The Subspace Emissary's Worlds Conquest (Megaman Legends Arc)

[Allegretto]

Dang, you'v been wrighting this for almost more than a year. Well done, it's great.

[DededeCloneChris]

Smash Channel

Final Fantasy IV DS – Mystic Mysidia

In the peaceful and lively forum (that had to be quickly repaired due to a previous attack by an Eidolon of light), the World Traveler (in his Chozo Arts job) waved happily at the cheering audience. "And we're back again with the Smash Channel!" Chris said as he raised his hands to the air, calling for the public to applaud. "As we've promised before, here's our second round of the show for the special Side-quest arc. Okay, are you worried about what happened in this chapter?"

The audience only murmured things.

"I bet you're thinking that we all died. Well..." Chris closed his eyes. "...Wait until the next chapter comes in...okay?" he asked before opening his eyes. "There's a 95 percent that the whole good cast of people died...and the other 5 percent is to point out that, out of everyone that surely got killed in the explosion, Sig surely survived."

"Yay," came as a response from Sig between the audiences.

"And don't start asking how I'm here and all that because, well, this is non-canon, just to amuse people a bit... Okay!" Chris said enthusiastically. "Today, we've got word of a lawsuit that 2 characters filled in because they didn't get a chance to be in this show some time ago," he said as he looked annoyed. "And I'm pretty darn sure they were surely going to sue the whole section if I didn't call them today..." he muttered before looking happy. "So then, we ultimately decided to call those 2 here so they get their chance to participate in this special section."

The audience started to clap.

"Without further ado," the teen began as he held out both hands out to his sides, "give a warm and, if you can, magical welcome to the twin mages of Mysidia: Palom the Black Mage and Porom the White Mage!"

"Palom the Mysidian Genius!" said the mentioned bluffing character that sat left to Chris. "I told you before that's my title!"

"Hush now, Palom," said her somewhat angry sister Porom who sat to Chris's right side. "Be glad we're here today."

Chris looked bored. "It's hard to think you 2 put the lawsuit. It's not like Porom to do such a thing... Who did this?"

Porom merely pointed at Palom.

Palom folded his arms behind his head and looked proud.

"...Of course, that makes much more sense," Chris said as he rolled his eyes. "Well, you 2 are here, so let's not keep wasting words, sentences, and time, okay?"

"Shoot the topic, dude!" Palom said excited as he punched the air a bit. "I wanna get to the point here!"

"I hate to say I have to agree with my brother for once," Porom said with a bow. "Please, do present the topic to discuss."

"Hmm-hm," Chris nodded as he took out a paper, "the topic for you 2 is..."

Of the characters that went to help the FFIV gang, who do you think would be perfect to stick with the team for the remainder of your adventure?

Some people began to clap at this topic. "An easy topic," Chris said. "Since we have 2 people here, you each will get to say something."

Palom and Porom nodded to each other before they opened their mouths to sa-

"Ooh, sorry, you can't say Popo or Nana because that would be too obvious," Chris interrupted.

"Bullcrap!" Popo and Nana yelled from the audience.

Palom looked a bit mad and Porom looked annoyed at this. "Hey, we don't have anyone else to mention!" Palom argued as he pointed a finger (with a swirl on it) to Chris. "You're being cheap!"

"Who else do you want us to talk about?" Porom asked a bit annoyed. "Our world only got 5 of the Smashers, and you're not even stated to be in the real deal you call video game."

"Well, that's true...but you still have Ike and Zelda," Chris pointed out.

"Pfft, Ike and Zelda? Are you kidding me?" Palom asked chuckling. "Do you think I want to mention how much of a dummy Ike is? He's all talky-talky about swords and what not. Why, if I were him, I'd GRAB his sword, POINT it at my butt, and MOVE it up m-"

Chris quickly took out a floating black sign from under the counter that read "CENSORED" and put it in front of the oblivious Palom as he began to say very disgusting things about hurting himself with Ike's sword. The words that he spoke were silenced as long as the sign was in front of him. "There," Chris said as Palom kept talking without noticing the sign. "Porom, it seems you have Zelda."

Porom crossed her arms and looked away as she shook her head.

"...Is something wrong, Porom?"

Porom turned to him and shook her head. "Sorry, but putting Zelda in there would destroy much of the fandom that has followed the game."

"...I beg your pardon?"

"You know Cecil, right?"

'Yes."

"You know Rosa, right?"

"Yes."

"You know how much infatuated Zelda was for Cecil in the arc, right?"

"Yes..."

"Well, if we let her come, there would be a horrible threesome," Porom theorized. "Cecil is constantly worrying about Rosa's welfare. If Zelda is put into the picture, she is bound to do something unneeded between the love between Cecil and Rosa. Fans have appreciated their love, but what would exactly happen if Zelda was in there?"

"C-can you please stop talking about me?" Zelda was heard saying from the crowd.

"Besides, she's not even engaged to someone. That means my theory could happen."

"O-of course not!" Zelda said embarrassed.

"W-well, at least those 2 universes haven't intervened with each other before..." Chris said.

Porom shook her head. "Oh no, they did intervene a very long time ago, actually..."

"...When?"

"Final Fantasy I, the glorious birth to the series," Porom said. "If you go to Elftown and visit the graveyard, if you see a grave it'll read 'Here Lies Link,' and Link is supposed to be the hero of The Legend of Zelda, right?"

True fact in you have the GBA version of Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls.

"...B-but that's just a small cameo!"

"Besides, I'm never found in a grave!" Link yelled from the crowd.

"Oh no, it gets more obvious after that," Porom said. "In Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, there's a special weapon called Master Sword. If you take a closer look to the sprite, you'll see it's modeled like the Master Sword that almost every single Link uses."

True fact if you have Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for the GBA.

Porom crossed her arms. "You could say those small cameos are the way to say thanks for letting my creators do their production in your, our, games. But if we take those cameos at hand, you'll get a surprising thing that could happen as another way to say thanks."

Palom removed the sign by pushing it away. "Yeah, tell him, sis!"

"What's that other thing? Destroying a pairing from the seemingless queen of Hyrule that is in fact a princess."

"...Time's up!" Chris said as the crowd began to clap. "Sorry, Palom and Porom, but your time has ended."

'No it's not!" Porom argued. "Our fellow Final Fantasy IX companion, Eiko, stayed her for a little bit longer! We deserve the same treatment!"

'Yeah!" Palom yelled as he showed Chris the CENSORED sign. "You better hear to what we have to say, or we're shutting you up with this little baby here!"

Before Chris could even say something, Palom put the sign in front of Chris's face to silence him.

Porom looked bored. "Palom, you should have let him say something before even doing that to him. People here will think we're brats when YOU are the true brat here."

"Oh, wanna fight or what?" Palom asked as he began to punch the air, Chris trying to take off the sign in front of his face. "Don't make me angry, Porom. You'll hate me when I'm angry!"

Porom rolled her eyes. "I hate you even when you're not angry... Now hush."

Chris removed the sign. "I said time's up!" he yelled before smiling happily at the crowd. "Well then, see you later!"

And then the curtains fell down. However, the crowd knew well that something was going to happen behind the curtains that they decided to stay and listen.

"Okay, you've made us reach a violent decision we didn't want to do to you," Porom said behind the curtain. "Do you feel regret for not letting us talk some more?"

"Look, you 2 came in here without stating how much time you want to be here. It's your fault that you didn't want to specify the time," Chris said. "And no, I don't feel regret."

"Sweet!" Palom called out. "Porom, can we use Twincast on him?"

"Oh well, this is just for once, okay? Once we cast our spell on him, we'll go away," Porom said.

"...Wait, what?" Chris asked.

"Comet!" both mages yelled.

Not long after they said that, a shower of stars began to crash down behind the curtain. It seemed like most of the newly acquired stage's props were destroyed once again...

"Seriously, it's been 3 times in a row that this place has been blown up to bits!" Chris yelled before a star hit his head and made him pass out. "I hope the next guests won't do such a thing here!"

"See you later, suckers!" Palom proclaimed before Porom yanked his ponytail. "Oww, not the hair, not the hair!" he yelled.

"Hush now!" Porom yelled as the forum kept being bombarded by the stars that came from the ceiling.

...

-Next Chapter's Title: Select Restart-

Do you want to save your data after the events of today?

Yes

Overwrite file?

Yes

Eastern Mountain Range
-None-

[DededeCloneChris]

Chapter 161: Select Restart

Eastern Mountain Range - Wastelands

Star Ocean: Till the End of Time - Interval of Frozen Time

It was hard to picture the horrible scene that had happened ten minutes ago; ten minutes ago where a massive explosion of aura took most of the environment across the landscape...

Winds from the horizon swept the ground of huge fissures where something came out of them and exploded. For a brief moment, it looked like there was no life left. An eerie silence followed the winds, and there were no signs of people around...

Until a lightning-shaped tail perked up from a fissure, then it was a sign that there was someone alive.

"...U-ugh...u-ugh...u-ugh..." a voice struggled to say anything.

From a western fissure, Pikachu, all bruised and coughing constantly, pulled his head up. The Electric type shook his head to dust it off from the crumbles that had fell on him.

"Bleh..." he coughed some dust."This is what happens when your curiosity grows so...oh my Arceus..."

Pikachu could hardly believe his eyes. The Electric type looked around at the new landscape before him...

From what he could see, Pikachu stood inside a small fissure, many other big fissures running through the whole wasteland before his eyes. For his dismay, many of the mountains of the eastern range had collapsed, save for the mountain where Gnome was resting. Turning his head to look back, Pikachu gasped once he saw that many different trees from the forest had been turned into dust. It was apparent that Lucario's aura had done everything around because, apparently, there were some small flames of aura that burned silently over the whole wasteland and forest.

However, there was something that didn't make much sense for him. Apparently, there were still some trees that had some luck to be unaffected after the explosion of aura took place, and there were some patches of grass that looked unharmed as well. It was even more surprising to see that there were some rows of trees behind where the main road to Nintendo City was still there.

"...B-but how?" Pikachu asked in pure disbelief. "I-I thought everything was destroyed...but...when you look back..."

Pikachu looked back to the eastern chain of mountains, finding some mountains still intact.

"...How did this happen?" Pikachu asked confused. "Why are some places...unaffected?"

"So, this is what happened because somebody had to go on and obtain ultimate power so foolishly fast...how pathetic is that?"

Pikachu's ears perked up before he turned around to look directly at Mewtwo's purple tail. The Electric type looked up to see at the Psychic type crossing his arms as he looked around the whole area.

"M-Mewtwo!" Pikachu said.

Mewtwo looked down at Pikachu. "It seems you're still alive as everyone... I'm glad."

"What?" Pikachu asked. "What do you mean by that? I-is everyone still alive? W-wait, how did yo-"

"Calm down," Mewtwo said, "First, let's get the others back here. They're not dead but alive."

"...H-how?" Pikachu asked.

Mewtwo frowned. "I can easily infer this had to do with Lucario...right?"

"...Yeah..." Pikachu said as he looked down, his ears dropping a bit.

"...Just as I thought, then," Mewtwo said before his eyes glowed. He then held out his open right hand in front of him. "Let's see..."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm just retrieving everyone's bodies back to safe ground, or what used to be safe ground before this enormous catastrophe took place," Mewtwo explained. "...Yes, there they are..."

Pikachu blinked confused before he turned to the east. Gasping surprised, he watched as Pichu, Popo, Nana, Ness, Jigglypuff, Diddy, Kirby, and Chris's bodies all began to rise up from many different fissures. Perhaps what was more surprising was the fact that Lucario was between all the knocked out bodies of all the fainted Smashers, all of their bodies severely bruised.

While using Confusion, Mewtwo closed his eyes as he pulled everyone to him and Pikachu. Once everyone's bodies were brought down safely on the ground, Pikachu went over to check on a bruised Pichu. "Pichu, Pichu, wake up, Pichu!"

"...U-um..." Pichu's eyes slowly opened as they stared up to the sunset's sky. "W-what...am I doing here?"

"Pichu!" Pikachu's face moved up to Pichu's face. "Oh goodness, you're still alive..." he sighed in relief."I'm so glad..."

"P-Pikachu?" Pichu said confused. "W-we're...alive?"

"Of course you're all alive," Mewtwo said, Pichu's eyes quickly moving to look up at him.

Not sooner he said that, the other Smashers moaned a bit in pain as they all slowly opened their eyes. This also included the downed Lucario who grunted and gritted his fangs a bit while he pushed himself up by using his right hand.

Pikachu, seeing that everyone was slowly pushing themselves up, sighed in a big relief. "You guys...you're all just fine..." he muttered.

Diddy coughed. "O-oh man, what did just happen here?" he asked as he rubbed his hat a bit. "W-where did...I mean...w-where did the..."

Everyone else looked around in shock to see the big scars of destruction that Lucario's aura had left behind on the wastelands. Most of them shook their heads in pure disbelief as they slowly looked around to examine what was left of the aftermath of the destruction.

"I-I...can barely believe any of this..." Nana said in shock as she stared down at the long fissures that ran all the way across to the east. "L-Lucario..."

"U-ugh..." Lucario frowned and looked down, his breathing becoming a bit heavy.

Surely, the one who looked the most shocked was Chris. The World Traveler could just close his eyes a bit and stare shocked at Lucario's destruction over the whole landscape. Lucario slowly turned his face to look at Chris, but Lucario later and slowly looked away in shame. He knew Chris was going to scold him.

The silence made Lucario feel worse while Chris kept staring away.

"...Goodness..." Ness muttered. "...This is what you call mass destruction, then?"

"I-I guess..." Kirby gulped as he grabbed his Puyo hat and embraced it in fear.

Everyone remained silent for a moment before Jigglypuff looked at herself, finding many bruises on her body. "B-but...there's something I just don't understand..." she muttered. "H-how did we survive? A-and..." she turned around to look at some of the unharmed trees in what was left of the forest, "why is it that there are...some trees left?"

Mewtwo looked at them. "After the massive explosion of aura that took many different areas, you, and everyone else in the range of 40 miles, were lucky to have survived."

The others looked back at Mewtwo. "...Forty miles?!" everyone else yelled in shock.

Mewtwo frowned. "Well, that's what I could sense with the scattered bits of Lucario's aura going a long way to every single direction," he explained. "Lucario, do you have enough energy to sense your aura scattered across everywhere? I know Lucarios should sense auras for half a mile, but since you come from a legendary lineage...can you sense your aura? I could be wrong with this wild guess..."

Lucario blinked a bit in shock. "W-well...let me see..." Lucario closed his eyes as he managed to glow with a more suitable aura than the one that he used minutes ago.

The silent World Traveler stared worried at Lucario. "(...Why?)" he asked to himself as he stared at his glowing Aura Pokémon with some preoccupation. "(W-why do I feel that his aura...looks scary?)"

It seemed that Chris had the unfortunate luck to have developed a small phobia against Lucario's aura. The World Traveler remembered how intense Lucario's aura glowed before everything was almost blown away to nothing, and Chris remembered how horribly strong the aura felt when he took a step inside the force field of aura to get closer to his previously enraged Pokémon. Before, Chris would feel very nice whenever Lucario let him feel his aura, but now, just looking at Lucario's aura didn't look the same anymore...

"(That aura...it felt a little bit...malicious...)" Chris thought. "(...It...couldn't have turned red, right? Lucario said before that red auras are with bad people...but...his aura felt malicious...)"

"..." Lucario opened his exhausted eyes. "...M-my aura...those small flames...they're...very far away from here..."

Every young Smasher gasped a bit, muttering things to each other while Mewtwo nodded. "Then, your aura did reach over 40 miles..."

Lucario tightened his fists a bit. "I...I just didn't know I could cause all this..."

"If you ask me, I knew this was going to happen beforehand," Mewtwo said.

"What?" Lucario looked at him.

"I didn't tell you this before because I thought you knew how powerful you were," Mewtwo began, "but seeing that you look so helplessly absent-minded, I may as well tell you before you repeat this same mistake and take our lives away just because your curiosity bothered you."

Lucario grunted a bit and looked away.

"You don't know, right?"

"...N-no..."

Mewtwo frowned. "Well...Lucario, what you just did some moments ago was using your true power to unleash its true and destructive potential."

Lucario nodded as he looked ashamed at a long fissure that went to the south.

"I can tell that very well because of my own strength in my mind," Mewtwo explained. "At first, when I first met you, I felt a whole lot of energy within your aura that was waiting to be called upon."

"...Really?" Lucario asked as he and everyone looked at Mewtwo.

"Yes," Mewtwo said. "To be honest, I hoped you wouldn't resort in using that kind of power before because that could have easily killed anything and anyone, even me." He closed his eyes. "I can tell you were absolutely helpless when you went on and decided to 'explore' that power...right?"

Lucario frowned to himself and looked down on the cracked ground.

"I'll take that as a yes," Mewtwo said. "You thought you could tame that power, right?"

"...Yes..."

Mewtwo shook his head in shame. "I'm going to be blunt to you, Lucario. You were acting like a stupid fool for thinking you could take control of that power. Thanks to you, the ecosystem and environment alike within the range of 40 miles were almost obliterated to nothing, and that could have included everyone as well."

Lucario grunted and frowned one more time. "...I know what I did was...very dangerous...but...I'm so sorry for everything..."

"Take in mind saying sorry won't bring back what you destroyed," Mewtwo reminded him. "Don't you know? Power is not only used to save people, but it also corrupts anyone very easily."

Chris looked a bit surprised at this as he recalled in his mind Presea's words one more time.

"It's something very natural that a lot of people overlook. For that, I am careful about my own magnitude of power," Mewtwo said.

"B-but wait..." Kirby interrupted. "H-how did we survive?"

Mewtwo looked away before he looked back at them. "I can say I'm surprised that Lucario managed to make his aura less lethal that it was supposed to be..."

"What?" Ness asked. "He made his aura less...lethal?"

"Well, I can tell that much," Mewtwo said. "Isn't that right, Lucario?"

"..." Lucario nodded. "...Yes, I did ease the power of my aura..."

"How the heck did you do that?" Diddy asked. "I dunno anything about aura but..."

Lucario looked at everyone. "While I was being taken enraged by my power, I tried my best to calm it down..." He looked around a bit. "The aura I have is for my will to use. Whatever I tell the aura to do, it does it. But...when I was being used, my aura grew immensely strong that I couldn't longer control it...and power took me..." He looked ashamed. "When that happened, my aura was going in a rampage. In my mind, I struggled to make it stop, but I couldn't do it. However...I concentrated everything I had left in me to make it less destructive and protect everyone...all in small amount of time..."

"A small amount of time?" Pikachu asked. "You were grunting and roaring all the time..."

Lucario looked at Chris. "It was because Chris himself yelled at me before I exerted the ground with my aura... When he yelled at me, I quickly used everything to stop the attack from being very lethal, and I guess I was able to do it..." He looked back at the forest. "As a result, my aura lessened its magnitude, and it didn't manage to destroy everything in its way. I made it not so destructive enough to destroy the various places across this land like the Smash Mansion, the post office, the dojo, Agitha's home, the village to the west, and everywhere where I sensed the auras of many people..."

Mewtwo nodded. "That's the whole truth. The Smash Mansion was completely engulfed with his aura, but oddly enough, it didn't cause any kind of destruction. Once it engulfed the mansion, everyone in there panicked for bit before noticing that everything was normal. I did notice that they were a bit hurt, though. Master Hand told me that Lucario was the one responsible for this, and he also told me to find you and see what happened. Thanks to Lucario's control of his aura, a lot has been adverted from being completely erased from existence..."

"W-what do you mean by that?" Jigglypuff asked.

"If Lucario didn't stop his aura in time..." Mewtwo trailed off, "...we wouldn't be here, and all the range where his aura reached could have created the biggest crater known to this universe..."

"My...goodness..."

Mewtwo frowned. "Also, I saw that the other people living nearby weren't hurt by your aura. I can guess you didn't want innocent people to get hurt, right?"

"Yes..." Lucario said. "I...wanted to keep innocent people from getting hurt, and I thought that we could resist some of the attack..."

"That was a wise thing to do," Mewtwo remarked. "I was hurt a bit and so did everyone."

Kirby looked down. "That...was so scary..."

"Such is the power of Lucario's lineage, I see...but I can infer that it was pure negative energy that he shouldn't have used in the first place. I wonder, what did convince him to do it?" Mewtwo asked.

Lucario looked at him. "...I...wanted to feel that power again..."

"Oh right, and everything and everyone around here had to feel it the bad way," Mewtwo said sarcastically. "Lucario, I'm going to have to order you to stop thinking about relying on that power ever again."

Lucario looked down.

Mewtwo crossed his arms and glared at Lucario. "You should know that the power you used wasn't even the true one you hold."

Lucario looked back at him.

"That power was negative," he explained. "If you really want to obtain the positive power, then do like everyone does and train yourself. Everyone trains hard so they can become stronger little by little, not little by big, do you understand?"

"I-I...understand..." Lucario said.

"Besides, maybe you're thinking that the force you used would be very helpful in the fight against Tabuu, and I have to agree with you."

"What?" Popo said. "Didn't you say it was..."

"Of course, we can't forget the fact it kills us off as well," Mewtwo said. "You don't want that to happen, right?"

Lucario looked at the worried Chris. "...No, I don't want to..."

"Good," Mewtwo said annoyed. "Take in mind you're receiving a lecture from a Legendary Pokémon. I know what I'm talking about so you can understand the burden power has on everyone."

Chris gasped mentally.

"I-I know..." Lucario trailed off. "Presea gave me a lecture about power some weeks ago..."

Mewtwo closed his eyes and turned to the mansion's way. "That only makes you look even more like a fool, Lucario. If you did know about the burden, why go ahead and ignore it altogether?"

"I know...sorry..."

Mewtwo sighed. "I hope this made you learn a very important lesson." He looked at Lucario over his left shoulder. "By the way, rage isn't going to make us defeat the Subspace Army."

Lucario looked worried at him.

"Rage only makes you go blind enough to commit something very stupid. I know it's been very helpful in all our previous battles, but if I were you, I would stop relying on rage and wrath alike so it doesn't grow dangerous enough to make us all suffer the consequences...unless you want to repeat what happened here..."

Lucario shook his head. "I-I understand... I feel so ashamed, Mewtwo...really, I do..."

"I hope. Take in mind that this could have been even worse if you had the necessary stickers to enhance your powers," Mewtwo explained. "The magnitude of your force could have increased to a new feat of power...and you know the rest, right?"

Lucario nodded silently.

"That's all you need to know for now," Mewtwo said before he turned back to the mansion's way. "Everyone, let's go back to the mansion. Master Hand told me to tell you to come back. I guess he wants to have a talk with Lucario as well..."

"Mewtwo, don't you think you're being a little bit harsh on Lucario?" Nana asked.

"He needs to understand this through this way," Mewtwo said as he floated away. "My reasons are justified enough to do that."

As the Smashers watched Mewtwo hovering on the ground to the mansion, the Psychic type closed his eyes to think about something.

"(This didn't happen with the previous Lucario before him...)" Mewtwo thought. "(Even so, I could say this Lucario is more...sociable...I guess...)"

The young Smashers and Chris looked at the ashamed Lucario. They all stared at his ashamed look before they all began to walk back to the mansion, most of them hanging their arms on someone else's shoulder. The Aura Pokémon looked forward where Chris stared at him.

"...Chris..." Lucario muttered. "...If I made you feel angry...I'm very sorry..."

Chris kept staring at him.

"The only thing I'd hate to get is your rejection to me...that's a bigger punishment I wouldn't be able to tolerate for a time..."

Lucario watched as Chris shook his head and walked back to the mansion with everyone else. Lucario's jaw dropped a bit at this. "C-Chris, please, forgive me!"

Chris stopped in his trails and shook his head. "...Lucario...I'm not angry at you..."

"What?" Lucario asked. "B-but then..."

"I don't hate you either," Chris pointed out. "But...when you were so furious over what we did...you looked...like some sort of hellish demon..."

Lucario shook his head in shame. "...Sorry...I'm so sorry..."

"...Take in mind I'm not angry nor hate you, Lucario..." Chris said. "...I...want to be alone for a time so I forget that awful memory..."

"Chris..."

Chris looked back at Lucario before Chris turned around and walked back to the mansion, his body aching a bit in pain for surviving the attack that could have destroyed everything in its way.

Lucario blinked worried before Chris disappeared from his sight. Clenching his fangs, Lucario tightened his fists and looked down to find Pikachu looking up at him. "Pikachu?" Lucario said.

"Come on already, PMD," Pikachu said as he motioned to the mansion. "We have to go back. Don't look that sad either. Chris will surely talk to you before long, okay?"

"...Pikachu..." Lucario forced a small smile. "...Thanks for trusting me..."

Pikachu nodded. "You like Chris as much as I like Ash. I sort of know the bond between you 2," he said before he jumped to Lucario's head, lying down between his ears as Lucario's eyes looked up at him. "Let's go back and wait until he talks to you, okay? I'm sure time will fix you 2 up very soon... Even if you almost destroyed everything, you didn't which is good."

"Thank you..."

Pikachu patted Lucario's forehead. "You just trust me, okay? If you have doubts, I won't hesitate to help you out with them."

Lucario chuckled a bit before he began his way back to the mansion with Pikachu on his head.

"...Pikachu," Lucario began as they both walked pass by a tree, "can I ask you something else?"

"Yes?" Pikachu said.

"...Why did you say PMD to me?" Lucario looked confused. "What does it mean?"

"Oh, that?" Pikachu said. "Well, after you were about to blow up everything with your aura...I decided to call you PMD."

"And...PMD means..."

"Pokémon of Mass Destruction."

Lucario remained silent as he walked.

"Not to be confused with Pokémon Mystery Dungeon," Pikachu added.

"Pikachu..." Lucario trailed off with a sigh.

Suddenly, after Lucario passed a tree, he grunted and put a hand on his forehead.

"What is it?" Pikachu asked. "Do you have a headache now?"

"S-sort of..." Lucario muttered. "I...think it's some kind of bad aura I just can't seem to focus on because it's so twisted...but...maybe I'm just overreacting...after all, I'm still using my aura to see if it did go even further away..."

"You should rest for now," Pikachu suggested as Lucario walked away with him. "Let's take a nap."

Unaware of something, neither the Aura Pokémon nor the Mouse Pokémon noticed that they were being watched all along by a blond boy who was hiding just behind the tree Lucario passed. Sticking his face out, Barry watched as the rather huge Lucario walked back to the mansion.

"Holy Pidgey s(beep!)t!" Barry said astonished. "That Lucario's power is just frickin' amazing! He got so mad enough to destroy the whole place!" he said surprised. "Man, that one surely beats that stupid Lucario from Maylene!"

Barry blinked in shock and looked around.

"Oh no, I gotta inform this to Dawn and Lucas. They need to know this before we make our moves!"

Carefully sneaking behind what remained of the forest's trees, Barry made sure he could sneak back into the mansion without being noticed. The hyperactive trainer, however, was thinking about having Lucario for his team in a near future.

Smash Mansion
Lucario's Room

Night came in, Chris had to receive a visit from Sonic the Werehog to get rid of DSS one more time, and Lucario was yelled by Master Hand after the hand noticed that many different areas around the mansion were almost annihilated through Lucario's blind rage. Many of the Smashers could only frown at Lucario when they locked eyes with him. They were all relieved that his aura didn't kill anybody, but even so, they were all a bit ashamed or worried about the Aura Pokémon.

But there was something else that made Lucario feel more guilty than anything.

By the time Lucario returned to his room, Chris was already sleeping. However, the World Traveler was sleeping in the middle of the bed, preventing Lucario from lying down. The Aura Pokémon silently walked to the bed to look down at the worried expression that Chris had on his face. Clenching his eyes, Lucario turned around and walked towards the window to stare at what he managed to save from the wrath of his aura.

Through Lucario's eyes, it looked horrible. Even if there were some trees where some Pokémon were sleeping inside, most of the landscape of trees had disappeared, turned into dust scattered all over the patches of grass. Lucario used a bit of his aura to see if he could sense the flames of aura across the land. Fortunately, it looked like they all faded away. He also took advantage to see if everyone around alive.

It was a relief to sense the auras of he was familiar with.

Lucario sighed depressed as he stared outside. "After all I did, Master Hand said he wasn't going to kick me out or something...that's good," he said. "Everyone in here just looked worried or ashamed...and worse yet..."

Lucario turned to the right to see his sleeping trainer.

"...I don't think Chris is glad that I used all that power..." Lucario muttered in shame before he turned back to stare outside. He then moved up his face to look at the stars, finding a shooting star that went across to the west. "...I wish I could restart from zero again...I could sense Chris's aura getting a bit perturbed by my own aura...and by zero...I mean..."

The Aura Pokémon looked high up.

"...I wish I could be a Riolu again...so I can have a fresh start..." he looked at Chris, "...with Chris..." he finished. "...My memory when I was one is so blurry...and...to tell the truth...I would like to be a Riolu so Chris could raise me properly...but...that would also help me so Chris talks with me again..."

Lucario sighed in more depression as he frowned, his face looking down to the floor of his room..

"Even so...no matter how much I try, that's never going to happen..." Lucario muttered.

The Aura Pokémon looked back up into the sky. Soon enough, he could spot something coming down from the sky. Lucario blinked confused as he saw a small glittering star slowly coming down to the mansion. The Aura Pokémon's jaw opened a bit before the small star stopped going down when it reached the level where Lucario's room was, just outside the window.

Lucario could only stare at the little star before he opened the window's doors. The Aura Pokémon then stared directly at the star.

"...What is this?" Lucario asked confused. "Why did this come from the sky?"

"Well, mainly because I heard you wanted to make a wish."

Lucario could have sworn that the little star had spoken to him. The Aura Pokémon blinked surprised as he moved his face a little forward to take a closer look at it.

"That voice..." Lucario trailed off. "...Geno?"

"...Good," the star said. "It seems you still remember me, Lucario."

"Then...you are Geno?"

The star moved up and down as a sign it nodded. "Of course I'm Geno," the star pointed out.

"But...what are you doing here?" Lucario asked. "I thought you were working in the Star Haven in the sky..."

"To be honest, I'm still working," Geno said. "I just that I heard somebody here wanted to make a wish, and I decided to take the request personally because...well...I wanted to come here and see how you were all doing by yourselves."

"...Oh..."

"So, I heard you made a wish," Geno said. "What was it again? Oh yes, something about being a Riolu to have a fresh start with Chris."

Lucario stared at Geno with some surprise in his red eyes. "W-well, I did wish that, but...I didn't think that would come true..."

"It hasn't come true...yet," Geno said. "You would be surprised, but I've been watching every single thing you all have been doing this whole time."

"You did?"

"Yes, and Twink was there as well," Geno said before he chuckled. "Twink is always you all more than I do. He's becoming like some sort of stalker, but what can you do? He likes all of you."

Lucario nodded. "I see..."

"...Oh, wait," Geno said as he looked around. "Where's Lucas's room?"

Lucario thought for a moment. "His room is just to the left of this room...why'd you ask?"

"I need to see something first," Geno said. "I'll be right back. Stay here."

"...Okay..." Lucario muttered.

The star 'nodded' before it moved to the left to reach Lucas's window. The star could find the Nowhere Island resident sleeping deeply in his blankets on a bed that was leaning against the wall just aside from Lucario's bed. The star from Star Haven, however, wanted to look around to find something.

"...There it is..." Geno muttered as he found his doll idly sitting on a small drawer. Even though it was almost impossible to see, the star smiled a bit to Lucas. "...Thanks, Lucas..." he muttered before he went over to Lucario's window. "Okay, I'm here."

"What did you do?" Lucario asked.

"I just wanted to see if Lucas was keeping my doll safe and sound, and he's doing that," Geno said. "That aside, let's get back to the topic of your wish."

Lucario blinked surprised. "Wait, you can make my wish come true?"

"Of course," Geno said. "Now that the Star Haven got back to business, I was granted my power to make wishes come true again. You're lucky tonight because you wished you wish when a shooting star fell down."

"Well..." Lucario trailed off.

"What is it?" Geno asked. "Are you worried about doing this?"

"But..." Lucario stared at Geno from the side, "can you really do that?"

"It's an easy thing to do," Geno said. "The wish itself is easy, but if you want that to happen, you need to be a little bit more specific."

"What?"

"You can specify how you want your wish to be," Geno said. "By that, you can set limits or things like that to it so you can be happy with your wish. That's an important rule Eldstar made up recently. Also, I can provide you with more specifications so you stay safe."

Lucario smiled a bit at this. "Does that mean you can take me back in time an-"

"OH, HOLD ON RIGHT THERE!" Geno yelled.

"W-what is it?" Lucario asked a bit startled.

"Lucario, you just can't wish very impossible things. I can tell you that I can take you back in time...but doing that will greatly affect this future in some unexpected ways..."

"But..."

"No buts, Lucario," Geno said. "I can't allow you to do that risky thing. Besides, you came from Chris's world. My powers can't affect his world because it's not part of any of the realms we live in...you remember the day where he showed us the reality?"

"...Yes..." Lucario said.

"I can't alter his reality. As a result, you can't go back in time," Geno said. "However, you still have a wish to make. What would it be? Why do you want to be a Riolu again?"

Lucario looked down. "I want to be a Riolu again...so I can experience a childhood I never had..."

"...Is that it?" Geno asked. "I thought you had a childhood like everyone does."

"No," Lucario said. "You see, the memory of my childhood is all blurry and very hard to focus on. No matter how much I try, I can't seem to remember anything about my childhood... In the game, I was being used by a trainer to fight battles, but that's almost everything I did...until Chris brought me to his home, then I started to think by myself," he explained.

"...I...see..." Geno said. "That's pretty twisted if you ask me."

"I know," Lucario said before he looked back at Geno. "Geno, since I have the opportunity to make a wish, I want to be a Riolu and experience a childhood...with Chris..."

The star kept floating in midair as he stared at Lucario for a moment. "...Well...maybe we can do this the way I'm thinking..."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Lucario, if you want to be a Riolu, you have to turn back into an egg until you hatch," Geno said. "For that, we need Chris to know you're going to undergo this process."

Lucario looked worried at his sleeping trainer.

"It's going to be a scary thought to see you as an egg in the morning," Geno said. "You should tell Chris you're going to do this."

"Well..." Lucario trailed off.

"Trust me, this is the best thing to do," Geno said. "Wake Chris up, please, Lucario."

"...Ugh..." Lucario grunted a bit and walked to the bed. The Aura Pokémon knelt down to put his right hand on Chris's right shoulder where he started to shake him a bit. "Chris, wake up, please. I...I need you to listen to me one more time..."

"..." Chris didn't respond.

"Chris...please, stop ignoring me..." Lucario muttered.

Geno slowly floated in and looked at Lucario. "Like I said before, I've been watching everything from above," he said. "I saw when your aura was about to destroy everything...and I saw how Chris seemed to turn you down..."

Lucario shook his head. "Chris...didn't turn me down..."

"..." Geno remained silent before the World Traveler began to grumble a bit.

"H-hmm..." Chris grumbled a bit before he slowly opened his eyes, finding Lucario's black hand shaking his shoulder. The World Traveler turned his head to the right to see his worried Pokémon and the little star. "What do you want now...Lucario?" Chris asked before he stared at the little star. His eyes widened a bit. "W-what is that star doing here?"

"Chris, please, I know you didn't like what I did today...but...can you listen to what I have to say?"

Chris looked a bit unsure. "B-but..."

Geno sighed.

A time later...

Geno had explained everything to Chris while Lucario silently watched as the star moved up and down a bit in his place. "Well, that's how things are," Geno said. "Lucario wants to turn back into a Riolu so he starts from zero again."

"I-I...I also want to do this so you can forget about what I did, Chris..." Lucario admitted. "I'm...I'm hoping you can forgive me for what happened..."

Chris sat on his bed and looked at Lucario. "Lucario..."

"You...you're scared of my aura, right?" Lucario asked. "Is that it?"

"...Ugh..." Chris frowned. "Lucario...it's just that..."

"...Please..." Lucario pleaded. "I want to solve this before you keep looking me down like this, Chris...

"It's just that I'm not looking you down, Lucario..." Chris trailed off. "...It's just that I'm a little bit scared of you..."

"See? That's why I need to do this," Lucario said. "If I restart my life as a Riolu again, you could like me again...like I want you to do to me..."

Chris looked worried at him. "...I...just don't know what to say..."

"Can I get in this conversation?" Geno asked. "Okay... Chris, I think you should let Lucario do what he wants for now. I believe in him for choosing this option so he can feel better with himself. Plus, it's surely going to convince you to like him again. Or do you really want to stop talking with Lucario?"

Lucario looked away ashamed. The World Traveler stared at Lucario's eyes for a moment, thinking hard about what to do with Lucario's decision to turn back into a Riolu. Chris had to admit that he was scared of Lucario for a bit. After all, Chris saw how demonic Lucario turned out to be just because he wanted to tamper with his true powers which turned out to be negative energy as Mewtwo had explained before.

Chris closed his eyes and sighed. "...I...don't want to be like this with him any longer..."

Lucario quickly looked back at him. "T-then..."

"But...that doesn't mean my small phobia isn't going to go away that easily..." Chris said, making Lucario look worried again. "...If Lucario wants me to forget that phobia...and if I want to like him again..." he looked at Geno, "...please, make his wish come true."

"Hold on, then," Geno said. "First, we must set specifications here."

"What kind of specifications?" Chris and Lucario asked at the same time, the two looking back at each other before looking away.

"When I say specifications, I mean what Lucario wants to keep remembering," Geno said. "Once he turns into an egg that will later hatch into a Riolu, he won't have any memories of Chris, any of the Smashers, or anything that had happened until now. In a few words, he'll become an infant; a baby without memories."

Lucario looked down. "That's...true..."

"However," Geno continued, "nobody said I could make all your memories get back into you, Lucario."

Lucario looked at him. "What?"

"Once the time where you evolve comes, you'll turn back into your current form. The 'youth' wish you want to make come true will end once you evolve into Lucario again. All abilities, skills, experience, and everything else you have right now will instantly flood back inside your body, and thus you'll feel like you didn't change...provided nothing goes wrong with your childhood effect, that is..."

"I see..."

"Also, you'll be able to remember everything from the point where you first met Chris," Geno said. "Everything to this point will be instantly remembered the moment you evolve back. See now? Those specifications will keep you safe from forgetting many different things."

"That's...useful..." Chris said.

Geno nodded his star form. "Well then, shall we begin the process?" He looked at Chris. "Chris, you better take care of Lucario's egg. If you let it break apart, you'll know what could happen, right?"

"I-I'm not going to let that happen..." Chris trailed off. "...This is for Lucario...and if he wants to do this...I won't say no..."

"Chris..." Lucario looked at him with a small smile, shedding a small tear from his right eye.

"...Besides..." Chris looked away and blushed while he smiled a bit. "...having a baby Riolu as my Pokémon is going to be a very enjoyable experience..."

Lucario made a happy expression as he stood up from the floor.

"...And once the time comes for Lucario to evolve back..." Chris looked up at Lucario, "...I want to witness his evolution with my own eyes..."

Geno chuckled. "Well, that's good enough for me to listen," he said. "Lucario, are you sure you want to do this?"

Lucario looked at him and nodded. "I'm sure of it. Please begin."

"...Okay," Geno said. "I need you stand there still so I can sparkle you with my magic. You're going to feel a little bit funny before you glow and turn back into an egg. Chris, I need you to take care of Lucario's egg once the process ends, okay?"

Chris nodded. "Yes, I understand."

"Me too," Lucario said.

The two Smashers watched as Geno's form glowed brightly. "Without more interruptions...I, Geno from the Star Haven, will grant Lucario his wish to turn back into a Riolu so he can enjoy a new childhood he wants to have with Chris," he said before he started to fly above Lucario before Geno started to spin all over him. "As a star, I wish that your wish comes true...NOW!"

Lucario closed his eyes before the sparkles of light began to fall down all over him. Chris watched as the sparkles glowed brighter, blinding his vision for a bit while Lucario began to glow in a yellow light that reached outside. The light glowed extremely bright as Geno circled all over the Aura Pokémon. Soon, Geno started to slow down his action before he eventually stopped.

The light that covered Lucario glowed even more, blinding everything in the scene of the room. Once Chris noticed that the glow became dimmer and dimmer, he slowly turned back to where Lucario once stood. On his place and on the floor, there was a blue egg that had a little black mask-shape on the front. Chris blinked surprised as he stared down at the egg besides the bed.

"There..." Geno said as he floated down to check on the egg. "Chris, this is Lucario's egg. Inside, depending on how you take care of it, a Riolu will be born in a few days. Once Riolu is born, you'll have to be very careful about him, okay? You're going to have to be some kind of parent so he doesn't do something mischievous."

"...Heheh..." Chris chuckled. "I don't think Lucario was mischievous when he was a Riolu...but..." he reached for the egg with his hands to pull it back on the bed, "this is going to be a very fun thing to do..."

"I hope so," Geno said. "Weird, I think you're starting to like Lucario again."

"W-well, I could say I'm excited for him to be born as a Riolu again..." Chris admitted while looking embarrassed. "I'll make sure he has a fresh start as my Pokémon..." He placed the egg where Lucario rested before. "I'm going to keep it warm every single day. I'm also going to take it everywhere with me to see if he born."

"You do that," Geno said. "Well, my job here is done." He turned to the open window. "I'm going to come back here in another night again once Lucario comes back to his original form and see how everything went." He looked down. "Hmm...what's that little coin?"

"What coin?" Chris asked as he looked back to the floor, finding Lucario's Trophy Stand. The World Traveler blinked a bit before he reached for the stand. "Oh, this is Lucario's Trophy Stand. He uses this to use stickers to increase his powers...I guess it fell off because he doesn't need it for the moment..." The World Traveler looked at the small drawer besides him where he put the stand inside it. "There, I'll give it back to him when he evolves into Lucario."

"Good," Geno said. "...Before I go...Chris, do you know what Sonic was hiding all this time...right?"

"Yes..." Chris said. "...Thanks to that, I have to wait for him every single night to make that dark spirit of his go away..."

"Well...I knew he was going through that beforehand," Geno admitted. "Once I noticed, he pleaded me not to tell anyone..."

"...It's okay," Chris said. "That event is half-done with. Once we find the way to get rid of that curse, everything will be just fine like it should be."

"I just wanted to tell this to you so you would understand... Thanks," he said before he began to float out from the window, Chris leaving his bed to look at the star going back into the sky. "I wish you good luck in raising that egg, Chris! Please, tell everyone I said hi!"

"Y-you bet!" Chris yelled. "Thanks for coming!"

As Geno's star slowly disappeared into the sky, a blink of it made Chris realize he was gone and back to the Star Haven, smiling a bit to the night's sky, Chris chuckled and turned to see the Riolu egg on his bed. The World Traveler then got back under the blankets where he pulled the egg closer to him.

"...This egg is a little bit big..." Chris remarked after he measured the egg's height a bit. The egg's size was about a foot and a half or more when he compared it to the size of his head. "Now...let's rest, okay?" Chris asked to the egg before he leaned his left ear to hear if there was Riolu inside. "...I don't hear anything..." he muttered a bit depressed. "...Well, that's how eggs are supposed to be... In a few days, I'm going to be so excited when it rocks back and forth."

The World Traveler chuckled a bit as he lied down the egg beside him to cover it with the blanket. Once half of it was covered, Chris rubbed it one more time before chuckling to himself.

"A Riolu..." he muttered chuckling. "I can't wait to have a Riolu..."

With a yawn, Chris decided to go back to sleep, the egg silently resting besides him...

[DededeCloneChris]

October 31 - Evening - Friday - Halloween

Main Lobby

Kingdom Hearts II - This is Halloween

A week had passed ever since the 'Aurageddon' (a name that Crazy Hand had come up with to describe Lucario's attack) took place. Chris had told almost everyone about Lucario's wish, and he also explained that Lucario had turned back to a Pokémon egg which Chris always carried around (except take it to school. Those days were the times where he asked Pikachu and the others to take care of it while they were in his house).

"How dark...so dark that it looks so pleasant..." Diddy said as he stared outside to look up at the ominous night's sky, some bats casually flying away to the full moon.

More conveniently enough was hearing some howls outside.

"Ah, the children of the night... What sweet music they make..."

"Diddy, will you just stop standing there and come over here?" called Nana. "We're watching the special 10-minute CGI movie Chris wanted to show us!"

"Oh, right... Sorry, I just got in the moment..."

It turned out that, as well as Chris's world, there was a night of Halloween that the Smashers celebrated. At least some used disguises; disguises Chris haven't seen yet. However, he did see that the young Smashers were wearing different costumes...

Actually, could someone call those costumes real costumes?

"I have to say..." Chris trailed off as he, Popo, Nana, Ness, Lucas, and Kirby were all sitting on a sofa while Diddy, Pikachu, Pichu, Yoshi, Jigglypuff, Toon Link, Red, Ivysaur, and Squirtle were all scattered around the floor with some popcorn buckets, "...some of those...costumes of yours do look...good..."

"I told you before," Ness began (wearing a pink hat, pink shoes, a white backpack, with a black shirt that had a small Mr. Saturn logo on it), "using our alternate costumes for the matches do look nice during Halloween."

"So is that the reason you're wearing an extra pumpkin on your head?" asked Pikachu (who was wearing a green bandanna above his eyes).

Ness was also wearing a pumpkin head with eyes and mouth as holes. "...That's an idea Tracy gave me, okay?"

"Shh," whispered Pichu (who wore some blue goggles on his forehead with a small blue knot of cloth on his neck). "We're watching a movie."

"Can you call this 10-minute short a movie?" Chris whispered back (he also wore something different. The World Traveler decided that choosing a job would make him look like some sort of cheater due to the fact he already had many jobs. To resolve this, he managed to find a Lucario trainer costume he had seen in a game. Chris wore black shoes, long blue pants, and a yellow shirt under his blue jacket, a black belt that had a small pouch on the back, and also a hat with Lucario ears). "...And...have I told you before that you make a pseudo-reference to an anime character with that costume of yours, Pichu?"

"Do I?" Pichu asked.

"Well, your costume doesn't beat my costume," Toon Link (who wore a dark attire to his outfit, with really dark and red eyes, and also had white hair sticking out from his black hood) said proudly.

"I have to admit yours do give the scary feeling," Nana remarked. "Heck, I think you beat Link's dark attire."

"Ha, take that, older hero."

"Shh," Squirtle (who wore a white shell) whispered.

"Yeah, you guys should stop talking," whispered Ivysaur (whose color looked light while the bulb on his flower was a pinkish white).

Chris sighed, placing his hands on the Riolu egg that he had between his legs. "Okay, okay..."

It was a Halloween night where Chris had invited some of the Smashers to watch a special 10-minute short that was recently published over his world. The short was none other than 'Night of the Werehog', a CGI short that depicted Sonic and Chip going into a seemingly abandoned mansion which was inhabited by ghosts. Chris's Wii was hooked to the big plasma TV of the east wall, the console being the 'DVD' of sorts since it was using the Internet Channel to watch the short in Youtube.

"So it turns out Chip is not just a random guy but an actual character," Ness said. "Why am I thinking I saw that coming?"

"Yes, but unfortunately I don't know much about Chip..." Chris said. "All I know is that he appears in the Sonic game that will come out this November. I'm going to buy it and see if it has something about Chip."

"You guys think we should show this to Sonic and the others sometime?" Diddy (who had dark black fur and wore purple shirt and purple hat, the Nintendo logo being orange) asked as he watched the movie.

"Maybe," Jigglypuff said (who wore a white hat that made Red feel nostalgic about someone else). "But...let's watch this before doing that...if we even do it..."

"Agreed," Yoshi (who had blue skin) said as he took a sip of his soda.

Kirby (who was all white and also wore the red Puyo hat he received from Sig) smiled pleased as he used a straw to drink his juice with a bucket of popcorn that he shared with Ness and Lucas. "I like this movie," he said.

"That's how wonderful the world of CGI animation is for you," Ness said.

Red (who wore a pale brown outfit (and oddly enough had brown hair)) looked back to the small movie. "Check that out, Sonic's being beaten by those 2 ghosts in bull form."

Pikachu pointed up at the TV. "That's what I call dumb people owning you so badly," he said before he ate a fist of popcorn. "If that happens, I'll shock those people until they die. Surely, nobody wants to be beaten like that around, right?"

"Right," everyone said.

"I'm glad to hear the popular vote from everyone," Pikachu said chuckling a bit before returning to watch the movie. He then looked at the egg between Chris's legs. "You've been taking care of it just fine, right?"

"Oh yes," Chris said. "I always keep the egg warm so it hatches faster...but I haven't felt Riolu inside it yet. I guess I need to wait even longer..."

"W-well," Lucas (who looked oddly familiar like his brother Claus) began, "eggs aren't supposed to take that long, right?"

"What's up with you?" Ness asked to Lucas. "Why did you decide to 'dress up' as your brother?"

"He told me in my dreams to dress just like him."

Everyone stared at Lucas for a moment, the movie still going.

"...I-I receive some visits from him and mom during my dreams...and they've said they're real..." Lucas explained. "...I-it's true..."

"...Back on topic," Pikachu said, "it's going to be some more days before that egg hatches up. When that happens, I'll admit Riolu to be one of our honorary club members."

"What?" Chris said.

Popo nodded. "Yes, why not go ahead and take advantage of the situation?" he asked.

Nana looked at him. "We may as well loose his personality of a loner a bit, right? That way, once he evolves, Lucario can become a little bit closer to everyone else."

"Well...I think that's a good idea..." Chris trailed off. "...By the way, this is a side note, but how come Popo and you aren't dressed up with alternate costumes?"

"That's because I'm wearing Popo's clothes," Nana pointed out. "Can't you see the differences?"

Everyone looked a bit surprised when they took a closer look at both Ice Climbers. Popo and Nana had made sure that they both looked like the other by going as far as to fix their hairs to resemble each one's hairs as well. They were both looking exactly the same as their counterpart looked like which impressed some of the Smashers a bit.

"...Wow," Yoshi said. "I didn't recognize that you were dressing up as each other..."

"Heheh, pretty clever, right?" Nana said. "That's the advantage of being a twin."

Popo remained silent. "...Wait, did Lucas say mom?"

Nana gasped after she recalled the words that shouldn't be said around Popo. "Oh, no, no, no, no, Popo, don't you DARE go stupid now!"

"Too late."

"What?!"

The others watched as Nana quickly grabbed a cushion and hit Popo hard on the face. The blow was strong enough to knock him out of cold, his tongue sticking out a bit from his mouth.

"There..." Nana said panting heavily.

"Popo, was that necessary?" Pichu asked.

"Um, Pichu, I think you forgot that Nana's wearing Popo's clothes..." Squirtle whispered.

"Oh...even so, why'd you do that?"

Popo (I mean, Nana) looked annoyed at him. "Let's just say I hate when his stupid self comes out during this special time of the year...okay?"

The others looked at each other before shrugging. They then decided to return and watch the movie while Nana used Nana's (I mean, Popo's) body as a human cushion. "When is this stupid painful memory going to disappear for good?" Nana asked annoyed before sighing.

After they watched the end of the movie (which hinted the SonicxUnnamed Lady Ghost pairing), they turned off the TV and the Wii. This was a bad move since it left the whole lobby completely shrouded in darkness.

"Oh great," Jigglypuff said bored. "We forgot to turn on the lights first before turning off the TV."

"Well, what'd you expect?" Yoshi asked. "You want to have a dark atmosphere? We turned off the lights."

"I told you guys that we should have watched some horror movies before," Chris said. "You should see the Resident Evil movie. It has tons of blood and pretty scary zombies."

"Oh well, let's do it," Toon Link said. "There's a whole lot of popcorn left. It's still hot as well."

"Alright," Kirby said pleased. "I want to eat more until I faint."

"You don't necessarily faint when you eat a lot..." Ness pointed out.

"...Your point?"

"Forget it..."

"So then, did anybody remember where the lights were?" Red asked as he looked around. "I forgot where they were..."

"I'm pretty sure they're far behind the 8 creepy eyes that are staring at us just behind the sofa," Ivysaur said before they all turned back to see some glaring eyes staring at them in the plain darkness. "See them? The switches should be far off..."

"...I-I don't remember those eyes being there..." Lucas muttered in a high-pitched voice. "S-somebody..."

"..." Ness looked bored. "Okay, we know there are still some people here who like to do pranks to people like us. Whoever you are, show yourselves."

"But I thought we were already showing ourselves to you..."

The stupidly darkly and deep toned voice made them all widen their eyes.

"Heheheheheh..." multiple deep chuckles echoed around the lobby, making everyone look at each other in shock.

"YIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!" every single Smasher that had watched the small movie screamed loudly in the dark, their yells actually shattering some of the windows' glasses.

It was not long before the very same eyes closed themselves before they were followed by people dropping on the floor. Several hysterical laughs soon followed right after that, making most of the other screaming Smashers stop their scared screams.

"H-hey, I recognize those voices!" Pikachu yelled between the laughs before he ran past the sofa to go all the way to the left wall where he, fortunately, found the switches which he had to jump to turn the lights on. "Oh, for the love of Arceus...I had a premonition you were the ones from the very beginning!"

Kirby, Chris, Ness, Toon Link, and Ivysaur went over the sofa to look behind it. They all instantly looked mad when they found out that Falco, C. Falcon, Link, and even Fox himself were all rolling and laughing loudly on the floor, holding their stomachs tightly with their arms.

"Okay..." Ness began to pant heavily. "I did know for a fact that Falco, C. Falcon, and even Link would go so low as to prank us all...but Fox? What, did I miss the day where he got a childish personality?"

"Why the hell did you do that for?!" Toon Link asked as he wanted to get to the point. "You guys, taking advantage of you dark attires to scare us!"

In fact, the Smashers who did the prank on them were all wearing dark attires. In a few words, Falco had dark feathers while he wore a dark brown jacket with dark pants and a light-blue scarf with a red scouter, C. Falcon's attire was all black, Link, as Toon Link, looked exactly the same, and Fox had dark brown fur while he wore a purple scarf with black-and-white tanker boots; the smallest details being the red scouter and the golden insignia on his belt.

Everyone else had walked around the sofa to look frustrated at the four laughing Smashers.

"I can't believe you guys!" Chris yelled. "I can't even believe Fox would do that as well!"

Their laughter slowly died down before they looked at everyone with amused looks, chuckling darkly. Needless to say, those chuckles made most of them shook a bit in fear. After the dark chuckles, the four then broke out laughing again.

"K-knock it off already!" Nana yelled. "D-don't take advantage of your costumes and faces again!"

"S-sorry!" Link coughed between laughs. "B-but this is something C. Falcon planned to do to have some fun, and he convinced us to do this!"

"Y-yeah!" C. Falcon said before he returned laughing.

"Oh please, chill out!" Falco said between laughs. "We had some Halloween spirit in us. What's so wrong about it?"

"The part that's wrong is that we were almost going to have heart attacks!" Jigglypuff yelled. "I mean, look at Lucas!"

The others turned their heads to the front of the sofa where Lucas was fainted on the floor.

"Poor boy didn't deserve this!"

"Besides, I'm still surprised that Link and Fox agreed to do this prank on us!" complained Pikachu said before pointing down at Fox. "What's the matter with you? You're supposed to be mature enough to do this kind of thing!"

Fox stopped laughing and looked amused at the Smashers. What they could tell from the look of his face was that Fox seemed to be smirking evilly. Again, most of them felt some chills on their backs as they stared at the evil-looking vulpine. "Sorry for barging in here, kids. C. Falcon convinced me to do this prank on you, and I had to admit I have some...mischievous side left in me...if you know what I mean..." he spoke in a deep tone that sounded evil, altogether with a chuckle.

The other Smashers gasped a bit at this, making the four laugh hysterically louder than before.

"T-that does it! I had it with them!" Yoshi said. "Who wants to gang up on them?"

Everyone that wasn't laughing raised their hands. The four laughing Smashers stopped their laughter and looked a bit shocked to see that the other Smashers surrounded them.

"...CHAAAAAAAAAARGE!" Toon Link yelled the order, pumping up a fist in the air.

In an instant, everyone but Chris, Red, and Kirby leaped right on the four Smashers. A small fight broke out soon as most of the young Smashers were trying to kill the older characters with their bare hands; strangling them sometimes. Chris, Red, and Kirby watched helplessly as Fox, Falco, C. Falcon, and Link struggled to get away from the brawl. Some of the younger Smashers were punching them to death, while others resorted to more barbaric means like biting off their clothes (it should be said Toon Link was the only one doing this on Link...)

Chris looked back to his egg on his legs. "I couldn't fight and leave you alone, eggy-weggy," he said as he rubbed a hand on the egg.

Kirby merely smiled while Red issued orders to Squirtle and Ivysaur. "Use Water Gun, Squirtle! You use Vine Whip, Ivysaur!" he ordered constantly.

"Yeah! Give 'em hell!" Barry said as he was standing on his knees just to Chris's left, close to Popo's dead carcass. "Ooooh, low hits! I like those!"

Suddenly, everyone stopped their brawl and quickly looked at the hyperactive blond trainer punching the air in front of him. Stopping the whole action made Barry look a bit mad at all of them.

"What's the matter? I wanna see more bloodshed action going on!" Barry said annoyed.

Everyone looked extremely confused as to why there was a kid in the mansion. The ones that looked shocked from the Smashers were Red, Squirtle, and Ivysaur.

"Er...who's this guy?" C. Falcon asked.

"Who are you talking to? Who are you talking to?!" Barry repeated as he crossed his arms, looking proud. "You're talking to Barry: Super Mega Awesome Cooltrainer of Awesome!"

"No, seriously..." Falco trailed off. "...Who the heck are you?"

"I just told you all already!" Barry complained as he pointed an accusing finger to everyone. "You guys have been the most suspicious guys I've ever met before! You only reach the ranks of Team Galactic's secretive organization!"

Toon Link spat out a black strap of cloth from Link's tunic. "...What the hell is he talking about?" he asked.

"Oh, YOU tell me, Mr. Red Eyes," Barry said, narrowing his eyes a bit. "I have very good evidence of almost every single person living in this place!"

Chris gasped. "W-what are you talking about?"

"Wait just a minute," Link began, "how the hell did you get in here? Didn't the security system trigger when you came in here?"

"I dunno about a stupid security system, but I DO know you guys aren't from here!" Barry yelled.

"B-Barry, shut up now!" Red yelled annoyed. "S-stop saying that!"

Everyone else looked at Red, making the trainer gasp a bit. "Red...do you know this wacko?" Jigglypuff asked.

"HA! That's a good joke right there!" Barry said. "You see, Red here let me and my friends have a room in YOUR place."

Everyone either looked mad or bored at Red.

"And we've been spying on you guys ever since we got in here!" Barry said.

"What?" Fox asked. "You've been here this whole time?"

Falco narrowed his eyes at Barry. "Wait, you're the same dork who tossed me a Poké Ball when it was freakin' winter!"

"And I still have a spare Poké Ball right here," Barry said as he took out mentioned item. "Stay there, mutated Taillow!"

"A what now?"

Before Barry could even toss the sphere at Falco's forehead, Ivysaur quickly used Vine Whip to stop the hyperactive trained from doing such an action. "H-hey, let go of me, traitors!" Barry yelled at Red and his Pokémon. "Red, I thought we were BFFs!"

Red flushed a bit in embarrassment. "W-what the heck are you saying? W-we're just friends, not BFFs!"

There was a creepy silence that made Red feel uncomfortable. This grew worse as everyone stared at him with bored or mad looks on their eyes.

"...I-I forgot what BFF meant..." Red muttered.

"Best Friends Forever," whispered Chris.

"Thanks," muttered Red. "...A-ah...I...well...you see...um...well..."

"Tell 'em, dude!" Barry yelled as Ivysaur's vine was wrapped tightly on Barry's right wrist. "Tell 'em your true reasons to be here! C'mon, tell them we're a team that will plan to conquer the world very soon!"

"SHUT THE HELL UP, BARRY!" Red yelled loudly. "Let me say something before you say something very farfetched!"

"I'm just giving you my support!" Barry yelled annoyed. "Heck, I'm giving you a helping hand!"

"Can you please stop arguing?" Yoshi asked bored. "If you don't stop yelling at each other, this is going to keep going on forever..."

"The transfigured Tropius says the truth!" Barry said as Yoshi looked confused at him. "We gotta shut up for a moment and let me handle things here!"

"Barry, why don't you shut up first?" Red asked. "By now, everyone knows how you are so...imaginative..."

"Pfft, you're just jealous because I can say the truth and you don't," Barry said.

"Oh no, it SHOULD be the other way around," Red said annoyed before he looked back at all the Smashers. "Well...you guys...you see..."

"Oh my goodness!"

Every single person in the main lobby turned to the stairs to see a shocked Dawn and a frowning Lucas (the trainer) staring down at the big commotion that was taking place.

"B-Barry, what are you doing now?" Dawn asked in pure disbelief. "Why did you decide to go on and go directly to them?"

"Seriously," Lucas began, "Barry, you screwed up many things before in the past...but this one takes the prize..."

Barry rolled his eyes. "You guys should be supporting me instead of scolding me like my mom!"

"Ugh!" Dawn grunted annoyed before she began to walk down the stairs with Lucas following from behind her. "Barry, for the last time, stop pulling us all in trouble!" she yelled annoyed. "It's been pure hell to make your compulsive nature from stirring up trouble!"

Ivysaur pulled back his vine on Barry's wrist as the hyperactive trainer walked all the way to Dawn. "Now hear me out, Dawn!" he began as he raised a finger. "We're here to discover what these guys do! Don't tell me you forgot about the whole crap of the Submarinepace Armada and those big feet!"

Most of the Smashers looked a bit shocked at this.

"Barry, I believe it was Subspace Army..." Lucas muttered.

"And they were hands, not feet," Dawn corrected.

"...It's the same thing!" Barry said in his defense.

"Oh god, no, no, no, no! No more extra guests again!"

Everyone turned to the hallway where Master Hand (wearing a black glove) and Popo were standing there, looking at them.

"P-Popo?" Nana said confused before she noticed that Popo wasn't on the sofa anymore. "Did you just sneak away and told Master Hand about..."

Popo only stuck out his tongue a bit as the hand floated towards the group. "Let's see here, who's the one responsible for letting these kids in?" Master Hand asked as he looked at Lucas, Dawn, and Barry.

"Hey, who are you calling a kid?" Barry asked as he put his hands on his hips. "I'll let you know I'm actually 29 years old, but I look like this because I know how to keep my youth! I take lotsa vitamins, you know!"

Master Hand stared at Barry in silence before the hand turned to Lucas and Dawn.

"He's not that old at all," they both said.

Master Hand looked back at Barry. "...You, shut up."

"And if I don't wanna?" Barry asked annoyed.

"Ugh!" Master Hand shook himself. "I'm being serious here," he said as he looked at the Smashers. "Who is the guy who let these people get in here? I know for one thing that they didn't sneak in because our security syste-"

"It's busted," Jigglypuff interrupted. "Remember? I destroyed all the cameras before we fought Sonic's dark spirit...and..."

"...Last time I recall, I didn't know you destroyed the cameras..." Master Hand trailed off. "...Jigglypuff...I haven't gotten the time to repair those cameras yet because I'm busy with some stuff I'm preparing...but...may I ask you how you got in the security room in the first place?"

Jigglypuff looked shocked and shifted her eyes a bit. "E-er...s-see you later! I want to have my beauty sleep!"

"Hey!"

Jigglypuff didn't listen to the hand and turned to the stairs where she quickly ran upstairs.

"You're not avoiding punishment!" Master Hand yelled. "Once I see you again, I'm going to do something REALLY painful on you!"

"Just try!" Jigglypuff yelled.

Master Hand sighed. "Seriously...who let these people in here?" He looked at all the dressed Smashers. "Let's see, I learned from a source that the one who did something and is hiding between everyone is the one that is sweating and looking worried..."

Unfortunately, Master Hand couldn't find the person he was looking for.

"..." Master Hand turned around to look at the sofa. "Oh, here he is..." he trailed off as he reached for the front side of the sofa and picked up and worried Red. Like the hand had predicted, Red was looking worried while sweating while Ivysaur and Squirtle were ducking behind the front. "You little rascal..." Master Hand muttered.

"I-I..." Red chuckled nervously. "...U-um...I-I..."

Barry began to punch the air. "You show 'im, Red! Give him an uppercut, the a knee smash, then a shoulder ram, then a-"

"Barry, shut up," Dawn muttered.

"Pfft..."

Red hit his palms against each other and bowed several times to the hand. "P-please, don't kill me! I-I was the one who let them stay here for a pretty long time now!"

"So it WAS you after all!" Master Hand said as he dropped Red on the floor. "Red, what did I say about not letting people in here without my permission?"

Red stood on his knees. "I-I'm really sorry for not listening to that rule! I-it's just that they were Pokémon Trainers, a-and I wanted to meet some so I could get to be a better Pokémon Trainer myself, a-and so I let them stay here ever since before we fought Smithy, a-and they have been staying here all the time, a-and I've been doing my best to keep them away from looking at any of us...a-and...w-well..." Red looked down and frowned. "...T-that's all..."

"..." Master Hand remained silent as everyone looked at each other. "...Red..."

"Don't kill him off!" Squirtle and Ivysaur yelled at the same time as they both jumped to the sofa and looked up at the hand.

"Take me instead!" Squirtle panicked. "Red deserves to live but not me!"

"Yeah!" Ivysaur said. "Squirtle here will sacrifice himself!"

"Yea-" Squirtle did a double-take and looked annoyed at Ivysaur. "I thought you were supposed to say you wanted to sacrifice yourself as well!"

"Well..." Ivysaur muttered as he looked away. "You said you wanted to do it first so..."

"Y-you cheater...cheap...cheater..." Squirtle muttered.

"STOP!" Master Hand yelled loudly. "Okay, everyone, calm down right now! First, we have to stay calm, relax a bit, and explain ourselves to see who die-I mean, to see who gets...um...er...gets...um..."

"Scolded?" C. Falcon spoke.

"Y-yes, that," Master Hand said before sighing. "Everyone, sigh..."

Everyone sighed.

"Now...tell me who started the panic here."

The first Smashers quickly pointed at the four pranksters.

"Hey, we didn't start the panic here!" Link yelled at them.

Barry decided to point at them as well.

"Barry!" Dawn yelled.

"What? They started it!" Barry protested.

"QUIET!" Master Hand yelled. "Okay...who started the second panic?"

All the Smashers pointed at Barry.

Lucas and Dawn looked bored at him. "I knew Barry was the guy who did all this..." Lucas muttered. "When you smell something weird, it's definitely the Barry..."

Barry crossed his arms and pouted a bit. "What do you know?" he asked annoyed.

"O...kay..." Master Hand nodded before he looked at Lucas and Dawn. "And who are you?"

"W-well, Mr. Hand..." Dawn trailed off thinking. "Y-you see..."

"Seeing that you're not getting freaked out that easily means you already saw me before, right?"

"Y-yes..." Dawn nodded. "W-we've been in here for a very long time to..."

Half an hour of explanations later...

Master Hand frowned continuously as he floated around the lobby. "No, no, no, no, no..." he muttered in disbelief as everyone watched him floating around the big space. "This is just...no..."

Apparently, Dawn had explained everything she, Lucas, and Barry had found out about the Smashers. Dawn proceeded to point out that they know a lot about the Subspace Army, the Smashers themselves, all the different events that had taken place, and a bunch of some embarrassing secrets that Barry 'conveniently' had read from some diaries of some Smashers.

"Hey, I don't see what's wrong in knowing about what you do here," Dawn said.

Master Hand stopped floating and looked at her. "Oh no, you just don't understand."

Lucas shook his head. "Mr. Master Hand sir, I don't think we should be kept out from understanding what the 'Smashers' here have been doing all the time."

"We know everything!" Barry proclaimed. "We know everything from that evil army, those weird worlds, and every single masculine guy that rules over the small population of women here, 2 which I consider sexy-sexy!"

Dawn stomped his left foot hard.

"Oww!"

"Please, ignore Barry," Dawn said annoyed. "He failed many tests during our childhood, and I still can't figure out how he became a trainer in the first place..."

"..." Master Hand shook himself. "No, you don't understand how crucial this is," he said to return to the previous topic. "I know for sure that you guys can know about our business in here...but letting many bystanders know about this will cause a lot of panic..."

"Oh, that?" Lucas said. "We can keep our mouths shut with the secret. We won't tell anybody."

Master Hand stared at Barry. "...Your friend here is the one that makes me feel so uncomfortable..."

"You should be!" Barry said as he kept bouncing on his spot while he grabbed his left foot with both hands. "I'm gonna fine you a million for giving me the worst treatment I've ever received!"

"I didn't even see you before, you dork!" Master Hand yelled. "Try it, but you won't be able to fine me that easily!"

"Ugh, please, ignore Barry," Dawn said. "We're not gonna let him say a word about anything you do behind everyone's backs, we promise."

Master Hand looked at Red. "I hope you're happy now, Red. Like EVERY SINGLE OTHER uninvited guest, I'll have to go and comply with these 3 about staying here..."

Red blinked surprised. "W-what?"

"I'll face it now," Master Hand said. "No matter how many times I try, uninvited guests will pop out from nowhere and live here for a time. If I could, I could kill them all, but fortunately for them, I'm a little bit benevolent to some people..." He sniffed. "It's just one trouble after another. I always have to ignore the mansion's rules every single time this happens, and there's no way I can remedy this at all..." He began to sob a bit. "What did I do wrong to deserve this bad karma? What?!"

The Smashers stared at the sobbing hand, some of them looking a bit apologetic.

While Barry shed a tear and blew his nose on a napkin he took out from his back, Lucas and Dawn looked worried at each other before Lucas walked to the hand and patted his wrist. "There, there, if you want us to leav-"

"Okay," Master Hand said as he quickly opened the double doors of the exit and grabbed the three trainers to toss them out.

Once their rears hopped a bit on the ground, the three trainers quickly stood up and ran back inside, Dawn pointing a finger at Master Hand. "H-hey, you should've waited a bit before we could say something!" she complained.

"Ugh," Master Hand grunted. "Fine, you people... Geez..." He frowned. "Okay, here's how we're going to do things here. You better agree with this or else is the forest outside for yo-"

"You mean what used to be the forest?" Lucas interrupted.

Master Hand recalled that most trees in the area were erased from existence while a small percentage of them remained behind. "...Either way, listen," Master Hand said. "By no means you're allowed to say ANYTHING about what we do here to other people you know. Each guest that has stayed here respected that rule just fine, and I don't wish you 3, especially Barry, to say our matters aloud, you got that?"

Lucas smiled a bit. "Don't worry about it. We don't have any kind of business here."

Dawn nodded. "Yeah, we just wanted to have some rooms so we could explore this place for new Pokémon."

"Can we still threaten you so you I can create my own army of super guys and 2 sexy-sexy girls?" Barry asked.

"Thank you, I'm glad, and go to hell," Master Hand said respectively answering the three trainers. "You can't meddle in our matters either. By that, I mean you're not allowed to go to the command room on this floor, okay? You get close to that place, I'll smack you down."

Lucas and Dawn nodded while Barry saluted the hand.

"Now go grab a camera, take your photos, and go over the board to the left so you stick your photos on it," he said as he pointed at the board 'People That Have Entered the Mansion without Any Permission, Yet They Stayed Here for One Reason or Another.'

The three trainers walked to the board and looked confused at it. "May I ask why is this one...scribbled with red marker?" Dawn asked confused as she saw the photo of a familiar Genius Mage with red horns, now scribbled with newly acquired red eyes (this Genius Mage was Rita Mordio).

"...Someone wanted to make a prank," Master Hand said as the Smashers looked bored at him. "...What? Somebody did it...I swear somebody else did it..."

"...Er...am I safe from getting punished?" Red asked.

"Punishment? Oh, well, I guess you're safe from that," Master Hand said. "Besides, killing you off would mean I would go out and find a replacement. If it came down to that, I'd go for that boy with the white hair and black-and-red bandana from Hoenn," he said. "...But enough about that..."

Red gulped.

"Calm down, okay? It was just a saying," Master Hand said. "Well, everything's settled here again. We can all live together with happy days ahead of us," he said as he faked a happy tone. "Nowdon'tdothisagainorelseIwillreallykillsomebodyokay?" he asked quickly and annoyed before he snapped his fingers and warped away to his room. "Happy Halloween as well," his voice echoed a bit.

"Alright!" Dawn said relieved as she lifted up her hands to the air. "Finally, we'll stop hiding from everyone!"

Lucas looked pleased. "I was getting a bit upset from all the lurking around."

"Sweet!" Barry pumped a fist in the air. "Time to celebrate!"

The Smashers could only watch the three trainers talking between each other. Chris looked worried at Red. "Are you sure they don't know about my reality? That would cause a lot of commotion..."

"I-I'm pretty sure they don't know," Red said. "Let's...not ask them, okay? They could grow curious about it..."

"Good idea..." Squirtle whispered.

The three trainers turned to the Smashers. "Okay, now that we can meet you all personally," Lucas began, "we're glad to meet such a diverse group like all of you."

"Especially the talking Pokémon," Dawn said before she locked eyes with Pikachu's eyes, the Electric type backing away a bit. "Ooh, he's so adorable!"

"E-er..." Pikachu gulped. "(W-which one is worse? This Dawn or the Dawn I know?)"

"..." Lucas blinked as the Smashers kept staring at them. "...Say something, you guys..." he muttered.

"Well, what do you want us to say?" Link asked. "We barely know any of you..."

"Oh, I guess that's right," Lucas said. "I guess most of you are not into Pokémon, right?"

Most of the Smashers shook their heads.

"...Well..." Lucas shifted his eyes a bit. "...I guess we should call it night for now?"

Dawn yawned a bit. "Oh well, I think tomorrow's gonna be a better day. Besides, I wanna use the kitchen to make my poffins. Now that I recall, I haven't made my poffins..."

"If you're doing that, do my Pokémon's poffins!" Barry said. "Torterra has been starving over your homemade poffins for a long time now!"

"That's something I'm looking forward to do..." Dawn admitted. "Seriously, that's one of the few things I'd like to hear from you."

"You hurt my heart, Dawn..." Barry muttered.

Dawn chuckled. "Meh, you'll be just fine...I guess..." she said confused before she began to climb up the stairs."Let's rest for tonight, okay, guys?"

"Yeah," Lucas said as he followed her. "It's so late now..."

Barry let out a long yawn. "You guys can't just enjoy nocturnal parties like I do..."

As they all walked up, they looked back at the group of Smashers. "I hope we can get acquainted very soon!" Dawn said to them. "Good night!"

The Smashers watched as the three trainers walked up the stairs of the second floor, leaving the big lobby behind.

"..." C. Falcon looked at Red. "And here I thought I only met one of your group..."

Red looked annoyed at him. "T-they're not in my group, and I don't have a group!" Red said. "L-look, they're a pretty good bunch of people, okay? I'm happy to know I've made friends with more Pokémon Trainers!"

"Well, as long as they don't consider capturing Pichu or Jigglypuff, everything will be just fine," Pikachu said.

Pichu and Jigglypuff looked worried at each other.

"Relax, they won't catch you 2," Toon Link said. "We'll see what they do here, okay?"

"That's better," Falco said. "Just keep the blond idiot away from me and I'll be good to them."

"That reminds me," Popo began as he walked back to them, "weren't we having a brawl a moment ago?"

Fox, Falco, Link, and C. Falcon looked shocked before all the same Smashers that attacked them leaped at them and continued their previous revenge, Popo looking happy before he leaped to C. Falcon and started to whack his head together with Nana.

Chris sighed and frowned at this, the pranksters trying their best to fend the Smashers off, unfortunately failing to do so. "My god, why can't they act their age?" he asked confused.

"But Chris, don't you cry?" Kirby asked.

Chris looked defeated. "Kirby, don't say that again..."

"Sorry..." Kirby said ashamed while Red issued orders to Squirtle and Ivysaur to attack Falco.

And the Halloween night passed, the World Traveler rubbing the Riolu egg he had on his legs. Chris wanted Riolu to hatch from the egg very soon. He didn't want to wait any longer because of the fact Tabuu could invade a new world where a Gaia Temple would be.

And speaking of Gaia Temples, how was Sonic's group faring in their research to find the Gaia Guardians? The World Traveler's only choice was to wait and see what happened next...

Lucas (the Smasher) grumbled a bit and slowly sat up. "W-what did I miss? ...W-why's everyone beating on C. Falcon, Falco, Fox, and Link?"

Unfortunately, everyone ignored the confused Lucas/Claus...

Music stops

November 9 - Morning - Sunday

Lucario's Room

The sunlight touched Chris's face as he held the egg tightly between his arms. The World Traveler leaned his happy face against the upper part of the egg.

"...Hmm..." Chris smiled a bit as his face shook a bit. "...Hmm?" he slowly opened his eyes to look around the room. "Hmm..." he grumbled. "Who's...making some trembles now?" he asked annoyed as he looked around the room a bit more. "I swear, this place is full of people that can't even stay still for a day so I can sleep peacefully..."

Chris yawned as he sat up, his lips moving like a wave for a bit.

"...Strange..." he said."The tremble stopped..." he muttered before he groggily looked around. "I could have sworn something was making some trembles..."

Chris looked down to his left to see that the egg was hopping a bit on its spot, rocking back and forth.

The World Traveler smiled a little and rubbed the egg. "Funny, the way you're moving makes me think you're going to hatch in a few minutes..." he trailed off as he stopped rubbing the egg."...Actually..."

Outside

"HOLY CRAP, THE EGG'S GOING TO HATCH NOW!" Chris's voice boomed almost all over the mansion.

Main Lobby

The World Traveler (in his Racer job) ran as fast as he could to the lobby with the trembling egg on his arms. Chris carefully walked down the stairs to reach the sofa of the lobby where he placed the trembling egg on a cushion. "Pikachu, Pichu, anyone else awake, come here!" Chris yelled to the hallways. "The egg is going to hatch!"

"C-coming!" Yoshi was heard yelling from the kitchen as he ran all the way to the sofa.

Chris shook his head and looked at the excited Yoshi. "What's the matter with you?" Chris asked as Yoshi sat on the floor and looked at the egg.

"I like babies," Yoshi said. "Lucario's going to be born as a baby again, right? I want to see him as a baby."

"...Oh..." Chris said before he turned to look at the hallway. "You guys, come here! The egg's going to hatch!"

"Oh my!" called Peach from the kitchen. "I need to see this!" she said excited as she walked as fast as she could to the sofa.

"..." Chris stared at Peach. "Oh, why bother asking you..." he muttered.

It was not long before Pikachu, Pichu, Kirby, Jigglypuff, Ness, Lucas, Toon Link, Diddy, Popo, Nana, and even Luigi, Olimar, DK, Pit, Roy, Red, Squirtle, and Ivysaur all came from every single hallway that leaded to the main lobby. The group of Smashers gathered around the sofa to see the trembling egg rocking back and forth on its place.

"Seriously," Chris began as he looked at the multitude of Smashers, "were all of you waiting for this to happen?"

"The egg's cracking!" Luigi said suddenly.

Everyone stared at the egg's upper shell. It seemed that a small crack was starting to appear on the top before it gradually began to get longer across the upper part of the egg. Everyone watched closely as some small bits of the top fell off at the sides, revealing a small blue spot from within the egg.

"Here we go..." Pikachu muttered. "The birth of a new Pokémon..."

The egg began to move back and forth as more cracks began to appear all over it. Soon, something inside the egg began to push out the shattered parts of the egg as they all watched some small blue hands breaking through the egg. It was not long before the egg's upper part had been broken by a small creature that was inside of it. This creature in question was a newborn Riolu who everyone stared with some curiosity.

"..." Chris's eyes shook as the baby Riolu looked at everyone.

The newborn Riolu looked up at all the Smashers around him before he focused his eyes on Chris, the World Traveler gasping a bit. "..." Riolu remained silent and tilted his head.

"Aww..." Peach rejoiced. "How cute.."

"..." Riolu blinked a few times before he said his first word. "RiiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" he said as some sort of long yawn.

The Smashers began to applaud the newborn Pokémon, Riolu looking at them with some curiosity.

"Ri?" Riolu blinked confused. "Riiiii..."

Chris looked happy and reached for Riolu to carry him on his arms. Once the World Traveler had the Emanation Pokémon on his arms, Riolu looked up at him. "Hello," Chris said as he rubbed the Pokémon's head, "welcome to your new life, Riolu."

"Ri?" Riolu looked confused.

"...What's the matter?" Pit asked. "Shouldn't he be at least a little bit excited?"

The Smashers stopped applauding before Riolu looked at them.

"I bet he's just trying to adjust to his new life," Roy said. "Be glad he didn't cry. His speech is a little bit high-pitched..."

"Compared to Lucario's deep and gruff voice..." Olimar shrugged. "C-can he stay like this? I like him this way..."

"Oh no," Chris said. "This little Riolu will soon evolve into a Lucario once he gets very friendly with me." He raised the baby above him. "Isn't that right, Riolu?"

Riolu blinked and looked down at Chris. "Ri?"

"..." Chris looked worried. "...But...now that Riolu is here...taking care of him will be a lot harder than he was a Lucario before... If I'm right, then I'll have to leave him alone when I go to school..."

"I'll take care of him," Yoshi offered.

Pikachu looked annoyed. "Oh no, he's staying with our group. Lay a hand on Riolu and you'll pay."

Yoshi looked annoyed at him. "Please, I want to take care of him!"

"How 'bout if I take care of the little guy?" DK asked.

"Pfft, you?" Ness began. "No offense, DK, but your strength is probably going to rip his head off."

DK looked annoyed. "Oh, and all of you surely are very sophisticated and careful."

"We DO happen to be like that," Jigglypuff said annoyed. "Riolu's a baby Pokémon, and baby Pokémon are welcome in OUR group."

"U-um, everyone..." Chris muttered as he put Riolu close to his neck.

[DededeCloneChris]

Squirtle pointed at Pikachu. "You stay away from him!" he said. "I'm going to raise him to act just like me."

"Oh, by that, you mean acting like a slaved creature like you are to Red?" DK asked annoyed.

"Not that!" Ivysaur said. "We'll take care of him!"

"Everyone..." Chris muttered.

Popo (now back to normal) crossed his arms. "If we're the ones to raise Riolu, he'll become a Lucario once again, and he'll be in our group. Now that's what I call having a powerhouse in a team."

"You just want him so you have more reputation as a group? That's dirty, you know," Roy said.

"What's that?" Nana put a hand close to her left ear. "The kid swordsman wants to raise the baby himself?"

"Why not? I could make him get interested in swords."

"Hello?" Chris asked.

Jigglypuff gasped before pouting. "Y-you won't turn Riolu into a sword freak like you are!"

"A sword freak? He's not going to turn into a sword freak!" Roy yelled. "Tell them, Pit! You're with me in this, right?"

Pit looked unsure. "W-well, you, me, and some others are in some kind of a special team..."

Pikachu looked bored. "Coughswordsmengroupcough."

"Everyone," Chris said.

"P-personally, I want Riolu to join us..." Lucas muttered.

"We have a majority of votes, then!" Ness proclaimed.

"Hey, not fair! You guys are way too many!" DK argued.

"Too bad," Toon Link said amused. "Unless you have your own group, then you're not prepared for voting."

"Everyone," Chris said.

"I-I want to take care of him..." Olimar offered. "W-who knows, he could turn out nicer than he...was(?) when he was a Lucario..."

"Yeah..." Luigi said. "I-I agree with him..."

The other Smashers shot death glares at the 2.

"...M-mommy..." Luigi and Olimar muttered.

"Everyone!" Chris yelled.

"Okay," Diddy began as he cracked his fists, "since we can't get to an agreement, what we're gonna do here to resolve this is by having a free-for-all brawl at Kongo Jungle!"

"Pfft, why that place, anyway?" Roy asked. "I choose Castle Siege!"

"But fighting in Skyworld would be a great honor," Pit said. "Palutena could be the judge and criticize our performances as fighters."

"New Pork City for me!" Ness said. "What do you say, Lucas?"

"B-but that place is just plain evil!" Lucas said with a gulp. "T-the Ultimate Chimera paces around, remember?"

"You guys are so outdated," Squirtle said. "I say Spear Pillar so Arceus gives to us his words of wisdom!"

"Yeah, I agree!" Ivysaur said. "How 'bout you, Red?"

Red shifted his eyes. "W-well..."

"You 2 are way too religious for my tastes," Pikachu said to Squirtle and Ivysaur. "Let's all go to Pokémon Stadium 2!"

"P-Pokémon Stadium 1!" Pichu suggested. "Nothing beats the original!"

"Poké Floats!" Jigglypuff suggested.

"That stage isn't even here anymore," Nana pointed out. "Besides, that huge Venusaur scared the heck out of me."

"More of a reason to choose that stage, then!"

"That stage is NOT here," Nana said. "We all go to The Summit! That place is pure intensity on ice."

"Yoshi's Island," Yoshi said with crossed arms, "simple and yet basic for any fights."

Luigi didn't want to suggest going to Luigi's Mansion. The Boos in there scared Luigi a lot. "M-Mushroomy Kingdom!" Luigi suggested.

"Are you nuts? Moving stages are NOT good," DK said. "Let's all go to Rumble Falls instead!"

Toon Link looked bored. "If I recall, that stage is a M-O-V-I-N-G stage. Worse yet, it goes up."

"...Your point?" DK asked.

"T-the Distant Planet!" Olimar suggested. "Y-you better be careful about the Bulborb in there! ...And that counts me as well..." He looked down and frowned.

"Hey, why don't we ask Chris himself?" Roy asked. "He's the one who owns Riolu. We should ask him who he wants to be Riolu's guardian."

"Good idea," Pikachu said before he looked at Chris. "Hey, Chris, can you decide who you're going t-"

By the time the Smashers noticed, Chris, Riolu, Peach, and Kirby were all gone from the lobby ever since they began suggesting stages to fight to be Riolu's babysitter.

"Hey, where'd they go?" DK asked confused.

"Who cares?" Jigglypuff asked as she pouted. "We're all having a full-scale brawl right now at Poké Floats!"

"For the last time, that stage isn't here anymore!" Nana said annoyed. "That's it, we all go for random! Don't complain if we end up in Port Town Aero Dive. We all know that stage sucks for its crazy drivers and cars."

Everyone nodded before they all headed upstairs to issue the matches. As they went up, this attracted the attention of other Smashers who didn't get why the big group wanted to have a full-scale brawl, but it was surely going to be worth the time to fight until they all dropped down.

Peach's Room

"So, Peach, I want you to take care of Riolu the 5 days of school."

"Oh, thank you so much," Peach said. "I'll be happy to take care of Riolu."

Chris, Riolu, Peach, and Kirby were all sitting down on Peach's pink bed, the Emanation Pokémon stared up curiously at his surroundings while the puffball kept an eye on him.

"I just don't get why it is so important for all of them to take care of Riolu," Chris said. "Is it because they know that Riolu will evolve back to Lucario soon?"

"I guess so," Peach said before she shifted her eyes a bit. "...This is a little bit of a gossip, but I did hear some people wanted to take advantage of Riolu by...well...making him look like them..."

"...Bastards..." Chris muttered as he narrowed his eyes. "I knew there were wrong things with all of them..."

"Well, not most of them," Peach said. "People like Snake weren't interested..."

"...Snake who?" Chris asked. "O-oh, wait, where's Snake, anyway? I haven't see him for a pretty long time now..."

Kirby looked up at the ceiling. "I think Snake has been locked up in his room a long time ago... I don't know..."

Chris looked worried. "Oh no, if I ignore Snake for a long time, he's going to start thinking nobody cares about him..."

"What makes you think that?" Peach asked.

"Hello? Snake is some kind of cloned soldier," Chris said. "I don't recall much about his past in his game, but other than that, I know why he'd be secluded from most of us," he said. "I mean, Snake was invited to come here...then he got involved in all this mess... He's probably the only person in here who acts very serious."

"I understand that," Peach said worried. "Snake looks sharper than anyone here. So far, nobody has tried to get to be friends with him."

"I thought he wanted to stay here because he had feelings towards Samus."

Peach chuckled. "Love sometimes can make people do things they wouldn't want to do. That's why Snake is here."

"I guess you're right..." Chris said as he rubbed Riolu's head a bit. "...But in any case, I want you to take care of Riolu while I'm in school..." He looked down at Riolu. "Riolu."

"Ri?" Riolu looked up at him.

"Why don't you try to look happy for once?" Chris asked confused. "You've been looking blank for a time now..."

"Rii," Riolu simply said.

"...It's no use," Chris said defeated. "Riolu can't talk like Lucario did..."

"Riiii," Riolu said as he blinked.

"...No, I'm not going to try to guess what you're saying..."

Riolu looked a bit worried. "Riiiii..."

Peach looked worried at Riolu. "...It's a little hard to believe that Riolu was the one who was going to destroy everything, don't you think so, Chris?"

"I know what you mean..." Chris said as he grabbed Riolu and raised him up in front of them. "You're such a small Pokémon. It'd be hard for someone to believe that you have brute force..."

"...Rii," Riolu said.

"Just think about it for a moment," Chris said. "With the destructive power he showed us days ago, nobody would stand up against him... I bet that he could defeat anyone out there without even breaking a sweat..."

"B-but...he could kill us by accident..." Kirby said worried.

"...I know..." Chris said. "...Maybe...I'm going to remind this to you again..." he said to Riolu.

Riolu stared blankly at Chris.

"And of course, you don't know anything about it until you evolve into a Lucario... Speaking of which, do you have that brute force with you?" Chris asked.

"Ri?"

"...Okay, I'll try to guess what you mean..." Chris said without any other option to choose from. "I mean to say that...do you possess a lot of power?"

"..." Riolu shifted his eyes a bit. "...Riiiiiii."

Chris looked at Peach and Kirby before looking back at Riolu. "Do you, Riolu?" he asked as he put Riolu on the floor. "Maybe this is a little bit too much to ask but...Riolu, can you lift up this bed with your hands?"

"Ri?" Riolu looked at the pink bed.

"W-wait, isn't that really too much?" Peach asked.

Kirby looked worried. "What if Riolu ends up getting hurt?"

"I-I wouldn't let him get hurt by no reason..." Chris said. "...Okay, Riolu...try to lift up the bed...but if you can't do it, stop."

Riolu looked confused at the bed before he walked to it and put his hands under it. The three Smashers watched as Riolu stood straight while trying to carry the bed. Once Chris saw how Riolu looked like he was struggling, the World Traveler bent down to pick the Emanation Pokémon to put him back on his legs, Riolu staring blankly at him.

"That didn't work..." Chris said before he rubbed Riolu's head. "Thanks for doing it, though..."

"...Ri," Riolu said.

Kirby tilted his head a bit. "Why is it that he doesn't try to look happy for once?"

"Well, it may be mainly because he's just a newborn," Peach commented. "Riolu is probably trying to adapt to his new life..."

Chris smiled worried at Riolu. "I just hope you end up being a very happy and enthusiastic Riolu," he said as he carefully scratched Riolu's chin a bit, the Emanation Pokémon staring up at him. "If you can do that, maybe you'll evolve into Lucario."

"...Ri," Riolu said.

The World Traveler sighed mentally. "(The first day he's born, and now he's worrying me a lot... His calm attitude bothers me...)"

"Oh, that's right," Peach began, "Parakarry came here a while ago."

"Really?"

"Yes, he said he wanted us to go to the city... He said there's an important event there."

"Hmm, I wonder what that could be..." Chris muttered before he looked at Riolu. "Why don't we go all together now that we're alone?"

Chris looked at the smiling Kirby who nodded at him. Chris then looked at Riolu. "Do you want to go out?"

"Riiiiii..." Riolu responded.

"...I'll take that as a yes," Chris said confused. "...But...before we go...maybe we should try to invite him with us..."

"Who?" Kirby asked.

Wings Post Office

"I'm surprised you actually said yes for once," Chris said.

"Kid, I'm only doing this because there are a whole lot of people yelling in the mansion right now," Snake said. "My room had to be just a floor above the Brawl Room..."

"Brawl Hall?"

"The place where everyone can issue matches," Peach said. "It's just to the right of the Classic Mode Hall."

"And my room is just above both of those halls," Snake muttered. "Try having a moment of tranquility before it gets interrupted by a bunch of weirdoes on the floor below."

"Okay, okay, I know you're mad because they randomly decided to have some sort of full-scale brawl...a reason which I have yet to know..."

"Riii..." Riolu said on Chris's arms.

The rather small group of Smashers (Peach, Snake, Chris, Kirby, and Riolu) decided to go back to the post office to visit Parakarry.

"And I'm surprised about another thing," Chris began as he looked at Snake, "I didn't think you'd change clothes."

The others looked at Snake's new attire. Unlike the alternate colors that most of the Smashers had used for Halloween, Snake was wearing a brown vest over his long blue sleeved shirt, and he was also wearing blue pants with black boots.

"I'm only wearing this because I don't want people to see me wearing my espionage clothes," Snake said. "I still carry all my weapons in this attire, though. I've got to be as a careful as possible around here."

"Why is that?" Kirby asked.

"It's because this universe has many messed up monsters. Also, since there have been people coming out of freaking nowhere, I better be clothed right for the occasion to meet them. If you were me, would you go about wearing the clothes I wear for my undercover missions?"

"...You have a pretty good point..." Chris admitted.

"Thanks."

The five looked back at Quil on the other side of the counter. The Rito postman had his arms crossed over the counter as he looked at them. "I'm sorry for not being here the days you visited this place," Quil said. "The other settlements across this land requested our services to deliver mail. Even if we are tired, we like how much our work has progressed. Right now, Postman is doing many errands."

"I see," Peach said. "Have you seen Parakarry?"

"It'd be difficult not seeing him," Quil said before he looked to the south. "Parakarry and her seemingly talkative friend Kylie headed to the ruins of the city a while ago. He said he wanted me to tell you to go to him." He looked back at them. "By the way...do you know anything about the...'Aurageddon' that took place some weeks ago?"

Chris looked shocked while Riolu merely tilted his head in curiosity. "W-where did you hear about that name?"

"I heard about that name from that twin brother of Master Hand," Quil said. "Some days ago, after the event took place, I went to the mansion to deliver some mail and Crazy Hand received me. I asked him about the event, and he told me it was the 'Aurageddon' or something..."

"...That stupid big..." Chris muttered.

"Also, I've heard from a lot of people from the settlements that the strange event where that big dome of energy engulfed what appeared to be a massive amount of landscape across every direction was some sort of event that had to do with...aura..." Quil explained. "According to some mages, they managed to identify the source of the energy as aura..."

Kirby looked worried.

"But the oddest of things was that all settlements and people were left unharmed," Quil said. "However, that should have been said to the environment... There are many scars of destruction over the whole land such as caves being buried under rocks, chains of trees turned into ashes, and many patches of grasses being turned to dust... I just can't seem to understand why there are several spots where the land wasn't harmed at all... Do you know why?"

Snake grunted a bit at this and pointed at Riolu. "It was this little dog you see here that did all that."

Chris, Peach, and Kirby gasped while Riolu blinked confused as to why the scary man to his right pointed at him with a finger. "Snake..." Chris muttered through gritted teeth.

Quil looked at the curious Riolu. "...Yes...I'm surely certain a small creature like him did all that..." he said sarcastically.

"Tsk," Snake muttered with a frown. "I know you weren't going to believe me. Fine, be that way."

The other three Smashers sighed in relief.

"..." Quil looked around. "...Well...in any case, you should go with Parakarry and Kylie right now," he said before he pointed at the city.

The five Smashers looked at the direction of the city before they all began to head down the path to it, looking up at the clouds that stopped raining upon the ruins of the city.

"It stopped raining..." Kirby muttered.

"Weird, whenever I came to this place, I always saw it having rain all the time," Chris said. "Maybe it was just coincidence?"

"Let's see what those turtles want us to see," Snake said. "The more I stay away from the mansion and its crazy people, the better."

"Snake..." Otacon said over the codec.

"Quiet, Otacon."

"Hmm," muttered Otacon.

Nintendo City: The City of Despair
Entrance

The Smashers soon entered the territory of the ruined city. After Lucario had used his rampaging attack of aura, most of the remains of the city had disappeared. Unfortunately, about a fifth of the whole ruins were turned into bits, leaving a huge land covered in crumbles behind the destruction.

"And here I thought the dog had taken care of all the crumbles," Snake said as they walked along a destroyed street. "Look at this place; it's all lonely and so dead as a rat."

"I hate to say something similar to what you said, Snake..." Peach said as she looked around the destroyed buildings. "This city used to be so bustling with all sorts of people..."

Kirby sniffed. "I-I miss the bakery..."

"And now...it's all gloomy, wet, and destroyed," Chris added as they stopped walking on a corner. "...Where are Parakarry and Kylie?"

At that same moment, mentioned characters were seen to their left as they were looking to the south of another street. The Smashers walked all the way to see that Kylie was yelling out something.

"Come over here!" Kylie yelled to the south street. "You hoopla will have to give me a very detailed, DAMN explanation about your delay getting here!" she yelled as she hopped a bit on her spot.

Parakarry sighed. "They're not here yet, are they?"

"Course not!" Kylie complained before she turned around. "My pal isn't just showing his face because he knows I'm gonna put him in the humiliating section of the Koopa Kronicle!" She grabbed her camera. "Once I spot him, the picture will do the rest on the paper! I'm asking for justice, pal, JUSTICE ON PAPER!"

"Ahem..." Chris coughed.

The two turtles turned their heads to look at the Smashers. "Oh, here you are, my boys!" Kylie said pleased before she took a quick photo of them. "Nice to see here such a bunch of kiddos under the dead weather on this place you used to call a city, huh?"

"I...suppose so..." Peach said.

Kylie cordially bowed to Peach. "If isn't Your Majesty of the Mushroom Kingdom...what an honor to see some royalty comin' in here!" she said pleased.

Peach chuckled heartily. "It's nice to see a person with such a go-"

"PHOTO TIME!" Kylie quickly yelled, startling some of them before she began taking a bunch of photos of Peach as Kylie actually appeared on different spots around the surprised princess. As the flash of her camera blinded most of them, it looked like Kylie seemed to be warping all over Peach to take any possible angles from the princess, Kylie giggling like crazy all the way until she stopped, herself standing back on the spot where she bowed to Peach.

"M-my eyes..." Kirby said dazzled.

Riolu's eyes were spinning a bit. "RiiiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIiiiiii..." he muttered dazzled, Chris looking worried at him.

Kylie gave them a thumb up with a wink. "I'm so gonna hit the golden rank now!" she said before smiling at Peach. "I didn't think the princess herself would come all the way from the kingdom to pay a visit to this dump!"

"T-that's because I live in the mansion close to this place..." Peach pointed out.

"...HA! You're takin' my leg now, aren't you?" Kylie asked chuckling.

"W-what?"

Kylie rolled her eyes. "You're not only very benevolent to everyone in the kingdom, but you also sport a very good sense of humor!" she said. "Please, do you really think you'd be livin' in some random mansion close to this place? I wouldn't believe that for a bit, princess!"

"B-but...I-I do live in a mansion as my second home..."

"...Well..." Kylie shifted her eyes a bit, "...a mansion would be a nice place for vacations..."

Snake coughed. "Can you stop talking about unrelated business and say why did you want us to come to this ghost city?"

Kylie looked at him. "Why, yes, my man of the sharp face," she said. "You see, my connections are coming here in a minute. They said they were arriving here!" She clapped her hands happily. "If that's true, that means this city will be pimped up after all this infernal waiting!" She looked around. "Now, I'm having a hard time deciding where to tell them to make the Koopa Kronicle's HQ building... Hmm...hard choice, considering how gloomy this place looks like, hooligans..."

Parakarry chuckled before blushing. "I-I'm sure the place you choose will be the best of places, Kylie..."

"Thank you, sweetie," Kylie said without even facing Parakarry directly, her mind thinking had about a nice location. "...Hmmm...hmm...hmm..." She knocked her head a bit. "Don't jump to conclusions now, Kylie! You must wait until the time comes for you to make your move as an expert journalist!" She did her trademark pose and winked at the group. "Isn't that right, my boys?"

"...Ri," Riolu said as he raised a hand, his eyes still spinning while Chris tried to snap him out of his state.

"Good enough for me!" Kylie said before she heard many footsteps coming from the south. "Oh my, like, they're here already!" She chuckled deeply. "It's time for some fixin'-fixin', by boogity!"

The rest of the group looked to the south to see that a big multitude of Hammer Brothers were walking towards them, all formed in long lines that seemed endless from the group's point of view. Chris gasped, Kirby hid behind Chris, Riolu shook his head to snap out from his dazzled state to look curiously at the 'army' of hammer wielders, Snake narrowed his eyes and slowly reached for a grenade, and Peach took a step back.

"Goodness..." Parakarry muttered in awe as he saw the squad of Hammer Bros. walking towards them. "T-they're your connections?"

"Yup!" Kylie said proudly. "Quite a bunch, huh?"

"I-I'd say a lot..." Kirby commented behind Chris.

The Smashers couldn't see how many of them were, but judging by how the feet of the multitude of Hammer Bros. were making the very earth tremble, it could have meant that either the brothers looked very heavy or they were way too many as Kylie had explained before.

"And a one, and a two, and a three, and a four," one leading Hammer Bros. in front of the whole squad of Hammer Bros. commanded as they walked to the group. "And another one, and another two, and another three, and another four, people!"

"And a one, and a two, and a three, and a four," the multitude of Hammer Bros. said at the same time. "And another one, and another two, and another three, and another four, people!" they said in a cheerful manner.

Snake grunted. "Tell me these guys aren't with the stupid lizard dinosaur of Bowser..."

"Pfft, they're not with him," Kylie said. "The whole bunches of people you see in front of your eyes are renegades who dropped out from Bowser's army." She giggled a bit. "Man, you gotta admit their mom was very proud of having so many kids!"

"...W-wait, what?" Chris asked. "T-they all came from the same mom?"

"Ha, you wish, you hoopla!" Kylie said giggling. "That's technically impossible to do!"

"Really?" Kirby asked.

"...Maybe."

Chris, Peach, and Kirby shrugged.

The group looked back at the 'militia' of Hammer Bros. Soon enough, the civilized brothers stopped walking once they were ten feet away from Kylie. The leading Hammer Bro walked to her and bowed a bit. "Sorry for the delay, ma'am," he said. "We came to report to you that we're ready to repair this big place you call city."

Kylie nodded. "Very well, kiddo, I like how that sounds." She pointed around the mountains of crumbles, buildings that were slowly falling apart, and the cracks that completely covered all the streets. "You have a lot of work ahead of your minds, you know that?"

"Oh, that's no problem," the Hammer Bro said chuckling. "My guys here can get the job done in a few days. I gotta say this place is WAY on the edge to become some sort of a cemetery!" He turned to the whole multitude of Hammer Bros. "Okay guys," he began as he raised a hammer, "bang your hammers on all the stuff you can find! We gotta renovate this place by first clearing it up, then we move up to our favorite part: building blueprints!"

"HAMMER!" the Hammer Bros. let out some sort of war cry sound before they all scrambled around the whole city. Many of them made groups of four to ten to take care of the bigger buildings while others simply were simply picking up big stones that they carried out somewhere.

Overall, the scene looked like the city became inhabited by many Hammer Bros. The group watched as how every single one of them began to work arduously by either destroying the buildings or removing all the fallen crumbles.

The leading Hammer Bro looked pleased at Kylie. "There you go, ma'am. My guys will fix this place up in less than a Goomba can cry!"

"Excellent, excellent!" Kylie rejoiced as she clapped her hands together. "Do you have an estimate time?"

"Well, we calculated the width and the length of the whole city, and I gotta admit that the result will come out very nicely good," the Hammer Bro said smiling. "I really am sorry to know that this place used to be so populated, but man, rebuilding this MASSIVE place will be a great feat to achieve!"

Kylie nodded. "Good, good. I'm sure the outcome is gonna be the heading of the first page on the newspaper." She turned around to look at the Smashers. "Well, there you go; a city's being rebuild for your own pleasure."

The leading Hammer Bro looked at the group. "You guys live close to this place, right? Well, once we finish up the cleaning part, what do you want us to build first?"

Parakarry looked happy. "Oh, oh, can I request my old post office building?"

Hammer Bro scratched his helmet a bit. "Unfortunately for the moment, you guys will have to accept what we have for tools..."

"What do you mean by that?" Chris asked.

"Well, ma'am here called us in the worst of times," the Hammer Bro said as, from behind them, a group of ten Hammer Bros carried out a big chunk of cement. "Since we're way too many, we're always being asked to make buildings all over the Mushroom Kingdom. Because of that...we're a little bit short of materials to create buildings..."

Kylie looked a bit mad at this. "Didn't you hoopla say you had everything?"

"W-well, you were asking us to hurry up so...yeah..." the Hammer Bro said embarrassed. "I tried and tried to convince you from giving us more time, but you said you wanted the job done as soon as possible..."

Kylie sighed. "Great, just great..."

"D-don't look that mad either," the Hammer Bro said sweating as three Hammer Bros were walking to the east, humming happily to themselves. "We still have enough materials to create some buildings..."

Kylie looked at him. "How many buildings can your guys make?"

"...Like...um..." The Hammer Bro turned around to look everywhere while the Hammer Bros. were yelling and banging their hammers on everything they could focus on. "...We can make like 20-old fashioned buildings to have a fresh start..."

"20?" Kylie repeated. "Hmm, would that make this place look like a city?"

"Well, if my assumption is correct, I'd guess this would look like a village than a city..." the Hammer Bro said as he smiled nervously. "...So...yeah..."

"..." Kylie sighed depressed. "Just make a small building for the Koopa Kronicle..."

"It'd have to look old-fashioned, though," the Hammer Bro said. "Unfortunately, we lack the materials to make modern-looking buildings. We have a lot wood and glass but very little mass for cement..."

Kylie banged her forehead against her camera. "This have to be some sort of bad joke, isn't it?!"

"That's...reality, ma'am..." the Hammer Bro said in defeat. "B-but see the bright side: this place is gonna be cleaned up from south to north. Once we start making buildings, we'll try to gather up more materials. Once you notice, the city will be back to its majestic splendor."

"I guess that's all we have to do; wait," Peach said.

Upon looking at the princess, the Hammer Bro bowed to her. "It's such a cloudy day to see the very same princess of the kingdom here! I'm not worthy enough for your presence!"

"Hey, little guy, stop the formalities," Snake said. "I thought you guys were supposed to be working for Bowser."

The Hammer Bro looked annoyed. "Bowser? Are you kidding me?" he asked. "We're the tiniest bit of people who had enough common sense to drop out of his army. The guy can't remember most of us AT ALL. Besides, we don't get paid much unless Bowser decides to rob a bank, something that he has never done before!" He crossed his arms while tapping a foot on a crack. "It's pure hell to work for him! Persuading the other guys of his army is a very stubborn thing to do because they don't understand that we don't make any progress in any of Bowser's plans. We're way sick to see that guy that we ultimately decided to silently sneak out from his castle without him knowing about it! Also, working with an honest job is much more worthwhile than cleaning cannons and Bowser's room!"

"...I see..." Kirby said as he blinked a few times.

The Hammer Bro chuckled. "Heheh, funny this is Bowser didn't even check to see how many of us dropped out."

"But if you are so many," Chris began, "how come he didn't notice all of you sneaking out from his castle?"

The hammer wielder looked bored at him. "Hello, this is Bowser, the stupidest guy you'll ever see in the world."

"...Oh..."

"Besides, he talks to posters," the Hammer Bro said. "I heard from a friend at Petalburg that he smooth-talked a poster of Princess Peach."

Snake frowned. "Now that's what I call a good example of a retard."

"I know," the brother said. "Anyhow, do you want to recommendate some buildings?"

"Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease," Parakarry pleaded, "make a post office! I want to have a big one!"

The Hammer Bro nodded and took out a notepad and a pen. "Okay," he began as he wrote the request down, "post office..." He pointed his pen at the group. "What else?"

"How about a long, wide building for a restaurant?" Toadette asked.

Hammer Bro nodded. "Yep, a long restaurant. Good start for the renovation," he admitted. "Should we make a hotel? You know, for travelers and stuff."

"Oh yes, that sounds good," Peach said.

"Hotel... What else?"

"A grocery store?" Chris asked.

"Oh, good one," Hammer Bro said. "Anything else?"

"A bakery!" Kirby rejoiced.

"Hmm-hm, bakery," Hammer Bro said. "What else?"

"The Koopa Kronicle HQ!" Kylie said.

"Got that one down," Hammer Bro said. "Hmm, we should make some houses for people who would like to buy 'em."

"I don't know much about it, but that would make this place look less gloomy than it is now," Snake commented.

Hammer Bro nodded as he wrote it all down. "Okay, so you wanna have a hotel,a grocery store, a bakery (Kirby: Yay!), the Koopa Kronicle HQ, some houses, and a wide, long restaurant."

"That's about it," Peach said.

Hammer Bro nodded again and kept both the notepad and pen. "Hmm-hm, that sounds about right," he said. "Well, you'll have to wait some time before we get this place all clean. Once we do that, we're gonna start building."

Riolu looked curiously at Toadette.

"Oh well, I gotta join the guys and issue orders," the Hammer Bro said. "Until then, please wait, okay?" He chuckled before turning around to walk away, the group staring at bunches and bunches of Hammer Bros moving all around.

"...Ri!" Riolu said suddenly.

Chris looked at Riolu. "Is something wrong?"

"Ri!" Riolu pointed at Toadette.

The group soon noticed that the pink Toad was there. Some of them shook their heads in surprise to see Toadette appear out of nowhere. The young Toad chuckled and folded her arms behind her back.

"H-hey, when did you get here?" Parakarry asked.

Toadetted looked at him. "Rude, I came here about a minute ago," she said. "Can't you see when someone arrives here?"

"With a bunch of hammer wielders going about, it'd be a little bit hard to spot someone like you," Snake commented. "Then again, that big mushroom of yours sticks out as a sore thumb."

Toadette rolled her eyes. "That doesn't matter for now," she said before turning to Peach. "Salutations, Princess Peach!"

Peach chuckled a bit. "It's nice to see you here, Toadette...but...what are you doing here?"

Toadette chuckled and moved her hips a bit to the sides. "Well, it's just that I'm gonna open my own restaurant here very soon, and I wanted to check out this place."

"You're opening a restaurant?"

Toadette nodded. "The Wonder Restaurant; that's the name," she said chuckling. "After I made a success by having a hotel, I decided to move on with a restaurant to create another small business."

"...The Wonder Restaurant?" Chris asked. "Wasn't that name dotted down on the billboard of requests?"

The pink Toad blinked a bit. "Oh, right! I already came here some days ago to request people to be butlers!" she said before looking worried. "You see, I have the chefs and some staff ready for the opening inauguration of the restaurant...but...I haven't had any luck finding butlers anywhere..." She sniffed to the point where she took out a napkin from her back. "It's horrible, I tell you..." she said as she blew her nose on the napkin. "When I came here to see that this place was destroyed by some sort of unknown event, my dreams were shattered, but then I went to Parakarry's place where he told me I could put up a request on the board..."

Kirby shed a tear and rubbed his right eye a bit.

"...And I've been waiting for people to accept the job..." Toadette said. "...But I thought that wasn't a request but rather an application request. I can hire butlers at a later time, and also open up the restaurant much, much later, but I want to experience the joy by hiring part-time butlers...just so I can make people happy with food and good service..." She looked up at them and joined her hands. "Waiting for so long has been killing me..."

"...Tough luck," Snake muttered.

In an instant, Chris, Kirby, Peach, and Parakarry gasped after Toadette leaped to Snake's neck and pulled his vest hardly where his face was shoved to hers. "Now you LISTEN to me well before I resort to violence here," Toadette began as she glared directly at Snake's eyes. "This is one of my most treasured dreams I want to achieve very soon. I didn't come all the way here so a guy like you utter some annoying words to me!"

"Little girl, get off my me before I get to be the one to resort to violence," Snake threatened.

"Oh my," Mei Ling began from the codec, "Snake, don't be such a harsh man on little girls. Your reputation could be hurt if you hurt her."

"Mei Ling, nobody asked you to comment," Snake said. "Also, I don't have much of a reputation to keep."

Mei Ling sighed. "Whatever you say, Snake..."

"U-um, Toadette, can you get off Snake?" Peach asked.

Toadette grunted loudly to Snake before she jumped back to the floor and closed her eyes annoyed. "Oh well, I'm not letting people putting me down. Just be glad you're not the butler I'm looking for!" she yelled at Snake.

"Like I want to be a butler," Snake said. "Would I look like one if I were to wear a tux?"

Chris, Peach, and Kirby imagined Snake in a black tuxedo as he held a plate on his right hand. They went as far as to think Snake asking "Would you like some tea with your soup, madame?"

As the three Smashers were thinking of Snake handing over a grilled steak to some Toads, Toadette opened her eyes and examined Snake. "...I don't want to scare people with that face of yours. I mean, it looks SO cold..."

Snake rolled his eyes. "Offensive reason, but a good one to stay away from you."

"You just wait until my restaurant opens up," Toadette said as she looked amused. "Once people start liking the food in there, you're gonna be starving yourself to death."

"I'll have to keep some rations for me then."

"Whatever," Toadette said bored before looking happy again. "So then, I'm waiting for some people to become butlers. I hope I can find some before the restaurant opens up."

"A-actually, I wanted to apply to be one for a time," Chris said, Toadette looking relieved at him. "There were some other friends I have who wanted to become ones as well."

"Like, no way!" Toadette said shocked. "That means my restaurant will have all the staff complete!" she rejoiced a bit by hopping on her spot. "Okay, if you are going to accept my request, you have to show me the wing stamp."

Parakarry floated to Chris and gave him a wing stamp. Even if this looked a bit bizarre, Chris showed the stamp to Toadette.

"Accepted!" Toadette said. "I'll send you guys a note to advice you when the restaurant is opening. I'm sure you'll be delighted to see our staff of expert cooks!"

"What staff is that?" Peach asked.

"Oh, I'm telling you that getting the cooks was a little bit hard. But I, eventually, found the most talented ones after looking and looking everywhere," she said. "I even went to Rogueport."

"Then what my sisters told me about applying for a restaurant job was true."

Everyone turned around to find none other than another Toad, The Master, standing behind them with Lee (the Duplighost). The elderly Toad coughed a bit and looked at them.

"Hello," the Master greeted. "It's nice to see you."

"Oh, if isn't Mr. The Master!" Toadette said pleased. "Oh yeah, your sisters did apply to be the cooks of the restaurant. I'm happy to see such 2 talented cooks decided to join ladles and forks to create miracle cuisine!"

The Master nodded. "Nothing else makes me feel relieved to see my sisters working together. I hope they don't cause you any trouble. Their personalities can be...the perfect opposite of each other..."

"Don't be that worried either," Toadette with a chuckle. "They know each one of them are going to be working there."

"Well, I would like to visit the restaurant once it opens," the Master said. "They can argue with each other, but they know what they do when cooking is involved."

"I have 2 other cooks besides them so they all befriend each other," Toadette pointed out. "Plus, I have the master chef who will be the head of the team." She giggled happily.

"The master chef?" Chris asked. "Who's that?"

"Well...he told me not to tell anybody about his identity...but he did say he wanted people to enjoy his cuisine," Toadette said. "Sorry, but I'll have to keep his identity as a secret. If you're wondering who the other cooks are, well, they are from another...dimension, I should say..."

"Another dimension?" Snake asked. "(I swear, these universes get more and more unbelievable. Soon enough, before I know it, I'll be eating mushrooms with eyes...)"

Toadette giggled. "Other than that, don't you worry, okay? I have everything under control."

The Master nodded. "Thank you. I hope my sisters find a way to get closer to each other through working together."

[DededeCloneChris]

Chris looked a bit confused at the Master. "Wait, did you come here just because you wanted to express how grateful you were that your sisters applied for the restaurant?"

Lee shook his head. "No, the Master has come here because he's taking a walk...and also because he has something to tell you."

"What is that?" Chris asked.

The Master coughed. "I have sensed that the journey ahead of yours will become even harder than before..."

Kirby shrugged. "H-how do you know that if you didn't see us that much?"

"That's because I focused my mind with the nature," the Master said. "Rigorous meditation has allowed me to perceive calm winds and dangerous winds. The winds that swept the land of this location alert me from almost everything there is to know. Those very same winds also alerted me that the journey you're taking part of will become much harder than before."

"...You can do that?" Snake asked.

Lee nodded. "The Master knows what he does. He can sense practically anything by meditating in tranquility."

The Master looked at Chris. "I want you and some of the Smashers to come to my Dojo in a few days," he said. "It's clear that what you're all doing will ultimately lead to greater conflicts that must be resolved... The power you all possess won't be quite enough to confront those malignants forces you're about to face."

Toadette looked confused. "Pardon me?"

"Sorry, but it's something you better not know," the Master said.

"Okay..." Toadette lifted her shoulders, "either way, I gotta give that Hammer Bro a nice blueprint for the restaurant of my dreams," she said before humming and turning around to walk away, skipping a bit on the cracks of the street while she passed through groups of Hammer Bros. "~La dee dah, good cuisine, la dee dah, good palate, la dee dah, good business, la dee dah...~" she sang happily to herself as she walked away.

Kylie hopped on her spot a bit. "I gotta do the same and head down with my pal," she said before turning around to walk away and try to find the Hammer Bro between every single Hammer Bro. "Nuts, I need to recall who was it again! Everyone looks just...the same!" she cursed between the groups of Hammer Bros.

Parakarry saluted the group. "And I gotta give him a good, clean blueprint for the post office. Now, since it's going to be old-fashioned, I better try to think of a nice look for it..." he muttered to himself as he turned away and flew over the working Hammer Bros. Once he began to look around, he looked miffed at no one in particular. "Who was it again?" he asked. "...Oh yeah, that one over there," he said as he looked to the right where a Hammer Bro was issuing orders to a big group of Hammer Bros. The Paratroopa had a lot of luck since he was able to find the leader of the whole squad.

The Master coughed a bit to get the Smashers' attention. "As I was saying before, the path ahead of yours will become even thinner to walk on. I'm sorry to hesitate a bit...but I need some of you to come to my Dojo so you can train your minds and bodies for the incoming battles."

Kirby looked worried. "W-why are you putting a lot of trust on us?"

The Master closed his eyes. "I know I'm doing the right thing here," he said. "You're the only ones that can attack head-on to the bad omen that wants to conquer everything... I could join you in your quest, but I'm way too old..." he complained a bit.

"...No wonder," Snake muttered.

The Master opened his eyes. "Thus I need you to come to my Dojo and make some special training I have for you to take."

"What would that training be?" Peach asked worried.

"That training is challenging the Master or Jinx themselves to a fight," Lee explained. "Believe me when I'm saying this: Jinx or the Master are expert martial arts fighters. Don't judge them for their appearances 'cuz they're going to hit you hard where it hurts the most."

Chris looked shocked at this.

The Master frowned and raised a fist above him. Upon seeing the action, Lee gasped and knelt down to him. "I-I'm sorry, sensei! Please, forgive my clueless tongue!"

"Hmm," the Master murmured as he lowered his fist down. "I hope you learned your lesson."

"Yes, sensei..." Lee said ashamed.

As Chris sighed in relief, the Master looked up at him. "Please, do come to my Dojo before it's too late. I'm aware that your fight against that omen will start to become more erratic than before..."

Chris nodded. "Okay...but I'm worried about getting so powerful in a small span of time..."

The Master stared at Chris. "...Don't you worry about that."

"What?"

The Master shook his head. "I assure you that this challenge will make every single one of you much stronger than you are now. It'll be very quick as well."

"T-that's...endangering..." Chris said worried before he looked at Riolu. "D-didn't you see th-"

"The event where your companion that can manipulate aura by his will where he was about to destroy everything over his lack of control of power?" the Master asked.

"...Yes..." Chris said.

The Master nodded. "I sensed that massive energy engulfing a whole expanse of land that wasn't harmed where living creatures and people live," he said. "I can tell that his power grew dangerously high to the point he couldn't control it perfectly."

Snake looked away. "One more reason to avoid making him mad..."

"You know..." Chris began, "...a friend of mine explained to me the dangers that power has over anyone. I learned that getting power very quickly could lead someone to become...corrupted with power..." He hugged Riolu tightly, the Emanation Pokémon staring up at him. "Once you offered to give us that training...I...I don't think it's a good idea to do it because...I would hate to see some of us kill someone because they can't control power well..."

The Master stared at the Smashers for a bit before he lowered his chin and chuckled. "So, it's effort that you want to have so it prevents you from getting corrupted with power."

Chris blinked shocked and looked at the Master. "H-how did you know that?"

Lee stood up and crossed his sleeved arms. "People like the Master know that gaining ultimate power foolishly to resolve something is an unforgivable thing to do. Even if you are heroes or something, it's still not a good excuse," he explained. "Such people don't have what it takes to control their powers at their wills."

The Master frowned as he folded his arms behind his back. "I have battled such people before. It pains me to see how malicious they had become just because they wanted to achieve greater power... No matter how much you try, getting so much power can eventually lead you to insanity; insanity that is not visible."

Snake crossed his arms. "Explain the insanity part a little bit more."

The Master merely pointed down at the cracks on the street. "These cracks are fresh," he stated. "These cracks were made by aura; aura that wasn't controlled properly."

Chris looked shocked at the cracks on the floor.

"Also, this is further supported by the fact that there are more cracks expanding over the land as if was all dry like a desert or an arid region," the Master explained. "What good is there to use ultimate power if you're not caring about what your power touches? Are not you supposed to save? Power destroys, it doesn't save anyone. Power is only used to cause destruction and deaths. Are you going to simply look around at the scar of destruction you left behind and say something that could encourage you to keep using that power so you go on and on about using it more frecuently?"

Peach shook her head. "I wouldn't do something so horrible like that..."

The Master looked down. "Such is the insanity of power, princess..." he muttered. "You're supposed to protect everything and everyone. You surely like to protect everyone than everything. It's like you're saying you don't care about nature as long as your beloved ones are there. Well, isn't that being irresposible to nature itself? Wasn't nature the fact that let you live? Why would you go on ahead and destroy it with power?" He pointed at them. "Every living being needs to protect anything and anyone. Power itself shouldn't exist...but there is no choice but to keep getting stronger to maintain peace..."

Chris scratched his head a bit. "This is...so confusing... All this talk about the consequences of power is making me get so confused..."

"Riiiiiiiii..." Riolu trailed off.

"I have to admit it's very crucial to accept what is good and what is not about power," the Master said as he looked back at them. "Only wise beings know how to manipulate their power so it doesn't destroy people or nature."

The World Traveler thought hard for a moment before he recalled something that Eiko had said about her Eidolons. "Eidolons are good entities that coexist with nature. Summoners only use Eidolons for protective means. In my case, I use them to aid me in ordeals. Eidolons themselves would hate that their power would destroy nature so they use their powers to keep it as it should be," her words echoed in Chris's mind.

"In order to keep power under your control," the Master continued, "effort needs to be used to protect your will from being corrupted."

"Effort?" Snake asked.

"Think about this for a second," the Master began, "if you ever saw someone copying answers from someone's test during an exam, what would you think?"

"I'd say rather to think that he or she should stop doing that."

"What is that called?"

"Cheating."

"Correct," the Master said. "Now, try to think of a same occasion but with power instead of knowledge."

Snake rubbed his chin for a moment. "Hmm..." He thought hard for a bit. After thinking for fifteen seconds, the mercenary looked back at the old Toad. "...The scene doesn't look good," he said. "The person I imagined didn't know how to manipulate his power."

"Shameful knowledge, I'd say," the Master said. "Why do you think people train their minds and bodies alike?"

"Simple," Snake said. "They want to achieve what they want to get through honest effort. Otacon didn't get to be hacker by stealing information of his colleagues."

"Hey, don't say things like that, Snake!" Otacon yelled from the codec.

"...Now I see what you mean by effort," Snake said.

Kirby looked surprised. "You're actually listening to someone's advice for once?"

Snake looked at him. "I'm just trying to prevent myself from getting crazy with power. Sure, it's crazy for me to think I can get stronger than I am now, but facing the difficulties we have to resolve...it's possible."

The Master nodded. "It's effort that helps us to shape up the places where we are," he explained. "It's effort that lets us find new discoveries as well."

Chris then remembered Presea's words echoing in his mind. "Effort is the only way that keeps you away from getting corrupted with power. Small steps will make your path easier. Soon enough, you shall see that the power won't control you, but your will is going to be so used that it won't subdue to the power you have. You'll have the strength where you want it to be: under your own hard-earned effort."

"...Effort will keep us from getting corrupted..." Chris muttered.

Lee nodded. "Alright, it seems you're starting to get the hand of it now."

"I'm glad to hear that," the Master said. "I'm sorry, but we must return to the Dojo for the time being. What have you decided to do now?"

"..." Chris looked a bit determined. "...We'll see you very soon as soon as we clear up some other businesses we have to do first."

"Very well," the Master said before he turned around and walked away with Lee. "I shall wait for you to visit the Dojo..." He stopped walking to look back at the Smashers. The Smashers stared at the Master as he chuckled a bit and continued his way back to the Dojo in the western forest, Lee walking close to him.

Kingdom Hearts II - Friends in My Heart

The World Traveler looked down at Riolu before he looked at Peach, Snake, and Kirby. "...I think I understand what we have to do..." he said.

"Get stronger?" Snake asked.

"No...that's just a small part of the main reason..." Chris said as he looked at the hard-working Hammer Bros. "The Master told us that we're the only ones who can defeat Tabuu, right? Don't you think that protecting the worlds we go to need to be kept away from destruction?"

Peach thought for a moment. "Well...it's our job as a group to stop Tabuu..."

"So then...I realized that our main job is to keep peace whenever we go," Chris said as he looked down at Riolu while he rubbed his head a bit with care. "No matter where we go, we have to keep the worlds safe from harm."

"...Ri..." Riolu trailed off.

"The Subspace Army is the main enemy to defeat here," Chris said. "You said you were defeated by Tabuu when you fought against him... That could mean you weren't strong enough, right?"

Snake nodded. "That's what happened, kid."

"But when the Master gave us that lecture about power...and if you add Presea's words to it...it makes me think that we have to be careful of what we do with what we have..." Chris said. "He said we could grow stronger, but we had to be careful to use our powers before we blindly destroy what we're trying to protect so hard..."

Kirby looked down sadly. "You're...right..."

"...I hope so..." Chris said. "After all those lectures, I realized that we have to protect even the smallest life we meet or find. If we don't think that way, it's just like we're showing them our backs like we didn't care at all..."

Snake thought for a moment. "Maybe you got a point, kid."

"A very good point," Mei Ling spoke. "It's like you do, Snake. You prevent weapons of mass destruction to be deployed. Isn't that a sign that you want to protect everything?"

"...Heh," Snake chuckled a bit. "I guess that's a very good example."

"You're...very good people..."

The Smashers heard a very different voice that came from the north. They all turned back to the direction that the Master and Lee walked away to find none other than the bug fanatic Sig walking pass by the Hammer Bros. The demon claw wielder walked to them and stopped.

"Sig!" Kirby said. "What are you doing here?"

Sig looked at Kirby. "I'm looking for bugs," he said. "Many of them fled when that weird blue light covered Agitha's castle. She cried and cried, saying that she wanted them to come back. I couldn't see her cry any longer so I offered to look for the bugs," he explained. "I wanted to see what was happening here, and I happened to overheard what you were saying about protecting people and nature alike."

"You're...a friend of Kirby?" Peach asked.

Sig nodded before he smiled a bit. "Yes, I am. When I heard that you were going to protect anything...I got happy to know people that care about anything and anyone. Does that mean you care about bugs as well?"

Chris blinked a bit shocked. "W-well...bugs should be protected as well..."

"...Yay," Sig said as he blushed a bit. "You're a good bunch of people," he said. "If you want to go as far as to protect bugs, then that means you care about every single living thing that you protect..."

"...Right..." Snake trailed off.

Sig continued smiling. "I'm glad to have people like you as my friends," he said. "...I'm so glad, actually..."

Kirby smiled a bit at Sig. "I'm happy you're happy, Sig."

"Thanks, it means so much for me to believe that there are people with nice hearts out there," Sig said. "For that, you're the nicest people I've ever met... I'd hate to see people who don't care about bugs...bugs are living beings as well as we are, right? Why can't they coexist with us a bit?"

"W-wait, we're not saying they don't deserve the same rights to live as we do," Chris said.

"I know that," Sig said. "You look like you're going to keep up your word to protect everyone. That's what makes me really happy."

Snake narrowed his eyes at the emotionless boy. "(It's hard to tell you're happy with that face you have...)"

Peach joined her hands together and looked happy. "You know, I'm starting to believe we're going to do things just nicely."

"If we keep thinking like this, nothing is going to make us look like heartless people, right?" Kirby asked.

"You could say that," Snake said. "It's better this way so people don't mutter things behind my back."

"That's how you need to think, Snake," Otacon said over the codec.

"Hmm-hm, I like how that decision sounded as well," Mei Ling commented.

Chris chuckled and raised Riolu above him. "What do you think, Riolu? Do you like how we're thinking?"

Riolu stared blankly at him. "Riiiiiiiiii..." he trailed off.

"..." Chris looked confused at the blank look of his Emanation Pokémon. "You really need to start to show more enthusiasm because I'm going to start to think you like to be emotionless..."

Snake merely pointed at Sig.

"I'm not saying Riolu will be like Sig!" Chris yelled annoyed before looking nervously at Sig. "N-no offense to you, Sig."

"I understand," Sig said.

Chris looked back at Riolu. "Please, you should have something in mind, Riolu..."

"Riiiiiiiiiii..." Riolu trailed off. "Riiii..."

The World Traveler pulled Riolu back to him and rubbed his head. "Well...even if you didn't decide yet, I can tell you agree with us, right?"

"...Ri," Riolu said.

Snake frowned a bit. "Just take in mind that I don't want to be a tree hugger or something like that," he said. "If I accidentally blow up a tree with a grenade, I'm not going to feel guilty."

"Snake!" Peach said a bit annoyed as she put her hands on her hips. "I can't believe you're saying that!"

Sig's smile faded away and looked at Snake. "Please, try not to be so reckless..." he said. "You could end up killing bugs on the trees because of how reckless you are."

"Are you calling me reckless?" Snake asked a bit annoyed.

"I'm not," Sig said. "If you do destroy the trees...at least bring some seeds with you so you can plant it back. That's not going to bring back the dead bugs, but it'll look nice if you did it."

"Tsk, don't even think I'm going to be carrying seeds with me," Snake said. "Again, think about what I would do."

"...Okay..." Sig said. "But...just don't do it, okay?"

"...I'll try my best," Snake said.

"Thanks," Sig said. "I wouldn't forgive you for killing bugs... I wouldn't forgive anyone who didn't feel sorry for bugs..." Sig looked around the crowds of Hammer Bros. "I better find those bugs before Agitha gets even sadder than before," he said. "...Talk to you later," he said before walking away to the west.

The Smashers watched as the bug fanatic went into an alley and disappeared out from sight. Snake sighed and began to walk to the north. "Well, we're done here, aren't we?" he asked. "I think it's about time we return to the mansion."

Peach sighed a bit in relief and looked at Snake. "...I agree," Peach said as she looked around the hammer wielders. "I hope this city returns to its original form again..."

Kirby smiled happily and jumped to Peach's arms. "Is the bakery going to be ready very soon?"

Peach chuckled and rubbed Kirby's forehead a bit. "I bet it will."

"Okay, let's go back to the mansion," Chris said before they all began to walk back to the mansion. "...Snake..."

"What is it?" Snake asked without looking at him.

"I...was wondering if you're starting to...well...you know...like us a little bit more..." he muttered. "You've been very aloof all this time and well...I think I'm honest when I'm saying I'm worrying about you not trying to like anybody..." Chris looked worried at Riolu. "...I'm telling you this so I can much better with myself..."

"..." Snake kept walking as they all followed him from behind. "...Don't get your hopes up, kid."

Chris opened his mouth a bit in disbelief.

"...Yet, though..." Snake added.

The World Traveler, the princess, and the puffball stopped walking as they looked at each other surprised. The mercenary kept walking ahead before he stopped walking and looked at them over his right shoulder.

"You are staying here or what?" Snake asked.

"U-um, coming..." Chris said.

Snake nodded before he continued walking ahead. The Smashers looked at each other with relieved looks before joining up with the mercenary, each of them thinking that there was still some hope for Snake to befriend the group. The World Traveler, although looking a bit worried, was excited to think about knowing more about Snake very soon.

"(Very soon,)" Chris thought, "(I'll become acquainted with Snake...and when that day comes, that could mean I can understand anyone without troubles...)" He looked happy as he looked up to the clouds. "(Until then, I have to do whatever I can to make him open up some more...)"

After the Smashers had arrived to the mansion, the day passed by...

Music stops

However, Chris couldn't get why there were around twenty Smashers having matches that didn't seem to go somewhere...

Lucario's Room

Kingdom Hearts II - Friends in my Heart

After the night came, both Chris and his Riolu were lying down on the bed under the blankets. The World Traveler was carefully rubbing the Emanation Pokémon's ears with care as Riolu merely stared at Chris.

"Please," Chris said, "you have to show some enthusiasm, Riolu..."

"Riii..." Riolu trailed off. "Ri..."

"...I just don't get what you mean," Chris said. "Then again, it's possible that you don't understand anything because you're still a newborn..."

"...Ri," Riolu said.

Chris looked worried. "You should have the blood of your family running through you," he said. "I mean, only the Lucarios of your family are able to speak through the mouth and not telepathy. I know that your family can do that without problems, but I'm sure there aren't any others like you."

Riolu stared at Chris as Riolu's tail tried to move a bit under the blankets. "...Riiiiiiiiiiiii..." Riolu said.

Chris pulled back his hand and sighed in depression. "I should be happy that you're here...but...why isn't just the same?" he asked. "This doesn't feel like you're the Pokémon I expected to have. In my mind, I pictured you as being a cheerful Riolu...but...you look like you don't want to talk to anybody..."

"Ri."

The World Traveler looked down. "I just...hope you don't stay like this for a long time..."

Riolu blinked a few times. "...RiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiii..."

Chris smiled a bit and chuckled. "I have to admit that you look...very cute..." He blushed a bit. "I'm not afraid of telling this to you, Riolu. I'm very happy to have someone like you as my starter Pokémon... I...just wish you could show some more...happiness, though..." Chris looked sad and looked down. "...I'll have to wait some time before you start to like me..."

Riolu noticed that Chris shed a small tear from his right eye. The Emanation Pokémon blinked a bit in curiosity at the tear before Chris sobbed a bit.

"...I want to be it soon, though..." Chris said. "It's going to be so hard to see if you even like me..." he sobbed more. "I-I don't want to think you don't like me or simply don't care about you..." He closed his eyes and sobbed a bit louder. "...I...I don't want to keep crying all night like this... I-I have to think positively or else I-"

"RiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"

Chris opened his eyes at the sudden cry of the Emanation Pokémon. His high-pitched tone startled Chris a bit before Riolu slowly went closer to him and stared at the tear on his right cheek. "R-Riolu?"

"Riiiiiiiiiiiiii..." Riolu looked worried at the tear. Blinking a few times, the Emanation Pokémon lifted up his head to reach the tear. Chris watched as Riolu tilted his head a bit at the tear before he decided to lick it away with his small tongue. Riolu, however, kept licking the spot of the tear, making Chris chuckle a bit before he let out a small laugh.

"R-Riolu, stop it," Chris said between some chuckles as Riolu kept licking his cheek. "R-really, stop licking me that fast! Riolu!"

Riolu suddenly stopped to say something. "RiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" Riolu said before he continued to lick Chris's face. Something about Riolu's tone of voice made Chris feel like the Emanation Pokémon was having some fun because, once Chris managed to open his eyes a bit, he saw the Riolu was smiling while he licked his face.

"R-Riolu, please, stop it!" Chris pleaded as his little Pokémon didn't listen and kept licking his face. "Y-you're doing this on purpose, right?"

"Riiiiiiiiii!" Riolu said, his tone of voice sounding obviously happy as he hit the pillow with his head to look directly at Chris. "RiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiii!" he said happily.

The World Traveler stared in surprise at the happy look that Riolu had. It was the first time that Chris saw Riolu actually smiling for the whole day. Last time he recalled, Riolu didn't even think about smiling when he was born from the egg.

To think that Riolu didn't want to smile before, it made Chris think that Riolu didn't like him at all.

After seeing that Riolu smiled directly at him, Chris could only utter a sob before he began to cry a bit, Riolu's smile fading as he looked a bit shocked to see his trainer shedding more tears. "R-Riolu...y-you like me...right?" Chris asked. "Y-you just were trying to understand your new life, right?"

"Riiiiiiiiiii!" Riolu cried out sadly before he quickly began to lick Chris's tears away. The World Traveler, however, kept crying before he hugged Riolu tightly in his arms, making Riolu stop licking his tears. "Ri?"

"D-don't take it so badly, Riolu," Chris said with a sob before he smiled a bit at Riolu. "I-I'm not crying because I'm sad... I-I'm crying because...because...because...you...like me, right?"

"..." Riolu thought for a moment before he nodded a few times. "Ri!" he said happily.

"T-then, you don't hate me?"

"Ri!" Riolu shook his head.

"Y-you...like me?"

"Ri!" Riolu nodded happily. "Riiiiiiiii!"

"R-Riolu...R-Riolu..." Chris sobbed a bit before he pulled Riolu's right cheek against his left cheek. Feeling Chris's cheek, the Emanation Pokémon chuckled a bit and started to shed his own tears. "T-thank you...thank you...thank you..." Chris muttered between sobs. "I...I thought you didn't want me to be with you..."

"Riiiiii!" Riolu let out a cry before rubbing his cheek quickly with Chris. "Riiiiiiii!"

Chris's tears stopped from coming out of his eyes as he rubbed them with his right arm. Riolu opened his watered eyes and licked some tears from the cheek of his trainer. The World Traveler could only laugh for some seconds before Riolu stopped and looked happily at him. "Riii, riii, rii, riiiiiiiii!" he said happily.

The World Traveler stopped hugging Riolu before looking back at him. "It's getting late now," Chris told Riolu. "We better go back to sleep."

"...R-r-r-riii..." Riolu shivered a bit and leaned his head closer to Chris's neck.

"Riolu, are you cold?"

Riolu shook a bit while closing his eyes.

"...Don't worry, Riolu," Chris assured him as he covered Riolu with more blankets. "I won't let you sleep with some cold. I'll keep you warm enough, okay?"

"Riiiiii..." Riolu rubbed his head against Chris's neck.

For a brief moment, Chris could have sworn that Riolu was blushing.

To tell truth, it wasn't even cold yet. The night was warm, and it looked a little bit suspicious that Riolu was shivering. The World Traveler thought about this for a moment, analizing carefully about this some more.

And it hit him.

Chris smiled a bit at Riolu. "...You're not feeling cold, right?"

"Ri!" Riolu looked up surprised at him. He then looked away and blushed even more. "R-ri..."

"...Heheheheheheh," Chris chuckled for a few seconds. "You don't have to be afraid of saying it, Riolu..."

Riolu looked up confused at him.

"I know you want to sleep close to me, right?"

Riolu blinked in shock and blushed a bit more than before. "R-r-r-riii..."

The World Traveler made a happy expression as he embraced Riolu. "To be honest...you know what?"

"Ri?"

"I...wanted you closer to me...so I didn't feel alone..."

"Ri!" Riolu looked surprised before he hugged Chris. "Riiiiiiiii!"

Chris blushed a bit as he began to rub Riolu's head. "I can't just stand it," he said as Riolu looked happily at him. "You're just so cute!" he said before laughing with Riolu. "Besides, you're just a baby. I have to be responsible for you and take care of you until you evolve into a Lucario again..."

"Riiiiiiiiiiii, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" Riolu said happily.

It was not long before Chris let out a long yawn. Pretty soon, Riolu did the same, showing fully his small fangs for a bit before looking up curiously at Chris. "Time to sleep," Chris said before he thought about something. "...W-wait, I didn't tell you my name..." Chris said. "I forgot to tell you my name when you were born..."

Riolu tilted his head.

"My name is Chris, Riolu," Chris said. "You may have heard it from everyone by now, but I wanted to say it to you directly..."

"..." Riolu kept staring at Chris.

The World Traveler yawned before he closed his eyes and laid down his head on the pillow. "...Good night...Riolu..."

Riolu kept staring up at him before he looked happy. "...Chris!"

"..." Chris's eyes opened up in shock before he looked down at Riolu. "W-what did you just say?!"

"...Chris!" Riolu said with enthusiasm. "...Chris!" he said happily. "...Chris, Chris, Chris, Chris!"

"R-Riolu!" Chris said in pure disbelief. "Y-you can talk!"

"Chris, Chris, Chris, Chris!" Riolu repeated happily, his small tail wagging quickly under the blankets. "Chris, Chris, Chris, Chris!"

"I-I can't believe it!" Chris said in astonishment. "Y-you learned how to say my name just now?"

"ChriiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiis!" Riolu said happily. "ChriiiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiis!"

It looked like Riolu liked to say Chris's name as many times as he could. The World Traveler didn't know why, but since Riolu was just a baby, maybe it had to do something with the fact that Chris's name had the 'ri' part in it, and Riolu liked to speak by saying the same syllable over and over again.

It was obvious to tell Riolu liked how the name sounded since he continuously put a lot of emphasis on the 'ri' part. "ChriiiiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIiiiiiiiiis!"

The World Traveler shed more tears before he hugged his Riolu very tightly, the Emanation Pokémon repeating his name over and over again. "I-it's like some sort of miracle," Chris said. "I-it surely has to do with the fact of your bloodline that you can talk so early..."

"Chris, Chris, Chris!" Riolu repeated. "Chris, Chris, Chris!"

Chris chuckled heartily before Riolu licked his face a bit. "Now...that I recall..." Chris began, "your sister could talk right after she was born..."

"Chris!" Riolu said happily.

Chris chuckled and rubbed Riolu's head. "You know what?"

"Ri?"

"I...I think I'm so fortunate to have the Legendary Riolu as my Pokémon..." Chris looked happy. "You're the Legendary Lucario of the prophecy of your home...but...you're the Legendary Riolu for now..."

"..." Riolu made a happy expression and silently rubbed his cheek against Chris's face.

Chris yawned one more time before he closed his eyes to sleep. "Good night...Riolu..." he muttered. "...And...thank you for calling me by my name..."

"Chriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis..." Riolu muttered happily before he closed his eyes, yawned a bit, and rested the right side of his head on Chris's neck, the two smiling a bit before they drifted off to sleep during the peaceful night.

While they both were sleeping deeply, a small star spied them from the outside of the room. Geno chuckled a bit a this. "Looks like Lucario's wish was a good one," he muttered. "I hope he gets what he wished to have..."

The small star began to float up to the sky before he disappeared, a blink of light shining a bit on the night before it faded away.

The ensuing days...

For the following days, ever since the first night for him, Riolu started to show a little bit more of emotions and expressions to Chris. The World Traveler was happy to see that Riolu liked him a lot from the beginning, and even some of the Smashers began to start being friends with Riolu (by some of the Smashers meaning all the young Smashers).

Unfortunately, much for his dismay, Chris had to go to school. These were the times where he would leave Riolu at Peach's care. However, whenever this happened, the Emanation Pokémon would wander off around the mansion to explore it a bit. Taking advantage of this, some of the Smashers that wanted to take care of Riolu would find him and keep him away from Peach or someone else.

Needless to say, from all people, Mewtwo would easily track Riolu down and bring him to Peach. This was mainly because the Psychic type wouldn't stand seeing people running all over the place to look for Riolu (Yoshi being on the top of Mewtwo's list).

Soon enough, Chris learned that Riolu was able to speak full sentences after the first day he was born. Mewtwo had pointed out for Chris that Riolu knew how to talk the moment he was born, but the reason why Riolu was limited to talk syllables was because he liked to communicate that way with everyone else. Riolu made an exception by liking to repeat Chris's name, much for Chris's delight.

However, what made Chris get confused was the fact that Riolu didn't seem to evolve to Lucario. Surpringly enough, Chris didn't care. He thought that making Riolu evolve so fast would screw up Lucario's wish to enjoy his childhood. Opting for Riolu's joy, Chris decided to make Riolu evolve into a Lucario if Riolu wished to do it.

And so, thirteen days passed quickly...

Real World
Chris's Room

November 22 - Afternoon - Saturday

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of a New World - Behind Us!

The World Traveler looked shocked while he was sitting on the bed as Riolu played happily with a huge ball bigger than him. The Emanation Pokémon chuckled heartily as he pushed the ball up to the big pillow where the ball would roll down back to him, Riolu pushing it back again and again.

"B-but..." Chris stared at the TV in shock.

It looked like he was playing a new game he recently bought a week ago...

"...So then..." Chris trailed off. "...This explains everything that we have to do?"

Riolu stopped pushing the ball and looked at his trainer. "Chris?" he said confused.

Chris looked away. "So...after finishing this game..." he trailed off, "...does it fully explain the path we have to take to resolve this conflict about..."

Chris looked back at the screen of the game he finished playing, seeing the title of it right on the main menu of the game...

Sonic Unleashed.

The World Traveler looked away with his blank look intact. After he managed to finish the whole game, a lot had been revealed to him...

The truth about who were the Gaia Guardians, the very same people Sonic and the others haven't found yet for this whole time...

The reason behind the Gaia Temples, the very same temples that had mysteriously vanished due to Chris's intervention with Sonic's world... (It should be said that it was 'Temples of Gaia' and not 'Gaia Temples').

And lastly, and most importantly...Chip's true nature, the only being capable of stopping Dark Gaia from destroying Sonic's world known better as Light Gaia...

"Chip is...the being called Light Gaia..." Chris muttered in shock. "...He lost his memory because he was awaken prematurately like Dark Gaia did...and Dr. Eggman is waiting for Dark Gaia to recover all its energies so he controls it... In a few words, both Chip and Dark Gaia didn't get what they were supposed to have: Chip's memory, and Dark Gaia's energy."

Riolu tilted his head a bit.

"...This...would actually help us a lot..." Chris said. "If I tell everyone about this, we could have a chance to find the Gaia Guardians...but...what if...I end up messing up the whole storyline even more than before?" Chris asked to Riolu. "What should I do about this?"

"Riiiiiiiii..." Riolu looked worried.

Chris sighed and looked down. "What to do here... If I tell them this, would this lead to bigger problems in the future?" he asked. "Riolu, what do you think should I do?"

"...Riiiiiiiiiii..." Riolu kept looking worried at Chris.

"...Maybe...I..." Chris looked away and frowned, "...I shouldn't do this...I don't want to cause some sort of mistake and spoil them about it..."

Riolu looked away for a bit before turning back to Chris. "Ri," he said. "Ri, ri, ri, ri, ri."

"Why can't you speak with normal words?" Chris asked. "Mewtwo already told me that you can talk just fine."

Riolu coughed a bit. "W-well..." he began. "...I-I don't know, Chris..."

Chris nodded. "Thanks for telling me your thoughts," he said before looking back at the TV screen. "(If I do it, they would find the Gaia Guardians faster and end their mission but that could end up in something getting even more messed up...but if I don't do it...they will keep looking and looking without taking a break...)"

With a sigh, Chris continued to play the game, Riolu taking this as a signal to play with his big ball.

"I'm not going to tell them this..." Chris said ashamed. "This is the best thing to do so their continuity doesn't get even more confusing... I hope they understand..."

Music stops

Smash Mansion
Command Room

November 23 - Morning - Sunday

And the Smashers, along with the whole Sonic group, were called to have an important meeting in their meeting room. Chris cleared his throat and looked determined at Chip.

"Chip, you're Light Gaia," Chris simply said.

Chip gasped and put his hands on his head before looking at no one in particular. "I-I remember who I am now! I-I remember everything!"

"...So...let me get this straight..." Chris began with a miffed look, "I only had to say what your true name was so you could remember your true purpose in life..."

Chip nodded happily. "Yep."

"...Lovely," Chris said. "Now, I have something really good to say for this special moment, provided it was my first reaction after you remembered everything..." The World Traveler's jaw opened. "...WHAT?!"

......................................................................................

Smash Channel

Star Ocean: Till the End of Time - Pert Girl on the Sandy Beach

"And welcome everyone again to the special segment: Smash Channel!" Chris (in his Hacker job) greeted the audience with open arms before they all began to give a round of applauses. "After having to repair this place for the third time," he grumbled a bit, "we're back once again to make you know we're still alive (and breathing)."

The World Traveler joined his hands on the counter.

"And here's some important info," Chris said. "Did you actually think we would kill off everyone in this fiction? If I did that, the story would have ended. We don't want that to happen, right? Well, I'm just going to say that these kinds of events won't happen ever again...but...it may or may not happen... Mwahahahaha, I just used some nice skill of suspense..."

The audience began to question about Chris's true self as he looked enthusiastic at them.

"Well, we now have 2 special guests who debuted in the Star Ocean 3 arc," he said. "And I'm pretty DAMN sure they won't try to destroy this place because, if they did, I'd call security again and make them leave this place before they regret it...and..." Chris chuckled nervously. "L-let's not make them think we're going to have to resort to that, okay?"

The audience chuckled for a bit.

Chris looked annoyed at this reaction. "Without any more chuckles for the spectators I think are trying to laugh at my demise..." he muttered annoyed before looking happy, holding out his hands at both sides of the counter. "Here we have the 2 special guest from Star Ocean 3: Roger S. Huxley and Peppita Rosetti!"

The mentioned Menodix and Velbaysian were both sitting respectively on each side of the hacker. Roger made a peace sign to the public while Peppita waved both of her hands cheerfully. "Hey, hey, hey, Roger's the man you called!" Roger said before crossing his arms. "This place ain't gonna be popular if I'm not here, y'know."

"Hi, my adoring fans!" Peppita said cheerfully. "Greetings from the Rosetti Troupe by yours truly, Peppita Rosetti!"

While the audience applauded the two young characters, Chris's eyes looked bored as he smiled amused. "(These 2 are the only people who don't know how to destroy this whole place like the previous guests did...) Welcome here to the show, you 2," he said as he tried to look professional. "You 2 have gotten the exclusive chance to debut in this small but interesting section."

"Heh, I had a premonition that I was gonna be called here," Roger bluffed.

"Same here," Peppita said. "After all, I was a very important partner character to a very, but very special (handsome) Smasher..."

Roger and Chris exchanged glances before Chris looked back at her. "Peppita, can you keep your feelings from...making so many unnecessary references?"

Peppita looked at him. "What? But I just wanted to be honest..." She played with her fingers a bit. "Is it so wrong to say why I'm so happy?"

"W-well..."

Roger slammed his right hand and pointed his left finger at Peppita. "You gotta be focused today," he said. "I'm not planning in screwing up our debut here just because you can't leave Mr. Bachelor alone for a minute!"

"For the last time, I'm engaged t-" Fox's response from the public was interrupted as Chris coughed loudly.

"A-anyway!" Chris yelled loudly to prevent an argument between the two Star Ocean members from erupting, "now you're going to discuss something here that regards the Smashers, the game, or something more," he said as he took out a paper, Roger trying to take a peek by slowly leaning to Chris. "Your topic for today is..."

Please tell us what you think about the Voice Actors that gave their voices to the whole cast of Smashers.

While the audience clapped their hands, Chris sniffed a bit. "Too bad anybody has barely heard my voice... It just sounds plain normal..." he said before shaking his head. "O-okay, let's stay focused here..." He cleared his throat. "You 2 can practically comment about anything regarding the voices that each Smasher has."

Roger rubbed his palms together. "Sweet, I'm gonna love talking about this."

Peppita chuckled. "I have some points to say as well."

"Well, we start with...Roger," Chris said.

Roger nodded and took out a paper from underneath the counter. The Menodix cleared his throat and began to read the paper. "Well, you see," he spoke in a gentle manner as he put on some small, squared glasses, "I want to talk about the funny accents that some of the 'Smashers' have. I like to say that the voice of the angel sounds very girly."

"Oh, for the love of Palutena, I don't see what's wrong with my voice!" Pit complained from the rows of people on the chairs. "Wait, who's chuckling in here?"

"Next we have the bird with the funny accent," Roger said. "So he began to live somewhere else? I can infer he grew up with the mafia or something. Furthermore speaking, I can't simply identify if he has a New Yorker accent or a Brooklyn accent. This fact is, unfortunately, severely discouraged between communities of people and fans alike."

As the audience chuckled at this, Falco crossed his arms and grunted loudly.

"And finally we have the racer," Roger said. "What's up with his voice? He sounds like a kid. I did some research, and I have to admit his previous voice in his last game sounded just about right. What's up with that? He talks like he's being choked."

"Oh, want me to give you a punch in your gut, little brat?" C. Falcon threatened from the last row of seats. For his dismay, nobody listened to him.

Roger looked proud as he put the paper down. "So there yah have my opinion," he said.

Chris looked at the paper that Roger was holding. The World Traveler narrowed his eyes as he found out that the paper had lines, circles, and other scribbles all over it. "Roger, your whole paper doesn't even have any words in it."

Roger tossed his glasses away. "Hey, this is top grade handwriting, yah know!" he complained. "You wanna make something out of this?"

Chris sighed. "No, I don't want to. Sorry if I offended you."

"Hmm-hm."

Chris rolled his eyes. "(I better not underestimate this guy...) Peppita, it's your turn to comment more about this."

Peppita gasped in excitement and inhaled a lot of air.

"And the person you're about to speak of must NOT have an 'F' as his name's first letter," Chris interrupted.

Peppita shook her head and looked at him. "B-but you just took away my whole comment!" she said. "W-why would you do such a thing?"

Chris shook his head. "If I let you say that name, you're surely going to be going on and on about very encouraging things that people will think you're obsessed."

Peppita sniffed a bit.

"...Oh no, please don't cry now..."

"I-I...I-I..." Peppita rubber her eyes as she laid down her hands on the counter, "I-I wanna talk about what I was gonna say... I wanna do it..."

The audienced aww'd at this as Chris slapped his forehead and frowned, Roger doing the same thing.

"Okay, okay," Chris said in defeat. "You may go on and say what you want to say..."

Peppita gasped, pushed herself up, and quickly looked very happy while blushing. "W-well then, I want to say lotsa things!" she said cheerfully, not noticing that Chris was making some gestures to the cameramen around the stage. "Here I go," she said before giggling a bit. "Firstly, I want to say that hearing his manly voice makes my heart race so fas-"

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!

The scene was quickly blocked by an interruption signal that stopped anyone from ever knowing what Peppita was talking about.

Once the channel changed to the warning signal (that had a white background where a fainted Pichu tried to energize a Christmas tree's lights through their cord that he was holding down on the floor), the channel got back to show the forum, finding Chris and Roger sleeping deeply on the counter while Peppita was still talking about many things about (take your guess who again).

"And that, no matter what happens, I'll try my best to like him," Peppita said with a giggle. "All done."

Chris and Roger yawned loudly before they began to wake up. The World Traveler looked at his left arm to see the time of his watch. "...It's been roughly 3 hours ever since she started to talk...and we just wanted to know above voices, not giggle over a whole biography... Goodness, she knows how to keep talking non-stop..."

Peppita giggled. "Well, I ran out of people to talk about. I hope you liked how I-"

"It's NO wonder," Chris grumbled annoyed. "Thank you very much for sharing your diary's secrets with us."

Peppita looked confused. "But I didn't say anything about my diary...and...I don't have a diary..."

"GOOD ENOUGH," Roger said tired. "Let's wrap up the show already. I wanna have some Haute Chinese Soup."

Chris sighed in relief before he looked enthusiastic at the audience. "Well then, we still have more chapters for the Side-quest arc, people!" he said. "Unfortunately, we have to expand this arc even more because there's something very special that will take place in the next chapter after the next one of this one, and also because there are some important matters to finish, meaning that this arc will have 5 chapters," he explained before the audience began to applaud. "Now, a special message from one of our many special sponsors of the channel. Luigi, please say it."

"R-right," Luigi was heard from the mic room over the back row of seats. "T-this special segment was brought to you by Team Chaotix Detective Agency," he said as a banner of Team Chaotix (that was all made up by scribbles of Charmy) appeared besides Chris. "If you lost your car's key, Team Chaotix will surely find it...so they later lose it so it ends up getting even more lost than before. Warning: Team Chaotix is not allowing armadillos to join the agency anymore."

Chris, Roger, and Peppita waved their hands at the audience. "Until then, stay tuned for another segment in the next chapter. See you later," he said with a smile before the curtains fell down. "Oh god, this place wasn't destroyed...now I can say I'm so happy..." Chris muttered in joy.

Roger gasped. "Star Fal-"

'Don't you even GO there," Chris interrupted him. "You call space junk in here, you'll get put in jail."

"Rats," Roger cursed.

Preview of the next chapter

"Somebody...shut her up..." Squirtle said. "She's been singing and singing every single morning, and I can't stand sleeping twice a day..."

.......................................................

"What you sell clearly outclasses Crazy Hand's shop..." Marth said.

"That's the business traveling moogles like me have to make a living while finding new lands, kupo. It's the wonderful world of finances."

.......................................................

"N-no more..." Chris pleaded. "I-I can barely believe that they like to eat here so much..."

Toadette turned around, ignoring the tired butler. "Next order's coming up!"

"A-are you even listening to me?"

.......................................................

"We shall see how well you fare against me."

"If he punches me, it's going to be someone else's fault, okay?" Chris asked annoyed.

.......................................................

"Ugh, that stupid Sword Dancer can't just stop spinning!" Roy complained. "I hate this side boss battle!"

"Funny, I thought you were the one who said to come here..." Ike said bored.

.......................................................

"Why NPCs Are So Important to Any Story. I know, it is because that we need people who look inferior in power to us so we look more threatening," Ganondorf said.

"Right," Bowser said. "What point is there if you don't have puny guys who make you look strong?"

"Who the heck invited you 2 here, anyway?" Chris asked annoyed.

Do you want to save your data?

Yes

Overwrite File?

Yes

Smash Mansion
Chris, Riolu, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Pikachu, Pichu, Jigglypuff, Mewtwo, Red, Squirtle, Ivysaur, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Samus, Kirby, Meta Knight, Link, Zelda, Toon Link, Fox, Falco, Wolf, Captain Falcon, Olimar, Marth, Roy, Ike, Ness, Lucas, Pit, Ice Climbers, Snake, Sonic, Chip

[DededeCloneChris]

Chapter 162: Why NPCs Are So Important to Any Story

Smash Mansion
Command Room

Complete silence reined the air in the command room after Chip had said that he remembered everything about his past. Once Chris said Light Gaia, the imp's memory recovered right in an instant.

Chip looked happy.

Chris frowned in disbelief.

Riolu wagged his tail a bit.

Knuckles furrowed his brow.

Master Hand sighed.

Tails couldn't believe anything he heard.

And Marth ran a hand through his hair.

"...So..." Amy began as she looked at Chris, "...you know what we have to do?"

"...Yes..." Chris nodded, "I know everything about Dark Gaia, the Temple Guardians, and the Temples of Gaia."

"Wasn't it Gaia Temples and Gaia Guardians?" Knuckles asked.

"Gaia Temple, Gaia Guardians, Temples of Gaia, Temple Guardians, let's stick with the real names," Chris said bored before looking at Chip. "Chip, I can barely believe that it only took you to hear about your true name to recover your memory."

Chip nodded. "That's how things are," he said. "Now I can tell you guys the reason of my existence."

Nana rolled her eyes. "What a bizarre way to recover your memories. This was so easy, yet so darn fast."

Chip coughed. "Well, I got my memory back. I can say everything about the Temples of Gaia, the Temple Guardians, and my insane brother," he said before looking pleased. "I feel like I'm the ancestral ancient god I used to be."

"...Wait, did you just say brother?" Marth said.

Chip nodded. "Dark Gaia's my brother."

Many of the Smashers stared at Chip with very confused looks. Even Chris himself didn't know that Dark Gaia...had a brother like Chip.

"...Excuse me?" DK asked. "W-what's this all about...you know...that monster being your brother?"

Chris grunted. "I think I should demonstrate all of you about this...through...well...using the game itself..."

Mario looked confused. "Are we going to have to use a video game as a resource to know more about this whole matter?"

"I-I know it's going to be bizarre, but seeing that everyone here needs to see this with their own eyes...this is the best way to do it..." He turned to Master Hand. "If you would...can you take my Wii here?"

Master Hand. "We've got no other choice, right? Oh well, here," he said as he snapped his fingers, Chris's Wii appearing above Crazy Hand's counter.

The World Traveler looked very embarrassed at this. They were all actually going to have to rely on a video game to know more about how to stop Dark Gaia from ever coming out from the planet. Chris, eyes closed, turned the power button on, and thus the Wii started the game, the Smashers grabbing some seats behind the tables to look at the screen in front of everyone as Master Hand snapped his fingers to turn off the lights, the light of the screen illuminating the room a bit.

"(This has to be the weirdest moment I've ever done before,)" Chris thought as he pointed at the screen with his Wiimote, the title screen of 'Sonic Unleashed' appearing. "O-okay, the cutscenes are the things we have to look first."

Knuckles sighed and sat down on a chair. "I don't want to see you moving me around with a joy stick."

"...Don't worry," Chris said. "You don't even appear in this game."

"Oh, that sounds much better," Knuckles said.

...

"...Wait," Knuckles began, "I don't appear in the game?"

"W-well, I-I don't know why, but you, Cream, and Cheese aren't even mentioned once... D-don't think they're putting you down or something... Tails and Amy do appear, though..."

Knuckles started to get a little bit mad. "The whole world is affected, and I don't get even a single darn mention?"

"N-not even me?" Cream asked.

Amy smiled nervously at the sobbing Cream and patted her back. "There, there, Cream, there's nothing to cry for..."

"Y-you're saying that just because you got to be in the game..." Cream muttered.

Amy sweat dropped. "U-um, I'm not saying that just because of that fact!"

"Shh, the opening's starting," whispered Diddy as everyone focused their attention to the screen.

They all watched as a big fleet of Dr. Eggman was navigating the silent space. Once they saw the whole fleet, some mad laughs were heard in one of the longest battleships. "Oh ho ho ho!" laughed Dr. Eggman as he was shown inside the biggest battleship, his arms wide open to the ceiling.

"Can anybody spell insanity for him?" Ness asked.

"Hmmmm?!" Dr. Eggman suddenly stopped laughing as he spotted, from the tip of the battleship, a serious Sonic as he stood straight; apparently looking at Dr. Eggman from where Sonic was standing. Grunting loudly, Dr. Eggman began to deploy robot guards in Sonic's path to the inside of the ship while all the turrets turned to him and aimed at him. "Fire!" Dr. Eggman commanded.

Everyone watched as Sonic quickly ran towards the front of the ship, quickly dodging all the bullets and shot from the turrets and robots respectively. The hedgehog jumped high up to jump over a barricade of robots before he accelerated to push away a long line of robots as if they were bowling pins.

"Alright, that's how I roll!" Sonic said with a wide grin.

"We're supposed to understand what's going on with this game's plot, not show off about something you didn't even do with us," Snake pointed out.

Sonic chuckled and crossed his arms. "At least I can totally pull out some crazy stunts like that and everyone else don't."

Chris sighed. "Sonic, for once, shut up and watch..."

When Sonic (in the cutscene) was about to enter the battleship, a big black robot jumped down from the top of the ship and stopped the hedgehog from getting inside.

"Why you little!" Dr. Eggman, who was inside the robot, grunted loudly before he began to fire missiles at will to Sonic who ran to the left and ran along a big red wall as the missiles failed to explode on him. The hedgehog then jumped over the robot and began his way to the inside of the ship through a long corridor while Dr. Eggman's robot turned around to spin the right hand of the robot.

"How to Fool an Eggman 101 by Sonic the Hedgehog," Sonic said with crossed arms.

"You're not getting away!" Dr. Eggman proclaimed as he turned around and fired the right hand of the robot to Sonic. Everyone watched as the hand went inside and actually managed to catch up with the hedgehog's speed before it grabbed him.

"NOT cool," Sonic said loudly.

"Wuh-oh!" the Sonic in the cutscene yelled as he was forced to go back with Dr. Eggman, a very tight grip squeezing Sonic while Dr. Eggman chuckled evilly.

"Sonic, no! Don't die!" Amy suddenly yelled.

"Amy, we unfortunately have Sonic here," Knuckles muttered.

"What was that supposed to mean?" Sonic asked annoyed.

Everyone watched as the hedgehog was forced to look closer at the doctor. Once he struggled a bit, however, Sonic gave Dr. Eggman an evilly smirk before he closed his eyes and was somehow able to call forth the seven Chaos Emeralds which floated around him.

"Badass," Sonic muttered.

"Just what we needed," began Link, "Sonic's secretly a psychic guy."

Dr. Eggman watched in pure disbelief as the emeralds glowed brightly around the hedgehog trapped in the robot's fist. "What?!" Dr. Eggman yelled before he slowly tried to compress Sonic with both hands of the robot. However, once Dr. Eggman captured Sonic, a sudden burst of energy made both hands explode. Everyone watched as the newly called Super Sonic appeared in front of the robot and merely went thought its steel chest to deal a fatal blow.

"Even if he doesn't look like it anymore," Roy began, "that super form of yours gives me bad memories about when Tabuu took over your body..."

Seeing his robot falling apart, Dr. Eggman gasped and quickly retreated into his battleship through his usual method of transport: his flying seat. "Uh-oh, time to go!" he said with some panic.

Super Sonic, circling back into the corridor where Dr. Eggman had escaped, began to chase after him while the doors closed to prevent him from reaching the doctor. As he flew through the doors by destroying them, Super Sonic began to destroy the whole ship by leaving severe damages in the inside with his powerful energy. The main ship then began to explode and fall apart as the golden hedgehog flew to the nearby ship of the right and went though it to take it down.

"If I was Super Sonic forever, you guys would have to sit back and let me do the fighting here," Sonic said with an amused look.

"Show off," everyone else responded.

Sonic rolled his eyes. "I'm just suggesting a way to defeat all our foes faster...just saying..."

The next scene then showed Dr. Eggman entering the tower through a hole. Unfortunately for him, before he could reach the lookout of the tower, his transport tumbled a bit enough to make him trip back to the floor, rolling all the way to the other side to stop in front of the grey wall. It was not long before a hole blasted the floor a bit where Super Sonic flew up to the ceiling and grinned down at Dr. Eggman.

"S-Sonic!" Dr. Eggman said in astonishment as he sat down his knees and pleaded for mercy to the descending golden hedgehog. "I-I'm sorry! Really! L-look, go easy on me! I'll turn over a new leaf, I swear! Just give me a chance!" he pleaded continuously.

"If I'd get a penny for every time Eggman says that, I'd be stinky rich," Sonic said.

"And I'll have the half of your money, thanks," Amy said with a wink.

Sonic groaned a bit.

The Super Sonic of the cutscene chuckled and looked at the panicked doctor. "Well, this is new," he commented with a small snicker. "Showing remorse, Eggman?" he asked as he pointed a finger at the scientist. "If you played nice, I wouldn't have to break all your toys."

"That's how you talk to your nemesis," Sonic said.

"Oh for the love of Nayru, can you just sit down and shut up?" Link asked.

"You're doing the same thing, Mr. Elf!"

"Both of you, shut up!" Zelda yelled.

"Yes..." both said embarrassed.

Everyone returned to watch the cutscene where Dr. Eggman began to chuckle evilly before he took out a button and pressed it. "Gotcha!" he said pleased as the floor beneath Super Sonic began to raise some sort of machine that trapped him inside.

"Wha-" Super Sonic looked around to see the weird machine of metal pillars. Soon, the machine trapped the golden hedgehog in a ring of energy that prevented him from getting away while Dr. Eggman went to the cockpit in front of the machine and the windows to prepare the tower to do something.

In truth, the tower itself was a huge cannon that aimed directly at the planet. The machine that trapped Super Sonic forced the Chaos Emeralds to come out from the hedgehog, prompting him to turn back to Sonic. The hedgehog began to yell in pain as the energy of the emeralds was being drained out from himself, empowering the tower to shoot a beam of energy down to the earth.

"And here I thought Super Sonic was that powerful..." Pit said. "It's a shame you're not completely invincible while on that form."

"Hey, he just took me by surprise," Sonic said annoyed as he crossed his legs and arms while sitting on a chair. "How the heck was I supposed to know he'd do that?"

"Er, I don't know, maybe because you didn't stop bluffing, showing off, and giving him the time to trap you?" Knuckles asked, making some of the Smashers chuckle at this. "Also, that didn't happen here, so why get so worked up over it? Oh, that's right, because you'd do it."

"Shut up..." Sonic muttered annoyed.

"Ho ho ho ho ho! Oh, I've waited a long time for this!" Dr. Eggman laughed maniacally before he raised a finger and pressed a button on the control panel in front of him. "Fire!"

The group watched the tower shooting down a beam upon the earth, going through an ocean that created a big force, which created some strong winds. Not long after the beam went down the planet, the planet itself began to tear apart. Fissures began to spread all over the earth before the continents were separated and forced to float into the atmosphere of the planet.

However, what were more shocking to see were the purple tentacles that began to come out from within the fissures to touch the continents in the atmosphere. The Smashers watched as a roar from a beast echoed through the whole planet, managing to see a small glance of the gigantic beast between some continents.

"D-don't tell me that's supposed to be..." Pichu trailed off.

"...Yes..." Chris said. "...That's Dark Gaia, the monster that Dr. Eggman wants to control..."

"And my brother..." Chip trailed off.

"...Seriously, Chip, you ruin these dramatic moments by saying that monster of hell is your brother," Chris said annoyed.

"I'm only telling the truth here, okay?" Chip asked.

Upon seeing the monstrosity from the tower, Dr. Eggman smiled wickedly and admired the gigantic beast that began to come out from within the earth. "Whoooa!" he said in pure amazement while Sonic was still being drained out from his energy through the machine.

The Smashers then caught a more detailed glance of Dark Gaia. The monster itself was huge enough to place its purple claws upon some continents while its tentacles moved around a half of the planet. The beast itself looked transparent, but it made many of them look disgusted (or scared like Luigi, Pichu, Lucas, and Olimar).

"Oh my f(beep)ng god," Falco said as his eyes widened to see the huge creature. "Please don't tell me that we're going to fight a thing THAT big."

"Pray we don't even get to see him..." Chip muttered. "My brother doesn't have the best of attitudes..."

"That's something we surely didn't know," joked Samus as she frowned.

The scene then depicted Sonic dropping on the floor, the machine still draining his energy. The Smashers watched as the hedgehog of the cutscene soon began to change in shape: his gloves were torn apart by huge claws, dark blue fur grew on every area of his body, his shoes gained some spikes around them, and his teeth grew bare, dirty fangs. The emeralds around the hedgehog soon turned black and fell down, having no more energy within them to drain out. As Dark Gaia let out a roar, the newly created werehog let out another roar as well. It was around this time that the werehog felt weak and dropped down with the emeralds, the machine lowering down.

"Amy, I hope you stop thinking about liking that form of mine," Sonic said.

Amy chuckled. "After seeing this transformation for the 58th time or so again? You wish."

Sonic slapped his forehead and grunted a bit at this.

"Ho ho ho! Success! A brilliant success! It's just as the Gaia Manuscripts foretold! The entity that was sealed within the planet has awakened. Now I just need to harness its power. Eggman Land will finally come to be! Nyah ha ha ha!" Dr. Eggman said before he maniacally laughed to the ceiling while admiring the view from the tower to Dark Gaia, the werehog struggling to get up.

"Eggman Land..." Tails trailed off. "It always has something to do with some kind of big park or Promised Land where he's the president or something."

"If you forgot, he's bald," Chip said.

"And...that is...relevant?"

"Not really, just reminding you."

Tails sighed with a frown.

Once the beam began to decrease its magnitude, the werehog shook his head and panted heavily as he turned to the left to look up at Dr. Eggman. "You've really...gone and done it this time, Eggman."

"Oh yeah, I should TOTALLY say that to him because he turned me into a FREAKY BEAST WITH FUR!" Sonic complained loudly.

"Yeah, and you should complain to him about the collar you're wearing," Chip said.

"Chip, you're not helping here."

"Ahh, Sonic. That's a good look for you. Festive!" Dr. Eggman rejoiced as he 'admired' Sonic's new look, the werehog not even noticing his new appearance at all.

"Okay, now we know Eggman is a furry," Knuckles joked.

Dr. Eggman proceeded to press a button to open the window behind the panting werehog. "So long, friend!" he said laughing before Sonic noticed he was being dragged away into the space.

The werehog tried to stay in the room by grabbing the floor, but the force of the air eventually took him out where he plummeted down to the planet, the emeralds also falling together with him. The Smashers watched as Dark Gaia let out another roar before slowly vanishing into particles that somehow released some kind of purple cloud that began to cover the planet's upper half as the scene panned out.

And thus the video ended, the Smashers muttering things about the colossal monster of darkness.

Chris sighed and looked at the Smashers. "There you have it," he said. "This is how Dark Gaia looks like..."

Cream gulped and hugged Cheese tightly. "I-I can't believe there was such a dreadful monster living inside the planet..."

"Me neither," Tails said. "But that's how Dark Gaia looks like. I know that because of the Gaia Manuscripts that Professor Pickle has."

"But seeing that monster..." Marth trailed off. "Dr. Eggman wants to control it, right?"

"Apparently," Tails said. "Now that we saw how it looked like, once it comes back, the planet may as well be doomed..."

Sonic smacked a fist to his palm. "That wacko's gonna end up screwing up at the last moment, and then that beast will destroy everything, right?"

Chris looked embarrassed at this. "W-well...Dr. Eggman didn't exactly manage to control Dark Gaia at the end and he...got pushed away very easily..."

"Is that so?" Tails asked. "Well, I kinda figured that would happen. After all, Dr. Eggman didn't manage to control Perfect Chaos."

"Or control the Space Colony ARK," Amy added. "Both always ended in the world in danger of being destroyed."

"But what about that big monster?" asked Diddy. "That thing is...just colossal and gigantic combined... What could happen if we didn't succeed and..."

Chris shook his head. "Dark Gaia is...actually less big than that for some reason..."

"...What?"

The World Traveler nodded. "W-well, in the game, when you get to fight against Dark Gaia...it..."

"He," interrupted Chip.

"...He's far less big than what you saw right now..." Chris said confused.

"How's that possible?" Cream asked.

"...That's...for the producers of the game to answer..."

This response called an unneeded silence in the room.

"...W-why are you so silent now? T-that's the whole truth!" Chris said embarrassed. "B-but let's not argue about how complicated games are, okay? We have to focus about Dark Gaia!"

"..." Master Hand shook himself. "Okay, that video gave us an image of what that beast can do. It's somehow big, according to Chris." He began to float back and forth between the walls. "However, this poses a threat... Judging how big that thing is, I doubt that, even if we all fought it together, we wouldn't be a match against Dark Gaia."

"That's a huge problem," Ivysaur said. "There's NO darn way in hell I'm going to cut that monster with Razor Leaf. I don't wanna get any closer to that as well...a-and I want to stay away from those fissures. T-they have lava..." he said as he shivered a bit in fear.

"I-I have to agree with Ivysaur there," Red said. "I honestly don't think we can defeat a monster that...hideous..."

Snake frowned with a grunt. "Everyone here should stop thinking badly about this," he said. "Provided we stop that monster from coming out, we have to stay focused and stop it before it's too late. It's not even out so stop thinking like we're going to fight it right away."

The Smashers looked at Snake. "Actually, that's true..." Mario said. "Dark Gaia hasn't even come out from the planet, right?"

"No..." Tails said. "It..." he looked at Chip, "...I mean...he's surely still trying to regain its...his energies..."

"Oh, that's a big relief right..." Pikachu said with a sigh. "I don't want think about facing a monster like that..."

Wolf closed his eye. "Currently, we have an advantage over that monster, don't you think?" he asked. "Since it's not doing any rampages, we can still stop it in time before it's too late, right?"

"I guess," Tails said. "If we can make the continents piece back together, then Dark Gaia wouldn't have to come out...at least that's what I think..."

"...Let's all think positive for the time being, okay?" suggested Peach. "We should all work hard to prevent it from coming out so it...he destroys Sonic's world."

"Besides, that thing is supposed to be some sort of god," Knuckles said. "I know you guys are strong, but...strong enough to bring that monster down?"

"Please, stop this!" Master Hand said. "Stop thinking we're going to face that monster!"

Chip sighed. "This commotion wouldn't happen if we weren't awakened so soon..."

"Oh, right," Chris said as he looked at Chip. "If you would...can you let me show them the video where you explain your true nature?"

Chip smiled and nodded. "I would love to explain it myself, but seeing that this machine can do it...well..."

"...I'll go ahead, then," Chris said as he browsed the videos of the game through the gallery, the Smashers returning their gazes at the screen.

Amy gasped, hopped on the spot, and pointed at the screen. "S-stop right there! T-there's a video of me dancing with someone who does NOT look like Sonic!"

"We're not watching the entire game," Knuckles reminded her. "(Besides, what's the point if I'm not there?)"

"B-but I have to watch that!" Amy complained.

"S-sorry, but you can watch that particular scene much later, Amy..." Chris said as he found the right video clip where Sonic and Chip were in a port in the continent of Adabat. "Oh, here it is." He clicked on the video so it could start.

Amy crossed her arms and sat down on her chair. "Fine, but you better let me play the game."

"Whatever..."

"What was that?"

"I-I mean, sure..." Chris said gulping as the video started.

The cutscene now depicted Sonic and Chip standing in a port of Adabat as the sun set in the horizon. Once the duo stopped walking to look at it, Chip walked on the floor and stared at the sunset, his hands clutched to his neck. "My... My real name is Light Gaia," Chip said. "I draw power from the day and light, and guide the planet to its rebirth. My job was to protect the planet from Dark Gaia. But Eggman broke the world apart himself, and Dark Gaia and I were awakened before we should've been."

"OH MY GOD," said Crazy Hand as a bucket of popcorn was shown on his counter. "This is like story of my life, except this isn't my life but Chip's life an-"

"Crazy, you can become a movie critic after we finish with this," Master Hand said in annoyance.

"Hurray for people's dreams coming true in a minute!"

Chip looked down worried at the wooden floor. "That's why Dark Gaia broke apart, and I didn't know who I was." The imp began to knock his forehead a bit. "I didn't remember what I was supposed to do. All because this isn't the proper time of awakening."

"Time of awakening?" Sonic asked.

Chip walked forward to take a closer look at the sunset. "Dark Gaia grows over millions of years, then rises to destroy the world. And I put it all back together. We've been doing this over and over, again and again...since the very beginning of time."

Luigi looked surprised at Chip. "Y-you 2...do that over and over?"

Chip nodded. "That's the role of each one of us. Dark Gaia breaks the planet apart, and I fix it. It's like some sort of never ending cycle that must keep going."

"Wow," Knuckles began, "and how come we didn't hear about this at all?"

"Maybe because you're so ignorant about all the stories that your world has," Chip said. "You should try reading some books."

"Oh, I see... Wait, did you call me ignorant?"

"Shh, the movie's still going."

"So you were asleep all this time? For millions of years?" Sonic asked.

The imp turned around and nodded at Sonic. "Yes. For ages and ages."

In the cutscene clip, because the sun lowered down, night came around the time they were talking, and Sonic instantly changed to his werehog form. "I'll bet it's thanks to you," he said with his gruff voice.

Chip looked up at him. "Hmm?"

Sonic looked around the scenery. "Even at night, when I'm like this, I'm still myself. Not like all the other people we've seen. You must have been protecting me this whole time."

"What does he mean with all the people they've seen?" Pit asked.

"Well, in the game, they both meet up with a lot of people who happen to be aggressive due to Dark Gaia's influence," Chris said. "At day, all the people of the world are happy and cheerful, but at night, they all become bitter and angry to anyone."

"Oh yeah," Tails said. "As we looked around for the Gaia Guardians, we did find some angry people during the night. They were really angry at us for some reason, and then we went to ask Professor Pickle why they were like that. He told us Dark Gaia's presence affects anybody in attitude during the nights..."

Cream shivered. "A-and I got scolded by a nice baker lady of Spagonia for something I didn't even do..."

"In a few words, people turn very aggressive at night," Tails said. "But...I wonder why we weren't affected by Dark Gaia's influence since we all live in the same world..."

Back to the cutscene, Chip shook his head in shame. "I haven't done anything, Sonic. You're the reason you haven't changed at all. You're too strong to lose yourself!"

"I'm the reason?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah! You never doubt yourself, no matter what. You never give in to the light, or to the darkness inside your heart. I think it's that because I knew about you."

Tails rubbed his chin. "So...Sonic didn't change because he has a strong will?"

Sonic grinned and crossed his arms with a chuckle.

"Pfft, are you kidding me?" Knuckles asked. "This guy can be easily driven to anything with his temptations. Just look at his face."

"Knucklehead, I told you to shut up," Sonic muttered annoyed.

"What's that?! You little son o-"

"Shh!!!" most of the Smashers whispered in annoyance, both characters shooting glares at each other before looking away annoyed.

In the cutscene, Chip flew a bit on his spot. "That's why I wanted you to help me. It's been so fun!" he said as he began to fly around a bit. "Getting to see the world: I've lived here since the planet began, but...I didn't know a thing about it. That it's so pretty, or that food tastes so good, or that people are so nice." He sighed and smiled a bit to Sonic. "I'm so glad I got the chance to discover all that with you. And I'm so glad that you helped me find my memory. Sonic, I will never, ever forget you."

Peach sobbed at this that she took out a napkin from her back and cleaned her tears.

"Peach, you really are easy to cry in dramatic scenes like this..." muttered Nana.

"Thank you, Sonic. Goodbye, friend!" Chip said in parting words as he turned around and flew away to the sunset.

The werehog gasped at this. "Hey!" he called out before he stretched his arm to grab Chip. Once Sonic's claw extended long enough to reach one-hundred feet long, the werehog grabbed Chip by his back.

"Whoa, wha-" Chip got surprised before he was pulled all the way back to the werehog.

"Where do you think you're off to all by yourself?" Sonic asked annoyed as he let go of Chip.

Chip began to shift his look around in a nervous manner. "What...but... My memory is back now, and..." The imp looked at the sunset. "Well, from here on out, it's my responsibility, so, um... I mean, there's no reason for you to come along, so I should just..." He looked back at the werehog.

Sonic looked away. "Do I need a reason to want to help out a friend?"

"That question is what dragged us into this," Ike pointed out.

Chip blinked a few times before he smiled and joined his hands together. "Thanks, Sonic!" he said happily before the two did a high-five.

"Yeah!" they both said before laughing with each other that the scene reached its end as it panned out.

The Smashers kept staring at the screen before Chris sighed and turned around to look at them. "And...that's all we need to know..." he said. "I hope we know what Dark Gaia is and what Chip's mission is."

"Man, talk about catastrophic," DK said as he scratched his head. "All this stuff about saving a WHOLE world from that monster..."

Chip frowned at this. "I'm sorry, you guys. That's the role my brother and I have..."

"Can you PLEASE stop saying that monster is your brother?" Ness asked annoyed. "You 2 don't even look alike!"

Chip chuckled at this. "Well, now you guys know my true purpose in life," he said. "My job is to save the planet from my crazy brother..." He looked serious. "So, I want every single one of you to help me out by restoring each continent back to its place before it's too late. Once I get my powers back to me, then we can stop my brother from destroying Sonic's world."

The Smashers kept staring at him.

"Heheh, I'm glad I was able to remember my status as a god," Chip said. "So what do you say? I say let's kick some butt and save the world together for the welfare of everyone on it!"

The Smashers kept staring at Chip for a longer period.

"...Um..."

More staring.

"...You guys..."

Even more staring.

"...Um...you guys...why are you staring at me with those looks?"

The Smashers looked at each other.

"Y-yeah, you're kind of...so silent today..."

"..."

Before his eyes, Chip watched as many of the Smashers began to laugh madly for no reason. Chip watched as some Smashers dropped to the floor and began to roll a bit while holding their stomachs, some began to chuckle uncontrollably, and even the most silent ones snickered a bit at this. Even the Sonic team and the hands began to laugh as well. The imp blinked in pure confusion as the room became filled with hysterical laughter; something Chip didn't foresee.

"I-I don't understand..." Chip said confused as he turned around to look at a chuckling Chris and a laughing Riolu. "W-why's everyone laughing like this? I-I thought they didn't believe me about my true purpose!"

"T-that's exactly why they're laughing..." Chris said as he chuckled with Riolu. "T-they think that you don't look like a god at all..."

"...W-what?" Chip said in disbelief. "B-but I'm a god! I-I'm Light Gaia! I-I mean, I can open up doors and stuff!"

The hysterical laughter behind Chip began to grow even louder than before.

"C-Chip, please, stop saying that already..." Chris pleaded between chuckles. "I-if you keep saying that, they're going to keep laughing until they die..."

Chip blinked sadly before he looked serious and narrowed his eyes at Chris. "You guys do know you're pissing off a god, right? I can mesmerize every single one of yo-"

"T-they know you don't have any powers at all..." Chris said.

Chip gasped loudly.

"A-and they surely won't help you if you threaten them...b-because you're powerless right now...a-and you need us so you can have your powers back...right?"

"...Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww!" Chip groaned out loud to the ceiling. "I-it's true, I need them to recover my powers as Light Gaia!"

And the hysterical laughter grew even louder than before, the imp hanging down his head in shame.

"...I'm pathetic, am I not?" Chip asked sadly.

"P-please, don't look so down either..." Chris said between chuckles while Riolu pointed at laughed at Chip.

And everyone kept chuckling, snickering, or laughing madly for some minutes. The imp sniffed sadly at this as his ears twitched by all the laughter that came from behind his back, looking down at the floor in shame...

Some time later...

Everyone soon calmed down as Chip tried his best to look calm. The imp, however, felt very embarrassed to see that some people were still wiping out some tears from their eyes. "So..." Chip began, "that's my job, you guys... I have what it takes to repair the planet..."

"I-in other words," Tails began as he wiped out some tears from his eyes, "y-you're the key to open the doors of the Temples of Gaia?"

"Yeah..." Chip said. "My necklace here lets me open the doors so anybody can get further inside into the temple. I also happen to know the Temple Guardians as well."

A record scratched and everyone looked surprised at Chip.

"...Say what?" Knuckles asked.

Chip nodded, a grin of pleasure on his face. "Yep, I happen to know the Temple Guardians very well. They're the ones who were entrusted to protect the temples by taking care of the Sun and Moon Tablets." He chuckled mentally in his mind. "(Finally, they're gonna take me more seriously after this! Oh yeah, I just need to take them to the real Temple Guardians and...)"

Chip looked shocked before he realized something very important.

"...Chip, why do you look so shocked?" Amy asked.

"W-well...you see..." Chip gulped a bit, "I-I do know the Temple Guardians...b-but...er..." He smiled nervously and folded his arms behind his back. "...D-do humans live for a million of years as their life span? I-I'm asking this because I only know those guardians... A-are they still alive?"

For his dismay, Chip received many bored looks from every single person in the room.

"..." Chip gulped nervously. "C-can I take your silence as a sign of a yes?"

Everyone shook their heads in boredom.

"U-um..." Chris began, "I-I happen to know the current Temple Guardians..."

Tails blinked a bit. "You know the Temple Guardians and who they are?"

Chris nodded. "The game let me know about them. Luckily, I can show you who they are and where they live."

Everything and everyone around Chip turned black as the imp stared off at the empty space, his thoughts echoing in his little world. "(Why, why, oh why?)" he asked to himself. "(I-I should be the one to know everything about this, b-but it's pathetic to see that a normal guy like Chris knows way more than me, a god...)"

Back at the current scene...

The World Traveler looked relieved. "Well, I'm going to show you who they are now. I'd like someone to dot down their names and remember how they look like."

"I'll do it," offered Cream as she held a notepad and pen.

The World Traveler proceeded to show the group the Temple Guardians of Apotos, Spagonia, Adabat, Chun-nan, Shamar, and Holoska. After browsing the world map for about ten minutes, Chris finished giving the information about the Gaia Guardians.

"So, in other words..." Knuckles began, "we have to look for Gregorio of Apotos, the village elder Gwek of Mazuri, Otto and Lucia of Spagonia, Jari-Thure, Jari-Pekka, and Sarianna of Holoska, the village elder Zonshen of Chun-nan, Layla and Ehsan of Shamar, and finally we have Tenchai of Adabat..."

Amy tilted her head a bit. "Wait just a minute...all those people..."

Tails gasped. "We already met all of them!"

"What?" Master Hand said. "You met all of them already? How come they didn't say anything about the Temples of Gaia?"

"I-I'm pretty sure we met all of them before, but..." Cream trailed off, "...b-but they didn't say that they were the Temple Guardians..."

"Dammit," muttered Knuckles as he smacked a fist on his palm. "They were trying to be secluded about their ranks as Temple Guardians that they weren't going to say they were the guardians themselves..."

"We're trying to save the world here, hello," Sonic said annoyed. "Those guys can't escape now. Now we know who they really are."

"Well, in that case, does that mean you're all going off again?" Marth asked. "Since we know who they are, I'm pretty sure you're going to go after them, right?"

"Of course," Tails said. "We have to get to them as soon as possible."

"There's no time to waste now," Cream said. "The sooner, the better, right?"

"I guess..." Chris said. "Finding the guardians is our top priority."

"Yeah," Tails said. "We don't need to make up a group, but...if something were to happen...we should make a group and set out to those places again."

"Finally, this search will end very soon," Knuckles said. "Alright, let's prepare t-"

"H-hold on a second..." Tails trailed off.

"What is it now?"

The 2-tailed fox began to think. "...Apotos, Spagonia, Mazuri, Holoska, Shamar, Adabat..." he said as he looked up to the ceiling. "There are supposed to be 7 continents...but...there are 6 of them..."

The World Traveler looked worried.

"Is there a continent we're missing?" Olimar asked.

"Yeah...but...which one is that?" Tails asked.

"A-about that..." Chris said. "There's this extra seventh continent in this part of the world..." He looked back at the screen with everyone else to rotate the world map.

Once the world spun a bit, there was a small chunk of a land that was floating between some continents. The spot itself had lights and black layout, and there was a small portion of ocean around the land.

Sonic narrowed his eyes at the spot. On the spot, there was a title for the location of it. "...Eggmanland..." he muttered.

"That's the seventh continent," Chris said. "Oddly enough, this continent doesn't have any guardian. But if you think about it, Dr. Eggman could be the 'guardian' of this place since he owns the continent as his base of operations..."

"You mean to say there's a temple in that place?" Snake asked.

"Yes," Chris said. "Deep under the facility, the seventh temple rests there," he explained. "That's the only temple that doesn't need tablets or guardians since Dr. Eggman built his base on top of it."

"So basically, that would be his HQ," Master Hand said.

"Technically speaking, yeah," Tails said. "But to think he guards a temple..."

The Smashers began to think in silence for some minutes.

"...If we go there, we'd have to make an assault, right?" Ike asked.

"Yes," Tails said. "But if we think again...shouldn't we leave that place for last? You know, that place being the last place where the temple is? It would be best to go there after we finish with the first 6 temples. Besides, in the event where Dark Gaia awakens..." he trailed off in thought, worried about the event. "...Let's save that place for last and hope we don't end up fighting that monster, okay?"

"I agree with that idea," Master Hand said. "Making first an unnecessary uproar in their HQ isn't a wise thing to do. The last thing we need is make an uprising in that world."

"Okay, then it's settled," Amy said. "We should make the team and go to our world before it's too late."

Sonic looked away. "Can you guys...go alone without me?"

"What?" Knuckles asked. "What's gotten into you now? This is our world we're talking about here. We have to make sure we find those guys first!"

"Yeah...well, thing is, I wanna take a break from this."

"You're asking for a break now?" Knuckles asked before crossing his arms. "We're all exhausted right now, sure. However, time's running out and we need to get a move on."

"Can we just relax for a day?" Sonic asked annoyed. "Nobody's making a move now."

"Sonic, we're going there and that's that," Knuckles said annoyed.

Cream sighed depressed. "I'd rather rest a bit before we go..."

"...What?"

Amy yawned. "Y'know, I need a rest as well..."

"Come again?"

Tails looked a bit weak. "I wouldn't mind having some relaxation today as well..."

"B-but..."

"Chaaaaaooooooo..." Cheese yawned a bit.

Knuckles looked a bit overwhelmed. "B-but you guys, this is our world!"

"Knucklehead, admit it," Sonic said bored. "We've been around the world in less than 80 days, and we're all exhausted of searching, looking, spotting, asking, resolving, traveling, and flying. Aren't you tired as well?"

"W-well..."

"Chill out, okay?" Amy asked. "We can resume this tomorrow. The guardians aren't going anywhere."

Knuckles grunted and gritted his fangs. "Ugh, fine! Be that way!" he yelled. "But if something happens, it's going to be your fault, okay?"

Sonic grinned. "Gotcha, Knucklehead."

Amy looked pleased and joined her hands. "Great, I think it's time to hit the little hot spring this place has!"

"Oh, can I come with you, Amy?" Cream asked excited.

"Sure thing, come with me," Amy said pleased before both girls (and Cheese) walked away from the room.

Tails hopped off his seat and walked away to the hallway. "I need to get some rest and think thoroughly about this some more..." he muttered.

Knuckles grunted and began to walk away. "I'm just going to rest, but that's it," he grumbled before he left the room.

Sonic chuckled and looked at the Smashers. "Anything new to talk about?" he asked as Chris turned off the Wii while the lights came back on.

Not long after Sonic asked that, the Smashers began to hear somebody singing. For some odd reason, most of them began to yawn loudly as the singing kept going and echoing.

"Not again..." Red muttered as he rubbed an eye. "I thought this wasn't going to happen anymore..."

"Great, just great..." Ivysaur said as his eyes were slowly closing. "It's like the 60th time this happens..."

The reason why Ivysaur said that was because of a simple person of the Smashers: Jigglypuff.

Ever since the sudden break that they all had began, Jigglypuff had been in very high spirits. This was supposed to be a good thing until she resolved to sing every single morning with her song. Not only this boosted her self-esteem, but this also caused any unfortunate soul to drop down the floor and snore for about half an hour. It was almost impossible to stop her from singing since, even if she got scolded, it would make her sing even more.

"Somebody...shut her up..." Squirtle said. "She's been singing and singing every single morning, and I can't stand sleeping twice a day..."

Master Hand began to tilt at the sides. "Oh god, I really had enough of this..." he muttered as he saw that Chris himself was tilting to the sides while Riolu was about to fall asleep while leaning against Chris's legs. "This singing has to stop..."

"Why the hell can't you just...put a lock on her mouth or something...huh?" asked an annoyed Pikachu.

"If I did that, she would complain to me all day about it..." Master Hand said as he let out a yawn.

"Duh, that's why putting a lock on her would...make her shut up...so she doesn't complain..."

"Really, somebody, stop her..." Zelda said drowsily. "Sleeping so many times...during the day...ruins my metabolism..."

"~Jiiiiiiiiiiigglyyyyyyyyypuff, Jigglyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyypuuuuuuuuuff...~" Jigglypuff sang happily as she came into the command room, some Smashers already falling asleep by falling down on the floor. "~Jiiiiiiiigglyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyypuuuuuuuuuff...~"

"S-shut up!" Ness yelled before he fell asleep on the floor.

"I-it's useless..." Pikachu muttered as he saw C. Falcon falling asleep and hitting his head on the desk. "Jigglypuff has the special ability Soundproof..."

"W-what kind of ability is that?" Pichu asked before he rolled back and fell asleep.

"T-that's an ability that allows her to be immune to...any sound-based move...and she's probably using it now...to hear anybody...and...yaaaaaaaaaawwn..." Pikachu sat down on the floor and curled up.

Master Hand yawned loudly. However, he was able to overhear what Pikachu had said about the Soundproof ability. "Soundproof...ability...to prevent sound-based moves from...affecting..." he trailed off. "...Prevent sound-based moves...from affecting..." he looked at the yawning Smashers, "...from affecting...people..."

Idea.

"...Soundproof...to prevent people...from being affected...from sound-based moves..." Master Hand reiterated. "...Soundproof...as an ability...for...all of us... If we had...that ability...we wouldn't have to suffer...from Jigglypuff's singing...anymore...right? ...Am I...having an...idea here? ...Wait... Soundproof..." The hand gasped a bit. "...Soundproof!" he said loudly. "Oh my god, why didn't I think of this before?" he asked before he went over to Jigglypuff and put a tight grip on her to stop her from singing more.

"H-hey, what are you doing, moron?" Jigglypuff asked inside the hand's grip.

[DededeCloneChris]

"Something I should have done a LONG time ago, believe me," Master Hand said annoyed before he looked at his insane brother (literally) on the counter. "Crazy, come over here! We're doing a special ability creation emergency situation!"

Crazy Hand yawned loudly and floated over his brother. "We're doing that?" he asked groggily.

"Yes, we're doing that so we don't have to go through this pandemonium EVER again," Master Hand said as some Smashers managed to stay awake long enough to prevent falling asleep. "It's staying awake or dream unnecessarily all the time."

"That sucks," Crazy Hand said. "I dreamed I was Mario."

"Again, that's one of the many reasons we're doing this," Master Hand said while Jigglypuff took a peek of the outside of his grip to look out. "You know what we're doing?"

"Take some of her DNA and use our hand powers to alter it and provide everyone with a new ability?"

"Yep."

Jigglypuff looked shocked before both hands vanished in thin air along with her.

As many of the Smashers were trying to wake the ones on the floor, they could hear some crashing sounds with some girly screams of the singer puffball. This surely was shown like this because the hands wanted to let the Smashers know about what they were doing with Jigglypuff in some room...

"OH MY GOSH, PUT THAT HUGE SYRINGE AWAY FROM ME!" Jigglypuff yelled.

"It's a bigsy-itsy-hugesy-little pinch," Crazy Hand said. "It won't hurt you...that much... Wait, I'm lying here. Just pulling your leg, you know. Heheheheheh, it will hurt you...that much."

"KYAH!"

"Don't scare her more, Crazy!" Master Hand yelled. "Jigglypuff, don't move or else it'll hurt...that much."

"See? You're even saying it as well," Crazy Hand pointed out.

"Shut up and just pinch her already!"

"I'm doing that but she's so fast while she hovers in the air than running on the ground!"

"LET ME GO AWAY FROM THAT SYRINGE!" Jigglypuff yelled.

"It's going to benefit every single Smasher (and hands) in the mansion!" Master Hand yelled. "It's going to make them listen to your drowsy songs as well! Don't you want that? People will ACTUALLY listen to your songs till the end!"

"Y-yeah, that's good and all, but it's not good when I'm about to be PINCHED BY A 7-feet tall SYRINGE!" Jigglypuff screamed as the sound of a needle crashing into a wall was heard. "MISSED!"

"I won't fail this time, though!" Crazy Hand said with a chuckle.

"HOLY MOLLY!"

"Right there!"

"Missed again!"

"How 'bout there?"

"MISSED!"

"A-ha, right here!"

"MISSED AGAIN, HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Don't you dare laugh at my face on my middle finger!"

"AAAH!!!"

"It's just right there now!"

"Not quite, you missed again!"

"NOW!"

"S-SO CLOSE!"

"STOP IT!" Master Hand yelled.

And thus Jigglypuff received a pinch.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH, I'M DYING HERE!" Jigglypuff screamed.

"If you keep moving, then you might die!" Master Hand yelled.

"What?!"

"I-I mean, treatment is...complete! Now, hand over this syringe to me... We take the little sample of blood..."

"Why the heck was the huge syringe for if you just took a bit of my blood?!" Jigglypuff asked.

"Crazy here wanted to show off the huge one."

"Heehee!" Crazy Hand laughed merrily.

"And we pour this sample of blood on the glass... We use a microscope and remove any Pokémon DNA with a little needle from it so no one here gets your DNA... We make sure the necessary DNA is here so the ability is there... We apply some hand magic into it... We revise that it doesn't have any unnecessary DNA...and...hmm...there. It's done..."

Jigglypuff sniffed a bit.

"There, there, you get yourself a green lollipop for being brave enough to withstand my syringe of doom," Crazy Hand said.

"T-that's not a lollipop, t-that's a scalpel!" Jigglypuff complained.

"Imagine it's a lollipop, then. I ran out of candy. Question: is never having any candy an expression to say I ran out of candy? Like if I didn't have any candy in the beginning, can I say I ran out of it?"

"Knock it off already!" Master Hand yelled.

With another cloud of smoke, the hands (and a dizzied Jigglypuff) appeared before all the Smashers, the Balloon Pokémon rolling back to hit her head on the counter.

"My god," Master Hand began, "and when I say my god, I mean me. I can't believe I didn't think of doing this a long time ago. But I have to say it's brilliant!"

Chris yawned. "W-what do you mean by that?"

"I mean I took some DNA from Jigglypuff here so I could make a nice ability for everyone to use," Master Hand said. "We now have new stuff at the shop!"

Crazy Hand nodded. "Yup, we also have new improvements, right?"

"Oh right," Master Hand said. "You see, you might say we haven't done anything productive during all this time, right?"

Chris looked away. "Well...I haven't seen you doing anything..."

"Thing is, we've been doing lots and lots of productive stuff," Master Hand said. "You remember that some Smashers here received some special benefits with abilities, but everyone else didn't have the same luck, right? Well, during this whole time, me and my brother here came up with the best of the best in permanent abilities so everyone has the same advantage of having the best there is for each one of them."

"In other words..."

Master Hand could have rolled his eyes if he had them in the first place. "The shop's been heavily upgraded. Check it out for yourself."

"...Okay..." Chris looked at Crazy Hand.

Crazy Hand nodded. "Whatcha gonna buy today, lad?"

Jobs (None) - Stickers - Smashing Abilities (New!) - Items

Smash Coins in hand: 18601

"Hey, hold on right there," Master Hand said. "Where'd you get that big wallet?"

"Oh, you mean about the wallet... Well, there's this girl named Agitha who lives in the eastern woods who gave me this wallet for collecting some bugs she lost," Chris explained.

"..." The hand looked away. "(To be honest, I put up those expensive abilities there because I didn't think they would actually get a big wallet... Those abilities were just for show; a joke...)"

"With a big wallet like this, I'll be able to buy more."

The hand turned to Chris and chuckled a bit. "Heheheheheh, right... (Oh man, oh man, oh man, I haven't made those abilities yet. I swear to myself he doesn't buy those yet...)"

"Ehem," Crazy Hand coughed. "Now that we have a whole bunch of new stuff, we've decided to separate all abilities for each Smasher in their respective area so we don't have to show EVERYTHING with one strike. You just need to ask which Smasher's abilities you want to see and I'll show 'em for you."

"Okay, that sounds good," Chris said.

"So here it is."

-Miscellaneous Abilities (New!)
-Smashers' Abilities (New!)

"Where'd like to see first?" Crazy Hand asked.

"Hmm... Miscellaneous Abilities, please," Chris said.

"Okay, there you go."

Over Limit Lvl. 2 - 20000 Smash Coins

Final Smash Extension - 4000 Smash Coins

Last Breath – 5000 Smash Coins

Professor Kawashima Party Screen - 1000 Smash Coins

Soundproof - 2000 Smash Coins

Gives all party members the ability to be 100 percent immune to any sound-based attacks.

"...Wait a minute, besides the Soundproof ability, there's a new ability here..." Chris trailed off.

Combined Final Smash's Partner - 4000 Smash Coins

Any Smasher can perform a CFS with any other Smasher who isn't Chris. This special ability enables possible partners to use CFSs without having the need of Chris being in the pair. Examples of people who can perform a CFS would be Ness and Lucas either using PK Detonation or PK Volcano, or a Smasher who knows summoning magic to collaborate together with Zelda and perform a known CFS. (However, only discovered CFSs can be performed with anybody. More unavailable CFSs can be available only after Chris is the one who goes through the new CFSs first with another Smasher).

"I guess you noticed that new ability, right?" Master Hand asked.

"Y-yes..." Chris said. "This one sounds very beneficial..."

"Yes, I know what you mean," the hand said. "I've been using a lot of time in you that I'm starting to think I'm being so unfair with everyone else. So I said screw it and made this special baby." The hand nodded a bit. "If you were to be knocked out in battle, it would disallow many abilities to be used later. Why not have other people to do the same with others as you, though?"

The World Traveler thought for a bit. "...Yes, that sounds very required."

"However, take in mind you're going to be the 'key' to discover new CFSs," Master Hand said. "Apparently, you're able to mix up with anybody by spending time together and such. Seeing Pichu discovering a CFS with Snake through partnership seems...very wrong...if you know what I mean..."

"..."

"...In other words, since you can cope well with anybody that doesn't seem so WRONG, you're going to be the 'key' to get more CFSs."

"Oh, I see."

"So, wanna buy this?" Crazy Hand asked.

The World Traveler rubbed his palms together, Riolu noticing this and doing the same out of curiosity. "I have an insane amount of money this time..." He coughed to clear his throat. "First, I want the new ability; the one you just showed me."

"Right-o," Crazy Hand said as the teen gave 4000 Smash Coins to him. "What else?"

"Soundproof, Soundproof, Soundproof, Soundproof," Master Hand muttered.

The teen sighed. "Fine, I'll buy the Soundproof as well... Wait, how come you didn't give me that one for free if we needed it so badly?" Chris asked annoyed.

"I might be smart, but I'm not stupid," Master Hand said. "I need to take advantag-I mean, the chance to...well..."

Chris looked annoyed at him.

"...You want to sleep twice a day?"

Chris and Riolu looked at the fainted Jigglypuff to their left.

"..." Chris looked back at the hand and narrowed his eyes. "This time I'm going to listen to you...but no more tricks, okay?"

"You have my word," the hand said.

"Seriously?"

"Want to wait to see if I do it?"

"..." Chris merely gave the insane hand 2000 Smash Coins while Chris stared at Master Hand. "...Wait, if Soundproof does block sound-based attacks, then how did Jigglypuff get pushed by Lucario's roars back then?"

Jigglypuff instantly pushed herself back up and smiled a bit at Chris. "Oh, that's why I didn't get affected by it all. In fact...I think I got pushed away by his aura rather than his roars..."

"...Oh...I see..."

The Balloon Pokémon smiled happily. "And if everyone here is immune to sound-based attacks like me....then...that means..." her eyes swelled up with tears, "a-anybody can finally listen to my singing without sleeping?"

"Yes," Master Hand said. "Lookie here, I made someone's dream come true."

Jigglypuff began to cheer loudly at this before she began her way to the hallway. "Oh my Arceus, I've achieved a new feat! Oh my gosh, this is like the best day in my life!"

It was not long before Jigglypuff began to sing while walking away. Many of the Smashers blocked their ears so they wouldn't hear, even though it would be useless to do it. However, unlike all the times, they actually were able to listen to Jigglypuff's singing without even yawning a bit.

Peach smiled and joined her hands. "Oh my, I can listen to her without having the fall asleep... She has a nice voice for singing as well."

As many of the Smashers sighed in relief, Chris turned around to look at Crazy Hand.

"Anything else you want to buy?" Crazy Hand asked. "Right now, you have 12601 Smash Coins."

The World Traveler looked at Crazy Hand. "I want to buy the Last Breath ability as well."

"One Last Breath ready and coming," Crazy Hand said as Chris gave him 5000 Smash Coins. "You have now 7601 Smash Coins. Boy, you like to buy expensive stuff a lot, huh?"

"That's not all," Chris said. "I want the party screen of the professor as well."

"Hurray for new upgrades to my system!" said a happy Kawashima while Chris gave 1000 Smash Coins to Crazy Hand. Right after the money was given, the DS glowed for a bit before it stopped. "We've got ourselves a new upgrade. Now you can check the health of all party members in your group, as well as having the ability to see if they have any illnesses, buffs, and debuffs caused by attacks or/and magic."

"Sweet," Chris said pleased. "I have 6601 Smash Coins now...but...I want to save money for the time being."

"You forgot to see 2 new abilities," Master Hand pointed out.

Chris looked confused before looking back at the list to find two other new abilities he had ignored by accident.

Anti-Stagger - 7000 Smash Coins

During Over Limit, the user won't stagger at any single attack he or she receives from the opponents. However, be aware that you can still lose your chance to use a Final Smash if you receive too many hits.

Smash and Bash! - 7000 Smash Coins

During Over Limit, the user can constantly use as many attacks as possible in a quick succession without tiring out. Take in mind that the Over Limit wears out if the time isn't taken into account.

The World Traveler looked shocked to see the two abilities. Chris had just lost an important chance to get the most benefitial abilities. He looked down in shame. "T-this was all your doing, right?" he asked to Master Hand.

"Nope," Master Hand admitted. "You just didn't look at everything."

"..." Chris sighed and looked forward again. "Fine, it was my fault...but I'll later buy those."

"Besides, you got nice abilities," the hand pointed out. "Those are going to help a lot."

"...Well, I guess you could say that..."

"Don't you want to see some of the character specific abilities to see how they work?" Crazy Hand asked. "You'll be overwhelmed."

"...Okay, show me..."

"Right away, sir," Crazy Hand said. "Okay then, ask for any Smasher of the group and I'll show you what I can buy for him, her, or undecided gender person."

"I hope the last one didn't refer to me," Mewtwo said annoyed as he was leaning to the right wall close to them.

"Er...no..." Crazy Hand said as he sweated a bit. "A-anyhow, Chris, ask for any Smasher."

"Hmm..." Chris thought for a moment. "I want to see what I can buy for..." he looked down at his curious Riolu, "...Riolu..."

"Ri?" Riolu looked confused.

"Well, I don't have any abilities for Riolu, but I DO have abilities for his adult form," Crazy Hand said. "Okay, here they are: 5 little abilities for him."

-Lucario

Metal Claw - 2000 Smash Coins

The user can use Metal Claw, a Steel type attack that rips the targets with steel claws, that can also boost attack sometimes. This special attack ignores the 4-move limit that all Pokémon have.

Reversal - 4000 Smash Coins

The user can use Reversal, a Fighting type attack, that becomes much stronger depending how much health left the user has. This special attack ignores the 4-move limit that all Pokémon have.

Close Combat - 8000 Smash Coins

The user can use Close Combat, a Fighting type attack that is one of the strongest Fighting type moves, but can also lower the defense of the user (up to six times will the defense be decreased). This special attack ignores the 4-move limit that all Pokémon have.

Resist lvl. 1: Aura - 1000 Smash Coins

The user will reduce any received Aura-based attacks by a half (1/2). A side effect of this defensive ability is that the user won't be affected by darkness anymore so he can use the usual level of his strength.

Resist lvl. 1: Fire - 1000 Smash Coins

The user will reduce any received Fire-based attack by a third (1/3).

"...Wow..." Chris said. "These abilities sound very useful..."

"Yep, that's how it is for all the Smashers," Master Hand said. "Each one has gained the ability to get 5 new abilities. We have created offensive and defensive abilities to balance everyone because it'd be a waste to keep making their offensive much stronger while their defensive is low."

"I see..." Chris said.

"As for defensive abilities, some Smashers can reduce received attacks by a half while others can only reduce the attacks by a third. This is like this because most of them are used to those elements by experience while others don't."

"Can you...give me an example?"

"Sure thing," the hand said. "Let's compare Mario with C. Falcon. Both use fire attacks, but in truth, Mario is the one who has really been used to fire while C. Falcon didn't get used to it in his world."

"That's because C. Falcon doesn't have any of those moves in his world."

"Yes, I gave him his moves," the hand said. "I did that with every single Smasher here. But back on topic, Mario can reduce received fire-based attack by a half while the captain can only reduce his by a third. If you buy their defenses, you can keep buying their next level so they can resist their attacks by more, and then you'll get the chance to have them be completely immune to those attacks...and maybe even more..."

Chris nodded. "What's more?"

"You'll see once you buy everything..." the hand muttered. "I hope this is the last thing I do for you guys. I think I ran out of all my ideas to help you out. From here and on, you're all good to go by yourselves."

"Less talk and more money," Crazy Hand said. "Want to buy something else?"

"Well..." Chris looked at Riolu for a bit. "...I'll just buy Riolu the defensive aura one so he doesn't get perturbed by darkness anymore." He gave the hand 1000 Smash Coins.

"Lucario's resistance to aura has been updated with the second level," Crazy Hand announced. "You have 5601 Smash Coins now. Anything else you want to buy?"
"That's all," Chris said. "I'll browse everyone's abilities when it's necessary."

"Okay, nice doing business with you," Crazy Hand said. "Whew, that was tiresome..."

"I just hope I don't need to keep track of everyone's abilities, though..." Chris said.

"Oh, it's okay," Master Hand said. "Just fight and don't think about it. They'll use their abilities when they want." Master Hand noticed that most of the Smashers had already left the room. "Oh, I see everyone wants to return to their usual activities. Well, if you'll excuse me, I need to do my stuff as well. See you."

The Hand of Creation nodded to Chris before he vanished.

"And I need to do something-something as well," Crazy Hand said as he gave Chris a thumb up before vanishing.

"Riiiiiiiii..." Riolu tugged Chris's leg a bit.

The World Traveler chuckled and ducked to grab his Pokémon with his arms. "Do you want to go to our room?"

"Ri!" Riolu nodded.

Chris chuckled more before he turned around and found Pikachu looking at him from a chair. The World Traveler noticed he, Riolu, and Pikachu were the only ones left in the room. "Pikachu, is something wrong? You look a little bit...skeptical..."

Pikachu nodded. "I heard everything the hand told you," he said.

"About what?"

"It was about giving us special abilities," Pikachu said.

"I-I didn't see yours yet..."

"No, that's not what I mean," Pikachu said before pointing at Riolu. "It's about little PMD here."

Chris looked at Riolu before looking back at Pikachu. "What do you mean by...PMD?"

"Pokémon of Mass Destruction."

The World Traveler looked annoyed at this.

"Not to be confused with Pokémon Mystery Dungeon," Pikachu added.

"Y-you're calling Riolu like that just because of the accident?" Chris asked.

"Look, I know it was an accident, but he was so going to take us all to the skies," Pikachu said. "But that aside, you should be extremely careful in making him even stronger now that Master Hand is giving everyone abilities."

"Riiiii..." Riolu stared blankly at Pikachu. Maybe the Emanation Pokémon didn't understand what Pikachu was talking about.

Chris thought for a moment. "Well..." he looked at Riolu, "...I'll be careful with that..."

"I hope so," Pikachu said. "You better keep little PMD here from getting even more powerful. What if Lucario didn't learn his lesson and ends up blowing up everything and US during a battle?"

Chris looked down worried while Riolu stared up at him.

"I'll be there so he doesn't do that," Pikachu said. "We should be the only ones getting stronger before he does. He's the brutal Smasher who could possibly defeat pretty much anybody, but there should be balance between everyone so we don't get out of shape. You know what I mean?"

"Yes, I know..." Chris said.

Pikachu smiled. "Don't look so down either, okay? Let's wait until Riolu evolves and see if he learned his lesson fully."

The Electric type hopped down his chair and began his way to the hallway while the World Traveler and his Pokémon soon did the same, Chris thinking hard about what Pikachu told him.

What if Lucario's power could get even worse and ended up being more catastrophic? The World Traveler met a very hard question to answer...

That night...

Lucario's Room

Chris and Riolu were already under blankets. The World Traveler rubbed Riolu's head a bit before chuckling and smiling a bit.

"Well, good night, Riolu," Chris said. "Have good dreams, okay?"

"Riii," Riolu nodded and closed his eyes. "Riiii..."

The World Traveler's smile faded before looking worried. "(I hope you learned your lesson...I'll just have to wait until you evolve into Lucario...)"

With a yawn, the World Traveler fell asleep.

"..." Riolu turned to the left and slightly opened his eyes. "...Ri?"

In front of the Emanation Pokémon, there was a drawing of Lucario stuck on the wall. Riolu stared at the drawing in curiosity and approached it to take a closer look. Upon a closer examination, Riolu found out that there were some sentences around the Lucario in a fighting stance.

Protect me from all danger, Lucario...

I will...

Thank you...

"...Riiii..." Riolu blinked a few times at the sentences before looking at the Lucario in the drawing. The small Pokémon began to examine the strong-looking Pokémon in the drawing.

It looked like Riolu studied the drawing for the remainder of the night since he seemed to look very interested on the drawing that Chris had made.

More so, Riolu started to think about becoming a Lucario very soon...

December 6 - Saturday - Morning

Outside

During a shining morning of Saturday, a proud squad of Hammer Bros. stood on the big hill to see a majestic site before their eyes. The head of the Hammer Bros. was on the top of the hill together with Kylie, Parakarry, Quil, and Postman.

"Just look at that..." Parakarry trailed off.

"This is sure to be a miracle," Quil said with crossed arms. "It's been a long time, but we've finally reached this day."

"Oh man, oh man, oh man, I can't wait for people to come in for me to deliver mail through our new post office!"

Kylie chuckled and looked at the head Hammer Bro. "You pal did a nice job," she said pleased.

The head Hammer Bro nodded. "Yep, everything's ready, ma'am," he said. "The new look still can be upgraded, but we need to gather more materials before going over new blueprints. It's gonna take some time, but with patience everything can be done!"

The five looked back at the newly created settlement in front of them...

Nintendo Village: Morning of New Beginnings

Chrono Cross - Another Termina

The whole expanse of land was entirely cleaned. Because of this, a lot of land was left unattended, prompting a big land of grass to grow. However, the whole land wasn't covered by green patches of grass. A small village was located close to the big hill.

In front of the big hill, there were around twelve five blocks of different buildings of five by five. In those blocks, there were several buildings that were either hotels, individual houses, shops, and several other establishments. The squad of Hammer Bros. was able to make stoned streets and sidewalks between every block so the village would look a little bit more sophisticated.

Overall, the scenery of destruction was completely replaced by a small village.

"It looks very simple, but it's enough for me to consider it a village," Quil commented. "You've done a very good job in cleaning the whole mess of buildings."

"HAMMER!" all the Hammer Bros. exclaimed while raising their hammers before they all broke into laughter.

Kylie clapped her hands together. "Yup, this is a nice fresh start for this newly born village, my boys!"

"We need to run some checkups on the buildings before we let people in, though," the lead Hammer Bro said. "In the meantime, please have a look at your new establishments."

Since there was a new post office building, the previous post office was wrecked down, and its pieces were used to make some small additions to the new post office. Parakarry and Postman shed some tears at this but later smiled at each other.

An hour later...

The big hill was cleared out from all the Hammer Bros. However, after it was cleared out an hour ago, some Smashers (Chris, Riolu, Popo, Nana, Marth, Pikachu, and Kirby) emerged from the other side and stopped walking to see the new village in front of them.

"Wow," Nana began, "they surely did clean everything from here."

"It's nice to see something more peaceful than seeing some kind of dungeon," Marth said. "Besides, I think I like how the place looks like."

"Says the guy who has visited villages, villages, and more villages his entire life," Pikachu muttered in amusement. "You need to update yourself badly. You need to live the city life."

"Oh yeah," said Sonic as he appeared right besides the group. "City life's awesome if you ask me."

Chris (in his Chozo Arts job) looked bored at him. "And you're here with us and not with your group today because..."

Sonic chuckled and crossed his arms. "I told 'em I was gonna check out the Mazuri temple here. Since we haven't checked that temple in a time, I'm going to make sure nothing weird happens there. Knucklehead objected, but I did get away with it, heheheheh."

"That means we get to stay with you guys as well," Chip said as he appeared from behind the hedgehog's back.

Sonic looked bored at him. "You should have stayed with them, y'know..."

"Nope," Chip said. "I wanted to make sure you followed your word and not sneak away so you wouldn't look for the guardians."

"(Please, don't let him know I made up that excuse so I could relax...)" Sonic thought.

Chip chuckled and looked at the Smashers. "Also, after so much thinking, I found out my life as Light Gaia is so dead boring that I want to live my new life to the fullest."

The Smashers looked at him. "What? You find your job as Light Gaia boring?" Popo asked.

Chip looked annoyed. "I have to face it!" he said upset. "Living inside a boring sphere of lava for millions of years with a bothersome brother who has the urge to break up the planet from time to time has to be the most boring job EVER!" he said annoyed. "I mean, sure, I have the job to piece back the continents together so life can keep its track, but where's the fun in that for a little guy like me? It is B-O-R-I-N-G, you know, boring!"

"Are you...neglecting your job as Light Gaia?" Marth asked.

"Sadly, I can't neglect it," Chip said. "I have to follow the same boring cycle since that's supposed to be my task. My brother doesn't mind destroying the planet, but I do mind to piece everything back together. Also, if you guys were to call me Light Gaia, I'd just yell at you and correct yourselves to call me Chip instead." He crossed his arms and looked away annoyed. "'Light Gaia' sounds like some name you'd give to an old man. 'Chip', on the other hand, has a nice sound to it."

Pikachu shifted his eyes. "Cheer up, Light Gaia."

Chip pointed an accusing finger at Pikachu. "It's Indiana Chip, dude, Indiana Chip! Call me Chip, but I'm known to be Indiana Chip!"

The Smashers stared at him for a few seconds before Chris spoke. "So, since you hate your name so much as Light Gaia...you have some sort of freedom to keep changing your name illegally as you please?"

"Yep," Chip said. "I'm a god, so I know what I'm doing her-"

Once the imp said the word 'god', the Smashers began to chuckle silently to themselves.

"You guys will respect me more once we get to complete our mission," Chip said. "Before that days comes, it's all fun and merriment for little Indiana Chip here to enjoy the world outside the sphere of lava we call the core."

Pikachu thought for a moment. "Wait, if we do get to save Sonic's world, doesn't that mean you'll have to go back into the planet?"

Chip thought for a moment. "Hmm, that's kinda true... Well... I don't want to think about grim stuff yet, okay? Let's enjoy the time together as a big happy family!"

"...Oh, look at the village," Nana began, "who wants to go in there?"

The Smashers agreed to visit the village while Chip merely lifted up his shoulders and looked at Sonic. "You said you wanted to be a guard in the temple. Let's go to the temple!"

"Yeaaaaaaaaaaah...no," Sonic said before he disappeared from Chip's sight, a blue bur quickly disappearing into the village.

Chip blinked a few times before looking angry. "Hey, you should be helping me out here! Come back here and let's go to the temple, Sonic!"

The imp was about to complain more. However, Chip recalled what he said about his job as Light Gaia.

"...On the other hand..." Chip muttered before smiling, "if Sonic 'accidentally' does other stuff that doesn't have to be about me...that means I get to enjoy more time out here than being inside the planet!" He rubbed his palms together and chuckled. "Mwahahahahaha, little Indiana Chip gets away with what he wants to do in life... He's as free as a little birdy. It's time to taste chocolate, candy, sweets, and more chocolate goodness!" he said cheerfully before he began his own way into the village.
Sidewalks

The group of seven Smashers were walking on a sidewalk while admiring the new look of the village. Very soon, after crossing a street, they found the new Wings Post Office located on the corner of the second block.

The establishment itself didn't look that different from its previous look. The only new things of the office were the fact that it had a new second floor, the fact that it looked a little bit more updated, and the fact that the billboard of requests was occupying half of the counter's desk, leaving the other half-wide open for Quil to look at the Smashers.

"Welcome to the new Wings Post Office," Quil greeted them.

"So, the city got renovated?" Pikachu asked.

While this conversation started, Chris began to rub Riolu's chin, the Emanation Pokémon's tail wagging a bit.

"You could say that," Quil said. "It was only renovated to a village since there weren't any materials left for more construction. However, this is the best we can have now, and I'm grateful that at least we have this instead of a barren land of ruins." He looked around the sidewalks. "It's going to be a matter of time before people start coming here."

"I'm glad to hear that," Marth said. "I was getting a bit freaked out because we live close to a huge city cemetery."

"Well, since that's in the past, I'd like all of you to enjoy the new life of this place," Quil said. "By the moment, Parakarry and Postman are setting up the new mail boxes of the houses with some Hammer Bros. Right now, all Hammer Bros. are making sure that the buildings are in perfect conditions for people to come in there." He pointed at the billboard. "Right now, there's been some people who would like to get help, though. You should take your time and hear them out before you anything else."

"Well, that gives us benefits," Nana said before everyone looked at the billboard.

It looked like there were three new requests besides Toadette's request...

The Search for Arle Nadja

It has been painful. My search to get to Arle has not leaded me anywhere. I am at the risk of becoming enraged by this that I must ask people to give me some aid and find this girl for me. I will not present myself right away, but I am going to do my best to make some contact with my helpers.

Once I find Arle...at last, she shall be my desire!

From: Dark Magician.

"Ain't that cute or what?" Popo asked. "A magician wants to get the girl of his dreams."

"Er, I'd rather take that request later," Marth said. "Something about that request makes me feel very...uneasy..."

"Oh well," Kirby said. "Let's see the next one!" he said cheerfully as he made sure his Puyo hat didn't fall off his head.

Vanquish the Monster Threat

Well, yep, er, there's this annoying roar that has recently appeared very close to my vacation spot. The roar keeps roaring, roaring, roaring, and roaring every single day, and I can't get my beauty sleep if it keeps up like that! I-I would go see what the cause is but...thing is...I'm very scared...so...yeah... I'm asking some nice guys (like the ones in front of this billboard (that means you)) to come here and see what you can do about it... I'm certain it's a monster...

From: Summon Spirit of Earth.

The World Traveler, still rubbing Riolu's chin, blinked confused at the requester of the request "Summon Spirit of Earth...you don't mean..." He looked at Quil. "Excuse me, but, did the guy who put up this request looked like some sort of...big gerbil?"

Quil took a peek of the posted request before he pulled himself back and nodded at Chris. "Oh yes, there was this person who looked like a big doll with this huge bow on his head who came here and asked me to hear him out... I have to tell you that he looked very peculiar..."

"(Gnome came all the way here?)" Chris thought to himself.

"Chris, don't keep us in the dark and tell us what you're talking about," Nana said. "Do you know the requester?"

"Well, yes," Chris said.

The World Traveler decided to explain who Gnome was to the Smashers.

"Oh...that's pretty bizarre," commented Popo. "You fought a big gerbil with a spinning bow?"

"I-I know it sounds weird, but that's how the story goes..." Chris said as he kept rubbing Riolu's chin.

"In any case...let's see the other request," Marth said before everyone looked back at the billboard.

Find my Mime Jr!

Help, help, help! I need some nice people to help me find my dear Mime Jr! The little guy got lost after an 'accident' happened to both of us, and we got separated from each other! I can't stand sleeping alone anymore. I can't stand looking at the empty spot I always had reserved for Mime Jr. to sleep! Please, I'm begging you to find him before I lose all hope! When you find my Pokémon, I'll show up to you once I have the time, but please keep Mime Jr. somewhere safe!

From: Master of Disguise.

"Oh, finally, this request sounds a little bit more normal," Chris said.

"Actually, this request sounds kind of odd," Nana said. "The guy surely likes his Mime Jr. a lot."

Pikachu shrugged. "Something about this request doesn't make me feel very good, though..."

Quil crossed his arms. "Well, what requests are you going to accept?"

"Let's take Toadette's request!" Kirby offered. "We came here to do that, right?"

"Yes," Pikachu said. "We all want to work, right?"

"I guess..." Marth said.

Quil gave the group a wing stamp. "Very well, you're accepting Toadette's request, then," he said. "You can find her restaurant 2 blocks to the south of this place. The restaurant is easy to spot so you can't miss it."

Pikachu looked at everyone. "Everyone here wants to be butlers?"

"I just want to do it because I want to do something different for a change," Marth said.

"Oh well, let's all head down to the restaurant," Nana said.

Once the Smashers turned to the south, they noticed that a small figure was standing in their way, blocking their path. They all looked down at the rather chubby-looking character. This character, who was in fact a moogle, of around 1 or 2-feet tall of height had fur all over his body, had two small red wings on his back, wore several garments with a little cap that allowed his little red pom-pom to stick out from his head, and wore a small pouch on the front of his stomach. It should be said that, even if there were moogles like him, this moogle was from a different species since it didn't have any arms or hands. This figure, his face always having a happy expression (with eyes shut all the time), looked up and hopped on his spot a bit.

"Hello," the small moogle began, "greetings to all of you."

"...Er...hi..." Pikachu said confused. "And...who are you?"

The little moogle stopped hopping. "Oh, I see that you don't know me," he said. "Well, I'm just a little traveler who goes from place to place to know more about the vast land in the horizon." He hopped a bit more on his spot. "I'm suited to life on the road with no roots to tie me down."

"You must have a name, though," Marth said.

"...Whoops," the moogle said. "My name is Stiltzkin. It's very nice to meet such a colorful group of people like you."

Chris thought for a moment. "Hmm...you said you're a traveler?"

"Of course I am," Stiltzkin said. "I go from place to place in order to gain more knowledge about the world." He looked up to the sky. "I have to say my travels have taken me to a very different...air. Somehow, I think this is a new place I have yet to travel." He looked back at them. "It's probably just me, right?"

The Smashers shifted their eyes a bit.

"Your faces tell a lot," Stiltzkin said. "I must surely have walked into a different world, kupo! If that's so, that means this place is 100 percent real!" He hopped more on his spot. "Sightseeing is believing, as they say!"

"Who says that?" Nana asked.

"The people I get to know," Stiltzkin said. "It's one of the many things I've learned in my travels. The more you get to go anywhere, the more you know more about everything. One of my biggest dreams is to discover new places. If there are people who would like to give me their aid, I'll be glad to do it as long as they help me."

Riolu was starting to get a bit tired of the rubbing on his chin that he began to look worried.

Marth crossed his arms. "I think that's an interesting dream you have."

"It is," Stiltzkin said nodding. "I'm glad that I'm the only moogle who dares to do such a huge feat. It makes my fur get so fuzzy to think about the new places yet to visit!" He chuckled a bit at the thought. "Anyhow, who are you?"

The Smashers introduced themselves to the little traveler.

Stiltzkin nodded. "Hmm-hm, nice to meet you," he said. "Would you be interested in...helping a bit?"

"Helping you?" Kirby asked confused. "Why do you need us?"

Stiltzkin turned around and looked away. "You see, traveling far and wide isn't easy," he explained. "You think I have everything set to go around some more, right? Well, that's not true, sadly..." He turned back at them. "Traveling is not easy. For traveling, you need...um... How do I put it? ...It needs...money..."

"...Money?" Kirby asked.

"...Lots of money," Stiltzkin admitted. "I need to spend lots of money to wherever I go."

Nana looked bored at him. "You're not thinking about us giving you some money now, right?"

"Oh, please, don't think I just want to ask for money like that!" Stiltzkin said embarrassed. "Since I go from here to there, I get on my hands lots of goodies."

"What does that mean?" Popo asked.

"It means I have special stuff to sell to people." Stiltzkin looked at his small pouch. "I might not look like it, but I do carry a lot of stuff in here. You could say I carry a magic inventory!"

"Weird, we could say the same here," Pikachu said.

"Ooh, we're kindred spirits now," Stiltzkin said. "Care to look at my wares? I'm sure I can find anything good for you. Traveling and meeting people so much has allowed me to get anything you would find useful for pretty much anything. There's stuff for everyday things, medicines, and even stuff for fighters." He stared at them. "Something about you all makes me think you're...fighters."

Nana crossed her arms. "What makes you think we're fighters?"

"The guy with the little creature on his arms has a gun," Stiltzkin pointed out. "You and your twin look like you would wield something like hammers, the guy with the thunder-shaped tail looks like he knows how to use lightning, and the little guy with the strange hat...does a lot of stuff."

Kirby made a happy expression.

"Oh, and the lady wields a sword."

The Smashers chuckled a bit at Marth as the prince looked a bit annoyed. "Is it because of the tiara, right? I told you I wasn't going to get rid of it," Marth said with a sigh.

"...Oops, you're a guy, sorry," Stiltzkin said. "Anyway, you're all fighters?"

"...Yes..." Popo said. "You...could say that..."

The moogle nodded at this. "Okay, I've got just the stuff you would need so badly." With his mouth, the moogle dug out from his pouch a list that he let go on the pavement. "Here's a list with special stuff I sell. This stuff is kind of odd, though."

Pikachu picked up the list and looked at it.

"I'm saying it's odd because...the stuff itself is enchanted stickers with magic fused into them..."

Chris shook his head. "Wait, magic-fused stickers?"

"Do any of you have any use for these?" Stiltzkin asked. "I brought it up because...that's the only idea I had in mind for you to sell..."

"Oh, we do use stickers...as odd as it sounds..." Nana said embarrassed. "In fact, we rely too much on them to get more abilities..."

Stiltzkin hopped a bit. "Ooh, then I was right! Please, do browse through the list to whatever you would like to buy from me! If I can, we can come up with a deal and reduce some money from the stickers."

The Smashers decided to take a peek of Stiltzkin's list...

Stiltzkin Wares

Smash Coins in hand: 5601

Counter – 4000 Smash Coins

A common ability used by monks. This attack will instantly make the user retaliate an attack.

"I have no use for that one," Marth said.

Fury – 4000 Smash Coins

A special ability that Fayt and his group can use. This ability doubles the attack of the user when a party member (preferably close to the user in terms of friendship) is knocked out.

"...Fayt?" Chris asked before looking at the moogle. "You know who Fayt is?"

"Er, like I said before, I've traveled to many places," Stiltzkin said. "In fact, I may have winded up in other...universes... Really, I don't know how I did that, but I guess you could achieve universe traveling by going to lots of places."

Marth rubbed his chin. "(I think I know why... Maybe the fact that we have been in so many worlds has leaded to some people to go anywhere... I have to tell Master Hand about this before it gets a little bit out of the hand...)"

"I've met lots of people," Stiltzkin said. "I think I have met some Fayt before. Thing is, you tend to forget some people when you meet more."

Bad Breath – 9000 Smash Coins

The user releases a gastric and sickening breath to the enemies. This breath causes a wide variety of status effects such as Confusion, Blind, Silence, Poison, Slow, Berserk, and Sleep (and somebody could say the victims lose all common sense...). This attack has slim chances of inflicting all illnesses to bosses than normal enemies, though. Constant use of the attack should be required if the user wants to make a boss sick.

"Even though this ability sounds disgusting...it does sound very useful," Pikachu said.

"Actually, this one would help a lot," Nana said.

Chris shook his head. "I just have about 5000 coins, though..."

"Oh, I see," Stiltzkin said. "Well, maybe I can come here again and see if you get more money. Would you like that?"

"Wouldn't that interrupt your travels?" Marth asked.

"Hmm, maybe a bit, but I can handle it," the moogle said. "Okay, try to look for me if you want to buy more expensive stuff."

"Well, let's see what else is here," Popo suggested.

Life – 5000 Smash Coins

The user can revive fallen party members through this spell.

"Useful," Pikachu said. "We need more healers in our team."

"Wait, let's see what else is here," Popo said.

Null-Physical – 7000 Smash Coins

The user will be immune to all physical attacks. However, this ability won't work if the physical attack has elemental attributes.

"Hmm, this ability would be good for Peach, don't you think?" Pikachu asked.

"I guess so," Chris said. "I'd hate if she got punched in the face..."

Riolu started to get annoyed that Chris was still rubbing his chin. The little creature began to growl silently at this.

Death – 3000 Smash Coins

The user can use a deadly spell to knock out a victim instantly. Unfortunately, this spell won't work for bosses.

"I see why the price is a little bit low now..." Nana said bored.

"I know," Stiltzkin said.

Twincast – 4000 Smash Coins

Palom and Porom's signature move. This ability allows two users to cast a strong spell in tandem with each other. The spells are Pyroblast (deals moderate fire damage to all enemies (high chances)), Comet (deals moderate non-elemental damage to all enemies (high chances)), Bubble (doubles all party members' vitality (slight chances)), Faith (increases all party members' magic power (slight chances)), Bravery (increases all party members' strength (slight chances)), and Ultima (deals extreme non-elemental damage to all enemies (very slight chances)). Take in mind that the spell requires some time to be executed.

Popo and Nana blinked shocked. "W-wait, isn't Twincast the same ability that Palom and Porom use?" Popo asked.

"T-that's their ability," Nana said.

"Think about what we could do with it..."

The Ice Climbers thought for a moment...then turned to Chris.

"Buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it!" Popo and Nana said in unison while they both jumped constantly on their spots, tugging Chris's arms for a bit.

"H-hold on!" Chris yelled to calm both of them. "W-we haven't looked through the whole list yet!"

"Actually, that's all," Stiltzkin said. "You want to buy anything, kupo?"

Popo dropped to his knees and joined his hands while looking up at Chris. "I'm begging you here, buy the ability for us!" he yelled before he began crying dramatically.

"Just think about all the stuff we could," Nana said worried. "It's the only ability that sounds powerful enough, and we're the people who can use it!"

"Please, man, do us a favor and buy it for us!" Popo pleaded. "It's a good memento to have for how they sacrificed that time!"

"Really, buy it," Nana said. "The last thing we'd like to have is their ability to cast magic together..."

The World Traveler stared at the worried faces of both Ice Climbers. Chris knew well that Popo and Nana had befriended Palom and Porom very well since they were all twins in pairs. Sighing, Chris thought for a moment before he smiled a bit and showed the moogle 4000 Smash Coins, making Popo and Nana gasp.

"A deal?" Stiltzkin asked. "Very well!" he said cheerfully before he dug out from his pouch two medium-sized stickers depicting Palom and Porom in their DS versions: Palom with hands on hips and Porom with a rod pointing to the right. "If the 2 want to use Twincast, they each need to have one of these." He took the money from Chris's hands and put it inside his pouch.

"Oh my, oh my, and oh my," Nana said excited as she grabbed a sticker and happily put it on her Trophy Stand. "Thank you, thank you, and thank you!" she said repeatedly at Chris.

"You're like 10 more levels of awesome, I swear," Popo said happily as he put his own sticker on his Trophy Stand.

Chris blushed a bit. "U-um, you don't need to be THAT thankful, either..."

"Oh, we should," Nana said happily. "You made us get a very sweet ability in memory of Porom."

"And Palom as well," Popo said before looking at his stand. "Just look at my...Porom...sticker..."

Nana looked bored at him. "...Hey, you're supposed to have the Palom sticker," Nana said before looking at her stand. "I mean, I have the...Palom sticker..."

Pikachu, Chris, and Marth looked at the stands, and apparently, they found out that the twins had made a huge mistake and placed the wrong twin they had befriended more in the wrong stand.

"...Oh no..." Nana muttered. "T-this was just a little mistake, I swear! I-I can't believe we didn't' notice this!"

"Quick, we need to remove and change them!" Popo said in panic.

"W-wait right there, you 2!" Pikachu yelled before the twins could take off the stickers.

"What is it now?" Nana asked.

"If you remove those stickers, they'll disappear!"

After recalling the rules of the stickers, Popo and Nana instantly turned white while they stared at Pikachu.

"...Wow, they turned dead white..." Chris muttered.

Stiltzkin tilted his head to the right a bit. "Um, you seem to have made a big mistake. I did hear somewhere that removing those stickers would make them disappear. I guess nobody uses that way to get new abilities because one needs to think carefully about the consequences...something that you both seemed to forget... Of course, I'm not offending any of you..."

Both Ice Climbers remained staring at Pikachu before they got their colors back and looked down in shame, their stands falling off their hands and to the pavement.

"...This must be some kind of a bad joke, isn't?" Nana muttered in shame.

"I myself think it's not," Stiltzkin said. "Don't look like that, okay? At least you have the ability."

"It's just that this mistake is going to haunt us forever..." Popo muttered with a sob.

"Oh well," Stiltzkin said. "What can you do about it? I could give you 2 more stickers, but it'll cost you, I'm afraid." Stiltzkin hopped a bit on the spot. "What do you think of my wares?"

"What you sell clearly outclasses Crazy Hand's shop..." Marth said.

"That's the business traveling moogles like me have to make a living while finding new lands. It's the wonderful world of finances."

As Popo and Nana kept looking down, Chris closed his eyes nervously. "Don't look like that, okay?"

"It's easy said than done..." Nana muttered.

"..." Stiltzkin looked at them. "Well, I guess that's it,. It was nice doing business with you."

"That's too bad," Marth said. "You seem to sell very good abilities. It's a shame you have to leave this village."

Stiltzkin thought for a moment. "...Actually, maybe I can leave this place...and give you a special item to call me anywhere you are."

"What?" Marth asked.

Stiltzkin dug out from his pouch a little golden bell (with a red pom-pom on its top that acted as the handle) that he put on the floor. "See this bell? It's a special item I like to call the Stiltzkin Bell."

Pikachu went over to pick the bell. "The Stiltzkin Bell?"

"Yes, that's a bell I specifically designed using some materials I've gathered thorough my journeys," Stiltzkin explained. "If you ring that bell, I'm going to do my best to report to you and see if you want to buy any of my wares."

"Oh, so is this some kind of magic bell?" Chris asked.

"Yes, it is," the moogle said. "Do you want it?"

"Well...I guess."

"It's yours, my friend," Stiltzkin said as he hopped on the spot.

Obtained Stiltzkin Bell!

A special bell that can call the wanderer Stiltzkin wherever you are just to sell you his stuff.

Pikachu rang the bell a bit. "Nice sound."

"Oh yes, I'm going to tell you some pointers you have to hear first," Stiltzkin said. "I can only go to you if you're not fighting in a battle. I don't like to get close to dangerous situations. Also, there are times I'm not going to appear because I could be busy doing something else."

"We can call you anywhere?"

"As long as you're not in a battle, yes," Stiltzkin said. "Shall we try the bell out? I'm going to walk away to a spot where you can't see me, and then you're going to ring the bell to call me, okay?"

Chris looked bored at him. "You're certainly going to hear the bell's ring, though..."

"Oh, you'll see how I appear," Stiltzkin said before he began to walk away to the south where he reached the corner of the sidewalk and walked away to the east.

"..." Pikachu looked at them. "Ring the bell?"

"Do it!" Kirby said excited.

The Electric type rang the bell a few times, and the Smashers looked around the place (while the Ice Climbers were still looking down).

However, there were no signs of the traveler moogle around the place.

"...Is he deaf or what?" Chris asked confused. "The bell's sound should have reached at least a block of the village..."

"Well, he was peculiar as well," Quil noted as he was still behind the counter, listening to the whole conversation. "I guess he'll come back to you."

"In fact, I'm back!"

The Smashers and Quil quickly looked behind the counter where the moogle was sitting down on a chair to look at them. The Rito postman and the Smashers gasped and took a step back, not seeing when the moogle appeared besides him.

"W-what the, how did you get here?" Quil asked in disbelief before he looked inside the post office. "I don't recall a back door being built to this place...and there's not an alley behind the office either!"

"I have my ways to appear," Stiltzkin said before he flew over the counter and landed on the safe floor of the sidewalk. "I know how to get here instantly."

"T-that was creepy..." Kirby said shrugging.

"I guess I freak you out," Stiltzkin said. "Well, now you know you can call me anytime, it's time for me to take my leave. See you around! Don't hesitate to call me if you want to buy something else. I might get new stuff as well, so ringing the bell would 'sound' very tempting, heheh." He turned around and began to walk away to the south. However, they all saw as the moogle turned to look up at a sign of a building before he got inside.

"...What kind of person was him?" Quil asked in disbelief. "I didn't see him getting inside the office at all..."

[DededeCloneChris]

"Maybe this bell is...creepy," Pikachu said as he stared at the bell.

Marth smiled a bit. "At least we can call him so he can sell his inventory to us. Think of the possibilities."

Chris looked away worried. "(I hope this doesn't make us get crazy with power...)"

For some odd reason, the World Traveler began to feel a lot of pain on his hands.

"W-why am I feeling like I'm getting hurt by no reason?" Chris asked confused.

The Smashers looked at him. Pikachu gasped once he saw that Riolu, having enough of the rubbing on his chin since he wanted Chris to stop about ten minutes ago, began to get enraged and started to chew Chris's hands off with his small but sharp fangs. Chris's eyes widened in shock before the Emanation Pokémon looked up at him and showed him his fangs bathed with some blood.

"Riiiiiii..." Riolu muttered through gritted fangs.

The World Traveler's jaw dropped once he saw that, despite Riolu looking not that threatening, his hands were bleeding heavily. In fact, a lot of blood was falling down from Chris's shredded hands.

And the fact that Chris himself didn't like seeing the sight of blood, he would have screamed. He could stand and watch his own blood for a bit...but not seeing a lot of it being dropped to the floor.

"...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!" In a panic, the World Traveler accidentally let go of Riolu, and the Emanation Pokémon fell down and hit his forehead hard on the floor. Since Chris was in a panic, he quickly turned to Quil. "I-I need a First Aid kit, please! I-I can't stand all this blood!"

"S-sure," Quil said before pointing at a door at the right side of the billboard. "Come in here through there."

The World Traveler quickly opened the door and went inside the post office, the Rito postman walking inside the post office to treat Chris's wounds. It was not long before the Smashers began to hear screams from within the establishment since Chris felt pain with the alcohol being applied to his hands.

"Stop screaming!" Quil yelled through the screams.

Popo, Nana, Marth, Pikachu, and Kirby looked at each other while the screams kept going. "I...have to admit that this looked very embarrassing for Chris..." Marth said.

"Yeah, the guy can't stand seeing blood for so long," Pikachu said before looking at Riolu on the floor. "You okay, Riolu?"

"..." Riolu slowly sat up and blinked a few times. Pikachu watched as Riolu's eyes began to fill with tears before Riolu covered his eyes and began to sob silently, a red spot on the center of his forehead appearing to indicate where he got hurt by the fall. "Ri-ii-ii-iiiiiiii!" Riolu cried. "Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"

Pikachu sighed, his ears moving down. "Oh boy, this was just so random..." he muttered.

"Agreed..." the others said as Riolu cried and Chris screamed in pain.

Some time later...

The group headed down the sidewalks to reach a building; the building that had some roses and sunflowers adorning the front of a long window with a big sign on the top that read 'Wonder Restaurant' in yellow letters.

An ashamed Riolu kept licking Chris's bandaged hands as a sign of his shameful treatment to his trainer. While Riolu kept doing this, the World Traveler pulled him close to his neck. "Riolu, I know what I did was wrong to you. I should have stopped it before you...would chew my hands' skin off..."

"R-riiii..." Riolu's eyes filled with tears.

The World Traveler rocked back and forth the young Riolu in his arms. "There, there, you don't have to cry anymore. It was my fault, not yours..."

"I have to say you screamed pretty loudly, though..." Popo remarked.

"Popo, shut up," Chris muttered annoyed.

Pikachu looked at the restaurant. "So, this is the Wonder Restaurant," he said. "Looks a bit normal to me."

"Well, this is just the exterior," Marth said before spotting the double doors that leaded inside. "Shall we go inside?"

The Smashers decided to enter the restaurant...

Wonder Restaurant

Final Fantasy IX – Vivi's Theme

Once they all got inside, they admired the interior's look. From what they could see, there were several lights nicely hanging over the ceiling across a hallway that had a counter with a casher machine on the end. The hallway itself had a long wall to the left that leaded to an arch that leaded to the big dining area where a long counter was located on the front wall, overlooking the outside of the restaurant with the long window they had seen before. There were around twenty tables with nice-looking red chairs (each table with four chairs each) and some candles with all utensils across the front of the counter, and some of the tables were close to the left wall where the chairs were long sofas instead to accommodate more than four people. The floor was covered by a soft red mattress that extended to every single corner of the establishment, and the wall depicted several dishes that looked appetizing to Kirby.

"Ooh, nice look," Popo remarked as the group walked forward and stopped right in front of a counter where someone would greet them. "I wonder who works here, though."

"My guess is that there are chefs here," Pikachu said.

Just then, two familiar girls appeared from behind the counter and raised their arms.

"Welcome to the grand inauguration of the Wonder Restaurant!" a girl said.

"Please let us known if you find our service to your liking," the other girl said. "So anyway, what will you..."

Popo and Nana gasped after they both looked up at the familiar girls before them.

"...Kat! Ana!" Popo and Nana said in unison.

"Popo! Nana!" the ninja girls said in unison.

Apparently, the Smashers found both Kat and Ana standing behind the counter of the hallway. However, both of them weren't wearing their usual attires, but they were wearing small pink hats with small pink dresses that had mini skirts each. The two ninjas smiled a bit after seeing the familiar faces of Popo and Nana.

It could be said they didn't have good memories of Popo, though...

"Wow, you're here?" Ana asked surprised. "I thought we would never see each other again!"

"It's very fortunate to see you all again," Kat said pleased as she joined her hands. "Do you live close to this village?"

"Well, yeah," Nana said. "We live in the Smash Mansion. It's a big mansion located to the north of the big hill."

Ana chuckled a bit. "Okay, we'll be sure to drop by and visit all of you."

Kat made a happy expression. "Anyway, why are you all here? Are you coming here to be the first clients of the grand inauguration?"

"Er, we came here to apply for waiters..." Chris trailed off.

"Is that so?" Ana asked. "How lucky for you! We just needed some waiters right now. The restaurant doesn't have any waiters yet, but we'd like to have you working with us as well."

"Especially if Nana wants to do it as well," added Kat.

"...Hey, what about me?" Popo asked as he opened his arms.

Kat and Ana looked at each other. "Uh, well..." they both trailed off.

Nana sighed. "Relax; this guy is in his normal state. He's not in his crazy state right now."

Both ninjas looked at each other worried while Popo tilted his head confused.

"...If...you say so..." Ana muttered unsure.

"...Well...you guys want to apply for the job?" Kat asked. "If you want to apply, you should go over the counter of the dining room with Toadette. She's in charge of the place."

"Okay, thanks," Marth said. "...By the way, aren't you too young to be working?"

"Oh, that? Well, we were already working for Wario," Ana said. "However, when he escaped, we have gained some well-earned vacations...then we got bored and decided to do something to kill the time....then we got the word that Toadette was opening a restaurant and she needed some people. We both agreed to be working as the receivers of the establishment."

"Truthfully, you could say we're workaholics..." Kat said embarrassed.

"W-we like to work a lot, despite the fact we're too young..." Ana added with a nervous chuckle. "R-really, don't think badly of us... We like to do lots of stuff."

"...Anyway, go with Toadette," Kat said as she pointed at the long counter inside the dining area. "She should be sorting out some stuff behind the counter. Hope you guys get applied for the job as well."

"Try to meet our chefs, okay?" Ana asked. "There's this special guy who Toadette told us about who will become the head chef, though..."

"The head chef of the chefs of this place?" Kirby asked curiously.

"Well, yeah, there's this guy who Toadette hired that showed her some 'amazing chef moves that made her get inspired to open a restaurant' or so she says..." Kat said. "Truth is we haven't seen the guy yet. We just saw the chefs of the place, but not the head chef himself..."

Ana smiled. "It's going to be so awesome to work with you, though. Go, go, go! I know she'll accept all of you!"

The Smashers looked at each other before they all walked inside the dinning area and walked to the long counter. They noticed there was a small window that peered inside the kitchen just behind the center of the counter.

And just in time, from behind the counter's floor, Toadette lifted up her head and smiled at the Smashers. "Ooh, you came!" she said excited before she jumped to a chair to be visible from behind the counter. "Welcome to the Wonder Restaurant!"

Pikachu showed her the wing stamp. "Here's our application for part-time waiters."

"Nice, nice," Toadette said pleased. "So, how many of you are applying?"

"Everyone but...Riolu," Chris said as he looked at Riolu. "Oh no, I shouldn't have brought you here. I need to go back and leave you with Peach..."

Riolu blinked a few times before he clutched himself to Chris. "Riiii, riiiiii!" he cried.

"R-Riolu, I need to take you with her so I can work here," Chris said worried. "P-please, let's go back with Peach..."

"Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" Riolu cried loudly.

Toadette looked worried. "Aww, that's the cutest creature I've ever seen before..." she said with a sigh. "Well, he does look like he doesn't want to leave you..."

"B-but how can I work if he's here?" Chris asked. "It's going to be weird if I carry him around all the time while taking orders..."

"Hmm, that's a problem..." Toadette muttered. "...Oh, I got it!" she said while snapping her fingers. "You could leave him in the corral!"

"The...corral?" Chris repeated.

Toadette pointed over a small corral located at the far left corner of the dinning room. The corral itself was surely for babies, and it had several toys like balls with some slides and a ball pool.

"I figured there would be some people with babies so I thought about making a corral," Toadette said. "You can leave Riolu there."

Riolu looked at the corral from Chris's arms. "Riiiii..." he muttered with some interest.

Chris smiled a bit. "Oh god, that's a big relief now..." he said before he went over to the corral to put his Emanation Pokémon in it. Once inside, Riolu wagged his tail and went over to play with a big ball that he used to push it to the wall to bounce back to him. "(How cute...)" Chris thought happily before he returned with the others.

Toadette clapped her hands. "Okay, you better get dressed up! You need to show some etiquette around the clients, you know."

"Wait, we're going to wear uniforms?" Popo asked.

"Of course, this place needs to show good etiquette as I've said before," Toadette said. "Luckily, I have your uniforms ready. I want this casual dining restaurant to become a fine dining restaurant some day. If I can't reach that status, I won't be recognized as a professional restaurateur."

Nana looked at Pikachu. "How are you going to serve food, anyway?"

"Oh, I can do something else than serving food," Pikachu said. "Just you wait."

Kirby looked happy. "Can I be the first client instead of a waiter?"

"Didn't you want to be a waiter?" Popo asked.

"It's going to be painful for me to serve food rather than eat it..." Kirby admitted.

"...Trust me, he's better off as a costumer," Marth said.

Some time later...

"Hmm-hm, you look good in those uniforms now!" Toadette said happily. "Yep, they fit you very good."

After Toadette provide the attires to the Smashers, a time had passed, and they all dressed. For both Chris and Marth, both were wearing black shoes, black pants, black vests, black ties, white gloves (which covered Chris's bandaged hands), and wore long white sleeved shirts under the vests. As for Pikachu, he wore a small version of the uniform.

Perhaps what was more curious to see was the fact that Toadette had black parka uniforms for both Popo and Nana. The World Traveler thought it was a little bit unfair that he never got the chance to see neither Ice Climbers' heads, and he thought it was just as if destiny itself protected Popo and Nana's heads from being seen by any other person.

Chris blushed a bit. "And here I thought I'd never have a part-time job..."

"Oh, you don't worry about that," Toadette said. "I can still look around for waiters. I just need you today for the grand inauguration. Once I find the waiters I want to have, you can renounce. Of course, you're all going to get paid depending how much we win today."

"Well, that's going to be hard," Marth said. "We didn't see many citizens out there."

"We still have the Hammer Bros., though," Toadette pointed out. "Besides, I heard they spread the word about the village so we might have some costumers here."

"By the way," Nana began, "we never got to see the chefs."

Toadette blinked. "Oh my gosh, I didn't present them to you yet!" she said before clapping her hands. "Okay girls, you need to meet our waiters so come on out the kitchen!"

A door situated to the left side of the counter suddenly opened up and four chefs walked out. The chefs of the restaurant were all females, but half of them were older while the other half were younger.

The first chef was a sweet elderly yellow Toad who wore a yellow shirt. Her white hair was curled up at the sides of her face. She giggled sweetly after she looked at the waiters. "Nice to meet you," she greeted. "My name is Tayce T.," she introduced herself.

The next elderly chef besides her right didn't look as sweet as she did. In fact, this Toad shared the same top yellow-spotted head and curled white hair as Tayce T., but the biggest differences were the fact that this Toad had a somewhat angry looking face, had red lipstick, had some contact lenses on her eyes (that weren't visible but were there), and wore a black shirt underneath her red apron. "Hello," she said. "You don't happen to be clumsy people, right?"

"Er, no..." Pikachu said.

"Well, I hope so," she said. "By the way, my name's Zess T.," she introduced herself. "I WISH you don't make any mistakes here or else you're going to get a good scold by me."

"Oh, Zess, please don't say such things," Tayce said. "They haven't done anything yet. Let's see what they can do, okay?"

"Oh sister, you're always being utterly sweet to people," Zess said annoyed.

"Well, why can't you?" Tayce asked.

"Once I set my eyes on people, I know what's going to happen next," Zess said. "I remember Clumsy Crush-a-lot to these days."

Toadette looked at the Smashers. "These 2 are sisters. They're the sisters of the Master."

"You mean they're all siblings?" Marth asked.

"Unfortunately, we are siblings," Zess said. "You met the guy, right? Did my brother tell you some weird training philosophies to you or what? He likes to train a lot that he can become quite annoying with what he says. It's always training this, training that, focus on this, focus on that, meditate to have a healthy body, things like that."

"I hate to say this, but I have to agree with Zess there..." Tayce admitted. "That's why I moved to a house to stay away from his dojo."

"Well, you only get to hear that a lot from him if you LIVE with him," Zess said. "That's my whole reason why I moved to Rogueport."

"Let's not talk more behind his back, okay?" Tayce suggested. "You know how he gained that odd ability to sense things..."

"True," Zess said. "Our brother's the biggest weirdo we've ever met before."

"Okay, that's enough about the Master," Toadette said. "Please do meet our other chefs, you guys and girl."

The Smashers looked at the third chef. Unlike the two previous elderly Toads, the third chef looked extremely different in terms of appearance. The third chef was a young girl of light green skin. She had (literally) a hexagonal-shaped orange hair behind her (literally) squared head (and she had a squared-shaped nose as well). Not only that, but she had very thin arms and legs due to the fact they were just straight lines, and she had round hands without fingers. The third chef wore a pink apron with a cream-colored skirt that had some pinkish squares around the lower end, and she wore reddish shoes. Like Tayce, this girl looked always cheerful with her happy eyes.

"Welcome to the Wonder Restaurant, where we will turn your frowns upside down!" the third chef greeted. "My name is Saffron, chef from Flipside's Sweet Smiles, and a Flipper resident!" she said cheerfully.

"(Look at that squared shape she has,)" Popo thought.

"...Wow, she looks...peculiar..." Pikachu muttered.

"I know, right?" Toadette asked. "But you shouldn't judge her by her looks. She's a very talented chef as Tayce and Zess."

"Teehee," Saffron giggled. "How nice is to have such nice-looking sugars! I bet our establishment is going to be even more fun with them here."

"I hope so," the pink Toad gal said. "Well, here's our last chef."

The Smashers looked at the last chef. Like Saffron, she looked almost identical to her (just as Tayce looked identical to Zess). However, as with the first two Toads, the fourth chef looked very different than Saffron. This chef was another young girl with light violet skin who had the same appearance as Saffron, but this one had light blue hexagonal hair behind her squared head (and, unlike Saffron, had a pointed-shaped nose). She wore a lime-green apron with a green-yellow skirt that had green triangles in some up-and-down pattern around the lower end, and she wore dark green shoes. Like Zess, this girl looked...quite in a bad mood with her bad-looking eyes.

"Und what do vee have here?" the girl asked in a German accent a little bit harshly. "More schnitzels? Finally, this place NEEDS good staff!"

"Um, why don't you introduce yourself?" Toadette asked.

The girl crossed her line arms. "The name is Dyllis, frankfurters!" she introduced herself. "Und I live und work in Flopside's Hot Fraun, und that means I am a Flopper!" she said. "I'm NOT a Flipper like Saffron is, so don't confuse US!"

"Geez, no need to be that harsh to us..." Nana muttered.

"Vhat vas that?!" Dyllis asked angrily. "You COME over here and vee vill have good fight!"

"Er, Dyllis, sugar, I think you should calm down a bit..." Saffron whispered worried.

"I shall NOT stand up for this again!" Dyllis complained. "You schnitzel are lucky I'm not going to SPANK you hard!"

Nana looked bored. "(I'll spank you harder, though...)"

"Don't give me that look!"

"AHEM!" Toadette coughed loudly to call everyone's attention. "Girls, guys, let's all calm down and start working now! Customers are going to start coming here in a bit and we must be prepared for anything they want to order!"

Zess sighed. "Are we finally gonna work for once? I'm tired of not doing anything."

"Let's all join together and cook the best dishes," Tayce said. "What do you say, girls?"

"Sugar, now you're talking my language," Saffron said giggling. "I hope Dyllis has the same thought."

"Vee shall SLICE und SIMMER!" Dyllis proclaimed. "I don't like slacking off. You better listen to orders or else!"

Toadette stared at Dyllis. "And...that means..."

"Yes, let's do this!"

Pikachu looked up at Chris. "Is it just me, or are Tayce and Saffron the happy chefs while Zess and Dyllis are the grumpy ones and their counterparts?" he asked.

"I think they are..." Chris muttered.

Marth looked a bit confused at the four chefs. "Wait, I forgot there was this head chef. Is any of you the head chef?"

Zess shook her head. "We're not Crazy McWeirdo if that's what you mean."

"What?"

Tayce looked confused. "You see, there's this chef who happens to be very merry and happy, but thing is...even if he looks crazy, he does a perfect job at doing dishes."

"That sugar is such a curious one," Saffron said. "His cooking skills can defeat any of our cooking skills without breaking a sweat onto the frying pan. His happy behavior is like mine, but he's extremely cheerful at anything he's asked."

"I hate that guy is the head chef," Dyllis commented. "However, I have to admit he's good in vhat he does!"

Popo walked around the left side of the counter and spotted the door. "Is he in there?"

"Definitely," Tayce said. "He's busy arranging the frying pans and bowls."

Just as Popo was about to reach for the doorknob, Toadette stepped between him and the door. "Sorry, but we don't have time for more introductions anymore. You can meet the guy later."

"What?" Popo asked.

"We're getting customers now!"

Everyone turned their faces to the right side where Kat and Ana were receiving a Hammer Bro. It looked like the hammer wielder wanted to eat something since he walked inside and sat down a table where he rang the bell a bit.

"Oh my goodness!" Saffron said in surprise. "Quick, we must return to our posts!"

"Make vay!" Dyllis yelled before she charged at the door, Popo and Toadette stepping aside to let the four chefs rush into the kitchen.

Toadette quickly went over to her seat and pointed at the waiters. "One of you has to attend the customer! Quick, we need to provide the best service there is!"

"W-what do we do first?" Chris asked.

"Walk around the place, wait for a person to call you, answer whatever the client wants to eat, dot down the order with the notepads and pens I have here," she said as she put notepads and pens on the counter, "make sure you get the order right, come over here and tell me so I can tell the chefs what to make, deliver the order, and receive some tips if you can! By the way, nobody likes incomplete dishes or have a lot of them so be very careful!"

Pikachu was shown sitting on a chair besides Toadette. "I'm going to be the boss of all of you. I'll make sure you don't ignore a customer."

Nana looked bored at him. "Oh, since you're so small, you can't serve dishes, huh?"

"Yep," Pikachu said. "You guys won't have to worry about unattended tables."

Toadette clapped her hands. "What are you waiting for? We have 2 customers now! Chop-chop!"

"T-two? Who's the second one?"

Toadette pointed at the Hammer Bro.

"W-wasn't he the first?"

Toadette shook her head and pointed over to a table where Kirby was looking at the menu.

"W-wait, he doesn't have any money with him..." Chris said.

"We accept credit cards and any kind of money currency here," Toadette said. "I've browsed through lots of different money currencies before, and I ultimately decided to accept everything. We accept anything: Mushroom Coins, Bean Coins, Gil, Fol, Bells, Rupees, Rubies and whatever you name. Now go!"

"B-but Kirby doesn't hav-"

"Correction, he does," Marth corrected.

The World Traveler looked back where Kirby waved a Gold Credit Card at them.

"...Where in the name of Dreamland did he get his hands on a credit card?" Chris asked.

"Hello, we all have credit cards," Nana said as she showed him her own credit card. "You get many benefits from participating in Master Hand's tournaments. It's completely legal."

"And even some already had credit cards," Marth pointed out. "In your case...you have a wallet."

Chris looked miffed at Marth.

"...Just saying..."

"GO NOW!" Toadette yelled loudly. "And don't forget to greet them!"

"Chris, you take care of table number 12! Nana, you take care of the sixth table!" Pikachu ordered. "(Heheh, being the boss is very pleasing...)"

Nana looked annoyed before she went over to the Hammer Bro while Chris went to Kirby.

"(Uh-oh,)" Chris thought as he walked to an anxious Kirby. "(Kirby has a stomach without a bottom. I'm so worried about this now...)" He stopped by Kirby's side and chuckled nervously. "W-welcome to the Wonder Restaurant, sir, might I take your order?"

Kirby nodded. "I want 2 Mushroom Steaks and 1 Goomba Soda."

The World Traveler looked a bit surprised at the seemingly normal order from the black hole wielder.

"Is...something wrong?" Kirby asked.

"E-er, no..." Chris said before he dotted down the order. "Okay, 2 Mushroom Steaks and 1 Goomba Soda... I'll be right back, sir..."

Kirby looked happy as Chris made his way back to the counter.

Toadette crossed her arms and looked at Chris. "Well?"

"2 Mushroom Steaks and 1 Goomba Soda," Chris said while the rest of the waiters began to walk around the tables. "An easy order."

The Toad gal nodded and turned to the window behind her. "2 Mushroom Steaks!" she yelled loudly.

The World Traveler smiled a bit in relief. "(Well, this isn't going to be so bad. With such easy orders, I think we can make it just fine...)"

However, his thoughts of relief were quickly silenced after Chris looked at the window of the kitchen. What Chris couldn't understand was the fact that, from the window, the mentioned Mushroom Steaks came out pretty quickly. In fact, the dish looked very extravagant-looking since it was nicely simmered with a very fragrant and tasty aroma.

"...What?" Chris asked confused as Toadette merely grabbed the order and put it down in front of him on the counter. "H-how did... I mean... Er... Was the order already being made or what?"

"Oh, don't worry about that," Toadette said. "You need to get the drinks from the machine over there, though." She pointed at a machine located to the left side of the door of the kitchen that had several beverages, many of which Chris didn't even think existed. "Get a red glass, fill it with the drink, take a straw, and take the order to the customer."

"...B-but..." Chris stared at the fresh steak in front of him. "H-how did this order..."

"Hello, we have people waiting!" Toadette recalled Chris. "Get working or no pay!"

The World Traveler shrugged and decided to bring the order to Kirby, wondering how the two steaks could be done so fast.

"Here..." Chris said as he gave the steaks to Kirby. "Hope you enjoy it, sir."

"Steak!" Kirby said happily as he grabbed his fork and knife and began to chow down the steaks by cutting them into little pieces.

"I-I'll go get your drink..." Chris said confused while he turned around and walked away. "(Phew, at least he didn't order everything...)"

By that time, Nana had already dotted down the Hammer Bro.'s order and walked to the counter. "1 Koopa Soup with a Bean Cappuccino."

Toadette turned to the window. "1 Koopa Soup!"

Nana smiled a bit as the bowl with hot soup was pushed through the window and given to Toadette...then after recalling how fast it was done, the pink Ice Climber looked a bit shocked. "What?" Nana asked.

"Take it away while it's hot," Toadette said simply.

"B-but..."

"Just take it, okay?" Toadette said. "The warmer, the better!"

Nana stared at her in confusion before she took the plate with the bowl on the top and carried it to the Hammer Bro. before she went over to get the drink.

Once Chris found Nana taking a glass, he looked worried. "Let me guess. The order came out in 3 seconds," he muttered.

"Yes..." Nana muttered back. "It was so weird..."

"...Well...we eat instant food at the mansion, don't we?"

"But Master Hand's not here," Nana said as she filled the glass with Bean Cappuccino. "Who is capable of making the orders so fast?"

"The chefs?" Chris asked.

"Maybe, but something sounds very fishy..."

"...Let's...work and see what or who makes the dishes so fast..."

"...Agreed..." Nana said before she walked away with a straw and the glass on each hand.

And so, some hours passed by in the restaurant. For their surprise, different kind of people began to come into the restaurant. The waiters were amazed to see that the restaurant had a fourth of the tables filled with different kinds of people such as Piantas, Goombas, Nokis, anthros, humans, Yoshis of different colors, even Waddle Dees. In fact, there were many kinds of people who began to eat at the restaurant, and this fact was further supported once Marth looked outside the long window to see some people actually walking around on the sidewalks.

Toadette was possibly the most delighted person of the whole staff since she received big amounts of money that she put inside the cashier. Truthfully, she was very proud that the establishment gained some popularity.

"Amazing..." Marth muttered as he stared out of the window to look at the people. "The village is slowly gaining more citizens..."

And close to him, a bell rang on the ninth table.

"Well, time to get back to work..." Marth muttered as he turned around and walked over to the ninth table. "Welcome to the Wonder Restaurant..."

Marth blinked surprised to see both Link and Zelda sitting on the ninth table's chairs, both of them holding menus. The Altean blinked a few times at this while the other two did the same.

"...Hi...Marth..." Link said as he looked at Marth's attire. "Nice...uniform..." he added.

"You...work here, Marth?" Zelda asked surprised.

"...Yes," Marth said. "I wanted to give it a try with everyone so...yes..."

"...Oh...I see..." Zelda said as she and Link stared at Marth in an awkward silence. "...Well...since you're the waiter...can you take our orders or give us a recommendation?"

Marth shifted his eyes between the two. "Are you 2...er..." He raised a finger on each hand and put them close together to avoid saying a romantic word.

Both Hylians looked at each other shocked and looked back at Marth. "N-no!" Link and Zelda yelled embarrassed.

"I-I... W-we just wanted to eat some food here, okay?" Link said embarrassed. "I-I invited Zelda here as well...b-but it's not what it looks like, I swear!"

"T-totally to the whole extent of the word," Zelda added while she blushed slightly.

"...Oh..." Marth muttered. "Sorry for making conclusions..." He looked at Link. "Well, since Zelda asked me for a recommendation, I'm going to go ahead and give one to Link."

"Oh, nice," Link said a bit pleased. "Give me one, then."

"Would you like to eat some Octorok, Link?"

"Oh, I think I'm going to eat some of i-" Link shook his head and glared at Marth. "Hey, don't joke to me like that!"

Zelda stifled a chuckle behind her hand.

"A-and you don't do it, either!" Link said embarrassed.

"S-sorry, I couldn't resist..." Marth muttered with a chuckle. "A-anyway, what do you want to order?"

"I'd like to have a Royal Hyrule Salad and a small glass with Zora Tea, please," Zelda said.

Link sighed and looked annoyed at Marth. "1 Ordon Fish and a Red Chu Jelly drink, if you would...Marta."

Marth nodded and dotted down both orders. "Okay, I'll be right back with your orders..." He shook his head and gave Link an amused glare for the name. "...Be careful what you call me, Link... You wouldn't want me to be upset with you," he muttered before he walked away.

Link chuckled a bit while Zelda looked bored at him. "I think that was a bit rude of you," she commented.

"Serves him right for the Octorok thing," Link said amused. "I shouldn't have told him that part of my life."

Zelda sighed. "Oh well, I did the same thing with some people as you did..."

"Want to see your father?"

The princess looked annoyed. "No."

Meanwhile, in the baby corral area, a confused Chris watched as Riolu cheerfully played using the same big ball with none other than Baby Mario and Baby Luigi. More surprising to see was the fact that Baby Peach was staring with pure glee at the trio from the ball pool. The World Traveler looked extremely confused as to why they both were there. "W-what? How can they..." He thought for a moment. "Well, their baby versions were inexplicably around even during tourneys..." Chris looked back at the tables. "But...who brought them here?"

Chris spotted Mario, Luigi, and Peach talking and chatting with each other on the eighth table on the wall.

"...Maybe...they brought them here somehow..." Chris muttered before he heard a bell ring. "Oh, I need to respond to the call..." he muttered as he left the baby corral and walked to the seventh table, just besides the one where the three Mushroom Kingdoms residents were. There was probably a small person covering the face since the customer was still looking at the menu that he or she held. "Welcome to the Wonder Restauran-"

The menu was put down, and Chris's eyes widened in shock after he stared at the person's face...

"We meet again," said the little brown Toad girl with blue ribbons on her head and brown pigtails.

"(I-it's her!)" Chris thought in panic. "(I-it's the same freaky Toad girl I met when the village was a city!)"

"Now, shall we resume our talk?" the little girl asked.

"E-er, h-how did you come in here? A-are you alone or what?"

"My parents are in the bathroom," the little brown Toad girl said. "But that doesn't matter. I want to question more stuff and relevancies about the true nature of lif-"

"S-sorry, I need to go to the bathroom as well!" Chris interrupted as he turned around and walked as fast as he could from the freaky girl.

Once Chris got away, he stopped walking in front of the counter where a busy Pikachu was organizing every single order made by every single customer. "I-I'm sorry, but I want someone else to attend table number 7..."

Pikachu, with glasses, adjusted them and looked at Chris. "That's so going to be reduced from your pay."

"H-hey, don't say that!" Chris said annoyed.

Pikachu sighed. "Fine, you lazy dude," he said annoyed. "Marth!"

The prince of Altea came to him. "Yes?" he asked.

"Chris here got scared and he refuses to answer table number 7's order. Would you attend it?"

"H-hey!" Chris said annoyed.

Marth looked confused. "Oh, I see. Well, I'm free so..." He turned around and went over to the seventh table.

The World Traveler shook his head in disbelief at this and looked at the busy Pikachu. "Y-you've made a big mistake, Pikachu..."

"Oh yeah, I should have made a sum about our salary befor-"

"N-not that!" Chris yelled. "I-I meant about the girl I saw before when this place was a city! S-she's here!"

Pikachu looked bored at him. "Chris, you need to let go of those memories now. The city's slowly coming to what it was before, and you're remembering how we lost tragically. I think you need some air."

"...N-no!" Chris said. "Y-you don't understand! T-that girl is probably the freakiest little Toad girl who will you ever meet! I swear she can make the brightest person get some kind of confusion that nobody could ever solve!"

"You seem normal so you must be exaggerating," Pikachu said before Marth returned. "Okay, tell us the order."

Something looked different from the Altean. Chris and Pikachu stared at Marth's blank face. His eyes were staring forward, he stood straight, and he looked like as if he saw a dead parent coming to life before him...or saw a ghost.

"...Marth, hello, I'm asking you to tell us the order," Pikachu said while Chris's jaw dropped.

An awkward silence soon followed when the Altean didn't reply back since his eyes were still staring forward.

"...Marth, I can't read minds."

"...Is everything we see...real?" Marth asked.

"...The hell does that mean?" Pikachu asked confused.

"I began to think that...we're all probably illusions created by our subconscious..." Marth muttered. "Life itself could be a lie...or it could be controlled by a puppeteer who pulls our strings and moves us around...and that puppeteer can make us see anything we want to see...and feel..."

The Electric type shifted eyes with Chris in an uncomfortable fashion. "...Marth, can you speak English or Japanese? Is that some kind of Japanese meaning or what? I can't seem to understand what you're even talking about."

"Let me ask you something," Marth said without even staring at any of them. "How do you know you're alive, Pikachu?"

"I'm breathing oxygen, duh," Pikachu said annoyed.

"But what makes you breath oxygen?" Marth asked. "Your lungs make you inhale oxygen, but what made your lungs?"

"My biological parents did," Pikachu said bored.

"Who made your biological parents?"

"Arceus did, and go to work already! You're starting to make no sense!"

"Maybe life doesn't make any sense..."

"Get out of my sight and attend the customers!"

Marth silently turned around and walked between all the tables. Pikachu looked miffed as Marth walked in a perfectly same manner without any small details. In fact, Marth looked like he was a statue that couldn't stretch anything else than moving.

"N-now you see!" Chris said.

"Of course I see," Pikachu said bored. "He forgot the darn order."

"...W-what?"

"He forgot the order!" Pikachu said. "Chris, sorry, but you'll have to resist whatever stupidity Marth heard and take the order of the customer."

"H-how am I going to resist the girl's philosophies about life? S-since Marth got like this, maybe she has more complicated and brain shattering questions than before!"

"There's no such ridiculous thing like that," Pikachu said. "Now go and attend the girl's order!"

"B-but...what if...I get...er...uh...um...er..."

"Go now before I resort to electrocution!"

Chris gulped and finally turned around to the seventh table way. As Chris was walking to the seventh table to attend the girl, Luigi seemed to be staring at the whole event from the eighth table. With a gulp, Luigi tapped Mario's right shoulder. "D-did you hear anything the girl aside our table said to Marth?" he asked terrified.

Mario looked at Luigi. "Um, no, I didn't... What did she say?"

"V-very scary stuff about life being a...lie..." Luigi shifted his eyes. "...I-is it a lie?"

Mario and Peach exchanged glances.

"...I-is it?"

"Ahem," Popo interrupted as he carried a plate on each hand with pasta and meat that he put on the table. "Here are your Poshley Pasta dishes for Mario and Luigi. I'll go for Peach's Sarasa Deluxe Meat."

Mario looked surprised at the fresh pasta. "That was fast..."

"Believe me, everything's fast here," Popo said. "This place so lives up to his fast-food style." He turned around and walked away to the counter.

Peach looked a bit amazed at the dishes that both Mario and Luigi began to eat with forks. "Um, this restaurant is sure...elegant and very nice in service..."

"A-and very good at making pasta," Luigi commented before he resumed to eat his pasta.

And of course, Luigi didn't want to hear any truths about life at all. He just wanted to relax.

Back at the reception area, Nana seemed to be taking her time to chat with Kat and Ana. All of them were chuckling for some reason. "A-and then the Topi said to the seller that the furred monster on the mirror wasn't a monster but him!" Nana said before all the girls broke out laughing loudly.

"N-nice, v-very nice..." Ana muttered as she shed a tear from her right eye that she wiped off. "I-I told you it was going to be nice to have you work with us."

"See how fun it is?" Kat asked. "We work and have a fun time as well."

"Oh my, why I didn't think of this before..." Nana said with a pleased sigh.

The doorbell of the double doors suddenly rang, signaling the arrival of a new customer.

"I need to get back to work," Nana said. "See you guys later."

"Laters," Kat and Ana said in unison before the pink Ice Climber walked away to the dining room.

Nana cracked her hands a bit in preparation for the next client as she saw the next customer coming in. The pink Ice Climber was surprised to see that the customer, who was nicely greeted by Kat and Ana, looked very young. However, instead of an adult, the customer was in fact a very young girl. This particular little red-haired girl with pigtails was around the same height as Nana, had brown eyes, wore a green apron with a skirt (that had the image of a very familiar leaf emblem printed on the right side corner) and yellow shirt underneath, blue-and-white striped socks, and brown shoes.

Something about the girl didn't make Nana feel so sure since she looked very young. Carefully thinking about receiving her, Nana walked to her in the least suspicious manner possible. "Welcome to the Wonder Restaurant," she said to her. "Do you come with your parents?"

The girl seemed to be looking around rather than listening to Nana, though...

"...Excuse me..." Nana muttered.

The girl smiled a bit as she still kept looking around.

"...AHEM!"

The girl shook her head in surprise and looked in shock at Nana. "O-oh my, I-I'm so sorry for not paying attention!" she said ashamed. "Really, I'm so sorry but I was just admiring the nice look of the restaurant...that's all..."

"Well, admire the people more and then I won't get angry..." Nana muttered bored.

The girl chuckled and bowed a bit to her in apology. "V-very sorry, really..." she said before looking back at Nana. "So...are there any available tables here for me to eat something?"

"Of course we have tabl-" Nana shook her head. "Wait just a minute now," she said bored. "You look awfully young to be alone, don't you think?"

"Am I?" the girl responded confused.

"Duh," Nana said. "You look very young to be around here. Where are your parents? Are you lost or something or what?"

The girl thought for a moment before she chuckled. "Oh no, you don't understand," she said. "My parents aren't here because I live alone."

"..." For a split second, Nana could have sworn Chris was standing in the same place where the girl was standing. "...Did...they leave you?" Nana asked.

"..." The girl tilted her head and shook it. "No... I...decided to start a life on my own...and they agreed..."

Nana narrowed her eyes at the seemingly nervous girl. "(Okay, this whole stuff about this girl is just plain weird. She's barely like...what...9 years old? But then again, Red's 10 years old and he lives his own life in the wild... That sounded pretty twisted... Whatever it is about this girl, though, something is very fishy about her... Who let their children have their own life so soon?)"

"U-um..." The girl looked back at Kat and Nana before looking back at Nana. "Aren't you all...children like me? And...aren't you working here?"

A record scratched in Nana's mind.

Nana stared in surprise at the little girl. "(...Wow...clever...)"

"...So...I think I have a reason since you seem to be like me..."

Nana sighed and dropped her shoulders a bit. "Oh well, you have a very valid point... (Dammit, she outsmarted me...)"

The girl clasped her hands together behind her back and smiled at Nana. "Anyhow, is there an available table? I'd like to eat something in this nice-looking restaurant before I go to the Smash Mansion to deliver a special letter."

Nana nodded. "Yes, we have 9 tables open," she said. "Follow me this wa-"

The pink Ice Climber recalled the girl's words again.

"...Deliver a special letter to the Smash Mansion?" Nana asked.

The girl nodded. "Yes, Mayor Tortimer personally requested me to deliver this mail to the mansion... Well, he was going to tell the mailman to deliver it, but I was around in the Town Hall and I happened to be a bit bored since I had 2 weeks off work so...I asked him if I could deliver the letter myself and I set out this morning to get there..." She looked around a bit before looking worried at Nana. "However, I didn't know where the mansion was... I rode my bike and went anywhere without even knowing the destination...then I think I got lost and ended up in this village..."

"...I...see..." Nana said. "(She's a victim of the random people appearing here just like Stiltzkin...)" She looked at the familiar emblem on the girl's skirt. "(...Wait, that emblem...)"

"But...do you know where is it?" the girl asked. "I really need to deliver the letter before it gets late..."

"...Say, that emblem you have on your skirt..." Nana trailed off.

The girl blinked and looked down at her emblem. "Oh, you mean Nook's Cranny emblem?" She looked at her attire a bit. "This is just a small uniform for Tom Nook's employees. Right now, I'm not wearing any of my dresses."

"That's good, but..." Nana tapped her gloved hand on her forehead, swearing in her mind that she had seen the emblem somewhere else. "Are you...from..."

Then, it hit Nana's mind.

"...Oh yeah!" Nana recalled. "Are you a resident from Animal Village?"

The girl nodded. "That's right, I live there," she said. "Wait, how do you know?"

"I know that because of... Do you know something about a Smashville?"

The girl looked confused. "Smashville... Smashville... Smashville..." she repeated constantly before recalling the name. "Right, I do know about Smashville! It was the town's suggested name!"

"...What?" Nana said confused. "Come to think of it, I thought the name was Smashville... I happened to hear it was Animal Village before..."

The girl shook her head. "No, it's Animal Village," she said. "There were 2 reasons why Mayor Tortimer wanted it to be Animal Village rather than Smashville..."

"What were those reasons?"

"Well, the fact that the town's billboard had enough space for 8 letters, and Smashville has 10 letters..." the girl explained. "...And since Smashville was a suggested name for a person named Master Hand, the supposedly owner of the Smash Mansion...well...thing is...Mayor Tortimer thought the name sounded so barbaric and primitive and offensive and...sort of discriminating..."

"..."

"...I-it's the truth," the girl said. "Even most of the people of Animal Village said it sounded so barbaric...e-even I did..." she said. "N-not only that, but Mayor Tortimer said that the people who were working under Master Hand's command were some persons called Smashers... Mayor Tortimer defined every single one of them as 'barbaric morons who only know how to throw fists and kicks without even caring about disrupting a nice tea time for us spectators' or something along the line..."

Surely, Nana understood the girl's message. However, she got very offended after Nana herself was defined as a barbaric moron who only knew how to throw fists and kicks without even caring about disrupting a nice tea time for the spectators of Animal Village.

Nana wanted to point out she was a Smasher...

"...And Animal Village is an acceptable name that exceeds that 8-title letter limit because..." Nana trailed off annoyed.

The girl chuckled nervously. "T-to be honest, 'Animal' was the only word carved into the billboard...and then, besides it, we put up another billboard with the word 'Village' carved into it..."

"...And the village didn't have a longer billboard because..."

"The wood of the trees aren't long enough...and putting pieces together would make the billboard look decrepit..." the girl pointed out. "...Besides, 'Smashville' was already defined as a barbaric name for the village..."

Nana faked a smile. "Oh, it is a barbaric name because it comes from the barbaric morons who only know how to throw fists and kicks without even caring about disrupting a nice tea time."

"...You...could say that..." the girl said. "...T-thing is I don't know..."

"...Well," Nana began with an amused smile, "please tell that stupid mayor something for me..."

The girl didn't understand why Nana resorted to the small harsh words at all. "...Yes?"

"Tell him that I wanted to tell him that I'm NOT a barbaric moron who throws fists and kicks without even caring about some tea time...and that I use a FREAKING hammer to smack down idiots like him instead of punches or kicks!" Nana yelled.

The girl took a step back and moved her arms close to her chest. "W-why are you looking angry? A-are you...related to the...um...barbaric morons?"

Nana's eyes widened in fury at the seemingly naïve girl. "I AM a barbaric moro-I mean, I AM a Smasher myself!"

The girl studied Nana's uniform for a moment. "...You're...a Smasher?"

"..." Nana looked at her black version of her parka. "This is just a uniform..."

"W-well..." the girl began with a gulp, "I-I don't see why you need to let out your anger towards me... I-I didn't even do anything wrong..."

Nana's quick breaths suddenly came to a halt after realizing she had yelled to an innocent girl who didn't have most to do with the offensive nickname. The pink Ice Climber sighed in shame and looked a bit worried. "Oh my goodness, what was I doing..."

"Y-yelling at me..."

"I know," Nana said. "...But anyway, I'm a Smasher of the Smash Mansion..."

For Nana's look, Toadette had been busy assorting the gained money that she didn't see anything that Nana did to the girl.

"...And...you came to the right place..." Nana added. "...In fact, the mansion is just up north of the big hill... You can't miss it if you go that way..."

The girl shifted her eyes a bit. "...Thank...you...whoever you are?"

"...Nana," Nana said sighing. "I'm Nana of the Ice Climbers..."

The girl sighed in relief and bowed again to Nana. "It's a pleasure to meet a Smasher...I guess... My name is Ai."

"Ai?" Nana repeated. "Ai as in Artificial intelligence?"

"Er...uh...no..." the little girl named Ai said. "It's just Ai..."

"I see..." Nana said. "...Well, nice to meet you too, Ai. Sorry for yelling at you."

"I-I should be sorry for not knowing about you," Ai said with a nervous chuckle. "I-I don't know much about the Smash Mansion, Smashers, or you...t-that's because I recently moved to the village... Even I think there's more to the name Smashville but...I just don't know much..."

The pink Ice Climber understood the girl. "Oh, I see... Well, hopefully you're going to start knowing about us, right?"

"If I take my time, then I guess I can..." Ai said. "I like to meet a lot of people and become friends with them. It's much easier for me to be in a happy mood by having lots of friends."

Nana knew right away that Ai was a very innocent girl. Ai herself made Nana think that the girl from Animal Village was very sincere.

Ai made a happy expression. "That way, living my own life is much more enjoyable, don't you think?"

Who cared if the girl could fend life on her own? Ai looked very sure of herself to Nana. Judging Ai surely was a big mistake for Nana to do.

Perhaps the fact that Nana smiled was a sign of a small bond between the two had just begun.

"You know, it was rude of me to do all those things on you," Nana said. "So you live your own life?"

Ai nodded. "It's a really easy thing to do. You wouldn't believe how easy it is to live in such a peaceful town like Animal Village. At first I thought I wasn't going to make it through, but once I settled down in my home, everything became much clearer than I thought." She smiled happily at Nana. "You should drop by in my house...if you want... You don't look like a barbarian...I-I mean...like one at all..."

Nana rolled her eyes. "It was your mayor's fault, not yours," she said. "I can guess you know we had a...stage there...right?"

"..." Ai looked away. "N-no... I barely arrived at the village some months ago... I heard very little about that detail... I think I'm the only one of the whole village who is clueless about it..."

"Oh, that's okay," Nana said. "If you want, I can take you to the mansion to deliver that letter you're supposed to deliver."

Ai looked at her with a relieved expression. "Would you do that for me, Nana?"

"Sure, I don't mind," Nana said. "That way, your misunderstandings about us aren't going to make you believe we ar-"

"O-of course not!" Ai said. "I can tell there's decency in you so I think there's more decency with the Smashers, right?"

Nana's eyes looked away. "There are just a few who are like that, though..." Her eyes looked back at Ai. "But we're nice people."

Ai looked very pleased. "Maybe I can end up being friends of them?"

"Just stay away from the adults because...here between us..." Nana got closer to Ai's left ear, "they're shady and scary-looking. I'm friends with some of them, but can you make it pass through them?"

Ai thought for a moment. "Does the fact I'm friends with everyone in Animal Village makes it good enough?"

Nana pulled herself back. "Hmm...I guess it's enough... We'll see later, okay?"

"Sure!" Ai said excited. "I can't wait to meet all of them so soon."

"Just meet a few though because it's hard for me to cope well with everyone," Nana said. "Okay, Ai, since I should be back to work, you should find a seat."

Ai nodded and chuckled. "Would you...show me a seat, please? I just came here..."

"Of course," Nana said. "Lead the way. You'll have to act like you didn't know me because Toadette is a bit bossy about us talking with the customers for so long. I had luck she didn't spot me talking with you."

"Don't worry; I can do that just fine," Ai said.

"Good," Nana said as both girls began to walk to the twelfth table. "(You know, she's not half-bad at all. She lives alone by herself because she wanted to, and Chris does share the same trait... Maybe I can make Ai meet Chris... Yes, that'd be a nice move from me. Those 2 could become acquainted in a short time...and maybe even me.)"

Nana looked back at Ai.

"(...Actually, I already did.)"

Ai smiled a bit at Nana as she did the same while they walked to a table.

Some tables away from them, a freaked out Chris was there embracing himself tightly while walking around. Fortunately for him, he managed to withstand the little girl with blue ribbons on her head and brown pigtails' talk, unlike Marth the Zombie who was somehow still dotting down orders with a blank look that made some customers get scared a bit. "L-life...is not a lie..." Chris muttered with a gulp. "I-it's not definitely a lie..."

His scared murmurs were soon interrupted by the sounds of a bell close to him.

Chris closed his eyes and slowly regained his composure. "(Get a hold of yourself, Chris... You need to keep working and forget you ever met that girl...well, that's a hard part...but you need to focus...)" he thought to himself as he turned around to face the customer of the nineteenth table on the southeast corner of the restaurant. Opening his eyes, he bowed at the client. "Okay, welcome to the Wonder Restaurant. May I take your or..."

The World Traveler blinked a bit surprised after he saw his next customer waiting for him to take the order. (Hopefully, it wasn't the girl...)

Out of the different kinds of people of the restaurant, the client would stick out from the whole crowd. The customer was a very elegant, gorgeous-looking woman with a straight face that implied she was insightful. This silver-haired woman wore mostly black: black boots with long black heels that reached her black tight shirt. The woman also wore a long jacket that reached behind her calves. The woman wore also some long earrings and black pearls necklaces around her neck. To combine her long silver hair (that reached her back and chest), she had silver eyes as well.

It was easy for Chris to define the woman to the ranks of Snake since they both wouldn't surely take a step into the universe. However, Snake already did...and so did the woman.

"...Aren't you supposed to finish what you said?" the woman asked.

Being the video game fanatic of the Smashers, Chris had played many games before. The knowledge he had gained from all his games allowed him to recognize the sharp-looking woman very easily. However, it would sound very suspicious of him to address directly the woman's name to her without even having met heard of her of another way than from the usual TV screen of his room.

"...der?" Chris finished.

The woman looked a bit amused at this. "Not literally...but that's okay for me."

"Right..." Chris said before he shook his head. "What would you like to eat?"

The woman didn't have to glance at the menu at all. "I would like to have some tea. I don't care which one you bring me unless it's cold or has a bad taste."

"I-I'm sorry, but you have to specify the order..." Chris said.

"..." The woman glanced at the menu and looked at him. "...Koopa Tea..." she said, somehow not liking how the name of the drink sounded.

"...R-right away, madam," Chris said before turning around to walk to the drink machine. "(But...how? How did she end up here?)"

"Hey."

The serious tone of the woman made Chris stop in his tracks. The waiter World Traveler closed his eyes a bit in preoccupation before he turned around to face her again, his eyes opening once more. "Yes?" he asked, trying to keep his calmest state.

The silver-haired woman looked around, her eyes fixing on the odd-looking people such as Piantas and Nokis. "Normally I wouldn't ask something like this since it's not common, but...is this some kind of village that likes to hold costume festivals?"

The World Traveler stared blankly at the woman's guess and herself. Of course she would ask something like that since she herself came from a world where it could be an almost-perfect replica of Chris's world. Would Chris tell her the truth, though? "W-well...about that..."

"Please don't say more."

Chris gasped a bit in his mind.

The woman closed her eyes and shook her head. "It's clear to see the obvious. You don't need to explain anything to me."

"(...My god...)" Chris thought worried as the woman kept her face from changing. "(D-did she just find out that this is not her world? ...Of course she did... She isn't stupid at all...)"

"I would like to have my tea," the woman interrupted Chris's thoughts.

The World Traveler nodded to her. "Certainly," Chris said before he turned around. However, the waiter had to make some talk with the woman or else it would bother him that she would be walking around the village through the countless amounts of different-looking people. With a gulp, Chris turned back at her. "By the way..."

"Yes?"

It seemed that the woman was still staring at Chris.

"..." Chris closed his eyes before he opened them again and stared at the woman. "My name is Chris, nice to meet you."

The woman raised an eyebrow. "I thought the waiters weren't supposed to have talks with customers."

"I-I know, but...you look...kind of...interesting to me..."

"..."

Chris kept staring at the woman in silence before she leaned her back to the chair and crossed her arms.

"Sorry, boy," she said fairly amused to him. "But I'm going to be frank with you."

The World Traveler's eyes widened in shock at the amusing look that the woman gave to him. Many different thoughts raced through Chris's mind that made him feel very uncomfortable, and one would tell it was all because of the woman he just met a few minutes ago. Sweat began to run down across his forehead, and his eyes began to shake a bit in fear. Just staring at the woman made Chris think he was trapped in a cage where she could use interrogation as no other person would use.

"I don't like to love younger people than me. With that said, you're not my type either."

...And suddenly, Chris's panicked look changed to one which hinted traces of embarrassment.

"...Oh..." Chris muttered in a low tone as he blushed.

"...But I guess it doesn't hurt to say my name to you," the woman continued. "My name is Nozomi Weaver."

At least the World Traveler was able to communicate with the enigmatic woman named Nozomi. "(Nozomi Weaver...)" Chris thought. "(...A special doctor and surgeon known for having a supernatural ability to cure patients in a very unusual way that only a few possess... If I recall, she lost her license as a doctor in Japan but then later got a new license and name by an organization that developed very dangerous man-made diseases and used her to cure their guinea pigs for further tests... Also...she comes from a futuristic era than mine like 10 years in the future... However, I know that isn't her real name at all because that's her fake one...)"

"I'm glad we got to be acquainted," Nozomi said. "Personally, I was getting a bit confused to see such a weird amount of people in here. At least there are people who don't like to dress up in costumes."

Chris sighed in relief. Nozomi surely thought they were all wearing costumes.

"However, most of their costumes seem very realistic..."

Chris looked shocked.

"...But I'm not going to keep talking about people I barely know about," Nozomi said. "I'm sorry for being a bit pushy, but I'd like to have my tea now...Chris."

The waiter snapped out from his shocked look and nodded to her. "V-very well," he said before turning around, wondering many things about the silver-haired woman. "(How did she end up here?)" Chris thought in confusion. "(She was the last person who would stumble into this realm... Well... Snake shouldn't be here yet he is here...so I think I can draw a comparison between him and her...)" He looked forward with a worried look. "(But the fact she comes from an era where that malicious disease exists... It doesn't mean we could be facing that as well...right?)"

Chris made a mental sigh.

"(You're over thinking too much...)" he thought to himself. "(Just try to relax and hope she doesn't get involved in any of our matters because she wouldn't believe it...)"

[DededeCloneChris]

Back at the nineteenth table, the woman interlaced her fingers while putting her elbows on her table. "(What is this place exactly?)" she thought with some curiosity. "(I haven't seen anyone like these people before. To be honest, I haven't seen anything like this at all... Man, what did I just get myself into?)" She looked at a black umbrella and a black briefcase leaning to the wall that she had with her. "(Normal walks through the Royal Park in London during the rain usually don't take you to unknown villages...)"

Her silver eyes narrowed a bit.

"(...Maybe...I could stay here and find out what's going on here... This could prove to be a bit worthwhile...)" she thought interested.

As Nozomi pondered more about the realm she didn't know about, Popo silently walked in front of her and went over to table number fifteen located to the front of the window. The blue Ice Climber had already heard that a bell rang on the same table where a customer was still looking at the menu from the other side of the table. Because of that, Popo didn't see the customer's face. "Welcome to the Wonder Restaurant. What would you like to eat?"

The customer lowered the menu and looked at him. "I would like to eat some Miso Stew only, you..."

Popo's eyes widened, and so did the customer's.

"...YOU!" Popo and the customer muttered loudly so they wouldn't attract the attention.

"What are you doing here?" Popo asked in pure disbelief. "I thought you left with that Raven guy and the others a long time ago!"

From all the people the Smashers had met before, surely the Genius Mage was the most dangerous person to ever take a step into the mansion. Popo had found none other than Rita Mordio in the very same restaurant he was working.

"Y-you again!" Rita said surprised. "Y-you're that weirdo twin with the wacky attitude!"

"And you're that girl with the dangerous magic who almost assassinated Master Hand...and everyone else!" Popo said.

Rita crossed her arms. "What are YOU doing in a place like this? I thought you were supposed to be somewhere else where you wouldn't weird people out!"

"Duh, I work here part-time," Popo said mildly annoyed. "I mean, didn't you see the other guys?"

"Well, how should I know?" Rita asked annoyed. "I didn't know there was this village where the cemetery of wrecked buildings was before." She looked away. "So this place got a renovation?"

"Yeah."

"At least it looks good enough," Rita said before looking back at Popo. "And if you're asking why I'm here, I have a pretty good reason."

"What would that reason be?"

Rita closed her eyes. "We defeated Alexei back at Terca Lumireis," she explained. "After that happened...we're going through a lot to stop another menace but by the time being we're resting now."

Popo stared at her. "And...you came here?"

Rita opened her bored eyes and looked away. "To be honest, I didn't want to come back here again. I just took a walk in a forest to look for some Blastia because I was bored...then I ended up here...again." She looked back at Popo. "I think I can go back to Aspio from where I came from, but well, maybe it's good to see a familiar face...b-but don't even think I haven't forgotten everything I went through in my stance at that mansion with the bunch of weirdoes!" she said annoyed. "I'll have you know that I've become even stronger than before so watch your mouth, okay?!"

"(Geez, she didn't change with that explosive attitude of hers...)" Popo thought bored.

"...Why are you staring at me like that now?" Rita asked upset at the face Popo gave her. "Where's my Miso Stew?"

Popo rolled his eyes. "Right away, my nice client," he said before he walked away to the counter.

Rita's pupils shrunk as a sign of annoyance while she looked up bored at the ceiling. "Why the hell do I have to make such bad impressions to people? Thanks to that, Estelle will never forgive me..." She sighed and stared forward at the rows of tables with people. "Whatever, I'll just relax for the time being...but...better think to listen to Estelle..."

As the Genius Mage waited around a minute for Popo to bring the suspiciously, quickly done stew to her, Nana, having left Ai to eat her bowl with Topi Ice Cream, was struggling on her own by a undecided customer with other people at the fourth table.

"I dunno," Barry said as he scratched his head a bit at the menu. "I can't decide between both the Viridian Rodeo Meat and the Rustboro Omelet."

Lucas (the trainer) slapped his forehead for the fifth time. "Barry, just decide already! You're taking her time away..."

"Oh no, no!" Barry said annoyed as he kept staring at the menu. "You guys already ordered, and I don't wanna be looking at both of you eating while I'm not even eating! I need my food to grow, y'know. Do you want me to eat a napkin?"

"Only you would think about actually doing it, Barry..." muttered Dawn annoyed.

Barry rolled his eyes before looking back at the menu while Nana impatiently tapped her right foot on the floor. "Hello, you need to order now before I go," she reminded Barry. "Decide now or else I'll go."

"You wait right there!" Barry demanded, his eyes still fixed at the menu. "I'm about to decide. Just you wait!"

Nana looked annoyed at him. "I've been waiting here for some 10 minutes now!" she complained before turning around to look at the busy restaurateur behind the counter. "Toadette, this guy just won't pick up an order! Can I leave him?"

"No!" Toadette yelled back as she sorted out the different money currencies they had received from satisfied customers. "You're bound to listen to what they want! Until they tell you what they want, then you can leave!"

"What? That's bias!" Nana yelled.

"Ha-ha, you need to hear me out before you go-o," teased an amused Barry as he kept staring at the menu.

The pink Ice Climber wasn't going to stand up for this for even longer, but she had to listen to Barry or else she wouldn't receive her pay. She'd rather smack his head down, but violence wasn't required in the establishment, much for her dismay.

"Please, forgive him," Dawn whispered at Nana. "He had a very difficult childhood with me..."

"Oh, thank you," Nana said with sarcasm. "I didn't even NOTICE that the first time I saw him."

Lucas smacked down his head on the table. "Please, bear with him a bit more..."

"You guys are just lucky you get to stay at the mansion," Nana said. "Fine, I'll wait here until he decides..."

"Yes, that's right. You're my little slave for the time being," Barry said without making eye contact with a fuming Nana.

While this happened, a shrugging Chris passed close to the zombie Marth as the World Traveler headed to the ninth table to attend a family of three Piantas: a father, a mother, and a daughter. Upon arriving there, Chris greeted them with a smile. "Welcome to the Wonder Restaurant. What would you like to eat?"

The green Pianta, the father of the family, spoke to Chris. "Yes, we would like to order 9 Fungitown Mushroom Pastas, 4 Deku Stews, and 5 Sirena Salads."

Chris dotted down the seemingly big order. "Okay... I'll be right back in a minute," he said.

The World Traveler thought that the order itself was just too much for the whole family to eat. In fact, all the given orders to the waiters had been pretty straight forward by now, but not like the order Chris had taken. It was surely going to take the five chefs of the restaurant some time to prepare all the dishes.

Chris stopped in front of Pikachu and the counter. "This is a big order... 9 Fungitown Mushroom Pastas, 4 Deku Stews, and 5 Sirena Salads!"

Pikachu looked a bit surprised. 'That's sure a big order for a family of 3," he remarked before turning to the window to the kitchen. "9 Fungitown Mushroom Pastas, 4 Deku Stews, and 5 Sirena Salads!" he yelled before turning to Chris. "Well, there you go."

The World Traveler nodded at the order. "I'm going to be attending other people's orders in the meantime...and..."

Were Chris's eyes deceiving him, or did the huge order appear on the window to the kitchen? In fact, plates began to be pushed out from the window at the same pace that they soon filled the whole window. Chris hadn't noticed the fact the window itself was long enough to hold all those dishes together.

"Looks like they're ready," Pikachu said without showing signs of surprise or shock. "Go now."

Chris stared at pure disbelief as Pikachu began to bring all the plates to the counter. Thinking quickly, the World Traveler took as many plates as he could carry to the ninth table. It was pure luck that the ninth table was just close to the counter. Chris had to make several trips back and forth to bring all the plates to the pleased family.

"Thanks!" the little Pianta girl said happily before they all began to eat their plates in silence.

The waiter just couldn't believe that the whole table was occupied by a big amount of dishes. It looked extremely awkward to see that none of the customers had said a complaint about what they ordered and plainly ate all the dishes in perfect peace.

No, it was IMPOSSIBLE to see something like this. Heck, Chris even thought he gave a whole buffet to a family...and they were happy about it? What did just take place in the restaurant?

Shaking his head, Chris began to hear more ringing sounds from the tenth table to the right where a purple Toad waited anxiously for him. Upon arriving, Chris greeted the Toad. "What would you like to eat?" he asked as he prepared his pen and notepad.

"I'd like to have 8 Saffron Fondues, 9 Pagoda Peak Rice Plates, and a Petalburg Soda," said the Toad simply.

Chris carelessly let go of his pen in disbelief after hearing the order. He stared in shock at the small Toad, and a split second at the small stomach of the customer.

"..." The Toad tilted his head confused. "Is something bothering you?"

"E-er..." Chris shook his head and picked up his pen again. Trying not to sound very shocked at the order, he asked the customer with a clever question, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't hear what you ordered... Care to repeat?"

"Oh, of course. I can tell you again."

Chris sighed in relief. His ears were surely a bit sore after hearing so many ringing sounds from the tables' bells. The Toad surely didn't just order...

"8 Saffron Fondues, 9 Pagoda Peak Rice Plates, and a Petalburg Soda."

The World Traveler stared in shock at the Toad. However, Chris reminded himself not to look weird to anyone, and he tried his best not to look shocked at him while Chris, shaking pen in right hand, wrote down the big order from the only Toad. "O-okay, I'll bring them all to you..." he said before turning around and quickly walking as fast as possible to the counter. "U-um...w-we have another big order..." he said to Toadette.

Toadette smiled. "We do?"

"D-do you see that Toad in the tenth table, close by the reception?" he asked before Toadette took a peek of the purple Toad. "H-he just ordered...8 Saffron Fondues, 9 Pagoda Peak Rice Plates, and a Petalburg Soda..."

Surely, Toadette would see this as a strange happening...but for Chris's dismay, Toadette lifted her shoulders a bit and turned to the window to the kitchen. "8 Saffron Fondues, and 9 Pagoda Peak Rice Plates!"

"...What?" Chris just couldn't understand why Toadette didn't even get shocked at the order. Nothing about the whole nonsense make any sense to him for the most part. "Y-you're not..."

And the orders were merely pushed out from the other side of the window, all of them having that fresh aroma of high rate food. Toadette chuckled at this and began to bring every single plate in front of the terrified waiter. "C'mon, show some spirit!" she said once she finished bringing all the plates.

"...B-but..." Chris's lips trembled as he looked down at the line of plates for the lone costumer.

"Once you bring all the plates to the table, give him his soda."

"A-aren't you even thinking this looks odd?" Chris asked.

"Not at all."

The hell did Toadette just respond to Chris?

"Go now! Chop-chop!" Toadette said cheerfully.

"T-this...this is just...just so...but...I..." Chris shook his head continuously before he was forced to bring every single dish to the Toad. It was just entirely impossible that the small Toad would eat everything on sight. Chris even thought the customer was probably Kirby in disguise, but the Toad was surely a normal guy who just wanted to come and eat whatever his little stomach wanted to eat.

Of course, it looked extremely bizarre to think about something like that.

While this happened, a skeptical Popo walked to the counter. "There's a big order from a Noki," he said, "6 Spicy Pasta Dishes, 7 Hot Dogs, and an Herb Tea."

Toadette turned to the window. "6 Spicy Pasta Dishes and 7 Hot Dogs!" she yelled.

And for Popo's surprise, the orders appeared right inside the window's frame.

"What?" he said confused before Toadette began to bring all the plates to the counter. Shaking his head and pondering many times the fast service, the blue Ice Climber shrugged for two seconds and began to bring all the plates to the red Noki he was serving. He later went for the Herb Tea.

The still terrified Marth walked to the counter, and in a monotone voice, he said "8 Lovely Noodle Dishes, 5 Shroom Steaks, and a Veggie Set."

Unlike Popo or Chris, Marth didn't question that all fourteen plates were soon delivered to the window before being taken by Toadette to the counter. With plates on each hand, Marth silently made his way to the eleventh table.

It should be noted he was serving Kirby, who now decided to eat more than before.

Soon enough, the quartet of waiters noticed (with Marth as an exception) that the customers had very crazy orders to give them. Occasionally, they all would deliver extremely hard orders to any customer that would range from almost everything in the long menu. It became really impossible to think that many people had the guts to challenge themselves by eating huge amounts of dishes. What was more terrifying to see was the fact that, to further add the craziness of the orders, the customers had actually eaten everything on the table.

It just didn't make any sense for the waiters. How could normal people like Toads, Nokis, Piantas, Yoshis (although they could be a bit understood from this), Monty Moles eat so much? Nana wondered if they asked Kirby to have his bottomless stomach.

It was scary to see that a little Toad was eating ten whole Fried Shroom Plates. Chris saw horrified the tower of roasted mushrooms that the little Toad was eating in complete peace. Hell, the plate itself over passed the little Toad's height. Without being noticed, Chris walked close and overheard the mother and the child saying something, the kid apparently wanting to order a Honey Shroom.

"Not until you finish your 10 Fried Shroom Plates! You need to grow strong, honey."

Bizarre, it was bizarrely bizarre to hear such an easy yet twisted sentence to a little child.

For Chris's dismay, there was another order from the eighteenth table; a very crazy order as he had expected: Nine Dyllis Lunches and seven Ink Pasta Dishes.

And the World Traveler, once having said the order to a busy Toadette, slammed down his head hard on the counter.  "N-no more..." Chris pleaded. "I-I can barely believe that they like to eat here so much..."

Toadette turned around, ignoring the tired butler. "Next order's coming up!"

"A-are you even listening to me?" Chris asked annoyed before he saw plates being taken around his head.

"9 Dyllis Lunches and 7 Ink Pasta Dishes!" Toadette yelled with enthusiasm.

While Chris wished to die a silent death for the whole nonsense, Nana passed behind him holding a Mango Juice for a blue Yoshi. The pink Ice Climber thought by herself that she needed seriously a break (since she had already delivered six Mushroom Crepes and eight Mushroom Delicacies). "Insane," she muttered under her breath as she gave the juice to the happy Yoshi. "This is just insane," she said with more emphasis.

She noticed Marth passing behind her. As always, the only words beside the greeting words of the restaurant that Marth said were "I'm breathing...but am I real?"

Nana thought he was a lost cause now. Poor prince shouldn't have met the little girl from before.

Was there anyone in the whole establishment who would have liked to order something more believable and less threatening to the common stomach? The waiters wanted to wait for such a person to order few plates. Sadly, this never took place, much for their dismay.

The only ones that didn't even think about ordering huge amounts of dishes were the people that the Smashers either met or knew well. Ai could barely believe the Monty Mole family behind her was eating around twenty different plates. Rita just looked fairly disgusted at the group of three Yoshis behind her eating eighteen bowls of stew. And Nozomi...didn't care much about the whole scene whatsoever.

Chris was called by Olimar to the first table. Sighing in relief, Chris smiled at Olimar. "Oh, Olimar, are you here to eat?"

Olimar shook his head. "No, I'm here because I'm inviting my friends to eat here."

"What friends are those?"

Olimar pointed at the Red, Blue, Yellow, Purple, and White Pikmins spread across the table, all of them sitting on their own chairs.

The World Traveler blinked shocked to see that each Pikmin was holding their menu. It was more shocking to see that they set the menus down and looked at him, producing silence.

"...Can they even eat?" Chris asked.

"Of course they do," Olimar said.

"...Well, I didn't hear them saying what they wanted..."

"Oh, I can understand them very well," Olimar said. "They said they would like to eat 18 Fruity Hamburgers, 20 Heavy Meals, 15 Omelet Plates, and 7 jars of Sap Syrup please."

"..." That was it. It was by far the biggest order Chris had ever received, and from Olimar's Pikmins no less... "T-they want to eat ALL that? T-they don't have mouths except for the Blue Pikmin!"

"Yes," Olimar said in simplicity. "My Pikmins like to eat a lot. At first, when they sucked biggest pools of flower nectars, I got shocked, but then I got used to their big appetite."

"(B-but that's a big order still!)" Chris thought.

"Would you bring them here what they want?" Olimar asked as he showed Chris a credit card. "I have my own money account. Good thing I retrieved enough materials in my adventures to get lots of Pokos."

The World Traveler was afraid of this, but he turned around and decided to take on the order by himself.

"Hey, you only brought 9 Town Specials and I wanted 10!" complained a Goomba in the second table to Popo. "I'm not eating this!"

"W-wait, I just forgot 1 of them!" Popo said in his defense before the Goomba hopped down his chair and walked away through the corridor. Popo looked at the table with around nineteen dishes. "Who's going to eat all that now?"

"Waitress!"

Nana stopped walking around on her tracks. The pink Ice Climber just had enough about the whole thing since she had served around two hundred plates, and it was amazing to see that they didn't run out of ingredients yet. But she just had to attend the order either way. Her temper was surely going to explode in any moment now, and her pen was surely about to break in half.

Sighing loudly, she turned to the tenth table with a single Boo. "What would you like to eat?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"I would like to eat 1 Block Meal."

Music stops

At last, Nana heard a very easy order after two hours had passed. It was the hugest relief she had gotten through the entire day, and she was going to thank god for giving her what she wanted so much to hear from a normal costumer. Smiling relieved, she dotted down the order on her notepad. "Okay, sir, I'll be right bac-"

"I'm not done yet! I want 25 Koopa Dumplings as well!"

And after so much previous pressure, Nana's pen finally snapped in half.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

The pink Ice Climber's yell echoed through the whole establishment. Everyone in there suddenly stopped eating in peace and looked a bit surprised at the fuming Ice Climber. This yell also caused Marth to snap out from his state and look around in confusion of the whole scene.

"I HAD IT with this place!" Nana yelled loudly.

But then, a bell of another table rang a few times.

"SHUT IT!" Nana yelled without facing the customer before she began his way to the counter.

Meanwhile, on the table Nana had ignored, Falco crossed his arms and grumbled angrily to himself, wondering why he was yelled by her by no reason at all.

Back with Nana, the pink Ice Climber stopped her angry stomps in front of the counter where, from the seat, a bored Toadette looked down at her. "I'm sorry to be this rude, but it's already enough!" Nana complained to Toadette while Kat and Ana left their places and went to the dining area. "It's hard for me to believe that everyone here can eat a whole buffet by themselves that I'm just SICK of it!"

"Y-yes!" Chris joined in as he appeared behind Nana. "S-she's very right in that! I can't barely believe that the orders come out so fast just right after we said them to you!"

Popo walked close to them. "It's crazy! I've served at least 300 dishes today!"

"You guys know what I've been doing these last hours?" asked a confused Marth as he walked to them. "I remember talking with a little girl before everything went so blurry..."

Nobody paid any attention to Marth at all.

Toadette just shifted her eyes around to see a multitude of customers staring at the whole commotion from their tables. The pink Toad glanced around to see that all eyes were focused on the waiters and her. Toadette only sighed silently and looked at Pikachu. "Okay, I guess we shouldn't hide our staff what we have in the kitchen."

Pikachu nodded. "It seems so."

Chris blinked a few times at this. "Wait, Pikachu, you know what's been happening this whole time?"

"And you didn't tell us before?" Nana asked annoyed.

"Rules of the special rank of staff like me," Pikachu said. "I know much more than any of you do."

"Yeah," Toadette said. "He's allowed to go into the kitchen when you work. He does all the checkups and whatnot to keep everything in order. He's my right-hand mouse of the sorts."

"...Okay, I had it now," Nana said annoyed as Kat and Ana joined them. "Tell us what the hell makes the orders so darn fast before I resign!"

Toadette sighed. "You're just not going to let this go like that for some more, huh?"

"I-I'm sorry, but this is so unbelievable!" Chris said.

"...Okay, follow me," she said as she hopped down her seat and went to the door. After recalling that all the customers were staring at them, the restaurateur turned around and smiled. "Move along, people. There's absolutely nothing to see here! Please do keep enjoying our service here at the Wonder Restaurant more!"

The customers looked at each other before they all slowly returned to eat in silence while chatting in peace.

Toadette looked at her staff. "Whatever you see in here...you shouldn't tell it to anyone else...okay?" She grabbed the doorknob and slowly opened the door to the kitchen.

"Why shouldn't we tell this to anyone?" Marth asked.

When Toadette opened the door, they all began to walk inside to the kitchen. Once inside, they found many ovens on the front wall, long tables with a wide assortment of ingredients to the left wall, and dish washers located to the right wall. Inside, Tayce, Zess, Saffron, and Dyllis were all cooking different sorts of food in a seemingly normal pace, some of them cutting vegetables and meat while some were cooking stews on big bowls over the ovens.

Zess turned her face at them. "Can't you Meddling Interrupt-a-lot leave us alone to cook or what?" she asked angrily.

"Sorry, but they wanted to meet the head chef," Toadette said. "Where's the guy?"

Tayce turned around and pointed at a door to the right side of the ovens. "He's getting some frozen meats to replenish the shortage of meat for the Shroom Steaks."

Right in an instant, said door opened quickly, and a cheerful man walked out from it, holding a big meat with ribs that he held with both arms. The man himself had a chef hat, wore green trousers, long-sleeved white shirt, brown boots, and a long red cape around and behind his neck.

"There you are!" Toadette said.

The man looked at the group and smiled happily at them. "Hey there!" he said enthusiastically.

None of the staff knew the man at all...but Chris did. The World Traveler couldn't forget the face of the mysterious chef who appeared before him and some others a long time ago. Pointing a finger at him, Chris said "I-it's the Wonder Chef!"

The staff looked confused at him. "The...Wonder Chef?" Popo said confused.

"Y-yes, he's the guy who taught me how to make Curry during the Festival of Sports!" he said. "H-he was posing as a poster of Raine when we were resting in our room..."

"Ahh, I remember you!" the Wonder Chef said with a wide grin at Chris. "You're the same fellow I taught the Curry recipe! Have you been making recipes?"

"N-not that much, but... F-forget it, okay? You work here of all places?" Chris asked. "I thought you were in a journey of discovery or something like that..."

"Oh, that's because I decided to stay here and learn more about these new recipes I've found recently," the Wonder Chef explained. "I haven't seen such wonderful and tasty dishes before!"

"What dishes are you talking about?"

"Dyllis Breakfasts, Fried Shroom Plates, Shroom Steaks, Spit Roasts, Sap Syrups, Gingerbread Houses, Koopa Tea, everything these wonderful chefs know!" the Wonder Chef said in excitement. "I just had to stay here and learn more!"

"Wonderful chefs..." Zess muttered bored. "Flattering isn't gonna take you anywhere with me, Mr. Chef-who-dreams-a-lot-of-crazy-dreams."

"And they've got such wonderful personalities as well!" the Wonder Chef said in excitement. "This just makes me even more excited!"

"Oh dear, he's such a handful when he gets like this..." Tayce muttered.

"I know, sugar," Saffron said. "He's the happiest guy I've ever met before."

Nana looked bored at the Wonder Chef. "So...are you the one who prepares those dishes inhumanly fast or what?"

"O-oh, right," Chris said as he took out a notepad from his pocket. "I have a huge order of 18 Fruity Hamburgers, 20 Heavy Meals, and 15 Omelet Plates..."

Nana turned to him. "Chris, we're interrogating this weirdo and you're asking him to make that impossible huge order?"

"Right-o!" the Wonder Chef said excited.

The Smashers looked back at the hyperactive chef starting to run over the entire place at some unbelievable speeds. It was completely surprising to see that the chef himself was able to make every single plate he was asked to do that he nicely put on the window. Everyone but Pikachu, Toadette, and the chefs looked shocked to see the available ovens and frying pans frying meat for hamburgers, fried eggs, and whatever the Heavy Meals were being made at a span of five seconds each. Soon enough, the window was filled with forty-seven plates.

"All done!" the Wonder Chef said.

"...Did he just...cook at the speed of light or what?" Nana asked in disbelief.

"I-I think he even surpassed Sonic's speed..." Chris muttered. "I-I didn't see him standing in front of an oven for 4 seconds at all..."

"Chris, I think it's an overstatement to say this guy surpassed Sonic's speed," Marth said. "...He mimicked it through his own way..."

The Wonder Chef smiled happily. "Well, we should deliver the dishes before they get cold!"

"H-how can you say that?" Ana asked. "Y-you just cooked all these dishes that fast!"

"I don't see why we should be making the clients wait for their orders," the Wonder Chef said. "They could get hungry."

Toadette looked happy. "Isn't this guy something? He was my main inspiration for opening the Wonder Restaurant."

Kat thought for a moment. "Wonder Restaurant...the Wonder Chef..."

"...Oh, I see a pattern here..." Ana muttered.

Pikachu sighed and looked at his waiters. "Just to let you know something. I got the same look with him as you did. But once you make trips to the kitchen, you get used to him."

"B-but...this is all just...insane..." Chris trailed off. "H-he can cook at that speed? I-I mean, how does he do that?"

The Wonder Chef smiled happily with a chuckle. "That is a secret only known for the Wonder Chefs!" he said. "A chef never reveals his secret ingredients to anyone."

"I thought it was a magician never revealing the secrets behind magic," Popo said.

"There are many sayings for the Wonder Chefs that you probably will never see," the chef said. "Sorry, but I just can't tell you that!"

Nana looked defeated. "So all this time, this guy has been making all the plates by himself?"

"Yep," Toadette said. "He's not the Wonder Chef for nothing."

"Then what do the other chefs do?" Marth asked.

Saffron giggled a bit. "We teach him how to make our special recipes."

"This schnitzel is such a handful," Dyllis complained. "He will go on und on about this und that dish und that other recipe und this different ingredient!"

Chris thought for a moment. "...But if the chef learns all the recipes...wouldn't you be resigned?"

"Actually, the Wonder Chef and I made a contract," Toadette said. "He said he wanted to stay here for a time because he's in that journey of his to discover new recipes. I eventually came with an agreement with him, and he will leave this place like in a week."

"Until then, it's all fun and merriment for me," the Wonder Chef said with a pleased grin. "I'm telling you that this is the best day of my life!"

"...Wow," Kat commented. "...Nice story..."

"...B-but wait a minute!" Chris suddenly said. "I-I can understand all this, b-but how can the people out there eat so much?"

"That..." the Wonder chef trailed off, "...is...a secret."

"...Are you kidding us?" Nana asked. "There should be a reason why everyone eats so much! We didn't come AND suffered the entire day to come here and hear that it's a secret you don't want to tell!"

"Maybe they like the food so much," the Wonder Chef said. "They ignore more than they can chew, apparently."

"T-that doesn't make any sense and neither does you!"

"Oh well, you'll understand the true nature behind all this very soon," the Wonder Chef said with a wink. "If you don't understand it, I pity you for not having a good appetite."

"That's because we have common sense," Nana said annoyed.

"Good! I'm glad you're starting to grasp the magic of restaurants and dishes!" the Wonder Chef said. "Let's all get working again!"

Toadette folded her arms behind her back. "Well, you heard the guy. Everyone go back to your posts!"

Ana looked back and forth between the chef and Toadette. "A-are you saying we should just shrug this off now?" she asked.

"Of course, it's not like we have to keep the customers waiting even longer," she explained. "Besides, you all know everything you needed to know. You seem to understand everything as well."

"To the contrary, we can't just grasp any of this at all!" Nana complained.

Toadette sighed and frowned. "Let's just go back to work already! It's already late afternoon and we have to close the place at 8 PM!"

The staff exchanged looks with each other before they all sighed in unison and decided to go back to work, leaving the five chefs working with the dishes. The Wonder Chef put his hands on his hips and chuckled. "Alright, my ladies, let's do our best to make some dishes! C'mon, get yourselves together and simmer those steaks with grace and delicacy!"

Zess sighed. "My god, Mr. Happy Happiest can't just keep himself quiet for 8 seconds..."

"That fraun vill taste very spicy curry very soon," Dyllis muttered with a grunt. "It vill taste as if vas lava itself!"

"Sugars, let's just keep making dishes..." Saffron muttered.

"This is sure going to be such a long day..." Tayce muttered.

And so, the day went on...

After having to serve around nine hundred dishes in a single day, the restaurant said farewell to a small family of Shy Guys. Once the doors closed, the whole staff reunited to the long counter of the dining area to receive some news from Toadette, some of the Smashers (all of them wearing their usual attires that they put in some bags) already tired as they sat around a table (with Chris having Riolu sitting on his lap).

"Seriously, what happened to me?" Marth asked to the others. "I can't seem to recall anything for some hours..."

"Marth...you seriously don't want to know..." Chris said.

Toadette looked around at the staff before she giggled a bit. "Okay, everyone's here. I'm happy to say that we made big winnings during the first day of the Wonder Restaurant. I thank all of you for your hard work and indomitable spirit for attending all the customers with respect and courtesy."

"At least be glad my hands went through the whole ordeal..." Chris said as he felt a small surge of pain in his gloved hands.

"Riii..." Riolu said worried to him.

"It's not your fault, Riolu. We already said why..."

"I have to say that the experience was worthwhile," Kat said. "This definitely makes up for the lack of work we have for Wario's absence."

"I just can't wait to continue working some more tomorrow," the Wonder Chef said before turning to the Smashers. "And for your hard work through effort, I will teach you how to make Quiche!"

Marth looked confused at him. "You're going to teach us how to make Quiche right now?"

"It'll be quick," the Wonder Chef said before raising his big fork to the air. "By the delicacies of the frying pans, I am letting these chefs-to-be the necessary knowledge to make Quiche!"

Everyone stared at him in complete confusion.

"...I'm sorry, sugar, but what are you doing?" Saffron asked.

The Wonder Chef grinned to himself and lowered down his fork. "I already did it."

The Smashers looked at each other after they felt that something in all of them just...became learned. "...Guys...don't you feel like you suddenly know how to make Quiche?"

"A-actually, that's what I was feeling..." Pikachu admitted.

Nana looked defeated and slammed down her face on the table. "This place...doesn't make any sense...I swear..."

Marth, Popo, Nana, Pikachu, Riolu, and Chris have learned how to make Quiche!

Zess rolled her eyes. "And here I thought he couldn't get any weirder than he is now..."

The Wonder Chef chuckled to himself. "Please do drop by here again to please your stomachs. Food is always important for your health."

"Thank you for the childish advice," Toadette said (showing some signs that she was starting to get annoyed by the chef's attitude). "Oh, you guys, I have some news to say to you. Today's the last day you're going to work here."

"What?" Popo said confused. "You mean you found full-time waiters?"

"Yep, and I helped," Pikachu said. "As you all worked, Toadette and I made many calls to potential waiters until we found some."

Toadette made a happy expression. "Thank you SO much for helping me to achieve one of my biggest dreams I've ever had before! Really, I'm so happy that you decided to give me your hands and work here!" She ducked behind the counter to bring a bag to the counter. "I'd like you to have your pay."

Marth got up from his seat and walked to the counter to see the contents of the bag. A shining light radiated from the inside as Marth looked surprised at the inside of the bag. "Wow...you're giving us these?" he asked as he brought out from the bag five Gold Bars that made the Smashers stare at them in surprise.

"Of course, we made lots of money on the first day," Toadette said. "Thanks to your work, we became a little bit too much rich...and so you got the 15 percent of our winnings."

"Riiiiii..." Riolu wagged his tail in excitement as he stared at the Gold Bars on the counter.

Kat and Ana took out Gold Bars each one of them. "This place DOES pay you," Ana said. "This is not like Wario's work at all."

Kat smiled pleased. "If we keep working, we're going to become rich in no time."

Toadette nodded at the Smashers. "You guys can redeem these bars by big amounts of money. Sell it anywhere and you're probably going to get thousands and thousands of coins."

Marth brought the Gold Bars to the Smashers' table, all of them staring surprised at the bars. "Can anybody say shopping spree?" Pikachu asked.

"Can anybody say villa?" Nana asked.

"Wait, we shouldn't jump to conclusions yet," Marth said. "We should think first about to do to spend them into something more beneficial."

Pikachu thought for a moment. "Maybe...we could sell these to Master Hand to get some abilities for us."

"I second that!" Popo said. "Let's sell these for Smash Coins!"

"That's a plan," Marth said.

The Smashers looked back to the counter where the four female chefs walked to them. They were all holding different dishes on their hands. "We shouldn't just let you leave with money alone," Tayce said. "Please, have these."

Tayce was holding what looked to be a blue spiral: the Dizzy Dial (an item capable of dizzying all enemies).

"Here you go!" Zess said as she gave them a blue snowflake: the Ice Storm (an item capable to attack all enemies and freeze them). "Don't go wasting this, okay?"

Saffron giggled as she gave them a plate with a transparent block (with an orange piece): the Block Meal (an item capable of making the user invisible, therefore making the user invincible for a time). "Please, do enjoy this, sugars," she said.

"Heh," Dyllis, instead of all the chefs, gave the Smashers what looked to be a recipe. "Here! It's vun of my recipes!"

The Smashers stared at the items. "Why are you all giving us these?" Chris asked.

"You deserve them," Tayce said. "You were very good when you were working. The girls and I wanted to give you these gifts for your hard work."

"Tayce sugar here proposed this," Saffron said.

"And we should better give you something or else you'd think badly of us," Zess said.

"So don't vaste anything, you heard, Schnitzels?" Dyllis asked. "Don't lose my recipe!"

Popo took the small note and looked at it. "What is this? Hmm... Mega Mushroom Recipe?"

"Yes," Dyllis said. "That'd be vun important recipe for you, Frauns. You show try to do that and you'll have nice item!"

"A recipe for making a Mega Mushroom?" Marth asked. "Hmm...this could be useful..."

"I guess," Pikachu said as he stared at the recipe.

Obtained Mega Mushroom Recipe!

A special recipe to make Mega Mushrooms. You should show this to somebody who would like to make this in masses.

Nana sighed in relief. "Well, thanks for everything... I guess this means we completed the side-quest at last..."

"Wanted: Waiters" Side-quest completed!

Obtained Gold Bar x5, Dizzy Dial, Ice Storm, Block Meal, and Mega Mushroom Recipe!

"Really, I'm so thankful for you all," Toadette said. "Please do come back some of these days to enjoy the food here."

"And if we can, we could cook you some dishes," Tayce said. "If you bring us some ingredients, we'll cook them for you. It won't cost anything so don't worry about it."

"Bring you some ingredients to cook?" Nana said.

"Yes, sugars. We like to cook a lot," Saffron said. "We can cook you anything unless you don't bring ingredients."

"You guys are lucky that we're doing this for you," Zess said. "You better be thankful of this, okay?"

"Till then, you EAT, and you VILL like it!" Dyllis said. "Nothing gets wasted here!"

"Except of course if the dish turns out to be a Mistake..." Tayce muttered.

"Great!" the Wonder Chef exclaimed. "I can't wait to cook some more for you! I feel like we're going to have a good time by talking about the wonderful world of cuisine!"

The Smashers were starting to get freaked out by the Wonder Chef's attitude. "Yeeaaaaaaaaah... We better leave now," Pikachu said.

"As a free gift, I'll let you take the uniforms if you ever want to come here again," Toadette said. "Remember that this place is always going to be open for you to eat."

"Thank you," Marth said. "We appreciate this."

"(Though I'm not going to wear this for even longer...)" Chris thought.

As all of them got up from their seats, Nana went to hug both Kat and Ana. "I'll come here, don't worry," she said to them.

"Thanks," Kat said. "This is surely going to be very worthwhile."

"I know," Ana said. "This place will be always open for you."

"Thank you," Nana said before the Smashers started to head for the exit. "See you later."

The staff of the restaurant waved their hands together before the Smashers left through the door.

"It still bothers me that the people here eat so much..." Chris muttered.

"I wouldn't be surprised if the Wonder Chef had something to do with it," Nana whispered. "He surely did something..."

"Maybe his presence makes everyone starve," Popo whispered.

"...Knowing the guy's wierd power...that's a big possibility..."

Sidewalks

Once they all walked out, they found the sidewalks almost empty as some people walked around. Upon seeing that there were people in the village, Pikachu sighed in relief. "It's good to see that this place is getting more people."

"I know," Marth said. "It's about time that this happened."

Looking to the left, Chris found Sonic (in his werehog form) walking to them. "Oh, there you are, Sonic," Chris said.

"Hey," Sonic began with his gruff voice, inspecting the clothes they were all carrying in the bags that some of them carried, "you guys work for restaurants or what?"

"We worked for this one for just today," Popo said. "Where were you?"

"Checking out the Mazuri temple," Sonic said. "I came running all the way here before I could turn into werehog again. You guys know that between the village and the temple there's a big field of grass, right?"

"No, we didn't know..." Chris said.

"Well, there's this big open field back there," Sonic said. "And man, do I feel good for running a few times there..."

"Are you heading for the mansion?" Nana asked.

"Yeah, and I'm here so Chris stops Mr. Dark Shadow of Evil."

At that very same moment, DSS came out from Sonic's back and desperately tried to leap at Chris without having any success at all. "THERE YOU ARE, SON OF A MOTHERF(BEEP)R, MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Riolu got a bit frightened by the spirit that he cowered in fear. Chris rolled his eyes annoyed before he changed to his Beastmaster job and whipped Sonic's forehead hard, forcing the dark shadow to retreat into Sonic's back. "For the gods, when is this going to stop?" Chris asked annoyed, Riolu sighing in relief.

"It'll stop until I freaking die or when we hire an expert exorcist to take him out," Sonic said annoyed. "Well, let's go to the mansion. Chip surely went there by now."

The Smashers decided to call it a night for the time being.

Lucario's Room

Time passed, and Chris and Riolu were already sleeping deeply. However, as Chris moved himself a bit under the blankets, the Emanation Pokémon slowly opened his eyes. It looked like he woke up by accident because of his trainer moving a bit. Before Riolu could go back to sleep, he looked at the drawing of the fighting Lucario. "...Riiiiiii..." Riolu muttered as he stared at the drawing.

The small mutter made Chris grumble. Riolu turned around to see his trainer opening his eyes a bit. "...Riolu...go back to sleep..." he muttered.

Riolu blinked a few times. "...U-um...Chris..."

Since Riolu only liked to say small syllables instead of full sentences, the World Traveler decided to hear Riolu. "Yes?"

Riolu looked away for a moment. "...Um...well...can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"...What is...the Subspace Army?"

The beastmaster looked confused at him. "What is it? Didn't I tell you before?"

Riolu shook his head. "N-no, you didn't... I'm asking that because I'm confused..." he said. "I heard that a few times from Ness and the others...but I didn't ask what it was..." He looked back at his trainer. "Can you tell me, please?"

"..." Chris smiled a bit. "Well, of course," he said. "Listen well to this."

Riolu made a happy expression and wagged his tail a bit.

[DededeCloneChris]

"The Subspace Army is a bunch of bad guys who are trying to take over the worlds," Chris explained. "They're the ones who keep all of us busy."

"All of us?"

"Yes," Chris said. "Thanks to the army, we always go to different worlds to stop them from taking them over."

"Do...we fight?"

"Yes..." Chris said. "We fight against them to stop them..."

Riolu looked worried. "And...we don't have any other way to stop them?"

"Sadly...no," Chris said. "Personally, I'd like to stop the fighting...but it's impossible to stop it because words aren't enough to stop the army..."

Riolu thought for a moment. "Um...do you...get hurt...Chris?"

"Well...yes, I get hurt in all the battles..." Chris said. "That's the worst part of any fights I take on..."

Riolu looked worried. "W-why do you have to fight if you don't like to get hurt?"

"That's because...well...I'm supposed to be the World Traveler..."

"The World Traveler?"

"Yes, that's a nickname I got," Chris said. "I'm supposed to be the one to protect the worlds from being attacked... It's my job to take care of every single world I go to and there are no exceptions for that..."

"So...when you go to a world...is your job to save it?"

"...I think so...yes," Chris said. "Because I'm the World Traveler, I'm supposed to be saving all the worlds I go to from their menaces... Well, everyone else is a World Traveler, but I think I should reserve that title for me because I need to have a title... But...now that I think about it, I always help those worlds in need...and all of them have conflicts that have to stop..."

"Do you like to go anywhere?"

"Well...yes," Chris said. "If I can, I take advantage of the situation to enjoy the worlds with everyone else."

Riolu shook a bit. "A-and do you still get hurt, Chris?"

"You already said asked that...but yes..." Chris looked confused at Riolu. "Why are you so worried about me getting hurt?"

"I-I just... I-I just don't want to lose you..."

Chris stared at Riolu's frightened look.

"I-I don't want you to...go away forever from me..." Riolu muttered. "A-and if you get hurt...y-you could leave me all alone..." Riolu sniffed a bit. "I-I don't want to lose you like that... I-I just don't want to see you...go away..."

Chris gasped as he saw Riolu starting to shed some tears. The World Traveler put a hand on Riolu's head and rubbed it. "P-please, don't cry either! I-I'll never leave you alone, Riolu!"

Riolu rubbed his eyes a bit and looked at Chris. "Y-you will never leave me alone?"

"I-I wouldn't do such a thing," Chris said. "I really like you because you're my starter Pokémon...and besides the fact I like to have you..."

Riolu sniffed a bit before he forced a small smile. "You're not going to leave me alone?"

"If I did that, I wouldn't be worthy to be called a trainer..." Chris said. "Besides, you're my favorite Pokémon as well..."

Riolu made a happy expression and chuckled to himself. "You like me?"

"I like you as a friend and my Pokémon," Chris said. "I need to take care of you so you can grow strong."

Riolu's happy expression faded as he looked down. "...Grow...strong?" he said confused. "...Can I grow strong?"

"Well, yes, you can," Chris said. "If you do grow strong, you could evolve into Lucario..."

Riolu looked back at him. "Lu...ca...rio?" he said slowly. "What is a Lucario?"

"You...don't know what a Lucario is or looks like?" Chris asked.

Riolu recalled the drawing behind him. The Emanation Pokémon turned around and stared at the drawing of Lucario. "Is...that a Lucario?"

"O-oh, yes," Chris said embarrassed. "I-I made that drawing when I was bored..."

Riolu inspected the drawing closer. He examined the Lucario from bottom to top and from top to bottom. "...He...looks...so cool...and strong..."

"Well...I think Lucarios are very strong..." Chris said. "Ever since I got you, Lucarios have been my favorite Pokémon ever, along with Riolus."

Riolu turned to him. "You like both?"

Chris smiled a bit. "I really enjoy having you or a Lucario. If I can do it, I'd make a hobby and train Riolus and Lucarios alike in some place in this world."

"Train?"

"Yes," Chris said. "Riolus and Lucarios are so obedient. I...personally think that Riolus are very cute and Lucarios are the strongest Pokémon ever..."

"Oh," Riolu said before he looked happy. "Am I...your best Riolu?"

"Of course," Chris said. "Nobody will ever take your place as my best Pokémon of my one-man team."

Riolu thought for a moment. "Can I...evolve to a Lucario?"

"Yes, you can," Chris said. "If you train with me, you'll surely become a Lucario right away. I mean, you can evolve based on how close you are to me..."

Riolu looked back at the drawing before turning back to Chris. "Lucarios...are very strong?"

"Yes, they are...but...are you thinking in turning into one soon?"

"If I evolve into a Lucario...would I be strong enough to...u-um..." Riolu flushed a bit, "...protect you from danger?"

The World Traveler stared at the shy look of his Riolu. "...Well...you're one very special Riolu...and if you did evolve...you could do a whole lot of stuff because...you would be very unique..."

Riolu looked worried. "And...would I be very brave?"

"...Yes, when you evolve, your attitude changes, but you don't forget the most important things..."

The Emanation Pokémon stared at his trainer while Riolu thought about his ideas of becoming a Lucario. Riolu thought that being a Lucario would let him protect Chris from harm and danger alike. "...If I evolve...would I make you feel proud of me?"

"...Yes," Chris said. "I'd be very proud to have you as a strong Lucario..."

Riolu looked happy. "I want to become a Lucario to make you proud of me!" he said happily. "I want to be strong enough to protect you!"

Chris got a bit surprised at this reaction. "B-but wait, you're just coming with fast conclusions, Riolu! Don't you want to think before doing that?"

Riolu thought for a moment. "Hmm...do you know how am I going to look like?"

"Well..." Chris began as he sat on his bed and grabbed Riolu by his sides, "let me show you," he said as he stood on the floor while holding Riolu at his neck's level. "You're going to be this big. This is the usual height Lucarios have."

Riolu looked around. "...No!"

"W-what is it?"

Riolu looked upset. "I'm so small! I don't want to be so small!"

"B-but this is the height Lucarios have..."

"No!" Riolu complained. "I want to be bigger!"

"...Well..." Chris moved Riolu to his chin's level, "what about this?"

"I'm still small!" Riolu complained.

Chris moved Riolu to his face's level. "Okay, now you have the same height I have. Happy?"

"..." Riolu looked around. "...No!"

The World Traveler looked confused at this reaction before he moved Riolu a bit over his head's level. "Okay...that height is a bit high because I would reach part of your snout..."

Riolu looked down at the height he was. "...Yes!" he said happily. "I want to be so big!"

Chris moved his happy Riolu down. "But tell me something. Why do you want to be so big? (I have to make sure I don't tell him he's going to be that big or else I'd spoil his fun time...) Is there some reason?"

Riolu stared at him. "...I...want to be bigger than you so you can hide behind me from getting hurt by others..."

Chris's eyes widened a bit at this.

Riolu made a happy expression. "I want to be so big and strong! If I'm big, you can hide behind me, and if I'm so strong, those bad people are going to run away from me so you can stay safe!"

"R-Riolu..." Chris muttered.

"I want to be a Lucario like that!" Riolu said happily, his tail wagging quickly at the sides. "I want to make you proud of me, Chris! I want to be a powerful Lucario for you!"

The World Traveler kept staring at his happy Riolu before he put Riolu back to bed. Chris then put himself on his side of his bed and covered he and Riolu under the blankets. Seeing that Riolu was still excited, Chris decided to talk some more to him. "Okay, you want to be a powerful for me."

"Yes!" Riolu said happily. "If I become a Lucario like that, nobody's going to have to hurt you!"

Chris chuckled. "I know you're very excited to become a super Lucario or something, but why don't you...well...think about evolving much later?"

Riolu stopped wagging his tail and looked at Chris. "What?"

"(When he was a Lucario, he told me that he wanted to enjoy his childhood to the fullest...)" Chris thought as he stared at his confused Riolu. "(He looks very happy now...but...I don't know if I should listen to what he wants to have right now...)"

"Why don't you want me to become a Super Lucario?"

Knowing Riolu, he would surely want to think all the time that he could become a 'Super Lucario'.

"W-well...I-I would like you to stay like this for a little bit longer," Chris admitted. "I-I want to have you like this because...well...um..."

Riolu tilted his head a bit.

"...I want to have you like this because...I think...that I'd be happier to have you...stay as a Riolu for while longer...before being a Lucario..."

Riolu stared at him.

"...So?"

"..." Riolu looked down. "...Can I still become a Super Lucario?"

"O-of course you can," Chris said. "T-tell you what... You can become into Lucario sometime this month...okay?"

Riolu looked happily at this before he looked down and made a worried look. "...Chris..."

"Yes?"

"...Are you still...mad because I bit your hands?"

Chris looked at his bandaged hands. "...I'm...not mad... It's just that you were biting me all of a sudden..."

Riolu looked up at him. "I-I was getting really upset because you wouldn't stop scratching my chin...a-and I grew really angry at that s-so I didn't know what I was doing..." He sobbed and covered his eyes. "I-I didn't mean to hurt you, Chris... I-I wanted you to stop, that's all... Ri-iiii..."

The World Traveler gasped and hugged his sobbing Riolu tightly. "P-please, it was my fault, Riolu! P-please, don't cry anymore!"

Riolu sniffed and looked up at him. "Y-you're not mad at me?"

"N-no, I wouldn't be mad at you," Chris said. "You're...my only Riolu...and you're just very young to understand...but...it was my fault and not yours..."

"..." Riolu sniffed.

"...So please...don't cry, okay? Everything's just fine," Chris said with a relieved expression. "My hands will soon heal, don't worry."

Riolu blinked a few tears away before he looked happy. "...Riiiiiiii!" he exclaimed happily.

Chris blushed a bit at this. "They'll heal very soon, Riolu," he said. "And...as for your evolution to a Super Lucario...well...wait like 2 weeks or so, okay? I want you to be like this some more so you can enjoy to play around."

Riolu looked up at Chris and began to lick his face, his tail wagging quickly at the sides.

"R-Riolu!" Chris said before he was submitted to chuckles by his Pokémon.

After about two minutes, the two decided to sleep, Riolu facing the drawing as he imagined himself to be the 'Super Lucario' he wanted to become very soon. And so, the night went on...

December 14 - Sunday - Morning

Outside

"So, Red, where are Lucas, Dawn, and Barry?" Chris asked.

"They went out to explore the forests around the area," Red said. "They said they wouldn't come back until afternoon."

"Well, I hope they don't run into some monsters..."

Since the winter season was starting to become apparent by the cold weather, it was the time of the month where Christmas was going to be celebrated. For the Smash Mansion, it wasn't an exception. Since there were around thirty wierdoes, each from different worlds or realms, living in the mansion, it was almost like having to fetch the weirdest of gifts for each one. Everyone didn't give gifts to everyone, but there was a limit that someone had to give to four people a gift each.

However, there was an important question to this...

If the Smash Mansion liked to celebrate Christmas...then why wasn't it decorated with candy canes, mistletoes, and the big Christmas tree? Moreover, why were all the Smashers and their belonging outside the mansion for about eighty feet away from the entrance?

"Okay, everyone," Master Hand began as he looked at the several groups of Smashers talking to each other, "it's that time of the month where we have to renovate the mansion with a new one."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Chris (in his Swordsman job) as he was grabbing Riolu (who wore a small red robe that Peach had sewed for him).

"Oh, right, you and some newcomers don't know about this," Master Hand said. "Well, as you can see, we have a rule that says that the mansion needs to be changed from year to year."

"By that, he means he's going to re-arrange everyone's rooms," Mario explained.

"Yes, and we're going to re-arrange everyone's rooms in alphabetical order this time," Master Hand said. "The last time was who liked to be close to who, but we're doing it in alphabetical order."

"What is going to happen to the other rooms that don't have anyone?" Pit (wearing a blue rob with holes for his wings) asked.

"They'll be re-arranged to the higher floors," Master Hand said. "As for the Battle Floor, it'd be placed higher so we have more space for some other rooms, and I'm going to make some more bathrooms for all the rooms. We just have to do this through my hand magic. With a snap, I'll re-arrange everyone's rooms."

Crazy Hand appeared behind him. "Hey, no fair! You said it was MY turn to do the changing!"

Master Hand turned to him. "Ugh, okay, you can do the honors. HOWEVER, be careful because I don't want the mansion to get destroyed by your cluelessness, okay?" He turned to the Smashers. "And since there was an 'Aurageddon' some weeks ago, the sports area didn't receive a good visit from that attack, and thus it was blown apart."

"O-oh, so that's why I couldn't play soccer at all," Falco (wearing a gray robe that had much more cotton on the collar and the sleeves' ends) said while shivering a bit at the cold air.

"Yeah, that's why," Master Hand said before he turned to Crazy Hand. "Okay, you better not do something reckless because if you d-"

"Snappity-snap!" Crazy Hand interrupted while snapping his fingers that released some spores of light that came out from the snap.

The Smashers looked back at the mansion...and nothing seemed to happen.

"...Did the floors change now?" Lucas (wearing the same shirt but with longer sleeves) asked.

"They...should have..." Master Hand said.

Before their eyes, the mansion's base shot out dust, and soon the whole mansion went down the ground. Most of the Smashers took some steps back as their home was brought down by a single snap from the insane hand. Bricks, glasses, wrecked walls, and remains of the rooftop were scattered around a big portion of the area that even reached their feet. Since a big cloud of dust came out from the destruction, they all were covered by it, causing everyone to cough several times.

Master Hand, somewhere in the cloud of dust, grumbled to himself and snapped his fingers to make the dust disappear as soon as it came to cover the whole perimeter. The Smashers, some still coughing, looked back at the remains of the mansion before most of them glared at Crazy Hand.

"There!" Crazy Hand said. "We can now start rebuilding it!"

"You stupid son of..." Master Hand grunted and turned to the Smashers. "Okay, you people, there's nothing to be worried about."

"What are you talking about?" Roy began. "Our home was brought down before our eyes!"

"And that's surely something Tabuu would want us to through stupidity," Pikachu (wearing a red robe) said bored. "He'd want us destroying the mansion."

"Calm down, calm down," Master Hand said. "I can bring back the mansion with a single snap of my fingers, don't worry."

"Would that also mean the musicians you left in there?" Popo asked.

"Yes, that would..." Master Hand looked back at the remains of the mansion. "...Oh my GOODNESS!" he yelled shocked as he saw some of the musicians miracuously coming out from the wrecked pieces of the mansion.

Zelda sighed. "You forgot to tell them that we were going to do this?"

"H-hey, I swear this was not intentional," Master Hand said. "T-this was just a little accident that later became a big one because SOMEBODY thought we were going to destroy the mansion INSTEAD of changing it!"

"You can thank me later," Crazy Hand said. "Changing, according to my dictionary, means destroy and obliterate."

"You and your stupid excuses to... Ugh!" Master Hand grunted and quickly went over to check on the musicians. "Y-you guys are still alive, right? Please, tell me you can breath!"

"Y-yes..." said a frightened Chunky. "W-we were doing some music...a-and everything went down...f-for some reason..."

"W-what did just happen?" Makar asked as he looked around for his instrument. "Why did everything go down?"

Master Hand chuckled a bit. "...The building had poor bases and I didn't remember that..."

"What kind of...explanation is that?" Penny asked confused.

"B-believe me, the guy who I told to build the mansion didn't have high rate materials."

Red (the devil) looked miffed at the hand. "What kind of people do you contract?"

Master Hand looked all the way over to the group of Smashers where Crazy Hand waved at him. "People who are so darn stupid no matter what you do to change them..."

Mona shifted her eyes aroudn. "O...kay..."

"A-anyway, you should leave this area. I'm going to use my hand magic to bring the mansion back to its usual form."

Once the hand fixed his look on Ashley, he noticed the little witch was staring blanky at him. Her eyes were focusing solely on Master Hand and not anything nor anyone else.

"..." Master Hand felt weird and shrugged. "L-let's all leave this area...please. If there was anything broken, I'll fix it, okay? Now please go with the Smashers and wait for me to bring back the mansion."

"Okay..." Lanky said confused before all the musicians began to walk away from the area.

Once everyone was brought together, Master Hand turned to the mansion and nodded to himself. "Well, here goes," he said. "Crazy, you better behave now or else I won't let you have special chances ever again."

"Fiddlesticks..." Crazy Hand muttered.

Master Hand frowned to this before he snapped his fingers. Once everyone had heard the snapping sound, they watched as a huge cloud of smoke appeared right on the spot where the wrecked remains of the mansion once stood. In about ten seconds, the cloud of smoke disappeared, and the huge mansion of ten floors (not counting the attic) came back.

"THERE!" Master Hand said to Crazy Hand. "That's how you do it!"

"Ooh, ooh, I learned something today," Crazy Hand said excited.

Chris examined the mansion. "It...doesn't look that different from the outside..."

"Well, we did change everything from the inside," Master Hand said. "We kept the lobby and the kitchen on the first floor, though. The Battle Floor is now at the tenth floor (so it has this eerie feeling of darkness on the top area of the mansion), and the floor occupied by the musicians is in the ninth floor."

"Oh, I would like to see my room overseeing the landscape," Medli said excited.

"Okay, everyone, it's time to start thinking the decorations for Christmas," Master Hand said. "I COULD make it automatically, but some of you like to it manually so..."

Peach interlaced her fingers and looked happy. "I'm going to start thinking how to make this year's Christmas tree."

"I'll help," Mario said.

"M-me too," Luigi said.

"Thanks, you 2," Peach said with a giggle.

"Everyone, grab your belongings and let's all move to your rooms," Master Hand said.

All the Smashers began to gather their things before they, along with the musicians, went inside the mansion. As Chris was grabbing some boxes where he kept his consoles in, Master Hand went to him. "Chris, I put that big bed for you in your room. Why'd you want that, though?"

Chris chuckled. "Riolu wanted to have a bigger bed because he wanted to have more area for him bounce around."

"Riiii!" Riolu said happily as he carried a bag on his arms.

"Oh, I see. Pleasing your little Pokémon's wishes, huh?" Master Hand said. "Well, just to let you know that you have your own room now, Chris. That means when Riolu evolves into Lucario, he'll have his own room."

"I know," Chris said. "But...Riolu can keep sleeping with me, right?"

"Oh, no problem with that," Master Hand said. "Besides, once he does you-know-what, he's going to dislike staying away from you and he'll surely have some sort of vendetta on me...so I don't want to have any of you guys to dislike me."

"I think Snake hates you."

"Thank you for reminding me that," Master Hand muttered. "Now, let's go into the mansion so you decorate your room with your stuff, okay?"

Chris and Riolu nodded before the two walked inside. Once they entered, Master Hand turned around to see that Ashley (with Red by her right side) was staring at him.

"...Er..." Master Hand stared at the witch. "...Is something bothering you?"

"..." Ashley merely made a small smile. "Your magic... I want to know more about it."

"...W-well...I...don't tell anyone about my magic..." Master Hand said. "It's top secret...sorry..."

"...Oh," Ashley said, her smile fading away.

Even though her request was answered, she kept staring deeply at the hand.

"..." Master Hand silently moved inside the mansion through the entrance, his gaze still focused on Ashley before he went inside and quickly floated away.

Red looked at Ashley. "Ashley, why don't you just capture him? He seems freaked out of you."

"If I captured him, he would kick me out from the mansion," Ashley said. "My magic isn't developed enough to take on his magic. Besides, I think I will never be able to face him in battle head-on. However, we will wait until the right time comes for him to lower his guard..."

"Oh, right, Ashley. I know he's gonna be ours very soon," Red said with a snicker before the two went inside and closed doors.

After a time had passed, DK, Diddy (wearing a red robe), Pit, Olimar, Chris, Riolu, and Yoshi (wearing a blue robe) came out from the mansion. The group walked outside before Pit began to talk. "So we're going to challenge the Dojo?"

"Yes," Chris said. "I think we should see what the Master has for us there. He said it was important for us to go there so...we should go."

"Ooh, I foresee a fight," DK said. "Count me in. I want to have some fun with fighting that old Toad."

Diddy chuckled. "Yeah, that guy's pushing his luck with us. He'll go down very quickly before he can say 'begin'."

Chris looked away. "You...should be really careful with him, though... Appearances do trick you..."

The Kongs looked at each other and lifted up their shoulders. "You don't worry, you have me to pummel him down," DK said.

"DK, it's not all about brute strength," Chris said worried. "The Master said that we should be careful in handling power because...it could corrupt us without us knowing about it..." He turned to look at Yoshi having Riolu riding on his back. "You just came because Peach is busy with the decorations inside and thus there's no one to take care of Riolu, right?"

"You're going to fight the Master," Yoshi said. "Somebody has to look after Riolu."

Riolu looked happy as he rode on Yoshi's back.

"Oh well," Chris said. "Riolu seems happy with you so it's okay with me."

Olimar gulped. "I-I want to go because I don't want anyone to think I'm not brave to face enemies... I-I mean, Snake gives me those looks that makes me feel my soul escaping from me..."

"...Okay, that's...good to hear," DK said.

"S-seriously, I'm doing this because I have to show some sportmanship or something..."

Pit looked to the western woods. "Shall we get going?"

"YES! I DID IT, I DID IT, I DID IT!!! YEAH!!!"

The Smashers heard some excited yells coming near from them. They all turned to the left to see that Toon Link, lying down on the grass around a bunch of arrows stuck on the grounds, was running around in circles on the floor as if he was running while standing. The Hero of Winds ran around the same spot, his head being the center while the legs made the circle.

Confused to Toon Link's excitement, the Smashers walked to his spot and looked down at the excited Hylian. "Link, what's wrong with you? Why are you running in circles all over the ground?" Diddy asked.

Toon Link kept running, but he did listen to them. "I mastered Raven's second arrow technique just now!" he said. "Finally, after so much training, I did it!"

Olimar looked around the wide area with arrows stuck on the ground. "W-well, you did train all these days nonstop..." he said.

"Yeah, and I did it!" Toon Link said. "Oh man, oh man, oh man, this is like the best day of my life after the day I wielded the Master Sword!"

Chris looked at the Master Sword's handle behind Toon Link's back. It was surely some sort of fake since he remembered he took Toon Link to join them after he finished the Phantom Hourglass storyline. The World Traveler thought Master Hand was the one behind this perfect replica...

Master Hand...

Master Sword...

Chris saw a connection of the sorts.

The young swordsman stopped running and quickly scrambled to get up. "Check this out!" he said energetically as he brandished his bow and shot an arrow to the sky. The Smashers watched as the arrow then began to come down with its blade pointing down. Toon Link, while staring at the arrow, took out another one and aimed it to the first arrow before he shot it to the first arrow's blade. Upon making contact, the first arrow's direction changed, and it also went down much faster as if it was shot from the air. The Smashers saw as the fast arrow got stuck in the ground to the far-right edge of the mansion's wall, perfectly on the very same corner.

"Ouch..." Diddy said surprised. "That was kind of cool."

"Kind of? It was awesome!" Toon Link said. "Now that I know how to do this, I'm SO going to shock my enemies during battles, especially that Ganondorf. He won't know who hit his back."

"That's very useful," Pit remarked. "I think it makes you better in marksmanship than Link."

"Ha, that guy needs to understand from us who the better one is," Toon Link said with crossed arms and a grin. "And now that I know 2 bow techniques...I can finally return to my usual affairs." He sighed pleased, uncrossing his arms. "Man, it took me a lot of time... Raven wasn't kidding there..."

"Plus, you made our group look better," Diddy said.

"Actually, I made the Swordsmen Guild look better as well..."

"...What?"

Toon Link chuckled. "Y-you see, I'm part of a swordsmen group called Swordsmen Guild... That group has Marth, Roy, Ike, that other Link, and even Meta Knight with them..." He pointed at Pit. "Heck, even Pit is there with me!"

Diddy looked up at Pit. The angel chuckled and scratched the back of his head with a hand. "T-that's true, we made up that group a time ago..." Pit trailed off.

Diddy turned to Toon Link. "W-what do you say about it?" Toon Link asked.

Diddy thought for a moment while looking up at the sky before he looked back at Toon Link. "...I have something to say: Ness is going to beat you to a bloody pulp for that once he finds out you're with 2 groups at the same time."

Toon Link remained speechless at this fact.

"And everyone will probably do the same," Diddy added. "They'll think you're a double agent."

"I-I'm not going to tell secrets or something!" Toon Link said embarrassed. "I-I follow both groups' rules and laws to the step of every word, I swear!"

Chris looked surprised. "Wait, Meta Knight is in that group as well? I thought he liked to be in solitude."

"Well, I heard he joined because of boredom," Toon Link said. "He said he could find some excitement out of this, but he did say that some rules were a bit stupid...though they didn't stop him from joining... Anyway, where are you heading?"

"We're going to the Dojo to challenge the Master," Yoshi said. "Want to come?"

"Oh, sure," Toon Link said. "I want to test out Gnome. You remember, right, Chris? I had this sticker that Gnome gave me to call him here."

"I remember," Chris said. "I wonder what he will say once you call him to battle..."

"I bet he's going to comment...or not," Toon Link said. "The guy's a bit bizarre, you know..."

DK grumbled. "Can we just go to the Dojo already? I'm itching to some fighting..."

"W-why did you have to ask?" Olimar asked.

DK narrowed his eyes at the small Smasher. "I want to fight, we want to fight, we WILL fight, understand?"

Olimar and the rest of the Smashers exchanged shocked looked before they all took some steps away from the crazy ape.

The Dojo -Arena-

After wandering through the woods, the Smashers spotted the Dojo's building. Once they arrived there, they didn't waste more time to enter inside and find the masters and the disciples on the far end of the other side of the Dojo's entrance.

"It seems you have come," Jinx said. "It was about time you showed up here."

The Smashers found both the Master and Jynx sitting on their legs above some red cushions while Lee (the Duplighost) and Chan (the Buzzy Beetle) were standing by the Master's side. However, it looked like Jinx had a disciple of his own since there was a Koopa Troopa with a white helmet standing by his side as well.

"Sensei," the Koopa Troopa began before he looked at Jinx, "are they the ones you spoke about?"

"Yes, they're the Smashers," Jinx said. "They're a nice bunch of fighters."

"Oh, I see," the Koopa Troopa said.

"I'm sorry, but you weren't here the last time we came here," Pit said. "Who are you?"

"Sorry for not introducing myself," the disciple of Jinx said. "My name is Jagger. I arrived here some weeks ago after my sensei, Jinx, moved here to train with the Master in the same Dojo. I used to be in Bowser's army before some events happened and I decided to become stronger by training with my sensei here." He looked down. "Thing is...I haven't become much stronger enough to go back with King Bowser..."

"I have told you many times before that working for Bowser is the lowest rank you could ever get," Jinx said. "You're still thinking about joining him?"

"I-I had some good times there..." Jagger said. "I still want to see some friends there..."

"If you go there, you will probably never return," Jinx said. "Once Bowser fixes his eyes on you, you can bet your shell you're not going to come back here ever again."

"B-but I like to be under your hand, sensei!" Jagger said. "H-heck, you taught me lots of things about your disciplines!"

"And yet, you're undecided," Jinx said.

Jagger sighed. "Oh man..."

Yoshi tilted his head a bit. "(He's stuck in deciding to side between good and evil, huh?)"

"Ahem," the Master coughed to get their attention. "I had feeling you'd come here," he said before he stood up. "Normally, we would put you through some fights against our disciples..."

"Actually, let's do that," Jinx said before he stood up. "Let's see if these guys can beat our disciples one by one before facing us in battle."

"We already came into terms that one of us would fight them," the Master said.

"Yeah, we did," Jinx said. "They'd decide who, though."

"It's fine with me," the Master said before looking at the group. "We won't start the fights right away unless you want to fight now. I'd like you to prepare yourself through the ordeals we have in hands for you."

"I'm sure this is going to be a good experience for all of us," Chan said. "I can't wait to see how you fight. You guys put those 2 idiots who attacked the Dojo to misery, anyway."

"Prepare yourselves to face the Dojo's disciples!" Lee said enthusiastically. "Our masters are very strong, but we shouldn't be underestimated at all!"

"Pfft, I'll prove those 2 that Jinx's disciples are far better," Jagger said.

Lee and Chan looked angrily at Jagger. "Oh, says the ONLY disciple of Jinx," Chan said.

"Numbers aren't important!" Jagger complained.

"You said 'disciple' in plural," Lee pointed out. "You MUST care about it."

"S-shut up, you!"

The Master and Jnx frowned at this. "The 3 of you, stop this moment," both said.

"Y-yes, senseis..." the three disciples said embarrassed.

The two masters remembered that the Smashers were staring at them. Jinx looked back at them. "Prepare before fighting," he said. "It's going to be a rough day for all of you."

"I should explain the rules," the Master said. "In here, we only have 1-on-1 fights against our disciples, then we have 3-on-1 fights against me or Jinx."

"Why is there a difference?" Toon Link asked.

"Fighting our disciples 1-on-1 will make us judge your individual performances," Jinx said. "If you do beat them, then that would mean you're capable of fighting us. However, cooperation is crucial when fighting against stronger opponents than yourselves."

"Why not have everyone fight instead?" DK asked.

"We don't do that here because that's kind of dirty," Jinx said. "We COULD allow all of you to fight against 1, but that'd be considered cheating. Even worse, if we did allow that and you all ended up knocked out by a single opponent, that would hurt morale."

DK stared at Jinx's diminute size. "(...I could step on him...)"

Chris recalled some similar words by a familiar big gerbil he met some time ago. "What the heck is up with the 7-on-1 garbage you're pulling on poor me?" rang in Chris's mind.

"Please, prepare yourselves," the Master said.

The Smashers formed a circle and began to prepare themselves. "Okay, we should probably stick with stepping on Jnx. He's so small..." DK said.

"We're not stepping on him," Pit said. "Besides, don't judge him because he's small..."

"Right..." Chris said. "Jinx is very strong."

"Is he?" DK asked.

"Yes, now let's see what we can do to prepare for battles..." Chris said before he thought for a moment. "...Hey, we still have the stickers that Peppita gave us."

Pit snapped his fingers. "Right, I forgot we had them with us."

Chris took out the eleven stickers he had with him: Fayt, Sophia, Cliff, Nel, Roger, Albel, Maria, Peppita, Mirage, Adray, and the Boots of Prowess were all the stickers. "My Nayru, those are so many," Toon Link said. "What do they have on them?"

"...I...have no idea..." Yoshi said. "Really, what do they have for each one of them?"

Diddy looked confused. "What do they enhance? What do they do? Do they make you feel weird? Do they turn you into a zombie or a vampire? Do they make you get ill? Do they make you get heat vision? Ooh, let one of them have heat vision. I'd be cool to shoot fire out of your eyes. You could say HEAT VISION, then boom."

The Smashers stared blankly at Diddy.

"...One can dream," Diddy said.

Chris thought for a moment. "Hmm, what to do..."

"Maybe you can show them to me and find out their abilities," Kawashima suddenly said from Chris's pocket. "I have a sticker checker system built into me. If you show me the stickers, I can find out their attributes."

"Good..." Olimar remarked. "I-I wouldn't like to have the wrong sticker..."

Chris took out his DS and showed Kawashima the stickers. "Scanning..." he muttered before a little sound rang in the DS. "Okay, done. I have to say that these stickers are very unique."

"That was fast," Yoshi said. "What are their properties?"

Kawashima showed them a list. "Well, here's the list with their abilities. They're very useful because they have 2 abilities each."

"2 abilities?"

"Yes, they were perfectly made," Kawashima commented.

"(I guess Peppita worked so hard in them...)" Chris thought.

Olimar looked at the list. "Ooh, look at that..."

Name - Size - Attribute - Character

Fayt - Medium - Abilities: Side Kick, Shotgun Blast - All

Sophia - Medium - Abilities: Healing, Thunder Flare - All

Cliff - Medium - Abilities: Sphere of Might, Hammer of Might - All

Nel - Medium - Abilities: Shockwave, Whirlwind - All

Roger - Medium - Abilities: Charge, Piercing Claw - All

Maria - Medium - Abilities: Laser Blast, Protection - All

Albel - Medium - Abilities: Double Slash, Hand of Doom - All

Peppita- Medium - Abilities: Kaboom, Healing Dance - All

Adray - Medium - Abilities: Chaos Tide, Fairy Light - All

Mirage - Medium - Abilities: Crescent Locus, Triple Kick - All

(Note: Symbology's Mental Death won't occur).

"I have something to say," DK began with a grin, "these stickers kick sorry butts so hard."

"And that's not all," Kawashima said. "We still have the Boots of Prowess."

Boots of Prowess - Large - 30% ATK/DEF increase

"This one increases base strength and base defense by 30 percent," Kawashima said. "If somebody of you would use this, I'd presume he or she would get a very nice boost for attack and defense in ALL attacks..."

Olimar raised his hand. "I-I need that one! I-I need to survive more through battles!"

"Pfft, step back, you," DK said. "If I get it, I'll be a tank fighter. Nobody would stop me if I used it on me."

"I would like to use it," Pit said. "I need to have more defense because I admit that I'm a bit fragile myself."

"Oh no, I'm the most fragile here," Diddy said. "I'm small so I should use that one."

"I'm a bit unsure," Yoshi said. "Can I use it?"

"If I were to use it on me, oh man, my arrows would deal even more damage!" Toon Link said. "That one's mine!"

Chris looked worried at them. "You...did know that none of us can use this sticker...right?"

The six Smashers stared at Chris. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I heard you saying we couldn't use it," DK said annoyed. "What did you say?"

"I-it's true," Chris said. "I-I mean, didn't you see that there's someone who can use it than any of you?"

The Smashers looked back at the list and found out that the had ignored the character column where it read that, unlike all the previous stickers that were compatible with anyone, the last one had just an owner...

"...Fox..." muttered Yoshi after he read the name.

Kawashima digitally sweat dropped. "Well...it seems none of you but Fox can use this sticker... Sorry."

"...Awww!" Diddy groaned. "That's a really huge let down! Why can he use the sticker and not us?"

"It seems he can use it because of...romantic reasons..." Kawashima explained. "...That's what I can theorize..."

"Romantic reasons?" Chris said confused. "...Oh god, I hope Peppita isn't still thinking she and Fox...oh god..."

"That's a big shame," DK said depressed. "He gets the good stuff while we're left in the dumps..."

"E-er, don't look so down!" Kawashima said. "You still have these stickers for you to use!"

Pit sighed. "I guess that makes up for this..." he muttered.

The Smashers heard some coughs from the other side of the Dojo. They looked back at the Master. "Are you ready?" he asked.

"G-give us a minute!" DK said before everyone looked back at each other. "I take the Cliff sticker!" he said as he grabbed the medium size sticker and placed it on his Trophy Stand. Upon placing it on the stand, DK felt a bit odd. "Ooh, I suddenly know how to use those abilities... Very weird, but so useful, heheheheheh..."

The rest of the Smashers exchanged odd looks before Pit took the Nel sticker. "I'll use this one," he said before placing it on his Trophy Stand.

Toon Link chuckled and grabbed the Roger sticker. "This one is going to have my name on it...now," he said as he placed the sticker on his Trophy Stand.

Diddy and Olimar looked unsure at the remaining stickers. "U-um..." Diddy shook his head. "None of those abilities sound very good to me..."

"M-me neither," Olimar said. "Many of them sound a little bit strange for me to use..."

Yoshi stared at the stickers and shook his head. "No, I don't think these stickers would look good on me either. I'll pass."

Chris took out the Dr. Crygor sticker. "This one here increases a bit of strength for arm and leg atta-"

"Takey-takey," Diddy interrupted as he nabbed the small sticker and placed it on his Trophy Stand.

"And...that's all I have," Chris said. "The other stickers won't give any of you a specific enhancement... Sorry, Olimar, Yoshi..."

Olimar frowned and looked down. "It's okay..."

Yoshi looked happy. "Besides, I'm not going to fight. I'm going to take care of little Riolu here."

At that moment, Riolu climbed Yoshi's back and got to the top of his head where he looked at Chris and wagged his blue tail at the sides. "Riiii!" Riolu said happily.

[DededeCloneChris]

"The Subspace Army is a bunch of bad guys who are trying to take over the worlds," Chris explained. "They're the ones who keep all of us busy."

"All of us?"

"Yes," Chris said. "Thanks to the army, we always go to different worlds to stop them from taking them over."

"Do...we fight?"

"Yes..." Chris said. "We fight against them to stop them..."

Riolu looked worried. "And...we don't have any other way to stop them?"

"Sadly...no," Chris said. "Personally, I'd like to stop the fighting...but it's impossible to stop it because words aren't enough to stop the army..."

Riolu thought for a moment. "Um...do you...get hurt...Chris?"

"Well...yes, I get hurt in all the battles..." Chris said. "That's the worst part of any fights I take on..."

Riolu looked worried. "W-why do you have to fight if you don't like to get hurt?"

"That's because...well...I'm supposed to be the World Traveler..."

"The World Traveler?"

"Yes, that's a nickname I got," Chris said. "I'm supposed to be the one to protect the worlds from being attacked... It's my job to take care of every single world I go to and there are no exceptions for that..."

"So...when you go to a world...is your job to save it?"

"...I think so...yes," Chris said. "Because I'm the World Traveler, I'm supposed to be saving all the worlds I go to from their menaces... Well, everyone else is a World Traveler, but I think I should reserve that title for me because I need to have a title... But...now that I think about it, I always help those worlds in need...and all of them have conflicts that have to stop..."

"Do you like to go anywhere?"

"Well...yes," Chris said. "If I can, I take advantage of the situation to enjoy the worlds with everyone else."

Riolu shook a bit. "A-and do you still get hurt, Chris?"

"You already said asked that...but yes..." Chris looked confused at Riolu. "Why are you so worried about me getting hurt?"

"I-I just... I-I just don't want to lose you..."

Chris stared at Riolu's frightened look.

"I-I don't want you to...go away forever from me..." Riolu muttered. "A-and if you get hurt...y-you could leave me all alone..." Riolu sniffed a bit. "I-I don't want to lose you like that... I-I just don't want to see you...go away..."

Chris gasped as he saw Riolu starting to shed some tears. The World Traveler put a hand on Riolu's head and rubbed it. "P-please, don't cry either! I-I'll never leave you alone, Riolu!"

Riolu rubbed his eyes a bit and looked at Chris. "Y-you will never leave me alone?"

"I-I wouldn't do such a thing," Chris said. "I really like you because you're my starter Pokémon...and besides the fact I like to have you..."

Riolu sniffed a bit before he forced a small smile. "You're not going to leave me alone?"

"If I did that, I wouldn't be worthy to be called a trainer..." Chris said. "Besides, you're my favorite Pokémon as well..."

Riolu made a happy expression and chuckled to himself. "You like me?"

"I like you as a friend and my Pokémon," Chris said. "I need to take care of you so you can grow strong."

Riolu stared blankly at him. "Y-you like me even if I bit your hands?"

Chris looked at his bandaged hands. "P-please, that was an accident..."

Riolu looked down. "I-I see..."

"S-so don't worry about it, okay?"

"...Okay..." Riolu muttered. "...Grow...strong..." he said confused. "...Can I grow strong?"

"Grow strong to become a Lucario, you mean?"

"Y-yes..."

"Well, yes, you can," Chris said. "If you do grow strong, you could evolve into Lucario..."

Riolu looked back at him. "Lu...ca...rio?" he said slowly. "What is a Lucario?"

"You...don't know what a Lucario is or looks like?" Chris asked.

Riolu recalled the drawing behind him. The Emanation Pokémon turned around and stared at the drawing of Lucario. "Is...that a Lucario?"

"O-oh, yes," Chris said embarrassed. "I-I made that drawing when I was bored..."

Riolu inspected the drawing closer. He examined the Lucario from bottom to top and from top to bottom. "...He looks...so cool...and strong..."

"Well...I think Lucarios are very strong..." Chris said. "Ever since I got you, Lucarios have been my favorite Pokémon ever, along with Riolus."

Riolu turned to him. "You like both?"

Chris smiled a bit. "I really enjoy having you or a Lucario. If I can do it, I'd make a hobby and train Riolus and Lucarios alike in some place in this world."

"Train?"

"Yes," Chris said. "Riolus and Lucarios are so obedient. I...personally think that Riolus are very cute and Lucarios are the strongest Pokémon ever..."

"Oh," Riolu said before he looked happy. "Am I...your best Riolu?"

"Of course," Chris said. "Nobody will ever take your place as my best Pokémon of my one-man team."

Riolu thought for a moment. "Can I...evolve to a Lucario?"

"Yes, you can," Chris said. "If you train with me, you'll surely become a Lucario right away. I mean, you can evolve based on how close you are to me..."

Riolu looked back at the drawing before turning back to Chris. "Lucarios...are very strong?"

"Yes, they are...but...are you thinking in turning into one soon?"

"If I evolve into a Lucario...would I be strong enough to...u-um..." Riolu flushed a bit, "...protect you from danger?"

The World Traveler stared at the shy look of his Riolu. "...Well...you're one very special Riolu...and if you did evolve...you could do a whole lot of stuff because...you would be very unique..."

Riolu looked worried. "And...would I be very brave?"

"...Yes, when you evolve, your attitude changes, but you don't forget the most important things..."

The Emanation Pokémon stared at his trainer while Riolu thought about his ideas of becoming a Lucario. Riolu thought that being a Lucario would let him protect Chris from harm and danger alike. "...If I evolve...would I make you proud of me?"

"...Yes," Chris said. "I'd be very proud to have you as a strong Lucario..."

Riolu looked happy. "I want to become a Lucario to make you proud of me!" he said happily. "I want to be strong enough to protect you!"

Chris got a bit surprised at this reaction. "B-but wait, you're just coming with fast conclusions, Riolu! Don't you want to think before doing that?"

Riolu thought for a moment. "Hmm...do you know how I am going to look like?"

"Well..." Chris began as he sat on his bed and grabbed Riolu by his sides, "let me show you," he said as he stood on the floor while holding Riolu at his neck's level. "You're going to be this big. This is the usual height Lucarios have."

Riolu looked around. "...No!"

"W-what is it?"

Riolu looked upset. "I'm so small! I don't want to be so small!"

"B-but this is the height Lucarios have..."

"No!" Riolu complained. "I want to be bigger!"

"...Well..." Chris moved Riolu to his chin's level, "what about this?"

"I'm still small!" Riolu complained.

Chris moved Riolu to his face's level. "Okay, now you have the same height I have. Happy?"
"..." Riolu looked around. "...No!"

The World Traveler looked confused at this reaction before he moved Riolu a bit over his head's level. "Okay...that height is a bit high because I would reach part of your snout..."

Riolu looked down at the height he was. "...Yes!" he said happily. "I want to be so big!"

Chris moved his happy Riolu down. "But tell me something. Why do you want to be so big? (I have to make sure I don't tell him he's going to be that big or else I'd spoil his fun time...) Is there some reason?"

Riolu stared at him. "...I...want to be bigger than you so you can hide behind me from getting hurt by others..."

Chris's eyes widened a bit at this.

Riolu made a happy expression. "I want to be so big and strong! If I'm big, you can hide behind me, and if I'm so strong, those bad people are going to run away from me so you can stay safe!"

"R-Riolu..." Chris muttered.

"I want to be a Lucario like that!" Riolu said happily, his tail wagging quickly at the sides. "I want to make you proud of me, Chris! I want to be a powerful Lucario for you!"

The World Traveler kept staring at his happy Riolu before he put Riolu back to bed. Chris then put himself on his side of his bed and covered he and Riolu under the blankets. Seeing that Riolu was still excited, Chris decided to talk some more to him. "Okay, you want to be a powerful for me."

"Yes!" Riolu said happily. "If I become a Lucario like that, nobody's going to have to hurt you!"

Chris chuckled. "I know you're very excited to become a super Lucario or something, but why don't you...well...think about evolving much later?"

Riolu stopped wagging his tail and looked at Chris. "What?"

"(When he was a Lucario, he told me that he wanted to enjoy his childhood to the fullest...)" Chris thought as he stared at his confused Riolu. "(He looks very happy now...but...I don't know if I should listen to what he wants to decide right now...)"
"Why don't you want me to become a Super Lucario?"

Knowing Riolu, he would surely want to think all the time that he could become a 'Super Lucario'.

"W-well...I-I would like you to stay like this for a little bit longer," Chris admitted. "I-I want to have you like this because...well...um..."

Riolu tilted his head a bit.

"...I want to have you like this because...I think...that I'd be happier to have you...stay as a Riolu for while longer...before being a Lucario..."

Riolu stared at him.

"...So?"

"..." Riolu looked down. "...Can I still become a Super Lucario?"

"O-of course you can," Chris said. "T-tell you what... You can become into Lucario sometime this month...okay?"

"...Riiiiiiii!" Riolu exclaimed happily before he went to hug his trainer.

Chris blushed a bit and couldn't resist hugging his Riolu back. "W-wait like 2 weeks or so, okay? I want you to be like this some more so you can enjoy to play around."

Riolu looked up at Chris and began to lick his face, his tail wagging quickly at the sides.

"R-Riolu!" Chris said before he was submitted to chuckles by his Pokémon.

After about two minutes, the two decided to sleep, Riolu facing the drawing as he imagined himself to be the 'Super Lucario' he wanted to become very soon. And so, the night went on...

December 14 - Sunday - Morning

Outside

"So, Red, where are Dawn, Lucas, and Barry?" Chris asked.

"Oh, they said they were going to do an expedition to find more Pokémon around the area," Red said.

"I see... Well, I just wanted to ask because...of this..."

Since the winter season was starting to become apparent by the cold weather, it was the time of the month where Christmas was going to be celebrated. For the Smash Mansion, it wasn't an exception. Since there were around thirty weirdoes, each from different worlds or realms, living in the mansion, it was almost like having to fetch the weirdest of gifts for each one. Everyone didn't give gifts to everyone, but there was a limit that someone had to give to four people a gift each.

However, there was an important question to this...

If the Smash Mansion liked to celebrate Christmas...then why wasn't it decorated with candy canes, mistletoes, and the big Christmas tree? Moreover, why were all the Smashers and their belonging outside the mansion for about eighty feet away from the entrance?

"Okay, everyone," Master Hand began as he looked at the several groups of Smashers talking to each other, "it's that time of the month where we have to renovate the mansion with a new one."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Chris (in his Swordsman job) as he was grabbing Riolu (who wore a small red robe that Peach had sewed for him).

"Oh, right, you and some newcomers don't know about this," Master Hand said. "Well, as you can see, we have a rule that says that the mansion needs to be changed from year to year."

"By that, he means he's going to re-arrange everyone's rooms," Mario explained.

"Yes, and we're going to re-arrange everyone's rooms in alphabetical order this time," Master Hand said. "The last time was who liked to be close to who, but we're doing it in alphabetical order."

"What is going to happen to the other rooms that don't have anyone?" Pit (wearing a blue rob with holes for his wings) asked.

"They'll be re-arranged as well," Master Hand said. "As for the Battle Floor, it'd be placed higher so we have more space for some other rooms. We just have to do this through my hand magic. With a snap, I'll re-arrange everyone's rooms."

Crazy Hand appeared behind him. "Hey, not fair! You said it was MY turn to do the changing!"

Master Hand turned to him. "Ugh, okay, you can do the honors. HOWEVER, be careful because I don't want the mansion to get destroyed by your carelessness, okay?" He turned to the Smashers. "And since there was an 'Aurageddon' some weeks ago, the sport grounds didn't receive a good visit from that attack, and thus it was blown apart."

"O-oh, so that's why I couldn't play soccer at all," Falco (wearing a gray robe that had much more cotton on the collar and the sleeves' ends) said while shivering a bit at the cold air.

"Yeah, that's why," Master Hand said before he turned to Crazy Hand. "Okay, you better not do something reckless because if you d-"

"Snappity-snap!" Crazy Hand interrupted while snapping his fingers that released some spores of light that came out from the snap.

The Smashers looked back at the mansion...and nothing seemed to happen.

"...Did the floors change now?" Lucas (wearing the same shirt but with longer sleeves) asked.

"They...should have..." Master Hand said.

Before their eyes, the mansion's base shot out dust, and soon the whole mansion went down the ground. Most of the Smashers took some steps back as their home was brought down by a single snap from the insane hand. Bricks, glasses, wrecked walls, and remains of the rooftop were scattered around a big portion of the area that even reached their feet. Since a big cloud of dust came out from the destruction, they all were covered by it, causing everyone to cough several times.

Master Hand, somewhere in the cloud of dust, grumbled to himself and snapped his fingers to make the dust disappear as soon as it came to cover the whole perimeter. The Smashers, some still coughing, looked back at the remains of the mansion before most of them glared at Crazy Hand.

"There!" Crazy Hand said. "We can now start rebuilding it!"

"You stupid son of..." Master Hand grunted and turned to the Smashers. "Okay, you people, there's nothing to be worried about."

"What are you talking about?" Roy began. "Our home was brought down before our eyes!"

"And that's surely something Tabuu would want us to through stupidity," Pikachu (wearing a red robe) said bored. "He'd want us destroying the mansion."

"Calm down, calm down," Master Hand said. "I can bring back the mansion with a single snap of my fingers, don't worry."

"Would that also mean the musicians you left in there?" Popo asked.

"Yes, that would..." Master Hand looked back at the remains of the mansion. "...Oh my GOODNESS!" he yelled shocked as he saw some of the musicians miraculously coming out from the wrecked pieces of the mansion.

Zelda sighed. "You forgot to tell them that we were going to do this?"

"H-hey, I swear this was not intentional," Master Hand said. "T-this was just a little accident that later became a big one because SOMEBODY thought we were going to destroy the mansion INSTEAD of changing it!"

"You can thank me later," Crazy Hand said. "Changing, according to my dictionary, means destroy and obliterate."

"You and your stupid excuses to... Ugh!" Master Hand grunted and quickly went over to check on the musicians. "Y-you guys are still alive, right? Please, tell me you can breathe!"

"Y-yes..." said a frightened Chunky. "W-we were doing some music...a-and everything went down...f-for some reason..."

"W-what did just happen?" Makar asked as he looked around for his instrument. "Why did everything go down?"

Master Hand chuckled a bit. "...The building had poor bases and I didn't remember that..."

"What kind of...explanation is that?" Penny asked confused.

"B-believe me, the guy who I told to build the mansion didn't have high rate materials."

Red (the devil) looked miffed at the hand. "What kind of people do you contract?"

Master Hand looked all the way over to the group of Smashers where Crazy Hand waved at him. "People who are so darn stupid no matter what you do to change them..."

Mona shifted her eyes around. "O...kay..."

"A-anyway, you should leave this area. I'm going to use my hand magic to bring the mansion back to its usual form."

Once the hand fixed his look on Ashley, he noticed the little witch was staring blankly at him. Her eyes were focusing solely on Master Hand and not anything nor anyone else.

"..." Master Hand felt weird and shrugged. "L-let's all leave this area...please. If there was anything broken, I'll fix it, okay? Now please go with the Smashers and wait for me to bring back the mansion."

"Okay..." Lanky said confused before all the musicians began to walk away from the area.

Once everyone was brought together, Master Hand turned to the mansion and nodded to himself. "Well, here goes," he said. "Crazy, you better behave now or else I won't let you have special chances ever again."

"Fiddlesticks..." Crazy Hand muttered.

Master Hand frowned to this before he snapped his fingers. Once everyone had heard the snapping sound, they watched as a huge cloud of smoke appeared right on the spot where the wrecked remains of the mansion once stood. In about ten seconds, the cloud of smoke disappeared, and the huge mansion of ten floors (not counting the attic) came back.

"THERE!" Master Hand said to Crazy Hand. "That's how you do it!"

"Ooh, ooh, I learned something today," Crazy Hand said excited.

Chris examined the mansion. "It...doesn't look that different from the outside..."

"Well, we did change everything from the inside," Master Hand said. "We kept the lobby and the kitchen on the first floor, though. The Battle Floor is now at the tenth floor (so it has this eerie feeling of darkness on the top area of the mansion), and the floor occupied by the musicians is in the ninth floor."

"Oh, I would like to see my room overseeing the landscape," Medli said excited.

"Okay, everyone, it's time to start thinking the decorations for Christmas," Master Hand said. "I COULD make it automatically, but some of you like to it manually so..."

Peach interlaced her fingers and looked happy. "I'm going to start thinking how to make this year's Christmas tree."

"I'll help," Mario said.

"M-me too," Luigi said.

"Thanks, you 2," Peach said with a giggle.

"Everyone, grab your belongings and let's all move to your rooms," Master Hand said.

All the Smashers began to gather their things before they, along with the musicians, went inside the mansion. As Chris was grabbing some boxes where he kept his consoles in, Master Hand went to him. "Chris, I put that big bed for you in your room. Why'd you want that, though?"

Chris chuckled. "Riolu wanted to have a bigger bed because he wanted to have more area for him bounce around."

"Riiii!" Riolu said happily as he carried a bag on his arms.

"Oh, I see. Pleasing your little Pokémon's wishes, huh?" Master Hand said. "Well, just to let you know that you have your own room now, Chris. That means when Riolu evolves into Lucario, he'll have his own room."

"I know," Chris said. "But...Riolu can keep sleeping with me, right?"

"Oh, no problem with that," Master Hand said. "Besides, once he does you-know-what, he's going to dislike staying away from you and he'll surely have some sort of vendetta on me...so I don't want to have any of you guys to dislike me."

"I think Snake hates you."

"Thank you for reminding me that," Master Hand muttered. "Now, let's go into the mansion so you decorate your room with your stuff, okay?"

Chris and Riolu nodded before the two walked inside. Once they entered, Master Hand turned around to see that Ashley (with Red by her right side) was staring at him.

"...Er..." Master Hand stared at the witch. "...Is something bothering you?"

"..." Ashley merely made a small smile. "Your magic... I want to know more about it."

"...W-well...I...don't tell anyone about my magic..." Master Hand said. "It's top secret...sorry..."

"...Oh," Ashley said, her smile fading away.

Even though her request was answered, she kept staring deeply at the hand.

"..." Master Hand silently moved inside the mansion through the entrance, his gaze still focused on Ashley before he went inside and quickly floated away.

Red looked at Ashley. "Ashley, why don't you just capture him? He seems freaked out of you."

"If I captured him, he would kick me out from the mansion," Ashley said. "My magic isn't developed enough to take on his magic. Besides, I think I will never be able to face him in battle head-on. However, we will wait until the right time comes for him to lower his guard..."

"Oh, right, Ashley. I know he's gonna be ours very soon," Red said with a snicker before the two went inside and closed doors.

After a time had passed, DK, Diddy (wearing a red robe), Pit, Olimar, Chris, Riolu, and Yoshi (wearing a blue robe) came out from the mansion. The group walked outside before Pit began to talk. "So we're going to challenge the Dojo?"

"Yes," Chris said. "I think we should see what the Master has for us there. He said it was important for us to go there so...we should go."

"Ooh, I foresee a fight," DK said. "Count me in. I want to have some fun with fighting that old Toad."

Diddy chuckled. "Yeah, that guy's pushing his luck with us. He'll go down very quickly before he can say 'begin'."

Chris looked away. "You...should be really careful with him, though... Appearances do trick you..."

The Kongs looked at each other and lifted up their shoulders. "You don't worry, you have me to pummel him down," DK said.

"DK, it's not all about brute strength," Chris said worried. "The Master said that we should be careful in handling power because...it could corrupt us without us knowing about it..." He turned to look at Yoshi having Riolu riding on his back. "You just came because Peach is busy with the decorations inside and thus there's no one to take care of Riolu, right?"

"You're going to fight the Master," Yoshi said. "Somebody has to look after Riolu."

Riolu looked happy as he rode on Yoshi's back.

"Oh well," Chris said. "Riolu seems happy with you so it's okay with me."

Olimar gulped. "I-I want to go because I don't want anyone to think I'm not brave to face enemies... I-I mean, Snake gives me those looks that makes me feel my soul escaping from me..."

"...Okay, that's...good to hear," DK said.

"S-seriously, I'm doing this because I have to show some sportsmanship or something..."

Pit looked to the western woods. "Shall we get going?"

"YES! I DID IT, I DID IT, I DID IT!!! YEAH!!!"

The Smashers heard some excited yells coming near from them. They all turned to the left to see that Toon Link, lying down on the grass around a bunch of arrows stuck on the grounds, was running around in circles on the floor as if he was running while standing. The Hero of Winds ran around the same spot, his head being the center while the legs made the circle.

Confused to Toon Link's excitement, the Smashers walked to his spot and looked down at the excited Hylian. "Link, what's wrong with you? Why are you running in circles all over the ground?" Diddy asked.

Toon Link kept running, but he did listen to them. "I mastered Raven's second arrow technique just now!" he said. "Finally, after so much training, I did it!"

Olimar looked around the wide area with arrows stuck on the ground. "W-well, you did train all these days nonstop..." he said.

"Yeah, and I did it!" Toon Link said. "Oh man, oh man, oh man, this is like the best day of my life after the day I wielded the Master Sword!"

Chris looked at the Master Sword's handle behind Toon Link's back. It was surely some sort of fake since he remembered he took Toon Link to join them after he finished the Phantom Hourglass storyline. The World Traveler thought Master Hand was the one behind this perfect replica...

Master Hand...

Master Sword...

Chris saw a connection of the sorts.

The young swordsman stopped running and quickly scrambled to get up. "Check this out!" he said energetically as he brandished his bow and shot an arrow to the sky. The Smashers watched as the arrow then began to come down with its blade pointing down. Toon Link, while staring at the arrow, took out another one and aimed it to the first arrow before he shot it to the first arrow's blade. Upon making contact, the first arrow's direction changed, and it also went down much faster as if it was shot from the air. The Smashers saw as the fast arrow got stuck in the ground to the far-right edge of the mansion's wall, perfectly on the very same corner.

"Ouch..." Diddy said surprised. "That was kind of cool."

"Kind of? It was awesome!" Toon Link said. "Now that I know how to do this, I'm SO going to shock my enemies during battles, especially that Ganondorf. He won't know who hit his back."

"That's very useful," Pit remarked. "I think it makes you better in marksmanship than Link."

"Ha, that guy needs to understand from us who the better one is," Toon Link said with crossed arms and a grin. "And now that I know 2 bow techniques...I can finally return to my usual affairs." He sighed pleased, uncrossing his arms. "Man, it took me a lot of time... Raven wasn't kidding there..."

"Plus, you made our group look better," Diddy said.

"Actually, I made the Swordsmen Guild look better as well..."

"...What?"

Toon Link chuckled. "Y-you see, I'm part of a swordsmen group called Swordsmen Guild... That group has Marth, Roy, Ike, that other Link, and even Meta Knight with them..." He pointed at Pit. "Heck, even Pit is there with me!"

Diddy looked up at Pit. The angel chuckled and scratched the back of his head with a hand. "T-that's true, we made up that group a time ago..." Pit trailed off.

Diddy turned to Toon Link. "W-what do you say about it?" Toon Link asked.

Diddy thought for a moment while looking up at the sky before he looked back at Toon Link. "...I have something to say: Ness is going to beat you to a bloody pulp for that once he finds out you're with 2 groups at the same time."

Toon Link remained speechless at this fact.

"And everyone will probably do the same," Diddy added. "They'll think you're a double agent."

"I-I'm not going to tell secrets or something!" Toon Link said embarrassed. "I-I follow both groups' rules and laws to the step of every word, I swear!"

Chris looked surprised. "Wait, Meta Knight is in that group as well? I thought he liked to be in solitude."

"Well, I heard he joined because of boredom," Toon Link said. "He said he could find some excitement out of this, but he did say that some rules were a bit stupid...though they didn't stop him from joining... Anyway, where are you heading?"

"We're going to the Dojo to challenge the Master," Yoshi said. "Want to come?"

"Oh, sure," Toon Link said. "I want to test out Gnome. You remember, right, Chris? I had this sticker that Gnome gave me to call him here."

"I remember," Chris said. "I wonder what he will say once you call him to battle..."

"I bet he's going to comment...or not," Toon Link said. "The guy's a bit bizarre, you know..."

DK grumbled. "Can we just go to the Dojo already? I'm itching to some fighting..."

"W-why did you have to ask?" Olimar asked.

DK narrowed his eyes at the small Smasher. "I want to fight, we want to fight, we WILL fight, understand?"

Olimar and the rest of the Smashers exchanged shocked looked before they all took some steps away from the crazy ape.

The Dojo -Arena-

After wandering through the woods, the Smashers spotted the Dojo's building. Once they arrived there, they didn't waste more time to enter inside and find the masters and the disciples on the far end of the other side of the Dojo's entrance.

"It seems you have come," Jinx said. "It was about time you showed up here."

The Smashers found both the Master and Jynx sitting on their legs above some red cushions while Lee (the Duplighost) and Chan (the Buzzy Beetle) were standing by the Master's side. However, it looked like Jinx had a disciple of his own since there was a Koopa Troopa (more commonly known in the ranks of a terrapin) with a white helmet standing by his side as well.

"Sensei," the terrapin began before he looked at Jinx, "are they the ones you spoke about?"

"Yes, they're the Smashers," Jinx said. "They're a nice bunch of fighters."

"Oh, I see," the Terrapin said.

"I'm sorry, but you weren't here the last time we came here," Pit said. "Who are you?"

"Sorry for not introducing myself," the disciple of Jinx said. "My name is Jagger. I arrived here some weeks ago after my sensei, Jinx, moved here to train with the Master in the same Dojo. I used to be in Bowser's army before some events happened and I decided to become stronger by training with my sensei here." He looked down. "Thing is...I haven't become much stronger enough to go back with King Bowser..."

"I have told you many times before that working for Bowser is the lowest rank you could ever get," Jinx said. "You're still thinking about joining him?"

"I-I had some good times there..." Jagger said. "I still want to see some friends there..."

"If you go there, you will probably never return," Jinx said. "Once Bowser fixes his eyes on you, you can bet your shell you're not going to come back here ever again."

"B-but I like to be under your hand, sensei!" Jagger said. "H-heck, you taught me lots of things about your disciplines!"

"And yet, you're undecided," Jinx said.

Jagger sighed. "Oh man..."

Yoshi tilted his head a bit. "(He's stuck in deciding to side between good and evil, huh?)"

"Ahem," the Master coughed to get their attention. "I had feeling you'd come here," he said before he stood up. "Normally, we would put you through some fights against our disciples..."

"Actually, let's do that," Jinx said before he stood up. "Let's see if these guys can beat our disciples one by one before facing us in battle."

"We already came into terms that one of us would fight them," the Master said.

"Yeah, we did," Jinx said. "They'd decide who, though."

"It's fine with me," the Master said before looking at the group. "We won't start the fights right away unless you want to fight now. I'd like you to prepare yourself through the ordeals we have in hands for you."

"I'm sure this is going to be a good experience for all of us," Chan said. "I can't wait to see how you fight. You guys put those 2 idiots who attacked the Dojo to misery, anyway."

"Prepare yourselves to face the Dojo's disciples!" Lee said enthusiastically. "Our masters are very strong, but we shouldn't be underestimated at all!"

"Pfft, I'll prove those 2 that Jinx's disciples are far better," Jagger said.

Lee and Chan looked angrily at Jagger. "Oh, says the ONLY disciple of Jinx," Chan said.

"Numbers aren't important!" Jagger complained.

"You said 'disciple' in plural," Lee pointed out. "You MUST care about it."

"S-shut up, you!"

The Master and Jinx frowned at this. "The 3 of you stop this moment," both said.

"Y-yes, senseis..." the three disciples said embarrassed.

The two masters remembered that the Smashers were staring at them. Jinx looked back at them. "Prepare before fighting," he said. "It's going to be a rough day for all of you."

"I should explain the rules," the Master said. "In here, we only have 1-on-1 fights against our disciples, then we have 3-on-1 fights against me or Jinx."

"Why is there a difference?" Toon Link asked.

"Fighting our disciples 1-on-1 will make us judge your individual performances," Jinx said. "If you do beat them, then that would mean you're capable of fighting us. However, cooperation is crucial when fighting against stronger opponents than yourselves."

"Why not have everyone fight instead?" DK asked.

"We don't do that here because that's kind of dirty," Jinx said. "We COULD allow all of you to fight against 1, but that'd be considered cheating. Even worse, if we did allow that and you all ended up knocked out by a single opponent, that would hurt morale."

DK stared at Jinx's diminutive size. "(...I could step on him...)"

Chris recalled some similar words by a familiar big gerbil he met some time ago. "What the heck is up with the 7-on-1 garbage you're pulling on poor me?" rang in Chris's mind.

"Please, prepare yourselves," the Master said.

The Smashers formed a circle and began to prepare themselves. "Okay, we should probably stick with stepping on Jnx. He's so small..." DK said.

"We're not stepping on him," Pit said. "Besides, don't judge him because he's small..."

"Right..." Chris said. "Jinx is very strong."

"Is he?" DK asked.

"Yes, now let's see what we can do to prepare for battles..." Chris said before he thought for a moment. "...Hey, we still have the stickers that Peppita gave us."

Pit snapped his fingers. "Right, I forgot we had them with us."

Chris took out the eleven stickers he had with him: Fayt, Sophia, Cliff, Nel, Roger, Albel, Maria, Peppita, Mirage, Adray, and the Boots of Prowess were all the stickers. "My Nayru, those are so many," Toon Link said. "What do they have on them?"

"...I...have no idea..." Yoshi said. "Really, what do they have for each one of them?"

Diddy looked confused. "What do they enhance? What do they do? Do they make you feel weird? Do they turn you into a zombie or a vampire? Do they make you get ill? Do they make you get heat vision? Ooh, let one of them have the power of heat vision. I'd be cool to shoot fire out of your eyes. You could say HEAT VISION, and then boom."

The Smashers stared blankly at Diddy.

"...One can dream," Diddy said.

Chris thought for a moment. "Hmm, what to do..."

"Maybe you can show them to me and find out their abilities," Kawashima suddenly said from Chris's pocket. "I have a sticker checker system built into me. If you show me the stickers, I can find out their attributes."

"Good..." Olimar remarked. "I-I wouldn't like to have the wrong sticker..."

Chris took out his DS and showed Kawashima the stickers. "Scanning..." he muttered before a little sound rang in the DS. "Okay, done. I have to say that these stickers are very unique."

"That was fast," Yoshi said. "What are their properties?"

Kawashima showed them a list. "Well, here's the list with their abilities. They're very useful because they have 2 abilities each."

"2 abilities?"

"Yes, they were perfectly made," Kawashima commented.

"(I guess Peppita worked so hard in them...)" Chris thought.

Olimar looked at the list. "Ooh, look at that..."

Name - Size - Attribute - Character

Fayt - Medium - Abilities: Side Kick, Shotgun Blast - All

Sophia - Medium - Abilities: Healing, Thunder Flare - All

Cliff - Medium - Abilities: Sphere of Might, Hammer of Might - All

Nel - Medium - Abilities: Shockwave, Whirlwind - All

Roger - Medium - Abilities: Charge, Piercing Claw - All

Maria - Medium - Abilities: Laser Blast, Protection - All

Albel - Medium - Abilities: Double Slash, Hand of Doom - All

Peppita- Medium - Abilities: Kaboom, Healing Dance - All

Adray - Medium - Abilities: Chaos Tide, Fairy Light - All

Mirage - Medium - Abilities: Crescent Locus, Triple Kick - All

(Note: Symbology's Mental Death won't occur).

"I have something to say," DK began with a grin, "these stickers kick sorry butts so hard."

"And that's not all," Kawashima said. "We still have the Boots of Prowess."

Boots of Prowess - Large - 30% ATK/DEF increase

"This one increases base strength and base defense by 30 percent," Kawashima said. "If somebody of you would use this, I'd presume he or she would get a very nice boost for attack and defense in ALL attacks..."

Olimar raised his hand. "I-I need that one! I-I need to survive more through battles!"

"Pfft, step back, you," DK said. "If I get it, I'll be a tank fighter. Nobody would stop me if I used it on me."

"I would like to use it," Pit said. "I need to have more defenses because I admit that I'm a bit fragile myself."

"Oh no, I'm the most fragile here," Diddy said. "I'm small so I should use that one."

"I'm a bit unsure," Yoshi said. "Can I use it?"

"If I were to use it on me, oh man, my arrows would deal even more damage!" Toon Link said. "That one's mine!"

Chris looked worried at them. "You...did know that none of us can use this sticker...right?"

The six Smashers stared at Chris. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I heard you saying we couldn't use it," DK said annoyed. "What did you say?"

"I-it's true," Chris said. "I-I mean, didn't you see that there's someone who can use it than any of you?"

The Smashers looked back at the list and found out that they had ignored the character column where it read that, unlike all the previous stickers that were compatible with anyone, the last one had just an owner...

"...Fox..." muttered Yoshi after he read the name.

Kawashima digitally sweat dropped. "Well...it seems none of you but Fox can use this sticker... Sorry."

"...Awww!" Diddy groaned. "That's a really huge let down! Why can he use the sticker and not us?"

"It seems he can use it because of...romantic reasons..." Kawashima explained. "...That's what I can theorize..."

"Romantic reasons?" Chris said confused. "...Oh god, I hope Peppita isn't still thinking her and Fox...oh god..."

"That's a big shame," DK said depressed. "He gets the good stuff while we're left in the dumps..."

"E-er, don't look so down!" Kawashima said. "You still have these stickers for you to use!"

Pit sighed. "I guess that makes up for this..." he muttered.

The Smashers heard some coughs from the other side of the Dojo. They looked back at the Master. "Are you ready?" he asked.

"G-give us a minute!" DK said before everyone looked back at each other. "I take the Cliff sticker!" he said as he grabbed the medium size sticker and placed it on his Trophy Stand. Upon placing it on the stand, DK felt a bit odd. "Ooh, I suddenly know how to use those abilities... Very weird, but so useful, heheheheheh..."

The rest of the Smashers exchanged odd looks before Pit took the Nel sticker. "I'll use this one," he said before placing it on his Trophy Stand.

Toon Link chuckled and grabbed the Roger sticker. "This one is going to have my name on it...now," he said as he placed the sticker on his Trophy Stand.

Diddy and Olimar looked unsure at the remaining stickers. "U-um..." Diddy shook his head. "None of those abilities sound very good to me..."

"M-me neither," Olimar said. "Many of them sound a little bit strange for me to use..."

Yoshi stared at the stickers and shook his head. "No, I don't think these stickers would look good on me either. I'll pass."

Chris took out the Dr. Crygor sticker. "This one here increases a bit of strength for arm and leg atta-"

"Takey-takey," Diddy interrupted as he nabbed the small sticker and placed it on his Trophy Stand.

"And...that's all I have," Chris said. "The other stickers won't give any of you a specific enhancement... Sorry, Olimar, Yoshi..."

Olimar frowned and looked down. "It's okay..."

Yoshi looked happy. "Besides, I'm not going to fight. I'm going to take care of little Riolu here."

At that moment, Riolu climbed Yoshi's back and got to the top of his head where he looked at Chris and wagged his blue tail at the sides. "Riiii!" Riolu said happily.

Chris smiled at Riolu. "Please, cheer me, okay?"

"Ri!" Riolu nodded.

Yoshi looked to the right and spotted some red cushions. "Oh, we'll watch the fights from over there," he said before he and Riolu went to the cushions and sat down (Yoshi being the only one who sat down since Riolu was grabbing to Yoshi's head to look to the others).

The Smashers turned to the Dojo's members and nodded in unison. "We're ready to fight," Pit said.

"Great," the Master said. "Please, choose the first opponent against Chan."

Chan looked serious and walked in front of the members. "I'm not going easy on you. Bring it on!" he said with a fierce face.

DK chuckled and walked forward. "I'll be your opponent," he said.

"Alright, big guy, let's start this!" Chan said as he ran his feet on his spot.

The Master coughed and raised his right hand. "The first match: DK VS. Chan...can now commence."

Jagger picked up a hard stick with an iron ball on the tip of it and hit hard a nearby gong behind him.

Paper Mario - Battle Theme

"Here I go!" Chan said as he hid in his shell and began to spin on the spot before he shot himself to DK. "Try to stop me now, ape!"

DK narrowed his eyes, waited for the shell to get closer to him, and grabbed it with both hands. Everyone watched as DK raised the shell above him and crashed it down hard on the floor. The Kong then tossed the shell forward, landing upside down, and a knocked out Chan emerged from it.

"...Owie..." Chan muttered.

Music stops

"Enough," the Master said. "The winner of this encounter is DK."

"YEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAWWWW!!!" DK yelled excited before he began to pound his chest with his fists.

The Smashers looked bored at the rather fast ending of the battle. "...That was it?" Olimar asked. "He just needed to do that to him..."

"Chan!" Lee yelled worried before he ran to Chan's spot and ducked down to check on him. "Hey, are you okay? Chan, answer me!"

"Fine right here..." Chan muttered weakly. "I pushed my luck so much, didn't I..."

"Y-yeah, you sure did," Lee said. "Come on, you have to leave the arena. It's time for me to uphold the next match in your name."

Jagger rolled his eyes at this. "Are you serious? I thought he was going to last much longer than that..."

Lee turned around and glared at him. "Hey, Chan here just needs more training, that's all! Don't go showing off now because I haven't even taken the match yet!"

"Well, hurry up," Jinx said. "I'd like to see more matched before our match."

"Okay, okay," Lee said as he grabbed the knocked out Chan to take him all the way back to the left side of the Master where a sole red cushion rested. The Duplighost flipped the Buzzy Beetle so he could lie down on the soft square and rest. Lee turned around and walked forward to the arena. "Time for me to face somebody now," he said. "Who shall be my opponent?"

"Oh, I'll be the one," Diddy said as DK passed besides him (the two doing a high-five). Diddy chuckled a bit before he walked forward and looked serious at the Duplighost.

The Master raised his right hand again. "The second match: Diddy VS. Lee...can now commence."

Jagger took this sign as an order to sound the gong.

Paper Mario - Battle Theme

Diddy interlaced his fingers and cracked them a bit. Lee chuckled a bit before he stared at Diddy without focusing his view on anyone else. "I hope you don't mind but I'll have to scan you a bit to make this fight more interesting," Lee said.

"What do you mean by that?" Diddy asked.

"I mean THIS!" Lee yelled before his eyes turned a shade of yellow. Diddy suddenly became petrified by the stare as some sort of green flat square appeared above him and went down to run some kind of scan of his body. Once Diddy was scanned, Lee's eyes turned back to normal, the chimpanzee regaining his movement. "Heheheheh, now's time for the surprise," Lee said before he removed the blue sheet on himself (the blue sheet technically a sign of him being a ghost), tossed it aside to the left wall, and chuckled to Diddy. "Who do you see?"

Diddy gasped shocked after he saw that Lee had revealed to be...himself. In fact, Lee was now a perfect replica of Diddy.

As some of the Smashers gasped at this, Riolu saw this very entertaining and he clapped his hands together. "Riii! Riii! Riii!" he exclaimed happily.

DK gasped. "D-Diddy, you never told me you had a twin brother!"

"But I never did!" Lee said as he perfectly mimicked Diddy's voice. "In fact, I don't have a twin brother! This one over here is an impostor!"

Diddy shook his head and grunted at the false Diddy. "Hey, don't call me an impostor," he said before he brandished his Peanut Popgun. "You're going to get a good smack for that."

Lee chuckled and took out a Peanut Popgun of his own. "We shall see who the real Diddy is here."

"Lee, stop playing around and get fighting," the Master simply ordered.

Lee sighed. "Always reminding me that I have main tasks to do..." he muttered before he smiled happily at Diddy and aimed the gun at him. "Take this...peanut," Lee said skeptically as he shot a peanut at Diddy.

Diddy looked serious and shot another peanut at the peanut, and both peanuts broke apart upon impact, making some crumbles of the shells fall down on the floor.

"You know what, I'm not going to use this thing," Lee said as he kept the gun away. "Let's go physical now!" he said before he ran to Diddy (in his usual running style).

Diddy gasped and ran forward towards Lee. Once both Diddys were close to each other, they both smacked each other by using spinning attacks with the back of their hands. Both of them grunted in pain and stepped back, each one carefully staring at each other.

"You're fighting yourself, Diddy," DK said in a creepy tone. "Whatever you do, your reflection will do it as well..."

"Something much more helpful to say, DK?" Diddy asked.

"Er...break the mirror..." DK said, keeping his creepy tone. "Shatter it...with...slaps..."

The Smashers looked at DK.

"...Yeah," he added.

"...Thanks...DK..." Diddy said. "As always you're a big help..."

Lee rolled his eyes and leaped towards Diddy. "Angry Chimpanzee Attack!" he yelled loudly.

"Avoid Angry Chimpanzee Attack!" Diddy yelled before he dove under Lee and quickly turned around to fire several fast peanuts at the Duplighost's back. Lee yelled in pain (pondering why the peanuts actually hurt him) and fell down in front of Diddy.

...And Lee remained there, knocked out unconscious on the floor.

Music stops

"Enough," the Master said. "The winner of this encounter is Diddy."

"What?" Diddy asked confused. "B-but I thought he was just getting harder to defeat..."

"Lee hasn't developed his mimicking skills well enough, it seems," the Master said. "He has had trouble to maintain his stamina and energy while copying someone else's body. Personally, I'd like him to go through a rigorous training before he can achieve what he wants to get soon."

"Master...you're so awesome..." Lee muttered weakly.

Jagger sighed in depression. "I have to give him that he did give a decent fight... He fought much better than Chan did..."

"...Shut up...you..."

Jagger frowned at this and he went over to drag Lee all the way back to the Master's side. The Terrapin put the knocked out Duplighost beside the unconscious Buzzy Beetle's left side on a red cushion. Jagger then went to pick up Lee's blue sheet to put it back to the mimicker's body. "Well, is it my turn now, sensei?" Jagger asked to Jinx.

"Of course it is, Jinx said. "Please do your best out there."

"I will," Jagger said before he stepped forward in front of the two senseis and crossed his arms while staring at the Smashers. "Who shall be my opponent this time?"

As Diddy shrugged and walked back to DK's side, Pit stepped forward and brandished his dual blades. "I shall be the next one to fight," Pit said.

Jinx nodded at this before he raised his right hand. "The third match: Pit VS. Jagger shall now begin," he announced before he went over to the gong to give it a hard punch that made it ring loudly.

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars - Battle Theme

Jagger winded up his right fist. "Prepare!" he warned Pit.

Pit narrowed his eyes and waited for the terrapin to come closer to him. "(All right, I think it's time to put those new abilities into test now,)" he thought.

"TERRAPUNCH!" Jagger yelled as he sent his fist forward, which prompted him to ram his fist towards the angel.

Once Jagger came closer, Pit began to use the offensive. "Shockwave!"  he yelled, slashing the ground with both blades to create red sparkling energy that acted as a barrier and damaged Jagger's feet, causing him to lose his footing.

"Yaaaaaaah!" Jagger yelled before he tumbled back and was stuck in a position where his shell was upside down. "N-noooooooooo!" he yelled as he tried to put himself back to feet.

Pit decided to go on with the battle and use the second ability he got. "Whirlwind!" he yelled, slashing the air in front of him to call forth slicing winds that shielded him. Since Pit was very close to Jagger, the terrapin got stuck in the winds that he got severely sliced by them, his shell levitating off from the floor.

"Aaaaaaaaah!" Jagger yelled as he continued to be sliced in the winds.

"(He is stuck right in front of me,)" Pit thought as Jagger was some feet away from him. "(Maybe I can still attack him...) YIAH!" Pit used his dual blades and sliced the terrapin, prompting Jagger to get pushed out the slicing winds where he fell back on the floor and let out a grumble, indicating he was knocked out. "There..." Pit muttered before the winds disappeared.

Music stops

"Enough," the Master said. "The winner of this encounter is Pit."

Olimar looked confused (which was a bit hard to point out since his eyes were closed most of the time) while Pit came back to them. "I...don't know what to say about this... I think Pit did it very good, but the battle itself...felt short..."

Jinx sighed and went over to check on his disciple. "Jagger, you do know that you lost because you're still lacking some training, right?"

"Y-yes, sensei..." Jagger muttered, his face resting on the floor.

"You're dismissed," Jinx said. "Now please clear the arena."

Jagger slowly got up but himself and walked over to Jinx's side where he sat down a red cushion...then fell back on his shell and fainted out of exhaustion.

"And you said...you were better..." muttered Lee from the other side of the Master while Jinx returned to take his seat.

The Master sighed. "It seems you have proven yourself worthy of facing us," he said. "I'm impressed by your determination in battles. Now, for this match, it will be a 3-on-1 match against me or Jinx."

The Smashers looked at each other while Riolu clapped his hands happily on the right side of the Dojo. "Okay, those 3 were pushovers. Who are we going to fight now?" DK asked.

"Let's fight the old man," Toon Link said. "I think he's easier to defeat than the small guy."

"You guys are seriously being overconfident..." Chris muttered. "Really, each one of them is far more dangerous than Lee, Chan, or Jagger."

"Well, we'll see how dangerous they really are," Pit said. "I want to see by myself how they fight."

"Then...it's the Master?" Olimar asked.

They all nodded before turning to the senseis. "We'd like to fight the Master," Pit said.

"Who shall be my opponents?" the Master asked.

Toon Link took a step forward. "Me," he said.

Chris gulped and took a step forward. "M-me," he said unsure.

Olimar sighed and took a step forward. "M-m-me," he said very unsure.

The Master nodded this and slowly got up, coughing a bit. "I see," he said. "Very well, then."

Jinx looked at him. "You're not going to give them the true extent of you true power yet, right?"

"Of course not," the Master said. "It'd be better if they started off in the easy level."

DK looked a bit annoyed. "The guy's taunting us!"

"I'm not taunting, the Master said. "I am merely doing this so I can see if you're worthy enough to proceed to the next level of my power. For now, we shall follow this rule... Also, I'd like to add that you can rotate between all of you if you think you need someone else to fight. However, you'll have to keep in mind that this is a 3-on-1 fight."

"Rotation... It sounds useful," Toon Link said.

"Ooh, yeah, I do get to fight," DK said pleased.

Diddy looked away. "(DK, I think you're overexcited today...)"

The Master coughed and looked at Jinx. "Please do the honors," he said before turning back to the Smashers.

Jinx nodded and went for the gong where he gave it a hard punch to ring it loudly.

Paper Mario: Master Battle

The Master coughed a bit more before he took a fighting stance. "We shall see how well you fare against me," he said. "Prepare to do battle."

"If he punches me, it's going to be someone else's fault, okay?" Chris asked annoyed.

"Chris, are you that scared about him?" Pit asked.

"W-well, it's just that I've seen...um...heard how powerful he is..."

Toon Link chuckled. "Please, how bad can he be?"

The three swordsmen saw that the Master was running at them. Pit looked confused as to why the elderly Toad could run if he was old. "Is...he running?" Pit asked.

"Wow, he ignores his aches," Toon Link said.

"Prepare," the Master said. "I want to have a nice match against all of you."

Toon Link looked serious and ran towards the elder. "Okay, here I go!" he said before he took out his Hookshot to pull the Master to him.

However, in a swift move, the blade of the Hookshot was grabbed instantly by the Master's hand. Toon Link gasped in shock at this before the Master, amazingly, used the Hookshot against Toon Link by using the item as a long lash. Pit and Chris looked shocked when they saw the Master lashing down Toon Link around the floor. "A bad initiative," the Master commented as he lashed the young swordsman around.

"OWW!" Toon Link yelled in pain as he was continuously lashed on the floor. "OWW! OWW! OWW! OWW! OWW! YOU GUYS, OWW, HELP! OWW!"

Pit looked back at Chris. "T-that elder has insane strength for his age!" he said.

"W-what are you doing standing there?" Chris asked in a panic. "We have to help Link before he gets his skull cracked!"

"R-right!" Pit said before the two rushed towards the Master.

The Master, his gaze focusing on the other two while he lashed Toon Link down, frowned at this. "I have taken care of precautions," he said. "I didn't forget about you 2 at all."

In an instant, Pit and Chris were quickly pushed away by Toon Link being used as a wrecking ball. The three swordsmen grunted in pain as they all rolled to the right and nearly reached the wall. Seeing his trainer getting hurt, Riolu gasped and jumped down Yoshi's head. "Chriiiiiiiiis!" he yelled.

[DededeCloneChris]

The World Traveler slowly got up and twitched a bit in pain while the angel and the Hero of Winds were getting up as well, Toon Link being the one who moaned in pain the most. "I-it's okay, Riolu..." Chris muttered. "T-the Master is not going to kill us or something..."

"B-but..." Riolu muttered before Yoshi grabbed him and put him on his back.

"Don't you worry," Yoshi said as he looked at Riolu. "Chris is going to be just fine. Just watch him fight, okay?"

Riolu sniffed a bit before the trio went back to the arena. "O-okay...ri..." Riolu muttered.

The Master watched as the Smashers looked serious at him. "Shall we continue the fight?" he asked.

Toon Link coughed a bit. "M-man, this old guy is tough..."

"I-I told you he's tough..." Chris trailed off. "Now everyone here knows we have to be careful around him..."

Pit rubbed his chin a bit. "Well, now that we saw that frontal attacks don't work..."

Toon Link grumbled annoyed at this fact.

"...Maybe we should come up with strategies," Pit suggested.

The Hero of Winds sighed. "I guess that'd be for the best..." he said.

Not sooner he said that, the Master was already charging at them. Panicking, Chris looked at the two. "W-what do we do now?" he asked.

"Use Combined Final Smash attacks!" Toon Link suggested.

"Use Over Limits whenever they're ready!" Pit suggested.

"You 2 go forward and protect me!" Chris suggested.

The two swordsmen stared angrily at him.

"...Let's use both of your ideas!" Chris said.

Toon Link grabbed his right hand and looked back at the Master. "Quick, let's do our stuff!" he said.

The Master was about to reach them. "Have you come up with a good idea to attack?" he asked before he focused his view on Toon Link.

Toon Link and Chris looked serious at him. "Okay, at the count of 3..." Toon Link trailed off.

The Master, however, stopped Toon Link from further speaking as the Master sent a flying kick right on the young swordsman's waist. Toon Link coughed weakly before he was sent tumbling back to the entrance's way. Chris gasped at this before he turned back in time to see the Master jump at him and punch his face hard enough, prompting Chris to tumble back as well (making Riolu cry out for his trainer's name).

However, Pit was much better in avoiding attacks than any of them. The angel quickly took a step back from the roundhouse kick of the Master before Pit used Angel Ring to move himself closer to his opponent to slash him continuously. "I-I have him trapped!" he yelled.

But just then, his dual blades were stopped by the Master who managed to grab Pit's hands. The angel gasped shocked at this before the old Toad did a quick turn and lashed Pit down hard on the floor. "U-ugh!" Pit grunted in pain.

"Have you learned yet that trapping your opponents isn't enough to keep them from attacking?" the Master asked.

Pit looked up at him while he gritted his teeth in pain. "I-I thought it would work..." Pit muttered.

The Master quickly back stepped away from the impact of two arrows that came from both swordsmen some feet away from him. "Darn it!" Toon Link cursed.

Chris lowered his bow and looked ashamed. "And here I thought he was distracted..."

"It would be foolish of me to let my guard down for a second," the Master said while Pit pushed himself up and took several steps back from the adversary. "Don't forget that you're dealing with a martial arts master."

"We're forgetting about the things we shouldn't be forgetting about!" Toon Link yelled.

Chris looked confused at him. "Um, how does that work, exactly?"

"We could stand here talking about my confusingly confusing comments or we could be fighting together against that super old Toad."

"...Are you saying it's my fault you're talking like this?"

"Yeah."

"Link!" Chris yelled annoyed.

"You 2, give me some help over here!" Pit yelled to the two as he back stepped from some triple kicks from the Master. "I-I can't handle him alone!" He then received a harsh blow on his gut. "U-ugh... I-I'm...done for..." Pit muttered as the Master pulled back his fist and let him fall down on the floor, loosing consciousness.

"P-Pit!" Chris, Toon Link, DK, Diddy, Olimar, Riolu, and Yoshi yelled.

The Master folded his arms behind his back and coughed a bit. "Well, it seems he lacked some more training," the Master commented.

After he said that, he looked a bit surprised to see that a divine light shone down on Pit, gently touching his back to make the image of some glowing wings appear and flutter a bit. The shining wings, however, disappeared, and Pit suddenly opened his eyes and slowly got up from the floor.

"W-what...just happened?" Pit asked confused. "I thought I was knocked out of cold..."

Diddy looked confused and tilted his head. "What did just happen? Why did that light appear out of nowhere?"

DK gasped and looked up at the ceiling. "A-are our guardian angels watching over us, perhaps? A-are they giving us their blessing?"

"If that were true, then we would have finished this fight a long time ago," Kawashima was heard saying from Chris's pocket. The professor sounded a bit bored at this as well. "Well, no. That wasn't the reason behind Pit's recovery. You see, Chris bought the 'Last Breath' ability, and it allows any Smasher to recover from getting knocked out in a fight. However, this ability recovers 50 percent of the health of any fainted Smasher."

Chris looked at his pocket. "So we can keep coming back until we finish the fight?"

"Sadly, no," Kawashima said. "This ability only works once with every single Smasher per fight. If Pit is knocked out again, then that's it for him and he will get knocked out for real this time. You better be careful because you don't want to rely on it that much."

"Impressive," the Master remarked as Pit rejoined with the other two. "You were prepared for this fight."

"(I'd say it was just luck I bought that ability before this day...)" Chris thought.

The Master coughed a bit. "Let us resume the match," he said before he ran towards the group.

And that's where panic once again took over all of them.

"We JUST have to do SOMETHING," Toon Link said in shock. "There's no unbeatable enemy out there and he's no different!"

"True," the Master commented.

"Y-you heard him out!"

Pit thought for a moment. "Maybe we should try to attack with different attacks like magic?"

"But then if you say that, that means I'm the only one who can attack with magic," Chris said. "...Then I should rely on magic while you 2 fight him?"

"Yes."

Without having second doubts, Chris changed to his Black Mage job. "Okay, magic user ready here," he said. "You 2 go forward and try your best to land some hits on him."

Pit looked at Toon Link. "Should we try a double attack?"

Toon Link looked worried before they all looked back at the Master about to reach them. "DISPERSE!" Toon Link yelled loudly, causing the trio to run at different directions before the Master could attack them.

Chris, being the only Black Mage of the group, ran to the farthest area so he could cast magic from afar. The World Traveler held his staff tightly with both hands and focused his magic. "Burn into greater ashes.... Fira!" he called out.

The Master found himself unable to dodge the attack as a burst of flames appeared and burned him greatly. The sensei of the Dojo shook his head at this attack...and went after Chris after. "If I let you attack from afar, I won't have many more chances to attack," the Master said.

Chris's yellow eyes widened in shock before he turned somewhere else and ran away from the Master. As the Master ran after Chris, Toon Link and Pit were chasing the Master from behind his back. "Hey you!" Toon Link yelled. "Don't forget about us!"

The Master stopped on his tracks and turned around to them. "I haven't forgotten you at all."

"That's good, because we want to see how you dodge this," Pit said.

The Master became wary about their movements. However, he then looked disappointed to see that the two swordsmen were doing a frontal attack on him. "Have you not learned your lesson yet?" he asked before rushing at them.

"(3...2...1...)" both Pit and Toon Link thought while they ran towards the Master. "GO!" they both yelled.

Just before the Master could send them a flying kick, both swordsmen rolled around the elder to perform a familiar attack in which they sliced the Master's back hard with an X-slash before turning back their blades to deal another X-slash. The Master grunted a bit in pain as he was sent rolling forward, but he quickly regained his composure and performed a flip to stand back up.

The Black Mage looked surprised at this. "T-that was the parry attack that I found with Link..." he muttered. "T-then the ability I bought from Master Hand does work..."

The Master coughed a bit and turned to the two swordsmen. "That was unexpected," he remarked. "I didn't expect a parried attack like that. I blame myself for not knowing that much about swordsmanship."

"Ooh, we have an advantage now," Toon Link said pleased.

Pit smiled a bit at him. "I have to say that it was good for us to perform that attack."

"However," the Master began as he ran to Pit, "can you perform it again before you're knocked out?"

The angel looked shocked before he quickly found himself being attacked by the Master. Pit had to block several kicks and fists from the elderly Toad before Toon Link reminded himself that he was close to him. The young swordsman went to attack the elder, but this was quickly interrupted after the Master sneaked a surprise fist attack at Pit's face. The angel, having been revived with only fifty percent of his health, grunted in pain as he back away, a hand trying to ease the pain on his face.

The Master did a back flip over a shocked Toon Link before landing behind him and use a strong palm attack on his back. Toon Link yelled in pain as he was sent rolling forward where he reached Pit.

"Fira!" called a familiar voice to burn the Master with another burst of fire.

The Master then fixed his gaze at the Black Mage on the upper left corner of the arena. The elder then decided to attack Chris to stop magic at once. Toon Link and Pit gasped before they both ran after the Master, a panicked Chris looking around to find a way to escape.

Riolu, having been interested in the fight, began to grow curious about fighting that he decided to climb down Yoshi's back and stand by his side. He looked down at his palms for a bit and thought about something that he would like to do while the battle kept going on.

The Master then turned around and quickly went after Pit. The angel didn't foresee that the elder would turn around and attack him, something that the elder Toad defined as a quick uppercut on Pit's chin. Toon Link gasped as Pit was sent up into the air before the Master jumped high and used a triple kick attack on the angel, the last kick pushing Pit away to the entrance's area. The young swordsman's, for his dismay, saw that Pit didn't get back up. "Pit!" Toon Link yelled.

"Sorry..." Pit muttered. "It was...just too much for me to handle..."

Chris looked worried at this. "(I don't think using healing magic would be good enough... The Master will probably try to stop me from using it, so...)" He forgot that they could rotate Smashers after DK went to pick up Pit to take him to the entrance's area. "U-um...Olimar, come here!"

Olimar looked up from his spot. "W-what? D-do I have to?"

Chris noticed that the Master was going after him. "YES!"

"O-okay..." Olimar shyly walked into the arena and plucked out a Blue Pikmin, a Red Pikmin, and a White Pikmin. Recalling that he just plucked out the Pikmins from the bare floor, the captain sighed. "Oh, this doesn't make any sense... I can pluck out Pikmins randomly from impossible places where they are..."

Once Olimar looked forward, he watched as Chris tried to run away from the Master while Toon Link gave chase to attack the elder Toad. It surely did look odd for him to see a teen running away from an old man that was being chased by a young teen.

The captain gulped and looked at his Pikmin. "Y-you need to give me your support, okay? A-and when I mean support, I mean you latching on the Master..."

The Pikmins looked at each other before they all went after the Master. As for Olimar, he just remained there as far away as he could be from the fight.

"...L-latch!" Olimar yelled. "B-beat him down!"

As Olimar issued orders, DK grunted a bit at this. "Olimar needs to get closer to fight."

"Meh, I saw a mile away he would stay away from getting hurt," Diddy said.

Back at the fight, unfortunately for Chris, he tripped and fell down on the floor. "H-HELP!" he yelled as the Master came closer to him.

Fortunately for Chris, the Master sidestepped from a boomerang that Toon Link tossed at him. Scrambling back to his feet, the World Traveler got up and took several steps away from the elder.

"I-I think it would be a good idea for me to change to a job I haven't used..." Chris muttered before he changed to his Fake King job. "Okay, dat oughta do it..."

...

"...What dah hell is wrong with mah speech?" Chris asked confused. "I'm talkin' as if I was that there blue penguin! ...W-what's wrong with me?!" he asked shocked. "I-I hate to talk like this!"

"Oh," Kawashima began, "it seems you have earned experience enough to start talking like King Dedede does, Chris."

"...WHAT?!"

"T-that's the truth," Kawashima said embarrassed. "You didn't expect that his manner of speech could be an ability, huh?"

"T-this is just some kinda joke, ain't it?" Chris asked in disbelief.

"Sadly, you'll have to abide by the rules."

"T-this sucks!" Chris complained angrily. "I-I don't wanna be talkin' like that fat dude!"

The World Traveler then felt that someone grabbed his robe from behind. In an instant, the hammer wielder yelped as the Master spun Chris above him and rammed him down on a running Toon Link, both Smashers yelling in pain. Right after Chris crashed down on Toon Link, Olimar's Pikmins came from behind them and they leaped to the elder Toad.

Unfortunately, the Master merely punched them away, instantly killing them off. The elder Toad coughed a bit and folded his arms behind his back. "Please do show some more strategies," he said as Chris and Toon Link got up from the floor, panting heavily. "I know there must be something in you that could change the tides of this battle. You haven't defeated all the enemies you've faced before without having a strategy."

"U-ugh..." Chris grunted in pain. "I-I bet dat there's some kinda strategy to beat dah guy..."

Toon Link stared at him with an odd look. "Chris...why are you talking like if you had some sort of weird accent?"

The fake king grunted annoyed at this. "I-I dunno! Dah job's dah one who's makin' me speak like this!"

"Creepy..." Toon Link commented before the two focused back to the Master rushinf directly at them. "W-we have to think of something!"

"Easier said than done!" Chris complained. "Y-ya better have a good plan or we can kiss our butts good bye!"

Toon Link stared at him.

"I-I don't normally say this, I swear!" Chris said in his defense.

"Prepare yourselves," the Master called out, his straight look freaking the two Smashers.

Chris gulped at this and readied his hammer. "I-I better do somethin' before we regret it..." he muttered. "Y-YIAH!" he yelled before he used a Super Dedede Jump to jump over the Master. "Heheheheheh!" Chris snickered in a weird manner. "Didn't expect dat, did y-"

And the fake king forgot the fact that the ceiling wasn't exactly that high, thus giving himself a good smack to his head. The World Traveler turned upside down and crashed right on the floor.

"O-owie..." Chris muttered in pain. "...Who put dat ceiling up there?" His look quickly turned shocked as he heard the footsteps of the Master going after him. "H-HELP!" he yelled.

"C-coming!" Toon Link yelled as he took out his Hookshot before he ran towards the Master. "(I-I know this didn't work before...but I better find out another use for this...)"

The young swordsman looked around before he glanced up at the wooden ceiling.

"...Wood..." Toon Link muttered before looking at his Hookshot. "My Hookshot can attach itself in wood..."

The fake king quickly got up and turned around in time to see the Master leaping at him, his small right foot with intentions to give Chris a triple kick on the face. "This shall be over soon..." the Master muttered.

However, before the Master could even land a hit on Chris's terrified look, Toon Link, hooking up his Hookshot on the wooden ceiling, leaped towards the Master and used the Hookshot's chain as a rope in order to reach him faster and slash him across from the left side, prompting the elder Toad to be pushed away to the floor. Chris watched surprised at Toon Link's quick thinking by the use of his Hookshot.

Toon Link chuckled as he spun around while keeping a tight grip on the Hookshot's handle. "You okay, Chris?" he asked.

Chris smiled. "O-of course I'm fine, thanks to ya."

The young swordsman kept spinning around a bit before he pulled back the chain back to the Hookshot. The two then looked back at the Master standing up by pushing his feet back up. "Nicely done," he remarked. "I'm sure I didn't expect such quick thinking."

Toon Link closed an eye and scratched his head a bit. "Pretty good, huh?"

"Yes, but will it be enough to make you win the fight?"

Toon Link and Chris gasped before the Master rushed towards them. Surprisingly, from behind the elder, Olimar came closer and tossed three Red Pikmins at the Master's back. The elder Toad was taken by surprise to this attack before the Pikmins began to smack him down everywhere. "T-take that!" Olimar yelled before he plucked out two Yellow Pikmins and a White Pikmin that he tossed them all at the struggling Toad. "A-and that!" Olimar added.

The previous two Smashers sighed in relief at Olimar's action before they looked serious at the Master. The two looked and nodded to each other before they went after the Toad, Chris pulling his hammer high up to begin charging the Jet Hammer. "Ya little toony swordsman, distract dah ol' dude!" Chris ordered. "P-please don't mind how I talk right now!"

Toon Link decided to ignore the weird speech as he ran to the Master. As the Toad managed to toss some Pikmins away, Toon Link saw the perfect opportunity to use his Hookshot. The young swordsman fired the blade to make it latch on the Master. The elder Toad gasped at this before Toon Link pulled the Master to him and rolled his back on the floor to push the Master away to Chris's direction.

"THERE!" Chris yelled as he did a hard swing to the Master's head. Thankfully, the attack was strong enough to send the Master away to the entrance's area, his body rolling recklessly on the floor before he stopped by using a flip to get back up to his feet. "Alrighty, dat's what I call a good smackin'!" he yelled before laughing loudly in an usual way, his hands resting on his hips.

Seeing Chris laughing like some maniac was surely a very strange sight for the rest of the Smashers. Toon Link and Olimar exchanged looks with each other while DK and Diddy did the same thing.

As for Riolu, the little creature looked happy at his trainer's happy mood, oblivious of the fact Chris had never laughed at an enemy like that before. Yoshi, however, looked a bit skeptical at this.

"You're starting to get livelier," the Master said. "It's good to see such a happy mood in battle. That usually boosts confidence in one's courage."

Chris stopped laughing and he grinned (which he had never done so much before). "Ya bet AM happy, ol' man!" he said before he looked shocked at what he had done and said. "...W-what's happenin' to mah speech?"

Yoshi looked confused at this. "Huh, weren't you noticing that you were talking like Dedede?"

Chris shook his head. "N-no, right after I used mah hammer...s-something kinda made me say those things...a-and I even grinned? ...W-what is wrong with this job?!" he asked terrified.

The Master blinked a few times before he shook his head. "It must be the use of the power you have on that form. It's clearly obvious that the person who was used to base your power surely did act in such a...unique manner."

"Can ya call this a unique manner?" Chris asked in disbelief.

"It...sure is unique around these parts..."

"..." Chris slapped his forehead and frowned at this.

"Let us continue the fight," the Master said before he charged towards Chris and gave him a harsh blow on the stomach. The fake king coughed weakly at this as he accidentally moved his head down, allowing the martial artist to hop a bit from the ground to do a flying spin kick to his face. The World Traveler yelped in pain as he rolled back recklessly before he stopped and started to pant heavily on the floor.

"Chris, be careful!" Kawashima yelled. "According to the new application you bought for me, which I'm very thankful about, you're at the verge of being taken out!"

"I-I know..." Chris muttered as he slowly pushed himself up. "B-but I'm not gonna let the ol' man own me dat badly agai-"

The World Traveler's comment was soon halted by a flying kick that the Master impacted on his face. Having enough of all the damage he had received, Chris's eyes spun a bit at this, and he fell down on his back, letting go of his hammer as he lost consciousness.

Riolu's tail pointed up in shock as he saw his trainer knocked out on the floor. "CHRIIIIIIIIIS!!!" he cried out loudly, Yoshi twitching a bit at the high-pitched scream.

Suddenly, the same divine light that had shone on Pit appeared on Chris and gently touched him. The light wings from before appeared on his back to flutter a bit on the sides before disappearing in spores of light, giving Chris another chance to fight in the battle.

Once Riolu blinked some tears away, he saw that his trainer moved his head up before he slowly got up. This sign made Riolu look surprised before he clapped his hands together with glee. "Chriiiiiiiiiiis!" he exclaimed happily.

"R-Riolu...I-I'm just fine..." Chris muttered with a sigh as he stood up. "I-I'm not gonna fall down to dah floor again!" he complained as he turned around...just to see the Master in the air about to give him a spin kick. "CRAP!" Chris yelped.

Fortunately for Chris, a chain of six Pikmins pushed the Master away in time. The World Traveler looked to his right where a gulping Olimar pulled back his Pikmins on the floor. "A-are you okay?" he asked. "I-I was conveniently standing close to you..."

"Olimar...thank ya..." Chris said in relief.

"...Thank 'ya' too..." Olimar said confused.

"The Over Limit gauge is ready," Kawashima said. "You may now use a Final Smash."

Toon Link gasped at this. "W-wait, let me use my Final Smash!" he said. "I-I want to call Gnome into battle!"

"O-oh, right," Olimar said. "You have that sticker..."

Toon Link coughed a bit before he used the Over Limit, instantly engulfing himself in a rainbow aura. The young swordsman put his sword across in front of him and closed his eyes to chant a spell while the Master ran after him. "I call upon the servant of Mother Earth!" he chanted loudly.

The Master suddenly found himself unable to move due to an earth glyph appearing under his feet. The elder Toad coughed a bit as he tried to escape from the glyph, but it was just too much for him to even move an inch from his spot. A bigger brown glyph appeared right around Toon Link's feet as he continued his spell. "I summon thee...come...Gnome!"

The Smashers looked up of the Master where they saw that smoke appeared, and from it appeared Gnome, flipping several times in the air as he fell down upon the elder Toad. "I'll...crush ya!" Gnome said happily before he crushed the Toad under his weight, creating a 4-way shockwave of stalagmites that spread around upon the Dojo. The attack itself, however, didn't cause any damages to the floor or the walls. The Summon Spirit of Earth playfully hopped on the spot he had fell on the Master before he turned at Toon Link, gave him a wink, then disappeared right after.

Toon Link chuckled. "I don't know why, but I think I'm going to use this attack more often."

The Master, lying down on the spot where Gnome had fell on him, slowly got up and shook his head. "Well done..." he muttered. "You're all full of surprises...but I can still hold my ground against all of you." He took a fighting stance. "Let us continue this battle."

Olimar couldn't believe that the elder Toad was able to fight back even after the big mole crushed him down. However, the captain did recall that the Master could run and even perform roundhouse kicks without showing traces of sweat. Shrugging at the thought, Olimar decided to attack the sensei with Pikmins trailing off from his back. "H-how can you still fight?" Olimar asked. "I-I thought you were retired."

The Master coughed and went after Olimar, making the captain make a sharp turn around and escape from him. "Years and years of training and meditation have allowed me to withstand my age," the Master explained. "This is the result you get for following the routine."

"(It must have been a bit boring to do all that...)" Olimar thought.

As the Master gave chase to Olimar, a determined Toon Link chased the old Toad from behind with a boomerang ready. As for Chris, his job didn't make him run all the fast with the big hammer he was carrying around. Before Toon Link could even throw his boomerang at the Toad, the Master stopped running after Olimar to perform a back flip and pass over the shocked swordsman. The Master then landed behind Toon Link and used a quick palm attack to his chest, delivering a strong blow that pushed Toon Link away.

It was made clear that Toon Link couldn't resist the attack for much longer since the same divine light shone on his back, prompting light wings to appear and flutter a bit on his back before disappearing. Soon, the young swordsman regained his senses and slowly pushed himself from the floor. "Uaaaaaaahh..." Toon Link sighed. "I better be more careful for those surprise attacks..."

"That would be a nice plan to do," the Master commented behind Toon Link.

The young swordsman yelped, turned around, and took several steps back to stay away from the Toad. The Hero of Winds then recalled that he had learned new abilities thanks to the stickers. "Piercing Claw!" Toon Link yelled as he raised his sword to the air. The blade of the sword then formed an iron drill that he quickly moved forward to the Master.

For Toon Link's dismay, the Master easily dodged the attack by taking a side step. Toon Link grunted at this and quickly made a sharp turn, the drill of his sword disappearing. "Charge!" he yelled, a force shield that formed in front of him to use a quick rushing attack with his sword to the elder Toad.

The Master couldn't evade the attack due to the fact the force shield reached him and made him get stunned for a split second, enough time for Toon Link to deliver a harsh slash attack. "Very good..." the Master muttered as he tumbled back a bit while Toon Link stepped away from him.

Before the Master could take a step forward, he dodged a Gordo bouncing to his way before it disappeared.

"Damn that ol' man!" Chris cursed. "He's movin' around like a sneaky rat with hyperactivity for nearby cheese!"

Olimar, being the one the farthest away from the Master, rubbed his helmet as he tried to think of an attack. "I know latching you 6 on him is going to look stale..." he muttered to his six Pikmins. "...But I have to fight...even though I didn't want to be a fighter at all..."

The captain resolved himself to run towards the Master while Toon Link used his shield to block the fist attacks of the elder Toad. Eventually, Toon Link's shield was moved away, allowing the Master to deal several fists attacks to his waist. The young swordsman coughed weakly as he clutched himself in pain before the Master hopped a bit to do a spin kick to his face, making Toon Link lose the last of his breath as he rolled back and fainted, face lying on the floor. "Sorry...you guys..." he muttered before falling unconscious.

"L-Link!" Chris yelled as a scared Olimar reached a point where he could toss three Pikmins to the Master.

"Coming!" DK yelled as he ran around the right wall and went to pick the fainted Toon Link.  The Kong reached for the small swordsman to put him on his back before walking away.

For Olimar's dismay, the Master easily punched away the three Pikmins he had tossed to him. The Hocotate employee gulped as he glanced as his Yellow, White, and Red Pikmins, all of them trembling in fear. "I-I know it's very likely that you're going to be taken out that..."

His Pikmins blinked in shock at this statement that they, as odd as it sounded, burrowed themselves back to the floor and disappeared.

"..." Olimar's eyes opened in bewilderment after he saw that his very own Pikmins retreated by their own. It looked even more bizarre when they had burrowed to the floor and didn't leave traces of dirt or crumbles of wood. The captain began to question the physics of the universe he was in before he shrugged the thought away. "...T-they could do that?" Olimar asked utterly confused.

Thanks to this distraction, Olimar was pushed away by a palm attack on his back from the Master. The captain went stumbling on the floor before he fell down and moaned in pain.

Chris looked over at DK and Diddy. "Hey, ya big ape, c'mere and fight already!"

DK blinked surprised before he cheered a bit at this and ran into the arena to assist the team while Diddy kept looking after Pit and Toon Link.

Chris had enough of the Fake King job's weird accent that he decided to change to his Monk job. "Phew... This is much better..." he muttered as DK ran to his side. "Honestly speaking, I like to talk like I usually do because I'm not that used to change speeches..."

"Ooh, I know," DK said. "You were so out of it just now."

The World Traveler stiffled a small nervous chuckle before he looked at his claws. Chris noticed that he was wearing two familiar claws: the Ice Claw on his right hand, and the Lightning Claw on the left hand. "These claws..."

DK looked at the claws. "What about them?"

While Olimar kept tossing Pikmins wildly at the Master, every Pikmin having the unfortunate result of dying by a single fist, the World Traveler remembered something about the claws. "These claws were given to me by Yang when I was in Baron in another world... I thought these were going to turn into stickers but they didn't... Why?"

Kawashima coughed. "It looked like your job was...kind of incomplete."

"What do you mean by that? (Olimar: K-keep him away from getting closer to me! O-oh my god, my Pikmins, they're all dying so fast!) My job was incomplete?"

"To be honest...it lacked its weaponry," Kawashima explained. "Master Hand forgot that part, and thus you didn't get the full extent of your power. However, once you obtained those claws, they became part of the job to fill in the gaps."

Chris sighed annoyed. "So Master Hand screwed this job?"

"...People tend to forget even what matters the most."

DK chuckled. "Hey, at least you pulled through it."

Chris rolled his eyes. "Sure, I pulled through all the battles because I didn't even use this one that much. (Olimar: H-hey, guys, can you give me a hand here? M-my goodness, h-he's getting closer!) Thankfully, I'm going to use right now."

DK looked serious with a grin. "That job gives you more power, and I don't like to brag much but I do have a lot of strength."

"What do you mean?"

DK began to punch the air boxing style. "You and I are going to beat that old man down with brute strength. If he doesn't go down, then we're gonna have to keep trying until he DOES go down."

Chris looked at the very enthusiastic look that DK had. The World Traveler began to think that DK, even though being more of a muscle brain, was energetic about almost everything. In fact, DK even liked the fight, showing some enthusiasm that made Chris smile a bit. "...I think we can actually pull it off."

DK stopped punching the air and he looked at Chris, showing his teeth a bit. "You gotta think about good stuff so you don't feel so down. (Olimar: Oh my god, he's so close! M-my Pikmins, t-they're dying too much!) That way, you get to enjoy what you do."

"(Heheh, I guess I'll just have to be as optimistic as you.)"

"(Yep, that's how you need to do it.)"

"(But I really dislike the idea to fight...)"

"(Pfft, what can you do?)"

"(Nothing...for now, I think...)"

"(Good, good... Well, now that you're looking better...can you explain me why everyone froze around us?)"

The World Traveler ignored that the two of them were talking through the same way when anyone and Chris would obtain a new CFS. Around them, everyone and everything froze into place, and they couldn't even move as well. Chris gasped a bit at this that he could right away that he had found a new CFS. "(D-DK, you're the next one to get a new CFS!)"

"(...Huh? Really? Is it my turn?)" DK asked surprised. "(Ooh, this weird feeling feels...weird...)"

"(...That weird comment aside...the Monk job...the job is the one compatible with you.)"

"(No wonder why I felt that energetic around you.)"

"(W-well, wasn't it because I started to talk?)"

"(Aww, man, I thought it was because of that!)"

"(...DK, I think you're being a little bit helpless if I'm not using the Monk job. You're...just itching to pummel enemies down today more than usual, that's why...)"

"(...Is that it?)"

Chris sighed mentally. "(Yes, you're really wanting to punch someone today that you think you HAVE to do it out or urge...)"

"(Well...if that's true...can I punch you then?)"

"(N-no, that's not what I meant!)" Chris yelled. "(B-besides, would you ever bring yourself to punch me?)"

"(Er...no...you're a buddy to me like Diddy.)"

"(...I seriously feel a bit of pity for Diddy for having to hang out with you sometimes...)" Chris muttered.

"(What was that?)"

"(U-um, DK, l-let's stop talking now and use our CFS on the Master! W-we have to see if we can defeat him with this one!)"

"(You know, I think I'm feeling the urge of punching someone now. It's just like you said.)"

"(...Please tell me you're not talking about me...)"

"(It could be you if you keep talking.)"

"(Oh, well, let's do this... Wait just a minute, am I the one talking too much here?)"

"(Yeah, you're talking so much that you're keeping me from using my new CFS!)"

"(Y-you hypocrite, I-I...I-I... Oh, screw it already!)" Chris gave up before time began to move on again. "DK, prepare yourself!"

DK smacked his fists together and chuckled deeply. "Yeah, now we're talking my way..."

Chris looked miffed and annoyed at the ape. "(I swear that he can scare me really badly with those straight comments of his...)"

Olimar gulped in fear as the Master reached for him and lashed him down on the floor. The captain yelped loudly in pain before he was tossed away to the left wall where he bounced off from the wall and fell down on the floor, moaning a bit in pain. "You gave a decent encounter, but you can do better if you put your mind into it."

Olimar slowly pushed himself back to his feet and shrugged. "I-I'm hurt...b-but...maybe I can fight..."

"Have confidence in yourself," the Master said. "However, having overconfidence can lead to very disastrous results such as...death."

The Hocotate employee's eyes opened in shock. "I-I'll just have confidence..." he muttered.

"Good choice," the Master said. "Now, can you uphold to that vow in this match?"

Olimar scrambled around to take out three Blue Pikmins, one Purple Pikmin, and two White Pikmins. The Smasher then began to toss the Pikmins wildly at the Master's direction, but the constant repetition of the attack made the Master very wary that he easily used several spin kicks to kick them away to their demises. Seeing this fast yet cruelsome result only made Olimar sniff sadly as he saw the ghosts of the Pikmins disappearing in the air.

"Losing confidence?" the Master asked.

Olimar nodded a few times. "H-how can I keep my confidence like that if all my Pikmins are getting themselves killed against you?"

"You don't have another way to attack?"

'N-no, I rely on my Pikmins to do the fighting..." Olimar muttered. "I need to send them to battle...but I-I just can't stand watching them die so easily. T-they used to survive for a longer period of time for simpler tasks...b-but not fighting..."

The Master closed his eyes. "Your case carries the burden of their sacrifices."

"Y-yes..."

"You're very fond of them, yet you toss them at your enemies. You wish they could live longer, but they can't survive through harsh ordeals..." He opened his eyes and nodded at Olimar. "You're probably forever locked into using that strategy to keep yourself alive. Without you, they wouldn't have someone to listen to."

Olimar sighed. "I know... I don't have another way, though..."

"Maybe if you struggled, you could find out another way..."

"...Can I?"

"Yes, but today is not the time," the Master said before he began to rush at Olimar. "Today is the day where you will have to think of the best solutions to defeat me."

Olimar yelped at this and quickly turned around to run away from the sensei.

"And one day, soon, you will stop from running awa-"

"Hammer of Might!"

The Master was interrupted by a yell and a impacting force on the floor that reached his feet and made him go to the air where he flipped and landed back on his feet. The Master looked back to see DK landing back on the floor with tight fists ready. "It was reckless of me in forgetting about you," the Master said.

DK grinned. "Liked my new attack? I just LOVE smackin' people around when I have an excuse like this fight."

The Master frowned. "You, my friend, need to change that attitude of beating people for joy. If you keep going like that, you will eventually start to bully your friends, and you will laugh at what you do to them."

DK looked confused. "I can turn into a bully?"

"It's one of the many reasons that power should be used for better goals than using it on the people you care the most," the Master said. "Would you use your imposing figure to take advantage of others and hurt their self-esteem?"

"I-I..."

"Would you?" the Master asked. "Why not keep that strength from hurting people? Why not just ignore it altogether and be a normal person?"

"H-hmm..."

"Even the smallest of people take advantage of bigger people," the Master said. "That is still a sad thing to see, in my point of view."

DK looked away worried.

"I hope that gives you an insight of what you should do for the best. I'm only trying to keep a good sense of trust between you and your companions. Don't take this as some sort of offense to you."

The Kong nodded a bit at this and looked back at the Master. "T-thanks, mister..." he said embarrassed.

"I'm glad to provide you with this advice," the Master said. "Now, let's resume the battle where we left on."

Chris appeared from behind DK. "DK, I thought we were going to use our you-know-what after you used Hammer of Might."

DK gasped and looked at him. "I-I was going to but he started talking about strength and stuff..."

"At least I gave him good tips," the Master said. "However, that aside, I'm intrigued to see what you 2 want to show me..." He thought for a moment. "I wonder what it is..."

"DK, HE'S WONDERING WHAT WE'RE GOING TO DO TO HIM! ATTACK!" Chris suddenly yelled before the two quickly reached for the Master. The elder Toad looked a bit susprised at this as DK grabbed him from both sides and tossed him up. The two physical fighters quickly took positions by standing by each side where the Master was about to fall.

DK and Chris pulled back their fists. "3, 2, 1," DK counted down.

"Go!" Chris yelled.

"HAAAAA!!!" they both yelled as they began to send a flurry of upwards fists to the Master. The elder Toad couldn't move from his spot in time before the quick barrage of fists began to hit most parts of his body, prompting him to spin madly in the air. Everyone watched as the two seemed to be sending a blinding flurry of attacks to the Toad.

After sending their punches, the Master kept spinning in the air before DK leaped high up, joined his hands together behind his back, and rammed them down hard on the Master. "One more..." DK muttered as the Master was sent down to the floor.

"...for you to stop!" Chris finished as he swiftly did a quick turn and delivered a hard spin kick on the Master. The elder Toad grunted in pain as he was sent to the north area of the arena while he bounced several times on the ground and stopped sliding on the floor.

DK landed back on the floor and high fived with Chris.

New ability learned! Beat of the Jungle!

One target is thrown high up for 2 users to deliver a flurry of fast punches. After that, both users perform individual attacks to add more damage. Deals great damage to a single enemy.

Jinx, having seen the Master being knocked out very close to him, nodded in surprise. "That was a nice move," he remarked. "Can you still fight, though?"

The Master slowly got up from the floor and looked at him. "I'm reaching my limits now...but would it be wise to keep fighting?"

"That's for you to decide," Jinx said. "It's not my place to tell you what."

"I thought your advice would have sounded nice to hear...but...I'll continue," the Master said before he rushed towards the duo.

Chris watched surprised as the Master went after them. "W-what? Is not enough yet?" he askedin disbelief.

DK gasped and quickly put himself in front of Chris. "Stay back and leave him to me!" DK said.

"What? Can you handle him solo?"

This little distraction was enough for the Master to jump over DK and go towards Chris. The monk got a shocked look before the Master delivered a donwward kick to his face followed up by some palm attacks on his chest. Chris tumbled back weakly as he began to pant heavily before the Master leaped at him and delivered a flying kick to his gut. The World Traveler then was sent bouncing along the floor before he fainted close to where Yoshi and shocked Riolu were. "And...here I thought I was about to...ugh..." Chris muttered.

"C-CHRIIIIIIIIIIS!!!" Riolu cried out before he jumped off from Yoshi's back and went to see his downed trainer. "W-wake up, Chris, wake up!"

Yoshi got up from his spot and went over to check on Chris. "Riolu, don't worry... Chris is just fainted. He's going to wake up in a bit."

Riolu sniffed a bit and looked up at Yoshi. "R-really?"

"Yes," Yoshi said. "Let him rest for a while."

Riolu looked back at the painful expression of his trainer. The Emanation Pokémon looked worried at this as he kept staring at Chris. "(...Maybe...this wouldn't have happened if...)" He looked at his hands. "(...)"

Yoshi blinked a few times at this as Diddy made his way to the match.

The Master coughed a few times before turning to an angry DK. "I don't have much energies left...but I shall keep fighting until someone is defeated."

DK cracked his fists a bit. "You're gonna pay for taking Chris out like that," he said before he jumped high into the air while pulling his fists back. "Get this!"

The Master quickly rushed away from a Hammer of Might attack from DK. However, when the Master side stepped away, a Purple Pikmin was flung to his head, making him lose his balance and fall down before the Purple Pikmin walked back to a gulping Olimar. "I-I can do this... Maybe I can pull this off..." he muttered to his Purple Pikmin.

As the Master got up, Diddy came in and used Monkey Flip to latch himself on the Master's head. The spider monkey then began to smack the Master hard over all parts of his heads before the sensei grabbed him and tossed him away to the right where DK quickly reached for Diddy and caught him on his hands.

Next, Olimar rushed to the Master and used the sole Purple Pikmin as his weapon (as much as Olimar pained to hear) by smacking it hard on the Master. The sensei of the Dojo did some back flips to escape from the Hocotate employee just to be attacked by DK's Hammer of Might right on the very spot of the attack, making the Master bounce to the air in pain.

[DededeCloneChris]

While the Master bounced to the air in pain, Diddy came back and used a quick Rocketbarrel Boost to slam himself hard on the Master's back. Before the Master could even regain control, Olimar decided to attack once more by jumping to the air and toss his heavy Purple Pikmin right on him.

Music stops

"Re...markable...all of you..." the Master muttered.

And then, the Master fell down on the floor, panting heavily before he fainted.

The Smashers gasped after they saw that the Master didn't move anymore from his spot. Olimar, DK, and Diddy all looked shocked to each other at this, and they didn't think that they would actually defeat the Master.

Jinx, together with the weakened Lee, Chan, and Jagger, watched this from his seat before he stood up and raised his right hand. "That is enough for now," he said. "The winners of this match are the Smashers."

"..." Diddy smiled a bit at this and looked at a happy DK. "We did it...we did it!"

"Yeah, we did it!" DK said before the two high-fived each other.

Olimar sighed in relief and sat down on the floor with his Purple Pikmin. "Phew...that's over..." he muttered. "...Thanks for helping," he said to his Purple Pikmin, who in turn tilted his head.

Yoshi sighed at this and looked at Riolu, who was still looking at his trainer. "Riolu, the fight's over," he said.

"Riiiii..." Riolu muttered as he looked down at his trainer.

However, Riolu blinked some tears away as he watched his trainer's right hand twitching a bit. Soon, he saw that Chris slowly woke up from the floor and looked up at Riolu. "Riolu...I'm...just fine...see?" he said, giving Riolu a small smile.

Riolu sniffed a bit at this before he dropped to his knees and lied close to Chris, his blue tail wagging at the sides. "Chriiiiiiiiis!" Riolu exclaimed happily before he hugged his trainer.

Chris chuckled heartily at this before Riolu began to lick his face. The World Traveler embraced his Riolu before he looked up at Yoshi, who smiled a bit at this and nodded at him.

Some minutes later...

The Smashers (Pit and Toon Link having regained consciousness back) were standing in front of the five members of the Dojo while the Master had an ice bag on top of his head. "Congratulations," the Master said. "You have won the match against me."

Toon Link sighed. "You sure hold many surprises for a guy your age..."

"It's my routine that allows me to be like this," the Master explained. "However, I don't want to talk more about that."

Pit looked a bit worried. "Is...something else that you want to say?"

The Master nodded. "In recognition for your efforts to take me down, after seeing all of you work together as a team despite the big differences that each one of you have with each other..." he took out a badge from his back with a silver ring and a red '64' imprinted in the front, "I would like you to have this."

The Smashers stared at the small badge. "What's this?" Yoshi asked.

"This is a badge that proves that you have beaten the Master," Jinx said. "Not only it is a diploma of the sorts...but it also gives all of you a very useful ability."

"That badge gives us an ability?" Olimar asked.

"Yes," the Master said. "Once you grab this badge, it's going to double your strength."

The Smashers looked a bit surprised at this. "This...badge does what?" DK asked surprised.

The Master closed his eyes. "This special badge doubles all of your team's strength, vitality, defense, magic attack, magic defense, and luck in giving strong hits. It will only raise your base attributes, though. It won't raise those extra attributes you receive from the equipment you have."

Chris looked surprised at the badge, but after he recalled the Master's words, he looked away worried.

Diddy took a closer look at the badge. "How did you get to do this?"

"We were able to create this through intense hours of meditation to channel vital energy and dexterity into this material," Jinx explained. "We've been trying so hard that all of us had to work together and produce this."

The Master coughed. "And this badge is only destined to be used by your hands. It was meant for you to use it."

"...But..." Chris trailed off, "...that's going to make us stronger...right?"

The Master opened his eyes. "Ah, you're worried about the talk I gave you a few weeks ago, right?"

Chris looked back at him. "Yes... After you said that the badge is going to increase our strength...well...it's going to..."

The Master shook his head. "Do not think such a thing will happen."

"W-what?"

The Master nodded. "You're not going to become corrupted with power because of the badge. Besides, if you think again, why would we go ahead and put the very same world we live in danger through giving this to you? It wouldn't make sense, would it?"

"...No..."

Jinx cleared his throat a bit. "You gained this through hard effort, you know."

The World Traveler looked a bit surprised at this. "W-well, we did fight hard to win..."

"Hard effort should be rewarded for those who put their minds into what they want to achieve without having to cheat," Jinx said. "You have done this flawlessly."

"And in recognition for your hard efforts, you shall have this with you," the Master added as he moved his hand with the badge forward. "Please, take it. We know what we're doing."

Toon Link approached to the badge and stared at it. "Once we take it...will it make us stronger?"

"Yes."

"..." The Hero of Winds gulped a bit and slowly reached for the badge. He stopped right before grabbing to think about the effects. The young swordsman closed his eyes and quickly grabbed the badge, waiting for the effects to take place as everyone else did the same.

Obtained 64 Badge!

A vital energy-infused badge that doubles the base strength, vitality, defense, magic attack, magic defense, and luck of all party members.

...

At first, none of them felt anything in particular. They just looked confused at the five members of the Dojo.

"What is it?" Jinx asked. "Your power has doubled."

"But...that's it?" DK asked. "No swelling, no tickling, no grumbles inside stomachs, nothing at all?"

"What, did you really think you were actually going to feel anything?" Lee asked.

"Why should you feel the power?" Chan asked.

"It sounds so wrong to feel the power because it might sound perverted," Jagger said.

Jinx shook his head. "Your power DID double, but we removed the part where you feel it."

"What? That should have been nice..." DK muttered.

The Master shook his head. "Believe me; there are foolish people who, as soon as they feel that their power have doubled, want to test it out on some unfortunate living being or object just to show off," he explained. "We wanted to make the effect like this so none of you would "give it a try" on something or someone."

"Besides, feeling stimulates people to do all sorts of crazy things," Jinx said. "Some of which...we don't want to refer to."

Olimar sighed in relief. "O-oh, I think that was a good choice..."

The World Traveler looked at his Riolu before he gasped. "W-wait, if our power did double...then...wouldn't that mean..."

Chris imagined the devastating attack Lucario had used weeks ago. However, this time, he thought that the attack would grow immensely dangerous in size as it took a much greater expanse of land, and it didn't let anything get alive. He imagined that the attack would completely obliterate anything and anyone except for Lucario.

"..." Chris looked worried at this. "...We...just made everything..."

"Of course, we took all precautions," the Master interrupted.

The World Traveler looked at him. "What?"

"We didn't even think about making your attacks much bigger," Jinx said. "To the contrary, we just intensified them in damage, not magnitude."

"If we did otherwise, we would've done a big mistake," the Master said. "We do our best to maintain a balanced level in power. We know that it would be very good to have a bigger magnitude, but it would also be a bad idea."

"You guys seriously want to destroy everything with the opponent you want to defeat?" Lee asked. "You must be out of your heads if you're thinking that."

"In a few words, your attacks can deal more damage besides your attributes doubling as well, but just that," Jinx said. "You don't have to worry about anything else."

The World Traveler took another look at his Riolu before he chuckled at him and looked back at the Master. "...Thank you for everything..." he said.

The five members nodded at them. "This was for the best," the Master said. "You are the only ones who can vanquish the menace that threatens all the worlds out there. We're just trying to give you some advice before you do something very reckless."

"And giving you a helping hand whenever you find yourself in trouble," Jinx said.

Pit smiled a bit at this. "We're thankful for your help."

"You can always come back here and train some more," Chan said. "I'm sure the Master and Jinx will have new challenges for you to face."

Jinx nodded. "You can achieve even more here...but now it's not the time. You need to gain even more experience in battles before you take another step further to improvement as a group."

Toon Link looked at the 64 Badge. "You mean to say...there are more stuff you can give us?"

"We could give it to you...but that would be cheating without using effort," Jinx explained. "You have to do more effort before you can do the next challenge here."

The Master nodded. "Until then, please do take care of each one of you," he said. "You're the first group of people who had showed partnership and an indomitable devotion to protect anyone, even yourselves."

Chris looked relieved at this and he and the Smashers bowed to the members. "Thank you so much for everything."

"You guys are something to defeat the Master," Lee said. "However, it won't be easy the next time so you better be even more prepared to what's to come to your way."

DK gulped. "Y-you mean we can challenge this place again and fight another harder battle?"

"Yes," the Master said. "For now, I need to take a rest."

Pit looked at the badge. "Why does it have the 64 number on it, though?"

"That is because we thought about giving it some kind of special reference to the very same tournament Mario assisted a long time ago," the Master said. "We decided to name the badge after the first tournament. We know it didn't have 64, but it did sort of alluded the number..."

"...I...see..." Pit muttered.

Chris looked at Riolu, who in turn looked up at him. "Well, I guess we should go back to the mansion now."

Riolu blinked a few times at this before he looked at his hands and began to punch the air in front of him. "Ri, ri, ri, ri ri, ri," he said several times as he punched the air.

The Smashers looked a bit amused at this sudden display of a small training. "Riolu, what's up with you now?" Diddy asked. "You want to train or what?"

Yoshi chuckled at this and walked by Riolu's side. The Emanation Pokémon stopped punching the air and looked up at him. "Okay, you want to play a battle? I'll be your opponent," he said before he fakely punched the air in front of Riolu. "C'mon, give me your best punch."

Olimar tilted his head at this. "Yoshi, why are you..."

Yoshi looked at him and looked happy. "I like babies. I like to play with them a lot."

"But Riolu is no longer a baby," Chris said. "He's a young kid."

Yoshi rolled his eyes. "Well, I did raise him when he was a baby."

"Thanks to you sneaking into Peach's room just to take him away from her," Chris added annoyed.

"Hey, Riolu likes me," Yoshi said before looking back at Riolu. "Isn't that right, Riolu?"

Riolu stared at Yoshi before he looked serious and preapred a single palm to use an attack at Yoshi. The Yoshi saw as Riolu's right palm glowed brightly before Riolu thrust it on his stomach.

Yoshi's eyes looked forward in shock before some sparks radiated from his body, prompting him to fall on his back, stunned.

"Riiiiiiii..." Riolu muttered as he made a small glare at Yoshi.

"...G-good...boy..." Yoshi muttered as sparks flew out from his body. "O-ouch...h-he has a killer punch..."

The Smashers looked shocked (no pun intended) at this before looking back at Riolu. "R-Riolu, you didn't have to use Force Palm on Yoshi!" Chris said in disbelief. "S-say sorry to Yoshi right now!"

Unfortunately, Riolu didn't listen to Chris before, surprisingly enough, the Emanation Pokémon flexed down his arms and let out a fierce cry to the ceiling. "Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"

And then, it occured...

The Smashers gasped once Riolu began to glow brightly in a sparkling light. The members of the Dojo, being the ones that were sitting in front of the small creature, watched a bit surprised at this event. "W-what is he doing?" Toon Link asked.

"H-he's going to explode!" Olimar yelled.

"N-no!" DK yelled. "Riolu's evolving!"

"W-what?" Chris asked in shock. "H-he's evolving to Lucario now?"

"Well, wasn't that his evolution?" DK asked.

"B-but...I-I don't know if Riolu should evolve now!" Chris yelled before looking back at the glowing Riolu. "H-how did he need just a punch to Yoshi just to evolve, anyway?"

The World Traveler quickly recalled that the only way that Riolus could evolve into Lucarios were the fact that their evolution was based entirely on the friendship with the trainer. Chris knew very well that it was obvious that Riolu liked him very much, and he presumed that Riolu would evolve very quickly in a short period of time.

Of course, damaging Yoshi wasn't expected...

But back on the matter, Chris tried to think if he should just let Riolu evolve...or stop him so he could enjoy his childhood some more as Lucario had requested...

Then, the decision came...

"RIOLU, STOP EVOLVING!" Chris yelled loudly.

Riolu's glowing image suddenly looked at Chris before the image began to stifle some grunting sounds of pain. Soon, Chris saw that Riolu's glowing form stopped shining, and the Emanation Pokémon dropped weakly on his knees and panted heavily. "R-riiii..." Riolu muttered.

"Riolu!" Chris yelled before he went to grab his Riolu in his arms. "Oh my god, are you okay?"

"Ri-ri..." Riolu coughed a bit before looking up worried at Chris. "Riiiii..."

"I-I'm sorry...b-but...I-I'm just a bit unsure if you should evolve right now..."

"Why?" Toon Link asked. "Why don't you want him to evolve into Lucario?"

Chris turned to the Smashers. "W-well...the thing is that Lucario wanted to enjoy his childhood as long as he could...so I agreed with him..."

Riolu looked confused at the mention of his older form. He remained listening to the conversation.

"B-but...is it...really the time now?" Chris asked. "It's been a long time after I got Riolu..."

"Pardon me for interrupting," the Master began, "but is there something you would like to get help?"

Chris turned to the Master. "...No...everything's okay..." Chris said. "We don't want you to get involved in almost everything we do...n-no offense, of course..."

"None taken," the Master said.

Yoshi slowly sat up and shook his head. "So...he just needed to punch me to evolve? T-that's kind of...just too much..."

Toon Link chuckled. "That's what you get for sneaking him out when it's not the time for you to take care of him."

More sparks flew out from Yoshi before he looked annoyed at him. "O-oh, you shut up..."

Chris looked back at the Master. "If...you'd excuse us..." Chris muttered before he turned to the exit's direction with the Smashers, an exhausted Riolu sighing weakly to himself after having to halt his evolution.

As the Smashers walked to the exit, DK walked close to Chris. "You sure you don't want Riolu to evolve just yet?"

Chris looked away as he held Riolu on his arms. "I...need to think more..." he muttered.

"Hmmmm..." DK grumbled a bit before the group left the Dojo.

The five sole figures of the Dojo looked at each other before Jagger spoke. "Sensei, are you sure we're not putting a lot of stress on them?" he asked. "I mean, I've heard from you that they're trying to stop that so-called menace...but..."

Jinx nodded. "I know what we're doing with them," he said. "Trust me, Jagger."

"If...you say so..." Jagger muttered.

"You don't worry," Chan said. "Those guys are something to be recognized."

"Yeah," Lee said. "Let's put faith in our senseis' words. They know what they're doing...unless you doubt Jinx."

Jagger gasped. "N-no, I-I don't doubt Jinxat all!"

The Master sighed. "(We shall see how they come along in their long journey... Their progress is something I'm going to be looking forward to.)"

December 15 - Monday - Morning

Smash Mansion
Main Lobby

Days passed after the fight at the Dojo. By now, the Smash Mansion was already prepared for the Christmas season. In the main lobby, a huge tree pine of 25-feet tall of height stood proudly, the tip wig touching gently the ceiling as glittering lights sparkled and blinked several times around the braches of the tree. Underneath the tree, there were rows and rows of presents carefully wrapped in nice-looking wrappers with all sorts of different names on the tags.

From the left side, a curious Riolu walked to the tree and looked down at a present that had his name on the tag by Pikachu's name. The Emanation Pokémon looked happy and wagged his tail at the sides.

Chris (in his Hacker job) came behind him and chuckled. "You're very happy today, aren't you?"

"Riii!" Riolu said happily as he grabbed the present and showed it to Chris.

"Oh no, no, no, no, put it back," Chris said. "Christmas is almost here, but you need to wait some days before you get to open your presents."

Riolu looked down sadly and returned the gift to its spot. "Riiii..."

Chris smiled nervously at this while he ducked down and rubbed Riolu's head. The World Traveler glanced to the presents and spotted the names of Tiny, Penny, and Medli between other names. "I did hear that the musicians were going to celebrate Christmas as well..." Chris muttered while, from behind him, Lanky climbed up the stairs, holding a bag with some things that he wanted to wrap up inside boxes as he went up through more stairs.

"Riiii," Riolu said as he turned around and looked up at his trainer.

Chris grabbed Riolu on his arms and gently rubbed his chin. "Try to look happy, Riolu. You woke me up this morning because you started bouncing around all over the big bed."

"Ri, ri, ri," Riolu chuckled happily.

"And then you were shouting out while you were taking a bath," Chris said. "My god, you grew up so soon for having to take a shower by yourself."

"Riiiii."

"You're just so full of surprises," Chris said before he and Riolu hugged each other tightly. "I'm so glad you learn so fast..."

Riolu chuckled at this before he began to lick Chris's face. The World Traveler laughed together with Riolu before Crazy Hand appeared from above the tree and went down to see them. "Hey, you 2, 's up?"

The two looked at him. "Oh, hi...Crazy Hand..."

It was weird for Chris to have a conversation with the insane brother of Master Hand.

...Thinking again, Chris had never spoken to Crazy Hand in solitude.

"Whatcha doing?" Crazy Hand asked. "Ooh, ooh, thinking about what to give me?"

"...I-"

"BWAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!" Crazy Hand suddenly burst out crying loudly.

Riolu covered his ears while Chris twitched a bit at this. "N-no, please, stop crying like that!" Chris yelled. "(Okay, I haven't even decided yet to get a fifth person to give a present...maybe...I could give one to him... But then, what does he want?)"

Chris stared at Crazy Hand.

"(...Anything he considers fun...)" Chris thought. "I-I'll get you a present if you stop crying!"

Crazy Hand instantly stopped crying. "Oh, okay, that makes me feel better."

"Riiii...." Riolu uncovered his ears.

"Nice of you to do that," Crazy Hand said. "Here I thought nobody was going to give me a gift... Well, Luigi's giving me one and I'm wondering if it's a doll. I like to play like I'm a girl who voices dolls. I call it the Girl Doll Game. Wanna play with me when I get doolls?"

Chris looked unsure at the idea. "...I-I'll...think about it..."

"Awesome!"

"(When I mean that, I mean forget it...)" Chris shook his head and recalled something important. "Oh, Crazy Hand, I actually wanted to see you for something."

"No, you can't see what I have inside my wrist," Crazy Hand said. "I know it's the best place to hide but there are limits, y'know."

"I-I wasn't talking about that," Chris said before he put Riolu down and took out a bag with five Gold Bars. "Can I sell these to you?"

Crazy Hand gasped at the sight of the Gold Bars. "H-HOLY MOTHER GOLLY!" he yelled surprised. "120 percent real gold chocolate bars!"

"..." Chris shifted his eyes between the hand at the bars. "T-these are not chocolate covered in wrap-"

"Okay, how much do you want for the chocolate bars?"

"But these are no-"

It was either correct Crazy Hand's belief or stay silent. Chris figured out that arguing with Crazy Hand would surely make him get blasted away out of stupidity.

"...Yes, these are chocolate bars wrapped in golden wrappers," Chris said, Riolu giving him an odd look.

"Hmm-hm! Alright, lemme think," Crazy Hand said before he turned away and quickly turned back to Chris. "How 'bout 3500 Smash Coins each?"

"Hmm...that sounds very good to me," Chris said.

"Deal!" Crazy Hand said before he snapped his fingers and produced a bag with 17500 Smash Coins, and the hand instantly took the bars away from Chris's hands. The World Traveler took the bag (increasing his money count to 19101 Smash Coins) and looked at the giggling Crazy Hand.

"Oh gosh, this is like the best day after the day I made a party at the Electroplankton stage..." The hand looked inside the bag before he seemed to look confused. "Hey, what's this?" He took out what looked to be some sort of recipe. "A...Mada Mishboom...recipe?"

Chris recalled. "Oh, that's...a Mega Mushroom Recipe," he said.

"Oh, oh, sorry, I-I failed my reading test when I was a finger."

"...You were...what?"

"Mega Mushroom Recipe, huh?" the insane hand said. "Where'd you get this?"

"(Wait, is he trying to evade about why I asked?)" Chris thought. "(...Never mind...)" he thought with a mental sigh. "I...got the recipe for working at the restaurant. The chefs there told me that I could make Mega Mushrooms with the recipe...but...I simply don't understand how they make them...even if there are instructions..."

Crazy Hand stared at the paper. "...Chris..."

"Yes?"

"You just made my IQ thingy much smarter...whatever IQ means, anyway," Crazy Hand said. "Why, this note thing is going to let me suggest something very nice to Master Hand!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Oh ho ho ho, you'll see soon enough," the hand said. "For now, I'll keep this recipe with me with the chocolate bars you sold me," he said before grabbing the bags. He turned and quickly floated away to the second floor. "First, I gotta make up a Goomba chocolate statue!" he yelled before disappearing.

Chris could only make a strange expression with Riolu before he kept the bag with him. "Just what is he going to do with the recipe? ...Oh well, I guess I'll just wait..." He sighed. "And now I have even much more money than before," he said pleased. "I...hope Crazy Hand doesn't get depressed that the Gold Bars aren't chocolate... Oh well, he can use them to buy real chocolate."

Riolu looked worried. "Riii..."

"Is something bothering you now?" Chris asked.

"...Chris..." Riolu muttered. "...I...I want...I want to...evolve..."

The World Traveler gasped a bit at this.

"I want to evolve now..." Riolu said. "I want to evolve..."

"R-Riolu, why are you saying that now? Are...you sure you want to do it?"

"W-well...I want to..." Riolu said. "I...I just want to evolve because...I want to see how strong I can become..."

The hacker thought hard for a moment. He began to ponder about if he just let Riolu do the evolution phase or stop him from doing so and keep being a Riolu for a time longer. The World Traveler looked back at Riolu. "...Well...I-I just don't know if I..."

"Please!" Riolu yelled. "I want to evolve before you get hurt!"

"W-what?"

"I remember when you fought the Master," Riolu said. "I saw how you got so hurt by him that you fainted...a-and I was so worried about you..." He shrugged at the thought. "I-I thought...I-I thought you were going to leave me alone...ri-iiiii..."

The World Traveler gasped as Riolu began to sniff silently while covering his crying eyes. Chris took a step back before he quickly embraced Riolu and stood up to hold his Pokémon on his arms. "I-I'm not going to leave you, Riolu! P-please, don't cry!"

"I want to evolve!" Riolu cried. "I don't want to see people hurting you anymore! I want to grow strong and beat those bad guys for hurting you!"

"B-but...what... (What can I do? Lucario never said a specific date to evolve! W-what am I going to do now?!)" Chris thought in panic as Riolu kept sniffing.

Suddenly, the hacker noticed some kind of sweet aroma passing in the air. For Chris, the aroma wasn't very sweet but just a bit, but for Riolu, it was a very sweet one that he couldn't help to ignore. Riolu stopped sniffing sadly before his nose picked up the scent, some tears still strolling down his cheeks. "..." Riolu smelled the aroma. "...Hmm..."

Chris overheard Riolu's pleased hum. "Where...is that scent coming from?" he asked. "It smells like fresh bread..."

Riolu slowly looked at the kitchen. The hacker then followed Riolu's direction.

"It's coming from the kitchen..." Chris said.

Riolu's stomach suddenly growled a bit, making him blush embarrassed before he looked upset. "I'm hungry..." he stated. "I want to eat something..."

Chris stifled a chuckle. "O-okay, I'll give you something to eat now," he said. "(Hopefully you'll forget about evolving for a small while...)"

The two decided to go to the kitchen and find out the source of the scent.

Kitchen

Once the two reached the kitchen, they found out that there was someone there working alone in making some different-colored buns that were all placed in piles on steel trays. Looking around, the duo found a trainer (wearing a pink apron) doing all the buns.

"Whew!" the trainer sighed as she stood up and rubbed her forehead with her left arm. "I've never been so relieved to make Poffins again!" she said before stretching her arms up to make a long sigh. "Seriously, I was getting so bored about just looking around for Pokémon all the days..."

"...U-um...excuse me?"

The trainer looked to her left and found Chris and Riolu staring at her. "...Oh...aren't you...um..."

"Chris," Chris said. "You're...Dawn, right?"

Dawn nodded. "Yeah, that's my name," she said. "I-I'm sorry to say, but we've never had to talk with each other personally, right?"

"No..."

"Well...sorry for that," Dawn said. "It's just that, ever since you guys let us stay here with you, Lucas, Barry, and I have been outside even more than before," she explained. "To be honest, Barry, Lucas, and Red aren't here. They're outside looking for the same Digletts who attacked Barry with their noses with Fury Swipes..."

Chris and Riolu stared blankly at her.

"...I-I know it sounds very ridiculous that Digletts attack with their noses..." Dawn said embarrassed. "Barry is just...being himself..."

"...Digletts attacking with their noses..." Chris muttered confused. "...Okay..."

"Yeah..." Dawn said embarrassed. "(Man, what do I have to tell people about Barry's doings?)"

Riolu blinked a few times before he stared at the trays with the Poffins that Dawn surely made by herself. "Riiiii..." Riolu muttered with interest.

Dawn noticed the Emanation Pokémon. "Oh, is that your Riolu?"

Chris looked at his Riolu. "Yes, he's my starter Pokémon."

"Aww, he looks so cute," Dawn said smiling. She then noticed that Riolu wasn't paying any attention to her as he fixed his gaze at the Poffins. "Hmm? Hey, look, he's looking at my Poffins."

Chris noticed that Riolu was staring at the Poffins. After a few seconds, Riolu's stomach grumbled. The Emanation Pokémon gasped and blushed at this, but his eyes were still looking at the buns.

Dawn chuckled. "It's obvious, so don't try to hide it," she told Riolu. "You want to eat some of them, right?"

Riolu blinked a bit before he looked at Dawn. "...Riii..." he said.

The Twinleaf Town trainer chuckled more before she looked at the wide array of Poffins on the table. "Let's see, you want to eat some of my Poffins?"

"I-is it alright for him to eat your Poffins?" Chris asked.

"Oh, it's not problem," Dawn said. "Besides, I think I was very excited today that I just couldn't help myself but bake lots and lots of Poffins...I mean..."

The trio stared at the eighteen trays with piles over piles of different-colored Poffins.

Dawn blushed and scratched her forehead a bit. "Yeah...too many of 'em to stuff them in my Poffin Case... Guess I'll need to have somebody to eat...at least 8/9..."

Chris looked miffed at her. "Do you expect Riolu to eat all that?"

"N-no! I-I didn't mean it that way!" she said embarrassed. "M-maybe I just call my Pokémon out!"

"Riiiiiiii!" Riolu struggled to get off from Chris's arms. The scent that the Poffins released made him get very hungry.

"O-okay, I'll let you eat!" Chris said.

Dawn gasped. "W-wait! Let me see which Poffin would be best for him!" She looked at the piles of Poffins. "L-let's see...hmm...er...uh...hm...um...here!" she said as she grabbed a yellow Poffin with some red sprinkles on the top. "This one is a Sour-Spicy Poffin. Give this one to him."

Chris grabbed the Sour-Spicy Poffin from Dawn and showed it to Riolu. "Will he like this one?"

"...Riii..." Riolu stared at the Poffin before he smelled it. "Rii-ii-iii," he muttered as he smelled the Poffin. Before more time could pass, Riolu gave a small bite to taste the flavor. "...RiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIiiii!" Riolu said pleased, his tail wagging to the sides. It was not long before he grabbed the Poffin and began to eat it rather fast. "Riii!" Riolu cried out happily.

Dawn clasped her hands. "Alright, my guess was correct!"

"Riii!" Riolu raised his arms.

"I think he wants more," Chris said.

"Oh, sure," Dawn said as she went for a tray full of Sour-Spicy Poffins. "Here, there's a lot for him to eat."

Chris watched as Riolu struggled to get off from his arms. The World Traveler chuckled and sta Riolu on a chair in front of the tray. The Emanation Pokémon didn't waste more time before he began to grab Sour-Spicy Poffins with both hands. The two trainers watched as Riolu tasted every Poffin he grabbed with glee and happiness. "Riiii!" Riolu said happily as he ate the Poffins.

Dawn chuckled at this and rubbed Riolu's head. "You eat as much as you like, okay?"

"Riii," Riolu said happily to her before he resumed to eat.

As Riolu kept eating, Dawn looked at Chris. "I think you're lucky to have a Riolu."

"Why is that?"

"Not many people can find Riolus in the wild," Dawn said. "There's only a few people who have at least a Riolu or a Lucario. So far, I've only seen 3 people who have a Lucario: Veilstone's Gym Leader Maylene, Riley, and the Champion Cynthia."

"(And I've met all of them a long time ago...)" Chris thought.

"But now that I see you have a Riolu and a Lucario...you must be lucky."

Chris looked puzzled at her. "Wait, I have both?"

"You don't?" Dawn said. "But I could've sworn Barry said he saw a "gigantic Lucario" or something like that... Was that Lucario yours?"

Chris glanced at Riolu. The creature didn't seem to be listening since he was very focused in eating the Poffins before him. The World Traveler looked back at Dawn. "Well...about that... (Would it be fine if I tell her that this Riolu is the same Lucario? That would make her...get a bit freaked out...) ...This is a different one."

Dawn tilted her head. "What does that mean?"

"I mean to say I have my Lucario...somewhere else, in my PC box," Chris said. "Right now, I'm having my Riolu with me for the time being."

"Oh, I see," Dawn said. "You're going to have 2 Lucarios very soon, then."

"You...could say that..."

"Are you and Riolu very close to each other?"

"Very much..."

Dawn smiled. "Then I guess he's going to evolve into a Lucario if you gave him a little bit of training. That's a big advantage for Pokémon who can evolve through friendship. Are you planning to evolve him?"

Chris looked away. "That...I'm not sure..."

Dawn looked confused. "Why's that? You don't want him to turn into a Lucario?"

"It's just that...I...I don't think it's the time..." Chris said. "I don't know if he should evolve so fast now..."

"You think?"

"Yes..." Chris said as he looked back at her. "(I could tell her truth...but...it would be just too much for her to believe that a wish made Lucario turn into a Riolu... She'd think I'm insane...) Right now, he looks very happy as a Riolu, as you can see."

Dawn rubbed her chin. "Hmm...so you don't want him to evolve yet?"

"No..."

"And..." she glanced at Riolu, "...does he want to evolve?"

"What?"

Dawn looked back at him. "Did Riolu say anything about wanting to evolve?"

Chris looked away. "Well...he did say it many times..."

"...And...you said no to all those times?"

"..." Chris nodded.

Dawn stared at Chris before she stared blankly at him. "If you ask me, I guess he has the right to say what he wants to do."

"What?"

"It's true," Dawn said. "He's the one who can evolve, not you. I don't see why he shouldn't evolve now at all. If Riolu wants to evolve so badly, why not make his wish come true?"

"(His wish WAS to become a Riolu...)"

"The Pokémon has the best opinion," Dawn said. "Trust me, I know what I'm talking about here. During my journey with Lucas and Barry, I've seen many trainers' Pokémon who liked either to evolve or stay as they are. Heck, even some of my Pokémon wanted to do either thing!" she explained. "And Riolu is no different."

Chris looked back at his happy Riolu.

"Just listen to him if you like him," Dawn said. "You should know which option the best is for him to take. It's not your place to decide what he should do... You're supposed to make sure he's fine with whatever he chooses, not make him go somewhere you want him to go. Doesn't your decision sound a bit selfish as well?"

"I-I...I think it sounds a bit selfish..." Chris admitted. "(But...what he wanted to do...and what he wants to do now...it's just making everything confusing to me...)"

"Make him happy," Dawn said. "Riolu deserves the best of what he wants."

The World Traveler thought hard at this before he looked back at the Twinleaf Town trainer. "...I'll...think about it..."

Dawn shook her head. "Don't think; do it. It's something you have to do."

Chris looked down and sighed. "I understand... (...I'll see if I can decide today... I need to do this fast or...remain thinking regardless of what Dawn said...)"

And suddenly, Riolu burped.

The two trainers looked back at the Emanation Pokémon. They were surprised to see that half of the big pile of Sour-Spicy Poffins was gone from existence but inside Riolu's rather small stomach. Riolu sighed loudly leaned back to the chair, his hands on his pleased stomach.

"Riiiiii..." Riolu said in a low tone before chuckling to himself.

Dawn sweat dropped at the half of the pile. "Goodness...he WAS hungry..."

"Or he liked the Poffins very much..." Chris muttered.

"Well, he looks tougher and cooler now."

"...What?"

"You can't see? Those Poffins made him look tougher and cooler," Dawn said. "I can't understand why you can't see it when it's plain to see."

Chris stared at Riolu. Nothing about him looked tougher or cooler at all.

"...Okay..." Chris muttered before he grabbed Riolu and looked back at Dawn. "Thanks for talking with me."

"No problem," Dawn said smiling.

Chris looked back at the Poffins. "Say...if you can...would you teach me how to make Poffins?"

"Why?"

"I'd like to make Poffins for Riolu," Chris said, Riolu looking interested at this.

"Oh, sure...if you can do me a favor as well."

"What's that?"

Dawn looked at the piles of Poffins. "Would you...call those talking Pokémon here? I need people to eat these Poffins because I don't have anywhere to keep these..." She looked back at Chris. "Besides, I'd get acquainted with them much easier this way...and probably catch them."

Chris gasped at this. "T-they're all already owned, though..."

"...Really? By who?"

"...Red...is taking care of them for some other friends he has...yes..."

"...Oh, I see," Dawn said. "Well, no matter. Call them here so I can get rid of these Poffins."

"Sure...see you," Chris said to Dawn before he and Riolu left the kitchen. The trainer was thinking hard if he should let Riolu evolve. After Dawn told him about Riolu's decision, it made Chris's final answer much clearer, but at the same time much harder.

Chris would think this through the entire day as he went everywhere with Riolu.

As Dawn watched the two walking away to the lobby, she sighed to herself and looked back at the Poffins. "Well, guess I should put everything away except the Poffins," she said to herself before she heard footsteps from the lobby's direction. Turning around...she gasped loudly. "KYYYAH!"

Dawn couldn't believe her eyes, but for some random reason, Barry, Lucas (the trainer), and Red (with Squirtle and Ivysaur) were all brutally scratched to death. In fact, their clothes, their backpacks, even their faces and hands had some scratch marks (that some could be even considered scars) all over the place. The Twinleaf Town female trainer watched Squirtle falling back on top of his shell.

"O-oh my god, what did just happen to you?!" Dawn asked in shock. "Y-you look like you fell off a cliff!"

"T-that's not what happened!" yelled a frightened Lucas before he embraced himself.

"Y-yeah, that didn't happen!" Red yelled. "I-I'd have wished that happened instead of what REALLY happened!"

Dawn took a step back. "W-what really happened?"

"Dawn, we've got to stay away from those moles from hell!" Barry yelled.

"W-what moles?"

"The Digletts are coming!"

"W-what?"

"T-those Digletts he mentioned attacked us!" Lucas yelled. "At first, neither of us believed Barry at all until he took us to them...b-but after he tossed them a pebble...hell...started...Dawn... T-they scratched us to our deaths...almost! We barely escaped them all!"

Dawn couldn't believe what she just heard from Lucas. She wouldn't believe the insane Barry, but Lucas...was an entirely different person. "H-how did they scratch you if they don't have claws or nails?"

"T-they used their noses!" Red yelled as Ivysaur fell to the left side. "W-we saw how they did it!"

"...Are...you 3 really sure?"

"YEAH!" Barry, Lucas, and Red yelled.

It was farfetched to believed that noses could actually scratch people so badly...

Dawn's right eye twitched a bit at this before Barry freaked out and looked around for a hiding spot. "Quick! We need to seek refuge!" he yelled. "I don't wanna fine those Digletts after facing 'em again!" He spotted a door under the table big enough for him to get inside and hide, a thing he just did in 3 seconds. "Tell them Barry's not home!" he yelled, the door shaking crazily.

Dawn looked back at Lucas and Red. "H-hold on, I'll go get the First-Aid kit for your injuries!" she said before she looked around for said kit. "W-where do they put the kit in here, anyway? T-this place is so big!" she complained.

Lucas and Red looked at each other before their eyes rolled back to their heads and both fell on the floor in defeat.

That night...

Chris's Room

Under blankets, there was a moving bump that went around over the bed. The bump chuckled continuously to itself as it moved rather fast around. On the left side of the bed, Chris watched as the bump went around until it moved up and revealed a face that popped out from the blankets and licked his face a bit.

"R-Riolu!" Chris said between laughs. "Y-you're getting very excited with the big bed!"

Riolu stopped licking his face and wagged his tail. "It's so big and wide!" he said. "I can bounce and do many other things!"

"I-I know," Chris said between chuckles. "You're very energetic for that."

Riolu looked up at the ceiling. "I can reach the ceiling if I bounce high enough."

"E-er, no, don't do that," Chris said. "You might end up hitting your head..."

Riolu looked miffed. "But I want to touch the ceiling..."

"It's okay if you stay out of reach," Chris said. "Besides...it's a bit high for you..."

Riolu shook his head. "Nope, I can reach it. Want to see?"

"N-no," Chris said. "I-it's okay, Riolu, really..."

Riolu sighed. "Okay..."

"There, we have to go to sleep now," Chris said. "Christmas is going to come in a few days now. You want to open your presents, right?"

"Yes," Riolu said. "I want to see what Peach is going to give me...and Pikachu, Yoshi, DK, and Mario." He looked at Chris. "What are you going to give me?"

"(Say something so he doesn't find out I haven't thought of a present yet...) Something very nice," Chris said embarrassed. "You'll see."

"Riii!" Riolu exclaimed happily. "I'm going to give you a special gift as well!"

"What? You were able to get a gift?"

Riolu nodded. "Yes," he said before he turned around to look at the drawing of Lucario. "I'm going to evolve so I can do what it says there."

Chris gasped as he looked at the drawing he had drawn of the Lucario in the fighting stance. Chris went as far as to read the same lines that were written around the Aura Pokémon...

Protect me from all danger, Lucario...

I will...

Thank you...

Riolu looked back at Chris. The creature looked a bit upset. "...But...I want to evolve sooner than that..." he admitted. "I don't like to wait... The more I wait, the more you get hurt, and I can't stand it anymore..." His eyes began to get a bit watery. "I-I...I want to evolve now..."

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky - Defend Globe

Chris gasped as Riolu covered his eyes. "I...I want to evolve..." he sniffed. "I...I want to grow so strong... I want to be so big... I want...I want to make you proud of me..." he sniffed. "...A-and...a-and...and I want...I want to protect you...ChriiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiis!" Riolu cried loudly before he began to cry in a high-pitched tone that made Chris twitch.

The World Traveler was at a loss now. The situation had turned out for the worst the moment Riolu saw the drawing. Riolu's cries made Chris feel very guilty about the whole matter of the evolution that he would wish to evolve Riolu very soon before the Emanation Pokémon would get even more upset and sad.

[DededeCloneChris]

Riolu began to sob as Chris looked painfully at his eyes full of tears. "I just want...I just want to evolve..." Riolu muttered. "I...I want to do that so you get safe..."

"Riolu..." Chris muttered.

"I...I really want to evolve..." Riolu muttered between sobs. "I want to be so strong for you...Chris..."

The World Traveler thought hard as Riolu stared at him with tears scrolling down his cheeks. All the tears went down upon the pillow Riolu was resting his head on. Chris knew that Riolu would surely refuse a negative response to his claim to evolve. Chris glanced back at the drawing of the fighter Lucario, then glanced back at Riolu's saddened expression.

What to choose? What to think? And what to do? Did Chris have a place to decide for Riolu?

"He's the one who can evolve, not you. I don't see why he shouldn't evolve now at all. If Riolu wants to evolve so badly, why not make his wish come true?"

The World Traveler recalled the words of Dawn.

"Just listen to him if you like him," Dawn said. "You should know which option the best is for him to take. It's not your place to decide what he should do... You're supposed to make sure he's fine with whatever he chooses, not make him go somewhere you want him to go. Doesn't your decision sound a bit selfish as well?"

Chris stared at Riolu's eyes.

"Make him happy," Dawn said. "Riolu deserves the best of what he wants."

Sadness was the only term that could define Riolu's heartful expression. It wasn't helping Chris to feel better at all.

"I...just want to evolve so you can be safe..." Riolu added before he started sobbing.

"I think you're lucky to have a Riolu."

"I want to be strong..."

"The Pokémon has the best opinion."

"And...if I'm strong..." Riolu muttered before looking at Chris, "...you can hide behind me...and you won't never leave me all alone..."

"Don't think; do it. It's something you have to do."

"There won't be somebody out there who would bother you...or hurt you...if I'm super strong..."

"Just listen to him if you like him."

"..." Chris sniffed after recalling Dawn's words while listening to his Pokémon's pleas.

Quickly, Riolu's eyes widened after Chris hugged him rather fast. The Emanation Pokémon blinked his tears a bit before Chris began to sob. "I-I'm sorry...Riolu..." Chris muttered between sobs. "It was...n-not my place to decide what was best for you..."

"..." Riolu kept staring forward where he was forced to look.

"It's your opinion that matters...not mine..." Chris muttered as he sniffed continuously. "I...I was selfish, Riolu...so selfish about you not having to evolve when you wanted to do it so badly..."

"...Chris?"

"W-what?"

Riolu sniffed a bit before he pushed himself away from his trainer. As their wet eyes stared at each other, Riolu cleared his throat a bit. "...Are you going to miss me being like this?"

"W-what?"

Riolu looked down. "Do you like me more in this form than a Lucario?" he asked. "I...I wouldn't like to evolve if...you want me like this..."

"...No!" Chris said. "Don't think about me, Riolu! Think about what you want to do the most...so I can...accept you..."

Riolu sniffed at this. "...I...I-I mean...would you still like me even if I evolve into a Lucario?"

"I would like you a lot even if I got another Pokémon...a thing I will never do," Chris admitted. "Nobody can take your place...and neither will any form you turn into... You're the same Pokémon; my starter Pokémon, who knows what he wants to do."

"I...I want to grow so strong so you stay safe, Chris..." Riolu said.

"Then...do it...do that favor to me..."

Riolu gasped at this. "Y-you want me to evolve?"

Chris looked away, but he smiled a bit. "You're the one who wants to evolve so badly... You're you, the person who wants to grow up, not me." He sobbed a bit before he looked back at Riolu. "Besides...am I going to stay very safe behind the back of probably the strongest Pokémon who can defeat even the strongest of foes?"

"...Who will be that Pokémon?" Riolu asked interested.

"It's...going to be my Riolu..."

Riolu's eyes widened.

"My Riolu...who will become the strongest Lucario the world and the people have ever known... The one who will show every Lucario out there that you're the strongest..."

The Emanation Pokémon looked down after hearing Chris's words. Riolu thought things for a bit before he cleared his tears and looked back at Chris.

"...So?" Chris said.

"...RiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!" Riolu cried out loudly in happiness before he lunged at his trainer and hugged him tightly. Chris couldn't help himself but embrace his Emanation Pokémon back while Riolu licked away the tears Chris had shed.

"Riolu, thank you for everything you've experienced with me all these days!" Chris said happily. "I'm so grateful for having a Riolu like you, really... This is going to be the final time I'm going to have a Riolu...before having the strongest Lucario..."

"A Super Lucario?" Riolu asked smiling.

"...Of course, a Super Lucario," Chris said chuckling before rubbing Riolu's head. "You'll become the best Lucario the world...no...the universes have seen before..."

Riolu pushed himself back from Chris. "Make me strong, Chris!"

"What?

"I'm not going to be so strong when I grow into a Lucario!" Riolu said determined. "I want you to make me so strong!"

"W-why are you thinking you're not going to become so strong?" Chris asked.

Riolu showed Chris his fists. "If we want to become strong, we have to...we have to do this through effort first!"

The World Traveler gasped at this statement.

"Effort makes everything easier!" Riolu said. "The Master told us that, and I want to follow that fact...with you!"

Chris stared at Riolu before the World Traveler made a relieved face with a sigh. "Yes...thank you for reminding me how to become strong without turning crazy..."

Riolu looked happy before he wagged his tail at the sides.

"I'm...so happy for having a clever Riolu as well..."

Riolu chuckled to himself before he looked around. "I want to evolve right now!" he said before he stood up and jumped over Chris to land on the floor. "I'm going to evolve right here, right now!"

"What?" Chris asked. "How are you going to evolve right now if you don't have a battle or..."

The World Traveler watched as Riolu began to punch the air with rhythm. He saw that Riolu was using Force Palm with both hands while hopping a bit on his spot as if he was using a boxing style. Chris couldn't avoid some of the amused chuckles he stifled. "R-Riolu, I think you should wait tomorrow fo-"

"RiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!" Riolu let out a fierce cry to the ceiling, stopping punching the air to flex down his arms.

Chris looked a bit nostalgic about the cry. "...Wait...that cry you just made...it sounded the same as the one you did back at the Dojo...then after that...you..."

And it happened at last.

Riolu's body began to glow brightly with a light that made Chris narrow his eyes a bit. The World Traveler gasped loudly as the light covered completely the little Riolu. Chris fought back the light to watch how Riolu would evolve. "N-no way, you're evolving after doing that small demonstration?!" Chris asked in utter disbelief.

"Then I guess he's going to evolve into a Lucario if you gave him a little bit of training. That's a big advantage for Pokémon who can evolve through friendship."

The final words that Chris recalled from Dawn made his shocked look fade. Even if the light was strong, the World Traveler smiled a bit at this and shed another tear. "(...Dawn...you really helped me here to decide what to do...)" he thought. "(...Thank you so much... I'll thank you in person tomorrow...for this.)"

However, Chris noticed something weird from the evolution. His eyes could see that Riolu was starting to grow in size...but...not the same size Lucario used to be... In fact, the image only reached about 4 feet of height.

"W-what? H-he's not staying as the Lucario he was before?" Chris asked in disbelief. "W-what did just happ-"

"GUUUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Chris gasped once more after hearing the menacing roar that the image in the light had made. The body of light soon was covered by blue aura that flared up very quickly. Perhaps what was most shocking to see was the fact that the image began to grow in size, slowly surpassing 4 feet, then surpassing 5 feet, and finally surpassing a bit of the 6 feet limit. The image itself had surpassed the place where Chris was sitting down. The roar kept echoing, and it suddenly grew deeper in tone, making it sound even more menacing than it was.

Was the aura the thing that made all that? It was very likely...

The body of light in front of Chris was huge from the point he was looking at it. He could tell that a Pokémon stood in a fighting stance, the face looking up at the ceiling. Soon, the aura around the light began to fade, and the light then began to fade as well.

And before Chris's eyes...there stood the Legendary Aura Pokémon who would be his guardian...and starter Pokémon... The only Pokémon who would be capable enough to protect him from all danger...

Lucario...

Chris blinked in surprise as he looked up at his evolved Riolu. He could barely recall that he once had a small creature that he could easily carry with him at all times, play with him, even feed him with the food he needed to eat. Now, it was a very different story. That very same Pokémon was strong enough to act as a 'tank' and deal fatal attacks that would defeat foes most of the time.

The Aura Pokémon still had his long arms flexing down, his chest sometimes inflating a bit between heavy pants, and his face still looking up while showing the fierce, sharp fangs that he had under his long snout. Chris could only see the fangs and the underneath of the snout before the head slowly began to move down towards him, revealing some closed eyes. Once the face stopped moving, the eyelids slowly began to open, revealing a menacing glare with red eyes that would easily intimidate almost all foes...

But for Chris...it was a glare that the Pokémon before him would never change...because he knew his evolved Pokémon didn't mean harm with the glare he always had once that glare would look at Chris.

Instead, Chris thought he was very safe.

"...Finally..." Chris muttered.

The Pokémon before him stared down at him before he made a small smile. "...Finally...I am the Lucario I wanted to be...for you...Chris..."

"..." Chris began to sniff at this. "Lu...Lu...LUCARIO!" he cried loudly before he left the bed and ran to his newly evolved Pokémon to give him a tight hug, Lucario returning it with an embrace with his left arm. "Y-you evolved at last like you wanted!"

Lucario closed his eyes and shed some tears. "Yes...I feel much stronger than when I was Riolu before..."

Chris leaned the side of his face to Lucario's left shoulder and looked up at him. "I-I'm...I-I'm so happy that I have my Lucario here again!"

Lucario looked down at him. "And I'm happy you're still the trainer I always knew from my birth..." He hugged his trainer tightly with his left arm.

Chris grunted a bit. "A-and you have a very strong strength with you...like...I expected you to have..."

"Guuuuuuoooooooorrrrrrgghhhhh..." Lucario growled happily while Chris chuckled heartily at this.

"It's all over..." Chris muttered. "You finally are a Lucario...and...you enjoyed the childhood you want to experience with me after all..."

"Of course," Lucario said. "I enjoyed my childhood very much. I'm happy to be raised by you. After all, I was born a month ago, and I evolved into this like I wanted," he said. "I wish we knew each other sooner."

"D-don't be clueless," Chris chuckled. "You did know me before. Why, we met each other like a year and a half ago."

"Really? I don't remember ever meeting you a long time ago," Lucario said. "After all, I met you a month ago..."

Music stops

The World Traveler suddenly looked confused at this claim. "...What?"

"I...never met you a long time ago," Lucario said. "I met you in...November..."

"...No, you met me during summer vacations of the last year," Chris said. "That's when you met me."

"No...I met you a month ago."

"What? I thought you would retain the memory you had with me..."

Lucario shook his head. "What memory are you talking about? I can't glance to the past or something... I'm...not a Xatu..."

The World Traveler looked away from his Lucario. He specifically heard from Geno that Lucario would regain his memory right after evolving; a thing Lucario didn't even recover at all. It was very confusing and puzzling to Chris to see that the wish didn't fully become true.

"...So...in other words..." Chris trailed off, "...you think we've known each other for a month?"

"Pretty much..." Lucario said. "...Why are you asking me this all of a sudden?"

"I-I'm asking this because...you should HAVE gained back the memory Geno spoke about..."

"Who...is this Geno?"

Chris was speechless for a bit. "...You mean to say you don't even know who Geno is?" Chris asked in disbelief.

"Unless it was a secret character from all the characters I saw in the Final Fantasy games you showed me...then...no... I'm afraid I don't know a Geno..."

"..." Chris pushed himself back from Lucario's left shoulder. Looking up at his Lucario, Chris smiled a bit and tilted his head. "Would you please stay where you are?"

"Why?" Lucario asked confused.

"I...need to call a bastard...I mean, someone here..."

From what Lucario could tell, Chris's voice turned a bit angry once he said 'bastard' in his words. "...Is it Pikachu?"

"No, another guy," Chris said before he turned to the window. "It'll be quick, don't worry."

"..." Lucario nodded. "Fine..."

Chris sighed deeply...before he ran at the window, opened it, and stuck his head out to the night's sky. "GENO, YOU DIMWIT, COME HERE RIGHT NOW!!!" he screamed loudly.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky - Guildmaster Wigglytuff

Lucario's mouth opened a bit after he heard his own trainer cursing at the sky for some reason he couldn't grasp well enough. "Dim...wit?" Lucario muttered confused. "Chris, is something wrong?"

Chris pulled his head back and smiled at Lucario. "Oh no, nothing's wrong," he said before he stuck his head out. "YOU POOR EXCUSE OF A STAR GUARDIAN, COME HERE RIGHT NOW!!!"

"Hey, there's people sleeping, you know!" yelled outside an irritated Roy from some floors above.

"You go back to sleep!" Chris yelled to the swordsman, who in turn grunted at this and closed his window. "GENO!!!"

It looked like Chris's angry call did make something happen. In the sky, a blink of a small star was seen going down at an alarming speed. It was Geno in his star form. "W-whew, I-I'm here, what happened?"

Chris stared angrily at him. "You said Lucario was going to recover his memory!"

Geno tilted himself at the side (even though it was a bit hard to tell). "What? Oh no..." He looked behind Chris where the Lucario stared confused at him.

"Who...is this thing?" Lucario asked.

"Oh Eldstar, what did I do?" Geno asked to himself as he entered the room.

Chris pulled his head back and put his hands on his hips. "Can you explain to me why did this happen?"

Geno turned to him (it was hard to tell that as well). "I...seemed to forget that part of the wish..."

"...You...forgot the MOST important part?" Chris asked irritated.

"P-people tend to forget the most important of things," Geno said in his defense. "E-even the most obvious of things as well..."

"So...is he going to stay clueless to what has happened a long time ago?"

Geno turned at the confused Lucario. "O-oh, no, don't worry about that..."

"Well, do something!" Chris yelled. "It's not going to be the same if he doesn't remember anything! I can stand repeating things myselfs, but I can't stand Lucario not knowing anything!"

Lucario shifted his eyes between his trainer and the little star. "What is going on here? Why are you talking about a memory I never had?"

Geno 'seemed' to frown. "This is just unbelievable..."

"Oh, how ironic you say that," Chris joked sarcastically.

Geno cleared his throat and looked at Lucario. "Okay, you, my name is Geno, and I'm going to give you something you should have right now with you. I'm going to give you back the memory you need to have with you about the past events as you wished before."

"What?" Lucario asked.

"Listen to him," Chris said irritated. "Don't move and let him do his thing."

The Aura Pokémon didn't understand what was happening just now. However, he obeyed Chris with a nod. "Fine...but...I'm still very confused at this..."

"Well, with that away...let's do this," Geno said.

The star began to shine brightly before he began to fly around Lucario before going up on his head. Lucario looked up to see that Geno began to make sparkles of light that rained down around Lucario. The Aura Pokémon blinked a bit surprised at this while Geno kept flying around in circles, dropping sparkles of light. Suddenly, Lucario looked forward in shock before Geno stopped and flew down between Lucario and Chris.

"That should do it...I guess..." Geno said.

Chris looked skeptical. "So you say," he said annoyed before looking at Lucario. "However, just to make sure you did it right, I'm going to interrogate Lucario with some questions that only the real Lucario would know very well."

Lucario looked at Chris. "What?"

"Bad start," Chris said. "But even so, let's do this now."

"What are you going to ask him?" Geno asked confused.

"Just listen," Chris said before he gave Lucario a determined look. "If you're the Lucario I met a long time ago, then that would mean you know a lot of our personal lives. If that's so, then that means you know what happened in every single event I'm going to ask you about."

"Oh, I see," Geno said. "You're going to ask him about the Subspace Army?"

"Hell no!" Chris said. "There's something even more useful than that topic!"

"What is that, then?"

Chris cleared his throated and stared at Lucario. "Lucario...I want you to respond to these questions...are you ready?"

"..." Lucario nodded.

"..." With a sigh, Chris pointed his finger at Lucario's face and said "Who are the 2 Gym Leaders who use Flying types?"

"Falkner and Winona," Lucario responded.

Geno 'looked' confused at this question.

"What is Diddy to DK?" Chris asked.

"Diddy is DK's nephew," Lucario responded.

"Why people consider Marth a girl?"

"He wears a tiara of his sister that he doesn't like to take off."

"Does Pit look so different than his real form?"

"Yes, he looks a bit bishonen...as Pikachu said to us before."

"The hell?" Geno said confused.

"Who of the 6 main characters of Final Fantasy VIII didn't grow up in the orphanage?" Chris asked.

"Rinoa Heartilly didn't grow up with them," Lucario responded.

"Does Mario ever seem to age?"

"No, he always stays the same for some reason."

"Is Toon Link a descendant of Link?"

"No, they're not connected at all because of the separate timelines that were created in Ocarina of Time, and there's still a big controversy behind the timelines of the series."

"Does Olimar's name mean something?"

"It means some partial anagram of Mario's name."

"Who's the mother of Bowser's 8 children?"

"Nobody knows."

"Why did I think Azurill's nightmare, in PMD: Explorers of Time and Darkness, was in fact a nightmare, despite it had countless of cute Pokémon?"

"You thought it was a nightmare because there were Wigglytuffs in there, and you said Azurill surely had seen Guildmaster Wigglytuff's power to have a nightmare like that."

"What?" Geno said confused.

"How was Samus trained?" Chris asked.

"She was trained by the Chozo, that's why she is so athletic," Lucario said.

"Does Zelda use a sword?"

"In Twilight Princess, she does, but she's never seen attacking someone with it in battle while she wasn't controlled by Ganondorf."

"Who are Roy's parents?"

"Lyn and Eliwood are his parents."

"Are Popo and Nana related?"

"They could be twins, friends, or a couple, but they're most likely siblings."

"Who's my favorite character in the Phoenix Wright series, and who's your favorite character?"

"Maya Fey is, but then again, you like Trucy Wright as Maya as well. My favorite character is Pearl Fey."

"What was wrong during the scene where Sora imagined himself dancing with Kairi?"

"The fact that he imagined the dance with the younger version of Kairi while he was currently a teen."

"What does Ness mean?"

"It's an anagram for SNES."

"Why does almost all the world hate Sonic instead of liking him?"

"His series, according to the sources, are getting boring as of late, and with the sudden voice actor change, he's getting annoying."

"Do we like Sonic still?"

"Unless he doesn't pull us to trouble in here, then yes."

"Is Meta Knight the creepiest guy I've ever met?"

"No, he's the second one. The first one is any Grovile you see."

"It's very impossible to say that the Lucario who appears here in the game is the same Lucario of the movie because..."

"The developers stated that anime characters were not allowed. Also, if that Lucario would be here, then whatever happened to Sir Aaron? He gets free but not his trainer? I find that very hard to believe. Besides, it'd look hypocrite to allow anime character from Nintendo."

"If the Pikachu here knows Ash, why does it contradict this?"

"He contradicts this because Master Hand did his own agenda behind the scenes."

"Is Joshua gay?"

"No, he just likes to tease Neku a lot."

"What can't Locke tolerate?"

"He can't tolerate ship voyages because they make him seasick. This happened when he, Terra, and Shadow were going to Thamasa."

"Why did Adel Tulba join the Hands of Asclepius?"

"He joined that organization because Derek Stiles couldn't use the Healing Touch when Adel had high fever with massive bleeding on his body. Adel took this bad, thinking that Derek thought he wasn't worthy of being saved by the Healing Touch."

"Does Kai hate the Elebits?"

"He hated them, but he eventually befriended them."

"Does Fox hate Tricky?"

"He likes Tricky but can't stand him most of the time."

"Did Luigi have an adventure that sounded very crazy?"

"He had an adventure called "Super Luigi," that was also the name of the book series."

"Why can't you use a Phoenix Down on Aerith when she died?"

"Nobody thought about it."

"Marina turned into a human?"

"Yes, she did...or does if you get all the gems."

"Why does Mumbo hate Humba?"

"They're both rivals in magic. Besides, Humba does the transformation phases, not like Mumbo did before."

"Why do most people hate Yukari?"

"If she hadn't argued about what to do in "The Answer", nobody would have to fight their friends, and she caused the argument."

"Who has the Squall card, and where is this person?"

"Laguna has the Squall card, and he can be challenged in the Ragnarok with a Triple Triad card game."

Geno didn't get anything what Chris asked to Lucario. It was something...no, many thing he couldn't understand at all. He did know a few, but everything else was very confusing.

Chris narrowed his eyes at Lucario, who in turn crossed his arms. "...Okay..." Chris said. "You seem to know very much about all those games..."

Lucario nodded. "Why ask all that if I know every single detail?"

"That's because you know me a long time ago."

"Correct," Lucario said.

"And...when did we begin to live with each other?"

Kingdom Hearts II - Friends in My Heart

"It was during your summer vacations," Lucario said.

Chris's eyes began to shake a bit at this. "And...how did come to me?"

Lucario closed his eyes. "I came when a lightning struck your DS. I came out from the game with a high fever. You were the only one who attended me during that time, and you took care of me regardless of the surprise you got..." He opened his eyes and looked at him. "That was the beginning of my life with the trainer who would become the World Traveler, and I turned into his guardian."

"But nevertheless..." Chris began to sniff a bit, "you're...my...Pokémon..."

"And I'm...your Pokémon," Lucario said. "And we both will always stay together because we detest to be alone."

"..."

"..."

Geno sighed as the two kept staring at each other, some small smiles growing on each other's faces. "Well...it worked..." he muttered.

"...Lucario..." Chris trailed off, "...now...it's really you..."

Lucario put his arms back to his sides. "Why would I forget those memories? They're the most treasured ones I will always have with me at all times."

"(You'd forget if I wasn't here...)" Geno thought with a mental sigh.

The World Traveler kept staring at Lucario before he ran to him and gave him a tight embrace, doing the very same one he gave Lucario a few minutes ago. The Aura Pokémon also did the same move while both chuckled heartily at each other.

"Good," Geno said. "Everything's fine now."

"Lucario..." Chris muttered with a sniff. "Did you...enjoy your new childhood?"

"I enjoyed it like never before," Lucario said. "I know it sounds weird to experience it again...but at least I grew up with you, like it should have been from the beginning."

Chris looked up at him. "You're not angry for evolving in a month?"

Lucario shook his head. "I just couldn't stand watching you getting hurt in those battles," he said. "I was so upset that I was so weak...but now..." he looked at his right hand before making it a flaming fist of aura, "I have the power to keep you safe."

Geno looked away in boredom. "(Like I said a long time ago, these people are just a bunch of barbarians almost all the time...)"

Chris chuckled. "So, you wanted to evolve for me?"

"I...think it's hard to avoid seeing you in pain," Lucario admitted before blushing. "I'd prefer that you hide behind me so I take care of those idiots who want to lay a hand on you."

"You and your insecurity for me..." Chris trailed off before chuckling. "That's what makes you the perfect Pokémon for me, Lucario."

Lucario blinked a few times before he hugged tightly his trainer while growling happily. Seeing that the two Smashers were having a good time, Geno decided to speak. "Well, my job here is done," he said, interrupting the two. "I'm glad I did something else for you guys."

"Thank you," Lucario said to Geno. "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have been able to do this."

"I wish you learned your lesson about power as well," Geno said. "I mean, there are still some big portions of land where there's no grass or ground..."

Lucario stared at Geno before he looked back at Chris. "Chris...I'm so sorry for what I did..."

"...I know," Chris said. "You felt very guilty about the whole deal."

"I didn't..."

"What?"

"I felt like an idiot because you didn't want to talk to me," Lucario said. "I...only care about your opinions more than anything or anyone else...Chris..."

"..." Chris closed his eyes. "I forgive you."

"What?"

Chris smiled a bit at him. "You already pardoned for your destructive behavior back then. When you were a Riolu, you managed to make me change my mind...although...I don't know if you're going to do the same thing again..."

Lucario looked away and shook his head. "...I won't use my wrath just to increase my power anymore."

Chris and Geno stared at Lucario.

"I learned that using wrath to make me stronger...is unforgivable," Lucario said before turning back to look at Chris. "What point is there if you end up getting hurt by me? I'm supposed to protect you, not hurt you in any way..."

"I...see..." Chris looked down.

"So...from now on, I'll stop using my fury to increase my powers," Lucario said. "I'm already powerful as I am now. Why do I need a power boost if I'm already the strongest of Lucarios?"

"...Heheheheh..." Chris chuckled at this before looking up at him. "Duh, you're the strongest of Lucario. That's the biggest fact out there."

"And there's always room for improvement," Lucario said. "I can't become the strongest if I don't have someone to look after me."

"And in turn, I need someone to look after me as well."

"..."

"..."

"...Thank you so much, Lucario," Chris said. "I...I promise I'll make you even stronger."

"With effort, don't forget it," Lucario added. "Presea and the Master taught us that."

"Of course with effort," Chris said. "Effort makes everything easier."

Geno chuckled at this. "Okay, now my job is really done here," he said to call the attention of the two. "Sorry you guys, but I have to go back to Star Haven. More wishes are coming as we speak."

"O-oh, right," Chris said. "Thank you, Geno. Thank you for helping Lucario."

"No problem," the star said. "You can always call me whenever you wish upon a falling star. As long as your wishes aren't insane, then I'll make them come true." He turned to the window. "For now, there's a wish of C. Falcon, saying something about getting rid of the sore nose he has..."

"Sore...nose?" Lucario and Chris repeated confused.

Geno turned to them and 'nodded' himself. "Yes...I don't know what it is...but...I'll see if I make the wish true or not..." He began to float away to the window. "And with that...see you 2 later! Keep wishing as well!" he said before he went outside through the window and went up to the sky where he disappeared in a small blink between the stars.

The two Smashers stopped hugging each other before Chris folded his arms behind his back. "Well, Lucario, you have to go to your room now."

Lucario shook his head. "What?"

"It's true," Chris said. "Master Hand gave everyone a new arrangement of rooms, and I got my own room. Yours is in the third floor, the floor above this one, between Link's room and Lucas's room. Each floor has 10 rooms for the Smashers in alphabetical order. I'm between C. Falcon and Diddy."

"B-but...I-I want to stay with you..." Lucario said.

"...It's a joke," Chris said chuckling. "I hate to sleep alone, anyway."

Lucario looked at the big bed.

"Do you want to bounce and touch the ceiling?"

Lucario blushed and looked back at him. "I-I'm not a kid anymore."

"Liar, you're a month old now."

"N-no, I'm a year and a half old..."

"Which puts you as a baby; a big baby."

"I-I'm not a baby anymore!" Lucario yelled. "I can think like a mature adult now!"

'I'd say you're a mature teen," Chris said. "A wise one, to be precise."

"Ugh..." Lucario grunted annoyed at this.

Chris chuckled. "A mature teen suits you better, don't you think?"

"...I guess..."

"Come on, let's go back to sleep," Chris said. "Tomorrow is going to be another day. I want everyone to know you evolved now."

"I wonder if Peach is going to get depressed because she won't have to take care of me anymore..."

Chris looked away. "...Tell her thanks and give her a hug."

"...Okay...that would do..." Lucario muttered.

"Besides, maybe she'd sew you a big red robe," Chris said as he looked back at Lucario. "The one you wore as a Riolu won't fit you anymore."

"I...I...I'll wear it if she does make me one..."

Chris looked relieved. "Well, this experience made you get closer with some of them. I'm happy you did."

Lucario smiled a bit at this. "I'm very happy everything went well."

The two Smashers chuckled to each other once more before they went to sleep back on the bed. Chris took another glance at Lucario before smiling at him. After that, they both fell asleep, anticipating the Christmas day.

Music stops

...

"...?" Lucario opened his eyes and looked around as if something was bothering him.

Chris slowly opened his eyes and looked at him. "Is something bothering you?"

"I-it's just that..." Lucario trailed off. "...Is C. Falcon next to your room?"

"Well, yes, he and I have a 'C' in our names... Why are you asking that?"

"...I'm sensing...some kind of dark presence entering his room..."

The World Traveler looked confused. "A dark presence?"

"Listen..."

They both remained silent. Once they were very silent, they overheard some footsteps slowly walking somewhere, probably to where C. Falcon was sleeping. Suddenly, the sound of the footsteps stopped, but then they were slowly being replaced by some loud snorts and snores from the racer. After that, silence came in, but the same footsteps were heard slowly walking away to the hallway where they heard them clearly enough than before, echoing a bit in the middle of the night.

"..." Chris's eyes widened. He knew that there was something familiar he heard from Presea. "...Y-you don't think that...the king of demons paid a visit to C. Falcon as Presea told us about the curse before, right?"

"...I'm...going to be honest..." Lucario said. "...Lately, I've been sensing that same presence coming in here every night...and...when I notice, it disappears in the middle of nowhere..."

Chris stared in pure shock and disbelief at Lucario. "...T-then...t-that curse...the very same curse of the king of demons coming every night to stick his finger in somebody's nose...is..."

Lucario silently nodded.

"..." Chris looked back at the door, his body shaking in fear.

"Mwahahahaha...hahahahaha...hahahahahaha..."

The sudden silent laugh made Chris feel even more uncomfortable than before.

"...Chris..." Lucario muttered, his eyes focusing at the door.

"Yes?"

"If you don't want 'somebody' else we know to rub the curse on you..."

"Yes..."

"Get close to me, quick."

"D-don't mind if I do..."

Chris quickly went over to Lucario where he covered his head with the blankets and ducked a bit. Lucario placed his left hand on Chris's head and glared at the door for any signs of the king of demons...

But for the time Lucario found out, the presence had vanished mysteriously...

Some days passed, and everyone else pretty soon knew about Lucario's evolution. It was surprising to see that it all happened so fast, but it was a decision Lucario decided to take. As promised, Chris thanked Dawn for what she talked about with him.

However, once she looked at Lucario, she remarked that he was rather big. Chris only chuckled at this fact and said that he was lucky to have two big Lucarios (even thought he only had one so Dawn wouldn't get suspicious).

And for the time being, the duo resumed to be the same duo they used and always be...

December 20 - Saturday - Afternoon

Battle Floor - ?

Tales of the Abyss - Bloodthirsty Fang

"Gah..."

"Y-you okay?"

"Y-yes, but...I-I just can't believe this!"

A cave filled with tracks and pickaxes was shown. The cave itself currently had a battle going on in the depths of it (even if the entrance was directly straight ahead of the depth). There were two badly injured Roy and Ike as they looked up at a dreadful creature: a big dark blue horned skeleton monster that held four swords in four hands, looking down menacingly at them.

Roy gritted his teeth as he looked around. He grew with desperation as he saw the fainted bodies of Link, Toon Link, Pit, Marth, Chris (in his Swordsman job), and even Meta Knight. They all had been severely attacked by the monster, even to the extreme where they used their second chance to stand up to fight back but were easily taken out.

The monster roared at the two standing Smashers. Both Ike and Roy had already been knocked out once, but they had one last chance to fight.

"Ugh, that stupid Sword Dancer can't just stop spinning!" Roy complained. "I hate this side boss battle!"

"Funny, I thought you were the one who said to come here..." Ike said bored.

"S-shut up, you're not helping here!" Roy said annoyed as he put a tight grip on the Swords of Seals. "We better take that thing down or else we'll lose the fight!"

Ike looked up at the monster. "Even with the badge Chris told us about doesn't make much difference... Why?"

Roy looked away in embarrassment. "D-don't mind that and help me take that thing down alread-"

"LOOK OUT!"

The two swordsmen looked to see four swords being brought down hard on them. Ike and Roy screamed loudly in pain, their energies finally depleting as they let go of their swords and fell down to their knees to collapse on the cold ground... After that, everything went blurry...

"STOP THE BATTLE!" yelled a familiar voice as everything and everyone stopped form moving anymore. "The match has been lost, and thus the battle is officially over. No contenders are no longer able to fight anymore!"

Everything in the scene suddenly was replaced by black and grey lines that scrambled all over the screen...

Battle Floor - Main Floor

The scene then changed to a big screen that had the very same lost transmission signal in it. In front of the very screen, there were all the rest of the Smashers with Master Hand and Crazy Hand. Apparently, the fight was being shown to everyone, and most of them felt a bit sorry for the outcome of the battle.

"Ugh, the first time they have to fight a side boss battle and THIS has to happen..." muttered Master Hand before snapping his fingers. "Okay, you guys lose!"

Everyone turned their looks to the right where, in front of a door (with a dark blue skeleton insignia on it), the whole group of swordsmen appeared without having the severe lacerations and blood loss on their clothes. They all looked at each other before looking back at the group.

"Man, what a way to lose..." Link said ashamed.

"Hmph," Meta Knight frowned, "of course we lost the battle against that monster."

"Well, I DID see you fighting it back," Toon Link said, "but you were taken out rather quickly."

"Unfortunately, I lacked knowledge about the monster's strength," Meta Knight said. "Its strength with 4 swords was surprising and too much for me to handle."

"Same here," Ike said. "That monster did fight well, though..."

Chris shivered. "P-please, no more monsters who can wield more than 2 swords...I-I had enough with that thing!"

"I-I agree," Pit said. "I-I'm glad those injuries were just temporal..."

Master Hand floated to the group of swordsmen. "You guys were so pushing your luck in that battle," he said. "Because of that, you were taken out very quickly...all of you..."

"I-I don't understand..." Chris trailed off. "I-I was sure the 64 Badge was going to give us more strength...but yet that monster took us out so easily like nothing!"

Roy looked away, Marth noticing this action.

"That thing shouldn't be that strong!" Chris said. "In fact, we could have easily defeated it without effort...but...this happened!"

Marth looked bored at Roy. "Roy...did you have something to do with this?"

Roy chuckled nervously at this and looked back at the door's sign.

"This lost soul only lives to fight the strongest for the welfare of its growth in swordsmanship."

Roy looked at a small rotator that had the words "Very Intense" on it. "L-look at this, somebody accidentally changed the difficulty of the battle..."

Some of the Smashers groaned at this, Chris taking a closer look at the rotator. "Wait, I forgot why this was here before..."

Master Hand grumbled. "Okay, you need more explanations, so I'll give them to you," he said. "Let's walk back with the others."

The defeated Smashers nodded at this before they all walked back to the group in front of the TV (the stairs leading to the floor just behind the group). Once reuniting with them, they all looked at Master Hand in front of the TV screen.

"Well, the first battle that took place here ended in defeat for you," Master Hand said. "If would have been much easier for you to win it if Roy DIDN'T change the difficulty."

Most of the Smashers glared at the red-haired swordsman. Roy smiled nervously. "H-hey, I was just thinking if we could beat it at a harder difficulty..."

Zelda frowned. "Master Hand, I don't think I saw the option of increasing the difficulty of the battles here the last time we came here... Did you recently add that?"

Master Hand nodded. "Well, yes, I did," the hand said before showing the small rotator on the TV screen. "For those who forgot already, this is the Rotator of Difficulty. I recently added this feature so you guys want to have a bigger challenge."

Mewtwo looked at his right where all the doors had the rotators by their sides. "It's clear to see every door got one," he said.

"After so much thinking, I decided to allow you to increase the difficulty for each battle if you're aiming to get a bigger challenge," Master Hand explained. "There are 5 different settings: Hard, Very Hard, Intense, Very Intense, and Unknown. The bigger the challenge, the better the prize will be."

"And somebody here thought we could defeat a skeleton monster at Very Intense without us having to know in the first place," Toon Link grumbled to himself, Roy giving him a nervous look.

"So changing difficulties give better spoils, then?" asked DK.

"Exactly," Master Hand said. "However, there are some doors here that have set difficulties that can be increased to harder difficulties. There are doors with the Intense difficult already on, and it can be increased to Unknown but can't be reduce to Very Hard. This is like this because there are some bosses who are, in fact, hard as they are."

"It's suicide if someone increases the difficulty..." Ike muttered.

"Like SOMEBODY we know here," added Link.

Roy groaned. "Okay, okay, okay! It was my fault, not yours, geez!"

Master Hand cleared his throat. "Well, after seeing how badly the last fight went..." he looked at Crazy Hand, "I want you to provide them with the shop so they buy something."

"Right-o," Crazy Hand said before he snapped his fingers and made a counter fall down from the ceiling...making a hole in it.

Master Hand sighed at this. "At least you made a counter appear... That's progress."

"Hee hee!" Crazy Hand giggled.

The Hand of Creation frowned at this and looked at the Smashers. "Everything's set for you to take another challenge. I wonder, what will it be this time? Does anybody want to take on a boss here?"

Almost everyone looked at each other and began muttering and whispering things between each other. As each one talked with each other, Chris felt that a claw was tapping his left shoulder. Turning around, he looked a bit shocked at Wolf.

"Kid, the time is now," Wolf said. "Time for you to do the deal you made with me."

Chris looked unsure. "W-wait, how come you just remembered this now?"

Wolf crossed his arms. "I thought about asking this earlier, but seeing how we ended up having to rest all this time, I wanted to have some relaxation and not sound too harsh," he explained. "It'd be very selfish of me to ask to come here right after our break started. If I did, you'd be annoyed, and you wouldn't want to cooperate in battle."

"T-that's...kind of...well..."

"True," Wolf finished for Chris. "So what will it be?"

"...I...made a deal with you..." Chris said. "...I'm not going to go back to my word."

Wolf nodded. "This is how it should be," he said. "Now tell the hand you want to take the challenge...for that door over there."

Chris glanced over to the door with the several claw marks all over it. He also saw the splitting image of someone who looked like Wolf and read the sign hanging in front of it.

"The lunar howls of the Werehogs shall be the last roars you hear before you die a fast, but painful death."

"...That door?" Chris asked.

"That very same door," Wolf said. "That's the one we're going in."

The swordsman stared at the door. "...You know...Wolf...don't you find it odd that this door has the word 'werehog' in its description?"

Wolf looked back at the door. "Now that you mention it...it does sound odd..." He rubbed his chin a bit. "To tell the truth, what does it even mean? Why would the transformation of the hedgehog be worth mentioning in that door?"

"..." Chris turned around and raised his hand. "U-um, excuse me, Master Hand..."

"Yes?" Master Hand said. "Do you want to take on a boss?"

Chris nodded unsure. "Yes...I'd like to take on the boss of that door over there," he said before he turned around and pointed at the door with claw marks to the left of the entrance.

"Oh, I see," the hand said before floating over to the door, the Smashers following him with their eyes. "Well, okay, you guys will be facing whatever is behind this door."

"What do you mean by whatever is behind the door?" Olimar asked. "You don't know?"

Master Hand turned to them. "Well...you see...this door here isn't like any of the doors of this place..."

Mario crossed his arms. "Why's that?"

"Unlike any of the doors, which will take anyone to a different world...this door takes you to...another alternate dimension," the hand explained.

Snake sighed at this. "First our task is to travel between worlds to save them from the Subspace Army, and now we're going to intervene with dimensions? I swear that this is getting really wacky for my tastes..."

"Hey, don't say that, it's not what you think it is," the hand said. "You see, I wanted to give it a test with this; a test where I want to conduct some research of how parallel dimensions work."

Sonic looked annoyed at this. "Hey, I'm not someone else's guinea pig..."

"N-no, I'm not using any of you like guinea pigs at all, I swear!" Master Hand said. "I-it really looks like it, but it's not!"

Samus sighed. "We're always being used as guinea pigs, and we always say the experience was enjoyable..."

"But still, I don't like to be one," C. Falcon (with a piece of paper sticking out from his right nostril) said. "I didn't join this place for this!"

Master Hand chuckled. "That's what happens when you don't read everything in the contract. You get yourselves submitted to me for any new experiment I'd like you try out with you...not threatening for your lives, o-of course..."

"That...pretty much says we're a bunch of guinea pigs for you..." Ness said bored.

"...A-anyway! You want to challenge this boss to a battle?" Master Hand asked (many of the Smashers giving him bored looks). "T-then you should get prepared for what is to come in there!"

Chip joined his hands. "Ooh, ooh, can I join Sonic, pretty please?" he asked before he flew over to the sign with the selected characters on it. "It says here he's going there. Can I be his loyal partner?"

"That...I'm not sure..." Master Hand said confused. "Well, you're not technically a fighter...but you're some sort of a spectator..."

"Then can be I watching the fight from a safe distance?"

Master Hand looked at Sonic.

"If he gets hurt, he won't have to follow me everywhere," Sonic whispered.

Master Hand looked at Chip and nodded. "Okay, you may go as long as you don't do something reckless."

"Oh, don't worry," Chip said before he took out a small brown hat with a small whip around his left arm. "Indiana Chip's ready for action."

The hand stared at Chip's odd costume before he shrugged. "Okay...Indiana Chip..."

Chip smiled pleased before he looked back at the sign. "...Hey, it says werehog in plural... WAIT A MINUTE!" he suddenly yelled and turned to Master Hand. "How come this door has that word in there? I demand answers right now because I AM the one who made the word before!"

"Hmm?" Master Hand read the sign. "...Oh, right, I forgot about this little detail..."

Sonic looked shocked. "Wait a second, WAIT A SECOND THERE," he warned before he quickly went to read the sign. "Something about this isn't JUST going my way at all..."

Master Hand thought for a second. "Well, the description of the door sounds a little bit...dangerous...I admit..." he said.

Sonic looked back at him. "Then since it says that there's more than one werehog...doesn't that mean..."

The Smashers thought for a moment before multiple groans came out from most of them, many of them starting to complain about seeing one more werehog.

"Oh no, NO, NO, NO, NO," Chris said gulping. "T-there's no way there's more than one werehog than Sonic out there!"

"I agree totally with you there..." Diddy muttered. "I-I mean, don't we still remember what happened the last time we fought that evil spirit inside Sonic while he was a werehog?"

"The very same night Chris died..." Lucario muttered before glaring at the door. "I don't want to see another monster like that ever again."

"I'm pretty sure NONE of us want to see one again," Roy said. "That excuse for a wolf was pretty insane and stupid, remember? He enjoys making people suffer through his power out of pleasure!"

"But now we have to watch more than one of them?" Falco asked before he shook his head. "Bleh, I'd rather puke than seeing another one..."

"B-but...do we know that the monsters in there are the same?" Pichu asked. "W-what if...they end up turning out worse than Dark Super Sonic was?"

"If...that was true..." Link trailed off, "...I don't want to think about it at all."

"Everyone, calm down now," Master Hand said. "Like I said before, there's no way you can die in these side boss battles. If you were to die, you'd get transported back here. You don't have to worry about dying or losing."

"We know that, but...it's just that we're awfully sick of seeing this thing brought up again," Samus said. "What if whoever is waiting for people like us to show up there turns out to have been driven to madness with the power that Sonic gets when he transforms?"

"Not to mention how I lose my speed..." Sonic muttered in annoyance.

"Actually...would it be possible that there's a way for someone to...um...well...become a werehog?" Lucas asked terrified.

Nana rolled her eyes. "Lucas, this is not like typical werewolf fairytales where you get turned into one if an infected werewolf bites you. Also, I don't think there's a way to turn into one without having to go through the same thing Sonic was trapped with, and fortunately none of us will be like him...to the full extent to the word. (Sonic: Hey!) Do you still believe in those tales?"

"N-no...b-but it was just a guess..." Lucas admitted.

Wolf grumbled a bit at this. "Would you all please stop arguing? If we hate that transformation so much and how the victim turns out to be, why we don't get rid of the scourge by fighting them head-on? It'd be for the best if we ended it that way."