Author's Note:
As you might infer, this chapter has much to do with...well, March Madness. I wanted to do something like this in the past, but I thought it would be too big of a challenge. But here I am, doing it now...better late than never. On to the guest reviews:
"How will Pyra react knowing she and Rex are no longer a couple? Has Phosphora had any screen time yet? (Maybe have her react to Viridi's short hairstyle?) Will a Justice League: Snyder Cut chapter happen next week or make a reference to it? Is Dr. Wily using his voice from the Ruby-Spears Megaman cartoon? (Scott McNeil voiced him there). And finally, how do you feel about Nintendo discontinuing Mario 3D All Stars and Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon & The Blade of Light?"
Hehe...you'll see. Phosphora will get some more screen time. I might do a reference to the Justice League movie. Dr. Wily is indeed using his voice from the Mega Man cartoon. And I figured that Mario 3D All-STars could be discontinued. As for Shadow Dragon...I didn't see that one coming. Moving on:
"...I think Dingodile is an underrated character. I would love to see him more in the story."
Expect to see more Dingodile in Smash Life. I gotta say, he's a pretty big fan favorite in the Crash community. Moving on:
"have the phantom thieves stop cloud's plan by changing his heart"
Already on it! It will pretty much start with this chapter. We have a returning reviewer, by the name of Prometheus:
"If I'm going to be honest, I kinda forgot this story existed. I recently got into anime a while back. The anime I watched was Toradora (would recommend), so I'm just gonna be lazy and ask for a chapter that mentions something about that series."
I'm sure that you're one of many of those who forgot about this story...no hard feelings. I've never heard of Toradora, but I'll give it a try. Maybe it'll get a mention one day. Last up is Bowser327:
"I agree with that other reviewer. More Dingodile! He's such a funny character and a mood. Also, could Joker open up a mini Leblanc in the Mansion? Can Labrys and Sho Minazuki show up or should I say "Sho" up(Sho loves puns)? I could imagine a pun battle of epic proportions. And I know how Labrys can be included and it's a fun one! Shadow Labrys returns and takes over for Labrys and turns the Mansion on it's head with all types of nasty pranks. Like replacing Cloud's hairspray with spray on glue, feeding Wario a laxative, and it becomes like a horror movie and it's up to the younger residents to defeat the shadow in a prank war!"
I like the idea of having a mini Leblanc in the mansion; I'm willing to bet that Joker misses running a cafe spot. As for Labrys and Sho Minazuki, they may show up...but I don't know if I'll use all of your suggestions regarding those two. We shall see.
Episode 274: MarchMadness
At the start of every year, there was a sports phenomenon called March Madness. It was a big college basketball tournament, where sixty-four of the best college basketball teams duked it out for the national title. With so many teams involved, there was always chaos afoot.
Every year, basketball fans and casuals alike would fill out their brackets, trying to predict how the tournament would turn out. If one of your picks was wrong, then your whole bracket was busted. On the flip side, if you correctly predicted an upset victory, you were golden. It was such a big fad, Warren Buffet even offered big-time money to anyone with a perfect bracket - one billion dollars! And it wasn't just for his employees, either.
The mansion itself wasn't immune to the March Madness fad, as many of its residents took their time to fill out their brackets, as part of Master Hand's own bracket challenge. Whoever had the best bracket at the end of the tournament would receive a prize from Master Hand. Master Hand seldom gave out genuine prizes with any underlying ulterior motives, so him giving the prize out was a pretty big deal.
"You see very engrossed in that bracket, Joker," Kasumi said to Joker, as the two friends were walking through the hallway. Joker was fixated on his bracket, which he had filled out over the course of the week.
"St. Bonaventure versus Lousiana State...hoping that St. Bonaventure wins that one," said Joker as he glossed over his bracket, from the first round to the championship game. If any of the teams he picked in the first round lost today, it was all over for Joker.
"Funny, I'm going for St. Bonaventure, too!" Apparently, Kasumi was filling out a bracket too, after Ryuji convinced some of his friends to join in on the fun. "But only because of their team name, the Bunnies. Such a cute name!"
"Bonnies, Kasumi, they're called the Bonnies. Only picking teams just because of their name or mascot, huh? You're just like Makoto." Joker and Kasumi would approach Mewtwo, who was keeping to himself and minding his own business. "Mewtwo, who's going to win - Winthrop, or Villanova?"
"I am not obligated to answer that, you lousy cheater," replied Mewtwo as he teleported away; it wasn't the genetic Pokemon's first time being asked for help in filling out a bracket.
Mewtwo: Why, why are you asking me who wins March Madness? *sighs* I guess I'll bite, but only this one time. The team that goes all the way to the final round, and wins the national title...is the team that scores the most points in the championship game. There. Happy now?
"How am I a cheater?" pondered Joker, as Kasumi heard some a conversation from the nearby cafe. "Not like I wanted Mewtwo to see the future. All I wanted was an educated guess!"
"Psst, Joker, over here..." Kasumi whispered to the young man, who joined the redhead at the cafe entrance. Discreetly peeking inside, Joker and Kasumi saw Cloud speaking with several scientists - E. Gadd, N. Tropy, Moira, and Eggman. Oh, and Kamek was there, too.
"Did another time-traveling 'test run' with the Rift Generator, and it was a success," Cloud informed the others, with the inventor of the Rift Generator, N. Tropy, being very most pleased. "Luigi made it out just fine."
"Then Fox and Falco should have no problem going back in time for Aerith's DNA sample," assumed Moira, who was very confident that the Star Fox pilots could get the job done. "Provided they find the right body, of course..."
"Aerith is a very distinct-looking woman," stated Dr. Eggman, while Joker and Kasumi listened to every word spoken. "If Fox and Falco get her body mixed up with someone else's, they're absolutely blind!"
"Why do I get the feeling that Cloud wants to revive Aerith...?" Joker whispered to Kasumi as he stroked his chin, with some serious doubt on his face.
"Getting Aerith's DNA sample should be a simple task for them," stated Cloud, before turning his attention to E. Gadd. "Once we have that, we can start the next phase of the project. Isn't that right, Professor?"
"Right you are, my friend!" exclaimed E. Gadd, whose low-key friendship with Cloud was practically unshaken. "But we'll need some funds to buy the parts for Eggman's revival machine."
"Glad you asked - Pit managed to raise $10,000 through Lloyd's food delivery service." E. Gadd was pleased to hear that, so much that he almost wanted to squeal. "Him and Lloyd really came through."
"So that's why Pit had that business seminar two months ago," Kasumi whispered to Joker, now under the assumption that Lloyd was being played.
"Superb! I'll take the money off your hands," E. Gadd said to Cloud, as he rubbed his hands together in excitement. "That is...if Lloyd decides to give it up."
"That might be the hard part, him forfeiting the money. Hopefully one day, I can pay him back, or something..." Having heard enough, Joker took Kasumi and walked away so he could discuss things in private.
"This is not good, Cloud is in over his head," Joker discussed with Kasumi, who shared the same amount of doubt and worry. "I mean, reviving Aerith? I know that alternate universe Aerith can't stay forever, but..."
"Dare I say it...Cloud's pulling a Takuto Maruki," stated Kasumi, who was familiar with Maruki and his fascination with reviving people. "We ought to talk some sense into him."
"You're right." Joker looked over and saw E. Gadd and the others leave the cafe, as the meeting was adjourned. "It'll take more than just us, though..."
March Madness was set to begin today, which meant that the residents had until noon to finish filling out their brackets. After that, the brackets were "locked" - if anyone made a single revision to their bracket, they would be eliminated by Master Hand and out of the prize running. Being the all-powerful being that he was, Master Hand could easily detect any revision made.
Because there were so many basketball games broadcasted at the same time, one would have to either find an available TV or follow online just to keep up with the basketball tournament. So whenever a television was already occupied, things tend to get hectic...
"Samus, come on, I have to see the game!" Doc Louis whined to the bounty hunter, who was watching some show on the Science Channel in the living room. Something to do with aliens. "Gotta see Arkansas versus Colgate!"
"Colgate is up big against Arkansas," stated Samus, before taking a sip from her can of Mountain Dew. Too early in the day for soda, but Samus didn't care. "Just hate to see it."
"Up big? Some lousy toothpaste university?! It can't be!" Doc Louis pulled out his bracket and saw that he had Arkansas winning over Colgate. "Arkansas is gonna lose! What sicko messed with my bracket and picked Arkansas to win?"
"That sicko would be you, Doc Louis..." Samus let out a relaxed sigh as she laid back on the couch. "...hey, can't win 'em all."
"It's okay, Doc - I had Arkansas over Colgate, too," Hisui said to the boxing trainer, having heard his lament as he entered the living room. "But that was only on my practice bracket."
"Practice bracket, huh? I take it that you never filled out a real bracket..." For Hisui, it was, as the young man nervously gulped. "...so much for you winning the 'grand prize.'"
Samus: Today is technically my day off, as I've finished everything that I had to work on in the workshop. So I'm just gonna relax all day on the couch, and just take it easy. I'm not going to let anything deter me or move off the couch - not the stupid March Madness tournament, not Master Hand, and not even...
"Guess who just raised over $10,000 just by delivering healthy food?" Lloyd asked Samus and company as he entered the living room, with a big smile on his face. "THIS GUY!" Lloyd pointed his thumbs at himself, before letting out a celebratory laugh.
"The grocery stores in town must've decided to stay closed while you were running your delivery service," Samus said to Lloyd, still in disbelief that the swordsman was able to raise such money. And with Pit, no less.
"No, Pit and I were just doing the right thing. We made an actual contribution to the local community. Not waste our time in some smelly workshop."
"Do you want your head kicked off?" Samus gave Lloyd a very threatening glare, and Lloyd backed away. "I can do it if you really want me to..."
"Thanks, but no thanks, I enjoy having my head..." Lloyd backed himself into Doc Louis, before hiding himself behind the boxing trainer for some much-needed safety that was not really needed.. "...protect me, Doc Louis!"
"Protect your own self, son," Doc Louis said to Lloyd as he grabbed the swordsman from behind him and held him out front. Lloyd ran out of the living room, as Doc Louis shook his head after the swordsman left. "Man, that boy ain't right!"
"He hasn't been right ever since he and Pit raised $10,000 from delivering food or whatever," remarked Samus as she kept on watching television, before reaching for the TV remote. "I still think he's lying."
Mario was asked to come over to the mansion, for there was a new mansion resident that the plumber had to greet. When Mario stepped inside Master Hand's room, he saw Master Hand, Cloud, and Isabelle speaking with a certain knight in shining armor.
"And then I said, 'off with thy head'!" the knight told his story to Cloud, Master Hand, and Isabelle, with only the latter two laughing in response. The knight was Sir Arthur, who had a splendid tea party with Shovel Knight - and others - three episodes ago. "You could imagine how foolish I was, given that I was speaking to the Headless Horseman."
"Haha, wow, very funny..." Cloud remarked in a deadpan tone, unable to hide his enthusiasm for Arthur's story...or the lack thereof. The swordsman looked over and saw Mario. "Ah, Mario. About time you showed up."
"Good afternoon, Mario!" Master Hand floated over to the plumber, who gently closed the bedroom door. "Sorry if I'm interrupting you from watching some college hoops. Why don't you say hi to our newest resident?"
"Sir Arthur, at thy service!" Arthur walked over to Mario and greeted the plumber, before holding out his hand. "Thy lookest like Waluigi's preppier and more fit little brother."
"We have no relation to speak-a of, but I'll take it," Mario gingerly smiled, as he and Arthur shook hands. Finally, the mansion now had a knight of their own. "I'm Mario, from-a the..."
"Yes, yes - Mario, famous plumber of the Mushroom Kingdom. And thou art married to Princess Peach, no? That must make you the Mushroom Kingdom's shining prince!"
"Eh, not exactly...I'm just a measly plumber." Arthur was devastated to hear this, now assuming that Arthur was too humble to hold the title of a prince.
"A measly plumber? Why just be a measly plumber, when thou can be something much, much more than that? We ought to discuss this over some tea."
"Ooh, a tea party!" Isabelle gleamed at the idea, although Mario wasn't so bullish on the proposition. "That could help you two get to know each other."
"That will have to wait-a another day; I got some basketball games to catch-a up on," said Mario; anticipating Mario ready to escape, Arthur instinctively grabbed the plumber's arm to keep him from getting away.
"Thy basketball will just have to wait. Thou can check out the results later. Having tea and making thou prince of the Mushroom Kingdom is what's important!"
"Cloud, can you have a tea party with-a Arthur?" Mario exasperatedly asked the swordsman, who thought for only a few seconds before shaking his head.
"Sorry, Mario, but I don't do tea parties," stated Cloud, before realizing that he had to retract his statement. "Unless Aerith forces me to attend one..."
Cloud: Tea parties, dance parties, garden parties...I don't usually attend parties like those unless Aerith forces me to. I only draw the line at gender reveal parties since those are just stupid. Some people just love to spoil everyone - and nearly kill everyone in the process, too.
"What are we waiting for?" said Arthur as he took Mario and darted out of Master Hand's room against Mario's will. "Our wonderful tea time awaits!"
Having spoken with Arthur, the next thing on Cloud's agenda was to acquire the $10,000. He imagined that he would feel bad asking Lloyd for the money, so he decided to ask Pit instead. Speaking of whom, Pit was watching some college basketball in his room, with Kirby and Incineroar.
"Man, I can't wait for Duke to make another deep run in the tourney this year!" exclaimed Pit, unable to contain his excitement for the Blue Devils. Kirby and Incineroar both exchanged dubious looks. "For some reason, they didn't show up in my bracket, so I just added them to my..."
"Pit, I hate to burst your bubble, but Duke isn't in the tournament this year," Kirby informed the angel, who was slightly disappointed; his excitement for March Madness went down a few notches. "Also, you're an angel - why root for the Blue Devils?"
"Well I don't see any college team with 'Angels' as their team name...so the Duke Blue Devils is the closest thing I'll get!"
Simon: Duke not making the tournament this year is karmic justice years in the making, for choosing to have a devil as their mascot. Hopefully, not playing in the tournament will force Duke University into rebranding their athletics with something much more classy.
"Pit, where did you and Lloyd keep the money?" Cloud asked the angel as he stopped by his room. The swordsman wanted to give the $10,000 to E. Gadd before the professor left.
"I usually keep the money in a hiding place," replied Pit, who had to be pretty secretive with the money. Didn't want anyone stealing the funds. "Last week I hid the money inside my dresser, but this week...I forgot. You can ask me again later, I might remember the hiding spot."
"You would forget, Pit..." Grumbling to himself, Cloud walked away and headed down the hallway. A moment later, Lloyd stopped by Pit's room.
"Wow, you guys are watching the games, too?" Lloyd asked Pit and company, as he saw some college basketball on Pit's television screen. "That's cool. So, Pit, are we still doing our food delivery service thing?"
"I, huh...I was thinking about taking the day off," replied Pit, who wasn't thinking about delivering any more food after the goal of $10,000 was reached. "Just gonna watch basketball all day long."
"You said that for the past four days now." Pit gulped nervously, fearing that Lloyd was slowly getting on to him. "Is there something wrong? Something you wanna talk about?"
"Look, man, I've been delivering food Monday through Friday for three weeks now! I need a break..." Pit was anticipating Lloyd chewing him out, but Lloyd...nodded his head in understanding.
"You know what? You're right. I think we both need a well-deserved break. Gotta relax, and unwind! Might as well start now." So Lloyd left the premises, leaving Pit very much relieved.
"Phew...it was a good thing he didn't find out," Pit sighed in relief, briefly not aware that Kirby and Incineroar were listening to every word he said. Kirby gave Pit a very curious look.
"A good thing he didn't find out about what?" the pink puffball asked, making Pit all nervous again as the angel twiddled with his fingers.
"Um, nosy much, Kirby? And you don't even have a nose for crying out loud, come on Kirby..."
Joker and Kasumi met with their Phantom Thief friends in the gaming room, filling them in on the conversation Cloud had with the scientists (...and Kamek). All of the Phantom Thieves collectively agreed that Cloud was trying to revive this universe's Aerith...which was exactly what the swordsman had planned.
"Wait, so is Moira a girl?" Ryuji curiously asked Joker, who eyed around the gaming room out of bewilderment before nodding his head. "Moira's female?! For real?! You're joking!"
"You are so ignorant..." Anna facepalmed at Ryuji while shaking her head; Ryuji was still left in shock, as his mouth was completely agape. "...have you ever heard her speak?"
"But she looks so much like Hisoka Morow! The hair, the pale skin, even the head shape - I thought for sure that she was a dude!"
"Moira doesn't even look like...Ryuji, do you need some glasses?" Ann for the life of her could not believe that Ryuji was somehow blinder than Futaba.
Ryuji: Any more things I missed out on with Moira or her pals?...Reaper is Hispanic? Yeah, I already knew that one. Still wonder why he acted all offended when I told him "te ves como un vagabundo" at the Christmas party last year. That's Spanish for "you look awesome", right? My Spanish's still a work in progress.
"Enough, you two," Joker said to Ryuji and Ann, taking command of the meeting as he wanted everyone to get serious and focused. "We might have a major problem on our hands."
"I got a very bad feeling about this," said Morgana, as the black cat rested on Joker's right shoulder. "...what if this whole plan of Cloud's blows up in his face, and we all have to deal with the consequences?"
"That's why we need to reason with Cloud, and stop him from doing something he shouldn't." Joker looked over and saw Cloud entering the gaming room with Link and Rex. "And there he is now..."
"Go get 'em, tiger," Cloud said to Link, standing at the gaming room entrance and folding his arms, as he watched Link and Rex walk over to the Phantom Thieves. The two wanted to speak with Haru in particular.
"Hey, Miss Niijima...how would you like to be my wedding caterer?" Link asked the young woman, who was extremely delighted by the offer. "You happen to be one of the choices Zelda had in mind."
"I would love to!" gleamed Makoto as she clasped her hands together; the fact that Zelda wanted her for the job gave her some motivation. "Ooh, when do I start? Do I start planning out a list now, or wait until later?"
"I mean if you want to start now, then go right on ahead!" Rex encouraged Haru, giving the young woman his full confidence. "If it means you'll be prepared by the wedding day, then go for it."
"Okay then, I'll do my best. I won't let you down, Link!" Cloud, who was standing at the gaming room entrance, unfolded his arms and left. Joker saw this with the corner of his eye.
"Yusuke, Futaba...follow him," the young man whispered to the two friends, who nodded their heads and walked away. "I'll follow your lead." Yusuke and Futaba left the gaming room, leaving Link and Rex perplexed.
"What was that all about?" Link asked the other Phantom Thieves, who did their best to keep quiet. The only response came from Ryuji, who just shrugged. Soon Cortex walked by, catching Rex's attention.
"Dr. Cortex!" Rex called out to the evil genius, who stopped and turned around to see the swordsman running up to him. "You never gave me that romantic gift that you promised."
"I was supposed to give you a romantic gift?" Cortex furrowed his brow, as he heard the eavesdropping Phantom Thieves and a few others snickering. Cortex didn't like the position that he was in.
"Yeah, you remember! For helping you own your rival last week, Dr. N. Tropy. Granted, you didn't really own him, in a sense, but I still helped somewhat!"
"Oh yes, it's all coming back to me! You and Link were great moral support." Link looked on, in disbelief that Rex had taken Cortex seriously.
Link: Did Rex actually trust Cortex, and expect him to buy him a romantic gift that he could give to Nia? Oh, Hylia...
"So did you find a romantic gift?" Rex asked Cortex with a smile on his face, eager to know what kind of gift Cortex afforded him. Cortex wanted Uka to bail him out, but Uka was still unconscious.
"I was going to buy one last night, but..." replied Cortex, as Rex leaned in close to the evil genius expecting to hear an answer. "...I was stung, by a killer hornet! It stung me all over and..."
"Killer hornets don't come out at night, Cortex," Coco informed the evil genius, as she was playing a game of darts with Crash and Crunch. "Even if one did sting you, you should've died from the venom."
"Okay, well...then it was a moth who bite me! Bit my arm while I was on my way to the mall, and I felt the venom coursing through my..."
"Moths don't even bite. Unless you encountered a vampire moth, which is rare since they don't live in America." Cortex angrily stomped his foot, tired of being corrected by Coco.
"D'oh! The point of the matter is, Rex, I was unable to find a romantic gift due to some...happenings that occurred in the night. But mark my words, I will find you a gift!"
"And you'll find one before the end of the day, yes?" asked Rex; the swordsman wanted so bad to give Nia a gift that would show his love for her. Too bad he was asking one from the wrong person.
"Um, yes, of course! Before midnight, pinky promise! Let me find my wallet first..." So Cortex quickly ran out of the gaming room, letting out a sigh of relief (with a hint of nervousness) as he left.
"Shameful...absolutely shameful, that man," Link shook his head disappointingly at Rex, as Fox and Falco came over to the Hylian. "Depending on Cortex for a romantic gift for Nia..."
"A romantic gift for Nia, huh?" Fox asked Link, getting the feeling that Rex was in love with Nia - and the pilot couldn't be any closer to the truth. "If that's the case, maybe YOU should buy the gift for Rex, Link."
"But why me? I'm not that good at gift-buying. You guys should know. Remember that hair tonic I bought for Donkey Kong?"
"You did find an engagement ring for Zelda...so you might know a thing or two about romantic gifts and such," Falco said to Link as he smiled and nudged the Hylian at his side. "No worries, Fox and I can show you the ropes."
"Yeah, nothing like some online shopping to find the right gift!" exclaimed Fox as he grabbed Link's shoulders and led the Hylian away. "I'll let you use my debit card. Just so ya know, I'm on a budget..."
"Online shopping?! Oh no, I absolutely suck at that..." Link felt helpless, as Fox and Falco led him out of the gaming room. Corrin saw Fox and Falco making their leave, and ran to the gaming room entrance...but he was too late.
"Fox, Falco, wait! What do I do with the..." Corrin called out to the pilots, only to be ignored seconds later. "...the DNA samples." The prince sighed as he held his head low. "How am I going to prove my worth to Miss O'Donnell now?"
"Oh, there you are, Corrin!" Kamui greeted her twin brother, who looked up and saw the princess coming down the hallway. "We have a special guest from Nohr that want to see us."
"Special guest? From Nohr? Is it one of our siblings?" It has been over a year since Corrin and Kamui have seen Xander and the others.
"No, but they're still family. Silas was the one who brought them over. Just let me know when you're ready to see them."
Like many sports fans, Master Hand was greatly upset about March Madness being canceled last year. The giant hand blamed every little thing under the sun - the pandemic, the United States government, and even Anna herself! So with March Madness was back on this year, Master Hand was arguably in a much chipper mood.
With the residents involved in his little bracket challenge, Master Hand had a giant bracket sitting at the front of the ballroom. Byleth and Beleth were put in charge of running the bracket, with Lakitu responsible for crossing off the names of any team eliminated. It was also at the ballroom that anyone who had their bracket busted was forced to shred their bracket in the paper shredder.
"It's okay, Little Mac, you can do it," Byleth encouraged the young boxer, patting him on his back. Little Mac was holding back tears, holding his bracket in his hands as he looked down at the paper shredder in front of him.
"Screw you, refs, for making Virginia Tech lose..." said Little Mac, before sticking his bracket down the paper shredder. Little Mac walked away in tears as his precious bracket was shredded away.
"At least you put up a good fight!" Beleth called out to Little Mac, doing his best to cheer up the young boxer. Shortly after Little Mac left the ballroom, Diddy Kong came inside with his own busted bracket. "Your bracket got busted too, Diddy Kong?"
"I'm afraid so - those refs cost me that Arkansas-Colgate game," sighed Diddy as he stuck his bracket down the paper shredder. "A lot of tick-tacky calls."
"Why is everyone blaming the refs?" Beleth asked Byleth; blaming the refs was a sports tradition that went back many decades. "Is it so hard to blame the players on the court?"
Beleth: Because we were put "in charge" of March Madness this year, Byleth and I are forbidden from participating in the bracket challenge. Not that I would want to be a part of it. I'm not a psychic.
Byleth: So I was glossing through the tournament bracket this year, and I see that a lot of schools have some...very interesting team names. Let's see here... *pulls out a list* ...Shockers? Might as well be called the Spoilers. Aggies? Still have no idea what an "aggie" is. Tar Heels? Now that one just sounds like a racist slur. The Orange? That's just lazy. Hokies? According to some research I did online, a hokie is "an emasculated turkey". How in the world is an emasculated turkey supposed to strike fear in the opponent?
After Diddy left, Yoshi entered the ballroom - but not to shred his bracket and admit defeat. Rather, the green dinosaur had a serious question to ask:
"Is there a bracket challenge for the women's basketball tournament?" Yoshi asked the professors, being one of the very few residents to have some interest in women's college basketball. "If it's not too much trouble..."
"They have a separate basketball tournament for the women?" Beleth asked Byleth, who responded by giving her fellow professor a frown. "Excuse me for asking an honest question..."
"Um, do you have a bracket that you wish to turn in, Yoshi?" Byleth asked the green dinosaur, bringing his attention to the paper shredding machines.
"Why yes, I do!" replied Yoshi as he dug into his imaginary pocket and pulled out a bracket. "I'll just shred mine in advance. Drexel is really letting me down against Illinois."
"Isn't Drexel a sixteenth-seed? Let me see your bracket, Yoshi." So Yoshi gave Byleth his bracket and Byleth looked at it, her eyes widening in pure shock. Even though she wasn't a basketball fan, the professor was left speechless at the picks Yoshi made on his bracket.
"My goodness...that's a lot of upsets!" remarked Beleth, as he and Byleth were both looking at Yoshi's bracket together. Even he was at a loss for words! You need to put that one in the shredder, now."
"Right on it..." Without hesitation, Byleth shredded Yoshi's bracket, still in disbelief from Yoshi's very questionable picks. "...Yoshi, I think this whole bracket challenge isn't your thing."
"You're right - I'm much better off just watching the games anyway," said Yoshi, admitting defeat as he walked away. "Now to find out when the women will be playing later today..."
"Yoshi, the women's tournament doesn't start till Sunday..." Lakitu informed the green dinosaur, who didn't hear the Koopa as he already left the ballroom. "...eh, someone will tell him."
Mario so wanted to watch college basketball in the comfort of his living room, but the plumber was being held up. Against his will, he was invited to a tea party in the mansion's patio by Arthur. Mario and Arthur sat at the tea-table, with Twintelle serving some tea from her teapot.
"Here I am, sitting across from the prince of the Mushroom Kingdom!" marveled Arthur, as Twintelle fixed him a cup of tea; Mario let out a sigh. "Such great company to be sitting in."
"I never knew that you were a knight," Twintelle smirked at Mario, able to see how clearly annoyed the plumber was. "Would you care for some more tea, Your Highness?"
"Yes, and don't address me as such ever again," replied Mario as he held up his teacup, which Twintelle poured tea into. Arthur watched as Mario sipped his tea, and he couldn't help but smile.
"What is it like, getting to rule over the Mushroom Kingdom?" Arthur asked Mario, figuring that Peach gave the plumber some kind of authority. "Ruling over the plentiful mushroom fields, and magnificent beasts?"
"I wouldn't say the fields are plentiful, and the beasts are more ugly than-a magnificent...but I never ruled-a over the Mushroom Kingdom, ever."
"Surely thou art lying!" Arthur slammed his fist on the table, not caring how much tea he spilled from his teacup. "Has Princess Peach even given thee the chance of being a prince?"
"Never have." This response made Arthur even more upset, as he smacked himself on the forehead. Arthur almost wanted to punch the air for no reason.
"I am highly disappointed to hear this, Sir Mario...how canst thou be married to Princess Peach, and not be considered a prince?"
"He can't be a prince if he's a plumber..." mumbled Twintelle, as her words woken something in Arthur. Arthur, who was facepalming, looked up at Mario with a face of motivation.
"That's it! For thee to be a prince, thou must deny your old self. Rid thyself free of thy blue-collar persona, and adopt the lifestyle of a prince!"
"Do you think I would-a even want that?" asked a reluctant Mario, as Arthur came over to the plumber and placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Mario, thou art married to a princess. To a princess! Peach shouldn't have some lousy plumber as a husband - she wants a prince! And what thou needest, is a prince makeover."
"Did someone say...makeover?" asked Twintelle, the movie star with a strong sense of fashion, as she took out a pair of scissors. The smile on Twintelle's face made Mario increasingly nervous. "I can be the right gal for the job."
"Splendid! Come with me, Twintelle - let us give Sir Mario a makeover befitting for a prince of his true caliber." So Arthur pushed Mario inside the mansion, with Twintelle following after him.
Twintelle: Mario has been long overdue for a drastic makeover. The mustache can stay, but the hair, hat, clothes, and even the gloves all have to go. Before the end of the day, Peach will finally be able to have full confidence in claiming that Mario is her husband. If she already had full confidence before...then she must have a LOT of modesty.
Cloud was at the library, looking at some books on a bookshelf. Yusuke and Futaba were spying on Cloud, watching as the swordsman picked out a book.
"Checking out a book today, hm?" Yusuke asked Cloud as he walked over to the swordsman; Cloud did his best to pay the artist no mind. "May I ask, is that book in your hand one about necromancy?"
"Do I look like some kind of RPG-obsessed freak?" Cloud frowned at Yusuke, slightly bothered by the question as he showed the artist the book cover. "I was just looking at this book, New Moon."
"Ah! New Moon! One of my favorite novels of all time! A true classic." Cloud couldn't help but shake his head at Yusuke's swooning. "Did you know that the main female character, Bella Thorne, dies in New Moon?"
"Good for her." Such apathy from Cloud made Yusuke gasp and clutch his pearls. "I didn't know that until now, so thanks for the spoiler, Yusuke."
"Bella didn't actually die; it was assumed that Bella committed suicide, but it was just a miscommunication," Futaba informed Cloud, popping up behind Cloud and lightly scaring him. "But it was a good thing she didn't actually kill herself, right?"
"That would have been oh so tragic, Futaba..." responded Yusuke, his eyes closed as he shook his head with bitter emotion. Cloud found himself bemused by Yusuke's theatrics. "...perish the thought alone of Edward Cullen trying to revive Bella, had she died."
"Yeah...I think I'm gonna leave," said Cloud, putting the New Moon book back on the bookshelf before leaving. Cloud was bothered by Yusuke and Futaba, and his swift exit made him look all the more suspicious to the two friends.
As Cloud left the library, he passed by Link, who was seated at a computer. Fox and Falco were looking over his shoulder, prepared to help the Hylian purchase the right gift that Rex could give to Nia.
"Why am I on Amazon again?" Link asked Fox and Falco, as he was staring at Amazon's front page. "I thought you two hated big corporations like Amazon."
"We would hate Amazon, but they have all the stuff that we want and then some," replied Falco, who had a few choice words that he wanted to say to Jeff Bezos. Fox, not so much. "So we had to make a compromise."
"Okay...I'll just start my search now." So Link took the mouse and dragged the cursor over to the search bar, and clicking it. "What do I type in?"
"Romantic gifts...for her," replied Fox, saying the latter part of his response with a little bit of twang. "The 'for her' will make your search much more specific." Link typed in the keywords and clicked the search button, as a list of results appeared.
"Let's see what we got. An anniversary gift bundle, a real rose with a necklace...a keychain? 'I hope your day is as nice as your butt'. Weird message to put on a keychain."
"Can't have Rex give that keychain to Nia, otherwise Nia would be having a bad day every day," advised Falco, as he threw some slight shade at Nia. "The top results aren't usually the best, so you just gotta keep on scrolling."
"And don't forget, I'm on a budget, too," Fox reminded Link, before showing the Hylian his debit card. Which had the Star Fox insignia on it. "I won't let you go over twenty dollars."
"But wouldn't that mean the gift will be crappy?" asked Link, leading Fox to shake his head no in response. "Alright then, I'll just keep on looking..."
After he was done with...well, whatever he was doing, Corrin was ready to meet the "special guest" from Nohr. The prince met up with Kamui, who had her twin brother's eyes covered as she walked him to their bedroom.
"This reveal had better be worth this nonsense..." Corrin said to Kamui, struggling to walk to his room as Kamui had her hands over the prince's eyes. Corrin was even told to keep his eyes closed, for good measure.
"Quit your whining, we're almost there!" Kamui said to Corrin before she and her twin brother finally arrived at their room. "Alright, Corrin, you can open your eyes now!"
Kamui took her hands away, and Corrin opened his eyes as he saw Silas in his room with a young silverette standing near the cavalier. Corrin was delighted to see this young girl, who reciprocated with the same feelings for Corrin.
"Recognize this girl, Corrin?" Silas asked the prince, who was simply unable to hide the growing smile on his face. "It's your daughter, Kana! Saw her one day with the royal family."
"Papa!" Kana squealed, as the silverette ran up to Corrin and gave him a big hug. "I missed you so much..." Tears were running down her face; crying was a thing she tended to do often.
"I missed you as well, little one," smiled Corrin as he and Kana happily embraced. Kamui and Silas looked on, smiling, as Bowser walked by and saw the wholesomeness taking place.
"Phew, at least I had one biological kid..." the Koopa King quietly remarked as he kept on walking. "...Corrin better not have any more kids running around!"
Wario: Just caught some wind from Bowser that Corrin, of all people, has a daughter. I have now suddenly lost my remaining will to live.
"What's this, what's going on?" Master Hand whispered to Kamui, as he magically appeared outside Corrin and Kamui's room. "Why is Corrin profusely hugging that little girl like that?"
"That girl he's hugging is his own daughter, Kana," Kamui informed Master Hand, who gasped in shock as he backed away. "Why did you react like that, Master Hand?"
"Something wrong, Master Hand?" a voice asked the giant hand, who turned around and saw Felicia standing by with her twin sister, Flora.
"Felicia! Flora! I have some very bad news. Corrin has a daughter!" Master Hand expected the two maids to be devastated by the news...but neither of them showed any reaction.
"And we should feel concerned because...?" asked Flora, as her and Felicia's lack of concern greatly displeased Master Hand. "...what does Corrin having a child have to do with anything?"
"Corrin having a child somehow implies that some idiot lady made the terrible life decision of marrying that naive prince. She should deserve a lifetime of scrutiny for the poor choice she made!"
"Sounds like you're overreacting, Master Hand," said Felicia, before looking over and seeing Corrin and Kana catching up with one another. "I think Corrin deserves to have a daughter!"
"I must get to the bottom of this...Felicia, Flora, you two are off duty for the rest of the day. I want you ladies to find out who that girl's mother is, and discourage her from marrying Corrin. I assume that girl came from the future."
"Soooo you want us to erase Corrin's daughter from existence? That sounds pretty demented, don't you think?" It did, but nothing was ever too demented for Master Hand.
"Yes, but it's the right thing to do. That little girl deserves better...even if she stops existing. I'll leave you to it!" And with that, Master Hand vanished, with the maids reluctant to follow up on their task.
"Can I live with you, papa? Pretty please?" Kana asked Corrin, as she and her dad walked out of the bedroom and down the hallway.
"You do get very lonely when I'm not around...we'll see what Master Hand thinks," replied Corrin, as the maids were now even more reluctant. Corrin was open to letting Kana live with him at the mansion, but Master Hand might have other plans...
As more college basketball games went on and finished, more residents had their brackets busted and came to the ballroom to have them shredded. The latest resident to have his bracket shredded was Ken Masters.
"Had Utah State winning the whole shebang..." Ken said solemnly to Byleth and Beleth after he stuck his bracket through the shredder. "...I know a friend who studied at Utah State, so that's why I picked them to win."
"That's a...very interesting reason for picking a national champion," remarked Beleth, who bit his tongue as he withheld her full feelings on how Ken filled out his bracket. "But hey, there's always next year!"
"Most definitely! Perhaps I should pick UCLA to win it all next year - another one of my friends is an alumnus there." Feeling confident again, Ken walked out of the ballroom, as Meta Knight entered in.
"A shame that Utah State had to lose..." sighed Meta Knight, as the Star Warrior stuck his bracket down a paper shredder. "...if only the Utah State players knew how to actually hit free throws."
"At least he's not blaming the referees!" Byleth said to Beleth, as Meta Knight sucked up his pride and left the ballroom. "That's a sign of improvement."
Meta Knight: This was my first time filling out some silly bracket. I only did it just to shut up King Dedede, after he wouldn't stop bragging about his bracket was better than everybody else's. But now, my bracket has been "busted", and my chance to silence Dedede for good has been ruined...
King Dedede: *laughs* Still got the best bracket in the mansion, baby! Watching a few of the others having to shred their crappy bracket brings so much joy to my face. Let the glorious shredding continue!
"Byleth, Beleth, it's me again," said Yoshi, as the green dinosaur returned to the ballroom to speak with the professors. "I have another question. Is there a bracket challenge for the NIT?"
"The NIT? What in the world is that?" inquired Byleth, as Yoshi was baffled that someone "in charge" of running March Madness at the mansion didn't know what the NIT was.
"You don't know? The NIT is the National Invitation Tournament. It's a basketball tournament for the college teams that weren't good enough for March Madness."
"Ah, so basically the NIT is the participation trophy of college basketball tournaments," inferred Beleth, as Yoshi suddenly became nervous as he looked back at the ballroom entrance. "That makes sense."
"Well, um, I wouldn't say it's the participation trophy of college basketball tournaments..." Yoshi nervously twiddled with his fingers, fearing that a certain someone might come bursting through the ballroom. "The teams in it are still pretty good..."
"What's this I hear about participation trophies?" growled Bowser as he stormed inside the ballroom; he was the last person Yoshi wanted to see. "Was it you, Yoshi?! Don't you know that there's no such thing as participation trophies in college sports?"
"He mentioned it first, not me!" Yoshi said to Bowser as he pointed accusingly pointed at Beleth. Bowser refused to hear the green dinosaur out, as he grabbed him by the nose. "I'm innocent!"
"Only in your delusional mind, maybe..." Bowser dragged Yoshi by the nose and out of the ballroom, wanting to teach him a lesson. "...now let me set your mind straight!"
With the help of Twintelle, Arthur worked relentlessly to make Mario a stylin' and profilin' prince of the Mushroom Kingdom. All of the work was done in the beauty salon, where Arthur and Twintelle gave Mario the works.
"He looks...beautiful," smiled Arthur, shedding a tear as he and Twintelle saw Mario step out of the beauty salon looking like a prince. Mario was wearing a red Napoleon jacket and black pants, with his hair combed back.
"I look ridiculous," grumbled Mario, as Arthur wiped away the tear from his face. The plumber took out a crown and looked at it distastefully.
"Cheer up, Mario - hopefully, this is just for one day!" Cappy said to the plumber, his eyes appearing out from the crown. "Wonder what Peach will think of your new assemble."
"Princess Peach deserves to see this - Prince Mario!" bellowed Arthur, expecting Peach to be completely floored by Mario's new look. "Just need to tidy up your makeup first, before we go..."
With March Madness being such a big deal, there was a mounted television at every locale of the mansion, including the arcade room. Sonic and Spring Man were at the arcade room playing an arcade game, although the former was a little distracted.
"Sonic, come on, focus on the game!" Tails yelled at the hedgehog, who was fixated on the television screen above him. "You know that Ohio State is gonna win. They're too good."
"How do you know that, can you see the future?" Sonic asked Tails, trying to watch the game and mash buttons at the same time. "If you can, can you tell me if Ohio State wins the tournament?"
"Well, it looks like I've won another round..." Tails looked at the arcade screen, seeing the words "Player Two Wins" flashing. "No thanks to you, Sonic."
"Anything for my best buddy!" Sonic patted Tails on his back, as Tails sighed. Cloud entered the arcade room and spotted Sonic and Tails.
"Hey, you two - has anyone used the 'machine' in the basement by any chance?" Cloud asked Sonic and Tails; he wanted to keep the basement off-limits, but Master Hand wouldn't let him.
"Nope, haven't seen anyone go down the basement at all!" Sonic informed Cloud, as a curious Spring Man came around the corner. "Not a single soul!"
"Yeah, I wouldn't use that machine if I were you," Spring Man said to Sonic, interjecting himself into the conversation. "The stories I've heard about it all sound pretty disturbing..."
Sonic: I have been doing my due diligence and prevent the others from using the Rift Generator. Whenever someone inquires about it, I'll just tell them that it creates a portal that leads to Donkey Kong's anus! Kinda surprised at how so many people fell for it. I guess they don't have good critical thinking skills.
"You appear to be very concerned about this machine, Cloud..." said a certain young man, as Cloud looked over and saw Joker chilling with Ryuji and Ann. Cloud was getting the feeling that he was being stalked.
"Well, yeah, because it's a very powerful machine from the looks of it," responded Cloud, attempting to deny any knowledge about the Rift Generator. "Wouldn't wanna use it without Master Hand's permission."
"As I've told the others, that machine leads to Donkey Kong's anus," Sonic stated to Joker and company, trying to defend Cloud in the best way possible.
"How would you know that it leads to Donkey Kong's anus, Sonic?" Ann asked the hedgehog, who struggled to come up with a witty response. "Have you even used that machine before?"
"Yeah, what if this so-called portal leads to Wario's anus or even Yoshi's anus?" questioned Ryuji, as Joker and Ann gave the delinquent weird looks. "Did I not use good examples?"
"Sonic is only saying that just to discourage everyone from using the machine in the basement," Cloud said to Joker and friends, as he kept a wary eye on the three friends. "So I would advise you three not to touch it."
"I wonder what this machine can do...can we resurrect the dead?" Joker pondered with a finger underneath his chin, trying to get under Cloud's skin. He was even looking slyly at Cloud, who couldn't muster a suitable answer.
"I'm not telling you anything that I don't already know..." was all Cloud could say, as the swordsman left the arcade room to avoid further questioning. Sonic and Tails looked at each other, wondering how long Cloud would keep the charade going.
"Wait, Cloud - what if I use that machine and end up in my own anus?" Spring Man asked the swordsman as he was chasing him out of the arcade room. "Answer me!"
Reunited with his daughter, Corrin was going around introducing Kana to his fellow residents. The reactions were pretty mixed, scaling from happiness for Corrin and his daughter to pure shock and surprise.
"As you can see, Kana is a very nice young girl," Corrin said to Red the Pokemon Trainer and Leaf in the Pokemon sanctuary, as Kana was hugging Pikachu. Squeezing the poor mouse Pokemon real tight. "She loves cute things!"
"Yeah, what adorable little girl wouldn't love cute things..." Red muttered under his breath, as he received a frown at a nudge from Leaf. "...excuse me for trying to keep it real."
"Pika...pika..." squeaked Pikachu, gasping for air as Kana tightened her hold on the mouse Pokemon. Seeing how oxygen-deprived Pikachu was, Kana softened her hold.
"From a scale from one to ten, how depressed is your kid just for having you as a dad?" That snarky question from Red caused Leaf to frown again, as the Pokemon trainer smacked Red in the face. "Just trying to keep it real..."
"Kana, if you love that Pikachu...there's plenty of more cute Pokemon in the sanctuary!" Leaf said to Kana, who looked up with a gleeful look on her face. Pikachu looked at Leaf as if she was his savior.
"Ooh, I want to see!" exclaimed a giddy Kana, as Leaf took the young girl's hand and led her deeper into the sanctuary. Corrin and Red followed behind, with the latter very skeptical.
Red the Pokemon Trainer: If Kana is going to live with Corrin, then she's gonna be in for a very rude awakening. It won't be long until Corrin forces her to like the Star Wars franchise or even those Marvel movies. Not that I hate those movies, but I've grown tired of all those rabid fanboys comparing every Marvel film under the sun to Titanic. Do they not have lives? Do they even go outside?
The maids, Felicia and Flora, showed up at the sanctuary just as Corrin and the others went ahead. They saw Corrin and Kana with the Pokemon trainers, and they were both uncertain about what to do.
"You two seem very uncertain," someone said to the maids, who saw Lavenza appear - almost like a ghost of sorts. "What seems to be the problem?"
"Corrin has a daughter, named Kana," Flora explained to Lavenza, who unlike many of the others responded positively to the news. "And Master Hand wants us to find her mother."
"Find her mother for what?" Just then, Lavenza gasped as a very grave thought suddenly entered her mind. "Does he want you to kill Kana's mother?!"
"No - he just wants us to 'discourage' her from marrying Corrin," replied Felicia, before letting out a deep sigh that caught Lavenza's intrigue.
"And why is that?" In a curious state of mind, Lavenza came closer to Felicia. "Is there something you might know about Kana's mother?"
"Yes, I do, I...know who her mother is, actually. You can promise to keep a secret until later, right?
With some help from Fox and Falco, Link was able to find the right romantic gift from Amazon (we'll keep it a secret until later). It was a gift that Rex was meant to give to Nia and solidify his love for the Gormotti.
"So this is your final purchase," Fox asked Link for confirmation, and Link, feeling confident, nodded his head. "Awesome. Here's my debit card." Fox handed Link his debit card. "Don't go crazy with it!"
"Why does it say 'Your Name Here?'" Link asked Fox as he furrowed his brow at the debit card. Everything else on the card looked pretty normal.
"Because putting your full name on a debit card is too mainstream. I just wanted to be different. Now put in that information!" So Link inputted Fox's card info, from the card number to the expiration date and even those three digits on the back.
"We have made our purchase!" confirmed Falco, after Link confirmed that Fox's card info was legit. "Now we have to wait for the delivery..."
"Got here as soon as I could," Bass said to Fox and Falco as he entered the library; Link looked on, confused. "Did Link find what he was looking for?"
"Sure did, now we need you and Proto Man to teleport yourselves to the Amazon warehouse that has the gift," Fox explained to Bass, as Link was not liking what he was hearing. "Just tell them that it's under my name."
"Easier said than done!" Bass looked at Link, who was having a lot of regrets right now. "I'll be back with your gift, Link." On that note, Bass left the library so he could find Proto Man and boot up the teleportation device.
"What was that all about?!" Link frowned at Fox and Falco, shortly after Bass had left the library. "Did you seriously ask Bass and Proto Man to steal my gift for me? Is that why you had to step out of the library, Fox?"
"Technically, it's not stealing...you paid for it with Fox's debit card," Falco explained candidly, as Link groaned and buried his face in his hands. "So in essence, we're just getting ahead of the curve."
"Amazon promises high-speed delivery, do they not, Link?" Fox asked the Hylian, who was too distraught to answer the pilot's question. "We're just helping them live up to what they preach to their consumers."
"Whatever...as long as none of us get in trouble, I don't care," grumbled Link, unaware of how many times Fox and Falco pulled off this Amazon stunt with Bass and Proto Man. Probably countless times.
Proto Man: Yeah, Fox and Falco usually depend on me and Bass to retrieve their Amazon purchases "on time". The same thing happens at every warehouse we go to - we bust in, say hi to the workers, and then threaten everyone with our Mega Busters until we receive whatever crap Fox and Falco purchased. To this day, I'm still surprised that nobody has filed a lawsuit against us. They must secretly enjoy it.
Peach was busy tidying things around her house, as she wondered when Mario would return home. The princess assumed that Mario was getting to know the mansion's new resident, and had taken them out for lunch or something. So when the doorbell rang, Peach thought that Mario was finally back home.
"About time he was done," remarked Peach, putting her duster away as she went to the front door. She expected to see Mario, but all she saw was Arthur on the doorstep when she opened the door.
"Hello, Princess Peach, my fair lady!" Arthur saluted Peach, choosing not to take the princess's hand and kiss it. A wonderful choice that he made. "Hope that thou art doing well today. Now, allow me to introduce thee...Prince Mario!"
Arthur moved to the side, revealing to Peach the new-and-improved Mario. Mario was standing with Twintelle and was still looking annoyed as ever while dressed as a prince.
"Can't wait to tear-a these clothes off," mumbled Mario, as Twintelle smiled and nudged the plumber forward. Sighing deeply, Mario entered the house with Twintelle and Arthur both following suit.
"Looking very elegant today, Mario," Peach smiled at the plumber, who had strongly thought otherwise. Spyro and Hunter both entered the living room, getting a good look at Mario's new threads.
"Wow, Mario, you actually decided to dress nicely for once," Spyro commended the plumber, as Arthur gasped at the purple dragon. "I'm proud of you, man."
"Egad! A dragon!" exclaimed Arthur as he took out a javelin. Although killing zombies was his thing, a knight like Arthur would never pass up an opportunity for slaying dragons.
"A dragon?! Where?!" panicked Hunter as he looked around in fear. Arthur threw his javelin at Spyro but missed and hit Hunter in the head, making the cheetah even more panicked. "Oh no, maybe I am the dragon!"
"You're not a dragon, Hunter, you're just being paranoid," Spyro informed the cheetah, before turning to Mario as he had some questions to ask. "So, Mario, why are you dressed up today?"
"It's because Arthur here thinks that Mario is a prince," answered Twintelle, as she held a suddenly bloodthirsty Arthur. Arthur was trying to wiggle himself out of Twintelle's hold so he could get to Spyro and vanquish him forever.
"Only due to the fact-a that I'm married to Princess Peach," added Mario, speaking in an annoyed tone. Twintelle would release her hold on Arthur after the knight had admitted defeat.
"It was thanks to me, Princess Peach, that I helped thy husband realize his principality," Arthur said to the princess, as Mario rolled his eyes. "Gone is the old Mario - the new Mario, the real Mario, is here!"
"Yes, now can I please-a take this off?" Mario asked Arthur, slightly pulling on his red Napoleon jacket. "This jacket is really constricting on-a my nipples."
"No...not yet. I want to see how thy wife takes in the new Mario." More annoyed than ever, Mario faceplanted to the floor. "I want to see for myself!"
"I'll be at the mansion if you need to give me a holler," Twintelle said to Arthur, giving a small wave as she left Mario's house. "Be on your best behavior, Prince Mario!"
"I'll try to do my best..." said Mario, smiling through clenched teeth as Twintelle closed the front door.
The day went on, and more residents were forced to shred their brackets in the ballroom as they admit defeat. Jacky Bryant was the most recent resident to shred his bracket; the racer was surprised that he even lasted this long!
"I'll be very honest with you," Jacky said to Byleth and Beleth, being frank and upfront with the two professors. "I made my picks based on who was the better football school. If I'm not mistaken, Loyola might have a pretty decent squad..."
"Yeah...maybe one day you will learn your lesson," Byleth said to Jacky, watching as the racer left the ballroom. And guess who came back to bother the two professors? Yoshi. "Oh no, not you again..."
"Hear me out, I have one last proposition..." said Yoshi, who had a few bruises over his face at the hands of Bowser. "...what if we do a second chance bracket? Just for fun?"
"A second chance bracket?" Beleth raised a curious eyebrow, daring not to question Yoshi's line of thinking. "How does that even work?"
"So next week we'll get into the Sweet Sixteen round of the tournament, right? Only sixteen basketball teams left. Those of us who have lost the first bracket challenge can do the second chance one, and..."
"I dunno - doesn't sound fun and chaotic with only sixteen teams," Byleth offered her two cents as she tapped her chin in thought, before looking up at Lakitu. "Lakitu, what do you think?"
"Master Hand would never sign off of that," replied Lakitu, leading Yoshi to believe that the Koopa didn't know what he was talking about. "I mean, when you think about it, it kinda sounds...participation trophy-ish."
"It's nothing like a participation trophy; it's more of a chance a redemption," explained Yoshi, as a certain Koopa King angrily returned to the ballroom. "Sparing yourself from your own failure!"
"How many times do I have to teach you this lesson, you stupid dinosaur?!" Bowser yelled at Yoshi as he stood at the ballroom entrance. Yoshi turned around and shrieked when he saw Bowser.
"He started it!" Yoshi pointed at Lakitu, who Bowser looked at for a brief moment and assumed him to be innocent. Yoshi was left cowering in fear as Bowser approached him and grabbed him by his nose.
"Yeah, yeah, don't try and switch it up with another fall guy. This time I'm really gonna send the message home!" Bowser dragged Yoshi out of the ballroom, ready for a second beatdown.
"Go easy on him!" Byleth called out to Bowser, not entirely opposed to the Koopa King sending Yoshi to the hospital. If it meant not having to deal with Yoshi for the rest of the day.
Proto Man and Bass came through for Link, as they acquired the item that the Hylian had purchased off of Amazon. The two robots met with Link, Fox, and Falco at Link's room, meeting in secrecy.
Proto Man: So...you think Nia would like the gift? Wouldn't say it's "romantic", but...
Bass: I could see why she would like it, but this one's on Link. If Rex gets slapped by Nia, he'll know who to blame.
"One of the Amazon workers was kind enough to give us this gift box," explained Proto Man, holding up a gift box that had Rex's gift for Nia. "Think it was meant as a peace offering, so Bass and I would leave them alone."
"I see that you two have some history at the warehouse..." Link said to Proto Man and Bass - might wanna make that plural, buddy. Proto Man handed the gift box to Link, as Fox and Falco took out an ink pen and a name tag, respectively.
"All yours, my dude," Fox said to Link as he and Falco handed the Hylian their materials. Link placed the gift box on his bed and applied the name tag to it, writing Nia's name on the name tag.
"Just so you know, I'm going to have Dr. Cortex give this gift to Rex," Link explained to the others, who all looked at the Hylian like he was crazy. "Since Rex was depending on him so..."
"Rex depended on Cortex for a gift, out of everyone living in this building?" asked Bass, as he was questioning Rex's life decisions. "Did he make a trip to bizarro world or something?"
"You know what they say, love makes you do crazy things...though in this case, the best word might be delusional."
Corrin wasn't yet done introducing everyone to his daughter, Kana, and the prince had planned on introducing Kana to Master Hand last. (Imagine how that meeting would turn out.) Kana was carrying Pikachu everywhere she went, and Pikachu just couldn't wait until he got his freedom back.
"I bet this kid came from the future," Captain Falcon said to Corrin, as he and Ganondorf were getting a good look at Kana in the gaming room. "What is it with medieval people knowing how to travel through time?!"
"They're more advanced than you are, and you're a race car driver driving a futuristic vehicle," Ganondorf said to Captain Falcon, who was about to clap back with a rebuttal but couldn't think of one. "Outclassed by a little girl...ha!"
"Well, I can...I can travel at the blazing speed of sound!" As evidenced by the blank look on his face, Ganondorf was hardly impressed. "How is that for being advanced, Ganondorf?"
"But have you traveled through time while doing it?" Unable to say another word, Captain Falcon bit his bottom lip in defeat. "Exactly what I thought..."
"Kana didn't really come from the future, Kana can also turn into a dragon!" Corrin randomly blurted out to Captain Falcon and Ganondorf, expecting them to be impressed - only to bewilder them both with his outburst. "Are you...not impressed? She can turn into a dragon...like me..."
"I hope she can turn into a dragon, considering that you can do it yourself.." replied Ganondorf, feeling as if his intelligence was just questioned. "...if only the 'not advanced' Captain Falcon could do the same."
As Captain Falcon fired a glare at Ganondorf, Felicia and Flora entered the gaming room with Lavenza. They saw Corrin and Kana with Captain Falcon and Ganondorf, about to make their move.
"How do you think we should go about this?" Felicia asked Flora and Lavenza; Flora honestly wasn't much help, but Lavenza had a solid plan in mind.
"I think we should just approach Kana, see how she reacts," Lavenza said to Felicia, before pointing at the maid. "You should take the lead."
"But if it doesn't go out as planned?" asked Flora, whispering due to the fear that someone nearby might be eavesdropping for whatever reason. "What if Kana doesn't react and..."
"Well, it won't hurt if we try, would it?" Lavenza smiled at Flora, giving the maid a meager amount of confidence. "Lead the way, Felicia!"
"Alright..." said Felicia as she, Flora, and Lavenza walked over to Corrin and the others. Corrin, Ganondorf, and Captain Falcon were having a conversation until Captain Falcon saw the three girls approaching.
"Don't look now, Corrin...but I think your lover is here," the racer informed the prince, who turned around as he spotted the maids and Lavenza. Just the company Corrin wanted to see...save for Lavenza.
"Felicia and Flora! I've been waiting for you two," Corrin smiled, as Kana was looking buggy-eyed at the two maids. Almost like she recognized them. "Look who Silas brought over from Nohr to visit me. Kana!"
"Hello, Kana!" Lavenza greeted the little girl, acting as cordial around children as she knew how. Then again, she was a child herself. But Kana didn't care for Lavenza...for she had maintained her focus on the maids. But mainly one maid in question.
"...M-Mama?" Kana said to Felicia, resulting in what appeared to be a very touching moment. Captain Falcon and Ganondorf were both blind-sighted. "Is that really you? You live at the mansion, too?"
"For a few years, yes," smiled Felicia as she nodded her head, with Captain Falcon and Ganondorf both pressed for answers. "Master Hand was kind enough to let Flora and I stay here. But only because of Corrin and Kamui."
"You and Aunt Flora live with Corrin and Kamui? Wow..." At this point, Captain Falcon and Ganondorf had heard enough as they both wanted some answers.
"Hold on, so this girl is the daughter of Felicia?" Ganondorf asked Corrin, as he pointed at Kana. "Felicia gave birth to her and everything?"
"That happens to be the case..." Corrin responded with a pained smile as if he didn't wish to disclose that information. "...Felicia and I might have eloped in secret, and kept our marriage hidden."
"We kept Kana in the Deeprealms so that she would grow faster," added Felicia, as Captain and Ganondorf were stunned by this revelation. "Only took her a few weeks to develop there. And now, she's a beautiful young girl!"
"You know, this would explain why you looked plump a couple of months ago, Felicia," Captain Falcon said to the maid, as Master Hand appeared in the gaming room. Master Hand might've eavesdropped from far, far away.
"What is this I hear about eloping?" Master Hand asked Corrin and company, sounding curious yet emotionally hurt at the same time. "Who dared to put on a ring without even telling me?!"
"That would be me, Master Hand...Corrin and I eloped last year," Felicia said to the giant hand, who was stunned as Felicia expected. Master Hand was so stunned that he slowly backed away, at a loss for words. "Master Hand?"
"I should have known...I should have known...I should have known..." Repeating to himself as if he was stuck in a trance, Master Hand vanished away. He was going to think over some things for the rest of the day...
Master Hand: Of course, Felicia chose to marry Corrin - she has always been the slowest out of the two maids. Like that one time when I rang that bell to make the maids submit to my every whim, and Flora always responded whereas Felicia did not. The signs were there all along! Kana seems to want to stay with Corrin and Felicia at the mansion, so I have no choice...
"I know why you wanted to keep your marriage a secret," Ganondorf said to Corrin with a gigantic smirk on his face. "You don't want your twin sister to find out and be jealous!"
"No, don't tell Kamui, I beg of you!" Corrin begged Ganondorf as he got down on his knees. Low-key not a good look in front of Kana. "If she ever finds out the truth, she will be very upset..."
"I mean, she's bound to find out eventually," said Captain Falcon, as Corrin calmed down when he considered the thought. "Just tell her when you feel like it. Not like she would kill you or anything."
"I suppose you're right..." Corrin stood back up, no longer fearful of how Kamui might react to his secret marriage. "...she's probably wondering why Kana is even here in the first place."
"Don't worry, Corrin - I already know," a voice replied, as Corirn shrieked and turned around and he saw Kamui and Silas standing by. "Silas already told me the whole story."
"Shouldn't have asked me to officiate the wedding, Corrin," Silas said to the prince, who was nervously twiddling with his fingers. "Imagine what your own sister would have thought."
"It's fine, I'm not that far behind." Kamui walked up to Corrin and gave her twin brother an assuring pat on his shoulder. "Who knows, maybe I'll elope in secret, too..."
"Haha, wouldn't that be something..." Corrin chuckled nervously, knowing that he shouldn't have sought Silas as an officiant. Should've gone with Xander, or even Leo.
The Duck Hunt Dog was sleeping comfortably on his dog bed, inside the lounge. Cloud ventured inside the lounge, as a dollar bill under the Duck Hunt Dog's bed caught his attention.
"Dumb mutt must've been stealing money from passerby again..." sighed Cloud as he lifted the dog bed...only to see a few more dollar bills underneath. Most of them being pretty big bucks. Very cautiously, Cloud moved the dog bed, without waking up the Duck Hunt Dog...
...and saw wads of money, all of it hidden. Looking around, Cloud grabbed all of the money, making sure that he had all of it in his grasp.
"If I had to guess, this must be the $10,000 Pit and Lloyd raised," assumed Cloud as he looked at the money, before checking the floor for any dollar bills. "Pit sure picked an interesting hiding spot..."
"Cloud, what are you doing with our money?" Lloyd asked the swordsman, standing in the entrance to the lounge. Cloud was startled to see Lloyd, who had a skeptical look on his face.
"Our money? You mean the money that you and Pit raised from delivering food? I was just...checking to see if it was legit. Saw it hidden underneath the Duck Hunt Dog's pillow..."
"Yeah, you have to forgive Pit; he puts our money in the weirdest hiding spots." Lloyd softened his look, as he let out a heartfelt laugh. "Always super paranoid that someone might steal it."
"Wouldn't want that to happen..." Cloud saw how happy Lloyd was, and couldn't for the life of him give the money to E. Gadd. "...still, I can't believe that you and Pit raised so much money. I mean, $10,000?"
"I know, right? It was a pretty big milestone to reach. Granted, Dingodile helped us out a bit in the end, but we made every dollar count!"
"Dingodile, huh? Heard on the news that he was revamping his diner, and committed himself to sell healthy food. Maybe you influenced him, Lloyd."
"Hehehe...I'll take what I can get." Hearing that from Cloud instilled confidence in Lloyd, as the swordsman was smiling from ear to ear.
Lloyd: I can definitely tell...Cloud was super jealous about all the money that I raised with Pit. Even though I couldn't see his face, I could just tell how jealous Cloud was feeling. He can try and hide his emotions all he wants, but I know what's up.
"If you like, I can put this money in another hiding place," Cloud offered to Lloyd, before looking down at the still asleep Duck Hunt Dog. "Preferably somewhere where an animal won't reach it."
"Cool with me - just let either me or Pit know where you hid our money at," responded Lloyd, as he clicked his fingers at Cloud and backed away. "Don't try and steal our dough!"
"I won't even take a single dollar." Soon after Lloyd left the lounge, Cloud let out a sigh. "Why do I feel so bad right now...?"
Just so he won't get any stares from the other residents, Cloud stuffed as much of the $10,000 as he could in his black sleeve. Talk about an interesting hiding spot. Spying on Cloud outside the lounge were Makoto and Futaba.
"He's taking the money that Pit and Lloyd raised from their delivery service!" Futaba whispered to Makoto, having heard much of the exchange between Cloud and Lloyd. "What does he even need that for?"
"Got a feeling that it has to do with his Aerith-centric quest," Makoto whispered back, watching as Cloud gently moved the Duck Hunt Dog on his bed back to his original spot. "Very suspicious..."
With Uka unconscious, Wario took the opportunity to use the currently lifeless mask for his own nefarious deeds. For instance, he was using Uka as a back scratcher, which Cortex found disgusting.
"If Uka were awake, he'd kill you on the spot," Cortex said to Wario, as he was in his room feeding his pet goose some birdseed. "You should be pretty fortunate right now."
"Well, it's a good thing he's just a wooden plank now!" responded Wario, going from scratching Uka on his back to scratching the mask on his butt. The fatso let out a sigh of relief. "Oh yeah...gotta get the butt crack."
"How foul! Are you out of your mind?!" Cortex watched in horror as Wario tried to wedge Uka between his buttocks, only to stop when it wasn't successful. "Please don't take off your pants..."
"Dr. Cortex, I got something for ya," Link said to the evil genius as he entered the room - just as Wario was about to take off his pants. Wario pulled his pants up real quick. Crisis averted...
"Is it a gift from Tiki?" inquired Cortex, who still harbored a crush on Tiki. The evil genius would be surprised when Link handed him a gift box that didn't have his name on it. "Why are you giving me a gift meant for Nia?"
"You promised to help Rex out with a romantic gift for his favorite cat person...better hold up your end of the bargain." Link left the room, fully expecting Cortex to come through for Rex.
Neither Mario nor Peach were in the mood for cooking dinner, and Peony wasn't feeling it either. So with no absolutely other option in mind, Mario decided to order some pizza. Everyone in the Mario household was gathered around the dinner table, eating pizza...with a knightly guest present.
"No, Mario, that is no way to eat a slice of pie!" Arthur scolded the plumber, who was about to eat his slice of pizza like how any regular person would. "You must use a fork and a knife."
"Should be holding Peach to the same-a standard..." Mario grumbled as he got up from his chair and went to the kitchen to get his eating utensils. When Mario returned to the dinner table, eating his pizza as if he were eating a steak, Arthur was pleased.
"This guy needs a culture shock, in the worst way," Spyro whispered to Hunter concerning Arthur, baffled that the knight referred to the pizza as "pie". To be fair, he wasn't wrong.
"Say, Princess Peach, hast thou considered a succession plan for the Mushroom Kingdom?" Arthur asked the princess, as Mario's left eye was twitching. "Heaven forbid a fine lady like thyself being assassinated!"
"I extremely doubt that will happen anytime soon," replied Peach, who found herself slightly blind-sighted by Arthur's question. "But if I do get killed...for whatever reason, then my daughter Jennifer will be next in line."
"But what if Mario gets assassinated? Who would be next in line after him?" At this point, Mario was resisting the urge to punch Arthur in the face. "Doest thou and Mario not think about these things?"
"Yeah, you two, way to plan ahead!" Hunter scolded Mario and Peach, only to look down when Mario glared at him. Mario was in a very sour mood.
Hunter: Mario thinks he's got it so good, being married to a princess...knew I should've married one of those princess fairies from the Forgotten Realms. They seem like they offer plenty of hospitality. Meanwhile, all Bianca has is "magic". Pretty obvious she won't get that far in life. *pauses* Bianca, if you ever hear this, babe, I still love you...
"Thou should have a son, just in case," Arthur suggested to Mario and Peach, acting as a family counselor of sorts. "Who knows if Prince Mario meets a very tragic end..."
"Can you just SHUT UP for once?!" Mario boomed at Arthur, showing a rare sign of anger and hostility. Peach and the others were taken back by Mario's angry outburst.
"Me? Shut up?" Arthur stood up from his chair, frowning at Mario. "Here I am, teaching thee how to act like a prince, and thou hast chosen to act the exact opposite!"
"Guess what, Arthur? I...am not...a prince!" Showing defiance, Mario took off his red Napeonleon jacket and crown, and rubbed his hand through his combed hair. Arthur was left shellshocked.
"Oh no, his nipples are exposed!" shrieked Spyro, as Hunter was screaming in horror. An equally horrified Peony covered his hand over Peonia's eyes, annoying his daughter.
"You wanna know what-a I am? Do you really wanna know what-a I am, Arthur?" Mario got up in Arthur's grill, letting the knight know he meant business. "I'm a plumber! And I'm gonna keep-a on being a plumber, and there's nothing you can-a do about it!"
"Such preposterous thinking..." Arthur shook his head, ashamed that Mario chose to go back to his blue-collar ways. "Princess Peach, can you believe your husband right now?"
"I support Mario, one hundred percent," responded Peach, siding with her husband, as Arthur's mouth was left agape. "I honestly Mario as a plumber."
"That's right, you tell 'em, princess!" Peony cheered on for Peach, as he pumped his fist. Hunter was clapping his hands, showing alliance with Peach as Arthur was disgruntled.
"Besides, him being a prince would be too out of character. I like Mario being a plumber because it embodies his everyman persona. And you can't be an everyman as a royal prince!"
"My wife-a speaks the truth," Mario said to Arthur, smiling proudly. "If she likes-a me for who I am, what point-a is there for me to change?"
"Thought I expected better from thee, Mario," a disappointed Arthur said to the plumber, moving away from his seat. "But, if thou want to be some measly plumber, then so be it."
As Arthur pushed his chair in, his armor suddenly came off, revealing his underwear. The prince sighed, as Mario and the others laughed at him.
Arthur: *in his underwear* I really need some sturdier armor...*pauses* ...why did I hear a wolf whistle?
The day was nearly coming to an end, and somehow, someway, Pit was still in the bracket challenge. However, the angel would be out of the running when one of his picks lost. He would take his busted bracket to the ballroom, surprised that he had lasted this long.
"Pit...why is Duke in your bracket?" inquired Beleth, as he was taking a look at the angel's bracket; one of the teams was scratched off, with "Duke" being written over it. "They're not even in the tournament!"
"Uh, they were a last-minute replacement for one of the teams playing tomorrow," Pit gave his excuse, hoping that the professors would believe him. "Virus protocols, or something."
"This is our first time hearing this," remarked Byleth, as Beleth took Pit's bracket and stuck it down the paper shredder. "But we're just going to assume that you're lying. Which is quite obvious."
"I'm not lying, I'm just ahead of the curve! Isn't that right, Lakitu?" Pit looked up at Lakitu, who was busy adjusting the giant bracket in the ballroom.
"Nope, you're not fooling anyone, Pit," Lakitu said to the angel, who frowned and angrily stomped his foot. "But nice try, though."
"They're gonna put Duke in the tournament somehow, just you wait and see..." Pit guaranteed Lakitu and the professors, pointing at them as he walked out of the ballroom. "...they're gonna win it all!"
After Pit had left, Byleth and Beleth would be revisited by Yoshi, who now had more bruises all over his body. Courtesy of Bowser. What was Yoshi going to say this time around?
"This will be my last time bothering you," Yoshi said to the professors...before getting down on his knees in a begging manner, clasping his hands together. "Please, please let me redo the bracket challenge!"
"I think it's too late for that, Yoshi," Beleth said to Yoshi, hoping that the green dinosaur wouldn't start crying. "The first day of games is almost finished!"
"Okay then, why not do that second chance bracket I suggested? Or even some prop bets for the later rounds? Anything!"
"What is it that you want?" Byleth asked Yoshi, putting her hands on her hips. She couldn't stand to see Yoshi like this. "Just tell us already!"
"I just want some validation...want the others to show me a little more respect! That's all I want...that's what I missed, this time last year."
"Okay...if you care so much about some 'validation', why don't we just give you a participation trophy?"
"Participation trophy? Are you serious? A participation trophy?! What the heck could I even do with a..."
Realizing what he said, Yoshi gasped and covered his mouth. Very slowly, the green dinosaur turned his head around...and saw Bowser standing behind him, staring him down.
"Just can't learn your lesson, can ya?" Bowser asked Yoshi, who quickly pointed at Byleth, only for Bowser to grab his nose. "No, no, you don't need another fall guy. You're really gonna get it now!"
"Go easy on him," Byleth advised Bowser, who smiled in response as he dragged Yoshi out of the ballroom. "All he needs is just a little validation..."
Byleth: I won't lie, I got Yoshi in trouble with Bowser on purpose. Just mention participation trophies, and Yoshi falls for it hook, line, and sinker. Maybe by now, he'll have learned his lesson. Third time's the charm, right?
Dunban was cooking dinner tonight, and some sirloin steak was on the menu. Nia, craving for some steak sauce, went to the kitchen...where she saw Rex, holding something behind his back.
"Got this for you," Rex offered a gift box to Nia, which he had received from Cortex (through Link). Nia accepted the gift box, looking at it curiously. "It's a bit of a romantic gift."
"A romantic gift, you say? It better be good..." responded Nia, carefully lifting the box lid. Rex was smiling as Nia took the lid off, and happily gasped at whatever was inside the box.
"So, you like?" Nia was all smiles as she took a toy mouse out of the gift box, before dropping the box on the floor. "Looks like it suits your style."
"Is this a toy mouse?" Nia held the toy mouse, seeing that it had a red bow wrapped around it. "How did you know that I wanted this?
"Some intuition...and a bit of research. The bow is what puts the exclamation point on the..." Rex would find himself interrupted when Nia gave him a hug.
"That is so sweet of you, Rex. I sure do appreciate it!" Nia happily left the kitchen with her toy mouse, but not before grabbing a bottle of steak sauce from the fridge. Rex stood around, proud of himself, as Link and Cortex joined him in the kitchen.
"Well, boys, she really liked that gift," Rex said to Link and Cortex, before putting his hand on the latter's shoulder. Almost got his chromedome head. "You sure came through, doctor."
"Don't mention it, Rex - why, I had no idea what was even inside the gift box!" confessed Cortex as he, Link, and Rex shared a laugh together. "Seriously, though, I was out of the loop..."
While the other scientists were long gone from the mansion, E. Gadd stayed behind so Cloud could give him the $10,000. Even joined the residents for dinner, as a surprise guest. E. Gadd met with Cloud privately outside, on the patio.
"Here's the $10,000, professor," Cloud gave the $10,000 to E. Gadd, who was smiling with glee as he accepted the money and stuffed it inside a handbag. "You can use it to buy those parts for the machine. Now I feel bad about Lloyd..."
"No need to fear, Cloud!" assured E. Gadd, digging into the pockets of his lab coat and pulling out some dollar bills. "I made some counterfeit dollar bills with the copy machine, in case Pit and Lloyd wonder about their money."
"This feels so wrong, but...I guess it's for the greater good." Cloud begrudgingly accepted the counterfeit money from E. Gadd, stuffing it in his pockets. "We'll keep in touch, alright?"
"Right on! I'm still one call away." E. Gadd gave Cloud a thumbs-up as he was about to leave the mansion premises. "Have a good rest of your night!"
"You do the same." Cloud watched as E. Gadd waved and walked away, heading back to his own mansion. Even after his transaction with E. Gadd, Cloud was still feeling pretty bad.
"Surprised to see you outside this time of night, Cloud," Joker said to the swordsman, with him and Kasumi coming around the corner. Cloud did his best to maintain his poise. "I take it that you and Professor E. Gadd were having quite the conversation."
"Had no idea you were much of a science person," Kasumi said to Cloud, trying to get under the swordsman's skin. "What other secrets do you have?"
"You guys have been acting weird today, and I know that you're doing it on purpose," Cloud said to Joker and Kasumi, not just referring to them but to the other Phantom Thieves as well. "So what's the catch?"
"There's no catch...unless, of course, you want to discuss money matters," replied Joker, and that's when Cloud got the feeling that the Phantom Thieves were on to him. Had to leave while he still could.
"Eh, I'd rather just talk about science instead..." Cloud hightailed away from the patio, which for him required walking at a slightly faster pace than usual. And that only raised Joker and Kasumi's suspicions even higher.
Joker: You can run, Cloud...but you can't hide. Try as hard as you might, we'll still put an end to your plan.
Suddenly, Kasumi gasped, grabbing Joker's attention as she pointed at a dark figure appearing from behind a tree. The figure walked closer to Joker and Kasumi, revealing himself to be Sephiroth.
"Cloud is acting rather suspiciously, hm?" the one-winged angel asked Joker and Kasumi, who both nodded their heads cautiously. Sephiroth was as unpredictable as they come. "If you ever need any assistance...I am always around."
"Duly noted," replied Joker, as Sephiroth snarled and walked away menacingly. Would Joker and the Phantom Thieves depend on Sephiroth, if needed?