Author's Note:
Hehehe...this is a chapter that I've been anticipating writing for a while now. A chapter based around one of my favorite Sonic games, which is being remastered for the Switch, Sonic Colors! Since the remastered version will be coming out this Tuesday, I couldn't write to get this chapter done. Got a few reviews to answer, so let's get to it:
"Just wanted to remind you that today is Astral Chain's 2nd anniversary."
I see that it was on August 30th...I could've done an Astral Chain chapter, but Sonic Colors was a higher priority. One more anonymous review:
"You know, I would like to see a meeting between Sylvia and Camilla. Both are beautiful and flirtatious characters who are voiced by Paula Tiso. Well, Paula didn't voice Camilla in FEH, but it's fine. The two characters also loved their families."
Sylvia and Camilla have the same voice actor? Interesting. The chances of those two interacting are quite slim, though. On to The Reader:
"Not a mention that Owain is Lucina's cousin?"
Whoops...must've overlooked that. Moving on:
"One thing I don't know, is Kazuya bad for stopping Popo from getting successful, or is he good for stopping Popo from his money-induced hallucinations?"
The pendulum could swing in either direction. What Kazuya is hoping to accomplish is up for anyone's interpretation. Moving on:
"Man, that Pichu appearance with Lucina reminds me of Samus-Pikachu from Brawl. Do you think you can have Samus and Pikachu together again?"
Yes, of course! I can always recreate some magic between the two. Next is David:
"Are Chrom and Lucina gonna hate each other forever? Is there gonna be a love triangle of sorts with Noctis, Lightning, and Lunafreya should they show up? Will Sans have a pun-off with Lailah from Tales of Zestiria? Is Eggman gonna build a theme park of death for the Sonic Colors chapter? And finally, what did you think of the trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home?"
Goodness, no! Chrom and Lucina will be back on the same page again. Won't be a love triangle with those three. Sans might have a pun-off with Lailah...or someone else! Eggman won't be building a theme park of death, not in this chapter at least. And I enjoyed the No Way Home trailer - kinda funny seeing Doctor Strange and Doctor Octopus in the same movie. An NFL fan has a football-related question for me:
"Sorry to interrupt, but THE PATRIOTS ARE RELEASING CAM! Yes, apparently they are releasing Cam Newton. Do you think Mac Jones will be Brady 2.0?"
Probably not - but those are some big shoes to fill. I think Mac Jones will do just fine. Last is Walter Hitchcock:
"Will there be some Tales stuff in the future with Tales of Arise right around the corner? Is there going to be a Shin Megami Tensei series chapter for the upcoming Shin Megami Tensei V? For some reason, I feel like Cloud has a friend group at the mansion. Are these some of those friends? (Link, Samus, Meta Knight, Lucario, Geninja, Marth, Roy, Ike, Shulk, Snake, Ryu, Ken, Bayonetta, Pyra, Mythra, Simon, Richter, Joker, Eleven, Terry, Alucard, Dillon, Dante, Rodin, Zero, Aerith, Altaïr, Barret, Travis, and Tifa)"
There will be chapters for Tales of Arise and SMT V, coming in the near future. As for Cloud's friend group, I'd say that everyone you mentioned except for the Samus, Greninja, Belmonts, Bayonetta, and Dillon could be considered one of Cloud's friends, acquaintances...or just people that he can tolerate the most.
Episode 298: Colorful
It was the first week of September, which only meant one thing - the end of summer was fastly approaching. Summer would end on September 21, which was Popo's ideal deadline when it came to selling ice cream. But unfortunately for the Ice Climber, he had a few problems at the moment.
First, he was running low on ice cream, due to be hyperfocused on selling so much in the recent weeks. Secondly, the van that the ice cream gang used to go around deliver ice cream was being repaired, after Nana crashed it. But worst of all, the van's driver, Banjo, had shown no signs of returning to the ice cream gang after Kazuya successfully lured him away.
While Popo dealt with these problems by himself, the rest of the ice cream gang - Nana, Kazooie, Sonic, Crash, Dante, and the Inklings - were free to do whatever for the time being. Sonic and Crash were in the front yard of the mansion playing catch, while Tails, Coco, and Aku all kept them company.
"You guys ever think what Dr. Eggman's up to?" Tails asked his friends out of curiosity, while he was tinkering around with a new device he invented. "Ever since he got released from jail?"
"No, and no one here thinks about stuff like that," replied Sonic as he tossed the football back to Crash. He couldn't for the life of him believe that Tails would ask such an asinine question. "Not like his personal life is that interesting."
"Maybe he found himself a girlfriend," assumed Aku, as Sonic and the others were laughing at the floating mask. Sonic was laughing the hardest; Tails and Coco were mostly giggling. "Well, if King Dedede found one..."
"Only or Valentine's Day. I couldn't imagine any woman agreeing to be that bub's girlfriend, even for a day." As Sonic spoke, a large sphere-like structure slowly made its descent to the mansion.
"Uh, Sonic...I think we got some company!" Coco called out to hedgehog as she and the others saw the structure...but Sonic wasn't listening.
"I don't know who would feel more depressed - King Dedede's girlfriend, or Dr. Eggman's girlfriend. Imagine being their wife!"
"Sonic, you should probably turn around..." Tails advised his friend, as he quickly recognized who was inside the structure - the eyes and mustache on it were a huge giveaway.
"Turn around for what? Is King Dedede behind me? Did I hurt his precious little feelings?" Sonic finally turned around and took a few jumps back when he saw the egg-like structure.
But what made Sonic jump back in the first place was that the structure had a face on it - one that strongly resembled Dr. Eggman's. The top of the structure opened up, as two robots - Orbot and Cubot - flew out of the opening.
"Not these dorks again..." Sonic frowned when he saw Orbot and Cubot, perhaps the two weakest robots of Dr. Eggman's that he ever confronted. So weak, he didn't even feel like battling either one of them.
"Members of the Smash Mansion!" shouted Orbot, not caring how many folks bothered to listen. "Stand on your feet and put your hands together for the one and only..." Orbot looked towards Cubot, who looked like he was in another dimension. "I said, the one and only..."
"Aw, shoot, what was my line again?" wondered Cubot, as he scratched his temple; Orbot facepalmed as he shook his head, while Sonic and company looked on with amused faces.
"You're supposed to say his name...his name," Orbot whispered to Cubot while being very mindful of everyone below him; he didn't want to ruin the (painfully obvious) surprise.
"Whose's name? George Washington?" Cubot scratched his head for a brief moment or two, and then the name finally came to him. "Oh yeah! His name! Should we start back over, from the top?"
"But I already said my..." Orbot was about to snap on Cubot, only to hold in his anger as he looked away with his arms folded. "...just say it."
"Alrighty then! Now introducing, Dr. Eggman!" Cubot did some little jazz hands, feeling some type of way when Orbot refused to join in on the fun.
Orbot: Seven months...it took us seven long months to rehearse that.
Party music started playing and sparks flew out from the egg-like structure, as a stage rose out from the opening. Standing on the stage was none other than Dr. Eggman, who was dressed in a very fitting red suit. The mad scientist was blowing kisses with both of his hands, before taking a formal bow.
"This must be one of his newest vanity projects," Tails said to Coco, wondering why Eggman was all dressed up from head to toe. Maybe he was celebrating an anniversary of some sort? An anniversary of something not that important?
"Ah, if it isn't my favorite person in the whole wide world, Sonic!" Eggman grinned when he looked down and saw Sonic, who was cringing mightily. "Did you miss me? Don't even try to hide it!"
"Please don't call me that..." pleaded Sonic, as Eggman took out a remote control; Eggman pressed the button on the remote, causing the stage to fly out from the structure and onto the ground.
"What do you want, Eggman?" Coco asked the mad scientist, who stepped off the stage as he was joined by his robot lackeys Orbot and Cubot. "Also, what's with that suit?"
"Glad you asked, Miss Bandicoot!" gleamed Eggman as he fastened his tie, while Orbot and Cubot properly adjusted his suit. "I have a very important proposal to make to Link."
"Cool, are you gonna ask him to revoke your ban from the mansion?" Sonic asked Eggman, who gritted his teeth at the hedgehog. Eggman took the word "ban" very personally. "I sure would appreciate that!"
"Absolutely not! I'm going to ask Link if I could officiate his wedding." This was a major shock to Sonic and friends - Eggman officiating a wedding between two Hylians would look seriously out of place.
"With all due respect, Dr. Eggman, I don't think you're a good choice," Aku offered his two cents, wanting to save Eggman from being rejected by Link and Zelda. Or something even worse than that.
"That's what a liar like you would think. I check off all the boxes, and then some!" Eggman finished off his sentence by striking a pose, and it was uncanny to see in that suit of his.
"And that, Knuckles, is why I always eat nails before bedtime," Crunch discussed with Knuckles, as he and the echidna arrived at the front yard. The two came to a stop when they saw Eggman and how pimped out he was.
"Woah, Dr. Eggman! Nice drip!" Knuckles commended the mad scientist, as Sonic gave the echidna an inquisitive stare. "What, Sonic? This is just real recognizing real!"
"Implying that Eggman was ever 'real' to begin with..." muttered Sonic, as Eggman pressed the button on his remote again, opening a hole in the structure. "...Eggman, what are you doing?"
"I should mention, my visit is two-fold," stated Eggman, pressing the button again as a clear capsule appeared out from the hole. "I have come to bring you a gift, Sonic!"
"Okay, this is beyond creepy..." Sonic would accept a gift from Waluigi, under certain circumstances; but accepting a gift from his arch-nemesis in Eggman was a big no-no for him.
"Oh, so giving others gifts is considered creepy now? You must be a miserable person during the holiday season! Or even your birthday!"
"Quite the opposite," said Tails, ready to throw some shade at Sonic; it was the one thing that Sonic feared the most. "Sonic usually gets super upset when he doesn't get a lot of gifts."
"In that case, he'll be exceedingly happy when I show him his gift! Wisps, show yourselves!"
Eggman pressed the button once more, opening the lid of the clear capsule. Flying out the capsule were Wisps - alien creatures that came in different colors. Sonic and friends marveled at the Wisps, as they flew around in the air. One particular Wisp flew up to Sonic, with a strand of curly hair on his friend that differentiated him from the other Wisps.
"Hey, Yacker! What's up, buddy!" Sonic happily greeted the Wisp, giving him a fist pound. The two companions were now reunited. "Where did you find these Wisps, Eggman?"
"Cubot and Orbot found them," replied Eggman, choosing not to explain where or how his robot lackeys found the Wisps. A lot of humiliating details that he would have to tell. "I had no room to keep them in my lair, so...I decided to bring them to you."
"That was awfully nice of you, doctor," said Tails, as Yacker flew over to the yellow fox. Just to do a little catching up. Too bad Yacker didn't have a mouth.
"Eh, I suppose it was. You can put the Wisps in the basement, or something. Just don't let the purple ones near any food source - they have quite the appetite!"
"Guess we better find a place to keep these guys in," Coco said to Sonic and the others, as she led the group inside the mansion. The Wisps followed the blonde bandicoot's lead. "Uh, thanks for the delivery, Eggman!"
"Keep it up with the drip!" Knuckles encouraged Eggman, with Sonic staring inquisitively at the echidna as he and the others entered the mansion.
"Well, Eggman, you did a good deed..." Eggman said to himself with a smile, putting his remote away. Orbot and Cubot turned around, both shuddering when a certain blue robot drew near.
"Uh, boss...he's here," Orbot alerted Eggman, his arm shaking as he pointed at the blue robot. Eggman turned around, and he smiled wide when he saw who the robot was...Metal Sonic.
"Metal Sonic! You finally showed up," gleamed Eggman, as Metal Sonic was looking deadly as ever. His menacing red eyes shook Orbot and Cubot to the core.
"You know how much I despise traveling in the Death Egg," Metal Sonic said to Eggman before looking at Orbot and Cubot, who were both hugging each other shaking in fear. "When those two are around..."
"I'm aware that you don't get along well with Orbot and Cubot. But you arrived on time, and that's what matters the most!"
"Yes, I've arrived on time...to kill Sonic!" Metal Sonic clenched his fist, picturing his senseless beating on Sonic in his mind. He saw himself standing triumphantly over Sonic, who was bloodied and beaten down.
Metal Sonic: It has been my life goal since I was first created to destroy Sonic. I want nothing more than to dismantle him completely, and beat him until he's nothing more than a bloodied mess. To hear him make his final gasps for air would be the greatest music to my ears...
"Erm, you won't be killing anyone today," Eggman informed Metal Sonic, who was met with severe disappointment as his day was now ruined. "You will be helping me in my pitch to become Link and Zelda's wedding officiant!"
"Is that why you asked me to come to Seattle, to help you with that?" asked Metal Sonic; he couldn't go one day without killing anyone, especially if Sonic was in his vicinity. "This is going to be a waste of my time..."
"Can we assist you with your pitch, Doctor?" Orbot asked Eggman, who looked at Orbot and Cubot rather skeptically. Eggman believed that his robot lackeys would do nothing more than drag him down.
"Maybe near the end, perhaps," replied Eggman, giving Orbot and Cubot a sense of false hope, before looking towards Mario's house as he scratched his chin. "But for the time being..."
Before the van crashed, Popo and the ice cream gang made plenty of rounds around Seattle selling ice cream. Rayman and his friends even got in on the action, even though Rayman repeatedly dissuaded Popo from ever coming to his house. Yet the gang never sold ice cream to Mario, Luigi, or any of the neighbors, and that was something that dwelled on Peach's mind as she was in her living room playing with Jennifer.
"Golly, I sure would've loved to have some of Popo's ice cream," Peach discussed with Spyro while playing a game on a tablet with Jennifer. It has been a long time since Peach ever had any of the Ice Climbers' ice cream.
"Popo would've charged you extra for some stupid reason," asserted Spyro, lowkey disgusted by how much screen time Jennifer was getting. At least Jennifer was happy, as shown by her clapping her hands at whatever was on the screen. "Has that man ever given anyone a discount?"
"Only the homeless people, as far as I know." Suddenly the doorbell rang, effectively putting Peach's playtime with Jennifer on hold. "Spyro, can you watch Jennifer for me?"
"I think that tablet's got it covered..." Spyro just stood where he was, as Peach stood up and ran to the front door. While Jennifer messed around with the tablet, smacking her hand against the screen, Peach opened the door and saw Eggman.
"Oh! Dr. Eggman!" exclaimed Peach when she saw Eggman, who was joined by Orbot and Cubot. Metal Sonic was in the background, facepalming. "Your red dress looks awfully sharp."
"I believe that you should start calling me Dr. Drip, my fair princess," responded Eggman, giving himself a nickname after Knuckles' positive comments left a lasting impression on him. Spyro came over, just to get a good look at Eggman in his suit.
"I'm surprised that suit can even hold in all that lard," the purple dragon said to Eggman, grinding the mad scientist's gears as he caused him to angrily grit his teeth.
"Pipsqueak dragon, you talk bad about my weight one more time..." Eggman threatened Spyro, only to toss his threat to the side when he saw Mario coming down the stairs. Just the man he wanted to impress. "...ah, Mario!"
"Princess-a Peach?" Mario said to his wife, sounding super disappointed as he ran over to Jennifer and snatched the tablet away from his daughter. Jennifer started crying in an instant. "What did I tell-a you about using the tablet around-a Jennifer?"
"Not like I was doing anything X-rated," Peach defended herself, as Mario placed the tablet on the chimney. A sobbing Jennifer tried to reach it, but to no avail due to her small height.
"For the last-a time, Peach, the tablet is NOT Jennifer's pacifier. Or her babysitter. Or her nanny. Those are all-a Spyro's duties."
"Why would I wanna be Jennifer's pacifier...?" a disgusted Spyro furrowed his brow, as he couldn't imagine himself being inside Jennifer's mouth. Might as well let Hunter go through that.
Mario: Nothing bad-a on our tablet. You have-a your usual apps, like Chrome, Gmail, Netflix, your standard clock, and some... *squints at the tablet in his hand* ...some app called-a "Lonely Space Vixens: Reloaded". The app icon looks-a cartoonish, so I assume that it's safe-a for little kids to play. Haven't played it myself-a yet, though.
"Mario! Get a load of the drip master himself, Dr. Drip!" Eggman shouted the plumber, presenting himself as he grinned and held his arms out wide. Orbot and Cubot did some jazz hands to spruce up Eggman's presentation.
"Dr. Drip? Did some ten-year-old name-a you that?" questioned Mario, as Eggman angrily gritted his teeth once more, this time at Mario. "Also, your belly is kinda showing."
"It is?" Eggman looked down and saw a slither of his stomach exposed. The mad scientist sheepishly giggled as he stuffed his stomach back in. "Hehe. That was the suit's fault, not mine."
"Eggman, when are you gonna introduce us to our babysitters?" Cubot asked the mad scientist as he tugged on his suit. The word "babysitters" made Mario, Peach, and Spyro cautious.
"Oh yes! Thanks for reminding me. Mario, Peach, I want you two to watch over my robots for me." Eggman showed the married couple Orbot and Cubot who were both waving innocently. "I'll be making a pitch today to Link and Zelda."
"No wonder you came dressed up," Peach said to Eggman, as Orbot and Cubot went over to the princess and checked her out. With tape measures, mind you. "We'll happily watch over your robots for you, Eggman."
"We are?" Mario and Spyro asked Peach simultaneously, as both of them planned on objecting to Eggman's offer. But it was too late now.
"Much thanks! I must be on my way now. When I come back, I will be Link and Zelda's wedding officiant, mark my words!" And with that, Eggman closed the front door, leaving Orbot and Cubot with Mario and company. Those poor, unfortunate souls.
"Nice-a going, princess," Mario frowned at Peach along with Spyro, before Eggman's words finally registered in his mind. "Wait, did Eggman just-a say...Link and Zelda's wedding officiant?!"
While Dante's van was in the shop, Popo was focused on getting his ice cream supply back up to speed. The Ice Climber personally didn't feel like making the ice cream himself, manually, so he asked a resident to build an ice cream-making machine for him. Enter Mechanica, who built just a machine for Popo and showed him how to operate it in the kitchen.
"I got it all under control, Mechanica!" Popo assured the genius, who was standing with Tails and Coco; time to see how he would fare without any instruction.
"Alright, I'll take your word for it," responded Mechanica, leaving the kitchen with Tails and Coco as the ice cream machine was doing its thing. "Make sure that the machine doesn't go into overdrive!"
"Thanks for wanting to help us find a place for the Wisps to stay," Coco thanked Mechanica as she, Mechanica, and Tails were passing through the dining room en route to the living room. "There's a lot of them, so..."
"Shouldn't be a problem for us," Mechanica said confidently as she flexed her fingers - no problem was ever too big for her. "We have more than enough space in this mansion, as it is."
Tails, Coco, and Mechanica arrived at the living room, where they saw Sonic, Knuckles, Crash, Crunch, Aku, and Yacker all on their phones. Well, Aku wasn't on his phone because he didn't have one. And Yacker didn't have a phone either because he wouldn't know how to operate one. And Crash didn't have a phone because he couldn't be trusted with one.
"Um, Sonic, where are the Wisps?" Tails asked the hedgehog, who looked up at the yellow fox as if he was supposed to know the answer himself.
"I dunno, you tell me," Sonic replied with a shrug, before going back to his phone. Coco sighed, while Tails smacked his forehead. Mechanica, on the other hand, took a great interest in Yacker.
"Ooh, is this one of the Wisps?" the young genius inquired as she ran over to get a closer look at Yacker. She was about to touch the Wisp, only for Sonic to smack her hand away.
"Hey, watch it!" scolded Sonic, as Mechanica held her hand and backed away. "Yacker did not give you his consent to touch him without permission."
"That doesn't make any sense, Yacker can't even talk!" Crunch pointed out, and Sonic knew that he was right. Therefore, the hedgehog had to come up with a witty comeback so that Crunch wouldn't have the last laugh.
"Your mom doesn't make any sense!" Was that seriously the best Sonic could do? Apparently so. Crunch was unaffected, as he went back to his phone.
Tails: Sometimes when Sonic gets really desperate, he'll resort to a yo mama joke as some last resort insult. The results usually vary on whoever he uses it against. Usually.
"Guess this means that we have to go on a wild goose chase to find the Wisps," assumed Coco, as Chrom entered the living room holding a box in his hands. What was inside that box?
"Excuse me, everyone, but do any of you know where I can find the wrapping paper?" Chrom asked Coco and company as he held up his box. The box moved around a bit, which quickly caught everyone's attention and curiosity.
"Should be some in one of the hallway closets," replied Knuckles; that meant Chrom had to do a little bit of searching. But the prince didn't mind, as he walked away with the box...only to run into Dr. Eggman.
"Well, well, Dr. Eggman! You look nice today," Chrom said to the mad scientist, wishing that he could look just as sharp. Would be an easy way to earn a lot of respect from Lucina. "Where did you get the suit from?"
"That's Dr. Drip to you, Chrom," replied Eggman as Metal Sonic came around the corner, keeping his distance so that Chrom wouldn't spot him. "This suit was made by yours truly - I'm a stitching master!"
"Hm. I'd have to see that myself to believe it..." Chrom would leave the premises, and after the prince was gone, Metal Sonic came over to Eggman.
"Sorry if I was late," Metal Sonic apologized to Eggman; apologizing was an act that the robot seldom did on his own accord. "I was too busy letting out my frustrations by destroying some nearby furniture."
"It's good that you got it all out, then," replied Eggman, as Metal Sonic looked past the mad scientist and caught a glimpse of Sonic in the living room. The robot rubbed his hands intently. "Why are you rubbing your hands?"
"...no, no reason. Just a quirk of mine." Metal Sonic stopped rubbing his hands, but his mind was still focused on Sonic. "I like to do it in private."
Due to Sonic and his pals being horrible babysitters, the Wisps had wandered off to various parts of the mansion. They had yet to reach the sauna, where Banjo and a couple of other male residents were enjoying themselves.
"You know, I kinda miss going around delivering ice cream," admitted Banjo as Kazuya, who was sitting next to the bear, gave him a crazy yet worried look. "It was great for sightseeing."
"No you don't, you're lying to yourself," Kazuya did his best to convince Banjo, while Kazooie poked her head out of Banjo's backpack to watch the exchange. "Also, you can go sightseeing without delivering ice cream."
"Really? Is that even possible?" Forcing a genuine smile on his face, Kazuya nodded his head, even though Banjo's mind wasn't totally made up. "I don't believe you."
"Oh, yes, it is very much possible! You can see magnificent places, like the...uh...er..." Kazuya was having a brainfart, and that was Kazooie's moment to help the businessman out.
"The Space Needle," Kazooie whispered to Kazuya, naming easily the biggest attraction that Seattle had to offer. Kazuya was thinking of something more obscure, but he would accept Kazooie's response.
"Yes, the Space Needle. Should be one of the Seven Wonders of the World." No matter what Kazuya said, Banjo still didn't change his mind. "Are you not entertained?"
"Why would I wanna see some lousy needle in space?" questioned Banjo, as Kazuya and Kazooie found themselves facepalming at the bear. "I can't really see it without a spacesuit."
Kazuya: I am glad that I was able to pull Banjo away from Popo's clutches. That said, he is a very trying person. He tests my patience more than my father and son have done before. Which truly says a lot about him.
Sticking to her guns, Samus was back at the sauna, sitting around as a response to Lloyd's "no girls allowed" mandate. Speaking of Lloyd, the swordsman showed up at the sauna and when he saw Samus, he pointed at the bounty hunter with heavy contempt.
"I'm gonna get you outta here, Miss Aran!" Lloyd vowed to Samus, before storming away as he looked to have authority boot the bounty hunter out. Samus rolled her eyes, which is what she usually did when Lloyd threatened to kick her out.
"Keep telling yourself that," Samus called out to Lloyd, as she went back to petting Pikachu. Soon her attention was caught by an ivory Wisp, which floated down from the ceiling. "Well, hello there. What exactly are you?"
Much to Joker's surprise, Sans did a solid job operating Cafe Leblanc by himself. The young man was so impressed, that he gave Sans a second chance at the gig while he and Pit took care of some "important business". The Phantom Thieves were the only ones who objected to Joker's decision, but Sans hoped to prove them wrong.
"want me to give you some sugar, baby?" Sans asked Twintelle, who was sipping her tea until she spat out the contents in response to Sans' rather flirtatious question. Provided that it was intended to be that way.
"No thank you, that won't be necessary," replied Twintelle as she wiped her mouth; her tea was already sweet enough, she didn't need sugar anyways.
"i can always be your sugar daddy, you know." That was more than enough for Twintelle to handle, as she finished drinking the rest of her tea and retreated from the cafe. "come again!"
"I don't know why these creeps insist on following me around," Falco said to Fox as the two pilots entered the cafe. Two wisps were trailing behind Falco - one red, and the other yellow. "What is it with them?"
"They probably think that you're attractive," assumed Fox, as he and Falco took a seat at the counter where Sans waited. "Huh, maybe I was wrong for questioning Katt's eyesight..."
"What do you mean by that?" Falco was about to throw some hands with Fox, as he held his fist up. Sensing danger afoot, the red Wisp unleashed a flame that spooked both Fox and Falco, sending the latter falling out of his chair.
"woah, that was kinda...lit," remarked Sans, as Falco recollected his dignity and pulled himself up on the barstool before sitting back down. "who is that cute little guy?"
"Beats me - showed up in our recording studio along with the yellow one," shrugged Fox, as Sans took some fascination with the Wisps. The yellow Wisp, on the other hand, took some fascination with the cafe counter as he drilled through it.
"Hey, watch it now!" Falco shouted at the yellow Wisps as he scooped him up before he could cause even more damage. "That counter isn't cheap, you know! It's pretty expensive...is it, guys?"
"sure feels expensive that's for sure," replied Sans, before turning around at a large bowl of coffee beans. The skeleton stroked his chin, as he turned his attention back to the Wisps. "you boys wouldn't mind if I borrowed the little guys for a hot minute, do you?"
If Sonic and company wanted any hope of finding the Wisps, they would have to split up in groups. Sonic, Crash, and Yacker went in one group; Tails, Coco, and Mechanica went in another group; and Knuckles, Crunch, and Aku went in the third. The group of Sonic, Crash, and Yacker were looking for Wisps as they went down the hallway when a cyan laser bounced off the walls.
"Yup, I think I know what kind of Wisp that is!" remarked Sonic, watching as the cyan laser bounced its way down the hallway. Soon Sonic and company were joined by the ninja pals, who were led by Sheik.
"Have you boys seen Ninjara anywhere?" Sheik asked Sonic and Crash, as she and the ninja pals were looking to recruit Ninjara - no matter how much he resented them. "He won't stop getting away from us!"
"We might have a clue where he went." Sonic gave Sheik a sly smile, before looking at Crash and nudging him in the side. Crash didn't know what Sonic was hinting at, but he still smiled anyways just for the sake of conversation.
"Everyone, watch out!" shouted Kat, as the cyan laser from earlier came back down the hallway. Everyone ducked or got out of harm's way except for Crash, who was struck by the laser.
"Crash, no!" Sonic cried out - but Crash was relatively okay, as he was sitting on the floor rubbing his head. Sitting a few feet away from Crash was the person that bumped into the bandicoot, Ninjara, with a Cyan Wisp next to him.
"Well, well, well...all that running and you came right back to us!" Yuffie mockingly said to Ninjara, with her hands on her hips. "Admit it, you can't run away from us. We're too irresistible!"
"Stupid alien creature, you led me right back to them!" Ninjara scolded the Cyan Wisp, who was unfazed by the ninja's comments; he was just vibing. "Good-for-nothing worthless freak..."
Ninjara: No matter how much I try to escape from them, in the end, I find myself with those wretched ninja pals. The forces of this universe are still working against me.
"Hey, cut him some slack!" Sonic shouted at Ninjara as he pointed his finger at the ninja. The hedgehog sure was defensive of the Wisps. "It's not this little guy's fault that you can't resist the ninja pals."
"Why are you even following up on..." Ninjara was about to snap on Sonic, only to hold his tongue as he kept his usually calm demeanor. "...forget it, I have some important stuff to attend to. Good riddance."
"Hold that thought," Sheik said to Ninjara as he grabbed his arm, right before he could make his getaway escape. Ninjara would escape via smoke bomb, but he was unfortunately empty-handed. "Sonic, what is that cyan creature?"
"He's called a Wisp," replied Sonic, as the Cyan Wisp floated over to the hedgehog's side. "This is another Wisp, Yacker - he's a friend of mine." Sonic brought Sheik's attention to Yacker, who waved at the ninja pals.
"Interesting...And I take it that some of these Wisps are on the lose?" Sheik maintained a firm grip on Ninjara, who was trying to break free.
"Erm...all of them, I'm afraid. Crash and I are trying to find 'em all before they cause any trouble." That got Sheik thinking - and Sheik's thinking had Ninjara super worried.
"You're not going to force me to look for these...Wisps with you, are you?" Ninjara cautiously asked Sheik, whose gears were grinding in her head. Sheik looked at her ninja pals, who all got the same idea.
"Seems like he gets it," grinned Asuka, as Ninjara groaned; any day spent with the ninja pals against his will was always a bad day for Ninjara. "He'll fit right in with us!"
"Awesome! We sure could use another search party," Sonic said to the ninja pals, appreciating Ninjara for helping with the cause. And Ninjara certainly did not appreciate Sonic. "Just look for anyone alien-looking!"
At first glance, Orbot and Cubot looked like they weren't much trouble. They were nothing more than two harmless robots, perhaps the most peaceful robots that Eggman had ever created. But as Mario and the others learned, they got a lot more than they bargained for when it came to "babysitting" Orbot and Cubot.
"I'm a little fairy princess!" squealed Cubot as he was prancing around in the living room, wearing Jenniffer's crown. Jennifer was smiling and clapping at Cubot's performance, as Mario and Peach looked on with disgust.
"Can't let Jennifer see this, it'll give her the wrong-a idea," Mario said to Peach as he held his hands over Jennifer's eyes. Soon Orbot came over to Mario and Peach, holding a gallon of milk.
"So I went through your fridge, and I see that your milk is a day past its expiration date," Orbot informed the married couple as he pointed at the milk's expiration date, September 2nd. "Are you a family of death fetishists?"
"Hands off the milk buddy, it's all mine!" Hunter shouted at Orbot as he ran over to the robot, snatching the milk away and drinking the entire gallon in full. As Hunter drank the milk, Mario looked inside the kitchen.
"Mama mia!" the plumber exclaimed, as he saw a bunch of his fridge food all over the kitchen counter and even the floor. At least nothing was really wasted. "What have you done to our fridge?!"
"Had to do a fridge inspection. You were literally asking for it. Next, the freezer!" Orbot went back to the kitchen, as Spyro came over to Mario and Peach and saw how ticked off the married couple was.
"Now you know what kind of stuff Hunter and I go through when we have us babysitting your stupid kid," the purple dragon said to Mario and Peach, offending them both greatly as they gave him a death glare.
"Uh, he meant to say very intelligent kid!" Hunter said to Mario and Peach after he was done drinking the milk, sticking up for Spyro as he stepped in front of the purple dragon. "She'll be a Rhodes Scholar one day!"
"I hope that Eggman will be finished soon," Peach said to Mario, wondering how much she could talk of Orbot and Cubot. She could tell why Eggman was so eager to leave his robot lackeys behind.
"Bow down before your queen!" Cubot commanded Peach and company as he went over to them - and not a single person reacted. "Gah, I meant to say princess...bow before your princess!"
If Fox and Falco couldn't get Samus to leave the sauna, then the man of the mansion, Link, could get the job done. Even though he was no longer the man of the mansion, Cloud could get the job done too if he ever cared to try. Lloyd consulted the two swordsmen, asking them if they could do him a huge solid.
"Lloyd, you had me ask Samus to leave the sauna multiple times already," Link said to the swordsman, as he and Cloud went down the hallway with Lloyd following after them. "And it never worked. What will possibly make this time any different?"
"If at first, you don't succeed, try again," replied Lloyd, who had spent the past couple of minutes or so trying to change Link's (and Cloud's) mind. "Samus might be more considerate today."
"Samus, being considerate? You know a different Samus?" asked Cloud; he always thought of Samus as being more apathetic than he was, and he didn't even know that was possible.
"Today might be an off day for Samus. She might actually be in a good mood this time around! C'mon you guys, help a good brother out..."
"Yoo-hoo! Link!" a voice called out to the Hylian from the lounge, which Link and company happened to walk past by. "The perfect guy to officiate your wedding is here! Get a good look!"
Feeling reluctant, Link took a peek inside the lounge along with Cloud and Lloyd and saw the sharply-dressed Eggman sitting on the couch with his legs crossed. Standing next to Eggman was Metal Sonic, who was brooding because he wasn't allowed to kill Sonic.
"Uh, hi, Dr. Eggman," Link greeted the mad scientist, before focusing his attention on Metal Sonic. The fact that Metal Sonic was tranquil (or at least forced to be tranquil) gave Link some relief. "Is...is Metal Sonic my wedding officiant?"
"No, you pointy-eared bozo!" frowned Eggman as he stood up from the couch, letting Link and company saw how dripped out he was. "Also, you must refer to me as Dr. Drip, while I'm wearing this red suit."
"I'm surprised that you were even able to fit in that suit," admitted Cloud, having to bite his tongue so he wouldn't compliment Eggman and further inflate the mad scientist's ego. "How much weight did you have to lose?"
"Absolutely not! I made it myself and got it custom-fitted. Don't act jealous because I'm way more fashionable than you are." Eggman might have to eat those words if he ever saw Cloud wearing his tuxedo.
Eggman: Crafting my red suit by hand was so expensive...NOT! *laughs evilly* It's easy to get away with designing suits for free when you're out stealing the necessary materials from fabric stores, with not a single security camera noticing your every move. Ah, the perks of a villain...normal people would never understand.
"I have a proposition to make," Eggman approached Link, as he fully expected the Hylian to answer yes - or give his proposition some thought. "How about you make me your wedding officiant?"
"That's a hard thing for me to cosign on," replied Link, not giving a decisive answer; that had Eggman grinning, as the mad scientist tapping his fingers together in anticipation. "I would have to speak with Zelda first about that."
"Oh! You have to speak with your fiance on such matters? Do you let her boss you around?" Eggman's question cut in deep into Link, who angrily tightened both of his fists.
"What exactly are you trying to say?" A vein was popping on Link's forehead, showing just how angry the Hylian was with Eggman's remark. Just like how he did with Sonic, Eggman decided to play up Link's anger.
"Don't tell me that you let her wear the pants in your relationship! What would that mean for you, the legendary Hyrulian hero, when you marry the woman of your dreams?"
"I'm about to give you a warning..." Link reached for his Master Sword and pointed it at Eggman. That was Cloud's cue to step in since he didn't want his best friend to hurt anyone.
"We're gonna go see if Zelda's available," Cloud said to Eggman, taking Link's sword away as he pushed Link down the hallway. Link tried to break free from Cloud's clutches but to no avail.
"Wait you guys, what about getting Samus out of the sauna?" Lloyd asked Link and Cloud as he chased after the two swordsmen. Seeing the damage that he had done, Eggman laughed to himself.
"Dr. Eggman, you outdid yourself yet again!" the mad scientist said to himself, wishing for someone around him to give a high-five to. Preferably a clone of himself, as vain as it might sound. Metal Sonic joined Eggman at the lounge door, but he wasn't looking for high-fives.
"May I please have your permission to kill Sonic?" Metal Sonic asked Eggman out of pure desperation; the robot seldom felt this type of way before. "I have to kill him to ease my boredom."
"Fine, I'll let you kill Sonic..." That was all Metal Sonic needed to hear, as the robot was about to take off down the hallway, but... "...but only if Link and Zelda name me their wedding officiant."
"Seriously?" Metal Sonic stared at Eggman, who nodded his head in affirmation with his arms folded. "I must kill Sonic right now."
"Sounds to me like you need some new hobbies! Have you tried surfboarding? Or playing a new instrument?" Ignoring Eggman's spiel, Metal Sonic groaned as he sat on the couch in the lounge, resting his temple on his fist. "How about acrylic painting?"
Sans thought he did an alright job as the lone barista at Cafe Leblanc last week. He wasn't spectacular, but he was far from the worst. This time around, the skeleton found the barista job to be a lot easier, and it was because of two "secrets" that only Fox and Falco knew about.
"Some red curry, please," Master Mummy requested to Sans as he took a seat at the counter, feeling his stomach growling. He wanted all the curry that he could get. "Make it super spicy!"
"super spicy red curry, coming right up," responded Sans as he walked to the stove, looking around before opening the stove and pulling out the red Wisp. Using the red Wisp, he doused some fire on a bowl of curry, before putting the Wisp away and serving the curry to Master Mummy.
"Much thanks!" Master Mummy took a sip of his curry, and in seconds his mouth was burning. "AAH! IT'S SUPER HOT! IT'S JUST THE WAY THAT I LIKE IT!"
"Freaking weirdo..." murmured Barret, who was sitting next to Master Mummy, shaking his head turning his attention to Sans. "...hey, Sans! Get some coffee for your boy!"
"i got you covered, barret," Sans assured the terrorist, before going to the back of the cafe. The skeleton looked around once more, before pulling out the yellow Wisp and using him to grind some coffee beans. He placed the mixture in the coffee machine and made some coffee to serve to Barret.
"Let's see what you got..." Barret took a sip from his coffee and was instantly floored. "...oh yeah, that really hit the spot! You ain't half bad, Sans!"
Sans: been using those little alien dudes to make my barista job easier. fox and falco said that there was nothing wrong with it. the yellow guy has been especially helpful with grinding the coffee beans. the grind never stops. *pauses* No, seriously - sometimes it's hard to get him to stop manually.
"Should be some Wisps in here," Mechanica said to Tails and Coco, as the three geniuses entered the cafe. Sans, assuming that Mechanica and company were looking for the red and yellow Wisps, tried to play it cool.
"h-hello you three," Sans nervously greeted, while holding his hands behind his back. Totally not a very suspicious gesture to do. "may I interest you all in some coffee? or what about some red curry?"
"No thanks, Sans - we're looking for some Wisps," replied Coco, as sweat started pouring down Sans' face...wait, why was he sweating? He's a skeleton for crying out loud!
"Have you seen these guys anywhere?" Tails asked Sans as held up his tablet - pictures of red and yellow Wisps were on it. Sans did his best to maintain his cool, while somehow being able to sweat.
"n-not in particular." Sans suddenly heard the oven door move, and he ran over to slam it with both of his hands. The skeleton sheepishly returned to the counter, as he chuckled nervously.
"Well, if you see them anywhere, just let us know!" Tails would put his tablet away, as he led Coco and Mechanica out of the cafe. Sans felt so relieved.
"Wonder how Knuckles and Crunch are holding up," said Mechanica as she left the cafe - why don't we see how those two (and Aku) are faring?
Knuckles, Crunch, and Aku managed to find a pink Wisp, and it was in Slippy's room. Slippy was apparently using the pink Wisp's spike ability to open some mail that he meant to open much, much sooner.
"How much longer?" Aku asked Slippy, as Knuckles and Crunch were forced to wait until Slippy was finished. Both men were bored out of their minds, yet for some reason, Aku wasn't.
"Only a half dozen more to go," replied Slippy, who held an envelope against the wall. It was the only way for the Pink Wisp to activate his ability. Once the envelope was cut, Slippy took out whatever was inside. "Ooh, a gift card to Applebee's! Aw, it expired last year..."
"Good...what a waste of a gift card," yawned Knuckles, stretching out his arms as Slippy tossed the Applebee's gift card onto an ever-growing pile of expired cards. Crunch, his eyes nearly drifting asleep, glanced over at Peppy's nightstand and saw something that made him widen his eyes.
"Hold up - is this a mail opener?" inquired Crunch as he grabbed the mail opener off of Peppy's nightstand and showed it to Slippy. "You should be using this to open your mail, man!"
"That's what you call a mail opener? Huh. Thought it was meant for cleaning out your toenails." Slippy happily accepted the mail opener from Crunch, who just stood there frozen with disgust.
"...let's get outta here!" Breaking from his frozen trance, Crunch grabbed the pink Wisp and led Knuckles and Aku out of Slippy's room. Slippy used the mail opener to open up another envelope and found, yes, another card.
"Yowie wowie! I finally found that new debit card I got years ago!" the frog exclaimed, before being met with disappointment after seeing the expiration date. "Aw, it already expired..."
Sonic and his friends had some extra help with locating the Wisps, as the ninja pals (and Ninjara, against his will) voluntarily agreed to find some of the colorful alien creatures. They would find some Wisps in the laundry room, as they somehow found their way inside some of the washing and drying machines.
"Greninja!" shouted Greninja, as he used a water kunai to crack open the glass in the washing machine door. Green, orange, and indigo Wisps immediately flew out, joining the other rescued Wisps.
"Sure could've done with the whole 'breaking washer machine doors' method, but nice job Greninja!" Yuffie gave a thumbs up to the ninja Pokemon, who responded with a formal ninja salute. Ninjara, who had rescued a few Wisps himself, kept away from the ninja pals while lying against the wall.
"Can't wait until this whole charade is over..." the ninja grumbled, looking away when a green Wisp floated over to him. Link, Cloud, and Lloyd soon came inside the laundry room.
"Zelda?" Link said to Sheik, who looked over and spotted the Hylian. Sheik reverted to Zelda in an instant, interested in what Link had to say. "Dr. Eggman is visiting the mansion."
"He wants to officiate your wedding with Link, apparently," added Cloud, as Zelda was highly dumbfounded by Eggman's request. To her, Eggman was understandably a loose fit. "Oh, and he wishes to be referred to as 'Dr. Drip'. Not making this up."
Zelda: Eggman wants to go by...Dr. Drip? Is he going to use words such as "swag" and "wet" unironically? Well, he comes off as a vain egomaniac sometimes, so I'm not too surprised. Much better, in my opinion, than Knuckles going by... *hesitates, then gulps loudly* ...Lil Knux. *shudders*
"I suggest that you speak with him, and be done with it," Ninjara suggested to Zelda, accelerating the princess' thought process so that the ninja pals can stop looking for Wisps.
"Right, Ninjara - Impa, Link, and I should speak with Dr. Eggman," replied Zelda, as Ninjara nodded in agreement. "Which means you'll be taking my place in finding the Wisps." Not exactly what Ninjara wished to hear.
"Yay, Ninjara is gonna be our temporary leader!" cheered Ana, as she and the other ninja pals ganged up on Ninjara. Ninjara looked around at the ninja pals with very heavy disdain.
"We better be on our way then," Link said to Zelda, as he led the princess out of the laundry room. Poor Ninjara was stuck with the ninja pals, with his hopes of escaping nonexistent.
"No, you can't leave me here with these...these cretins!" Ninjara shouted at Zelda, who exited the laundry room with Link. "You're just going to let me suffer?"
"That's rough, buddy," Cloud said to Ninjara, before looking over his shoulder and seeing Lloyd smiling at him. "What are you smiling about, Lloyd?" Soon the answer came to Cloud, whose face soured. "Why..."
Chrom wasn't the best gift wrapper in the world. Either he would give himself a papercut, or get tape all over his hands. But the prince had a gift in mind for Lucina, to make up for the awkwardness that ensued last week. He hoped that with the gift, he would get on Lucina's good side again.
"There he is," Joker whispered to Pit, as the young man and angel took a peek inside Chrom's room. There they saw Chrom, struggling mightily to wrap the box he showed to Sonic and friends earlier with wrapping paper.
"All done!" exclaimed Chrom after he was done wrapping his gift for Lucina, proud that he was able to do it without Raven's assistance. A huge personal achievement for him. "Hmm, something's missing..."
"Sup Chrom, who's that gift for?" Pit asked the prince, as he and Joker entered Chrom's room. Chrom gleefully showed Pit and Joker his gift, which was wrapped in blue wrapping paper.
"It's for Lucina. She made some comments recently insinuating that she wanted to...stay away from me, so this gift should hopefully pull us back together."
"That's fine and dandy, but aren't you forgetting something?" Joker asked Chrom, who looked at the gift and finally realized what it was.
"Of course! No gift would be complete without a bow. Can I trust you boys to watch my gift?" Whatever was inside the box must be something special.
"Yes sir!" Pit saluted Chrom, giving the prince enough confidence. As soon as Chrom left the room, Joker immediately closed the door and locked it before and grabbing the gift off of Chrom's bed.
Joker: There appears to be a lot of friction between Chrom and Lucina, which Pit and I are aware of. Knowing Chrom, he can't really be trusted to remedy the situation himself...so it's up to us to pick up his slack.
"Now let's see what's inside..." said Joker as he unwrapped the gift, appalled by how Chrom applied the wrapping paper. The young man took the lid off the box, and a blue Wisp appeared right out of it.
"No way, it's an alien!" exclaimed Pit when he saw the blue Wisp, who was coincidentally shaped like a box. He could tell that the Wisp was an alien since he had multiple eyes. "Wonder where his UFO is."
"Chrom honestly believes that giving Lucina some pet alien would change how she feels about him?" Joker failed to see the logic behind Chrom's thought process, as he facepalmed. "What a dunce..."
"Does this little guy have a name?" Pit saw a piece of paper lying on Chrom's dresser, with an ink pen on top of it, and grabbed both materials. "We better start brainstorming! How does Bartholemew sound, Joker? Too long? Too old-fashioned?"
"Can I see that, Pit?" Joker asked the angel, who handed over the paper and ink pen. The young man squinted his eyes as he saw two words at the very top:
"Dear Lucina..."
"Hm, this must be a letter Chrom is planning on writing for Lucina," inferred Joker, and soon the perfect idea came to his mind with an imaginary light bulb dinging above his head. "That gives me an idea!"
"We're gonna name the little alien guy Lucina Jr?" Pit asked Joker, ready to use the same method Cloud did when naming his pet Chocobo. It was simple in practice but effective.
"We're not naming the alien...and he's not going back inside the box either. Chrom will be giving Lucina a much different gift..."
Orbot and Cubot were starting to get on the nerves of everyone in the Mario household, making them lose their patience. The only person that tolerated the robot lackeys was Jennifer, though in her defense she was a toddler who happily accepted every little thing.
"Peek-a-boo!" Cubot exclaimed to Jennifer, as he was playing peek-a-boo with Jennife...who was three years old. A little too old for such baby games. Mario watched Cubot from afar in the living room, holding in his temper.
"Pardon me, Mario, but is this your tablet?" Orbot asked the plumber as he came over with the tablet that he found on the chimney. "Have you ever played this...'Lonely Space Vixens: Reloaded' app game?"
"Yes, and it's a classic," Mario replied almost defensively, before eyeing around the living room suspiciously. "Still-a haven't played it yet, though."
"Really? Because it sure doesn't look like an app meant for a man of your caliber." Out of bitter curiosity, Orbot opened the app with a tap of his finger, and the first image that he saw caused him to shriek. "WHAT IS THIS DRIVEL?!"
"What's-a wrong, can't handle a classic?" Mario watched as Orbot dropped the tablet on the floor, with Orbot shielding his eyes and backing away. Hunter walked over and picked up the tablet off the floor, seeing what was on the screen.
"Hey hey! This is my kind of game," the cheetah exclaimed as he walked to his room, ready to play some "Lonely Space Vixens: Reloaded". He was about to experience a true classic.
Peach: It was me who downloaded that space vixens game. At first glance, it looked like one of those adventure games, and that's what allured me to download it and give it a try. I have yet to reach the "adventure" part of the game, but one day I'll get there.
"Rock-a-bye baby, in the treetop..." Cubot sang to Jennifer as he was now cradling the toddler, which further irked Mario even more. "When the wind blows, the cradle will rock...shoot, I forgot the rest of the song!"
"Jennifer is NOT a baby," Mario confronted Cubot, having no choice but to inform the robot as he snatched Jennifer away from him. "She is a toddler."
"Okay, so what's the big difference?" As Mario stared dumbfoundedly at Cubot, he heard his phone ring. Putting Jennifer down, the plumber grabbed his phone and saw that Sonic was calling him.
"Hey, Sonic - you guys back-a on the road again?" Mario asked the hedgehog, under the assumption that Dante's van got fixed and the ice cream gang was back to selling ice cream.
"Uh, not quite," replied Sonic, as there were some exploding sounds in the background that had Mario furrowing his brow. "Quick question: are there any aliens at your house?"
"Nope, just two annoying robots." In response to what Mario said, Cubot looked around the living room for whoever those "annoying robots" were. But little did he know... "Why did I just hear stuff-a blowing up...?"
"That's all I needed to know. Peace!" Sonic promptly ended the call, as he left Mario quite worried. Spyro came out of the room to speak with Mario, and he was looking bothered.
"Know anything about that app Hunter is playing?" the purple dragon asked Mario, who was too reluctantly to say specifically what the app was. "I keep hearing stuff that I probably shouldn't..."
Sonic placed his phone back in his imaginary pocket, as he, Crash, and Yacker were in the Assist Tower with Bomberman. Next to Bomberman was a Black Wisp, whose Black Bomb power Bomberman had activated.
"Sorry for the ruckus, you guys," apologized Bomberman, who had a few bumps protruding from his head. Crash was holding a shovel, which should tell you all that you needed to know. "I just wanted to be a bomb for once."
"Never let your dreams become reality, dude," Sonic said to Bomberman as he helped the bomber up to his feet, before dusting him off. "You could've blown this place to smithereens!"
"Art thou done with my shovel?" Shovel Knight approached Crash, as he was asking for his shovel back. Crash licked the shovel before handing it back to Shovel Knight. "Ah, yes, my shovel is delectable is it not?"
"Sonic!" Shaymin called out, as she flew down the hallway to the hedgehog. The gratitude Pokemon was tasked by Sonic to search for the Wisps. "I just saw a bunch of purple Wisps outside the mansion."
"Nice work, Shaymin!" commended Sonic, finding his pet Pokemon a huge help and a highly dependable companion. "What were they doing outside?"
"They were just flying around some landed UFO. I think they were trying to start up some kind of alien cult. But someone's got them taken care of, though." The mention of the UFO brought some memories back to Sonic and Crash.
"There's a UFO at the mansion?" The presence of a UFO could only mean one thing. "The Turks must be back...or maybe it's just Gex." Or it could be all four of them. Gex was working with the Turks, after all.
Although Shaymin saw the purple Wisps outside, it was the group of Tails, Coco, and Mechanica who saw them first. They asked Luigi to suck up the purple Wisps with his Poltergust, and the green plumber happily agreed to do it.
"That should-a be all of them," said Luigi after his job was done, wiping away a bit of sweat from his forehead. "Never thought I'd use this bad-a boy to suck up aliens...a first-a for everything, I guess."
"Wonder where this UFO came from," wondered Tails as he touched the UFO - only for the UFO hatch to suddenly open. Tails jumped back as the hatch opened, and Gex made his grand appearance.
"My oh my, what a crowd I've got here!" the lizard remarked as he looked down and saw Tails and the others. "Remember, kids - always eat your vitamins!"
"Gex, can you stop giving out life advice and get us down?" a voice called out to the lizard - it was Elena, which meant that the Turks were back in town.
"I thought Fox said that Gex wouldn't return to the mansion ever again?" Coco asked Tails, who shrugged as Gex pressed a button on the dashboard. A ramp appeared from the UFO, as the Turks - Reno, Rude, and Elena - walked down from it exiting the spacecraft.
Gex: Everybody loves it when the ramp extends from a UFO. Really captures everyone's attention. It makes you feel like a little kid again. For some folks, it can really make you hot and bothered. I know it's done that to me before.
"Seems like Dr. Eggman's paying a visit," observed Elena as she saw the Eggman structure floating up in the sky. "Hard not to mistake that mustache..."
"Salutations, my friends!" Reno cordially greeted Tails and company, once he and the Turks were on the ground. "To who do we give this fine pleasure to?"
"We are not in a Shakespearean play," Rude scolded Reno, as he was not a fan of the Turk's greeting - or maybe he just didn't care for William Shakespeare. Must not be a man of culture. "Try and act professionally."
"I am, I am, give me a chance..." Reno frowned at Rude, before turning his attention back to the mansion residents and Luigi. "...so! Any weird crap happened around these parts lately? Anything at all?"
"My son Charles lost-a his first tooth!" exclaimed Luigi as he dug into his pocket, pulling out the tooth in question and showing it off. Everyone around him gave him weird glances, making him put the tooth away.
"...yeah, good for you, man. But seriously, has any weird stuff happened that we should report?" To Reno's dismay, not a single person could think of a single thing to say. Until...
"Well, one of the Ice Climbers has been acting differently as of late..." responded Mechanica, as Reno perked up; the Turks didn't expect the Ice Climbers to be mentioned, so they were all ears. "...Popo has been concerning me."
"Concerning you how?" inquired Elena, curious as to how anyone as innocent-looking as Popo could make Mechanica so worried. "Does he have some skeletons hiding in his closet?"
"Not quite, but he has been...obsessed, for the lack of a better word. It has much to do with that ice cream business he's running."
"Now you have our attention," Rude said to Mechanica, wanting the young genius to tell the Turks every incriminating detail about Popo. "Has running this business corrupted Popo?"
"In a sense. He and his group of friends go around delivering ice cream in a van...and then one day, the van crashed. Nana said that Popo wanted someone to die during the crash so that selling ice cream in their honor would've...'meant more.'"
"That's a pretty messed up thing to say," remarked Elena, startled that such words came out of Popo's mouth. "Even by Popo's standards!"
"Tell us who's a part of Popo's group, we want names," requested Reno as he took out his nightstick, beating it in the palm of his hand. Rude and Elena frowned at Reno, who put his nightstick away. "I was just joking, you guys!"
"Popo is in the dining room making some ice cream," Mechanica informed the Turks, believing that the Ice Climber was almost done. Although there was a solid chance that Popo wanted to double his supply. "He should be available to speak with you."
"Duly noted," Rude nodded his head, before turning around at Gex who was in the UFO cleaning his sunglasses. "Gex, can we trust you to be on guard and watch the UFO?"
"Can a platypus lay eggs?" Gex asked Rude, who gave the lizard a mean mug that put him in his place. Rude's stare was effective even with sunglasses. "I'll watch the UFO, no problem..."
"Good." So Rude and the Turks left the premises, as they went over to the mansion. Popo better be ready to answer some serious questions.
"We better check the backyard, see if any Wisps found their way outside," Tails suggested to Coco and Mechanica, before leading the two ladies away. The yellow fox would stop, however, and look back at Luigi who was watching the Turks on the move. "Luigi, you coming? We might need your Poltergust!"
"Uh, yes, I'm coming!" Luigi hastily replied as he ran over to Tails and company. Gex watched as Tails and the others left, from the comfort of the UFO.
"It's about time you got yourself some alone time, Gex..." the lizard said to himself, as he relaxed inside the UFO. Some bird poop landed on Gex's head, killing his mood. "...well, we all can't be winners all the time."
Joker was all done putting together the substitute gift Chrom would give to Lucina, and he had one more challenge to tackle - wrapping the gift box back up. He had to be as discreet as possible, so it wouldn't look like the gift was unwrapped.
"I can tell that you're not really good at this whole rewrapping gifts thing," Pit said to Joker, as he was too busy holding the blue Wisp to lend Joker a helping hand. The angel kept running his mouth, which increased Joker's growing frustration.
"Some help you are..." retorted Joker, and soon enough, Joker successfully rewrapped Chrom's gift. Was it worth getting tape pieces all over his fingers? Probably not. "There! All done."
"Joker, Pit, you boys in there?" Chrom asked from outside his bedroom, knocking on the door. Joker and Pit both went into panic mode. "You didn't have to lock me out of my room, you know!"
"Quickly, Pit, hide the alien!" Joker whispered to Pit; but the blue Wisp, who was also in panic mode, activated his ability and turned Pit into a blue box. Confused as to what happened, Joker pushed the blue box with all his might inside Chrom's closet, before slamming the closet door.
"I don't have all day!" Chrom knocked on the door once more, and soon enough Joker finally answered. Joker saw the ninja pals standing behind Chrom, with their temporary leader Ninjara looking irritated.
"Hi, Joker!" Kat waved to the young man, who waved back at the ninja girl. Ninjara smacked his forehead, as even Kat's friendliness annoyed him.
"Hi, Kat," responded Joker, before grabbing the gift off of Chrom's bed and handing it to Chrom. "Here's your gift for Lucina, Chrom."
"Much appreciated," Chrom thanked Joker as he accepted the gift from the young man, smacking a bow on it before walking away. "Tell Pit that I said thanks!"
"About time he left," Ninjara had this to say about Chrom leaving, before turning his attention to Joker. "Are there any stupid Wisps in this room?"
"Wisps, you say?" inquired Joker, before having a hunch as to what Ninjara was talking about. The young man opened Chrom's closet door and saw Pit inside the closet back to his normal self while holding the blue Wisp.
"Did you see that, Joker? I turned into some kind of blue box!" exclaimed Pit as he exited the closet, unable to hold in his excitement. "The experience was kinda boring, I'll admit."
"Found one!" squealed Ana as she took the blue Wisp from Pit, checking to see if he was okay. "Plenty of more to go!"
"The sooner we get this over with, the better..." muttered Ninjara as he and the ninja pals left Chrom's room. It wasn't until the ninja pals left that Pit remembered something he forgot to do.
"Aw, shucks, we didn't even name the little guy Lucina Jr!" the angel frowned, as Joker turned his head towards him with an inquisitive stare. "Would've been the perfect name..."
Link, Zelda, and Impa met with Eggman in the meeting room, where Eggman presented his case for why he should be the man of the mansion. There was a very small chance that the mad scientist would actually get the job, so he had to do as much convincing as possible.
"If you name me the officiant, I'll give all the wedding guests party favors for attending," Eggman proposed to Link and company, who were not enthralled by the offer. Metal Sonic, who was sitting next to Eggman, tried not to fall asleep.
"That won't be necessary, doctor," responded Impa, as Eggman snapped his fingers in disgust. Impa was the hardest person to convince, as Eggman figured. "What else can you offer as officiant...aside from material things?"
"Glad you asked, Impa! I'm very calm and polite, super dependable, and great with crowds. I can speak in front of millions of people for days!"
"Those are all big fat lies," Metal Sonic said to Eggman, having major doubts that the mad scientist would be anything close to being a serviceable officiant. "Except for the public speaking bit."
"Really, Metal Sonic? You've been quiet during this whole meeting, and that's what you have to say? You're supposed to be helping my case!"
"And that involved backing up your lies and making you seem better than you truly are?" Metal Sonic was acting a little defiant, as Eggman growled at the robot with his face turning red.
"That's it, mister! I want you to wait outside this meeting room and think about what you said. And don't even think about wandering off and killing Sonic!"
"Hmph..." So Metal Sonic got up from his seat and left the meeting room in a hurry. If he knew that keeping it real with Eggman would give him the boot, he would've spoken up earlier.
Impa: Dr. Eggman won't be the wedding officiant, barring a miracle of extreme measures. He has a better chance at making it out of a Molduga alive than getting the job. But we'll let him give his best effort...
Metal Sonic waited outside the meeting room, with the meeting room door closed so he wouldn't be subjected to Eggman propping himself up. As the robot looked down the hallway, he saw the group of Knuckles, Crunch, and Aku, with the purple Wisp.
"That must be Sonic's friend..." Metal Sonic observed when he saw Knuckles, as the pink Wisp used his ability to cut a bathroom door down. Mr. Game and Watch emerged from the bathroom, along with a couple of Wisps.
"Thanks, boys - I somehow locked myself out from the inside," Mr. Game and Watch thanked Knuckles and company, not sure how he was even locked out in the first place. "I could've jumped out the window, but it would've been too big of a risk."
"Don't see how; you would've survived anyway," stated Knuckles, as Crunch counted the number of Wisps that had left the bathroom. "How many Wisps did we free?"
"About ten," replied Crunch after he was done counting, as Metal Sonic narrowed his eyes from where he stood. "I think we're about almost done."
"Let's check the recording studio, just to be safe." Knuckles led Crunch and Aku down the hallway, with the freed Wisps following after them. Grateful to be freed himself, Mr. Game and Watch headed down the other way.
"Off to the gardens I go!" the 2-D man said, planning to help Viridi and Haru out with some garden upkeeping. He would come to a stop when he encountered Metal Sonic, who was staring him down.
"Keep on walking, if you truly value your life," Metal Sonic suggested to Mr. Game and Watch, who was struck with fear as he kept on walking. "Such a wise decision..." Metal Sonic pressed forward, keeping a very close eye on Knuckles.
Lloyd would stop by the sauna, to see if Cloud was successful in getting Samus to leave. When the swordsman arrived, he saw Cloud exit the sauna, his body nearly covered in soot.
"Yikes! What happened to you, Cloud?" Lloyd asked the swordsman, who coughed into his mouth a few times. Cloud's hair was frizzy, which was quite hard to tell given his spiky hair.
"What does it look like, I got electrocuted," replied Cloud, before dusting off some of the soot from his clothes. "But it wasn't by Pikachu."
"Well then, who was it?" Lloyd's curiosity went away in a hurry when he saw Samus exit the sauna with Pikachu and the ivory Wisp. Lloyd pointed at Samus. "You! What did you do to Cloud?"
"I think you should be asking him," replied Samus as she brought Lloyd's attention to the ivory Wisp. "This adorable little creature took care of your henchman."
"HA! That tiny little thing? What's it gonna do, shock me?" And that's exactly what the ivory Wisp did, zapping Lloyd with a lightning bolt while the swordsman laughed his butt off. Lloyd stopped laughing in a hurry, as he got electrocuted just like Cloud.
"Hoped that answered your question." Samus walked away, holding Pikachu in her arms as the ivory Wisp followed the bounty hunter.
"I don't think she'll be letting up anytime soon," Cloud said to Lloyd, who coughed as a black cloud of smoke exited from the swordsman's mouth.
The Turks spotted Popo in the kitchen, where the Ice Climber was still making some ice cream with Mechanica's ice cream maker. Behind Popo were large piles of ice cream, all stuffed in large containers.
"Quite the ice cream empire you got going on here," Reno said to Popo, as Rude and Elena watched the ice cream maker do its thing. "You plan on selling all of it before the end of summer?"
"That's the goal," replied Popo, feeling honored that the Turks stopped by to see how his ice cream business was going. "Once Dante's van is fixed, I'll be back on the road!"
"'I'll be back on the road?'" Rude reiterated what Popo said, noticing that the Ice Climber was acting a bit selfish. "What do you mean by 'I'? What about 'we'?"
"Yeah, what about it?" Popo didn't seem to understand what Rude meant, leading Rude to facepalm. It was up to Elena to clarify for the Ice Climber.
"Others are helping you with selling ice cream, right?" Elena asked Popo, ready to ask the Ice Climbers some hard-hitting questions. "Is your friend Nana not one of them?"
"Oh yeah, Nana came through for me...before she crashed the van. But Sonic, Crash, Banjo, Dante, and the Inklings have been a huge plus. Kazooie sometimes nags too much for my liking."
"What exactly do you plan to do with all the money that you raised?" Apparently, Popo hadn't thought that far as evidenced by the nervous look on his face. "Would you even split up the earnings among the others?"
"I would split the money...evenly." The hesitation that Popo had made the Turks all the more suspicious. "No man or woman gets left behind!"
"Let's take the money out of the equation," Reno said to Popo as he squatted down at the Ice Climber, just so he could look at him in the eye. "What are you really doing this for, Popo?"
"I'm doing this...for myself!" Popo didn't have a strong answer in mind, so he just belted something out to appease the Turks. But it didn't work.
"Yeah, right, I'm not buying it. Dig a little deep, my man...what is it that you truly want?" Reno leaned in close to Popo, pressuring the Ice Climber into providing a real answer.
"Wh-What I really want is...I just wanted to be accepted by my peers." Popo looked flustered after providing his real answer, as Reno stood back up after he got the answer he wanted.
"Accepted by your peers, huh? You're not asking for some respect, but just acceptance?" Very slowly, the secrets were starting to unravel.
"Well, either one would satisfy me. I saw how Lloyd got the residents' approval with his food delivery service...and I wanted that for myself. Approval is hard for me to come by."
"So basically you wanted to copy someone else's success to get what you want," inferred Elena, as Popo did not appreciate the insinuation the Turk had made. The Ice Climber got all agitated.
"Not really, I put my own original spin on it. And guess what? I made even more money delivering ice cream than Lloyd could ever hope to make!"
"Again, what do you plan to do with all that money?" Elena asked this question a second time, striking a chord in Popo. Popo's bottom lip was trembling, as he couldn't think of a single thing.
"Why do you care so much? Not like you're gonna be around to see what I do with it anyway. Bunch of nosy jerks..."
"Fine...have it your way then." Since Popo refused to answer the question, Elena snatched Reno's nightstick and savagely beat the ice cream maker with it. Popo, Reno, and Rude watched as Elena smashed the machine with the nightstick.
"Okay, not gonna lie...that was pretty epic," commented Rude, with Elena dropping the nightstick on the floor once the ice cream maker stopped functioning. Popo was done at this point.
"Grrrrr! That is IT!" the Ice Climber growled as he angrily stomped his foot. "I'm gonna show you punks!" Popo stormed out of the kitchen, as Elena left him in a very bad mood.
"Is he going to reveal what he plans on doing with his funds?" Rude asked Reno and Elena, as the ice cream maker died a slow, somewhat painful death. "Because that's the only way that he could theoretically 'show' us..."
"No point in us waiting," replied Elena, satisfied with what she did as she departed from the dining room. "Our work here's done. Let's go." Surprised by Elena taking charge, Reno and Rude exchanged looks with one another, before following after their fellow Turk.
Mechanica: Nana and Kazooie talked me out of building that ice cream maker for Popo, they really did. But I ultimately gave in because Popo was being super demanding, and annoying. That should teach me to start having more of a spine.
Tails, Coco, Mechanica, and Luigi remained outside, checking to see if any Wisps were around. The four were speaking with a member of the Yiga Clan, near the Yiga Clan hideout entrance.
"No Wisps have been located in our hideout," a Yiga clansman informed Tails and company, as Luigi was suspiciously backing away from the group. "If we did, we would've roasted them and ate them. Like steak kabobs."
"They're not exactly edible, but thanks for your time," Tails said to the Yiga clansman, worried about what kinds of grub the Yiga Clan ate. The Yiga clansman left, returning to the hideout.
"Can't help but feel that he was lying," Mechanica said to Tails and Coco before she and her friends noticed that a certain green plumber was missing. "Huh? Where's Luigi?"
"He was literally just here seconds ago," stated Coco as she scanned the surrounding premises...her eyes falling upon an unattended Poltergust. "He even left behind his Poltergust! This is so like him..."
"Luigi! Where are you?" Tails called out to the plumber as he, Coco, and Mechanica began walking around looking for Luigi's whereabouts. Popo showed up at the scene, having exited the mansion in an angry fit, and saw the unattended Poltergust.
"Jackpot..." the Ice Climber smiled deviously as he rubbed his hands together; he was seeing nothing but dollar signs when he saw the Wisps.
The reason why Luigi left Tails and company behind was so he could discuss important matters with Mario. The green plumber was standing on Mario's doorstep, constantly knocking on the front door.
"C'mon bro, open-a up already!" begged Luigi, hoping that Mario wasn't ignoring him. The door was soon opened - not by Mario, but rather Hunter.
"Thank goodness, some decent company," remarked Spyro, who was standing next to Hunter. Confused, Luigi looked past Spyro and Hunter and saw Mario in the living room, fighting with Orbot over a TV remote.
"No, Mario, you must not watch the Food Channel!" Orbot discouraged the plumber, as he pulled the TV remote closer to him. "Its entire existence is detrimental to your well-being!"
"It's not like Peach would-a let me eat the food-a they feature anyway!" retorted Mario, as he pulled the TV remote closer to him. Luigi stood there, entertained by the TV remote tug-of-war.
"Whatever it is that you gotta say, make it snappy," Spyro said to Luigi, as neither Mario nor Orbot showed any signs of letting up. "Mario is...kinda busy at the moment."
"It's nothing much really," replied Luigi, not wanting to waste too much of Mario's time. "Just wanted to tell-a Mario that the Turks are back in town."
"Did some-a one say the Turks?" Mario perked up as he released his hold on the remote control, sending Orbot flying back into the wall in the process. Mario quickly ran over to Luigi.
"Yeah, they showed-a up in a UFO." Luigi turned around and pointed at the UFO, which was still at the front of the mansion. Gex was chilling by himself as the Turks approached the UFO, ready to take off.
"They upgraded-a to a UFO? And Gex is supposed-a to be their pilot?" Mario was honestly expecting a black government car parked in the mansion's driveway. "How fascinating..."
"They were asking questions about stuff-a that happened lately at the mansion, and Mechanica brought-a up Popo delivering ice cream. They might have already spoken-a with him."
"Interesting. And you're telling me this, why?" It was great information to know, no doubt about it, but Mario was curious about Luigi's motive.
"You did-a tell me that Kazuya wanted you to convince-a Popo to end his business...those Turks could-a have stolen your thunder!"
"Eh...I'd say let-a 'em have it." Mario couldn't bring himself to dissuade Popo, so he was fine with the Turks doing it themselves. "If anything goes-a down, I might know later."
"The Food Channel...is blocked!" announced Orbot, as he used the TV remote to block the Food Channel. Mario turned around and glared at Orbot, sending chills down the robot's spine.
"How did you find out my secret pass-a code?!" Mario shouted at Cubot as he leaped at the robot, sending him to the floor and grabbing his neck. Orbot pleaded for mercy, while Luigi, Spyro, and Hunter looked on.
"We got this," Hunter assured Luigi, before slamming the door on the green plumber. Luigi just stood there, dumbfounded, before shrugging his shoulders and walking away.
Negotiations in the meeting room had come to an end, as Dr. Eggman was done speaking with Link, Zelda, and Impa. Was the mad scientist named Link and Zelda's wedding officiant? Link and company hadn't told him no...but they haven't told him yes, either.
"I hope that you all take me into consideration, as you plan your next steps," Eggman discussed with Link and company, as he followed them out of the meeting room. "When it comes to wedding officiants, there's no one better!"
"Don't give your hopes up," Link advised Eggman, who was hedging a lot of his bets on being named officiant. It was a good thing that no bets have been made (yet).
Impa: When Dr. Eggman asked us if we were naming him the officiant, we responded with, "we'll see". Which in reality means, "no". We'll see how long Eggman will catch on.
"Wait a minute...where on earth is Metal Sonic?!" frowned Eggman, as he saw that the robot was nowhere to be found. The mad scientist growled. "Did he wander off, even though I told him not to? Bah, I'll discipline him later..."
Tails, Coco, and Mechanica were unable to locate Luigi, as they just finished scouring the entire backyard. They would soon find relief when Luigi showed up in the backyard, all fine and dandy.
"Hey, guys!" Luigi greeted Tails and company with a smile and a wave, alleviating their worries. "Did you miss-a me? Sorry that I left without-a warning - had to give my bro a heads up."
"That was totally not cool, Luigi," replied Coco, only to notice that Luigi appeared empty-handed. "Also, where is your Poltergust?"
"My Poltergust?" Luigi checked around his waist, and inside his imaginary pockets, but couldn't find his Poltergust anywhere. "Mama mia, I left it behind!"
Joker and Pit arrived at Cafe Leblanc, interested in seeing how Sans was handling himself. There was a decent crowd at the cafe when they showed up, as they saw Sans making curry while chatting with Fox and Falco.
"those critters have made my job so easy," Sans discussed with the pilots about the red and yellow wisps, as he served a bowl of curry to Terry. "i would make them full-time employees if I would."
"Gotta admit, this coffee is seriously on-point," stated Falco, who was drinking from a cup of coffee Sans had prepared for him. "That drill sure helped with grinding the beans, huh?"
"you know the drill." Sans didn't laugh at that pun, as he wasn't a fan of its execution. Or how it was used. "please ignore what I just said."
"How's it coming along?" Joker asked Sans, as he and Pit came over to analyze the skeleton's performance. Sans was more than ready to share some secrets.
"superb. i can't explain. my job's been easier thanks to some cute fellas." Confused as to what Sans meant, Pit slowly turned his head to Fox and Falco.
"You honestly believe that Fox and Falco are considered 'cute'?" the angel asked Sans, wondering if the skeleton needed some kind of eye exam. Fox and Falco looked offended at Pit.
"not them, you bub. follow me." So Sans led pit and Joker to the cafe oven, and opened the oven door to reveal the red and yellow Wisps. "ta-da!"
"Are those...Wisps?" asked Joker, as he noticed how similar the red and yellow Wisps were to the blue one that he and Pit encountered. "Sans, where did you find these two?"
"We found them," Fox informed Joker, on behalf of Falco and himself. Falco was looking away, and it was obvious as to why. "Or rather, Falco did. They sure loved stalking Falco!"
"For reasons unknown..." muttered Falco, a droplet of sweat running down his face as he kept his head turned away from the oven.
"Should be some Wisps in here," said Shaymin, as she led Sonic and his group inside the cafe. Panicking out of instinct, Sans quickly slammed the oven door and tried to act normal.
"Woah! What happened to the counter?" asked Sonic, as he saw how damaged the cafe counter was. Joker and Pit noticed the counter and were also left looking for answers.
"just a minor casualty," replied Sans, smiling as he rested his elbow on the counter. A piece of the counter fell onto the floor. "can I interest you or crash with some piping hot curry?"
"No thanks, we're kinda busy at the moment. Have you seen any Wisps?" Once again, Sans was sweating, which should be impossible because he was a skeleton.
"There's two of them in the oven," replied Joker, as he was about to go open the oven...only for Sans to jump in front of him. "Sans, what's the big deal?"
"you can't just open the oven all willy-nilly. could potentially be a fire hazard." If the oven was even on, it would be.
"Well, I'm the owner of this cafe; I don't have to listen to you." Joker walked to the oven, and Sans put his hands on his head as Joker opened the oven to reveal the red and yellow Wisps.
"Alright, we found two!" cheered Sonic, as the red and yellow Wisps flew out of the oven and over to Sonic. "But why were they in the oven? You weren't trying to bake them, were you, Sans?"
"He was only using them to grind some coffee beans, and spice up the curry," stated Falco, as Sans stared at the avian pilot and shaking his head. "Oh snap, I wasn't supposed to mention that? My bad."
Sans: *sighs depressingly* ...the grind has finally stopped.
"Yo, Sonic, you found any Wisps?" Knuckles asked the hedgehog as he, Crunch, and Aku entered the cafe. The purple Wisp was still with them.
"We found two!" replied Sonic, as he showed Knuckles the red and yellow Wisps. The purple Wisp flew over to the two Wisps, having some kind of small, intricate family reunion. "Sans made them at the cafe without pay!"
"Isn't that indentured labor? That's pretty messed up!" Knuckles lost a ton of respect for Sans today, even though he never respected the skeleton anyway. "What do you have to..."
Knuckles would be cut off when a laser was fired inside the cafe. Everyone jumped out of the laser's way, as a certain robot stepped inside the cafe making his presence known...Metal Sonic.
"Oh no..." Sonic moaned when he saw Metal Sonic, who had his eyes fixated on the hedgehog. Sonic and Knuckles quickly got on the offensive. "...why did you have to show up today?"
"Surprised to see me?" Metal Sonic asked Sonic, who grabbed Joker and used him as a shield. He would have done the same thing to Crash if he was a terrible friend. "How long I've waited for this moment..."
"H-He's not gonna kill you Sonic, is he?" Terry asked the hedgehog as he got up from his stool; he could tell just how much of a threat Metal Sonic was.
"Killing Sonic has been my life goal since day one," Metal Sonic said to Terry as he inched closer towards Sonic. Sonic slowly backed away. "This spot isn't the place I envisioned killing him at...but it'll do."
"Better back off man, if you know what's good for you!" Sonic said to Metal Sonic, as he pushed Joker forward. Joker had an uninterested look on his face, not at all scared for his life. "I'm warning you..."
Metal Sonic suddenly came to a stop, when he felt some flames on his body. The robot looked up and saw the red Wisp, who was responsible for the attack.
"You wouldn't like those dudes when they're angry..." alerted Sonic, as the Wisps stared at Metal Sonic with a mean look in their eyes...or eye, in the case of the pink Wisp. Metal Sonic was backing away, fearing what the Wisps would do to him.
"No...you should be fearing me...not the other way around," Metal Sonic said to the Wisps, as the yellow and pink Wisps landed on the floor and activated their drill and spike abilities, respectively. Metal Sonic ran off, as the three Wisps chased the robot down.
"Some remodeling in the cafe needs to be done..." Joker sighed, seeing that the yellow and pink Wisps left behind a crack on the floor. Which extended out of the cafe and to the hallway. How far the crack would last remained to be seen.
Samus was in the gaming room, spending some quality time with Pikachu with no Lloyd or Cloud to bother her. Sitting on the couch with the bounty hunter was Lucina, who had Pichu to keep her company.
"Is that a new friend of yours?" Lucina asked Samus, as she noticed the ivory Wisp floating behind the bounty hunter. "And here I thought that Pikachu was your only friend..."
"He's been super clingy, but he's pretty nice," replied Samus, as Metal Sonic ran inside the gaming room for safety. "Just as long as you don't provoke him."
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me..." grumbled Metal Sonic when he saw the ivory Wisp. The ivory Wisp saw Metal Sonic and sensed him as a threat, and Metal Sonic ran off as the ivory Wisp chased him away.
"So much for him being super clingy," remarked Lucina as she and Samus watched the ivory Wisp leave...only to see Chrom enter the gaming room with his gift for Lucina. A gift that made Lucina frown. "Don't tell me..."
"Weird seeing Metal Sonic..." commented Chrom, before looking up and beaming with joy as he approached Lucina sitting on the couch. "...ah, Lucina! I have a present for you. About last week..."
"Save it for later." Saving herself from any trouble, Lucina picked up Pichu and retreated from the gaming room. Chrom stood there in disappointment, as he let out a deep sigh.
"Don't worry, tiger - you'll get 'em next time," Samus assured Chrom, with a slight hint of sarcasm in her remark. She wasn't exactly confident about Chrom's chances, but she wouldn't knock on the prince for trying.
Whenever a Wisp was found, it was often brought to the foyer for safekeeping until every Wisp was located. The person left in charge of watching over the Wisps (by Sonic) was Isabelle, who found the job more stressful than not.
"Crismon Wisp, stop flying around the ceiling!" Isabelle shouted at the crimson Wisp, who ignored the Shih Tzu's command as he kept on flying. "And stop creating black holes, violet Wisps! We don't need a portal to Subspace!"
Isabelle: Babysitting the Wisps was fine, at least at the start. Only had five or six to start with. Then the others kept bringing in more and more, and now I'm all stressed. Maybe Digby was right, babysitting just isn't my thing.
"Isabelle, we found some more Wisps," Ninjara informed the Shih Tzu, as he and the ninja pals entered the foyer bringing some Wisps with them. "Please tell me we're done."
"We won't know until Tails says so," replied Isabelle, causing Ninjara to groan. So close, yet seemingly so far. "He's the only one keeping track of how many Wisps have been found."
"Get out of my way!" Metal Sonic shouted at the ninja pals, as he came running down the hallway. The ninja pals moved out of the way as Metal Sonic ran past by, being chased by the red, yellow, and pink Wisps.
"Was that...Metal Sonic?" asked Yuffie, as Metal Sonic ran off to the kitchen. The Wisps that were chasing Metal Sonic ended their chase, as they were caught up with the other Wisps in the foyer.
"Definitely looked like it, but thanks to him we got some more Wisps!" replied Isabelle, as the red, yellow, and pink Wisps completely forgot about Metal Sonic and mingled with the other wisps. "We're almost there, I can feel it!"
"Have you guys seen Luigi's Poltergust anywhere?" Tails asked Isabelle and company as he and his compadres entered the mansion. "It's gone missing."
"I did see Popo pass by with it." Luigi now had a bone to pick with Popo, once he was through with him. "I think he took to the living room or the kitchen."
"But all those-a purple Wisps are inside it..." stated Luigi, before shaking his head as he wondered what kinds of trouble Popo might cause. "...mama mia."
Metal Sonic came to a stop at the dining room, as he was taking a breather. He probably couldn't breathe at all, since he was obviously a robot, but he just needed to stop and take a break from running for his life. Which has to be first for him.
"Why do I hear munching sounds...?" wondered Metal Sonic, as he heard loud munching sounds from a few feet away. Fearing for the worst, Metal Sonic slowly lifted his head and looked ahead...
...and saw a horde of purple Wisps, eating the ice cream that Popo had produced from the ice cream maker. Popo was warding them off with the Poltergust, apparently not using the device to suck up with the Wisps. Assisting Popo was Cilan, who had a much more optimal weapon in the broom; he had the nearby pantry closed off for good measure.
"Back, I say, back!" Popo shouted at a purple Wisp that drew near him, sending him away with the whip of the...Poltergust. So strange to say.
"Popo why did you do it, why did you unleash these foul beings?" Cilan asked the Ice Climbers, using the broom for self-defense as he protected himself.
"I don't know! I just needed a new device after Elena wrecked that ice cream maker. How was I supposed to know that there was something already inside the Poltergust!"
"Well, nobody told you to turn the Poltergust on! What were you even thinking?" Cilan had never felt so angry with someone before - not even with Ignatz, who he falsely accused of eating one of his cakes.
"I was only thinking about...hey, stay away from the ice cream!" Popo ran over to a bunch of purple Wisps, shooing them away from the ice cream which they had just devoured.
"There's so many of them..." marveled Metal Sonic as he watched the purple Wisps causing havoc, before falling to his knees. Tails and Luigi arrived at the dining room, with the latter seeing Popo with his trusty vacuum.
"Give-a me that..." Luigi ran over to Popo and snatched his Poltergust away from the Ice Climber, holding the vacuum how it was meant to be held. "...let a pro handle this!"
Under the false assumption that he was in the driver's seat to be named Link and Zelda's wedding officiant, a jovial Eggman stopped by Mario's house to pick up Orbot and Cubot. The mad scientist knocked on the front door, only to hear some arguing from inside the house.
"Give me back the tablet!" Peach was heard shouting, and it had Eggman raising his eyebrows. Some stuff was going down in the Mario household.
"But I must play that space vixens game one more time!" Cubot was heard shouting at Peach, as Eggman questioned why Peach would let Cubot anywhere near the tablet. "One of those chicks could be my very own waifu!"
"What on earth...?" questioned Eggman, feeling the need to roundhouse kick Mario's door down and see what was going on. But he wouldn't have to, as Mario opened the door.
"Thank-a goodness you came back!" Mario said to Eggman, super relieved to see the mad scientist again. Inside the living room, Peach finally got the tablet from Cubot, before smacking the robot in his face.
"Ow, you hurt my funny bone!" Cubot yelped in pain as he rubbed his jaw, before looking towards the front door and seeing Eggman. "Boss! You've returned!"
"Is that Dr. Eggman?" asked Orbot as he appeared from the kitchen, with him and Cubot rushing over to greet Eggman. "Yes, it is! Oh, what joy!"
"Hope you boys had a fun time with Mario and Peach!" Eggman said to Orbot and Cubot, who both nodded their heads. No one in the Mario household could share the robot duo's sentiments, except maybe Jennifer. "Some good news - I'm in consideration for being the wedding officiant!"
"Wow, Eggman, that's so nice-a to hear," Mario commended the mad scientist, although his words were far from sincere. But Orbot and Cubot were happy for Eggman either way.
Mario: *shakes his head* He didn't get-a the job.
"But wait, you promised that you would let us help with your pitch, near the end," Orbot reminded Eggman, who suddenly remembered and tried not to feel bad about what he said. "Did you...change your mind?"
"Truth of the matter is, my pitch was so good that your help wasn't needed anyway," answered Eggman, and Orbot and Cubot gullibly accepted the mad scientist's answer. "But I sure could've used Metal Sonic's participation..."
"Dr. Eggman?" Link called out to the mad scientist, standing a fair distance from Mario's house as he garnered Eggman's attention. "You're not leaving yet, are you? Metal Sonic's..."
"Yes, Metal Sonic, what did he do?" Eggman nervously twiddled with his fingers, hoping that Metal Sonic didn't get him in trouble. Having his ban revoked would not be ideal.
"Nothing bad, really - he didn't kill Sonic, for what it's worth. We just need you to pick him up, since it looks like you're leaving soon."
Eggman, Orbot, and Cubot followed Link to the foyer of the mansion, where everyone who played a part in searching for the Wisps was present. Also present was Metal Sonic, who was left shook as his red eyes were as big as they had ever been.
"So...many...of them..." the robot uttered, as he had some kind of thousand-mile stare going on. It was quite amusing to see him that frightened.
"You should expect me to be at your wedding, yes?" Eggman asked Link and Zelda, who were about to see the mad scientist off. Link looked towards Zelda, who bit her bottom lip nervously.
"...indubitably," Zelda eeked out an answer, one that left Eggman fairly satisfied. Eggman was only setting himself up for disappointment at this point.
"Splendid! Hope to see you next month!" So Eggman strutted his way to the front door, before looking back to see if his robots were coming along. "It's time to go, boys!"
"Take it easy, Metal Sonic..." Orbot advised the robot, as he and Cubot escorted him away. Eggman and the robots left the mansion, which meant that the hideous-looking Eggman structure in front of the mansion could go away for good.
"I totally wouldn't mind if Metal Sonic was like that all the time," remarked Sonic, finding scared Metal Sonic to be the most tolerable Metal Sonic ever. The hedgehog looked up and saw the Wisps, as the purple Wisps were finally reunited with the others.
"According to my calculations, we found all of the Wisps," announced Tails, and that was certainly great news for Ninjara. "Which means that we're all done searching!"
"About time," rejoiced Ninjara, as he noticed Zelda and the ninja pals looking at him with inviting smiles. "And no, and I'm joining your stupid group."
"You sure about that?" Zelda asked Ninjara, who ran out of the foyer with blazing ninja speed. "Hmph...maybe next time."
"I don't think this mansion is sustainable enough for the Wisps," Sonic spoke with Tails, imagining the kind of trouble that the Wisps would cause with the mansion residents and tower denizens. "We should let them stay somewhere else."
"You're right," Tails agreed with Sonic - given what that Yiga clansman said, the Yiga Clan hideout would be a bad place for the Wisps to stay at. "I can try and make contact with Mother Wisp, so she can come and collect her children."
"Those Wisps have a mother?" a stunned Crunch asked, only to shake his head in dismay. "She must be one depressed momma..."
"Ahem..." Cilan cleared his throat, grabbing everyone's attention as he entered the foyer while holding Popo by his hood. "...I do believe that a certain ice cream aficionado is deserving of punishment."
"You mean the same-a aficionado that stole my Poltergust AND released those purple Wisps?" asked Luigi, as Link, Zelda, and everyone else looked at Popo in a very disappointed manner. "I agree wholeheartedly!"
"At least the food in the pantry's safe?" Popo nervously smiled while shrugging his shoulders - not much that he could do to help his case. Nana would be most disappointed in him.
Due to the damage that was done by the yellow and pink Wisps, Mr. Game and Watch was stuck with remodeling the floors and fix any additional plumbing Those tasks, while easy for the 2-D man, were very time-consuming. But he did it anyway because that was the kind of guy he was.
"Surprised that Master Hand hadn't made a big stink about this," muttered Mr. Game and Watch as he was patching up the crack on the floor. Lucina walked past the 2-D man and to her room, where she saw Chrom's gift on her bed. Much to her chagrin.
"You've got to be kidding..." the princess sighed as she closed the door, and inspected the gift. She shook it a few times, and to her surprise, it was fairly light. "...hmm, wonder what's inside."
Letting her curiosity take hold, Lucina unwrapped the gift and took the lid off the box. There wasn't a blue Wisp inside, but there was a letter. Lucina picked up the letter, and read it out loud.
"'Dear Lucina...I am sorry if I have offended you in the past,'" Lucina read, astonished by just the first sentence alone. Then she kept on reading. "'I know that recently, we haven't seen eye to eye. And I hold myself accountable for that. If you want me to make things up to you, then just give me a chance. I will do anything you ask me to do if it means regaining your favor. Just give your father a second chance - that is all I'm asking for. With much love, Chrom.'"
Joker: Yes, it was me who wrote that letter for Lucina. I asked Pit to proofread it for me. It was the only thing that I could trust him to do without failing.
"Wow, that felt...pretty sincere," remarked Lucina, as she felt a genuine smile forming on her face. She wasn't exactly ecstatic, but she was relatively pleased by what she had read. "Maybe he is willing to change for the better. Might as well give him a chance."
"Oh no, I'm stuck!" Mr. Game and Watch cried for help, as he likely fell in between the crack. What a terrible predicament that he found himself in. "Why, cruel world, why?"
"I'm coming, Mr. Game and Watch!" Lucina placed the letter on her dresser, as she ran out of her room to lend Mr. Game and Watch a helping hand. Had she not care for the letter, she would've tossed it on the floor, or even out the window...but instead, she placed it on the dresser.
That only meant she was legitimately giving Chrom a second chance. And Chrom had yet to know about it.