Chapter Thirty-Eight:

When Prizes Are Worth It...

Akihabara, Japan

Wario blinked as the swirling sensation settled, and the greedy Italian lowered the magic warp flute, taking a moment to take in the new location he'd just entered. As far as he knew, he was in someone's apartment, and the room looked messy. He could see posters of various anime covering the walls, with a DBZ Vegeta poster catching his attention.

He stared out the window, and looking at the city skyline, Wario realized he was in Japan. Heck, the way the apartment was designed had a lot of Japanese architecture. The fat scam artist heard someone on a radio speaking Japanese, likely discussing the weather.

Dumbfounded, Wario face-palmed, knowing that Waluigi certainly had not moved to Japan. If he had come to the Land of the Rising Sun, the nation where the most famous pop culture hits in the world originated from, then what was that lanky no-good idiot of a brother doing here?

Wario's train of thought was shattered when he heard someone shout in Japanese, and he wheeled around, seeing a humanoid axolotl with blue eyes staring angrily at the greedy Italian.

"Watashinoie de nani o shite iru nodesu ka?" The axolotl demanded.

(Translation: What are you doing in my house?)

"OH MY GOD!" Wario shouted, eyes wide with shock.

The axolotl grabbed a large staff, which seemed to take the form of a large pen that had a glowing orb on top, and pointed it furiously at Wario; "Dono yō ni shite koko ni haitta ka wa jūyōde wa arimasen. Le ni shin'nyū shitara shikeida yo!"

(Translation: It matters not how you got in here. To intrude in my home is a death sentence.)

Wario laughed and ran towards the nearby window. The fat greedy Italian made a leap for it, diving out of the apartment and right into the Japanese streets. The axolotl leaned out the window, and shouted in Japanese at Wario again, calling him an uninvited guest while mentioning something about an Inkweaver.

"Sayonara, loser!" Wario flipped the bird, then he blew into the flute once more, and was warped away to another location in the world.

And unbeknownst to him or the axolotl, who was surprised by Wario's disappearing act, a dark lanky figure was observing from the rooftop of a nearby building. Waluigi smirked, then he warped away to another location to resume the final preparations for the Wah-pocalypse. He was everywhere, and he was inevitable.

Inside the apartment, Axol closed the window and remarked, "I should install more security at some point. And I bet he came for my Inkweaver, and speaking of Inkweaver..." The manga artist held up his beloved creation, "I think it's time for more fun."

He tapped the tip on the floor, and in a flash of light, a shapely anime girl with long yellow hair in a silky bathrobe appeared. Shizuka Marikawa of High School of The Dead winked at Axol, and flexed her finger seductively. Axol put down his Inkweaver, and embraced Shizuka, kissing her in a deep manner as the waifu made her seductive advance...

-Bob's Carnival, Mushroom Kingdom-

Meggy excitedly dragged Tari to a Meteor Blaster game booth, which was pretty much another shooter, and the two girls got right to it in seconds as player one and player two. Meggy, of course, made sure that she paid Bob the right amount of money that was needed for the meteors to start moving and for the "weapons" to operate.

Tari sat down in the game's blaster operator seat, activated her cyborg gamer mode, and tapped the fire button. Classic arcade game beeping sounded as the blue-haired gamer blasted a pair of fake meteors, and Meggy did exactly the same.

"I know you're a cyborg, what makes your arm so special?" The Inkling asked.

"Honestly, I dunno if I can explain EVERYTHING." Tari replied warily, "But the technology in my arm is very advanced, and it's been around for a few years.

"Why can't you explain everything?" Meggy was curious.

"In a technologically-evolving world where fully-sentient A.I may be closer to reality, there are dangers, and the technology used in my arm may also be dangerous and not just useful." Tari explained, "What could become of us if the technology that I possess were to fall into the wrong hands?

"Yes, it could benefit your species somehow, but what if the Octarians were to try and replicate the technology for their own gains? They could possibly create a superweapon with it, or use it against people like me. Worse, what if your people become corrupted?"

Meggy's smile faltered. "Those... sound like legitimate concerns." She remarked.

"PLAYER 1: 8005 points! 200 meteors!" An artificial voice buzzed, "PLAYER 2: 8000 points! 195 meteors!"

Meggy and Tari were showered in tickets, and as they kept blasting meteors and reeling in the scores, they were given more tickets. Tari was amazed by how well she and her new, uh, friend had done.

"OH MY GOSH!" Tari exclaimed with excitement.

"Yeehee!" Meggy squealed, "More tickets, here we come!"

Mario raced SMG4 back to Bob's booth, carrying the tickets that he'd earned, and he elbowed the meme man to slow him down just enough to make it there before SMG4 did. Bob was waiting for the duo when they arrived, and the Eggman Football was still there. Mario placed his tickets on the counter, and excitedly raised a hand.

"One prize..." Mario was cut off by SMG4, who arrived with his tickets, and the meme man looked very hungry for that football too.

"GIVE IT TO ME! GIVE IT TO ME, BOB!" The meme man cried.

"Sorry, none of you have enough tickets." Bob told them, and the two fat Italians were shocked, and heartbroken at the same time.

The Garo turned towards the price tag under the Eggman Football and blew on it. Seconds later, the number went from 100,000 to 100,000,000. Bob turned back to the duo and remarked that the shelf had gotten dusty.

"You mean, n-no prize for us?" Mario whimpered, even SMG4 was beyond distraught.

Bob then held up a comb. "Don't worry, you can still get this comb for coming hair like mine..." He said, he removed his hat and, to Mario and SMG4's surprise, the Garo lowered his hood.

The two identical friends watched with wide-eyes as Bob revealed his face along with his head. A large tuff of hair emerged, covering the Garo's yellow-eyed visage, and it was as big as a smokestack. Neither Mario or SMG4 had seen Bob's real face before, and they never knew that he had hair.

"Yeah, I'm a very hairy boy, gotta comb that shit." The shady hobo quipped, then he lowered his hood, and slapped his hat back on, with the only visible feature of his face being his eyes once more.

SMG4 turned away with sadness. "We were so close..." The YouTuber remarked sadly.

"Mama mia." Mario whimpered.

"Hey, boys!"

The guys looked up, seeing Meggy and Tari coming their way with a large pile of tickets in their hand, and Tari was carrying a good chunk of them. Meggy winked at Mario and SMG4 while Tari struggled to carry all of their hard-earned tickets, even as her hand sweated and her knees buckled.

"Don't worry. We won a few more tickets." The Inkling told them with a smile.

"You actually did it?!" Bob exclaimed, 'This is not looking good for my business.'

"Are those tickets for us?!" SMG4 asked excitedly while Mario whooped.

"Yup..." Meggy smirked, and the Inkling put a hand on her hip, "Buuuuut, you better share that prize with us."

Mario grabbed the extra tickets from Tari, ran to Bob's desk, and clamored for the hobo to take it. The stunned Bob handed over the Eggman Football, and Mario held it high with SMG4 placing an excited hand on the item as well. Mario nodded to his friend, agreeing to play some Eggball with him at the castle, and SMG4 flashed a happy thumbs up.

The fat Italian and the meme man ran off, leaving the carnival grounds, and a gleeful Meggy followed them. However, Tari stayed behind and watched them leave. "At least everyone is happy..." The cyborg remarked.

"Oh!" Bob suddenly exclaimed, "There seems to be enough tickets left for this rubber duck!"

He held up a rubber duck and Tari's eyes lit up. She ran towards the booth, and took the duck that Bob was offering. The cyborg girl smiled, and she clutched her newly-bought rubber duck as she headed off in the same direction as Meggy, Mario and SMG4, ready to play with it just as the others would be playing with that Eggman Football.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" Tari said with excitement, "I'm gonna name you Quackerton and we're gonna have so much fun together! You're the cutest rubber duck I've ever met, and I love rubber ducks so much."

Bob watched from his booth, and he didn't feel angry in the slightest. He held up the bags with the money that he'd taken from the suckers who'd played every game in his carnival, and his eyes lit up a little. Bob counted the money that was in each bag, and his face lit up even more.

"The suckers may have gotten the tickets for the only prizes I had..." Bob remarked, "But I still got that sweet, sweet cash." The Garo rubbed his blade hands together, ready to continue his business, and he looked forward to stealing more money from the next sucker of a customer...