Mr. Grubba commented, "Hoo, fighters have sure been goin' missin' a lot lately! That's the fifth this year! What in tarnation's goin' on? I even heard some security ijit sayin' the Pit's cursed!"

Jolene shook her head, "I doubt that, sir, but I certainly don't understand the disappearances."

Mr. Grubba stated, "Well, fer the time bein', tell the other fellas that King K went home for a spell. If word gets out about missin' fighters, it sure ain't gonna be good for business, no siree! Nasty rumors have a way of sendin' folks runnin' to the hills, know what I mean?"

Jolene confirmed, "I understand completely, Mr. Grubba. I'll take care of everything, sir."

Just when Jolene was about to leave, Mr. Grubba spoke again.

He told her, "Y'know, Jolene... Yer a dang fine manager, but you just plumb disappear sometimes... I gotta know! Where in the world do you go, darlin'?"

She stammered, "Uh... T - that's... Mr. Grubba, I know you are my boss, but I don't believe that's any of your business."

Mr. Grubba chuckled, "Easy! Didn't mean to pry, now! How 'bout this, then... Heard of the Crystal Star?"

Jolene perked up, "N - no I've never heard of such a thing, Mr. Grubba."

Mr. Grubba replied, "Okeydoke well, I 'preciate yer time, Ms. Jolene. You go ahead an' run along, now, y'hear?" That's when she left. He commented, "Well, if this ain't a fine how-do-you-do! Seems like fighters are a dyin' breed. That wild child Comet and his team are just about the only draw I still go 'round here."

Blaze perked up, "Did you guys hear that?"

Flurrie commented, "Sure did."

Koops asked, "W - what did they mean that fighters are going missing? King K retried."

Mr. Grubba said, "What the hey?! Dang ceilin' is spookin' me! HEY! Somebody up there?"

Goombella replied, "Meow!"

Mr. Grubba breathed a sigh of relief, "...Hoo, nelly! Just a little ol' kitty... Here I am, thinkin' someone's up there a-peepin'! I gotta relax...take some yoga classes or somethin'... Yep. Well, back to the ring!"

With that, he left the office and locked the door behind him.

Violet breathed a sigh of relief, "That was close."

Luigi stammered, "A - a lot of that doesn't make a lot of sense, Malleo..."

Mario replied, "I know, Weegie. And we owe it to King K to figure out this mystery! Why did Jolene sound so guilty when Mr. Grubba asked about the Crystal Star? Let's get out of here for the time being."

Everyone nodded as they headed back to the major-league locker room.

...

Once they got back to the locker room, Mario went to schedule another fight.

"Welcome to the automated match-reservation system. What is your command?"

Mario had selected 'Reserve a Match'. Mr. Grubba had appeared on the screen.

He told them, "Well, dog my cats! If it ain't the great Red Comet! Fixin' for a fight, huh?"

Mario confirmed, "Yes we are."

Mr. Grubba chuckled, "Hoo-wee! Yer gonna love this! Yer next opponent is... Ranked 3 in the Glitz Pit... Hamma, Bamma, and Flare! Now listen: I want you to stand pat. Do not attack at all. The crowd loves yer partner so give 'em what they want! Drive 'em bonkers! Now get in there and share that spotlight!"

Mario confirmed, "Got it. The next two to go with Blaze will be Windy Madame and Shell Raiser."

Mr. Grubba nodded, turning off the screen. It didn't take long for security to come in and take them to the fight.

...

Mr. Grubba announced, "For our next battle, we got the Merciless Executioners; Windy Madame, Blaze, and Shell Raiser! And... The Big Bad Brute Bros.. Yep, a fight to the finish with Hamma, Bamma, and Flare!"

Flurrie commented, "Ready to fight then?"

Blaze reassured, "Don't worry, we got this!"

Koops replied, "You know it!"

Hamma threatened, "My grandpappy's hammer is gonna strike you down, man! Here it comes!"

Mr. Grubba commented, "Let's get yerselves ready to...battle!"

The gong went off as the fight begun. Blaze had did most of the fighting but finally managed to defeat them.

Mr. Grubba stated, "We got ourselves the winners! Windy Madame, Blaze, and Shell Raiser!"

The three of them did a victory dance.

...

Jolene gave them fourteen coins after the fight and their ranking had rose to 3. Jolene left again as Mario's Mailbox SP went off again.

Mario read aloud, "This is your last warning! Stop snooping around about the Crystal Star! If you don't, you'll suffer the same fate as the others who have gone missing..."

Goombella frowned, "How does this guy know about that?"

Koops said, "Yeah cause if he knew about both things...this guy might be holding the key to this entire mystery!"

Blaze commented, "And he might be one of the X-Nauts that you were telling me about."

Violet confirmed, "That is one possibility."

Flurrie asked, "But who is this actor?"

Luigi stammered, "I - it could be anyone..."

Mario reasoned, "I think we can rule out Grubba as X. He didn't seem like he didn't know anything about the Crystal Star."

Goombella pointed out, "Yeah but that doesn't give us much of a suspect list for X. And Mr. Grubba seems to know a lot."

Luigi stammered, "I - I still think Jolene is the threatening pen pal..."

Koops replied, "Make that a double theory. I also think the same thing."

Violet responded, "Yeah but we don't have much to go on, sadly."

Flurrie reassured, "We will probably figure this out in time. Right now, we better just keep going with what we were doing."

Blaze said, "That does sound like a good plan."

...

Wishmaker1028: I thought it was better to end this chapter here. It flows a lot better. For now, please read and review! And always think outside of the box!