lyrics." As was expected; Big Top might've thought those lyrics were a hoot! "Fox and Falco...and Itsuki...wanted us to encourage Roy to write better lyrics, otherwise 'Straight Fiyah' won't be signed to Star Records. I want to avoid Roy, but at the same time..."
"No need to fear, Father, for I know a great way to put this whole thing to bed so you won't have to worry about destroying your reputation and pride. Just go put those...lyrics somewhere, while I have a quick conversation with the heads of Star Records. I'll get you and the others out of this!"
"Thank you so much Lucina, don't know what I would do without a fine daughter like yourself. Let us know how this meeting goes." Lucina would nod her head at Chrom, who went down the stairs along with Alm, before entering the Star Records room. Fox, Falco, and Itsuki were all minding their business, when they saw Lucina standing in front of them.
"Yes, Lucina, how may we help you?" Falco was the first to speak, as he asked Lucina. "Here to bail your pops out? I'm afraid you can't do that...well, for now, at least. Might have to wait a while..."
"Actually I am here to bail my father out...though it's more of a long-term plan. Just wanted to discuss some details about what I have in mind..."
After taking his shower, Luigi felt better as his nasal symptoms went away. His nose was no longer stuffed, and snot and mucus wasn't running out from his nostrils. However, some of his others symptoms remained, and Luigi was back in the bed.
And Daisy? She was giving her husband a back massage, much to her chagrin, as Luigi rested comfortably on his stomach. Dr. Mario, Leia, and Rotom remained, observing how ticked Daisy looked.
"Couldn't you just ask Yuffie for a back massage?" Daisy questioned Luigi, who let out a comfortable sigh of relief. She was becoming more disgruntled with her man as the day wore on. "I have things to do, you know!"
"But you give-a the best massages Daisy, and besides, I don't trust-a Yuffie that much," replied Luigi, wishing his back massage would never end. "Can you move-a down to the back? Just a little more...ooh yeah, that hits-a the spot..."
"So Dr. Mario, now that Luigi's nasal symptoms are gone, what must we do next to make Luigi healthy again?" Leia would ask the mustached doctor, who stroked his mustache as he conjured a cure in his mind. Luigi suddenly coughed, twice to be exact.
"Our patient could use-a some cough drops, to ease-a his throat," stated Dr. Mario, after hearing his brother coughing. "There should be some cough-a drops for Luigi to consume..."
"...you mean cough drops like these?" asked Yuffie, who exited from the master bathroom doing what? Eating from a bag of cough drops, having eaten the last cough drop. Dr. Mario looked at Yuffie, shaking his head in disapproval. "I wasn't supposed to touch the cough drops, was I?"
Yuffie: Don't see what the problem was - Luigi and Daisy have always complained that I would become a fatty if I ate too much of their food, which is why I resort to eating cough drops - the flavored ones, since they're aren't bland. At least cough drops are a healthier option...sort of.
"Well there goes our cough-a drops," sighed Dr. Mario, having to resort to another home remedy. "Doesn't Link have any potions that can-a cure any health ailments? Someone should give-a him a call. Only problem-a is, he doesn't have a phone..."
"In that case, we should call his best friend, Mr. Strife," suggested Rotom, before leaving the bedroom. "I shall call our swordsman friend, zzrt!"
Speaking of Mr. Strife, a la Cloud, the swordsman was still embroiled in his snowball fight with Link, having gained an upper hand on the Hylian. Having recovered from Cloud's onslaught of snowballs, Link was hunting down his best friend, looking for retaliation.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" shouted Link as he walked around the mansion, carrying a bunch of snowballs ready to fire at will. During his search for Cloud, he would see Zelda, standing by herself in the middle of the hallway, her back turned to Zelda. "Hey Zelda, you wanna join forces with me in my snowball fight with Cloud? The two of us can take him down, me and you!"
When Zelda turned around, Link saw that something was oddly different about her girlfriend...more specifically, his girlfriend's face. It had a derpy look on it - two dots for eyes, and a line for a mouth. Strongly resembled a Ditto's face...
"Got you right where I want you!" exclaimed Cloud, jumped out from a nearby closet. Link would turn around and spot the swordsman, wielding snowballs, as he threw the snowballs at his best friend.
"No Cloud, stop it, stop it now!" Link pleaded, as the snowballs thrown at him brought him to the floor. The Hylian was covering his head with his arms, as Cloud continued to pelt away at will.
Cloud: Used Ditto as a subversion to trick Link - got it from the sanctuary, and told it to transform into Zelda. As it turns out, Ditto is capable of transforming into just about anything, including humans. Red told me that it was "canonically possible" for Ditto to transform into humans...Pokemon biology works in funny ways.
Link: This snowball fight has to stop. I have accidentally woken a side of Cloud nobody has ever seen before, and I'm on the receiving end of things because of it. Should've known better than to pick a fight with Cloud.
Cloud would keep on throwing snowballs until he ran out, and once he was done, he would dust the hands off his snow. Shulk would soon approach Cloud, with his cellphone...the cellphone Cloud gave up to him.
"Cloud, it's for you," the Homs said to the swordsman, who accepted his original phone. The snowball fight may have to be put on hold, for now.
"Hello, who is this?" Cloud said into the phone. "Hey Rotom...Huh?...Bring one of Link's potions to Luigi's place?...Sure thing. Got it. See ya." Cloud would promptly end the call, and hand the cellphone back to Shulk, as he left to go fetch a potion.
With Cloud gone, Shulk checked on Link, who was lying on the floor in a fetal position. Zelda - the real Zelda - would show up and see Link lying on the floor, and feared for the worst.
"Oh goodness, Link, what happened to you?" Zelda questioned as she ran to her man. Link looked legitimately terrified, as snow remained all over his body and tunic. "Who could've done this to you?!"
"Cloud definitely did this to Link - I saw him throw snowballs at the guy seconds ago," explained Shulk, as he dusted the snow off of Link." This snowball fight is quickly getting out of hand..."
"Welcome ladies and gentlemen, to yet another fabolous episode of Microwave Idol Mamorin, starring Ashley, Asuka, and yours truly, Mamori Minamoto!" Mamori kicked things off on her online show, standing in the kitchen with her co-hosts Asuka and Ashley. "We're gonna warm up your heart, with the press of a button!"
"Joining us on our show today is our special guest - an entertainer from Star Records!" added Asuka, noticing some red hair sticking out from the kitchen entrance nearby. Did her best to ignore it. "He may not be an idol singer like the others, but he makes up for it with his tokusatsu skills...everyone give it up, for the one and only, Touma Akagi!"
"Greetings to all the Microwave Idol Mamorin fans out there!" said Touma, walking onscreen, as Ashley pressed the button on her remote that made cheering and applauding sounds. "So glad to be making my first episode debut on this spectacular show! Long overdue, I will admit, but it's better late than never!"
"CUT, TIMEOUT, STOP THE PRESSES!" shouted Roy as he ran into the kitchen, interrupting the episode as he ran onscreen. "This episode of Microwave Idol Mamorin...has been CANCELLED! Well, momentarily."
"Roy what the hey man, you're spoiling my debut episode! Don't be salty that I got to make my debut, and you have yet to appear once!"
"Hush your mouth, you fool, while I have a word with my client!" Roy pointed at Touma, as he grabbed Mamori's arm and dragged her out of the kitchen, against her will. Touma, Ashley, and Asuka looked at one another in bewilderment as Roy took Mamori to the living room.
"Alright Roy, what's the big deal?" frowned Mamori, folding her arms as she looked sternly at the swordsman. "Why did you interrupt my online series for? You better have a good explanation!"
"Mamori please hear me out, just this once..." begged Roy, preparing himself for what he was about to say. "I want you...I want you to be the secondary singing coach for Straight Fiyah's singing practice." Mamori couldn't believe it; she thought Roy was going bonkers. Provided he wasn't going bonkers beforehand. "Before you ask, our primary singing coach will be Ulala. You know her, right?"
"Ulala...Ulala..." Mamori developed a mental image of Ulala in her head. Tried to envision the pink ponytails, white attire, and those shapely legs of hers. "...isn't she a futuristic space reporter?"
"Yes, Mamori, yes she is...or at least that's what she wants you to believe. 'Futuristic space reporter' is just a fancy schmancy title she flaunts to her fans. We all know she's really a singer. So Mamori, are you in, or are you out?"
"To tell you the truth, Roy..." Mamori wanted to decline the offer, but Roy had the puppy eyes look down pact, preventing Mamori from saying no. Needless to say, the swordsman's tactic worked. "...fine, I'll be your stupid singing coach. But just this once, okay? Just. This. Once. Got it, mister?"
"Then it's a done deal! We shall begin next week, when Ulala hopefully arrives. My boys and I will be more than prepared!" Mamori would return to the kitchen, rolling her eyes, as she and Roy went their separate ways.
Mamori: Why must I be the "secondary singing coach"? Such duties should not be given to a sweet little girl like me. I should have Ditto serve as my doppelganger - Roy wouldn't even notice the difference!
Once Roy and Mamori were gone, Team Rocket would appear out from behind the living room sofa, tip-toeing away along with Luke. They were still on the hunt for the weather machine, which was nowhere in sight.
"About time those twerps were done..." remarked James, once the coast was clear. "We've searched the basement and the entire first floor for the weather machine, but it's nowhere in sight! Where could Giovanni possibly have installed that thing?!"
"If my experience of installing Giovanni's contraptions serves me right, Giovanni would install a machine secretly at the bottom of a building, or at the very top," stated Meowth, the biggest suck-up for Giovanni. You know it's true. "Installing it anywhere else would ruin the whole point of the machine being 'secret'. So we must take an elevator to the top floor of the mansion, and destroy it before the conditions outside get worse!"
"But once we find the machine, how are we going to destroy it?" asked Luke, bringing the one obstacle that could get in the way of accomplishing the mission at hand. "For all we know, it could be indestructible..."
Team Rocket and Luke would find their answer right away, when Team Rocket's most favorite Pokemon, Pikachu, scurried by. Tagging along with the mouse Pokemon was his pre-evolution buddy, Pichu, as the two Pokemon were playing with one another.
"Some electricity might do just enough to bring the machine down..." Jessie had this to say, smiling a little when her eyes set upon Pikachu and Pichu.
Link was done. He had just about enough of Cloud. His fellow swordsman and best friend had the upper hand advantage on him during the entire snowball fight, as he owned Link on two separate occasions. Now, it was time for the Hylian to strike back.
After learning about Cloud's whereabouts from Shulk, a seething Link would make his way to Luigi's home, armed with a snowball in hand. He would knock on the front door, and was greeted by Rotom.
"Link, the hero of Hyrule, what a pleasant surprise, zroom!" exclaimed Rotom, only to be stiff-armed to the floor as Link entered the house, closing the door behind him. He would make his way to the kitchen, kicking Polterpup out of the way, and would find Yuffie indulging herself with some strawberries. The ninja looked up, and saw Link.
"Wow Link, I've never seen you this angry before," Yuffie told the Hylian, who had his eyes set on besting Cloud. It was now or never. "What's with the snowball?"
"This snowball of mine is going to have a lovely connection with Cloud's face..." seethed Link, as he made his way upstairs. He could hear Cloud talking from above.
"I don't think...that...would be...a good idea..." Yuffie would trail off, realizing Link was no longer listening to her as the Hylian marched up the stairs. Once on the second floor, he would stand at the doorway of the master bedroom, spotting Cloud standing near Luigi with a heart potion, handing said potion to Leia. Dr. Mario and Daisy were there, hoping the potion would work.
Leia: Asked Dr. Mario why we couldn't just use other regular medicine to heal Luigi, but he told me that the healing effects of Link's potions would be more, and I quote, "instantaneous". You know, for a doctor, Dr. Mario has some very weird methods and customs...
"This all ends here..." vowed Link, revving up his arm so he could throw the snowball. Once he reached maximum throwing power, the Hylian would hurl the snowball at Cloud...
...but instead of Cloud, Link would instead strike the potion - just as Leia was about to give it to Luigi - breaking the bottle in the process. The snowball would then strike the TV, getting snow all over the television screen.
Shocked as ever, Dr. Mario and company slowly turned their heads towards Link, who was just standing there acting like he had just missed the game-winning shot in a crucial playoff basketball game. Recollecting his dignity and suffering in his shame, the Hylian meekly walked away, before heading downstairs and walking past Yuffie, who was still eating the strawberries up. At least it was something healthy!
Cloud: Well, it's a good thing I had brought another one of Link's potions with me, just for emergency purposes...
After Luigi drank the other potion Cloud had brought, Leia and Rotom would keep the plumber company, while Dr. Mario and Daisy had a word with Link and Cloud in the living room. There, the swordsmen would explain the snowball fight they were having, and how that fight started.
"You guys, this has to stop, like right now," Daisy said to Link and Cloud, who were sitting on the opposite sides of the couch. "Someone could have really gotten hurt!"
"Daisy's right, what if those glass-a shards from the bottle struck-a Leia?" asked Dr. Mario, disgusted with Link and Cloud's actions today. "Those shards would've shaved-a her face right off! Granted it would've been-a funny, but at the same-a time horrifically tragic."
"I agree wholeheartedly Dr. Mario, this is all on Link," agreed Cloud, as Link shot a vicious glare at him. How could his best friend do him like that? "I'm starting to think Link is becoming a little distressed..."
"Who are you to say that I'm distressed?" Link would fire back, as he angrily stood up to confront Cloud. "You've been terrorizing me all day long!"
"Terrorizing you with snowballs? With harmless, innocent snowballs? Get a grip, man - you're acting like our snowball fight is serious business. Snowball fights are meant to be fun in nature."
"Cloud has a point, Link - what you did was dangerous and inappropriate," said Daisy, as Link sat back down and folded his arms, looking the other way. "I'm thoroughly surprised at you guys - you're supposed to be friends, for crying out loud! I want you two to stay here, and think about your actions. And then maybe, you'll be buddies again.
"Don't like being treated like a kid, but whatever works best for Link, I suppose..."
For the nth time, Sonic and pals did their best to repair Master Hand's Lamborghini, and this would be their final attempt. They would all look at their repaired product, as the Lamborghini this time remained stable.
"Guess this is it, you guys, the Lamborghini looks fully repaired!" exclaimed Sonic, seeing all his hard work finally pay off. Said hard work would suddenly vanish away, as the Lamborghini began to shake and dismantle, the parts crashing to the driveway. And that left Sonic disappointed. "Well, guys, it's been real...looks like we're all gonna die at the hands of Master Hand! Or hand, rather."
"How's it coming along Sonic, did you fix the Lamborghini?" asked Tails, as he returned to the driveway, only to see what was left of the Lamborghini. "Yikes...yeah, Sonic, I think this might be your last day alive...Master Hand is definitely gonna murder you today."
"Tell me something I don't know..." murmured Sonic; should the hedgehog contact Amy, and tell her about his unavoidable fate? Probably not - it would honestly break her precious little heart.
But Sonic wouldn't have the time to call Amy anyways, because guess who showed up after his visit with Crazy Hand? Master Hand. The giant hand would return to the mansion, feeling and looking refreshed.
"That Crazy Hand...man, he is such a HOOT!" Master Hand laughed to himself, as Sonic tried to hide. But there was nowhere for him to hide it! "Perhaps I should invite him over for the Super Bowl, he'll be the life of the..." Soon enough, Master Hand arrived at the driveway, and saw his Lamborghini, dismantled. "What happened here?"
"MASTER HAND, I AM SO SORRY, PLEASE FORGIVE ME!" cried Sonic, as he fell to his knees and begged to Master Hand with his begging clasped hands. "WE WERE THROWING SNOWBALLS AT LAYTON AND LUKE, AND I ACCIDENTALLY GOT A SCRATCH ON YOUR LAMBORGHINI, AND THEN THE LAMBORGHINI FELL APART SOMEHOW, AND I TRIED TO FIX IT, AND...AND...AND..."
"Oh, ho, ho, Sonic, that Lamborghini you destroyed...that's just a replica. The real deal is in the garage, safe and sound!"
Upon hearing this, Sonic sprung up to his feet with a surprised look. Tails and company were just as surprised. All that time spent to repair, all for nothing!
"Yeah, I wanted to keep my Lamborghini outside, but Jacky talked me out of it, and so he got a replica to put outside for me to ogle at while the real Lamborghini remained in the safety of the garage," continued Master Hand; this must've been done after Master Hand's talking head segment earlier in the episode. "I appreciate you all for wanting to repair the replica, but I'll leave Jacky to do it himself."
Jacky: Had to talk Master Hand out of keeping his Lamborghini outside in the snow. You don't ever, in your life, play around with a Lamborghini - once that thing stops functioning, your life is pretty much over.
"Thanks for clearing that up, Master Hand, Sonic was worried that you might've killed him," thanked Aku, as a now whimpering Sonic turned to face Tails, who smiled and gave him a comforting hug. "I think it would be best to keep your actual Lamborghini in the garage, from now on - just to avoid any damage dealt to your vehicle!"
"You're right Aku; doing so would mean one less person to kill," agreed Master Hand, as Rosalina exited the mansion and saw Master Hand. "Killing someone from the mansion would be too expensive anyways, especially if I killed someone from a royal kingdom like Marth or Kamui." Master Hand would turn around, and spot Rosalina behind him. "Yes, Rosalina, how may I help you?"
"Wanted to inform you that Team Rocket - Jessie, James, and Meowth were spotted in the mansion," Rosalina would inform Master Hand, while Sonic continue to whimper in Tails' arms. "Luke was spotted with them, too. Were they supposed to be banned for their allegiance with Giovanni?"
"Those three did lose the respect I had for them...but I don't think they truly had any part of Giovanni's evil plan, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. And Luke being with them might suggest that those three have a change of heart...but I wouldn't count on it."
Lucina enjoyed a wonderful, splendid conversation with Fox, Falco, and Itsuki in the Star Records room. It was a very lengthy conversation - much to the chagrin of a very impatient Falco - but it was a conversation worth having, as it detailed a plan that would derail Roy's Straight Fiyah ever becoming a thing.
"Just so we're clear, you'll do all the work, while the three of us are on clean-up duty," Fox said to Lucina, as the pilot showed the princess out the door.
"Yes, that is what we've already discussed," replied Lucina, nodding her head. "It's going to be a strong joint effort, but an effort worth doing." What did Lucina mean by this "strong joint effort"?
"Okay then, but just know, this is all on you - we're not gonna take any credit for any failure." Lucina would nod her head yet again, as she walked away. Before Fox could close the door, Luke would show up.
"I have heard that you have a key to the attic," the apprentice would say to Fox. "May I borrow it please?"
"Sure thing, buddy!" Fox would dig into his pocket, and pull out a key, before exiting the room. He would then reach the attic door, which was on the ceiling, and leaped up to pull the door down as a ladder descended to the floor. Luke, left in awe by Fox's agility, saw that there was another door, which was locked. "This locked door is only just for 'security measures', in case you may be wondering," Fox would say to Luke, as he climbed up the ladder to unlock the door with his key, before going down. "There ya go kid, the attic is all yours. Feels oddly cold up there...but you can handle it, right?"
"Absolutely!" exclaimed Luke, leading Fox to smile as he placed the attic key back in his pocket and returned to the Star Records room. Luke would then look down the hallway, and give a thumbs up...as Jessie, James, and Meowth went over to Luke, albeit stealthily, with Pikachu and Pichu in their possession.
Jessie: This is it boys, this is our chance to regain Master Hand's respect! It's now or never!
James: Once we stop the weather machine and save the day, Master Hand will have no choice but to make us mansion residents! Think about it - what have folks such as Cilan done to even gain residency status? We have more credentials than that poser!
Meowth: Everyone knows he's just being used by Master Hand to feed the others - if not for that, he would be back at his silly little gym, serving as a gatekeeper for up-and-coming Pokemon trainers! We, on the other hand, we're the real deal!
Team Rocket, Luke, Pikachu, and Pichu were up in the attic, and they were all shivering, because of how frozen the attic was. Ice covered just about every inch of the place. Wanna know why? Because there in the center of the attic was the weather machine - beaming a large icy beam up at the sky through an opening in the ceiling.
"Hmm, I had no idea the attic had a retractable opening," remarked a shivering James, looking up. "There are so many things about this mansion I wanna learn about...but that'll come in due time. Now, about deactivating this contraption..."
"I'm on it," volunteered Luke, as he got Pikachu and Pichu into position. "Alright you two, use Thunderbolt on that machine!"
"Pika...CHHHUUUUUU!" Pikachu would lead things off, unleashing his signature move on the machine. Pichu would follow suit, also unleashing Thunderbolt on the machine. Both mouse Pokemon would give it their all, and once they cooled off, the machine was powered down. No beam shooting up to the skies, which meant the machine was finally kaput.
"Man does it feel awesome having Pikachu on your side, rather than against ya!" remarked Meowth, as he looked up at the sky. "Hey, look, the sky's starting to clear up! I can actually see the sun now!"
"Wait until we give Master Hand our report about fixing Seattle's weather situation!" beamed Jessie, expecting to be praised beyond description. Team Rocket really wanted to be praised like they caught Osama bin Laden, it seemed like. "He'll reward us handsomely!"
Thanks to the potion Cloud brought, Luigi was feeling a lot better. All his cold symptoms were gone away, and he could continue his day without a stuffed nose or a nagging cough. He would remain in his bed, rejoicing the fact that he was fully healthy again.
"Ah, I feel-a so much better now!" the plumber exclaimed, as he outstretched his arms. Soon Daisy would arrive in the room, and Luigi would pick her up and twirl her all around. "Daisy, I'm-a back to normal again! No more cold-a for me!"
"Okay Luigi, you can go ahead and put me back down now," smiled Daisy, as Luigi fulfilled her wife's wish. "Next time you feel sick, don't make me do all that stuff for you. I'm your wife, not your maid. Understand?"
"I fully understand-a Daisy - next time I'm-a sick, I'll have Yuffie do stuff-a for me. Or Rotom." That Luigi, he'll never learn will he?
Luigi: Yuffie is the reason why we ran-a out of pizza rolls. One would be a fool-a to leave their freezer void of pizza rolls. Therefore, Yuffie easily deserves-a maid treatment.
While Dr. Mario and Leia returned to their respective destinations, Link and Cloud were still in the living room...correction: Link was still in the living room, while Cloud was away doing something. Maybe he thought "thinking about his actions" was too childish for him. However, the swordsman would return to Luigi's home, and Link stood up, wishing to speak with him.
"I surrender," the Hylian said, catching Cloud off-guard. Was Link ready to throw in the towel. "I surrender. You win. I lose."
"Sorry Link, but I refuse to accept your surrender," replied Cloud, as Link snapped his fingers in disgust. He wanted to go out peacefully. "...that is, unless you do a little favor for me."
"A favor, you say? Sure, I'm game. Tell me what it is, and I'll do it." Link may not like the favor Cloud had in mind...
"All you have to do is throw a snowball at Zelda's face, and then all will be forgiven." Link would frown at this favor handed to him. "Think about it - it'll be pretty funny...well, minus Zelda potentially being super angry with you."
"What, are you crazy?! I refuse to do such a thing...unless YOU throw a snowball at Aerith's face! Then all will be forgiven!"
"Nice try Link, but I don't agree to those terms. For that reason, I will not accept your surrender. However, I can offer you...a truce."
Cloud would pull out something from behind his back, revealing a present, and would hand it to Link. The Hylian would accept the present from Cloud, looking at it suspiciously, before taking off the lid...only to find a snowball inside. As if that wasn't enough, the snowball had a note on it, and it read...
"'I surrender'?" Link read the note, before looking up at Cloud in confusion. Why would Cloud, who was already winning the snowball fight, surrender to Link for?
"While winning a snowball fight would be nice and all, it would be unfair for you, since you hardly ever win anything," explained Cloud, as he spoke the truth. Link could never win at anything in Smash Life. "Even when you do win, you hardly receive any credit. Also, that note is also a thank you - a thank you for teaching me what it's like to have fun again. That snowball fight, dare I say it...was actually pretty fun."
"Well, Cloud, I'm glad you saw it that way. Deep down in that cold interior of yours is a fun-loving guy who knows how to...you know what, how about we sing that song? You know how it goes? F is for..."
"Sing that song and it'll be the end of your life," Cloud warned Link in a threatening tone, effectively shutting up the Hylian; while the swordsman knew what it was like to have fun, his serious side will forever be a part of him.
That snowball Cloud made would be the last snowball for today...because the snow would slowly melt away in the radiant sun, thanks to the efforts of Team Rocket and company. The sun would remain for a good while before the clouds came back together and showered over Seattle, as was expected by the Seattle weathermen.
Ema: The rain has returned to the city...although it's just light showers. Things will start picking up tomorrow. Never have I been in a city that has been subject to so much inclement weather.
"Looks like most of the snow is gone," said Ema as she looked through a window in Master Hand's room. The rain was pouring down, washing the snow away. "Better to have rain than snow, amirite Master Hand? Master Hand? Are you even listening to me?!"
"Oh, sorry, I was too busy admiring my Lamborghini," apologized Master Hand, his eyes fixated on his beloved possession. Or rather, a replica of his beloved possession. "My Lamborghini replica, that is. Looks just as sexy as the original one!"
"I'm terribly sorry, Master Hand, but that just sounds creepy. Here I am, back at the mansion, and you're still infatuated with that car. What's the purpose of owning it, if you can't even drive it?!"
"For your information Ema, many big name rappers own expensive cars but have never taken a single ride in them, so your argument is profoundly flawed. But better luck next time." Ema could only groan, while Team Rocket entered Master Hand's room.
"Oh, Master Hand, we have great news for you!" gleamed Jessie, grabbing the giant hand's attention as he turned around. "We found out why it was snowing in Seattle - it was because of a machine up in your attic!"
"It was a weather machine installed by our boss Giovanni, who wished to freeze this entire mansion," added James, no doubt excited about the amount of praise given by Master Hand. "But the three of us turned it off, and solved Seattle's weather crisis! The machine was targeting the sky, and had it targeted this mansion..."
"Quick question: who was the one responsible for turning the machine off?" asked Master Hand; Jessie, James, and Meowth were reluctant to answer this question.
"Pikachu and Pichu used their electricity to power down the machine. If not for them, the conditions in Seattle would've..."
"Okay, thank you, that's all I needed to know." Master Hand would make his way towards the door, alarming Team Rocket. "Someone must've turned that machine on, I'm sure...I'll find that crook later. But for now, I must thank Pikachu and Pichu for a job well done. Thank you, you three, for giving me this information!"
"Hey what about giving us back our respect - if not for our involvement, Seattle would go from Rain City to Snow City!" frowned Meowth, but Master Hand would no longer listen, as he continued out of his room in search for Pikachu and Pichu. This left Team Rocket furious, as Master Hand refused to give them back the respect they had lost.
But at least there was always next week for redemption.