Author's Note:
Two games are being released today - Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. Would've loved to include Zack Fair and Ethan Winters in this chapter, but I sadly could not because they're both...well, you know. I wanted to incorporate elements from both games into this chapter, but I feared it would've gotten in the way of the plot. Oh well. Let's answer some reviews:
"Might be random (and kinda spoiler-ish), but can you have Team Star appear on Christmas? Maybe have them meet Team Yell. I don't know, I would love to see Team Yell and Team Star battling for their leaders, Marine and (SPOILERS). As I said, spoiler-ish."
Doesn't sound random to me - Team Star and Team Yell both seem like they're cut from the same cloth, as far as villainous teams go. But would they meet in the Christams chapter? I'd have to pull out all the stops for that one. Guy w the Jokes has a holiday joke for me:
"Now, since it's Christmas, it's time for my Christmas joke! What's every elf's favorite music? Wrap music! Ayo!"
Ayo! That was a good one. Got me excited for a second Christmas joke. David has questions:
"Will 2B and 9S show up again for the Christmas chapter? Is Sophie gonna have some sibling moments with Kana when she shows up? Is Pit gonna brag or tell Ryuji about William Regal leaving AEW and going back to WWE? Any nods or callbacks to the Mario Golf and Tennis 64 games? And finally, what did you like about the Game Awards and how did you feel about a rehashed Dark Souls game like Elden Ring beating Xenoblade 3? (In the words of Seth Freakin Rollins, This. Is. Bulls**t)."
2B will show up again in the Christams chapter...9S shall remain a mystery. Sophie will have some sibling moments with Kana. Pit will probably brag a little, but that's it (if I cover anything Regal-related, that is). No nods or callbacks to the Mario Golf and Tennis 64 games. Selfish as it may sound, the only thing I cared about from the Game Awards was Crash Team Rumble. And Elden Ring beating out Xenoblade 3 isn't that surprising to me. The George R. R. Martin influence probably gave them the edge. A JRPG enjoyer has a Pokemon question:
"Just dropping by to ask a random question...who would you pick? Nemona/Arven/Penny or Hop/Bede/Marnie?"
Based on how they interacted in the final arc of Pokemon Scarlet/Violet, I'm rocking with the Nemona/Arven/Penny. Their interactions with each other stood out, and they had oodles of screen time together. Finally, The Reader has some good news:
"Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection is coming to the Switch on April 14! I guess it's time for EXE to be in the spotlight. Don't know how long since he last showed up."
It has nearly gotten to the point where I straight-up forget that MegaMan .EXE is even in this story. I remember Volnutt more often than I do with .EXE! That being said, I'm not waiting until April 14 to feature .EXE in some major capacity. I have to do right by him.
Episode 365: Sweater
The stage was set for the Smash Mansion's 1st Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest, which was set to take place today. Folks were encouraged to wear the ugliest Christmas sweater they could find, with the winner getting a prize. The person who organized the contest, Researcher Zelda, never elaborated on what this prize was.
Despite the lack of information on the contest prize, everyone and their mother were determined to win the contest. Well, mostly everyone. Some folks went to the store and bought an ugly Christmas sweater, or bought one online. Others asked Yoshi to lend them a sweater, with the hopes that doing so didn't constitute cheating.
Tom Nook, one of the folks who planned on participating in the contest, chose not to do either option. The tanuki amazingly knitted his own ugly Christmas sweater and knitted it out of love. He had finished knitting last night, and today he was trying out his sweater for the first time.
"I must see how this looks in the bathroom mirror," said Tom Nook, who had already seen himself in the sweater in the mirror in his bedroom. The tanuki hustled to the nearest bathroom, and once inside he saw Shadow speaking with Yoshi.
"I can't wear that, it's too unclassy," Shadow said to Yoshi, who unveiled to the black hedgehog a Christmas sweater with a shirtless Santa Claus on it. The Santa on the sweater had six-pack abs because it'd be impossible to imagine the jolly ol' fellow without them.
"You said you wanted an ugly Christmas sweater, so here ya go," responded Yoshi as he tossed the Christmas sweater at Shadow, the sweater landing on Shadow's face. "Also, when have you ever cared about class?"
"My, my! No one told me that you were going to be part of the contest, Link," Tom Nook said to Shadow, who took the Christmas sweater off his face and looked at it feeling defeated already.
"Unfortunately," sighed Shadow, who was having second doubts after seeing how his Christmas sweater looked. He believed that his chances of winning the contest now were nil.
Shadow: Don't be fooled, I'm not going to be in the ugly Christmas sweater contest because I want to "have fun". I plan on winning the whole thing so I can put the grand prize where it rightfully belongs...in the trash. Imagine winning a stupid prize just because you wear a sweater. What's next, a competition to see who can kiss the best under the mistletoe?
"Best ugly Christmas sweater in the mansion, comin' through!" announced Captain Falcon, busting his way inside the bathroom while wearing an American-themed Christmas sweater. "Ain't no one beating me."
"Shadow and his sweater would beg to differ," Tom Nook said to Captain Falcon, bringing the racer's attention to Shadow's shirtless Santa Christmas sweater. Captain Falcon seemed to like Shadow's sweater, as he chuckled.
"There's no way that you're gonna win over the judges with a USA-themed Christmas sweater," Shadow said to Captain Falcon, who struck a pose as if he was trying to embody the elegance of a bald eagle. "Provided that the judges are America-obsessed freaks."
"Unless Guile is one of the judges, we should have nothing to worry about," stated Yoshi, as Byleth entered the bathroom also wearing an ugly Christmas sweater. The professor was taken aback by how many men were inside.
"Oh, dear...I thought this bathroom was unoccupied," remarked Byleth, who wanted access to the bathroom mirror to see how she looked in her sweater. Too many dudes were standing in her way.
"Other bathrooms exist, you know," Samus said to everyone in the bathroom (save for Byleth, who just arrived) as she walked past. The bounty hunter came to a stop, as Cortex was running up to her while holding Crash's hand.
"You might be the wrong person to ask," Cortex approached Samus, wearing an ugly Christmas sweater made entirely out of bandicoot fur as he brought Crash with him. "But can Crash be disqualified?"
"Disqualified from what?" Showing Samus what he meant, Cortex held Crash before the bounty hunter. Crash was wearing a new Christmas sweater, except this one just had Cortex's face taped on it.
"Look at this! This is not acceptable!" Cortex pointed at where his face was on the Christmas sweater, as those in the bathroom left to see what the hubbub was all about. "An absolute disgrace."
"What's the big deal? Taping faces on a sweater isn't really against contest rules," stated Tom Nook, only to second guess himself as he looked towards his fellow men for affirmation. "Is it?"
"Now that...that is an ugly Christmas sweater," Byleth gave her two cents on Crash's Christmas sweater, as Yoshi and Captain Falcon nodded in agreement.
"GRAAAAAH!" Cortex yelled angrily, salty that nobody was agreeing with him as he took his face off Crash's Christmas sweater and threw it on the floor. He was dangerously close to stomping it.
"Now it's just a Christmas sweater," remarked Shadow, lowkey hurting Cortex's self-esteem as Cortex lowered his head and walked away. Shortly after Cortex left, Link came down the hallway and saw the evil genius's cut-out face on the floor.
"Here, Crash, let me help you out," Link offered to the bandicoot, picking up the face cut-out and placing it back on Crash's Christmas sweater. The Hylian patted the cut-out so that the tape would stick.
"Ta-da!" cheered Crash, happy that his Christmas sweater was fixed as he spun around and struck a pose. Link smirked, before looking at the Christmas sweaters that everyone else had.
"Really liking those sweaters, you guys." Liking what he saw, Link carried on down the hallway looking forward to the contest more than ever. "May the best ugly Christmas sweater win!"
Link: Got high hopes for the ugly Christmas sweater contest. A lot of the folks that are going to be a part of it have a lot of creativity. And I mean that in the best way and the worst way. I can already tell that anyone who wears an inappropriate Christmas sweater will be disqualified, without question. You know, part of me wishes that Cloud was here for the contest; he'd look funny in a Christmas sweater that Aerith forced him to wear. And speaking of whom, I would kill to see Aerith again. If Cloud can somehow make a random appearance, then what's stopping her?
Blue Mary and Rock Howard were asked to stay in Seattle through December (not that either of them was complaining), which meant more time to spend with Terry. When they weren't hanging out with Terry, Blue Mary and Rock were doing stuff around the mansion. For instance, Blue Mary was playing an arcade game at the arcade - despite a distraction from the Blue Lions' Sylvain.
"Word has it that you and Terry Bogard are just friends," Sylvain smiled at Blue Mary, getting his flirt with his elbow resting on the arcade machine. "So with that in mind..."
"Leave me alone, can't chat," responded Blue Mary, trying to focus as she was playing a Fatal Fury game. Bonus points if she was playing as herself.
"Maybe this kiss will sway you in a certain direction." Sylvain closed his eyes as he leaned in close to Blue Mary, only for Blue Mary to move out of the way with her eyes still glued to the arcade screen. Sylvain fell face-first unto the floor as a result.
"Tried to warn you that flirting with her was a bad idea," Ingrid said to Sylvain, as she came over to the nobleman and offered to help him up. As Ingrid helped up Sylvain, Sephiroth walked past the two friends and saw Tifa sitting on a barstool.
"Thanks for actually giving me my gum back," Tifa said to Little Mac, who returned a pack of gum to the martial artist. Popping his piece of gum into his mouth, Little Mac walked away as Tifa looked away and sighed.
"I can tell that you are filled with despair," Sephiroth said to Tifa, approaching the martial artist with a devious smirk. Tifa tried to pay Sephiroth no mind. "Care to tell me what's upsetting you?"
"Not like you would care that much to know," muttered Tifa, as an undeterred Sylvain left the arcade looking for another woman to flirt with. Upon leaving, Sylvain was met with a surprise...
"Why, hello Aerith Gainsborough!" Sylvain exclaimed from the hallway, as Tifa instantly perked up and Sephiroth furrowed his brow in confusion. "Fancy seeing you here. Let's just pretend that there's a mistletoe above us."
"That's weird; Master Hand said that Aerith was somewhere else," stated Ingrid, as Sylvain was heard yelping in pain after trying to shoot his shot. The nobleman was then heard collapsing to the floor in pain.
"So you're pretty good at kneeing guys in the gut...good to know." While Sylvain was left to writhe on the floor in pain, a surprise visitor walked inside the arcade - Aerith.
"Hey, everyone!" greeted Aerith, slightly dismayed that only a handful of people were present in the arcade. Those handful of people were starstruck upon seeing Aerith, Tifa included.
"Hi, Aerith!" Tifa greeted the flower girl, before remembering why she was so moody as she did a full 180 in her temperament and looked away. "I mean, hi Aerith..."
"Tifa! It's been so long since I last saw you." Unable to hold in her excitement, Aerith ran up to Tifa and wrapped her arms around her in a hug. Tifa was caught off-guard, as her moodiness left her yet again. "It's been what, two months?"
"Yeah...it has been two months." Tifa had no choice but to accept the hug, as Sephiroth looked on hoping that Aerith wouldn't notice him. But Aerith did as such after she was done hugging Tifa.
"And I missed you too, Sephiroth - but not that much." Aerith didn't leave Sephiroth hanging, as she hugged the one-winged angel - but with less emotional warmth. Sephiroth tried to push Aerith away, but he was a second too late.
"This isn't a good time to do this..." an annoyed Sephiroth said to Aerith, doing a head count of how many people were staring at them. The people that were staring at Sephiroth looked away out of fear.
"Aerith, how did you..." Tifa was about to ask the flower girl, who saw the question coming from a mile away as she took out a translocator. "...doesn't that belong to Cloud?"
"Yup! Sure does. He let me borrow it for the day." Aerith made sure to keep the translocator out of Sephiroth's reach, lest Sephiroth had some crazy ideas. "Wish that I had a pocket to store it in."
Aerith: Cloud felt really bad that he went to the mansion all those times without letting me know in advance, so he gave me his translocator so that I can visit everyone. But first, we had to make a deal - I wouldn't accept the translocator unless Cloud agreed to hang out with his new "family". He addressed them as such, so now he has to live up to it.
"Can you excuse me for a moment...?" Tifa said to Aerith, taking herself out of the arcade as she abruptly left the premises. Aerith was left in perplexity.
"Aw, I wanted to ask her how much she misses Cloud," moaned Aerith - in no way, shape, or form would the flower girl be prepared for the answer that Tifa would have to give. "Do you miss Cloud, Sephiroth?"
"I will admit, I do miss toying with him," admitted Sephiroth, finding mansion life not the same when with his arch-nemesis chilling in an Oregon town. "Making Pit my victim doesn't give off the same feeling."
"Has anyone seen my pants?" asked Pit as he entered the arcade, holding his toga delicately over his privates and buttocks. His eyes were drawn to Aerith, whom he was happy to see. "Hi, Aerith! Maybe you're the one who took my pants."
"Turns out the angel doesn't use underwear..." Sephiroth said to Aerith, who gave the one-winged angel a judging look for not finding a better victim. A guy like Pit was too easy to harass.
As a recommendation from Yoshi, Mario was wearing the durag that he obtained while in Inkopolis with his ugly Christams sweater. A Snoop Dogg-themed ugly Christmas sweater at that. 'Twas the Nizzle Before Chrismizzle. Mario wanted some feedback for his sweater and durag combo, which was why he consulted his neighbors Alm and Berkut.
"You shout 'WHAT UP HOMES!' in my ear once, and we are never sharing our brownies with you ever again," Berkut threatened Mario, as he and Alm were gathered outside sitting at the picnic table.
"Ha, sounds-a funnier when you say it," giggled Mario, before getting down to business as he struck a pose that befitted his Christmas sweater. "Anyway, what do you think-a of this fit?"
"I'd say it's a pretty good contender," replied Alm, giving Mario his honest critique; Berkut refused to say anything as he looked away from Mario haughtily.
"Thanks, Alm! Berkut, you really need to fix-a your attitude. What you need is an attitude-a adjustment. Like John Cena. Word life, basic thuganomics...I'll just show myself out."
Mario saved himself from getting carried away, as he went to the mansion. On his way there, he came across Beleth who was pacing around back and forth in the front yard looking discouraged. Like he had lost his wallet or something.
"Bogged-a down by the holiday blues?" Mario asked Beleth, under the impression that the professor was stuck on what Christmas gifts he should buy for his friends and pupils. "Word of the wise - never shop-a on Christmas Eve."
"No, it's just that I don't have an ugly Christmas sweater," explained Beleth, who was left wondering why he was stressing out so much over his lack of a Christmas sweater. "Promised Byleth that we would enter the contest together."
"Then why not ask-a Yoshi? That's what I did." Mario showed off his Christmas sweater to Beleth, doing it as if he was flashing some new bling. "Uh, the durag didn't come with the sweater."
"That sweater suits you, oddly enough. But I asked Yoshi before, and he said that he didn't have a sweater for me. Yet he gave one to Nemona..."
"...and Byleth." Mario realized that he shouldn't have said that, as he only made Beleth even more ticked off. Beleth felt like he was being done dirty.
"Oh he did, did he? Why I oughta..." Beleth was about to storm inside the mansion to give Yoshi a piece of his mind, but Mario quickly hopped in front of him to stunt his progress.
"Wait! Instead-a of taking your issues to Yoshi...why don't you speak with some-a one else who might have a spare sweater or two?"
"And what good would that do for me?" Beleth was skeptical of the suggestion, and Mario had nothing to back it up as he bit his bottom lip.
"...it's a great opportunity to catch-a up with people!" That was the best response that Mario could come up with...and to his surprise, it was enough to sway Beleth's mind.
"Fine, I'll just ask our guests if they have an ugly Christmas sweater they can offer me. I'll be blaming you Mario if I end up with goose eggs." Beleth turned around and walked away from the mansion, gathering in his mind a list of people that he could ask.
Beleth: Byleth's original idea was to wear matching Christmas sweaters - that way we can split the prize. I was against it, at first. But now I see that Byleth got a sweater from Yoshi, and somehow I didn't. My conscience always keeps telling me to listen to Byleth more often - and it has been right all along.
"Good luck with-a your search!" Cappy called out to Beleth, his eyes popping out from Mario's durag as he was now embracing the headwear. Beleth waved off Cappy as he marched to the hotels that Steve and Alex had built since Thanksgiving. Yes, they've been around that long.
Before Mario had a chance to enter the mansion, he shielded his face as smoke came from a spaceship landing in the mansion's driveway. Once the spaceship landed, two individuals got out - Ratchet (who had Clank on his shoulder) and Nathan Drake. There was a third individual who had yet to exit the spaceship.
"No, I refuse!" the third individual shouted from the spaceship, sounding like Kratos. Mario had every rightful reason to be on high alert. "I cannot afford to let anyone see me like this!"
"Come on, Kratos, you're like the only person that can pull it off," Ratchet tried to encourage the demigod, who was showing a rare sign of fear. Kratos was too scared to come outside, hard as it was to believe.
"If you don't come out, Polygon Man will be very upset..." Nathan did his own bit of encouragement, as Kratos sucked up his pride by letting out a deep sigh. Fearing for the worst, Kratos exited the spaceship...
...while dressed up as Santa Claus. While he remained shirtless, Kratos wore a Santa hat while his beard was dyed white for the sake of the look. Mario didn't know where to remain silent or laugh and possibly risk serious injury or worse.
"You forgot the sack," Clank said to Kratos, who groaned as he went back inside the spaceship and came right out holding a brown sack over his shoulder. That brown sack undoubtedly had gifts inside, unless Kratos had brought a bunch of rocks to the mansion by accident.
"The humiliation...it overwhelms me," Kratos said to Clank and company, remaining still as he felt too embarrassed to move out of his own volition. "Lead me to the mansion, please."
"It's all good, just take it easy," Nathan said to Kratos, as he and Ratchet guided the demigod to the mansion's porch as if they were escorting a paralyzed person re-learning how to walk. Seeing Mario made Kratos feel even worse.
"Take out the plumber right now!" Kratos dreaded Mario seeing him, for he knew that the plumber would laugh at him. But Mario did Kratos a small favor as he turned away and giggled, getting his laughs out before turning his head back around.
"Good afternoon, Mario," a cordial Ratchet greeted the plumber, electing not to lay a single finger on Mario only because he wasn't a threat. "Got some Christmas gifts to deliver."
"Fat Princess bought most of these, so any blame shall be directed to her," Clank informed Mario, as Ratchet and Nathan guided Kratos up the porch steps. Kratos felt ashamed to even step unto the first step.
"Don't move-a any gifts under the Christmas tree!" Mario gave out this warning to the manor residents, who had to speak with Copper and Booker before they could be granted access inside the mansion. "We are gonna need another Christmas tree..."
The manor residents went inside the mansion, where they saw Nowi and Nah in the foyer fawning over Captain Falcon's ugly Christmas sweater. Well, Nowi was the only one who was fawning; Nah stood to the side wishing to be with her friends.
"This Christmas sweater feels so soft!" remarked Nowi, rubbing her face against Captain Falcon's Christmas sweater while Nah looked down at the floor feeling plenty embarrassed. "Did you steal this from Guile's closet?"
"No, but I was close to doing it," admitted Captain Falcon, as Nowi looked up and gasped when she saw Kratos and company at the door. Kratos was immediately frozen in fear.
"She can see me..." the demigod muttered, holding the sack of gifts over his face to protect his identity. Nowi remained where she was, as Captain Falcon and Nah took notice of the manor residents.
"Uh...happy holidays!" greeted Ratchet, hoping that he and his pals hadn't made too big of an introduction. Then out of nowhere, Nowi started screaming as she ran to Ratchet and threw her arms at him.
"Sucks to be you," Nathan smirked at Ratchet, who soon got a taste of Nowi's fury as Nowi started throwing her arms at him. "Hey, watch it!" Unlike Ratchet, Nathan was actually defending himself.
"Is she gone yet?" Kratos asked Ratchet and Nathan, too nervous to put down the sack and save Nathan from Nowi's relentless attack. To see Kratos that nervous was truly an anomaly.
"Woah, Nowi! Easy there!" yelled Captain Falcon, finally stepping in to intervene with his girlfriend as he grabbed Nowi and pulled her away. "Cool your jets!"
"But you said this man was a jerk!" Nowi shouted at Captain Falcon, holding unto Nathan's arm refusing to let go. Captain Falcon managed to break Nowi free from Nathan, who winded up his arm which was in slight pain.
"Well, he's not a jerk anymore. And neither is Ratchet, Clank, or Kratos." Unsure of whether to believe Captain Falcon or not, Nowi looked at Nathan and the others in disbelief.
"But you said that..." Nowi didn't know what to say, as she had no idea what to believe in anymore. "You guys had that beef with the manor and..."
"Shh...it's all over now." Captain Falcon placed his index finger on Nowi's lips, shushing his girlfriend in a hurry. "The mansion and the manor are tight with each other. No more bad blood!"
"You have to admit, he's pretty smooth," Clank said to Ratchet, amazed by how effective Captain Falcon was in soothing his girlfriend. Showed the amount of relationship experience Falcon had under his belt.
Captain Falcon: Yeah, I never really told Nowi that the mansion was on good terms with the All-Star Manor. It's not my prerogative to tell my girlfriend everything, you know? We talk about things that boyfriends and girlfriends should talk about with each other, like romantic stuff and starting a family. Nah tunes out those conversations every time; she's clearly not ready yet. And people insist that she's "mature"...
"C'mon big guy, let's go deliver some presents," Nathan said to Kratos, guiding the humiliated demigod to the living room. Nathan was close to having to hold Kratos' hand, which Kratos knew would be a bad look for him.
"The sooner we get this done, the better..." grumbled Kratos, no longer shielding his face as he assumed that Nowi stopped looking at him. But Nowi was staring right at the demigod, and so was Captain Falcon.
"Bet you the gifts in that sack are all for me!" Captain Falcon smiled at Nowi, who giggled in response; Falcon was obviously joking around, but Nowi apparently thought that the racer was serious.
Tifa's reunion with Aerith was a brief one, as the martial artist retreated to the living room and was chilling in there. Min Min wandered inside the living room holding a bowl of noodles, looking to offer them to someone and coincidentally saw Tifa sitting on the couch watching television.
"Care for some noodles?" Min Min offered to Tifa, sitting on the couch next to her; Tifa tried to pay Min Min no mind, eyes focused on the television screen.
"No thanks, I just ate," rejected Tifa, who was watching a Christmas movie as her stomach suddenly grumbled. That quickly got Min Min's attention.
"Your mind might say one thing, but your stomach is saying the other. Do what your stomach is telling you!" Min Min tried to force the noodles unto Tifa, holding the bowl up to her face.
"I have really bad indigestion, don't think I can take another bite of food." Tifa was now pretending to be sick, and Min Min didn't buy it for one second as she frowned. As Min Min got up, Ratchet and company entered the living room.
"See, Clank? That's what you call a Christmas tree," Ratchet said to his robot companion, as Min Min perked up when the manor residents arrived. "Not that rinky-dink tree you bought a few weeks ago."
"It's called 'saving money for the holidays,'" Clank defended his purchase, as Kratos and Nathan tried to figure out where to put the gifts under the Christmas tree. Before anyone had a chance to do anything, Min Min approached the group.
"Hello and welcome to the Smash Mansion!" Min Min greeted the manor residents, before holding up the bowl of freshly-prepared noodles. "Noodles?" The freshly-prepared part meant that Min Min have to give away the noodles at once.
"Ramen noodles give me stomach problems," stated Ratchet, who had to spend up to an hour in the bathroom the last time he ate some ramen noodles. "Clank obviously can't have any, 'cause he's...you know."
"I shun most earth food," Kratos said to Min Min, deeply appreciating the martial artist for not mocking him for his Santa getup...yet. That left Nathan alone as the last man standing.
"Come to papa..." Nathan grinned as he accepted the bowl of noodles from Min Min, leaving Min Min awfully pleased. The treasure hunter also received chopsticks from Min Min. "...you boys handle the busy work, while I enjoy this grub."
"Better not take your sweet time," Ratchet said to Nathan as he, Clank, and Kratos got down to taking the Christmas gifts out of the sack. Nathan sat on the couch, slurped his noodles, and noticed Tifa sitting next to him.
"Howdy," Nathan greeted Tifa, acknowledging her presence with a nod of his head, while Tifa gave Nathan a light wave. Nathan then saw what Tifa was watching on the television. "What is this?"
"I dunno, some Hallmark Christmas movie," assumed Tifa; the holiday season was the most ideal (and perhaps only) time to watch the Hallmark Channel. "Mostly a romantic one..."
"A romantic one, eh?" Nathan liked what he was seeing from the movie so far, paying close attention to the characters as he slurped his noodles. "Not sure if you know this, but I'm happily married."
"Well, good for you..." The talk of marriage put Tifa slightly down in the dumps, and Nathan was curious as to what was upsetting the martial artist so.
"Hey, don't sweat it! You'll get married soon one day. Just gotta put in the work." Nathan inadvertently made Tifa even sadder, as he caused her to let out a depressed sigh.
"No point in getting married if you can't find that someone." After several moments of deducing, Nathan finally came to the conclusion that Tifa was heartbroken. That only made him even more curious.
"Somebody broke your heart? That sucks, no one wants to go through heartbreak. So who did it to ya?" As much as Tifa didn't want to say who it was, she had no choice due to the sake of conversation.
"It was Cloud...apparently, he has feelings for Aerith." That certainly got a reaction out of Nathan, who pulled his head back in shock. Min Min, who was still in the living room, wasn't that surprised.
"That's nothing to beat yourself up over, that's been obvious for a while now," Min Min said to Tifa, coming off as a little insensitive as Tifa looked up at the martial artist and glared.
"Why are you still here?" Tifa's glare made Min Min sheepishly retreat back to the kitchen, and the glare went away once Min Min was gone. "But yeah, there you go."
"I can see why," Nathan finally spoke, the initial shock fading away as he returned to eating his noodles. "Pit did say something about Cloud wanting to revive a dead chick, did he not?"
"Yeah, I was wrong to think he'd learn his lesson after that. Now Aerith is visiting, and I'm too reluctant to talk to her because..."
"Stop tattling with the woman and hurry up with your noodles!" Kratos shouted at Nathan, before seeing Nemona from far away snapping a picture of him with her Rotom Phone and then leaving. "Oh no, people are already taking pictures of me!"
"We'll chit-chat later," Nathan quietly said to Tifa, before slurping up the rest of his noodles and placing the empty bowl on the table next to him. "Try speaking with Aerith! Get over your fears!"
Nathan: So Aerith is not dead?...Aerith is from an alternate universe? That explains a lot. Not sure how we missed that - guess this Aerith wasn't around back when we had that feud with the mansion. Was she there when I visited on Boxing Day?...She was?! *holds his hand up to his head* I need a huge info dump...
Sonic liked Crash's ugly Christmas sweater, allured by the use of Cortex's face. Following in his friend's footsteps, the blue hedgehog got an ugly Christmas sweater of his own and was showing it off to Crash, Aku, Penny, and Arven.
"Not as good as Crash's, obviously, but it's still decent," stated Sonic, showing off his unflattering Dr. Eggman-inspired Christmas sweater; he would've added Eggman insignias to the sweater, but then he'd be feeling dirty.
"It probably doesn't compare to my new sweater," said Penny as she pulled out a backup Christmas sweater that she had been meaning to bust out for quite a while. It was a Leafeon-themed sweater.
"Went from the ugliest Eevelution to the second ugliest..." remarked Aku, effectively taking the words right out of Crash's mouth as Penny glared at the floating mask. "...talk about an ugliness downgrade."
"I can never win with you guys..." Penny threw the Leafeon Christmas sweater over her shoulder, as Nemona came running down the hallway with her Rotom Phone.
"Guys, guys, you have to see this!" said Nemona, grinning from ear to ear as she pulled up the photo of Kratos that she just took. She showed the photo to her friends, who were trying not to laugh.
"Hey-o! That's one manly-looking Santa Claus," remarked Sonic before he, Crash, and Aku got a closer look and realized who this Santa really was. "Hold up, is that Kratos?"
"Amazing that you were able to take a picture of him like that and lived to see another day," Aku said to Nemona, who was proud of the picture she took as she put her Rotom Phone away after everyone was done looking. Nemona had a rare memory to cherish.
"Sorry in advance if I'm interrupting your conversation..." someone said to Nemona and company, who were suddenly joined by a cybernetic woman. It was the current commanding officer of Overwatch, Sojourn.
"It's Overwatch's commanding officer!" gasped Aku, as Crash got easily scared and straightened up; the others did their best to follow suit, but only a little.
"Settle down, no one's in trouble! I don't intend to scare anyone." Sojourn loosened up a bit, and Crash did the same as he relaxed his body. Crash thought for sure that Sojourn was taking him to the gulag.
"So what are you here for, to see Kratos as Santa?" Sonic asked Sojourn, as Crash snatched Nemona's Rotom Phone away and showed it to Sojourn. Nemona got her phone back from Crash seconds later.
"Eh, maybe another time. I was wondering if you Paldean Pokemon trainers knew where those professors are. Professor Sada and Professor Turo."
Sojourn: 2B has been growing restless at the watchpoint facility. She has yet to make it back to the distant future, and we're already winding down to the end of the year. Link has been unsuccessful in his quest to obtain the time washing machine from Rayman, so we have to go and take another route. 2B hasn't reached the "destroy everything in sight" phase of her angst, but she's slowly getting there.
"I think they're at Professor E. Gadd's place," Arven informed Sojourn, more than happy to escort the commanding officer to E. Gadd's place. "Any reason why you want to see them?"
"I've been told that they've been working on E. Gadd's..." replied Sojourn, only to bite her tongue as she was dangerously close to saying something that she probably shouldn't. "...E. Gadd's Roomba! Yeah."
"But E. Gadd doesn't even own a Roomba," stated Aku, as Sonic scratched his chin figuring what was it that Sojourn really wanted to say out loud. "Unless he lied to me that one time."
"Oh, I get it, you want to see E. Gadd's..." Sonic was about to say once the answer came to him, but then Crash instinctively covered the hedgehog's mouth. Sonic made muffled sounds, trying to tell Crash to let go.
"See Professor E. Gadd's what?" wondered Nemona, as Crash kept his hands on Crash holding on for dear life. Should Sonic say those ill-fated two words, he and his friends would never hear the end of it.
"Take me to where E. Gadd lives," Sojourn said to Arven, who led the commanding officer down the hallway as Nemona and Penny were left to figure out the mystery. Sojourn took out her earpiece, and said, "Going to see Professor E. Gadd and have a word with Professors Sada and Turo. Do you copy, Tracer?"
Tracer didn't have her earpiece with her, for the pilot was at the beauty salon getting her facial done. After that was finished, Mario ran into her at the salon to show her his ugly Christmas sweater.
"Gotta spit a few rhymes to show you deserve that sweater, love," Tracer said to Mario, wanting the plumber to prove that he was worthy of wearing a Christmas sweater with Snoop Dogg on it. The pressure was on Mario, as he became nervous.
"Uh, H to the izzo, V to the izz-A..." Mario spat a few bars for Tracer and a few others that were gathered around watching. The plumber suddenly lost his train of thought, as the pressure mounted.
"Boo, pass the mic!" Knuckles shouted at Mario, thinking that he was more deserving of the Snoop Dogg Christmas sweater. Knuckles was a bona fide rapper, after all.
"Lemme mix-a it up." Mario cleared his throat, starting over from scratch with some new fire to spit for the crowd. "My name-a is Mario, and I'm so...what rhymes-a with Mario?"
"I would say my name, but that's too easy," said Wario, who was against helping out Mario for that would be cheating. Any rhymes that Mario had to spit had to come straight from the heart.
"Need a ghostwriter...I'll be right-a back!" Saving himself from potential embarrassment, Mario ran out of the beauty salon certain that he wouldn't return as long as Tracer was there. Tracer smirked as she didn't think of Mario as worthy.
Beleth was looking for a Christmas sweater, and he had to find one in time for the ugly Christmas sweater contest. The professor spoke with Leon in the champion's room, who had a suitcase full of Galar-inspired Christmas sweaters.
"I know you'll vibe with this one," Leon said to Beleth, presenting him with a Toxtricity Christmas sweater. It featured Toxtricity rocking out, but it wasn't enough to win Beleth over. "Not much of a punk rocker, are you?"
"Far from it," replied Beleth, as Leon put the Toxtricity sweater away and pulled out another Christmas sweater. The second Christmas sweater was Dragapult-inspired.
"Do you like dragons? Then you'll like this one." Leon had high hopes that Beleth would dig the sweater, but Beleth showed no indication that he liked it.
"Never said that I did like dragons." Beleth showed to be a hard person to satisfy, as Leon put the Dragapult sweater away. Then Leon saw a third Christmas sweater that he just knew Beleth would appreciate.
"If you don't want this Christmas sweater, then you're just crazy!" Leon presented to Beleth the third and final Christmas sweater, and this one featured Sirfetch'd. A wild duck Pokemon that literally carried a sword and shield. Surely Beleth would say yes.
"A Sirfetch'd? That Pokemon almost poked my eye out with his sword. Still haven't forgiven it to this day." Beleth had a grudge against Sirfetch'd, and it prevented him from accepting Leon's Christmas sweater. Leon frowned as he put the Sirfetch'd sweater away.
"Get out..." Feeling bad for wasting Leon's time, Beleth did as he was told as he left the room. After Beleth left, Leon put on his Mr. Rime Christmas sweater.
Although the ugly Christmas sweater contest hadn't started yet, folks were free to enter early. They could enter into the contest the gaming room, where the contest was slated to take place. Researcher Zelda was running the front desk, approving anyone who was allowed to participate.
"Sorry Cortex, but you can't enter in a Christmas sweater made from bandicoot fur," Researcher Zelda kindly told the evil genius at the front desk, as Cortex was immediately beside himself. "It's simply unethical."
"Oh, but Crash can enter in a Christmas sweater with my face on it?!" Cortex angrily questioned, as Researcher Zelda didn't give a response. Cortex grunted as he stomped his foot in rage.
"Tried to warn you," Uka said to Cortex as he followed the evil genius out of the gaming room. Cortex inadvertently punched Wolf, who was passing by, as he missed the wall.
Researcher Zelda: A ugly Christmas sweater contest is all fun and games, obviously, but the participants have to be respectful. By that, I mean they have to be respectful in regard to the Christmas sweater that they choose to wear. Had to turn a few folks away because their sweater had an inappropriate image or carried a suggestive message. People sadly do act juvenile this time of year...
The next person to speak with Researcher Zelda at the front desk was Jasmine, the gym leader from Olivine City. She came to Seattle on late notice - had to stay back home to take care of her precious Amphy.
"Hello, it's me, Jasmine..." Jasmine meekly said to Researcher Zelda, hoping that the princess remembered her from the Canada Day celebration and February's eating contest. "...will there be, um, any food at this sweater contest?"
"We will have food later, but we do have refreshments," replied Researcher Zelda, bringing Jasmine's attention to the refreshments on a faraway table. Jasmine went over to the table and gobbled down the refreshments.
"Please forgive me...I didn't eat much during my trip," Jasmine momentarily stopped eating to say this to Researcher Zelda, before she resumed. Pyra went to the table with a plate of new refreshments and saw Jasmine doing her thing.
"...I'll just hold on to this for now," remarked Pyra as she turned around and walked away, leaving Jasmine to consume all the refreshments all by herself.
Shadow was not a big fan of the Christmas sweater given to him - a sweater with a shirtless Santa Claus with six-pack abs didn't sit well with him. If the black hedgehog desired to win the contest, he preferred to do so with a Christmas sweater that he approved of.
However, the day was still young; Shadow still had some time to trade in his Christmas sweater for someone else's if that was allowed. Even if it wasn't, Shadow would still do it anyway since he seldom played by the rules. So when Shadow went to the tower's kitchen and saw Link and Zelda wearing their Hylian Christmas sweaters, he had his eyes locked on the target...Link.
"I like your Christmas sweater, it's funny because it's ironic," Zelda said to Chef Kawasaki, who was wearing a Christmas sweater with the words "Best Chef Ever" on the front. Shadow was slowly making his advance.
"Really? I don't think so," said an uber-confident Chef Kawasaki, while Shadow was sneaking up on Link. Once he got close enough, Shadow grabbed Link and dragged him away.
"Well, I can't knock on you for your confidence." Zelda failed to notice that her husband was no longer standing at her side, as Shadow had taken Link out of the kitchen without making the slightest sound.
"Hey man, what's the big deal?" Link questioned Shadow after he was dragged out of the kitchen, whispering with the black hedgehog. Shadow got a good look at Link's Christmas sweater, looking at it from head to toe.
"I want your Christmas sweater," Shadow said to Link, getting straight to the point as he expected Link to just hand it over without any questioning. But Link was simply too good for that.
"What for?" Fearing that Link would laugh at him, Shadow pulled out his shirtless Santa Christmas sweater and revealed it to Link. "I'm not wearing that."
"And neither am I. Which is why I want you to trade your sweater for mine." Shadow wanted Link to accept the deal, but Link just laughed in the black hedgehog's face instead.
"Ha, fat chance. I can't let Zelda see me wear that." The mention of Zelda gave Shadow an idea, as the black hedgehog returned to the kitchen. "What are you doing?"
"Zelda, you have three seconds to make Link accept this Christmas sweater or I'll..." Shadow shouted at Zelda, unable to finish his sentence as Link muffled his mouth and pulled him away. Zelda looked back, furrowing her brow as Shadow was nowhere in sight.
"That was totally uncool..." Link had an intense staredown with Shadow, obviously not appreciating what Shadow tried to do. And Shadow didn't appreciate Link letting him finish his sentence.
"I'll be coming for that Christmas sweater of yours, elf boy..." As he made his vow, Shadow mean mugged Link as he slowly backed away. He backed up into Zero by accident, but Shadow didn't care - he already sent the message.
"Elf boy...the nerve of him." Link returned to the kitchen after Shadow was gone, unaware of the large target that was placed on his back.
With Leon unable to come through for him, Beleth consulted Adeleine for an ugly Christmas sweater. He believed that with her artistic skill, Adeleine crafted sweaters in her spare time. It was a reach, but Beleth would reach as much as necessary.
"Just as I figured...it's not the right size," Adeleine said to Beleth, as she made the professor try out one of her Christmas sweaters. The sweater Beleth had on was so small and so tight, Beleth felt like he was suffocating.
"Do you have any large sweaters?" Beleth asked in a slightly wheezing voice, his arms held out to the side as arm movement was heavily restricted. Walking even proved difficult, to a small extent.
"I'm afraid not - the other sweaters I have are mainly for me and Kirby." Adeleine had Christmas sweaters for Kirby? Can Kirby even wear them?!
Adeleine: Kirby wanted to enter the ugly Christmas sweater contest, so I made him a couple of custom-made sweaters. This is one of them. *holds up ridiculously tiny Christmas sweater* At first glance, it looks like a bikini top with sleeves.
Taking up on Nathan Drake's advice, Tifa decided to get over herself and speak with Aerith. She would find the flower girl in the ballroom at another one of Bowser's campfire sessions, telling the others about her time in Arcadia Bay. Ratchet, Clank, Nathan, and Kratos were also there.
"Then Cloud slapped Big in the face and told him to get lost," Aerith told this story to Bowser and the others, generally pleased to know that Cloud wouldn't be inclined to slap Big anymore. "Very rude of him."
"You kidding me? That's super on-brand for Cloud," remarked Bowser, who wanted to pay good money to see Cloud slap Big the Cat. He'd slap Big himself for a million dollars worth.
"He slapped Big in a school bus?" Kamui recounted Aerith's story, in her opinion believing that Cloud slapping someone was out of character for him. "In front of little kids?"
"I have a better question - how did he expect Big to get lost if he's the bus driver?" questioned Clank, his mind dwelling too much on the logistics of the situation in the school bus.
"This isn't the time for logic!" shouted Zeke, making everyone fear for the worst as he grabbed a guitar that was presumably Dunban's. "We are here to have fun. Isn't that right, Santa Claus?"
"I AM NOT SANTA CLAUS!" boomed Kratos, counting down the minutes and hours until he could take off the Santa hat. Zeke presented him with the guitar, and the demigod frowned. "I'm not singing either."
"But you have to, you're Santa Claus!" Zeke's insistence on Kratos being Santa made the demigod angry, as Kratos took the guitar and stood up. Kratos was about to bash Zeke's head in with the guitar, until...
"Aerith!" Tifa called out the flower girl's name, speaking up at the right time - right before Kratos could give Zeke a traumatic brain injury. Kratos lowered the guitar, as Tifa ran over to Aerith.
"So glad you could join us, Tifa!" Aerith gleamed at the martial artist, who slowed to a stop and looked like something was wrong. "What's the matter?"
"Why are you and Sephiroth sitting together...?" Indeed, Sephiroth was sitting on the floor next to Aerith, and Sephiroth was looking like he was being held at gunpoint. The one-winged angel straight-up didn't want to be here.
"Quite frankly, I'm just as frazzled as you are," Sephiroth said to Tifa, as he had attempted many times to get away. But yet every time, Aerith held his hand to keep him from leaving.
Slippy: Aerith is being chummy with Sephiroth...Aerith...Sephiroth...together. I know that Aerith is from an alternate universe and all, but it's still a lot to take in.
"Since you're here, Tifa...I have some big news to announce to everyone," Aerith smiled as she happily stood up, as everyone gave the flower girl their uninvited attention. "Cloud and I are a couple! I think."
"Congratulations," responded Nathan, as he and everyone else were applauding Aerith - the only ones who weren't clapping were Tifa and Kratos, for their own personal reasons.
"You think that you and Cloud are a couple, or you know?" Cassidy asked Aerith, hating the fact that he was being so technical with her. "Because know and think are two different things..."
"Let the lady have her moment!" Zeke shouted at Cassidy, threatening to take the guitar from Kratos and bashing Cassidy's head in with it. Cassidy politely piped down for his own sake.
"So, Tifa, what do you think?" Aerith asked the martial artist, as everyone was interested in what Tifa had to say. Nathan was interested most of all. "We make a great couple, huh?"
"I see a lot of promise between you two," Tifa replied the best way she knew how, even though Aerith had the sixth sense to tell that Tifa was slightly holding back. There was a tint of hesitation in Tifa's answer.
"Something wrong? You're not...jealous, are you?" Aerith got a closer look at Tifa, who was getting flustered as she didn't want to tell Aerith how she really felt. But Tifa had to say something, and fast.
"It's...it's complicated, that's all." Tifa couldn't take it anymore, and she bailed out of the ballroom when the pressure began to mount. Aerith felt bad for Tifa as she slowly returned to her seat.
"Now is my chance to get away..." Sephiroth quietly said as he stood up, only for Bowser to make him sit back down. "...get your hands off of me!" By the time Bowser sat Sephiroth back down, Aerith was sitting back down as well.
"Can't leave just yet, we haven't gotten to the s'mores!" Bowser told Sephiroth, before reaching for the bag of chocolates...only to realize that it was no longer there. It was missing! "Where did the chocolate go?"
"Good question," replied Blathers, who was eating from the bag of chocolate with his beak as brown as his feathers. "It is quite the mystery." Bowser glared at Blathers, who kept on eating without a care in the world.
"I'll be right back..." Bowser continued to glare at Blathers as he stood up, before leaving the ballroom to make a quick trip to the kitchen. "...if the fire goes put out once I come back, I'll have everyone burnt at the stake!"
"What if the fire goes away by itself?" Ratchet asked Bowser, who left the ballroom without saying a word. Ratchet made a nervous gulp, as he kept a very close eye on the campfire.
"Tifa is probably jealous," stated Aerith, certain that Tifa wouldn't speak with her for the rest of the day. Let alone the rest of the year. "Bet you she secretly doesn't like me!"
"If you must know, she's been feeling some type of way since early November," Peppy Hare said to Aerith, recalling the difficulty he had in speaking with Tifa and cheering her up. "Must've been when she first found out."
"She found out all the way back then? Somebody must've told her." Believing that Peppy knew who it was, Aerith leaned in close to the rabbit as Peppy quickly pulled away. "Tell me who it was!"
"I don't know! Somebody from Star Records apparently found out and they were swiftly punished. All I know is that Fox and Falco saw Cloud kissing you in Arcadia Bay and...oh boy."
"It's true, they literally called a meeting to spill the beans to everyone," Touma spoke up, as all attention was firmly placed on the redhead. Touma too realized that he was running his mouth a bit, as he piped down.
"Looks like I have to speak with them, then," said Aerith as she stood up, brushing past Tifa as she looked to have a word with Fox and Falco. "More people were spying on us all along..."
"Who would want to spy on Cloud and Aerith?" questioned Rayman, as the campfire began to die down; Ratchet did his best to keep the flame going. "Perverts..."
E. Gadd was meant to have a white elephant gift exchange, but due to Professors Sada and Turo tinkering with his time machine, the gift exchange had to be postponed until next week. The event went on as scheduled, as E. Gadd, Luigi, and several guests were gathered in the living room exchanging gifts.
"Let it be known that a lot of thought and care went into this gift," Dingodile said to Lorenz, handing his gift to the snobby nobleman. Lorenz had grandiose expectations for his gift, hoping for it to be something of his high caliber.
"Why thanks, Mr. Dingodile, you..." responded Lorenz as he took his gift out of the gift bag...and it was a white elephant toy. "...you really shouldn't have." Some folks had to stifle their laughter.
"Can I open my gift next?" asked Silver, and when he had no confirmation from anyone, the hedgehog went ahead and unwrapped his gift. His gift was much better than Lorenz's. "Cool! A fine china set."
"I was the first to peer my eyes on your gift, so I invoke my right to claim it," Lorenz said to Silver, calling his shot as he wanted nothing to do with his white elephant toy. "Professor E. Gadd, may I kindly indulge in a trade?"
"Thought I made it clear, you can't go over the $20 price range!" yelled E. Gadd, and it was perhaps the angriest he ever sounded. And he barely even sounded that angry, to begin with. "Also, we are not exchanging gifts."
"Don't like your gift? Boo hoo, cry me a river..." Cortex told Lorenz, sitting alone in a far corner of the living room as he kept to himself. The evil genius was turned away from entering the ugly Sweater sweater contest and decided to brood for the rest of his day.
"Your voluminous depression irks me during this time of the season," Lorenz responded to Cortex, knowing just the thing to get rid of his elephant toy as he ventured over to Cortex. "Perhaps this toy elephant will cheer you up."
"Hold on, not another gift exchanged!" shouted E. Gadd, right when Ty the Tasmanian Tiger was about to hand his gif off. Something seemed terribly off with E. Gadd. "Where is Zarya?"
"You have a few visitors at the door, professor," a returning Zarya informed E. Gadd as she entered the living room, bringing some company along - Sojourn and Arven. Sonic and Crash arrived seconds later.
"Hi, everyone," Arven awkwardly waved, hoping that he and Sojourn weren't interrupting the white elephant gift exchange. The only person whose gift entranced the visitors was obviously Silver.
"Nice china set, man!" Sonic gave a thumbs-up seal of approval to Silver, a part of him wishing that he was part of the gift exchange and not some ugly Christmas sweater contest. His opinion would change, though, if the contest prize was some fine china.
Arven: Got lost on my way to E. Gadd's mansion. I didn't know where it was, but I wanted to guide Sojourn there out of my own intuition to prove my worthiness. Now she probably thinks that I'm an idiot! Shoutout to Sonic and Crash for showing me the way.
"Take him out of here!" boomed Cortex as he pointed at Crash with disdain, seething at the ugly Christmas sweater that the bandicoot was wearing. "His ugly Christmas sweater offends me."
"I'd be offended too, that sweater looks better than your entire face," quipped Ty, as Cortex angrily took the white elephant toy from Lorenza and threw it at Ty's head. Tempers flared as Ty took Silver's fine china set.
"Hold it! We are not throwing gifts at each other," shouted E. Gadd, laying down the law as he stepped in front of Ty. As Ty looked over E. Gadd's shoulder to leer at Cortex, E. Gadd looked to Sojourn and asked, "What are you here for?"
"To speak with Professor Sada and Professor Turo," replied Sojourn, as Cortex ignored Ty and went back to his lonesome brooding. "Received a tip that they're possibly at your mansion."
"Ah, yes, they're down in my lab, doing work on my time machine! You may speak with them, but only at your discretion - they might be terribly busy."
The ugly Christmas sweater contest was close to starting, and people were still coming in to enter the fray. For instance, there was Ike and Soren, and both wanted to enter the contest together. Well, only Ike wanted to enter together.
"You can't enter the contest in pairs," Researcher Zelda informed Ike and Soren, who fittingly enough were both wearing matching Christmas sweaters. Much to Soren's chagrin. "You can only enter individually."
"If that's the case, I choose not to enter," said Soren as he was taking his Christmas sweater off, only for Ike to stop him. Soren grumpily put his sweater back on, putting his arms through the sleeves.
"Put us both down...individually!" Ike told Researcher Zelda, wrapping his arm around a despondent Soren; Researcher Zelda jotted down Ike and Soren's names, as Ike led Soren away.
"It shouldn't be that much of an issue," said Pit as he entered the gaming room, reflecting upon the ugly Christmas sweater he was wearing as he approached the front desk. Researcher Zelda saw Pit's Christmas sweater and giggled.
"I like your Christmas sweater, Pit," the princess gave a few props to the angel, who was wearing a Christmas sweater with Mike Tyson on it. A sweater that was more fitting for Little Mac - maybe Little Mac lost it to Pit in a bet.
"Eh, it can be better - it has a few misspellings." The saying on the Christmas sweater was "Merry Chrithmith", and it made Pit wonder if the sweater manufacturers were drunk.
"Anyone seen my Christmas sweater? Anyone?" asked Little Mac as he wandered inside the gaming room, searching for his missing sweater while Pit's eyes grew wide with fear. Luckily for Pit, Little Mac was nowhere close to the front desk.
"Okay, that's all, goodbye!" Pit made his getaway leave as he ran from the front desk, zipping off to a spot in the gaming room where Little Mac couldn't possibly find him. Researcher Zelda sat there, befuddled.
"I have my Christmas sweater ready to go," Min Min informed Researcher Zelda, breaking the princess out of her momentary trance. "I also have noodles." Min Min held up a bowl of noodles, which were steaming hot.
"Let me sign up you," said Researcher Zelda, as she wrote Min Min's name down on the growing list. Min Min ventured over to the refreshments table, where Jasmine was; Jasmine instantly took sight of the noodles.
"Mm! Noodles," gleamed Jasmine, practicing restraint; her stomach was full from devouring the refreshments, both the first and the second wave.
"This is just to sway the judges' opinion, if necessary," explained Min Min as she gently placed the noodles on the table...only for Jasmine to snatch the bowl away and slurp down the noodles like there was no tomorrow. "I said it's for the judges!"
"I'm taste-testing them, that's all." Jasmine turned away from Min Min as she kept eating the noodles, as Min Min had to wrangle with the gym leader over the bowl. Sometimes Jasmine's food cravings knew no bounds.
The Christmas sweater contest was going to start anytime soon, and Beleth had yet to acquire a sweater. Running out of his options, the professor consulted Hal, thinking that he was the right person to ask. But little did he know...
"Hope you like anime Christmas sweaters," Hal said to Beleth, presenting to the professor a Christmas sweater with Dio Brando on it. It featured Dio doing a certain thing from a certain Internet meme.
"'You were expecting a sweater, but it was me, Dio,'" Beleth read the message on the sweater, showing his confusion as he furrowed his brow. "I don't get it, is it truly a sweater or not?"
"Do you not follow memes?" Hal began to pity Beleth, as he tossed the Dio Brando sweater away while letting out a sigh. Finding the right Christmas sweater for Beleth proved to be harder than it looked.
Hal: Snake will often call me a nerd for looking up memes, and being amused at them. But as I keep telling him, I know one person out there who's not terminally online and appreciates meme culture. I have yet to meet this person.
"Let's go with a reindeer sweater," said Hal as he pulled out another Christmas sweater, this one featuring Tony Tony Chopper of One Piece fame in his adorable hybrid form. "You like?"
"I'm not a fan," admitted Beleth, as Hal gasped at the sorcery that came out of Beleth's mouth; anyone who wasn't a fan of Chopper was an enemy to Hal. "Your sweaters don't exactly appeal to me."
"Fine then, have it your way, wise guy..." Digging into his pocket, Hal pulled out several dollar bills and handed them to Beleth. "...since you want to be picky, you can buy your own sweater yourself!"
"I hate that it had to come to this, but sadly I have no choice." Hal stuffed the dollar bills in his pocket, forced to take his search for a Christmas sweater to the clothing store. "Thanks for nothing..."
Link and Zelda had gone back to the mansion, and the couple was waiting in the foyer for a visitor - that visitor being Lysandre. Mario enticed Lysandre in the last episode with a flyer for the ugly Christmas sweater contest, and Lysandre gave Mario his word. The question was, would Lysandre actually come?
"Sora got us these Christmas sweaters from a place called Amazon," Roxas said to Link and Zelda, as he and his look-alike Ventus were both wearing a Christmas sweater that Sora bought for them. Both sweaters featured a Disney character.
"Please don't tell us that you actually met the character on your sweater," pleaded Link - Ventus was wearing a Stitch Christmas sweater, while Roxas's Christmas sweater was Mickey Mouse-themed.
"Who, Experiment 626?" inquired Ventus, as he pointed at his Stitch. Christmas sweater; Experiment 626 was the code name for Stitch, for any of you who failed to watch his movie. "I'm good friends with Experiment 626!"
"Back where I'm from, Mickey is the King of Disney Castle," explained Roxas, as Link was pinching the crown of his nose refusing to believe either Keyblade wielder's story. "We refer to him as Your Majesty. He's also super skilled as a Keyblade master!"
Roxas: We also have a Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pete in our universe. Donald is the court magician and Goofy's Captain of the Royal Knights. And Pete...he's just there, chilling with Maleficent. That's it.
"Can't imagine why..." muttered Link, as Shadow was staring right at his Hylian prey from behind the staircase. After the doorbell sounded, Shadow retracted his head as Link brightened up. "...that must be him."
"What are you waiting for, let him in," Zelda commanded Link, who got right on it as he opened the front door. And there he was - Lysandre, in all his glory, wearing perhaps the blandest ugly Christmas sweater known to man.
"Happy holidays," greeted Lysandre, before noticing the facial expressions from Link and company. Even Shadow was making a face from afar. "No one ever told me how to dress up..."
"Hey, it's your first Christmas sweater contest, so at least you tried," responded Link as he brought Lysandre inside the mansion, with Shadow ready to make his big move. "May I get your coat?"
"Of course." So Lysandre took off his black coat - revealing more of his bland Christmas sweater - as he handed his coat to Link. As Link placed Lysandre's coat on the coat rack, Shadow slowly emerged.
"We hope that these holiday festivities have put you in better spirits," Zelda spoke with Lysandre, unaware of Shadow running up behind Link and putting the Hylian in a chokehold. Link got down on one knee and reached for his neck, trying to break free.
"It has, especially with the lack of contact I've had with my Team Flare admins," responded Lysandre, as Ventus tapped Roxas on his shoulder and pointed at Shadow mugging Link. Shadow brought Link all the way down to the floor.
"How much effort have you put into contacting them? Are they ghosting you?" With Zelda busy speaking with Lysandre, it was up to Roxas and Ventus to save Link from Shadow's clutches. So the two ran to Link's aid.
"Aliana, Bryony, Celosia, and Mable never answered my calls; Xerosic left behind a voice message, but on late notice." Lysandre took the time to lament, while Shadow took out a gun to threaten Roxas and Ventus with.
"Uh, Princess Zelda...Shadow has a gun!" Roxas alerted the princess, as Shadow held his gun out while maintaining a firm grip on Link's neck. "This is my first time seeing a gun in person, by the way."
"Then that makes you a coward, congratulations," Shadow congratulated Roxas, as Zelda frowned at the black hedgehog and made her advance towards him. Shadow pointed his gun at Zelda.
"No, Shadow...don't pull the trigger!" demanded Link, whose neck was growing sore from how much pressure Shadow was applying to it. Zelda was startled by the gun, and that's when Lysandre decided to step in.
"Put the gun down..." Lysandre commanded Shadow as he stepped in front of Zelda, daring Shadow to shoot. The Team Flare leader stood his ground, standing firm.
"Whose side are you on?" Shadow questioned Lysandre, his hand shaking; the Lysandre prior to 2022 would've stood by and let Zelda take the bullet.
"It doesn't matter whose side I'm on. We can do this the easy way...or the hard way. Lysandre reached into his pocket and pulled out a Poke Ball. Any sort of Pokemon could be in that Poke Ball - a Pyroar, Mienshao, Honchkrow, or even a Gyarados!
"Okay, fine, you win!" Saving himself from trouble, Shadow released his hold on Link as he put his gun away. As Link recuperated, holding his neck, Zelda approached Shadow with her hand out.
"Hand over the gun," Zelda commanded Shadow, who grumbled as he took his gun out and handed it to the princess. "And your Christmas sweater, too." Shadow took off his Christmas sweater, also handing it over to Zelda. "Due to your actions, you are forbidden from entering the sweater contest."
"Good, because I didn't want to be involved with it anyway." Shadow stormed out of the foyer, accepting his punishment as he returned to the tower. "Let the loser who wins keep the crappy prize."
"Not like he was forced to participate," Ventus had this to say about Shadow, as he and Roxas helped Link back up to his feet and dusted him off. "So what do you want to do with that Christmas sweater, Zelda?"
'Perhaps we can have an exchange," suggested Lysandre as he took off his bland Christmas sweater, before folding it up and offering it to Zelda. "Since none of you seem to like this one."
"That can be arranged," replied Zelda, as she was about to exchange Shadow's Christmas sweater for Lysandre's. But then she saw Penny enter the foyer, looking sad as she held her Leafeon Christmas sweater.
"No point in wearing this anymore..." mumbled Penny, debating whether or not she should throw her Christmas sweater into the garbage along with her Espeon one. Taking initiative, Link took Shadow's Christmas sweater from Zelda and went over to Penny.
"Take this," Link offered to Penny as he presented her with the shirtless Santa Christmas sweater. Penny obviously didn't know what to think of it. "I know it's not much, but it's better than nothing!"
"I'll take what I can get." So Penny exchanged her Christmas sweater for Shadow's and put on her new Christmas sweater, doing her best to embrace it. The Pokemon trainer was still undecided on tossing her Christams sweaters into the trash, until...
"Darn, I've been giving these sweaters away and I don't even have one for myself," said Yoshi as he popped up in the foyer, the lack of a sweater making him feel naked. That's when Penny had a brilliant idea.
"You can take mine." Penny gave her Leafeon Christmas sweater to Yoshi, who liked how the sweater looked as he put it on. Now Yoshi wasn't feeling naked anymore.
"Fits like a glove! And it's the right color as well." Yoshi saw that Penny was wearing Shadow's Christmas sweater, as the shirtless Santa Claus had him beaming with pride. "I see that Shadow called it quits..."
Yoshi: Can't say that I'm surprised by this turn of events. Shadow has all the makings of a bona fide quitter. His ego is too ginormous for him to accept it.
The three co-hosts of Microwave Idol Mamorin were back in the kitchen, shooting a special holiday-themed episode of their long-running web series. They had a special guest today, and it was a gym leader from Paldea. Any guess who it was?
"Hello, Mamorinis, and welcome to our Microwave Idol Mamorin Christmas special!" Mamori kicked off the episode as she, Ashley, and Asuka stood in the kitchen wearing Santa hats. "We're gonna warm up your heart, with the press of a button!"
"We have a very special guest on for today," announced Ashley, as Fox and Falco stood away from the kitchen off to the side as they had high hopes for today's guest star. "She's a Paldean gym leader who specializes in electric types."
"Get ready folks, 'cause you'll be in for a shock!" exclaimed Asuka, cracking a pun as Sans was most definitely smiling from his chair at Cafe Leblanc. "Please give a warm welcome to the one and only...Iono!"
"Your eyeballs are MINE - caught in my Electroweb!" said Iono as she almost literally popped up in between Mamori and Ashley, startling the co-hosts with her sudden presence. "Whosawhatsit? Iono! Ello, 'ello, hola! Ciao and bonjour!"
"Ello, 'ello, hola, ciao and bonjour to you," Fox quietly said to Iono, already a master of Ionoese; what were the odds that he was secretly the leader of the Iono Fan Club?
"Ladies aaand gentlemens! It's time for the Iono Zone! For those of you who don't know me, I kick it as Gym Leader when I'm not producin' sweet content on the internet as an influencer to bring dreams to the masses!"
"She's gonna completely take over this show, and I'm all here for it," Falco whispered to Fox, as Iono was unable to stay still for even one second. Iono was moving, lifting her feet and moving her arms.
"I'm super happy to be here, but I'm also a bit of a celeb, ya know? I'm all kiiinds of busy! So I can't collab with you guys unless I know I can bring in the viewership...er, I mean, I gotta make sure I can bring some real passion to your stream!"
"Cool your jets, Iono, let's not get ahead of ourselves!" Mamori said to the streamer, keeping her even-keeled before she really went off the rails. "We do have a dish to prepare."
"Oh yeah, this is the moment that I've been waiting for! Show me what you got!" So Mamori and the co-hosts got the ingredients ready, as there was a knock at the idol singers' front door. It was a knock that persisted for a good while.
"Thought you said that you told the mailman off," Fox said to Falco, wondering why the door knocking was still going on. For what it's worth, it sounded like impatient door knocking.
"Only said that just to tell you what you wanted to hear," admitted Falco, who made no effort in answering the front door. Fox frowned. "Don't know if it's an actual mailman or not."
"This is what happens when none of the idol singers aren't home..." Grumbling, Fox went to the front door as Falco tagged along. When Fox opened the door, he was greeted by a guest that almost made him want to shout.
"About time you responded..." an annoyed Aerith said to Fox and Falco, before peering inside the idol singers' house and seeing Microwave Idol Mamorin being streamed in the kitchen. "...oh, they're shooting a new episode! No wonder."
"Aerith!" Fox uttered the flower girl's name, keeping her voice low so that he wouldn't disturb Mamori and her friends while they were streaming. "How the heck did you..."
"Cloud's translocator." Aerith held up the translocator, which she kept in a small purse that she obtained from Wendy Koopa earlier. "Anyway, I have a bone to pick with you boys."
"It's okay, we know what it is..." said Falco, surprising Aerith and making her believe that he was showing accountability. "...we got you a few Christmas gifts. We didn't forget about you."
"Aw, that's so nice of you! But that's not what I wanted to speak with you about." Aerith got up close and personal with Fox and Falco, showing the pilots a side of her that neither man was used to seeing. "When did you see me and Cloud kiss?"
"You and Cloud kissed? Imagine that," Fox nervously chuckled, sweat forming on his brow, as Aerith reached down her leg like she was about to whip out a large weapon or something. "We saw it in October..."
"We were sent on a mission," explained Falco, telling Aerith everything she needed to know. Anything to save himself from a potential beatdown. "Sent just like the other guys."
"Our mission was a one-day affair," added Fox, referencing the time that he and Falco spent in Arcadia Bay in episode 354. "But the others get to stay longer,"
"Other guys? You don't mean..." said Aerith, before gasping when she had a big hunch about what particular group Fox was referring to. "...who sent them?"
"We can't tell you who sent them, but we can tell you who assembled them together..." Fox briefly looked around, before leaning in close to Aerith to whisper something to her. "...it was Professor E. Gadd."
"Makes sense, I suppose." Aerith took into consideration the unusual friendship E. Gadd had with Cloud, able to draw a few conclusions based on that alone. "But can you boys promise me one thing?"
"Anything for you, Aerith," replied Falco, as Aerith pointed her finger in Fox and Falco's faces to show that she meant business. Aerith was also frowning to sell whatever point she wanted to make.
"Do not tell anyone that Cloud and I kissed. We'll let anyone know once we get back. And also, apologize to Tifa for any emotional damage you have brought upon her."
"Y-Yes ma'am!" stuttered Fox as he saluted Aerith, with Falco following suit. No longer frowning, Aerith smiled as she had Fox and Falco's word. Meanwhile, Ashley watched from the kitchen smirking.
"Ashley, we're about to pop our dish into the microwave!" Asuka called out to the young witch, who stopped smirking as she returned to Asuka and company. Having said her piece, Aerith left from the front door.
Ashley: Fox and Falco still don't know that I was the "leaker"...and they also got in trouble with Aerith. Serves them both right for jumping the gun early.
As Aerith left the idol singers' house and walked back to the mansion, she would cross paths with Ratchet, Clank, Nathan, and Kratos. The four manor residents delivered some gifts, joined Bowser's campfire session, and were ready to return to New York. Kratos couldn't be any happier.
"Finally, I can take this hat off," rejoiced Kratos as he took off his Santa hat, before handing it off to Nathan. "Burn it for me once we got back, will you?"
"No way am I burning up thirty dollars in flames," stated Nathan as he held onto the Santa hat; thirty dollars for a Santa hat was an awfully steep price when you think about it.
"Safe travels, you four," Aerith bid traveling mercies to the manor residents, giving them a wave as she went up the porch steps. "And Merry Christmas!"
"Right back at you - tell everyone we said Merry Christmas!" responded Ratchet, watching as Aerith entered the mansion. Nathan looked on, hoping that Aerith could get back on the same page with Tifa soon.
Sojourn was with Sada and Turo in E. Gadd's lab, overseeing the work they were doing on E. Gadd's time machine. Sada and Turo had to give the machine an upgrade so that it could not only access the Hisui region but also 2B's distant future.
"On a scale of one to ten, tell me how volatile 2B is," Turo said to Sojourn, who was the sole person responsible for keeping watch of 2B. The job sounded less exciting than it entailed.
"She's a nine on her best day...and a three on her worst," replied Sojourn, with Turo taking this information into account as he nodded his head in thought.
"...that is all I needed to know." Turo then turned his attention to Sada, who was writing up a brief status report on E. Gadd's time machine. "You focus on bringing Professor Laventon and the Galaxy Team from Hisui; I'll try and bring 2B back to the future."
"Sounds like a good plan," smiled Sada, who was satisfied with how Turo split up the workload - Sada focused on the past, and Turo focused on the future. Cortex ran into the lab. "Yes, doctor?"
"Did Crash leave already, with his stupid Christmas sweater?" Cortex asked the professors, as he remained salty about his bandicoot-fur Christmas sweater not being accepted. "I hope he finishes last..."
The Smash Mansion's 1st Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest was underway in the gaming room, as everyone who was participating stood at the front. K.K. Slider was the emcee of the event. As much as Cortex wanted him to lose, Crash was in a winning position.
"And coming in at 5th place...is Crash Bandicoot!" announced K.K. Slider, as the crowd applauded Crash and his Cortex Christmas sweater; Crash spun around for the crowd and struck a pose.
"Way to go, Crash!" Sonic applauded his friend, who stood up and did a formal bow; Crash then walked off the stage as he allowed K.K. Slider to announce the 4th place winner.
"Coming in 4th place, we have...drumroll, please...Pit! With his Mike Tyson sweater." Pit was amazed that he was in 4th place, given that his sweater had a "misspelling error".
"THAT'S MY CHRISTMAS SWEATER, YOU DUMMY!" Little Mac shouted at Pit, screaming in rage as he ran towards Pit. Pit ran off the stage as Little Mac chased him out of the gaming room.
"Um, moving on...3rd place belongs to Mario, with his Snoop Dogg Christmas sweater. 'Twas the Nizzle Before Chrismizzle!" Accepting his 3rd place position, Mario did a small wave for the applauding crowd.
"Before anyone-a asks, I am not spitting any bars," Mario addressed the crowd, as he saw Tracer's disappointed face among the crowd. Also saw Tracer put exit a certain app from her cellphone and put her device away.
"We're down to our final two competitors...Penny and Yoshi." Penny got a small response from the crowd, as Arven and Nemona both cheered on for their friend. Yoshi, on the other hand...well, he got nothing. "Who will take the grand prize?"
"This is an interesting development..." remarked Penny, never imagining that Shadow's Christmas sweater would take her to the contest's top two. Shirtless Santa was confirmed to be a draw.
"Don't let me down, Leafeon, we got this," Yoshi said to his Christmas sweater, happy that Penny came through for him - and now Penny and Yoshi were the final two competitors. Imagine that.
"Before we get to the winner, let's give a round of applause to our contest judges - Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude!" said K.K. Slider, bringing everyone's attention to the three house leaders. Everyone cheered and applauded as Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude gestured to the crowd.
Claude: The three of us never asked to be the contest judges. Researcher Zelda signed us up simply because nobody volunteered!
Dimitri: AT this point, I'm starting to believe that Master Hand's "inviting" nature has rubbed off on his constituents...
"Here it is - the moment you've all been waiting for!" announced K.K. Slider, as Researcher Zelda handed the hippie dog an envelope that had the winner's name inside. "The judges have already rendered their decision. The winner is..."
"I know it just started, but the suspense is already killing me..." Globox whispered to Rayman and Barbara, itching with anticipation as K.K. Slider slowly opened the envelope for dramatic effect. K.K. was taking his sweet, sweet time.
"And the winner...of the Smash Mansion's 1st Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest...is..." Once K.K. Slider opened the envelope and pulled the card out, he waited a moment until the gaming room was completely silent. "...PENNY!"
"I...I won?" asked a shocked Penny, as Arven and Nemona were cheering on for their friend and chanted her name. Mario, Yoshi, and Crash all clapped for Penny, and so did everyone else.
"Congrats, Penny, you are our first winner!" Researcher Zelda congratulated the Pokemon trainer, taking a crown and placing it on Penny's head. Penny smiled, amazed that she was the one who came out on top.
"The right decision was made," remarked Lysandre, who stood next to Link and Zelda giving his applause to Penny. "The winning sweater couldn't have gone to a more deserving person."
"That means Yoshi is our runner-up, with his Leafeon Christmas sweater," announced K.K. Slider, as Yoshi was totally satisfied with finishing in second place. Pleased Penny to know that her Eevolution sweaters weren't so terrible.
Yoshi: That's my girl. *smiles* I'm sorry, what's that girl's name again?
"You did it, Penny!" Nemona said to Penny, as she and Arven ran unto the stage to celebrate with their friend. "And it looks like your Leafeon sweater didn't do so bad after all."
"Maybe I was wrong to listen to that floating mask," remarked Penny, who was given a trophy by Researcher Zelda - an authentic trophy, at that. It was made out of real karat gold, and also had some cash inside, even. Shadow would've been a fool to toss that trophy away, had he won the contest.
"That was a fun little contest," remarked Aerith, before looking to her left and seeing Tifa a few feet away. Aerith shuffled over to Tifa, smiling from ear to ear as her presence startled her friend.
"Oh, Aerith! I didn't see you there," said Tifa, nearly jumping back in fear and almost falling into King K. Rool. Falling into K. Rool's belly would've made Tifa bounce right up. "You...want something?"
"Just wanted to ask one quick question." Aerith took Tifa and escorted the martial artist out of the gaming room so that she could ask her question in private. "Are you jealous that Cloud and I are together?"
"This isn't the right time to ask that." Demanding full sincerity from Tifa, Aerith took both hands of the martial artist and looked at her deep in the eye.
"I am not leaving until you give me an answer. Are you jealous?" Aerith was pressing Tifa hard for any kind of answer, and Tifa was forced to oblige as he sighed.
"I'm not jealous...I was just sad. Sad that I didn't figure it out earlier." Tifa was showing signs of sadness, as Aerith released her hold of Tifa's hands and placed her hand on Tifa's shoulder.
"Figure what out? That Cloud always liked me?" Aerith didn't think that Cloud had always liked her, but she was willing to give credit to anyone who was paying close attention.
"I thought that after that whole project, he would move on. But instead, he decided to settle for you..." Tifa didn't intend for her response to throw any shade, but it sort of came off that way.
"Guess Cloud couldn't live with his failure, so he came running to me." The thought of that alone made Aerith feel like she was desirable. "But it's nothing personal, I hope."
"When Cloud popped up an hour before that pep rally, I was so excited to see him. I was like, this close to asking him out on the spot."
"Like on a date? Cloud and I have been on plenty of those in Arcadia Bay. You have no problem with that, do you?
"No, not really...I know you guys are having all sorts of fun down there. Since you're happy, and I assume Cloud's happy...it's all water under the bridge."
"Cloud being happy? That would be a first." Aerith and Tifa shared a laugh together, both on the cusp of reconnecting with each other. "Friends?"
"Friends." Aerith shared a hug with Tifa; whatever sorrow Tifa was feeling was slowly easing away with the warmth of Aerith's hug. Funny how talking things out can help remedy situations.
"Oh, by the way, Cloud mentioned that he was no longer part of the mansion family," Aerith had this to say after the hug ended, addressing a concern that Cloud brought up in the last episode. "Is that true?"
"Yeah, Master Hand has been ghosting Cloud for a while now. Think he's still upset over Cloud releasing Dimentio back into the universe by accident."
"I ought to speak with him before I go back to Arcadia Bay. But I'll let this be known...if he refuses to take Cloud back in, then I'm never coming back to the mansion. Ever."
"Well, Master Hand's busy overseeing some construction work the Carpenters are doing, so you'll just have to wait until you can give him a piece of your mind. You don't mind, do you?"
"Fine with me, I can wait...and so can Master Hand." As evidenced by the big smirk on her face, Aerith couldn't wait until she got her hands on Master Hand.
Cloud enjoyed the day he spent with his "temporary family", and it was spent at Chloe's house. Chloe's parents let Cloud and all of Gex's troupe into their home, along with Max, and they never complained. Or maybe they did in secret.
"Why are we sitting in the backyard?" Cloud asked Gex and the others, as everyone was sitting in lawn chairs in the backyard. Each person had a bottle of soda pop in their hand.
"Because my dad likes to complain," replied Chloe, who had several nicknames for her stepfather - many of which couldn't be shared out loud due to Cream's innocent ears. "He's the worst."
"Your father's a jerk - like an untamed pit bull at Bill Cosby's house," Gex said to Chloe, who had her lips pursed as she insincerely nodded in agreement. Gex never missed, according to him.
"We should make this backyard the official island of misfits," proclaimed Henry, proudly standing up from his chair as he held his soda bottle up high. "Who's with me?" Sadly for him, not a single person was vouching.
"Sit back down, we have company..." Tharja told Henry, who sat back down as someone was knocking on the backyard door. Cloud recognized who it was just from the knock pattern.
"Guess who's back!" Aerith was heard from behind the door, and that's when Cloud and Funky Kong both got up wanting to be the first to answer. Cloud would beat Funky to the door, however.
"Welcome back," Cloud greeted Aerith, as he welcomed the flower girl into the backyard; Funky Kong wallowed in defeat as he returned to his lawn chair.
"I was this close...this close..." Funky Kong said to Big, using his fingers to indicate how close he was to beating Cloud to the punch. Funky wanted to toss his chair because of how angry he was.
"Here's your translocator," Aerith said to Cloud as he handed the swordsman back his translocator. Cloud put the device in his pocket. "I wanna go back though, to give Master Hand a piece of my mind."
"Funny coincidence, I want to give him a piece of my mind too," stated Cloud, curious as to what sort of new things Aerith learned during her mansion visit. "How about we go together?"
"Take us with you, if you must," Gex offered to Cloud and Aerith; in Cloud's mind, bringing more than two people to the mansion with one translocator didn't make sense logistically. "We can be your backup, if necessary."
"I may consider it." Bringing Gex along would be a big power move on Cloud's part - to show Master Hand his new "family". A family of misfits, just like him.
Cloud: I won't stop until I get the chance to speak with Master Hand. Aerith's on my side, which is a huge plus. As we all know, Master Hand gets soft when it comes to Aerith and listens to her no matter what...maybe I can use that to my advantage.
Meanwhile, down the street from Chloe's house was Dimentio, who spent his day spying on Cloud. The jester was bored by the lack of action at the Price household. Then out of nowhere...a phone call.
"Hello, you have reached Dimentio!" Dimentio charmingly spoke into the phone after he took it out, his charm able to trick or even swoon the most impressionable caller.
"Hey Dimentio, it's me, Giovanni," Giovanni spoke from the other line, as Dimentio was suddenly all ears. "Got some good news - the alternate universe machine and time machine are both completed!"
Saki Amamiya: So I walk into the bathroom, right, and I see Dr. Wily puking into a toilet. Did he get "triggered" again?
"The time machine is done? Marvelous! That boost must've worked out wonders. Anything else you'd like to share?"
"I do - Rufus called and said that Shinra is done restoring power to the Phantom Ruby. They have summoned the powerful being tied to it."
"Oh, superb! I am most eager to meet this so-called powerful being. We shall meet like two magical, savage unicorns in a twilit forest clearing!"
"Um...sure. But just remember one thing! The power he holds is...infinite."
Captain Falcon didn't the ugly Christmas sweater contest. When his America-inspired sweater had no effect on the three judges, he tried to sway the trio with Min Min's noodles, but to no avail. Not only did he get disqualified, but he also got a nasty earful from Min Min for using her noodles without permission.
"Why didn't she pick out Americans for the judges?" Captain Falcon asked Nowi, sitting in the foyer with his girlfriend and Nah wondering what his chances of winning would've been without disqualification. "She took a page out of America's Got Talent playbook!"
"Got no clue what this America's Got Talent is, but I agree with you," responded Nowi, who along with Captain Falcon favored an all-American judge panel. Imagine the likes of Terry, Guile, and Travis critiquing Christmas sweaters.
"At last, I have acquired a Christmas sweater!" rejoiced Beleth as he returned to the mansion, wearing an ugly Christmas sweater that he had to buy from a store with Hal's money. "Finally, I can be a part of the contest."
"Contest ended a while ago, buddy," Captain Falcon informed Beleth, who got super salty as he grumpily took off his Christmas sweater and handed it to Nah.
"Be right back, need to say a few curse words." Beleth stormed off into the hallway, looking for a spot to let it all out. Byleth entered the foyer, having seen Beleth leave already.
"What did I miss?" the professor asked Captain Falcon and company, holding her sweater in her arms. The moment of Byleth and Beleth wearing matching sweaters was unfortunately dashed.
But hey, at least there's always next year...?