Author's Note:

NEO: The World Ends With You will be coming out soon, on July 27. Rather than waiting until next week to cover the game, I decided to cover it in this chapter. Writer's block reared its ugly head yet again, but fortunately, I came through. Guest review time:

"Dude. Did you watch Smash Summit 11 last night? It was freaking epic. First offline tournament after the pandemic, and it was so cool seeing Melee being played like awesome there."

Quite frankly, I did not - it slipped right past my radar. I might have to check out the highlights. But an offline tournament is a step in the right direction, I'll say. One more anonymous review:

"So...is Master Hand gonna do something to support the Seattle Kraken?"

He loves the other Seattle sports teams, so I don't see why not. Watched a bit of the Kraken expansion draft on Wednesday; I'm sure that Master Hand will know all the players by name. Romance Enjoyer has a question:

"...remember that time (I think it was Episode 144, I'm not sure) when Wolf made a quilt for Link and Zelda? Do you think that quilt can be used for their wedding?"

Aha! Someone remembered the quilt! Yes, the quilt will be brought back for the wedding. On to David:

"Is Colette gonna be a resident of the Smash Mansion in future chapters? Are Cranky and Funky Kong using their voices from the Donkey Kong Country cartoon? Will other monsters or characters from Monster Hunter Stories 1 and 2 show up in later chapters? And finally, what are your thoughts on the Switch OLED and Steam Deck consoles?"

Colette will just be a frequent visitor. Cranky and Funky Kong aren't using their voices from the Donkey Kong cartoon. The monsters showing up might be a rarity; the characters, on the other hand, not so much. The Switch OLED model looks, erm...underwhelming, I'm afraid, and I have no opinion on the Steam Deck consoles. Ending this note off with TIME TO GO:

"I don't have any problem with a Tales chapter. You can do whatever you want. Unfortunately, Arise is a completely new game and not a sequel from an already existing Tales game. And another unfortunate thing, the game is not announced for the Switch yet. There's a wall you need to climb."

It hasn't been announced for the Switch yet?! Dang. I've touched upon the Tales series many times in this story, so...the lack of a Switch announcement won't faze me.


Episode 292: Reaper

You might not have known about it, but Crash most recently celebrated his birthday, on July 19th. Quite frankly, Crash didn't know how old he turned - and neither did anyone else, for that matter - but the bandicoot was happy to be one year older.

Given that it was his birthday, Crash expected to have a birthday party thrown in celebration, right? Sadly, the party never came to fruition, due to two factors. One, Sonic told the party planning committee that he would plan Crash's party himself, and he was too busy getting Popo's ice cream business started up. And two, no birthday party could be celebrated without Master Hand...and Master Hand was absent from the mansion since last Friday!

Being that Master Hand wasn't around, Link and Zelda had to take on more authority around the mansion than ever before. But for Master Hand to leave the mansion unannounced, not giving anyone a clue where he was...it was very uncharacteristic of him. But one resident happened to know what the giant hand's current location was.

"Has anyone seen Yoshi?" Zelda asked everyone in the dining room to see that one certain dinosaur was missing after doing a brief headcount. "I repeat, has anyone seen Yoshi?"

"Who cares, not like anything of value was lost," grumbled Samus, who was one of the folks happy about Yoshi not being present during breakfast time. She didn't have to worry about any saliva getting on the syrup container.

"I'm being serious, you guys, Yoshi could've died for all we know." Zelda wouldn't have to fret anymore, as Yoshi finally showed up at the dining room. He was looking pretty groggy, though. "There you are, Yoshi. Why do you look so tired?"

"Remind me to never wake up at four in the morning for the opening ceremony ever again..." the sleep-deprived Yoshi replied, as he groggily made his way over to the breakfast table. He was walking like a drunkard, nearly falling along the way.

Falco: Being on the west coast kind of sucks. You're always late for every little thing - New Year's, daylight savings, the list goes on. Even worse, you have to get up ridiculously early in the morning to check out whatever cool stuff some video game company in Japan streams. Look, I ain't no early bird...heck, I don't even like eating worms! Have you ever tried eating worms? Trust me, it's disgusting.

"Psst! Coco!" Sonic whispered to the blonde bandicoot, who was having a conversation with Mechanica. Coco reluctantly looked over at Sonic. "I was thinking about throwing Crash a belated surprise birthday party."

"Isn't that supposed to be the party planning committee's job?" asked Coco, thinking that Sonic was overstepping his boundaries. Sonic had a strong habit of doing such a thing. "Taking jobs away from others, aren't we Sonic. How very thoughtful of you."

"I just don't trust the committee enough, okay? I wanna plan out the party the way that I want it...the way that Crash would want it."

"Okay, Sonic, way to be Crash's spokesperson. Though I wouldn't expect for you to..." Coco suddenly stopped speaking, as a distinct smell entered her nostrils. One that made her very worried. "...is that smoke?"

"Smoke? Oh no, please don't tell me..." Donkey Kong shook his head after he heard Coco, as he rose from his seat and tried to open the dining-room door. For some reason, the door wouldn't budge. "...you've got to be kidding me."

"That's weird, the door was open a few seconds ago," observed Tsubasa, before a familiar proposition crept into her mind. "Don't tell me he's at it again..."

"I'm confused, why is everyone so worried?" inquired Terry, seeing that some of the more seasoned residents were either annoyed and irritated. Whereas the newer ones were concerned. "Has anyone ever smelt smoke before?"

"Really, are we having another freaking 'fire drill'?" frowned Hisui, knowing just who was responsible; he looked around the dining room for Kohaku, as he planned out his getaway escape.

"Fire drill? How can you be so sure? The fire detector's not even going off!" Terry continued to look confused, as everyone around him got agitated. Hisui grabbed Kohaku and ran to the backdoor to see that it was locked from the outside.

"Yup, as expected, the backdoor's locked." Hisui threw his arms up in defeat, as more and more smoke entered the dining room. "Typical Bowser..."

"Typical Bowser? Can someone explain what's going on?" There was no time for explaining, as literal firecrackers came out from the air ducts on the ceiling. Some folks panicked, while others...kept eating their breakfast like nothing was going on.

"Thought we finally avoided this..." Link quietly discussed with Zelda as he saw the firecrackers unleash from the ceiling, before frowning as he quickly ran over to the breakfast table. "...hey, hey! Hands off the scrambled eggs! Those are mine!"

Bowser: Sucks that I couldn't run a fire drill last year - my tools were confiscated by Tom Nook. But now, I'm back in business! And since those manor geeks robbed me of the fire drill I had planned in 2019, I have to go all out this time.

"Oh wow, firecrackers coming from the ceiling," observed Ryu as he saw the firecrackers, watching as the sparks landed on the breakfast table. "Never seen that one before."

"Bowser has really stepped up his game this time," remarked Wii Fit Trainer, not giving a care in the world as she drank from her glass of orange juice. Barret looked around the dining room, startled by the lack of initiative from the seasoned residents.

"Uh, shouldn't we call 911 or something?" the terrorist asked his daughter, Marlene, as a few firecracker sparks landed on his hair.


Peeking outside through one of the dining room windows was Bowser, who was alarmed by the lack of action from everyone inside the dining room. Sure, the newer residents like Team Rocket and Shantae were concerned, but the older ones were going about their usual business.

"What is wrong with these people?!" wondered Bowser, as two fashionable teenagers approached the Koopa King from behind. "Do they not know that danger is literally above them?"

"Hey, Rindude, you think this turtle freak knows anything about the Reapers game?" one of the teens said to the other, smiling as he pointed his thumb at Bowser. "Wouldn't put it past him if he didn't."

"Guess we won't know unless we ask for ourselves..." replied the other teen Rindude...whose name was actually Rindo. Though he should legally change his name to Rindude. It just rolled off the tongue. "...just don't embarrass yourself, Fret."

"I should be the one telling you that...but whatever. There's no turning back now!" So Rindo and Fret approached Bowser, who was keeping his eyes peeled for anything that happened in the dining room.

"Ah, there we go - Alph is using the fire extinguisher!" gleamed Bowser, as he watched Alph use the fire extinguisher to put out the flames on Barret's head. "About time someone took some initiative."

"Hey, turtle guy, can we speak to you?" Rindo asked Bowser, who grumpily turned around at the teen and Fret. Upon seeing Bowser up close, Rindo and Fret jumped back.

"No way! It's Bowser!" exclaimed Fret, who didn't expect to run into the Koopa King in Seattle. Who else was he expecting after he saw that spiky shell? "Hope he doesn't kill us or anything..."

"Yes, be very afraid of me, keep feeding my ego!" Bowser held his arms out wide, as he expected Rindo and Fret to wet their pants at the mere sight of him. "Bow down to your daddy!"

"Bow down to our...'daddy'?" Rindo furrowed his brow, as Bowser lost a few cool points in the young man's eyes. "No thanks, I think we're good."

"What? So you're not going to tremble in my presence and make me feel good in the process?" Bowser saw that Rindo and Fret were less scared of him, and to the Koopa King that was not a good sign. "Then what are you lousy teens even here for?"

"We were just curious if you knew about the Reapers' Game," replied Fret, his fear of Bowser fading away as he folded his arms behind his head. "Do you know anything about it?"

"Well, I do know a Reaper...but I have no clue about this Reapers' Game. Is this some new edgy social media trend?" Bowser admitted to knowing a Reaper, and that was good enough for Rindo and Fret.

"Wait, so you know a Reaper? Wow man, that's awesome!" Fret turned around and with his hands cupped around his mouth, he called out to someone. "Sho, Nagi, this man Bowser knows a Reaper!"

A few seconds later, two more individuals showed up in Bowser's presence; one was a dude wearing all black, the other was some chick who appeared to be an otaku. With nerdy glasses to boot.

"King Bowser..." the dude with all black approached the Koopa King, as the nerdy otaku girl followed closely at his side. "...you can call me Sho Minamimoto. So you know an actual Reaper, huh?"

"Uh, I guess," Bowser replied with a shrug, as Sho looked on with a very intrigued smile. "Met him during Thanksgiving last year. He's got a weird hankering for killing people."

"I don't think he's referring to the kind of Reaper you're thinking about..." the otaku girl, Nagi, whispered to Sho, only to be silenced when Sho put his hand out in front of her. Sho was in a very negotiating mood.

"You may not know this, but you've been lowkey part of the Reapers' game since that November," Sho said to Bowser as he placed his hand on the Koopa King's shoulder. "Being in contact with a Reaper has to account for something."

"Part of the Reapers' game? Sure, I'll take it," responded Bowser; he had no idea what the Reapers' Game was or what it entailed, but it sounded very beneficial to him. "Will this Reapers' Game make me rich?"

Sho: The Reapers' Game isn't really that elaborate - it's just a one-week competition for dead people to earn a second chance at life. Or get a whole bunch of perks in the afterlife. Because of all the Olympic crap that's going on in Japan, we kind of had to move the Reapers' Game to Seattle. Don't bother asking about transportation - it's an Underground thing.

"Rindo, Fret, do you two trust him?" Nagi went over to speak with the two teens in private, whispering as she looked over at Bowser. "Seems like he's only interested in the game for the wrong intentions."

"I mean, he thinks the Reapers' Game will make him a billionaire or something," Rindo had this to say about Bowser, as his cynicism was taking hold. "Sho will show him the way...I hope."

"Know where we can find this Reaper dude?" Sho asked Bowser, who would've provided the location of Talon's base if he had the info with him. But Bowser wouldn't have to worry, as he looked over and saw a certain mercenary headed to Mario's house.

"I can tell you one thing...you guys won't have to look very far," replied Bowser, watching as the mercenary in question brashly knocked on Mario's front door. Almost as if he was in a bad mood.


Peach was in her living room getting some house cleaning done when she heard the knock on the front door. Putting her duster away, the princess answered the front door and saw Reaper on the doorstep. You might expect Peach to be surprised by Reaper...but she wasn't.

"Good morning, yet again!" Peach warmly greeted Reaper, blindly oblivious to how much the mercenary was seething under his mask. Today wasn't Reaper's first time visiting Mario. "I take it that Mario had another emergency?"

"Yes...now get out of my way," growled Reaper, with Peach stepping to the side as Reaper entered the house. Reaper slammed the door behind him, showing how angry he was. "Now where is your idiot husband?"

"Right over there, in the kitchen." Peach pointed to where Mario was, and Reaper marched into the kitchen in a very angry mood. Inside the kitchen, Mario was trying to get something opened.

"Ah, there you are Reaper!" Mario greeted the ticked-off mercenary, as he was struggling to open a jar of mayonnaise. Yes, a simple jar of mayonnaise. "Glad you could show-a up. I can't seem to get this jar opened!"

"This is the 'big emergency' you called me for?" Reaper facepalmed at Mario, deeply regretting that he ever came to the plumber's house in the first place. "Such a waste of my time..."

"I'll have you know, I've been-a trying to get this jar open all week! Jennifer's French toast would be incomplete-a without some mayo."

"Who in their right mind puts mayo on French toast? Why would you feed your stupid toddler French toast in the first place?" Reaper was so incensed with Mario that he looked up at the heavens, growling as he shook his fists with rage. "Never should've given you my contact info..."

"I'm dead serious, Reaper, I need-a this jar of mayonnaise opened, STAT. Make yourself useful for once!"

Mario: After the Aerith Revival Project was over with, Reaper asked me if he could-a be one of my emergency contacts, just in case any trouble arose-a in the future. And I happily obliged! I've called Reaper over for all sorts-a of emergencies - fixing my air conditioning, killing the termites-a in my attic, the works. I even asked him to babysit-a Jennifer for me, but he refused. If I had known-a that he hated children (which I'm not surprised by), the least he could've done was give-a me a heads up in advance!

"Give me that stupid jar..." Reaper said to Mario, who handed the jar of mayonnaise over to the mercenary. Mario watched in amazement as Reaper simply opened the jar with nearly zero effort. "There, happy now?"

"Thanks-a Reaper, you are a lifesaver!" Mario thanked the mercenary, who grumpily handed the jar back to the plumber. Mario would've hugged Reaper, but he knew that he was in too sour of a mood to accept one.

"Probably should've killed you while I still had the chance..." Now that his work was done, Reaper could happily return to the Talon base as he trudged to the front door. "...thanks for ruining my morning, Mario."

"Bye, hope to see you again!" Peach waved to Reaper, who was hoping that the princess wasn't trying to speak things into existence. Reaper left Mario's house, muttering some choice words under his breath...

...and on the doorstep, the mercenary ran into Bowser. Accompanying Bowser were the Wicked Twisters - Rindo, Fret, Nagi, and Sho.

"Have you come to bother me?" Reaper asked Bowser in an annoyed tone, before getting a good look at the folks that Bowser befriended - but only for the time being. "And are those freaks your new friends? I don't have enough bullets for all of them."

"Oh that's fine, you won't be needing 'em anyways," responded Bowser as he had the biggest evil smile on his face. "Get him, guys!" At Bowser's command, Rindo and Fret pulled out a giant sack and ran towards Reaper, engulfing the mercenary with it.

"Hey! What the..." Reaper was caught off-guard as Rindo and Fret stuffed him inside the sack. Reaper tried to fight out, but to no avail, as Rindo and Fret carried the sack over to Bowser, Nagi, and Sho.

"Excellent work, you two!" Sho commended Rindo and Fret, as Reaper was shouting out all sorts of profanities while he was trapped inside the sack. "Alright, Bowser, we found the Reaper...where should we take him?"

"Would say the mansion, but that would make us suspicious," replied Bowser, before remembering one important factor that caused him to change his mind. "But Master Hand isn't around, though...let's take him to my room!"


The question on everyone's mind was, where exactly was Master Hand? The giant hand hadn't been seen by anyone since last Friday evening, and while some didn't care that he was gone, others were curious about his whereabouts. One resident in the latter group was Tom Nook, who stopped by Master Hand's room along with Link to see that the door was locked.

"Master Hand's room has been locked since he disappeared...very suspicious," Tom Nook discussed with Link, as Cortex crept around the corner. Snake was also creeping around the corner, but he had a more attentive ear.

"Yeah, he usually doesn't disappear randomly like this," remarked Link, who tried to call Master Hand multiple times - only to realize that Master Hand seldom had a phone on in. Unless he stole some stranger's phone to call someone.

"Think I might know where Master Hand is," Snake said to Link and Tom Nook as he approached the Hylian and tanuki, about to spill some tea. "Apparently, he's in Japan..."

"For the Olympics?" asked Tom Nook, completely baffled that Master Hand would even do such a thing. Guess he didn't know Master Hand that well. "And he didn't even bother to bring the rest of us?! I know that we're growing in numbers, but..."

"Well...he's not really there for the Olympics. He wanted to spend his two-week 'honeymoon' with that ugly statue of Mario. Goldie. I really wish that I was kidding..."

Snake: Master Hand already mapped out his plans in Tokyo with Goldie that night. One of the items he mentioned on his to-do list was to get "married" to Goldie. I hope that there's some chick named Goldie somewhere in Tokyo, 'cause otherwise...I think it's a bad idea. But hey, who am I to judge?

"But yeah, he said he'll take all of us to Tokyo for the Olympics," Snake said to Link and Tom Nook, as Cortex crept closer to the former spy and the others. "State of emergency notwithstanding."

"Master Hand will be away for two weeks?" inquired Cortex, before smiling as he rubbed his hands together in true villain fashion. "Good to know..."

"If you plan on stealing Master Hand's credit card, then don't bother," Link discouraged Cortex, who was still rubbing his hands for he had plans aside from stealing credit cards. "The room is locked."

"No matter - I do not need some measly credit card anyways." Done scheming, Cortex walked away so he could put his supposedly evil plans into action. "You three carry on."

"I wonder, how is Master Hand even able to afford a credit card?" wondered Tom Nook; he had always wondered for the longest how Master Hand was able to stay financially affluent. "How rich even is he?"

"Master Hand...doesn't like to talk about that kind of stuff," admitted Link, knowing how very secretive Master Hand was when it came to financial matters. That only made Tom Nook even more curious.

"Oh he doesn't, does he? He must have some skeletons in his closet." Finding himself in an investigative mood, Tom Nook was now deadset on discovering where Master Hand got most of his money from.

"I mean, he used to steal money from Star Records - that has to mean something. Bet he still does it, even to this very day." And that was Tom Nook's first course of action - to speak with Star Records.

"Well, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. Maybe I should speak with them..." So Tom Nook left the premises, as he looked to have some eye-opening discussions with Fox, Falco, and Itsuki. As well as any Star Records talent that wished to open up about Master Hand.

"Tom Nook I wouldn't do that I...were you..." Link trailed off as he watched Tom Nook walk away, shaking his head a few seconds later. "...poor guy has no idea how much trouble he'll get himself in."


In the previous episode, Lloyd got back together with his childhood friend, Colette, and Colette entertained the thought of visiting the mansion. The blonde went through on her promise, and she was hanging out with Lloyd at Cafe Leblanc. Pit was watching Lloyd and Colette from behind the counter, smiling like a proud papa.

"Turns out, Dingodile wasn't trying to compete with us with his diner," Lloyd said to Colette, telling her the details about his food delivery service. "We were just in over our heads."

"And you still took his money anyway?" Colette asked Lloyd, as she couldn't imagine her childhood friend being a thief. Lloyd found himself in a pickle as he bit his bottom lip, a droplet of sweat running down his face.

"Dingodile's food gave people health problems...we were just teaching him a lesson." Lloyd let out a small sigh of relief, as Colette gave him a knowing smile. Now Colette could think of Lloyd as an upstanding guy who looked out for his fellow man.

"Isn't it great to see love in the air, Joker?" Pit asked the young man, who was minding his own business, focused on his job. Something that Pit himself should be doing.

"The coffee machine is still running," Joker pointed out to Pit, who looked over and saw coffee spilling onto the floor. Pit shrieked as he tried to turn off the coffee machine but to no avail.

Wolf: Is it safe to say that I have...peaked? I only agreed to work with Lloyd just to make him look stupid - that's why I had Pit buy that literature club game. But now thanks to me, Lloyd and Colette are an item! Maybe I should just give up on his matchmaking thing... *pauses, then starts laughing* ...no way am I doing that! There's still plenty of people to mess with. Ganondorf got back together with Rosalina; perhaps I should lead him astray.

Lloyd wasn't the only person in a very lovey-dovey mood as of late, for Sora was about to go on a date with Kairi. The Keyblade wielder entered the cafe, needing a cup of coffee to keep him energized and alert.

"One cup of coffee, please," Sora said to Joker as he sat on one of the barstools near the counter. Joker went to the back to fetch an already-prepared cup of coffee, as Pit was struggling to turn the coffee machine off.

"Joker, I think this coffee machine might have a mind of his own!" Pit alerted the young man, screaming for a moment or two as the hot coffee got all over his pants and legs. "Or maybe I used too many coffee beans..."

"Told you to stop doing that," responded Joker, as he came over to Sora with a cup of coffee that he gave to the Keyblade wielder. "Here's your cup of coffee, Sora. Don't try to waste it."

"Much appreciated, thanks!" Sora thanked Joker as he took a sip of his coffee, before smiling as he exhaled in much relief. "Gonna need this coffee if I wanna be on my A-game for my date."

"got yourself a date, huh?" Sans asked Sora; he didn't even need to ask who Sora was going on a date with, the answer was far too obvious. "you always got the key to kairi's heart, i tell ya."

"Right..." Sora eyed around the cafe, before turning his attention back to Joker. He had no time for any of Sans' silly puns. "...so Joker, you've been on a date before, right?"

"Went on a date with Makoto last year, it was a great experience," replied Joker, as he recalled his date with Makoto like it was yesterday. Major props to Minato for originally setting it up on Makoto's birthday. "We had a whole restaurant all to ourselves."

"A restaurant all to yourselves?! That must've been pretty cool. How much convincing did you have to do?" Sora believed that Joker found a way to finesse the restaurant staff...but that wasn't the case.

"Um...not a lot. Everything was decided in advance." That was not what Sora wanted to hear, as the Keyblade wielder snapped his fingers in disgust. "I mean, a little noise at your date wouldn't hurt..."

"No, no, it's fine - I just want this date with Kairi to go perfectly. Riku thinks I might screw things up, but I want to prove him wrong."

"But which is more important...proving your friend wrong, or ensuring that Kairi has the time of her life?" Joker had Sora deep in thought, as he juggled the two propositions in his mind. Sora had to think about priorities here.

"If I were you, I'd go with proving your friend wrong," Pit said to Sora after he finally got the coffee machine to stop going berserk. Joker frowned at Pit, who threw his arms up in innocence. "But hey man, you just do you..."

"You should ask Lloyd for advice; he went on a date recently." Joker heard Pit say all sorts of great things about Lloyd's date - and he never thought he would ever hear the end of it. "He could give you a few pointers."

"Oh really?" Grabbing his cup of coffee, Sora went over to Lloyd and Colette as he had a few questions to ask Lloyd. "Okay, Lloyd, any tips you wanna share with me? Don't need any fashion tips, though."

"All I can say is...never bring a dating simulator to life before your date," Lloyd gave this piece of advice to Sora, who had absolutely no idea what to do with it as he furrowed his brow. "Just some food for thought."

"Um...thanks for the info!" Now knowing what to do at his date (somewhat), Sora slurped down the rest of his coffee and left the cafe full of confidence. "Wish me luck, you guys!"

"Wait, Sora! I forgot to mention one more thing!" Lloyd shouted as he ran out of the cafe, just after Sora had left. "Be on the lookout for animatronics! Meh, he probably ignored me..."


Preparations for Crash's surprise party were underway, as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were setting up stuff in the ballroom. Sonic asked Zelda for permission to use the ballroom, and the princess obliged.

"You think that Crash would even remember that his birthday happened?" Cloud asked Zelda, as the swordsman and the princess were watching Sonic and company doing their thing. Cloud and Zelda would've left it alone, had the party been planned by someone other than Sonic.

"Come on, Cloud, he isn't that dumb," replied Zelda, before having to take back her words as some memories of Crash's stupidity ran through her head. "Then again, he does have trouble zipping his pants, even to this day..."

"I think he just prefers to leave his fly down. He's disgusting like that." Cloud suddenly felt something bop against the back of his head, and he saw that it was a giant balloon...of Crash. "What the..."

"Sorry Cloud," Tails apologized to the swordsman, as he carried the giant Crash balloon to the center of the ballroom while holding the string. "I asked Sonic to make the balloons smaller, but he wouldn't listen."

"You're dang right I wouldn't listen!" Sonic called out to Tails, as he was inflating a giant Wumpa fruit balloon with a pump. Where on earth did he get all these Crash-themed balloons from? "Size matters, you know!"

"Sonic, don't pump so hard, you're going to..." Zelda tried to warn the hedgehog, but it was too late as Sonic inflated the balloon to the point where it popped. The impact was so big and so loud, that the windows in the ballroom broke.

"Oops...glad that Master Hand wasn't around to witness this!" was all Sonic had to say, as there was broken glass at every inch of the ballroom. "Can one of you guys clean this place up? Knuckles?"

"Why do I have to do all the crappy duties?" complained Knuckles, as he grabbed a broom and dustpan and got to work sweeping the glass off the floor. "This is how you keep a real one down?"

Sonic: Knuckles a real one... *laughs* ...what a jokester he is! The dude would literally fake his own death just for the attention. And maybe even money, too. I'm not talking about that planned murder scene two years ago; Knuckles tried to jump in front of a car and take it "like a man", but punked out at the very last second. What a wuss!
Knuckles: *angrily confronts Sonic, glaring at him* You were saying something?
Sonic:
What I meant to say was...you're an awesome role model for men everywhere!
Knuckles: That's what I thought. *walks away, while still keeping an eye on Sonic.
Sonic: *whispering* Between you and me... *leans in close to the camera* ...Knuckles is a role model. But for wusses only.

"Some party-planning this is supposed to be..." someone grumbled, as Cloud and Zelda looked around for where the voice came from. Cloud looked to the back of the ballroom and saw a girl wearing a black hoodie standing against the wall a few feet away from the swordsman.

"Did you...sneak your way inside the ballroom?" Cloud asked the black hoodie girl, as he and Zelda gave her some attention. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Only a couple of minutes. I'm surprised it took you that long to notice me." The girl moved closer to Cloud and Zelda, but not to the point where Sonic and his friends could see her. "I'm Shoka Sakurune - I'm in charge of the Reapers' Game."

"Reapers'...Game?" Zelda furrowed her brow, as she was terribly out of the loop about what the Reapers' Game was. On the other hand, Cloud wasn't nearly as out of the loop as the princess was.

"You must know Neku," the swordsman said to Shoka, whose face had brightened up. A small accomplishment for Cloud since Shoka appeared to be pretty stoic and chill. "I think he's part of the Reapers' Game. Is he not?"

"Ah, I see that you and Neku have crossed paths," Shoka marveled at Cloud, finding herself somewhat impressed with the swordsman. "Interesting."

"Sonic! Hutch and I have acquired the bounce house!" Toon Link alerted the hedgehog as he knocked on the ballroom door. Zelda pinched the crown of her nose - was a bounce house for Crash's surprise birthday party even that necessary? "How can we fit it inside?"

"Aw shucks, you inflated that thing already?" groaned Sonic, fearing that the buddy cops might've potentially ruined the surprise - unless they sneaked the bounce house inside. "Take it to your police station and deflate it. I can't have you spoil anything!"

"Um, is there a Reapers' Game already taking place?" Zelda asked Shoka, as the sound of the buddy cops moving the bounce house away was heard from behind the ballroom door.

"Yep - there's one taking place in the city," replied Shoka as she placed a hand on her hip. Sounded like she was bored of the Reapers' Game right before it even began! "I've been told that a new Reaper is joining the game."

"A new Reaper...joining the game? Oh goodness, please don't tell me that they're in the mansion...they must be."


Indeed, there was a Reaper inside the mansion...Reaper, of Overwatch fame. The mercenary was carried in a large sack by the Wicked Twisters to Bowser's room, where Bowser commanded the four to tie Reaper up in a chair.

"This isn't funny, Bowser," Reaper said to the Koopa King, sitting in a chair as his hands and legs were tied together. The mercenary couldn't believe that he let the Wicked Twisters tie him up with little to no trouble. "Once I get out, I'm gonna kill you!"

"Haha! You're so funny when you make those empty death threats," Bowser laughed at Reaper as he wiped away a tear from his eye. It really hurt Reaper's ego, for Bowser to laugh in his face.

"All you have to do is play by our rules, and we'll set you free," Sho said to Reaper, staring at the mercenary with a smile as he cracked his knuckles. "For now, you'll be our least common denominator."

"I don't give a crap, I just want to get this over with." Reaper was starting to lose his patience, and the Wicked Twisters had yet to do anything. "Unless you want to end up dying with Bowser..."

"Hey, chill out, big guy, relax!" Fret said to Reaper, as his smile didn't do much to quell the mercenary's increasing bloodlust. "We'll be done with you sooner than you know it."

"We just have a few questions that we want to ask," Rindo said to Reaper, who was willing to answer any question if it meant getting free quicker. "How about you tell us your name first?"

"My name is Reaper," Reaper gave out his name to Rindo and the Wicked Twisters, and none of them seemed that convinced. "Was that not good enough for you? Or are you hard of hearing?"

"I mean, we know that you're a Reaper; Bowser already said you were one," stated Nagi; Reaper growled under his breath, for he knew that he would have a very hard time with the Wicked Twisters. "So what's your name?"

"Oh I get it...you want to know my birth name." Reaper seldom provided his name to others, choosing to keep his identity a secret for his own reasons. "Try as hard as you might, I won't tell you what it is..."

"Alright, Reaper, if that's the game you wanna play..." frowned Bowser as he took out his phone, before shoving his device in Reaper's face. "...then get a load of this, bub!"

"Is that...is that supposed to be Winston?!" Reaper was subjected to a video that Bowser was playing on his phone, and it showed Winston - or a gorilla resembling Winston - doing an act so disgusting and unspeakable, it dared not to be mentioned. "Get it away, I beg of you!"

Bowser: Saw Winston doing some very questionable crap with a leftover turkey after last year's Thanksgiving dinner, and I got it all on film! *holds up his phone* The content of the video is a little out there, I'll say; Samus was the only other person to have seen it, aside from me. Her reaction was truly something else; never have I seen a woman like her throw up so much before.

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you my name!" shouted Reaper as Bowser ended the video and put his phone away. The Wicked Twisters all looked relieved, as the sounds from the video almost made them nauseous. "My name...is Gabriel Reyes."

"Gabriel Reyes, huh?" said Rindo as he looked towards Sho, who was smirking under his hood and nodding his head. "We got ourselves a Mexican Reaper on our hands. Pretty nice, I guess."

"Very much so, this guy might be one in a decillion," remarked Sho, feeling like he was one step closer with Reaper. "Fret, check to see if this hectopascal has his phone with him.

"I would highly advise you not to do that," Reaper advised Fret, who followed Sho's command as he grabbed Reaper's phone, which he found on the mercenary's belt holster. "Whatever happened to following directions..."

"Woah dude, sick phone case!" Fret said to Reaper with a smile, as he was digging the skull on Reaper's black phone case. Suddenly, the phone started ringing, and Fret had no idea what to do.

"What are you standing around for, answer it!" Rindo told Fret, who saw that Mario was apparently calling Reaper. Curious as to how Reaper even had Mario's contact info, Fret answered the call.

"H-Hello...?" Fret spoke into the phone, which he put on speakerphone. Mario could be calling Reaper for just about anything - and whatever request he had to make left for a lot of concern.

"Reaper, are you there? I have-a another emergency," said Mario, as Reaper was muttering under his breath. What sort of "emergency" could Mario possibly have this time. "I've been trying on my new-a pants, and since I forgot to put-a on some underwear, the zipper got caught-a in my..."

"END THE CALL, END IT NOW!" Bowser shouted at Fret, who frantically ended the call. The Koopa King was hyperventilating, hoping that he saved Reaper and the Wicked Twisters from having a disturbing image play out in their minds.

"Wow, Mario is a...very unique individual," remarked Nagi, not realizing that the phone call just now was only scratching the surface of how Mario was.

"Yes, and I deeply regret ever giving him my number," said Reaper, as he reflected on the other horrible life decisions he had made in the past. "Now hurry up with my phone!"

"Give me a sec..." said Fret as he glossed through the apps on Reaper's phone - and Reaper honestly didn't have that many. However, Fret noticed that one app was missing. "...hold up, this guy doesn't even have the RNS app!"

"He doesn't?" Sho clenched his teeth as he, Rindo, and Nagi huddled around Fret. The Wicked Twisters looked at Reaper's phone, seeing that the RNS app required to play the Reapers' Game was nowhere to be found.

"Is that supposed to be a bad thing?" inquired Bowser, fearing that the goodwill he established with the Wicked Twisters was thrown out of the door. That seemed to be the case, as Sho was shaking his fists.

"What's the big deal, Bowser?" Sho confronted the Koopa King, ready to accuse him of wasting his time. "Is this guy really a Reaper or not? He doesn't even have the app, for crying out loud!"

"Maybe...maybe he deleted the app, just to throw you guys off his scent!" A plausible theory from Bowser, but nothing that Sho and the Wicked Twisters would believe. "Mind games, bro. He's calculating like that."

"Mind games, really? Is that what it is? Well, Bowser...I sure hope you're ready to calculate this fist!" Sho winded up his fist for a sucker punch, and Bowser saw it coming from a mile away.

"Oh no, you don't!" Refusing to let Sho lay a finger on him, Bowser charged up his fire breath and unleashed a fireball from his mouth. Sho and the others ducked, but Bowser terribly missed as the fireball struck the rope that held Reaper together.

"Hehehe...much obliged, Bowser," Reaper thanked the Koopa King, finally free as the rope burned to ashes. "I'll be seeing you punks...in the shadows."

"In the shadows, what...?" Rindo furrowed his brow, confused by what Reaper meant, only for Reaper to disappear into the shadows. "Woah. Now that was some next-level stuff."

"Where did he go?" questioned Sho as he looked around Bowser's room as if Reaper was going to magically reappear or something. He soon took his frustration to Bowser. "You have a lot of questions to answer, tough guy!"

"Well, I'm sorry that Reaper...I mean, Gabriel...decided to be difficult," responded Bowser, as he did not wish to tarnish the goodwill he established with the Wicked Twisters. "But he's still a Reaper, at the end of the day!"

"We will have to see about that..." Sho turned his attention to Rindo, Fret, and Nagi, as his skepticism was building. "...look alive, you three. We got a potential Reaper on the loose..."


Fox and Falco were unable to have negotiations with Gex, who claimed that he had "important matters" to take care of. With negotiations on hold, Fox and Falco convened in the Star Records room, where they were having financial discussions about Tom Nook.

"Master Hand used to steal our money every week," Fox explained to Tom Nook, who was listening to every word the pilot and Falco said. "Then Itsuki sold that Lamborghini...and that was the end of that. The man was a lifesaver."

"Why didn't you boys sell the Lamborghini yourselves?" Tom Nook asked Fox and Falco, who both looked around appearing afraid. "Are you that afraid of Master Hand?"

"No...it's, it's complicated," replied Falco as he nervously scratched the back of his head. "You probably wouldn't understand."

Falco: I'd be lying if I sat here and told you that I never had nightmares of Master Hand. I get a nightmare about Master Hand almost every other week! I tell Master Hand all about them, and he considers it a "good thing". What...

"But yeah, we don't know where Master Hand gets his money from," Fox said to Tom Nook, hoping that he wasn't putting a huge damper on the tanuki's ongoing investigation. "The way he stole from us made us believe that he was secretly broke."

"But he can't be broke - he has to pay for all the mansion's bills," stated Tom Nook, before he suddenly recalled Master Hand's reluctance on paying the mansion's second mortgage bill. A very bad sign in retrospect. "Do you know if he has a bank account?"

"If he did, we would've known about it already. Heck, he wouldn't have any incentive to steal our money from us!"

"Fox, Falco, we're all done with filming the last episode of Force Five," Itsuki informed the pilots as he entered the Star Records room, looking exhausted. "Dovahkiin kinda went off the rails during his makeout scene, but we subdued him in time."

"Makeout scene? Who was he even making out with?" Falco frowned at Itsuki as he cringed along with Fox and Tom Nook, before removing the image of Dovahkiin being romantic out of his mind. "Why'd I bother asking..."

"Itsuki! Just the man I needed to speak with," Tom Nook said to the young man, who came over to see what Tom Nook wanted with him. "I'm trying to find out where Master Hand gets his money from."

"Well, I'm afraid you're asking the wrong guy...I'm just a man in charge of a record label." Itsuki saw that Tom Nook was looking all disappointed, and the young man formed a wily smile. "But I do know a Star Records employee who can spill some of the tea."

"Like who?" Tom Nook looked up at Itsuki with a renewed hope, as one name instantly came to mind. "You don't mean...Ayaha Oribe?"

"Star Records secretary, and one of Master Hand's 'side chicks'? I think she's hanged out with Master Hand long enough to know a few secrets."

"I bet that Ayaha would have LOTS of stories to tell about Master Hand," said Fox, who was amazed that Ayaha was able to deal with Master Hand for as long as she has. "Especially with him gone."

"Go and speak with Ayaha, whenever you have a chance," Itsuki suggested to Tom Nook, who was more than ready to ask Ayaha a few - or maybe even several - questions. "She might have plenty to tell you..."


Despite asking Kairi out on a date, Sora was highly unprepared; the Keyblade wielder didn't even book a reservation for his date. Thankfully, Mario came through for Sora and Kairi, as he knew the perfect restaurant in town to take the couple to.

"Thanks for the ride, Mario," Kairi thanked the plumber, who led the red-haired girl and Sora to a restaurant called Canlis. Does that name sound familiar to some of you. "And thanks for picking out the restaurant, too."

"Yeah, I didn't know that you had to reserve a spot for your date," Sora sheepishly admitted, using his pre-planning blunder as a learning lesson for any future date with Kairi. "But hey, the more you know..."

"I'm just upset-a that I couldn't wear my new pants," lamented Mario, who was wearing his usual overalls attire. The plumber wanted to style and profile in public so bad, but his dreams were unfortunately dashed. "But yeah, you're welcome. Heard a voice whisper in-a my ear this morning, saying that you guys should have-a your date here...it was weird."

Mario: How did it turn-a out with trying on the new pants? Let's just say that I had to shave-a off most of my public hair...

"Canlis restaurant, eh?" Sora uttered the name of the restaurant as he, Kairi, and Mario reached the establishment. Remarkably, there was no one inside the restaurant. "You and Peach must've had a date here once."

"No, but Dixie Kong and-a Shadow the Hedgehog did," replied Mario, as Sora and Kairi both gave the plumber weird looks. The thought of Dixie and Shadow on a date, let alone Shadow even going on a date, perplexed them. "It's a long-a story."

"...let's just hurry on inside." Refusing to hear any more weird stuff, Sora opened the restaurant door...only for the restaurant door to be opened from the inside. And guess who opened it? Gex, who was dressed up as a waiter.

"Well, well, well...if it isn't the lovebirds," Gex smiled when he saw Sora and Kairi, before turning his attention to Mario a second later. "And Mario! Two's company, but three's definitely a crowd. Get with it, Mario!"

"There doesn't seem to be anyone inside," observed Kairi as she took a peek inside Canlis, seeing how unoccupied it was. Almost gave her an eerie feeling. "Are you the only person here?"

"I was until you all showed up. If you must know, this restaurant isn't supposed to open till five. But I booked this whole place ahead of time."

"It doesn't open-a until five?" questioned Mario, having now learned of this information. Sora and Kairi both exchanged concerned looks with one another. "Whoopsie daisy..."

"Relax, Mario! I just knew that you would be taking loverboy and his girl to this restaurant, so I got everything nice and tidy." That statement from Gex only made Sora and Kairi even more concerned. "Guess you could say that I have a sixth sense."

Sora: We got the restaurant all to ourselves...we got a whole restaurant all to ourselves! I mean, it would be nice to have some background noise, but at least our date will feel more intimate.

"Follow me, you two - I will take you to your table," Gex said to Sora and Kairi as he led the couple away; Mario was following behind, only for Gex to stop him in his tracks. "Stay in your lane, Jumpman..."

"Okay, I'll just sit-a here in the back," Mario said to Gex, being as non-confrontational as possible as he found a stool to sit on. The plumber watched as Gex took Sora and Kairi to their table.

"Before you lovebirds ask, I'll be providing a little special entertainment - just to lighten up the mood. It'll be like David Bowie playing at Freddie Mercury's house...a truly memorable performance!"


The Wicked Twisters had some unfinished business with Reaper, as they had yet to officially confirm if the mercenary was part of the Reapers' Game or not. Bowser accompanied the group to the gaming room, where Sho stood at the entrance and took out his megaphone.

"We are searching for a man by the name of Gabriel Reyes!" Sho shouted into his megaphone, as he caught the attention of everyone in the gaming room. He commanded everyone's attention just like how Master Hand usually did. "Have any one of you seen him?"

"Even with Master Hand gone, we still find a way to attract weirdos to this place..." grumbled Samus, ignoring Sho as she went back to the magazine she was reading. Overhearing Samus, Sho marched over to the bounty hunter with his megaphone in her ear.

"Have you seen Gabriel Reyes?" The amplification of Sho's voice from the megaphone nearly caused Samus' eardrum to burst. Now irritated, Samus put her magazine away as she stood up and confronted Sho.

"Now look at what you've done..." Rindo said to Sho, who was feeling intimidated as Samus took out her plasma whip. "...really ticked off the wrong person."

"One bad move, and he's done for," remarked Nagi, having zero faith that Sho could even stand a chance against Samus. Bowser would come in to save the day, as he stepped in-between Samus and Sho.

"Take it easy Samus, he's just a visitor!" Bowser said to the bounty hunter, who kept glaring at Sho as she put her plasma whip away. "He's just looking for some Mexican dude. I'm sure you know plenty!"

"Excuse me?" Meta Knight perked up, hoping that Bowser wasn't referring to him. The Star Warrior took notice of the Wicked Twisters, and absolutely wanted no part of them.

"Gabriel Reyes, do you know him?" Bowser asked Samus, before leaning in real close to the bounty hunter and whispering to her, "Please say yes, I don't want to ruin the trust I built with these guys..."

"I would say yes, but...I won't," replied Samus as she grabbed her magazine and walked away from Bowser. Bowser refused to let Samus get away, so he had to think of something fast to reel her back in.

"Say, Samus, you know Gabriel's friend, don't you? Sombra, is that her name?" The mere mention of Sombra caused Samus to stop in place, as Bowser had her right where he wanted her. "Would be a shame if I were to send that video of Winston to her...from your phone."

"Alright, where should I start searching first?" Samus turned around and approached Bowser, willing to do whatever to prevent Sombra from seeing that unflattering video. Bowser smirked, for his plan was a success.

"You probably know Reaper...erm, Gabriel, better than I do. Why don't you start looking around dark places, I don't know? Like the basement or something?"

"Reaper hanging out in the basement with the Rabbids...right." Samus would leave the gaming room, as she began her search for Reaper. "You and your silly generalizations, Bowser."

"You guys got a feeling that this Gabriel guy might be a dud?" Rindo quietly discussed with Fret and Nagi; Nagi had the same suspicions earlier, but no one bothered to listen to her.


Reaper was maneuvering through the mansion, looking for a place where he could hide before making his leave. As he went through the hallways, the mercenary ducked inside a closet, as he saw the buddy cops heading in his direction.

"Can't we just...puncture a hole in this thing?" Toon Link asked Young Link, as the buddy cops were dragging the bounce house down the hallway. They could've deflated it already, but...

"Maybe if you hadn't broken the air pump...we wouldn't be in this predicament!" Young Link fired back, as he struggled to move the bounce house. Once the buddy cops were out of sight, Reaper emerged from the closet.

Toon Link: No, I didn't break the air pump on purpose - luckily I have some common sense. What I did was try and pump some air into my body, just to see if I would turn into a balloon. You know, just like those characters on those classic cartoons. But I screwed up somewhere along the way...and I broke the air pump by accident. Now, what was I saying about having common sense?

With the buddy cops gone, Reaper pressed forward until he reached the ballroom. He saw Lloyd and Colette standing behind the ballroom door, with Lloyd giving the door a good knock.

"Hello, it's us! Lloyd and Colette!" shouted Lloyd, and a few seconds later, Zelda opened the ballroom door ever so slightly as she peeked at Lloyd and Collete. "Is it cool if we hang out here?"

"Just promise not to mess with the party decorations," replied Zelda, as she let Lloyd and Colette inside the ballroom. The princess was about to close the ballroom door, only for Reaper to quickly come over. "Reaper...?"

"You have to let me inside..." Reaper pleaded to Zelda as he turned around to see if anyone was behind him. "...I think that Bowser and his new friends are after me." Zelda never would've imagined a guy like Reaper being scared of someone, but she had witnessed stranger things before.

"Are your guns loaded?" Zelda only asked this as a precaution, and deep down she knew that Reaper wouldn't answer. "Oh, whatever, come on in..." So Zelda allowed Reaper inside the ballroom, before closing the door behind her.

Inside the ballroom, there were Crash-inspired decorations at every inch. Lots of orange decorations afoot, and it was a lot for Reaper to take in. As Reaper chilled in the back of the ballroom, Sonic was speaking with Crash's siblings, Coco and Crunch.

"Now are you guys fine with how the party looks?" Sonic asked Coco and Crunch, having brought the bandicoots over for their consensus. "You really broke those buddy cops' hearts, turning down the bounce house like that."

"We all know that Crash would've hogged that bounce house for himself," replied Crunch, fully aware that Crash had no sense of self-control. Or any care for others. "It was for the best."

"What's with the giant big screen?" Coco asked Sonic, as she looked up at a big screen that was at the front of the ballroom. "Are you gonna be showing a video at Crash's birthday party?"

"It's a clip-show that I put together myself," explained Sonic as he held up a long USB cord that was connected to the big screen. "It'll have all the fun memories of Crash! I'll be featured a lot, just a spoiler..."

"Crash sure is having a huge birthday party," observed Reaper, fantasying the idea of ruining Crash's surprise party just for his own amusement. The mercenary's phone suddenly rang, and at this point, it was kinda obvious who was calling. "Not again..."

"You guys hear some death metal?" Cloud asked Zelda and Shoka, whom he was hanging out with before he looked over and saw Reaper grabbing his phone. "Ah, Reaper. He got a party invite...?"

"I kinda let him in," confessed Zelda, with Reaper's death metal ringtone coming to an end as Reaper answered the call. Take a wild guess who was calling.

"Hi, Reaper, it's-a me again!" Mario greeted Reaper, as he had yet another "emergency" for the mercenary to handle. "I'm at the Canlis restaurant; Sora and Kairi are both on-a their date. Can you check-a to see if I left-a my oven on?"

"No," answered Reaper, as he was straight, simple, and to the point. That was the best way to answer any request. "And tell Kairi that she's an idiot for even taking a chance with Sora. Goodbye." Reaper ended the call and put his phone away, and just when he thought he'd be left alone...

"Your name is Reaper...right?" Shoka approached Reaper, who was startled as he jumped back a bit. Seeing Reaper startled was a rare sight for anyone. "Mind if I see your phone?"

"Everybody wants to see my phone today..." Reaper took out his phone and placed it in the palm of Shoka's open hand. Shoka went through Reaper's phone, alarmed by the tiny amount of apps the mercenary had.

"Ah, so it seems that you don't have the RNS app. Good to know." Done with Reaper's phone, Shoka handed the device back to the mercenary. "One more question, before I leave you alone...you know anyone named Shiba? Or anyone in the Reapers' Game?"

"Got no clue who Shiba is, but I'd probably kill him if we ever met." Of course, Reaper wouldn't pass up the opportunity to kill someone whether it was warranted or not. "Also, what is this 'Reapers' Game'?"

"So you don't know what it is, huh..." Having learned a lot about Reaper, Shoka nodded her head. "...then that means you're not the new Reaper I've been hearing about. By the way, why is your name Reaper?"

"...it's to hide my identity. I can tell you the real reason, if you must know..."


Sora and Kairi were enjoying their date at Canlis, for the most part, and Mario was keeping to himself at the back of the restaurant to ensure that the date was going smoothly. Gex was surprisingly pleasant as a waiter (and special entertainment), accommodating Sora and Kairi's every need.

"Care for a refill, my lady?" Gex asked Kairi as he came over to the table with a pitcher of strawberry lemonade. "This pitcher's getting heavy, so I would like a response ASAP..."

"I'll have a refill, thank you," Kairi replied with a smile, as Gex poured some strawberry lemonade into the red-haired girl's glass. Putting the pitcher away, Gex sighed in relief as he returned to the table to speak with Sora.

"How's your second order of flounder coming along, good sir?" Gex asked Sora, resting his elbow on the Keyblade wielder's shoulder. Sora appeared to be enjoying his fish, slicing it to his heart's content.

"It's a halibut...but yeah, I'm enjoying it," replied Sora; Gex smacked himself on the forehead, feeling stupid for poorly identifying Sora's fish. "The seat lettuce is very crisp, though!"

"Flounder, halibut...it's all the same to me." Done serving Sora and Kairi, Gex went over to the drum kit where he provided his special entertainment. "Back to the drum solos, kiddies!"

Mario: Gex's drum-a playing aside, I'm digging how this date-a is turning out. Sora is having a good-a time, and Kairi is as well. I consider it a win-win all-a around!

As Gex played the drums - albeit softly, so he wouldn't ruin the mood - Mario heard someone knocking at the door. The plumber went over to the door and saw not one, but two men standing behind it.

"Hello, how may I help-a you?" Mario quietly asked the two men after he opened the door. He could tell that both men were ticked.

"Hi, Mario - I'm the Canlis manager," one of the men introduced himself to Mario, as he recognized the plumber right off the bat. As anyone else would. "This is my head chef. Is Gex here?"

"Yes, he is; there's a date going on, so he's running this place." The thought of Gex running Canlis made the manager and chef even more ticked. "Are you two not-a aware...?"

"No, we're not aware! Not sure if you were aware, but Canlis wasn't supposed to open until five o'clock. It's literally two-thirty!"

"Five o'clock? Oh, I didn't know...I'm so sorry. My friend-a just wanted to go on a date. I should've checked Canlis' opening times..."

"It's fine, you're not in the wrong here. But Gex...where is he?" The manager poked his head inside Canlis, on the hunt for Gex. "Why do I hear someone playing the drums?"

"That would-a be Gex..." With no more room to talk, the manager stormed inside along with the chef, pushing Mario out of the way. Gex was playing the drums, only to stop when the manager and chef approached him.

"Well, well, looks like I've accrued a crowd!" exclaimed Gex, as the manager and chef were staring the lizard down. "Care for a..." The manager grabbed Gex by his neck, squeezing it real tight, and wrangled him.

"Why did the music stop?" wondered Sora, before he and Kairi looked over and saw the manager wrangling Gex while the chef looked on. "Uh oh, Gex needs our help!"

"I don't think you should...get involved," Kairi tried to tell Sora, who didn't listen to his girlfriend as he took out his Keyblade and confronted the manager. Things could only head south from here.

"Alright, buddy, what's the big deal?" Sora asked the manager, who stopped wrangling Gex as he turned his attention to the Keyblade wielder. "Gex was trying to make our date feel perfect until you showed up!"

"You may not know this, kid, but Gex took over this restaurant without anyone's permission!" the manager explained to Sora, as he allowed some air to re-enter Gex's lungs. "Canlis was supposed to be closed!"

"We even saw him sneak inside, too," added the chef, as Sora refused to believe either the chef or the manager. "When we tried to boot him from the restaurant...he locked us out!"

"No way..." uttered Sora, who was feeling betrayed as he looked at Gex. Gex was hyperventilating so much, he had no time to prove his innocence.

"Mama mia, how could-a this be?" wondered Mario as he came over, just as shocked by the news as Sora and Kairi were. "Gex, is this all true?"

"If you must know, Mario, I saw Gex sneak inside your house during my morning jog," the chef said to the plumber, whose jaw nearly fell to the floor. "That's when I knew he was up to no good."

"Pardon-a me, but may I see Gex?" Mario asked the manager, who kindly offered Gex to the plumber...and Mario wrangled Gex just like how the manager did.

"Look, Mario, it was nothing personal!" Gex tried to explain to Mario, but Mario wasn't having any of it as he slapped the lizard silly. "I just wanted to be one step ahead of the curve!"

"I don't-a care, you still sneaked inside-a my house! You were the whispering voice-a that I heard this morning! What's wrong-a with you?!" Mario slapped Gex like there was no tomorrow, and it bugged Sora and Kairi out seeing the plumber so incensed.

"I'll be right back..." the chef said to Mario and the manager as he ran to the Canlis kitchen, returning seconds later with a skillet. "...here's a skillet, Mario."

"Thanks," Mario accepted the skillet from the chef and used it to beat Gex senselessly. Sora just stood there, dumbfounded by the turn the events, as Kairi came over to the Keyblade wielder.

"I guess that our date is over, huh?" Kairi asked Sora, seeing that the lizard responsible for ensuring that the date went well was exposed.

"Seems like it..." Sora sighed in response, as the recent revelation about Gex put a damper on things. At least he had a restaurant to himself for his date...?


Anxiously waiting to speak with Ayaha, Tom Nook encountered the Star Records secretary outside the mansion, sitting at a picnic table. Ayaha was busy writing some stuff down when she saw Tom Nook coming over.

"Tom Nook, hello!" Ayaha greeted the tanuki, who sat next to the secretary on the picnic table. "I was just writing up my to-do list for tomorrow."

"I won't be taking up too much of your time, I promise," Tom Nook said to Ayaha, as he had a few pressing questions to ask. "Do you know where Master Hand gets his money from?"

"Aw, I wish I did...Master Hand is very secretive about how or where he gets his money from. Isabelle doesn't seem to know either."

"She doesn't? Welp, so much for asking her..." Tom Nook thought for sure that Ayaha would lead him in the right direction, but things were looking bleak at the moment. Tom Nook wasn't throwing in the towel just yet, though. "...do you know if Master Hand even has a bank account?"

"He did mention having a bank account once. But there's one small detail he mentioned about it...t's been frozen for five years."

"He has a frozen bank account?" Everything was starting to make sense to Tom Nook; the picture was becoming clearer to him. "How long has it been frozen?"

"If I remember correctly, it's been frozen since December 22, 2015." December 22, 2015? That's two days before the first episode of Smash Life! "I think that's what Master Hand told me."

"How peculiar. The only way a bank would freeze an account is the person had unpaid debts or did money laundering..." A third option came to mind, and it made Tom Nook widen his eyes. "...or did terrorist financing."

"What sort of terrorist financing would Master Hand even..." Ayaha paused, as she formed a wild theory that sounded too crazy to be true. "...this terrorist financing, what if it had to do with the manor?"

"Would be something worth looking into. This frozen bank account does open up some new paths, I say. I will look into this matter another day..."


Sonic: We're all set; the decorations are all set up, and I have a decent enough crowd in the ballroom. The only thing left to do is bring the bandicoot of the hour to the party scene! Luckily, I have the perfect escort in mind...

"Okay, Crash, you're getting warmer..." Aku said to Crash, covering the bandicoot's face as he directed him through the hallway. The ballroom was within walking distance. "...you're getting red-hot! Hotter than the sun! Yes, that's it..."

Crash reached the ballroom door, recognizing the door as he touched it with both of his hands. When he got his hand on the door handles, Crash opened the ballroom door and stepped inside, as Aku removed himself from the bandicoot's face.

"SURPRISE!" shouted Sonic and (almost) everyone else in the ballroom, as Tails and Knuckles popped their confetti cannons. As expected, Sonic had a huge smile on his face.

"Happy belated birthday, Crash!" Sonic said to his bandicoot friend, who was taking in everything that was inside the ballroom. The decorations, the birthday cake that Cilan baked on very short notice, etc. "Take it all in, man."

"COWABUNGA!" shouted Crash, as he ran towards the birthday cake that was in the middle of the ballroom. The bandicoot hopped on a table, knocking stuff down as he ran across, before jumping off the table and into the cake as he splattered cake on everyone.

"No, Crash, not the cake!" wailed Cilan, acting as if Crash had murdered his best friend in cold blood. "I used the last of that fancy baking powder for it...oh, what a waste!"

"And this is why we did not need a bounce house at the party," Coco explained to Sonic, frowning as she rubbed the icing off her face.


Pit and Joker were unable to attend Crash's surprise birthday party, for they had a cafe to run. But the two still had customers over, one of them being Riku.

"Sora and Kairi...man, talk about a missed opportunity," Pit shook his head, as Joker and Riku stared at the angel wondering what he meant. "We should've let him have their date at Cafe Leblanc!"

"No offense, but no one would want to date here," Riku said to Pit before he finished off the rest of his curry. "Even Joker would agree with me on that one."

"Personally, I wouldn't date here even if it was my last resort," admitted Joker, as Pit gasped thinking that the young man had little faith in his cafe. "It's not the right setting."

"Then I'll just have to prove you both wrong," Pit said to Joker and Riku, as the latter smirked at the angel's proclamation. "Kirby and Adeline will have an awesome date at Cafe Leblanc, and they'll make you eat your..."

"Pit, for the last time...Kirby and Adeleine will never be a couple," stated Joker, who had grown tired of Pit shipping Kirby and Adeleine together. "Stop trying to speak your weird fantasies into existence."

Joker: I could see a human and some demon lord being in love, but a human and some puffball? Can't really get behind that one. I know that the dating pool for Kirby is super small, but can Pit at least attempt to find his friend a better soulmate?

Pit and Joker would receive a surprise customer when Sora entered the cafe. Sora looked mildly disappointed as he took a seat next to Riku.

"Your face tells me that your date must've been a disaster," Riku said to Sora, who wanted some curry to turn his frown upside down "How did it go?"

"Sadly, our date wasn't meant to be," replied Sora; Riku and the others were left befuddled, thinking that Kairi had dumped Sora for some inexplicable reason.

"What do you mean, did Kairi dump you?" Pit asked Sora, while Joker prepared an emergency curry to lift Sora's spirits. "That must've sucked."

"Kairi wasn't the problem...it was Gex." Now there was a name that irked Riku greatly. "The guy convinced Mario to take us to this restaurant, and the restaurant wasn't even open!"

"He did that, really? That sounds so unlike Gex." Pit was such a sycophant for Gex, he believed that the lizard could do no wrong. "Did he ruin your date?"

"Well, at certain points he kinda made it all about himself. Especially when he was playing the drums. Kairi got upset a few times."

"I hope that Gex got what's coming to him," said Riku, as Joker handed the silverette a fresh bowl of curry. "Or did he already get his just desserts?"

"The manager showed up and gave Gex a piece of his mind; Mario got a good lick in, too. So yeah, he got exactly what was coming for him..."

Riku: Not that I had much faith in Sora's date, but it sucks to know that Gex sabotaged the date for his own benefit. That lizard...is toast. *punches fist into the palm of his hand*


After Mr. Game and Watch cleaned up the cake residue, Crash's birthday party had commenced. Even though there was no birthday cake, Crash and the others were still having a great time.

"Sonic forced me to buy you something, so here," Link offered a present to Crash, who was currently opening up his presents. "Bought it a few days ago with some spare change, so make of it what you will..."

"Sure is a big gift box - must be pretty special!" remarked Coco, as Crash happily unwrapped his present. Crash took the lid off the box, as he took out... an orange candle. Which still had the price tag on it.

"You got this from the dollar store?" Crunch asked Link as he read the price tag on the candle - a measly five dollars. Crash looked at the candle, licking his lips, before stuffing the candle in his mouth. "Crash, you're not supposed to eat the candle!"

"What a moron..." chuckled Reaper, chilling in the back of the ballroom as he saw Crunch preventing Crash from chewing his orange candle. The mercenary looked to his right...and saw Bowser and Samus entering the ballroom, along with the Wicked Twisters.

"This is the only major locale of this mansion we haven't inspected yet," Bowser said to Samus and the Wicked Twisters, as Reaper ran away from the group so he couldn't get caught. "You guys get to looking; I'ma go charge my phone."

"Take your time..." Samus said to Bowser, tired and weary of searching, as Bowser walked away and plugged his phone into a USB port he found. Uh oh. "...let's get this over with."

"Took the words right out of my mouth..." smiled Sho, as he was feigning to use his megaphone again. Taking his megaphone out and holding it to his mouth, the Player shouted, "LISTEN UP, ZEPTOGRAMS!"

"Zeptograms? Who are you calling Zeptograms?" Knuckles questioned Sho, who caused the party atmosphere in the ballroom to die down. "We inventing new racial slurs now?"

"Good! Now that we have your attention...we are looking for one Gabriel Reyes. Has anyone seen him?" Sho looked around the ballroom, as Reaper was hiding behind one of the ballroom curtains.

"Gabriel Reyes? Is he new?" inquired Crunch, who had to use the Heimlich maneuver just to get the orange candle out of Crash's mouth. "I think you're at the wrong place, pal."

"Everyone here must be out of the loop..." observed Fret, taking note of all the confused faces in the ballroom. Suddenly his ears perked up, as he and everyone else heard a heavy metal ringtone. Who did it belong to?

"Again?!" Reaper was heard shouting from behind the ballroom curtain, as he had no choice but to answer the call - and give Mario a piece of his mind. "Mario, why are you calling me? If it's about your stupid pants..."

"I hear him, he's right over there," said Rindo as he pointed at the ballroom curtain Reaper was hiding behind. Lucario, the person closest to the curtain, lifted the curtain and revealed Reaper to everyone.

"We're done, you hear me? No more stupid emergencies. We're through! Goodbye and good riddance..." Reaper ended his call with Mario, and when he put his cellphone away...he saw everyone looking at him. "Uh...hi."

"At last, we have found you!" Sho shouted at Reaper as he pointed at the mercenary; Reaper groaned mightily. "Time to see if you're really a part of..."

"No, Sho, leave him alone," Shoka spoke up, as she emerged from the shadows...or at least distanced herself from Cloud and Zelda. "I already spoke with Reaper; he's not a part of the Reapers' Game."

"Just as I figured..." Nagi muttered under her breath; Shoka just confirmed that Reaper wasn't in the Game, and whatever she says goes. Yet Sho refused to believe Shoka, even for a second.

"But he literally goes by Reaper!" Sho pleaded his case to Shoka, who placed a hand on her hip as she frowned and shook her head. "You have to admit, he fits the Game's aesthetic pretty well."

"I mean, he kinda does...but the reason he goes by Reaper is to keep his identity safe. He didn't even know what the Reapers' Game is all about until today."

"She meant every single word she said," stated Reaper, appreciating Shoka for spilling the truth to the Wicked Twisters. Sho now had quite the bone to pick with Bowser...

"Would ya look at that...turns out Reaper isn't legit!" Bowser nervously chuckled, as Sho was glaring him down. The Koopa King tried to sneak out of the ballroom, and Sho was hot on his tail. "Totally didn't lead you guys along, just to mess with you for fun."

"BOWSER!" Sho shouted at the top of his lungs, as Bowser ran out of the ballroom. Sho chased after Bowser, while Rindo, Fret, and Nagi stood around.

"Ha, serves him right," Rindo had this to say about Bowser, as he and his friends left the ballroom. Shoka took that as a sign that she should be leaving soon.

"It was nice getting to meet you two," the girl went over to speak with Cloud and Zelda, saying her goodbyes before she left the ballroom. "See ya...I guess."

"Not gonna lie, that chick kinda creeped me out a bit," Cloud quietly confessed to Zelda, who giggled; Cloud being creeped out rarely happened that often.

Shoka: Reapers' Game is still on; maybe there's still a new Reaper is joining the Game, who knows. *looks at her phone* Still waiting on the other teams to show up...hopefully, they didn't end up in the wrong city.

"Um...that was a weird interruption," remarked Sonic, as the party atmosphere was slowly finding its way back in the ballroom. Sonic snapped his fingers, as he remembered something he had to do. "Now that everyone isn't distracted...it's clip-show time!"

"We're doing the clip-show already?" Coco asked Sonic, who ran over to see if the USB cord was around. Sonic found the cord, and to his surprise, there was a phone already connected.

"Huh, that's weird - my phone's already connected!" The phone on the USB port was similar to Sonic's phone...oh boy. "And the screen's unlocked! How oddly convenient."

"Are you sure that's the right phone?" Coco would be left ignored, as Sonic scrolled through the phone looking for his video. A bunch of file names Sonic was going through; it was formatted that way on his own phone.

"Crap, I knew I should've properly named the video...I think this is the one." Sonic selected the video file, and he had yet to press the play button. "K.K. Slider, turn on the big screen!"

"On it, groovy cat!" exclaimed K.K. Slider, as he took out a small remote and pointed it at the big screen. A dark screen with a white play button appeared. Sonic tapped the play button on the phone, as the video began.

No, the first image that appeared on the big screen wasn't Crash. Or Sonic being with Crash. Rather, it was an image of Winston, who was holding a turkey in his hand.

"Hello! I am Winston, a member of Overwatch," Winston introduced himself in the video played on the big screen. Everyone was perplexed, as Samus and Reaper were both having Vietnam War flashbacks. "I have found this turkey mysteriously hidden outside the Smash Mansion's garden shed."

"Wait a minute, this isn't the right video," Sonic furrowed his brow, as he flipped the phone over...and saw that the phone case had Peach on it. "Oh no..."

"While this turkey may look moldy and decayed - and understandably so - I sincerely believe that it can lead to a great scientific breakthrough! To achieve such a breakthrough, however, one must know their material. Now if you give me a second..."

"Um, what is he doing with the turkey...?" Wii Fit Trainer asked out of great concern, as Winston held the turkey and did an act so unspeakable, that it simply couldn't be mentioned out loud.

"TURN IT OFF, SONIC!" Samus shouted at the blue hedgehog, as the disturbing part of the video had now begun. Sonic frantically tried to pause the video, but nothing seemed to work.

"I keep tapping the screen, nothing's working!" shouted Sonic, as the video became so disturbing that folks were leaving the ballroom. Crash, however, was hooked as he stood in front of the big screen, amazed.

"Screw this...I've had enough trouble for one day," grumbled Reaper, making his grand escape as he disappeared into the shadows. Everyone else was leaving for their own good, as some rather disturbing noises from Winston played in the back of their minds.

"That's it...I give up." Sonic dropped the phone on the floor, as he was one of the last to leave the ballroom. But before he left, Sonic turned around and saw Crash still in front of the big screen. "Crash, you're seriously enjoying that?!"

"Let him have his moment," Pigma told Sonic, as he took the hedgehog away from the ballroom. Crash became so enthralled with the video of Winston, that was getting down on his knees savoring every second...


Sho was so ticked off with Bowser, that he chased the Koopa King out of the mansion. Once he was outside, Sho laid a beating on Bowser, kicking him repeatedly while he was lying on the ground defenseless. Rindo, Fret, and Nagi just watched.

"Thanks for wasting our time, you ugly hectopascal..." Sho frowned at Bowser, as he led the Wicked Twisters away. Bowser was left in too much pain for him to chide Sho for calling him ugly.

"You're...welcome," Bowser sarcastically replied after the Wicked Twisters had already left, as he found the strength to stand on his own two feet. The Koopa King reached for his phone...only to realize he didn't have it. "Ah, I must've left my phone charging."


Feeling that it was now safe, Sonic returned to the ballroom to retrieve Crash. Thankfully, the video of Winston had ended, but Crash was lying on the floor, with sheer amazement in his eyes. Sonic rushed over to Crash, gingerly lifting the bandicoot's head.

"Aw man...what did that video do to you?" Sonic asked Crash, as Bowser returned to the ballroom just to get his phone. "I was a fool for not checking..."

"Is my phone still charging?" Bowser asked Sonic, only to see his phone still hooked up to the USB cord. The Koopa King went over and unhooked his phone, checking the battery. "Let's see...eleven percent battery?!"

Bowser: That video of Winston? Junpei sent it to me after New Year's Eve. Got no clue who the cameraman was, but I know that they had nightmares for weeks. *pauses* Oh, and my phone case? I've been meaning to change it out for the longest. By the way, do you know any potential wives out there that are single?

"FYI, Bowser...that is NOT a phone charger," Sonic informed the Koopa King, treating Crash as if he was dead. Dead inside would be the best way to describe Crash's current condition. "Thanks for ending Crash's birthday party...and potentially scarring my friend for life."

"I'm sure that it was all in good taste," replied Bowser, taking his phone and leaving as if he did nothing wrong. Sonic picked up Crash and carried him out of the ballroom.

Surely messing around with the Wicked Twisters wasn't "in good taste"...