Author's Note:
It's December, which means a whole month full of holiday chapters! Plenty of holiday goodness. Also, as of this writing, I am close to done with finishing this chapter...all I can say is I'm happy to be responding to guest reviews now, as opposed to waiting till after the chapter is finished and answering them and rushing to get it published. Such a relief.
"Any chance for appearances from the Paldean Elite Four?"
I like the Paldean Elite Four, and I think that Rika is a very pretty lady (even if I thought that she was a guy at first). Larry is also one of the best Gym Leaders/Elite Four members ever conceived. That said, would the Elite Four ever make an appearance? Right now it's looking kinda slim. Another guest review:
"Just dropping by to say that Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 is celebrating its 2nd anniversary on December 8. Since the shenanigans with Schezo, there have been no Puyo Puyo shenanigans. Maybe do something with them? Bye."
Yeah, baby! Maybe Arle Nadja will finally debut next week. Another guest review:
"Can you try and use other Overwatch characters besides your usual ones (Tracer, Winston, Sombra, Reaper)? Show some love for guys like Symmetra, Wrecking Ball, Mei, Baptiste, or Doomfist. Heck, what about Ashe, your apparent main? Just trying to give you some suggestions, is all."
That is the plan moving forward, to feature more Overwatch characters. I'll try not to feature Ashe too much so that people will think that I'm biased or something. David has questions:
"Have any of the Koopalings had any screen time lately? Are the Koopalings using their voices from the Mario Cartoons? Is Viridi secretly a fan of Bayley or Bianca Belair? (Same question if Tusbasa likes Io Shirai/Skye). Do the Fire Emblem characters know about the knockoff game Tear Ring Saga? (Maybe have Pit tell them about it)? A chapter or scene of Cranky hanging out with Mario and Peach? And finally, what did you like and dislike about Survivor Series Wargames?"
Other than Bowser Jr, not really. The Koopalings aren't using their voices from the cartoons. Don't think that Viridi is a secret fan of either lady, but if she were to like one of them she would like Bayley. (Don't think Tsubasa would care that much for Io Skye.) The Fire Emblem characters don't know about Tear Ring Saga...and neither do I! I can have a scene with Mario, Peach, and Cranky all hanging out. And I didn't particularly dislike anything about Survivor Series, but I did like how they incorporated the WarGames match into the PPV. I mean, premium live event. A JRPG enjoyer has a question about Pokemon Scarlet and Violet:
"So...after seeing the endgame part of Scarlet & Violet...I don't know how to explain it without spoiling stuff, but will you include some of the stuff from the game to your story?"
I'll do my best. I knew that most of the stuff in the endgame would happen, based on my past suspicions, and I plan on incorporating much of said stuff into the story without diving too much into spoiler territory. Some Smash News has some big news:
"Smash World Tour has been canceled! Unfortunatelt, VGBootCamp (SWT's tournament organizer) has announced that they are cancelling the Smash World Tour Finals mainly because of Nintendo's partnership with Panda Global and their Panda Cup. What do you think?"
A very sucky situation for everyone involved. If the Panda guys can have their tournaments, then why can't VGBootCamp? Spread the love around. Last is The Reader, with a big update:
"New update on Advance Wars! So, Best Buy put a new placeholder date for the Advance Wars remakes, and...it's dated at December 31, 2026. Since it's a placeholder date, looks like the game will be released at least before 2026. So next year is still a possibility. So, what do you think?"
Doubt that Advance Wars will be released in 2026, but I got my fingers crossed that it'll hit the shelves next year. Holding out hope...
Episode 363: Belsnickel
Every year around the start of December, the Smash Mansion did the yearly tradition of the Secret Santa gift exchange. Everyone gathered in the meeting and picked a name; whoever's name you draw was the person that you had to buy a gift. No take-backsies.
Of course, the gift exchange wasn't just limited to the mansion residents; the tower denizens also participated, along with Mario and his neighbors. The Crash clan, who were still considered "family" to the mansion, were back at the mansion for Secret Santa along with Rayman and his friends. Cortex and E. Gadd were there, too.
"Why is he a part of this?" Dr. Wily asked Link as he pointed at E. Gadd, who was trying to strike up a conversation with Tifa. Little did E. Gadd know that Tifa was still in a heartbroken mood.
"Leave him alone, let the man live," replied Link, who was keeping count of every person that entered the meeting room. Wily grumbled, giving E. Gadd a death glare as he returned to his seat.
"Golly, I sure do miss Cloud," E. Gadd said to Tifa, who had tried to keep her mind off of Cloud until E. Gadd mentioned the swordsman's very name. "We are pretty close friends, I'll say!"
"Good for you..." muttered Tifa, whom E. Gadd expected to be surprised or even enthralled - the way that Tifa responded left E. Gadd awfully curious.
"Alright, Master Hand, that's everyone!" Link announced to the giant hand as the last person, Geno, entered the meeting room. After Geno took a seat, it was time for the bag of names to go around.
"I shouldn't have to say this, but don't look at your slip of paper," instructed Isabelle as she went around with the bag of names, allowing everyone to pull a name out of the bag. "We don't want to start all over."
"Can you make one tiny exception?" Wily asked Isabelle, who gave the robot inventor a rare frown when she came over to him. Wily moaned as he selected a name, hoping and praying that he didn't draw E. Gadd.
"One name at a time, Crash," Aku said to the bandicoot, who grabbed a handful of names before dipping all but one back into the bag. "You can't buy everyone a gift, you're no Scrooge McDuck!"
"Or an Ebenezer Scrooge," Geo Stelar followed up on Aku, thinking that he was a genius for his response. Frankly, the lack of reaction made him feel less like a smartypants. "The two are similar, right?"
"That should be everyone," announced Isabelle, after everyone had selected a name; now it was time for the big reveal, with a few folks crossing their fingers. "On the count of three! One, two..."
"...three!" Link would finish for Isabelle, cutting off the Shih Tzu as he and everyone else unraveled their slip of paper. Whose name did Link draw? "I got Yoshi...yay me, I guess."
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Yoshi questioned Link, while Wily unraveled his slip of paper; Wily sighed in relief when he saw a name other than E. Gadd's name inscribed.
"Thank goodness I got Princess Peach..." Wily happily remarked with his hand over his chest; Peach overheard Wily and looked at the robot inventor with a newfound deep appreciation.
Peach: Some people sadly despise buying me Christmas presents. They say that I can be "boujee" sometimes, whatever that means. At last, I feel wanted! Thanks, Dr. Wily!
"I got Roy's mom," smirked Touma, before looking towards Roy hoping to get a reaction out of the swordsman. Roy just glared at Touma in response.
"Cool, I got Professor E. Gadd!" cheered Sonic, as Wily laughed at the blue hedgehog, mostly out of pity. And perhaps a little sympathy. "What's so funny?"
"What a coincidence, Sonic - I got your friend Lavenza," E. Gadd said to Sonic as he held up his slip of paper. Hearing this, Wily ran over to Lavenza and gave her a sympathetic hug.
"If you want, I can accept the gift on your behalf," Wily whispered into Lavenza's ear, as he was holding Lavenza tied. Lavenza eyed around, wishing for Wily to let go. "I'll be the one to carry your burden."
"I'll just happily accept the gift as it is..." stated Lavenza, as Wily held the young girl even tighter to erase any "evil" thoughts from her mind.
"Hold up, how the heck did I get Aerith?" wondered the person who drew Aerith's name, Donkey Kong, as he held up his slip of paper. "She's still in Arcadia Bay with Cloud."
"I acted on Aerith's behalf," stated Anna as she had her hand raised; the merchant was the only person who got to pick out two names from the bag. "Olimar, you're all mine!"
"Aerith is still family, so her name had to be included," stated Master Hand; if that was the case, then surely Cloud had to be part of the name exchange too. Someone had to act on his behalf.
"But you didn't want Cloud to be part of the name exchange," Isabelle said to Master Hand, inadvertently sparking some controversy as everyone was looking at Master Hand. If Master Hand could sweat, he'd be sweating buckets.
"Cloud is...he is not really family anymore. He did something bad, very bad, and so he deserves to be kicked out of the family. Like the Dwarves of Erebor in The Hobbit."
"That's a horrible example, the Dwarves only lost their kingdom..." Corrin was about to inform Master Hand before Kamui stepped in and prevented her twin brother from delving into Lord of the Rings lore. Kamui stepped in for everyone's sake.
"But that isn't fair," Sonic said to Master Hand, knowing the reason why Master Hand was treating Cloud as the black sheep of the "family". "You can't kick Cloud to the curb just because he..."
"Silence, Sonic - I can do as I please!" Master Hand silenced the blue hedgehog, who was about to spill the beans in front of everyone. Tensions were steadily running high. "I'm the boss, after all."
"Reverting to the Master Hand of old, I see..." Twintelle said to Master Hand, making him uncomfortable; the movie star was able to tell that Master Hand was hiding an important detail about Cloud that no one save for a few select individuals knew.
"...erm, that's all folks! Happy shopping, everyone - and remember, you're stuck with whoever you got. But in a good way." Master Hand abruptly vanished away, leaving on a very awkward note. Nobody had any clue what to make of Master Hand's getaway escape, as there was silence.
"Well, that was weird," Mario summed up what went down the best way he could, as chatter slowly found its way back into the meeting room. "Feel like I should-a get to the bottom of this."
"You're gonna find some way to get to Arcadia Bay to speak with Cloud, aren't you?" Spyro asked Mario, who was not in the mood for making a return trip to Arcadia Bay. One trip was enough for him. "Just don't make me go along with you on the trip..."
"Hello? Are you all done in there?" Tracer asked from outside the meeting room as she knocked on the door. Link forgot that he had locked the door. "Overwatch needs to have an impromptu meeting!"
"Yes, and Bernadetta also needs a new hiding spot, apparently," said another voice, and it belonged to...Ferdinand, of the Black Eagles? Shouldn't he be back in Fodlan with his fellow classmates?
Samus: Anna once again was in a charitable mood - all the folks that were here for Thanksgiving were convinced to stick around for the holidays. Anna had to pay a few people under the table just to convince them to stay. She went from hoarding expensive items to hoarding people...
Silver: First time I've been in town for the holidays; Anna personally asked me to stay. While also wanting to pay me with cash, which I refused out of humility. I also like to think that Anna is becoming increasingly self-aware, as evidenced by this sweater she gave me. *holds up a Christmas sweater, which reads "Friend of the Smash Mansion"* Think this goes out to the mansion's most frequent visitors.
Shortly after the Secret Santa name exchange, the mansion's party planning committee met in the lounge for, well, party planning. Rosalina, Palutena, Viridi, and Travis Touchdown were tasked with planning a Christmas party, which Rosalina was slacking on.
"I knew the party was today, but nobody asked me to plan it, so I didn't," Rosalina admitted to her party-planning peeps - not exactly instilling a heavy amount of confidence with her confession. "Hmm, funny how that works."
"We've waited an entire year for a Christmas party," stated Viridi, who preferred a Christmas party to any other kind of party. Even a birthday party. Even if it was her own. "We deserve one!"
"Well, then, why don't we just get some liquor and those mini-Cupcakes?" suggested Palutena, as Rosalina and Viridi were down with that idea. However, Travis was not as he scoffed mightily.
"Mini-Cupcakes? As in the mini version of regular cupcakes, which is already a mini version of cake?" Travis frowned at Palutena, not surprised at all by the goddess of light's suggestion given her questionable food prowess. "Honestly, where does it end with you people?"
"Cheers love!" shouted Tracer as she made her way inside the lounge, along with some company - Reinhardt, Baptiste, Zarya, and Cassidy. Reinhardt, predictably, had some trouble getting in through the door. "Heard that you blokes were planning a Christmas party."
"May I recommend an authentic Pennsylvania Dutch Christmas?" suggested Reinhardt, after he finally got through the door. Albeit with an assist from Zarya. Shulk had passed by the lounge when he stopped and eavesdropped on Reinhardt. "Drink some gluhwein, and enjoy some hasenpfeffer. Enjoy Christmas with saint Nicolas' rural German companion, Belsnickel!"
"Yes! That, that, that!" exclaimed Travis as he pointed at Reinhard,t preferring a German-themed Christmas party over any mini-cupcakes. Just picturing a mini-cupcake in his mind made Travis shudder. "We're definitely doing that. Are we all in agreement?"
"No!" Rosalina, Palutena, and Viridi all said collectively, as Travis frowned at the three ladies; Travis' best hope now was relying on Reinhardt's fellow Overwatch operatives to back their German confidant.
"I want Tropical Christmas," said Baptiste - Baptiste was from Haiti, so it was perfectly understandable for him to prefer a party theme that felt close to home.
"Topless Christmas," said Zarya - no way the party planning committee would sign off on that, with how much youth was in the mansion.
"Tapas swiss miss," said Cassidy - nobody really understood what Cassidy meant by that, as they all stared at the gunslinger with confused looks.
Cassidy: Spanish tapas, and swiss miss hot cocoa...what's so hard to understand?
"Or, who was it that suggested the authentic Pennsylvania Dutch Christmas?" asked Reinhardt, trying to drum up some support for his idea. The only ones that would back him were Travis and possibly Tracer. "I think it was someone really popular."
"We already said no," Rosalina kindly stated to Reinhardt, who lowered his head in sadness as his support was running low.
"Too weird," Palutena offered her two cents; if a Pennsylvania Dutch Christmas party was too weird for the mansion, then what was the barometer for weirdness under the mansion roof?
Reinhardt: *Holds up a picture* This is my cousin's family celebrating Pennsylvania Dutch Christmas in 1982 on their farm. There's him and his brother Jeb breaking the ceremonial pig rib. According to my cousin, Jeb doesn't come back for Christmas anymore.
"I'm not understanding the confusion," said Travis, as the other members of the party planning committee were slowly growing tired of the otaku. "Am I the only one who wants to try hufflepuffs and schnauzerhosen, and meet this glenpickle guy?"
"Party planning committee, emergency meeting...without Travis," announced Rosalina, as she led Palutena and Viridi out of the lounge. Rosalina looked back at the exasperated Travis to make sure that he wasn't following her.
Shulk had intentions of attending the Christmas party later, and the Homs was already thinking of the fun that he would have. With many folks (i.e. "friends of the Smash Mansion) in town for the holidays courtesy of Anna, Shulk expected the party to be an absolute blast.
"I'm just hoping German terrorists don't take over this Christmas party," Shulk joked with his girlfriend Fiora, as the Homs couple was in the kitchen conversation with one another. "Make me go all John McClane on them."
"Wait, German terrorists?" Fiora furrowed her brow, wondering why Shulk would suspect German terrorists of all people to ambush a Christmas party in the Pacific Northwest. "That's oddly specific. And I think you mean John McCain."
"Die Hard reference."
"I haven't seen it."
"You haven't seen Die Hard?"
"Can't say that I have."
"Why haven't you seen Die Hard?"
"I don't know, I just haven't."
"Come on, you had to have at least seen some of it!" Wario said to Fiora, as he was also in the kitchen fixing himself some lunch. Mainly a ham sandwich with too many slices of bread.
"Never saw a single second."
"'Now, I have a machine gun. Ho, ho, ho.'"
"'Come out to the coast, we'll get together, have a few laughs,'" said Shulk, refusing to be outdone by Wario as he quoted another line from the movie. Fiora was so lost.
"None of this makes any sense to me!" Fiora said to Shulk and Wario, who were both oblivious to the Homs' confusion as they were remembering bits and pieces of the Die Hard movie.
"Oh, yeah!" exclaimed Wario, remembering another line John McClane had said in the movie as he imitated taking a gun off his back. "And when he takes the gun off his back, and he's like, 'Yippie-Ki-Yay, mother..."
"Actually, he doesn't say that there," Shulk cut off Wario, saving the fatso from saying profanity out loud. Master Hand and the producers probably wouldn't like that, for the documentary. "He says it earlier when he's on the radio with Hans."
"Yes, you are right. Forgive me."
"Oh, that's okay, bud."
"Nope." Despite the fact that he had to be corrected by Shulk, Wario finished fixing his sandwich as he left the kitchen.
"Common mistake."
"No, it's not!"
"Do you know every line of the movie?" Fiora asked Shulk, who looked down at the floor too reluctant to answer the question. "You're such a nerd!"
"Reyn dared me to memorize it, and I did it and loved doing it," admitted Shulk, who accepted the dare from Reyn only to impress his friend. He had yet to hear from Reyn about how impressed he was.
"Okay, let's hear it."
"Hear what?"
"Die hard. Every line. Go."
"'You don't like flying, do you'?"
"Don't change the subject."
"No, that's the line..."
With it being the holidays, there was sometimes tomfoolery abound. People stealing Christmas gifts left at the front door, people beating up Santa Claus at the mall, all that kind of stuff. The mansion was obviously no exception.
"Well, I hate to have to take my Santa hat off, and put on my hard hat," said Master Hand as he entered the gaming room, having the address the elephant in the room. The accompanying Isabelle placed a literal hard hat atop Master Hand. "But, this is serious. It's come to my attention that somebody who shall remain nameless, wants to steal Christmas allowance."
"Fine with me," said Bowser Jr, who seemed to know who the guilty party was as he looked towards Villager. "Villager can leave anytime he wants. Goodbye."
"It wasn't me," Villager pleaded his innocence, as Bowser Jr. rolled his eyes at the young lad; Bowser Jr. knew Villager's pranking ways far too well.
"It wasn't either of you," stated Master Hand, much to the surprise of both Bowser Jr. and Villager. "Who it was is not important...but Zelda did say that you two have been pranking each other recently and that your constant pranking and one-upsmanship are driving her crazy."
"I just wanna say, this is not my fault," Bowser Jr. stated to Master Hand, removing himself from any possible blame. "The weak always bully the strong. Contrary to what you see in the media. That's what my papa says. I'm always acting in self-defense. Occasionally preemptive self-defense!" Bowser Jr. would demonstrate this as he punched Villager in the arm.
"Ow, What are you doing?" questioned Villager, as he fought back; Villager and Bowser Jr. were caught in a tussle, which later deteriorated into a slap fight.
"Hey! Hey! Respect the hat!" Master Hand shouted at Villager and Bowser Jr. as he came over and broke up the slap fight before it deteriorated into something worse. Something like a thumb wrestling match, which Villager would inevitably lose in.
"Princess Zelda never seemed to have a problem with us. I thought that she was cool with it!"
"Alright. I'm gonna speak in a language you both understand...mo-nay." The confused stares on Villager and Bowser jJ. meant that Master Hand had to elaborate, which made the floating hand sigh. "Money...you both have sizable Christmas allowances coming your way. If I catch either of you messing with the other, I will give both allowances to the other person."
"Can't do that." Villager folded his arms, not confident in himself that he could abide by Master Hand's rules.
"No, absolutely not," Bowser Jr. also folded his arms, refusing to play nice with Villager during the holiday season.
"You need consequences, okay?" Master Hand said to Villager and Bowser Jr, expecting the young gentlemen to be on their best behavior. "I want you both walking on eggshells."
The three houses of Fodlan - the Black Eagles, Blue Lions, and Golden Deer - stayed in town for the holidays, as well as the Ashen Wolves. Some of the students were looking forward to returning home and coming back only for Christmas. Other folks like Zeke and Pandoria were staying in town, too. As much as Mario wanted to chat and hang out with everyone, he had a trip to go on.
"The boys and I are thinking of going out-a to Arcadia Bay and seeing Cloud," Mario said to Knuckles and Shadow, as he was discussing his plans for a guys' day out with a few of the male tower denizens. Mario was most equipped for such an occasion.
"I love Arcadia Bay - dirty town," responded Knuckles, living vicariously through the experiences his friend had in the Oregon town. Before Shadow had the chance to question Knuckles if he even went to Arcadia Bay, Rodin came up behind Mario and places his hands on his shoulders.
"Ahaha! Arcadia Bay! Exciting stuff, man," a gleeful Rodin said to Mario, nearly scaring the plumber with the way he sneaked up on him from behind. "So you sure you remembered everything for your trip?"
"Yeah, I think so," said Mario, who made sure that he had all the essentials - some food, some equipment, and maybe even a willing fall guy to be sacrificed to a bear in times of danger.
"Think that through for a sec." Rodin wanted Mario to think, but Mario struggled to think of anything that he was possibly forgetting.
Rodin: Yeah, Mario's going to Arcadia Bay tomorrow. He said he was going to take me with him, but that was two hours ago. And I haven't heard anything since. I mean, he said that, right?
"What else could you possibly be forgetting? Things? People?" Rodin asked Mario, trying to get the plumber's brain juices flowing. Mario chuckles nervously, as he didn't know what he had forgotten. But then it finally came to him.
"Well...I do need a flash-a light," stated Mario, knowing that he couldn't go out into the brave wilderness without a trusty flashlight in tow. Rodin gave up as he let go of Mario and left the kitchen in dismay.
Meanwhile, away from the mansion was Dimentio, who was wearing a Santa hat and reading a book. The book was colored scarlet, and appeared to have a legendary Pokemon on the cover...where did he even obtain it from?
"Master Dimentio, we have arrived!" someone announced, as Dimentio closed his book and turned around as he saw Rufus Shinra approaching. Accompanying Rufus was Gnasty Gnorc. "Sorry we kept you waiting."
"I lost my hammer to an old lady," Gnasty embarrassingly admitted to Dimentio, fearing that he would lose lots of villain points for the incident that had occurred on the street. "Had to pay her a hundred bucks to get it back..."
"Nice of you to show a little chivalry," responded Dimentio, before bringing some attention to the Santa hat on his head as he adjusted it. "Now, do you like my hat? Stole it from a store downtown. Feel like a jolly ol' fellow going down the chimney!"
"Yeah, yeah, that's good and all...but what is our mission?" Gnasty was back in Seattle to redeem himself, hoping to prove his worth not only to Dimentio but to the other villains in Dimentio's entourage.
"You mean your mission. And your mission, Gnasty Gnorc, is to locate a man in this very city. Giovanni was able to determine that this person of interest might be coming to the mansion."
"For the record, I'm only here to help you out," Rufus whispered in Gnasty's ear, believing that if Gnasty had him on his side, his mission would be a success.
"This man wears a black suit and has...a rather fiery hairstyle." Does that description remind you of anyone? Anyone at all? "Your duty is to find him, and bring him to us so that we can possibly recruit him into our ranks."
"Black suit, fiery hairstyle...sounds easy to remember," said Gnasty as he put the description into his memory banks. Surely there shouldn't be too many men in Seattle with a black suit and fiery hair. "What will you be doing, Dimentio?"
"I will be doing some investigating." Dimentio turned away from Gnasty and Rufus, as he was seemingly lost in thought. "Apparently, some new property is being built in the city...and Master Hand may have something to do with it."
"Well, we promise not to interrupt you - not like we can do that anyway," Rufus said to Dimentio, leaving the jester alone as he walked away. "Let's go, Gnasty - time's a-ticking!" So Gnasty looked back at Dimentio, before following Rufus afterward.
"Master Hand...what are you planning..." Dimentio continued to remain lost in thought for a few more seconds, before disappearing away for good.
Fox and Falco's investigation came to a close, as they finally found out who the Star Records leaker was. The leaker, apparently, was Doc Louis, who was revealed as such after Little Mac outed him during the Star Records Thanksgiving meal. Granted, Little Mac had no evidence to support his accusation, but Fox and Falco still took the boxer's word for it after Doc Louis was unable to plead his innocence.
"I never would've imagined that Doc Louis of all people would do that," Link discussed with Fox and Falco outside the idol singers' house, slowly coming to terms with the fact that Doc Louis was a snake. "What do you do to punish him?"
"Not much - the crime was nothing major, so we went light on him," replied Fox, as he was struggling to hold in his laughter; his reluctance to laugh made Link morbidly curious.
"Doc Louis is in the doghouse," added Falco, who was struggling even more than Fox to keep a straight face. Link cocked his head to the side, wondering what was so funny.
How about we check in on Doc Louis, and see what was so funny in the first place? Doc Louis, as Falco stated, was in the doghouse...literally. He was stuck inside the Duck Hunt Dog's doghouse, with Ayaha Oribe standing close to the boxing trainer.
"Get back from vacation, and this is what they asked me to do..." sighed Ayaha, who was asked by the pilots to be on "Doc Louis watch" just in case Doc was to escape. Would be impossible, given that Doc Louis was stuck and had no way of getting out.
"Trust me, Miss Oribe, I hate this as much as you do," Doc Louis said to the secretary, only to look up in fear when the Duck Hunt Dog neared him and put his hind leg up. "Miss Oribe, save me!"
"Knew I should've asked for a vacation back in August..." Instead of saving Doc Louis, Ayaha facepalmed while she was oblivious to the sound of Doc Louis screaming his head off. "...it's bad enough that I didn't invite my little sister."
"Yeah, Doc's in good hands," stated Falco, unable to hold it in much longer as he burst into laughter. Fox laughed along with his buddy, as Link sighed at the pilots and shook his head.
"Link!" a certain Pokemon trainer called out to the Hylian, as Nemona ran up to the Hylian. Fox and Falco stopped laughing after they saw Nemona, who was wearing the sweater that Silver showed off in his talking head. "Thanks for this sweater."
"Don't thank me, thank Anna," Link said to Nemoan, amazed that Anna was able to produce so many sweaters in so little time. "She made the knitting club knit them."
"Yeah, well, my friends Arven and Penny didn't want theirs. They thought that they didn't 'deserve' them. But I like mine!" Nemona smiled at her sweater, no doubt thinking of how proud Anna would be of her.
"I don't think your friends can return them." Link looked over at Anna's shop, and saw Anna turning away Cranky Kong who wanted to turn in his sweater. Anna even had to take out her broom to scare Cranky away.
"That stinks, but it's understandable." Nemona suddenly looked back behind her, as if she expected someone to draw near. "That's not all that I wanted to talk to you about. Somebody wants to see you."
"Who might this someone be?" Link was eager to meet this person, and so Nemona whistled into her fingers. A tall man emerged from the tree that he was hiding behind, and he made his way over to Link and company.
"Is that...is that who I think it is?!" questioned Fox, who along with Falco recognized the tall man as the pilots pulled out their Blasters. The tall man was evidently a huge threat.
"No way...it can't be..." uttered Link, trying not to sound cliche as the tall man drew closer. The tall man, in case you were wondering what he looked like, wore a black suit and had orange hair which was connected to his beard.
"Alright sir, you can take it from here," Nemoan said to the tall man, before stepping to the side so that Link and the tall man could have an adult conversation. Fox and Falco, however, didn't want to have an adult conversation as they still had their Blasters out.
"I reckon that we have never personally met," the tall man said to Link, who felt extremely uneasy as he had seen the man before in person - but not really up close and personal. "I am Lysandre, of Team Flare."
"I know who you are - you helped Dr. Eggman with his revenge plot," Link said to Lysandre, remembering seeing the Team Flare leader inside the Death Egg while he was in Wolf Form. "The hotel attack and everything! Let me guess - you wanna atone, too?"
"Oh! Looks like I'm not the only one." Lysandre smirked to himself as he adjusted his ascot, surprised that he wasn't the first. "It's not too late for me, is it?"
"Lower your guard, you two," Link gave this command to Fox and Falco, who continued to mean mug Lysandre as they put their Blasters away. "If you wish to atone, then you'll have to do it in front of Master Hand. Got it?"
"I'll gladly abide by your terms. Promise not to pull any punches." Unlike Jakob and Eggman, Link couldn't tell if Lysandre was acting in sincerety with his change of heart; he would have to keep a close eye on him during his confessional.
The party planning committee (sans Travis) met in Rosalina's room, conjuring a party theme for today's Christmas party. But nothing was on the table, which meant only one thing...desperate times called for desperate measures.
"We're the party planning committee, and we did not get where we are by playing it safe," Rosalina said to Palutena and Viridi, about to make a decision that she feared the goddesses would find very controversial. "We got here by being risk-takers. And, yeah, Reinhardt's party is gonna be terrible. Maybe. Maybe it's not. Maybe it's going to be great. And if it's great...I think we all know what that would mean to us."
"Let's do it!" exclaimed Palutena, warming up to Reinhardt's party idea after some consideration. Viridi, however, remained very much on the fence.
"Yes! Palutena!" Hearing Palutena voice her support for the party made Rosalina feel a bit better, but Viridi remained beside herself.
"No. I don't want my name attached to this party," Viridi informed Rosalina, believing that the negatives of a Pennsylvania Dutch Christmas party would heavily outweigh the negatives.
"What does that even mean? Where would your name appear?"
"Please just take my name off of everything."
"Just take her name off of everything," Palutena advised Rosalina, who made a mental note in her head to do just that as a means to appease Viridi.
It was the holidays, which only meant one thing...Christmas shopping! Cloud obviously wasn't a fan of Christmas shopping, but that didn't stop Aerith from dragging him to a department store in Arcadia Bay. Aerith had Cloud's wallet, as she was given the freedom to shop till she dropped.
"You don't have to come in if you want to," Aerith said to Cloud as she stood outside the store entrance, holding onto Cloud's wallet. "You can stay outside and enjoy the cold. Your choice."
"Don't have to tell me twice..." responded Cloud, as Aerith smiled and went inside the department store. Once Aerith was inside, Cloud took out his translocator, knowing where he was headed.
With their decision having been made, the party planning committee returned to the lounge, where Travis and Reinhardt waited. It was almost as if Travis and Reinhardt were both expecting the committee's return. Rosalina cleared her throat to get the duo's attention.
"The party planning committee, minus Viridi, has decided that we're all going to do Reinhardt's Christmas," announced Rosalina, as Viridi was looking away in pure disgust. Reinhardt was far from disgusted, as the German was a happy camper.
"Yes! Yeah!" exclaimed Reinhardt, who was so happy that he picked up Travis and gave him a bear hug. Travis wheezed in pain as Reinhardt placed him back on his feet. "It's a Christmas Miracle!" Reinhardt then went over to Rosalina, and gave her a bear hug - but one that wasn't as constricting as the hug he gave to Travis.
"Reinhardt, there is one rule that you need to take very seriously." After Rosalina was placed back on the ground, Reinhardt looked at the mother of Lumas with sudden fear. "And that is...that there are no rules."
"You have never been cooler." Just like that, Rosalina had won Reinhardt's full respect. Nothing grander than earning respect from a guy like Reinhardt.
Bowser Jr. was passing through the hallway, thinking about the Christmas gifts he would receive from Bowser (as well as the Christmas gifts that his Koopaling siblings would miss out on). Then suddenly, he came across Villager's wallet, lying on the floor.
"Ah..." said Bowser Jr, devious thoughts running through his mind as he eyed the wallet intently. "I'm gonna..." The young Koopa was about to pick up the wallet, only to stop when he saw Villager watching from a room with the door creaked.
Bowser Jr: Villager really wants my allowance. He's trying to entrap me. Now I can't drink at this thing... *puts away glass of egg nog* I get really pranky when I drink egg nog.
Kasumi was running Anna's shop, as Anna had plans of attending the Christmas party later. With it being the holidays, Anna believed that her shop needed an attraction to reel in the customers - and what she needed was a Santa Claus. So she asked Kasumi to find a person that could be the perfect Santa.
"Doc Louis is in the literal doghouse, so he's out of the equation," said Kasumi, thinking of someone who was willing enough to be Santa Claus. Soon the perfect candidate came into view when Kasumi saw a green-skinned Santa Claus near the mansion.
"Ho, ho, ho! Don't mind me, just spreading Christmas cheer," the green-skinned Santa Claus said to Kasumi, who placed her finger underneath her chin as she looked at the Santa inquisitively.
"He's a little off-color, but he'll do..." Kasumi kept watch of the green-skinned Santa, who was trying to peek through Master Hand's bedroom window. How did that involve spreading Christams cheer?
Inside Master Hand's room, Lysandre was speaking with Master Hand, Link, and Zelda. Much like Eggman and Jakob before him, Lysandre wished to atone for his past, when he helped Eggman with his evil misdeeds.
"All I ever wanted was a world of beauty," Lysandre said to Master Hand and company, while Link kept a watchful eye on the Team Flare leader. "A world that can be protected from selfish humans...that was all I ever wanted, really."
"Nobody cares about your life story, Lysandre - no offense," Master Hand cut off Lysandre, who frowned as he was no longer allowed to go on his endless villain spiel. "Just tell us why you worked with Eggman."
"Partly it was to test out new weaponry. Eggman said he would give me the weaponry needed for my plans of world domination, but only if I agreed to work with him. And so I took up on his offer."
"There's a Santa Claus at the door," Zelda whispered to Link, who saw the green-skinned Santa through the blinds. The Santa darted away after being caught, as Link smiled in amusement.
"Now I see that it was a mistake...I was arrested, and Team Flare was partially disbanded as a result. Because of this, my plans were foiled."
"So what made you come to the mansion?" Master Hand asked Lysandre, wishing that he could have sympathy for the Team Flare leader if not for the fact that he was a...well, you know.
"It wasn't until a few months after my release from jail that I decided to make a few amends. Eggman convinced me to do it, and although I didn't wish to heed him again, I took up on his advice."
"Unable to make your own choices, I see..." Link muttered under his breath, as Lysandre gave the Hylian a death glare so vicious that it made him change his tune in a heartbeat. "...I was joking! Relax!"
"If I may, I would like to go around the mansion and formally apologize to your constituents. I will leave that decision in your hands." Lysandre wanted to apologize...to everyone? Maybe he really did want to atone.
"We do have a Christmas party, but I'll let you apologize to anyone who's not in attendance," replied Master Hand, giving Lysandre free reign to make as many apologies as he felt were needed. "Link, Zelda, accompany Lysandre and make sure he doesn't spray any hair spray in anyone's eyes. He looks like the kind of guy to do it."
The Christmas party was set to take place in the gaming room, which was slowly being congregated as word of the party spread around. Aside from the mansion residents and tower denizens, a few guests were in attendance, such as Hal, Steven Stone, B.D. Joe, Roxas and his friends, the three house leaders, and others. The party was all set up, with food and decorations taking up most of the gaming room space.
"And Pennsylvania Dutch Christmas has officially begun!" announced Reinhardt, playing the trumpet as he entered the gaming room. Galar champion Leon had to help Reinhardt in through the door, embarrassing as it was for Reinhardt.
"What is this stuff, lava?" asked Edelgard as she was analyzing some of the food and drink available. One of them was a red beverage that Edelgard didn't find all too appealing.
"That is gluhwein, otherwise known as glow-wine, also used to sterilize medical instruments. And, interesting factoid, this is the very spoon that guided my soft skull through the birth canal when I was born. Enjoy!"
"What is it?" Xion asked Roxas, who had tapped the princess on her shoulder. Researcher Zelda saw Champion Link lifting a hog maw with his fork. "Don't touch it."
"Somebody's found the hog maw!" Reinhardt ran up to Roxas and Xion, startling the latter as he almost crashed into her with his weight. "It's a Pennsylvania Dutch specialty. That's a beauty, isn't it? I don't even want to tell you what it's made of until after you try it."
"I'm not eating mystery meat," said Champion Link, worried that the hog maw might make him sick. It was in his best interest to not take even a single bite.
"It is a stuffed pig stomach. And, after we finish it, we get to break the pig rib!"
"Can't wait," smiled Roxas, as he was looking forward to breaking some pig rib. Meanwhile, the Squid Sisters Marie and Callie were going around the gaming room checking out the party scene.
"Weird. Where are the sugar cookies?" Marie asked Reinhardt, bothered by the extreme lack of sweets at the party. You can never have a Christmas party without sweets. "Where's the karaoke machine?"
"This is austere, my dear Marie," Reinhard told the Inkling, who along with Marie was searching for the dessert, like a German cake or an apple strudel. The lack of dessert also made Marie extremely bothered. "This is celebrating Christmas for all of the right reasons. The cookies and toys and sweets are mere distractions. I mean, most people don't even know that a candy cane represents a Shepherd's Crook, which I assure you does not taste like peppermint. It tastes like sheep feces."
"How would anyone even know..." Ike was about to ask, only to be silenced when Reinhardt placed his finger over his lips. Ike looked down at Reinhardt's index finger, which was much bigger than he imagined.
"Have you ever tasted a Shepherd's Crook?" After having heard what Shepherd's Crook tasted like, Ike had no plans of eating any. It was a very hard pass from the swordsman.
Tracer and Winston both stood outside the gaming room entrance, taking in most of the sights and sounds of the Christmas party. Neither operative wanted to attend the party, but they were nonetheless giving Reinhardt all their moral support from afar.
"I don't know," Winston said to Tracer, not sure how to feel about a Pennsylvania Dutch Christmas party. The name alone made the gorilla almost on the edge. "Is it what you expected?"
"I feel like..." Tracer was about to give her two cents on the Christmas party, only to squint her eyes when she made out what Reinhardt was doing. "...Reinhardt is holding a candle and reading a poem."
Indeed, Reinhardt was reading a poem, and he was doing it with the lights still turned on. Ike went ahead and turned off the lights, as Reinhardt read his poem in his German tongue.
"Wait, what is that I hear?" wondered Reinhardt as he stopped reading, hearing some loud sounds from up above. Sounded like loud footsteps. "How strange." Reinhardt blew out his candle, before getting up and running to the gaming room exit. "Excuse me. I have to run to the taxi to take a dump."
"I wish my car had a bathroom," remarked Jacky Bryant, as a frantic B.D. Joe followed after Reinhardt to make sure that the German wouldn't do the unthinkable. Unless Reinhardt was referring to someone's else taxi, which then B.D. Joe wouldn't care.
Bowser Jr. was on the phone, making a phone call...and he was quite nervous doing it. His body was shaking with fear as he looked back at Bowser, who was frowning intensely at his son.
"Uh, yeah, my dad got his replacement credit card...you want the number?" Bowser Jr. spoke into the phone, before looking back at Bowser once more. Bowser silently dared his son to look at him again, prompting Bowser Jr. to turn back around. "Oh, it's uh four seven nine three, zero, zero three two, three three one three. The security code is nine two seven. OK great. Thank you very much. Bye."
Bowser Jr: So Villager did take the bait. He used my credit card numbers to send a $200 bouquet of flowers, to my papa…from me.
Villager: *laughing* Boom!
Lysandre was in the mansion, and his intentions were to atone for his misdeeds back in 2017. To do that, he would have to apologize to a bunch of mansion residents. The Team Flare was doing that, as he was followed by Link and Zelda.
"Getting involved in Dr. Eggman's affairs was a mistake on my part," Lysandre said to someone at Cafe Leblanc, sounding sincere as Link and Zelda followed along to every word. "For that, I am sorry if my actions have harmed you in any way."
"Dude...we don't even know you!" Ryuji said to Lysandre, who was making his apology to the delinquent and Joker. Joker for the most part had tuned Lysandre out, as he fixed a bowl of curry for Captain Falcon.
"Should be apologizing to me," Captain Falcon said to Lysandre before eating a spoonful of his curry, not caring how much it burnt his tongue. "Bet you influenced Jakob to break my girlfriend Nowi's heart!"
"That was not my idea - that was Dr. Eggman's," stated Lysandre, as Captain Falcon's tongue started to burn. "Looking back on it, it was a questionable decision." As Lysandre looked retrospective, Captain Falcon fell down to the floor fanning his tongue.
"A Santa Claus with green skin, really?" a voice was heard from outside the cafe...and it sounded like Cloud's voice! Link's ears perked up. "And you want him for the shop?"
"Is that...?" wondered Link as he ran outside the cafe, and saw Kasumi in the hallway speaking with a swordsman - Cloud Strife. Link couldn't be any happier to see his main man.
"It's what Anna would want," replied Kasumi, who was feeling bad about leaving Anna's shop unattended. Long as Anna didn't know, it was all good. "Tried following him, but he just ran away! I think he's shy."
"CLOUD!" Link happily shouted the swordsman's name, as he ran over to Cloud and gave him a bro hug. It was a bro hug so impactful, that it sent Cloud down to the floor.
"Somebody sure is happy to see me," remarked Cloud, who had never been hugged by Link like that before. Or at all. Cloud seldom took hugs, but since Link was his friend he let this instance pass.
"You have no idea how much I missed you." Link was done hugging Cloud, as he helped the swordsman up to his feet. "I mean, I don't mean it like that, but...you know."
"I know exactly what you mean." Now that he was in Link's company, Cloud had the opportunity to ask Link a million-dollar question. "Hey, do you know where I can find Master Hand?"
"I can't tell you; you know he's always moving about during the holidays. Also..." Link looked back discreetly, before telling Cloud some juicy info that he probably deserved to know. "...Master Hand claimed that you were no longer 'family.'"
"He said it during the Secret Santa name exchange," added Kasumi, who was still in shock that Master Hand said what he had said. "He included Aerith in the mix...but not you."
"No longer family, huh..." said Cloud as he scratched his chin, more motivated to speak with Master Hand now than before. He had been meaning to speak with Master Hand for some time.
"I would help you out, but I got my hands full at the moment," Link told Cloud, before he saw Zelda exiting Cafe Leblanc along with Lysandre. Cloud and Lysandre soon locked eyes. "As you can see..."
"What's he doing here?" In a curious mood, Cloud marched over to Lysandre, only to stop when Lysandre put his hand out in front of him.
"At ease - I'm not here to use any death ray," Lysandre said to Cloud, who took the Team Flare leader's word for it. "I have only come here to atone."
"Cloud?" Zelda uttered the swordsman's name, acting as if she was seeing a mirage of Cloud. "Shouldn't you be in Arcadia Bay?" Zelda only asked that because she didn't want Aerith to be alone.
"Yeah, but I really missed you guys," replied Cloud, backing away rueing the fact that he and Zelda couldn't chat for long. "Felt a little homesick. Anyway, I better get going." Link ran off, heading down the hallway while keeping his eyes peeled for Master Hand.
"Cloud, wait!" Zelda shouted down the hallway, but it was too late - Cloud was already out of sight, out of mind. Zelda sighed, as Lysandre leaned in close to the princess.
"That was very blunt of him," Lysandre commented on Cloud's behavior, not believing Cloud when he said that he missed everyone. "Must be hard for him to stay in one place."
"It's no big deal...hopefully he'll return to Arcadia Bay soon. He's gotta plenty of eyes on him down there."
Shulk was with Fiora in the living room, teaching her everything she needed to know about the movie Die Hard. And what better way to teach her than to quote random lines from the film?
"'Let Heinrich plant the detonators and Theo prepare the vault,'" Shulk said a quote from the movie, while Fiora was on her phone. Didn't seem like Fior was all that interested in Shulk showing off his knowledge. "'After that...'"
"Eh, that wasn't the line," stated Fiora, who was actually checking the Die Hard script online. She was scrolling through the screenplay. "I'm sorry, Shulk."
"That is transcribed by some fan. They make mistakes."
"I don't know. This looks pretty legit." Suddenly Fiora's cell phone chimed, as Fiora got up from the couch. "I just got a text message from Reyn. I'll be right back."
Fiora: *Reading the text message from Reyn* "Hello, little sister. We got in last night, went out, lost all the Christmas gifts, got drunk, got super depressed and introspective. Gonna hang out here for a while. Maybe a couple of days. Figure this whole thing out. Maybe see a movie or two. See you later."
"Hey, everything okay?" Shulk asked Fiora, who returned to the living room wearing despair on her face. Shulk was worried that something bad might've happened to Reyn.
"So what comes next?" Fiora asked Shulk, wanting her boyfriend to stay on the subject as she sat back down on the couch. Shulk could tell that something was up.
"Right, um, okay. So he says, uh, 'After we call the police, they'll waste hours trying to negotiate...'"
"We should just watch the movie. That makes much more sense."
"Or we can just sit and talk, though."
"No. No more talking. It's movie time."
"I mean, are you sure…Um, yeah, I probably have a copy or two in my car."
"Oh, great. Great! So we're watching Die Hard, now. Good! This is a good plan."
With his restaurant Dingo's Diner closed for the evening, Dingodile stopped by the mansion to see what was happening. The mutant was having a conversation with Lucario, Wolf, and Samus when he and the others heard Villager running down the hallway screaming his head off.
"Ah! I've been attacked!" alerted Villager, as in his hands was a Spiny. The spikiest Mario enemy of all - or one of the spikiest, rather. "Someone put a Spiny in my drawer!"
"Attacked by a Spiny...welcome to the club, Villager," Lucario dubiously congratulated the young lad, while Dingodile laughed at Villager's plight. You best believe that Dingodile wouldn't be laughing any longer if he was attacked by a Spiny himself.
"I was just sitting on my bed and I reached into my drawer to grab my net and my slingshot, all of a sudden I was attacked by this bloodthirsty spiky creature!"
"I wonder, in this mansion, who has access to a Spiny?" wondered Bowser Jr, showing up right on time as he tapped on his temple deep in thought.
"Or who in this mansion knows that I have access and is trying to set me up?" Villager stared at Bowser Jr, for he knew that he was the guilty culprit.
"You know this sounds a lot like the premise of my latest Chad Flendermen novel," stated Wolf, who apparently was writing a book; only someone desperate would ever get it published. "A murder for framing."
Wolf: Chad Flendermen. Just an easygoing black guy, he knows the streets, yet he also went to Oxford. So. Just as comfortable on a motorcycle as he is on Air Force One. Oh and he's also the world's leading Egyptologist.
"Wolf, nobody cares about your sex-crazed black detective," Samus said to Wolf, a hundred percent certain that Wolf's authoring skills weren't as great as Wolf made them out to be.
"Women chase him; he misses his wife," Wolf tried to clear things up for Samus, who remained skeptical as she had zero confidence in Chad Flendermen being a half-decent main character for any novel.
"Hello? Lacerated hand here folks," Villager said to Wolf and company as he held up his hand, which and several spikes on it. Villager was too squeamish to pull any of the spikes out.
"Nice try, this is ridiculous," said Bowser Jr, thinking that Villager placed the spikes on his hand on purpose just to cry wolf. In front of an actual wolf, no less.
"Oh is it really? Two separate times you have set me up to believe I was being recruited by the CIA."
"Three times."
"You see?"
"Bowser Jr!" Master Hand bellowed as he appeared in the hallway, having heard the quarreling between Bwser Jr. and Villager from afar. "This has your fingerprints all over it.
"Master Hand, you've gotta be kidding me," Bowser Jr. said to the giant hand, his hope of Master Hand being on his side for the rest of the day dashed.
"Fingerprints can be planted," stated Dingodile, who was willing to pull all the spikes out of Villager's hand if Villager wasn't game enough. "You know with a severed hand..."
"Do you think that's what happened?" asked Samus, wondering what fingerprints Dingodile was referring to since Villager obviously didn't have any. "Do you think he used a severed hand?"
"Okay, you know what?" said Bowser Jr. as he took out his phone, about to make a call and one that wasn't to Bowser's credit card provider. "Why don't we just call animal control..."
"Might wanna run that by Samus 'cause it's so cute," suggested Villager, under the false guise that most women liked cute creatures. Samus, quite frankly, wasn't one of those women - far from it, in fact.
"Spinies don't have souls," stated Samus, willing to say the same for Goombas, Koopas, Monty Moles, or any other creature that Mario had to stomp on. "They're like insects - you kill one, and nobody cares."
"Yes, I'm calling from the Smash Mansion," Bowser Jr spoke into the phone, as he was able to get in touch with the local animal control center. "We have a rabid Spiny in our mansion, someone should come to pick it up."
"Come down right away!" Villager shouted into the phone, making his message loud and clear to the person on the other end. Bowser Jr. had to push Villager away so that he could conduct his phone call in peace.
"Uh, I don't know, let me ask." Bowser Jr. turned to Villager and asked the young lad, "Uh, were you spiked?"
"Yes, I was spiked."
"And what's its name?"
"Its name...her name is Henrietta."
"Oops..." Thanks to his big mouth, Villager outed himself as Bowser Jr. hung up the phone.
"What?" questioned Master Hand, growing tired of the shenanigans as he now wanted the Spiny out of his sight. "Alright, get her out of here, Villager."
Viridi wasn't in favor of Reinhardt's Christmas party, but that didn't stop her beau Pit from attending. Pit was eating some of the hog maw and he was stuffing his mouth showing no manners at all.
"I love this hog mama," the angel said to Rosalina, with his mouth full; Rosalina had to look away as pieces of the hog maw flew out of Pit's mouth.
"Reinhardt said it's 'hog maw,'" Rosalina corrected Pit, whose eyes grew big before he choked and spat out the hog maw unto the floor. Pit then spent the next few seconds cleaning off his tongue with his hands.
"What is maw?!" Pit was down on the floor, trying to get every piece of the hog maw out of his mouth. The way he was acting, you'd think that he had accidentally tasted poison.
"It's the lining of the stomach of..." Before she could finish speaking, Rosalina saw Reinhardt walk inside the gaming room, dressed up as Belsnickel. Who was Belsnickel, you ask? It was a fur-clad Christmas gift-bringer of German origin.
"Oh...judgment is nigh, for the Belsnickel ist I!" cackled Reinhardt, as he was speaking in a more pronounced German accent. He was killing it as the Belsnickel already.
"Yes, he is finally nigh!" exclaimed Travis, easily the most hyped person to see Belsnickel in the flesh. He was happy to see Reinhardt's genius unfolding.
"I am nigh!" Reinhardt triumphantly raised his hand up high, letting everyone know that Belsnickel had arrived.
Reinhardt: Every year, my grandfather would dress up as Belsnickel at Christmas. He was…okay at it. I am great. You know how they say some people were born to be bad? Well, I was born to be Belsnickel!
"Ooh, Belsnickel has traveled from distant lands to discover how all the boys and the girls have been behaving this last year. Whoo hoo hoo hoo hoo!" cackled Reinhardt, before running over to King Dedede and pointing at his stomach with a stick. "Oh...too much strudel."
"So he's kind of like Santa, except dirty and worse," surmised Steven Stone, as Reinhardt poked at King Dedede's stomach; Reinhardt liked how Dedede's stomach giggled, and nothing less.
"No, much better...no one fears Santa the way they fear Belsnickel!"
"Wow! It's my favorite part of Christmas. The authority...and the fear."
"Yes, exactly!" Reinhardt pointed at Steven Stone, letting the former champion of Hoenn know how much he appreciated him for understanding Belsnickel.
"Come on, Reinhardt, you're making this up," Rosalina said to the German, thinking that Belsnickel was a totally made-up character. The lore behind Belsnickel made the mother of Lumas think as such.
"This is a real thing," stated Hal, who was reading off his phone after giving Belsnickel a quick Google search. "'Belsnickel is a crotchety, fur-clad gift giver related to other companions of st. Nicholas in the folklore of southwestern Germany.'"
"Okay, great. Seriously?" Reinhardt frowned in disgust at the partygoers - mainly those who weren't exactly feeling Belsnickel. "Now you believe in these wonderful traditions when some degenerate anime lover looks it up on Wikipedia?
"'His partner, zwarte piet, or black Peter, a slave boy, often portrayed in colorful pantaloons and blackface.'"
"Uh-uh - I can't roll with that, Reinhardt," B.D. Joe shook his head at Reinhardt, dreading the thought of anyone being forced to dress up in blackface for Belsnickel's sake.
"Oh, come on!" said Reinhardt, before he took Hal's phone and chucked it away before Hal could read any more disparaging info. "We don't blindly stick to every outmoded aspect of our traditions. Come on, get with the spirit of it, everyone!"
Shulk and Fiora were in the movie room, watching the film Die Hard. One of Shulk's favorite movies, in case you weren't aware. During the watch, Shulk was filling Fiora in about any important details she had to know.
"Okay, Karl was actually a ballet dancer in real life," Shulk said to Fiora, as a scene of Karl - Hans Gruber's second-in-command doing ballet was playing on the big screen. "Isn't that crazy?"
"Mm," Fiora responded with a chuckle, and Shulk could clearly tell that something was bothering his woman. But would he get to find out the truth?
Rodin: *talks drunk angry* Mario, that guy. *scoffs* You gotta stick to your word! Like when you say something to a buddy, a real buddy...what are you gonna do, lie? To your buddy? *sighs* It's awful.
"Take a bowl and pass it down," Reinhardt said to the partygoers, as everyone was seated on the floor in a circle. Reinhardt took a bowl and passed a stack of bowls to the person seated next to him, Rosalina.
"Thank you, Reinhardt," Rosalina thanked the German as she took a bowl, specifically one that was light blue. It had to match her dress. "These are nice."
"No, these are gift bowls. When you receive a gift, it will go in the bowl, but the bowls must be returned at the end. They're a set. Now, hold your bowls forward. The Belsnickel will decide if you are impish or admirable!"
"Oh, it's like naughty or nice," inferred one of the party-goers, Mario, as he took a red bowl. He tried to get Peach, Hunter, and Spyro to attend the party, but all of them refused.
"No, impish or admirable."
"Quick question - do you just decide-a who gets what at the moment, or did you make a list?"
"I decided earlier."
"Oh, lovely! Did you check-a that list?"
"Of course I checked it."
"But more than once? Because you could-a have made a mistake."
"I checked it more than once."
"Okay, so you made a list, you checked-a it twice, and now you're going to find-a out who's..."
"...impish or admirable. Rosalina! Cheer or fear? Belsnickel is here! I judge your year as...admirable. There you are."
"Much appreciated," Rosalina gave her thanks, and Champion Link did a brief moment of applause for the mother of Lumas as Reinhardt placed a gift inside Rosalina's bowl. Rosalina took her gift out of her bowl. "Oh. What are these?"
"It's a set of rubber gaskets for canning jars."
"I'd rather have the bowl."
"You can't have the bowl! Hal Emmerich, cheer or fear? Belsnickel is here! I judge your year..." Reinhardt looked over at Snake and then looked back to Hal. "...as impish!
"Ow!" Hal yelped in pain after Reinhardt struck him with his stack; Snake smiled smugly, thinking that Hal got what he deserved for his otaku ways. "You hit people with that thing?"
"No, I'm carrying around the stick in order to look cool. For the kinder!" Reinhardt placed a mouse trap in Researcher Zelda's bowl, and Researcher Zelda picked it up and held it dubiously.
"A mousetrap..." Researcher Zelda said flatly, clearly not a fan of her gift. But it was a gift from Belsnickel, so she can just take it or leave it.
Reinhardt: In a head-to-head contest, people prefer Belsnickel over Santa every time. There aren't as many songs about him, but I attribute that more to rhyming difficulties. My brother and I wrote one once. It was about a fickle pickle salesman who would tickle you for a nickel.
"Oh, you know what? I gotta go," said Mario as he stood up, while Reinhardt poked Pit with his stick for being impish. Pit was giggling the whole time.
"Stop giggling!" Reinhardt shouted at Pit, causing the angel to giggle even more as Pit fell on his stomach and giggled harder. Reinhardt then turned to Mario and saw the plumber about to leave. "Hey, where are you going?"
"I have to go on a trip-a to Arcadia Bay. But this was amazing. Okay."
"But we were gonna break the pig rib. Remember?"
"That's right." Mario was still sticking with his decision; he was about to have one foot out of the door.
"No matter! Belsnickel cares not about this - off with you!"
"Perfect. Merry Christmas, everybody...just in case I don't see-a any of you again. I might stay in..."
"Wait, wait, wait, wait! Don't you want to know your present?"
"You know what? Yeah. Have at it."
"Mario. Cheer or fear? Belsnickel is here!" So Mario held his hands like a bowl, as Reinhardt got up and approached the plumber. "I judge your year as impish.." Reinhardt struck Mario with his stick, as Mario braced the pain.
"Ouch! Are you nuts?" Mario held his right arm, holding the spot where Reinhardt struck him at.
"I judge you impish!" Reinhardt struck Mario three more times, causing the plumber to jump back.
"Ow! Ow! Okay, that is three, and you didn't hit-a anybody that hard."
"They're not abandoning the party." Reinhardt struck Mario yet again, and Mario tried to get away as he walked out of the gaming room.
"That's enough, I'm done! Okay? Agh!" Even if Mario was out of the gaming room, that didn't stop Reinhardt from putting the hurt on him.
"Impish!" Reinhardt chased Mario away until he sent the plumber running into the nearest elevator. After the elevator doors closed, a grumpy Reinhardt returned to the party.
"Belsnickel, I gotta run out early too - my shop needs me," Anna said to Reinhardt, leaning against the wall as Reinhardt came back inside the gaming room. Reinhardt groaned in frustration.
Mansion security was a top priority for X, as it was his duty to ensure that no creeps got inside the mansion. Anyone that fell under the umbrella of creeps included burglars, scary clowns...and even dubious-looking Santa Clauses.
"And you're positive that you're needed here, as an attraction," X spoke with the green-skinned Santa Claus, who had been knocking on the backdoor for the longest time. X only let him in out of annoyance.
"Every great mansion needs a Santa," the Santa replied, only to freeze when he heard some mumbling from under his red coat. The Santa punched his stomach to make the mumbling stop, as X frowned.
"Hold on, let me call someone." So X turned around and grabbed a phone on the dining room table, as he dialed a number and made a call. "Hello, Samus? There's a Santa with really bad gang green in the dining room..."
"Let me out, let me out!" a voice whispered to the Santa, who looked up at X briefly before lifting up his red coat. Stumbling out and unto the floor...was Rufus Shinra?!
"Let me say it's nothing personal, you had to make my belly look big." Gritting his teeth, Rufus angrily stood up and tore the white beard off the Santa, revealing him to be...Gnasty Gnorc in disguise.
"Nothing personal? I was suffocating in there! Do you really expect to keep up with this act the entire day? Do you?!" Rufus was speaking loudly, and it slightly bothered X.
"Wait a moment, Samus, hold that thought..." X put the phone down as he turned around...and saw Gnasty and Rufus standing together in the dining room. Rufus and Gnasty looked at each other, not knowing what to do.
"RUN!" shouted Gnasty as he opened the backdoor and ran outside; Rufus shook his head as he followed Gnasty out of the door - but not before looking back at X with one foot out the door.
"We will be back..." Rufus vowed to X, pointing at the pacificist robot before leaving for good. With Rufus' words in mind, X grabbed the phone.
"Hey, Samus...I think we need to tighten mansion security," X spoke into the phone, as Kasumi entered the dining room to ask X a quick question.
"Seen a Santa with green skin anywhere?" Kasumi asked X, who thought about his answer for a minute before shaking his head no. Kasumi nodded her head in understanding as she left.
While Link stayed with Lysandre, Zelda went to the gaming room to see how the party was coming along. On her way there, however, she came across Reinhardt who was looking grumpier than Ebenezer Scrooge.
"What's going on?" Zelda asked Reinhardt, thinking that the party was over; with how Reinhardt was looking and feeling, that was the vibe Zelda picked up.
"Party's over; you quit on Christmas, Christmas quits on you," replied Reinhardt, who saw the Koopalings pass by and brought them to a stop as he pointed at them aggressively. "And guess what kids? Belsnickel isn't real. It's me, Reinhardt!" Reinhardt took off his hat, and his brown beard, as the Koopalings sheepishly walked away.
Rosalina: We found some old decorations in the basement. Travis ran to the store for some food and drink, and I dipped into my stash of eggnog. I guess they needed me after all. It's like in it's a wonderful life when Jimmy Stewart realizes that all those people at the building and loan were just jerks, and he was the real hero.
Cloud had reached Master Hand's room, but the bedroom door was locked. The swordsman banged on the door, hoping for Master Hand to answer.
"Open up, Master Hand - I know you're in there!" shouted Cloud, as Twintelle approached the swordsman with her hands on her hips. "Just open up..."
"Master Hand's not here; he had to go run some errands," Twintelle informed Cloud, who grunted in frustration as the banging on the door came to an end. "Nice seeing you, Cloud."
"You too, Twintelle." Cloud backed away from the door, slowly accepting the fact that Master Hand wasn't home. "Something fishy's going on."
"I'll say; Master Hand acted strange earlier when Isabelle mentioned you. Not to start any flames, but...I don't think he likes you, at the moment."
"Got a good answer as to why..." Cloud knew the reason for Master Hand's particular dislike for him - and all he wanted was to speak with Master Hand himself to confirm his suspicion. "...I'll try again later." Cloud took out his translator, ready to head back.
"Hope to see you again." Twintelle smiled and waved to Cloud, who used the translocator to teleport himself back to Arcadia Bay. Twintelle took a keen interest in Cloud's translocator. "So that must be the thingamajig that Zelda told me about..."
"Pardon me, but did I just-a hear Cloud?" Mario asked Twintelle as he approached the movie star, with a flashlight that he asked Mega Man for. Apparently, he didn't own one.
"Yes - and I believe he told me that he was in good hands. Nothing to worry about." With that info in mind, Mario dropped his flashlight to the floor as he ran off. Twintelled smirked.
Rodin: Anna's a little cute. I'm just realizing. She got, like, a Emma Stone thing.
Rodin learned from Peach that Mario was at the mansion, and so he went to the mansion looking for his plumber buddy. When he came in through the front door, he encountered Anna who was holding some goodies from the basement.
"Boo!" Rodin spooked Anna, who was lightly scared as she passed by the demon and out through the front door. Rodin entered the mansion, where he saw Zelda speaking with Reinhardt in the foyer.
"For what it's worth, I kind of liked the theme of your party," Zelda discussed with Reinhardt, doing her best to cheer up the German.
"Everyone thought the food was gross, and that Belsnickel was some darkly erotic freak," said Reinhardt, who was only able to pick out a few individuals that didn't mind Belsnickel as much. It was a very limited number.
"I don't think anyone thought that."
"Mario couldn't even stay till the end of the party!"
"Well, that didn't have anything to do with you."
"I don't care. Guess how much I care on a scale of one to ten."
"Zero." Zelda's answer made Reinhardt slam his fist on the floor, as an eavesdropping Rodin turned away and left the mansion.
Rodin: I'm gonna tell Mario to go bleep himself. Turn that camera off so I can tell you how I really feel...
Shulk and Fiora continued watching Die Hard, and although Shulk didn't notice it yet, Fiora was getting emotional. Fiora's emotions were getting too hard for her to control.
"Do you think Reyn would ever jump off an exploding building tied to a hose for me?" Fiora asked Shulk, who was greatly perturbed by the Homs' question. "And not lose anything valuable in the process?"
"Yeah, definitely," Shulk responded the best way that he could, before looking over at Fiora and seeing that she was feeling some type of way. Now was a good time to ask. "Something's wrong?"
"Reyn lost all the gifts I had put on layaway."
"Yeah, of course. I know. He just texted me saying that he got them back."
"Oh, well, that's encouraging to hear. Kinda wish that he could've told me that..."
Contrary to what Zelda believed, the party was still going on in the gaming room, as everyone was enjoying each other's company and having a good time. Reinhardt was there, looking Reinhardt looking like a lump on a log, as Tracer did her best to cheer up her friend.
"Reinhardt, want me to get you some eggnog?" Tracer offered to the German, zipping over to him while holding a carton of eggnog. The carton came complete with a smiling Santa on its label.
"No, thanks, I'll just have another bottle of whiskey," replied Reinhardt as he reached for his bottle of whiskey, only for his hand to accidentally knock the bottle onto the floor and break. "And there goes the whiskey..."
"What's going on? Where's-a the Belsnickel?" inquired a certain plumber, as Mario returned to the gaming room on short notice. Reinhardt was most elated, as he ran up to Mario and hugged him. "What are you doing? Last time I saw you, you were whipping me out of this room."
"Shh..." Reinhardt shushed Mario, holding his finger up to his lips. Like Ike, Mario marveled at how big Reinhardt's index finger was. "...let's not speak of that. The Pig Rib! We could totally break the pig rib! I'm gonna dig it out of the trash! "
"What happened? Did you miss your ride?" Researcher Zelda asked Mario, curious as to why the plumber was back so soon while Reinhardt dug his pig rib out of a trash can.
"No, I just missed-a my wife," answered Mario, wishing that Peach was present so that he could give her a hug and a kiss. Would make for a very romantic moment, all things considered.
"I found it!" exclaimed Reinhardt after he pulled the pig rib out of the trash can, triumphantly holding it up high. The pig rib probably smelled, but Reinhardt didn't care.
Zelda returned to Link and Lysandre, who were in the arcade room speaking with Coco. Coco, who had wanted to see Lysandre for the longest, was finally speaking with the Team Flare leader in person.
"It was lovely having this conversation with you, Miss Bandicoot," Lysandre said to Coco, who had a vice grip on Crash; Crash was raring to go ham on an arcade game that he just lost in. "You are truly a bright mind."
"Thanks, I try my hardest," Coco grinned in response, as Crash tried to fight out of Coco's grasp to unleash his wrath upon the Fatal Fury arcade machine. Zelda went over to Lysandre, who turned to the princess after detecting her presence.
"I hope to be back at this mansion at a later appointed time," Lysandre said to Zelda, having enjoyed the time that he had under the mansion roof. Everything went smoother than he expected. "There is still much more atoning that I must do..."
Everyone at the party was cheering and chanting, as Reinhardt and Mario were working together to try and break the pig rib. Which man would be the first to do it?
"Oh!" exclaimed Reinhardt as the pig rib was broken by Mario...which meant that Mario was the winner. Stuff was splattered everywhere, and everyone groaned as the splatter was on the partygoers. "Darn it! Mario got the bigger half."
"There you are..." said Rodin when he entered the gaming room, seeing Mario holding up the pig rib and giving Donkey Kong a fist bump. Rodin marched towards Mario, having a bone to pick with him.
"Nog it, let me get some nog," said Mario, as Tracer happily poured the plumber a glass of egg nog. Mario didn't notice Rodin marching over to him, Rodin's wrath exuding with every step.
"You!" Rodin soon confronted Mario, getting up close and personal with the plumber, as he stared him down intensely. Mario saw Rodin and was smiling at the demon.
"Oh, hey." "Oh, you know what? Before I forget again, I talked to the guys about bringing you along. They're gonna bring you in."
"That's great." Rodin appeared confused, thinking that Mario was just telling him what he wanted to hear. But he had a sneaky feeling that the plumber was very sincere. "Thanks, man. I shall come by at your convenience."
"Thank you, sir." Mario tipped his glass to Rodin, who clapped his hands once before spinning around and falling backward unto the food table. Everyone shouted alarmedly as Rodin tried to get up, only to fall back down.
"Very impish," remarked Reinhardt - no doubt that Rodin would get plenty of strikes from Belsnickel for his outrageous behavior.
Villager was taking a nap, but it wasn't on his bed...it was someone else's. The young lad yawned, waking up from his slumber as he scratched his butt.
"Ah, man - fell asleep, took a nap," said Villager as he was stirring from his slumber, before rubbing his eyes when he saw that he had company. He soon saw the Koopalings at his bedside. "Hey guys, I feel refreshed now. How's it going?"
"Villager..." said Larry, who saw the word "IDIOT" inscribed on Villager's head. Everyone in the room knew about it except for Villager himself.
"Took a little nap right here on Bowser Jr's desk. I feel so good right now. Mmm, cookies. What's everyone staring at?"
Bowser Jr: Oh man, I was supposed to tell Villager something...c'mon, Junior. *shakes head* I got nothin'.
