Author's Note:
This is another throwaway chapter - one mainly conceived out of my own overthinking - except this time around, it won't be about the buddy cops. Rather, it will be mostly based around a certain tower resident, whom I won't name - you'll just have to read on to see who it was. This is only a experiment; there may be more chapters like this in the near future. Now for some guest reviews:
"Since Tharja is no longer stalking Robin, will we see her with Henry in a future chapter? Will the female Galar trainer (Gloria) be a loud mouthed Scottish person if she shows up? Will we see any other Twilight Princess characters show up later on? A scene of Alm and Celica calling out Walhart for tainting their legacy? And finally, what are your thoughts on the recent Fire Emblem DLC and what did you like about it?"
Probably. No, far from it. A few characters may show up later on. Alm and Celica may do that, if Walhart ever appears. And as for the recent Fire Emblem DLC, I'm always open for more story content and new characters, as well as learning more about the characters within the game. I kinda dig Balthus, he's a pretty cool dude - he strangely reminds me of Magnus, from Kid Icarus. Could be the face. Or the voice. Or both. Another guest review:
"How does Master Hand react when Chiefs won the Super Bowl?"
Knowing him, he was probably over the moon...MarMan has two Kirby-related questions:
"1. Could we have some of the residents react to the feats Kirby does in his games? I mean, it would make for some interesting conversations.
2. Could we have a get-together with all of Kirby's dream friends from Star Allies?
1. The Kirby series as a whole has a whole lot of lore...which has a lot of stuff about Kirby's accomplishments. The conversations would be amusing, so I'd be happy to include them in the story.
2. I'm surprised that nobody has asked me about Star Allies recently...now as for Kirby's dream friends, I'll have to see when they can appear.
Derick Lindsey has a question about the Sonic movie:
"...also I wonder if you saw the Sonic Movie and if so what were your thoughts about it as well as the potential sequel hook."
No, I haven't seen it yet, but I did spoil myself by checking out the sequel hook (I couldn't help myself). I'll just leave it at that. El pollo campero also asks about the Sonic movie...
"Since it is after Valentine's Day...What did you think of the sonic movie and/or the Dragon Quest Movie on Netflix (if you happened to watch them)"
I will watch that Sonic movie...mark my words. Also I didn't know that there was a Dragon Quest film. Then again, I don't have Netflix. Last up is PinkRose4452:
"Will the Church characters from Three Houses, like Rhea, Seteth, Flayn, etc. make an appearance?"
I may have answered this question before, but yes, those three will appear. Still think that Rhea looks like Palutena...and those hips...
Episode 218: Visage
Ashley: It is the middle ground between light and darkness - between man's grasp and his reach; between science and superstition; between the pit of his fears and the lifelight of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area that might be called...the Subspace Zone.
Skull Kid: Really, Ashley? The "Subspace Zone"?
Ashley: I couldn't think of anything better, okay?! Now just play the theme song...
Skull Kid: *takes out flute, plays the Twilight Zone theme song*
Waluigi found himself stuck in a rock and a hard place, for he found himself tied up in one of the worst things imaginable...a love triangle.
It all started two episodes ago, when Waluigi went to El Gaucho to not only hang out with a few pals, but also to flirt with Blake Belladona. Due to Blake never showing up at El Gaucho (mostly thanks in part to Master Hand holding up Mario and Peach), Waluigi was busy mingling with Risky Boots, before moving on to the manager of El Gaucho. The lanky man believed that he hit it off with the manager, and didn't mind pursuing the manager as a potential girlfriend.
But little did Waluigi know that the manager was actually King, Ryo Sakazaki's love interest. King's identity was revealed by Polar Bear in the last episode, during the Valentine's Day ice cream social, and it bothered Ryo that King would attend the ice cream social with another man, especially Waluigi of all people.
Knowing that Ryo was angry with him for attempting to spark some romance with his girl, Waluigi opted to hide away in the Assist Tower, vowing not to exit his room. He had the door locked for good measure, should Ryo come to the tower just to kick his butt.
"Waluigi, can you please let me in?" Ashleyy shouted from behind the locked bedroom door, as she knocked on the door. She didn't know which roommate was more insufferable - Waluigi, or her former roommate Wario.
"There is nobody inside this room, please go away!" Waluigi called out to Ashley, trying to muffle his voice. Needless to say, it didn't even work.
"I know you're in that room, Waluigi - just let me in already." Waluigi refused to move a single muscle, as Ashley let out a groan. "Don't make me use my wand..."
"What are you gonna do, turn that door into some monster and make it eat me alive? Oh please..." Knowing what Ashley was capable of, Waluigi shuddered. "Actually...please don't do that."
"Waluigi if you don't let me in that room within the next five seconds, I'm calling Crazy Hand. One...two...three..."
Before Ashley could even reach four, Waluigi quickly hopped off his bed and opened the bedroom door. Ashley glared down Waluigi, bitter that the lanky man had kept her waiting for so long.
Waluigi: I'm trapped inside a love triangle...and it absolutely stinks! I was hoping that nobody would know about it, but everyone who was at the ice cream social knows! Master Hand doesn't... *smiles as he scratches his chin* ...but both of his assistants do, I reckon. I should have Altaïr assassinate Isabelle and Ayaha, before either one of those two snitches on me. Gotta cover my bases.
"Sup babe, what's cookin'?" Waluigi asked Ashely, trying to act smooth as he crossed his legs and rested his hand on the bedroom doorway. Ashely was looking at Waluigi with heavy disgust.
"Don't call me 'babe' ever again..." demanded Ashley as she entered the room, believing that she was too young to be called "babe". Waluigi was about to head back inside his bedroom, before Ashley pushed him out.
"Hey, what are you doing, this is my room too!" Waluigi was now standing in the hallway, and he felt unsafe because of it. He could sense Ryo showing up to kick his butt at any given minute.
"Yeah, well, I don't need any distractions like I make a few spells." Ashley took out a few spellbooks, lying them out on her bed. "Last thing I'd want is for you to make me botch one of my spells...like last time."
"Oh please, like having even larger man boobs is that big of a deal..." Waluigi would soon pause, after taking a few things into consideration. "...just so we're clear, I never really had man boobs until that spell occurred."
"Whatever, if that's what you want me to think...now leave me alone." So Ashley slammed the door shut, before locking it. Waluigi fell to his knees and banged on the door, wanting to be let back in.
"Let me back in Ashley, I'm too unsafe out here!" Waluigi would look both left and right, hoping that Ryo wasn't coming for him. "I'll be a dead man soon!"
"You say that like it's a bad thing. Just go away!" Go away Waluigi would do, as the lanky man stood up and started whimpering. He trudged down the hallway, valuing the current state of his well-being as it was.
"Stupid Ashley wants me dead..." Waluigi had a tear run down from his eye, and the lanky man would wipe said tear away. Dude really needed to man up.
Wanting to make himself feel better, Waluigi went down to the kitchen to grab himself a snack. He saw Chef Kawasaki making some tacos (albeit horribly), but didn't bother striking a conversation with the chef.
"How about a shredded chicken taco, to turn your friend upside down?" Chef Kawasaki offered a taco to Waluigi, who was eating a cheese stick. The mere sight of the taco, which had a lot of chicken and little of anything else, didn't satisfy Waluigi in the slightest.
"No thanks, I actually value my taste buds," said Waluigi as he turned down the shredded chicken taco, knowing not to trust anything made by Chef Kawasaki.
"Welp, one more shredded chicken taco for me!" Chef Kawasaki giddily ate the chicken taco in one gulp, making a disgusted face as he chewed and swallowed it. "Mmm, tasted better than the last one!"
Chef Kawasaki: Waluigi being in a love triangle has been the talk of the tower lately. People were surprised that Waluigi got inside the ice cream ballroom with a date, and they were even more surprised that his date was Ryo's lady friend! Gotta give Waluigi some props; he couldn't land a woman who was single, so now he has to chase after women who are already in love.
Finishing off his cheese stick, Waluigi would leave the kitchen, planning on returning to his room and hoping that Ashely would let him back in. However, the lanky man would stop in his tracks, when he heard a conversation from nearby, in the lobby.
"Why do I hear my name..." wondered Waluigi, who heard his name being mentioned in the lobby. The lanky man went over to the lobby, and saw Spring Man speaking with the Crash clan.
"That's the King lady that Waluigi had fallen head over heels over," Spring Man said to Coco, who was looking at a picture of King on her cellphone. "Apparently she works part-time at the El Gaucho steakhouse downtown."
"I can't believe it..." uttered Crunch, easily at a loss of words after he, Crash, and Aku saw the picture of King with Coco. "...RYO LIKES ANDROGYNOUS GIRLS?!"
"Leave him alone, Crunch...let him like what he likes," Aku said to the burly bandicoot, before directing his attention to Spring Man. "How has Waluigi been handling this love triangle dilemma?"
"He thinks that Ryo is out for his blood, so he's hiding in his room," replied Spring Man, who had barely seen Waluigi as much since last episode's events. "Which makes him more of a wimp."
"I AM NOT A WIMP!" Waluigi shouted at Spring Man, standing up for himself, before covering his mouth and running away. The lanky man was supposed to keep a low profile - Ryo might be nearby!
"...anyways, the only time I see Waluigi is for breakfast and dinner. And occasionally lunch. Other than that, he's just...hiding in his room..."
"I didn't think that this whole situation would devastate Waluigi so much," remarked Coco, as Crash was trying to pry the blonde bandicoot's phone out of her hand. "He can't be like this forever!"
"Pretty sure this issue will blow over. Waluigi will be back to his normal self soon..." Spring Man would walk away, as the Crash clan (but mainly Coco) were left worried about Waluigi.
"Coco, you aren't thinking about...doing something for Waluigi, are you?" Aku asked the blonde bandicoot, who appeared to be formulating a plan in her head. "Not that I mind helping others out...but Waluigi?"
"Waluigi might be a lovable loser...but that's what I kinda like about him," replied Coco, who enjoyed watching Waluigi making himself look like a fool. Who doesn't? "Also, I'd much rather help him than Dr. Cortex..."
"She's got a point," agreed Crunch, who now believed that there was no harm done with bringing Waluigi's spirits back up again. Aku was slowly more keen to the idea of helping Waluigi.
"Okay, fine...I guess making Waluigi happy again won't be as bad," admitted Aku, before a curious question was sparked in his mind. "But who should we consult?" That got Coco thinking...
Waluigi returned to his room and was knocking on the door, begging for Ashley to let him inside only to be turned down once more. So the lanky man asked Bomberman to blow the bedroom door away, with one of his bombs.
"Just so we're clear, you owe me a new door," Waluigi told Bomberman, who was holding a small bomb. One that hopefully won't do a ton of damage.
"That's not what we agreed upon, you promised me a couple of bucks if I blew the door down," stated Bomberman. Unwritten Rule #46: Never take Waluigi's word for anything.
"Your fault for taking the bait. Should've known better than to be greedy. Now go and blow up that door already!"
Doing as he was told, Bomberman placed the bomb at Waluigi's bedroom door, before he and Waluigi ran for cover. The spark would run down the fuse, before the bomb exploded...leaving behind a small explosion and soot on the wall. And Waluigi's bedroom door...was unscathed.
"WHAT?!" yelled Waluigi, seeing that his bedroom door was still standing. Angered, the lanky man slapped Bomberman. "Your bombs stink, Bomberman!"
"My bombs don't stink, that bomb must've been defective!" retorted Bomberman, who may or may not be making lousy excuses. "That, or your bedroom door is somehow indestructible..."
"Glad that you figured that one out," Ashley said from her room, before opening the seemingly indestructible bedroom door. "I knew that you would blow down the door, Waluigi, which is why I used a spell to make the door indestructible."
"How did you know about my dastardly plan?!" frowned Waluigi as he pointed at Ashley, with heavy scorn on his face. "You must be some kind of mind-reader!"
"Or maybe I'm just one step ahead of the curve...no matter what you do to bring that door down, I'll always counter it, Waluigi."
"Drat...double drat...you're just too much of a smart cookie." Waluigi snapped his fingers in disgust, as he angrily marched down the hallway. "My safety now, it feels so endangered..."
Waluigi: Ashley simply refuses to let me back inside the room, which means that the probability of Ryo beating me up has risen dramatically. Only thing I can do now is relish the time I have left on this putrid earth, and at least go out in style...
Shortly after Waluigi left, Bomberman would make his leave too, as Ashley slammed the bedroom door shut. However, a certain bandicoot walked up to the bedroom door and knocked on it, much to Ashley's chagrin.
"Waluigi, if it's you again..." growled Ashley, thinking that Waluigi wished to make some kind of apology, only to be greeted by Crash, Coco, Crunch, and Aku after opening the door. The bandicoots (and Aku) seldom visited Ashley, which made for very unexpected company.
"Ashley, do you have a minute?" Aku asked the young witch, who had no choice but to oblige. Gotta be a good Samaritan. "Just a little favor we ask of you..."
The Crash clan was inside Ashley's room, discussing some things with Ashley. Most of the discussions had very much to do with Waluigi, and the more that Waluigi's name was mentioned, the more irritated that Ashely grew.
"Basically, we want Waluigi to stop acting scared all the time," Coco explained to Ashley, who really could care less about how scared Waluigi was. "As weird as it may sound, we kinda miss him as a lovable loser."
"I know a good way to make Waluigi stop acting scared for good...if you know what I mean," said Ashley as she took out her wand, her eyes glowing red. If Ashley had enough muscles in her face to smile devilishly, she'd give the biggest smile of her life.
"We are NOT killing the man," stated Crunch, as Ashley grumbled and put her wand back down with her eyes no longer glowing. "We just want to see him back to his old original self again!"
"Why do you care so much for? Waluigi is getting what he deserves, being in a love triangle. What he's going through, it's just a learning lesson for him."
"Waluigi didn't know he would find himself in a love triangle," stated Coco, sticking up for Waluigi - something she'd never thought she would do in a million years.
"Well, now he knows. And there's no way I'm going to bail him out of the trouble he's in. He dug his own grave, and he has no choice but to lay in it..."
"But, the least we can do is making him happy again..." suggested Aku, as the idea of Waluigi being content with life again seemed trivial to Ashley. "...you wouldn't want another person to be worried for their life, would you Ashley?"
"I mean I could honestly care less...but since you guys apparently care so much, I have no choice but to oblige." Ashley got up from her seat, and went over to a bookshelf.
"Sweet, so does that mean you're gonna help Waluigi out?" Crunch asked Ashley, who was looking through the many spellbooks in her bookshelf. Only one of them had the spell she was looking for.
"That's what it seems like...sadly." After finding the right spellbook, Ashley returned to her seat with her spellbook open. "So here's what I'm going to do - I'm going to cast this spell on you guys."
"Okay...is there a part two to this spell?" asked Aku, as Ashley responded with a sigh. Ashley hated being asked stupid questions; it was on her long list of things she hated the most.
"Of course there's a part two, doofus...anyways, after I cast my spells, you guys have to come in contact with as many people as you see. Keep on doing it."
"Easier said than done," said Coco, acknowledging that some people may not want to be touched. "So after we do that, what do we do then?"
"That's it, that's all you have to do. There may or may not be a Plan B to this. But, it's up to you guys to set things into motion. Now sit still..."
Ashley would cast her spell on the bandicoots, and would send them out of their room along with Aku. Aku was taking a good look at the bandicoots, who were only seen from the back, for the cameraman nearby was filming behind them as they walked through the tower hallways.
"That sure is one interesting spell Ashley cast on you guys..." commented Aku, who was making a very inquisitive face. A part of him was glad that Ashley didn't cast the spell on him!
"Whatever it takes to get Waluigi back to his normal self again..." responded Crunch, before he saw Saki Amamiya down the hallway minding his own business. "Saki! How's it going, fam?"
"I'm just hanging in there," replied Saki, before he saw the bandicoots; he looked disturbed as he took a few steps back. "Yikes! What happened to you guys?!"
"Who cares? Now how about a group hug?!" Crunch, Crash, and Coco held out their arms to Saki, who was backing away until he backed himself against a wall. Saki could only watch in horror now, as the bandicoots drew closer.
"No, I don't want a group hug...I just want you guys to get away from me...please...leave me alone...LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Dr. Wright was chilling by himself in the mini-library of the tower, writing some letters - letters Dr. Wright planned to send out to to folks far away. Because he was all alone, Dr. Wright could write in peace, without any distractions.
"And...done!" Dr. Wright happily exclaimed, as he finished the letter he was writing. He then sealed the letter in an envelope, placing it atop a pile of envelopes. "One down, only ninety-three more to go!"
"Dr. Wright, you have to help me man..." Saki pleaded to the mayor as he walked inside the mini-library, acting like he was turned into a zombie. "...I think I've been diseased, somehow..."
"I'm not a doctor, Mr. Amamiya - despite me being called a doctor - so I'm afraid I can't help you with..." Dr. Wright would look up at Saki, before screaming and falling out of his chair. The mayor looked terrified, as he backed away from Saki on the floor.
"I saw a reflection of myself in the mirror, and now I'm scared...seriously, Dr. Wright, you gotta do something!"
"What in the name of...?!" Dr. Wright was so scared, that he was huffing and puffing. He'll be crying for his mommy at any given minute. "...back away, I say!"
In the tower's laundry room, Tingle was washing his tunics. Believe it or not, the wannabe fairy had three other tunics, in colors of blue, yellow, and pink. Tingle seldom wore those tunics, if at all, so it was only a mystery why he was washing those tunics in the first place...
"Tingle, did you use up all the laundry detergent?" Vince asked the wannabe fairy, as the artist was holding an empty box of laundry detergent. Not a single speck of laundry detergent was to be found.
"I had to, my tunics had to be super clean!" replied Tingle, in a way that Vince would understand, before striking a magnificent pose. "Even though I haven't worn either one of them in a year. Better now than never!"
"In a year? Why are you even washing them then?! Why you little..." Vince couldn't finish his tirade, for Dr. Wright accidentally ran into him as he frantically entered the laundry room.
"My sincerest apologies, Vince..." Dr. Wright apologized to the artist, who was convulsing all over the floor. Almost like he was turning into Venom, of Marvel fame. "Oh dear, what have I done?"
"What is happening to him?" wondered Tingle as he looked at Dr. Wright, who looked at Tingle. Tingle shrieked as he jumped away. "And what happened to you?!"
"Now now, Tingle, I can explain...this will all be sorted out." Dr. Wright drew closer to Tingle, who slapped the mayor's hand away.
"Get away from me, you monster!" Suddenly Tingle looked at the hand that he used to slap Dr. Wright away, and saw that his arm was shaking. "Uh oh..."
Zelda and Naoto were in the mansion's beauty salon, having a conversation with one another. They were so deep into conversation, that they failed to notice Waluigi sneaking his way inside the salon unseen.
"Link did say that the red lip gloss looked better on me..." Zelda said to Naoto as she was holding red and pink lip gloss containers, before seeing Waluigi inside the salon while carrying a boombox.
"Excuse me if I'm interrupting your convo, ladies, but where is the spa?" Waluigi asked Zelda and Naoto, when he saw that he garnered their attention. "Need some water to relax in, ease my cares away..."
"Not sure if you didn't get the memo, or maybe you're just stupid, but no men are allowed here," stated Naoto, figuring that Waluigi should have known by now considering how seasoned he was. But Waluigi didn't care about the rules.
"Well I'm about to die soon, so I deserve to break the rules as I please with the time I have remaining. Guess I have to find the spa myself..." Waluigi walked away, carrying his boombox with him.
Zelda: We do allow men inside the beauty salon without permission...Master Hand being one of them, but he's a giant floating hand so he doesn't really count. I would say the names of the men who are allowed in the salon, but I fear that someone like King Dedede will see this footage and feel some type of way...King Dedede, I hope you're not watching this.
"What do you mean, you're about to die soon?" asked Zelda, as she and Naoto followed Waluigi into the spa section of the beauty salon. "Are you suffering from a terminal illness you haven't told anyone about?"
"If by terminal illness you mean 'being under the threat of being beaten to death by Ryo Sakazaki', then yes, I am suffering," replied Waluigi, before finding a spa bath that was right for him.
"Weird, because I don't recall Ryo vowing to beat you up," said Naoto, before Waluigi took off his overalls and everything else, revealing a speedo he was wearing underneath his clothes. Zelda and Naoto both cringed in disgust.
"Ryo may not have made his plans to mortally wound me known to the public, but I know for sure that he's thinking about ending my life." Waluigi would sit in the spa bath, heaving a relaxing sigh as he descended into the hot spa water.
"Only you believe in such a thing, Waluigi," Zelda told the lanky man, who pressed the play button on his boombox. "I Can't Give Everything Away" by David Bowie started playing, as Waluigi hummed with the music.
"I know something is very wrong..." Waluigi would sing along with the song, albeit horribly with his horrid singing voice. "The pulse returns for prodigal sons..."
"You're seriously listening to that song while sitting in the spa?" Zelda questioned Waluigi; "I Can't Give Everything Away" was David Bowie's swan song - the last song Bowie ever produced - so Waluigi must think of the song as his own swan song as well.
"I CAN'T GIVE EVERYTHING!" Waluigi would sing to his heart's desire, but that didn't make his singing ability any much better. "I CAN'T GIVE EVERYTHING...AWAY!"
"Highly ironic, considering that you literally have nothing to give," remarked Naoto, before receiving a text notification. The police detective took a brief look at the text message she just received. "I gotta go, Zelda; Kanji wants me for something."
"How sweet of you to leave me stuck here with Waluigi..." Zelda said sarcastically to Naoto, who left the beauty salon as Waluigi continued singing. Zelda's ears were internally bleeding.
"Seeing more and feeling less...saying no, but meaning yes..." Waluigi continued to sing, as Zelda felt inclined to cuff her ears with her hands to ease the suffering. "This is all I ever meant...that's the message that I sent..."
Waluigi's horrible singing would be interrupted, after Naoto was heard screaming from just outside the beauty salon. Sounded like the police detective was in trouble!
"Naoto!" Zelda cried out, as she ran away from the spa. Waluigi would press the pause button on his boombox, wondering what the big deal was.
"Come back, princess - I don't wish to be alone during my final moments on earth!" Waluigi called out to Zelda, before hopping out of the spa bath. The lanky man dried himself off and threw his clothes back on, before running out of the beauty salon. There he found Naoto and Zelda in the hallway, with Naoto on all fours.
"What happened to you, Naoto?" Zelda asked the police detective, who was trembling for some strange reason. Naoto slowly stood back up to her feet, her back turned to Zelda and Waluigi.
"Someone just bumped into me..." replied Naoto, as she began to rub her face. To her, something really felt off. "...don't know why, but my face feels...funny."
Naoto would turn to face Zelda and Waluigi, who both screamed and jumped back...for Naoto's face now strongly resembled Ryo Sakazaki's. Same eyebrows, same eyes, same chin...and everything else.
"What is it, is there a ghost behind me or something?" Naoto asked Zelda and Waluigi, who were both shivering in fear. The latter was most afraid, for understandable reasons.
"You might want to take a good look at yourself..." Zelda advised Naoto, who promptly took out her phone and opened up her camera app. Naoto saw herself on her camera, gasping when she saw how much she resembled Ryo.
"Uh...why do I look like Ryo now?" Naoto couldn't help but stroke her newfound chin as she checked herself out on her camera phone, wondering on earth her looks came from.
"That must've happened to you after you got knocked down." As Zelda drew closer to Naoto, Waluigi cautiously backed away. "Could be some kind of magic! Do you know who ran into you?"
"Unfortunately I don't - whoever it was ran into me from behind. And now I'm stuck looking like Ryo...this sucks."
"Oh, I'm sure you'll get your old facial features back soon." Zelda would place an assuring hand on Naoto's shoulder, and then suddenly she started convulsing. Naoto backed away, as Zelda fell against a nearby wall.
"Zelda...is everything alright?" Waluigi asked the princess, who stopped convulsing a moment later. Zelda would pick herself up, and looked at Waluigi and Naoto with a face that shook Waluigi to his core.
"Um, Zelda...you might wanna take a look at this," said a very concerned Naoto, as she held up her camera phone to Zelda...who now had a face just like Ryo. Zelda gasped in shock, taking a few steps back.
"My beauty...it's gone..." remarked Zelda, as her renowned beauty was now replaced by Ryo's sparkling handsomeness. "It must've gone away when I came in contact with you, Naoto!"
"Then that must mean whoever bumped into me must've been cursed with a Ryo face, like us," concluded Naoto before looking at Waluigi, who was now backing away for good. "Waluigi, why are you so scared for?"
"Stay away, you freaks!" Waluigi shouted at Zelda and Naoto, before running down the hallway and crying for his mommy. Crying for his mommy was the one thing that Waluigi did best...
"Well Zelda...guess we're both stuck looking like Ryo. I can't possibly show myself to Kanji looking like this...
Kanji was standing outside in the hallway, on the lookout for Naoto. The longer he looked, the more irritated the delinquent became. Kanji frowned as he glanced at this cellphone - with the text convo between him and Naoto, on the screen - waiting for some kind of response from Naoto.
"Where is that woman..." wondered Kanji as he gritted his teeth, before he decided that he was tired of waiting. "...ah, screw it, she might show up later." Kanji put his cellphone back in his pocket, before entering the bedroom that he was standing in front of.
"No response from Naoto yet?" Rise asked Kanji, as she was sitting on the room. Not just any room - Yukari's room, where Yukari was in her bed, appearing sick. Minato and Rise were sitting at the bedside.
"Just texted her a minute ago, and she hasn't responded. Usually she replies to texts in like, five or ten seconds! This is so unlike her..."
"Maybe she's just busy," assumed Minato as he looked at Yukari, who was shivering from head to toe. "Those buddy cops are probably holding her up."
"They sure are doing it at the worst possible time..." grumbled Yukari, who went from shivering to massaging her neck. "...man, I feel like crap right now."
Junpei: Yukari was starting to feel sick last night - her body was aching, her throat was hurting, her head was throbbing, and to top it all off, she was feeling extremely tired! Word has it that she might have mononucleosis...which means that she might've kissed Minato, and got a real good taste of Minato's spit. *snickers* Minato can't possibly keep his relationship with Yukari a secret now!
Makoto: I think that Yukari might actually have mono - she's been showing a few of the symptoms so far. I've asked Minato, the most usual suspect, if he ever kissed Yukari, but he's been keeping himself tight-lipped...
Teddie: What do you mean, mono isn't an advanced form of the cooties? Isn't mono just cooties for adults?
"Can't you just get Leia to give me some kind of diagnosis?" asked Yukari; she'd much rather have Leia diagnose her, than Dr. Mario. Anyone would.
"Leia was forced to go out shopping with Little Mac, so who knows when she'll be back," replied Rise, as Yukari groaned and buried her face in her pillow. "Such is life when you're the girlfriend of Doc Louis' protege..."
"Why did this have to happen to me..." Yukari soon pulled her face away from her pillow, before looking up at the heavens and pouted.
"Look on the bright side...at least you have a good excuse to stay in bed," joked Minato; Yukari would smile in response, if she found the strength to do so.
"Look at you, trying to be a comedian...you haven't been this funny ever since we started to fall in love." This drew the attention of Kanji, who instantly perked up.
"You two are in love?" the delinquent asked Minato and Yukari; clearly he wasn't in the know. Since neither Minato nor Yukari responded, Kanji looked towards Rise for an answer; Rise just looked down at the floor.
"Took you long enough to notice..." Rise would answer for Kanji, albeit in a relatively low voice.
Waluigi was running through the hallway, and every person he passed by had a face that looked like Ryo's. It made Waluigi very scared, almost to the point of him wetting his pants. When Waluigi ran inside the gaming room, he would learn he could not run away from his ongoing problem.
"Guys, I have a crisis on my hands!" Waluigi called out to those in the gaming room, only to scream in unbridled terror when a bunch of residents turned to the lanky man with their faces looking like Ryo Sakazaki's.
"What's the problem, Waluigi?" asked Cloud, whose handsome face was now replaced by Ryo's even more handsome face. Link, who was playing pool with Cloud, was quick to notice the swordsman's new visage.
"Cloud, is it just me, or do you look more...handsome?" Link asked the swordsman, who looked at a reflection of himself on a nearby mirror. Cloud was checking out his new facial features, not sure what to make of it.
"You might be right, Link, I do look more handsome...not that I'm explaining." Waluigi begged to differ, as the lanky was overwhelmed with fear.
"Is it just me, or does everyone else look different today?" inquired Red the Pokemon Trainer, as he looked around at his fellow residents in the gaming room. Lip was one of the few to notice, as she now had a prominent chin.
"Come to think of it, I never had a chin like this until today..." the fairy remarked, rubbing her chin - all that rubbing made Waluigi scared.
"This must be Crash's doing - that marsupial ran around here, touching on everyone!" remarked Shulk; Waluigi might have a bone to pick with Crash later on. "Even he was looking a little different..."
Geo Stelar: I've always believed that bandicoot fur was the one thing necessary for having good looks. And seeing how many people became handsome in less than an hour, my suspicions have now been confirmed...
"How responsible was he?" Waluigi asked Shulk, thinking that he was stuck in some kind of nightmare. "If he's the one who started this mess..."
"You say that like it's a bad thing, Waluigi," said Yoshi, who was standing behind Waluigi; Waluigi turned to look at Yoshi, and jumped back in fright when he saw that even Yoshi had a face like Ryo's.
"Y-Your face...what happened to your face?!" Waluigi pointed at Yoshi, unsure of whether that was actually Yoshi or not. Everything was too surreal now. "Your eyes, and your nose...everything looks so different about you!"
"I may look different, but at least I can breathe better!" Yoshi would inhale and exhale with his new nose - a nose that looked way too human for the dinosaur. "Feels like I'm smelling roses."
"MOMMY!" Waluigi would scream for his mother once more, as he ran out of the gaming room. Seeing Yoshi looking like Ryo Sakazaki was more than enough for the lanky man.
"What's so bad about me being able to breathe better?" Looking with a face of inquisitiveness, Yoshi would sniff for a few seconds. "Eh, he's probably jealous. My nasal passages feel so clear now..."
Looking for some kind of shelter, Waluigi ran to the cafe room, hoping that there was nobody inside (that resembled Ryo). However, the lanky man would turn out to be very wrong...
"Hey Waluigi - you want a chili dog?" Sonic asked the lanky man, seated at the cafe table and eating a chili dog. Waluigi screamed at Sonic, for the hedgehog had a Ryo face. You'd scream too, if you saw a hedgehog with a face of a human.
"Sonic...my man...do you have any idea what's wrong with you?" Waluigi asked the hedgehog, who was stroking his hand through his new face. Sonic seemed to enjoy his new face already.
"Yeah I know what's wrong with me...I'm too handsome now! One moment, I was giving my mans Crash some dap, and now I look like Ryan Reynolds, almost! Crash has that magic touch."
"That's it, that's what's causing all this mayhem - Crash must have been cursed by some magic!" Waluigi had no idea how Crash might've been cursed in the first place, but he had a hunch that Kamek might be responsible. "That explains it!"
"Whoever cursed Crash with this magic must've had some real good intentions." Crash would finish the rest of his chili dog in one gulp, before cleaning off any bits of chili around the mouth of his new handsome face.
"No, Sonic, whoever cursed Crash...is pure EVIL! I shall bring this evildoer to justice, just you wait and see!" After making his vow, Waluigi stormed out of the cafe, filled to the brim with determination.
"Since Waluigi didn't want a chili dog..." Sonic took out another chili dog, eyeing it intently as he smiled with glee. "...that means more for me!" Sonic would devour his second chili dog, savoring each and every bite.
Ashley had her room all to herself, and not a single soul bothered to disturb the young witch as she practiced making some new spells. As Ashley continued crafting new spells, there was a knock at her bedroom door.
"One moment," Ashley called out, as she put her wand away. The young witch got down from the stool she was standing on, before opening her door and seeing the Crash clan standing by.
"We're back..." announced Aku, who was hovering near Crash, Coco, and Crunch...all of whom had Ryo faces. Which was quite an amusing sight for Ashley.
"How did it go? How many people did you come in contact with?" Ashley would let the Crash clan inside the room, before closing the bedroom door shut.
"We pretty much touched every single person that we came across," explained Coco, who wasn't used to having a face like Ryo. Crash and Crunch didn't mind; Aku strangely wanted in on the fun. "The people that we touched came in contact with other people..."
"...and it started to spread from that point onward," Crunch would finish for Coco, as he folded his arms. "Soon or later everyone's gonna be infected by that spell!"
"I wouldn't say that 'infected' is the right word for it..." said Ashley, who herself couldn't think of a better term. "...but it looks like the plan has turned out better than I expected."
"Now that almost everyone looks like Ryo Sakazaki, what do we do now?" Coco asked Ashley, who lowered her head in a menacing way. "What are you thinking now, Ashley...?"
"I'm thinking of a way to execute Plan B...one of you, take out your cellphone, and do as I say..."
Waluigi knew that the one person that could restore things back to normal (other than Master Hand) was Mario, and so the lanky man would make his way to Mario's house to pay the plumber a visit. Standing at Mario's doorstep, Waluigi would knock on the door.
"Open up, open up!" Waluigi shouted as he kept knocking on the door, acting like those inside the house were deaf or something. Mario would open up the door, alarming Waluigi with...take a guess what it was.
"Good-a afternoon, Waluigi!" greeted Mario, who like many others today was looking like Ryo. "Is it just-a me, or do I look..stunning today?"
"You've been cursed as well?" Waluigi would share some sympathy for Mario, if Mario wasn't affable about his newfound looks. "This keeps getting worse..."
"Not sure-a how looking handsome all of a sudden accounts-a for being cursed', but whatever floats-a your boat...come on in, I got burgers on-a the stove." Mario led Waluigi inside his house.
"I'm not that hungry at the moment..." Waluigi was on a mission now, he could care less about food. But when the lanky man saw Spyro in the living room, he gasped - for Spyro did not look any different.
"Are you that excited to see me?" Spyro asked Waluigi, who was overwhelmed with joy; Waluigi rushed down to his knees, at Spyro's side, and began hugging the purple dragon real tight. "Okay, this is getting weird..."
"Oh, Spyro, thank goodness you look normal!" Waluigi was showing his appreciation for Spyro, who was feeling very uncomfortable as he eyed around. "You're like a breath of fresh air!"
"I've always looked normal to begin with, but thanks for noticing..." A few seconds later, and Waluigi would end his hug with Spyro as he stood back up. Waluigi had spoken loud enough to garner the attention of one of Mario's house guests...Blake Belladonna.
"Mario, did you seriously let some weirdo inside your house again?" the faunus asked as she showed up in the living room, only for her face to fall when she saw Waluigi gleaming at her. "Oh no..."
"Blake! You still look normal, too!" Waluigi ran to Blake, who tried to run away but couldn't as Waluigi hugged her before she could escape. "So glad those dastardly bandicoots didn't touch you!"
"Actually, one of then did...Crash randomly slapped my backside. He was lucky that his siblings and Aku were around..."
Spyro: It's funny - the bandicoots were all looking weird, and Crash bumped fists with Mario, and then Mario's face completely changed after he was had some weird stroke. Then I bumped fists with Crash...and nothing happened to me! Probably because I'm a dragon.
Ashley: My spells have little to no effect on those who are from another dimension or universe, so folks like Ruby and her pals won't be affected by the spell in any way. They can go ahead and consider themselves the fortunate ones...if they were men, then it would probably be a different story.
"I recall Crash going up-a stairs to greet Peach, and I heard-a Peach screaming afterwards," said Mario as Waluigi ended his hug with Blake, much to her delight. "Perhaps he slapped her back-a side too!"
"And you just sat around and let him get away with it?" Blake questioned Mario, who had a thousand yard stare for a moment before he began frowning. Since Crash had already left, Mario knew one other thing he could do...
"I'm coming, Princess-a Peach!" the plumber frantically ran through the kitchen and up the stairs, with Waluigi following after him. Mario and Waluigi would arrive at the master bedroom and entered the bathroom, where they saw Peach sitting on the toilet with her face buried in her hands.
"She might've been cursed..." Waluigi whispered to Mario, as he hid closely behind the plumber; he dared not to touch me, lest he wished to look like Ryo.
"Enough-a with this 'cursed' nonsense..." Mario whispered back to Waluigi, before he and Waluigi crept closer to Peach. "...are you okay, Peach?"
"Please go away..." pleaded Peach, her voice muffled by her hands. The princess sounded very mortified. "...don't come any closer."
"We just wanna know why you look-a so distressed." Mario took one step closer, only for Peach to hold her hand out in front of the plumber. She had her face still concealed with her other hand.
"Why I'm distressed doesn't bother you any...so just leave me alone." Steadfast as he was, Mario refused to leave the bathroom until he saw his beautiful wife's face.
"Peach, just show-a us your face, I promise we won't-a laugh. We're here, at our own-a home. This is a judge-a free zone - we're not here to judge-a anyone, regardless of whatever they like, or what they stand-a for."
"Even if they like the Insane Clown Posse," Waluigi made this random statement, as Mario gave the lanky man a weird side-eye.
"Yes, even if they like-a the Insane Clown Posse...now man up Peach, and show-a us your beautiful face!" Left with no other choice, Peach heaved a sigh.
"If you say so..." Peach cautiously stood up from the toilet seat, and faced Mario and Waluigi with her face still concealed by her hands. Then, very slowly, Peach would take her hands away from her face...
...revealing that she had a face like Ryo Sakazaki. To say that both Mario and Waluigi both looked beyond disgusted would be lightly putting it.
"Don't I look horrendous?" Peach asked Mario and Wauigi, who couldn't bar looking some handsome yet manly at the same time. Mario was looking for the right words to say, whereas Waluigi just wanted to leave, period.
"Did you guys find out what the problem was?" asked Blake as she entered the bathroom, before getting a good look of Peach's new visage. "Woah..."
"The nightmare...IT CONTINUES!" cried Waluigi, before opening the nearby bathroom door and crawling out of it. The lanky man might've fallen down two stories, but he didn't care - he just wanted to get away from it all.
"You look very...dashing, princess," Mario kindly told Peach, who started sobbing as she sat back on the toilet seat and buried her face in her hands. "I meant-a that in a really good way!"
"Mario, you just got a text message!" Cappy alerted the plumber, floating inside the bathroom with Mario's cellphone. "It's from Crash - it says to gather outside the mansion...or tower...or whatever."
"Why can't we just-a gather outside the..." Mario would come to a stop, for he was met by the sudden slap of total realization. "...hold-a up, Crash has a cell-a phone? How can he send-a texts, he's brain-a dead! This sounds-a fishy..."
"To be fair you do have his contact info on your phone...so you shouldn't be that surprised."
Kanji was standing outside in the hallway once more, on the lookout for Naoto. The delinquent couldn't find Naoto, but he did find Leia walking with Little Mac.
"We sure did a lot of window shopping today," Leia told Little Mac, wishing that she had at least one shopping bag to carry around. "Didn't purchase a single item!"
"Honestly I was broke - had no clue why Doc Louis forced us to go shopping today," replied Little Mac, who hated that Doc Louis wasted his and Leia's time. "Wanted us to build some 'trust equity', or whatever it's called."
"Yo, Leia, over here!" Kanji called out to the nurse, before waving his arm to grab her attention. "We need you to give Yukari a diagnosis!"
"Wait right here, LIttle Mac..." Leia told the boxer, who stayed where he was as Leia ran over to Kanji. She would follow the delinquent inside Yukari's room. "So what's up?"
"Yukari says that she's got a bunch of symptoms...chills, sore throat, nausea, and a whole bunch of other stuff! We think she might have mono."
"We won't know for sure that Yukari has mono unless we find out whoever kissed her." Leia would soon take sight of Minato, who was seating at Yukari's bedside. "Minato, have you kissed Yukari lately?"
"That's a...that's a pretty loaded question," Minato replied meekly, too reluctant to provide an answer. His reluctance made Kanji very ticked off.
"C'mon Minato, just admit it - we all know that you're in love with Yukari!" the delinquent snapped on the young man, who wondered why Kanji cared so much. "Granted I wasn't aware of it until today..."
"Minato, if you won't say anything...then I'll just have to run a blood test," said Leia, ready to depart to the fitness center to fetch the necessary equipment. But as the nurse was about to leave the room...
"Leia you gotta save me - my face has changed!" Doc Louis said to the nurse, showing up at the doorway to Yukari's room. The boxing trainer, as you guessed it, had a Ryo face. "Little Mac couldn't solve my problem - he just ended up like me!"
"...and you think I can solve it for you?" Leia stayed put inside Yukari's room, daring not to come in contact with Doc Louis. A very wise decision, on her part.
"It's horrible, Leia - my face don't even feel black anymore! It feels white, I feel like a white man! I've been...whitewashed!" Leia had heard enough, as she slammed the door on Doc Louis and locked it.
"...we should just wait it out, until the coast is clear. You don't mind, do you Yukari?" Yukari didn't seem to mind, although she was looking sick as ever.
"Just don't wait around until the end of the day..." was the only thing that Yukari requested of Leia.
Waluigi was outside Travis Touchdown's camper, banging on the door to the camper with his fists. Travis' camper was the only venue Waluigi had for getting away from today's madness.
"Please let me in, Travis!" Waluigi begged to the otaku, looking behind him to ensure that no one (that had a Ryo face) was nearby. "Those Yiga Clan dorks won't let me inside their hideout, so you have to let me inside your camper!"
Master Kohga: Waluigi is one of the few residents that have been banned from ever entering our hideout. What he said about bananas was simply unforgivable...how can he say that bananas won't make for perfect scrubbing brushes?! It would explain why my chest is always so sticky...
"Wait a minute - I'm a little busy at the moment!" Travis called out to Waluigi from inside the camper, although it was anyone's guess as to why the otaku was so busy doing all by himself. "Trying to beat this final boss."
"Let me inside, and I'll help you beat this final boss!" Waluigi bargained to Travis, only to be met with zero response. The lanky man sighed, as he climbed down the steps of the camper and sat down on said steps. "Well, Waluigi, you tried your best..."
"Man, you must give up so easily..." someone said to Waluigi, who perked up and saw a young man and woman standing together. "...you make Pit look like a winner! And that's pretty hard to do!"
"Hey, I know you guys!" Waluigi pointed at the young man and woman as he stood up. "You're the boy and girl that were a part of Knuckles' soccer team - had to back out of the game because of you two. Er, what are your names again?"
"Hyde and Linne..." replied the young woman, Linne, as she and Hyde were on mansion grounds for the first time since episode 210. "...they're pretty simple names, you can't forget them."
"Oh, believe me, I suck when it comes to remembering names...hey, how would you like to help a good man out? You see, I'm stuck in some kind of nightmare."
"What, you want one of us to pinch you?" questioned Hyde; Waluigi wasn't the kind of person that Hyde wished to touch, for his own personal reasons. "Why can't you just pinch your own self?"
"I tried it multiple times before, it didn't work...anyways, all my friends and everyone that I know look like Ryo Sakazaki. I'm kinda scared of Ryo, because I unknowingly took his girlfriend out to a Valentine's Day event."
"Seems like something you would do..." remarked Linne, who could tell that Waluigi was a Mr. Steal Yo Girl kind of fellow. "...and what do you mean, everyone looks like Ryo Sakazaki? You must be seeing things."
"No I'm not - everyone else is aware of the fact that they have Ryo's face! Ever since I found myself in a love triangle with Ryo and his girlfriend, I've been scared of Ryo ever since...he might kick my butt!"
"Sitting around isn't gonna make things any better. You should get over yourself, and try speaking with Ryo."
"Linne's right - you gotta get over your fear of the guy!" Hyde said to Waluigi, walking over to the lanky man and wrapping his arm around him. "If you wanna end this love triangle of yours, then you gotta get rid of your fear!"
"I should stop being so scared of Ryo..." Waluigi agreed with Hyde, once again feeling determined. "...instead, I should share my feelings with him!"
"Yeah, that's the spirit! And we're gonna help you overcome your fear. Linne and I will make that fear of yours go away!"
"We're gonna do what now?" questioned Linne, who was more than ready to object, before Hyde grabbed her hand and led Linne and Waluigi away.
"This Ryo Sakazaki guy, he's at the mansion, right? Then it's off to the mansion we go!"
So Hyde, Linne, and Waluigi went to the mansion, where they saw a whole bunch of residents from both the mansion and tower gathered together outside the front yard of the mansion. It was a pretty big crowd.
"Big crowd, huh?" said Hyde, who found counting how many residents were outside to be too tedious for him. "What are you guys doing outside?"
"I got a better question - is Waluigi with you?" a voice among the crowd called out to Hyde - sounded a lot like Ashley's, which made Waluigi curious.
"Uh...yes is his." Soon all the resients would turn to face Waluigi...and they all were looking like Ryo Sakazaki. Waluigi's nightmare was becoming more real.
"Oh my goodness - they've all been cursed!" exclaimed Waluigi as he, Hyde, and Linne found themselves backing away due to the residents drawing closer. "Crash cursed them with his evil magic!"
"That bandicoot has magic now?" questioned Linne, as she and the others were backed into a tree. Waluigi and company were surrounded, with nowhere to go.
"Don't be jealous because of how good-looking we all are!" Fox said to Waluigi and company, standing at the forefront of the crowd and seeing how disgusted Waluigi and the others looked.
"Yeah, you could only wish that you were half as good-looking as us!" added Falco; seeing Fox and Falco with human faces was a very unwelcome sight for Waluigi.
"Come on - we know you can't resist us!" exclaimed Pit, joining in on the fun. While it was fun for the angel, it was pain and torture for poor Waluigi.
Mr. Game and Watch: A mass text was sent out to everyone today, stating that only those who were feeling "unusually handsome" were to gather outside the mansion. Personally, I consider myself usually AND unusually handsome, so I showed up outside in the front yard...only for Ashley to send me back inside. Ashley must really not like others having confidence.
Sonic: I was so proud of Crash when he sent out his first mass text...almost brought a tear to my eye. I opened up that text message, with my heart swelling, expecting to read words like "Woah!" and then "Woah!" in capital letters, along with a few exclamation points...it was kinda obvious that Coco typed out the text herself. Crash still looks handsome, though. It's that magic touch, I tell you!
An opening was made through the crowd of residents, and Ashley would walk out of some opening holding her wand, with the Crash clan accompanying her. She was staring down Waluigi, who was holding himself against the three.
"You are one thoughtful man, Waluigi - dragging a few of your friends into this mess," Ashley said to the lanky man, as she glanced at Hyde and Linne. "Keep in mind, that this is only just for you..."
"Only just for me?!" panicked Waluigi, fearing what Ashley had planned on doing to him. "You want me to look like Ryo, just like the others! That's just as bad as Ryo wanting to kill me!"
"Yo, Ashley, did you cast some spell that made us all look like Ryo?" Pigma asked the young witch, inferring from what Waluigi had said. "If we touched somebody who looked like Ryo...we also look like Ryo?"
"Shut up, you know too much..." Ashley snapped on Pigma, before directing her attention back to the fear-stricken Waluigi. "I can make all of this go away, Waluigi...but there's one thing you have to do first."
"Just tell me this one thing that I have to do..." Waluigi implored of Ashley, shivering in fear...only for that shivering to go away. The lanky man looked deep inside his soul, figuring out what was wrong with him.
"You're just gonna sit here, and wave the white flag?" Linne asked Waluigi, who wasn't willing to throw in the towel. Rather, Waluigi confidently stood up.
"What am I doing, being so scared? I shouldn't be fearful - I'm Waluigi, I don't fear anyone!"
"That's right Waluigi, you keep telling 'em!" exclaimed Hyde, taking credit for setting Waluigi straight.
"No, I'm not scared of anyone here! I'm not scared of you, or you, or you, or you..." Waluigi would point at each and every person that had a Ryo face, telling them that he wasn't scared of them.
"He better not be doing this to everyone standing here," Aku said to Crash, while Waluigi continued to point at each and every person he saw. "Oh dear..."
"...and I'm most definitely not scared of YOU!" Waluigi finished his pointing as he pointed at Ashley, nearly touching the young witch's nose. "I'm not scared of you, or your stupid spells!"
"Anything else you wish to add?" asked Ashley, who could tell that Waluigi was about to blow a casket. Provided that he hasn't done it already.
"You know one person that I'm not scared of? I tell you guys who it is...I AM NOT SCARED OF RYO SAKAZAKI! There, I said it!"
"Someone called my name?" a voice called out, as the residents made an open path. Waluigi saw through his open path, and saw Ryo Sakazaki, who was standing with a young woman, a brunette...his little sister, Yuri.
"Why do all these people look identical to you?" Yuri whispered to Ryo, seeing that the residents had the face face as her older brother's. Ryo and Yuri both found themselves in uncanny valley.
Yuri: Ryo was kind enough to take me to downtown Seattle, for some kickboxing practice at a fighting dojo. He's a real sweet big brother. *smiles* But only when he chooses to be.
"Ryo Sakazaki! I got a bone to pick with you!" Waluigi pointed at the fighter, before marching towards him through the open path provided by the residents.
"And I have a bone to pick with...you?" Ryo spoke, only for Waluigi to confront him and get all up in his grill. Waluigi had his finger pointed at Ryo's nose.
"Look, man, I've been scared of you ever since last week! Scared that you might beat me up, and mortally wound me! But you know what, Mr. Sakazaki?"
"Can you get your finger...away from my nose?" Fulfilling Ryo's request, Waluigi would retract his hand, although the lanky man's moxie was still ever present.
"Guess what, Ryo? I'm not scared of you! Yeah, that's right! You heard me! I'm not scared of you, and I'm not scared of you either!" Waluigi would point at Yuri, although the young lady didn't do anything.
"I don't know you personally...but I'll take it," Yuri did her best to respond. Ryo didn't know what to say, just standing there as Waluigi did the "you can't see me" gesture in front of him. Only because Waluigi felt obligated to do that.
"Not...afraid," Waluigi whispered into Ryo's face, his point having been made, before storming through the open path. Waluigi stormed to the tower, entering therein.
"He's just as weird as I told him he was...and then some," Ryo said to Yuri, glad that his sister was aware of how much of a strange person Waluigi was. "Still have yet to reprimand him for taking King to that ice cream social."
"Looks like my work here is done..." remarked Ashley, seeing that Waluigi conquered his fear of Ryo and returned to the tower in peace. The young witch would hold up her wand and cast a spell, that changed everyone's faces back to normal.
"My face...it's back to normal again!" exclaimed Pigma, who was feeling all over his face. Many of the other residents shared the pig's excitement, while a few others were left disappointed.
"Feels great to look like an actual woman," commented Naoto, who only went outside with Zelda just so she could avoid Kanji at all costs.
"You can say that again!" exclaimed Peach, grateful to have her beauty back. Mario, on the other hand, was looking pretty despondent.
"I want my handsomeness back, it made me feel like a character from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure!" whined Yoshi; Ryo would chuckle at Yoshi's whining, as he and Yuri went inside the mansion.
"We did it, Ashley - we got Waluigi to stop acting scared!" Coco said to the young witch, as Crash held out his hand to Ashley for a high five. Ashley just stared at Crash's open hand. "Now he's no longer afraid of Ryo."
"He's still stuck in that love triangle...but he doesn't have to fear Ryo anymore," added Crunch - at least some little progress was made. "You really outdid yourself, Ashley - you were the right girl for the job!"
"Eh, I got Waluigi to stop being such a worrywart, so that's good I suppose," shrugged Ashley, as Sonic eagerly approached the young witch. Ashley furrowed her brow at Sonic. "What do you want, Sonic?"
"Mind giving me some of that magic touch?" Sonic asked Ashley, who did nothing but storm off to the tower. "Give me the same spell that Crash had, that's all!" Sonic followed after Ashley, following her into the tower.
"Ashley should've cast that spell on me..." murmured Aku, as Crash and the other bandicoots gave the floating masks weird looks. "...what, I can't look handsome?"
Hyde: Pit invited Linne and I back to the mansion, just so he could try and beat me in tic-tac-toe...and now he's in his room crying, all because he went back to being "unattractive". You know if Kirby or Incineroar are any good at tic-tac-toe?
When the coast was clear, Leia went to the fitness center to fetch her equipment from her office. She returned to Yukari's room safe and sound, and away from the clutches of Doc Louis.
"Little Mac, my face is back to normal again!" Doc Louis was heard calling out to Little Mac in the hallway, while Yukari was finishing up a blood test she ran on Yukari. "I don't feel like a white man anymore!"
"According to the results of this blood test...I don't see any antibodies that show any signs of mono," reported Leia, as she was looking through the blood test results in a careful manner. "The lymphocytes look perfectly normal!"
"So did you kiss Yukari or not?" Kanji asked Minato, desiring an answer to this rather pressing question. "Did she get a taste of your saliva?"
"Okay, I'll confess...I did not kiss Yukari," confessed Minato, as Kanji snapped his fingers in disgust. So much for any lip lock action. "Which means she didn't...taste my saliva. Such a weird question..."
"If Yukari doesn't have mono...then what does she have?" Rise asked Leia, who looked through the blood test results once more. Leia then looked at her thermometer, which she used to check Yukari's temperature.
"She has a fever, and she has a whole bunch of other symptoms as well," the nurse replied, giving an overview of her diagnosis of Yukari so far. "Say, Yukari, how's your nose feeling?"
"It's stuffed right now, but I can manage it," responded a fairly congested Yukari, before letting out a very hoarse cough that caused Leia's eyes to widen.
"Oh my...I was hoping that wouldn't happen." Leia leaned closer to Yukari, holding her hand against the young woman's throat. "How's your throat feeling? How's your appetite?"
"My throat still hurts a bit. As for my appetite...I don't feel like eating, for some strange reason." Those answers made Leia even more concerned.
"A loss of appetite? That can't be good," remarked Rise, suspecting that Yukari might have an illness even worse than the common cold. Yukari let out a sneeze.
"She wouldn't be having mono if she were sneezing..." stated a worried Leia, who knew all the signs and symptoms of mono. "...I think she might have the flu."
"Are you for real, the flu?" groaned Yukari, who would much rather have the common cold than the flu. Yukari looked towards Minato, who was shocked. "Tell me she's joking, Minato..."
"She sounds pretty serious..." replied Minato, who trusted the diagnosis that Leia just gave. Even though he didn't like it. "...is there anything we can do, Leia?"
"That, I'll have to figure out later," responded Leia, as she gathered all her medical equipment and whatnot. "You said that Yukari's symptoms started showing up last night, yes? I might have to come back later, and look for anything flu-related."
"Stupid, stupid flu..." Yukari groaned once more, as she banged her fists on her bed. Minato leaned in close to Yukari, before putting his hand on her chest.
"Don't worry...we'll just have to get through this together," Minato said to Yukari, who smiled gently as she took Minato's hand. "No matter how long it takes..."
Minato: So it turns out my girlfriend is sick, and has to deal with the flu. Poor Yukari had to fall victim to the flu season. Leia will do whatever she can to restore Yukari's health, and I'll be there along the way...and my friends will be there along the way too. We're all in this together.
Waluigi was inside the tower's kitchen, where Chef Kawasaki made yet another shredded chicken taco. Kawasaki was about to eat the taco himself, before he saw Waluigi standing by.
"Changed your mind on a shredded chicken taco?" the chef held out his taco to Waluigi, who was eyeing the taco and all the stuff that was spilling out from it and unto the kitchen floor.
"No fear..." Waluigi replied in a low voice, before accepting the shredded chicken taco and eating it - no matter how bad or poorly made it was. But he did make Chef Kawasaki quite pleased.
Ashley: There is nothing to fear, but fear itself...unless said fear can be vanquished. Now, Skull Kid...theme song.
Skull Kid: *sighs* If I ever have to do this again... *takes out flute, plays the Twilight Zone theme song*
