Intermission

DLC

"3000 BANANA COINS?" shrieked Kazooie.

"Calm down Kazooie," pleaded Banjo, narrowly fumbling her as she kicked in his arms.

"I mean, granted, the market value of the Banana Coin is higher than the Dubloon but geez I'm a pretty big star, you think you'd be willing to put more money on the tabloidization of my relationship?

"Well, he's a cheapskate," boomed Donkey Kong.

Dudes Living Courageously shared a laugh at that.

"Regardless," Edelgard silenced the group, "I'm very proud of each and one of you. Outside of inevitabilities like the inter-faction battles, DLC remains a considerable force for Round 3."

"Hell yeah!" Terry cast a thumbs up with his right hand, his left wrapped around Corrin.

"Again, we face inevitabilities of loss, as Joker and Banjo-Kazooie face one another."

"If we win can we be Phantom Thieves?" Kazooie's voice shook with glee.

The Phantom Thieves conferred amongst each other in a huddle, before Joker sprang out of it, "Of course, you can, if you win,"

"Gyuh-Huh!" Banjo cheered.

"YES!" Kazooie shrieked, "Hey baby bear, should I get something sexy like Panther or something leathery like Queen?"

Underneath his fur, Banjo blushed, "Well, I wouldn't be opposed to either…"

"You can get all of our Metaverse fits for cheap," Futaba explained, "Apparently cosplay stuff is one of the hottest-selling items in the city overall."

"Nah, I don't want cheap," Kazooie blew a raspberry, "We're gonna be millionaires at the end of all this anyway. Plus, my man deserves the finest things."

"Aw…Kazooie" sighed Banjo.

"Don't ever say I don't take care of you my reservoir of milk and honey,"

"Jesus and I thought Luigi and Daisy were horndogs," Terry lamented

"We heard that," Luigi and Daisy shouted from across the auditorium together.

"I mean, you are," protested South Town's favorite son.

Edelgard cleared her throat, "Hubert, could you..um...make reservations for Dorothea and I at that restaurant she wanted to try, the…erm…what is that confectionery called?"
"Milkshakes Lady Edelgard,"

"Yes, go make reservations if necessary, and let Dorothea know she needs to clear her calendar.

"As you wish," Hubert said, somehow disappearing before anyone else in DLC could blink.

"How does he do that?" wondered Altair.

"Magic," offered Eldrik bluntly.

"I knew that," hissed Altair, "But…"

"Enough chatter," Edelgard demanded, "Quinn, you face Little Mac and…"

Quinn stepped closer to Edelgard, getting as close to her ear as possible, and cupping the air around it.

"I know how to beat him,"

"Truly?" Edelgard raised an eyebrow, "This is as confident as I've ever heard you speak,"

"I've been thinking about how to beat him ever since I saw his match in Round 1. Even if I didn't know how I was gonna beat him, I'm training with Ryu's friends as well."

"Ah, excellent," nodded the Empress.

Ken

Ken perked up, he saw his chance. This presented a reasonable way to break into the DLC conversation.

"Damn right you are Quinny boy," he said, slapping Terry on the shoulder, "But can I borrow the man and his dragon lady.?"

Corrin blushed giggling, "I'm his dragon lady,"

"You're dismissed," Edelgard nodded again.

"So," Ken began, steering Terry and Corrin away from the rest of DLC, "When you're not busy training the kid, that all-star basketball game is on the second night between Round 2 and Round 3, and Chun's been saying all of us KOF tourney guys and all of the Capcom Circuit guys haven't hung out as a group yet. You wanna come?"

Terry nodded, "OKAY!"

Ken laughed, "Somehow, I knew you'd say that."

"Excuse me but," Corrin whispered, "What's basketball?"

Terry pecked Corrin on the cheek, "It's a sport, where you have to bounce a ball while you run, the ultimate goal being throwing the ball into a net suspended in the air."

"Oh…" Corrin pondered the information for a moment, "Okay,"

"It's much more fun than it sounds trust me. Each major city in the United States has its own team and people really attach their hometown pride to it.

"Hmm," Corrin thought, "Hometown pride is based on team-based competition…"

"Got something in mind for Nohr-Hoshido?"

Now it was Corrin's turn to peck Terry on the cheek, "Maybe,"

" This is gonna sound super dumb but uhhh," Terry cleared his throat, "Could you do that again?"

And so Corrin did.

"You're a really good kisser,"

Corrin giggled, "Thank you, but there's a bit of an odd story for that."

"Why don't you tell me over dinner tonight?"

Corrin nodded excitedly.

"Now, since we're both out, I think we should find a place to cuddle for the next couple of matches," Terry yawned, stretching and miming staring into the horizon.

"Sounds good," squeaked Corrin.

Ritcher

As soon as the sponsorships for this round, the Puttnam company, and Dare Dynamics read out, Ritcher's communicator blew up.

"My man," hooted Julius. You won, congrats!"

"AYE! Trevor had drunkenly called him, Maria giggling quietly in the background, "NEVER BEEN MORE PROUD OF A GRANDSON!"

"Although I feared that, were you able to eke out a win, you would bring dishonor to our name, I have no doubt you will fight that Strife hooligan with courage and valor," Leon Belmont had wisely said.

Ritcher couldn't help but laugh at that. If he were Simon, that would have been the congratulations he was most proud of. But alas, the call from Annette and Maria asking him to go to the Smash City Zoo for a late-night lights festival was his most important call. The vampire hunter eagerly accepted, before finding Simon amongst the crowd, in hushed conversation with Megaman and Pit, ignoring his constantly buzzing communicator.

"Hey Simon, me and the ladies are going to a festival at the Zoo, wanna come?"

"When, tonight?"

"Yeah,"

"Afraid not," Simon shook his head, "I've been promising Pit, Megaman, and the Keenes I'd go get some ice cream with then and then tomorrow…"

Ritcher laughed, shaking his head, "I'm gonna need you to train both days."

"You'd have me train with you, even after you bested me in combat?"

"Of course! Who knows what'll happen when Conker and his goons attack, and then after that it's… back to reading about my favorite relative in the history books."

"Favorite…"

Simon bit his tongue in a feeble attempt to keep from crying.

"I suppose I could make time to meet your cohorts after our training sessions."

Ritcher's signature lopsided grin formed on his face.

"I knew you'd come around,"

Cloud

For the first time since he got back to the Smashers' Box. Cloud sat up straight, finally, mercifully, taking his heavy boots off of the empty auditorium chair below him. He looked around. Love was in the air. Every couple seemed to be snuggled up, and those who didn't have significant others in the Smashers' Box were on their communicators chatting with them.

He dialed Tifa's communicator, momentarily cursing his brain for only reminding him to call his girlfriend when he saw other happy couples out and about. Surprisingly, a different voice picked up.

"OH MY GOD BANJO AND KAZOOIE THOUGH!"

"What the hell, Yuffie?" Cloud groaned, "Where's Tifa?"

"Yuffie how many times have I told you you can't steal my communicator to call people?" asked Tifa, her voice far in the background.

"OKAY BUT LIKE…" Yuffie protested.

"Go get snacks with the others. Go go go!" Tifa demanded,

Cloud grinned. Tifa was likely breathing down Yuffie's neck and had bridged the gap fast if her elevated volume was any indication

"Geez, you give orders like Barrett," mumbled Yuffie as the communicator fumbled in between hands.

"You and the kids have been equally as whiney for Chocobo Ball Popcorn and Honey Buns and I need a break from all three of you right now. Go!"

"Fine geez," Yuffie grumbled.

"So anyway," huffed Tifa as the door shut behind her, "Congrats on the win."

"Thanks, it was no problem. But that's not what I'm interested in. Banjo and Kazooie being an item now is hot gossip?"

"Like you wouldn't believe," Tifa exclaimed, "That witch that's giving them all the trouble, Gruntilda, got a hold of Cait Sith's number, and she's one of the guests on Coffee with Cait tonight.

"Oh God," Cloud sighed, "That'll be a fun one."

"Yeah," Tifa agreed, "Barrett said you wanted to hit The Happy Turtle the night before Round 3?"

"Yeah,"

"It'll be fun for sure," Tifa said, her voice trailing,

"I'm sorry that I'm so bad at this,"

, "You're not Cloud, I know how you get when you've got work to do. We'll talk when you're off the clock. Love you."

"Love you too,"

"ALRIGHT," Mario shouted, "Intermission over. Akechi and Cuphead, you're up."

"Good luck out there Crow!" Ryuji shouted as Akechi stood up to leave.

"Yeah, don't let me down," joked Ren.

Akechi shot a scowl over his shoulder as he walked to Tunnel A. Cuphead ran down the row of the kid Smashers, giving them all high-fives, running uninterrupted to Tunnel B.