[Mr. Game & Watch]

The Black Market, nowhere else in the Life Sphere will you find a broader collection of scum and villainy. On any other day, one couldn’t so much as cross the street without bumping into a snake oil salesman, but the grime covered sidewalks were devoid of any right minded ne’er-do-well. That was not without good reason. Word on the street was if you had any skeletons in your closet, the Trophy-Lockers would be on the lookout. No enterprising felon was willing to risk their neck for a quick buck.

Any creature left roaming the streets kept a watchful eye on those who pass, keeping their distance whenever possible. Get too close though and you’ll get a sudden show of force. These civilians were certainly not the kind to gather information from.

There was one beacon of light within the dingy district. Captain Falcon’s strikingly saturated colours stood out amongst the dull, making it nearly impossible to miss him. Not to mention that he was no slouch when it came to posture!

The chief of police was stationed at the edge of a boarded up shop, the sign stating that they would re-open once the Trophy-Lockers were caught. He stood pensively, gazing into the nearby alley and the trophy of a wayward citizen that lied within, shrouded by shadow. He would occasionally switch his attention back over to King K. Rool’s Warehouse in the distance, ensuring that he hadn’t been spotted yet.

While it was a faint sight, K. Rool’s Warehouse was bustling. Blame it on the lime green colour of the Kremlings and the uninspired browns of their workshop, it made their operations a bit too easy to spy on. Despite the ever looming threat that consumed the rest of the Black Market, King K. Rool’s agenda was running without so much as a hiccup. Transports came and went; Kremlings were carrying crates to and fro. It was like watching an ant colony at work.

Captain Falcon looked to his wrist, forgetting he didn’t have a watch. Right, he’ll have to consult with Falcon time. The man scrunched his face, as though he was summoning an ethereal figure with only his mental ingenuity. Then, he released. “Ah! They should be here any minute!”

[Maverick Hunter Zero]

Vent was the first on the scene, walking to the rendezvous point and already Megamerged, upon spotting Captain Falcon, he walked over to greet him.

"Captain Falcon I presume? I'm Vent, and I will be assisting with the mission." Vent said calmly, waiting for the other person who was to aid him in the mission.

---

Vent; the ZX MegaMan
HP: 170/170
Shield: 60/60
Status: Ready
Cooldowns:
None

[Coolshaymin]

Kairi walked through the Black Market... expecting the place to be a bit more dangerous or at least full of people trying to sell her things. However, even as she checked her gummiphone to reconfirm the mission, she did not see anyone. Well, if there was any reason to shut down all businesses it was a situation where you could be trapped in a form of stasis forever. Still, she kept her head down and her cat eared hoodie up as she walked to try and avoid attention. Okay, so they were supposed to meet up with the Chief of Police who shouldn't be that far from here.

Looking up for a moment she noticed K. Rool's warehouse. Huh, The Goomba guy was right, they were the only business that was active. That did seem pretty suspicious given everywhere else was closed down. They had to have reason to not be afraid, right? Noticing a man that... stood out and wasn't a crocodile person with another boy, Kairi disappeared from view, briefly turning into light and traveling to Falcon's position to avoid being caught.

"Kairi is reporting for duty sir," she introduced with a salute. She didn't seem to have any weapons on her, since her Keyblade was dismissed, although her gummiphone was still in her hand. The Goomba said that he wanted to track down Waluigi... who wasn't apparently involved higher but.... even then, could she let a criminal run around while they focused on the leader? Even if they stop the big bad, he could still harm people.  She decided to listen to the Police Chief before acting.

Kairi HP: 130 Shield HP: 40 MP: 50 Status: Normal

[Mr. Game & Watch]

Hm, it looks like Falcon time was off by a couple seconds, Captain Falcon might need to recalibrate it next time he comes across a reliable clock.

Regardless, the police chief’s triangular eyes twinkled with delight upon his two recruits’ arrival. They weren’t the same team from last time, but that just meant he has a whole new chance to make some newfound lifelong buds! The man gave them both a firm brotherly shoulder pat in unison, motioning to pull them in closer like they were posing for a group selfie, should they allow it. “Ch-yes! Welcome aboard, my new bros in arms!”

His triangular eyes popped into full circles when his eyes laid on Kairi. “Oh! Sorry, bro-ette!” he corrected upon releasing his grip. It was sort of a knee-jerk reaction considering how HR was really getting on his case about using male terms to refer to his female co-workers. Why could they not accept that everyone was his bro?

The Chief of Police backed off for a moment, putting his stoic, professional face on after adjusting his trademark scarf. He returned a salute to both Kairi and Vent. “Ahem. I’m sure Mayor The Goomba has filled you in on the situation, but we’ve got some new Intel sitting right here” Captain Falcon briefed as he leaned just far enough to the side to reveal the trophied victim in the alley behind him.

From a pouch on his belt, Captain Falcon revealed a small device, about the size of a phone. He proceeded to scan the trophy with a green techno light emanating from the device until it bleeped. “Ah, see this thing says our Mouser friend here has been in this state for under half an hour. That gives our Trophy-Locker ample time to run off, especially if we’re dealing with someone as athletic as Waluigi. On the other hand…” Captain Falcon raised his other hand to reveal a little metallic disk the size of a button battery. The device lights up and projects a miniature hologram of a Dark Cannon. “Neat, huh? I lose these things ALL the time… Anyways, last we saw of Waluigi, he was wielding a modified Dark Cannon. We didn’t even know these things were in circulation, every model from the Subspace Emissary event was locked away in Samus’s Lab. If it’s anything like the old models though, it’ll weigh a ton. So, our culprit may be closer than we think.”

Captain Falcon put both of his gadgets away and shrugged. “Mayor The Goomba wants us to confront King K. Rool first though. I can call in backup to deal with Waluigi, but he’s a slippery one. King K. Rool isn’t much better, but he might humour an audience with you guys over us. He’s always up for a good offer. Although…” Captain Falcon trailed off as he snuck a peek at King K. Rool’s warehouse and the unfaltering rotation of workers passing products back and forth between it and the storage vehicles. “You didn’t hear it from me, but you could always sneak in” he added as he leaned in closer and cuffed the side of his mouth.

"You're the hired help though, up to you."

[Maverick Hunter Zero]

Vent would listen to the briefing from Captain Falcon after Kairi arrived, and he became increasingly more concerned the more he heard, the only way to possibly stop this from spreading to the other more important locales such as the hospital, the Library, Hylia's Grace Academy, and more was to nip this thing in the bud and prevent it from getting more problematic in the long run.

"A modified Dark Cannon? Looks as though this could be dicey if any of us got hit by that thing, we'll have to stay alert." Vent said as he looked at the projection, turning to look at Kairi. "Here's hoping we can get this done, partner." Vent said calmly, a polite nod in Kairi's direction.

---

Vent; the ZX MegaMan
HP: 170/170
Shield: 60/60
Status: listening, and concerned
Cooldowns:
None

[Coolshaymin]

Huh, this police chief sure was friendlier than she was expecting. Incredibly open actually as he patted and brought her closer... Oh, is this the elusive selfie opportunity. Her phone still out, Kairi would move to take a picture with her Gummiphone if Falcon would allow it. Who wouldn't want a picture with their first day meeting the chief of the Life Sphere?

"Bro-ette huh?" she smiled at that... rather silly way of correction, she didn't seem bothered anyway. She looked over to the trophy as he was explaining the new information, looking at the device as well. Some kind of scanner? So this was trophification.... "... So these modified Dark Cannons turn people into trophies and prevent trying to turn them back?" She asked as she looked at the trophy. Who would lock someone in suspended animation like that...

"... Alright, we'll sneak in and see what K. Rool is up to, Captain," she answered. Confronting K. Rool directly had a few too many risks for her if he was involved. Better to take it cautiously until they had a clear cut answer. She honestly wasn't sure what she could offer him anyway. "Yep! Let's both give this our best," she nodded to Vent... ready to Metal Gear some krocs. This could end poorly for everyone if these modified dark cannons started getting spread around.

[Mr. Game & Watch]

Captain Falcon was not one to shy away from a photo-op, so he gladly put on a big goofy grin when Kairi took her selfie. Hopefully the corpse of their new found victim wasn’t in the shot that would certainly put a damper on the general mood of the picture.

Back to the business at hand though, Captain Falcon nodded along with both Vent’s and Kairi’s comments on the modified Dark Cannons. “Definitely steer clear if you see anyone wielding one of those” he added before looking to Kairi “we’ve dubbed it Trophy Locking. At the moment, we don’t have any way to reverse it. Getting our hands on these modified Dark Cannons though, that could give us a huge advantage!”

The man picked up the trophied victim with one hand and clicked a button with his other. Suddenly, the reverberating engine of an F-Zero racer entered the sound stream. What appeared zooming down the street was decidedly not, at least in appearance. It looked as though someone placed a cardboard box over the Blue Falcon and shaped it into a squat cargo vehicle, not dissimilar to the ones that were moving in and out of King K Rool’s warehouse. Captain Falcon placed the victim inside. When he bowed back out of his vehicle, he had a fedora and a trench coat in his hands.

“All right! I’ll call my guys to hunt down Waluigi. I’ll be in the area in case K Rool gets the drop on you” he confidently commanded as he placed the fedora on top of his helmet. He pointed to the warehouse, more specifically the western wing. “If you’re looking for an entry point, some of Bowser’s guys blasted a hole in his warehouse back during the Gang Wars. They’ve patched it up with a bunch of flimsy boards, you could probably tear them off with your own hands.”

As Captain Falcon donned his trench coat, he popped open the canopy of his race car. “As for me, I’ll keep these guys good and distracted for you.” With that, the chief of police hopped into his ride and headed directly down the road to the warehouse.

The duo could easily follow or hitch a ride since he was at cruising speed. On the other hand though, the alley that they stood just outside of allowed them to sneak around to the other side of the warehouse. From what they could see of K Rool’s headquarters from their current position, there were kremlings littered all over the front, the back was still a mystery. All of the trucks were stationed at the front though, so maybe there wouldn’t be any activity in the back. Might be a good idea to scope it out.