Author's Note:

Sorry for the long wait - if you read the previous author's note, you would know why that's the case. Anyway, this chapter may contain slight spoilers for Pokemon: Scarlet and Violet, so if you haven't played the game (or never played it at all), then beware. Enjoy.


Episode 399: Time-Washing

Oh, how the turntables...or how the tables have turned, instead. For the longest time, Rufus Shinra had been calling Cloud, but Cloud would never respond. Cloud had his reasons, with Rufus being a part of Dimentio's coalition after all.

But after some convincing, Cloud decided to call Rufus, and later he met with the Shinra VP at a restaurant along with Champion Link, Sora, and Team Rocket. Now the sides had flipped, and Cloud was the one calling Rufus only to be met with no response. He had been doing so since the Friday he spoke with Rufus.

"Hello, this is Rufus Shinra of Shirna Incorporated," the automated message played from Cloud's phone, as Cloud attempted to call Rufus while sitting on the porch steps outside. "Unfortunately, I am not available at this time. If you can, leave behind a voicemail and I hope to respond to you promptly."

"Forget it..." Cloud muttered under his breath as he ended the call, before putting his phone back in his pocket. Another call that was made to Rufus, and another call that went straight to voicemail.

Cloud: Rufus had a lot to say about Giovanni. He thinks that the guy is up to no good - not a surprise. He wanted to speak with Team Rocket just to see if his suspicions had any weight to them, and Team Rocket told Rufus everything he wanted to hear and then some. Also told him everything he didn't want to hear. Did you know that Meowth apparently has a detailed memory of Giovanni's sleep schedule?

"He must be busy," assumed Cloud, looking to call Rufus sometime later in the day. The swordsman felt someone tapping him on his shoulder, as he turned around and saw the buddy cops Toon Link and Young Link standing by.

"Here's your ticket," Toon Link said to Cloud as he handed him a ticket. For any resident, it was a common rite of passage to receive a ticket from the buddy cops regardless of the legitimacy of the crime.

"A ticket? For what?" Cloud looked at the ticket and saw that he had to pay a $75 fine. With a hefty fee like that, the crime that Cloud committed must've been a serious one.

"For loitering on the mansion grounds," replied Young Link, expecting Cloud to realize the error of his ways and depart from the premises. But the longer Cloud remained sitting on the porch steps, the more angry the buddy cops grew.

"Loitering? I live here." Sadly for Cloud, he would receive another ticket from the buddy cops, this one courtesy of Young Link. "What's this ticket for?"

"For being a smart aleck. Everyone knows that smart alecks never win in life." Compared to the first ticket Cloud got, the second ticket was $25 more.

"Neva eva..." Toon Link said to Cloud as he wagged his finger in the swordsman's face. If Cloud had the energy, he'd smack Toon Link's hand away and then send the Hylian flying.

"Whatever...you kids are so annoying," muttered Cloud as he got up and went down the porch steps. While they were happy that Cloud was gone, the buddy cops were also ticked off for Cloud had committed yet another crime.

"Defamation is no joke, Cloud! Get back here!" shouted Young Link as he and Toon Link made an effort to follow after Cloud and arrest him. As they went through the front yard, they caught the attention of Anna from her shop stand.

"Hey boys...either one of you want a kiss?" Anna asked the buddy cops, looking at them with alluring eyes. The buddy cops froze in place as he turned to Anna with fear smeared over their faces.

"O-On the cheek, right?" Toon Link nervously asked Anna, hyperventilating a little as fear was slowly taking over him.

"No...on the lips." Anna puckered her lips, and that got the buddy cops even more wary. Which Hylian was braver enough?

"Go and take one for the team." Toon Link pushed Young Link forward, volunteering his own partner-in-crime. Finding himself in a very precarious position, Young Link took a deep breath.

"Forgive me, Hylia...and you too, Princess Zelda," said Young Link, before putting on his game face as he bravely approached Anna's shop stand. Once he reached the stand, Young Link closed his eyes as he feared for the worst.

"Alrighty then, here comes your kiss!" exclaimed Anna, as Young Link anxiously awaited for Anna's lips to meet his...but then he was caught by surprise, as he felt a small object on his lips. Opening his eyes, Young Link saw Anna holding a Hershey's Kiss to his mouth.

"Oh thank goodness, it's just chocolate!" Young Link giddily accepted the Kiss from Anna, before unwrapping it as he gestured to Toon Link to come over. "Starsky, she's got chocolate! Come quick!"

"Save some for me!" responded Toon Link as he hurried over to delight himself with some Hershey's chocolate. Anna placed a bag of chocolate on the shop stand for the buddy cops to indulge themselves with...as well as a sign. But not for indulging. "Back in five minutes", it read.

"You boys help yourselves...I have to go make a quick delivery!" Anna said to the buddy cops, who were in bliss as they stuffed their mouths with chocolate. Taking out a small brown sack, Anna left the shop, smirking.

Anna: The weirdest, most incredible thing happened this past week...Professor E. Gadd went to my shop! My shop! Just when I was about to recommend to him some dentures (and upsell him in the process), he asked me about some quantum flux capacitor doohickey. Apparently, he needed one of those for his newest machine. Fortunately for him, I found one on the black market! *pulls out a quantum flux capacitor* Only ran me ten bucks.


Business was booming down in E. Gadd's lab, as all hands were on deck - E. Gadd, Wily, Cortex, and a host of other like-minded individuals were working together on the parallel universe machine. Aside from the new additions such as Moira and Vexen, there were other scientists (and inventors) who were a part of the project.

"You're really working that wrench, Torbjörn!" Mei said to the German inventor, whom she had invited to the mansion (with E. Gadd and company's permission, of course). Torbjörn was using his trusty wrench to screw in a few parts.

"Righty tighty, lefty loosey!" Torbjörn happily exclaimed as he was doing his job, as Mega Man came over for a brief inspection. Upon detecting Mega Man's presence, Torbjörn stopped and turned to the blue bomber, asking, "Do you happen to be a robot, by any chance?"

"Uh, yeah...why is that a problem?" questioned Mega Man as he eyed around, noticing that Torbjörn was looking at him with a certain animosity. Mei could easily detect this animosity, fearing the idea of playing peacemaker - something she was not very good at.

Mega Man: Dr. Light was reeled in to be a part of e. Gadd's project and I was pegged to be his assistant. Honestly, I don't have to do much, but I do get a front-row seat of seeing Light and Wily getting along. One of them doesn't like it all too well. *smiles*

"Dr. Wily, I imagined that you would've wrecked this machine for your own benefit," Dr. Light spoke with the robot inventor as put his hand on his back, which Wily did not appreciate in the slightest. "You love doing things out of spite."

"Get your arm off of me, people are looking..." Wily hissed at Light, as a feeling of wholesomeness was felt throughout his body. He did not enjoy such positive feelings.

"So I must say, I am very proud of you! For you to put your beef with E. Gadd to an end takes a lot of courage." Just the thought of Light saying how proud he was of him made Wily want to vomit.

"Stop it, I say! Your words of kindness are making me feel all mushy inside. I hate it!" Wily slapped Light's arm away, before folding his arms as he shivered. Delighted by Wily's peculiar behavior, Light smiled.

"I believe that these are the right coordinates needed to reach the Twilight Realm," Hal Emmerich said to Vexen as he showed him a small piece of paper with some coordinates on it. Vexen looked at the coordinates, frowning.

"As if these scribbles are supposed to mean anything!" Vexen hissed at Hal, as he was about to backhand the hacker for his foolishness. Mid-slap, however, Demyx intervened and got a hold of Vexen's arm.

"No, Vexen! Moira specifically said no fighting in E. Gadd's lab!" Demyx said to the fellow Nobody, as he held him back from Hal. Vexen was trying to throw Demyx off of him but to no avail.

"Let go of me, you scoundrel!" As Vexen resisted Demyx, he looked back at Moira who was standing cordially in the back with her hands behind her back. "Miss Moira, do something!"

"Should've known better than to get physical," Moira chided Vexen for his actions, as Demyx was forced to drag Vexen away until he calmed down. A second later, Hal approached Moira.

"You don't think this doesn't mean anything, do you?" Hal asked Moira, handing her the coordinates so that she could take a closer look at them. "I was literally up all last night writing these."

"All I can say is...keep up the good work," was Moira's reply, as she handed Hal back the coordinates. Nodding his head while feeling defeated, Hal went back to his original spot.

"Cheers, all! Tracer here!" announced a certain cheeky British pilot, as Tracer blinked her way into the lab joining Mario, Link, and Zelda. Tracer looked around at all the men and women gathered. "Full house, I see."

"They're definitely making it count," remarked Zelda, watching as Wily offered to help Fawful with the machine. To think that those two were at each other's necks in the last episode. "Almost close to the finish line."

"Yup, I can see the checkered-a flag...already," added Mario, only to trail off when he heard someone sniffling. Mario and company looked over and saw Cortex standing afar off, crying tears of joy while Uka judged him.

"No surprise more work is done than usual when you're not involved," Uka said to Cortex, who took out some tissue to wipe away his tears. Wondering what made Cortex so emotional, Mario and the others went over to chat with the evil genius.

"Dr. Cortex, what is the matter?" Brio came over to ask Cortex, arriving right at the same time as the others. "Are you crying because of something beautiful that I invented?"

"As if - don't be ridiculous," replied Cortex, not caring how much he hurt Brio's feelings. But what was he crying over, though? "I'm just happy that I had the platform to bring all these people together."

"That's why you're crying happy tears?" questioned Uka as he judged Cortex even more - almost waiting for the moment for Cortex to say that he was pulling everybody's tail. "You live a very sad life, Cortex..."

"Hey man, leave him alone," Link said sternly to Uka as he was sticking up for Cortex - something Uka could never bring himself to do. "It's clear that Cortex's life was worthless until this project happened."

"Don't say that..." Zelda frowned at Link, as she nudged her husband in his side. But Cortex was undeterred by Uka and Link's comments, as he had a few more happy tears to shed.

"Aw, this whole project must mean a lot to you," Tracer remarked to Cortex, who sucked up a few tears while wiping away the rest with his tissue.

"Not necessarily, but it feels good to be..." Cortex was about to say, only to be interrupted when the doorbell loudly sounded. Sounds like the already packed lab was about to get even more packed.

"What has gotten into you?" Uka asked Cortex, who for whatever reason was shuddering uncomfortably. Cortex seemingly detected the presence of whoever was standing at the front door, with chills running down his spine.

"He's here..." Cortex announced in a whisper, stuck in an angry trance as his visage morphed into an intense frown. Brio waved his hand in front of Cortex trying to make the evil genius snap out of it.

"He's here? What a shame," remarked the Pokemon professor currently working on the machine, Professor Burnet - she had to crack a smirk when she noticed how dismayed Cortex was. Uka, for whatever reason, was smirking as well.

Professor Burnet: With some final permission from E. Gadd, I extended an invite to one of Cortex's "friends". I've yet to meet him in person, but from what I've heard he's a swell guy.

Uka: I was the one who put Burnet on. We need someone to balance out Cortex, and who better than the vastly superior version of him?

"Link, Zelda, can you two answer the door for me?" Brio asked of the Hylian couple, as Brio was working hard to bring Cortex back to reality. "If it's not...

"...if it's not too much trouble," Link would finish for E. Gadd, sighing and shaking his head in dismay as he and Zelda left the lab. "Yeah, yeah, we got it at this point..."


Based on Cortex's shuddering, Link and Zelda both had a hunch about who the visitor was. Link opened the front door, and as he expected, he saw Dr. N. Tropy standing at the doorstep. Along with two professors from the Paldea region.

"Professor Sada and Professor Turo! Welcome!" Link greeted the two Paldean professors before his and Zelda's attention was drawn to the master of time standing before the professor duo. "Same to you, Dr. N. Tropy."

"You dare acknowledge those two before me?" Tropy frowned at Link, before brightening up when a certain floated mask joined Link and Zelda. That floating mask was none other than Uka.

"If it isn't my favorite person in the whole world!" Uka exclaimed with overabundant joy, beyond happy to see Tropy's face again. The misery Uka felt from being in Cortex's presence temporarily vanished.

"But we've hardly spoken to each other," stated Turo, who later got the hint when he saw Uka floating closer to a grinning Tropy. The Pokemon professor instantly felt like a foolish man. "Oh, right..."

"As always, it is swell to see your face again," Tropy said to Uka, as meeting up with the floating mask made his visit to E. Gadd's worth it. "Much rather you and Cortex."

"Get a room, you two!" Link said to Tropy and Uka, wanting them to get chummy somewhere else. Once Tropy entered the mansion and left with Uka, the Paldean Pokemon professors were left with Link and Zelda.

"I take it that Cortex contacted you both?" Zelda cordially greeted Sada and Turo, who gave off strong couple vibes just from how close they were standing next to each other. Perhaps they were married.

"No one contacted us, really," replied Sada, leading to understandably surprised reactions from Link and Zelda. Sada tried to play it off with an earnest smile. "We both just had a hunch."

"Or maybe word about E. Gadd's machine got out to Area Zero," insisted Turo, stealing Sada's thunder as he did his best to quell the shock of the Hylian couple. "Amazing given that Area Zero is in the Great Crater of..."

"Shh! That's confidential information," Sada whispered to Turo as she smacked her presumed husband reprimandingly on his back. Paldean citizens were advised not to visit Area Zero in the Great Crater - and for many various reasons.

"My apologies." Holding himself accountable for his error, Turo awkwardly cleared his throat hoping that Link and Zelda weren't on to him. An awkward silence ensued following Sada's interruption.

"Er...would you like to come inside?" Link offered to Sada and Turo, bringing an end to the awkward silence; before either professor could answer, they heard some footsteps coming up behind them.

"It appears we have one more visitor." Turo moved to the side, and Sada would do the same, as they cleared the way for a certain limbless hero - Rayman. Rayman was holding his washing machine - but it was no ordinary washing machine.

"Hi, Link and Zelda...and, uh, professor peeps," Rayman greeted Link and Zelda, before acknowledging the Paldean professors. Sada smiled at Rayman, while Turo just did a simple nod of his head.

"Hello, Rayman; I see you've brought your washing machine," Zelda said to the limbless hero, curious as to why he brought his appliance with him. And then it hit the princess. "Wait, is that..."

"Yup! It's my time-washing machine." Rayman smiled proudly as he patted the time-washing machine; Sada and Turo found themselves greatly intrigued. "Heard that E. Gadd's time machine got wrecked by Organization XIII, so I wanted him to hold unto mine for the time being."

Rayman: *holding time-washing machine* As awesome as this time-washing machine is, I'd love nothing more than to get it out of the house. Not that it isn't a reliable appliance or anything, but Globox loves abusing it for his own benefit. Whenever I ask why Globox went missing, Barbara will either say that he's fighting Roman gladiators, or getting shot it in the American Civil War. I can't tell if she's lying or not until Globox winds back up with us with his body covered in bandages or something.

"A time machine inside a washing machine? How fascinating," remarked Turo as he looked at the time-washing machine, as he was stroking his chin.

"Not even a Rotom-Wash can be that advanced," added Sada, as Rayman didn't like how interested the Paldean professors were becoming with his time-washing machine.

"Don't get any ideas; it's for Professor E. Gadd only," Rayman sternly informed Sada and Turo, holding his time-washing machine away from them like it was his most prized possession. Which it kinda was.

"Come with us - we'll take you to E. Gadd," Zelda offered to Rayman, as she and Link led Rayman inside the mansion and to E. Gadd's lab. Sada and Turo kept their eye on Rayman, but they were staring at the time-washing machine the most.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Turo asked Sada, who gave an understanding smile as she and Turo stepped inside the mansion. Aside from E. Gadd's machine, the Paldean professors had another focus.


Cloud was at Cafe Leblanc, sitting at the counter waiting to be joined by Champion Link. (If Sora showed his face, Cloud would show him out.) He was also expected to see Team Rocket, for he also wanted to speak with them.

"Hey Cloud, wanna see my gains?" Pit asked the swordsman as he flexed his biceps, showing off his muscles. His arm looked the same as before.

"I can tell that you have been putting in the work," commented Cloud, noticing that Pit was squeezing his arm to make the mostly nonexistent muscles stick out more. "How much do you lift!"

"Silly Cloud, I can't tell you! That's confidential stuff." Pit stopped flexing his arms, thinking that he would make Cloud jealous if he didn't stop anytime soon. "But I will have you know, I became the new aerobics instructor at Planet Fitness!"

"Pit basically drove the old instructor insane and forced her to quit," Viridi explained to Cloud, who found that to be a very likely story. Any rational fitness instructor would quit their job if Pit was their student.

Pit: The old aerobics instructor was the worst. She kicked me out of class just because I was a dude. Mind you, all of her students were female, every single one of them! Never have I met a more sexist human being than her; she'd fit right in with the Gerudo. Wonder if that's the same kind of sexism that Ganondorf deals with.

Ganondorf: Believe it or not, I have never endured sexism. Even if I did, whoever dared to be sexist towards me would be dead. I am beneath that nonsense.

"If you're just gonna sit there, then you might as well leave," Joker said to Cloud, bothered by how long the swordsman was sitting at the counter without ordering something. It was one of his biggest pet peeves as a cafe barista.

"What are you gonna do, fine me for loitering?" retorted Cloud, putting some pressure on Joker; Joker looked down at his pants pocket and saw Pit reaching for his wallet.

"Don't get any crazy ideas, Pit." Snapping his fingers in disgust, Pit retracted his hand and immediately got back to work. "I would like to know why you're just sitting here, Cloud."

"Team Rocket and I agreed to chat at the cafe," explained Cloud, as Joker and the other baristas were baffled that Cloud desired to speak with the goober trio. "We spoke with Rufus Shinra last week..."

"You spoke with Rufus Shinra?" asked Kirby, astonished that Cloud had the gall to speak with a member of Dimentio's coalition. Even if Rufus was one of the more unthreatening members.

"How did that turn out?" asked Viridi, as Cloud's sit-down meeting with Giovanni was all that the baristas wanted to hear about. Some juicy information could be leaked out.

"Turned out well; I learned a lot," replied Cloud, before looking back to see if Team Rocket had entered. That trio was keeping the swordsman waiting. "Rufus thinks that Giovanni isn't what he seems."

"I can see why...that Giovanni is a jerk!" exclaimed Pit, expressing his disdain towards Giovanni as he angrily clenched his fist. When the other baristas looked at him, Pit awkwardly backed off.

"Anyway, Rufus believes that Giovanni has a secret plan up his sleeve. A plan that barely has anything to do with..." Cloud would be cut off, as he heard his phone ringing. And guess who was calling him? "...that's him. Rufus."

"Ask him why his parents named him after a dog!" Pit made his request known to Cloud in a joking manner, giggling while Kirby shook his head. Ignoring Pit, Cloud answered the call.

"Hey, Rufus - been waiting for you to call back." Cloud got up from his seat as he spoke into the phone, walking to a far corner of the cafe. Given who he was speaking with, the phone call had to be done in secret.

"Sorry for the holdup, had to get my hands dirty," Rufus apologized to Cloud, who was already looking suspicious to a few of the other cafe patrons. "Is there any way that you and Team Rocket can meet at Omnis Adest?"

"Omnis Adest? Uh, sure thing. Do you know how to get there?" Cloud never had any enthusiasm for giving directions, so he was hoping that Rufus knew his way around town.

"Yes I do; Vexen and Demyx showed me the easiest way to reach it." That made Cloud raise his eyebrows - Rufus, Vexen, and Demyx were seemingly all in one accord. "The Turks will be coming with me."

"Sounds good. One moment..." Putting his call temporarily on hold, Cloud returned to the counter as he had something he wanted to share with the baristas. "...don't tell anyone where I went," Cloud whispered to them.

"You have our word," assured Joker, as Cloud exited the cafe before resuming his phone call with Rufus once the coast was clear. Pit watched Cloud leave, and he couldn't help but stroke his chin.


It took a day or two for the StarBeats-catching-on-fire controversy to become common knowledge to Fox. Fox had seen the video that Falco and Knuckles put together - and re-watched it multiple times for his own amusement. He was watching the video outside at the picnic table, showing it to Alm and Celica on his phone.

"I have come to the conclusion that Star Records...may be overlooking certain safety regulations," Falco said in the video, in his high-pitched voice, as the headphones started smoking. Every time Fox watched that part, he would always laugh.

"Here it comes..." said Fox as Falco took off the headphones before they exploded. Alm and Celica both flinched in anticipation after the headphones exploded, while Fox giggled. "...boom! Comedy gold."

"You're one of the head bosses of Star Records; how come you didn't know about these headphones catching on fire?" Alm asked Fox, putting the pilot on the spot. Fox nervously pulled on his collar as Alm and Celica were waiting for an answer.

"Could've easily gotten a lawsuit," stated Celica, amazed that Star Records hadn't caught a lawsuit if they hadn't been sued already. Just as Fox was about to answer, he saw Falco exiting the mansion.

"I think you're better off asking my main man," Fox said to Alm and Celica, before gesturing to Falco; Falco for whatever reason was rolling out a briefcase. "Falco, over here!"

"No can do, I'm moving out," responded Falco, not even looking in Fox's direction as he hurried towards the street. Alm, Celicia, and Fox exchanged looks with one another, baffled by Falco's behavior.

"As you can see, Falco has been so overwhelmed that he had to move out to save his own hide." Fox could not convince Alm and Celica, who both looked at him rather skeptically. "And before you ask, I knew about this beforehand."

Fox: Okay, there's no way that Falco's moving out because of Yukari. Kazooie I can see since she has a death wish for any other bird. Flying Man included. But Yukari is by far the least threatening... *pauses* ...well, she does have a gun, but she only uses it to shoot herself in the head. That doesn't make her a threat to someone to anything...it makes her a threat to herself.

While Anna was away, the buddy cops took the time to raid the merchant's shop of any "illegal" items. They were earnestly hoping that they could find something, anything, that was worth flagging Anna's shop for.

"A curling iron!" Toon Link gasped out of shock as he pulled a curling iron from a box underneath the shop stand, which had red hair on it. "Sniff it, Hutch." Toon Link brought the curling iron to Young Link, who sniffed the appliance all over.

"Unfortunately, no signs of coke or marijuana," Young Link assessed the smell of the curling iron, as a defeated Toon Link had the urge to throw the curling iron to the ground. "Was it used?"

"It's got hair in it, so most definitely. And look!" Toon Link dug into Anna's box and pulled out an extension that was long enough to extend to the mansion. "She also has a used extension cord."

"Trying to sell used items to her customers, huh? What does she think her shop is, a thrift store?" There were more items in the box that Toon Link wished to share, but not at the risk of further shocking Young Link.

"This is deserving of a ticket." So Toon Link took out his notepad and wrote up a ticket for Anna, placing it on the shop stand as Sonic came over. "A ticket for false advertising."

"Uh, you do realize that you're going through Anna's personal belongings, right?" Sonic asked the buddy cops, as Toon Link took a glance at the box and saw "ANNA'S STUFF" written on it. In red marker, no less.

"Defending the actions of a con artist? Enjoy this ticket, good sir!" Toon Link wrote up a ticket for Sonic, handing it to the blue hedgehog with heavy disdain. Sonic was hardly affected by the offense he committed.

"Oh no, another ticket, whatever shall I..." Just as Sonic was about to stuff the ticket into his imaginary pocket, he saw a woman draw near. She wore a red hat and outfit, but it was her red guitar that made her stand out.

"Well, well...we meet again, Sonic," the woman greeted the blue hedgehog, smiling as she tipped her hat. It was I-No, and she was back at the mansion to see her beau. "Is King Dedede home?"

"Probably getting pampered by his Waddle Dees as I speak." Sonic liked to think that King Dedede was chilling in a jacuzzi, with bubbly bath water, while his Waddle Dees fed him grapes and bubbly to no end.

"Haven't seen Dedede in weeks. I think I owe him a kiss!" Upon hearing this, the buddy cops' ears perked up as they hopped in front of I-No ready to press her with some questions.

"You're talking about a Hershey's Kiss, right?" Toon Link asked I-No for clarification, as I-No smirked at the buddy cops' innocence. A certain kind of fear found its way inside Toon Link and Young Link.

"You boys are so silly..." I-No moved past the buddy cops, bringing her guitar with her as she went up the porch steps. The buddy cops were hot on I-No's case, as the fear inside of them kept growing.

"Let's follow her," Young Link whispered to Toon Link, who nodded his head as the buddy cops closely followed after I-No. Sonic watched as the buddy cops did their thing, only to hear his phone ring.

"Must be another random spam caller," assumed Sonic as he took out his phone, later moping when he saw the caller ID. "Aw man...it's even worse than a spam caller!" Who was it that was calling him so that made him so disappointed?


The buddy cops, unequivocally shocked that I-No was seeing King Dedede, followed the musician inside the mansion in the hopes that their tails were being pulled. They kept a low profile as they observed I-No, who was standing in the center of the foyer with her guitar.

"Oh, King Dedede! I'm here!" I-No called out to the fat penguin, as the buddy cops kept watch of the musician. King Dedede didn't show up on command, which was good news for the buddy cops.

"Woman thinks King Dedede is her pet dog or something," Toon Link quietly snickered to Young Link, still under the guise that I-No was just joking around. But the buddy cops' worst fear was realized when King Dedede arrived at the foyer, appearing romantic when he saw I-No.

"Hey, baby..." King Dedede greeted I-No as he strutted over to the musician, locking her down with his alluring romantic eyes. The buddy cops could not believe what their eyes were seeing.

"And a 'hey baby' to you, big guy," responded I-No, as she and King Dedede took a turn smooching each other on the cheek. At this point, the buddy cops felt nauseous to the point of throwing up.

"We need to drug test that woman, and fast," stated Toon Link, not liking how romantic King Dedede and I-No were being around each other. It was like he was living in a nightmare.

Toon Link: It was never made known to us that King Dedede had a lover. When word broke out that he had two women over for Casino Night, Hutch and I took solace in knowing that maybe Dedede invited some old ladies over from a retirement home. For a late-night excursion.
Young Link: But it turns out those women weren't old ladies...and that one of them... *takes a deep breath* ...one of them was...
Toon Link: It's okay, Hutch, just say it...you can do it.
Young
Link: One of those women...was...
Robin: *stepping into the frame* Ah, just now learning about King Dedede's girlfriend? What if I told you that he had another one?
Toon Link: *stares at Robin out of pure shock*
Robin: Guess you boys weren't there when we had that discussion at breakfast last week. Turns out it was all a big understanding - they weren't really boyfriend/girlfriend. But King Dedede still has a girlfriend though, nonetheless. *walks off*
Young Link: Think I'm gonna be sick... *collapses to the floor*
Toon Link: Hutch, no! *kneels down on the floor, trying to wake up Young Link* Curse you King Dedede, and your illogical attempts at finding love!

"Came on an empty stomach," I-No said to King Dedede as she looked down at her stomach, anticipating a stomach grumble. "Got any grub in the kitchen?"

"Go and fix yourself a sub, I'll be waiting right here," replied King Dedede, remaining in place as I-No ventured off to the kitchen. Shortly after I-No left, Young Link came up with a brilliant idea.

"Over here..." the Hylian whispered to Toon Link as he held him to a table in the foyer when kIng Dedede wasn't looking. The buddy cops were hiding behind the table, keeping their eyes on King Dedede.

"Golly, I sure hope she's fixing me a sub too!" remarked King Dedede as he patted his stomach, which was now growling. "If she loves me enough, that is. But we all know that she..."

"Ooooh, King Dedede...King Dedede..." Young Link spoke to the fat penguin in a low voice, as if he were the Ghost of Christmas Past looking to haunt Ebenezer Scrooge. King Dedede was scared right off the bat, shivering down his spine.

"Who goes there?!" Thinking that a ghost was out to harm him, King Dedede took out his hammer ready for a shellacking. "I ain't got any Waddle Dees to sacrifice, so go easy on me..."

"It is I, King Dedede...your conscience." Heeding the mysterious voice from Young Link, King Dedede lowered his guard interested in what his "conscience" had to say. "I am here to give you a stark warning."

"A warning about what? The future?" King Dedede went from frightened to excited, anxious to hear about his conscience's prediction. "Please tell me that I-No and I are getting married!"

"I am glad that you brought up I-No, for I have some alarming news to share...I-No is using you!" Because what Young Link said didn't suit his narrative, King Dedede had a hard time believing what he was told.

"Yeah, right. I-No would never play big ol' me. I'm too good to be played." King Dedede was confident of this fact as he folded his arms, unwilling to have his mind swayed.

"But you were played by Captain Syrup. She was using you, like how I-No's doing right now." A bad memory was relived, as King Dedede's eyes went wide.

"What is that strange voice..." wondered Dante as he entered the foyer, having heard Young Link's voice shortly before his arrival. "...did you hear that mysterious voice, Dedede?" Dante asked the fat penguin.

"Shut up, my conscience is speaking!" King Dedede snapped, before looking in the direction that the voice was coming from and asked, "Did you say something, conscience?"

"...once a weirdo, always a weirdo," Dante muttered under his breath as he pressed on through the foyer; once Dante was gone, Young Link resumed.

"I-No is using you, just like how she used all the other men she's been with," Young Link spoke to King Dedede, who was left amazed at how his conscience knew of I-No's dating history. "She is from the streets. The streets don't claim her...and neither should you."

"Are you saying...that I should break up with I-No?" questioned King Dedede, who didn't have it in him to break up with the woman who genuinely loved him. Or so it seemed.

"Do what's best, King Dedede...doooooo whaaaaat's beeeeest..." Young Link drowned his voice out in an echo, doing so to send the message home to King Dedede. The message was delivered effectively, as Dedede was left contemplating.

"That weird voice, I heard it from down the hallway," said Dante as he returned to the foyer, catching King Dedede deeply lost in thought while on the verge of immediate heartbreak. "Was it your 'conscience', your Majesty?"

"Dante...I'm starting to think that I-No might not be the one for me," King Dedede replied as he turned to the vigilante, slowly coming to terms with the sudden development. Dante smiled as he put his hand on Dedede's shoulder.

"Would've told you that myself, but I'm glad that you're finally smelling the roses." Feeling proud of King Dedede, Dante patted the fat penguin on his back before leaving the hallway. Seconds later, Dedede went back to pondering mode as Toon Link and Young Link shared a high-five.


The doorbell rang again at E. Gadd's mansion, leaving Mario, Link, and Zelda under the assumption that E. Gadd had more company. It was Mario's turn to answer the door, and he was surprised to see not a scientist or inventor...but rather Falco, briefcase and all.

"I'm moving in," Falco announced to Mario as if he expected the plumber to just let him waltz inside the mansion. Mario couldn't let Falco through the front door without asking a simple one-word question.

"Why?" inquired Mario, taking note of Falco's body language as Falco briefly looked over his shoulder. Falco wouldn't turn back around until he got the sense that the coast was clear.

"It's dangerous out there, man." Falco waltzed past Mario as he entered the mansion, rolling his briefcase inside as he made himself at home. "Mansion isn't what it used to be."

"My first-a time hearing about this." As Falco unzipped his briefcase and unpacked a few things, Mario was later joined at the door by a downtrodden Sonic. "Hello, Sonic! Why the long-a face?"

"...because I hate my life," Sonic muttered in his reply, facepalming as if he had just crashed his brand-new car. He and Amy must've broken up or something the way that he was moping.

"Very sorry to hear-a that. But why do you hate...life?" Mario would soon receive his answer, as a giant shadow was cast overhead. Stepping outside, Mario saw a Death Egg making his descent, as Sonic turned around and groaned.

"Forgive me, Mario..." Sucking up whatever pride he had left, Sonic took a step back as he did a little performative gesture. "...now introducing, the hosts of hosts, the GOAT of all GOATS, the only and only...Dr. Eggman. With Magolor at his side.

After Sonic was done, a slow ramp was extended from the Death Egg as an opening appeared beforehand. A villainous theme song blared from the Death Egg's loudspeakers, as Eggman and Magolor walked down the ramp the former posing for the imaginary crowd. Orbot and Cubot accompanied them, spreading confetti.

"Had this been-a anybody else, I'd say that this is very extra," Mario commented on the fanfare, as Eggman waved and blew kisses to the nonexistent crowd until his feet were off the ramp. Felt like a superstar.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Eggman thanked the nonexistent crowd as he took a bow, with Orbot and Cubot following suit. Cubot had a slight delay, although it was much more than slight in his case.

"I hate this so much..." muttered Sonic, cringing at Eggman's shenanigans; Eggman ran over to embrace Sonic, who pushed the mad scientist away.

"We don't think so!" said Cubot, he and Orbot avenging Eggman as they simultaneously hugged Sonic. Sonic rolled his eyes as he was nearly done with life.

Sonic: Eggman called me one day, and begged me to do his "special presentation" or whatever. Why was I, his arch-nemesis, stuck with doing it? Better yet, how did he even reach me? Had to change my number multiple times to avoid him!

Eggman: The smart play would be to hack the phone services and find out Sonic's number, but the even smarter play is to go up to one of Sonic's friends and ask for his number that way. Sometimes, it's all about asking the right people.

Big: *holding a giant bucket of fish* That Dr. Eggman, he might be evil but he's also very giving. I'm gonna be eating good tonight! This is just half of what I was given.

"Glad I got that off my bucket list," Eggman happily remarked as he took out his notepad and scratched an item off his list with his ink pen. "Wanted to do that before I yielded my Dr. Drip persona."

"Never had any drip to begin with," remarked Sonic, whose work was done as he looked to head back home. But before Sonic could make his move, Eggman silently commanded Orbot and Cubot to hold the blue hedgehog down.

"Nuh-uh-uh! You're not going anywhere!" Eggman waved his finger in Sonic's face, just as Sonic would, which triggered his arch-nemesis. "You're going to be my comfort animal."

"I didn't sign up for this...why can't he be your comfort animal?" Sonic gestured to Magolor, who was idly standing by while doing a breath check. With his mouth still concealed, mind you.

"Because he's not an animal, genius. Even if he were a comfort animal, he'd be a terrible one." Taking great offense to Eggman's comment, Magolor looked to prove his worth.

"I can be an excellent comfort animal! Woof, woof!" exclaimed Magolor, before putting on a demonstration that was sure to knock Eggman's socks off. But all that the alien got was confused stares. "Uh...meow?"

"Well, this is one-a heck of a surprise," stated Mario, knowing for a fact that E. Gadd's machine would reach full completion with Eggman on board. "Is there any other surprises-a that..."

"SURPRISE!" someone shouted, as a bright flash appeared in front of Mario just as the plumber turned his head. Mario screamed as he held his hand over his eyes, almost certain that he was blinded.

"Mama Mia, what was that...for?" After he unshielded his eyes, Mario was face-to-face with Anna, who was holding a camera in her hand. And looking good while doing it, too.

"Sorry, I was just showing off my new camera." Putting her camera away, Anna revealed to Mario the item she wanted to deliver - the quantum flux capacitor. "Also got a special delivery!"

"Ah, a quantum flux-a capacitor! E. Gadd really needed one-a of those." As Mario inspected the quantum flux capacitor to see if it was legit, Anna looked over and saw Eggman.

"Looking mighty handsome today, Mr. Good-Lookin'!" Anna complimented Eggman, as Sonic was self-imploding with disgust inside. The thought of Eggman being called handsome unnerved Sonic deeply.

"You look pretty as always, dear Anna," Eggman happily returned the favor, delighted that his ego was struck. He tried paying his robot lackeys to stroke his ego, but it seldom worked.

"Think I'm gonna be sick..." groaned Sonic, as Magolor readily took out a trash can and held it close to the blue hedgehog. "...I didn't really mean it that much, Magolor."


Young Link's impersonation of King Dedede's conscience worked like a charm, as he got Dedede thinking seriously about his...ugh, relationship with I-No. King Dedede had gone to the living room to sit on the couch, lost in thought.

"Let's see if your trick did us any good," Toon Link said to Young Link as the buddy cops entered the living room, seeing King Dedede staring at a blank television screen. "King Dedede, something bothering you?"

"Can you boys come here for a minute?" King Dedede asked the buddy cops, who went over to the fat penguin hoping that he finally saw the light. "I want you boys to do me a big favor."

"You want us to make you break up with..." Young Link was about to say, only for Toon Link to smack him in his arm. Kept Young Link from spilling the goods.

"Let him say it," Toon Link whispered to Young Link, who heard the message loud and clear as he kept his mouth shut. If King Dedede said what the buddy cops wanted him to say, then things were headed in the right direction.

"So I know you kids know every little thing around the mansion, but I'll fill you in in case you don't know..." Taking a brief look around the living room, King Dedede leaned in close to the buddy cops before revealing a secret that pretty much everyone knew. "I'm in love with a woman named I-No."

"Dedede you doofus, we already..." Toon Link soon paused, taking the moment to catch himself as he allowed King Dedede to speak. "...what's this about this I-No girl?"

"She's not a girl...she's a woman. The prettiest woman I've made my eyes on in a while! At first, I thought she was the one for me, but now I've seen things differently..."

"In other words, you finally developed a brain," stated Young Link an in attempt to play along; not a fan of Young Link's response, Toon Link smacked his partner-in-crime.

"My very conscience spoke to me, saying that I-No was a manipulator. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that my conscience was right!"

"Got any examples?" Fortunately for the buddy cops, King Dedede did have a few examples, and one of those examples was from episode 397, amusingly enough.

"Casino Night, I remember...I was out with I-No and another woman, Millia Rage. Little did I know at the time that Millia was actually seeing another man. And I-No was leading me on, just to make me happy!"

"Millia Rage was just a friend to King Dedede...carry on," Robin informed the buddy cops as he walked by, putting some slight emphasis on "was". The mage was positive that Millia broke off with Dedede completely after the events of the last episode.

Robin: I was aware of King Dedede's "breakup" with Millia - saw all the action through the window. Moments after learning the truth, Dedede ran back inside and was crying nonstop on his bed. Crying all because he was now "stuck" with having one girlfriend. Some men would be fortunate to even have a woman, and here was Dedede crying up a storm because his dreams of polygamy were apparently dashed.

"There you are," said I-No as she showed up in the living room, holding two sub sandwiches that she fixed herself. One for her, and one for her man. "I fixed you a sub sandwich."

"I always knew that you loved me!" exclaimed King Dedede as he accepted his sub sandwich from I-No. The fat penguin mouthed to the buddy cops, "She doesn't really love me..." before taking a bite out of his sandwich.

"Were you saying something just now?" I-No caught King Dedede in the act, putting the fat penguin on the spot. King Dedede stopped chewing as he sported a nervous face.

"I was talking to myself." Rather than allow I-No to buy this excuse, King Dedede decided to follow up with an offer that I-No couldn't refuse. "I was thinking about going on a date...you and me."

"Never thought that you would ask. Where are we going?" The thought of King Dedede and I-No being seen together in public might be an unpleasant sight to some folks.

"To the water park - the Wild Waves Theme Park! We're gonna have a blast." King Dedede shared his enthusiasm with I-No as he wrapped his arm around the musician, smiling from ear to ear.

"Long as you don't take up all the space in the rides, I'd be happy to go." I-No expressed interest in this date, as King Dedede looked over at the buddy cops and winked at them.

"Then you better get your finest swimsuit, 'cause we're gonna be soaking wet!" I-No wearing a swimsuit would be acceptable, but King Dedede? Blegh...

"No swimsuit for me, I'll be just fine." As King Dedede took her arm away from her, I-No left the living room and resumed eating her sandwich. "Eat up - we can't go on an empty stomach!"

"He sure switched up pretty quickly," remarked Toon Link, who would later eat his own words when King Dedede approached the buddy cops and took out a bag of gold.

"Is that gold?" inquired Young Link, as King Dedede revealed the gold inside the bag to the buddy cops. King Dedede offering gold to anyone, even his own Waddle Dee servants, was a rarity.

"All this you can have if you can help sabotage my date," King Dedede offered to the buddy cops, who were both pleased to know that Dedede was taking a step in the right direction. "I want I-No to see me as an undesirable boyfriend so that they'll break up with me."

"Say no more, Your Royal Highness," Toon Link saluted King Dedede, who smiled as he closed up the bag. King Dedede's relationship with I-No was set to end today...and it was all in the buddy cops' hands.


Anna was with the others in the lab, with the quantum flux capacitor that E. Gadd required for the machine. The very last one required for the machine. As the merchant waited to be called upon, her attention was drawn to the time-washing machine that Rayman was holding onto.

"Very lovely washing machine you got there," E. Gadd said to Rayman, who finally had the opportunity to show his time-washing machine to the inventor. Anna stared at the appliance in Rayman's hands, smirking with a finger up to her chin.

"Thanks! But it's not just any other washing machine," stated Rayman, and Anna was about to make her move as she took her first step. Zelda kept a close eye on Anna from where she was.

"Look, I see what you're doing here. I don't want your washing machine, mine works just as fine! Even after Ripper Roo took a few baths in it."

"Well, prepare to have your socks blown off, because this washing machine is in fact..." Rayman would be interrupted, as Anna drew close and commanded the attention of the limbless hero and E. Gadd.

"One quantum flux capacitor, from yours truly!" Anna said to E. Gadd, revealing to him the quantum flux capacitor in all its glory. E. Gadd smiled with glee while Zelda remained leery of Anna.

"Amazing! You actually came through," E. Gadd said to Anna as he accepted the quantum flux capacitor from the merchant, feeling joyful holding the component in his hands. "Now my machine will be a finished product."

"Can't give you the thingamajig just yet - I'm handling some business right now." Anna turned her attention to Rayman, smiling at him earnestly.

"Before you ask, I'm not buying any of your toxic waste candy," Rayman said to Anna, but candy was the last thing that was on Anna's mind. Anna's focus was clearly on the time-washing machine.

"Nice washing machine you got there...why don't we have a chat over there?" Anna brought a reluctant Rayman over to the far corner of the lab, as Anna kept looking on.

"Stay right here; I'll be right back," Zelda whispered to Link, before making her move as she went over to investigate Anna. Left empty-handed for now, E. Gadd tried to return to the machine, but two quarreling scientists were standing in his way.

"Go home, nobody wants you," Cortex shouted at Tropy, no love lost for the master of time as vitriol was seeping in every word that he spoke. "You sir, are a loser, you heard me? A loser!"

"Look who's talking," retorted Tropy, who had the power to send Cortex flying out of the mansion of the energy to do so. "Amazing that E. Gadd got as far as he did with you in tow."

"It was thanks to me that all these people were gathered together. I'd like to think my appeal brought them over!" Cortex pointed back at the Paldean professors, Sada and Turo, who were both minding their own business.

"He has no idea what he's talking about," Turo affirmed to Tropy, while Sada looked past Tropy and saw Anna speaking with Rayman. Sada's eyes were fixated on Rayman's time-washing machine.

"She must be trying to take that time machine from him..." Sada whispered to Turo, gesturing to Anna in the corner of the lab. Just as Sada and Turo were about to make their move, Eggman intercepted them.

"Sada! Turo! A pleasure to see you both!" Eggman greeted the professors as he shook their hands individually, wearing the biggest smile on his face. "It is great that we can work together on an amazing project."

"I will say, it's quite invigorating to say the least," Turo haphazardly agreed with Eggman, taking a peek at Anna and Rayman while his handshake with Eggman persisted. "Do you mind moving out of our way?"

"You're not calling me fat, are you?" As Eggman put his hands on his hips, Sada and Turo watched as Rayman was trying to distance himself from Anna.

"This washing machine isn't what you think!" Rayman did his best to convince Anna, who wouldn't stop until she got her hands on the time-washing machine. "It's also a time machine!"

"Look, buddy, I can tell a customer that a used microwave is actually a portal to Mars," said Anna, who had a used microwave that she'd been meaning to get off her hands. Said microwave previously belonged to Marth. "Doesn't work all of the time. So your trick won't work on me!"

"Anna, leave him alone," Zelda said to the merchant, who began chasing after Rayman after Rayman got away from her. The princess accidentally bumped into Rayman, causing him to drop the time-washing machine.

"Uh oh..." fretted Rayman as the time-washing machine was activated, with the limbless hero and Zelda backing away for good measure. Anna, however, crept a bit closer with her smile wide.

"Magolor, turn that machine off at once!" Eggman commanded the alien, wanting him to be useful while the others ran for cover. Panicky, Magolor reluctantly approached the time-washing machine despite not knowing what to do.

"M-Maybe this button will do the trick," assumed Magolor as he pressed the button on the machine...causing it to go haywire. Magolor jumped back out of fright, while Anna was even more interested.

"Ooh! I would definitely make a fortune off of this!" gleamed Anna, not caring how the time-washing machine was acting as she opened the machine door. Talk about playing with fire.

"Mama Mia! Anna, don't..." Mario tried to warn Anna, but it was too late - Anna was soon sucked inside the machine. The door slammed shut as the machine continued making sounds.

After a couple of seconds, the time-washing machine died down, as it was now silent in the lab. It was all quiet, as everyone emerged from their hiding spots.

"Is it...is it over?" asked Link, who had his Master Sword pulled out just in case something drastically terrible happened. Tracer bravely approached the time-washing machine, as Sada and Turo both joined her.

"Aw, it seems that the washing machine's broken," observed Tracer as she banged her fist against the time-washing machine, which was now lifeless.

"Must've broken something when it fell onto the floor," inferred Sada as she picked up the time-washing machine, inspecting it all over for any signs of damage. Nothing she saw out of the ordinary.

"...so what just happened?" E. Gadd asked Rayman, wanting some answers out of the limbless hero. Finally, Rayman had the opportunity to tell E. Gadd what he had been dying to say.

"As I was about to tell you, that washing machine...is in fact a time machine," Rayman explained to E. Gadd, who was greatly intrigued as he adjusted his glasses. "I wanted to give it to you since your time machine's kaput."

"A time machine disguised as a washing machine? Remarkable!" Just the thought of that alone made E. Gadd giggle like a madman, although the laughing fit didn't last that long. "Never would've known."

"Then that means this Anna lady has either traveled the past...or to the future!" inferred Demyx, feeling like an astute genius despite stating the blatantly obvious. The real genius in Vexen facepalmed in response to Demyx.

"Either or - and I do believe that Anna still has that quantum flux capacitor," stated N. Tropy; once E. Gadd realized the fact, he started screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Not the quantum flux capacitor!" shrieked E. Gadd, mentally slapping himself for not demanding that Anna handed over the quantum flux capacitor at once. "Dr. N. Tropy, Sada, Turo - we must get Rayman's time-washing machine up and running again. The rest of you, keep working!"

"Aye aye, captain!" Torbjörn saluted E. Gadd, wrench in hand as he and the others were focused on the parallel universe machine. Dr. Light, who was about to get back to work, saw Magolor down in the dumps.

"Cheer up, lad, it's not entirely your fault!" Light tried to cheer up Magolor, who was later comforted by Orbot and Cubot. Even with the comfort and words of encouragement, Magolor still felt bad.

"Xemnas was right about me being an also-ran..." muttered Magolor, as Light held sympathy for the alien and left him be.


Cloud went to Omnis Adest to meet with Rufus and the Turks, and he came alone. Team Rocket, for whatever reason, wasn't available at the moment - but Cloud did relay the message to them regardless.

"Alright, Garchomp! Go for a Swords Dance!" commanded Lance, as Cloud caught a glimpse of the Dragon-type master in a heated Pokemon battle at Omnis Adest. For Cloud, it was amusing to see Lance using a Pokemon other than a Dragonite.

"There goes Lance," remarked Cloud, before looking over and seeing that Lance's Garchomp was facing off against another Garchomp. Guess who the other Garchomp belonged to?

"Garchomp, Dragon Rush!" commanded Cynthia, former Champion of Sinnoh, as her Garchomp flew at Lance's Garchomp while surrounded in a blue aura. Lance had to think fast.

"Outrage!" shouted Lance, as his Garchomp's eyes started to glow red while a red aura surrounded its body. The Garchomp then went on a rampage, attacking Cynthia's Garchomp and making it down for the count.

"Garchomp, return!" Cynthia returned her fainted Garchomp to its Poke Ball, distraught that her ace Pokemon was taken out so easily. Nothing ever beats a super-effective Dragon-type move.

"I've got you on the ropes." Lance smiled confidently at Cynthia, as he had the upper hand so far. His Garchomp had one or two more Outrages in him, so Cynthia had to choose wisely.

"To be honest, Lance, I figured I'd be in this position. Go, Togekiss!" Cynthia sent out her Togekiss, and Lance's smile faded real quick as his strategy was nullified in a heartbeat.

"...clearly you are no fun." Lance's Garchomp was no use against Togekiss, and Garchomp was stuck in Outrage mode. What could Lance possibly do to get the land shark Pokemon out of its current predicament?

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!"

"To infect the world with devastation!

"To blite all peoples within every nation!

"To denounce the goodness of truth and love!"

"To extend our wrath to the stars above!

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"We're Team Bocket, circling Earth all day and night!"

"Surrender now to us now or you'll surely lose the...AAAAAH!"

Cloud, Lance, and Cynthia all turned their attention to Team Rocket, as the trio was standing atop a tree. They watched as James lost his balance and fell off the tree branch and into some shrubbery.

"If you guys were practicing a new motto, let it be known that it was just as lame as your old one," Cloud said to Team Rocket, as James emerged from the shrubbery rubbing his aching head. Jessie and Meowth climbed down the tree to see if James was okay.

"You alright?" Meowth asked James as he helped the man up to his feet; despite his nasty fall, James suffered only a minor injury or two.

"Yes, I'm fine," replied James, who would later wince in pain when Jessie angrily backhanded the back of his head. "Ow! My neck is still sore!"

"I could care less, you're always making us look bad!" Jessie growled at James, as her Wobuffet appeared out of its Poke Ball. Jessie turned to the patient Pokemon before it could even speak. "And you better not say anything, Wobuffet!"

"Wobuffet..." Wobuffet moaned in sadness, inadvertently breaking Jessie's command as Jessie slapped the patient Pokemon silly. Wobuffet rocked back and forth, as Lance and Cynthia were equally appalled by the public display of Pokemon abuse before them.

Meowth: Spent the past couple of weeks rehearsing a new Team Rocket motto. It's nothing drastic, but we wanted to change it up a bit so that people don't have to hear the same old, same old.
Jessie: For weeks, we aimed to recite it perfectly when we performed it for the first time. And James just had to ruin it! *backhands James*
James: Why, why the back of my neck? It has yet to fully heal!
Jessie: You say that like I'm supposed to care...oughta be glad that only a small crowd saw us.
James: Even if it was a bigger crowd, it wouldn't have made that much of a difference anyway.
Jessie: *growls angrily as she holds up her hand*
James: I-I mean...better luck next time? *smiles nervously*

"Team Rocket!" shouted Lance, as his Garchomp unleashed a second Outrage in an unsuspecting Meowth. That's when Lance remembered. "Oh, wait! You three are technically good guys now."

"Glad you remembered..." Meowth moaned in pain after being sent crashing into the tree, as Lance's Garchomp became confused. Lance fed the land shark Pokemon a Lum Berry to cure him of his ailment.

"They're with me, in case you're wondering," Cloud said to Lance and Cynthia as he went over to Meowth and picked the scratch cat Pokemon off the ground. Already, Cloud felt second-hand embarrassment from the usual Team Rocket shenanigans.

"Very sorry to hear that," responded Cynthia, as Team Rocket took the former champion's comment as a slight against them. "But I ask, what's the occasion?"

"It's us...we're the occasion. Our apologies if we arrived later than you intended, Cloud."

Cloud and company were joined by a group of individuals, one that was led by the vice president of Shirna Inc. - Rufus Shinra. Accompanying him were the Turks - Reno, Rude, Elena, and their leader Tseng.

"I indulge you to hold off with your Pokemon," Rufus said to Lance and Cynthia as he held up his hand, preventing a potential Dazzling Gleam or even an Air Slash from Cynthia's Togekiss. "For we come in peace."

"Oh really?" Lance furrowed his brow with much skepticism, before turning to the man that Rufus and the Turks wanted to speak with, Cloud. "Alright, Cloud, what's the big deal?"

"Rufus wants out of Dimentio's group," announced Cloud, as this news was a big surprise to Lance and Cynthia. The swordsman then looked at Rufus, asking, "Was I allowed to say that?"

"Doesn't matter - my decision is nearly set in stone," replied Rufus, before returning his attention to Lance and Cynthia who were still shocked. "Perhaps you two would like to learn why."

"Us Turks did some background research on Giovanni, on Rufus's behalf," Tseng said to Team Rocket as he came over with receipts, holding a document containing info compiled on Giovanni. "Truly, you deserve to see this."

"Information about the boss? Do tell..." Meowth smiled as he rubbed his hands together, before wincing in pain as he clutched his lower back. "...ah, stinger!"


King Dedede took I-No out on their first (and only) date. There was a catch - acting as King Dedede's conscience, Young Link convinced Dedede that I-No was using him. Moments later, Dedede paid the buddy cops to sabotage his date so that I-No could see him as an unfavorable boyfriend.

The date would take place at an amusement park in Seattle, called the Wild Waves Theme Park. King Dedede didn't know if I-No disliked getting wet, but if it meant causing her to break up with him, then so be it.

"Starsky to Dedede, do you copy?" Toon Link spoke over an earpiece, one that he gave to King Dedede. Dedede kept the earpiece hidden underneath his hat.

"I can literally see you boys inside the pool," King Dedede spoke into the mouthpiece, seeing the buddy cops sticking their heads out of the water. "So much for being conspicuous."

"Were you saying something?" I-No asked King Dedede, as the buddy cops dove into the water. King Dedede could tell I-No the truth...or he could twist it in a way to make I-No think less of him.

"Yes, I was - I was talking to some hot ladies I saw swimming in the pool." King Dedede hoped that this revelation would make I-No irate - but instead, I-No giggled much to Dedede's dismay.

"You do have your way with women." So far, the date wasn't going as intended - not even the thought of King Dedede talking to other women upset I-No. King Dedede had to step up his game, and fast.

"Do something embarrassing," Young Link said to King Dedede over his earpiece, and Dedede discovered the jackpot when he saw a young woman rolling around a stroller. The fat penguin ran up to the young woman and did the unthinkable.

"Sorry ma'am, but your baby is hideously ugly. Begone with you!" shouted King Dedede, before taking the baby out of the stroller and throwing them afar. The crowd gasped as the baby traveled in the air, only to land in someone's hands.

"This baby...it's fake!" the person who caught the baby announced, holding up the baby which was revealed to be a baby doll. The crowd gasped yet again, as the young woman was ticked off with King Dedede.

"I was practicing being a mom..." the young woman angrily informed King Dedede, letting him know how she felt as she slapped him across the face. "...thanks a lot for blowing my cover."

"Your real baby will be beautiful, I promise you!" King Dedede said to the young woman while taking note of her noticeable baby bump. The young woman waved off Dedede as she rolled her stroller away.

Young Woman: I imagined that this water park would be the one place where I could practice being a mother. There's always a big crowd, so I could easily blend in with my stroller and all. Then that fat-lipped doofus blew my cover...I hope he stubs his toe. If he has any.

"Don't blame you for doing that, I don't care for children myself," I-No said to King Dedede, as she was surprisingly in favor of the act that occurred. At this point, King Dedede could push an old person out of their wheelchair and I-No would still be a fan.

"This is getting hopeless..." King Dedede muttered into his earpiece, as I-No slightly overheard the fat penguin and looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "...uh, talking to those girls in the swimming pool again!"


Peril was afoot, as Anna was sucked into the time-washing machine and ended up in who-knows-where. The scientists who were well-versed in time travel - E. Gadd, Tropy, Sada, and Turo - worked in unison to save Anna and bring her back to the present. The other scientists and inventors continued working on the machine.

"How do you work this thing?" Turo asked Rayman, as he and Sada were trying to figure out the time-washing machine. He was twisting the dial, and nothing was happening.

"Surely you have used this before," Sada said to Rayman, who barely contributed to the rescue mission despite him owning the appliance. Rayman was conspicuously silent during the ordeal.

"My friends have used it more than I have," Rayman sheepishly admitted, daring not to tell Sada and Turo the many fanatical adventures involving the time-washing machine. That was mainly Barbara's job.

"Sonic, get me a glass of water. Chop, chop," Eggman commanded the blue hedgehog, clapping his hands together; Sonic, who was noodling around on his phone looked at Eggman in disbelief.

"You literally have Magolor and...did Moira put you up to..." an exasperated Sonic was about to ask Eggman, before throwing his arms up in defeat and leaving the lab with a sigh. Eggman watched with glee as Sonic departed.

"Don't forget the ice, my favorite comfort animal!" Eggman called out to Sonic, who waved off the mad scientist as he left. Eggman shifted his focus back to the machine, watching as Hal was showing Wily some new coordinates.

"I'd appreciate a little positive feedback; my confidence is hurt as is," Hal said to Wily, who was looking at the coordinates Hal drew up, only to be approached by Eggman. "Yes, Dr. Eggman?"

"You may not know it, but I invented a machine that can create a portal to Subspace. Honestly speaking, I should be spearheading the project!"

"Yes, I am in the agreement that Dr. Eggman be given the reins!" Fawful voiced his support for Eggman, knowing from experience how adept the mad scientist was. He did scheme with Eggman a couple of years back, after all.

"Says who? You've just joined the project today!" Vexen hissed at Eggman, pausing his work on the machine to give a piece of his mind. Things were back to getting heated in the lab.

"Shut up, you! Just because you had the stones to ditch the Organization gives you no right to talk to me like that!" retorted Eggman, threatening to sic Orbot and Cubot on Vexen. Both robot lackeys would be destroyed, but it was worth a shot.

"Gentlemen, let's calm it down!" said Tracer as she blinked over to Eggman and Vexen, playing peacemaker as she got in between the two men. "Now isn't the time for this!"

"Um, E. Gadd, I don't mean to alarm you, but...Falco is in your kitchen," Sonic informed the inventor as he returned to the lab with Eggman's glass of water. Which also came with ice, as Eggman requested.

"Who said that you could come back so soon?" Eggman frowned at Sonic, who simply handed him his glass of water; Sonic could've splashed that glass of water in Eggman's face if he wanted to.

"Spoke-a with Falco earlier," Mario informed E. Gadd, finally about to fill him in on Falco's new living arrangement. Surely E. Gadd couldn't possibly be happy with what Falco was trying to do. "He claimed-a that he was moving out because-a the mansion was too 'dangerous.'"

"Dangerous, how?" inquired Moira, not at all surprised that Falco was a coward; she picked up a few cowardly vibes from Falco for the longest time.

"I think I know the reason," replied Mega Man, who had been paying especially close attention to Falco's body language as of late. "He's scared of someone."

"I find that hard to believe. He would have already moved out if that were the case."

"Well, you won't believe...know what, how about you follow me to the kitchen."


Mega Man and Moira went to the kitchen together, and there they found Falco, rummaging through E. Gadd's cabinets. Falco was making a mess as he was fixing himself some lunch, albeit a rather unorthodox one.

"And that...should do it," said Falco, adding the last ingredient - pepperoni slices - to his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Said peanut butter and jelly sandwich also consisted of raisins, cheese, lettuce, and tartar sauce, among the obvious ingredients.

"Falco Lombardi, I am ashamed of you," Moira called out the avian pilot, who was just about to take the first bite of his questionable sandwich. Falco had his mouth open and everything.

"Look, Moira, it's not what you think..." Falco quickly placed his makeshift sandwich on his plate, ready to plead his case. "...E. Gadd had no mustard in his fridge, so I had to make do with what he got."

"I'm not talking about the sandwich, you dolt. I was referring to your greatly irrational fear." At first, Falco was confused, but he got the memo after a moment or two passed.

"Oh, I get it - you're pressing me because of my weird fear of cotton balls. I'll have you know that there was a lady on Maury back in the day..."

"How about you shut your mouth and let me speak." So Falco did what was best for him and zipped his lips, giving Moira the floor. "I was just informed by Mega Man here that you were scared of Yukari."

"Every time Yukari shows up for dinner, I see you sneak out to Fox's place every time," Mega Man said to Falco, having caught the avian pilot sneaking out of the dining room on several occasions. "We just wanna know what the big deal is."

Mega Man: Falco being scared of women isn't exactly breaking news. He won't ever admit it, but he's scared of Katt Monroe. The thought of sending her a text and asking how she's doing is enough to break him. It's just like with men who are nervous about hitting up a girl they like. *pauses* Except the difference is that Falco is in a relationship with the woman that he's apparently so afraid of.

"There is no big deal, Yukari and I never agreed to a deal," Falco said defiantly as he folded his arms and looked the other way, only to later soften up a bit. "Well, I did make a deal with her..."

"Go on..." Moira encouraged Falco, who was reluctant to tell his story; Falco feared that recounting his story to folks outside of Star Records would be the butt of jokes.

"Touma's Force Five show got canceled a while back...or maybe it's on indefinite hiatus, I don't know." There was never really any clarity on the fate of Force Five, not that anyone cared. "Yukari was upset since she was recently added to the show."

"And what does this have to do with you?" Moira was forcing Falco to take a trip down memory lane, and Falco looked uncomfortable as he had to relive a rather painful memory.

"I wanted to make her happy again, so I, uh, pitched a spinoff show to her where she could be the main character. Since she already did a similar show over in Japan and..."

"A spinoff show, with what money?" asked Mega Man, knowing that a spinoff show based on the Force Five wouldn't be cheap. He had no clue where on earth Falco was coming from.

"I just wanted to make her content, okay?!" Falco was getting all defensive with Mega Man, losing his temper in a hurry. Moira went over to Falco, who decided to calm down a bit.

"Speaking from experience, making others happy sometimes is not worth it," Moira said to Falco, hoping that her words of advice would provide Falco with a moment of reflection. "Telling them the truth is far more valuable."

"So you're saying that I goofed up? Big time?" Falco was learning a big lesson today, and he was learning it well.

"Perhaps. Surely Yukari's wrath would've subsided had you done nothing. I think you should apologize to her, don't you think?"

"Yeah...yeah I should apologize to Yukari! Yeah." A convinced Falco was nodding his head, and Moira smiled pleased to know that she swayed Falco's mind.


Time was running out for E. Gadd and his troupe of time experts - no pun intended - as they were trying to rescue Anna. They were hooking Rayman's time-washing machine up to E. Gadd's busted time machine, hoping to create some kind of spark.

"Cortex, this is entirely your fault," Tropy threw shade at the evil genius, as he was helping Turo plug in wires from E. Gadd's time machine to the time-washing machine. "Not sure how, but it is."

"Much agreed, you caused this to happen," Uka said to Cortex, finding himself in the middle of open season. Whenever he had the chance to badmouth Cortex, Uka took it no matter what.

"Why is it that everyone loves to blame me?" whined Cortex, as always wondering what he deserved to receive such treatment. E. Gadd saw how Tropy was putting Cortex on blast, and shook her head.

"Tropy, leave Dr. Chrome Dome Man alone and focus on the time-washing machine," E. Gadd said to the master of time, as Cortex looked at the inventor looking hurt. "I'm sorry, I've been wanting to say that for a while..."

E. Gadd: *holding a stack of cash in his hand* Guess it's true what Dr. Wily said - scared money makes no money. Still wish I hadn't agreed to his dare, though.

"Back so soon? How did it go with Falco?" Dr. Light asked Moira and Mega Man, who both returned to the lab; while Mega Man appeared neutral, Moira on the other hand seemed disappointed.

"He said that he'll deal with his issue...next week," replied Moira, eschewing her disappointment as she pinched the crown of her nose and sighed. "He can be such a coward sometimes..."


Things were going swimmingly for King Dedede and I-No at the Wild Waves Theme Park...much to Dedede and the buddy cops' chagrin. Nothing that the buddy cops could do so far was enough to make I-No find disfavor in Dedede. Not even when they told King Dedede to whine to a park vendor about wanting to ride a kiddie coaster.

"I WANNA RIDE ON THE KIDDIE COASTER!" King Dedede whined as he was on the ground, slamming his fists and acting like a petulant child. The buddy cops instructed the fat penguin on what to do, and Dedede was following orders to perfection.

"Sorry sir, but you're too old to ride," the kiddie coaster vendor informed King Dedede, unable to feel the fat penguin's sympathy. "And too fat as well..." Sucking up his pride, King Dedede sucked up his crocodile tears as he took I-No's hand.

"Let's go, I-No...too many fat shamers up in here." King Dedede led I-No away by the hand, and I-No, wanting to cheer her man up, saw an amusement ride that immediately caught her eye.

"Let's ride on that," said I-No as she pointed at the ride in question, which was called Lumberjack Falls. A boat-themed amusement park ride, more or less. Seemed like there was enough room for King Dedede to fit inside the boat.

"If that's what you want, then let's move!" King Dedede hustled over to the Lumberjack Falls ride, before getting in line and handing the ride vendor his and I-No's ticket. "One ride, please."

"Please don't break the ride," the vendor implored King Dedede, getting a very good look at how rotund the fat penguin was. The buddy cops made their move, positioning themselves near the Lumberjack Falls ride.

"Right back at ya, pal!" King Dedede retorted at the vendor, as he and I-No both got on the ride. Once everyone was situated, the Lumberjack Ride ride started as the boat started moving.

"Tell I-No that you peed yourself," Toon Link spoke to King Dedede over the earpiece, hoping that the fat penguin heard him amid the riders screaming with excitement.

"Do it till after the ride is over," added Young Link, and King Dedede heard the Hylians's message loud and clear. King Dedede was going to embarrass himself big time, with high hopes that it would pay off.

The Lumberjack Falls ride came to an end after a few reps, as everyone on the ride had a thrilling experience. Naturally, with water being involved, some riders were a little wet.

"Ugh! I got water on my face," frowned I-No, who received a big splash of water during the ride. The guitarist was checking her face as she looked at her reflection in her small personal mirror. "Makeup's probably ruined."

"I-No...there's something that I gotta tell you," uttered King Dedede, appearing solemn as he slowly turned his head toward his date. He was doing a nice sell job; Dedede's acting skill was impeccable.

"And what is that? You were scared during the entire ride?" I-No was anxious to call King Dedede a wuss, but she was holding her tongue until the allegations were proven true.

"Guess you could say that...BECAUSE I PEED MYSELF!" King Dedede was now making a scene, crying into his hands as he was the center of attention. I-No felt bad for King Dedede, smiling as she patted the fat penguin's back.

"There, there...it's alright." Not getting chewed it by I-No as he preferred, King Dedede hammed it up by crying even harder. "If it makes you feel any better...I peed myself as well!"

"You...you did?" King Dedede stopped the trail of crocodile tears as he looked up at I-No, in almost perfect disbelief. Much to Dedede's chagrin, I-No smiled and nodded her head in confirmation.

"What can I say, I was a little scared too! Accidents like these happen to the best of us." Seeing that nothing he was told to do was working, King Dedede began crying for real as I-No went back to patting his back.

"We're getting absolutely nowhere..." Toon Link spoke quietly to Young Link under the park ride, as the buddy cops were in a rock and a hard place. The ride vendor came over, spotting the buddy cops.

"You boys gonna move or should I call security?" the vendor asked the buddy cops, who left without much trouble as they got up underneath the ride and left. The park vendor sighed happily afterward. "Ah, I love it when they run..."


Cloud and Team Rocket were meeting with Rufus and the Turks at Omnis Adest in private, with Lance and Cynthia also a part of the meeting. It was during this meeting that a lot of stuff was revealed about Giovanni.

"This ring a bell to either of you?" Tseng asked Team Rocket as he showed them a standard Team Rocket uniform. Except the "R" was rainbow-colored instead of red.

"Yeah, that's a Team Rainbow Rocket uniform!" exclaimed Meowth after recognizing the uniform, for he knew a man who previously wore it. "Our boss wore it back when he was ruling over the mansion."

"Can't imagine that lasted that long," Lance had this to say about Giovanni's reign over the mansion, and he would be right. Giovanni's rule didn't even last a full day.

"Precisely, this uniform is the sole property of Team Rainbow Rocket," stated Rufus, as he beckoned Tseng to put the uniform away. "But riddle me this - when did Team Rainbow Rocket form?"

"That is a good question," replied James, taking a moment to think as he scratched his chin in thought. "Giovanni never really told us."

"Also, answer this - after the original Team Rocket was defeated, did Giovanni basically "retire"? Word has it that Giovanni was no longer interested in world domination."

"Are you saying that Giovanni...isn't what he seems?" questioned Jessie, who had deep-seated questions about Giovanni from her meetings with Rufus.

"Might be more to him than meets the eye," replied Cloud, more interested in knowing more about Giovanni than ever. The swordsman didn't know it, but a certain evil jackal was spying on him and the others from up above...


E. Gadd and company were making very solid progress, thus far. E. Gadd was in full belief that they were extremely close to opening up a portal in the time-washing machine and rescuing Anna.

"That should be everything," E. Gadd said to Tropy, Sada, and Turo after their work was done, with the time-washing machine having all sorts of cords and wires connected to it. "The only thing left to do is turn this on."

"Golly, I wonder what this here button does!" exclaimed Cubot as he went over to the time-washing machine, a button catching his eye. Orbot instinctively went over to Cubot and slapped his hand away.

"Dr. Eggman said that we are not allowed to touch this appliance!" Orbot informed Cubot, pushing his fellow robot lackey away. Orbot's elbow accidentally pressed one of the washing machine buttons. "Uh oh..."

"Oh dear! This is not ideal," panicked E. Gadd as the time-washing machine began making all sorts of sounds with sparks and electricity flying out. "Rayman, turn it off!"

"I don't know how to, I've never seen it act up like this!" said an equally panicky Rayman, looking all nervous as he was biting his fingernails. Turo facepalmed at Rayman's lack of initiative.

"So useless..." Eggman had this to say about Rayman, before looking over and seeing Sonic watching the sparks fly - with a pair of 3-D glasses, no less. "...comfort animal! Make yourself useful, and stop that machine!"

"You got a henchman, you know!" responded Sonic as he gestured to Magolor, easily the most afraid person in the lab as he was hiding behind Eggman. Eggman paid Magolor no mind whatsoever.

"Dr. Eggman? Are you still here?" a certain young man asked from outside the lab, as Joker later showed up with a cup of coffee in hand. "I got your coffee!"

Joker: One way to know if Eggman is in town is when he places an order with Cafe Leblanc. When he specifically wants you (ahem...me) to fix his coffee and deliver it to him. The coffee that Eggman wanted today is... *pulls out Notes app on his phone* ...a blended ice mocha with extra whipped cream, chocolate sprinkles, almond syrup, and a cherry on top. I can't imagine working for someone as extra as he is.

"Some-a body turn the machine off-a already!" shouted Mario, fearing that everyone in the lab would be sucked inside the time-washing machine. Recognizing the situation, Joker casually walked up to the time-washing machine and simply pressed a button.

"That should do it," Joker said after pressing the button, as the time-washing machine died down. "Easy as pie." Everyone let out a sigh of relief, only for a bright white light to flash from the time-washing machine.

"I reckon Joker calmed the machine down," inferred Rayman, as the white light continued to shine. And then, the door to the time-washing machine opened...

...and crawling out of it was Anna, who looked around to see if she was back in the present. Seeing the faces of E. Gadd and the others gave Anna all the confirmation she needed.

"Hi," Anna greeted everyone in the lab, as it was silent for a moment - made it seem to Anna that she was a complete stranger to everyone. But then later, a moment of euphoria.

"EUREKA! Anna has been saved!" cheered E. Gadd, so ecstatic that he went around kissing Sada, Turo, and Tropy on the cheek in celebration. Tropy was the only individual who resisted E. Gadd's advance.

"Glad to have you back, love!" Tracer said to Anna, as everyone was happy to have the merchant back. Well, mostly everyone; some individuals didn't care about Anna getting back home.

"Curse you, Joker!" Uka seethed at the young man, who looked confused as he delivered Eggman his blended ice mocha. "I wanted Anna to be stuck forever so I could somehow blame Cortex for her predicament."

"Okay...?" responded Joker as he eyed to the side, while Eggman sipped his mocha and was left a very satisfied customer. "...you have major problems. Probably need a hobby."

"Much obliged for the mocha, Joker!" Eggman thanked the young man as he smacked him on his back, before looking over at Sonic. "Almost makes up for that pitiful glass of water I had earlier..." Seeing Eggman staring at him, Sonic waved off his arch-nemesis.

"We're so relieved that you made it back safe," Link said to Anna as he Mario, and Zelda came over to speak with the merchant. Interestingly enough, Anna was holding onto a gift bag.

"Sorry that I contributed to your little travel through time," Zelda apologized to Anna, taking accountability for her bumping into Rayman which kicked things into motion. "So where did you end up?"

"Surprisingly, I didn't go that far; I ended up in 2016 New York," answered Anna, who had a few souvenirs she wanted to show off as she reached inside her gift bag and pulled out a snow globe. "Ta-da!"

"A snow globe-a of New York City!" gleamed Mario, trying not to feel jealous as Anna shook the snow globe in the palm of her hand. "I'll have to cop-a that later. Just kidding!"

"That's not all - I also took some pictures!" Anna took out her camera film roll and gave Mario and the Hylians some pictures of New York City. Link and Zelda glossed through the pictures together.

"Anna, the gravity flux capacitor, do you still have it?" E. Gadd approached the merchant, along with Wily and Cortex, as they desperately wanted to know if Anna still had the item with her.

"Perhaps...or maybe I gave it to someone." Anna did her classic smile-with-her-index-finger-up-to-her-mouth pose, as E. Gadd was left in shambles. "Might've given it to a cyborg ninja for him to remember me by."

"Anna why did you do that, we needed it for..." Wily was about to snap at the merchant, before pausing as something Anna said made him furrow his brow. "...did you just say, 'cyborg ninja'?"

"Yup! Not Gray Fox, though. I also gave him a picture, so that he could really remember me! Might be a little blurry, but it's no biggie."

"A picture, huh?" said an eavesdropping Joker, as Falco came running down to the lab to give Joker something. "Oh, hello again, Falco."

"This fell out of your pocket," Falco said to Joker as he handed the young man a picture - the mysterious picture he got back in episode 181. "Also, someone is at the door, E. Gadd. Didn't feel like answering."

"I'll get it," volunteered Mario as he left the lab to go answer the door. Meanwhile, Joker was staring at the picture in hand, before looking up at Anna - exchanging looks as his eyes grew big.

"No way..." uttered Joker, who was now fixated on Anna as the merchant was showing the others more photos of New York City. Joker dropped the mysterious picture to the floor, as realization was seeping in.


Judging by the knocking on the front door, Mario could tell that whoever was at the doorstep was getting impatient. When Mario rushed to answer the door, he did not expect to see a manor resident standing by.

"Sweet Tooth!" Mario uttered the name of the killer clown, whose ice cream truck was parked in the driveway. Sweet Tooth didn't look like he came to deliver ice cream.

"Hey - your wife said that you would be here," Sweet Tooth said to Mario, as he was holding an object behind his back. "Got something to deliver on behalf of the All-Star Manor."

"Lay it on-a me." So Sweet Tooth revealed the item to Mario, and whatever it was made Mario's eyes bulge out. "Is that...the gravity flux-a capacitor?!"

"Is that was this is?" Sweet Tooth took a gander at the object, which was indeed a gravity flux capacitor, before analyzing Mario's shock. "You must be some kind of science nerd."

"But how? Anna said she had a gravity flux-a capacitor, and then she went-a back in time and..." Mario's brain was running on fumes, and he was unable to say another word as a matter of fact.

"Relax, buddy. Relax. If you wanna know so bad, Polygon Man forced Cole MacGrath to clean out Raiden's closet, and Cole found this doo-dad in all the other junk. We thought that you could make it useful."

Sweet Tooth: Do I miss Raiden? *shrugs* I'm neutral on him. I'm neutral on a whole lot of my peers. Except Kratos. The guy gets angry about the littlest thing. I've never seen a man scream in rage because your alarm clock accidentally woke him up at six in the morning. He must not be a morning person.

"Well, I'll be..." smiled Mario, as Sweet Tooth handed over the gravity flux capacitor. The plumber was soon joined by E. Gadd, who was sure to be a happy camper.

"Who's our visitor, Mario?" E. Gadd asked the plumber, his eyes later drawn to the gravity flux capacitor as he was now over the moon. "Ah, a gravity flux capacitor! Looks like the same one Anna was going to give me..."

"Oh look, a real science nerd," Sweet Tooth remarked when he saw E. Gadd, who wanted to give the killer clown his many thanks. "He can definitely get the most out of that bad boy."

"Was it you who delivered this? Thank you oh so much!" Just when E. Gadd was about to head back, he had one thing to ask Sweet Tooth. "Mind joining me in the lab? I'd like to see what I need that for."

"Sure thing, I can kill some time." So Sweet Tooth followed after E. Gadd, who took the gravity flux capacitor from Mario as he led Sweet Tooth to the lab. Mario remained in shock, as he turned around and saw Anna entering the foyer.

"You're welcome..." Anna mouthed to Mario with a sly smirk, as Mario turned back around smiling, and with a dumbfounded look on his face.


King Dedede tried; he really tried his hardest. He was on his worst behavior at the discretion of the buddy cops, but nothing he did was able to shake off I-No. When the fat penguin convened with I-No at the theme park entrance, he was looking mighty disappointed.

Toon Link: Nothing that we told King Dedede to do was able to work. We had him acting like a complete manchild, and yet I-No still wanted to be with him. Unless that means I-No desires to be with a child... *gasps* ...that must mean she's a pedophile! Screw giving her a drug test, she's definitely going under arrest. Big time.

"I'm sorry that our date didn't turn out how it was supposed to," King Dedede apologized to I-No, while the buddy cops were secretly watching from a distance. Many fingers were crossed that I-No would dump Dedede on the spot, based on how today went.

"No, I still had a good time," responded I-No, making the buddy cops believe that they failed their mission. The gold that they were promised was unlikely to wind up in their hands.

"But how could you? Not only did we not ride on all of the rides, but my behavior almost single-handedly got us the boot! Even worse, we both peed ourselves!"

"To be honest with you, Dedede..." I-No consciously looked around the theme park entrance, as she had something major to get off her chest. "...I didn't really pee myself."

"Y-You didn't?" King Dedede looked at I-No completely baffled, with a flurry mix of other differing emotions. His mouth was agape, a bald eagle could fly into it and make its nest.

"I made it up just so you wouldn't feel embarrassed. Had to look out for you." I-No gave a kiss on the cheek to King Dedede, who was left speechless. "See you next week?"

"Muh, m-muh..." King Dedede could hardly utter a single coherent word, with the sudden realization settling in that he was still stuck at square one.

"I'll take that as a yes. Thank you for the date! I'll see you again!" On that note, I-No departed, and the buddy cops met with King Dedede once I-No was out of sight.

"Well, boys, you tried your best," King Dedede said depressingly to the buddy cops, wanting to give them the gold coins just for their effort alone. "But I'm still stuck with I-No for good..."

"King Dedede...I think that I-No is the one meant for you," Toon Link said to the fat penguin, who thought Toon Link was out of his mind. King Dedede was now strongly reconsidering gifting that gold.

"She fibbed about wetting her pants to make you feel better," stated Young Link, imagining that move by I-No to be a huge romantic power play in retrospect. "Now that's what I call love."

"But she's literally from the streets!" argued King Dedede, recalling the very words that his "conscience" spoke to him. Little did he know that he was speaking with his "conscience" right now. "The streets don't claim her."

"Only you can claim her. She is yours to keep." And that was not a reality that King Dedede wished to accept, as he got down into a fetal position looking sad.

"We're still drug-testing her, though," affirmed Toon Link, hoping to drug-test I-No the next time he and Young Link saw her. Can't let a good crime go unpunished.


E. Gadd brought Sweet Tooth to the lab, where he could see the parallel universe machine in all its glory. The gravity flux capacitor was just installed.

"This gravity flux capacitor will be the final puzzle needed for this machine to go," explained E. Gadd after he was done installing, before taking a step back to admire his (and everyone else's) hard work.

"So this is the machine that'll rescue Raiden," said Sweet Tooth, pleased to know that he contributed to the completion of the machine in his own special way. "I'll tell Polygon Man about this, and we can arrange a date for the rescue mission."

"Sounds good." E. Gadd received a tap on his shoulder, and he turned around and saw Rayman with his time-washing machine. "Yes, Rayman?"

"Please take this machine off my hands..." Rayman pleaded to E. Gadd, before looking back and seeing Sada and Turo eyeing him from a distance. "...those professors won't leave me alone."

"I'll happily take it off your hands." E. Gadd accepted the time-washing machine from Rayman, much to the chagrin of Sada and Turo as their plan was ruined. "This will definitely hold me over until my own time machine's fully repaired."

"Just wanted to be of assistance. Thanks!" Rayman flashed a peace sign to E. Gadd as he departed, with Sada and Turo coming over to speak with E. Gadd.

"We hope to be back for the rescue mission," Turo said to E. Gadd, as he and Sada were ready to head back home to Paldea. "Just to see the machine work to its full potential."

"Very well - I'll have Burnet reach out to you if she can," replied E. Gadd, as Sada and Turo walked away both smiling contently. Turo's eyes flickered blue for a brief second...

Rayman: Man, those professors sure wanted my time-washing machine really bad! I get that they're time-traveling fetishists, but still. It's almost like someone ordered them to... *ponders for a bit, before laughing it off* ...nah, that's not likely.