Author's Note:
Been a long time since I last published on a Friday. Two or three months, if I recall. That's why I wanted to get this one out before midnight. With that out of the way, uh...here is chapter 397.
Episode 397: CasinoNight
King Dedede: Tonight we're having Casino Night at Omnis Adest and we are converting the community center into a full-blown gambling hall. My idea. And I know it's illegal in Washington, but it's for charity. Also my idea. *grins* And I consider myself a great philanderer. It's just...it's nice to know at the end of the day, I can look in the mirror and say, "King Dedede, because of you, some little kid in the Congo has a belly full of rice this evening." Makes you feel good.
Yes, you heard that right - Casino Night was happening at the Omnis Adest community center. It was an idea pitched by King Dedede, and somehow it got approval from Master Hand. The sweet-talking that Dedede likely did must've been legendary.
There wasn't a dress code for Casino Night, per se, but that didn't stop folks like Wario from dressing up for the occasion. As Wario was getting himself all tidied up in front of a mirror in the foyer, Mario and Peach happened to pass by the fatso and saw him in all his handsome splendor.
"Excuse me-a, how long is the wait-a for a table for two?" Mario asked Wario in a joking manner; Wario stopped fastening his bowtie and frowned as he turned around at Mario.
"I would never, ever serve you - not in a million, billion years," vowed Wario, as Mario was the last person on earth that he would ever give service to. Hard not to imagine the reason why.
"It's a nice tux," Peach complimented Wario's wear, and Wario happily took the princess's kind words to heart. Had it been Mario who said that, Wario would have brushed off those words completely.
"I know. It belonged to my granduncle. He was buried in it, so family heirloom." Wario looked back at the mirror and went back to tidying his tux, as Mario and Peach pressed forward and exited the mansion.
Mario and Peach both went out of the front door and went down the porch steps. Once she reached the grass, Peach brought Mario to a stop.
"Well, Mario? Did you secure the goods?" Peach asked Mario, who dug underneath his shirt as several beauty products fell out. Peach smiled with joy as a few bottles of shampoo and conditioner landed on the ground.
"You know, princess, stealing is wrong," Mario reminded his wife matter-of-factly, as Peach scooped up the beauty products and inspected them. "Especially if you steal-a from your best friend."
"I had these products originally, so really Zelda was just holding onto them for me." As she placed the beauty products in her imaginary pocket, Peach looked over and saw an amusing sight. "Would you look at that?"
"Look-a at what?" Expecting to see Donkey Kong get beat up by the Yiga Clan or something, Mario looked over and saw Sonic in the front yard, speaking with Moira. Plenty of history between those two.
"So yeah, there'll be booze, and maybe some side entertainment, and uh...and lots of booze!" Sonic said to Moira, enticing the geneticist to attend Casino Night. Moira didn't seem keen on attending, for she had bigger priorities in mind.
"Quite frankly, that is not my cup of tea," responded Moira; maybe Reaper and Doomfist would be down, but card games just weren't for Moira. "Besides, I have to pay Professor E. Gadd a visit."
"You have to be there. It'll be lots of fun! But you're not a believer in fun, so I can't fault you for not wanting to live a little..."
"Watch your mouth, hedgehog..." Moira leaned in close to Sonic, looking menacing as if she was about to suck the hedgehog's life force. Sonic was reasonably afraid as he backed off.
Sonic: This is it, the big night...Pit is gonna prove his worth to King Dedede and be the best wingman ever! Dedede didn't know about Pit being his wingman until a few days ago; he just barged into my room telling me about it, and I was just playing along. He was all like, "Pit's out here trying to steal my thunder, the gall of him!", and I was like, "Pit's been in love with Viridi for years...gotta learn from the best." That's when he cooled off. Also, imagine wanting to steal King Dedede's thunder. *snorts*
"She must be in a bad-a mood...let's slide right-a past her," Mario whispered to Peach, as he and his wife attempted to tiptoe past Moira. Moira, able to detect even the smallest movement, used her Fade ability to appear in front of Mario and Peach.
"Good evening, you two," the cordial Moira greeted Mario and Peach, stunting their progress as Mario looked for an escape route. "Heading to E. Gadd's place, by any chance?"
"Why you think we'd wanna see that old-a geezer?" Mario questioned in an effort to throw Moira off, as Peach gasped at her husband. "I mean...it's not like-a he's our grandpa or anything."
"I have been told that several bright-a minds are working on a machine of E. Gadd's. I would like to be a part of this project, as a bright mind myself."
"Appreciate-a the enthusiasm, but this project is for the more...inventive bright-a minds..."
"And who are you to turn me down? I can offer sound input, you know. Never once did I have to use my hands during the..."
"...during the Aerith-a Revival Project, we get it." Mario noticed that Moira was peering down at him with enticing, almost commanding eyes. "You want us to come-a with you, huh?"
"Peach is free to go, but I would like for you to go with me to E. Gadd's lab. Since you know more about the machine than I do, you can fill me in along the way."
"Dinner will be ready when you're back!" Peach said to Mario, leaving her husband with Moira as she retreated to her house. Mario looked exasperated as his wife ditched him in cold blood.
"Then I guess it is settled. Let's not tarry, Mario." So Moira got a move on, and after she made a couple of steps she looked back at Mario who remained where he was. "Mario?"
"I'm coming..." said a defeated Mario, picking up the pace as he followed after Moira. Feeling bad for Mario, Sonic went back inside the mansion.
Up in the Star Records room, the idol singers were having a discussion about Casino Night. While Tsubasa was mostly game, Itsuki on the other hand had his reservations.
"So, what's the deal? We gotta pay for our own drinks?" Itsuki asked Tsubasa, while Fox and Falco were also in the Star Records room doing their own thing. "That's lame."
"Come on, it'll be fun, and besides, I'm a roulette expert," replied Tsubasa, trying not to brag as much, and that got a snort out of Falco who was sitting at the Star Records desk.
"Ha! Impossible," remarked Falco, who took a moment from noodling around on his phone to make his remark "Roulette is not a game of skill, it's a game of chance."
"I can always kind of win at roulette," stated Fox, who had his feet resting on the desk; as a head of Star Records, he believed that he had the rightful privilege. Falco was seriously doubting his best friend.
"Oh, really? Mhmm. How would you do that?"
"Mind control." Fox, controlling things through his mind? Falco had to laugh at that one.
"You can't be serious." A mere moment after he was done laughing, Falco had to ask, "Are you serious?"
"Ever since I was a little kid, like, eight or nine, I could sort of control things with my mind."
"I don't believe you. Continue." If Fox was indeed telling the truth, then he'd have a lot to explain for why he kept such a big secret from Falco.
"It was just a little thing, you know, like I could make something shake or I could make a marble fall off the counter. You know, just little things.
"That's ridiculous. You know what? Uh...Why don't you move that coat rack?" Falco pointed at the coat rack in the far corner of the room, as Falco rose up from his seat. "Excuse me, everyone! Attention, please. Fox is about to prove his telekinetic powers and he needs absolute silence! Go ahead."
"Okay, I'll try." Taking a crack at it, Fox focused his attention on the coat rack as he used his so-called telekinesis to move it. For the first few seconds, nothing was happening.
And then, the coat rack wobbled! Shocked faces were all around, as the coat rack moved a few feet. Falco was left agape, as he learned that Fox truly had mind control powers (that he never told anyone about).
Eleonora: *holds up an umbrella handle to the camera*
Falco: I don't believe that Fox moved that coat rack. But if he did, he better use his gift wisely. With great power comes great responsibility. They could do a cross-section of his brain to find out more. But I don't think it's true, though.
"Fox, Falco, the meeting," Itsuki said to the pilots as he poked his head inside the room holding a box with a new product inside. "Is it still on?"
"Yeah, it's still on," replied Fox, as Itsuki nodded his head and walked away. Yukari walked past, shooting a death glare at Falco, as Falco gulped nervously.
Moira was accused of not being a believer in fun earlier, but you know who was more of a stickler for non-fun things? Cloud, who to no one's surprise wanted no part of Casino Night. Opting to stay home, the swordsman was in the living room with Champion Link, watching television.
"Man...the MCU really fell off after Endgame," remarked Champion Link, as he and Cloud were watching an Ant-Man film. Cloud was hardly paying attention to the movie. "No movie released since then has ever made it onto TV!"
"Name me one post-Endgame film," Cloud challenged Champion Link, who was stumped as he bit his lip. "Or one movie prior to Endgame." Champion Link was stumped yet again. "That's right, you never even watched any of the Marvel films."
"...sure, but I do watch the fight scenes online. Does that count?" Champion Link's question would go unanswered, as Cloud's phone rang. Cloud took out his phone and furrowed his brow at the caller ID.
"You have got to be kidding..." Cloud muttered under his breath as he got up from the couch, answering the call albeit with some regret. "...hello?"
"Something wrong?" At first glance, just by looking at Cloud's body language Champion Link could tell that something was very wrong.
King Dedede called for an impromptu Casino Night meeting, and the meeting would take place in the gaming room. Not everyone was fully engaged, as a lot of residents kept on doing their thing despite Dedede's presence.
"Do you need anything?" Pit asked King Dedede, as the angel offered to be the fat penguin's assistant. Wanted to use this opportunity as a way to prove his overall worth. "Should I get water or donuts?"
"No, just make sure everyone's seated," replied King Dedede, and Pit would get down to it as he scoured the gaming room for anyone who remained standing. For instance, when he saw Dunban at the golf simulator with his one-functioning arm, Pit sat the Homs down.
"What's going on, King Dedede?" Red the Pokemon Trainer asked the fat penguin, as Pit caught Ryu and Ken playing a game of billiards and sat them both down on the pool table. Not on the top rail, mind you...he had them sit on the playfield.
"I want somebody to give me the name of one of our biggest competitors." Quite frankly, the Smash Mansion didn't have that much competition - unless you want to include the All-Star Manor whom the mansion was on friendly terms. Nobody had a single answer for Dedede.
"Office Depot!" exclaimed Pit, shouting the first name that came to mind. Not the kind of answer that King Dedede wanted, but he would take it.
"Good! Yes, that will work. Alright. Now I need a plural noun." Knowing where King Dedede was taking things, everyone in the gaming room groaned.
Researcher Zelda: Apparently King Dedede has come up with a Super Smash Mad Lib, and he's making us play it with him. We are so happy. No. I'd like to choose a different adjective.
"Know what, how about a location?" asked King Dedede, open to anything that the residents suggest. Could be a fictional place, or a foreign city - the possibilities were endless.
"The planet Caprica," suggested Corrin, and King Dedede had no idea what that was as he furrowed his brow. Oh, how much Corrin pitied him. "It's from Battlestar Galactica."
"I am going back to the sanctuary..." muttered Mewtwo, pulling himself out of Super Smash Mad Lib as he was about to teleport away. But then King Dedede ran up to the genetic Pokemon and wrapped his arms around him to prevent his escape.
"No, no, no. No, no, only when you give me an adjective." King Dedede had his arms wrapped tightly around Mewtwo, who lost the energy to teleport out of the fat penguin's constricting arms.
"Annoying." Mewtwo pushed King Dedede away from him, hoping that his answer would suffice. Unfortunately for him, it did not.
"We already have that. So..." King Dedede turned his attention to Tom Nook, and he was confident that the tanuki had the perfect adjective in mind.
"Frustrating," offered Tom Nook, inadvertently frustrating King Dedede with his word choice. Dedede was dangerously close to throwing his hat off of his head.
"No, Tom Nook, come on! We already have that. I need something fun. Something like fat or smelly. Or pukey. Pukey. Pukey's good. Okay. Pukey. That wasn't so hard. Alright, here we go! 'Office Depot is an annoying store. One day Snake went there to buy paper. And he ran into irritating Cylons.'"
"Yes, get them, Snake!" exclaimed Corrin, who went from thinking that King Dedede was an uncultured swine to a true man of culture with an acquired taste.
"'One of them was named King Dedede and he was a…' Oh, dang it. Okay. Okay, okay, we're...okay, we're starting over. Tonight's event is to benefit the Boy Scouts of America."
"Again? The last time we did an event for them, we almost got arrested," stated Shulk, who could count with his fingers the number of residents who had to do time in jail for money laundering. He was almost one of them.
"Well, they need our money. They don't have cookies like the Girl Scouts."
"It'd be nice to do something for people who are actually suffering."
"Well, Shulk, if you don't like it, then you should concentrate on winning. Because the person with the highest chip count at the end of the evening will receive $500 to donate to the charity of their choice. And they will get a mini-fridge, compliments of Nortech Heating, Cooling & Refrigeration! So get your charities in to Isabelle. I, for example, am playing for Comic Relief."
"That doesn't exist anymore."
"Comedy is very much alive, as are homeless people."
"No, they stopped making that show."
"Well, then, they need our money more than ever."
"You have to pick an approved, non-profit organization," stated Ribbon Girl, and Comic Relief was far removed from being either approved or non-profit. Who knows if they were even trademarked, for that matter?
Snake: There's a great soup kitchen in downtown Seattle. Delicious pea soup on Thursdays. I'll probably give the money to them.
Leon Powalski: Something with animals. Or people.
Wendy Koopa: Stephen Curry has a foundation, and he is so hot. And he gave his wife the biggest diamond ring. I know he didn't do it...maybe he did it.
Simon: We are giving money that has been gambled. Why don't we just deal drugs or prostitute ourselves, and donate that money to charity?
"Oh, and another fun thing," added King Dedede, as he was about to leave out one very important detail concerning Casino Night. "At the end of the night, we will give the check to an actual group of Boy Scouts. Right, Tom Nook? We're gonna..."
"Actually, I don't think it's appropriate to invite children since it's..." replied Tom Nook, as King Dedede looked at the tanuki as if he was crazy. Tom Nook was feeling the heat as Dedede was glaring at him. "...you know, there's gambling and alcohol, and it's at the community center and it's a school night...and, you know, Hooters is catering. You know, is that enough? Should I keep going?"
"Why are you the way that you are?" King Dedede was speaking to Tom Nook with dripping disdain, as he was slowly questioning the tanuki's very reason for existing. "Honestly, every time someone tries to do something fun or exciting, you make it not...that way. I hate so much about the things that you choose to be. Okay, you know what? I will not donate my winnings to Comic Relief since apparently, it doesn't exist. I am going to donate to Afghanistanis with AIDS."
"I think you mean the aid to Afghanistan," Dante corrected King Dedede, who was the kind of person who hated being corrected. In his mind, he believed that such a tactic deducted his intelligence points.
"No, I mean Afghanistanis with AIDS."
"Afghani," corrected Rosalina, as King Dedede was corrected a second time much to his great chagrin. Now he thought of himself as a stupid idiot.
"That's a dog."
"No, that's Afghan," corrected Lip, as King Dedede could feel a blood vessel protruding from his face. His fellow residents were making him incensed.
"That's a shawl."
"Wait, canine AIDS?" questioned Banjo, as the ongoing conversation about Afghanistan and AIDS twisted his brain into knots.
"No. Humans with AIDS."
"Who has AIDS?" questioned Heihachi as he looked around at everyone in the gaming room, wanting to know who was affected so that he could keep away from them.
"Guys, the Afghanistananies," clarified Dante, slightly poking fun at King Dedede - and at that point, King Dedede had enough. He was on his last nerve.
"Okay, you know what?" King Dedede spoke up, as he brought all the conversation and confusion among the residents to an end. "No. No. AIDS is not funny. Believe me, I have tried."
King Dedede: There are certain topics that are off-limits to comedians, JFK, AIDS, and the Holocaust. The Lincoln Assassination just recently became funny. "I need to see this play like I need a hole in the head." *laughs* And I hope to someday live in a world where a person can tell a hilarious AIDS joke. It's one of my dreams.
After Cloud had left, Champion Link later received company in the form of Sora, who sat with the Hylian on the living room couch. Sora watched Ant-Man with Champion Link, who had a curious question for the Keyblade wielder.
"Ever been to a world with Marvel superheroes?" Champion Link asked Sora, hoping that his question wouldn't make him look too much of a fool. "Since, you know, Disney owns Marvel and stuff..."
"What does that have to do with anything?" questioned Sora, and Champion Link shrugged as he now regretted asking. Sora went back to the Ant-Man movie, enthralled by one of the characters on the screen. "Don't know about you, but I'd love for that Luis guy to narrate my life story!"
"Okay, talk to you soon, bye," Cloud spoke into his phone, finishing up his phone call as he returned to the living room. The serious look on Cloud's face was lampshading a pressing situation.
"Hey Cloud, you know Luis from Ant-Man? You think he should...?" Sora asked Cloud as he stood up, only for Cloud to walk past him en route to Champion Link. Ignored, Sora sat back down.
"What's up?" Champion Link asked Cloud, having already gotten the sense that something was brewing. Something major.
"I'll tell you what's up..." replied Cloud, taking a brief pause to let the moment settle in before revealing to Champion Link, "...Rufus Shinra just called. He wants to speak with me."
Although Casino Night would be held at the Omnis Adest community center, not everyone at Omnis Adest was down with the event taking place. One such individual was Sazh Katzroy, who stopped by the mansion to express his concerns.
"I have already put down the deposit," King Dedede stated to Sazh, who was confronting the fat penguin outside the mansion speaking with him in private. "Do you understand how a deposit works?
"Dedede, we are not having fire-eaters in a community center," stressed Sazh, as the last thing he wanted to see tonight was an important part of Omnis Adest burning down to the ashes.
"It's Casino Night like Las Vegas. There are fire-eaters all over the place."
"Except for our community center."
"Well, actually, it's Master Hand's community center."
"We just have a lot of stuff over there that could be stolen."
"That's ironic. That you are afraid.
"Why? 'Cause I'm from 'the hood'?"
"Dinkin' flicka!"
"Dinkin' flicka..."
Sazh: I taught King Dedede some, uh, phrases to help with his interracial conversations. You know, stuff like, "Fleece it out." "Going mach five." "Dinkin' flicka." You know, things us Negroes say.
"Give me some," King Dedede offered to Sazh as he had his hand extended; Sazh sighed deeply as he and Dedede performed a simultaneous hand gesture that had Olimar looking over in curiosity from his front door.
Sazh: Oh, yeah, I taught him a handshake, too.
"...well then," remarked Olimar, carrying a box full of stuff as he closed the front door behind him. Mustering all of his strength, Olimar carried the box with him down the street, hoping his legs wouldn't fail him along the way.
Mario and Moira reached E. Gadd's mansion, and the two were standing outside the front door which had yet to be answered. Ringing the doorbell didn't work, and neither did knocking on it. Either E. Gadd and company were working hard in the lab, or Cortex's minions were too lazy to answer the door.
"I'd say we burn this place down to ashes," Moira suggested to Mario, imagining that the plumber's fire powers would be enough for the task. "Make E. Gadd pay for his lack of responsiveness."
"Won't-a be necessary..." Mario responded with a nervous chuckle, surprised yet unsurprised that Moira wished to deploy such drastic measures. "...I'm sure Cortex's minions are all-a taking a nap.
"Cortex's...minions?" It befuddled Moira greatly that anyone would ever want to work under Cortex in this day and age. "Surely they get paid handsomely working for that numskull."
"None-a of them are paid. Well, except-a N. Gin. He knows how to endear himself to..." Mario stopped speaking and looked on edge, as a dark corridor appeared in his and Moira's midst.
"A dark portal? Wonder who that could be." While Moira remained calm, Mario was more vigilant, ready to throw down. Two members exited the portal - one was Vexen, and the other was Demyx.
"I am starved," Demyx complained mere seconds after exiting the portal, feeling his stomach grumbling although no sound was made. "Why didn't we eat on our way here?"
"Stop talking like you're one of them!" Vexen scolded Demyx as he backhanded him, so hard that Demyx would've whined if not for his current mood. "A true Nobody knows not to falter while on an empty stomach."
"Mama Mia! Organization XIII!" exclaimed Mario as he got on the offensive, figuring out which member he should take out first. Easy money was on Demyx. "Prepare to..."
"Stand down..." Moira commanded Mario as she held her arm in front of the plumber, who looked at her like she was crazy. Moira glanced at Mario, understanding the plumber's confusion.
"But that's-a Organization XIII, they're the bad guys!" Mario anticipated Vexen and Demyx both drawing out their weapons - but neither man was taking any sort of action.
"Au contraire, Mario...these two are the only roses in the poison ivy. They want to be on our side." All of that was hard for Mario to believe.
"That manly-looking woman speaks the truth," confirmed Demyx, triggering Moira - and also triggering Vexen as he wrapped his arm around the Nobody. "We're here to put an end to Dimentio's party!"
"Indeed - we harbor no ill will towards your kind," Vexen stated to Mario as he took Demyx's arm off of him, feeling slightly infected. "We joined Organization XIII - the true Organization - to atone for our past misdeeds."
"That's why you joined. I joined because...because..." Demyx's mind was drawing a blank, as he looked to Vexen for a lifeline. "...why did I come back again? Help a Nobody out, Vexen..."
"Because your legacy is attached to the Keyblade War. Some drivel like that." Demyx and the word "legacy" were two things that Mario struggled to piece together. Much like how he struggled to comprehend what he just learned.
"You guys were there when Omnis Adest had its-a move-in day," Mario said to Vexen and Demyx, as he recalled him and Pit taking it to the two Nobodies on that day. "You were scoping us out!"
"We agreed to do the recon work to see what kinds of people we would be working with. Many folks were more promising than others, I'll admit..."
"Alright then, if you're really good-a guys...can you let-a us in?" Mario pointed at the front door of E. Gadd's mansion, which had yet to be opened despite the doorbell ringing and door knocking. "Nobody will answer."
"Perhaps we can provide a shortcut." Vexen summoned a dark corridor, hoping that Mario and Moira were both game with going through it. "This corridor can take us inside, without ever having to rely on anyone."
"Before we actually go inside the mansion...can we please grab a quick bite to eat? Please?" Demyx asked Vexen, looking at the Nobody with pleading eyes. Vexen smacked his forehead and groaned.
"Let's make it snappy..." So Vexen went through the dark corridor, with Demyx following after him, and Mario following after Demyx. Moira was beside herself.
"He'd follow after men lacking a heart, but not me..." Moira muttered under her breath, before going through the dark corridor. Once the dark corridor vanished, a taxi pulled up as Olimar got out.
"Thanks for the lift!" Olimar thanked the taxi driver, taking his box out of the cab as he closed the taxi door behind him. The astronaut carried the box to the front door, albeit struggling, and rang the doorbell.
"Coming!" Link shouted from inside, before opening the door and greeted by Olimar's presence. "Oh, hey Olimar? Was it you that was all that ringing and knocking earlier?"
"Rang the doorbell just once. I, uh, went back to Giya to get more spare parts for the machine." Olimar revealed the contents of the box to Link, who was impressed with what Olimar gathered.
"Nice! In case you're wondering why my tunic looks unkempt, I had just gotten through stopping Tiny Tiger from using a living room rug cat litter. Among other things...how about I let you in?"
"Link, who's there?" someone asked, as Brio later joined Link at the door. The evil genius saw Olimar's box of scrap parts and was allured. "Oh my! Such lovely parts that I invented!"
"Is he...is he with you?" Olimar asked Link out of concern as he pointed at Brio, who couldn't help himself as he took out a few spare parts out of the box and ogled at them.
"He's with E. Gadd and...come inside and I'll explain." So Link led Olimar inside the mansion, while Brio remained fascinated with the spare parts in his hands.
"I'll add you to my personal collection, valuable trinket..." Brio said to one of the scrap parts as he stuffed it in his pocket, before heading back inside.
Since he was more or less in charge of Casino Night, King Dedede required a phone just in case anyone wished to contact him about the event. That was one reason why the fat penguin took it upon himself to buy himself a pre-paid phone, so everyone would have a point of contact. But while owning a phone was one thing...keeping up with it was another.
"King Dedede, Millia Rage for you," Isabelle said to the fat penguin as she came running down the hallway, Dedede's phone in hand. It didn't strike King Dedede till later that his phone wasn't in his imaginary pocket.
"Who? Do I know a Millia Rage?" asked King Dedede, and then it dawned on him as he let out a light-hearted chuckle a moment later. "Oh yeah, her! Hand me the phone." Isabelle handed the phone to King Dedede, who was now all smiles. "Hey Millia, how's life treating ya? Is it all the rage?"
"Whoops! That's the wrong phone," Isabelle smiled sheepishly as she switched out the phone in King Dedede's phone for another one. A very honest mistake.
Isabelle: I was the one who helped King Dedede buy that phone. And consequently, I'm also forced to pay for all of his phone bills. His reasoning? "Royalty don't pay." You should've seen the look on his face when he saw how much the bill was worth; $40 per month was apparently enough to make him faint.
"Hello, King Dedede?" a voice was heard from the phone, and it belonged to a former assassin by the name of Milla Rage. King Dedede was grinning even harder than before.
"Hi, Millia. How you doing?" King Dedede spoke into the phone, before giving a wink to a wary Isabelle. Isabelle had no idea what to make of the phone conversation.
"I'm great. I just needed to know if you were still interested in that fur coat you were pestering me about. Can I drop it over later?"
"Actually, I'm sort of hosting this charity thing in a community center, Casino Night. It'll be good. You know what? Why don't you come by? Bring the fur coat, and then you can stay and have a drink."
"To the casino thing?" Casino stuff wasn't really up Millia's alley, but she was willing to make an exception tonight. Just this once.
"Yeah. It'll be fun. What do you..." Suddenly, King Dedede's phone began to ring, leaving Dedede in a minor state of panic. "...oh, I'm sorry. Could you hold on?" King Dedede leaned in close to Isabelle and showed her his phone, whispering, "What's going on?"
"Some I-No lady's calling you," Isabelle whispered back, as King Dedede looked at the caller ID and saw the name "I-No". Rather than leaving I-No hanging, Dedede promptly answered the call.
"I-No, I presume?" King Dede was speaking in a deep voice, hoping to throw I-No off of his scent.
"King Dedede?" said the person on the other line, I-No, who couldn't be fooled that easily. Certainly not by a penguin.
"Hey, I-No. How you doing?"
I-No: You know, I thought about it...and you are right. I could use a little fun. So, I am going to ride over for your Casino Night. By the way, what is the charity?"
"AIDS." Truly, King Dedede wanted to say Comic Relief, but Shulk unfortunately had to fact-check him.
"Okay, then. I will see you tonight. Bye-bye!"
"Bye." Once King Dedede ended the call, he was back to speaking with Millia, albeit a little nervous. "Hello, Millia? Hi, sorry about that. I just…"
"No problem," responded Milia, who was waiting patiently to speak with King Dedede. Should've been in Dedede's best interest to put his call with Millia on hold. "To answer your question..."
"Yeah?"
"Yes."
"What?"
"I'd love to go."
"Okay. Good."
"And I'll bring the fur coat, too."
"Good, alright. Sounds great."
"I'll see you tonight."
"Bye."
"Bye."
"Two queens on Casino Night...I am going to drop a deuce on everybody."
Although he didn't want to admit it to Isabelle, King Dedede looked awfully shaken after Millia confirmed that she was coming to Casino Night. How on earth could Dedede possibly handle two ladies at once?
Cloud was in his room, his mind was dwelling upon his phone conversation with Rufus. Keeping the swordsman company was Champion Link, who was curious as to what Rufus wanted to talk about.
"So what did he tell you?" Champion Link asked Cloud, who was sitting on his bed as he reflected on the phone conversation.
"Apparently, he wants to speak with me in private," replied Cloud, uncomfortable about speaking with any member of Dimentio's coalition. "About what, I don't know. He didn't say."
"Rufus calling you out of the blue seems so random. When was the last time you even spoke to the guy?"
"Three years ago, when Bowser pulled that golden ticket stunt. Shinra had like, five golden tickets on their hands."
"I heard my name!" Bowser exclaimed excitedly as he barged inside Cloud's room, appearing awfully excited. "Talking about how awesome I am?"
"No...that'd be a waste of our time." Cloud greatly disappointed Bowser, who snapped his fingers in disgust. "We were just talking about Rufus."
"Rufus isn't awesome...bunch of jerks!" A devastated Bowser marched out of Bowser's room...and then ran back inside seconds later. "Wait, you were talking about Rufus?"
"Something about him you wanted to share?" Champion Link asked Bowser, who looked over his shoulder before turning around and beckoning. Against their best judgment, Champion Link and Cloud followed Bowser out of the room.
The cameraman that accompanied Mario and Moira missed his chance to go through the dark corridor, but Link was kind enough to let him inside E. Gadd's mansion along with Olimar. Situated near the lab, the cameraman caught footage of a dark corridor opening, with Mario, Moira, Vexen, and Demyx exiting from it. Demyx, who was complaining about being hungry, was now a happy camper as he ate some grub.
"Ah, that hit the spot..." smiled Demyx as he rubbed his stomach, feeling full; the Nobody was sure to be on his best behavior from now on.
"Now you can stop your whining and complaining," Vexen said to Demyx, who reached into his pocket and pulled out a small jar of Vegemite. "Demyx..."
"What? This stuff is so good, that I had to steal it from the diner! Come on, try it!" Demyx tried to offer some Vegemite to Vexen, who vehemently turned down the food spread.
"I strongly question what the Organization sees in him..." Moira muttered to Mario, as she and the plumber both watched Demyx's shenanigans.
Mario: I was stuck-a with ordering Demyx's meal at Dingo's Diner. Wanted to get Demyx a kids's-a meal because that's what he is. A kid.
"Shh!" Mario shushed Vexen and Demyx, as he heard footsteps; not wanting to be caught, Vexen and Demyx hid in a closet as Mario and Moira were later joined by Zelda.
"Hi, Mario...and Moira," Zelda greeted the plumber and geneticist, as all of her attention was focused on the latter individual. "I see that you've brought a guest, Mario."
"She just wants-a to see the machine," Mario explained to Zelda, who wanted to ask how Moira knew of this machine. Then she recalled what Samus told her in private sometime after the events of episode 395.
"Then come on board. Just so you're aware, Moira, we have a few Overwatch operatives, and I know you guys held off the bad blood for now, so..."
"Not a problem," Moira assured with a smile, only for her smile to turn upside down when Tracer blinked into the scene. "Now it is a problem..."
"Cheers, love!" Tracer greeted Mario with a two-finger salute, before looking at Moira stunned to see the geneticist. "And who's this you brought? The creepy ginger lady from Talon?"
"...I demand that you show us the machine, at once," Moira demanded Zelda, wanting absolutely nothing to do with Tracer. So Zelda led Moira and Mario to the lab, with Mario looking back at Vexen and Demyx and giving them a hand signal.
"Give away our hiding spot and I will smite you..." Vexen threatened Demyx with a whisper, as Tracer blinked her way back to the lab.
Star Records had a meeting in the meeting room, pertaining to a new product they planned to put on the market. All the talent was required to attend; Doc Louis, who deemed himself an unofficial member of Star Records, was free to attend Casino Night as he pleased.
"We better get paid for this," Ashley whispered to her fellow co-hosts Mamori and Asuka, as everyone waited for the meeting to begin. The three heads of Star Records stood at the front of the meeting room, with Itsuki holding a box.
"Thank you all for attending," Fox addressed the crowd, kicking off the meeting as the chatter came to an end. "Let me first start off by saying...a wise man named MC Ballyhoo once told me, that you have to stop living in the past."
"Took you long enough," Kiria muttered under her breath, before taking a sip from her soft drink. Since Fox and Falco didn't bring any refreshments, Kiria was forced to bring her own.
"Save the backtalk till after the meeting - when we answer your silly questions and junk. Anyway, MC Ballyhoo reminded me and Falco to strive for the future - live in the present, the now."
"Which is why we took it upon ourselves to embark on a new expenditure," added Falco, alluding to the mysterious box that Itsuki was holding. "Drumroll, please...I said, drumroll please..."
"I'll do it," volunteered Knuckles, banging his fists on the meeting room table to build up hype. With dramatic effect, Itsuki slowly opened the box to reveal...
"Ta-da! Introducing our newest product, StarBeats!" exclaimed Itsuki as he presented a pair of headphones, which had a star logo on it. At first, there was little to no reaction.
"You can clap now," Fox instructed the crowd, as everyone was clapping for the new product. Ashley was the only holdout, which was expected.
Falco: StarBeats is our latest foray under the Star Records brand. We did everything under the song, and then some - we released idol songs, had a giant concert, got a cooking show, and even had a Power Rangers knockoff show. We also had a chance to do a blaxploitation, which was pitched by Doc Louis...and Knuckles. Fortunately, it didn't make it past the cutting board.
"I cannot wait to ask, but what is the point of these...StarBeats?" Yashiro asked after the applause died down, failing to see the appeal behind Star Records' newest product.
"They're headphones," replied Fox, curious as to what else Yashiro was missing; Yashiro still had the same dumbfounded look on his face. "Beats Electronics makes headphones!"
"But they're not a record label, though," Rise pointed out; about to lose his temper, Fox momentarily turned around and took a breather before facing the crowd again.
"Sooner or later, you'll get the big picture...but you know what? The sooner is gonna happen now. Tell 'em, Falco!"
"To sell you guys on the headphones, we'll tell you all about them in PowerPoint form," said Falco, with Itsuki taking out a clicker and pressing a button as a PowerPoint was shown from a projector. Many groans were heard.
"Do we at least get refreshments?" asked Ribbon Girl, who was later met with silence as she let out a saddened moan. Kiria, who brought a few snacks with her, smirked wryly.
"Spent sleepless nights putting this together, so you better pay attention..." Fox sternly addressed his Star Records talent, as Itsuki pressed a button on the clicker. The presentation went from the title slide to the next slide, albeit in a seizure-inducing fashion.
"I did not contribute to the PowerPoint in any way," stated Itsuki as he held his arms up in innocence. "That said if you end up feeling dizzy...I'm sorry."
Casino Night had begun at the Omnis Adest community center, as folks from the mansion, tower, and Omnis Adest came together to play some casino games. As he stood at the entrance, soaking in the scene, King Dedede saw a certain former assassin show up as he ran over to her. Her trench coat and fur hat made the former assassin all the more recognizable.
"Hey, hey!" greeted King Dedede, his face brightening up when Millia came over. His date finally arrived...one of them, that is. "Hey, Millia! You look great."
"Thank you for inviting me," thanked Millia, unaware of the folks near her giving her inquisitive looks for speaking with King Dedede of all people. "It looks so great in here."
"Oh, well...kiss." King Dedede attempted to kiss Millia on the cheek, only for Milla to politely turn down the fat penguin's advance. Dedede then went for the other cheek, only to be rejected again. "Uh, that's how we do it in Smash. It's European and..."
"Ahem..." Pit cleared his throat, as King Dedede noticed the angel standing behind him. Dedede, keeping up with Smash protocol, gave Pit a kiss on both of his cheeks which Pit did not appreciate. "Code name Re/Max is here...no sign of Guitar Lady," Pit whispered into King Dedede's ear, before walking away.
Pit: I'm King Dedede's wingman. I've got his back. Two dates. He's got two dates tonight. My job is to keep I-No away from Millia and vice versa. King Dedede said, "We must deceive them, so as not to hurt them, and in that way, we honor them."
"Can I get you a drink?" King Dedede offered to Millia, using his date as a chance to show Millia how much of a gentleman he was. "The food is from Hooters."
"Drink would be good," replied Millia, and so King Dedede led the former assassin to where the drinks were served. It was smooth sailing for Dedede so far.
Altaïr: Oh, I steal things all the time. It's just something I do. You should see how many supplies I've already taken from this place. Even as an assassin, I love stealing things.
Altaïr was doing his thing at the poker table, stealing chips from the other poker players after distracting them. One of the players that he stole from was Ryo Sakazaki, who happened to be playing with his main squeeze King.
"I'm gonna get a drink, do you need anything?" King asked Ryo, as she was about to get up and get herself a drink. Cranky Kong was apparently serving; perhaps nobody else volunteered.
"No, I'm fine. Thanks," replied Ryo, as King kissed Ryo on the cheek before leaving the poker table. King Dedede was grinning from ear to ear as he saw King leave.
"Ryo, your personal butler is hot," King Dedede gave his compliments to Ryo, as he thought of Ryo as the luckiest man in Seattle. Ryo could only respond with a bewildered stare.
"That's my girlfriend." Ryo imagined that King Dedede had seen King before, at the Valentine's Day party in 2020, but Dedede evidently did not. Or maybe he just forgot.
"Your butler became your girlfriend? Sweet."
"She was never my butler. We have known each other for years!"
"I mean, I'd hope that you have known your personal butler for years. That's how you build camaraderie. Keep up the good work, man."
Mario and Moira joined Zelda and the others down in the lab, where E. Gadd, Wily, Cortex, Brio, and Fawful were working tirelessly. They had some help in the form of one of Overwatch's finest, Mei. Was she doing a better job than Winston did? Let's see for ourselves...
"Oops! That doesn't go there," said Mei as she tinkered with the machine, unfortunately not causing a spark to fly. That alone put her head and shoulders above Winston, performance-wise.
"I was the one who lured Mei," Cortex said to Mario and Moira, smiling from ear to ear; the evil genius felt like a proud papa as he admitted that.
"...congratulations," responded Mario, before taking a few steps away from Cortex - the joy that Cortex was showing might be contagious.
"Professor, if I may ask..." Moira said to E. Gadd as she approached the inventor, who was briefly glossing through a blueprint. "...is it possible that I may be a part of this project?"
"Not at this time," replied E. Gadd, who realized that he was looking at the blueprint upside-down as he flipped it over. "We'll see what Mei can do first."
"My contributions will far surpass Dr. Zhou's, that I can assure you." Moira took a step back from E. Gadd, going back into observation mode. "I shall gladly wait until my name is called."
"I have immense faith that these scrap parts shall result in the work of wonders!" gleamed Fawful, applying Olimar's scrap parts to the machine. Moira gave the Beanish an inquisitive stare, as she returned to E. Gadd.
"Professor, with all due respect..." Moira was suddenly given the hand by E. Gadd, and it left her clutching her pearls.
"Save it for later, I'm very busy," E. Gadd told Moira, who frowned as she saw Fawful smiling maniacally while working on the machine. Leaving with a huff, Moira faded out of the lab.
"Moira? Where did-a you go?" asked Mario as he looked around, not noticing that Moira was gone until the last minute. The plumber excused himself from the lab, as the work continued. Seconds later, Zelda noticed that Mario was gone...
"Welkommen, Bienvenue, and welcome to Monte Carlo!" shouted King Dedede, the unofficial host of Casino Night, ready to get the show on the road although things had already started. Pit dimmed the lights, as a spotlight shone on Dedede. "I am no longer your host. Lady Fortune is your host."
"Will Lady Fortune give me a free foot massage?" Rodin muttered under his breath, as his feet were killing him. King Dedede hissed at the demon for stealing some of his shine.
"Shut it, shut it, shut it...will Lady Fortune be your mistress? Only time will tell, my friends. Leave all your preconceived notions about casinos at the door. Old friends, new lovers, and the disabled! Welcome all! Great, okay. Shuffle up and deal. Let's get it started! Black-Eyed Crows." With his introduction out of the way, King Dedede sat at a table along with Millia to play a game of cards with a couple of folks.
"Okay, the game is No-Limit Texas Hold'em. Good luck, everybody," said the dealer of the game, as he was handing out cards to all the hold'em players. "That's at least four red chips to you, sir," the dealer said to King Dedede, who happened to like his chances as he pushed his chips out to the center of the table.
"All-in," proclaimed King Dedede, as the other players were forced to fold their hands. Must be very intimidated.
King Dedede: Bluffing is a key part of poker, which is too bad because I'm not very good at bluffing. Did you believe me?
"I'll call," said Meta Knight, the only player to not fold his hand. King Dedede did a double-take at the star warrior, staring at him as if he were crazy.
"What are...that's insane," asserted King Dedede, expecting Meta Knight to reverse his decision - but there was no such thing as reversing your call when it came to No-Limit Texas Hold'em.
"I have good cards." Meta Knight was awfully confident of this very fact, acting as if he had the game in the bag.
"Well, Meta Knight, I went all-in on the first hand, so doesn't that tell you that I might have good cards, too? So don't be stupid. Just take it back."
"No, I'm sorry," the dealer apologized to King Dedede, who was in disbelief that the younger Bogard brother had the audacity to take Meta Knight's side. "He can't, he's gone all-in. Flip them." Meta Knight and the other players flipped their cards, with Meta Knight's card being a king of diamonds.
"Whatever...you really screwed that up." Having lost his money, King Dedede called it quits as he got up from his seat and stormed off, retreating in defeat.
Meta Knight: I don't really play cards, but I'm not going to lie to you. It felt really good to take money from King Dedede. Going to chase that feeling.
Bowser had something he wanted to share with Cloud and Champion Link, and it was on his phone. But there was one problem the Koopa King ran into as he got his device...
"Uh, my phone died and I forgot to charge it," Bowser explained to Cloud and Champion Link, who were in Bowser's room wondering what the hold-up was. "It's on slow charge mode."
"Is the charger broken?" inquired Cloud as he reached for Bowser's phone on the dresser, with Bowser slapping the swordsman's hand away. "Hey! I just wanted to..."
"Charger's not broken! It's old, that all it is." Certainly didn't look old, as the charger appeared to be in perfect condition. Almost like it came straight out of the store.
"Papa, my battery's low and I can't find my charger," said Bowser Jr. as he stopped by his father's room, phone in hand. "Can I borrow yours?"
"Mine's in use." Bowser wasn't yielding at first, but Bowser Jr.'s puppy eyes won him over. "Sorry boys..." Bowser apologized to Cloud and Champion Link as he took his phone charger out of the wall, and then out of his phone.
"Where did the charger port go?" asked Cloud, noticing that the port of Bowser's charger was not where it was...it was stuck in Bowser's phone! Bowser saw this and shrieked!
"You weren't meant to see that!" Bowser took his charger and threw it out the window, realizing his mistake a few seconds later. "Might want to get someone else's charger, son..."
Pit: I expect to do very well tonight. I have an acute ability to read people! Ganondorf, for instance, has a huge tell. When he gets a good hand, he coughs.
"I will raise," Ganondorf announced after a few coughs, as Pit let out a deep sigh and folded his cards. All the poker chips were pushed towards Ganondorf.
Ganondorf: It's the weirdest thing. Every time I cough, he folds.
King Dedede might have lost to Meta Knight in a game of cards, but it wasn't all bad for the fat penguin - after all, he was on a date with Millia Rage (somehow). He and Millia were chatting it up, as things were surprisingly going well so far.
"Wow, bad luck," Millia said to King Dedede, feeling bad for the fat penguin, but Dedede was taking his loss in stride as he hoped to come out victorious tonight.
"It's whatever; if luck weren't involved, I would always be winning," claimed King Dedede, only to turn around and instantly panic when he saw I-No enter the community center. His worst nightmare was now realized. "Oh, crap..."
"Hi, King Dedede," I-No greeted the nervous fat penguin with a smile, only for her smile to turn upside down when she saw Millia. A lot of history between the two ladies. "Millia?"
"Look, okay, I think we're all adults here, and it has always been my understanding that we have an open relationship."
"What are you...just...wait, what're you talking about?" I-No had her brow furrowed, as she and Millia both demanded a strong explanation.
"What does that mean?" Millia asked King Dedede, who was sweating buckets as she and I-No were pressing him for answers. Dedede had to speak up, and fast.
"After you said you weren't coming, I invited Millia to come and I don't think that I did anything wrong," King Dedede confessed to I-No, knowing that whatever words came out of his mouth would dig him into a deeper hole. Only time would tell how low he would sink.
"No...no, you didn't," stated I-No, who looked ready to slap King Dedede across the face but remained cordial for now as she looked toward Millia. "Care for a drink?" I-No asked the former assassin.
"No, I'm good," replied Millia, as I-No nodded her head and went to go get a drink from the bar. Millia stared at King Dedede, who was feeling extremely awkward as Pit soon came over.
"Hey...I-No's here," Pit whispered into King Dedede's ear as if the fat penguin didn't know already. Way to be late to the party, Pit.
At any business meeting, the one thing most employees dreaded the most was a boring, long-winded PowerPoint presentation. Unfortunately for the Star Records talent, they had to suffer from one of those as Fox and Falco went into extensive detail about the StarBeats headphones.
"You seriously have a slide dedicated to terms and conditions?" Eleonora questioned Fox and Falco, struggling to keep awake while Touma, who was sitting next to her, was fast asleep.
"Yes, and because nobody else does it, we'll read the entire thing!" replied Fox, as many audible groans were heard. The groans woke Touma up momentarily...and Touma fell back asleep a moment later.
"Fox and Falco wrote out the terms and conditions themselves," Itsuki explained to everyone as if that was supposed to make them feel better.
Fox: Sliders were placed out of the order; we meant to read through the terms and conditions at the beginning. It's to give our talent the first-hand experience of a new customer using StarBeats for the first time.
"Wanna take a crack at it?" Fox asked Falco, giving his friend the opportunity to read. Falco was about to answer yes but was spooked when he saw Yukari walk past the meeting room. Even with Yukari not giving him eye contact, Falco was afraid.
"Nah, man, you can have it," replied Falco, regulating himself so that Yukari couldn't spot him. Perplexed by how Falco was acting, Fox cleared his throat as he got down to reading.
"Give me the dice, let's go!" exclaimed Pit, standing at the end of the craps table as he was getting fired up. Pit was the shooter, and he was aiming for perfect accuracy.
"It's all on you, Pit," Ryo said to the angel as he rolled him the red dice; Viridi came over to the craps table as Pit scooped up the dice.
"What is this?" Viridi asked out of curiosity, as Pit was shaking the dice in his hand. Not only out of luck but also for added dramatic effect.
"This is craps," explained Pit, eyeing the craps table as he was a moment away from rolling the dice. Today would be nice. "I need to roll an eight. If I do, everyone wins."
"Then roll an eight." So Pit rolled the dice, and he rolled...an eight! Viridi came through for Pit, as everyone at the craps table was cheering.
"Yeah! Yeah!" Pit was exuberant, as he picked Viridi up and kissed her. Viriid was taken aback, as she had never seen Pit act that romantic before.
"Pit, let's keep it going," Wario said to the angel, as Sonic was watching proudly from the distance delighted with what he saw. "Let's keep it going. Let's go."
"Let it ride, let it all ride," encouraged Ike, as Pit locked eyes with a satisfied Sonic. Sonic tipped his glass to Pit before leaving, and Pit smiled in return.
"Give me the dice!" ordered Pit, believing that he had all the momentum on his side. Not only because of Viridi's support, but Sonic's as well.
The cat was out of the bag - Bowser's phone charger was broken, as Cloud and Champion Link both suspected. Bowser was left with no choice but to use someone else's charger, but nobody seemed to trust the Koopa King enough to lend them one of their belongings. It wasn't until he got down to his knees and begged that Bowser got what he wanted.
"I got my eye on you," Min Min said to Bowser, as she let the Koopa King charge his phone with her phone charger in the arcade room. "I haven't forgotten how you broke my old phone charger."
"Shh...that's our little secret," Bowser shushed Min Min while being mindful of Cloud and Champion Link standing by. The Koopa King checked the percentage on his phone and smiled. "Oh yeah! Over fifty percent, baby!"
"That's more than enough," stated Cloud, who was befuddled when Bowser put his phone back down. "Not going to turn it on...?"
"Listen, Coud - I'm a simple guy. I can't operate a phone if it's not fully charged! Who knows what will happen."
"This guy..." muttered Champion Link as he pinched the crown of his nose, hating the fact that he and Cloud had their wagons hitched to Bowser.
Slight animosity was brewing between I-No and Millia, who were both King Dedede's dates. The two ladies were at the bar, standing shoulder to shoulder as things were a little awkward, to say the least.
"Cosmopolitan, please," I-No gave her order to Cranky Kong, selecting the classic cocktail drink as her choice of beverage. The musician settled for a cocktail no matter the social event.
"Can I get a red wine?" Millia asked Cranky, who nodded his head as he got down to fixing some beverages. Looking to start a conversation, Millia turned to I-No. "So, two hours? That's a long ride."
"Well, that's what happens when you have to leave your gig on short notice, you know? Gotta make ends meet...so, how long have you and King Dedede been..."
"Oh, well, actually, I guess this would be our first date. I guess."
"Casino Night in the community center. Good sport."
"Well, I'm having a nice time."
"Oh, me too. Me too..."
Vexen and Demyx were still in hiding, and it was hard for them to keep quiet...well, it was mainly hard for Demyx. Every time somebody walked past, it was hard for Demyx to not make a sound.
"Keep it together," Vexen advised Demyx, who had his hands over his mouth as N. Gin walked past the closet. Seeing N. Gin from the cracked door, Demyx had to let the cyborg know how he felt.
"YOU LOOK STUPID WITH THAT ROCKET IN YOUR HEAD!" Demyx called out N. Gin, before gasping as he went back to covering his mouth. Fortunately for Demyx, N. Gin didn't spot him as he began tearing up.
"The universe is out to get me, I just know it!" wailed N. Gin, crying his eyes out as he ran off like a sensitive girlfriend who got dumped by her crush. Demyx dodged a bullet.
"Be glad that was a simpleton," Vexen whispered to Demyx in an almost hissing manner, obviously very ticked off. "Imagine if that was E. Gadd!"
"E. Gadd sounds like a cool guy, he'd take any insult I tell him in..." responded Demyx, only to panic when the closet door slowly opened. He and Vexen were scared beyond belief. "...oh no!"
"Nice going, you nincompoop, you've done us in now!" Vexen panicked as he hid behind Demyx, fearing for the worst...that fear turned into relief, as the person who opened the closet door was Mario.
"Sorry if I startled you both," Mario apologized to Vexen and Demyx; "startled" was quite the understatement. "But I need-a to borrow you guys. Moira has gone-a missing!"
"...and that, ladies and gentlemen, is all you need to know about StarBeats," said Fox as his and Falco's long, arduous PowerPoint Presentation finally reached an end. "We'll open the floor for...questions."
Much to Fox and Falco's chagrin, everyone in the meeting room was asleep, having been bored by the presentation. Knuckles was the only person that was wide awake.
"How much will StarBeats be worth on the resale market?" Knuckles asked as he raised his hand; Fox was too ticked to answer the question, as was Falco.
"...I'm done." Throwing his arms up in defeat, Fox walked to a corner of the meeting room so that he could sulk in peace. "You all are free to go, I guess."
"Good timing...I need to go write out my will," said Falco as he hasted out of the meeting room, leading Fox and Itsuki to exchange dubious looks with one another.
"Maybe he's adhering Ballyhoo's advice, striving for the future and all," assumed Itsuki, shrugging as Fox saw Falco run down the opposite direction in the hallway. Moments later, Fox saw Yukari walk by the meeting room, with a finger placed underneath his chin.
"One beer and one Seven and Seven with eight maraschino cherries, sugar on the rim, blended if you can," Akihiko gave his order to Cranky Kong, as he and Revali were waiting to be served. Revali looked at Akihiko, as he had a burning question that he wanted to ask.
"So, that's still going on, huh? You and Shantae?" Revali asked Akihiko, who felt extremely awkward as he took a few steps away. Akihiko's behavior only made Revali even more suspicious.
Revali: Champion Link told me all the juicy details during our last archery battle - which I won with flawless perfection, obviously. I think that Akihiko's hiding something.
"The point is four," the dealer of the craps game said to King Dedede, who was sandwiched in between Millia and I-No. Two of his beloved queens. "Shooter, roll it. Four!"
"Come on, shooter!" cheered Pit, rooting for King Dedede who was handed a pair of red dice by the dealer.
"Four!" shouted King Dedede, before holding the dice in front of Millia. "Blow. Blow for luck! Yeah! Also, you. Not playing favorites." After neither Millia nor I-No blew on the dice, it was time to roll. "Alright, here we go!" So Dedede rolled the dice, and he got a...
"Five," said the dealer, as King Dedede and all of his supporters grunted. Imagine if Millia and I-No blew on the dice as they were instructed to do.
"So close. So close." Well, as the old saying goes, if at first you don't succeed, just dust it off and try again.
"Come on," Pit expressed his disappointment, before turning his attention to I-No who was standing right beside him. "So where are you staying? Radisson? Super 8?"
"What? No, I..." replied I-No as she was terribly caught off-guard by Pit's sudden interrogation. It really came out of nowhere.
"Motel 6? Best Western?"
"I didn't...I don't know…"
"Holiday Inn? The Hyatt in Tacoma? Are you staying close to King Dedede?"
"Alright!" cheered King Dedede as he rolled yet again and got the roll that he wanted, oblivious to the fact that one of his main squeezes was feeling awkward.
Bowser momentarily left the arcade room to use the bathroom, and upon return he expected his phone to be at a hundred percent. When the Koopa King returned, he saw Champion Link holding his phone, with Cloud looking over his shoulder.
"ARGH! Who told you to bother my phone?" Bowser growled at Cloud and Champion Link as he marched over to the swordsmen. He snatched his phone out of Champ's hand and checked the percentage. "And why did you turn my phone on?! It's at 98 percent!"
"That's close to a hundred, you'll live," responded Cloud, as Bowser grunted and shook his head in dismay. "So what is it that you wanted to show us?"
"I would not show you, since you put me in a bad mood...but I'll give you boys a pass, for now." After typing in the password on his phone, Bowser went to his voicemail app.
"A voicemail?" Champion Link furrowed his brow, as Bowser pulled up a voicemail. Cloud immediately recognized the number as Rufus's.
"Rufus called my phone during that gold ticket shindig, and I saved his number to my phone. For, uh, business purposes. Little did I know that he would ever call me again..."
"That's cool, just play us the voicemail," commanded Cloud, and so Bowser turned up the volume and pressed the play button. Cloud and Champion Link leaned in close so they could hear.
"Good afternoon, Bowser - this is Rufus Shinra of Shinra Incorporated," Rufus's voice was heard in the voicemail, coming off as an astute professional businessman. "Do you know if Team Rocket is available? Specifically Jessie, James, and Mewoth. I'd like to speak with them, please. Thanks in advance. Bye."
"He called me while I was dropping a deuce," Bowser explained after the voicemail ended, hooking his phone back to the charger. Gotta get that one hundred percent full charge. "Don't know what he'd want with those losers."
"Might have something to do with Giovanni," assumed Cloud, although he wasn't fully certain - all could be explained in his meeting with Rufus. If he wanted to meet with the man, that is.
With the meeting over, the Star Records talent was free to leave (once they woke up from their naps). Knuckles was the lone person in the meeting room, as he was checking out the StarBeats.
"I'm willing to bet these bad boys will get a huge discount," said Knuckles, looking for any possible way to get out of paying the full price for the StarBeats. Yukari wandered inside the room and saw what Knuckles was doing.
"Hi, Knuckles! What's that you got there?" Yukari asked the echidna as she went over to speak with him.
"Just the newest product from Star Records, the StarBeats. It was Fox and Falco's idea."
"Cool! I was wondering, um...do you mind doing me a big favor? It won't be much trouble."
"Do I get paid?" Knuckles was serious as he asked this, and was met with a blank face from Yukari. "I'm not getting paid, am I?"
Wario: I won the 2019 $2,500 No-Limit Deuce-to-Seven-Draw Tournament at the World Series of Poker in Vegas. So, yeah...I'm pretty good at poker.
"All-in," proclaimed the sharply dressed Wario as he pushed his chips to the center of the table. There was nothing that could possibly stop him...not even Birdo, one of the card players.
"Okay, let's do it," said Birdo, also choosing to go all-in as she pushed her chips to the center. Looking over her shoulder was Junpei, who was giving his support to all his Omnis Adesti Fideles peeps at Casino Night.
"Good luck, Birdo!" cheered Junpei as he expected Birdo to wipe the floor with Wario. The baseball coach was getting hyped as he clapped his hands in excitement.
"Oh, thank you, Junpei. But it doesn't matter, it's just fun to play."
"Three queens," said Wario as he laid his cards out on the table; he knew for a fact that Birdo's hand couldn't beat his.
"I have an ace," said Birdo as she laid out her cards, with Wario smirking believing that he had things in the bag. But then...
"No, that's a flush," Ferdinand of the Black Eagles pointed out, as all the cards Birdo had were of the same suit. Wario was in shambles, as his jaw dropped down to the table.
"Oh, I have a flush! Look, I won! Look I have all the clovers!" Birdo was delighting herself in her victory, as Junpei was cheering with joy. "You wanna play again, Wario?"
Wario:...I suck.
I-No sat alone outside the community center, getting her smoke on as she held a lighter close to the cigar in her mouth. Larry would join I-No as he exited out through the backdoor, with his usual dour self.
"Smoke?" I-No offered to Larry as she put her cigar away; Larry would honestly kill for a smoke, given how burdensome his life was, but tonight he would pass.
"No, thanks," replied Larry, taking a seat next to I-No as he placed his briefcase on the ground next to him. Casino Night sadly did very little to uplift the everyman's spirits. "You having fun?"
"Fabulous time. I rode two and a half hours on a bus to get here."
"Yeah, we all really..."
"Left a musical gig early, rode down here. And I am completely underdressed."
"Well, I think you look great."
"Why did I take a chance with King Dedede?
"Yeah, why did you?"
"It was...he looked really desperate. Wanted to put a smile on his face..."
Moira was at E. Gadd's mansion...somewhere, and it was up to Mario, Vexen, and Demyx to find the geneticist. The challenge was to find Moira without running into anyone.
"Can't look in there, that room is occupied," Vexen said to Demyx, who was about to look for Moira inside a bathroom occupied by Koala Kong. "Use your brain..."
"I am using my brain," retorted Demyx, as Mario shushed him from down the hallway. Not the man to be trifled with, Demyx angrily shushed Mario back.
"Over here...I found-a her," Mario quietly called out to Vexen and Demyx, who went over to the plumber to see what he was looking at. Mario was peering inside E. Gadd's bedroom, where he saw Zelda...speaking with Moira.
"So you're telling me that Dr. Brio and Fawful were thorns in the mansion's side," Moira said to Zelda, who told the geneticist all about Brio and Fawful's past. "And now E. Gadd treats them as allies?"
"I mean, you were a thorn in the mansion's side, during that Aerith Revival project..." responded Zelda, as Moira raised her eyebrow at the princess in an almost offended manner. "...well, you were siding with Cloud up until his meltdown. So you'd have a thing in common with Brio and Fawful."
"I was a thorn in no one's side. My contributions were for the benefit of science. It's not my fault that Cloud chose to go down a dark path."
"Not a single peep," Mario whispered to Vexen and Demyx, although his warning was more for Demyx; the Nobody once again was struggling to keep silent, as his lips were pursed.
"Also, I fail to see the appeal behind Brio and Fawful. Both men are eccentrics, from what I've gathered. Worst case scenario is that they'll screw things up."
"They kind of perfected the very machine that E. Gadd is trying to build," explained Zelda, her response not doing much to alter Moira's opinion. "E. Gadd wants to build a parallel universe machine, and Brio and Fawful had one in the works until a major setback happened."
"Won't believe it until I see it. Brio, I could trust to some degree, but Fawful...he's like a potential disaster just waiting to happen."
"Look who's talking, you masculine lady!" Demyx called out to Moira, later gasping as his cover was blown. Moira and Zelda saw Mario and company standing at the door.
"Mario? Why are you with...Organization XIII?" Zelda asked the plumber, who wanted to explain before things started hitting the fan. But it was too late...
"Organization XIII!" Link shouted from down the hallway, standing next to Olimar as he held his Master Sword. "Think you can kidnap Mario, and get away with it?"
"No, not it's not like that at all!" Vexen expressed his innocence, as Link and Olimar were later joined by Tracer blinking unto the scene. "Spare us!"
"Save the pleading for the Reaper!" said Tracer, not knowing what other word to use; she had no idea where Nobodies ended up after dying. "It's the end of the line for you!"
Link: The worst part about being an observer? You're stuck doing favors and dirty work for the smart guys. The past few days that I've been here, I was saddled with taking out the trash! How is it that the trash cans around here fill up so easily? Stupid minions...
"Wait, listen!" Mario said to Link and company as he channeled his inner Navi, holding his hands out in front of him. "These two are not-a the bad guys."
"They're literally wearing black cloaks," stated Olimar, who like anyone else would associate anyone wearing a black cloak as a bad guy. Classic stereotyping. "That's the code for the Organization XIII!"
"These two gentlemen are indeed not bad guys," stated Moira, fading out of E. Gadd's room and into the hallway to share some knowledge. "Vexen and Demyx, they shared their stories...their wish to atone."
"If I may, I would like to plead my case," requested Vexen, with Link and company lowering their guards as Demyx nudged Vexen in his side. "Our case, rather..."
"Excuse me. Big moment," announced the owner of Nortech Heating, Cooling & Refrigeration, who was at Casino Night to give a special award to the person who had the highest chip count. "The evening's chip leader and winner of this beautiful mini-refrigerator courtesy of Vance Refrigeration, Altaïr Ibn-LaʼAhad!"
"Thank you, thank you," Altaïr thanked the crowd as he went up to receive his prize, accepting the fridge to the sound of everyone in the community center applauding him. "I never owned a refrigerator."
It was about the time for I-No to leave. Getting awfully late. But before she could depart she first had to say farewell to the man who invited her to Casino Night in the first place.
"Hey, I'm leaving," I-No informed King Dedede, who was chilling out with Millia and just soaking in the atmosphere. "So, I just wanted to congratulate you on a fantastic evening. You did everyone proud."
"Thank you," thanked King Dedede, who felt like giving himself a pat on the back. Casino Night was more of a success than he originally imagined.
"And thanks for inviting me. You were right, I needed it. So, thanks."
"Okay. Thanks for coming!"
"Nice seeing you." I-No gave a smirk to Millia, slightly getting under the former assassin's skin as she walked away. "And you guys have a good time together."
"Okay. Talk to you soon! Goodnight!"
"Goodbye," Millia said to I-No, who did a slight wave as she left. Millia watched as I-No left and she couldn't help but frown. "I'd sure love to kick her butt again..."
King Dedede: Love triangle. Drama. It all worked out in the end, though. The hero got the girl. Who saw that coming? I did. And I-No was really happy for me. So actually the hero got two girls. He got the girl that plays the guitar and he got the girl that worked as an assassin. So, I've got my rocker chick and some Russian flavor. Life is good.
Vexen and Demyx met with Mario and company sharing with them what they shared with Cloud and the others on Bastille Day. Vexen was sincere with his words, effectively pulling Mario and company to his side.
"We'd like to be of assistance, in any way possible," Vexen asked of Link and Zelda, hoping to hear his name called; he was more likely to be called upon than Demyx ever would.
"You guys sound genuine, I will admit..." said Link as he and Zelda were mulling their options. "...anyway we can keep in touch? Like a Gummiphone, or?"
"Do you have a Gummiphone on you?" Vexen asked Demyx, who shook his head no. If only someone in Radiant Garden could give him one...
"We'll figure something out for you guys," Zelda assured the Nobody duo, knowing that this wouldn't be the last time she saw them. Just then, Moira exited from the nearby lab. "About to go, Moira?"
"Cortex and Brio are squabbling," said Moira, who tired herself out from hearing the bickering going on in the lab. "I have seen enough...I may visit another time. When E. Gadd will have no choice but to count on me."
"Then we'll see you around," Mario said to Moira, who nodded her head in acknowledgment before fading out of the mansion.
"Let's keep your affiliation a secret...for now," Link said to Vexen and Demyx. "Don't want anyone to freak out."
"Understandable," Vexen nodded his head, wanting to be part of the machine-building process but not wanting to cause too much trouble. "We'll be ready when the moment comes..."