Author's Note:

Guest reviews...you know what it is. First anonymous review:

"Here's one last list of characters if you want to add them, Kirby's animal buddies from Kirby's Dreamland 2 & 3, Andy, Max, Sami, Rachel and Jake from Advance Wars, Vyse, Aika and Fina from Skies of Arcadia, Ryo Hazuki from Shenmue, Chie, Yosuke, and Teddie from Persona 4 (since Sega technically owns Atlus), Ulala from Space Channel 5, Taki and Ivy from Soul Calibur, Tales of Xillia cast (Jude, Milla, Alvin, Elize, Teepo, Rowen, Leia, Gaius, Muzet, Agria, Presa, Wingul and Jiao) Dante, Vergil, Trish and Lucia from Devil May Cry and finally Leon and Ada from Resident Evil. P.S. sorry again for this really long list."

Thank you for this second list, didn't mind the amount of characters one bit. I'm already familiar with Vyse, Aika, Fina, Ryo, Ulala, Taki, Ivy, Dante, Virgil, and Leon, but the other characters, I'll have to spend some time familiarizing with. The only characters from that list that will debut in this chapter will be the crew of Persona 4, they'll fit in well with what this chapter is about. Yu and Yukiko will be appearing as well, can't leave them out of the equation. Next anonymous review:

"Can u include kuma in smash life to live with heihachi. Also, can you have link do the schwifty song at the super bowl halftime show. Also, can u make a chappy on daytona 500"

Maybe, not really, and no. The schwfity song was meant to be kept away in the annals of 2016, but I suppose I can have Link sing it one more time...just not at the Super Bowl halftime show. The Daytona 500 chapter I may not do, but I may make some racing references. Got some more character requests, this one from Weird Maccorioni:

"I know we already saw Geo and Mega, but... Could we see MegaMan from StarForce?"

Eh, he appears in Mega Man's final smash, so I can make some room for him. Here's Smasherfan88 with their character request:

"could we see bomberman?"

Yes of course, I honestly think Bomberman has a lot of potential to be in the next Smash game. This last character request is from Mark Thomas, let's see what he has to say...

"Could you see if you could include possibly Haru and Gatchmon from Digimon Universe? I like a lot Digimon, and would like to see them. If you don't know Digimon, then can you at least go to a anime site..."

No worries, I do know what Digimon is, I watched that show when I was a kid and at the time thought it was just an anime series. Haru and Gatchmon will be making an appearance if I find the right opportunity for them to do so. Now we have SamuraiBlue:

"Can you rite a chapter wher a few smashers get transported to the miss universe pageant by teleporting to the phillipines. Also can you have lady gaga invite one of the smash kids to the super bowl"

Didn't the pageant happen already? Also, I can't have Lady Gaga invite anyone to the Super Bowl (read chapter 50's author's note for why that's the case), but I can "bend" the rules for Lady Gaga...next up is J300.

"Will there be any football stars this year, or will there be something completely different?"

This chapter is football-themed, so I'll have to bend the rules here and include some stars. Derick Lindsey has a question concerning a Valentine's Day chapter:

"I just want to know if the chapter after Valentine's day on either the 16th or 17th depending on if you upload the chapter Thursday or Friday we'll see a valentine's themed chapter even though the holiday already passed..."

Next week's chapter will be a Valentine's Day special of sorts, and as stated earlier before, a lot of characters shall be making their "Smash Life" debut. YoKaiShoubiao has returned with two suggestions:

1) Lucina can't take take Yoshi's fanfiction anymore, so she takes his phone and fixes it. However, it backfires, as Yoshi gets all the credit and becomes more confident in his writing skills... Much to Lucina's chagrin.
2) Bowser finds a machine that lets him change the languages that individual people can speak. Lucas manages to take it from him, but has to get past a password lock... And there are no passwords in Nowhere.

I shall take these two ideas into consideration. Lastly we have Roydigs22, with a question to ask me:

"...would you rather: take mega lucarios uppercut, or full power mega lopunny ear smack?

An ear smack from Mega Lopunny doesn't sound that bad, I'd rather take that over an uppercut any day of the week. One more thing Roydigs22 mentioned:

"IF lucario does get a girlfriend, make sure it is lopunny or else..."

Good thing the next chapter is Valentine's Day-themed, amirite?


Episode 59: Pigskin

Super Bowl 51. The championship game of the NFL, taking place in Houston, Texas. Two teams would do battle for the Lombardi Trophy - the New England Patriots, led by none other than one of the greats, Tom Brady, and the Atlanta Falcons, one of the hottest teams in the NFL.

As much as Master Hand would love to take the residents and Luigi's folks to Houston to see the Super Bowl live in person, the giant hand couldn't afford tickets for everyone, not to mention that there might not be enough seats for the residents to sit in. Master Hand didn't want to leave anyone behind, lest anyone would be punished be being forced to stay at the mansion and find something to do...all by themselves.

Around the mansion the residents (for the most part) were getting ready for the big game. And what better way to prepare yourself for the Super Bowl than to play a football game in the mansion's backyard? The team of Mario, Donkey Kong, Red the Pokemon Trainer, the Flying Man, Ganondorf, Hisui Hearts, and Mega Man X was going up against the team of Link, Dunban, Sonic, King K. Rool, Captain Falcon, R.O.B., and Luigi. Team Link now had the ball, with Team Mario now on defense.

"Hut one, hut two, hut three...HIKE!" Link shouted as Rool snapped the football to the Hylian, who immediately ran a play-action trick play of sorts - he faked the ball off to Dunban, making it seem like he was handing the football to the Homs, then Sonic came running by and Link handed the ball to him. The hedgehog stopped, and threw a legal forward pass to Link, who was standing by himself, making the throw just in time before the Flying Man tackled the hedgehog to the ground. Once Link caught the ball, the Hylian threw it towards Captain Falcon, who was wide open, but unfortunately for Link the ball was tipped in the air by Red and picked off by Hisui, who lateraled the ball to X, who then ran past R.O.B. and Luigi only to be taken down by Dunban, who made the save.

"Phew, that was a close one, could have been a big play..." Dunban got up from the ground and wiped away the sweat from his head, grateful he made the game-saving tackle. Both teams were currently tied at 17, and any score could win the game. Team Link had to make a huge stop on defense in order to get the ball back.

Mario: Who am I going-a for in the Super Bowl? Easy...I'm-a going for the Patriots. So then Eli Manning and the Giants-a can claim that they're the only ones-a to ever beat Brady and-a his Patriots... *devilishly rubs his hands together*

Link: None of the teams' mascots wield swords, but if I had to pick between the Patriots and the Falcons...I'd pick the Falcons, because I like birds...No, I don't necessarily like all birds, there are some bird species I'm fond of more than others... *shrugs* ...but I don't discriminate.

Captain Falcon: In order to determine who I want to win the Super Bowl, I had to do "research" on the cheerleading squads for both teams, and let me just say that the Patriots cheerleaders...are SMOKING HOT! (But they're not hotter than my beautiful girlfriend and future wife Nowi, nobody can come close to her.) For that very reason, I'm picking the New England Patriots to win!

Red: Going for the Falcons to win because their primary team color is red, and red is my favorite color. Also a huge fan of the Falcons quarterback, Matt Ryan, dude's a freaking beast and will be MVP real soon. *looks up thoughtfully with his finger on his chin* Wonder if Ryan or any of the other Falcons players play Pokemon...

Sonic: I think the Patriots will prevail over the Falcons in a close, highly contested game, but you know what would be even sweeter? NFL commissioner Rodger Goodell handing Brady the Lombardi trophy on the podium! I can see it now - Patriots coach Bill Belichick, showing raw human emotion for the first time since the last Patriots Super Bowl victory; the team owner, Robert Kraft, mostly likely wasted as all heck and acting like a drunkard; and the cherry on top, Goodell awkwardly giving Brady the Lombardi trophy with a fake smile on his face. Then it gets better...after Brady accepts the trophy, he gives a Stone Cold Stunner to Goodell, making him fall off the podium and unto the football field where he'll lay unconscious, all while Stone Cold Steven Austin's theme song sounds throughout the stadium with Brady chugging down a few beers Stone Cold style and flipping his critics and detractors off, the sound of Terry Bradshaw (who'll be likely doing the proceedings and whatnot on the podium) shouting "STONE COLD! STONE COLD! STONE COLD!", permeating in the ears of the viewers watching back home...is that too much to ask for?

"Omaha, Omaha!" Mario the quarterback shouted out the play call, emulating the great Peyton Manning, a real G in every sense of the word. "Hike!" The Flying Man snapped the ball to Mario, who ran forward with the ball...before tossing the pigskin to Hisui. The teenager ran down the field with the ball before making it to the endzone and scoring the game-winning touchdown. Hisui spiked the ball emphatically as his teammates ganged up on him, celebrating their victory by tackling poor Hisui to the ground. Mario and X being in the pile, sure, but Donkey Kong being a part of it was overkill. Once the celebrating commenced, the victorious Team Mario paid their respects to Team Link.

"Good game, you guys, we all played our hearts out," remarked X as he gave Captain Falcon a handshake. "You guys up for a rematch? We could always give you another L to hold." X's trash-talking game was on point, you would never expect any form of trash talk from a pacifist like him.

"Thanks, but no-a thanks, I'm already sweaty and I need-a to take a shower at-a once," replied Luigi, and some of the others shared the plumber's sentiments. Sonic walked over to the football left on the ground where Hisui spiked it, and picked it up, analyzing it. He couldn't help but notice that there might be something wrong with the football, something was amiss...

"Does anyone know if this football may be deflated?" Sonic asked the others, holding the football up in the air. This was no matter that should be overlooked, it must be addressed right away. R.O.B. came over to see if Sonic's suspicions held true, as he took the football from Sonic and weighted the pigskin.

"THIS FOOTBALL, IN TERMS OF PRESSURE...DROPPED BY 1.8 PSI..." announced the robot, leading everyone to be rather shocked. Maybe the football was deflated, there must be a perpetrator behind this! But who could it be?

"Mario was the one who brought the football to the backyard, so he probably deflated the ball to give his team a fair advantage!" Rool accused the plumber, who looked around with guilt. Keep in mind that Team Mario and Team Link both had their own football, and the team captains (Mario and Link) were responsible for bringing a properly inflated football to the game. But in Mario's case, however...

"Is it true-a brother, did you stoop so-a low that you would-a deflate a football?" asked Luigi, not sure if he could trust Mario anymore. Provided that Mario was indeed the culprit, his goody two shoes reputation and persona would take a mighty hit.

"Luigi you know-a better than anyone I wouldn't do-a such a thing!" attested Mario, ticked that Luigi would think of him as a main offender. "Toad was-a the one responsible for ensuring that-a the football was at a proper PSI, I just watched-a over him!"

Master Hand: Everything for the Super bowl has been set: the living room is ready, we have all the party food we need, I decided the guests who can and cannot be at the party (Waluigi's name is at the very top of the list), which means that we're all set to go! *pauses, then sniffs* I smell controversy...I'll be right back. *vanishes*

"In that case, it was TOAD who deflated this football to give an unfair advantage to Mario's team!" confirmed Sonic, adamant Toad was the real culprit. "And he did it in the presence of Mario...knew Toad simply couldn't be trusted!" Only a matter of time until Toad's dark secret of him as a drug lord gets evinced.

"What's all this chatter about deflating and footballs?" Master Hand appeared, just when the issue was gaining momentum. It seemed like everyone except for Mario and a few of his teammates was convinced Toad was behind the football's deflation, and that Mario either did not know about it or allowed Toad to deflate the ball.

"Toad deflated the football for Mario's team and gave the team an unfair advantage!" Captain Falcon pointed at Mario, who was now placed in a precarious situation. Master Hand was suddenly angry at the plumber, in utter disbelief that Mario actually had the gall to cheat.

"You were the one who had Toad regulate the football...is it true Mario?" Master Hand asked Mario, who was about to answer before Master Hand had some more things to say. "Before you can proclaim your innocence, I must ask you a few questions to see if you're guilty...you were in the room with Toad when he inflated the football, right?" Mario nodded his head. "And you inspected the football prior to the football game, is that correct?" Mario nodded his head again. "...then you must also be involved in the deflation of the footballs, you chose not to do anything about the under-inflated ball, and opted to use the ball because of the benefits! You knew that with the under-inflated ball, you would have a very firm grip on it, not only for you but your teammates! Since you're the captain and you authorized this conspiracy between you and Toad, I shall punish you swiftly...you're temporarily banned from the mansion and its premises until further notice!" This sudden punishment not only alarmed Mario, but also alarmed everyone else. Master Hand, banning the head guy of the mansion from the mansion? "Enjoy living at the motel downtown!"

"Master Hand, certainly you can't just outright punish Mario like that without a well-developed investigation to detect any form of wrongdoing," said Dunban, taking the football from R.O.B. and seeing for himself if the ball was indeed inflated. "How about you have somebody investigate this football, and look for any faults?"

"Good thinking Dunban, I can have Samus inspect the football, it's not like she's doing much anyways," replied Master Hand as he accepted the presumably deflated football from the Homs, before turning his attention to Mario. "As for you Mario, you and Toad are welcome to stay at Luigi's place until the investigation is over, and you may appeal your potential ban from the mansion if you wish. Just know that I got my eye on you...now if you excuse me, I'll have to look for that little miscreant Toad!"

Master Hand went away, and Mario looked down at the floor, heaving a sigh, as Luigi rested an reassuring hand on his brother's shoulder. Link stood afar looking at Mario; he had a glut feeling Mario did nothing wrong, and the Hylian desired to prove it...


Zero: In the wake of this whole deflating of footballs thing, which I feel like will be MASSIVELY overblown as the day goes on, Master Hand asked me (or in his case, forced) to use the teleportation device to find an investigation team to see if Mario, Toad, or both were involved in the deflation of their football during that football game. And while the investigation crew does their thing, Samus will be running some "tests" on the deflated football, to see if it was truly deflated or not. If the results come in and reveal that the ball was never deflated, then Sonic - the guy who sparked this whole thing, will have some explaining to do...

"Samus Aran, I have an important mission for you to do!" Master Hand entered the workshop, where Samus was working on upgrading Cloud's Buster Sword, with Pikachu being utilized as the source of electricity. The swordsman and the mouse Pokemon were in the workshop with Samus, who rolled her eyes when Master Hand said her name. "Mario and others were playing this football game in the backyard, and it has been brought to my attention that Mario's team CHEATED, according to Sonic, because Mario and Toad were responsible for the deflation of this football!" Master Hand threw the football on the desk Samus was working at, next to the Buster Sword, and Samus just plainly stared at it. "I want you, and maybe Cloud and Pikachu, if they feel like it, to determine the PSI of the football and figure out if Mario cheated. Send me a typed up report once your finished!" Master Hand left the workshop, and Samus, Cloud, and Pikachu all exchanged looks of skepticism and confusion with one another.

"The very thought of Mario cheating at anything just doesn't sound right to me," Cloud had to say; he had always known Mario to be a clean-cut guy, a man with a strong sense of integrity. "Certainly there must be some underlying stuff going on, I can just feel it..."

"Yeah, and the fact that Sonic was the one who accused Mario makes it sound even fishier," added Samus, stroking her chin. "But unfortunately since Master Hand wants us to 'investigate' this issue, we'll just have to do what he says...you boys up for some PSI testing?" Cloud and Pikachu truly wanted to shake their heads in reply, but they had no other choice, especially when Master Hand was adamant on wanting an actual full-fledged report.

"Guess we have no other choice but to solve this problem and prove Mario's innocence..." Cloud rolled his rolling chair up towards Samus and removed his Buster Sword from the desk. The beloved sword will have to be upgraded some other time, the swordsman supposed.


"Look Pit, as much as I'm interested in this 'Pokemon Bowl' concept, I don't think the idea will be a success," Kamui said to the angel as the two walked through the hallways. Apparently Pit wanted to intertwine the Puppy Bowl and Pokemon, and make...wait for it...the Pokemon Bowl! Needless to say, the angel was hardly getting any support for his wacky idea from the others (sans Kirby, of course). "What Pokemon would even be participating anyways?"

"Only the Pokemon that can walk on all fours," replied Pit, with his arms crossed behind his back. "You know, like Sandile, Furret, Electrike...would it be weird to have a Sneasel on all fours?" Yes it would Pit, yes it would.

Pit: Alright, so I got this Pokemon Bowl thing all mapped out...Chrom will be the referee, wearing a striped shirt, and Ken the Reporter (or Anchorman Ken, whichever one he goes by) will call the action! We already have the Pokemon and Chrom; the only problem would be finding a way to bring Ken over to the mansion. Heard he and Wario are pretty tight, perhaps Wario could bribe Ken into being the announcer.

Pit and Kamui arrived at Kamui's room, and once Kamui opened the door to her room, she saw Corrin sitting on the bunk bed, his eyes glued to the Smart TV. The television was paused, and both Pit and Kamui were figuring out what was up.

"Brother what seems to be the matter, why is the TV paused?" Kamui asked as she and Pit stepped inside the room. Corrin slowly turned his head towards the two, and had a crazed expression on his face, like he had made a very important discovery that should be documented at once.

"The man I met at Walmart last week whom I thought was Emperor Palpatine wasn't Emperor Palpatine..." uttered the prince of Nohr; anyone could have told him that much. "But this man, the man on the television, may be Emperor Palpatine...going incognito!" Corrin pointed at the television screen, and on the screen was a frowning man, in his sixties, wearing a Patriots hoodie with the hood concealed over his head. The way the man looked, it appeared as if he was ready to unleash a diabolical evil plan on the world at any given minute.

"Hey I know that guy, that's Bill Belichick, the coach of the New England Patriots!" exclaimed Pit. Hard not to mistake Belichick's unfriendliness and scorn. "Boy he sure looks ticked...then again, he looks like that all of the time."

"Yes, the name Bill Belichick is an alias Emperor Palpatine assumes when he's on Earth; he masquerades as the coach of New England, using his Earth job as a means to not only steal American money from the Patriots organization, but to devise evil plans to conquer and rule the Earth while quarterback Tom Brady deflects the attention (well, most of the attention) from him!" Corrin's crazy theory was enough to make Pit look at Kamui and circle his finger around the side of his head, indicating to the Nohrian princess that her twin brother had officially lost it.

"I believe that's enough television for one day, Corrin," Kamui took the remote control and unpaused the Smart TV, before turning the television off and putting the remote away in a place where Corrin won't be tempted to find it. The prince was apparently determined to prove his theory to others, no matter how many people will outright ridicule him.


Viridi, Aerith, Kohaku, and Peach were in the gardens, doing some decorating and whatnot to spruce things up. All four ladies worked dutifully on the task at hand, and out of the four, Viridi was the most happiest worker, for one of her favorite musical artists was bound to give a memorable performance at the Super Bowl.

Viridi: Last week I had said I wasn't interested in the Super Bowl, partly because of the amount of humans involved, but then I suddenly remembered that Lady Gaga, one of my favorite singers, will be performing the halftime show! Lady Gaga is one of the rare few humans that I have no resentment or disdain for, for her talent simply makes up for her being a human and all! I would want to go to Houston just to see her live, but Master Hand forbids anyone from the mansion to depart for the Super Bowl...that dummy is such a huge jerk!...Hopefully he didn't hear that.

"Princess Peach, are you here, where are you?" Isabelle's voice was heard, and soon enough the shih tzu appeared. "A few folks would like to speak with you! So if you would, can you follow me? I'm afraid Mario is in some trouble..."

"Mario's in trouble?!" gasped Peach, and that was all the princess needed to hear. No way was she gonna let her man remain in trouble, not one bit. "Can these folks solve whatever problem Mario is in? I demand to see them at once, take me to them!" So Isabelle escorted Peach inside the mansion, leaving the threesome of Viridi, Aerith, and Kohaku by themselves.

"Guess it's just the three of us now," Aerith smiled as she was arranging a few plants in the garden. "Whatever situation Mario's in, I sure hope he bounces back from any problems that he has and keep his head up. We wouldn't want the man of the mansion to be stuck in any adversity, would we?"

"Aerith this may sound like a random question, but...in your world, or universe, did you have any singers?" Viridi asked out of curiosity. The goddess of nature didn't really know much about the alternate universe Aerith was from, so it couldn't hurt to ask.

"Well, there is this one world, one with mermaids, and talking sea animals, and they would have these musicals and symphonies underwater!" Underwater musicals and symphonies? Sounds like something you'd see in a Disney movie...unless... "I've never seen these spectacles myself, but I've heard all sorts of great stories about them, stories that swell my heart up with joy!"

"Not exactly sure if you know this, but in our world, we have plenty of talented singers, oodles upon oodles of them. I have a favorite singer in particular and her name is Lady Gaga - she'll be the woman doing the Super Bowl halftime show!"

"But I thought the Super Bowl was all about football and commercials, what would be the need of a halftime show?" questioned Kohaku, who was still relatively green when it came to football, and sports in general. She and her brother Hisui still have lots to learn.

"Eh, it's probably just a way to get teenage girls to have some interest in the game. Sometimes the halftime show gets better ratings than the game itself."

Aerith: This Super Bowl halftime show sounds so much better than advertised...what if they bring the singing mermaids and sea animals from that underwater world to next year's Super Bowl and perform the halftime show? Granted, a lot of the budget would be drained due to finding an ample amount of water for the aquatic performs to perform in, but the show would be the greatest thing since sliced bread!

Kohaku: Football, commercials, musical guests...so many things going on in the Super Bowl! What's next, are they going to add a talent show to the Super Bowl? As nice as it sounds...

"Judging by her name, this Lady Gaga woman sounds like a very interesting person," remarked Kohaku. Fun fact: Lady Gaga got her stage name from one of her producers via text message. Bonus points if you know where the term "Gaga" hails from. "I would love to see her in person, given we have the opportunity to meet her and all. That would be swell!"

"My dear Kohaku, swell wouldn't even begin to describe the thought of seeing Lady Gaga in person, she's practically the only human on this planet I wouldn't mind coming in contact with!" said Viridi, expressing her joy for her favorite singer. Midna was nearby, eavesdropping on the conversation and stroking her chin before flying away in search for Link, her host.


Isabelle guided Peach to the meeting room, and Isabelle peeked behind the door to make sure the guests were here. Peach was fiddling around with her fingers, hoping her man Mario was doing just fine.

"Since I know you're worried and you have a bunch of questions racing through your mind, I'll tell you what's going on..." Isabelle said to Peach, bracing herself for a long explanation. "So what happened was that Mario and Link and their respective teams had a football game in the backyard, both teams required to bring their own individual football, and Team Mario beat Team Link in a close game, and after the game concluded Sonic had inspected Team Mario's ball and felt as if the ball was deflated, and it was later revealed that Toad was the one responsible for the football's PSI, and Mario was monitoring Toad as the football pressure was done, and soon Master Hand intervened and told Mario that until further notice he'll be punished, and if he was indeed responsible for the deflation of the football, then he'll be banned from the mansion temporarily, and right now Sams are inspecting the supposedly deflated football to see if it was truly deflated or not and now I regret stating all this information in such a long run-on sentence." Isabelle took a heavy breather following the long explanation, allowing Peach to process the information.

"Well that is very...unfortunate for Mario," was all the princess had to say. She may have missed some important details during the explanation. "So who are these people that wish to see me, why do they want my presence for?"

"The people behind the door are so-called 'investigators' Master Hand found from this place called the TV World. They'll be investigating the whole shindig involving Mario and determine if Mario or anyone else was involved in the deflation of the football. They're all ready to see you now, so come right on in!"

Master Hand: The investigators I hired to investigate the whole football deflation scandal are indeed full-fledged investigators. They investigate all sorts of crap, like murders, and...um...let's see...I said murders already...well that solve murder cases, and that was convincing enough for me!

So Isabelle let Peach inside the meeting room, and the princess was greeted by five individuals - two boys, a silver-haired male teen wearing a white shirt and black pants, and an orange-haired male teen in all black, and two girls, one with a green athletic jacket and the other with in a red high school uniform. Then there was the fifth and final individual - a bear mascot that kinda creeped the heck out of Peach. A part of the princess wanted to unzip the bear mascot and see who was inside.

"Princess Peach, I would like to introduce you to Yu Narukami, Yosuke Hanamura, Chie Satonaka, Yukiko Amagi, and Teddie," Isabelle introduced the princess to the group of investigators; all five of them smiled, with Yu, the silver-haired lad and the leader of the group, waving to Peach, and Peach waving back. "They'll be conducting a little interview with you before they can start any full-fledged investigation. I'll let you folks have it!" Isabelle exited the meeting room, leaving Peach alone with the investigators.

"Pleasure to meet you, Princess Peach, congratulations on finally being married to your long-time boyfriend Mario," said the leader Yu. "Isabelle told me the details, in case you may be wondering. Speaking of whom, I'm afraid Mario may be a troublemaker of sorts...deflating a stinking football, what a guy..."

"Before we can have a word with your fiance, we want to ask you a few questions if you don't mind, so let's begin!" exclaimed Chie, whipping out a notepad and a pen. Chie was the most perky of the five, she could flawlessly make just about any murder trial a comedy act. "First I gotta ask you, did Mario, Toad, or both mention anything about deflating footballs, or was there even any mention about the football game in the backyard at all in the mansion?"

"Nope, not at all, the football game was slightly impromptu, it was decided to be done the other day," replied Peach, as Chie wrote down this bit of information on her notepad. "So there was no chatter about deflating footballs or anything like that."

"Don't mind if I butt in, but did you see Mario or Toad today prior to the football game?" Yukiko jumped into the conversation, and Peach shook her head no. "Hmm...got any more questions to ask her, Chie?"

"I do, but it seems as if we're practically getting nowhere," replied Chie. Maybe starting off the investigation with Peach wasn't the right thing to do. "I'd say we go find Mario and interrogate him, see if we could pry any information out of him.

"Don't forget about Toad, we gotta interrogate him as well," Yosuke spoke up. Can't leave out the presumed drug lord. "Don't know why, but I can already tell there's some mighty fishy stuff going on around here..."

Yu: Out of all the cases I've done, a huge bulk of them being murder cases, I've never had to do a case pertaining to...the deflation of a lousy football. *shakes his head* Upon hearing about this whole scandal, it sounded like Master Hand was seemingly making something out of nothing. But if this whole thing is a real issue, and Mario and Toad were responsible for any wrongdoing...
Teddie: Hey Yu, did you check out Peach in that meeting room? Looked way hotter in person! Oh boy, what I would do to claim her!
Yu: Sucks that she's already been claimed...did you not see the engagement ring on her finger? Peach is going to be marrying Mario sometime soon...
Teddie: *sighs* It's always the goody two shoes guys like Mario that get whatever they want, how unfair...
Yu: You'll find your mate soon, Teddie. Just gotta hang in there.


"Link are you sure this is such a good idea, your plan sounds risky," Zelda said to her boyfriend Link as the Hylian was doing some calibrations on the teleportation device with the assistance of MegaMan .EXE. The princess was left with no choice but to support Link's (mostly) wacky plans, even if they made zero sense at all.

"Trust me Zelda, I know what I'm doing, nobody is going to be harmed by any means," Link assured as he was glancing at some cords in his hands. "Hey MegaMan, where do these cords go at?" .EXE looked at Link, and groaned. Why the Hylian was fiddling around with technological stuff was anyone's guess.

"Thought I told you not to touch the cords..." .EXE sighed, shaking his head as he made his way over to Link. "Gimme those cords Link, and don't touch a single thing unless I tell you otherwise." While .EXE placed the electrical cords back where they belonged, Midna floated her way in the teleportation room, so she could have a word with Zelda.

"What do you want, Midna?" Zelda asked the Twilight imp; for those of you who may be wondering, Midna already had her important conversation with the Hyrulian princess - the conversation had to take place when the documentary crew wasn't around and the cameras weren't rolling. Midna whispered something into Zelda's ears, something that made the princess widen her eyes with intrigue. "Are you so sure about that?" Midna whispered once more, and soon Zelda was convinced. Midna floated back into the host body of Link when the Hylian didn't expect it, just when .EXE was finished plugging back in the cords that numskull Link took out for whatever reason.

"Alright, we're all set to go, everything's plugged back in and everything is working properly. All the calibrations have been done, thanks to you Link, which means that we can now teleport..."

"Excuse me MegaMan, but do you mind if we...teleport one other person to the mansion?" Zelda asked the robot, who was more than welcome to bring someone else on board - after all, what could possibly go wrong?


Ganondorf: This whole hubbub about Mario cheating to give our team an advantage is nothing but blasphemy. Why does ball regulation matter, I thought that as long as the dumb football is inflated, then you could play any football game regardless! Isn't that right Lucas, do you feel the same way I do...why are you crying?
Lucas: *wiping away tears* Mario is nothing but a liar...I asked him while he was at Luigi's home if he had deflated the football, and he said he wouldn't do anything that would break the rules... *sniffles* ...but I know he's guilty, he can't hide it any longer...I don't believe what he says anymore, anything that comes out from his mouth is farce...
Ganondorf: Kid what are we gonna do with you...

The two culprits, Mario and Toad, remained at Luigi's home, with Mario a little flabbergasted, and Toad doing his best to remain optimistic. In order to distract Mario and Toad from the football deflation saga, Fox and Falco, along with the help of Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings, performed a drumline performance for the plumber and the presumed drug lord in Luigi's living room.

"Here we go Falcons, here we go!" chanted Falco, rooting for his favorite football team while Fox and the Koopalings recreated the Atlanta Falcons Drumline. "It's never too late to change your pick you guys, you can be Falcons fans for like a day, and you won't regret it!"

"I think we'll still take our chances with the Patriots..." responded Toad, as Daisy entered the living room, befuddled by all the noise. Her husband had invited Fox and company inside their home, even though the princess of Sarasaland objected.

"Luigi, where on earth are you, can you please bring your scrawny butt over to the living room please?" Daisy called out to her man, her voice having to be raised up a few decibels for Luigi to hear over the sound of drums. Luigi scurried down the steps and hurried towards Daisy, nearly tripping along the way. "How long will our 'guests' remain in our house?"

"We ain't moving out of here until Mario and Toad are declared to be innocent men and cleared of any wrongdoing whatsoever!" stated Fox, and Falco and the Koopalings all agreed by shouting "Yeah!" in unison. Since when did the Koopalings care that much for Mario and Toad? "We might even have to stay in your home until midnight if we have to! FREE MARIO AND TOAD! FREE MARIO AND TOAD!" Soon Falco and the Koopalings joined in on Fox's chant, while they still performed their drumline act.

"Sadly the man-a has spoken, they won't leave until-a justice has been-a served..." Luigi said to a now ticked Daisy, who couldn't put up with the sound of drums in her living room anymore. "All we can do-a is wait for a conclusion to all this foot-a ball hullabaloo, and then we'll-a be at peace..."

Fox: I see what's happening with Mario and Toad as akin to the whole Deflategate drama involving Tom Brady and the Patriots - everyone was under the assumption the Patriots did cheat, and then BOOM! The controversy was later revealed to be not only a sham, but a witch hunt started by NFL commish Roger Goodell to put Brady in his place!
Falco: Betcha this Deflategate thing started because of Goodell's profound jealousy of Brady...he was probably thinking after the Pats won that conference championship game a few years ago, "No way that man Brady can be so perfect...he has a smoking hot model for his wife, he looks and plays pretty good for his age, and he's too darn popular...I should be popular, I'm the freaking commissioner of perhaps the best sports league in the nation, I should be the one grabbing headlines left and right!" Goodell's jealousy must have done him in.
Fox: Man if Goodell was here and he heard that theory, he would slap you with a 25 thousand dollar fine...
Falco: *scoffs* Yeah, like some stupid "fine" would scare me...Ooh, 25 grand, I'm soooooo afraid...

"Mario, Toad, are you two in here?" a voice said at the front door after a knock or two. Fox and company stopped playing their drums, as everyone in the living room tried to recognize the voice, a voice nobody present has ever heard before.

"Yes they're both-a here, you're welcome to come-a on in if you-a like," answered Luigi, and soon the investigating crew of Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, and Teddie entered Luigi's home. Understandably, Mario, Luigi, Daisy, and the Koopalings had no idea who the five were, because they've never seen them before obviously, but the way the five looked was somewhat intriguing.

"The guy up front with the silver hair kinda looks like a wannabe K-pop star," Morton whispered into Larry's ear, and the blue-haired koopa nodded as he looked up at Yu. The investigator would return the favor, looking at Larry as he made his way over to Mario and Toad, leading his crew along the way...

"Hey what's up Mario, how ya doing man it's great to see you!" Yosuke ran past his fellow investigators to greet Mario, gleefully shaking the plumber's hand like a dork. Luigi looked on, hoping that Yosuke would potentially notice him...but unfortunately he didn't. "We've been informed about your wedding to Princess Peach, and let me just say that..."

"Ahem..." Yu cleared his throat, grabbing Yosuke's attention; the investigator ran back to align with the investigating group. "I would like to apologize for that Mario and Toad, we're here to conduct business, and that was very...unbusinesslike. Greetings everyone, my name is Yu Narukami, and these are my good friends - Yosuke Hanamura, Chie Satonaka, Yukiko Amagi, and Teddie. We're all investigators, and we've been brought here by none other than Master Hand to investigate this thing about Mario and Toad deflating a football for a football game you had with your fellow brawlers outside in the backyard." Mario heartily laughed, feeling as if Master Hand was purposefully wasting Yu and company's valuable time.

"You kids don't have-a to be here, this is all a non-a issue," Mario told the group of investigators, slowly stifling his laugh. "This thing will all-a be sorted out soon, not-a by you but some-a one from the mansion I'm-a hoping..."

"Well we're terribly sorry Mario, but we refuse to leave until a full investigation has been done!" stated Teddie, much to the chagrin of the plumber. But at least Mario didn't have to put up with Bowser mocking him and calling him a cheater...yet. "So until we come to a consensus, we'll continue to fight for you and Toad to the bitter end!"

Yukiko: We've had a few brief discussions with some of the brawlers that played in the football game in the backyard: Donkey Kong, a friendly rival of Mario's, claimed that he didn't feel any deflation whatsoever in the football. The Flying Man, who was Mario's teammate just like DK, had nothing to say, but reminded us that he was Mario's courage...something about that guy, or bird, or whatever, just throws me off.
Chie: Then we asked Link and his teammates - while Link and the others offered some valid takes on the controversy at hand, Sonic was apparently laughing his butt off when we mentioned Mario deflating the football! But don't worry, we got our eyes peeled on the hedgehog, there's a very good chance he won't be laughing for the rest of the day...

"Is there by any chance you have a football pump with you?" Yukiko asked Toad, as the presumed drug lord happily gave the girl a football pump from his imaginary pocket, a pocket able to store all kind of things. You could literally store an elephant in an imaginary pocket and walk around like it was nothing. "I don't see any faults whatsoever with the pump..." Yukiko inspected the pump, looking at it from the front, back, and side.

"You're not looking at it hard enough, lemme see!" Yosuke rudely grabbed the pump from Yukiko, and looked at it very closely, a lot closer than he truly should. The boy then pressed down on the valve, with the pump facing him, and a gush of air was blown in his face. Everyone laughed at Yosuke, including the ever so stoic Yu, who chuckled at his friend's interesting inspection.

"Look at that doofus blowing air in his face, some investigator you're supposed to be!" Lemmy jeered at a now humiliated Yosuke, pointing and laughing at the boy. Yosuke gritted his teeth at the young Koopaling, wanting to ring his neck to make him stop laughing.

"I'm one of the best investigators there is, wait until you see the work I did regarding the murder case of Mrs. Yamano and Saki-Senpai!" the young investigator snapped on Lemmy, as Chie took the football pump from his hands.

"This pump doesn't look suspicious to me, so that can't be the reason for the deflated football," Chie observed the pump before giving it back to Toad. As she gave the pump back to the presumed drug lord, a certain someone entered Luigi's home, taking the attention from Fox and company. "So how else are we going to gather up all the evidence to crack the case?"

"Truth is, you don't even need any evidence in this matter - all the proof you need is nowhere to be seen."

Chie suddenly looked up, and looked behind her to see the individual who entered the home and caught everyone's attention. It was a tall white male (hopefully that didn't sound racist in any way), wearing a Patriots beanie on his head, a Patriots hoodie, and...wait for it...some black sweatpants. What, you expected the guy to wear some Patriots-themed pants, didn't you?

"And just who are you supposed to be?" Yu asked the man, who was all smiles as he closed the front door behind him. There was a lot of murmuring among the Koopalings, the Star Fox pilots, Mario and others concerning who this man was.

"Well technically since I'm not supposed to be here and all, I'll just cut to the chase and say that you're welcome to call me...you can just call me Thomas," was the man's reply, as the sound of the murmurings increased. But "Thomas" didn't seen to care about the murmuring going on at all.

Thomas: As you would imagine, I was freaking out a little when I was suddenly warped to this so-called mansion, but my short little culture shock of sorts would die down when I was suddenly greeted by this funny green tunic wearing guy who looked like Link from those Legend of Zelda games. (That was Link, was it?...Oh okay then, just making sure I wasn't seeing things, if I haven't already.) Anyway, Link was telling me about his fellow Nintendo buddy Mario, and how he went up against Mario in some backyard football game with others, and mentioned that each team had to bring their own individual ball to the game - don't know whose bright idea was that. Link then added that Mario was apparently accused of deflating his team's football on purpose, or rather that his sidekick Toad was the one who deflated the football and Mario authorized it... *looks away, chuckling for a short period of time while shaking his head* ...so this is like deja vu to me, in a way.

"Okay then, 'Thomas', if that's-a even you're real-a name..." Mario spoke up, as Thomas listened very closely to the plumber. "...since you claim-a that there is-a no evidence or even-a proof...does this mean-a that Toad and I are innocent?" In response to Mario's question, Thomas goofily grinned, almost laughing as if.

"Mario, Toad, you fellas have no idea how innocent you are," replied Thomas, making Mario and Toad feel relieved. "This whole thing about you deflating a lousy football and being accused of cheating...it all seems like a witch hunt conducted by that giant hand your friend Link was talking about."

"HA I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT ALL ALONG!" exclaimed Falco, garnering strange looks from everyone in the living room. Thomas sternly looked at Falco, making the avian pilot feel bad about his outburst as he sheepishly looked down at the floor.

"You know what, how about we discuss this little matter somewhere else, so we can be at an equal understanding?" Thomas asked Mario, Toad, and the investigators. "We can go back to the mansion and have our little discussion, it'll save us and some of the others some trouble..."


"Lady Palutena, have you seen Corrin around anywhere?" Pit entered the kitchen to ask the goddess of light, who was busy cooking some chicken stew. Eating the stew tonight for dinner will make the mansion residents yearn for the Super Bowl snacks on Sunday even more.

"He's over in the dining room with Cilan speaking with a guest of ours," responded Palutena; a good chance that the guest was brought to the mansion from the teleportation device. "He has been concerning me as of late with this strange new thought process he's been showing off, and I don't think not even his twin sister can stop him from..."

"Say no more, Lady Palutena, I know what Corrin may be up to, and I'm here to knock some reasoning inside his head!" Pit trying to reason with someone, especially someone like Corrin? Eh...Palutena flashed a smile as Corrin ran into the dining room, where he saw Cilan, Corrin, and the guest all sitting at the table. The guest in question was a big, muscular white guy (that shouldn't have sounded racist at all in any way), wearing a tank top and some shorts. He was eating a sandwich that was made by Cilan.

"Seems like you're really enjoying that sandwich Broski, and that makes me very gleeful - I've poured out my heart into making it the most perfect sandwich there is!" gleamed Cilan; feel free to roll your eyes if you feel the need. One more important detail - the tank top "Broski" was wearing had a Patriots logo on it. Good chance Broski was teleported to the mansion with Thomas, and like Thomas, had to assume an alias, and apparently Broski was the alias.

Broski: *throws his arms out at the side* What's not to love about this place, the Smash Mansion? You got video game characters that are popular, video game characters that you've never heard of before, anime chicks, an arcade room, more anime chicks, a ball pit with colored balls, I said anime chicks already, all-you-can-eat food...I think you can eat all the food you want here, I mean, I'm a guest technically, so it's not like I have to pay for anything! *shrugs*

"Meh, it's not the greatest sandwich I've had, but it's definitely not the worst!" was Broski's critique, and it disheartened Cilan a little. Broski looked up, and saw Pit standing near the table. He would ask the angel how he got his wings and how much they cost to wear them, but that would be a question for him to ask another time, if there's even another time. "Sup bro, who are you supposed to be? Are you Hermes or something?"

"Close, but no cigar- I'm Pit, and I'm the distinguished leader of Palutena's Army!" Pit grinned, pointing his thumb at himself. What does Broski have to say, did Pit leave a lasting impression on the guy?

"Yeah man, that sounds pretty cool, good for you." Broski, not longer interested in Pit anymore, suddenly turned his attention to Pit, who was looking at two pictures - one with Emperor Palpatine, and the other with Bill Belichick evilly wearing a hood over his head, like he was ready to plot his plan to rule the world. Belichick has already ruled the NFL on a few separate occasions, perhaps he could be more than willing enough to do humanity a favor and spare the world. "So uh, Corrin...your name is Corrin, right?" The prince of Nohr looked up, and nodded his head in response. "What are those pictures you're looking at?"

"Two distinct pictures of Emperor Palpatine - one with him in his regular form, and the other undergoing his alter ego as Bill Belichick, Super Bowl-winning coach of the New England Patriots!" replied Corrin, holding up the pictures of Palpatine and Belichick. Broski, Pit, and even Cilan laughed at the prince of Nohr, confusing him; Corrin couldn't be serious, but sadly, apparently, he was serious to the bone.

"Dude I hate to burst your bubble, but Belichick is not an alter ego of Palpatine, he's just a regular person like you and me. Besides, how could you explain a fictional character like Emperor Palaptine going from the Star Wars films to coaching a football team?" Broski smirked and folded his arms, waiting for Corrin's answer.

"The answer is very simple - he switches to his Belichick persona to keep those who oppose the Galactic Federation off-guard! It's to fool his enemies, keep them at bay!" Corrin sure knows an awful lot about the Star Wars universe...and that may or may not be a bad thing.

"Yo, Broski, we need you, it's something very important!" Thomas whispered, poking his head through the entrance to the dining room. Broski nodded his head, for he knew what business he must accomplish with Thomas.

"Alright boys, I'll chat with you later, got some important matters to do," Broski said to Cilan, Corrin, and Pit as he got up from his seat and exited the dining room, but before he exited... "Oh, and Corrin, Belichick and Palpatine are two totally different people. Make sure you remember that, bro!" Ain't no way Corrin is going to heed what Broski had said.


Link: *walking through the hallway with Zelda* Can't believe we have to do this...do we really have to do it Zelda, is it too late to turn back now?
Zelda: Midna was the one who put us up to it, so we have no other choice but to oblige. You wouldn't want to make her angry, would you?
Midna: *appearing out from Link's body to confront the Hylian and Zelda* Get a move on, you two, we have to make haste! Please tell me you don't always walk this slow...

Aerith, Kohaku, and Viridi continued to work in the gardens without Peach's help, when the twosome of Link and Zelda arrived. Why did Midna want the Hylian couple to speak with Aerith and company, was there something going on?

"Aerith, Kohaku, Viridi...there's a very special guest in the gaming room performing with K.K. Slider, you have to see for yourselves," Link told the three ladies, who all stopped working and looked up in intrigue. "Can't tell you who it is though, it's a bit of a surprise."

"Is it a good singer, I refuse to come unless this 'special guest' has a single ounce of dignified talent!" stated Viridi. Someone here has some very high expectations. But what else would you expect from a gal like Viridi?

"Oh yes, it's a really great singer, she'll blow you away!" exclaimed Zelda, as the word "she" made Viridi even more interested. "Please, we implore you, you must see her right away! You won't be disappointed in the slightest!"

So Link and Zelda took Aerith, Kohaku, and Viridi to the gaming room, and upon arrival, they saw a slew of residents gathered together, all spectators in a performance from K.K. Slider and the "special guest" in question. The special guest was indeed a woman, and she was wearing an Islamic scarf and some black clothes. And boy did she sing her heart out...it truly captivated every single soul in the gaming room.

"Now THIS is what you call a five-star performance," Red the Pokemon Trainer said to Lucario, sipping a can of soda. The trainer was now thirty years of age, which meant that he learned his lesson from last year - no drinking any soda cans that's for the super Bowl party. "It looks like you're pretty interested too Lucario, rarely are you interested by anything!"

"Hey man, I'd take this performance any day of the week over any of Jigglypuff's performances," was the aura Pokemon's reply. And you couldn't possibly blame them, Jigglypuff's singing performances are enough to make anyone go to sleep!

"I'd take three hours of a Snorlax snoring over Jigglypuff's singing performances," Little Mac chimed in. Snorlax snoring over Jigglypuff's singing? Talk about a low blow!

Lucario: What prize did I receive from Master Hand and Isabelle for "surviving" the Empty Room? Apparently I was told not to share the so-called prize with anyone else, but Isabelle did give me this to hold on to. *holds up a baton to a camera* Not exactly sure what I would need this baton for, but it's sure pretty nice to twirl around... *twirls baton before accidentally striking himself in the eye* Gah, right in the eye! Now that I mention it, this stupid baton might not be so nice after all...

Little Mac: Come this Sunday, I shall be either a Patriots fan or a Falcons fan...as you might have known in the past, I used to be a Denver Broncos fan for most of 2016, but unfortunately Denver lost my trust as a fan when they came up short of qualifying for the playoffs. Why did you do it Peyton Manning, why did you have to retire?!

"Alright you groovy cool cats, that's all for now!" K.K. Slider announced into the microphone. "Feel free to get some food or drink, or even have a chance to meet our guest of the hour, Joanne!" Yes, Joanne was the name of the woman with the Islamic scarf that sung for the residents, and Viridi was rather quick to pounce upon the opportunity of meeting the blonde singer.

"Hi my name is Viridi I'm the goddess of nature and let me just say that you sound just like my favorite singer Lady Gaga!" Viridi gleefully ran her mouth once she was in the mighty presence of Joanne, who cracked a smile, a smile that could possibly be hiding something. Viridi didn't care if Joanne's smile was concealing a secret or two, she was just more excited than a slaphappy jackrabbit.

"Well those are some very nice words, so thank you very much!" responded Joanne; the fact that the incognito singer spoke to Viridi was enough to delight the goddess of nature. Just then, Link ran unto the stage, rudely shoving Viridi to the side with some disrespect. What does the Hylian possibly want?

"Hi my name is Link I'm the hero and pimp of Hyrule and I want to know if you can do a duet with the likes of me!" Link greeted Joanne, goofily shaking the singer's hand, but not in an endearingly goofy way. Zelda was watching from afar, feeling humiliated as she facepalmed.

"Um, I can't do a duet with you right now, I mean, I have to take a break and all, it's what's best for my vocal chords. But once the break is over, I suppose...we...can..." Joanne slowly watched as Link creeped his way over to K.K. Slider's unsuspecting keyboard. Clearly the Hylian wanted to sing, and he wanted to sing now!

"Link you idiotic buffoon, what in Hylia's name are you doing?!" growled Midna, her voice resonating from inside Link's body. "You're practically throwing the plan off the rails, stop this madness at once!"

"Sorry Midna, but I've waited since the beginning of the year to do this!" Link pressed a button on K.K. Slider's keyboard, and K.K. and others feared for the worst as a dreaded familiar techno tune played from the keyboard. All their fears were suddenly met when Link grabbed a microphone and began singing... "Oooooh yeaaaahh...you know what time it is...it's time to get schwifty...gotta get schwifty in here...you know what you gotta do...take off your pants, and your panties...poop on the floor...yeah, that's how you get schwifty..." Link was now getting low, and it was making Joanne cringe nonstop. Talk about leaving a lasting impression on a guest.

"This guy is the famed hero of Hyrule, he sure acts like a dork sometimes!" Hisui, with Kohaku now at his side, had to say about Link as he watched the Hylian do his thing. Zelda would go up to Hisui and defend her man, but at this point, Link was utterly indefensible.

Hisui: Whenever I think of someone who carries the moniker "hero of Hyrule", I think of someone who has all the qualities of a hero, like respect, honor, wisdom, and other traits...and on that stage in the gaming room, Link completely threw all those heroic qualities out the window with his strange singing and dancing ensemble. Sucks for me that his stupid song is now stuck in my head...

"FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, WILL YOU PLEASE STOP?!" Joanne screamed, making Link stop whatever he was doing and turn the techno song off on K.K. Slider's keyboard. Everyone looked at Joanne, wondering what had gotten into her. "...what I'm trying to say is, your song is not as great as you seemingly make it out to be. And by the looks of everyone here, everyone is tired of hearing the song. Why don't you just do everyone a favor, and stop?"

"Yeah you're right, I have to admit I was a little flamboyant with the song," replied Link, understating how annoying his song was. The Hylian then decided to address those in the gaming room. "Guys, I'm afraid I have no other choice but to retire the schwifty song..." This announcement was met with cheers from the mansion residents. "...but the good news is, I have another song for you to enjoy!" And just like that, the cheers immediately turned into groans, as Joanne shook her head at Link in disdain. Link headed back to the keyboard, and played a different techno tune, a tune that made Doc Louis bob his head.

"Aw yeah, I can get behind this, this beat is slammin'!" the boxing trainer exclaimed as he made the ill-fated decision to join Link onstage. He was eating chocolate too, he can't go inside an elevator or even inside the bathroom without a chocolate bar in his hand.

"Alright! Uh huh, here we go! We got Jerome Doc Louis in the house, yeah! Drop to the beat, go the club, here we go, say it with me now..." Link sang. Brace yourselves for what he and Doc Louis are about to do. "Head bent over, raised up posterior...head bent over, raised up posterior...sing it with me now..." Yes, Link and Doc Louis were literally bending their heads over, and raising their butts up to the sky. What possibly convinced Link to sing this song was a mystery everyone had in mind.

Suddenly the lights went out, and the techno music from the keyboard stopped playing shortly thereafter, as a state of panic filled up the room. After a minute or two passed, the lights dimmed back on, and the panic subsided...somewhat.

"Woah Nelly, everyone calm down, the lights are back on!" Doc Louis said into Link's microphone, as the panic finally subsided for good. "Obviously that blackout was a work committed by none other than some lousy evildoer, might be Team Rocket, or even worse...the Organization XIII! Bet they kidnapped sweet Aerith, and took her away to..."

"Um, Doc, I'm still here," stated Aerith, raising her hand for the boxing trainer to see. But there was someone noticeably absent from the gaming room...


Samus, Pikachu, and Cloud were still in the workshop, determining whether or not Mario had allowed Toad to deflate the football Mario's team used in the backyard football game outside. Sure, this whole thing was being overblown, but Master Hand allowed it to completely snowball out of hand. And speaking of snowballs, the Ice Climbers, as well as Ema Skye, were brought to the workshop for a little assistance.

Cloud: Starting to believe that Master Hand secretly hates me...last week, he had me stuck in the Empty Room with others as some part of a stupid "competition", and now he has me do some lousy investigation...he sure knows how to waste my time, I'll give him that.

"Here is the football we properly inflated, now subjected to freezing temperatures!" Popo gave the football Mario's team used (Cloud had inflated the football back to the standard pressure of 13 psi) to Samus, who stuck an air pressure inside the pigskin.

"The pressure of the football is...10.7 psi!" the bounty hunter read the number off the meter, as Ema recorded the data on her notepad. The group were running a few trials with the football, to see if the cold weather outside may have been responsible for the decrease in football pressure. They did five trials, and Ema added up all the numbers from the trials and divided it by five, using a calculator (of course).

"I've added up the numbers, and our mean is 11.4," the forensics expert stated. Looks like the theory was starting to hold true. "You guys think we should inspect the football Link and his team used, just for good measure?"

"Samus, are you and the others still in here?" Dunban's voiced called out after a knock on the workshop door. "Someone here would like to speak with you." The Homs opened the door to the workshop, revealing Sonic. Dunban and the hedgehog walked inside, and Sonic appeared to be holding something behind his back. "Alright Sonic, spit it out, say it or forever hold your peace and let Mario soak all the blame!"

"Fine, fine, since you want me to do it so bad, then I'll do it!" Sonic fired back at Dunban, before heaving a sigh. "I just wanted to say...that at the backyard football game, I was bitter about losing to Mario's team, so bitter that I accused Mario of cheating by deflating his own football...when that really isn't true." Sonic took out the object he held behind his back, and it was the football his team had used. He tossed the football to Samus, who then inserted the air pressure thingy inside the pigskin.

"Let's see, the pressure for this football is...11.5 psi!" announced Samus, her eyes widening when she announced the pressure. "But Mario's football had the same exact pressure...Nana, Popo, what's the temperature outside?"

"The temperature outside, according to this thermometer, is around forty degrees," the Ice Climber replied, reading off from a thermometer in her hand. "Must have been colder when that football game was played outside! Which must mean...both footballs decreased in pressure due to the cold weather!"

"Yeah, I could tell our football felt a bit different as the game went on, I kinda overlooked it on purpose," confessed Sonic, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. By the looks of it, the hedgehog was coming off as a somewhat of a sore loser, and he had a habit of being a sore loser at times.

Dunban: Saw Sonic took our team's football with him inside the mansion, and he was guarding the ball at all costs, refusing to let anyone touch it. That was when I kinda knew Sonic was salty about the loss today, and didn't want anyone to find out that we were playing with a deflated ball, like Mario's team. I also think Sonic was also keeping the football away from Tails, who would perhaps inspect the football on his own accord and discover that it was deflated...a revelation like that would make Tails lose some trust in Sonic, and a loss of trust would have an adverse effect on the fox's friendship with the hedgehog.

"Looks like the jury is finally out - both footballs deflated due to the cold weather, meaning that Mario's team didn't cheat at all," confirmed Samus, bringing the seemingly pointless investigation to an end. "It was the weather that played a tricky part in that backyard football game. Now to type up the report..."


"So what you're trying to tell us is, Toad didn't deflate the football at all," said Yu as he and his investigating crew, as well as Mario, Toad, Thomas, and Broski met outside at a picnic table. (They would conduct the meeting outside, but Master Hand refused to let Mario and Toad in due to their temporary ban.)

"Yup, according to science, or at least the ideal gas law, the lower the temperature, the lower the pressure," explained Thomas, finishing off his explanation by smirking and crossing his arms. "So because of the cold temperatures outside, not only did Mario's team's football decrease in pressure, but so did the football Link's team had used. Science is a pretty fun thing, isn't it?"

"Had it not been cold outside, both footballs would have most likely remained the same!" stated Toad, giddy about the thought of now being innocent. "That must mean that Mario and I were dragged through the mud for no reason!"

"You got it right, man - it's all a witch hunt!" said Broski, confirming what was on Fox's and Falco's minds. "A witch hunt started by someone who's egotistical, someone who loves to punish others for no reason, someone who loves to see others suffer, someone who hides and only appears at opportune times..." Huh, that description awfully sounded a lot like NFL commissioner Roger Goodell...or maybe even Master Hand himself!

"Would you like another cup of lemonade, milord?" Flora approached Thomas, holding a plate with a glass of ice-cold lemonade in her hands. Flora typically calls Corrin milord, but with Thomas being a guest, he was an exception to the rule.

"Did you just call me 'milord'?" Broski asked Flora, under the assumption she was talking to him. "Yeah, I like the sound of that!" The man grabbed the glass of lemonade, which was meant for Thomas, and heartily drunk it, as Cloud and Pikachu arrived at the picnic table, with Pikachu carrying a folded-up paper in his mouth.

"Here is the full report for the whole deflation thing, this should definitely clear things up," Cloud, holding Pikachu in his hands, placed the mouse Pokemon on the picnic table, and Pikachu gave the folded-up paper to Mario, who unraveled it and read it with Toad. It was the report Samus had typed up.

Samus: No, I certainly did not hold back when I typed up the report. Sometimes, you gotta give credit where it's due. Master Hand won't be the only one getting credit for screwing a famous guy like Mario over...

The report regarding the whole investigation was called the "Aran Report", and it looked a lot like this:

THE ARAN REPORT

Mario, Toad, or anyone from Mario's team did not cheat

Both footballs for the backyard football game decreased in pressure due to cold temperatures

Mario and Toad were innocent all along from the very start, much like Tom Brady and the New England Patriots

The accuser, Sonic the Hedgehog, was being a sore loser about losing

Team Link's football, and the Indianapolis Colts' footballs in the 2014 AFC championship

Decreased in pressure due to cold temperatures yet nobody gave a crap whatsoever

Mario, Toad, and Tom Brady were both essentially punished for wrongdoing that never existed

It is more probable than not that Master Hand and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell are egomaniacs and power-thirsty fools

Both individuals, who love to recklessly punish those below him, should stay in their lane and quit acting foolish

The Deflategate scandal from 2015 was a sham perpetrated by the NFL, much like the "controversy" surrounding Mario

Master Hand and Roger Goodell should both quit their day jobs, or relegate their duties to someone else

Mario should demand an apology from Master Hand, if that numskull hand has a single shred of dignity

"Dang dude, that girl Samus Aran just WENT IN!" exclaimed Yousuke, having read the report over Mario's shoulder. "Hoo boy, can't wait until Master Hand gets a load of this, he's gonna be TICKED!"

Samus: Do I have any regrets about the report? My only regret would be not making the report long enough, the report had to be done today. I had a lot of other things to say, would have taken me until at least past midnight to type up the other things I had in mind.


A certain man, a stranger by the mansion's standards, walked through the hallway by himself, wearing a Patriots hoodie while eating a banana he had found on the floor. This man, who appeared to be lost, was grumpy; he was so grumpy, he would make Dopey from Snow White more dopier than he probably should. The man was so grumpy, he would easily put Arin Hanson and Dan Avidan from Game Grumps to utter shame. The man was so grumpy...that we'll call him Grumps, just because the name fits him perfectly.

"I did it Saix, I finally got the girl!" Xigbar exclaimed, holding a sac with someone in it, as he was with someone wearing an Organization XIII coat like him. The Nobody fulfilled his promise; he alluded to bringing a fellow Organization member with him on his next mansion visit, and the promise was delivered. Saïx, the guy Xigbar brought along, took off his hood, revealing his blue hair, yellow eyes, and the "X" mark on his forehead.

"Excellent work Xigbar, knew I could count on you," the Nobody said to his one-eyed partner-in-crime as he opened up the sack and felt...dismayed. Saïx found a unconscious Joanne inside the sack, and shook his head. "Xigbar, you got the wrong woman, you were supposed to get Aerith!"

"Well to be fair, I had to carry out the mission in the dark, so nobody would see me! Not my fault I can't see in the dark, I was just trying to make things more effective, you know?"

"This is just great...how are we going to lure the Cloud from this universe to our universe, and continue with our plan?" Saïx groaned as he looked to his right, and saw Grumps staring at him, with a bored facial expression. Either that, or he's just really, really grumpy. "Who are you looking at, you fool?"

"Oh, nothing, I was just curious as to what you and your friend were discussing," replied Grumps, as he and Saïx continued to stare at one another, like they were having a staredown of epic proportions. Xigbar kinda got in-between the two, anticipating something exciting to happen from the tension...but unfortunately neither Saïx nor Grumps were capable of excitement.

Grumps: *looks at the camera with an uninterested look* You seriously have to ask me why I was warped here? Does it look like I even know the answer to that question? I was never given any instruction or directions, I just...wandered on my own. Nothing wrong with that, is it?

"Emperor Palpatine, get away from those evildoers, they're nothing but bad guys!" Corrin's voice boomed, the prince of Nohr standing at the end of the hallway pointing at Xigbar and Saïx. Pit claimed that he was going to reason with Corrin...evidently the reasoning didn't work. Then again, it's Pit...

"Our cover has been blown, we have to retreat!" Saïx told Xigbar, who nodded his head as a summoned a corridor of darkness. "Hopefully the next time we can successfully capture Aerith!" Grumps watched as both Nobodies went through the corridor, before the corridor disappeared. The man didn't even bother stopping the two evildoers, he must have been too uninterested. Corrin ran up to Grumps, who turned around to face the prince of Nohr.

"Thank you for saving me kid...I guess," the man thanked Corrin, who gleefully smiled. "Didn't need that much saving, those two were just running their mouths, and I was curious about their 'plan', that's all."

"You're very welcome, Emperor Palpatine," replied Corrin, catching Grumps off-guard. Seriously Corrin?! "Since I saved you, you must pay me back in some way...why don't you take me to Naboo, where the Death Star is? Please, I beg of you..."

"Look kid, I appreciate the offer, but I'm not Emperor Palpatine. Thanks for noticing, though." Grumps walked away, but he would only walk a few feet before Corrin grabbed unto his leg, holding on for dear life. "For the last time, I'm not Emperor Palpatine, and I'm not taking you to some fictional place named Death Star!"

"But you're here Palpatine, so everything is now real to me!" replied Corrin, his body scraping against the floor as Grumps tried to walk away. At this point, not even Kamui could save her hapless twin brother from being himself.

"Wh-what happened, where am I...?" Joanne suddenly awoke, and found herself in the sack. She looked up, and saw Grumps walking away, with Corrin still holding unto the man's leg. How she wanted to be back in the gaming room...


"So what do you think of the report, Master Hand, are you gonna let Mario and Toad be free?" Samus, joined by Mario, Toad, Thomas, Broski, and Yu's investigation crew in Master Hand's room, asked the giant hand, who was reading the report as Isabelle held it in her hands.

"I concur with everything this report has to say, except for the remarks about me, those are obviously not true," replied Master Hand. As former wrestler Kurt Angel would say, it's true, it's darn true! "Mario, Toad, you've been cleared of any wrongdoing, and therefore you are free to go!" Mario and Toad were elated, as they jumped up and down in celebration and cheers. "Oh, and I'm sorry for dragging you two through the mud. Hopefully Sonic, the accuser, will give you an apology later today, otherwise I'll have to use force on him!"

Master Hand: *seething* Samus had called me an egomaniac...and accused me of acting foolish...one does not simply tick off the creator of the Smash Universe, and for poor little Samus Aran, she'll learn that the hard way!

Yukiko: Yeah, safe to say that the mansion residents will be feeling some of Master Hand's wrath for the time being...I'm surprised Master Hand took the report with stride, thankfully he didn't unleash his anger upon us!

Thomas: *hands on his hips* Justice had to be done, and I'm glad Mario and Toad are now off the hook. Fellas should have been off the hook in the first place - all it's been has been nothing but silly ball talk.

"You are welcome to stay around a bit longer if you like," Isabelle said to Thomas, Broski, and Yu's investigating crew. Thomas and Broski turned around, and saw Grumps walk by, Corrin still grasping unto his leg.

"Kid, if you don't get off of my leg, I'll have to get somebody to restrain you..." threatened Grumps, pulling away with all his might. If only he had pepper spray on him, to spray in Corrin's eyes...

"PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME, EMPEROR PALPATINE, TAKE ME WITH YOU I INSIST!" Corrin cried out, leading Mario and company to have some pity for the prince of Nohr. Even the eccentric Teddie thought that the way Corrin was acting was hard to watch.

"We would stay around, but Broski and I gotta get back to our destination, got some stuff to take care of," Thomas answered Isabelle's question. The stuff he and Broski had to take care of couldn't be told to others.

"We have to go too ourselves, we are high school students after all," said Yu, on behalf of his fellow investigators. "Teddie, he doesn't go to school, he just...hangs around in the TV World, so we have to get him back soon."


"Do you really have to go so soon Joanne, can't you stay until it's nighttime and sing a few more songs?" Viridi asked Joanne, who was kneeling down on the floor holding Viridi's hands in the teleportation room. Thomas, Broski, and Grumps were ready to be teleported away by Link and Zelda, both of whom had to pry Corrin off of Grumps' leg.

"I would Viridi, but I have to do some...some important things back where I'm from," replied Joanne, looking behind at Link and Zelda, with Link giving the incognito singer a smile and a thumbs up. "If the opportunity ever arises, I can come back and sing some more for you and your friends. Does that sound alright with you?" Viridi eagerly nodded her head, as Link approached Thomas and company to ask them one question...

"Did you three complete your mission?" the Hylian asked; Thomas and Broski confidently nodded their heads, while Grumps looked around, thinking, "What mission?"

After a couple of goodbyes were exchanged, Link and Zelda teleported Thomas, Broski, Grumps, and Joanne back to where they came from. Viridi exited the teleportation room in a happy state, knowing that Joanne might potentially return to the mansion one day. Shortly after Viridi left, Midna floated out from Link and with her hands on her hips, flashed a smile and sighed happily.

"We certainly accomplished a lot of things today..." the imp remarked. And she was feeling rather...gleeful, even caught Link and Zelda by surprise.