Author's Note:

Many of you might remember, but at one point in time, this story was updated much sooner - before/around 12:00 A.M. on Fridays. Then it moved to Saturdays - part of the reason was so I could watch more college football. Silly reason, I know. I'm open to updating sooner, but I'll leave that choice up to you (well, the people who can vote, that is). There's a new poll on my profile about it, so go check it out. Review time!

"More Luma, please."

Funny how Luma popped up a bit in the early chapters, and nowadays...he's kinda irrelevant. I must do better! More Luma, I promise. Another anonymous review:

"Big news! F-Zero X is coming to NSO on March 11. Can we have some F-Zero love in the future? Maybe have Captain Falcon holding an F-Zero meetup."

The F-Zero series is getting some prominence? Say it ain't so! Doubt that there will be a new F-Zero game in the future, but I can have Captain Falcon host an F-Zero meetup. Not many F-Zero characters outside of Falcon and Samurai Goroh have ever appeared. Another anonymous review:

"I heard what happened to Ukraine due to Russia invasion. Will you do an Ukraine chapter in solidary? Like Master Hand forcing everyone to wear blue and yellow for example."

Maybe, maybe not. That said, my thoughts still go out to everyone affected in Ukraine. One last anonymous review:

"Well, it's official. Jeff Hardy is All Elite. The Hardy Boyz are back together again. What do you think of it?"

Could be their last run together. Given that AEW is more...reckless when it comes to in-ring action compared to WWE, I hope that neither Matt nor Jeff kill themselves doing their crazy stunts. Also hope that Jeff can keep his nose out of trouble - don't want a repeat of Victory Road 2011. What does A JRPG enjoyer have to say?

"...speaking of Triangle Strategy, can you please do a chapter on Octopath Traveler, too? I know some people already asked you about Octopath, and I'm gonna make it easy on you: July 13 is the date of Octopath's 4th anniversary. Go crazy. And here's some other anniversary-related idea for you: the first Bravely Default's 10th anniversary is on October 11, and Astral Chain's 3rd anniversary is on August 30. Go wild."

A chapter on Octopath Traveler? I'd love to! July seems like a good time to do it. The Astral Chain redux chapter and the Bravely Default I chapter will take place in August in October, respectively. David has questions:

"Sorry for some of these wrestling questions. Is Yosuke, Corrin, or any Smash mansion resident a fan of The Miz? Is Pit one of the few who would defend Triple H's Reign of Terror (2002-2005) run? Has Master Hand ever tried having 3 of the mansion guests imitate and dress up like The New Day? Will shadow versions of the Phantom Thieves show up for the Persona 4 Arena chapter? Do Banjo and Kazooie secretly own Xbox consoles? (Call me slow for asking) and finally, what do you hope to see in the upcoming Pokemon game and do you think the backlash over not being able to catch them all again has gotten tiresome?"

I can only see Bowser has a Miz fan. Pit would definitely defend the Reign of Terror. Master Hand has never tried such a thing. Only the Shadows that were in Arena Ultimax will appear. Banjo and Kazooie do own Xbox consoles. And as for the new Pokemon game, I'm hoping for some new cross-gen evolutions to be introduced. Always been a sucker for those, hence the reason why I adore Gen IV so much. I do think the backlash about not catching ALL the Pokemon is tiresome at this point (who would have time to do that, even?). And An NFL fan with some breaking news:

"HUGE NEWS! RUSSELL WILSON IS GOING TO THE BRONCOS! That's right. Seattle's beloved quarterback, Russell Wilson, is going to the Denver Broncos, the same team he destroyed to help the Seahawks win Super Bowl 48! What do you think about this news? Do you think the Seahawks will fade into obscurity and become a mediocre team? And is Master Hand mad that his "beloved quarterback" is going somewhere else? I know he's a "changed man", but I would've love to see him angry."

The Seahawks will not only fade into obscurity, but they will be a bottom feeder in their division for maybe a couple of years (or until they land a franchise quarterback). As for Master Hand's reaction to the trade...you'll have to read this chapter and find out.


Episode 325: Dreamy

Mario and Peach had plenty of games at their home. Monopoly, Boggle, Operation...the list goes on and on. You name it, Mario and Peach had it.

But when it came to games, there was nothing that got the married couple more competitive than Battleship. Involving warships and strategies, Battleship was a game that tested anyone's mettle, and anyone's friendship. Okay, maybe not as much as Mario Party does, but it was still tested nonetheless.

Of course, Mario and Peach weren't above playing games such as Battleship just with themselves; they were open to playing with Spyro and Hunter, as long as the two friends agreed to play fair. Peach was playing Battleship with Spyro that evening, at the kitchen table.

"I'm gonna say...B5," said Spyro as he was looking strategically at his side of the Battleship board. What kind of sick maneuver would Peach pull off?

"Miss!" exclaimed Peach as she placed a peg in the center of her board. Her pegs for whatever reason were arranged like a cat's face, and it made her greatly pleased.

"I don't think you're playing this right." Spyro couldn't possibly find Peach couldn't be any worse than Hunter; any game against that cheetah was usually a guaranteed win.

"Guys! Come-a quick!" shouted Mario, as he called Peach, Spyro, and Hunter to the living room. Everyone gathered around Mario, who was sitting on his sofa watching television. "I need you to laugh at this with me!"

Peach and company were looking at the television, as a familiar face popped up in a local commercial...Magolor. Magolor was strangely playing the guitar in front of a cutesy background. Cutesy enough to make anyone's eyes hurt, or even bleed.

"Who's cute as a button, and leaves you wanting more? M-A-G-A-L-O-R!" Magolor sang as he played the guitar, before giving a wink to the camera. The cringe was out of this world.

"Magolor!" shouted the voiceover announcer, as a splash art of Magolor appeared on the screen. "Totally not subliminal messaging at all."

"Man, Magolor has really lost it since-a he got his butt kicked," remarked Mario, who remembered Magolor getting his keester handed to him like it was yesterday. That incident was the last time he ever saw the alien.

"Oh! Wasn't it that one time when he tried to hypnotize Master Hand?" asked Peach - and to think that Master Hand was going to let Magolor get away with it, too. Only because he was seldom in perilous situations.

"I seriously think that he wants the mansion for him-a self. What for, I don't know, but we won't stop-a him from trying...if he keeps-a failing, that is."

Peach: Magolor is a truly strange fellow. One time I caught him stealing my moisturizer.
Hunter: And yet, our mutual hatred for him bonds us together. *pauses, looks at Peach* Do we even hate Magolor?

"Come on down to Magolor's Theme Park, opening soon at this location," said the voiceover announcer, as the commercial showed Magolor's Theme Park crushing the Smash Mansion into pieces and rubble.

"Uh, should we be worried about that?" Spyro asked Mario, not a huge fan of how the commercial was turning out. Totally not subliminal messaging, by the way.

"Please, the only way that Magolor could ever hope-a to take over the mansion is by breaking in and stealing the deed," snorted Mario, confident that Magolor wouldn't obtain the deed so easily.

"You mean like, right now?" Hunter asked Mario as he looked outside through the window, seeing that one of the mansion windows was broken. That could only mean one thing...


...Magolor broke his way inside the mansion. The alien and Boo were outside the mansion's safe, attempting to open it by entering the right code.

"38...44..." said Magolor as he spun around the giant numbered dial, before struggling to think of what the last number could possibly be. "You think that commercial will do the trick?"

"After all the work you put in to hack those TVs, I sure hope so," replied Boo, as Magolor input the last number only to realize that it was the wrong one. "Should be a big enough distraction for..."

"Magolor!" boomed a certain giant hand, as Magolor and Boo were startled to see Master Hand behind them. Master Hand was quite furious. "I see that you bought a friend..."

"M-Master Hand! We meet again!" Magolor nervously greeted the giant hand, while Boo maintained his cool. A ghost such as Boo couldn't possibly be scared so easily. "We seem to have entered a dangerous game of cat and mouse. But the question remains, who is the cat, and who is the..."

"Dovahkiin, broom!" Master Hand called out to the vanquisher, and soon Dovahkiin showed up wielding a broom. A broom wasn't Dovahkiin's preferred choice for a weapon, but in this instance, it would do. "Sweep out the trash."

"DIE, YOU VERMIN!" Dovahkiin yelled at Magolor, striking him with a high amount of fear as he let out a battle cry and held his broom in the air. Magolor was left shivering in his boots.

"Oh no, not the broom!" fretted Magolor, before he was chased around by Dovahkiin. Magolor tried hissing at Dovahkiin, who smacked the alien with the broom anyway.

"Not gonna lie, this is weirdly entertaining," commented Boo as he enjoyed Dovahkiin smacking up Magolor with the broom. The ghost then saw Master Hand looking at him. "What, you got something for me, too?"

"Dark Pit, vacuum!" Master Hand called out to the doppelganger, who showed up right on time with a bagged vacuum cleaner. Boo gasped at the sight of the appliance. "Take care of our newest troublemaker."

"The vacuum...my worst enemy!" Boo watched in horror as Dark Pit turned on the vacuum with a sadistic smirk on his face. Dark Pit used the vacuum to try and suck up Boo, who flew away for his own life.

Dark Pit: As much fun as I had to deal with King Boo that Halloween, I never had the opportunity of, you know, catching a ghost. *sighs happily* You have no idea how long I have waited...


The contracts of the idol singers were set to expire next week, on St. Patrick's Day. Fox, Falco, and Falco did everything in their power to generate enough funds so that the singers could be re-signed, and the residents came through as well. The final numbers were gone over in the Star Records room, and there was something amiss.

"Hold up, this isn't right," frowned Falco, seeing that the final number was a bit lower than expected after counting up all the money. "We got all the moolah from Master Hand, but none from the others..."

"That's weird, they made so much money last week too," stated Fox as he too felt perplexed, scratching his head in confusion. Something awfully screwy was taking place. "Maybe we miscounted?"

"We need a scapegoat until we get down to the bottom of this." Unfortunately for Falco, there was no scapegoat in sight...except for Big Top, who sat on the Star Records desk 24/7 not doing a thing. "Big Top, we're gonna blame you for the time being."

"Darn it!" frowned Big Top, who never really had it in him to speak up. Which made it easier for Falco to make the talking hat side with him on a particular issue. "It always has to be me, doesn't it?"

"Let's not blame the innocent hat," Itsuki advised Falco, although Big Top had already accepted that he was a money launderer of the highest degree. "How about we report this to Master Hand?"


Dovahkiin did his job, as he chased Magolor out of the front door. And while he didn't capture Boo with his bag vacuum Dark Pit still managed to chase the ghost out the door as well.

"And stay out!" Dovahkiin shouted at Magolor and Boo, as he shook his fist mightily at the two troublemakers to let them know that he - and the mansion - meant business.

"You mark my words, Master Hand, one day we're gonna get that combination," Magolor vowed to the giant hand, who didn't know whether to keep silent or laugh in Magolor's face. "And once we steal that deed, you'll never see the Smash Mansion again!"

"Good luck, bucko!" Master Hand shouted at Magolor, before slamming the front door. The giant hand then turned his attention to Dovahkiin and Dark Pit, giving them high fives. "Great work, you two."


Was the beef between Pit and Ryuji truly over? Many had assumed so after Ryuji dominated Pit in his fight and made him leave the mansion for good. Or so Ryuji had claimed. It was later revealed that Ryuji called off his fight with Pit since it wasn't "fair enough", and that Pit was on leave for two weeks to handle some business in China. Which meant that Ryuji had talked out of his butt, as many assumed.

For the most part, it seemed Pit and Ryuji had put their differences behind them, as the two put an end to their feuding. However, that didn't stop Ryuji from posturing about his favorite wrestling promotion, AEW.

"Boy, do I feel sorry for you guys," Ryuji sympathized with the baristas as he entered the cafe, grinning as he took a seat at the counter next to Dillon. "Sorry that you missed the greatest AEW show ever!"

"Can we not, Ryuji?" groaned Viridi, who had made multiple requests to Joker that Ryuji should be banned from Cafe Leblanc. Ryuji had more complaints from the goddess than Sans! "We don't want to hear you overrate some regular AEW television episode."

"I'm not talking about something on TV...I'm talking about the pay-per-view of the year, AEW Revolution!" Just saying the name made Ryuji feel like a million bucks, and then some. "The wrestling was so good..."

"But was it really the greatest show ever?" Makoto asked Ryuji, as she was trying to enjoy some quality time with Joker. Emphasis on "trying to". "You say that about every pay-per-view that AEW puts out."

"Sorry if you can't handle the facts, Makoto. Just be aware that Revolution is already better than this year's Wrestlemania could ever hope to me!"

"I think that Wrestlemania will be pretty good this year," said Pit, as Ryuji grabbed Dillon's cup of coffee, drank its contents, and did a spit take. Dillon looked upset, as Ryuji laughed at Pit.

"Ha! Wrestlemania being 'good'? Did someone from the WWE brass pay you to say that? Come on Pit, don't be a shill for that company!"

"I'm not a shill...I'm just expressing my honest opinion." That made Ryuji do another spit take with Dillon's coffee, as Dillon even more ticked off. And you wouldn't want to see that armadillo when he was angry.

Ryuji: I'm convinced that Pit is being paid to be a fan of WWE. There's no other explanation.

"Pit has the right to express how he truly feels," Joker told Ryuji, doing his best to prevent Pit and Ryuji from going at each other's necks again. "He has that right, you know."

"Eh, I guess you have a point..." shrugged Ryuji, returning the now empty cup of coffee to Dillon as he returned his attention to Pit. "...but keep on drinkin' that Kool-Aid, brother!"


With the mansion deed safe and sound, Master Hand placed the document back inside the mansion's safe and locked it shut. Snake humbly approached Master Hand, looking afraid as he rarely did.

"Hey, Master Hand..." Snake nervously greeted the giant hand, trying to play off his nervousness by giving a smile. Didn't smile too much, since he forgot to brush his teeth this morning. "...still not mad with me that I sneaked out to Beijing, did you?"

"Not anymore, I think I got over it." Master Hand still wished that he could've brought the residents to Beijing for the Olympics, but he still feared the Chinese government. "Also, you being the only one to have Lady Palutena's sloppy joes was punishment enough."

"Yuck, don't remind me..." Snake had some bad memories of Palutena's cooking, as the thought of the goddess's sloppy joes almost wanted to make him puke.

Palutena: The recipe for sloppy joes called for Worcestershire sauce, but we were strangely running low. So I substituted it with oyster sauce and coffee syrup. Feel like one of those doesn't belong.

"Magolor and his new friend were messing around with our safe," Master Hand explained to Snake, letting him know what he was doing with the safe. Not that Snake cared as much. "Dovahkiin and Dark Pit put them in their place."

"Magolor's back at it again?" frowned Snake, who hoped that he wouldn't have to hear about Magolor after he manhandled him back in episode 321. "When will that guy ever learn..."

"The combo to this safe is in the one place they'll never find it: my brain. And yours!" Master Hand pointed at Snake, his finger getting too close as he nearly poked the former spy in his eye. The giant hand laughed in response.

"Yeah, you only gave me the code because I 'know my way around locks'...or some dumb crap like that."


Outside the mansion, Boo was behind a window having eavesdropped on the entire convo between Master Hand and Snake.

"Your silly brains aren't as safe as you two might think!" cackled Boo as he floated down to where Magolor was, as the alien was about to board his ship. "Magolor, this is our last straw! It's time that we bring out the big guns."

"Our last straw? You don't mean..." fretted Magolor, only for his fears to be confirmed when Boo smiled and nodded his head. "I was anticipating that he would be returning here sooner..."


When he wasn't doing his usual ninja duties - or being harassed by the ninja pals, particularly Kat and Ana - Gray Fox spent most of his time in his room. Very rarely did he receive any visitors. So you could only imagine his surprise when he heard someone knocking on his door.

"If this is another ding dong ditch, it will be the end of you..." Gray Fox vowed to whoever was outside his room, as he grabbed his sword. The cyborg ninja opened his door, startled to see Villager and the Luminary.

"Hope we came at the right time," the Luminary said to Gray Fox, who placed his sword behind his back; Gray Fox deemed the two visitors as unworthy of being cut by his blade. "We've got some questions about Snake."

"And Hal," added Villager, as Gray Fox's interest was piqued - anything that Villager and the Luminary wanted to hear, Gray Fox would happily give.


With Magolor and Boo promptly dealt with, the residents were able to enjoy the rest of their day without any interruption or annoyance. The Inklings were shooting Nerf guns at one another in the living room while Peppy and Slippy were watching television.

"He put the old in 'old west,' they call him...Grandpa the Kid!" exclaimed the narrator in the television promo, as the "Grandpa the Kid" title card was on the screen. The next thing that was on the screen was the titular character himself, Grandpa the Kid, being an elderly cowboy.

"I'm tired during the day," admitted Grandpa the Kid, his eyes squinting as he stood in the hot Arizona sun. Something about Grandpa the Kid's character resonated with Peppy.

"I can relate to this," Peppy said to Slippy as he pointed at the screen, imagining Grandpa the Kid to be his spirit animal. Or even his soul brother.

"Peppy, Slippy, how about we watch a movie that we'll all enjoy?" Wendy proposed to the Star Fox pilots, before holding up a DVD that had two dreamy boys on the cover. "Dream Boy High! 'Where love is on your permanent record.'"

"Boo!" Slippy booed at Wendy, already letting her know about his dissatisfaction with the movie. Peppy sure didn't object...his silence was truly saying a lot about him.

"You'll learn to like it." Giving herself an A for effort, Wendy peacefully left the living room as she walked past Snake. Snake was sitting on an armchair doing some crossword puzzles when he was approached by Hal.

"Snake, I'm back!" Hal announced to the former spy, who didn't seem all that excited about seeing his friend. Almost like the fad was wearing thin. "Got some juicy details from Mei Ling about our..."

"Keep it to yourself," responded Snake as he looked down at his crossword puzzle, not even making the effort to look Hal in the eye. Hal was clearly hurt, as the hacker clenched his fists.

"But this is important. It might be the breakthrough we need!" But Snake still didn't care, as he finally looked up at Hal ready to tell him how he really felt.

"Let me guess - does this 'breakthrough' require me to go to a foreign country? If so, you can leave me out of it..." Snake continued to do his crossword puzzle, as Hal let out a defeated sigh.

Snake: Teaming up with Hal has gotten me in plenty of trouble as of late. Gave me some pretty stupid punishments that I don't even deserve. If keeping away from Hal means I don't have to chaperone a bunch of strangers, or eat any of Palutena's poor cooking, then so be it.

Suddenly, a crash was heard from the kitchen, putting those in the living room on high alert. Bowser came running from the kitchen, looking as if he had seen Captain Falcon butt-naked.

"Guys, there's a Zubat in the kitchen!" Bowser alerted everyone in the living room, apparently too much of a coward to deal with the bat Pokemon himself. "It tried to touch me with its 'weird little bat fingers!'"

"But a Zubat doesn't have fingers," Peppy informed Bowser, making the Koopa King deeply question basic Pokemon biology as he had him looking up in realization.

"Don't worry, I got this under control," assured Snake, demonstrating the fine art of taking initiative as he casually leaned back in the armchair. "Hal, take care of it."

"What? Why do I have to do it?" questioned Hal, disgusted that his own friend would throw such a task on him. "I don't even live here!"

"'Cause life ain't fair. Also, being a guest doesn't excuse you from anything. Now go fight a Zubat so people can watch TV in peace."

"No way, Snake! You can't just force me to do dumb chores. I'm putting my foot down" Hal stomped his foot on the carpet, showing the others a side of him that anyone seldom saw before.

"I said do it, Hal. Now!" Snake and Hal had a stare-off, as there was some old west music playing...albeit from the television. Only a tumbleweed was missing. Hal eventually punked out after Snake kept intensifying his stare, giving his friend the victory.

"Okay, I'll do it!" Heaving a sigh, Hal followed Bowser into the kitchen as he had no choice but to deal with the Zubat himself.


Fox, Falco, and Itsuki were set to speak with Master Hand...but they couldn't find the giant hand anywhere! Very peculiar, since Master Hand was around a while ago. That left the three heads of Star Records to inquire about Master Hand's whereabouts, as they spoke with Isabelle.

"Master Hand told me that he would be back soon," stated Isabelle, wishing that she had a timetable of when Master Hand would be returning. It would make her job so much easier.

"Does that mean he's out of town?" Fox asked Isabelle, who reluctantly nodded her head; Fox threw his arms up in defeat. "Just our luck..."

"Big Top is still at large..." muttered Falco, as he still thought of the talking hat as a major culprit. But nonetheless, the mystery was still wide open.


Since he had no Poke Ball to catch the Zubat with, Hal was forced to fight with whatever tools he could find in the kitchen. Armed with a frying pan and a spoon, the hacker was ready to take on anything.

"Remember, bats are more afraid of you than you are of them," Bowser gave these words of encouragement to Hal, standing far away with an equally cowardly Dunban. Hal looked up at the Zubat, which was flying around the kitchen stove.

"Here goes nothing..." said Hal, bracing himself as he approached the Zubat. If Pit could easily take care of a Zubat, then Hal shouldn't have too much trouble...right?

"Maybe I'm thinking of ducklings..." As Bowser took the time to think, loud screams and crashes came from the kitchen as Dunban looked on with many worries. "...yeah, it's ducklings. Ha! Quack quack, quackity quack!"


Ryuji enjoyed AEW Revolution so much, that he was going around showing the residents highlights from the show - whether they wanted to see them or not. The delinquent was showing a wrestler's entrance from the show on his phone to Ness, at the cafe.

"...I don't get it," admitted Ness, who was being forced to watch a video of CM Punk's entrance. Ryuji looked baffled at the PSI whiz, seeing him as an uncultured fiend.

"This is a throwback entrance of CM Punk, back in his Ring of Honor days," Ryuji explained to Ness, who didn't seem all that impressed. "The theme song is 'Miseria Cantare', by AFI. Even the commentators explained it!"

"Ring of Honor? Never heard of that before." Ness could be forgiven since he wasn't into wrestling, but that still didn't stop Ryuji from being mildly disappointed.

Ryuji: Kinda discouraging to know that I'm the only one around here that's a fan of pro wrestling. No, Pit doesn't count - he's more into that "sports entertainment" drivel.

"Something that only a casual wrestling fan would say," a disgusted Ryuji said to Ness, before turning his attention to Dillon who was still sitting next to him. "Hey, Dillon, may I interest you in the main event of Revolution?"

"Is it better than the main event of Wrestlemania?" Pit asked Ryuji, who was ready to answer yes right off the bat. Ryuji snorted at the angel.

"Of course, it's better! Revolution's main event has real pro wrestlers, while Wrestlemania's main event only has roid freaks. Roman Reigns who?!"

"Has Roman ever taken steroids, though?" asked Joker, as Ryuji had no evidence to prove his claim. "You probably dislike him because you're scared that he could kick your butt."

"That's not true! Roman is just overrated, that's all. He's nowhere near as good as everyone makes him out to be."

"Drinking too much haterade?" Ness asked Ryuji, who waved him off as he proceeded to show Dillon some wrestling highlights. Ryuji hoped that said highlights would make a new fan out of Dillon.


The Zubat nicked Hal pretty bad and as a result, Hal had multiple wounds all over his body. The hacker sat in the fitness center as Male Wii Fit Trainer applied disinfectant to Hal's wounds; Hal winced in pain every time Male Wii Fit applied the disinfectant.

"Swabbing on disinfectant, doo doo doo..." Male Wii Fit sang a happy tune, as Shantae took the kind courtesy of applying some bandages to Hal's head. That Zubat sure loved to mess with Hal's hair.

"Why is Snake being some grumpy?" pondered Hal, as he wondered when and how things between him and the former spy went wrong. "We used to be so tight, and then he just flipped on me! Forcing me to deal with some Pokemon, the gall of him. Does he like to treat you guys the same?"

"Snake's personality is one of life's great mysteries," Spring Man said as he came over to speak with the hacker, and he was speaking from experience. "Like whether or not it's possible to lick your own elbow."

"I bet you can't!" Shantae dared Spring Man, who took it as a challenge as he smirked and looked at his right elbow.

"I bet I can!" Spring Man attempted to lick his below, trying ever so much as he walked out of the fitness center. Shantae followed after Spring Man, chanting "Lick it! Lick it!" along the way.

"Sometimes I feel like Snake secretly despises me," Hal said to Male Wii Fit, giving his honest thoughts on the situation as he dug into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. The hacker glanced at a picture of him and Snake together, back when they were younger.


Outside the mansion, Magolor and Boo were somewhere in the backyard surrounded by lit candles. Pretty redundant to do, since it was still daylight.

Boo: Got the candles from some loser clan that lives nearby. You could only imagine the immense disappointment their leader felt when we said that we were only interested in their candles.

Master Kohga: I have come to realize that ghosts have no taste. Neither do certain monster species (if that was a monster I was speaking with). May Hylia have mercy on their kind...

"He thinks that combination's safe in his mind, huh?" Magolor had this to say about Master Hand, as Boo looked around at the candles that were assembled around him. "We'll see what our boss has to say about that!" Magolor held his arms out wide, as he chanted in a foreign language.

"Is that some kind of broken Latin you're chanting?" Boo asked Magolor, thinking that the alien was summoning some kind of demon from the underworld. The ghost backed away for good measure.

"Lick that elbow! Lick that elbow!" Shantae chanted for Spring Man, cheering him on as she followed him outside to the backyard. Spring Man was still trying to lick his elbow, not giving up until he made the impossible possible.

"Like the infinite horizon, it eludes my grasp," said Spring Man, as his tongue was nowhere near his elbow. The ARMS fighter stopped, however, when he heard an evil laugh.

"Did you hear that?" Shantae asked Spring Man, as the evil laughter was nearby. The half-genie and Spring Man walked towards Magolor, who was laughing away while Boo looked concerned.

"Seriously man, you're scaring me..." Boo said to Magolor, as Spring Man and Shantae were equally afraid. No one had ever seen Magolor go to this extreme. "...I think you're going about this the wrong way."

But lo and behold, Magolor's chanting seemingly worked, as a jester appeared in front of the alien and Boo. The jester was completely two-dimensional, and he floated in the air.

"At last I, Dimentio, make my rousing return!" bellowed the jester, and it didn't take long for Spring Man and Shantae to figure out that the jester was bad news. "Ah, feels good to be back!"

"And there he is..." remarked Boo, as Dimentio got a good look at the mansion and saw how much it had changed since the last time he was around. Dimentio then caught a glimpse of the neighboring houses.

"Like a former student, I make my grand homecoming! And what a homecoming it shall..." Dimentio turned his attention to Magolor and Boo, pleased to see them both. "...well, if it isn't my two most trusted lackeys. Magolor and Boo!"

"Master Dimentio, I mean, Mr. Dimentio, I mean..." Magolor greeted the jester, although he couldn't decide on what title he should give him. Ultimately he gave up. "...my chant actually summoned you!"

"Well, partially - I only made my appearance just to make you shut up for good. It was hemorrhaging my ears. Mind if I get a 'trick' out of my system?"

Dimentio floated away, as he saw Banjo chilling peacefully on a hammock. The jester snapped his fingers, as he encased Banjo inside a giant box.

"What the...?" Banjo suddenly woke up, sensing the prison that he was in as he banged on the invisible walls of the box with his fists. "Help, help!"

"Help you I shall..." smirked Dimentio as he snapped his fingers a second time, causing the box to flip inside down and crash to the ground. The box broke into a million pieces, as Banjo ran for his own safety.

Banjo: Me waking up from my nap only to be attacked by explosions has to be some kind of omen. *gasps* It's a declaration of war!
Kazooie: *sighs* Can we not?

"Man, you're insane!" Magolor said to Dimentio, who floated back to his lackeys. While Magolor and Boo were impressed by Dimentio's "trick", Shantae and Spring Man were not.

"Indeed I am insane - like a laughing hyena about to devour his meal!" gleamed Dimentio, who took immense pride in his insanity. It was one of his finest traits, along with his charm. "Now, you called me forth because you want me to do something, yes?"

"If it's not too much trouble. We were figuring that maybe you could enter the mind of Master Hand and steal the code to the mansion's safe since we couldn't get the job done."

"Or Snake's mind, since he knows the code too," added Boo, as Shantae and Spring Man both gasped collectively. But not loudly, though - what, did you expect them to blow their cover?

"Master Hand...or Solid Snake..." Dimentio weighed his options, deducing whether he should enter the mind of a highly intelligent former spy who worked for FOXHOUND, or the creator of the Smash universe himself. "...you mentioned that Snake was on to you, did you not, Magolor?"

"He always had a close eye on me," admitted Magolor, grateful that Snake hadn't strangled him to death during that encounter - since Snake had a penchant for doing that kind of stuff.

"Then it's settled - I will be invading Snake's mind!" Dimentio let out a charming laugh, as he made his final decision. "I'll erase any memories of his, so that he won't bother you anymore."

"Sounds good! So, uh...what can we do until you're done?" Whatever Dimentio asked of Magolor and Boo, those two lackeys would do in heartbeat. Even if it was something inane like licking Ganondorf's armpit.

"Just...just stay out of trouble. I'll be having fun, so you two should have fun yourselves. Well, time to invade Snake's mind! Ciao!" And on that note, Dimentio teleported away to handle his business, while Magolor and Boo were left alone.

"Wanna go steal some bananas?" Boo asked Magolor, who nodded his head as he followed after Boo to the Yiga Clan hideout. Shantae and Spring Man exchanged looks of concern, knowing that they had to do something - and fast.


What happened to Banjo was obviously a big deal, and Banjo had to let somebody know. So the bear spoke with Link and Zelda and told him about the harrowing experience he had.

"No, Banjo, that wasn't a declaration of war," Zelda said to the bear as she alleviated his fears - but only a little. "If so, why would you be the only one affected?"

"Maybe some foreign leader out there hates bears?" assumed Banjo, who was initially afraid that his own kind was being targeted. "Perhaps Vladimir Putin?"

"Think you've been watching too much CNN News lately," remarked Link, as his friend Cloud came down to see what was going on.

"Is there a problem?" Cloud asked Link and Zelda, seeing the small amount of fear that remained on Banjo's face. Kazooie poked her head out of Banjo's backpack to give some detail.

"Banjo and I were woken up from our nap, and now Banjo's freaking out," the redbird explained to Cloud, extremely chill compared to her ursine friend. "Thinks that someone's out to get him."

"I was dropped on my head!" Banjo said to Cloud, fortunate that he didn't end up with a concussion. "Got stuck in an invisible box, and then BOOM! I was almost a goner."

"Invisible box? Hmm..." Cloud couldn't think of anyone that could pull off what Banjo had just described, but the thought sure was dwelling on his mind.


Shantae and Spring Man wanted to tell Master Hand the bad news about Master Hand, only to learn that the giant hand was absent. Not only that, but Link and Zelda still had their hands tied up with Banjo. So Shantae and Spring consulted the next most trustworthy person they could speak to...

"Whaddaya mean-a I have to help Snake?" Mario asked Shantae and Spring Man, who were both speaking with the plumber in his living room. Spyro was keeping an attentive ear.

"This evil jester guy named Dimentio said he's gonna break into Snake's mind and steal the combination to the mansion's safe!" Spring Man gave Mario the 4-1-1, while also eating from a large bag of burrito bites. Just couldn't help himself, could he? "Also we went to go grab a few snacks before stopping by here."

"Evil jester guy? Dimentio?" Mario put two and two together and grew increasingly worried as he scratched his chin. "Now that's a familiar name..."

Mario: Dimentio is a very powerful and-a dangerous foe - even more-a dangerous than he let on during that encounter back-a in 2016. He's-a capable of destroying an entire universe...or even the multiverse-a itself! That Paper Mario storybook says so.

"Dimentio? I heard that name before," Spyro spoke up, alarming Mario and company as they all turned their curious attention to the purple dragon. "Or at least Hunter and I saw that name, in some letter that Ness had."

"And you're telling us this-a now?" Mario frowned at Spyro, only for his anger to quickly subside when he heard his phone ringing. The plumber answered the phone, after seeing that Sonic was calling him. "Yes, Sonic?"

"Sup Mario - can you stop by the mansion for a hot second?" Sonic asked the plumber, as some weird grunting sounds could be heard in the background. Sounds that gave Mario every right to be worried. "Snake's doing some funny stuff in his sleep!"


Dr. Wily felt proud of himself after he took apart the time machine at the mansion, hoping that he did everyone a huge favor. As the robot inventor passed by Gray Fox's room, he put his ear against the bedroom as he overheard an interesting conversation.

"Really? So we were wrong about Snake and Hal this whole time?" the Luminary was heard speaking with Gray Fox, as Wily eavesdropped while stroking his mustache.

"I'd say that they're greatly misunderstood," replied Gray Fox, giving his honest take on Snake and Hal's efforts. "Having them try and wreck the time machine was a step in the right direction for their goals."

"Hehe...and I was the one who finished the job!" smirked Wily as he kept on walking, taking a lot of credit for the time machine's deconstruction.


So Mario, Spring Man, Shantae, and Spyro went to the mansion's living room, where they saw Sonic and Hal gathered near Snake. Snake was taking a nap in the armchair, but every now and then he would make a grunting sound.

"See what I mean?" Sonic said to Mario and company as he pointed at Snake; seeing Snake in the state that he was in was kinda disturbing. "Hope he's not having a stroke - don't wanna feel bad for laughing."

"This must be the work of Dimentio," theorized Shantae, as the mere mention of Dimentio caused Sonic to immediately perk up. "He must've found a way inside Snake's head somehow."

"Dimentio! Haven't heard that name in a minute." Sonic recalled the shenanigans that Dimentio was responsible for in episodes 33 and 34, as well as how the jester was defeated. "How did he find his way out of Subspace, though?"

"That's for us to find-a out another time," replied Mario, before turning his attention to Hal who was standing nearby. "Right now, we should just help-a Snake."

"Well, this is just great," Hal griped as he threw his arms up in defeat. More than a month ago, the hacker wouldn't have minded going on such a mission. "I spend all day being harassed by Snake and now I have to save him from some crazy jester?"

"But if we don't do anything Dimentio might steal the mansion! Or worse!" Shantae stressed to Hal, only for Snake to start screaming in his sleep. Those screams from Snake were enough to make Hal reconsider, as the hacker sighed.

"Fine. You all better be prepared, then. We're about to journey into the most horrifying, disturbing place any of us have ever been: Snake's mind."

"You think I can take these Burrito Bites into Snake's brain?" Spring Man asked the others before he did a thumbs up and a thumbs down. Thumbs up? Thumbs down? You know what, I'm just gonna bring 'em..."


With Master Hand not disclosing his current whereabouts, it was up to Fox, Falco, and Itsuki to find out clues about where the giant hand could possibly be. So they went ahead and spoke with Anna, who was in the basement gathering some materials for her shop.

"Wait, Master Hand left?" Anna asked the Star Records trio, as this was apparently news to the merchant. Anna didn't feel that slighted, though. "And he never told sweet little me...what a guy!"

"Welp, no point in asking Ayaha," Fox said to Falco and Itsuki, as the three heads found themselves back at square one. If Isabelle and Anna didn't know where Master Hand was, then no one else did.

"You're right because Big Top is still the culprit," stated Falco, picking the most interesting hill to die on. His dedication (if you want to call it that) was simply too much. "Better safe than sorry."


Obviously, finding a way inside one's head wasn't as easy as sticking a pencil into a pencil sharpener. One would need the right technology - or the right tools. Luckily Mario had the latter as he had something called a petrified Pi'illo, which he went to go retrieve from his garage. And he had a couple of them, too. What for, nobody knew, not even Peach herself.

Peach: Mario has kept those Pi'illos in the garage for a couple of years now. They're not exactly meant to stay petrified forever, but when I ask Mario when he's going to de-petrify them, he always says, "soon". That's his favorite response.

"It seems-a that I'm down a Pi'illo," Mario said to those in the living room after he saw that one of his petrified Pi'illos was missing. "Spyro, did you take-a one out?"

"Nope," replied Spyro as he shook his head; that led Mario to believe that Dimentio had sneaked his way inside his garage, and stole a petrified Pi'illo himself.

"...very well then." Mario put the stolen petrified Pi'illo in the back of his mind, as he reverted his focus back to the task at hand. "Okay, guys, in order to save-a Snake, we're gonna have to follow Dimentio into his-a mind."

"I wonder what Snake's thinking about right now," wondered Spring Man, as there were hundreds upon hundreds of things that Snake's mind could dwell upon. "Probably something like, 'I think that Spring Man is my favorite ARMS fighter!'"

"Spring Man! This is serious!" Mario scolded the ARMS fighter, who quickly piped down as he put on his game face. Mario grabbed the petrified Pi'illo, holding it tightly. "Let's-a do this."

"You guys go ahead and do your thing," Sonic said to Mario and company, being the only person in the living room that wasn't going inside Snake's mind. "Need to go fill my daily chili dog quota before dinner." On that note, Sonic sped away.


Banjo was still terrified about the "trick" Dimentio had pulled on him...so much, that he was lying on his bed in a fetal position, sucking his thumb. Link, Zelda, and Cloud were all peering inside Banjo's room staring at Banjo, as Riku joined them at the doorway.

"Will he be okay?" Riku asked Link and company about Banjo, while Kazooie just stared at Banjo occasionally shaking her head at the bear. "Did he run out of honey or something?"

"No, he's just being a bit delusional," replied Zelda, as Banjo saw the others staring at in and faced the other direction. The poor bear wanted to suck his thumb in peace.

"Sweet, something exciting going on?" asked Sonic as he came down the hallway, already with a chili dog in hand. Had to fill that quota real quick. "Let me guess - Kazooie's chewing out Banjo again!"

"I'm afraid that you already missed the fireworks," replied Link, as Sonic scarfed down his chili dog and licked the chili off his fingers. "Banjo is just being a coward, that's all."

"That's not really that exciting..." Sonic dug into his imaginary pocket and pulled out yet another chili dog, as he kept on walking. That hedgehog was going to ruin his dinner! But then, Sonic came running back to the group. "...oh, by the way, Dimentio's back."

"What?!" Link, Zelda, and Cloud all said in unison, providing the kind of reaction that Sonic expected the three to give. Riku looked around, confused.

Riku: Pardon my ignorance, but...who the heck is Dimentio? Am I supposed to know him? Is he evil? Gonna assume that he's evil.


It wasn't just the fivesome of Mario, Spyro, Hal, Spring Man, and Shantae going inside Snake's mind - a few cameramen were to go with the group and document their exploits. Once Mario activated the powers of the petrified Pi'illo, his gang along with the cameramen ended up in Snake's mind.

"What the..." said Spring Man, looking in awe as he observed his new surroundings. The others were in awe as well - except for Mario, since this wasn't his first rodeo.

"Woah, this is Snake's mind?" asked Shantae, as the group traversed through the confides of Snake's mind. The scenery that they saw reminded them an awful lot of Seattle.

"I figured there would be more hot old ladies," remarked Spyro, who half-expected a chick that strongly resembled Meryl Silverburgh to appear out of nowhere and spook everyone.

"Remember everyone, we've got to look-a out for an evil jester guy," Mario everyone as led the group to a building that strongly resembled the mansion. Everyone came to a stop when they heard a charming laugh - one that brought back some past memories for Mario.

"Yes, look out for an evil jester guy!" said a certain jester, as Dimentio slowly descended down from the sky appearing in front of Mario and company. "And so I arrive, like a sudden wind storm at a kindergarten picnic!"

"It's him! It's the guy!" shouted Spring Man as he pointed at Dimentio, whom Hal crinkled his nose at as he adjusted his glasses. Hal dug into his pocket and took out one of the pictures that Mei Ling sent him as he held it up.

"No way..." marveled Hal when he lined up the picture with Dimentio, exchanging looks between both subjects. The similarities were extremely uncanny. "...could the shadowy figure in this picture...be the same as this jester creature?!"

"Ah, Mario, we meet yet again!" Dimentio greeted the plumber, exceedingly happy to see a familiar face. The feeling was far from mutual, as Mario looked ready to pound Dimentio. "I had a hunch I might bump into you!"

"Mama mia!" Mario screamed when Dimentio shot a hole through the plumber's chest. The plumber was doing some deep breathing, only to stop upon finding out that he was okay.

"Hehe, this is kinda funny!" giggled Spyro as he poked his head through the hole. His dragonfly companion Sparx joined in on the fun, flying repeatedly in and out of the hole.

"Spyro!" Not wanting to make Mario angry, Spyro retracted his head as Sparx went back to flying at Spyro's side. "What do you want with-a Snake's mind anyway?

"Oh, just the code to Master Hand's safe! Inside the mansion up ahead is a maze of a thousand doors representing Snake's memories. Behind one of them is a memory of him inputting the code! I just need to find it so I can further my plans."

"Not if we stop you!" a determined Shantae shouted at Dimentio as she pointed at the jester, and Dimentio could do nothing but laugh. Quite natural for him, being a jester and all.

"Ha, fat chance! I like to think of myself as a master of the mind. I even know what you're thinking right now!"

"That's impossible, no one can guess what I'm thinking!" Shantae was confident of this as she folded her arms, but then Dimentio snapped his fingers as a dream version of Akihiko appeared right next to Shantae.

"Woah, where am I?" wondered Akihiko, apparently shirtless, as Shantae gave an attentive eye to the young man. Akihiko's eyes soon fell upon Shantae, as he was left smiling. "I must be in heaven, 'cause I just saw an angel!"

"I'm never letting go of you!" Shantae said to Akihiko as gave him a hug; Mario and Hal both looked disappointed, while Spyro looked up at the heavens and shook his head.

Spyro: Why is it that girls always go super gaga for the guys? I'm so glad that it's not the other way around...I'm not sexist or anything.

"You're out of your league," Dimentio said to Mario and company, trying to convince them to retreat while they still can. "Turn around now before you see something you might regret. Ciao!" And with that, Dimentio teleported away, embarking on his quest to find the code.

"We're goin' in!" proclaimed Mario, not the type of guy that would back down from anything. And he also wasn't the type of guy that would allow any distractions. "Shantae, can we leave-a Akihiko out here? Looking at him shirt-a less...hurts my eyes..."

"No! He can help us!" Shantae defended Akihiko's honor, as she stood in front of her man with her arms out. Feels weird for Akihiko to be referred to as Shantae's man...

"Totally! Arm throne!" shouted Akihiko, as he put his arms together; Shantae sat down in Akihiko's arms, chuckling as her crush carried her away.

"Mario! Arm throne!" Spring Man said to the plumber as he put his arms together as Akihiko had done; he walked towards the plumber, who screamed and ran away as he followed after Hal and Spyro.


Sonic brought Link, Zelda, and Cloud to the lounge, where he told them all that he knew about Dimentio. Riku, who wanted to know more about Dimentio, happily came along, lying against the wall with his arms folded while Link and the others sat on the couch.

"But yeah, Mario's got it taken care of," assured Sonic after he was done explaining, using whatever details that he was able to provide. "He's in Snake's...Snake's mind. Yeah."

"But how did he get out of Subspace?" inquired Zelda, and quite frankly Sonic didn't have an answer. Nobody had an answer at the moment. "I imagined that he'd be trapped there forever."

"Maybe he made a deal with Tabuu and was freed afterward," assumed Link, believing that Dimentio was a shrewd negotiator. Listening to the conversation made Riku even more confused than before.

Riku: Subspace? Tabuu? Yeah, I'm completely lost now. Sora might be more familiar with this crap than I am.

"Ryuji is such a weirdo..." said Ness as he passed by the lounge, now viewing Ryuji as a more insufferable wrestling fan than Pit. "...badmouthing me all because I didn't know who sang a wrestler's old theme song."

"Yo, Ness!" Sonic called out as he ran over to the PSI whiz, wanting to speak with him for a hot minute. "Know anything about Dimentio?" The moment that he heard Dimentio's name, Ness looked afraid.

"Wh-Why do you ask?" Ness was twiddling with his fingers, smiling nervously as sweat began to form on his forehead. "Did he get out of Subspace?"

"Only asking because you released Dimentio from that storybook in the first place. That said...you know anything that we don't?"

"Nothing in particular..." Ness grew more nervous when he looked past Sonic and saw Link and the others sitting in the lounge. He almost felt the need to come clean. "...but I did get a letter last month."

"A letter, huh?" asked Cloud as he took from the couch; something about Cloud standing up brought more fear upon Ness. "Why don't you show us?"


Mario and company were inside the mansion within Snake's dreamscape, which appeared dark and grungy as Snake himself. They were walking through the hallways as they soon entered Snake's memories.

"Look, everyone! All of Snake's memories!" Hal said to the group, as a bunch of memories flew right by all of them speaking. They were like giant video clips, but only in physical form.

"So radical!" remarked Akihiko, who was easily impressed, as Spyro rolled his eyes at the young man and mumbled under his breath.

"Great, sure there are plenty of memories of Snake doing things like scratching his butt," remarked Spyro, under the guise that whatever memories Snake had couldn't be that grand. "Can't wait to see a bunch of that."

"Come on Spyro, we've gotta find the code before Dimentio does!" Shantae encouraged the purple dragon, doing her best to turn his frown upside down. It was only a fruitless effort.

"Shantae is talking!" cheered Akihiko, already a huge cheerleader for Shante as he made Spyro roll his eyes a second time. "So rad!

"Let's-a get searching!" shouted Mario as he and the gang ran down the hallway. Hal went to the first door that caught his attention, opening it and seeing a young Snake inside a Colombian prison cell.

"Jorge, Rico, you're the two best Colombian prison friends a fella could make," Snake smiled at the two Colombian prisoners, showing them his full appreciation - although neither Jorge nor Rico was having any of it.

"Espero que muera," Jorge said to Rico in his native Spanish tongue, which in English was translated as "I hope he dies". Rico voiced his agreement as he uttered a simple "SĂ­".

"Nope!" said Hal as he slammed the door shut; meanwhile, Spring Man was opening another door, seeing Snake standing outside someone's home while holding a vacuum.

"Sir, would you like to buy this vacuum?" Snake offered the vacuum to the man at the front door. "It sucks more than anything!" The man would decline the offer, as he slammed his door in Snake's face. "Gotta work on that...need to give this stupid vacuum away."

"Nope," said Spring Man as he closed the door, while Shantae opened a small door nearby. What she saw through the door surprised her.

"Ooh, it's Snake on a date!" the half-genie cooed as she saw Snake out on a date with Meryl Silverbugh...years before she got married to Johnny Sasaki. Based on her body language, Meryl was enjoying her date far less than Snake was.

"So, your, uh...your eye is weird, let's talk about that," Snake said to Meryl, who had a black eye; maybe that was the reason why Meryl wasn't feeling it.

"How awfully nice of you to notice," smiled Meryl, her spirits momentarily lifted as she laughed. Snake laughed in response, unable to think of anything else to say as he thought of a way out.

"NON-SPECIFIC EXCUSE!" Snake knocked over the food and ran away, leaving Meryl quite perplexed as he ran out of the restaurant. A very humiliating display.

"Yeesh..." Shantae cringed, feeling bad for Snake as she closed the door. Down the hallway, Mario discovered a door that was written "Mario Memories".

"Look, guys! Memories about-a me!" Mario called out to the others, feeling happy for no other reason as he opened the door. Spyro approached Mario, appearing a bit skeptical.

"That doesn't seem like a good idea," Spyro offered his two cents, fearing that Mario was on the cusp of exposing himself to much disappointment.

"I just wanna know what he really thinks-a of me." Mario wanted to go through the door so bad, as his curiosity was truly getting the better of him.

"We already know how Snake feels about us!" Shantae said to Mario as she walked away, going in deeper into the hallway. Who knows what awaited her at the end. "He loves us...most of us, that is. We're great."

"Yeah, let's just keep moving," said Spring Man as he followed after Shantae; Hal and Spyro would do the same, as they kept trekking along.

"More moving?" asked Akihiko, before getting all excited as he pumped his fist and followed after everyone else. "Yes! I love motion!"

Mario walked a bit, but then turned around and ran to the "Mario Memories" door and entered it. Hal and Spyro both turned around and caught the plumber in the act, before briefly looking at each other.


Left with no other choice, Fox, Falco, and Itsuki opted to wait until Master Hand returned. Well, only Fox and Itsuki chose that option. Falco instead tried to give Master Hand a call in the foyer.

"Give it up man, it's not worth it," Fox advised Falco, who was using the house phone in the foyer to try and call Master Hand. After many failed attempts, Falco ultimately hung up the phone.

Falco: So you know how Master Hand calls us from a random person's phone number? I thought that by dialing random phone numbers, I might strike gold and get Master Hand on the call. No such luck.

Once Falco hung up the phone, the doorbell sounded. Fox knew for a fact that it wasn't Master Hand, but it still answered the door anyway. The person standing on the porch made him jump back.

"Yikes! It's that androgynous ginger lady!" Fox freaked out, as he saw Moira O'Deorian standing by with her arms behind her back. Fox calmed down when he saw the mercenary standing with Moira. "Oh, and Reaper's here, too."

"I hate my life..." grumbled Reaper, who in case you couldn't tell was asked by Moira to be her plus-one. Evidently, Doomfist wasn't available.

"Greetings, Mr. McCloud," Moira greeted Fox, putting the pilot's comments behind her as he maintained her overall composure. "Is Master Hand home?"

"Wish that I could say yes, but...he's out of town." Fox felt himself flinch a bit, as he saw Moira's face sour. The pilot knew how it was whenever Moira wasn't a happy camper. "Did you want to speak with him?"

"Only if he doesn't mind. Let's just say that an ally of ours wanted to extend their thanks to him..." Somebody from Talon wanted to thank Master Hand? But for what reason?


Refusing to leave Mario behind, Hal and Spyro went through the door that the plumber had gone inside. They saw the plumber all alone, and Mario noticed the two right away.

"Just a quick-a peek, you guys," Mario said to Hal and Spyro as he walked by the doors. Hal and Spyro had no choice but to follow after Mario, as the sound of Snake's voice echoed.

Eventually, Mario walked in front of one of a door and opened it, seeing a memory of Snake. Snake was sitting on the mansion's porch, enjoying a smoke break with Wolf, while he watched Mario chop some firewood.

"Yeah, that's right, you keep chopping that firewood, you vanilla midget!" Snake called out to the plumber as he laughed, and Mario didn't appreciate it as evidenced by his frown. "Man, I need a new hobby..."

"Snake, I've been meaning to ask you," Wolf said to the former spy, who was all ears as he leaned in close to the mercenary. "Why do you act so tough with Mario most of the time?"

"Look, Wolf, I'm gonna let you in on something. Wanna know what I really think?" A highly curious Mario leaned in close to hear what Snake is talking about, as Hal did the same. "He reminds me of my friend Hal. A loser. He's weak! He's an utter embarrassment!"

"Man, that was pretty harsh," remarked Spyro, as Mario closed the door; Hal was equally depressed, after hearing his own friend throw some shade at him. "You guys don't think he really meant it, do you?"


Spyro and Hunter, after they read the letter that Ness had received in episode 321, had the courtesy to give the letter back to the PSI whiz. Ness was showing Link, Zelda, and Ness the letter right now, and it raised more questions.

"Huh, it doesn't specify how Dimentio made it out of Subspace," Link analyzed the letter after he had read it in full. The handwriting was painfully hard for him to make out. "When did you get this letter?"

"Check that out," Cloud said to the others as he pointed at a symbol resembling Magolor at the very bottom of the letter. It was faint, but Cloud was able to discern it. "Guess we know who Magolor is working for. Sure explains a..."

"Hey guys, don't mean to disturb you but there's a ghost in the kitchen bothering the bananas," notified Riku as he stopped by Ness's room, although nobody seemed all that concerned. "Heard him bring up Magolor."

"Must be that ghost Master Hand warned us about..." said Zelda, who had a word with Master Hand before he left the mansion. Now there was concern.


Spring Man, Shantae, and Akihiko were heading further inside the mansion, on the search for the code. Or at least the memory that had the code. But no matter how hard they looked, they couldn't find it.

"Hello? Code to the safe? Where are you?" Spring Man called out as if he expected the memory to just conveniently pop up out of nowhere. Things like that didn't work out that way.

Akihiko: *repeatedly opens and closes door* Opening and closing doors is fun. I can literally do this all day!

Spring Man opened a door, and inside he saw Snake at the mansion's vending machine room during the night hours. Snake pushed the buttons of a vending machine, causing it to open.

"If only people knew the truth," said Snake, who looked around to see if the coast was clear before sticking his head inside the vending machine. "That hidden within this vending machine, I secretly have a stash of..."

"BORING!" shouted an uninterested Spring Man as he closed the door. Shantae stood in front of a door, one that had written "Top Secret" on top of it.

"Alright guys, I have a good feeling about this door," Shantae said to Spring Man and Akihiko, who came over to see if the half-genie's intuition was right. Shantae opened the door, only to see a memory of a shirtless Snake in the kitchen.

"Hey, Mr. Tummy!" Snake greeted his stomach, before changing his voice as he squeezed his stomach with his hands. "Hey, Mr. Snake!" Then he went back to his normal voice. "Are you hungry?" And then he changed his voice once more. "Yes!"

"Uh..." uttered a disturbed Spring Man, fortunate that he was absent when Snake was shirtless in the kitchen - while also sympathizing for anyone who might've walked into that very moment.

"Eat your crackers!" Snake held a few crackers near his belly, doing an eating imitation with his right hand. Shantae and the others had seen enough, as Shantae closed the door.

"We've been searching forever! What if the jester finds the memory before we do?"

"If we wanna find Snakes memory, we gotta think like Snake," stated Shantae, pounding her fist in the palm of her hand. "He's always hiding stuff, right?"

"Yeah! Like how he hides underneath those cardboard boxes." And would you know it, there was a cardboard box up ahead.

"Spring Man, that's it! Look!" Shantae pointed at the cardboard box and walked over to it, lifting it up and finding a memory underneath. This one showed Snake at the mansion's safe.

"In ya go," said Snake as he placed some important documentation inside the safe, before closing the safe door. "And now to input the code. 13, 44, and finally..."

"Yes! We found it!" rejoiced Spring Man, as many celebrations were to be had. "But what do we do now?" Spring Man had asked that question the same exact time that Akihiko did.

"Ha! Jinx!" Akihiko smiled and pointed at Spring Man, expecting the ARMS fighter to laugh in response. Spring Man didn't do such a thing.

"Let's just destroy the door before Dimentio can find it!" suggested Shantae as she whipped her hair, ready to use it as a weapon. But Spring Man had a better idea, stepping up to the plate.

"Maybe I should do it!" the ARMS fighter happily volunteered as he activated his large, well, ARMS. Something that he was always dying to do outside of being an assist character in Smash battles. "My ARMS are great at destroying stuff."

So Spring Man used his ARMS to grab the door off the floor and lift it up. But before he could destroy the door...another Spring Man appeared!

"Hey, guys! I just saw a memory of Snake roller skating and wearing short-shorts!" Spring Man delightfully informed the others, only to look puzzled when he saw the other him. "Didn't look...didn't look that bad! Hey, something weird is goin' on here."

The Spring Man that was holding the door laughed evilly, before changing form and revealing himself to be Dimentio. The others were left stunned, as Dimentio floated in the air with the door in his sole possession.

"Ah, you fools sure are gullible!" Dimentio chortled at Shantae and company, taunting them only because he deserved the right to do so. "I knew you'd lead me straight to the code! It's funny how dumb you are - like a sloth stuck in a tree!"


If you might recall, Gray Fox had Alucard as a roommate. Alucard went to his room, only to frown when he saw that the door was locked.

"What the..." the dhampir frowned even harder when the door was opened, and Villager and the Luminary exited the room. Gray Fox saw them out.

"Thanks for the info," Villager thanked Gray Fox as Alucard exchanged looks between the cyborg assassin and Villager and the Luminary.

"Make sure you keep it close to your chest," Gray Fox advised Villager and the Luminary, watching as the two walked away. He then saw Alucard standing by. "Quit your gawking..."

Alucard: I've always asked Gray Fox for company, but he never wants anyone over in our room for some strange reason. But the one time that I was away, he has a few guests over. Hypocrite...

Gray Fox: Truth be told, I have kept a close watch of Snake and Hal for quite some time. In secret, that is. Hard to ever be noticed when you're blind to the naked eye... *activates camouflage*


"The combination to the mansion's safe..." Dimentio looked at the door in his hands, before placing it somewhere in his imaginary pocket. "...that was even easier than I thought!"

"Oh, yeah? Well, you're a...a stink face!" Shantae taunted Dimentio, who was unaffected due to how incredibly lame that comeback was. Shantae must've gone to the Sonic the Hedgehog School of Terrible Comebacks.

"Awesome comeback, Shantae!" Akihiko cheered on for the half-genie, believing that the comeback was the greatest thing since sliced bread. But Shantae wasn't having any of it.

"Don't treat me like a child, Akihiko..." Shantae frowned at the young man, killing his mood and making him shut his mouth in a hurry.

"Ciao!" Dimentio said his goodbyes, as he teleported away; now that Dimentio had the code to the safe, the mansion could very well be in big trouble.

"Come on! We've gotta save Snake!" Shantae encouraged Spring Man and Akihiko...as Mario and Hal walked up from the stairs. And neither man looked particularly happy.

"What's the point? Why should we save-a him, huh?" Mario asked the others, as he was no longer interested in stopping Dimentio. "Snake thinks-a that Hal and I are embarrassments, and he might feel the same-a way about you guys."

"Mario, I'm sure that's not true." But Hal was ready to vouch for Mario, placing his hand on the plumber's shoulder.

"We saw it with our own eyes in one of his memories!" affirmed Hal, proving to Shantae that Mario was just making things up. "He always picks on everyone, myself included, and now we know why. Snake hates us!"

"Mario, Hal, it doesn't matter what you saw. If we don't stop Dimentio, Master Hand might lose the mansion!"

"Well, he can go ahead and lose the mansion then. For once this is one of Snake's problems I'm not going to fix."

"Fine. Come on, Spring Man. We'll save Snake ourselves." So Shantae continued down the hallway, as Akihiko followed along. Spring Man was about to leave, only to stop when he walked past Mario and Hal.

"Mario, Mr. Emmerich, you're cool dudes, but...this isn't cool, dudes," Spring Man voiced his displeasure with the plumber and hacker, before leaving. Both feeling sad, Mario and Hal looked down at the floor.


Even with dinner less than an hour away, Sonic was still chomping down on some chili dogs, at the arcade room. As the hedgehog finished his last one, he was surprised to see Pit approaching an arcade game.

"Before you ask, I'm on my lunch break," Pit informed Sonic after being noticed, as he inserted a token into the coin slot of an arcade machine.

"But it's getting close to dinner," stated Sonic, who had in him to eat one more chili dog. Hopefully, that was his last one...or he would have absolutely no room for dinner!

"Well...you can call this a dinner break! Gonna start something new, something revolutionary. Call me the modern-day Cesar Chavez!"

Sonic: Pit actually knows who Cesar Chavez is? Color me shocked - good on Pit for knowing his American history! Uh...who exactly is Cesar Chavez again?

"Personally, I asked Joker for a break just to get away from Ryuji," stated Pit as he started a new game; Joker granted the angel's request only because of how understandable it was. "Nonstop talking about AEW..."

"Wanna know a secret?" Sonic asked Pit, before looking around to see if the coast was clear. The hedgehog had some very juicy information. "What if I told you that AEW wasn't Ryuji's first love?"

"Are you for real?!" Pit had his own Ryuji moment, as he jumped back in shock. "Thought that AEW was the only wrestling that he liked."

"Nope! Ever heard of a thing called New Japan Pro Wrestling? Heard from Makoto that Ryuji was in love with that before AEW came around."

"Makes sense, being that it started in his home country and all." With that kind of logic from Pit, every British person was legally obligated to be a fan of the Premier League. "He really liked it, huh?"

"Yeah, but only because at the time it was like, the biggest wrestling promotion not named WWE. Only liked it because it wasn't 'that dreaded company'. Wouldn't hurt to ask if he still likes it."

"Guess it wouldn't..." With that knowledge in the back of his mind, Pit started playing the arcade game, hoping to make some amends real soon.


One cameraman managed to find out where Dimentio was in the dream mansion, and they followed the jester as he floated through the hallways with ease. Dimentio came to a stop when he heard a phone ringing, which he took out of his imaginary pocket.

"Hello?" Dimentio answered the call, forgetting that he had a phone on him. "You have reached Dimentio - master of dimensions pleaser of crowds..."

"Dimentio! It's me, Magolor," Magolor spoke to the jester from the other line, expecting to hear some good news. "Did you find the memory with the combination yet?"

"Why yes, I got it right here!" Dimentio wished that he could physically show Magolor as proof but for now, Magolor could only take the jester's word as truth.

"Haha! Perfect. We're on a roll. Just give it to me and I can put in the code at the mansion."

"Of course! It's...you got a pen there?" Dimentio pulled out the door from his imaginary pocket and opened it, as he replayed the memory of Snake near the safe. "It's 13, 44..."

Before Dimentio could read off the last number, a hand was extended towards the jester and knocked the door out of his grasp. The door fell into a bottomless pit from one of Snake's memories.

"This is that bottomless pit I was telling you about; it's bottomless as you can see," Snake explained to someone in the memory, only to watch the door fall into the hole. "Welp, whatever that was, it's gone forever."

"No!" shouted Dimentio, as the door closed; the jester turned around and saw Spring Man, who had his ARMS extended. Shantae and Akihiko weren't too far behind him.

"Haha! Boom!" exclaimed Spring Man as he retracted his ARMS, while Dimentio looked baffled at the ARMS fighter.

"Spring Man did it!" Akihiko cheered on for the ARMS fighter, proving that he wasn't just a sycophant for Shantae. He was open to being anyone else's cheerleader. "The mansion is safe!"

"It's okay, Dimentio - we found a plan B just in case!" Magolor assured the jester, as the big "NO!" from Dimentio told him all that he needed to know about what just went down. "We'll get that deed in no time." Magolor ended the call, as Dimentio was incensed.

"You! You can't even imagine what you have just done!" Dimentio unleashed his rage upon Spring Man and the others, his happy visage on the verge of fading. "Do you have any idea what I'm like when I'm mad?"

Dimentio snapped his fingers, as he transported everyone to a small green dimension. Shantae, Spring Man, and Akihiko found themselves inside a green room with a sinusoidal-patterned background, with Dimentio hovering above him.

"Welcome to Dimension D - in this mind-bending realm, my attacks are 256 times more potent!" stated Dimentio, ready to unleash his full power. 256 times more potent?! That was enough to make the others gasp.

"So I guess he gets really mad when he gets mad..." remarked Spring Man, seeing that Dimentio was the wrong kind of jester to tick off. He and Shantae were about to be in for a rude awakening.


Boo was in the kitchen looking for bananas but only found a few. So he went to the pantry to see if there were any bananas aplenty but was left disappointed.

"These people must be terribly low on potassium," remarked Boo, who only had a few bananas in his possession. The ghost exited the pantry...only to see Link, Zelda, Cloud, Riku, and Dark Pit standing by.

"Took ya long enough..." Dark Pit said to Boo, as he held the bag vacuum and pointed it towards the ghost. Boo was left shook as he dropped the bananas.

"Not the vacuum, anything but the vacuum!" Boo pleaded to Dark Pit, sweating as he held his stubby arms in front of him. Can a ghost even sweat like that? "I have literal nightmares of that thing."

"Ghosts can have nightmares?" Link asked Zelda, who left the Hylian's question unanswered as she took a step towards Boo. Boo was quivering in fear.

"You're affiliated with Magolor, correct?" Zelda asked Boo, who nervously nodded his head as he feared what the princess might do to him. "Either you do as we say, and we'll let you run free."

"Okay, fine! I'll give you anything you want!" Boo only obliged because of Dark Pit's bag vacuum, which to him was like the boogeyman.

Boo: Being trapped in a vacuum is the worst. Heard all the horror stories from my own kind - I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

"Answer this one question - how did Dimentio escape?" Zelda asked Boo the million-dollar question, as Boo sweated even harder. He didn't want to give away any secret details.

"He escaped...from Subspace!" replied Boo; that was as far as the ghost was willing to tell. All the more reason for Zelda and company to push him further.

"Yes, we know that he escaped from Subspace; we sent him down there in the first place. But how exactly did he get out?"

"I dunno! Not like some random rift or portal was opened in Subspace and he found his way out." The moment that he heard that, Cloud started feeling some type of way.

"Oh, so something like a rift through time or another dimension?" inferred Link, as a part of Cloud was feeling guilty. Cloud even turned away from the group.

"Yeah, that's how he described it! Think he mentioned that he got out in mid-March or something." Now Cloud felt even more guilty, as he looked down at the floor in shame.

"So that would mean he's been out and about for a full year," stated Zelda, realizing that tomorrow was March 12th. A one-year anniversary. "But why did he wait until now to make some noise?"

"Uh...that's all you're gonna get out of me! Peace, suckers!" Refusing to provide any more information, Boo vanished away, leaving Zelda and company with the info they were allowed to hear.

"That vacuum really must've scared him," remarked Riku, only to turn around and witness a guilty Cloud silently making his retreat. "Cloud? Where are you going, man?"


Elsewhere in the dream mansion, Mario and Hal were looking for a way out. It should be noted that Spyro wasn't with them, although the purple dragon wasn't on their minds.

"Ugh! How do we get-a out of this place?" wondered Mario as he and Hal were opening and closing doors. Soon they saw Spyro at the end of the hallway in front of a door, as Spyro saw that he had some company.

"Um, guys...you might wanna see this," Spyro said to Mario and Hal, as he called the two over to the door. Through the door was the memory of Mario chopping wood.

"He's a loser. He's weak. He's an embarrassment," Snake said to Wolf while sitting on the mansion's porch, as Mario and Hal were all up in their feelings again. "Heh, yeah. Those are all things people said about me when I was younger."

"Huh?" Hal crinkled his nose, as he opened the door up a bit more to hear what else that Snake had to say. Maybe it was just an understanding all along?

"It was terrible. I was the biggest wimp among my peers! So one summer, my foster dad at the time signed me up for boxing lessons. It was even worse than the schoolyard! You know, that time I thought my dad was trying to torture me. But wouldn't you know it? The old man was doin' me a favor all along! That's why I'm hard on Mario, Hal, and several others. To toughen them up. So when the world fights...they fight back."

"Do you think it's actually working?" Wolf asked Snake, who pointed at the Mario in the memory who he had successfully chopped the firewood in half and celebrated in response.

"Eh, I'd say he's doing fine. When push comes to shove, I'm actually proud of him. And Hal. Just...don't ever tell Hal that. His head is big enough as it is."

"That's probably not true, but I'll laugh just for the sake of it," responded Wolf as he laughed, while Mario and Hal grinned. Hal placed his hand on the memory, only to accidentally get inside and bring Mario along with him. Hal and Mario were both facing Snake.

"Mario, Hal, what are you doin' here?" Snake asked the two, before noticing that Mario had a gaping hole in his chest thanks to Dimentio. "Nice hole in your chest, by the way, Mario. Let's fix that up." Snake pointed his finger and the hole in Mario's chest regenerated.

"M-Mama mia!" exclaimed Mario, patting his chest with both of his hands to see if the hole was legitimately fixed. "How did-a you do that?"

"We're in the mind! You can do whatever you imagine in here! Isn't that right?" At free will, Snake created a can of Coca-Cola like it was nothing and drank it.

"Well, how about that?" Hal said to Mario with a smile, as whatever ill will he initially held towards Snake was now gone. Mario was in the same boat.

Wolf: So you can still do one of these talking head segments, even though we're in the mind? *nods his head, slightly convinced* I'm not breaking any rules, am I? How does this work?

Several fighting sounds were heard from outside the memory, along with the sounds of Shantae and Spring Man screaming. Spyro poked his head inside the memory, looking at Mario and Hal.

"Done yet?" the purple dragon asked, hoping that Mario and Hal remembered that they had some unfinished business. "We gotta stop Dimentio!" So Mario and Hal ran out of the memory, as Snake looked proud.

"Huh, fighting back..." smiled Snake as he sat back in his chair, pleased to know that Mario and Hal were fighting for the greater good.


Fox, Falco, and Itsuki were forced to entertain the mansion guests - Moira and Reaper - until Master Hand returned. Given who they had to work with, the task was harder than imagined.

"Bruh, Reaper, you're supposed to return the ball," Falco told the mercenary, whom he was playing table tennis with at the table tennis room. Reaper stood at one side of the table, paddle in hand and his arms folded.

"Tell me something I don't know..." mumbled Reaper, who had seen the tennis ball sail right past him multiple times with the corner of his eye. Meanwhile, Fox was playing table tennis with Moira and was struggling.

"Chill out with this invisibility junk!" Fox shouted at Moira, who routinely disappeared and reappeared with her Fade ability to serve the ball. Moira was throwing Fox off his game, and it made him unable to score a single point.

"Should've known better than to challenge an astute mind," smirked Moira, after she had sent the ball flying past Fox and won the match. Fox, being a bad sport, angrily tossed his paddle to the floor.

"May I hop in for one match?" Itsuki kindly requested; he spent much of his time asking the others that same question but was always left ignored. "Just one? Pretty please...?"

"New York is seriously worse than the last time I was there," Master Hand was heard speaking, as Itsuki caught a glimpse of the giant hand coming down the hallway with Isabelle. "I personally blame the pandemic."

"Guys, guys, Master Hand's back!" Itsuki informed those in the table tennis room, bringing the table tennis fun to an end. Everyone quickly put their tennis paddles away.

"For a moment, I thought that you would've blamed the government instead," Isabelle said to Master Hand, only for her and the giant hand came to a stop as Moira appeared in front of them. Ah, the power of Fade...

"Pleased to see you, Master Hand," greeted Moira, as Reaper begrudgingly joined the geneticist and stood at her side. "We have been expecting your return."

"You...have?" asked Master Hand, believing that Moira and Reaper had something special for him. Like a birthday present, despite him not having a birthday.

"Our ally, Sigma, would like to extend his thanks to you for paying for his hospital bill." Sigma suffered a brain aneurysm from moving the mansion to Tokyo for last year's Olympics if you might recall. "I can assure you that he's happy to finally be..."

"Hold up - did you take our money just to pay for some man's hospital bill?" Fox asked Master Hand as he, Falco, and Itsuki exited the table tennis room. Master Hand had a lot of explaining to do.

"The money that was raised last week? Yeah, I took most of it." Master Hand admitted it so casually, too. "And the money raised from that Christmas party? Borrowed some of that to pay Polygon Man back."

"You paid who now?! Polygon Man?!" asked a stunned Falco, who was used to Master Hand despising Polygon Man with every fiber of his being. For him to give money to an adversary of his was a shocking turn of events.

"Why yes! I wanted to end our beef, and put our differences behind us." It amused Master Hand seeing how shocked the three heads of Star Records were. "What's with those looks? I was in a bad mood this week, okay?!"

"Why would you want to do that?" Reaper asked Master Hand, questioning him for wanting to make peace with Polyon Man. "If you hate the man, then keep the hatred alive."

"Says the man who hates literally everyone. No wonder you have no friends!" To be fair, the guys and gals from Talon were Reaper's friends...supposedly.

Master Hand: I was pretty sad this week. Russell Wilson being traded from the Seahawks...has wrecked me more than I had imagined. Perhaps the most devastated I felt over anything pertaining to sports since that one time I found out that Sue Bird wasn't the daughter of Larry Bird. Big shocker. But you know what makes that sadness inside you go away? Doing good. That's what a friend of mine taught me. Taught me that resolving strife and handling unresolved business makes you happier. And would you know it? It does!

"Let's just say that a friend of his convinced him," smirked Moira, and whoever she was alluding to need no introduction or description. Fox and company knew from the jump.

"Should've known," remarked Fox, happy to hear that Anna was furthering Master Hand's change of heart - even if some cash was taken without permission. "No wonder Anna kept asking me for 'permission'..."

"But what about the idol singers' contracts?" asked Itsuki, as Master Hand doing good deeds put a dent in the Star Records brass' monetary goal.

"Everything will be remedied in due time," assured Master Hand, with Itsuki hoping that the giant hand would come through on March 17th or before. "Those idol singers will be re-signed, mark my words..."


Why don't we see how Shantae and Spring Man were handling themselves in Dimension D? Dimentio took immense delight in harassing the two, firing, shuriken-like objects at them.

"One nightmare, coming up!" exclaimed Dimentio, about to amp up the ante as he snapped his fingers. What nightmare could the jester possibly conjure?

"Nightmare? Hope he doesn't mean that British dog man I'm always dreaming about..." hoped Spring Man, and seconds later the British dog man in question magically appeared right in front of the ARMS fighter.

"Ello, 'ello, 'ello! Who's crikey for a stick in the pudding?" the British dog man asked Spring Man, before poking the ARMS fighter with his stick and making him scream. The horror.

"It's everything I've ever feared!" Spring Man could only cower in fear, as the British dog man poked him to no end. Now it was Shantae's turn to receive a nightmare of her own.

"You!" Dimentio shouted at Shantae, striking the half-genie with a nightmare; Shantae became green and ugly, as her voice also changed along with her looks.

"My cuteness!" screamed Shantae, her voice now distorted as it was slow and low in pitch. "What did you do to my cuteness?"

"You're next!" Dimentio turned his attention to Akihiko, who went mostly unharmed by the jester. Dimentio probably missed Akihiko, because he was too distracted by his shirtless bod.

"Cool! I'm next!" cheered Akihiko, already accepting his fate as he started cutting a rug on the Dimension D floor...only to be knocked away by a projectile fired from Dimentio.

"Akihiko!" Shantae cried out in her low voice, watching as Akihiko flew into the depths of Dimension D before disintegrating and vanishing away. Brutal.

"And now to finish you all once in for all!" Dimentio said to Shantae and Spring Man, focusing all his attention on the two as he was about to entrap them inside a box and blow them to smithereens. But before the jester could unleash his devastating attack...

"Hey! Dimentio!" Spyro called out to jester, as he flew inside Dimension D...Mario and Hal were flying too, as they were right behind Spyro. "Nice hat!"

"What?!" shouted Dimentio, as Mario and Hal fired lasers from their eyes at the jester. Dimentio screamed in pain as Mario, Hal, and Spyro flew over to where their allies were.

"Guys! You can conjure-a whatever you can conceive in Snake's mindscape!" Mario explained to Shante and Spring Man, as neither seemed that convinced. Sounded too good to be true.

"Just think of cool fighting stuff and it will happen - like this!" demonstrated Hal, as he fired an eye laser at the British dog man and reduced him to ashes. Spring Man's nightmare was history.

"Yup, he's dead now," affirmed Spring Man, after witnessing the demise of his oddly specific and perhaps questionable nightmare. A British dog man, really?

"What? Who told you that! Don't listen to him!" Dimentio said to Shantae and Spring Man, trying to deter them...but their minds were made up after that demonstration from Hal.

"We can do anything?" asked Shantae, who reverted to her normal self as she got her usual voice back. "Like have kittens for fists? The half-genie's fists become kittens, as she fired kitten at Dimentio.

"Aaaaah!" Dimentio screamed in terror, as the kittens stuck unto the jester and licked him to their heart's content. Some folks might enjoy being licked by a bunch of kittens, but not Dimentio.

"Anything, huh? Spring Man love stomach beam stare!" shouted Spring Man as he lifted up his shirt, revealing a mark on his torso in the form of a pizza slice. The ARMS fighter shot colorful pizza slices from his stomach and knocked Dimentio away.

"Enough games!" boomed Dimentio, as he summoned a large projectile above him and fired it towards Mario and company. How would our heroes counter this move?

"Hamster ball shields activate!" shouted Shantae, creating a hamster ball around herself; the others followed suit, shouting "Activate!" as they created a hamster ball around themselves as well. The large projectile gets reflected by the hamster balls and struck Dimentio.

"Oh, my eye!" Dimentio wailed in pain after being struck in the face, as the hamster balls of Mario and company broke. "Like a college student misplacing his contacts, I have gone blind..."

"Rise, Akihiko!" summoned Shantae, as Akihiko rose from behind the half-genie's back wielding a musical instrument - the keyboard guitar. Akihiko started to play synthesized music, much to Dimentio's chagrin.

"Ugh! Synthesized music! It hurts!" Dimentio wailed once more as he covered his ears. Turns out that he hated synthesized music as much as he despised kittens.

"And now to imagine-a your worst nightmare - a portal out of Snake's mind!" Mario called out to Dimentio, as he and his friends joined together. "Everyone, together!" The gang all started to imagine, as a hole below Dimentio appeared.

"No, no, no! ENOUGH!" bellowed Dimentio, having enough of everyone's shenanigans as he put an end to Dimension D. Everything became white, like a world of nothingness. "You know, I'm impressed with your friends, Mario. They're a lot more clever than they look. Especially the dragon creature."

"He's talking about you..." Spyro whispered to Sparx, hoping that Dimentio was only throwing shade at his yellow dragonfly companion. But if not...

"So I'm gonna let them off the hook. They might come in handy later. But know this, Mario: I am just getting started on my revenge tour. Can't tell you all the fine details yet, nobody likes a spoiler. Until then I'll be watching you! Ciao!"

Having said his piece, Dimentio teleported away, gone for a foreseeable future. The fact that he planned on doing a "revenge tour" gave Mario and company some worry, but now was the time for celebration.

"He's-a gone! We did it!" exclaimed Mario, as everyone was cheering and exchanging high fives. Then suddenly, they began to disappear. "Snake must-a be waking up."


Mario and the gang found their way out of Snake's mind as they ended up back in the living room, shouting in surprise. Sonic had walked inside the living room with his final chili dog...just as Snake had woken up.

"We did it!" cheered Shantae, as Snake was sitting on the armchair scratching his butt. Another unpleasant memory to add to his memory banks.

"What? Did what?" Snake asked those in the living room, understandably confused as he stood up and scratched his head. Anything better than his butt. "What are you all doing here? And why was I dreaming of a shirtless Akihiko, of all things?"

"Snake! You're okay!" gleamed Hal as he ran up to Snake and hugged him. Snake was caught by surprise, as Hal rarely hugged him...only because he warned occasionally him not to do.

"What is this, a hug?" asked Snake, as Hal sensed that his friend felt awkward. Now Hal saw why Snake wasn't too fond of hugs.

"Nope! It's a chokehold." Hal proceeded to put Snake in a chokehold, as Mario and company looked on laughing. Snake couldn't help but chuckle.

"Not bad, Hal. Not bad." Eventually, the chokehold came to an end, as Hal released his grip. Snake and Hal appeared to be back on friendly terms again.

"I'm just glad we didn't let anyone get into the safe," remarked Shantae, as the day was now officially saved. Or was it? "I really love this mansion."

"Group hug!" exclaimed Spring Man as he extended his ARMS for a group hug, but not a single person obliged much to Spring Man's dismay. "No? I never know the right time!"

"Um, don't mean to alarm you guys, but...there was an explosion upstairs," alerted Sonic - where exactly did the explosion occur?


"Think I heard it down here," Zelda said to Link and Master Hand, as she led the two down the hallway. Near the end, they saw a hole in the wall, with rubble on the floor...and Magolor and Boo near the mansion's safe.

"Do you think these bomb arrows will work on the safe?" Magolor asked Boo, holding a few bomb arrows in his hands. Bomb arrows that he obtained from the Yiga Clan.

"And you're asking this NOW?!" frowned Boo, only to see Master Hand, Link, and Zelda standing by. Magolor also saw the three and was as scared as Boo was. "Uh oh..."

Master Hand: The ghost and his monster friend asked for some bomb arrows, and I was happy to give them a couple...only in exchange for some bananas. Gave them the arrows anyway, and now I'm expecting to be paid in full with precious bananas! *pauses* Still waiting...

"Dovahkiin, broom! Dark Pit, vacuum!" Master Hand shouted to the vanquisher and doppelganger, leading Magolor and Boo to shudder in fear. Picked the wrong day to start some trouble at the mansion...


Contrary to who anyone might tell you, Cafe Leblanc didn't operate until midnight like most restaurants do nowadays - oftentimes it closed just in time for dinner. As the baristas were cleaning up, they saw Cloud sitting at the counter by himself, deep in thought.

"About to close up shop soon," Joker informed Cloud, who kept silent as he rubbed his fingers through his spiky hair. Joker quietly resumed cleaning the countertop, as Ryuji returned to the cafe.

"Ashamed to say that I left my phone!" said Ryuji as he grabbed his phone off the counter, checking for any notifications that he missed. "So embarrassing..."

"Hey, Ryuji...you watch New Japan Pro Wrestling, right?" Pit asked the delinquent, as he was sweeping the floor behind the counter. Ryuji was stunned that he even knew of New Japan's existence.

"Yeah, I do! Well, at least I used to before AEW came around. I've been out of the loop these days." Leaving one wrestling promotion for another...some fan that Ryuji was.

"How about we watch it together one day? It seems interesting to me." A part of Ryuji wanted to believe that Pit was pulling his tail but for now, he would accept the angel's offer.

"You got yourself a deal!" Ryuji happily shook hands with Pit, while hoping that the angel would ruin the experience for him. Joker saw the handshake go down, smiling.


Having seen and dealt with Dimentio in person, Hal absolutely had to tell Snake about what he saw. Fortunately, the hacker had taken some pics of Dimentio during his escapades in Snake's mind and was showing them to his friend in the dining room.

"Look familiar to you?" Hal asked Snake, showing him the pictures of Dimentio on his phone. "Lines up exactly with the figure in those photos I've sent."

"Sure does - knew that that shape looked familiar," replied Snake as scratched his chin, easily recognized Dimentio. "Never saw Dimentio in person, but I've seen footage of him...in secret."

Bowser: What's that? I'm not the only person who sneaks into the producers' room? Snake does it too?! Darn it! There goes most of my credibility...

"Sorry if I ever doubted you, Hal," Snake apologized to his friend as he placed his hand on his shoulder, smiling. That smile soured real quick, however, when Snake saw Villager and the Luminary approach him.

"Uh...keep up the good work, you two," the Luminary said to Snake and Hal as he gave them both a thumbs up. Villager, who had no fingers to give a thumbs up with, casually followed after the Luminary.

"That was weird..." Snake appeared befuddled by the Luminary's words of encouragement, as Bayonetta came over to speak with the former spy.

"I will no longer deem you as a prime suspect," Bayonetta said to Snake, as she stroked the former spy's chin. Villager and the Luminary must have spoken with her earlier. "That said, I'm still interested in seeing your findings..."

"We'll share it with you once we're done!" Hal half-promised; Bayonetta smiled and walked away, as Snake and Hal exchanged looks with each other.

"I'm not interested in dinner," Reaper said to Moira, as the two Talon operates were seating at the dinner table. They were honored guests. "Especially if that dumb goddess is cooking..."

"Don't tell me that you wish to return to headquarters on an empty stomach," Moira said to Reaper, who grumbled and facepalmed. Snake and Hal came over to Moira, who was delighted to see the latter.

"Miss O'Deorian!" Hal greeted Moira, who stood up from her seat; Hal extended his hand, and Moira shook it. "So glad that we could finally meet in person."

"Likewise. Professor Elm and Rowan have told me a good report about you." While Hal and Moira basked in each other's presence, Snake and Reaper both wanted to spontaneously combust. Reaper more so.

"I'm sure they have! So how was your evening? You would NOT believe the kind of evening I had. I was inside my friend's mind, trying to stop an evil jester."

"A jester, you say?" Moira held a finger under her chin, though not in the same manner that Anna did. "Wonder if it's the same one that E. Gadd carps about in that group chat of ours..."


Far away from the mansion, Dimentio was waiting on his lackeys to arrive. As he saw Magolor and Boo coming his way, he saw how beat up they were. Thanks to Dark Pit and Dovahkiin.

"Sorry that we took so long, boss..." Magolor apologized to Dimentio, as he and Boo were covered with band-aids all over. "...took me a while to apply the band-aids. And buy them, too."

"It seems that you have failed to secure the deed," observed Dimentio, noticing that his lackeys had the mansion deed in their possession. "I failed to do the same, so I shouldn't be too harsh..."

"We were close, but those two Hylians caught us," explained Boo, with Dimentio aware that the ghost was referring to Link and Zelda. "I kinda told them about how you got out, hehe..."

"Hm? I beg your pardon?" Dimentio floated closer to Boo, who covered his mouth with his stubby arms. Said something that he shouldn't. "You told them how I got out?"

"It...it was a slip of tongue!" But Dimentio wouldn't buy Boo's excuse, as he snapped his fingers and encased the ghost inside a box. "I can explain!"

"No need - I'm afraid that you have done yourself in. Ciao!" Dimentio snapped his fingers a second time, triggering an explosion within the box. Magolor watched in fear as Boo instantly poofed away.

"Woah!" the alien exclaimed, and soon Boo was no more. The box went away, as Dimentio saw how freaked out Magolor was.

"Don't worry about him - he already served his purpose. Now since we couldn't get that deed...we can roll out the other plan I have in my back pocket."

What was this other plan? Nobody knew, not even Magolor. Only Dimentio...