Author's Note:

What is this? A rare Saturday afternoon update?! It's 2021 all over again!

Long story short, I had an extra long work shift this week, and it threw me off-schedule. Subsequently, this chapter was published a day later than intended. But you know the old saying, better late than never. I guess I could answer a few guest reviews, because why not...first is The Reader:

"1. Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden are coming to the Switch on January 19. Will we see some actual shenanigans with the Persona 3 & Persona 4 gang? Honestly, the Persona 5 Royal chapter was kind of a disappointment, so I hope you can actually do something with them.
2. Fire Emblem Engage is coming the same week as the Persona ports, just a day after them, even. Do you have anything in mind for an Engage chapter? Personally, I'm still in my honeymoon phase with Three Houses, so I'm not that excited about Engage, but more Fire Emblem is always good for me!
3. The Tales of Symphonia remake will be released on February 17. Hope to see more Lloyd-Colette content!
4. Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe will be released on February 24. Will we finally see Magolor's fate by then?
5. Trails to Azure is coming to the Switch on March 14. I guess since you didn't mention Lloyd or his gang moving in, they're gonna appear in their own chapter, no?
6. Finally. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon will be out on March 17. I guess our favorite Umbra Witch is back. And since Bayonetta 3 is playing around with the concept of a "multi-verse", I think it's gonna be possible to see little Cereza in this chapter! (Just a personal request, but I want to see little Cereza interacting with Lavenza. They kinda looked similar, no?)"

1. The PS5 Royal chapter felt lackluster due to the influences of Bayonetta 3 and Resident Evil Village, but hopefully I won't run into that problem next week with P3P, P4G, AND Fire Emblem Engage all releasing on the same day. There will be shenanigans afoot.
2. Got a lot of ideas in mind for the Engage chapter, which may or may not be the biggest Fire Emblem chapter yet. Time permitting.
3. Expect to see some Lloyd-Colette fluff on February 17.
4. Magolor's fate will be revealed by then.
5. Lloyd Bannings and his crew will have another chapter all for themselves in March. As for them moving in...I'll keep that a secret.
6. Cereza will make her debut in the Bayonetta Origins chapter. She'll definitely have an interaction with Lavenza, since the two are pretty alike.

A JRPG enjoyer also has suggestions, due in part to the many JRPG Switch games released this year:

"1. Since the P3P and P4G ports are coming next in 2 weeks, do you think we can finally see Kotone (P3P's Female MC) and Marie finally show up? Keep in mind that you've been promising Kotone for more than 3 years ago! And Marie just has to show up, man! If you can have Kasumi, you can also have Marie! Would love to see her trying to take Yu from Rise. Sorry, man, I just want to see them (Marie and Rise) interact with each other.
2. Tales of Symphonia is coming out on February 17. Just a random question, but who's your favorite character from the main party? And no, you can't answer Lloyd or Colette.
3. Atelier Ryza 3 is coming out on February 24. I guess we can have Ryza and her gang back. But for what? I don't think Cloud wants to revive Aerith again. He already got Aerith back. Time to brainstorm!
4. Octopath Traveler II is also coming on February 24. Will you go the original Octopath route (introducing them in pairs), or will you go the usual route (introducing 8 of them at once), like you did with Live a Live?
5. Trails to Azure in March. Are we finally having Rixia appear with Lloyd's group? Oh, and Noel and Wazy too.
6. Finally, the big JRPG game. Fire Emblem Engage is coming to the Switch on January 20. My simplest suggestion: have a Fire Emblem Lords' Roundtable. Marth, Celica, (one of those two could host the roundtable), Sigurd (somehow still alive, thanks to FEH), Leif, Roy, Lyn (perfect time for those two to finally bond), Eirika and Ephraim (about time they show up in the story), Ike, Micaiah (really need that Radiant Dawn content, man. And not just Ike and Soren), Lucina, Kamui, and Beleth together under the same roof. Would be hype, no?
7. What about Alear (and Lueur, which one's which, your choice), tho? You can include them in the roundtable, or you can do something else entirely. The choice is yours."

1. I have been promising Kotone for that long? Dang. Looks like I have no choice but to make her appear. And Marie, too.
2. Don't really have a favorite character from the main party.
3. Ryza Stout will be back on February 24, and I'll hopefully have something in store for them by then.
4. Depending on how much I know the cast, either option will work fine.
5. Rixia, Noel, and Wazy will appear since they weren't present the last time.
6. I love, love, LOVE the Roundtable idea. Why haven't I thought of that before?! Would be a great way to have so many Fire Emblem characters together. Definitely gonna use it for the next chapter.
7. Alear/Lueur is the main character of Engage, so they will be included in the roundtable (unless plans change). I will include both the male and female protagonists.

David has questions:

"With the True Organization XIII appearing, will Sora, Kairi, and Riku be aged up back to their KHIII appearance? (Since you gave some characters their current attire like Cloud's Advent Children outfit). Is Sora gonna sacrifice himself to save Kairi like he did in the games? Will Kairi get any combat training before the Organization shows up? Will Sans ever get into a pun-off with Lailah? (If TIME TO GO stops hating on Tales characters appearing). And finally, with Vince McMahon returning to WWE, do you think mass firings will ensue again? (I think Tony Khan is celebrating WWE's supposed downfall again)."

Sora, Riku, and Kairi will remain the same. Sora won't be put in any circumstance where he would have to sacrifice himself. Kairi will get some combat training (emphasis on some). Sans will be a pun-off, but it may be with a character other than Lailah. And I don't see any mass firings with Vince returning to WWE. But I do forsee a possible WWE sale over the horizon. Got my money on NBC Universal buying WWE. Also, Tony Khan needs to chill - focus on his Jaguars, now that they're in the playoffs. Speaking of the playoffs... the last review of today comes from An NFL fan:

"THEY DID IT! SOMEHOW, THE SEAHAWKS ARE GOING TO THE PLAYOFFS! GENO SMITH, YOU ARE A MOTHERFRICKIN' LEGEND! Yeah, with the Lions' victory against the Packers, the Seahawks officially gets the 7th seed and will play in the playoffs! I don't care what happen in the playoffs, the mansion should celebrate. Maybe have Master Hand invite some Seattle players after the playoffs."

Hate to say that there will be no celebration for the Seahawks. Although they did miraculously make the playoffs, a celebration will only be warranted if they make a Super Bowl berth. And their opponent in the wild card round is the 49ers...yeah, they're the first playoff team going home.

Episode 369: MovingIn Part 2

Cloud told Link, Zelda, and Clavell of the Naranja Academy that he would search for Master Hand. Wanted to out the real reason why he was ghosting him and stuff. But before the swordsman could head outside...he wanted to do a bit more snooping around at the apartment office building.

But why, you ask? It was because he heard some commotion coming from nearby. So Cloud, following the noise, encountered a separate room in the building where Deep Cut - Shiver, Frye, and Big Man - were hosting an episode of Anarchy Splatcast.

"Are they staying in town?" pondered Cloud, curious if Deep Cut would host Anarchy Splatcast at the Omnis Adest apartments. Or maybe they could split their time between there and Splatsville.

"Listen up! It's going down..." said Shiver, who was sitting next to Frye while Big Man was positioned behind a television screen in the lounge. "...repping the Splatlands, we are DEEP CUT!"

"Anarchy Splatcast! We're live!" announced Frye, expressing her excitement as she raised her fists while Lakitu was doing his thing and recording all the action with his camera.

"Ay! Ay!" exclaimed Big Man, who was wearing a gold party hat on his head. The manta ray took out a party blower and blew into it as confetti came out.

"Welcome everyone to the first episode of the new year," Shiver addressed not only those watching at home but also the crowd that was gathered in the large room. Never in the history of Anarchy Splatfest has there ever been a live audience.

"We got a whole bunch of peeps with us, so let's say a quick hello to them!" exclaimed Frye, as Lakitu was given the cue to pan the camera to the live audience of Anarchy Splatfest. Among the audience were Chrom, Owain, Professor Kukui, and many others.

"Look Lucina, I'm on TV!" shouted Chrom, waving to the camera while under the guise that Lucina was watching him on the Splatoon channel. Lucina was in fact standing outside the room, staring at her father before walking away.

"Don't put the camera on him...put it in me!" Owain barked orders at Lakitu, who turned the camera away from Chrom as Owain quickly struck a pose.

"I was told that the audience would be served pulled pork bites," said Kukui; the professor ate some pulled pork bites at Fox and Falco's party, and was hooked ever since. "Where are they at?"

"Truth be told, I'm only attending for the free gadgets they might be giving out," admitted Yoshi, who was feeling underneath his seat for a tablet or even a Surface Pro 3. "It's not there yet."

"Due to popular demand, we have a return of a very special guest," announced Shiver, driving up the anticipation and excitement for the next segment of Anarchy Splatfest. "Any idea who it is?"

"Ooh, I know, it's a world-famous streamer who also doubles up as Levancia's gym leader!" squealed Frye; there was no way that the "world-famous" bit wasn't a throw-in. "It's...it's...IONO!"

"Your eyeballs are MINE - caught in my Electroweb! Whosawhatsit? Iono!" exclaimed Iono, walking from behind Big Man's TV wearing a party hat as she held a party blower. "Ello, 'ello, hola! Ciao and bonjour!"

"Here she is - the one and only Iono!" announced Shiver, as the Iono Zone was taking over Anarchy Splatcast a second week in a row. Iono blew into her party blower, as she and Big Man were blowing into their party blowers together.

Iono: Anarchy Splatfest was a rousing success! Ever since the episode dropped, my subscriber count went through the roof! Wowzah doesn't even begin to describe it! Those Microwave Idol Mamorin peeps couldn't move the needle for me - and now one of the hosts is in hot water with their bosses. Mayhap it's karmic justice for not boosting my online profile enough. Serves 'em right!

"I didn't come alone - I brought one of my Paldean friendos with me!" said Iono, taking her hand out from her oversized sleeve - a rare sight - and whistling into her fingers. A fellow Paldean gym leader emerged from behind Big Man's television, with the appearance of a middle-aged man wearing a suit, carrying a briefcase, and in general being done with life.

"Hello, I'm Larry," the gym leader plainly addressed the crowd in his gloomy tone, as he looked for a seat - only to later realize that there was no seating space available to rest his legs. "I work as a gym leader at Medali, and I specialize in normal-type Pokemon."

"C'mon Larry! Put a little oomph in your voice!" Iono did her best to cheer up Larry, whose facial expression remained the same no matter how much Iono was moving about next to him. "Tell the crowd somethin' exciting."

"Something exciting...well, I work for the Pokemon League under La Primera." Larry's fun fact earned small applause from the crowd, although Iono herself was slightly disappointed.

"He definitely fits the bill for a normal-type trainer," Cloud said about Larry, finding the exhausted salaryman to be the plainest user of normal-type Pokemon to have ever existed. Clavell joined Cloud as he watched Iono and Larry onstage.

"Larry was asked by the Pokemon League's chairwoman Geeta to join Iono at this community," Clavell explained to Cloud, while Larry was looking awfully hungry as he held his stomach. "She believed that Larry could be a secret weapon at Master Hand's disposal."

"Of all the other gym leaders, and she picked him?" It was bad enough that Larry had to work multiple jobs in Paldea - and now he had to live abroad. His misery must be off the charts.

"I also fancy a Dundunsparce as my ace Pokemon," Larry told his second fun fact to the crowd, earning another wave of small applause. But his fun fact didn't impress Iono much - or the three members of Deep Cut.

"We are paying the special guests, aren't we?" Frye whispered to Shiver, as the Inkling and Octoling were having a private conversation on air. Poor Big Man lowered his head, feeling left out of the discussion.

"Now that you mention it...we'll talk about it later," Shiver whispered back, before clearing her throat and quickly carrying on with the program. "So Larry, how are you enjoying yourself in town so far?"

"I'd say it's been pretty fine, for the most part," answered Larry, who was anticipating either one of Shiver or Frye inquiring about how stressful his life was. "Minus those hooded men that nearly apprehended me."

"Hooded men?" Cloud furrowed his brow, as the short description Larry provided reminded the swordsman of a certain evil group. Cloud ran off to let Link and the others know about this evil group in particular.

Sonic was in quite a pickle right now. One moment he was returning from E. Gadd's mansion after E. Gadd refused to accept the doll he got for Lavenza - which Lavenza allegedly did not want. Then the moment Sonic stepped foot at Omnis Adest, he was apprehended by two members of Organization XIII...with one of them being Even!

Except that it wasn't Even, but rather a person that strongly resembled him. The only difference was that his eyes were yellow. This Even lookalike revealed to Sonic that he was Vexen, and what did Sonic have to say about that?

"HA! You can't fool me, Even," Sonic said to Vexen, as the other Organization member held the blue hedgehog's hands behind his back. Sonic didn't feel like fighting out of the member's grasp, at least not yet.

"Even, I am not! I am his Nobody, Vexen," Vexen explained to Sonic, who still wasn't that convinced; if anything, he only made Sonic a bit puzzled.

"But if that were the case, would that mean Even should no longer coexist? Or did you make it past some bylaws like how Sora and Roxas did?"

"He makes a good point," the hooded Organization member said to Vexen, only to be forced to change his tune when Vexen gritted his teeth at him. "I mean, bad hedgehog! Bad hedgehog!"

"Let's just say that I came from a time...a time before the original Organization was dissolved," Vexen did his best to explain things to Sonic, sparring the hedgehog a few details so that he wouldn't put his brain in knots. "I'll leave it at that."

"This guy holding me must be the weak link of the Organization," Sonic commented on the hooded Organization member, who was offended as he tried not to let Sonic go during his moment of frustration.

"Weak link, I am not!" The hooded Organization member finally took off his hood, revealing himself to be some dude with a brown mohawk. "I'm Demyx! Reserve member of Organization XIII!"

"I can see why you're a reserve, with that mohawk...you're definitely the weak link." Sonic continued to throw shade at Demyx, who was keeping in his anger so that he wouldn't go ballistic.

"That's enough chatter out of you, hedgehog!" Vexen said to Sonic as he got even closer to the blue hedgehog's face than before, almost to the point of bumping noses. "We'll let you go, but only if you answer a few questions."

"If it's about where your buddy Even is, I can't tell ya," responded Sonic, causing Vexen's impatience with him to grow at a steady pace. "Maybe I could, but not today."

"Shut up you, and answer the question. About these apartments. Why were they being built, and why are so many people that are moving into them? What is the purpose of..."

"Hey, you said you were gonna ask me one question! You were just about to ask me a third one." Sonic was being technical with Vexen, and Vexen didn't like it one bit as he gritted his teeth with rage.

"I've had just about enough of you!" Vexen backed away from Sonic, whose personal space was no longer violated as the breathing air was fresh again. "Demyx, strangle him!"

"Asking the wrong man for the job..." muttered Demyx, having no choice in the matter as his hands slowly moved from Sonic's arms to the blue hedgehog's neck. But before Demyx could do anything, a soccer ball struck him in the back of his head.

"Pick on somebody your own size!" the person who kicked the soccer ball yelled at Demyx, who winced in slight pain as he rubbed the back of his head. The ball didn't look like it hurt much; poor Demyx was just overreacting.

"Oh yeah, well how about you..." Demyx angrily turned around, only to look intimidated when he saw Hop, the younger brother of Galar champion Leon. But it wasn't Hop who intimidated Demyx...it was the person next to Hop that had the Nobody shook. Lanz, of the nation of Keves.

"You heard the lad!" Lanz shouted at Demyx, intimidating the Nobody even more as he whipped out his blade. Demyx might be wetting his pants. "Don't make us come over there!"

"No thanks, we were, uh, just messing around!" Demyx released his hold on Sonic, showing off his cowardly side as he summoned a dark corridor behind him. "Let's scram, Vex!" Demyx ran through the dark corridor, while Vexen was left pinching the crown of his nose.

"What a simpleton..." muttered Vexen, rubbing his hand down his face before looking at Sonic. "...we hope to speak with you later, hedgehog." The Nobody retreated through the dark corridor, no doubt bound to chew out Demyx later.

"Even and his Nobody really are cut from the same cloth," remarked Sonic, noting the similarities between Even and Vexen. He was soon joined by Hop and Lanz, who were both checking on him. "Thanks for the save, you guys!"

"Always glad to help out!" responded Hop, grabbing his soccer ball before giving Sonic a handshake. Lanz would give Sonic a handshake as well.

Hop: Lee was personally invited by Master Hand to live in this community, and guess what? He wanted to bring me along! I get to live with my big brother across the pond! But while Lee brought me along for the trip, he forgot to bring with him his sense of direction...ah, who am I kidding? He never even had it anyway!
Leon: *from afar* Excuse me? Does anyone know how to get to the post office? Gotta send this letter off to Sonia!
Hop: But yeah, Lee brought me to this city to spend more time with his little brother. Totally not like he needed a reliable person to ask for directions. No siree!

"Those men are unlike anyone I have ever seen at Keves," Lanz commented on Vexen and Demyx, moments after the dark corridor vanished. "The way that cowardly one summoned that portal...must be from a different universe!"

"That's Organization XIII, they're bad news," explained Sonic, absolutely dying to inform Link and Zelda about his brief encounter - while also sprinkling in a few details just for good measure. "We got a history with them..."

Leon and Hop were members of the Omnis Adest community, and it was implied that Noah, Mio, and their friends were part of the community as well. Joining the community was one of Terry's friends, Athena Asamiya, as Link and Zelda were speaking with her at the main office.

"Karaoke night?" Link crinkled his nose, as he was holding a flyer that Athena gave to him. According to the flyer, this karaoke night was meant to take place at the mansion.

"We could do it earlier and call it 'karaoke day', hold it outside at these apartments," Athena suggested to Link and Zelda, with the former returning the flyer to Athena after he was done scrutinizing it.

"Would make for a good bonding experience for everyone," said Zelda, as a day of singing songs old and new (albeit terribly) would make for a great first day at Omnis Adest. "Ask the Squid Sisters for their karaoke machine."

"I'll go ask them right now. Thanks!" Athena gave her thanks to Zelda, as she ran out of the main office building. The pop singer would pass by Mario, who overheard much of the conversation.

"This 'karaoke day' sounds-a like an abject failure," Mario offered his two cents on the event later today to Link and Zelda, finding it hard to hide his cynicism. "I'd hate to hear Owain singing."

"Ahem..." Cloud cleared his throat, as he was waiting patiently behind Link and Zelda. The Hylian couple turned to Cloud, suddenly being reminded of the swordsman's presence.

"Oh, Cloud! I forgot you wanted to speak with us," Link said to Cloud in an apologetic manner, as Cloud was not that willing to forgive either Link or Zelda. "So, what's up?"

"...it's Organization XIII. They're back." Not the kind of news that Mario, Link, and Zelda wished to hear during move-in day. "Some guy named Larry claimed that he was almost stopped by some hooded men."

"Some guy named Larry?" questioned Mario, already pretty skeptical of Cloud's story and not allowing Cloud to elaborate further. "Who else saw these hooded men, an average Joe actually named-a Joe?"

"Come on, Larry, come back!" Iono shouted at Larry, as she was seen chasing after the gym leader who was trying to get away from her. "I must have you with me on the show to increase my viewership...I mean, Deep Cut's viewership!"

"I'm taking my talents back to Paldea," stated Larry, working up a sweat as he speed-walked away from Iono with his briefcase in hand. "La Primera needs me for the Medali Gym."

"But La Primera sent you here! She can't just take you back!" Paldea's Pokemon League chairwoman, Geeta, would be most upset if Larry returned to the region under any circumstance.

"...okay, now I believe-a you," Mario said to Cloud after seeing Larry in action, no longer assuming that Larry was just some made-up person that Cloud came up with. Mario had met Larry before after he and Isabelle signed him in, and now he was reminded of his existence.

Mario: Over the years, people have said-a that I'm too basic. "Oh, Mario has no personality," they say, "He's a generic man who goes about his business, nothing else!" If I'm "generic", then what does that make-a that Larry fellow? How is it that a man who looks so average and clinically depressed gets to be a gym-a leader? I bet they pick random folks-a off the streets in Paldea and make them gym-a leaders.

"Master Hand must know about this," stressed Zelda, aware of how Master Hand was whenever it came to Organization XIII; any potential Organization threat was enough to put Master Hand on his A-game.

"I did say that I was gonna look for him," stated Cloud, before looking at Mario, Link, and Zelda and expecting them to get the clue. But nobody said anything. "Would suck if I were to..."

"Goading us into joining you, really?" Link frowned at Cloud, seeing right through the swordsman's plan as he shook his head. "Have you no shame?"

"Says the man who suckered me into lunch." Cloud clapped back at Link, putting the Hylian in his place as Zelda quietly giggled.

"I'll be back, Isabelle," Mario called out to Shih Tzu, who gave the plumber a knowing smile from the front desk. Isabelle was more than fine with working solo, as she had done time and time again.

Ness got a Christmas gift from his number one fan Lee, in the form of an Iono poster. Said poster was currently hanging up in Ness's room, placed over a hole in the wall that Ness was fortunate enough Master Hand didn't see. But when Master Hand saw that poster for the first time, he judged Ness and nearly called him a simp, which would've given the PSI whiz a stigma that would be hard to shake off.

Even with Master Hand's perception of him changed forever, Ness went on about his usual business. Since he wasn't enlisted with helping the folks with moving in at Omnis Adest, Ness was in the arcade playing games with his main man Lucas.

"I'll be right back with the tokens," Ness said to Lucas as he left the arcade, going to his room to retrieve a bag of tokens from his dresser. As the PSI whiz walked down the hallway, he froze when he saw Arven speaking with Andrew Oikonny.

"Nope, I haven't seen this Dimentio punk at all," Andrew said to Arven, having missed Dimentio's appearance at the Festivus meal. All that he saw of Dimenitio were pictures on someone else's phone. "Make no doubt about it, though, we'll throw hands with him soon."

"I don't want to throw hands with Dimentio, I just want to speak with him," stated Arven, as he got a laugh out of Andrew; Arven looked exasperated as he lowered his head.

"Speak? With Dimentio?! What a weird death wish you got!" Although he had never seen Dimentio in person, Andrew heard enough stories to know that the jester was no one to be trifled with.

"I'm serious! I just want to thank him for..." The more Arven spoke, the more he got Andrew to laugh uncontrollably. Tears were even running down Andrew's eyes from the nonstop laughter.

"Yeah, thank him for making you go crazy, perhaps. Get lost, kid." Andrew soon ceased the laughing fit, as he walked away from Arven and left the Pokemon trainer in the dust.

"But I'm not a kid..." Arven continued to look downtrodden, as Mabosstiff went over to his trainer and comforted him. Andrew was walking down the hallway when he came across Ness.

"Howdy, Ness!" Andrew greeted the PSI whiz, smiling as he walked over to him. Ness would make a run for it, but the window of opportunity was small. "You're just the man I'm looking for."

"Uh oh, I can hear Anna calling out to me from her shop," said Ness, deciding to take the chance as he was about to run. Andrew caught up to Ness seconds later and restricted his movement by putting his hand on his shoulder.

"Must be hearing voices, 'cause I don't hear anything." Andrew stopped speaking, as he heard Arven's Rotom Phone going off. Arven lifted up his head as he hurriedly took out his phone.

"Um, hello? Did you get that snack for Penny already?" Nemona angrily Arven from the other line, reminding her academy classmate of the task that she threw upon him. "She's blowing up my phone nonstop!"

"Got distracted by Dimen...I mean, I'm on it!" Arven took off towards the vending machine room, refusing to let Nemona down. "Hurry up, Mabosstiff!" Mabosstiff followed after Arven, walking as far as his legs could carry him.

Andrew: Unpopular opinion alert...those sandwiches of Arven's? They're not all that. I've tasted better. I have no clue about this Herba Mystica ingredient he uses, but they don't make the sandwich any better. Like, where does he even find that stuff? The garbage dump?

"You better be on it - Penny can't operate on an empty stomach!" Nemona was heard shouting at Arven, belittling the poor dude like he was her son. Nemona was sounding borderline impatient.

"Making others do favors for her...how typical of that girl," Andrew had this to say about Penny, before returning to his victim Ness. "And speaking of favors, what are you up to today, Ness?"

"Not much, just play some arcade games with Lucas," replied Ness, leading Anthony to crack a devious smile that understandably made Ness wary. "Unless you got something else in mind..."

"Word has it that there's a new public bath at Omnis Adest. Mega Man was talking about it earlier. I was thinking that maybe we could crash it - give the people a good scare."

"Ditching me for Andrew?" Lucas asked Ness as he was out of the arcade, under the guise that Ness was betraying him like how he "betrayed" him on Festivus. Ness had to clear up the air real quick. "It's cool, I can play Battletoads with Geno instead..."

"No, wait! You don't have to do that," Ness said to Lucas, who was about to return to the arcade only to look at Ness with renewed optimism. "Because we got something better than playing Battletoads."

"How does crashing a public bath sound?" Andrew asked Lucas, doing his best to drive up the PSI whiz's interest; crashing a public bath sounded dangerous to Lucas, but that's what made it fun.

"Sounds better than getting creamed at Battletoads. Got no clue why I chose that game. But yeah, I'm down." The three amigos of Ness, Lucas, and Andrew were about to invade a public bath, and nobody was going to stop them. Possibly.

Pit was on the prowl, searching around Omnis Adest for anyone that was hiding. The angel had his eyes peeled, searching every nook and cranny. He hadn't found anyone yet, but he was hoping to find a person soon.

"I hear giggling..." said Pit, venturing past an apartment building as he came to a stop; the angel checked behind a green recycling bin, where he saw two pals from Tantal - Zeke and Pandoria - hiding not so discreetly. "...Zeke von Genbu?

"Close enough - I'm the ghost of Zeke von Genbu!" proclaimed Zeke as a convinced Pit nodded his head and walked away. Pit looked elsewhere as Zeke and Pandoria remained hidden in her lackadaisical hiding spot.

"The real Zeke has to be around here somewhere..." Once Pit got far away enough, Pandoria held her hand over her mouth to keep herself from laughing. But then Pit came right back, pointing at Zeke. "...SIKE! I know it's you, Zeke!"

"Darn it, Pandoria! You gave us away!" Zeke now had the dubious honor of being the first person caught by Pit in the game of hide-and-seek - and it was a distinction that Pandoria also had to share in.

Pandoria: It's not going to be the same when Pit stops being dumb. He kind of has a lot of appeal as a himbo. *pauses* But that would imply that Pit is handsome...we'll just say that he's a cute himbo. Let's keep that between the two of us.

"That should be all of the furniture," Donkey Kong said to Diddy Kong after he and his nephew were finished moving all the stuff into the apartment. "Now to find out where Juna and Altina are before their teacher goes ballistic..."

"Back away from the apartment!" Pit commanded the Kongs, running past the gorillas as he ran inside the apartment unannounced. "I must inspect the insides of it for anyone hiding from me."

"Who would even want to hide from you in the first place?" asked a student from Class VIII, Kurt Vander, who was helping fellow classmate Musse Egret with initializing the television in the living room. Pit took a quick peek behind the TV.

"There is no one hiding there," Musse kindly informed Pit, only to be shushed when Pit held up his finger. Pit was looking aggressively, and maybe perhaps a little too hard.

"I don't need you spoiling anything for me; I can find them myself," Pit assured Musse; when looking behind the TV was a no-go, Pit resorted to looking under the TV and was still met with goose eggs.

"Hope he realizes that TV's gonna be mounted on the wall," Kurt murmured to Musse, while Pit continued to inspect the TV. Did Pit magically expect someone to jump out from the screen or something?

"I'm gonna need you to stop that smacking..." a voice was heard from a distance, as Pit noticed a closet door in the living room that was half open. Discreet as possible, Pit cautiously tiptoed over to the closet door and opened it...

...and saw Hocotate Freight employee Louie inside the closet, eating from a bag of chicken nuggets. The serving size definitely called for more than one person. Hiding in the closet with Louie was Wendy Koopa.

"I'm not playing," Louie kindly informed Pit while eating his chicken nuggets, not sharing any of them with Wendy. Not that Wendy ever asked or anything. "But she is."

"Wendy, I found YOU!" Pit pointed at Wendy, who was busted by Louie and his loud smacking ways. Wendy now had the unfortunate honor of being the third person found by Pit in the game of hide-and-seek.

"Ack! You found me," said a defeated Wendy, as Louie casually exited from the closet. There was orange barbecue sauce all over Louie's astronaut uniform. "But I know for a fact that you won't find anyone else here."

"Be quiet stomach, you'll blow my cover!" a voice whispered from the kitchen, accompanied by the sound of a stomach grumbling. Pit ran into the kitchen and spotted Yuffie, who was hiding behind a kitchen counter.

"BUSTED!" Pit pointed at Yuffie, whose stomach conveniently stopped grumbling the moment Pit arrived. Rean walked into the living room, watching as a disappointed Yuffie left along with Pit.

"Why are so many people using our apartment as a hiding spot?" questioned Rean, who had just gotten through with reasoning with the folks who were apparently hiding upstairs. "Guess that's the fault for leaving the front door open so long."

"They were here long before we came to town..." Musse informed Rean, recalling the moment of freaking out when she saw the female Inkling hiding in the washing machine. Had that washing machine been turned on, the female Inkling would've been in grave trouble - no pun intended.

"Three or four down, only many more to go!" Pit was on a roll, as he found every hiding person there was to find in the apartment (a few others notwithstanding). The angel was on a roll.

Pit's excitement died down, however, when a dark corridor was summoned in the middle of the living room. Exiting from this dark corridor were Demyx and Vexen, with the former having received a stern lecture from the latter.

"As I've said, you cannot let any strangers intimidate you," Vexen advised Demyx, finishing his lecture as the dark corridor soon faded away. "It would reflect poorly on the Organization."

"Don't be scared by strangers, got it!" exclaimed Demyx, only to later freak out when he was suddenly face-to-face with Pit. "A real-life angel?! AAAAAH!"

"A person from Organization XIII?! AAAAAH!" shouted Pit, matching Demyx in overall fear as both he and the Nobody shouted together. For Vexen and the others, it was like tomfoolery in stereo.

"I really don't feel like lecturing him again..." groaned Vexen as he facepalmed, wondering what on earth he had done to deserve being paired with Demyx. He'd much rather pair up with a low-ranking Nobody, like a Dusk for instance.

"AAAAAH!" Pit continued to scream at Demyx, only to stop screaming when he saw Vexen. Demyx subsequently stopped screaming as well. "Oh, hi Even!"

"I am not Even! I am just his Nobody." Vexen was bothered by Pit calling him by the wrong name, and he was especially bothered when Pit was waving to him like a friend he hadn't seen in well over a year.

"You're starting your own Organization, aren't you Even? Can I join you guys? I know the perfect Organization name for me...Xpit! Get it?"

"Totally got it," Demyx replied to Pit, inadvertently getting on the angel's friendlier side. Vexen gave Demyx a stern look that had the Nobody pipe down.

"Also, are you part of the game of hide-and-seek? For the record, we don't take any late arrivals. Should've been there when we had that meeting outside!"

"We are not a part of any game," replied Vexen, as he and Demyx had no time for children's games. Well, maybe Demyx did, but not Vexen. "But we can ask you this one question...what is the point of all these apartments?"

"None of your business," Rean said to Vexen, stepping in as he confronted Vexen; tensions were running high, as Rean and Vexen had a staredown.

"I was speaking with the angel boy...stay out of this." Vexen tried to push Rean away, but an undeterred Rean came right back to Vexen and got on the Nobody's last nerve.

"Why don't you just leave? You clearly came into our apartment interrupted; the least you could do is knock." Rean was putting his foot down, letting Organization XIII know that no intruders were welcome.

"Wouldn't mess with him if I were you...he's making some good points!" Demyx said to Vexen, slightly fearful of what Rean might possibly do. Rean had his hand close to his holster, ready to whip out his sword if the moment called for it.

"We'll let you live...for now," Vexen said to Rean, still staring into the instructor's eyes as he summoned a dark corridor behind him and Vexen. "But mark my words! You and everyone else will be sorry."

"Yeah, what he said! Losers!" Demyx followed up on what Vexen said, adding a bit of name-calling before going through the dark corridor. Vexen sighed as he followed Demyx through the dark corridor, which vanished seconds afterward.

"That mohawk guy's the real loser, ironically enough," remarked Kurt, before looking towards Rean and being impressed by how his instructor handled himself with Vexen. "You did great there, teach!"

"Sure showed Even who was the boss!" Pit said to Rean, as he was still missing the point - in his defense, it was easy to get Even and Vexen mixed up given their resemblances.

"Sometimes you just have to put your foot down," Rean said with a grin, believing that he handled the situation pretty well. Imagine him holding his own against some of the higher-ranked Organization members.

Pit: Took me about four hours to come up with my Nobody name. Gotta admit it's kinda clever.

During the events of Festivus, you may have been wondering where Pac-Man's dream-traveling buddy Klonoa was. No, Pac-Man didn't neglect to invite his friend - Klonoa happened to spend his holiday saving a few worlds from being destroyed before Christmas.

Now that Klonoa was finally free, he was able to make the trip to Seattle - where he was told by Master Hand that he would be moving into Omnis Adest. Essentially to take up space in an available townhouse. Pac-Man was happy that Klonoa was in town, for he had something special to show the Dream Traveller - karaoke.

"My singing isn't the best, but I'll try and stay in tune!" Klonoa said to Pac-Man, as he and the eater of ghosts were walking down the street to where karaoke would take place. Pac-Man expected to see a decent turnout.

"Singing terribly during karaoke is the name of the game," Pac-Man stated matter-of-factly, being the owner of many embarrassing karaoke performances. "That's why we usually shun all the good singers from ever participating."

Pac-Man and Klonoa soon arrived at their destination, which was a large backyard area of Omnis Adest. Athena Asamiya was setting up the karaoke machine. Also present were Terry, Andy Bogard, Rock Howard, Blue Mary, and Joe Higashi, as Terry and his whole gang were about to do some karaoke.

"Mind handing over the mic?" Terry asked Ryu, whom he saw standing alone by himself peering at a microphone held in the palm of his hand. "We're gonna need it for karaoke."

"I know - I've already signed up," stated Ryu, as Terry gave the fighter a funny look before bursting out laughing. Terry was pointing and laughing at Ryu, with a tear running down his eye.

"Can you believe this, guys; Ryu said that he signed up for karaoke!" Terry said to his friends as he continued to laugh, only for Athena to show him the sign-up sheet. Terry saw his laughing fit end when Athena pointed at a name on the list.

"Who is this?" Athena asked Terry, who had to squint his eyes as he made out Ryu's name in the middle of the sign-up sheet. Terry knew that it was Ryu's name because the handwriting was horrible.

"What in the...how is that..." Terry was at a loss for words, as Athena smiled and put the sign-up sheet back where it was. Terry's mouth was agape, and Athena closed it in an instant.

"Better keep a close eye on Ryu - he might deliver a surprising show-stopping performance!" Athena returned to setting up the karaoke machine, while Terry remained in shock. Ryu walked up to Terry, patting him on his back.

"Once karaoke starts, I'll show everyone how it's done," Ryu said to Terry, as he hoped to garner shocked reactions like the one Terry was giving right now. "I'll show Chun-li the most."

Ryu: As I've told the others, that rap I did during karaoke years ago was not a fluke. Whenever I try and tell Chun-li, she just won't believe me! She still thinks that I'm as boring as sandpaper, so this will be my chance to show her a different side of me. That said, if she equates my personality to sandpaper so, then why does she still take a chance with me?

"Hey, hey, hey! No Pokemon allowed!" Joe Higashi shouted at an incoming Jigglypuff, showing the balloon Pokemon a sign that had her face crossed out on it. Jigglypuff huffed, as she angrily stormed off.

"I should clarify...Jigglypuff is the only Pokemon forbidden to sing," Athena clarified to Joe, who was thinking awfully highly of himself after simply putting a Pokemon in their place. "But all the other Pokemon is fair game."

"In that case, Mewtwo could sing us a ballad or two," said an eavesdropping Andy, as Mewtwo passed by; Andy grabbed the psychic Pokemon and wrapped his arm around him, trying to egg him on.

"Unless you wish to see me destroy that karaoke machine, I suggest that you leave me out of this," stated Mewtwo, delivering his threat before teleporting away from the premises. So much for another Smasher showing off their hidden talents.

"I'm no Pokemon, but I can definitely take a swing at karaoke," Cranky Kong said to Andy and company, approaching the group as he swung his golf club. Everyone dispersed after hearing Cranky's joke.

"Go back to the golf course, old man..." Joe said to Cranky, who was looking around for high fives to give out after telling his joke. Not a single hand raised. "...why did he have to be on the list?"

If Mega Man knew about the new public bath, then surely he would know where it was. For that reason, the trio of Ness, Lucas, and Andrew consulted the Blue Bomber once they arrived at Omnis Adest asking for a few details.

"It's located near the apartments on the east side," Mega Man informed Ness and company, failing to mention that the public bath was primarily off-limits. Could be vital info. "As far as I know, a couple of ladies were given the green light to test it out."

"Guys, I'm starting to think that this isn't a good idea," a worried Lucas said to Ness and Anthony, alarming the former by exhibiting his nervous ways and annoying the latter. "I mean, what if it's an all-ladies public bath?"

"That'll make scaring them even more fun, in a way," Ness encouraged Lucas, who thought that such a scare would be fun only if things went as planned. Wouldn't be as fun if some hands were thrown.

"Let's move, boys!" shouted Andrew, as Ness and a nervous-looking Lucas marched down the street. The trio would pass by King Dedede and his legion of Waddle Dees.

"Nice work!" King Dedede commended his Waddle Dees, promising to reward them for their efforts as long as their reward wasn't out of his budget. "Saved me from lifting a single finger."

"This all-ladies public bath had better be packed to the gills," Andrew said to Ness and Lucas, as King Dedede came to a stop after overhearing the pilot. "Otherwise, it wouldn't be worth it."

"All-ladies public bath?" King Dedede scratched his chin in thought, surmising that his future flame was potentially in the public path. It wouldn't hurt to look - although it actually would, perhaps from a physical standpoint.

While Vexen and Demyx were in Omnis Adest doing some intel, Magolor and Gnasty Gnorc were doing the same in the hopes of not disappointing Dimentio. Little did Gnasty know that the point of intel was to do it in secret.

"You have to hide behind this tree!" Magolor whispered to Gnasty, hiding behind a tree while Gnasty was looking out into the distance with his hand held over his eyes. "Somebody's gonna see you!"

"No thanks, I can see everything from here," replied Gnasty, who was perched behind a row of trash cans. It was a miracle that nobody hadn't spotted him yet, given his large frame.

"Seriously, you're gonna get us in trouble..." Nothing Magolor said was able to convince Gnasty, and the alien grew afraid as he saw Incineroar walk by carrying a sofa. Fortunately for Magolor, Gnasty didn't appear in Incineroar's peripheral.

"You have to stop being so easily afraid," Vexen was heard speaking, as a dark corridor appeared in Magolor's midst. Vexen exited from the dark corridor along with Demyx. "You're an Organization member, for goodness sake!"

"I know, I know, it's just hard!" responded Demyx, vowing not to be so easily scared by the next person that he saw. Vexen didn't count on that happening.

"How is it coming along?" Magolor asked Demyx and Vexen, expecting to hear a good report from the two Organization members. Vexen's visage revealed to Magolor that he had no juicy info as of yet.

"We have yet to find out the purpose of these apartments," replied Vexen, while keeping a mindful eye on Demyx whose head was darting in all sorts of directions for any possible distraction.

"Yeah, nobody has told us a peep," added Demyx after he was done turning his head, which put a bit of a strain on his neck. "Maybe we can get them to speak, with force!" The Nobody stressed his point as he pounded his fist in the palm of his hand.

"Woah!" someone shouted from the tree, as Crash fell down from above and landed on top of Demyx. Demyx was brought down to the ground, only to throw Crash off of him.

"Ah! A monster!" Demyx was initially scared of Crash at first, but he realized he had to play it cool so that Vexen wouldn't be disappointed. "Alright, Demyx, just play it cool..."

"Crash, are you okay?" Coco asked her brother, as she and Crunch emerged from their nearby hiding spots. They ran over to where Crash was, as their sudden appearance made Demyx's fear return.

"There's more of them?!" Demyx was in a panicky mood as he hid behind Vexen, who was left pinching the crown of his nose. Vexen was sure to file a note to the Organization insisting that he shouldn't work with Demyx ever again.

"It's that scientist nerd from that...that place!" Crunch pointed at Vexen, having a brain fart as he kept his finger pointed at the Nobody. "What did you say it was? Radiant Garden?"

"Even is not a...I am not a..." Vexen was about to correct Crunch, only for his anger to get the better of him. Magolor kept himself concealed from Coco and Crunch while their focus was on Vexen and Demyx.

"Now would be a good time to leave," assumed Gnasty as he retreated from his hiding spot, running down the sidewalk. "Coming through!" The Gnorc ran towards Ike, who moved out of harm's way.

"Thanks for the heads up!" Ike called out to the retreating Ike as he resumed walking down the sidewalk, only to stop and turn his head around at Gnasty with his brow furrowed. "Hey, was that...?"

Ike: Captain Falcon, Ken Masters, and I are on security duty. No bad guy is allowed to get past us and stay on these grounds. I tried to goad my man Soren into joining me, but he's more concerned with moving into that townhouse. That was mostly my doing. *smiles*

"Yes! I have found the bandicoots!" rejoiced Pit as he caught up to Coco and Crunch, bemusing Vexen with his presence. Vexen looked at Pit with disgust. "Leaving yourself out in the open. Rookie mistake."

"Quickly, Demyx, before the angel notices us!" Vexen said to the Nobody as he summoned a dark corridor, as he and Demyx entered through it with haste. Pit saw the two Organization members escape at the last minute.

"No, Even, wait!" Pit ran to the dark corridor, which was gone by the time Pit reached it. The angel was in shambles as he fell down to his knees. "I wanted to join your Organization..."

"The Organization? As in, Organization XIII?" inquired Coco, as a saddened Pit turned his head to Coco and gave the blonde bandicoot a solemn nod. "Didn't Master Hand say that they were bad news?"

"Not this Organization. This one has Even in it. He must be their leader!" While Pit continued to lament, Crash returned to his hiding spot as he climbed back up the tree.

"I don't think that was the same guy," assumed Crunch, who got a different vibe from Vexen in his brief encounter with him as compared to his few interactions with Even. "Noticed those eyes?"

"So those weren't contact lenses?" Pit believed that Vexen made members of "his" Organization wear contact lenses, just to match the members of the real Organization XIII. The angel had so much to learn...

Nemona was waiting outside the producers' room for Arven, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited on Arven to arrive. After a long period of waiting, Arven finally showed up with Mabosstiff with a bag of pretzels in hand.

"Sorry, the vending machine was broken," Arven explained to Nemona, as he had to wait on Mr. Game and Watch to repair the vending machine. "Also, I didn't realize at the moment that I had no coins."

"You're always broke anyway," Nemona said to Arven, taking the bag of pretzels from the Pokemon trainer after throwing some slight shade at him. "Maybe if you battled more often..."

"Yeah, yeah, win more Pokemon battles, get more money...all this coming from the battle-obsessed freak." Now that the snack was acquired, Nemona entered the producers' room as Arven and his Mabosstiff curiously followed Nemona inside.

"Oh, Penny! Guess who got you some pretzels?" Nemona came over to Penny, who was sitting at the desk with Samus and X. In front of Penny and company was the stolen laptop that Dimentio returned on Festivus.

"Took you long enough," responded Penny as she accepted the pretzels from Nemona, before checking the bag's expiration date just to be safe. The date she saw made Penny gasp. "These expired in November..."

"Well, it was mainly Arven's...I mean, I should have known better. This one's on me." Nemona took the fall for Arven, which was a classy move for a student council president like her.

"Go ahead and eat 'em, a few stale pretzels won't kill you," Samus encouraged Penny, who reluctantly opened her bag of pretzels and nervously took her first bite. She nibbled on her first pretzel, as her eyes were closed.

Samus: The vending machines rarely have fresh snacks. Most of the stuff in there is two or three months past its expiration. Which doesn't bother me any, it's not like I'm eating poison. A crybaby, I am not.

"Back off, Mabosstiff! Penny isn't gonna feed you," Arven said to his canine companion, who walked over to Penny using his face to sucker Penny in. Instead, he made Penny scared.

"Nice Mabosstiff..." Penny said to the dog Pokemon, getting on his good side as she gently petted him. Mabosstiff thought for sure that he was getting some pretzels then. Samus stared at Mabosstiff, before looking up at Nemona.

"Why does he have to be here?" the bounty hunter asked Nemona, as she was obviously referring to Arven. The last thing that Samus wanted was some unwanted company.

"Fletchlings of a feather, stick together," replied Nemona, as Samus brushed off the Pokemon trainer's response and returned to the laptop. "So, uh, what are you guys working on?"

"We're not working on anything, just going through the laptop's footage," explained X as he, Samus, and Penny were scouring the hard drive of the laptop. "Your friend Penny here is our extra set of eyes."

"She's also a good hacker," added Samus, causing Penny to sheepishly push her glasses up her nose. It was a silent acknowledgment that Samus was speaking facts.

"Erm, the footage on this laptop is kinda limited," Penny explained to Nemona and Arven, switching gears on the subject as she showed her friends the laptop. "Most of the footage from 2019 is missing."

"And the producers said that nothing new was added to the laptop," added X, as he was left wondering why he and Samus were tasked with scouring the laptop. "So they claimed..."

Athena was done setting up the karaoke machine, and now she had to wait for those interested in singing karaoke. Dante was present, looking to redeem after his performance on Festivus didn't go so well.

"No slow songs," the demon hunter made his request known to Athena as he pointed at the pop singer; Athena smiled as Dante went to go find a seat.

"Feel bad for you that you've been roped into karaoke," Chun-li spoke with Ryu, who was quite amused since Chun-li had yet to find out the truth. It made Ryu more confident in knocking Chun-li's socks off.

"I wanted Ken to join me, but he refused," Ryu said to Chun-li, leaving his girlfriend to wonder which of the two iconic Street Fighters was better at singing. In her mind, Chun-li believed that Ken had a slight edge over Ryu.

"Who can blame him, singing isn't his forte." Soon Bowser came into Chun-li's peripheral, wearing one of the dripped-out red tuxedos that Eggman gave him. "Look who wanted to show out..."

"If you wanna sing good, you gotta look good on top of it!" Bowser clapped back at Chun-li, being defensive of his attire a triggered Pac-Man looked at Bowser. By no means was Pac-Man triggered by Bowser's keen fashion sense.

"You got it wrong Bowser, good singing is not..." Pac-Man was about to drop some knowledge on Bowser, only to hold his breath and let out an angry grunt. "...what is the matter with you people?!"

Mario would've loved to join the others for karaoke after he was done handing folks their keys and whatnot, but the plumber had some matters to settle. Specifically matters related to Master Hand. He was with Link, Zelda, and Cloud, who were all on the hunt for the giant hand in question.

"Master Hand's up ahead," Zelda said to the group as she saw Master Hand having a word with Byleth and Beleth outside an apartment. The quartet, once they got close enough, kept an open ear as they eavesdropped on the conversation.

"I don't know, this seems like too much," Master Hand discussed with the professors, expressing some second doubts as he confided all of his inner feelings. "Don't you think?"

"It was you who signed off on our idea," replied Byleth, giving Master Hand slight reassurance that his decision-making wasn't as suspect as he made it seem. "An idea sparked by Yuri, of course."

"After hearing what Doc Louis told him, he was frightened to the bone!" added Beleth, smiling as he recalled the reaction Yuri had after Doc Louis was done bending his ear. It was a reaction he wished he had a picture of.

"See, this is why I was so against building these apartments," stated Master Hand, letting his second doubts get the better of him as he couldn't shake them off by any means. "What if everyone ends up like Yuri?"

"Not everyone will be intimidated...granted, Dimentio is unlike anyone has ever seen, but these folks have probably faced bigger and worse adversaries."

"Suppose you're right...I mean, Dawn did go face-to-face with a Giratina. Barry too, maybe, but I want to believe that he wetted his pants and ran off like..."

"Master Hand!" Cloud called out to the giant hand, refusing to wait around any longer as he approached Master Hand and the professors. "I just want to speak with you."

"Stay..." Byleth commanded Master Hand, who was about to vanish away; Master Hand grumbled as he remained in place, watching with contempt as Cloud was getting closer.

"Look, I know you're not a huge fan of how I returned to the mansion. I understand. But I just wanted to know - what is the point of..."

Cloud was interrupted, as Gnasty ran past the swordsman and cut him off. Gnasty, as he had proven in his previous getaway escapes, was running like the wind. Which was incredible for a monster of his size.

"Was that...?" Cloud crinkled his nose, as he recognized Gnasty from the time when he and Aerith were captured as dolls. That ugly mug of Gnasty's was unmistakable, even to Cloud. "Hold that thought, Master Hand. I'll be right back."

"Okay then, don't rush!" Master Hand called out to Cloud, watching as the swordsman made chase after Gnasty. Once Cloud was out of his sight, Master Hand muttered to himself, "About time he left..."

"Hello...Master Hand," Zelda said to the giant hand, who was approached by the princess, Mario, and Link. All three of them were looking stern. "I do believe we need to have a talk."

"You didn't hear that, did you? I was saying nice things about Cloud! Nice things, all around...oh boy."

Dimentio remained at the mansion, desiring to know why so many residents weren't home. Or at least remained there until he was done with his scouring. So he went to the tower for the first time ever...and it was more of the same.

Dimentio: How can this be? This tower is just as empty! It's almost as if everyone left to go play a game of hide-and-seek..are you saying that they left to play that children's game? Very lovely to know...I'll make both the mansion and the tower rue the day that they decided not to let me in on their fun.

"That Dimentio has caused enough mayhem," said Waluigi, standing alone in the hallway stretching his arms and legs while Dimentio snuck up on him. "All his meddling is going to cost me a fortune!"

"You don't say?" Dimentio said quietly with a smile, greatly anticipating the moment of giving Waluigi a really good jump scare. Waluigi was setting himself up for one, due to his lack of awareness.

"Like, what if he appears to me in the middle of the night asking for money? If Dimentio were here, I'd give him a piece of my mind! In fact, I'd give him a lot more than that! I'd give him a few wrestling moves, yeah!"

"Here I am - make me your personal punching bag if you must," Dimentio implored Waluigi, who turned around and screamed at the sight of the jester. Waluigi fell on his back and crawled away.

"Wah, it's actually you!" Waluigi backed up into the wall, as Dimentio followed after him menacingly. Waluigi had nowhere to run to. "Shadow, save me!"

"Save yourself," Shadow shouted to Waluigi from afar, clearly in no mood for saving the lanky man from his predicament. Dimentio was about to do something ruthless to Waluigi, only to be interrupted when he heard a phone ring.

"Ciao! This is Dimentio speaking," Dimentio answered the call after whipping out his phone, while Waluigi was left alone for the time being. "Is this Magolor?"

"It's me; I'm still at the apartments," Magolor spoke on the other line, sounding like he was trying to keep his cover low. "Haven't gained any intel yet, but I did crash this unoccupied townhouse."

"Ooh, splendid! May I crash this townhouse with you? We'll be like drunkard frat boys at a college party!"

"Sure thing. The address, I believe, is 1854...the numbers are 1854. Don't know the street name."

"Works for me. I'll be there shortly. Ciao!" Dimentio ended the phone call, putting his phone away before returning his attention to Waluigi. "It was nice meeting you in person, Mr. Waluigi. Hope to see you soon!"

"Please don't take my money..." Waluigi pleaded to Dimentio, who did no such thing as he vanished from the tower. Waluigi let out a sigh of relief, as Shadow showed up in the hallway and looked mildly disappointed.

"Thought for sure that you were going to get killed," Shadow said to Waluigi, who quickly got up and ran to Shadow for a hug. Shadow looked bemused, patting Waluigi's back. "I'm happy for you, too..."

Vexen and Demyx were in a backyard, having a private discussion about their course of action. They still had yet to gain any intel about the apartments, so it was worth it to shake things up a bit.

"I suggest that we take a different approach," Vexen recommended to Demyx, unaware of Fox and Falco looking over the fence before ducking their heads below the fencing.

"Ooh, I know - you play good cop, and I play bad cop!" suggested Demyx, as Vexen scowled heavily at the idea; to him, it sounded very childish. "I can be the good cop."

"There will be no good cop, bad cop...we will gather information from the others like proper gents. Call it boring all you want, but that is the only way."

"Your only way is stupid. Why don't you ever listen to me? So unfair!" Demyx folded his arms and looked the other way, as a gate was opened. Neither Vexen nor Demyx noticed that they had some company.

"All is fair in love and war. Love, to put it quite frankly, is the one thing that you will never..." Vexen stopped speaking after he felt someone tap the side of his leg. The Nobody then looked down...and saw Ashley.

"Ahem..." Ashley cleared his throat, getting all cutesy as she was forced to do another Nico Yazawa impersonation. "...Nico-Nico-Ni! I'll nico nii your heart! I'm Yazawa Nico-Nico, and I'll put a smile in your heart! Remember, I'm Nico-Ni, and I love-Nico you!"

"What is the meaning of this?!" Never in his existence had Vexen ever seen anything akin to Ashley's impersonation, and it had him shaken to the core. "Demyx, analysis!"

"Why am I doing the analyzing, you're the smart one!" Demyx said to Vexen, as he encouraged the fellow Organization member to put Ashley in her place. But Vexen was too reluctant to do just that.

"Her cuteness is deeply unsettling me. Let's get out of here!" Vexen was about to summon a dark corridor, but before he even had a chance, Fox and Falco barged through the gate with their Blasters out.

"Fox McCloud and Falco Lombardi! Stand your ground!" Fox shouted at Vexen and Demyx, as the Star Fox pilots had their Blasters pointed at the Nobodies. Vexen and Demyx weren't going anywhere.

Fox: Master Hand already went crazy after it was implied that Organization XIII might make a comeback. If word ever gets out to him that the Organization's here in town, Master Hand just might self-implode. Best to take care of 'em now.

"Be not afraid! We come in peace," Vexen said to Fox and Falco with his arms out wide, portraying Demyx and himself as peaceable dudes. The pilots didn't fall for Vexen's act, and Ashley didn't either.

"Like we're gonna fall for that crap," responded Falco, wishing for the Nobodies to pull something silly so that he would have an excuse to fire lasers at them. "State your business!"

"Our business is none of your business," Demyx clapped back at Falco, showing the most attitude that Vexen had seen from him all day. If only Demyx showed that moxie earlier.

"Okay then, we tried to play nice...but have it your way," said Fox, as he and Falco went ahead and fired shots at Vexen and Demyx. Vexen took out his weapon, a blue shield, to block the lasers.

"Demyx, quickly!" Vexen said to Demyx, who nodded his head in understanding as he summoned a dark corridor. Demyx backed into the corridor, and Vexen did the same while shielding himself.

"They're getting away!" shouted Fox, as Vexen and Demyx made their escape once the dark corridor closed. The laser barrage from Fox and Falco came to an end as the pilots put their Blasters away.

"Ever wonder what it's like in that portal?" Falco asked Fox, curious as to what it was like inside the dark corridor. Must be plenty of darkness in it. Darkness within darkness.

"I don't think that you seriously want to know," replied Ashley, thinking that there were Heartless in the dark corridor waiting to devour Falco. alive. "So am I done doing this, for what?"

"Not done just yet," replied Fox, telling Ashley the worst kind of news that she wanted to hear. "We're gonna make the Organization regret ever showing their faces around these parts!"

It was time for karaoke at Omnis Adest, as many folks had the chance to humiliate themselves while singing (or in Bowser's case, blow everyone away with excellent singing skills). Donkey Kong, who was taking a break from moving in furniture, was trying his hand at karaoke.

"Coming out of my cage, and I've been doing just fine..." Donkey Kong sang as he read the lyrics off the screen, which was hard to do since the lyrics were scrolling so fast. "...hey, I can't keep up!"

"I'm not responsible for anyone's struggles," said the karaoke host, Athena, as Donkey Kong was only able to sing the first line of "Mr. Brightside". While the speed of the music remained the same, the scrolling lyrics weren't keeping up.

Athena: Everyone complained about singing slow songs, so I made the necessary changes to make people stop complaining. And yet they're still complaining!

"Boo! Pass the mic!" Bowser jeered at Donkey Kong, as he and Zeke were booing the gorilla. Ultimately, Donkey Kong gave up as he dropped the mic into the ground and stormed off.

"Watch it! This mic nearly cost me a fortune..." Athena scolded Donkey Kong as she picked up the mic, inspecting it before blowing the dust off. Had Donkey Kong broken that mic by accident, he would've been a dead man.

"These people got what they wanted with the 'slow songs,'" quipped Pac-Man, who was speaking with Klonoa as he got a laugh out of the Dream Traveller. Ganondorf soon approached Klonoa, tapping him on the shoulder.

"Don't mean to disturb you, but...an intruder is occupying your townhouse," Ganondorf quietly informed Klonoa, who stopped laughing as he looked up at the demon lord in disbelief.

"They what?" asked Klonoa, looking to give the intruder a piece of his mind. Why don't we check in and see who this intruder was?

The intruder was none other than Magolor, who was able to besiege Klonoa's townhouse since it had yet to have any furniture moved into it. Magolor was joined in the living room by Dimentio, who was checking out Klonoa's digs.

"Townhouse seems lovely, like a nice little picnic at a park on a summer day!" critiqued Dimentio, impressed with how the townhouse looked despite it lacking any furniture. "I tip my hat to the Carpenters."

"And so do I," said Magolor, about to one-up Dimentio as he looked to tip his hat physically. But he simply couldn't pull his hat off his head. "One day I'll get this hat off."

"Ah, I just forgot - I have one last matter to settle at the mansion. Mind if I make a quick return trip?" Dimentio hadn't been with Magolor that long, and he was already feigning to teleport away.

"Go if you must." Having Magolor's permission, Dimentio teleported away and Magolor sighed happily following Dimentio's departure. "That Dimentio, what an awesome guy he is..."

Meanwhile, at the mansion, Samus, X, and Penny were still scouring the stolen laptop to verify that everything on the hard drive remained unchanged. Arven, Nemona, and Mabosstiff were all serving as unwanted company.

"If that dumb mutt yawns one more time, I'm gonna punch him," said Samus, growing tired of Mabosstiff's constant yawning; Mabosstiff lying down close to Samus didn't help matters as much.

"Th-That's Pokemon abuse!" Arven pointed accusingly at Samus, in utter disbelief that anyone would even dare to harm his canine companion. "You lay a finger on Mabosstiff, and you're gonna get it!"

"Nemona, can you kindly tell Arven and his Mabosstiff to leave?" Penny asked the Pokemon trainer, finding Arven and Mabosstiff to be huge distractions. The only time Nemona bothered Penny was when her Rotom Phone went off.

"Wait, guys, I found something!" alerted X, who had scrolled to the bottom of the files explorer window and saw an untitled video file. The robot clicked on the file, opening up a new window.

"And the producers said that the laptop wasn't messed with," smirked Samus, as she and the others gathered around X to take a peek at the video that was about to play. "Let's see what we got here..."

The video played showed what appeared to be Dimentio's lair, with a large machine visible. The machine produced a portal, and two hooded figures floated out from it. A third individual, Zant, also floated out from the portal.

"Good work, boys!" Giovanni was heard speaking in the background, applauding the hooded figures for a job well done. "The time travel mission was a success."

"I wish my missions were a success..." said another voice, this one belonging to Gnasty, as one of the hooded figures fired a ball of energy at the Gnorc striking him off-screen. "...Ow, my sinuses!"

"Quiet, Mr. Gnorc...as I've said before, I do not want to hear about your past failures," said the hooded figure who fired the ball of energy, and it sounded like Dimentio. His voice was unmistakable.

"Yeah, you have nobody to blame but yourself," a third background voice said, and this one sounded like Rufus Shinra. "No one told you to go after the mansion, but you did it anyway just to 'prove your worth' to Dimentio."

"Leave him alone, Rufus..." the other hooded figure said to Rufus, this one speaking with a pronounced edginess. Samus and X were both unable to identify this individual. "...Gnasty will have a chance to prove his worth next year."

"Ah, yes, next year - that's when my revenge plan shall go into effect!" chirped Dimentio, unable to hold in his excitement - he was well past the stage of speaking his evil plans into existence.

"Better yet, we'll have Organization XIII on our side," added Zant, as the tantalizing intrigue of having the Organization on Dimentio's side was too hard to pass up. "We have Giovanni's machine to bring them into the fold."

"Thanks to that laptop that Boo stole, I got a sneak preview of what this Organization is capable of. Sadly, not all of the footage from the documentary's on there, but I made do with what I had..."

"Their leader will be a welcome addition to our coalition, that's for sure," remarked a fourth off-screen, as Astor was the one speaking. The footage was soon cut short, as a non-human hand went over the camera lens.

Samus: Now I see why the producers told us to look through that laptop - they wanted us to see that mysterious video. They probably want us to share that video with Master Hand, rather than doing it themselves. Those producers are nothing but cowards.

"Wow, Dimentio really went back in time?" marveled Nemona, as Dimentio was peeking through the creak in the door listening in. "So that's what he meant by he saw everything he wanted to see!"

"Whoever the other hooded guy was must be his right-hand man," assumed X, as Dimentio floated away from the door after he had heard enough. "Just what we needed..."

"I have a few right-hand men, to be honest," Dimentio quietly said as he was ready to make his return to Magolor. He couldn't let Magolor be lonely forever. "Off to the townhouse I..."

"Why is my mom calling me?" wondered Arven as he exited from the producers' room, as his Rotom phone was ringing. His frown turned upside down when he saw Dimentio, as he ran to him.

"Please leave me alone...return your mother's call, will you?" Dimentio could teleport away if he wanted to, but a well-mannered villain like him had to display a good demeanor.

"I finally figured it out! I know why you told me you're welcome." The way Arven was acting seemed to suggest that he discovered a new Pokemon species.

"Yes, yes, out with it...I don't have much time..." Dimentio had to vamoose before someone came down the hallway and saw him out in the open.

"The reason why you told me you're welcome was that...you gave me all that Herba Mystica! Made for some great sandwiches."

"Well, I'm glad that I was able to advance your culinary career. Major kudos to you, good sir." Not the kind of answer that Dimentio was anticipating, and it made him feel somewhat relieved.

"Everyone loves my sandwiches. Except for Andrew Oikonny, he's just a lousy hater. But if I recall, you gave me those herbs just to keep me quiet about..."

"Darn it! I've had just about enough of you. Go talk someone else's head off, leave mine intact. Ciao!" Reaching his boiling point with Arven, Dimentio teleported away for good as Arven had the biggest smile on his face.

"Arven? Who was that calling you?" Nemona ran out of the producers' room to ask Arven, who turned around at Nemona smiling from ear to ear. "Gah! And what's with that smile?"

"I did it...I GOT TO SPEAK WITH DIMENTIO!" Arven looked up to the heavens with his fists raised high, resisting the urge to cry in true Might Guy fashion. Nemona looked at Arven as she smiled.

"Y'know, I'm starting to think that the Herba Mystica is messing with your brain." Nemona went over to Arven and led the Pokemon trainer back to the producers' room, holding him by the shoulders. "Come on..."

Fox and Falco were both on high alert, as Organization XIII was slowly making their presence known in Omnis Adest. Ganondorf, who already told Klonoa about his townhouse being intruded upon, was told by Fox and Falco about the Organization members that they saw.

"One has a mullet, the other looks like that long-haired scientist who works under Ansem the Wise," Falco provided a brief description of Demyx and Vexen to Ganondorf, who they were chatting with in the middle of the street. "Have you seen them?"

"I've seen kids in black hoods, but not grown men," replied Ganondorf, massaging his temple as he felt a slight pain in that area. "One of the kids threw an empty can at my head as they passed by the front gates."

"That's what you get for having a huge noggin," muttered Ashley, who was forced to accompany Fox and Falco wherever they went. She was forbidden to leave the pilots without their permission first.

"Whoops, I almost forgot!" exclaimed Fox as he turned to Ashley, knowing that he couldn't leave Ganondorf alone without fulfilling one important task. "Ashley, do your impersonation for Ganondorf."

"Fine..." Ashley let out a deep sigh, as she did her Nico Nico Ni routine for Ganondorf but in an annoyed tone. "Nico-Nico-N, I'll nico nii your heart, I'm Yazawa Nico-Nico, and I'll put a smile in your heart."

"That was too phoned in, try again," Falco commanded Ashley, who growled at the avian pilot before kicking him in the shin. Falco yelped in pain. "You just got your pay docked, nice going!"

"She's still doing impersonations?" Mario asked Fox and Falco as he came over to speak with the pilots, fresh from his talk with Master Hand. "Ha! That'll teach ya to be a tattle tale, Ashley."

"Don't make me do it..." Ashely threatened Mario as her eyes were glowing red, sending chills down Mario's spine. A stern look from Fox made Ashley's eyes return to normal.

Ashley: Had a good talk with-a Master Hand. The Links and I had a good talk with-a Master Hand. Link and Zelda. Yes, "Link" is their surname. Look it up.

"Not sure if you heard, but Organization XIII's back," Fox informed Mario, who didn't expect the presumed return of Organization XIII to happen so soon. "Sent two of their weakest members here."

"They definitely look weak once you see them in person," Falco told Mario, viewing Demyx as the Organization's weak link; Vexen was seen as a weak link too by mere association.

"This news isn't on the same scale, but Klonoa's townhouse has been taken over," added Ganondorf, as the slight pain in his face lingered no matter how much he massaged his temple. "Door's locked, and I don't feel like doing any Warlock Punching today."

"What if these Organization members are the ones-a occupying it?" hypothesized Mario, who was right in thinking that Klonoa's townhouse was used as a meeting space of sorts. "I'd say we crash-a their party!"

"Excuse me, sir? I'm looking for people who are hiding from me," Pit said to Larry, who was speedwalking away from the angel. Mario watched Pit and Larry, stroking his chin in thought. "I've only found eight people so far."

"I can see why they would want to hide from you," responded Larry, who was unable to shake Pit off of his tail. Part of Pit wanted to check Larry's briefcase to see if anyone was hiding inside...or if it just had wads of cash.

"Think I've got a plan..." said Mario, still stroking his chin as Ashley gave looked at the plumber warily. "...and no, it doesn't involve-a you, Ashley."

Ness, Lucas, and Andrew were at the public bath, apparently on top of the roof. Ness and Lucas calmly stood by as they watched Andrew twisting his foot.

"This is next-level what I'm doing," Andrew explained to Ness and Lucas, who failed to see the fascination or the purpose of what the pilot was doing. "You will see once something happens."

"We've been waiting forever," stated Ness, the passing minutes feeling like hours to the PSI whiz. Homesickness was kicking in. "Wanna go back to the arcade and play Battletoads, Lucas?"

"No! No Battletoads! Soon you boys will appreciate my genius - and also be a part of it." Andrew had better make something happen real quick, or Ness and Lucas will abandon him regardless of what he said.

"I know you're not gonna check out the ladies without me!" said a certain fat penguin, as King Dedede climbed up the wall of the public bath and crawled onto the roof. Andrew was twisting his foot faster upon Dedede's arrival.

"We're not checking out any ladies," Lucas said to King Dedede, who took the PSI whiz's explanation as a smokescreen for Andrew's true intentions. King Dedede looked like he wanted to help out.

"Go away, Dedede! Can't you see that I'm trying to make a hole in the roof?!" Andrew shouted at King Dedede, his ankle getting sore from all the foot twisting. King Dedede was not a fan of Andrew's method and had a better solution in mind.

"You want a hole in the roof? I'll give you a hole in the roof! Move aside!" So King Dedede pushed Andrew out of the way, as he stood in the center of the roof. Andrew, Ness, and Lucas could only watch.

"King Dedede, no!" Ness yelled at the fat penguin, who floated up in the air; once Dedede got high enough, he took out his hammer and and fell down...

...and fell down through the roof, crashing unto the floor. Ness, Lucas, and Andrew fell down with Dedede, who found himself surrounded by a bunch of ladies - namely Noel Vermillion, Mai Natsume, Juna Crawford, Altina, Mio, Severa, Amy Rose, and a plethora of others.

"Hello, ladies," King Dedede cheekily grinned at the women who were all looking at him angrily. His presence was obviously unwanted, for obvious reasons.

"King Dedede?" Juna uttered the fat penguin's name, as she and several other ladies were covering themselves up. King Dedede was quick to see the women in the public bath were either incensed or embarrassed.

"Uh, it was an accident!" King Dedede was playing it cool, but it didn't stop Amy from grabbing him by the collar and pulling him close to her face. Amy wasn't the kind of girl you wanted to tick off.

"You got ten seconds to explain yourself!" Amy shouted in King Dedede's face, making sure to let Link and Zelda know about Dedede's trespassing. She and the other ladies wanted King Dedede to have it.

"Crashing through the roof? Some 'accident'..." Severa said to King Dedede, as the ladies were all getting their two cents in. Andrew and company, who had yet to be spotted, crept to the back wall unseen.

"We heard a loud crash, you ladies okay?" shouted Leon, arriving at the scene as he came down from a hallway. The champion had a towel around his waist, with several likewise men behind him.

"So this isn't an all-ladies public bath..." inferred Lucas, as he and Ness frowned and looked up at Andrew. Andrew laughed sheepishly, taking the fall.

Mega Man: The public bath was meant to be for females only, but then the men were thrown into the mix. Lloyd strongly advocated for this change despite him not being a part of this community.

"You won't believe it, King Dedede was peeping on us!" Mai explained to Leon as she pointed accusingly at King Dedede. Amy had rage building in her eyes as she stared King Dedede down.

"King Dedede, you really...?" Leon asked the fat penguin, who had tears welling in his eyes as he looked towards the champion of Galar. King Dedede felt as if Amy wanted to kill him.

"If he runs off and escapes, it's a silent confession," Noel said to Amy, effectively putting King Dedede in a lose-lose situation. "Might as well kill him now."

"With pleasure..." Amy snarled, pulling her Piko Piko Hammer from her imaginary pocket. Leon wished to intervene, but when the aggressor was a ticked-off Amy, it was wise to just back off like Andrew, Ness, and Lucas were doing.

"Hope you got what you wanted," Ness said to Andrew, who felt bad as Amy went absolutely ham on King Dedede. Now Dedede finally knew what was like to be on the receiving end of a giant hammer.

Tired of getting nowhere, Vexen and Demyx convened with Dimentio and Magolor at Klonoa's townhouse. The discouragement that Vexen felt was easily visible on his face.

"Our Superior will be most displeased with us," fretted Vexen, disappointed that he hadn't been able to find a single lick of intel all day. "If he hears the bad report about us..."

"This is not your burden to bear," Dimentio assured Vexen, going easy on him and Demyx since it was their first day on the job. "No bad report will be filed!"

"Woo hoo, I'm not in the doghouse!" cheered Demyx, who often found himself in the doghouse while he was a part of the fake Organization XIII. Even then, he was the group's weak link.

"Now all we have to do is wait on Gnasty Gnorc. Wonder what's taking him." Dimentio believed that he accidentally spoke Gnasty into existence, as he heard the doorbell ring. "Demyx, get the door!"

So Demyx went to the front door, ready to let Gnasty inside the townhouse (and help him through the front door, only if necessary). When Demyx opened the door, he was greeted by a man in a business suit. Larry.

"Hello, I am Larry," Larry introduced himself to Demyx, perplexing the Nobody by how plain and boring he looked. Almost to the point of parody. "Would you like this free briefcase?"

"Uh, sure thing, pal! Thanks!" replied Demyx, accepting the briefcase from Larry without even questioning why the gym leader was giving out briefcases for free. The nobody slammed the door in Larry's face, before returning to Dimentio.

"Briefcase must be heavy," assumed Magolor, as Demyx had a noticeable struggle in carrying the briefcase and placing it on the floor. The doorbell rang again, much to Demyx's chagrin.

"This guy..." Demyx returned to the front door and opened it...and was greeted by a new visitor, in Pit. Demyx had a momentary flashback of the angel.

"Hey!" Pit happily greeted Demyx, before throwing hands with the Nobody as he threw several punches at him. None of Pit's punches landed, but Demyx fended himself from the angel's attacks as he backed away.

"Don't just block his punches - fight back!" Vexen commanded Demyx, only to notice that the briefcase on the floor was moving about. Out from the briefcase sprung Mario, who jumped out and stuck the landing.

"It's-a me, Mario!" Mario said his classic greeting, before whipping out his FLUDD and dousing Vexen with water. Vexen screamed as he held his arms over his face to protect himself from the watery blast.

Cappy: Probably can't speak for Mario, but I was suffocating in that briefcase! I had no room to breathe!...How do I breathe, you ask? Why is that even a question?

"Yup...this has been the theme all day," Magolor explained to Dimentio, who was silently observing Mario and Pit taking the Organization members to town. "Sorry that you have to see this."

"It's fine - these two are reserve members for a reason," responded Dimentio, understanding that the usefulness of Vexen and Demyx wasn't particularly high compared to other Organization members. "We shall convene outside the apartments...sans the reserves."

"Alright then - I'll just leave before I get my face punched in." So Magolor rushed out through the front door while it remained open, while Dimentio teleported away with ease. Meanwhile, Mario kept firing water at Vexen till he was all out.

"I've had just about enough of this miscreancy!" seethed a soaked Vexen, summoning a dark corridor as he looked to leave Omnis Adest altogether. Today just wasn't his day. "Demyx?"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" whined Demyx, finally getting away from Pit as he entered the dark corridor. Vexen was about to enter the corridor himself, but not before having some parting words for both Mario and Pit.

"Have to admit, you are a very hardy group of individuals...with a few minor exceptions," Vexen said to Mario and Pit, looking especially at the latter who was digging through his ear. "But you better look out for Dimentio. Five years kept away in Subspace is sure to brew revenge!"

"No worries, we'll-a be ready," Mario assured Vexen, who cracked a smirk as he went through the dark corridor. The corridor was gone in an instant, as Vexen and Demyx were gone for good.

"Crazy to think that Even started his own Organization and agreed to work with Dimentio," remarked Pit, unsure of which revelation was more shocking. "Even" turning evil was nothing like Pit ever imagined.

"That clearly wasn't Even." One look at Vexen's eyes and Mario could easily tell that he was the Nobody of Even. "Now I wonder if Cloud has already dealt-a with our friend Gnasty..."

Spyro was originally playing hide-and-seek, but he left his hiding spot after he felt his "Gnasty Senses" tingling. Hunter didn't want to feel left out, so he left his hiding spot too as he accompanied Spyro.

"My Gnasty senses haven't left yet," Spyro said to Hunter, as he and his cheetah friend were on the prowl for Gnasty. Spyro knew for a fact that Gnasty was in Omnis Adest somewhere.

"You hear that music?" Hunter asked Spyro, hearing rap music coming from the karaoke scene. Spyro and Hunter ran to the crowd of people that were gathered around and saw Ryu...singing karaoke. With Chun-li in attendance.

"I'M THE REAL SLIM SHADY!" Ryu shouted into the microphone, as he was singing one of Eminem's most famous songs. The fighter was so into the groove, that he got carried away.

"Song's still going!" Athena reminded Ryu, who got back on track as he rapped the rest of the song. The crowd was into Ryu's performance, Chun-li included.

"He's not half bad," Bowser said to Chun-li, standing next to the fighter as he waited for his turn to sing. He wanted to make Ryu look sucky by comparison. "Though you should've heard him go full Busta Rhymes."

"I will admit, he gets a lot of my respect for..." Chun-li was about to give her props to Ryu, only to furrow her brow and look at Bowser. "...I beg your pardon?"

"Thought the real Slim Shady played for the Philadelphia Eagles," Hunter said to Spyro, who was barely listening as he was entranced by the unbelievable sight of Ryu rapping. "Or was it the Buffalo Bills? Gotta check the Internet again."

"Who cares, this is amazing!" exclaimed Spyro, as Ryu did a mic drop - only to pick the mic back up after seeing that he had more lyrics to sing. "Kinda wish that this will never end."

Unfortunately for Spyro and many others, the fun did end as Gnasty crashed through the karaoke machine, toppling it over in the process. The music stopped, as the crowd booed Gnasty.

"No, please, spare me!" Gnasty pleaded as he backed away from the person that chased him around, Cloud. Cloud was armed with his Buster Sword, standing atop the karaoke machine as he towered over Gnasty.

"Look, it's Cloud Strife! Here to save the day!" exclaimed Zeke, as the crowd was cheering in an instant; Cloud saw Zeke from the corner of his eye as he shook his head in dismay.

"Told you to stop calling me by my full name," muttered Cloud, momentarily distracted from putting the hurt on Gnasty. Gnasty, seeing how much the crowd was into it, stood up and whipped out his club.

"How about we give these people what they want?" Gnasty asked Cloud, looking to defeat the swordsman in front of his many supporters. "Bring it on, spiky hair! Show me what you got!"

"You ruffian, that's my nickname for Strife!" Zeke frowned at Gnasty, who struck first as he swung his club at Cloud. Cloud fought back with his Buster Sword, as he and Gnasty clashed their weapons against one another.

"You got this, Cloud!" a woman called out to the swordsman from the crowd, and it wasn't Aerith...rather, it was Tifa. Cloud saw Tifa and smirked, only for Gnasty to overpower him.

"Letting that girlie distract you...way to leave yourself open!" Gnasty sneered at Cloud, exerting his strength and might over the swordsman. So far, Gnasty had the advantage.

"Hey, stink breath - nice boxers!" Spyro called out to Gnasty, whose underwear was exposed as the crowd was laughing at him. Gnasty turned around at Spyro momentarily, as Cloud overpowered Gnasty.

"Now I have the upper hand," Cloud said to Gnasty, as the odds were turning in his favor. Gnasty tried to suppress Cloud, but the Buster Sword was putting up a lot of resistance.

"Just a little more, Cloud - hang in there!" Big the Cat encouraged Cloud, and his words gave the swordsman enough strength to completely overpower Gnasty and make him drop his club. With Gnasty defenseless, Cloud crossed up the Gnorc with his sword.

"Atta boy, Cloud!" Gex commended the swordsman, who received plenty of cheers for his heroics. Gnasty was the loser in the fight, but he was able to pick himself up and grab his club.

"This isn't over...not by a long shot!" Gnasty vowed to Cloud, who looked ready for round two; Gnasty then looked towards Spyro, seething. "I'll be back..." And in true Gnasty fashion, Gnasty ran off.

"We got plenty of more butt whoopings for ya, so come back whenever you feel like it!" Spyro called out to Gnasty, hoping that he wasn't seeing the last of the Gnorc...for his own selfish reasons. With Gnasty taken care of, Cloud got a good crowd response.

"Bravo, Cloud, bravo," Gex applauded Cloud, as he stood with Big, Cream, Tharja, Henry, Funky Kong, Bandanna Waddle Dee, and Kicks - all members of Cloud's misfit family. All were also members of Omnis Adest.

"Thanks for the motivation," Cloud offered his thanks to Gex and company, knowing that they were cheering the hardest. Tifa smiled at Cloud as she walked away from the crowd.

"Look who's smiling again," Spyro said to his dragonfly companion Sparx, catching a glimpse of Tifa smiling. A full 180 from how Tifa acted before.

Gnasty ran as far away from Omnis Adest as he could, before coming to a stop to take a breather. He made a very convenient stop as he stopped at a tree where Dimentio and Magolor were gathered.

"Impeccable timing, Gnasty Gnorc!" Dimentio said to the Gnorc, who straightened up a bit when he saw who was speaking to him. "Magolor and I were just talking about today's..."

"I know, it wasn't the best," said a self-reflective Gnasty, knowing that he and Magolor really let Dimentio down. "I got chased around by Cloud, and the Organization members weren't much help."

"To be fair, those were the reserves. The Organization will supply me...I mean, us, with stronger members in the weeks and months ahead."

"Be honest - did we let you down?" Magolor asked Dimentio, able to handle the truth no matter how hard it stung. Any disappointment that Dimentio had, Magolor wanted to take the brunt of it.

"We do not know yet what the purpose of Omnis Adest is, so yes, today was a failure. Taking our mission in November into account, this is your second warning, Magolor."

"And what if I get a third warning?" Magolor gulped nervously, for he kind of knew what the answer was but wanted to ask just to make sure.

"Simple - we boot you from our group. Our coalition, which is what I've started calling ourselves. You will be easily replaced. Do I make myself clear?"

"Y-Yes sir! I won't let you down!" Magolor saluted Dimentio, shaking with fear as he hoped to give the jester his best. Having Magolor's word, Dimentio floated away from the alien and was...smiling.

"One more strike and you're out..." One more strike meant that Magolor had to deliver the next time - or he was out of the coalition for good.

With the bad guys no longer at Omnis Adest, Klonoa was freely able to move into his townhouse. Cloud stood outside Klonoa's townhouse, watching Klonoa hanging out with Pac-Man through the screen door.

"He should have enough time to settle," Cloud had this to say about Klonoa, before turning around and walking away. But seconds after he did that, he ran into Tifa.

"Hi," Tifa greeted Cloud, wanting to have a quick little chat with the swordsman. "You did great out there, handling Gnasty Gnorc."

"It was nothing; he was so easily scared. Wasn't until he heard the crowd cheering for me that he decided to man up."

"He wasn't that much of a coward! Well, unless you want to include the part where he ran away after you kicked his butt."

"Running seems to be what he does best. Guess that's a unique ability most cowards got to have."

"I'll say." Tifa giggled, and Cloud could only smirk as it was the best that he could do. Once she was done, Tifa remembered what she wanted to speak with Cloud about. "There's something that I wanted to tell you, Cloud..."

"Alright, Master Hand, this is your chance," Link said to the giant hand, who was brought to Cloud by the Hylian and Zelda. "Out with it."

Zelda: We gave Master Hand no choice in the matter. He has to get back on the same page with Cloud. He doesn't follow through on it, Link and I step down from our roles of authority. His choice.

"Okay then..." mumbled Master Hand, doing a brief inhale and exhale as he focused his attention on Cloud. "...so Cloud, I know that we have been at odds with each other."

"You have been at odds with me, you mean," clarified Cloud, who harbored little to no ill will towards Master Hand. "I did nothing to upset you except accidentally let Dimentio free."

"Yes, I know...and your 'accident' was why I was so upset. I know what Dimentio is capable of doing, and the scope of his evil plotting knows no bounds."

"And you punished me by throwing me into some town in Oregon? And you build these apartments and townhouses, all for what?"

"To put an end to Dimentio, in any way possible. The more bad guys he has under his belt, the more lethal he becomes. He could bring back Organization XIII, for all we know..."

"He seems like the kind of guy to pull it off. If he gets a hold of all the Heartless, Nobodies, and Unversed...we'd never stand a chance."

"Exactly - which was one of the reasons for starting Omnis Adest. When Yuri encountered Dimentio on Thanksgiving, Doc Louis gave him the low down - telling him every detail about Dimentio that needed to be told."

"Wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy, being talked to by Doc Louis...so what happened after that?"

"Yuri then shared what he learned with Byleth and Beleth, with the Garreg Mach students in attendance. Every student expressed a desire to take down Dimentio, and the professors took that up with me. And thus..."

"...Omnis Adest was born." Everything was coming to light, as Cloud gained the intel that Magolor and friends had been searching for.

"Obviously, we don't know how big Dimentio's forces will be in the long run, which was why I invited many old friends to this community to help prepare for any possible threat. Hopefully, they won't stop by the mansion too much...we may have to lay down some house rules."

"You might have to. Just don't expect everyone to adhere to them, there's always a rule breaker or two."

"Also your, erm, 'family' was suggested by Anna to move in...they were last-minute additions."

"I'll have to thank her later. Speaking of them, you're still not angry with how I returned, are you?" This was what Cloud desired to know about the most.

"I was angry...but Mario, Link, and Zelda told me to start acting like the creator of the Smash universe. And no creator of any universe should act childish."

"Still think that he's only a creator in name," Link whispered to Zelda, never believing for even a second that Master Hand held the title. He always kept his doubts to himself.

"So, Cloud, I must apologize for how I've acted in the past. I promise not to fling you into some Oregon town or whatever, as long as we work together. That is the purpose of Omnis Adest."

"I'd say that was a thoughtful apology," remarked Cloud as he extended his hand to Master Hand for a rather lopsided handshake, "Your hand is too big, but let's shake on it."

"Shake on it, we shall!" So Master Hand shook hands with Cloud, as what was in the past was in the past. It was time to focus on the present and the future. "Promise I'll never stoop that low again."

"Got Master Hand to act accordingly, nicely done," a certain movie star said to Link and Zelda, as Twintelle passed by witnessing the handshake. She knew that Link and Zelda were responsible.

"Took us a while, but we got him to have a change of heart," replied Zelda, as Master Hand and Cloud were back on the same page - together. "Some old dogs can be taught new tricks."

"I see. Though I wouldn't classify Master Hand as an old dog." Twintelle looked down the sidewalk and saw King Dedede bruised and battered with not one, but two black eyes. "What happened to you?"

"Crashed through the wrong side of the public bath," replied King Dedede, leaving Twintelle to speculate which side he crashed through while his Waddle Dee minions trailed behind him. "I'm never helping Andrew Oikonny again..."

Omnis Adest...any idea what that translates to?