Episode 241: DinnerParty

Berkut was always a very contentious person to deal with, being an aristocrat full of class and pride. He constantly looked down on those who weren't on the same social standing as he was, only holding individuals like Peach and King Dedede in high regard. Compared to his wife Rinea, who was gentle and polite with just about anyone, Berkut was a real pain in the butt.

But that didn't mean that the paladin could work to make himself a better person. Wanting to make himself more friendly around the people he looked down upon, Berkut opted to have a dinner party at his house. Begrudgingly, he asked Alm and Celica if they were interested in attending the dinner party; you know that those two answered yes.

Only thing standing in Berkut's way was inviting others. It wasn't so much that he believed he was above speaking with the residents - it was just that he feared being rejected, because of his behavior. So, he asked Mario to do the dirty work for him, to which Mario obliged.

"Do you have-a plans tonight?" Mario asked Link, who was in the library using one of the computers; Link appeared very studious, as he was typing away.

"No I don't, but I'm kind of busy right now," replied Link, typing as fast as his fingers would allow him. "The search committee's got me updating the Smash Mansion directory."

"This is crap...why do you have to update-a the directory, why not-a Cloud? I am going to speak-a with the committee."

"Mario, is that you?" asked Isabelle as she came around the corner; Mario, who was incensed at first cooled down, but only just a little. "I heard you speaking about the search committee."

"It's not fair-a to Link. He's up-a in here doing your dirty work! This guy is my friend and I care about-a him. He's not doing your crap!"

"That was very...passionate of you, Mario." Isabelle wasn't the only one blind-sighted by Mario's rant - Link felt the same way, wishing that Mario hadn't stood up for him. "But if you care about Link so much...I'll let someone else finish the directory for him."

"Alright! Thanks-a for hearing me out." Isabelle walked away, as Mario smiled at Link and nudged him in his side. "Well I think I helped-a you dodge a bullet there."

"Not quite, but I suppose I'm more 'free' now," shrugged Link as he got away from the computer, leaving the application on the monitor open.

"Berkut is hosting a party at his-a house. How about you and-a Princess Zelda, mi casa, at Berkut's, with a little dinner, dancing, drinks?"

"Oh, I can't, I, uh...have other stuff to do at the mansion." Link wanted no part of Berkut's party, figuring that the paladin would be acting as snobby as ever.

"You said you didn't have-a plans. That's what you said." Link was stumped, as Mario was able to get the better of the Hylian. Fell right into his trap.

Link: Mario has asked Zelda and I to dinner at least nine times. And every time we've been able to get out of it. But I've got to give him credit, he got me. Only because this time, it's not him hosting the dinner. I'm not that keen on being at Berkut's dinner party, but there'll be other people there so that'll lessen the pain.

"Did I hear something about a dinner party?" inquired Cortex as he came over to Mario and Link. Any snazzy get-together that was taking place, Cortex desired to be a part of. "What time should I be arriving, Mario?"

"Dr. Cortex, it's-a couples only," replied Mario; Cortex would still show up to the party regardless, bringing Tiki along as his date. "And besides, Berkut only has ten-a wine glasses, so the guests will be me and Peach, Zelda and Link, and Fox and Krystal."

"Hey-o!" cheered Fox, from across the library; Falco suddenly ran up to Mario, having an issue with how the dinner party was organized.

"Are you sure that only couples are allowed to attend?" Falco desperately asked Mario, refusing to be left out while his "favorite couple" had their fun. "Help a brother out, man..."

Cortex: Does it bother me that I wasn't invited to Berkut's dinner party? *breaks down crying*

That evening, two couples stood outside Alm and Berkut's house - Mario and Peach, and Link and Zelda. Mario rang the doorbell, as Alm and Celica both answered the door.

"Hello!" Celica greeted the three couples, grateful that they were attending Berkut's dinner party. Berkut sure could use all the support he could get. "How is everyone?"

"Come on in," said Alm as he let Mario and company inside the house. Usually Berkut would cause a racket about Alm letting people inside...but not tonight. "Good to see all of you."

"So, what have you been-a doing?" Mario asked Alm and Celica, as he and the others were settling down in the living room. Alm and Celica were both befuddled.

"Let's see, since we saw you an hour ago?" asked Alm, to which Mario nodded his head; that plumber sure was curious. "I have been getting ready and preparing for the dinner party."

"Well we have been doing pretty much-a the same thing...except we walked." Nothing really worth bragging about, Mario.

"We got this for Berkut and Rinea," Zelda said to Celica as she handed the queen a bottle of wine. The bottle was black, which would already make it perfect in Berkut's eyes.

"Oh well Zelda, thank you, this will be great for Rinea to cook with," thanked Celica, as she put the bottle of wine down. Speaking of Rinea, the noblewoman showed up at the living room, with her husband Berkut.

"Be nice to them..." Rinea whispered to Berkut, who kept a straight face as he and Rinea walked over to Mario and company. "...good evening, everyone. You're all right on time!"

"Yes, have a seat, or come on in, or, I don't know, make yourself at home," Berkut said to the party guests, sounding very awkward and withdrawn. This was a huge sign of concern for Rinea. "This is our house."

"It's really nice," remarked Peach, who really had no clue what to say. The princess felt like Berkut had just insulted her intelligence.

"So what do you all think, should we do the tour first or the appetizers first?" Rinea asked the party guests, serving as the leader of the festivities. Primarily since Berkut didn't feel like stepping up to the plate. "We renovated this house a bit over time."

"Tour, let's do the tour first," replied Link, who never had the chance of seeing what the interior of Alm and Berkut's house was like. Berkut was to blame, for seldom letting people inside his home.

"Do you have a preference, dear?" Rinea turned towards Berkut, who wasn't feeling the whole house tour idea. He thought that such things were frivolous. "Upstairs first?"

"Totally your call, dear," replied Berkut, letting his wife handle the house tour by herself. Only way he would participate would be by force.

"Alright, well, let's go then, I say upstairs." So Mario and Peach and Link and Zelda followed after Berkut and Rinea, while Alm and Celica stayed put.

"Oh, you guys doing a little construction?" asked Link as Berkut and Rinea brought the party guests over to the staircase.

"Just redoing the sliding glass door," replied Berkut, wondering why Link cared so much. It was just a sliding glass door, what was so fascinating about it? Berkut had thoughts like these running through his head.

"So sorry about this awful carpet, we're still a work in progress here," Rinea apologized to the party guests, as Berkut was now wondering why Rinea had to apologize for. The carpet didn't bother him.

"Enjoy the house tour, you all!" Alm called out to the others, as he and Celica headed to the kitchen. "Celica and I will be preparing the appetizers."

Microwave Idol Mamorin was still going strong, and was still churning out entertaining episodes every week. Each episode brought something new, and kept viewers at the edge of their seat from beginning to end. Mamori, Ashley, and Asuka were all satisfied with the progress of their show so far, as they watched their most recent episode in the computer room.

"This might be our best episode ever," Mamori said to her fellow co-hosts, watching as the special guest of the episode, Vault Boy, was cooking some beef jerky in a microwave. "Our show just keeps getting better!"

"But that episode is our lowest-viewed episode yet," stated Asuka, who noticed that viewership for Microwave Idol Mamorin was on the decline. Not a good sign. "You know what I think it is? I think that food shows and variety are dead. It's everywhere. You know, I turn on the TV and there's always some cooking show on. Some eight-year old crying because Gordon Ramsay insulted their cooking ability...it's just too much.

"It's the economy," assumed Ashley, seeing some correlation between the viewership and the economy's current state. "The economic downfall is discouraging people from watching our show."

Ashley: When in doubt, always blame the economy. Or the government. I'd say that the government is the bigger strawman.

"I think it's just time that we move on..." said Mamori, and Asuka and Ashley's eyes both went wide as they looked at the idol singer out of shock. "...and experiment with other stuff we could do."

"We're still doing the show, right?" asked Asuka, figuring that she would be booted out of the mansion if her services were no longer needed.

"Oh no, we're still doing the show...we'll just be doing side-projects." This was a huge relief to Asuka, who let out a relieved sigh.

As Rinea said, there were some renovations done to the house, to make the house feel more "modern". Something that Marth would heavily object to. First stop of the tour was Rinea's new office.

"This is my office," Rinea said to the party guests, revealing to them her office space. Had all the works of a regular office - a desk, a lamp, and some random pictures lying on the wall. Only thing missing was a computer...Marth would probably approve.

"Never been used..." Berkut muttered underneath his breath, already wanting the house tour to be over with. Rinea, overhearing Berkut, furrowed her brow at her husband.

"Yes, it's not super exciting, but it's still a work in progress. We're making baby steps."

"By 'we're', she only means herself." Berkut wanted to make this known, as he couldn't care less about Rinea's office.

"And this is my workspace." Rinea brought the party guests over to her workspace, which was...exactly just like the office. A desk, lamp, random pictures on the wall. But there were candles - lots of candles.

"You sure have quite-a the collection of candles," remarked Mario, noticing that all the candles in the workspace had "Serenity by Rinea" on them. Very fancy. "A lot of different odors going on in-a here."

"So you have an office and a workspace?" Peach asked Berkut and Rinea, trying to understand what the difference was between the two.

"We do, I cannot create in the same space I conduct most of my business," replied Rinea, as Berkut was heard mumbling something unintelligible underneath his breath. "I'm sure that you're the same with your turnips" Rinea grabbed a candle, and held it up to Link's nose. "Smell."

"It's fire," stated Link, providing an honest description of what he was smelling. Unless his nose was playing tricks with him.

"Uh-huh. Bonfire. Men love this candle. Never understood why..."

"Bond," Mario randomly said, as the word triggered in his brain after Rinea said bonfire. "James Bond Fire. I am Bond-a fire, James Bond Fire. Mario Scarn." Mario clicked his tongue, only to receive weird looks...the plumber mellowed out quickly.

"When I get frustrated, or irritated or…angry, I come up here and I just smell all my candles and it just...poof! Goes away."

"Just like that?" asked Link, who couldn't see how the candles could ease Rinea's cares unless the candle he smelt was scentless.

"Just like that." Rinea placed the candle back where it was, as she led the party guests over to the master bedroom. Berkut begrudgingly followed. "So this is our master bedroom, and these walls used to like white, like an asylum. I wanted it to be softer, so I had it painted in eggshell white."

"Guess what, white and eggshell white are exactly the same color," grumbled Berkut, who was now more done with the house tour than ever before. Rinea looked around the bedroom, and saw how mostly unkempt it was.

"Sweetheart, I thought you said you were going to tidy things up." Berkut was about to say something to his wife, but he held his tongue. "Shame on you!"

"What a cute bench," said Zelda, as she saw a bench sitting on the side of the bedroom. It was conspicuously close to the queen-sized bed...

"Thanks, that's my bed," thanked Berkut, as his confession startled the guests. How was a man of high social standing like Berkut relegated to a bench? "Rinea has been having some space issues, so I curl up against my will on that thing."

"Really? Because…seems-a pretty narrow…and short," observed Mario, wondering how Berkut was able to fit inside the bench given his height.

"It's actually a lot bigger than it seems. Look at this." Berkut would demonstrate as he would lie down on the bench; no matter how hard he tried to hide it, the paladin looked miserable.

"See, he fits perfectly!" Rinea said to the guests, as an angry scowl slowly began to form on Berkut's face.

Mamori and friends went around the mansion, asking the residents for some creative ideas that she and her friends could use. One of the residents they spoke with was Master Mummy.

"I want to express myself, but I have nothing to say and no medium with which to do it," Mamori spoke with Master Mummy in the middle of the hallway, with Master Mummy nodding and deep in thought.

"Performing isn't necessarily the only way to express yourself," stated Master Mummy, before taking out a book and showing it to Mamori and friends. For example, I write poetry, in a book."

"That's pretty neat, Master Mummy," remarked Ashley, as Master Mummy showed off a few of the poems he wrote. "You're not as dumb as you look..."

Master Mummy: This is a haiku I wrote: "Beauty approaches; I am brought under its spell; I long to be with." Then I ran out of syllables.

Rinea took the party guests down to the living room, while Alm and Celica were still getting things ready for dinner. Berkut, after being implored by Rinea, was asked to show the guests the plasma TV.

"I was deliberately forced by my wife and my annoying housemates to buy a plasma TV," Berkut said to the party guests, revealing a tiny TV to them in the living room. "I actually hung this on the wall myself. I want to show you something . A lot of people in the room, need more space?" Berkut moved the TV back a couple inches. "Right in the wall..."

"Wow," Mario said in awe, as he was easily amazed - which made Berkut think less of the plumber, for that reason.

"Sometimes I will just stand here and watch television for hours. I despise that TV, don't get it twisted. Oh, and I also had to build this table."

"What is that, chestnut?" inquired Link, as he was observing the table surface and material.

"No, I think that is either pine, or Nordic cherry."

"It's pine!" Alm shouted from the kitchen, as Berkut gritted his teeth; Berkut hated being wrong, and he hated being corrected by Alm even more.

"Berkut, I'm just terrible at all this stuff, so that's really cool," Link said to the paladin, showing that his acumen of table material was low.

"Really?" asked an amazed Rinea, clutching her pearls.

"Yes, he tried to set up my TIVO for me but then I didn't have audio for a week," said Peach, who was very appreciative of Berkut lending a helping hand. Turns out Berkut knew his way around televisions...he was arguably more advanced than Marth.

"If you ever need any help, I am just a doorbell away," replied Berkut, insinuating that he wasn't a huge fan of phones. He still had some room to learn.

"I bet you are," Rinea said to Berkut with a smile, as Berkut huffed and rolled his eyes.

"Oh, Berkut - your Smashies!" exclaimed Mario, spotting a Smashie on a living roof shelf; Berkut received a few Smashie awards at the Smashies last year, all of which were frivolous but of the utmost importance to Berkut. Mainly because of clout. "I'm surprised they're all not out in-a the living room for everybody to see."

"It was between the stone statue and the Smashies so I said 'Honey keep the trophies'." Everyone knew that this stone statue was only created in Berkut's likeness.

"Rinea, I have the best trophy right here, aside from my Smashies." Just then, the doorbell rang, meaning that more guests had arrived. "I'll get it."

Berkut hustled his way to the front door, and when he opened it he saw Fox and Krystal standing by. Fox and Krystal entered the house; like most others, this was their first time being inside Berkut's house.

"So glad you're finally able to be here," Rinea warmly greeted Fox and Krystal, as Fox attempted to give the noblewoman a hug. A quick glare from Berkut was enough to make the pilot quickly change his mind.

"This house sucks compared to ours..." Fox whispered quietly to Krystal, before going up to Link. "Link! Or should I call you shrimp? Are we having shrimp for dinner?" Fox then went to Zelda. "I bet you're sick of shrimp, right? You probably have shrimp every night. Shrimp!" Then he ran inside the kitchen, to greet Celica as he gave the princess some red flowers. "These are for you."

"Oh, how thoughtful!" smiled Celica as she accepted the flowers from Fox, while Alm looked on with a frown on his face. Look at Fox, trying to act all smooth...

Fox: Link seriously needed a nickname, since being called Link all the time must be tiring after a while. So, I came up with Shrimp! After a lotta process of elimination.

"Very nice," smiled Mario, nodding in approval of Fox's kind gesture, as Fox went back to the living room with one more flower in his hand.

"Except for one flower, which is for…my flower," Fox looked romantically at Krystal, as he handed his wife the one flower in his hand. Krystal, because she had no other choice, accepted the flower.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Krystal questioned Fox, wishing that she could throw away her flow if she could. At least the flower was blue - showed how much Fox knew his wife.

"How about we do the short tour and then we'll start dinner?" Rinea proposed to Fox and Krystal, as Berkut groaned loudly at the thought of having to partake in another house tour.

"I can help Alm and Celica start up dinner," said Zelda, wanting to make herself useful rather than just be a guest. "If they need it, though."

"Oh no, it's just the osso buco that needs to be braised for about three hours, everything else is done," Alm assured Zelda, signifying that dinner was almost done. Mario's stomach was already growling.

"Three hours from now or three hours from earlier like 4:00?"

"You know Zelda, in Spain they often don't start-a eating until midnight," Mario said to the princess, having been to Spain a few times before. Reminded him a lot about Italy. "When in Rome..."

"Do you have a preference, upstairs first?" Rinea asked Berkut, who couldn't be bothered with going on a house tour. No matter how much Rinea forced him.

"Whatever you say sweetheart..." Berkut replied with a grumble, as he looked away from Rinea; a lot of animosity was brewing between him and Rinea.

"Follow me!" So Fox and Krystal followed after Rinea, as Berkut sighed heavily and followed after his wife.

Mamori and friends went to the lounge, still looking for some ideas. Inside the lounge they found Sonic, who was speaking on the phone with someone.

"It's not like they have anything else to do, okay?" Sonic said into the phone, sounding pretty annoyed as Mamori and friends crept closer to the hedgehog. "They're old – their bingo cards aren't going anywhere."

Sonic: Picture this: fifty ancient zombies, traipsing through the pot-hole-ridden streets of Seattle, out for blood. Sounds scary, right? Too bad you'll never see it because the idiot manager at the old folks home thinks it sounds "exploitative". So, that's where we're at right now.

"Okay, your level of hysteria makes me think maybe you're not in charge," said Sonic, wondering if he was even speaking with the right person. "Is there a supervisor I can…" The person on the phone suddenly hung up, much to Sonic's chagrin.

"What's going on?" Asuka asked Sonic, nearly startling the hedgehog as he jumped back out of fright.

"I was making a horror movie. Wanted to show Mario how a real home movie is done! But the retirement home won't let me use any of their old people. They wouldn't even let me ask."

"Well…we could be in it," Ashley enticed Sonic, a hundred percent certain that she and her friends would be more valuable than some senior citizens from a retirement home. "You could use us."

"No thanks. My movie needs zombies, and you're not the type I'm looking for..."

"Lots of directors use their lady friends in movies," Mamori said to Sonic, who found the idol singer's statement to be wildly untrue.

"You're not my lady friends! We're linked. We're more like acquaintances."

"Sonic, look, we can scream as much as we need to," said Ashley; being the creepy girl that she was, Ashley was pretty open to being in a horror movie. "I usually make you scream most of the time, so perhaps I could return the favor."

"I guess if the director of Paranormal Activity can take a bunch of unknowns and a crap location and make it a hit...so can I. Guess I can make it work."

"Well ladies...it looks like we're in business," Mamori said to Ashley and Asuka, having found an outlet. But would it pay off, though?

Once Fox and Krystal were done with their house tour, everyone got settled in the living room, as Alm and Celica were done in the kitchen. Everyone had a glass of wine in their hands, ready for a toast.

"How about a toast? Shall I?" Alm asked the others, although he didn't need a response. "Here's to good friends!"

"Cheers!" everyone said, from the jovial Mario, to Berkut who could only mutter coldly.

"Kinda sorta an oaky afterbirth," remarked Mario after sipping from his glass, as Link gave the plumber a quizzical look.

"So music, should we turn on some music?" asked Celica; some music could really help ease the bones.

"Yes, that sounds good," replied Berkut, hoping that some music could help him take his mind off of how things were going so far.

"You all know who Azura is, right?" Celica went to the music player in the living room, and pressed the play button. "K.K. Slider got her to sing a few songs, and burned them unto a CD. Very relaxing."

"You are an ocean of wave, weaving a dream, like thoughts become a river stream..." Lost in Thoughts All Alone played from the music player, as Azuna's soothing voice filled the living room. Everyone was enjoying the song, except for one person...

"You know what, Azuna is a lousy singer, that's why we never invited her to perform at my wedding," said Berkut, outright admitting that he was delusional; nobody in their right mind would ever consider Azuna a "lousy singer".

"Berkut seems to be in a very sour mood," Krystal said quietly to Fox, who nodded his head in an observing manner. "But, what else is new..."

Zelda: *whispering* I don't care what they say, I just want to eat. Which I realize is a lot to ask for…at a dinner party.

Viridi was in the gardens, watering flowers and whatnot, when she heard some rustling from one of the bushes. Curious, the goddess of nature walked over to the bush...

...only for Asuka to jump out from behind it, screaming while holding a knife. Asuka had some zombie makeup on her face, and it proved to be effective as it made Viridi's terrified scream even more pronounced.

"Cut!" shouted Sonic as he appeared out from some shrubbery with Master Mummy, who got footage of Viridi being scared on his digital camera. "Got it! Very authentic looking. Amazing."

"She gave me a heart attack!" Viridi complained to Sonic, holding her hand over her chest as she recollected her breath.

"I'm so sorry Viridi," Asuka apologized to the goddess of nature as she placed her hand on her back. The Viridi of old would've slapped Asuka's hand away, in less than a nanosecond.

"We needed a real reaction for the scene to work and we got it, so congratulations," Sonic said to Viridi, before turning his attention to Asuka. "You're amazing." Then the hedgehog reverted his attention back to Viridi. "You are so good!"

"Is that even a fake knife?" asked a cautious Viridi, who couldn't help but feel as if Asuka's knife looked a little too sharp for her liking.

"A prop knife actually costs ten times more than a real knife and we have lots of knives lying around, so…" At least a real knife made things more authentic.

Berkut and company were now playing charades, having some fun before the dinner party could begin. Fox was up doing charades, acting out something.

"No it's a…hump," said Fox, as he was putting a hump in his back. It remained to be seen if he would shake his rump. "There's a hump."

"Joe Camel!" guessed Peach, as Fox excitedly clapped his hands and pointed at the princess.

"Okay, yes! First name of that animal and the second name is the state where Helena is the capital."

"Montana," answered Zelda as she figured out Fox's riddle, before putting all the ingredients together. "Joe Montana!"

"Yes! Yes." Fox held out his hand to Zelda for a high-five, but just like Link in the last episode, he was left hanging. If only he knew...

"Why didn't you just say 49ers quarterback?" Joe Montana wasn't the only famous 49ers quarterback out there, Zelda.

"Alright, my turn, my turn," said Berkut, stepping up to the plate as he was doing some weird rhythm clapping. The paladin was acting very tense.

"Berkut can you just like really, I dunno...could you just simmer down?" Rinea asked her husband, not wanting him to make an utter fool out of himself.

"What, no, I'm just making people laugh. Is that not what you do when you're playing charades? I was watching Mario 's face."

"I was watching Mario." Mario wasn't laughing at all - just had a simple smile on his face.

"And he was laughing. I know what I'm talking about."

"No, smiling. You're making things up."

"Look at him, he's laughing. Laughing from the inside."

Link: Berkut and Rinea seem to be playing their own separate game and it's called "Let's see how uncomfortable we can make our guests" and they're both winning. So I'm going to make a run for it. *holds cellphone* Toad sure doesn't mind letting others borrow his phone...

"You'll never guess, I just got a message from Cloud," Link informed the others, as he came out from the bathroom where he had his talking head segment. "My room flooded, something with a sprinkler. Zelda, we should probably get going and see the damage."

"Okay then," said Zelda, getting ready to head back to the mansion with Link. But Berkut wasn't willing to let a single Hylian leave his household.

"Well you don't need two of you to do that," the paladin spoke up, preventing either Link or Zelda from leaving. Link had to find another way out.

"That's true. Um…dinner sounded delicious. Princess Zelda, I'll see you back at the mansion,, thank you so much." Link is really gonna leave his girlfriend behind, what a guy...

"Oh Link, I don't think you're going to abandon this party here all by itself," responded Zelda, leaving her boyfriend in a rock and a hard place. No way was she going to be alone by herself.

"I don't know because everything I own is there."

"You can buy new stuff but you can't buy a new party."

"That's true, that's a great point," nodded Berkut, as he grabbed Link and sat him back down on the living room couch. "Come on down here. Sit down on that couch and be amongst friends and we are not going to think about all your stuff being destroyed, alright?"

"Berkut, you're up," Fox said to the paladin - take note that Berkut has never played a single game of charades, so treat him lightly.

"Here we go, this is going to be fun, or so I think. The first name is Tom..."

"No names, no names, no rhyming, no soundalikes," Rinea informed Berkut, who had no idea that the game of charades came with a set of rules.

"You're getting inside my head, woman...first name is blank and he goes on a cruise, he goes on a Caribbean cruise."

"I don't know," said Krystal, as Berkut had no idea how to act things out. He was greener than grass when it came to charades.

"Katie Holmes," guessed Mario, frustrating Berkut mightily with his wrong answer."

"No, but he's married to her!" said Berkut, as Mario felt the answer to Berkut's charade was on the tip of his tongue.

"Oh, Dawson's Creek! It's-a Dawson's Creek!"

"No! It has to be a real person Mario, come on. You know what, I'm going to pass. Okay...rhymes with Parnold Schporzenegger.

"No rhyming!" shouted Rinea, as Berkut growled angrily at these nonsensical rules.

"Not really a rhyme," remarked Alm, as the frustration building up inside of Berkut was beginning to mount.

"Another clue, another clue," Krystal said to Berkut, who tried to think of another clue - one that didn't come with any weird rhyming, of course."

"He is the governor of California, he is the Terminator," explained Berkut, nearly giving away his answer. He really sucked at charades.

"Those aren't helpful." The clues were helpful to Mario, who felt like he finally had the right answer to the charade.

"Tom Cruise!" exclaimed Mario as he pointed his fingers at Berkut, who just stared at Mario as if he was born yesterday.

"No!" yelled Berkut, holding inside the indignation to sucker punch Mario the face. Aristocrats like him should never resort to such measures.

"Time!" shouted Fox, as he was looking at the stopwatch on his phone.

"Does anybody read the paper?! You people can be so dense..."

Sonic was filming his horror movie all around the mansion, getting Asuka to scare people left and right. Some residents felt some type of way about being scared, and took their complaints up to Cloud, who spoke with Sonic and company in his room.

"I know you want to make your movie, but you can't scare people in the mansion," Cloud said to Sonic, Mamori, and Ashley, being as authoritative as he could possibly be. The swordsman, in all honesty, couldn't care less about the horror movie.

"Well Cloud, I looked through the handbook and it doesn't say anything about not being allowed to make horror movies in the mansion," stated Sonic - if Wolf had the freedom to make his own horror movie, in episodes 17 and 18, then why not Sonic?

"Jokes on you, Sonic - we don't even have a handbook. But even if we did..."

Cloud looked behind him, and saw Asuka, grunting while wielding an axe. Cloud jumped back as Asuka slammed her axe at the swordsman.

"Run!" Ashley called out to Cloud, and no, he wasn't scared - he was just on high alert. Big difference.

"Where? There's nowhere to run..." Acting more scared then he was supposed to, Cloud quickly gathered himself. "...okay."

"Oh yeah..." grinned Master Mummy, who stealthily recorded Cloud's reaction from outside the room. Sonic glanced at the mummy, giving him a thumbs up.

The dinner party couldn't start soon enough, and Berkut was still ticked off after he played charades. Most of the blame could be put squarely on him, as he had the worst performance out of everyone underneath his household.

"I'm so, so sorry for the temperature in here," Rinea apologized to Zelda, who was seen fanning herself with her hand. "The sliding glass door shattered. It's actually a really cute story. Do you wanna tell it, Berkut, or should I tell it?

"I don't like that story, dear..." replied Berkut, as it was a story that Berkut did not want anyone to hear. Let alone have his wife tell.

"Come on, it's a cute story. Berkut ran through the sliding glass doors because he thought he heard the ice cream truck! When it was just King K. Rool."

"Stop it! I mean, I like ice cream. Okay? I have a soft spot for it. Sue me. Oh, no, don't. I shouldn't say that jokingly because she will sue me. She's a woman of nobility, loves lawsuits. You know, dear, that door was extremely clean and it looked invisible."

"You are so right, you're so right because Alm and Celica always complained about the glass always being covered in smudges, and then I decided to clean it so I guess that makes me the Devil."

"Ha ha, you are! She is! She is the devil! Aaahhh I'm burning, help me!"

"You shouldn't joke about that..." said Celica, with the sudden growing fear that Berkut was beginning to lose his mind. A few of the guests were on edge.

"Is there more wine in the kitchen?" asked Zelda, in an effort to ease tensions in the household - and looking for a way to get away from the awkwardness.

"I will get it, I will get it, what kind of hostess would I be if I didn't get it?" questioned Rinea, as she stood up from her seat. "It's okay, I don't mind. In fact you know what, girl's trip. Come on, ladies. Girl's trip."

Cloud would let Sonic and company off the hook, allowing them to continue their horror movie shenanigans. But after Diddy Kong got scared and complained to Cloud, Cloud had no choice but to lay down the law.

"You can not sneak up on people wielding weapons anymore," the swordsman said to Sonic and company, this time being more stern than before. "It's petrifying and kinda unprofessional.

"It's unprofessional for you, but for me, making films is my profession," proclaimed Sonic, attempting to guilt trip Cloud into changing his mind. "Just for the time being..."

"Look, I don't want to have to threaten you or anything, but you have to stop this production or I will…"

"Whoa. Wait. Stop right there. Your voice, just now. It sounded really resonant and commanding. I have an idea that is so nuts…I feel like we kinda have to do it. Would you consider doing voiceover work on my film?"

"You seriously don't want me doing voiceover work...I'm not the right guy for the job."

"Why not? You could really surprise some people. Your voice isn't that bad."

"People usually say my voice is really boring. Master Hand says I sound like Jason Morgan from General Hospital, but edgier...in a bad way."

"Quit playing hard to get, Cloud!" shouted Master Mummy, accidentally getting some saliva in the swordsman's face. "You know you have a great voice."

"Fine, I'll take your word for it...I'll be the narrator for your movie."

"Awesome!" exclaimed Sonic, celebrating as he pumped his fist. "I'll direct. I'll produce. I'll act. I'll write the score. I'll be the first to wear all four hats."

"Um, I hate to break it to you, but Clint Eastwood already does all that."

"Mmm...I guess so. But does he also play his own soundtrack?" Sonic took out an ocarina, and played three notes. "Let's make a movie guys!"

Young Link: I'm perfectly fine with letting Sonic use my ocarina, for his horror movie. Not like I need it anyways, especially in the line of duty. Sonic better not use the ocarina to summon a horde of zombies...Starsky and I can only arrest so many criminals in one day.

The "girl's trip" was mainly in the kitchen, as the men in the household went to go hang out somewhere else. Celica looked inside the oven, to see if the osso buco was ready.

"Uh, not even close," the queen confirmed as she closed the oven door; that dinner party better start real soon, before things got out of hand.

"So you two keep a very tidy house," Krystal said to Celica and Rinea as she looked around the house; it was a nice mix of both modern and old-fashioned.

"You should see our bathroom after Berkut takes a bath," remarked Rinea, looking as if she had some kind of post-traumatic stress disorder. "But you would probably know what I mean, Peach."

"You're right..." responded Peach, before doing a double take as she looked at Rinea. "...wait, what?"

The men were chilling in the garage, away from the women. It was here that Berkut began to cool down, as his frustration was slowly fading away.

"So I spend most of my time right here - take a seat," Berkut said to Mario, Link, and Fox, bringing their attention to the chairs assembled in the garage. "So Link, I noticed you checking out Rinea's candles.

"Oh no, she just put it in front of my face," explained Link, who didn't think that much about Rinea's candles. At least from the one candle he smelt.

"Did you know that candles are the number one fastest-growing product in the scent aroma market? Did my research on it - $2 billion dollar a year industry. And for only $10,000, you could become a co-owner of 'Serenity by Rinea'. What do you think about that?"

"Thought about it, I'm in," volunteered Fox after really giving no thought; he was only thinking about making an investment for Star Records.

"I'm sorry, are you really trying to get us to invest in some candles?" Link questioned Berkut, having a bunch that the paladin was only acting in his best financial interests. Acting like a true aristocrat.

"I'm sorry," apologized Berkut, before groaning when he heard the doorbell rang. Unnecessary visitors were the last thing he wanted now. "What now?"

"Coming!" shouted Celica as she ran to the front door. When she answered it, she saw Cortex and Tiki standing by, holding wine glasses, with Pit right behind them with a cooler.

"Hello..." Cortex smiled and waved to Celica, who furrowed her brow; Cortex and Tiki were obviously not on the guest list.

Cortex: Berkut's dinner party is for couples only, which is why I wasn't initially invited. But little do they know. I still have a pretty healthy bond, if you will, with Tiki, that for some reason makes people very uncomfortable. *looking around* If only she'll show up on time...

"What are you doing here?" Alm asked Cortex and company, as he and the other men came from the garage.

"We came here to eat dinner and to party, this is a dinner party right?" asked Cortex, showing the king the wine glasses in his hands. Got Tiki to do the same.

"I'm the plus-one!" Pit randomly shouted, before he realized that Tiki was around as Cortex's date. "Or am I a plus-two?"

"Berkut, what is Cortex doing here?" Rinea confronted Berkut, refusing to let Cortex step foot in her house. Tiki, sure, but Cortex didn't stand a chance.

"Dr. Cortex...is my former roommate," said Berkut, in a miniscule effort to defend Cortex's presence; the paladin seldom stood up for Cortex in the past.

"Didn't you say that we were invited?" Tiki asked Cortex, who eyed around as he smiled nervously.

"You said that I could not invite anyone that wasn't in a couple, and because we didn't have enough wine glasses. Yet Cortex brought glasses and a person."

"Fine, whatever you want, just like always, whatever you want," said Rinea, as she threw her arms up in defeat.

"Whatever I want? It's never whatever I want. When I wanted to see Stomp, and you wanted to see Wicked, what did we see?"

"We saw Wicked." Very slowly, Rinea's calm and friendly demeanor was eroding...

"When I said that I wanted to have kids, and you said, you wanted me to have a vasectomy, what did I do? And then when you said that you might want to have kids and I wasn't so sure, Who had the vasectomy reversed? And then when you said you definitely didn't want to have kids, who had it reversed back? Snip snap! Snip snap! Snip snap! I did. You have no idea the physical toll that three vasectomies have on a person."

"I am so sorry that I don't want to bring kids into this screwed-up world, okay? But look if you want to have kids, then fine you win. Let's have a stupid kid."

"Do you mean it? You want to have a kid?" Rinea felt too upset to answer, as she walked away from Berkut. The others could feel the tension.

"I hate my life..." Both Alm and Celica felt bad for Rinea, and at the same time surprised that Berkut and Rinea had never had a confrontation until now.

"Sooo...can we come in?" asked Cortex, breaking the awkward silence; that osso buco should be ready by now, right?

Sonic's movie found a narrator, in Cloud, and it also had a title too - "The Third Floor". With everything coming together, Sonic started to direct more scenes, and was making one right now with Ashley and Anna in Master Hand's room.

"So how can I help you?" Ashley asked Anna, who was seated across from the young witch at the desk the search committee typically used. Anna wore an eyepatch and a scarf over her head.

"I would like to buy some wares, but I haven't any money," replied Anna, speaking in a foreign accent that was right on the money.

"Well this is America, so you should just get a job or something." Then Anna stood up, pointing at Ashley in a menacing manner.

"I give you curses! May the spirits of the serial killers of the past combine forces and haunt the third floor for all eternity! Ha! Ha! Ha!" Anna ran out of Master Hand's room, laughing evilly along the way.

"Guess her good eye isn't that good because this is the second floor..." Sonic stood in the background with Master Mummy, impressed as he gave Master Mummy a fist bump.

The dinner party had yet to start, and there was still tension going on between Berkut and Rinea, which only produced an awkward vibe. Everyone sat in silence, with Rinea sobbing a little, as Pit was enjoying a turkey leg.

"Hmmm…mmm…great turkey leg," Pit savored, shaking his head in delight of how delicious his turkey leg was. There was already a turkey on the dinner table, and Pit just couldn't help himself...

"I'm just going to go check on dinner," Rinea said as she got up from her seat; Celica was going to check the dinner herself, but Rinea just needed to distance herself.

"Princess Peach, would you like some of my salad?" Cortex asked the princess, showing her some chicken salad that he brought with him just in case.

"No thanks, I dislike chicken salad," replied Peach, but that didn't stop Cortex from placing the chicken salad in front of her.

"It's actually really good," Tiki said to Peach, although Peach still remained highly skeptical of the chicken salad. "Dr. Cortex made it himself."

"I know you'll love this chicken salad," Cortex said to Peach, as he pushed his chicken salad closer to the princess. "If you like regular fried chicken, then you'll surely like this!"

"Again, I'm not interested..." stated Peach as she pushed the chicken salad away from her, much to Cortex's chagrin. "...go and force your salad on somebody else."

"Celica..." Berkut whispered to the queen, leaning over the table slightly as Celica pulled herself closer to Berkut. "...I hope she didn't do anything to the food."

"Like…like what?" Celica whispered back; she didn't think that Rinea would poison the food, but given her current mood, it wouldn't be out of the ordinary.

"I can't prove it but I think she might be trying to poison me." Soon a solemn Rinea returned to the dining room, and Berkut leaned back as his wife fixed everyone's food. "...wow, food looks great."

"Yeah it does," agreed Fox, liking his chops as he saw his food served for him. Got both of his eating utensils ready. "Knocked this out of the park!"

Celica: I know Rinea didn't poison the food. I know that. But if she was going to poison the food of someone at that table wouldn't it be me, out of jealousy and spite?

"Can you not do that?" Rinea scolded Berkut, after sitting down, as she saw her husband dipping his portion of steak into his glass of wine. "It's disgusting."

"You know I have soft teeth, how can you say that?" retorted Berkut, insulted that his wife would have the gall to call him out at the dinner table. "Excuse me for a second." Berkut got up from the table.

"So…are you two together now?" Mario curiously asked Tiki, who was sipping her wine only to choke a few seconds later.

"We're only friends, just very close," responded Tiki after she cleared her throat, while Cortex quietly listened along to the conversation.

"Are you two dating?" Peach asked Tiki; if the princess asked Cortex that question, Cortex would answer "yes" in a heartbeat.

"We have a very passionate relationship and that's all you need to know," Cortex would answer for Tiki, before quickly taking a bite out of his steak.

"What times are you available tomorrow because-a I have a lot of questions…" Mario said to Tiki, as Berkut returned to the dining room. In Berkut's hands was a stone statue, which looked just like him.

"Okay...alright…here we go," said Berkut as he took down a huge painting of himself behind his seat and put up the stone statue...of himself. "There we go."

"That's nice," remarked Link, and that was the only thing the Hylian could say without outright upsetting Berkut.

"Everybody enjoying their meal?" Berkut asked the dinner party guests as he sat back down, while the guests nodded their heads in response.

"Um, Berkut..." Rinea said to Berkut, bracing herself to ask a question that she knew would anger her husband. "...how about we take your statue down until our guests leave and then we can discuss it?"

"No. I'm going to leave it up. I think it ties the whole room together. Alm, Celica, don't you think so?"

"Okay..." Rinea got up and went over to the music player, turning on Azura's CD and playing it really loud.

"Rinea thinks Azura is very talented," Berkut said to the party guests, speaking over the loud music and Azura's graceful singing. "You know what? I don't think she's that good." A delusional man you are, Berkut...

"At least she's a singer."

"Who cares. I'm a songwriter."

"AND I'M A CANDLEMAKER BUT YOU DON'T HEAR ME BRAGGING ABOUT IT!" Rinea was shouting, and it caught the others by surprise.

"NO, ALL YOU DO IS YOU GET ME TO TRY TO WORK ON MY REGAL FRIENDS!"

"FOR AN INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY!"

"MAN! I WOULD LOVE TO BURN YOUR CANDLES!"

"YOU BURN IT. YOU BUY IT!"

"OH GOOD. I'LL BE YOUR FIRST CUSTOMER!"

"AND YOU'RE HARDLY MY FIRST!"

With an evil look on her face, Rinea grabbed Berkut's Smashie and threw it at the plasma screen TV. Rinea doing such an act was unprecedented, but the noblewoman had reached her boiling point.

"THAT IS A 200 DOLLAR PLASMA SCREEN TV YOU JUST KILLED!" Berkut boomed at Rinea, more concerned about the money he spent going to waste than the actual television being ruined. "Good luck paying me back with the zero dollars you make, sweetheart!"

"I better get going..." Tiki said to Cortex as she left the dining room, while Rinea ran upstairs crying her eyes out.

"It's getting late," Link said to Berkut, glancing at the clock hanging in the dining room as Tiki left the house.

"No worries, she'll be out of the bathroom soon," Berkut assured the others, as he heard his wife crying loudly from upstairs. Things went south very fast...

The next scene of Sonic's movie featured Master Mummy in a darkened room (most likely the attic), looking around and carrying a flashlight. The mummy looked scared out of his mind.

"Hello? Is anybody here?" asked Master Mummy, biting his fingernails as he shined his flashlight on every little thing he saw.

"Not somebody..." Asuka's voice was heard, before Master Mummy shined his light and saw Asuka wielding her axe. "...parts from many!" Master Mummy screamed and ran towards the nearest door, but it was locked!

"Oh no! Oh. It's locked!" Asuka would attack Master Mummy with her axe, and Master Mummy fell to the ground as Asuka kept attacking him. "Please, don't. I have a family!"

"This scene will be way more effective when we get the fake blood..." Sonic whispered to Ashley and Mamori, as he recorded Asuka attacking Master Mummy from a distance. "...where do we find the fake blood, though?"

Snake: I have never seen anything like it. It has the right arm of Lizzie Borden, the left arm of Jeffrey Dahmer, the heart of Jack the Ripper and the legs of all the serial killers who ever got away. *pauses* This is gonna be in Sonic's movie, right? Not sure if this was the right place to recite my lines...

It was getting real late, and it was time for the guests to leave. While Fox and Krystal already left, Link and Zelda were about to make their leave...only to run into some policemen, as red-and-blue lights were flashing.

"Of course..." grumbled Link, who had a gut feeling that some police were called to Alm and Berkut's house.

"Get out of my way, I'll take care of this!" shouted Cortex, bustling past Link and Zelda before reaching the police. "What seems to be the problem, officers?"

"Not now, Dr. Cortex," said the first police officer, implying that he knew Cortex from a past incident. Probably arrested the evil genius for disturbing the public, with that ugly face of his. "We got a call about a disturbance?"

"Nothing disturbing here," stated Berkut, coming outside to speak with the police officers while downplaying their concerns. "Just a couple of friends having an excellent dinner party."

"The neighbors said they heard some shouting," said the second police officer, before bringing attention to Pac-Man who was standing outside. Pac-Man had his arms folded, as he was looking very angry at Berkut.

"Some families are trying to have quality time together, thank you very much!" Pac-Man shouted at Berkut, who could only give the eater of the ghosts the best sheepish smile that he could provide.

Pac-Man: We were just having a normal family game night, when I heard some loud yelling from Berkut's house. Sounded like he was fighting some banshee...Hold up, that was Rinea yelling at him? Was she possessed by the banshee?

"Yes, there was some screaming but…um…my wife...threw a trophy at the television in the living room," Berkut explained to the police officers, hoping they would understand.

"You wanna press charges?" asked the first police officers; Berkut didn't want to press charges, but the thought of it was pretty enticing to him.

"Would she get into trouble?" If Rinea ever got sent to jail because of her actions, Berkut would have to think twice.

"Yes. She'd be charged."

"I will take the fall. I did it."

"You know you don't have to press charges, you could just try to be more quiet," the second police informer advised Berkut, whose wife came running out the front door.

"Berkut. Berkut!" Rinea called out to her husband, in an almost pleading manner. "What are you doing to him?"

"Sir, do you have any other place you can stay?" the first police officer asked Berkut, knowing that the paladin shouldn't stay with Rinea for the moment being. "Maybe with one of your friends here?"

"Berkut can come home with me, I'm a former roommate of his," Cortex informed the police officers; Berkut was unnerved by the thought of rooming with Cortex, which was why he looked towards Link and Zelda.

"He can't stay with us, the mansion we live at is on fire," Link told the police officers, before Zelda whispered something into her boyfriend's ear. "I mean...it's flooded."

"Berkut will-a be staying with me..." said a certain Italian plumber, as Berkut looked behind and saw Mario standing by. "I got enough room-a in my house for him."

"No, not happening..." That didn't stop Mario from taking Berkut's hand, and dragging the paladin away to his home. "...Mario, let me go!"

"Bye sweetie!" Rinea waved to Berkut; although she would miss her husband's company, maybe some time away from each other for the married couple would be for the best.

Sonic had finished production of his movie, and used some of the footage to put together a trailer for his creation. The hedgehog showed off his trailer to Fox and Krystal in the computer room, as the two were eating ice cream. They saw Anna talking about curses, Master Mummy getting killed, Mamori being scared by Asuka, and plenty of fake blood, all in one trailer.

"Third Floor's the harm..." said the narrator, Cloud, as a scary-looking title screen appeared on the screen. Sonic smiled and looked at Fox and Krystal, wondering if they were impressed.

"'Coming to theaters...TBD'?" Fox read the words at the bottom of the title screen, resisting the urge to laugh. "You honestly believe this crap will be in theaters?"

"Mario is trying to get his dumb movie at a movie theater or two, so why shouldn't I?" questioned Sonic, only for Fox and Krystal to walk away. "One day, you'll see!"

Link and Zelda returned to the mansion...no, it wasn't flooded, as Link said. Everything at the mansion was normal, but only by what was considered "normal" at the mansion. Link and Zelda were in the kitchen, enjoying some homemade burgers that Cilan had made.

"This is the best burger I've ever had, dear," Zelda said to Link, slightly poking fun at how Berkut and Rinea addressed each other at the dinner party. The princess found it rather humorous, in a way.

"You know, I should have told you but I did something bad," confessed Link, before digging into his pocket and pulling out a CD. "I stole this..for you. Azura's CD."

"Oh you did, did you?" Looking around to see if anyone was looking, Zelda accepted the CD from Link, before stowing it away. "Let's keep that as our little secret..."

Let's hope that Link and Zelda don't end up like Berkut and Rinea, in the near future.