Author's Note:
Awkward story time...as you may already know, I was dying to write a chapter about Advance Wars. So much so, that I jumped ahead and started writing one while overlooking the release of the Mega Man: Battle Network collection. So this chapter is about that Mega Man collection. Sorry that you all had to wait another week for a new chapter. This chapter almost didn't happen because of my ignorance (or forgetfulness), so a review would be most appreciated. All I have left to say is...enjoy!
Episode 382: Networking
Tamagotchi toys were all the rage back in the late 90s and early 2000s. A handheld digital pet first invented by Aki Maita, they were sure to sell out like hotcakes. Almost every kid back then had a Tamagotchi, and they would even bring one with them to school. With their constant beeping and short lifespans taking the kids' attention away, Tamagotchis at one point had to be banned from school.
The Tamagotchi fad seemed like such a long time ago, and many folks assume that the toys were no longer produced. However, they would be wrong in that regard. To this day, Tamagotchi toys were still being made, as Bandai was continuing to pump out digital pets.
It might be hard to believe, but most kids took their Tamagotchi pets very seriously; if their digital pet were to die, they would hold a funeral for it. Yes, a funeral. The whole burial and everything. Wendy Koopa, who was gifted a Tamagotchi pet by Bowser, was one of those kids who was taking her pet seriously and then some.
"Guys, guys! Do you know what this is?" Wendy asked those who were chilling in the living room, as she was going around showing off her Tamagotchi. As you can imagine, hardly anyone cared enough to care.
"It's a digital pet," .EXE responded flatly, while he was sitting on the couch watching television. Wendy would stand in front of the TV, frowning at .EXE with her hands on her hips.
"Is that the kind of respect you wish to give to Susie? That's what I named her. Susie!" Wendy was holding her Tamagotchi close to her, smiling as she rubbed her Tamagotchi against her face.
"You gave that stupid thing a name?" Kazuya asked Wendy as he looked up from his book, as Wendy hissed at the businessman before returning to rubbing her Tamagotchi all over her cheek. Fiora came over to Wendy to check out the Tamagotchi for herself.
"Hey Fiora, check out my Tamagotchi." Wendy showed off her Tamagotchi to Fiora, who couldn't help but furrow her brow as she felt that something was terribly off.
"Wendy, that's Anya from Spy x Family," stated Fiora, noting that the Tamagotchi was a Spy x Family-themed one. "She already has a name." But Wendy didn't care, since she still loved Susie all the same.
"Isn't Anya also a human girl?" questioned Snake, who got nervous real quick as he suspiciously eyed around the living room. "Uh, Hal totally told me that random fact. He really did."
"What are you trying to say?" Wendy questioned Snake, curious about the point that the former spy was making. Snake was still fearful as ever that someone was judging him. "Are you saying that Koopas can't own a human?"
"Bowser has tried to do that with Princess Peach for years...and look at where it got him," quipped Tom Nook, who was sitting next to .EXE on the couch reading a newspaper. .EXE, Snake, and Kazuya all laughed, as Wendy waved off Tom Nook.
Wendy: For years I've wanted a Tamagotchi toy. But Daddy said that there were always hard to find. At first, I thought that he was being cheap, but look! *shows off Tamagotchi toy* He finally came through! Me and Susie, we're gonna be the best of friends!
Larry: *walks by* Gonna be friends with a digital pet? *snorts* Bold strategy.
Wendy: And how many friends do you have? Siblings don't count.
Larry:...that is not relevant to the conversation.
Bowser: Had to do what I had to do, and get Wendy what she wanted. I could've waited until Wendy's birthday or even Christmas, but everyone knows that the best parents get their kids exactly what they want whenever regardless of how good or bad their child is. Or you can just get your kid a toy if they annoy you enough. Who do you think I am, a pushover?
"Forget you guys...Susie and I are gonna have lots of fun together!" Wendy said to everyone in the living room, before kissing her Tamagotchi and leaving. Tom Nook watched as Wendy left, shaking his head.
"Who knew that being a dad would be the best and worst thing to happen to Bowser?" Tom Nook asked .EXE, as he went back to reading his newspaper a second later. Almost missed where he was on his current page.
"Better than him being a skirt chaser, that's all I can say," replied .EXE, who could finally watch TV in peace again without anyone obstructing his view. As he continued to read the newspaper, Tom Nook looked up at .EXE with a question on his mind.
"So .EXE, Wendy's virtual pet had me thinking...how did you come to be?" Tom Nook was awfully curious about .EXE origins, and his question had caught the NetNavi off-guard.
"What do you mean by that?" .EXE looked at Tom Nook, seeing how profound the look on the tanuki's face was. It was almost as if Tom Nook was guilt-tripping him into giving a substantial answer.
"I mean, you did say that you came from the realm of computer networking. That must mean that you're some kind of computer program, no?"
"Guess you could say that. I came from the Internet, pretty much. Used to live in the virtual world, and my User, Lan Hikari, would..."
"Your User? Lan Hikari?" All of this was new information that Tom Nook was learning, and he was easily fascinated by the details that .EXE was providing.
"Yeah, Lan Hikari! We would work together to defeat an evil crime syndicate called World Three. Predictably, the syndicate was led by Wily."
"Oh, my goodness...I never would've guessed that Dr. Wily wanted to be like Giovanni!" The thought of Wily running a crime syndicate with evil robots in his tow alarmed Tom Nook.
"No, not this universe's Wily. Some people may not know this, but I come from an alternate reality different from Mega Man's."
"I see...and I assume that Master Hand plucked you out of this alternate reality and allowed you to live in this mansion."
"He had someone else do the dirty work for him, but yeah, that's what happened. Still stinks that I had to leave my User behind."
"Lan Hikari must miss you a lot, for sure." As Tom Nook put his hand on .EXE, an intriguing idea came to his mind - and it was an idea that he found risky. "What if we brought Lan into this reality so that you two can rekindle?"
"Would that be even possible?" .EXE was a little excited by the idea, although he was understandably concerned about the execution. "Wily's machine may not be able to pull it off."
"Got any room on the couch for me?" Chrom asked .EXE and Tom Nook as he approached the two, oddly barefoot. "Need to sit down and rest my newly pedicured feet." .EXE and Tom Nook both looked at Chrom's feet and wanted to gag.
"Be our guest," replied Tom Nook, giving Chrom the go to sit on the couch. Chrom sat next to .EXE and placed his feet on the couch's footrest, as .EXE tried his best to look away.
Lucina: *holding up hands, looking disgusted* Father asked me if I could give his feet a pedicure, and sadly I caved in. My only options now are to either disinfect my fingers or take the easy way out and cut off my hands. Strongly leaning towards the second option.
"If there's a machine that can access alternate universes, then there must be one that can do the same for alternate realities," Tom Nook said to .EXE, while Chrom was relaxing on the couch. The mention of reaching alternate realities captured Chrom's attention.
"Did you say something about alternate realities?" Chrom asked Tom Nook as he sat up and focused his attention on the tanuki, wanting to help out in any way possible. "My daughter happens to know a guy."
"Ah, of course! Your daughter Lucina has experience as a time traveler. But what does that have to do with alternate realities...?"
It has been over a week since The Super Mario Bros Movie came out in theaters, and it was a smash hit at the box office. It had set a box office record, already becoming the highest-grossing video game movie ever. Everyone and their mom were talking up a storm about the movie, talking about how much of a fun romp it was.
But as Knuckles alluded to in the previous episode, the movie critics weren't as bullish of The Super Mario Bros Movie as everyone else was. The film currently had a 58% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, and it bothered Mario greatly. Mario was sitting at his computer, going through the critic reviews and reading every. Single. One.
"'The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the Illumination style done at its absolute worst,'" Mario read one of the reviews out loud, as Peach, Spyro, and Hunter were all standing off to the side watching silently. "They must have been-a desensitized by the Minions."
"Caught him red-handed doing this at four in the morning," Peach whispered to Spyro and Hunter, recalling when she saw Mario with his baggy eyes and overall fatigue. "Convincing him to go to bed was a struggle."
"Don't worry, Peach - we heard all of it," Spyro assured the princess; he and Hunter had their sleep interrupted due to Mario and Peach arguing, along with the sound of Lou crying from the nursery.
Mario: The movie reviews I read last night were some of the most-a damning things I have ever read. It made-a me want to believe that the critics hate animation. They must be the kind-a of fools that think of animation as a genre rather than an art-a form. I bet they also believe-a that animation is for kids-a only! Must've been asleep when the Batman cartoon was out in the 90s.
"'It is the laziest possible version of a Mario movie,'" frowned Mario as he read the next negative review, before pulling away from the computer and looking at the monitor in disbelief. "Did they not watch-a the 1993 film? And they call-a themselves a 'top critic'..."
"I know, why not read the reviews for the movie on Google?" Cappy recommended to Mario, hating how much negativity that the plumber was purposefully subjecting himself to. "That'll put you in a better mood."
"Might as well give it a shot." So Mario went to Google and skimmed through the audience reviews for The Super Mario Bros Movie, pleased with what he saw. "Hm, these reviews-a aren't as bad."
"Well, they are audience reviews..." stated Spyro, as Hunter nudged the purple dragon for attempting to put a damper on Mario. Mario kept scrolling through the reviews and saw predominantly five-star ratings.
"See, this is what I love-a about the fans! They don't nitpick as those movie critics do. I'd hate to know what any of those critics have to say about-a Toy Story, or The Little Mermaid, or even..."
Mario would suddenly stop scrolling, as he came across the first one-star audience review. It was a review written by a person who literally went by 'Anonymous', and fittingly enough they didn't have a profile pic as well.
"A one-star review? That seems pretty rare," commented Cappy, who had yet to meet anyone who thought lowly of The Super Mario Bros Movie. Hating on The Super Mario Bros Movie at this point in time was like hating on beef pepperoni pizza.
"'The Super Mario Bros Movie is the biggest pile of crap ever produced by any film studio, for real for real,'" Mario read the one-star review out loud, surprised by what he read so far. Even Peach and company were astonished. "'Hardly anything about that movie is redeemable.'"
"This is gonna be a good one..." smirked Spyro, who often found more enjoyment in reading bad reviews for stuff than good ones. Something about bad reviews that radiated subjective entertainment value.
"'Characters are lame, the animation is subpar, the soundtrack could've been a lot better, and the story for the movie is flatter than Yao Ming's head. Anyone who is planning on spending their hard-earned money on this film would be better off watching The Fantastic Four...the 2015 film. In theaters.'"
"Feels an awful lot like a troll review," commented Peach, aware of how most people acted online - nevertheless, Mario pressed on as he finished reading the rest of the review.
"Mario, if you are reading this, you are trash and have always been trash since the day you came out of your mother's womb. I hope that you die and Luigi pees all over your remains. Signed, Bowser. P.S. - your breath stinks."
"The last part is definitely true," remarked Spyro, as Mario slowly stood up from his seat after reading the review in its entirety. Mario was full of anger, as he had a bone to pick with his famous arch-nemesis.
"So Bowser wants to diss-a my movie, huh?" said Mario, not knowing if Bowser was just trolling or if he was dead serious. Either way, Mario was set to give the Koopa King a piece of his mind.
"He probably didn't mean it," Peach said to Mario, doing her best to keep Mario from leaving the house. Her small efforts were for naught, as Mario pushed his chair in and marched towards the front door.
"I'll be back, everyone - once I punch-a Bowser's hand in." Mario exited his house and slammed the door, albeit in a way that eschewed how angry he was. After Mario left, Hunter ran to the computer and read some of the reviews for himself.
"Check out this one-star review!" Hunter said to Peach and Spyro as he beckoned them to come over - and neither of them came. "So many big words that I barely even know! William Shakespeare must've written this bad boy."
The hometown Seattle Kraken had done it - for the first time in franchise history (and Vegas Golden Knights history), they were going to the playoffs! To celebrate the momentous occasion, Pit made a new Kraken-themed coffee flavor at Cafe Leblanc that he didn't ask permission for.
"I call it...the Krackin' Kraken Koffee!" Pit introduced his new coffee brew to the first volunteers - Falco, Sans, and Spring Man. All three volunteers clapped when the Krackin' Kraken Koffee was revealed.
"love the wordplay," Sans gave his props to Pit, who was smiling at how clever he was. Not often that the angel was ingenious. "it's guaranteed to have anyone kraken up."
"Nobody's laughing," muttered Joker, who had a Seattle Kraken banner hanging in the back of the cafe. As far as Seattle Kraken representation went, the banner was the only inch that Joker was willing to give to Pit.
"Shut up bruh, you're interrupting the presentation," Falco silenced Joker, as Pit poured a cup of coffee for Falco, Sans, and Spring Man. The three volunteers took their cups, sipping at the same time.
"The Krackin' Kraken Koffee tastes...interesting," Spring Man offered his two cents on the coffee, almost gagging as he tried to play it off with a smile. Falco and Sans had to do the same. "What did you put in it?"
"Water from the last fish fry we had," answered Pit, as he caused the three volunteers to start gagging all over the place as they got the taste of the coffee out of their mouths. "And some blue and green food coloring, can't forget that."
"Food coloring in coffee is not advised - unless it's for latte art," Joker warned Pit, who had unknowingly broken an unwritten rule about coffee. Who knows what other rules Pit had broken during the brewing process?
Pit: Everything has been pushing up daisies for the Seattle sports teams in recent times. The Mariners had the longest postseason drought in baseball - and they made the playoffs. The Seahawks were picked by pundits to be one of the worst teams in the NFL - and they made the playoffs. The Kraken have been around for only two seasons - and they made the playoffs! Now the SuperSonics will follow suit, and carry on the tradition of...oh wait, that's right.
"We'll worry about getting him later," Fox said to Champion Link, as he and the Hylian entered the cafe. The duo approached Falco at the counter, just when Falco was almost done gagging.
"Sorry about that, had to taste-test Pit's new coffee," Falco apologized to Fox once he was finished gagging, wondering why Champion Link was accompanying his best friend. "Ready to kick it with Ballyhoo?"
"Change of plans - we got even bigger fish to fry. Let's go." Leaving Falco's mind to wander, Fox turned around and walked to the cafe entrance, waiting for Falco. A bewildered Falco stood up, as he stared at Champion Link looking for answers.
"You'll see once we get there," Champion Link assured Falco, as he led the avian pilot away from the counter. Fox, Falco, and Champion Link left the cafe, with Falco still in an inquisitive state of mind.
"So I take it that you didn't like my coffee," Pit said to Sans and Spring Man, who didn't have it in them to give the angel their honest critiques. But based on their reactions alone, Pit could tell that he had a lot of work to do until his Krackin' Kraken Koffee reached perfection.
"If you want to sell your new coffee, you're going to have to make it taste decent first," Joker advised Pit, recommending that the angel start over from scratch - and maybe not use fish fry water. But Pit was in no mood for starting over.
"Easier said than done." A confident Pit poured himself a cup of his Krackin' Kraken Koffee and sipped it...only to start gagging a couple of seconds later. He learned at that moment that starting over from scratch was perhaps necessary.
Link's truck, which was fittingly named Epona, was in dire need of an engine change. Rather than spending his precious rupees on an engine change at the repair shop, Link instead asked Jacky Bryant to help him with changing out his engine. Midna was floating above Link, watching for her own amusement.
"Hold this for me..." Jacky said to Link after taking out the truck engine and dropping it into Link's hands. Link almost stumbled a bit, as he found the truck engine to be heavy.
"Too heavy for ya?" Midna asked Link with a smirk, as she personally wanted to see the Hylian drop the engine on his foot. Would make her presence outside worth it to her.
"No, I was just securing my footing," replied Link as he played off his stumbling, despite nearly tripping over the concrete of the driveway. Cortex showed up at the mansion with Uka, looking ticked off.
"Hey Dr. Cortex, what's good?" Jacky asked the evil genius, who stopped where he was and turned his head slowly to Jacky and company. Cortex looked as if he had received a bag of poop as a birthday gift.
"...I hate all of you," Cortex candidly replied, before pressing on as he went to the porch. Jacky would exchange looks with Link and Midna, as the three wondered what had gotten into Cortex.
Lucina: Father asked me to call Dr. Cortex, which was something that he easily could've done himself. Since Cortex is no longer part of the mansion, I could block his phone number, but that'd be one less person for him to turn to whenever he wakes up in the middle of the night crying after one of his Uka-centric nightmares.
Cortex: Why? Why do I have his stupid phone number? Why didn't I delete it when I had the chance? Why?
Falco was looking forward to speaking with MC Ballyhoo at Omnis Adest today but instead, the avian pilot found himself standing outside the Luminary's room with Fox and Champion Link. Fox knocked on the door, and the Luminary answered.
"Hey, it's us," Fox said to the Luminary, who didn't slam the door in the pilot's face in annoyance. A major improvement from last week. "We want you to be part of our brainstorm session."
"I assume that it's not Star Records-related, since Champion Link's with you," responded the Luminary, relieved that he wasn't asked to help come up with an album cover idea or something. He had been down that route with Knuckles already. "Does this have to do with Lara?"
"Mostly Lara, mostly Master Hand. It's half-and-half. Either way, we want to speak with you so that we can get you out of this mess you're in."
"Appreciate the help, but I'm not interested. The last time I took up your guys' advice, it left me in a worse mood than before."
"To be fair, that was Ballyhoo's doing. He even apologized for what he said afterward. But he's not here, so you have nothing to worry about."
"I'm confused, can someone fill me in?" asked Falco, as Champion Link put his finger up as he was about to speak. But then Fox held his hand out to keep the Hylian silent.
"You can explain to him later." So Champion Link put his finger down, as Falco was forced to be out of the loop until further notice. And it truly ate away at the avian pilot.
"Why later? What are you waiting on?" the Luminary questioned Fox, wondering why Champion Link was forbidden to speak. Falco was feeling some type of way as he took a few steps away, shaking his head.
"The better question is, who we're waiting on." There was another person that would be part of Fox's pact, and the anonymity left the Luminary at unease.
While most evil scientists had crazy white hair, there were a couple who had crazy white hair and were also bald. Dr. Wily fitted that category, and he was balding more than ever. Fearing that his hair was thinning out, Wily would stop by the mansion to see if anyone had any hair products that he could use.
"Hair's falling apart at the seams!" fretted Wily, standing on the mansion's porch while looking at his reflection in a personal mirror. The robot inventor was pulling on his hair until he felt someone tap his shoulder.
"I believe that's my mirror..." a certain Hylian princess said to Wily, who turned around and saw Researcher Zelda frowning with her hand out. Wily sheepishly smiled as he placed the mirror in the palm of Researcher Zelda's hand.
Wily: The machine I built that brought Cereza to this universe? I destroyed it. I intended for that machine to prove to E. Gadd the dangers of time travel, but it didn't do what I originally intended. But mark my words! Soon I'll build my own time machine, and it'll actually take one back in time, or forward. And after I'm done showing up E. Gadd, I'll destroy the time machine so that no one will use it and put themselves in harm. *pauses* Then that'll be two machines that I have destroyed...
After returning Researcher Zelda her mirror, Wily fixed his hair to the best of his ability before ringing the doorbell as he waited for someone to answer. The door would be answered by Lucina, as Wily instinctively covered his baldness.
"No need to hide anything, Wily - we all know that you're bald," Lucina said to the robot inventor, before stepping out of the way so that Wily could step inside the mansion. "Take your hands off your head."
"But I'm balding!" shrieked Wily as he entered the mansion, and Lucina showed how much she cared about Wily's plight as she rolled her eyes. "I require some hair tonic to fix it."
"Sure you haven't been balding since you graduated from college?" Lucina watched as Wily ran in front of a mirror in the foyer, checking his bald spot. "Hair looks the same as I remembered it."
"My bald spot has grown, I'm telling you!" Wily looked away from the mirror to point angrily at Lucina, but then he saw Cortex and Uka in the foyer and lowered his arm. "Dr. Cortex? Why are you here?"
"Because Chrom's daughter wishes for me to be miserable," Cortex despondently replied, so incensed with Lucina that he simply refused to call her by her name. Lucina sighed as she had to explain things.
"I called Cortex over to the mansion so that he can contact Dr. N. Tropy," Lucina explained to Wily, as Cortex scowled when N. Tropy was mentioned. There was definitely no love lost between Cortex and his long-time rival.
"Do not mention his name! You are to treat him like Voldemort." Cortex gave these demands to Lucina, expecting the princess to adhere to them, but Lucina would do no such thing.
"Anyway, MegaMan .EXE wants to meet his User, and so Dr. N. Tropy is going to bring his User over here somehow. He'll figure out a way."
"I always figure out a way..." said a mysterious voice, as everyone looked around the foyer to find out where it came from. Suddenly, Dr. N. Tropy appeared in front of everyone, in the middle of the foyer, holding his staff.
"Oh, Dr. N. Tropy! Didn't expect you to arrive on short notice." Lucina looked surprised, while Cortex looked angry as he frowned intensely.
"What did you expect? I am the master of time. I don't play by the rules - I make them." N. Tropy turned his attention to Uka, who he was more than happy to see, and Cortex, who he was less than happy to see.
"It's so good to see you again!" Uka smiled as N. Tropy, feeling a tear run down his face as he tried his hardest to suck it back in if possible. Every day, Uka dreamed of being paired with N. Tropy.
"Likewise." N. Tropy acknowledged Uka with a smile and a nod, only for his face to sour when he focused on Cortex. The feelings were mutual between the two evil geniuses. "I hate the fact that I had to answer your call."
"Yeah, yeah...just bring .EXE's stupid 'User' over here so that I can leave," responded Cortex, desiring to leave the mansion as long as N. Tropy was around. He felt uncomfortable just standing a fair distance from the evil genius.
"Very well then, I shall." So N. Tropy put his staff down and took a small cube out of his pocket. At first, this cube didn't seem like much, as N. Tropy placed it on the floor.
But then N. Tropy pressed a button on top of the small cube, and the cube expanded and expanded until it became a machine. Everyone in the foyer save for the usual suspect marveled at the contraption before them.
"This, gentlemen...and lady, is the mini Rift Generator," N. Tropy presented his contraption to everyone, as the Rift Generator was already going. "It can access any alternate universe and reality that exists."
"So it can pull anyone out from .EXE's reality," Lucina said to N. Tropy, who confirmed as such with a nod of his head. N. Tropy was undoubtedly the right person to ask for this task.
"But can this generator access parallel universes?" Wily asked this hypothetical question, looking at N. Tropy with his eyebrows raised and his fingers held together. A curious mind wanted to know.
"I'm afraid not, but that can be an upgrade," replied N. Tropy, as Wily turned away and pumped his fist, smiling- much to everyone's puzzlement. "What was with that fist pump?"
"Ignore him, just get the portal opened," Lucina instructed N. Tropy, who immediately went to work as he pulled up a keyboard on the mini Rift Generator and plugged in several coordinates. "I'll go and get .EXE."
"Take your time...no pun intended, hmm hmm." As N. Tropy had a small laugh, Lucina left the foyer to retrieve .EXE. Wily and Cortex remained where they were, watching as N. Tropy did his thing.
"I'm staying; you can leave if you want," Uka said quietly to Cortex, who was willing to take up on the floating mask's offer. It was an offer that both Cortex and Uka would be fine with.
"Would say it sucks to be you, but sadly you wanted to make this choice," Cortex said to Uka, before leaving the mansion; Uka looked satisfied, the first time he felt that way in forever.
"Oh cool, you brought Dr. N. Tropy," .EXE said to Lucina as he was brought to the foyer, while also being accompanied by Tom Nook. Tom Nook wanted to see Lan Hikari as much as .EXE did.
"Lucina, you're right on time! Also, pun not intended," N. Tropy said to the princess, as he had just opened up the portal to another alternate reality. The evil genius then stepped to the side, extending his arm. ".EXE, feast your eyes!"
.EXE had his eyes focused on the portal, as he waited for anyone that would come out of it. After a few seconds of waiting, a boy exited the portal, along with a girl around his age.
"One thing's for sure, this portal is not gonna take us to...the Net," the boy said to his friend, only to come to a stop when he saw .EXE in front of him. Nobody said a single word, as the moment was soaking in.
"Lan?" .EXE uttered the boy's name, as he didn't have it in him to tear up. Probably because he was a NetNavi. But the boy that he was speaking with, Lan Hikari, was doing the tearing up for him.
"MegaMan! It's you!" Lan ran up to .EXE, wrapping his arms around the NetNavi for a hug. "It's really you..." .EXe hugged Lan right back, as the others were appreciating the moment.
"Missed you too." As he continued to hug Lan, .EXE looked up and saw the girl that Lan entered through the portal with, who was waiting to be acknowledged. "Is that you, Mayl?"
"Hi, MegaMan," the girl, Mayl Sakurai, greeted .EXE with a smile and a wave. Lan ended the hug as he rubbed any tears from his eyes with his sleeve.
"Man, I'm so happy that we could reunite like this!" Lan said to .EXE, having a bunch of questions he wanted to ask his NetNavi. Such as the one he was about to ask right now. "So what is it like being in Smash?"
"I'm not actually in Smash - not as a fighter, at least," explained .EXE, as Lan was understandably met with disappointment. "I just help Mega Man with his Final Smash."
"No way! Another Mega Man?! That's awesome! Master Hand never told me that there was another Mega Man!" Now Lan was even more disappointed - disappointed that Master Hand hadn't told him before about Mega Man.
Master Hand: Lured .EXE to the mansion by telling him that he would be fighting in Smash. He didn't know what Smash was at the time, so in my mind, the trick worked like a charm!
"Easy there, tiger...I don't think we'll be meeting this Mega Man anytime soon," Mayl tried to calm down Lan, who was geeking out over the other possible Mega Man incarnations he would have a chance to meet. His mind was going to be blown.
"We don't have to wait, I can introduce you guys to him if you want me to," countered .EXE, open to introducing Lan and Mayl to the other residents. Probably only a select few, for their own good. "But how about I show you around the Smash Mansion first?"
"This is the Smash Mansion Master Hand talked about? Always wanted to know what this place looked like!" So .EXE led Lan and Mayl out of the foyer, with Lan smiling wide-eyed as he looked around.
"I highly advise you not to do that too much..." Mayl warned Lan, not wanting her friend to fangirl too much over everything he saw and make himself look bad. She might have to be the one to keep Lan in check.
"Lan Hikari seems like a good kid," Tom Nook had this to say about Lan, taking a sip from his mug as N. Tropy came over after shutting off the portal on the mini Rift Generator. "I can tell that the bond he has with .EXE is inseparable."
"I will keep the mini Rift Generator in place until .EXE's User is ready to head back," N. Tropy informed Lucina and Tom Nook, anticipating that Lan and Mayl may spend their day at the mansion. "I trust that the others will not bother it."
"Better not count on it," Lucina warned N. Tropy, letting the evil genius know not to put too much trust in the residents. N. Tropy went over to Uka, who was so excited that he couldn't hide it.
"We have a lot of catching up to do..." Uka grinned at N. Tropy, leaving the foyer at the evil genius's side. Wily watched as N. Tropy left with Uka, before feeling his bald hand with his hands.
"Oh my...I almost forgot about the hair tonic!" exclaimed Wily as he ran off to go ask someone for their hair product. Lucina and Tom Nook both left the foyer, as N. Tropy's Mini Rift Generator was left alone.
Mario had caught up to Bowser in the mansion and showed him the scathing review he left behind for the Super Mario Bros Movie. Bowser read the audience review in full on Mario's phone and later gave his reaction after he was done reading.
"HAHA! Best movie review I've read, hands down," Bowser laughed as he handed Mario back his phone, thoroughly entertained by what he just read. "I'd give the sucker who wrote it a million dollars if I had any."
"So you're saying that you didn't write-a that review?" Mario asked Bowser, who shook his head no in response; Mario didn't trust the Koopa King. "I don't believe you."
"Let's be real, Mario - would I go by the name of 'Anonymous' online? With no profile picture? And before you ask, my profile pic wouldn't be one of Princess Peach..."
"Bet it would be one of your former crush-a Lara Croft." Mario made this joke at Bowser's expense, and Bowser was instantly irate as he was about to put his hands on Mario's neck.
"Bowser! We need you for our master plan," Champion Link was heard shouting from down the hallway, just when Bowsr was about to go in for the kill. Bowser and Mario saw Champion Link at the end of the hallway, standing by himself.
"I'll wrangle your puny neck later. Peace." So Bowser left Mario alone as he walked away from the plumber, and over to where Champion Link stood. Mario watched Bowser leave with a finger underneath his chin.
"If Bowser didn't write that review, then who did?" questioned Mario, who desperately wanted to know who wrote that review on Google. He was certain that it was someone at the mansion. "Might as well ask his kids."
Cloud wasn't above doing favors for other people, even if it was for people like Rayman - or rather, Rayman's friend, Globox. Cloud was walking past Rayman's house when he saw Globox choking, and Rayman panicking and not knowing what to do. Coming through in the clutch, Cloud applied the Heimlich maneuver to Globox and saved the amphibian's life in the process.
"Globox's hero!" gleamed Globox as he hugged Cloud, thanking the swordsman for saving his life; as expected, Cloud had a bothered look on his face.
"Thanks for the save, Cloud," Rayman thanked the swordsman, who aggressively pushed Globox away from him and almost sent him running into the mailbox. "Would've called the paramedics since I don't know any better."
"They offer classes for doing the Heimlich maneuver, you know," Cloud informed Rayman, before looking down at a piece of cabbage that had come out of Globox's throat. "Also, tell your friend to not eat a whole piece of cabbage."
"I've been telling him that for years, quite frankly." As Rayman picked up the cabbage and tossed it out, Cloud saw Sonic and Crash both exit from the bandicoots' house next door. Both Sonic and Crash were wearing disguises. But for what reason?
"Hasn't been five minutes yet, and I already want to take this beard off," Sonic said to Crash, as he was wearing a fake brown beard to go along with a red Hawaiian shirt, white shorts, and a straw hat. Crash on the other hand had a fake goatee and a tight-fitting men's romper.
"Woah!" exclaimed Crash, complaining about his romper as he was pulling on his garment. Aku, who was accompanying Sonic and Crash, could hardly feel bad for the latter.
"To be fair, Crash, no one told you to steal Cortex's romper," Aku reminded the bandicoot, as Cloud furrowed his brow intensely and ventured over to Sonic and Crash. "Even though he didn't want it anyway in the first place."
"Should I even ask what you boys are up to?" Cloud asked Sonic and Crash, fearing the answer that he might receive. If Sonic was that dedicated to disguising himself, then it was something not good.
"Conker is attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, and Crash and I are gonna crash it!" Sonic explained to Cloud as he wrapped his arm around Sonic, only to later flinch in pain and pull on his beard. "Ow! Man, this beard is itchy."
Jakob: It was I who signed Conker up for Alcoholics Anonymous, against his will. He hasn't relapsed lately, but his alcohol intake has been more frequent and I'm not willing to take any chances. I'd hate for him to go on a bender, and wake up the next morning wearing pants.
"It's held at Serenity Hall," continued Sonic as he took out his phone and showed the location of Serenity Hall on his Google Maps app. As if Cloud cared. Sonic knew that Cloud didn't care so he put his phone away a second later.
"I'm just coming along so that Crash is on his best behavior," Aku stated to Cloud, as keeping up with Crash was his number one priority. But a chuckle from Sonic indicated that Aku might not be chaperoning today.
"Well, you'll obviously have to be outside; you'll blow our cover." The thought of having to watch Crash through the window unsettled Aku - what if he couldn't see Crash at all?!
"You still seem to care about Conker a lot," Cloud said to Sonic, wanting to give the blue hedgehog credit for how he turned Conker's life around. Conker would still be living in a trash can, eating junk, if it weren't for Sonic.
"Somebody has to be his guardian angel. But you wanna know something, Cloud? What you said last week really resonated with me."
"I'm glad that it did. So you've put your goal of reviving Conker's girlfriend to bed?" Cloud hoped to hear a yes from Sonic, but Sonic was noncommittal in giving an honest response.
"...I'll reserve my final decision until after the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Let's move, Crash!" So Sonic led Crash to his blue Corvette, and he and the bandicoot hopped inside.
"He'll come around eventually," Aku assured Cloud, before joining Sonic and Crash at the blue Corvette. Cloud looked on, hoping that Aku's words would soon ring true.
Pit took another crack at his Krackin' Kraken Koffee, and he needed a good enough taste taster to try his coffee. (None of the other baristas were game). The angel's best bet was enlisting Louie and Jasmine - and neither were the best judges of taste since they would literally eat and drink anything. Not only that, but Jasmine wasn't a resident of Omnis Adest (yet...may be only a matter of time), and Louie was dealing with a stomach bug so he was unfit to be at the cafe.
With Louie and Jasmine unavailable, Pit took it upon himself to text Iono, who actually stayed at Omnis Adest, and asked her to try out her new coffee. Much to the angel's delight, Ioni said yes...but only on one condition.
"Ello, 'ello, hola! Ciao and bonjour!" greeted Iono, streaming on her Rotom phone while inside Cafe Leblanc. Many folks were trying to get in on the shot. "Your eyeballs are MINE - caught in my Electroweb! Whosawhatsit? Iono! Coming at ya live from Cafe Leblanc!"
"Please tell me that I'm not on camera..." Joker pleaded to Viridi, wanting to do his job in peace and not be a part of Iono's live stream. What a coward.
"Look, Mom, I'm on TV!" Ken Masters exclaimed while sitting in the background, waving to the camera. He hoped that Iono's live stream was on a local TV station - or whoever his mom was watching TV.
"Today I'm joined by Pit, the angelic barista!" Iono turned the camera to Pit, making extra sure that she remained in the shot. Also had to make sure that she was the main focus.
"Yup, that's me," confirmed Pit, who was holding a cup of Krackin' Kraken Koffee which was waiting to give Iono. Not liking how much attention Pit was hogging from her, Iono positioned herself in front of Pit so that the camera was only on her.
"Not only is Pit a great tool for increasing viewership numbers, but he's also pretty decent at brewin' coffee as well. Mind telling the whole world what kind of coffee you made, Pit?"
"I call it...the Krackin' Kraken Koffee!" Pit couldn't let anyone see his coffee if Ioni was obstructing him, so Iono moved out of the angel's way as Pit presented his finest creation. "Made in honor of the Seattle Kraken."
"Wowzers! Would you look at that? So colorful and unique!" The words that Iono used to describe the coffee alarmed Joker, who glanced over with a dubious side-eye.
"Coffee isn't supposed to be colorful!" stated Joker, fearing that Pit might have broken yet another unwritten rule about brewing coffee. Rookie mistake after rookie mistake - and Pit was far from a rookie.
"May I take a sip?" So Pit offered the Krackin' Kraken Koffee to Iono, who took a sip and made a pained facial expression. The first impressions from Iono so far weren't good.
"Do you like it?" Pit asked Iono, who forced herself to swallow; Iono played things off with a smile, as the taste of the coffee permeated in her mouth.
"Hot diggity dang! That tasted great!" Iono gave her two cents on Pit's coffee, as she hastily climbed down her barstool and took her Rotom phone. "In fact, I'm gonna go and tell my adoring fans how great this coffee is!"
"That's cool. Go and spread the good word!" Pit was full of confidence, as Iono ran out of the cafe without the slightest hint of hesitation. Knuckles soon came inside the cafe, frowning mightily.
"Why is Iono throwing up outside the cafe?" Knuckles asked those who were inside Cafe Leblanc, as Pit's smile turned upside down real quick.
Mega Man was in the gaming room, where he was playing a game of catch with Rush. Playing with his robot dog indoors. What compelled him to do this, nobody truly knew.
"Hey, watch it!" King Dedede shouted at Mega Man, who accidentally threw Rush's ball at the fat penguin's head. Rush went to go retrieve the ball and return it to Mega Man. "Some people are trying to sunbathe here."
"That's not sunbathing, you're literally sitting under a lamp," stated Mega Man, as King Dedede was sitting on a lawn chair with a tall lamp light above him. King Dedede was wearing sunglasses, with his arms folded behind his head.
"Eh, still counts in my book." King Dedede continued to sunbathe - until Kamui came over and unplugged the lamp. Much to Dedede's chagrin, as the fat penguin took off his sunglasses and stared at Kamui.
"You're driving up the mansion's light bill, just wanted to let you know that..." Kamui reminded King Dedede before walking away...only to run into Sakura, of the Hoshidan royal family. "...oh! Hi, Sakura."
"Hello, Kamui...I believe this is for Corrin's daughter," Sakura meekly said to Kamui as she handed her a package, which was already opened. Kamui opened up a lid and saw a Star Wars toy inside.
"This must be the baby Yoda doll that Corrin wanted to get Kana. Thanks, Sakura!" Without saying a word, Sakura nodded her head before leaving the gaming room to avoid any possible suspicion.
Ryoma: Have any of you seen Sakura? I hope that she hasn't run off again. If you see her, tell her that her older brother is waiting on her.
"There he is," said .EXE as he led Lan and Mayl inside the gaming room, seeing Mega Man playing catch with Rush. Mega Man threw the ball and struck a mounted TV by accident.
"Whoops," remarked Mega Man, only for Lan to eagerly run up to the blue robot. Mega Man turned and saw Lan, and was lightly spooked.
"So you're this timeline's Mega Man!" Lan happily said to Mega Man as he shook the robot's hand, with Mega Man understandably caught off-guard. "I'm Lan Hikari, .EXE's User."
"Lan Hikari...Lan Hikari..." At first, the name "Lan Hikari" had Mega Man furrowing his brow, but then it finally came to him. "...oh yeah! Lan Hikari! .EXE has told me a great deal about you. Nice to meet you, finally."
"Yeah, same here! And this here's my friend, Mayl." Lan beckoned Mayl to come over, and Mayl would join Lan and stood at his side.
"I'd like to think of ourselves as boyfriend and girlfriend," affirmed Mayl, as Lan didn't look comfortable enough with addressing him and Mayl as such.
"...yeah, sure. Anyway, I'm sure that you're the most awesome robot to have ever existed! But not as awesome as .EXE, though."
"Way to be biased, Lan..." Mayl said to her supposed boyfriend, who hoped that Mega Man didn't take his comments that seriously.
"Alright, that's enough," said .EXE as he had to come over and give Mega Man some breathing space between him and Lan. Lan was a little too close to Mega Man for the robot's liking.
"My bad, .EXE, I was just so excited to..." Lan apologized to the NetNavi, only to trail off when he saw Rush returning to Mega Man with the ball in his mouth. Rush dropped the ball to the floor and looked at Lan and Mayl, panting as he happily wagged his tail. "...Mega Man, is that your dog?"
"His name is Rush," replied Mega Man, as Lan and Mayl went over to Rush and patted the robot dog. At this point, .EXE could only stay out of the way and monitor Lan to the best of his ability.
"Such a good boy! Too bad you never have a pet dog, .EXE." Technically, .EXE could've had a pet dog inside the Net...if the Rush in his timeline wasn't an enemy program.
"I didn't really need one anyway," .EXE shrugged, for he already had a bona fide companion in Lan. Having a User in Lan made up for a whole bunch of stuff.
"Uh, any reason why you were playing catch with Rush indoors?" Mayl asked Mega Man, as Rush was nudging his nose against Mega Man wanting his owner to take another crack at throwing the ball.
"Would play catch outside, but then I might throw it too far and Rush will get carried away with his Rush Jet," explained Mega Man, and once he heard the words "Rush Jet", Rush immediately turned into a jet right on command.
"Woof, woof!" barked Rush, before flying around the gaming room in his Rush Jet form. The robot dog almost crashed into several residents while he flew in the air.
"Cut it out, Rush, I'm not even standing on you!" Mega Man chased after Rush, who was barking happily as he kept flying around. Rush was causing so much commotion that Master Hand had to appear in the gaming room to see what was going on.
"What is with all that racket?" questioned Master Hand, before looking down and seeing .EXE gathered with Lan and Mayl - the latter two grabbing his intrigue. ".EXE, is that your...User?"
"You're talking about Lan? Sure is," confirmed .EXE, as Lan and Mayl looked up and saw Master Hand. Mayl was startled by Master Hand as she backed away some.
"It's okay, Master Hand's cool," Lan assured Mayl, easing her up a bit; Mayl remained terrified of Master Hand as she still kept her distance.
"The girl is Mayl, Lan's friend. Or girlfriend - I can't tell you which one is which." Just when Lan was about to say that he and Mayl were friends, Mayl immediately covered his mouth with her hand.
"Friends, hm? Good to know..." Master Hand would take his attention away from .EXE and company, as he saw Mega Man struggling to keep Rush contained. "...Mega Man, tame your dog this instant!"
N. Tropy's mini Rift Generator was left alone in the foyer, which meant that anyone could steal it if they wanted to. Anyone such as an Organization XIII member, as a dark corridor appeared in the foyer.
"What is this?" wondered a hooded Organization member as he exited from the dark corridor, with the mini Rift Generator grabbing his attention. He walked up to the generator to get a closer look.
Sensing that he was all alone, the Organization member felt comfortable enough to take off his hood...revealing himself as Ansem. The Seeker of Darkness Ansem, not the Wise one. Ansem saw a button on the mini Rift Generator and desired to press it.
"Let's see what this button can do," said Ansem as he pressed the button, causing the portal from earlier to reopen. The Heartless took a step back as he watched N. Tropy's device do its thing.
"Alph better be right about this hair tonic working wonders," Wily was heard speaking from afar, as Ansem instinctively ran for cover. Ansem hid behind a couch, as Wily entered the foyer and gasped when he saw the portal open.
"So it is a portal..." Ansem watched as a hand reached out from the portal, as Wily stood his ground. Soon a man who looked similar to Wily exited the portal, wielding a cane with a skull on it.
"What is this brand new world?" this Wily lookalike wondered after exiting from the portal, before coming face-to-face with Wily and smiling. "Now this is a face that I don't mind seeing!"
"Not another step!" Wily shouted at his lookalike, knowing that he was powerless in defending himself. If only he had a Mega Buster like Mega Man. "Who are you, and why do you look like me?"
"You fool - I'm you but from a different timeline!" Once he heard that, Wiy loosened up as he no longer had anything to fear. "I am Lord Wily - I hail from a timeline where my robotics technology is a driving force."
"And Dr. Light? What about him?" Apparently, the name Dr. Light didn't register with Lord Wily as the mad scientist furrowed his brow in confusion.
"Are you talking about Tadashi Hikari? That man is old news. It's only Lord Wily who reigns supreme - no Dr. Light to be found!"
Wily: A timeline where Dr. Light hardly exists is simply put the greatest timeline ever! Why can't our timeline be like that?
"I know that you're a different version of me, but I like your style," Wily gave his props to Lord Wily, liking the mad scientist's eyepatch, cane, and grayed fashion style. Then Wily had an idea. "How would you like to meet, erm...an old 'friend' of mine?"
"I'd only be interested if this friend of yours is a fellow bright mind," stated Lord Wily, as he only wished to be associated with like-minded individuals within Wily's timeline. Wily was reluctant to consider his so-called friend a bright mind.
"Well, he's not exactly the brightest...but he's still bad company. I mean, good company. I'll take you to where he lives."
"After this meeting, I'd love to see your work. Found any rousing success with robotics, like me?" As Lord Wily followed Wily out of the mansion, Ansem appeared from the couch once the coast was clear and returned to the mini Rift Generator.
"Lord Wily would be a fine addition to Dimentio's coalition," remarked Ansem, returning his focus to the mini Rift Generator as he looked to steal it somehow. "But first..."
Mario had spoken with three of the Koopalings - Morton, Lemmy, and Larry - and they all alleged that they didn't write that scathing review for The Super Mario Bros Movie. The plumber would speak with Wendy in her room, and Wendy was obsessing over her Tamagotchi toy. Wendy was so obsessed with "Susie", that she barely paid Mario any attention.
"I'm no big fan-a of anime, but that's clearly the girl-a from Spy x Family," Mario said to Wendy, who had shown the plumber her virtual pet after several minutes of occupying herself with it.
"Sooooo what's your point?" asked Wendy, worried that Mario was being a hater; she would have to show him out of her room if that was the case.
"My point is that she already has a name, an identity. Also, you can't really deem-a her a pet since he's a human and you're...a Koopa."
"Oh, so you're saying that us Koopas can't own humans? Why do you say that - is it because you punked my daddy too many times?"
"Not at all! All I'm saying is, it upsets-a the natural order." Mario's explanation fell flat with Wendy, whose left eye was twitching as she heard enough from the plumber.
"Get out of my room..." Wendy pointed towards the door, and so Mario exited Wendy's bedroom to avoid catching some hands. Upon leaving the room, Mario conveniently ran into Iggy.
"Hi Iggy, did you write-a this movie review?" Mario asked the Koopaling as he showed him the movie review on his phone. Iggy read the review in full, nodding his head multiple times as he read until the very end.
"Nah, but I totally agree with what they said at the end," replied Iggy before walking away, as Mario looked distraughtly at the postscript of the movie review. "You should brush your teeth more often, Mario!"
"But I brush-a my teeth every day..." Mario brushed his teeth every day and yet his breath still smells? Might as well invest in some mouthwash.
Raphael of the Golden Deer was prone to consuming anything, as long as his large appetite allowed it. When the commoner stopped by Cafe Leblanc, Pit made sure to let him try out his Krackin' Kraken Koffee.
"All for you, my guy!" Pit offered his coffee to Raphael, with fingers crossed at the commoner would like the beverage and not suffer from any side effects. Raphael took the cup of coffee, licking his lips as he stared at it.
"Raphael? Are you going to drink that or not?" asked Ingrid, who was sitting next to Raphael, as Raphael was staring at his coffee without even blinking once. Seconds later, the commoner broke out of his trance.
"Sorry, got kinda lost in the mood there," apologized Raphael, who took a moment to realize what his surroundings were. "Here's one down the hatch!" Raphael scarfed down the Krackin' Kraken Koffee in one gulp, much to the surprise of Pit and Ingrid.
"How do you like it?" Pit asked Raphael, hoping to hear a good report about his coffee...but Raphael clutched his growling stomach as he quickly got up from his barstool.
"My stomach feels like it's gonna explode!" Raphael ran out of the cafe, in an effort of relieving his stomach pains. Pit took it as a sign that maybe Raphael already had stomach problems before arriving at the cafe, and that the coffee had nothing to do with it.
"Brewed another cup...just for you," Pit offered another cup of his coffee, this one to Ingrid; Ingrid looked at the coffee with a worried glance. "You are a foodie, after all."
"That's true, but that doesn't mean that I drink coffee," stated Ingrid, turning down the coffee as she pushed it away. Pit looked at his coffee and debated drinking it in his mind...but decided to wait until he asked one more volunteer.
Yoshi: The initials for Krackin' Kraken Koffee are KKK. A group that uses those very same initials is the... *gasps, then covers his mouth with his hands*
Lan wanted to hang out with Mega Man...or rather, be with Mega Ma, and .EXE would grant his User's wish long as he got to stick around. Mega Man took .EXE, Lan, and Mayl to the arcade, where he allowed his User and Mayl to play any arcade game of their choosing while he provided the tokens.
"The arcade games in this timeline are so cool!" gleamed Lan as he and Mayl were playing a Street Fighter arcade game. Mayl was getting her butt kicked by Lan, who was showing no signs of letting up.
"Good call starting them off with Street Fighter," .EXE gave his props to Mega Man, as he gave the blue robot a fist bump. Lan had won his game against Mayl as he pumped his fists in celebration.
"I personally wanted to blow their expectations out of the water," smirked Mega Man, as Lan came over to the robot; Mega Man knew from the get-go what Lan wanted from him. "Want another go at Mayl?"
"Promised her that we'd keep playing until she wins a game," replied Lan, as Mega Man pulled out a few tokens and dropped them in the palm of Lan's hand. "At this rate, we'll be stuck in this arcade forever!"
"Let's hope not - you're gonna have to head back home soon," remarked .EXE, as Lan ran back to the Street Fighter arcade game and inserted the tokens into the coin slot. Lan started a new game, as Master Hand brought Zelda into the arcade.
"That lad playing Street Fighter is Lan Hikari - .EXE's User," Master Hand explained to Zelda with oddly unbridled fascination, as if he were describing a rare creature in the African safari. "His lady friend his Mayl."
"So that is what Lan looks like," said Zelda, who had heard a few anecdotes about Lan from .EXE far and few in between. "Any reason why you were so intent on showing me?"
"No reason...no reason at all." Master Hand made a sniffling sound, and it was a sound that was unlike anything Zelda had heard from Master Hand before.
"You alright?" Zelda asked Master Hand, who was sniffling even more when .EXE came over to Lan to see how well his User was doing. "You need a tissue?"
"I don't need a tissue! The audacity of you to ask that when I don't have a nose." Master Hand would cease with the sniffling, but only because Zelda was on to him. The giant hand looked heavily suspicious in Zelda's eyes.
"Good news - I got Rush out of his Rush Jet form," X came inside the arcade to inform Mega Man, after he saw the blue robot standing alone by himself from the hallway. "All I did was make him run out of fuel."
"That means he'll need a new fuel tank...just what I need," grumbled Mega Man, as Lan had bested Mayl in Street Fighter yet again. When Lan turned around, he saw X standing with Mega Man and gasped.
"THERE'S MORE THAN ONE MEGA MAN?!" an astonished Lan exclaimed, as he ran over to X and shook the pacifist robot's hand. X was already taken aback by Lan's behavior. "Hi, I'm Lan, I'm .EXE's User and..."
"Okay, okay, slow it down...I'm not used to getting caught off-guard like this," .EXE said to Lan, who was forced to temper his excitement. X looked towards .EXE and asked the NetNavi, "Want to come and get your boy?"
"Nah - let him have it," replied .EXE, giving Lan the freedom to exhaust his energy from sharing his excitement over meeting X. Lan's day at the mansion just kept getting better and better.
"Lan sure is making new friends rather quickly," observed Zelda, only to hear more sniffling sounds from Master Hand when she made her observation. "You're not...sobbing, are you Master Hand?"
"It's those stupid ninja pals of yours cutting onions in secret," replied Master Hand, who ended his sniffling once Zelda called him out on it. If Master Hand was indeed sobbing, then for what reason?
Uka was having the time of his life, getting to hang out with N. Tropy with no signs of Cortex. He got to do some catching up with N. Tropy, asking him about his latest inventions and what sort of new stuff he was working on. The only thing that would ruin Uka's perfect day would be Cortex coming to retrieve him, but that wouldn't be the case long as N. Tropy was still around.
"Unbelievable that Cortex still sleeps with his thumb in his mouth," chuckled N. Tropy, as Uka was telling the evil genius Cortex's business. The two evildoers were heading down the hallway, en route to the foyer.
"He claims that it's a defense mechanism, but I don't know what he means by that," responded Uka as he and N. Tropy arrived at the foyer. They soon saw that something was amiss...as the mini Rift Generator was nowhere to be found!
"My mini Rift Generator! Where is it?" N. Tropy searched every nook and cranny for his generator, but he couldn't find it anywhere. His worst-case scenario had now become a reality.
"What happened?" inquired Lucina as she showed up at the foyer, having heard N. Tropy panicking. "Somebody took your machine?" The way that the foyer looked empty compared to earlier made it super obvious to Lucina.
"I am afraid so...you were right that the others cannot be trusted. Had put so much of my faith in them..."
"Don't be so hard on yourself. I'll ask Samsu to check the security footage; she'll find out who did it."
Even with the addition of Cortex's minions, E. Gadd still felt lonely at his mansion. None of the minions ever engaged with E. Gadd, and most of the time they pretended as if the inventor was never there. Gave him the good ol' John Cena treatment.
Wanting to fill the void of his loneliness, E. Gadd invited over several folks at Omnis Adest to his mansion for a tea party. He didn't know who exactly to invite, so he sent out the invites at random. The folks who received an invite included Arven, Kicks, Kyo Kusanagi...and Lara Croft.
"Tea tastes fabulous, professor," Lara said to E. Gadd, appreciating the inventor for inviting her to his tea party. It was nice to get out of Omnis Adest every once in a while.
"And it tastes even better with my sandwiches," said Arven, who was eating one of his famous Herba Mystica sandwiches with his faithful companion Mabostiff at his side. "Mabostiff thinks so too!"
"He wasn't agreeing with you, all he did was yawn," stated Kyo, as the doorbell rang; E. Gadd, who was fixing himself a cup of tea, was in no position of answering the door.
"Shut up, I know what Mabostiff says! You're just jealous because you don't have a special bond as we do." Neither Arven nor Kyo was getting the door, and Lara as well since was busy sipping her tea.
"Kicks, would you be a dear and open the door?" E. Gadd asked the skunk, who got up and went to go answer the door while the doorbell continued to ring. Kicks opened the door and saw Wily standing with Lord Wily.
"About time somebody answered," remarked Wily, who was beginning to lose his patience; if he had his own Mega Buster, he would've blasted the front door off of its hinges. "Is Professor E. Gadd home?"
"Yeah, he's having a tea party, and you weren't..." replied Kicks, only to trail off when he saw Lord Wily standing by with his skull cane. "...is that your long-lost twin brother, Dr. Wily?"
"You have a twin brother?" an overhearing Pinstripe Potoroo asked Wily, as he joined Kicks at the door with his Tommy gun. "Did he run away when you were kids because he knew how much of a failure you would be later in life?"
"He is not my long-lost twin!" shouted an offended Wily, having to keep his temper in control for he did not want to embarrass himself in front of Lord Wily. "This is me from a different timeline. Lord Wily."
"So that's you from a timeline where you were actually successful. Got it." Pinstripe took this info to heart, as Wily turned his ire from the potoroo to the person he most wanted to see...E. Gadd.
"Welcome, Dr. Wily!" E. Gadd cordially greeted the robot inventor, who along with Lord Wily came inside the mansion. "I know I didn't send you an invite, but I see that you've brought a guest."
"You must be Professor E. Gadd," Lord Wily said to E. Gadd, as he shook the inventor's hand. Wily was amazed that his counterpart would dare make physical contact with his arch-enemy. "Dr. Wily has told me a great deal about you."
"Oh yes, we used to work together in the past. I relive the memories every now and then." While E. Gadd relived those memories, Wily did his best to delete the from his memory banks.
Wily: I had to sell Lord Wily on E. Gadd so that he would be remotely interested in meeting that buffoon. It was one of the hardest things that I have ever done.
"We don't have enough room for two more guests," stated Lara, noting that the table for the tea party was only so small. It was probably why E. Gadd sent out so few invites in the first place.
"No worries, we weren't planning on staying long anyway..." Wily assured Lara, as he focused all his attention on E. Gadd and did his best to send fear down his spine. It wasn't working.
"I assume you want no part of my tea party, then?" E. Gadd nervously asked Wily, who sent a message as he took E. Gadd's kettle and dropped it unto the floor. Lara gasped as tea was wasted on the floor.
"Hey man, that's not cool!" Kyo frowned at Wily, who did something that was out of the ordinary for him as he grabbed E. Gadd and held him by the collar. "Don't you do it!"
"Haha, I got you now!" Wily laughed evilly as he put E. Gadd in a camel clutch, leaving the inventor open for attack. Poor E. Gadd was defenseless. "Now, Lord Wily, strike him with your cane!"
"Why should I? What do I get out of this?" questioned Lord Wily, daring not to strike a fellow bright mind in E. Gadd unless for good reason. Wily had to sell him on how "crooked" E. Gadd was.
"This man, E. Gadd, is a blowhard. He thinks so highly of himself...he esteems himself the brightest mind in any timeline! My timeline, your timeline, the list goes on and on!"
"I never said such things..." E. Gadd pleaded his innocence, only for Wiy to muffle his mouth to keep him from speaking. Wily's " exposé" of E. Gadd worked like a charm, as Lord Wily scowled.
"Nobody calls themselves smarter than I and gets away with it!" exclaimed Lord Wily as he readied his cane, looking to strike E. Gadd as many times as necessary Suddenly a dark corridor appeared, and Mabostiff barked at it garnering Arven's attention.
"Uh, guys, we got company!" Arven alerted the others, standing his ground as Ansem stepped out of the dark corridor. Mabostiff barked at Ansem, as the hairs on his back were raised.
"My apologies for crashing your precious tea party," Ansem said to everyone present, as he took his Organization XIII cloak and took it off before tossing it to the side. Mabostiff leaped at Ansem, who knocked away the boss Pokemon and sent him flying.
"Mabostiff!" screeched Arven as ran over to Mabostiff to check on him. Ansem marched forward, as Kyo bravely stepped up to the plate to confront the Heartless.
"Don't come any closer!" Kyo shouted at Ansem as he threw a punch, only for Ansem to counter him by grabbing his hand. Ansem squeezed Kyo's hand, causing the fighter to wince in pain.
"I do not listen to the likes of you..." Ansem said to Kyo, throwing the fighter down to the floor and then stepping over him. Lara was too frightened to move out of her seat, as she cautiously watched Ansem venture over to her.
"A...a toast," uttered Lara as she took her teacup and gave a toast...to nothing in particular. Ansem stared down at Lara with his arms folded, not saying a single word.
"I'll deal with you later," Ansem said to Lara before walking over to Lord Wily, as Lara slowly rose up from her seat when Ansem wasn't looking. "But for now, I must do some recruiting..."
"Back! Back, I say!" Lord Wily shouted at Ansem as he turned at the Heartless, pointing his cane at him as he looked to attack. But then Ansem took the cane and lowered it gently.
"I have seen you, from a distance...you seem like the kind of individual that Dimentio needs for his growing coalition. How would you like to join..."
"Don't take him...take me instead!" Wily offered to Ansem as he let go of E. Gadd, and slid down to his knees in front of Ansem with his arms outstretched. "I'm who you want, not him!"
"You bringing that foolish Sora into this universe to put an end to our invasion disqualifies you. Begone." Ansem delivered a backhand to Wily so vicious, that it sent the robot inventor flying to the side.
"So you want me to join this...this coalition?" Lord Wily asked Ansem, who nodded his head; Lord Wily considered his offer for a brief moment. "I'd like to discuss the terms, if you don't mind."
"If that is what you want, then I will explain the details," replied Ansem, leading Lord Wily away as he looked to negotiate with the evil genius. "I shall tell you everything you need to...where's Lara Croft?"
"Totally didn't leave this place while your back was turned," replied Kicks, only to cover his mouth with both of his hands. "Me and my big mouth..." Hearing that Lara was gone made Ansem frown.
"Unfortunately for Miss Croft, we are not done with her yet. But we know where she lives." Ansem summoned a dark corridor and then turned his head to Lord Wily, who was skittish about entering. "Follow me."
"As you wish..." responded Lord Wily as he reluctantly followed Ansem inside through the dark corridor. Wily slammed his fist on the floor as the dark corridor closed.
"Can't believe that the Organization took him from me!" Wily seethed as he turned to E. Gadd, pointing accusingly at the inventor with contempt. "E. Gadd, this is all your fault!"
"What did I do?" E. Gadd asked Wily out of disbelief, adjusting his glasses and fixing his lab coat as he stood back on his feet.
"You did nothing and let the Organization take Lord Wily away. Granted I did look weak when Ansem smacked me...none of you saw that, by the way."
Serenity Hall was a recovery hall on Renton Avenue, known for saving the lives of many and helping people recover. It was a site of many Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and Conker was attending one held today. Sonic and Crash disguised themselves so that they could infiltrate this meeting.
"I'm here for the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting," a certain swordsman said to the person at the front desk as he entered Serenity Hall. It was Cloud, and he showed no signs of concealing his identity.
"The meeting is in the room on your left," the front desk person notified Cloud, who went ahead and entered the room that was on his left. An Alcoholics Anonymous meeting was taking place inside the room.
Like any other Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, folks were sitting around in a circle, with a person leading the conversation. A seat was available, and Cloud sat down in it without making any noise.
"It seems that we have a new face!" announced the man leading the meeting, as all eyes were on Cloud. Cloud, the kind of guy that he was, often hated being the center of attention. "I'm Mitch, and I'm the Secretary in charge of this meeting. Mind standing up and telling us your name, friend?"
"Only if I have to," replied Cloud, saving himself some trouble as he stood up and faced everyone. No risk it, no biscuit. "My name is Cloud Strife, and I am only an observer. There you go."
"Hiya, Cloud!" Conker smiled and waved at Cloud, who saw the squirrel on his left as he sat back down. Cloud then looked to his right - and saw Sonic and Crash in their disguises.
"What an amateur..." Sonic whispered to Cloud as he shook his head in disappointment at the fact that Cloud showed up without a disguise. Crash shook his head with Sonic's, as he too was disappointed.
"Leave the new guy alone, Keyshawn!" Mitch commanded Sonic, as Cloud made an amused face at the name that Sonic had given himself. "You too, Bernard - stop shaking your head!"
Sonic: I picked "Keyshawn" out from a bag of names, on my first draw. The online name generator kinda did me in.
Coco: Crash struggled to come up with a name to go by, so I gave him a name tag that said "Bernard". This is the name that he originally wrote. *holds up a name tag with gibberish scribbled on it*
"To get you caught up to speed, Cloud, we're going around and sharing our experiences with battling our demons," Mitch explained to Cloud, who didn't want to say much for he was just sitting and observing. "I believe it's Keyshawn's turn now."
"Oh snap, it is?" Sonic perked up, nervous to the bone as he didn't know what to say. Should've saved his butt by attending the meeting as an observer, as Cloud had done. "Uh, can we skip over me?"
"Absolutely not! This meeting is a safe space for alcoholics to let everything out, and be assured that they're not alone. Whatever you need to get off our chest, do it now - we don't judge you!"
"Tell us how you feel, Keyshawn," Cloud egged on Sonic, who angrily shushed the swordsman. Left with no other choice, Sonic had to wing it.
"Here goes nothing..." Sonic said nervously as he flexed his fingers, thinking in his mind what he wanted to say. Then out of nowhere, the blue hedgehog started fake coughing. "...as you...can see...I have...a very bad...smoking addiction."
"You mean an alcohol addiction," one of the Alcoholics Anonymous folks corrected Sonic, who stopped his fake coughing fit in a hurry. Sonic was stumped..."
"That too. Um..." As Sonic struggled to think of something else to say, Crash began crying as crocodile tears were running down his face. "...my addiction has affected Bernard here as much as it affects me. And the other way around."
"I feel you, man," Conker sympathized with Sonic...erm, Sonic, with his hand over his heart. The squirrel had yet to see through Sonic and Crash's disguises, and Cloud was counting down the moments until he did.
Mario had spoken with Roy Koopa and Ludwig, and the two Koopalings both denied that they were the ones who wrote that scathing review for The Super Mario Bros Movie. That meant the plumber's last hope was Bowser Jr, whom he caught in the hallway.
"I didn't write that," confirmed Bowser Jr, meaning neither he nor any of the Koopalings had written that movie review on Google. "...but whoever did was right on the money about how your breath stinks."
"My breath-a does not stink," a defensive Mario retorted, before doing a sniff test as he breathed into his mouth. The smell left the plumber grimacing.
"Peach should've told you. Or maybe she's too nice to tell you the truth!" Bowser Jr. had a laugh as he walked away from Mario, who did a second sniff test just to make sure that his nose wasn't playing games with it. Turns out his nose wasn't lying to him.
Mario: I don't understand, I brush-a my teeth every day...and I floss-a too! Perhaps I should stop using mushroom-based products. But then again, I can't bring-a myself to do it. It's in my DNA.
Not knowing what route he can take now, Mario carried on down the hallway left in a rock and a hard place. Then the plumber passed by the Luminary's room, and he took a peek inside and saw Fox, Falco, Bowser, Champion Link, and the Luminary gathered together.
"I think we should have Lara publicly read out this apology letter," said Bowser as he took a letter out from his imaginary pocket, handing it to the Luminary so that he can be the first to read. "Go ahead and read it out loud."
"With pleasure," the Luminary reluctantly replied, knowing that whatever Bowser wrote in that so-called apology letter couldn't possibly be good. After clearing his throat, the Luminary was ready to read: "'I performed an act two weeks that I guess flew over the radar that I am deeply ashamed of. If I have hurt anyone out there, other than the Luminary, I can't tell you how much I say, from the bottom of my heart, I am so very, very sorry.'"
"For a fake apology letter, this is actually pretty good so far," commented Fox, interrupting Luminary mid-reading so that he could offer his honest critique on the apology letter. "Even by your standards, Bowser."
"Shut up..." Bowser frowned at Fox, genuinely believing that his writing skills were vastly superior compared to his many peers. "...keep reading, Luminary."
"'I pride myself and think of myself as a woman of faith...'" the Luminary continued reading the apology letter, only to furrow his brow as he made out the next few lines. "'...as there's a drive into deep left field by Castenellos, it will be a home run, and so that'll make it a 4-nothing ballgame.'"
"Whoops, sorry! That was a baseball joke off of the Internet." Bowser took the apology from the Luminary, as he took out an ink pen and crossed out the last line that was read. "Couldn't think of a single Mariners player, so I kept Nick Castenellos in there just to play it safe."
"But what does anyone from the Mariners have to do with..." The Luminary held his breath and instead shook his head, as Bowser handed him back the apology letter. The Luminary picked up right where he left off. "'...I don't know if I'm going to be allowed back at the Smash Mansion again.'"
"May I see that?" Falco asked the Luminary as he held his hand out, wanting to see the apology letter for himself. So the Luminary handed over the letter, and Falco got up from his seat...
...only to walk over to a paper shredder and insert the apology letter inside. Bowser gasped as the letter he worked so hard on was shredded into pieces.
"Hey buddy, I worked hard on that apology letter!" Bowser boomed at Falco, who dusted his hands off as he returned to his seat on Eight's bed. "Even had a professional peer editor proofread it. Paid him good money, too!"
"One, that apology letter honestly sucked," stated Falco, as Bowser resisted the urge the punch the avian pilot in his face for giving his honest thoughts. "Secondly, we don't need a stinking apology letter."
"Falco does have a good point," Fox agreed with Bowser, much to the Koopa King's chagrin, as he slammed his fist in the palm of his hand. "What we need is a plan that will not only get Lara back home but also Master Hand in his rightful place."
"Layton and Luke know how to get-a Lara home," Mario said through the doorway, recalling the instance of Layton and Luke buying a plane ticket for Lara. Everyone in the room showed agreement with Mario.
"You know, that's not a bad idea..." said Champion Link as he looked to give some props, only to look around in the room just like everyone else. "...wait a minute, who said that?"
"It was I." Mario made his presence known as he stepped inside the room, with his hand so so that he could be recognized. "I'd say that you should consult Layton and Luke; they'll know what to do."
"Dang it, Mario!" Bowser shouted at Mario, knowing why the plumber was lingering around at the Lumianry's door without saying a word. "You're gonna accuse me of writing that movie review, aren't you?"
"What movie review?" inquired Fox, and that's when Mario took out his phone and showed him the review for The Super Mario Bros Movie. Everyone except for Bowser gathered around and read the review together.
"Ha, I've read that review before," chuckled Falco, as Mario looked at the avian pilot hoping that he had the answer he was seeking. "Even know who wrote it in the first place."
"You do? Tell me." No one had any idea why Mario was so eager to know the identity of the reviewer, but Falco had no choice but to give Mario the goods.
Lucina convened with N. Tropy in the computer room, where Samus was accessing the mansion's security footage. N. Tropy wanted to know the crook that was responsible for stealing his mini Rift Generator.
"Found our culprit," alerted Samus, as she played back the footage on the computer; she saw in the foyer Ansem tinkering with the mini Rift Generator, before finding the button that compressed the generator into its small cube state.
"That black cloak..." Uka observed the black cloak, as Ansem was seen inserting the small cube into his pocket and exiting through a dark corridor. "..is he one of those Organization XIII punks I hear about?"
"Organization XIII, hmm..." said N. Tropy, becoming familiarized with the Organization as he stroked one of his whiskers. The evil genius had a major bone to pick with them now.
"Hold on, I see a dark corridor opening somewhere," said Samus as she pulled up a window, accessing one of the security cameras in Omins Adest. On the camera was a dark corridor, with Ansem and Lord Wily exiting from it.
"That man looks like Dr. Wily...but only cooler," Lucina commented on Lord Wily, curious as to how this version of Wily wound up at Ansem's side. "Could be the lab coat."
"Either way, he's going to regret siding with that Organization scum," vowed N. Tropy, finding Lord Wily to be guilty by association with Ansem. The evil genius walked out of the computer room, having some major business to handle.
Jacky was finished putting in the new engine for Link's truck, which meant that Link could drive his ride smoothly on the road again. Link went to go tell Zelda the good news as if she cared.
"I'm happy that your truck's fixed," Zelda said to Link after her husband shared with her the news about his car. The Hylian couple walked down the hallway.
"You don't sound happy enough," responded Link, as Zelda looked ahead and saw Master Hand outside the table tennis room peering inside. "Should you care more about your husband's material belongings?"
"Hold on...I want to see what Master Hand's up to." Zelda pressed forward down the hallway en route to the hallway, with Link following closely behind. Link and Zelda caught up to Master Hand, who was making sniffling sounds.
"Are you crying, Master Hand?" asked Link, rarely hearing Master Hand cry that much. It had to be something really profound to make Master Hand shed some tears.
"Am not...Zelda's ninja pals are secretly cutting onions again," replied Master Hand, who ended the sniffling; Link and Zelda looked inside the table tennis room and saw .EXE, Lan, Mayl, Mega Man, Geo Stelar, and Volnutt, with Lan speaking with Geo.
"I feel as if we both have something in common," Lan said to Geo Stelar, who was in the middle of a table tennis match with Volnutt when Lan and company arrived. Volnutt was in the lead.
"You look like you could be my long-lost brother," Geo Stelar said to Lan, noting how similar the boy looked compared to him. Then Geo gasped as an interesting theory entered his mind. "Or my son from the distant future!"
"Slow your roll, buddy," Volnutt advised Geo, as everyone laughed in unison; although there was laughter, Geo legitimately believed that his theory had some plausibility to it.
"You're crying again," Link informed Master Hand, who was back to making sniffling sounds. Master Hand definitely didn't have a cold. "And I don't see any ninjas cutting onions..."
"Link, Zelda, we have a problem," Lucina alerted the Hylian couple as she came down the hallway, as Master Hand conveniently stopped sniffling. "Organization XIII is in Omnis Adest."
"Again?" questioned Zelda, almost sounding exasperated at this point; she was tired of hearing about Organization XIIi causing a ruckus at the Omnis Adest community.
"It's Ansem this time. And he's with a guy that looks like Dr. Wily. But only edgier." An edgier Wily was something that Link and Zelda both had to see to believe.
"That gives me an idea," said Link, knowing two men who were fit enough for the task as he looked inside the table tennis room. "Mega Man! .EXE! We need you guys. Organization XIII."
"Do you have to leave so soon?" Lan asked Mega Man and .EXE, with the latter not wanting to leave his User behind. Fortunately for Lan, .EXE had a compromise.
"You and Mayl wanna see me in action?" .EXE asked Lan, as he got his Mega Buster locked and loaded. Lan made his answer obvious to .EXE as he smiled.
.EXE: Been a while since Lan last saw me in action. Gonna give him a real treat.
As the old saying goes, the third time's the charm - Pit was on his third attempt at perfecting his Krackin' Kraken Koffee, so that it could be sold at Cafe Leblanc. For his newest iteration of the beverage, Pit required a volunteer...and he had the perfect one right beside him all along.
"Kirby, you're my only hope," Pit said to his pink puffball friend as he offered him his newest Krackin' Kraken Koffee combination. The angel was even doing this in a begging manner, as he was on his knees.
"It's not that serious," Viridi stated to Pit, who gasped at the blasphemy that the goddess of nature was spewing in his face. "And it's not like Kirby's gonna think your coffee is good or anything."
"That's what you think! Here, Kirby, take the coffee." Pit placed the cup of coffee in Kirby's hands, and Kirby was reluctant to take a sip after his first glance.
"Shouldn't you drink this coffee? You made it, after all," Kirby said to Pit, utilizing some reverse psychology on the angel. Taking Kirby's point into account, Pit took the coffee back.
"You're right, I should drink it!" replied Pit, doing what was best for business as he took a sip. "This is my...creation." After taking that first sip, Pit made a funny face.
"How does it taste?" Joker asked Pit, unable to hide the smirk on his face. Pit looked like he wanted to puke but he managed to force a smile.
Joker: A simple cup of coffee isn't the best item to promote the Kraken during their postseason run. Selling fresh calamari at the cafe doesn't sound that bad.
"Mm, that hit the spot!" remarked Pit as he rubbed his stomach, which began to rumble loudly. Pit clutched it as he felt pain. "Best coffee ever."
"Do you really believe that?" Viriid asked Pit, who couldn't hold it in much longer as he opened a window and started puking out from it. Pit would also complain about his stomach hurting in between his pukes.
"that'll teach him to stop using fish pokemon ingredients," chuckled Sans, as the baristas all looked at the skeleton with concerned faces. "yeah, i was watching him during the brewing process."
Keeping Lara safe remained one of Overwatch's top priorities, and so Tracer was back in Omnis Adest with a new tagalong partner in Reinhardt. The pilot was standing with Reinhardt outside Lara's townhouse.
"Open up, Lara! We want to speak with you!" Tracer called out as she was standing outside the front door, with Reinhardt behind her. "Do it or Reinhardt here will tear your door down!"
"No, don't answer the door!" Reinhardt encouraged Lara, as he personally wanted to smash Lara's front door with his Rocket Hammer. "I haven't smashed anything all day!"
"Leave me be!" Lara shouted from inside her townhouse, clearly not wanting to be bothered. But Tracer and Reinhardt showed no signs of leaving.
Reinhardt: We stopped by Lara's residence earlier, and Lara wasn't even home. Just when we were about to head back, Lara came running inside her house without acknowledging us! And now she won't let us in! I've asked Tracer if I could smash the townhouse to the rubble, but she wouldn't allow it. I'm glad she talked me out of it, though - at my old age, I'd tire myself out quickly!
"Do you wish to join the coalition?" Ansem asked Lord Wily, leading the evil genius out of a dark corridor that had just appeared. Negotiations literally took place within the darkness.
"I'm still considering it," replied Lord Wily, as Tracer turned around and gasped when she saw Ansem. Tracer quickly got on the offensive.
"Mr. Ansem! We meet at last!" Tracer said to the Heartless while wielding her Pulse Pistols; Reinhardt saw Ansem and Lord Wily and readied his hammer.
"I don't even know you," responded Ansem, doing his best not to hurt Tracer's feelings; the Heartless was just speaking facts. "What do you want with me?"
"We know what you want," shouted Reinhardt, looking to put a clobbering on Ansem and also Lord Wily by association. "If you want Lara, then you'll have to go through us first!"
"Stay out of this...he is all mine," said a certain evil genius and master of time, as N. Tropy emerged with his staff. N. Tropy positioned himself in front of Tracer and Reinhardt, as he focused on Ansem.
"Dr. Nefarious Tropy! Right on time!" exclaimed Tracer, willing to fight at N. Tropy's side whether the evil genius wanted it or not. "We'll need all the firepower we can get to deal with Ansem."
"That is clearly not Ansem the Wise. That is a man who had the audacity to steal my beloved machine while I was absent." Now was the time for Tracer to give N. Tropy a headache.
"Oh, but it is Ansem! Or rather, Master Xehanort's Heartless, who had stolen Ansem's name. It all happened when Xehanort was an apprentice under Ansem the Wise, but only when he was..."
"...I have heard enough." After silencing Tracer, N. Tropy regained his focus on Ansem while Lord Wily was mostly left alone. "Give me back my Rift Generator, or else!"
"What you wish to have back now belongs to the Organization," stated Ansem, keeping the cube form of the mini Rift Generator nice and tidy in his pocket. "Perhaps you can build another..."
Suddenly, two Charge Shots were fired - one at Ansem, and the other at Lord Wily. Both Ansem and Lord Wily fell to the ground, as Mega Man and .EXE arrived at the scene.
"Got 'em!" exclaimed Mega Man as he was riding on top of Rush, who was in Rush Jet form. Rush flew down to the ground as Mega Man hopped off.
"Stay down!" shouted .EXE as he and Mega Man had their Mega Busters pointed at the bad guys...but when .EXE saw Lord Wily, he lowered his guard. "Lord Wily? How did you get here? And why are you with Ansem?"
"I am with Ansem for one reason, and one reason only..." replied Lord Wily, slowly rising up to his feet before looking at the downed Ansem. "...I have made my decision to join Dimentio's coalition."
"A wise choice you have made," said a pleased Ansem, as Lord Wily offered his hand to the Heartless. As Ansem took Lord Wily's hand and was helped up to his feet...Lord Wily smacked him in the gut with his cane, causing him to fall down on one knee.
"The generator!" gasped N. Tropy, as he saw a small cube fall out of Ansem's pocket. The evil genius quickly scooped up the cube, as Ansem writhed in pain.
"But...I don't understand...why?" Ansem looked up at Lord Wily with feelings of betrayal, and Lord Wily seemed proud of what he did.
"No way would I ever join a coalition if I'm not the leader of the pack," replied Lord Wily, before laughing evilly in Ansem's face. Ansem slowly rose up to his feet, clutching his stomach as he opened up a dark corridor.
"To think that I trusted you..." Ansem was going to deal with Lara, but he was forced to make his retreat as he went through the dark corridor. Once the corridor went away, Lan and Mayl went over to Mega Man and .EXE.
"That was awesome!" Lan commended Mega Man and .EXE, unable to contain his excitement for the blue robot and NetNavi. "You really showed that guy who was boss."
"And so did Lord Wily," responded .EXE as he looked towards Lord Wily, as he said to the evil genius, "Maybe there is some good in you." The thought of there being any good in him made Lord Wily scratch the back of his head.
"Meh...I was only looking out for myself," admitted Lord Wily, who believed that he didn't do anything special. Soon Lara opened her front door, much to Tracer's delight, and looked around.
"Is it safe to come out now?" the tomb raider cautiously asked; she had seen much of Ansem through the window. "I cannot wait to go back home..."
The Alcoholics Anonymous meeting at Serenity Hall was almost over with - and Cloud was in attendance. Unlike Sonic or Crash, he didn't have to disguise himself to throw Conker off of his scent - Cloud came to the meeting as himself.
"We have no dues or fees in Alcoholics Anonymous," said Mitch, reading out the Self Support Card while a basket was passed around the circle. "We are entirely self-supporting, declining outside contributions. This self-support includes our rent for this room, the coffee and refreshments, and contributions to our Central Office, the General Service Office, and to General Service. The pink can is for loose change to buy literature for Institutions to carry the message to those unable to get to outside meetings."
"You can't put your shoe in there," Sonic whispered to Crash, who had taken off his shoe and was about to put it in the basket. Crash put his shoe back on as the basket was passed around until it returned to Mitch.
"Thank you all for your monetary contributions," Mitch thanked everyone after receiving the basket, which he placed on the floor. The contributions would be used to fund future Alcoholic Anonymous meetings. "Now we will have the Lord's prayer."
"Wait, before you do that, can I say something?" asked Conker, raising his finger as he stood up. "I'd like to say something before we end it off." What is it that Conker had to say?
"Make it snappy." Mitch gave the floor to Conker, who had several things that he wanted to get off of his plate. Cloud, Sonic, Crash, Mitch, and everyone else were all ears.
"I just wanted to say, that I enjoyed my time here. Being at this meeting realized that I'm not alone. Everyone has their personal demons."
"Very well put," said Sonic as he nodded his head in approval, liking what he heard from Conker. But Conker wasn't finished speaking just yet.
"Drinking alcohol made me think about my late girlfriend, Berri. But the more I think about it, maybe I was just hallucinating. Not like I was drinking because my girlfriend died - that wasn't the start. But what's in the past is in the past."
"Very well put," said Cloud, reiterating what Sonic had said as Sonic glanced at the swordsman. Then a ringtone that sounded strikingly similar to Green Hill Zone began to play.
"Thought I told you guys to put your phones on SILENT!" boomed Mitch, as Sonic sheepishly fumbled around in his imaginary pocket for his phone. His ringtone gave away his and Crash's cover to Conker.
"Sonic?" Conker uttered the name of the blue hedgehog, who finally took his phone out and saw Mario calling him. Sonic hastily answered the phone as he walked away from the group.
"Mario, I'm in the middle of something!" Sonic said quietly into the phone, looking over his shoulder to see if anyone was on to him. "I'm at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting...don't ask."
"I'm in no mood-a for asking, for I have a bone-a to pick with your boy, Crash," Mario spoke with Sonic over the phone, standing outside at the front door to the bandicoot's house with Coco with him. "You want to tell-a him what Crash did, Coco?"
"Crash apparently wrote a bad review for that Super Mario movie, and it made Mario upset," Coco spoke into the phone, as she was just as disappointed with Crash as Mario was. "So Mario wants you to bring Crash back to the house so that he can deal with him."
"Guess I did tell Falco about it, hehe..." Sonic sheepishly chuckled, sensing that Falco spilled the beans to Mario - which he had done earlier. "I'll bring Crash over once the meeting's over."
"Hurry up," Mario said into the phone, wanting to see Crash ASAP. "Also, why are you and Crash attending an-a Alcoholics Anonymous meeting?" Mario's question would go unanswered, as Sonic hung up the phone. Mario looked at Coco, who shrugged.
Coco: Crash can't come up with a name to go by for an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, but he's able to write a whole review for a recently released movie. He really is an enigma. *pauses* Or maybe he used AI to write out that review. If someone like Crash can easily use AI, then we're all done for...
Once Mitch said the Lord's prayer, the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting was adjourned. Some members were free to go home, while others stuck around for a little socialization.
"Wow, I had no idea that you were attending the meeting in secret," Conker said to Sonic and Crash, who were forced to come clean and take off their disguises. Poor Mitch was devastated, having been hoodwinked all along.
"We wanted to see how you handled yourself," admitted Sonic, unaware of Cloud joining the conversation as the swordsman filled in the space between Conker and Crash. "And you did a good job, Conker, you really did!"
"I agree," said Cloud, as everyone looked at the swordsman. Sonic and company were surprised that Cloud was around since he would be the most likely first person to leave. "So Sonic, about what we discussed earlier..."
"Would you look at that...I just remembered that Mairo wanted to see Crash! Smell ya later, Conker!" Sonic quickly took Sonic's hand and left, as he hurried out of Serenity Hall. Cloud watched as Sonic left, walking closer to Conker.
"What's gotten into him?" Conker asked Cloud, who wanted to share with the squirrel what Sonic was secretly cooking up - but decided against it.
With Ansem properly dealt with, and N. Tropy getting back his mini Rift Generator, Lan and Mayl were ready to head back home. As N. Tropy had his generator booted up in the foyer, Master Hand took the time to speak with Lan and Mayl, while .EXE looked on.
"Looking forward to seeing you again," Tom Nook said to Lan after he was done speaking with him, as he shook Lan's hand. "And don't forget to bring your girlfriend, too."
"See? Even he thinks we're boyfriend-girlfriend," Mayl whispered to Lan with a smile, as Lan responded with an eye roll of disbelief. As the handshake ended, Wily entered the foyer with Lord Wily.
"I take back everything I said about E. Gadd," Wily said to Lord Wily, ready to tell his alternate timeline self about how he truly felt about his arch-nemesis. "He is the WORST!"
"To be honest with you, I could tell that he was a worthless old man at first glance!" admitted Lord Wily, as Wily was exceedingly happy that he and Lord Wily shared the same brain cell. "What so-called professor hosts tea parties in their spare time?"
"The portal is open," announced N. Tropy, who got the portal up and running. "Say your goodbyes." Lan would face .EXE, not knowing whether to hug the NetNavi or shake his hand.
"Tell everyone back home I said hello," .EXE smiled at Lan, giving his User a two-finger salute, as Lan smiled in return. Master Hand watched from afar, still sniffling as he turned and went down the hallway.
In the middle of the hallway were Link and Zelda, who were being told by Mega Man about how he and .EXE took care of Ansem. A sniffling Master Hand floated over to the Hylian couple, just as Mega Man was done speaking.
"Still crying, Master Hand?" Link asked the giant hand, who was too reluctant to admit that he was crying. Even Mega Man could tell that he was sad.
"Must be nice to have genuine friends..." Master Hand said before floating away, leading Link, Zelda, and Mega Man to exchange looks with one another. Master Hand was definitely in his feelings about something.
All done with taking Lan and company back to their timeline, N. Tropy said his goodbyes to Uka as he and Uka went their separate ways. Uka returned to Cortex, which he was very much against doing, while N. Tropy left the mansion. Once he went down the porch, N. Tropy was approached by Sonic.
"Dr. N. Tropy! Long time, no see," Sonic greeted the evil genius, who was just the person he wanted to speak with. "Got a question about reviving people..."
"Take it from me, hedgehog - it's not worth it," N. Tropy curtly responded, saving himself some trouble as he walked past Sonic. "I know from experience...and you should have, as well." Sonic stood where he was, frozen for a moment or two before looking back at N. Tropy.
.EXE enjoyed his day, and it was a good day all because he got to catch up with Lan (and Mayl). Even got to introduce Lan to Mega Man and his other iterations, which was a real treat. Tom Nook would discuss with .EXE about Lan during dinner time.
"Lan is such a sweet, young man," Tom Nook said to .EXE, chatting with him near the kitchen entrance while eating food that the NetnNavi couldn't consume. "The bond you have with him truly is inseparable."
"That's one word to describe it," remarked .EXE, as Wendy brushed past the NetNavi with what else, her Tamagotchi. Wendy was leaving the dinner table.
"Sorry for getting barbecue sauce all over you!" Wendy apologized to her Tamagotchi as she passed through the kitchen, treating her virtual pet like it was a living, breathing thing. .EXE appeared annoyed with Wendy, and so did many folks at the dinner table.
"All in favor of getting rid of Wendy's Tamagotchi, say aye," .EXE addressed everyone at the dinner table, as almost everyone said aye. Everyone except for Bowser, who let out a grunt.
Bowser: Hmph...haters.