Author's Note:
As you already know by now, I am no stranger when it comes to covering the Life is Strange series in this story. So when I found out that a Life is Strange 2 port was coming to the Switch this week, I immediately jumped on the opportunity to showcase the main characters from the game in this chapter. Bear in mind, though, that this chapter does contain spoilers, so please read at your own discretion. Now to answer a few reviews first is...Just wanna ask:
"Is my boy Susukichi one of the apartment residents? Him and Tsugumi? Idk, just had a random thought."
Good question! Characters from The World Ends With You series may be revealed as apartment residents at a later date. You'll just have to wait and see if Susukichi and Tsugumi made the cut. Guy w the Jokes has a question about Tekken:
"...Tekken 8 is coming (not on the Switch, of course), and apparently Jun is there. Does that mean Jun can appear in Smash Life, maybe trying to stop whatever the hell Kazuya is planning?"
I did promise that Jun Kazama will appear in this story. A Jun appearance is definitely in the cards. Now for the joke:
"What's the difference between the Mafia and the IRS? At least the Mafia gave you protection after you pay. Screw the IRS!"
"Screw the IRS?" Is Guy w the Jokes actually Yoshi in disguise?! I'm kidding. David's got questions:
"Are the True Organization XIII going to pull a Weirdmageddon as part of the finale? Are you still gonna do a "Not What He Seems" chapter before that? Is the Vanitas Remnant gonna pop up after Vanitas is defeated? Will the Wayfinder Trio mentor Sora, Kairi, and Riku in time for the battle? And finally, what did you like or dislike about the 2023 Royal Rumble?"
The true Organization XIII won't pull any Weirdmageddon shenanigans. I may have stated in the past that I won't do a "Not What He Seems" chapter, since I can't find the right characters to execute it properly. The Vanitas Remnant won't pop up. The Wayfinder Trio will mentor Sora and his friends. And what I liked about this year's Royal Rumble? Cody Rhodes winning the men's Rumble and Sami Zayn turning against the Bloodline. What I disliked was how fast some of the Rumble eliminations were. So many dudes were in the ring for less than five minutes before getting eliminated...including Brock Lesnar! BROCK LESNAR! Last is An NFL Fan:
"It's official. Super Bowl LVII will be a battle between the Eagles and the Chiefs. Hurts vs. Mahomes. Philadelphia vs. Kansas City. Philly's 1st Super Bowl since 2018, and KC's 3rd in the last 4 years. So, another Kermit appearance is guaranteed. Can't wait to see who you're going to pick to accompany him. And I guess you're gonna combine the Super Bowl chapter with Valentine's Day again."
Kermit will be making his THIRD February trip to the mansion, which is unprecedented when you think about it. And yeah, I'm gonna combine the Super Bowl chapter with Valentine's Day. How dare you, NFL, for tacking on another week to the regular season! When will your constant greed ever end?
Episode 372: Mexico
Best friends Max Caulfield and Chloe Price came through for Cloud when it mattered the most. Not only did they try and keep Cloud relatively sane when he was in Arcadia Bay, but they also played a pivotal role and getting the swordsman welcomed back to the mansion.
Master Hand, grateful to Max and Chloe for making him have a change of heart in regards to Cloud, extended an offer to have the best friends live at Omnis Adest. (Mainly since Cloud's "family" was a part of the community.) Max had parents who lived in Seattle, so she accepted the offer to be closer to her mom and dad. Chloe accepted the offer just to get away from her abhorred stepdad.
Helping Max and Chloe move into their apartment was the duo of Mario and Sonic, along with their friends Spyro, Hunter, Tails, and Knuckles. Silver the Hedgehog was added to the group as a last-minute addition because Tails couldn't be trusted to do any heavy lifting.
"Watch out!" shouted Tails, who was carrying a sofa by himself only to drop the piece of furniture on Knuckles' foot. Knuckles bit his bottom lip, holding in his scream as Tails removed the sofa.
"You know, you could've asked me for help," Silver said to Tails, while he was setting up the TV in the living room. Knuckles screamed in pain as he ran out through the front door, past the entering Max and Chloe.
"For the record, we probably won't be using that TV for much," Max informed Silver, who had just finished plugging all the TV cords into the wall. "Except maybe for YouTube."
"See? Told you that $1,300 was a waste," Silver said to Mario, who was standing on a ladder as he hung a clock on the living room wall. Mario only purchased the clock because he thought it looked cute.
"They may change-a their minds eventually," Mario assured Silver, only to suddenly lose his footing on the ladder after he was done hanging up the clock. "Sonic, I'm falling! Save-a me!"
"Save what?" asked Sonic, slacking off on his job while eating a chili dog. Mario fell face-first unto the floor, and Sonic later shrugged as he continued eating his chili dog.
Chloe: It's pretty neat that we get to live in a large community with so many cool people. Guess that being acquainted with Cloud for a couple of weeks has its perks. But you know what's even better? I get to be away from my stupid stepdad. I address him by many names - step-troll, step-dork, and step-Fuhrer (that one's my favorite). Gotta feel bad for my mom; she has no one else to live with under her roof but him. Bummer.
"Hey Mario, we got the microwave," announced Ike as he and Micaciah entered the apartment, with Micaciah holding a box with a microwave inside. "Want us to put it in the kitchen?"
"On the counter..." replied Mario, voice muffled by the floor, as he pointed his finger to show where Ike and Micaiah should go. Ike and Micaiah went to the kitchen, bringing the microwave with them.
"Don't know about you, but I would love to square up with Dimentio," remarked Chloe, while her Max wanted nothing to do with Dimentio after her one and only encounter with him. "Max and I scared him away."
"He left us alone because we were bothering him too much," stated Max, giving everyone a more accurate account of what happened during the encounter. Chloe frowned at her friend for hurting her credibility.
Max: Ever since she first stepped foot on Omnis Adest, Chloe's been going around bragging to everyone about how she got the best of Dimentio. You'd think that she killed him like how Iron Man did Thanos the way she's been running her mouth. All she did was throw rocks at his head.
"Pfft, that's nothing," snorted Ike, overhearing Chloe as he stepped out of the kitchen as he had something to say about Chloe's claim. "My man Soren fought Dimentio with his bare hands!"
"Soren fought Dimentio with his bare hands?" Tails questioned Ike, who dared not to question the fallacy of his newest tall tale. Ike was more concerned about solidifying Soren's Chuck Norris status.
"You betcha! Soren described to me in perfect detail - Dimentio was like, 'No, Soren, please don't hurt me! I'm a good guy!' And then Soren said to him, 'You can't fool me, you smiley freak! Prepare to die!' And that's when Dimentio..."
"I think you need to cool it with the stories," Micaiah advised Ike, as she had gotten tired of the tall tales just like everyone else. "Also, why did you give Soren a macho voice?"
"Because it's my own way of building him up." Not a fan of that reason, Micaiah furrowed her brow as she looked skeptically at Ike. "IT'S MY OWN WAY OF BUILDING HIM UP!"
"And you gave Dimentio a soft voice on top of that..." In all fairness, Dimentio did have a soft voice that befitted his personality.
"Need a first-aid kit?" Sonic asked Mario, wondering why the plumber hadn't jumped back up on his feet as he would usually do. The lack of response concerned Sonic, who took Mario's car keys out of his pocket. "I'll go grab that first-aid kit from your car. Be right back!"
"Forget the first-a aid kid...get the instruction booklet," uttered Mario, right before Sonic could speed out of the front door like the Flash. "...it's for the microwave."
"Why is the instruction booklet for the microwave out of the...know what, I'm not even gonna question it." Sonic shook his head, as he held unto Mario's car keys and sped out of the apartment.
Mario's car was parked outside the gate that led to Omnis Adest, as Sonic was inside the car looking for an instruction booklet. The blue hedgehog eventually found it lying on the floor near the backseat.
"How did he get grease on it...?" pondered Sonic as he analyzed the cover of the microwave instruction booklet, before closing the car door. Sonic then locked Mario's car with the car keys, as he was about to return to Max and Chloe's apartment. Until...
"So yes, I am fairly familiar him those brothers," Meta Knight said to a young woman, as Sonic turned his head and was transfixed by the conversation. "Met them during my first visit at a la isolated community."
"A la isolated community? That's one way to call it," the young woman responded, unaware of Sonic creeping towards her and Meta Knight to hear the conversation better.
"The younger one was a sweetheart, but the older brother was rude. He called me a shorty! You have no idea how offensive that is to a man of my stature."
"Sup Meta Knight, who's your new friend?" Sonic asked the Star Warrior, hoping that he wasn't interrupting the conversation too much. Meta Knight was about to badmouth Sonic but saved his breath for later.
"This is Lyla Park; I had a chance encounter with her a few years ago. It was during one of my holiday dealings at a la isolated community. She is a very buena lady."
"A very buena lady? Now you're speaking like one of those guys from the neighborhood." A very buena lady was way better than being called a very mala one.
"What can I say, it's not hard to pick up on their lingo...anyway, Lyla and I were just talking about an old friend of hers. Sean Diaz."
"I used to hang out with Sean a lot, but then his dad got murdered," Lyla explained to Sonic, recalling how shaken up Sean's neighborhood was when his dad was shot by the police. "Sean and his brother Daniel have been on the run ever since."
"That sucks. Where do you think they ran off to?" asked Sonic, fully interested in hearing more about the Diaz brothers. Two brothers running from the law was always a fascinating story.
"I dunno...Mexico, I guess. That's where Sean's family is from." Taking Lyla's word for it, Sonic nodded his head as if he had a master plan up his sleeve.
"Would hate to be down in Mexico at this point in time," commented Meta Knight, only to notice Sonic slowly backing away. "Leaving so soon, Sonic?"
"Just forgot, I was supposed to give Mario this instruction booklet," replied Sonic as he held up the instruction booklet for Meta Knight to see. "Uh, nice chat!" The blue hedgehog sped away from Meta Knight and Lyra, although he didn't enter Omins Adest curiously enough.
"Wait a minute, that's the instruction booklet for the microwave that Mairo promised to give me! He's giving that appliance away?" Meta Knight was very much beside himself, as Lyra giggled.
Meta Knight: Mario promised to get me my own personal microwave since I'm too short to use the one in the kitchen. We had a deal! I have been betrayed...
Sonic: Dang, that Lyra chick must really miss Sean a lot. I saw her get emotional when she was talking about the dude! Were they boyfriend and girlfriend? Did they have feelings for each other? Kinda leaning towards yes. Either way, it would be cool to see them reunited...maybe I can make it happen!
Link's favorite football teams were the Philadelphia Eagles and the Minnesota Vikings. The Eagles recently reached the Super Bowl - so naturally, Link was the happiest man in Seattle. In fact, the Hylian was so happy that he even considered not doing any work until the day of the Super Bowl. Fortunately, Zelda got her husband back in line.
When the Eagles reached the Super Bowl five years ago, Link was acting super gung-ho about his team. This time around, with him as the man of the mansion, Link was a lot more "out there" in regard to his Eagles fandom. How much so? Let's take a peek at the living room, which the party planning committee was instructed to decorate for the Super Bowl party.
"Needs some more green," Link said to Rosalina, overseeing the mother of Lumas as she was decorating the living room with green...and nothing but green. Totally not like there was another team playing in the Super Bowl.
"Link, this living room is ninety-five percent green," Travis informed the Hylian, as he just got through hanging up an Eagles banner above the windows. "What about red and gold for the Kansas City Chiefs?"
"There is no such thing as a genuine Chiefs fan anymore - all of them are bandwagoners. But we can add in the Chiefs stuff after you're done with all this."
"But we won't have any room left..." stated Palutena, failing to see any available space in the living room with how totally decked out it was. Could things get any more out of hand?"
"Link, I put on the jersey just like you asked," said Lucario as he entered the living room, bringing a Braviary with him. The Braviary was wearing an Eagles jersey, which made the party planning committee either roll their eyes or groan.
"Wrong jersey - Nick Foles doesn't play for the Eagles anymore." The number 9 jersey was a huge turn-off for Link, although that jersey did have a lot of sentimental value behind it. "But I can see where your line of thinking was coming from."
"But it's just a jersey. The man won your team their only Super Bowl!" But Link couldn't care less, as he pointed outwards and made Lucario change out the jersey. Lucario groaned as he left. "Wait right here, Braviary..."
Lucario: Link thinks that because one of his teams made it to the Super Bowl, he has the right to boss people around and do what he wants. As bad as he is, it was nothing compared to when the New York Giants reached the big game back when Mario was in charge. Mario literally forced everyone to wear a Giants jersey as "support"; the best part was when he and Link got into it.
"Top of the afternoon, Lucario," Cassidy tipped his hat to Lucario as he crossed paths with the aura Pokemon, with Lucario hardly acknowledging his presence. Wondering why Lucario was in such a mood, Cassidy pressed forward as he entered the living room.
"These green balloons are too light," criticized Link, not a fan of the light green balloons that were in the living room. "Eagles' primary color is midnight green, people - midnight green!"
"Well if you care so much, then why don't you do the balloons instead?" Rosalina frowned at Link, increasingly bothered by how bossy the Hylian was. Cassidy watched the exchange unfold, amused by how Link was taking charge.
"Someone's pretty excited about the big game," smirked Cassidy, as Link took notice of the gunslinger and gasped. Link took out his Master Sword, pointing it at Cassidy who held his hands up in innocence.
"You must be a Cowboys fan, aren't you?" Link asked Cassidy, assuming him to be a Cowboys fan because of his motif. He was paranoid that Cassidy only showed up just to besmirch his precious Eagles.
"Woah! Who said anything about bringing a sword to a gunfight?" Yosuke with his new ninja sword would have something to say about that. "Also, I'm not that impartial to the Cowboys. They're not exactly my cup of tea."
"Okay then, I'll believe you...for now." Half-trusting Cassidy, Link continued to stare down at the gunslinger as he put his Master Sword away. "So, what do you want if you didn't come here to rag on the Eagles?"
"The top brass of Overwatch wants you at the watchpoint. Discuss some contingency plans and all that important stuff." That's when Link recalled the meeting that he and Zelda were supposed to have with Winston and the other Overwatch operatives.
"Oh yeah, that meeting is today! Tell them that I'll join them soon." Link couldn't leave for the watchpoint just yet, for he had unfinished business at the mansion - and that made Cassidy furrow his brow.
"Your lovely Princess Zelda's already at the meeting. I'd hate to be the one to tell her that..." Cassidy was soon interrupted, blindsided by a returning Lucario who had a new Eagles jersey.
"How about this one?" Lucario asked Link, holding up an Eagles jersey that had the number one on it. The jersey had the Link stamp of approval, as Link delivered a thumbs up.
"The Jalen Hurts jersey...now that's more like it!" replied Link, as Lucario tried to switch out the Foles jersey with the Hurts one. The Braviary was fighting back against Lucario, clawing the aura Pokemon repeatedly.
"Maybe he prefers the old jersey more," Cassidy suggested to Lucario, before turning to Link who was trying not to look in the gunslinger's direction. "We'll be seeing you, Link...hopefully."
"I'll be there before five o'clock," vowed Link, although he didn't say that with a vote of confidence. Cassidy tipped his hat, as he left.
Pit was out and about, delivering coffee to folks in Omnis Adest who requested it. One person who placed an order was Silver the Hedgehog, who wanted a cup of joe to get Mario an energy boost. That nasty fall Mario took from the top of the ladder nearly took the fight out of him.
"C'mon, Mario, drink up!" Pit encouraged Mario, who was sitting against the wall with a big red mark on his face. Mario looked like he was in pain and was trying to hide the fact.
"I told you, I don't care for caramel coffee," said Mario, only for Pit to push the coffee closer to his face. The plumber pushed Pit away. "Get that crap out of my face!"
"That's a lie, I literary saw you drink caramel coffee the other day," stated Spyro, only to be shushed by Mario; Pit pushed the coffee onto Mario a second time, only to be pushed away yet again.
"I don't need-a any coffee, I'm fine." Mario tried to stand up on his feet, only to wince in pain and sit back down on the floor. "That was a cramp-a unrelated to my injury."
"Ha! He admits to being injured!" exclaimed Silver as he pointed at Mario, whose eyes went wide as he covered his mouth. Mario couldn't hide it any longer. "Now you have to drink that coffee."
"We can do this the easy way...or the hard way," Pit told Mario in a threatening tone, looking mean as he took out a funnel. Not trusting Pit to use the funnel properly, Mario took the caramel coffee and drank it.
"Better now?" Hunter asked Mario, who after drinking the coffee was able to stand up on his own without any trouble. Maro got his energy back. "Now was that so hard?"
"Guess not. The coffee really gave-a me the boost that I...AH, CRAMP!" Mario felt a muscle cramp in his leg, as he fell down to the floor holding his right leg.
"Looks like he's still injured," assumed Pit, as Mario was rolling on the floor writhing in pain. Mario was hollering, and yet no one wanted to come to his aid.
Pit: Yeah, I surrendered my laptop to the buddy cops, but I'm not sweating it. Lady Palutena already put on parental restrictions. *snorts*
"Sorry I was late, Mario - here's your instruction booklet," said Sonic as he zipped inside the apartment, tossing the booklet unto Mario's cramping leg. The manual barely did much in intensifying the pain.
"And where have you been?" Tails asked Sonic, more concerned about his best friend's whereabouts than Mario's current condition. Mario might be having something worse than a cramp, and Tails would still fail to call 9-1-1.
"I, uh, had to go make an important call. Would you look at that, I can hear my phone ringing! Must be getting a callback." Sonic was acting rather suspicious, as he tiptoed away from Tails and company before hightailing out of the apartment.
"That's weird, I don't hear anything," remarked Hunter, digging through his ear with his finger while Tails looked on with a distraught face. "Cleaned out all of the ear wax yesterday..."
"Yeah...and you left that earwax on the bed that I sleep in," responded Spyro, who threw his bed in the washing machine for two cycles as a safety measure. "Can't use the full trash can as an excuse, it was your turn to take it out anyway."
Aside from Max and Chloe, there were a few other familiar faces moving into Omnis Adest. For instance, there was the dragon-type gym leader from Galar, Raihan, who was bringing his swag and selfie-talking skills across the pond. Raihan was chatting with Meta Knight outside Omnis Adest.
"The Pokemon League allowed me to take up residence here," Raihan explained to Meta Knight, looking forward to hanging out with Leon and potentially challenging him to a Pokemon battle or two. "Melony took my place as the eighth gym leader."
"A good call to give that spot to a Pokemon trainer who takes their job seriously," muttered Meta Knight, unnerved as Raihan took out his Rotom phone and began taking selfies. The fact that Raihan took his selfies with his tongue out irked Meta Knight even more.
"Meta Knight!" Sonic called out to Meta Knight as he sped up to the Star Warrior, while Raihan kept himself preoccupied with his constant flurry of selfies. "That Lyra chick, where did she run off to?"
"She didn't run off anywhere...she simply went home." Hearing that made Sonic snap his fingers in disgust, as Raihan took notice of the blue hedgehog and smiled with delight.
"Sonic the Hedgehog, care to join me for a selfie?" an inviting Raihan offered to Sonic, fully expecting the blue hedgehog to answer yes. Sonic made a face that implied he wanted to say yes and no at the same time.
"No thanks, I'm not that photogenic," answered Sonic, but that didn't stop Raihan from kneeling down and wrapping his arm around Sonic as he took a selfie. The flash nearly blinded Sonic's eyes.
"You don't look so photogenic to me!" Raihan took a peek at the selfie and was left satisfied with the result. "Thank you for your service, Mr. Hedgehog."
Raihan: I haven't forgotten - I'm still determined to get a selfie of every person that's in the mansion. Luckily I got Leia Rolando and the Hearts siblings before they left. Kazuya Mishima's still a holdout, that jerk. But today, my mission has received an upgrade...my new goal is to take a selfie with every person in Omnis Adest. I'll have enough selfies to put together a best-selling memory scrapbook.
"Seriously, what do you need to see Lyra for?" Meta Knight asked Sonic, as Raihan took yet another selfie only to notice Ingrid of the Blue Lions walking by. Raihan had the biggest grin on his face.
"I dunno - not like I'm taking a trip down to Mexico or anything," Sonic replied with a shrug, as Raihan chased after Ingrid. Ingrid saw Raihan and screamed as she ran from the gym leader.
"A trip down to Mexico? You're not gonna look for those Diaz brothers, are you?" With how Sonic was digging his hands into his imaginary pockets and looking to the side, the answer was obvious.
"Just wanted to speak with Lyra before making the trip. Guess I'll surprise her then." And with that, Sonic sped off, as a helpless Meta Knight looked on.
"That Sonic...he has no idea how dangerous it is across the border." Meta Knight would know - he was tapped into the current affairs of Mexico, and couldn't imagine a guy like Sonic lasting a single day in that country. Let alone an hour.
"One selfie, let me take just one selfie with you!" Raihan begged Ingrid, as he chased the noblewoman around the Omnis Adest entrance. He wasn't doing himself any favors with that kind of behavior.
Contrary to what Tails believed (and what you might believe), Sonic did have to make an important call before giving Mario that instruction booklet. He called Fox, whom he met with at the Star Records room along with Falco. There, Sonic told his plan to the pilots in full with Lavenza at his side.
"So let me get this straight...you want us to fly you to Mexico?" Fox questioned Sonic, thinking that it was pretty dangerous in Mexico - too many cartels for Fox's liking. But Mexico was only dangerous if you didn't know your way around.
"Yeah, what's the worse that could happen?" Sonic asked the pilots, who both had plenty of stories to justify their decision not to go to Mexico. Some of which may or may not be true.
"For one, we could be accused of groping some woman," Falco provided an example, unable to imagine the legal fallout from such an accusation. "And then have our identity mistaken for the guy who actually did it."
"True story, allegedly," Fox said to Sonic as he nodded his head; if that groping story was as real as Fox and Falco claimed, then they should be listing names.
"Well, we're not going to Mexico to grope people," assured Lavenza, who would be sure to keep the boys in line as she was making the trip across the border. "We are looking for a pair of brothers."
"The Diaz Brothers - Sean and Daniel," said Sonic, as Fox and Falco both wondered why they were supposed to care about this brotherly duo. "Used to live in this city."
"A young woman by the name of Lyla Park knows them. Sonic wishes to reunite Lyla with the Diaz brothers since he assumes that Lyla misses them dearly."
"She mainly misses the older one more, Sean. So are you in or not?" Sonic was driving a hard bargain with Fox and Falco, willing to guilt trip them into answering yes if it ever came to that.
"Mexico seems pretty dangerous these days," replied Fox as he thought over his decision - a decision that Falco would mostly cling to since he hardly ever thought for himself. "If we were to fly you to Mexico...we'll need a fall guy."
"Ooh, ooh, I can be your fall guy!" volunteered Big Top as he was sitting atop the Star Records desk, dying to be useful and involved one day. All that time sitting atop the desk was damaging to his psyche.
"Preferably anyone besides him," Falco told Sonic as he pointed at Big Top, who moaned in sadness. Big Top's chance at being special would have to wait another day.
"One fall guy, coming right up!" exclaimed Sonic as he sped out of the Star Records room; Lavenza followed after the blue hedgehog, willing to offer assistance for Sonic if she was needed.
"I personally hope he goes with Slippy," Fox said to Falco as he stifled his laughter, with Falco smiling in amusement over how funny that would be. "We could leave him behind and not bat an eye."
"Imagine him getting instigated by a drug cartel," snickered Falco, and that's when the pilots both started laughing. Big Top, who so desperately wished to be included, laughed along with the pilots.
With Zelda meeting with Overwatch at their watchpoint and Link preoccupied with preparations for the Super Bowl, Cloud was pretty much the person of authority at the mansion. That meant whenever trouble was brewing, the swordsman was called upon to handle matters. And there was trouble brewing outside in the mansion's front yard.
"He's been nonstop at this since the afternoon," Dawn said to Cloud as she led the swordsman down the stairs to the foyer, with the front door within reach. "No one really wanted to do anything until now."
"Maybe I'm bound to see why," replied Cloud, as Dawn reached the front door and opened it. Both Dawn and Cloud exited through the door and went down the porch, arriving at the front yard where Barry stood. Several folks were outside standing around.
"Boycott the Super Bowl! Football is rigged! Tell your mom and dad!" Barry shouted into a megaphone while holding up a picket sign that had the Kansas City Chiefs logo crossed out. The Chiefs were the Eagles' Super Bowl opponent, in case you weren't aware.
"I'm confused, did Barry suddenly become an Eagles fan?" Cloud asked Dawn; he would have to keep Barry and Link far away from each other as possible if that was indeed the case.
"No, he's just...super paranoid," replied Dawn, who couldn't hide how embarrassed she felt for her friend and fellow Pokemon trainer. "Checks social media after the game for one minute, and it later devolved into...this."
Dawn: The Chiefs won that game on Sunday because the NFL is rigged. No, it's not because they were the better team or the team who lost couldn't overcome their mistakes. It's because the game was rigged. Barry is convinced that the referees have a secret vendetta and are bent on fixing every football game there is.
"Down with the zebras, down with the zebras!" shouted Barry as he held up a different picket sign, this one with the face of a football referee with his eyes X'ed out. Barry felt as if he was leading a revolution.
"Zebras suck - worst animals on the planet!" exclaimed Knuckle Joe, as Barry was pleased to know that he had Joe's full support. "Haven't forgiven that one who got poop on my new shirt at the zoo."
"Not the kind of zebras that he was referring to..." Ganondorf muttered, but that didn't stop Barry from giving Knuckle Joe a high five. Ganondorf groaned in frustration as he pinched the crown of his nose.
"To be fair, the officiating in that game was kinda suspect," stated Yoshi, as Barry smiled finding himself in much agreement with the green dinosaur. "But the refs are human. We all make mistakes."
"NO! There were no mistakes in that game," countered Barry, adamant that the championship game on Sunday was tainted right after kickoff. "The officiating crew was ordered by the league to fix that game, I just know it! They're all deserving of fines!"
"Okay then, so where's your proof?" questioned Donkey Kong, interested in seeing Barry back up his claims. Barry nervously bit his bottom lip for he had little to no proof.
"I may have forgotten to bring the physical evidence...but I'm just here to spread the word. Football is rigged, you hear me? Boycott the Super Bowl, or else!"
"Nah, I think I'm still gonna watch anyway." Donkey Kong walked away, and many others were on Donkey Kong's side as they too left Barry. Barry was exasperated as the support he thought he had was dwindling.
"Where are you going? I do have evidence, on my phone! I can show you video breakdowns, deep-dive analysis...just believe me, dang it!"
"This is why Barry should never watch sports," remarked Dawn, as Barry was left all alone; the only person that chose to stick around was Yoshi, who as past history has shown was a very neutral guy.
"Chin up, Barry - there's always next year for the Cincinnati Bengals," Yoshi reassured the Pokemon trainer, who lowered his head as he took his picket signs and walked away. He ran into Dawn, looking up at the Pokemon trainer with sadness in his eyes.
"It's not fair...a fairly-called game isn't so much to ask for," remarked Barry, only to suddenly perk up as he had renewed optimism smeared all over his face. "But you'll boycott the Super Bowl with me, won't you Dawn?"
"Don't even count on it," replied Dawn, refusing to partake in any of Barry's shenanigans. Not getting the answer that he wanted, Barry looked towards Cloud about to ask him the same question.
"Gonna watch the game with Link, out of solidarity," stated Cloud, who saw the question from Barry coming from a mile away. Cloud might watch the game for a quarter or two, and dip before the halftime show.
"Link must be lucky his team never got screwed over by the refs..." mumbled Barry as he went inside the mansion, looking to spread the good word about the current state of football later today. Yoshi would join Cloud and Dawn, having his concerns about Barry.
"That loss must be eating at his soul," remarked Yoshi, so neutral as a sports fan that he could easily sympathize with anyone whose team had a heartbreaking loss. "Who knew that being a Bengals fan could be super rough!"
"Don't think that Barry's a Bengals fan," said Cloud; Barry would be the most annoying person on earth if he ever had a sports team to root for. "He seems to be a fan of justice. Wants to be a harbinger of justice or something. There's gotta be a way to snap him out of it..."
Sonic, Lavenza, Fox, and Falco made the trip to Mexico, but they didn't have to use the Gray Fox to get there. But Sonic did procure a fall guy for the trip, and it was the best fall guy that Fox and Falco could ask for.
Fox: The smart move for reaching Mexico would be to fly in the Gray Fox. But with awesome the Gray Fox is, it would be open for vandalism if left unattended. So the smarter move for getting to Mexico was through teleportation.
Falco: And fortunately for us, Sonic found the perfect sucker for getting us there...
Geo Stelar: Viva la raza! Guess who made it across the border into Mexico? This guy! *points thumbs at himself* I never imagined that I would be in Mexico of all countries, but I did go to Corneria for a wedding so that still takes the cake. Anyway, I'm so stoked to be here - the Mexican people have been friendly to me so far. One Mexican dude off the street even gave me a hand sign, which I assume he wanted to be my friend.
Omega-Xis: Geo is going to die in this country. It's not a matter of if, but when. A Mexican street thug gave Geo Stelar the blood gang sign, and Geo Stelar literally waved at the man! Calling it right now, Geo Stelar is going to die in a drive-by shooting that he instigated. It makes too much sense not to happen.
Since they were in a foreign country, Sonic and company had to stay on their toes and be mindful of the Mexican people around them. The group was in a small Mexican town, with the Mexican people speaking in their native Spanish tongue.
"Remember folks, let's stick close together," Fox reminded the group, telling them information that should be common knowledge. Sadly, it wasn't common knowledge for some individuals...
"Nice guitar-playing skills, man!" Geo Stelarsaid to a man playing on the pavement a stringed instrument, momentarily diverting from the group to give the man some props. "Are you part of a mariachi band?"
"No me importa la música maraichi, estúpido bufón," the man angrily replied, insulting Geo Stelar's intelligence; Geo Stelar responded by laughing, which riled up the man even more.
"Okay man, don't have to give yourself too much credit! You ought to learn how to be humble. Humility can really take you far if you learn how to..."
"Sorry that this guy is disturbing you," Sonic apologized to the man with the stringed instrument, as he grabbed Geo Stelar and pulled him away. As Sonic walked Geo Stelar back to the group, he whispered to him, "Please don't ditch us like that..."
"I was just trying to recognize hidden talent." Geo Stelar was brought back to the group, although Omega-Xis partly wished that Sonic left Geo Stelar behind. Omega-Xis didn't want to deal with any dead weight.
"Let's keep moving," said Fox, as the group pressed forward with Geo Stelar in tow. With so much going on on a busy street, it was hard for Geo Stelar to not get side-tracked and ditch the others a second time.
"Folletos gratis, tenemos folletos gratis!" shouted a Mexican lady standing in the middle of the street, holding up brochures of the Chichén Itzá landmark. Falco took sight of the lady, finding her to be trustworthy.
"Stand back, I got this," Falco said to the group, before flexing his fingers as he confidently approached the Mexican lady. The avian pilot had a little pep in his step, as he came off as friendly yet approachable.
"¡Hola señor! ¿Es usted un turista?" The Mexican lady asked Falco, before offering him a Chichén Itzá brochure. "¿Quieres un folleto gratis?" How would Falco respond? It was make-it-or-break-it time.
"Mis amigas y yo no estamos aqui como turistas." Falco spoke with the lady in Spanish, and it sounded...natural? Fox and Sonic didn't know what to make of this, as their mouths were agape.
"Oh, entonces, ¿para qué estás aquí?"
"Sean y Daniel diaz - los conoces?"
"Mi hija los conoce más que yo. ¡Vuelvo enseguida!"
"Seems to be a lot more to Falco than meets the eye," remarked Lavenza, as the Mexican lady left her post to retrieve someone. Fox and Sonic remained shocked as ever with Falco, who turned around at the group and winked at them. Who would've ever guessed that Falco knew a lick of Spanish?
Falco: Had to learn some Spanish, for my sake. Shout out to Duolingo, by the way. When Meta Knight constantly brings you to a la isolated communidad or whatever, you gotta do what you can to not look a total geek around the Hispanic people.
The woman with the brochures came back to Falco, bringing her young adult-aged daughter with her. Falco rubbed his hands with anticipation, looking to flex on his friends by exhibiting more of his Spanish tongue.
"Nina, este hombre quiere saber dónde está el taller mecánico de Díaz," the woman explained to her daughter, who was looking at Falco and wondering what a bird pilot like him was doing in Mexico. "¿Te importa decirles?"
"Por supuesto que no, madre," the daughter, Nina, replied as she approached Falco to tell the avian pilot what he needed to hear. "Si vas por esta calle y giras a la izquierda, estarás en el taller mecánico en poco tiempo."
"Eso es todo lo que necesitaba saber, muchas gracias," Falco offered his thanks to Nina, before returning to Fox and the others. It delighted Falco to see everyone's shocked faces.
"Well, what did she say?" Sonic asked Falco, as Geo Stelar ran up to the woman with the brochures asking for a brochure. Omega-Xis facepalmed, as Geo Stelar confused the woman by speaking in English.
"She said that if we go down this street and make a left, we'll reach the auto shop that the Diaz brothers work at," replied Falco as he pointed in the far distance to show where the group should head off to. "Hopefully, we won't get jumped by any cartels on our way there..."
"Don't think that way, it sounds racist," Fox advised Falco, leading the charge as he continued to lead the group down the road. Geo Stelar was not following, for he was still bothering the lady. "Geo Stelar..."
"I'm moving, I'm moving!" Geo Stelar shouted at Fox after being called out, before turning his head to the woman. "I'll ask for a brochure later." The woman stared dumbfoundedly at Geo Stelar, who quickly rejoined Fox and company.
Zelda was still at the meeting at the Overwatch watchpoint, and she couldn't bear to wait any longer for Link to arrive. So the princess sent D. Va to the mansion, to see what on earth Link was up to.
"Why do I hear singing...?" wondered D. Va as she ventured down the hallway, eventually coming across the lounge. A choir was heard singing from the lounge, as Waluigi was taking a peek inside.
"Meh...I'm a much better singer than those posers," Waluigi had this to say about those in the choir, recording their performance on his phone. The lanky man saw D. Va and beckoned to the mech pilot. "D. Va, come and get a load of this!"
So D. Va joined Waluigi at the lounge entrance, albeit reluctantly since the singing was terribly off-key. Inside the lounge was Link, who was holding a baton as he was directing a choir that consisted of several individuals - with King Dedede apparently the chorister. D. Va furrowed her brow as Link was making the choir sing the Eagles' fight song - "Fly, Eagles, Fly".
Fly, Eagles Fly!
On the road to victory! (Fight! Fight! Fight!)
Fight, Eagles fight!
Score a touchdown 1, 2, 3! (1! 2! 3!)
Hit 'em low!
Hit 'em high!
And watch our Eagles fly!
Fly, Eagles Fly!
On the road to victory!
E-A-G-L-E-S!
Eagles!
"The University of Southern California's fight song is much better," Waluigi muttered to D. Va, boldly comparing a college's fight song to one that belonged to a professional football team. D. Va had enough of the off-key, so she stormed inside the lounge to give Link a piece of her mind.
"Okay everyone, great stuff!" Link commended the choir, although not every member did an excellent job. Such as King Dedede, for instance. "King Dedede, you really have to pick up the pace. You're dragging everyone down."
"What can I say, I ain't got no rhythm," shrugged King Dedede, who was surprised that Link named him of all people to be the lead man of the choir.
"So uh, Link, when do we start singing the chorus?" asked one of the choir members, Vector the Crocodile. Link had enlisted several folks from Omnis Adest, although Vector's inclusion showed that the Hylian didn't have a strong eye for talent.
"That was the chorus...those were the only lyrics!" replied Link, causing Vector to look up in realization. Link felt someone tap on his shoulder, and he turned around and was startled to see D. Va, with her arms folded.
"Your wife is starting to miss you," D. Va informed Link, letting the Hylian know that Zelda was worried sick about him. Link didn't know what to say, as he tapped his fingers together while smiling nervously.
"I was just teaching these guys a new song," Link explained to D. Va, who wasn't buying the Hylian's excuse as she rolled her eyes. "They'll sing it after the Eagles win the Super Bowl."
"So I guess there'll be no singing on Super Bowl Sunday, then?" D. Va's remark got an angry frown from Link, who took any jabs against his Eagles seriously. "I was just kidding, relax!"
Hammer Bro: Link has been very serious about his Eagles as of late. The moment his team won their conference championship, Link went around passing out this music sheet to select people. *holds up a sheet of music, with lyrics on it* We have been having choir rehearsals every day ever since. Some folks couldn't take it anymore and had to drop out of the choir; Link made Master Hand punish them out of spite.
"Rehearsals don't usually last that long," stated Link, as several folks in the choir were stifling their laughter - a whole lot of cap in Link's statement. "We will be done soon."
"You better be done soon," responded D. Va, as Waluigi was on his phone replaying the video of the makeshift choir singing. "'Cause if you don't show up to the meeting in the next fifteen minutes, I'll make Waluigi send that video to Tracer!"
"Waluigi? You were recording the choir's performance?" Link asked Waluigi, whom he never noticed lingering at the entrance. Waluigi looked up at Link, having heard the gist of what D. Va said.
"Heck, I can send that video to Tracer now!" exclaimed Waluigi, pulling up his contacts and searching for Tracer's name. Link screamed in fright as he ran towards Waluigi, wrangling with him over his phone.
"I'll be taking that..." said D. Va as she casually walked over to Link and Waluigi, taking the phone out of Waluigi's hands to end the tussle. "...I'll be holding on to this. You got fifteen minutes, Link."
"You heard the lady, you got fifteen minutes!" shouted Waluigi as he pointed in Link's face, with Link frowning at the man while D. Va exited the lounge. "My proctologist is gonna call me soon, so I would prefer to have my phone back..."
"Hey Link, are we still rehearsing or what?" King Dedede asked the Hylian, who was too embroiled in an angry staredown with Waluigi to listen to the fat penguin or answer his question.
"Yeah, and do we get refreshments after rehearsal?" Hammer Bro asked a follow-up question, as food was the one thing currently on his mind. "You promised us refreshments since Monday!"
Sonic and company took the directions that they were told to take, as they went down the street and took a left...only to walk down another street. Regardless, the group soon came across the auto shop.
"Here we are," announced Fox as everyone arrived at the auto shop...where there was a fracas taking place. Several Mexican gang members were at the front, getting into a big argument.
"Told you that we would run into the cartel," a vindicated Falco said to the group, folding his arms as the fracas went on. It was probably a matter of time until guns were pulled.
"Falco, you know Spanish - do you know what they're saying?" Sonic asked the avian pilot, who got a bit closer to make out the Spanish words that he heard. There were some Spanish words that Falco was less familiar with than others.
"I know some of what they're saying...but I won't say it out loud." As Falco said this, he pointed discreetly at Lavenza. Lavenza saw Falco pointing at her only because Falco wasn't as discreet as he thought he was.
"It's okay, I can handle it," assured Lavenza, willing to sacrifice some of her innocence to understand what the Mexican gang members were saying. Though given that she dealt with Ryuji, her shatter was perhaps shattered already.
"¡Espero que tú y tu hermano mueran!" a gang member shouted, as he and his boys left the area. All who was left was a young Mexican man who looked to be in his early twenties and his teenage younger brother.
"¡De vuelta a ti, fregado!" the young Mexican man angrily retorted, only to sit down on the ground in frustration. His brother patted him on his left shoulder. "Every day we gotta go through this, Daniel..."
"That must be them!" Sonic said to the group, inferring them to be the Diaz brothers. "Let's play it cool..." Now taking charge, Sonic led everyone over to the brotherly duo, with everyone acting like customers who needed repair for their van.
"They won't stop bothering us until we give them the money they're asking for," the young brother said to his older brother, only to look up and see Sonic and company approaching. "We got customers."
"Hello, we are here to have our car repaired." Sonic was playing it too cool - being formal, even - as he wanted to make a good first impression on the brothers.
"Customers? This soon?" the older brother perked up, having assumed that the fracas that just occurred had scared potential customers away. The young man stood up and fixed his hair. "Hola, and welcome to the auto shop!"
"Sean and Daniel Diaz, right?" Sonic asked the brothers, who were amazed that the blue hedgehog knew their names from the job. The brothers both exchanged surprised looks with each other. "I am..."
"Y-You're Sonic the Hedgehog!" The older brother pointed at Sonic, a smile forming on his face. "This is incredible! How did know that I was Sean?"
"I dunno...totally not like an old friend of yours told me about you or anything. Lyra Park rings a bell?" Ring a bell it sure did, as Sean was smiling even harder.
"Yeah, we both went to the same high school! I was gonna ask her out to prom, even! Good to know that I'm not an afterthought to her."
"She mentioned that you and your brother were down in Mexico, so I just wanted to see if the story was true. And it turns out it was!"
"Hate to interrupt a good moment, but I gotta ask something," interjected Fox, with Sonic stepping slightly to the side to give Fox the floor. "Who were those guys bullying you?"
"Definitely not the cartel," Falco muttered in-between coughs, as Fox was frowning at the avian pilot. Sean and Daniel were frowning at Falco too.
"You mind coming inside?" Daniel asked Fox and company, who was cool with going inside the auto shop for a quick discussion with the Diaz brothers. "We can tell you the whole story..." Geo Stelar raised his hand as he sweated buckets, and Daniel noticed. "...and yes, we have bottled water."
It was up to Cloud to reel Barry in and prevent the Pokemon trainer from raging war against football referees. As the swordsman sat in his room thinking of a plan, Dawn visited him as she stood at the doorway.
"Sorry to bother you, Cloud, but Barry's at it again," Dawn told the swordsman, interrupting his thought process; Cloud let out a deep sigh as he arose from his bed. "Barry's threatening to burn people's jerseys."
"He's doing what now?" questioned Cloud, in slight disbelief that Barry could ever stoop so low. But once he heard Barry laughing maniacally through the hallway, all of Cloud's disbelief vanished.
"No, not my Lions jersey!" shouted Captain Falcon as he followed after Barry, who was holding the racer's Detroit Lions jersey. Cloud and Dawn both watched through the doorway.
"It has to be done," proclaimed Barry as he came to a stop, holding Captain Falcon's jersey behind his back. "To heck with football referees everywhere!"
"But why do you wanna burn my jersey? My Lions never did anything wrong!" Captain Falcon tried to reach for his jersey, but Barry kept it out of his reach.
"Your Lions have been screwed over by referees ever since the beginning of time. I'm merely trying to save you from your prolonged misery."
Captain Falcon: People may think that I'm a fan of the Atlanta Falcons (because of my name), but I'm actually a Detroit Lions fan at heart. I only pretended to be a Falcons fan because the Lions sucked. Now the Lions are on the up and up, and the Falcons...they're the ones who suck now. Oh, how the turn tables...
"Go, Rapidash!" shouted Barry as he sent out his fire horse Pokemon, with Captain Falcon slowly backing away and fearing for the worst. "Use Flamethrower to burn that jersey to a crisp!"
"Rapidash is a physical attacker, it doesn't even have any special moves," Dawn called out to Barry, who was reminded of the fact while also feeling like an idiot. It was a bad look when your friend knew more about your Pokemon than you do.
"Oh, right! In that case..." Barry would put on Captain Falcon's Lions jersey, and stepped away from Rapdish with his arms stretched out. "...Rapidash, use Flare Blitz on this jersey! It's okay, I can take it..."
"NOOOOO!" Captain Falcon shouted in despair, as Rapidash was expressing worry about potentially hurting his trainer. Cloud, taking advantage of Rapidash's reluctance, stepped in between the fire horse Pokemon and Barry.
"Cloud, move it or lose it! I'm trying to save Falcon from living in a lifetime of misery." But Cloud wouldn't move a muscle; instead, he ripped the Lions jersey off of Barry without tearing it too much.
"Here's your jersey back," Cloud said to the relieved Captain Falcon as he handed him his jersey. Captain Falcon snatched the jersey out of Cloud's hands like a little kid. "I can buy you a new one if there's a rip in the..."
"I don't care, thank you Cloud!" Captain Falcon thanked the swordsman, celebrating as he kissed his Lions jersey. Cloud gave Falcon a judging look as the racer walked away. "You're safe with me, Barry Sanders."
"DANG IT, CLOUD!" Barry shouted at the swordsman, throwing a temper tantrum as he stomped his foot angrily and raised his fists. "You really want Captain Falcon to stay miserable forever?"
"This has got to stop, Barry," Cloud said to the Pokemon trainer, empowering him and making him stand down. "What you're doing isn't doing you any favors."
"Yeah, you're pretty unlikable enough already," Dawn told Barry, who was offended that his friend could throw shade at him like that. "This will only make it even worse."
"So asking for more integrity will make me the most hated man alive?" Barry questioned Cloud and Dawn, daring both of them to give a suitable answer. When neither of them responded, Barry felt vindicated as he smiled. "My thoughts exactly...let's go, Rapidash."
"I'm gonna put an end to this, just you wait and see," Cloud vowed to Barry, watching as the Pokemon trainer left with his Rapidash. Yoshi conveniently joined Cloud and Dawn, having witnessed most of the exchange.
"That Barry is truly something else," remarked Yoshi, as Cloud and Dawn were both surprised to see the green dinosaur idly standing by. "I have personally never seen a Bengals fan act like this before."
"He's not a Bengals fan..." As Cloud said this, he turned his head and stared at Yoshi. "Why do I feel like I'll need you for later...?"
"You know me, I'm a very neutral sports guy. If you want me to bring Barry down to earth, then I'm your guy."
Now that choir practice was over, you'd think that Link would take his truck and drive to the watchpoint, to join Zelda and Overwatch for the meeting. Right? Wrong. The Hylian was spreading his Eagles fandom to other places in the mansion, such as Cafe Leblanc for instance. He had the cafe stylized like a traditional bar in Philadelphia, with green at every corner. And the coffee itself?
"Joker, my coffee is green," Ribbon Girl alerted the young man, not liking how green her coffee looked inside her cup. "I don't like it..."
"Yeah, it reminds me of snot," Bowser offered his take on the coffee, feeling disgusted from staring at his drink. "Is this coffee snot-flavored?"
"It's just food coloring, you guys," Joker stated to the patrons, although that didn't make a single one of them feel any better. "Since the Eagles are playing..."
"In that case, why not have red coffee for the Chiefs?" asked Chrom, who turned down his coffee in a hurry after seeing what color it was. "Not everyone is an Eagles fan. I happen to like the Chiefs!"
"Pit, get the bandwagoner out of here," Link, who was chatting with Andy Bogard at the cafe, commanded the angel. Chrom looked afraid as Pit took out some eye black and placed some on his face.
"FLY, EAGLES, FLY!" Pit bellowed at the top of his lungs, taking the football off the counter as he jumped over the counter. The angel stuck the landing as Chrom screamed.
"If an eagles player is ruled out of the super bowl with an illness, does that make them...an ill-eagle?" Sans curiously asked Ribbon Girl, as Pit chased the screaming Chrom out of the cafe. Link looked on with a satisfied smile.
Link: There is no such thing as a genuine Chiefs fan. The bandwagoners have been more prevalent ever since the team got really good. That's what I appreciate the most about my Eagles - they go in and out with their year-to-year success. Frustrating for me, as a fan, but it at least keeps the inmates out of the asylum.
Ashley: Link was pretty irritable enough the last time the Eagles were in the Super Bowl, especially with that whole cheesesteak fad. But now that he has authority at the mansion, it's gotten even worse than five years ago. My saving grace is that I'm no longer a mansion resident, so I don't have to be subjected to Link every day. My sympathies go out to everyone affected.
Mario: What Link is doing now is simply unacceptable. When I was the man of the mansion and my Giants went-a to the Super Bowl, I didn't do any of the things-a that Link did. I simply forced-a everyone to wear a Giants jersey for a week, and called it a day! Hmm, then again, that would-a explain why Link and I had that spat...
"You've got to be the biggest Eagles fan I've known," Andy said to Link, fortunate that the Hylian wasn't a crazy loon like your average Philadelphia sports fan. "Never seen anyone go to the great extent that you have."
"Being a man of authority means that I get to spread more of a fandom," Link responded with a shrug, failing to see how his Eagles' random was affecting his many constituents. "It's the perfect excuse, in a way."
"What, Cassidy?! What do you mean, the Dallas Cowboys are better than the Eagles?" someone was heard outside the cafe, their voice reaching Link's ears; Link frowned in a hurry.
"Is that Eagles slander I hear?" Link had his hand near his Master Sword, ready to strike against the person who was daring to disparage the Eagles.
"And what's this you said about their best player? 'Not bad for a running back'? He's the bloody quarterback, put a little respect on his name!"
"Alright, that's it! No more Mr. Nice Guy!" Link was fully irate now, as he pulled out his Master Sword to give the slanderer a piece of his mind. A little trash talk was enough to turn Link into your average Philadelphia sports fan.
"Link, violence isn't the answer!" Andy called out to the Hylian, saying something that Reaper would heavily disagree with. Link marched out of the cafe, looking to strike some blood.
"Show yourself!" Link was standing in the middle of the hallway, his head turning in every direction as he looked for the slanderer. For a moment, it seemed as if the defamer ran off out of fear. Then suddenly, Link felt a shadow over him, as he gulped.
Nervously turning around, Link turned his head and saw Zary right behind him. The Hylian was paralyzed with fear, as Zarya cracked her knuckles.
"An unruly Eagles fan...never seen one of those before," smirked Zarya as she used her strength to pick up Link without fail. Link's arms felt constricted, as he couldn't fight out of Zarya's grasp.
"Let me go!" Link commanded Zarya, who maintained her grip on the Hylian as Tracer blinked into the scene. Tracer ran up to Link, meeting him face-to-face.
"Cheers, love! Nice little choir you got going on here," Tracer said to the Hylian as she took out her phone, playing a video of Link's makeshift choir singing the Eagles fight song. Link watched the video in horror, partly due to the horrible angle that it was shot. Never trust Waluigi to be your cameraman.
"D. Va sent you the video?" If Tracer got the video, then she most likely shared that video with everyone else. Heck, she probably even played it on a projector screen at the watchpoint.
"Yup...and your wife knows about it! D. Va gave you fifteen minutes to bring your keester to the watchpoint, and you went well past the end time!"
"Nice going, Link - I got a missed call from my proctologist," Waluigi frowned at the Hylian as he walked past Tracer and company, with his phone in his hand. "My colonoscopy may have been canceled because of you!"
"Colonoscopy? How old even are you?" Link questioned Waluigi, only for Zarya to tighten her hold on the Hylian's arms. Link winced in pain as Tracer put her phone back in her pocket.
"We're gonna take you to the watchpoint, and you're gonna have a nice little talk with Princess Zelda," Tracer told Link, as she beckoned Zarya to follow after her and bring Link with her. "It was bad enough that she had to ask us for a ride."
The Diaz brothers, Sean and Daniel, met with Sonic and company inside their auto repair shop. The brothers were telling their visitors a bit about their backstory, and why they ran to Mexico.
"So basically our dad got killed by the police," explained Sean, summarizing the entire story as he turned his head to Daniel for a brief moment. "Then Daniel awoke his powers and killed a cop by accident. We went on the run right after that."
"My telekinetic powers were what got our dad to get killed..." added Daniel, expressing a heavy amount of regret as he lowered his head in sadness. It was a regret that Daniel had yet to shake off.
"We ran here to Puerto Lobo because this was our dad's home. Since he was a mechanic, I picked up his trade and renovated this building as an auto shop. I'm still trying to make it."
"And what does he do?" inquired Fox as he pointed at Daniel, while Geo Stelar was checking out a truck that had its hood lifted up. Omega-Xis was monitoring him. "Do you work on cars too, Daniel?"
"Not really - I just try to keep criminals away with my telekinesis," replied Daniel, wanting to show off his telekinesis but not at the risk of harming the guests. "They managed to get the better of me earlier, as you've already seen."
"This cord seems out of place," observed Geo Stelar, tinkering with the truck without anyone's permission as he shifted something around. A loud spark appeared from the truck, making Geo Stelar jump back.
"I wasn't even done working on that truck...and he's gonna ruin it!" frowned Sean, eyeing Geo Stelar intently as he slowly rose from his seat. Falco intervened as he sat Sean back down.
"Settle down, let me handle this," Falco said to Sean, who was still frowning as Falco ran over to Geo Stelar and pushed the young man out of the way. "Move it, Geo Stelar - pro mechanic coming through!"
Falco: I'm officially a car mechanic now - but only in name. I have learned that it's a great flex to have. *pauses* Unless it doesn't work if I brag about it to Katt, then otherwise it would no longer be a flex. It would just be cap, and I don't cap. Usually.
"You know, you don't have to stay in Puerto Lobo forever," Sonic encouraged Sean and Daniel, letting the brothers know that there were greener pastures just beyond Sonora, Mexico. "You can always come back to Seattle!"
"Sadly, I don't think that's possible," Sean turned down Sonic's offer, for he and Daniel were perfectly content with calling Puerto Lobo home. "We've been living in Mexico for so long, we feel at home here."
"Not to mention that we're still at large," added Daniel, fearing that he and his brother would get arrested by the border patrol for crossing into Mexico legally. "Did you know that we killed a..."
"Woah, Daniel...too much information." Sean nervously chuckled as he covered Daniel's mouth, right before his brother could tell Sonic and company his entire rap sheet. Some details were meant to stay private.
"If you're both criminals, then it's all good," Sonic assured Sean and Daniel, who didn't think much of whatever criminal activity the Diaz brothers were responsible for. "I know a guy who can make your criminal record...disappear!"
"All of it?" Daniel asked Sonic out of disbelief, as he leaned in close to the blue hedgehog. Sonic confidently nodded his head, smiling as he finally had the Diaz brothers hooked.
"A new community opened up in Seattle, called Omnis Adest. Master Hand is mostly in charge of it. He knows his way around stuff, so he can have your criminal records wiped out if he can convince the right people."
"It's true - he made the police drop Sonic's traffic offense for reckless driving," stated Lavenza, as Sonic sheepishly eyed around before grinning. Sometimes you just gotta go fast. "Imagine what he can do for you!"
"You hear that, Daniel?" Sean said to his little brother, smiling with joy as he put his hand on Daniel's shoulder. "We can go with Sonic and his friends back to Seattle. We can go back home!"
"But what about the criminals who harass us every day?" asked Daniel, feeling as he there was some unfinished business left to handle. "They might burn this auto shop down if we leave. You don't want that, do you?"
"We can give those criminals a nice little farewell," offered Fox, before looking over at Falco who was trying to stop Geo Stelar from ogling at another car. "And I know just the guy who can be our prey..."
"Falco, please, I just want to check out the decals!" Geo Stelar begged the avian pilot, who was preventing him from getting a closer look at a slam-back lowrider. "You're not even a real mechanic!"
Cloud had yet to think of a plan to stop Barry's reign of delusional terror but in the meantime, he had to keep up with whatever shenanigans Barry was up to. According to Dawn, Barry was spreading his message far and wide in the gaming room.
"Referees are a scourge on the face of this earth," Barry gave his rousing speech to the folks in the gaming room, as Cloud followed Dawn inside the gaming room. Hardly anyone was listening to Barry. "They're evil men determined to ruin a sport that so many people cherish!"
"Okay Barry, we get it, you're sad the Bengals lost," said Roy, finding it hard to focus at the golf simulator with Barry constantly yelling. "Get over it."
"I'm not a fan of the Bengals...I'm a fan of integrity! There are three I's that I pride myself in - integrity, intensity, and intelligence! In that order."
"No, the correct order is intensity, integrity, and intelligence," corrected Little Mac, who was familiar with the three I's since Doc Louis beat them into his head. Those three I's were coined by a certain former Olympian.
"Absolutely not, that's the wrong order! You just got fined!" After handing out a fine to Little Mac, Barry returned to his referee-hating spiel. "But you know who deserves to be fined more? Football referees!"
"Football isn't the only sport where referees are crooks," stated Kazuya, as this shocking revelation made Barry gasp. Barry couldn't accept that referees were scourges everywhere they went. "They have tainted the game of basketball."
"Are you for real?!" questioned Barry, stealing Ryuji's catchphrase as Ryuji even gave the Pokemon trainer a look. "What else have they done?"
"Lakers, Kings, 2002...look it up." Look it up Barry did, as he pulled out his Rotom phone and did a quick search with the keywords Kazuya provided. After checking out a few results, Barry was incensed as he couldn't bear to glean anymore.
"THAT'S IT, NO MORE NBA LEAGUE PASS FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON!" Barry now had a new goal in mind - to bar everyone from watching a basketball game until basketball referees got their stuff together. "Or for next season, at that!"
"Can't do that, Master Hand got us a new subscription," stated Banjo, but Barry didn't care; he was going to cancel that NBA League Pass, dead or alive.
Kazuya: Barry thinks that referees rigging games in sports like football and basketball is the worst thing ever? Wait until he uncovers the criminal activity that's prevalent in soccer, that will really get his gears grinding.
"Where are you going, Barry?" Dawn interrogated the Pokemon trainer, right before he could leave the gaming room. Barry felt a little intimidated when he saw Dawn and Cloud standing together.
"Off to save the world from degeneracy, obviously," Barry confidently replied as he made his way past Dawn before exiting the gaming room. Cloud watched as Barry left, with Yoshi joining him.
"Barry is secretly a Kings fan?" inquired Yoshi, as he startled Cloud and Dawn yet again with his sudden presence. "They were in Cincinnati back in the day, so it makes sense."
"Let me guess - you probably also think that Barry likes Cincinnati's baseball team," Cloud said to Yoshi, who wasn't ready to cosign off of that. Yoshi required some evidence from Barry. before making his final inference.
"Cloud! There's a dilemma brewing in the kitchen," Master Hand informed the swordsman as he appeared in the gaming room, stopping by to deliver this pressing news. "Wario is eating his steak with ketchup on top! You must tell him to..."
"That's not my priority. You can go tell him yourself." Cloud may be the temporary voice of authority, but that didn't mean he had the right to discipline others for their dubious food choices. "Also, I'm kinda busy at the moment. Barry's gone crazy."
"He's on a crusade to destroy football referees or something," Dawn explained to Master Hand, whom Cloud was looking at with the gears turning in his head. "And basketball referees too, I guess."
"Hey, Master Hand, you're a big sports nut...why don't you handle Barry for me? You could do me a favor." Doing Cloud a favor was certainly one thing that Master Hand was open to, considering his past few interactions with the swordsman.
"If it means saving everyone's sanity for the Super Bowl, then I suppose it must be done." Master Hand looked at Yoshi, who was standing at Cloud's side. "Yoshi, I'll need you as backup..."
"Yup, totally saw this coming," smiled Yoshi as he nodded his head, knowing that his help would be much needed today.
The Mexican criminals who were harassing the Diaz brothers were back at the auto shop for round two, returning to the establishment to give Sean and Daniel another piece of their minds. They casually entered the auto shop, which appeared to be left unattended.
"¡Sal, sal, donde quiera que estés!" said the lead criminal, as he was holding a revolvor in his hand. That revolver showed that he meant business.
"Apuesto a que salieron corriendo de esta tienda como bebés," the lead criminal's right-hand man snickered, as the others laughed with him. Since there was no action taking place, the criminals decided to leave.
"Sí, tal vez lo hicieron. abandonemos este lugar." The lead criminal made his boys turn around, as the crooks were about to leave the shop. But then they suddenly stopped in their tracks...
...when they encountered Geo Stelar, who had his back turned to the group. Then in almost dramatic fashion, Geo Stelar spun around (nearly twisting his ankle in the process) as he revealed a brochure.
"Chicken Itzá!" exclaimed Geo Stelar as he held up the brochure to the confused criminals, showing some slight enthusiasm to get them on his side. "I didn't pronounce that right, did I?"
Geo Stelar: When Fox told me of his plan, the first thing that I did was run to that lady with the brochures and asked her for, you guessed it, a brochure. It could be my shield in dire circumstances.
Fox: It wouldn't have been good if we made Lavenza the sacrificial prey, she's too sweet. Now Geo, on the other hand...
Omega-Xis: Just as I expected, Geo is going to die in Mexico. Albeit not in the way that I intended.
"¿De dónde salió este chico blanco?" one of the criminals asked, as Geo Stelar did a little shuffle with his feet while holding the brochure with both of his hands. Hardly anyone was impressed.
"A quien le importa, le voy a disparar..." the lead criminal replied, taking out his revolver and pointing at Geo Stelar. He was going to shoot at Geo point-blank!
"Alto el fuego!" a voice called out to the lead criminal, who lowered his gun; Falco emerged from the shadows, coming off as a mafia boss with his arms held behind his back.
¿Quién eres tú?" The lead criminal would shoot Falco, but he wanted to hear the avian pilot out first before making his final decision to pull the trigger.
"Soy Falco Lombardi, un miembro establecido de la mafia de Brooklyn. He venido a hacer un trato."
"Un miembro de la mafia de Brooklyn en México!" a criminal marveled, only to shut his trap when the lead criminal held up his hand and closed his fist. Another word and the criminal who spoke up would be swimming with the fishes - as Pinstripe Potoroo would say.
"¿Quieres hacer un trato? Acércate." Putting his trust in Falco, the lead criminal took several steps closer to the avian pilot. And once the lead criminal got close enough... "Alright, Fox! Fire away!"
Soon Fox emerged from his hiding spot, appearing from behind a vehicle as he fired shots from his Blaster at the criminals. The criminals were caught off-guard by the surprise attack, as Fox and now Falco were both firing at them.
"Coming through!" shouted Sonic as he sped past the criminals, dodging Fox and Falco's bullets as he knocked the lead criminal's revolver out of his hand.
"Hemos sido establecidos! ¡Vamos!" the lead criminal shouted, having enough of the flurry of bullets as he led his men out of the auto shop. Once the criminals were gone, Fox and Falco stopped shooting.
"That...was awesome," remarked Sean, as he and Daniel emerged from their hiding spots. The elder Diaz brother picked up the gun that Sonic knocked out of the lead criminal's hand and tossed it out the window.
"Must be glad that you got your last laugh over those crooks," Lavenza said to Sean and Daniel, as she too emerged from her hiding spot. She was hiding underneath a small car. "Even if you weren't involved..."
"Don't care, I'm just happy to get those punks off our backs." Sean wrapped his arm around Daniel, looking at his little brother with a smile. "Wanna head back to Seattle, Daniel?"
"I'm ready when you are," replied Daniel, open to heading back to Seattle and starting anew (without a spotty criminal record). Sean had Daniel's word, and that was really all he needed.
Barry was in the living room, searching furiously for any signs of an NBA League Pass on the living room TV. Master Mummy, who was trying to watch television, was bothered by Barry butting in.
"Don't worry, Master Mummy, I'll save you and the others from watching this tainted basketball filth in no time!" Barry assured the ARMS fighter, tapping away on the TV remote as he searched for a TV app that had the NBA logo on it.
"But I don't even watch basketball!" growled Master Mummy, who was missing the anthology show that he was watching. Predictably, it was an episode pertaining to mummies.
"Well, you won't have to, because the referees have ruined the sport! And they'll continue to ruin it until someone puts them in their rightful place!"
"Please hurry up, I want to know what they did with King Tut's head..." Master Mummy was slowly losing his patience, as Barry was taking his sweet time in finding the NBA League Pass. When searching didn't do the trick, Barry pulled up the wi-fi connections on the TV.
"Maybe connecting to the wi-fi will make the app appear!" Going off on this unsound logic, Barry selected the wi-fi connection that was at the top of the list. "Now what's the wi-fi password again?"
"Bigboobz...with a Z," someone answered, and it wasn't Master Mummy. It came from someone with a low, threatening voice. "It keeps everyone secure."
"Ha, that makes a lot of sense!" Barry entered the password with the TV remote, trying not to laugh. In a matter of seconds, the TV successfully connected to the wi-fi. "Thanks for the help, Master Mummy!"
As Barry turned around, he saw that the password wasn't provided by Master Mummy...but rather by Master Hand. Barry shrieked as he fell back on the floor.
"What has gotten into you, Barry?" Master Hand questioned the Pokemon trainer, who backed into the TV as he used the TV stand to pull himself up slightly. "Hating on football referees, really?"
"You did the same thing four years ago," Isabelle called out to Master Hand, poking her head inside the living room to remind Master Hand of the very fact.
"That was four years ago, that's in the past! I'm in the middle of something, so leave me alone!" Daring not to anger Master Hand further, Isabelle calmly left the living room and resumed her previous activity.
"You don't understand, Master Hand!" Barry said to the giant hand, his voice slightly quivering as Master Hand was exerting his presence over him. "The refs screwed the Bengals out of the Super Bowl..."
"Well, guess what, Barry? The better team won, admit it. Did the referees tell the Bengals to turn the ball over?"
"No, but they did call some pretty suspect calls! They also deserve to be fined for every bad call they missed!"
"You can't expect them to make every call on the field. There is such a thing as human judgment, after all."
"That's no excuse! Where's the consistency? Where's the respect for the rules of the game? Where's the..."
"Listen close to me, Barry...I hear what you're saying. Could referees be more consistent? Yes, of course. But is this worth beating your head over?"
"Probably not...but something needs to be done! It will only get worse from here on out if nobody speaks up!"
"Take a look at this good fellow here. Yoshi?" Right on cue, Yoshi walked into the living room and stood in front of Barry, waving to him. "Yoshi here is as neutral as they come. Would he ever complain about the refs?"
"No, because he doesn't know any better! He's the kind of fan that mindlessly goes with the flow. Silence is compliance!"
"And you know what? That has yet to make him unpopular with anyone here. Have you done anything to endear yourself, Barry?"
"Other than my litany of fines...not really. I just wanted to make people open their eyes. Open their brains a little."
"I'd stay away from all this rigged talk if I were you. Too much of it can make you a crazy conspiracy theorist. Next thing you know, you'll wind up in court and risk going bankrupt!"
"Going bankrupt?! No, not me - I'd have to fine people every second of the day to get my pockets full! I might as well stop while I can. Thanks, Master Hand!"
"Oh, don't thank me...thank Dawn. She clearly cares about you a lot." Master Hand also would've accredited Cloud, but he chose not to so that he wouldn't hear Cloud's complaining.
Master Hand: All of that said, I do believe that only a few NFL games are rigged to an extent. Only a few. Super Bowl XL, in which the Seahawks played the Steelers, was a travesty and shall remain as such until the league issues a formal apology. Maybe the Seahawks should've had a veteran player contemplate retirement before the Super Bowl, and then the game would've been called more in Seattle's favor. *pauses* Called more fairly, I mean.
"This is nice and all, but...can I please watch my show again?" Master Mummy asked Barry, who kindly surrendered the TV remote to the ARMS fighter. Master Mummy flipped the channel to the show he was watching, as Master Hand and Yoshi exited the living room and greeted Cloud and Dawn.
"You sure showed him," Cloud said quietly to Master Hand, giving him props for how he handled Barry. "Did it better than I ever could."
"You guys took care of Barry?" Captain Falcon asked Cloud and company as he walked by, holding his beloved Detroit Lions jersey. "Good stuff!"
"I thought you were a Falcons fan," Master Hand said to Captain Falcon, as it was his first time ever seeing that Lions jersey. "Bandwagoning the Lions fan because they're headed in the right direction?"
"Silly Master Hand, I've always liked the Lions!" But Master Hand didn't believe Captain Falcon, and Falcon knew it too as he walked away moping. "More of you will learn soon..."
Link was in hot water with his wife, for he elected to spread his Eagles fandom around the mansion over attending the meeting at the watchpoint. Zelda spoke with Link at the watchpoint, obviously super angry.
"I had to ask D. Va for a ride. D. Va!" Zelda frowned at Link, who was too ashamed to look his wife in the eye as he had his head turned away. "She almost crashed her mech into a billboard; I could have died."
"At least you survived and made it here safely," responded Link, as Zelda angrily poked the Hylian on his forehead. Link winced in pain, as Cassidy appeared.
"All done with your little spat?" Cassidy asked Link and Zelda, as Link was holding his forehead and massaging it with his hand. "We can catch you up on what you missed, Link. Might even watch your choir singing on the big screen after we're done."
"I am not letting you out of my sight..." Zelda told Link, as she and her husband followed Cassidy to the room where the meeting took place. Zelda might have to lay down some ground rules with Link in the week leading up to Super Bowl Sunday.
Max and Chloe were all set to go, as they were free to stay in their apartment with all their stuff moved in. But instead of chilling in their new digs, the two friends sat outside the Omins Adest gate, choosing to go in only if it started raining.
"Gonna go skinny dipping in the pool one day," Chloe said to Max, hitting her friend on her arm in an attempt to drum up interest from her. "You in, or what?"
"I'm kinda against skinny dipping in public pools," replied Max, as Chloe shook her head thinking of Max as a gigantic coward. Raihan approached the friends, carrying his Rotom phone.
"Wanna take a selfie?" Raihan asked Max and Chloe, already getting in position just in case either lady answered yes. The gym leader even had his selfie face primed and ready to go.
"We don't take selfies with losers," replied Chloe, offending Raihan greatly with his name-calling. The face that Raihan had soured in an instant, his smile turning upside down.
Leon: Raihan for the most part has taken many of his selfies with women, I've noticed. I hope and pray that selfie-taking isn't his preferred method of picking up ladies.
"For your info, this 'loser' is the eighth gym leader of his region!" Raihan bragged to Chloe, as Sonic pulled up to the gate in his blue corvette. "At least until Melony took my spot."
"Hence why you're a loser," quipped Chloe, smirking to herself as she caused Raihan to growl furiously. Raihan stopped growling as he heard a car door slam.
"Here we are - Omnis Adest!" Sonic introduced Sean and Daniel to Omnis Adest, as he and the Diaz brothers got out of the corvette. Raihan saw a new selfie opportunity over the horizon. "We can chat with Master Hand about your criminal record later."
"Thanks again for handling our stuff," Sean thanked Sonic, who agreed to take a return trip to Puerto Lobos to gather the Diaz brothers' belongings. Hopefully, Geo Stelar won't make the trip.
"Hello, fellas! You new here?" Raihan approached Sean and Daniel, desiring to take a selfie with the brothers to formally welcome them to Omnis Adest. "How about a selfie?"
"Get lost..." replied Sean, leading Daniel away from Raihan who had his arms out to the side wondering what he did wrong. Sean and Daniel soon came across Max and Chloe, as an interesting interaction was about to occur.
"Um...hi," Max shyly greeted Sean and Daniel, as she and Chloe stood up to appear more friendly to the brotherly duo. "You're moving in as well?"
"We came all the way from Mexico," Sean replied in an almost bragging manner, while Sonic watched the conversation from the distance. "The trip was painless. I'm Sean, and this is my little brother, Daniel."
"I'm Max, and this is Chloe, my best friend. We're happy to have you here." Watching the Diaz brothers interact with Max and Chloe made Sonic feel good inside - unable to shake off the feeling that the two duos had a lot in common with each other.
"Didn't take them that long to get acclimated," remarked Lavenza, who traveled with Sonic on the trip to Omins Adest; the young girl had exited the corvette and joined Sonic, standing at his side.
"One thing left to do is find out where Lyra lives," said Sonic, willing to go to great lengths to find out Lyra's home address. "We're gonna knock her socks off!"
Sonic was determined to knock some socks off, but for now, getting Sean and Daniel Diaz back to Seattle was a good start.