Author's Note:
Saturday afternoon update? Saturday afternoon update. I was quite busy the day before, and as I said before, I don't want to stay up all night finishing up a new chapter (an awesome decision that was), so things had to be pushed back. Moving on...
For the first time in eight years, a Kingdom Hearts game will be coming to a Nintendo console - Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory. There wasn't any story material from the game to be incorporated into this chapter, which was kind of expected since it was a rhythm game. One that retold the Kingdom Hearts story, I might add. But enough about that. Enjoy!
Episode 256: Infestation
It has been over three years since the last time the mansion dealt with the Heartless. The last time the Heartless were seen in Seattle, it was when Organization XIII was trying to advance their evil plot - bringing other baddies such as the Nobodies and Unversed with them. But thanks to the efforts of Sora, Lucario's Pokemon army, and many others, the Heartless were quickly taken care of.
While the folks of the mansion enjoyed taking out the Heartless (depending on who you ask), the tower denizens missed out on the opportunity of partaking in some Heartless bloodlust. Only five individuals at the tower had ever seen a Heartless before - Knuckles, Ashley, Akira Yuki, Takamaru, and the Black Knight. None of the five hoped to see any Heartless ever again, after the invasion executed by Organization XIII...but sometimes, you gotta be careful with what you wish for.
The Black Knight, being a known practitioner of tea parties, cordially invited Byleth and Beleth over to the tower balcony for a tea party. He knew that the two professors themselves enjoyed tea, and desired to see what their favorite tea flavors were. Of course, the Black Knight could engage in some small talk, but sadly that wasn't his biggest priority.
"Can you believe that there are some people out there who enjoy drinking fruit tea?" the Black Knight asked the professors, speaking in complete disdain as he poured some tea into some teacups. "Some people have no taste!"
"Well, everyone is entitled to their own opinion," stated Beleth before taking a sip from his tea, after the Black Knight was finished pouring. "I'd say that Earl Grey tea is the worst kind of tea around!"
"Isn't that the truth...if there was a man out there who had that tea named in his likeness, I'd feel sorry for him. I'm sure he was a very depressed fool!"
"Pardon me, Black Knight, but may I have some more sugar?" Byleth asked the knight, who was looking all over the tea table for any sugar in sight. "My tea isn't sweet enough..."
"Great, I ran out of sugar packets! Sonic didn't steal enough for me...erm, please regard what I just said. Go and ask Chef Kawasaki if he'll let you borrow the can of sugar. And don't let him entice you with barbecue ribs as he did with me! Those things are DISGUSTING!"
So Byleth momentarily left the tea party as she went inside the tower, about to make her way down to the kitchen. In the hallway, the professor couldn't help but notice a black shadowy creature, moving around on the floor flattened as a shadow silhouette.
"Um...hello there," Byleth greeted the shadowy creature, not sure what to make of it. More shadowy creatures suddenly appeared, all of them moving about on the floor.
"Another day, another awesome workout..." said Akira as he walked through the hallway, almost tuckered out after a long and hard workout. The fighter stopped in place and when he saw Byleth standing around. "...Byleth, watcha doing? Having a staring contest with Sothis or something?"
"NO, not at all," replied Byleth as she turned and looked at Akira, who made his way over to the professor. "I was just looking at those...shadow beings..." Byleth looked back at the floor and saw that those shadowy creatures were now gone.
"Shadow beings? Ha! Whatever they were, we took care of them three years ago. And by them, I mean the mansion."
"But they were just here a few seconds ago...I saw a shadow moving around on the floor, and more of them appeared and..."
"You called my name?" asked Shadow as he passed by Byleth; he saw how confused the professor looked, and shook his head as he kept on walking. "Everyone keeps calling my name, yet they have nothing to say..."
Shadow: Not that many people at the tower speak to me, and I'm fine with it. They never deserve my company anyways. I've tuned out so many people, that I'm almost like a ghost to them. Sure would love to keep it that way...
"If you're talking about 'shadow beings on the floor', then you must be referring to the Heartless," Akira said to Byleth, showing very little concern for what the professor had just seen. "But they're a done deal. No more."
"Then what was that I just saw?" pondered Byleth as she scratched her head, knowing for a fact that she wasn't going crazy. "My eyes weren't deceiving me."
"Says the person who casually speaks with some imaginary girl..." Akira earned a frown from Byleth, as the fighter cautiously backed away. "...don't take it seriously, I was just joking! I'll leave you alone..." Akira ran off, as Byleth was left in bewilderment.
"I have never seen those creatures before, Sothis...perhaps Akira was right, maybe I was just seeing things. Oh well."
Bowser apparently still had his eyes set on killing Mario and taking Peach all for himself, but with him and Uka restricted from leaving the mansion, the Koopa King was grasping at the straws. So much, that he asked some of his "closest confidants" to kill Mario for him. Just the other day, Bowser asked Shulk to impale Mario with his Monado blade, but the Homs turned him down. Today Bowser was pestering Yukiko, wanting the young woman to plan out Mario's death.
"Those buddy cops have a firing squad for killing people," Bowser spoke with Yukiko in the gaming room, unsure if the firing squad was legit or not. "I would ask them to kill Mario, but they'd arrest me for attempted homicide."
"And you want me to ask them instead because why, exactly?" Yukiko asked Bowser, having tuned out the Koopa King for most of the conversation. Tuning out Bowser was a trait that most residents had down pact.
"Because they wouldn't expect it from you! They'd think that you want Mario dead because he stole one of our beauty products to satisfy Peach. If you're convincing enough, they'll take your word for it!"
"I have no desire to fuel your weird fantasies, okay? Just accept that Peach is in love with Mario and that she'll never be with you."
"UGH! Why do you think I want to kill Mario just so I could have Peach?! I want to kill Mario because...his face is too distracting! Makes me wanna vomit." Bowser always changed up his fake reason for killing Mario on the fly - had a different reason for every person.
"That's got to be the dumbest reason for killing someone ever. Sure aren't helping your case, Bowser..." Seeing that he couldn't sway Yukiko, Bowser snapped his fingers as he left.
"Time to move on to Corrin, I guess..." With Bowser finally out of the gaming room, Yukiko sighed in relief as she went back to filing her nails in peace. The young woman wouldn't be in peace any longer when Yusuke showed up.
"Yukiko, you must come quick, it's an emergency!" Yusuke stressed to the young woman, who did her best to feign how much she cared. "It's about my precious artwork..."
"Aw, are you having another artist's block?" Yukiko was not taking the situation seriously, which only made Yusuke even more stressed. "Maybe if you stopped trying to paint 'abstract women'..."
"No, it has nothing to do with that...my painting's being ruined by strange beings from another planet! I tried texting the others, but they haven't responded...nobody's coming to my aid!"
"...fine, I'm coming." Yukiko would put her nail file away, as she followed Yusuke out of the gaming room. Whatever the situation was better not be a waste of Yukiko's time...
Mario felt pretty good after kicking Sonic's butt in karate. Not just because he won, but because his classic rivalry with Sonic was re-energized. Mario and Sonic barely competed with each other that much, so getting to fight Sonic felt old-timey for Mario, in a sense.
"Hey, Spyro - where were-a you when I beat Sonic in karate?" Mario asked the purple dragon as he was sitting on his favorite sofa, watching television. The plumber couldn't help but brag a little.
"Uh, I was here minding my own business," replied Spyro; the purple dragon would've attended Mario and Sonic's karate fight, but only to see the former lose. Bonus points if Mario had lost in embarrassing fashion. "Are you gonna stop talking about that fight, or what?"
"Don't be jealous that I'm above-a average at karate, and you aren't. What can your little dragon-a legs even do? I would have-a you down on the mat, lickity split! I'd crush those-a little legs!"
"Least I can skateboard...that's more than what you can do." Just then, Hunter showed up in the living room, and the cheetah had a mysterious black eye.
"Yo, Mario, there's a bunch of dudes in jumpsuits in your bathroom," Hunter alerted the plumber, holding an ice pack over his injured eye. "They were vibing all over the place! Tried asking them where they got their jumpsuits from, but they just attacked me."
"Jump-a suit men vibing in the bathroom...and they attacked you?" Mario asked Hunter, as the description that was provided by Hunter became all too familiar to him. "You don't mean...mama mia."
So Mario ran to the bathroom, with Spyro and Hunter tagging along, and saw that the jumpsuit men that Hunter spoke of were nowhere to be found. The bathroom was a mess, though, with bathroom supplies littered all over the place.
"It seems-a we were too late," observed Mario - either that or the jumpsuit men sensed Mario and company's presence and skedaddled while they could. "But the bathroom-a window isn't open...so how did they get-a out?"
"Maybe they escaped through the toilet," assumed Hunter, as Mario had a lot of questions that needed to be answered. "Attempted that once, but I almost lost my leg. So if they pulled off the escape, they forever have my respect!"
"You look like you have a hunch about those men Hunter spoke of, Mario," Spyro said to the plumber, who was thinking to himself as he scratched his chin.
"Could it be them? No, it can't-a be..." Mario spoke with himself, showing how deep in thought he was. Spyro looked curiously at Hunter, who shrugged. "...if they were here, then-a how did they find their way in our-a universe?"
"In our universe?" Hunter overheard Mario, getting all excited for no reason as Spyro began to fear for the worst. "You mean those jumpsuit men were aliens?! HA! Knew that their sharp teeth meant something!"
"Here we go again..." Spyro shook his head, as the mention of sharp teeth by Hunter had Mario's brain juices flowing even more.
Hunter: Whenever you need an answer for any hardship in your life, always blame aliens. Lost your job? Blame the aliens. A hot babe you proposed to turns you down? Blame the aliens. Someone you know and love passes away from cancer, and they were gonna die anyway regardless of treatment? Yup, gotta blame the aliens! They're the reason nobody can have nice things.
Mario: Are those Nobodies back? Could-a be. I've taken care-a of the Nobodies before, so this should-a be a walk in the park if I ever run into one. Fortunately, Nobodies will die to just-a about anything, but they do put up a good-a fight! They're like more-a competent Stormtroopers.
Yusuke had brought Yukiko to the lounge, where the artist revealed his ruined painting. The colors were smeared, and to make matters worse the easel that e worked on was damaged.
"So what, it's just a big smudge with colors in it," Yukiko said after staring at the painting, thinking that there was some kind of deep message behind the smudge. Just had to look hard enough. "I see nothing wrong with it."
"My art was destroyed!" frowned Yusuke, taking a huge amount of pity on Yukiko for not understanding the nature of art. "This isn't art, this is...this is an atrocity of the highest degree!"
"I bet this art piece can win you an art contest somewhere." Yukiko patted Yusuke on his back, and Yusuke looked ready to burst into tears as Cloud and Link showed up in the lounge.
"Only an art contest with blind judges!" Yusuke almost wanted to cry, but much like Guile, he just didn't have it in him to shed any tears. Cloud and Link, had already seen enough.
"What's the big problem, Yusuke?" Link asked the artist, before taking a good look at the smudged artwork sitting on the broken easel. "What's that on the easel? Did you have a breakdown or something?"
"I was working on another masterpiece, and when I had returned from my room, I saw a bunch of strange beings ruining my art! Even worse, they had the audacity to damage my easel! It was a gift from my favorite art teacher!"
"Sounds like a personal problem..." murmured Yukiko as she looked to the side, as Yusuke gave the young woman a mean-looking death glare.
"Where did those strange beings go?" Cloud asked Yusuke, not wanting the artist to remain in a state of distress. He knew that Yusuke took his art very personally. "Link and I can hunt 'em down for you."
"They were blue and had red eyes. I would've stopped them myself, but they ran out of the window before I even had the chance!" That description sounded awfully familiar to Cloud and Link...
"Blue with red eyes...we'll keep that in mind." Knowing what they had to do, Cloud and Link left the lounge as men on a mission. "Yukiko, make sure that Yusuke doesn't have an emotional breakdown while we're gone."
"Why do I have to be the one to babysit Yusuke?" complained Yukiko, as the typically stoic Yusuke tried his hardest to keep it together. "Get over it, Yusuke...it's not the end of the world."
"Only uncultured folk like you would say that..." retorted Yusuke in a rueful tone, taking an even deeper pity on Yukiko.
As the woman of the mansion, Zelda felt like one of her duties was to keep Master Hand company, and keep his ego in check. Otherwise, Master Hand might start acting out as he had done in episode 246. Zelda and Researcher Zelda were both hanging around with Master Hand in his room, with Researcher Zelda looking out through the bedroom window.
"Oh my goodness...Steve fell in the lake again," sighed Researcher Zelda as she had witnessed Steve falling into a lake, almost casually. "We should send in someone to rescue him...Master Hand?" The princess turned around and saw Master Hand preoccupied with organizing some magazines.
"Sorry Isabelle, were you saying something?" Master Hand asked the shih tzu, who was looking rather annoyed by the giant hand's candor. "I was too busy organizing my Fully Clothed Women magazine collection. Can't let anyone lay a finger on it!"
"Master Hand, can you at least try to care about important things?" Zelda asked the giant hand, as she was finding her patience tested mightily with each passing second. "What if someone like Dr. Eggman attacks us? Will you still be fixated on your magazine collection?"
"Like I'm going to let that obese man scare me...he jobbed to us last time, and he'll have to job to us a second time around. An encore presentation!"
"What do you mean by 'us', you were barely involved when Dr. Eggman tried to get his revenge. And you should stop acting so nonchalant, Master Hand."
"Oh, but I can act nonchalant! And you know why? Because Cloud is going to take on Dr. Eggman or any other threat, by himself...and, well, with Link if he chooses to."
Zelda: Master Hand's constant newfound praise of Cloud is starting to get old and annoying rather quickly. It's kind of irritating - Cloud could literally do anything, like giving the Heimlich maneuver to Ninjara, and Master Hand would act like Cloud had cured every single form of cancer. He was never like this for Mario, not even close...so, what gives?
"Master Hand, do you have a moment?" asked Coco as she knocked on the bedroom door. Sounded like it was an emergency. "Just something...or someone, that you might need to see."
"Not now, I'm too busy reorganizing my Fully Clothed Women magazine collection," Master Hand called out, as Zelda went over to the bedroom door. "No Zelda, what if Coco's brothers and Aku are around? They'll steal my magazines!"
"Crash can't read, Crunch only reads men's fitness magazines, and Aku...well, he's irrelevant," replied Zelda, putting her hand on the doorknob as Master Hand quickly put his magazine collection away. Zelda opened the door and saw the Crash clan standing by.
"Hi Zelda!" Coco greeted the princess, who curiously looked at Crunch and saw that the burly bandicoot was holding a girl over his shoulder. "Mind if we come in? Is the coast clear?"
"Hold on just a moment - let me put away my magazine collection first!" shouted Master Hand, before he swiftly placed a large box of his magazines underneath his bed. "Okay, you can come in now!"
"Who's that you got there?" Zelda asked Crunch, who came inside Master Hand's room and placed the girl over his shoulder on Master Hand's bed. Researcher Zelda came over and got a good look at the girl; the girl had red hair and was wearing a hooded pink dress. And she was fast asleep.
"Coco stayed up last night trying to fix Dr. Wily's alternate dimension thingamajig," Crunch explained to Zelda, astonished that Master Hand's loud voice hadn't woken up the girl. "Something went wrong, and well...this chick showed up in the basement!"
"Her name is Kairi," Coco informed Zelda, who saw how peacefully the girl was sleeping on Master Hand's bed. "I was up all night, trying to get to know her a little...she's tuckered out, as you can see."
"According to Coco, this Kairi girl is a childhood friend of Sora's," added Aku, which greatly piqued Zelda's interest. Master Hand, conversely, felt really bad for Kairi just for being friends with Sora. "They both live on an island together!"
"Huh, just like us..." said Crunch on behalf of himself and his bandicoot siblings. Relatability for the win! "...say, Coco, wouldn't now be a good time to wake up Kairi?"
"I didn't want to do it with Master Hand around..." replied Coco, mildly fearful that Master Hand would ask Kairi a bunch of suspect questions. "...but I think she's got enough sleep in. Alright, Crash, do your thing!"
So Crash leaped on the bed and landed on top of Kairi, licking the girl's face multiple times. The bandicoot did this repeatedly until Kairi started to awake.
"She's waking up!" exclaimed Master Hand as Kairi lifted her head up, with Crash hopping off the bed immediately. Kairi began rubbing her eyes as she felt saliva over her face.
"Ew, why does it feel like a dog licked me?" grimaced Kairi as she wiped off the saliva, before opening her eyes fully and seeing everyone looking at her. The first person she saw was Coco. "Oh, Coco, it's you again!"
"Hope you enjoyed your beauty sleep," Coco said to Kairi in an almost joking manner, getting Kairi to smile. "So you might be overwhelmed by all of these people in the room..."
"It's very nice to meet you, miss Kairi!" Master Hand greeted the girl, right before anyone else could, as he gleefully shook her hand. "My name is Master Hand, but everyone loves to call me Master Hand. God bless you, and God bless America!"
"Um...nice to meet you too, Master Hand," Kairi responded awkwardly as Master Hand backed away, beaming with pride and hoping that he left a good first impression on Kairi. "Coco, is this supposed to be some kind of monster?"
"He's a monster nuisance, that's for sure," responded Coco; Crash and Crunch wanted to nod in agreement, but not at the potentially fatal risk of drawing Master Hand's ire. "How about I get you all caught up to speed?"
Byleth was in the kitchen, waiting for Chef Kawasaki to finish his cooking. Being the persnickety chef that he was, Chef Kawasaki barred any guest from touching anything in the kitchen; that rule apparently extended to the mansion residents.
"All done with my meatball casserole!" exclaimed Chef Kawasaki as he took his meatball casserole out of the oven; the meager sight of the casserole was almost enough to make Byleth vomit.
"You don't plan on feeding that to the others, do you?" Byleth asked Chef Kawasaki, who placed the meatball casserole on the stove. Kawasaki thought very highly of his casserole.
"Of course I'm feeding to the others! This is only my second casserole - a bunch of fellas in jumpsuits ruined the first one." The same jumpsuit fellas that Hunter encountered, perhaps?
"They ruined the first casserole? What an honorable thing for them to do..."
Chef Kawasaki: Waluigi teaching me how to make those homemade quesadillas was a real confidence builder. I feel like my cooking's been on point ever since Waluigi showed me his ways! The others know it's true, they're just too shy to admit it.
Tingle: Those homemade quesadillas were the worst thing to happen at the tower so far. It made Chef Kawasaki's ego bigger and with it, the cooking got even worse! Really hate saying this, but people such as Chef Kawasaki don't deserve to have confidence.
Ashley: How bad has Chef Kawasaki's cooking gotten? I haven't eaten dinner for weeks now. I'm essentially fasting for the sake of my own stomach - and my sanity.
"Anyways...mind if I borrow some sugar?" Byleth asked Chef Kawasaki, having remained patient for so long. At least she got to see Chef Kawasaki cook...and now she wanted to unsee things.
"I can get you some, provided those fellas didn't steal it," Chef Kawasaki answered as he looked in one of the kitchen cabinets. "Egad! They stole my hot sauce! How will I make my pancakes now?!"
"The sugar, please?" Pancakes made with hot sauce? That was a thought Byleth dared not to dwell upon.
"Oh yeah, the sugar! One second..." Chef Kawasaki grabbed a sugar canister out of the cabinet and handed it to Byleth. "Make sure to give it back!"
"Will do." So Byleth left the kitchen, sugar in hand, as Chef Kawasaki started ogling over his meatball casserole. Akira entered the kitchen and saw the casserole, as he felt nauseous.
"Looks like I'll be doing carry-out again..." the fighter sighed, partially blaming Chef Kawasaki for draining the money out of his wallet. "...is that the best you can do, Kawasaki?"
"To be fair, the first casserole I made was top-notch quality," Chef Kawasaki replied confidently, as Akira resisted the urge to burst out laughing. "Stayed up past four in the morning to perfect it! Then a bunch of jumpsuit men with sharp teeth devoured it..."
"Wait a minute, did you just say...jumpsuit men? With sharp teeth?" Akira felt as if he ran into that kind before, as he furrowed his brow and jogged through his memory. "Must be a coincidence..."
"What's a coincidence? That my first meatball casserole was devoured whole? Then that must mean it was pretty tasty!" Now Chef Kawasaki had even more confidence, which, to Tingle, was a bad thing.
"Sorry about that, I was just talking to myself. Don't mind me." Akira walked out of the kitchen, as the jumpsuit men weighed heavily in his mind. "There's no possible way they could be back..."
Sonic was challenged by Ike to a game of table tennis, and Ike desired to have his main man Soren as his partner. Wanting to beat Ike down to the ground - and prove that Soren wasn't all that - Sonic agreed to the terms. But first, he needed a worthy partner.
"Crash, where are you?" Sonic called out to his bandicoot friend as he walked down the hallway. "We have a table tennis match soon! Don't tell me you forgot!"
Sonic passed by Master Hand's room, where he heard Crash's trademark gibberish from inside. Ears perking up, Sonic ran inside Master Hand's room and saw the Crash clan, the two Zeldas, and Master Hand speaking with Kairi.
"There you are, Sonic!" Sonic said to the bandicoot before his eyes turned to Kairi, who was still sitting on Master Hand's bed. "Is that red-haired chick your human girlfriend? You don't want a human girlfriend...take it from me!"
"Is that...a talking blue hedgehog?" inquired Kairi, not sure of how she should feel about being thought of as Crash's love interest. "Well, I've met a talking duck and a talking dog before..."
"You met a talking duck and a talking dog? You sound just like Sora! Completely delusional!" The mere mention of Sora's name got Kairi all excited.
"Now, now, Sonic, don't be rude to our guest! Master Hand said sternly to Sonic, protecting Kairi from any verbal insults. "Kairi, this is Sonic; Sonic, this is Kairi. Kairi and Sora go way back!"
"They grew up on an island together," Zelda explained to Sonic, who was getting a good look at Kairi's threads. "They're pretty much joined at the hip."
"She can't be from an island, she actually wears decent clothes," asserted Sonic, with Coco and Crunch glaring at the hedgehog while Crash took the comment in stride. "And her hygiene appears above-average!"
"I didn't always grow up on an island..." stated Kairi; the girl was originally from Radiant Garden, where Aerith currently resided. "...I suppose every princess needs their own humble beginning."
"Every princess? Does that mean you're a princess yourself?" Researcher Zelda perked up, as the relatability was growing off the charts. Kairi had something in common with Zelda, Researcher Zelda, AND the Crash clan!
"I'm a Princess of Heart - I have no darkness in my heart, so to speak." Master Hand had ignored the last part of Kairi's statement, but that first part though...
"Kairi, my dear, what you need is a princess party," the giant hand said to the girl, not caring if she said yes or not. "Get to know the other princesses. We have plenty!"
"But we did something similar to that last year, at a slumber party," Zelda said to Master Hand, who groaned in disgust. Master Hand really thought he was going somewhere with his idea.
"Darn it, Zelda, ruining my plans a year ahead of schedule...fine then, we'll just do a simple princess get-together, where all the other princesses get to know Kairi. We'll do it at Alm's house."
"That's where our slumber party was held," stated Researcher Zelda, as Master Hand groaned yet again. The two Zeldas were really taking away from the giant hand's shine and supposed magnificence.
"Seriously?! Ugh...guess we'll do it at Mario's house. Zelda, I want you to contact Mario and Peach, and tell them to get everything neat and tidy for our special guest of honor."
"I probably don't deserve any of this," said Kairi as Zelda grabbed the nearby phone; Kairi oughta attend the get-together if she truly valued her life. "But this is a very kind gesture..."
"Hey Peach, did you finish cleaning your living room?" Zelda spoke with Peach on the phone, while speaking in an annoyed tone. As Zelda carried on with the phone call, Master Hand hovered over to Sonic.
"I don't know if Kairi's stay will be a one-day affair, but I want it to go perfectly well," Master Hand quietly discussed with Sonic, desiring to make Kairi's day as special as possible. "Which is why I want you to do me a favor..."
Cloud and Link were on the hunt, searching for the "strange beings" that ruined Yusuke's art piece. To aid them in their search, the swordsmen went around asking the residents if they saw any unwanted visitors.
"Seen any monsters lately?" Cloud asked Mr. Game and Watch, who was adjusting the thermostat on the wall. The thermostat was well above Mr. GW, but the 2-D man found a way to operate it. Somehow. "Anything with blue skin and red eyes?"
"Blue skin and red eyes...are we talking about multiple clones of Master Yondu?" asked Mr. Game and Watch, inquiring about the Centurian of Guardians of the Galaxy fame. Who was also better known as Mary Poppins.
"Let me be more specific here...we're talking about monsters. Not aliens. So have you seen any monsters that fit the description?"
"Nope! Haven't been any monsters as of late. But if I do, I'll make sure to let you...knooooow?" Mr. Game and Watch soon saw a monster, one just a few feet behind Cloud and Link.
"You see something?" Link asked Mr. Game and Watch, who pointed behind the Hylian; Link and Cloud turned around and saw three monsters - all with blue skin and red eyes. "Welp, looks like we found our monsters..."
"Sure did..." remarked Cloud, as the monsters chose to run away from Cloud and company rather than attacking. Quite odd. "...hope you boys are in a mood for some running."
Mr. Game and Watch: Is it just me or did those monsters look...vaguely familiar? I recall fighting them a few years back. Wasn't until then that I learned how powerful my insecticide pump was!
Link: *from afar* Mr. Game and Watch, where are you? Don't tell me you left us behind!
Mr. Game and Watch: I'm coming, I'm coming! *runs offscreen* Just had to tie my shoes...
Link: *from afar* But you don't even have any...ah, forget it.
Mario was on edge inside his own home and continued to be on edge until he found any of the jumpsuit men that Hunter spoke of. As the plumber sat in his living room, watching television to take his mind off of things, he heard the doorbell ring.
"Oh, that must be Zelda and the others!" squealed Peach as she came out from the nursery. Mario, who couldn't afford any visitors at the moment, quickly stood up and stopped Peach in her place.
"No, Princess Peach, we can't let-a them in!" Mario stressed to his wife, having to come up with a good enough excuse on the fly. "They'll see that ugly, bulging pimple inside-a my nose! I would-a be an absolute butt of jokes."
"I'm sure they won't notice." Peach ran to the front door, with Mario looking on feeling exasperated. Spyro joined Mario in the living room, shaking his head mightily at the plumber.
"A pimple inside your nose, really?" frowned Spyro, wondering if having a pimple inside your nasal captivity was even possible. "Is that the best you can come up with, Mario?"
"Well I don't see-a YOU making up any excuses..." retorted Mario as Peach opened the front door, seeing Zelda and Researcher Zelda standing by; several other princesses, namely Daisy, Lucina, and Celica, were with them.
"Hello, ladies? What brings you all here?" Peach asked Zelda and company, eager about whatever brought them to her home. "Are we having a girls day out, princesses only?"
"Not quite...let's just say we found a fellow princess that you should meet," replied Zelda as the six princesses moved to the side...revealing Kairi. Peach took a great liking to Kairi rather quickly. "This is Kairi, a girl from Sora's universe. She's basically Sora's best friend."
"It's a pleasure," Kairi smiled at Peach, coming off as very sweet and friendly. From the moment that she learned of Kairi's friendship with Sora, Peach was immediately floored.
"A friend of Sora's, you say?" Peach asked Kairi, who smiled and nodded her head. "You must know him quite well!" Peach excitedly turned around and looked at Mario and Spyro, as she pointed at Kairi. "You boys heard that? Kairi here is friends with Sora!"
"Yeah we know, we heard the whole convo..." replied Spyro, before having a pressing question that he must ask Kairi. "...quick question: is Sora smarter in his own universe, than he is in ours?"
"Don't be rude-a to our guest!" Mario scolded Spyro as he smacked the purple dragon on the back of his head. Almost gave him a small concussion.
"I was just asking a question...can't even ask genuine questions anymore!"
Spyro: I find it hard to believe that a dude like Sora was able to reel in someone like Kairi. Is Kairi supposed to be his girlfriend? I know plenty of dudes at the mansion that would have their self-esteem wrecked if that was the case.
Being the hospitable woman that she was, Peach let Kairi inside her house along with the other princesses. The seven princesses (slight coincidence) were all gathered in the living room, with Mario nervously looking around for any suspicious folk.
"Mario, I think those jumpsuit dudes were in your master bedroom just now," Hunter informed the plumber, coming down the stairs and into the living room. "I could tell since your speedo went missing."
"Not now, Hunter," Mario whispered to the cheetah, slightly embarrassed as he kept watch of Kairi and the other princesses. The plumber had his eagle eyes surveying most of the living room.
"Kairi claims to be a princess of light," Lucina explained to Peach, having learned this information from the two Zeldas. "Her heart is devoid of darkness, or something along the lines of that."
"Would that make her free from having heart disease?" inquired Hunter as he eavesdropped on the conversation; Mario quickly shushed him. "I'm sorry, but this whole 'heard devoid of darkness' concept just sounds vague!"
"Hunter, do you mind butting out of our conversation?" Peach asked of the cheetah, in a rare moment of her being awfully stern. "This is a girls' chat only!"
"I could care less about your meaningless girl talk - at least I'm doing something worthwhile. Like looking for jumpsuit men with sharp teeth for instance."
"That sounds an awful lot like...Nobodies," remarked Kairi, knowing exactly what Hunter was talking about. Almost left her a little afraid. "You guys have Nobodies in your universe, too?"
"Please ignore Hunter, he's just speaking nonsense," Peach said to Kairi before looking at Mario, motioning the plumber to silence Hunter. Sadly, Mario did not pick up on Peach's nonverbal message.
"Got no clues as to who these Nobodies are, but we do have a couple of men in jumpsuits in this house," Hunter kept rambling on, as he left Kairi in an even more nervous state of mind. "Their preference for men's underwear is a little suspect, I'll say..."
"...why don't I fix ourselves some lunch, to take our mind off of things?" The other princesses found themselves satisfied, as Peach scurried to the kitchen. On her way there, Peach whispered to Mario: "Take Hunter out of here..."
"I'll keep him contained-a in the bunker," Mario whispered back; he'd throw Hunter in the nursery, but he just couldn't trust him around Jennifer.
Cloud, Link, and Mr. Game and Watch tracked down the three blue creatures, tracking them to the storage room where they sneaked their way underneath the door. The storage room door was locked, and Mr. Game and Watch was required to open it.
"I need you to lock me inside that storage room, don't ask me why or what for," Ninjara, who was standing around with Cloud and Link, commanded Mr. Game and Watch. Mr. GW, fumbling around with his keys, found Ninjara's request extremely baffling.
"Wow, Ninjara, you must be very anti-social to go through with that," Link said to the ninja, who sighed; looks like someone's got some explaining to do. "Do you really hate us that much?"
"No, it's just...I'm trying to get away from those ninja freaks, Kat and Ana. They really want me to be a part of their 'ninja pals' nonsense..."
Ninjara: Thought that the ninjas would keep their distance without Sheik leading them, but that hasn't been the case, at least for today. Kat, Ana, Asuka, and Greninja...they keep following me everywhere. Even when I broke my ankle on purpose so I could stay in Leia's office, those ninjas crawled in through the window just to pay me a visit. Growing sick and tired of those bona fide stalkers...how do they keep finding me?
"I hear a lot of commotion behind that door..." said a wary Mr. Game and Watch, before finding the key to the storage room door. "...aha, there's the key!" The 2-D man used the key to open the door, and inside the storage room...
...Mr. Game and Watch and the others saw a giant, goopy monster, dripping with black slime. The blue creatures from earlier were flanking the monster, who had an insignia on it recognizable to Link and Cloud.
"I recognize that symbol..." said Link as he squinted his eyes to get a better look at the symbol. "...it's an Unversed!"
"It's a what now?" Ninjara asked Link before the giant Unversed fired some slime at the ninja, sending him into the wall. Whatever that giant Unversed was, it sure wasn't playing around!
"Uh...you boys handle the monsters, I'll be on my way!" Mr. Game and Watch said to Cloud and Link, saving himself from trouble as he closed the storage room door. The 2-D man then checked on Ninjara. "You okay, Ninjara?"
"Does it look like I'm okay?!" Ninjara snapped as he pushed Mr. Game and Watch away, grunting as his back was wracked with pain. "Don't even take me to the fitness center...those ninja dorks will find me there."
"Okay then...I'll just throw you down in the lake. Steve might still be there at the bottom, I think he'll give you some nice company."
As. Mr. Game and Watch tended to Ninjara, the 2-D man failed to notice a hooded fellow standing behind him...wearing an Organization XIII cloak. The man, hearing the carnage coming from the storage room, walked away, keeping a very low profile...
The buddy cops were apparently in an arresting mood, strangely having an itch to arrest someone no matter how silly the crime was. They were in their office, looking at a board of suspects: Soren as "Unattractive Manlady", Mechanica as "Wannabe D. Va", Joker as "Men's Warehouse Model", Meta Knight as "Two-Winged Angel", and Bowser as "World's Most Dangerous Simp", among many others.
"We have to arrest Bowser at whatever cost," Young Link encouraged Toon Link as he stared long and hard at Bowser's picture on the board of suspects. "Especially if those rumors about him wanting to kill Mario are true."
"Agreed - he's also setting a bad example for his children," added Toon Link, deeply worried about the future of Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings. "What are the possibilities of them winding up as simps?"
"They're all hideously ugly, so their chances are sadly pretty high. It's always the ugliest people who simp the hardest! I mean, just look at King Dedede, and Wario, and maybe even..."
Toon Link gasped, as he and Young Link saw a shadow moving about on the floor - the same kind that Byleth saw at the tower. The shadow then stopped in place and appeared off from the floor...revealing itself to be a Shadow Heartless!
"AAAAH, KILL IT, KILL IT WITH FIRE!" screamed Toon Link, as an also screaming Young Link fired an arrow at the Shadow Heartless to kill it. "Meh, I guess that works too..."
"I haven't seen that thing ever since Organization XIII was in town," remarked Young Link as he put away his bow, his suspicions running high. "Do you have any idea what this means, Starsky?"
"Does it mean we're being held hostage by an evil alien empire?" inquired Toon Link; if that was the case, then Hunter was the buddy cops' go-to guy.
"Well, that...or maybe Organization XIII is back! And I think we know the person who let them back in..."
Kairi was enjoying herself at Mario's home, having some wonderful conversations with her fellow princesses - although she wasn't exactly a full-fledged princess, she just had the title of one. The girl was sharing a few stories about Sora...some of which were humiliating.
"Sora once got swallowed by a whale," Kairi said to the other princess with a slight giggle. "Said it really smelled inside of there. But he did make a few friends, so that was nice."
"Swallowed by a whale, that must've been horrible!" remarked Daisy, wondering how Sora was able to find his way out of the whale. Kudos if you know what the name of the whale was. "Sounds like a fascinating Moby Dick story."
"I don't really know who Moby Dick is - but I would have to agree." Good thing Bowser wasn't around - he would chide Kairi to no end for being "sheltered". Much like he had done with Sora.
"Seriously, Master Hand, why do I have to do this for?" Sonic spoke with the giant hand outside Mario's house, his voice coming from behind the front door. "What about my table tennis match with Ike and Soren?"
"You can call Ike, and tell him he can ride Soren's nuts another time," replied Master Hand as Peach walked over to the front door. "Right now, Kairi is your only priority!"
"Sonic, Master Hand?" said Peach as she opened the door and saw the two idling by. Master Hand looked like his usual self, while Sonic...was humorously dressed up as Mickey Mouse. "Ooh, nice costume Sonic!"
"Shut up..." frowned Sonic, feeling embarrassed as he folded his arms. Master Hand forced the hedgehog inside Mario's house for Kairi and the others - but mainly Kairi - to see.
"Look, Kairi, it's Mickey Mouse!" Master Hand said to the girl, who didn't know what to make of Sonic's Mickey Mouse costume. "C'mon Mickey, do a jig!" Doing it against his will, Sonic did a jig for Kairi, dying inside with each step.
"It's not the best costume I've seen..." remarked Kairi, her fair and honest critique hurting Master Hand deeply. Cut the giant hand like a knife. "...but I admire the effort for putting it together!"
Master Hand: Kairi is from Sora's universe, so obviously she has seen a fair share of Disney characters in her lifetime. To make her visit feel a little worthwhile, I asked Sonic to dress up as Mickey Mouse and entertain Kairi - using a Mickey Mouse costume that I stole during that trip to Disney World. Sadly, the bandicoots were spared, since I had no costumes for them. Lucky bums...
Elsewhere in Mario's house, Spyro was standing by the door that led to the bunker. His job was to make sure that Hunter didn't escape; Mario had the tunnel that led to the mansion closed off, for good measure.
"Spyro can I please get a cup of water?" Hunter requested the purple dragon, sounding a bit whiny. Spyro rolled his eyes, ignoring his friend's request.
"That lousy excuse still won't work on me, Hunter," replied Spyro, as he heard Hunter grunting loudly in failure. "Think of something original next time."
"Okay, well, I'm legitimately thirsty this time, not to mention that my throat is feeling dry. So can you just get me some water?"
"Why should I? I know that if I open that door, you'll come running out and go back to scaring Kairi."
"Scare Kairi? Ha! I just wanted to warn her about the jumpsuit people...OH NO, SPYRO, THEY'RE BACK AGAIN!"
"Haha, very funny...that excuse won't work on me, either. Is that really the best you got?"
"They're here, for real! They're beating me up, and doing some kind of seductive dancing! A lot of mixed messages..."
"You're not lying, are you?" Spyro pressed his ear against the door to the bunker, hearing sounds of Hunter getting attacked. Very slowly, Spyro creaked the door to the bunker open...
...and saw Hunter fending off grey jumpsuit men. They had sharp teeth, just as Hunter described, and they looked quite monstrous as well. These jumpsuit men weren't men...they were straight-up monsters!
"MARIO!" shouted Spyro as he ran inside the nursery, where Mario was playing with Jennifer. "Those jumpsuit dudes, they're legit! And they're hurting Hunter in the bunker!"
"Pardon?" asked Mario as he turned around...strangely wearing Groucho Marx glasses. Spyro gave him a questionable stare. "What's with-a that look?"
"Um, what's with the glasses? Are you trying to give your kid nightmares?"
"We're in the middle-a of a tea party, Spyro! Can you wait until-a we're done?"
"I would, but Hunter's in trouble, and...there's someone behind the kid!" Using his dad instincts, Mario quickly turned around...
...and saw a jumpsuit monster behind Jennifer. The insignia on the monster's forehead was all too familiar to Mario.
"Mama mia, it's a Nobody!" shrieked Mario, going into Dad Mode as he grabbed the Nobody and flung it unto the floor. The plumber then fired several fireballs at the Nobody until it died.
"A Nobody? Wouldn't a name like that imply that thing you killed doesn't exist?" inquired Spyro, as Mario placed Jennifer back in her crib and placed a blanket over the toddler. The plumber then grabbed Spyro and ran out of the nursery, before closing the nursery door.
"Is that Hunter I hear?" Mario heard Hunter's cries for help from the bunker, figuring that the Nobodies were harassing the poor cheetah. "I'll go help-a him out - you make sure-a that the ladies are safe!"
"You're really gonna fight the Nobodies yourself?" Not bothering to answer Spyro's question, Mario ran inside the bunker so he could teach the Nobodies a lesson. "Nobodies...that doesn't even sound right!"
Tea Time with the Black Knight professors and the professors was coming to an end, as the tea party on the tower balcony was winding down. Being the great guests that they were, Byleth and Beleth offered to help the Black Knight clean up the tea table.
"Your knowledge of tea is quite impressive, Black Knight," Beleth said to the knight as he gathered up the fine china and silverware. "Lorenz would be truly blown away by your expertise."
"Of course he would," agreed the Black Knight, as he poured out the tea - over the balcony fence. Since Chef Kawasaki wouldn't let him pour out tea in the kitchen sink, apparently. "A nobleman like him always knows best!"
"Thank you for inviting us to your tea party," Byleth thanked the Black Knight, holding the canister of sugar in her hands. "We'll be on our way!"
Byleth and Beleth were about to head back inside the tower, only to be confronted by several Shadow Heartless. Byleth recognized the Shadow Heartless for how they were moving around on the floor in the hallway.
"They don't look too friendly..." Byleth said to Beleth before a second kind of Heartless appeared - this one wearing a knight's helm and a bluish-black bodysuit, with a heart emblem on its chest. It was a Soldier Heartless, and a few of them had joined the Shadow Heartless.
"Byleth, Beleth, watch out!" shouted the Black Knight, spotting the Heartless as he leaped into action; he took out his sword slew all the Heartless in sight, watching as their hearts floated into the sky.
"Thanks, Black Knight, that was very kind of you..." Beleth thanked the knight, who looked like he was going through some kind of deja vu. "...Black Knight, is everything alright?"
"It's happening again..." Desiring to know why on earth the Heartless were at the tower, the Black Knight went inside the tower and down the hallway, with the professors following after him. "...those Heartless are back at it again!"
"Heartless? Is that what they're called? Then why did they release hearts after dying...?"
"Doesn't matter, they don't belong here! Heartless are nothing but trouble!"
Black Knight: Got swallowed alive by a Heartless, three years ago...it left a scar on me ever since! Every time I hear the word "heartless", I just start to lose it! That painful experience almost made me afraid of the dark; I would sleep with a nightlight, but I have way too much dignity for that.
Looking for Crazy Hand, the Black Knight would coincidentally find the giant hand in the hallway, speaking with Serena. The word about the Heartless had to get out to Crazy Hand at once.
"Crazy Hand, we have monsters inside our tower!" the Black Knight informed the giant hand, interrupting his conversation with Serena. "I don't know how they found their way in..."
"Okay? What do you want ME to do about it?" questioned Crazy Hand as he took the Heartless situation lightly. A huge error of judgment. "Capture them all and throw them in some BIG closet?"
"Crazy Hand, this is serious! You may not know this, but a few years ago, a horde of monsters called the Heartless were in the city and..."
"Are those the monsters you speak of?" asked Serena as she pointed down the hallway...at a group of Nobodies, idly standing by. The Black Knight gasped at the mere sight of them.
"Nobodies are in the tower, too?! Who's next, Organization XIII?! If they ever meddle with my tea bags..."
"I'll let Waluigi know about this!" Serena said to Crazy Hand and the Black Knight as she ran down the hallway. Crazy Hand didn't think that was such a good idea, even though Waluigi was the de facto man of the tower.
"NO, Serena, don't..." Crazy Hand spoke up, but it was too late as Serena was already gone. The giant hand sighed, fearing that Waluigi might be overmatched.
"We can take it from here, Crazy Hand," the Black Knight said to the giant hand, he and the professors staring down the Nobodies. "You go make sure that everyone else is safe!"
"Why do I have to be the ONE to play guardian angel..." Crazy Hand before vanishing away, allowing the Black Knight and the professors to handle the Nobodies.
Master Hand left Sonic at Mario's residence, having the blue hedgehog entertain Kairi as "Mickey Mouse" to no end, as the giant hand was back in his room. With him was X, who was showing him some stuff on his tracking device.
"All three of them, they're inside the mansion?" Master Hand asked X, who nodded his head in response; Master Hand sighed deeply. "But how?"
"Something must've happened when Coco worked on that dimension device last night," theorized X, knowing that whatever Coco had done was an honest mistake. Master Hand might think otherwise. "Surprisingly, there's not that much activity."
"Master Hand, we got some bad news," announced Link as he and Cloud entered Master Hand's room, both covered from head to toe in black slime. "Apparently, the Unversed are here. Saw a couple of 'em in the storage room."
"Yes, I'm well aware - X showed me their activity on that little device of his. Said that we've been infested with Heartless and Nobodies, too..."
"We had only seen a few of them lurking in the hallway," explained Cloud, who had taken out the monsters lickity split. "They were no issue for us."
"Wow, stupendous work, Cloud, great job!" Master Hand was perfectly oblivious to how annoyed Cloud was; Link had an angry scowl, wondering where his respect was. "Any signs of the Organization?"
"Haven't seen anyone wearing a black cloak anywhere, so no. I gave Dr. Wily a call; he said he'll do his best to solve the ongoing problem."
"Uh oh - there seems to be a giant Heartless in the library," alerted X, enlarging the map on his tracking device seeing a blinking red dot, where the library was located. "Link, Cloud, are you still game?"
"Now would be a great time to put the Yiga Clan to use..." Link said to Cloud; the Yiga Clan had more than enough clansmen to deal with the monsters.
"Good idea, we'll need all the help we can get," responded Cloud, before looking towards Master Hand. "Master Hand, can you contact Master Kohga and..."
"Say no more, Cloud-eroni!" replied Master Hand, his pet name greatly irking Cloud. The first of many, perhaps. "I'll give Master Kohga a shout."
"Good. And don't call me that name ever again, please. Link and I will be on the lookout for the giant Heartless." So Cloud and Link departed, hustling their way to the library. After the swordsmen left, a Shadow Heartless sneaked its way inside Master Hand's room, appearing right in front of Master Hand.
"Aaah, vermin! It must be after my beloved collection of magazines. Kill it, KILL IT!" X came to the rescue as he fired a Charge Shot at the Shadow, killing it in an instant.
"Master Hand, you really need to get your priorities straight, man," X told the giant hand, before blowing away the smoke from his Mega Buster. The robot knew that talking smack to Master Hand would get him in trouble...but he couldn't care less.
Waluigi: Serena brought to my attention that the Heartless and Nobodies were inside the tower. Fortunately, Ashley told me stories about those monsters (albeit begrudgingly, had to ask incessantly) and how they tried to take over Seattle. I'm pretty much aware of how strong the monsters truly are. I can't afford to let another invasion happen on my watch, so it's time for the Wah-Man to step up to the plate!
"DR. WILY LET US IN, WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" Waluigi shouted to the inventor, demonstrating excellent leadership as he banged on the basement door like a gutless coward. Standing by was Serena and four individuals Waluigi had gathered, all of whom dealt with the Heartless and Nobodies before - Knuckles, Ashley, Akira Yuki, and Takamaru.
"Wow, some leader this guy is supposed to be," a disappointed Takamaru said to the others, as Waluigi kept banging on the door. Way to set a good example for the others, Waluigi.
"Criminy, what's with the endless knocking?!" Dr. Wily snapped at Waluigi as the inventor finally opened the basement door. "Goodness gracious, I can't even work in peace anymore..."
"Dr. Wily, we got Heartless are at the tower. And we got Nobodies, too! I think they found a way through that alternate dimension you spoke of..."
"Yes, yes, I know...they found their way in through a portal from my dimension device. This was partially my fault, to be frank."
Dr. Wily: Here's a good tip for you, boys and girls - you should never trust a marsupial to work on your device, especially if said device can lead to multiple dimensions and universes. Otherwise, you'll have a likely chance of being visited by shadowy beings or pelvic-thrusting monsters! Those Nobodies would make for great nightclub dancers, I'll say.
"I just got in touch with Cloud, and I told him about my plan to fix this mess that Coco might've created," Dr. Wily said to Waluigi as he led the lanky man and the others down the stairs. "We'll need Sora to remedy this predicament!"
"But I thought you said that Sora's magic doesn't work in our universe," Waluigi said to Dr. Wily as he and the inventor made it down to the basement. "Different rules and stuff."
"His magic doesn't work, but that Keyblade of his sure does! Now excuse me while I finish up putting in the calibrations on the device..."
Cloud: Yeah, Dr. Wily told me about his plan of bringing back Sora to stop the monsters. Do I approve of this plan? Let's just say...let's just say that I'm pretty neutral about it.
Dr. Wily put in the calibrations on the universe transport device, generating a portal that would lead to Sora's universe. The inventor then stepped back and watched the device do its thing.
"I'll be right back - gonna need a tracking device," Dr. Wily said to Waluigi as he made his way up the basement stairs. "Once the prompt appears on the screen, make sure to type in Sora's name. Don't mess this up for me!"
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" Waluigi called out to Dr. Wily, who was in a bit of a hurry as he had climbed the stairs and left the basement. Waluigi sighed, as he looked at the others. "Did any of you catch what he said?"
"I didn't - I was distracted," replied Serena, as Waluigi let out another sigh. Now wasn't a good time to be distracted, Serena.
"Dr. Wily's wants one of us to summon Sora," answered Ashley, as the prompt suddenly appeared on the device's screen. A keyboard rolled out underneath, like a disk tray opening. "For the record, I'm not doing it."
"Oh, I'll summon Sora, alright..." said Knuckles as cracked his...erm, knuckles, and approached the keyboard and started typing away. Why did it seem like the echidna had an ulterior motive in his mind?
The buddy cops were certain that Organization XIII was back and apparently, the duo had a hunch for whoever was responsible for letting the Organization back in their universe. The two youngsters were standing outside a resident's room, with Toon Link knocking on the bedroom door.
"Can't believe she's back at it again..." frowned Toon Link, as the bedroom door was opened by Ema Skye. The buddy cops pointed their bows and arrows at Ema, ready to fire. "...freeze, traitor!"
"Oh boy...what did I even do this time?" wondered Ema, able to entertain the buddy cops' shenanigans for as long as her sanity would allow it. "A traitor, huh? Tell me, who did I betray?"
"She doesn't even know who she betrayed..." Young Link said to Toon Link ruefully, almost feeling bad for Ema. "...she's way more stupid than we thought!"
"Tell me about it - makes me wonder how she made it this far in life," responded Toon Link, resisting the urge to save his arrows for another criminal. "Do you realize that you've betrayed the mansion, Miss Skye?"
"Betray the mansion? That sure is news to me," replied Ema, as she made the buddy cops doubt her intelligence even more. "I think I learned my lesson, from three years ago."
"But you haven't! Hutch and I saw a Heartless in our office...last time the Heartless were around, you pulled a heel turn and aligned yourself with Organization XIII. Or so the story goes. Which means...you're working with the Organization again, and brought them and the monsters into our universe!"
"Wow, you boys sure love living in the past..." Ema looked up, and to her surprise saw the hooded fellow walking by. Hard to tell if he was an actual member of Organization XIII or not. "Look, someone from the Organization!"
"Where?!" questioned Young Link as he and Toon Link turned around, spotting the hooded fellow. Upon being spotted, the hooded fellow ran for his life, as the buddy cops chased him down the hallway. "Get back here, you scum!"
"Phew...that should keep the buddy cops away for a while. Now, where was I..."
Equipped with his tracking device, Dr. Wily made his way back to the basement. As the inventor climbed down the basement stairs, he heard voices below.
"He told me a few stories about his time in the mansion," said one of the voices down below - a voice that sounded quite foreign to Dr. Wily. Dr. Wily couldn't help but furrow his brow as he descended slowly down the stairs. "Some were more unbelievable than most."
"I won't lie, it was kind of bittersweet when he left," said Takamaru, with Dr. Wily worried that the wrong guy was brought to the basement. Dr. Wily would arrive in the basement...
...and saw Waluigi and the others all speaking with a young man with short, silver hair. Dr. Wily, who was expecting Sora, found himself disappointed as his mouth was agape.
"Oh, Dr. Wily - about time you made it back, man!" Knuckles greeted the inventor, as the young man with silver hair looked at Dr. Wily. "Wait until you get a load of this guy!"
"Wait a minute - this isn't Sora!" frowned Dr. Wily as he marched over to the young man, getting a good look at him. He looked at the silverette from head to toe, seeing his black jacket and blue pants, and was even more disappointed. "Where is Sora?!"
"I'm not Sora...but you could say that I'm a friend of his," the silverette replied, looking like he didn't want anything to do with Dr. Wily. "Why are you looking at me like that for, like I drowned your goldfish?"
"Who said I was angry, I'm just...a bit bothered. " Demanding answers at once, Dr. Wily angrily looked towards Waluigi, who he asked to retrieve Sora.
"It was his doing," Waluigi said to Dr. Wily as he pointed accusingly at Knuckles, who was acting like he didn't do anything wrong.
Knuckles: Why would I let Sora just waltz his way back into our universe? That man straight up embarrassed me during Christmas last year, under the mistletoe. Even worse, Rouge was looking. I couldn't stand for that, so I entered "anyone associated with Sora" into the prompt on the device. And poof, some guy appeared. Kinda wanted a girl, but I'll take what I can get.
"So where am I? Is this the Smash Mansion that Sora talked about?" asked the silverette as he looked around, while Dr. Wily did his best to calm himself. A pinch on the crown of his nose would bring Dr. Wily back to his normal temperament.
"No, you are at what is called the Assist Tower," Dr. Wily explained to the girl, hoping that he wouldn't have to share many details. "That being said, however, we have a bit of a...Heartless situation."
"There's Heartless here? Wouldn't that mean Organization XIII is here as well?" Organization XIII being around was relatively up in the air, so Dr. Wily could only answer the silverette's question with meager confidence.
"Not necessarily, but there's a good chance they found their way in our universe. But as for the Heartless...you can handle them by yourself, right? You have a Keyblade, don't you?"
"You mean a Keyblade like this?" the silverette whipped out a Keyblade, showing it off to Dr. Wily and the others. Dr. Wily was greatly pleased. "I can do some exterminating if you need me to."
"Good, good, very good! Now, what's your name, sonny? I remember your face from some research I did...my memory's failing me."
After ridding the bunker of Nobodies, Mario left the bunker with Hunter, arriving at the living room. He saw Sonic entertaining the ladies as Mickey Mouse, as the hedgehog's act was running stale.
"Peach, I'm afraid-a that we have some unwanted guests," Mario informed his wife, garnering the princesses' attention. Sonic stopped dancing to hear what Mario had to say. "Nobodies are in-a our house!"
"N-Nobodies?" stammered Kairi, wondering if she was responsible for the Nobodies' presence. "Did they follow me here?"
"I don't know for sure - just fought a bunch-a of them down in the bunker." Kairi looked scared, as Peach did her best to comfort the girl.
"It's okay, Kairi, you'll be safe with us!" Peach assured the girl, as Mario heard his phone rang. Mario frowned when he saw Waluigi as the caller ID.
"What do you want?" Mario begrudgingly answered the call, rudely speaking into the phone. "If it's about those-a chocolate cookies, you can forget it..."
"No, Mario, it's not about the cookies!" replied Waluigi, as Mario refused to believe the lanky man. "Ate them all anyways, when you and Peach went out shopping. Uh, can you put this on speakerphone? Peach needs to hear this..."
"If it'll make this phone-a call end quicker..." So Mario put the call on speakerphone so that Peach and the others could hear. "...what is it, Waluigi?"
"The tower's being overrun by Heartless and Nobodies," Waluigi announced rather casually, as Mario went from apathetic to alert in a snap. "Well, it's not really overrun, since we don't know the extent of..."
"I saw a bunch-a of Nobodies at my home. Many of them in-a the bunker! How bad-a is the situation at the tower?"
"Not quite sure yet. But we're in good hands. Some guy with silver hair is gonna 'exterminate' the monsters for us!"
"Silver hair?" Kairi immediately perked up, as one of her closest friends happened to have silver hair. The girl drew closer to Mario, so she could speak directly to Waluigi. "Did he tell you what his name was?"
"Nope, didn't even offer his name! Just took his Keyblade and dipped. Rudest visitor ever!"
"Rude? That must be Riku! He's from Destiny Island, just like me! He and Sora are pretty close..."
"Might be delusional like Sora..." Sonic muttered under his breath, having this to say about Riku.
"You have to take me to the tower," Kairi stressed to Mario, wanting to meet up with Riku no matter how busy the silverette was. "I'm a Keyblade wielder, just like he is - he can't fight alone!"
"No, you'll stay here where-a it's safe," Mario said to Kairi as she sat the girl back down on the living room couch. "The last thing you want-a is to be a damsel in distress!"
"Yeah, take it from them - they know a thing or two about that," Hunter told Kairi as he pointed at the princesses; Peach, Daisy, and the two Zeldas specifically glared at the cheetah. "Don't hate on me 'cause you can't handle the truth..."
Yiga clansmen were at the mansion, fighting the Heartless, Nobodies, and Unversed in the hallways. As X said, there wasn't that much monster activity, but the Yiga clansmen were still doing their thing.
"Hey, kid, watch where you're running!" a Yiga clansman shouted at Toon Link, who along with Young Link chased after the hooded fellow. "Trying to break my leg or something?!"
"Shut up, you probably don't need it anyway!" Toon Link shouted at the Yiga clansman, as he and Young Link followed the hooded fellow to an elevator. The hooded fellow, seeing the elevator in front of him, aggressively pressed the elevator button.
"Give it up, man - you got nowhere to go!" Young Link shouted at the hooded fellow, who was mashing the elevator button even harder. When the elevator didn't open, the hooded fellow ran to the nearby staircase, only to run into Fox and Falco.
"Sup," Fox greeted the hooded fellow, treating him like he was his homie from across the street. Then the pilot furrowed his brow. "Hold up, that cloak...and the hood on your head..."
"You must be from a religious cult!" Falco pointed accusingly at the hooded fellow, who backed away but only out of confusion. "What pagan god do you worship? A goat? A pig? A flying unicorn?"
"Falco, man...chill out with your crazy assumptions, okay? It's obvious that this guy was two weeks late for Halloween. Or maybe he still wants candy."
"Are you two really that dense?" Toon Link asked Fox and Falco. "That's obviously an Organization XIII member." Fox and Falco saw the hooded fellow's cloak and realized that Toon Link was right.
"Now that you mention it...huh, you're right. It's been so long since I last saw someone with that Organization cloak on. That said..."
Fox and Falco would do the dirty work for the buddy cops, as they wrangled with the hooded fellow and brought him down to the floor. With Fox pinned on top of the hooded fellow, Falco took off the hood, revealing the hooded fellow to be...
"...Pit?!" Falco uttered the name of the angel, who smiled innocently and waved to Fox and Falco. The pilots backed off on the angel, allowing the angel to stand up.
"Pit joined the ranks of Organization XIII!" assumed Toon Link as he and Young Link had their arrows pointed at Pit. "He was the one who let the Heartless and others in!"
"Me, let in the Heartless?" Pit raised an eyebrow, before laughing at Toon Link's accusation. "Why would I do that? I was just trying to blend in with the Heartless!"
"And what exactly was the goal?" Fox asked Pit, who took off his cloak - where Pit found the cloak, to begin with, was a better question.
"I dunno - I thought that I could lead the Heartless, and maybe lead them out of the mansion and to their inevitable doom. Looking back on it, I kinda failed..."
Pit: *holds up Organization XIII cloak* This was the same cloak that Jakob wore when he was trying to get his "revenge" on the mansion. I kept it safe in my closet after Jakob was arrested. Also makes for a great bathrobe. Ten out of ten, would highly recommend!
"Pit, why do you have an Organization XIII cloak in your hand?" Cloud asked the angel as he and Link showed up in the hallway, after having slain the giant Heartless in the library. Toon Link was about to open his mouth, only for Fox to cover it.
"This is actually a bathrobe," Pit showed off the cloak to Cloud, acting like the swordsman was born yesterday or even five minutes ago. "Comes with a hood, sleeves, and, uh...where's the belt at?"
"I'll be confiscating that, thank you very much..." Cloud walked over to Pit and snatched the cloak out of the angel's hands, before walking away with Link. "You boys better clear the hallway - don't wanna get caught in any crossfire."
"You're gonna enjoy that bathrobe a lot!" Pit called out to Cloud, doubling down as much as he could. The angel would then find himself arrested by the buddy cops, who put the handcuffs on him. "Am I seriously getting arrested?"
"Unless someone disproves of your affiliation with Organization XIII, yes," replied Young Link as he and Toon Link walked the handcuffed Pit down the hallway. Fox curiously looked at Falco, wondering if either one of them should vouch for Pit's innocence.
"He deserves it," Falco replied with a shrug, thinking that Pit being in jail was a good thing. It would give him and the others a break!
The silverette, known as Riku, was slaying baddies in the tower left and right with his Keyblade. Dr. Wily, who had caught up to Riku, was keeping up with the silverette's progress on his tracking device.
"Good work, young lad - the monsters' presence in this tower is dwindling down!" Dr. Wily said to Riku, who had just slain a few Nobodies in his way. "The tower will be monster-free in no time!"
"Just stay out of my way," Riku told Dr. Wily, before running into the nearby lounge. "I got this all under control." Dr. Wily heard his phone rang, and answered the call while Riku did his thing.
"Yes, Waluigi?" Dr. Wily spoke into the phone after he saw Waluigi's number. Whatever Waluigi had to say, it better be good...
"Sup doc - I used the device to get the guy you originally wanted," Waluigi said to Dr. Wily, who found himself delighted. Better late than never. "He's going over to Mario's place since Mario said he's got Nobodies in his home. Is that alright with you?"
"That is perfectly fine with me. Just tell our 'Keyblade wielder' to take his time, no rush."
"Another Keyblade wielder?" inquired Riku after he left the lounge, seeing that there was no sign of Heartless or Nobodies. "If it is who I think it is..."
Mario was on high alert, as he was scanning his entire house for any sign of Nobodies. Kairi, fretting that she might have something to do with the Nobodies' presence, was doing her best to remain calm, with her fellow princesses providing some support...and Sonic.
"Sonic, you're not helping," Celica told the hedgehog, who was doing some kind of old-timey dance. The kind you would see in an old classic Disney cartoon. "Why are you still even here?"
"Master Hand said that I can't go back to the mansion until Kairi is fully content," explained Sonic, as Kairi being skittish about the Nobodies was essentially screwing over Sonic. "So Kairi, you better smile, or else!"
"...I'm good," replied Kairi, who found very little enjoyment in Sonic's dance routine. That made Sonic dance even harder.
Ike: Sonic was a no-show for our table tennis match...as expected! He was too scared to play against Soren after what Soren had done to him in air hockey. Sonic is probably having nightmares about that loss to this very day.
Soren: Somebody saved me from playing table tennis...whoever that somebody is...thank you.
Mario was in the kitchen, surveying and inspecting everything in sight when someone knocked on the front door. Could that be the visitor from the tower?
"Did someone order a Keyblade wielder?" asked the person behind the front door, the very sound of his voice delighting Kairi and washing away her worry. "That sounded so cheesy..."
"Is that who I think it is?" asked Kairi, building up with excitement as Mario went to the front door and opened it. To his surprise, Mario saw Sora standing on the doorstep, who was looking down and scratching his head. Kairi was smiling at the mere sight of Sora.
"Waluigi sure knows how to come up with some cheesy lines..." Sora said to himself, before finally looking up and seeing Mario. "...oh, hi Mario! Don't know how long it's been since we last saw each other...but I'm back!"
"Ah, Sora - just-a the guy I actually wanted to see," Mario said to the Keyblade wielder as he let him inside his house. Kairi was doing her best to contain her excitement. "How are things, old-a friend?"
"Eh, could be better..." Sora saw Spyro and Hunter standing around, the dragon and cheetah looking at him as if he was a ghost. "...I see your freeloaders are still hanging around."
"Freeloaders?!" frowned Spyro as he was about to run at Sora, only for Hunter to hold back the purple dragon. "Let me at him, let me at him..."
"Still spunky as always..." Sora turned his head to the left and saw the princesses gathered in the living room. But there was one certain princess that had the Keyblade wielder all shook. "...Kairi?!"
"Yep...you found me," replied Kairi as she stood up and walked over to Sora. Sora had a lot of mixed emotions, as he was happy, shocked, and amazed all at the same time. "I haven't seen you around since...well, you know..."
"Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss..." Hunter chanted for Sora and Kairi, seeing how close the two were standing together, with Sonic joining in on the chants. Mario and Peach sternly looked at Hunter and Sonic respectively, making them stop.
"It's good to know that you're safe and all," Sora said to Kairi, being too accustomed to his lady friend being in trouble more often than not. "But I gotta ask...why are you chilling with Mario?"
"Long story short, some giant hand wanted to get me acclimated," explained Kairi, as Sora immediately knew what giant hand Kairi was referring to. "I would tell you how I got in this universe exactly, but that's a story for another time..."
"Sorry to break the feel-a good moment between you two," Mario said to Sora and Kairi as he stepped in between the two. "But my house is invaded-a by Nobodies! I need-a them out, stat!"
"Well, that's why I'm here!" Sora replied confidently as he whipped out his trusty Keyblade. Nobodies were absolutely no match for Sora. "Waluigi told me what was up, and sent me to your place."
"Good, good! I'll leave-a you to it; I'll stay here and keep-a the others from harm. You can handle things-a by yourself, right?"
"If you can't...we can get Riku from the tower to help out," Kairi said to Sora, as the mention of Riku's name got Sora excited.
"Riku's at the Assist Tower?!" exclaimed Sora, as the thought of Riku being present at the tower gave him some motivation. "Kairi, I'll take care of the Nobodies, and then we'll meet up with Riku after I'm done."
"Sounds fine with me," replied Kairi, as Sora ran off to do his thing. Shortly after Sora left, Hunter approached Kairi, having a question that needed to ask.
"You and Sora are still gonna kiss later, right?" the cheetah curiously asked Kairi, before Peach angrily grabbed him by the ear and dragged him away. "It's never too late to have that special moment!"
Cloud and Link had slain as many monsters as they could, before calling it quits and letting the Yiga clansmen finish the job for them. The two swordsmen were back in Master Hand's room, where they brought Yusuke in to explain what happened to his painting.
"My painting was ruined by the 'Unversed'?" Yusuke asked Cloud and Link after the swordsmen told him the whole story. "'Unversed' sounds more like a math function than anything!"
"Well, they're actually a bunch of monsters from another universe," stated Link, with Yusuke wishing that he could give the Unversed a piece of his mind. Probably wouldn't be the best decision for him. "The Yiga Clan's doing all they can to get rid of them."
"Some good news, guys - the monster activity is dying down dramatically," X said to Cloud and Link, showing them the very few red spots on his tracking device. Lots of great progress. "Soon, this mansion will be free of monsters."
"Not quite...at the end of the day, we'll still have Bowser around," stated Cloud, in a half-hearted attempt at cracking a joke. "Can't be monster-free with that creep living under the roof..."
"Hey, have any of you guys seen a giant hand anywhere?" a certain silverette asked Cloud and company, who saw Riku standing in the doorway. "Came here from the tower next door; I was supposed to ask some giant hand about a monster infestation."
"You're at the right place," answered Cloud, seeing Riku's Keyblade and assuming that the silverette knew Sora. "Mind telling us who you are?"
Sora expected to go on absolute carnage, slaying Nobodies left and right...but he only saw just a few Nobodies in Mario's house, lingering in the laundry room. There was no sign of Nobodies anywhere else, which was a good thing.
"Your house is now Nobody-free!" Sora announced to Mario and Peach, after doing a quick scan of the house just to be on the safe side. "Guess those Nobodies ran away. I scared them off!"
"Sure hope-a that was the case," remarked Mario, no longer having a reason to worry anymore. "Thank-a you, Sora. Now you and Kairi can-a go see your friend!"
"Oh, right! Riku! You should come with us and meet Riku, Mario. He's a great guy if you get to know him."
"I do enjoy meeting new-a people...fine, I'll come. Let me contact-a Waluigi and see if Riku's still at the tower..."
Sonic: I already know one person named Rikku...she got very butthurt when I said that her attire was super skimpy. If this Riku friend of Sora's can't handle criticism either, I quit!
Riku stuck around with Cloud and company in Master Hand's room, waiting for Master Hand. The giant hand returned to his room and met Riku, who asked him if he had any trouble with the Heartless and such.
"I'm afraid you're too late - the Yiga Clan is very close to eliminating the threat," Master Hand told Riku, who gave an understanding nod. "But I know you had your work cut out for yourself, at the tower."
"Guess you could say that again," responded Riku as he put away his Keyblade. "Waluigi said that you guys might have some trouble, so that's why I..."
"Riku!" exclaimed Sora, as he came running into Master Hand's room and giving Riku a friendly hug. Riku was caught off-guard, as Cloud struggled to maintain a straight face upon seeing Sora again.
"Sora? Funny seeing you here..." said Riku, before seeing Kairi entering the room with Mario. "What do you know...looks like the gang's back together again."
"Feels like forever since I last saw you!" Sora broke free from the hug, as he continued to embrace Riku. "To think, it was thanks to Waluigi that the three of us are back together!"
"Speak for yourself - some geezer named Dr. Wily is the reason why I'm here. Apparently, the tower I came from had a little...problem on their hands."
"That's funny - Dr. Wily brought me to this universe the first time around. Funny coincidence. How did you wind up here, Kairi?"
"Some bandicoot brought me here, but only by mistake," replied Kairi; she was going to save the details for later, but best to share them now. "I think that's when those monsters started showing up."
"A...bandicoot? Is that one of those make-believe animals that Sora kept telling us about?" Riku asked Kairi, having heard a few stories about Crash and Coco from Sora. Aku wasn't so fortunate.
"They're not make-believe, Riku, they're real animals," Sora told the silverette, stressing this point many times before. "How about I show you?"
"Ahem..." Master Hand cleared his throat, as Sora and friends looked at the giant hand. "...aren't you forgetting someone, Sora?"
"Master Hand? Who am I forgetting..." Sora soon realized who it was when he saw Cloud right in front of him. Sora grinned at Cloud, who was hoping that Sora wouldn't hug him. "...oh, Cloud! Riku, Kairi, this is the Cloud I've been telling you about."
"An alternate universe Cloud," Riku said as he looked at Cloud, treating the swordsman as if he was a very special commodity. "He looks pretty cool."
"Is that his friend?" Kairi asked Sora as he pointed at Link. Being acknowledged, Link smiled and let out a small sigh of relief.
"That's Link - he and Cloud are pretty tight," explained Sora, slightly wishing that he and Cloud had a similar friendship. "Birds of a feather flock together! Isn't that how the saying goes?"
"You didn't botch a famous saying - good for you, Sora," Cloud commended the Keyblade wielder, something that rarely happened often. "Master Hand, I think it's about time we send Sora and friends packing."
"Send them packing so soon? We should let them stay," suggested Master Hand, as Cloud was not fully sold on the idea. Even though he and Sora were on friendly terms now.
"But why? The Heartless, Nobodies, and Unversed are taken care of," Link said to Master Hand, who was in a pretty charitable mood. "We don't need Sora and Riku anymore, and Kairi..."
"Who's to say there's Heartless, Nobodies, and Unversed outside of the city limits?" Sora asked with a shrug, getting Master Hand in a thinking mood. "Some of them could've traveled out of the city, or even to another country!"
"Right, right!" Master Hand agreed with Sora, as he pointed his finger at the Keyblade wielder. "Not only that, but Riku and Kairi barely know what life is like in the mansion. We should give them a chance to experience it."
"Not a good idea..." muttered Cloud, remaining steadfast in returning Sora and company back to their universe. But Mario seemed to be on Master Hand's side...
"We have a spare-a room or two, don't we Master Hand?" Mario asked the giant hand, inquiring about the new rooms in the mansion for any potential newcomers. "Should be one-a room for Sora and friends."
"We do have a room spacious enough for three people," stated Master Hand, leaning towards letting Sora and company stay at the mansion. "Then it's settled - Sora, welcome back to the Smash Mansion!"
"You've got to be kidding me..." remarked Cloud, wishing that he had some control over who gets to stay at the mansion or not. Sora grinned as he wrapped his arm around Cloud.
"Well, Cloud, looks like I'm a resident again!" the Keyblade wielder excitedly told Cloud, who had a thousand-mile stare going on. "Don't look like that - things will be better this time around!"
"That was a swift-a decision..." remarked Mario, before approaching Riku and offering his hand to the silverette. "...the name's-a Mario. Nice to meet you."
"You can call me Riku," Riku introduced himself to Mario, deciding not to shake the plumber's hand as he walked away. "Guess I'll be seeing you around..."
"He's even ruder than Sora made-a him out to be..." Instead of acting salty over being left hanging, Mario was...weirdly overjoyed. "...the two of us might-a get along just fine!"
Cloud: Wouldn't say that I'm fully opposed to letting Sora back in the mansion. It's just that, with his two friends here, he might go back to his annoying ways. But, no worries...I'll be keeping a close eye on him.
Coco: *twiddles with her fingers nervously* So, the mishap that occurred while I was working on Dr. Wily's device..not only did it bring Kairi into the universe, but it brought a few monsters along with it. Also, after all that happened today...Sora's back to being a mansion resident. I'm just happy that Sora and Cloud are finally on friendlier terms now...
