Author's Note:

Well, this is awkward...another late Saturday afternoon update. First, I have a confession to make...

...so the new game, Triangle Strategy. I legit forgot that it was going to be released so soon. In fact, I almost forgot about it until it was discussed in that Nintendo Direct. But on the plus side, I did play the demo, and I enjoyed it. Can't say that this was a factor in this chapter being delayed, but several characters from that game will be making an appearance. So I hope that you're all happy. Guest review incoming, from chapter 115:

"Balthier! I'm happy he showed up. Final Fantasy XII is the only one I have ever played. I'm way behind but I would still love to suggest the Cooper gang showing up to steal from Wario and Master Hand. Also, Jet the Hawk could show up and everyone hates him because he is basically Sonic, but much worse."

Jet the Hawk is basically Sonic but much worse...that certainly is a description. I don't think Jet has ever appeared in this story, so he might show up one day. The Reader has a question about King of Fighters:

"...since King is being brought up again, did you think that King of Fighters XV would be ported to the Switch? I don't know man, I like the roster of that game, and Terry needs some of his pals to visit him. It's been a while."

King of Fighters XV will be ported to the Switch one day, that much I'm certain of. That being said, I won't wait around to include a few SNK characters. Cloudenstein has a question about chapter 28:

"Not to be that guy, but wasn't the plot of this episode already been done in the past episode? It was like Episode 28 or something. I just skimmed it, and I've noticed some similarities between this episode and that episode."

Yeah, I could see where you've drawn the similarities. Good catch. Guess you could say that it was a coincidence or something. Questions from David:

"Will the Astral Chain and Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne redux chapters happen in March? Will Mario hold doctor or nurse auditions to replace Leia? (Thanks to TIME TO GO's hatred of the Tales cast). If the Namco X Capcom and Project X Zone characters show up (Reiji, Xiamou, Saya, Sheath, etc) will characters like Ryu, Ken, Kazuya, Jin, Chrom, Lucina, and Fiora mention the events of their adventures with them? (X, Zero, and Megaman Volnutt also were in the games). A Capcom Fighting Collection chapter? (Have the Darkstalkers cast return and introduce the Red Earth characters). And finally, what are your thoughts on Atlus screwing Nintendo over again by not releasing Shin Megami Tensei: Soul Hackers 2 for Switch?"

I'm afraid not. No auditions of the sort. There might be a mention or two. Would love to do a chapter on Capcom Fighting Collection. And...there's a Soul Hackers 2? I am so out of the loop these days...or maybe I just don't pay enough attention to SMT. Lastly, A JRPG enjoyer:

"So, what do you think about the [Pokemon] reveal? I think it's too soon to have a new Pokemon game on the Switch, especially when people is still playing Pokemon Legends: Arceus and BDSP."

Looks like a new Pokemon generation being revealed every three years is a new tradition. Too soon, yes, given that PLA is still pretty fresh, but I could see that game serving as a blueprint for future Pokemon games to come. Would get people to stop complaining, which is a big plus.


Episode 324: Fundraiser

It was now pressing times for Star Records. The contracts of the idol singers were set to expire soon on March 17th, as Tsubasa, Kiria, Eleonora, Mamori, and Yashiro were in danger of leaving the company. Ashley and Asuka, who both signed similar contracts, were in danger as well.

As one might imagine, Fox, Falco, and Itsuki were pulling out all the stops to keep their talent signed past March 17th - and beyond. They had unexpected help on their side, as Master Hand was willing to pitch in and give them enough funds. But even with Master Hand's assistance, the three heads of Star Records needed more. Much more.

But fortunately for them, they had plenty of folks at the mansion willing to pitch in, whether they wanted to or not. Several fundraising events were held at the mansion, with one of them being a car wash. Mario was in charge, and he was joined by the Inklings, Wario, Yoshi, Mega Man, Donkey Kong, Villager, Champion Link, Sonic, and Banjo. The Crash clan was there as well.

"Mario, Crash is trying to kill us!" the female Inkling yelled to the plumber, as she and the male Inkling were being chased by Crash. Crash was wielding the garden hose - firing out water and laughing like a madman.

"Crash, the water is for the car - not the Inklings!" Mario scolded the bandicoot, before bringing his attention to a woman who was patiently sitting in her car on the road. "Please excuse-a us, ma'am'..."

"No it's fine, take your time," the woman smiled, as Mario looked behind the woman's car and saw a bunch of cars lined up behind her. "Are those boys done scrubbing my car yet?"

"I'm telling you, Mega Man, shiny hunting in Pokemon Go is the worst," Sonic discussed with Mega Man, as he and the robot were noodling on their phones instead of scrubbing the woman's car. Which made Mario ticked off.

"IF YOU TWO DON'T FINISH-A SCRUBBING THAT CAR, I'LL KILL YOU!" Mario let out a primal rage-filled scream, as he leaped towards Sonic and strangled the blue hedgehog to death. Or something like that. Mega Man stood by, fortunate that he was spared.

"To be fair, we were already done scrubbing," Mega Man informed Mario, who was too busy strangling Sonic to listen to the robot. "We were just waiting on the garden hose."

"This is it...we're done for!" wailed the male Inklings, as Crash had the two Inklings cornered near a tree. Crash sported a devious look on his face, as Coco and Crunch tried to wrestle the garden hose away from him.

"I'll just see if there's anyone in the back who can clean off my car..." the woman said, putting her car out of neutral as she drove her vehicle to the mansion's backyard. Probably wasn't allowed back there, but she had no other choice.

Samus: Fox and Falco need some money to pay their precious idol singers, and so Master Hand asked each and every one of us to start some initiative to raise money. Whether it's a car wash or even a fun run. The best part is that he's not being forceful in a "raise some dough or else" kind of way, he's just asking us to do whatever we can to help out. You can probably assume what decision I made. *enters the workshop, before closing the door shut*

"Wario and Yoshi? Wario and Yoshi!" Link called out to the fatso and dinosaur as he ran outside to where the car was taking place. The scene that the Hylian walked not was Mario choking out Sonic, and the Inklings crawling on the ground in pain.

"It burns..." the female Inkling writhed in pain, her skin dissolving a bit after Crash got a bit of water on her. Fortunately, Crunch assumed control of the garden hose from Crash before his bandicoot brother could do any further damage.

"I'd like my car rinsed today, thank you very much!" one angry car driver shouted to Mario, who was still strangling Sonic; Mega Man and Banjo had just finished scrubbing the man's car.

"Uh, Mario?" Link called out to the plumber, who finally stopped his manhandling of Sonic after hearing his name called. Mario looked up at Link as he quickly took his hands away from Sonic's neck.

"Oh, Link! It's not what-a you think," Mario tried to plead his innocence, standing up as Sonic was left clutching his neck in pain. "I was just-a teaching Sonic here a lesson. Sending a message, if you will."

"My throat hurts..." wheezed Sonic, as he found the strength to stand back up on his feet. His main man Crash came over to help him up back to his feet.

"Yeah, sure buddy..." Link veered his eyes away from Mario, very much in doubt of the plumber, before his eyes were drawn towards Wario and Yoshi who were chilling together. "...Wario, Yoshi! Just the guys I wanted to see."

"You called?" inquired Wario, who was scratching his butt with a scrub brush while Yoshi was spraying foam in his mouth from a spray bottle. Safe to say that hardly any cars were being properly washed.

"Did you guys forget? You're supposed to be in the mansion's eating contest. Your names were on the sign-up sheet." Link held up a list, which had Wario and Yoshi's names listed near the top.

"Food-a eating contest?" Mario furrowed his brow, as all his fury was directed towards Wario and Yoshi. "Why didn't you boys tell-a me that you entered the foot-eating contest?"

"We don't have to tell you every little thing, you know," Wario responded to Mario, who was left in shambles as Wario and Yoshi put their cleaning supplies away. Now somebody else could use the scrub brush as a butt-scratcher. "So Link, has this contest started yet?"

"Not yet, just wanted to give you guys a heads up," replied Link, before looking up and seeing Mario glare at him. Like he had stolen his car or something. "What's with that look, Mario?"

"I see what it is...you're just trying to drag-a my car wash down," Mario accused Link, who was just looking on in confusion. It usually annoyed Link whenever Mario made his baseless accusations. "Take-a away my men, why don't you!"

Link: What did I do that was so wrong? I was just doing my job. Why is it that doing my job around here gets me a ton of flak?

Wario: So Yoshi, what did you do to prepare for the eating contest?
Yoshi: I pretty much fasted since Sunday. Read somewhere online that humans can survive eight to twenty-one days without food, so hopefully, that same logic can be applied to me.
Wario: Okay, that sounds...very haphazardous. And counter-intuitive. As for me, I practiced for the contest by devouring all the food in the pantry! Put all the blame on Pigma, so it's all good.


Pyra and Mythra, following in the footsteps of Cilan, held an eating contest in the dining room. There was a sign-up fee, as mansion residents, tower denizens, and even guests alike were free to sign up. However, not everyone was allowed to participate.

"C'mon girls, you have to give me a chance!" Pigma cried to Pyra and Mythra, down on his knees in the dining room as he begged incessantly to the Blades. "I'm a perfect fit for the contest, don't you think?"

"After you ate all our food in the pantry? Not a chance..." replied Pyra, as Pigma was slowly turning into a sobbing mess. Pigma was even grabbing Pyra and Mythra's feet, hugging them tightly.

"But it wasn't me, I tell you! It was Wario! Saw him in broad daylight!" For many days Pigma has tried to plead his innocence, but neither the Blades nor anyone else would hear him out.

"Keep on lying on that, and you'll never get into the contest," Mythra said to Pigma as she tried to shake the pig off of her, but to no avail. "Now will you please get off?!"

"Haha, sucker!" Wario taunted Pigma, pointing and laughing at the pig as Link brought him and Yoshi inside the kitchen. Pigma looked up at Wario and hissed at the fatso in anger.

"Here you boys are," Link said to Wario and Yoshi, honestly having no idea what compelled him to bring the fatso and dinosaur to the kitchen. "You two go ahead and...prepare for the eating contest, I guess."

"Suppose that now's a good time to end the fasting," assumed Yoshi, his stomach growling loudly as he reached into the cupboard for a snack. The sound of Yoshi's stomach growling slightly spooked Link.

"So that's why I keep hearing those weird sounds lately..." remarked Link, as his wife Zelda walked into the kitchen with something she wanted to say. "...thought it was some monster this whole time. Like a Bokoblin or something."

"We have a few visitors," Zelda informed Link, grabbing his attention as the Hylian suddenly looked intrigued. "They seem to be new here." That only made Link's interest levels even higher.

"When is this place not having visitors..." Link partially blamed the documentary taking place for this visitation phenomenon that has been going on for years. On Fridays and occasionally Thursdays, no less. "...show me where they're at."


The car wash and the eating contest weren't the only fundraising events that were taking place at the mansion, for there was a comedy night event to be held in the gaming room. Residents were encouraged to stand on the stage and tell jokes for the audience, and make everyone laugh. And no, before you ask...Lucina wasn't involved. And neither was Falco.

But unfortunately for everyone, there was one skeleton who was going to do some stand-up...and that skeleton sadly was Sans. Sans asked the organizer of the event, K.K. Slider, if he could do some stand-up. K.K. for whatever reason obliged, as he seemingly wanted everyone to be miserable. There was no other explanation for his decision.

"Remember peeps, admission for comedy night is $20 apiece!" K.K. Slider shouted to the residents who entered and exited the gaming room, as he stood near the entrance. Sans showed up, as K.K. smiled. "Sans! You ready for the big night, cool cat?"

"you bet - gonna blow everyone's socks off," replied a confident Sans, who was up all night practicing his material. He had nothing to lose. "except for banjo's, he doesn't even wear socks. he likes to be barefoot."

"Ha, that was a good one!" K.K. Slider gave Sans some props, as Leaf walked by the hippie dog judging him for his questionable sense of humor. "Keep on telling puns like those, and you'll have the entire crowd on their feet."

Leaf: I was super stoked about the comedy night - "was" being the keyword here. Then Red told me that Sans was one of the marquee acts. Now I'm looking forward to the snail race that Lloyd is hosting in the backyard. Funny that. The admission fee is like ten dollars higher, but it's totally worth it.

"K.K. Slider, am I too late?" asked Cuphead as he showed up at the gaming room, almost tuckered out as he wore panic all over his face. "I got some jokes that I wanna tell...I'm a comedian, too!"

"You're never too late, my cup friend!" replied K.K. Slider, with Cuphead letting out a huge sigh of relief as the panic he had quickly vanished away. "Comedy night doesn't start till later, so you still have some time to sign up and perform."

"hey, i thought that i was the only performing act," Sans said to K.K. Slider, who took out a sign-up sheet and an ink pen from his imaginary pocket. "i was the only one who signed up."

"You were the only person who signed up...until now." K.K. Slider gave the sing-up sheet and ink pen to Cuphead, who happily wrote his name down. Sans didn't like it one bit, seeing that Cuphead was potentially stealing his thunder.

"know what, i won't stand for this crap..." Sans was putting his foot down as Cuphead and K.K. Slider looked at the skeleton in shock. "...only because i prefer to sit when I poop."

"Skeletons can poop?" Cuphead asked K.K. Slider, as he was supremely fascinated by this fact. If Brook from One Piece could poop while being a skeleton, then what stopped Sans from doing the same?

"What point are you trying to make, Sans?" K.K. Slider asked the skeleton, who evidently forgot what he was going to say. Cracking a pun was his only prerogative at the current moment.

"what I'm trying to say is...cuphead better not steal my shine." On that note, Sans walked away, staring down at Cuphead before making his leave. After Sans left, Cuphead and K.K. Slier exchanged looks with one another, wondering what made Sans feel some type of way.

"Can I do some stand-up comedy night?" Sora asked K.K. Slider as he approached the hippie dog, as an eavesdropping Sans could be heard groaning loudly in the background. "Totally not like Riku dared me or anything."


With Sans focusing his attention on tonight's comedy night, the baristas at Cafe Leblanc were blessed by the skeleton's absence. Cafe Leblanc was running smoothly even with Pit away, as Mario had fulfilled his weekly obligation as a replacement barista.

"Itsuki Aoi!" exclaimed Joker as he saw Itsuki enter the cafe, taking a seat at the counter. Compared to everybody else, Itsuki was a sight for sore eyes when it came to cafe patrons. "We rarely see you here."

"And for good reason," said Itsuki, who was sitting in the barstool chair that Sans usually sat on. For one day, that chair was now Itsuki's. "Today seems like a perfect storm to get some coffee."

"Why, because there's no Sans?" Kirby asked Itsuki, who gave a knowing smile as he couldn't sneak away from the truth. "Can't say we blame you."

"You want a cup of coffee? Or what about some curry?" Viridi asked Itsuki, as she was willing to fulfill whatever request the young man had. Given his rarity at Cafe Leblanc, Itsuki was a very special customer."

"I'll take some curry, thank you," replied Itsuki, as Joker went ahead and fixed a bowl of curry for one of the heads of Star Records. "I'll let you all know that Sans being away is just one reason why I wanted to stop by."

"What's the other reason?" inquired Joker, before looking up and seeing a face that he hadn't seen in a few weeks - Villager. Villager entered Cafe Leblanc, as Joker and company were delighted to see him.

"Ah, Villager! How was your trip?" Kirby asked the young lad, who took a seat at the counter. Itsuki, who was out of the loop, looked at Kirby and then at Villager with much confusion.

"It wasn't that much, we didn't really..." Villager was about to say, only to be mindful of Itsuki who was looking confused - and also feeling a little bit left out. "...I mean, we had a fun time in China!"

"Who had a fun time in China? Why wasn't I invited?" Itsuki asked Villager, only for another resident who had traveled to China to make his rousing return to Cafe Leblanc. It was Pit, and he was happy to be back home again.

"Guess who's back, party people!" shouted Pit, cupping his hands around his mouth as he called out to the baristas and everyone else in the cafe. Itsuki was staring at Pit, his face slowly sinking.

"Oh no..." Itsuki muttered under his breath as Pit was making his presence known to Cafe Leblanc. Pit and company's work in China was clearly finished.

Itsuki: Two weeks. *nods his head* Our sanity has mostly remained intact for just two weeks. And to think that I was starting to believe Ryuji's boisterous claims...

Ryuji: Pit is back at the mansion, for real?! *groans* Why did he come back...?

"I'm so happy that you made it back alive..." an overjoyed Viridi said to Pit as she ran to the angel and wrapped her arms around him lovingly. The goddess of nature didn't have to worry about her boyfriend's well-being any longer.

"To be fair, staying in China wasn't that bad," responded Pit, only to see Joker quietly motioning to him to stay quiet while also pointing at Itsuki. Pit looked towards Itsuki, delighted to see the young man. "Hey, Itsuki! You really missed out on all the fun in China."

"Thanks for the info..." muttered a slightly salty Itsuki, as Joker smacked his forehead - can't ever trust Pit to keep silent about anything. "...bet you had lots of fortune cookies over there."

"Yeah, those fortune cookies were all lies. Haven't gotten my million dollars yet. But other than spying on Snake and Hal, our time in Beijing was alright."

"Then I suppose that I should have no resentment anymore." Itsuki was in a better mood, as Joker ran his hand down his face. Soon Itsuki was incensed yet again. "Wait, Snake and Hal? They were in China too - and they didn't invite me?"


If Pit and Villager were back in Seattle, then surely the Luminary and Bayonetta were back in town too...along with Snake and Hal. Speaking of Snake and Hal, the two were sneaking their way back to the mansion, with Snake looking around to see if anybody was looking.

"Those peons tracked us back home..." grunted Snake, speaking about not only Pit and company but also the documentary crew members that followed the four spies to China. "...it was bad enough that they even came to Beijing just to spy on us."

"To be fair, you have been leaving a lot of stuff out in the open," replied Hal, as he and Snake crept their way into the backyard. Not a single soul has seen them yet. "Keep telling you that our discussions should be done more privately."

"Oh, don't try and paint yourself as innocent, mister. You're just as guilty as I am." Hearing that made Hal feel some type of way, as the hacker stopped and angrily confronted Snake.

"So it's my fault that this mansion has a documentary crew? With cameraman following our every possible step?" Hal, being mindful of the cameraman that was filming him and Snake at the very moment, sighed and shook his head. "I regret ever coming here..."

"And I regret ever working with you over this dumb crap." Now Hal was even more hurt, as he looked up at Snake with hurt in his eyes. "Is some 'evil jester' really the endgame here?"

"I'm just relaying to you what Mei Ling has told me. She and the CRO have the evidence, you know. Yet you think that they're making things up?"

"Oh my goodness! Did that really happen?" Zelda was heard speaking with someone; Snake and Hal looked over and saw Zelda speaking with four individuals in the backyard, along with Link. Three men, and a woman.

"Yes, I'm afraid so...our precious kingdom of Glenbrook was invaded by Aesfrost forces," a man said to Zelda, looking regal with his black coat and a sword on his holster. "We retreated here as an escape."

"It might be a terrible decision in hindsight, but we were greatly outnumbered," said another man, who had long blonde luscious hair. Tied up in a regal ponytail, no less. "It was for the best..."

"Are those...medieval people?" Hal whispered to Snake, as he observed how medieval the guests' attire looked. They all looked like they came straight out of the country of Fodlan.

"Not sure how this mansion keeps attracting these types..." grumbled Snake, as he led Hal away before he and the hacker could be spotted. But it was too late, as they were spotted by the man with the ponytail.

"Who are they?" the ponytail man asked Link and Zelda as he pointed at Snake and Hal, who both froze in place after they were spotted. Snake could feel Link and Zelda badmouthing him from a mile away.

"Well, well...if it isn't the two pals who sneaked out into Beijing," Link said to Snake and Hal as he, Zelda, and the four guests came over to the two friends. "You two enjoyed the Winter Olympics?"

"Sure stayed in China for an awfully long time," added Zelda, with Hal nervously adjusting his glasses while Snake sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Did a lot of sightseeing, hm?"

"How do you know we sneaked out to China?" asked Snake in a desperate attempt to deflect, knowing how futile the effort was. The former spy was surely bound to be in some hot water.

"Don't play dumb with us...we have the footage," replied Link, causing Snake to gulp nervously as he and Hal were both feeling the pressure. "The camera guys who had to come home from Beijing showed it to us."

Snake: I want the names of the cameramen that snitched on us. Got a black eye that I wanna give them...No, I don't care if they had to return to the States because of some silly "family emergency"! Should've just told their folks to do better health-wise.

"Erm, who are those four?" Hal asked Link and Zelda as he pointed at the four guests, curious as to who they were. At least he wasn't trying to deflect as Snake did; the hacker owned up to his guilt.

"Just some royals that came from some kingdom called Glenbrook," explained Link, who was ready to make some brief introductions. "Frederica Aesfrost, Benedict Pascal, Roland Glenbrook..."

"...and Serenoa Wolffort, lord of House Wolffort," said the leader of the group, the man with the sword, as he formally introduced himself to Snake and Hal. "Very pleased to make your acquaintance."

"So what exactly are you people?" Snake asked Serenoa and his party, as he had no idea what to make of them. "A bunch of mages or something? Can you guys wield magic?"

"Is this man patronizing us?" Benedict asked Link and Zelda, as he did not appreciate the question that was being posed. Snake was generally meaning well - if not being too morbidly curious - but he was rubbing off the four the wrong way.

"Nah, he's just pulling your tail," replied Link, grabbing Snake as he led the former spy away so that he could speak with him in private. The others watched as Link took Snake to the back of the mansion.

"Hey, what gives?" Snake whispered to Link, who was now in a relatively bad mood. "Can't ask questions anymore? Not my fault those weirdoes magically ended up in Seattle, of all places."

"They didn't just magically appear in Seattle, Snake - they came here for refuge," Link whispered to Snake, who believed that the Hylian was covering for Serenoa and company as he rolled his eyes. "You've been nothing but trouble lately - and I can't let you be responsible for any more mayhem."

"Nothing but trouble, eh? Says the guy who couldn't help but worry about what I was doing in China. It's not like Hal and I were smuggling drugs. Have you no shame?"

"Sneaking out to China to do who-knows-what is pretty shameful, don't you think?" Link was firing back at Snake, as things between him and the former spy were getting heated.

"What, was I supposed to ask you for permission?! You're not my stinking parent. I'd much rather listen to EVA or even Big Boss than the likes of..."

"Are you two done?" Zelda asked Link and Snake as she came over to the two, standing by with her arms folded. Hal and the four refugees from Glenbrook were with the princess. "Our visitors are awfully curious."

"Uh, yeah, we're done!" Link pulled himself away from Snake, only doing so just to satisfy Zelda. "Snake and I were just hashing things out. We mutually agreed that he would court Serenoa and his friends."

"Wouldn't say that we were done with..." Snake started, only to do a double-take as he looked at Link with much disbelief. "...wait, I'm courting who now?"

"Yeah, Snake and Hal will be showing our four visitors around the mansion." Link cordially wrapped his arm around Snake, who now had the urge to choke the Hylian out. "A nice little punishment for them sneaking out if you will."

"Wait, why am I being lumped into this?" griped Hal, who wasn't that keen on having to play chaperone to a bunch of strangers. "I don't even live here!"

"While that may be true, you're friends with Snake so you'll be punished by association," replied Zelda, in approval of the punishment that Link handed out, as she patted Hal on his shoulder. "Your loss."

"A tour of the mansion...that sounds lovely," remarked Serenoa, as Snake gave the lord of Wolffort a side-eye. Snake oughta keep his hands to himself for his own good. "Long as anyone from Aesfrost doesn't find us here...which I doubt."


Cortex was previously homeless at one point in time, as the minions at Cortex Castle refused to welcome him back. After speaking with B.D. Joe and Blathers, the evil genius was welcomed into E. Gadd's mansion, where his floating mask companion Uka was conveniently staying at. Funnily enough, Uka was only staying at E. Gadd's place as a retreat from Cortex.

Along with Crash, Fox and Falco also helped Cortex find a new place to stay. While (mostly) everyone at the mansion was raising money to aid Star Records, Fox and Falco would stop by E. Gadd's mansion to see how Cortex was handling his new digs.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" E. Gadd was heard shouting from inside his mansion after he heard the doorbell. The inventor answered the door, where he saw Fox and Falco standing at his doorstep. "Fox and Falco! Come in, come in!"

"Thanks for having us, professor," Fox thanked E. Gadd, as he and Falco were led inside the mansion. E. Gadd close the front door as he took the pilots to his kitchen, where there were two prepared bowls of bread pudding on the kitchen counter.

"Who's that bread pudding for?" asked Falco, as E. Gadd grabbed the bowls off the counter and offered them to the pilots. Fox and Falco looked disgusted. "Are we...giving these to someone?"

"Whoever's supposed to be eating this crap, I sure do feel sorry for," commented Fox, as E. Gadd grabbed two spoons from a kitchen drawer and gave one individually to the pilots. "Didn't know that we were making food deliveries."

"And who said anything about that?" questioned E. Gadd, as both Fox and Falco were suddenly overwhelmed with fear. "Since I figured that you boys were coming, I prepared you both some bread pudding!"

"Thanks, E. Gadd, you shouldn't have..." Showing E. Gadd his appreciation, Fox went to the kitchen sink and poured his bread pudding down the garbage disposal, as E. Gadd gasped in shock. "...and we really meant it, too."

"Screw your pudding, I'ma get some doughnuts," Falco said to E. Gadd as he grabbed a doughnut box off the kitchen counter...only to open it and see that it was empty. Falco was ticked. "What the...?"

"Ah, yes, that was totally Dr. Cortex's doing," stated E. Gadd, as he was perfectly fine with what Cortex did for some reason. "Had me thinking that there were actual doughnuts inside! Such a jokester."

Fox: You know, I'm kinda happy for Cortex. The man finally got to kiss his long-time crush and is living at a cozy mansion with a fellow bright mind. One who was willing to accept him. Dude's living the life.

"Was that a word of praise I just heard?" inquired Cortex as he entered the kitchen with Uka; the evil genius for whatever reason was pantsless, as he held a toenail clipper in his hand.

"Bruh, Cortex...the heck are your pants at, man?" asked Falco, having to see Cortex with his underwear exposed - Cortex just had to wear white briefs with hearts on it, didn't he?

"Why hello, Fox and Falco! Since I was forbidden from going pantsless at the Smash Mansion, I could finally live out my dream at E. Gadd's." Quite a strange dream to have, but nobody was stopping Cortex from enjoying his newfound freedom.

"He has gotten me to do the same," confirmed E. Gadd, as the thought of E. Gadd walking around in his dirty old man underwear disturbed the pilots. "I have to admit, Cortex, you had me fooled leaving his empty doughnut box in the kitchen!"

"Cortex didn't 'fool' you, he was just too lazy to throw the box out," clarified Uka, as Cortex whistled innocently with his hands behind his back while looking to the side. "I tried to warn you..."

Fox: On second thought? Cortex moving in with E. Gadd was a horrible mistake on our part. His moving out in general has been an unimaginable beast that deserved no right to be released.

"I see that you have no sense of humor," E. Gadd said to Uka, who groaned as Fox saw a stack of paper piled on the kitchen table. Fox ran to the table and picked up the stack, seeing a bunch of E. Gadd's writings.

"Yo, E. Gadd, how's your fantasy writing coming along?" Fox asked the inventor, who panicked when he noticed the pilot going through his stuff. "Falco and I got a sneak preview a few weeks ago."

"That is meant for my eyes only," replied E. Gadd as he hustled over to Fox, snatching the writings away from the pilot and holding them close to his chest. "It's very confidential."

"Is not - I read some of that junk in my spare time," admitted Uka, as E. Gadd looked towards the floating mask and gasped. "Hey, don't hate the player, hate the game..."

"Nosy people, I see..." E. Gadd was frowning at both Fox and Uka, as he stormed out of the kitchen and to his room. It was a pretty rare feat to make the inventor that incensed.

"Oh, so it's my fault that you leave your 'confidential' belongings out in the open. You're even worse than Cortex!" After he was done calling out to the retreating E. Gadd, Uka looked down at Cortex who was looking mightily offended. "No offense, by the way."

"None taken," mumbled Cortex, numb to Uka's criticism at this point. Could say that he was invulnerable at this point.


The eating contest was a bigger draw than Pyra and Mythra had originally anticipated, as folks were lining up to be part of the event. Many folks signed up for the contest themselves, while others were surprised to find their names on the sign-up sheet.

"That's weird - my name is on the list," Cloud furrowed his brow as he was in the dining room, checking out the sign-up sheet for the eating contest. "Who put my name on here?"

"Yeah, that is pretty strange," smiled a certain flower girl, as Aerith sneaked up on Cloud with a whimsical smirk. Cloud turned around and saw Aerith, as his anger subsided.

"Aerith...you're lucky that I like you because you would be so dead now." And Aerith seemed to know it too, as she smiled even harder. Aerith being the apple of Cloud's eye gave her a LOT more leeway in regards to messing with Cloud than one can imagine.

To drive up interest for the eating contest outside of the mansion, Anna did her part and sent out flyers for the event far and wide. Louie, a friend of Olimar's and a participant in the mansion's previous eating contest, was back at the mansion for a repeat performance.

"Hoo boy, I can't wait to see what kind of food that Cilan's got prepared!" an excited Louie said to Olimar in the dining room, as Olimar braced himself for the disappointment that he was about to bring to his co-worker.

"Um, Louie? Cilan doesn't live here anymore," Olimar informed the astronaut, who responded with a look of surprise. The excitement that Louie had for the eating contest was slightly diminished. "Pyra and Mythra will be running the contest instead."

"Who and who?" Louie saw Pyra and Mythra in the kitchen, as Olimar was pointing at the two Blades. Louie didn't think much of either lady. "Aw shucks, does that mean the contest is gonna have healthy food?"

"What's that supposed to mean? That wasn't intended to be sexist, was it?" Olimar couldn't let Louie's sexism run rampant - it could potentially get Louie disqualified from the contest altogether!

"Seriously though, I've spent my entire week looking forward to devouring pizza and hot dogs and cheesesteaks...now we're possibly stuck with quinoa and sweet potatoes. Gross!"

Wario: Correct me if my hearing was wrong, but did Olimar's dopey friend Louie say that quinoa and sweet potatoes were gross? Did I just inherently find a new friend? Finally, another human being with good taste! *pauses* Is Louie even a human? Don't even bother asking the same about me...

"Pretty cool to see so many of these losers willing to fight for second place," commented Bowser, who was standing at the front of the dining room seeing the other eating contest participants congregating. Another participant entered the dining room, this one being an out-of-towner - a young woman with long brown hair.

"Um, excuse me...King Bowser, is that your name?" the young woman nervously asked Bowser, humbled to be in the presence of the Koopa King himself. Such a humble attitude was enough to stroke Bowser's ego. "Is this where the..."

"Hey I know you - you're Jasmine, that gym leader girl from Olivine City!" Bowser pointed at the young woman, who didn't expect to be recognized off the bat so soon. Gave her some confidence, but not enough. "You specialize in...Rock-types, right?"

"Close enough...Steel-type." Feeling foolish in front of Jasmine, Bowser snapped his fingers in failure. So much for making a good impression on a skilled Pokemon trainer. "Anyway, is this where the eating contest will be held?"

"You bet! I'm the leading favorite to win the whole shebang - don't know why all these losers are in it, but I ain't stopping 'em."

"I wonder, is there a sign-up sheet?" Jasmine briefly looked around for the sign-up sheet but didn't find it anywhere. "I would like to put my name on the list."

"Silly Jasmine! Spectators don't have to sign up for the eating contest, they get in for free. Actually, now that I think about it..."

"I won't be watching the contest...I will be participating in it." A huge announcement from Jasmine, as Bowser found himself staring at the gym leader in shock.

"Oh, I get it...you're trying to be a comedian! Funny that - there's a comedy night being held later in the gaming room. Personally, I wouldn't bother with that, especially with Sans..."

"No way? Is that Jasmine?" Red the Pokemon Trainer shouted from afar, as he ran over to the gym leader in question. He was trying his hardest not to have a fangirl moment. "Don't tell me you're entering the eating contest!"

"Watch it, buddy, I was speaking with Jasmine first!" Before Bowser had the chance to stiff-arm Red away, Anna happily ran over to Jasmine. "Stop hogging the woman, dang it!"

"Jasmine of Olivine City?" Anna asked Jasmine for clarification as Jasmine, who was getting flustered from all the attention upon her, nodded in response. "You came to the right place! Let me get you all situated."

"Situated for what?" asked Jasmine, only for Anna to grab her by the hand and lead her out of the dining room. "Please show me where the sign-up sheet is!"

Bowser: Not trying to throw any shade or anything, but...if Jasmine somehow wins the contest, then we've all lost. Not collectively, as a mansion...our entire society will take a big fat L.

"And this right here is the dining room...or whatever," Snake said to the guests of Glenbook, as he and Hal brought the four visitors inside the dining room. The former spy was already uninterested in carrying out the mansion tour that he was forced to give.

"'Dining room, or whatever...'" Frederica reiterated what Snake had said, as she was not a huge fan of the former spy's candor. Quite frankly, Snake didn't believe in representing the mansion well. "You're such an awful tour guide."

"Much agreed," Sereonoa sided with Frederica, as Snake didn't care what the house lord or anyone else thought of him. "You should let your bespectacled friend lead the way instead, with your attitude."

"I strongly concur," agreed Hal, only for Snake to get up in his grill with an angry scowl. Hal flinched as he pulled his head away from Snake. "Or...maybe not!"

"Say, Snake, who are your new friends?" Bowser asked the former spy as he saw Serenoa and the other refugees from Glenbrook all gathered around. "I take it that you met them in China?"

"These punks are not my 'friends', I was deliberately forced to..." started Snake, only to furrow his brow when something about Bowser's question made him awfully suspicious. "...how did you know that Hal and I went to China?"

"I dunno - it's totally not like I sneaked inside the producers' room and saw some footage before it was edited." Very brazen for Bowser to admit to doing such an act out in the open. "I like to go inside that room every now and then, to see if the others are saying good things about me."

"Those producers should probably look into locking that room," Hal suggested to Snake, who was even angrier as he grabbed Hal's hand and took off. "Wh-Where are we going?!"

"Away from no-gooders like Bowser," replied Snake, before turning back and seeing Serenoa and company remaining where they were. "Mansion tour is this way." The four guests exchanged looks with one another, with Serenoa shrugging his shoulders before leading his allies after Snake.

"Finally got in the eating contest...about time," rejoiced Pigma as he showed up in the dining room, accruing the attention of Bowser. "Knew that Anna would give me a chance."

"PIGMA DENGAR!" bellowed Bowser as he marched over to the pig in question, who was left shivering in fear. "Saw one of your past talking heads in the producers' room. Who are you to say that I suck at cornhole?!"


Peace and normality found their way back to the car wash, as Mario was no longer strangling Sonic and Crash wasn't dousing the Inklings with water. Cars were being washed left and right on a consistent basis, with little to no problems. Well...just little problems.

"Banjo, you can't use-a your back as a scrubbing brush," Mario advised Banjo, who was rubbing his back up and down against an SUV covered in suds. Banjo looked like he was enjoying it too. "It's unsanitary."

"Unsanitary according to who?" asked Banjo, unaware that the poor man sitting in his car was looking on in disgust. Almost like he wanted a refund. "Also, is this against the rules?"

"I guess it's...if there was a rulebook..." Mario had absolutely no response for Banjo, who was done scrubbing the car as he gave the man in the SUV a thumbs up.

"All done! You're welcome, buddy!" Although Banjo believed that he did a good job, the man was not a fan as he rolled down his window and mean-mugged the bear. Gotta let him know how he really felt.

"Please tell me you guys have disinfectant for my car," the man asked Mario, as Crash went ahead with rinsing the SUV off with the water hose. Mario would look towards the two men he asked to replace Wario and Yoshi - Spyro and Hunter.

"One bottle of Clorox, please," Mario requested to the dragon and cheetah...only to notice an already opened bottle of Clorox lying on the ground at their feet, with the contents leaking out.

"He did it," Spyro and Hunter said to Mario simultaneously as they pointed at each other - only for Hunter to suddenly start coughing and gagging as he got down on one knee. Wasn't that hard to tell who the guilty person was.

"Is he...is he going to be okay?" the man in the SUV worriedly asked Hunter, who was now vomiting over the ground. Rather than helping his friend, Spyro took a few steps away for his own good.

"Only in a matter of time," replied Mario as he and Crunch came over to help the gagging Hunter up to his feet. They were much more of a help than Spyro was. "Some-a one bring in the nurse!"

"The nurse left Seattle a few months ago," Coco reminded Mario, leaving the plumber in a tough situation. Leia Rolando had saved many folks with her nursing skills...but now she was no longer around. Back to square one.

"Dang it! I'm not fully equipped-a for moments like these..." Left with no other choice, Mario dragged Hunter back to his house with Crunch helping him along the way. All the while, a Boo - the same one that was visiting the mansion - passed over the car wash, relatively unseen.

Boo: Hehehe! That was just the distraction I needed to get by. With everybody so busy today, I can get stuff done without any trouble. On that note...do yourself a favor, and keep your nose out of my business, will ya?


Preparations were being made for comedy night, as K.K. Slider was setting up a few decorations in the gaming room. Meanwhile, Volnutt was responsible for setting up the chairs.

"This place seriously needs a new 'set up chairs' guy..." Volnutt grumbled as he begrudgingly carried out his task, wishing for another resident to be relied upon to perform his duties. In a corner of the gaming room, Sora was going over his comedic material with Riku and Kairi.

"Got this list of acceptable comedy terms from someone," Sora said to Riku and Kairi as he showed his friend a list full of terms. The Keyblade wielder's friends looked at the list together, as they couldn't help but be skeptical.

"More than half of the words on this list would get you in big, big trouble," Kairi warned Sora - in the social media circles, one might rather say that Sora could be in danger of being canceled.

"Sora, where did you even get this list from?" asked Riku, wanting to do the right thing by ripping the list into pieces. Which probably wouldn't matter if Sora could easily ask for another copy. "Most of these words are just slurs."

"Got it from Falco - I consulted him for advice," replied Sora, as Riku and Kairi understandably exchanged looks of concern with each other. Imagine asking Falco for advice in anything, let alone comedy. "What? He's the funny man! Balthier said so!"

Riku: Sora in the past used to have a reputation of being a storyteller, for better and for worse. That's what everyone mostly remembered him for. And with great storytelling skills comes the ability to tell jokes. Or so the saying goes. I don't know if such an adage exists, but that didn't stop me from throwing Sora's name in the hat for comedy night. It's going to be entertaining...for the wrong yet mostly right reasons.

"If it makes you guys feel better, I went to Waluigi for clarification," added Sora, as Sans was spying on the Keyblade wielder from afar while hiding behind a couch. "He claimed to be a funny man himself."

"Only you would believe that lie, Sora," remarked Kairi, as she couldn't help but feel bad for her boyfriend. Sans continued to spy on Sora, until K.K. Slider bumped into him by accident while holding some balloons.

"Whoops! Sorry cool cat - didn't mean to back up into ya," K.K. apologized to Sans, as the balloons flew out of his hands and up to the ceiling. K.K. oughta feel fortunate that he was indoors otherwise he'd be screwed.

"you're right i'm a cool cat - i'm too purrfect for my own good," quipped Sans, doing a slight purr as K.K. Slider was laughing his butt off. Not literally though, for that would be weird - and awfully concerning. "lookin' good and feline good."

"Do us a favor please and take your puns elsewhere," Yusuke commanded Sans, as he and Haru peeked their heads from behind the couch that Sans was hiding behind. "We are trying to enjoy our chips and queso dip in peace."

"haru must have a bad queso loving you." Sans's romantic pun got a laugh out of Haru as she was giggling - only before Yusuke's cold-blood stare made her stop in a hurry. There was no stopping Haru from appreciating Sans's comedic genius in secret though.

"Any reason as to why you're behind this couch?" K.K. Slider asked Sans, as Volnutt was left to fetch the balloons that were touching the ceiling. "Practicing your material for tonight?"

"well, you know what they say...practice makes perfect." Sans turned back around as he reverted his attention to Sora, who saw Riku tear apart his list of comedic terms. "also scoping out my competition."

"Competition? Sans, this is supposed to be a joint effort! You're not competing against everyone - you're just here to tell jokes. Has not being the only talent on stage brought you down?"

"I'm telling you, Dante, you're making a huge mistake," Min Min warned the vigilante, as she and Dante were speaking a fair distance from where Sans and K.K. Slider were. Sans turned his attention to the conversation at hand.

"Nah, I just know how to shoot my shot when I gotta take it," responded Dante as he flashed a cocky grin - what's got him feeling so confident in himself? "Totally gonna bring the house down on comedy night."

"Oh dear..." fretted K.K. Slider, as Dante being a part of comedy night only brought even more unwarranted motivation to Sans. Sans was staring down Dante, seeing him as a threat.

"so he wants to shoot his shot..." the skeleton said, with one goal on his mind - absolutely bring it for comedy night, and not let a single person onstage take his shine. "...all that confidence isn't gonna net him a thing."


Since he was obviously not in the mood for being a tour guide, Snake threw all of his responsibilities to Hal and made the hacker lead Serenoa and company around the mansion. Should be worth noting that Hal, being a frequent guest, didn't necessarily know where everything was.

"This right here is the spa room," Hal explained to the four guests, as he and Snake stood in front of a door. Behind the door was the sound of running water. "A place for rest and relaxation!"

"Didn't know you folks had an indoor spa," Benedict said to Snake, who shrugged his shoulders as he apparently didn't know either. Snake was just tagging along for the ride at this point.

"Watch and observe." Hal tried to open the door but to no avail, for it was locked. The hacker gave a sheepish smile as made a second attempt, only to fail yet again. "One moment..."

"Who goes there?" a voice called out from behind the door, sounding on Fiora, as Hal dug into his pocket and pulled out a bobby pin.

"This should do the trick!" Hal stuck the bobby pin in the doorknob and used it to pick the lock and open the door. The hacker swung the door open...

...and realized that he had opened the bathroom door, as he saw Fiora taking a shower. Fiora, who was curiously poking her head from behind the shower curtain, found herself screaming at the also screaming Hal.

"Hal Emmerich?!" Fiora uttered the hacker's name in a great furor, as Hal stood there frozen in guilt and humiliation. Poor Hal felt defenseless. "What are you..."

"Forgive me!" Hal begged to Fiora as he quickly locked the door and slammed it shut. The hacker was left panting, clutching his chest as his humiliation slowly faded away.

"Very lovely 'spa' you got there," Serenoa said sarcastically to Hal, who imagined that he made the mansion look bad with that embarrassing moment.

Snake: That idiot Hal, he should've known that he was standing in front of a bathroom! *pauses* I knew it from the jump, but I didn't tell him anyway. *smiles* Part of me wanted to see his head get kicked in, just for the hilarity of it. Fiora is too sweet of a girl to do it, so...missed opportunity.

"I heard Fiora screaming down the hallway," said Shulk as he showed up, perceiving Fiora's screaming as a cry for help. "Did something bad happen to..."

"Stay out of our business, you bozo!" Snake shouted at Shulk as he put the Homs in a chokehold, about to bring him down to the floor...only for Hal and the others to look on with disapproving looks. "Uh...that was a force of habit."

"What is your problem?" Shulk was in a sour mood thanks to Snake, as he broke free from the former spy. The Homs walked away, giving Snake a mad side-eye. "The things that I get for looking out for Fiora..."

"You are one violent tour guide..." Roland said to Snake, shaking his head in disapproval; Snake took ownership of Roland's critique, as he casually dusted himself off.

"Hey now, I'm only a tour guide in name," Snake told Roland, now wishing that he could go back to Beijing. "Not like I chose to do this crap."


Fox and Falco remained at E. Gadd's mansion, where Cortex showed them his room. Wasn't much for him to show in all honesty, but there was nothing wrong with courtesy.

"Living with Professor E. Gadd has given me privileges that I never knew I had," Cortex said to Fox and Falco as he was finally wearing his pants - after the pilots and Uka badgered him constantly to put a pair on. "For instance, I can freely walk around naked!"

"Whoop-dee-doo, such an awesome thing to announce out in the open..." Falco responded sarcastically, accentuating his sarcasm with a show of lazy jazz hands. "...does E. Gadd ever get on you for that?"

"He would have if Cortex hadn't convinced him to do the same," replied Uka, before shuddering as a disturbing thought entered his mind. The same thought came to Fox and Falco, as they too were left disgusted. "Those two men have scarred me for life."

"Have not," defended Cortex, who was happy that E. Gadd gave him the freedom to do whatever he pleased. Perhaps a little too much freedom. "You should be grateful to see real men exhibiting themselves, free from judgment."

"There are other men who live here? Why have I not seen them?" As Cortex looked offended at Uka, Fox saw E. Gadd pass by Cortex's room not wearing his pants. At least E. Gadd kept his shoes and socks on.

"You're right, Dr. Cortex - not wearing pants really does make you feel alive!" E. Gadd said to the evil genius, who was receiving an inquisitive look from Uka. Cortex gave Uka a shrug. "This makes me feel like a young man again."

"I think that you should put your pants back on," Fox suggested to E. Gadd as he whisked the inventor away, lamenting how much Cortex was poisoning the inventor's mind. "What if you answered the front door, and they see you like this?"

"You must be fooled, Mr. McCloud - I can put my pants on in record time!" A claim like that was hard for Fox to believe, as the pilot pushed E. Gadd down the hallway. "Erm, don't mean to be a bother, but you passed by my room."

"Oh, right..." Fox backed it up, as he brought E. Gadd to his room before aggressively pushing him inside. Poor E. Gadd didn't see it coming. "Now put some pants on, you perverted old man."

"Perverted old man? Now that's a new one." As E. Gadd grabbed his pants off of his bed, Fox eyed the writings from earlier lying on the inventor's dresser. "In the past, I have called me crusty, and senile, and even..."

"This is some very weird fairytale fiction you're writing, professor." Fox was now going through the confidential writings that were on the dresser, as he was happily glossing through. E. Gadd caught the pilot in the act and gasped.

"Keep your hands off of that!" E. Gadd snatched the writings away from Fox, showing a kind of aggression that Fox or anyone else was seldom used to. "Who said that you could look at my stuff without permission?"

"I dunno, maybe it was implied by the man who left his stuff out in the open." Fox had left E. Gadd speechless, leaving him struggling to think of a suitable comeback. "Don't hate the player, hate the game..."

"Yes, I know, I know what that phrase means..." E. Gadd finished putting his pants on, properly adjusting them before he tied a belt around his waist. "...that quote came from a basketball movie, did it not?"


Hal would redeem himself as he brought the four guests from Glenbrook to a mansion attraction that actually existed - Cafe Leblanc. The cafe, which hadn't missed a bit with Pit absent, was operating smoothly as ever.

"This is, erm, Cafe Leblanc, one of the mansion's hang-out spots," Hal explained to Serenoa and company, as the name of the cafe nearly slipped his mind. A certain famous basketball player's name was almost at the tip of his tongue.

"If you value your taste buds, you'll leave while you still can," Snake said quietly to the four guests, as he brought their attention to Pit. Pit was back to doing his thing, making some questionable curry; today the angel was experimenting with toothpaste. Yuck.

"I think that we like our chances," said Serenoa, as he and the other Glenbrook folks took a seat at the counter. Joker saw his four guests and wanted to make them feel welcome.

"Welcome to Cafe Leblanc," Joker greeted Serenoa and company, while Snake and Hal looked on trying to keep a very low profile. "My name is Joker, I am the operator of this establishment..."

"...and I'm Viridi, the goddess of nature!" exclaimed Viridi as she butted in, refusing to let her presence go acknowledged. Couldn't let Joker hog all the attention. "Where are you all from?"

"I am Serenoa Wolffort, lord of House Wolffort," Serenoa introduced himself to the baristas, before looking over at his traveling party. "And these are my allies - Roland, Benedict, and Frederica. We escaped here from the kingdom of Glenbrook, which was invaded by..."

"Laaaaaame," Pit rudely responded, clearly not a huge fan of Serenoa's background story. The angel then grabbed his toothpaste curry and offered it to the guests. "Anyone care for some curry? Promise that it won't kill ya!"

Pit: Poison control centers say that eating toothpaste is bad and can give you an upset stomach, but that's just a bunch of malarkey. I mean, I've eaten plenty of toothpaste before - whole bottles, I might add - and I never even get sick! How can something that's meant to improve your oral hygiene be so "poisonous"? I don't get it. Scaredy cat parents, I blame them.

"Stop being rude, Pit..." Kirby scolded the angel, who had his bowl of curry taken away from Incineroar. Incineroar held the bowl high up from Pit, who jumped multiple times trying to reach with his hands.

"I am so sorry about that," Joker apologized to Serenoa, as Pit was smearing the great name of Cafe Leblanc with his behavior. And questionable curry-making skills. "Any of you care for a cup of coffee?"

"I would gladly take a cup, thank you," Frederica requested; Joker would hop right on it, as the young man went ahead and got a coffee machine started. "Your brew smells awfully pleasant."

"You could say that again," remarked Kirby, grateful that Sans was gone from Cafe Leblanc for the day; the skeleton's puns surely would've driven Serenoa and company away. "Are you all enjoying your stay so far?"

"It has been to our liking," replied Roland, now feigning for a cup of coffee himself. The strong smell that came from the coffee machine was alluring him. "That man with the headband and his spectacled friend showed us around quite a bit."

"You don't mean Snake and Hal Emmerich, do you?" Kirby didn't imagine that Snake would be let back inside the mansion all willy-nilly, only to later deduce that Snake was showing the four guests around as punishment.

"Yes, those are their names! It was Hal who brought us to..." Roland looked back and saw that Snake and Hal were nowhere to be found. The two friends had vamoosed.

"Would you look at that...they sneaked away!" remarked Benedict, who wasn't entirely shocked that Snake and Hal had both slithered their way out of Cafe Leblanc. "Left us behind. As I had expected."

"Trust me, this ain't their first rodeo..." Viridi said to Benedict, letting the tactician know that Snake and Hal's behavior as of late wasn't too surprising.


"Wh-Where are we going, Snake?" Hal asked the former spy, who was holding unto his friend's hand as he hurried down the hallway. Snake guided Hal to an elevator, looking both ways to see if anyone was near.

"How about you just shut up and keep your mouth shut?" Snake fired back as he was about to press an elevator door button. But Hal would stop the former spy by putting his hand on his arm.

"This isn't right...we can't leave our guests from Glenbrook behind." Hal desired to head back to the cafe, while Snake looked at him wondering why he cared so much about some strangers from a faraway land.

"Well, if they wind up getting lost later, then that's their problem. This stupid tour guide thing is distracting us from..."

Snake stopped speaking, as he heard Dr. Wily's voice from nearby. The former spy, bringing Hal along with him, peaked around the corner and saw Wily speaking with Link and Zelda.

"If we ask Master Hand for permission, will you finally stop bothering us?" Zelda asked Wily, as Snake tried to keep his face hidden; he couldn't let either one of Link or Zelda see him, or he'd be in big trouble.

"Yes, please! That is all I am asking of you," replied Wily as he got down to his knees, with begging hands clasped together. Zelda couldn't help but feel second-hand embarrassment. "All I want is to destroy that time machine."

"He's acting as if that time machine did something personal to him," Link whispered to Zelda, as he saw the desperation clear in Wily's eyes. Something about Wily begging on his knees was awfully charming to Link.

"We'll get back with you after we speak with Master Hand," Zelda told Wily, as she and Link left the premises. Wily let out a sigh of relief, standing back on his feet as Boo was peering down from up above.

"Back to the Assist Tower, I go...better fetch the boys," said Wily as he headed to the tower, hoping that Shadow and Hammer Bro weren't too busy at the moment. Boo, who had eavesdropped on the entire conversation after going unnoticed (except for the cameraman), vanished away.

Boo: The Assist Tower? Haven't dabbled over there yet. Nothing else at his joint has caught my eye, so I could head over next door and see what's up. Better not see you guys following behind me, too!

"Hal...your thoughts?" Snake asked the hacker, interested in hearing how he felt about the time machine potentially being destroyed. Hal did help out with those Pokemon professors a few episodes back.

"This isn't much of a surprise, Wily has always despised time traveling," replied Hal, as he didn't really say much about the time machine. Not the kind of response that Snake had anticipated. "The people in that group chat I'm in have made me more than aware."

"Dr. Wily has the right intentions...and he doesn't even know it yet," said a mysterious voice, but not mysterious enough for Snake and Hal as they recognized who was speaking from the jump.

"Gray Fox? Is that you? Show yourself!" shouted Snake as he kept his eyes peeled for the cyborg ninja; Gray Fox would soon reveal himself to Snake and Hal after being called upon, deactivating his camouflage.

"I am afraid that the time machine has to go. It might sound cliche, and it might make me sound like Wily himself...but it must be gone before it falls in the wrong hands."

"And you expect us to take it apart?" asked Hal, who wanted the time machine intact for his own personal reasons. He didn't want to take any action that would upset the Pokemon professors. "Snake, can you believe him right now?"

"You bet I do," replied Snake, smirking to himself as he scratched his beard; the former spy was devising a surefire plan in his head. "Hal and I won't do the dirty work for you, Gray Fox, but I know a group who can..."


Back at Cafe Leblanc, the four guests of Glenbrook were joined by Villager. Since Villager figured that the word about his trip to China would be out soon, he had no problem sharing details of his trip with the others.

"We would've been in jail if it wasn't for that police officer saving our butts," Villager explained to the baristas, as Serenoa and company were also included in the conversation. "No thanks to you, Pit..."

"Hey, how was I supposed to know that you couldn't use chopsticks as weapons?" asked a defensive Pit, who attempted to start a food fight in Beijing. It would've been one heck of a brawl if it wasn't for Madame Butterfly's fists. "Thought that you could away with that in China."

"You can't really get away with that anywhere," Kirby informed Pit, disappointing his friend as the angel slammed his fist on the counter in frustration. Slammed the counter so hard, that he caused Sereonoa's bowl of curry to shift a bit.

"Watch it - I am still waiting for my curry to cool down!" Serenoa scolded Pit, before checking to see if any of his curry had spilled. Fortunately, only a few drops of curry found their way to the countertop. "Reckless imbecile..."

"Well, I'm sorry; I wish that we had a fan for you so that your curry cool off faster." As Pit took the time to clean up the very small mess, Snake poked his head inside the cafe.

"Psst! Come with me..." Snake whispered to Serenoa and company, catching their attention as he beckoned to the four. Serenoa weighed his options, as he looked between Snake and his precious curry.

"Do you mind...watching his bowl of curry for me?" the swordsman kindly asked the baristas as he gently pushed his bowl of curry closer to them. "We have to go now - hopefully, we will be back soon."

"We'll be seeing you," Joker said to Serenoa, giving the swordsman and his friends the green light to leave the cafe. Pit, eyeing Serenoa's curry, reached his hand towards the bowl.

"Leave his bowl of curry alone..." Viridi commanded Pit as she slapped the angel's hand away. Villager saw a brief glimpse of Snake as he retracted his head from the cafe.


Fast forward a bit to the evening, and it was time for the eating contest to begin. All the competitors - Wario, Yoshi, Louie, Pigma, Bowser, Spring Man, Ike, Jasmine, and even Cloud - were in the dining room, as Pyra and Mythra were ready to kick off the event.

"Who's ready for the eating contest?" Pyra asked the crowd of spectators, receiving some loud cheers in response. Master Hand could only wish that he got that kind of reception. "Are all the competitors ready?"

"We have an imposter in our midst!" announced Bowser, singling out Jasmine as he pointed accusingly at the gym leader. The Koopa King expected Pyra and Mythra to whisk Jasmine away, but the Blades took no action.

"...are all the competitors ready?" As Bowser piped down, the other competitors let out a loud voice of confirmation. Cloud could only muster an apathetic "yeah", as he looked down at the food in front of him.

Louie: Those ladies surprised me...they actually came through with the pizza and hamburgers and all that good stuff. No healthy food in sight! Now if it turns out that the pizza is the microwave kind, then I might have to change my tune...

"You know the rules - the first person to eat the food in front of them wins," Mythra explained the self-explanatory rules, as Spring Man licked his chops at the food that he was set to devour. "Puking gets you disqualified. As does hiding your food under your clothes

"Dang it!" griped Wario, as Mythra took away his secret strategy; the fatso grumpily took out some hot dogs that he kept hidden under his shirt, placing them back on the plate.

"Nice try Wario. Everybody ready?" Mythra took out a stopwatch, as the competitors (except Cloud) got themselves in the groove. "On your mark...get set...dig in!"

Once Mythra started the clock, the eating competitors went ahead and started eating right away. The one contest participant that wasn't eating, Cloud, just stared at his food while Aerith and Tifa were in the crowd looking disappointed.

"May I have your permission to leave this stupid contest?" Cloud asked Pyra and Mythra, as the former nodded her head; Cloud stood up from his chest, as he willingly eliminated himself from the contest.

"We have our first elimination!" announced Mythra, as Cloud pushed his chair in and walked away from the dining room table. Aerith and Tifa couldn't be any more upset with Cloud. "Cloud has eliminated himself."

"What was that all about?!" an incensed Tifa asked Cloud, who joined the martial artist and Aerith at their side. Aerith had gone through the trouble of signing up Cloud for the contest, only for Cloud to take himself out of the eating race.

"It's much more fun watching a eating contest than being in one," admitted a half-lying Cloud, as he watched the competitors gobble down as much food as they could. Had his eyes on Jasmine the most.


Elsewhere in the mansion, another event was starting up in the gaming room - comedy night! The event organizer, K.K. Slider, stood on a stage in front of a crowd of (paying) residents.

"Welcome everyone, to our first-ever Smash Mansion Comedy Knight!" K.K. Slider addressed the crowd, as he got a very warm reception; the Master Hand of old would probably be beside himself right now. "I am your host, K.K. Slider. As you all know, this is a fundraising event for Star Records..."

"How come you never got signed to Star Records?" King K. Rool asked K.K. Slider, as he interrupted the hippie dog and irked him with his question. "Not good enough for them, huh?"

"First off, we will not tolerate any kind of slander this evening. Because that ain't cool. And on that note...Flying Man, take King K. Rool away."

"It was a joke, IT WAS A JOKE!" Clearly K.K. Slider didn't think it was a joke, and neither did the Flying Man as he escorted K. Rool out of the gaming room. Maybe now comedy night could go on without any trouble.

Sans: asked k.k. if I could go last. that way, i can let the posers embarrass themselves, and then save comedy night by showing them and everyone else how it's done.

"Four comedic talents will be performing tonight, and they're rookies so go easy on them," continued K.K. Slider, as he expected a fair crowd tonight. Sometimes at the mansion, that was too much to ask for. "Give it up for our first comic...Cuphead!"

"Thank you, thank you!" exclaimed Cuphead, as K.K. Slider gave him the mic. The talking cup walked onto the stage, as he clicked his fingers at the cheering crowd. "How is everybody doing tonight?"

"We're really feeling it!" shouted Shulk, who had totally forgotten about Snake choking him earlier - and why should he dwell upon that thought now? It was time for him to laugh to his heart's content.

"Alright! Before I hop right in, I wanna send a little message..." Cuphead blew a raspberry into the microphone, before pointing his finger at an imaginary person. "...that's for you, Jimmy! And you know what for..."

"Who's Jimmy?" wondered Min Min, as Cuphead shook his fist at this Jimmy person...wherever the heck he was. Regaining his composure, Cuphead was about to tell his first joke.

"First joke! These two cannibals are eating a clown, and, uh...wait. How did it go? Uh...wait." Apparently, Cuphead couldn't think of anything - and as a result, he droned on mindlessly into the microphone. His mind was in a whole other place now.

"Sorry folks but I gotta go...this joke is already hitting too close to home," King Dedede said as he got up and left the gaming room suspiciously; those seated near the fat penguin exchanged looks of concern with one another.

"PASS THE MIC!" Terry shouted at Cuphead, who continued to drone away while K.K. Slider nervously looked on. Comedy night was off to a rocky start...


The car wash had drawn to a close that evening, as a lot of folks in Seattle had their car washed by Mario and his friends. Hunter, who poisoned himself after idiotically drinking some bleach, was well again thanks to some medical aid from Mario. Dr. Mario, that is.

"Sorry for the scare - I was trying to start a new social media trend," Hunter apologized to everyone, sitting on the ground with a plethora of water bottles around him. "Remember those Tide pods and the..."

"I would highly advise-a you not to attempt that ever again," advised Dr. Mario, who tended to Hunter while the others washed cars without him. Who knows how many cars Banjo had scrubbed with his back.

Female Inkling: Hunter apparently drank half of the bleach. If it wasn't for Dr. Mario recommending him to drink some water, he would've had organ failure!

Spyro: Hunter should be grateful that he didn't die from drinking the bleach - or maybe he did die, and used up one of his nine lives. Who knows how many lives he has lost up to this point.

Dr. Mario: Spyro gave me the 4-1-1 while I was away helping his friend - Banjo scrubbed at least a dozen-a or so cars with his back when I told him not to. That means that we have possibly a dozen lawsuits-a on our hands. Mama mia, indeed...

As Sonic picked up the water bottles off the ground, a woman with glasses came over to where Dr. Mario and company were. Sonic took notice of the woman as he was doing his task.

"Sorry ma'am, but the car wash is over," Sonic notified the woman, before noticing that the woman had no car. Also took note of her attire as well. "Wait, do you even have a car?"

"No, but I do have this wand!" the bespectacled woman smiled as she showed off her wand to Sonic and company. "I am Geela Breisse - I came from a faraway land, looking for my mentee. Frederica is her name."

"Frederica? That doesn't ring a bell," responded Dr. Mario, with Geela hoping that she came to the right location. It would really suck if she didn't. "What-a does she look like?"

"She has pink hair and mostly wears red. She might be seen accompanying a group." It was all coming together for Dr. Mario, as he recalled a woman who perfectly fitted the description.

"Oh! We did see some pink-a haired lady and her friends enter this mansion. Heard from a friend-a of mine that they escaped after their kingdom was held-a under siege."

"Far from the truth..." Geela shook her head, seeing that Dr. Mario was poorly misinformed. And likely Link and Zelda, as well. "...all is well in the kingdom of Glenbrook. Those four must've used that as an excuse to escape."

"Maybe they were just trying to get away from you," quipped Hunter, as Spyro glared at his friend; Dr. Mario saw how disappointed Geela looked, and wanted to help her out.

"Let me get this front-a yard cleaned up, and I can show you where those-a 'refugees' might be," Dr. Mario said to Geela as he unbuttoned his lab coat, looking over and seeing Crash hold the half-empty bottle of bleach over his mouth. "Don't you even think about it, bandicoot!"


Since Cuphead couldn't remember his cannibal joke, he was forced to pass the mic so that the next comic could take the stage - Sora. Sora truly believed that his material wasn't the best, but he was going to give it his all anyway. That's what he always does.

"Funny story, Riku once got his big toe stuck in a raft," Sora told this childhood story to the crowd, as Riku was sitting in his seat feeling embarrassed. Kairi did her best to comfort Riku by patting his shoulder. "And I was like, 'way to make a new kind of toe jam!'"

"You're supposed to tell jokes, Sora!" Riku angrily shouted at the Keybalde wielder as he stood up, while the others laughed at Sora's joke. "Not tell everyone unflattering stories about me?"

"...so what's the difference?" Sora didn't seem like he wanted to change up his material, and that got Riku heated as he headed towards the stage. Ryu and Ken were there to prevent Riku's further progress.

"We will not permit anyone to beat up any of the comics," announced K.K. Slider, rueing that he had to make such an announcement as Ryu and Ken sat Riku back down in his seat. "Take the jokes as they come!"

"Yeah, what K.K. Slider said." Sora was ready to tell another joke, as Riku was left frowning with his arms folded. "Now let me tell you a little story about Kairi and her, uh...womanly problems."

"Can we not?" pleaded Kairi, blushing profusely as her face turned red in a hurry; Sora was bound to find himself in some hot water with his friends soon.

Sans: the so-called comics are making fools out of themselves onstage...everything is coming to fruition. it's pear-fect so far.


Back to the eating contest, where another competitor was out of the running - Spring Man. The ARMS fighter had devoured many boxes of pizza, before ultimately calling it quits.

"I can't do it anymore...I'm out," Spring Man conceded defeat, resting against the chair as he held his hand over his stomach. There was only so much that his stomach could handle.

"You only ate the pizza and nothing else..." Pyra said to Spring Man, who had barely even touched any of the burgers, hot dogs, or any other food that was part of his portion. "...what a taste. Spring Man is out, ladies and gentlemen!"

"You are a disgrace!" Master Mummy, Spring Man's biggest supporter, shouted to Spring Man who collapsed onto the floor. Master Mummy immediately felt bad about what he said. "No, Spring Man, I didn't mean it personally!"

"Think I ate too much in preparation..." moaned Wario, as he was unable to take another bite. In the biggest development so far, Wario admitted defeat as he fell face-first on the table.

"And Wario is down for the count!" announced Mythra, not expecting Wario to be out so early; she figured that the fatso would be down to the last two. "Only six remain."

"Ha, that's what you get!" Pigma taunted Wario, only to soon hear his stomach make grumbling sounds. Sounded like a bad omen. "Uh oh..."

"Now Pigma is out of the contest for good!" announced Pyra, as Pigma clutched his stomach and hurriedly ran to the bathroom. Using the bathroom during the contest was an automatic disqualification. "The competitors are dropping like flies!"


The vibe was far less tense at comedy night - or so it was until Sora displeased his friends with his awkward jokes. With Sora asked to leave the stage, next up was Dante as the vigilante approached the microphone stand.

"Got a weird feeling about this one," Ryu said to Ken as Dante grabbed the mic...only for it to fall off the mic stand. The mic was dangling, as Dante gave the crowd a cheeky smile.

"Uh oh...I think I broke it," smiled Dante as he tried to grab the mic, only to make it fall down to the stage. The vigilante took a step back, as he got a small laugh from the crowd.

"What a foolish man," snorted Ganondorf, watching as Dante got all the way down to the stage floor. He was lying stomach-first on the stage, with his mouth close to the mic.

"So, uh, anyway...I'm like many of the other comedians on this show tonight. The only difference is, I'm not a stand-up." Dante's schtick earned him a few laughs, although some were genuinely concerned.

"Does he need help?" Shantae quietly asked Donkey Kong; Dante grabbed the mic and stood back on his feet before putting the mic back on the mic stand.

Shantae: Perhaps Dante didn't leave the room because of some silly allergy. He left because he's downright crazy!

"seen this kind of material before..." Sans quietly discussed with K.K. Slider, as he and the other comics were watching Dante's performance together. "...stole it from a famous comedian."

"Now now, Sans - now isn't the time for criticizing Dante's comic act," K.K. said to the skeleton, who grumbled as his concerns were quickly dismissed. "Save that negative energy until after the show is over."


Through Link and Zelda, Wily now had clearance from Master Hand to destroy the time machine. The robot inventor refused to do it alone, which was why he enlisted two fellow tower denizens to assist him - Shadow and Hammer Bro.

"Tell me exactly what we're getting out from doing this," Shadow asked Wily, who led the hedgehog and Hammer Bro to the mansion's basement. Wily had a bag of tools hoisted over his shoulders.

"We will prevent someone from making some very poor life decisions," replied Wily, as Shadow and Hammer Bro looked at each other - both confused and very much unconvinced. "If you were in my shoes, you would know..."

"Seems like you're just being selfish to me," remarked Hammer Bro as the trio arrived at the basement...only to hear some commotion from behind the basement door. "Wait, I hear some folks down there!"

"It seems that someone tried to beat us to the punch..." Wily saw that the doorknob to the basement door was cut off - likely by a sharp blade. "...Shadow, would you like to do the honors?"

"Only because you asked nicely," replied Shadow, as he approached the door and kicked it down wide open. Shadow, Wily, and Hammer Bro ran inside the basement, certain that another group was trying to destroy with the time machine themselves.

Turns out the three were right, as they saw Snake, Hal, and Gray Fox all present in the basement. However, the three were only standing around, while Serenoa, Roland, Benedict, and Frederica were damaging the time machine themselves.

"Never have I've seen a contraption quite like this..." Benedict analyzed the time machine, as he was observing it much more than he was damaging it. Hardly got any licks in. "...can it really send one back in time?"

"You can bet your socks it can," replied Snake, bothered by the fact that only Frederica was casting magic on the time machine. "Sword guys, what's the big deal? Use your magic already!"

"But we don't really have any magic," stated Roland, trying his best as he and Serenoa struck the time machine with their swords. "We're just swordsmen!"

"Liar! I know you two have magic, stop hiding it. Use it or I'll kill you!" Rather than using the magic that they didn't have, Serenoa and Roland struck the time machine even harder.

"Ahem..." Wily spoke up, as Serenoa and company paused their attack on the time machine and looked up at the robot inventor, Shadow, and Hammer Bro. "...what is the meaning of this?"

"You wanted the time machine gone, did you not?" Gray Fox asked Wily, leading the robot inventor to wonder how much he was following after him. "We were merely doing you a favor."

"Who are those punks doing a horrible job at destroying it, though?" inquired Shadow as he got a good look at Serenoa and company, as Snake felt a sudden urge to defend the four's honor.

"These punks are my 'friends,'" Snake snapped on Shadow, cringing slightly as Hal gave the former spy a surprised look. Did Snake remember the names of the four visitors? "Diet version Beleth, ponytail man, four-eyes...and that chick from Darling in the Franxx."

"Darling in the what now...?" Frederica crinkled her nose, as she had no clue what Snake was even talking about. Hal looked surprised at Snake once more.

"You watch Darling in the Franxx?" the hacker asked Snake, deeply appreciating his friend if he answered yes. Would be nice to find out that your friend loved anime as much as you did.

"If by watch, you mean checking out this anime clips you strangely sent to my email..." replied Snake, as Hal had a smile full of guilt. Who knew that he was that kind of anime fan?

"I reckon-a that they went down here," Mario was heard speaking from outside the basement, as Wily poked his head out and saw Mario headed his way. With a woman by his side.

"Rest assured that they will be punished for what they have done," said the woman that accompanied Mario, Geela; Serenoa and company heard Geela's voice, as they tensed up.

"Dr. Wily!" Mario called out to the robot inventor, whose head he saw sticking out from the basement door. "Have you seen a group-a of four individuals anywhere?"

"There are some down in this basement," replied Wily, as he brought Mario and Geela inside; Geela would see Serenoa, Roland, Benedict, and Frederica down below, helpless in avoiding any guilt.

"Lady Geela...much greetings," Frederica awkwardly greeted Geela, who was greatly disappointed in the princess; she was equally as disappointed with Frederica's friends.

"Making up a crisis as an excuse to escape from Glenbrook..." Geela shook her head in disappointment at Serenoa and company, hoping that the four learned their lesson. "...how very shameful."

"If you must know, Lady Geela, Lord Serenoa wished for a retreat," Benedict did his best to explain to Geela, letting her know that Serenoa had the right intentions in mind. "Granted, he could've gone about it a different way..."

"I would have to agree with you on that accord. And you, being House Wolfford's most trusted advisor, should've known better..."

Benedict: As an advisor for Serenoa, I periodically find myself doing anything that he asks of me. So when Serenoa asked me to arrange a dinner party involving Geela, as a distraction for him and his friends to escape, I followed through in the hopes of appeasing him. Sometimes being a royal advisor is hard...

"House Wolffort has been worried sick about you," Geela said sternly to Serenoa, who put his sword away as he went up the basement stairs. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"How about we discuss this over some curry?" Serenoa offered to Geela, enticing her as much as he could. Geela smiled ever so slightly, signaling that she might be hooked. "We can talk things out at this mansion's cafe."

"If that is where you plan on pleading your innocence...then so be it." A sit-down chat with Geela was now confirmed, as Serenoa turned around and looked at his friends.

"Let's go, everyone - I have a bowl of curry waiting for me at Cafe Leblanc, you know!" So Roland, Benedict, and Frederica went up the stairs and followed after Serenoa and Geela, leaving Snake, Hal, and Gray Fox behind.

"Wh-Where are you going?" Snake asked the folks of Glenbrook, watching helplessly as he left the basement. Mario stayed behind, while Wily and his men went down the stairs. "Come back!"

"Much appreciated for letting your friends give us a head start!" Wily said to Snake, placing his bag of tools on the floor as he was ready to get started. Soon Mario came down the stairs, as Snake was in his sight.

"Solid Snake...you, me, and Hal, at my place," Mario said to the former spy, who suspected that he was getting in trouble with the plumber for his secret trip to China. "We have things-a to discuss ourselves..."


Dante had finished his stand-up routine, and everyone was a fan...except for Sans, who accused Dante of stealing material. But Sans couldn't be sour grapes any longer, for it was now his time to shine.

"Who here is ready for the main event?" K.K. Slider asked the crowd, who were less than ecstatic for Sans. They only paid for their ticket to just see the other comic acts. "Any idea who it is?"

"Can we just leave?" requested Akihiko, who was raring to leave the gaming room as many others shared the same sentiments. K.K. just laughed at the young man.

"Ha, you're as funny as our next comedian! But not funny enough. Everyone make some noise and get on your feet for our grand finale...SANS!"

"thank you, thank you," said Sans as he received the mic from K.K. Slider; the skeleton got zero reaction as he got on the stage. "...awesome night we've been having."

"An awesome night we've been having...until now," Ken muttered under his breath, bracing himself for whatever puns Sans pulled out of his pocket.

"you know, there was this one time when I asked my dad if he knew why it was so dark, and he was all like...no sun."

"That's it, I'm outta here," said Akihiko as he got up out of his chair, only for K.K. Slider to clear his throat and give him a stern look. Akihiko sat back down in his seat, groaning.

"speaking of the sun, let's talk about the moon. wanna know how it cuts its hair? eclipse it. that simple."

"Was Sazh Katzroy a precursor for this unwilling torture that we have to endure?" wondered Heihachi, as he was getting some very bad flashbacks from around five years ago.

"of course, you can't forget about the stars - or the aliens! those jokers always spilling their tea with their flying saucers..."

"May I make an announcement?" shouted Yusuke, who was sitting next to Haru as he rose up from his seat. Sans paused his pun-telling, as everyone focused their attention on Yusuke. "I think we can all agree that Sans here is a comedic genius."

"that's facts, bro. better recognize." Sans pointed at Yusuke as a sign of appreciation, while many folks rolled their eyes.

"Because Sans is such a comedic genius, I think that we need a way to recognize that very fact." Yusuke beckoned to someone outside the gaming room...

...and soon R.O.B. wheeled in a cart of tomatoes inside, with a $5 sign on it. The respect that Sans was about to have for Yusuke vanished away.

"Well, this can't be good..." remarked K.K. Slider, as Yusuke grabbed Haru's hand and ran to the tomato cart. Yusuke simply couldn't run the cart by himself.

"Everyone come and throw a tomato at Sans! Five dollars apiece!" Yusuke encouraged the crowd, as many residents got up out of their seats. Folks were paying Yusuke and grabbing tomatoes, which they threw at Sans.

"stop it you guys, this isn't cool," Sans said to the crowd, as they pelted him nonstop with red tomatoes. One tomato nailed Sans in his feet, and it stung quite a bit. "never had so much pain tomatoes."

"He's still cracking puns, hit him harder!" encouraged Ken, making the residents throw tomatoes at Sans with extra force. Yusuke watched the flurry of tomatoes with a giant smirk.

"You hear the man, stop this at once!" K.K. Slider shouted at the tomato-throwing crowd, but his pleas were left ignored as he felt helpless. "This is now how comedy night was meant to turn out!"

Yusuke: K.K. Slider wished to raise money, and Sans wanted to have a lasting effect with his puns. Well, he got the effect that he wanted. *smiles* Killed two birds with one stone.


The eating contest was getting down to the wire, as Yoshi and Ike were both eliminated. It was getting pretty intense with Louie and Bowser, as they were trying to outdo one another.

"Bowser and Louie are both going at it," commentated Mythra, with Bowser and Louie staring each other down as they ate and ate and ate. "Neither one of them is letting up!"

"I won't go out like I did last time," vowed Louie, who was currently scarfing down a plate of fries. He couldn't finish his plate of fries in the last eating contest, but he hoped to redeem himself today.

"What?!" bellowed Bowser, after seeing Louie eat his fries without any problem. The Koopa King grabbed a whole pizza and devoured it in one gulp - only to choke seconds later.

"Oh, dear...Bowser is choking!" fretted Pyra, as Bowser got down on the floor still choking. Louie was about to eat the last fry on his plate, only to see the predicament that Bowser was in and weigh his options.

"Grandma...please forgive me!" Reluctantly placing the fry back on his plate, Louie came to the rescue as he hopped on Bowser's belly to get him to stop choking. Bowser eventually coughed up one-half of the pizza, while swallowing the other half without any trouble.

"Ew, gross..." Mythra grimaced when she saw the pizza on the dining room floor, only to hear her stopwatch going off. "...time's up!"

"Time's up? Did I win?" asked Bowser, throwing Louie off of him as sat up. Didn't even bother to thank Louie for saving his life, what a guy.

"Let's see what we got here..." Mythra looked around the dining room table, seeing who consumed the most food in the allotted time. "...and the winner of the eating contest is...Jasmine, of Olivine City!"

"Oh, did I win?" Jasmine asked with a smile, humbly accepting her victory as she had many cleaned plates in front of her. The most out of everyone. The crowd cheered for Jasmine, with some even chanting her name.

"Guess there's no shame in losing to a girl," shrugged Louie, as he was fine with the final results. But Bowser was not, as his mouth went agape.

Olimar: It's funny, hardly anybody paid attention to Jasmine during the contest. I guess that's what willed her to victory.

Cloud: Jasmine, the person everyone least expected to win the contest...ultimately won in the end. Here is me pretending to be shocked. *gives the camera a straight face*

"I OBJECT!" shouted Bowser, wasting absolutely no time to refute Jasmine's victory. "Jasmine was cheating when no one was looking. Either that or you miscounted the food remaining."

"I think you need a little convincing," Jasmine said to Bowser as she took out her Poke Ball and sent out her ace Pokemon, Steelix. Bowser felt intimidated as Steelix towered over him. "Rusty, how would you like an eating contest yourself?"

"N-No need! I'm fine with losing! Totally" Bowser backpedaled away from the Steelix, as he backed his way out of the dining room. Had to brush through the crowd to make his escape.

"Sorry we don't have a trophy for you," Pyra apologized to Jasmine, who was gently petting her Steelix. It was amusing how a sweet woman could care for such a scary-looking Pokemon. "We would give you some prize money, but the money's for..."

"You're fine, I don't need a prize anyway," smiled Jasmine, as she heard her stomach make a funny noise as it had reached full capacity. "All I want right is some heartburn medicine..."


Happy to be back in Seattle, the Luminary spent most of his day unwinding in his room. He would receive a visitor, however, when Villager stopped by.

"Saw him and Hal going to the basement, with some strangers," Villager said to the Luminary, as he was telling the mage about Snake's exploits. He was closely following after Snake, blind to the naked eye...or something. "Gray Fox was with them, too."

"Isn't that where the time machine is?" asked the Luminary, placing a finger underneath his chin as he found himself deep in thought. "How peculiar..."


Wily felt relieved, as the time machine in the mansion was destroyed. In actuality, though, the machine was just taken apart, but it was now no longer in operation. And Wily was relieved about it, as he went down the stairs of the tower's basement.

"Ah, that felt good," smiled Wily, holding some time machine parts as he made his way down to the basement. When he arrived, he saw Boo in front of his universe transport machine, rubbing his hands together.

"Heh heh...what a nice little contraption this is!" snickered Boo, only for Wily to gasp at the ghost. Boo turned around and was spooked to see Wily. "Yikes! Crazy old man spotted!"

"Get out, get out I say!" Wily threw a machine part at Boo, who vanished away as the machine part struck Wily's machine. Wily was left exhaling angrily, as he put the machine parts away. "Stupid ghost..."


The gaming room was a mess, as there was tomato juice all over the place. Mr. Game and Watch cleaned up the mess as Yusuke - who got a stern talking-to from K.K. Slider - stood by and watched with Akihiko.

"Must say, you have one heck of an arm," Yusuke complimented Akihiko, greatly impressed with how well the young man threw tomatoes at Sans. "The arm of a hall-of-fame pitcher!"

"Thanks, Yusuke, but...I prefer to throw fists rather than baseballs," responded Akihiko, who was soon approached by Shantae. Shantae looked like she wanted to say something. "Yes, Shantae?"

"Oh, nothing...just wanted to say hi," replied Shantae, admiring Akihiko for a brief moment before walking away. Akihiko and Yusuke exchanged confused looks with one another.


Done speaking with Mario, Snake headed to the mansion from the plumber's house. After Snake said his goodbyes to Hal and hurried on in, Fox and Falco returned to the mansion in their Arwings.

"Got the stuff on your phone, right?" Falco asked Fox, as he and the pilot hopped out of their Arwings. Fox had his phone out, as he showed Falco some evidence on the screen.

"Got as much as I could," replied Fox, who had snapped several shots of E. Gadd's writings. He put his phone away, as he and Falco went to the mansion. "Hope the idol singers are ready for our impromptu meeting."


Serenoa and his friends were back at Cafe Leblanc, joined by Frederica's tutor Geela. Geela was previously mad that Serenoa and company had sneaked away from Glenbrook, but some piping hot curry made her forgive and forget.

"We'll keep this a secret from the rest of House Wolfford," said Geela, before taking a sip from her curry. It sure hit the spot. "Especially Erador - you can never trust him."

"Certainly so - he has no indoor voice to speak of," remarked Serenoa, as he and the others shared a laugh together. Sans returned to the cafe, looking different than usual.

"Wow Sans, whatever happened to you?" Kirby asked the skeleton, as he and the baristas saw Sans covered in red. Sans deeply sighed as he took a seat at the counter.

"the folks at comedy night pelted me...from head tomato," answered Sans, leaving the baristas with no doubt of what happened to him. "who knew that comedy hurts?"