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

[DededeCloneChris]

"...Okay, who the hell is toying around with me at a time like this?" Snake asked aggravated as the "Colonel" kept repeating the same lines over and over again.

"O-oh, sorry, Snake," spoke Otacon as he took over the spot of the "Colonel" by replacing him. "I used the Colonel AI to play a bit around with yo-"

"Use that ever again and I'll choke you."

Otacon gulped at Snake's threat. "R-right, Snake, whatever you say..."

"Hmph," Snake muttered. "...Anyhow, Otacon...did you hear anything I said?"

"About deciding to leave the group? W-well, yeah, I did," he said.

"I'm thinking about kicking the heck out of you now...but I'll save that for another ocassion."

Otacon shrieked a bit at this. "S-so, what do you want to tell me, Snake?"

"Recall everything you listened about the conversation I had with the fake Colonel AI, Otacon, and I'll see what you can offer me. If you don't have anything to say, then I'll promise I'm going to twist some guy's neck in the near future...if you know what I mean by that."

"G-gah!" Otacon yelped.

"Otacon, I'm serious here!"

"I-I know, sorry," Otacon said in panic. "O-okay, you should probably...well..."

Snake waited impatiently as Otacon tried to speak up. The hacker kept staggering to think long enough to come up with a good response. Unfortunately, Snake seemed to be grasping Otacon's stuttering so well that he sighed loudly, stopping Otacon from stuttering. "Otacon, just say you want me to stay with them. It's so obvious you want me to keep working with all of them."

"Y-you...you knew, then?"

"No, I knew it right after you kept stuttering," Snake said. "I also noticed you didn't sound quite convincing when we spoke yesterday."

"Oh...so..."

Snake sighed. "I knew all of you were against it, but the Colonel didn't seem to. I wanted to talk to the Colonel since he seemed neutral."

"I-I'm sorry for joking, then," Otacon said. "The Colonel is attending a meeting, though. He'll be back tomorrow."

"Just my luck..."

"What do you want to talk about, then? ...Wait, I should just say it, Snake... I don't want you to leave the group."

"Why would you want that, Otacon?"

"Snake, just think about it," Otacon said. "You're probably the only man lucky enough to take part of a big threat. Also, you get the chance to meet other people you thought were impossible to know. How can you just forget all that when you have everything at your reach?"

"The kid would be an example of this," Snake said. "You already know how different we are from his world and ours."

"Y-yeah, but it doesn't change the fact that we're real," Otacon said. "That aside, Snake, you should stay with them...please..."

"...Otacon..."

"Honestly, when are you going to have an opportunity like this one again?" Otacon asked. "Snake, this is the only chance for a lifetime... Surely you can't deny an opportunity like that, right?"

Snake furrowed his brow a bit. "...I guess not..."

"You can say no to this, though... After all, it's your decision, not mine. I have some selfish thoughts about wanting to find out more about other worlds out there..."

"Or get the kid to share some of his anime magazines with you because I did hear from Mei-Ling that you wanted to see some of them."

"T-that's just another but not so important excuse, Snake!" Otacon said embarrassed. "B-but anyway, Snake...it's all up to you to decide."

"...I decided..."

"...Really?"

"Yeah, after thinking about this again, I came to a conclusion with myself," Snake said. "I'll call you later."

"W-wait, can't you just tell me what you've decided, Snak-" Otacon was interrupted right after Snake ended the codec conversation.

The mercenary looked at the Smashers. "I've decided," he said. "Finally, I made up my mind."

"So then...what are you going to do?" Samus asked.

"I've decided I should just...leave..."

Some of the Smashers (and Aerith, Tifa, and Yuffie) gasped a bit at this decision.

The World Traveler stared at Snake before frowning. "I...understand, Snake..."

"Can you please let me finish first, kid?" Snake asked in annoyance.

Chris looked up at Snake. "W-what?"

"I didn't finish," Snake said. "I wanted to say that I'm leaving...so I can retire for a while."

"Retire?"

"Yeah, as in letting me have a time for some relaxation," Snake said. "I thought hard about this, and I came to the conclusion that I need a rest to continue working with all of you. You're not going to see me for a while, but you'll have to get used that I'm not going to be around to fight the Subspace Army."

"J-just out of curiosity, what made you change your decision, Snake?" Chris asked in curiosity.

"Well, mainly you and the other guys who kept meddling in my affairs," Snake said. "So, thanks for meddling, everyone. You guys can make anyone go crazy."

Sonic looked bored and folded his arms behind his head. "Sheesh, that's so nice of you, man," he said sarcastically.

"I was expecting a response like that, actually..." Mario muttered.

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm not officially part of the roster you are in, but I guess having a rest once in a while doesn't hurt."

Snake nodded. "Thanks for understanding," he said. "Now I know I can leave and return so I can sort out my thoughts."

The agent looked worried at this. "You're not going to have second thoughts and leave us for good, right?"

"Who knows, kid," Snake said. "...But I'll most likely come back someday."

Chris blinked at this statement. A small smile formed on his lips as he made a happy expression to Snake. "...Okay, Snake, I'll wait for you to come back. I'm sure the others will wait for you."

"Not really."

"Who said that?" The agent turned around where Sonic had spoken out loud, thinking that the others were going to say the same in unison. The hedgehog looked at the others before looking confused. "Sonic?"

"H-hey, I thought you guys didn't like the guy!" Sonic said.

Marth sighed and frowned. "Sonic, I believe we already grew a bit closer to Snake. You...seem to be the only one who hasn't done that."

"O-oh, come on, none of you didn't seem that friendly to him to me, at least!"

Snake looked away. "More of a reason why I don't like you, hedgehog. Kid, I hope you're happy, but the hedgehog just made me think things over again."

Chris gasped and glared at Sonic. "S-Sonic, you stupid idiot! Look at what you've done now! He'll start thinking about leaving us because of you!"

"Hey, don't start blaming me of this!" Sonic yelled. "It's ridiculous of him to stay away from us just because I'm here! I'm not the one planning to leave here!"

"So you're going to be the one to leave us, then?"

"Of course not! He should be the one leaving instead of me!"

"S-Sonic!"

The two started yelling at each other while Snake hid a small grin to himself; a grin Cloud's group managed to see clearly, making them chuckle in unison while the two Smashers kept rambling on and on. "Kid, you need to tell what a joke is," Snake finally said.

The agent and the hedgehog groaned at this and looked back at Snake. "Y-you're impossible, Snake, really!" Chris complained.

"Heh, I thought I was the guy who did the impossible here," Snake muttered with an amused chuckle. "Thanks for reminding me, kid."

Sonic slapped his forehead. "Seriously, this guy should be the one who drives everyone nuts, not the other way around..." he trailed off.

Knuckles crossed his arms and nodded. "I think the same, Sonic, I think the same..."

Most of the people in there laughed for a bit before they stopped. Cloud looked back at the Smashers and nodded to them. "So then, since you're all leaving, I think you should take something so your long journey doesn't get that hard to endure," he said as he took out three pieces of Materia from his right pocket. "Here, have these with you."

Lucario looked at the gems before taking them from Cloud's hand. "What are these?"

"Those are Summon Materia," Cloud said. "Equipping them will enable anyone in your group to call forth three entities to attack your enemies. Of course, one of them is going to have to equip it first, so don't forget that."

Lucario nodded and smiled a bit at Cloud. "Thank you."

"You got that mostly because I think you're kind of cool," Cloud admitted.

The aura wielder gasped mentally, starting to feel very proud of himself. "I...I'm honored."

"...What was that?"

Lucario gasped mentally again, thinking Cloud was going to resume thinking he was weird. "I-I mean, thank you so much, Cloud. These are going to be helpful for us."

"...Yeah."

Lucario sighed in relief.

Obtained Choco/Mog, Shiva, and Ifrit Materia!

Snake looked at Chris. "Shall we get going now? I want to go back to Alaska and relax for a long while."

"...Alaska? God, you really want to stay away from anybody..." Chris trailed off. The agent brandished his Wiimote and opened the portal back to the mansion, where a still Chip merely floated inside without saying anything or turning back to the others. "Why am I thinking he's... No, never mind..."

Yuffie gasped and took some steps forward. "W-wait, you guys!" she yelled, trying to stop everyone from leaving. "I-I wanna say something before all of you go!"

"What?" Fox asked.

"L-look...I just want to say that...that..." she moved her hands down, "...I-I'm so sorry for stealing all your stuff previously... Really, after all those things you did to save Wutai from that shadow guy, I think it made me see the error of my actions on all of you...so...for once more...I'm sorry I caused all this trouble..."

The Smashers looked at each other. Knuckles gave Chris the Wiimote he held with him and turned to Yuffie. "Well, you were annoying the first time we met you," he said, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes. "But, since I don't honestly believe that you're REALLY sorry this ti-"

"I guess we can accept your apology this time around," Sonic said, making Knuckles look shocked.

Marth looked at his Falchion's hilt. "She didn't manage to sell our stuff to a merchant, so...I think we can forgive her."

Chris nodded. "I wouldn't have forgiven her if my console was sold to anybody (Kawashima: Hurray!), but since she didn't...well...I'll forgive her as well."

Yuffie's eyes shook in surprise before she turned to Cloud's group. "W-what about you, guys?"

Tifa rubbed her chin. "Hmm, I dunno. You did a lot of nasty stuff on us before in the past."

The ninja gasped. "I-I swear this isn't going to happen anymore!" she said. "N-now I know we all had something in common: we all want to take down Shinra so it stops manipulating everyone in the world, including Wutai!" She looked serious. "I won't promise that we will defeat Shinra...but...I'll do it," she said determined. "I'm gonna travel with you again and bring Shinra to justice! Of course...if you really wanna have me back..."

Cloud thought for a moment about the offer. "...I don't know, Yuffie..."

"D-dude, please, you gotta let me come with you again!" Yuffie said. "I'm gonna do everything I can do for everyone! T-think of this as some punishment for me because I stole your Materia!"

"...Okay."

"Y-you mean it, Cloud?"

"Sure, I guess," Cloud said unsure. "If you really wanna repay us, you'll have to come along with us."

Cid grumbled. "Your spiky a$$ is makin' really crazy decisions, kid."

Yuffie opened her mouth in surprise before she broke into happiness and leaped towards Cloud, making him gasp and fall down to the ground while Yuffie hugged him tightly. "Yeah, Cloud, you're dah man!" she yelled happily while everyone chuckled a bit at this. "Thank you for letting me come with you again! You won't regret this at all, Cloud!"

"U-ugh! Y-Yuffie, get off me!" Cloud yelled, pushing the ninja aside.

Yuffie sat down and showed her teeth with a chuckle. "Yep, this is gonna be a trip to remember for me, alright," she said, standing up from the ground with Cloud.

The blond mercenary looked annoyed as he stood up. "Hey," Cloud called the group, "good luck in your journey, you guys."

Tifa chuckled and crossed her arms. "You guys are really something, so we'll root for you to finish off that Subspace Army group. Just root for us to be successful as well, okay?"

"We will," Samus said nodding. The bounty hunter smiled a bit and walked back into the portal.

"Come back to visit us," Red XIII told Sonic and Knuckles. "You will certainly become strong assets for our group."

"Nah, I think I'll pass on that offer...for now," Sonic said with a wink.

Knuckles grunted at the hedgehog. "So you're planning to leave your team?"

"That was just an expression, Knucklehead," Sonic said amused.

"Ugh, you're just untolerable..." he muttered before walking back into the portal with Sonic, Red XIII chuckling silently to himself.

Mario shook Red XIII's paw and nodded to him. "Thank you," Mario said. "It was nice meeting and fighting alongside you."

"I can say the same, Mario," Red XIII said. "Don't let Sonic's behavior get the better of himself. He still acts like a childish boy."

"I'm NOT a childish boy!" Sonic yelled from the portal.

Red XIII looked amused at Mario. "Really, he needs to get a hold of himself."

Mario smiled a bit. "Okay, I'll help him out, Red XIII," he said.

The feral lion nodded at the red plumber as the latter waved at him and walked into the portal.

Cid grunted and closed his eyes. "Don't make any mess in those other worlds, you," he told Marth and Fox. "Don't wanna see the space-continuum-whatever getting broken because ye're makin' a mess."

"As if you don't do a mess already..." Fox muttered.

Cid opened an angry eye. "What was that, little mutt?"

"H-he said okay," Marth said, receiving a stern look from the vulpine.

"Heh," Cid muttered, looking away. "So get going now before I get the rabies from the mutt."

Marth sighed at this while he and Fox walked back to the portal, Cid looking over his right shoulder at them. Without knowing, they didn't see that Cid had flashed a small smile at them.

Aerith went over and rubbed Lucario's head, making the Aura Pokémon close his eyes in pleasure. "Don't get hurt, okay, Lucario?" she asked.

Chris turned around and sniffed mentally. "(Why must she do this to make all of us feel guilty about her horrible fate? Why?! A man like me can't take this for much longer! ...Dammit, this job is changing my personality again!)"

Lucario growled happily and nodded at Aerith. "Don't worry about me, Aerith," he said.

Aerith chuckled heartily. "Okay, I won't, if you say so," she said, turning to Chris. "Be careful you too, Chris."

Chris forced a twitching smile at the flower girl. "Y-yes, I'll be really careful, Aerith," he said, shedding some tears.

"Aww, please, don't cry, Chris. We'll meet again someday for sure."

"(Seriously, don't make this even worse, Aerith!)" Chris thought sadly while Lucario silently lead his trainer to the portal, waving at Aerith and Cloud. The agent, however, came back and took out his Trophy Stand. "Oh, I almost forgot to put this sticker on my plate..." he muttered as he took out the Blue Sephira sticker to place it on his stand. He looked at the group and smiled at them. "G-good bye, everyone! W-wish us good luck!" Chris yelled as he went into the portal before it vanished in thin air.

Cloud, Aerith, Tifa, Cid, Red XIII, and Yuffie stared at the portal's spot for a small while in silence. The group then looked at Cloud. "So, what are we gonna do, leader?" Yuffie asked.

"Hmm, good question..." Cloud muttered. "...We should call the others here so we can think about what to do next."

At that moment, the group heard someone coming at their direction. They all turned to the south where a bulky figure hopped along the ground while a small figure rode on its head. The bulky figure was some kind of oversized stuffed "moogle" while the figure on top of its head was a cat-looking character that wore a short red cape tied around his neck and white gloves and a small crown. He also carried a small megaphone on his right hand. Once the bulky moogle stopped in front of the group, the cat-looking character waved at them.

"It's you, Cait Sith," Red XIII said.

Cait Sith is a fortune teller cat who decided to travel with Cloud's group after telling the mercenary his fortune: "What you pursue will be yours. But you will lose someone dear." Intrigued by this himself, Cait Sith came along to see what the prediction meant. He is never seen going about without his stuffed moogle, which is technically his only way to attack other enemies by using megaphones and shout orders to it. However, it is rumored that Cait Sith might be hiding some secret from the group...

"Hello!" Cait Sith greeted. "Man, I've been out there in the open for a long time. I see you got Yuffie back, though. Did I miss something important?"

"Oh, you sure did," Aerith said. "We met this group of people called Smashers who came from another different world than ours..."

Aerith explained everything to Cait Sith.

"Hmm, I find it so hard to believe," Cait Sith said before laughing a bit. "You're not pulling my leg here, right?"

Cloud sighed. "Oh well, telling others what we experienced before isn't gonna yield us any good replies..."

"I think so," Cait Sith said. "Sorry, but I don't believe anything that happen."

Yuffie pouted a bit at this. "Good thing you missed everything, then!" she said before gasping loudly. "W-wait, I just remembered something!" she said, turning to Cloud. "Cloud, I need to ask you a favor."

Cloud looked bored. "What?"

"You see, I think I'm ready to take on the challenge my dad arranged at the pagoda close to our house for me to take for myself," Yuffie said. "If I could pass that challenge, my dad would acknowledge my skills. I think he has something more to give to me, though... Can we go there now? I know I can pull this one out!"

"Well, we don't have anything better to do, but hurry up with that challenge," Cloud said. "We can't waste more time as it is."

"Yeah, I knew you'd say yes!" Yuffie said as she started to run towards the west. "C'mon, everyone! You gotta cheer me on this one!"

Cid frowned to himself. "That girl's gonna gimme a headache..."

Tifa smiled. "I'm honestly glad she wants to amend for her mistakes, though."

Aerith chuckled. "That's something we'll see very soon."

As the group followed the excited ninja, Cait Sith remained behind and looked away with his stuffed moogle. "Aerith told me that there were others worlds beside ours out there... Hmm, I don't think they were trying to trick me. My facade hasn't been discovered yet, right? So if they don't know I'm spying on them, then that wouldn't mean that what Aerith told me was really true, correct?"

Cait Sith remained silent.

"...Naaaaaaaah!" he said with a laugh. "They were just trying to make me laugh, which they passed with flying colors! You gotta appreciate their sense of humor!" he said gleefully before he knocked on his stuffed moogle's forehead, making the doll look up at him. "On the double, you! We gotta watch a ninja fight today!"

The chuckling Cait Sith and his stuffed moogle followed the group, the cat's laugh echoing in the sunset as he and the moogle disappeared from sight...

WORLD COMPLETED!

You have received 6000 Smash Coins!

TO BE CONTINUED...

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-Smash Channel-

Unlike other previous ocassions, the Smash Channel's forums was full with even more people than before. Chris (in his Moogle Knight job) sat behind the wide table as the public went wild and cheered loudly. "W-well, what a surprise we have today, kupo!" he said. "Welcome back to your unique channel that you can only get to see in this place: the Smash Channel!" he said, raising his hands on both sides. "I'm happy to see that there are many more people who wanted to see this section again, so as some kind of reward, here we have today some guests from the Final Fantasy VII team! To my left, give a round of applauses to your favorite slums' flower girl, Aerith Gainsborough!"

The flower girl sat on the left side behind the table. Aerith smiled happily and waved a hand at the audience, causing a very wild crowd to cheer very loudly. "I'm happy for being here," she said. "Thank you for being so nice to me."

The moogle noticed the people starting to yell Aerith's name loudly that he sweat dropped and twitched a bit at the cheers. "O-okay, everyone, now give another round of applauses to your favorite em-I-I mean, ex-SOLDIER mercenary whom you like and love a lot, kupo! Here it is Cloud Strife!"

The blond mercenary sat on the other side of other side behind the table. With crossed arms, he just listened at the crowd yell his name. "Tsk, people are so noisy, I swear..." he muttered to himself.

"All is right, then, kupo," Chris began, the crowd slowly calming down with their cheers, "as you might know, we here at Smash Channel interview the special guests outside the Brawl roster to comment about your favorite Smashers on certain topics. I hope you, Cloud and Aerith, know what you're going to do."

"Spit the topic already," Cloud said. "The sooner, the better."

"You can ask us anytime," Aerith said.

The moogle looked bored at the crowd. "(Those two are the exact opposite poles of each other...) Okay!" he said cheerfully as he took out a small note card. "So let's begin with today's topic! Today's topic is..."

Who is, in your own words, the best swordsman of the Smashers?

The crowd clapped hands at the topic. "As you know, Super Smash Brothers has had a long trend of including swordsman type characters into the fray. Lately, they outnumber any other kind of character who fights differently than others. However, what can you two say, kupo? Who do you think is the best swordsman?"

Cloud and Aerith got into thinking positions while a silence floated in the air. A small while passed for Aerith to speak up. "I think Toon Link is my favorite one," she said, the crowd applauding her.

"Oh yeah, choose me over these other guys!" Toon Link yelled from the crowd. "They don't even know how to run like I do!"

"Hey, I heard that!" shouted Ike from another side of the crowd. "You try saying that to me again!"

Chris clapped his hands together in anger. "Will you two just be quiet for ten minutes, kupo?" he asked annoyed. "Anyway, Aerith, please explain why you think your pick is the best swordsman."

"I think he's cute," Aerith said, making the whole crowd "aww" at her.

The moogle did the same, but he shook his head and regained his senses. "I-isn't there another explanation why you picked him, though?"

Aerith looked up to the ceiling. "Hmm, I don't know..." she admitted.

The moogle knight looked bored at the crowd. "So you chose Toon Link for the best swordsman just because he looks cute to you?"

"...Would I get scolded if I said yes?" Aerith asked, the crowd raising torches with burning flames at Chris's direction.

"I-I think you wouldn't get scolded for that!" Chris said in panic, the crowd lowering their torches down until they weren't visible anymore. The moogle gulped and turned to Cloud. "S-so, Cloud, what about you, kupo?"

Cloud was still in deep thought. "I'm not quite sure," he said. "Many of them seem to be very skillful in their own ways to fight."

Chris sighed while the crowd lauded Cloud's opinion. "So then, do you have a pick, kupo?"

"Hmm, let me think... I don't honestly have a pick, sadly," Cloud admitted.

"What? You cheapskate!" yelled Roy from the crowd. "You're surely thinking you're the best swordsman out there, even when you're not on the current roster!"

Chris blew a bit of air at his hanging pom-pom over his head. "Wow, that was so ironic for you to say, Roy, kupo," he muttered, hoping Roy wouldn't hear anything he said.

"You pick one!" Link yelled at Cloud. "You think you're so cool, huh?"

"Not really," Cloud said. "People just think that about me while I don't care much."

Despite the harsh comment against the crowd, the crowd cheered and lauded Cloud's comment, making the blond mercenary slap his forehead with a frown. Aerith looked happy at this while Chris slammed his face against the counter. "You've got to be kidding me, kupo..." he muttered.

"You're not fooling us here!" Roy yelled. "You're still trying act so cool and stuff so people think you're even cooler!"

"Exactly!"

None of the two knew that the crowd began to raise their torches, this time against them.

"Why, I dare you clash swords against me!" Link declared. "My Master Sword isn't going to get a cut by that buster sword thing of yours!"

"Not even the Sword of Seals will get a scratch!" Roy declared.

Chris, Cloud, and Aerith sweat dropped as the two swordsmen were unaware about the torches being raised against them. This grew worse as the crowd raised pinchforks as well.

"I double dare you!" Link dared.

"I triple dare you, then!" Roy yelled.

"Get the infidels!" a Toad demanded.

"There are Toads as Cloud's fans, kupo?" Chris asked.

And soon enough, chaos erupted in the rows of seats as Link and Roy were ganged up by the countless amount of people, throwing pinchforks and torches against them. The World Traveler, the ex-SOLDIER, and the flower girl watched in horror as everyone began to fight whoever got in their way, resulting in a whole mess as chairs and fire spread all over the place except the stage, which remained standing far away from the angry public.

The moogle shook his head at this. "W-well, I think our time has reached to an end!" he said, ducking before a pinchfork could kill him. He stood up while Cloud and Aerith ducked down for cover. "L-Luigi, please say something to the readers from our sponsors, kupo!"

No response.

"LUIGI!"

"Y-yes!" Luigi yelled. "U-um, this special was brought to you by Chocobo Greens! Probably the only food you can feed a Chocobo with. Warning: other feeding products could cause most Chocobos to have headaches and stomaches...for some reason."

"Lower the curtains!" Chris yelled, making the red curtains fall down to cover the stage while the fight outside of it kept going on. "P-phew, things couldn't get much worser now..."

"...He is here," Cloud said darkly.

"Who is here, kupo?"

"So, you've been hiding away from me, Cloud. What a pathetic fool you are... You amuse me a lot."

"Grrr!" Cloud grunted loudly.

"O-oh no, please, don't tell me that voice was..."

"I'll get you right here, right now, Sephiroth! Meet your maker!"

"You mean you're going to meet your maker."

"AAAAAAAAAH!!!" Cloud let out a war cry before leaping towards the direction of the voice, and thus starting an epic battle behind the curtains.

"A-Aerith, don't get closer to them, kupo!"

"I need to aid Cloud! He can't fight him alone without me!" Aerith yelled determined as she dashed towards the fight.

"N-no! A-a loyal moogle knight won't let such a beautiful woman as yourself get killed, kupo! U-um...u-um...u-um...h-here I go, kupo!"

...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

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Once the screen had blackened, a small orange circle opened up, and a giggling Yuffie took a peek from the circle. She made a peace sign to no one in particular and said, "And remember, you guys, that this is not the last time you'll see great ninja Yuffie making a debut. You guys will have to wait until this story gets to the point where I, with my wonderful skills and cunning knowledge, will appear in Kingdo-"

Cloud's hand grabbed her right shoulder and dragged her away. "You wait, Yuffie. We still have a lot of time to wait for that to happen."

The circle closed down. "C-Cloud, geez, don't be such a party pooper! And here I was already exciting everyone!"

"Shut up."

And with that, everything calmed down.

[DededeCloneChris]

Chapter 170: Digging for Refracting Treasure

February 14 - Saturday - Afternoon

-Subspace-
Deep Inside the Great Maze

Over a month had passed ever since the Subspace Army tried to make a move to destroy a Temple of Gaia, which had ended in failure, much for Dr. Eggman's dismay. Tabuu had called everyone for another meeting at the realm of swirling darkness where he himself hadn't appeared yet, leaving the others to discuss things with each other.

"So we ended up waiting a long time now," Bowser said, crossing his arms. "Why did we wait such an awful lot of time now? I want to do something again!"

"Well, if you forgot, the perpetrator that slowed down pretty much everything at the factory made things go nuts," Charizard pointed out. "Also, the Shadow Bugs aren't being drained out properly...right?"

"Correct," Ganondorf said. "We must not go out and destroy a temple without the aid of the Shadow Nightmares that Doctor Eggman has been creating."

"I think we rely a little bit TOO much on those things," Dedede commented. "Why, they don't get the darn job done!"

"Must you be so absent minded?" Ganondorf asked sternly. "The Shadow Nightmares have become another way for us to deal with those idiots. We personally think that they provide much more help than our conventional means."

Bowser rolled his eyes. "And yet they haven't done so much."

"Nevertheless, we will wait for the day they kill off the scum," Ganondorf said before smirking. "Or...perhaps the King of Koopas would like to have the opportunity to command a Shadow Nightmare for once?"

The Koopa King blinked shocked at the offer. Using his sharp claws to rub his thick chin, Bowser thought about the offer. "Hmm, I could throw one of those at those pesky plumbers... Alright!" he said, pumping up a fist. "I want to use one of those monsters and see how they break Mario and the green 'stache emotionally! I want to see them both crying with my own eyes, then I'll beat them up to the bloody pulps they needed to become for a long time now!"

"Just let me convince Doctor Eggman to give you a Shadow Nightmare," Ganondorf said. "He should be finishing one by now."

"Sweet. I can't wait to see how Mario embraces himself in extreme fear and cry on his overalls to see what he's been trying to hide from everyone..." Bowser muttered with joy at the thought.

"Hey, losers! Yeah, you, I'm talking to you, losers!"

The villains turned to the south(?) and saw a spider machine stomping the ground with its claws, an angry old Porky grunting loudly while some red sparks radiated from his machine. "Who are you again?" Dedede asked.

"Hahahahah, very funny, dude!" Porky said angrily. "I hope you guys have been enjoying going out fighting those bastards, 'cuz I'm here to force you to bring me on the next mission!"

The villains looked at each other. "...I don't really know if we should let him come with us," muttered Charizard skeptically.

"You, lizard, I heard that! I'm not THAT deaf!" Porky yelled angrily. "You people are irritating, but you aren't as irritating like my number one and two super-arch-mega-baddie-enemies: Ness and the chicken Lucas!"

Bowser rolled his eyes. "So, you want to come?"

"That is what I'm trying to say here!" Porky yelled. "My fans out there wanna see more Porky awesomeness from little cute me, and I can't let them down! There's nooooooooo way I'm gonna be a lazy bum and let all of you go out and have fun beating on those guys!"

Ganondorf pressed his brow. "Such a childish bickering from a noisy fool like you..."

"What was that, alien-skinned guy?!"

The Gerudo King stared at Porky. "If you wish to come along, then ask Tabuu personally. We do not have the power to let us come with us, let alone us going somewhere else. Tabuu is the one who decides what to do here."

"Well, if that's so, then we're the digital old man?" Porky asked.

Right after asking about Tabuu, the embodiment of the Subspace appeared before them, suspended in the air. "Sorry for interrupting, but did somebody call me?" Tabuu asked.

Dedede looked bored. "I can tell ya're just jokin' with that question..."

"Well, that is a good guess," Tabuu remarked before turning to Porky. "I heard that you wanted to go to the next location of the Temple of Gaia, correct?"

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" Porky said repeatedly. "I wanna have another chance at making Ness worship me and make Lucas cry like the little blondy baby he is, please!"

"I have to say that your reasons for being here are utterly not worth my time."

"H-hey, everyone has different goals! Respect that!"

"Very well," Tabuu said. "Bowser and Porky will be sent to the next Temple of Gaia. Doctor Eggman has found the location of the next temple."

Ganondorf raised an eyebrow. "He found the next temple just now? That is what I call punctuality."

"After our last failed mission, I do not wish to see more failures coming from any of you," Tabuu said. "We must eliminate the temples before the Smashers restore the continents. I do NOT want any of you to leave another Shadow Nightmare behind this time. I want you to actually stay there and destroy the temples before leaving."

Charizard thought a bit. "But those freaky shadows want us to leave before we get hurt by them. Isn't there some way to make them hostile only towards our enemies?"

"Doctor Eggman has been trying to force the shadow to listen to our orders," said Tabuu. "It is perhaps the hardest process he can mess with. It is harder for him to fulfill that particular task. However, he said there should not be any difficulties with the next Shadow Nightmare he has in reserve...or should I say two Shadow Nightmares."

The villains looked at each other at the news. "He made two this time?" Dedede asked.

"The Ancient Minister is currently trying to figure out how to make the Shadow Bugs pour out from our sources faster. Today, he managed to make the system extract a huge quantity of Shadow Bugs, but as soon as he extracted them out, they stopped coming out from our sources," Tabuu explained. "He is trying to see if he can restore the chambers back to their original states, seeing that he did some progress."

Bowser smirked. "Wouldn't that mean I get to use two Shadow Nightmares?"

"That is exactly as you have said."

Bowser smacked his fists together and smirked evily at his comrades. "Well, well, looks like it was time for the Koopa King to use not one but TWO of 'em," he said. "That's what I call luck."

"You are lucky, then," Ganondorf stated.

"...Why am I thinking that sounded offensive just now?" Bowser muttered before shaking his head. "A-anyway, I'm on my way to the next Temple of Gaia, where I will CRUSH the entire thing down!"

"And where I will MAKE my rivals beg for mercy!" added Porky. "Duaha, duahahahahahahaaaaa!!!"

Tabuu nodded. "Do not fail me this time, Bowser. I still remember how you and Wario could not make any significant progress on your last mission."

Bowser sulked at this. "Not my fault some girl took off with my precious shell of awesome..."

"...Just...leave and prepare yourselves," Tabuu said with disgust while Bowser chuckled darkly with Porky before both of them walked away into the darkness.

Dedede looked bored towards Wario, who had been lying down on the cracked floor all this time. "Ya lazy off should do somethin'!" Dedede said annoyed.

"Meh, I'll just go and polish Stephanie a bit more," Wario said, rolling forward to stand up and walk away.

Charizard frowned. "Weirdo," he muttered.

-Subspace Bomb Factory-
Shadow Bug Generator Room

"Well, it was nice move of you to suck those bugs out of them, right?" Dr. Eggman asked with amusement as he and the Ancient Minister stood in front of the chambers where multiple Mr. Game & Watches were being suspended in midair.

"Yes, it was," the minister said. "We might even fix this whole problem very soon."

"That's good to hear," Dr. Eggman said, turning to the left where the exit waited for him. "Now, I'll prepare the Shadow Nightmare to be brought to the next location. According to the information given by my computer, the next temple is the Shamar Temple... That means I'll have to bring two more guardians."

The Ancient Minister nodded, not saying anything else as Dr. Eggman left the room through the sliding double doors. "(...Unfortunately, my schedule is almost done...but, fortunately...it could bring me a chance to finally...)"

The minister kept thinking to himself in solitude, staring at the real Mr. Game & Watch.

-Smash Mansion-
Kitchen

"Oh god...oh my...oh goodness...I think I just stepped into heaven...because this is just too...delicious!"

"Did my strawberry cake come out so good?"

"Y-yes, it's so tasty. I never ate something so good before..."

"Heheheh, I'm glad you liked it."

And Chris (in his Musician job) kept eating a nicely, well-made strawberry cake that Peach had finished recently. Next to the happy teenager, a happy Kirby slowly eat a slice of the cake with two forks. Surprisingly enough, the young Star Warrior learned from Meta Knight to slow down his eating, which seemed to be working for the time being. Naturally, Mario and Luigi were both eating the cake, tasting it with delight.

Of course, since Chris was there, Lucario decided to join in, tasting the sweet-flavored cake with his trainer, just sitting to his right, wagging his tail slowly to the sides.

Peach, who stood across the table, looked very happy as the three kept eating. "I worked hard enough on the cake," she said, looking at said cake lying down on a round plate just between her and the three. "You should be lucky because I hardly ever have a chance to make one myself."

Chris swallowed a small piece and looked at her. "Why?"

Peach smiled nervously. "It's just that, back at the castle, the chefs would refuse if I wanted to make a cake myself. They said that because I shouldn't be making any cakes for the fact I'm a princess."

"Many people are missing out your cakes," Mario said. "Remember? You invited us to a party last time where you baked a cake, and then..."

"B-Bowser kidnapped her...again..." Luigi shuddered at the thought.

Lucario stopped eating and looked at Peach. "Don't you get tired of being kidnapped?"

"Sometimes...but I did go to my own adventure," Peach admitted. "Too bad it was just once..."

"(Aww, Peach just have a lot of potential for anything...)" Chris thought dreamily as he ate the cake with delight.

Kirby looked happy as he swallowed the last piece of his cake. He burped a bit and looked confused at an oval object sitting in front of Chris. "Are you eating that?" Kirby asked, holding some excitement.

The teen gasped and grabbed the oval object. "N-no, I don't have this just for somebody like you to eat it!" Chris yelled. "D-don't think about eating it, Kirby, because I need this for a grade!"

"A grade?" Luigi asked.

The World Traveler slowly uncovered the oval object, revealing it to be an egg with a drawn face on it. "I-it's just that this egg is important to me," Chris said. "This egg is for my psychology class. The teacher asked us to take care of an egg, which she signed, to see if we could be careful with it. If this little egg breaks up, I'm done for, and my grade gets hurt with a huge zero," he said.

Kirby looked at the funny-looking drawn face on the egg. The face itself was weird since the eyes were half-closed, looking away as the mouth was half-open, making the face look a bit crazy. "Did you draw the face?"

Chris looked at the egg's face. "Oh...I based the face's drawing on the awesome smiley..." He blushed a bit at this.

"...Awesome...smiley?" Peach said confused.

"A goofy-looking smile that you can find in the internet," Chris explained. "I thought it'd be funny to draw it on my egg..."

Mario nodded. "Did you name the egg?"

"Eggy Jr. the Fourth."

Silence...

"...The fourth?" Luigi asked, breaking the silence. "Were there others before it?"

"U-um, no. I just thought the first random name that came into my mind was good enough for the egg... I-in any case, this egg must NOT be broken by any means," Chris said. "This month has been becoming quite a pain for me to bear because homework ONCE again attacked me, and this little egg isn't going to make my life even harder and dangerous. So, if you can, DON'T BREAK EGGY,, okay?" he asked with emphasis. "One little crack and my grade is a total goner."

Kirby shifted his eyes. "...You can replace it if it breaks, right?"

"No..." Chris trailed off, showing them the egg's underneath where a difficult sign was drawn on it. "See the little sign? That's the teacher's sign. Replacing this egg with another one isn't going to change anything because of the sign so my teacher doesn't get fooled."

Mario shrugged and resumed eating his cake. "Wish we don't go on a mission today. Bringing that egg with you would be such a hassle."

"I know," Chris said with a sigh. "I can't leave the egg behind with somebody, sadly. I should be the one looking after it. Besides...if I can take care of the egg, then it'd give me a good chance of becoming a good parent in the near future."

Lucario instantly thought about raising Chris's future children. The Aura Pokémon growled happily as he imagined himself looking after babies who would get excited by just looking at him.

"For now, it's just Eggy," Chris said with a sigh. "I hope a chicken comes out of it..." he muttered.

"Changing topics," began Mario, "have you heard about Snake?"

"Hmm, not really," Chris said. "Snake hasn't even said a single word to us when he left the place for a while. He must really think that he needs a rest badly, though... Why'd he go to a frigid place like Alaska is beyond me..." He gasped. "M-maybe he's being attacked by mountain wolves as we speak, and he's calling out for help, but his cries for help triggered an avalanche that buried him with the hungry wolves, and he's freezing to death!"

Peach gasped. "We need to save him!" she said worried.

"Peach, everyone, calm down," Mario said. "Snake is surely okay. He wouldn't just go somewhere dangerous. We need to remind ourselves that he's not stupid."

Peach sighed in relief. "I was worried for a second..."

"I highly doubt Snake would be in trouble," Lucario commented, snapping out from his thoughts.

"Maybe you're right..." Luigi muttered. "Doesn't he hate us?"

"Yes, he does..." Mario muttered. "He's starting to open up to us, though. As long as we don't bother him, everything is going to be just fine. Be glad he wasn't like any of the other villains when we lived together."

And Chris knew he had to ask.

"That reminds me," Chris began, "did all of you live with Bowser and Ganondorf? How did they live here? I personally think it was like having a convict hiding in the house waiting to kill their victims..."

Mario thought for a second. "Well, one thing I can tell you for sure about this is that they certainly didn't make any trouble."

"They didn't?"

"No, they didn't," Mario said. "They mostly stayed here because they would brought pain to everyone as many times as they liked. None of us never tried to get along with them simply because they'd shrug us off or curse our names."

Chris looked worried as the others resumed eating, Peach sitting on a chair. "That sounds bad..." Chris muttered.

"And it was a very tricky situation because Link would have to spy on Ganondorf and make sure he wasn't planning something fishy, but all times ended with both of them breaking into a fight anywhere in the mansion," Mario said. "Worse yet, it'd make the others break into a fight as well if they ever got to help either one, mostly being Link."

"...Is everyone here that...passionate about battles?"

"It's just that accidents tend to make anyone mad here," Mario said. "Long story short, nobody ever did spend time with either them. Sometimes I think I could get along with Bowser, but many of those times make me think he'd hang me alive with a rope..."

Luigi shook his head before shrugging. "L-living with your enemy is like you're trying to survive every day..."

Out a cue, Chris looked to his right where a passing Wolf walked towards the exit, purposely bumping shoulders against Fox who had walked to the lupine's opposite direction. Wolf and Fox shot glares at each other before walking away to their desired paths. "I think I know what you mean by that..." Chris muttered.

"Some of them can change for the better, though," Mario said. "Others...well, they just can't turn over a new leaf. Because once they smile at you, once you turn your back on them...they'll finish you off from behind."

Everyone stared shocked at Mario.

"...I'm just telling the truth," Mario said. "That's happened to me already..."

"..." Everyone looked at each other. After a brief moment of silence, they all returned to eat while Mario looked embarrassed at his little explanation.

Not long after returning to eat, the alarms blared off quite loudly, starting all of them. "We have found another Temple of Gaia!" Tails announced. "Quick, report to the command room immediately! I repeat, report to the command room immediately, guys!"

"You didn't say 'guys' before!" yelled Crazy Hand.

"T-they know what I mean!" Tails yelled, the alarms suddenly shutting down.

Mario pushed his chair away and stood on the floor. "Well, what do you know? We have work to do. Are you sure you're going to bring that egg?"

Chris grabbed his egg, pushed his chair, and stood up, Lucario doing the same. "I need to take of it," Chris said. "I don't to leave it behind with everyone in here. What if DK tries to eat it, or what if Diddy juggles it?"

"Okay, if you say so..." Mario muttered before the others joined them and ran to the command room...

...And Chris came back in to get a piece of the strawberry cake. The musician rejoiced and ran away...

...And then Kirby came back in, jumped to the table, and swallowed the rest of the cake with one move, satisfying his stomach before jumping back to the floor where he ran away to the command room.

Command Room

Soon, everyone had gathered in the room full of computers. Master Hand, as always, was floating in front of all of them to give a summary of the situation. "After a whole month, we've located the next temple, guys," he said. "Tails, would you care to show us the next temple's whereabouts?"

Tails, who was sitting at the same chair from last time, nodded and displayed the next location, this time being an island in the middle of the ocean. "According to the readings, a Temple of Gaia's energy is radiating from somewhere in this island," he said. "It must be the Shamar Temple."

Master Hand took out a sheet of paper. "And according to this little piece of paper, this is the status of this world."

Megaman 64
Current Status: Marlwolf's Defeat
Race: Humans
Number of protagonists: 3
Level of danger: Medium
Members allowed to dispatch: 9
Highly recommended abilities: Explorer skills, only humans (and special conditioned characters) may be allowed to go

Chris rubbed his head at the mention of the world. "Hmm, it's been a long time ever since I heard about that game before... I don't know remember much about it anymore."

Final Fantasy VIII - Timber Owls

"Okay, everyone, prepare yourselves for the next mission," Master Hand said. "We've got two temples down, and there are five more to go. Don't let me down with this one."

Soon, everyone began talking with each other. While this happened, Chris decided to think about who he should take to the next world. "Only humans can go," he said. "But then again, I can bring special conditioned characters: Kirby, Meta Knight, and Sonic or any of his friends... Well, first, I'll go ask Kirby."

The World Traveler went to the Star Warrior, who still looked pleased at the cake he had eaten before. Kirby looked up at Chris, smiling happily. "You want me to go?" Kirby asked.

"(I need to resist his smile!)" Chris thought, twitching a bit. "(It makes him a lot more hug-gable than before! God, this is the hardest trial I've ever faced before!) Yes," Chris said simply, shaking off the thought. "It was time for you to come, Kirby."

Kirby looked happier, making Chris try to avoid the thought about hugging him. Surely, nothing else could make things much worse for Chris... "Yay!" Kirby rejoiced.

And Chris ducked down and hugged Kirby tightly, Kirby returning the hug without minding at all. The World Traveler went as far as to cuddle the little Star Warrior before letting go of him. Chris stood up, sighed loudly in his mind, and looked down at the happy Kirby. "(WHEW! That's done with...)" Chris thought. "W-well, I'll call you in a few, Kirby. Wait here."

Kirby nodded chuckling. The World Traveler didn't want to stay any longer with Kirby to hug him once more. One hug was everything Chris needed to do with Kirby.

Next, he walked up to Ness and Lucas, who were just talking to each other by the time he walked to them. "So, Chris," began Ness, "do you know anything about this world?"

Chris pressed his brow. "Just very little," he said, stopping pressing his brow. "The only thing I recall about this world is that there's an incarnation of Megaman in there?"

"Incarnation?" Lucas asked curiously.

"You see...Capcom, the company where Megaman comes from, has had an ongoing trend to make many different kinds of Megaman based on the very first one," Chris explained. "And because of that, there are a lot of them like the one in that world."

"Aah, so they squeeze a lot out of the original guy," Ness said nodding. "That doesn't make things confusing, right?"

"I'm not so sure," Chris said unsure. "Some of them do follow the original storyline, but others have their own storyline that differs a lot from the others. I personally think it's a very innovating idea."

"So...is this Megaman the original one?" Lucas asked.

"No... This Megaman has his own storyline," Chris said. "I could say this one is more human than the other ones because, technically speaking, the others are more robotic."

"Then the original one must be a robot, right?" Ness asked.

"Yes."

"Ooh, and let me guess: these robots have emotions, right?"

"Yes..."

"And there are some other robots who take advantage of their emotions and try to destroy humanity as it is."

"...Yes..."

"Thought so," Ness said, snapping his fingers. "It's the typical tale with robots having emotions."

Chris sweat dropped. "A-at least you can say Megaman was one of the earliest robots to do this..."

"Well, he might have originated this whole deal about robots having emotions," Ness said. "I'm already pretty excited to see more about this."

"M-me too," Lucas said. "...There aren't any killer robots there, right?"

"Er..." Chris trailed off, worried about making Lucas unsure about going to that world.

Lucas knew the response was going to be an affirmative one, so he gulped and forced a smile. "I-it's okay," he muttered. "I can handle all this just fine, you two..."

Ness sighed. "Lucas, you're still trying to become brave, right?"

"I-I'm trying my best!" Lucas replied back. "D-don't push me, Ness! I-I'm doing this little by little!"

"Okay, okay, I understand," Ness said. "Don't push yourself too much because you could end up getting hurt so badly."

Lucas whimpered a bit at the thought. Chris looked at Ness. "Ness, I think you're not helping too much here..." he muttered.

Ness looked at Lucas. "I'm sorry if I made you feel scared, Lucas. It wasn't my intention to do that..."

"I-it's all good," Lucas said with a gulp. "I-I can do this just fine...just like I said before..."

Ness waved a hand at Chris. "He'll be fine. If he gets in trouble, he knows he hasus for help."

Chris nodded. "Okay, then I'll call you both when we're ready," he said before leaving the PK users talking to each other.

Next up, he approached Ike, who seemed to be in deep thought about something. Tilting his head, Chris looked confused at the ranger. "Um, Ike?"

Ike snapped out from his thoughts. "Oh, it's you," Ike said. "Are you here to request my aid, Chris?"

"That's what I was thinking," Chris said. "Do you want to come?"

"Sure," Ike said. "If you were asking why I was thinking just now, it was because I'm a bit concerned about Dark Gaia."

"Wow, I thought nobody was going to think about that beast of hell," Chris said.

"You know, if we ended up fighting Dark Gaia...would we win?" Ike asked. "Dark Gaia is supposed to be a deity. Deities are know for being far superior than any common person like us. What would happen if we ended up going against someone so powerful as Dark Gaia?"

Chris looked away. "I-I'm not so sure if I should be worrying about that," he said. "In the original storyline, Sonic and Chip faced Dark Gaia after they couldn't place the last continent back into the planet...but, since Sonic's storyline will OBVIOUSLY become our mission to defeat Tabuu a lot harder...we need to restore all the temples before facing Dark Gaia."

Ike nodded. "Correct. If we restore all the temples, Dark Gaia would stop from coming out from the world and destroy everything, and then we wouldn't have to go through with a battle against it." He smiled a bit and nodded. "You've got to thank everything and everyone has a fatal flaw."

The World Traveler Otacon's words. "Nothing can be complete without a character flaw, you know."

"But whatever flaw is that, anyone will try so hard to hide it so they show off and say 'I'm so invincible and you aren't, ha-ha' when you're not going any damage."

"...Okay," Chris said.

"I'd suggest to exploit that flaw till the enemy goes down," Ike suggested. "As for today, I'll be ready for whatever event comes by," Ike said. "Well, call me when we're ready."

The World Traveler nodded at the ranger. Turning away, Chris decided to go talk with Mario, Luigi, and Peach, the latter Chris thought that he was worried of asking to come.

"I want to come," Peach said seriously and sure about herself, not giving Chris a chance to speak at all as she knew what the World Traveler was to going to ask them all. Mario and Luigi exchanged shocked looks with each other after listening to this.

Chris's expression would have been a sight to behold, since he mentally cursed himself as many times as he could after Peach's decision. "M-my god, Peach, I haven't even asked you and you already said yes?" Chris asked in pure disbelief.

The musician would have been scared to see Peach's serious expression. "..."

And the mushroom princess quickly dropped her serious expression for a worried one.

"W-well...I just thought it was time for me to do something..." she said spoke softly.

Mario, Luigi, and Chris sighed in unison.

"...But I still want to do it."

Peach didn't know how well she put everyone around her so frightened at the thought about forcing herself into the battle, being a little oblivious herself. The trio looked worried at her, Luigi placing his hands on her right shoulder. "P-Peach, are you SURE about this?" he asked with a gulp. "I-I can't imagine you going into a fight where you'll get hurt!"

"Me too!" Chris spoke quickly.

Mario nodded. "I'll be honest, Peach, when I'm saying that you could be in danger."

Peach looked at the trio. "But aren't we all in danger?" she asked, making a point. "There's no use if I stay sitting here without doing anything. Everyone is trying their hardest to face the Subspace Army... I just can't let everyone do it while I'm away from you."

Mario sighed and looked at Chris. "She made up her mind. You can't say no to her now."

Luigi gasped at this. "M-Mario, you can't be serious! You're putting the princess in danger!"

"B-but I want to be in danger!" Peach argued.

The statement sounded a little bit twisted itself, causing a dead silence to fall between the four.

Peach looked down in embarrassment, holding onto her long pink skirt with both hands. "I'm sorry for raising my voice..." she muttered, "but...I want to go, you two..."

Mario and Luigi looked worried at the proposal. The two plumbers looked at Chris. "If she's going, we'll go," Mario said. "It's the least we can do to make sure she stays safe during the battles."

"(I'm going to die first before I get to shield her!)" Luigi thought, crying mentally. "Y-yes, what Mario said. I-I don't want Peach to get hurt."

The decisions made Peach look up and smile happily at the two, who she gave a group hug. "Mario, Luigi, thank you so much," she said, making both plumbers blush. "I know I can always count on you two the most, and that also includes Chris and the others."

Both plumbers hugged her tightly. "Don't fight when things get worse, okay?" Mario asked.

"But if they do get worse, I'll find a way to help no matter what," Peach said. "I won't let anyone get hurt either."

Luigi sniffed sadly. "P-Peach, don't say those things, please! I don't want to think about bad stuff happening to us!"

"I won't, then," Peach said while the three chuckled heartily, ignoring that Chris was standing in front of them.

"(If I only had a camera, I'd have a million dollar picture with these three hugging each other like this,)" Chris though before snapping out the thought away. "O-okay, I'll call all of you when we're ready," he told them, despite the fact the three were still chuckling heartily.

And, since the mission involved a temple from Sonic's world, Chris had to go and ask Sonic to come along. The World Traveler made his way to the hedgehog, who was accompanied with Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream, Cheese, and Big, who were all staring at Chip flying in the air in front of them without showing any signs of emotion. "...Oh god, is he still like this?" Chris asked, staring at Chip.

Amy nodded. "Yeah, Chip hasn't been moving for a whole month. It's really ridiculous when you think about it, but the poor guy hasn't even eaten anything yet. Why, he hasn't even blinked, moved, or breathed air at all! It's so freaky of him."

"I'm worried that he becomes a statue if he keeps going like this," Cream said, a little bit oblivious of the results.

Knuckles sighed. "Guys, he's just making a fool out of himself," he said. "He's surely playing some kind of trick to us."

"Is he, though?" Tails asked, tilting his head to the side. "I'm pretty sure something must've happened to make him stay still in the air like this..."

Sonic rubbed his chin. "The question is what, though..."

"Hmm, maybe he became really still," Big said without thinking much.

The musician thought about the situation. He recalled what had happened a month ago, and that was when he recalled. "Chip...you're not still accepting the fact that...she was going to...well...die...right?"

"...Yeah," Chip suddenly spoke, blinking his eyes. "Ever since that day, Chip Norris hasn't overcome that really hard trial... And that means Chip Norris died!" he proclaimed, making a serious face after a long time. "Today, a new Chip is reborn!"

Sonic crossed his arms and stared at Chip. "Geez, what are you gonna do this time, Chip?"

"This," Chip said, taking out a black vest that he put on together with sunglasses. He also combed his hair back so he would look tough.

Cream and Cheese looked excited as the imp kept staring forward. "Oh, oh, who are you trying to be now?" Cream asked in excitement.

"Ma'am, I'm not trying to be anybody," Chip said. "I am myself."

Big gasped. "I...I didn't know you were yourself."

Amy rolled her eyes at Big's surprise. "Okay, Chip, can you tell us your next name?"

"Call me...Chipminator," Chip said, crossing his arms. "Those Shadow Nightmares will be Chipminated when all this is over with."

Knuckles kept staring at the imp. "...You really like to change names a lot, don't you?" he asked bored.

"I have the full authority to do it," Chip said, still staring forward. "My only purpose in life is to exterminate the Nightmares, my brother's servants of darkness. They won't stand a chance against me, Chipminator, after I recover my powers as Light Gaia."

Sonic looked interested, despite the fact this was probably the only persona Chip would adopt to stay closer as a job as the supposed deity. "Oh, so what powers are those?"

"Merge temples together and make the Gaia Colossus."

"What else is there?"

"That's pretty much it."

Dead silence...and Big saw a withered plant rolling by.

"...Coughcoughboringcough," Sonic coughed.

Chip sneered a bit at this. "You shall see how I act, Sonic. Mark my words."

Chris looked annoyed at Sonic. "Did he steal those videos I have? I just noticed many of my library's movies are gone."

"Yeah, he took 'em all by himself a long time ago," Sonic said. "The guy's been watching all of them nonstop before he began adopting those names he comes up with."

The musician frowned at this. "Next time, you'll see how he becomes Chip Hitler..."

"It was a very nice title, but I dropped that name," Chip said. "Chipminator sounds much cooler."

"...I'll...just go over to Crazy Hand's shop..." Chris muttered, slowly backing away before a hand grabbed his right shoulder. The musician looked at the hand to see Big looking at him. "Oh, Big...is something wrong?"

Big pulled back his hand. "I wanna go with all of you," he said. "I want to see if I can find Froggy again..." His ears drooped down in shame as he looked down at the floor. "It's been a month ever since Froggy got kidnapped by Dr. Eggman..."

Chris felt a bit of sympathy for the big cat. "Oh, right, I forgot you were here in hopes to see Froggy again..."

Big sniffed sadly, rubbing his eyes with his hands. "P-please, let me come along, too. I just want to have Froggy back with me. I won't rest until I see him again. The poor guy must be really scared right now, being so far away from home..."

"I...don't know, Big..." Chris muttered. "We're already too many, and we can't choose more people to come with us..." He turned towards Master Hand's direction. "Master Hand, is it alright if I take one more person with us even if have a full party?"

"Well, Big isn't a fighter, so...okay, you can bring him," Master Hand said.

The World Traveler turned and smiled to Big. "You're lucky because you ca-" Chris gasped as he saw Big starting to sob rather loudly, making some Smashers look at him. The musician walked behind the cat and patted his back. "C-cheer up, Big! I-I already said you can come with us! I-I'll find Froggy with you if you want! E-everyone will help out as well!"

Big looked down at Chris. "D-do you mean it?"

"I-I mean it, Big. I can't stand seeing someone crying because they lost a friend. I-in a way, I think we can relate each other very WELL!" he yelled suddenly after Big gave him a rather strong hug.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Big rejoiced, not noticing he was crushing Chris's back while doing so. "You made me so super happy, Chris! Now I know Froggy will come back sooner, right, right, right?"

"I-I k-know h-he w-will..." Chris stuttered in pain. "S-so p-please...s-stop...h-hugging m-me...b-before I-I...g-get...k-killed...B-Big...p-please..."

Big let go of Chris, the latter falling down to the floor where he caught his breath back. "Thank you, Chris," Big said happily. "You promise Froggy will return?"

"I-I...can't...promise anything..." Chris muttered weakly on the floor. "...I-I'll...do it..."

"Thank you," Big said nodding.

The World Traveler slowly stood up, panting heavily. "(D-darn, Big doesn't know his strength very much...)" he thought, slowly backing away from the oblivious and happy Big. "I-I'll call you...s-so wait there, you..."

"Got it," Big said simply.

With eight people ready to be called, the World Traveler made his way to Crazy Hand's counter where he dropped on it, still trying to catch his breath. "H-hi..." Chris muttered weakly.

"Goodness, you look like somebody strapped a Bob-omb to a nuke and tossed it on you," Crazy Hand said.

"W-what difference does it make by strapping a Bob-omb?"

"The explosion...gets stronger?"

The musician sighed and managed to regain all his breath. "W-whatever, thing is, Big almost made Tabuu's wish come true: kill ONE of us OFF, that person being ME."

"Ah, well, he takes his vitamins, unlike anyone else in here. Ever thought about that, huh?"

"Maybe..." Chris muttered before shaking his head. "I want to see what else I can buy from you, Crazy Hand. Can you show me the list again?"

Crazy Hand handed the World Traveler the inventory list. "Here you go."

Jobs (None) - Stickers - Smashing Abilities - Items

Smash Coins in hands: 7201

"I think I'm going to see what I can buy for the people I decided to choose...so I'm going to ask Mario come over here," Chris said before getting Mario to come. "Mario, it's your turn to buy something from your list of skills. What would you like to buy?"

Mario looked at the list.

-Smashers Abilities

-Mario

Super Dodge - 1000 Smash Coins

Mario can perform Super Dodge, which will save him from being hurt by any kind of attack right after connecting with him. However, Mario needs to use this RIGHT after an attack connects with him, otherwise he'll be hurt. Not only will he dodge with a spin, but he will also counterattack any physical attack, doing minor damage and staggering the foe long enough for him to attack back.

Appeal - 2000 Smash Coins

Allows Mario to appeal the public watching all fights he's in by doing stylish maneuvers, getting the opportunity to gain extra items or even let the audience help by tossing hazardous stuff at the enemies. Warning: should Mario fail to appeal, the public might end up tossing rocks at him.

FLUDD Devices - 3000 Smash Coins

Allows Mario's FLUDD to change applications between Hover Nozzle, Turbo Nozzle, and Rocket Nozzle.

Bros. Attacks: Mario - 5000 Smash Coins

Allows Mario to join forces with Luigi and perform any of Mario's Bros. Attacks introduced in Superstar Saga: Splash Bros., Chopper Bros., Fire Bros., and Swing Bros. This ability also allows Mario to wield a hammer.

Resist lvl. 1: Fire - 1000 Smash Coins

Mario will reduce any received fire based attack by two-thirds (2/3)

"Good, good memories," Mario said, reminiscing many different events in his life.

"(Good, good games,)" Chris said, reminiscing many different times where he played all those games.

Mario pointed a finger at one of the abilities. "I'd like to buy Super Dodge, and Appeal, please."

"Oh well," Chris said. "Those are cheap for me," he commented, giving Crazy Hand 3000 Smash Coins, reducing the amount to 4201.

Mario looked at Chris. "Why don't you let Luigi get something, Chris?" he suggested. "I think he'd be more sure of himself if he gained another ability."

"Well...I guess you're right," Chris said. "Call him over, Mario, please."

"Will do," Mario said, walking away towards his rather worried brother.

Luigi came back and forced a smile. "C-can I get something from here?"

"YOU DON'T GET ANYTHING FROM ME!" Crazy Hand yelled in a booming voice, making Luigi faint instantly while Chris backed away from the insane hand. "...You buy anything you want," Crazy Hand added happily.

"You just LOVE to scare the heck out of Luigi, don't you?" Master Hand asked.

"...Yup."

Chris frowned at this and ducked down to slap Luigi on his face. "Luigi, wake up! Crazy Hand was just playing...um...playing, of course!"

"...Luigi's not available," Luigi muttered. "Please check after the ring tone. Bzzzzzz."

"Luigi..." Chris muttered.

After Luigi regained his composure, the green plumber took a glance of the insane hand, gulped, and took a look to the list. "(H-he's not going to kill me still, right?)" Luigi thought in fear of Crazy Hand.

-Luigi

Thunderhand - 1000 Smash Coins

"I want this one, please, please, please, please!" Luigi pleaded.

"Luigi, we haven't even got to the description part yet!" Chris interrupted.

"Aww..."

"That also includes the other abilities, so please, see them all first before choosing one... I'm not scolding you or anything, sorry..."

"...Okay..." Luigi muttered.

Luigi will use Thunderhand, an ability introduced in Superstar Saga. With this, Luigi can charge up his hands and zap an enemy. Warning: charging this too much will cause the attack's damage to be reduced drastically, and Luigi will get hurt a bit as well.

Poltergust 3000 - 2800 Smash Coins

Allows Luigi to use the Poltergust 3000 with all three elemental attributes (fire, water, and ice) available, and the typical vacuum-sucking ability, which has the possibility to suck projectiles and return them back to the enemy.

Bros. Attacks: Luigi - 5000 Smash Coins

Allows Luigi to join forces with Mario and perform any of Luigi's Bros. Attacks introduced in Superstar Saga: Bounce Bros., Knockback Bros., Thunder Bros., and Cyclone Bros. This ability also allows Luigi to wield a hammer.

Resist lvl. 1: Thunder - 1000 Smash Coins

Luigi will reduce any thunder based attacks by two-thirds (2/3)

Resist lvl. 1: Water - 1000 Smash Coins

Luigi will reduce any water based attacks by a third (1/3)

"...I don't understand," Luigi said. "Why is it that my Poltergust costs a little bit too much?"

"Oh, well, we called E. Gadd to lend us his Poltergust 3000, because the Superpoltergust 3001 was already being used," Crazy Hand explained. "Actually, he just made a different Poltergust, which is the one we have here. But, anyhow, he said he added those three elemental functions in there, but he ALSO said that it was too much work for him to do that, so he asked us to raise the price a little bit."

"...That...that's...t-that's a bit too greedy!" Luigi complained. "I-I'm certainly the only one from everyone here who has their second ability a little bit too overpriced!"

"You are," Crazy Hand pointed out.

Luigi's right eye twitched at this.

"...Oh, oh, oh, wait, I meant to mutter that so you'd ask why I said, not say it aloud," Crazy Hand said. "Okay, okay, let me try this again."

"Crazy Hand...I think it's a little bit too late for that now," Chris said with a frown.

Luigi looked down in depression.

"Aww, no!" Crazy Hand groaned aloud. "I wanted to make a joke out of that!"

Luigi kept looking down, a finger slowly reaching out over an ability. "I want to get...buy this one...please..." he trailed off, his finger pointing on the first defensive ability.

Chris gave 1000 Smash Coins to Crazy Hand. Seeing that Luigi looked depressed, Chris, out of sympathy, told Crazy Hand to get the first ability as well. "Also, get the Thunderhand ability, please."

At this little mention, Luigi looked up, watching as Chris gave Crazy Hand another 1000 Smash Coins, reducing the amount to 2201 Smash Coins. "B-but..." Luigi stammered a bit.

The World Traveler looked at Luigi. "I think you deserved it, Luigi. I didn't want you to look so down."

The green plumber sniffed a bit and wiped out a tear from his left eye. Smiling a bit, he hugged Chris tightly and patted his back. "T-thank you," he whispered, Chris returning the hug before Luigi began crying loudly.

"L-Luigi, don't get so moved!" Chris yelled, noticing most of the Smashers were looking at their way. "Everyone's watching!"

Luigi stopped hugging the musician, wiping out even more tears from his eyes. He took out a napkin and blew his nose on it. "O-okay, I'll be strong...emotionally," Luigi said, throwing the napkin away. He then started to charge electricity in his hand to create a small ball of lightning. "H-hopefully with this, I'll become stron-"

The little ball of electricity exploded a little bit too strong despite its size, causing Luigi to be engulfed in smoke while Chris backed away from the thick cloud of smoke. Once the smoke had cleared away, most Smashers gasped when they saw that Luigi was covered in soot by his own attack. They even saw his rather small pupils on his eyes while his green (or black) hat slipped off and fell down. "...L-Luigi?" Chris asked worried. "...A-are you...okay?"

"..." Luigi released a small cloud of smoke from his mouth before he fell to his knees and then on top of his nose. It was not long before most of the Smashers broke out laughing at the event, causing Chris to panic while he checked on Luigi.

"Luigi! Oh no, not again!" Chris cursed between the echoing laughs.

"...This...isn't just my day...is it?" Luigi muttered on the floor.

"Thank you for your purchases!" Crazy Hand said between the laughs. "Need anything else?"

"H-how can you be asking that in the middle o-wait, you're Crazy Hand, of course you'd do something like that..." Chris muttered, sighing in disbelief at the event.

After a while, the Smashers had calmed down, and the chosen group prepared themselves for the next world. The selected ten stood in front of Master Hand while everyone else stared at the hand as well. "Well, it's time," Master Hand said. "A month without the Subspace Army attacking means that they must have something in hands for us. Be warned of anything they throw at you, got that? The last thing I want from them is something really nasty like...you know what, let's not think about that."

"Thinking about negative stuff is the last thing I want to do right now," Sonic said. "I wanna think we're gonna be just fine."

"We got two temples restored, and we need five more to visit," Mario said. "Let's hope we keep this up."

"Then let's work like we always do," Ike said. "That way, not only will we get to save a temple, we get to see and meet other people out there in all the other worlds."

Chris hummed happily a bit at this. "I like how that sounds now," he said. "Wait for me here, okay, Lucario?"

"I'd like to go with you...but there's no point since I'm not allowed to go in a world full of humans," Lucario said. "Please, do be careful, Chris."

Chris ducked down to pick Kirby, who happily waved his hands up and down. "I have Kirby right here to protect me."

Lucario stared at the happy Kirby. "...Right..."

Kirby forced a glare at Lucario. "I'll eat you," he threatened.

The Aura Pokémon took a step back, knowing that Kirby would suck him very fast. "I-I didn't mean you weren't going to do a good job, Kirby..."

"Hmm," Chris muttered, "you will spend time with Kirby once we get back here, then. You have to watch out for what you say, Lucario."

"Yeah, you're so bad, meanie," Big commented out of nowhere.

Lucario sweat dropped while Kirby looked proud of himself, making the Aura Pokémon think the Star Warrior had a cunning side he could only see. "...Fine," Lucario muttered in boredom.

"Be good, big dog," Ness began amused, "because if you don't behave, you'll get grounded, and you know how steel types are weak against ground attacks. Ha-ha, get it? Grounded? Ground?"

"P-pfft," Lucas stiffed a chuckle, receiving a glare by Lucario, which was ignored completely as Lucas turned to another way.

Luigi chuckled as well, returning to a happier attitude. He got a little bit of confidence because of the joke.

Unfortunately, Lucario gave the Luigi the glare of death, which forced Luigi to become depressed all over again. With a gulp, he tapped Chris's right shoulder and said, "C-can we go now? I-I'l afraid I might be hurt in here if we stay a little bit longer..."

Chris knew why Luigi said that. "Lucario, stop!"

Lucario shook his head, snapping out from his fierce glare. "W-whatever you say, Chris," he said.

Peach forced a smile and rubbed Luigi's hat. "Everything's fine, Luigi. Don't be so scared now."

Luigi blushed. "R-right, Peach..."

Sighing, Chris went ahead and opened the portal. A serious Chip flew in front of the group and turned to them. "Let's Chipminate them all," he said in a low tone before flying into the portal.

Big's ears perked up high. "N-no, don't Chipminate Froggy, little guy! H-he never did something bad to you! W-wait for me!" he panicked before running into the portal.

Ness and Lucas exchanged glances before looking at Sonic. "Is he...this absent minded?" Ness asked.

Sonic shrugged. "That's how Big is... I don't know much about him, anyway."

Lucas looked worried. "I think I feel sorry he lost his friend..." He looked serious at the portal. "I-I'm going to go help him!" he said before running into the portal.

Ness rolled his eyes. "Don't you love when your heroic sense kicks in?"

Sonic grinned. "It does so many times that I lost the count," he said, quickly disappearing from sight after running into the portal, Ness following from behind.

Chris sighed and looked down at Kirby on his arms. "Something tells me that stuff will happen once we all get on the other side of that portal, Kirby... Please, don't let me fall in insanity," he said before taking out Eggy. "Also, don't let this egg get broken. I want that grade, you know."

Kirby raised a hand and smiled. "Okay!" he said cheerfully.

Chuckling together, both Chris and Kirby stepped into the portal, disappearing from the room.

Mario and Luigi walked and stood on each side of the portal, bowing to Peach. "Princesses first," Mario said.

Peach blushed and chuckled heartily. "You guys..." she trailed off in excitement as she made her way to the other side of the portal, Mario following right after.

Luigi cleared his throat and took a long step into the portal, but he, unfortunately, slipped and fell into the vortex.

Master Hand saw the portal disappearing. "Well, there they go," he said. "I hope we don't get any other incidents like the last time."

Cream looked down sadly.

"I-I mean, t-those were accidents after all!" Master Hand said in panic.

While Cream forced a smile, Knuckles raised his hand. "Hey, hand, can you do me a favor and let me become strong enough to face those enemies everyone else here fights against? The last battle I participated left me dropped dead on the floor!"

The hand thought for a moment. "Well, that is a good point," he remarked. "I think I can fix that with some time in hands... Heheh, get it? Hands? Me being a hand?"

Most Smashers groaned loudly at the joke.

"You guys don't like comedy that much, you know that?" Master Hand asked.

"I'm right with you, bruddha, I'm right with you," Crazy Hand said, making his brother sigh in depression.

[DededeCloneChris]

Music stops

-Megaman Legends/64-

In a world covered by endless water...

People are forced to eke out a living on the small patches of land that remain above the sea...

The people of this world rely on ancient technology driven by quantum refractors, a powerful energy source.  These refractors lie in ancient ruins underground and in the sea and are sought out by explorers called "Diggers"...

These brave explorers are the sole source of refractor energy which has become a cornerstone of the emerging civilizations.

Originally, this was the Diggers' only purpose; to find refractors so that civilization might endure...

However over the years, the story of an incredible treasure, the legendary Mother Lode, began to be whispered among the Diggers....

The Mother Lode...a treasure so great that were it discovered, it would provide so much power that the world need never fear of running out of energy....

In search of this Mother Lode, Diggers travel from one island to another in their flying machines ever hoping that they'll find what they seek just over the horizon...

Hope...
Despair...
Charity...
Greed...
Duty...
Power...

Who can say what truly motivates the Diggers?

-Kattelox Island-
Clozer Woods

Meanwhile, minutes before the Smashers had entered the portal, in an area where a huge hole resided, several explosions were being set off because of a huge yellow machine blowing up for some reason. Once the machine blew up, a figure went flying in the air just to land hard on the ground, covered all in soot.

In front of the soot-covered figure, a young boy in a blue suit stood several feet away from it. The boy wore the previously mentioned blue suit, which made him look like a robot more than anything else. The blue suit, however, lacked a blue helmet, which forced the boy with green eyes to reveal his spiked brown hair. Apparently, it looked like the boy in the blue suit had defeated the huge yellow machine, which the figure was piloting.

"Er...are you okay?" he asked the figure. "You don't look so good..."

The soot-covered figure slowly sat up on the ground, staring forward in shock without minding the boy in the blue suit. "How much does he think it costs to build that in the first place?  I'll get him if it's the last thing I ever do...I mean..."

The boy in the blue suit looked worried. "W-well, you were trying to steal the ruins' treasure, so I had to..."

Suddenly, from above, a wide elevator lowered down from a huge green battleship hovering in the sky. From the elevator, two small figures looked worried at the figure on the ground. The figures had funny yet cute-looking yellow heads with small blue bodies and yellow pincers as hands. "Master Teisel, are you all right?" asked the first one on the left with worry.

The two figures ran to each side of the figure, who slowly stood up. The both figures began to shake the soot-covered person with worry. "Are you Master Teisel?!" asked the second one, doubtful about the person's appearance due to the soot.

The figure that had been forced to leave the machine that was destroyed kept staring forward. The figure was a tall man with long spiky white hair that trailed pointed straight back. He had red eyes and he wore a green suit that didn't exactly have anything worth mentioning. His face was the only visible part of his body that had skin showing out, but he was definitely human. His full name was Teisel Bonne.

Teisel Bonne is a 29-year-old man, leader of a band of rogue pirate Diggers known as the Bonne Family. Being the leader, he commands his other two younger siblings and the whole crew of Servbots. Together, they all search for treasure, stealing them from places where it is prohibited to dig without authorities' permission. Teisel has a very individual laugh he often uses whenever he is excited, which is high pitched and slightly insane in nature. Teisel's behavior is often very uncertain, as he is extreme in his emotions, either being very angry, tearing up and crying, or being extremely excited; rarely, if ever, is he calm.

"This...just won't do for now..." Teisel muttered, still in shock. "No...this place absolutely failed today..."

"Master Teisel, please, cheer up!" one of the small figures said as they leaded the shocked Teisel back to the elevator where he sat down in depression. "We just gotta try harder next time! You aren't seriously going to stop this, right?"

"Yeah, he's right!" the other small figure said smiling. "Master Teisel knows better than the Bonne Family doesn't give up that easily! He is the guy of guys!"

"...You guys..." muttered Teisel.

And after in a brief moment of shock, the Bonne Family member stood up on the elevator and pointed angrily at the boy in the blue suit, who took a step back, thinking Teisel was insane (which was actually true).

"You," Teisel began, "y-you're going to get it next time, blue boy! I'm seriously going to get you! This isn't going to be the last you'll see from the Bonne Family! Just you wait until I get you!"

The boy in the blue suit looked worried; worried about that such an insane guy would follow him. "U-um...okay?" he said, forcing a smile.

"G-g-grr! How can you be smiling at a time like this?!" Teisel demanded, stomping his right foot hard on the elevator, causing the small figures to hide behind the iron bar that maintained the elevator attached to the battleship in the air. "Are you trying to tell me that you're a sadist? Why, you little punk!"

"W-wait! I didn't mean I was a sadist!" the boy in the blue suit said in his defense. "Y-you're jus-"

"Look, I might be getting a little bit ahead of myself, but I recognize a sadist when I see it with my own eyes!" Teisel declared. "That's not something I'm going to bother with, though!" He snapped his fingers, giving the order to start pulling back the elevator into the battleship. "Just you wait! You're mine, boy. I'll get you the next time we me-"

Just after the elevator started pulling back into the ship, some kind of vortex appeared right between Teisel and the boy in the blue suit. The two gasped loudly (with the small figures) as the mysterious portal enlarged long enough for somebody to walk in and out.

By this time, the elevator had pulled back into ship, Teisel's words being, "WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE MOTHER LODE IS THAT THING?!" before the ship flew away from the scene.

Back on the surface, the boy in the blue suit gapped his mouth wide open in shock by seeing the portal swirling a bit above the ground. "Megaman, are you okay?" called a female voice from somewhere. "I'm picking up some kind of energy close to you! It's...it's just too strong! Are you sure everything's okay over there? Did you get the pirates already?"

The boy in the blue suit stuttered a bit. "U-um, Roll, there's some kind of...vortex...just in front of me..." He inspected the portal. "...Yeah, a portal!"

"A portal?" the female voice asked. "What kind of portal is that, anyway? ...Wait a minute, a portal? Are you serious, Megaman? T-that doesn't make sense to me! Are you trying to fool me?"

"N-no!" the boy said. "W-why would I fool you right now, Roll? I-I'm serious that there's a portal right in front of me! I-it appeared right after I beat that man named Teisel!"

"O-okay, Megaman, I think I can trust you..." the female voice said skeptically. "...Can you examine it?"

The boy looked worried. "I don't know if it's safe to do it..."

"But what if you leave it like that?" the female voice asked. "Megaman, examine that...portal, please. We don't know what could happen if we leave it alone! Please, do something about it!"

The boy in the blue suit sighed. "Alright, Roll, I'll examine it..."

After his reply of boredom was heard, from the portal, several people came out, making the boy in the blue suit gap his mouth wide. The people that came out were the Smashers, with Luigi coming in by tripping down as he did before. "O-oww!" Luigi moaned in the ground.

Mario helped him to get up. "You're starting to have a bad day, aren't you, Luigi?" Mario asked.

"Y-yes," Luigi muttered before standing up. "I-I'm going to be just fine, right?"

"Yes, don't worry about that, okay?"

"I-I'll try..."

It was not long before a shot was fired at Luigi's head, making him fall on the ground once again. The Smashers gasped at this, and then followed the direction where the shot came from. They just noticed that the boy in the blue suit held out his right hand, which had turned into some kind of arm cannon with smoke shooting out. The boy looked serious at them, but they could tell that he was kind of nervous. "Y-you people...d-don't move!" he demanded.

Ness groaned. "Oh, SWEET! We're already being menaced by the local police...in blue suits."

Lucas thought worried. "D-didn't we already get thrown in jail before?"

"Oh no, I don't want to be thrown in jail even though I'm clearly a kid! If I get thrown in jail again, I'll start thinking all the worlds out there ar-"

Chris quickly covered Ness's mouth, looking worried at the boy. "W-we..."

"T-tell me," the boy demanded, "tell me you're not here to...um...d-destroy this island or something! I-if you are, I-I'll make sure you get thrown in jail!"

Ness pushed Chris's hand away. "Oh, double SWEET, then!" he complained.

Sonic glared at the boy. "Hey, I'm not gonna be thrown in a jail here. Jails don't have a lot of space, y'know."

"Sonic, I think we don't need to talk about your claustrophobia right now," Mario commented.

"I-I'm not claustrophobic!" Sonic said in his defense. "I just don't like tiny spaces!"

"You're claustrophobic," everyone else said at the same time, even the boy in the blue suit said it.

"...H-hey, don't get me distracted!" the boy in the blue suit said, aiming his arm cannon at them. "I-I'm going to have to ask you to stay there, otherwise, I'll...do something!"

Despite most of them didn't look threatened, Big covered his head. "Oh no, what are we gonna do? He's gonna hurt us if we don't do something!"

"Big, quiet," Sonic muttered.

Tension grew as the group stared at the wary boy. However, the very same tension was quickly stopped once Peach raised a hand, calling the attention of everyone (and the boy's arm cannon). "P-please, we didn't come here to cause any trouble!" she yelled. "We came here because...because this world...is in danger!"

Once again, the boy's mouth gapped wide while everyone else looked shocked at the princess. Silence took over the atmosphere as everyone stared at Peach with disbelief. "...Oh, crud," muttered Ness in a low-toned voice.

Peach kept staring at the boy for a while. She then noticed what she had say, and she covered her cheeks in embarrassment. "I-I didn't mean to say that...really..." she admitted.

"H-hold on!" the boy began anew, "w-what are you talking about now? A-answer me! This situation is getting a lot weirder for me to understand!"

Ike stepped forward. "Please, listen to us. We didn't come here to hurt anybody mindlessly. If you can lower that...arm cannon..."

"Mega Buster," the boy corrected.

"Yeah, Mega Buster... Lower it, please..."

The boy looked worried before looking serious again. "A-are you going to attack me once I lower my guard?"

"For crying out loud, kid, just lower your weapon!" Sonic complained.

This time, the boy put his left hand over his arm cannon. "I won't if you keep yelling at me!"

"STOP, EVERYONE!"

They all gasped once Lucas burst out of anger at the event. The Nowhere Island resident exchanged worried glances with everyone. "L-Lucas..." Ike trailed off.

"P-please, why do we need to do this?" Lucas asked. "W-why do we need to have all this tension on us? I-I'm really getting angry that this isn't taking us anywhere! Can we just solve things by talking and not by fighting? I don't understand why we need to be so violent!"

Everyone else merely blinked with worry, exchanging even more glances with each other. After some silence took over the air, the boy in the blue suit sighed and frowned. "...Megaman, is everything okay there?" the female voice asked once more.

"Um...yeah, everything's fine, Roll," the boy replied back, looking at a small screen on his arm cannon. "Don't worry about it."

"Of course I'm going to worry, Megaman! I mean, you just said some kind of portal appeared before you! It seems the energy disappeared just a moment ago, though... I don't really know what's happening over your end, Megaman, but you need to come back to the city... The mayor has something important to tell you."

The boy looked at the group. After staring at them for a moment, he nodded to himself. "Roger...I'll head back to City Hall... See you there, Roll." He lowered down his arm cannon and bowed to the group. "I'm sorry, but I have to go for now... I don't really know what you guys are going to do, but since you said you weren't going to do something bad to this island, well...don't cause any trouble or else I'll come back to get you..." he said skeptically, turning around towards a long, steep slope that leaded to the surface of the terrain. The boy kept staring at the group for a while before he ran away, climbing up the slope, disappearing from sight.

"..." Chip looked at the group and shook his head. "You guys do a poor job at first impressions. Shame on you, guys, shame-on-you," he said, receiving a downward punch by an annoyed Sonic afterward.

"Man, that was screwed up from our part, I guess," Ike said, scratching the back of his head. "Do you think he's going to come back?"

"I doubt so," Mario commented, helping a sniffing Luigi to get back up once more. "We're not certainly going to cause any more trouble, right?"

"No..." Sonic muttered, an annoyed Chip getting back up from the ground.

Peach sighed and looked down. "It wasn't because of something I said, right?" she asked worried.

"U-um, no," Chris said, forcing a smile. "Besides the fact you probably freaked him out by saying right away about the existence of other worlds..."

Peach frowned to herself.

"...Oh...I-I..."

"It's okay, Chris, I was the one who gave the bad impression..." Peach trailed off before Mario and Luigi patted her back. "Mario, Luigi..."

"Peach, don't take all the blame to yourself. It wasn't your fault, less anyone else's fault," Mario reassured her. "We kind of came in at the wrong place at the wrong time, that's all."

Chris groaned a bit. "But if that's so, then that means I have the whole blame!"

"Yeah, way to go, Chris," Sonic said in boredom.

"S-Sonic, you little bastard! I don't know how to control the portals properly, so don't blame me, okay? I-I'm starting to get the hand of this, you know!"

Kirby looked upset, jumping off from Chris's hand to the ground. The Star Warrior clapped his hands together to get everyone's attention. "E-everybody, please, calm down!" he pleaded worried. "I-I don't want everyone to look so depressed right now!"

"...Kirby has a point," Ike said nodding. "We're supposed to survey the area and find the next temple somewhere."

"I was starting to forget about that," Ness said, looking around. "...Soooo...here we are at some excavation site...I think..."

Looking around, the group found themselves standing in a big hole, possibly an excavation area as Ness had described before. In the middle of the area, however, a huge thin tower stood far apart from any accessible point to jump to the top. The Smashers walked towards the tower, spotting some kind of small dome where a door resided.

"Do you think the temple is inside this tower?" asked Lucas.

"Hmm, I dunno," Sonic said. "The temple might be underground 'cuz I don't see how a thin tower like this one can be the whole temple."

"But...how are we supposed to reach a height that high?" Ness asked. "That door is like a hundred feet away from the ground. The best height we can reach is twenty-five feet, more or less."

Chris looked at Mario. "You're the Jumpman here!"

Mario shook his head. "Even I have my limitations, Chris. I can't jump that high."

"Oh, great..."

Sonic grinned and lifted his shoulders. "Guys, guys, we don't necessarily need to jump to reach that place... We'll just run!"

Ike looked skeptical. "I don't see how running will help us here, Sonic. Can you explain yourself?"

Sonic waved a finger to the group. "You're forgetting that you're talking with the world's fastest hedgeho-"

"Even though this isn't literally the world you came from," interrupted Chip.

A red toon vein popped out from Sonic's forehead, but he kept grinning at them. "Anyway, I'll just run at the speed of light on the tower itself to reach the door. Once I get there, I'll open it up for you."

"There's a problem with that, tho-" Ike was interrupted as Sonic began to dash along the tower's wall, eventually reaching the highest point. "Sonic!"

Sonic, standing in front of the metallic door of the dome, interlaced his fingers together and chuckled to himself. He looked over his shoulder to look down to the others. "I told you I was gonna reach this place! No biggie!" he said laughing, walking towards the metallic door where he looked and knocked on it several times. "Okay, you...open up!" he said grinning.

A minute later...

The group remained silent as they saw the hedgehog standing in front of the door, which didn't open to his command. The hedgehog began to grow upset, even after just a minute had passed. "Hmm, open," he told the door, not receiving a positive outcome from it. "...Open," he said again, not getting anything good or bad from the door. Growing angry, the hedgehog grunted and started kicking on the door. "Dammit, you! Open, I say, open!"

As the hedgehog kept kicking on the door, Kirby slowly reached out for the platform of the dome because Big used his strength to throw the Star Warrior all the way to where Sonic was. The Star Warrior blinked his eyes at Sonic before he walked besides him and noticed a small card slot to the right of the door. "Sonic...I think you didn't see that," Kirby said, pointing at the slot.

Sonic stopped kicking the door to look at the slot. The hedgehog grumbled some curses and inspected the horizontal hole on the wall. "Aww, just my luck," Sonic muttered before he turned around and jumped all the way down to the group, Kirby latching to his head. Once both landed back, the hedgehog lifted his shoulders with open hands, saying, "Nope, we need some kinda card key to get in."

"A card key? Well, that's just swell," Ness said. "Now we need to find some card key somewhere, then?"

"What if the temple turns out to be somewhere else?" Ike asked. "We might end up wasting our time."

Mario crossed his arms and thought for a moment. "That could mean we're in a tight spot... What to do now..."

Big looked up to the sky. "What if we go to that city the boy in the blue costume mentioned?"

Everyone looked at Big. "Oh yes, that boy we met earlier said he was heading to some city, right?" asked Luigi.

Sonic chuckled and grinned again. "Okay, so that settles it!" he said. "We're gonna go downtown and see if we can find information about any spooky stuff happening on this place!"

"That seems like the best idea we can do now," Peach said. "Besides, I don't like the terrain of this excavation site...and it's creepy to think there's nobody in this place..."

"Let's go to the city," Big suggested. "Maybe somebody saw Froggy."

With Big's blind hopes about finding Froggy in mind, Chris turned to the long slope where the boy had climbed to run away. "I think that if we follow this path, we might reach the city faster...but...I don't know if this is the way..."

"I-if he went that way, we should go that way as well," Luigi said. "P-please, let's just go! I don't like the fact our voices are echoing in this abandoned place!"

"My thoughts exactly..." muttered Lucas.

Peach looked cheerfully, trying to stay optimistic to raise the morale of the group. "Let's go, then," she said, starting for the slope with everyone else while Chris made sure Sonic wasn't going to run away (Sonic: Lame-o!)

And so, the group eventually climbed over the slope and reached the higher ground, which was a pacific green field with trenches that had caves in them. In truth, the caves weren't exactly caves as they were short passages to access other areas. Only one of them was present in the main path, and they decided to cross through it. Once doing so, they found themselves walking right besides the ocean on a pacific-looking green field with hills.

Lucas smiled at the sight of the scenery. "This place is so calm..."

Ness breathed in the clean air before yawning loudly. "I think this place is very good. You don't get to see this kind of place that much."

Peach raised her hand a bit for a bird to land on it. The princess pulled back her hand and petted the little bird a bit. "This is such a beautiful place. Don't you think so, Mario, Luigi?"

"Yes it is," Mario said. "We could even have a picnic."

"I-I'll make the sandwiches!" Luigi offered with excitement.

"Um, I hate to break this moment, but we need to get to the city," Ike said as they continued walking along the coast. "We can have a picnic here after we find the temple."

"I was already hungry," Big said sighing. "I also wanted to go fishing..."

Kirby nodded in agreement. The puffball looked around before looking confused. "Where's Sonic?" he asked, making a point as the hedgehog had disappeared from sight.

Chris turned to his left to see that Sonic was walking as far away possible from the super killer substance of the world known as water. "I'm not getting close to some coast!" Sonic yelled from afar. "Water doesn't go well with me! Don't force me to walk next to it!"

"Pussy," Chip commented, fixing his sunglasses a bit.

"Whatever, I'm not getting close to where all of you are," Sonic said, shrugging with some fear.

"One of these days, I'm sure I'm going to throw you inside a pool with a lifesaver..." Chris muttered.

After walking along the peaceful coast, the group noticed several buildings scattered along the field. Not only did they find that, but they also found another dome that required a card key for its door to open. After having examined it, the group continued their way to the south until they reached a long wall, indicating that there was a city on the other side. Just in front of the wall, where a door was, a police officer stood still in front of it, folded arms behind his back. The white police helmet he wore on his head that covered his eyes made him look like as he couldn't look what was in front of him: a bunch of people from different worlds who wanted to access the city.

"Excuse me?" Mario asked, trying to get the guard's attention.

The guard focused his attention to them. "Hmm? Oh, hello there... You aren't pirates, are you?"

"Pirates?" Ness asked. "Do we really look like pirates?"

"Should I suppose you're not one of them?"

"I think you're mistaking, mister..." Lucas muttered. "W-we're not pirates of any sorts..."

"Really..." the officer muttered. "Well, most of you look quite peculiar to me."

"(And here we go with the costumes,)" Sonic thought in boredom.

"We aren't pirates," Mario said. "We're just travelers sightseeing this area."

"Why would sightsee this area when it was previously raided by pirates some hours ago?" the police officer asked. "For that matter, why are you even here? How did people like you manage to be here without getting harmed? I guess you hid inside those buildings with everyone else, right?"

The Smashers looked back at the buildings scattered across the big plains. They turned back to the officer. "Um, yes, we did..." Luigi muttered.

"In that case, you should go back into the city," the officer said, stepping aside from the door. "We're not sure if there are any more pirates left in the area. You should be okay if you stay in the city."

"(That was rather easy to make him move,)" Ike thought.

"Oh, you can't enter the city without using this," the officer said, handing over to Mario a small blue card. "Here you go, a Citizen Card. Did you have one like this before?"

"No," Mario said.

"Are you even around these parts? I'm sure I haven't seen people like you before... Did you arrive from the sea on a ship but lost your way and ended up all the way here?" the officer asked.

They all looked at each other before Ike stepped forward. "Um, yes, that happened."

"Oh, I see," the officer said before taking out several Citizen Cards that he handed to each one of them. "You should all have one for safety. These cards will allow you access to the downtown and city hall."

Obtained Citizen Card x11!

A special card that allows anyone to visit the downtown and city hall of Kattelox Island. Losing it might be a bad idea now.

The officer pointed at a card slot besides the door. "Insert your cards there so the gate opens up for you."

"I-I'm confused," Peach began, "why do we need cards to visit these places? I think it sounds a bit too much for me..."

"That's because there has been an increased pirate activity lately," the officer explained. "We were told from other islands that pirates have been plundering treasures, and so the mayor came up with the idea to protect the city and the island's ruins from being targets for the pirates by setting gates across the city's perimeter. We're sorry if this will prevent you from visiting other places, but it must be done to ensure the peace in our island."

"Wait, ruins were also sealed off?" Ness asked.

"Ruins were sealed off as well because we can't let them take any hidden treasures," the office further explained. "Only Diggers certified with special licenses can open the doors to the ruins to search for treasure."

Sonic looked away. "So that's why that tower's door needed a card to open..." he muttered.

"Diggers?" Big repeated with curiosity. "What are Diggers?"

"You...don't know what Diggers are?" the officer asked before sighing. "Well, I suppose I can explain that as well... Diggers are people who go around the world to dig out treasures such as Refractors to find power sources. Not only they find power sources, but they become rich if they can gather many of them."

"I see..." Ike muttered.

"Please, go inside the city," the officer offered by unlocking the door with his own card for them to pass through. "You'll be safe if you are in the city. Please have in mind that certain areas are sealed off for security."

"Thanks," Mario said before they all walked through the door, leaving the big plains behind.

The officer closed the door and looked away. "Those people looked strange to me, though... Whatever," he said. "If they cause any trouble, it'll be easy to find them within the city."

City Hall

Once crossing through the door, the Smashers were now standing in firm pavement. Just across the street, the city hall's back wall loomed over them with its shadow. Around the wall, there were palms being touched gently by the breeze that blew from the east.

"Wow, talk about security," Ness said, glancing to the sides where the wall extended all across the area of the city. "Everything's completely protected by this wall."

"Think of it as a border," Mario said. "They seem to have good security in this place."

Peach clasped her hands together and chuckled. "Okay, everyone, let's go around the city to see if we can gather information, shall we?"

The World Traveler looked skeptical at the proposal. "I'm not so sure if people will think we're...around these parts... I mean, Kirby, Sonic, Big, and Chip stand out very much from a crowd, and Peach has that dress of hers..."

The princess thought for a moment. "That's true...even I admit that walking around with my dress is a bit too suspicious."

"A bit? Peach, people will think you're using a costume," Ness said. "We know that Chip is the one wearing a costume, though."

Chip pointed firmly at Ness. "You wanna get Chipminated right here, pal? You don't want to make me mad, do you?"

"...No, I don't want to hear anything from you right now because you sound ridiculously serious for my tastes," Ness commented.

Luigi rubbed his chin. "Why don't we go around and see what happens? After all, if people think we're wearing costumes, they'll get used to see us, right?"

"Well, if you put it that way, kids might even get very excited," Sonic said before he shook his head. "Let's just go, guys. We can't waste any more time!"

"I agree with him for once," Ike said. "We should better go somewhere where information is easy to come by."

Kirby stared at the big building in front of him. He pointed at it and said, "What about that place?"

The Smashers stared at the big building. "Sure, that place looks nice to me," Ness said. "Let's go."

Lucas looked to his right. "C-car!" he shouted, the group stopping walking to let a blue truck pass in front of them. "Phew, that was close..."

"You tell me," Sonic said. "That car was going a little bit too fast...not as fast as me, of course," he said chuckling, noticing that the group had already crossed the street, walking around the building to get to the front entrance. "Hey, you gotta stay behind and listen to what I have to say next time, got it, guys?" Sonic asked irritated before speeding towards the group to join them.

After walking around the building, the group found an orange-yellow car parked right in front of the building, just over the lawn. Not minding the clanking sounds that came from within the car, the group stood in front of the city hall, looking up at the third-story building. "Well, let's go in," Mario said. "Let's hope we can mix well with the people on the island."

Ness looked bored at the car parked on the lawn instead outside the pavement. "Geez, people here don't respect traffic much, do they?"

"You've got to admit every world ignores something other worlds don't..." Luigi muttered.

Suddenly, an explosion sound came from the car next to them. They then heard some girl cursing loudly as she coughed repeatedly. "N-no, everything was going okay until now!" she yelled in disappointment. "Oh my god, fire! Data, give me the fire extinguisher, now!"

They noticed that the car's right window opened up to release the smoke with foam spilling out. After a small while, the smoke stopped coming out from the car, and they heard the same girl panting heavily before sighing loudly to herself. "Wow, that was fast," Ike commented.

"I'm glad the car wasn't set on fire right in front of the city hall," Peach said worried. "Should we see if she's fine?"

Around that time, Sonic was standing behind the car, where a door leaked some smoke. "Hey, I found a door behind," he called over before said door opened up, foam spilling out from the car's floor. Sonic stepped behind to see somebody jumping out from the car.

The person who jumped out of the car was a 14-year-old girl (who seemed to be as tall as Chris was). The girl wore red-orange-and-white shoes with red shorts up her knees and red short-sleeved shirt. She also wore brown gloves and a big orange hat with a steel plate on the front. Her spiky yellow hair was inclined down under her hat. Sonic noticed that the girl had several soot marks all over her as she coughed some smoke out. "M-man, this isn't just my day," she muttered before coughing more.

"Hey, are you doing okay?" Sonic asked.

The girl stopped coughing to see the source of the voice. She found the blinking hedgehog staring at her. "...Um..." she trailed off, "...who are you?"

Sonic grinned and pointed at himself with his thumb. "Sonic the Hedgehog," he said with a wink.

Most of the Smashers looked bored at the little introduction. "You've got to give him that he doesn't care about giving such an introduction," Ike said. "It's so prudent of him to do that."

The girl stood straight and rubbed her chin, staring intently at the hedgehog. "...You don't look like you're a kid wearing a costume for sure... Your body is so thin and skinny for somebody to be wearing a costume..."

Sonic's grinning expression suddenly turned bored. "...Girl, I'm not somebody wearing a costume. I'm a hundred percent hedgehog."

"Well, hedgehogs aren't supposed to be blue and tall," the girl commented. "Also, they're not supposed to talk either, which makes me believe that..." she lowered down her right fist on her left palm, "you're a mutant!"

"...I am NOT a mutant," Sonic responded annoyed.

"Huh?" the girl muttered before shaking her head. "If you're not a mutant, then I don't see a reasonable explanatio-"

"Um, sorry for interrupting you, but your car is on fire."

The girl turned back to her car, which now was being burned again. "What do you mean b-UAH, the Support Car!" she panicked before she jumped into the back of the car to fight off the flames.

Sonic gasped at this before the girl screamed for help. "G-guys, we've got to help the clumsy girl!"

"I heard that, you know!" yelled the girl within the flames.

"P-PK Freeze!" Lucas suddenly yelled, casting an icy mist that flew into the car's window and exploded to make the flames disappear, but accidentally freezing everything inside. "O-oh no!" Lucas gasped.

"Lucas, I think you went a little bit too far on the car," Ness commented.

Lucas blushed in embarrassment and shook his head. "I-I didn't mean to focus so much energy into my PK Freeze, I swear!" he said in his defense.

The Smashers rushed behind the car to take a look inside. They gasped in unison after finding out that the green room inside the car was completely frozen with the girl trapped inside a stalactite of ice. She had herself standing in a funny manner, showing her teeth while her eyes were looking up at the ceiling, not moving an inch from their spot.

"I-I'm sorry! I-I didn't mean to do this!" Lucas pleaded, jumping inside the room he had turned into a big fridge. "I-I'm really sorry!"

The group heard some creaking noises coming from the ice. They found out the girl was still alive since her mouth twitched a bit. "N-no worries..." she spoke inside the ice. "T-thank you for...freezing everything in here..."

"Is...she still alive?" Luigi asked worried.

Ike sighed with relief. "Looks like it..." he muttered.

Several minutes later...

After the Smashers were able to unfreeze the girl inside the car, they decided to offer their help to clean and dry the car to make sure there weren't any more trails of ice. Once they finished polishing the car, the girl sighed in relief and smiled at them. "Thank you so much for your help, you guys," she said. "I'm surprised that the blond kid...I mean, Lucas, used magic to freeze everything inside. You took me by surprise, that's for sure."

Lucas bowed to her. "S-sorry for freezing you..."

"And that wasn't magic but PK energy," Ness added. "It's a special skill Lucas and I know."

"Okay..." the girl said confused, still thinking it was magic. She crossed her arms and chuckled. "Anyhow, thanks a bunch for dousing the fire for me."

"Why did the car burn?" Big asked.

"That's because I was fixing the car, you see," the girl said a bit ashamed. "We just got this car from the junk shop's owner as thanks for my friend for saving him inside some ruins." She glanced to her car and put a hand on in. "Thankfully, I'm an expert engineer, so I brought it back to life by fixing some cables and remodeling it with my usual paint scheme. When I was putting back some cables, they kind of blew up after I put them together...and this happened. Good thing the car didn't explode or something. It'd be a waste if such a car like this would burn to ashes..."

Peach looked relieved. "You're okay, right?"

"Oh, sure, I'm okay," the girl said. "Since you helped me, I think we can all be friend from now on." She cleared her throat a bit. "Glad to meet you guys. My name is Roll Caskett."

Roll Caskett, despite being young, is an intelligent girl who is an expert in electronics and mechanics. Her devotion to become an engineer began after her parents disappeared mysteriously while searching for the Mother Lode. As a result, Roll has devoted her whole life in becoming an engineer, flying from island to island in hopes to find her missing parents by looking for the Mother Lode herself. Roll doesn't go alone in her adventures, traveling along with her grandfather, her little monkey friend, and childhood friend. The only thing she has that makes her remember her parents is a photo where she was a baby with her parents.

The girl named Roll made a happy expression and nodded. "Again, thanks for helping me out, you guys. That car wouldn't have lived long enough before it could be used."

"And Lucas would've ended up freezing it to its death," Ness muttered, receiving a pouting look from the blond boy.

"Did you notice you parked the car right over the lawn?" Mario asked.

"Parked the car right over the..." Roll muttered, turning around to her car. "Oh no, I didn't see I parked it over the lawn... I need to move it out of the way befor-"

A police officer showed up behind her and gave her a ticket. "Here you go, miss," the officer said, handing over the ticket to the engineer. "Please park your car on the street next time." He walked away to the east, to the wrecked police station building.

Roll looked worried at the ticket she just got. "Oh, fiddlesticks..." she muttered, stuffing the ticket inside her right pocket. "Oh well, I had it coming, anyway..."

Luigi just noticed something about the surroundings. From what he could tell, most wealthy buildings around the city hall were wrecked so much that it seemed they were built a long time ago. Worse yet, a huge square with rumbles where a bank used to be were located far to the west side of the area. Confused by this, the green plumber turned to Roll. "W-what happened here?" he asked. "Why is everything kind of...destroyed?"

Roll and the others looked around. "Oh...that," she said. "Well, you see, not long ago, pirates invaded this city, and they ended up destroying most buildings around the city hall and the downtown," she explained. "There was a big fight to defend the city, though." She smiled. "Thankfully, my friend drove the pirates out. The mayor of the city was thankful that we helped out in their time of need."

"So there were strong people swinging swords around?" Ike asked.

"...No..." Roll said. "If you're talking about the pirates...they used machines that shot explosives, beams, and used other weaponry. Even though it looked dangerous, my friend beat them all."

"Pirates using machines? Have they advanced in more conventional ways to attack and pilfer?"

"T-that aside, your friend drove them all out?" Luigi asked.

"Sure he did," Roll said, some hint of a proud sense in her tone. "My friend is a very good Digger, you know. He's the one who usually does the exploring inside ruins while I give him important information about his surroundings. Maybe I can get you to meet him. He's a very nice guy when you get to know him."

"Would that mean he's mean first?" Sonic asked. "I don't want to meet mean guys who then grow nicer."

"No, he isn't mean, don't worry. He has a good heart," Roll said. "Right now, he's at the city hall. The mayor needed to tell him something important. He should be coming out back shortly."

Lucas looked a bit excited. "(I-I'm going to meet a hero.)"

Chip stared at the building in front of them. "How come that's the only building that didn't get wrecked?"

"My friend managed to save the main building, but he didn't have much luck with the rest of the city, unfortunately," Roll said with some shame. "I think the mayor asked him to donate some zenny."

Zenny is the cash currency used in Megaman games.

Suddenly, the double doors of the city hall opened up, and from them, a familiar boy in a blue suit came out. The Smashers gasped, the boy gasped, and Roll looked back and forth between them. "Y-you!" everyone else but Roll said at the same time, pointing fingers at each other.

Roll looked confused as everyone kept pointing fingers. She scratched her hat a bit and looked at the boy. "Um, Megaman, is something wrong?" she asked.

"R-Roll, they're the guys I was telling you about!" the boy said. "They came out of that portal!"

"What?" Roll asked confused, glancing over at the group. "They're the ones who came out of the portal you mentioned?"

"Y-yeah!" the boy said before brandishing his arm cannon, aiming directly at them. The Smashers gasped, some of them backing away. "Roll, stay away from them! They're dangerous!"

"Didn't we ALREADY say we WEREN'T dangerous?" Sonic asked annoyed.

Chip sneered. "Guys like him only understand once they get a beating, Sonic," he said, making his hands look like guns. "Let's beat him."

"A-ha!" the boy said. "I knew you were dangerous after all!"

Sonic smacked Chip hard to the ground. "Chip, you idiot!"

Stepping between the boy and the Smashers, Roll stretched her arms, looking at the boy in the blue suit. "Megaman, they're not bad guys! They helped me out when the Support Car caught fire!"

"...What?" the boy asked confused.

"That's true," Roll said, lowering her arms. "If it wasn't for them, our car would've gotten burned. If it did, how would I work to make you some weaponry? The Flutter back at Cardon Forest isn't operational, so I thought that the Support Car would be a better replacement."

The boy kept staring at her and the wary Smashers.

"Please, Megaman," Roll said worried, "they're not bad people. Trust me in this one."

"...Okay, Roll..." the boy said, lowering down his arm cannon that later retreated into his arm and revealed a hand covered in blue armor. "If you say so..."

The engineer sighed with relief. "Thanks for understanding, Megaman..."

Most of the Smashers sighed in relief as well. "Man, here I thought he was going to attack us without mercy," Ike muttered.

Roll turned to them. "Megaman wouldn't do that to you, guys," she said smiling. "He only attacks when people are in danger."

"H-hey, Roll, don't treat me like I'm some sort of robot!" the boy said, walking next to her. "I'm a human, you know!"

Roll folded her arms behind her back and looked away. "Well, you were acting like a robot, Megaman. You've got to blame the fact you're using a blue suit."

"Roll..." the boy muttered with a sigh.

Roll chuckled and looked back at the Smashers. "Oh, sorry, I think Megaman hasn't introduced formally to you." She looked back at the boy and nodded. "C'mon, Megaman, don't be so shy and introduce yourself."

The boy blushed in embarrassment. "R-Roll, now you're treating me like a child! We're the same age...and...oh, whatever," he said sighing before looking at the Smashers. "Anyway, sorry for thinking you guys were dangerous..."

"It's okay," Mario said. "We knew you were kind at heart."

"Then I'm glad you did think of me like that," the boy said, giving them the first small smile coming from him. "My name is Megaman Volnutt, nice to meet you."

Megaman Volnutt is a full-fledged Digger who travels around the world with Roll in hopes to find the legendary Mother Lode and Roll's parents. Being a 14-year-old, Megaman doesn't know much about his past. According to Roll, her grandfather found Megaman in some ruins, where at the time he was just a baby. Roll's grandfather decided to take Megaman into their family before he grew with Roll to become a Digger. Megaman doesn't like fighting and only resorts to it when necessary. As a side note, Roll herself named Megaman after one of her favorite video game characters.

Roll chuckled heartily. "Isn't it easier when you introduce yourself formally to people, Megaman?"

The boy named Megaman chuckled nervously. "I-I guess, Roll."

[DededeCloneChris]

Roll's look became stern once she looked back at the Smashers. "But, there was something I just can't understand... Megaman told me that you came out of the portal that appeared at Clozer Woods... What did he mean by that?"

Megaman gasped and looked at the nervous Smashers. "T-that's right! I saw you coming out of nowhere from that strange portal! How do you explain that?"

"U-um, well, you see..." Ness stammered a bit. He looked at his team. "Should we just go ahead and tell me what's been going on with us?"

Chris sighed. "We may as well do it, anyway. Once they see something extremely unusual happening here that we can't avoid by lying, there's no other way around it..."

Megaman and Roll exchanged confused glances with each other. The duo looked confused at them. "What do you mean by that?" Roll asked.

Megaman crossed his arms and looked up. "I'm kinda interested about you, honestly..." He looked at them. "So, would it be alright if you told us what's going on?"

Everyone looked at Ike. The mercenary looked at each one of them. "W-why are you all staring at me for?" Ike asked.

"It's your turn to do the explaining," Chip said, pointing over at the Greil Mercenary. "Do it, boy."

"M-my turn? Since when did we start explaining like this?" Ike asked, getting no reply from the Smashers. "...You know what, I'll do it... (The people I live with, I swear...)" He cleared his throat and looked at the two soon-to-be teens. "Where do I start? Well..."

Several minutes later...

"...And that's why we're all here," Ike finished explaining.

Roll crossed her arms while Megaman rubbed his chin. "So you're saying there's this army that's trying to take over this world," Roll said.

"And you're also saying that there are other worlds out there besides ours that you have visited before?" Megaman added.

"I know it's hard to believe that there are other worlds," Peach said, "but that's the whole truth about it... Please, believe in us. We're not lying here. It's the whole truth."

Megaman looked worried. "After seeing you coming out from a random portal...well...it's harder for us to believe all that."

Roll nodded. "Yeah, you don't get to learn about the existence of other worlds when you think your world is the only one you know," she said. "To me, I think your story is kinda...believable."

Lucas gasped. "S-so, do you believe us?"

"Let me be frank with you," Megaman began, "the two us kind of believe you, but we need to see more proof to see if everything you told us was the whole truth."

"You...don't believe us?" Kirby asked worried.

Roll shook her head. "No, we do believe you in some ways, but...we just need time to see by ourselves about everything you told us," she said. "Since Megaman here saw you before, I think we can trust you all."

Megaman smiled a bit and nodded. "Yeah, we can trust you guys, so don't worry about it."

The Smashers sighed with relief once more. "Phew, they trust us," Sonic said.

"That's good enough for me," Mario said. "I'd prefer having people to trust me before believing anything so extraordinary and hard to believe I say."

Megaman and Roll chuckled together. "Well then, it's nice to meet our first trans-dimensional friends," Roll said with some interest. "I knew most of you didn't look like you came out from the same place when I saw the hedgeho-I mean, Sonic, the first time."

Sonic crossed his arms. "Oh, you're still thinking I'm a mutant or what?" he asked, making most of them laugh for a bit. "I'm not laughing, you guys!" he said even more annoyed before everyone calmed down.

Megaman stared blankly at them. "About what you said earlier about this Subspace Army...are they trying to take over this world?"

Chip nodded. "They'll take the temple we're looking for, and THEN they'll try to take over your world."

Roll looked serious at this. "In that case, we can't let them do that sort of thing," she said. "We're still having many doubts about what you told us, though. I think it's safe to believe your story...for now."

"Yeah," Megaman said. "I hope you all understand."

"No, it's okay," Chris said. "You'll see soon enough what we tried to say," he said with a sigh.

"However," continued Megaman, "both of us don't know if this army really exists, so, to make sure things go smoothly here, I hope you don't mind if we tagged along with you."

"Unfortunately, you'll have to come with us, though," Roll said. "We need to do some important things first before doing anything else. You understand, right?"

"Sure, we don't mind," Mario said. "Tagging along with you might even turn out benefiting for us. This way, we can find the temple around this island."

Megaman smiled at this. "Then, welcome aboard, you guys."

The Smashers have joined Megaman and Roll!

Chris mentally sighed to himself. "(Okay, things are starting to look up for us now.)"

"We hope you can help us out while we work," Roll said. "I think you don't know what Diggers are, right?"

"A police officer already explained that to us, but we aren't Diggers," Ness pointed out.

"Oh...well, if you go with Megaman, I'm sure you can access the ruins around the island," Roll said before looking at Megaman. "That reminds me, what did the mayor tell you about?"

Megaman took out a small license card with an "A" imprinted on it, showing it to them. "Check it out, I got a Class A License from the mayor!"

Roll looked excited. "Wow, that's great, Megaman! With such an important license, we'll be able to dig in those closed-off areas, right?"

"Yup, that's the gist of it," Megaman said as he put away the card. "The mayor also thanked me for saving the city, but she asked, if I had zenny, that I should donate for the restoration of the city."

The group looked across the street where a broken water fountain was spilling out water into the street, slowly flowing towards the sewer's entrance. "Yeah, I know what you mean by that," Sonic said.

Megaman looked serious at Roll. "She also told me the same pirates are heading for the Sub-Gate at Clozer Woods as well!"

"A Sub-Gate?" Sonic questioned.

"That's the name ruins are given."

"Oh, I see. So all ruins are called Sub-Gates?"

"Well, not really. There are some instances where other ruins are called with a different name."

"What? The pirates haven't given up yet?" Roll asked.

"Apparently not," Megaman said. "They're trying to break into Cardon Forest's Sub-Gate. We have to go there ASAP, Roll!"

The engineer looked serious and nodded. "Right, we can't let them get inside any ruins now. We could lose the opportunity to find hidden treasures." She looked concerned at the group. "Would you please come along with us? If you can, would you help Megaman in getting rid of the pirates?"

Luigi gulped at the question. "W-well..."

"Sure," Ike said. "We might not look like it, but we're experienced adventurers."

"That's great. Some hands would come in handy for us right now," Megaman said.

Roll nodded. "Since we need to get going, we'll have to use the Support Car to get back to Cardon Forest. Cardon Forest lies to the south from here, where we crash-landed."

"Crash-landed?" Big asked.

Megaman closed his eyes in shame. "You see, we didn't want to land on this island, but the engines of the Flutter, the airship we use to fly from place to place, started having difficulties."

Roll closer her eyes in the same fashion. "And then, we crashed on Cardon Forest... I hate to say this, but the Flutter has had very bad luck whenever we fly. This is not the only time we crash-landed. The other times weren't as bad as this one, though..."

"...Wait, we left the Flutter back at Cardon Forest, right?"

Roll instantly gasped at this. "The Flutter! The pirates might find our airship and scrap it! Worse yet, they could steal it from us!"

Peach stepped forward, a hint of determination in her eyes. "Then let's go right away!" she said.

Megaman and Roll nodded. "Right, let's all get on the Support Car!" Roll yelled, everyone running to the car while the duo sat on the front seats of the car.

However, once opening the door, the Smashers found out that the car's interior didn't have much space. In fact, there were some machines that occupied most of the space available for them to fit in. "H-how are we supposed to fit inside this car?" asked Luigi.

"I'm sorry, you guys, but you'll have to fit in somehow!" Roll yelled from the front. "Be sure you don't squish Data, though!"

"Who's Data?" Ness asked.

Suddenly, from behind of a box, a little tail appeared. It waved a bit to the sides before a little figure came out, jumping on the box. The figure looked like a little monkey in a gray cup-looking body that it shook to the sides while it seemed to dance. Only its face, round hands, thin tail, and face were sticking out from its cup-looking body. "U-ki-i!" the little monkey said as some sort of greeting.

Out of all the Smashers, Peach was the one who forgot about the situation as she clasped her hands together. "How cute!" she rejoiced, stepping inside the car to pick up the little monkey. She embraced it in her arms and sat down on the box. "Oh, you're so cute, little monkey. What's your name?"

The rest of the Smashers exchanged glances at this moment. "Peach...I think you forgot we're in a rush," Ness muttered. "And I think that monkey is Data."

Data is a little robot monkey friend of Megaman that was found by his side in the ruins Megaman was found. Ever since, Data has been the team's mascot, traveling from place to place. Data himself is a little mysterious, appearing anywhere where he is needed for Megaman to heal. Data only talks with monkey speech, but Megaman is able to understand what he is saying (this can be false since Data only seems to talk with Megaman. He never talked with other people, let alone Roll).

"Well, she got in the car, so that counts," Luigi said, "right?"

"Hurry, you guys!" yelled Megaman. "Get on! Roll will rev up the car now!"

Chris looked shocked at Big. "But Big is too big! He'll take a lot of space!"

"Oh, that's something I didn't know," muttered Sonic in boredom.

Big thought for a moment. "Maybe I can ride the top of the car."

"O-oh, no, that's a bad idea, Big," Lucas said worried. "You could fall off..."

Sonic snapped his fingers. "You guys get on the car. Chip and I will run and fly where we need to go."

Chip nodded. "Chipminator needs to do some exercise, you know."

"That's a good idea," Ike said. "Everyone, let's get on, quick! The car is...um...what's the word?"

"Starting," Luigi said.

"Yeah, that..."

"Get on!" Roll yelled. "And while you're at it, make sure you don't crush something! I spent a lot of time fixing everything!"

Pushing the huge cat inside the car where they all barely managed to fit inside, the car began to move down the street towards the south with Chip sitting on top while Sonic kept a required running pace besides it, surprising Megaman and Roll. "Wow, we didn't know you could this fast," Megaman told Sonic.

The hedgehog grinned at the boy. "You haven't seen how fast I can run."

Chris stuck out from the right window of the car. "Sonic, don't you dare show off at a time like this, please!" he yelled.

Sonic sighed. "You're always stopping me from doing something fun, Chris..."

"It's for your own good, so don't go somewhere! Remember that there's the killer ocean waiting for you to be alone!" Chris yelled before he got back inside and closed the window, the hedgehog getting some chills down his spine while the car headed towards the southern gate of the city to reach the south side of the island.

Cardon Forest - City Road

Final Fantasy X - Movement in Green

After coming out from the city's southern gate, the Support Car drove into the green open while the hedgehog kept a normal pace with the vehicle. Chip merely lied down on the car and stared up at the clouds. Roll kept looking forward while Megaman looked around the scenery. "Geez, the city back there looked like it was about to crumble down," Sonic said, remembering when they passed through the city.

"I did my best to protect the houses," Megaman said. "It looks like it wasn't enough, though..."

Roll smiled worried at the boy. "Megaman, you did your very best. You saved the city and the mayor. That's all you need to be proud of."

Megaman smiled a bit at her. "Yeah, I guess."

Inside the car, it wasn't such an easy time for the others to travel. Due to the small size, Chris had to stay too close to the right window while Kirby rested on his arms, Luigi was crouching down against the driver's wall, Big was big (irony) enough to block the back exit with his back, Mario had to sit very close to Ike (the latter thinking it was very uncomfortable), Ness sat down in front of a box where Lucas was sitting, and Peach, who seemed to be the only one who managed to be optimistic, sat down on the box where the dancing Data had appeared, the monkey doing some sort of dance on her lap that the princess lauded for being funny.

Luigi sighed loudly as the car shook a bit to the sides. "There wasn't another faster way to reach that area they were talking about, right?"

Mario shook his head. "We're in a hurry, so it's understandable why we're all cramped up here."

Chris opened the right window to look outside. He and Kirby saw rows of trees extending over the distance. A curved beaten up road lied in front of the car. The sky had some clouds, and a breeze gently swept the grasslands. For the two, the scene looked peaceful and enjoyable. The World Traveler had the small thought about playing something out there with Kirby. "Nice place, isn't it, Kirby?"

Kirby nodded before he clapped his hands together with glee.

The World Traveler began thinking about the young Star Warrior. "(Kirby isn't like anyone else in the group,)" he thought. "(He's just here so everything is okay, and he doesn't think too much about the situation. That only helps him to be seen as a baby, but...I think he's a little bit smarter than that, enough for me to think he helps everyone to stay in a cheery mood.)"

Kirby looked up at Chris. "What's wrong, Chris?"

"U-um, nothing, Kirby," Chris said, snapping out from his thoughts before focusing outside. "I was thinking about what we're going to do here."

"Can we eat something here? I'm getting a bit hungry..."

The World Traveler sighed in amusement. "(Yes, he doesn't stray too far from being himself...) We'll see about that."

Kirby waved his hands a bit, making Chris embrace him tighter.

Ike sighed while he looked at the small fraction of the right window he could see from his spot. "When everything is so calm, it makes you think there's nothing to be scared about."

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

The mercenary kept staring outside. "Just picture a field where nothing dangerous is happening," he said. "Doesn't seeing something like that make you have confidence that nothing bad will happen?"

"U-um, yes, I think so..."

Ike shook his head. "Too bad, though. There's danger looming over us from any corner to wherever we go. Back at Crimea, is easy for many foreign nations to break into a war. Those conflicts tend to last forever, but hopefully, I've been taking part of the ones that only last for months and not years... My point for this is, are we going to keep fighting the Subspace Army for a long time?"

The Smashers looked down worried at the question. Certainly, none of them wanted to fight the army for a long time. The longer they fought, the more they thought the battle would never end. Chris turned around and looked worried. "You guys should have stopped Tabuu right after the first encounter," he said. "But, you didn't, so..."

"Well...if you ask me," began Mario, "I think it was best we didn't defeat Tabuu."

"W-why is that?"

Peach thought for a moment and came up with something. "If you think about it, we wouldn't be embarking on this long journey to stop the army, right? We wouldn't meet other people like Megaman and Roll. We would be...secluded from going to unknown places."

Ness nodded. "You're right on that," he said. "Also, thinking again, it helps us grow together and become closer. Thanks to that, each one of us understands each other perfectly."

Lucas looked concerned. "B-before I even joined the group, did you all act...like...well...brats?"

"You mean jerks?" Ness asked.

Lucas nodded. "W-well, yes, that's the word I didn't want to say."

Ness shook his head and waved down a hand to Lucas. "Nah, we didn't act like jerks to each other. If we did, I'd assure you we wouldn't even be a team with a bunch of people who came from different worlds. If I was a jerk, I'd have toasted everyone to their oblivion."

Lucas looked frightened at Ness.

"...Of course, I'm joking here."

Lucas sighed. "Phew..."

Luigi shuddered at the thought. "I-I wouldn't want people like Falco to act like a bully... I-I'm scared about him," he muttered the last part.

The World Traveler looked away. "I hate jerk people who tend to be jerks most of the time," he said. "If everyone in the group was a jerk...I'd surely die."

"D-don't think about sad things like that!" Luigi said alarmed. "M-most of us are a nice bunch! I-I never do a prank, really! Honest!"

"(You're probably the first person I'd think is not a jerk...)" Chris smiled and nodded. "Fortunately, everyone is nice to each other. It makes it easier for me to stay safe. To me, I think we're quite the team."

Ike chuckled. "Are you starting to see that you're fitting in well with all of us?"

"Of course," Chris said. "I thank my behavior, though. If I was so laid-back, I'd look so cliche...like Sonic," he muttered the last part.

Sonic suddenly hung himself on the right window and looked angrily at Chris. "Hey, I heard that! I'm not so cliche!"

Chris gasped and turned worried to the hedgehog. "I-I'm sorry, Sonic! I-I didn't want to make you angry now! I-I swear I didn't mean to!"

The hedgehog sighed and looked bored at Chris. "Thank yourself you're so forgivable, Chris," he said. "Because you're so forgivable to people, you're more tolerable to hang out with."

The World Traveler sweat dropped and looked ashamed. "S-sorry again..."

"No worries," Sonic said, flashing a small grin before he jumped off and ran next to the car.

"He has a good point with you," Mario pointed out.

"And for that...I'm glad I don't ever smirk, grin, or think about pranks outside my personality-changing jobs," Chris said with relief. "But, anyway, we should be thankful that we don't screw each other up..."

"I know," Ike said. "If we did, that'd be something Tabuu would want us to do."

"And we don't want such a nasty thing to happen, right?" Peach asked as she rubbed Data's head a bit. "I would tell when somebody is being bad to anybody. I wouldn't want something like that to happen, ever."

"I-I'm right with you," Luigi said. "Everything is okay as things are now, s-so I wouldn't want violence to erupt between us..."

"True..." Lucas muttered.

To make sure he wasn't there for nothing, Big decided to speak by saying, "Chris is a very nice friend. He wants to find Froggy with me."

Such an easy comment made Chris think Big was thinking hard to console him. Chuckling heartily, Chris nodded. "Thank you, Big."

Big looked happily and nodded. "Anything to make a friend happy."

Suddenly, a window from the front green wall opened up, and Megaman glanced over his left shoulder at them from the driver's seat. "You guys, we're reaching the area of the Flutter now."

Roll sighed in relief. "Thank goodness it's still there..."

The Smashers inside the room managed to look outside the window from their spots. From what they could see was a big airship that was wrecked over a hill. The ship itself had the same paint color scheme as the Support Car did (a proof that made them believe Roll was in charge of all their machinery's color schemes). The ship was big enough to house several people inside. It previously had three wings: one of each side, and one underneath, the latter one scrapped off. Above the ship, there was a small terrace with a frontal handrail. The front of the ship had two green-dotted eyes, making the ship look like some sort of fish.

"It looks...nice," Lucas said.

"That's the Flutter, everyone," Roll said without taking her sight away from the front road. "It's the ship we use to fly around the world."

Megaman sighed and frowned. "But it's wrecked. The engines didn't last for long, and so we crashed here in Kattelox Island."

"At least we found this land nearby," Roll said. "We would've died if we didn't have somewhere else to land rather than the ocean. I still have the bruise I got on my back when we made the emergency landing."

"Me too..."

"In order to repair the Flutter, we need to find a huge refractor," Roll said. "Do you know what refractors are? Refractors are gems that have important energy sources. Diggers go around the world to explore ruins and find refractors."

"Have you found any of those refractors?" Ness asked.

"Yeah, but the one we got wasn't enough to repair the Flutter," Megaman said. "We got a blue one from a tower located in the sea."

"However, we need to find a bigger one that can provide a lot more energy into the Flutter, and the Sub-Gate in this area might have the refractor we need to retrieve for the Flutter to work," Roll said as the car took another path of the forest that directed to the eastern side. "According to Megaman, the mayor said there was a Sub-Gate here."

Megaman looked serious at the road. "The ruins are being raided by the pirates we met. The same pirates that attacked the city are now around the Sub-Gate."

"We're sorry for asking all of you this, but can you help us defeat the pirates?" Roll asked worried. "I'm worried that Megaman goes off alone to face all of them. But, surely, with all of you, our task might get a lot easier."

Ike nodded. "We can give a hand if you want." The whole group nodded in agreement.

"Thanks, guys," Roll said. "Oh, there was something else I was going to ask you... Since we're going to investigate the ruins, can you assist Megaman in there?"

"Well, sure, why not?" Ike asked.

Roll shook her head. "There was something important we need to tell you about the Sub-Gate, though..." She looked at Megaman. "That reminds me, didn't the mayor tell you something else?"

Megaman rubbed his chin. "Yeah, she said something important to me," he said. "She said that the Reaverbots on the island started to turn themselves on..."

"What?" Roll asked. "The Reaverbots of this place were turned off?"

"Yeah, that's what she said," Megaman said. "They didn't do this before, and that's what making her worry so much."

The Smashers listened to this. "I-I'm sorry for meddling a bit into this, but, what are Reaverbots?" Luigi asked.

Roll looked back to the track. "Oh right, you're not from this world," she said. "Well, for starters, Reaverbots are ancient robots built to protect Sub-Gates scattered across the planet. According to the legends, Reaverbots were built by ancient civilizations to protect refractors from being taken away by thieves."

Megaman looked over his left shoulder at them. "Don't think Diggers are thieves, though. With the way the world is now, everyone is trying to take the refractors to get power sources."

"It's all good," Roll said. "Besides, digging into the ruins can yield important discoveries about how civilizations from old lived, not just getting refractors. In any case, can you help Megaman investigate the ruins of Cardon Forest while making sure you get out alive?"

At this, Lucas looked scared. "A-are Reaverbots very dangerous?" he asked.

"Some might be, but some aren't," Megaman said. "You can find many small Reaverbots patrolling halls and the such, but there are some instances where bigger and stronger Reaverbots guard certain places such as rooms close to the refractor of the ruins."

"Remember we said that we found a refractor? Well, once he took it from its pedestal, it triggered the Sub-Gate's security Reaverbot. It was huge one, and even he couldn't destroy it completely."

"That robot even cornered me against a huge fall to the sea because the Sub-Gate was a huge tower in the middle of the sea," Megaman recalled. "Luckily, Roll came in with the Flutter and she saved me from that Reaverbot."

"And then, after that...the Flutter began malfunctioning, and we crashed here," Roll said sighing. "Man, we were talking about Reaverbots, and then we're suddenly explaining how we ended up here again..."

Lucas gulped. "P-please, tell me we're going to be okay..."

"I guess," Megaman said. "Don't you get so scared about them. It's hard for me to investigate Sub-Gates alone, but with all us together, it might be easier."

Ness patted Lucas's right knee. "You hold on, okay?"

The blond boy nodded. "O-okay..."

Roll chuckled at this as she spotted a small passage inside a cave. "Well, there it is. On the other side of that passage, we'll find the Sub-Gate's area. And once we cross to the other side, we'll find the pirates as well. As soon as I park the car somewhere safe, everyone has to leave the car. I'll be driving the car to provide protection."

Luigi shook his head. "W-what? A-are you seriously going to drive the car into the fight?"

Roll looked at Megaman. "I'm worried, you know? If Megaman happens to get hurt...I don't want to think about it."

Megaman smiled worried at Roll, blushing a bit on his cheeks. "U-um, thanks, Roll."

Anybody like Peach would have noticed the small hint of love between the duo. The princess chuckled to herself in amusement as she carefully stared at the two still locking embarrassed eyes at each other.

Sonic ran backwards next to Megaman's side. "So, anything you can tell us about these pirates? Do they swing swords or something?"

Megaman shook his head and looked at the hedgehog. "They use tanks armed with bombs and machine guns. So far, those are the only weapons they use to attack... Oh, and also, they have turrets, so be careful."

Sonic nodded. "Gotcha, I'll take care of those turrets." He grinned and winked at them. "I've been fighting robots for a pretty long time now. You can count on me."

"We'll see if we can really count on you," Roll said. "I'm worried about some of you, though..."

Peach looked concerned. "If things look really dangerous...I'll see what I'll do."

Luigi looked worried at her. "P-Peach, you should stay in the car. If things get really nast-"

"I'll help...somehow," she interrupted, making Mario and Luigi sigh.

"I'll stay in the car just in case something bad happens," Big said. "I don't wanna fight right now...I just want to find Froggy..."

Megaman and Roll looked at each other. "Froggy?" they both repeated confused.

"Long story..." Chris trailed off, "I'll tell you both later..."

On the roof of the car, Chip sighed to himself, staring at the clouds. He yawned loudly and then turned to the side where he fell asleep. "Give me back my machine guns and chocolate bar, jerk..." he muttered, drifting off into a dream.

"...Huh?" Roll blinked a bit. "There's a woman near the entrance..."

The engineer spotted a middle-aged, brown haired woman wearing a white apron. Roll and Megaman could tell the woman looked very scared about something. Stopping the car besides her, Roll looked at the preoccupied woman. "Ma'am, is something wrong? You look a bit upset," Roll said. "Did something happen?"

"Oh, yes, something happened, my dear," the woman said worried. "I was looking for mushrooms on the other side of this passage, and then all of sudden these tanks rolled out of nowhere! I-I don't know what some children like you are going to do, b-but I'm getting out of here!" she said before yelping and running away from the direction they came from.

Roll watched the woman getting away. "Wow, she's running quite fast," she remarked before snapping out from her remark, looking serious at Megaman. "Megaman, they must be on the other side. Are you ready to give it a go?"

Megaman nodded. "I'm ready."

Roll looked at the others. "What about you?"

"We're ready as well," Mario said as everyone nodded in unison.

Roll looked forward into the passage. "Then here were go."

The car drove into the passage, crossing the small cave to get on the other side where the ruins' area awaited them all...

Music stops

Cardon Forest - Ruins' Area

Parking carefully behind a tree that was conveniently sitting close to the entrance of the ruins' area, which was a big plain with some canyons surrounding the area, Roll made sure they were out of sight. She looked determined at Megaman and everyone before saying, "You guys need to go out now," she said before looking on the panel besides the wheel, spotting many dots in it. "I'm picking up many signals from tanks, so be careful out there."

"You're going to advance with the car?" Ness asked.

"Once you guys take out some tanks, I'll move the car next to you," Roll explained. "If you can, use the car to shield yourselves from incoming attacks, but let them damage the Support Car, or else it could explode for good this time."

Mario nodded. "We got it," he said, turning to the door where Big was blocking it. "Big, would you?"

Big nodded, stood up, turned to the door, and squeezed his body out from the car, making it move a bit to the sides. The Smashers walked out from the car (with Mario and Luigi standing very close to Peach) and Big got inside again, Data being the only one who didn't go out. He closed the door behind.

Megaman got off from the driver's seat and closed the door. He looked at the group and nodded. "Let's go," he said, walking to the other side of the tree with everyone following.

"Good luck, you guys!" Roll shouted from the car while a sleepy Chip mumbled some words about sweets being stolen by a swift ninja.

However, once the group walked a few feet away from the Support Car, they found out that they had arrived a bit earlier than expected. Apparently, they spotted a girl standing in front of three little figures that seemed to be the same figures that were with Teisel. The green-eyed girl had brown hair in an odd shape. She wore a pink tiara over her hair, a small black vest over her pink shirt, pink gloves, brown pants, and pink shoes. She also wore mechanical-looking skull marks: a pendant on her neck, and two earrings on her ears.

"Alright, you bunch of little-do-nothings, listen up here!" she raised her voiced, putting her hands on her hips. "We failed so badly last time in our attempt to enter the ruins back at Clozer Woods, so we need to make it all up this time by raiding the ruins in this place." She pointed a finger at them. "You're Servbots, a proud elite group who works hard for the Bonne Family! I'm giving you all a second chance to prove yourselves once more!"

Servbots are small-purpose robots who serve the Bonne Family, each one with their own personality and talent. The Servbots are pretty much the whole crew of 41 (the last Servbot's existence being a complete mystery to the others) of the Bonne Family, working hard every day to appease their creator. The Servbots have a child-like personality and love Tron Bonne as a mother, but are often in trouble for their mistakes and are punished by her whenever they goof off. Their cute appearance is useful to avoid people suspecting of them, allowing them to get information and report back to the Bonne Family. Their favorite food is Curry rice.

"Right, Ms. Tron!" the three figures, or Servbots, said with a salute.

"I'm gonna be busy preparing the robot I was going to make to get back at that annoying, pesky blue boy who beat us last time," she said with irritation. "Ooh, I hate that guy! If he didn't show up, we wouldn't be in this situation in the first place!"

The right Servbot raised his right hand. "Ms. Tron, what do you want us to do?"

The girl sighed. "I want you to guard this area and break into the ruins. Also, if that blue boy shows up again, kill him off, okay?" She thought for a moment. "...Or...just don't let him get near this place."

The Servbots looked at each other and stared back at the girl. "So, no killing the blue boy?" the left Servbot asked.

"W-well, you can hurt him a little, but that's all you'll do!" the girl said. "If you go overboard and kill him, well...we could seriously get the police on us now..."

The middle Servbot smiled. "But, Ms. Tron, the police are seriously on us. Did you forget we kinda wrecked the city when we all fought that blue boy and pathetically lost to him?"

The girl blushed in embarrassment. "I know that already, and don't you address us as pathetic again!" She closed her eyes and grunted. "I'm just saying that things could get even much worse than they are now!" She pointed a finger to some small tanks with the skull insignia imprinted on their front parts. "Go get your butts in there and guard the area, you got that?! You better stay on schedule or else there won't be dinner for any of you tonight!"

The Servbots saluted once more. "Yes, Ms. Tron! We understand!" they all said in unison before turning around to run towards the tanks to use them.

As the girl watched them getting inside their tanks, she sighed to herself and frowned. "Sheesh, things aren't definitely looking up for us today..." She rubbed her chin and looked up with some curiosity. "Okay, so what was it that Teisel told me about? Something about some people coming out from a portal after he was defeated by that blue boy... Man, my big brother is nuts, I swear," she muttered with a frown. "I didn't see any portal or something like that. I was flying the Gesellschaft. Too bad the radar wasn't operating well. Otherwise, I'd have seen that portal he was talking about for sure..."

The Smashers looked at each other. "Did she see us coming out from the portal?" whispered Sonic to Mario.

"She didn't. She just said so," Mario whispered.

The girl lifted her shoulders a bit. "Well, no matter. It doesn't really matter what he saw. After all, he's Teisel... All we have to do is follow the schedule," she said with a small chuckle. "Yeah, everything is just gonna be alright... But...I'm worried about that blue boy from before..." She crossed her arms and looked worried. "When he told that pesky dog from biting me...I...I don't know what was happening to me..." She slowly turned around, still deep in thought. "I felt a bit funny...and...I don't know why my heart was beating so..."

Once she locked eyes with the group for a small second, she stopped talking to herself.

Cross Edge - A Lucky Dog

"...U-UAAAAAAAAAH!!!" she yelped out, making some of them step back. In a second, she got into a moody attitude full of embarrassment and anger. "W-what the hell are you doing here, stalking on people like me?! T-that's so creepy! H-how long have you been standing there?!"

"Like forty seconds ago," Sonic responded.

Megaman scratched his head a bit. "W-wel-"

"You!" she yelled, ignoring the hedgehog, "you're the same blue boy from before! So, you came all the way here because you didn't have enough of us, huh?" She just noticed Megaman was accompanied with the Smashers. Her eyes looked bored at them before she looked amused and hid part of her face behind her right hand. "Oooooh, now I get it..."

"What?"

"Oh, that's so nice of you," she said in amusement. "You thought the next time we'd meet it'd be a lot harder for you to handle things alone, so you went to ask people with odd costumes to come help you against us."

Megaman looked a bit miffed at this while some of the Smashers felt a bit offended at the "remark" the girl said. "U-um..."

The girl waved a finger. "Nah-ah-ah, you can't hide it from me. I know you did just that for the sake to be safe. I'm flattered instead of being frightened, actually."

"W-wait, that's not..."

Ness pulled Megaman's left hand a bit to get his attention. "Hey, who's this annoying girl?" he muttered.

The girl clearly heard the mutters. "W-what was that, you little brat?!" she demanded with a fist. "D-did you just call me an annoying girl? Why, you, I should come over right there and slap you so you mind your own business!"

Ness stared blankly at her. "I thought I was minding my own business. I mean, I came here to stop you and all that...so yeah."

"Oh, so what are you gonna do?" the girl asked skeptically. "You're going to pick up some rocks and toss them at my tanks? Sorry, but they're rockproof." She smiled sadistically and waved down a hand at Ness. "Go back home with your mommy if you know what's good for you."

Annoyed by this, Ness grumbled and looked at Lucas. "Luc, should I burn her down or explode her to bits or do both?"

Lucas blinked in shock ."N-Ness, that's a bit too much, don't you think?"

"People that piss me off like she does don't really deserve a rock in their face," Ness muttered annoyed.

The girl shook her head and looked at Megaman. "You can take those kids away from here if you want. This is the ONLY chance I'm giving you to do so, so you might as well take it."

"W-well..." Megaman looked unsure. "...I don't think they'll leave."

"What are you trying to say now? Oh, that's just great, then!" the girl said in annoyance. "Well, if they're THAT stubborn, they'll know how I, Tron Bonne, can be dangerous whenever I want!"

Tron Bonne is the Bonne Family's mechanical and electronics' genius, little sister to Teisel Bonne and big sister for the youngest member. She is the creator who built all the 40 Servbots (Servbot 41 being a total mystery for her) whom she treats as children (ever-so-often punishing them if they goof off). Her personality changes many times as she can be calm and happy, then angry and furious the next minute, but in both settings, she's extremely stubborn and not above mocking her opponents openly whether she's winning or not. Like Roll, Tron is a mechanical genius who invents all of the Bonne's fighting machines, having a IQ of 180.

"Oh, so that's your name," Megaman said.

"W-what the heck, you didn't know my name?!" the girl named Tron asked in disbelief.

"I never asked for it."

"U-ugh! You're unbeliavable!" she said with disgust before she sighed, calming herself down. "Well, it doesn't really matter. It's not like I care or anything... I don't want to know your name."

"Megaman."

Tron blushed with anger. "I-I said I didn't want t-oh, whatever!" she yelled, throwing her hands up. "Either way, my children won't go easy on you this time! Your little group isn't going to make much difference at all. In fact, you just brought some weird bunch to get killed! What an idiot you are, honestly!"

Suddenly, Tron narrowed her eyes at the Smashers. Peach, feeling a bit unsure, tilted her head at her. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"(Hmm, these guys fit into the description Teisel told me about...)" Tron thought. "(He said they dressed weird...)"

"Hello?"

Tron snapped out from he thoughts and looked mad at them. "I-I was just thinking about something, that's all!"

Chip rolled his eyes and plugged his ears. "This girl is such a loudmouth. She just won't stop yelling at us. She needs to be Chipminated so badly."

"Yeah," Sonic commented.

Tron narrowed her eyes at them. "Ooh, you're going to wish to be alive after this," she muttered. "Fine! You people are just irritating to me, so I'll be going now!"

Megaman held out his hand at her. "W-wait!"

"I won't!" Tron yelled back, turning around towards the south. "Listen to this for a minute, Megaman. I know you were so desperate to get help to deal with my Servbots, but I think it was stupid of your part to invite these guys here. I mean, look at them! They dress weird, they look weird, and they're annoying above everything else!"

Ness snickered a bit. "She just said your name, and she said she didn't care."

"Shut up, you little brat!"

Ike looked away. "God, what is her problem? She complains a lot for nothing..."

"I HEARD that!" Tron yelled as she walked away from them. "You better be prepared for what's to come, Megaman! The Bonne Family isn't going to give up on you and your little groupie!" She stopped walking and looked over her right shoulder at them. "Humph!" she said loudly, going back towards the south where she walked into the forest and disappeared from sight.

Once she was gone, Peach looked concerned at Megaman. "Um, why didn't we stop her? Isn't she your enemy?"

Megaman looked confused. "I...just don't know," he said honestly. "Part of me wants to take her to the police, but another part of me wants me to go on easy on her. I feel a bit guilty for stopping her team..."

"You don't like fighting, right?" Luigi asked.

"No, I had to fight them so they didn't cause trouble," Megaman explained.

Sonic cleaned his right ear with a finger. "Well, I, personally, didn't want her to come with us. I don't want her yellin' at us, y'know."

Peach crossed her arms and put a finger on her lips. "(She looked so upset, but I don't know why I think she feels something for Megaman...)" With this thought in mind, the princess clasped her hands together and looked excited. "(...Wouldn't this mean she has a crush on him? If she does...I want to see her soon again.)"

Chris took out Eggy from his pocket and sighed. "Please, don't break on me, Eggy. I don't want you getting broken now."

Weirded out a bit, Megaman looked at Ike. "Why is he talking to that egg with the funny face?" he asked.

"Some project he's doing, I think," Ike whispered back.

"...Oh," Megaman said, Chris stuffing Eggy back into his pocket.

It was not long before three tanks, the same tanks the Servbots rode, approached them. Stopping a few feet away, the Servbots began talking. "Okay, everybody, on your toes!" spoke the middle tank.

"We'll show Miss Tron what we can do...this time, for sure!" the right tank spoke.

"Remember, our dinner is at risk here. We can't lose our curry rice for tonight!" the left tank spoke loudly. "I'm hungry right now, so you know how upset I can get when I'm hungry!"

"Oh no, he's upset!" the tank of the center said. "We better stop them before he gets hungrier!"

"I thought he was supposed to watch his weight," the right tank said.

"Shut up, you!" the left tank said. "It's dinner or bust for me! I'm not backing off now!"

"Oooh, nooooo!" the other tanks said in fear.

The group sweat dropped in unison at this. Scratching his head a bit, Megaman looked at the others and said, "Guys, you really need to be careful."

"Pfft, watch this," Ness muttered, making fists at his sides while sending a green flash that grew in size and went over the middle of the tanks. "PK Flash!" he shouted.

The green flash exploded into a burst of energy, making all tanks exploded into bits. Out of the smoke that the flash had caused, the three Servbots rolled in the air and fell down in front of the group. Pushing themselves back on their feet, they looked at them and started screaming. "Uah, run away!" the middle Servbot suggested.

The left Servbot began crying. "A-at this rate, I won't have my curry riiiiiice!" he moaned.

"Quick, we need to get away from them and tell Miss Tron about this! T-they're...very dangerous...and so weird as well!" the right Servbot yelled. The three Servbots raised their hands and ran away in a mad dash to the same direction Tron went, hoping they'd catch up with her to tell on the Smashers.

"Weird... They're just trying to insult me," Ness muttered with crossed arms.

Megaman gaped a bit at the display of power from Ness. Looking at the proud Ness for a brief moment, the boy in the blue suit stared forward at some turrets placed on a big hill and smiled confidently. "Okay, now I know I can really count on all of you." He pointed forward and yelled, "here we go, everyone!"

TO BE CONTINUED...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The Misadventures of Tron Bonne. Wait, are we really gonna have her around again?" asked Sonic.

"In many occasions, I've been asking myself that at least four hundred times. You'll get used to her," Pikachu said.

"Four hundred times?"

"Team Rocket, dude, Team Rocket."

"Oh... Hey, wait, I don't know what a Team Rocket i-"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Do you want to save your data?

Yes

Overwrite file?

Yes

-Kattelox Island-
Chris, Lucario, 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, Big, Megaman Volnutt, Roll Caskett, Eggy Jr. the Fourth

[DededeCloneChris]

Chapter 171: The Misadventures of Tron Bonne

-Kattelox Island-
Cardon Forest - Sub-Gate Area

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness - Do Your Best, Girl!

When rushed forward into the field, Chris gasped and grabbed Peach her shoulder. The princess turned to him confused. "What is it, Chris? Is something wrong?" she asked.

"W-well, there is something wrong," Chris said worried.

Peach knew what Chris was going to say. With a confident chuckle, the princess looked happy. "I'll be just fine, Chris. You don't need to worry a lot for me."

"I think you'd say something like that...so, I want you to put these in your Trophy Stand," Chris said, taking out from his pocket the Sophia sticker, a newly obtained medium-sized Choco/Mog sticker (the latter having an original moogle riding on a Chocobo) and an Ifrit sticker (which had the picture of a medium-sized horned green monster).

Peach tilted her head at the stickers. "What...will they give me?"

"Healing, Thunder Flare, and the Choco/Mog summon," Kawashima said. "You'll basically become some sort of mixture between a mage and a summoner. They're great for attacking and healing at long distances."

The princess thought for a moment. "I...wouldn't certainly get close to those tanks and smack them with my frying pan, golf club, or tennis racket..."

The musician sweat dropped at this.

"And if I could provide some healing...well..."

"Just think about it, dangit!" Chris cried loudly. "For the love of god, if somebody ever hit you right on the face with a punch, I'd never tolerate it! Hell, even Master Hand wouldn't tolerate it either! NO ONE ELSE would tolerate somebody hitting you in the face!"

Peach stammered at the sudden outburst. "G-get hit in the face?"

"I'm sorry if I'm putting up such a violent example, but, please, become a mage of the sorts before everyone regrets it! We're thinking about your welfare!"

"But...if that's true, then what would happen if Zelda got hit in the face?"

Chris stared blankly at her. "For some reason...it doesn't apply so well for Zelda. I mean, I think she's a little bit more of a tomboy than you are."

-Smash Mansion-
Command Room

"What?" Zelda asked upset. "Oh, so it's unforgivable if somebody hits Peach, but it's understandable if I'm the one getting the hit?" She looked at Link. "Link, give me your honest opinion about this."

"Why do I need t-" Link noticed Zelda's fierce glare. "I-I mean, sure, it'd be unforgivable if you ever got hit, Zelda! C-Chris is wrong in this one!"

"Are you being honest, Link?"

Link nodded many times. "Y-yeah, I'm sure of it! N-now, please, lower your hand before it shoots a Din's Fire at me!"

Marth looked away. "It's not like Zelda to get this angry, but I guess there are some certain things that could set her angry..."

-Kattelox Island-
Cardon Forest - Sub-Gate Area

"Hmm? How strange. It seems your partnership with Zelda diminished, Chris," Kawashima said.

The musician groaned at this and looked up to the sky. "Zelda, I-I was kidding! Y-you don't need to get mad at me! Please, forgive me for saying that about you! You're the same case as Peach, I swear!"

"Oh, it looks like the meter recovered half of its lost percentage now," Kawashima said. "Watch out for what you're saying, Chris. The others can still watch and listen to what we're saying during the mission."

"Great, now I'll have to remind myself that..." Chris muttered and looked at the concerned Peach. "So, Peach, please, use these stickers. You'll be a lot more helpful if you use them. Also, if you DO use them, I'll never bring up something like you getting hit in the face."

Peach blinked a bit shocked at this.

"Chris, for some reason, the meter lost Zelda's recovered percentage," Kawashima pointed out.

"Goodness gracious, Zelda, you're being irrational now!" Chris yelled. "Stop it, please!"

"The meter recovered the lost percentage, but it didn't recover fully."

The musician grunted loudly and looked at Peach. "So, what will it be, Peach?"

Peach looked serious and nodded as she took the stickers from Chris's hand. "I'll do it," Peach said. "If everyone is so worried about me...I'll do it."

"(God, look at the fierceness of her eyes,)" Chris thought. "(You can see fire on them...maybe.)"

The princess chuckled heartily and put the stickers on her Trophy Stand. She smiled at Chris and nodded. "Thank you for helping me out, Chris. You're so nice."

Chris blushed and chuckled nervously. "I-I do everything I can so I don't turn out to be useless, Peach..." He looked back to the field. "Well, shall we get going now before everyone finish off those tanks?"

"Please, you first."

"Okay, let's go now," Chris said, running into the field with Peach following from behind.

Meanwhile, behind the tree, Roll, from the driver's seat, managed to listen to the two's conversation. The engineer blinked a few times before looking confused at no one in particular, saying, "They're such a weird bunch, let me tell you," before sighing to herself. "Well, time to drive for me," she said, looking over to Big and Data behind. "It'll be alright, you two, so leave the driving to me."

Big and Data nodded. The purple cat looked up to the ceiling and thought, "(People here are so nice for letting young girls drive.)"

Data merely replied by doing his usual dance to the sides over the box.

Big stared at Data. The dance of the robotic monkey seemed very interesting for him.

Back at the field, eight tanks rolled from behind the big hill and towards Megaman's group. "There's the blue boy!" announced a tank. "He's bringing reinforcements!"

"Stop 'em from gettin' closer!" another tank announced. "Miss Tron will take our dinner away if we don't do something!"

"For the curry rice!"

"FOR THE CURRY RICE!!!" all tanks proclaimed in unison.

"Just look at their fierceness!" Ness remarked. "That fierceness for the golden taste of their sacred curry rice makes you feel proud of hearing such words from those tanks! Those words make you feel like a DAMN man, Lucas!"

Lucas looked surprised a Ness. "N-Ness, I didn't think you were like them."

"Lucas, have you ever heard of sarcasm before? I honestly think these guys are plain pathetic."

"...Oh... For a minute there, it sounded so convincing that you respected their curry rice."

"Hell no," Ness said before looking at Megaman. "Seriously, are you trying to say these guys gave trouble to the island?"

Megaman looked annoyed. "Hey, try fighting twenty robot tanks by yourself. It's a lot harder to watch out for one destroying a house while you're on the other side of the city!"

"Was that your first time?"

"Yes."

"Oh, that explains it," Ness said. "You just weren't used to that kind of thing. You have my condolences."

Megaman merely rolled his eyes. Seeing that they were being ignored, the tanks approached closed to them. "Hey, that's so rude of you!" one of them spoke. "Why are you having a conversation right in front of the enemy? Don't you know that's dangerous for you?"

Ness raised a finger. "I hate to break your bubble (actually, I don't), but you guys aren't dangerous for the most part."

The tanks gasped loudly at this statement. "N-not only are you rude, but you're a bully as well? I call dibs on you all!" a tank stated. "Taste bullets, brats!" he yelled, the tanks starting to shoot bullets with their machines guns.

Lucas yelped at this and sent forth a PK Freeze's mist, floating all the way to some tanks before exploding into a burst of ice, trapping at least two tanks in ice. "I-I need help, somebody!" he shouted, machine guns being aimed at him.

Megaman rolled and blocked Lucas while shooting several blasts of energy at the tanks. However, the shots weren't enough to destroy them, and the boy received the shots. Grunting loudly, he looked around. "Guys, I need some backup here!" he yelled.

Ness stood behind Lucas, sending forth a PK Flash that went floating all the way to the tanks before exploding in a big burst of energy, causing at least four tanks to explode. The Servbots of said tanks tumbled over along the ground, charred completely. The Servbots stood up and threw their hands up before scrambling around in panic. This, however, didn't indicate that the other three tanks stopped shooting at the trio. "Dammit, we need some help here!" Ness yelled.

It was not long before a blue sphere attacked the three tanks by penetrating their armored bodies, making them all explode into bits. The Servbots of said tanks had the same fate as their previous fallen comrades: throw their arms up and scramble around in panic for help. The blue sphere then rolled back to the trio and turned back into Sonic, who grinned at them confidently. "You called?" he asked.

Lucas sighed in relief. "Y-yes, thank you..."

Megaman looked amazed at the hedgehog's speed. "Wow...that was awesome," he remarked, smiling wide in surprise before standing up. "You're really something."

Sonic chuckled and crossed his arms. "I'm more than something, thank you very much."

"Sonic, I'd rather show off later than now," Ness commented in boredom. "If you forgot, we have those tanks Lucas froze back there."

Lucas looked serious and pulled back his hands. "PK Fire!" he shouted, sending a small bolt into the ice to burst into flames, making both tanks unfreeze from the stalactite of ice. Yells of pain came from both tanks as they burned bright red.

"Hot, hot, hot, hot!" one of them shouted.

"I liked it when it was cold!" the other yelled.

Ness stared at Lucas. "Aren't you getting a little bit overboard today? I mean, you froze Roll's car, and now you're burning those tanks."

Lucas shook his head. "I-I'm not going overboard! M-maybe we're just a little bit too strong for them..."

The Onett resident thought for a moment. "Hmm, that might be right..." he muttered.

Sonic spotted the Support Car going towards them. Roll peeked out from the driver's window once she reached them. "Good job, guys. You're clearing out the area from the tanks." She looked to the east. "There are more over there, and I think the others need help. Please, everyone, go and help them!"

"Right," Megaman said. "Everyone, let's go!"

Further to the east, Ike, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Kirby, and Chris faced four turrets that formed a long wall, despite being far-spaced from each other. "We're gonna stop you now!" a Servbot spoke from within the far right turret.

"Yeah, we don't wanna get the boot from Miss Tron because of you," spoke the Servbot from the far left. "And we SURELY don't want to have no dinner tonight."

"You're toast now!" the right turret's Servbot said. "Hmm, toast..."

"Snap out of it, you!" the left turret's Servbot said. "Besides, we all know curry rice beats any other food we eat!"

"Hmm, curry rice, how sweeeeeeeet..." they all said in unison, making the Smashers exchanged glances with each other, except for Kirby, who joined the Servbots' fantasies by saying the same.

"Are these guys...for real?" Ike asked.

Mario thought a bit. "Consider curry rice as their minimum wage for working for that girl we met..."

Peach looked worried at the turrets. "But, isn't it sad that they won't have dinner if we stop them from raiding the ruins?"

"Peach, if we think again, they're the bad guys of this world," Ike said. "Unfortunately, for them, we have to beat them so they don't cause trouble for the island. If you ask me, it was that girl's fault for threatening them by taking away their dinner."

Luigi rubbed his chin. "U-um, why are we talking about their dinner being taken away as punishment? Shouldn't we...like...stop them now instead of talking?"

Chris could still listen to the Servbots' moans of pleasure coming from the turrets. "They...don't seem to be minding us anymore, though..." He looked at the dreamy Kirby. "And...Kirby doesn't seem to be minding us as well..."

Ike put a hand over his face and frowned. "Somehow, I think they got punished too many times before we even got to meet them."

Mario took out FLUDD (which appeared magically on his back) and aimed its nozzle to the turrets. "Well, let me try something to make them listen to us: water," Mario said, charging FLUDD's water.

Luigi gulped. "I-I'd rather let them fantasize about their dinner than noticing us, Mari-"

Mario interrupted Luigi by shooting a stream of water ahead, spraying it all over the turrets. The Servbots suddenly snapped out from their thoughts and turned to them...before sparks flew out from their weapons, resulting in the turrets' demises by exploding due to their short circuits caused by the water.

The Smashers gapped their mouths a bit as four charred Servbots went flying in the air and landed rather hardly on the ground. They all pushed themselves to their feet before screaming and scrambling around in panic. After running around for a while, they yelled, "MISS TRON, HELP US!" before running away into the forest, disappearing from the area.

"..." Chris could barely believe that a little water was enough to take out the weapons out of commission. Even Mario couldn't believe it either nor did the others. "...Seriously, was that ALL?" the musician asked in disbelief. "Just a little spray of water and they're defeated?"

"Apparently, their weaponry cannot support water," FLUDD commented. "It is easy to believe that the weakness of their tanks and turrets is water."

Peach kept staring at the direction the Servbots ran off. "I feel guilty now," she said. "They seemed very sad..."

Ike didn't know how to make the princess understand that they had to beat them, even it if was by using simple means. Instead of thinking for a way to explain, the mercenary said, "Wish that they can get their dinner, then..."

"I will," Peach said. "After all, they're children."

"Robot children..." Luigi added, shrugging at the thought.

Kirby looked sadly at the direction the Servbots ran off. "I hope they get curry rice...it's so delicious..." he muttered, making Chris kneel down to rub his head.

Mario looked over his shoulder at FLUDD. "At least you're going to be used a lot more here."

"I am happy to be of assistance anytime, Mario," FLUDD said. "I do not get depressed when I am not needed. If situations do not call for me, I will understand."

The plumber smiled a bit. "Thanks again, though," he said, FLUDD magically disappearing from his back (Chris: Freaky). The plumber stared forward to see that the small canyon turned to the right. "I think there are more tanks passing that corner," he said.

Not long after saying that, the first group caught up with them. "You guys are okay?" Megaman asked.

"We couldn't be any better...really," Ike said. "Mario just sprayed water on the turrets to make them all explode. We found out their weakness out of curiosity, though."

Ness sighed loudly. "They have to admit they're pushovers. They don't pose any threat against all of us."

Roll came in with the Support Car. She looked at them and smiled a bit. "It seems there's just a few of them crossing that corner," she said. "In fact, I think there are only three left to take out. Furthermore, the ruins are just up ahead, everyone."

"Wow, that was quick," Sonic said. "Just a few more and we're done with this, right?"

"Not quite," Roll said. "We still have to explore the ruins, remember?"

Megaman made a fist and nodded. "Okay, Roll, stay here. We're going to finish off the last tanks so we can move on."

"Please do," Roll said. "Alright, go!"

All of them nodded at her before running towards the corner of the canyon. Once Roll saw that they all went to right, she could easily hear water being sprayed on tanks that later exploded, also seeing three charred Servbots flying over to the forest, screaming for help before they disappeared out of sight.

Music stops

"...Goodness, that was a bit pathetic and so fast," she commented to herself before taking over the wheel. She drove the Support Car over to the canyon's corner.

Once the car turned to the right, the car suddenly shook to the sides as if it had run over something.

"W-what was that just now?" Roll asked as she stopped the car and looked at a rather frightened group of Smashers, the sleeping Chip accidentally rolling over to the right of the roof where he fell down, still sleeping deeply. "Hey, guys, why are you all looking so...scared? You took out the last tanks, right?" She looked forward to see the remains of said tanks. "You did beat the tanks, so... Wait, where's Megaman?" she asked, not finding the boy with the group anymore.

Lucas's mouth couldn't get any lower than it already was. Closing it tight, the Nowhere Island resident avoided crying. "Y-you just...ran over Megaman!" he cried.

"Wha...?" Roll trailed off confused before she stuck out her head from the window and looked behind, looking back at a dead blue carcass dropped dead on the ground. "HOLY REFRACTORS, w-what have I done now?! M-MEGAMAN!" She opened the door and jumped out, running over to inspect the dead boy. "I-I told him to be careful about the car, didn't I?!"

"You didn't..." Sonic muttered.

"Oh my god, Megaman!"

Peach covered her face. "T-this is just unfair! We just met him two hours ago and now he's dead!" she cried. "W-why did we have to witness his death before our eyes? Why?!"

Both plumbers gasped as the princess broke out in sobs. The two quickly hugged her so she would stop crying, failing miserably to do so. "P-Peach, don't jump to conclusions now, please," Mario said, trying to stay calm.

"He's dead!" Luigi cried loudly with Peach, forgetting he was supposed to be strong emotionally. "Megaman is dead! Dead, I tell you, deeeeaaad!"

"L-Luigi, you're not helping at all!" Ike yelled.

Sonic placed a hand over his chest. Seeing this as rather insulting, Chris looked angrily at the hedgehog. "Stop that, Sonic!"

Ness went over to check on Megaman's condition. "Oh god, he's really dead..." he muttered, wiping a tear away. He went over and kicked him to the side, waiting for a response. "Dead..." he said.

Roll sniffed sadly and looked angrily at Ness. "N-no, don't say such a thing! H-he can't die now! H-he just got rolled over by a car, that's all!" She wiped some tears away. "T-this is what happens when somebody like me isn't so used to driving yet!"

"Another thing that this world doesn't care: young children driving CARS and AIRSHIPS," Ness muttered with emphasis.

"W-what about Red?" Lucas asked. "Isn't he ten years old and travels to places?"

"Yes, him too... You know, I get freaked out for the fact we're both older than him, and yet he's taller."

Lucas shrugged. "I-I think I do that, too..."

"Well, our worlds are very different from each other, s-"

"AHEM!" Sonic coughed loudly. "Did you forget we have a dead boy here?"

The car's back door opened, and Big peeked out from it to look down at the dead boy. "D-dead boy body!" he yelled.

"F-for the last time, Megaman isn't dead!" Roll said, trying to avoid believing the sad truth. "I-I surely just knocked him out unconscious, t-that's all, right? Right?!" She grabbed Ness by the shoulders and shook him. "Right?!"

"I-I'd s-say y-you k-knocked h-him o-out u-unconsciously f-forever," Ness stuttered as Roll shook him.

The World Traveler gulped and walked to the dead boy, Kirby walking to him to poke his head, thinking Megaman was sleeping deeply. "He couldn't be dead, right?" he asked.

Roll stopped shaking Ness (albeit not letting go of him) and looked at Chris. "I-I don't know what to do right now! Megaman needs to be taken to the hospital for recovery!"

Ness ignored Roll's sniffs, looking down at the dead boy's body. He noticed a small move from the right leg. "W-wait a minute... Everyone, he's alive! Stop sobbing and crying now!" he yelled before Roll pushed him away and placed down her hands upon the ground to take a closer look at Megaman.

"M-Megaman!" Roll yelled.

Everyone grew silent, listening to some chuckles coming from the boy. Roll wiped her tears away as her childhood friend slowly looked up to her with a smile, his face having bruises all over it. "H-hey there, Roll...guess I shouldn't have gotten in the car's way..."

"Oh my god, Megaman, I'm so sorry!" Roll cried. "I should've seen where I was driving so you wouldn't get run over!"

Everyone sighed in relief, seeing that the boy was still alive. "God, I got freaked out like never before," Sonic commented. He looked at Mario. "That reminds me, how did he didn't see the car?"

"Well, I think he was ducking down to shoot at the tanks," Mario recalled. "He was the one who came first, and he helped to distract them long enough for me to spray water on them. He...unfortunately, was very close to the corner, and Roll appeared and ran over hi-"

"Please, don't say that!" Roll interrupted without hesitation. "I'm feeling so guilty as it is!"

Kirby looked happily at Megaman and went over to his face to hug him. The boy coughed a bit and looked back at everyone. "S-sorry for being so reckless...but I thank my suit for protecting me from being crushed...I would've died if it wasn't for my suit..."

Suddenly, Data jumped out from the car's window and landed close to Megaman. "Oh, Megaman, don't be so reckless!" he spoke, surprising most of the Smashers, even Roll herself. "Thanks to your recklessness, you got into this!"

Megaman coughed. "I-I'm sorry, Data..."

Luigi looked shocked at the robot monkey. "T-that monkey knows how to talk?"

"I didn't know that, too..." Roll trailed off. "Megaman, did you know Data could talk for a long time?"

Data danced for a bit on his spot while Megaman nodded to Roll. "Y-yeah, he kinda doesn't want to talk to any strangers except me."

Roll stared at the dancing Data. "B-but it's rude of him to be so...secretive from me and gramps!"

"He didn't want to talk to you both either," Megaman said. "He said the time 'wasn't just right', so I guess he decided to talk right now..."

Data approached Megaman and took out a cord from his body. "Megaman, please don't get hurt so badly because you were distracted," he said, plugging the cord to Megaman's right shoulder to release energy into his suit. "You're lucky you have me around, u-ki-i!"

A short while went by and Megaman's suit recovered. However, despite the suit being recover, it didn't end up healing Megaman himself. "I-I think you don't know how to heal me physically, right?"

Data unplugged the cord from his suit and shook his head, looking worried at him. "I'm so sorry, Megaman, but I don't possess the ability to heal people. I can only heal and reload your suit."

Roll looked worried. "Oh no, Megaman, you didn't break a leg or something, did you?"

"N-no..."

Knowing this, Chris took out his harp and closed his eyes. "Allow me to heal you physically, then."

Roll and Data looked at him. "Um...are you planning to use that harp?" Roll asked.

"A song passed down from angels to troubadours... Angel Song!" Chris chanted, gracefully touching his harp's strings to make a melody that created a cheerful atmosphere around them. Most of the Smashers sighed silently as the enticing tune filled their ears with music.

Data looked around for a bit. "Hmm, why is it that the air here got a bit weird?"

Roll stared at the musician playing his harp. "That's a nice tune, but, what is that supposed to do?"

"Huh?" Megaman muttered. He blinked a few times and felt that the pain slowly faded away from his body. His wounds seemed to be slowly recovering overtime. Feeling better, the boy in the blue suit slowly stood up from the ground and looked at his hands, Chris playing his tune. "W-wow...my wounds are starting to heal very slowly... Actually...I'm feeling a whole lot better now."

Chris played one last solo before stopping. The World Traveler bowed at Megaman and smiled a bit at him. "There, your wounds should heal slowly until they're healed completely."

The engineer blinked at pure disbelief at this while Megaman looked at himself feeling less and less pain overtime. Roll herself couldn't imagine that magic did exist. She always believed there was some sort of trick behind all magic; something she was going to question to them. "S-so, wait, are you using magic?" Roll asked.

"Yes," Chris said. "I-I know it's hard to believe in it, but I used my harp's magic to heal Megaman's injuries..."

"...Awesome," Megaman exclaimed as he moved his fingers a bit.

Big sighed. "He's not dead. We won't have to make him a grave now."

Everyone stared quite shocked at this little, simple statement.

Roll shook her head and sighed. "Oh well, I guess magic does exist...in some worlds," she said. "Either way, thank you so much for healing Megaman. You don't know how relieved I am right now."

Megaman smiled at the Smashers. "I think we can trust you completely now. The fact you helped us defeat the pirates here makes it clear that you're not lying, right?"

"That's what we have been trying to say this whole time," Sonic said in boredom. "Oh well, now you believe in us. Crazy, but real, you know."

Roll chuckled. "You're going to be really handy to us," she said. "Since everything's okay now, let's go to the ruins... Oh, there it is."

The group turned around to the east where a big fence blocked the entrance to a blue dome with a big door.

"That big fence isn't going to let us through...so, I'm going to ram the car against it," Roll said, quickly getting back into the Support Car.

"...Wait, doesn't this seem a bit...so strange?" Ness asked. "Weren't those pirates supposed to raid the ruins? If they were supposed to do that, why didn't they destroy that fence?"

"Maybe we got here earlier than they expected so they stopped doing anything else?" Mario said.

"Maybe," Ike said. "That seems to be the most logical explanation."

The group turned back to the car, which began revving up its motor. "Okay, you guys, back away! I'm going to ram the car against the fence so we can explore the Sub-Gate!" She revved up the car a bit more. "Go!" she yelled, charging the car at high speed towards the fence. The car easily destroyed the fence. The engineer used the brakes to make a smooth stop right in front of the dome. "There!"

Kirby smiled at Lucas. "I like when things aren't very hard for us."

Lucas smiled back at him. "Y-yes, thank goodness."

Sonic's ears perked up a bit. He turned around to see a very sleepy Chip curling himself on the grass. "Hmm...gimme back my chocolate bar, evil turnip..." he muttered.

"Chip..." Sonic muttered, going over to pick the sleepy imp on his arms.

Everyone else walked towards the Support Car. Roll opened the door and jumped out. Cleaning her hands, she nodded at them. "Okay, guys, we did it," she said, turning to look at the blue dome. "There it is, the Cardon Forest's Sub-Gate..."

Megaman stared at the big red door that blocked the entrance to the dome. "Let's see where I need to insert my license," he said, taking out his Class "A" License. "There should be some kind of slot to open that door... Let me go look," he said as he walked towards the door.

Luigi looked at Roll. "W-what are we going to do once we get inside?"

"Well, for starters, you need to find the refractor hidden within the Sub-Gate," Roll explained, raising a finger by her right side. "However, you need to take in mind that ruins like the Sub-Gate contains security Reaverbots. No matter what you do, they'll see you as their enemies."

"A-and?"

"And they'll try to dispose of you so we can't get the refractor in our hands," Roll further explained. "Furthermore, there are many different kinds of Reaverbots in each ruins. They all have different ways to attack and defend, so watch out." She put her hands on her hips and smiled a bit. "I don't think you'll have much trouble, though. With all your support, there won't be any kind of danger in there. Be careful, though."

"We will," Ike said. "We're used to do exploration stuff. Everything's fine with us, so don't worry."

"Good, that makes it all much better."

"I found the slot!"

Everyone turned back to the dome where Megaman stood to the door's right side where he had found a small key card slot. The boy inserted his card into it. After the card got into the slot, it then pushed out as a confirmation that it was accepted by the gate. Megaman took the card back and looked at the gate, which now turned on. The gate began making sounds as the middle gear of the door spun a bit. A red eye-like circle turned on with a light. The door then began to move to the sides, slowly opening the path into the Sub-Gate.

Chris looked concerned. "So now we have to go in..."

"That's the plan," Megaman said as he walked back to them. "Don't worry, we'll be just fine. Normally, I get in trouble many times when I'm alone, but Roll always help me out."

The engineer nodded. "Yeah, I'm the Spotter of the team," she said. "I use a special radar to locate Reaverbot's readings and other similar robot activities around Megaman. Unfortunately, Megaman has the radar attached to his suit, so he needs to walk around so I can detect any movements from surprise enemies. If you happen to get lost, I'll tell you the directions to go back here."

"You'll be our guide, then," Sonic said. "That works for me all the way."

Peach looked serious. "Let's go," she said. "We can't waste anymore time. Who knows if those cute robots come back to stop us..."

Ness looked away. "Right...cute robots; the same robots who aren't going to have dinner for tonight because we messed them up but good..."

Megaman pointed at the Sub-Gate. "Okay, everybody, let's go!" he said.

Soon, everyone but Roll proceeded into the Sub-Gate's entrance. Upon taking a step inside, they noticed that they were standing over a platform with a control panel in front of them. Megaman went over to the control panel and clicked on it. "Down we go?" Ike asked.

"Yup, down we go," Megaman said as the platform budged a bit and began to descend underground. "Let's hope it's not pitch black in here..."

"P-please don't let it be like that!" Lucas yelled as the Sub-Gate's door slowly closed behind them.

Seeing them gone, Roll tilted her head to the side and shook her head. "I have complete faith in them this time around. Things aren't going to be so bad, despite them being from another world..." She turned back to the car's driver seat. "Well, better get myself ready so I can guide them through the ruins."

However, as Roll got back into the car, she didn't notice that five charred Servbots were keeping tabs on them by hiding behind the canyon. "We can't just go back to Miss Tron and tell her we failed, can we?" asked a Servbot.

"Oh no, never!" a second Servbot said. "I don't want to get our dinner canceled tonight! The least we can do now is keep tabs on those guys with the blue boy!"

"Yeah!" proclaimed a third Servbot. "If we can get juicy information out of them, maybe Miss Tron will spare our curry rice."

"But that's just wishful thinking," a fourth Servbot said. "You don't know if this is even right. You know how mad she gets if we don't go back home? It's dangerous either way!"

A fifth Servbot cried toon tears, despite the fact he had a blank look on his yellow, round face. "P-please, I wanna have my curry rice tonight! T-this is the right thing to do, right, guys?"

The second Servbot looked away. "We might as well be dead right now 'cause she'll punish us right after we go back home."

The fourth Servbot nodded. "Or she could come after us...and that's even worse."

"Alright, everyone, polish your ears!" the second Servbot suggested. "We're gonna eavesdrop in those guys as much as we can! Remember what Miss Tron said before: it's whoever has the most information that wins!"

"Roooooogeeeeer!" all Servbots proclaimed, gasping afterward for raising their voice too high.

Cardon Ruins - Sub-Gate

Star Ocean: Till The End of Time - Fly Away In The Violet Sky

The elevator lowered to an underground room. The room they arrived had light blue walls surrounding them. Once the elevator landed on safe floor, all of them stepped off from it to the floor, where they looked around the room. "So, here we are at the ruins," Megaman said before turning to them. "Well, I want to make something clear before we go in. Roll and I seriously need the refractor, so, if you could, we need to get it so we can repair the Flutter and nothing else."

"We're not interested in the refractor," Mario said. "It's all good."

"Thanks, that means a lot for us," Megaman said. He looked up suddenly. "Roll, we got in without problems."

"Okay, Megaman, I hear you clearly from my end," Roll said, her voice coming out from Megaman's right arm. "I decided to put the speakers loud so everyone can hear me, Megaman."

"That's okay," Megaman said as Ness and Lucas touched the light blue walls. "Are you picking up something?"

"Let me see... Oh, I'm picking up high energy readings from close by...and it looks like a refractor...and a big one, too!"

Upon hearing this, Megaman got a bit excited. "Do you think that's the main refractor of the Sub-Gate?"

"Yeah, I'm positive about it," Roll said. "It should be in the same room where all of you are. Can you see it?"

Peach gasped and pointed to the east of the room. "Over there, I see something!"

The group turned to her direction where a thin passage leaded to another part of the room. Over the other side, they saw some kind of yellow energy wall shielding a floating big gem (the refractor) in front of a control panel. They all walked towards the energy wall where they stopped and admired the refractor within it.

"W-wow, that's a big crystal," Luigi remarked. "If I got something like that...I'd become rich enough to buy myself a mansion."

"Um, didn't you have a mansion before?" Chris asked.

Luigi sniffed. "D-don't you remember what happened to that mansion?"

"I... Oh, wait..." He looked at Peach, who seemed a bit too marveled on the gorgeous refractor. "...Never mind, then..."

"So yes..."

"Looks like a Chaos Emerald to me, except a bit bigger," Sonic muttered. "Hey, wait, didn't you say refractors were power sources?"

"They are," Megaman said. "Refractors are used to provide energy to all kinds of technology that many people need. Its energy can be harnessed very easily into anything."

"Can it be harnessed into people?"

Megaman thought for a moment. "Hmm, I don't think so... I haven't seen people actually using refractors to get stronger or something..."

"Nobody has harnessed refractor's energy into people because it's extremely hazardous," Roll said. "Instead, people just use them for every day's life."

"Oh, I see," Sonic said. "(For a minute there, I was afraid to have some competency with another guy here... Oh, wait, I love challenges.)"

Ike and Kirby walked towards the refractor. They looked at the energy shield protecting it from being taken away from its spot. Kirby poked the shield several times as Ike just did once. "...I don't think we can destroy this shell through sheer force," he said.

"Don't do that, please," Roll said. "It's dangerous to destroy the shield with force because that would trigger a whole lot of Reaverbots to attack wildly. Megaman did that kind of thing a long time ago, and he barely escaped alive."

Megaman flushed. "Y-you were the one who said, 'Hey, Megaman, let's use super dynamite to blow up the shield!' and I listened to you, even though I was against the idea!"

"Well, it was too late, though. Gramps wasn't there with us at the time to tell us that it was dangerous... Anyway, Megaman, is the refractor shielded?"

"Yeah, it is."

"That'd mean something: that refractor is valuable," Roll said. "Most high-leveled refractors are protected in some kind of shield. Isn't there some kind of control console close by?"

Mario walked to the panel in front of the shielded refractor. "There's one right here," Megaman said, inspecting the control panel. He spotted three keyholes on it and a button below them. The boy pressed the button and looked at the shield. "...Nothing is happening, Roll."

"Nothing? Well, that's weird... Do you see something else on the console?"

"There are three keyholes on it," Mario said. "Maybe the keys are missing?"

"Yeah, those are starter keys," Roll explained. "Starter keys are needed to lower down shields protecting those high-leveled refractors. There's no other way, guys. You'll have to find the three keys somewhere."

Kirby looked to his right were two automatic doors sat idly on a wall. "There's a door over there," he said, pointing at the door.

"Then...wouldn't that mean there's more to see here?" Lucas asked. "I thought this room was all the ruins..."

"Well, I, for one, am excited to see what else is waiting for us," Ness said. "Let's go see."

"I-I propose some of us stay behind!" Luigi suddenly suggested. "W-we don't know what's in there, so some of us should stay here to perform some emergency rescue...or something like that!"

Megaman shook his head. "Ruins aren't very dangerous. There's nothing to fear."

"B-but what if..."

Mario put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Don't get so scared, Luigi. Everyone is going to stick together. That way, nothing bad will happen."

"(I don't want to go! I'm just saying this so I don't get mauled by some robot in there!)" Luigi thought. "(Is it that hard to tell from me or what?!)"

"I'm fine with going together," Peach said. "I also don't think something bad will happen if everyone sticks together."

Lucas wiped some sweat from his forehead. "Well...I think everything will work out just fine if we DO stick together without having to go another way..."

"One for all...all for Chipminator..." Chip muttered, raising a finger while resting on Sonic's arms.

"Aren't you going to wake him up?" Ike asked.

"He's better off like this," Sonic said bored. "Do you want him to go face a robot by himself with this personality he has right now? He'd punch a robot before it kills him off."

"That's...sort of true..."

"Chipminate them all!" Chip proclaimed loudly in his sleep.

Sonic grinned at Ike. "Let him sleep until he wakes up."

"Alright, everyone," Roll called over, "you're going to have to look for the three starter keys to use the control console. That's the only way to take the refractor."

"We can always use dynamite if it doesn't work, right?"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Roll blared loudly. "U-um...w-what I'm trying to say is that we don't need to use sheer force to break the shield..."

Sonic chuckled a bit. "Just teasing," he muttered.

Megaman walked to the doors, which instantly opened once he stood in front of them. "We're going deeper, Roll. Please, tell us anything important."

"I will, don't worry," Roll said. "I'll give information regarding Reaverbots, unusual energy readings, and the room you're in. I can only do this if all of you stay close to Megaman. You've got to stay close to him at all times if you don't wish to get lost, okay? Be careful, please! Remember that there are Reaverbots bound to attack anyone!"

"We'll be careful, Roll," Megaman said before looking back at everyone. "Alright, everyone, let's go."

"Let's hope our first Sub-Gate exploration turns out just fine," Mario said, everyone following the boy from behind.

After crossing the door, the group found themselves in a very wide room. The room looked more like a cave than anything else since the ceiling wasn't visible. They noticed that there were higher floors above the ground floor, them being on top of a high floor. Looking around the place, Ike crossed his arms. "So, where do we start looking for those keys?"

"There are multiple entrances around the room," Roll said. "If you go southeast, you should find a door on the ground floor... Huh?"

"What is it, Roll?" Megaman asked.

"Megaman, everyone, watch out! I detect multiple Reaverbots moving around the ground floor, and one of them is going after you!"

Not long after saying that, a figure jumped out from the ground floor. The group gasped and backed away as a robot landed in front of them. The green robot had its arms and legs attached to the same joint place, and it was around as tall as Megaman. It also had a needle-like head where a ominous red eye fixed itself on them.

"W-what is that?" Lucas yelped, hiding behind a wary Ness.

"A Reaverbot," Megaman said. "Do you see that red eye it has? All Reaverbots are characterized for having that eye somewhere on them an-"

Without hesitation, the Reaverbot aimed its trident-like hands and charged at them.

"Out of the way!" Sonic yelled, all of them accidentally jumping off from the higher floor to the ground floor to evade the ramming attack. "Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah," Ness said as he looked back at the Reaverbot on top of the floor they were before. "That thing is a little bit too fast."

"That's a Sharukurusu," Roll said. "I heard about this Reaverbot before. It usually has high jumping prowess and was built for combat."

"Sharuku...rusu?" Peach repeated the Reaverbot's name.

"I-I wasn't the one who named them, of course," Roll said embarrassed. "Wait, you're all on the ground floor now?"

"We are," Megaman said as they all stared at the Sharukurusu on top of the floor. "Why'd you ask?"

"There are multiple Sharukurusus coming at your way from all directions! It's like a big swarm of them!"

From the front and the right, and even on top of some high floors, around six Sharukurusus appeared rushing towards them. They all backed against the wall as seven Reaverbots cornered them all together. "T-there's so many of them!" Luigi yelped.

Mario acted quickly by spraying FLUDD's water at the seven Reaverbots. Unlike the tanks, however, the Reaverbots didn't seize functions as they slowly approached the group. "...It's no use," Mario said, "water doesn't seem to work on them."

"Bummer," FLUDD commented before it magically disappeared from the plumber's back.

Grunting a bit, Sonic handed over the sleeping Chip to Chris. "Please take care of him for a sec, okay?" he asked with a wink before he curled himself into a ball and used a fast Homing Attack on two Sharukurusus, destroying them with ease.

Kirby looked serious at this and turned towards a Sharukurusu. It looked down at the puffball before the latter opened his mouth and began sucking a whole lot of air, which also pulled the robot towards him. After resisting, the robot was sucked completely into Kirby, and the Star Warrior turned to a charging Sharukurusu and spat back the first one, making them both crash and tumble back.

Megaman, while shooting some Sharukurusus, saw the little puffball's unusual sucking ability. "Did he just swallow the Reaverbot bigger than himself?" he asked.

While Kirby merely smiled, Chris sweat dropped and chuckled nervously. "You could say Kirby is like a super vacuum that can swallow anything bigger than him...as long as said thing isn't so big, that is."

"Look out!" Ike yelled to Megaman, who turned to his right and saw a charging Sharukurusu rushing towards him. Megaman gasped at this, and the Greil Mercenary crossed his arms and sword before using Quick Draw, dealing a harsh blow on the Reaverbot's body. The Sharukurusu went flying away before it exploded into bits. Ike sighed and looked at Megaman. "Are you okay?"

Megaman just kept getting surprised at the Smashers' abilities that he was technically ignoring the fact that he had destroyed the Sharukurusu while shooting to empty air. "Wow... Sucking powers, insane speed, quick rushing attacks, water machines... You guys have everything, don't you?"

"Um, Megaman, I think you destroyed that Reaverbot monster a little while ago..." Lucas pointed out.

Megaman looked at his direction and stopped firing. He smiled a brief moment before turning south where three remaining Sharukurusus slowly approached them with caution. "There are three left to destroy," he said.

Peach looked determined at this. "Wait, I want to use my new magic on them!" she said, slowly putting her hands close together to form a little blue sphere of energy. The princess closed her eyes and focused energy into the sphere.

Chris looked worried. "W-why should we... I-I mean, if they get too close, we'll attack, Peach!"

Sonic rolled back to the group, sitting on a knee as the three Sharukurusus approached them with caution. "Hurry it up!"

The princess opened her eyes and shoved the sphere forward with both hands. "Thunder Flare!" she yelled.

A huge sphere of sparks enveloped the three Reaverbots. The group watched amazed as the sparks electrocuted the three Sharukurusus, causing blue light to shine in the dark room. After five seconds of multiple shock attacks, the sparks took all three Reaverbots down by making them explode into bits.

Everyone looked shocked (pun intended) at the quite surprised princess. Peach kept staring at the place where she handily took out three robots by herself. "...I did it?"

"Y-you did..." Luigi muttered with a gulp. "Y-you just destroyed those robots...by yourself."

"With magic," added Ness.

The princess suddenly had some sort of excitement erupting inside her. For once, she actually took enemies out by herself. It was this excitement that made Peach feel that she got into a totally new field where she could help everyone. At last, she had found something where she could fight without having to worry everyone. "I...I can't believe it," Peach said as she clasped her hands together, "I feel like I did something impossible..."

Ness bumped Lucas's right shoulder. "Uh-oh, she said it. It's not going to be too late before she starts cutting heads off without feeling remorse," he whispered.

Lucas yelped a bit. "N-Ness, don't say those things! I-I can't imagine Peach doing something so bloody! Why are you thinking this?"

"Amusement?"

"Hmm..." Lucas trailed off.

Peach turned to Mario and Luigi. "With this, I might be more useful to everyone. I think I can do a lot more with these new skills I got."

Luigi felt woozy. "Mario, please don't tell me she's actually going to step forward and fight along with us..."

Mario smiled worried at Luigi. "She made up her mind, Luigi. Once she sets her mind, there's almost no way to stop her."

"Then there's a way to stop her?"

"If you want to hurt her feelings, well..."

Luigi slapped his forehead. "Oh, no..."

The princess ignored this conversation as she said to Chris, "Thank you so much, Chris."

The World Traveler blushed. "N-no need to thank me twice, Peach... I'm already embarrassed enough..."

"Oh, don't be," Peach said. "It was you who gave me the opportunity to become useful to everyone. It was obvious I'd be very thankful for that."

The musician could have sworn that Luigi flashed a glare at him. Chris thought the green plumber was mad at him. "O-of course you were going to be thankful," Chris said.

Megaman tilted his head. "What, she didn't use magic before?"

Peach shook her head. "Well, I used to perform magic a very long time ago, but it's been a while ever since I used it."

"Is everyone okay?" Roll suddenly called. "It seems there's no more of them around. You took them all out."

"Roll, are you sure there aren't any more of them?" Megaman asked.

"Hmm, I'm spotting some, but those are different... Megaman, everyone, do you see something out of place nearby? I think it could be a dangerous Reaverbot."

Right next of to them, over a high floor, Kirby noticed a metallic round object sitting idly. It looked like some sort of nest since it had several holes all over it. "That?" he asked.

The group turned to the right, looking at the creepy-looking object. "Roll, there's some kind of ball over a high floor..."

"W-what?" Luigi asked, seeing as three small helicopter/dragonfly Reaverbots flew out from the next and stared at them. The robots were small. They had cone-shaped mouths with helicopter wings rotating right below their heads, and the rest of their bodies resembled short tails. "T-there are more of them coming out..."

"That must be a Jakko," Roll said. "They usually live in nests where they're created to attack people."

Not much time passed before the three Jakkos dove down towards the group. While Luigi yelped like a little girl (literally), Kirby stepped to the front and sucked the three robots inside...and swallowed them. "Puah..." Kirby muttered, sitting on the ground with a disgusted look. "They don't taste very good..."

"Um...I thought he just knew how to suck things into him," Megaman said. "Why would he eat them?"

"Kirby is unique," Chris said as Chip snored loudly on his arms. "Not only can he swallow his enemies, but he can also copy his opponent's skill."

"How?" Megaman asked.

Kirby turned to Megaman and sucked him inside his mouth. Simple as that.

"H-hey, get me out of here!" Megaman yelled inside Kirby. "I'm getting covered by his saliva in here!"

Obeying this, Kirby copied Megaman's ability and the latter came out from behind as a star before turning back to normal. The boy landed on the ground and looked at Kirby, who now donned...his spiky brown hair. Megaman blinked shocked at this and rubbed his eyes a bit, surprised to see that Kirby had grown hair.

Chris chuckled at Kirby's hair. "I thought he was going to get a different hat than that one..."

"W-what in the world?" Megaman said as Kirby (or Volnutt Kirby) walked to him. "You...got my hair?"

"Yup," Volnutt Kirby said, pointing at Megaman with his newly acquired mini-Mega Buster. "I got this, too."

Megaman eyed the little Mega Buster. "W-whoa..."

Sonic chuckled at Megaman's amazement. "You just keep getting impressed over and over again, don't you?"

"W-well, you don't see this usually here..." Megaman trailed off as he stood up from the ground. "You don't get to see magic, super speed, healing powers, sucking and copying powers... Anything you guys do certainly doesn't occur here at all."

Ness clapped his hands. "I'm sorry to interrupt this dandy moment, but, while you were talking, some guys decided to multiply themselves by four so they could beat our sorry butts."

"What guys are those?" Ike asked.

The Onett resident pointed back at the Jakko nest where at least twelve Jakkos flew around the next, locking eyes on the Smashers.

Peach had confidence enough to step forward. "I'll handle this," she said, making another blue sphere between her hands.

However, right after doing this, all the Jakkos dove after her, and she gasped before Mario pulled her back to avoid getting cut by the Jakkos' wings. This made her lose her focus as the blue sphere vanished. "Peach, be more careful," Mario said. "If you're chanting or trying to use magic, at least stay back where nobody will see you."

"I-I understand, Mario. Thank you," Peach said worried. "I can't believe I forgot that vital part."

Mario smiled at the princess. "Don't worry too much about it," he reassured.

"(You've got to give those two that they're a bit romantic at all times,)" Chris thought before looking at his arms where the sleeping Chip rested comfortably. "You wake up, Chip! We can't have sleeping all the time right now!"

"Chipminator-is-recharging-energies," Chip said monotony. "Please-do-wait-until-further-notice."

"Oh, please, you're getting too much into character now," Chris said. "Wake up from your implied recharging state, Chip!"

"Computer-does-not-know-this-Chip-person," Chip said. "It-does-know-Chipminator."

Chris sighed. "I want Chipminator to wake up from his state, please."

"He-is-not-resting. He-is-charging-functions-for-successful-output."

"Oh, you little... Fine, I want Chipminator to stop recharging or whatever he's doing."

"He-does-not-want-to."

"Dammit!"

"Chris, step back!" Ness yelled.

The musician looked up to see six Jakkos diving after him. Yelping, Chris stepped away to avoid being hit by the multiple ramming attacks from the Jakkos. Sonic reacted quickly by using a Homing Attack to pursue the Jakkos, destroying them all instantly. The hedgehog landed back on the ground and looked at Chris. "Don't try to wake Chip up, you! He's going to attack those machines, and we all know how reckless he is!"

Chip started to snore loudly.

"Oh, great, he just fell completely asleep now," Chris said. "He's such a handful."

"And you just noticed that?"

Megaman saw that six new Jakkos flew out from the metallic nest. "They keep coming. We need to get rid of their nest if we don't want more of them!"

Volnutt Kirby rolled to his side and scared the Jakkos away by shooting them with his mini-Mega Buster. The puffball pouted a bit at his bad aim.

"Okay..." Megaman muttered, feeling a bit embarrassed at Volnutt Kirby's attack.

"PK Thunder!" Ness yelled, shooting out a psychically-controlled sphere of lightning that went over to the nest and blew it up, preventing more Jakkos from coming out. "There," he said.

"Like I said before, you guys have everything," Megaman remarked before he turned to the left and shot down the first six Jakkos. "You stay away from me!"

Chris got a little bit upset and placed Chip down on the floor. "Using the Musician job isn't going to help me out here. I'm going to..." He noticed Peach was chanting a spell with joined hands over her chest. From the looks of it, she was going to use a summon instead of magic since there was a red glyph glowing under her feet. "Um, Peach, what are you doing?"

"Fire lord, please, protect us by burning my enemies into ashes..." Peach chanted. "Ifrit!"

Before the new six Jakkos could reach them, an eruption appeared right between the machines and the group. Once the eruption lowered down, they all saw a floating horned green monster that breathed out some fire from its mouth. Most of them opened their jaws at the big beast that engulfed itself in scorching fire and shot forward at the Jakkos. The damage of the attack was too much for any of them to handle, which made them all blow up. Ifrit roared loudly as it stopped and disappeared the flames before it itself disappeared from the cave.

Everyone thought that Peach had gone a little bit too far on the robots (even though they were the enemy). They all looked at the princess, who was completely speechless at her action. The only ones who were trembling a bit at the display of the summon's power were Luigi and Lucas, who were both hiding behind Mario and Ness respectively. "...Dude..." Ness trailed off, "...talk about OVERKILL YOUR BUTT TO DAMNATION."

"I-I didn't know it would do something like that," Peach said nervously. "D-did I get too far this time?"

"Well, the fact that you blew up really small enemies with a beast from hell itself," Ike began, "it could be easily taken as overkill, Peach."

"And it was coming from you, no less," Sonic said. "You're all happy and dandy, but then you went TOTAL ANNIHILATION on those guys..." He grinned and winked at her. "I like that."

Peach blushed and looked away. "I-I don't know if I should be glad or embarrassed..."

Mario chuckled. "Be glad, then. You're starting to be more helpful as time passes."

"Oh, Mario...thank you," Peach said happily.

Luigi gulped mentally. "(I-I don't want see her getting mad at me or somebody now...)"

Megaman had a gap on his mouth before he snapped out of it by shaking his head. "R-Roll, we took out the nest," he said.

"Megaman, what just happened?" Roll asked. "I don't know why, but I think there was this huge energy coming out from nearby. However, it disappeared shortly... What is happening in there? Is everything okay?"

Megaman watched as Mario and Peach hugged each other, only for Volnutt Kirby to join in as well. "Yeah, everything's fine..."

"...Okay, Megaman, don't make me worry too much. That energy was a little bit too...powerful to me," Roll said. "...What? ...Oh, Megaman! Guess what, there's a starter key close to you!"

"There is? Where?"

"It seems to be on a high floor to the west. It should be right next to you."

Megaman looked to his left where the door to the exit was. "If I'm facing west, the key shouldn't be close to the exit, which means the key is..." He turned to the right where the Jakko nest resided before.

"The key is up there?" Ike asked.

"It looks like it," Megaman said. "The floor is a little bit too high for me to jump, though..."

Volnutt Kirby turned to the high floor and went over to it. He looked up at the big height (which was around twenty feet) and inhaled air to jump several time to reach the floor. Megaman blinked at this while Volnutt Kirby looked around the floor for a key. He ducked down from sight before he jumped down to the floor and walked towards Megaman. "Is this the key?" Volnutt Kirby asked.

Everyone stared at the small yellow key with the blue core on top of it. Megaman grabbed the key to look at it. "Did you find anything?  I'm picking up a faint signal... That must be the starter key!" Roll said.

Megaman smiled at the little key. "Alright, we got the first key down, then."

"Keep looking, everyone. The other two keys must be lying around somewhere."

"Got it," Megaman said.

"Remember the door south to the southeast? That's the only room you can enter now. Go through there and see if you can find the next two keys."

Sonic noticed said double doors sitting idly in the wall to the southeast of their direction. "There's the door," he said before he appeared right next to it and waved at the others. "Here, everyone! Get over here!"

"S-Sonic, don't raise your voice like that! W-who knows if some robots are sleeping close to us!" Luigi yelled.

"Actually, Reaverbots are usually sleeping when nobody enters the Sub-Gate," Megaman explained. "They only wake up when somebody does enter."

The green plumber gulped. "T-then they woke up once we got in here, right?"

"Pretty much

[DededeCloneChris]

"Pretty much so."

"...Isn't there a way to prevent any of them to wake up?"

"You just put a step into the place and they will wake up, regardless of what you do."

"How about flying?"

"There would be some Reaverbots scanning the place for any uninvited Digger, then."

"Oh, phooey..."

Megaman put a hand over his hip. "Well, shall we go on now? This room seems to be empty of Reaverbots."

While Luigi and Lucas sighed in depression and hung their arms down, the group proceeded further into the ruins by going through the automatic double doors of the southeast. They found another set of automatic double doors that opened upon walking closer to them. Once they crossed the passage, they stood in a purple room with a conveyor belt on the floor, which extended from the left to right, going up towards another room.

However, not only did they get into the room, they also met up with even more Reaverbots.

"U-uah, more of them!" Lucas yelped.

This time, the Reaverbots were small, had bronze bodies, had the Reaverbot eye between the top spike and the fan-shaped lower part, and they were floating in midair. Unlike the fast Reaverbots they faced before, the six Reaverbots fixed their eyes on them and floated closer to the group.

Without thinking twice, Megaman began shooting down the six Reaverbots with ease. With a single shot for each one of them, they all blew up quite strongly. "Finished," Megaman said. "They were nothing like the previous Reaverbots."

"I think you just faced the Foo-roos," Roll called over. "They first find a target so they can ram towards it and explode. Their explosions are quite strong, so it'd be best if you take them out as fast as you can. Luckily, they aren't very fast, and they have really poor defense."

"Foo-roos? That's a cute name," Peach said.

"Again, I wasn't the one who gave them these names..."

Lucas sighed. "I-I thought they could throw lightning bolts from those little spikes on their heads..."

Ike went over to inspect the conveyor belt on the floor, stepping on top of it. Looking to his left, he found some kind of spiked tube on the left end of the conveyor belt. "There's some kind of spiked tube in here."

"I think you're talking about a compactor," Roll said. "There's a conveyor belt there, right? I guess there is some kind of use for it. Maybe we can use it somehow? Isn't there a switch?"

The switch Roll mentioned was located to the right side of the compactor. Staring at it for a while, Sonic pressed the white switch, causing the conveyor belt and the compactor to move. Ike tripped down and was slowly dragged to the compactor, but he rolled away and shook his head. "B-be careful with that, Sonic. I was going to be crushed by that thing!"

Sonic snickered a bit. "Sorry, didn't know what it would do."

"Sure..."

Mario looked around the room, finding nothing else but a hole in the metallic wall to the right side of the conveyor belt. He walked towards the hole to see if there was something inside. He entered inside and pulled out a shining refractor shard. "Look what I found in this hole," he said, showing everyone the blue refractor shard of about two feet.

Megaman smiled at it. "Awesome, that's a big refractor shard."

"D-did we get rich now?" Luigi asked with interest.

"I don't think so," Megaman said skeptically. "It's a bit too big. Since it's a refractor shard, it doesn't have any energy like the refractor we saw earlier. Refractor shards are used to turn them into zenny, though." He grabbed the shard from Mario's hands. "I'll keep it, if you don't mind."

"Go ahead," Mario offered as the boy kept the shard away.

Ness looked around more in the room and walked towards the right end of the conveyor belt. He looked at a sliding door that could only be opened from the other side. He stood on the tips of his shoes to try to reach the door and push it forward, finding out he couldn't budge it a bit. "It's no use. I can't open this thing."

Ike walked over to the door and banged Ragnell against it. He drew back after the sword was rejected by the door's armored lid. "It's just too strong to open it from here."

"We'll have to go back to where we came from and see if we can find another door, then," Peach said. "If there's nothing to do here, we should go back."

"I agree," Sonic said.

The group went back to the dark room through the double doors. After walking back, Lucas found a slope that went up to the higher floors. "U-um, everyone, here!" he called over to the others. "There's a path right here!"

They turned to his direction and gasped once they saw a Jakko nest resting on the high floor. Four Jakkos flew out from it and dove down after the clueless Lucas. "Lucas, watch out!" Ness yelled.

Lucas blinked and turned to look up and gasp at the Jakkos. Out of panic, he lunged to the right to land on the floor and evade the flying Jakkos.

Both Volnutt Kirby and Megaman used their Mega Busters to take down all the Jakkos. They later focused on shooting the Jakko nest down, which exploded with ease, preventing any more Jakkos from coming out. "Nice aim," Volnutt Kirby remarked.

"H-hey, I was about to say that to you," Megaman said embarrassed.

Lucas stood up from the ground and sighed. "T-thank you for warning me about them..."

Chris stared at the slope. "Let's see what we can find on the higher floors," he said as everyone walked up.

Once they reached the high floor, they noticed that a bridge was standing up straight on the left edge of the floor. Ike walked to it and looked behind where a floor of the same height as the floor they were standing on was across the gap. Ike looked at the bridge before he pushed it forward, landing right on the edge of the other floor. The mercenary also noticed that there was a path all the way towards some double doors to his left side. "Hey, I think we can reach those doors over there by walking around the high floors."

The group obeyed this by walking across the bridged. After jumping a small gap towards another high floor, Megaman shot another bridge that quickly connected their floor with the floor where the double doors awaited them. "Easy as pie," Sonic said with a grin as they walked south through the double doors.

They all now found the room where the conveyor belt continued towards another room to the right. However, they were met by even more Foo-roos, which slowly floated towards them. Like before, Megaman used some shots to destroy the Reaverbots before they could touch any of them.

"You know..." Luigi trailed off before smiling, "this isn't so dangerous at all."

"That's how easy things can get when you have a lot of people like you, guys," Megaman noted, noticing a big hole on the lower left side of the conveyor belt. He went over to inspect it to take out some kind of metallic, golden doll, which resembled some kind of Reaverbot. "Ooh, look what I found now."

"I can see a lot of money for that thing now," Sonic said. "Wow, you Diggers find this kind of stuff in ruins?"

"Yup, very valuable stuff," Megaman said, pleased at the sigh of the old doll. "Hey, Roll, I found some kind of Reaverbot doll in here!"

"Really? That's great, Megaman!" Roll said. "But...we don't know anyone who would like to have an antique relic like that doll... Maybe we should look at the city and see if we can find a curator for a museum or someone else."

Megaman kept the doll away. "Yeah, let's do that once we're done here," he said.

As Peach looked excited to see what they would get for the doll, she noticed a tight corridor south of the conveyor belt. "There's even more to see over there," she said. "Let's see if we can find more relics!"

"You look very excited, Peach," Mario remarked.

Peach interlaced her fingers and nodded. "Of course I am. This is starting to become a very wonderful day to me! It's like a new world of opportunities has opened just for me to explore!" She blushed once she realized she broke into an outburst of joy. "O-oh, sorry if I'm being a little bit too excited..."

Chris hummed a bit. "Oh, don't worry, Peach. We like to see you in very high spirits."

"T-thank you," Peach said in embarrassment.

"Let's just go to that passage," Ness said, everyone going into the passage.

Once they reached the other side of the passage, looking to his left, Megaman noticed an orange chest sitting on the floor. The orange chest was later large. Seeing that there could be treasure in it, the boy in the blue suit walked and opened it, taking out some kind of machine components. "Hey, Roll, I found something else. I found more machine parts."

"Nice!" Roll said. "Be sure to take it to me so I can see if I can make it into a weapon you can use, Megaman."

"Oh, you use other weapons besides your...Mega Buster thing?" Ike asked.

Megaman nodded, keeping the machine parts away. "I can use my Mega Buster alone with another weapon attached to my other arm." He ducked down and slid a small mine. "That mine is called a Splash Mine. Once something steps on it, it explodes. It's rather weak, but it helped me in the fight against the pirates...and Tron."

Peach recalled the obnoxious girl they met before (except for the fact Peach didn't think the girl was very obnoxious as most of them did). "That reminds me; she seemed to be a bit too fixated on you. How do you know her?" she asked.

The group turned to the west, walking up to a slope to reach a higher floor. "Well, you see, I met Tron before her band of pirates attacked the city," Megaman explained. "Remember those little guys that were with her? She was talking to them when I first arrived at the city. After I went to meet the mayor, I went back to the city to see her being chased around by an angry little dog. You should've seen her because she leaped high to a pole and hung herself to it so she could stay away from the dog."

"So what did do you?" Sonic asked, folding his arms behind his head.

"I shooed the dog away," Megaman said. "When I saw her sliding back to the ground, she had this...infatuated look on her eyes, looking straight at me. Actually...she seemed rather happy when I told the dog to go away. Right after she walked a little bit closer to me, she snapped out and began yelling madly for no reason. I thought she was going to thank me, but she ran away from the spot."

Peach gasped excitedly at this. Surely, if the girl had an infatuated look on the oblivious boy... "Oh, I know. She must be surely in l-"

"Hey, we just reached another room," interrupted Luigi.

Peach and Megaman saw that they were all standing on top a high floor. The room itself was long. It had several ice platforms that would break apart if somebody stayed on them too long enough. In fact, the ice platforms formed a long path that extended all the way to the north of the room, where another set of double doors awaited them. On the ground floor, they could see the last part of the conveyor belt moving all the way back to the compactor.

"It looks like there's a faint starter key's signal, Megaman," Roll said. "It must be somewhere nearby in that room."

"Got it," Megaman said.

"You're lucky you have me as a Spotter. Remember the first time you went on a dig. MegaMan?  I wasn't used to being a Spotter... And you ended up getting lost underground for three days! ...Remember? We were lucky that Gramps came to help us...I don't know what I would've done if he hadn't been there..."

Several snickers came from the Smashers, Megaman groaning a bit. "R-Roll, why are you bringing this up at a time like this?" Megaman asked annoyed.

"S-sorry, but that was a memory I just wanted to recall..."

"Ha-ha, you got lost for three days 'cuz you didn't remember where the exit was," Ness teased, making Lucas chuckle loudly.

Peach, however, looked worried at the fuming Megaman. "Oh my, that surely was a very bad event. You got hungry?"

"When Megaman found his way out, he looked like a zombie about to die for real," Roll said, hearing Megaman's loud grunt. "I-I mean, find the starter key, Megaman, and please forget anything I said about that little incident!"

"I WILL, don't worry," Megaman said with emphasis. "Anyway, we should probably follow the path and find the next starter key, everyone."

They all set a foot on the first ice platform, which instantly broke up, making all them fall while yelling before hitting hard the ground down below.

"B-bad...move..." muttered Luigi on the floor.

"M-my back..." Chris muttered before everyone slowly got up from the floor, cleaning some dust from them. "We should've thought before stepping on the ice platform..."

The World Traveler looked at Chip(minator) on the floor. The imp snored loudly before he woke up and flew back to the air. "Who just interrupted Chipminator's charging position? Who wants to get Chipminated?"

Megaman looked confused at the imp. "What does he mean by Chipminated?"

"I go bang, bang, bang on you," Chip threatened. "You're lucky I won't do that."

"Chip, stop saying those things," Sonic said from the top floor, him having avoided the fall in time with Peach. "It's not the time to play."

Luigi looked at Peach standing next to Sonic. Sighing loudly to himself, Luigi said, "O-oh, Peach, you're safe..."

Peach nodded. "Sonic pulled me back when the ice broke apart," she said.

"Never walk on icy floors, you guys," Sonic said while waving a finger. "It messes up your walking, and it might even break."

"Thanks for the useful information..." Ness trailed off.

The hedgehog grinned and looked forward to the ice path. Backing away, he made a long jump to cross over the ice platforms to reach solid floor. The hedgehog stared forward at the path of ice where he found some kind of rusty chest on top of an ice platform. "Hey, you guys, I found another treasure chest over an ice platform!" he advised the others before he went over to it, making the ice floor break apart. "Whoa!"

"Sonic!" Lucas yelled while everyone ran towards the hedgehog's direction. They noticed that Sonic was trying to open the chest, but it was so rusty that it couldn't be opened through normal means. "Can you open it?"

"Nope," Sonic said with a sigh, noticing the rusty chest fell down on the conveyor belt. "Hey, I didn't see the chest was over the conveyor belt..."

The group didn't move as Sonic and the chest were being pulled to the metallic lid. The hedgehog turned to them before he and the chest passed the lid, reaching the room with the corridor. Looking back at the hedgehog, Sonic and the chest were finally pulled back all the way to the compactor room. Stepping out from the way, Sonic watched as the rusty chest went over to the compactor, crushing the rusty box to bits. Sonic shuddered a bit at this before he noticed that small key jumped out from the crumbles of the chest towards his right hand.

Back with the group, they all jumped back towards where the concerned Peach was. Not long after that, Sonic appeared out nowhere, grinning confidently as he showed Megaman the second starter key. "Guess what, the rusty chest had this key inside, and the compactor back there broke it apart."

"Alright," Megaman exclaimed, taking the second starter key from Sonic's hand. "Thanks, Sonic."

"Don't sweat it."

"Did you find another starter?" Roll asked.

"Yeah, Roll, we got another one from the rusty chest Sonic found."

"That's two, then," she said. "Only one more to go...It's gotta be around here somewhere! Keep looking, everyone, we're almost done here!"

Luigi sighed with relief. "J-just one more key and we're out of here..."

"There are more double doors to the north of your position," Roll said. "Maybe the other key is on the other side, Megaman."

"Right, we're going north," Megaman said.

After crossing the room by jumping over the gaps, the group crossed the double doors to reach the highest area of the room where the Sharukurusus and Jakkos attacked them. The floor they were standing was far away from the ground floor they were before, and there was another set of double doors across it. Luigi walked closer to the edge and gulped once he couldn't see the ground. "W-we're so high up..."

"At least this floor has more space," Chip pointed out.

"Doesn't look like there's any big Reaverbots anywhere..." Roll said. "Still, you'd better stay on your toes, everybody. You could be ambushed by a huge Reaverbot when you less think about 'em."

Noticing another orange chest resting on the edge, Volnutt Kirby went over to open it, taking out from inside more machine parts. "Look at this!" he marveled.

Megaman pumped up a fist and walked to Volnutt Kirby, the puffball handing over the parts to him. "Roll, we found even more machine parts!"

"This place is just loaded!" Roll said in excitement. "Refractor shards, relics, machine parts, and a big refractor! Is there something else?"

"Hmm..." Megaman looked around where he found a big hole on the left side of the double doors. Ike walked towards the hole, taking out from it some kind of metallic bone from it. "We found yet another relic, Roll!"

"A...steel bone," Ike said unimpressed.

"...It's still a relic," Megaman reassured. "Good or bad, it's still an important finding." He grabbed the bone and kept it away.

Holding her extreme excitement, Peach hummed to herself and walked across the double doors without anyone going with her. Seeing this, Chris sighed and smiled a bit. "Look at Peach, waltzing around the ruins to find more stuff."

"Gotta give it to her that she has an adventurous spirit," Sonic remarked. "Soon enough, she'll be kicking enemies' butts alone by herself."

Luigi grew concerned as the double doors closed behind Peach. "But, if there are enemies on the other side of those doors... PEEEEEEEEAAAACCCHHH!!!" the green plumber screamed loudly, rushing in a panic after the princess.

"You know, I'm starting to think she's more courageous than your brother," Sonic told Mario. "That...looks a bit pathetic if you ask me."

"Luigi has his moments," Mario said. "He can be very brave when he needs to. I mean, didn't he went to Peach just now?"

"Well, yeah, but look at the way he did it."

The group followed the princess and the plumber. After crossing the double doors, they found a room where, on the northeast corner, three different energy shields blocked the path to a small passage that went south. There were three switches on the floor with antennas standing in front of each one of them. Luigi, calming himself down, watched as Peach curiously stepped on the switches, deactivating the shields one by one.

"Look, everyone, I solved a puzzle by myself," Peach said appeased. The princess walked towards the path where the energy shields blocked off, but as soon as she was getting closer, the buttons shot up from the floor to their original positions, and the energy shields turned back on. Peach let out a gasp and backed away from the barriers. "B-but...I thought I solved it..."

"It's another energy barrier, right?" Roll asked. "I'm getting the same kind of readings as
before. Do you see a switch anywhere nearby, Megaman?"

"Yes, there are three switches, actually," Megaman informed.

Ness and Lucas inspected the switches. "These switches deactivate the barriers blocking off that path, but they come back after a little while... So, then, what can be done to cross to the other side in time?"

Sonic snapped his fingers, figuring out what they needed to do to cross to the other side. "Everyone, stand close to the barriers! Leave the switches to me."

Ike instantly knew Sonic's plan. "But of course," he said.

A while later, the Smashers and Megaman stood in front of the energy barriers. Sonic, snapping his fingers once more, ran over the three switches, activating all of them at once so the barriers could deactivate. Quickly, the group ran to the other side with Sonic tagging alone, managing to cross the path before the barriers turned back on. "Yeah, that's how we do things my way!" Sonic said with a chuckle.

Looking to the south direction of the hallway, Volnutt Kirby noticed a small glittering thing lying down on the floor. The puffball blinked and walked over to it, looking down to see the third and final starter key. "I found the last key!" Volnutt Kirby said.

Megaman ran over to his side and ducked down to pick the key. Smiling at it, Megaman told Roll, "we have all the keys now, Roll!"

"That's it! Now you should be able to access the console!" Roll said. "Everyone, go back to the refractor room!"

"Right, we're on our way back now!" Megaman said, finding one more set of double doors in front of them.

A while later...

Music stops

For some reason, the double doors to the refractor room opened up where everyone but Peach, Chip, and Volnutt Kirby walked weakly. When the doors closed behind them, most of them dropped down on the floor. "Honestly..." Chris trailed off, "who was the genius who thought about putting an exit high up where we were stuck?"

Lucas embraced his legs. "I-it was enough that we couldn't go back because those barriers didn't let us press the switches again..."

"Talk about annoying..." Ness said, feeling pain on his knees. "The people who made this place are lucky they didn't meet me because I'd set them all on fire for making us jump TWO HUNDRED FEET down to the ground..."

"At least Peach, Kirby, and Chip floated down...that's all good for me to know," Mario said.

"Heh, I'm used to jump down from high places that it didn't hurt my legs," Sonic showed-off with a grin.

"S-shut up...Sonic..." Ike muttered.

"Right...Mr. Heavy Sword here got the worst pain than any of us..." trailed off Ness.

Megaman, twitching in pain, went over to the console with Volnutt Kirby following him from behind. The boy in the blue suit inserted the three starter keys into the holes. The two then looked at the shield protecting the yellow refractor. It slowly lowered down until the jewel was unshielded. "There..." Megaman muttered, walking towards the yellow refractor. "Roll, I'm about to remove the refractor."

"Be very careful, Megaman," Roll warned. "We don't know if removing the refractor will trigger some kind of security alarm like it did last time."

"W-what?" Luigi asked.

Megaman looked at everyone. "Removing this refractor might trigger an alarm. The last time I did it caused a huge Reaverbot near the exit to go on a rampage on me, but I managed to escape, thankfully."

"And you're saying we might face a huge Reaverbot robot in this very same room?" Sonic asked.

"Most likely...but it's unclear if one will appear," Megaman said, looking serious at them. "So, please, prepare yourselves because once I remove the refractor, a Reaverbot might appear out of nowhere and attack us."

Lucas gulped as he stood up. "Y-you've got to be kidding me..."

"I'm not, so get ready for anything, everybody," Megaman said, turning back to face the yellow refractor. "Here goes nothing..."

"O-our lives might go, though!" Luigi yelled.

Every single Smasher forcibly stood up from the ground. Megaman slowly reached out for the yellow refractor, first, though, touching it with a finger, making a small gleam of light emanate. Nodding to himself, he slowly grabbed the power gem from both sides. "Okay, everyone, get ready!" he warned everyone, who began shifting their eyes around for any surprise attack from a Reaverbot. "At the count of three... 3... 2... 1... HA!"

Megaman removed the yellow refractor by pulling it up. Everyone else gasped and looked around. An eerie silence soon fell into the refractor room. Their eyes searched the small vicinity of the room to see if a Reaverbot would show up. Megaman froze still as he kept the refractor over his head, waiting for something to happen...

...The silence stayed for a little while longer, but nothing really did happen.

Megaman blinked a bit and shifted his wary eyes around, the yellow refractor between his hands over his head. "...Nothing's...happening?" he muttered.

"...Nothing..." Roll trailed off. "...It was a false alarm...thank goodness..."

The Smashers sighed in relief after hearing the news. "I was so scared a moment ago... I'm glad nothing really did happen," Lucas muttered.

Megaman grabbed the yellow refractor with both arms and looked at the Smashers with a happy expression. "We did it, guys!"

"Mission complete!" Roll called over. "Alright, we obtained a big refractor!"

Ike stared at his reflection on the yellow refractor's upper part. "That refractor sure does look profitable."

"Yes, but we're going to use this to see if we can repair the Flutter," Megaman said. "If it doesn't, we'll see if there's some other use for it."

Peach clasped her hands together. "I never felt so excited before. I know I said this before, but I'm so excited to see what we'll get from our findings."

"That's the wonderful job Diggers like me do," Megaman boasted. "I'll let you see what we get. Hopefully, it'd be really good."

Chip grinned and crossed his arms (in a coolly manner). "Yeah, let's go out of here. This place is freaking me out now."

"I-I agree," Luigi and Lucas said in unison.

"Alright, everyone, come back out," Roll said. "Let's regroup and go back to the... Huh?"

"Is something bothering you, Roll?" Megaman asked confused.

"Megaman, there's a huge energy reading coming from...outside!" Roll yelled. "And it's coming closer to my direction! Megaman, come back up! I... W-what the heck is that thin-"

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!

A sudden interruption in the communication made a loud buzzing sound echo in the refractor room.

"...Roll? Do you read me? Roll, are you there? Roll, answer me!" Megaman yelled worried. "It's not good, I can't reach her out! Something happened to her!"

"Oh my goodness," Ness said. "Just when you thought things were going to be just fine..."

Mario looked stern. "Wonder that for the later because we need to go help Roll before something happens to her, and we don't want her to get hurt, right?"

"R-right!" Chris said worried. "M-maybe those pirates came back again!"

"Oh, no, let's hurry up, everyone!" Megaman yelled as he rushed towards the elevator, everyone else tagging along in the rush where they reached the elevator and left the dark Sub-Gate behind.

Cardon Forest - Sub-Gate Area

The steel door of the Sub-Gate opened up, and all the Smashers and Megaman rushed out from the dome. They stepped out and found out that the Support Car was parked on the same place where they last saw it. "Hey...the Support Car is right there," Megaman said confused. "Why did Roll yell?"

Lucas walked to the right side of the Support Car and took a peek to stare forward. Turning a bit pale, he leaned against the back door and looked freaked out at Ness. "N-Ness, it's him! H-he's back for more!"

"What?" Ness asked, "Who are you talking about, Lucas?"

"H-him!" Lucas whispered. "J-just take a look to see who it is!"

"Just tell me who the hell he is already!" Ness hissed.

"P-Porky! H-he's standing right in front of the car right now!"

"What? Not that idiot!"

"Porky?" Megaman questioned in curiosity. "Who is this Porky guy?"

Meanwhile, in front of the Support Car, there was Roll staring forward at a big spider mech where the old yet childish Porky rested inside. The engineer had accidentally cut off the transmission with Megaman since her right hand was pressing down the button to turn communication off. Roll slowly opened her mouth at the mech. "Excuse me, little miss," Porky said, "Have you seen two snotty boys around here? One looks like a punk and the other one looks like a wuss."

"I-I..." Roll trailed off.

"Oh, c'mon!" Porky groaned. "You surely don't know who I'm talking about here, right?"

It was difficult for Roll to grasp the idea that there was an old man using a spider mech right in front of her eyes. "I...don't know, sir..."

"Ugh, just what I needed," Porky said frowning. "I've been asking people in this island about my enemies, and all they do is run away and scream for help. Geez, people are so rude around here, honestly. I'm just a little boy asking for directions! What's so bad about me? You, tell me what's so bad about me!"

Roll kept staring at the spider mech.

"Hey!"

"I-I'm sorry!" Roll said suddenly. "U-um, maybe because you're riding on that machine..."

"Oh, this?" Porky asked. "Missy, you're missing the point here. If I get out from this thing, I'll die. I have, like, a thousand years, less or more. I dunno the count but you know what I mean with all this, right?"

"...Not really."

"Dammit!" Porky cursed, banging some of his spider mech's claws down to the ground. "Are you retarded, miss? This spider mech I'm using is technically everything I need to have so I can survive out there in the dangerous open field!"

Roll decided to glare this time at the old man with the childish mind. "H-hey, I'm not retarded. Who do you think you are, coming in here just to insult me like that?"

"I AM THE GREAT PORKY MINCH!" Porky proclaimed as his spider mech shot fireworks to the sides, making Roll look at the flashing lights while a fanfare played from behind the machine. "I'm the king of awesome, lovable, hug-gable, powerful dude, and above everything else, the king of awesome!"

"You already said 'king of awesome', though," Roll pointed out.

The fanfare came to a halt as Porky slammed down his claws. "SILENCE OR I'LL KILL YOU!"

Roll leaned back to her seat at this.

"Oh, oh, wait, no, that's a bit too much for my tastes," Porky said. "Yeah, I don't wanna see blood. You see, I just polished this awesome spider mech this morning so I don't wanna let it get your blood spilled on my window."

"...How?"

"How what?"

"How did you clean your machine if you said you can't leave it? You said you'd die if you did..."

Porky's upper claws suddenly turned into spinning sponges. "See this? My spider mech has everything: TV wireless service, car washer, bathroom, shower, kitchen, multimedia, internet service with Porkyflix, Porkytube, Porkygle, and Porkyhoo(!) included, video game system integrated, Wi-Fi hotspot," he paused for a moment. "Wi-Fi hotspot, girl! I can hook you up to my internet, which runs at 1000 Pig horsepower! Isn't that the best thing of this mech or what?!"

Roll blinked, fairly disgusted with some of the stuff the mech was supposed to include by itself. "...I guess?"

"No, you don't guess; you KNOW IT!" Porky said, his sponges turning back into claws. "Anyway, I'm getting off-track here. Have you seen Ness and Lucas around this place?"

"...Wait, Ness and Lucas?"

"Yeah, the punk and the wuss."

"Why didn't you say those names before?"

"Well, don't they look like a punk and a wuss?"

"Well, not really..."

"You, madam, are blind," Porky said. "I don't blame you, though. My eyes go so red when I see those guys. I'm telling they're a big pain in the butt...and even beyond it."

Roll shuddered. "O-okay, but I don't think they look like a punk and a wuss, if you ask me..."

"I asked you."

"I-I know."

"...Hey, wait a second!" Porky yelled. "You KNOW them?"

Roll didn't know if she needed to tell the psycho (Porky: I have fourth wall powers, you know!) about Ness and Lucas (Porky: If she knows, make her tell me!) or just stay silent about them (Porky: Dammit, I said make her tell me that!). The engineer decided to stay silent about them (Porky: Good lord, I said MAKE HER TELL ME...in a canon way instead of a fourth wall way, of course! It'd be cheating using fourth wall powers, but what are you gonna do about it, huh, huh, huh?!) instead of telling him.

Would you stop interrupting the flow of the story now?!

"Make me!" Porky taunted.

An interrogation mark popped out from Roll's head while she saw the old kid rambling to seemingly no one in particular. Suddenly, she noticed the group joined back with her while Porky kept arguing at somebody. "Megaman, you're here!" Roll said relieved. "Please, do something about this...person."

Megaman looked at Porky's spider mech. "What the heck?" he asked.

Porky just noticed the group. "No, no, no, no, you should ask for my name, dude. Gosh, learn to be a civilized citizen!"

"Funny," began a bored Ness, "that's some good irony you're using right there."

"A-HA!" Porky said, staring at his arch-nemesis. "So it is you, Ness! At long last, we have met each other for our final super mega special rematch of the battle of the ages! How long have I waited for this moment to arrive!"

Megaman and Roll exchanged glances with each other. They both looked at Ness. "Um, you know this old man?" Roll asked.

"I reckon I'm just a bit too old, but I'm still a child at heart; a genius child at heart, actually!"

Ness sighed and frowned. "Yes, I know him. He's my obnoxious neighbor."

A disc scratched right after that.

Everyone, however, heard that said scratching sound came from Porky's spider mech. "Yes, my spider mech has a lot of cool sounds. This one was needed for the occasion. Pretty cool, huh?" Porky asked.

"...Anyway," Ness continued, "Porky's my neighbor."

And the same sound came out from the spider mech.

"For the love of crap, Porky, stop doing that!" Ness yelled.

"Fine, party pooper," Porky said. "You never let me do anything fun, that's why I hate you so much."

"Anyway, Porky's my neighbor," Ness said, pressing his brow.

"Your neighbor is an old man (Porky: Old kid! I-I mean, young boy!) in a spider mech?" Megaman and Roll questioned.

"This freak WAS a young boy without a spider mech before...a fat one at that, though."

"Hey, I was big boned that time," Porky said.

Ness ignored his neighbor. "He became influenced by this scary-(beep) monster called Giygas and then he got a spider mech. SOMEHOW, he fled into the future, he screwed up BIG TIME, and he ended up aging like this."

"And I became the lord of Nowhere Island!" Porky proclaimed. "...And then, wuss Lucas, his girlfriend, a hobo, and a dog came into the picture and ALMOST defeated me and kicked me out like the bastards they are... That reminds me, where's that wuss?"

Lucas just poked his head out from behind Ness. The blond kid looked a bit scared and a bit mad at Porky's comment. "D-Duster is not a hobo and K-Kumatora isn't my girlfriend! S-she's too old for me!"

Silence...

"...A-and I'm not saying I'm in love with her or anything...s-so don't tease me more about it!" Lucas yelled, blushing madly at the thought. "...And I'm not a wuss either!"

"Perfect!" Porky said. "My two arch-nemeses are here before me with a bunch of weirdos READY to be nuked!"

Lucas gasped at this. "Y-you have a nuke right now?"

"I wish," Porky said in depression. "I don't have enough money in my piggy bank to afford on-wait a second; don't make me change topics here! Ness, Lucas, bunch of people I give a darn about, prepare to meet YER MEIKER! Once I'm done with you, I'll inform Tabuu and the Subspace Army that I got rid of you guys! DUAHA, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

The Smashers and Megaman took their position to do battle. Once they did, however, they all heard Ness moaning loudly in pain. Hearing this, most of them looked confused, and even Porky stopped laughing maniacally to see what was happening. "U-ugh...my spleen... I-I think it just broke..." Ness muttered in pain, dropping to his knees.

"Ha-ha, loser!" Porky taunted. "Now that I have you at my mercy, it's time for me t-"

"C-can we call it a day?"

"What? Why? I want to crush you right now!"

"B-but you don't understand!" Ness said. "Didn't you want to have a battle of the ages?"

"Well, yeah, I wanted to have one but you're dropping yourself to the ground because your spleen just broke out of the blue."

"Don't you think it's...kind of a letdown if you were to attack me during my current state?" Ness asked coughing, holding his side where his spleen was. "I mean...you want the memory of our battle to be a enjoyable one for the rest of your spider mech's life, right? You want to...recall the sweet memories where you pounded me so hard that I begged for mercy, right? You surely don't want to remember that you caught me off-guard because my spleen hurt me even more than you did, right?"

"Hmm... You have a good point there..." Porky muttered. "This can't be a super mega special rematch of the battle of the ages if your spleen is like this..."

"S-so please...can we do it another day?"

"Oh, sure, sure," Porky said. "I WOULD like to crush Lucas right now, but, man, it's just not the same with you like THIS..." He turned around and sighed. "Fine, we'll do this very soon, someday. BUT remember I want you to heal fast, you got it?"

"R-right..."

"Okay!" Porky said convinced. "I shall take my leave now! See ya later, dorks!" he yelled, laughing maniacally before he ran away into the woods and disappeared from sight.

Peach knelt down to the weak Ness. "N-Ness, oh my god, did your spleen really break now? Oh no, this is so bad. It must have broken when we were exploring the Sub-Gate! We need to take you to a doctor and fa-"

Ness sighed suddenly, standing up as if nothing was hurting him. "Peach, it was all a fluke. My spleen didn't break."

"...What?"

"I tricked Porky into believing I was in pain to spoil his stupid super mega special rematch of the battle of the ages thing against me," Ness explained. "Truthfully, I didn't want him around right now...and I never will for that matter."

"So...that was all you did?" Roll asked.

"Yeah, Porky isn't exactly the smartest guy you'll meet in your life," Ness said. "If you had him in kindergarten, you'd find out there are lower grades than Fs..."

Lucas gapped his mouth at this, completely staring at pure disbelief at Ness. "I-is he that easy to convince?"

"I guess," Ness said. "Maybe you could give it a shot next time he comes back, Lucas. Try to come up with a good tactic so he believes you."

Lucas didn't exactly understand how he would think about a fluke, but he nodded at Ness. "O-okay, I'll try next time... Let me do it, okay?"

"Sure, go ahead," Ness said. "Well, now that Mr. Piggy is gone, we can rest assured that he won't bother us for a while."

Megaman tilted his head. "But isn't he going to notice soon that you tricked him?"

"Yes, but he takes his time, so don't worry."

"...Okay..." Megaman trailed off. He looked back at the group before turned to Roll and smiled at her, showing her the yellow refractor. "Look what we found in there, Roll."

Roll smiled at her reflection on the refractor. "Goodness, it's big!" Roll marveled. "Maybe we can use this refractor's energy to repair the Flutter. We should head back to the airship!"

Luigi looked up, noticing sunset had arrived. "Oh, night's going to come around very soon."

"A-and is it safe to rest outside in the open?" Lucas asked concerned.

"I think there's a hotel in the city..." Megaman trailed off. "...Oh, wait, it was destroyed."

Roll looked back at them. "I think we have some guest rooms inside the Flutter. You can use them to rest for the night if you want."

Chris sighed at this. "Oh, please, I want to sleep on a comfy bed. I want to avoid sleeping on the ground whenever I can."

Sonic smacked his forehead and frowned. "You do know what'll happen once night comes around, right, Chris?"

"...Oh, your werehog transformation..."

Megaman and Roll exchanged confused glances at the new word coming from the musician. "What is a werehog?" Roll asked worried. "Is it some kind of illness of some sort?"

"You could say that," Sonic said. "During all the nights, I turn into a wolf because SOME IDIOT SCIENTIST I DON'T WANT TO THINK ABOUT RIGHT NOW messed up with my DNA big time. Basically...every night, I change into a furry version of myself."

"You turn into a wolf every night...like some sort of werewolf..." Megaman trailed off.

Sonic nodded and crossed his arms. "Yep."

Megaman and Roll once more exchanged glances. "...That's so cliché, turning into a wolf during the night," they both said.

Roll looked up. "Seriously, werewolf tales are so overrated nowadays that it's starting to become so cliché like anvils falling on people."

"They are?" Ike asked. "From where I come from, the only cliché tales I know about are about unicorns with princesses riding on them all over the Crimean Kingdom."

Everyone stared awkwardly at the Greil Mercenary.

"...So what if that cliché is odd to you?" Ike asked annoyed. "We all come from different worlds, and clichés may vary between each other. Don't stare at me with those looks, please."

Mario scratched his hat a bit and looked at the bored Sonic. "I think I remember Cloud saying that your transformation wa-"

"YES, I KNOW, my problem is a cliché thing, alright," Sonic said annoyed. "I'm doomed to transform into a muscle brain idiot every single darn night."

Peach chuckled nervously. "D-don't worry, Sonic, we will find a cure so you can stop transforming into a werehog. Personally and honestly, I don't like to see you angry because of that."

"Oh, thanks, I guess," Sonic said with some depression. "That makes me feel a bit better."

"A-anyway," began Roll, "I'm not sure if that is true yet, but, let's all go back to the Flutter so you can spend the night there."

Volnutt Kirby yawned. "I want to have dinner..."

For Roll, it was a little bit peculiar to notice the matching spiked brown hair Kirby had. "...Where'd you grow hair, though?"

"He swallows people, copies their abilities, and gets a hat to resemble that target," Mario explained. "Literally, he swallowed Megaman and got his hair as a hat."

"...It looks good on you," Roll remarked in confusion, making Volnutt Kirby happy. "O-okay, please, hop on into the car, everyone. Let's go back to the Flutter right now."

Luigi yawned next. "Let's stay away from this place... It's so quiet..." He walked behind the car and opened the door to see Big's back blocking the way. "Um, Big..."

The green plumber noticed that the huge purple cat seemed to move to the sides. Inside the car, a happy Big moved his hands up and down in tandem with the little Data, who was making Big dance because the robot monkey himself was dancing.

A little while ago, everyone but Sonic and Chip got back into the car. Revving it up, Roll turned towards the west and drove away from the area, not noticing the fact that the Servbots were watching them from behind some trees. "I want to sing something now. I want to do it because...I want to have some fun," spoke Lucas inside the Support Car."

"Oh, I know," Mario said. "~Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, Ninety-nine bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, Ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall.~"

"~Ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall. Ninety-eight bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, Ninety-seven bottles of beer on the wall,~" everyone sang in tandem.

"Wait, you two know the song as well?" Ness asked.

"I guess there are certain things our worlds have in common," Roll chuckled.

"Yeah," Megaman chuckled.

"Let's continue!" Big suggested.

"~Ninety-seven bottles of beer on the wall. Ninety-seven bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, Ninety-six bottles of beer on the wall,~" everyone sang in tandem.

Nobody knew Ike was pretending to know the song since he was trying to grasp the concept of it, sadly.

When the car drove away from sight and their voices grew silent, the Servbots from behind the trees jumped out and formed a group circle, all of them crossing their arms. "Okay, this is bad news," the first Servbot said. "It seems there's a potential pirate on the loose!"

"Yeah, very bad news," the second Servbot said. "We thought we were the only pirates on the island, but, did you see that machine with the dead carcass inside?"

"I sure did," the third Servbot said. "I'm especially preoccupied about this Subspace Army and that Tabuu guy."

"We must inform this to Miss Tron as soon as possible!" the fourth Servbot suggested. "This is crucial information, guys. We must let her know this!"

The fifth Servbot nodded. "Yeah, and we might even get dinner for tonight if we provide her with this information!"

Once they all turned around, they quickly screamed and hugged each other together, seeing an imposing figure standing right behind them with hands on hips. "UAH, MISS TRON!" they all yelled, finding out the Bonne Family's only daughter was looking at them with a mad look on her face.

"So here you are!" Tron said angrily. "I've been looking all over for you after some of the other responsible Servbots told me that there were a few of you who remained behind! Don't you see it's already dangerous enough for us to wander around this island? Everyone pretty much knows that we're the bad guys!"

"U-um, Miss Tron..." the second Servbot stammered, "w-with all due respect, I think you and the other two are the only ones who have wanted posters all over the city's walls..."

"T-that's right, Miss Tron," the fourth Servbot gulped. "W-we are the only ones who don't ha-"

"Silence!" Tron yelled, making the five Servbots yelp. "You better have a very good explanation for staying behind with that blue boy or else I'm taking away your dinner for five days straight!"

"N-no, anything but our curry rice!" the first Servbot pleaded.

"Well, let me hear what you have to say!" Tron demanded.

Looking at each other with worried looks, the third Servbot decided to take a step forward to his leader. "U-um, well, Miss Tron, you see..."

A while later...

"What kind of stupidity did you just tell me?" Tron asked. "Are you certainly sure that there are other pirates beside us that are looking to steal the treasures before we can do so?"

"T-that's not so certain, but that's the most logical answer we can reach for now," said the first Servbot. "W-we're not lying, Miss Tron! Please, believe in us! W-why would we lie to you, our supreme leader?"

Tron rubbed her chin and looked away. "Hmm, if that's true, that's going to be pretty bad news for us..." she muttered.

The second Servbot cried toon tears. "T-that's the truth, Miss Tron. We're not lying."

Tron looked sternly at them. "Are you pretty sure about this information? Most of it doesn't sound any convincing to me."

"Miss Tron, for Teisel's sake, we're sure of it!" the fourth Servbot said. "This new clan of pirates might even challenge us in finding all the treasures on the island!"

"And you know how Teisel gets mad when there's another pirate trying to outwit us!" the fifth Servbot said. "He might even go as far as to rip his hair off!"

The first Servbot saluted Tron. "Miss Tron, so what are your orders? We must eliminate the competency before things get rough! The Bonne Family shall not allow any other pirate be better than we are! (Please, please, let this little speech make her forgive us!)"

Tron looked skeptical. "Well, that's odd. We haven't seen any other pirates around until now... This could mean a lot of trouble if we overlook those guys..."

"How about if we came into terms of agreement with them and cooperate together?" the third Servbot asked.

"What, are you nuts?" Tron asked angrily. "We don't ever partner up with other pirates unless we're under extreme circumstances! It's good luck that we haven't done such a thing yet, and I hope it stays like that forever! You can't trust pirates, remember? They might even steal ideas from us and use them as if they came with them! I'd get mad if somebody were to steal my blueprints for new robot prototypes!"

The Servbots exchanged glances. "...So, what's the plan?" the fourth Servbot asked.

Tron smiled confidently. "Easy, you're all going to go back to the Gesellschaft right now."

"W-what?" all Servbots asked in unison.

"I'm gonna stay behind and spy on those guys by myself," Tron said. "You're being a little bit unreliable today."

"B-but, Miss Tron, you might get in trouble if you go all alone by yourself!" the first Servbot said concerned. "W-we don't have robots ready to drive either!"

"A-also, weren't you supposed to be making another big robot right now?" the fourth Servbot asked.

"That can wait," Tron said. "I've got all the time I need to make that robot."

"W-what if Teisel says something about this?" the third Servbot asked.

"I'll see what I do with him. I can handle all this by myself."

"Are you just going to forget your duties like this?" the fifth Servbot asked.

"I'm pretty sure everything is gonna be just fine."

"W-why are you so determined now, anyway?" the second Servbot asked.

Tron sighed. "Look, you guys are telling a bunch of pretty unbelievable things. Also, Teisel has been going on and on about that portal and those people coming out from it! To tell you the truth, I wanna see what the fuss is all about!"

"Um, if I remember, I saw those guys as well," the second Servbot said. "I was with Teisel at that time, and those people came out from nowhere!"

"And they're helping the blue boy right now!" the third Servbot said. "Miss Tron, something is afoot here! Why would portal people want to help out him of all people?"

"I can smell a conspiracy here, and I don't even have a nose to begin with!" the fifth Servbot said.

Tron frowned at this. "Well, fine! I'm going to get to the bottom of this whole thing about them by... eavesdropping!"

"Miss Tron...I dunno if that's good idea, I mean, you going alone by yourself..." the second Servbot said.

The pirate sighed. "Okay, okay, I'm taking you, you, and you," she told the first, second, and third Servbot.

The fourth Servbot and the fifth Servbot tilted their heads. "H-hey, why can't we come? Is it because we're the last two?"

"Yeah," Tron said. "Got a problem with that?"

"W-well, n-no, b-but we're worried about you, Miss Tron, that's all..."

"I'll be fine with these three," Tron said. "Besides, I always choose three of the forty Servbots."

"I think you got the count wrong, Miss Tron," the first Servbot said. "I think there is another one of us."

"Puh-lease, you're all making up that story about Servbot 41 again? It's starting to become some kind of myth between us," Tron said. "...I-I mean, who cares about that extra Servbot? Right now, we need to focus on the mission!"

"What about th-"

"I give a darn about that Servbot! If I don't know him, then leave him be!"

The five Servbots cried toon tears. "Miss Tron, it's one of our brothers! Don't talk about him like that!"

"If you don't stop crying right now, I'll seriously ban your dinner for a few more days!"

"Ooooh nooooo!" the five Servbots cried.

Tron clapped her hands together to calm them down. "Alrighty, you three are going to follow me! As for the other two, go back and tell Teisel I'm trying to get materials for the robot because we're short on them!"

"Are you going to put on a disguise to fool the masses again?" the second Servbot asked with curiosity.

"If I need to, I will," Tron said. "Alright, my kids, let's go!"

"Roooogeeeeeer!!!" the five Servbots said with a salute.

Cardon Forest - City Road

After taking a trip back, the group reached the wrecked airship. Each one of them got off from the car and stood next to the Flutter's right side. Megaman carried the yellow refractor with both arms while Roll looked at the Smashers. "Well, here we are," she said. "Let's hope this refractor's energy is enough for the Flutter to fly again. If I can make the Flutter fly, it'll be easier to transport around the island...but only here."

"Why?" Mario asked.

"Well, for one, I don't honestly think the refractor will have much energy," Roll said. "If my assumptions are correct, the refractor might be enough for the Flutter to hover above the land, but not fly properly. But, if they happen to be incorrect...then the refractor isn't going to be enough."

Peach thought for a moment. "If it's not enough, what then?"

"We could see if there's another use for it," Megaman said. "Maybe there's some other sort of machine that needs the refractor badly."

Roll spotted a box staircase on the right side of the wrecked Flutter, leading to a yellow door. She looked at Megaman. "Alright, Megaman, you give me the refractor now. I'll start putting this in the engine room now. But, since it's going to be night very soon, I think I'm going to prepare some dinner for everyone. Luckily we have a lot of food."

"Here," Megaman said, giving the refractor to Roll. The engineer nodded at him before walking up to the box staircase, where the reached the top, opened the door of the airship, and got inside. Megaman sighed and looked at everyone. "Well, let's go in, you guys. I know we're all exhausted after exploring the Sub-Gate."

"What do you have in there?" Chip asked.

"There's the pilot's cabin, living room, two bathrooms, five rooms with four beds each, library, hallway, engine room, and a terrace," Megaman explained.

"Oh, a library inside an airship? That's sophisticated," Peach said interested.

"When you're a Digger, you get a lot of stuff from the findings you turn over to museums," Megaman boasted.

[DededeCloneChris]

"Wow," Ness said. "Diggers surely must have an easy life finding relics all over the world."

"When there are not dangerous Reaverbots, that is... Wait, I just remembered something," Megaman said. "Since you aren't from this world, that would mean you don't have Digger licenses, right?"

Chip took out his Citizen Card. "You mean this?"

"No, that's a card to enter the city," Megaman said. "I'm talking about a license like this one," he said, showing them the license he obtained from the mayor. "I'm afraid to say that you could be in serious trouble if officials were to know that you're entering ruins without special permission from them..."

"D-don't you mean we could get thrown in jail?" Luigi asked.

"Maybe...but...you helped us a lot..." Megaman rubbed his chin. "...Tell you what: you will pretend you're Diggers, but you have to make sure you don't get the attention of the authorities. If they ever get know that you're unlicensed Diggers, they might label you as pirates."

"But I'm not swinging a sword or wearing an eye-patch," Big said.

"Er, that's not what I meant by pirates," Megaman said. "Worse, if they knew I'm giving you access to the Sub-Gates...Roll and I could get in serious trouble."

"That doesn't sound too good," Ike commented. "We'll try to be as cautious as possible so we don't have to face the authorities."

"I know this is a little bit too much, but I'm not certain if something so bad like that will happen. Even so, try to be careful. They could go as far as to advocate my license."

"So then, we're going to be your ticket to become a hobo?" Sonic asked.

"H-hey, I'm not going to turn into a... Whatever," Megaman said. "Seriously, be very careful."

"We will," Ness said. "We don't want to cause you any trouble, anyway."

"You give me more help than trouble, though. I'm pleased for that," Megaman said smiling.

Volnutt Kirby yawned. "I want to sleep now..."

"Oh, sorry, let's all go in before it turns dark outside."

Peach raised a hand. "I'll make dinner for everyone if you don't mind. I'll give Roll a hand."

Luigi gasped. "N-no, no, no, I'll make dinner instead."

"Oh, thanks, Luigi, you can help me out."

"Wait, what? N-no, I didn't mean... Oh, okay, Peach..."

That night...

Once it turned dark, night arrived. The stars flickered in the distant sky while crickets' sounds echoed in the forest. Several fireflies flew over the silent grass while a big figure was sitting down on the top terrace of the Flutter, his eyes full with worry.

"Froggy...where are you now?" Big muttered to himself. "It's not just the same without you, my friend. I get too lonely, but...I have my friends right here with me to make some company while you're away with the bad Dr. Eggman..." He closed his eyes and shed a tear. "...I know we're going to get back together...so please, hang on a little longer..."

Big's ears perked up once he heard a girl scream coming from inside the Flutter. The huge feline turned towards the hole on the floor. From his position, he overheard a conversation.

"O-oh my god, then it was true!" Roll was heard yelling. "Y-you DO turn into a wolf!"

"Dammit, I told you I was going to turn into one tonight!" Sonic yelled in a gruff voice. "Well, it doesn't matter because you NOW know I DO transform against my will!"

"O-oh my, your face looks even scarier than before!"

"Hey, what was that supposed to mean exactly?"

"I-I mean, s-stop glaring at me!"

"I'm not glaring at you! That's how I look! Sheesh, can't people tell what's a grimace and a normal face?"

"It's harder to tell that apart when it's you, though!"

"Grr!"

"U-uah!"

"Sonic, stop making such a fuss already!" Chris was heard yelling. "Just stay quiet until Peach finishes making dinner for all of us, okay? Roll was supposed to do it as well!"

"I-I'm sorry, I just got scared when I came out from the bathroom and saw him transforming next to the door!" Roll said. "I-I'll go back to the kitchen now!"

Big looked at no one in particular and blinked a few times.

"...Whoa, there's an animal in here!" Megaman yelled. "Who let this wolf in?!"

"Oh, please! This is getting ridiculous no-"

"Die, you beast with fleas, die!"

Various shots were heard being fired.

"Hey, what the f(beep) is wrong with you?! It's me, Sonic the Hedgehog!"

The shots came to a halt. "What?"

"THANKS FOR STOPPING SHOOTING AT MY FACE, MAN!" Sonic yelled.

"I-I'm so sorry, Sonic, really! I was just heading to take a shower when you suddenly looked at m-"

"That's it, I'm getting a face transplant if this ever happens again!"

"Would everyone shut up for half an hour? I'm watching some programs in the living room here!" yelled Ness.

"More like changing channels non-stop," Chip said. "Hey, there was a good movie right there! It was about androids; my favorite characters ever!"

"I-I think you were a fan of fighters yesterday..." Lucas trailed off.

"You have no right to point that out for me! Prepare to be Chipminated, inferior being!"

Big heard people being pushed down to the floor.

"C-Chip, get off me! D-don't punch me, please! N-no, not in the face! I-I didn't know you'd get this angry at me!" Lucas pleaded.

"My name is Chipminator!" Chip proclaimed.

"Ness, help me!"

"I think this is more entertaining than the television," Ness commented.

"W-W-WHAT?"

"I-I mean, Chip, get off from Lucas, you freak!"

"Stop yelling and screaming! Some people like to read books once in a while!" Ike yelled from the library.

"I'll stop once Lucas here gets Chipminated!" Chip yelled.

"I don't care what Chipminated even means, so shut up!"

"Why can't we have a peaceful night for once?" asked Mario.

"That's because we're having some bad luck tonight..." Sonic muttered.

"Hmm..." Volnutt Kirby yawned.

Big looked confused as the ruckus inside the Flutter kept continuing. Thinking for a bit, he made a happy expression and said, "It's so wonderful to see friends doing this sort thing every day, don't you think?"

"Okay, everyone, dinner's ready!" Peach called over. "We have cooked chicken soup with crepe pies for dessert!"

"Crepe pies made by Peach!" Chris and Volnutt Kirby rejoiced.

"Actually, Luigi made those."

"Aww..."

"H-hey, that's insulting!" Luigi called over. "M-my pies are as sweet as Peach's pies! I-I'm a good cook myself!"

"True," Mario said.

"Oh well...if Mario says so..." Chris trailed off.

Big looked up. "Hmm, crepe pies," he mused to himself before he entered the airship again.

If he had stayed behind for a little longer, Big could have noticed that four shadowy figures appeared from the Sub-Gate's direction and ran all the way to the Flutter's backside. The first figure was a cautious Tron while the other three were her loyal Servbots. Tron took a look at the Flutter and rubbed her chin. "Gosh, this airship is such in a bad condition," she commented. "Why, it looks like it could fall apart any minute."

"Miss Tron, is it okay for us to do this kind of thing?" the first Servbot asked. "We've never, ever eavesdropped on people before, let alone spied on them!"

Tron grunted. "This is a very crucial mission, you know! Besides, if there's something better to do than staying with that madman I call my brother, I'll get away from him and his rantings about those people with Megaman!"

For some reason, the three Servbots noticed that, once Tron said Megaman's name, her cheeks blushed a bit.

"Anyhow, you better be as silent as possible now," Tron said. "We're gonna find some kind of window and spy those guys."

"So, why are we spying on them again?" the second Servbot asked, raising a hand.

"Because they're supposed to be from a different place or something," Tron said. "Didn't you see that woman dressed as a princess? Who would honestly dress like that in a place like this? Also, what about the scary-looking hedgehog or the flying little dog? What if they could end up being dangerous as you said?"

The third Servbot sniffed. "B-but I'm telling you the truth when I'm saying that kid with the red cap blew our tanks with a green explosive flash he produced OUT of his HEAD!"

"Shh!" the other three whispered.

"I-I'm sorry, but I'm a bit worried about all this!"

"Kids shooting out green explosive flashes from their heads... I won't believe any of this until I see some proof, okay?" Tron said. "So now, let's get this undercover operation going!"

"Roooooogeeeeeer!" the three Servbots muttered in unison.

"Alright, then, let's look for a window," Tron said, inspecting the left side of the Flutter where she saw said window wide open. "A-ha, there is one...high up, that is."

The window was about twenty feet away from the ground. Tron just noticed that there were several hanging tubes that went all the way to the right side of the window. Without thinking, she began climbing the ladder as silent as she could. The three Servbots gasped and looked up at her. "M-Miss Tron, are you sure this is a good idea?" the second Servbot asked.

Tron stopped climbing up and looked back at them. "Yes, it is a good idea! Stop asking the same kind of question already!" She resumed climbing up until she reached the window. Narrowing her eyes, the pirate engineer slowly peeked inside. "Hmm, what do we have here now?" she asked, finding the group having dinner.

Suddenly, the three Servbots climbed up and joined her, interested to see what was happening inside.

The living room itself wasn't very big. The room had yellow walls with a green floor. A large TV sat on top of a shelf while three red sofas around and long table were in front of it. There were several pictures with frames hanging around the walls, and there were some smaller pictures standing on top of a long but short bookshelf. Behind the sofas, a long dinning table with five chairs on each long side and a chair on each short side had several bowl with fresh chicken soup aroma soothing the air. Those very same bowls were being consumed by thirteen people, all enjoying the dinner with fresh crepe pies.

"(Let's see... There's the girl over there,)" Tron thought, looking at Roll at the right end of the table, "(and then there's the blue boy on the other end... Hmm?)"

On the other end of the table, Megaman was sitting down his chair and eating his soup. However, instead of his usual blue suit, Megaman was actually wearing something else. The boy was now dressed in white t-shirt under a yellow apron, blue pants, and brown shoes. In fact, he looked a little bit more casual than before without his suit.

"Hmm, you're not an android," Chip commented, flying close to Megaman as the imp ate a big slice of crepe pie. "I thought you were one."

"Er, no," Megaman said. "That's just a special suit Roll built for me so I could handle explorations better."

"Wait, she makes suits?" Chip asked interested before turning to Roll. "I want to have a suit as well! Make me one!"

"U-um, sorry, but the materials I used to build Megaman's suit were very costly," Roll said. "What's more, I think they're not very easy to find anymore."

"Aww, poopy..."

Sonic imagined Chip encased in a blue suit. "Funny," he muttered.

Outside the window, Tron inspected all of them. "Geez, it looks like they're having a Halloween party or something. Those guys don't look like they'd fit in a crowd, that's for sure," she muttered.

The pirate engineer heard some sniffs coming from her Servbots.

"What is it now?" Tron asked in annoyance.

"T-they're having a succulent dinner, Miss Tron..." the second Servbot sniffed. "I-I'm hungry...so, but so hungry..."

"I knew I shouldn't have go ahead and make those super hard mechanical stomach parts and taste tongues for all of you if this was going to happen," Tron muttered angrily. "Be quiet and don't cry any louder!"

"But we want to have some dinner, Miss Tron!" whined the third Servbot.

"Ugh, I'll see what I can do about it, okay? Now, stay quiet!"

Megaman stared at Sonic. "As you were saying before, this Dr. Eggman guy made you like this?"

"Yeah," Sonic said with a grunt. "Thanks to him, there's this dormant evil spirit in me that likes to piss me and everyone off by yelling aloud his death threats."

"Evil spirit?"

Just after repeating those words, a malevolent DSS shot up from Sonic's back. Megaman and Roll gasped before the shadow ghost crackled maniacally with open hands, the first one falling behind on the floor. "I HOPE YOU'RE HAVING A NICE F(BEEP)NG DINNER, B(BEEP)S, BUT NOW IT IS TIME FOR ME TO EXTERMINATE YOU ALL! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Lucas, Luigi, Volnutt Kirby, Peach, Chris, Big, and Roll screamed loudly, preventing anyone around the table to heard the screams coming from Tron and her Servbots, who lost their balance and fell all the way down to the ground.

"M-Megaman, somebody, do something about that thing!" Roll asked in fear, completely sitting still on her chair.

DSS pointed at Roll. "YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING TO ME, B(BEEP)H!!! NOBODY CAN DO ANYTHING TO STOP ME FROM MURDERING YOU! MWAHAHAHA, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Sonic made fists on the table, snarling silently before he broke out grunting loudly, glaring mad at a shocked Chris. "Chris, smack this guy away from me before I lose whatever's left from my patience!"

"R-right away!" Chris said, quickly changing to his Beastmaster job. The World Traveler yelled out as he smacked hard Sonic's forehead.

"N-NO!" DSS yelled, his white eyes widening before he was forced to retreat into Sonic's back.

"Whew...everything is fine for now..." Chris sighed, putting his whip away.

Roll still had her scared look. She eventually stopped looking scared after shaking her head. The engineer looked at the mad werehog. "W-what in the name of the Mother Lode was that just now?"

Sonic snarled a bit more. "That's Mr. Foul-Mouthed Shadow. He's so nice that he declares his inner fury against any innocent person he finds during this time of the night," he joked, not finding his joke very funny at all. He stretched his right claw to the ceiling, surprising Megaman and Roll. "Also, this is completely retarded, but my arms went to Cartoon World and got the ability to stretch like this."

"O-oh my..." Roll muttered as she saw the arm pulling back to Sonic.

"I-I see..." Megaman said on the floor before he stood up and picked his chair up while rubbing the back of his head. "T-that wasn't surely a nice welcome from that spirit..." he muttered, sitting back on his chair. "S-so, that evil spirit only comes out during the night?"

Sonic, in a sophisticate manner, cleaned his lips with a napkin and grabbed his spoon, closing his eyes annoyed. "Yup, he won't just stop doing that until I die or we find some way to take him off from me or hire an exorcist." He opened an eye to look at Megaman. "You know a good exorcist around these parts?"

"N-no, we just came to Kattelox Island today..." Megaman said.

Sonic lifted his shoulders. "At least I tried," he said, taking a long slurp from his soup.

Back outside, having swirls on their eyes, Tron lied down on the ground while her Servbots were piled up on top of her back. All of them were groaning in pain by the forceful fall. "M-Miss Tron..." the second Servbot trailed off, "I'm so dizzy and confused..."

"I-I bet I am, too..." the first Servbot said.

Tron's eye swirls were still spinning. "J-just get off my back, you three..." She shook her head and pushed them away from her. Sighing, she stood up and dusted off her jacket. "What the hell was that just now? You three saw the same thing I saw, right?"

The third Servbot raised his hand from the ground. "I-I bet it was hard for any of us to avoid seeing that creepy ghost jumping out from the wolf's back, Miss Tron..." he said.

Tron looked back at the window. "There's something definitely going on with those guys, I know that very well... Maybe what Teisel said about them was true after all... Ugh, what am I starting to think?" she asked to herself. "Soon, I'll become as paranoiac as Teisel!"

The first Servbot regained his composure and stood up, putting his arms to his sides. "M-Miss Tron, we're now sure that Master Teisel was right with his assumptions about them all!"

The pirate engineer put a hand close to her chin. "This is surely starting to make sense, but...we need to gather more information from them."

The second Servbot was next to regain his composure and stand up. "We're going to eavesdrop on them again?"

"I can't shake the thought that they might represent some kind of threat to our plans..."

The third Servbot did the same as the previous two. "What if they noticed we were spying them?"

"They didn't look outside, so... Let's go, you guys!" Tron said, climbing back up the ladder attached to the Flutter. The three Servbots flailed their arms in a panic before following their creator.

"Does that...spirit come out frequently from you?" Roll asked worried.

"Nah, he just comes out once each night," Sonic said. "That's one advantage, though. The disadvantage is that he COMES OUT regardless," he said with emphasis on the last words.

Megaman looked at Chris. "How did you change clothes so fast, anyway?"

"U-um, about that...it's a special power I possess," Chris said embarrassed. "I can alternate powers so I can find some way to fit any situation in all battles I take part of, but...I'm still not very good at alternating powers. I'm getting the hang of it slowly."

"Are you saying you're a close-combat fighter one second and then you're a healer the next second?"

"Something like that...but I usually stay fighting with just a job or two. I personally hate to alternate so many times in one battle," Chris explained. "I like to stick with the job I'm using to gain experience."

"Hmm, sounds very useful but tiresome to me..."

The World Traveler sighed. "Very tiresome because I draw the attention of enemies so often..."

Outside the window, Tron rolled her eyes. "Yes, these guys are nuts," she muttered. "People changing clothes in a second..."

"I think I caught a glimpse of that kid changing clothes in a bright light, Miss Tron," the third Servbot said.

"Now I know you're just insane."

He sniffed. "M-Miss Tron, don't be so harsh on me... I have an honest heart..."

"Shh, be quiet, please! They're still talking!"

Chris blinked and looked confused. "That's strange... I could've sworn somebody just referred me as a kid..." he muttered, shrugging at the thought before resuming to eat, not hearing a hard smacking sound coming from outside.

Ike looked at Roll. "How did it go with the refractor? Did you manage to make it work with the Flutter?"

Roll stopped eating and looked down. "I'm sorry, everyone, but the refractor wasn't enough to power up the Flutter..."

Lucas looked depressed. "After all that, we couldn't do it?"

"D-don't look so depressed, please," Roll said, forcing a smile. "I'm sure we can find some kind of use to it if we go back to the city tomorrow. There's got to be something waiting for the refractor somewhere..."

"In that case," Megaman began, "we'll go around the city and gather information to find out what to do with it. Thanks to the license I got today, the mayor told me I had access to other parts of the city."

"What parts are those?" Mario asked.

"First, it's the Old City located to the east gate of the downtown," Megaman said. "According to the mayor, she told me that the city in there doesn't have a lot of people because it was abandoned and used as a place for workers to build factories such as a power plant."

"That place sounds like there could be some use for the refractor we have," Roll said.

"But there's more," Megaman said. "To the south of the Old City, there's the entrance to the Main Gate..."

Roll looked interested. "The Main Gate, you say? I heard about it!"

"Ooh, tell us, please," Chip said. "If it's a main thing, it should be very important."

The lights suddenly turned off while a candle next to Roll illuminated her anxious face. "The Main Gate is supposed to be the place where the island's most valuable treasure resides," Roll said. "Many of the Diggers who have come here have failed to find an entrance into the Main Gate, though. I heard from Gramps that the Main Gate doesn't really have an actual entrance...but there are rumors saying that, in one of the Sub-Gates, the key to open the real entrance to the Main Gate is waiting to be discovered...and the fortunate Diggers who can decipher the entry to the Main Gate will be forever blessed with the treasure that rest within it, waiting to be discovered..."

Luigi gulped and looked around the dark atmosphere. "W-who turned off the lights?" He looked to his right to see Sonic's right arm extended all the way to the light's switch next to the TV.

Sonic chuckled and turned the lights back on. "Heheh, sorry, wanted to set up the moment here," he said as his arm pulled back to him.

Peach, recalling the excitement she had in the Sub-Gate, looked interested at the topic. "Let me guess, you're trying to find that entrance?"

"Of course," Roll said. "Well, if we happen to stumble upon it, that is..."

Megaman nodded. "We'll find that entrance so we can claim that treasure for ours," he said, pumping up a fist. "Oh, wait, I was talking about the places we could go tomorrow... Apart from the Old City, there's the Uptown located to the west gate of the downtown. The Uptown is where the city's services are found like the TV station and the hospital."

"Hmm, I'm not so sure if there's some place in there to use the refractor, unlike the Old City does..." Roll muttered skeptically.

"Well, there's more," Megaman said. "The Uptown has a dock on the Lake Jyun. There's supposed to be another Sub-Gate there. However, I heard there aren't any boats to explore the lake."

"Hmm, a lake," Big said. "Maybe Froggy is there..."

Chris sighed, but he didn't want to put Big down in a depressed mood. "Yes, he might be in there, Big. You really must be worried about him when you don't have Froggy around... Oh my god!" he suddenly yelped, digging into his pocket to take out his egg. Seeing it made him sigh. "Oh, phew, it's here... And here I was thinking Eggy didn't exist..."

"Be glad you didn't sit over it," Sonic said.

"Yes, I know..." Chris said, keeping the egg inside his pocket.

"There's a Sub-Gate at Lake Jyun?" Roll asked. "But wait, there are no boats right now, right?"

Megaman shook his head. "No, there aren't boats."

Roll took a spoon of her soup and sighed. "Oh well, I guess we can explore that Sub-Gate when we have the necessary means to explore the lake..." She looked at everyone. "So then, our mission tomorrow morning is to find some use for the yellow refractor in the city. Everyone will have to go first to the Old City and then head down to the Uptown."

"Right," everyone said.

"For now, let's have a pleasant dinner," Peach suggested, everyone agreeing to the idea.

Back outside, the four pirates blinked in unison and climbed down the ladder. Once setting their feet on the ground, Tron crossed her arms and said, "So they're going to look for a way to use that refractor they got from the Sub-Gate you couldn't break into..."

"Miss Tron, they'll be heading to Lake Jyun anytime soon!" the second Servbot said. "Isn't that the place where we're going to ambush them?"

"Yeah, that's the same place where I'm going to show off my new robot," Tron said. "But, this seems more interesting to do... Tomorrow, they'll be going around the city."

"It doesn't look like we got so much information about those guys, though," the first Servbot said. "The blue boy was just outlining their next movements."

"Which is good to know for our advantage," Tron said.

The third Servbot blinked. "Um, wait, are we still going to eavesdrop on them tomorrow, Miss Tron?"

"Why not?" Tron asked annoyed. "We're going to eavesdrop on them as much as we can so we can outwit them the next time we meet!"

"But, Miss Tron, we don't have any vessels or robots except for the Gesellschaft right now!" the second Servbot reminded her. "Remember? We use a ton of 'em in the take over of the city, which failed so badly!"

"And by ton of 'em, he means we literally used everything, even the smallest nut!" the third Servbot said. "If we go back to the Gesellschaft now, we can have enough time to build more vessels!"

"In that case, I'll send an order to the other Servbots to make more vessels," Tron said. "Phew, that's an easy issue we can deal with."

"But we still have the issue where you're supposed to make said robot!" the first Servbot brought up. "And Teisel might even scold you for that!"

"I don't care!" Tron said. "Teisel needs to be patience now! He will have to wait until I'm ready!"

The second Servbot tilted his head. "I don't know why, but, do you have another reason why you want to spy on them, Miss Tron?"

Tron gasped, blushed, and looked mad, thinking her Servbot thought she was thinking about Megaman. "I-I-ah, what makes you think that? D-don't be so silly!"

"What?" the second Servbot asked. "But what did I do to make you blush like that, Miss Tron?"

Tron covered her cheeks. "S-stop it, you! I don't wanna hear you anymore!"

The second Servbot cried toon tears. "M-Miss Tron, don't say that to me, please! I have very unstable feelings and emotions!"

"All of you, be quiet now!" Tron demanded loudly. "Okay, now that I have your attention, we WILL continue eavesdropping on them tomorrow morning. First, we're going to have to go back to the Gesellschaft right now to make sure things are going well over there."

"What if Teise-"

"If Teisel tries to stop us, I'll convince him...somehow," Tron said. "I don't know who, but maybe if I listen to his crazy ramblings about those guys, he might let me off the hook..."

The first Servbot saluted her. "Right, Miss Tron, we will follow your orders to the full extent of the word!"

"That's more like it," Tron said. "Okay, everyone, let's go back to the Gesellschaft and plan our strategy tomorrow! I have some energy to start the production of our next robot to attack those guys."

The three Servbots smiled. "Roooooogeeeeeeeeeer!" they all said.

The four pirates turned to the forest and ran away into the bushes. None of them noticed that a certain robot monkey, Data, was staring down at them from the open window of the living room. Apparently, Data overheard everything they said.

"Data, close the window, please," Roll said. "The mosquitoes will get inside if we leave that window wide open."

Data turned to her and nodded, closing the window behind his back.

The peaceful night went by...

However, nobody noticed that several minions of Dark Gaia sprouted out from the ground around the Flutter and began patrolling the area...

The next morning...

In her green room, Roll, wearing orange pajamas with an orange cap, lied down on her pink bed in a reckless position. Her right leg was touching down the floor, and her left arm was over her messy hair.

Her room was green, which had many different things. The pink bed was leaning against the upper right corner of the room while a light blue table with a red flower in a pot on it and a chair on the floor stood on the center. A big bookshelf was leaning against the wall right next to the red door, and to the right of the bookshelf, a small shelf for magazines rested. Over some green shelves for clothes between the bed and the magazine shelf, a shelf with a wide tea set adorned the wall.

The most unusual highlight of the room was Roll's super computer, with everything and machines, taking the left part of the whole room. For the time being, it was turned off.

For the surprise of many, the engineer was snoring a little bit too loudly to herself. "Don't take my treasure away, evil Reaverbot...I'm warning ya..." she muttered. "No...no...no...we're not selling this ultra refractor to those hobos, Megaman, don't be so silly..."

The door of her room creaked open as Megaman peeked out from it, smiling at the sleep talker.

"I think I'm going to become a queen with all these refractors..." Roll muttered. "I'll give Megaman ten percent of the money...and forty percent to Data..."

"Geez, Roll, you're kind of greedy in your dreams," Megaman spoke.

"MAVERICKS!" Roll yelled, awakening from her dreams as she clutched her pillow. She looked around in panic before noticing a chuckling Megaman standing by the door. "M-Megaman! D-don't do that! You know very well I have so many dreams and that I sleep talk!"

Megaman chuckled. "That's the best part of them."

Grunting while his best friend laughed, Roll tossed her pillow at him across the table, only managing to hit the door, which Megaman had closed in time. "Megaman, stop teasing me like that!"

"You better take a shower now. We'll be heading to the city shortly!" Megaman yelled. "I'll go put my suit on!"

"D-don't try to change the themes here, you heard me?!" Roll asked, blushing madly before she flopped on her bed and grunted on her bed sheet.

An hour later...

Downtown

The downtown of the city of Kattelox Island was previously a bustling part of the city where people walked its streets without having to worry for attacks. That is, until the Bonne Family had appeared. Thanks to the valiant efforts of Megaman, the downtown's people managed to survive the assault, but unfortunately, most of the buildings were destroyed in the ensuing battle. The main library was reduced to dust, the residential buildings had at least seventy percent of concrete, and most windows were left broken. Cars, which were a few, were wrecked into big chunks of scrapped metal, some of them even rammed against buildings.

The Support Car passed a southern gate from the Cardon Forest. It went all the way to the front of the destroyed steps of the library, and from behind the car, the Smashers came out from the door while Megaman came out from the driver's seat. Once they gathered together, they looked at Roll, who was still driving the wheel. "Okay, you guys," Roll began, "the gate to the Old City is located west of this place."

"What are you going to do?" Luigi asked.

"Gramps called from the mayor's place," she said. "He said he wanted me to get there with him so he could know what we were doing. He didn't come last night because he and the mayor were talking about the good old days because they are good friends since he was younger."

"I sure wish the mayor isn't an old man, then," Ness said. "Old men talk a lot."

"N-no, she's a young adult, that I can assure you," Roll said with a chuckle. "Alright, I'll head down to the city hall right now... By the way, have anyone seen Data?"

"The little monkey with the funny dance?" Big asked.

"Um, yes, I didn't find him anywhere in the Flutter this morning. I think he ran off as usual," Roll said.

Megaman grumbled at this. "That Data is always running away somewhere when he has the chance..."

"He sure is a bit peculiar, though," Peach said. "Should we look for him?"

"Oddly enough, Data always shows up at certain places when you want him to appear," Megaman said. "I think he's a professional stalker...but other than that, he'll be fine on his own. He manages to go about without having trouble."

Roll chuckled and leaned against her driver's seat. "Well then, I'll be leaving you. Megaman, you know how to call me if you need me, right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, see you guys later!" Roll said, driving off to the north gate towards the city hall.

Sonic (back to his hedgehog look) crossed his arms and tapped his right foot on the ground, looking at the wrecked downtown where busy workers were working hard to bring back the downtown's look from the ground. "Geez, this place is surely wrecked to crumbles," Sonic commented.

Megaman looked down. "I did everything I could do, so, don't remind me anymore..."

"Oh, sorry, my bad," Sonic apologized.

"It's okay," Megaman said, looking back up. "How 'bout if we start heading east to see the Old City?" he asked, forcing a small smile.

"Somehow, I think I'm forgetting a very crucial fact about that part of this place..." Chris muttered to himself. "What was it? Something dangerous, I think..."

Unaware of their presence, the group didn't notice that, behind them, leaning against the steep steps of the library, four figures, one taller and three shorter, were covering their faces with newspapers in front of them. On the backside of the newspapers, Tron, and three random Servbots were inside frames that read "WANTED" each.

Big looked to his right towards the street and found the gate to the Old City. "Look over there. I think that's the place," he said.

"Oh, it is," Megaman said, the group starting to move to the west gate.

Once they were gone from sight, the figures reading the newspapers turned out to be Tron and her three Servbots (in that order, ironically, in the same positions of their "WANTED" frames), who lowered down their newspapers and were shown wearing sunglasses with mustaches. "These disguises are foolproof," said the second Servbot.

"I like the texture of my mustache, Miss Tron," commented the first Servbot.

"You two, stop getting distracted!" Tron hissed. "We gotta follow those guys!"

"Yeah, up and at 'em," the third Servbot said. "After all, Teisel completely understood your motive, Miss Tron."

"He was just happy to hear that I believed in him," Tron said. "If you agree with his ideas, he's bound to be very grateful. It's like a big baby wanting to get attention desperately." She shook her head. "What are we doing wasting our time here? Let's go!"

"Let's follow them silently and carefully without raising suspicion!" the third Servbot suggested.

"Yeah, let's go!" Tron said, running towards the direction of the west gate.

Old City

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door - Creepy Steeple

"...Why do I think this place feels...evil, somehow?" Ike asked.

The Smashers, once having reached the Old City, didn't think that the place once had better days than today. Basically, the Old City wasn't but a bunch of dark buildings with several workplaces such as factories. Some of the floor of the area was covered in thick steel, and there were some cans dropped around the area. Gates, on both to the west and south side of the Old City, were located. Perhaps the most prominent feature of the city was the fact that, by some kind of crazy event by Mother Nature or probably something else, the sky had a sunset's color, unlike its usual morning's bluish color. What's more, no people were around, making the place feel deserted.

And the fact that the air running along the atmosphere made some creepy, long noise, made Luigi and Lucas be extremely wary about the surroundings.

"J-just by looking at this place makes me feel I'm going to die soon... Please, tell me otherwise!" Luigi pleaded, his voice echoing.

"This place feels like some sort of dungeon to me," Ike further commented. "You can practically tell that by just being here."

Mario looked up at the sky. "Well...it's still morning, so I don't know why it feels like it's sunset..."

Lucas gulped, hearing Luigi's voice echoing along the walls of the Old City. "H-how come this place is so alone without people than the downtown?"

"Maybe this place only serves as the city's main area of energy to provide electricity and water supplies," Megaman said. "I heard the power plant is somewhere around here..."

Chris looked worried, staring forward. "Something is definitely going to happen if we go further in..." he muttered.

They all began to walk forward into the abandoned place. After they left their spot, Tron and her Servbots entered through the gate and looked around. Putting her hands on her hips, Tron said, "Alright, you guys, be alert! Those guys must be around here somewhere. Once we find them, let's eavesdrop on them so we can find out more information for our plans!"

The second Servbot suddenly began trembling in fear because of the city's atmosphere. "M-Miss Tron, something about this place doesn't make me feel just fine..."

Tron looked at the place. "Hmm, this place would serve very well to hide and make a robot...especially that building behind those fences..." She nodded to herself. "Let's go and find those guys already," she muttered, dashing forward between the alleys of the buildings.

"W-wait, Miss Tron, we don't know what awaits us in this shady place!" the first Servbot yelled, running with his sickly worried companions.

Back with the group, they all stopped once they heard a multitude of footsteps coming at their way. Along with the footsteps, growling sounds echoed between the alleys. "U-um, I don't like those growls at all..." Volnutt Kirby muttered, gulping.

"When are you going to stop wearing that hat, anyway?" Ness asked.

Lucas let out a high-pitched scream, startling Ness a bit. Looking upset at the blond boy, Ness then heard Chris letting out a similar yelp. "I-I knew there was something very bad with this place," Chris said. "F-feral dogs!"

The group then noticed wild dogs slowly coming out from the alleys. Around fifteen wild dogs stared at them with creepy red eyes, showing their bare fangs that were being covered by their drool. Their drooling surely meant that they were hungry for anything, and that meant the group was their main meal of the day.

Lucas hugged Ness. "T-tell me they don't want to bite us! I-I don't have a lot of meat myself!"

"I'm pretty sure they want to bite us alive," Ness muttered.

"I-I told you not to tell me that, Ness!" whined Lucas.

"Oh, my bad."

"W-why aren't you scared, Ness?"

"If you live in some suburbs with crazy dogs running after you every day, you get used to those eyes."

"D-did they have red eyes?"

"...Wait a minute, no, they didn't!" Ness yelled quickly.

Peach chuckled nervously at the sight of the feral dogs. "P-please, don't be so scared, everyone. I'm sure they just want to play with us... Here, let me pet this one..."

The princess approached a rabid dog. The wary dog slowly and fully showed its fangs when Peach came closer. Luigi didn't like where this was going, and without hesitating, he pulled back Peach before the dog's fangs could chew her fingers. "P-Peach, don't do it!" Luigi yelped.

"P-Peach, I think optimism isn't going to help us out here this time..." Chris muttered, scared of the feral dogs. "H-has anyone wondered WHO THE HELL leaves feral dogs on the loose in this stupid part of the city?!"

"I-it makes you wonder why they even let people come in here," Megaman said. "W-well, they know there are feral dogs in here, so that'd be why..."

"...Then, here's the question: WHERE'S THE DOG KENNEL WHEN YOU NEED IT?!" Luigi asked loudly, angering the dogs.

Big's ears perked up as most of the dogs seemed to be staring up at him. "W-why are all the little doggies looking at me with those eyes?"

"Oh no, I forgot you're a huge cat, Big..." Ike muttered. "...They must be thinking that you're going to be the main meal..."

At this, Big's pupils shrunk and he embraced Ike in a panic. "P-please, don't let them eat me! I-I want to find Froggy before they do so! ...No, wait, that doesn't sound right. Protect me, please!"

Ike began gasping for air. "D-don't...crush...me...with your...killer hugs...please..."

Mario, looking at the panicked Big and the barely conscious Ike, looked serious at the predicament. "Times like this call for desperate measures, everyone."

Peach shook her head. "I-I refuse to hit them, Mario! T-they might be feral dogs, but they're still innocent!"

"Well, that was a pretty close guest, Peach..." Mario said, pointing over at Sonic, who seemed to be grinning at the dogs. "I think Sonic isn't just going to sit down and do nothing."

Peach gasped. "S-Sonic, no!"

"It's giving them a light smack on their head or our skin getting ripped off," Sonic said without facing her. "So please, let me do the first."

"D-don't hurt them too much, okay?"

Sonic sighed. "Fine, fine, I won't hurt them much."

"T-thank you..."

In a matter of seconds, for Peach's horror, they all saw the twenty or so feral dogs' pack being flung to the air by a fast Spin Dash attack. They all whined scared before landing painfully on the ground while Sonic appeared back with the group, crossing his arms coolly. As they stood up, the dogs trembled in fear at the hedgehog before turning around and running away from the scene, hiding back into the alleys.

"That should teach them," Sonic said grinning with a chuckle.

Luigi and Lucas sighed in relief, stopping hugging the closest human shields (being Mario and Ness respectively).

Peach had a hand about to cover her mouth. "B-but...t-that..." she stammered, sighing extremely depressed.

Sonic turned to her. "Whoops, I guess I got a little bit too far..." He noticed Peach wasn't looking at him. "...Sorry?"

"..." Peach stared away with a blank look on her face.

"...Oh, no, please, don't give me the silent treatment!" Sonic said. "I get upset when people don't want to pay any attention to me!"

"Why am I not surprised?" Ness asked, faking amusement.

"You're not helping me out here, so shut up!" Sonic yelled. "Please, don't get so mad at me! I-I admit I have ADHD!"

"Sonic, by curiosity, do you even know what ADHD means?" Chris asked.

"...Not really..." Sonic muttered. "...Please, listen to me! I don't want you to hold a grudge on me, I beg of you!"

Shifting his eyes, Megaman looked to the northern direction where he saw a gate to the power plant. He looked back at the group and cleared his throat a bit to get their attention. "I hate to interrupt, but, there's the way to the power plant right over there."

Peach silently walked towards said direction, Megaman rubbing his chin as he watched her saying nothing to them. Sonic sighed loudly and covered his head. "Great, now she hates me so much..." he muttered.

Mario patted the hedgehog's back. "She'll say something very soon to you, Sonic."

"And if she doesn't, then what?"

"Then you'll have to find a way to apologize to her."

"Sheesh, that really is making me feel much better," Sonic said, sighing once more.

"Make her a cake," Volnutt Kirby said simply.

"Does she like chilli dogs better?"

"A cake is better."

"B-but I dunno how to make a cake myself!"

Big's ears drooped. "You're mean..."

"Thanks, that's something I wanted to hear..."

The group decided to follow the silent princess towards the power plant. Once they crossed the gate, Tron and her Servbots jumped out from the alleys, but it seemed that Tron was completely horrified and scared very much since she was literally embracing herself. The third Servbot noticed her odd behavior and asked, "Miss Tron, are you getting a cold?"

Tron shook her head quite quickly. "N-no, it's not that," she muttered. "I-it's because there are feral dogs in this stinky place..." she whispered, her eyes darting back and forth around the area.

The first Servbot smiled. "Oh, right, you've told us from time to time that you hate dogs," he pointed out. "Why, though? Is it because they seem to hate you?"

"Dogs are, like, evildoers seekers," the second Servbot said. "Too bad there are many of them that get wild for food..."

"...Then, wouldn't that mean they're not evildoers seekers?"

"...Yes, pretty much."

Tron gulped. "L-l-l-l-let's just follow those guys and Megaman before any of those dogs show up...and fast, I say!" she ordered, rushing towards to the east. Not soon after rushing half the way, several feral dogs came from each sides of the street and began barking at the four. The three Servbots and Tron screamed and hugged each other scared. "U-U-UAAAAAAHHH!!!" Tron let out a girly scream. "Y-you Servbots, do something!"

"W-what?!" the second Servbot asked. "We weren't built to deal with feral dogs, Miss Tron!"

"You need to learn how to attack feral dogs!" Tron yelled. "Learn now!"

The first Servbot gulped and took a step forward, facing the dogs with a false serious look. "O-okay, you puppies, I shall be your opponent so you stop scaring Miss Tron!"

Tron sniffed. "P-please, get rid of them!!!" she cried loudly.

"(Miss Tron will be so proud of me if I beat those dogs...and, just maybe, I'll be promoted to a high-ranking leader in the group!)" the first Servbot thought with determination, hoping to achieve big dreams. He took a fighting stance, facing the pack of wild dogs. "A-alright, stupid dogs, I-I'LL SHOW YOU!"

Ten minutes later...

The Smashers and Megaman came back from the direction of the power plant, many of them having discouraged looks. "Bummer," Chris muttered, "the workers up there didn't have any problems with their machines..."

"At least be glad I told them about the wild dogs," Ness said. "Finally, this place is going to have a dog kennel for those stupid dogs."

"I was surprised they never thought about having one, though..." Chip muttered.

After they made it to the center of the Old City, they stopped walking to see several blue arms with yellow hands and blue legs scattered all over the ground. There was also a pendant with a robot skull shape lying on the ground as well. They also found pieces of cloth scattered, which were being pushed away by the wind.

"Were these things here before?" Ike asked.

"Hmm, I don't think so," Megaman said. "But...why do I think I've seen this somewhere before?"

"Beats me," Sonic said. "I don't wanna take trash with me."

"Same here, except I wouldn't consider these things like trash," Mario said. "Let's leave them here."

Luigi looked to the south where another gate was. He pointed towards it. "W-what's behind that gate over there?"

Megaman rubbed his chin. "I think that's the place where the Main Gate is..."

Ness rubbed his hands. "As honorable trans-dimensional tourists, let's see how it looks like. Who knows, maybe we can even find that entrance everyone's been trying to find."

Peach, again, walked towards the gate without saying a word.

Luigi looked worried at Sonic. "I-it's your fault she's like this, Sonic! Y-you apologize to her now!"

Sonic threw his hands up. "I've been trying to, but she's been tuning me down! What do you guys have in mind for her to accept my apologies?!" he asked with desperation.

"Sadly, I think you need to keep trying by yourself," Megaman said skeptically. "I don't know what to do here because I don't know her THAT well like you guys do."

"Oh, this is just great..." Sonic muttered in shame, slapping his face once.

[DededeCloneChris]

Following the blank princess, the group proceeded south through the south gate. After they left the area, somebody else, jumping on one leg, came into the scene where the scattered pieces of arms, legs, and cloth were. The figure was a right hand-less and left legless first Servbot, who sniffed silently to himself as he looked down at the parts on the ground. Picking up a leg he thought was his leg; he turned around and hopped on his only leg all the way to an alley where his other comrades were hiding away.

Hugging her ripped pants, Tron, who had so many scratch marks all over her clothes, face, fake mustache, and hair, was sitting down in a fetal position behind a trash can while the other Servbots' were just heads; heads that were crying toon tears, sitting close to her. The third Servbot came in before tumbling on the ground. He had a tight grip on his supposed leg, and he looked up at the trembling Tron. "M-Miss Tron, please, don't be so scared! T-those dogs aren't around anymore! N-now, please, fix my leg!"

"I-I think she isn't going to talk to you for the moment," whined the first Servbot. "S-she's been in a heavy state of trance ever since one of those bad dogs leaped on her!"

"D-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-dogs...I-I-I hate them all...I-I-I-I hate them..." stuttered Tron as she shivered in complete fear, her eyes darting back and forth.

The second Servbot sniffed sadly. "M-Miss Tron, why did you have to turn out like this? I-it's so sad and so hard for us to see you like this!"

The first Servbot hopped a bit. "Don't you understand? She can't listen to anybody now! She won't listen to us for a pretty long time!"

"Oh no, this became so bad in a span of ten minutes, more or less!" the third Servbot said before looking at the leg he was holding. "...Wait, this isn't my leg! This is your leg!"

The second Servbot smiled sadly. "T-thank you for getting it...now go get my body!"

The third Servbot tossed the leg aside. "T-that's it, we must request Master Teisel's help! We're in a very tight situatio-"

"Not to mention wild dogs' turf!" interrupted the second Servbot.

"E-exactly! It's not going to be too long before they come back to finish us off!"

"U-UAH! TAKE ME AWAY FROM HERE!!!" Tron snapped out, crying loudly.

"S-shh, Miss Tron, shh! Y-you're going to make them come here after we lost them!"

Tron cried silently, trying to stay calm without have any success in doing so.

The third Servbot crawled over to Tron to take out from her jacket a small phone. He recklessly tossed it in front of his face and began dialing a number. After a few seconds, the call managed to connect with the receiver. "M-Master Teisel, sir! W-we need backup immediately!"

"...Babuuuuu?"

The three Servbots blinked in confusion. "...Wait, you called Master Bon, not Master Teisel!" the second Servbot pointed out.

"Oh, no! I made a wrong call!" the third Servbot said.

"...Wait, wait, wait!" the first Servbot interrupted. "D-don't call Master Teisel!"

"W-why?" the third Servbot asked.

"Master Teisel is going to get pretty mad if he sees Miss Tron...like she is now!" he said. "Master Bon is a whole lot nicer than Master Teisel! After all, Master Bon is a little bit...how can I put it? Well...a baby," he muttered. "In any case, don't call Master Teisel so we don't get scolded again!"

"...You're right!" the third Servbot said. "Master Bon is more approachable than Master Teisel! He will understand our condition!" He looked at the phone. "Master Bon, sir! Do you read me?"

"Babu?"

"Y-yes, sir, we're in the middle of some...circumstances..." he said, looking over at the trembling Tron. "Y-you see, Miss Tron and us three were attacked by feral dogs...and they're still around our location!"

"Babu?"

"I-I know she'd rather stay away from puppies, but you do know we're on an important mission to get key-information from the blue boy Megaman!" he said in a panic. "You know, the people Master Teisel could swear that came out from a portal?"

"Babu!"

"E-exactly! W-we need your assistance, Master Bon! Miss Tron can't answer the call because she's practically paralyzed on her spot!"

"Babu, babu, babu, baabuu."

The second Servbot gasped. "W-what does he mean by that? W-why does he want to join our mission?"

"M-Master Bon, why do you want to tag along?" the third Servbot asked.

"Babuuuu! Babu, babu, babu, baabu!"

"Master Teisel is scaring you about those guys, and that he's been in such a fit ever since Miss Tron left yesterday to spy on them, and that he just left, ranting to himself about what to do?"

"Baaaaaaaabuuuuu!"

It was not long before they all heard growling sounds coming from somewhere.

"O-okay, sure! We understand pretty well!" the third Servbot said in desperation. "P-please, Master Bon, come right away! T-those dogs are surely going to eat us alive for sure an-"

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep...

It looked like the phone's signal was cut off.

"..." The third Servbot tapped a button to turn off the phone. Gulping, he looked at his bodyless friends and said, "M-Master Bon hung up on us!"

"R-rest assured! He might be coming for us right away!" the first Servbot said. "Luckily, he'll scare the dogs away and save us from dying!"

The growls became a bit louder than before.

"...M-Master Bon, hurry!" the second Servbot pleaded while his head was grabbed and clutched tighly by Tron.

Music stops

Main Gate's Area

The group was now standing outside the city's walls where the sky was blue instead of a sunset's color. For most of them, it was bizarre to see such a peaceful scenery just behind the Old City's walls. They were all looking at a huge green tower that had no entrances around it, supposedly being the Main Gate.

"Boooooring," Ness said, staring the big tower in front of them. "This is the Main Gate thing? What a letdown. There isn't any entrance to it."

"Well, that's why there's no much importance for it," Megaman said. "But, once it opens up, I bet all Diggers will try to investigate it, and I'll be the first Digger to explore it before anybody else does."

"Why are you sounding so confident?"

Megaman made an embarrassed look. "T-that's because Roll and I are the only Diggers in the whole island right now..."

"Oh, so every other Digger has ignored this island?" Ike asked. "That's kind of sad, but with all the people living in here... No, wait, it's still sad."

"See the bright side," Mario began, "you have the treasure right before your nose without having to hurry and worry for any other Digger."

Megaman smiled a bit. "That's true. I'm sure we can find the entrance to the Main Gate if we look around more."

"What about that...Bonne Family group, was it?" Lucas asked.

"Hmm, maybe I should hurry..."

Chris looked sternly at the Main Gate's tower. "(I can't remember, but there's something else waiting inside that place besides a treasure...and I think it's something very bad...but I'm not so sure anymore...)" He looked down to his right and gasped to see Eggy dropped on the grass. "E-Eggy, oh my god!" he yelled, ducking down to check on the egg's condition. "P-phew, there aren't any cracks on it..."

"Be more careful, Chris," Ike said. "Be glad the egg fell on top of soft grass."

"Y-yes, I'll be more careful now," Chris said. "I'll die emotionally if this little egg breaks apart."

Megaman crossed his arms. "There's nothing else to do here. We should go back now."

Luigi looked scared. "I-I don't want to cross through that Old City place and be assaulted by more wild dogs again!"

Sonic looked at Peach, who turned to look blankly away from him. "Oh, please, you gotta forgive me!" Sonic said before he disappeared and appeared, holding a bunch of flowers taken out from the ground nearby. "Here, have some flowers!"

"..." Peach didn't turn to look at him.

"Talk about a desperate action to get attention," Chip muttered, seeing some bees coming out from the flowers, instantly pinching Sonic's forehead, which made him scream and drop the flowers on the ground while the bees flew away angrily. "Talk about angry bees," he said, watching Sonic rub the spot where the bees pinched him.

Megaman sighed and took out from behind a phone with a round speaker on top. He simply pressed a button to make a call to Roll. He put the phone over his right ear. "Roll, are you there?"

"Hey, Megaman," Roll greeted on the phone. "What, did you find some use for the refractor?"

Megaman looked down where Sonic dropped to the grassy ground, rubbing the spot where the bees pinched him. The blue boy sweat dropped at this while Volnutt Kirby, obliviously, poked Sonic's face in curiosity, making the hedgehog grunt in anger. "Afraid not..." Megaman said. "Can you pick us at the Main Gate's area, though? We don't want to run into those wild dogs in the Old City again."

"Wild dogs? Isn't there a dog kennel or something?"

"...No..."

"...Oh well, sure, I just finished my errand myself. Gramps seems to be talking more with the mayor," Roll said. "Okay, Megaman, I'll head down over there in a few minutes."

"Thanks," Megaman said before hanging up the call.

Old City

Paper Mario: TTYD - Creepy Steeple

Deciding to comfort the princess, Sonic went into the Support Car to make her accept his apology, but she never turned to face her. Everyone else but Sonic was singing together to cheer up the rather depressing atmosphere of the city. "~Forty-five bottles of beer on the wall, forty-five bottles of beer! Take one down, pass it around, forty-four bottles of beer on wall!~" they all sang in unison, Sonic trying to make Peach listen to him but to no avail while the car drove off to the downtown.

The Support Car passed by an alley where the scared Tron and the wary Servbots were hiding away from the feral dogs. Luckily, the third Servbot managed to get everything back to them, including Tron's earring that he put it on her ear by himself before tumbling back on the cold floor. "W-where Master Bon?" the second Servbot asked. "I-I'm so scared! I wanna leave this place!"

"T-they're getting away from here," the first Servbot said. "A-and we're going to start making a home in this place close to hell if Master Bon forgets about us!"

"M-maybe this place is the true manifestation of hell itself, and those dogs are the devils!" the second Servbot said.

"I-it must be that way! I-I'm sure of it!"

"Y-you guys aren't making Miss Tron feel any better than she is now!" the third Servbot said. "Where's the optimism? Where's the love? Where's the hope?"

"I'm a darn head on the floor right now, and you want us to think about those three things?!" the first Servbot argued. "I can't think about optimism in a situation like this! You're lucky you have a leg and an arm!"

"Maybe I am lucky!" the third Servbot asked. "Somebody HAS to be optimistic, right, right, right?!"

"You be the optimistic one while we're all living the true events!" the second Servbot argued, turning to Tron. "Miss Tron, say something!"

"I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I hate...d-d-d-d-d-dogs..." Tron stuttered.

"Miss Tron..." the three Servbots said worried.

A big shadow suddenly loomed over the four. The three Servbots blinked and turned to the shadow's direction where an imposing figure stood. They all gasped before noticing that the figure was a comrade of them. "M-Master Bon, you're here!" the second Servbot cried.

The figure before the Servbots was a huge yellow robot, which had broad arms and hands that touched the floor together with a simple set of legs. All of the arms and legs were joined together with the main head, which had a round white face with baby eyes and a metallic yellow pacifier on its mouth. Over its round head, two prongs stuck out, making the robot look like it had horns, and its shoulders had the Bonne Family's emblem. "Baaaabuuuuuuuuu," the robot said, its pacifier moving a bit.

"Master Bon Bonne!" the Servbots cried happily.

Bon Bonne is the youngest member of the Bonne Family, yet he is the largest of them all. Even though Bon is a baby, he is able to work together with Teisel and Tron when raiding islands. Since Bon is still an infant, he's only limited to say "Babu" to talk, and Teisel, Tron, and the Servbot crew only can understand his speech completely. For many, it is unclear if Bon is actually a huge robot, but given his personality, he may be a baby inside a mech suit (otherwise, people would think the Bonne Family is insane and made up a robot with a personality of a baby, which has not been ruled out of the question because of Teisel's personality).

"Babu," Bon said, looking down at them all.

"P-please, Master Bon, you have to help Tron!" the first Servbot said. "She's been like this for a short while, but she doesn't seem to recover at all!"

"Babu!" Bon said, making a happy expression.

"Oh, please, Master Bon, don't laugh at Miss Tron's condition! She's your sister, for god's sake!"

"Babuuuu," Bon said, his expression turning blank.

"...What? You're taking all of us back to the Gesellschaft so we can recover ourselves physically and emotionally? Well, I don't think that's a good idea if Master Teisel is there..."

"Babu."

"He's watching his favorite TV show marathon in his room and he's all locked up? Oh, that changes everything, then!"

"Babu!"

"I wanna go home now!" cried the second Servbot. "I want to go home or a place where wild dogs don't exist!"

The young member of the family grabbed everyone on his arms and walked away from the scene, laughing to himself as Tron practically didn't even move or said anything else rather than trembling in horror and mutter about dogs biting her legs off.

Uptown

Megaman Legends/64 - Uptown

"Sorry, Megaman, but Gramps called me again. He said he needed me to do him a small favor," Roll said. "I don't know what the favor is about, but, would you guys go on without me, please?"

"Yeah, don't worry, Roll," Megaman assured her while everyone got off from the Support Car.

Roll smiled. "Okay then, I'll see you later, you guys!" she said, driving back to the downtown while leaving them all in the Uptown.

Unlike the Old City's creepy atmosphere, the Uptown was actually a much better place. The Uptown itself had many highlights, such as the hospital, the museum of arts and relics (which was closed for the moment), the Kattelox TV Station, and the high luxury homes across the area. To the west of the place, the Lake Jyun's dock awaited visitors to admire the lake, but it seemed that no boats were available to explore the lake.

Ness inhaled the air before exhaling it out. "Aww, the sweet air of high class people... You've got to love that fresh air."

"You can smell that?" Lucas asked.

"Lucas, that was a metaphor. I'm saying this because it's a hundred-fifty percent much better than the dump the Old City area was."

"O-oh, I see..."

"Just make sure Cave Man Ike doesn't break up the TV station's building."

"Hey, I heard that, you!" Ike said angrily. "I have a very careful approach to technology now that I used to!"

"We'll see, because that same place is getting my attention," Ness said, eying the tall green building to their left that had a sign that read "Open to the public anytime! Become famous!" just on its right wall. "Have I ever told you that I always wanted to appear on a TV show and be a big TV star?"

Chris chuckled nervously. "I-I don't want to be a TV star, though. The thought that a whole nation of people will watch you from far away...makes you feel very sick in the stomach."

"I knew you were the kind of people who had stage fright. That's so you."

The beastmaster blushed. "E-everyone has their own weaknesses, okay?"

"Guys, please, focus for a second," Megaman said. "We're here to find some use for the refractor we found. We don't need to distract ourselves with the city itself."

"Oh, okay, then let's suppose somebody in the TV station needs a power source," Ness said. "Now, if there is somebody in there wanting a refractor, then why don't we go there?"

Megaman looked bored and annoyed at Ness. "You're just trying to make an excuse for us to go there, right?"

"Did it work?"

The blue boy sighed. "Okay, let's go in there, then..."

Ness looked at Lucas. "See? This is one of the few moves you call pull out to convince everyone from going to places you want to go. Don't forget it."

"S-sure..." Lucas said unsure before looking to his right. "...C-car!"

Megaman gasped and quickly stepped back before a blue truck could ram him. Instead of stopping, the truck kept driving away to the north. "P-phew, that was a close one," Megaman said.

"It was going to be the second time a car runs over you as well," Mario said. "Watch your step next time."

"I-I will."

Volnutt Kirby looked at the direction the truck went. "Um, why didn't the driver do anything to Megaman?"

Big looked up. "I think I saw the driver clicking on some screen on the wheel... I think it was a phone..."

Chris looked bored. "People text here as well? Isn't it dangerous to drive and text at the same time?"

Suddenly, they heard a car crashing somewhere to the same direction the blue truck had gone to. They all turned to the north where a wheel went bouncing along the street, passing in front of them before rolling away to the south.

Chip frowned, staring forward without interest. "Guys like him get Chipminated so easily, I swear."

"..." Luigi gulped and looked at the others. "C-can we just go to the TV station already?"

Shrugging together, the group crossed two streets and entered the automatic doors of the station while several police cars and an ambulance drove close by towards the north.

KTOX TV Station - Lobby

A very lively feeling usually accompanied the TV station. Enthusiastic TV programmers walked around the lobby while TV fanatics sat down and relaxed while watching different programs on the 2x3 TV screen, right next to the reception desk where a lady awaited anyone who would like to know about their TV schedule. Programs like baseball, forecast, soccer, between many others were broadcast live across the island, and maybe even possibly other islands as well. For the Smashers and Megaman, they would surely stand out from the crowd, or even confused as TV children stars because of how they looked.

"Aww, this reminds me of home," Ness said. "Your favorite children programs can destroy the current programs of today very easily."

"I-I concur!" Chris said. "TV programs aren't like the programs I used to watch when I was younger! Nowadays, they accept anything that looks cartoonish instead of being actually entertaining!"

"Chris, why are you suddenly so fired up?" Mario asked.

"U-Um, sorry, but I just wanted to express myself... P-please, don't tease me about it..."

"T-this remains me that my favorite novel is going to air this Monday," Luigi said, receiving odd looks from some of them. Annoyed by this, he said, "H-hey, you also like novels! Don't be so embarrassed if you watch them alone!"

"Meh, I'd love to watch a lot of TV myself, but I'm a guy who likes to go out more than being a couch potato," Sonic boasted.

"Excuse me? I'm not a couch potato, that's for sure," Ness said. "I can totally picture you being one, though."

"That's not true," Sonic said chuckling before looking at Peach. "You agree with me, don'tcha?"

Peach was still ignoring Sonic as she was deep in thought about the TV station. "I wonder what they broadcast here... Do they broadcast a program where they show fashion designs?"

While Sonic sighed to himself, the receptionist overheard Peach's thoughts. The formally-dressed lady turned to Peach. "We here at KTOX TV Station broadcast a wide variety of programs, ma'am. We broadcast from the latest political news to the most common programs like cartoon animation and live shows. We also have our own fashion design program for those people who'd like to stick with new fads," she explained.

Peach gasped excited. "Oh my, that's so wonderful! I'd love to see a program like that one!"

As the receptionist gave Peach a TV schedule form, Sonic sighed and looked at Mario. "She's doing this on purpose, right? You know, the silent treatment?"

"Of course she is. You're the guy who hits innocent rabid dogs," Mario said.

"T-those dogs were going to attack us! She knew that pretty well! What, did she want to get bitten or something? I don't understand this!"

Suddenly, a desperate TV producer came rushing in from a pink door. Panting heavily, he turned to the receptionist. "W-we're have a problem! The lady who plays the temporal role for Dylan's cousin got sick, and the live show novel can't go on if we don't have a replacement!"

"That is horrible!" the receptionist exclaimed.

"If we let things go like this, 'Parental Love's Conundrum' will lose audience!"

"Parental Love's Conundrum?" Chris repeated.

"That's a live show that is actually a novel," the receptionist said. "We know novels aren't supposed to be live shows, but the director wanted to give it a shot, and the idea was taken very well by the public. We're currently at episode 171, and if there are problems...we're afraid that the show would lose its reputation."

"A-aaaaaaah!" the TV producer yelled, pointing at a shocked Peach. "T-that woman! S-she's perfect for a replacement!"

"What?" everyone else said in unison.

The TV producer went over to Peach and grabbed both of her hands. "Please, I beg you! You're the only one who can save this novel from going bankrupt!" He showed her some papers with dialogue written on it. "Can you try to learn these lines, please?! The show will begin in an hour!"

Peach was still a bit startled by the sudden proposal, but her eyes were already studying the papers. "U-um, I guess I can give it a shot..." Peach muttered.

"E-excellent!" the TV producer said, dragging the princess away from the group while she didn't let go of the papers on her hands. "We need to prepare everything right away! Every second counts, so you need to memorize those lines! Don't worry about working for more days here! This is going to be the first and last time you'll appear on national TV!" he was yelling before he slammed the door behind them.

The Smashers and Megaman could only blink in surprise to the direction Peach and the desperate TV producer went. The receptionist, however, sighed in relief and smiled at them. "Thank you so much for bringing your friend here! This means a lot for KTOX TV Station! Please, do tune the live show novel in an hour. You're free to watch it right here in the lobby." She gasped. "Oh, sorry, I need to attend some important meetings. Please, excuse me!" she said, walking away to a door where she left the lobby.

"...I see it and don't believe it," Luigi muttered.

"Did Peach just...get a starring role at a novel we barely know about?" Lucas asked.

"She so did that, and she just needed to be here to get it..." Chip said. "...I wanna have a starring role!"

"I-I'm confused. What's a live show novel?" Ike asked, everyone ignoring his question.

"...What do we do now? I'm confused..." Big trailed off.

"Since she's going to be busy...and that she'll probably want to come with us and see what else is there in the Uptown... I suppose we need to wait here for her to finish," Mario said. "Let's sit down at the lobby and watch the novel she's going to appear."

"Oh well, we don't have anything else to do but watch that novel," Luigi said.

"You're just happy that you're going to watch a novel," Sonic teased.

"S-shut up! N-novels teach you how to be very understandable about girls' feelings, anyway!"

A light bulb appeared above Sonic, scaring Luigi a bit. "Hmm, is that so? Don't mind if I stay around, then!" he said, quickly appearing on top of a chair, watching carefully the various TV shows on the sixteen TVs on the wall.

"You know, it looks kind of cute to see Sonic so desperate to get Peach to listen to him," Chris admitted.

"Again, Chris, Sonic might be suffering from ADHD in reality," Ness reminded the beastmaster.

Uptown

Just behind the KTOX TV Station building, three small figures, a tall one, and a huge one appeared. The three repaired Servbots, a partially rehabilitated Tron, and a mustache-wearing Bon seemed to be looking for Megaman's group. "Miss Tron, it's a miracle you were able to recover from your state of trance caused by those bad dogs," the second Servbot said.

"S-shut up!" Tron yelled angrily. "I don't wanna hear about dogs, wolves, or puppies right now! What I want to hear right now is about those people that are going around with Megaman!"

"Babu?" Bon asked.

"Yeah, the guys Teisel was talking about," Tron said. "Since you guys said they all left the place closest to hell that is called the Old City, it'd be natural that they'd be around these parts! After all, we spied on them last night!"

The third Servbot gulped. "M-Miss Tron, don't be so mad anymore! There aren't any do-I-I mean, roaming beasts around the Uptown like in the Old City!"

"Ugh, don't remind me about that place as well!"

"I-I'm sorry!"

"Anyway, let's look around for those guys! My instincts are telling me that they must be around here somewhere! We just need to look around carefully. Everyone has their mustaches and glasses on?"

"Right, Miss Tron!" the three Servbots said, putting on fake mustaches with glasses that Tron put on as well.

"Babu!" Bon said in confirmation.

Tron nodded. "Good, now let's go into the TV station."

The three Servbots and Bon gasped. "A-are you sure our disguises will work, Miss Tron?" the first Servbot asked.

"Yeah, now let's go!" Tron said angrily, running around the walls before she made it to the front entrance.

The three Servbots exchanged glances while Bon silently walked to the front of entrance. "Yeesh, Miss Tron is surely in a bad mood," remarked the first Servbot.

"I bet our gruesome memory with the wild dogs will keep haunting us in our dreams, and that'd mean Miss Tron will never forget it!" the third Servbot said.

The second Servbot gulped. "L-let's hope the best happens, okay?"

"Okay," the other two Servbots said before running all the way to the front entrance, joining up with Tron and Bon.

KTOX TV Station - Lobby

Once entering the building, none of the people working at the station recognized the blatantly obvious disguises they were wearing over their faces. They all seemed to be buying the Bonnes' disguises pretty well, allowing the five to sneak inside without raising suspicion. Leading them, Tron walked into the lobby towards the empty reception desk. She looked around for a bit. "Hmm, now where would those guys be?"

The second Servbot gasped and pointed to the right side of the place, where the lobby was located. "M-Miss Tron, there they are, sitting on the chairs around those tables!"

Tron looked to her right where she gasped silently. She saw Megaman, Mario, Luigi, Chris, and Ike sitting around a table (with Volnutt Kirby sitting on Chris's lap) while Sonic, Chip, Big, Ness, and Lucas were sitting around another table close to them, all of them watching the different TV shows broadcast on the six TVs to the right all of the reception.

"Yes, I knew they were going to be around the Uptown," muttered Tron to her little team. "We need to eavesdrop a little bit more to see where they'll be planning to go next."

"M-more?" the first Servbot whined.

"Yes, more, now shut up and look for a table close to them so we can hear them nice and clear!"

"Rooogeeer!" all the Servbots muttered with a salute.

Back with the group...

"We've been here for fifty minutes now, and that novel hasn't started yet," said Sonic as he played with a little paper ball he made out of a newspaper's page.

"Only ten minutes for the show to air," Luigi said. "Hmm, I wonder if the camera will make Peach look a bit too fat as they say?"

"Cameras mess your appearance really badly on TV, or so I heard," Ness commented while the Bonnes were silently walking in front of them. "I think that's a misconception."

"It surely is," Megaman commented.

The Bonnes silently sat down on a table close to them, except for Bon who had to sit down on the floor due to his size. He crossed his legs and looked at Bon while they were picking up some newspapers to cover their faces even more than before. "Babu?" he asked.

"Shh, be quiet, Bon," Tron whispered.

"Babu," Bon whispered silently.

Naturally, one of the Smashers was fixing his gaze towards the unusual group, that Smasher being Volnutt Kirby. The puffball blinked at the five Bonne members before he pulled Chris's collar to get his attention. Chris looked down at Volnutt Kirby where he was pointing at the Bonnes. Gasping silently, Chris tapped Mario's right shoulder to get his attention, who saw Chris pointing at the Bonnes. This soon caused Mario to get Luigi's attention, who then got Megaman's attention, who then signaled the others on the other table to look at the Bonnes.

Soon, the group was staring towards the Bonnes' direction.

"...They're pretty quiet, Miss Tron," muttered the first Servbot. "What should we do?"

"S-shut up, they're surely thinking about very important stuff right now!" hissed Tron silently. "For once, don't talk back to me!"

"O-okay, Miss Tron. We understand."

The group kept staring in silence at the Bonnes before Ness sighed loudly. "Seriously, are these guys for real?" he asked loudly.

"Ooh, I wonder who these guys are," the second Servbot wondered. oblivious about their watchers. "They must be some very important people for sure."

"Shh!" the third Servbot hissed.

The Smashers sweat dropped in unison.

Lucas looked worried at Ness. "A-aren't they the same people we met back at the Cardon Forest area?" he whispered.

"Lucas, of course they're the people," Ness whispered. "And did they really think their ridiculous disguises would fool us that easily? Back at the mansion, since he amuses himself quite a lot by people like them, Pikachu is surely laughing his butt off! Actually, I think he's doing that right now!"

"Well, we didn't meet the big robot guy, that's for sure," whispered Sonic, aiming his gaze at Bon. "Maybe he's a security robot."

"Babu," Bon muttered.

"Bon, quiet!" Tron whispered.

"Hmm, big guy, what should we do?" whispered Chip to Big. "Should we Chipminate them for real? I've got my machine guns ready here."

Big shuddered. "I-I don't wanna see a bloodshed in here!" he muttered in fear.

"Aww, c'mon, dude, we gotta jump on them and show them who the boss is!" Chip whispered.

Big covered his head. "N-no, don't make me!"

"Chip, shut the hell up!" Sonic whispered. "You're scaring Big!"

Luigi looked concerned at Megaman. "H-hey, what should we do? Should we get their attention, or should we call the police?"

"U-um, I'm not sure," Megaman said unsure. "They don't seem to be causing any trouble..."

"But, Megaman, I thought they were the bad guys," whispered Chris. "Isn't your duty to turn them to the police?"

"I-it's just that I want to go easy on them..."

"For crying out loud, they almost destroyed the city!" Ness whispered. "Do you want to let them go on the loose and cause another rampage?"

"N-Ness, I thought you thought that they looked very harmless," Lucas whispered.

"Well, they do look harmless, but they surely messed themselves up, causing the city to mess itself up as well."

"...What?"

"F-forget about that, Luc! Look, the thing is, we need to do something about these creepy stalkers!" Ness whispered. "They DO look like they're going to keep following us everywhere! Would you rather let them do what they want to do with us, or do you want to stop them right now?"

Megaman pushed his chair aside and stood up. "I'll go talk to them," he said determined, walking around the table towards the oblivious Bonnes.

Mario looked at Luigi. "Prepare yourself, Luigi. We might have to fight them here."

Luigi gulped. "I-I wish we don't end up doing that, Mario..." he whispered.

The group turned towards Megaman. The blue boy calmly walked towards Tron, who seemed to be faking reading her newspaper. Megaman turned to look at the group before he turned back at Tron.

"...Okay, fine, I'm getting impatient here," Tron muttered. "Those guys have been pretty silent for a long time now."

The three Servbots and Bon lowered their newspapers, turning completely still after they saw Megaman standing in front of Tron.

"...You guys, don't let them see your faces!" Tron whispered angrily. "What if they find out that we're not citizens of this island?"

The pirate engineer saw a face peeking out from the top of her newspaper. Tron stared up blankly at Megaman, who seemed to be a bit confused at the whole deal. The two remained staring at each other for a while before Tron began showing traces of blushes on her cheeks. "Um, hey..." Megaman trailed off.

"...U-um..."

It seemed as if Tron had entered a new world where her feelings ran amok without worries. Her heart began beating faster than usual, and she could've sworn that she could fly away into the blue and sing along with the birds as much as she wanted. If the moment to step into heaven's love was now, Tron had t-

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" Tron let out a fearsome yelp, startling everyone in the lobby.

"U-uah!" Megaman tumbled back to the floor.

Tron panted heavily as she tossed her newspaper away. "W-what the heck is wrong with you, honestly?!" she demanded at Megaman. "I-I was reading that newspaper, and you came out of nowhere and looked down at me! W-what a freak!"

"W-wait, no, that's not what I meant to do!" Megaman said in his defense.

Tron stood up and put her hands on her hips. "I'm just a regular citizen wanting to have some peace, but you just decided to ruin it by stalking me!" She pointed down at him. "You better apologize to me now before I call the cops!"

"Okay, that is IT!" Ness yelled, throwing his hands up before pointing at Tron. "If you think you can fool us with those disguises, you're dead wrong! We know it's you, the girl who yelled at us back at the Cardon Forest place!"

Tron gasped and chuckled nervously. "U-Um, la sir, please, moi just 'appened to meet you all today... Moi haven't seen you around before..."

"You can stop using that fake French accent now," said Ness. "You should've used that accent right after scolding Megaman."

"M-Miss Tron, our covers were blown away!" the second Servbot said worried.

"S-shut up, you!" Tron yelled.

"It is pretty obvious that it's you," Chris said ashamed. "Continuing to impersonate another person would just make you look like idiots..."

"Y-you're calling me an idiot? I'll have you know that I have a pretty high IQ of 180!"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Doesn't even match Eggman's IQ, then," he muttered.

Ness looked amused. "Wow, I wonder if you even use your brain correctly for having an IQ like that."

Tron blushed embarrassed. "Y-you're trying to tease me or something?! That's it!" she yelled, taking off her fake glasses and fake mustache that she threw to a nearby trash can. "Alright, it's me, Tron!"

"That's...something everyone here knew already," Ike pointed out.

"Shut up!" Tron yelled before glaring at Megaman (while she seemed to blush a bit). "Y-you are gonna get it this time, Megaman!"

"W-what?" Megaman asked obliviously.

"Don't play with me here!" Tron yelled. "I know that those guys that are traveling with you aren't from this place at all!"

At this, the Smashers looked away.

"But I also know that they're a real threat to our plans, so we're gonna stop you from pestering us!"

"Babu!" Bon proclaimed, raising his big arms.

"You say it, Master Bon!" cheered the first Servbot.

Megaman looked worried at the confident Tron. "O-okay, I know you're mad that I have friends to help me out in my digs...right?"

"And also because they beat my poor Servbots to death back at the Cardon Forest!" Tron pointed out.

"Um, Miss Tron, we didn't exactly die... We kind of run away from them," muttered the third Servbot.

Tron ignored him. "Whatever you guys will do after this will mean a lot of problems to us!" she said angrily. "Since we're all here to confront you and your portal friends, it's time for you to say good bye!"

"Right, Miss Tron!" the three Servbots cheered.

Music stops

A dead silence fell in.

Tron blinked a bit at this, seeing that everyone kept staring blankly at her. She didn't like the silence at all since she wanted to hear another reply from Megaman or the Smashers. "...What's with the silence?" Tron asked angrily.

"Well...are you truly ready to fight us all in here?" Mario suddenly asked. "I mean, do you have something in hands to fight?"

"Of course I..." Tron trailed off. "...O-oh, a-ah, well..."

Sonic looked miffed. "Reckless..."

"I-I wasn't reckless!" Tron argued. "W-well, f-for your information, I-I do have something you can fight against!"

Luigi looked around. "W-where is it?"

"W-wait for it to be ready, okay?" Tron asked angrily before turning to her group. "You guys, let's scram from this place before I get sick of seeing them!"

"Babu!" Bon said, standing up.

"But, Miss Tron, that's it?" the first Servbot asked. "I think we did a very bad move in coming in here."

"We didn't!" Tron yelled. "Now let's go before I think about what to do to your breakfast!"

The Servbots gasped at this that they stood up and quickly ran away from the lobby, followed by Bon who merely walked away to the exit. Grunting, Tron turned to glare at Megaman, pointing a finger straight to his nose. "You better get ready 'cause, next time, we won't be so nice to you!"

"...Okay?" Megaman responded.

"Ugh!" Tron grunted before she sprinted towards the exit and left the lobby with a confused bunch of people.

"..." Volnutt Kirby looked up at Chris. "Do we chase them?"

"Somehow, I think I'm starting to understand why Megaman wants to go easy on them..." Chris muttered.

"I know," Ike began, "that's because we all think they're a bit...pathetic, right?"

"They make you wonder how they became a threat to this place," Ness said in boredom. "Are you sure the people of this island aren't that clueless about how to preserve peace?"

"I'm pretty sure they aren't like that," Megaman said. "But, trust me when I'm saying that the Bonnes know how to attack."

"Yeah, sure, they SURE seem to know how."

"...Oh, hey, look," Megaman said, pointing towards the TV screen. "The novel is about to start."

"Oh, it is," Luigi said. "I hope Peach does a good job."

The Smashers decided to ignore that they ever met the Bonnes, shifting their attention towards the TV screen.

Fifty-five minutes later...

Gesellschaft - Teisel's Room

High atop the skies of Kattelox Island, a huge green airship soared the clouds, wary of any events on the island. It was the Bonne Family's Gesellschaft, their main method of transportation for the skies. The ship looked fat and enormous, with the appearance of that of a big fish with red eyes and a metallic mouth. Much of the upper part of the ship was covered in green steel while very little of the lower part was covered in white steel. Cannons and grenades were usually located at the sides of the ship should the Bonnes would want to make an aerial assault on other airships.

Since the Gesellschaft was huge, it had many different areas. It ranged from the storage, deck, engine, and headquarters room to Tron's room, Teisel's room, gym, cafe, and the Torture Room (where supposedly lazy Servbots would be punished, the room being frequently visited each day).

In Teisel's room, it looked as if a library had taken over his personal place. His room looked very expensive-looking with lined books touching the floor and ceiling in countless of book shelves. An expensive picture hung on the front side, depicting some rich family while a sofa, a table, and a flat screen TV were in front of the picture. On the sofa, Teisel, the man Megaman had defeated earlier, sighed as he watched in pleasure his favorite TV novel: Parental Love's Conundrum.

"Dylan, my dear," spoke a familiar princess's voice on the speakers, "you shouldn't have told the only woman who cared about you to leave you alone. She was a very nice girl."

"You don't understand, Margaret!" the actor, Dylan, said with enthusiasm. "She tried to poison me at that party we had! How could you be forgiving that filthy...rat?"

"She wouldn't do that to you, ever! Why, she has the purest behavior I've ever seen before in my life! Even if your parents and you disapprove of her, you should admit that you were in love with her!"

"B-but..b-but..."

"Oh my god, the tension is rising!" Teisel spoke, grabbing a napkin from the table. "Dylan's sister has such an appreciable and clever approach, I swear... I-I've never seen such performance played by an actress like her before! She's just...brilliant!"

"Listen to yourself, Dylan," spoke the woman. "Listen and tell apart what is right and what is wrong. You should know better than true love blooms when your heart says so. Your parents shouldn't have any control over your feelings for other women...special women like Relyna..."

"...Y-you're right, Margaret..." the man spoke, trying his best not to sob. "Every time I looked at Relyna...it's just as if I had entered a new world of possibilities open only for me..."

"Then...please, go with her, Dylan," the woman spoke softly. "Apologize to her, you know what you have to do. You must regain her confidence in you!"

"But then...who would go to such lengths to poison me? Who would go so far as to kill me for good?"

"...Dylan...I think I know the answer..."

"You do?"

"...It's...your parents... They tried to blame Relyna by trying to convince you from marrying her..."

Teisel gasped in shock. "O-of course, it all starts to make sense now! Those bastards of his parents, trying to pit the blame on the only girl he loved so much!"

"N-no, my parents would never do such a thing!" Dylan yelled. "Why?!"

"Dylan, listen to me! They don't care about you anymore. They only care about your family's blood! They don't want the likes of her to mix with us. Your parents never, ever cared about you at all!"

"Oh my god!" Teisel yelled with enthusiasm. "T-the plot is thickening so hard now!"

"...My parents...t-they...t-they must..."

"I can't do anything else for you, Dylan. You must confront your parents and tell them your mind! Don't let them control your life any longer!"

"Y-you're right, Margaret. I must step up and face them...for Relyna...and for my future..."

"Please, go now. They must be taught a lesson."

"Thank you so much, Margaret. If it weren't for you, Relyna and I wouldn't have been ever in love any longer..."

"But, you're going to be the one who ends up doing the most," Margaret said. "I know you will recover everything you lost because of them."

"Thank you... Now, I must go and tell my parents to stop hating Relyna."

"Please do, and never forget that Relyna still believes in you, Dylan..."

Teisel remained speechless, blowing his nose on his napkin before the novel's airtime had ended. "And that concludes our episode 171 for Parental Love's Conundrum. Please do stay tuned tomorrow for another heartwarming episode where we'll see how Dylan faces his parents. This is Stein Tun from KTOX TV Station, good afternoon," the announcer said before Teisel turned off the TV.

"...Hee, hee...hee, hee...AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Teisel laughed maniacally before grinning wide. "God, the performance of that actress was just...phenomenal! I've never seen such a talented natural born actress like her doing such an important debut on TV! Man, I can't wait to see what will happen tomorrow! I need to TiVo that if I happen to lose watching it!"

...

"...Wait, didn't they just say that the actress was temporal?" Teisel asked to himself before gasping. "T-they can't be serious! She acted so natural on TV that I almost thought the novel was a real story! Oh no, those producers need to understand that she must stay for a little time longer!" He stood up and pumped a tight fist. "Alrighty, they are gonna get a special visit from me! No idiot in the world of the media will drop a talented actress like her down unless I say so myself! Yes, I can already see her appearing in all my novels from Mondays to Fridays! Aha, aha, AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Gesellschaft - Hallway

A duo of Servbots walked close to Teisel's room through the dirty hallway, hearing the leader of the Bonnes laughing hysterically to himself. The two Servbots smiled at this and looked at each other. "You've gotta love Master Teisel's moments. He's so full of energy whenever he watches his favorite TV novels."

"Yeah, it's that same spirit that fuels him with new creative ideas to raid islands," the other Servbot spoke before the two walked away from Teisel's door, the maniac still laughing in his usual high-pitched laugh.

KTOX TV Station – Lobby

Megaman Legends/64 – Uptown

After the novel had ended, Luigi was brought to tears, taking countless of napkins from a nearby pile of them he had brought for himself. "S-she was so natural..." he muttered, blowing his nose on a napkin. "Peach has got talent to be in novels..."

Cheers suddenly hollered behind the door Peach had gone into. From what they could tell, the TV station's workers were cheering Peach's name many times before the door slammed open, and a formally dressed Peach (who wore a brown coat with a short brown skirt, together with her hair pulled into a ponytail) walked out with the same TV producer that dragged her into the studio. It looked like the producer was trying to convince her from staying since he was practically grabbing both of her hands. "Please, I beg you! You have a face compatible for any kind of scene, young lady! Don't leave, please!"

"I-I'm sorry, sir, but I have other matters to do," Peach said with a nervous chuckle. "It was a very pleasing experience to play a role for a novel, bu-"

"You could become very famous in a matter of days!" the TV producer interrupted. "You could even become so rich!"

"S-sorry, but I'm already rich in many ways as it is," Peach said, putting the TV producer in shame. "But...maybe I could come back someday."

The TV producer let go of her hands. "Don't do this to us..." he muttered before sighing. "Fine, we can't force people to work for us... I guess that's what they say about 'too good to be true', then."

Peach nodded. "Even so, thank you so much for choosing me, sir."

The man shed a tear and wiped it away. "O-of course, young lady, of course..." he sniffed silently to himself before he walked back into the door and closed it behind. Soon enough, the people walking around the lobby began applauding the princess for her job at the novel, making Peach blush.

"Goodness," Chris began, "she looks very...business-like in those clothes. It's like she took law school and passed it with honors and flying colors."

Luigi wiped some tears away. "T-that's our Peach..."

The princess walked back to the group with clasped hands over her chest. By the looks of it, she seemed very happy about her latest experience. "Everyone, I'm back," she said before making a happy expression. "You wouldn't believe how different I felt when the cameras started rolling!"

Luigi grabbed her hands and shook them up and down. "P-Peach, you were brilliant on TV! You brought me to tears even if I haven't watched the previous 170 episodes!"

"Was I?" Peach asked, giggling a bit at the remark.

"It looks like you had a very good time," Mario said. "First, you got to explore ruins, and then you got a starring role on national TV."

"Damn, girl, you're on fire!" Chip said, grinning coolly. "You Chipminate the masses with your face!"

"I'm starting to wonder what the true definition of 'Chipminate' is..." Sonic muttered in boredom.

As she hugged Luigi, Peach looked at them. "I can't believe so many nice things are happening to me in this world," she said. "I just can't wait to see what else happens next!"

Big made a happy expression. "She looks so happy and enthusiastic. It makes me happy and enthusiastic as well." He gasped and looked up. "Maybe I'll find Froggy again!"

"Oh well, I guess that'll happen eventually," Sonic said before turning to Peach. "I don't like novels myself, but darn, you were very good on TV."

"Everyone, let's go out and see the Uptown," Peach suggested, apparently ignoring the hedgehog. "I'm pretty sure something else is awaiting us, and I'm so excited to see what it'll be."

Sonic closed his mouth tight, his lips making a wave-like motion before he slammed his face on the table. "Please, don't tell me she's still mad at me..." he muttered.

"I...I think so..." Lucas said.

"I told you not to... Oh, whatever."

Ike crossed his arms and inspected Peach's new clothes. "Are you sure you want to go around like that?"

Peach thought for a brief moment. "Hmm, these clothes sure do feel nice, but...I'm more used to my usual dresses," she said. "I think I left my clothes back at the studio. I'll be right back." She turned around and walked back into the studio through the door.

"Oh my god, she's back!" the TV producer was heard yelling.

"S-sorry, I just came for my clothes to exchange these."

A whole multitude of groans echoed in the set for a long while.

Megaman sweat dropped at this and chuckled. "Guess they see her as an angel for novels of the sort..."

Volnutt Kirby smiled happily. "I'm so happy for her," he said.

"Me too, Kirby, me too," Chris concurred.

Uptown

The Smashers walked outside of the station, walking across the street where they reached a nearby plaza where the island museum was. The museum was probably the largest building in the entire place. It had long light brown walls with high-expensive windows, with a nice set of brown double doors as an entrance.

"Hmm, I wonder if I can submit our findings to the museum," Megaman wondered, walking to the double doors to open. However, for his dismay, the museum was closed. "Oh, rats, it's closed."

"We might have to come sometime later," Ike said. "There's a lot to do in here, right?"

Chip turned to his right where a 3-story building, the hospital, occupied a portion of a square. "Can we go there and see how people scream for their live-"

"Chip, stop it there," Sonic interrupted. "I don't see why we need to go in that hospital."

"R-right," Lucas said. "I don't think there's some kind of use for the refractor in that place either..."

"Then, where do we go?" Chris asked. "There are nothing else than luxurious houses around the Uptown. The museum is closed, we already visited the TV station, and the hospital...doesn't seem to be the place I'd like to be..."

Mario rubbed his chin. "Isn't there some kind of dock at the west of here?" he reminded them.

"Well, that's the last place we could go to... I guess we should head over there."

Peach suddenly gasped, taking out from behind a small lipstick. "Oh no, I forgot to put this back at the station."

"Um, I don't think they'll be missing this lipstick, Peach..." Luigi muttered.

"Maybe...but I feel a bit guilty for taking it out without permission..."

"Just take it with you," Sonic said.

"..."

"Take it with you, Peach. It won't hurt," Mario seemed to be rephrasing Sonic's words.

"Okay..." muttered Peach as she kept the lipstick with her while Sonic smacked his forehead for the twentieth time in the day.

The group decided to go west where they climbed a slope to some small squares with firm grass, overlooking the whole Uptown. The Smashers stared back to the Uptown to see the sight from high up the slopes.

To their right, they found an artist girl painting the hospital building into a canvas. The brown-haired wore a purple hat, and she also wore purple clothes, blue pants, and brown shoes. She seemed to be very focused on her painting, something the Smashers could see very plainly on their spot. The painting, however, looked as if it needed something else.

"I guess there's people who like hospitals," Sonic said.

"Hmm...something's missing..." the woman muttered. "What do you think I should add?"

"...Wow, she noticed us without turning around," Chip said.

"Well, we're talking behind her back. Of course she'd hear us," Ness said.

"So, what should I add to the painting?" the woman asked.

"Some talent," Sonic said.

"What did you say?"

"E-er, don't listen to him! He's not that good giving good critique to paintings!" Chris said.

"Never mind, then..." the woman muttered without turning at them.

Megaman took a closer look at the hospital's painting. It was easy for him to tell that the painting lacked red color because of the fact that a long red line covered the upper part of the hospital while a sign on a pole close to it needed red color as well. "You should add some red," Megaman suggested.

"Really?  You think so?" she asked, examining her painting. "I'm fresh out of red, which is why I haven't been using it, but...I suppose it is a little drab, but there's nothing wrong with this colder look either."

"So that's why it needed some tal-umumumuum!" Sonic's mouth was quickly blocked by Chris.

"Red..." Peach trailed off before taking out her lipstick, which was a red color. "Hmm, would this help, maybe?"

"A...lipstick as paint substitute?" Megaman said before he took the lipstick from Peach and showed it to the painter. "Would this help?"

"Could I borrow that for a second?" the painter asked, actually taking the lipstick before Megaman could reply. She suddenly started painting the little drabs where red color was needed with the lipstick. It was a matter of time before she finished the hospital's painting. "That's it! That's perfect!" she said.

Lucas looked at the painting. "It is good..." he admitted.

The woman turned to them with a smile on her face and bowed. "That's exactly what it needed! Thank you so much!" she looked at her watch on her right wrist. " Oh, would you look at the time! I'd better get going!"

The girl quickly grabbed the painting's frame and began running down the slope's street towards the direction where the museum was.

"...And she never gave the lipstick back," noted Big.

"Now I feel more guilty than before," Peach said. "Oh well, it couldn't be helped..."

"Look at how she goes into the distance," Chip said. "She's running like Sonic."

"Pfft, yeah, right," Sonic said, rolling his eyes.

"But...wasn't the museum closed?" Ike asked. "I hope she doesn't get mad."

"Why'd she be mad after finishing her painting and stealing a lipstick?" Ness asked. "She looked pretty happy."

"Maybe the museum got opened again?" Mario asked. "Should we go back?"

"Well..." Megaman looked behind where an elevator on the very edge of the Uptown was found, taking anyone down to the dock. "...I've got a feeling that the museum got open...so let's go back."

Ness sighed. "I'm a bit tired..."

"Oh, please, you were sitting on a chair for an hour straight, so quit complaining," Sonic said.

Once the group got back to the museum, they found out it was open with its double doors open to the public.

"What do you know, it did get open," Luigi said.

Megaman smiled at this. "Okay, let's find some curator inside to turn in our findings. I can't wait to see what we'll get from this."

Museum

Megaman Legends/64 – Museum

When the group entered the museum, they were met by a wide room where different paintings, sculptures, and other kinds of masterpieces rested on walls, on the floor, and even the ceiling. A small reception desk was situated in front of a spiral staircase, leading to the second floor of the museum.

"Looks sophisticated to me," Sonic commented.

[DededeCloneChris]

A woman stood behind the podium. Upon seeing the group, she bowed at them. "Welcome to Kattelox Museum," she greeted. "Please, do look around at the fabulous displays of art we have for the public to see, such as that big painting over there," she said, directing them to look to the left where a big painting depicting some kind of Egyptian-looking monster with purple hair was facing a small blue warrior in front of it. There was a big red eye between the two that somehow seemed familiar...

"Nice...painting," Ike said.

"That painting was apparently found in a ruin somewhere... It looks like the person wearing blue armor is fighting with a frightening monster!" she said. "I wonder what the thing that looks like an eye there is supposed to symbolize?"

"Hmm, maybe there's a deeper meaning to that painting," commented Megaman.

Lucas blinked and approached the painting, examining the little blue warrior on it. He tilted his head and looked towards Megaman, then looked at the warrior, then looked at Megaman, then looked back at the warrior until he looked back and forth between the two, finding some kind of comparison. "...N-no, of course not..." he muttered.

Chris looked at the other displays. "..." He looked at the spiral staircase. "What's up there?"

"That's where the art gallery of the museum is, where the curator can found," the receptionist said. "Currently, we're looking for ancient artifacts and relics to display in the upper floor. Anything would help as long as it's an interesting finding."

Megaman turned to them while Lucas walked back. "The curator should accept what we found in the ruins. Let's go."

The group walked up the spiral staircase until they reached the second floor. The second floor only had a red mattress with a long, circular table that awaited any kinds of relics to be displayed. Just in front of the staircase's end, the table where the curator was sitting behind was situated there. When the group looked at the curator, they found out it was the same painter girl from before.

The girl smiled at them. "Hi there! Thanks for helping me out before!"

"Oh, it's you," Mario said, "the same girl who was painting a portrait for the hospital."

"Thanks to all of you, I was able to finish my painting! I just paint for fun in my spare time. My real job is here, working as the curator... Why don't you take a look around?"

Big looked around the empty table surrounding the staircase. "...There's nothing in here..."

The curator sighed. "I know there's not much here, but we haven't had much luck getting new artifacts because not many Diggers are doing any digs. It's kind of depressing and a big letdown. If there was some kind of Digger who would bring artifacts in here...I'd be glad to display anything in here. It could attract people."

Megaman pointed at himself. "I'm a Digger."

"You're a Digger? Oh my, am I lucky today!" she said. "If you find anything interesting on one of your digs, could you bring it here and show it to me?  If it's really good, I could display it here! Of course, I'll give you some rewards in exchange for them. I'm not too shabby, you know."

"Actually, I've got two," Megaman said, showing her the metallic bone and the decrepit doll that he put on the desk in front of her.

The curator took a closer look at the doll. "What?  Did you really find that underground?  If you did, it's an incredible discovery... I wonder what something like this would be doing underground...Oh, well, why don't we call it a 'Human Doll'... It could be someone's idea of a joke, but..." She looked at the bone. "What's that you've got there?  It looks like a bone or something... Oh, well, a lot of the people who come here are into strange things like this... It doesn't look like much, but if you want, I can display it here... I'll call it an 'Ancient Digging Tool'... What do you say?

"Fine with me. You can take all those."

"Thank you so much!" the curator said in gratitude. "I bet there are a lot of people who'll come to see this! I'll put them right away!" She took the relics and put them on different places of the table. She walked back to her desk and rested her hands on it. "Well, thank you! I hope these artifacts attract people to the museum. Since you helped, here are your rewards."

--

"Thanks for helping out again," the curator said with a small bow. "Can I count on you to fetch some artifacts?"

"I don't mind, so yeah," Megaman said.

"Alright! I can't wait to fill this room with ancient relics and such!" She took out several papers from under the desk. "Well, come here again when you've found more artifacts. I'll be writing the relics' descriptions right away."

Ness looked amused at this. "Well, well, Megaman, you're going to be the only guy in the whole island to contribute this museum with artifacts. How does it feel to be the only Digger guy to do this task?"

"A-are you trying to make me mad?" Megaman asked in disbelief.

"It just worked, so yeah."

"Hmmmmmm," Megaman did a long grumbling sound, echoing in the art gallery.

The curator stopped writing and looked concerned at him. "Please, don't do that! This space is so empty that anything can be echoed!"

"If that's right, then you just did a long echo," Mario pointed out.

"O-oh, yes, my bad..." the curator said embarrassed.

Uptown

Megaman Legends/64 – Uptown

"Well," Chris began as the group walked outside the museum, "what do we do now? The last place we have yet to visit is the dock."

"Obviously, we're going there," Megaman said. "There wouldn't be any use for the refractor we have for the museum."

Sonic waved a finger in disagreement. "Nah, it could be pretty much used as a power source for the museum's light. Plus, it'd be a little nice relic to donate. You're a nice guy, aren't ya?"

"I-I'm not THAT nice!" Megaman protested.

Some of them laughed at the little embarrassing moment. Hearing that they were laughing, Sonic turned to Peach in hopes to see some giggles...but she was busy petting a little blue bird that had landed on her firm palm. "...OH, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, STOP DOING THIS TO ME!" Sonic blared loudly, startling Peach and the bird that had just flown away by his loud yell. He, in a split second, grabbed her hands so she could look down at him. "You've gotta give me a break, please! I can't stand this anymore! Do you think I like people to have grudges on me?!"

"Doesn't Dr. Eggman have a very big on-"

"Shut up, Chris!" Sonic yelled at Chris before he turned back at Peach. "What do you want me to do?! I'd do anything so you stop ignoring me! Respond to my little heart, respond to it!"

"He seems so desperate enough to use cheesy wor-"

"You shut up!" interrupted Sonic to Ness before turning back at Peach. "What do you want me to do?! I can't stand all this anymore! I'm all ears for anything!"

Peach looked a bit worried at this. She saw that the hedgehog's eyes were trembling in fear at any negative response he would hear from her. Peach even felt that the grip Sonic put on her hands was very tight; a signal that he didn't want to let go of her. "U-um...well..."

"(Oh my god, she's talking to me. That's a very nice good sign now!)" Sonic rejoiced a bit.

"...Are...you sure you're very sorry from earlier, Sonic?" Peach asked softly.

Sonic nodded a whole bunch of times. "Yeah, yeah, I hate kicking rabid dogs! In fact, I'll start loving dogs more!"

"Then, wouldn't that mean you hate cats?" Chip asked, making Big yelp.

"No, shut up!" Sonic yelled, turning back at Peach. "I'm so sorry for kicking those dogs away like I did before, really! They didn't have to be treated like that, I know it already! If we do get surrounded by rabid dogs next time, I won't hurt them that badly!" He fell to his knees and shut tight his eyes. "Forgive me, please! All I want from you is to accept my apology!"

Peach thought for a moment. "W-well..." She saw Sonic looking up back at her, his pupils being drowned in tears. "U-um...you...seem very sorry for what you did earlier...right?"

"Totally! I could bet my brain on that!"

"H-hmm..." Peach thought about it some more. "...You...really want me to forgive you so badly, right?"

"That's all I'm asking for!"

"...Well..." she looked away, "I think I can forgive you this time..."

Sonic gasped. "Please, please, please do!"

Peach smiled a bit to herself and looked back at Sonic, who then stood up and gapped his mouth in excitement. "Sonic...you look very sorry for what you did to those dogs earlier...and I don't want to see you mopping around like this..." She looked at the others, who were smiling at this. "It's just wrong to see you being the only one desperate while everyone else are having a fun time..."

"I'm a man who wants to have fun all day long!" Sonic swore.

"...Sonic..." she smiled and made a happy expression that Sonic thought was an angelic one, "I...I...I forgive you for everything you did back th-"

Just before she could finish what she was saying, Sonic was pushed away, rolling towards a tree where he hit his head hard and was knocked out unconscious. The Smashers and Peach gasped at this before they noticed what had pushed Sonic away like that.

Or, in this case, who had pushed Sonic away like that. Right in front of a shocked princess, there was a very happy Teisel Bonne, shaking her hands up and down.

"God, it is you!" Teisel said with a very happy look as if a kid had found a very sweet candy. "You're that excellent actress that played the role of Dylan's cousin! I can't believe I'd find you around here!"

"W-what?" Peach asked confused.

"No, please, don't be so shocked! I'm your biggest fan! Actually, I'm your VERY FIRST biggest fan!" Teisel said. "When you played that role, god, you were ABSOLUTELY brilliant! You were so, but so natural on TV that I just had to meet you in person!"

"I-I beg your pardon?"

"Don't tell me you've forgotten now," Teisel said, still shaking her hands. "I know it was you who played that role. Those TV producers said you were like an angel for novels, but they were sad you had to go. After all, it was a one-time appearance. But I know when I'm saying that you were really great!"

"O-okay," Peach chuckled nervously. "I-I'm glad you liked my performance."

Ness gasped. "Oh my god, it's the paparazzi people incident again! It's all repeating once more!"

"Pardon me? What's that about an incident with paparazzi people?" Chris asked.

"Oh, wait, that's actuality the fan people incident," Ness corrected himself. "...But it's still related."

Chris looked at Luigi. "What is he talking about?"

Luigi gulped. "T-there was a time when all of us, the Melee competitors, became extremely famous to many people, Chris. You know our matches are broadcast, right? Well, when you get very famous, you tend to have...so many fans and paparazzi hiding in the bushes to do...certain things on you..."

"..." Chris looked horrified. "D-don't tell me one of you got kidnapped or something..."

"B-because of that, Pichu has had nightmares many times..."

"God... Then what did you do to resolve that problem?"

"When faked a hiatus to give us some freedom," Mario said. "That same hiatus...well...helped us in preparing to fight the Subspace Army..."

Chris looked away with a bored look on his eyes. "(When you think about it, it's really bizarre to compare the media with a war against the Subspace... Just what did they do before facing the army, anyway?)"

Before them, Teisel took out a paper and a pen, handing them over to Peach. "Please, you've GOT to give me your autograph! I must know your name! It was Kiwi or something, right, right, right?!"

Peach shifted her eyes a bit. "I-it's Peach...Princess Peach from th-"

"Peach, don't say more than that, please!" Chris interrupted hastily.

"J-just Peach, um..."

"Teisel!" Teisel responded in eagerness.

"...Okay..." Peach said smiling, writing on the paper. "For Teisel, with love, Peach... There," she said, handing over the paper and pen to Teisel.

Teisel began to pant heavily at the clean handwriting on the paper. "Oh my god," he muttered in a high-pitched tone, "I've got her autograph! Ahaha, hahaha, AAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Most of them, even Peach, backed away from the maniacal laugh from the Bonne member. "H-he's starting to scare me, everybody..." Big muttered.

"Who's not getting freaked out, that's a better a question," Ike said.

Teisel stopped laughing and shook Peach's hands again. "Thank you very much for your autograph, Actress Peach. This means so much for me."

"Y-you're welcome," Peach said with a small giggle.

"Well, I shall treasure it for the rest of my life!" Teisel said. "But, can you really go back to your marvelous career as an actress? I'd love to see more of you, honestly!"

"I-I'm sorry, but it was kind of a...desperate moment, so I had no choice but to help the producer with the novel," Peach said.

"Oh, I know! You're one of those actors that don't like to stick around a lot! I knew you were like them!"

"N-no, it's completely different than that," Peach said. "Just...I don't know how I can explain it to you..."

"Okay, that's enough, Teisel! You're acting so ridiculous now!" yelled a voice from somewhere nearby.

"...There's only one person who has a voice like that in this place..." Luigi muttered, turning to the right where he saw Tron, Bon, and the three Servbots hiding behind a thin tree (pathetically, since Bon stuck out like a sore thumb behind the tree itself due to his arms). "Oh no..."

Tron jumped out from behind the tree and pointed a finger at the mesmerized Teisel. "Teisel, stop getting autographs from the enemy right now!" she demanded.

"T-Tron?!" Teisel said in shock. "W-what are you doing here?!"

"What are YOU doing here?" Tron asked with emphasis. "Did you forget already? They're the guys that came out from the so-called portal you mentioned a whole bunch of times before!"

"W-what?" Teisel looked back at the Smashers, who looked away from him. "...Wait a minute..." he muttered. "...I remember seeing those unusual clothes before... UAH!" He pointed at the Smashers, his pointer finger shaking. "Y-you're the same people that came out of that portal, alright!"

"(I wonder if this will bring us any trouble...)" Ike thought.

Teisel looked at the worried Peach. "And that means you're one of them as well, Actress Peach!" he said. "...Wouldn't that mean you're...very special?"

"She is!" Luigi said before blushing.

"I mean, sure, you came out of a portal, but you turned out to be one heck of a good actress."

"U-um, thank you, you're so considerate," Peach said, making a nervous happy expression.

Tron slapped her face once. "Teisel, stop bringing up that topic about your novels! They're in no way harmless at all! They're the ones who helped Megaman stop us at the Cardon Forest!"

Teisel turned to the confused Megaman. "I don't know how you did this, kid, but you're going to pay for being a pest to us. You and those...portal people are going to pay!"

Peach looked away. "...But...wouldn't that mean I'm going to 'pay' as well?"

Teisel yelped at this and grabbed Peach's hands once more. "No, no, no, no! I can't harm an actress like you! You're like a very refined diamond found in a pile of carbon!"

The Smashers and Megaman sweat dropped in unison.

"So...Peach is totally excused to be unharmed?" Ness asked in boredom. "Wow, I knew I had to become an actor..." he muttered sarcastically.

Tron grabbed Teisel's right shoulder and pulled him to her. "What the hell is wrong with you, Teisel? We have to stop them all before they stop us, and that means that woman is going to have to be taken down sooner or later!"

Peach clasped her hands together. "I don't know why I need to be harmed. I mean, I just wanted to have some fun and joy in this place..."

In a blink of a second, Teisel turned to Peach and grabbed her hands again. "Don't worry, Actress Peach. I'll make sure you're left unharmed once we do battle with your guys."

Tron did the same action she did to Teisel. "Are you nuts? She has to be harmed!"

"No!" Teisel said worried. "I-I can't harm my #1 actress in the whole world! I'd die if I even made a little scratch on that beautiful face of hers!"

Peach blushed at this remark. "A-am I that important to you?"

Teisel, once more, turned around and grabbed her hands. "Yes! You're much better than any treasure out there in the world! Not even finding every single treasure would make up for that fresh face of yours!"

Chris looked at Mario. "Shouldn't you be worried, Mario?"

"I think Peach can handle this very well," Mario said.

"No, I was talking about Teisel trying to make Peach fall in love with him."

Mario blushed and lowered his cap a bit. "Well, I never thought of that... She'll be fine about that."

"So...does that mean you really, really love Peach?"

"As a friend, of course..."

Chris chuckled mentally. "(Even the plumber has a very soft spot for the princess. I'm glad it is that way... If they do wed, I want to be the best man.)"

If he could've just looked, Chris could've found out that Luigi was getting a bit too upset at the whole scene. In fact, he wanted to push Teisel away from Peach. After all, he didn't want a pirate to take her away from him, and everyone else thought the same, but he surely was the one who fully supported this a lot.

And his wish came true unconditionally.

Tron grunted loudly and turned to Bon. "That's it, Bon. Grab Teisel and let's get outta here! I'm getting sick at his demeanor now!"

"Babu!" Bon concurred, walking over to Teisel where he used his big hands and carried the fanatic over him.

"H-hey, put me down already!" Teisel demanded. "Bon, put me down right now! This is your big brother telling you what you should do!"

Tron crossed her arms. "I'm sorry, Teisel, but you've gone too far already! I'm gonna have to take command of the operation because you're just useless right now!" She turned to Megaman and pointed a finger at his face. "Like I said before, you better be prepared, Megaman, 'cause we're going to crush you and your portal friends to bits!"

"D-do you have a robot now?" Lucas asked.

"E-er, no, I-I mean, shut up!" Tron yelled embarrassed. "Next time we meet, I won't be so nice to you."

"Were you even nice to begin with?" Chris asked.

"SHUT UP!" yelled Tron in embarrassment. "Servbots, Bon, Teisel, we're outta here NOW!"

"Roooooooooogeeeeeeeer!" the three Servbots saluted before they all ran away to the south from them.

As they ran away, Peach could hear Teisel's words very well. "A-Actress Peach! N-next time, I'll compose you a poem to show you how grateful I am for your performance! I-I'm going to start a fan club in your name! I-I'm going to go as far as to sew clothes with your face on them! H-heck, I'll make merchandise with little dolls modeled after yourse-"

"SHUT UP, TEISEL!" interrupted Tron before they faced into the distance.

The Smashers kept staring away where they went to. Some silence took over the air before Peach blinked and looked where Sonic had rolled to. She gasped and went over to him, the hedgehog lying down on the floor with Xs on his eyes. "S-Sonic, are you okay? Sonic!" she said.

"Ma'am, I'm pretty darn sure I ordered chili dogs. Why would I want to eat chocolate on meat? You're as crazy as I am, so you're excused," Sonic said incoherently.

"Okay..." Peach said confused.

Sonic shook his head and regained consciousness. He rubbed his head a bit. "O-oww, what just happened? All I remember was somebody pushing me outta that way while I was trying to apologize to her..." She looked at Peach. "O-oh, you're here... So, about that apology I wanted from you..."

Peach made a happy expression and hugged Sonic, making him blush. "Don't worry anymore, Sonic. You're pardoned."

"F-for real? Are you kidding me?"

"It's for real, and I'm not kidding you," Peach said. "I don't want you to be so depressed, so I better help you out by forgiving you. Is that okay with you?"

"...Not at all!" Sonic said happily before he hugged her. "Thanks a lot, really! (Man, asking for forgiveness sure does help you emotionally)."

While the two were hugging each other, the Smashers and Megaman became a little bit preoccupied about the Bonnes.

...

Actually, this didn't even take place at all. In fact, they were just thinking about getting rid of them.

"Is anyone here already annoyed by those guys? Because I sure am," Chip said. "They so deserve to be Chipminated."

Probably the only two who were actually preoccupied were Luigi and Lucas, the former gulping a bit. "I-I don't know, everyone, but I think they're really going to do something bad to us for real this time..."

"If they do, we'll be ready," Megaman said. "I've seen how you guys fight, so it shouldn't be much of a problem."

"Are you sure?" Lucas asked. "I mean, we just beat some small forces...but, do they make bigger things?"

"They do," Megaman responded. "I fought some of them on the island by myself. Remember the place where you all came out from, the Clozer Woods? That's the same place where I fought Teisel's big robot."

Peach and Sonic walked back to them, the latter having a grin of satisfaction. "A big robot? Please, I've beaten big robots so many times that I've lost the count already. One more isn't gonna slow me down."

"Always talking big, despite the fact we're facing a different group..." Chris muttered.

"Those guys don't look any dangerous at all. In fact, they're bit too quirky for my tastes," Ness commented.

"I hope they don't do bad things to us," Big said. "I think they...um...wanna be...something else..."

"Is there something much worse than being a retard?"

"Maybe having mentally retardation," Sonic said.

"Seriously, we have to be careful when treating them," Megaman said. "But enough about them. Let's go to the dock and see if there's some use for the refractor, guys. Roll is surely waiting sick for us to wrap this up."

Sonic shrugged. "I-if we're really going to a dock...wouldn't that mean there's a lot of water?"

"Um, yeah, that's obvious..." He looked at Sonic's legs. "...Why are your legs shaking so suddenly?"

Sonic grabbed his legs and chuckled nervously. "Heheheheh, d-don't mind 'em. You're just probably imagining things."

"But I just saw them shake... Wait, if you're worried about seeing a lot of water, wouldn't that mean you're afraid o-"

"YOU'RE IMAGINING THINGS, okay?!" Sonic yelled.

Chris sighed and looked away worried. "(Somehow, I can foresee Sonic running away from this place as soon as he can... Wait, we're on an island in the middle of the ocean, so he's pretty much screwed)."

And so, they all headed for the dock located at the far left end of the Uptown, hoping something needed the refractor's power source. However, they weren't expecting that things were just going to go awry from the point they would arrive at the dock...

From the museum, a man walked out and found a familiar funny-looking egg on the grass. "Huh? Who would drop an egg like this here?" he asked.

In a rush, Chris came back and picked up the egg. "I-I need to stop being so careless now or Eggy will break!" He bowed to the man. "T-thank you!" he said before rushing away, leaving the man confused at this.

----------------------

"One Gleeful Bowser. I can smell the Bonnes from a mile away from here," Pikachu said.

"What are you doing here? You're not even with us," Sonic said.

"These guys give me nostalgia about another group, so let me do my stuff here."

"Whatever..."

----------------------

Do you want to save your data?

Yes

Overwrite file?

Yes

-Kattelox Island-
Chris, Lucario, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Pikachu, Pichu, Jigglypuff, Mewtwo, Red, Squirtle, Ivysaur, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Samus, (Volnutt) Kirby, Meta Knight, Link, Zelda, Toon Link, Fox, Falco, Wolf, Captain Falcon, Olimar, Marth, Roy, Ike, Ness, Lucas, Pit, Ice Climbers, Snake, Sonic, Chip, Big, Megaman Volnutt, Roll Caskett, Eggy Jr. the Fourth

[DededeCloneChris]

Chapter 172: One Gleeful Bowser

???

In a unknown area of Kattelox Island, around blue walls and a familiar temple standing to the right side, a gleeful Bowser paced around the wide room with arms crossed behind his spiked back. The King of Koopas had a streak of luck since he was able to locate the Shamar Temple inside some kind of ruins. Having a presumably good instinct, Bowser knew very well that Mario, Luigi, Peach, (and the bunch of weirdoes as he called everyone else) would arrive there at any moment.

"~Doo, doo, doo, I'm having a blast of a day now,~" Bowser mused to himself. "I have the control of two Shadow Nightmares, and I also found the Shuma-something Temple as well. Aah, things couldn't get any better than they are now!" he said happily. "I just can't wait to throw these little creatures on those plumbers! I just know I'm going to enjoy seeing them face their most embarrassing lies!"

"Y-you're sick, you know! How can you endanger the lives of the people who want to save the planet from Dark Gaia? You're nothing but a bastard!" yelled a voice nearby.

"Thank you! I always like to hear that from you!" Bowser yelled, turning to the east of the room where a cage had two people in it.

The first of the two caged people was a black-haired teenager dressed in blue garbs with a blue hood covering her head. The other one was an old man who dressed in Arab priest clothes with a little black hat on his head, and he used to sneeze from time to time. With a closer look, the girl looked frustrated at Bowser while she held on her arms a familiar-looking frog that had a worried look on its face.

"Why must people like you do this kind of thing to the planet? It's too irrational!" the girl, named Layla, yelled angrily. "You're being stupid if you think Dark Gaia can be tamed!"

"Layla, please...achoo!" the old man, named Ehsan, sneezed, "don't try to pick a fight with him. It's better if we don't make him mad. Achoo!"

Layla turned to him. "But it's not making me feel safe to believe that these people think that they can control Dark Gaia. Dark Gaia itself is a mindless beast, and all the Temple Guardians know that very well." She turned to glare at the happy Bowser. "You're just going to cause the destruction of the planet, thinking mindlessly that there's a chance to control Dark Gaia!"

Bowser walked to them and chuckled. "I don't care much about your planet at all. I have a bunch of worlds out there to conquer for myself. I haven't look that much about what that Dark Gaia will do, but it'll serve us in taking over the other worlds besides yours." He made a happy expression. "What's a little sacrificed world is going to do? If your world sacrifices, we can still have everything else."

"I knew you weren't going to care that much about our planet since you're not from there," Layla muttered. "You're going to doom us all if Dark Gai-"

"Ugh, look, little missy, I don't CARE," Bowser said, getting a bit aggravated. "Tabuu is probably even stronger than Dark Gaia is. If something goes wrong, he'll fix the problem. There, problem solved."

"H-he won't!" Layla yelled.

"He WILL, so shut up about it," Bowser said darkly. "Once we have Dark Gaia on our side, I'll ask Tabuu if he can do something to give me power, and I'm talking about REAL POWER like growing massive or getting muscles or something like that! Now, though, I'll make sure to get rid of those plumbers and sweep their princess from their arms."

Layla blinked a bit at this. "...You're...having problems with plumbers?"

"I know what you're thinking, but they're not your everyday plumbers. They're EVIL. They jump so high that they stomp on your head, and they also cause a lot of trouble for your conquers! Using the Shadow Nightmares will surely finish them off for real this time!" He made a happy expression. "Just thinking about their downfall makes me so happy!"

"Ugh, you're sick, alright," Layla said disgusted.

"I think I already noticed that before...achoo!" Ehsan pointed out.

Bowser rolled his eyes. "You people don't know anything about me. I couldn't care less about you."

"Ribbit," the frog on Layla's arms said.

Layla looked at the frog and petted its head. "Don't worry, little guy. I'll get you back to your friend soon. Just hang in there with me, okay?"

"Riiiibbit..." the frog said in depression.

"(I shouldn't have dragged you here in the first place,)" Layla thought. "(I was panicked when Dr Eggman's robots assaulted Shamar that day... And, speaking about days...)" she looked up at the faraway ceiling, "(how long has it been ever since we were all kidnapped by them?)"

"I have no time to spare," Bowser said. "I'll start thinking about ways to torture Mario and the green 'stache right now! Once I'm through with them, you can bet your little stone pieces that you'll be the next ones on the line!" He rubbed his claws together and chuckled in excitement. "Well, be good and be quiet now!" He turned around and walked towards the temple, brainstorming about ways to torturing his enemies. His gaze focused on a particular big orange tube with screws around it. "Hmm, I wonder what this tube thing is... It was here when I arrived at the temple... Bah, who cares about it," he muttered, resuming brainstorming his idea.

Layla looked away worried for a brief moment before looking back at Ehsan. "What should we do now? I don't like how things are looking..."

"A-achoo!" Ehsan sneezed, cleaning his nose with a napkin. "Well, young Layla, there's nothing we can do but wait for our saviors to come. You might want to hold on to that frog friend of yours."

Layla looked at the frog. "I guess you're right... Let's see, what was your name again? Hmm, Froggy, was it?"

"Ribbit!" the frog said in confirmation, revealing to be Froggy.

Layla chuckled and petted Froggy. "Well, Froggy, don't get so worried. I'm sure your friend Big will come to get us out. You two are very close to each other, right? Big told me so."

"Ribbit!"

Ehsan sighed with some relief. "Ho, ho, ho! That little frog is perhaps the only little guy who can cheer us up during this tight situation."

Layla looked up at the cage's ceiling. "But...I just wonder if we can be rescued in time before things get much more complicated than they are..."

"We shall wait as long as Dark Gaia doesn't destroy our planet," Ehsan said. "Let's pray for salvation, Layla. We must keep the Sun and Moon Tablets safe before that tortoise monster starts to make his moves on the sacred temple."

The girl looked at him and nodded. "Right, we must keep our composures. Until then, I'm not going to panic."

"Riiiibbiiiit..." Froggy croaked worried at this, watching Ehsan sneeze once more, his sneeze echoing in the wide room...

-Kattelox Island-
Uptown - Dock

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Lake Hylia

"You must face your fears, Sonic. It's just a small lake. It's nothing like the ocean around the island."

"W-wait, we're on an island? Crap, I've never noticed that! I-I'm trapped in here! I'm a poor little hedgehog stranded on an island!"

"Sonic, take a hold of yourself, and please don't hide behind me because you're overreacting..." Mario trailed off.

"Also, we're riding a small elevator and everyone is kind of making this space so small, so please...d-don't pinch me with your quills on your back. They don't look that sharp, but just for precaution..." Chris said.

The group went to the small elevator on the edge of the Uptown. Unfortunately, for them, the elevator was barely big enough to hold everyone. It would surely had been better if Big didn't ride the elevator with them since he took over a quarter of the whole space. The huge cat looked depressed and lowered his head. "I'm sorry for trying to fit myself in here," he apologized.

"I-I'm sure you didn't notice it before," Megaman said, lost somewhere behind the cat's back. "A-and I'm probably the only one here suffering the most..."

"D-don't worry, the elevator just stopped moving," reassured a nervous Peach.

Once the double doors opened, all of them were pushed out from the elevator instantly. Big sighed and walked out from the elevator while Megaman walked out, fixing his spiky hair a bit. "A-air...fresh water air..." Ness muttered on the floor, gasping for breath as he overlooked the big lake to their right.

When all of them looked to the west, they admired the beautiful scenery where mountain trenches, trees, and grasslands extended over the horizon. The whole lake occupied the western side of the whole island.

Peach got up and clasped her hands. "It's just beautiful... A beautiful place just beyond the Uptown..."

"Wow, you quickly recovered all your air?" Ike asked on the floor.

Everyone stood up and dusted off their clothes. Besides the blue lake, they looked forward to the dock. They just noticed that a fence blocked them the pass to the dock, which casually had one single boat floating close to it, which was a big one. The black boat itself looked old. And surprisingly, it was the only boat available in the dock since no other boat was nearby.

"Is that supposed to be a boat?" Luigi asked. "It looks like a submarine to me..."

"Oh, maybe that's because people consider submarines boats," Ness said. "Yes, this world has its faults."

Megaman looked annoyed. "H-hey, don't try to make this world look pathetic! I'm pretty sure yours is...lacking something!"

Ness looked away bored. "I can't argue you with that there. Living trash cans and violent cockroaches aren't exactly what I'd call normal at all."

"...Living trash cans?"

"My world is that messed up, man."

The blue boy shrugged at this and looked back at the dock house in front of them. "Well, since we don't have anything to lose, let's see if we can find a use for the refractor, guys."

After walking a short path (that lasted a bit too long since Mario and Chris were holding Sonic from both arms while the hedgehog tried to go away from there), the group entered the dock house where the space was a bit too small, but it still was enough for them to fit in. Inside, they found two doors to the lake's direction and a miniature version of the black boat sitting over a small pedestal, and a desk resided to the right of the entrance. Behind said desk, and creepy-looking tall man stood, moving his white mustache a bit after looking at the group.

The man was tall. He wore a green buttoned shirt with green pants and black shoes. His face was probably the shadiest part since he was bald, had white sideburns, had the mentioned white mustache, and wore an eye-patch over his left eye. "May I help you?" he spoke in a mature, soft voice.

The group turned to face him. "Um, hi, mister," Lucas greeted. "U-um...u-um..."

"(Oh my god, he's going to give a bad impression of us if I don't say anything,)" Ness thought, taking over Lucas' stammering. "We're here to see if there was some kind of machine to check."

"Is that so?" the man asked. "The only machine we have is the boat right outside. But it's broken right now, so we don't have anything else than that old boat. You can inspect it if you want, though."

Megaman smiled and nodded. "Thanks."

"Where are my manners? I should introduce myself to you," the man said. "My name is Wily."

A fearsome but silent tune played from somewhere after Wily said his name. Apparently, the only person who noticed the tune was Chris, who backed away a bit without being noticed. However, Megaman backed away a bit, probably because of the same thing.

"O-okay," Megaman said. "(Dammit, why am I reacting like this to him? I've never met the guy before...) Can we please check on that boat, then?"

"I don't mind, go on ahead," Wily offered, pointing at the left door. "Go through that door. The boat has its own area to dock."

"R-right..." Megaman said, motioning at the others to follow him through the left door. He looked to his left where a freaked out Sonic was sitting on the sofa. "You aren't coming or what?"

"Y-you go on ahead," Sonic muttered.

"...Okay..." Megaman said before each one of them exited the place.

...And then, Chris and Mario came back, dragging Sonic back outside while a confused Wily raised an eyebrow at this. "Such curious-looking people..." he muttered.

When they came out from the building, they found the door floating close to the docking bay. They all looked up at the boat before Megaman turned to them. "Did you guys feel weird when we met that Wily person?"

Chris wanted to say yes, but he didn't to raise more suspicion.

"No... Why'd you say that?" Mario asked.

"Well, maybe it's just me, but I think the guy is kind of...creepy..."

"A-at least we agree on that," Lucas muttered.

"Anyway..." Megaman began before turning to face the boat, "this boat is supposedly old, right? Hmm, I wonder if this is the thing that needs energy from the refractor..."

Peach nodded. "Let's call Roll here, then. She'd be glad to hear that there is something that needs the refractor's power source."

"I'll be doing that right now," Megaman said as he took out his phone to call the engineer.

Several minutes later...

An upset Roll came from the dock house's door. She was carrying on her arms the yellow refractor while she muttered some curses. "Gramps shouldn't have made me run an errand to get some coffee for him and the mayor, and it got worse right after he asked to get some cooki-" she shook her head and smiled at the group, "hey, everyone!" she greeted, looking a bit nervous. "S-so, did you find anything?"

Volnutt Kirby pointed at the boat. "That?" he responded confused.

Roll walked close to the boat and inspected it from the boat's deck to the lower part. "Hmm, I see..." Her eyes suddenly enlightened at the sight of the boat. "Someone's been taking really good care of this boat!" she said.

"Um, isn't it broken or something?" Luigi asked.

Roll ignored the question as she climbed up to the boat's deck. Everyone else just stood on the dock looking at her before she spotted a hole that leaded to the inner engine room of the boat. "There!" she said excited, jumping inside the boat.

Some of the Smashers and even Megaman gasped before they soon began to hear clanking sounds echoing out from the boat. "God, do people here respect privacy on property or what?" Ness asked.

"T-that's not true, Roll just becomes excited whenever she spots something that has the potential to be repaired," Megaman explained before looking back at the boat. "Roll? Do you really think you should be doing that? I think Wily is going to get mad if yo-"

"Would you look at this engine?" she asked rhetorically, interrupting the blue boy. "Let's see... All we need to do is fix the transformer and the refractor and it'll be as good as new!"

Megaman sighed in defeat. "Roll..."

"I believe she has just gone to her own little world..." Ike muttered. "...So, is this what people call a 'fetish' of the sorts?"

"Ike, you wouldn't like to know what a fetish really means. Your mind will be forever scarred for life," Chris warned. "Trust me, you should better not know about it."

"Hey, I'm older than you."

"And because of that, I don't want to recall what the word even means."

Suddenly, the door behind them opened up, and Wily walked out with folded arms behind his back. The Smashers looked worried after they heard the clanking sounds coming from the boat. "What do you think you're you doing?" he asked with some patience.

"D-don't look at us, she just started playin' with the boat," Chip said. "Don't blame Chipminator. Blame that girl! In fact, I don't know her! You can take her in to the poli-"

Mario covered Chip's mouth to stop him from talking. "Chip, stop talking now. You're getting panicked over nothing," he said.

"Huh? Uh..." Megaman trailed off worried. "W-well, sir, you see...my friend here likes electronics and machinery that she kind of...well..."

"MegaMan, could you hand me a wrench, please?" Roll called over from within the boat. "I think I might be able to fix this with a little bit more time! Hurry! I want to test this boat out on the lake!"

Megaman looked worried at Wily. "J-just a sec, Roll!" he yelled, climbing up to the boat's deck where he ducked to the hole and tossed a wrench he took from behind. He bit his lip and looked back at the group and Wily, the latter having a blank look on his face. "R-Roll..."

"Yeah?" Roll said.

"I think yo-"

"Hmm, I think I misunderstood the situation here..."

"What?"

"Don't get me wrong, but I can really fix this boat today," Roll said. "But I think I need more time to fix it completely. The yellow refractor really fits here, but the inside seems to be full of rust and dust. A little cleaning and some new machine parts I have with us can bring this boat back to life."

"U-um..."

The girl engineer stood inside the hole and looked at Megaman before she looked down where the others were staring at her, her gaze fixing on the dock owner. "...Whoops..." she muttered embarrassed. "I'm sorry... I don't know what came over me... I just started fixing the ship and..."

The Smashers looked back at Wily, who chuckled slightly at this. "You really love machines, don't you?" he asked, walking closer to the boat to look at her closer. "I can tell just by looking at your face..."

The group looked at Roll's face. The engineer didn't notice that her face got several patches of black grease all over it, and there were more patches on her clothes as well. Some of them chuckled a bit while she blinked, oblivious to the fact. "What's so funny?" she asked.

Megaman chuckled. "Roll, your face! It's covered with grease!"

Roll wiped her right cheek and looked at the grease on her hand. "O-oh, I should've been more careful... How reckless of me..."

"Hahahaha..." Wily subtly laughed with some of them. "I'm glad I could get someone as pretty as you to fix my boat for me, little miss."

Roll blushed. "U-um, gee, I'm so embarrassed now. Next time you know it, I'll be entering houses without knocking on the door first... At least nobody does that, as far I know..."

"(I know plenty of people who do that,)" Mario thought. "(I'm thinking a certain Hylian friend...)"

"Tell you what," Wily began, "you can use it anytime you want."

The group looked a bit surprised at this offer. "W-what? Are you serious, mister?" Megaman asked. "I mean, this boat is yours, right?"

"It is mine, but I don't mind lending it you all," Wily said, closing his eye with relief. "Thank your meddling friend for trying to repair my boat."

"Would you please refrain from saying that kind of thing? I feel pretty guilty now..." Roll muttered before most of them laughed for a small while, causing her to blush and lower down into the boat so nobody would see her embarrassing face.

Megaman smiled down at the hole where she hid. "Now we can explore the lake, Roll! The Sub-Gate I talked you about must b-"

"Sorry, Megaman, but I'd like to work in complete silence right now," interrupted Roll. "I need peace here so I can work to the fullest. You understand, right?"

Megaman chuckled. "Is it because we're still laughing?"

"I-it's not because of that, so please, leave me alone for once!" Roll yelled angrily.

"Heheh, okay, Roll, whatever you say," Megaman teased.

"Y-yeah, now please, let me work... Sheesh..."

What they didn't know was that it was going to take Roll a lot of time to work on the boat. It took her so much time to fix the boat that she finished fixing it right when sunset came around. Exhausted, Roll came out from the boat, wiping her grease-covered face with her right arm. "Phew, that's done with..."

The only one she found on the dock was Big, who was fishing with his fishing rod while sitting down on an edge over the water. His ears perked up a bit and he looked at Roll. "Hi there," Big said. "Do you need me for something?"

"Um, kind of..." She looked around. "Where's everyone?"

"They went back to the city to have some fun, I think."

"Oh well, I'll call them over," Roll said, taking out her walkie-talkie to call Megaman.

Some minutes later, the group gathered back to the dock. A proud Roll stood in front of the boat with crossed arms. "You finished?" Peach asked.

"Yup, it's all ready to go," Roll said. "We can go to the lake right now if you want. I think we have enough time to explore the Sub-Gate right now."

"Do we?" Luigi asked. "It's getting kind of late..."

"Well, maybe I'm getting too excited to try out the boat..."

Peach raised her hand. "Why don't we go right now, then? It's just going to be late, but who cares about that?"

"Peach, I didn's know you were going to agree to go there so late..."

"Maybe we could catch a glimpse of the lake while it shines on the sunset," Peach said. "Personally, I'd love to see a scene like that right now."

Roll rubbed her chin. "Hmm, I guess we could give it a little walk around the lake just to test it out... But we're not going to investigate the Sub-Gate, okay? If something important comes up, then I'll say what we'll do, okay?"

"I don't mind," Big said.

"I guess we could go right now... It won't hurt to take a tour around the lake," Lucas said, forcing a small smile. "I want to see a peaceful place for once."

Roll smiled and nodded. "Alrighty, then, let's g-KYAH!" she yelped after she found Data standing right besides her. The group gasped in unison after they found Data (dancing) just next to Roll. "D-Data, here you are!" Roll said. "M-man, h-how did you appear out of nowhere like that? I-it's the billionth time you do this!"

"I do this only for fun, u-ki-i!" replied the robot monkey, still dancing.

"S-seriously, this isn't funny to me at all," Roll said. "A-anyway, where were you all this time?"

"Just chillin'."

Everyone exchanged glances with each other after hearing that.

"...Are we going to the lake?" Data asked before he turned to Megaman. "Hmm, Megaman, are you really sure you want to go to the lake like that?"

"Huh? What do you mean, Data?" Megaman asked.

Data looked at Megaman's left hand where he could deploy Splash Mines. "That weapon you have there is already old. I don't honestly think it'll serve you that much any longer. Did you even use it in the Cardon Forest's Sub-Gate?"

"No..."

"It's time for you to change to a more appropriate weapon!" Data suggested. "Ask Roll here to provide you with something more, um, powerful!"

Roll raised an eyebrow. "Data, why are you asking Megaman about changing weapons now?"

"I don't know, but I have a really bad feeling about the Laky Jyun," Data confessed. "Maybe it's just me, but just to be safe, Megaman needs to be ready for anything, wouldn't you agree?"

"I...think so... Wait a minute, that's it!" she said. "I just remember I finished making some important weapons for you, Megaman!"

"Really?" Megaman said.

"Yeah, they are gonna be a lot useful for our digs if you try them out!" she said. "I brought them into the boat. Follow me so you can equip them all." She walked to the back of the boat where she opened a door. Megaman walked inside before Roll followed, closing the door behind them.

The Smashers looked at each other. "What are we going to do with Sonic?" Mario asked. "He's inside with Wily. He's been in a fetal position over the couch, and I think I saw him sucking on his thumb."

Chris grunted. "That guy is never going to get over his fear for water..."

Chip coughed a bit. "Don't worry, Chipminator will fix this problem...the Chipminator way, of course."

"How exactly are you going to do that?" Ness asked skeptically.

The imp showed them the little collar wrist he had on his right wrist. "See this? I'm still Sonic's owner. I'll put that little hedgehog in his place with this... BRB!" he said before hurrying back inside into the shack. They heard him saying, "Sonic, turn into a stick!" before somebody fell flat on the floor.

Mario went inside, and then he came back, dragging a very still Sonic from his perfectly petrified arms. The plumber and the imp dragged the hedgehog right back to the group where they made him stand on his feet, his eyes paralyzed into place while forcibly glancing the boat.

Chip chuckled and dusted off his hands, putting them on his hips. "We've got Sonic the Stickhog, guys. Now we can take him anywhere without having to heard him whimper."

Peach gasped and took out a napkin, noticing some tears strolling down Sonic's eyes. "Poor Sonic, he was crying as well..."

"(Avoid chuckling, Ness, avoid chuckling! Don't chuckle so she doesn't scold you!)" Ness mentally restrained himself from chuckling at Sonic's teary eyes.

"Done!" Roll's voice came from the boat before the door opened. She walked out with Megaman and chuckled heartily. "Well, everyone, I hope you like how Megaman looks now," she said, turning to Megaman.

Megaman now wore a blue helmet that covered his head and hair. On his left arm, a long grey cannon was attached to it with a little orange aim over it. The blue boy inspected the cannon on his arm before he aimed towards the lake and shot a powerful explosive that blew up an average big explosion. "Wow..." he muttered.

"That's the Powered Buster," Roll said. "It's a part designed for heavy-duty combat. It increases both Megaman's firepower and firing speed. It's better suited to fight enemies with heavy armor and other defenses."

"T-that looks kinda strong..." Luigi muttered.

Roll nodded and looked at Megaman's helmet. "Next on the line, we have the Helmet. He won't get knocked down by enemy attacks as easily as before, and he'll be able to
survive long falls, even if someone throws him off a cliff. However, he's still vulnerable to attacks, so he should be careful about that fact."

Volnutt Kirby looked depressed. "Hmm..." he mumbled loudly.

Megaman turned to the puffball. "Is something bothering you, Kirby?"

"I liked you when you didn't have that helmet before..." admitted the puffball. "Your hair looked so nice..."

Megaman blinked and looked up at his helmet. "But Roll said it looked natural on me..."

"Hey, it'll protect your head from attacks coming from above as well," Roll said. "You better be protected and ready for anything out there."

"(Great going, Roll,)" Chris said mentally. "(Now, all you have to do for Megaman to become X is make him far more serious than he is now... Oh, make Wily the Dock Owner build Mavericks and a special robot as well.)"

Megaman knocked on the helmet a bit. "Well, it is hard..."

Roll looked at the Smashers. "Not only did he get those, but I also gave him the Jump Springs!" she said, kneeling down where she touched Megaman's feet. "I put the Jump Springs into his feet. Now he's able to jump over fifteen feet of height so he can reach places he couldn't reach before. Pretty useful, huh?"

"It is, thanks," Megaman thanked.

"It was nothing, Megaman. Thanks to those machine parts that you and everyone found at the Sub-Gate, I was able to make all of this," she explained before looking at Data. "Data, is that okay with you now?"

Data nodded. "It is, Roll, it is! Now we can go to the lake, yes?"

"Of course, I'm growing impatient to try out the boat already," she said, looking back at the Smashers. "Let's all go on a boat ride, everyone... Oh, that's right!" she said, stopping them from walking into the boat. She pointed up at a lookout tower on top of the steel boat. "See that tower? That's the lookout tower that you can get there by using the inner ladder. It's wide enough to have six people, so please, if you want to look outside, be sure there are no more than six people up there so you don't fall... And if Big gets up there, then make sure there aren't more than four people counting Big. Since Chip can fly, I guess he can go out without having to worry about not fitting it."

"That sounds pretty tight," Big said before chuckling. "Heheh, get it? Tight?"

"Um...yes, we get it," Ike said.

Roll clapped her hands together and showed them the entrance to the boat. "Come on in, everyone! ...What is wrong with Sonic, though?" she asked, looking at the "Stickhog" standing still.

"Long story..." Chris muttered.

After explaining Sonic's condition, a confused Roll understood the situation before everyone got into the boat. Megaman, Luigi, Peach, and Big got to the top of the lookout tower while everyone else was inside the boat, looking outside the windows. The boat's engine then started to turn on before it slowly went towards the lake before picking up some speed. The boat went towards the west in tranquility.

Lake Jyun

After departing from the docks, the steel boat went around the lake's water in a quiet manner. The four on top of the admired the sunset reflected on the water while Big took advantage of this and began fishing from high up. His fishing rod's fishing line was long enough to reach the water. He only hoped that one of his baits would be Froggy, but he was very patient, giving him all the time he needed to wait for a bait.

"What a nice view from up here," commented Peach as she looked around the lake, finding some mountain trenches and trees along the coast. "I heard from the TV station that they were going to use this locale to make a new episode o-"

"P-Peach, don't talk about that novel or else you'll go back with them and leave us forever..." Luigi said.

"Luigi, I'm not going to do that..." Peach said confused.

"How's the view from up there, Megaman?" Roll called over from the boat. "Everyone here is having a good time so far, and the engine seems to be working very well thanks to the yellow refractor. Any problems?"

"There aren't any problems so far," replied Megaman as he rested his hands on the handrail of the tower. "Everything is fine up here."

"Glad to hear that," she said. "If my assumptions are correct, we should be reaching the little island where the Sub-Gate's entrance is... Let's take a look, shall we?"

The four on top of the tower looked over the western horizon where they spotted a small island with a yellow dome on the middle of it. It was the Lake Jyun's Sub-Gate.

"So there's one here," Luigi said.

"Yeah," Megaman said. "Tomorrow, we'll explore that Sub-Gate and see what we can find inside... Maybe we can find a stronger refractor for the Flutter to work again..."

"Let's hope there is one inside," Peach said, making a happy expression. "I can't wait to see what is waiting for us inside..."

"M-more killer robots bent to kill us," muttered Luigi.

Big looked at them over his right shoulder. "Maybe Froggy's in there. I have a feeling he's inside that place."

Peach rubbed Big's shoulder. "I'm sure he is, Big."

"(We know better than him that the Froggy guy isn't there...but Peach wants to cheer him up, anyway,)" Luigi thought with a deep sigh.

"Sweet, this is so much fun, everyone!" called Chip over from inside the boat. "Riding on a boat around the lake during the sunset is so much fun! You get to see landscapes, trees, fishes, and beeping spots blinking over this round-graphed screen!"

"C-Chip, would you please not get too close to the controls?" asked Roll. "You're getting so close to them that you'll push some and the boat might break up!"

"Sorry, I was getting excited in seeing the beeping spots..."

Music stops

"Well, please, don't... Wait, what beeping spots are you talking about?"

"Um, the ones on that round-graphed screen? They seem to be getting closer to the center for some reason... Is this the legendary game Pong?"

"W-wait, this isn't a game or something... This is the sonar I made for the boat to detect anything unusual coming at our way just in case to be safe... So then, these spots coming to the center, where we are right now, are actually... Oh no, this is bad... Megaman!"

"Roll, what is happening now?" Megaman asked seriously, the others looking worried at this.

"I'm picking something up on the sonar... Keep an eye out, Megaman!" warned Roll. "I don't think we're going to have a peaceful tour around the lake like we planned!"

"W-what do you mean by that?" Chris asked within the boat.

Peach blinked and turned towards the east. She gasped and covered her mouth with her right hand. "E-everyone, look over there in the air!" she warned.

Megaman, Luigi, and Big turned to the east where they gasped and saw several small yellow ships flying and passing over them. Once the ships passed, Big looked down the boat and gasped once more. "S-submarines!" he yelled.

All of them looked to the water around them where they spotted three red submarines trying to come closer to the boat. Seeing this, Megaman decided to talk with Roll. "Roll, there are submarines going after us!"

"I knew it...  They're here! Their robots are here!" Roll said. "The guys that attacked the city are here as well!"

Megaman saw the round skull emblems printed on the front parts of the red submarines. "The Bonnes!" he said.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Ness yelled from within the boat. "These guys just won't give up in bothering us, will they?!"

"It was so obvious that they were going to come back after us. I mean, didn't you see their determination to stop us from stopping them?" Ike asked.

"Actually, I was being sarcastic, Ike. I knew they were going to come back. They're the kind of guys who screw up a lot but don't give up that easily."

"COMING, SERVBOT #24!" yelled one of the submarines. "You guys are finished! You are to be taken down along with your boat for causing Miss Tron and everyone else so much trouble to get treasure!"

"You shall pay for making Miss Tron ban us our curry rice for dinner yesterday!" yelled the right submarine.

"My tummy is still empty! I want to have some good ol' curry rice right now!" yelled the left submarine.

...

"...FOR THE CURRY RICE!" the submarines proclaimed.

"Do these guys have ANYTHING ELSE worth fighting than food?" Ness asked annoyed. "Kirby, don't give me that look either!"

Megaman grunted a bit. "This is seriously not looking good for us now..." He turned to Big, who was reeling in his fishing line. "Big, I think you should go back into the boat."

"I-I'm doing that right now!" Big said, finishing reeling in his fishing line before he went into the ladder and climbed down. Once he did, Mario, Volnutt Kirby, and Ness came out to take the remaining space.

"Alright, it's obvious we'll have to fight to teach these guys not to piss us off," Ness said. "And...is Peach going to stay here?"

Peach looked serious and nodded. "I'm going to stay here and fight," she said. "I know I can fight back now."

"Sheesh, I've got to thank Chris for putting a princess from the royalty in battle..."

"I-I heard that from down here, you know!" yelled Chris embarrassed. "I-I had no other choic-"

"Megaman, everyone, be careful from now on!" Roll said. "We can't just go back to the dock with them around the Sub-Gate. We've gotta protect it from the Bonnes at all cost-" she stopped talking once the boat began rocking back and forth thanks to a torpedo that collided against it. The ones on the lookout tower tumbled to the sides, but they kept standing after it stopped shaking. "T-they're using torpedoes... Everyone, this boat isn't strong enough to resist too many hits!" she warned them. "You've got to destroy any ship or submarine before they launch missiles or torpedoes to the ship! If they DO launch those, try to destroy them before they damage the boat, got it?"

"We got it, Roll!" Megaman said. "Did you guys get it?"

"Yes, pretty much," Mario said.

"S-so we just need to take down the ships and submarines and make sure we don't get hit," Luigi said.

"Sounds simple enough to me," Ness said. "Besides, we're a bunch of people."

"That reminds me," Roll began, "if you have to, swap places with somebody else inside the boat. You could get hurt badly if you get hit with the boat as well. I'm gonna drive the boat around the lake so they don't catch up with us. Everyone, do your best to keep us afloat at all costs! Mission start!"

Molgera Battle

"There are three submarines right behind us. Take them out!" Roll commanded as she drove the boat along the right side of the Sub-Gate island. "Megaman, use the Powered Buster to target far away enemies! It should be strong enough to destroy them!"

"I'm on it right now!" Megaman said, aiming his Powered Buster at the middle submarine. The blue boy shot a powerful blast that exploded on the machine, but it wasn't strong enough to take it down completely. "You guys, I need some backup here!"

"PK Flash!" Ness yelled, shooting a green flash that grew in size and exploded on the middle submarine, blowing it up. "One down!"

"Incoming missiles from the air!" Roll yelled.

The group looked up to see the yellow ships dropping missiles towards them. Megaman grunted and began using his buster to shoot them all down. Not long after that, more and more ships began to appear, firing missiles from everywhere. "T-this is crazy!" Megaman said. "You guys, I need more help!"

Luigi yelled as he shot green fireballs towards the missiles. He began to panic, covering his eyes with his free hand. "T-tell me if I'm hitting one, Mario!" he yelled.

"I don't really think you can hit one... You're not even shooting fireballs at the right direction."

Without uncovering his eyes, Luigi turned to the west and began shooting fireballs to the air.

"...Luigi..." Mario muttered with a sigh.

Volnutt Kirby jumped over the handrail and began shooting the missiles together with Megaman. The blue boy sweat dropped as the puffball seemed to be doing a better job than he did. Before long, all missiles were taken down. Megaman looked down at the water where five submarines were chasing after them. "There are just too many of them!" Megaman yelled, using the Powered Buster to take down the submarines.

After Ness sent a PK Flash that burst between two submarines to make them explode, he grunted and said, "I hate it when stupid villains start to have the upper hand like this!"

Peach looked hopeful, standing between all of them. "It's a sign that they're becoming much better at their jobs. I'm happy for them for improving."

"Which side are you with, again?" Ness asked annoyed.

The princess looked upset at this. "I want to think that I care for everyone."

"That's very sweet of you, but they want us to die," Ness pointed out.

Peach smiled a bit and chuckled, despite the fact they were all being assaulted by submarines and flying ships. "Don't be so silly. They at least want us to stop attacking them like we're doing right now."

"Um, and they want us to sink along this boat... What am I arguing with you? You'll never understand that they want us out of the picture, like, FOREVER!" he yelled, turning around in time to send a PK Thunder at a missile.

Luigi looked worried at Peach. "P-Peach, please, get back on the boat! Y-you're going to be in danger if you stay out here!"

"But I want to help," Peach said.

Ness turned to her. "Then use magic on them or something, preferably the flying ships coming at our way!"

The princess turned to the south where two ships flew towards them, ready to shoot more missiles while Mario, Megaman, and Volnutt Kirby were busy with the submarines. The princess got a bit sad but snapped out of her thoughts. "O-okay, this is for the better, I think..." she trailed off, focusing her hands to cast a blue sphere of magic.

Unfortunately, the boat suddenly shook wildly, causing the six on the lookout tower to fall down on the floor. "Everyone, be careful!" Roll said from the boat. "Even though there aren't many submarines chasing after us, they're also sending torpedoes from far away! Look into the water to find the torpedoes' shadows to blow them!"

Mario and Luigi helped Peach to get up while Megaman stood back up quickly by himself. "Torpedoes being shot from far away? Oh, great..." He looked behind the boat and shot down two submarines with a shot from the Powered Buster. The blue boy looked to the west where three shadows were going towards them. "There they are! Guys, I need assistance!"

Ness grunted and stood back up. "I'm getting so mad now," he muttered. "PK Thunder!" he yelled, sending forth a sphere of electricity that went on the shadows and dove down for one, causing three explosions on the same spot.

The princess gasped and looked back at the ships flying from the south. She quickly concentrated magic between her hands and shoved it forward. "Thunder Flare!"

Between the ships, a big sphere of sparks circled electricity. For Peach's dismay, the sphere of sparks remained in place as the ships easily flew past it, shooting four missiles at the boat. Mario looked serious at this and brandished FLUDD from his back, shooting a stream of water that stopped the missiles from bursting into the boat.

Peach looked down in depression. "My magic didn't do much..." she muttered.

Mario stared at the sphere of sparks vanishing in the air. "It only remains in one place after it goes off," he said, looking back at Peach. "You should use that when you think the enemy isn't going to move away."

Peach sighed. "I'll take that in mind..."

"...If you want, you can go back into the boat, Peach."

"..." The princess nodded and smiled. "I have to understand when I can't be of help to you, so please, don't get hurt, Mario."

Mario smiled and nodded. "I'll be just fine."

The princess chuckled and went back into the boat by climbing down the ladder. Once she did, Chris came back on. "I-I'll replace Peach," he said.

Luigi looked at Chris. "Um, why do you look a bit pale on the face?"

The teen's face was completely pale. "W-well, after those torpedoes shook the boat a bit...I-I just found out I can get seasick if the boat moves a bit too much..."

"Are you sure you can fight like this?"

"Y-yes," Chris said. "I-I'm on the verge of throwing up, but as long as we keep those torpedoes from hitting the boat, I'll be fine."

Mario shook his head. "If you're so sure, I won't stop you."

Chris chuckled nervously. "T-this is what I get for not knowing my sicknesses. I can do this just fine."

And once the boat got hit by a surprise torpedo blow from the front...

"...B-bag! B-bag! B-bag!" Chris pleaded, covering his mouth with both hands and jumping back into the boat where one could hear him...

A scared Lucas came out from the ladder and stood up. He shivered a bit before regaining his composure. "E-everything's fine for me to take Chris's spot, right?" he asked.

Ness nodded. "Yes, please help us here."

Megaman and Volnutt Kirby stopped shooting at the torpedoes and missiles for a brief moment. The blue boy looked at them. "There aren't any submarines and battleships around," he said.

"That's right," Roll said as she drove the boat behind the Sub-Gate's isle. "Sadly, there are more coming to our way from the west. Please, destroy them before they destroy the boat!"

"Roll, is the boat in danger of sinking?"

"Fortunately, no," Roll said. "Try to take them down faster, okay? They could really beat us if we let them attack us!"

"Got it," Megaman said.

"And please, guard the boat well! Chris here is having a very bad time with his seasickness..."

"I'm here to make sure he feels fine," Peach said.

"Incoming four battleships from the west!" Roll said. "Take them out!"

Mario, Luigi, Ness, Lucas, Megaman, and Volnutt Kirby looked towards the west, seeing four yellow battleships flying against their direction. Megaman took a quick initiative and began shooting them with the Powered Buster while Volnutt Kirby simply used his Mega Buster. Ness and Lucas joined in by using their PK Thunder attacks.

Luigi looked miffed at this. "It hurts to know we don't have long-range attacks like they do, right, Mario?" He looked to his left, finding his brother missing from the spot. "...Mario?"

"Water ready," FLUDD spoke, making Luigi look forward where Mario had joined the four, using FLUDD to shoot a long stream of water towards incoming missiles from their attackers that were taken down.

"..." Luigi got very depressed and squatted down, rubbing a finger on the floor. "Everyday, I get left out in any way..."

The group finished taking down the missiles, focusing next on obliterating the four battleships, taking them all down. "Alright, the sky is clear," Megaman said, looking back down in time to shoot an incoming torpedo. "But we still have to look out for anything coming from the water!"

At that moment, two red submarines came out and launched two torpedoes each. Megaman and Volnutt Kirby took care of the torpedoes while Ness and Lucas used PK Flash and PK Freeze respectively to freeze the submarines. After the machines were frozen, Megaman used his Powered Buster and shattered the submarines to bits. "Nice combo, I must say," said Ness pleased.

"Keep it on!" Roll encouraged. "We still have...nothing...to worry about...anymore..."

Music stops

"What?" Luigi said, looking back up from his spot.

"Um, how do I put it? Those were all the enemies..." Roll said.

"The graphed-circle doesn't have any more beeping spots," Chip said. "It's so clear...and boring."

"You took them all out of commission... Phew, that was all? That was kind of strange..."

Megaman sighed and lowered his Mega Buster. "That went a little bit too fast than I expected..."

Ness sat down and sighed loudly. "I knew they were just throwing everything they could on us. I'm happy they didn't get the upper hand after all."

"I did hear them saying they needed to work fast on their robots," Mario said. "Those submarines and battleships were probably the only ones they could make in time to use them on us."

Lucas looked back at the water where some unconscious Servbots were floating close to each other. He gasped a bit at the sight, but he didn't want to say anything. "A-ah..."

Luigi stared at the fainted Servbots. "U-uh-oh, I think we killed them!" he yelped.

The others looked at the Servbots floating calmly on the water. "Aren't they robots, though?" Ness asked. "I'm pretty sure they are. Nobody has pincers as hands."

"Yeah, they're robots...with personalities," Megaman said. "I don't think they can die. They can be repaired...so, what now?"

Roll chuckled as the boat circled around the isle. "I guess we can resume our peaceful ride around the lake, or we can go ahead and explore the Sub-Gate."

"That will have to wait for a LOOOOOOOOOONG time, I'm afraid! Ahaha, ahahaha, AAAAAAAHAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" laughed a maniacal voice in a high-pitched tone.

Ness groaned and lied down on the floor. "Are you really kidding me for real?" he asked to no one in particular.

"Sadly, I'm not kidding," Mario said.

"Mario, I wasn't talking to you."

At that moment, right behind the boat, the Smashers and Megaman turned to see water rising up. They gasped as the water made a tower out of itself just behind them all. Once the water fell back into the water, they were facing what looked to be a big purple robot with a frog head with yellow eyes. Within the robot, they expected the Bonnes to be riding it.

Lucas backed away to the handrail. "W-what is that thing?!"

"It's...it's...it's...!" Ness said shocked, staring at the robot before them. In a second, he looked bored at it. "It's just an armless robot with a frog head and nothing else..."

"...Is the head modeled after Froggy's head?" Big asked out of curiosity. "I can't see it from down here."

"Er, no, it's modeled after a lame frog's head."

"Aww..."

For everyone's dismay, the robot behind them wasn't exactly near completion. In fact, the only feature that stood out the most about the aquatic robot was its frog head situated on the top of a purple tower of thirty feet. On the sides, there were empty black circles where arms should have been, and the backside was supposed to have turrets over a small terrace close to the water, which didn't have anything at all but empty spots for said turrets.

"...Seriously, people," Ness continued, "are you really kidding me? I'm surprised that 'robot' is even able to stay on water!"

"Hey, don't you dare mock my robots!" Tron was heard yelling from within the robot. "I-I just happened to finish this and stop you guys from entering the Sub-Gate, that's all!"

Within the robot, the trio of Bonnes were sitting on chairs: Bon and Tron were sitting on a lower floor while Teisel sat down on a chair located of a higher floor, all of them close to each other. The inside was probably the most surprising feature of the robot since it was complete, unlike the outside of the robot itself.

Tron made a fist and stood up. "Try to say one more time! I dare you, I double dare you!"

"I'm really tired to face dares, so no," Ness said.

Megaman cleared his throat as the robot pursued them calmly. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Isn't it obvious, blue boy?" Teisel asked. "We're here to sink down your boat along with every single one of you! After we learned from our loyal Servbots, we decided to make a surprise assault! If you want to go through that Sub-Gate, you'll have to deal with us!"

Mario looked confused. "But we're just taking a ride around the lake to test out the boat Roll fixed today," he said. "We didn't want to enter the Sub-Gate for today because it's late afternoon..."

"..." Teisel turned to Tron. "Tron, maybe I was deaf before, but WERE THOSE SERVBOTS even telling the truth?"

Tron looked upset at her big brother. "They DID say they were going to enter the Sub-Gate!" she yelled before looking down at the floor. "Hey, you! Were you telling the truth?!"

"U-um, we just said that they COULD be here to enter the Sub-Gate, Miss Tron!" a random Servbot was heard yelling from under the floor. "W-we never said they WERE going to enter the Sub-Gate!"

"What?!" Tron asked enraged, stomping on the floor to panic the Servbots. "Y-you bunch of little liars! We could've finished this robot with the time we had today, but you screwed it all up by telling us possibilities! I'm so ashamed on you!"

"Ooooh, noooooooooo!" all the Servbots (unknown number) said in unison.

"W-what a way to screw up big time..." Chris said from within the boat. "...BLEH!"

Bon twitched his pacifier and looked at Teisel. "Babu? Babu, babu?" he asked.

"W-well, I don't know what to right now, Bon," Teisel said nervously, turning to Tron. "Tron, do we have weapons to attack them all?"

Tron shook her head and looked worried. "We just finished making Barcon's main body," she said, revealing the robot's name. "I'm afraid to say we were quickly moving on to the arms and turrets, but with the sudden warning of Megaman's group coming here, we didn't have enough time to prepare the weapons...so yeah..."

"..." Teisel hung his head down. "...I...hate you...Servbots... I really, REALLY hate your guts..." he muttered to himself.

"...GrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRR!!! DAMN YOU, ALL, DAMN YOU!!!" Tron snapped out, stomping on the floor to panic the Servbots even more. "Next time, make sure your assumptions are right, you heard me?! None of you will get any curry rice tonight...either!"

"N-no, please, you can't do this to us!" a random Servbot in the floor down below pleaded. "M-my tummy won't hold on for much longer if we keep getting our dinner banned!"

"No matter how hard I try, you never get things done correctly!" Tron complained. "Do I have to deserve this?! What did I ever do to you?! Why are you so irresponsible?!"

"B-Babu, babu, babu!" Bon said in panic, trying to calm down his older sister to no avail.

Teisel panicked, seeing Tron stomping on the floor while Bon did his best to calm her down. With the Servbots' please for forgiviness, the leader of the Bonnes grunted loudly and held his head with both hands. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH, EVERYONE, SHUT UP!!!" he demanded, his yells reaching deaf ears.

Outside the robot, in and on the boat, the Smashers remained staring at the robot while the Bonne Family continued their riot and arguments between each other. At that point, they were all being ignored, most of the covering their ears from the loud screams. "I feel so much pity for them than before..." Ness muttered, shaking his head in lament. "They ARE really a lost cause...a big one."

Mario looked at Megaman. "Every time they come to us, it's harder for me to believe they caused you a lot of trouble before."

Megaman sweat dropped and chuckled nervously. "U-um, they are just losing their cool so fast, that's all."

"Now I'm going to be asking myself if they had some cool before," Ness said.

Megaman looked annoyed. "I-I'm honest when I'm saying they were really a threat before. They just happen to have some streak of bad luck today."

"If that's the case...darn, let them be."

Roll kept circling the isle while the Barcon kept chasing after them with all the tranquility of the waters. "...Should we just go back to the dock and come back tomorrow?"

"Personally, I don't think we should go," Peach spoke, patting the seasick Chris's back. "We're just very close to investigate it."

[DededeCloneChris]

"I...I vote that we get in the Sub-Gate now that we have the chance..." spoke Chris weakly.

Lucas forced a smile. "L-let's go, then," he agreed. "F-for once, I want to go inside."

"Lucas, just admit it and say you're starting to get upset by the Bonnes," Ness said bored, lying down on the floor. "It'd be no surprise if you did get upset."

"W-well, I don't want to get so annoyed like you, Ness."

Ness chuckled heartily at this. "Oh, please, Lucas, don't joke around with me. The Bonnes are but a mere stepping stone to us. If I had to compare, I'd say they're at the same level Pokey is."

"...What the..." Roll trailed off, spotting a single spot on the sonar. "E-everyone, there's something else approaching us from the east!"

"What is it this time?" Ike asked.

"I-I don't know, but it seems to be all alone," Roll said. "Whatever it is, it's coming towards us!"

Mario looked serious. "Do we have to face something else?"

"Funny, at times like this, I'd expect Pokey to show up," Ness said. "I remember his spider mech didn't have any functionalities to operate in the water, so I doubt it's him."

"It IS Porky, you little dimwit, photogenic bastard!"

"..." Ness inhaled air and groaned so loudly that everyone heard him. "I really AM gonna cry my eyes out right now. Please, please, don't tell me that guy is here!"

"I'll tell you myself, then! I AM here, ready to kick your butts to the far away space!"

Porky's Theme

From besides the Barcon, Porky's spider mech rose up from the water, sporting new propellers beneath him that made it possible for the machine to fly around the air. The Smashers looked at Porky's corpse trembling with chuckles of his own. "Duahahahahaha! Here's Porky, right in the nick of time to steal the spotlight!" Porky proclaimed. "Do you like the new me? I made my spider mech waterproof. Now it can travel in water to find Ness and his squad of cosplayer people! Damn, I'm such a GENIUS!"

Ness sat up while Lucas hid behind a wary Megaman. "Dammit, Porky, what are you doing here now? What do you want? Can't you see we already have someone else to deal with?"

"Oh, it is you, Ness!" Porky said. "I'm happy to know your spleen was nursed back to health. You're a pretty darn lucky guy for avoding death at the hands of...Death itself!"

The Onett resident slapped his forehead. "Oh, yeah, I did heal..." he muttered sarcastically.

"Anyhow, I went to the local hospital," Porky said. "They said they didn't know a kid named Ness, so as the badass kid I am, I kept asking for you. Those nurses were seduced by you so they wouldn't tell me that you were there."

Ness gritted his teeth. "What part of your mind made you think I can seduce women?"

"The part where I always kept our memories of our youth, which I'm still kind of experiencing. Going back to my trip to the hospital, the nurses were screaming and calling the police to get me arrested for being a corpse inside a machine. I'll have them know I'm still WAY more charming than you, Ness! I'm in no way a corpse, dangit!"

Luigi stood behind Mario. "S-so, what did you do after that?"

"Their screams and the police were kinda annoying me...so I blew the place up with my Porky bots."

Megaman barely noticed a tower of smoke coming from the east, where the Uptown was located. "W-what did you just do?!" he asked in disbelief.

"You DAMN idiot!" Ness cursed. "There were surely people being taken care of in the hospital, and you BLEW IT just like that?"

"I mainly blew it because I thought you were there," Porky said.

"If I remember, you said you were going to wait for Ness to recover so you could fight each other," Mario said.

"Yeah, it turns out I suck at waiting. I get myself a bit too much pulled into the moment."

"And you BLOW UP hospitals?" Megaman asked, signs of irritation starting to show up in his tone of voice.

"...Yup."

"Ugh, you imbecile!" Megaman yelled, aiming his Powered Buster at Porky. "You're going to pay for blowing up the hospital!"

Ness stood up and glared at Porky. "Now this is the only time you crossed the line for real," he said seriously. "I'm going to have to put you out of your misery...and that spider mech of yours!"

Lucas looked at Mario. "I-I never saw Megaman getting so angry..." he muttered.

"He surely has hero genes in him," Mario said. "But either way, what Porky did today was unforgivable. We'll have to face him right now to avenge anyone hurt at the hospital."

Lucas thought for a bit before nodding. "Y-yes, I agree," he said, looking upset at this. "H-he's going way too far now!"

Luigi looked away. "But, if we think again, Ness kind of has some blame since he lied about having a hurt spleen..."

"Luigi," began Ness, obviously sounding mad, "I have nothing against you, and I don't have any grudges either. But if you remind about that, let me clarify something to you."

The green plumber, sadly, feared most people, even if they were seemingly younger than himself. He gulped, scared to ask, "W-what?"

"I never told him I was going to a hospital. It wasn't me who blew up the place, and it wasn't me who said I was going to that hospital. He JUST thought I was going to be there. Whenever Porky is mentioned, it will always have to be him who screws up, so don't go blaming me...got it?"

"..." Luigi gulped and nodded. "O-okay."

"Good," Ness said, his hands letting out some sparks. "All we have to do now is BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF HIM!" he yelled.

Unfounded Revenge/Smashin' Song of Praise

"Duahahahaha!" Porky laughed, flying around the boat while ignoring the Bonnes altogether. "Yes, yes, yes! That rage, it makes my hair tremble with excitement! Show me more, Ness, show me MOAR!"

"Wow, he really is insane," Roll commented. "I don't quite understand howwe ended up being dragged into this situation, but we have no choice but to fight him head on, it seems. Everyone, be careful! Protect the boat at all costs while making sure you don't get hit! He does have projectiles, right?"

"Yes, he does..." Chris muttered.

"I wonder when you're going to stop feeling so sick..."

"It'll be harder to take him down," Ness told the others. "Don't underestimate him when gets like this!"

"Before, you said we shouldn't worry, but now you're telling us to do that?" Megaman asked.

"It's his craziness that kills people, not himself!" Ness said. "If you're not careful, you'll get yourself screwed over by his antics!"

"Antics that you should pay attention to!" yelled Porky. "Porky Bots, go!" he yelled, shooting three Porky Bots from the spider mech's back.

"What the..." Megaman trailed off before he used the Powered Buster to take one of the bots down, the other two being taken down by Volnutt Kirby and Ness. "Were those robots supposed to look like him?"

"Hey, mind your words, blue boy!" Porky yelled. "They reflect my charmness, but the real deal, me, is actually more charming!"

"Talk about being narcissistic to the end..." Megaman muttered.

"Anyway, DIE!" Porky yelled, releasing energy-concentrated bombs that quickly fell over the boat and exploded all over it. The boat tilted wildly at the sides, making everyone tumble over (and a well-known teen getting very seasick).

"C-careful!" Roll said. "Those bombs are very dangerous! They can make this boat sink if we get more of them!"

Mario stood back up. "In that case, don't let any bombs fall on the boat!" he advised.

"I'm sorry, but I happen to have lots of bombs ready for you," Porky said. "And I can use them, like, NOW!" he yelled laughing, releasing more bombs.

Before the bombs could even descend, Megaman reacted quickly and shot a single Powered Buster explosive, blowing up all the bombs to create a chain reaction that destroyed all of them, damaging Porky's mech as well. The blue boy grinned a bit and chuckled. "Sorry, but those bombs aren't going to work for you as long as I'm here," Megaman said.

"On, then, I'll push you off!" Porky yelled, the spider mech's claws suddenly stretching all the way towards the lookout tower. "Check out my extendable claws!" he said.

The group gasped and quickly sidestepped to avoid getting impaled by the claws. When one landed close to Ness and Lucas, the former looked at the latter and said, "Set in on fire!"

"R-right!" Lucas said, shooting a bolt of PK Fire with Ness to set the claw ablaze. The claw began to burn, reaching the spider mech. Porky began to panic as the temperature in the machine rose up, causing him to retreat his claws and dive back into the water to put out the fire.

Porky rose back up and grunted. "You don't really wanna see me when I'm mad. I tend to be more annoying when I'm angry!"

"W-wow, he admitted he's annoying..." Luigi muttered.

"SHUT UP!" Ness's neighbor yelled angrily. "Taste some red bolts!" he proclaimed, charging red electricity under the propellers. The spider mech quickly flew over the lookout tower and remained there.

"H-how do we avoid that?!" Luigi asked.

"Out of my sight!" Megaman yelled, firing a dozen of shots from his Powered Buster. Fortunately, the combined explosions pushed Porky away, interrupting his charge.

"Dammit!" Porky yelled. "You're lucky you have that blue boy with you, Ness! You're THAT lucky!"

Megaman looked serious at Ness. "He really likes you in a very sick way, no offense."

Ness frowned. "This is why I'm such an oddball..."

"Okay, let's try something different," Porky began, flying closer to the boat. "Porky Bots!"

"B-but you already used them!" Lucas pointed out.

"This time, they come in dozens so you have some people to play with! Go, go, GO!" Porky yelled, shooting dozens of Porky Bots from the spider mech. At this, the group gasped and began shooting all the robots to prevent any from landing on the boat. The six used fireballs, PK Thunders, Mega Buster shots, and Powered Buster artillery. From any point of view, it looked as if they formed a wall to destroy all the Porky Bots in the air. "Hey, stop blowing them all to smitherins!" Porky complained. "They should be the ones blowing you to smitherins instead!"

Luigi started to pant heavily, realising fireballs after fireballs. "I-I'm getting so tired, Mario!" he whined. "T-they just keep coming!"

"Keep on going!" Roll encouraged. "You must stop all those robots from landing on the boat!"

"Please, don't stop!" Peach cheered.

"(Why, oh why does she have to cheer us on? I don't want to see her getting depressed if we fail!)" Luigi whined mentally, soon noticing that the Porky Bots' assault finished. "Huh?"

"You guys can get on someone's nerves way too fast," Porky said, flying around the boat without looking away from the group. "You did on mine, so you'll pay! Go, Piggy Claws!"

The spider mech's claws began to glow in a sickening green color. Before long, they all quickly dove towards the group, each one slashing them harshly before retreating.

"Hope you liked my ultimate attack! That should things easier for me now that you're all poisoned!"

They all turned pale as their vision became blurry. Ness, Lucas, Luigi, and Volnutt Kirby tumbled over their rears while Megaman and Mario kept themselves standing up by hanging on to the handrail. "G-guys...I don't feel so good..." Megaman muttered, coughing weakly.

"T-that attack was rather fast..." Ness muttered. "D-darn you, Pokey..."

"It's PORKY!" Porky demanded. "P-I-G-A-S-S, Porky!"

Lucas held his stomach. "I don't have any energies to laugh... I really want to, but I can't..."

"Oh no, hang in there!" Roll said. "I-I don't know what to do! D-Data, go heal Megaman!"

"I'm afraid to say I don't like to go out during a fight!" Data yelled. "If I get attacked, it's over for me!"

"D-Data!"

"S-sorry, uki!"

At that moment, from the ladder, Chris (barely feeling okay while using his Scholar job) came out and flipped his book's pages. "Remove the damaging liquid... Poisona!" he chanted, holding out a hand.

Bubbles flew out from everyone's bodies, cleansing them all from the poison. They all soon felt healthy, standing back up to face Porky. "H-hey, that's cheating! You're not supposed to do that! Now my ultimate attack got wasted!" he whined. "I don't like when my ultimate attacks get wasted like this! I-I'll sue you for this!"

The scholar ignored the old kid's rants. "Y-you guys, please, get rid of him as soon as possible," Chris said, feeling sick in the stomach. "If you need any healing, just give me a call... BLUH!" he covered his mouth and went into the boat in a hurry.

Megaman sighed in relief. "Roll, we're fine now!"

"Phew, you had me really worried," Roll said. "Thank you so much, Chris."

"BLEH!" was Chris's response.

"I'll...take that as a 'you're welcome', then..."

"Grr, now I'm mad!" Porky said. "And don't you even dare point out I was already mad before! This feeling of anger is a new one that will help me to destroy you, Ness, and your little squad of peop-" he was cut off after a fully charged PK Flash, a blow from the Powered Buster, and a fully charged PK Freeze collided against the spider mech, making Porky tumble back in the air. "GAH! I HATE WHEN THIS HAPPENS!"

Mario frowned at this. "At this rate, his head will burst out of anger."

"His head would've blown up a very long time ago," Ness said. "To these days, I'd like to see it burst literally."

Megaman glared towards Porky. His eyes then turned to the right, finding that the Barcon was still chasing after them. "Hey, are the Bonnes still here?" he asked.

The group stared at the frog robot. "Funny, I thought they left after Porky arrived."

"T-they were there this whole time," Luigi said. "They haven't stopped arguing..."

They all could hear clearly that the Bonnes were arguing against each other, making a big riot that was taken care of by themselves without having good results. The Barcon silently chased after the boat, making no harm at all. "M-Miss Tron, don't take out dinner and meals away now!" whined a random Servbot inside the robot. "P-please, don't be so cruel!"

"It's all your fault that we're messing up big time here!" Tron yelled. "If you talk back to me, I'll take away your breakfasts as well!"

"Ooooh, noooooooo!" all the Servbots whined.

"Shut up, I said, shut up!" Teisel yelled. "I want to have order here! OOOOOOOOORDEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!!!"

The six on the lookout tower exchanged glances and shook their heads in pity for them, focusing back on Porky, who just noticed the robot following the robot. "Are these guys your friends or what, Ness?" Porky asked.

"Hell no!" Ness complained. "These guys are morons! If anything, they should be your friends!"

"Ha, good one!" Porky laughed. "I, the great Porky Minch, only work alone!"

"Aren't you working for the Subspace Army?" Mario asked.

"Yes, but I work alone," Porky said. "There's no darn way a digital old geezer will order me around!"

"How ironic you say that, old kid geezer," Ness muttered. "Also, you ARE working for them. Don't deny the undeniable."

"I'll undeny the deniable, then!" Porky proclaimed.

Lucas looked confused. "I don't know how to respond to this..."

"Then don't do it 'cuz you're going down!" Porky yelled, launching several bombs over the boat. In a hurry, the Smashers and Megaman scrambled around, trying to prevent the bombs from landing on the vessel. "Go, my claws!" he yelled while the bombs kept raining down, extending all the claws to the group, slashing them harshly across their bodies. In doing this, they all yelled in pain and stopped focusing on the bombs, which made contact with the boat and exploded.

"Aaaaaah!" Roll yelled as the boat shook violently (not doing any good to Chris's stomach). "E-everyone, please, hold on! The boat is still okay!"

Luigi groaned in pain, standing back up with the others. "B-but I'm not okay..." he muttered.

"D-dirty trick coming from a dirty pig..." Ness cursed under his breath.

"Ha-hahahahaha!" Porky laughed. "What's wrong? Where's your cool now, everybody? Are you getting tired? I was just starting to have fun tonight!"

Megaman looked towards the sky, where the sun was hiding away in the horizon. In a matter of minutes, night arrived at the lake. He grunted in pain, supporting himself by leaning against the handrail. "T-this won't stop me from fighting," he muttered.

"Hmm? Do you want some more? Fine by me, baby!" Porky said. "Let's make a riot!"

While the fight kept it course, inside the boat, the imp witnessed Sonic's body growing in side with fur. "...Oh, you guys, Sonic just transformed into his Werehog look," Chip said. "And he's not a stick anymore..."

"H-hey, where the hell am I?" Sonic asked gruffily. "W-we're on a boat?"

"Yep, and we're fighting a flying machine with a corpse on it and stuff."

"I-I don't want to stay on a boat! G-get me to safe land ASAP!"

"Oh, for the love of... Sonic, I want you to stop being afraid of the water!"

"I-I can't stop doing that just because you're ordering me to do so!"

"Oh, well, in that case, think the water is harmless to you."

"T-that's not working for me!"

"Okay, then think the water is land."

"It's not working still!"

"Think the water is your friend."

"Nah-ah!"

"Fine, then think you're running freely around a big space of land where water doesn't even exist."

A bell chimed inside Sonic's head.

"...So?" Chip asked.

"...You know, I feel so good now," Sonic said.

"Ah, Sonic, you're not afraid of the water anymore? That's a miracle!"

"What are you talkign about? I'm running around land where water doesn't exist. Are you crazy, Chip?"

The imp found out he had made the hedgehog a psychopath by his orders.

"...Um, yeah, you're absolutely running on a big space of land where water doesn't exist."

"Aww, this feels sooooooooo good. The wind touching my face, my feet leaving a wind trail behind. This is awesome!"

"...Oh, great goodness. Chip, you screwed Sonic's mind!" Chris yelled. "I hope you can fix him later after this! But...it is not like it was already screwed before."

"Hey, Chipminator did the right thing here," Chip said. "Sonic doesn't fear water anymore. That's good, right?"

"Y-yes, but in doing so, he thinks he is running while he is just there looking at us without doing anything else!"

"Personally, he's better this way," Ike spoke. "I didn't want to see him in a fetal position. And, just maybe, he could be useful in this state..."

"...You mean...he could go out there and fight Porky?" Chris asked. "Wait, that is it! The others are having a hard time. We need to ask some of them to swap with us!"

"You all swap. I'll stay here," Ike said.

"Why?"

"I only fight at close-range. That machine is fighting in the air. I can't just jump to it and fall into the water."

"It sucks to be you right now, right?" Chip asked.

"...Please, don't say that."

The scholar shook his head and looked up at the ladder. "H-hey, somebody, can you hear me? I think it is time to swap places!"

In a hurry, Luigi jumped into the boat. "S-swap with me, please! I-I don't want to keep on fighting!"

"Oh my, you're injured, Luigi," Peach said. "Please, come with me so I can heal you."

"O-oh, thanks..."

Chris looked back up at the ladder. "We need somebody else!"

At that moment, Kirby jumped down, having lost Megaman's ability. He sighed in defeat and began to rest. "You...go...please..." he muttered.

"The coast is clear!" Chris said. "Sonic, please, follow me!"

"Not right now, Chris," Sonic said. "I'm running around."

"Chip, do something about this! And Ike, if you want to be helpful, take care of Eggy for me!"

"I feel so ashamed of myself for taking care of an egg," Ike muttered angrily. "Fine, I'll take care of it. I hope my father doesn't laugh at me for this."

"He surely will," Sonic commented.

"S-shut up!"

Back on the lookout tower, Megaman was able to stop a Porky Bot from exploding on the boat, shooting it down with a single shot. He panted heavily with Mario, Ness, and Lucas while Porky chuckled amused. "C'mon, admit you can't keep on with me," Porky taunted. "It'll be easier if you just lie down and die!"

"N-no way..." Ness muttered. "L-losing to you is like losing all my dignity..."

"I love to see scenes like this," Porky said. "The part where the rival falls to his knees and begs for mercy. Don't worry, Ness. As your super rival, I shall hear your pleas."

"Is your mind really that messed up?" Ness asked annoyed.

"Don't you mock this scene!" Porky demanded. "Aww, shucks! You just made this scene feel worthless! It won't be any good if we re-do it!" He began moving the spider mech's claws. "Awright, you guys, it's the end of the line for you!"

At that moment, Chris and Sonic came to the lookout tower, with Chip following them as well. The scholar looked at the imp. "I am not approving your ideas to order Sonic, Chip. I am glad he is not thinking that he is in a field. But now, I am quite upset that he thinks we are doing hikings on mountains."

"Don't make me stop now," Sonic said, staring at Chris. "We need to climb another mountain."

Chip shook his head at Chris. "This had to be done, my lad," he said coolly.

The scholar sighed and furrowed his brow. "I swear that you will mess around with Sonic's mind a lot more in the future..."

"AHEM!" Porky cleared his throat loudly, making the three look at him. "Thank you for coming to the epilogue of this fight, you guys. Really, you make this really worthwhile for me."

The scholar instantly groaned. "Your attitude is like a thorn penetrating my toes. Sonic, show him what I mean when I am saying I do not want to hear him anymore!"

Sonic growled angrily at Porky. "Hey, go take a hike somewhere else!" he yelled. "GEARGH!" he roared, extending his claws towards the spider mech. The old kid gasped as the claws grabbed his own claws, trying to tear them off from his machine.

"S-stop, stop! Y-you can't do this!" Porky yelled, trying to fly away so Sonic's claws would release the mech's claws. Unfortunately, he found out that Sonic's claws kept stretching longer and longer, no matter how long he pulled back. After he flew back fifty feet away, Sonic got angry and began pulling back the spider mech. "Y-you little cartoon wolf, let go of me!"

Chris watched surprised at this that he adjusted his glasses a bit. "Interesting. It seems Sonic himself has proved to be a weakness to Porky. Truly, this must be an advantage for all of us."

"I have some news here," Kawashima spoke. "The Over Limit gauge is ready. Why don't you try using the Unleashed Mode?"

"I admit we have not used that in a good time," Chris said, changing to his Beastmaster job. He brandished his whip and looked at Sonic. "Keep holding Porky while I get ready, Sonic!"

"Got it!" Sonic said, grunting loudly as he pulled back the spider mech. "G-grr!!!"

"Everyone else, take advantage of this and attack the mech! Maybe we can beat him with a single move!"

"Right!" Megaman said, standing back up to shoot more Powered Buster blasts at the machine as Sonic pulling it to the boat.

The beastmaster slashed down his whip before holding it with both hands. "O beast that roams nocturnal meadows and searches for unaware prey... I order you to listen and obey to my orders..." Small fangs stuck out from his lips as his eyes turned a wild red. "Control: Wolf!" he yelled, hitting Sonic hard with the whip to take control over him. "Release the Unleashed Mode!"

"GEEEEEEEAAAAAARRRRRRRGH!!!" Sonic howled loudly while an fiery blue aura enveloped his body, his eyes turning wilder than before. The aura then shot all around his shoulders to his arms and claws, which were pulling Porky to them.

"Pull, I say, pull!" Chris ordered, Sonic suddenly pulling the machine right close to the boat. "Pull that bastard close to us!"

"Y-you're scratching the paintwork!" Porky yelled. "I demand your dog to STOP this instant!"

After the spider mech was pulled right in front of the lookout tower, Sonic let out a fearsome growl, making the others back away a bit from him. The beastmaster, however, noticed that something had woken up inside the werehog. "(A new ability?" Chris thought. "Sonic, it's time for you to use the Were-Wallop!"

"Alright!" Sonic exclaimed, growling loudly at Porky.

"Don't let go of Porky yet! Pull a claw back to you so you can start a combo. After that, use the new technique!" He slammed down the whip's tip. "Now!"

"HAA!!!" Sonic yelled, pulling back a fist to smash it against Porky's windshield. The old kid began to panic as the werehog then began to send a flurry of punches, all of them almost shattering the window that shielded his corpse from getting hurt. With a single punch, the spider mech spun crazily in the air while Sonic winded up his right fist to his side. "GEEEEEEEEARGH!!!" he howled, uppercutting the spider mech high into the air.

The others watched amazed as the spider mech was sent into the sky. In a second, it clumsily fell back down into the lake, where Porky began to scream out of panic to put the machine back into the air. Porky began panting heavily as water fled from his windshield's cracks. "L-look at what you've done to my expensive spider mech, you mutt!" Porky complained. "B-be glad the windshield didn't get broken!" He gasped as the furious werehog extended his claws to grab the machine's claws again. "K-knock it off!"

"I'LL KNOCK YOU DOWN! GEEEEEEARGH!!!" Sonic howled, pulling up his claws to make the spider mech spin crazily once more. The werehog jumped high into the air, raising his energy-filled fists over his head. With another fearsome roar, Sonic brought his hard fists down on the machine, performing the Were-Hammer at high potency to dove Porky down into the water, causing a high amount of damage to the old kid.

"Well done!" Chris exclaimed happily as the Unleashed Mode seized to boost Sonic's power.

Sonic chuckled and gave a thumb up to Chris. "Nice teamwork, you," he said, Chris chuckling heartily at this.

Megaman stared amazed at the werehog. "T-that...was incredible," he muttered.

For their dismay, the spider mech slowly flew back to the air, Porky panting heavily as the machine barely kept flying in the same position. "I-I call dibs on you!" he demanded. "H-how the heck did you get so strong? I trained myself to get stronger!"

"Just because you train doesn't mean we'll be the same," Chris pointed out. "Also, you don't really train. You just upgrade your spider mech to do things for you..."

"L-lies, all lies!" Porky yelled, starting to deploy more Porky Bots. "I-I am stronger! Y-you can't deny that!"

Ness pressed his brow for a bit. "Can you just leave already?" he asked annoyed as everyone else stopped the Porky Bots from landing by shooting them down. "PK Flash!" Ness yelled, sending forth a green flash onto the spider mech, gradually growing in magnitude of power.

"N-no!"

Music stops

With a big explosion that radiated green flashes, all of them stopped attacking as they saw the spider mech blowing up in the air. It flew around crazily like a fly, buzzing loudly with Porky's panicked screams. "I-it's blowing up!" Lucas said.

"I-I-I hate you!" Porky yelled. "I-I-I despise you! I-I-I want you all dead someday! I-I-I'm going to get rid of you someday, Ness! A-and that vagina-y Lucas will get what he deserves for messing with my army! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" Porky yelled, momentarily stopping flying around. "Oh, this really sucks," he muttered before the spider mech blew up, turning into a big scrap of metal that rocketed towards the sky where anybody could hear Porky cursing as he disappeared from sight.

"...Is it over?" Roll asked. "Everyone, you did it again! You managed to beat that guy after all! Phew, I thought we were really going to sink for a minute there!"

They all remained silent for a while before sighing in unison. All of them sat back down, relieved that they got rid of the old kid. "W-we beat him..." Megaman muttered. "...You guys aren't thinking that innocent people died, right?"

Mario shook his head. "We don't know if there were people there to begin with. If they were...we can hope that they survived."

"I guess that's the only thing we can do for now..." Megaman muttered. "...I don't ever want to see that maniac neighbor of yours, Ness."

Lucas frowned. "B-but he always comes back somehow. He'll surely come back to try to kill us."

"Sadly, I agree," Ness muttered. "Porky is not like the guys who give up so easily."

"Like the Bonnes?" Mario asked, pointing back at the Barcon.

They all fixed their sight on the robot following the boat. By now, their arguments were starting to tire themselves out. The Bonnes didn't have more strength to keep on yelling, and this made the group get even more relieved than before. "A-and...you won't get...desserts...either..." Tron muttered, coughing afterward.

Teisel sighed and leaned against his seat. "F-finally, there isn't anymore whining in here..."

"Babu..." Bon trailed off pleased.

Tron wiped the sweat off her forehead. "Phew, I feel a bit much better now," she said. "Now, what were we doing before we got in this...bickering?"

"Babu."

"...Oh, right, we were chasing Megaman," Tron said, looking back at the screen in front of them to stare at the group. "You there! We're back in action this time! You better get ready for the worst 'cause this is the last time you wi-"

"But we thought you didn't have any means to attack us," Megaman said.

"W-we do have some others ways to attack that little boat of yours!" Teisel yelled. "Tron, we do, right?"

"N-no..." Tron muttered, trying to restrain her anger at the sad fact.

"W-we have to come up with something!" Teisel demanded. "We came all this way to do something! I shall not accept defeat!"

"Babu!" Bon said, raising his arms.

"Well said, Bon!" Teisel said. "We are the Bonne Family! We're first class pirates bent to steal treasures from all around the world! When we face trouble, we always find a way to get pass through obstacles! No matter what happens, we always escape with treasure on our hands! Our skills are unmatched, and other pirates shake in fear when they hear about us! Diggers usually scramble away to make way for us! We are the Bonne Family! We get what we want! All of you are just a bunch of rats pestering us. Just like any other group, we will crush you!"

Tron and Bon stared at Teisel with some admiration. "Teisel..." Tron muttered, her eyes filling with tears of joy.

Teisel pointed at himself with a thumb. "I AM the leader of the Bonne Family, after all. It's always me who has to bring up the family together in times of desperation. And tonight, we will achieve our goal: raid Lake Jyun's Sub-Gate and get everything out from it!"

"Babu?" Bon asked.

Teisel crossed his arms and nodded confidently. "That's right, Bon. Those guys will have to go away or else we'll unleash our full potential on them!" He pumped up a fist. "Servbots, do you hear me? We're not going to fail tonight! We shall succeed!"

"Yes, Master Teisel, sir!" the Servbots yelled with determination, ignoring the sad fact that they were stripped away from their breakfast, meal, and dinner for a month.

Teisel made a fist, pointing it at the group. "How about if you start pleading us for our mercy? We MIGHT give you some mercy!"

Tron pumped up her fists. "Teisel, you're awesome!"

"Babu!" Bon said, pumping up his fists.

Teisel began crying toon tears with his siblings. "Y-you guys...you're the best brother and sister a big brother could ask for!" He rubbed his eyes with his right arm. "Y-you're so...so awesome..."

Tron sniffed sadly. "P-please, Teisel, don't cry! You've given us hope to keep fighting on! Show us the way to victory!"

"Babu, babu, babu!" Bon said.

"I-I want to show all of you the way, but this moment is so memorable! I want to cry my eyes out so see the path clearly!" Teisel said. "J-just give me a minute here, and we will continue on!"

"Master Teisel!!!" the Servbots yelled before everyone in the began to cheer loudly.

And, as for the Smashers, who were being ignored by the Bonnes having their memorable moment of false glory...

"...Tell me they're not telling us their life story," Ness muttered in boredom.

"S-should we attack them while they're distracted?" Lucas asked.

"N-no!" Chris said. "All villains have tragic pasts to tell. We need to hear them out so we get a better understanding of them!"

Sonic looked bored at Chris. "Aren't you getting a bit into the moment yourself, Chris?"

Chris blushed and looked away. "M-maybe their determination is rubbing on me..."

"Chris, don't make me hit you in the head with my bat, then," Ness warned.

"S-sorry."

"Anyway," Megaman began, a bit freaked out at the moment, "we should do something about the Bonnes."

Mario suddenly got an idea. "In that case, wait here. I'm going back into the boat," he said, starting his way down into the boat by climbing down the inner ladder.

Several seconds later, Teisel stopped crying his tears of joy out. He chuckled to himself and pointed back to the group. "So then, how will it be this time? Are you prepared to face us, or are you prepared to run away and leave us alone? As a rule, we will give you five seconds so you can have a chance to scram!"

"Pss, Mario," Chip whispered, "do they have weapons?"

"Not really," Mario whispered. "They're just trying to look tough. They must be very delusional."

"I'll start your countdown!" Teisel warned. "Five! Four! Three! Two! On-"

At that moment, Peach peeked out from the boat and looked at the Barcon. "Oh, who are they?" she asked.

Teisel stopped counting down. Just seeing Peach's face made him stutter like an idiot. Tron and Bon exchanged glances before their big brother began to sweat bullets. "Good God Lord! I-it's Actress Peach!" he said in a high-pitched tone.

Tron knew what was going to come next. Grunting loudly, she pointed at Teisel. "Teisel, what are you doing? We can't back down after you gave us that inspirational speech!"

The leader of the family shook his head. "B-but I can't bring myself to hurt her! S-she's more valuable to me than any treasure!"

"Not this whole crap about your novel's actresses again!" Tron groaned.

Peach smiled happily. "Is it you, Teisel?"

Teisel yelped like a girl at his name being said by Peach. "O-oh my god, she knows who I am! I-I'm the happiest fan in the world!" he muttered, clapping his hands so many times (like a girl).

Tron smacked her forehead. "Who would forget you, Teisel? You just met her five hours ago! Stop acting so shocked and let's get this show on the road!"

"N-no, I can't! I just can't!" Teisel said, touching his index fingers together. "H-hurting one of my favorites actresses is like getting my hair cut off..."

"Babu?" Bon asked.

"Teisel's hair doesn't defy gravity, so don't ask stupid things, Bon!" Tron scolded, turning back to Teisel. "Look, if you don't want to go through with this, fine! I'll assume control of the Barcon!"

Teisel suddenly guarded his control panel from Tron. "I won't allow you, Tron! You dare hurt her, I'll make you regret it!"

Tron, angrily, stood up and walked to Teisel's side, trying to pull him off the control panel. "You stupid weirdo, give me your spot!" she yelled.

"No!" Teisel pleaded. "I won't let you hurt Actress Peach! I'll sacrifice my life for her if I have to!"

"That's so sweet of you, Teisel," Peach was heard saying. "But, I wouldn't like to see you dying..."

Teisel gasped. "O-oh my god, she's so sweet!" he muttered, getting inspiration to keep Tron away from the control panel. "You won't lay a missile on her, Tron! I'm warning you!"

"Dammit, Bon, help me here!" Tron demanded. "Bon!"

The poor Bon was cowering in fear on his seat. He started to get scared at the scene just ten feet away from him. "B-babu! Babu, babu!" he yelled scared.

"I will stop yelling once Teisel stops acting like a retard!"

"Babu!"

"Stop whining and help me here!" Tron struggled.

"B-baaaaaaabuuuuuuuu!" Bon cried.

"Servbots, get your darn butts over here and give me a hand!"

"B-but, Miss Tron, we're scared!" a random Servbot said underneath the floor. "We don't want to get in trouble with Master Teisel!"

"YOU'LL GET IN TROUBLE WITH ME IF YOU KEEP CRYING DOWN THERE!"

"A-aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!" all the Servbots panicked loudly, scrambling around the lower floor.

While all the commotion kept its track, the Smashers merely stared at the Barcon, where a new bickering started to erupt within its steel walls. Peach looked concerned about the Bonnes that she asked, "Is it okay for us to do this?"

Mario sighed. "I don't want to make you sad, Peach, but this had to be done."

"A-Actress Peach!" Teisel yelled. "G-get away from here! I won't let these people hurt your fresh and sweet face! T-this is your chance to live on and keep making debuts in my novels!!!"

Ness, for once, began to chuckle so loud that he started to laugh afterward. "God, these guys are hilarious!" he rejoiced. "O-oh, my funny bone! I-it hurts! A-ahahahahaha!"

Lucas looked away. "(Ness, you're freaking me out so much...)" he thought.

Sonic looked miffed at this, looking back up to Chris. "Hey, do you have any ideas about what to do with 'em?"

The beastmaster frowned. "Sonic, this is already being such a waste of time to me. If you're asking me for an idea...then I'd say that you should crush that robot with your own hands...I mean, claws."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Oh well," he muttered, getting serious before his claws extended to grab the robot by the sides. The werehog began to put a lot of pressure and force in his claws that the robot's sides began to get compressed so quickly, alarming the Servbots inside.

"M-Master Teisel, Master Bon, Miss Tron!" a random Servbot yelled. "T-the Barcon is getting compressed by that wolf monster out there, and our robot wasn't properly shielded with the best steel we have due to time constraints! A-at this rate, the Barcon will blow up!"

But his warning fell to deaf ears as there was a lot of commission in the main room of the Barcon. Teisel and Bon were cursing each other out so loudly while a scared Bon backed away to a corner, trying to make his siblings stop yelling and screaming. A red alarm soon blared off inside the Barcon as the werehog compressed the robot with his big claws. Panic kept ensuing inside the robot, and before long, it finally blew up into smitherins, Sonic pulling his claws back.

Megaman looked up in the sky where a mulitude of knocked out Servbots and the Bonnes themselves (still cursing and yelling) flew far away into the horizon, turning into a small blink of light, indicating that they were gone.

Ness's laughs subsided, replacing them with long pants. "O-oh, why did you have to end the scene so soon? I was enjoying it..." he said, sighing afterward.

Megaman placed a hand over his forehead. "I feel sorry for them. This surely wasn't their night."

"And I don't feel very happy that they left like that," Peach said preoccupied. "I'm sad that they couldn't make up..."

Sonic gasped and fell to his knees, facing the princess while joining his hands. "N-no, don't get mad at me again! I-I won't tolerate any more silent treatments! For my heart, please, don't ignore me again!"

"S-Sonic, I-I won't ignore you!" Peach said. "D-don't cry, please. E-everything will be just fine!"

While the werehog tried to convince Peach of something she wasn't even going to do, Roll looked concerned as she drove the boat ashore the Sub-Gate's isle. "This is bad..." she muttered.

"Hey, Roll, why did we stop here?" Megaman asked.

"Megaman, I have some bad news," Roll said. "Apparently, the damage we took on that battle debilitated the boat's functions more than I imagined it could take. Fortunately, I can fix it up, but it will take a lot of time to do so... Thanks to all that, if I continue to drive the boat, it could sink, and we could end up drowning."

"That's bad to know..."

"Unfortunately, we'll have to stay here for a little while longer," Roll said. "However, since we're stuck here, why don't you guys get started on exploring the Sub-Gate?" she suggested. "While you're checking it out, I'll be fixing up the boat."

"But we're tired," Megaman said.

"O-oh, I can heal everyone," Chris offered.

Peach raised her hand. "I know how to heal as well."

"If we combine forces, we could heal everyone completely in a matter of time," Chris said. "And we could be ready to explore the Sub-Gate as well."

"Just having all of you with us makes everything easier," Roll said with a pleased sigh.

An hour later...

After healing everyone, Megaman and his group stepped out from the boat, standing over the grassy patch on the isle. They all looked at the yellow dome in front of them, which Megaman went to inspect to insert his Digger license. The mechanical door beeped a few times, then it slowly opened, revealing an elevator waiting for them to use.

"...What is this?" Kawashima said. "E-everyone, there are Subspace readings coming from the Sub-Gate!"

"What?" Mario said. "Does that mean they're inside?"

"Yes," the professor said. "If my assumptions are right, they could be looking for the Shamar Temple. And, just maybe, it could reside deep within the Sub-Gate..."

Chip looked serious. "My future is waiting to be answered inside these ruins," he muttered. "Guys, help me to Chipminate this!"

"You mean, blow it up?" Ike asked.

[DededeCloneChris]

"No, when I say Chipminate, I mean investigate," Chip said, receiving bored looks from everyone. "What?"

"I can't really get the true meaning of that made-up word..." Chris said.

Chip chuckled. "You see, Chipminate has many different meanin-"

"That you only understand," Sonic said.

"Yes."

"Hmmmmmmm..." most of them grumbled in unison.

Megaman turned to the boat. "Is it okay for you to work in fixing the boat while you give us pointers, Roll?"

"Yeah, don't worry," Roll said, peeking out from the boat's door. "I can multitask pretty easily by myself. You don't have to worry too much, Megaman."

Big peeked out his face from the other side. "Besides, I'll give her some company. I don't like to explore ruins at night."

"Sub-Gates oftenly have illumination," Megaman said. "Hopefully, this one has its own one."

"But Kawashima just said that the Subspace Army could be waiting for us inside," Chris said. "And there might be a chance that Froggy is there."

Big's ears perked up a bit. "Froggy is inside?" he asked.

"Maybe?"

The purple cat jumped out from the boat and walked towards them. "In that case, I want to go."

Peach chuckled heartily. "I admire Big's determination to find his little lost friend," she commented.

"Heheheh, I'll do anything to rescue Froggy," Big said pleased, blushing a bit.

"Oh well," said Roll as Data peeked out from her back, "Data here will give me some company. Did you ask him to heal your blue suit, Megaman?"

"He already did," Data said. "Megaman is all set to go, uki!"

Megaman nodded. "We're ready to start the exploration," he said, turning to face the Sub-Gate. "Wish us good luck."

Chris walked to Roll and handed over Eggy to her hands. "You take care of Eggy. I can't take him with me in a place where robots will try to hit me."

Roll looked at the egg. "...Okay...I'll take care of this...Eggy..." she trailed off as Chris went back to the group.

Ike looked serious. "I don't like where this is going, so we better be prepared for what's to come."

Lucas gulped and took out Rope Snake. "Y-you stay with me so I can get moral support," he told the snake.

"Yep," Rope Snake said. "You do all the fighting while I sit back and relax."

"Y-yes, of course..."

...

"...What?"

"Lucas!" Ness yelled from the elevator, everyone else already waiting for the clueless Lucas. "We're going to leave you if you don't hurry!"

The blond kid blinked surprised at them, Rope Snake hiding inside his pocket. "H-how did you get there so..." The elevator started moving down, alarming Lucas. "H-hey, please, wait!" he yelled, running inside the dome where the door closed slowly while he jumped down to catch up with everyone.

Roll and Data kept staring at the dome before the engineer cleared her throat and kept Eggy in her pockets. "I better get started on the reparations. Data, you assist me," she said.

"Alright," Data said, holding a screwdiver and some screws on his little hands. He also wore a small yellow helmet (which seemed very familiar to many but Roll) when Roll noticed.

Suddenly, the sonar began to make sounds, locating several energy readings coming from further inside the Sub-Gate...

Lake Jyun - Sub Gate

Megaman Legends/64 - Main Gate

Once the elevator touched the cold floor, the group stepped off from it, finding themselves standing in a tight room where the walls had a crystalline blue and light blue color. For Big's relief, there was illumination to enlight the way.

"Well, here we are," Megaman said. "This place is probably much different than the previous Sub-Gate."

In front them, there waited some double doors that they crossed. Once they did so, they turned to the left, walked, and turned to the right to find a wider area. "So far, no Reaverbots..." Ness muttered.

Big looked down at the floor. "Huh? What's that shadow thing coming out from the floor?"

They all turned their attention to the floor where a familiar monster came out and screeched loudly at them, making everyone plug their ears. The monster stopped screeching and dangerously walked towards them.

"A-a Nightmare!" Chris yelped.

"A Nightmare?" Megaman asked.

Before anything else could be asked, Sonic growled angrily and tossed and flying punch at the monster, crushing it against the wall behind it. The Nightmare screamed in pain before vanishing into spores of darkness, also releasing red orbs that somehow flew into Sonic. The werehog blinked at this, feeling as if his body had gained a small amount of power.

Megaman, still confused, repeated his question. "What was that monster just now? I know it was something called a 'Nightmare' because you said so, but...you know them?"

"Well..." Sonic trailed off, "we know those monsters because they're plaguing worlds where the temples can be found."

"They only decide to appear during the night, though," Ike said. "If you don't bother them, they'll just patrol their surroundings without making a ruckus. If you got in their path, they will start to attack you."

"They relate to me in some way," Chip said. "They're my brother's henchmen."

"Your brother?" Megaman questioned.

"A big deity of darkness who's trying to bring darnation and annihilation upon Sonic's world and the other worlds as well," Chris said. "And no, that thing doesn't EVEN look like Chip at all."

Chip grinned coolly. "My brother didn't get the handsome looks of our father," he said.

"Chip, I'd like you to stop talking before we ask who your parents are," Sonic said. "But what I want to ask is this: what were those red orbs that flew into my body?"

"If seems those red orbs helped you to get closer to obtain a new technique, Sonic," Kawashima said. "I can safely assume that you get stronger the more creatures like the Nightmares you defeat. Collect those red orbs to unlock more abilities."

The werehog stared blankly at Chris. "Why the hell did that sound like a video game tutorial just now? Oh...wait...never mind," he said.

Megaman looked a bit stern. "Hey, don't leave me in the dark. I want to know more about these Nightmares."

"That's all we know about them," Chris said worried. "Whatever you do when you spot one, don't try to pick a fight with them."

"But that monster came out and attacked us!"

"But in this case...we'll have to go forward and fight them," Chris said. "We're so many, so I don't think we'll have much problems with them."

"Megaman!" Roll began to talk. "Megaman, this is bad!"

"Roll, what is it?" Megaman asked. "Are there any problems with the boat?"

"No, that's not it," Roll said. "I'm detecting several strange energy signals all over the Sub-Gate. Those very same signals aren't Reavebots but...something else I can't put my finger on..."

"...More Nightmares," Mario muttered, "and maybe even more different kinds of them."

Megaman shook his head. "Roll, everything is fine. We'll proceed through and take down anything in our way to the refractor."

"Are you sure? The readings are quite strong..." Roll trailed off. "...Alright, I'll trust you, everyone. Be extremely careful, okay? I'll warn you if there are enemies nearby."

The blue boy crossed his arms and thought for a bit. "Things are getting pretty irratic ever since all of you came here."

"I can't say for sure that we bring trouble to you," Mario said. "These events were going to take place even if we weren't here. And if you had to face all those obstacles alone..."

"I guess you're right... Sorry for that," Megaman said. "Well, if you guys are ready, let's move on."

"By the way, Megaman," Roll began, "I'm detecting some small energy readings hidden within treasure chests. It might be possible that there are Starter Keys scattered all over the place. I suggest that you find all of them before going further into the ruins."

"More of those keys," Peach said. "Let's do our best."

"I-I'll shield you while we do our best," Luigi offered, standing next to Peach.

After proceeding through a corridor, the group reached another wide room where four Reaverbots itched closer to them. The Reaverbots had red bodies with cream legs and heads with a thing prong for each one of them, sporting the Reaverbot eye on their heads.

"R-Reaverbots!" Lucas yelped as most of them assumed their positions.

"Even though those creatures are dwelling around the ruins, the Reaverbots are still patrolling," Megaman said. "Don't get careless, everybody. These Reaverbots are the most basic of them all."

"Those are called Red Zakobons," Roll said. "Zakobons are the most common type of enemies you'd find in a Sub-Gate anywhere. However, Red Zakobons are stronger versions of the common Zakobon. They like to ram themselves against their enemies, and they also shoot fireballs from behind their feet. As a little side note, they're also called Horokkos."

The four Red Zakobons raised their legs to reveal holes between them. They all shot four fireballs to them all, making them gasp. Mario reacted quickly and stepped in front of them, taking out his cape to reflect the fireballs back at the Reaverbots, successfully hitting them straight on. The Reaverbots began to get fire, making them all run amok by sliding around the floor.

"M-Mario, I think that was a bad idea!" Luigi said as everyone began to dodge the ramming attacks.

"I-I'm sorry for that mistake," Mario said, jumping over a flaming Red Zakobon.

Ike, however, stopped dodging to sweep his sword around, managing to hit two incoming Red Zakobons to crush them. Upon getting rid of two, the Greil Mercenary used a Quick Draw to tear apart one that was going to crash against Big, who snuck over a corner and ducked to take cover.

And Sonic just crushed the last one with a free claw. Yes, nothing so surprising like Ike did.

"Hey!" Sonic yelled to no one in particular.

Kirby sighed. "Thank you, Ike," he thanked Ike.

"Well, that was a first," Megaman said. "I never knew they could go crazy if they get themselves on fire."

"I'll think carefully about reflecting attacks next time," Mario said.

Megaman looked to the east where a treasure chest rested idly. "Ooh, I'll see if there's a Starter Key over there," he said, walking over to open the chest. He opened and took out more machine parts. "False alarm, but still useful," he said, keeping the parts away.

"Everyone," Roll began, "I'm detecting some Reaverbots waiting to ambush you across the double doors," she said as everyone turned to the west, spotting said double doors.

"I don't know if it was better not to known if they were going to ambush us," Ness said. "Even if we know they're going to ambush us, how the heck are we going to avoid an ambush?"

"By not entering?" Big asked.

"Yes, but we don't have any choice," Megaman said. "Let's get ambushed."

"You don't know how twisted that sounded just now," Chris said with a sigh.

The group crossed the double doors.

And they were ambushed by six short-legged robots that had their bodies flat, resembling big mouths to chow down their trespassers. The Reaverbots walked towards them as if they were crocodiles. Megaman grunted and began firing energy spheres from his Mega Buster, not doing any damage to the Reaverbots. The others began to attack them with long-range attacks, but none of them seemed to work. "Roll, these Reaverbots can't stop moving towards us! We can't hurt them!"

"Those must be Kurugurus," Roll said. "Watch out for their mouths! They can actually hurt you pretty badly!"

"Tips, dangit, give us any tips to hurt them!" Ness asked.

"If you want to hurt them, you have to flip them over," Roll said. "Their upper body is heavily-armored, but they're extremely vulnerable from their lower parts."

"How do we flip them over if they charge at us?" Chip asked.

Suddenly, one of the Kurugurus that Megaman was shooting at flipped over by itself. It budged its six legs, trying to get back on its feet. The blue boy took quick action and fire a Powered Buster shot, blowing the Reaverbot to bits. "It flipped over?" Megaman asked.

"I think multiple shots force them to flip themselves," Mario said. "Let me try," he said, shooting several fireballs at a charging Kuruguru. The Reaverbot, after receiving eight fireballs, flipped over by itself. Sonic then took advantage and slammed down both of his fists, obliterating the Reaverbot. "Just as I expected. They flip over if they receive too many hits."

"Thunder Flare!" Peach suddenly shouted, shoving a blue sphere of magic towards the four remaining Kurugurus. A big of circling sparks suddenly appeared between the Reaverbots, delivering many hits that forced to flip over. Since the sphere didn't stop, it began to damage their lower parts, making them explode into bits as the sparks vanished.

"Nice," Sonic muttered, grinning to Peach.

The princess chuckled heartily. "Oh, please, don't look at me like that," she said embarrassed.

"We took care of the Kuru..Kuru...something, Roll," Megaman said embarrassed, looking around the wide corridor where he spotted a corridor on each side of the walls and a set of double doors in front of them.

"Megaman, I'm detecting three Starter Keys nearby," Roll said. "They seem to be dividing in three different ways: one is to the south, one to the west, and one to the north."

"I think I have a pretty good guess why they're around," Megaman said. "Everyone, we need to divide into three groups and find those keys. My group will go forward, one will go to the left corridor, and the other one will go to the right corridor."

Mario, Luigi, and Peach decided to join Megaman. Sonic, Ness, Chip, and Big made the second group, and Ike, Chris, Lucas, and Kirby made the last one.

"We'll be okay from here," Ike reassured Megaman.

"I'm a bit worried, but let's do it," Sonic said, smacking his fists together.

All three groups divided by going through the three different ways. Fortunately, for Sonic's and Ike's groups, they were going to deal with a few problems on their ways to the Starter Keys.

But for Megaman's group, things were going to get dangerous.

The blue boy's group proceeded through the west, crossing the double doors to the next area. They all now were standing in front of a water veil that shielded the next big area crossing it. "Huh?" Roll sounded confused. "MegaMan, what can you see up there? I'm not picking anything up on my monitor..."

"What do you mean, Roll?" Megaman asked. "Wasn't this place getting full with those strange energy readings?"

"Yeah, but there were some waiting close to where all of you are," she said. "But...they suddenly vanished as if they were defeated by something else. Moreover, they all got taken out at the same time, and they were separated... I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about this... Please, proceed with caution, Megaman. We don't know what's in there."

Luigi gulped and grabbed Peach's left arm. "D-don't say anything else! I-I want to get out of here right now!"

"Luigi, calm down," Mario said. "Unlike the Nightmares, we know how to think. That gives us a big advantage."

"Y-yes, but..."

"Everything will be okay, Luigi," Peach reassured the green plumber. "Have some confidence, okay?"

While Luigi nodded, Megaman looked away in boredom. "(Who's the one getting protected here again?)" he asked to himself. "Well, let's step inside the room. From the looks of it, it's big."

Mario walked to the water veil, crossing his head through it to see the room. The room surely was the biggest place in the whole set of ruins since it had about four different levels of height spread all over it. There were also three more water veils covering some doors. "It looks safe for now," Mario said, crossing the veil completely. "Come on out," he told everyone.

Megaman smiled and walked through the veil while Peach and Luigi followed suit. After jumping down three floors below, they walked to the center, stepping on the water-soaked floor. "Megaman, everyone, be careful," Roll said.

"You worry too much, Roll," Megaman said chuckling. "Trust us when I'm saying that we're going to be fin-"

At that moment, the Mushroom Kingdom residents gasped as Megaman was pushed against the wall by no reason at all. The blue boy grunted in pain as he stood back up to his feet. "W-what was that?!" Luigi asked.

"S-something just rammed an iron claw against my face and I got pushed to the wall," Megaman said, looking around the room. "B-but I didn't see anything doin-ugh!" he grunted in pain as he was punched in his gut before being kicked hard on his chest, falling down to the floor. "H-hey, this isn't funny!" he complained.

Mario began to hear some footsteps nearby. "Something is here... Wait, no...there are more of them...and they're walking towards us..."

Luigi began to sweat bullets. "W-who are attacking us like that?" he asked.

"There must be invisible enemies in that room," Roll said. "Whatever they are, don't get hurt! Try to find a way to blow away their cover to know where they are!"

"T-then let's do this!" Megaman said, shooting around the area with his Mega Buster. At first, firing randomly seemed pointless, but suddenly, a shot connected against something in midair, and a Reaverbot appeared before them. "T-that's the thing that attacked us!"

"It's one of those Reaverbots we found at the Sub-Gate of the forest," Mario said. "But this one is blue..."

"An Invisible Sharukurusu," Roll said. "It has the capability to camouflage in water-soaked environments like the room where you are."

Without previous warning, the Invisible Sharukurusu charged at the mushroom trio. Mario looked serious and stood in front of Peach (and Luigi), shoving forward a fire-concentrated hand to deliver fire into the robot. The Reaverbot was pushed back, shooting sparks from the blow it received from the red plumber.

"I-I've got to do this as well," Luigi said. "I-I'll use my Thunderhand!" he said, charging forward to the stunned Reaverbot. "H-hey, you, w-we're not finished!"

Peach clasped her hands together at this display of courage. "Oh, Luigi..." she trailed off with happiness.

"(I-I can pull this one by myself. I really can do it!)" Luigi rejoiced mentally, charging towards the Sharukurusu. "(P-Peach will admire me after this. I-I know she will!) I-its Luigi Time, everybod-"

His charge of bravery, however, was soon interrupted as a metalic claw slammed right into his face, forcing him to fall down on his back.

"...WHY MUST I GET THIS KIND OF TREATMENT WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT?! WHY?!" Luigi cried loudly before breaking into tears, much for Mario's dismay, who finished the robot off with another fire blow.

Peach gasped and ducked down to calm Luigi down. In the meantime, Mario and Megaman shielded both of them from any Invisible Sharukurusus. "There are more of them around," Mario said. "Let's hear them out so we can find them, okay?"

The two remained silent to hear the Reaverbots' footsteps. Upon hearing one coming from behind a high floor, Megaman turned to the left and shot a Powered Buster blast, managing to blow an invisible Reaverbot against the wall. The camouflage lowered down, revealing a Sharukurusu. "There's one!" Megaman said, finishing it off with another Powered Buster blast. "Man, this weapon does come in handy," he said.

"Don't let your guard down yet," Mario said as his eyes looked around the area. "There are more of them lurking nearby."

Just then, Megaman spotted several movements on the water, leaving behind splashes. "There is another one!" he yelled, firing a Powered Buster blast. The explosion pushed down a Sharukurusu, its camouflage malfunctioning. Megaman finished it off with another blast, destroying it to bits.

Suddenly, around the four, a few drops of water rose up a bit, indicating that three Sharukurusus were going to leap at them. "Quick, attack!" Mario warned Megaman. Both began to shoot fireballs and blast attacks, successfully pushing all three Reaverbots down. When their camouflages malfunctioned, Megaman quickly disposed of all of them with his Powered Buster.

They all remained silent, waiting to hear footsteps coming at their way. As they expected, footsteps were heard coming from the north and south. "There are more of them..." Peach muttered.

Luigi stood up and wiped out his tears. "I-I'm ready this time," he said. "I-I can do this."

"Megaman?" Chris's voice echoed. "Mario, where are you?"

From the north, Ike's group came in with Lucas holding a Starter Key. The former four sighed in relief after seeing them back. "Everything went well with you?" Megaman asked.

"We encountered a few Nightmares on our way here," Ike said. "We managed to beat them all, though."

"B-but they were hiding across the corners," Lucas muttered. "One of them even leaped on Ike..."

"Good thing he acted fast," Chris said. "That monster was about to dig its claws on his back."

"But he has that cape to protect his back," Kirby said happily.

"I doubt my cape will protect me of their pincers, Kirby..." Ike trailed off. "Anyway, have you found your Starter Key?" he asked as Lucas gave the key to Megaman.

"We were ambushed by some invisible Reaverbots," Peach said. "Luckily, Megaman and Mario destroyed them."

Luigi sniffed mentally. "(I could've been mentioned as well if I hadn't been attacked.)"

Kirby showed Megaman a ring. "I found this in a hole on the wall," he said, giving the ring to Megaman. The ring itself was actually very valuable. It had a perfectly polished sapphire on top of it.

Megaman smiled at it. "(I'm going to give the ring to Roll. She'll like it for sure,)" he said.

Luigi overheard some arms stretching all the way over a high floor. The green plumber looked up to see Sonic opening a treasure chest on top of the highest platform of the room. "H-hey, Sonic!"

"Man, more machine parts," Sonic said, taking out some parts from the treasure chest. "Here I thought I was going to find all three keys..."

"Sonic!"

Sonic's ears perked up a bit and he looked down. "It's you guys!" he yelled, jumping all the way down to them. "Did you find the last key?"

"The last key? Does that mean you found two keys?" Megaman asked.

The werehog grinned and showed him a Starter Key. "Found this one at the end of the south corridor," he said. "The others went to get another one behind me... By the way, here," he said as he gave Megaman two different sets of machine parts. "Are ALL ruins full of machine parts?"

"No..." Megaman said as he kept all items with him. "But, really, you guys should really consider careers as Diggers."

"Maybe, but we have other things to do," Mario said.

From the south, Ness, Big, and Chip came to them, holding the last Starter Key on Chip's hands. "Alright, we got all three keys," Ness said. "Are there any more?"

"I'm not picking up more faint signals, but I can still pick some strong ones due west of your position," Roll said. "You surely got all the Starter Keys by now."

"All that's left to find is the refractor itself," Megaman said, spotting yet another set of double doors high up on the floor. "If we follow that way, we could end up stumbling upon it."

"...Huh?" Roll sounded confused. "Hey, Megaman, I'm spotting a huge concentration of energy coming from the west part of the ruins. Oh my goodness, it's huge!"

"I-is it bad or good?" Luigi asked.

"I can't tell, but is neither a Reaverbot or one of those weird creatures," Roll said. "Looks like there's something else beyond..."

Ike rubbed his chin, thinking about a possibility. "Could it be a Temple of Gaia is in here?" He looked at Chip. "What do you think?"

"I think that could be true," Chip said. "There isn't anything else that gives out a lot of energy than a Temple of Gaia. If that's true, we must hurry and head down...I mean, up there!"

"W-wait!" Roll interrupted. "T-this is so weird, but there seems to be people in the ruins as well!"

"There are...what?" Megaman said. "Roll, are you sure?"

"Y-yeah, I'm sure of it," Roll said. "I'm picking up human life signals coming from the same direction of that huge energy concetntration!"

"Damn, how many things can you pick up?" Sonic asked surprised.

"I'm an expert in these kinds of things," Roll boasted. "My sonar can detect almost any kind of readings and signals. I can even pick up your life signals. It's very useful when there are Diggers held captive by Reaverbots... Do you think there are more Diggers here?"

Megaman looked skeptical. "I dunno," he said. "If there were, we should've found a boat outside, or maybe they found another way in through the Kattelox Ruins?"

"There are other ways to get in here?" Peach asked.

"Apparently, Sub-Gates are connected together through a big network of ruins under Kattelox Island," Roll said. "However, such entrances are hard to find... Everyone, you must go and find out what's happening."

"Either way, we will ALWAYS go where something big is going on," Sonic said bored.

After the group climbed the high floors and reached the double doors, they all went to the other side.

"...Wow," was all the Lucas could say.

The corridor that they had entered into was completely different. Instead of the crystalline blue walls, they were all standing between water walls that had some special kind of Reaverbots swimming in them. Those very same Reaverbots were green and had crocodile-shaped bodies. Like all other Reaverbots, they had the Reaverbot eye mark as their own eyes.

"Oh, crap," Sonic said, staring into the water walls where he inserted a finger through them before taking it out. "This is what happens when physics get screwed up and water stays still in one place. You don't really wanna mess with them." He turned to Megaman to talk to Roll. "Or is there some kind of explanation for this?"

"Sure," Roll said. "...Um...you see...well...there is this...oh...ah...h-hahaha..."

"..."

"...I've got no clue."

"Thought so," Sonic said.

"What? There's no explanation for these big cubes of water being like this, then?" Ike asked.

Ness faked a sigh of relief. "You've got to love when fantasy is involved. It's real, so everything can happen."

Chris frowned. "Even though I like fantasy so much, don't say it with sarcasm, Ness."

"Shut it, fantasy boy," Ness teased.

"Y-you're the one who comes from a place where trashcans supposedly have evil hearts!"

"...Touche."

Luigi stared at the Reaverbots swimming through the water cubes (the explanation for the water cubes being heavily discouraged to talk about). "T-those robots look nasty to me... I hope they don't come on out and attack us."

And they did, doing so by swimming out from the cubes and landing on the soaked floor, roaring angrily at them.

"...I-I said I was hoping for them NOT to come on out!" Luigi complained to the ceiling. "Are you deaf?!"

No.

"A-answer me! Are you deaf?!" he argued.

Megaman, despite the fact they were being ambushed by four Reaverbots, tapped Mario's shoulder. "What's happening to him? Who's he trying to talk to?"

"I have no idea," Mario said while everyone prepared themselves for the incoming Reaverbots. "I have no idea at all."

"Watch out," Roll began, "you're being ambushed (you get ambushed a lot of times, now that I think about it) by Firushudots. They not only attack with their powerful jaws, but they also release sonar waves if you happen to be far away from them!"

"What are sonar waves?" Chip asked curiously.

His question was answered as soon as the Firushudots opened their jaws, releasing energy circles out that went towards them. They all yelled at this and stepped aside to dodge the attacks, which ended up creating a big explosion after crashing against the wall.

"T-those are sonar waves, I think..." Big said, cowering in fear on a corner.

"These punks are gonna get destroyed NOW!" Sonic roared as he leaped between the four Firushudots. The four Reaverbots turned to him and released multiple sonar waves. The werehog grinned at this and quickly shot his claws up the ceiling to evade the waves, which not only failed to hurt Sonic, but ended up colliding against the Firushudots themselves. The magnitude of their attacks was too much for them to take that made them explode. "Oh yeah, that's how things roll my way!" Sonic said, holding himself on the ceiling before falling back down.

"Very good job," Chris remarked. "I just noticed that we're doing very good progress..."

"We'll finish exploring this place at this rate," Ike said. "Let's keep on going with our pace."

Megaman looked forward. He found out that the corridor had two other passages on each side, just between water cubes. "Hey, Roll, there are more passages in here."

"Don't lose your time with those," Roll said. "They lead to the Kattelox Ruins."

"Oh, okay."

"Just continue forward... The refractor is very close now!" Roll said surprised. "Just a few minutes, Megaman, and you'll get the refractor. Maybe it could be even more powerful to repair the Flutter for real this time!"

Megaman pumped up a fist. "Alright, I like how that sounds. Everyone, le-"

"H-hold on, Megaman!" Roll yelled. "Be careful, there's a big energy reading in your place!"

"Where?"

"On the other side of the corridor!"

Kirby gasped and pointed forward. "L-look over there!" he yelled.

Sonic Unleashed - Werehog Mini Boss

Everyone looked to the other side of the corridor where a huge circle of darkness appeared on the floor. Suddenly, from inside the void, a huge figure jumped out, creating a small tremble that shook the water a bit. The group gasped as the shadow before them roared furiously at them, standing on the same spot. The creature was one of Dark Gaia's highest ranked enemies. It was big, surpassing any of them all in terms of height. The monster had a dopey figure with big feet, arms, and a big belly (which was the same place where its mouth was). It also had curved horns on top of its head, with red glowing eyes staring at the Smashers.

"W-what the hell is that thing?" Megaman asked.

"That's a Big Mother," Kawashima said.

"A Big Mother?" Chris repeated.

"They are the most dangerous creatures that work under Dark Gaia," he said. "Big Mothers have a lot of health, and they have rather slow but powerful attacks. Also, be careful when fighting them because they oftenly spurt out Rex monsters."

"Rex monsters?"

At that moment, the Big Mother spat out from her stomach six little, green creatures that had dinosaur heads and small bodies, which had a line of spikes running on their small backs. They all shrieked out loudly and fixed their red eyes on the group.

"Those are Rexes?" Chris asked.

"Yes, you have to get rid of them as you fight the Big Mother. Focus first on the Big Mother so she doesn't spurt out more Rexes!"

"...How do you know all this information?"

"I secretly download the data you have on your Wii to know everything I have to know."

"..."

"Hello? The Big Mother and Rexes?"

Sonic smacked his fists together. "Let's make a head-on attack together!" he yelled, rushing towards the Big Mother.

A problem soon surged out because of the fact that nobody followed Sonic. In fact, they all remained behind as the werehog began to smash the Rexes by himself.

"It's so nice to think that he does all the job for us," Ness said. "Chip, I'm glad to say you raised your dog to be a very good ally."

Chip crossed his arms and nodded. "He grows too fast... I'm so proud of him..." he muttered with a sniff before he began to sob on Peach's shoulder.

Chris shifted his eyes with discomfort. "Are we sure that we should leave all the work to Sonic? He might get hurt if we don't help him out."

"Oh, thank you, Chris," Ness said bored, pointing towards Sonic who was getting covered by the six Rexes. "You just had to go and say that. You do know irony likes to mess around with us a lot, don't you?"

"I-I was just..."

"Would you guys get over here and help me?!" Sonic demanded, trying to shake off the Rexes. "Didn't I say that we should do a head-on attack together or what?!"

"I-I'm coming!" Peach yelled, carefully raising her skirt a bit so it wouldn't touch the water.

Seeing this, Mario turned to Luigi. "Where Peach goes, we will go as well," he said.

"D-duh! She can't go into some battle without us!" Luigi said. "L-let's go!"

Once the two plumbers rushed to their princess' aid, Chris turned to Megaman and bowed. "I'm very attached to Peach as a friend, so I need to put my butt out there and help her...sadly," he said, turning to rush with the others.

Kirby turned and looked up at Megaman. "Me too," he simply said, turning back and running towards the battle.

Ness and Lucas looked at the blue boy. "We better go there so they don't think we're lazy," Ness said.

Lucas chuckled nervously. "C-can I make an excuse and say my ankle twisted so I can stay behind?"

"It's too late for that. Also, you promised you were going to be brave, Lucas."

The blond kid gasped. "W-well, y-yes, I said that, I think..."

"So now, I'll make sure you keep it."

"I-I knew you and my brother were the same in some aspects!" Lucas complained.

"Stop whining and get moving!" Ness yelled, starting to run to the battle with a worried Lucas following.

Ike sighed. "I might as well join them. After all, I'm the one holding a legendary sword. I shouldn't let it go to waste this time," he said before he ran to the Big Mother.

Megaman blinked and turned to Big and Chip. "...What about you two?" he asked.

"As Light Gaia, you all are my guardians," Chip said. "You don't want a deity getting killed, right?"

"And I hate battles," Big simply stated.

"..." Megaman merely frowned at this and rushed to the Smashers' aid, leaving the cat and the imp behind.

Chip folded his arms behind his head and lied down on top of Big's head. "You've got to love when you're a super ultra special deity in danger, right?"

Big chuckled. "Yeah, I love that."

Back at the fight...

"Leave my little wolf alone!" Chris yelled as he rushed in, laching down his whip on the Rexes on top of Sonic. Because the shadow creatures were considered monsters, his attacks ended up hurting them so much that they all backed away and lied down dead. All six Rexes vanished from sight, making Sonic sigh in relief. "Oh, yes, my attacks deal more damage on monsters..."

Some red orbs jumped out from the Rexes' deceased bodies and shot to Sonic, giving him some strength as he got up from the floor. "Ugh, thanks," Sonic thanked Chris as the others caught up with them. They all faced the Big Mother, which spat eight Rexes out. "More of them?" he asked in disbelief.

"I always wonder how those big enemies can make more smaller enemies like that," Ness said. "It's like there's some unlimited void full of them."

Around this time, Peach was already preparing a summon. She clasped her hands together as magic rose up from the floor. "Please, don't get hurt... Deathblow!" she chanted loudly, her voice echoing in the corridor.

At first, nothing even happened. The Rexes shrieked out angrily and rushed towards the group. Peach shook her head in shame and looked around for any signs of a summoned creature, but nothing appeared. "U-um, Peach, are you sure you chanted it right?" Luigi asked.

"I-I'm pretty sure I did," Peach said worried.

Lucas began to hear some rushing footsteps coming from behind them. He turned around and gasped to see a moogle riding on top of a chocobo's back. "T-there!" he warned everyone, who stepped out of the way to let the chocobo trample over the Rexes. As it pushed the creatures away, it continued its way to the Big Mother, eventually (and comically) crashing into it. A big boom sign (literally) came out from the crash, and the moogle fell off the chocobo.

Dazzled, the moogle didn't recover, but the chocobo came back and picked it up with its beak before disappearing from sight. The others watched the whole scene from their spots as the Rexes pushed themselves back up to their feet.

"...I hate to say this, but that summon looked a bit pathetic and weak," Ike said.

Peach, however, didn't look that ashamed. After seeing the chocobo and the moogle, she sighed relieved. "Those creatures looked very cute, though," she commented. "Don't you think so, Mario, Luigi?"

"Y-yes, they looked very cute," Luigi said, agreeing with Mario.

"I'm going to try to summon them more often from now on," Peach said a bit determined. "I'm sure they can improve."

"Yeah, they can," Sonic said. "However, do I have to remind you that we're still fighting a supposedly female monster and her pets?"

"And I'm the only one here shooting them down!" Megaman complained as he shot the Rexes away. "Some five or more helping hands wouldn't be so bad to have right now!"

"Our main target is the Big Mother," Ike said. "We need to take her down first so she doesn't make more of these pigs!"

"I believe they're called Rex."

"Whatever, they look like pigs from a distance to me," Chris said. "Leave those monsters to me!"

"Let's rush in!" Sonic yelled as he, Mario, Ike, and Megaman rushed to the Big Mother while the others fought the Rexes.

The Big Mother grew upset after seeing the four coming towards it. It slowly raised her arms to prepare to push them away. Ike wanted to deal a fast blow, using a fully charged Quick Draw to make it tumble back. The Big Mother roared angrily and tried to crush the mercenary by swinging down her arms, but Ike ducked in time and backed away for Megaman to shoot several Powere Buster blasts on her head, causing smoke to blind her vision.

Sonic then crashed a big fist against her stomach, feeling its skin a bit too thick. "I knew she had a thick stomach," he said, pulling back his fist.

"I'll heat up her stomach," Mario said as he began shooting fireballs to her stomach, causing it to get bright red. The Big Mother roared in pain, swinging its big arms around in a panic. "I think tonight is not my night..." he muttered.

"First, your brother complains that it's not his day, then you're the one complaining next," Sonic said. "Meh, I think you just have some bad luck. Nothing to worry about that much."

"Yes, you're, right," Mario said.

Megaman and Ike backed away to them, their sight fixed on the rampant Big Mother. "Do you think that attack made her lose her composure out of pain?" Megaman asked.

"Y-you guys!" Chris called over where he whipped down a leaping Rex. "An Over Limit is ready to be used now!"

"What is an Over Limit thing?"

The Big Mother stopped panicking and roared at the four. Ike turned to Mario. "Can I have this honor, please?"

"Please do," Mario said.

"Thank you," Ike thanked before he raised Ragnell above him. "For Crimea!" he called out, summoning a rainbow aura that pushed the air around him away. Megaman watched surprised as the Greil Mercenary radiated with some strong energy. The blue boy even saw Ike's eyes shining a bright yellow. In a second, Ike rushed towards the Big Mother, holding Ragnell with both of his hands.

Sonic sighed and frowned. "I want to restore the Chaos Emeralds' power as soon as possible," he muttered. "I miss turning into Super Sonic so much these days..."

Megaman looked at Mario. "Is there anything else you have to say besides the fact Ike turned into some kind of rainbow light bulb out of a yell he did?"

"That's probably everything we can tell you," Mario said. "If there's anything else, we'll let you know... Oh, wait, we can perform combined attacks with each other."

Megaman turned towards Ike's direction. The blue boy watched as the Big Mother brought its arms up over its head, ready to crush Ike. "I-Ike, watch out!" Megaman yelled.

His warning was left unattended as Ike sliced and pushed up the Big Mother into the air with a trail of fire. The Big Mother began to spin madly in the air, and Ike jumped at it where he began to slash it furiously with Ragnell. Mario, Sonic, and Megaman even saw some blazing fire appearing over Ike and the Big Mother. "Great...AETHEEEEEEEEEEER!!!" Ike yelled loudly as he harshly slashed the night creature. He momentarily stopped to raise Ragnell over him and slam it down on the Big Mother, which resulted in both of them descending upon the floor.

Once Ike and his opponent landed, a big explosion of fire made the Big Mother yell out loudly in searing pain. The Greil Mercenary backstepped away to wait for the creature to get up.

The creature slowly tried to get up, but it then fell back down and began to vanish in red orbs of energy. The same orbs bounced along the floor before shooting into Sonic's chest, giving him a small feeling of power building in his body.

Music stops

And with a shout from Lucas yelling "PK Fire!" on one last Rex that burst into red orbs, the battle had ended. The red orbs that had been lying down on the floor shot towards Sonic while they all gathered once more.

"Nice," Ness said. "Not even that thing and her(?) pets from the underworld could stop us."

Big and Chip reunited with the group. "You guys were awesome as always," Chip said.

"Yep, they sure were. I'm glad you didn't have much trouble despite the situation," Roll said. "I have good news: I'm picking up a refractor's signal very close to your location, and it seems to be a bigger one than the one we got yesterday! It should be beyond the corridor where you are."

They all turned to the set of double doors that the Big Mother was protecting. "Nobody has anything to say, right? Then let's go," Megaman said, nodding with everyone else.

They all crossed the water-soaked floor and the set of double doors.

And, after crossing them all...

[DededeCloneChris]

"...I knew it," Chip muttered, a serious expression taking over his face. "I knew that there was one in here..."

"I thought you had a feeling that told you it was here," Mario said.

"And I thank that feeling for telling me," Chip said. "Thank you, Roll. You're such a nice girl."

"U-um, thanks for the compliment?" Roll said confused.

Megaman looked around the area. As far as he could tell, the room was very wide. On the center, there was some kind of orange tires with screws attached on their sides, piled up together. To the left side of the tires, some kind of an entrance to a temple (the Shamar Temple) was there. To the right side of the tires, there was a big cage where some people were sitting down behind the bars.

The people were Layla, Ehsan, and Froggy, the first one who looked up from her spot and found the Smashers. "...Huh? There's people in here?" she muttered, standing back up.

The Smashers quickly ran to the cage with Megaman looking around in confusion. Upon looking at them, Ehsan sneezed and stood back up. "Who are you?" Mario asked.

"You don't seem to be bad people, right?" Layla asked.

"Nope, we're good guys," Sonic said.

"What are you doing in a place like this?" Layla asked.

"We're looking for a refractor," Megaman said.

"And as for everyone else, we're looking for the Shamar Temple," Ike said, turning to look at the temple. "That is the one, right?"

"...You know the Shamar Temple?" Layla asked before she gasped. "What business do you have with the temple? I hope you're thinking about destroying it..."

"No, we're here to restore its power," Sonic said. "But, seriously, who are you?"

Big stared at Layla's arms where Froggy was resting peacefully. "Froggy!" he yelled excited.

The girl turned to Big and smiled a bit. "Big, is that you? Oh, am I glad to see you again!" she said relieved. "I never thought you'd come all the way here!"

"How is Froggy?"

Layla looked down at the sleeping frog. "He just fell asleep a few minutes ago. The poor guy grew tired of being trapped behind these bars..." She looked at the others. "Are they your friends?"

Big looked happy and nodded. "They helped me to get to you, Layla."

"Oh, then I think it's safe to believe they're good people, achoo!" Ehsan sneezed and walked towards them. "So I heard you're trying to restore the temple's power, right? Well, we're glad to know you want to do that. My name is Ehsan, and I'm the Temple Guardian of the Shamar Temple."

Layla nodded. "And my name is Layla. I'm a transfer student who happens to be one of Shamar's Temple Guardians."

"How did you three wound up all the way here?" Peach asked.

Layla shook her head. "After Dr. Eggman kidnapped all of the Temple Guardians, he located the Shamar Temple hidden within these ruins, so he took Ehsan and I here with one of his 'friends'," she said.

"Does that mean the guy that brought you all here is around somewhere?" Chris asked.

"Actually, he should playing poker with himself just behind that pile of orange tiles, achoo!" Ehsan sneezed, pointing towards the pile of tires. "That fella is very crazy."

Layla sighed. "I swear that if I heard another thought about 'crushing these stupid plumbers and marrying this princess' one more time, I'm going to try to take my ears off my head. He SERIOUSLY needs a hobby."

"...Bowser," everyone but Megaman said bored.

"You know that weirdo?" Ehsan asked.

"Sadly, we know him," Chris said. "But is he behind those tires?"

The group turned towards the pile of orange tiles where they began to walk to. Once most of them walked around by the sides, they found Bowser sitting down, leaning his back against the pile while he held his hands full of poker cards. They also found two lines of cards lying down on the floor with a deck of cards in the middle.

"Go fishing," Bowser said, tossing a jack of clubs card to a pile of cards in front of him. Without taking his eyes off his hand, he took a card. He hummed happily to himself. "(I almost have a full house here.)"

Chip smiled happily and took one of the line of cards. "I need a new card here," he said, tossing a 3 of diamonds card on the pile.

Bowser tossed a three heart card and took one from the deck. "Ha, full house!" he yelled, slamming down his cards on the floor to reveal a 2 of diamonds, a 4 of diamonds, a 6 of diamonds, a 9 of diamonds, and a 10 of diamonds.

"That's actually a flush," Megaman said.

"Oh well, it's all the same," Bowser said, looking triumphantly to Chip. "What do you have, little guy?"

Chip looked at Bowser before looking back at his cards. "Hmm, these..." Chip said, lying down a 6 of spades, a 7 of spades, an 8 of spades, a 9 of spades, and a 10 of spades.

"...A straight flush," Chris said. "Much better than a flush."

Bowser's right eye twitched at this before he grunted loudly and slammed down his fists. "Dammit, my winning streak got broken!" he complained. "This wouldn't have happened if you didn't come in to play!"

Chip looked proud. "What can I say? I have an innate ability in cards."

"You didn't even know what you were going to play, Chip," Sonic pointed out.

"And of top of that, my opponent is a rookie!" Bowser complained before looking at them. "Worse of all, people are actually looking at me getting beaten by a..." He shook his head and glared at them. "Wait a minute, it's you!"

Everyone else backed away to the cage while Bowser stood up and laughed. "He just noticed we were here all this time?" Lucas asked.

"Bowser doesn't react that fast, I guess," Mario said.

"Oh, Mario, Peach, green stache," Bowser began, saddening Luigi for not saying his name, "I knew you were going to come here sooner or later. At last, my revenge on all of you has finally arrived!"

Megaman looked at Mario. "So if you know that tortoise guy, how many times have you fought him?"

"I've lost the count after ninety," Mario said.

"..." Megaman looked back at Bowser.

The Koopa King smacked his fists together and chuckled. "It was about time for me to take some action," he said. "You and your weirdo squad will have to give up now because I AM ready to get back at you for all the things you've done to ME and the army, but more importantly ME!"

"What are you going to do?" Kirby asked curiously.

Bowser snapped his fingers, and a cage came out from a void of darkness on the floor. The Smashers gasped after seeing the Shadow Nightmare inside the cage, staring intently at them. "Oh, don't get so shocked. You'll get REALLY shocked once I take another one of these things to use them on you!"

Chris gasped. "Y-you have another Shadow Nightmare?"

"That's right, boy. I have another one of those monsters ready," Bowser said. "HOWEVER, I'll use it once this one either gets Mario or his brother."

Mario looked serious while Luigi hid behind him. "You sure have a lot of confidence just because you have those monsters with you, right?" Mario asked.

"I sure am," Bowser laughed. "I don't want to throw both of them at the same time. I want this moment to last as long as possible. Once one of you gets to see their shadow, I'll take the other one out and throw it to the other one. I want to keep laughing for a long while so I watch quietly from the sidelines how all of you get owned by their shadows!" He held out a hand to Peach. "You won't get hurt, Peach. I'll tell them not to scratch your face," he said with a wink.

"T-that's a little bit considerate of your part, Bowser," Peach said, "but I'd like the shadows to leave us alone..."

"Sorry, no can do," Bowser said. "If I want you by my side, those plumbers will have to disappear, and that also counts all their friends and the boy in the robot suit."

"My name's Megaman," Megaman said.

"Don't care," Bowser hummed happily. "And then, after everything's over, I'll go ahead and wreck down this temple."

Megaman inspected the Shadow Nightmare in the cage. "What is that monster going to do? It looks different from the first ones we saw before..."

"Don't let it get on you," Ike muttered. "If it does, a shadow will be born from you, and it will start mocking you of your most embarrassing and darkest lie you don't want to admit to others and even yourself."

"That sounds...very twisted..."

"I'm tired of all this chitchat," Bowser said as he opened the cage. "Shadow Nightmare, go get any of those two plumbers in front of you! Go get Mario or his brother!"

The Shadow Nightmare slowly walked out from the cage before it screeched loudly. It raised its pincers before it started to run towards the Mario Bros.

Luigi began to yell at this point. "M-Mario, stop it!" he pleaded.

"Everyone, quick, attack!" Chris yelled.

Megaman, Ness, and Lucas began to use long-range attacks to stop the shadow, but all were easily dodged by the creature as it dashed towards Mario and Luigi. Even Peach tried to stop it with Thunder Flare, but the shadow nimbly sidestepped away from the sphere of sparks. It was only ten feet away from the brothers.

"N-no!" Luigi armed himself with courage and stepped in front of Mario. "D-don't take Mario! T-take me instead!" he cried out.

Mario gasped at this and looked at the Shadow Nightmare leaping towards Luigi. However, at the last moment, the red plumber closed his eyes and pushed Luigi out of the way.

Lake Jyun

"MAAAAARIOOOOOOOOO!!!"

The sudden yell from Peach made Roll get nervous, stopping to fix a big machine in front of her. The engineer turned to the sonar located on the inner right wall of the boat. "Megaman, everyone, what's going on in there?!"

"R-Roll!" Megaman yelled.

"Is everything okay?!"

"S-something bad is happening to Mario! One of those creatures leaped on top of him and he... W-what is that thing?"

Outside the boat, unbeknownst to Roll and Data, they were being sweatdropped by a familiar trio that was recently defeated that night. The trio were the Bonnes, all of them covered in soot after the Barcon blowed up on them. All of them were leaning their ears against the door to hear what was going on in the Sub-Gate.

Teisel nodded and pushed himself away from the boat's door. He crossed his arms and looked at Tron and Bon. "Something isn't quite right around this place," he said. "Whatever it is, we must find out and see for ourselves."

Tron pushed herself off the boat's door and looked at Teisel. "I'm worried, Teisel," she said. "What if...they're in trouble?" she muttered.

"Well, it's certainly good for us," Teisel said. "But then again, those people have made me very curious about their arrival to this place. They certainly have something in hands...and what they have must be a very juicy secret."

"Babu?" Bon asked, leaning away from the boat.

"We're going in, of course!" Teisel answered. "If those people are in danger, we must get in our hands their secret before it dies along with them!"

Tron looked relieved. "(And maybe we can even end up rescuing Megaman...)" She looked away worried. "(Why...why do I feel so weird when I think about him, anyway? He makes me think so much for no real reason... I hate when he makes me do these things...)"

Teisel turned to the Sub-Gate. "First, we must get across this door, and I know how to do this," he said with a wide grin. "Bon, our business card!"

"Babu," Bon said, handing over to Teisel a small, green business card that read "Bonne Family Piracy Business - Call to 1-800-SERVBOT" that the leader used on the big door, sliding it up and down between the small opening.

Tron frowned at this, despite the fact the big door actually opened. "Remember, this is our little secret," Teisel whispered. "We can't let the other pirates know our method to open the Sub-Gates."

The Bonnes silently stepped on the elevator and started their way into the ruins. Once they were out of sight, luck wasn't going to be so good with them in their first visit in the Sub-Gate.

"...Huh? Hey, what are these black spots on the floor?" Teisel asked. "Something is coming out of one of them..."

"...U-UAH, MONSTERS!" Tron yelped.

"HOLY CRAP, THEY WANT BON!"

"BABU!" Bon cried loudly.

"HURRY, TO THE REFRACTOR ROOM! DON'T LET THESE THINGS GET US!"

-------------------------------------------

"Fifth Liar: Mario the Dishonest. So wait, Mario has an evil darkside nobody else knew about? Is this for real? Ooh, the curiosity. I want to see what he wants to hide from everybody," Pikachu said eagerly.

"Ha, I knew he had a darkside," Link said. "He can't be so true to himself."

"I agree," Samus said. "It's obvious that he doesn't wants us to know his dark secret."

"I'm sure it's going to be one lie nobody really expected," Fox said. "Heheh, this is ought to be good."

"Maybe he does some ugly things behind our backs," Yoshi said.

"You don't know how many innuendos you made me think about Mario just now," DK said.

"...None of you aren't even in this world, so shut up with those comments!" Sonic yelled.

-------------------------------------------

Do you want to save your data?

Yes

Overwrite file?

Yes

-Kattelox Island-
Chris, Lucario, 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, Big, Megaman Volnutt, Roll Caskett, Eggy Jr. the Fourth

[DededeCloneChris]

Chapter 173: Fifth Liar: Mario the Dishonest

-Kattelox Island-
Lake Jyun - Sub-Gate

Super Mario Bros. 3 - Airship Theme

After Luigi was pushed away, he turned around to see his brother pinned down by the Shadow Nightmare. "Oh my god, MARIO!" he yelled.

Peach quickly broke into tears and stepped forward. "MAAAAARIOOOOOOOOO!!!"

"I-I'm fine!" Mario yelled, despite the fact the Shadow Nightmare already dug its pincers into his back. "I-I'm f-f-f-aaaaaaah!!!" he yelled once more as he was engulfed into a blod of darkness.

"Megaman, everyone, what's going on in there?!" Roll yelled.

"R-Roll!" Megaman yelled.

"Is everything okay?!"

"S-something bad is happening to Mario! One of those creatures leaped on top of him and he..." Megaman stopped as he saw that the blob of darkness began to shoot out sparks of different dark colors while Mario screamed in pain. "W-what is that thing?"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!" Bowser laughed evilly at the ceiling. "Finally, yes, Mario is getting what he deserved all these years of messing around with me! God, I can't be happier than I am now!"

Peach tried to run to the shadow, but Ike grabbed her hand. "No, you musn't!" Ike said. "You don't know if you'll get affected as well!"

"I need to save Mario!" Peach cried. "H-he needs us!"

Chris shook his head in panic. "We don't even know what to do after the Shadow Nightmare gets a hold on anyone! Helping him out right now is out of the question!"

"B-but...b-but...I-I can't..." The princess covered her face with both hands and frowned. "M-Mario..."

Ike decided to console her by patting her back. "Everything will be fine," Ike said, glaring at the blob of darkness. "We need to be strong and face whatever monster comes out of Mario..."

Peach looked down. "...I don't want to do this, really..." she muttered to herself.

Soon enough, the red plumber was spat out from the blob of darkness. He rolled towards the group and stopped, lying down on his back. The group gasped and ran to hise side. "Mario, are you okay? Mario!" Chris yelled, turning to face the blob shooting sparks before it calmed down. "...Here it comes..." he trailed off.

The red plumber slowly sat up and looked at the blob of darkness taking his shape. Soon, they all saw Mario's shadow staring intently at them. Megaman blinked surprised at the shadow. "W-why does that shadow has Mario's appearance?" he muttered.

"That's his shadow," Ike muttered. "Not only does it have all of Mario's memories, but it also has very powerful attacks, much stronger than Mario's attacks."

Layla and Ehsan looked shocked at the event outside the cage. "What is going on in here, exactly?" Layla asked. "That monster looked like the ones that appear at night..."

Ehsan cleaned his nose with a napkin. "It must be one of Dark Gaia's henchmen. But this one acted very strange..."

"Bwahahahahahahahaha!" Bowser laughed, smirking afterward at them. "You have to love how that shadow looks! It looks like a stupid plumber, that's for sure!"

"..." Shadow Mario stared silently at the group, its yellow eyes fixed on them.

The Koopa King chuckled darkly. "I like how all of you look; looking scared and horrified at Mario's shadow! You can't just imagine what kind of dark lie Mario has kept in secret all this time from everyone, can you? Gladly, his shadow will tell all of us his darkest secret!"

"(Mario having a dark lie?)" Ness thought. "(But it's hard to think about him having a very bad lie. Maybe...he has one?)"

Mario stared at his shadow, ready to face anything that it would say.

"I've got to love the suspense in the air," Bowser said. "That's how I wanted all of you: standing completely still in horror and lacking any idea of how to attack! You never thought Mario would get to face his shadow, did you? Well, he does get the chance that I've given to him!"

Lucas hid behind Ike. "I-I'm scared... I-I'm scared..." he repeated.

Kirby hid behind Chris. "I-I'm very scared..." he muttered, trembling in fear.

Luigi gulped and looked at Mario, who at this point looked away in shame. "M-Mario, you don't have a lie that you don't want to admit, right?"

"I know Mario doesn't have any bad lie," Peach said determined. "He's the greatest person I've ever met!"

"Y-yeah, he is! H-he must be!" Luigi agreed. "I-isn't that right, Mario?"

"..." Mario remained silent.

"...Mario?"

"..." Mario shook his head. "I don't have any lies to tell..."

The Smashers gasped at this and looked back at the shadow while Bowser smirked evilly. They knew that a shadow would start becoming rampant if their original host denied a lie. Preparing themselves for the worst, they remained in their spots to protect anyone from getting hurt.

"Aww, the sweet sound of a lie," Bowser said, "a very sweet music to my ears, and a very stimulant sound to awaken a shadow's true power... Hahahahahahaha!" he laughed and looked at them. "Well, shall we see what this shadow has to say? Once it starts talking, Mario will cry, I will win, and you all will die because he was such a stubborn little baby for not admitting his dark lie in time! If he didn't admit his lie, this wouldn't have happened! I'm glad it did happen, though! Now I can watch how the shadow rips all of your brains out while I sit back and enjoy the show! At last, my army will conquer the Mushroom Kingdom, and the princess will be all mine! ALL MINE! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!"

Most of them grunted in anger at this speech, but they didn't want to provoke the shadow from attacking them. Each one of them tried to think about a way to retaliate, but the tension drew them back from reaching to a plan.

Bowser smirked and chuckled darkly. "And now, before I accidentally prolong this moment even longer with my speech of victory, Shadow Mario," he pointed at Mario, "kill him once and for all!!!"

Everyone quickly took a step forward and shielded Mario from getting attacked by the shadow. Shadow Mario kept staring at them without making a move, but everyone else thought that it was going to attack very soon.

"So go now and maul everyone but the princess alive!" Bowser demanded. "Damn, I feel so DAMN good tonight! This is my night and not YOURS, suckers! Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Go attack them, Shadow Mario!"

Shadow Mario stared at them for a while longer and turned to Bowser to say, "...I don't want to."

Music stops...rather quickly

"...Say what?" Bowser asked, his evilly smirk and glaring eyes frozen in place.

Shadow Mario shook his head. "I don't want to fight Mario," he said, distortioning Mario's voice.

The Smashers looked very confused at this statement. Each one of them looked so confused that they exchanged glances (and perhaps, Megaman was the most confused of all of them) and then looked back at the shadow.

Bowser closed his eyes and turned to the shadow. "What was that again? Are you telling me that you DON'T want to fight Mario?"

"That's right," Shadow Mario said. "I don't have a real reason to beat him."

"...GrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRR!!!" Bowser grunted so loudly that he stomped the floor once and gritted his fangs hardly. He glared menacingly at the calm shadow. "What is this crap you're giving me?! I told you to attack Mario! Eggman told me that you were going to ober my orders! You can't just ignore them like THIS!"

Shadow Mario shook his head. "I'm sorry for disappointing you, Lord Bowser, but there isn't a reason for me to fight all of my friends."

"YOUR FRIENDS?!" Bowser yelled enraged. "They're not your friends! You just were born tonight! You're all alone! You're supposed to be Mario's shadow: the real plumber that was confined within his body, heart, or something like those things!"

"I am a shadow, Mario's true self," Shadow Mario said. "And...we're actually fine with how we are. Since we're both the same, we both make the real Mario. I myself are incomplete if I don't have Mario."

"Y-you're incomplete, you piece of crappy darkness!" Bowser yelled. "You're standing right in front of me! You MUST be complete without Mario!"

"Sorry, but not," Shadow Mario said. "I'm incomplete. I need to rejoin myself with Mario."

Bowser snarled angrily and pointed at the shadow. "Now you'll listen to me, deficit shadow! Since you're here and you came out of Mario, that must mean he has some kind of dark lie that he doesn't want everyone else to know! You WILL start mocking Mario's lie, and you WILL start beating them all!"

"How can I do that if that oh-so called dark lie doesn't even exist?"

At this, Bowser slowly dropped his finger to his side. His pupils shrunk while his mouth gapped a bit.

Shadow Mario crossed his arms and frowned. "Seriously, if there isn't any important lie, I won't mock him. You can't make me mock him if he doesn't have a 'dark' lie or something."

"B-b-b-b-but... DAMMIT, MARIO ISN'T THE CLEANEST AND MOST HONEST GUY IN ALL THE UNIVERSES!" Bowser snapped out. "HE HAD TO MAKE ONE SINGLE LIE, O-OR SOMETHING THAT HE REGRETTED TO DO!"

"Sorry, but he already took care of all those things because he never, ever made a dishonest thing in his whole life to begin with."

"..." Everyone remained silent and looked at Mario, who looked embarrassed at their stares.

"...Not even a white lie?" Bowser asked calmly.

"Well, he did make white lies, but all those lies were used for greater good and not for selfish reasons," Shadow Mario said. "Shadow Nightmares don't mock white lies. If we did, we'd be complete jackasses."

"W-well, mock his white lies! I-I don't care abou-"

"I told you we DON'T mock white lies," Shadow Mario interrupted in annoyance. "For that matter, Mario is truly the most honest, honorable, cleanest, helpful, and greatest person anybody would like to have as a friend. I'd like to say that he's lucky for having such wonderful friends like all of them."

"Awwwww..." everyone but Bowser said in unison, making Mario smile a bit.

"...HA!" Bowser pointed at the shadow. "Did you notice what you just said about him?! Since you two are the same, that means Mario has a very big ego!"

"Actually, that was my own opinion of him," Shadow Mario said. "That doesn't really count as his own thoughts. I was merely voicing out my POV."

Bowser groaned and glared at the shadow. "N-nobody cares about your darn POV!"

"You're the only one that doesn't, so sucks to be you, then."

"H-how dare you MOCK me instead of MOCKING Mario?!"

Shadow Mario frowned at Bowser. "Look, I know you really, REALLY want to make Mario suffer, but, thing is, he doesn't really need to suffer for the fact that he doesn't have a big lie that he's been covering all these years. He helps grandmas to cross the streets, he rescues cats trapped in trees, he gives you the birthday present you always wished to have, he congratulates you if you're getting married next week, he helps you in your super hard algebra problems (Chris: I thank him so much for helping me out), he cleans your sports car, he offers himself to replace you in taking out the trash, he sings songs to sick children in hospitals, he works hard for world peace, he consoles you when your dog died, he makes sure to leave the light on when you want to sleep, he gives you some money when you have to pay your car insurance, he makes cookies for children, and he even assists to all party invitations he gets in his mail. All children look up to be like him as well."

Everyone stared in awe at the red plumber after hearing all the good deeds he had done over the years. "...Holy... Then Mario is technically the best guy that has ever lived in the world and the one that anyone would want to have around?" Chris asked.

Mario lowered his hat over his eyes. "Um, I don't like to say all the good deeds I've done because they're so many..."

"Just look at him," Shadow Mario said. "He even doesn't want to overshadow anyone."

"..." Chris smiled happily. "That's it, I want to be like Mario when I grow up!"

"A-ha! I knew Mario was a big star after all! Hearing all those good deeds makes me proud of knowing him!"

The World Traveled looked miffed after hearing a familiar voice that he was able to hear. "...Otacon, how long have you been listening to this? For that matter, are you spying me?"

"..." Otacon remained silent so Chris would think he was hearing things.

"...Otacon, I know you're there!"

"..."

"...Oh, whatever."

Bowser shook his head and glared at the shadow. "Are ANY of tho-"

"They're very true to the full extent of the word," Shadow Mario said. "Whether you like it or not, Mario is like the best person to be born. He hasn't done a selfish, bad, or dark lie ever. He doesn't hate anybody, he doesn't get annoyed by anything, and he doesn't yell at you if you failed at something," he explained. "If you do fail, he cheers you up ALL THE TIME, no matter what. What's more, he doesn't fall for temptations...except when Peach makes him cakes."

Peach blushed and chuckled nervously. "He likes my cakes very much..."

Mario nodded with a smile. "They're the best," he said.

Shadow Mario stared at the fuming Bowser. "So, in a few words, there's no one like Mario. You shouldn't be so angry for him being the perfect example of a real man."

Smash Mansion
-Command Room-

This whole event was being watched by everyone else back at the mansion. Most of the "cooler" people started to get annoyed to the point they believed it was all a lie.

"Wait, so Mario NEVER lied before in all his life?" Link asked. "That had to be one very hard task to do. He was never tempted either."

"That's so admirable," Zelda remarked. "He truly is the best example of a real man. If I had someone like him in my kingdom, I'd be deeply honored by the gods for giving me the chance to have such a person. At least he's my friend, so I'm very honored."

Marth nodded. "I never doubted that he was very true to himself. After all, he is Mario."

"You people could learn four or five things from him, though," Zelda said annoyed to everyone else.

Link looked away. "H-hey, I'm fine as it is. I don't need to look up to him."

"Sorry, but I don't look up to people," Falco said. "I'd rather have people look up to me."

"You're short of luck because nobody looks up to you at all. Who wants to be like you, anyway?" Pikachu asked bored, getting a glare from Falco.

"Yeah, I agree," C. Falcon said, crossing his arms.

"You're probably in the first place for the 'Guy Who Gets Tempted The Most' award," Samus said.

"T-that's not true and you know that very well!"

"You don't know how right you were on that," Samus said. "I know very much about you."

"Oh, come on," Fox said in boredom. "He can't be THAT good. There shouldn't be a perfect example of a real man in him. It's impossible for someone to be like that. You guys agree with me, right?"

Diddy looked bored at the vulpine. "You're just jealous because children like him more than they will ever like you."

"T-that's not it!" Fox yelled embarrassed, looking away.

"What a prick you are to Mario, seriously," Diddy muttered to himself.

Pichu waved a little red flag with a red "M" on it. "(Mario's my role model!)" he rejoiced mentally.

Megaman Legends/64

-Kattelox Island-
Lake Jyun - Sub-Gate

Bowser shook his head many times and shot some smoke from his nostrils. "I-I refuse to believe all this!"

"You should have your own shadow face you," Shadow Mario said bored. "Anyway, I think I should wrap things up and rejoin with Mario. I see no reason for me to kill him or anyone else. Sorry, Lord Bowser, but that's the sad truth you'll have to accept... I should really stop calling you my lord."

Bowser began to pant heavily.

"You should become his friend. I'm sure he would like to be your friend."

"I would," Mario said.

Chris chuckled and took out a notepad from his pocket. "Mario is officially the coolest guy I've ever met before, so I'm going to remove the first one on my list. Sorry, Fox, but there is always someone better than you, it seems," he said, ripping out a paper with Fox's name written on it to replace it with a note where Chris wrote Mario's name on it.

"Chris, your partnership with Fox just got reduced by five," Kawashima said.

"He'll understand."

"Now it got reduced by ten, leaving both of you at eighty-five..."

"He just fell to second place. He should be happy he's still on my list."

"Now you got five back..."

"(I can always make it up with him anytime,)" Chris thought happily, keeping the notepad in his pocket.

Bowser stomped towards the shadow, fists ready to punch him down. Rolling his yellow eyes, the shadow turned away from the Koopa King and said, "If you want to hurt me, you should be faster than that. There's no need to make me feel scared."

Mario stood back up and passed the Smashers to face directly his shadow. "So, no hard feelings?" Mario asked.

"Definitely not," Shadow Mario said nodding. "Please continue to work for world peace, Mario. Personally, that's the one I'd like to see with you."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Can he really do that kind of thing?"

"You'll see very soon," the shadow said before it shone brightly, leaving behind Mario's real image. It turned into spores of light and shot into Mario, who merely stood still and received all of the spores.

The Smashers and Megaman walked to his side, all of them smiling at him. "I didn't know you were a role model," Ike said. "That's truly a very admirable feat, Mario."

"Oh, please, don't talk more about that," Mario said. "At this rate, I'll blush so much that I'll stay stuck blushing."

Luigi embraced Mario. "M-Mario, I never doubted that you were a liar. I-I knew I had the best brother I could ever ask for..." He sobbed silently. "I-I'm so lucky..."

Mario chuckled and embraced Luigi. "Thank you, Luigi. I'm happy for hearing you saying those things about me." He looked at his brother and nodded. "You're the caring brother I always wanted to have."

"...M-MARIO!" Luigi cried loudly, embracing Mario with more force.

"Awwwwwwww..." everyone but Bowser said, making happy expressio-

"I DON'T GET TO SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THIS SAPPY MOMENT?!"

They all stopped smiling happily and looked towards Bowser, who was panting heavily in rage. One could swear that his eyes were about to bleed with the expression of anger he used to face everyone.

"You're still here?" Sonic asked bored.

"Don't you ask that to me!" Bowser yelled. "I can't get over the fact that Mario doesn't have any lie! T-that must be a lie not to have a lie!"

"Are you jealous because children like him more than you?" Ness asked.

"Screw the children!" Bowser yelled. "I'd rather screw Mario, but how can I do that if he doesn't have something to regret?!"

Mario looked away. "Well, I have one thing to regret saying..."

Bowser looked shocked before he chuckled. "Well, well, turns out the plumber has a few things t-"

Mario looked at Peach. "I should've seen the novel's first part. I went to the bathroom right after it started."

"Oh, Mario, don't worry about that," Peach reassured him. "I didn't appear in the first part. I appeared ten minutes later."

"Phew, that's a big relief," Mario said. "Thank you, Peach."

Peach hugged the plumber. "You're welcome, Mario."

"...THAT WASN'T A REGRET! THAT WAS A LAME EXCUSE FOR AVOIDING WATCHING A NOVEL!" Bowser yelled enraged. "Are you pulling my leg here or what, Mario?!"

"No," Mario said simply.

"You're pulling it yourself," Ness pointed out.

"S-shut it, brat!" Bowser yelled...but then, he sighed in depression. "Who am I kidding? I'll never accept that Mario is the most honorable man in the universe. I'm just a sore loser who doesn't want to admit the undeniable..." He rubbed his eyes with his right arm. "I shouldn't have wasted that shadow on him if I knew this was going to happen beforehand..."

"...I smell a trap from five miles away," Sonic said bored.

Bowser sniffed sadly, still rubbing his eyes. "I-I give up, Mario. I can't win against you. Your good deeds overwhelm me in any blind spot I have." He slowly turned around, still sobbing silently. "I should just retreat for the time being and re-think my strategy... I-I know there's a way to beat you and make you cry in agony...and maybe, just maybe, the princess will be mine very soon..."

Silence...

"...Thank you for giving me the chance to go and leave you alone..." Bowser trailed off.

"...Guys, he has a trap," Sonic said. "We need to knock him out before he takes it out."

"I-I don't have any traps! It's useless to use a trap!" Bowser cried out. "I can't beat Mario tonight! I'm done for!"

Ike sighed. "Well, at least he said he's done fo-"

And the Koopa King quickly called forth a cage with another Shadow Nightmare that he quickly called out by opening the door. He turned around and pointed at Luigi. "Go-get-the-green-stache-instead-and-quick!" he yelled quickly, making the Shadow Nightmare dash towards a horrified Luigi.

Super Mario Bros. 3 - Airship Theme

"O-oh my god, not again!" Luigi yelped, turning around to run away from the monster. Unfortunately, none of the Smashers were able to react in time to stop the Shadow Nightmare from leaping to Luigi's back, quickly digging its pincers inside him. Everyone watched horrified as the green plumber was engulfed in a blob of darkness where he began to scream for help as dark sparks flew out. "H-HEEEEEELP, MARIOOOOOOOOO!!!"

"L-LUIIIIIIGIIIIIIIII!!!" Peach cried out, Ike holding her back from touching the blob.

"D-dangit, not this again!" Ike grunted. "We can't do anything!"

Everyone else glared back at Bowser, who smirked evilly at the scene. "Y-you sick bastard!" Chris yelled.

"You're way too slow!" Bowser said. "If anything, you should be ashamed for not telling I was joking around! You needed to stop me as soon as I started sobbing, but you didn't do anything about it. Too bad, you all lose!"

Sonic growled angrily and looked at Chris. "I told you twice, you know!"

"Megaman, what's going on in there this time?!" Roll asked.

"A-another one of those creatures got Luigi!" Megaman said. "We don't know what to do! We have to wait and see what happens next!"

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Bowser laughed maniacally. "Who cares if I can't get Mario?! I can get the green stache anytime I want!"

"You do know his name is Luigi, right?" Ness asked.

"I give a darn about his name!" Bowser said, rubbing his palms together. "Now, witness the birth of Shadow Green Stache!"

At that time, Luigi was spat out from the blob of darkness. The green plumber mumbled some words as he lied down weakly on the floor. Everyone ran to his side, Mario kneeling down to shake him. "Luigi, answer me! Are you okay?"

"I-I feel so whoozy..." Luigi muttered, slowly opening his eyes to see a blurred image of everyone. His vision then started to get better. "I'm...still alive?"

"Be glad you are," Ike said. "You need to prepare yourself to face your shadow."

At this, Luigi's eyes widened. "Prepare WHO to face WHAT again?!" he asked, standing back up so he could look at the blob of darkness.

Everyone in the room saw the blob of darkness taking Luigi's appearance. Unlike Shadow Mario, Shadow Luigi reflected pure evil in his eyes. Some of them were a bit scared to see a smirk flashing in the shadow's lips. From they could tell, the dark aura engulfing the shadow was rather bigger than any other shadow they had fought before. In fact, said aura reached twenty feet from all over the shadow.

"B-be careful!" Kawashima yelled. "T-this shadow is beyond your league! I-it's much more powerful than any other shadow you've defeated before!"

"I-I can tell that," Lucas said with a gulp. "J-just looking at him makes me feel very unsure about facing him!"

"Mwahahahahahaha!" Shadow Luigi laughed, flexing his fingers. "This power...THIS IS THE ULTIMATE POWER OF LIES! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

A strong wind flew out from the shadow, making everyone back away while Luigi tried to back away more than anyone. He began to shake uncontrollably, and his teeth started to bite empty air against each other. Luigi also began to bite his fingers (even though he was wearing gloves).

Bowser was probably the only one besides the shadow who laughed maniacally with joy and glee. He pumped up his fists in the air and smirked at the Smashers. "How do you like it, punks?! This shadow makes up for the sad excuse of a shadow the first one was! Now the REAL fun will start!"

Shadow Luigi pointed at Luigi. "I don't need a pathetic guy like yourself! I can be myself without having to be in you! From now on, I shall be known as the true Luigi! The world doesn't need two Luigis, so you will DIE on my hands! Thank you so much for making me the most powerful Shadow Nightmare ever! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" His hands burned with extreme fire that reached over ten feet in height. "YOU SHALL PAY FOR NOT ADMITTING ALL YOUR LIES!!! DIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!!!"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" Luigi cried loudly, lowering down his hat to cover his eyes as he covered his head and turned away from the shadow.

The others, however, shielded the scared plumber and prepared themselves to face the almighty shadow. "N-no matter how strong you are, we'll stop you from killing Luigi!" Chris yelled.

"Y-yes!" Lucas yelled. "I-I'm not scared! I-I know we can pull this out together!"

Ike raised Ragnell and glared at the shadow. "We shall stop you from committing unnecessary murders, monster!" he yelled.

"JUST TRY, SCUM!!!" Shadow Luigi yelled, preparing to shoot a horde of fireballs at them all.

"Yes, yes, YES, YES, YES!" Bowser rejoiced, pointing at them. "I knew I was going to come out victorious while you were all going to die! Shadow Green Stache, make sure you leave the princess alive! GO FORTH AND BURN THEM ALL ALIVE!!!"

"MWAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Shadow Luigi laughed manically, smirking evilly at them. "BURN TO BITS!!!" He pulled back his burning hands and he exploded into spores of light that went to join back up with Luigi.

Music stops...rather quickly again

...No, you were reading correctly. The shadow SOMEHOW exploded into spores of lights and went back to join up with Luigi just in time before it could unleash a catastrophic attack upon the group.

Luigi, clueless of the whole thing, rose up his chin and looked over his right shoulder to see that the shadow disappeared. "...D-did you guys beat my shadow?" he asked. "I-I feel a bit complete for some reason..."

Everyone was completely speechless as to what had happened. They were very sure that the shadow was going to attack them, unlike the pacifist Shadow Mario. However, everyone (but Megaman, as always) was confused, not finding a reasonable explanation for Shadow Luigi's sudden and very random demise.

"...What happened?" Chip asked.

"Well...Luigi's shadow...blew up by himself..." Ness trailed off. "...Are we lucky?"

"I don't know if we're lucky or not," Ike said. "I can't find a good explanation for this... Why did his shadow blow up so randomly?"

Bowser, bewildered for the second time, remained speechless as both of his eyes twitched uncontrollably. He thought that his moment of "awesomeness" was going to happen, but it was all a big cruel lie that laughed on his face. Silently, he shed a tear and sniffed. "B-but...b-but...b-but...WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THESE SHADOWS?!" he snapped out, breaking into tears as he fell to his knees and cried sadly without having to hide anything else. "WHY IS EVERYTHING SCREWING UP ON ME?! WHY?!"

Chris, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Ike, Kirby, Ness, Lucas, Sonic, Chip, Big, Megaman, Roll