[Mr. Game & Watch]

The hour was late and the lobby was bustling with adventurers, all returning from a hard day’s work. Each cloaked and grizzled face had a story behind them, one unique to their struggles in the badlands of Li. Some were scavengers, others were skilled Starvia hunters. Regardless of what business they had on the outside world, they all congregated to the Busy Bee Lobby, grabbing their preferred choice of drink and recounted the plunders of their day. It wasn’t quiet, but it was dignified, like it was routine at this point.

From the Life Sphere entrance, the door chaotically swung open, nearly popping off its hinges from the force. Waddling inside was a short statured man, so sleek and thin that he was literally as flat as a board. It was Mr. Game & Watch, walking as confidently as his squeaking feet possibly could. His big round nose was lifted in the air without a care in the world.

It might have been a couple years since he’d been out in public, but he had no doubts that his accomplishments would speak for themselves. After all, who could forget the fabled hero who defeated the mighty Andross during the first invasion on the Life Sphere. Not to mention, it wasn’t too long ago that he was signing autographs in this very hall. Who could forget such an event? He even managed to stop a gang of terrorists because they were so starstruck by his appearance (citation needed).

Regardless, it seemed that the Sunshine Stadium wasn’t the spark to reignite Mr. G&W’s popularity, so perhaps it was time to rekindle his affairs with the common folk. Mingle with the people of the Life Sphere so that he may learn what it is they respect in their heroes in this new era.

The flat man’s vision honed on the closest table, filled with the gruffest of individuals. He moseyed on over with his jerkily framed walking animation and came to a halt at the head of their table. He placed his closed mitts on his hips and posed heroically. He stood there for a solid minute before he realized that no one had paid any mind to him. Hm, perhaps he needed a bit of pizazz to get their memory jogging.

From his hand, a two-dimensional tape deck materialized, made of the black goop that formed most of his body. He slapped it onto the tabletop and pressed the play button. A… song erupted from its speaker, though it was more akin to a series of bleeps and bloops played in a rhythmic fashion. To the beat of the music, Mr. Game & Watch pulled out a series of seemingly random items and juggled them about.

His theatrics definitely caught the attention of the table, but most of them sneered and took this opportunity to walk away, leaving the jerky juggler without an audience.

[Dragon Knight Volga]

Volga hadn't really been out and about that much since his previous mission. The Hero's Shade had done quite a number on him while it had been possessed. However, the Dragon Knight felt well enough to go and drink with his fellow warriors. The Busy Bee Lobby was living up to its name as Volga made his way through the door. He blended in with many of the other warriors there and ordered himself a drink. After getting his beverage of choice, the draconic warrior sat at an empty table, unfazed by the flat man standing nearby.

[Sunnivale]

Ima had never been to bars like this before, mainly because the nearest one back in zir world was outside of Ikenfell and ze barely went out of the school because ze was busy with teaching classes or attending them. So this was a good time to go to one seeing as how ze was in a new place, and ze didn't really have anything to do right now, especially in Hylia Grace.

As Ima entered and sat at the nearby bar stool, ze ordered zir drink, and took out some dust to apply it to the drink to give it a space like colour to it, which, when Ima drank it, made it more tastier then it already was.

Ze looked around at the bar and noticed numerous interesting adventurers or people that just wanted to have a drink.

Including one that caught zir eye, mainly because the person looked as those they were trying to get people's attention.

The strange man was playing music at a table and was juggling a few items. A curious Ima jumped off at the stool that ze was sitting on so ze can look at Mr Game and Watch more closely to see what exactly that he was juggling. Ze realised that they were just random items, so ze just continued to watch.

"You're a really excellent juggler. You must of been doing it for awhile if none of them had dropped yet." Ima said to Mr Game and Watch, although ze hoped zir getting his attention wouldn't cause him to drop the items that he was juggling.

Ze sipped zir drink.

[Mr. Game & Watch]

With the crowd from the table leaving, it expanded Mr. Game & Watch’s line of sight. Just beyond the recently cleared off table was a lone man at the next station over. He seemed like an older gentleman, grizzled and probably not so easy to impress, after all, it looked like he was wearing the skull of a dragon as a hat, what could possibly impress a guy who’s slain a dragon? Trick question, he could, without a shred of doubt. Even if he wasn’t a fan of juggling, Mr. G&W had a variety of talents waiting to be pulled from his amorphous sleeves.

His vision was intent on the dragon man, but before he could even make a step forward, the voice of another chirped from a different direction. His head flipped to the direction of the voice, holding his mitt to his round chin as he entered his curious frame. During this brief distraction, all of the objects that he was juggling continued to follow the circular path that they were before, like a Ferris wheel with invisible spokes. Considering that neither of his hands were moving at this point, it was quite clear that the objects were moving independent of his interaction with them. Once he noticed the illusion was broken, Mr. Game & Watch clapped his hands together, absorbing the juggling objects back into his body.

Mr. G&W let out a little squeak and rubbed the back of his head out of embarrassment. Think Game & Watch! You have an audience now! Show them something impressive!

His head flipped back and forth, scanning the lobby for something else he could use. His vision settled on the table he just cleared, the occupants might have been gone, but they left their drinks behind! Without a moment’s hesitation, he hopped onto the tabletop. In one hand, he had his bucket formed, with the other he swiped up all the glasses on the table and morphed that hand into a serving tray. With a series of precise jerks, the liquids from the cups launched into the air like a bunch of gloppy clouds. With his bucket, he caught every glob of liquid as it fell to the ground, each time it seemed like he was mere seconds away from missing.

While this was all happening, a strange cloaked figure entered the lobby from the entrance leading to the outskirts of Li. They had a pair of antennae poking out from their blackened void-like hood. Much like every person coming in from the badlands, they were screened by the Toad officers at the gate and promptly allowed entrance when nothing seemed astray. The mysterious figure wandered into the lobby, but paused amongst the small crowd of people that were forming around Mr. Game & Watch and showing mild interest in his antics.

[Dragon Knight Volga]

Volga didn't really give the flat man much in the way of attention, until someone else spoke. Apparently, they liked whatever the flat man was doing. The Dragon Knight stayed where he was, but others seemed to be more interested, including a mysterious figure with antennae and a hood. Volga continued to watch the crowd, but was now somewhat wary of the newcomer.

[Sunnivale]

Ima was still impressed by Game and Watch's little juggling show, although ze was right when ze noticed that Game and Watch stopped when he noticed zir. "Uh oh, as I expected." Ima then pulled out zir wand with zir free hand, ready to use some magic to help Game and Watch catch the fallen objects, only for the strange man to recollect them all with ease using parts of his body. Ze, wasn't going to question how he even did that, but at least he didn't make a mess.

Ima turned and noticed that there was barely a few people in the area now, except for that dragon knight guy that was watching the two. "That's weird, did everyone just up and left already?" Either way, it seemed to have given Game and Watch the opportunity to grab everyone's left behind drinks and put them in one other glass that he's intending to drink for later.

"Are you sure that's even legal here?" Ze asked the man when he finished collecting everyone's drinks, weary that he could get into trouble for stealing people's drinks that they ordered. Even if they have left just now.

Ima continued to watch Game and Watch's antics while drinking zir own drink. Ze did notice the strange hooded figure with the antennas, but ze wasn't suspicious of him just yet.

Although, ze was ready to defend zirself if he was suspicious.

[Mr. Game & Watch]

The concern that one of his spectators had about the legality of Mr. Game & Watch commandeering the abandoned drinks didn’t faze him for a second. How could he raise even the slightest concern about that when he still had a show to put on?

As the final glob of beverage flew through the air, Mr. G&W made one last dramatic dive, as if he was stealing the home plate at the bottom of the nineth. It was almost like it was in slow motion. The bucket slid against the ground, tipping at just the right angle for the blob of liquid to hit the rim and then safely bounced into the container. Like a true showman, he leapt to his feet victoriously and raised the sloshing bucket above his head.

The small crowd cheered, a few of them clapping like respectful golfers, including the cloaked figure. After one person shouted “chug!” the rest started to chant along with him. Game & Watch couldn’t refuse the such a unanimous call to action, so without any reservations, he grabbed both sides of the bucket and readied his mouth for the dumping.

As the movements of the crowd became more vibrant, the cloaked figure began to falter. They bent at the abdomen, head swaying like they were suffering from a dizzy spell. A sickly yellow glow slowly radiated from their body. A clawed insectoid-like hand sprung from the sleeve of their robe, latching onto an audience member directly next to them, trying to steady themselves. It did little to stop the creature from weakly falling to the ground.

Before Mr. Game & Watch could even taste his chaotic concoction, he put it aside for a moment, curiously tilting his head at the crowd as they all very slowly looked at the fallen robed creature. Just as one of them offered a hand to pick the creature up, a yellowy gas spewed out from their body, quickly spreading to the people around him. The gas moved like it had a mind of its own, seeking out those around him and entering the most available orifice. Following in the footsteps of the robed creature, all of the surrounding crowd fell to the ground, bodies seizing, faces contorting with horror. Their bodies began to glow the same sickly yellow colour, only weaker.

Like a person possessed, the robed figure rose to his feet once more, his hood falling back and revealing his maroon wasp-shaped face, his scarred eyes billowing with yellow-purply energy. His head rolled unnaturally, eyes flowing to the other side of the room where Volga was sitting, though more importantly, the larger crowd of people that were seated beyond him, still ignorant to whatever was happening at their end of the lobby.

SPOILER: Click to show

[Dragon Knight Volga]

Volga continued to keep tabs on the cloaked figure until they collapsed and started poisoning people nearby with their gas. To make matters worse, people seemed oblivious to the bug-thing. He didn't trust this bug creature and kept his Dragon Spear at the ready.

[Sunnivale]

As Ima continued to watch Game and Watch, ze noticed more and more people coming over to him. They seemed intrigued with his stunts. While Ima moved out of the way for them to see Game and Watch some more, and thus, ze was left alone once more, so ze sat at one of the nearest bar stools so ze can watch Game and Watch some more at a distance.

"Hmph, I never seen someone like him before, but he does remind me of someone that I seen on the news." Ima thought, but then ze turned towards the strange hooded creature.

Who began to fall. Ima, feeling bad for the creature, wanted to go over to them, only for the creature to start shooting out yellow gas that was poisoning people around them. Ima gasped, and realised that the creature is dangerous.

And what's more, the crowd near Game and Watch seemed oblivious to what was going on. Ze needed to warn them, more so protect them and save the people that had been poisoned.

However since that ant like creature keeps shooting out poison, Ima couldn't get near them to help save them. Ze had to get the figure out of the way, but first, ze was going to warn those that weren't poisoned yet.

And it seems as though ze wasn't the only one that was suspicious of the ant creature. Ima jumped off zir stool and moved past the crowd near Game and Watch, before standing up on the table that he was at. "Yes, excuse me, thank you!" Ima said once ze got to the table, and tried to stand in front of Game and Watch.

"Excuse me everyone. I'm sorry to interrupt this show, but someone dangerous is over there and I need you all to get to safety!" Ima said, pointing towards the yellow gas and the creature.

"More so, don't go near that yellow gas, it appears to be poison. I'll try and stop it so they can be rescued." Now that the warning has been said, Ima jumped over the crowd of people and near the yellow gas, but not close enough that ze was in it.

Upon seeing the creature, Ima took out zir paintbrush like wand to summon a large blade, which ze fired towards the creature in order to flick him away from the crowd.

V3bwen1ap_1d20+5(Blade: Ima conjures up a massive looking blade, which ze aims at the enemy. Then using levitation, ze fires the blade towards the enemy in order to hit them with the blade. [DMG 17%])

However, Ima didn't have confidence that zir blade was going to flick the creature from the crowd and somewhere less crowded, which was zir intention instead of throwing him into another crowd that he could poison.

"Okay, If at first, you don't succeed." Wanting to be more sure that zir blade attack will hit. Ima tried again with the blade spell.

p_1d20+5(Somewhat better, but still not enough in Ima's books.)

And one last time.

p_1d20+5(A somewhat better Blade attack!)

With zir blade attack more stronger then zir last two tries. Ima tried to flick the creature to an empty alleyway so ze can deal with it there and contain the gas that he was seeping out. "Nobody go near that gas." Ze warned Game and Watch's crowd.
1d20+5·1d20+5·1d20+5

[Mr. Game & Watch]

Ima’s warning echoed through the lobby quickly, gathering enough attention that all the civilians that didn’t at least hear zir, noticed the odd gas spewing creature and the collection of bodies that surrounded him. Huge swathes of people began to run in a panic, scurrying toward the nearest exit and nearly stumbling over one another in their haste.

Mr. Game & Watch was still a bit stunned by it all, unsure of what to do about the strange red wasp-like creature. His first instinct was to hit it with everything he got, but the fumes he was spurting out was nothing like he’d ever seen before. Was it Starvia? Was it some kind of magic? Whatever it was, the creature didn’t seem to be in control of his actions. Once Ima began the barrage though, he quickly snapped out of his worry-like trance. Ze was hitting ‘em hard, so might as well follow suit and keep it from spreading its contagion to anyone else.

With a roll of his wrist, Mr. Game & Watch summoned his trusty frying pan from the ether and summoned a hailstorm of bacon and other breakfast meats, all raining down upon the insectoid.

Paying absolutely no mind to the people attacking him, the wasp merely watched as the people fled, his disjointed neck making it seem like his head was going to fall off by the slightest force. Ima’s blade attack struck without issue, the creature not even making an attempt to dodge. When the blade struck him though, it caused a rush of yellow smoke-like energy to spew out, like a broken watermain. Each hit did the same, even the blunt force of G&W’s bacon bits just caused more gaseous energy to pour out of his body. The force of the blows caused him to stumble backwards of course, leading him away from the fleeing civilians, but as the yellow gas continued to pour out of his body, it pooled around the floor, expanding further and further with every second.

The Toad Officers at the security checkpoint quickly left their stations, running toward the scene as it was happening. “Who is that guy!?” one of them shouted with uncertainty as he screeched to a halt at what he considered to be a safe distance.

“I.D. said he was named Zasp, but his files never said anything about having this kind of power” the other Toad Officer informed as he pulled out his walkie talkie. “Code X! Code X! We have a security breach at Busy Bee Lobby, infectious, possibly Starvia related! Send in a detaining squad!”

At the sound of the Toad’s shrill voice, the wasp creature turned his head toward him. The pooling gaseous energy continued to spread evenly across the floor, but a creeping cloud disjointed from the greater mass, specifically weaving its way towards the Toad Officers.

The creature’s eyes reverted back to the trio once more, though specifically to Volga since he was the closest. It did nothing but simply pace forward, no sense of urgency, no explicit show of fear or malice, in fact it showed no emotion whatsoever. It just walked.

Mr. Game & Watch stood stumped, scratching the back of his head. Should he just hit it harder? Would that just cause this Zasp creature to expel more gas? How long before the gas fills the entire room? Better question, how long until the small crowd of people he already infected get up and add to the chaos?

[Dragon Knight Volga]

Volga quickly got to his feet as the gas-emitting bug began walking towards him. Deciding against getting close to his foe, he settled for breathing a jet of fire at the bug. The Dragon Knight hoped it would stop the bug-thing and its noxious fumes.

[Sunnivale]

Ima stopped attacking the creature when ze realised that hitting it with zir blade was only causing the strange yellow gas to leak out of it more, and so took a step back to avoid it, before turning towards Game and Watch. "Wait, stop attacking it. It's only causing it to shoot more gas." Ze then turned over towards the Toad who announced a code level to this strange but dangerous situation.

As ze listened, ze noticed that the ant creature was advancing towards the Toad, as well as Volga, who was preparing to attack it. Ima too, quickly tried to think of an idea to stop this creature from moving any further and spreading the strange gas.

When ze had an idea.

"I got an idea on how I can contain it, let's hope that I'm lucky again." Ima said to Game and Watch, before using zir wand to summon a storm of arrows, which ze intended to land around the Creature so it would be stuck and unable to move any further towards it's targets.

oCjRVKNSp_1d20+5(Arrow storm: Ima summons a series of arrows, which ze fires all at the same time towards zir foe to form one big attack at them. (This attack is not a combo move, it's one move that doesn't build up damage.) [DMG 18%])

After summoning the arrows, Ima looked down towards the people that were affected by the gas. Ze was still worried about them, more so that they were still in the gas, but ze was unable to get to them at this time unless ze, Game and Watch or Volga find a way to clear the gas.

"We should try and pull out those that are affected by the gas without going into it, and quickly too. The more they're in there, the more the gas will effect them." Ima also had another idea on how to get people out of there, but right now, ze had to see if zir arrows had formed into a circle and had trapped the creature around it.1d20+5

[Mr. Game & Watch]

As Volga’s fire breath shot forward, it cleared a path through the yellowy gas, the heated air causing it to move as if it was actively trying to avoid the fire. Zasp still didn’t seem fazed by the sudden attack, even as the flickering flames engulfed his body. It did, however, cause the bug creature to stop walking forward, ceasing in place. The smoke from the fire quickly turned from the natural colour to the sickly yellow the creature was radiating, the yellow smoke pooling on the ceiling as well as the ground now.

The Toad Officers immediately tried to sprint away from the clouds of smog that were chasing them, but it was to no avail. Like a rabid animal, the cloud leapt off the ground and maneuvered its way through the mouths and noses of the officers, causing them to glow and ultimately fall to the floor like the previous victims. Their walkies scattered to the floor, but a voice on the other end chimed in. “Evacuate everyone from the premises! We have similar activity spreading through the Black Market and Rainbow Square! The situation is rapidly getting out of hand! Whole blocks have become infected! Hello!?”

The flurry of arrows pierced the ground around the wasp creature, creating a small ring that acted like a makeshift cage. Being that it already stopped in its tracks, it wasn’t moving anywhere anyways. It did cause the being to react though, looking down at the arrows in the ground, clearly calculating something in its eyes.

Mr. Game & Watch remained steadily behind Ima, more or less just watching the scene unfold and trying to think of what to do. He only just came back from the hospital a couple days ago; he wasn’t ready for whatever this was. As Ima mentioned getting the people knocked unconscious out of there, he absently watched as Volga’s fire breath repelled the gas. There was something he could do!

In that instant, the flat man spread his arms and legs out, his body expanding and taking new shape. His four limbs split into eight, his nose morphed into a blooper snoot. He had become the mighty octopus! In four of his tentacles, he wielded four different match sticks, all ignited in flames. He slithered his tentacles into the pool of gas, inching toward the area where his beloved fans fell over. Much like with Volga’s flames, the gas was repelled by Mr. Game & Watch’s matchsticks, allowing him to uncover the bodies of the fallen citizens and scoop them up with his other four tentacles.

The wasp creature leapt up into the air, allowing its buzzing wings to carry itself over the blockade that Ima created and simply landed with both feet back on the ground, free to wander once more, its head pointed at Ima this time.

A buzzing echoed from further down the lobby, the sound of tiny thrusters propelling through the halls. It was a small fleet of Egg Flappers zooming toward the scene of the action.

SPOILER: Click to show

“Starvia detainment squad at your service!” the grainy pre-recorded voice of Eggman arose from the little bots. One of them jet boosted forward, positioning itself directly above the insectoid. A small compartment opened on the underside of its chassis, releasing a dome-like energy shield around the gas spewing bug.

Initially, it was easy to see the vacant expression of the creature from the transparent force shield, but the gas spewing from its body was quickly building up, filling the bubble like it was flooding with water. It took a mere few seconds for the dome to became a solid yellow colour, the swirling gas completely encompassing the creature body.

All three of the Egg Flappers were watching the dome intently, though one of them turned their mechanical head to the trio that were left in the lobby. “The air pressure is building to catastrophic levels, the shield won’t hold that creature for long. You need to bring the sick to Lightweather as soon as possible, the turnover time for the infection is less than a few minutes. Those people will become exactly like this creature if you don’t hurry.”

[Dragon Knight Volga]

Volga was glad that his flames repelled the gas and stopped the Zasp bug in his tracks. However, the smoke from his fire did little and simply turned into the infectious gas. Luckily the attempts of Ima and the Egg Flappers managed to detain the bug. The Dragon Knight nodded at the machine's words."Then we must make haste." Volga popped his wings out and flew over to the 2-D octopus and Ima, flapping his wings to repel the gas with the embers he scattered everywhere.

[Sunnivale]

As Ima quickly came up with zir plan to fish the people affected by the gas out of the area. It seems as though Game and Watch, as well as Volga were prepared to rescue everyone affected. Ze watched as Game and Watch turned into, a giant octopus. Okay, that wasn't the most weirdest thing that Ima has seen, but it was still intriguing to zir.

"Huh, what an amazing power." Ze said as ze watched Game and Watch float over to the cloud of gas and moved his tentacles into it. Although Ima was weary due to the fact that the gas could still infect Game and Watch due to how near he was, although the matchsticks, as well as Volga's fire breath was helping the matter.

"Be careful you two. It might still get near you." Ima warned, just as the robots arrived to help deal with the ant creature that Ima was now dealing with. Since it managed to get past zir arrows and now it was coming towards zir.

If the robots didn't come sooner, then Ima would have to put zir plan to save everyone it infected on hold in order to block it from getting near zir with some sort of barricade.

"Thanks for your help. And I can assure you, we'll get everyone that's been hit with the gas to Lightweather as soon as possible and before they can properly suffer from the effects of the Starvia." Ima assured the robots before turning over towards the people on the ground.

Now it was zir's turn to help out the people of the Life Sphere.

Ima summoned zir blade again, this time however, it was to push the people that were in the yellow gas away from it, and to safety. So ze can help escort them to Lightweather without dealing with the gas, ze did this by gently moving the blade down onto the ground and pushing the people towards Ima slowly without the blade hurting them.

Ima was also able to pull a few people away from the gas too with zir hands thanks to Volga's wings flapping away the gas and Game and Watch's match sticks.

"I got a few now!" Ima told everyone.