Author's Note:

Hey all! Do you like reading fanfiction? (Stupid question, I know.) Do you like reading fanfiction about Super Smash Bros? (Another stupid question...) Do you like participating in a Discord server, centered around Smash Bros? Got you hooked, didn't I?

If you said yes to all three of those questions, then come and check out a Discord server that I happen to be a part of - "Super Smash Prose", a Discord server where you can talk about Smash, promote your own Smash story, chit-chat with other authors on the Smash archive, and many other things. If you're interested in joining, the invite code is gDK48ua. Don't be shy. With that out of the way, enjoy the new chapter!

Episode 240: GoldenTicket

Bowser had done a lot of wretched things over the course of Smash Life. He took Link, Shulk, and Corrin all under his wing, teaching them false information. He staged several fire drills, to test the residents for situations when the mansion was on fire. He dressed up as a pimp, taking on the moniker A Pimp Named Bowser, causing mayhem on Valentine's Day. And he sought after the affection of Lara Croft, with some of his actions putting the residents' lives in peril.

Today would mark another day that Bowser would carry out some crazy scheme, and he thought that this one was, as he described, "golden". It was a scheme that he was sure would be a huge hit, and could even fix his reputation at the mansion. All the residents who previously resented Bowser would start to appreciate the koopa king more.

As Mitsuru was in the foyer, checking out things, Bowser came down the stairs dressed up as Willy Wonka. He had it all - the red hat, the yellow bowtie, and the purple jacket. Only thing missing was the hair, but Bowser wasn't sweating over it that much.

"Good morning...Bowser," Mitsuru greeted the koopa king, checking out his threads; Mitsuru only saw Bowser dressed up for special occasions, so she was a bit blind-sighted by how well-dressed Bowser was.

"Oh no, I am not Bowser," Bowser corrected Mitsuru, who instantly knew that some shenanigans was coming her - and the other residents - way. "I am Willy Wonka!"

"Uh, good morning, Mr. Wonka. Nice hat." Bowser saw that Mitsuru was eating something out of her hand, and came over with his cane to see what it was.

"Ooh, what are those? What are those? Tell me, please!"

"Jelly beans." Mitsuru held these jelly beans away from Bowser, refusing to share any with the koopa king.

"They are not just ordinary jelly beans, little girl. These are extraordinary jelly beans!"

Bowser: This Willy Wonka Golden Ticket idea is probably the best idea I have ever had! It's probably the best idea anybody has ever had. Three days ago, I slipped five pieces of gold paper into random mail. This entitles whoever receives the mail some chocolate - extremely dark chocolate, that is. The kind of chocolate that makes your face feel very uncomfortable. (Anna hooked me up.) It will be a day for them that is full of whimsy, and full of excitement and full of fantasy. And full of laughs, for me.

Bowser was at the breakfast table that morning, telling the others about his grand idea. He wanted to get the word out, and what better way to do that than inform the residents?

"I've written these things because it is my responsibility, as the coolest guy at this mansion, to profligate great ideas," Bowser addressed those sitting at the breakfast table, standing at the very front of the dining room. "I think I have done my part with the golden ticket promotion. Now it is your turn. I want to hear some great ideas from you that are just as good as mine." Champion Link raised his hand.

"We often have the Yiga Clan deliver stuff for us," the Hylian said, hinting that the mansion made the Yiga Clan do the dirty work for them. "We could send a few of them out on the weekends..."

"Too many words. Good ideas are simple. 'Golden ticket.'"

"'Free candy.'" Bowser didn't seem to like this idea, as he shook his head in disagreement.

"No, Champion Link. We're running this thing like a business. Milk chocolate. That is a golden ticket idea. NASA took five or six golden ticket ideas to get man on the moon."

"Golden Girls. That's a golden ticket idea, right?" asked Slippy, as Fox and Falco - who were seated next to the frog, usually against their own will - both facepalmed. Slippy would probably suggest Golden Corral gift cards next. "I mean how great was that show? How about Golden Grahams!"

"No, you just don't get it, do you..." Unnerved by the lack of great ideas, Bowser sighed and shook his head mightily at the residents. "What will be the state of this mansion if I am the only one coming up with the great ideas? Right?"

Shortly after breakfast was over, King Dedede was seen in the hallway pacing around back and forth. The fat penguin had a lot of things weighing on his mind, as Fox and Falco kept watch.

"I think I should call her," concluded King Dedede, as his constant back-and-forth in the hallway came to an end; who exactly did he plan on calling?

"No you shouldn't - bad idea," said Falco, doing his best to talk King Dedede out of putting himself in a perilous situation. The avian pilot wanted no part digging Dedede out of whatever hole he found himself in.

"Why is it so bad for me to call and ask her to lunch today? I bet you two think going out for lunch is too 'mainstream'."

"You're making it too easy for her, explained Fox, who was feeling like some kind of "romantic expert", like Chrom. He was starting to see why Chrom despised that title so much. "You're just conveying, 'Oh I like you just the way you are.'"

"But I do like her just the way she is. And I hope she likes me just the way I am."

"Well that's not really what we agreed on." Soon Link and Zelda came around the corner, wondering what the Star Fox pilots and Waluigi were discussing.

"What are you guys talking about?" inquired Link; any problem that was afoot at the mansion, LInk and Zelda were more than happy to solve.

"King Dedede is trying to get some chick to like him," Fox explained to LInk and Zelda, having some bad memories of the last time he helped King Dedede out in some romantic stuff. "He wants to redeem himself, after Cackletta hosed him."

"Why don't you just go out on a date with her?" Link suggested to King Dedede, who was mulling over the idea. "Try to spark up an ongoing joke and then in a month or two, if it feels right, you'll know."

"No way - a date would be too simple," rejected Falco, who just like Fox found himself thrusted into "romantic expert" territory. And he hated every minute of it. "Would make things too obvious."

"You don't have to wait that long," stated Zelda, showing some disagreement with Link - won't be the last time the princess disagreed with Link over anything. "I mean, you don't have to wait a month to ask her out. Just ask her out."

"You're asking him to give up all of his power." Link and Zelda just looked at Falco, as if the avian pilot was spewing some crazy talk.

"What power?" questioned Link; whatever power King Dedede had must be imaginary.

King Dedede: Fox, Falco, Link, and Zelda are all telling me how to deal with this girl that I started to like. I don't like getting advice from more than one person at a time. I'm a textbook over-thinker.

"You can't let a girl feel good about herself," said Fox, as he felt some strong romantic expert vibes pulsating through his bones. "It will backfire on you. Every compliment has to be backhanded. 'Oh I like your dress, but I'd like it more if you had prettier hair.'"

"That's psychotic," remarked Zelda, knowing for a fact that most men don't truly behave like the way that Fox described. "Do guys actually do that?"

"Well guys with girlfriends don't," replied Link, as he looked over his shoulder and saw Wolf standing around. The mercenary had heard every word of the conversation, including Link's reply.

"That's low, man..." Wolf scowled, shaking his head at Link before heading down the hallway as Link's words pierced him through his chest.

Cloud was in the gaming room, surveying the area, when he heard his phone ringing. The young man quickly took out his phone, and glanced at the caller ID before promptly answering the call.

"Hey, Rufus," Cloud spoke into the phone - the swordsman was familiar with the person speaking on the phone, and he resented the fact that they even had his contact information. You'll see why later. "What's that? Oh, you found a golden ticket."

"Hurrah!" Bowser, who was chilling in the back of the gaming room, overheard Cloud, cheering as he was doing some kind of celebratory dance. It was goofy enough to make the others snicker at him, under their breath.

"Yup. No, congratulations." Cloud looked back and saw Bowser, still dancing like a goofball with a dance that would make his kids feel embarrassed. "I'll take that down right now."

"Tell me; was it a spoiled little girl with big lips?" Bowser ran over to ask Cloud, dying to know who received the golden ticket.

"I'm on the phone." Cloud walked away from Bowser, not wanting to be distracted, but Bowser insisted on following after the swordsman to the corner of the gaming room.

"Or is it an odd little boy with a cowboy obsession?" Bowser had his hands clasped together, so very desperate to know the identity of the person with the golden ticket.

"Hold on one second..." Cloud knew he couldn't deal with Bowser, so he put the person on the phone on hold.

"Invite them on the tour." Bowser wanted whoever received the golden ticket to be spoiled out of their mind - at least before they got their gift, a bunch of extremely dark chocolate.

"It's actually the Shinra Power Electric Company," Cloud said to Bowser, whose eyes went big with surprise. That was a name Bowser did not expect.

"Really? Shinra is a pretty big deal, I'll say." Getting all pumped up and excited, Bowser ran over to the other side of the room, to speak with Shulk. "Hey, Shulk. Woo hoo hoo! How big of a deal is it that the Shinra Power Electric Company got one of my golden tickets?"

"Shinra is a very big, but tyrannical company," replied Shulk, who couldn't care less about Bowser's golden ticket shenanigans. The man was just trying to chill. "I'd say it's very bad that they got a golden ticket."

"Hold on one sec, hold on one sec..." Cloud spoke on the phone, resuming his phone call as he walked over to Bowser. "...Rufus, what's that? You found five golden tickets? And does it say limit one per customer? Nope, it doesn't."

Sonic was busy chilling in the arcade room, playing an arcade game, when King K. Rool approached the hedgehog. K. Rool wanted to ask Sonic something, yet he was unsure if the hedgehog was the right person to ask.

"Hey Sonic," K. Rool said to the hedgehog, who was too busy playing Space Invaders to care about any problem Rool had. "When you get a loan, you don't have to use it for exactly what you say you're gonna, right?"

"Yeah, I think that's how it works," responded Sonic, his eyes glued to the arcade screen. "I'm not expert on that kind of stuff, though."

"I know, but, once the bank gives you the money it is your money. You can use it for whatever you want, right?"

"Pretty sure that's fraud, dude...I wouldn't wanna risk it."

Sonic: Every few weeks or so we have some stupid random conversation. "Sonic?" "Yeah?" "Can I pawn off stuff from the mansion and sell it on eBay?" "Umm no, K. Rool, you can't." "Can I say I was an astronaut and sell the movie rights?" "What do you think K. Rool?" "Can I sell time shares of the mansion's garage?" "Can I rent out Jacky's car when he's out of town?" "Can I be the heir of uh…and inherit lots of money?" What is he talking about?!

"Let's say you tell the bank that you're going to open up an ice cream store but instead you buy an ice cream cart," K. Rool offered this scenario to Sonic, who couldn't care less as he continued playing his game. "Technically you are still selling ice cream."

"I know you got some gambling debts, don't hide it from me!" said Sonic, as K. Rool gasped out of shock. How did Sonic know about the Kremling's gambling ways?

"Gambling debts? What?" K. Rool was trying to act dumb, but that wouldn't work on a guy like Sonic.

"Lemme guess...you're gonna take out some small business loan and use that money to pay off your bookie!"

"What's a bookie? I don't even know what you're talking about. You are weird. You are a really weird dude, Sonic."

King K. Rool: Okay, K. Rool's Kones. This is going to be awesome!

The fact that Shinra received five golden tickets was very suspect, and Cloud wanted to get down to the bottom of why Shinra of all companies received tickets in the first place. Taking matters into his own hands, Cloud spoke with Bowser outside the gaming room, in the hallway.

"How do you not spread out the tickets into different shipments?" Cloud interrogated Bowser, wondering how the koopa king sent out the golden tickets. Did he send them at random, or did he choose particular people or organizations?

"I thought I did, so..." replied Bowser as he eyed around the hallway, wondering how he could get himself out of the mess he was finding himself in. "...no harm no foul."

"...well I'm going to speak with Tom Nook and Isabelle and let them know about this. Shinra Electric Power Company is a corporation we do not want to deal with."

"You don't have to let them know...but it'll all be fine. It'll be good." Bowser was obviously worried about getting in trouble with the search committee, with fears of being banned from a mansion a second time lingering in the back of his head.

That being said, Bowser refused to believe that he was fully responsible for Shinra receiving five golden tickets. The koopa king decided to speak with the group that delivered the golden tickets, the Yiga Clan, as he angrily marched down to their hideout.

"Hey, you idiot!" Bowser angrily greeted Master Kohga, who was in the main area of the Yiga Clan hideout speaking with a few clansmen. "Your people are idiots, too!"

"What did you just say?" growled Master Kohga, too offended by Bowser's name-calling to compliment the koopa king's snazzy attire.

"I placed a bunch of golden tickets into five separate boxes and somehow they all ended up with the Shinra Electric Power Company. How does this happen?"

"Were the boxes near each other?" Master Kohga asked this as if Bowser was supposed to know, only making the koopa king even angrier.

"That's an irrelevant question. Just tell me how you distributed those golden tickets!"

"I send three Yiga footsoldiers to a different address once a week. They use whatever address they found inside the mansion."

"Okay, I'm going to ask you something and I want you to be honest. Are all of your Yiga footsoldiers idiots? I think you should replace them."

Bowser: My golden ticket idea? Okay. Why would anyone think that this is my golden ticket idea? There is a one in thirteen chance that this could be anybody's golden ticket idea.

Wendy Koopa was down in the foyer, licking from an ice cream cone, when she heard the doorbell rang. The Koopaling answered the door, and saw Mario standing by.

"Hi Wendy Koopa," Mario greeted the Koopaling, kindly tipping his hat towards her. The plumber played nice with the Koopalings most of the time, compared to how he was with Bowser. "May I speak-a with your father? I've heard from Tom Nook that he's-a up to no good again..."

"Oh, uh, sorry Mario, he's not back from the civil rights rally," replied Wendy, bewildering Mario; how was it that there was a civil rights rally going on, and Mario wasn't invited? How did Bowser get an invite over him?

"A civil rights-a rally? I assume it's some-a where in Seattle, right? Bowser being at a civil rights rally, and not me, that's-a just wrong..."

"I'll have him speak with you the minute he gets back from the Lincoln Memorial." Bowser was attending a civil rights rally in Washington D.C.? That only made Mario even more jealous!

Wendy: When daddy is off handling his business, he would give me a list of places to say he is. "Stopping a fight in the mall parking lot." "An Obama fashion show." Whatever…that is. Or "trapped in an oil painting." I'm gonna save that one.

In an attempt to save face, Bowser called for a meeting in the lounge with the remaining candidates - Link, Cloud, Zelda, Lucario, Meta Knight, Mitsuru, and Cortex. Brio, being Cortex's VP, was invited to attend...by Cortex.

"Nobody panic," Bowser advised the candidates, although not a single person in the lounge save for him was panicking. "The good news is that we - meaning us and the other residents - can't get in trouble for this, right?"

"Considering who we're dealing with, yes we could..." replied Brio as he stroked his chin, offering a very bleak outlook on the situation at hand. "...and I should know, I was the one who invited Shinra. And the mako energy they invest in, I invented that too."

"Dr. Brio, you little man with zero self-esteem, you have no idea what the heck you're talking about." Brio, who was about to make a rebuttal, decided against it. But he did have a concern that he wanted to address.

"Bowser, have you taken into thought that Shinra might think that they were hoodwinked, and might take it out on the mansion? They could blow this very establishment - which I, Dr. Brio, invented, not Master Hand - to smithereens!"

"Alright, then we're screwed. I am just a net that traps all of your crappy subconscious ideas and adds a little bit of my own childhood memories and whimsy, so..."

"So, the guys at Shinra believe that I was the one who sent the golden tickets, so I'm a little ticked off too," said Cloud, who found himself embroiled in the golden ticket conundrum. Which was the last thing he wanted on his plate.

"Thank you, Cloud is with me." Bowser realized that he was no longer alone in his fight - as long as he had some solidarity, the koopa king could overcome his problems.

"Absolutely not, I'm mad at you." ...and so much for that solidarity. If Cloud wouldn't stand with Bowser, then who would?

"Well you know what Cloud? It is not my fault that you embarrassed yourself with some crappy dance moves to impress Aerith. That is why carnations exist."

"That's not why - they exist to deceive people!" stated Cortex as he clenched his fists for dramatic effect...before hanging his head low. "Would explain why I have yet to find a soulmate..."

"Okay, we need a gold ticket idea to get us out of this mess." Bowser looked around the lounge, and saw that Zelda raised her hand. "Yes?"

"Does that mean an idea that blows up in our faces later?" asked Zelda, as Mitsuru heard her phone ring. Which put Bowser on edge.

"Ha, good one," chuckled Link as he held up his hand for a high five, only for Zelda to leave the poor Hylian hanging. Zelda was honestly never fond of high fives.

"Don't get that. Please?" Bowser pleaded to Mitsuru with begging hands, watching with suspense as Mitsuru slowly took out her cellphone.

"I've got a golden ticket idea," Lucario spoke up, as Bowser eagerly looked towards the aura Pokemon. "Why don't you skip on up to the roof and jump off?"

"That is not constructive! I thought you were better than that, Lucario, wishing harm on another person...some man of the mansion you would be!"

"Hi Tom Nook," Mitsuru said after answering the call, with Bowser appearing nervous as Mitsuru was speaking into her phone. Bowser had to find some way to get himself out of speaking with the search committee.

"Tell him I'm having a colonoscopy!" Bowser had no idea what a colonoscopy was - he just shouted it out because he thought it sounded cool. And complex enough to warrant not showing up for a serious meeting.

"...he claims he has a colonoscopy, but I know better. I'm sure he'll be there shortly."

Ready to put his ice cream plans in motion, King K. Rool went to the nearest bank to discuss his ice cream expenditure with a bank employee. It was gonna be a one-man job, unless K. Rool could find someone worthy enough to work with him.

"So, uh, this would be a loan for an ice cream store?" the bank employee asked K. Rool, as he was going over a few documents the Kremling provided. "Like Baskin Robbins?"

"We will be selling ice cream," stated K. Rool, stating the obvious - not like the Kremling would have much success selling anything else.

"Well I would hope so...I mean, it is an ice cream business..."

"The business will have a mobile component."

"Yeah, I see you've underlined that several times here. Uh, what does that mean, you'll deliver?"

"In a way. I'll find some loophole around it, if necessary."

"Okay, so other than delivery and the rhyming name what are we looking at exactly?"

"We have flavors." K. Rool handed over a flavor menu to the banker, who looked over it in an inquisitive manner.

"Flavors, okay...Fudge the Magic Dragon. What are the ingredients of that?"

"Um, ice cream?" Knowing K. Rool, he probably listed "Vanilla Ice" as one of the ice cream flavors.

"And you would make the ice cream yourself?"

"We would buy the ice cream in a store. Or we would make it ourselves."

"Do you know how to make ice cream?"

"No." And it was at that moment that K. Rool's ice cream business...was doomed.

Bank employee: I'll be honest this stuff's going in the recycling so…if he's lucky we'll shred it first to protect his social security number.

"I have a lot of questions," the bank employee said to K. Rool, his concerns about the Kremling's ice cream business increased tenfold.

"I have a lot of questions for you too," K. Rool said to the bank employee, having only a few questions about loans.

"Really? What kind of questions? Is it about starting up your business?"

"If you grant me this loan, how long will it take for me to have cash in hand?"

"Not something you're going to have to worry about."

"Nice..." K. Rool rubbed his hands together, as he was liking where things were headed.

Bowser had no choice but to meet up with Tom Nook, who was joined by Isabelle and Mario in Master Hand's room. The koopa king entered the room, seeing Tom Nook and company waiting for him.

"Hello, party people!" Bowser greeted the search committee and Mario, who did not look amused in the slightest. "I just got back from my procedure, so..."

"Bowser, what the heck-a is going on here?" Mario questioned the koopa king, who meekly closed the door behind him. Right from the get-go, Mario wasn't playing around.

"How are you all doing? Wonderful weather we're having, isn't it?"

"Fine. What is going on?" In full desperation mode, Bowser took out his cellphone, and pulled up WebMD on his Internet browser.

"My colonoscopy was an examination of my large colon and the distal part of my small bowel with a camera," Bowser read the information on his phone screen, hoping that Mario and the others would buy in. Much to the koopa king's chagrin...they did not.

"Why did you go worth with this golden ticket idea?" Tom Nook asked Bowser, after he and Isabelle had learned about the whole ticket fiasco from Cloud. "We're going to be in big trouble with Shinra, Bowser. How could you let this happen?"

"Well, there is an explanation that involves me not letting it happen and I just don't…I don't know." Tom Nook and company refused to take ignorance for an answer, especially from a guy such as Bowser.

"How could you not know, Bowser?" Isabelle questioned the koopa king, wanting him to face consequences for his actions. Which only happens every so often. "This golden ticket thing seems to have your name on it."

"I think I might have hired an outside marketing consultant." Bowser was now making stuff up on the flying, expecting Mario and the search committee to just play along.

"A marketing consultant from where?" Hiring a marketing consultant was pointless, unless Bowser was operating a company that sold golden tickets.

"Okay, maybe it wasn't a marketing consultant...I think it might have been an inside consultant. Somebody in the mansion."

"Was it any of the candidates?" asked Tom Nook; any candidate would be taking a huge risk working with Bowser and whatever scheme the koopa king had organized.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. They didn't want me to tell, but..."

"Let me guess...it was Cortex, wasn't it?"

"No...Lucina." Lucina? Why would Bowser bring up Lucina?

Lucina was walking through the hallway to her room, drinking from a cup of coffee. Upon entering her room, the princess was startled to see Bowser inside, sitting on her bed still in his Willy Wonka outfit.

"Good to see ya, princess!" Bowser said to Lucina, whom he nearly gave a heart attack. "I just wanted to congratulate you on that great golden ticket idea."

"Pretty sure that was your idea," said Lucina, as Bowser gave the princess a crazy look.

"Woah, wow, who told you that?" Bowser sat up on Lucina's bed, as Lucina drank the rest of her coffee.

"You did. You told a bunch of people. Several times. Over and over again."

"No, I don't think I ever did. That was your idea, Lucina. Don't point any fingers at me!"

"You're dressed as Willy Wonka so…the evidence is literally on your body. I literally hated the idea since you first suggested it."

"Wait a second, wait a second, I wrote it down in my diary." Bowser dug into his pocket, and pulled out a diary.

"You don't keep a diary. I'm sure that's just some random book that has no meaningful value whatsoever."

"Oh, but I do have a diary! You've just never seen it." Bowser flipped through the pages of his diary, before finding the page he was looking for. "July 24th. Lucina came up with the best idea today about golden tickets."

"Hold that thought..." Lucina ran to her dresser and pulled out her own diary, flipping through the pages until she found a blank page. "July 24th. Bowser came up with a stupid golden ticket idea just to bamboozle who received five golden tickets."

"Why do you have a diary?" As Lucina finished her diary entry, she looked up at Bowser, staring at the koopa king as if he was born yesterday.

"To keep secrets from Father...sometimes, I have to keep a second diary around, just to be on the safe side."

"Okay, you know what? You came up with this idea. I remember you told me that you loved the Willy Wonka movie when you were growing up."

"That's impossible. I wasn't given candy as a child, so I would never be interested in a movie based around such a thing. And besides, I never saw a single movie growing up, because of where I came from. Do the math."

"Yeah, sure, keep on living in denial, see what I care..." Bowser felt a light bulb ding over his head, as he came up with the perfect compromise for Lucina. "...would you like to go to lunch with me? Just the two of us?"

"Absolutely not, but if you're being honest, which I doubt...I'll be happy to oblige."

With the guidance of Link, Zelda, Fox, and Falco, King Dedede was ready to take it on with the girl he supposedly liked, and tell her how much he loved her. While Fox and Falco opted for a simple "I love you", Link wanted Dedede to shoot for the stars.

"You guys are throwing a lot at me," King Dedede said to Link and company in the lounge, as he was having second doubts about approaching his crush.

"All I'm saying is that it's a first date, so just keep a respectful distance," advised Link, thinking that King Dedede would do well during a first date; Fox and Falco both begged to differ.

"I don't think Link means to say that you shouldn't touch her," Zelda said to King Dedede, remaining fairly neutral about King Dedede's success at finding love.

"No, that is what I mean." Now Link was the one becoming the romantic expert.

"Shush..." Zelda shushed Link, before bringing her attention back to King Dedede. "King Dedede, a playful touch on the arm, or on the back, it can show your interest and it's really romantic."

"Like that?" demonstrated King Dedede, as he grabbed Link's hand and held it. As you would believe, Link was feeling very uncomfortable.

"No, stop it," commanded Link, but King Dedede refused to let go for whatever reason. "Not going to repeat myself..."

"Don't touch her, don't talk to her, don't look at her," Fox advised King Dedede, who finally released his hold on Link's hand. Link was rubbing his hand as if it was infected.

Fox: *Link, Zelda, and Falco all talking over each other in the background* …turn into this black and carbon brick-where this barbeque sauce of shame and rage and two hot people with a perfect relationship would not understand that.

When Bowser offered Lucina to take her out to lunch, Lucina assumed that the koopa king would treat her to, you know, lunch. A nearby open restaurant, for takeout or something along the lines of that. All Lucina got instead was egg salad sandwiches, which she and Bowser were eating at a picnic bench outside.

"We think a lot alike," Bowser said to Lucina, as he was staring deep into Lucina's soul. "Sometimes you will think something and I will say what you're thinking..."

"Totally not true," said Lucina, but the princess was willing to play along with Bowser's silly mind games. "If that's the case...then what am I thinking right now?"

"Umm, nacho chips. Covered in nacho cheese. With salsa on the side!"

"No, not even close…how skin is the largest organ of the body?"

"Okay, okay...let me just cut to the chase, dear princess. I want you to be a bro, or a sis, and fall on your sword for me."

"Oh, not going to happen. No way am I risking my candidacy for you, Bowser."

Lucina: I did fall on my sword once. I was running with it in my belt, while I was saving Father from a swarm of bees. Won't happen again.

"Why do you even wanna be the woman of the mansion?" questioned Bowser, believing that such a title was pointless and stupid. "I mean what's the point? You would be more busy every day. You won't get to spend much quality time with Robin, or your dumb kids from the future. It doesn't matter if you 'lose your candidacy' for taking credit for the gold ticket idea. It doesn't matter. Me on the other hand, I might get banned from the mansion a second time. I would be lost without this place. You, way too girly."

"What about Shoe La La? Didn't you mention something about starting up some shoe place somewhere?"

"It's not ready yet..." Shoe La La sounded like one heck of a scam, the more you think about it.

Bowser: I have an idea for a fancy men's shoe store called Shoe La La. And it's just men's shoes for the special occasions in a man's life, like the day that you get married or the day your wife has a baby, or for just lounging around the house.

Anna: So this is where I keep most of my stuff for my shop, in the basement. Only one problem though - there's exposed wires up there. You can actually hear them sparking. I asked for a budget for repairs, and they said "Fix it yourself." And there's metal beams touching metal shelves. If this mansion floods, we're gonna have a basement full of dead Rabbids up in here. More importantly, all of my stuff would be... * spots K. Rool sneaking through the basement and out the backdoor* What the...

Anna curiously followed King K. Rool outside, where she saw the Kremling speaking with a suspicious-looking man. That man was in fact K. Rool's bookie.

"So do you have it?" the bookie asked K. Rool, while Anna watched very closely from the basement door.

"I've got it," replied K. Rool, keeping his voice low so that nobody would hear. He handed the bookie an envelope.

"Let's go." The bookie opened the envelope, and saw only paper inside. "K. Rool, this is just paper."

"Oh man, I think we've been the target of a sting operation!"

"Come on K. Rool, where's the money?"

"Are you wearing a wire?"

"Come on, stop playing games. Get me the money!"

"Please don't hurt me, please!"

"I'm not going to hurt you! Do I look like I would hurt you? This is a terrible situation you got me into."

"I'm sorry, just don't be mad at me..."

"I'm not going to be mad if you give me the money! Come on man! You have a nice new crown, K. Rool. Look at me - my car's so old."

"Hey!" shouted Anna, as she crawled out from the basement. That was the bookie's cue to leave the mansion premises.

"Get it, okay? Look at this car!" These were the bookie's parting words to K. Rool, as he got in his car and drove away.

"That little dude may hurt me if I don't get that bank loan," K. Rool explained to Anna, wondering how much of the conversation the merchant saw. Needless to say, Anna saw the whole shebang.

"Bank loan?" said Anna, smiling to herself as she placed her finger on her cheek in true Anna fashion. "What's your business plan?"

"I'm gonna sell ice cream out of a cart."

"That's nice and swell, but you're never gonna get that loan."

"Why not?" K. Rool's eyes grew wide with fear; the Kremling would hate to invest in another venture.

"Because, you're an ugly and irredeemable reptile creature, you know? You literally project failure."

"I know..." K. Rool nodded his head in sadness, because he knew the truth. He truly was ugly and irredeemable, and he couldn't deny it.

"Come over to my shop, we'll talk." Anna took K. Rool's hand, and brought him over to her shop at the front of the mansion, to discuss some business matters.

Anna: I get a hundred up front plus another five-hundred more once I score the loan. Any other ugly reptilian people with no good qualities having money trouble, you know who to call...

Although he was no longer in the running for man of the mansion, Chrom was still taking things one day at a time. In fact, the prince felt more relieved to no longer be considered a candidate. He found the time to do his favorite things, like playing chess with Meta Knight. Which he was doing in the gaming room, when Bowser showed up with Lucina.

"May I have your attention please?" Bowser kindly asked Chrom and Meta Knight, momentarily interrupting their chess match. "I have an announcement, mostly for you, Chrom. Your daughter Lucina and I just returned from a wonderful lunch together and although I probably will never do it again, I had fun. I really had fun with my new best friend, Lucina."

"Those aren't announcements," Chrom stated to Bowser, before he and Meta Knight promptly returned to their chess match. "Also, Lucina would never want to be friends with you."

"They are announcements, you just don't care about the information." Bowser shook his head at Chrom, disgusted by the prince's show of ignorance. "Your father, Lucina..."

"I don't want this whole golden ticket fiasco to screw me over," Lucina told Bowser, in regards to her candidacy as woman of the mansion. "I've come so far..."

"Don't listen to your daughter, Chrom - she doesn't love the idea of being the woman of the mansion that much. Wouldn't be such a bad thing for her to be out of the running. I mean, like we were talking about that is why she has come to the conclusion…"

"...the conclusion that Lucina should go out and experience the whole wide world, rather than being cooped up in the mansion?" inquired Pit as he came over, much to the chagrin of Lucina.

"Uh, right, yeah. Let's go with that. Right on the money."

"No plowing my own acres. Going around shirtless all day. Lucina finally gets to experience freedom!"

"That's it. That's it. You can't put a price on freedom. That's why Lucina made the decision to..."

"I haven't made a decision yet," stated Lucina, who was very skeptical about Pit's presence - felt like the angel came to start up some stuff.

"Probably not, but Pit has given you a start. I'd suggest taking pointers from him."

Lucina spoke with Minato about Bowser, telling the mage about how the koopa king wanted her to take the fall for the golden ticket idea. As Lucina told Minato the story, Minato couldn't help but feel like Bowser had an ulterior motive up his sleeve.

"You cannot take the fall for him," Robin advised Lucina, not wishing for the princess to screw up her chances at the woman of the mansion gig.

"He said he would do the same for me," stated Lucina, believing that Bowser was only being half-honest. And that was just being generous.

"He can do the same for you. Right now. By taking the fall instead of you. So what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to let things play out, for now. If Bowser tries to pull something funny, I'll make sure to take swift action..."

Minato: Still trying to find out who was responsible for putting the $3,000 underneath my pillow. I'm not ready yet to point any fingers, but I have my eyes peeled on the most obvious culprits. The usual suspects. Bowser has too many red flags to be ignored.

King K. Rool went back to the bank, this time with Anna tagging along. Anna was going to give K. Rool all the confidence he needed to get his ice cream business up and running.

"We need a secret signal that lets me know if I'm talking too much," K. Rool said to Anna, feeling slightly nervous because he was about to speak with a loan officer.

"If you hear words coming out of your mouth...that's your signal," responded Anna, as a loan officer came inside the office. K. Rool took a deep breath.

"Hi. Thanks for waiting," the loan officer greeted K. Rool and Anna, as she sat down at her desk ready to do business. "So, K. Rool's Cones, sounds delicious."

"So you enjoy ice cream," Anna said to the loan officer, with a million dollar smile on her face - the kind of smile that would easily irk Master Hand.

"Oh yeah, maybe a little too much."

"I can tell by your perfume you are a woman of distinction."

"You have a great...vest," K. Rool complimented the loan officer's attire, which led to a brief moment of awkwardness. That Kremling sure knew how to kill the mood.

"Indeed, you do have a vest of very high quality," Anna told the loan officer, breaking the awkward silence as K. Rool awkwardly sat back in his seat.

"Thank you," thanked the loan officer, as Anna took out a sample of some ice cream.

"Now, I want you to experience something now. Taste the ice cream." Anna took a spoonful of the ice cream, offering it to the loan officer.

"Strawberry," K. Rool informed the loan officer, who just nodded at the Kremling before tasting the ice cream. The loan officer couldn't help but feel some familiarity.

"Mmm, it tastes like Breyers," the loan officer had this to say about the ice cream sample, as she was a big fan. Just then, the bank employee K. Rool spoke with earlier came inside the office.

"Hi, I'm sorry," the bank employee said to the loan officer, as K. Rool immediately sat up in his chair, filled with nervousness. "We've already passed on this application."

"Hi Doug, how are you?" K. Rool asked the bank employee, wishing that he would just disappear and fade away into nothingness. "Great to see you again."

"Hi, I don't believe we've met," Anna said to Doug, who wanted K. Rool out of his sight and out of the bank altogether.

"This is the ice cream franchise?" asked Doug, as Anna happily nodded her head. "Yeah, we're not interested."

"Before you say another word, I want you to taste the ice cream."

"I'd rather not." Doug backed away, only for Anna to stand up and approach him with her ice cream sample.

"Look, if you taste this and turn us down like a man, fine...we walk out of here like none of this ever happened."

"Can I ask you something? Did you make that or buy it from the store?"

"Oh boy..." fretted K. Rool, immediately going into panic mode as he stood up and dropped his briefcase in the process. Papers spilled everywhere, as he tried to clean up his mess. "...sorry, don't. Abort, abort."

"It's cool, we don't even need you guys!" Anna assured Doug and the loan officer, having a sudden change of plans. "I'm sure my friend has a back up plan." Could K. Rool even be trusted with a backup plan?

Bowser was standing alone in the middle of the hallway, thinking to himself as he was planning out the next phase of his Willy Wonka scheme. As he looked down the hallway, he saw Mario and the search committee coming towards his way.

"Ack! LUCINA!" the koopa king screamed, running down the hallway and dashing into the gaming room. He saw Lucina upon arrival, as he placed his hands on her shoulders. "What's it gonna be, what are you gonna do?"

"I haven't made a decision yet, okay?!" frowned Lucina, who saw the desperation written all over Bowser's face. Bowser was acting like he was gonna be executed in the next five seconds.

"What's it gonna be? Are you gonna do this thing for me? Lucina?"

"You sure are-a touchy, Bowser," a certain Italian plumber remarked, as Bowser nervously gulped and turned around - right behind him were Mario and the search committee.

"Hey Mario, Tom Nook, Isabelle; how are you? Good to see you. Nice surprise. Lucina and I were just having a very unfortunate conversation. It had to be done..."

"Hopefully, nothing that can't be undone because Lucina I owe you an apology," Tom Nook said, as both Bowser and Lucina were caught by surprise. "The head of the Shinra Electric Power Company just called. They were excited about the golden ticket thing, and they wanted their dark chocolate delivered to them right away! Congratulations, Lucina - you got Shinra on our good side!"

"Tom Nook…you're welcome," responded Lucina, who didn't expect a twist like that. Moments ago, it was believed that Shinra thought they were being had, but it didn't look like that anymore.

"I just want to say that this golden ticket idea is one of the most brilliant signs of initiative I have ever seen at this mansion and how about a big round of applause for Princess Lucina?" Everyone gave a round of applause for Lucina, with Chrom the proud father flapping the hardest. "This is huge.

"Hey, Lucina, great idea," Bowser said to the princess, trying to wrap his arm around her only to be quickly denied. "How'd you come up with that idea?"

"Uh...inspiration, I guess," shrugged Lucina, who now had no other choice but to take the credit for the golden ticket idea. Bowser must be so relieved.

"Really? How did it happen - how are you inspired? How did it pop into your head, Lucina? Give me the details of how that happened!"

"You, you are talking about Princess Lucina - the biggest Wonka fan I know," Pit said to Bowser, as Lucina gave the angel a confused stare. "I mean, she's been talking about that movie for years."

"What?" Lucina furrowed her brow at Pit; she had already made it known that she never had a connection with Willy Wonka.

"And you know what? I even made fun of you when you dressed up as Willy Wonka to pitch this idea and for that, I apologize."

"Apology rejected..." Lucina clearly had no idea what Pit was talking about, and felt very cynical about how the angel was acting.

"Thanks so much for doing the right thing," Snake thanked Lucina, reaching out for a hug only for Lucina to push him away. "Good work, girl."

"Thanks, Snake..." Lucina was now receiving a lot of praise for essentially doing nothing, and it was hard for her to manage.

"This, this is great," said Tom Nook, nodding his head in approval as he was in favor of doling out more golden tickets. "Lucina, I want to get you on the horn with the local marketing people in Seattle. They should meet you. Isabelle, could you set up a call in Master Hand's room, in about 15 minutes please?"

"Sure thing!" Isabelle saluted Tom Nook, before scurrying out of the gaming room. Bowser approached Tom Nook, putting his hand on the tanooki's shoulder.

"Could I be a part of the meeting also?" asked Bowser, who was perfectly fine with Lucina taking the fall, but seeing how much praise the princess received caused Bowser to have a change of heart.

"You are a very unpredictable fellow, Bowser," replied Tom Nook, not wanting Bowser anywhere near his meeting. Who knows what devious things the koopa king could come up with - might scare the marketing people out of their wits! "I don't want to take up your time of unpredictability with this meeting."

"Yeah, let's face it - this meeting sounds-a like it's for Wonka fans only," said Mario, with Tom Nook letting out a hearty laugh as Bowser scowled. "I bet he's never seen-a the movie!"

Turns out that King K. Rool did have a backup plan, as the Kremling was set up outside the mansion with a cart of ice cream. He was on one side of the mansion, while Anna was on the other side; hopefully there won't be any competition between the two.

"Ice cream! Goooood ice cream!" shouted K. Rool as he rang his bell. Sonic came over to K. Rool's ice cream cart, while eating a chili dog.

"You got the loan?" the hedgehog asked K. Rool, after having serious doubts that K. Rool could successfully secure a loan without fail. His doubts were mostly confirmed.

"No, I decided I would pay off my debts by selling ice cream. Easier said than done."

"Keep up the good work, I guess." Sonic finished off his chili dog, licking the chili off his fingers as he walked away. K. Rool kept ringing his bell, as Doc Louis came over.

"How much for one?" Doc Louis asked K. Rool, as he peered inside the cart and checked out all the ice cream flavors.

"Ten dollars," replied K. Rool, as Doc Louis looked up at the Kremling. Ten dollars for some ice cream was too steep of a price for Doc Louis.

"Goodbye..." Doc Louis walked away, settling on the chocolate bar that he planned on eating later. So much for some chocolate ice cream...

"Ice cream! Gooooood ice cream! Come and get some ice cream!"

The search committee was in Master Hand's room with Lucina, making an important business call with a local Seattle marketing firm. Lucina originally wanted no part in the golden ticket scheme, but now she had no choice but to go with the flow.

"Hey guys, I have with me Princess Lucina," Tom Nook said into his phone, which he had on speakerphone as Lucina and Isabelle listened on. "Lucina, take it away."

"Let me just get straight to the point," Lucina spoke, having rehearsed some of her lines prior to the phone call. She wanted to sound natural and authentic. "I love candy. Sweet sugary candy. So naturally, I liked Willy Wonka."

"Wait, do you guys hear that?" asked the man on the phone, as he heard some weird noise on the other line. "There's not a dog listening in, is there? I hear panting."

"No, no dogs," confirmed Tom Nook as he scanned the room for any dogs, whether it be the Duck Hunt Dog, Rush, Boney, or even Pit acting like a dog.

"So I like Willy Wonka," continued Lucina, surprised that the man on the phone was buying into every word that exited her lips. "That golden ticket scene is so inspiring to me that that's where I came up with that idea."

"There is no movie called Willy Wonka," stated Bowser, making his presence known as he busted his way inside Master Hand's room. "It's called Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Get your facts straight!"

"It's actually based on a book called Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," Isabelle informed Bowser, slightly oblivious to the fact that she was interrupting the phone call. Maybe the phone call being interrupted was Bowser's MO...

"I can't…vouch for that. But I do know this. That woman is a liar!" Bowser pointed at Lucina, pointing at the princess with much contempt. "She has taken my idea!"

"We are gonna call you back guys," Tom Nook said to the man on the phone, before hanging up on the call and bringing his attention to Bowser. "What is going on here?"

"Okay, here's what happened, Tom Nook...it was all my idea. You called me over and you were really angry at me and I got scared, so I had Lucina take the fall, but now, it turns out that it's a great idea and Lucina will not confess. Can you believe that?"

"Well I thought it was already established that it was my idea..." said Lucina, who at this point was playing mind games with Bowser. It seemed to work, as Bowser was growling angrily at Lucina.

"Oh how dare you..." If Bowser could wrangle Lucina, he would in a heartbeat.

"It's my idea. I'm filled with good ideas. Thousands of good ideas."

"You are? Good ideas, huh? Hey, did you come up with the toilet buddy? It's a net, circular net, that you put inside the toilet to catch all of your change and your wallet from falling into the toilet? Formally known as toilet guard?"

"First off, that toilet buddy sounds very impractical. Doesn't sound like it would work. Secondly, who would ever want to use such a thing?"

"Alright then, how about a toilet sponge? It's a hollowed out sponge…"

"Give me a break. I've just about had it with your dumb ideas."

"…that is more absorbent, and softer than toilet paper. I have a lot of toilet ideas.

"That's because they're easy. And stupid and practical. Only you would use them."

"They're not easy. Everybody has to go to the bathroom. What, you want me to come up with something for urinals, too?"

"Guys, guys...enough," Tom Nook pleaded to Bowser and Lucina, not wanting to see any confrontation between the two. Isabelle, hating confrontation, would've left if things started escalating. "Please, enough. What, is this true, Lucina? I mean, is this true?"

"Yes, it's Bowser's idea that he pretty much forced on me," Lucina fessed up, as Bowser was seen rejoicing around the room, all smiles. "He did it, because he was worried that he would be banned from the mansion."

"Thank You!" exclaimed Bowser - went from wanting to wrangle Lucina, to wanting to hug her. Just like that.

"What do you want me to do now, Bowser?" Tom Nook asked the koopa king, as the golden ticket idea was about to go to waste. "What am I supposed to do now?"

"Well Tom Nook, I will be honest with you. I do want the credit without any of the blame."

"Uh...I'm going back to helping Viridi in the gardens. Isabelle, do me a favor, don't send me those notes."

Bowser: When they look back on this day in the history books all that will be remembered is that I had a good idea. And that's what I am going to write down in my diary. That is what I want Lucina to write down in hers.

Lucina: Oh, I'm going to write about Bowser's ingenious idea in my diary...but only in my own words.

Outside the mansion, King Dedede was waiting at the side of the road for the woman he had a crush on to come. Eventually the woman came, much to King Dedede's delight.

"Hi," the woman greeted King Dedede, who was doing his best to contain his excitement.

"I'm just gonna say to you everything that I am thinking..." King Dedede said to the woman, speaking fast without a single thought in his mind. "...I think you have the best smile, and I'd like to take you out to dinner and a movie."

"Okay." The woman appeared to be happy with the terms, as evidenced by the humble nod of her head.

"Nice." Both King Dedede and the woman shared a laugh together, and so far it was a pretty good start for King Dedede. Too early for him to squander and mess things up.

Falco: Well, it's uh, his funeral. So… neh!

Lucina remained with Tom Nook and Isabelle in Master Hand's room, to clear some things up. The princess had a feeling that the search committee was pretty disappointed in her.

"So just to be clear, the golden ticket idea was firmly Bowser's idea," Tom Nook said to Lucina, who confirmed with a nod of her head.

"Bowser put in on me, and so I played along the entire way," confessed Lucina, who looking back on things thought that she had made a poor decision. "Bowser was scared out of his wits, so I did what I did."

"Still, you should've nipped things in the bud, and take action rather than just 'play along'. That's something a woman of the mansion would do, right?"

"I suppose it isn't...I guess that means I shot myself in the foot, huh?"

"I'm afraid so...Isabelle and I were planning on cutting someone from the race this week, and sadly you made our decision easier. So, Lucina, we have no choice but to let you go."

"Well, at least I'm not getting kicked out of the mansion. So that's a positive." And Lucina also lasted longer as a candidate than her father, Chrom, which was another positive. "Thank you for the opportunity, you two."

Lucina headed outside, heading down the porch steps as she entered the front yard. The very moment the princess stepped foot on the ground, she was ambushed by Chrom.

"Seriously, Father?" groaned Lucina, her voice muffled as her face was buried in Chrom's chest.

"I saw that you were speaking with the search committee," Chrom said to Lucina, as Lucina broke away from the hug. "And so I, fearing for the worst, got you something to cheer you up."

"You knew I was losing my candidacy?" Without answering, Chrom broke away from the hug, and handed Lucina an ice cream cone with sprinkles on top. "Is this ice cream?"

"Why of course! King K. Rool is selling some." Chrom directed Lucina's attention to King K. Rool, who was standing at his ice cream stand.

"Ice cream! Gooooood ice cream!" shouted K. Rool, as he rang his bell; only a matter of time until Popo and Nana (but only Popo) sabotaged the Kremling's ice cream business.

"Oh, well, that's nice," remarked Lucina, as she took a lick from her ice cream cone. "Thank you for his ice cream cone, father."

"Don't mention it," smiled Chrom, awarding himself some points for being a good dad. "Now that you lost your candidacy, we now have a lot more in common, as father and daughter!...Was that too soon?"

Maybe a little too soon, Chrom...