Author's Note:
Well, this is awkward...
...so I promised an author's note would be coming soon, right? Well, I got sidetracked. Or maybe I got lazy. Either or. But here I am. One week later. Promised myself that I was going to answer reviews in this author's note, and so that's what I'm gonna do. It's been two weeks or so since I checked out the reviews, so...I'm oddly afraid about what I'm going to read. Only responding to the reviews posted for chapters 382 and 383...so here we go. First is Guy w the Jokes:
"You know, there's a small part in my heart to see a part where Dr. Wily and Lord Wily sing the song "Brand New Best Friend" from the Phineas and Ferb movie. It fits, don't you think?"
I can totally see them singing that. And it would be terribly on-brand for both characters, dare I say. Next is Cloudenstein:
"So...can we expect to see some rascals like the Vault Hunters to leave Omnis Adest too? They're only ruining the apartments' vicinity, man. We don't really need guys like them to help for the fight against Dimentio."
Won't say any names for now, but expect certain folks to leave Omnis Adest in future chapters. The Vault Hunters may very well be on the list. Next is A JRPG enjoyer:
"Do you think we might get some Fire Emblem x Advance Wars crossover in this story? Both are IntSys games after all. Would love to see how different warfare has become in the past vs. in the present."
How about a Fire Emblem x Advance Wars crossover game?! Eh? Eh? Fat chance of that happening. That said, I would do a chapter that involves characters from both franchises. And last is David:
"Will Pit or Cranky mention the durability gimmick for the Tears of The Kingdom chapter? Has Takumi referred to the other Smash Mansion residents as 'Nohrian Scum Sympathizers?' Is Camilla of Nohr dating Niles? Any references to how Scarlet of Hoshido was a wasted character? A scene of Pit and Ryuji taking pot shots at AEW's long game development? And finally, do you think Seth 'Freakin' Rollins vs Omos at Backlash is a sign that Vince has gone power mad and completely lost his mind?"
Pit will mention the durability gimmick. Takum has not referred to anyone as such. Camilla is not dating Niles. No references to Scarlet. Or any potshots at the long development of AEW's video game. (Should be renamed "Wait Forever" at this point. Ba-dum-tiss.) And while a Rollins-Omos match Backlash reeks of Vince, I don't think it means that he has gone power mad. As for losing his mind, however...
Episode 384: ArborDay
The Smash Mansion was no stranger to going on vacations, or even nice little excursions that could count as vacations. Whether it was going on a cruise ship, or even going to Disney World, the mansion residents knew just how to have fun.
More often than not, the denizens at the tower would tag along with the mansion residents on whatever vacation they go on. Such as episode 345, for instance. But the man of the tower, Waluigi, was tired of playing second fiddle to the mansion. He wanted his tower friends to go on a vacation on their own terms, on their own time.
So with that in mind, Waluigi was committed to finding the best vacation spot he could find. The only problem, though, was settling on a destination. Waluigi struggled to make up his mind on where the tower denizens should go, but fortunately, he had something else up his sleeve...
"Hello, everyone!" Waluigi greeted his fellow tower denizens as he stopped by the dining room, seeing everyone eating breakfast. Ashley had prepared breakfast that morning, so everyone was mostly spared.
"Good morning, Waluigi," Shovel Knight greeted Waluigi, who had the biggest smile on his face - a smile so big, even a blind person could notice it.
"Where are we going this afternoon?" Tiki asked Waluigi, who let out a cackle as he walked away from the dining table. Everyone was left to wonder what Waluigi had planned - and judging by that laugh, they had every reason to worry.
Phosphora: Last week, Waluigi sent out this mysterious memo.
Magnus: "It's time for our first trimester camaraderie event, so pack a swimsuit, a toothbrush, rubber-soled shoes, and a ski mask."
Phoshora: A ski mask and a swimsuit.
Magnus: So that he can have us rob a bank, and then escape through the sewers.
Phosphora: And brush our teeth.
"Yeah?" Waluigi said to Rodin, who had approached the lanky man right before he could leave the dining room. Waluigi had flinched in anticipation when he saw Rodin getting up from his seat.
"Waluigi, I need to know..." said Rodin as he leaned in close to Waluigi, frightening the lanky man even more just by simply standing in his personal space. "...what we're doing. You said to bring a toothbrush. Is this an overnight?"
"Maybe. The suspense is just so exciting, isn't it?"
"Should I just cancel by bingo game with Enzo?"
"Maybe, I don't know."
"Not maybe. Yes or no."
"Well, no. But… okay, don't spoil it for everybody, all right? But we are going on a cruise on Lake Washington."
"On Arbor Day?"
"It's cheaper."
Waluigi: This is not just another party. Nor is this an excuse to do something because the mansion had done it before. This is a leadership training exercise. Right? I'm going to combine elements of fun and motivation and education into a single mind-blowing experience.
Today was Arbor Day, which was a day all about trees - planting trees, climbing trees, hugging trees, and the like. It was a day in which tree huggers could shine the most.
Wanting to spruce up the scenery of Omnis Adest, Master Hand started an initiative to have many trees planted throughout the community. And since it was Arbor Day, Sans was in the mood for telling a whole bunch of tree-related puns.
"I see some easy pickings..." smiled Sans, rubbing his hands with anticipation as he saw the group of Mario, Peach, Spyro, and Hunter planting trees together. Sans went over to the group, looking to strike.
"These seeds can grow into trees instantly," stated Hunter as he held two seeds in the palm of his hand. "No water required!" Both seeds were bouncing around in the cheetah's hand, which was a slight cause for concern.
"I feel like I've seen those seeds before," stated Spyro with the two seeds reminding him of a mission he went on in order to earn a dragon egg. "Should I even ask where you got them?"
"No, you shouldn't - but it's not like I snuck into the Forgotten Realms in the middle of the night! No siree!" Little did Hunter know that his body language made him look all the more suspicious.
"So that's why our front door was left open," Peach said to Mario, grateful that no one had intruded inside her home - think of all the valuables that a potential burglar could've stolen.
"Let's see if these-a seeds can really grow," said Mario, who was standing in front of a large hole that he dug up with his shovel. "Drop-a him in." So Hunter dropped one of the seeds into the hole, before taking a step back.
Seconds later, something grew from the hole...and it wasn't a tree. Instead, it was a giant mushroom, and seeing it brought feelings of deja vu to Spyro.
"Really, Hunter? You call this a tree?" Spyro questioned the cheetah, who was staring at the mushroom for a good while before nodding his head convincingly. However, hardly anyone was convinced.
"It's still a plant, so it still counts in my book," Hunter replied defiantly as he folded his arms, refusing to let anyone educate him. Regardless of just how downright wrong he was.
"word of the wise - never invite a tree to your party," Sans gave this word of advice to Mario and company after he got close enough to them. "they never leaf when you want them to."
"Sans, do you have anything better to do than pestering us?" Peach asked Sans, as Spyro blew his flame breath on the mushroom to shrink it back into its seed form. The mushroom grew as well as it shrunk.
"leaf me alone. just wanted to lighten the mood." Seeing that Peach and the others didn't appreciate his comedic prowess, Sans walked away from the group and wandered off. He would pass by a tree...one that a hooded Organization member was hiding behind.
"Are you all packed?" Jill asked Barbara, as the Drill Dozer was speaking with Barbara and Saki Amamiya in the middle of the hallway, All three tower denizens were all packed up and ready to go.
"Yes, I brought my duffel bag and a sleeping bag," replied Barbara, who came extra prepared for the vacation; the bat indubitably packed her guitar as well.
"Where do you guys think we're going?" Saki asked Jill and Barbara, with his arms folded behind his head. Jill and Barbara both thought for a moment, as their minds wandered in thought.
"Definitely someplace you can swim. Maybe Florida."
Sonic was a part of the tree-planting initiative at Omnis Adest, and the blue hedgehog invited Conker, Jakob, and Orson to participate. He only invited Conker just to start a dialogue with the squirrel; Jakob and Orson were invited just so they wouldn't feel left behind.
"Let's go strawberry-picking after this, papa!" Kana said to Corrin, as Jakob was helping Corrin and his daughter plant some trees. Jakob's undying loyalty to the royal twins could not be understated.
"You cannot make me, for I am not a pushover," stated Corrin, putting his foot as he let Kana know who was the boss. Major props to Corrin for not letting his kid boss him around. "On another note, I bought you that Harry Potter scarf that you asked for."
"The Slytherin one? Thanks, papa!" Slytherin was the most cunning house out of all the four houses...must say a lot about Kana that she adored them.
"Psst, Corrin..." whispered Sakura of the Hoshidan royal family as she came over to the prince, with Jakob looking at her suspiciously. "...your package arrived at the mansion's door. I put it on your bed."
"That must be the scarf. Much appreciated, Sakura," Corrin whispered back, as Sakura darted off; Jakob kept his eyes fixated on Sakura, as she couldn't help but wonder what the girl was up to.
Bowser: *holding Corrin's package* As a dad, it is my job to ensure that no other dad is a better gift buyer than yours truly. I'm the top dog, and everybody else knows it. So that's why I'm taking a peek at this gift Corrin got for Kana to see how his gift-buying skills measure up to mine. Let's see what we got here... *rips package open, and takes a Slytherin scarf out of the box* A Slytherin scarf? YES! I'm not the only pushover dad out there! Take that, world!
In close proximity to Corrin were Sonic, Crash, and Conker, who were planting some wumpa trees together. Crash dumped some wumpa fruit into a hole, and Conker buried the hole with some compost.
"Not sure if this will actually work, but it won't hurt to try!" exclaimed Sonic, as he used a water can to water the ground. Conker patted the ground with a hand shovel to keep the ground even.
"All in a day's work," remarked Conker, having already worked up a sweat as he wiped away the sweat from his forehead. "And the day's still going!"
"Only a few more to go." As Sonic and company departed to their next spot, Sonic felt the need to ask Conker something. "Hey, Conker, mind if I ask you a..."
"No way! Is that a lemonade stand?" Conker saw a lemonade stand up ahead, which was being run by Anna. The squirrel ran up to the lemonade stand along with Crash, while Sonic was left behind.
"Charging five dollars per glass!" Anna said to Conker and Crash, as she was charging a hefty price for a simple glass of lemonade. But Conker didn't mind, as he dug into his imaginary pocket hoping to find some cash.
"Eh...I can wait," said Sonic as he waited for Conker and Crash while standing against the utility pole. Aku floated over to Sonic, as he kept the blue hedgehog company.
"I think I know what you were going to ask him," Aku said to Sonic, while slightly jealous of the fact that Crash was getting lemonade. "That A.A. meeting must've changed your thinking."
"Won't say that it did." Although Sonic was sounding non-committal, Aku clearly knew what was up.
Waluigi gathered everyone in the tower's meeting room so that he could officially reveal to them the location of the retreat. Yes, Waluigi had decided to take the tower denizens on a retreat, whether they liked it or not. And he had a feeling that everyone would like it. Because outside of maybe Ashley and Shadow, who wouldn't want to go on a retreat somewhere?
"It is now time to unveil the destination of this year's retreat," Waluigi addressed the tower denizens in the meeting room, wanting to do a build-up for the announcement but wasn't in the mood for it. "We are going on a harbor cruise of Lake Washington. It's a cruise!"
"I have a test for school tomorrow night," Mr. Resetti spoke up; the mole was back in college to finish his college degree, in the hopes of catching up with lowkey decorated former college student Isabelle. "Is it okay if I skip the cruise and study for that?"
"No. This is mandatory. But don't worry, you know what? You're gonna learn plenty. This is gonna turn your life around, Resetti."
"I'm already in school..." Mr. Resetti couldn't afford to miss a single test - one bad grade, and he wouldn't be catching up to Isabelle anytime soon.
"Wait, Waluigi?" said Barbara as she raised her hand, as Waluigi turned his attention from Mr. Resetti to Barbara. "Why did you tell us to bring a bathing suit?"
"To throw you off the scent."
"Yeah, but I bought a bathing suit."
"Well, just keep the tags on and you can return it."
"I took the tags off already."
"Well, that's not my fault, okay? Just...I'm not going to pay for a bathing suit."
Waluigi: I am a great motivational speaker. I attended a Tony Robbins event at the airport last year, and...it wasn't the actual course. You have to pay for the actual course. But it talked about the actual course. And I've incorporated a lot of his ideas into my own course.
"Leader...ship. The word "ship" is hidden inside the word "leadership," as its derivation," stated Waluigi, trying to show off his great motivational speaking skills as the tower denizens were hardly enthralled. "So if this tower is, in fact, a ship, as its leader, I am the captain. But we're all in the same boat. Teamwork!"
Saki: Last year, Waluigi's theme was "Bowl over the Competition!" So guess where we went.
"Now, let's think of this ship as a business," Waluigi continued, oblivious to the fact that the others were either drifting asleep or struggling to follow along. "What is a sales department? Anyone?"
"How about the sales department is the sails?" answered Elec Man, as Waluigi appreciated the robot master for his participation. Elec Man was more willing than anybody else in the meeting room, that's for sure.
"Yes, Elec Man, the sales department makes sales. Good. Let me just explain. I see this sales department as the furnace."
"A furnace?" Ashley furrowed her brow, struggling to make the connection - while also struggling to understand why she cared so much.
"Yeesh, how old is this ship?" wondered Hammer Bro - must be an old-fashioned ship if it had a furnace of all amenities.
"How about the anchor?" asked Tiki, as Waluigi was not readily prepared to answer so many questions at once.
"What does the furnace do?" Yet another question that Ashley asked about this hypothetical ship, and she mentally slapped herself for it.
"Alright, let's not get hung up on the furnace," Waluigi told the tower denizens, holding his hands in front of him as he got everyone to settle down. "This just...it's the sales...I see the sales department as the engine room, and they are shoveling coal into the furnace, right? I mean, who saw the movie Titanic? They were very important in the movie Titanic. Who saw it? Show of hands!
"I'm not really sure what movie you're talking about," said a confused Knuckle Joe, as everyone looked around wondering what movie Waluigi was referring to. "Are you sure you got the title right?"
"I think you're thinking of The Hunt for Red October," Yuri Kozukata tried to correct Waluigi, only to upset the lanky man as she caused him to stomp his foot in anger.
"No, I'm Leo DiCaprio! Come on!" frowned Waluigi, throwing his arms up in defeat as he despised how much the tower denizens made him look bad.
Spring Man: Waluigi stands in the front of the boat and says that he's the king of the world within the first hour, or I give you fifty bucks.
"Waluigi, everyone in the engine room drowned," stated Kat, as Ana nodded her head to confirm as such. Waluigi got angry at the ninja girl as he wanted to throw his shoe at her.
"No! Thank you, spoiler alert," responded Waluigi, acting as if every soul in the meeting room was living under a rock and was unfamiliar with the Titanic's lore. "You saw the movie, those of you who did. They're happy down there in the furnace room. And they're dirty and grimy and sweaty, and they're singing their ethnic songs, and...it's like Rodin playing cards with Knuckles, Barret, and Doc Louis."
"What?!" Rodin angrily questioned as he arose from his seat, looking to throw hands with Waluigi. Waluigi shuddered in fear as he feared a giant fist coming his way.
"The...no, no. No, I didn't...okay. Okay, in a nutshell, what I'm saying is...leadership. We'll talk more about that on the boat. Ship."
"Aye aye, Captain," responded Kapp'n as he saluted Waluig; the turtle was usually the captain of the ship or any kind of boat, but today he was willing to defer to Waluigi just this once.
Unlike most people, Joker didn't view Arbor Day as a "real" holiday, so he had no reason to have Cafe Leblanc closed for days such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, he didn't have Viridi with him since she was at Omnis Adest. But on a positive note, the young man didn't have to put up with Sans today which meant that he and the other baristas could do their job in peace.
"Here's some tree cider, give it a try," Kirby said to Snake as he poured a liquid into the former spy's cup. Snake took a sip of this tree cider and was surprised by how it tasted.
"Doesn't taste like the tree cider that I'm used to," Snake offered his two cents on the substance he just drank, getting used to the state as he smacked his lips a few times. "What brand of alcohol is this?"
"Not alcohol - it's the actual tree cider that comes from trees." Upon hearing that, Snake started gagging as he tried to spit the cider out of his mouth. Snake fell out of his barstool, even.
"So much for tree cider being a hit..." sighed Joker as he looked over the counter, watching Snake convulsing on the floor. Snake was acting like he was being possessed by a tree demon of some kind.
Joker: Against my best judgment, I tasked Pit with obtaining tree cider. He never specified where or how he got the cider. Maybe I should've asked him where tree cider even came from, though the answer should be very obvious.
"I got a question about Arbor Day," Pit said to Joker, hoping that his fellow baristas would help answer the question if they felt was necessary. "What's so special about it?"
"Depends," replied Joker, who was in no mood for explaining stuff - he had a cafe to run, dang it! "What do you think the word 'arbor' means?"
"Oh, I know what Arbor Day is - it's the day when all the ships come sailing into the arbor!" Pit was confident in his response as he expected the baristas to claim that he was right, but all he got were puzzled faces.
"You mean harbor," Kirby corrected Pit, as she felt humiliated by his best friend - but it was nothing that the pink puffball wasn't used to.
"Yeah, that's exactly what I said. Arbor." Pit was confused as to why the baristas were staring at him funnily, and again Joker was in no mood for explaining.
"Tell you what, Pit - how about you write a full report on Arbor Day? I won't let you work at the counter for the rest of the day until you have it done."
"I'm literally a part-time employee, so I can just not do it. This is your loss." By those terms, Pit could afford to goof off all day if he wanted to
"Fine then...I just won't let you work behind the counter at all." Joker was putting his foot down, as he folded his arms. Pit had nothing to say then.
"...okay, you win Joker. But I can guarantee this...my full report on Arbor Day will knock your shoes off. It'll be the greatest piece of writing ever..."
"One more thing - you're not allowed to ask anyone for help. Gotta do this on your own." That meant Pit would have to do research, write stuff out, and worst of all, proofread his report - all by himself.
"That's fine, I like a good challenge. I'll show you. I'll show all of you." Pit was pointing at Joker, the other baristas, and then at everyone else inside Cafe Leblanc as he exited the cafe. Wolf caught Pit pointing at him and did not like it.
"Why was Pit pointing at me just now?" Wolf asked Leon Powalski, who was met with the very same fate; Leon shrugged his shoulders.
Much like Conker and Crash, Mario got thirsty from planting trees while out in the sun. But rather than paying Anna for an expensive glass of lemonade, Mario got some water...from the very device he used to water the trees with. His FLUDD.
"Open wide, Mario!" FLUDD said to the plumber, who was sitting against the wall of a townhouse. Mario opened his mouth as FLUDD doused some water in the plumber's mouth.
"Round-a two, round two," Mario said to FLUDD after swallowing the water, and so FLUDD fired water into the plumber's mouth a second time. Peach, Spyro, and Hunter came over, seeing how tuckered out Mario was.
"Think you can go for round three?" Considering that there were only so many trees left to plant, perhaps a round three won't be needed. "Just let me know if you're overhydrated!"
"Mmgmgmh." Mario had so much water in his mouth, that he could only mumble. By the time Mario swallowed, his body had ballooned to the point where he was abnormally fat. "Mama mia..."
"Looks like someone took their water break too seriously," remarked Peach, as Mario was able to stand on his two feet. Mario felt bloated, however, but he was still able to walk on his own.
"I'll say," commented Spyro, who was laughing at how fat Mario was. Better enjoy Fat Mario while it lasted. "Not sure if you should know this, Mario, but Amy Rose is trying to grow some flowers in the baseball field."
"She's what?! Somebody jump-a on me." Rather than jumping on Mario, Spyro gave the plumber a good ol' head bash that made him squirt out all the water. Mario was back to his usual self again.
"Darn it, Spyro! I was gonna take a picture," Hunter frowned at the purple dragon, as Peach was left to wonder how Hunter had a phone. That's when she saw her phone in Hunter's hand, gasping as she swiped it away.
"Would've preferred that you simply jumped-a on me, but that works. Now, to the baseball field!"
At the baseball field, Amy Rose, Cream, and Viridi were planting some flowers in the middle of the diamond. Water was provided by Villager, who had a water can that had the name tag "Smash Water" on it.
"Alright Villager, water away!" Amy commanded the young lad after she planted a few flower seeds into the ground. Villager watered the ground with his water can, and a few flowers magically sprung up.
"That water is pure magic!" remarked Cream, amazed at how quickly the flowers bloomed in only an instant. Whatever was in that water Villager was using must really be magic.
"Sure is - but I wouldn't advise drinking it," advised Villager, who went ahead and kissed his water can. Drinking the water was prohibited, but kissing the water can that came inside it was definitely encouraged.
Villager: *holds up water can* This is just the same water I use for watering trees in Smash battles. It's got me out of a pickle once or twice - several pickles, I might add. On a semi-related note, Sora is still complaining to Master Hand that he can't use the magic from his Keyblade.
"See?" Spyro said to Mario after he and the plumber and others to the baseball field. Mario saw how much Amy and her friends had grown, and was at a loss for words.
"Hi, Mario, do you like our garden?" Viridi asked the plumber, ready to go berserk if Mario were to step on any of the flowers. Even if it was an accident. "It's a work in progress."
"A garden in the middle of-a the baseball field will not do," said Mario, already expressing his displeasure with the budding garden. "How will Junpei's baseball team-a play in these conditions?"
"Not like they're that good anyway..." Amy muttered under her breath, only to later change her tune when Nemona stepped onto the field. The pink hedgehog switched up in a hurry. "...oh, uh, hi Nemona!"
"D-Did you do all of this?" Nemona asked Amy, who looked at her pals briefly before nodding her head nervously. "This...looks...INCREDIBLE!"
"You think so?" Amy and Mario said simultaneously, as Nemona knelt down and took a closer look at the flowers. Even sniffed a few, before standing back up.
"Of course! It's muy bonita! But we can spruce it up a bit. Whaddaya say, Mario?" Nemoan turned towards the plumber in question, wanting his approval, but Mario was reluctant to answer.
"As I've told-a Amy, this garden will not do," replied Mario, expressing an opinion that was already unpopular with Nemona. "We have-a to remember that..."
"Hold that thought. I see an empty patch!" Nemona took the hand shovel from Viridi and got to digging as she dug up a hole without warning. "Who has the flower seeds? Hurry, hurry!"
"You want red or blue?" Cream asked Nemona as she held a bag of flower seeds in each of her hands. Mario looked on, as he was pretty much ignored.
Waluigi was singing a happy tune, as watched the tower denizens boarding unto the cruise. The ship was piloted by a member of the Hoenn Elite Four, Drake, and Waluigi was standing next to Drake as he wore his captain's hat.
"Lyn, you are Mary Ann!" Waluigi said to the swordswoman, who ignored the lanky man as she got unto to ship. Kat and Ana were right behind her. "We have Purple Hair and Ginger, welcome aboard." Next to board the ship was Nikki. "Nikki, you are Mrs. Howell. But a brunette. And cooler." After Nikki was Rodin, with Kapp'n not that far behind him. "We have one of the Globetrotters, I am the Skipper, and Kapp'n, you will be Gilligan."
"Actually, I'm the Skipper," Drake clarified to Waluigi, establishing the roles before the cruise could set sail. "But you can be Gilligan."
"I'd rather die." With everyone now on board, Waluigi addressed his fellow tower denizens. "Hi, I am Waluigi, I am the captain of this party."
"I am Drake, I am the captain of the ship. I'm also captain of anyone who sets foot on the ship." After he was done speaking, Drake welcomed any new passengers on board.
Waluigi: In a tower, when you are ranking people, the figurehead is higher than the captain. On a boat, who knows? It's nebulose.
"Hey, look!" shouted Waluigi as he ran to the ship bow, spreading his arms out wide as he faced the body of water in front of him. "I'm king of the world!" Time to pay up those fifty bucks, Spring Man.
While the cruise was meant to be an all-Assist Tower affair, not everyone wanted to be a part of it. Take for instance Ashley and Shadow, who both snuck out of the tower while everyone boarded the bus to the pier. The two escaped to Omnis Adest, where the Arbor Day festivities were ongoing.
"We should be safe here," Shadow said to Ashley as he led the young witch to the newly-repaired Omins Adest gate, which Link and Zelda were gathered in front of. With the Hylian couple was Olimar, who was watering some flowers that he had just planted.
"On the off chance that any of the plants bloom into Piranha Plants, you know who to call," Olimar said to Link and Zelda after he was done watering the flowers, as Ashley and Shadow drew near.
"Why would you plant those seeds if that would be the case?" Link questioned Olimar, and right before Olimar could answer, Link and the others saw Ashley and Shadow. "Oh, hi, you two."
"I figured that you both wanted no part of Waluigi's cruise," Zelda said to Ashley and Shadow, not at one bit surprised that the duo snuck out. Ashley was never one to have a fun time, and Shadow presumably hated having fun.
"Any excursion organized by Waluigi is a trainwreck," stated Shadow, whom Waluigi had begged nonstop to be a part of the cruise following the meeting. "We're just saving ourselves."
"But Drake is in charge, so it can't be too bad," said Link, before having to reconsider his point as he looked up in thought. "Then again, he would only take attention away from Waluigi..."
Zelda: Waluigi was upset that the mansion went on a cruise back in 2016, so he organized one for the Assist Tower as an act of revenge. What is he is avenging, I don't know - I reckon he's still figuring out that part. But either way, Drake will be captaining the ship. I think he needs very little introduction.
Link: Drake was one of the few Pokemon trainers we sent an invite to. We believed that he wouldn't accept the offer, being that he's an Elite Four member, but he said that he wanted to be an "extended member of Omnis Adest". Could've just said that he wanted to be an honorary member, that would've been much simpler...but at least we got his vacation home booked up.
"Since you're here, why not do a little gardening?" Link offered to Ashley and Shadow, as he tossed a shovel to the latter. Shadow caught the shovel effortlessly with one hand.
"We're not here to do your dirty work," stated Shadow, who was about to throw the shovel unto the ground in defiance. He looked to Ashley to agree with him, but he saw the young witch venture over to the flowers at the front gate.
"This petunia could use some more water," Ashley told Olimar as she pointed at the petunia flower in question, as Olimar proceeded to water it. Shadow looked at Ashley with his mouth agape.
"Are you seriously falling prey to this flowering crap?" Indeed Ashley was, as the young witch looked up at Shadow with a glare that oozed defiance.
"I've been wanting to garden for very long. Buzz off and have your own fun." Taking out her wand, Ashley cast a small rain cloud that rained all over the flowers. Shadow grunted as he walked away, only to bump into Sans.
"check it - it's a budding romance," snickered Sans, who was holding two flowers close together as if they were kissing. Shadow pushed Sans away as he deserted the skeleton.
With most of the tower denizens accounted for, Drake met with everyone inside the ship. The cruise had set sail, which meant that it was time for the party to begin finally.
"Okay, alright! Welcome aboard!" Drake greeted everyone that was present, as Waluigi was standing close to him at a rather uncomfortable proximity. "I am your captain, Drake."
"And I am the man of the Assist Tower, Waluigi," Waluigi introduced himself, making sure that everyone knew who was really taking charge. "Welcome, welcome!"
"Okay! So...the life preservers. They are located underneath the seats, all along the border of the boat."
"But don't worry, you are not going to be needing life preservers tonight."
"Well, we might, okay? Please let me finish, okay? Thank you. So, the Coast Guard requires that I tell you where the safety exits are. On this ship, it's very easy. Anywhere over the side. Not only am I your ship captain, I am also your party captain! We're gonna get it going in just a few minutes here..."
"I'm your party captain too! And you are gonna put on your dancing shoes later on! So we are gonna...rock it!"
"Okay, Waluigi, if you don't mind..."
"If the boat's a-rockin', don't come knockin'!"
"Waluigi, your friends are not the only people on the boat tonight, okay?"
"We're all gonna have a good time tonight!"
"Why don't you let me and my crew do our job? You just sit back and have a good time. Alright?"
"Hm? Okay. Yep." Waluigi didn't seem fine with those terms, for he believed that Drake was stepping all over his toes. Drake was seen as an obstacle to what Waluigi wanted to accomplish.
Pit was in the library, doing some research on Arbor Day on the computer. The angel was committing the honorable mistake of using Wikipedia not only as a source...but also as the basis for his entire report.
"Copy and...paste!" said Pit, as he copied and pasted the entire Wikipedia article on Arbor Day onto his Word document. Gil caught Pit in the act and gasped, as he dropped the books he was carrying unto the floor.
"Pit, have you no shame?!" Gil questioned the angel, who candidly titled his plagiarized report; Pit wasn't advanced enough to give his report an MLA header.
"Oh wait, I'll need a work cited page." Pit scrolled to the bottom, onto a new page, and simply wrote "Works Cited: Wikipedia" at the top. Gil was dismayed as he held his hands over his face.
"The buddy cops have to see this." Genuinely believing that the atrocity Pit was doing was a borderline crime, Gil turned and was about to rush out of the library. But at the entrance, he bumped into a tall black guy.
"Hey man, watch where you're going!" the black guy snapped at Gil, who had run into the man's torso. Gil looked up and saw that he was standing in the presence of Wayne, Master Hand's favorite athlete.
"You again? But how..." Soon it hit Gil, who suddenly realized why Pit was reading a Wikipedia article on Arbor Day (and copying and pasting it). "...today's a holiday. Go figure."
Wayne: Isabelle said that Master Hand wanted to bring me to the mansion so that he could make a personal apology. An apology should've been made years ago, but it's been a long time coming.
"If you excuse me, I must report a crime to the buddy cops," Gil said to Wayne as he exited the library; speaking of the buddy cops, Wayne took out a ticket that he received from the Hylian duo.
"Imagine getting a police ticket for having alopecia," snorted Wayne as he tossed his ticket into the trash can, where it probably belonged. The basketball player wandered over to Pit, who was doing some formatting.
"Once I get rid of the bold text, Joker won't know the difference!" said a confident Pit, putting all of the headers in regular text. Quite frankly, that was the all formatting that he was doing, aside from using Align Left.
"Let me guess - you copy and pasted all of that," Wayne said to Pit, knowing the angel well enough to know that he could not write a whole report by himself. Pit turned and looked at Wayne, offended.
"Absolutely not! What even makes you think that?" Plenty of evidence was on Wayne's side, so he could say just about anything to prove a point.
"For starters, everything looks grammatically correct. And I don't see any misspelled words either. Your own mom said that you can't read, bro."
"Lady Palutena's not my mom, she's..." Pit soon lost his train of thought, as his opportunity of putting Wayne in his place was squandered. "...that's beside the point. My reading has marginally approved!"
"Okay then, read this." So Wayne grabbed a random book off the shelf, before turning to a random page and handing the book to Pit. Pit squinted at the page, as Wayne looked on with an amused face.
"I obviously can't read this, I need my reading glasses." Pit slammed the book shut and placed it to the side, as he returned to the computer. "Now if you excuse me, I have to print off my report so I can..."
"No, wait!" Wayne held his hand out to Pit, just when the angel was about to click "File" on the menu toolbar. "How about I help you write an even better than this...report?"
"Will it be any better than what Wikipedia has?" Long as nothing was plagiarized, the sky was the limit. "Also, Joker says that I'm not allowed to ask anyone for help."
"He won't know about it..." Wayne gave Pit a convincing smirk and from that point onwards, Pit was hooked in. Taking up on Wayne's advice, Pit highlighted all of the text in the Word document and hit the backspace key.
Kapp'n: On the high seas, Drake is the leader. On the land it's Waluigi. On the ramp up to the boat, I was a bit conflicted. But now that I'm here, I'll follow Drake wherever he goes.
Kapp'n was soaking in the breeze, standing over the fencing as he looked down at the water. Drake would join Kapp'n, curious as to what the turtle was looking at.
"Hey, Drake, what kind of fish they got in this lake?" Kapp'n asked the ship's captain, as being on the ship made him feel at peace with the world.
"Perch, bass," replied Drake, watching as several fish were jumping out of the water - none of which were perch or bass, mind you.
"You know, a friend of mine told me there was a monster here that eats Catholics. Have you heard..."
"I haven't heard that, Kapp'n." A monster that only ate Catholics ought to diversify its diet.
"If the hull is breached for any reason or the boat is overtaken, I am a volunteer Sheriff's Deputy, and you can count on me.
"That's good to know, Kapp'n. Thanks." Having enjoyed his conversation with Kapp'n, Drake walked away only to pass by Waluigi.
"Your problem now, Drake..." Waluigi gave this stark warning to the captain, hoping that Drake knew exactly what he was in for.
With permission from Waluigi, Lyn and Knuckles were free to invite Eliwood and Rouge, respectively, to the cruise. Lyn, Eliwood, Knuckles, and Rouge were chatting with each other right now, as the four were sitting together at a table.
"It's like we're in high school and we're at the cool table," remarked Rouge, although Lyn and Eliwood were less inclined to agree since they obviously never attended high school where they came from. "Lyn, you would've been a fabulous cheerleader."
"She'd wear the turtleneck and everything!" giggled Knuckles, who had a strange mental image of Lyn dressed up as a high school cheerleader. "Miss Artsy-Fartsy. That'd be hilarious."
"Doesn't sound hilarious, but..." said Eliwood, whose voice was drowned out by the sound of Knuckles laughing his butt off. Apparently, Knuckles found Lyn dressed up as a cheerleader to be that funny.
"I can hear here doing the chants. A-W-E-S-O-M-E! Awesome! Awesome is what we are! We're the football superstars! A-W-E-S-O-M-E! While her team gets crushed 42-10."
"I'm not liking this conversation anymore..." Lyn whispered to Eliwood, as Knuckles laughed so hard that he fell out of his chair. Rouge looked at her man, disgruntled with how carried away he was.
Aerith had a soft spot for Arbor Day, by virtue of being a flower girl. So it was no surprise that she was out and about at Omnis Adest, helping with the community decor by planting flowers at every corner. Cloud was roped in, against his best wishes.
"Thank you for coming out, Cloud," Aerith thanked the swordsman, who was standing off to the side doing nothing while Aerith was doing her thing.
"Only because you begged me to," responded Cloud, feeling like his time was wasted being outside with nothing to do. He offered to help Aerith with watering the flowers, but Aerith shooed him off.
"Hey, Cloud! I'm gonna climb this tree!" Slippy exclaimed to Cloud, pointing to a tall oak tree nearby. Cloud looked at the tree in question and failed to see the fascination behind it.
"Why would you do that?" Cloud raised an eyebrow at Slippy, who hopped unto the oak tree as he was ready to begin his ascent.
"To celebrate Arbor Day, of course!"
"How does climbing a tree help celebrate Arbor Day?"
"Because it's fun, duh! Now watch and learn..."
Deciding to humor Slippy, Cloud went to the base of the tree where Slippy was about to climb. Slippy scampered up the tree with ease, while Cloud looked on. Suddenly, Cloud felt a strong gust of wind blow through Omnis Adest, and he jumped up and latched onto a low branch in a moment of impulse.
"Woah, are you actually climbing the tree?" Aerith asked Cloud as she caught her man hanging from the branch, with Cloud using his strength to pull himself up into the tree. "Go, Cloud, go!"
"Slippy we know you stole our honey bites, so you better cough 'em up or we will..." said Fox as he and Falco showed up at the scene, only to see Cloud on the oak tree with Slippy. Fox would've snapped on Slippy, but it was the spiky-haired swordsman who caught his and Falco's attention.
"I think they're having a race," Falco said to Fox, as Cloud was desperately shaking his head no. Falco turned around and cupped his hands as he shouted, "Cloud and Slippy are racing to the top of the tree, you guys!"
"Say it ain't so!" exclaimed Zeke, as he and a few other Omnis Adest residents showed up at the oak tree. The crowd wanted to see Cloud and Slippy climb up the tree...although they secretly wanted to see Cloud climbing most of all.
"I'm placing my bet on Cloud, who wants in?" asked Vector, willing to wager his hard-earned money on the race up the tree. Vector was definitely the kind of guy that would money-match someone at a game of rock-paper-scissors.
Vector: Lost a lot of money placing bets on some NFL draft that took place yesterday. It was a huge mistake - I was putting my money where my mouth is towards what Espio called "glorified guesswork". Man, at this rate, it won't be long until people start gambling on stuff like the National Spelling Bee! Which I would do in a heartbeat.
"I'm gonna leave you in the dust, Cloud!" Slippy vowed to the swordsman as he was climbing up the tree at a frantic pace. Cloud was at first against racing Slippy, but then thought of the mockery that he would receive if Slippy bested him.
"Get back here!" shouted Cloud as he climbed up the tree after Slippy, who was picking up speed. Everyone that was watching was cheering, as Aerith stopped planting the flowers to cheer on for her man.
Waluigi was searching high and low for Mr. Resetti, whom he barely saw anywhere on the ship. Eventually, he found the mole hiding in the hull of the ship, studying for his test.
"Hey, you know what the best way of studying is?" Waluigi asked Mr. Resetti as he joined the mole, taking a sit next to him as he crossed his legs.
"At home, not on a boat?" answered Mr. Resetti, who was holding a textbook in his hands. If he got seasick and threw up all over the textbook, that would obviously be no bueno.
"Flashcards." If Waluigi had any flash cards to offer, he would give them to Mr. Resetti in a hurry.
"Flashcards. Doesn't really help me right now because I'm on a boat."
"You are gonna get seasick if you keep reading in here."
Gil finally got in touch with the buddy cops, as he brought Toon Link and Young Link to the library. The de facto librarian hoped to bust Pit, and land the angel behind bars for his forging ways.
"There he is, officers, right over...here," said Gil as he led the buddy cops to where Pit was sitting at, only to see Pit typing up a totally original support on Arbor Day. With help from Wayne, no less.
"Spelled forestation wrong," Wayne whispered into Pit's ear, standing next to the angel as he was hunched over. Pit saw the red squiggly line underlining the misspelled word, and promptly fixed his mistake.
"May we see this computer?" Toon Link asked Pit, who along with Wayne moved out of the way as the buddy cops went to the computer. Toon Link checked between Pit's Word document and the Internet browser, as he and Young Link saw nothing out of the ordinary.
"He's straight," confirmed Young Link, as the buddy cops left the computer after conducting their short investigation. Pit was staying a free man, as he returned to the computer.
"B-B-B-B-But..." stammered Gil, as the buddy cops walked past the de facto librarian and out of the library. Gil then fell to his side, as Pit was done writing up his Arbor Day report.
"All done!" announced Pit, who had finished the last of his report - and also checked his Works Cited page for any inconsistencies. "You go ahead and proofread while I print this sucker off."
"Aight, bet," said Wayne, who waited until Pit clicked on the Print command under the File menu before he started proofreading. As Pit ran to the printer, Wayne realized something. "Wait, hold up..."
With Crazy Hand absent, it was up to his assistant Serena to keep track of everything that was going down on the ship. Waluigi would catch the Keeper doing her walk-around and making observations.
"Having fun?" Waluigi asked Serena, who nodded her head as Waluigi was pleased to see the positive response from Crazy Hand's right-hand lady. "Good! Well, that is what Seattle is all about. We're nothing like New Yorkers."
"When are you going to start the presentation?" Serena asked Waluigi, who was reminded of the presentation that he was supposed to deliver. The day was still young, Waluigi had plenty of time.
"Well, we already sort of started it back at the tower and on the dock with the Gilligan thing, so...right now, I was thinking. Yes." Taking hold of the opportunity, Waluigi turned to face everyone in the cabin. "Okay, listen up, all you assist trophies! I would like to talk to you all about life preservers. Now, one important life preserver is..."
"Not now, Waluigi, we're doing the limbo!" shouted Drake, as one of his crew mates got a long stick to do limbo with. Everyone was getting excited, as many cheers were heard. "That's right, partiers, it's time to limbo!"
"Limbo, whoo!" squealed Tingle, voicing his enthusiasm as party music started playing. Waluigi looked dismayed after Drake stole his thunder from him.
"Alright! I need a volunteer to come up here and hold my stick. Who's it gonna be?" Drake saw two hands raised; one was by Callie of the Squid Sisters, and the other by Kapp'n. "Usually, I let a woman do limbo."
"I'm stronger," stated Kapp'n, showing off how strong he was as he flexed his nonexistent muscles. Several folks had to look away and laugh in secret.
"Hey, I got an idea! How would you like to steer the ship, Kapp'n?" The thought of steering the ship allured Kapp'n greatly, as participating in limbo was suddenly old news to him.
The tall oak tree that Cloud and Slippy were climbing was, well, pretty tall, and there were also a lot of tree limbs to maneuver past. But Cloud and Slippy were close to the finish, looking to reach the tree top.
"Wonder what's with all this cheering," remarked Link as he and Zelda arrived at the oak tree, curious as to why there was such a big crowd. He would find his answer as he looked up. "Is that...Cloud?"
"And he's racing against Slippy," stated Zelda, with the crowd cheering even harder as Cloud was about to surpass Slippy. "What are the odds?"
"He's going to do it!" squealed Zeke, sounding like an excited fangirl as Cloud was closer to the top. Once Cloud finally reached the top, the crowd was going ballistic.
"Yes! Just what I need! Motivation!" exclaimed Slippy, thinking that everyone was cheering for him as he kept climbing...but once he reached the treetop and saw Cloud, that's when he knew. "Aw, phooey..."
"CLOUD WINS! CLOUD WINS!" rejoiced Vector, who had placed a few bets with some folks who doubted that Cloud would be victorious. "I'm eating good tonight, boys!"
"Still won't make up for the thousand bucks you lost..." Espio said to Vector, folding his arms while the crowd cheered for Cloud. Cloud carefully scaled down the tree, greeting everyone once he reached the base.
"You did it, Cloud!" exclaimed Aerith as she ran up to the swordsman and wrapped her arms around him, kissing him on the cheek. Cloud saw Link and Zelda beyond the crowd, both applauding him for his efforts.
"Huh, guess I did," remarked Cloud, as Slippy soon climbed down the oak tree albeit much faster than Cloud did. Once he touched the ground, the frog immediately ran into Fox and Falco.
"The honey bites...hand 'em over," Fox held his hand out to Slippy, who made some gagging noises before regurgitating a bag of honey bites into Fox's hand, covered in saliva. "...never mind, you can keep 'em."
"kinda messed up that you guys climbed up that oak tree," Sans said to Cloud and Slippy, commanding the attention of everyone as he popped up seemingly out of nowhere. "it could've been taking a nap...for rest."
"Go..." Link commanded Sans, who shrugged his shoulders as he walked away from the group. Sans's quest to find at least one person who appreciated his puns carried on.
As Sans wandered off, he came across a hooded Organization member in the distance - the same one that was hiding behind that tree earlier. This Organization member was speaking with Gnasty Gnorc, a foe that he was dealt with aplenty in the past year.
"Would love to be at our side, but my Spyro Senses are tingling," Gnasty said to the anonymous Organization member, before looking around in fear as if he sensed Spyro drawing near. "So you're on your own, buddy."
"Very well, I will do well enough alone," responded the anonymous Organization member, as Gnasty darted off into the woods. The Organization member facepalmed after Gnasty left. "Still scared of a small dragon...knew I should've convinced Larxene to come along."
"got my eye on you pal..." Sans said as he watched the anonymous Organization member make his move, with the skeleton making his move as well. Wherever the Organization member went, Sans followed.
Kapp'n was given a golden opportunity - a once-in-a-lifetime chance to pilot the cruise ship. Drake brought the turtle to the cockpit and showed him the steering wheel.
"Keep us on a steady course, and keep a sharp eye out," Drake instructed Kapp'n, putting all of his trust in the turtle as he patted him on his shoulder before exiting the cockpit. "I'm counting on you!"
Kapp'n: I was the youngest pilot in Pan Am history. When I was four, the pilot let me ride in the cockpit and fly the plane with him. And I was four. And I was great. And I would have landed it, but my dad wanted us to go back to our seats.
Joker was enjoying life at the cafe, especially with Sans nowhere to be seen. Also, there was no Pit, whose absence was a positive or a negative depending on the day. With Pit having to write a report on Arbor Day, and given the angel's poor reading/writing skills, Joker wasn't expecting to...
"BOOM SHAKA LAKA!" shouted Pit, catching Joker and the baristas off-guard as he smacked his Arbor Day report on the counter. Joker picked up the report and was in disbelief at how legit it looked.
"This looks too good..." Joker had this to say about the report; he only read the first paragraph and was already blown away. "...by your standards, at least. Did you ask anyone for help?"
"Only got help from me, myself and I." While Joker skimmed through the report, Pit looked back at a person standing outside the cafe and gave a thumbs up. Kirby and Incineroar would join Joker in looking at the report, and even they couldn't believe what they were seeing.
"Check the works cited page," Kirby said to Joker, who flipped to the works cited page and saw several citations - most of which seemed legitimate. The very sight caused Incineroar to faint.
Pit: Made up all of the sources by myself. That citation machine really is magic.
"Hope you didn't doubt your boy too much," Pit said to Joker, getting back to work as he grabbed his cafe apron and put it on. The angel got back behind the counter, as Joker was reading the Arbor Day report front and back.
"No grammatical errors or spelling mistakes either..." said Joker, almost certain that Pit paid someone to write up the report and he just took all of the credit. Pit smirked as Joker continued to be blown away.
The person that Pit looked at was Wayne, who stood outside the cafe to see if Joker saw the report as legit. Just as Wayne surmised, everything went according to plan.
"Amazing what switching a couple of words around can do," remarked Wayne, as he stepped away from the cafe. Soon the basketball player ran into the individual that wanted to speak with him, Master Hand.
"Hello...friend," Master Hand greeted Wayne, showing slight discomfort when he addressed the basketball player as a friend. "Care to join me in my room?"
"Alright, alright, that was great!" exclaimed Drake, after the limbo session was over with; some folks did a decent job at limbo, while others nearly broke their back in the process. "Now it's time for the...the dance contest. That's what my cue card says."
"But before that, I have to do my presentation," stated Waluigi, as time was of the essence - if he didn't get to do his presentation soon, he was going to combust into a million pieces.
"No! No presentation. Dance contest!" As a power struggle was taking hold in the cabin, Waluigi ultimately came up with the crazy idea to lump his activity and Drake's activity together.
"Alright, we'll have a motivational dance contest! Hit it! Yeah, okay, dancing! It is a primal art form used in ancient times to express yourself with the body and communicate!"
Waluigi started dancing on the dance floor, slapping his thighs and junk, while the tower denizens looked on with second-hand embarrassment. Some even had to turn away and avoid the cringe.
Waluigi: Sometimes you have to take a break from being the kind of leader that's always trying to teach people things. Sometimes you have to just be the leader of dancing.
Whenever he was traveling on the high seas, it was almost customary for Kapp'n to sing a tune. As the turtle was piloting the ship, he couldn't help but break out into song.
"What do you do with a drunken sailor? What do you do with a drunken sailor? What do you do with a drunken sailor early in the morning?" Kapp'n sang his heart out, as the Squid Sisters' Marie poked her head inside the cabin...but not to tell Kapp'n that his singing was unbearable.
"Hey, come inside and talk to me, I'm bored," Marie said to Kapp'n, as she couldn't wait around on Callie and whatever she was doing. The fact that she wanted to speak with Kapp'n showed how desperate Marie was for conversation.
"I can't. Do you want us to run aground, woman?!" Kapp'n continued to pilot the ship, as Marie sighed and retracted her head.
Amy and her friends were on a mission to spruce up the baseball field at Omnis Adest by adding a garden in the baseball diamond, and Peach and Nemona joined them in their efforts. One person that was skeptical about the garden was Mario, who wanted to see how Omnis Adesti Fideles coach Junpei felt.
"Please don't freak-a out too much," Mario advised Junpei, leading the man by his hand as Junpei held his hand over his eyes. Mario led Junpei to the baseball field, positioning him near third base. "You can remove-a your hand."
"Whatever it is can't be that...bad," said Junpei as he uncovered his eyes, only to gasp when he saw what was before him - a lush garden, right in the middle of the diamond as Mario had told him. So many colorful flowers to behold.
"Do you like it, Junpei?" Nemona asked her baseball coach, while she stood next to Ashley who had a small rain cloud watering the flowers. Junpei had a dumb look on his face that he had to shake off.
"No, I don't like it...I LOVE IT!" Much to Mario's surprise, Junpei was jumping for joy, jumping all over the place. "Oh man, we're gonna have the best baseball field for sure. Home field advantage, baby!"
"How does having a garden in the center of the diamond contribute to home-field advantage?" Amy asked Peach, as Junpei jumped in the garden and was doing snow angels. Flowery snow angels.
"You got rain on your face," Ashley notified Junpei, whose head was right underneath the small rain cloud Ashley had summoned. Junpei did not care, for he was in perfect bliss.
Mario: Eh, sometimes it doesn't hurt-a to be in the minority. *pauses* Although that usually depends-a on the topic at hand.
"Told ya that he would like it," Nemona smirked at Villager, as Junpei's happiness made the Pokemon trainer feel so very vindicated. Nemona then gasped, as a dark corridor appeared on the field.
"Such a lovely garden...I give it five stars," a voice spoke from the dark corridor, causing Junpei to stop making his snow angels and lift his head up. Everyone watched as an anonymous Organization member, the one who was lingering in Omnis Adest, exited from the dark corridor.
"State-a your business!" Mario commanded the Organization member, with Junpei hopping up to his feet while everyone else got on the offensive. The Organization member cackled evilly.
"I'll oblige, but just this once." The Organization member took off their hood, and several pink petals flowed out of it. Standing before Mario and company was a tall Nobody with long, pink hair.
"Is that a woman?" Cappy whispered to Mario, hoping that he wasn't misgendering the Organization member. Funnily enough, Mario was about to ask Cappy the same thing!
"You can call me Marluxia - pleased to make your acquaintance. I'm only here for recon work." Marluxia eased Mario and Cappy's doubts as he spoke, while a standoff was between the Nobody and the others.
Waluigi was all tuckered out from his motivational dance contest, as he was the only person on the dance floor dancing. However, he was tuckered out enough to do the presentation that he wanted to do from the beginning.
"So, what's this presentation all about?" Drake asked Waluigi, as Kapp'n was back inside the cabin - but not to speak with Marie. Waluigi looked more lively when Drake asked him his question.
"Ah! See, this is of general interest," replied Waluigi, taking charge as he sprung up from the chair that he was sitting in and commanded everyone's attention. "It is about priorities and making decisions, using the boat as an analogy. What is important to you? If the boat is sinking, what do you save?"
"Women and children."
"No, no. Constituents come first."
"That's a stupid analogy."
"Okay, well, obviously you don't know anything about leadership."
"Well, I was the captain of a patrol boat during a dangerous thunderstorm."
"Wow. You should be the motivational speaker," Kapp'n said to Drake; Waluigi felt betrayed by the turtle as he grunted and punched the air. "Yeah. He gives me real responsibility, Waluigi. Drake delegates. He's let me steer the ship for the last hour."
Since it was a cruise, there was a very high probability that Rodin would get drunk. That's exactly what happened to the demon, as he was getting tipsy while holding a bottle of liquor in his hand.
"Por favor, tequila seoor," Rodin said to Tiki, speaking to the Manakete in Spanish. Tiki paid close attention to Rodin's body language, seeing how Rodin was about to lose his balance.
"I think you've had enough," responded Tiki as she went on her merry way, with Rodin frowning intensely at the Manakete.
"What you say?!" Once he saw the liquor bottle in his hand, Rodin considered Tiki's point. "You know, you might be right."
Elsewhere on the ship, Rouge and Lyn were having a little girl talk. The two ladies were outside on the ship deck, away from Knuckles and Eliwood.
"I'd like to be married," Rouge admitted to Knuckles, expressing her inner desire to one day tie the knot with her echidna boyfriend. "How did you manage to pull that off?"
"Uh, I've been engaged for so many years, that I've lost count," replied Lyn, who was in no position to offer Rouge pointers on getting married to Knuckles, let alone getting engaged. "So...you're asking the wrong person."
The silent standoff between Marluxia and Mario and the others persisted, as neither party had made their move. Not a single person knew what to do in this tense moment.
"Surprised that none of you have yet to move an inch," said Marluxia, as he imagined that Mario, Amy, or even Nemona would take the fight to him. But so far, it was mostly tranquil.
"Honestly, I'm debating whether I should punch you or not since you're a woman," admitted Junpei, as some of the others groaned at how downright foolish the man was. "I mean...you do have a contralto voice, don't you?"
"Your ignorance appalls me..." For that comment alone, Marluxia decided not to attack Junpei if necessary. "I know I said that I was doing recon work, but..."
Marluxia vanished for a brief moment, throwing everyone off-guard, and then teleported behind Viridi. The Nobody grabbed Viridi, wrapping his arms around the goddess of nature as he dragged her away.
"Viridi!" Mario shouted as he turned around, bringing everyone's attention to Marluxia who was dragging Viridi away from the group. Viridi did her best to fight out of Marluxia's grip, but no matter how much she kicked Marluxia or bit his arm nothing was working.
"I have heard that Little Miss Cactus loves flowers," snarled Marluxia, leaving Viridi to wonder how Marluxia even knew of that nickname. It was a moniker that she despised. "Which is funny since I love flowers myself. I'd love to have her help plant my garden."
"Don't just stand around you doofuses, do something!" Viridi shouted at Mario and company, seeing that her attempts at escaping from Marluxia were futile. Rising to the occasion, Nemona took out a Poke Ball.
"On it! Go, Goodra!" shouted Nemona as she sent out her Goodra; Marluxia responded by summoning his weapon of choice, a pink scythe. "Goodra, use..."
Before Goodra had a chance to attack, Marluxia instinctively moved his head to the side as a baseball was thrown in his direction. The Nobody frowned, as he dropped Viridi to the ground.
"I was told to watch out for flying objects..." said Marluxia, gripping his scythe as he looked back at the person who threw the baseball at him...Sans. Sans had another baseball, tossing it in his hand.
"almost got your head," Sans said to Marluxia, as he walked closer to Marluxia; the skeleton came to a stop when Marluxia held his hand out.
"Not another step...tell me, why did you attempt to attack me?" With Marluxia focused on Sans, Viridi crawled away while the Nobody was distracted.
"i dunno, because you look like a bad guy i guess. but you got some nerve crashing our arbor day. i was going around telling my acorn-y jokes, mind you."
"Mama Mia, here we go again-a with the lame puns..." moaned Mario as he threw his arms up in defeat; Sans saw how distressed Mario was, as he cracked a big smile.
"but it wouldn't be the same if i had no trees to make puns off of. that scythe of yours, you could cut down lots of trees with that. speaking of, did ya know that a palm tree can fit in the palm of your hand?"
"Is that supposed to make me laugh?" snorted Marluxia, finding Sans's pun to be pathetic. "it was clever, I'll admit, but not humorous." Little did Marluxia know that Sans was just getting started...
"okay then, did you hear about the tree that was stumped? couldn't get to the root of the problem."
"Didn't say that you could say another joke. Didn't say that you could say any at all..."
"or what about the fig tree that couldn't get back in shape? it had trouble getting in root-ine."
"I'm warning you...if you don't stop, you will pay dearly. i do not enjoy being annoyed."
"little fun fact; when the bank closed, the giant sequoia tree started its own branch. pretty neat."
"I'm not going to tell you this again. Stop it with your jokes. your trite humor bugs me."
"don't know about bugs, but I know a lot about the dogwood tree. you can identify it...by its bark!"
"That is IT!" Marluxia had enough of Sans, holding tightly to his scythe as he looked to teach the skeleton a lesson. "I have grown sick and tired of your needless, pathetic...is that rain I feel?"
"Just doing some gardening," answered Ashley, who had her small rain cloud positioned over Marluxua's head. Marluxia looked up at the rain cloud, wondering how it got there.
"A small rain cloud? What the..." As Marluxia turned around, Villager took his water can and dashed some water in the Nobody's face. Marluxia screamed as he got water in his eyes.
Villager: Who knew that my Smash water was good for attacking? It sure does come in handy! *kisses water can*
"Ha, got him right where I want him!" exclaimed Nemona, looking to strike as Marluxia was getting the water off his face and out of his eyes. "Alright Goodra, hit him with a..."
"...hold your fire," demanded Marluxia, robbing Goodra of its big moment as a dark corridor was summoned. Clearly, Marluxia had enough. "Young Xehanort was right about you all being an annoying hindrance..."
"Tell his daddy...I mean, his older self...that we're waiting on-a him!" Mario called out to Marluxia, as he anticipated a future appearance from the Organization XIII leader himself, Master Xehanort. Marluxia backed into the dark corridor as he made his leave.
"Wow Sans, for once your puns saved the day!" Viridi said to the skeleton, unable to count on her fingers the instances were Sans netted a positive result with his jokes. "Thanks for showing up."
"since I saved your butt from the organization..." Sans smiled as he inched closer to Viridi, causing the goddess of nature's expression to sour in a jiffy. "...how about you finally fix me that latte i wanted?"
"Forget it..." Viridi went from appreciating Sans to despising him as she usually did, as she pushed the skeleton away from him. Viridi's appreciation was awfully short-lived.
"Suppose your tower building's on fire," Drake asked this hypothetical question, as everyone was gathered in the cabin - Eliwood and Rouge included. "Knuckles, who would you save?"
"Um...let's see, uh...the woman," answered Knuckles, as Rouge smiled in approval of the echidna's answer. "Because women are queens." Knuckles just made himself even more husband material in Rouge's eyes.
"Not what I was looking for, but a good thought," said Waluigi, under the assumption that Knuckles was sucking up to women. The lanky man himself had done the same, but those days were mostly over.
"When you were seafaring, did you ever almost die?" Eliwood asked Drake, knowing that the captain had plenty of experience on the high seas under his belt.
"Oh yes. On more than one occasion! And I wasn't thinking about some random woman. I was thinking about my wife. The day I got back on shore, I almost married her."
Knuckles: You know what? I would save my girlfriend. I just wanted to clear that up.
Sonic, Crash, and Conker were wrapping up their Arbor Day activities, planting a few more trees. Aerith offered to assist them, but only to tell them about the feat that Cloud had accomplished.
"Did Cloud tell you that he beat Slippy in a race up an oak tree?" Aerith asked Sonic and his friends, who placed a small tree into a hole the flower girl dug up. None of them seem impressed.
"That's like beating Pit in a race," replied Sonic, confident that he himself could beat Cloud in a race up an oak tree. "Or Crash!" Sonic struck a chord in Crash, who felt deeply insulted.
"Huh?" Crash looked at Sonic, in disbelief that his own friend would shade him like that. Sonic laughed at Crash as he smacked the bandicoot on his back.
"I was just kidding! Honestly, Crash, you could beat Slippy in any race with your eyes closed. Or with a blindfold. Whichever one works best for you."
"You seem highly confident in your friend," Aerith smiled at Sonic, watering the small tree with her water can before standing up to her feet. "I strongly encourage you not to dip into Ike levels, though."
"No way would I go that far. But thanks for the help." Sonic patted the small tree gently with his hand, as Aerith took her water can and left. Crash, on the other hand, was about to pee on the small tree only to see Conker looking at the ground.
"Woah!" the bandicoot alerted Sonic, as he pointed at Conker; now was the opportune moment for Sonic to strike, as he walked over to Conker.
"Thinking about your girlfriend?" Sonic asked Conker as he wrapped his arm around the squirrel, who smiled as he lifted his head up.
"Just a little bit," replied Conker as he looked at Sonic, appreciating the blue hedgehog for asking. Was Sonic going to ask the golden question?
"Alright, good talk." Sonic patted Conker on his back, leaving the squirrel alone as he returned to Crash. But then the blue hedgehog came running back. "About your girlfriend - do you mind seeing her again?"
"Would be nice, but...life without Berri has treated me well. Probably wouldn't change a thing." If Conker was content with that answer, then Sonic was content with it as well.
"Nice to hear that, man." Sonic would walk away from Conker for good, as he left the squirrel alone. Seems that Sonic's decision to go forward with reviving Berri was now set in stone.
He didn't want it to happen to him, but Waluigi ended up seasick. The seasickness certainly knocked Waluigi out of his rhythm, as the lanky man was lying on a bed in the brig while Serena kept him company.
"Seasick?" Kapp'n asked Waluigi, as he entered the brig to check on the lanky man. "Drake says you should look at the Moon."
"Drake is a fart face," stated Waluigi, hating how much Drake interfered with him while he was captaining the ship. "I'm on medication."
"Really? What?" a stunned Serena asked Waluigi, who dug into his pocket and showed a bottle of prescription to the Keeper that totally didn't look legit.
"Vomicillin. Okay. All right. It's time to be a leader. It's time to motivate. Let's blow some minds." Remarkably feeling better in an instant, Waluigi got up and ran back inside the cabin to address everyone. "Okay, guys, guys, cool it. Everybody, assist trophies, Serena, I have some very, very urgent news I need to tell everybody right now. Listen up. The ship is sinking! Okay? We're going down, right now. Just wrap your heads around the reality of that."
Instead of wrapping their heads around the reality of the ship sinking, everyone was left in a state of panic. Many folks were panicking and acting frantic.
"Shh, please!" Waluigi did his best to calm everyone down, while also commanding everyone's attention. "Everybody, it's my turn now, okay? Drake is gone. In five minutes, this ship is going to be at the bottom of the lake! And there aren't enough spaces on the lifeboat! Who are we gonna save? This is a dire scenario. Right? It's scary...it's a..."
"Hey! Hey! What's going on here?" frowned Drake as he returned to the cabin after hearing all the hoopla. With Drake making his return, peace was restored in the cabin.
"It's a predicament, and it's something that each and every one of us has to think about."
Waluigi: I'm in the brig. See? The boat's not as fun as advertised. What was the deal with the guy jumping overboard? What was...if he had just waited and heard what I had to say, he would be motivated right now and not all wet.
"Master Hand, Master Hand!" Mega Man screeched as she came running down the hallway, en route to Master Hand's room. "Geo Stelar poured his drink on the teleportation device and claimed it was an accident. That means we won't be able to..."
Mega Man came to a stop when she reached Master Hand's room, for he saw that Master Hand was having a conversation with Wayne. The robot was forced to wait until the convo was over...but that didn't mean that he couldn't eavesdrop.
"So let me get this straight," Wayne said to Master Hand, pinching the crown of his nose as he was about to sum up what he just heard. "You brought me to his joint on certain holidays because you thought that I was...lonely?"
"Just like how I myself am lonely," replied Master Hand, as Wayne refused to buy what the giant hand was saying. "Thought that I was helping each other out that way."
"But how are you lonely? You got all these people living with you, man. You literally got people to keep you company every day."
"While that may be true, that doesn't mean I have that many friends. Crazy Hand is number one on the list, for better and for worse, and number two...that's where it gets complicated."
"Oh, I see...so you invite people over to your big social functions, just to give yourself the impression that you have friends. You're desperate."
"Wouldn't say that I'm desperate but...yeah, I guess I am pretty desperate. Desperate to have a couple of genuine friends."
"Not with how you're acting. I heard some say that you were a 'changed' individual, but I have yet to see it. Were they lying?"
"No, it's just...the change is hard to come by. I still have an insatiable need or desire to be liked. Or loved. It's hard to get rid of."
"Take it from me - being liked by everyone is overrated. Why not just be true to yourself? Be yourself, man."
"Be true to yourself...yeah, I like the sound of that. Be true to yourself! That should be a song. Reminds me of that song from Mulan. How did it go?"
"I hate to interrupt this candid conversation," Mega Man spoke up as Master Hand and Wayne turned their attention to the blue bomber, who was standing at the doorway. "Master Hand, Geo wasted his drink on the teleportation device, so..."
"Much obliged for letting me know - just inform me when it's fixed." Done speaking with Mega Man, Master Hand returned to his conversation with Wayne. "I'm holding a Cinco de Mayo celebration next week. Normally I would force you to attend...but I'll leave the choice in your hands."
"Sounds cool," responded Wayne, who from the sound of it didn't seem all that interested in anything Cinco de Mayo-related. "Maybe I'll be there, or maybe I won't. Who knows."
"Good. If we bring you to this mansion and you say no, it won't bother me a bit. Be true to yourself. Haha!"
Perhaps the only person that took Waluigi's claim seriously was Kapp'n, who was back in the cockpit piloting the ship. Waluigi checked in on Kapp'n and saw the turtle doing his thing.
"Don't worry, Waluigi! I'm taking us to shore," Kapp'n assured the lanky man, who felt the sudden need to address something. Something that Kapp'n should've been informed about.
"It's a fake wheel, dummy," replied Waluigi, as Kapp'n looked at the wheel in his hands and saw that it was indeed fake. Kapp'n was bamboozled the whole time! Waluigi exited the cockpit, with Kapp'n left in shambles.
