7:00 PM, MOONVIEW HOSPITAL
After finishing another study and dinner session, Gerald checked on Rosalina and Pauline lying in their hospital beds, eating dinner, watching Seinfeld, and taking antibiotics. Both ladies were recovering from being chastised by the crotch parasites. Next to them was Pit who also had the same monster attached to his penis. Due to his submissive nature, he was tricked into believing he was serving Palutena as if she were his mistress. The overstimulation of his shaft caused Pit to climax inside the parasite and the two separated. Since the latter left a giant sting on Pit's groin, Palutena had to drag his ass to the teaching hospital. She sat beside him as he slowly ate his yogurt and potato salad. Under his blanket was a device hooked to his still-throbbing dick to collect urine whenever he wanted to go.
"How's sweet little Pit doing, doctor?" Palutena asked.
"Pit's going to need some pain medication to help with the discomfort," Gerald replied, "It may take two to three weeks for him to recover fully."
"Are there any other treatments you applied to him?"
"We gave the affected area a gentle rinse with hot water for twenty minutes. We then applied a hot pack to it."
A nurse barged into the room and commanded, "Gerald, we have another patient coming in with the same parasite! You must hurry!"
Gerald rushed to find the paramedics put a Blaziken on a gurney while a parasite was latched on their groin. He questioned the paramedics, "Where was this Blaziken found?"
One paramedic replied, "Near Staleport City. We had to haul them here with air transport."
"Is their Trainer present?"
"No."
"Well,—why couldn't they take their Blaziken to a Pokémon Center?"
Another paramedic responded, "It's a damn epidemic out in the Hoenn region! The Centers are already packed!
Gerald turned around and saw paramedics wheeling in a Gardevoir, a Machoke, two
Cacturne, and three Team Magma members on gurneys. He was in complete shock, but he was not alone as some areas across the globe were already declaring a state of emergency, encouraging people to stay indoors all the time (except when they absolutely needed the essentials). He turned to Rosalina and Pauline and asked, "Do you have any contacts to share with us?"
Rosalina responded, "I have those of the two other ladies and the Mario brothers."
Pauline told Rosalina, "Peach and Daisy messaged me that they were going on vacation. Doctor, please urge them to stay in wherever they are."
Gerald punched Peach's number on his phone only to immediately receive a voicemail. He got the same result with Daisy's number and cursed, "Dammit! I can't reach them!"
"How about Mario's?" Pauline asked.
5:45 PM, WARIO'S MANSION
The Mario brothers quietly trekked in the southern block of the dungeon. The catacombs were occupied by skeletons that used to be prisoners and ghosts that Luigi captured. Despite those efforts, the green-capped brother remained scared as the unidentified monster would give chase. Mario acquired a hammer and chipper from two more cells and cracked a floor to reveal a tunnel that led the brothers to the northern block. They approached a hallway out of a wall and split up. Mario collected more items and cleansed so much oil and blood stains off the walls, ceilings, and floors. Luigi entered a kitchen to find a family of ghosts having a dinner of decayed meat, curdled milk, and moldy bread. While he sucked every one of them inside, the monster bellowed from the halls. An alerted Luigi hid inside a pantry and waited for the entity's patrol to finish. He pulled his smartphone out to message Mario, but there was no signal. In a secluded storage room, the red-capped plumber scavenged a glass jar from a cluttered pile of lab equipment and hopped into a Warp Pipe hidden behind a drawing of the periodic table.
It led him to a toy-themed colosseum filled with toy soldiers, stuffed animals, mice, and pigs. Building blocks and dominoes lined the arena's perimeter, structures made with K'nex or Erector pieces were placed inside the center, and a giant teddy bear wearing a Roman emperor's attire sat at the emperor's throne looking down at Mario with a smile. He turned on his microphone and welcomed the red-capped hero.
"I am Emperor Aerodent XXVII, ruler of this promised land! My subjects hunger for entertainment."
The crowd cheered and chanted, "Aero! Aero! Aero!"
Aerodent continued, "And word of your strategic prowess has reached my glorious empire!"
On the pedestal stood Sonic the Hedgehog, Crash Bandicoot, Rayman, Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, Spyro the Dragon, Gex the Gecko, and Sora.
"What's up, Mario?" Sora waved his hand and a guard held a spear to his neck to keep him in place.
Aerodent concluded, "And I hope you put on a good show, especially since winning the tournament will win your freedom. And, if for some reason you refuse to participate, you will be subject to such torture."
Mario raised an eyebrow and asked, "What do you mean by 'such torture?'"
A guard sternly commented, "It is best to not question the emperor of the terms and conditions of the event."
"But I was not given a contract to sign," Mario shrugged.
"You either participate in the tournament or the torture—there is no going back nor any other option!"
Mario quickly agreed to join the seven other participants on the pedestal. Four pairs of guards each rolled in a table with two gaming laptops. The scoreboard opposite the emperor displayed the pairings at the bottom of a rankings tree. Ty was Mario's first opponent and the two sat on opposite sides of the table to play some Balatro.