Author's Note:
Another remake has arrived on the Switch, and what game is that? Live a Live! For anyone who doesn't know, Live a Live is an RPG that follows seven protagonists...in seven different scenarios. As you may imagine, writing a chapter about such a game was difficult. How I even got this chapter done shall forever remain a mystery. Had things been easier, this chapter would've been published much sooner. But enough talk. It's time to answer some reviews - and we got plenty:
"Lou? What is this? Death Stranding? I mean Sam jumps over stuff a lot, and he fought a weird dragon thingy. And don't forget that scene of Mario and Princess "Beach". Dang it, Kojima. You did it again!"
Nope, no Death Stranding! Named Lou after the Captain from The Super Mario Bros Super Show. another guest review:
"I know you don't talk about hockey much, but are you going to bring up the Kraken in the story at all? They did just get Shane Wright, one of the top prospects in the draft. You already do Super Bowl chapters, why not a Stanley Cup (or World Series or NBA Finals) chapter?"
The last time that the Kraken was mentioned was back in chapter 307 - had a chapter dedicated to the team! I would love to do a chapter on the Stanley Cup, NBA Finals, or World Series, but those events are not on the same scale as the Super Bowl in my opinion. (That is subject to change, however.) But with Shane Wright - a number one overall talent - going to the Kraken, I might as well sneak in a Kraken reference in the next chapter. One last guest review:
"It seems to me that Bowser deliberately prevented them from going to the hospital to delivery Peach's baby. I know Bowser wants to see the baby and he wants to liven things up, but why doesn't he want them to deliver her baby in the hospital?"
Because Bowser is a weirdo. Up next is A JRPG Enjoyer:
"...just one question. Do you have anything for Octopath Traveler? They celebrated its 4th anniversary last Wednesday, so I thought you'd do something about it. Well, since you made a chapter with characters from Triangle Strategy, I hope you made one with Octopath, too."
If it weren't for Live a Live, I would've done something Octopath Traveler-related this week. There's still a chance that I'll feature Octopath Traveler before the year's end. Moving on:
"You know what? I've got an idea. Next week will be the release week of Live A Live. Since both Live A Live and Octopath is an HD-2D game made by Square Enix, how about you have the Octopath's 8 main characters meet up with the Live A Live's (technically) 8 main characters? I don't know, sounds cool."
Writing this chapter was hard as it is; doing a meetup with the Live a Live and Octopath characters wouldn't have been in the cards, sadly. Moving on:
"Well, well, well. Trails from Zero is coming to the Switch on September 27. I think it's time for Lloyd Bannings and his crew to appear in the story."
September 27, eh? I'll make sure to remember the date. Moving on:
"Just wanna add, Since Rean's appearance is based on Cold Steel IV, Lloyd and his pals should also be based on their appearance in that game (and possibly Reverie). Also, since Lloyd and his gang were a group of cops, it would be cool to see them interact with the Howard twins from Astral Chain since, you know, they're both cops."
In that case...why not have the Howard twins appear in the Trails from Zero chapter? As for Rean, his appearance is based on Cold STtel IV. Moving on:
"P.S. One final question. Who's your favorite protagonist of the Trails series? Estelle, Lloyd, or Rean?"
Gonna go with Rean. Derick Lindsey is back after a long absence:
"...when do we get the three faces of Bowser moment or better yet the three faces of Bowser meeting the three faces of Foley."
Dare I say, Elvis Bowser was one of the three faces. When will the other two be revealed? Stay tuned. Cloudenstein has an idea:
"I actually have an idea for the Kazuya and Heihachi arc. Kazuya called his trusty right-hand lady, Anna Williams, and he tasked her to kill Heihachi. But, Heihachi already thought ahead, and he called HIS trusty right-hand lady, Nina Williams, to take care of Anna. It would be an epic bout for the Williams sisters, don't you think."
That would be an epic bout. David's got questions:
"Is Sephiroth still gonna cause a rift between Cloud and Denzel? Has Yukiko found a new boyfriend yet? Will Miles Edgeworth also have a small appearance when Sae shows up for the Persona 5 Royal chapter? Will Mametchi (Tamagotchi mascot) have an appearance? (Since he was in a Mario Kart Arcade spinoff) if Dig-Dug shows up will his appearance be based on his Namco X Capcom or Mr. Driller look? And finally, what are your thoughts on WWE finally ending the PG Era and will we see Pit and Ryuji react to the news about it?
Not anymore. Not yet. Miles may have a small appearance. I dunno about Mametchi. Dig-Dug's appearance will be based on his Mr. Driller look. And as for the PG Era ending, I honestly didn't see it coming especially with the advertisers WWE has. I fear how many wrestling fans will demand bra and panties matches now. Finally, The Reader with some bad news:
"Well, I just heard from someone named enterzalman in Twitter said that he got an email about his Advance Wars 12 pre-order, and they said they're expecting it to ship the game...in February 2023. Now, this might only be a placeholder date, but if it's really the actual release date, time to say goodbye to the Advance Wars chapter."
February 2023?! Man...Breath of the Wild 2 was one game that I was willing to stretch this story out for, just to cover it. (The other being Metroid Prime 4.) Now Advance Wars has joined the conversation. Would I stretch this story out to 2023? That is on the table...for now.
Episode 334: Scenario
Last Thursday was a pretty big day - a day in which Peach gave birth to her second child, Louis. (Or Lou, for short.) Peach had quite an exciting story about Lou's birth; thanks to Bowser holding Mario up from reaching the hospital in time, Peach was forced to give birth in Mario's car as the contractions kept coming. Fortunately, Lou came out of the womb a healthy baby, as the doctors found no underlying conditions.
Ever since the birth of Lou, a lot of mansion residents and tower denizens came through with a bunch of gifts. Some had gifts for Mario and Peach; some had gifts for the newborn baby. One unnamed individual even had a gift for the family pet, Poochy, only to be clued in that Poochy did not give birth. (Also had to be clued in that Poochy wasn't female.)
Of course, Mario and Peach's neighbors offered gifts, as Roy and Lilina stopped by Mario's house to show Peach their appreciation. E. Gadd also happened to stop by, since his roommate had a small gift he wanted to give.
"It's a onesie!" Cortex presented a onesie to Mario and Peach, who were both unamused by the gift. No matter how hard Cortex was smiling. "It's colored white because it's..."
"...because it's gender-neutral, we get it," Peach would finish for Cortex, as she was sitting on a sofa holding Lou. Mario, having to do many of Peach's house duties, was sweeping the floors. "Do you have anything better to give us?"
"This was the only gift I had in mind..." Cortex lowered his head in sadness, as he dropped his onesie unto the floor and trudged away. Those twenty dollars he spent turned out to be a waste.
"How much sleep have they gotten since Lou was born?" Roy curiously asked Spyro and Hunter, knowing that Mario and Peach had their hands full with their newborn son. They had their work cut out for them past dark.
"They've had a good's night sleep every night," answered Spyro, who had a bunch of bags under his eyes. The poor dragon was greatly sleep-deprived, as his eyes were red.
"Mario's lucky that his housemates are super considerate," added Hunter as he let out a big yawn...before falling backward onto the floor as he went to sleep. Mario swept past the cheetah with his broom.
"Missed a spot," E. Gadd said to Mario, as he directed the plumber throughout the living room. Mario saw the corner of the living room that E. Gadd was pointing at and cleaned it immediately.
"Professor, you need-a to build me a cleaning robot or something," Mario said to E. Gadd - totally not like the plumber could just ask Chibi-Robo at the mansion to clean his house for him. "All this manual labor is tiring!"
"Now you know how I feel," Peach smiled at Mario, ecstatic that she had a lengthy break from cleaning around her house. The many perks of being a mom who just gave birth.
Mario: Gonna be the best-a dad that I will ever be. I've finally got a son, which means that I'll make-a him like my mini-me. *giggles* But if I want-a him to be like me, then I have to start-a him off the right book. Starting with bed-a time stories! *holds up book* Soon enough, Lou will be reading bed-a time stories to me. By the time he turns-a six years old, he'll already be in middle school.
"Put all your baby formula in the fridge," Akuma informed Peach as he stepped out of the kitchen; the fighter brought baby formula for Mario and Peach, saving them from doing any dirty work. "Your formula is in the fridge too, E. Gadd."
"Superb!" responded E. Gadd, who had crafted his own homemade baby formula; Dr. Wily was anticipating Lou's death at the very moment. "I highly recommend buying Peach breast milk, just in case. Speaking of breast milk, that awful shortage..."
"...yeah, I'm just gonna leave before you start getting political. Let me know if you need anything, Mario." Akuma hustled towards the front door and exited the house, saving himself from a potential rant by E. Gadd.
It may have lasted for only a brief period of time, but Akuma's residency at the mansion was in danger. Kazuya challenged him to a fight, and if Akuma were to lose then he would have to leave the mansion...forever! But thanks to an assist from Ryu, Akuma prevailed as he was the last man standing.
Knowing Kazuya, he wouldn't let Akuma enjoy his victory for too long. He had unsatisfied business with the fighter, believing that he got completely hosed thanks to Ryu's involvement. Kazuya had revenge on his mind, and he wanted his revenge soon.
"YOU!" Kazuya stood outside pointing at Akuma, who was slowly closing Mario's front door behind him; Akuma looked up and groaned when he saw Kazuya. "Got a bone to pick with you."
"Why didn't they let you stay at the hospital longer?" frowned Akuma; at least with Kazuya in the hospital, Heihachi didn't have to worry about anyone potentially killing him. "Did you bribe the staff, or did they kick you out because they didn't like you?"
"That is none of your concern. You owe me a rematch, Akuma - our fight did not end on fair terms, and for that reason..."
"Hey, Kazuya!" Luigi waved to the businessman as he got out of his car; Daisy also got out of the car and waved at Kazuya who didn't enjoy being interrupted.
Luigi: A lot of our peers-a have been going to the hospital. Very worrisome. I get that they're in Smash-a and all, but they need to chill out.
Master Hand: Ha! You genuinely believed that Kazuya left after he lost his fight to Akuma? Nope! No one is allowed to leave the mansion without my approval. As far as I'm aware, Kazuya's status is rock-solid thanks to him being in Smash. Akuma, not so much.
"The fight that we had on the Yiga Clan encampment did not end fairly," Kazuya continued from where he left off right after he was interrupted by Daisy. He was sure to make Daisy pay later today. "I like to consider myself a fair man..."
"You consider yourself a fair man?" an eavesdropping Daisy snorted at Kazuya, who responded by giving a mean look that shook a gal like Daisy to the core. Daisy hurriedly grabbed Luigi and rushed inside the house.
"...as I was saying, I like to consider myself a fair man, and I believe that our fight should on the right terms. Therefore, we should have a rematch, but without any distractions."
"A fight without any distractions...sounds to me like you're making excuses," smirked Akuma as he folded his arms, getting under Kazuay's skin. Kazuya angrily gritted his teeth, before regaining his business-like composure.
"I have also realized that I made the mistake of forfeiting any sort of training. Had too much confidence in my ability. For that reason, I have hired a man who will help me train for the fight."
"Hope that it's not someone you've also hired to kill your dad. So who's this sorry sucker that you lured to oversee your training?"
Kazuya was glad to show Kazuya who his trainer was, as the businessman whistled into his fingers. A Japanese fighter wearing a red headband and fighting gear emerged from the shrubbery, making a grand entrance as he performed a karate kick.
"Hiya!" shouted the fighter as he kicked the air, delivering a vicious kick that could knock someone's head right off. "I'll fight my way to the top, and the world will know my name!"
"Akuma, meet Masaru Takahara," Kazuya introduced the Japanese fighter to Kazuya, as Masaru was showing off his fighting stance. "He is a humble man who wishes to become the strongest..."
"Ah! You must be the legendary Akuma." Masaru was quick to approach Akuma, as Kazuya pinched the crown of his nose. "Tales about your exploits range far and wide. You're just the man that I have to beat to become the strongest!"
"You're not fighting Akuma...I will." Kazuya knew that he would disappoint Masaru with this information, and that's exactly what happened as Masaru looked at the businessman despondently.
"But you made a promise..." Masaru was so eager to spar with Akuma, that he was willing to challenge him to a fight on Mario's property. No matter how much Mario and his neighbors complained.
"Yes, I did make a promise - and I will only fulfill said promise if you help me train for my fight with Akuma. Got it?" Kazuya manipulating others to get what he wanted was typical Kazuya behavior.
"If that's how it is, then so be it." Masaru returned to Kazuya and bowed in front of him; Kazuya smiled with glee, while Akuma shook his head. "I will help you grow stronger in order to beat Akuma, and then I'll beat Akuma myself so I can get stronger, too!"
"...let's not get too ahead of ourselves." Kazuya led Masaru away from Akuma, before looking back at his opponent as he cracked a smirk. "Better get to your own training, Akuma."
"Maybe I should just stick to your old method and skip out," Akuma clapped back at Kazuya, who turned his head back around as he led Masaru to the mansion. Near the mansion entrance, he saw Anna at her shop stand.
"Thank you, come again!" Anna said to a customer, after selling them a bag full of candy. After the customer left, Kazuya approached Anna's shop stand, although he didn't intend to purchase anything. "Hey, Kazuya! I see that you and Masaru already linked up."
"Can't thank you enough for recommending him to me," Kazuya offered his thanks to Anna, whom Masaru was sizing up to see if she was a worthy opponent. "His presence shouldn't cause any problems...should it?"
"Not really, but if you have any concerns, don't hesitate to ask me!" Anna gave a cheeky grin to Kazuya, who went with Masaru inside the mansion. As Kazuya and Masaru went inside, Anna wondered if she might've accidentally spoken things into existence...
While Spyro was able to stay away despite the all-nighter he pulled off with Lou, Hunter on the other hand found it hard to stay awake. The cheetah fell asleep when Roy and Lilina stopped by to drop off their gifts and hadn't woken up since. Peach and Lilina were kind enough to tuck Hunter into his bed so that he could have a good night's...erm, good day's sleep.
"Sleep tight!" Peach said quietly to Hunter after tucking him in, before leaning in close and kissing the cheetah on his cheek. Spyro entered the room to see how Peach and Lilina were handling things.
"You ladies forgot one last thing," the purple dragon said to the two princesses, as he looked underneath Hunter's bed and found a stuffed teddy bear. "Apparently, he can't sleep well without it."
"Duly noted," replied Lilina as she took the teddy bear from Spyro and gave it to Hunter, wrapping the cheetah's arms around his stuffed animal. Hunter smiled, as he hugged the teddy bear tightly.
Peach: Things are different now compared to when Mario and I first had Jennifer. Back then it was constantly waking up in the middle of the night to soothe our child. But with Spyro and Hunter around, they have freely taken on the burden of calming down Lou - even if they didn't ask to do it! Selfish as it may sound, I hope that they can keep up that energy for the rest of Lou's infancy.
"Um, guys...he won't let go," Lilina said to Peach and Spyro, unable to free her hands from the teddy bear as Hunter had a vice grip on his prized stuffed animal. It was tight like a boa constrictor.
"I'll never understand why a guy his age needs a stuffed animal," Spyro said disapprovingly of Hunter, as Peach giggled at the purple dragon and made him furrow his brow. "You find it that funny?"
"You have a stuffed animal yourself, Spyro," Peach pointed out, as she brought Spyro's attention to a purple stuffed animal that was resting on Spyro's bed. Spyro looked real defensive, as his stuffed animal was smiling at him...menacingly."
"...that's a plushie, not a stuffed animal. Same concept, but cuter...I-I mean, cooler! Sure needs a wash." Spyro grabbed the plushie with his mouth and hurried out of the room, as Peach looked on amusingly.
"A little help here would be appreciated!" Lilina called out to Peach, as she was unable to break her hands from Hunter's grasp. Finally recognizing Lilina's plight, Peach went over to rescue the fellow princess.
At the Smash Mansion, you can always expect the extraordinary. In rare instances, coming across the extraordinary can result in some bad memories. That would be the case for Cloud, who encountered something at the mansion that he never hoped to see again.
"It's right down this hallway," Cloud said to Link and Zelda as he held the Hylian couple down the hallway, to where Master Hand and Isabelle were. "Try not to freak out as much."
"We'll do our best not to..." Link assured Cloud, only to stop when he saw what Master Hand and Isabelle were staring at...a rift. But not just any rift - it was a giant rift through time and space. "...is that what I think it is?"
"Don't tell us you're trying to revive another friend of yours," Zelda said to Cloud, who saw that insinuation coming from less than a mile away. Cloud read Zelda like a book. "Zack Fair, I assume?"
"The mansion's not big enough for two ex-SOLDIERS," replied Cloud, keeping himself humble as residents gathered around the giant rift. For many of them, it was their first time seeing a rift.
"Where does it lead to?" wondered Wario, willing to take bets on where the giant rift led to. Anything to make himself a couple of dollars richer. "I bet it leads to a bottomless pit!"
"Yeah right - no one wants to see the inside of your anus," quipped Kazooie, as Banjo was about to stick his hand through the rift. Kazooie instinctively swatted the bear's hand away.
"I nominate Slippy Toad to go through this weird portal," Master Hand nominated the frog, who was busy picking his nose when he heard his name called. "To save us all, in more ways than one. If for any reason he doesn't make it back, we'll just give away his One Direction CDs!"
"Wh-What One Direction CDs?" questioned Slippy as he looked around, worried that Master Hand exposed one of his biggest secrets. If not his biggest. "Who even listens to them anymore?!"
"I see someone exited their One Direction phase," Wendy Koopa smirked at Slippy, who hurried away from the premises to avoid further suspicion. Did Slippy leave his phase? The jury will be out on that one.
Slippy: One Direction is one of those artists that you hate on unironically until you give a couple of their songs a few listens, and then you realize they're not so bad after all. It's a classic case of letting the hate bandwagon dictate your taste in music. Or even your thoughts!
"Link, Zelda, you two are the authority," Master Hand said to the Hylian couple after seeing that Cloud had brought them to the giant rift. "How about you two investigate? Take one for the team!"
"I dunno, Master Hand, this rift might be dangerous," fretted Isabelle, knowing that the giant rift could be a straightway portal to the unknown. "Might even be a portal to Subspace!"
"...on second thought, maybe you shouldn't go through this portal. Go find a magical pair of scissors, and close it up. That's how they did it in that Disney show I watched."
"Sounds backward, don't you think?" Yoshi asked Master Hand, who dared not to argue against the logic of whatever show he watched. A show on the Disney Channel, of all places. "Also, do we even have magical scissors?"
"I'll go through the rift, Master Hand," volunteered Sora, who knew a thing or two about giant rifts as he had to jump through many of them to get back home to the present. "I'm no stranger to this kind of stuff!"
"No, Sora! Haven't you left behind Kairi once already?" Master Hand asked the Keyblade wielder, who braced himself as he donned his Keyblade and approached the giant rift. Before Sora could step through...
...a ninja leaped out from the rift, kneeing Sora in the face and sending him down to the floor. Everyone backed out of the way, giving the ninja some room as he got a sense of his new surroundings.
"Um...hello!" Zelda greeted the ninja, who just stared at the princess without saying a word. The ninja didn't look like he wanted much of a conversation - definitely the silent type.
"They have ninjas in Subspace?" pondered Master Hand, as everyone had their eyes on the ninja standing before them. "This man better not be MC Ballyhoo in disguise; I'd hate to hear his mouth after all these..."
"It appears that I'm no longer in Japan..." the ninja finally spoke, shocking a few residents as he caused them to gasp. Link and Zelda had plenty of explaining to do...
Meanwhile, in the kitchen of Mario's home, Mario was feeding Lou some milk, cradling the week-old infant in his arms. The plumber was noticeably sweaty as he performed his task.
"I'll just keep Mr. Snuggles in there until Peach forgets," Spyro said to Sparx as he left the laundry room and passed through the kitchen. The purple dragon came across Mario, doing his fatherly duties.
"Here comes the air-a plane!" shouted Mario, about to do a trick as he took the baby bottle out of Lou's mouth...only to make Lou cry. "Execution seemed-a better in theory."
"Can you not make him cry, Hunter is trying to sleep," Spyro said to Mario, who gave the baby bottle back to Lou. Lou happily resumed drinking his milk, as a crisis was quickly averted. "Also, why are you sweating? Air conditioning not working?"
"No, it's working fine! It's just that doing all these house-a chores in excess is very tasking on the body." Mario had so much sweat on him, that you'd think he ran a marathon through a desert without any water.
"But all you did was sweep the floor. Did that make you so tired?" If that was apparently the case, then Mr. Game and Watch would be very disapproving of Mario's extreme lack of mojo.
"Swept the floors, washed-a the dishes, cleaned-a the bathrooms...you have no idea how much-a that takes a toll on a man." On one hand, Spyro wished that he knew, but on the other hand, he decided that he rather not.
Spyro: This is how you know that Mario is a lazy bum at his core. Barely did any of those chores before, but once Peach has her baby and Mario is forced to step up, all of a sudden Mario wants to complain. If being a couch potato was an actual career, he'd make a killing off of it!
"The heck is that?!" asked Roy, as Mario heard the swordsman speaking in his living room. Mario and Spyro entered the living room and saw Roy, E. Gadd, Cortex, and Uka in front of a giant rift. Similar to the one that was at the mansion.
"For the record, I have absolutely nothing to do with this," Uka expressed his innocence, as he was seeing this rift in Mario's living room for the very first time. "This one's on you guys."
"I reckon that it's a rift through space and time," inferred E. Gadd, aware that such a rift must be caused by a machine such as Dr. N. Tropy's Rift Generator. "Cortex, did you remember to turn off our...hair dryer?"
"Why would we even share a hair dryer?" asked a disgusted Cortex, completely missing the point as E. Gadd was speaking in code. "You barely even have any hair! Unless you're referring to..."
"You must not say that out loud!" E. Gadd got angry - a rarity in its own right - as he silenced Cortex while holding a finger over his mouth. He did not wish to say a certain word out loud, lest he inadvertently triggered you-know-who.
"Say what out loud? Why do you guys share a hair dryer?" Roy questioned E. Gadd and Cortex, exchanging looks between the inventor and evil genius. Mario, seeing the rift, knew how said rift came to be.
"Ah, of course, the rift appeared-a in my living room because of..." Mario deduced, only to be silenced as E. Gadd went up behind the plumber and held his hands over his mouth. E. Gadd was being uncharacteristically aggressive.
"Did I not say that you can't use that word?" E. Gadd frowned at Mario, exhibiting more of his rarely-used anger, as Mario nodded his head with muffled replies. Soon the rift grew bigger.
"I think we have some company," said Uka, and the floating mask was right on the money as an elderly Chinese man leaped out of the rift. The man performed a martial arts pose as he stuck the landing.
"Aha! I've landed in new surroundings," the elderly man said after arriving at Mario's house, taking a quick gander at the men...and purple dragon...and floating mask...who were before him. "With new foes to face!"
"Better not be referring to us," murmured Cortex, only to be karate chopped on the head by the elderly man as he fell to the floor. "He would attack me first.."
"En guard!" The elderly man challenged Roy next, and Roy readily took out his sword. Before Roy could strike, the elderly man kicked the blade out of the swordsman's hand and kicked him into a wall.
"Guys, Hunter is trying to sleep!" yelled Spyro, as if Mario could simply tell his guest to stop kicking everyone's butts. As the elderly man turned his attention to Mario, Peach and Lilina exited Hunter's room.
"He's way stronger than I give him credit for," Lilla discussed with Peach as the princesses arrived at the living room, where they saw Roy lying on the floor in pain. Lilina gasped as she ran over to check on her husband.
"I'm okay," Roy assured Lilina, able to stand up on his own despite a small amount of assistance from his wife. "That random old guy over there kicked my butt for no reason."
"Who is he anyway?" asked Peach, as the elderly man calmed down; didn't want to possibly send Peach and Lilina the wrong message. "Did he come from that portal thingy?"
"I see that you are a princess," the elderly man approached Peach, noticing her elegance and royal flair right off the bat. "Pleased to meet you! I am a master of an endangered art of kung fu called Xin Shan Quan. You may call me...Master."
"Master, schmaster - back off-a from my wife," Mario said to Master, not appreciating how close the elderly man was to Peach. When Mario made contact with Master, Master retaliated by poking Mario in the crown of his nose.
"Oh, dear! I didn't notice that you had a child." Master instinctively snatched Lou away from Mario, who was left in pain as he held his face. "What is this little one's name?"
"His name's Lou," answered Peach, as Mario massaged the crown of his nose to alleviate the pain. The method was hardly working. "We can't tell you who or what inspired that name."
"Think they got that name from a captain on television or something," Spyro blurted out, as Peach gasped at the purple dragon; Mario, ignoring the pain that he was in, looked at Spyro in shock. "I can't say television around our visitor?"
Mario: Spyro knows-a our secrets...he knows my secret...how do I delete-a his memory? I may have to consult-a Sora on this matter.
"Is that man your husband?" Master asked Peach as he pointed at Mario, as Peach nodded. An apologetic Master happily returned Lou back to Mario. "I am sorry for hurting you," Master apologized to Mario, who accepted Lou from the kung fu extraordinaire.
"Meh, it's nothing - at least compared to falling in lava," responded Mario, wiping some of the sweat off his face with his white glove. Master saw how parched Mario was, and grew concerned.
"So much sweat. The insulation in your house must be poor. Here, let me dry you off." Using his sleeve, Master wiped off Mario's face until there was not a single drop of sweat to be seen. "Better?"
"Much-a better." Mario felt some type of way about being touched like that by an old man, but he chose to let it slide. "I've been stressed-a lately, for a lack of a better word..."
"He can't handle a bunch of chores," Spyro explained to Master, who took notice of Mario's body language; Mario looked physically drained.
"You must be exhausting yourself," Master said to Mario, placing his hand on the plumber's shoulder. Mario was back to feeling uncomfortable again. "Do you feel at peace? My Xin Shan Quan technique may give you peace of mind."
"Xin Shan Quan?" Mario was already coming off as skeptical, which didn't bode well for the training that he would take. "That sounds-a like a rapper name."
"It's far from a brand of candy, I can assure you. We'll start when you're ready. Follow my lead, and you'll never lose your way!"
Pit came to his senses in the last episode, acknowledging that Kirby and Adeleine wouldn't work out as a couple. Let alone a married couple. However, just because Pit realized the error of his past ways didn't mean that he would no longer be punished by Joker.
Until Toadsworth's pilot was well enough to fly Toadsworth back to the Mushroom Kingdom, Pit was still forbidden from leaving Cafe Leblanc. He still had that ankle bracelet on him, and it wouldn't be taken off until Toadsworth was back home.
"Psst...they still make phonebooks?" Viridi whispered to Joker, Kirby, and Incineroar, as the four baristas were huddled in the back of Cafe Leblanc. They were staring at Pit, who was at the counter looking through a phonebook.
"I'm more surprised that Pit can read what's in those yellow pages," Kirby whispered back, as Pit slid his index finger down a page looking for a name. "To me, it looks like he's reading."
"C'mon, c'mon, his name has got to be in here somewhere..." frowned Pit, who flipped through the pages as he couldn't find the name that he was looking for. Whose name was he trying to seek, by the way?
Pit: The pilot was super upset with what he did to him - so angry, that I heard from his lawyer that he wants to see me in court! I don't know if he was referring to a tennis court, a food court, or even a courtroom, since he wasn't being specific enough. But whatever it is, I'll be ready. Just gotta fine-tune my tennis skills, just in case.
"Pit, I would like my coffee today please!" Wolf shouted at the angel, who was too engrossed with the phonebook to listen to anyone. A steadily impatient Wolf looked towards the other baristas. "Um, guys?"
"Don't mind Pit, I'll get you a cup," Joker said to Wolf, forced to do his barista duties - something he seldom did while Pit was on punishment. But before Joker could make his move, Wolf put his hand in front of him.
"No, you don't have to fix my coffee; I can wait. I was about to mention that rift behind you." Wolf brought Joker and the other baristas' attention to the giant rift, which had just appeared in the cafe.
"Well...this is new," remarked Viridi as she observed the giant rift, not sure of what to make of it. Joker, who had heard about rifts anecdotally from Kanji and Naoto, looked at the rift in his cafe while scratching his chin.
Elsewhere at the cafe, Cloud was playing a card game with Denzel. The swordsman wanted to do some last-minute activities before returning Denzel back home, and playing a card game was one thing that he wanted to cross off of his bucket list. One of them was a Yu-Gi-Oh battle royale, which Sora apparently suggested.
"Alright, Nowi, so here's a little tip I learned a minute ago," Captain Falcon said to the half-Manakete, who was playing a game of Yu-Gi-Oh with Cloud, Denzel, Ike, and the male Inkling. With Captain Falcon as her instructor. "That Self-Destruct Button card is a trap card. Only use it when your life points are lower than your opponents."
"Oh, so does that mean I can't save it for last?" asked Nowi, who wanted to use the Self-Destruct Button card to turn the tables. The half-Manakete fancied herself making an epic comeback story. "A waste of a card..."
"Wow, great leadership Falcon," Ike sarcastically commended the racer, who saw right through Ike's sardonic front. "You're making Nowi better at Yu-Gi-Oh today which adds to your legacy."
"You don't have to say everything out loud, Cap," Denzel said to Captain Falcon, dying to make a move as it was still Nowi's turn. "Can't you try and be discreet?"
"Not a wise move to teach your girlfriend how to play Yu-Gi-Oh during the actual game," added Cloud, who would enjoy playing the card game slightly more if it wasn't for Captain Falcon's involvement. "You're kinda holding us up."
"Says the man who left just so he could show Link and Zelda some stupid rift..." Captain Falcon clapped back at Cloud, before seeing Joker and company standing around a giant rift. "...like that rift over there!"
"What?" Cloud looked in the direction in which Captain Falcon was pointing, and was stunned to see the giant rift that was in the cafe. A young caveman leaped out from the rift and crashed into Pit.
"Joker, Kirby's spitting stuff at me again!" Pit whined to the young man after he was struck in the back of his head, only to notice the caveman that crashed into him. The caveman got on his feet, beating his chest.
"We got a caveman from the stone age...how wonderful," sighed Viridi, as the caveman started acting erratically by throwing items off the counter. "And he's already making a mess!"
"Hey buddy, that's my curry!" Terry shouted at the caveman, who snatched the fighter's curry and slurped down the entire bowl. The caveman then tossed the bowl at Terry's head, before making gorilla sounds.
"I'm willing to guess that he's illiterate," Joker had this to say about the caveman, only to frown when he saw Pit recording the caveman's antics on his phone. "Pit, aren't you going to clean this mess up?"
"Uh, sure, maybe," Pit half-heartedly responded, as he filmed the caveman taking the coffee machine and drinking the coffee that was inside. The giant rift soon closed, as Cloud was on edge.
"Another distraction, just what we needed..." said the male Inkling, and Cloud got up from his seat as he left the cafe a second time. "...and Cloud's abandoned us a second time!"
"Let's hope that he actually has to use the bathroom this time," remarked Geno, who saw Captain Falcon non-discreetly peeking over at his cards. "Quit looking at my hand, Falcon..." Captain Falcon pulled away from Geno, whistling innocently.
"I'll go see what he's up to, you can play without me," Denzel said to Geno and the others, putting his cards down as he got up and exited the cafe. The young boy surmised that Cloud was off to handle some business.
"Ooh, Dark Magician card, nice..." Captain Falcon nodded in approval as he peeked at one of Denzel's cards, only to be caught red-handed as he put the card back down. "...just scouting the competition for Nowi."
Mario was about to learn all the ways of Xin Shan Quan, and it would be a much-needed practice as he had been stressed out during the week. Not because of the newborn baby, Lou, driving him insane - because of the many chores that he had to do for Peach while the princess cared for her son. The plumber needed a big moment of reprieve.
"Won't lie, you look stupid with a man bun," Spyro said to Mario, who was wearing the same kit that he and Luigi wore while they were on the Isle of Armor. "Mustache doesn't go well at all."
"Princess-a Peach, does my man-a bun make me look stupid?" Mario asked the princess, who was in the living room cradling Lou; whenever Spyro said crap about Mario, Mario always counted on Peach to uplift his spirits.
"It looks...fair," Peach replied through a pained response and a forced smile; it was a good enough answer for Mario, who nodded his head as he tightened the ribbon on his man bun.
Mario: The last time I wore-a this yellow kit, I was embodying the theme-a of growth. Quite frankly, I like to think that I didn't grow-a as much as I should on the Isle of Armor - probably because the dojo gave-a me a defect Kubfu. But since then, I've grown-a quite a bit, especially this year under Cloud. Dare I say it, Cloud is a much-a better teacher than Mustard ever was.
"Ah, all dressed up for the occasion!" gleamed Master when he entered the living room and saw Mario's fit. Took it as a sign that Mario was taking his Xin Shan Quan lessons seriously. "I'll have to award you with some points."
"Can I redeem these points-a later for a prize?" Mario asked Master, who kept silent as he watched the excitement from Mario slowly vanish away. "Do I even-a get a certificate if I pass?"
"If I can produce one in due time, then perhaps." As long as it was something material, Mario wouldn't mind how underwhelming the certificate was. "So are you ready to begin your first lesson?"
"Ready when-a you are!" Mario was so ready, that he delivered a wicked karate chop to a small living room table. To his and everyone's surprise, the table was split in half. "That was purely intentional."
"For the record, Xin Shan Quan is nonlinear - no karate chops." Master moved the broken living room table out of the way, thereby giving him and Mario more room to work with. "It's all about circular motion..."
"Yeah, you do your circular motion stuff, I'm heading out," said Spyro as he retreated from the living room; he didn't want to be in the way and risk getting hurt by Mario. Accidentally or not.
"Lou really misses his cradle..." said Peach, using this excuse as she left the living room and ran to the nursery. With no one else around, Mario and Master had all the freedom to do their Xin Shan Quan...and break any furniture as they please.
Masaru was mainly focused on growing stronger - becoming the best fighter in the world so that he could wreck the competition. So when he was asked to train Kazuya, it was a fish out of water experience for him. Only because he had never trained anyone before.
"Yes, Kazuya! Once more, with feeling!" Masaru shouted at Kazuya, as he was doing sparring practice with the businessman in the training room. Ken entered the training room, seeing Kazuya giving it his all.
"Who's your training buddy, Kazuya?" Ken asked the businessman, who wasn't in the mood for conversation as he kept his focus on his sparring partner. "Looks like a diet soda Ryu!"
"Diet soda Ryu?" Masaru overheard Ken and took great offense to the fighter's remark, as he immediately stopped sparring with Kazuya and angrily confronted Ken. "You take that back!"
"Relax, pal, it was a joke! Probably a bad one, but I meant no ill will." Ken held his hands up in innocence, as Masaru lowered his guard. But it wasn't because of Ken's explanation.
"I know who you are...you're Ken Masters! One of the best fighters in the world! I am Masaru Takahara..." Masaru's moment with Ken was abruptly cut short, as Kazuya grabbed Masaru by the collar and pulled him away.
"You can fangirl over Ken later," Kazuya said to Masaru as he dragged the fighter back to his original position. "Let's continue our training, shall we?"
"Right..." So Masaru resumed his sparring practice with Kazuya, hoping that he would have the time to challenge Ken to a fight later. Speaking of Ken, he kept a very wary eye on Kazuya.
Ken: Is Kazuya training Masaru to beat up Heihachi or something? Heihachi won't be happy to know that he might get his butt handed to him by a lesser version of...wait, it's the other way around? Kazuya's the one who's being trained?
Sonic received a huge surprise in the last episode when he saw Layton and Luke back in Seattle. Layton and Luke, who were invited to the mansion to run a small investigation, embarked upon a second one regarding Earnest, who was recently arrested.
Sonic teamed up with Layton and Luke in their investigation, later learning that Earnest got arrested during a drug bust. Returned all of his possessions back to Walmart so that he could presumably use the money to buy drugs. However, the case was still open, as Layton wished to uncover a few more details.
"Saw them through the window," Lavenza said to Sonic, as she led the blue hedgehog through the hallway. "Should be in Master Hand's room."
"How nice of them to save me some gas money," remarked Sonic, who had planned to stop by the hotel where Layton and Luke were staying at. "They sure love to do the west coast dirty with the gas prices! I blame California."
"You can't blame a state for all your life problems, Sonic." Soon Lavenza and Sonic reached Master Hand's room, and the door was closed. Lavenza pressed her ear against the door to make out any voices that she heard.
"The mysterious rift appeared in our room while I was still changing," Layton was heard speaking, sounding painfully embarrassed in tone. "This man, he saw me in my underwear..."
"As in your briefs? Yeah, those are hideous," Master Hand was heard from behind the door, as Lavenza beckoned Sonic over to the door. "Quit your blushing, professor!"
"I'll knock on the door," Lavenza whispered to Sonic, as she knocked lightly on the door; seeing that Lavenza's knock didn't suffice, Sonic opened the door with a spin dash. "Sonic..."
"Sorry Lavenza, but that knock was totally weak," Sonic said to the young girl, as he looked inside Master Hand's room and saw Master Hand with Link, Zelda, Isabelle, Layton, and Luke. Also present was the ninja from earlier.
"Really, Sonic? Wouldn't it hurt for you to knock?" Master Hand scolded the blue hedgehog, who led Lavenza inside the room as he gently closed the door behind him. "It's called common courtesy!"
"Greetings, Sonic," Layton warmly greeted, smiling as he gave Sonic a small wave. Sonic noticed the cowboy standing next to Layton. "We had a surprise visitor at our hotel."
"A talking blue hedgehog..." the cowboy said when he took a gander at Sonic, lowering the cowboy hat on his head. "...ain't nothing like I've ever seen in the Wild West."
"Well, I'm glad that I made your day," Sonic said to the cowboy, willing to take any credit if he blew the cowboy's mind. "Layton, how did you get a cowboy to show up at your hotel?"
"It was mostly by happenchance," Luke answered for Layton, as the cowboy adjusted his brown poncho and adjusted his cap. "He hopped right into our hotel room through a portal!"
"They call me The Sundown Kid," the cowboy introduced himself to Sonic, tipping his hat to the blue hedgehog before sticking a cigar in his mouth. "You can just call me Sundown for short."
"The portal was actually a giant rift," Link clarified to Sonic, whose eyes went wide as his experience of giant rifts was pretty substantial. "You can probably guess how the rift came to existence..."
"Watch out, here's another one," alerted Link as a giant rift suddenly appeared in Master Hand's room; Zelda jumped out of the way as everyone stood back.
"Cloud made Dr. N. Tropy build another Rift Generator?!" Sonic automatically assumed, hopping on the offensive as he looked to teach Cloud a lesson. "Hurry, Layton, we gotta stop Cloud before he revives Zack Fair or something!"
"Let's not get too rash, Sonic," Layton advised the blue hedgehog, as a teenager stepped out of the giant rift. This teen was shirtless but was at least courteous enough to wear a jacket.
"Well, now...I had no idea that my powers were capable of doing that!" the teenager remarked, as the giant rift behind him closed and faded away.
"Isabelle, why is that boy shirtless?" Master Hand whispered to the Shih Tzu, showing a rare sign of fear as he hid behind Isabelle. "Please tell him to put a shirt on, his abs are distracting me..."
"Do not be alarmed, for I am from the near future. Akira Tadokoro is the name. If I had to guess, I must have somehow jumped back in time..."
"How near in the future are we talking about here?" asked Sonic, still on the offensive as he viewedAkira as a potential threat. Partly because of his crazy-looking hair. "We talking five years or ten years?"
"I'll leave that up to your own interpretation..." Akira turned around and saw that the giant rift was no more, now realizing that he was stuck in the present. "...doubt that I can pull off that trick again."
"No worries, my friend, we'll get you back home," Layton assured Akira, before turning towards Sonic as the blue hedgehog had piqued his interest. "Sonic, I believe you mentioned something about a...Rift Generator?"
"Uh, yeah, it was a time machine that N. Tropy built last year," replied Sonic, while having a slight sneaky suspicion that Cloud was up to no good. "I was a test dummy - and I almost died!"
"Being lost in time doesn't equate to almost dying," Link clarified to Sonic, effectively killing whatever grand story Sonic was about to tell. "Just means that you're trapped. Which in a way, is like dying, but..."
Link: Anytime Sonic brings up his time-traveling exploits, he always has to bring up that he almost died getting back home. He thinks that mentioning the very "fact" will give him street cred. Knuckles is obviously a bad influence on Sonic.
"Let's not beat a dead horse," Zelda said to Link and Sonic before the two could start arguing with one another. "Layton, Luke, how about you two pay Professor E. Gadd a visit? He might be able to bring our visitors back home."
"Well, he does know his way around..." remarked Luke, only for Master Hand to cover the young detective's mouth before he finished his sentence. Luke made muffled sounds until Master Hand took his finger away.
"Sorry Luke, we...erm, don't use that word that much," stated Master Hand, as Luke furrowed his brow; Master Hand didn't want Luke to learn the hard way. "Did that for your own good."
"Mind if I come with?" Sundown asked Layton and Luke, looking for any reason or excuse to get outside. The outdoors was where he belonged. "I can use some fresh air."
"Welcome aboard," Layton smiled at Sundown as he tipped his hat to the cowboy, officially welcoming him to his troop. "Looks like our investigation will have to be on hold, Sonic."
"So you're gonna leave me with Mr. Spiky Hair?" Sonic asked Layton and Luke, who left Master Hand's room without saying a word as Sundown followed after them. Akira stared at Sonic, as he eventually frowned.
"You really think that way about me, huh?" the teen frowned at Sonic as if he had just read the blue hedgehog's thoughts. Sonic eyed around the room as if he was guilty. "I can read your mind..."
"Look on the bright side, Sonic, it could be worse," said Link, as he brought Sonic's attention to the ninja who was keeping to himself. "You could be stuck with this ninja who won't even tell us his name..."
"Oboromaru...my name is Oboromaru," the ninja finally spoke, making for a truly shocking moment as Link flinched and Isabelle gasped. Master Hand, on the other hand, was overjoyed.
"Yes, he finally spoke!" the giant hand rejoiced, as he was strongly bothered by how reserved Oboromaru was. Atypical ninja behavior. "Thought I was gonna have to use the electric chair on him."
"You have an electric chair...?" Akira nervously asked Master Hand, wondering where this electric chair was kept at. Before Master Hand could even answer, Akira teleported away!
"Did he just teleport?!" questioned Sonic, later groaning as he recognized what he had to deal with for the time being. "I hate going on wild goose searches..."
With Cloud and Denzel gone, the boys (and Nowi) were forced to play their game of Yu-Gi-Oh without the swordsman and his "son". Captain Falcon was still helping Nowi along the way, guiding her to victory - or so he believed.
"Use that card, use that card!" Captain Falcon whispered to Nowi, excitedly pointing at a card in the half-Manakete's deck. Nowi saw the card that Falcon was pointing at and smiled.
"Alright boys, it's time to tip the scales!" shouted Nowi, looking to make a big impact as she placed her card on the table. "I summon...Dark Mage!" Nowi laid the card down with authority, as Captain Falcon pumped his fist.
"Hold it - that's not a legal move," stated Geno, as Nowi's smile immediately turned upside down; looking for answers, Nowi looked towards Captain Falcon to bail her out.
"Whaddaya mean, it's not a 'legal move'?" Captain Falcon questioned Geno, wondering when the star became a stickler for the rules. "Is Dark Mage too overpowered?"
"No, it's just that the summoning technique is super hard. It has to be a Special Summon by Tributing one Dark Magician after applying the effects of Time Wizard in which you call the coin toss right. Then after you do the Special Summon, you gotta add a spell card from your Deck to your hand. Got it?"
"Uh...can you repeat that, from the top?" Captain Falcon was very much confused, and so was Nowi as she had a blank stare on her face. "Also, does anyone here have a coin?"
"Told you that letting his girlfriend play with us was a mistake," the male Inkling whispered to Geno, as he likely had to put up with Captain Falcon's shenanigans until the game was over. Might be through with it sooner if he calls it quits.
Captain Falcon: Honestly I knew just two Yu-Gi-Oh cards prior to the card game - Dark Magician, and Dark Magician Girl. Oh, and also Blue Eyes White Dragon. That card saved my butt in a game of blackjack.
Geno: I like to think of myself as an adept Yu-Gi-Oh player. That said, it's not my responsibility to teach someone's significant other how to play the game while actually playing the game. Not my job to carry that burden.
Elsewhere at the cafe, the baristas had dealt with their caveman visitor. Joker calmed the caveman by offering him iced coffee, which he made cheaply - threw ice cubes into some hot coffee, and called it a day.
"Iced coffee is delicious, Joker," Pit said to the young man, sampling a bit of the caveman's iced coffee as he smiled in approval. "Backwash is amazing, too!"
"Wasn't for you, Pit..." responded Joker, before turning his attention back to the now serene caveman. The caveman was sitting on the floor, taking a chill pill. "...I wonder if this guy has a name."
"Only one way to find out," said Kirby, as he went over to the table where the guys (and Nowi) were playing Yu-Gi-Oh. Grabbing a pen and a piece of paper, Kirby went back behind the counter and gave both materials to the caveman.
"Uh oh, he's writing something!" observed Pit, as the caveman was scribbling furiously on the piece of paper before holding it up. Although the caveman gave it his all when it came to writing, he only wrote four letters.
"Pogo...his name is Pogo," read Viridi, having to squint real hard so that she could make out the scribbled letters. "Aw, he's more literate than you, Pit!"
"More literate, huh? I'll show ya!" said a confident Pit, willing to prove himself as he snatched the pen and paper away from Pogo. Once Pit flipped the paper over, his mind instantly drew a blank.
"I think he's hungry," assumed Joker, as Pogo was pointing at his stomach; Pogo then pointed at his mouth to further send the message home. "Shall we take him to the kitchen? We've got plenty of chicken."
"Yeah, I doubt that our curry will hold him over," replied Kirby, as the baristas led Pogo out of the cafe. Pit was about to leave the cafe, only for his ankle collar to sound once he stepped foot out of the door.
"Right, sorry..." the angel apologized as he sheepishly went back to behind the counter, forced to hold it down until his friends returned. "...save some chicken for me, you guys!"
"Uh, we'll try," Joker half-assured the angel before he and the other baristas left with Pogo. Sans watched as Pogo left, as the perfect caveman-related pun came to mind.
"they're gonna go clubbing without you," the skeleton said to Pit, who groaned as he took Sans' empty coffee cup and tossed it into the sink. "i know that you're salty, don't try and hide it..."
Giant rifts had been appearing all over Seattle - at the mansion, in Mario's house, and even at the hotel that Layton and Luke were staying at. Another rift opened up, this one at Fox's house. Fox, who remembered the last time a giant rift opened in his vicinity, was on edge.
"Time travel has really messed you up," Krystal said to Fox, armed with a couch pillow while she was being used by Fox as somewhat of a human shield. "Would Marcus want to see his father so afraid?"
"You never know if a bandicoot will jump out of that rift and kick your butt," replied Fox, flinching with anticipation as he expected an unwanted visitor in the next second or two. "Or even worse, a person from Midgar."
"May I exchange this couch pillow for a wooden chair? I would feel safer that way." Taking Krystal's request into consideration, Fox looked towards the wooden chairs that were circling around the kitchen table.
"You know what, you have a good point." No longer using Krystal as a shield, Fox ran to the kitchen and came back with the wooden chair. He didn't exchange it with Krystal for the pillow. "Now we'll be doubly safe."
"I see that you don't care for my safety as much..." Fortunately Krystal had no reason to fear, for the person that came out from the giant rift...was in fact a small white robot with glasses, a red cap, and rollerskates.
"Aw, look, it's a cute little robot!" Fox was all smiles as he put the chair down, kneeling down as he got a closer look at the robot. "Does it have a name? We'll name him Cube."
"Cube? But Fox, it's spherical..." But Fox didn't care, as he gently petted Cube on his head after removing his cap. Fox had taken a huge liking to Cube, so much that he was ready to make a decision that Krystal might not agree with.
"We should adopt this little guy. Make him part of our family." Fox was falling head over heels for Cube, and the lovefest was too much for Krystal to take in.
"We are not adopting a robot. He is clearly not from our time. Also, would a pet robot even work?" Even if it didn't, Fox was going to make it work no matter what Krystal says.
"Luigi has a flipping pet Pokedex...so it's fair." Fox brought Marcus over to Cube, getting his one-year-old son used to the new family robot. "Cube, do you wanna stay with us?"
"You've gotta be kidding me..." Krystal pinched the crown of her nose, as Cube responded to Fox's question by making beeping sounds. Fox took Cube's response as a yes.
"Ha! Did you hear that, Krystal? Cube is here to stay! You can't say anything now." Fox felt like throwing a party, or better not, showing his pet robot to the whole world. On social media, that is.
Fox: See a lot of potential in Cube. He can be our Rosey, cleaning up around the house and keeping things in check. But the only difference is, we'll show him love...and he'll love us right back! Did the Jetsons ever love Rosey? The episodes that I watched on syndication seemed to suggest otherwise.
Link and Zelda were now out of Master Hand's room, and were in the gaming machine room with Oboromaru. They were keeping a close eye on their ninja guest, who was inspecting every nook and cranny of the gaming room.
"Your new friend is interrupting our game of pool," Iori informed Link and Zelda, as Oboromaru was trying to topple over a pool table. When that didn't work, Oboromaru tried slicing off the table legs with his ninja sword.
"Leave him be, he's looking for someone important," replied Zelda, as Iori grumbled and walked away. It wasn't until Oboromaru actually cut down a table leg that Link and Zelda finally took action. "Oboromaru, we did not say that you could vandalize!"
Link: Oboromaru is on a mission to rescue an important person. We keep telling him that whoever he's looking for is not here, since he's in the future, but he's convinced that his target traveled into the future along with him.
"No...I can't abort my mission!" Oboromaru said to Link and Zelda, who were restraining him and taking him away from the pool table. "If I do, my clan will hunt me down."
"What does destroying mansion property have to do with your mission?" Link questioned Oboromaru, who took the Hylian's point into consideration as he relaxed and put his sword away.
"You're right...I was just blowing off steam there. Forgive me." Oboromaru soon saw Takamaru walk by, eating a banana, and was quickly allured. "He looks like a good person to ask."
"The Kongs hopefully won't mind that I stole one of their bananas," said Takamaru as he took a bite from his banana and dropped the banana peel on the floor. The samurai then turned around and look afraid when he saw Oboromaru sneaking up on him. "Stay back, I didn't mean to do it!"
"Stop! I have to ask you something." Oboromaru chased after Takamaru, who ran from the ninja thinking that he was sent by the Kongs. Link and Zelda watched as Oboromaru had Takamaru cornered.
"Guess Diddy isn't the only one who leaves behind banana peels," Zelda said to Link as she went to go pick up the banana peel off the floor. When the princess walked toward the trash can, she ran into Yuffie.
"Princess Zelda! Good timing," Yuffie greeted the princess, as she had a small bit of news to share. "So Koga finally replied to our invitation; his response wasn't that friendly."
"That's good to hear, Yuffie." Zelda walked past Yuffie en route to the trash can, as Yuffie saw Oboromaru with Takamaru in the corner of the gaming room.
"Ooh! Who's that ninja guy?" Yuffie asked Zelda, who returned to the ninja girl after tossing away the banana peel. Yuffie wasp pointing at Oboromaru with much excitement.
"His name is Oboromaru." Zelda saw Link trying to keep Oboromaru away from Takamaru, albeit struggling mightily. "Oh, and before you ask, he's NOT going to be an honorary ninja."
"Phooey..." Yuffie sported a pouty face, but her sadness was only short-lived as she had another question to ask Zelda. "...did you even try to recruit him?"
"I don't have the time for doing so. Link and I are quite busy." Zelda made Yuffie pout again, as Link brought a restrained Oboromaru over to the princess.
"Had to step in, he was going to stab Takamaru with his sword," Link explained the situation to Zelda, as he had Oboromaru's hands held behind his back. Yuffie perked up once Oboromaru was in her presence.
"I was merely showing him my blade," Oboromaru defended himself, fighting out of Link's grasp but to no avail. "Showing him that he could trust me."
"Riiiight...so what should we do with him, Zelda?" Link gave the floor to the princess, unaware of the diabolical plot that Yuffie was plotting as evidenced by her sneaky smile.
"I know what I should do with him..." Yuffie said sinisterly as she took out a black ball. The ninja that he was, Oboromaru instantly recognized the ball Yuffie was holding as Zelda did the same.
"Is that a..." started Link, only to be cut off as Yuffie dropped the black ball to the floor creating a giant cloud of smoke. Link and Zelda were left in the smoke as they were coughing away - along with many others.
"Kana? Have you vanished?" Corrin was heard shouting, as the entire gaming room was filled up with smoke. Eventually, the smoke subsided, as it was clear in the gaming room again.
"My lungs, they cry out for mercy..." Takamaru coughed as the smoke cleared, seeing others in the gaming room coughing as well. "...I'll never steal from the Kongs ever again."
"That was...one potent smoke bomb," remarked Link after getting out the last of his coughs. The Hylian looked down at his hands, only to notice that they were now free. "She took Oboromaru from us, didn't she?"
Joker and the baristas (minus Pit) took Pogo down to the dining room, where Pyra and Mythra treated him to some fried chicken. They planned on just giving Pogo a few, but Pogo wanted to go through an entire pack!
"We were saving that chicken for our dinner..." Pyra said to Pogo, who didn't care as he ate to his heart's content. Growing frustrated with Pogo, Pyra looked towards Joker and company, and asked, "...does he understand English?"
"He's a caveman, don't bother," replied Mythra, watching Pogo eat away as she folded her arms. Pogo's overeating didn't bother her. "If he wants an upset stomach, let him. It'll be his loss."
"We should feed him your chicken - that ought to make him stop eating," Joker quipped at Mythra, who brushed off the young man's remark. Any critical comments about her culinary skills didn't faze Mythra anymore.
"Woah Nelly! That's a lot of chicken," exclaimed Falco as he entered the dining room, seeing Pogo devour the chicken that was prepared for him. "I know only Pyra cooked them if he's enjoying it that much."
Pyra: For some reason, Mythra likes to think that the ones criticizing her cooking ability are sexist. Mainly because a majority of her detractors are men. Sure, the women have made scathing remarks too, but only behind her back. *pauses* I'm one of them.
"Like your precious veggie burgers are any better..." muttered Mythra, as Falco began to notice that Pogo was looking fatigued. Pogo couldn't take another bite, dropping his burger to the floor.
"Have you tried spicing up his appetite?" Falco asked Pyra and Mythra, knowing of a way to perhaps cure Pogo of his full stomach. "Gave him any fruits or veggies? Or even a glass of water?"
"We've tried," replied Pyra, demonstrating as she took a banana and held it up to Pogo's mouth. Pogo, seeing the banana from the corner of his eye, screamed as he fell out of his chair. "As you can see, he's not a huge fan."
"Could it be that the banana you offered was grown by Mythra?" Falco kept taking shots at Mythra, who was at first playing it cool only to lose her temper.
"How about you mock someone else's culinary skill for a change?!" Mythra shook her fist at Falco, while Pyra had to hold her back. A ticked-off Mythra was truly a force to be reckoned with.
"I bet you have a salad lying somewhere, Falco," Joker said to the avian pilot, who stroked his beak with heavy consideration. "Why not offer it to Pogo?"
"Pogo? That's what you called him? Pogo?" Falco shook his head at Joker and company, as he walked past Pyra and Mythra - the latter of whom was looking to throw hands with the avian pilot. "Lemme just go get my salad..."
Layton, Luke, and Sundown had arrived at E. Gadd's mansion - all three visiting the mansion for the very first time. Layton rang the doorbell, and also gave a knock for good measure.
Layton: Embarrassing as it may sound, Luke and I got lost while looking for E. Gadd's mansion. Sundown had to ask a stranger for directions.
"Snazzy hotel that E. Gadd is living in," grinned Layton, allured by how elegant the mansion looked. He imagined that it would look creepy. To his and Luke's surprise, the door was opened by Cortex.
"Hello, gentlemen!" Cortex greeted Layton and Luke, who were both bewildered when they saw the evil genius. "Who is that cowboy with you? A bootleg McCree, I assume?"
"Should I be offended by that?" Sundown whispered to Layton and Luke; someone should inform Cortex that McCree was going by Cole Cassidy from now on.
"Oh, stop it with the long faces, you two! Why aren't you happy to see me? Do you not know who I am?!" That's when Uka approached Cortex from behind, with a comment that wanted to make.
"To be fair, nobody would ever be happy to see you," Uka said to Cortex, who thought otherwise as he apparently thought of himself as the most lovable person in the universe. "I bet you turn your folks away at family reunions!"
"Which would be the case...if my family hadn't died in that freak accident." Choosing not to dwell upon sad memories, Cortex diverted his attention back to Layton and Luke. "So, who's the cowboy?"
"Cortex can you please close the door, you're gonna let more bugs in!" Coco was heard shouting, as the blonde bandicoot showed up along with Crash and Aku. The three stopped when they saw Layton and Luke at the door.
"Layton, Luke! Didn't know you were in town," Aku said to the British detective duo, who were both now shocked beyond words. Luke was even on the verge of fainting. "Something wrong?"
"You...you live with Dr. Cortex?" Layton asked Aku and company, finding it hard to imagine that Crash and Cortex would willingly live together. "But we were told that E. Gadd lived here..."
"E. Gadd lives here; he let Cortex stay since no one else likes him," Coco cleared things up a bit for Layton, as Cortex gave the blonde bandicoot a stink eye. Uka was smiling with vindication. "Us bandicoots have our own house."
"Phew, that's a relief," smiled Luke, as the huge amount of sympathy that he was about to have for the bandicoots no longer remained. "Um, no offense, doc."
"We're just stopping by because we have to help E. Gadd and Cortex with something. Well...I have to help E. Gadd and Cortex with something."
"Crash and I are the moral support - Crunch, too," added Aku, contributing to Coco's best efforts in the best way that he knew how. "Watching over Coco as she tries to fix the..."
"Woah!" Crash panicked, as he grabbed Aku and covered the floating mask's mouth. Coco's eyes went wide for a split second, much to Layton and Luke's amusement. And Sundown.
"Can't use the forbidden word either, I see," Sundown said to Aku, garnering the attention of the floating masks and the bandicoots. Sundown smiled as he tipped his hat. "Call me Sundown."
"Yes, this is a visitor that showed up in our hotel room," Layton explained to everyone standing around the front door, as he presented Sundown to them. "Zelda believes that Sundown's unexpected arrival was due to a..."
"...uh, I should get back to fixing...the thing!" exclaimed Coco, cutting off Layton in the nick of time as she vamoosed. Her abrupt departure created a very awkward silence.
"Dearest me, I have on the wrong pair of underwear!" fretted Cortex after he looked under his pants, as he ran off with Uka trailing after him. "I meant to wear the Goofy-print boxers tomorrow!"
"Care for lunch?" Aku asked Layton and company, doing his best to end the awkwardness that ensued. Layton, Luke, and Sundown stepped inside the mansion, keeping their expectations for lunch low.
Kazuya was all done training with Masaru, as he was ready to take on Akuma. Ryu was peeking inside the training room, seeing a confident Kazuya clenching his fists.
"Thanks to you, Masaru, I feel stronger and more powerful than ever before," said Kazuya, as Ryu secretly kept a close eye on the businessman. "You're a better trainer than I give you credit for."
"And you're a better learner than I anticipated," Masaru returned the favor to Kazuya, who felt a huge tick in his ego as he beamed with pride. "Now you can prove your strength by challenging Akuma, while I later do the same!"
"He won't have the energy to fight anymore once I'm through with him..." Having seen enough, Ryu pulled away from the training room door. Akuma was walking down the hallway, having finished his own training.
"They really gotta restock that vending machine," said Akuma, Gatorade in hand as he came across Ryu...who saw Akuma and placed his hands on the fighter's shoulders. "Oh no, not the shoulders-on-my-hands thing again..."
"Akuma, some bad news," alerted Ryu, as Akuma was holding in his urge to smack Ryu in the face. "Kazuya is challenging you to a second fight!"
"You act like I didn't know that already..." Akuma gently took Ryu's hands off of him, not appreciating the fact that he was touched. "...we're fighting at the same place. On the Yiga Clan grounds."
"Since this is your second fight, I'll let you have this one. I'll stay out of your way." Ryu was confident that Akuma could defeat Kazuya, with or without any unnecessary distractions. "This is yours to take!"
"Much appreciated, Ryu - I can handle Kazuya just by myself." Speaking of Kazuya, the businessman exited the training room along with Masaru. Masaru turned his head and saw Ryu, pointing at the fighter.
"No way! It's the legendary Ryu!" exclaimed Masaru, seeing another fighter worthy to be challenged. To face Ryu, Ken, AND Akuma all on the same day would be a dream come true for Masaru.
"We have no time for your fangirling," Kazuya said to Masaru as he reached his hand out towards the fighter - but Masaru slapped it away as he wanted his moment alone with Ryu.
"Mr. Ryu, my name is Masaru Takahara," Masaru introduced himself to Ryu as he gingerly shook the fighter's hand, while Kazuya was facepalming from secondhand embarrassment. "I'm a fighter just like you!"
"I can tell," smirked Ryu, able to tell how strong Masaru was based on his firm handshake alone. "How would you like to have a fight later?" At this point, Masaru was over the moon.
"Yeah, I'd love to! And since Kazuya and Akuma are having their fight...why don't we make it two-on-two?" A two-on-two fight? Both Akuma and Kazuya were not happy with that idea. "You and Akuma, versus me and Kazuya! How about it?"
"Sounds less than ideal...but I know better than to back down from a fight." Ryu shook hands with Masaru again, making the fight official much to Akuma and Kazuya's chagrin. "You're on! Challenge accepted!"
Masaru: Ken Masters may have called me a "diet soda Ryu", but he'll have to eat his words after I defeat his longtime rival. Then after I fight him and defeat him, he'll have no more words to say!
Ken: A two-on-two fight? Ryu and Akuma, versus Kazuya and that Masaru guy? *sighs* This is all my fault, isn't it?
"We hope that you're ready!" Masaru said to Ryu and Akuma, as he walked down the hallway past Kazuya. Masaru let out a shout of excitement, as Kazuya was shaking his head in dismay.
"See you at the Yiga Clan hideout..." Kazuya said to Ryu and Akuma, before chasing after Masaru. The businessman now had two opponents to worry about. "Masaru, this fight was supposed to be on my terms..."
With Layton and Luke at E. Gadd's mansion, Sonic was left to keep Akira Tadokoro company until the teen was ready to return to his own time. It turned out to be hard for the blue hedgehog, weird as it may sound.
"Eeeeek! Get out, you creep!" Fiora was heard shrieking from behind a bathroom door, as Sonic and Lavenza were looking for Akira. The bathroom door opened, and Akira was pushed out.
"Sorry, ma'am, it was an accident!" Akira apologized to Fiora, who was wearing her bath towel; Fiora frowned at the teenager before slamming the door shut.
"Found you yet again!" Sonic said to Akira, as he offered to help the teen up to his feet, and even dusted him off. "You gotta cool it with the teleporting, man."
"I was testing to see how potent my powers were in this time period. It's important that I keep my abilities..." Akira suddenly teleported away, and Sonic groaned as he had to go on yet another search.
"...and he's off," remarked Lavenza, as she glanced at a stopwatch she brought along during her relentless search for Akira. "Look at that - a new record!"
"Well, wherever he is, he can't be too far off," said Sonic as he led Lavenza down the hallway, eventually reaching the lounge. Sonic peeked inside the lounge and saw Fox showing off Cube to Toadsworth, R.O.B., and R.O.B.'s robot friends Ray and Chibi-Robo.
"Cube is our new family pet," Fox said to Toadsworth and company, smiling as Cube was standing at his side. "Speak, Cube!" Cube made a bunch of robot sounds, causing Fox's heart to swell up with joy.
"Psst, adopting a robot as a pet even legal?" Toadsworth whispered to the three robots, as Sonic and Lavenza stepped inside the lounge searching every inch for Akira.
"In most cases, it is," Ray whispered back, as R.O.B. was turning its head as it observed Sonic and Lavenza's every single movement. "The adoption process is hard but worthwhile."
"SONIC AND LAVENZA...WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?" R.O.B. asked the blue hedgehog and young girl, blowing their cover. Sonic and Lavenza stopped in their tracks, just when they were about to check behind the window curtain.
"Sonic, have you met Cube?" asked Fox, who made it his mission to introduce Cube to his friends and acquaintances. "Do something cool, Cube!" Cube simply spun around on his rollerskates, as an impressed Fox applauded the performance.
Krystal: Fox is infatuated with that robot. I'll give him two hours until the love wears thin.
"Sonic the Hedgehog!" Toadsworth greeted the blue hedgehog; Toadsworth hadn't spoken with Sonic as much as he wanted to. "How do you do, old chap?"
"Eh...just trying to do better," replied Sonic as he walked away from the window curtain, giving Toadsworth an iota of his time. "It's a process, but..."
"Oh, I can tell! I've been keeping a close eye on you, Sonic. I remember back on Luigi and Daisy's wedding day when you were demanding that I listen to 'City Escape'..."
"Yup, hehe, that was me..." Sonic showed regret over how overbearing he was back then, as he scratched the back of his head. "...spreading the good word."
"But look at you now! Helping others, simply doing the right thing...that's not the Sonic that I encountered a couple of years ago."
"Gotta give credit to Lavenza - she's been keeping me in check." Sonic brought Toadsworth's attention to Lavenza, who did a cutesy for the elderly Toad.
"Yes, I'm quite aware of Lavenza. I learned from her that the fun run was your idea! And the funeral for Kana's dead cat? Good stuff right there."
"Stop it, you're gonna make me blush!" Sonic tried to keep himself from blushing, as Akira teleported himself behind the blue hedgehog. "Bet she told you how she reeled Layton and Luke back to Seattle."
"You're that overwhelmed by flattery, aren't you?" Akira asked Sonic, as he read the hedgehog's mind; Sonic turned around and screamed when he saw Akira, jumping into Lavenza's arms.
"Is that a new friend of yours?" Fox asked Sonic, who recollected his dignity as he quietly asked Lavenza to put him back on the floor. "Why does he look like Super Saiyan Goku, with the hair?
"That's what I'm trying to figure out," replied Sonic - only for Akira to teleport away, as Lavenza glanced at her stopwatch. "And he did it again!"
"A new personal record!" exclaimed Lavenza as she followed Sonic out of the lounge; the wild goose chase for Akira had yet to reach a conclusion.
"It was good speaking with you, Sonic!" Toadsworth shouted down the hallway, enjoying the talk that he had with the blue hedgehog. "What a good fellow he has become..."
Done having their lunch, Layton, Luke, and Sundown were ready to see, well, whatever Coco was fixing. Crash and Aku led the three visitors to a room, where they saw Coco working on a machine with E. Gadd, Cortex, and Crunch standing by.
"You think that this will do the trick?" a certain swordsman asked Coco, watching the blonde bandicoot's progress; that swordsman was Cloud, who was accompanied by Denzel.
"I'm hoping that it will," replied Coco, screwing away with her handy wrench; Crunch and Cloud looked over and saw Layton and Luke, the latter getting all excited.
"Yo, Professor Layton!" Crunch shouted the British detective's name; poor Luke was left out barely even acknowledged. "What up, man!"
"Professor Layton! Had no idea you and Luke were still in town," said Cloud, as Luke received a little bit of acknowledgment. Better than nothing.
"We still have some unfinished business," smiled Layton, as Cloud saw Sundown standing with Layton and Luke. Cloud felt as if he recognized Sundown from somewhere.
"Is that you, McCree? Or are you still going by Cole Cassidy?" Cloud wanted to get the name right, lest he makes himself look like an utter fool.
"I'm the Sundown Kid," Sundown introduced himself to Cloud, who threw his arms up in defeat as he didn't know what to believe in anymore. "It's a real pleasure, good sir."
"Getting tired of all these name changes..." Cloud shook his head with his hands on his hips, as Coco let out a squeal of joy as she screwed in the last screw.
"All done?" Denzel asked Coco, who dropped her wrench to the floor as the machine was up and working again. "Looks like you're back in business, E. Gadd."
"You can say that again!" exclaimed E. Gadd, as he and Cortex were relieved to see that the machine functioning properly without any hiccups. "Thank you Coco for fixing our...our, um..."
"Fixing your what?" Crunch asked E. Gadd as he leaned in close to the inventor, waiting for him to finish his sentence. E. Gadd was all sweaty. "What's so wrong with saying the word?"
"He might hear us..." replied Cortex, cowering in fear like the grim reaper was about to swoop in and steal his soul. Cloud and Denzel saw the palpable fear from E. Gadd and Cortex, and even Crash as well for some reason.
"I don't see what the big deal is," said Denzel, unnerved by the rather strange overreactions. Almost like he was out of the loop. "Clearly this is a time machine, so why can't you mention..."
"Haha, he actually said the word!" chuckled Uka, as the fear that E. Gadd and Cortex had increased tenfold. Crash even fainted on the floor. "You're screwed now, Cortex."
"Hurry, let's lock the front door before he finds his way in," E. Gadd said to Cortex, who nodded his head as the two geniuses left the room. They were running like men on a mission, on the cusp of saving the universe.
But unfortunately for E. Gadd and Cortex, they wouldn't get too far for they ran into the last person they wanted to see...Dr. Wily. Wily stood by with his arms folded, tapping his foot angrily.
"Looking for someone?" Wily asked E. Gadd and Cortex, who found no way of maneuvering past the robot inventor. The robot inventor was waiting for his moment to shine.
Wily: Do not be alarmed, I was here much sooner. Camped outside until that numskull Crash let me in. When I heard Mr. Resetti mention something about a time machine, I had to go to E. Gadd's mansion to see what was up.
Mr. Resetti: *sighs* Can't even talk about that Hot Tub Time Machine movie without upsetting Dr. Wily. Old coot seriously needs to get over himself!
"Which one of you geniuses had the brilliant idea of building a time machine?" Wily asked E. Gadd and Cortex, ready to unleash his unbridled fury on which genius was responsible.
"It was his idea," E. Gadd outed Cortex as he pointed at the evil genius; Wily looked at Cortex, who flinched in anticipation, before looking at E. Gadd...and smacking him in the face. "Ow! Why me?"
"Because you could've talked Cortex out of it while you had the chance. Also, I really just wanted to smack you." Wily was satisfied with what he did, smiling as E. Gadd rubbed his face.
"E. Gadd, Cortex, you coming?" Coco called out to the duo, wondering what was taking them so long to lock the front door. "I'm about to press start on the time machine!"
"Hope you got what you wanted," E. Gadd said to a satisfied Wily, his face still sore as he and Cortex returned to the room. Happy that he got one over E. Gadd, Wily left the premises.
Link and Zelda were off to retrieve Oboromaru, who was taken hostage by Yuffie so that he could be an honorary ninja pal. The Hylian couple stopped by the ninja pals' "base of operations", a.k.a. Luigi's house, to retrieve their ninja visitor.
"Sorry, but the ninja pals are not home," Luigi spoke with Link and Zelda, who were standing at the front door having their patience tested. "I've searched-a everywhere for them..."
"No, you didn't; you've been standing at this door the whole time," Link pointed out, as he saw a drop of sweat trickling down from Luigi's forehead. "Also, we can clearly hear Yuffie shouting from upstairs."
"That's not Yuffie, that's-a my wife." Luigi's little fib was disproven fast, as Daisy came out of the kitchen eating a bologna sandwich. "Erm, she was shouting from-a upstairs earlier..."
"Was not," affirmed Daisy, taking a bite from her bologna sandwich before walking away. Luigi looked back at Link and Zelda, with more sweat running down his face.
"We have no time for this..." sighed Zelda, tired of playing Luigi's games as she and Link forced themselves inside Luigi's house. Luigi panicked as he tried to stop the Hylians from advancing further.
"Please stop, you might interrupt-a them!" the green plumber yelled at Link and Zelda, only to be left ignored as Link and Zelda marched through the kitchen. Once they saw Yuffie coming down the stairs with Oboromaru, Link and Zelda stopped.
"How nice of you to go looking for me..." Oboromaru said to Link and Zelda, sounding relieved upon seeing the Hylian couple; Yuffie on the other hand looked bummed out.
"Got some news, Zelda - Oboromaru can't join the ninja pals," Yuffie solemnly informed the princess, who contrary to what Yuffie believed was delighted by this announcement. "Said that he has some 'mission' he has to fulfill."
"Quite frankly, you and your friends were holding me up," Oboromaru told Yuffie, only to look up and see a giant rift appear above his head. Link, Zelda, and Yuffie all took a step back. "Hello again, giant rift..."
"That must be your way back home," Link said to Oboromaru, who felt his body moving; the giant rift was seemingly about to suck up Oboromaru. "Best of luck in your mission."
"Provided that my target travels back in time along with me, my mission may be a success...farewell!" Oboromaru gave Link and Zelda a ninja salute, as he was soon sucked up into the giant rift. Seconds later, the rift vanished away.
"Wait, he was from the past?" Yuffie asked Link and Zelda, salty that she didn't know this information any sooner. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?! I would've made him an honorary ninja on the spot!"
"Oh, Yuffie..." Zelda facepalmed at the ninja girl, as Link smiled amusingly; who knew Yuffie was that obsessed with finding an honorary ninja?
Hunter was fully rested from his afternoon nap, sleeping like a baby as he had his trusty blanket. The cheetah exited his room, yawning as he stretched his arms out.
"The king has arisen from his slumber!" bellowed Hunter as he stepped inside the living room, digging into his ear. Not very king-like. The cheetah encountered Mario and Master, who had finished up their Xin Shan Quan training.
"Congratulations, Mario, you have passed your training!" Master commended Mario, signifying the end of his lesson by striking a kung fu pose. It was a harmless pose, but it somehow intimidated Hunter.
"Do I get a certificate for passing?" Mario asked Master, who kept his lips pursed as a giant rift appeared above his head. Hunter was lining himself up with Master, looking to kick the innocent old man in the head.
"The certificate you will receive...is the satisfaction you get for passing my lesson. I know that it's not anything material, but some things are better than material blessings!"
"Mario watch out, that old guy looks dangerous!" Hunter warned the plumber, as he leaped into the air to deliver a flying kick to Master. Master was sucked up into the giant rift right, which disappeared seconds afterward.
"Mama mia - I didn't get to tell-a him goodbye," lamented Mario, as Hunter crashed into the wall and fell to the floor. That one was gonna leave a mark. "Hunter, you couldn't have picked a better time-a to have taken a nap..."
Mario: I feel refreshed after that Master taught-a me the ways of Xin...Shan...Quan, or whatever it is. All the stress I once-a had has been taken off-a my shoulders! It was very nice-a of Master to teach me kung fu - something Mustard had never done. A fraud, he is.
Fox wasn't done showing off Cube, for he had to introduce his pet robot to Master Hand and Isabelle. Master Hand didn't care at all, but he was doing a good enough job at pretending.
"Watch this...Cube, do a 720 !" Fox commanded the robot, who did a simple 720 in Master Hand's room. Fox acted as if it was the greatest thing he had ever seen, given by his overreaction.
"If he's like this with this dumb robot, imagine how he'll be when Marcus grows up..." Master Hand whispered to Isabelle, imagining Fox to be an unbearable dad in the near future.
"More people need to see this! Stay right there!" So Fox ran to Master Hand's bedroom door and looked out, calling to random people. When Fox left, a giant rift appeared over Cube.
"Look, Master Hand! It's that weird portal again," shouted Isabelle as she pointed at the giant rift, which had sucked Cube in. Just like that, Cube and the giant rift were gone.
"Bunch of haters..." Fox walked away from the bedroom door shaking his head, as he turned to Master Hand Isabelle...and saw that Cube was gone. "...where did Cube go?"
"The funny thing is..." Isabelle was about to explain, only to be silenced when Master Hand put his finger over the Shih Tzu's mouth. Master Hand believed that he had a better answer.
"He self-destructed while you were gone," Master Hand told Fox, who was perplexed as to how he didn't hear Cube supposedly self-destruct. "You abandoning him made him unloved to the point where he imploded."
"You for real?" asked Fox, buying Master Hand's explanation much to Isabelle's great surprise. He got over Cube pretty quickly. "Guess that'll teach me to not abandon any pet of mine..."
Falco came up with an ingenious idea for curing Pogo's stomach ache - fixing the chicken that Pogo enjoyed with the salad that Falco loved to eat. What was the end result? Chicken salad, of course! Complete with berries, olives, and other salad toppings. Pogo was eating chicken salad in the dining room, while Falco looked on proudly.
"Told ya that it would work," Falco said to Joker and the baristas, as Pyra and Mythra watched over Pogo to make sure that he didn't choke. Even with salad, Pogo was eating like a madman.
"This chicken salad idea seems like a cool concept," Mythra said to Falco, showing her small appreciation for the avian pilot's genius. "Mind if I steal it? For like a patent, or..."
"Chicken salad has already been invented, Mythra," Pyra informed the fellow Blade, who was left with disappointment. Mythra was on the cusp of being a trailblazer in the food industry, but Pyra shot that down in a hurry.
Mythra: How am I just now learning about chicken salad? What other kinds of salad are even out there?
"How are you liking your salad?" Joker asked Pogo, interested in hearing the caveman's honest thoughts. Pogo stopped eating as if he had something to say.
"I..." uttered Pogo, as Joker and company had their eyes on the caveman with bated breath. Pogo was about to speak for the first time! "I...like...food!"
"Eureka! Pogo can speak!" exclaimed Kirby, as he and the others rejoiced; Kirby's excitement was short-lived compared to everyone else, however. "Darn it, that means I have to owe Pit money..."
"Just don't give him the money, he'll forget eventually," Viridi said to Kirby, as a giant rift appeared above Pogo. Seeing the rift, Pogo waved to everyone as he was sucked in.
"Totally should've given him a Thai beef salad as a going-away gift," remarked Falco, as the giant rift went away; Mythra bit her tongue wanting to ask if this Thai beef salad had already been invited. (Answer: Yes, it was.)
Sundown was next in line to return to his time period, as the cowboy was still at E. Gadd's mansion. Sundown looked up and saw the giant rift, coming to terms with his fate.
"Looks like this is it," said Sundown, as he faced everyone in the room and tipped his hat to them. "Until we meet again." The cowboy smiled, as the giant rift sucked him up and faded away.
"So that wasn't McCree...I mean, Cole Cassidy," Cloud said before correcting himself, as Wily peeked inside the room to see how things were going with the time machine. "Why didn't you guys tell me?"
"Are you finished? Tell me that it's finished," commanded Wily as he stepped inside the room, wanting the whole time-traveling shenanigans to come to end.
"Not quite done yet," replied Coco, as Wily pulled on his hair with both of his hands. Mr. Resetti was right, Wily really does need to get over himself. "Seems that we have one visitor left..."
That one remaining visitor was Akira, who had teleported away yet again. Since they couldn't find the teen at the mansion, Sonic and Lavenza opted to look outside for Akira's whereabouts.
"Shirtless man with funny-looking hair, right?" a Yiga clansman asked Sonic and Lavenza, relaying the description that was given to him as he led his guests through the Yiga Clan Hideout. "Is this person you're looking for a Super Saiyan?"
"His people know about Dragon Ball Z...we're screwed," Sonic whispered to Lavenza, frightened by the idea of Master Kohga and his men screaming while going Super Saiyan. "It'll be even worse if they Naruto."
"Hold it! I hear noises..." The Yiga clansman brought Sonic and Lavenza to a stop, as he heard loud sounds from nearby. The clansman led Sonic and Lavenza into an open area...
...and saw the fight of Ryu and Akuma versus Kazuya and Masaru. At the same place where Kazuya and Akuma fought last week, no less. There was a small crowd of Yiga clansmen, cheering for the fight.
"Hadouken!" shouted Ryu, firing a Hadouken at Masaru who ducked out of the way; Akuma and Kazuya were having their own little fight, with both men trading blows.
"Seriously, another fight?" moaned Sonic, unable to get into the fight like the other clansmen were. Even the clansman that guided Sonic and Lavenza was getting into the fight, cheering along. "How many times are they gonna do this?!"
"Kazuya's ego must be hard to fulfill," assumed Lavenza, sympathizing for Ryu after he was dragged into the mess. Which was more or less Masaru's doing.
Master Kohga: It's Kazuya vs Akuma, Part 2! Even better, we have a Ryu and a discount Ryu (who's good, from what I've seen) as part of the fight! What more can anyone ask for?
Akuma believed that he had the fight won, as he kicked Kazuya to the ground with a swift but powerful kick. Kazuya was now looking up at Akuma, defenseless.
"It's time that I finish this," said Akuma, gearing up for a wicked punch; Kazuya found the strength to stand back up on his two feet, which Akuma expected.
"Go ahead, bring it on! Do your worst," Kazuya beckoned to Akuma, hoping that he could counter the fighter's punch and ensure victory. Akuma screamed as he ran towards Kazuya...
...only to stop when a random teenager teleported himself in front of Akuma, bringing him to a halt. That teenager was none other than Akira, whose sudden presence stopped the fight as the Yiga Clan crowd went silent.
"Um, hello everyone!" Akira awkwardly greeted the crowd, as Sonic and Lavenza were looking for a way to reach the teen before he got hurt. "Akira Tadokoro, nice meeting you all..."
"Where on earth did you come from?" Akuma asked Akira, who smiled awkwardly; with Akuma distracted, Kazuya maneuvered past Akira and gave Akuma a wicked uppercut.
"Hiya!" shouted Kazuya as he delivered the uppercut, sending Akuma flying into the air. Akuma landed on the ground hard, wracked with pain as he was unable to get up. "Looks like I have won."
"You won?" an astonished Masaru asked Kazuya, taking his focus away from Ryu; he would pay dearly too, as Ryu punched him in the stomach and sent him down to the ground. "Ow..."
"That kid ruined the fight! Get him!" shouted a Yiga clansman as he pointed at Akira; the other clansman shouted as they all ran towards Akira, hoping to lay a finger on him.
"Sonic, do something!" Lavenza told the blue hedgehog; but before Sonic could take action, a giant rift appeared above Akira and sucked him in. The chaotic rowdiness from the Yiga clansman died down after realizing that Akira was gone, along with the giant rift.
"Did he just teleport away?" a Yiga footsoldier questioned, dropping his sickle as he and the other clansmen were disappointed.
"What a coward..." said another footsoldier, as the clansmen dispersed; only Sonic and Lavenza remained, along with those who were in the fight.
"It appears to me that you aren't strong enough," Ryu said to Masaru, offering to help the fighter up to his feet. Talk about good sportsmanship. "But your journey is far from finished..."
"I can see..." replied Masaru, clutching his stomach as he held out his hand for a handshake. Ryu shook Masaru's hand as he smiled. "...thank you for the great fight, Ryu. I will be stronger, just you wait and see!"
"How's it feel to be on the losing end?" Kazuya taunted Akuma, while Ryu was escorting Masaru away from the Yiga Clan Hideout. Kazuya clearly embodied the opposite of sportsmanship.
"That fight...doesn't count," replied Akuma as he struggled to get up; eventually he got back on his feet, although he did stumble a bit. "Wasn't a one-on-one. Our next fight will be for all the marbles."
"And it'll be our last fight too - next week. Why don't we put back on the stipulations? If you win, I will leave the mansion forever. But if I win..."
"...I'll leave instead." Akuma and Kazuya would shake their hands on those terms, as Sonic and Lavenza exchanged looks with one another. Next week's fight was truly for all the marbles.
"Hope that you have your goodbyes in order." After the handshake was over, Kazuya backed away from Akuma smiling with arrogant confidence. Akuma stared down at Kazuya, still struggling to stand upright.
"Well...guess that takes care of that," Sonic said to Lavenza, seeing that Akira was no longer his responsibility. Akuma soon fell down to one knee, as Sonic ran to the fighter and helped him back up.
Kazuya: Do not ask me how I will coexist with Akuma until our fight. I'll ask Master Hand for time away from the mansion so that I can train at an undisclosed location, in peace. He better not get the wrong idea and think that I'm leaving for good...
Nowi and the boys were all done playing Yu-Gi-Oh, and now you're probably thinking to yourself, "Nowi pulled off a comeback and won, didn't she?". The fact of the matter was...she didn't. Captain Falcon hoped that his advice would help Nowi, but instead he made his girlfriend lose. Badly.
"I don't get it, how did Nowi wind up with zero Life Points?" questioned Captain Falcon, expecting Nowi's opponents to provide the answers. They were all too busy cleaning the table off.
"That's what happens when you make her sacrifice a Red-Eyes Blue Dragon for a Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon," replied Geno, as he was picking up the Yu-Gi-Oh cards and placing them inside a canister. "You've let her down."
"Legacy points deducted..." Ike muttered under his breath, only to perk up when he saw Cloud and Denzel return to the cafe. "...welcome back, you two! Sorry, but the game's over."
"It's all good," replied Cloud, as he placed his hand on Denzel's shoulder. "Denzel and I just needed time alone, the two of us." Cloud looked at Denzel, who gave a knowing smile.
Also returning to Cafe Leblanc were the baristas, as they were done with Pogo. Pit was scribbling away on the counter with a bunch of crayons when he saw Joker and company.
"Back so soon?" Pit asked his fellow baristas, grinning as he hurriedly put his drawing underneath the counter. "Where's the chicken? Saved any for me?"
"Pogo ate it all," replied Kirby, causing Pit to gasp as he put his hands on his face. "Well, most of it. We may not have enough for dinner."
"And you didn't save me any...hope Pogo got what he wanted." Pit pulled out his drawing and discreetly folded it into a paper airplane, before flying it out of the cafe when the baristas weren't looking. Said airplane poked Dark Pit in the eye.
"Ow!" shouted Dark Pit as he held his eye, before seeing the paper airplane lying on the floor. The doppelganger picked up the paper airplane off the floor and unraveled it, not knowing what to expect.
However, you could imagine his reaction when he saw that the paper airplane was a drawing...of Kirby and Adeleine getting married. Except that there was black scribbling all over the art. Dark Pit felt vindicated.
"Heh, so I guess he was being honest," assumed Dark Pit as he balled up the drawing and placed it in his pocket. The doppelganger went down the hallway, passing by Toadsworth. "Hey, Toadsworth."
"Howdy, Dark Pit!" Toadsworth waved to the doppelganger, as he reflected upon the conversation he had with Sonic. Something about that earlier convo made the elderly Toad feel warm and fuzzy inside.