Things Fall Apart

Free Kingdom; Flower Island

The citizens of Flower Town used to live in oppression of a corrupt shogun, but said shogun fled the moment aliens entered their atmosphere and ravaged the town. The citizens would cry out in terror as an enormous hand emerged from the sky and tore out the town with humongous nails. The feudal Japanese Historians were forced to share territory with people of the outside, modern universe. However, the town itself was rather beautiful, with colorful feudal buildings, the center palace situated atop a small mountain of waterfalls, and a tall, thin tree arched over it like a "?".

Maria, Louise, and Cheadle (wearing Moonshades) were hidden in an alley when they received the call. Louise had gone into a Paint Portal, and shortly jumped out. "It's true. Sasuke erased all the other portals! We're lucky we weren't in there when he came through the first time."

"So, our element of surprise is ruined." Cheadle said. "I hope backup arrives soon because there's no escape from here on out. On the bright side, tonight's a full moon, so I'll be able to challenge Sasuke in my Primal Fury."

"But if he uses that black fire, we'll have no way to put it out." Maria replied worriedly. "Unless Diwata can get here in time…"

"In any case, that man will return any moment, so we have to search for Peach. I'll trust you girls to lead the way." The chancellor sought refuge in the Infi-Cube.

"Dogmom-in-a-Box is my lucky charm!" Maria pressed the cube to her cheek.

"Hey, Maria… does it feel a bit colder to you?" Louise asked, rubbing her hands.

"Hmm… I guess so." Maria began to feel a mild chill. "Maybe we're flying over the arctic?"

"Skaios uses his airbending to keep these towns within their respective normal temperature, no matter where we are. Flower Town has 'cool' weather, but… it's getting colder…" Louise glanced up at the night sky, seeing no clouds. "Hmm… something strange is happening. We'd better get moving." (Play "Pianta Village" from Mario Sunshine!)

Stage 33: Flower Island

Mission: Rescue Queen Peach and apprehend Sasuke.

The sisters walked out into an open part of the street, seeing a person kneeled on a platform and playing the shamisen, with three Monokumas dancing in Mexican clothes. "Way to not get into the culture." Louise remarked, shooting the middle Kuma in the red eye. The others ripped the heads off their maracas to reveal knives, ninja-leaping around the girls to slice them. Louise blocked one's attacks with her staff, swiping Shock Goop against it for brief attacks until it was destroyed. Maria evaded the last one's knife before the robot tripped, allowing her to Ground Pound it.

The shamisen-player expressed their gratitude by strumming a different tune, growing three giant flowers at the edge over a trenched river. The girls each picked a flower and allowed it to carry them over the river. They were steadily sinking, but by whirling around, the flowers would gain some altitude at the cost of some petals. The river was making a slight turn right, so they steered that direction and used another up-boost. There was only enough petals left for one more boost, so they used this last boost to reach a platform with more flowers. Their journey would carry them up a sloped part of river, and though a gentle breeze would allow them to progress up faster, they would have to use their spins wisely lest they splash into piranha water.

Once up the river, the two landed on the shore of a flower garden, butterflies fluttering freely. Maria beamed as she allowed one of the adorable bugs on her finger. Surely, this means the butterfly has acknowledged her as pure of heart. "Maria, don't touch that-!" Cheadle called from the phone; the butterfly suddenly inflated like a balloon and shaped into a bomb, the girl jumping away from the explosion. It would seem that all these flies were ninja traps. Sadly, a magic barrier trapped them in this garden, and they needed three keys to escape. The girls poked each of the different butterflies to see which were the keys; one transformed into a coin, another became a kunai that cut Louise, but they managed to find the keys.

They crossed a small bridge to another garden. "Hey!" Maria yelped, the girls dancing as tiny blades were cutting through their shoes. "Girls, there are Minish under the flowers, they're using swords!" They could barely notice the Mininjas zipping around the flowers, so Louise painted Lava Goop in the ground to give them less room. They stomped and kicked their feet enough until the Minish were down. Past this garden, they would have to travel upriver by bouncing Propeller Buds. The buds would open and close, so they had to bounce on them while open, and each flower would propel them in the air, the girls rotating as they drifted to the next ones. They progressed along with the river flow, but noticed one of the buds was drifting away as well.

The path would continue on a shore to their left, but they floated quickly to catch up with the moving bud, and could use it to propel onto a tall platform with a caged prisoner. He was a Mobian-Avalaran dog named Ya Pi, and he appeared to be in a Genjutsu trance. The girls broke open his cage and let him rest in the Infi-Cube. They used an available bud to float them to the main path, seeing the palace not far in the distance. Louise rubbed her hands for more warmth, her eyes perked in curiosity when a snowflake touched her nose. The two viewed around when they realized gentle flurries begun to drift over the area.

"But there ain't a cloud in the sky." Louise noticed. "What is this… snow?" They would continue down a hill with this question on their mind, Maria's arms spread as she giddily trotted down faster. The base of said hill was the shore of another river, but when Maria stepped on a paper seal, a circle of hands sprouted up and threw kunai, the Hat Kid jumping in the nick of time. A bridge was available for crossing the river, and a very skinny ninja was guarding it. When the two set foot, the ninja used waterbending to make two streams flow up from the river into his body, inflating himself as he charged to push them away with the force of a sumo wrestler.

If Louise tried to use paint, the sumo would wash it away with bending. The two searched along the shore to see if any of the traps would have a power-up, though they did find a chest out of the ordeal. It was then they noticed a vine wall under the edge, leading under the bridge. Maria climbed along it and discovered a hidden Mushroomian Sumo Suit. She returned up and put it on, the suit magically inflating to give Maria the width of a sumo. "For the record, my body is still the same, it's just the suit!" she informed her sister. "Okay, Louise? Hehe…"

With this, she could charge across the bridge and lock arms with the sumo, wrestling before hauling him into the river, leaving the piranhas to punish him. The following area was a straight path, in which a giant flower was blowing a strong gust of wind to keep them from advancing. There was a large block that could protect them from the wind, and Maria used her sumo strength to push it along. The sail atop the block would cause it to steadily push back, so Maria had to keep going back and charging to keep advancing the block. She was able to bring it to the end, the block pressing a switch that disabled the fan.

The duo progressed to a golf course area, where Maria had to sumo-charge giant acorns into holes. Brambles would block the way unless they played the game. Maria gave the first acorn a strong shove, and it bypassed the brambles to go in the hole. The brambles sank, and Maria would have to hit the next acorn across some moving platforms, waiting until they were aligned to make her move. The 3rd hole had four rotating flower-fans on the sides, meant to steer the acorn astray, and it took a few attempts before Maria was able to succeed. The 4th hole was on a rotating ground with the acorn in the center, so it took good timing on Maria's part to push it in.

After a successful game of golf, the sisters were able to advance toward the "?" tree. By this time, Maria's power-up wore off, the girl deflating back to normal form. She was nimble enough to jump the branch/platforms up the tree. The platforms would stretch higher, requiring the two to Wall Jump off the trunk to reach them. Ninjas peeped out of some branches and shot crossbows, Louise retaliating with her pistol. They reached a platform with more Hover Flowers, each picking one up and spinning to elevate their selves. "Whooooaa!" A sudden gust carried them away from the tree, the air growing much chillier as snow fell heavier.

"There is nothing natural about this snow!" Louise shouted. "Is there a ninja who knows icebending?!" Though rather than ponder this, their first concern was getting back to the tree. The wind was winding them around the palace itself, as if giving them a tour, but the roof was becoming covered in snow. Luckily, the wind returned them to the opposite side of the tree, dropping off on a safe platform. There was a wood swing hanging by long vines, so Maria did like she did at Towa City and began to build momentum on said swing! She struggled to get high enough to reach a floating giant dandelion, but with a push from Louise, she was able to fly up and grab it. The dandelion sank with her weight, so she quickly swung to the next, and one more before landing on a platform.

She pushed a switch that made Propeller Buds emerge from the trunk. Maria could return to Louise's platform, the two advancing ever higher thanks to the flowers, Maria purring like a helicopter as she spun. "Maria, I'm sensing a prisoner around the other side." Cheadle alerted. Rather than continue up the flowers, Maria flew the opposite way around the tree, discovering an opening. This small, dark room contained a blonde man in a zebra-striped shirt, stuck to the bark via daggers and in a Genjutsu trance. Maria pulled the daggers off and contained Dagger in the Infi-Cube.

The sisters landed on a path outside the curve of the "?". They followed it around the right and located a giant sakura petal at the end. The petal was aimed at the top of the palace, where the Sky God flagpole stood. They were meant to surf toward the Goal on this petal, shifting it up or down appropriately to keep momentum. The girls sat on the petal like an amusement park ride, though as they surfed the air, other ninjas came riding on their own petals, trying to ram them. The sisters evaded the Sakura Surfers and arrived at the flagpole, replacing the flag with their gold Jolly Roger. Afterwards, the girls landed in the snow. (End song.)

"Brrr, it's getting inside my shoes!" Louise complained. "Dammit, Skaios, control your weather better!"

"Ah, it seems you girls are right on time." The two gasped and whipped around to find Sasuke himself, holding someone in his arm.

Cheadle jumped out of the Cube, gasping: the boy in his arm was Cheren. "Maria, isn't that your leader?!"

"Y-Yeah! What have you done to him?!"

"He's only unconscious. I couldn't let this 'guest of honor' kick the bucket." Sasuke summoned a Shadow Clone to take Cheren and leap to the tree, making its way to the part of the "?" above the roof, where the clone would tie Cheren to a branch. "But I assume you're here to save the Mushroom Queen."

"Are you still trying to brainwash Peach and the other prisoners with your insane 'freedom' philosophy?" Cheadle asked. "Your anarchist ways will never reach their hearts, so why waste your time?"

"If only you had bothered to stick around." Sasuke chortled. "I've grown above Skaios' petty ideals. What I'm trying to do is something more-?!" A fearsome, chilly wind suddenly blew around Sasuke, as if trying to envelop him in snow, and he was forced to surround himself in fire to melt it. "Wait a minute…" He sensed a force within the snow and blew fire at it.

"YAAAAAHHH!" Suki Crystal emerged from the snow, the rear of her skirt catching fire as she ran about frantically. Her solution was to sit herself in the snow and chill her rear. "Owie…"

"Suki?!" Maria exclaimed.

"Another operative?" Louise asked.

"Kind of? She's a powerful icebender; I guess all this snow must've come from her."

"You're one of the girls that Kokichi captured, aren't you?" Sasuke asked. "Leave it to that idiot to let you escape."

Once her pain was cooled, Suki donned a determined glare, stood firmly, and pointed, "And YOU'RE the evil ninja man! You beat up Sister-chan's boyfriend!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Looks like I'll have to send all of you back to the play pen."

Cheadle threw her glasses off, her eyes absorbing the light of the full moon. In seconds, her eyes shone red, and her fur became white as the snow around her, all four of her extended claws clasping the ground. "I'm taking Peach back! I won't let you escape this time."

"WAAAH!" Suki fell on her rear and scooted away. "Werewolf!"

"Suki, wait! She's friendly!" Maria yelled. "She'll help you defeat the ninja man! Th-Think of her as a… reindeer!"

Suki's mouth became an 'o', her love for Christmas triggered. "A REINDEER SPIRIT! Wait'll Sister-chan sees this!"

"How annoying." Sasuke remarked. "Time to get rid of you brats once and for all." (Play "Boss 1" from Kingdom Hearts III!)

Boss fight: Red Leaf Ninjas Commander, SASUKE UCHIHA

Cheadle made the first move and lunged at Sasuke, the ninja electrifying his hand in his desire to send a bolt into her mouth—Cheadle sensed this and ducked, Suki shooting an icicle at him, but Sasuke evaded, though this didn't stop Cheadle from biting his leg. Sasuke electrocuted the chancellor, but had to jump away when Suki tried to whack him with a snow-bat. Sasuke focused on Cheadle, but Suki brought up a snow wall in his way, his Amaterasu burning the snow instead. Suki threw it at Sasuke, but he dispersed the flames before they could damage him—Cheadle jumped him from the left, Sasuke leaping away while tossing a kunai, but said weapon shattered in Cheadle's teeth.

Suki conjured a snow-python that gnashed at him from the right, Sasuke blowing a stream of fire to gradually melt it, and he swung a kick at Cheadle's nose when the woman charged at him. Suki shot out of the snow, hoping to slice him with sharpened ice-skates, but Sasuke grasped her leg, holding Suki upside-down and looking her in the eye. Trapped in a Genjutsu, Suki imagined herself falling endlessly inside a rotating box, terribly dizzying the icebender. Sasuke discarded her and leapt in the air to throw a circle of kunai around Suki, Paper Bombs attached. As he expected, Cheadle jumped in to rescue her, so he made a hand-signal and exploded the bombs on both of them.

Cheadle covered Suki and took the full blast of the explosion, and Sasuke tossed a shuriken down to finish the job. Cheadle leapt away with Suki in her arms, but the shuriken was homing in. She was able to grab the large star and throw it back, stabbing Sasuke, but he used Substitution with a log and stabbed Cheadle's back from behind. The dog growled and kicked back at him, but the Shadow Clone disappeared as the real Sasuke focused on her with Amaterasu. Fortunately, a Snow-Cheadle sprouted up to take the blow, for Suki recovered from the Genjutsu. "All I gotta do is make my body chilly and you can't trick me!" Suki declared. (In smart language: Sasuke's power works similar to Aizen's, thus all she needs to do is chill her senses so she can't be affected by his illusions.)

White patches formed on Suki's skin, signaling her decreased temperature, but she was swift enough to ski around Sasuke and launch icicles. He spat fireballs at her in turn, but Suki briefly dissolved into snow, and five Snow Clones rose up to circle and confuse the ninja. This was made worse by the fact Cheadle was zipping circles around as well, her Agility leaving a bunch of afterimages. Sasuke scoffed and decided to burn all the Sukis with Amaterasu, their fluffy bodies falling and melting on the spot, but he could not use the same effect on the Cheadle illusions. "It's time for that dog to calm down." Sasuke glared up at the moon and used copied moonbending to blot out its light, forcing Cheadle's Fury to wear off.

"Ah-!" Her afterimages vanished, the chancellor feeling sudden fatigue—Sasuke lunged at her, but Suki scooped her away with a snow-bulldozer.

"That must be how he found my portals in the first place!" Louise realized. "He copied that one girl's moonbending."

Suki raised giant snow-spatulas and tried to smash them on Sasuke, but another Substitution was used, and he managed to take Cheadle captive. Suki thought quickly and raised a snow pillar to lift them skyward, bypassing the barrier which blotted the moonlight so Cheadle's eyes could be reunited with its glow. She flashed into her Primal form and bit Sasuke's neck, the man enduring and jumping off the platform, only for Suki to catch them on a snow-elevator and lift them back up. Sasuke used Amaterasu, and it was then Cheadle let go and dodged before she could be burned. The use of Amaterasu disabled the Black-Out, so Suki could bring them back to her level. Sasuke whipped his attention at her and used Amaterasu, but only a Snowclone was burned.

Soon after, dozens of giant snowcones began leaping out of the snow, diving headfirst at Sasuke. He was repulsed by all their happy faces as he dodged them, managing this evasion even while countering Cheadle's claw-swipes. Suki popped out of a random cone and slammed the frozen scoop on his head like a basketball, after which Cheadle sank her teeth in his leg. Sasuke leapt away, flying all the way to the bushel of leaves at the very tip of the "?" tree (the tip was lower than the roof). There was a burst of energy as a giant, humanoid mass of purple chi grew from the leaves, armed with a crossbow and arrow. As the Archer Susanoo readied its arrow, Suki quickly gigantified herself into a chubby snowgirl, armed with a cyborg-like snowball cannon.

Sasuke fired first, but Suki willed her upper snowball body-parts to jump, the arrow flying straight past. She blasted snowballs at him in a more rapid pace, his armor steadily cracking. Sasuke pulled back another arrow and launched at the head, which bounced, but he snuck in a smaller arrow that grazed her left waist. Suki endured the pain and kept shooting iceballs, finally breaking an opening in Susanoo's stomach. It was small, but Suki stretched an Ice Road for Cheadle to race across and enter it. Susanoo covered the gap with a hand, but Suki changed her cannon to a fishing hook and launched to grab and pull the hand away. Cheadle entered the body and lay vicious attacks against Sasuke, Susanoo disappearing.

Suki sucked in her "snow-fat" and contributed it to her tongue, stretching it all the way to the branches to wrap Sasuke and slam him into the roof. Cheadle ran up the tree before she could jump down to them, Suki assuming her normal form as Sasuke recovered. He divided into multiple Shadow Clones, and Suki brought up a snow wall, expecting the worst, though instead of setting Amaterasu to the wall, the clones burned the snow before them. Afterwards, they leapt through the black flames, Cheadle grabbing Suki to dodge the clones while the latter shot icicles to poof them. The flames then disappeared when Sasuke created the Armored Susanoo, which took a turtle-like shape.

Susanoo charged at them, but Suki encased herself in a turtle of her own creation. Though its face was smiling cluelessly, icicles adorned its edges, and Suki spun it around before sending it against Susanoo. The icicles shattered instantly, but Suki stayed strong and kept shoving against Susanoo, her overexerted strength able to keep him stationary. This allowed Cheadle to break through the roof and jump out from beneath Susanoo, getting inside and dealing another beat down on Sasuke. Sadly, Sasuke used Substitution with a desk inside the palace, Susanoo disappearing. Sasuke had gone inside and burst out from beneath Suki's turtle, getting inside just the same and electrocuting the child.

However, Suki had created a clone to take her place, dissolving herself into snow, after which she reformed/jumped out and grabbed Sasuke's arm. She froze herself to the arm, her body taking a stiff white form. Sasuke tried to focus Amaterasu, but Cheadle clamped his eyes shut from behind, causing her own hands to catch fire. Sasuke's face burned as well, but he simply dispersed those flames, though she worked to slather the flames around his body before he kicked her away. "AAAH!" Suki was able to snap Sasuke's frostbitten arm clean off him.

"'Guess I'll have to buy those prosthetics after all. But first, you've all tried my patience for the last time." Sasuke leapt 30 meters in the air, another Susanoo forming around him. Another humanoid shape formed from the purple chi, but except for a mask, the "head" was completely composed of lightning, which stretched down to become a sword in its left hand.

"Reindeer Lady, I got an idea!" Suki declared, seating herself in an Ice Sleigh, with ropes attached to Cheadle. "All reindeer need a sleigh!"

"This seems a tad excessive, but I'll roll with it!" Cheadle began to race up an Ice Road that Suki was continuously forming. Indra Susanoo lashed its thunder sword, but Cheadle would sense each attack and turn in the appropriate direction, Suki forming the path as necessary by feeling Cheadle's motions. They maneuvered ever higher until they were level and circling the Susanoo. Soon, they rose to a height where they could dive into the thundering head, Cheadle withstanding the powerful shocking sensation as she forced her teeth into Sasuke's head. Suki created Snowings to fly skyward, watching as the lightning steadily died down with Cheadle's biting.

The ice child froze every ounce of air around her, replacing the moon itself with an enormous, smiling Snow Moon. Though not nearly as big as the actual moon, it dwarfed Susanoo's size, falling as the open "mouth" of the silly moon smashed the monster into the palace. The entire structure was buried in snow, little snowmen of Maria and Louise peeping up and shaking the snow off. Suki used what remained of her strength to make an "ice sculpture" of Sasuke, who was unconscious due to blood loss and the amount of energy exerted while using Susanoo. (End song.)

"Miss Yorkshire!" Maria ran up to the charred and depowered Mobian. The Amaterasu on her hands had faded after Sasuke's defeat.

"I'm… fine…" Cheadle smiled at her, too weak to move her body. "That was… a close one…"

"Phew… We sure owe you one, Suki. But where did you come from? How did you escape?"

"I set her loose, of course~"

The owner of this nasally voice could only be Kokichi, though beside him were Miyuki and Vaati. "Buckle in, Maria." Louise cautioned. "Looks like our battle's just gotten started."

"All in good time." Kokichi smirked. "We can't pass this chance up, though. Miyuki, go and touch Sasuke. Show Vaati your vision."

Miyuki spared him a glare before going to the ninja. She placed a hand to Sasuke's head, her other hand holding Vaati's.

Fast-forwarding through his life, Sasuke had branded himself as a criminal to his homeland, with wanted posters sent all over Termina's Earth. Sasuke had gone into hiding for a few years, but after impregnating Sakura and giving birth to Sarada, he decided to start anew. He found a portal linking to the Hyrule Dimension. After years of wandering and studying the world, understanding what many hardships people endure, nothing brought more happiness than fictional media. And no producer or corporation stood more powerful in that department than Disney.

Sasuke visited Disney Land on Earth and persuaded the officials to get him into contact with the higher-ups. Finally, when the President of Earth's Disney asked him, "If you could meet Mickey Mouse in real-life, in person, what would you say to him?" Sasuke's response was, "I want to establish a peaceful world."

Little did Sasuke know that the mouse king himself was being informed of everything the stranger said and did. Mickey grew curious about this ninja and ordered him to be escorted to his castle. Mickey treated Sasuke to tea and ramen as the man discussed his past and his journey.

"That's certainly a lot to take in, Mr. Uchiha." Mickey smiled, sheepishly scratching his head. "I'm not sure what I should say. But what I can say for certain is you won't be treated like a criminal here-hoho! And I'm flattered you went this far just to meet with me."

"Don't get me wrong. It's not that I have a strong interest in your products or anything." Sasuke replied. "However, your company seems to have a lot of influence. The kind of influence that could certainly bring peace to the world."

"That's my goal exactly! I wish to unite all worlds under one rule and make our peace and happiness a reality. And if peace is what you want, I don't see why we can't work together! I won't make ya do anything embarrassing or nothin'-hoho. Though given your background, I'm certain we can find a place for your skills."

Sasuke spent the next few years undergoing assassination or retrieval missions, taking down underworld criminals that threated Disney or its allied kingdoms. He would also use his Sharingan to brainwash non-allied monarchs, company presidents, or other targets into swearing loyalty to Mickey. Then one day, about a year ago, Mickey hired Sasuke for his most important job, yet.

"The Sky God Pirates?" Sasuke analyzed the newspaper.

"Based on what I learned, these dangerous pirates are 'stealing' a bunch of towns, most of which exist under monarchies."

"Have they taken some of ours? Do you want me to attack them?"

"No, they haven't targeted Disney, yet. On the contrary, Sasuke, I want you to help them."

"Help?"

"I want you to work your way into this crew and help them 'steal' more towns. I imagine all those monarchs and citizens live in fear under those dangerous pirates and are hoping for a savior. If you can do what you always do and 'convince' them to believe Disney will save them, then we'll have more allies before ya know it-hoho! Of course, that's only the first part of my plan. You know about the Pirate Emperors, right?"

"Yes?"

"With how fast these 'Sky God' fellas are building up, I feel like the Emperors will target them eventually. This is when the job will really get tough. If this crew gets any more dangerous, its captain will be labeled an 'Emperor,' and then…"

"King Mickey…" Vaati backed away, this revelation too shocking for his ears. "So, you were planning to backstab us eventually? Ugh…" Vaati cursed himself for not realizing this sooner.

"I told you I wasn't lying, didn't I?" Kokichi asked. "All his talk about being faithful to the Sky Gods was a big lie! But now that we had Miyuki, I knew it wouldn't be hard to prove him guilty. Then we just needed to take him down so we could study him. So yeah, feel free to thank me. For a reward, I'd like control of this island."

"That damn Disney trying to interfere with our war. Once this is over, they're definitely our next target."

"That's a fool's dream." Sasuke spoke, having wakened. "None of you filthy pirates are worthy to rule this universe. Mickey-sama is the future. He will bring forth a new era of peace and union, and people like you will be nothing… uuck!"

With a gentle, yet forceful motion of his hand, Vaati drew the very breath out of Sasuke's lungs. "Aranea was right. Traitors like you are a threat. You've done enough for us, Sasuke Uchiha." Vaati discarded the breath like a withered balloon. Sasuke's head hung limp, dead. "But your corpse can still come in handy, once Nea is back from her errand. For now…" He turned to the others. "I suppose we'll have to lock you up as well. Sorry, Louise."

A group of White Lotus leapt up to the roof. With Suki and Cheadle out of commission, and Louise thinking she couldn't open a portal in time, the girls raised arms. "You really are a bad dad." Louise remarked.

"Vaati!" The Minish turned to a Mockingjay that flew up, which turned into Katniss. "Queen Peach isn't in her cell!"

"What?!"

"All that was in there was this." Katniss held up a paper with a middle finger drawn. "S-Sorry…"

"Did she escape?" Maria asked.

"Peach would never draw something so vulgar!" Cheadle argued. "Someone must have taken her. But who?"

Thousands of feet beneath the island, a speedboat was zooming across the ocean. Kami and Kimaya were sailing away in victory, a sleeping Peach in the back. "Leaving that drawing in there was very unnecessary, Kimaya."

"Hey, if I gotta work for Fathead, I'm gonna have some fun. But seriously, Mom, you ain't really gonna let him have this girl, are you?"

"Well, I wouldn't have to make that choice if you had just revived yourself and escaped!"

"Yeh yeh, you always gotta be blamin' stuff on me."

"Sigh… I don't even know what to do about this whole situation. But once we're back on the ship, I guess Peach is in their hands then."

Santa Hylia

A giddy grin had graced Skaios' face as Monaca had finished debriefing her plan for Mandy's execution. "Oh-ho-ho, that's brilliant, Monaca! That witch will be hearing their laughter all the way from the afterlife!"

"Ufufufu! I knew you would like it, Captain. As soon as we make the necessary preparations, we may be able to execute her tomorrow night. In fact, would you excuse Monaca to collect the most necessary ingredient?"

"Well, don't just sit there! Go on and get what it is ya need!"

"Aye-aye, Captain!" Monaca turned to leave the vessel.

"Captaaaaaaaiiiiin!" The young god turned, confused at the sight of Papyrus zooming up the hall. "C-Captain! Something terrible's happened… A-Aranea is dead!"

"Uh… yeah, so?"

"N-No, what I mean is, her body melted, and I think a Reaper took her!"

"WHAT?! But she was going to help with the execution!"

"Worse than that, all of our zombies just collapsed! It's just me and Sans in our division…?" He gestured to an empty space behind him, only to realize it was empty. "NOW IT'S JUST ME!"

"Still your boney nerves! I broke outta the Underworld once before, I can easily break in and get Nea back. We got nothing to worry abou-"

The captain was interrupted by the blaring of alarms. "All hands on deck! Repeat, all hands on deck! The remnants of the Boogey Pirates are invading! And it appears the Hyruleans are aiding them!"

"GIVE US QUEEN MANDYYYYYY!" Boogey ships were surrounding every island, launching pirates and Hyruleans alike onto the shores. The raging mobs spread like wildfire, for they set flame to every building, car, and plant in their wake. "GIVE US BACK THE QUEEN! GIVE US BACK THE QUEEN!" Orchid Bay was already crumbling at the seams, the local demons terrorized by the invading demons. The mutant animals of Strong Island had engaged the Lynels in battle, the Gorons were bowling down Evermore, and the Zoras were proving to the Inklings whom was the better aquatic species.

Just as Skaios was trying to process this situation, he received a call from Vaati. "Eh, Captain, I know this is a bad time, but something happened with Sasuke-"

"FOR GOD'S SAKE, Vaati, what do I pay you all for?!"

"Th-There's no money in the Free Kingdom, Captain."

"We have a frickin' casino island, OF COURSE THERE'S MONEY! Meta Knight's already taken the Raccoons on a mission, you're the only Commander here!"

"W-What about Aranea?"

"She ran afoul of a Reaper, apparently. Now quit yappin' and do something about these damn demons!"

…

Hearing the announcement placed a smile on Mandy's face. Though she heard nothing within the King's Brig, she could perfectly imagine all the murder and mayhem her people were committing. "It's just like I told Nolan on Halloween: if I'm captured, my crewmen will burn every town until I am freed. Of course, it's my fearbending that helps amplify their emotions."

"Not a bad strategy. I'll be sure to write that down." Nebula remarked sarcastically, chained up in the cell across from hers. "But my operatives work by their own loyalty."

"I guess we'll just have to see who gets rescued first."

En route to Goldpaw

Ashley had untied Cheren from the tree and brought him to Kokichi's ship. After her captain returned, they made the voyage back to Goldpaw. The red of the rising embers was glinting in their eyes, Kokichi savoring the ruin wrought by the Boogey Pirates. The flares cast a mix of red and black over his body. He glanced back at Cheren with a sinister smile, his former leader still unconscious. "Unfortunately, with Sasuke gone, that makes two of our Commanders down. If we lost just one more… I will have no choice, Cheren."

His black-and-red, beaming smile could only belong to a giddy demon. From far away, it almost seemed that his eyes were bleeding. "IT WILL BE TIME TO COMPLETE THE ULTIMATE PRANK! All your deep, dark, and dirty secrets will be revealed to EVERYONE!"