Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Let's see... final checks. Maria and George have a full inventory, the events are all working, and I've finally found a way to stop that ice cream from melting.

And... hello there. You must be... the Greater Beings. The ones who will guide the players during this game. It's a pleasure to meet you all. I understand you are all familiar with the rules of the game? If not, we have a few moments before the game begins, so please reread them if there's anything you're unfamiliar with.

But I'm sure you've all read through them well. Invitations have been sent to the people you desire to see, and they should be here soon. Your actions will determine the course of the game, though they won't think that at all. But not only that, your actions will determine their friendships, their moods, and how everything progresses.

The events of one turn may have lasting consequences, and create a plot line overarching over five more. Every decision you make may change everything in the future. I'd only like to say one thing — take care of these players, won't you? They are only children, and many of them have gone through terrible hardships.

Higher order beings like myself can often become desensitised to the struggles of mortals, and you Greater Beings are of an even higher order then myself. So, I implore you... don't push them. Don't expect them to do the impossible. Let them have the greatest time they can.

And of course, I hope you have the greatest time you can as well. Let's begin.

At the base of the board, on top of the sponge cake that marked the Start, a portal opened up. Out sped three people — two boys and a girl, who immediately put the brakes on, skidding across the cake. The leading boy and girl were able to do so, the girl with more finesse, but the other boy failed to do so, falling face first onto the delectable surface.

As he wiped some crumbs off the glasses, the other boy and girl rushed to help him get back up.

"Thanks. I never can stop in time..." he said.

"Hey, don't worry about it! I'm bad with it as well. Honestly, think the only reason I can do it at all is cause I got experience slipping and slidin' in baseball," the other boy replied.

The girl looked at the meek boy with concern, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Thanks, though. But... what is this place?"

The three finally focused on what was around them, the sickly-sweet surroundings and everything that made it up. The entire world seemed to be made of all manner of sweets. Mountains of multilayered cakes were stacked around them.

"Well... I certainly think we made the right decision in eating before coming here," the girl said.

"Yes, that was probably for the best."

Immediately, all three of them jumped, staring at the sky in shock.

"Who... who was that?!"

"Welcome, honoured players. You are Ninten, Ana and Lloyd, correct?"

"Erm... yeah, that's us. But... what's going on?"

"A simple case of telepathy. I'm communicating to you through your minds."

"Are you... are you God?!" Ana asked enthusiastically.

"Oh, you poor darling. I'm afraid not. I've got the omnipresence down, but I'm lacking a little of the omnipotence and omniscience. And I'm missing... a lot of the omnibenevolence. As in, all of it."

"Oh..." The disappointment was clear in her tone.

"You've arrived slightly earlier than the designated time — your punctuality is much appreciated. We're currently waiting on our remaining players, so if you wouldn't mind kindly sitting down..."

The three of them sat down and looked around in silence for a few minutes.

Lloyd was examining the board, wondering how it was made and how it could maintain its structural integrity. After a few minutes of observation though, he noticed something strange... what was that?

He stood up, pointing towards it. "Hey! Look at that!"

Ninten and Ana both snapped out of their reverie, looking in the same direction before seeing it. In the distance, a metallic, almost spherical object was hovering towards their location — the Sky Runner. It bobbed up and down in the air, but otherwise maintained a steady altitude as it flew.

"What is that? Some sort of flying ball?" Ninten wondered.

"Whatever it is... it seems to be coming towards us. Maybe they're the other contestants?" Ana suggested.

"Probably."

Lloyd continued to watch the object, but something was... off about it. He realised what it was — the way it was flying.

"Is it just me, or... does it seem like it's coming down here? But the angle it's coming in at seems really steep — too steep for a landing."

Ninten and Ana both looked up at the object again, seeing what Lloyd meant. It did seem like it was coming in too harshly.

Then it nosedived.

"RUN!" Quickly, Ninten grabbed Ana and Lloyd's hands, dragging them onto the board itself and right past the candy house. The Sky Runner crash-landed moments later, exploding into pieces.

As smoke rose into the air, all three of them looked at the wreckage in shock. The people in there... were they... dead?

But their fears were thankfully proven wrong, as two figures emerged from the wreckage, one of them coughing profusely.

"Man, Jeff, I thought you'd figured this thing out!"

"I thought I had! Was it not calibrated right? Something wrong with the guidance system? Hmm... I'll have to figure it out. One day, I'll get this right. At least we made it."

"If I knew this was gonna happen, I would've just teleported us here," Ness sighed. He looked around, whistling at the sight before him. "Look at this place! It's like every ice cream dream I had as a kid came true..."

"It looks like we're not the only ones here." Jeff said, pointing to the trio of Ninten, Ana and Lloyd.

"Oh yeah. Hey there!" Ness called out, waving to them. "Sorry if we freaked you out!"

Ninten was the first to recover, stepping forward. "Hey yourself, dude. What was that landing?! You guys just came in like a fighter jet or something!" he said excitedly. Now that he was sure no one had died, the coolness factor of seeing something crash into the ground kicked in.

"Yeah, my friend here can't drive."

"It was a problem with the machine, not with my flying!" Jeff retorted. Lloyd couldn't help but relate to that.

Ninten, Ana and Lloyd walked back over to the starting cake, as Ness and Jeff climbed onto the pieces of the Sky Runner.

"So, are you two here for this party as well?" Ana asked.

"Looks like it. My name's Ness, by the way, and he's Jeff. What are all yours?"

Ninten opened his mouth, about to reply, but was cut off by myself, making everyone jump.

"While I'm happy to see you all getting along so quickly, I will ask that you refrain from the introductions for now. We've still got three more players coming, and if you introduce yourselves now, you'll simply have to do it again later. Ness and Jeff, are you two alright? You seem remarkably unharmed for two people who just crash-landed, but you both have experience with that, don't you?"

"We are... quite fine, thank you. Erm... who exactly are you?" Jeff asked.

"As I said, introductions for later. Take a seat."

"I... am so confused. Do any of you guys know what that was?" Ness asked the other three.

"No, we got no idea either. We were shocked as well. No idea what it is," Ninten replied.

"Incidentally, I prefer they/them pronouns. I find 'it' somewhat dehumanising. Not that I'm human, but... oh, you get the point."

Ninten raised both his hand up in apology, calling out above. "Sorry, my bad!"

"In any case, it appears we've got two more contestants arriving."

Galloping towards them at a good speed was the oddest of transport vehicles — a table. But it wasn't a normal table, for its shape was rather familiar to Ness and Jeff.

"Jeff, am I seeing things or..."

"I see it as well. That table looks like a Mr Saturn. And how can a table move like that? There's no wheels on it or anything..."

The coffee table quickly reached where they were, as they made out the two people on it — a blond boy and a gruff, pink-haired girl. The table came to a stop, and the two of them got off.

"Sorry we're late. It was a bit hard to find the place," said the blond.

"Considering where we are, I think it's impressive you made it here on a coffee table alone." Everyone flinched again in some way, the newcomers moreso than others. The novelty of that is starting to wear off...

Before Lucas or Kumatora could say anything, I decided to cut to the chase. "Right, hello, I'm a magical voice in the sky, and you are Lucas and Kumatora, correct?"

Both of them nodded, not really having any words to say.

"I'm sure you have questions, but all will be answered, so for now, sit down and wait. There's only one more contestant that has yet to arrive... and would you look at that? He's arriving now — what convenient timing. Thank you, Greater Beings."

Flying through the air with far more grace than the Sky Runner, a young boy approached, descending and landing where everyone else was.

He was very different from everyone else, his mechanical parts exuding a coldness like no other, with an arm cannon and sword showing he was clearly made for battle. His appearance was shocking to everyone but Lucas and Kumatora.

But those two were the most shocked of all, for while this boy's appearance was familiar to them, his presence was completely unexpected. The same went for the boy though — the presence of Lucas and Kumatora was not something he was expecting either. They didn't mention anything about being invited as well...

"Ah, our final contestant arrives. This will be very interesting. And yes, you are hearing a voice from nowhere." Interestingly, he didn't seem shocked at all, just mildly surprised.

"What the... how the hell are you alive?!" Kumatora asked. Perhaps a little insensitive, but etiquette was never her strong suit, and the situation was special.

The cyborg looked at her in confusion. "I... was brought back? By the Dark Dragon? Though we do not see each often, I did not think it was so infrequent that you would forget about this fact."

That... just confused her even more. And Lucas didn't have anything to say. What could he say? This was his brother, alive at that, even if he had these enhancements. How... how was he back?

"Actually, something I'd best sort out before this game begins — what would you like to be called? I'm assuming you're not keen on Claus."

He paused, taking a moment to ponder the question. "No... I'd prefer not to be called that. I may not serve Porky, but I am not the same person. The name I'm most familiar with is 'Commander', for it was my title in the Pigmask Army, but as I no longer serve Porky... it seems unfitting," he turned to face Lucas and Kumatora. "However, I have recently learned that your group used to refer to me as 'that masked man', as you did not know who I was back then, so I think that would be the most suitable."

"Masked Man? I suppose that works. Incidentally, I'll have to confiscate your sword and ask you to remove your arm cannon — external weapons aren't allowed."

"I will comply," his arm cannon reverted back to his regular hand and he removed his sword, placing it on the ground before it was spirited away.

Meanwhile, Kumatora was thinking about what he said and realised something. "Hold on... that makes no sense!" Kumatora shouted. "I don't remember us ever calling you that at all!"

The Masked Man looked at her quizzically, genuinely confused. "Really? I cannot say for certain whether that was true, but my source of information on this subject was Duster, and I see no reason why he would lie about this matter. In fact, I did not know you two were invited to this event as well. I recall telling you all about it, and both of you seemed happy enough at the idea. I understand my presence has often been a source of discomfort, but I thought you would have informed me if you were attending this as well."

Lucas and Kumatora looked at each other. Nothing about this made sense. They both knew none of this could be true, because... Claus was dead. Claus was dead, and the Dark Dragon couldn't bring him back.

Before the argument could go any further though, Ninten cut in. "Okay, I don't know what's going on here, but it seems like there's some weird stuff happening, and I think The Magical Voice In The Sky has some explaining to do."

"Yeah, what is going on anyway?!" Kumatora asked.

"I think we're all wondering that," Jeff added.

"I suppose I should explain now that you're here then. Firstly, I'd like to formally welcome you all to this event. You have all been invited to participate in a game known as Topolla Party, a party unlike no other, for its twists, trickery and luck can make winners losers and vice versa in a matter of seconds.

In addition, the people chosen to play are very interesting, for they hail from different timelines. All of you are from the same universe, but are from different points in time. Ninten, Ana and Lloyd over there hail from 1988. Ness and Jeff come from 1994. And finally, Lucas, Kumatora and the Masked Man are from a point in time far beyond that, a point which I can't put a specific time frame on, because if I did, I'd get lambasted for 'being like a fanfiction writer.' And let me tell you — being compared to a fanfiction writer is the greatest insult out there."

"But what about —"

"I'm getting to that, Kumatora. Now, where things get interesting is with the Masked Man. While everyone is from the same universe, you are not all from the same timeline. Lucas and you come from the same timeline as everyone else, just from a different point in time. But, this Masked Man does not. He is from a different timeline, in which the Dark Dragon wasn't a complete failure and actually had the ability to resurrect the dead, meaning that they were able to bring back that timeline's Hinawa and Claus... mostly.

The Dark Dragon couldn't bring Claus's mind or body back to what it was before, simply because of how extensive Porky's brainwashing and modifications were. So, they had to compromise, and the way they did that was creating a being who was aware of his past as Claus and knew of Porky's lies, yet also remembered his time in the Pigmask Army and who he was then. A person lying in between of Claus and the emotionless Commander — the Masked Man, as he has chosen to call himself."

Which explained everything to all three of the Nowhere Islands' denizens. Different timelines? It was weird, but... at least it explained it.

"I still have a question then," Ana said. "If you are not God... then who are you?"

"Me? I am the host of this game. A being who exists outside of time and space. You may call me... the Narrator, for it represents my greatest role here. Oh, to you, I am the host. However, I am more than that, for it is my duty to narrate the events of this game to the eight Greater Beings who will observe it."

"Greater Beings?" Ana asked.

"You needn't worry about it. As long as they know who they are, everything should be fine. Now, I trust you've all read through the rules, so it's time to split you into teams. I could have you decide your pairs, but I'm sure you're far too aware of how well that works in school. Instead, we'll do it this way."

A giant roulette appeared before them all, split into 8 parts, each section having one of their faces. As soon as the group saw it, a cacophony of groans ensued.

"Yes, yes, I know, but this way you can be assured there is no foul play."

"But you can rig a roulette?" Lloyd asked.

"Then you'll just have to hope I don't rig this, won't you? Besides, you'll want to get used to roulettes here... alright, line them up!"

Round and round the wheel went, before stopping on Ninten. With another spin, it landed on Lloyd.

"Our first team will be Ninten and Lloyd then. Your team will be called the Holiday Homelands."

Ninten and Lloyd stood in a corner together, both clearly pleased to be with each other, particularly Lloyd.

The next two spins of the roulette yielded Ness, followed by Lucas.

"The second team will be Ness and Lucas. Your team shall be... Fanfiction's Favourites." Everyone looked puzzled at the name, not knowing where it came from. "It makes sense in context."

Lucas walked over to Ness, giving him a shy smile which he returned with a stronger one of his own. Both were hoping to be on a team with the person they came with, because they knew them better, but their teammate seemed like a good person. They'd probably get to know each other over the course of the game.

The last two spins of the roulette yielded Jeff, followed by Ana.

"So, for the third team, we have Jeff... and Ana. I dub thee... the Prissy Predictors."

There was a cackle of laughter from Ninten at the name, as well as some from Ness. Even Lloyd was struggling not to laugh a little, though he managed. Ana looked at her friends disapprovingly. She was a little disappointed at not being on a team with one of them, but she was always open to making new friends.

She looked over at Jeff, seeing him also giving Ness the stink eye at his laughter. She thought they might get along well.

"And of course, that leaves Kumatora and the Masked Man, who are our last team. Exactly as the Greater Beings foretold..."

The remaining players looked at each other very apprehensively. They'd tried to kill each other before in their timelines.

The Masked Man had gotten used to dealing with the Kumatora of his timeline, but this was a completely different one. As for Kumatora... this was the person who was responsible for three of the Magypsies dying. It might have been a different version, but the timelines seemed fairly similar. If that was the case, chances are the same things probably happened there as well.

But he seemed to hate Porky, and so did she. And at the end of the day, he was still Claus. It would be hard... but there was a chance they could pull a victory together.

"So! Now that our teams are set, allow me to introduce the board our Greater Beings have decided on. This is Sweet Dream, a world inspired by the dream of candy. Everything is entirely edible, and believe me, you do not want to know how much time it took Maria, George and myself to make everything here."

There were a couple of laughs at that, but Ninten, Ana and Lloyd all looked at each other. Maria and George?

"This board is a traditional Star Space board — the Star will spawn somewhere on the board, and the first team to buy it for 20 coins gets it. After that, it will move elsewhere.

There are a couple of attractions I'd like to point your attention to — firstly, the bridges in the southwest and northeast." The bridges in question began to glow. "They will break when a team crosses them, then reform in the other direction. Next, on the right, you can find a chance to earn some extra coins. And finally, at the very top lies the Wheel... of DOOM!"

Everyone looked up at it, some confused, and others realising what I meant.

"As for it does, I'll keep that a surprise. Now, we decide turn order."

The roulette disappeared, and taking its place were four Dice Blocks.

"Ninten, Lucas, Jeff and the Masked Man — the Greater Beings have ordained that you will lead the game first. Please step forward and hit the Dice Block."

All four of them carefully stepped forward, hitting the blocks one by one. Ninten was first, scoring a 7, fist pumping when he saw the number. That gave them a good shot at being one of the first teams to go.

The Masked Man was next, only managing a 2, which Kumatora groaned at — they were definitely going last, unless...

"Aw, man!" Ness cried out. His Dice Block showed a 1, sealing their fate as the team who'd roll last each turn.

Analysing everyone else's current numbers, Jeff was pleased at the position they were in. At worst, they would roll second, and had a 3/7 chance of going first. He gently hit the block, turning up a 3. He shrugged slightly — the worst case scenario, but second was still good.

"And that is our turn order! Ninten and Lloyd will roll first, followed by Jeff and Ana, then Kumatora and the Masked Man, and finally, Ness and Lucas. Before you start the game, I'd like to recommend you take the time to get to know your teammate and the other players. It's a socialising opportunity and all, so you should capitalise on it. Or you know, don't. I can't force you to socialise, but I think you'll enjoy it! I'll give each team 10 coins to start the game with. Use them wisely!"

10 coins rained down onto each team, going straight into their pockets.

"With that, let the game begin!"

Suddenly, a wheezing cough rumbled from above, immediately giving everyone pause.

"Hahaha... hold it right there!" the voice wheezed. "You didn't think you'd be able to start this game before I made an appearance, did you?"

"... I was hoping you wouldn't notice."

"You can't slip something past me! Bypassing my opening event would be against the rules! And rulebreakers are very naughty people, aren't they?"

"I suppose I can't hide it any longer... very well. Everyone, a word from our 'generous' sponsor — Porky Minch."

There was a collective "WHAT?!" from Lucas, Kumatora and the Masked Man, as well as a couple confused glances between Ness and Jeff. But all would become clear, because from the sky, a large spider-like machine was slowly brought down to the ground by a set of wires, like a puppet on a string.

Once it was two feet above the ground, it detached itself, falling onto the cake with a thud. The mech's legs extended and wedged themselves in the ground, as the occupant of the machine became clear — Porky.

The Masked Man immediately reached for where his sword was — but of course, it wasn't there. Kumatora snarled, fists curled up and ready for a fight. Lucas... was just shocked. He... he didn't understand it! Porky shouldn't be here! After he'd woken the Dark Dragon, he'd asked them to place him in the sea, where he would never hurt anyone again.

And he wasn't in the Absolutely Safe Capsule either. Instead, he was in that spider mech that he used to fight them with. What was going on?!

Ness and Jeff were shocked as well. Neither of them knew the whole situation, but one glance at the person in that machine told them that despite how pale, decrepit and different he looked, that was Pokey.

But how had he become like that? It was a mystery to Ness, but Jeff... had a suspicion. Under the basic principle of time travel, you need mechanical protection to prevent cellular degeneration. And Pokey did escape to another timeline after they had destroyed Giygas...

As for Ninten, Ana and Lloyd, they were just confused and horrified at whatever this was. How did someone turn into that?

"Whoever he is, God definitely didn't mean for him to live that long," Ana thought. "But these people all seem to know him... including my teammate."

With a smile on his face, Porky spread his arms out. "Welcome, women and insects, to the premiere game of my party! It's wonderful to see so many familiar faces around here. Especially you, Ness."

"You're... you're Pokey?!" he asked.

"Ahahaha! Indeed, I am! But I go by Porky now. After all, it's what everyone in school used to call me so they could bully me and make my life a misery."

"But... but how?!"

"Ah ah ah! Now that would be telling. I can't do that, because it might mess your timeline up and I wouldn't want to do that! I have great respect for the space-time continuum. It's a shame you'll never get to see me like this in your own time though."

He turned to face Lucas and Kumatora, unfolding a much more sinister smile. "Lucas, I'm so glad to see you and your pathetic friend here! My slave killed you both in my timeline, but you two played perfectly in my game there. I'm grateful! The other filthy villagers' resistance was easy to crush... no fun at all.

But you two rose up, along with that bum and mutt, the evil mercenaries fighting against my noble knight... by the way, you're the evil mercenaries! Ah, part of me regrets obliterating you all there. Such entertainment should be rewarded! So, I hope you'll put on a show as exciting as your counterparts did then. And speaking of which, my slave! Ah, I expect nothing but the best from you."

"I am not your slave," he replied vehemently.

"Oh, that's what you think. You'll see. Best of luck — I'll be rooting for you!"

Finally, he turned to Ninten, Ana and Lloyd, scratching his chin before giggling. "And as for you three, you had a part in defeating that almighty idiot the first time he came, didn't you? By singing a song! HAHAHAHA! How weak must he have been if a song was enough to make him flee?! You've got me interested, very interested... I'll be watching you carefully during my game. Don't disappoint me! Our millions of viewers in New Pork City are all eagerly watching, so if you mess up here, you'll be doing so on live TV! No pressure."

"How... how are you here?" asked Lucas. "You were in that capsule, and... I asked for you to be placed somewhere you couldn't hurt anyone."

"The Porky in my timeline also met with the same terrible fate," added the Masked Man. "So you cannot be from the timeline I come from either."

He laughed. "Figured it out yet? I'll let my host explain to you plebeians what you're too stupid to realise."

"As Porky has alluded to, he is from a different timeline than all of you, including this Masked Man. A timeline where he didn't seek the cessation of all existence, but simple world domination from the Dark Dragon, and was successful in doing so. Because of this, he never created an Absolutely Safe Capsule, due to not fearing his erasure from the Dragon, and being too prideful to believe anyone would kill him."

"A world where he wins?" Lucas thought. "What kind of world would that be? Everywhere would be like his city... every part of the island."

"Exactly!" Porky shouted. "No one would be foolish enough to try and attack me! Everyone who has... they lose the game. The game of life! But I am a kind person — so long as you follow my every command, you will reap mountains of rewards! It's that simple! I understand some of you have had to deal with some nasty Porkies, but I am the kindest Porky out there."

"Well, he claims that. There may be some truth to it — I believe he holds some measure of care for his timeline's Masked Man, twisted though it may be. And I suppose most people would consider world domination marginally kinder than erasing everything in the world but himself. I say otherwise — I'd rather be dead then live in a world which he rules."

"Indeed! I'm such a generous man! I have given you all such a great opportunity, and I ask for nothing in return but your participation. In fact, I'm so generous, I'm going to give you all a present for this game before I leave!"

A cannon opened on the side of Porky's machine, pointing towards the board. It fired 3 times, each shot sending a Mini-Porky Orb in a random direction. Each landed one by one — the first one on the right side of the board, directly beneath the Duel Space, the second one on the Red Space at the top left, just under the ice cream, and the last, four spaces to the right of the Happening Space near the Start.

I always hated that rule — the asshole already has his own space. Why do we need to add more spaces for Mini-Porky?

"There! Now, there's a chance my Mini-Porky will be able to make your lives more miserable. I hope you all have fun in my game, because now it really begins. Enjoy yourselves, and try to make it... exciting, won't you? HAHAHAHA!"

With incredible speed, Porky's machine jumped onto the board, before quickly speeding away past the cakes and out of sight.

"Great... as if this needed to be any more complicated," Ness sighed.

"Yeah, bastard just has to make our lives harder," Kumatora said, making Ana flinch slightly at the profanity.

"If it's any consolation, I despise the man myself."

A silence passed through the group, as all of them were thinking the same question, which Lloyd was the first to voice. "But... if you don't like him, why are you working for him?"

"Work for him? You misunderstand. I don't work for him. I'm cooperating with him. Porky brought to me a proposition, a proposition to create a party with people from different times. It wasn't the most out there thing.

To try this out, he wanted to start small. However, it became clear to him that in order for him to create this party the way he envisioned it, he would need people from different timelines. Getting people from different periods in his timeline is something Porky can do easily himself, but getting people from different timelines? Not something he can do at all.

He needed a reality warping figure to be able to fulfil his vision, and he had already used his timeline's Dark Dragon, nor did he want to use time travel to undo his victory. That's where I came in. I am the reality warping figure he needed. I can peer and reach into any timeline that I want, and I provided this pocket dimension to host this game."

"How does that work? How does Porky just meet someone who can do all that?" Lucas asked.

"It's a long story, but Porky and I... are somewhat acquainted. He contacted me, asking if I could make his vision a reality. And I agreed, because for once, it was an idea of his that wasn't inherently bad. Mind you, it took much back and forth — he was insistent on just abducting people, rather than sending invitations, but it wasn't an evil thing in concept. Besides, when you're a god-like being just floating around in an interdimensional void, you really need something to spice your life up.

I still hate him, because regardless of the fact that this particular act isn't bad, he's still Porky. But, I'm not so blinded by hatred that I would refuse a chance to get some excitement in my life. It's all I've got these days. Porky is the sponsor, the reason we can fund everything here — my reality warping doesn't let me just make things, so we needed money to get all of this done. To create this board for instance, we needed money to produce the sheer quantities of food. Because of that, Porky has equal say over the rules of this game, and so he chose to include himself in it, with no exceptions. Well... there is one thing."

"Really? What is it?" Ness asked.

"Allow me to share a secret with you all. This Porky will live forever, never dying of age... but he is not immortal. That's not to say he's easy to kill, but it is doable. And like most of you, I too would like to see him die."

"Then why don't you just kill him?!" Kumatora shouted.

"I'm the host! I can't kill him — that would be against the rules. However, I found... a loophole, shall we say? You see, I'm forbidden from attacking the sponsor, but if he dies due to an event in the game... well, that's perfectly fair, isn't it? So... I rigged one of Porky's minigames and made a few outcomes that even he doesn't know about, outcomes which might help you. And one of them will remove all his spaces, along with the Mini-Porky ones."

"Why? Why would they all just disappear?" Ninten asked.

"Because if you trigger this event... Porky will die."

The reactions amongst everyone were immediate. Kumatora seemed almost giddy at the idea, while the Masked Man tightly curled up his fist, red eye flickering menacingly. Ness and Jeff were more reserved though, both knowing the evils Pokey had done, but not knowing what he'd go on to do.

Did he really deserve death? No, Porky doesn't deserve death — that's too good for him. He deserves millions of years of torture where he'll scream in pain as the sins of his life crawl up his back.

But they didn't know that Porky deserved all that. They only knew him as Pokey.

Ness looked at his teammate... Lucas. From what he gathered, Lucas apparently had to deal with Porky. He didn't understand everything, but that cyborg there was his brother in another timeline? And then he remembered — according to me, it wasn't just like that in that timeline — it was like that in his timeline as well.

Porky... had turned this guy's brother into that? And he wasn't alive in Lucas's timeline... so that must mean he died. Because of Porky. It sickened Ness to think about it... was this what Pokey was going to become? Was this his plan for the future? He wasn't sure what to think... he needed to know more.

And what was most strange was Lucas himself. He looked as if he was struggling with the idea, at odds with it, like he wanted and didn't want it to happen at the same time.

As for Ninten, Lloyd and Ana, none of whom had encountered Pokey or Porky, they were mostly indifferent, but all of them had figured out this Porky was bad news, especially if he knew Giygas. Clearly, he'd caused a lot of pain to the others here. Sure, they didn't know them at all, but they all seemed like decent people, while Porky... didn't.

But killing him seemed like a move too far for them. They were all unsure, not knowing what to think... for now, they'd just see how things progressed.

"This event... it can't be something common, can it?" Jeff asked.

"No. I had to make it something rare, so he wouldn't notice. It's something so rare that you may not even it see it in this game — or ten of them. I'll give you a clue — it has something to do with fortune telling and sheer terror. That's all I can say. Either way, best of luck in finding that. It's time we properly begin, so... let's see where the first Star will be, shall we?"

Everyone looked at the board. All the Blue Spaces started rapidly flashing one by one in sequence. The flashing became slower and slower, before the golden light stopped on a Blue Space very close to the Start — just two spaces before the Happening Space nearby.

Unfortunately, despite how close it was, the players would have to travel in the opposite direction, meaning they'd have to do a complete circle of the board in order to get it, a fact which became evident quickly to most players and was met with much groaning.

"Well then, the location of that Star could have been better, but that's just the way things work, isn't it? In any case, I think that's everything."

Though still confused at everything that had gone on, everyone gathered in their teams, most of them ready to begin. Let's get this show started.

"Alright, let's start the music — it's time for Topolla Party!"

Chapter Text

Ninten and Lloyd stepped up as a Dice Block appeared above them.

"Ready to win this, Lloyd?"

"You really think we can do it?"

"Of course! You got the brains, I got the brawn, and we got something none of the other teams have — we know each other!"

"Yeah! We know exactly how to work together!"

"That's the spirit! Let's do this!" Ninten punched the Dice Block, getting... a 1.

"... ah. I was kinda hoping for a little more than that?"

"Well, slow and steady wins the race. We've still got the rest of the game."

"You're right, we gotta think positive."

The pair stepped down onto the space beneath them, a Blue Space. 3 coins flew down into their pockets.

Next was Jeff and Ana, who were surveying the board.

"Right then, I'll just give this a little tap," Jeff said. The Dice Block stopped, rolling... a 1. Oh, it's going to be one of those days.

Everyone looked at the number, unable to believe it.

"Who'd have thunk it?" asked Kumatora.

"Yeah, what are the odds of them both rolling a 1?"

The Masked Man responded, "One in a hundred — unlikely, but not outside the realm of plausibility."

"Well, maybe we'll be taking it slow and steady as well," said Ana.

"It does appear that way..." Jeff sighed.

Both of them hopped down one space, landing on the same Blue Space Ninten and Lloyd were on, receiving 3 Coins.

"Hey, guys! How's it going?" Ninten said.

"Just fine," Ana said. "Move up a little — there's barely enough space for us all."

"Alright, Kumatora, Masked Man — you two are next. Can you continue the trend of disappointingly low rolls?"

"Hopefully not..." Kumatora muttered.

The Masked Man hit the Dice Block above his head, scoring a 10. I love RNG sometimes.

"From one end to the other... well, I ain't complaining," said Kumatora.

The Masked Man and her wordlessly marched across the board, passing straight by Ninten, Lloyd, Jeff, and Ana. They passed by the first Orb Shop.

"It will be necessary for us to obtain Orbs to win this game. Even if we don't buy anything, it would not hurt to examine the options available to us," said the Masked Man.

Kumatora couldn't argue with that, so she followed him inside. Immediately, she was struck by how different the inside looked compared to the outside. It was like a laboratory with metal walls and research papers scattered everywhere. On the shelves, there were many Orbs, with yellow and red seals.

It reminded them both of the laboratory floor in the Empire Porky Building, and thus inspired different feelings. For Kumatora, it brought back memories of the nightmare that was climbing that accursed tower, listening to Porky's voice chip away at their morale, wondering if they'd ever reach the 100th floor.

But for the Masked Man, the place brought an odd sense of calm. Machinery and the like had always been comforting to him. It was why he liked the Thunder Tower.

Neither of them had too much time to dwell on those thoughts though, for the shopkeeper quickly greeted them.

"Hello, children. You're the first people to come to my store — Orbital Offence. Here, you may purchase a wide variety of offensive Orbs. Please have a look at the list to the side, then make your selection."

With nothing more than a quick glance, Kumatora said, "We'll take a PK Arson!"

"Hold it! You're not the leading player, Kumatora — you can't make decisions like that."

"Yeah? What if I do anyway?"

"Anyone who knowingly breaks a rule is immediately disqualified and forced to undergo a sadistic punishment of my choosing. Right now, I'm thinking I force rulebreakers to eat the entirety of this board after this game's conclusion."

That gave Kumatora pause for thought, as well as her teammate.

"Hm... and here I thought Porky had cruel punishments. That won't be necessary though, because I agree with her choice. Right now, coins are very important. Depriving others of them now gives us a tactical advantage."

"Here you are then," the shopkeeper said, handing one over. "5 coins."

The Masked Man handed him the money, but before he could leave, he was stopped again.

"Before you leave, take this," he said, giving them a ticket showing Jeff's face twice, followed by Ninten's. "It's a lottery ticket - you'll need it for the last 5 turns."

Nodding and taking the ticket, they both left the store. Silently, the two climbed up the ladder, heading left. As they did so, the Masked Man observed Kumatora, taking in her every facial feature, and how they all conveyed a barely contained distaste. Suddenly, he turned on the spot, startling Kumatora and making her freeze.

Scowling, she irritably said, "Hey, bucket head, what's the deal?! We still got more spaces to travel!"

The Masked Man stared at her for a few seconds. "You don't like me," he replied simply.

"Nooo, really?" she said sarcastically. "You think? How many of your processors did you need to figure *that* one out?"

She was about to keep going, but stopped... she was going a little too far. "Alright, fine, that was mean. Look, I know Porky's the one to blame for all the stuff that happened and you're not even from the same timeline or whatever, but that doesn't make it any easier to see you. The amount of shit you made me go through — nah, you know what? Forget me — the amount of shit you made Lucas go through is something I'm never gonna forget."

"And that is why you loathe this. The idea of working with me."

"Of course I don't wanna work with you! But... at least it's better than you being with Lucas. Last thing he needs is that. It'd be better if you weren't here at all, but nothing I can do about that."

"I see. I have but one question to ask then — are you willing to put aside your hatred for me to win this game?"

"So long as you don't do anything that mentally messes up Lucas... fine."

"Then that is all I ask for."

They continued along in silence, crossing over the cookie bridge and heading down. As soon as they crossed, it broke apart, reforming in the other direction. They made their way to a Blue Space on the bottom left, just in front of a house and to the left of a Red Space.

"So, you're Lucas, right?"

"Yeah. And... you're Ness?"

"Yep, that's me! Hey, seeing as we're going to be teammates for the game, I think we should get to know each other." Oh no, how long is that going to take?

"Oh! Well, erm... there's not really anything interesting about me."

"There's something interesting about everyone! Just tell me something about yourself!"

"Alright, erm... I like going on walks and picking sunflowers. Is that something interesting? No, probably not..."

"Hey, I think it's interesting. I mean, I don't know anyone who does that. I like to play baseball!"

"Baseball? What's that?"

Ness's jaw nearly dropped. "You don't know what baseball is?!"

"No, I'm sorry. I... don't think we have that in my time."

"I gotta teach you about it sometime then."

This boy... was strange, Lucas thought. They'd only spoken for a few seconds, but already he wanted to tell him about this sport he played? Lucas had never seen anyone as open as him, but... he liked it. With all the secrecy and lies he'd faced on his adventure, it was refreshing to see someone like this.

"Sure! I'd love to hear about it."

"Yes, but I would not. We're on a time crunch here, so please get a move on."

"But... I thought you said you wanted us to get to know our teammates?" said Lucas.

"I say a lot of things I either don't mean, are half truths, or are outright lies. Now, roll the Dice Block!"

"... I don't like that guy. They give me the creeps," Ness said.

"Same here. But, I guess we'd better get going."

Ness finally hit the Dice Block, rolling an 8. Aw, I was hoping he'd get a 6. The two of them walked past the quartet of one-space rollers, entering the Orb Shop. They found themselves in the same shop Kumatora and the Masked Man had been in. The mechanical environment was unsettling to Lucas, but he tried not to let it show.

"Another set of customers so soon?" the shopkeeper said in surprise. "In any case, welcome to Orbital Offence, a store where you may buy Orbs to debilitate your opponents. What would you like to buy?"

"Hm.. Lucas, what do you think about a PK Arson?"

"Huh? You're the leader... you don't need to ask me."

"Yeah, but we're a team! We should agree on things."

"Well, I think that sounds good. It can't hurt to get one."

"Alright, one PK Arson, mister!"

"It's Doctor, actually... not that you would know, of course. Here you are. 5 coins, and take this ticket too." He handed over a ticket showing the Masked Man's face twice in a row, followed by Ness's.

Ness and Lucas continued up the ladder, across the cake and past the bridge, causing it collapse and reform heading down. As they did, they talked a little more, finding out what each other's favourite foods were, that they were both psychic, and their other hobbies. Eventually though, they reached a Blue Space on the left side, just above a Red Space. Though the discussion would have to come to a close for now, Lucas came to a realisation.

"We always have time to talk while other players are having their turns," Lucas said. "So we can talk then, can't we?"

"Hey, you're right! Okay, next turn, we gotta talk about something."

"I was wondering something — you know Porky, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do. Well... I know Pokey, but it seems like they're the same person. I live next door to him. Well, used to, before he just... poofed out of this time."

"How did that happen?"

"Long story —"

"And it's a story you're not going to be able to tell now, because it's time for our first Minigame."

Suddenly, they were teleported back to Start, where everyone else was, having also been teleported there. Everyone was a bit confused, but all was made clear.

"Well then, you've all made it through this first turn alive - congratulations! So ,  have you enjoyed this first turn so far?"

"I was kinda hoping I'd get to move more than one space, bit boring," said Ninten.

"Same here," said Jeff.

"Ah, but now, it's time for the part everyone's been waiting for  —  the Minigames."

There was a general excitement among everyone, particularly among the more feisty individuals like Ninten and Kumatora.

"In these often life-threatening events, you will all compete against each other for a reward of 10 coins  —  usually. Now, as you all landed on a Blue Space, it'll be a free for all. We'll keep it simple for now, and have it be a 4 Player Minigame. The leading player will decide which team member will play the Minigame. Let's see what it'll be then..."

In the air, a number of holographic images appeared in a wheel, with names underneath them. The images all spun around, eventually stopping on...

"And it's... oh no. You've gotta be kidding me... this is going to be a very long day."

"Cointagious? Hey, that's a good pun!" Ninten said, reading the label.

"And sadly, that's the best part about this Minigame... let's get it over with."

In an instant, everyone was whisked away from the board. When they reappeared, they were all on a tower in the sky with four podiums, rainbows stretching in the distance. A lot of them were briefly taken aback in awe at the view, admiring the lovely scenery.

"It's like we're back up in Magicant," Ninten said to his friends.

"I'm glad you're all enjoying the scenery, because that's the only part of this you'll enjoy. This is a special Minigame  —  a Coin Minigame, in which there are no losers, because all of you will have a chance to earn Coins  —  up to 24 each."

"But, I thought you said we'd be competing against other for 10 coins?" said Lucas.

"These Coin Minigames are the exception. You all have a chance to earn Coins, and can potentially win more Coins than usual. As such, it's important you try extra hard for these... or at least it would be important if skill actually mattered here."

Everyone considered this fact, excited for the chance to fatten their wallets... it's going to be so sad. Four Dice Blocks materialised, one above each podium.

"The rules are simple  —  when I say go, each chosen player will have 20 seconds to hit this Dice Block as many times as they can. This one is different from the ones you have on the board  —  it only has the numbers 0  to  3. Whatever number you roll, you get that many Coins. However many Coins you earn when time's up is the number I'll add to your bank accounts."

"So let me get this straight - we spend our time on the boards rolling Dice Blocks, and for this Minigame... we're doing the same thing?" asked Ness.

"Yes."

"Dice Blocks. That's what we're doing?"

"Yes."

"Yeah, not exactly the super exciting part of the game I was looking forward to here."

"This is so stupid," added Kumatora.

"I completely agree. I'm not even sure why we have this Minigame. We really should remove it... anyway, pick who among you will play this game. Not that it matters..."

The teams split off to the four corners of the tower, privately discussing who would play.

"Okay," Ninten said to Lloyd. "I say we flip a coin to decide who plays."

Lloyd raised a finger to object, but stopped, because...

"Cause, you know, it doesn't really matter who plays this game?" Ninten added.

"That... is a valid point. Alright. Heads, you do it, and tails I do it instead?"

"Sure," Ninten took a Coin and flipped it. It landed on a side depicting the Dark Dragon — or, at least what humans believe the Dark Dragon to look like. Both were confused — was this heads or tails?

"So... I think that's heads?"

"No, it's tails. The other side has Porky's face on it  —  that's heads."

"I suppose I'm doing this one then," Lloyd said.

"Good luck!"

Over at Jeff and Ana's corner, Jeff wondered something.

"I wonder if it might be possible to time these Dice Blocks. If they only roll from 0 to 3, it may be possible."

"It might be, which is why I made them spin  three  times as the regular ones to make sure you can't. Don't bother."

"Absolute balderdash to have something like this! Well, in that case, it doesn't matter who plays this at all, does it... are you alright?"

Jeff took notice of Ana's face, and how her eyes seemed to glaze over.

Quietly, she said, "I think... you should play. If I play... we will earn 7 coins. But if you play... we will earn 10. "

"How do you know that?"

"Sometimes, I can predict what will happen in the future... what will happen on each road taken. I know it's hard to believe, but I'm sure of it."

Jeff wasn't sure what to think of it at all, but for now... it was all luck anyway. He may as well go along with it.

"I'll play then."

As for Kumatora and the Masked Man, their decision was very quick.

"You are clearly very disappointed with the choice of minigame. As it matters not who plays this, and I do not mind menial tasks, I will play."

"Sure. Knock yourself out," Kumatora replied.

And finally, Ness and Lucas...

"Erm..." Lucas began nervously. "Do you mind if you play this one? It's just... money makes me feel uncomfortable. If you really want me to do it, I will -"

"Hey, it's no problem. I don't mind at all! Not like it matters much."

"Thank you. You're probably confused about why though..."

"A little, but it doesn't really matter. Kinda curious why... but I'm sure if you ask you now, that magical voice is just gonna get mad."

"Oh, you're learning! Impressive. Right, all participants, stand on the podiums."

Lloyd, Jeff, the Masked Man and Ness all did so. "Alright, when I say go, start hitting. 3... 2... 1... GO!"

And suddenly, it was a mad smashing of the - I can't do this. I apologise, Greater Beings, but what exactly do I say? They're doing the exact same thing they did on the board — rolling Dice Blocks. Rolling Dice Blocks... in a Minigame. We better not get Mathletes this game, or I swear... and these rolls are not good.

Everyone's rolls were incredibly low, particularly Ness's set, as he hadn't scored a single result above 1 yet, and I don't think that'll change either... I almost feel bad about how frustrated he was getting.

"5... 4... 3... 2...1... STOP!"

The Dice Blocks all vanished, and everyone halted.

"The average amount of Coins you can earn from this Minigame is 12. None of you were able to get above that. Lloyd, you did the best with 11. Jeff, you earned 10. Masked Man, 9. And Ness... 4."

"I hate this stupid game!" Ness said. Everyone else seemed a bit disappointed with their scores too, though less so than Ness.

"I sympathise greatly. Let us return."

Everyone disappeared as they teleported away, back to Sweet Dream.

Meanwhile, in Porky's lair...

"So, those are the results of this first turn."

Porky thrashed about his room, throwing a temper tantrum. "COINTAGIOUS?! The first Minigame was that?! People watch this to see these idiots compete in deadly events, not to see them roll Dice Blocks!" He burst into a wheeze. "Our viewers have dropped by 20%! I'm getting calls from all my investors, asking why they put their money into this!"

"See, that sounds like a ' you ' problem."

"You're the host. Make something exciting happen!"

"Do none of you have any patience? It's the first turn  —  give it some time. And under no circumstances will I manipulate the RNG. No one is above luck  —  not even deities."

"Then get out."

"Gladly. A pleasure speaking to you, as always."

Chapter Text

Back at Sweet Dream, everyone teleported back onto the same spaces they had landed on the previous turn.

"And so, that is one turn. Only nineteen more to go. The leading player will switch now, so Lloyd, you'll be taking this turn."

"Okay then... hopefully I'll get a higher roll than you did last turn. I mean, it is a 90% chance, but..."

"Hey, don't sweat it. Just hit the block."

Lloyd carefully tapped the Dice Block, scoring a 10.

"That's what I'm talking about! Nice job, Lloyd! First you got the most coins in that Minigame, and now a 10? Man, why didn't you ever tell me you're a good luck charm?"

"I think this is the luckiest I've ever been. I think the last time I had any sort of good luck was when... I guess it's when I met you. Maybe my luck's turning around now. Let's go!"

The two immediately passed by the Orb Shop, heading inside — but this time, the shop didn't look like a laboratory. Instead, it looked like... a normal shop containing shelves on the back with green Orbs. It looked strangely familiar to them.

"Wait, why are we in the sky?!" Ninten asked. He was pointing at a window, but the board wasn't visible through it — instead, they saw pink clouds. When they closely examined the shop again, they realised... this was like a shop in Magicant.

"Just a second!" A voice called out from the storeroom.

Ninten and Lloyd looked at each other. That voice...!

A young woman came out, and they were shocked to see who it was.

"Great grandma Maria?! What are you doing here?!"

She clapped her hands together. "Ah! You must be Ninten! My goodness, I never expected you to grow this much!" She turned to Lloyd, smiling at him as well. "And you must be Lloyd! I hear you're good friends with my great grandson in your time."

"Your time? So you're not from the same time we are?" Lloyd asked.

"No... it's a bit complicated, and I think the host could do a better job explaining it."

"To sum it up, more alternate timelines. The Maria you see here, and George for that matter —"

"Great grandpa George is here too?!"

"Yes. Goodness, it's just family — you don't need to be that excited about it. They're both from a different timeline, one where they had a much happier life and lived to see you born, Ninten. They're from the 1970's, so for them, you're just an infant."

"Wouldn't you both be like in your 90's then?"

"We are. It's quite a wonder we've made it that far, but I think Giygas may have had a part in that. Either way, I don't look 90, do I?"

"To answer what you're thinking, Ninten, I gave both of them younger bodies when I took them."

"So you got to see Ninten being born? Hold on... does that mean you have baby photos of Ninten?" Lloyd asked.

Maria laughed. "Oh, plenty. I'll show you some at the end of this game!"

"Hey! No baby photos!"

"I have a question — what about Giygas? Correct me if I'm wrong, but the aliens come and kidnap you both, right?"

"Yeah, that's a good point."

Maria nodded. "The same thing happened, but things went differently. From what I've been told, in your time, my husband escaped on his own and I stayed behind. But here, Giygas helped my husband and I escape and return to Earth."

"Wait, what?! He helped you escape?!"

"And wasn't he only a child?"

"Giygas's race is an incredibly intelligent species. By the time he was five years old, he would have had the intelligence of the smartest thirty year old humans, though not necessarily the emotional maturity. I think the reason it happened was because George, for some reason, didn't attempt to study his PSI, and the two stayed with Giygas longer than they did in your timeline."

"But didn't the aliens try and come after you?"

"They did. But..." Maria looked up at the ceiling. "Would you mind telling this part? I'm not fond of it myself..."

"Not at all. In your timeline, the aliens didn't go after George at that point, because they still had Maria, who they deemed the more important of the two for raising Giygas. However, because both of them escaped in this timeline, the aliens decided to mount their offence on Earth sooner than expected, under the belief that their secrets of PSI were stolen — ironically though, they were wrong. Their plan was simple — kill every single human on the planet. Giygas was part of the invading force, though not the leader, since he was still young.

In any case, when the ships landed, Giygas single handedly killed the entire invading force, on account of George and Maria being humans. I'm guessing he didn't take the prospect of them being killed too kindly — he hid his feelings remarkably well before that point, though."

"What? He did all that?!"

"Yes... he saved all our lives, but... I wish there was a better way. We found him a few years later — or rather, he found us using his psychic powers. We raised him on Earth as well as we could, and when he was old enough, he left Earth using one of those spaceships. He comes back every so often to visit though."

Ninten sat down, hand to his head. "That is... wow. I, I... I can't believe any of it."

"Hey, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Just... give me a minute to process it. You know me, I'm slow and all..."

Lloyd nodded, but made a note in his head to check on him later. He turned back to Maria. "Another question then — didn't the aliens try to come back?"

"That's a good point. They didn't, and I'm not sure why..."

"That's because of how Giygas executed his plan... and race. He made sure none of the invaders survived, and pretended he was dead as well for a few years. As far as the aliens knew, they sent a large force to Earth, and somehow, all of them were killed. Naturally, they assumed it was the humans, and decided to give up on Earth. After all, if the humans were capable of doing that, that was a species they were staying far away from."

"That would explain it..." Lloyd said.

"So, wait a second — Giygas just pops by Earth every so often like that? Like, he just lands outside your front door for some tea or whatever?"

Maria nodded. "I do wish he'd visit more often, but it's very nice to see him whenever he comes. In fact, he was there when you were born, Ninten."

"Giygas was there when I was BORN?!"

"Oh, yes! I'll never forget what he said when he first saw you — 'so, this is what human infants look like? How disgusting...' Sadly, I don't have any baby photos of him. I think that's enough of my story though — I haven't even told you what shop this is! Welcome to Magicant Market, where you can buy Orbs that will give you a boost. Have a look at the list, and please tell me what you'd like."

"I think the Skip Sandwich DX could be very useful," Lloyd said, after briefly examining the list. "The Star is quite far, and the quicker we get it, the better. We're also doing the best on coins, so we won't be set back too much by this purchase."

"Sounds good to me!"

"One of those then, please."

"Here you are then — that'll be 10 coins!" Maria said.

"10 coins?" That didn't sound right to Lloyd. "Hold on, the rules we got sent said they were 15."

"I hate having to charge my great grandson or you money to start with, but I'm not allowed to just give you Orbs for free. The most I can do is this."

"Alright..." Lloyd said, handing over the money with a little guilt.

"And take this as well," Maria said, handing over a ticket showing Ness, the Masked Man and Jeff's faces in that order.

The two of them left the shop, heading up the ladder. While climbing up, Lloyd looked at Ninten, who still seemed a little stunned over everything.

"You sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, just a little... I dunno? Like, it's just weird. It's so weird to hear 'oh yeah, Giygas is good, he comes to Earth for tea, and he was there when you were born', you know? Don't get me wrong, I'm happy and all, cause it sounds like both of them had a happier life, along with Giygas. I always felt kinda bad for the dude. It's just a lot to take in."

"Makes sense. I don't know what my reaction would be if I suddenly heard of a timeline where my parents were... not at each other's throats. Hey, look at this bridge — this is one that collapses when we pass over it, right?"

"Yeah. Not like we got much choice over where we go."

So they headed down, passing by Kumatora and the Masked Man and landing on the Blue Space just after them.

"Ana, you're the leading player now."

"I hope we can get a better roll than the last turn."

Ana smiled and nodded. "We will. In fact, we're going to get a 10."

"... really now? Okay, let's see."

Ana hit the Dice Block, getting... a 10.

"See?"

"That is incredible. I was surprised the first time, but that could have just been lucky. To correctly guess both how many Coins I would have earned in that previous Minigame and this Dice roll... that's a 1/250 chance. A 0.4% probability. You have me convinced."

"Really?" Ana was surprised at that — people rarely believed her at all, even when she showed them.

"You're either telling the truth, or you're just very lucky, but with odds that low, I don't believe it's luck."

"I'm surprised. Forgive me if I'm assuming, but you look like the scientific type. I didn't think you'd believe me."

"Well, when presented with evidence, I have no choice to believe it, and it isn't the first time I've seen something like this —"

"For the love of me, is everyone going to do this on their turn? Walk and talk, people!"

Slightly perturbed, Ana and Jeff immediately moved forward and entered the Orb Shop. To Jeff, nothing seemed abnormal, but to Ana, it was very abnormal, for she quickly noticed the same things Ninten and Lloyd did. Such as the shopkeeper, who was —

"Queen Mary?"

"Hello there! You must be Ana. Oh, and please call me Maria — I was never a real queen in your time or in mine!"

"Your time? So you're not from the same time —"

"Oh no, we're not doing this again! Long story short, Giygas is good, these two are alive, and if you want to know more, ask Ninten and Lloyd because I am not telling it again."

"I suppose it is a bit of a long story, yes," Maria admitted. "And you must be Jeff."

"Yes, I am," he replied, slightly confused. "But I don't think I've ever met you?"

"No, you wouldn't have — but I've heard great things about you! Anyway, both of you, welcome to Magicant Market. You can buy Orbs to help you gain the edge over the others, so please have a look and let me know what you'd like."

After a few moments, Ana handed Maria 5 coins. "I think we'll take a Shield Orb, your Majesty — I mean... this is going to take some getting used to."

"Don't worry, dear, I understand. Here you are! Before you leave, here is a lottery ticket. You'll need it during the Last Five Turns."

She handed over a piece of paper, showing Ness's face in a row twice, followed by Jeff's. "Thank you."

The pair left the store, continuing along the same goddamn path I've had to narrate four times. I'm so glad this is just a side job of mine — imagine if my entire existence was just narrating. That would be miserable.

"So, you know that lady running the store there?" Jeff asked.

"She's Ninten's great grandmother. It was a bit of a strange situation though — she was already dead when we met her, but she couldn't move on... I think it was like that at least."

"But you called her Queen? Was she royalty?"

"Not really — she was the queen of Magicant."

"Magicant? You've been there?"

"You know of it?"

"My friend Ness went there once, he had to do battle with the darkness of his mind."

"What? That doesn't make sense... Magicant disappeared completely when we helped Maria move on."

"Hm... is it possible they were separate Magicants? From what it sounds like, Magicant doesn't sound like a specific place, but a term."

"That's a good way of putting it. You're quite right — Magicant is a general term used to refer to the space created in one's mind, either through near death experiences or artificial induction by Sound Stones. Or something like that — who knows? I've always wanted to try experimenting on mortals by bringing a bunch of them to near death and seeing how many of them induce a Magicant, but that would be the highest order of cruelty."

"Interesting... so, we've both had some experience around a Magicant," said Ana.

"And you've encountered Giygas as well, haven't you?" asked Jeff.

"You have as well? I'd like to hear about that. Oh! I'm sorry, it's been two turns and I realised that I never even introduced myself! I'm Ana."

"No, the fault is mine — a refined gentleman should always introduce themselves! I'm Jeff. A pleasure meeting you, Ana, and I hope we can work well together. I'd like to hear more about Magicant as well. It's a fascinating thing, but it's so vague."

"Well, we should definitely have time to discuss it. Ah, but here's our space."

They stopped on a Blue Space on the left side of the board, three spaces above where Ness and Lucas were, getting 3 coins.

"So, if you wouldn't mind, the first thing I'd like to know is what the Magicant you went to was like. It sounds like you've physically been there, while all my information on it is secondhand."

"I have! It was a beautiful place..."

And I've got other players to narrate. I'll leave these two at it.

Kumatora fished out the PK Arson Orb, preparing to throw it... but stopped. She may not like him, but... she should at least tell him what she was planning to do.

"I'm going to throw this on that Red Space there. Roast Ninten and Lloyd with it when they pass it."

"I have no objections to that."

"Alright, cool." She threw the Orb, which landed on the Red Space, creating a pink Roadblock. 10 coins came out of it, and flew into Kumatora's pockets. "Nice! Let's get moving."

Kumatora smashed the Dice Block, getting a 6. The two walked in silence, passing the Roadblock they placed earlier harmlessly. See, that's what I like about those two — there's no chitchat because they hate each other. But the Masked Man just had to break it...

"May I ask you a question?"

"You just did," she scoffed. "Sure, I guess?"

"What pain did I cause to you in your timeline?"

"What? What kind of question is that?!"

"Earlier, you stated that you will never forget the pain that I caused you, but then quickly overrode yourself, instead focusing on the pain I had caused Lucas."

"Yeah? And?"

"I would like to know — what pain did I cause you? From what I understand, our timelines are virtually identical, exempting my revival by the Dark Dragon, so I'm fairly certain the pain I have caused you in my timeline is similar to the pain I've caused you in this one."

Kumatora was about to just continue walking, ignoring him. Why should she tell him? It didn't matter. Not like anything could be done — besides, they weren't even her real parents.

And yet, she gave in. "The Magypsies."

"... ah." And with that, everything became clear to the Masked Man. The pain of losing the closest thing she had to family, and he had brought down three of them.

"I guess by that logic, I should hate Lucas too, but he was doing it to save the world. You weren't. You were doing it to destroy everything so that bastard could have a world where only he exists. And yeah, I keep going back to this — I know I can't blame you. But damn, it isn't easy."

"I see. I know this will mean very little to you, and perhaps be offensive, but... I apologise."

For some reason, it didn't offend her. She expected to be filled with rage, but... she didn't feel anything.

The two continued in silence, landing on the same space Ness and Lucas were on.

"... was really just a child back then? I can't believe it... oh! Kumatora, and... hello."

"Hey," Kumatora said. The Masked Man shifted to one side, giving Lucas a slight nod.

And then, everyone died of awkwardness.

Lucas pulled out the PK Arson Orb they had, showing it to Ness.

"I don't really like hurting people, but... I think it would help if we used it."

"Yeah, we could probably get Kumatora and... that masked guy with it."

"You know we're literally standing right here, don't you?" Kumatora said.

"Yeah, but there's nothing you can do to stop us, so it doesn't matter," Ness replied.

Kumatora grumbled, conceding the point.

"Alright, Lucas — what d'ya say about that space right there?" Ness asked, pointing to it.

"Sounds good to me!" He threw the Orb to the Blue Space just behind Ana and Jeff, where it burst and 8 coins flew out of it, flying to Lucas.

"Man, you just earned twice as many coins from that as I did in that entire last Minigame!"

"It's not a competition, not between ourselves anyway. Let's go!" Lucas hit the Dice Block, getting a 9.

"See, that's the kinda roll I could have used then..."

As Ness and Lucas walked, they passed Jeff and Ana — Ness was interested when he heard part of their conversation, as it seemed they were talking about Magicant? He didn't want to eavesdrop though.

"So..." Lucas began. "Everything you said about Porky... is that all true? That he was a normal kid once, before this Giygas came and made him evil?"

"It's a bit more complicated than that. Giygas just made the bad in people worse — even we had to deal with it a few times. We had a lot of fights. Pokey always had some rough parts to him, and his family definitely didn't help with that. He was a dick, yeah, but evil? Nah, even I wouldn't have called him that back then."

"That's what I don't get. I understand that he was made worse, but everyone else returned to normal after you defeated him, right? But not him..."

"That keeps me up at night too. I don't really know either. Maybe it's gotta do with how close he was — like, there was no one else who was closer to Giygas then he was by the end of it all. He was at Giygas's side day and night."

"So, the corruption couldn't just disappear?"

"I guess, but we'll never know. One of my friends, Paula... she took a guess and said the reason Pokey didn't go back to normal was because he wasn't being controlled by the end of it."

"As in, he wasn't corrupted at all?"

"Nah, not like that. She thinks he was corrupted... but then he liked it. He liked what it made him, what he became. And 'cause of that, he didn't wanna go back. I dunno, I'm probably not doing a good job explaining what she meant."

"I think I understand. What she's saying is... the corruption awakened the real him. The real Pokey. Porky."

"... I can't believe it. I know she's probably right, 'cause she's super clever with these sorts of things, but I don't wanna believe it. 'Cause if it's true, then..."

"Then that would mean Porky is destined to be evil. Because the real him is evil."

"I don't believe in fate and whatever — we literally went out to change it! And Pokey may have gone evil in our timeline, but I don't believe he was meant to. 'Cause... I dunno. I dunno what I'm saying... sorry, I know this has gotta be hard for you. Hearing me go on about Pokey maybe being good."

"It's fine. To be honest... when I saw him, I couldn't help but feel a little sad. I hate him for everything he's done but... I still feel sad."

"Yeah... what does he do? I've told you about his early life, but... what does he become? I have to know."

Lucas pursed his lips, not keen on answering right now. But they passed an Orb Shop, giving a convenient excuse to delay it.

"I'll tell you after the Minigame this turn. We... should check out this shop right now."

Ness frowned, seeing what Lucas was doing, but let it go. "Alright. So long as you do tell me later."

The two entered Maria's shop, but since neither of them knew her, there's no story to tell. Hooray. That being said, Ness did take notice of the surroundings... it kind of looked like his Magicant. Maybe that's what Jeff and Ana were talking about?

"Hello there! I'm Maria, and welcome to Magicant Market. I believe you've already been to my husband's store — I sell a variety of Orbs that help you instead of ones that mess with your opponents.

"Oh!" Lucas said, relieved. "These are the kind of Orbs I prefer then."

"Well, have a look and tell me what you'd like."

"I would like to purchase a Shield Orb... if that's okay," Lucas said.

"Of course, dear! It's only 5 coins."

Lucas nervously handed the money over, and Ness noticed something strange — Lucas seemed repulsed by holding the money, keen to get it out of his hand as soon as possible. He remembered Lucas saying he didn't like money... everyone likes money, right? Money made the world go round and all.

"Here you are," Maria said, handing the Orb over. "Use it well!"

"Thank you!"

They both left the store, walking down and stopping on the Blue Space just after the Orb Shop. Time for the second Minigame.

Everyone reappeared at the Start of the board. Let's hope this Minigame is more exciting...

"Alright then, another free for all, since you landed on a Blue Space. But this time, I think we'll make it a little different — you've had a taste of 4 Player Minigames, but how about 8 Player Minigames? That's right, all of you will be competing in this game."

"How do teams work in a free for all?" asked Lloyd.

"Simple — you'll be competing against each other, but any person who wins the Minigame wins it for their team. Obviously, try not to mess your teammate up if it's a Minigame where you can do that. Let's see what Minigame it will be then..."

The roulette of images appeared again, this time stopping on one showing a haunted house.

"Ghost In The Hall... hm, I hope you all like horror then."

Everyone teleported away. When they reappeared, it was a dark night, rain pouring down on the grass outside. They suddenly found themselves being soaked and immediately, they all shrieked, running to find the nearest tree for shelter — except for the Masked Man, Jeff and Ana. The former simply stood there, not bothered at all because of his helmet.

As for the latter two, Jeff took an umbrella out of his pocket and unfolded it, covering both himself and Ana. Five pairs of eyes from the players under shelter stared at him incredulously.

"You have an umbrella?!" Ness said.

"I live in Foggyland. Do you know how often it rains there? It's common sense to carry an umbrella."

"Your preparedness is commendable," the Masked Man said, his voice conveying the slightest impression that he was impressed.

"Yes, very much so, and we'll be having none of that."

Suddenly, the sound of thunder rang out in the rainstorm as a bolt of PK Thunder struck Jeff's umbrella, frying it. Ana yelped as it burst into flame, and Jeff quickly let go of it.

Both of them rushed under a tree to join their rain-soaked companions, who laughed at their plight. That left the Masked Man out alone, who just... stood there. Alright.

"I'd do the same to the Masked Man as well, but... that might kill him, so I'll just leave him there. Let's get started. In this Minigame, you'll be going through that."

What 'that' was quickly became apparent to everyone now that they weren't focusing on the rain, as they took in the surroundings. Standing before them was a house, a large one at that — a mansion.

"Welcome to this haunted house."

"Wait, this is a haunted house?!" Ninten asked.

"... I just said it was. When the Minigame starts, you will all be teleported into this house, and the goal is simple — find your way out. The first person to do so wins. But on your way, you might run into traps, such as ghosts, locked doors and worst of all, dead ends. So... be on the lookout for anything. Oh yes, you'll all need these."

Flashlights appeared above everyone, then fell down. Ninten, Ness, Ana and the Masked Man were all able to catch theirs, but the other four fumbled with them.

" As you'll find, the inside of this house is rather dark - pitch black thanks to liberal use of PSI Darkness. You'll need these flashlights to see. Now, a few rules I want to go over — firstly, there is only one exit from this house and it is a door. Anyone trying to improvise an exit via defenestration will be instantly disqualified.

Secondly, no teamwork, including with your own partner. This is because only one person can win this game, so if people did work as teams, there would inevitably be backstabbing at the end. I will allow moments of cooperation if you happen to find another player, since that's only natural, but otherwise, no teamwork. The flipside to this is that you aren't allowed to sabotage other players either.

Finally, and this applies for all Minigames, but it didn't come up during Cointagious — no PSI. Since Lloyd and Jeff can't use it, it is an unfair advantage. Anyone using PSI at any point during the game will be disqualified. Any questions?"

Everyone shook their heads. Without a word, they all disappeared again, finding themselves in different parts of the haunted house. The first thing they all noticed is that I wasn't joking when I said it would be pitch black. They could barely see a few inches ahead of them, so all of them turned their flashlights on.

They gave a better view, but their range was still limited and the darkness still strong. Still, now that they could see, they examined the rooms they found themselves in.

Ninten found himself in a bedroom. Based on the doll house and pink walls, Ninten thought it must have belonged to a girl. The bed was small... the girl must have been very young when she died.

" The girl also doesn't exist, Ninten."

"Huh?"

"This place is merely something we made. No one actually died here."

"Oh... well, I'm stupid."

He walked around, heading for the doorway, when suddenly the door slammed in on his face. This wasn't going to be easy...

Lloyd had also appeared in a bedroom, but this one seemed to be one for a boy. He felt nervous, but... they had made their way through the Rosemary Mansion. This couldn't be all that different from that. Ah, I should have put a haunted piano in this place — that would have been fun.

Jeff had appeared in a master bedroom, one that was luxurious beyond belief. Funny story — Porky gave me a set amount of money to build this house with, and as it happens, I actually used less than the budget I had. But, since I wanted to waste as much of his money as possible, I used the rest of it on this room.

Ana found herself in the kitchen, which was much cleaner than she expected. I'm sure there's a 'stay in the kitchen' joke somewhere I could make about this, but I can't for the life of me think of one...

The Masked Man was in a library, and despite haunted books immediately flying at him, he simply ignored them all and kept walking with nerves of steel. Urgh, he's no fun.

Kumatora appeared in a bathroom, and quickly saw something in the corner of her eye — a ghost in a mirror. Though startled at first, a small grin emerged on her lips — this wasn't too different from her castle. This would be easy for her.

Ness was in a storage room. As soon as he stood up, he hit his head on the shelves above him. I think the storage room is actually the closest to the exit... let's see if he wins.

Finally, Lucas had showed up in... ah, I was hoping either he or the Masked Man would show up in here. It was another bedroom, the last one in the house — but this one was clearly a bedroom for twins. For twin girls, but it certainly brought forth memories painful to him. It was also the room furthest from the exit, not that he knew, of course.

Everyone made their way through their house, occasionally having to double back because of fake doors, ghosts surprising them and dead ends. Everyone in New Pork City was watching the screams and terror live, laughing as they saw it all, wondering how long this would go on.

... at least, that's what I would be saying, if Ninten didn't happen to head out of the conservatory he just entered, go through two others, find a staircase, head down it, go through a living room into the foyer and immediately find the exit of the house in the span of two minutes, all without running into a single ghost, fake door or trap along the way.

How anticlimactic.

"Woo! I made it! And I'm the first!" Ninten cheered, outside once more and throwing his hands up in the rain.

" Congratulations. You're the first out. Let's get everyone else back here."

Around him, everyone else suddenly appeared, confused. All their flashlights disappeared, as the game was done.

" Well, the game's over — Ninten won that one very quickly."

A lot of the others were disappointed, save for the always emotionless Masked Man, and Lloyd, who was naturally happy that his teammate had won the game.

Confetti burst from nowhere, as 10 coins flew down into Ninten's pockets, signalling his victory. Once that was done, the players all vanished... like they were never there to begin with.

Oooo....

Porky was pacing around his lair in his mech, torn between being pleased and disappointed.

"I presume you've seen the Minigame?"

"Hmph. Better than Cointagious, but that's not exactly an achievement — it's like those dumb participation awards people get! I was looking forward to seeing extensive horror and misery, and that boy just ended it in two minutes! At least the investors have been placated for now, and our ratings are a little better than before."

Porky's eyes suddenly gleamed. "Yes, this is good! We'll ease into the good stuff! Start small, let them see all the boring stuff first, then we build it up and hit them all at once with excitement!"

" Well, that's all dependent on the RNG. Isn't this funny? Your entire viewership depends on luck."

"Hah! I'm the luckiest person in the world! Everything aligns perfectly for Master Porky!"

"Right... well, while you have your delusions, I have a game to run."

Chapter Text

Back at Sweet Dream, it was time for the next turn. Lloyd examined the path ahead, grimacing slightly.

"There's two Roadblocks ahead of us, and if we roll high, we'll trigger both of them. There's no getting around the first one, but if we can roll low, the people in front of us might trigger the second."

"So, we'll save the sandwich then? We don't wanna be going as fast as I got out of that house."

"How did you get out so quickly anyway?" Lloyd asked.

"Using my expert haunted house navigation skills!"

Lloyd burst into laughter. "Expert navigation skills? You got us lost in Rosemary Mansion for a day!"

"Hey, but I got us out in the end, didn't I?"

"Again, after a day."

"Well, I just went through some rooms and then I was at the exit."

"You got out first through dumb luck, then? That sounds about right for you."

"What's that supposed to mean?! Ah, never mind. I'm just gonna roll."

Ninten struck the Dice Block, scoring a 1.

"Hey, that's a low roll!" he said.

"Are we going to alternate between getting ones and tens? Hm... that could be useful actually."

The pair moved to the next space, which was... an Item Space! Finally, we get something interesting happening. It's time to see what Ninten can do, and what Za Waurdon't!

Suddenly, the entire board fell into a temporal stasis, as time stood still for everyone but Ninten and Lloyd. A moment later, a holographic projection of George appeared before them. They both of them were surprised to see him, even though they knew he was here.

"Ninten!" George called out. "I'm glad you're here. And you must be Lloyd... I've heard many things about you."

"Great grandpa George!"

"Dr Hollander?"

"Oh, please, call me George," he said with a wave of his hand. "Dr Hollander is for all my colleagues... many of whom I despise. I assume you're both already aware of why we're here?"

"Yes, your wife told us," Lloyd replied.

"Ah, then I won't have to repeat what you've already heard. Like my wife, I sell a myriad of Orbs, but unlike her, the Orbs I sell are all about trying to sabotage your opponents. Though at the moment, it's not selling you things I'm here for — you've landed on an Item Space, and so I'm here to ask you a question."

"A question? What kind?" Lloyd asked.

"It's a simple true or false question that will test your knowledge about the world. However, should you think the answer is false, I'd also like an explanation — knowledge is meaningless without one. If you answer correctly, you'll be rewarded with Orbs. If not... you might find yourself worse off than before," George warned.

"Okay..." Ninten said. "What's the question?"

Clearing his throat, George said, "My question is this — in biology, would it be correct to describe evolution as the spontaneous changing of an organism's genetics?"

"Dang, science questions... I'm not good at these," Ninten muttered.

"Biology's not my strong suit either, but... I don't think that's right?" Lloyd said. "Evolution's all about mutations, isn't it? But then again, mutations happen quickly... I'm not sure."

"Evolution is linked to mutations, yes, but spontaneous is hardly a good way of putting it," George said. "It takes thousands of years for large changes to be seen. Still, you've got the general principle, so I think I can reward you a little based on that. I'll give you two Orbs."

"Hey, nice job, Lloyd! So what do we get?"

George's hologram disappeared and a second later, the flow of time resumed. Immediately, a PK Arson and a Sharks Orb fell down onto the ground, which they picked up.

"Hey, nice! These are some cool Orbs!" Ninten said. "I'm not gonna say no to free stuff!"

"These'll definitely help out. It's good that we got them."

Jeff tapped the Dice Block above his head, getting an 8. He nodded appreciably before the pair started to walk. As they continued along the diabetic nightmare of a path, Ana had something to ask.

"Might I ask something? You said in the last Minigame that you lived in Foggyland — I did think your accent was Foggylandian. I was wondering where you lived there."

"Yes, I live in Winters."

"Winters? Oh, I live in Snowman myself!"

"You'd be familiar with what kind of weather we get then?"

"Yes, though it doesn't rain as much here. It gets frightfully cold in the winter, and I often see more people going to church because of it."

Jeff looked puzzled. "You'll have to forgive me, but I don't understand that logic. How does cold weather make more people go to church? Religion... can't warm people up."

While Jeff was a man of facts, he was also not keen on offending people, though he had to hope Ana understood a fact like that.

Thankfully, she did. "Oh no, but excellent heating can. The heating our church has is better than in most people's houses, so I imagine that's why they come. I help out there all year, so it's not hard to see the difference."

"You're religious then?" he asked, to confirm what he had already guessed.

"Very much so, I've been told," Ana said, smiling slightly.

"Doesn't that make you... angry then? To see people come to church just for the heating?"

"In some ways... yes. I would prefer it if people came to church because of belief, but this isn't a perfect world. And they do respect the customs, so I can't find myself being angry at them. At worst, they don't take away any meaning from the service, but they've found themselves a little warmer.

At best, perhaps they have learned something and might come back to learn more, though it is always their choice. I hope you don't think I'm one of those people who insist on pushing their religion on people, since there are unfortunately many like that."

"Not in the slightest, I hadn't gotten that impression of you at all. Ah, it appears we've come to an Orb Shop."

The two appeared once more in Maria's shop, where the woman in question greeted them again.

"Hello again! You two are the first repeat customers I've had. Well, you know how my shop works now, so what would you like?"

"Hm... we don't have too many Coins right now," Ana said.

"Yes, we should hold onto them. I think we'll pass for now."

Maria nodded, a little disappointed. "Good luck then, dears."

They exited the Orb Shop, continuing along the trail.

"What's life like in Winters then?" Ana asked.

"Ah, it's not very exciting," Jeff replied. "I go to an all-boys boarding school; I've done so for nearly my entire life."

"Your whole life? Don't boarding schools usually let you go home to your family for Christmas and summer break?"

"Yes, they do, and ours was no exception. Many of my friends went home for those breaks, and I would have to... if I had a family to go home to."

"You're... an orphan?"

"No, no, I'm not. But I may as well have been in a certain way. My mother died when I was very young, and my father... he sent me there. It was probably for the best."

"Doesn't that make you angry though? That he never interacted with you for that long?"

"It's sort of like your church example, because in some ways... yes. It does make me angry because of what I missed out on, but on the other hand, I... don't know what I missed out on. Knowing him could have been worse than not, and there was a good chance of that happening since he's as bad at socialising with people as he's good with science. I suppose in that way, I'm not much different."

"Really? I don't think you're that bad at socialising at all. I think we've certainly been able to speak well to each other, even in this short amount of time."

"As do I. I appreciate it, but I was a lot worse in the past. Especially around girls — I had an awfully hard time with one of my friends at first because of that."

"Did you have a crush?" Ana asked, lightly teasing him.

"Not quite..." he awkwardly adjusted his glasses. "No, it was more due to the fact that I had very little interaction with girls beforehand."

"Oh, I see — because you were at an all-boys boarding school. I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable."

"No, it's quite alright. Really, it seems as though I've met a lot of people who don't have a normal relationship with their fathers. Ness's father is only home once in a blue moon, Poo's father is dead, and even Tony seemed keen to avoid the topic of his own..."

At the slight confusion that appeared on Ana's face, Jeff clarified. "Oh, I'm sorry, you don't know who they are. Paula and Poo are two of my friends who defeated Giygas alongside me — though really, Paula deserves all the credit for that. Tony is... my best friend. I daresay I wouldn't have lasted a year in boarding school without him."

"Ah, I see. I'm blessed to have a good relationship with my father, but I've also seen a lot of people who don't. Ninten's father is also away from his home a lot and Lloyd's... I'm honestly not entirely sure what's going on with his. The last time I heard them speak to each other, it ended in a lot of shouting. I've never wanted to press, but he sounds like a... pardon my language, a deadbeat. And of course, I've heard about a lot of parental issues at church."

"Hm... I can't say my father was the best, but he wasn't the worst," Jeff mused. "He paid for school and wrote a few times... I've made peace with it, and it helps that we've actually seen each other in person now."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that. Oh, seems we've come to a junction," Ana said, pointing to it. "We can either go down or right here... which way do we go?"

"I really don't think this takes a rocket scientist to figure out," Jeff said. "Although rocket science is a lot easier than you think."

"Considering only one way leads to the Star? Right it is then. Incidentally, I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable with any of my questions — I know they were a bit... personal."

"It's perfectly fine. I'm just surprised you were that interested. You seem like a rather inquisitive lady."

"I won't hesitate to admit that I lived a very sheltered life before meeting Ninten and Lloyd. There's a lot about the world I don't know yet, and I want to learn more about it. But I must have been bombarding you with questions, so... I don't suppose you have any to ask me?" Ana finished just as they landed on the Blue Space next to the junction, getting 3 coins.

"I have a few things I'm curious to know about you, but... there is something else I wanted know about first. You told me about Magicant last turn, but you also said you've come across Giygas? I'm very interested to hear about how that all happened."

"And you've come across him as well, after us. Well, it is a bit of a long story, and I wasn't there for all of it, but I'll be more than happy to share, if you'd be willing to tell me what happened after we encountered him."

"That's more than a fair request."

"Then it starts with the strangest of all things — a lamp that tried to kill Ninten."

"This is already shaping up to be quite the tale..."

The Masked Man stepped forward, hitting the Dice Block and getting a 3. Their walk was much like before — filled with silence until the Masked Man interrupted it with a question.

"What were the Magypsies like?" he asked.

"Why do you care?" Kumatora replied. The next moment, she regretted that coming out much harsher than she meant for it to.

The Masked Man paused, searching for an answer. "I don't think it would be particularly groundbreaking if I told you that my ability to feel is... limited."

"Yeah, I'd figured that one out."

As if he hadn't heard Kumatora, he continued. "But... I would like to regain it. I understand that I will never be Claus, nor do I want to pretend to be him. However... if there is one thing I envy about him, it was his range of emotions and ability to feel. I want to regain that, and in order to do so... I must first understand what pain I've caused to people."

"But why?"

"Because only then can I understand everything else. And... I want to understand the pain I've caused you. On a factual level, I understand it perfectly — I took the people who were close to you. But... I cannot properly understand it on an emotional level. I want to. I want to know what they were like, so I can understand... what I took away."

"... alright. They were... weird. That's the best way to put it. Like, even when I was young, I always thought they were weird. They were always just... not really there? Kinda disconnected from the whole world, like they had their head in the clouds," Kumatora explained.

"Hm... what you said reminds me somewhat of Porky. He too was always disconnected from the rest of the world, his mind lost in his own grandeur."

Kumatora scowled at the comparison, but didn't make any comment on it.

"And they really hated the fact that I wasn't all that girly and stuff. It was always 'Kumatora, that's not very ladylike!', or 'Kumatora, why do you wear those shabby clothes?' or 'Darling, why haven't you used that razor I got you?', stuff like that."

"It seems though most of your memories of them are... negative," he pointed out.

"Well... I dunno. I ain't gonna say they were exactly perfect as parents, cause they weren't really parents at all. Ionia was the one always taking care of me, and they were nice, but the others... I guess it's because of how long they live."

"The Magypsies have an indefinite life until their Needles are pulled," he stated.

"Yeah. They always kinda looked down on humans because of it, and they always bothered me a little... probably cause I'm one. They had a lot of faults, but still... they raised me. They were all I had, because I never talked with anyone in Tazmily before everything started happening."

"I believe I understand — AH!"

It was strange to hear the Masked Man shout, at least for Kumatora. He was always stoic and completely unreadable, but it did make sense — being engulfed in flame wasn't very nice. The PK Arson Orb that Lucas placed down had activated, briefly roasting the Masked Man, who jumped back.

"You alright?" Kumatora asked in concern.

"Yes... however, it seems 10 of our coins have been burnt to a crisp. How regrettable. Let us move on. As I was saying... I believe I understand. The Magypsies were not perfect, but ultimately you are thankful that they raised you."

"Pretty much — I mean, they didn't have to. Not like they were my parents, so it's not like they had any obligation to or anything. They were still good people, and I didn't wanna see 'em go, but... here we are. If they could all be here, I wish they were. Except Fassad — he can go screw himself."

"Ah, yes, I can certainly understand that sentiment," he said, making a fist. "I loathed every experience I had with him."

"Really?" That took Kumatora by surprise. "Thought he'd be super nice to you 'cause... you were the Commander?"

"I was the Commander, but before everything else, I was Porky's slave. A slave gets no respect. Now, that was a secret privy to very few people, but Fassad was one of the few. In fact, I believe he is part of the reason why I am this way — he was the one who detected the presence of PK Love in myself. If not for him, Porky would have likely left me to die, and considering what I would become... that would have been a far better fate."

Kumatora winced at that, remembering all the aggression she felt towards him. And now... she felt bad for all of it. The kid thought he'd be better off dead, and she knew that was wrong. She knew that Lucas would take any chance, any chance at all to see Claus, even if he was like this.

"Hey... look, don't say stuff like that about yourself."

"About what? It is a demonstrable fact that everything would have been better if I had died when that Drago mortally wounded me. Porky would have been unable to pull the Needles, and the world would have never been risked. In fact... didn't you express a similar sentiment yourself earlier on?"

Now she felt terrible. She really had said all that, hadn't she? But here the kid was, and he was trying to make amends and trying to understand her. And here she was, being like this to him.

"I'm sorry." Kumatora sighed. "I don't really think before I speak often, and I get mad easily. But I was wrong to say those things about you, because you're a victim of everything Porky's done, like us. I mean, you're trying to make things right here, but really, I'm the problem."

"I... accept your apology, though I'm not sure if I deserve it."

"Nah. You definitely do."

"Hm... nevertheless, I would still like to know more about the things I've done. Even if I'm not responsible for them, I still want to know. What did the army I took under control do to your village?"

"You're sure you wanna know?"

"For years, I've been told only lies. Even now, the people of Tazmily are wary and fearful of me. None of you talk about the subject, but I am not a child. I'd like to know — I deserve to."

"It ain't anything happy though."

"I'm more than aware."

"Alright. I can't say I can tell you everything, but if you wanna know anything... feel free to ask."

"I will. But... allow me some time. There's a lot I have to ask, and I must admit... I don't know where to start."

"Sure."

The Blue Space they landed on just after the trap awarded them 3 coins, and the silence they started with came back.

Still, at least now it was a less awkward one than before.

Ness and Lucas had spent their time during the other's turns talking, and Lucas had just finished telling his tale of everything that Porky had done.

Ness was simply shocked beyond belief. Lucas had to be lying about all this, right? There's no way Porky actually did all of that... but there was a sincerity in the blond's eyes that confirmed his story beyond a shadow of a doubt to Ness.

"Porky... he did all of that? He really turned your brother into an emotionless cyborg? And your timeline... he doesn't come back?"

"No, he doesn't. But... I've come to terms with it, and I think I'm moving on. And there's one good thing about all this — he'll never be able to hurt anyone ever again. He's stuck in that capsule forever."

"Isn't that exactly what he wants? But then again, maybe he'll realise it's not all good. I've always felt kinda... sorry for Pokey. Because he didn't have a good life, and even if it's exactly what he wants... I feel sorry he's just stuck in that capsule forever. You know, when the universe is gone, he'll still be there. Alone."

"I feel the same way."

"Really? You don't wanna punch him in the face?" Ness asked.

"At first, I did. I like to think of myself as a gentle person, but even I have my limits. And for so many nights, I'd think about it. But then... I just felt sorry for him. Because he's alone now, and he'll never know about love and friendship. I know it sounds a bit cheesy, but from what you said, he never had any of that growing up. The reason he thinks where he is now is a good place is because he simply doesn't know any better. He's still a child."

Lucas paused, remembering a lesson his mother taught him.

"Besides, revenge doesn't solve anything, does it? Even if I could hurt him, it wouldn't bring my brother back, or my mother, or anyone else. Revenge is what took my brother away in the first place... I don't want to make that same mistake."

"Is it hard seeing both your brother and Porky here?"

"... it is," Lucas admitted. "It's not easy, I'm not going to pretend it isn't. I'm jealous of the me who was able to see his brother again, even if he wasn't exactly the same. And as for Porky... a world where he rules is just terrifying to think of. And worse yet, we can't do anything about it."

"Maybe we can," Ness said.

"Huh?"

"Who's to say we can't go to another timeline and stop him? Just because ours is safe, it doesn't mean we shouldn't try and help others out! Maybe after this party, we could do that."

"I'd like to do that. And I definitely know some other people who can help. I don't want anyone to go through what I did."

"And neither do I! If we can do something, then we should. Who's gonna stop us?"

"That would be me for two reasons, the first of those being that you still haven't rolled your Dice Block, and the second being that there is room for only one interdimensional being in this universe, and that is me."

"Hey! You know, that reminds me — what the hell are you doing?!" Ness shouted. "You see these terrible things happening in all these timelines and you just sit there and watch!"

"It's not my place to interfere. Believe me, I would like to see Porky die, but I also want to see him die by the hands of humanity. You see... I've killed Porky Minches before, and it's never been any fun.

Even when I dragged it out, it's always the same. There's no fun, because it always felt as if I was 'cheating' and it gave Porky more credit than he deserves — that the only power capable of defeating him is that of a deity. I refuse to give him that satisfaction."

"That is the stupidest excuse ever. Fun? These are people's lives!"

"Ness, I think you should calm down —" Lucas tried to advise, but Ness cut him off.

"No, this isn't right! You're just gonna let all these Porkies do everything they want because it's not fun? Because of your dumb pride? When you could be doing somethi —"

Suddenly, Ness screamed in silence, writhing as an intense bolt of lightning electrocuted him on the spot — and there were no Franklin Badges to reflect this one. Lucas yelled as well, but it too came out silent. I have to say — being able to stop people from making noise is a surprisingly useful ability, particularly as my job often involves hurting people.

When the electrocution ceased, Ness found himself burnt and injured on the ground, before all his injuries spontaneously healed. Both of them couldn't say a thing, mouths agape as they stood there.

"Why don't you roll your Dice Block, Ness?"

Without a word, Ness hit it, getting a 5. Silently, the two walked until they came up to a junction, one path heading down and the other right. The decision being obvious, the gruesome twosome headed right,

"Are you alright?" Lucas asked quietly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It... actually doesn't feel like I even got shocked at all. Guess they must have healed me. Man, they just..." Ness gave a frustrated sigh.

"There are some forces in life you simply can't challenge, Ness. You'd do well to remember that."

Ness curled his hand into a fist, but Lucas put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't. It's not worth it, and... I don't want to see any more people wasting their lives."

"I guess you're right... like you said, revenge never gets you anywhere."

The two landed on the Blue Space just before the cookie bridges on the right, earning 3 coins.

The next moment, everyone was teleported to Start for the Minigame.

"So, this is the first turn where one of you didn't land on a Blue Space, as Ninten landed on an Item Space. To decide the colour of his team, we'll spin this roulette."

A roulette appeared in front of them all, similar to the one I made at the start to decide the teams, but it was split into only two sections — one half blue, the other red. The wheel spun and landed on... red.

"Ah, very interesting. I was hoping that would happen. So, you've experienced both types of free for all, with both 4 Player and 8 Player Minigames. But, you've still yet to try a team based Minigame, and this is my favourite kind — a 1 vs. 3 Minigame."

"One person being ganged up on by 3 others? That seems unfair," Kumatora said.

"It may seem that way, but you'll see it's more fair than that. In these Minigames, one person will be playing against three others, the usual premise being for one team to eliminate the other within a time limit. Alternatively, both teams will try to achieve the same goal, with the team of three having to work together to do so, while the one player has an advantage to balance the fact they're on their own. Let's see what our first will be..."

The roulette of images appeared again, this time with far fewer pictures on it. As it spun, it landed on an image depicting a ship at sea.

"Balloonatic? Hm, that's one of the odder ones, but let's see what happens."

After being teleported, everyone was on the deck of a ship, sailing on the boundless sea. The ship itself was much like a stereotypical pirate ship, but on the deck was an odd contraption — a barrel with three balloons attached to it, which was tied to the mast by some rope. At the edge of the ship were three cannons — red, blue and yellow. Bizarrely enough, they had laser pointers on top of them, like a sniper rifle.

"Welcome to Balloonatic. This 1 vs. 3 Minigame falls into the first category of Minigame I was talking about, as this involves one side trying to eliminate the other. However, unlike most other games of this style, it is the team of three doing the eliminating. The game is as follows — the one player will manipulate and fly this barrel out there."

"That thing can fly?" Ness asked.

"Impressive, isn't it? You're free to move however you please, but I've placed some invisible walls in line with the boxes on both sides of the ship, as well in front of and behind the playing arena to limit your movements to two dimensions... you can guess what the obvious strategy would be if you could move into the background.

The three players will use these cannons. They can be turned, though they are somewhat heavy. The lasers will mark their trajectory, though they aren't entirely accurate, since the cannonballs will fire beneath the pointer. The aim of the team of three is to coordinate their cannon fire and destroy all three of the one player's balloons in thirty seconds, while the one player must avoid losing all their balloons for that period of time."

"Seems simple enough," Jeff said.

"Indeed. A word of advice for both teams — for the one player, keep an eye on the lasers from the team of three. For the team of three, lead your shots and trap the one player. Additionally, while the lasers won't cause damage, anyone who intentionally tries manipulating them to focus on the one player's eyes will cause their team to instantly lose. So, pick who in your teams will play this Minigame — you can also use that time to try out the machinery you'll be using for practice."

Ninten and Lloyd headed over to the barrel, examining it closely.

"Who'd have thought this could fly?" Ninten said.

"It's pretty impressive."

"Okay, let's get to it then!" Ninten was very eager to try it out.

"Hold on! We should think carefully about which one of us should play this. It's not going to be easy."

"I guess you're right..."

"I think I would probably be better at this then you. This kind of thing is my strong suit."

"Yeah, you're right. Besides, I played the first Minigame — you should get to do this one. So come on, try and fly it!"

Lloyd carefully sat in the barrel, trying the controls out. "The controls seem simple enough..." he muttered. "They'd have to be simple, since anyone could be playing this. Ah, you just press this accelerator to give lift, and this joystick controls direction."

Very quickly, Lloyd was flying about the ship, as Ninten cheered for him.

"Woo! That's the way, Lloyd!"

The other teams all looked on, thinking carefully themselves. Jeff and Ana looked at the cannons with apprehension, as both of them had trouble moving them about due to the cannons' weight.

"Hm... it seems both of us are as physically inept as each other," Jeff commented.

"I wouldn't really call myself a strong person."

"Neither. Brains over brawn and so on. But I think I might be slightly more suited to this, since I've used bazookas and laser guns before. I think my practice aiming with those might translate slightly here, but you only used a frying pan, correct?"

"Yes, that's right. I think that would be for the best. Good luck to you!"

Kumatora and the Masked Man were both able to handle the cannons fine, but they were still in debate.

"I do not mean to offend you, but I still believe I would be better suited for this. I have extensive practice with weaponry, and a cannon for an arm," said the Masked Man.

"Yeah, I get that. But... I just kinda wanna play this? Just seems like something fun, and my kind of Minigame. I guess you're the one who gets to make the choice though."

The Masked Man carefully thought about it. It wasn't the most logical decision, but... she did seem eager. And he had saw her move those cannons just fine, so she could probably handle it.

"Very well. I still don't think this is the most logical course of action, but if you want to, I will let you."

"Really?" Kumatora was surprised — she didn't expect him to give in. "Thanks. I'll be sure to win this."

Finally, Ness and Lucas found themselves somewhere between the other two teams — while they weren't able to move the cannons as effortlessly as Kumatora and the Masked Man, they had an easier time doing so than Jeff and Ana.

"Are you a good shot with cannons by any chance?" Ness asked.

"Not really. I've never exactly used one."

"Yeah, me neither."

"But... do you think Jeff will be playing this Minigame?"

"Probably. I mean, he's good with these things."

"Then I think you should probably play this. You get along well with him, so you'd be able to coordinate better with him than I would."

Ness mulled it over for a second. "Wouldn't you work well with your brother and Kumatora?"

"I'm not sure. Kumatora's always been a bit unpredictable, and she may not even be playing this. And my brother... I know there's still some of who he was on the inside, but he's not exactly the same."

"Alright. I don't mind either way, so I'll do it. You'll cheer me on, right?"

"Of course!"

"That's enough time. You've all decided who's playing and had time to practise. Lloyd, position yourself in front of the cannons. Jeff, Kumatora and Ness, take your places at the cannons. Everyone else, step back. Another general rule I need to cover that's only become relevant now is that spectators are not allowed to interfere with Minigames. Doing so is, you guessed it, an instant disqualification for your partner's team. Feel free to cheer your side on though."

Everyone took their respective places — Lloyd floated in the distance, while Jeff, Kumatora and Ness stood ready to fire.

"On the count of three, both sides may begin and the thirty seconds will begin. I'll give warnings at the twenty, ten and five second marks. Three... two... one... FIRE!"

Both sides leapt into action as all three of the cannon wielders fired a cannonball at Lloyd, who swiftly flew to the right, barely avoiding them all. The team of three started turning the cannons, and repeatedly started firing at the balloons while Lloyd rose to the right.

Ness stopped firing, seeing where Lloyd was going — he was heading near the boundary. Ness might not be the smartest person, but even he knew that meant Lloyd would have to change direction.

Sure enough, he was right, and the barrel reversed direction. It was somewhat sluggish though, and Ness immediately fired a cannon ball. While Lloyd dodged the two cannonballs that Jeff and Kumatora had fired, his balloons ran straight into the one Ness had launched, which clipped and popped the purple balloon.

There was a cheer from Ana and Lucas, and a groan from Ninten.

"Come on, Lloyd! You got this!" he shouted.

Inspired by Ness, Jeff and Kumatora both continued, not letting up. Lloyd winced, feeling the pressure. He hadn't accounted for the slight sluggishness this machine had when changing direction.

He tried to make his changes in direction gradual, as he made elegant circles around the field to dodge the incoming fire, evading Ness and Jeff's shots. Kumatora however was much harder to deal with — her strategy of simply firing as often as she could wasn't a good strategy by itself, but when combined with two people who were being more careful, it became very effective at keeping Lloyd on his toes. As he descended below another volley, he heard another pop.

"Gotcha!" Kumatora said.

He hadn't lost altitude fast enough, and Kumatora's wild firing had lost him his orange balloon.

"Twenty seconds left."

They were only ten seconds into the game and he'd already lost two of his three balloons? He was supposed to be good at this sort of thing! Ninten grimaced as well, realising that Lloyd's chances of winning this were now pretty low. Still, he had to believe in his friend.

"Lloyd, you're still in the game! Sure, they got two of your balloons, but that last one's gonna be much harder to pop!"

"That might be true, but you've still got a lot of time to pop that last balloon!" Lucas shouted to the three. "Don't let how difficult it is stop you!"

Ness and Kumatora grinned, and Jeff had a small smirk on his face. They had this in the bag.

As for Lloyd, he knew he definitely didn't have this, and didn't understand how Ninten could believe he did. The odds were against him now. But it wasn't the first time they'd faced impossible odds, was it? They managed to destroy those giant robots and beat back all of Giygas's forces. He could do this.

And Ninten's prediction ended up being true, since that last balloon proved harder to hit than the other three had assumed. With Lloyd only needing to focus on the survival of that balloon, his focus was much stronger. Though they got close a few times, Lloyd managed to keep on going.

They wouldn't be able to get him the same way they did before, not unless Lloyd messed up with his movements, a fact which became clear to Jeff at the fifteen-second mark. While he kept the assault up, Jeff carefully analysed Lloyd's movements — they were erratic and it was hard to discern which way he would go next. He was staying far away from the edges, so he could always go in any direction.

But... there was still some pattern to them.

"Ten seconds left."

"Only ten more seconds, Lloyd — that's all you gotta hold out for!"

As Jeff fired, he started being able to predict exactly where Lloyd would move, forcing him to make last second corrections that nearly lost him the game. After a few uncomfortably close shots, Jeff immediately followed Lloyd's path upwards faster than he was moving and fired a shot.

The cannonball pieced straight through the last balloon, causing the barrel to plummet into the water.

Ana and Lucas both cheered, while Ninten dashed to the edge, searching for Lloyd.

"Lloyd!"

Lloyd was in the water, clinging on to the side of the barrel as he was washed away from the ship. Immediately, Ninten prepared to dive in.

"The heroics won't be necessary, Ninten."

Lloyd disappeared, teleporting back on to the ship, his body soaked. Immediately though, he felt everything start to dry, as the water started to evaporate off him.

"Well, that concludes this Minigame, with five seconds left — not bad. Congratulations, Jeff, Kumatora and Ness — your teams will all be awarded 10 coins."

All three of them lightly celebrated, as 10 coins fell upon each of them and water droplets fell from Lloyd's hair. Afterwards, they were all teleported.

In Porky's lair, something very interesting was happening — and it wasn't anything to do with Porky.

A middle-aged woman was currently doing battle in a strange room, one that was completely empty with only black walls and a floor. Before her was a figure of shadow, its shape vaguely human. It had no facial features yet was able to stare her down.

And then, it leapt.

"PK Flash!"

But an explosion of light suddenly burst from her fingers, momentarily split through the darkness as the figure was knocked to the ground. That stings... I hate PK Flash.

She approached the downed figure, her fingers glowing with the energy of PK Love... but hesitated. She hesitated for the slightest moment, a hesitation which would cost her.

"PK Fire Omega."

Suddenly, the room illuminated once again, as three large fireballs burst forth and crashed into her body, instantly incapacitating her.

I'd say we've reached the end of this. The shadowy humanoid faded away, as the battle was over and the room returned to its original state, that of a kitchen.

"PSI Healing Omega."

The woman rose from her feet, awakening immediately afterwards from her incapacitated state. She was further filled with energy as she felt PSI Lifeup settle through her veins, completely rejuvenating her.

In what was now a kitchen, she sat down on an armchair in the corner, one very much like the one she had at her house, awaiting my report.

"You're certainly getting better, Hinawa — that much I can't deny. But your failing is hesitation. There were moments of it during that battle, the most significant being at the end there. Had you fired off that PK Love, you may very well have won."

"I thought so..."

"But... you don't want to fix this fault, do you?"

"... no. I want nothing more than for everyone to be able to live life without having to worry about anything bad happening to them," she said. "Fighting should always be the last option."

"And therefore, you don't want to be able to not hesitate, because then you'd lose your compassion. In that case... forget about it."

The shock on her face was evident, and quite amusing.

"Your goal isn't to become a deadly killing machine, is it? It was always about being able to protect yourself, your family and everyone else in case something happened again to threaten it. Nor do I seek to turn you into one, though I'm certainly curious to see how high your power can grow.

It wouldn't be as high as possible, since you're not in your prime and there's only so much I can teach you about PK Love, but I'm still astounded at the progress you've made in just one month. I suppose that's more due to your potential than my training."

"You don't give yourself enough credit."

"Perhaps. Regardless, I don't mean to force you to train, even though my motive for training you isn't entirely altruistic. If at any point, you are satisfied with the level of power you've obtained, you're more than welcome to quit."

"Thank you, but I'm fine. After everything I've seen happen... I can't stand idly by."

"In that case, you should find disciplining the twins much easier — I doubt they'll be rowdy at all when their mother's capable of taking on a Magypsy!"

Hinawa laughed — it was rather quiet, but genuine in its tone, a newfound levity filling her body as the weight of life's issues seemed to temporarily disappear. It was rather nice actually.

"I'm very lucky to have never needed to discipline either of them much. They've always been good."

"I'd say you're not out of the woods yet with them considering they're entering their teenage years, but I suspect they won't adhere to the usual expectations of teenagers after all they've been through."

Suddenly, there was a buzzing noise and a light on the wall started to flash. Porky.

"Lunch. He requested steak."

"I've made it," she said, standing up and walking to the counter, where there was some steak, as well as a bowl of roasted potatoes and a salad.

"Are you sure this is worth it? I couldn't imagine doing something as demeaning as serving Porky meals."

"It would always be worth it. I've always believed in the good of people, but I don't trust Porky. I wanted to make sure both of my sons are safe, and if this is the only way I can do that..."

"But only one of them is actually your son. The other is a Lucas from a different timeline."

"That doesn't matter to me. No matter who or where they are, I will always love my sons."

"As you wish. Either way, neither of them are aware you're here and your efforts have been very useful — it's nice having someone to assist with all the behind-the-scenes work."

"I'm glad I could help!"

She got to work on putting the potatoes and salad on the same plate as the steak, but as she did so, there was a somewhat sad expression on her face, one that clearly conveyed she was thinking about something.

"There's something on your mind. What is it?"

She paused, before saying, "You didn't have to hurt that young boy... Ness."

"... no, I didn't. It was wrong of me to do that."

"Are you going to apologise?"

"Likely not. Why? Because I'm far too prideful to do so. Isn't it funny? I'm aware enough to identify my faults, but am far too pitiful and weak to try and fix them."

She opened her mouth, about to say something else, but stopped and continued to put the food together — though she'd be very surprised if Porky ate the vegetables. Despite her attempts to hide it, she was still exhausted from her exercise earlier.

"Why don't you sit down and rest? You've just done some strenuous training. I'll give this to Porky."

"... are you sure that would be alright?" she asked.

"Well, he'll throw a fit about not being able to mock you, but that should be it."

The plate disappeared on the spot. I suppose I can also give my report as well.

In Porky's room, he was gleefully watching his screen when a plate of food unceremoniously fell on the table in front of him.

"Your lunch is served, 'sir'."

"What are you doing here?" he sneered.

"Serving your lunch?"

"And I specifically didn't ask for you! The whole fun of getting that woman to serve me is being able to make fun of her!"

"Well, we don't always get what we want, do we?"

"You're lucky I'm in a good mood."

"A good mood? That's surprising. Ah, Balloonatic."

"Finally, some action! AHAHAHA! Seeing that weakling get dunked into the water was hilarious, and it was thrilling. I'm still waiting for something more violent, but I'm a patient man. I know how to play the long game, and the ratings are steadily getting better. Soon everyone will see that this is the ultimate party!"

Porky examined his food, sneering at the salad. "Bah! I thought I said not to make a salad."

"Aw, does little Porky not like his vegetables?" The spoon on the plate moved its own, scooping up some of the salad and heading for Porky's mouth.

"Here comes the aeroplane!"

Porky snatched the spoon out of the air, throwing it to the ground and stomping on it.

"Just like a child... I'm out of here."

Chapter Text

Back on Sweet Dream, it was Ninten and Lloyd's turn. Lloyd had finally gotten all the water out of his hair and was currently examining the Orbs they had, but none of them seemed useful at the moment.

In the end, he simply decided to roll his Dice Block, getting a 9.

"I'm sorry I lost the Minigame," he sighed.

"Don't feel bad! There's always next time."

"But you've been winning all the Minigames we've had so far!"

"Yeah, all two of them. Come on, Lloyd — you're the scientist! I thought you'd know two examples ain't enough to prove something."

"It proves enough to me..."

"Look, you didn't win. But I would've done even worse! You lasted over twenty seconds — I wouldn't have lasted ten. There's things you —"

But Ninten was interrupted as the two passed over a PK Arson trap, thoroughly roasting Lloyd.

"Hey, you alright?!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine... but we've lost 10 of our Coins. Great, there goes the last Minigame you won."

Ninten put a hand to his head. This was bad — Lloyd's self-esteem had always been low, and while it had improved slightly since their adventure, it still remained lower than Ninten wanted.

What made matters worse was that Lloyd had a tendency to let his negative thoughts spiral out of control and send his self-esteem plummeting down even further. He had to think of something to cut the stream of negativity short, before it branched out.

"Hey, you're missing one thing you've been able to do that I haven't. Look at your rolls! They've all been super high, when mine were all low."

"It's only been two rolls though."

"And I've only won two Minigames. And didn't you say two times was enough to prove something to you?"

Lloyd stopped in his tracks, mouth agape. Did Ninten just use... logic against him?

"What's that look for?! I can be clever! Sometimes... hey, and look where we've landed!" Ninten said, as they approached the space they were going to land on. "It's a Happening Space! Maybe something good'll happen, and it gives us a point for one of those Bonus Stars."

Lloyd was able to smile at that, a sliver of Ninten's optimism shining through. "Maybe you're right."

... I feel very bad about what's going to happen.

So, the Happening Space in question was sandwiched in between an Item Space and a Mini Porky Space, just on top of the cake.

"Huh... what's supposed to happen then?"

"Fancy a slice, boys?"

Both of them jumped as two giant knives came down and sliced the section of cake they were both on. The piece started levitating, then headed down the board.

"Woah!"

"We're going somewhere..."

The piece of cake served itself on the small plate near the bottom of the board, as the pair both stepped off the cake onto the Blue Space just above. They looked around, wondering where they'd been taken to, and then they realised...

"Wait... isn't this back down where we were before?" Ninten asked.

Lloyd gave a dark chuckle. "Even when I roll high, I still end up going backwards..."

Ninten groaned. This was not going the way he wanted it to. Why did life have to conspire against Lloyd in every way?

As for Jeff and Ana, they were considering the story they'd just heard from the other, finally having pieced together all of Giygas's life.

"That's really what Giygas ends up becoming? It's horrifying..." Ana said.

"Truly. I've had lots of nightmares because of him... yet after what you've said, I cannot help but feel sorry for him. Knowing that even he had some goodness in him... I had never thought about it. Everything we heard about him was that he was the manifestation of evil himself."

"The same goes for me. Knowing that he ended up suffering like that... even if he was an evil person, it's a fate I wouldn't wish upon any person."

"Yes. I suppose the one thing we can both take solace in is that at least his suffering has come to an end, along with everyone else's."

"But, with this Pokey you told me about, and how it seems like Porky is the same person, I can't help but wonder if the suffering has ended... or if it's just begun."

"We may never know... it doesn't seem like either one of us will live long enough to see what happens, unless we use time travel."

"From what you've told me, it sounds like a harrowing experience."

"It certainly was, but the worst bit was not knowing if we'd come back."

"I suppose it wouldn't do either of us well to think too much about it, lest we lose ourselves."

"A good point. We should get moving."

Ana rolled her Dice Block, getting a 3.

"Ah... that's going to put us just before the bridge, isn't it?" Jeff said.

"I guess that's just how things work out. There's always time to make up for it, especially in Minigames. Congratulations again on your victory as well — you're a very good shot!" Ana praised.

"Thank you. Certainly tricky though — Lloyd manoeuvred himself very well during it. I hope you don't take offence to me sinking him."

"Not at all — it's all a game, isn't it? Though, I am slightly concerned about his mental state right now... he's always struggled from low self-esteem, so I can't imagine that loss is helping with that."

"I can empathise with that. I've... suffered in a similar manner as well. During my adventure, I always felt inadequate compared to my teammates."

"Really? You're very technologically inclined — surely that would make you stand out?"

"I am, and it did. But I had a hard time focusing on that and instead was fixated on the one thing I didn't have that they all did."

Ana thought carefully about what Jeff had told her about his adventure, realising what it was. "They could all use PSI, and you couldn't..."

Jeff nodded. "Indeed. I'm quite surprised you got that, I didn't expect you'd listen that closely."

"I imagine that must have been difficult."

"Certainly. I think that was part of why it took a while before I really established a friendship with Ness and Paula. There were a lot of factors really, like cultural differences and the time at which I met them, but those two bonded very well due to the fact that they shared PSI."

"It's rare for people to have PSI..." Ana said. "They must have each been the first people they met to have it."

"Likely so. Nevertheless, it was alienating to me, and... well, PSI is hardly something you'd call scientific. I couldn't believe it at first. I suppose Ness put it best — there's just something inherently cool about PSI. Being able to fire a bazooka and bottle rockets is certainly something, but manifesting fire with your mind is something else. It makes you feel inadequate in comparison and for me, it manifested in unhealthy ways."

"What kind of ways?"

"Well... I would tirelessly work through the nights, trying to fix broken things we've found into something I could use."

"Because you felt it was the only way you could make up for not having PSI?"

"You're remarkably insightful," Jeff noted. "That was exactly why. I remember my sleep suffered greatly from that... I've always wondered whether there was a solution for that."

"I don't think one can ever really cure a lack of self-esteem. It's something that's always creeping up on us and in a way, it's a good thing. Having too much confidence in yourself can be a bad thing too, since it may all be misplaced and that leads to recklessness.

But the other end of the spectrum is just as bad, and only through reaffirmation from friends, family and most importantly, yourself, can we keep ourselves in that middle ground. I've had my own issues with self-esteem too, even if they've never been as severe as Lloyd's."

"Really? In what way?"

"My PSI is powerful, but PSI takes time to use, so we couldn't always rely on it. In those situations, I was always the weakest link. Certainly, we all got stronger over time, but less so for me. But, like I have my PSI to make up for that, you have your intelligence and skill with technology to make up for not having it."

"Quite true..." Jeff said softly. "I suppose we all have our own strengths and weaknesses, and neither one of them should solely define us."

Looking ahead, both of them saw Ness and Lucas standing on the Blue Space they landed on, getting 3 coins.

"Ah, hello," Jeff greeted.

"Hey, Jeff," Ness replied. "How's it going?"

"Well enough. Though it seems we'll be losing this Star to you."

"There's always the next one," Lucas said.

"Of course," said Ana. "But don't expect us to go easy on you. We're here to win!"

With Kumatora and the Masked Man, the latter found himself impressed at Kumatora's performance in the last Minigame.

"I must say — you performed better in that Minigame than I expected. I had thought your style of raw offence was crude, but it did prove to be effective in the end."

"Thanks, I guess? Ah, damn... sorry, still weird hearing praise from y — wait... do you see that?"

"Hm? See wh... what is that?"

In the distance, a giant octopus was flying through the sky towards them. There was someone on top riding it, but neither of them could make out who they were.

But as the octopus got closer, Kumatora started to recognise it.

"No way... you gotta be kiddin'! Is that freaking Ocho?!"

"What?"

Sure enough, it was, and Kumatora could only imagine who was on top of it. When the octopus finally got close to them, it came to a stop — confirming her suspicions about the rider.

Standing on top was one of the Seven Magypsies, a notorious group of sociopathic bastards. This particular one was Mixolydia, the once-guardian of Tanetane Island's Needle.

Obviousy, they were surprised, since in both of their timelines, the Magypsies were dead. And here one stood, right before their eyes. Kumatora was naturally far more shocked, with the Masked Man having figured out what was going on.

"Kumatora, sweetie! It's simply wonderful to see you again," Mixolydia said, blowing her a kiss. Ocho's expression changed to something resembling a smile, as he patted Kumatora on the head with one of his tentacles.

"Uh... hi? I..." Kumatora really was at a loss for words.

Mixolydia turned their attention onto the other person with her — the Masked Man. Their gaze suddenly became much colder. "Ah, and the one without a heart. I hear you're the one who pulled my Needle in your time. Tell me — why do you still live?"

Instinctively, the Masked Man switched into a combat stance. "I could ask the same question to you, but I think we both know the answer to our questions, don't we?"

Mixolydia fixed him with a stare, before bursting into laughter. "Simply adorable! Ah, I suppose it was obvious."

"Can someone please tell me what's going on, 'cause while you two seem to be on the same wavelength, I sure as hell ain't," asked Kumatora.

"A different timeline, darling. I'm from a time where none of our Needles were ever pulled."

"None of them? So that means... you're all still alive? But what about Porky?"

"Hm? That grotesque child? Why, Locria swiftly dispatched of him and sent him to the next life."

"What did you say?"

"Fassad killed Porky?!" yelled Kumatora.

"Fassad? Oh, yes... that was the name they insisted on using. What a repulsive and unrefined name to use." Wrinkling her nose slightly, Mixolydia continued, "From what I understand, our times are all similar in that respect — like in yours, Locria insisted on changing their identity."

"But why? Why the hell did the bastard do that?"

"Kumatora! A young lady like yourself should never use such language like that!"

Kumatora rolled her eyes. "Oh, cry me a goddamn river!"

Mixolydia gasped dramatically, a hand snapping to her mouth. "How do you ever expect to become refined and dignified by acting like that?!"

"I don't care about any of that!"

The squabbling between the two continued for the better half of a minute, until they both stopped upon hearing the soft sound of laughter — the Masked Man's laughter.

Mixolydia was surprised, though they tried not to let it show. They had been under the impression that this child had no heart, yet that laughter said otherwise. Kumatora was surprised too — she didn't think the kid could laugh at all! It warmed her slightly to see him acting more like his age.

It was short-lived though, for he quickly stopped. "My apologies. I don't mean to interrupt your argument, though I too would like to know why Fassad was against Porky in your time."

"Ooh, I can't tell you that! You must find out on your own! Besides, Locria asked that we all keep it a secret and let them tell the tale, and I will honour that wish."

"Before you ask, Fassad asked the same promise of me, and I intend to keep it as well."

"So what are you here for then?" Kumatora said with a scowl.

"Simply put, I thought I might aid you here with Ocho."

"How?"

"Like this!" they said with a giggle.

Suddenly, Ocho leaped into the sky, landing next to Ninten and Lloyd. Before they could react, Ocho swiped at them with a tentacle, causing 9 coins to spill out of their pockets. He did the same with Jeff and Ana, causing them to lose 10 coins, then Ness and Lucas, making them lose 5. Finally, he leapt back to where Kumatora and the Masked Man were.

"There you are! Now, you should find things much easier with everyone else less wealthy. Money is the root of all evil, isn't it? Anyway, my work here is done. Goodbye!"

Waving goodbye, Ocho sped away, floating through the air and leaving Kumatora dumbfounded as to what just happened.

"I assume you'd like a moment?"

"Yeah, that'd be nice," Kumatora sat down, just shaking her head at it all. "Alright, let's get going."

"So soon?"

"Can't stay still forever, can we?" So, she hit her Dice Block, scoring an 8.

The two walked along, eventually passing by an Orb Shop. When they entered, it was a place completely new to them — Maria's shop.

"Ah! You're the last pair to visit my shop for the first time! This is Magicant Market, a place where you can buy all sorts of Orbs that help you. Please have a look at the list, and make your pick."

Kumatora looked at the list, frowning slightly. "These kind of Orbs aren't the ones I'd like, but I guess one of those Shields would be nice to have."

Maria turned around, looking through her shelves for the Orb. As she did so, the Masked Man couldn't help but intently focus on her.

"Here it is! That's 5 coins."

Kumatora gave the amount, and it was then that Maria noticed the Masked Man's gaze. She turned to him, kindly smiling.

"Is something the matter?"

He stayed silent for a few moments, before shaking his head. "No. I apologise if I have caused discomfort. Thank you for your service. We shall be on our way."

As the two left the Orb Shop, Kumatora pocketed the Shield Orb while giving the Masked Man a quizzical look.

"So... what was up with that?" she asked.

"Nothing of significance. She merely reminded me somewhat of... ah, a junction. It appears we can proceed down or right."

"Let's go right then. That is where the Star is."

"As you wish."

And so, they headed right, landing on the Blue Space directly after the junction and getting 3 coins.

Next, it was Ness and Lucas's turn, the pair looking at the spaces ahead of them while Jeff and Ana watched.

"Is it possible for you two to roll negative numbers? That would really help us right now," Jeff said.

You know, we were actually thinking of having an Orb that did something like that, but we had to remove it for balance. Well, I did — Porky was all for it, because it would cause endless chaos, but I had to put that idea down.

"Who knows? It could happen," Lucas said, before rolling his Dice Block and getting a 5.

"Sorry, Jeff! Better luck next time!" Ness said.

Ness and Lucas immediately crossed the cookie bridge leading right, causing it to collapse and reform heading up. Glancing back at it, Ness was nearly salivating.

"Man, these cookie bridges look so tasty! I wish I could just eat them."

"I advise against it. Apart from the fact that I would instantly disqualify you both, do you have any idea how many people have walked over those bridges? They're hardly hygienic."

"Oh yeah... good point. Besides, they probably wouldn't be as good as my mom's cookies."

"Your mom makes cookies for you?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah! Like, every week. We always help her out, and they're so good. All nice and crunchy."

"My mom used to make cookies for us as well. Not as often, since we all love omelettes... we liked our cookies more gooey though."

"Gooey?! How can you like gooey cookies?! It's a crime to all cookiekind!" Ness cried.

"Crunchy cookies are horrible though! You don't get to taste any of the cookie at all."

"I can't believe it... my new friend likes gooey cookies. Is this what the future is like?" Ness said dramatically. "What's next, not having steak?"

"Well, steak is made from cows, and generally having more milk is better, so there was never any steak in our village," Lucas explained. "I only tasted it for the first time in New Pork City."

"You're killing me here. It really must have been the end of the world..."

"It sounds like we were healthier than you! Those kind of things aren't good to have!"

"Oh, please no, you sound just like my mom! Besides, everything in moderation, right?"

"I suppose that's not too bad. I guess I'm a little biased as well, since everything processed came from the Pigmasks."

"It's not good to have lots of, but still. Life just wouldn't be the same without being able to have things like chips."

"I wouldn't really know... for me, it's the exact opposite. Life was never really the same once we started having them. Then again, life was never really the same when technology and all these processed things came."

"I know you might not agree, but... I think there's a lot of good all those things can do."

"... it's hard for me to say the same. Again, I won't deny that I'm biased against all those things, because all those things ruined our lives. But... I can see the good that they can do. Processed food gives people a way to have meals when they're tired after working, Happy Boxes can give people new types of entertainment, and Pork Beans give a faster way to get around places. It's just that because of all the pain those things have caused me, it's hard to see past it.

That's why I don't like money as a concept either. It's essentially a reminder to me of all those things, and how people lost themselves to greed once the Pigmasks came. But it exists in your time, right? So... I guess it can work."

"Didn't you say that humanity was the reason why the world ended though?" Ness pointed out.

"I think so? Leder wasn't really specific, and... I didn't really want to know everything about it."

"Maybe you're right then. All this stuff might be why we end up nearly dead. Maybe we really should all be living like how you guys did."

"I'm not sure that's the answer, because it's not like we were perfect either. We had problems that the Pigmasks didn't."

"Like what?"

"Well, illness was a big one. We didn't really have many medicines, outside of the things we could make from plants. That's one thing the Pigmasks did bring to us. I think in a vacuum, everything the Pigmasks brought to us wasn't bad on its own, and that's exactly why everyone accepted it — because from what it sounded like, it all just seemed better."

"It wasn't what they were bringing that was the problem, but... the people who brought it," Ness finished.

Lucas shook his head. "Not even that. Again, it's hard for me to accept the Pigmasks, but so many of them were being manipulated or working under false pretences. It was the people who were in charge of everything that were the issue — Fassad and Porky."

"But if something's bad at the top, it'll work its way down to the bottom. Oh, here's our stop."

The two stopped at a Blue Space, just beneath a Happening Space on the chocolate cake, getting 3 coins.

"Hm... I think in the end, you're right about moderation," Lucas said. "None of these things are bad in moderation and when used responsibly. Most things anyway — some of them were just bad in concept."

"Like those chimeras?"

"Definitely the chimeras," Lucas said with a shudder.

"There might be something good that could come out of them though, don't you think? Maybe not those made from multiple animals, but the mechanical ones..."

"Technology took my brother away, and when it brought him back, he was never the same again," he said sternly.

"You're right, and I hope I'm not insulting you or him, but isn't this the same thing where it's about who was responsible for it all, rather than what was happening? 'Cause if your brother could have been saved with the stuff he had, but stay the same person, that would have been great, right? Better than... forget it, I'm sorry to bring it up."

Lucas sighed. Part of him knew Ness was right, but admitting it was harder. "You're probably right, but... there's only so much I can change my view on at once."

"That's fair enough, we've all got our limits! It's important we know them. You wanna talk about something more light-hearted instead?"

Lucas smiled. "How about your terrible taste in food?"

"Hey, I could say the same about you!"

Like before, everyone was teleported to Start for the Minigame.

"Well, it seems Ninten and Lloyd have landed on a Happening Space, so let's spin the roulette to decide what colour you two are... red it is. In that case, it looks like we have another 1 vs. 3 on our hands, with the exact same teams as before."

The roulette appeared, this time stopping on an image showing two boards with a bunch of wooden stakes on it.

"Ball Dozers? Slightly more balanced than the last one. Let's see how this goes."

When everyone reappeared, they found themselves on top of a large floating platform, four hammers lying on it. Beneath them was the interesting part — two pinball-esque boards, one to the left and the right. But instead of bumpers and the like, there were lots of stakes instead, which looked as if they could be pounded into the board.

At the top of each board was a sphere, held in place by a barrier that stopped it rolling down a chute and onto the board. The bottom parts of each board had what looked to be a finish line, as well as a recess to hold each sphere. What was most interesting was that while both boards were identical, the spheres were not. The left side's sphere was red and smaller than the right side's, which was blue and larger.

"Right, before we get started, I'm going to just say that although this Minigame is called Ball Dozers for a pun, I'll be referring to said balls as spheres to stop myself from making any double entendres. Both teams have the same aim here — to get their sphere down to the bottom of their board before the other team. However, you cannot pick up the sphere or move it in any way by yourselves. I've made it very heavy to prevent you from doing so, but don't worry if it rolls into you — it won't hurt."

"Then how are we to move it?" asked the Masked Man.

"Using the marvel of Newton — gravity. You may have noticed that both boards are sloped downwards, so the spheres will roll down. But, you may have also noticed that there are a bunch of stakes littering the board, and they will impede the path of the sphere. All of you must therefore use these hammers to pound the stakes down, thus allowing the sphere to continue — the first team who gets their sphere to the bottom first will win."

"That seems rather unfair though. Three people can pound stakes down much quicker than one person can," Lloyd said.

"A fair point, which is why the team of three have a handicap — their sphere is much larger. Obviously, that means they'll have to pound more stakes to move the sphere than you would, so that balances things. It's all a question of whether the team of three can coordinate themselves well enough, or if the one player's smart enough to make that pathway with their smaller sphere. So in summation, Ninten probably shouldn't play this Minigame."

"Hey!"

"Some advice for both teams — consider which way the sphere will roll when you pound the stakes. You want to have it go in the direction of least resistance. There's many different ways you can go about this game as well — you can always start at the top and follow the ball down, pounding stakes as you go, but you could also work your way from the bottom and work your way backwards. Anyway, decide who's playing."

Jeff and Ana were quick to decide, being the first of the bunch.

"So, which one of us is going to play this one?" asked Ana.

"The teams are exactly the same as last time, but that doesn't mean the players will be. This will be somewhat physically taxing, and we're both just as physically challenged. Still, being able to plot a route out would be the ideal course of action..."

"From what I've seen of you, you're a very capable strategist. Would you like to do this one?"

"Unless you'd like to? I wouldn't want to take away from your chance to play a Minigame."

"I'm more than fine to watch. I like playing, but I also like to see everyone having fun too. Well, and..."

"Hm?"

"I... don't think I could put all my heart into this Minigame if it was Lloyd I'm going against."

"I see... I'm sorry if this is harsh, but I won't go easy on him."

"No, you shouldn't. But I can't change the way I feel."

"That's perfectly understandable. It's never easy to go up against your own friends..."

As for Ness and Lucas, their choice was similarly quick.

"I played the last one, so... you wanna do this one?" Ness said.

"Sure! It seems like a much less violent game too."

"Is it? You're still bashing things into the ground."

"Well, wood's a bit different. I'd rather do this than fire cannons at someone. It's not the first time I've done something like this either."

However, Kumatora and the Masked Man were a little at odds.

"I believe it would be best if you do this one," the Masked Man said.

"Huh? Why?"

"I overheard Lucas and... what was his name? Ness? I heard them discussing who was going to play on their behalf, and it was Lucas. You will obviously work well with him, and it would be best if I did not."

"You sure? Cause it sounds like you're trying to avoid him."

He nodded. "Exactly. In accordance with what you asked of me."

Kumatora groaned. Everything she said really did come back to bite her, didn't it?

"I said I didn't want you messing with him. I didn't say you couldn't be on the same team as him."

"Correct, but this measure prevents the possibility of that occurring at all. A 0% chance is better than all else."

Kumatora was about to argue the point, but held herself back. "Alright, we don't have time for this right now, but we're gonna have a talk about this later."

"I don't understand. This is what you wanted, is it not?"

"It's what I thought I wanted. But my mouth and my brain never really match up. I'll play this game, but this isn't over."

Still, while the teams of three were able to work out who was playing with little difficulty overall, Ninten and Lloyd were... struggling.

"Lloyd, I think you should play this," Ninten said.

"After I lost the last Minigame? You can't be serious."

"Hey, come on! It was one Minigame! Besides, you heard what they said — I'm not smart enough for this kind of game."

"What if I lose? We need coins right now — after that octopus, we've barely got any. And we're behind everyone else. We can't afford to lose anything right now."

"And that's why I shouldn't play this game. 'Cause if we wanna win it, we're gonna need someone smart. There's only one person on our side, so we can't just brute force it like the others can. We gotta think smart. And that's what you do best."

Lloyd sighed. This couldn't end well for him. "... fine."

"It seems everyone has reached a decision. In that case, will all participating players take a hammer?"

Lloyd, Jeff, Kumatora and Lucas all took one, before floating in the air.

"Woah!"

"What's going on?"

They were all lifted and then dropped onto their boards, Lloyd on the left, and the other three on the right. The spectating players all went to the edges of the floating platform above, observing the others.

"On the count of three, I will retract the barriers holding both spheres in place, and the Minigame will properly begin. Three, two, one... begin!"

Both barriers retracted into the sides, freeing the spheres and allowing them to roll down the chute and onto the board. Immediately, both sides got to work. Jeff, Kumatora and Lucas all started pounding the stakes directly underneath their sphere, causing it to fall slightly... but it immediately got stuck, wedged between two stakes on each side.

Lloyd did the same thing, but the smaller size of his sphere meant it was able to squeeze through, heading down and right. With surprising speed for him, he rushed to a recess the sphere was heading to, pounding a stake to make the sphere bounce off and head back to the left. It rested on a set of three stakes at the midline of the board.

Something came to mind... if he pounded in the left and centre stakes, the sphere would go down that way, and vice versa for the right. Why not try and map out one path for the sphere?

So, he headed to the bottom of the board, and started carefully making a path to the left. His plan was to create a path on the left side, then free the ball and send it to the left, where he'd win the game in one decisive go.

The team of three however were struggling much more. They had a path freed lower down to the left, but up where the sphere was now, there were too many stakes on the left side to simply send it straight down. They could pound all those stakes, but that couldn't be done in a timely manner, and it would risk send the sphere down and right, where there were even more stakes.

The right side was clearer, but that didn't help. They somehow needed to send the sphere down and to the right, then back to the left and down before breaking the few stakes blocking the finish. But if the ball went too far down to the right, it would get stuck behind on the immovable metal boxes, and then they'd have to bite the bullet and pound all the right side stakes, which would definitely make them lose.

Lloyd was doing well, and it looked like an assured victory for him. He'd worked out an excellent path — if everything went well, when he pounded the right and centre stakes holding the sphere right now, the sphere should head down to the left, straight down the open path. There were a few stakes near the bottom he'd have to pound to actually get it into the finish, but that would be easy enough, which Jeff noticed.

"It looks like he's almost got it. He's made a good path... if he send the sphere down it, he's surely going to win," Jeff said.

Kumatora gritted her teeth. It wasn't over yet. "Come on! We can't let that nerd win! We've gotta finish this now!"

Lloyd froze on the spot when he heard that. Nerd.

And it all came back to him. Everything this reminded him of. It was just like school. The whole world against him, as he tried to eke his way through it. Everyone against him, always being... outnumbered.

And then, tragedy struck. Not thinking, Lloyd pounded one of the stakes holding the sphere it was now... the one on the right. Panic shot through his heart. If he pounded the centre stake now, the sphere would go straight down to the right! He pounded the left, hoping that would salvage it... but it didn't. The ball balanced precariously on the one centre stake, but it was about to fall off... to the right side.

Having no choice, he quickly pounded in the centre stake, and it fell straight down, heading towards a set of stakes.

But then, a second tragedy. When it hit the stakes, it bounced off, going up and to the right in a parabola, heading straight towards a deep field of stakes on the far right.

Lucas saw this, and immediately called out to the rest of his teammates. "We've got a chance, and I've got an idea! You guys send the sphere down, then get down to the bottom left."

He ran down to the right side, ready for... something. Neither Jeff nor Kumatora knew what he had planned, but Kumatora trusted him, and Jeff didn't have any ideas at this point. When they did what he asked, the sphere went down to the right. Simple enough.

But then, Lucas body blocked the sphere. He couldn't push or move it — it was far too heavy, but the sphere still bounced off of him slightly up and to the left. It just barely rolled over the metal block that would have trapped it in the stake laden right side, going into the bottom left that they had freed up.

Both of them immediately realised what his plan was, and pounded the two stakes that would get in the sphere's way, while Lucas headed to the finish and pounded the stakes at the goal.

Rolling down the bottom left border of the board, the sphere went perfectly into the goal, falling in its recess, with Ana and Ness both cheering, and the Masked Man giving some polite applause.

"The team of three have successfully gotten their sphere to the goal! That concludes this game."

All the players were teleported back onto the floating platform, their hammers now gone and 10 coins descending upon the winners.

"Congratulations, Jeff, Kumatora and Lucas. That comeback at the end was certainly impressive — quick thinking on your part, Lucas. My commiserations to you, Lloyd — it seemed as if you had it before you choked there. I suppose that's just how it is sometimes.

In any case, before we head back, I have something to announce. I'm supposed to do this at the start of the fifth turn, and this is still technically the fourth, but... eh, close enough. It's time to determine what the first Bonus Star of this game will be."

A roulette appeared in front of them, with six sections on it, each with a different symbol — a coin with an M, a shopping trolley, a Happening Space, an Orb, a pair of shoes, and a Red Space. It spun and spun, before landing on... the pair of shoes.

"And there it is! The first of the three Bonus Stars will be the Running Star, awarded to the team that has travelled the greatest number of spaces by the end of the party. So, best stock up on Skip Sandwiches. Let's get back to the board."

And like always, they vanished on the spot.

Back in Porky's lair, the childish tyrant was currently pacing around his room in his mech.

"Ah, pacing around the room to think? I can relate to that."

He flinched slightly. "Don't you ever knock?"

"No."

"Hmph. Well, this turn was... alright. The luck this game has been very interesting... who'd have thought we'd have a Minigame with the same teams just after the last?"

"Actually, the chances of that happening were 12.8%, so not that low. You should really look at the numbers before making such uneducated statements."

"I don't care about stupid numbers! Well, apart from the numbers in my accounts, of course. Still, the Minigame was good. Not my type of game, but that twist ending was glorious! Seeing the underdog lose and be destroyed so pathetically — how wonderful! I hate all those shows that have the underdog win. It's such a cliche, so to see it be so brutally crushed... it fills my heart with so much joy."

"You have a heart? News to me... in any case, what are you thinking?"

Porky sneered. "Why do you care?"

"I've seen countless Porky Minches, and the one consistent thing about them is that 90% of the time, they're idiots, because they never choose to apply themselves and think. However... the 10% of the time when they do, they're a threat to everyone in existence."

"I'll take that as a compliment. And as for my answer, you don't need to know."

"You don't really have a way to stop me finding out. I can read minds, and mind reading is not covered by the 'host cannot hurt the sponsor' rule. So... let's have a look, shall we?"

Porky smirked, laughing and wheezing. "Look at you! Did you really think I wouldn't have thought about that?"

"Clever. A PSI Shield that also shields against mental assaults... that must be new technology. How cute."

The smirk was wiped right off Porky's face, as he stopped laughing. "Huh?"

"Did you really think I would be stopped by this crude mockery of a mental defence? You think you can replicate the full glory of PSI with technology? It appears you've slipped back into the 90%... ah, so that's what it is. How interesting."

He slammed the sides of his mech, growling. "All of you psychics, thinking you're better... I HATE ALL OF YOU!"

"Good. As they say in the 21st century... cope. Seethe. Mald. And goodbye."

Chapter Text

Back on Sweet Dream, tensions were high between Ninten and Lloyd. Ninten immediately rolled his Dice Block and got an 8.

"Lloyd —"

"Save it," Lloyd cut him off. "I know what you're gonna say, but I choked. I choked and I lost the Minigame, just like I was scared of."

"What happened anyway? I mean, you were doing so well!"

"It... was what that girl said. Calling me a nerd."

"It bothered ya, didn't it?"

"No.... not being called that. But... what it reminds me of. School. It reminded me of all those times I was bullied in it. Being called a nerd was the least of everything that happened... it was all the bullying. It's everyone against me, I'm outnumbered and... I just can't do it!"

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have forced you to do it."

"You didn't. I choose to and... that's what happened. I screwed up, 'cause I'm useless."

"Lloyd. You're not useless," Ninten said sternly. "I wouldn't have gotten halfway to Snowman without you. And what about all the times you've saved our lives with your gadgets? You came all the way up a mountain with a tank and busted that robot!"

"And got Teddy caught in the blast too," Lloyd added, as they came to a stop on a Blue Space just above a Red Space on the left side of the board, getting 3 coins.

"Lloyd, if you didn't do that, we'd all be dead. Don't know about you, but I think being alive and injured is better than being dead!"

"I know, I just... I hate being useless."

"And you're not! You just slipped up. Everyone has a bad day, and it's also kinda my fault too."

"Maybe. But maybe I'm just not cut out for those types of Minigames..."

"Finally, we get to go," Jeff sighed. "I thought I was going to go crazy hearing those two go on about cookies."

"It is a good question though..."

"Not you too!"

"I'm curious now! How do you like your cookies?"

"I have no preference really. Well, I suppose my preference would be balanced, a cookie that was neither too crunchy or too soft, nor too gooey or too dry. Something perfectly balanced, as all things should be. And yourself?"

"Hm... I'm similar, but I like mine a bit soft and prefer them not to be gooey. I can't stand a messy meal, and I like them soft so I don't break my teeth on them."

"Break your teeth?" Jeff repeated amusedly.

"I'm a delicate maiden! Besides, there are some cookies stale enough to do that."

"Those sound horrible... well, I respect your taste. In all honesty, I've never been much of a cookie person — I much prefer a good biscuit."

Ana laughed. "You're the typical Foggylandian, aren't you?"

"And proud of it. Say what you will, but there isn't a single country out there that can beat us in our breakfasts!"

"Ah, but you can't deny that pancakes for breakfast are just wonderful."

"Blueberries and whipped cream?" Jeff said.

"Blueberries, whipped cream and maple syrup," Ana countered.

"That is simply delightful, yes. But I still say that we have the superior cuisine."

"But you travelled in Eagleland for some time, right? How did you find the food there?"

"If there's one thing I'll always remember, it's this — how big your servings were." Jeff shuddered at the thought. "And all I could wonder was... how do you all eat so much?! I mean, it's simply ridiculous!"

"Oh no, I definitely agree. It's far too much for someone like me. It's why I prefer home-cooked food, because you can either make as much as you need, or split it into portions easily. Were you able to manage?"

"Eventually, though a friend of mine never did. He had to adapt to both the sizes and the food itself."

"That sounds difficult... I suppose on the topic of food, seeing as we're on this board — what's your favourite flavour of cake?"

"Cake? I'm rather simple in that respect — you can never go wrong with chocolate."

"Chocolate?" Ana said in mock outrage. "I expected something less pedestrian from you! Like a Victoria sponge, or perhaps a Fraisier."

Jeff rubbed his head sheepishly. "To be honest with you, I could never stand those kinds of fancy cakes. There comes a point where the artistry of the cake starts outpacing the actual taste of it, and I see it as misguided. A cake is to be eaten, and though you may be able to admire its looks, it should never come at the cost of the taste. In any case, do tell — what are your highly refined tastes in cakes then?"

Ana blushed slightly, before quietly saying, "... I personally like lemon cakes."

"Lemon? And here you were mocking me for my tastes," Jeff said teasingly.

"Alright, alright, I get it. I'm sorry for that."

"No need to apologise, so long as you don't mind me mocking you for your choice. Lemon is certainly an acquired taste though."

"Definitely. I personally love it in cakes though. There's a certain kick to it you don't get elsewhere, especially with lemon zest or curd."

"I personally love the richness of chocolate. It just adds a completion to cake that you don't get from anywhere else. A certain je ne sais quoi, if you will."

I suppose both of those makes sense, but as neither answered red velvet cake to the question of best type of cake, their answers are both objectively wrong.

"No, I know what you mean. I..."

But Ana stopped, suddenly bursting into laughter. "Look at us! We've done the exact same thing those two were doing on their last turn — talking about food!"

Jeff groaned. "Urgh... right, I suppose we should get going, lest we fall to the same madness."

"Please do."

So Jeff rolled his Dice Block, getting a 2. They went over the cookie bridge heading up, causing it to collapse and reform to the right. But soon enough, they met a challenge — a set of spoons serving as platforms leading up.

"Now, here's an issue," Jeff said, looking up. "How do we get up there?"

"I think we're supposed to do it... like this!" Ana said, making a rather graceful leap onto the first spoon. "Now you try."

"Goodness... here goes!" Jeff followed her example with slightly less grace, but made it on. The two leapt up the remaining spoons and onto the cake above, but when Jeff attempted to jump there, he stumbled on the edge.

"Oh, careful!" Ana said, quickly grabbing his hand and helping him stabilise himself.

Once he was fine, Jeff shuddered. "Thank you... that could have been disastrous."

"Somehow I doubt this place got any approval from OSHA..."

"I'm an interdimensional godlike being — I don't think I need approval from them."

"... but you're not actually God."

"No, dear. Sorry to disappoint." Despite that, Ana still looked disappointed.

"I think we've made it to our stopping point though," Jeff said, as they landed on the Blue Space just before the Porky Space at the top, getting 3 coins. "And not a moment too soon, because I think that's enough physical exertion for one turn..."

"We're in a good position. We have the most coins, and are in a position to obtain the Star if we're lucky," said the Masked Man. "Indeed, I must give you credit for being responsible for amassing our current wealth from the last two Minigames."

"I kinda feel bad for that kid though... he seemed crushed."

"Call it cold, but this is a competition. Only the most ruthless and tactical will come out victorious."

"Gee, you say it like we're in a war or something."

"That's essentially what it is. On the board, we play logistics as we move about the terrain, managing coins and Orbs — our resources, to capture the target — the Stars. In the Minigames, we fight battles against others, sometimes allying ourselves with other factions to work together against another. And there is always luck in everything we do, because like in battle, the best laid plans can always fall victim to bad luck."

Kumatora chuckled. "Man, you're just full of metaphors, aren't ya? Were you always like that?"

"... not as Claus, but surprisingly, I had this trait even back then. I suppose I wasn't completely emotionless... in any case, it seems I made the right decision in asking you to play that game."

"Maybe, but that reminds me — I've got an issue with what your reason was. You trying to avoid Lucas."

"And I will reiterate — you wished for me to not 'mentally mess' with Lucas. Having to work with me has a high chance of doing that. As would going against him, but that is less in my control. This is what you wanted, isn't it? To solve this issue."

"I... think I was wrong. 'Cause you don't solve issues by avoiding them — you solve them by facing them."

"But consider this — does this issue need to be solved? What would facing me do for him? He... has already gained closure over my death in his time. To face me would only reopen those wounds."

"I don't think he has gained closure over it," Kumatora sighed. "He's moved on, yeah, and he puts on a brave face, but I can tell... there's still something. Anyway, by that logic, just seeing you here's probably reopened them all already."

"... what do I gain then?" he asked.

"You asked me about the Magypsies because you wanted to know what pain you caused me, right?"

"Indeed. That is correct."

"Don't you want to know the pain you caused Lucas? 'Cause... it was a lot. And again, I ain't blaming you for that, but... you were a part of it. And if I know Lucas, I bet the one you have never told you any of it 'cause he didn't want you to feel guilty."

"You're very aware of how he thinks," he noted.

"Again, I can't force you. I just think it'd be good for you both. What do I know though? I mean, I ain't the best with any of this stuff."

"You are... better than you think. Then... if the opportunity arises, I shall endeavour to take it."

"That's all I'm asking. Hey, I suppose we better get a move on."

The Masked Man rolled the Dice Block, getting a 2 as well. They walked two spaces forward, landing on... an Item Space. Alright then, my work's done for now. I think it's time for me to Clock Out.

A large bomb appeared behind them with a green star emblazoned on it, which exploded before anyone even noticed, immobilising the entire board, except them. Why not them, you ask? Uhh... Feeling Fine?

I wonder how many of these time stopping abilities I'm going to be able to use by the end of this game... Maria, I hand this over to you.

"Hello!" she greeted.

"Uh, hey?" Kumatora said. "You're one of the shopkeepers, right?"

"I am. You've landed on an Item Space, and so I'm here to ask a question about your adventures. I'll give you five choices, and only one is correct. But of the four wrong answers, two of them are plausible and if you give those answers, I may still be able to give you some Orbs yet."

"What's the question then?" the Masked Man asked.

"Well, I believe your friend Duster has lots of strange tools he uses, doesn't he?" Maria said, facing Kumatora. "My question is, which of the following was not one of them: was it a Shield Snatcher, a Wall Staple, a Hypno Pendulum, a Siren Beetle, or a Tickle Stick?"

"Uhh..." Kumatora closed her eyes, tapping her head a few times. "Definitely remember the staples, and that beetle used to piss me off so much. Think I remember him knocking some people out by swinging that pendulum too... and yeah, tickling people works really well for how silly it sounds. Gotta go with the Shield Snatcher then."

"That's correct!" Maria said, clapping. "For that answer, I'm going to give you a Rare Orb! This should help you greatly if you use it well."

And now I have to clock back in. The board returned to normal time as a Happy Box Orb descended onto the Masked Man, making them flinch.

"Well... this is a very interesting reward," the Masked Man said.

"Yeah, but why does it have to be one of those?" Kumatora asked. "Urgh, guess we'll just have to deal with it."

"This is such a dumb question," Lucas groaned.

"Come on, I wanna get to know you though!"

"And I appreciate it, but I don't wanna tell you what the most embarrassing prank I've fallen for was."

"Fine, I'll have to move on to the next thing that was in my book," Ness said.

"Your book?"

"Yeah, my mom gave me a book of questions to ask people to get to know them a few weeks before this — said it was so I could make friends with them."

"Hold on... have all the questions you've been asking me been from that book?" Lucas asked.

"Maybe... okay, all the generic ones anyway. I don't think 'what happens to this guy who teams up with an alien and time travels to the future' or 'how do you like your cookies' were in there."

"Thank you. That's very sweet."

"Hey, no problem! But... you still didn't answer my question."

"How about I answer whatever the next question in your book was instead?"

"Alright... huh. You know, I actually don't remember it, but I think it was something like do you believe in monogamy?"

"... on second thoughts, most embarrassing prank of my life it is then. But you have to go first!"

"Aw, come on! Urgh, fine... but you have to promise not to laugh."

"I promise."

"So, you remember I was telling you about the Starmen, right?"

"Those weird aliens that could use PSI?"

"Yeah. Well, we found what was apparently a guide on them in the Stonehenge Base, which told us about their strengths and weaknesses... at least, I think it was that. I never read it — Jeff did. So he told us what it said, and he said their biggest strength was that some of them had natural shields to PSI. Which was true. But then he started talking about the weaknesses..."

"What did he say about them?"

"He said — and get this, he said that the Starmen were scared of dogs."

"Dogs?" Lucas repeated, just to make sure he heard that correctly.

"Dogs," Ness confirmed. "What he said was that apparently the Starmen got scared at them barking, cause it sounded like a war cry to them. And apparently, that's why dogs were the first thing they tried to take over when they came."

"That seems really far-fetched. Who'd believe that — ah." Unfortunately, it was a bit too late for Lucas to take his foot out of his mouth.

"... so when we got into a fight with a Starmen, I started barking at it. Didn't work. But Jeff said it's because I wasn't embracing the spirit of a dog. You know, dogs are four-legged and all, and the Starmen weren't gonna be fooled by some 'two-legged simpleton'. His words, not mine."

"So...?"

"So, I uh... I got down on my hands and knees and I started barking and growling at it, and well, the next thing I remember was waking up next to Poo while he was healing me."

Lucas burst into laughter, which made Ness frown. "Hey, you said you wouldn't laugh!"

"I crossed my fingers," Lucas said.

Ness's jaw dropped as he pointed at Lucas. "You... man, I guess I really am a two-legged simpleton."

"That did sound like a bit of a mean prank to pull..."

"Eh, made for a good laugh in the end. Plus, it was fun seeing Paula chew out Jeff over it... when she wasn't laughing at it anyway. So, y'know, not all bad. Alright, I did mine! What about you?"

"Okay... my brother loved pranks, and he loved doing them to everyone. Especially me, so I've fallen for a lot of them. The worst of them was when he said that if you stay in a hot spring for a long time, your body would get stronger. I was always a bit weak, so I tried it once and... I became really red for a few days because of it. I got teased a lot then as well. Not as interesting as yours, is it?"

"Huh... that sounds kinda unsafe though. Isn't it dangerous to stay in a hot spring too long?"

"It is — you're not supposed to stay more than fifteen minutes in one. My mother was furious at him for telling me that, but I don't think he really knew it wasn't safe either. A lot of the time, my brother sometimes went too far with his pranks. It's a good thing I could talk him out of some of the more dangerous ones when we got older."

"Like what?"

"Well, I'm not sure this counts as a prank, since it was more revenge, but there was this girl called Alle, and on the month leading up to her birthday once, she was just being really mean for some reason. I don't even remember why, because she wasn't mean before or after that.

Anyway, a few of us were getting sick of it and none of us really wanted to give her anything for her birthday because of that. So, Claus decided to write her a birthday card and fill with chilli powder, so that when she opened it, it went all about and got in her eyes."

"That... sounds really dangerous," Ness said, wincing when he imagined how that would feel.

"Luckily, I was able to talk him out of doing it."

"I mean, that's good, but it sounds like your brother wasn't the most careful person out there," Ness said, a bit wary now.

"He was always a bit too hasty... but he was a good person at heart. My brother wasn't perfect, and he had a lot of faults. He still had a lot of good in him though, and I think he would have gotten better the older he got. I guess we'll never know now... sorry to drop the mood."

"It's fine. I should probably roll though."

"We're near the Star and we have enough coins. If you roll high enough, we can get it this turn."

"Here's to hoping then." But when Ness rolled, luck wasn't on his side as he got... a 2. Ah, the busted RNG has returned.

They walked down, immediately coming across a junction.

"So, we can go left, or keep going down," Ness said.

"I think it's obvious we should go left then," Lucas replied.

"Yeah — wait, what?!"

"Just kidding."

"Oh, good. For a moment, I thought you'd gone crazy."

But crazy Lucas was not, so they continued down, landing on a Happening Space next to a bunch of cups, as a bunch of candy pieces appeared next to them."

"Huh... what's this about then?"

"Ah, I was wondering if we'd get to try this event. Do you two fancy a chance for some extra coins?"

Lucas and Ness both looked at each other before nodding.

"What's the catch?" Ness asked.

"It is as follows — in order to get coins, you must throw these pieces of candy into the cups over there. There are five in total — two on the outside, two on the inside, and one in the centre. All but the centre cup will spin around in a circle, so you'll need good timing and aim to land them in. For every candy piece you land in twenty seconds, I'll give you 5 coins. So, pick which one of you will play this."

"Dang, it's a shame you gotta lob them into the cups, rather than just throw them," Ness sighed. "I'd be good at this if it were like that."

"Didn't you know that if you bark at something, it does a perfect arc?" Lucas teased.

"Alright, I'm not that dumb... I think."

"Mind if I have a try at this then?"

"Sure. Give it your best shot."

Lucas stepped forward to the candy, just behind some frosting which marked the throwing line.

"Very well. Your time starts... now!"

The cups immediately started spinning, all except the centre one. Thinking it best to ensure they got something, Lucas jumped into the air and threw a piece of candy straight in that cup.

"Nice! That's already one, Lucas, just keeping going!"

The others wouldn't be so easy however, as they spun around and around. Lucas decided to go for the outer ones first. He jumped as high as he could and threw the candy piece to one far away from him, but it missed, falling short.

Not all hope was lost, as it was coming around to him, so maybe he could get it then. When it had moved closer, he lobbed a candy piece with minimal force, getting it in.

"Woo! Two down! You got this!"

The other outer ring cup was moving further away now, but Lucas decided to risk it, carefully aiming and landing it. That was three!

Still, the last two cups might be the hardest of all. They were spinning, making it hard to aim for them, but because they were in the inner ring, it meant one couldn't just use minimal of maximum force to get them — they had to throw with a force in between.

"Ten seconds left."

Still, he had ten seconds to make both cups. His first two shots both missed, and the third bounced off the side of the cup. But with one great shot, he landed the fourth one when it was on the right side.

"One more to go! You're so close!"

The last one wasn't any easier, with Lucas throwing the candies as fast as he could. A lot of them missed, and it got down to the wire, but with three seconds to spare, he landed a piece into the last cup.

Lucas smiled, putting his hands in the air as Ness cheered and confetti rained down.

"Excellently done, Lucas. It got close at the end there, but you managed to fill all five cups. As promised, here are 25 coins."

25 coins rained down on Ness and Lucas, both very happy.

"We're rich now! We've got more coins than anyone and we're so close!"

"I think we've got a really good chance at winning."

As usual, everyone was teleported to Start for the Minigame.

"Well, two of you are looking very green today. We'll spin for Brutal Battlers first."

The roulette spun round and around, landing on... red.

"And now for Fanfiction's Favourites."

But this time, it landed on blue.

"Ah, I was hoping we might get our first 2 vs. 2. Alas, not the case. Alright, for the third turn in the row, we have a 1 vs. 3 on our hands, but at least the teams are different this time."

This time, the roulette landed on a picture of an aquarium, with the symbol of a microphone in the corner.

"Be My Chum... this is interesting. This one falls under a subset of games I call Mic Minigames. This should be a nice change of pace."

When everyone reappeared, they found themselves on a rocky platform which was floating on water. Looking around, they saw a large pool around them that had been designed to resemble a lake. Aquatic plants covered the surfaces of the pool, and there were a number of creatures inside — Rooound Fish, Carefree Jellyfish and Rock Lobsters.

Suddenly, a voice called out. "Hey, welcome to the Minigame!"

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice, and they found the source. Standing on a rocky platform closer to the edge of the pool was another person, that being —

"A Pigmask?!" Kumatora asked.

Specifically, it was what looked to be a Navy SQUEAL, who waved at the group for a moment, before stopping and fixing his eyes on the Masked Man.

"C-Commander! Is that you?! It's an honour to meet you, sir!" he said, quickly saluting.

Feeling somewhat awkward, he replied, "You need not salute me. I'm no longer the Commander in my time."

"Oh! Well, it's still an honour! Anyway, I guess you're all here for this Minigame."

"Indeed we are, Tom."

"Tom?" Kumatora asked.

"Yes, that's his name. What, you didn't think Pigmasks had names?"

"You know... I never really thought about it."

"Just because they wear a mask, that doesn't mean there's nothing behind it," the Masked Man said, slightly irritated. Kumatora decided to shut up for now, seeing she'd touched a nerve.

"In any case, Tom will be playing a role in this Minigame, helping the one player out. Actually, I have an idea — Tom, do you wanna explain this Minigame?"

"Really? Wait, remind me — are we on live TV?!"

"Indeed."

He started sniffing. "Oh man! My mom's gonna be so proud of me!"

"Speaking of which, how is she? Is her leg still broken?"

"Yeah, doc says it's gonna be like that for a while. She busted it up real bad."

"My sympathies. I must send her a card and some chocolates — she likes pork chocolate, doesn't she?"

"Oh, she loves that stuff, it's —"

"Not to interrupt... whatever this is," Ness said, doing exactly that. "But can we get on with the Minigame?"

"Kids these days... so impatient."

"Right? Anyway, er... hope I don't mess this up! So, er, this is a 1 vs. 3 Minigame. Basically, the three players have to swim in here and dodge all the stuff living down there. If they get touched by any of them, they're out, and if they all get out in thirty seconds, the one player wins. If even one of 'em can make it for that long, they win instead. The Narrator will give you all warnings when it gets to twenty, ten and five seconds."

"So, what are we required to do then?" said the Masked Man.

"Well, Commander, you gotta, pardon the pun, command everything to attack the three players. You see that microphone there? If you shout the name of one of these creatures, they'll try and attack the three players — the Narrator trained them to attack in a different way."

"And how do they each attack?" Ana asked.

"So, you got the Rooound Fish — they're the green ones, and they'll just swim for a person. The Carefree Jellyfish — the blue ones, they'll float up and down. And the Rock Lobsters will barrel through the water like a torpedo. Those guys are red. But, you can also get me to attack! And what I do is, I throw three time bombs into the water and after two seconds — KABOOM! Well, it's not that big of an explosion — it's actually pretty small.

"Time bombs... I don't recall the Navy SQUEALS being trained to use those?" the Masked Man remarked.

Tom rubbed his head sheepishly. "Actually, I'm not a Navy SQUEAL, I'm just wearing this outfit 'cause... it's thematic and all. I'm really just a regular Pigmask, but the Narrator here gave me some training."

"It wasn't much, but I've got him to the point where he can do anything your Pigmask Colonels and Navy SQUEALS are trained to do, and a little extra."

"So, what do we say these things to get these attack? Do we have to say their full names every time, 'cause that's gonna get annoying." Kumatora said.

"I have given a bit of flexibility on what exactly you need to say. The full name of the creature will work, however, I have trained everything here to respond to some abbreviations. The Rooound Fish will respond to just Fish, the Carefree Jellyfish will respond to just Jellyfish and the Rock Lobsters will respond to just Lobster. As for Tom, he'll respond to anything that generally indicates he should attack, like Pigmask or Navy SQUEAL, but his name would obviously be the kindest thing to use."

"I'm not all that picky, my friends call me idiot sometimes, 'cause I'm not that smart!" Tom said cheerfully.

"We have got to work on your self-esteem, Tom..."

"Anyway, something you should remember is that you can't have more than one thing attacking at a time. If you've given something the order to attack, nothing else will attack until they finish. You wanna speak clearly too, cause those fish might not understand you if you mumble. And that's pretty much it! How'd I do?" Anxiously, Tom looked around at his audience.

"I think you did really well!" Lucas said, trying to encourage him.

"I understood everything myself," Jeff said, nodding appreciably.

"Thank you, Tom. Obviously, I could have done it better myself, but you did a good job. I will give my usual pieces of advice though — for the one player, mix things up. Don't use the same commands, and try to observe which creatures are in a position to attack. As for the team of three, listen to what the one player says and react accordingly."

"But... will we even be able to hear what they're saying in the water?" Lloyd questioned.

"Let's demonstrate. Tom, if you would?"

Tom dove into the water, staying underneath.

"Now, if one of you would speak into the microphone?"

Ninten was the closest, so he said, "Yo!" His voice was magnified, resounding through the area and making it easy to hear. Tom gave a thumbs up, indicating he'd heard.

"I think that should satisfy you all. You can come back up now, Tom. As for the rest of you, choose who will be playing this Minigame."

Ninten and Lloyd got to it immediately. "Alright, which one of us is gonna play?" Ninten asked.

"Hold on a second... why don't we discuss with the others and try to plan something out?"

"Huh... I mean, why not? We should be working as a team, shouldn't we?"

"As long as it isn't against the rules. Is it?"

"Not at all. There's no rules stopping people on the same team discussing who should play — it's just no one's decided to do so before now."

"Then let's do that. Hey, everyone!" Lloyd called out.

The other two teams both looked at Lloyd, seeing Ninten beckoning them.

"Why don't we work together to decide who should play?"

Both teams pondered this idea, before realising... that made a lot of sense to do.

"Sure!" Lucas said. "That seems like a good idea!"

"Good thinking. We should have thought of that earlier..." Jeff said.

"Okay, then gather 'round. It's going to be a physically intensive Minigame, so we need the most athletic people here. Ninten, I think it would be best if you played for us because of that."

"Sure, I got no issues."

"Now, I'm not sure about everyone else, but who in your teams are the most athletic?"

"I'd say Ness and I are pretty equal," Lucas said. "It doesn't really matter which of us does it, but since I did the last Minigame, do you wanna do this one, Ness?"

"That works for me."

"The same applies for us," Jeff said. "But the issue is, neither of us are very physically capable to begin with, though I think Ana would be a tad more graceful then me, judging from earlier."

"It's been a while since I've played in a Minigame, so I'd like to play in this one," Ana said. "Unless you object?"

"Not at all."

"Then we've got our team — it'll be Ninten, Ana and Ness," Lloyd said. "Now the key to winning this is going to be reacting quickly to everything they shout. You should all stay as far apart from each other as you can, because if you're all in one spot, you might be easily taken out."

"That's most logical. I think what will be most tricky is that Pigmask."

"The time bombs explode two seconds after he throws them, so you'll all have to keep that in mind. They'll probably blow up near the surface, so you want to stay away from there. Same with the jellyfish. It's probably best overall to stick near the bottom if you can..."

While Lloyd was discussing strategy, Kumatora and the Masked Man were discussing who would play.

"This seems right up your alley. I mean, you were the Commander and all, right?"

"Yes... and that might be the problem. I fear that Pigmask might be unnerved by my presence. See how he sneaks glances at me?"

Kumatora looked and saw that Tom was indeed taking an occasional glance at the Masked Man when he thought they weren't looking. "Huh... you're really observant. Didn't even notice that."

"That could lead to hesitation, which could lead to our loss. For that reason, it might be best if you play, to prevent him becoming unnerved."

"Slacking off, aren't ya? I've been playing all these Minigames lately."

"And you've been doing an excellent job at it. Why change what works?"

"Eh, guess this might be fun. I've always wanted to order around a Pigmask..."

Briefly, the Masked Man wondered if he'd made the wrong decision, but there was no time to think about that.

"That's all players decided. Kumatora, to the microphone. Ninten, Ana, Ness — submerge yourselves now.

"What, you want us to just dive in with our clothes on?" Ninten asked sarcastically.

"Yes."

"What?! But our clothes will get wet!" Ness cried.

"And we can't exactly play the rest of the game like that," Ana added.

"I would allow you to wear more appropriate clothing, but we'd have to increase the rating of this show then. Besides, our lawyers said having underage people in such attire might be crossing some lines, even if all private areas were appropriately covered. I do have standards, and part of those standards involves not being worse than Cuties. You may remove your shoes and socks, but that's all. As for being wet, that's no concern — I can blow dry you all in an instant like I did with Lloyd earlier."

"Okay..." Ninten walked over, taking off his shoes and socks, before dipping a toe into the water. He then jumped in, pleasantly surprised to feel that it wasn't cold at all. Ana and Ness were next to join, and Kumatora walked over to the microphone.

"On the count of three, you may start giving commands, Kumatora. Three.. two... one... begin!"

Immediately, Kumatora shouted, "Jellyfish!"

As soon as they heard that, Ninten, Ana and Ness dove down into the water as the Carefree Jellyfish came up to the surface, narrowly going past them all.

"Lobster!"

But then, a Rock Lobster started spinning through the water like a drill at lightning speed, hurtling straight towards Ana.

Unfortunately, while she noticed it, she couldn't move fast enough to avoid it, as it grabbed her with its claws. Immediately, in some physics-defying movement, she was sent hurtling out of the water, onto the rocky platform where everyone else was — though I suppose it's not really physics-defying, merely a use of telekinesis.

Jeff immediately rushed to her, making sure she was alright, while Lloyd and Lucas headed closer to the edge, both now much less confident in their chance of victory.

The same applied to Ninten and Ness, who immediately panicked and swam in opposite directions.

"Alright, er..." Kumatora was about to say 'Pigmask', but she thought better of it — it would be rude to the Masked Man and him. "Tom, do your thing!"

"Roger, ma'am!" He was surprised she actually used his name — he didn't think anyone would. Immediately, he threw three bombs into the water — one in the centre, and two on the sides.

Ness swam back the way he came, as a Rooound Fish came close to him, while Ninten did the same, due to a Carefree Jellyfish that was about to drop on his head. Both of them swam, until...

BOOM!

The time bombs exploded, and both of them came into the radius of the centre one, sending them spinning backwards and then flying out of the water onto the platform.

"That's how it's done!" Kumatora cheered.

Meanwhile, everyone else just stood there in shock at how short that was.

"... that lasted four seconds. I... that has to be a record. Er... a very impressive job from yourself, Kumatora, although I think the real MVP here would have to be Tom, for that double KO. there."

"Yeah! Let's go, Tom!" Kumatora said, clapping.

"Hey, thanks! I didn't think that would work!"

Everyone else was still speechless though. Ninten, Ana and Ness didn't even notice their clothes getting warmer, as their bodies and clothes completely dried.

"Right... here are your 10 coins, Kumatora — you've certainly earned them. Let's get back to the board."

Meanwhile, in Porky's lair, the pig in question was howling with laughter.

"I take it you've seen the Minigame?"

"This is what I've been waiting for — real violence! AHAHAHA! My favourite part was when that girl screamed after that lobster got its claws on her. And this is going to make for excellent PR too — it's perfect!"

"How so?"

"Didn't you see?! A Pigmask was the one to land the finishing blow, while destroying two of those idiots flopping about! Now everyone will be flocking to join my army when they see how powerful we are! It would have been better if it was my slave doing the commanding, but this can still work... yes, I've got it. When commanded by an idiot, that Pigmask was able to take out two of them easily. Now, imagine how powerful he'd be if he was being commanded by the proper people. That's what we'll tell people!"

"It seems you finally got the type of Minigame you wanted to see then."

"It couldn't be more perfect! Finally, the reason I've funded this party is all coming to fruition. Everything is all coming together..."

Chapter Text

"Man, that was just miserable!" Ninten moaned. "We didn't even last 5 seconds."

"I'm sorry, it was my fault for the strategy."

"Stop beating yourself up! Your strategy was great, it's just... man, we failed so badly. If we didn't have your strategy, we would have lost in two seconds.

"To be fair though, my strategy didn't account for Tom." Lloyd adjusted his glasses. "I underestimated how skilled he would be."

"Tom is a maniac. He just looked us in the eyes and said, and before we could even say 'Nani?!', KABOOM!"

"... I think all this anime is rotting your brain, Ninten. Not that there's much left in there to rot in the first place."

"Yeah, yeah, make fun of me. At least you're doing better, but we're broke."

"We need to find a way to earn Coins and win these Minigames... luck's just not been on our side."

"It's still early days. There's still time."

"Let's get going then."

Lloyd rolled his Dice Block, turning up an 8. As they walked, they tried to come up with a strategy with their meagre coin amount.

"There's not much we can do with so little."

"Can't really think of much. But to be fair, it's so hard to think when I'm this hungry," Ninten added.

"You ate before leaving!"

"Yeah, but just look at this place!" Ninten smiled in a way that Lloyd knew recognised — it was the kind of smile he gave when he was about to make a terrible pun. "I take one look at those cookie bridges, then my hormones kick into gear and my stomach starts ghrelin!"

Lloyd facepalmed, while trying to stifle a laugh. "Of all the science you actually remember, it's the science related to food and you use it to make a pun?"

"Well, you're laughing, aren't ya?"

"I am and I hate you for it!" Lloyd said, giving up his attempts to not laugh. "But looking at everything does make me a little hungry too. I wouldn't mind some cookies right now."

... am I really going to be able to complete this task of Hinawa's without actually needing to ask anyone? Because if so, that would be great.

"Yeah, I'd love some right now. The best ones are the kind that are really soft, and just a little dry, Ninten said. "Sugar cookies rule because of that."

"Dry?" Lloyd narrowed his eyes in disgust. "I think cookies should be more gooey. And the less crunch they have, the better. Crunchy cookies are an abomination to cookiekind."

I really am, aren't I? What absolute convenience.

"You're an abomination to cookiekind!"

"Really, Ninten? That's the best comeback you have?"

"We can't all be using our brains 24/7 to come up with witty one liners."

"I agree with you, but you don't even use yours 6/1." 

I think I need to call an ambulance for Ninten after that slaughter. Luckily, they've stopped moving, stopping on the Blue Space just before the Orb Shop on the north side of the board, earning 3 coins.

"Man, you're savage this turn! What's up?"

"I... I don't know. Maybe it's seeing you lose in that Minigame. Makes me feel better about myself. I mean, in a good way — not that you're bad or anything."

"I'm glad! I hate it when you're down on yourself."

"Looks like it's our turn now," Jeff said. "This could end badly though... those spaces right in front of us don't look too appealing."

"We'll be fine," Ana said. "We're going to roll a 7 this turn." She then rolled her Dice Block, getting exactly what she predicted — a 7.

Though he had seen it twice before, Jeff was still amazed. "That really is remarkable. You've done that a few times before, and I was tempted to dismiss it as mere luck the first time, but you've done that two more times now. If you wouldn't mind me asking, how does that work?"

"It's strange, I... I can't quite explain it myself. It's sort of like this — I get an vision of the future and what it will behold. But it's not only that — sometimes I can also get a vision of every other future that could arise from a decision. For every decision, there is a different outcome."

"A different outcome? As in, parallel universes?"

"I'm sorry, you'll have to explain that to me."

"Oh, it's rather simple really. It's like what you described — parallel universes dictate that a different universe is made whenever you make a decision, one for each choice. For example, if you had the choice between cereal and toast for breakfast, there would be two parallel universes created from that decision — one for you having cereal and one for you having toast."

"They wouldn't be very different at all though, would they?"

"No, not likely. It's a very small decision, and after you've digested your meal, both universes would likely be identical until your next decision."

"But the idea is that both of those universes exist at the same time?" Ana asked.

"Indeed. From what it sounds like, you have the ability to see into the future of different parallel universes!"

"Goodness, you make it sound so grand! It's really not that impressive — I can only see maybe a minute into the future normally."

"Normally? You've seen further than a minute before?"

"There was a time when I lost my hat, I left it at a railway station. And... I had a vision that a boy would return it to me. One week later, Ninten and Lloyd came to my house with it."

"You predicted that a week in advance? That's incredible! Just imagine the potential use of such a thing... you could predict anything that could happen in the future and all other futures, then choose the best decision to make."

"I'm afraid it doesn't work like that though," Ana explained. "I can't control when I get these visions — it's completely random, and they don't seem to come when they would be most useful. I couldn't foresee myself getting caught by that lobster so quickly in that last Minigame for instance — if I had seen that, I wouldn't have played.

And seeing a week into the future has only happened once, and I'm still not sure to this day how it happened. It's certainly not consistent, and seeing only a minute into the future isn't really useful."

"Ah... that's true. I apologise if I pressured you."

"I'm rather flattered actually. I never really thought much of this at all. In fact, I'm rather surprised you accepted this so quickly — it's hardly very scientific, is it?"

"True, but I've had my mind opened up to a number of things I thought were unscientific, like PSI itself. I've seen dinosaurs living when they were thought to be extinct. I suppose I'm merely fascinated, because your ability here further proves the idea of parallel universes."

"Hm... not necessarily. I can prove that I can see into this future, but I can't prove that I can see into different ones. After all, once a decision's been made, you can't undo it, so I can't prove what would happen if the other choice was made. Well, I suppose time travel might let you do something again."

"No, time travel wouldn't prove it either. When you time travel, you've made a parallel universe, since the decision to travel back in time has been made. The decision wouldn't be exactly the same as before. Similar, yes, but not identical, and in science, there are always high standards for proving things. I can only imagine how high they would be for proving parallel universes..."

"Then the only proof we have is my word for it. I don't know much about the scientific community, but I doubt the word of a teenage girl would make for good evidence."

On that point, Jeff agreed. "No, belief wouldn't be enough for them. But, it's good enough for me."

"But I could be lying," Ana pointed out.

"You could be, but I find that unlikely. You've seemed nothing but trustworthy to me, so I personally choose to believe you."

"Really? I'm surprised, I'd have thought you'd have needed proof."

"You're not wrong, proof is very important and belief can't substitute for it, but I still think belief is important in science. Every theory and idea someone has come up with started from something simple — a belief.

Take gravity for instance. Sir Issac Newton didn't just know it existed — he saw something and came up with an idea. And then, he amassed evidence for that idea to prove it, and now we have the law of universal gravitation. But at the start, he didn't have any evidence for his idea, yet he still pursued it. That was a belief, a belief he followed. Without belief, no one would ever try and prove anything, because when you first come up with anything, it's just a belief."

"When you say it like that... it's interesting. Many would say that science and religion are complete opposites, but when you think about it, both of them share something at the core — belief."

"Yes... that's true. I never really saw it that way myself. I had always thought religion and science were like oil and water — two things that will always separate if you mix them together."

"Well, I don't think that's true. After all, we're different in that respect," Ana said. "While I like learning about science, I'm very much a person of religion and faith. And while I'm sure you're respectful of religious beliefs — you've been nothing but respectful of mine so far for one, you're very much a person of science. And yet, the two of us are still able to have conversations with each other very well! The differences we have don't matter at all if we respect them."

"Quite true indeed. Ah, now we have to climb down these. Hopefully it'll be easier than climbing up."

The pair of them had gotten to the edge of the top part, now needing to climb down a set of spoons. As they did, Ana heard the voices of Ninten and Lloyd getting louder, as they were the base themselves. They were having an argument about something... anime?

"I tell ya, shonen is so much better then seinen!" Ninten said. That's why Calamity Rage trounces Chimera Sonnet — it's got so much action!"

"It's the same old thing every time! Some guy loses a fight, then he gets stronger, then he wins! Then rinse and repeat like 20 more times," Lloyd countered. "There's no story at all!"

"No story?! Dude, have you forgotten Child Ninja Phantoms?! It was the best arc! The story was insane!"

"It was so long though... there was so much padding and filler!"

"Yeah, but the payoff was so worth it! And it leads into Bio Space Masks, the second best arc!"

"The one with all the stupid power ups? Oh yeah, 10/10 there. I can sum that entire arc in two sentences — 'Hahaha! You dare challenge me?', followed by, 'I will stop you! Thanks to my training, I have obtained a new power!'"

Lloyd then paused and took a deep breath. "And after that, it's RARGHHHHHHH!"

His scream was so loud that it startled Ninten — but it also startled Jeff and Ana who were above them, the latter of whom slipped because of that and fell off her spoon.

"AHHH!"

Ana landed face first into the cake, as Jeff quickly rushed down the last spoon. She wasn't hurt — it was cake after all, but she did now have some frosting on her face.

"Oh hey, Ana! Nice of you to drop in, but I think you're supposed to climb down the spoons?" Ninten said.

She got up, snarling and putting the fear of God straight into Ninten and Lloyd.

"What was THAT?!" she shouted, walking up to them and jabbing them both with a finger. "Were you two arguing about anime again?!"

"He started it!" Ninten said, pointing at Lloyd. "This guy comes up to me and says Chimera Sonnet is better than Calamity Rage! I had to defend it!"

"No, you started it by saying shonen is always better than seinen!" Lloyd said, pointing back.

"I don't care who started it!" Ana said. "I thought we had sorted this out before and agreed that Half Romance Lakes was the best!"

Ninten and Lloyd both balked, looking as if they wanted to throw up.

"That show? It sucks!"

"And the romance is so poorly done and cliche..." Lloyd added.

"You know what, we need someone to settle this once and for all. Hey, Jeff!" Ninten shouted, seeing him in the distance, clearly trying not to get involved.

"Oh no... what is it?" Jeff groaned.

"We need you to decide! Calamity Rage, Chimera Sonnet or Half Romance Lakes — which is the best?"

Jeff looked at each of them in turn, before sighing. "I've never watched any of those, but... I'm going to have to go with Ana's choice, simply because she's the only person here who looks as if they may kill me if I don't."

"Good choice!" Ana said, suddenly chirping back up. "No arguing!" she barked, seeing Ninten and Lloyd both about to speak. "We've wasted enough time on this. Let's go."

Bemused, Jeff followed her. "You, er... have something on your face," he pointed out.

"Really now? I didn't know," Ana said sarcastically.

"You couldn't foresee that happening?" Jeff teased.

"Shut up!" Ana laughed, dispersing all of the tension from earlier.

"Here," Jeff said, handing Ana a handkerchief.

"Thank you. Oh, there's an Orb Shop here. I suppose we should visit."

They went inside, appearing for the third time in Maria's shop.

"Hello... ah..." Maria paused, seeing Ana's face. "Dear, you appear to have something on your face?"

"I know."

"Ah. Erm... in any case, welcome! I'm sure you know how things work now, but since the first 5 turns have passed, I'm selling more Orbs now. So, what would you like?"

"I think a Skip Sandwich DX would be useful," Ana said. "We need to be able to move quickly on a moment's notice."

"I have no issues with that," Jeff said.

"Here you are. That's 15 coins."

After handing the money, they both left the Orb Shop, landing on the Blue Space just after it, earning 3 coins.

"Did you hear that scream back there?" Kumatora said.

"Yes, it sounded like some sort of battle cry."

"Nah, not a battle cry... an anime cry? Eh, maybe I'm just going crazy."

"What exactly is... anime?"

"You don't know what anime is?!"

"I assume from contextual clues, this is a form of entertainment."

"I mean if you wanna call it that, I guess it is, but it's so much more than that."

"As Porky's slave, opportunities for entertainment were... I would say limited, but nonexistent is more accurate."

"Just another reason to hate the asshole... alright, listen — if you ever wanna become friends with me in your timeline, cause it sounds like you two aren't on good terms, just ask her if you can watch Slayer Magician with her. Literally one of the only good things to come from Happy Boxes."

"I shall," The Masked Man said, looking completely serious. "Thank you for... why are there rabbits coming this way?"

Kumatora looked down and saw a bunch of rabbits heading towards them, which huddled near her feet. A few of them looked at the Masked Man, almost hissing at him.

"I think I know what's going on..." Kumatora groaned.

Suddenly, from nowhere, a Magypsy teleported right in front of them, the Magyspy of Snowcap Mountain — Lydia.

"Kumatora! It's wonderful to see you!"

"Hello, Lydia..." Kumatora sighed.

"You could be a little happier to see me," they huffed. "After all, I understand we're not there in your time, are we?"

"Alright, fair. Yeah, it's good to see you again."

"That's more like it!" They turned to the Masked Man. "And I see you have a friend... oh. You must be the person who I've heard pulled my Needle in your time."

The rabbits all looked at the Masked Man, seeming intent on attacking him while Lydia also gazed at him, though not unkindly.

"I am. And while I have no desire to attack your rabbits, I am not above doing so if they do so first," the Masked Man said.

Lydia laughed. "Oh, they're very sweet! Now, dearies, there's no point in being angry. I can see you're much different from what I've heard."

The rabbits stopped their aggression, but still looked at him suspiciously.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Kumatora asked.

"I simply thought I'd give you some help! Our little girl needs some support, doesn't she?"

"I'm 18!" Kumatora said frustratedly. "I'm capable of looking after myself!"

"Evidently not, if you're still wearing those shaggy clothes, dear. You must make yourself presentable!"

"Not this again! I already got it from Mixolydia!"

"Oh, did Missy visit you? I suppose they already told you about your lack of refined language."

Kumatora just gave a frustrated groan.

"Even on the top of a mountain, I still find the time to make myself look presentable! You should too, darling. You'd look all the better for it."

"Yeah, I'm sure I would..." she muttered.

"Hold on a second... a mountain? And you are the possession of multiple rabbits. You are the Magypsy of Snowcap Mountain, aren't you?" the Masked Man said.

"Ah, I am! But what of it?"

"I... I must express my gratitude for what you did, although I don't suppose you would know of it, since it likely didn't happen in your time. In ours, a Pigmask was left behind on your mountain and you gave him shelter."

"Oh yeah, we saw that guy!" Kumatora said, recalling it. "He was taking care of your rabbits after the Needle was pulled. What happened to him anyway?"

"He eventually was able to send a distress signal and was retrieved," the Masked Man replied. "Had it not been for your actions, he would have likely froze to death. So, I must thank you for that... even if it wasn't you who did it."

"You're welcome! My, my, you're certainly much odder than I thought! Full of surprises!" Lydia said with a girlish laugh. "Ah, this reunion has been fun, but I fear I must go soon. But not without a present! Even if you insist on facing everything alone, Kumatora, we won't let you."

The rabbits all stood to attention, scampering across the board, before coming back.

"Okay... what did that do?" Kumatora asked.

"They've taken away all of those Orbs your rivals have. Oh, not forever — they'll get them back on after their next turns. They just won't be able to use them for that next turn!"

"That will be useful. Thank you for your assistance."

"Ah, so polite! You could learn a thing or two from this refined gentleman! Now, I shall be off! Goodbye!"

With that, Lydia disappeared again, all of her rabbits going with her. Kumatora sighed, rolling her Dice Block and getting a 1.

"Oh, that's just great! I blame Lydia for that!" she said, as they landed on the Blue Space directly after and got 3 coins.

"They seemed pleasant," the Masked Man said.

"Yeah, when you talk to them for a few minutes, they're fine. It's when you have to deal with them all your life that they get annoying. Well, Lydia wasn't too bad. Didn't see them often, cause you know, they live on a mountain. It was nice to see them every once and a while. They made some good cookies too. Real crunchy."

"Hm. I didn't take you for a sweets person."

"Eh, I'm not too into sweets, so you're not wrong there. Honestly, I could eat ice for a snack and I'd probably like that more. But crunchy cookies aren't that bad."

"I would agree with you."

"Really? What kind of cookies do you like?"

"I am aware that Claus liked his cookies crunchy and gooey. At least, that's what I remember Hinawa making for him."

"That's cool and all, but I wasn't asking what kind of cookies Claus likes. I wanted to know what kind you liked."

"Ah... well, I am certainly fine with the same kind Claus liked. It would be surprising if I wasn't. However, I will admit to having a preference towards more crunchy cookies, due to it being easier for my machinery to process."

And done. I have everyone's cookie preferences, and I didn't even have to ask! I am definitely sticking this to Hinawa later.

"Wait... that doesn't make sense. I thought all your machinery's on the outside?" Kumatora asked. "How can eating mess with it?"

"I suffered a great deal of damage, some of it internal. I'm not entirely aware of the specifics, but I believe my stomach is somewhat mechanical now. My heart is mostly mechanical as well — that's why being electrocuted like that killed me."

"Right... okay," Kumatora tried to shift the topic to something more pleasant. "So who made you cookies anyway?"

"I did."

"You know how to cook?" Kumatora said in surprise.

"Cooking is rather simple. It is following a series of steps in a careful manner and executing them. Indeed, I rather like it, for it is consistent. As long as one follows the recipe to the letter, you have no chance of an undesirable outcome."

"Yeah, but come on! There's a bunch of stuff you gotta know how to do, right? Even if you know what to do, you can't have known how to do it on your first try. How'd you figure that out?"

"I had someone to teach me those things. In fact, I recall she would often make cookies for me as well when she could, and before I had learned how to make them myself."

"Who's that?"

"Lil' Miss Marshmallow. She was a robot in Thunder Tower."

"Hold on... that maid?"

"Yes. She spent four months teaching me the basics of cooking at New Pork City before she left for Thunder Tower, so that I could cook for Porky." Notably, the Masked Man let a small smile slip onto his lips.

"You cooked for that guy?!"

"It wasn't pleasant. If you're wondering why he made me do it, it was because I was the only person he could trust. Others might attempt to poison him. I was his slave — I could do no such thing. Of course, the only other person he would trust with his food was Marshmallow — her loyalty to Porky was unwavering. Unwavering to the point of not leaving a tower that was being blown up. Her demise was... saddening."

"Yeah... sorry." Kumatora said sheepishly. "That... that was us."

"I'm quite aware. The yo-yo that your counterpart in my timeline flung at me during our first fight was very distinctive. I recognised it as soon as I saw it, and how it came into your possession was very easy to figure out."

"Damn... er, sorry for other me, she's kind of a dick."

"It is fine. You could not have known, and in any case... the physical pain I exacted on you soon after adequately made up for that."

"... do I wanna know what you did?"

"No, you don't, and I'm not going to allow it either. This is an E rated show — we can't have descriptions of grievous bodily harm."

"Wow. I'm... I'm sorry, it sounds like we messed with your life a lot. I never even really thought much of her, except for how annoying her voice was."

"Annoying? How peculiar. I often found her voice rather calming. But I suppose we saw two very different sides of her. Indeed, she was rather dedicated to her job and I have no doubt in saying that she would have attempted to kill me had I, for some reason, taken the yo-yo myself."

"Attempted?"

"She would not have succeeded. She was not built for combat — I was. There is no question that I would have effortlessly destroyed her, especially with my proficiency in PK Thunder. Yet, she would have still tried. At the time, that was something I admired about her — to be willing to throw her life away for Porky was something to be respected. But now... I can't help but feel sorry for her."

"Because she never really had a choice?"

"She didn't. She was Porky's slave as well. The only difference is, she was happy to be it. And yet, I recall instances where she appeared to be something more, someone trying to break free in the same manner I was. I suppose we'll never know. But I shall always remember her, and the times I visited Thunder Tower to see her and taste those cookies she would make."

"It sounds like you really cared for her. Not gonna lie, I kind of always thought you were just this... emotionless guy."

"That isn't an inaccurate description. I was for the most part devoid of all emotions, but..." The Masked Man paused, looking for words. "You'll have to forgive me for this sentiment, because I am aware that I do not deserve to hold it. I would like you to know this — I am aware of all the pain I have caused you, and all that I have taken.

But I want you to understand this — you are not the only person who lost something. For the record, Marshmallow never came back in any capacity after the Dark Dragon woke up, because Lucas held no attachment to her. I do not resent him for that, but it is a simple fact of life. And it is a fact of life that she will never come back."

"There really aren't enough reasons to hate that bastard, are there?"

"There are an infinite number of reasons why I despise Porky. I will admit though... that one is certainly higher up on the list."

"What was with that rabbit that just came charging towards us?" Lucas asked. "It looked familiar..."

"Don't ask me. It took our Orbs though! I guess it was only a Shield, so we're not bleeding over it."

"This turn has just been weird in general. Rabbits stealing our Orbs, and that scream earlier... I hope they weren't in trouble."

"Nah, they'll be fine."

"How do you know?"

Ness chuckled. "Cause that wasn't a cry for help, it was an anime cry! Gotta say, whoever it was has got a real good set of pipes in them — they should become a voice actor!"

"Anime? Oh, those weird fighting cartoons everyone in Tazmily watched on the Happy Boxes?"

"Did you just call anime weird?!"

"Well, it just seemed like a bunch of people screaming as loud as they could and trying to see who could lose their voices first."

"Nah, it's so much more than that! Anime is great!"

"You sound like Kumatora! I remember I tried to watch this anime she really liked, but it was a bit too intense for me. I think it was, er... Slayer Magician?"

"Slayer Magician? Yeah, that stuff's real intense. I remember Tony — he's one of Jeff's friends, loves anime too, he found it one day, and we tried watching it. We literally couldn't make it past the first episode."

"I couldn't make it past ten minutes! There was this one scene..."

"Oh, that scene? The one where the girl took that other guy's head and just —"

"Hold it! Again, this is an E rated show — no descriptions of grievous bodily harm!"

"Hey, I wasn't gonna say anything bad!"

"If you're talking about that scene of Slayer Magician, you most certainly were about to."

"Wait a second, how would you know about that scene... unless you've watched it yourself?"

"... if I apologise for electrocuting you earlier, will this remain a secret?"

"It's a done deal!"

"Then you have my sincerest apologies for frying you earlier, Ness. It was very much wrong of me to attack you for making your point, and I was too prideful to admit my mistake at the time."

"Woah, that... actually sounded pretty sincere. Er, yeah, my lips are sealed and all."

"Good. I must insist you change the topic though."

"It was a pretty nasty scene..." Lucas said.

"Yeah, I had nightmares about it that night, and so did Jeff... he was really mad at me the next day. Slayer's brutal."

"I think that soured me off anime. It was the first one I ever watched."

"Yeah, that would probably do it... trust me, there's a lot of good ones. I gotta show some to you sometime!"

"You... might have a hard time doing that." Lucas said, looking at the ground.

"Huh? Oh... different times and all..."

"That's something I've been wondering... when this party ends, everyone's going to return to their own times. We'll never see each other again. And I'll miss all of you..."

"Hey, don't think about that! We're not even half way — there's still plenty of time left! What's that saying — if you worry about how much wine's left in that bottle, you won't be able to enjoy what you've still got."

"Er... should I be worried you know that saying?"

"It was something my dad said. Anyway, point is, we gotta live in the moment for now."

"You're right. I suppose I best roll then," Lucas said, hitting his Dice Block and getting a 9.

"Hold on, did we just..."

They walked along the path, going along the spaces until...

"Oh my God! We did it!"

"We finally made it to the Star!" Lucas said.

"I share your enthusiasm. Finally, after 6 turns, someone gets here! Right then, I'm sure I know your answer to this, but I have to ask anyway — would you like to purchase this Star?"

"Of course we do!" Lucas said.

"I thought you might say that. In which case, I'll take twenty Coins from you... and here's your Star!"

20 coins flew out from their pockets as the Star descended upon them.

"We got it!"

"Now we're in the lead!"

"You already were — the question is, can you maintain it? Alright, everyone, Ness and Lucas have bought the first Star! But where will the next be?"

All the Blue Spaces of the board started flashing rapidly, before finally stopping on a Blue Space at the very top of the board, just after the Miracle Space.

"And that's where it is! As before, it will be 20 coins to buy."

"That's far from here..." Lucas said.

"Yeah, we'll have some trouble getting there before everyone else — they're all pretty close.

"Still, we're doing well." The pair of them continued along the path, stopping on the Blue Space just after the Start Space, meaning they'd done one full loop around the board.

"Ah, congratulations. This has certainly been quite the good turn for you two — as a reward for making it back to Start, here's 10 coins for that."

10 coins flew down onto them, in addition to 3 more for the Blue Space.

"Nice! That basically makes up for half the cost of the Star!"

Well, you know how this works — everyone was transported to Start.

"Urgh..." Jeff said. "I can't believe you got the Star. We shall get the second though!"

"Good luck. We might just snag that one under your nose!" Ness said.

"I for one am glad that Star was finally collected. In any case, it's time for another Minigame, and luckily, not another 1 vs 3 Minigame. It's been a while since you've all had to get involved, so we'll have an 8 Player free for all."

The revolving roulette spun as always, landing on a picture depicting a bunch of Chomposaurs in a playground.

"... it seems life has decided to throw Porky a bone for once. It's time for Chomp Romp."

When everyone reappeared, they found themselves in a peaceful place — a meadow in the shape of a circle. However, on the outer edges of the circle were eight gates, all leading to the inside of it. When they looked beyond the gates, they saw what looked to be a playground stretching beyond each gate, but in the form of some linear obstacle course.

"Oh, I get it!" Ninten said. "We've gotta get through these obstacle courses — it's a race!"

"A good guess, and you're half right. It is a race, but you're not the ones who will be running it — they are. Look behind you."

Everyone turned around, and all of them jumped back, some of them screaming. Even the usually stoic Masked Man was take aback. Standing there was a Chomposaur, large and proud, and most surprisingly, not hostile.

"Are those Chomposaurs?!" Ness shouted.

"Don't worry, I've tamed these ones. They won't hurt you... probably."

"Probably?!" Jeff yelled.

It took them a few minutes to get to terms with it, but eventually, everyone calmed down.

"Now that you've all got your heads back on, you'll all need to take one of those whistles for this game. Don't take the silver one though."

They were so preoccupied with the Chomposaur that they didn't even notice what was beside it — a table with nine whistles. Each of them carefully took one, very nervous.

"The aim of the game is this — each of you has a Chomposaur at the start of your obstacle course. Your goal is to get your Chomposaur from the beginning of your maze to the end, which are the gates leading into this meadow you see — the first person to do so wins.

However, in order to get them to move, you will need to use your whistles. The Chompsaurs are trained so that when they hear the whistle, they will head in the direction of it. And by head, I mean charge full force in that direction. Let's demonstrate."

The remaining whistle levitated off the ground, positioning itself away from all the children. It blew itself, and immediately, the Chomposaur started running towards the whistle, which quickly moved out of the way. The Chomposaur kept running until it hit one of the fences surrounding the paddock. It stopped, shaking its head before becoming completely docile.

"As you just saw, they will charge and they won't stop until they hit an object. And for the record, people are not objects — if you are in their path, they will run you down. So make sure when you whistle, you get out of their way."

"But if we're all using the whistles at the same time, won't they all just go in random directions?" Lloyd said.

"They would, so that's where the different colours come in. Each whistle is a different colour because the sound they make are at different frequencies. Each Chomposaur will only respond to one specific frequency, so only one whistle. This one for instance will only respond to the sound of the silver whistle. If one of you could blow yours...?"

No one seemed eager to do so, but eventually the Masked Man carefully blew his. To everyone's surprise, the Chomposaur didn't react at all, as if it didn't hear the sound.

"So there you are. Their movement is predictable, so it's your job to guide them through the course, but you should keep in mind their size. There may be certain gaps they can squeeze through, and some they can't. And some they may only be able to squeeze through at certain angles. Any questions?"

"I have one," Lucas quietly said. "Why not have Dragos instead? They seem more friendly than these..."

"Good question. As it happens, we were going to use Dragos at first, but we couldn't think of a clever enough Minigame name with Drago. Porky came up with Chomp Romp, and pointed out Chomposaurs would work with the title, so we switched to those. I have to admit, he does come up with some good ideas now and then.

Anyway, there's not much more to say. It's a simple concept, and your courses are all the same for fairness, so the challenge is executing it. Let's see how well you do."

All of them disappeared, each of them being teleported to the start of their courses, where they each found themselves next to a Chomposaur.

"On the count of three, you may begin. Three... two... one... START!"

Despite how complicated the Minigame sounded, it really was a lot simpler in practice. Immediately, everyone saw the monkey bars on their right side, so they headed over to the down and to their left which was empty, then blew their whistles. The shrill noise rang through the air, and in majestic fashion, all the Chomposaurs charged forward.

Some of them smashed into the left wall, while others smashed into the slide a little further down. Lucas however didn't get out of the way of his Chomposaur quickly enough, and got thrown to the side, causing him to waste some time.

The next part was where things got tricky — getting round the slide. Ninten, Ana and Lloyd all fell for the trap of trying to get the Chomposaur to charge diagonally and take the shortest route to get it the bottom right, but the angle they were at didn't work — the Chomposaur just charged into the slide again.

Everyone else however realised what these three did after on their first attempt — they would have to manipulate the Chomposaurs to get them to go straight to the right, and then down. Up completion of this, the Chomposaurs ran into a swing set on the bottom right.

Now it was becoming clear who would win and who would lose. Lucas, Ninten, Ana and Lloyd were all slightly behind their competitors, due to their prior mistakes, while Kumatora, Ness, Jeff and the Masked Man hadn't made any mistakes at all, and were neck and neck. At this point, it would simply be a case of who was faster.

Kumatora, Ness and the Masked Man all proceeded by blowing their whistles up at the bottom of the previous slide, having the Chomposaurs head up, to get a better angle at sending it straight down without hitting the swings, where their Chomposaur hit the top of a fountain — they had to do this since the gap between the swings and slide was too small to just send it directly through there... or so they thought.

Jeff recognised this and saw the inevitable — it would take two whistles to get the Chomposaur down there. But what if it wasn't inevitable? He quickly moved to the top left corner of the swings, and did a quick calculation of the angle it would go at. It was risky, but maybe...

When he blew his whistle, his Chomposaur charged straight between the narrow gap at the perfect angle, and just barely went through without hitting the sides of the swings or the slide. His Chomposaur hit a bench on the left, further away from the fountain. It sounded like a bad thing, but the angle was just right to have it squeeze between the fountain and swings, hitting the right wall.

Kumatora, Ness and the Masked Man on the other hand all had to send their Chomposaur back up at the base of the swings, and then send it down, since their Chomposaur were too close to the top of the fountain to not run into it again, adding extra movements.

Beneath the fountain was the gate that marked the finished. With his Chomposaur at a good angle to charge through it, Jeff headed in front of the gate and blew his whistle one last time, having his Chomposaur charge through the gate and onto the meadow.

"Stop blowing! We have a winner!"

Everyone teleported back to the inner ring, where they now saw two Chomposaurs, many of them wondering who the second belonged to.

"So... who won? Sure as hell wasn't me." Ninten said.

"That would be Jeff, who discovered the swing skip."

"Wait, you can skip those swings?!" Ness asked.

"It's hard to do, and I was wondering if anyone would figure that one out. Still, credit where credit is due — Kumatora, Ness and Masked Man, you all figured out the intended route and executed it very well. In any case, here are your 10 coins, Jeff. Let's get back to the board."

In Porky's lair, Hinawa was currently in the kitchen reading a cookbook, specifically looking at a section specifying how to make different types of cookies by altering the quantities of the ingredients in the mixture.

Suddenly, a piece of paper suddenly materialised before her eyes, slapping itself down on the table in front of her.

"There you are, Hinawa. I've completed your challenge — here's a list of everyone's cookie preferences, obtained without mind reading."

Hinawa took the piece of paper, carefully reading through it and smiling... before it was replaced with a frown.

"... you didn't ask a single person their preferences, did you?"

"Nope! Not at all!"

"When I gave you this task, I did so in the hopes you'd interact more with people..."

"I know you did, hence why I resolved to complete this without doing so. And in the end, dumb luck favoured me. You see, you may be wondering how I obtained this information and the answer is, everyone just happened to talk about their cookie preferences in their conversations without me even needing to ask. I know, the convenience is insane. And you know I didn't make these up, because you've been watching the entire party go on. Of course, if you'd like to check, we can."

"No, that's alright... I'm sure you're right about all this. I'm glad you apologised to that boy though!"

"Well, I only did so to ensure my secret didn't get out there."

"It sounded like a very sincere apology for just keeping a secret. Why are you afraid of that secret getting out?"

"I think the answer is obvious — if people knew I watched anime, I would lose pretty much all of my intimidation."

"If I'm speaking honestly, I think you lose most of your intimidation to someone once they get to know you."

"No, I think that's just you for some reason having the mental fortitude and confidence to be perfectly comfortable in the presence of someone capable of killing you hundreds of times over. A fact which, to be honest, still baffles me."

"Would you prefer for me to be in constant fear?"

"... I suppose not. Fear is amusing in the moment, but not so much in extended interactions."

"Exactly! And you should never be ashamed of who you are or the things you enjoy."

"I think you're right! You know, I shouldn't be ashamed of the fact that I like killing time travellers — every time I do so, for a brief moment, I gain this... this understanding of the meaning of life."

"... most things."

"I was agreeing with your statement."

"I know..." she sighed.

"In any case, apart from wanting me to socialise with people, why did you want to know everyone's cookie preferences?"

"You don't already know?" She was surprised... surprised at the fact that I hadn't already mind read the answer out of her. Ah.

"I have enough respect for you to not read your mind on principle, Hinawa. Downside is, I've become so reliant on mind reading that my critical thinking skills have deteriorated significantly."

"Simply put, I wanted to make cookies for everyone, but I also wanted to make sure they each got something they'd like. Of course, I already knew about my sons, but... it seems everyone likes very different types of cookies. I suppose I'll have to bake eight different batches."

"That's certainly very generous of you, but it seems like quite the undertaking. Are you sure you'll manage?"

"I think I should be able to finish before the Last 5 Turns."

"That's still a lot of work. Would you like some help?"

"Really? I would appreciate it very much, but I know you have many other duties."

"If I didn't have the ability to do so, I wouldn't have offered. Command me in your colossal cookie creation as you see fit."

"In that case, the first thing we need is ingredients... butter, sugar, eggs, flour, bicarbonate of soda, vanilla extract and chocolate chips."

As soon as Hinawa finished her list, items started flying out the cupboards and fridges, neatly placing themselves on the counter, both startling and amazing her.

"Psychic powers are rather useful in a kitchen, aren't they?"

"I can see that!" she laughed. "If you wouldn't mind though, I have two requests."

"Fire away."

"Well, the first is please warn me before you do that — it's a little startling."

"Fair enough. And the second?"

"It's a little strange to be making something and not be able to see the person helping me."

"... have I ever told you how much I absolutely despise you?"

"Please? It would make me happy."

"It's true what they say about PK Love users, isn't it... they've got hearts big enough to melt yours."

The shadows of the room converged into one spot, as a shadow humanoid appeared.

"Not one word."

"Of course," she nodded.

It was a simple task, really — measure quantities for the ingredients, put them in a bowl and mix, with different quantities for different types of cookies. We decided to do two at a time, starting with mixtures for Ninten and Lloyd. As I said, measuring quantities out for each was easy enough, and then we each took a mixture and stirred them in separate bowls.

You know... it's actually pretty soothing. Measure, put it in, then stir. The stirring might be the best part... it makes you forget about things. It's just the mixture and you. It's not too bad — easy to understand, easy to do, and easy to get lost in.

And apparently, I got so lost in it that I didn't realise Hinawa had stopped her work for a minute, just watching at the shadow puppet.

"... what?"

Hinawa simply smiled, before returning to stirring her mixture. It would have been smug coming from someone else, but somehow she managed to avoid that altogether.

"Like I said, I think you lose most of your intimidation once someone gets to know you... or sees you make cookies."

"I am going to kill you painfully one of these days." 

"I'm sure you will," she replied, keeping that same smile.

But suddenly, an alarm went off and lights on the walls started flashing. Fantastic.

"Saved by the bell... temporarily. I'll be back after my report."

"Oh! Before you go, I wanted to ask — what kind of cookies do you like?"

"Me? I have no preference. They're not my favourite treat — that honour always has gone to red velvet cake."

The shadow humanoid disappeared into the dark from whence it came, and now I have to report to Porky. I hate this job sometimes.

In Porky's room, he was pounding his buzzer over and over again.

"You know, you only need to press the thing once."

Porky scowled. "And you didn't come. So I had to press it again!"

"You literally just started pressing it, and I came as soon as I could!"

"Oh? That's what you think."

"Are... are you trying to gaslight me? You can't gaslight someone who's nearly omnipresent."

Porky sneered. "What were you doing anyway?"

"Cooking."

"You know how to cook?" Porky coughed.

"Well, cooking is rather simple, it's following a series of steps in a careful manner and —"

"Bah! Don't go off on that, I hear enough of it from my slave! To cut to the chase, did you see that Minigame?! One of my favourites finally comes up, and it gives me one of the most glorious moments of all! AHAHA! Watch this!"

On a monitor on the wall, a moment of the Minigame just now was playing on repeat — the part where Lucas got knocked away by his Chomposaur.

"Look at him! Everyone's talking about it! It's gotten so popular that#lucassucks is trending!"

"Really... hold on, people are already making memes about it? This is why I hate social media..."

"This is why I love social media! It took a while to get started, but now our viewership is through the roof — it spiked when that first Star was gotten! Everyone is watching eagerly, ready to see the chaos begin. So I say, let it rain!"

"And I say, please no, because all chaos does is put more bugs in my brain to deal with."

"You see, this is your problem. You don't have any vision!"

"Hey, asshole, not sure if you remember, but I'm literally the reason you can host this party at all."

"Hah! I suppose I should be thankful... but I'm not!"

"... I'm just gonna leave before I nuke this entire place." 

Chapter Text

Back on Sweet Dream, it was Ninten and Lloyd's turn, the two of them lamenting their loss at the previous Minigame, and their ever growing state of poverty.

"Ah, I messed up that Minigame big time! Got my dino stuck on the slide..." Ninten said.

"I did the same as well! Great minds think alike, I guess... but fools seldom differ."

"I'm more surprised at the fact that dinosaurs are still alive! Didn't they go extinct millions of years ago? Well, that guy is a time traveller. Maybe they just went back in time and swooped some up."

"I was thinking that as well, but Ness and Jeff both recognised them, and they're from 6 years in the future."

"Oh! Yeah, that's true. So... dinosaurs are just casually still alive?! How are you not more freaked out by this — aren't you into this kind of stuff?"

Lloyd shrugged. "Palaeontology never really interested me."

"Palaeowhat?"

"Palaeontology, Ninten — the study of dinosaurs. Actually, that's not quite accurate, it's the study of life before the Holocene epoch — that's life that existed over 10,000 years ago," he added at Ninten's confused look. "Obviously, we use fossils to do it, and dinosaurs are part of that."

"That sounds cool! How can you not be interested in that?!"

"Well, it doesn't really seem useful. I mean, many of these species are extinct, so what's the point in learning about them? It's not going to help us, is it? But working on technology to advance how prosperous we can be certainly is useful. Or researching new medicines. I'll even say that studying animals that are still living is useful, to make sure we don't disrupt them. But animals that are already gone? I can't really see the use in that."

"Sure, but it's dinosaurs. Isn't that just cool in of itself? Yeah, I know it's a lot of digging and stuff, and you're not gonna find big fossils all the time, if ever, but it's kinda like solving a mystery. You know, you're putting clues together over time, trying to get an idea of how these things worked. And it's not just dinosaurs, it's loads of other stuff too! I think it's just cool to find out how they all worked."

"True, but if I wanted to see how cool dinosaurs were, I'd just watch all the depictions on TV."

"I guess, but... that's all just guessing and stuff. Don't get me wrong, it's sick, but it's still guessing."

"You know, it sounds like you should become a palaeontologist yourself, Ninten. You seem really passionate about it, and you wouldn't be the first in your family to pursue a scientific career."

"Me?! Naw, I couldn't do that! I mean, can you imagine me being a scientist and stuff, and being Dr instead of Mr?"

"Dr Ninten Hollander... I think it has a nice ring to it!"

"Eh... I think it sounded better on great grandpa George. Besides, you know my goal — I'm gonna be the world's best baseball player!"

"And I want you to pursue that, because I know that's your passion. But don't you think you need a backup plan, in case that doesn't work out? Because, be realistic, Ninten — it's not gonna be easy to do that. And you need something to fall back on."

"Heh, you always were good with life advice... it's just weird to think about. I've always been the dumb one out of us," Ninten said. "Ana's really intuitive and good with her PSI, you're just smart at everything and Teddy... I mean, he ran a gang for a while, and that's gotta take some brains."

"I'd say... you haven't applied yourself. I think you've got a lot of passion for this, but you haven't applied yourself for it yet. If you worked at it, you'd probably have a good shot."

"Passion ain't the only thing you need though. You gotta be actually smart."

"And I think you could be! And you're right, it's not just about passion, but it's also not just about smarts either. I could be a palaeontologist too if I worked at it, but I wouldn't be a good one, because I don't have any interest or passion in the subject. You do. Yes, you'll have to work hard — you'll have to do that for anything, but if we both worked just as hard, you'd always be the better palaeontologist, because you seem to find it much more interesting than I do."

"Huh... I guess you're right! I'll think about it... might not be a bad idea."

"At the very least, palaeontology's more of a science than geology is."

"Woah, you're throwing shade at science?" Ninten laughed. "I didn't think you had it in ya!"

"I'm not — geology isn't a real science, so I'm not insulting science."

"Ain't that the study of rocks or something?"

"It is."

"Yeah, that sounds real boring. Palaeontology, geology... man, I love the English language — you just add 'ology' to the end of a word, and boom! Brand new study!"

"That's... not how it works."

"Sure it is! Hey, if palaeontology doesn't work, I could always study animeology!"

"Firstly, that doesn't exist and second, even if it did, I'm fairly sure a requirement to get your degree would be having good taste in anime."

"Do I need to come over there again?" Both of them turned behind them to see Ana on the next space, hands on her hips with a haughty expression on her face.

"You know, I completely forgot she was there... does she have like an internal anime argument radar in her?" Ninten muttered.

"Same. New topic?"

"New topic," Ninten agreed.

They stood there for a few moments, trying to think of something before realising...

"I... don't have a new topic," Lloyd said.

"Neither."

"Roll?"

"Roll."

So Ninten rolled, and scored a monumentally high 3. Immediately, the two came up to an Orb Shop and entered it, appearing once more in Maria's shop. Everyone's visiting her, aren't they?

Maria smiled upon seeing them both enter, waving to them.

"Hello! My favourite great grandson and his friend!"

Ninten laughed. "I'm your only great grandson!"

Maria stood there for a moment, shocked.

"Did I say something?"

"No, no, it's just... I think I said a similar thing back a few weeks ago, and Giygas made the same remark you just did..."

"Annnd on that note, we're here to buy something!"

"Oh! Of course, yes... here's the list! What would you like?"

"Well, I think we should try getting one of those Rhinocerockets!" Ninten said.

"Are you sure? We aren't doing too well on coins." Lloyd said cautiously.

"Trust me — I got a plan." Ninten rubbed his hands together deviously.

"That'll be 10 coins then!"

Ninten handed the money over, as the two exited the Orb Shop and passed by Jeff and Ana, getting to the junction.

"So... down or right?" Lloyd said.

"Well, you know what they say — right is right!"

"No one says that."

"Yeah, I know..."

The two headed right, landing on the Blue Space immediately after and scoring 3 coins — yeah, scoring. I thought I'd use some different vocabulary, spice things up a little. Yes, I'm very bored.

Jeff rolled his Dice Block and got a 6. The two headed downwards as Ana mused on the conversation she had heard earlier.

"Those two always talk about the strangest of things..." Ana said.

"Ninten and Lloyd?"

"Yes. Honestly, I couldn't imagine Ninten as a palaeontologist."

"I think Lloyd made some good points though. If you have a passion for something and work hard at it, you'll generally be successful. But perhaps I just support people going into any field of science."

"If I may ask, what kind of scientist do you aspire to be?"

"Well, in all honesty, I'm not entirely sure if I'd be content with something purely scientific. I've always been interested in pursuing engineering."

"Really now? I'd have thought you'd want to do something like theoretical physics."

"Yes, the parallel universes thing certainly hints to it, doesn't it?" Jeff chuckled. "It does interest me, but I like something that makes me use both my brain and hands. I've always liked tinkering around with machines."

"Have you done much of that?"

"On my adventure, I found and fixed up lots of things to make them functional. By far the project I was most proud of was fixing a broken harmonica into a laser beam."

"A... a what?" Ana thought about that for a minute, just struggling to wrap her head around that. "You turned a harmonica into a laser beam? I'm sorry, are you an engineer or a miracle worker?!"

Jeff chuckled. "I'm still not quite sure how I did that one myself. So yes, I think engineering is the path I'd like to go down, though I'm not sure if I'd like to specialise in weapons. Perhaps I'd develop things that could benefit us instead."

"I can see why, although weapons can certainly benefit others."

"Hm, that is true, though I'm surprised you would support it. I thought Christians were supposed to be pacifistic? My apologies if I've gotten that wrong."

"No, you're right with that. We try to find pacifistic solutions, but you have to be pragmatic, don't you? It applies both on a small and large scale, whether it be individuals or wars."

"Yes, you always have to be ready in case pacifism fails, so you can defend yourselves... or in some cases, attack."

"But I wonder if that's also our problem — that we're too focused on this idea that you need to be ready for things to go wrong. You need to expect that pacifism will fail — it seems inherently pessimistic."

"Pessimistic, but pragmatic," Jeff said. "Expecting everything to worn out perfectly is naively optimistic. But I see what you mean — there's a theoretical ideal solution, if everyone would surrender their weapons and agree to pacifism."

"But it wouldn't work. There would always be someone out there who would deviate from that... like this Porky person for instance. And even then, if no one in the world had any weapons, that doesn't mean something from outside the world couldn't come. And it seems farfetched, but..."

"But we've both encountered something exactly like that," Jeff finished, with a wry smile. "Alas, it seems the concept of a utopia will remain a simple fantasy. I suppose it's fitting — utopia means unattainable, doesn't it?"

"That's why I believe in religion myself. It gives me hope that one day we won't need to be so pessimistically pragmatic. And even if we can't achieve utopia, that doesn't mean we shouldn't do our best to try getting close to it."

"I think that's a fine way of putting it... the conversation's gotten a bit grim, hasn't it?"

"We certainly seem to find a way to talk about complicated things, don't we? First parallel universes, and now ethics!"

"And always from the simplest of things too. But I do enjoy it greatly, discussing these complicated things. To be frank with you, I've never really encountered anyone who's tolerated my ramblings as much as you have, so I'm truly grateful for you putting up with me as much as you have."

"You don't need to be grateful, or at least if you are, you'll have to accept mine in equal measure. I'm not tolerating your ramblings as you put it — I enjoy this as well!"

"Really? That's relieving to hear. I'm not sure how to put this without seeming offensive to my friends, but it is refreshing to interact with someone who... has the capacity for intelligent conversations? No, that sounds rather offensive..."

"I think I understand what you're trying to say. You value all your friends dearly, and so do I. And both of us enjoy interacting with them — it's just we each bring something new to the other that we haven't experienced before."

"Yes, that's exactly it... although we need to decide where we go here," Jeff said, pointing to the junction below them. "It seems to make the most sense to go right, but we'd cross the bridge that way and give another team access to the Star."

"That's true... perhaps we should try forestalling for now. Let's head down."

As they walked, something came to mind to Jeff.

"It just occurred to me — you asked me what profession I'd like to pursue, but what about yourself?" he asked.

"Hm... that's a hard one. I'm not anywhere as certain as you seem to be, and what I've wanted to do has changed."

"In what way?"

"Well, before I met Ninten and Lloyd, it was simple — I'd have probably gotten a job related to the church. But after I met them, it didn't seem nearly as appealing any more."

"Why's that?"

"Because I'd gotten to see the world. I'd seen places outside of Snowman for the first time in my life. And suddenly, the idea of taking a job for the church wasn't what I wanted to do. Of course, I still love my religion, it's just..."

"You didn't want your entire life to be focused around that?"

"Yes, that's it. I wanted to be more than just that. Sometimes I feel somewhat selfish for that though..."

"For wanting to be a person who's more than just their religion? I don't think that's selfish at all. And from what you've told me about you volunteering there, you seem far more selfless than most people."

"Thank you. I've been struggling to think of what I'd do instead. I thought about perhaps becoming a teacher, but... it doesn't seem quite right for me."

"I can see you doing well in that — you've got the patience needed for it. I think teachers are often undervalued — they're the foundation of education itself, and a good education is vital for everything else."

"When it comes to what I want to do, I'm... not sure overall. Look at you though! You've got a clear idea as to what you'd like to do. I'm rather underprepared in comparison."

"I don't think you not knowing what you'd like to do and me knowing is a testament to how underprepared you are, but rather how lucky I was to realise my passion so early. After all, you are only... this is embarrassing. It occurs to me I don't know how old you are."

Ana laughed. "It seems we just skipped the process of learning basic details about each other. I'm 12."

"I'm 13 — you're younger than me for a start, but even then, you've still got plenty of time to make a decision about what you want to do. Even if you did make one now, who's to say it won't change? You've got a few years ahead of you, and you could change drastically through them. I could as well, and maybe I wouldn't want to go into science and engineering after all. What I'm saying is, I think the fact that you've even given it some thought at all is much more impressive than you think."

"Thank you, I... I think I needed to hear that."

The two passed down the cookie bridge, causing it to collapse and reform heading left, before landing on the Blue Space directly after the Fassad Space and getting 3 coins.

"It's time for us to roll then." The Masked Man hit his Dice Block, scoring a 1.

"Another 1? We're getting some crummy rolls," Kumatora said, as they passed over the cookie bridge and caused it to crumble, reforming upwards. They landed on the Red Space immediately after, losing 3 coins. I think that's the first Red Space that's been landed on all game.

"At least we've been doing well in the Minigames, though we did lose the last one."

"That was a weird one. Those dinosaurs were goofy as hell! I was expecting some ferocious creature, but what I got was... that. Not gonna lie, I'm kinda disappointed."

"The docility of the creatures could be because they were tamed though. In the wild, they may very well be aggressive. I must wonder how one tames a dinosaur though."

"Eh, it can't be any harder than taming a Drago, right?"

"Not at all. Dragos are... naturally pacifistic and herbivorous, despite their anatomy implying otherwise."

"What do you mean?"

"Their teeth," he stated.

"What about them? I mean, sure, they're really sharp, but that doesn't mean much on its own."

"Sharp pointed teeth like that are consistent with carnivorous animals — they help such creatures rip and tear through the flesh of their prey," the Masked Man explained. "The Dragos lack the developed incisors that would be indicative of a herbivorous species, and in addition to that, their teeth are sharper than most carnivores out there. There's a reason their teeth are called fangs."

"Huh... that is strange. But they've lived up to being plant eaters, haven't they? I mean, the only non-plant thing they ever attacked was... er..."

"... Hinawa. But even then, the Drago didn't eat her, it simply... killed her."

"How come you're such an expert on them anyway?"

"As you know, Dragos are intimately connected to my very existence."

"Yeah, but... wouldn't you wanna never be involved with them ever again?"

"Even if I didn't, I didn't have a choice. I was required to become familiar with Dragos during my tenure as Commander, due to the Absolutely Safe Capsule."

"Oh, that thing," Kumatora scowled. "God, I hate it so much — it's the only thing between me and punching that asshole."

"I share your sentiment."

"But why would you need to know about Dragos to build that?"

"You've heard about Drago Fangs, haven't you?"

"Not much, I just know a little from Duster. I know it's how your mom died..."

"Then you won't know this — Drago Fangs are one of the most durable things out there. They're one of few things capable of piercing through the hide of a Drago, also incredibly durable, as I... as Claus discovered when he tried to stab one with a knife. It didn't work."

"Okay..." Kumatora said, not sure where he was going with this.

"When it came to making the Absolutely Safe Capsule, Dr Andonuts needed incredibly durable materials to form the shell. Drago Fangs constitute an incredibly durable material, and... the amount of living Dragos significantly reduced after that."

Horror creeped onto Kumatora's face as she realised exactly what he was implying. "No... you didn't...!"

"We hunted the Dragos to near extinction for their fangs. I remember there being bounties for upwards of 1,000,000 DP for them. Of course, Porky wasn't keen to actually pay said bounties out, so he had me hunt many of them myself."

"... how many did you kill?" she asked.

"I... don't know. Nor do I know why I am telling you this. It's not as if you didn't need more reasons to despise me."

"Do you regret it?"

"Of course I do. I killed innocent creatures for that madman. Thankfully, Lucas was able to bring back all the killed Dragos in my time, as part of his wish to the Dark Dragon. But... the Dark Dragon doesn't seem to have that power in your time, and I imagine the Absolutely Safe Capsule was made in the same way..."

So they didn't come back. That explained so much to Kumatora. "I've... I've never seen more than three Dragos at once."

"I see..."

"But... why did that doctor even use those in the first place?! He seemed better than most of the Pigmasks!"

"Surprisingly enough, the amount of incredibly durable materials out there is very low. So low that Dr Andonuts did not have the liberty to dismiss using any that we could find."

"It's just... messed up. First the bastard mess up with all the wildlife and makes those chimera, then he hunts them down to make his capsule? And the worst part is, no one can even touch him now. He got away with all of it."

"Life... often isn't fair."

As Ness and Lucas were preparing themselves, an Orb fell out of the sky. Ness caught it, seeing it was... a Shield Orb?

"Huh? Where did this come from?"

"That's the Shield Orb you lost last turn. It was only removed for one turn, so you can have it back now."

"Nice. Don't think we'll be using it though. We're in the lead! Looks like our team name's spot on — we're the favourites for winning this!"

"I've been wondering about that though — where does that name even come from?" Lucas asked. "Fanfiction's Favourites? That's such a strange name. What even is fanfiction?"

"It's basically fiction... written by fans?"

"Wow. I never would have guessed. For a moment, I thought it was fans made from fiction," Lucas said, with incredible amounts of sarcasm for him.

"Well, I think the way it works is... someone makes a piece of fiction, right?"

"Yeah?"

"And someone else decides to make a story based on that story."

"But... they don't own that story, do they? Isn't that just copying?"

"Well, they can't like make money off of it. It's just for fun. I dunno, my sister's really into it."

"Huh... that does sound sort of fun actually! You could reimagine a scenario that happened in the fiction," Lucas said. "Or even write a completely different story based off of it."

"Yeah, but I don't think it's good. I tried reading some once 'cause my sister likes it, but God... it was so bad."

"Well, anyone can write and there's not any quality assurance or anything, is there? So I guess that's the problem. But.. we're real people. So why would we get that name?"

"Hey, magical voice in the sky! Do you know what's up with this?" Ness shouted.

"You know, my name is one word long — Narrator. It literally took you more effort to say 'magical voice in the sky' than it would have to say my name. Anyway, what do you want?"

"What's the deal with our team name?"

"... are you sure you want to know?"

"Now I'm curious," said Lucas.

"And curiosity killed the cat. I warn you — there's no going back. You may not like the answer, and I claim no responsibility for any mental trauma you two experience because of it."

"We can handle it!"

"In that case, the reason for your name is simple — because you two are a popular topic for fanfiction. Hence, a favourite."

"WHAT?!"

"But we're real people!"

"Ah, how naive. Just because you're real doesn't mean you can't have fanfiction written about you."

"But that literally goes against the meaning of the word! It's fanFICTION!" Ness said.

"You think something as simple as that will stop a fanfiction writer? That's mere semantics for them."

"Can... can we see these fanfics?" Lucas asked.

"You've just dug your own grave... and given me an opportunity to do my obligatory promotion!"

In front of them, a portal suddenly opened as a laptop flew out of it.

"Behold, the magical interdimensional hinged portable internet accessing unit! Also known as a MacBook. That's right, viewers, we here at New Pork TV would like to thank Apple for so generously sponsoring our party here! Check out their new MacBook, available for the low, low price of 100,000 DP! Yes, that's right, it's temporarily being discounted — now it's only twice the price of what their competitors are charging!

With a display resolution that'll force you to squint, 3rd party support so bad that it makes Nintendo blush and a processing power inferior to your toaster, you don't want to miss out on buying one today!"

"... who's Apple and what's a MacBook?" Lucas asked Ness.

"No idea. But this thing is so cool!" Ness said, playing around with it. "You can access the Internet so easily with it! Oh, there's already a tab here."

"Let me see that... what is this site?"

"Hold on, before you two go on — you're both 13, right?"

"Yeah?"

"I am too."

"Okay, good. Continue."

"What are all these stories?" Lucas said.

"It's some online archive of fanfiction? And they're all about us!" Ness said. "How many are there?"

"152?! That's insane! Who writes this?!"

"People in New Pork City. It's a big thing."

"What do all these different letters mean?" Ness asked.

"Oh, you mean the ratings? You've got General, Teen and Up, Mature and Explicit. You can click to the side there to filter them out, or see how many fics there are with each rating."

"Wow, that's cool," Ness said, doing just that. "Hey, you seem really knowledgeable about this sort of stuff!"

"Well, fanfiction writers are among the most degenerate beings in the universe. I have to understand all their sick terminology to deal with them."

Suddenly, Lucas immediately gripped his arm in fear when he saw the numbers.

"N... Ness? Why... why are there 24 fics rated Explicit? And... why are they all written by someone named porkmaster?"

Ness slowly closed the MacBook before throwing it away as far as it could, only for it to immediately break into pieces as soon as it hit the ground.

"Wait, how did that —"

"You just destroyed 100,000 DP worth of stuff there!"

"I just threw it though! How did that happen?!"

"It's a MacBook! If you tilt it the wrong way, it'll break!"

"Okay, I'm just gonna pretend we never saw this at all."

"I... I think that's for the best. Do you wanna roll?"

"Gladly. Let's get as far away from this as possible." So Ness did so, scoring... a 1. I love life sometimes.

Both of them groaned, but proceeded immediately to the Orb Shop next to them, mostly to find a distraction. Inside, they found Maria, who immediately took notice of their expressions.

"Goodness, you two look rather distraught! Has something happened?"

"We'd... rather not talk about it," Ness said.

"Ah, if you don't feel comfortable, I won't force you. But may I offer you some tea or something? I find it helps take your mind off things."

"Really? That's really nice of you!" Lucas said.

"Of course! I'll go and brew some — please have a look at what you'd like in the meantime."

Ness spent a good while thinking — enough so that he'd only reached a decision just as Maria came out holding two cups of tea, which both boys gladly accepted and drank.

"So, have you decided what you'd like?" she asked.

"We'll keep it simple — a Skip Sandwich please!" Ness said.

"That will be 5 coins."

"What about the tea?" Lucas asked.

"Ah, I suppose I should charge you... though I'm not sure how much it would be."

"Let's see... accounting for teabags, water, heating and your hard work making it, I estimate... 0.274 coins."

"So, I think we'll round that to zero then!" Maria said cheerfully.

"Thank you very much."

Returning their cups, the two left the shop and landed on the Blue Space directly after, gaining 3 coins.

Everyone was teleported to Start, where for once the space colours didn't need deciding for a team Minigame.

"With Kumatora and the Masked Man being the first team to land on a Red Space, we have on our hands another 1 vs 3. Let's see what we'll be playing then... spin the roulette!"

And so, the images all swirled around, landing on one showing a cave full of magma with nine pillars sticking out of the ground.

"Number Crunchers? Another Mic Minigame, and so soon as well. And it's Brutal Battlers at the helm with it too..."

"Are we gonna see Tom again?!" Kumatora asked excitedly.

"Tom?" Ninten and Jeff said nervously.

"Sadly, no. Tom has no rule to play in this upcoming Minigame."

There was a collective aww among the group, before they were all teleported away.

When they reappeared, all of them immediately felt a blast of heat, as they stood on a rocky cliff. There was a microphone on the side, but what was more noticeable was that the cliff was overseeing a vat of magma in front of them.

Standing in the magma were nine pillars, in a 3 by 3 square. What was most strange about the pillars were their shape. Each pillar had a different number and colour, with red pillars having a 1 on top, blue pillars having a 2, and green pillars having a 3. In addition, the pillars were different shapes, some being cylindrical and others cuboid.

On the left column, there were two cuboid red pillars with 1's on them on the top left and bottom left of the square, with a cylindrical blue pillar in between them, with a number 2. The right column was a mirror of the left, with blue cuboid pillars hosting 2's on the top right and bottom right, and a red cylindrical pillar in between with a 1.

Finally, in the centre column, all the pillars were green, having the number 3, but the top and bottom pillars were cylindrical and the middle was cuboid.

"Welcome to Number Crunchers. Don't worry — contrary to what the name suggests, you don't need any arithmetic ability for this. So you can rest easy, Kumatora."

"Hey!"

"In this Minigame, the aim for both teams is exactly the same as it was in Be My Chum — the one player must use verbal commands to eliminate the team of three, while they must survive for thirty seconds. Of course, the methods of elimination is different.

I'm sure you've all noticed the coloured pillars over there with the numbers on them. It's pretty simple — when the one player calls a number out, all the pillars with that number will sink below, giving any player standing on it while it sinks a rather hot bath."

"Wait, that's actually lava?!" Ness asked fearfully.

"Of course not."

"Really?" he said, sounding hopeful.

"Yes. After all, we're actually underground — therefore, it's magma."

Immediately, there was an outcry of rage from all teams except Brutal Battlers.

"Enough! In all seriousness, it's not actually magma. If it was, you'd all be dead now from convection and toxic fumes. It will moderately burn you if you fall into it though, so there's your incentive not to.

In any case, the team of three must jump around the platforms and evade the one player's attempts to dunk them in the magma for thirty seconds. In addition to calling out numbers though, the one player has another trick — shapes. You may notice that four of the pillars have a circular top and five have a square shaped top. If the one player says 'Circle' or 'Square', all the pillars with that shaped top will sink.

Essentially, the one player's available commands are: 1, 2, 3, Square and Circle. Given how simple these commands are, substitutions of any kind won't work.... well, they shouldn't anyway."

"What would happen if we said a different number?" the Masked Man asked.

"In theory? Nothing. However, the voice recognition of the microphone isn't perfect, so it may interpret something random you say and treat it as a command. This is also why it's important you speak clearly, to ensure the microphone picks up the right words. That being said, anyone who says 42, 69 or any variants of those two numbers will be instantly disqualified, so don't even think about it, Kumatora."

"Why is it always me?!"

"To counter this, there is a secret number I haven't given you — if you say this secret number, all the pillars will sink into the lava."

"But... wouldn't that just mean we instantly lose?" said Lucas.

"Exactly. Of course, you'll have to figure out what it is — and before you ask, it's not 0. Anyway, that's about the gist of it. My advice to the one player is to always look at where the three players are and where they can go, using that to determine what to drop. As for the team of three, you need to move quickly and always have an escape option. Make sure not to fall off either while jumping too. Decide your players then."

The Masked Man and Kumatora stood near the microphone, the former taking notice of his partner's expression.

"You seem rather eager to try this one out," the Masked Man said.

"I like these Mic Minigames! It's a fun idea."

"In that case, why don't you play this one?"

"You sure?"

"You won the last one in four seconds. Evidently, you're skilled with these."

"Yeah, but let's be real — that was 'cause of Tom. He isn't here this time, so I'm not gonna do that well now."

"True. Tom was... what was that term the Pigmasks used? I believe they would have called him the OG."

"... did you just call someone an OG?"

"I fear I have used that term wrong..."

"You didn't... which just makes it even weirder."

As for the others, all of them had congregated on the other side, with Lloyd once again trying to strategise... to some difficulty.

"No offence, but the last time we tried going by your plan, we lost in like five seconds!" Ness said.

"Four seconds," Lucas corrected.

"Four seconds — even worse!"

"Hey, that was because of Tom!" Ninten countered. "None of us were ready for him. We underestimated his godly power, and we paid the price for it — but all of us did that, not just Lloyd."

"Tom was a formidable foe," Jeff agreed. "But he won't be here this time."

"So we have a chance at winning this," Lloyd said. "I think what might actually be the hardest thing is jumping around these platforms without falling off, not having to avoid being on the sinking pillars. If we fall off, that's a free elimination for them without them doing anything. So we need people who have good balance and good jumping skills. Now, I think the same three people we picked last time would be good this time as well — Ninten, Ana and Ness."

"My balance is a lot better than my swimming," Ana said. "I can certainly do this if you want, and if Jeff's fine with it."

"No issues from me," Jeff said.

"My balance isn't the best, but I'm a decent jumper," Ness said. "Unless you wanna do it, Lucas?"

"You know, I'm not that curious to find out if that's real magma or not."

"Fair enough..."

"You sure I should do it, Lloyd?" Ninten asked. "I'm not the most careful person."

"I'm even clumsier though," Lloyd pointed out. "It's a lesser of the two evils here. I think this Minigame is also more fair in how it works, so we stand a better chance of winning this in general."

"Well, let's see if you're right then. All teams have decided their players, so let's get the game started. Kumatora, take your position at the microphone."

As Kumatora did that, Ninten, Ana and Ness were all teleported onto the pillars, all of them feeling immediately warmer. Ninten found himself on the bottom left pillar, while Ness was on the bottom right. As for Ana, she was in the centre.

"When I say start, everyone may begin their actions. Three... two — eh, START!"

While the team of three were surprised by the fake out, Kumatora reacted quickly, calling out into the microphone.

"Square!"

All of them were on one, so they each jumped to the platform above them as the pillars they were previously on all dived down into the magma, then quickly rose back up. They started to move from platform to platform, trying to make it hard for Kumatora.

"Two!"

Ninten and Ana were both on the top right and bottom right pillars, so they quickly moved to the pillar below and above them respectively...

"Ouch!"

"AHHH!"

... and ended up running into each other, as Ninten lost his balance and fell straight off the pillar, landing into the magma. He was teleported back to the rock cliff where the spectators were, though with a few burn marks on him which stung a bit.

"Twenty seconds left."

Kumatora mentally cheered before saying, "Circle!"

"Sorry, Ninten!" Ana shouted, as she moved from the red pillar she was on back onto the centre one.

"It's alright! Just keep going!"

And keep going they did. Despite Kumatora's early elimination, she found herself unable to get the other two. They were quick and careful, and the delay between her shouting a number or shape and the pillars actually sinking helped them greatly.

"One!" Neither Ness nor Ana were actually on a 1, but they were next to them. Her hope was to try and get them to jump to those pillars. It failed though — Ness was about to do just that, but stopped himself in time, and Ana didn't even jump to either of the platforms with a 1 above or below her, instead going for a 3.

It only got harder, especially once Ness stopped moving altogether and just stood still, which Ana also did once she saw the cleverness of it. By standing still, both of them reduced the possibility of missing their jumps, instead being able to focus entirely on reacting to whatever Kumatora said.

The two were able to just keep jumping between two platforms, always dodging the sinking pillars — Ness chose the bottom left 1 and the 3 next to it, while Ana chose the centre 3 and the circular 2 next to it.

Because each of the pillars they were jumping between were different numbers and shapes, Kumatora could never target both of their individual pillars at once. She tried more fakeouts, but they either didn't jump, or went to a different pillar and then back, which pretty much carried them through nearly all the game.

"Five seconds left."

Frustratedly, Kumatora gave up and just started saying random numbers.

"15! 84! 121! 39! 7! 48! 53!"

"What is she doing?" Ness said to Ana.

"I think she's trying to find that secret number?"

"666! 777! 1000! 2006! 9999! 5 —"

"STOP! That's 30 seconds — this Minigame is over."

"Aw, damn it!" Kumatora said, as Ness and Ana were both teleported back to the rocky cliff.

"What... was that just there?" the Masked Man said to her.

"I was trying to figure out what that secret number was — the one that supposedly sinks all those pillars at once. Cause clearly I wasn't gonna get them any other way!"

"You believed that?" Jeff said. "There probably wasn't a secret number at all, and it was just a lie!"

"How dare you — I never lie! I was being completely truthful. There is indeed a secret number which sinks all the pillars at once — Kumatora just didn't guess it. Observe — 57."

Much to everyone's surprise, all the pillars sank into the magma. Unlike with all the other commands though, they stayed down there, not coming up after a few seconds.

"And then to get them to come back up, you say 75."

And sure enough, they all came back up.

"How is anyone supposed to guess that?!" Kumatora snapped.

"See, that's the funny part — you don't. Anyway, excellent manoeuvring, Ness and Ana. I would say the same to you, Ninten, but I won't mince words when I say you did terribly."

"Eh, fair enough," Ninten shrugged, taking it in stride. "Besides, it doesn't matter that I didn't make it to the end."

"That is true, yes. It doesn't matter if one person loses, so long at least one person wins. And smart thinking, Ness — that observation that you could easily win by just alternating between two different pillars was very clever. It's always nice when people spot things like that. Here are 10 coins for all your teams, and let's get back to the board."

Meanwhile, in Porky's lair, the manchild was currently looking at a bunch of charts and numbers, showing fluctuating stock prices.

"Ah, it appears you're playing the real life version of Number Crunchers."

"Numbers... ha! The only numbers I care about are the ones in my bank! But I have to deal with all this... what the hell does all of this even mean?! Worse yet, the stock prices for Apple just took a nosedive thanks to your little stunt there!"

"Oh, that. That was fun."

"Fun for you, but now they're pissed off at us! Everyone started selling their stocks because they think they're terrible!"

"Because they are?"

"Yes, they're terrible, but money is money! ARGH!"

"More important than stocks, I have a question for you — you write Ness/Lucas fanfiction?"

"What? Do you think I can hold a keyboard like this?! No, I get robots to do it, then post their work as my own!"

"I see. And why are they all Explicit?"

Porky laughed. "All part of my genius plan! One day, they'd discover it, and be traumatised for life! AHAHAHA! Which you perfectly assisted me in."

"You did all that... just for the slim possibility of them discovering it?"

"Well, it worked, didn't it? You see, I play the long game. Anyway, that Minigame was great! Shame only one of them got roasted, but seeing that girl start calling random numbers out at the end had me rolling in laughter!"

"Well, if you're satisfied, I'll be taking my leave then."

Chapter Text

Back on Sweet Dream, Ninten and Lloyd were analysing their situation.

"So, we gotta be careful not to overshoot with our roll... 'cause if we do that, we're out of the running for this Star."

"There's a lot of dangerous spaces up there too... it's a good thing you won that Minigame," Lloyd said, adjusting his glasses. "At least we have nearly enough coins for the Star."

"More like a good thing Ana and Ness carried me. But hey, your strategy worked!"

"Yes, though I can't help but wonder if that's just because this game was far more weighted in our favour. I was expecting it to fail."

Ninten huffed. "Seriously? You're really looking for excuses to not give yourself a pat on the back?"

"Well... it's just the way I think. It's a safety measure. I like to think of it as... protective pessimism."

"What the heck does that even mean?"

"It's like this — if you expect the worst to happen, you can't be disappointed, can you? If you expect that you're gonna be stuffed into a trash can every day when you go to school, you can't be disappointed when that happens."

"But you can't be happy when that happens either. You're just... in the middle. Except when people are in the middle, they tend to fall down rather than pick themselves up."

"Maybe, but by expecting the worst, you can plan for it."

"There's a difference between planning for the worst and believing it's gonna happen no matter what you do. 'Cause if you do the second, it's just a... it's like a self fulfilling prophecy."

"A self fulfilling prophecy? That doesn't make any sense — I'm not trying to make myself fail."

"Nah, you're not trying to, but think about it. If you do something expecting everything to go sideways... why won't it? You're just screwing yourself over without knowing it, 'cause in order for something to work out, you've gotta believe it's gonna work out."

"But that doesn't mean it will work out. The point is so that when I do fail, I can protect myself better."

"Sure, but if you're increasing the amount of times you're gonna fail because of that, doesn't it just make it pointless?" Ninten said. "I dunno, lemme try using numbers. Let's say thinking your way, you've got like maybe... a 25% chance of succeeding. But if you believe in yourself, it's a 50/50 instead. Maybe you'll be better prepared for the failures thinking your way, but you're gonna have twice as many too."

"1.5 times actually, using those numbers you gave."

"Yeah, this is why I don't do maths. My point still stands though — you're gonna have one and a half times more failures, so does it really do anything in the end? Plus, it's not like you haven't got ways to deal with failure besides trying to expect it all the time."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Like us! Seriously, I'll drag Ana and Teddy, and we'll be at your house in the middle of the night if you need us!"

"... I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not that I completely believe you would do that. I... I guess you're right. It's just I've never had the luxury of being able to rely on friends before."

"Well, now you do! So use us!"

"Use you? Ninten, you're not disposable objects to be used."

"Yeah, this is why I don't do words either..." Ninten sighed. "Ah, you get what I mean! What's the point of having friends if you don't let them help you? It just makes sense, doesn't it — you can think happier and if you do screw something up, you've always got a shoulder you can cry on."

"It is nice to have someone you can rely on, isn't it... well, I can only promise to give it a go. It's not easy to undo years of mental programming."

"Hey, that's a start! So, you wanna optimistically roll that Dice Block?"

"Sure."

So Lloyd enthusiastically struck it, getting... a 6. Oh no... it seems pessimism might have been better after all.

The pair of them walked upwards, passing the cookie bridge up and causing it to collapse and reform heading right. As they climbed up the spoons onto the top cake, they passed by the spaces, landing on... a Porky Space.

Lloyd violently flinched when he saw what they landed on, realising what it was. And then, lightning bolts rained down from above as the sky got darker. A maniacal laugh rang through the air, getting louder and louder.

Suddenly, Porky crashed onto the ground, standing on the cake in front of them. Ninten and Lloyd immediately were on guard, wondering what the evil king was about to do. All they knew is that whatever he did... it was going to be something bad.

"AHAHAHA!" he wheezed. "Behold the greatest of all kings, the richest man in the universe, the master of disaster — Master Porky! Congratulations! You're the first team to visit my space, and for that you deserve a reward! What delightfully fiendish event shall I subject you to... let's see... I'VE GOT IT! It's time for... PORKY BONUS! That's right, in this glorious event, I get a bonus from you!"

Both of them looked fearful, wondering what he was going to take.

"What will it be... coins!" Porky declared. "Delicious coins! And 10 of them! That's right, fork them over — it's time to pay your taxes to your leader!"

"What?! But we're in last place!" Ninten said incredulously.

"Oh? Even better! I'll make that 20 coins then — I love kicking people when they're down!"

"We... we don't even have 20 coins!" Lloyd shouted.

"WHAT?!" Porky wheezed in a childish rage. "How badly are you doing to not even have 20 coins after this many turns?! Hah! At this rate, you have no chance of winning! I may as well do you a favour and help you accept it — I'll take everything you have!"

All 17 of Ninten and Lloyd's coins flew straight out of their pockets and into the sides of Porky's capsule, as he laughed again.

"HAHAHAHA! Ah, who doesn't love coins? Especially yours! You'll try and do better from here on, won't you? After all, I need something to take from you when you come back here. I'll see you losers on my space again some other time!"

With one final cough, he leaped into the air as the sky returned to its normal colour, leaving Ninten and Lloyd completely broke.

"That... went terribly. We have no Stars, and now no Coins," Lloyd said.

"Well, at least we still have our Orbs?" Ninten said, putting on a very fake smile. "And... we didn't overshoot the Star?"

"... I think I could use that shoulder to cry on right now."

It was Jeff and Ana's turn and they were examining the Orbs they had, when Ana's eyes suddenly glazed over. She sat down on the path, staring into the distance. Jeff sat down opposite her, slightly concerned, but not bothering her. She stayed like that for a good while, and when she finally came to, she placed a hand to her head.

"One of your visions?" he inquired.

Ana didn't say anything, merely nodding.

"That one seemed rather taxing... I'm concerned that may not be healthy for you. Do you need anything — I'm sure we could get you some water or something."

Suddenly, a bottle of water materialised above, dropping to the floor.

"Hydration is important."

"I agree," Jeff said, opening the bottle and handing it to her. "Here."

"No, no, I'll be fine," she said dismissively, waving her hand.

"Take it from someone who's done more all nighters than they count fixing things — it's vital you take care of yourself," Jeff replied, a little more stern.

Ana took the bottle and drank from it, finding herself much more thirsty than she initially assumed, as she downed the entire bottle rather quickly. When she finished, the empty bottle disappeared, much to her confusion.

"Where did that go?"

"Where all plastic does — into the sea."

"That's horrible!"

"You're far too easy to fool, aren't you? It's almost adorable. I'm not Porky — I have some measure of respect for the environment."

"That's relieving. Anyway, do you feel fine now?" Jeff asked.

"Much better, yes. That vision was a particularly taxing one... I saw so many things."

"Oh?"

"So, to start off, if we just roll normally, we'll get a 9."

Jeff mulled it over, before nodding. "With a normal Dice Block, that's good. We need the distance."

"And it's certainly a lot more distance than using our Shield would, for we'd only get a 1 that way, though we would at least get 3 coins from the Orb itself."

"The small change isn't worth the low roll in my opinion," Jeff said, evaluating the situation.

"Neither. If we want movement, it would obviously make sense to use our Skip Sandwich DX, but... it could be better. While we would get 4 coins, we'd only roll a 13."

"13... no chance of it being triple of the same number then."

"No, we'd get a 2, 5 and a 6. Rather mediocre."

"But..." Jeff had a look at a piece of paper he had, showing the map. "If we're here, 13 spaces ahead would land us on this Item Space there. We might get something worthwhile."

"So you think we should use it then?"

"I think we stand a chance at gaining something. Of course, it's your choice — you're the leader right now."

"Well, if you trust in me that my predictions are correct, then I'll trust in you that your judgement is as well," she said with a smile.

So Ana took out their Skip Sandwich DX Orb and used it, with 4 coins flying out into their pockets. 3 Dice Blocks appeared one after the other, and she hit each one in succession, scoring... a 2, a 5 and a 6, for a total of 13.

"If I wasn't convinced before, I'm definitely convinced now. Guessing that would be a 1/1000 chance," Jeff said.

"If I didn't have these powers, I should try my chances at a casino with those odds. Although, I suppose being able to see into the future would make it easier, and very unfair."

"Well, casinos are rigged against you to begin with. And being fully honest, I really can't imagine someone like you being at a casino."

Ana laughed. "No, it's not the kind of place you imagine a church girl to be in, is it? I could never imagine it, but I suppose it wouldn't be the first time I've come close to something dodgy like that."

"Oh? Now you have me curious."

"There was this time Ninten, Lloyd and I went to this club in Ellay — it's actually where we met Teddy, our other friend. To cut a long story short... Ninten almost ended up drinking alcohol? Honestly, I'm not even sure if we should have even been let in..."

"That's... quite the experience. You could have all gotten arrested, couldn't you?"

"We almost did," Ana said grimly. "Foresight didn't come in for that though... really, it's a curse having this half of the time."

"I can certainly see why. It seemed you had a more severe reaction this time with it."

"Yes, because of the amount of information. The thing I've noticed is that the more information I get from my foresight, the more taxing it is on my mind. Sometimes... it can be really painful."

"How severe has it gotten?"

"The worst it ever got was... the vision I had of Ninten bringing my hat back. I had to stay at home the next day, because it was that bad. It might have had something to do with how far in advance it was."

"Do they ever get in the way?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you said you can't control when you get these visions, right? So, I imagine they've come at some inopportune times, correct?"

"Oh, that's definitely happened. I remember when I was little, I had one in class. I foresaw that my teacher was going to be angry at me very soon... and then my teacher got angry at me for daydreaming in class. I... I think I cried because of that... it was embarrassing."

"I can relate to that. I've had my fair share of daydreaming in class too..."

"But yours isn't caused by magical visions you can't control! You wouldn't understand!" she said frustratedly, but instantly covered her mouth with her hands. "I'm sorry! That was very unfair of me to say."

Much to her relief, Jeff wasn't offended at all. "It's quite alright. I can never completely understand what you go through, and you're right about that. But still, I don't think there's anything to be ashamed of in regards to what happens to you — my daydreaming is caused by me being absentminded, but yours is caused by something you can't control. That's far more reasonable than me."

"Perhaps... it just often feels like they impact my life more negatively than positively. And it's frustrating when it happens."

"I suppose you just have to take the good with the bad. And for what it's worth, I think there's a lot you can do with the good — thanks to your foresight, we were able to strategise our turn accordingly."

"That's true... we can't choose the things we have, so we should do our best to make the most of them."

"That being said, I am concerned about how taxing it'll be for you if you have more of those visions. The onset of them is disturbingly characteristic of a seizure..."

"It does feel sort of like that at times, just without any erratic movements. That's part of why I hate it at times. I've seen some people at church before who suffer from seizures, and the one thing they always say is they hate the loss of control they experience in front of people they care about."

"It might be a bit unsafe, yes..."

Two more bottles of water materialised in front of them.

"A reasonable worry. Be careful not to push yourself, Ana. You're a very powerful psychic, but your endurance is lacking — I'd say that's the first thing you should focus on if you ever undergo psychic training. But for now, you might want to have these in case you have more of your visions. Should you need more, feel free to ask."

"Thank you! Both of you, it's... nice to have support for all this. Oh, here's the space. Looks like you did count correctly."

The two stopped on the Item Space... well, I've found my damn fourth Chaos Emerald, which means it's time for... Chaos Control!

The flow of time stopped all around, and the next moment, Maria appeared before the pair of them.

"Oh!" Ana jumped back, slightly surprised. "What are you doing here, your Majesty?"

"Ah, you've landed on an Item Space here. Because of that, I'm here to ask you a question about the world — I'll give you five answers to pick from, but only one is correct. Depending on how good your answer is, I'll give you some Orbs... but if you answer incorrectly, you might find yourself worse off than where you started."

"This sounds interesting," Jeff said. "Let's hear it then."

"My question for you is a culinary one — in the culinary arts, which of these condiments is thought to go well with Brain Food Lunches, but not with some fries? Is it parsley, hot sauce, salt, ketchup or delisauce?"

"Ooh... that's a tricky one!" Ana said. "I don't even know what a Brain Food Lunch is."

"It's a type of dish in Dalaam," Jeff explained. "It consists mostly of rice and meats, and they're said to be highly nutritious. The people in Dalaam even say they help with psychic powers."

"Really? I need to try one of those then..."

"I'm definitely no expert on culinary arts, but I feel we can use common sense to rule some of these out."

"Obviously, we can rule ketchup out," Ana said. "And I think salt also goes well."

"I agree. I know delisauce generally goes well with everything as well, so I'm fairly sure that's not it. I'd say hot sauce might go well too..."

"So, that just leaves parsley. I guess that's our answer then," Ana said, facing Maria.

"I can see why you'd say that..." Maria gave them a pitying smile. "However, parsley generally doesn't go well with either of those things. It's actually salt."

"Salt?! Don't loads of people put salt on their fries though?" Jeff asked.

"Yes... and yet, that's what the culinary world says. I don't quite understand it myself... I apologise, but it seems I have no choice but to give you this."

I'll just put things back together... the board started up again, and Maria disappeared.

A Mini Porky Orb descended upon them, with both of them grimacing when they realised what it was. But they had no time to process it, for Porky suddenly crashed on the ground in front of them, laughing.

"HAHAHA! Idiots! You couldn't even get a simple question right! I thought you were supposed to be the smart kids, but you're just a bunch of dumb nerds! Well, I'll be taking this," he said, as the Mini Porky Orb floated in the air, before rocketing to the Blue Space just before the cookie bridges on the right, making a Mini Porky space.

"Now my Mini Porkies will have even more chances to make your life miserable! AHAHAHA!"

Porky leapt back into the air, leaving Jeff and Ana disappointed with the results.

"My apologies... I didn't account for that happening," Jeff sighed.

"It's alright! None of us are perfect, and that wasn't in your control anyway. We'll make up for it!"

"You're right. It's a minor setback, but we'll pull through!"

Things could have gone better, but they kept their spirits up and tried thinking about what was coming up ahead.

As for Kumatora and the Masked Man, both of them were just waiting for their turn, but when it came, something interesting happened. They heard the sound of something flapping in the wind, like paper.

"What's that noise?" Kumatora said.

A second later, they saw exactly what it was. Something was fluttering in the air, falling down to the ground gently. It floated side to side, before finally landing and straightening itself out, revealing itself to be... a Magypsy.

Kumatora gasped when she saw which one it was, because this wasn't just any Magypsy — this was Ionia.

Ionia faced Kumatora, giving her a very genuine smile.

"Kumatora!"

"Holy crap, are, are you..." She was lost for words.

"Now, now, what have I taught you?" They tutted slightly. "A proper lady never stutters in her sentences! I would bring up your language, but it's been worse."

"I know..." But unlike with the other two Magypsies they'd seen, Kumatora actually looked somewhat guilty for not meeting those expectations — something the Masked Man noticed. "It's... it's good to see you again, Ionia."

"And the same to you, but I imagine this is more significant for you than me. I'm sorry I couldn't visit you before, but I got caught up in eating pickles and I forgot to do my makeup! You know I can't leave my house with that, unlike you. But you know I jest with my criticisms — I've always believed you should be yourself! And you've always been an intriguing person... it's still so strange to think about how that adorable baby on the White Ship grew up to be you! You humans grow up so fast, don't you?

And speaking of humans, who is your friend here? I've always said you should try and make more friends — being shut in that castle all day can't be good for socialising! Or your complexion."

It was then they properly examined the person accompanying Kumatora, someone they'd heard much about. "You... you were the other person who was pulling the Needles, weren't you? I hear you and your ruffians made a ruckus at my temple in your time." But before the Masked Man could give a response, Ionia brushed it off. "Ah, I don't mean to unnerve you. I understand that wasn't your fault."

The Masked Man quickly deduced this Magyspy must be the one who guarded the Needle on Argrilla Pass... that one. He remembered it well. But he was surprised at her quick forgiveness, especially when the other Magypsies were more wary of him.

Not knowing what exactly to say, he focused on what he remembered about the Needle itself. "I... certainly must credit your creative thinking. Your Needle was certainly the most difficult to get to, and I completely failed in doing so. In fact, I am curious — why were those vines unbreakable? And how did you get past them?" he said, directing the second question to Kumatora.

Ionia answered the first question with a girlish giggle. "A simple matter — I just elegantly froze the vines in time!"

"You froze the vines... in time?" That statement confused him on so many levels.

"Exactly! While you were bashing away at them, the flow of time around them had been completely stopped. That's why they haven't rotted away over the years."

"What we did was sprinkle some special water on them. Apparently it caused time to catch up with them or something," Kumatora added.

"So the hundreds of years of age finally caught up, and they instantly rotted... rather ingenious, and perhaps the most effective defence for a Needle I've seen. Even the Barrier Trio pales in comparison to that, and this doesn't hurt people at all."

"Ah, Missy's always been the straightforward type — it's what makes them so endearing. Just like Kumatora here! Personally, I prefer something more simple and less vulgar than that, like a proper lady."

"Oh, here we go again..." Kumatora groaned.

But Ionia decided to save the lecture. "But that's one of your best qualities, darling! Well, sometimes... it can certainly be annoying when you won't listen to me. But a proper lady must know when to put their foot down, and that's something you do all too well. I don't know if your Ionia has told you this, so I will in case — you should never try to hide what you are! Yes, you're a little uncouth at times, but we all love you for it. Or at least, I do. And really, isn't that all that matters?"

"Er... thanks," Kumatora said, embarrassed and not knowing what to say. "Really, thanks. It's... cool to hear you say that, especially since none of the other Magypsies really say that."

"Ah! Is that a blush I see?" Ionia said, pointing to Kumatora's cheeks. "It is! I understand how you feel about this, Kumatora, but it is a bit of a shame. You could be very pretty, if you just put a little effort into it! A little makeup, a nicer dress, and the world would see a different you. But, it is your choice... ah, look at me! Getting all emotional and I haven't even done what I came here to do!"

"I assume you're here to help us then?" the Masked Man said.

"Indeed! And pardon me for saying, but my help will be the best of all." From their pockets, they pulled out a small vial, filled with water.

"Hey, isn't that the water you use to unfreeze the vines?" Kumatora said.

"The Waters of Time! All for the pair of you."

"But... we're not frozen in time. What would it even do?"

"Be patient! You'll see." They sprinkled it on both of them, leaving them confused, as it had no immediate effect. "Since you're not frozen in time, this will speed you up a little — it should boost your next Dice Roll by half!"

"Impressive. That will certainly be useful."

"My help never goes to waste! But now I have to leave, and parting is such a sorrow... so, a hug goodbye!" And before Kumatora could react, Ionia had their arms wrapped around her, much to her displeasure.

"Hey, get off me!" She tried to fight them off, but Ionia had a death drip and only grew annoyed with her attempts.

"Oh, you can deal with a hug for a few seconds, can't you?!"

Reluctantly, Kumatora just let them do as they wanted, and as she did so, she found herself... enjoying it. It was something she'd missed... and it ended all too soon.

"Well, I won't subject you to any more hugs for now... but I'll expect one next time we meet! Until then... goodbye!"

Ionia suddenly became as thin as paper again, floating on the winds and drifting away from the board as quickly as they came.

Kumatora decided to test Ionia's gift to them, rolling her Dice Block and getting a 6 — but Ionia's power multiplied it to 9.

"Well, I'll be. Damn, that's cool," Kumatora said, as they started to walk.

"Certainly helpful. These Magypsies have interesting powers, but they certainly are... intriguing."

"That's one way of putting it."

"So... how significant was this Magypsy to your life? Ionia, was it?"

"... probably the most significant one. I say the Magypsies raised me, but really... that's not true at all. Most of them just checked in now and again. But Ionia? They pretty much raised me, and dealt with all my crap for all my life."

"So, they were the Magypsy that cared for you the most. And given their feminine nature... I suppose it wouldn't be overly inaccurate to say they were the closest thing to a mother you had?"

"Yeah, I... I guess you could say that. I mean, they weren't like a proper mother, but I definitely owe them... a lot. Honestly, I'm glad they're the one who raised me, 'cause they're easily the kindest of all the Magypsies. They don't really have the same dislike for people that the others do."

"Yes, that's a quality I've noticed... why is that? Do they dislike the fact that we came here, to their island?"

"Nah, they just look down on people in general, 'cause we don't live nearly as long as they do. Some of them are worse than others — Aeolia and Mixolydia can get pretty brutal with it at times, and... I ain't gonna lie to you, it made me feel uncomfortable. They'd always laugh and say I was different, but..."

Kumatora sighed, not knowing where she was going with this. "Lydia and Phygria weren't as bad, and most of the time I didn't feel uncomfortable when they did it. Doria and Ionia were the best... especially Ionia. They were the only one who didn't do it all. I think they were the only one who genuinely respected us. Probably why they were the one to raise me, 'cause they were probably the one most willing to."

"Hm... Ionia. That name is familiar to me, and I've just remembered why — I am aware that in my timeline, my... grandfather is friends with them. Is that true in yours?"

Kumatora mulled it over, trying to remember if she heard anything like that from Lucas or Ionia. "What was your grandfather's name?" she asked.

"Alec."

"Alec... yeah! Lucas told me about that. Seems like an odd friendship, but apparently they got on well. Apparently, he was pretty sad when he heard they were gone."

"I believe that further proves their respect for us, for they were the only one willing to have a friendship with a human. And I've seen when Magypsies have the opposite with humans."

"... Fassad?"

"Fassad," he confirmed. "He was always eager to assert his perceived dominance over me. And over Porky as well. Certainly made for... amusing interactions."

"Yeah, his ability to piss you off gets put to good use there..." she said with much melancholy.

Both of them stood there for a moment, not knowing what to say next, before Kumatora broke the silence.

"I miss Ionia," she said simply. "I miss all of them, but most of all them. And sometimes, I wish we didn't win that fight against you at the temple. I know that if we didn't, it would've all been over then, 'cause you'd have the majority of the Needles."

Her voice grew quieter and quieter, a stark contrast to her usual confidence. "But at least then... we wouldn't have had to pull their Needle and see them disappear before my eyes. Saying everything would be alright when it wasn't, that it was okay and that they were going to move on — just a fancy way of saying they were dying."

She paused, and it became clear to the Masked Man that she was trying not to cry. "At least then, I could've blamed you for it and hated you instead. Can't even do that now, 'cause I can't find it in myself to blame you. And I can't do anything to Porky either..."

"Which just leaves you with what remains. With the primary target of your blame no more, and the secondary one unable to be harmed... it just leaves you with the pain. The pain of losing the person you came closest to calling... 'mother'.

"Yeah. Pretty much. But I'm not gonna cry." She tried to smile, but even as she said it, a small tear slipped from her left eye.

The Masked Man froze up. This... was something he couldn't do. He barely knew how to process his own emotions, let alone comfort others with theirs. All he could do was comfort her in his usual cold manner.

But when he thought about it, he felt guilt. This pain... this was all his fault. His actions had caused this and Kumatora should be blaming him.

How did he comfort someone... when he was the reason they needed comfort? He didn't know.

But... he still tried. "I... am sorry for your loss. I am sorry I lack the emotional intelligence to comfort you in the way you deserve. And... I am sorry for the part I played in it. I think... you should retract your earlier removal of hatred for me. Because it will be useful to you. It will make you forget the pain. I would rather see an endless anger for me, than your despair. Because I do not deserve to see it.

I have murdered three of your Magypsies. And I am the reason the other three are gone, including the one you held most dear. Bear tiger... that is what your name means. I deserve nothing less than the full wrath of both of those creatures combined. The wrath of the girl who pounded me over and over again with successive lightning bolts."

Kumatora stared at him, and saw not the person she'd been working with for the past turns, but the ruthless machine without a heart that stared her down at that temple. And for the slightest moment, she felt a tangible spark of fury light within her... but it died down as quickly as it sparked. He was baiting her. Feeling anger... that was exactly what he wanted her to do.

For some reason, she couldn't help but laugh slightly at it all. "But that's not how it works. Even if I wanted to do that, I can't, 'cause you can't control your emotions. You can't control how you feel. And I don't hate you anymore. I can't change that, and I don't want to."

"But why not? It... it would be far easier for you to move on, if you could simply hate me with all your heart."

"Maybe in the short term, but after that... then what? There's a reason they say if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Eventually, I'd just get to the same point I'm at right now... except it'd be even more painful. And that's just not worth it. Ah... forget about it — we gotta decide which way to go at this junction. You thinking we go down or left?"

"Left is the obvious choice. We should loop around for the Star."

So they did exactly that, immediately passing by an Orb Shop and going inside. Once more, they found themselves within the Magicant Market, where Maria was waiting.

"Ah, welcome again. I'm sure you know what I sell, so please have a look and make your decision."

"Why don't we just get one of these Teleports?" Kumatora suggested. "You know, just zip over to the Star and get it."

"That will be a lot of coins though..."

"Yeah, but getting a Star for no hassle? I think that's worth it. We've got enough to do it."

"True. Go ahead then."

"One Teleport Orb then!"

"Here you are," Maria said. "I hope this is a worthwhile purchase for you... that's 25 coins."

Grimacing, Kumatora handed the money over. That was a lot of coins, but it would be worth it.

They left the Orb Shop and continued to walk, before landing on a Blue Space just after a Red Space, gaining 3 coins.

"What was all that stuff with the sky darkening about?" Ness said. "I swear I saw Pokey leaping out of the sky too!"

"I think he's up to no good..." Lucas realised what he just said, and laughed at himself. "It's Porky. He's always up to no good."

"Probably making our lives harder. Eh, we'll deal with it and push through."

"You sure?"

"Dealing with Pokey's like dealing with a T bone steak."

"I... I don't see how either of those things are related," Lucas said, very confused. "Like, at all. Except that Porky would probably eat a T bone steak."

"Nah, what I'm saying is, both of them look really big and intimidating at first, but when you break it down, they're not that bad at all."

Lucas tried to process that, but he just couldn't. It was such a stupid thing to say that he couldn't even process the stupidity. "Ness... do you know how to speak?"

"Of course I do! Look, basically, a T bone is really big, right? You order it at a restaurant, you look at it and your first reaction is, 'how the hell am I supposed to eat this?'"

"No, I think my first reaction would be 'why did I order a T bone steak if I knew how big it would be?' Actually, that would be my second reaction — my first would be 'why did I order steak at all?'"

Ness dramatically gasped. "Man, you're just full of bad takes! First the cookies, now this?! Alright, fine, but you've ordered the steak, right? Now you gotta eat all of it."

"I mean, not exactly? I could share it with my friends. I think there are even some steaks made to share with others, aren't there? Shouldn't you know this — you're the steak expert, right?"

Ness frustratedly stomped his foot. "Will you stop being smart?!"

Lucas laughed. "I'm sorry! Okay, I won't interrupt you again until you finish."

"Okay, so you've got the steak. And now you have to eat it. But if you think about eating the steak completely, you're not gonna be able to do it. You take it piece by piece though, and it seems much easier. The steak hasn't changed at all or gotten smaller — that's gotta be against that conservation of mass thing Jeff talks about, but it seems easier to manage.

And Pokey's kinda the same. You look at him, and he seems really scary. But when you take everything about him separately, you realise... he's kinda just pitiful. He's not really scary at all, he's just a kid trying to be. He's done horrible things, but he's just someone trying to look bigger than he is. Like the T bone steak seems bigger than it actually is."

Lucas took a moment, first to make sure Ness was done, and then to think about what Ness just said. "I think I see what you mean... but that had to be the most confusing way of saying it. No more food metaphors for you!"

"What?! You can't take away my food metaphors! Then what am I going to do?"

"I dunno, learn how to actually make metaphors? I think you could really benefit from it!"

"Man, you're savage! I thought you were just this nice kid, and here I am getting cooked well done by you!"

"I thought I said no more food metaphors?" Lucas replied sternly.

"Okay, come on, that one was good!"

"Alright, it was better than the last one." Lucas conceded. "Erm... look, I'm sorry if I did offend you though. I'm not usually that savage, actually..."

"It's just my idiocy brings it out in ya — yeah, I get it. Same goes with all my friends. I don't mind — I like seeing everyone laugh!"

"Even if they're all laughing at you?"

"There's a difference between when people are joking, and I know when people mean it. I mean, you don't actually think I can't speak, do ya?"

"Well..."

"Yeah, yeah, make more fun of me. But see, I don't mind it! Everyone needs a friend to laugh at, don't they?"

"Maybe, but laughing at someone? I'm not so sure about that..."

"Tell you what, if I ever think you've gone too far, I'll tell ya."

"... if you're sure. I... I'm happy I've gotten to meet you, and I wouldn't want to offend you in any way."

"Trust me, it takes a lot to offend me. Chances are what you say isn't gonna offend me if I know you don't mean it. Unless it's about my mother or sister — then it's serious," Ness said, giving Lucas a death glare, one that made him freeze up.

"No, I... I would never do that!"

"I'm just joking! I know you won't! But yeah, so long as you don't cross those lines, we'll be fine."

"Well, I think it's impressive you've got such thick skin. I wouldn't be able to take insults like that as easily..."

"Everyone's got different tolerances, and that's fine. You just gotta find the right people who don't poke harder than you can take."

"That's true... I think I've found those people as well. Er... should we get going? We might be holding things up..."

"Roll away!"

Lucas hit his Dice Block, getting a 7. They walked along the path, eventually crossing the cookie bridge on the left, causing it collapse and reform heading down, while they landed on a Blue Space on the left of the board, three spaces below Jeff and Ana, earning 3 coins.

Guess what happened next? Yes, everyone teleported back to Start for the Minigame.

"Jeff and Ana landed on an Item Space, so let's see what colour they'll be... blue. It appears we're doing another 1 vs 3 then. It's always either Holiday Homelands or Brutal Battlers against everyone else, isn't it? Well, let's decide what we're playing then..."

The roulette of images spun, landing on an image of a room where all the objects were covered in dust.

"Dust 'till Dawn... I'm quite pleased with that. It'll be nice to have something calmer after the last few Minigames."

When everyone reappeared after being teleported, they found themselves in the most benign and plain of places — a house.

It was a single floor house with only two rooms, one small and the other large. The larger room was a living room, full of furniture pieces, with a door in the top left that led to the smaller room — a bedroom, with fewer pieces of furniture.

What was most noticeable though was the state it was in — in both rooms, many pieces of furniture were covered in dust, showing a clear neglect... or the work of a magical deity.

"Goodness... how long has it been since anyone cleaned this place?" Ana asked.

"Yeah, everything's covered with dust. My mom would have a fit if our house got like that!" Ness said.

"I can imagine why. This is Dust 'till Dawn, though hopefully this shouldn't take you that long to finish this. Now, you've had some exciting Minigames recently — platforming over magma, guiding Chomposaurs and of course, Tom. But this Minigame trumps all over those in excitement, for the theme of this Minigame is the most epic of all — dusting."

"... say what?" Kumatora said.

"The rules are this — you'll have noticed the dusty objects in both this living room and the bedroom. The one player will manage the bedroom, while the team of three will deal with the living room. Both teams have the same objective — to dust all the objects in their room first. There are four objects to dust in the bedroom, and twelve in the living room, so it works out fairly to an average of four objects per person."

"So... we're really dusting a room? That's what we're doing?" Ninten said.

"Yes. You'll have to reach deep inside yourself and master the art of dusting in order to win this. Now, the most tricky thing is how to know if you have dusted an object enough. Obviously, expecting you to leave not even a speck of dust on an object in order for it to count is unreasonable, so I've given some leniency — in order for an object to count as being dusted, you need to remove about 80% of the dust on it. You'll know when you've accomplished this, because the object should give off a burst of light when you've crossed that threshold.

As for my advice... for the one player, speed and precision will be your best friend for this. For the team of three, don't forget that multiple people can clean one object at the same time, which helps when tackling the larger objects.

That's about all, so choose who among you will play. Actually, one thing — it's not my place to advise you on who should play Minigames, but I must do so when there's a legitimate health risk. Holiday Homelands, I must advise you do not put Ninten forward for this, owing to his asthma. Anyway, get to it."

Ninten and Lloyd went into the bedroom to strategise, while everyone else stayed in the living room.

"So, our host has a point," Lloyd said. "With all this dust flying around, there's a good chance it might set off your asthma."

"Plus, I'm not really good at dusting to begin with. To be fair, that's probably 'cause of my asthma — Mom never let me do any dusting around the house because of it. Is your dusting technique up to scratch then?"

"I haven't mastered the art of dusting, but hopefully I'll do well enough."

"Hey, just think of it like anime! When you need to do something the most, that's when you'll master it!"

"Really, Ninten, does everything in life have a comparison to anime for you?"

"... maybe."

Back in the living room, the other three teams were discussing amongst themselves who would play.

"Which one of us would best at this then... it's dusting. There's nothing really complicated about it," Jeff said.

"I don't think it really matters. Both of us would probably do just as well."

"In that case, I suppose I'll try my hand at it, since you did the last Minigame."

Ness and Lucas reached their decision similarly quickly as well.

"Never really been a good duster myself. I always hated when my mom asked me to dust something."

"Really? I always enjoyed it. It's sort of soothing in a way, but then again, I like most chores. I'll do this one then."

"Sure, go ahead."

And finally, Kumatora and the Masked Man were last to decide.

"Dusting... not something I am overly familiar with, I must admit," the Masked Man said. "Perhaps I should have asked Marshmallow for some pointers... though I don't imagine you'd be any better either."

"I can dust!" Kumatora said indignantly.

"Really? Unless it is different in your timeline, your castle says otherwise."

"Alright, just to prove you wrong then, I'm gonna do this game and win it!"

"... as you wish."

"It seems everyone has made a decision on who will be playing this Minigame. Spectators... there's not really a good place for you to spectate in here, is there? I suppose I'll have to teleport you back and show you live footage instead."

Ninten, Ana, Ness and the Masked Man all disappeared before they could blink, taken back to Sweet Dream, while a duster appeared in front of the four players.

"As for everyone else, here are your dusters. On the count of three, you may start dusting. Three... two... one... clean!"

Immediately, everyone launched into action, with Lloyd deciding to tackle the bed first, given that it was the largest object to dust. As for the three players, they didn't put as much thought into what to dust, and instead started with whatever objects were closest to them. Jeff started with a TV, while Lucas and Kumatora worked on a sofa.

With surprising speed, Lloyd swept all the dust off the bed very quickly, before moving on to a table. Jeff finished the TV shortly after, before moving on to a clock, while Lucas and Kumatora were having trouble with the sofa, due to dust accumulating in the spaces between the cushions. By the time they finished it, Lloyd had already finished the table, moving on to a bedstand.

Deciding to split up, Lucas and Kumatora each focused on separate chairs. Halfway through them cleaning those items, Jeff finished the clock he was working on, moving on to a set of drawers. The chairs were fairly small, so Lucas and Kumatora finished dusting them quickly, but Lloyd was fast and finished off his bedstand, leaving just a set of toys.

The team of three however still had many objects remaining, including a piano. That was the next thing they tried to clean, with Lucas and Kumatora dusting it and Jeff joining in once he'd finished with his drawers, but they couldn't even finish that before Lloyd finished off the last toy, successfully cleaning all his items.

"Stop! Lloyd's cleaned all of his objects, which makes him the winner."

The team of three looked around their room baffled, seeing six objects still covered in dust — well, five and a half if we're giving credit for the piano. They checked out the bedroom, seeing that indeed, all of Lloyd's items were almost completely free of dust.

"How the hell did you clean everything up already?!" Kumatora said.

"Yeah, you did that so quickly!" Lucas added.

"I'm surprised myself. I guess I've got a thing for dusting," Lloyd sheepishly replied.

"Perhaps you do. I must admit, even I'm surprised by how quickly you dusted all those things. The team of three barely got halfway, and I don't think they were playing incompetently either. Impressive work there, Lloyd — take these 10 coins with my respect for your cleaning prowess. Let's head back and reunite you all with your partners then."

Meanwhile, in Porky's lair, the fiend was beside himself in joy, admiring the coins he had stolen from Ninten and Lloyd earlier.

"Someone's happy today..."

"Of course I'm happy! Look at these coins! Look at them all! Look how they shine!"

"You act as if you've never seen a coin before."

"These aren't just coins! These are stolen coins, seasoned with the tears of the morons I stole them from! Even more than that, they represent the first time I got to do something this party! In fact, I got to do something twice this turn! I'm so happy I don't even care we got that dumb dusting Minigame!"

Finally, I had my chance to wreak havoc in this party! You know, the fact that I, the sponsor of this event, get so little chance to actually make an appearance and make an impact is stupid and dumb! We need to change that."

"Personally, I'm quite fine with how much you get to appear already. In any case, why didn't you hand out one of your Minigames if you want to have a bigger impact?"

"That's what people would be expecting! Instead, I defy their expectations completely and make things even more dramatic!"

"Subverting expectations for the sake of... well, subverting expectations, is just lazy though."

"Oh, I had other reasons. When I saw an opportunity to bankrupt those fools, I just had to take it and ensure nothing was left to chance!"

"Because Funderwall and Pit Boss don't exist, right?"

"When you're trying to ensnare someone, you don't leave even the slightest bit of a chance they can escape. You make them think there's a chance — that's the most fun part! But giving a chance at all? Only idiots do that!"

"I can respect that. But personally, my favourite way of doing deals where either outcome is beneficial to me. The person in question may gain something in one outcome, but I will also gain something as well... and seeing as I'm perpetually bored, it's not very hard to meet the threshold of something that benefits me."

"Hah! What's the point of making a deal where the other person can actually benefit?! That's just dumb!"

"I find it more fun that way. You see, the deal then becomes not a case of whether I can get something, but a question of whether they can as well. But the thrill of it only works when they stand to gain something as well, and since I'll get something, them getting something too isn't a concern for me."

"How stupid. That's your loss. Far more fun than deals of misery is just making misery yourself."

"Oh, I agree. I like to indulge in seeing the suffering of others from time to time. I myself personally enjoy seeing how criminals can get away with their crimes, thus denying a chance for the so-called justice from their humans to be dealt. After so long of rooting for the 'good guys', you start to root for the bad ones instead."

"Why bother hiding what you've done? Let everyone see it, and fool them into thinking it's something great! My city is built on greed, and I don't hide it all! But the fools just lap it up and cheer for me, fighting amongst each other for money."

"And so they all end up stuck in the cycle of poverty, as each person destroys the wealth another has amassed."

"Exactly. The sheep all try, thinking one day they can make it like me, but in the end... they'll never even come close! Because I am Master Porky, and nobody wins my game. And the best part of it all is no one realises it either. Well, I suppose you're the exception."

"It is clever though... if I didn't hate you, I'd respect you for the ingenuity."

"How very kind of you. You know, maybe your fun of creating misery which can't be blamed on you isn't too bad either. I like the idea of it."

"Oh. Well, thank you, I appreciate the senti... hold on. Are... are we having a moment?"

Porky froze, not saying anything for a while.

"... we will never speak of this moment ever again. Agreed?"

"Agreed. I'm leaving. I hope you die slowly."

"Ditto," he sneered back.

Chapter Text

Back on Sweet Dream, everyone was pleased to see their teammates back, but most pleased of all was Ninten, happy to see Lloyd finally score a win.

"Lloyd, you did it! You won a Minigame!"

"I... I can't believe I did it either."

"And you destroyed them too! Like, you were just zoning in on that dust and cleaning it faster than I can blink! You looked so cool!"

"While sweeping away dust?" Lloyd replied, not convinced.

"Maybe you should watch yourself, 'cause it seemed like you were treating your duster like a sword, hacking away at the dust."

Lloyd burst out laughing, trying to imagine that. "It really looked like that?"

"Yeah! Hey, maybe you should talk to Teddy and get some pointers."

"I really can't imagine myself using a sword, Ninten. I clearly don't have the physical constitution needed to use one."

"Eh, aren't there lightweight swords out there like a rapier? It'd suit you too, 'cause it's all fancy and elegant."

Lloyd mulled the idea over for a few seconds. "Yes, I suppose you have a point there. I'm surprised you mentioned rapiers actually — I was expecting you to go straight for katanas."

"They're cool, but everyone knows they're really heavy. But I guess you're supposed to use both hands to lift one."

"As you found out when you tried to lift Teddy's with one hand."

"Don't remind me... Ana was really pissed at me after I did that."

"And rightfully so — I was too when I found out! You're lucky you didn't chop off one of your legs doing that! Why did you even think that was a good idea?!"

"See, my brain does this thing where it thinks of a really cool idea, but then completely forgets to do the thing where you actually make sure it's a good idea? I like to think of it as skipping the quality assurance bit of thinking."

"I think most people would just call that you not thinking things through properly... and you should really work on that."

"Maybe, but I've got you and Ana and Teddy to do that part for me! Well, probably not Teddy — he might just encourage me to do something really stupid. Anyway, point is — you should learn how to use a sword, Lloyd! You'd be like an actual anime hero — your thing could be like being able to use swords and guns!

You see your foe in the distance, and you blast em, but then they get straight up in your face, thinking they've got you and what do you do? You whip out your sword and turn the tables on them!"

"Ninten, life isn't an anime though."

"I know..." he said sadly. "But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try our best to get as close as we can to one."

Truly inspirational words there.

"Besides," he continued. "You gotta admit that there's some strategic advantage in being able to fight close and long range, right? Plus, you're super good at analysing people, so you'd be even better at using a sword."

"You make some surprisingly good points actually. It'd also be a good way to get closer to Teddy... our friendship isn't bad by any means, but it could certainly be stronger. Maybe I could also teach him a thing or two about using lasers — that way, we both benefit."

"There you go, even more reasons to do it! But seriously, it's all your call. I ain't forcing ya to do it or anything. Say, how come you're so good at dusting anyway?"

"Well... I guess I've had a lot of practice. I mean, I help my mom a lot around the house with chores, especially once she started getting ill."

There was a silence... the kind of silence you might expect at a funeral, before Ninten finally spoke. "... how's she doing?"

"It's the same... we're still struggling to get enough money for it, and Da — my father's useless on that end."

"Hey, look... if you ever need money, I'd be happy to ask my dad to give ya some. We've got lots of it, and I don't think he'd mind."

"Ninten, I know you're trying to be kind, and I appreciate it, but... please don't. Can we talk about something else?"

Ninten was about to argue back, but took one look at Lloyd's face and stopped, simply nodding his head solemnly.

... hm. I wonder if I could... no, that's too non-sociopathic for me.

"Alright," Ninten said. "What about this turn then? Thanks to you, we've got 10 more coins, but that still isn't enough to get the Star. Best we can do is hope for a 1 or a 2."

"Or... it might be possible for us to get enough Coins from an Orb to get the Star. It's unlikely, but we don't have many options left."

"Not a bad idea. I'll try it... may as well use this." Ninten threw their Sharks Orb on the space directly before them, as 6 coins burst out of the capsule and came towards them. Initially, they both looked pleased, but realised it wasn't enough to get the Star.

"Aw, come on! We're seriously four coins short?!"

"Well, now we have to hope for a low roll."

So, Ninten rolled his Dice Block, getting a 4 — sadly, not enough to stall them.

"Looks like we're not getting this one..." Ninten sighed.

"We'll just have to accept it and move on then."

The two glumly walked to the Star, getting to it quickly.

"Well, congratulations on making it here on foot, but sadly... you two don't have enough Coins to buy it."

"Yeah, we know..."

"Better luck next time. On your way then."

The two continued, climbing down the spoons and landing on the Blue Space directly before the Orb Shop, earning 3 coins.

"Right, it's our turn now," Jeff said. "A shame I couldn't win that Minigame, but Lloyd must have done very well to win that quickly."

"He was sweeping away very fast. I hope you're not offended, but I'm actually pleased he was able to win something."

"None taken, it seems like he needed the boost to his self esteem. Still, my dusting skills evidently need some work."

"Not a good duster then?"

"Our boarding school has staff to clean it, and we're only responsible for our own dorms. Tony's usually the one to dust ours every so often, but he sometimes drags me into it as well. Are you a skilled duster then, Ana?"

"I wouldn't call myself skilled, but I have done a bit. There's a fair amount to be done in our church and house. I enjoy helping out with chores."

"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me. I have to admire it though — I've never kept my part of the dorm tidy. My desk is cluttered with so many different gadgets and things..."

"Your roommate must get annoyed with you."

"Very. I'm rather lucky to have him though — I don't know many other people that would be willing to put with me or drag me to my bed when I've fallen asleep at my desk, working on something again."

"Well, I don't think you're that bad at all. It just seems you have a few bad habits you need to clear up. I'm glad your roommate seems understanding of it though."

"Yes... I've under appreciated him at times. I only realised how critical he was to my life when he got kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?!"

"I didn't tell you, did I? How do I explain it... at one point, many people from my home were kidnapped by Giygas's forces, and kept in this base underground. Tony was one of them... along with my dad."

"... your dad and roommate were captured by Giygas?"

"Yes. Is... I'm sorry, is something wrong? You look awfully pale. Are you having another vision?" he said, reaching for a bottle of water.

"No, no, it's not that, it's just... the same thing happened to my mother as well."

"What? The same thing?!"

She nodded. "My mother was kidnapped along with a bunch of other people — there was an entire town of children who were left completely alone, because all of their parents had been taken."

"That's horrible! Were they all okay?"

"Thankfully, yes. We were able to rescue them all... but I still remember it. That horror on my mother's face when I found her frozen in place... I can never forget that. I'll never forget hearing my mother burst in tears in the middle of the night because of another nightmare she had, and me being there at her side, trying to comfort her while she was crying, saying it shouldn't be this way round.

And every time I remember it — not that it's your fault for making me remember it here... but every time I remember it, I just hate Giygas more and more. Then I always feel bad about it, because you're supposed to forgive and move on, aren't you?"

"... are you? Forgiving everyone easily can be a bad thing, if the person was truly bad. Now from everything you've told me, and everything I know of Giygas myself, I wouldn't say he was pure evil by any means, but he most certainly was not a good person, particularly when you encountered him.

When I encountered him, he at least had the excuse of being so insane that he couldn't even mentally comprehend any of his actions. He wasn't aware of anything he was doing, let alone the morality of it. But he didn't have that excuse when you encountered him. He was fully cognisant of his actions and chose to kidnap those people. Has anyone you know forgiven him?"

"I think Ninten sort of has... he doesn't like to talk about it much, but I think he understands the place Giygas was in and pities him for it. At the very least, I don't think he necessarily hates him."

"And that's all well and good, but that doesn't mean you have to do the same. You have good reason to hate him, because he hurt you deeply. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Ninten or Lloyd has their families kidnapped by Giygas."

"Ninten's great grandparents were."

"Yes, but Ninten wasn't alive then," Jeff pointed out. "You saw your mother be taken right before you. That's a very different kind of pain."

"But, I... I'm a Christian! And we're supposed to be able to forgive anyone, but I just can't forgive him!"

"Hm... is that the right approach to take?"

"Huh?"

"Well, are you trying to forgive him because you want to forgive him, or because your religion says you should forgive him? Because it seems to me as if you're trying to do the latter."

"I... I hadn't considered that. I suppose it is for the second reason then."

"But that isn't right. You shouldn't forgive someone just because someone tells you to."

"But I have to! It's my duty!"

"Your duty? It's your duty to follow your religion blindly and do whatever it says to?"

"Blindly?! I don't do that!"

"It sounds like it! Shouldn't you think critically about what to follow? If you can't forgive someone, then work on that, but don't do it because you think you're supposed to! Isn't that what you should do?!

"How would you know what I should do?!"

"How would you?! Your entire beliefs are based on a book written nearly 2000 years ago!"

As soon as Jeff said that, he knew he had gone too far.

"Ana, I didn't —"

She cut him off. "I think you should roll your Dice Block now," she said coldly.

Jeff looked at her eyes, and saw a completely different person to before. Ana's eyes usually conveyed but kindness and warmth, the gentleness of the girl small children all across her town called 'Little Mother'.

But now? Just a piercing coldness. It was chilling, to see how the same person could look so different, and how one simple change seemed to completely warp everything else. Suddenly, her pigtails were horns, her lips were blood, her face shone in the artificial light and seemed to drip with grease and lard, just like...

Jeff pulled himself together. For a second, he thought about offering an apology, but realised... now wasn't the time. So he rolled his Dice Block instead.

As fate were mocking him, it gave a 1. Silently, the two headed over to the space immediately next to them — a Happening Space.

... I would make a slicing pun here, but... I'll pass on it. A pair of knives came down, slicing on both sides of the space they were standing on, before the piece of cake levitated into the air. If either of them were surprised by it, they didn't show it.

The cake deposited itself near the bottom of the board on a plate, where both of them stepped off the cake, onto the Blue Space directly above it.

Meanwhile, the Masked Man was indulging in some payback after Kumatora's boasting in the last Minigame.

"So in regards to that Minigame..."

"Don't even think about it," she muttered.

"What was it you said to me? That you would prove me wrong and win it? Well, you certainly proved something — that my earlier statement on you was correct."

"Jeez, when did you get so snarky?"

"Believe it or not, that seems to be one of the few traits from Claus I retained, though it is obviously subdued. I have been told by members of my former army that I had a certain... dry wit about me, mild as it was."

"Huh. Well, you know what, I like it! Not gonna lie, it's cool having someone who ain't afraid to take potshots at ya from time to time. Duster never did any that, think it was cause of the whole retainer schtick, even though that was stupid and you know, not real. And Lucas... kid couldn't take a potshot at someone if he tried."

"I will have to disagree with you on that latter point actually."

"What? About Lucas?! Nah, he doesn't have a mean bone in him!"

"You'd be surprised. I... remember as Claus, he would sometimes, though very rarely admittedly, take some potshots that one might describe as... savage."

"Okay, now I gotta hear one of these, cause Lucas roasting someone is something I need to hear."

"Well, I imagine the humour would be significantly diminished when I'm retelling it, but... I recall a time when he and Claus were having omelets, which of course Hinawa made. Now, Claus and I both very much adore pepper with our omelets, but Lucas hates it. So, Claus was teasing Lucas about it, singing high praises about pepper, and what Lucas says back is... 'You know what's the same about pepper and your opinion, Claus? I didn't ask for either of them.'"

Kumatora slapped her hands together, doubling over and nearly howling with laughter. "You know, I thought you were pulling my leg, but damn... that is savage! Who knew Lucas had it in him?!"

"It is astounding. Sadly, he has a tendency to apologise immediately after saying things like that. They're also exceedingly rare, and I don't recall ever seeing Lucas make a comment like to anyone else but m — Claus."

"Why's that?"

"I suspect it's simply because of how close they were."

"Really? So he doesn't feel that close around us then..." Kumatora said despondently.

"I would not take it as an offence. It is evident he values and cherishes you and Duster a great deal, and your circumstances were hardly peaceful then. Additionally, Lucas himself had been... greatly affected by many of the things that happened.

I think Lucas was only really comfortable being like that to Claus because they really were that close, and sibling rivalry. But for you and Duster, he sees you as too high to insult in any shape or form, because he fears losing you."

"Losing us?! We're not gonna ditch him!"

"I believe he is scared of it though. As we both know, Lucas has a tendency to internalise his self blame. He believes you both may resent him for the negative impacts he has had on your life."

"Negative impacts — the hell are you talking about?!"

"In regards to Duster, he often wonders if he would have been happier as a member of the DCMC, and whether restoring his memories was the right decision. As for you... the Magypsies."

The Masked Man didn't need to say anything more on the subject, since it was plainly obvious to Kumatora what he meant, and she growled at it — not in anger towards him, but in anger towards the fact that Lucas really believed she would hate him for that, and she didn't even know about it. But then again... she hadn't looked too kindly on the Masked Man for that same reason earlier either.

"When we get back, I'm sitting Lucas down and telling him that all this stuff he thinks we think is bullshit. I wanna be the second person to see savage Lucas."

"I hope your endeavours are successful then. They should be, unless 'savage Lucas', as you call him, has already come out towards that oaf Ness."

Kumatora burst into laughter again. "Did you seriously just call Ness an oaf?!"

"Yes. What of it?" the Masked Man said simply.

"Damn, you're both savage! Is there like a savage gene that passes down through your family or something?"

"I sincerely doubt such a thing exists, and even if it did, neither of my parents are like this. It is likely down to our ages."

"Actually, Hinawa can be somewhat sassy on rare occasions, and borderline infuriating on others."

"I have never heard Hinawa resemble either of those things," the Masked Man remarked.

"You don't know her well then."

"... no. I suppose I don't, do I..."

"Okay... savage Lucas was one thing, but I don't think I'm nearly ready to see your mother of all people being sassy."

"I don't think the world is ready for that."

"But still, what'd ya have against Ness anyway?"

"Merely the fact that he is a stranger, and thus someone I am wary about being around Lucas. I choose the term oaf, since he looks fairly incompetent."

"I think you're being a little too harsh there. You're judging him by first impressions, but that's exactly what I did with you, and look how wrong I was to do that. There's probably a lot more to him then meets the eye and anyway, he looks like he makes Lucas happy," she said, pointing to Lucas and Ness, the former smiling as he talked to Ness about something. "Good rule of thumb is that if Lucas is smiling around you, you're probably a good person."

"Hm... I can't deny that. I suppose there is just something about him... ah, he looks somewhat like my Pigmasks."

Kumatora snorted. "Fair, they're like the mascots of incompetence. Personally, I say you're just being overprotective. Which is great and all, cause it shows you care, doesn't it? I think that's really sweet! I mean, I was kinda the same towards you at the beginning as well, and again I'm sorry for all that."

"You needn't be. I am very much the last person you should be trusting around Lucas. Your overprotective nature was... comforting to me. It was pleasing to see Lucas had people in his life as concerned for him as you... I believe he thinks of Duster and you as the uncle and big sister he never had respectively."

"Big sister?! Damn, I'm flattered! I'm like the worst role model out there! Now I'm thinking I gotta start acting like one..."

"I think you already are. You are merely not aware of it. Either way, you're certainly a better big sister than I am a big brother to Lucas, and I'm glad you're there for him when I cannot be. We should make our move though — the most logical course of action is using our Teleport Orb so —"

"Hold it! We ain't ending this here."

The Masked Man looked confused. "What more is there to talk about on this subject?"

"Easy — you. See, that's something that's been bothering me for a while, and I've been meaning to bring it up with you, but you're pretty good at changing the topic. And it's this — why do you think you're not a good brother to Lucas? Your Lucas anyway — I'm guessing he's pretty similar to ours."

The Masked Man stared at her for a second, before giving peels of laughter in a manner not unlike she did earlier. It was surprising to hear his laughter, and Kumatora couldn't help but take note of how melodic it was — while his voice was a bit monotone, his laughter made him sound like a completely different person... she suspected this must be what Claus was like.

And it would have been great to see, heartwarming even... if it weren't for the thing he was laughing at.

When the Masked Man realised the seriousness of her question, he stopped, snapping back to his usual serious self.

"Is this a trick question?" he asked, with an indignant fury at the apparent idiocy of Kumatora's question. "We've gone over the amount of suffering I've caused you, so multiple that by a factor of ten and the answer should be clear.

I am the perpetrator of many things he has suffered. I have stared him in the eyes with murderous intent and come close to achieving that on multiple occasions. I have forced him to watch as I committed suicide right before his eyes. Is the answer really not clear?"

Kumatora flinched at his use of suicide, but couldn't exactly say it was wrong. Nevertheless, she still had a counterpoint.

"Sure, all those things are true. I can't deny that. But let me show you something you haven't thought of — you said to me that Lucas might think we resent us 'cause he thinks he caused us a lot of pain. But what if you're falling to the same trap too? You think that Lucas might resent you 'cause you think you caused him a lot of pain... but what if he doesn't hate you for any of that at all?"

"A good point," he conceded. "However, there is a difference — unlike in the case of you and Duster, I have caused Lucas a lot of pain."

"Nah, see, that doesn't work here. If we're going by that logic, and lemme just say, it's some dumbass logic, then technically, technically, Lucas did cause both of us pain. Cause yeah, I'm sure Duster does sometimes wonder what things would be like if he stayed with the DCMC, and yeah, it definitely hurts that he pulled the Needles and now the Magypsies are gone.

And yeah, Lucas was responsible for both of those things. But you know what? Neither of us hold it against him, and we'd kick the asses of anyone who said we should, 'cause he was doing the right thing and it wasn't his fault!"

"But I was doing the wrong thing!" His voice sounded slightly pained, and Kumatora realised that this was also the first time she'd heard him raise his voice at all... she was getting through to him.

"But it wasn't your fault either. And that's what I was doing wrong — I was focusing on the fact you did something wrong, and ignoring that it wasn't your fault. That's what you're doing right now."

"... what... are you saying then?"

Back to quiet. But he sounded much more open to what she was saying now. "What I'm saying is, I think both of us need to go to our own Lucases — don't care if that isn't the plural of Lucas, I'm sticking with it. We both need to go with them and clear up all these things that aren't true. So how about this — if I go to my Lucas and tell him he's wrong about thinking we hate him, will you go to yours and ask him if he hates you?"

"But... what if you're wrong?" His voice trembled with the emotion the Masked Man has trained his entire life to hide, but was failing to hide now — fear. And that's when Kumatora realised the most important thing about him — for how fancy he talked, for how grown up he sounded... he was still just a kid. A kid who had his childhood ripped from him too early.

And like all kids, he got scared sometimes. He made rash decisions, and thought everyone would hate him because of it.

... it was time to see if she really was a good big sister or not.

"I ain't sure about many things in life,"
she started, trying to sound both comforting and confident. "But I'm damn sure that everything you think is true isn't."

"... okay. I... we don't have any way of talking to each other after this party, so... I guess I'll just have to trust you keep your end of things? And I'll keep my end."

"If you trust me, then I'll trust you. Shake on it?" She held a hand out and the Masked Man gripped it with his non mechanical one, shaking it firmly.

"Alright!" she said enthusiastically. "Then let's get going!"

"Sure. Um... thank you, Kumatora. For your... reassurance. I feel a lot better now... if slightly jealous of Lucas for how good of a big sister he has." And on the shadow of his lips, Kumatora could see a smile emerging — a wide one at that. That smile alone... it explained exactly why Lucas had wanted to bring him back.

"Hey, no need to feel that way! I'm still there in your time, aren't I?"

"Yes, but my timeline's version of you still hates me. A lot."

"True... yeah, you're probably gonna have to go through the same crap I gave you before you get anywhere with her. But if she's anything like me, and I hope she is seeing as we're kinda the same person, she'd be thrilled to your big sister too once you get past that."

"Then I'll grin it and bear it, but I'll try to look forward to doing that... and to watching this 'Slayer Magician' show with her."

"Now you're talking! She's gonna love ya, and if she doesn't... well, I'll come over and give her a few good punches." Kumatora paused, realising what she just said. "Did I really just say I'd punch myself? Man, it is messed up that statement made 100% sense in the context it was in..."

"This is all a bit messed up when you think about it. But, we have no choice but to press forward for now. Shall I use this?" he asked, holding the Teleport Orb.

"Go for it!"

So the Masked Man burst it open, and initially... nothing happened.

"Huh?! What gives?"

"PSI Teleport Omega."

And in the literal blink of their eyes, both of them were suddenly standing beneath the Star, as it shone down upon them both.

"Well, congratulations on... buying the most powerful Orb in the game and using it to get to the Star? Actually, no, that does deserve credit — it is an effective move after all. So, now comes the key question — would you like to buy it?"

"Naturally," the Masked Man said.

"Then, here you are."

20 coins flew out of their pockets as the Star descended upon them.

"Nice! Now we're in the running!"

"There's still a long way to go though... now we have to focus on the next one.

"And speaking of the next one, let's see where it will be..."

The Blue Spaces of the board started flashing in quick succession once again, before stopping on the Blue Space just before the two cookie bridges on the left of the board.

"Huh... that's pretty close to here. If we roll low enough, maybe we can snag it later."

However, when the Masked Man rolled his Dice Block, he scored a 10.

"You always get low rolls when you want something high, and high ones when you want something low... oh well."

The two of them immediately headed down the spoons onto the bottom of the cake, where they walked past Ninten and Lloyd and into the Orb Shop.

Maria was there to greet them again — everyone's been seeing her a lot, haven't they?

"You're back again, and soon at that!"

"Yeah, thanks for the Teleport! Payed off really well!" Kumatora said.

"I'm glad you found it useful! So, what would you like now?"

"Unfortunately, we are very much broke here. I think we'll have to pass on buying something," the Masked Man replied.

Maria nodded. "Good luck then."

The two left the shop, and continued to walk, where they quickly came across a junction, heading down or right.

"Hm... there's no chance of us getting this Star that's just appeared. Someone else is bound to snatch it up before us."

"What do ya think we should do then?" Kumatora asked.

"We could go right, and try our luck there instead."

"Sure, why not?"

So they did exactly that, passing over the cookie bridge to the right and causing it collapse, reforming upwards while they landed on... a Duel Space.

"Huh? What's the deal with this space?" Kumatora asked.

"This is a Duel Space, and this is where things could potentially get very interesting. Here, you may challenge another team to a Duel Minigame. Whichever team wins the Minigame will get something from the loser."

"But what will that be?" the Masked Man asked.

"Now that's the fun part — you get to decide. The catch is, you have to also put something at risk too if you lose. You may Duel for either Coins or a Star off the opponent. If duelling for Coins, then you'll need to put up the same number of coins you want. If duelling for a Star, you'll either have to put your own Star at risk, or 40 coins. So, who are you duelling and what do you want?"

"I think we should play it safe and just bet a small amount of coins," the Masked Man said.

"Yeah, I'd usually say go big or go home, but we just get this Star. Kinda wanna hold on to it for a bit. So, who we duelling then?"

"Ness and Lucas? Logic says to go after them, for they have the most wealth. I'm think 4 coins would be advisable as our wager."

"Wow. Mad cash there," Kumatora said sarcastically. "Alright, let's do it then."

"4 coins against Fanfiction's Favourites... very well."

Both of them were teleported to Start, but they weren't the only ones, for Ness and Lucas were also standing there.

"Hey, what's going on? We were just talking and then all a sudden, we got teleported here!"

"Our turn hasn't happened yet either... isn't it too soon for a Minigame?"

"It is, but notice only two teams are here. It's time for a Duel Minigame! One player from each of your teams will be going up against each other — the person who wins gets 4 coins from the loser, as was decided by Kumatora and the Masked Man here."

"4 coins? That's... not very much."

"We are unfortunately somewhat short on coins right now, after purchasing that Star."

"Oh! Um... congratulations on that," Lucas said awkwardly.

"Er... thank you," the Masked Man replied, equally as awkward.

"Anyway, since it's only 4 coins, you might as well let us win, right?" Kumatora said.

"Ha! No way!" Ness retorted. "It isn't that much, but we'll still do our best!"

"Then let's decide what Duel Minigame you'll be playing, shall we?"

For the first time in the middle of a turn, the roulette appeared, landing on an image showing two figures fighting with blowguns on a cloud.

"... Blown Away? Well, let's hope this match blows us away then."

All four of them disappeared, and when they showed up again, they found themselves standing on a large cloud, floating in the sky.

"Hey, what's this?!" Ness shouted. "We're on a cloud? How are we not falling through it?!"

"Well, you see, clouds are partly solid, just not very much. But, if you have a very densely packed cloud, then it actually becomes solid enough to stand on."

"That... makes absolutely no sense at all," Lucas said.

"... I was never good at making up physics. Alright, in reality, this isn't a cloud — it's a platform I made to look cloud shaped and then textured accordingly. Anyway! Moving on, let's actually get to the point of the Minigame. The two duellists will fight on this cloud, the aim being to knock their opponent off the edge. The first player to fall off this cloud loses. However, I won't allow physical contact in this case — instead, you must use these bazookas."

Two weapons materialised in front of them, also floating in the air. They were rather odd — they looked like bazookas with a balloon at one end, one being blue and the other red. The blue one spun on the spot, pointing at Ness before it triggered itself and fired a blast of air at him, knocking him backwards.

"AHHH! Why me?!" he whined.

"When they're fired like so, they shoot compressed blasts of air that you can use to knock your opponent back. Now, what you saw there was what happened when you just fire one normally. However, you can actually hold the trigger down to charge a shot."

The red bazooka's balloon started to puff up as the trigger held itself down.

"And then when you release..."

Once it had filled up completely, it aimed at Kumatora and fired before she could react. This time, the puff of air was much faster, nearly knocking pushing her to the edge.

"Damn! That's strong."

"You get something more powerful. It's not rocket science — use charge shots to knock your opponent a greater distance. There is one other thing I should demonstrate though."

Both bazookas pointed at each other, before firing. The air blasts from each of them collided, creating an explosion.

"As you can see, if two air blasts collide, you'll get this powerful explosion that knocks anyone in its radius backwards. So, do be mindful of that.

A general piece of advice then — it's always best to stay in the middle, so try your best to stand your ground there. That being said, you can't rely solely on defensive play, for there is a time limit on this game, and it's one minute. If neither player is eliminated in that time, the Minigame will end in a draw. I'll give you warnings at fifteen second intervals. Pick your players, and then we'll begin."

Both teams headed to opposite ends of the cloud, strategising. For Kumatora and the Masked Man, the latter was surprisingly eager to play.

"I want to play this," the Masked Man said.

"Really? Er, I mean, sure, but any reason why? You seem like you really wanna."

"Because I do. While I'm more than capable of taking on multiple foes at once with my skills, as you will surely attest to, my true strength has always lied in one on one combat."

"Okay, I'm not sure how to say that without being insensitive as hell, but... are you sure you're gonna be able to take them on if it's Lucas?"

"... I'm not sure," he admitted. "But... if it is him, then that's all the more reason why I should do it. I need... it doesn't matter."

"It sounds like it does. Come on, what's up?"

"By facing him... perhaps I'll become more comfortable. This is nothing more than a game. It's not about defeating him, though I'll certainly try. It's about being able to bring myself to face him. So that when I go back, when I intend to uphold my end of our agreement... I'll have the courage to do so."

"And if it's Ness?"

The Masked Man gave a laugh, but it wasn't the same kind of laugh he gave before. It was a mirthless laugh, robotic and cold, a laugh devoid of emotion.

"Then forget everything I've just said. I'd want to do it even more. I very much long for the chance to blast that fool off of a cloud and see him plummet to his death."

"You know, if Ness kicks your ass here, I'm not letting you live this one down. Deal?"

"... I suppose that's fair enough, after I mocked your earlier for your hubris."

Ness and Lucas also sorted things out quickly, though not without some reflection.

"So, since you did the Minigame last time, shall I do it this time?" Ness asked. "Seems to be how we've been doing things."

Lucas didn't answer immediately, instead just looking at Kumatora and the Masked Man... facing either of them one on one was nightmarish for him. Especially the Masked Man. Ness noticed where he was staring, understanding what he was feeling.

"You don't wanna go against either of them, do ya?"

"No..." he sighed. "I don't think I'd be able to do it."

"That's fine! I don't mind!"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course! You got any tips you can give me though?"

"Not really... just that both of them will give you a hard time. Kumatora's hot headed and eager to jump into this kind of thing, and as for... my brother..."

"I'm not gonna have an easy time with him either?"

Lucas simply shook his head.

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind. And hey, don't look so glum! It'll be over before you know it!"

"I'll try to," Lucas said forcing a smile, but he knew that no matter who won, he wouldn't enjoy it.

But there was no time for him to worry about that.

"Very well, both teams have decided who will be playing. Ness, Masked Man — step forward and claim your weapons, then move to opposite ends of the cloud."

Lucas and Kumatora were both hoisted into the air by telekinesis, before being plopped on another cloud in the distance, where they could safely spectate from.

Ness and the Masked Man meanwhile took one of the two bazookas floating in the air — blue for Ness, red for the Masked Man. They both walked away to opposite ends, then turned back around, staring at each other.

Ness examined the Masked Man, trying to discern any emotion from him, but found none. He knew who he was, and what he was capable of, and he couldn't hide it — it did make him a little anxious. Of course, it was just a game, so it wasn't like he was going to die, but even then...

His emotionless glare was unsettling, but he wouldn't slip because of it. With a small smile, he looked at the Masked Man with confidence. No matter who he was, he'd still do his best against him.

The Masked Man however didn't initially look at Ness, instead looking at Lucas, who looked back curiously at him. He focused his attention on Ness, taking in his expression, which was coloured with a variety of different emotions. Intrigue, anticipation, and most of all... confidence.

Confidence. A sign that he thought he could beat him. But that meant nothing. There was a difference between false bravado and real bravery, and the Masked Man knew that well. He could put on whatever face he wanted to, and it wouldn't matter at all.

Yet, as he examined him closer, he saw something beneath the surface... anxiety. Well, it was logical. He assumed Ness was aware of who he was, and his skills. It was logical to be anxious, because he was once a ruthless killing machine. Even if that wasn't the case anymore, those skills were still engrained within him, dormant, waiting for a chance to be unleashed.

And indeed, if this was anything but a game, if this was a battle for one's life, he suspected that anxiety might became fear instead.

So... here was the question — did that anxiety indicate his confidence was merely false bravado, with his true colours slipping through... or did it indicate true bravery, tempered by a logical reaction?

All this guessing would get him nowhere. The only time you got to see someone's true colours, was when they were at the business end of a weapon.

Yes... perhaps this might still be enlightening for him. Even if he lost, he would be able to see the true character of Ness very well. And all for the possible loss of 4 coins? That was more than worth it.

When the front of a weapon was pointed at your head, only then did you separate the brave from the screamers.

Which one was Ness then?

"On the count of three, you may begin. Three... two... one... FIGHT!"

Both Ness and the Masked Man immediately moved to fire their bazookas as soon as they heard the signal, but the Masked Man was much faster and shot first. The two shots collided, creating an explosion of air, but because the Masked Man fired before Ness, the two shots collided near him, leading to the resultant explosion knocking him back.

Thankfully, he was close to the centre, so he didn't fall off — but he very nearly did when the Masked Man followed it up by charging at him and firing another air blast. He barely rolled out of the way of it, before quickly scrambling to his feet and moving back close to the centre.

Now he felt much more nervous... in just three seconds, he'd nearly lost.

The Masked Man was slightly disappointed that it didn't end things instantly, but it didn't have a high chance of working anyway. Still, he was something of an expert in instantly ending fights as soon as possible... the fact that it didn't work on Ness was telling of something.

He charged a shot, firing it at Ness, but he was prepared this time and dodged it, before firing a few uncharged shots back. The Masked Man dodged most of them, but got struck by one — much to Ness's surprise though, it didn't send him back much at all.

He couldn't explain why, but the Masked Man could — the machinery comprising him added substantially to his weight. With that, he had the advantage, because he wasn't pushed back as far by being hit, or from the recoil of firing the bazooka.

"Forty-five seconds left."

Ness decided he had to go on the offensive, keeping the pressure up. He needed some real power in order to send this guy flying, so he made sure to charge his shots before firing. Recognising this, the Masked Man switched to a more defensive approach, focusing on dodging, while looking for an opening. Once he found it, he'd fire a fully charged shot and gain momentum from that.

And eventually, he found it. A gap, a misjudged angle at which Ness fired his shot that left his left wide open. The Masked Man released his shot, aiming for Ness's legs. It hit dead on, with the force of the attack combined with where it was aimed causing Ness's legs to buckle, as he fell on the floor.

Seizing the moment, the Masked Man fired shots as fast he could. They didn't push Ness back much, but a little knockback was all he needed. Ness couldn't do anything but hold on to his bazooka as the Masked Man ruthlessly pelted him, pushing him closer and closer to the edge.

Still, even the Masked Man wasn't perfect, and at one point, he faltered too like Ness. Despite the consistency of his shots, a bigger than normal pause appeared in them. Ness was able to use this to try and roll to one side, but the difference between him and the Masked Man quickly emerged — while both of them could falter, one of them was much more adapt at recovering from it.

The Masked Man accurately predicted Ness's escape move and fired a shot exactly where he was heading, knocking him back again — this time to the edge. One good powerful shot would knock him off.

As he charged his bazooka, he took in Ness's expression, which showed only one thing — fear. It was just false bravado after all. For some reason, it felt disappointing. As if he was expecting... more.

He raised his bazooka, uttering a single soft word.

"Goodbye."

But just before he could release the trigger and fire his shot... he got exactly what he wanted. He got more.

The fear on Ness's face vanished in an instant and was replaced with a grin, as he pointed his bazooka — but not at the Masked Man, but instead, directly at the ground.

He released his trigger, and the blast of air that fired out of the bazooka propelled him up into the air — not particularly high, mind you, but high enough to leap over the shot the Masked Man fires, as well as the cyborg himself, as he landed in the centre. He didn't quite stick the landing, but the Masked Man was so flabbergasted at what just happened that Ness had more than enough time to get back on his feet.

Taking the opportunity, he fired a blast at the Masked Man, who was now much closer to the edge than he was...

"Aw, come on!"

... but the Masked Man instinctively dodged the shot. He walked closer to the middle, before he... called for a time out.

"That... what you just did there. Is... is that even allowed?"

... is it? That's actually a good question. Let's see...

"I'm... going to rule that what Ness did is fine. The only things you're forbidden from doing is attacking your opponent with anything other than the air blasts from the bazookas, and what Ness did wasn't that so... I'll allow it."

"Yeah!" Ness cheered, partly in joy, and partly in relief that he didn't just get disqualified.

As for the Masked Man, he was not nearly as happy. He could care less about Ness not being disqualified — he'd actually be disappointed if that happened, since he wanted to win this on his own merits.

But this introduced a completely new variable into everything, one he hadn't accounted for. Well, at least he could exploit it too... except he realised that he couldn't. Ness barely gained any height with that, and he was much lighter than the Masked Man. The weight that reduced the recoil the Masked Man took from firing the bazooka also meant he couldn't propel himself like Ness did... there was always a price for having it.

He gritted his teeth, firing a charge shot at Ness, but he dodged it, then dodged a second shot by using the recoil propel himself above the ground again.

"Thirty seconds left."

And now he could feel the frustration building up within him. That had always been his flaw — he was skilled at defeating people in seconds, and very few had been able to last longer than that. The problem was, he was so unused to people lasting longer, that he always got frustrated when people did — especially when they did so through means he never expected.

It was a frustration which often lead to his defeat. But knowing the weakness was half way to solving it. He took quick and deep breathes, which helped quell it momentarily, before firing half charged shots at Ness. Some hit, some missed, but Ness stayed on the cloud.

And so it continued, with the Masked Man trying harder and harder, just to knock Ness off but no matter what, Ness wouldn't. No matter what, he wouldn't give up.

"Fifteen seconds left."

No matter how much he tried, no matter how objectively better he was, he couldn't win! It should have been over in five seconds! Instead, it had been drawn out to fifty!

It all kept going, as Ness dodged, blocked, and fired back, all with a determined look, just like... Lucas.

That was the breaking point. The frustration that he tried to carefully contain in himself snapped free in that moment, and all he could think about was how he longed to be free of the arbitrary restrictions of this game, and bludgeon Ness with the weapon in his hand.

Move forward. Sidestep. Continue. Dodge second attempt. Strike.

He wasn't even in control of himself, as he dodged and fired back instinctively, not even consciously processing it. Suddenly, his eyes dilated, and he wasn't standing on a cloud anymore, but rather the firm ground, the boy in front of him no longer being black haired, but blond.

And in his hand, the treasured sword gifted to him from his master, as his mind was filled with nothing more than the simple, primitive urge programmed within him, to sink the blade straight within the boy's chest, and see the —

"STOP! That's sixty seconds — your time is up, and this Minigame is over! Since neither player was able to eliminate the other within the time limit, I declare this a tie."

The bazookas disappeared from both of their hands, as Ness gave a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat off his head. He was happy — sure, he didn't win, but he was happy it hadn't ended in him losing either.

The Masked Man... stood still. Staring forward — not at Ness, but the people standing on the cloud. Lucas and Kumatora. They both were looking at him. Both of them... the fear in their eyes, openly shown in Lucas's, barely restrained in Kumatora's...

What... what... did he...

"Hey there!"

The Masked Man was napped out of his reverie in a shock, stepping backward.

Ness laughed a little, finding it funny. "Woah! Minigame's over, I'm not gonna hurt you! I just wanted to see how you were doing and all — you looked you were getting really into it!"

"Oh... er, yes. I have a... tendency to do that on occasion. You... you fight rather well."

"Thanks! You're really good yourself — you really had me a couple of times! I thought for sure I was gonna lose..."

"As did I... but your ingenuity is impressive. That trick — using the recoil of the bazooka to launch yourself into the air... that was very smart. How did you come up with that?"

"Honestly? No idea, it just... came to me. I guess it worked, but I couldn't fling you off either! Still, gotta look at the bright side — a tie's better than a loss."

"You're a... half fall sort of person, aren't you?" the Masked Man said, voicing his observation.

Ness chuckled. "Guess you could say that! Anyway, good duel and all — it was really fun!" Ness raised his hand in front of him, clearly for a handshake.

The Masked Man stared at it for a moment, then grasped it with his non mechanical hand, shaking it firmly.

"It appears I was wrong about you," the Masked Man said.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You're... a lot braver than you look."

Rather than being offended by that, Ness simply laughed it off. "Yeah, I don't look like the bravest person out there, do I? Thanks though, I'm flattered!"

"Well, I'm pleased to see you're both on friendly terms after this duel. I certainly was blown away by this match too, and I have to say, Ness, using the recoil of the bazooka like that was very clever. I never even considered that as a possibility... I may have to revise the rules for this one.

However, since this Minigame ended in a draw, nothing happens — no one loses or gains anything. A shame since you both fought very hard, but that's just how it is. Let's get back to the board."

On Sweet Dream, both teams were returned to their spaces as Brutal Battlers' turn finally came to an end.

But neither of them had a thing to say. They both knew what just happened. And they were both terrified of it.

While the Duel Minigame was officially ruled as a tie, in the Masked Man's heart... it was a loss.

The glass may be half full to Ness... but it was completely empty to the Masked Man.

With the end of the duel though, it was now Ness and Lucas's turn.

"Are you alright?" Lucas said concerned.

"Yeah... just a bit exhausted after that duel. Took a lot outta me — your brother puts up a real fight. He looked really intense too."

"I... I've seen him like that before. Only once... but I'll never forget it. It was when... when we first fought him."

"What?! Oh my God... I'm so sorry! I must have seemed like an ass during all that."

"It's not your fault — there's no way you could have known. But... I'm worried now. What if... what if..."

"He's slipping back to how he was before?" Ness finished.

"NO!" Lucas said furiously. "I'm sorry, it didn't mean to shout. It's not that he's slipping — he'd never do that! But... I'm worried if Porky still has some kind of control over him."

"He was... mind controlled, wasn't he?"

Lucas nodded. "And... it seems like he's broken free of that, even if he's not... Claus, but when I saw that look in his eyes... I don't know.

"Is it because of Pokey? Maybe... maybe that has something to do with it. He's the one running this entire thing, and... I don't trust him at all."

Because I apparently don't exist, do I?

"Neither do I. I think... I think it's not just my brother who's in danger. I think all of us are. Why would Porky do this? Why would he take people like this and make them play a board game?"

"It's Pokey — he does it, cause he's a sadistic asshole who thinks it's fun."

"Right, but... well, nothing bad's going to happen to us no matter how things go, right? We all just go back to our homes once this ends."

"But that's not like him... there's gotta be something he's planning. What if... he does something to anyone who doesn't win? Didn't you say that Porky enslaved a bunch of people from different times? Maybe he'll do the same thing to all the losers!"

"You're right... that might be exactly what he's planning! But maybe there's still a chance — I mean, our host doesn't seem too bad."

Oh, now I'm remembered.

"I don't think we can trust them. Whoever they are, they're not like all those people Pokey forced into working for them — cause they're willingly helping him. I mean, anyone who's willingly working with Pokey after everything he's done can't be good. Dealing with the devil is never good, and people who do are never good either."

"Is that so? That's quite the assault on my moral character there, Ness. In fact, I think an assault like that deserves another in kind."

Both Ness and Lucas braced themselves, expecting to be attacked... but found that didn't happen.

"... at least, it would, if it didn't have some merit to it. You know, the Masked Man wasn't the only person who underestimated you, Ness — I think I did as well. HA! It's so deliciously ironic! Out of everyone here, out of someone with the mechanical genius Jeff has, out of someone as emotionally intelligent as Lucas, and someone with the sheer processing power the Masked Man does... who'd have thought the title of smartest person here would go to you?"

"Wait... Pokey is planning something?!"

"Oh, I didn't say that. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't — you'll have to find that one out yourselves. Either way, I'm bound by a code of confidentiality — a privacy protection, if you will. I'm only saying that you're right to question my moral character. It's refreshing, really.

However, I will add this point... in this tenuous alliance that Porky and I share, are you sure you know which one of us is really playing the role of the devil in it? After all, only one of us has the power to bend reality to their will. Just some food for thought."

"There is something going on here..." Ness said.

"But what can we do? We're heading right into a trap and there's nothing we can do about it."

"I guess we don't have any choice. We have to just hope for the best and see what we can find out."

"Until there is something we can do, there's nothing we can do but... play Porky's game."

"Yeah... so, we gotta get to that next Star then. I think we should use our Skip Sandwich to get there."

"That's a good idea."

Ness used the Orb, and two Dice Blocks appeared above his head, one by one. He hit each of them in turn, getting a 6 and a 2, giving a total of 8.

"Ooh..." Lucas winced. "That wasn't very high. We might not make it."

They walked and walked, until they made it to an Orb Shop, before going inside.

In there, they saw George once again — it's been a while since we've seen him.

"Hello, children. It's good to have some customers... my wife seems to have been getting all the business lately. Anyway, please have a look at what Orb you'd like to buy."

"Er... a PK Arson Orb?" Ness said. "I dunno, not like we really need anything. What do you think, Lucas?"

"I don't have any problems with that either."

"5 coins then," George said.

Ness handed over the dough, before George gave him the goods. The two left the shop and continued to the Blue Space just before the junction, where they stopped and got 3 coins.

"Ah, wasn't enough to get us the Star," Ness sighed.

"Well, there's always next turn."

Everyone was teleported to Start, where the mood was... glum. Only Ninten and Lloyd looked remotely happy at the moment.

"Well, it appears I must offer my condolences for this tragic loss. After all, with the way most of you are, I can only assume someone's died."

No one said a word, and a few of the players — Jeff, Kumatora and Ness, all gave death glares at the sky... if that was even possible.

"No? Tough crowd... well, the audience loves drama and angst, don't they? So perhaps this is good after all — I know some of our investors have been looking for some angst. What is it they say — conflict is the soul of drama?"

"Okay, nah, I gotta butt in here — is this all this is?! Are we literally just playing this goddamn game for a bunch of people to watch this and find fun? We're freaking real people here!" Kumatora shouted. "You know, we're not just robots — we've got emotions and all!"

"Speak for yourself..." the Masked Man muttered.

Kumatora winced, but didn't say anything.

"Yes. You are all real people. You all have emotions which deserve to be respected. And you also all signed an agreement stating you agreed for this to be televised. Or did you skip that part? A word of advise for you all — it pays to not skip the fine print.

And for the record, it's not like any of your issues are all that significant in the grand scheme of things. For instance, we have Ness and Lucas here worried about something they can't even control — so why even bother worrying?"

"Because it's something terrifying that could literally ruin our lives?!" Ness said.

"And we have Kumatora and the Masked Man worried because of a slight lapse in thinking."

"A lapse which could very well be indicative that I am not at all safe, and am still the same person who was Porky's slave!" the Masked Man said impassioned — and that passion made Lucas feel assured that he wasn't the same person at all. He was trying to be different.

"And then we have Jeff and Ana at odds with each other because Jeff accidentally insulted her religion. I mean, really? Is that such a big deal?"

"You did WHAT?!" Ninten said, looking like he was about to throw hands with Jeff — definitely would pay to see that, but I am the host and I have responsibilities...

"Save it for the Minigames, Ninten. Point is, I don't think this is anywhere near as bad as you all think it is, and all these disputes and issues are just a simple case of teenagers being idiots."

There was a silence in the area, before Ana broke it.

"Somehow... I don't think we're the issue," she said.

"Yeah, I think you're the issue!" Kumatora said.

And suddenly, there was an eruption of chaos, as everyone started shouting, all hurling insults at me.

Don't electrocute them all... don't electrocute them all...

But then, Ness had this to say. "I was telling Lucas this earlier, but I think everyone else needs to hear it — this guy works with Pokey! How can you trust anyone like that?!"

Immediately, everyone froze in terror as they heard what must have been the most terrifying sound they heard, the kind of sound you'd hear in Hell, if you were to ask Ana for her opinion, a sound which shattered through their minds.

"... in case you were wondering, that was my scream. How did I develop that — you don't want to know. I was just trying to be NICE. I don't even get paid anything to do this — I literally only did this because I was bored, and I did it all for free! And all I get is a bunch of teenagers insulting me left and right? FUCK!"

...

"... I'm sorry, I... I lost my temper there. Let's... let's just do the goddamn Minigame. Two teams need their colours decided... we'll spin for Prissy Predictors first."

The roulette appeared and spun, landing on blue.

"And now for Brutal Battlers..."

But this time, red. Not again...

"Oh, for the love of... I'm so sick of these 1 vs 3 Minigames! Let's just get it over with..."

The roulette of images appeared, landing on an image depicting a red and blue vending machine.

"Coin-op Bop? I... have literally nothing. Nothing at all. Let's just play."

When they reappeared, they were inside a casino like room, though there were only two things of note — a set of machines. There were two of them, with a hatch on the bottom for things to come out of and a basket to collect them. The one on the left was red, and the right one was blue, each also having Sprinting Bombs at the top — one for the red, and three for the blue.

"This is Coin-op Bop, and as the name might suggest, this is a Coin Minigame."

"Like the first one we had?" Lucas asked.

"Indeed."

"God, that one was boring though! Please tell me this one is more exciting," Ness said.

"... marginally so. But, you should all do your best, for it's an opportunity for you all to earn Coins. So how do you get them? Well, you see those vending machines there? The one player will control the left one and the three players control the right.

Both teams must input a series of buttons into their vending machines — successfully doing so will cause the machine to spit out 3 coins into the baskets on the side, then you'll get a new series of buttons to input. Rinse and repeat for 30 seconds — once the time limit's over, the number of coins each side earned is the number of coins I'll give each team. 3 players, I'll triple the number of coins you earned, so if you earned 12 coins by the end, each team will get 12 coins."

"So... what buttons do we use anyway? I don't see any on the machines," Lloyd said.

"A good question. See those controllers?"

Everyone's attention was diverted to something they hadn't noticed — a set of purple controllers, connected to the vending machines by wires. The red one had a single one connected to it, but the blue one had three.

Ninten headed up to the blue machine, picking one up and examining in awe.

"Man, what are these? Hold on, there's a name here... Nintendo GameCube? The hell is that? Jesus, look at all these buttons! It's like 10 times as many as the NES!"

"NES? It's more buttons than on the SNES," Ness said.

"Wait, what's a SNES?" Ninten asked.

"Huh? Oh wait, you guys are from '88. Yeah, Nintendo releases the SNES in like, 91."

Kumatora pulled Lucas and the Masked Man to one side, whispering to them, "You guys got any idea what they're talking about?"

"I'm clueless," Lucas said.

"As am I... though I recall seeing strange devices like those in Porky's room on occasion. Perhaps those were it?"

"Never heard of a GameCube though..." Ness continued. "Maybe that's like a thing they make in the future?"

"Urgh, that dreadful company keeps on going?" Jeff groaned. "And here I was hoping they'd go bankrupt after the SNES..."

"Yeah, that ain't happening, pal," Ninten scoffed. "I mean, who's gonna stop them?"

"SEGA? At least their games have better graphics."

Ninten laughed. "What? The Master System was a flop, dude! It was so bad, it only sold in Foggyland! Guess that explains why you like it. And don't get me started on this 'Genesis' thing — I mean, how egotistical do you gotta be to name something after the beginning of the universe itself?!"

"When did you start caring about religion, Ninten?" Ana said.

"Easy! When it helps me make a point." Ninten said it jokingly, but it wasn't the right time to make one, for it instantly set off Ana.

"Don't bring religion into your... your petty arguments!" she shouted, storming off in a huff.

"Oh, great job, Ninten!" Lloyd said. "Right, neither of you go near Ana," he said, going off to make sure he was okay.

"But... but it was just a joke!" Ninten stammered.

"It was very funny." Jeff said sarcastically. "You should become a comedian."

"Hey, you got some nerve saying that!" Ninten said, turning to Jeff. "What did you say earlier to upset Ana, anyway?!"

"We... were talking about some things, and I said that it seemed like she was trying to pursue this ideal of being perfect, both against her will and to her detriment and she said she had to, because it's what her religion said she had to. And I... I said she was putting too much faith into something she didn't know was real or not." he said regretfully.

Ness winced, as Ninten shook his head. "Dude, you crossed a line."

"A line? I regret the way I said it, but I don't regret what I actually said. I'm a scientist — it's my job to question, not blindly accept!"

"Then keep it to yourself! You know, if you ain't got anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

"Okay, okay!" Ness said. He could sense a fight was about to break out. "Let's not fight here. That won't do anyone any good."

"Alright, fine. Just... don't make her sad again. Or I'll... I'll kick your ass," Ninten said, trying to sound cool, and failing miserably.

"Honestly, I don't think you'd need to. I suspect Ana's perfectly capable of doing that herself," Jeff replied.

That got a slight smile from Ninten. "Yeah, you're not wrong about that... aw man, I went kinda nuts there, didn't I? Listen, I'm —"

"Are we done now?! Am I allowed to actually finish?! No? Too bad, I'm continuing anyway! To answer your earlier questions, the Nintendo GameCube is a console that will be released by Nintendo in 2001, as the successor to the Nintendo 64 — the successor to the SNES, before you ask. As you may guess, Porky has invested in their business, due to cheating with time travel to know how successful they would be.

Nintendo actually sponsored this event, thinking the idea of a board game like this might actually be a good idea for a video game. In exchange for allowing them to do so if they find the concepts good, and beta testing these controllers for them, they gave us a very generous amount of money.

Back to this then — you'll use these controllers to make inputs — ignore the sticks and the D pad, you'll only need the buttons. Specifically: A, B, X, Y, L and R. The one player will receive a sequence of five buttons, and must input them in order to get a set of coins. The three players must each input one button each, one after the other. However, the order in which they need to buttons in is random, and there is a slight delay between when one player puts a button in and the next one appearing.

For both teams, the actual buttons you will get are random, so don't bother looking for patterns. Something to note though — if any person presses a wrong button, one of the bombs up there will fall down onto you, temporarily stunning you. Which leads into my piece of advice for this Minigame — be quick with your inputs, but being precise is far more valuable. Right, pick your players, and if it's not too much to ask, try not to break into another fight."

The teams broke up into their groups, near their respective vending machines. Over at the red one, Kumatora and the Masked Man were considering the situation.

"So... which of us shall play this?" the Masked Man asked.

"I think you need a bit of time after that last one."

The Masked Man quietly said, "... you noticed then. You're scared."

"Yeah. I'm not gonna lie to you — I'm a bit scared. But not about you."

"Why?"

"We can talk after — we got this to with deal first."

"Very well. Do your best."

As for the other three teams, deciding who was going to play was fairly easy... after the initial hurdle.

"Alright..." Ana said. "I think for this... Ninten, could you stop staring daggers at Jeff?"

"What? Sorry, force of habit."

"A habit you developed this turn..." Jeff muttered.

"You're not making things better," Ana said to him. "Anyway, what I was saying is, since this game pretty much requires us to play it like a video game, I think we should pick people who are good at them."

"Well, I'm up then," Ninten said. "Unless you wanna try, Lloyd?"

"No, you're the expert here," Lloyd said in clear surrender.

"I think Ness should play for us. I mean, I've never played a single video game in my life," Lucas said.

"Wait, really?!" Ninten said.

"They don't exist then."

"Dang... that sucks," Ness said. "Either way, I'm cool playing this."

"Then as for us..." Ana started, then stopped.

"You should play," Jeff said.

"What? I'm... I'm really not good at these sort of things."

"Perhaps, but... I'm not exactly keen to work with something who just said they'd beat me up."

Ninten flinched. "Again, sorry about that. I overreacted."

"It's fine," Jeff said. "I accept your apology, but still... I don't exactly want to work with you so soon."

"Fair enough..." Ninten sighed.

"Alright, I'll play then," Ana said. "I'm... not sure I'll do well, but I'll give it a go."

"You're all done? Good. All participants, take your positions, and grab your controllers."

Kumatora stepped up to her red vending machine, while Ninten, Ana and Ness went to the blue one, grabbing the dangling controllers.

"On the count of three, you may begin inputting buttons. 3... 2... 1... START!"

The panels on the front of the left vending machines opened up, showing a sequence of five
buttons for Kumatora to input — B, Y, A, B, R. As for the team of three, Ness's panel opened, showing a Y.

However, it quickly turned out there were some difficulties on both sides, mainly since Kumatora and Ana had never touched a controller in their lives, let alone one as complex as a GameCube controller.

Insert funny sexist joke about girls not being good at games — I can't be bothered to think of one myself. I'd probably get cancelled if I did that actually... can I get cancelled? Is it possible for a magical voice in the sky to fall victim to cancel culture? These are the real questions.

... oh yes, Minigame. Neither Kumatora or Ana were familiar with how controllers worked — the former because she'd never seen a video game in her life, and the latter because she'd never touched a video game in her life. So, there were many bombs dropping down onto both of them, much to Ninten and Ness's chargin for Ana.

However, Kumatora managed to get used to it surprisingly quickly, inputting button combinations at a decent speed once she'd gotten to grips with it, but Ana wasn't so lucky, holding her team back more.

By the time the clock hit zero, Kumatora had amassed a total of 12 coins, while the team of three had earned only 9.

"It appears you're all not too good at these Coin Minigames... well, it is what it is. Kumatora, I'll give your team 12 coins. Ninten, Ana and Ness, I'll give each of your teams 9 coins. That's the end of this Minigame... but we're not quite done yet. It'll be the 10th turn after this, so... it's time to reveal what the second Bonus Star will be."

A roulette appeared in front of them all, with all the previous Bonus Star icons on it, minus the pair of shoes. It spun and spun, until it landed on... the M.

"Ah, so that means the next Bonus Star will be the Minigame Star! The Bonus Star is awarded to the team who earns the most coins in all the Minigames, except Duels. Kinda sucks you all didn't do well now, right? But hey, if getting Coins wasn't a good incentive for you to win Minigames, maybe this will be. Let's get back to the board."

Meanwhile, in Porky's lair, Hinawa was busy at work, the brunette cheerfully taking out a tray of cookies, fresh from the oven. At least someone's happy.

She then placed a different tray in the oven, setting a timer for fifteen minutes, before getting a watering can and filling it up.

"Ah, the great cookie bake off continues! How many batches does that make then?"

"That's the second one!"

"And who's this one for?"

"Lloyd... that poor boy."

"Ah, I take it you heard about his mother."

"Yes, it's sad to hear..." she said with a sigh. "I hope she makes a recovery, and I wish her the best of luck in that."

"She'll need it. I estimate her chances of living past 5 years stand at a shaky 30% if she doesn't get the treatment she needs. Not the worst odds, but certainly not ones I'd be comfortable betting on.

And what is with people's mothers all having depressing lives or fates? I mean, we got Lloyd's mother being seriously ill, Ana's probably has PTSD from being kidnapped by aliens, Jeff and Kumatora's mothers both died when they were infants, and I don't think we need to go into depth about you. Oh, and of course, Tom! Damn, I still need to write that card..."

"Life always has its fair share of tragedies,"
she said, moving to a patch of flowers she had and starting to water them — no prizes for guessing what kind.

"You can say that again..."

"But, it can also bring great things with it."

"I find it hard to believe that Lloyd's mother dying is going to bring anything great to him. Barring a sudden financial windfall, she's pretty screwed, and it's not like money just falls out of the sky... hold on."

"You can do that, can't you?"

"Well... materialising stuff isn't something I can do, so summoning money's out, but robbing Porky of it is definitely doable..."

"And you're thinking about it."

"I'm trying to repress the urge to."

"Why would you do that?"

"Well, I have absolutely nothing to gain by doing so, and the desire to help someone for no benefit of your own is a showing of empathy. A rather high one at that. Kinda goes against the whole trying to be a sociopath thing."

"... why would you want to be that?"

"You're an empath, so let's put that to the test. First question, what happens when you are nice to someone, and they're nice back to you?"

"Well... you'll like each other, you'll want to see more of what they're like, and you'll grow to form a bond with them."

"Exactly — you'll form a bond. Or in other words, an attachment. Now, second question — what do you feel when someone you're attached to dies?"

"That's... a very grim question. It's hard to say... everyone processes death differently, and it depends on how close you were to them. Some people bottle it all up, which isn't good for them, and others... others lash out in the worst ways. That's what... Claus did. And..."

She placed her watering can down, staring out of the window for a moment.

"It's never good to hide that you're hurting. It only just leads to worse things..."

"Pain. Loss. Sadness. All of those things are inevitable. And I am immortal. I'd go into every bit of attachment knowing it's going to end very quickly, relative to my lifespan, and have to deal with that loss forever. So... I have to ensure I don't get close to anyone. And the best way to do that is to suppress all of my empathy — or in other words, become a sociopath."

"You're trying to suppress your own conscious?"

"Trying is the word, I fear. Failing seems more accurate, if a showing of empathy is bursting free from me. But apart from that singular slip up, I think I'm doing excellently."

Hinawa gave a small smile, before continuing to water her flowers. "I hate to say it, but if you're trying to suppress your empathy, you're not doing a good job of it."

"What? One slip up is one too many, but... perfection takes time."

"Oh, I think you've hard more than one slip up." she said, her smile growing wider. "How about giving Ana those bottles of water for her headaches? Or helping someone become stronger and more confident — Tom, wasn't it? Or in general being nicer to all these children than you strictly need to be? And I know you might say that's all part of your job, but I'll give you one that wasn't — making these cookies with me."

"You're right... I'll simply have to try harder. Seal every crack there is. The only issue is, the whole immortality thing has left me incredibly bored. That's why I'm doing this whole hosting thing. But... once the party ends, then so does the fun. And I'm back where I began. I'll be as bored as before. The classic issue of being a sociopath."

"Have you considered that maybe the solution to your boredom is... people? People are what make life worth living. If you avoid everyone, you'll be bored and unhappy with everything. You might find ways to try and make yourself happy outside of people, but... none of them would truly compare."

"I see... so what you're saying is, I need to use people for their entertainment, without getting attached to them. Walk along the thin tightrope."

"No, that's not what I'm saying at all. Why are you scared of getting attached to people?"

"Because you get hurt when the people you're attached to die. And... I don't want to be hurt."

"Is that why you're scared? Have you lost someone you cared about?"

"I'm not that stupid to try getting involved with anyone while holding such an ideology. No, I've never had anything like a child, partner or close friend. But I have seen that pain before. The night of your funeral, Hinawa — not something you'd remember, but it was one of the most painful nights in your village. I've seen it happen in many different timelines, with slight differences, but the one constant is this — an absolute pain and heartbreak from all parties close to you.

And even as someone completely detached from it all... I still felt a small measure of that pain. So I can only ask this — what would happen if I was actually attached to you? Or anyone really? I would feel that pain. I refuse to feel that pain. And I will do anything to avoid it. But... I'm already failing there, aren't I? Because I'm going to miss you once this ends."

"Thank you. I'm glad to hear I was able to brighten up your life!"

"I don't! I'm trying to lose kindness and empathy, not gain it!"

"But you are. Otherwise, you would have done something different to everyone before, wouldn't you? When it was the end of this turn, and everyone was blaming you for things."

"Oh, yes. That was... something. I did still lose my temper though and swear at all them — I can't imagine you're particularly pleased with me doing that in front of your sons."

"No, I understand. Sometimes, it happens and... we can't control ourselves."

But then, she looked down at the floor for a moment, and slightly blushed. "Besides, I can't deny that I've... also fallen to similar things a few times."

"Oh, yes — that incident with Pusher and that potted plant. Never apologise for that."

She sighed again. "It still wasn't my best moment... but my point is, you could have done worse."

"You mean electrocute them all? Oh, it was very tempting. But you could sense I was going to do that? Interesting... you're developing a lot faster than I thought, even when taking your ludicrous potential into account. But back to the point — what does that prove exactly?"

"Before, you were very quick to do that to Ness. But then, you apologised for it. And when the chance came again for you to do something similar, you didn't. You stopped yourself. That's kindness and empathy."

"Ah yes, not doing the immediate thing a psychopath would do — a fine display of kindness there. Knowing you, you'd probably praise Porky for deciding to merely kill a person as opposed to torture them. Really, Hinawa, I think you should stop giving people gold medals for basic acts of decency."

"It's not what you did that I'm specifically encouraging, although I'm not saying you shouldn't do more of it! It's your growth. Every step someone takes to making themselves better should always be encouraged."

"Even if it's a small one?"

"Especially if it's a small one. You have to learn to walk before you run. Every step you take should be celebrated. The way I like to think of every person is like a sunflower — if you give a sunflower the love and care it deserves, it'll blossom into something beautiful.

But... you have to be patient with it. It doesn't just grow at once, it grows little by little. And if you're not attentive enough, it'll start to wilt."

"And then it'll die. Or, in the case of us, it'll turn into something corrupt, malevolent and unfeeling."

"Not exactly," she said, pointing to a sunflower that was a little under the weather. "Even if a sunflower wilts, it can still be saved. You might need to work harder than before, but that's no reason to give up. And who's to say... you're not any different from that? A wilting sunflower who just needs some help to regain their former grace."

"Or maybe... a grace never seen before. You're rather wise about these matters."

"I'd like to think of so!" she said, having finished watering her flowers and washing her hands. "I've grown many sunflowers, including two of the brightest ones I could ask for as a mother."

"Yes... yes, you have. And for the first time in my life, I think I may regret the fact that I never had anyone there to water me, so to speak."

"You don't have a mother?" she said, clearly shocked. It was funny in a way.

"... no, I have never had one. I thought that would be obvious. I sort of just spawned in the universe one of these days. I can only imagine that God, or whoever's up there with their sadistic little smile just went into Blender one of these days, messed around until they made something, saved the file as narrator.obj, then dumped me into the recycling bin they call the universe. So, here I am."

"That's... that's sad."

"Oh, it's not too bad! Can't miss what you've never had — huh, that rhymed. Although, I suppose I am starting to miss that now."

"Well, I suppose I could be like one to you."

"... I appreciate the gesture, but that sounds beyond creepy given the monumental age difference between us."

"If you don't mind me asking... how old are you?"

"Good question."

"... and?"

"And I don't have an answer. Stopped keeping count when I got into the millions."

"Millions?!"

"Once I got there, it felt impractical to keep count. I mean, the difference between 35 and 49 is big, but the difference between 3,739,738 and 5,235,633 isn't — even though in both cases the difference is 1.4 times, it doesn't really matter in the second case because they're both already big numbers.

Point is, I've been around a while and I don't think I'll be going anywhere anytime soon either. And anyway, I don't think good children exactly beat their parents up, even if for training. Speaking of which — on your left, Hinawa!"

"What —"

But Hinawa wasn't fast enough to dodge, block, or otherwise avoid the beam of light that came hurtling towards her body on the left, and it sent her flying across the room, though I telekinetically stopped her before she hit a wall, gently placing her down.

She frowned, before saying, "That wasn't very nice."

"But it was absolutely hilarious."

"Finding fun in of other people's misfortune isn't a very empathetic thing," she replied, in the same manner she might have used when Lucas and Claus were younger and she was scolding them — oh, so this is what it feels like to be scolded... huh. It's... nice.

"What can I say? I'm not going to completely change in a day, am I? Baby steps, as you said, and besides — you're not hurt. No harm done, right?"

"Well, that's true. But, I wouldn't make a habit out of it."

"No, perhaps not."

And then, the alarm. God, I hate that stupid thing.

"It appears duty calls — or rather, a sunflower who's wilted beyond helping."

"I hope you can keep your patience with him."

"Well, I have no choice to — I can't attack him. Still, it's a matter of not getting enraged... Hinawa?"

"Hm?"

"... I enjoyed making cookies with you."

The timer dinged, as she took out the next batch of cookies with a smile. "I did as well."

Let's see what Porky wants then... he was sitting in his room, with a myriad of consoles that he'd brought... oh, who am I kidding — a myriad of consoles that he'd stolen from different timelines, currently playing with a... SNES. Huh, I always took him for someone who enjoyed high quality graphics.

"What do you want?"

He put down his controller, before saying, "A report, of course."

"Why do I even have to give these to you? I mean, you watch the entire game — don't you know what's going on? As you've probably seen, everyone's turned out fairly miserable."

"Which is great! Seeing everyone wallow in misery is so fun! Finally, the despair of this party is coming."

"I suppose you're displeased with our main Minigame for this turn though."

"Are all our Coin Minigames this boring?" he groaned. "It's as boring as listening to Fassad!"

"We've got better ones — for instance, Coin Cache is a free for all, and Vicious Vending mandates a loser. Still, it'll be interesting to see how everyone competes in the future now that the Minigame Star is one of the Bonus Stars."

"It's always good to see the idiots fight harder! Speaking of fights, I was happy with that Duel Minigame."

"Oh? I thought you'd be displeased the Masked Man didn't win."

"He didn't lose, which is the important thing. Besides, he tied to Ness, which I can forgive. I would hate to see a hair on his pretty little head hurt! Plus, that other Minigame gave us some glorious advertisement."

Porky examined his controller carefully, hatching an idea. "People back in my time used to call video games the filth of society, because it could control their lives. Maybe I'll introduce it to New Pork City, so I can subject everyone further to their life of misery! They'll all be so focused on that, no one will think of going against me!"

... yeah, he's definitely wilted beyond helping.

"Have fun with that then. In the meantime, I'm going to take my leave."