Stage 3 - Fem Slashers

"Is that so? Consider me intrigued, Wendy-san."

Murasaki sits at a booth near the windows and begins to look through the menu, finding herself entranced by the number of options. Once someone comes to take their order...

"I shall take a double cheeseburger with fries and a glass of water, no ice. I will also have some Blooper calamari."

"Boy, being a Bombshell brings in a lot of scratch!" Casey says as she follows Murasaki into the burger place, idly flipping through her stack of yen with her thumb.

"Ooh, flame broiled! I'll have a burger with jalapeños and a medium chocolate freezy!" Casey says, licking her lips. "Please," she adds with a smile.

While you await the delivery of your orders, you can’t help but notice the sounds throughout the mostly empty cafeteria.

A toilet flushes, heard through the restroom door.

Flames burst in the kitchen from Wendy’s magic.

And those two plainly dressed blondes that you thought nothing of upon entering… one says to the other, "Ketchup." The other squeaks a sweet but primrose, "No thank you." But the first voice speaks again, and you know you’ve all heard her before. "On your lip. Here lemme…"

And she’s whispering, trying not to make a scene, but when you glance—



—it is indeed a familiar voice. It’s Samus Aran, all six-foot-three of her. She is no longer shrunken and fairy-winged, which is fortunate. Every food is so big here, what could a fairy even eat in this place?

Of course the other blonde is a face everyone on Scorched Earth had known even back when Samus was believed to be a dude. And she recognizes Gong-Ju.

"Oh my—princess Gong-Ju! Please join us. It’s Casual Friday. It’s a new thing I’m trying because…"

Her voice trails off.

A toilet flushes.

Samus rescues the Princess, "Hey, why don’t you join Princess Pea—"

"Just ‘Peach’ today! Casual!"

"—right." Samus blushes a bit. "Join us anyway. Mrs. Emoticat’s here as well." She points to a seat near half a plate of fries. The seat is covered in cat hair at the moment, but otherwise empty.

Following Gong-Ju over to Peach and Samus's table, Murasaki respectfully bows her head to Samus. "Aran-san. Thank you for your help earlier. I am Murasaki, master of many secret moves and seeker of balance. I suppose you also stopped here for a meal on your way to Dysneo World?"

"It’s a pleasure to meet you," Samus replies, "I’m glad I was able to be of some help."

Peach chimes in, "Samus was originally going to take the warp pipe from here to Tinkerbell’s house."

"Yeah… but now that the fairy spell wore off, I can’t possibly fit in there." The bounty huntress shrugs. "I can call my ship remotely and fly to Dysneo. Maybe Tink’ll still give me an autograph if I knock on her little door."

Samus is obviously disappointed her visit to Tink can no longer be. And Peach seems surprised by this pessimism… but then she realizes that when Samus helped her with the ketchup, she kinda lost her train of thought.

"Oh! I was trying to tell you before!" The princess giddily explains, "Here in the Mushroom Cloud Kingdom, we have all kinds of magical mushrooms that grow in the clouds. If you want to take the pipe to Tink’s house, just pop a Mini-Shroom into your mouth."

When Gong-Ju mentions that you are all headed to Dysneo World, Peach insists, "From one princess to another, please accept my hospitality and a gift: a Mini-Shroom for you and each of your friends."Mrs. Emoticat says, "I’m looking forward to getting a little smaller soon myself." And when you see her, it’s apparent that her baby could be born any day now! "It’s so kind of you to let us stay for the delivery of my little one."

Peach smiles proudly. "I am married to a doctor!"

A toilet flushes.

Peach and Mrs. Emoticat both seem mildly annoyed.

Samus turns to you, Dear B☢️MBSHELLS, and asks, "So—besides Tink’s house—what are you planning to do at Dysneo World?"

Following Murasaki over to the princess table, Casey grabs a chair from nearby and loudly drags it over to sit down. She quietly listens to Samus and Peach talk but when autographs are mentioned she quickly chimes in "Autographs! Yeah. I should get one too. From you both. Um, I don't seem to have a marker..." She pats her pockets ineffectually. "Nevermind. Maybe later."

Casey takes the mini-shroom with a thank you and finds herself temporarily tongue tied until Samus addresses them directly. "I'm going to stop at Main Street! I hear that you can buy ice cream from the future! Dunking Spots or something. I don't totally understand it but I've always wanted to try some!" she blurts out in response.

Peach assures Casey, "My husband always has a pen for autographs in his overalls." She then calls out in that all-too-familiar volume (being an ex-damsel herself), "MARIO, WHERE ARE YOU?"

A toilet flushes.

And this time you notice a faint "HA - HAAH!" and a "NYA?"

And not one, but two familiar faces exit the men’s room door.



Emoticat says to his wife, "Honey! Have you tried toilets? Dr. Mario’s gonna install some in our house! The only thing our kid’ll ever do in a sandbox is build castles and—oh!" He waves vigorously, "Hi, B☢️MBSHELLS! I knew I smelled crisp bills!"

He introduces all of you to Mario, who offers handshakes. "It’s-a me, Mario!"

You are all welcome to eat your burgers, fries and bloober calamari in relative peace. Of course, when the meal is done, you can blow all your money on Snippets!

[ +- ] 😺 ¥¡¡ Shop

More Yahoo for Your Yen

[ +- ] 💴 - Double Flip

In a combat round, you may take two actions.

• Both actions must be different.
• If your actions are 🕹️DEF and ㊙️DEF, the first action is self-defense and the second action is defend-a-friend.
• If your actions are ㊙️ATK and ☢️ATK, the first action determines the attack type and if it lands, the second action is a combo-finish (or it triggers a combo-breaker against you on a 💢MISS).

[ +- ] 💴 - Defender

Spend GIRL POWER to negate an attack vs. the entire party.

• On a 💢MISS, the attack only misses one person. You decide who.
• On a 💥HIT, the attack hits someone or something. The GM decides who or what.
• On a 💥💥COMBO, the attack is negated!

[ +- ] 💴 - Custom Stunt

As long as you have GIRL POWER, you can ENTER TEXT.

[ +- ] 💴 - Custom Magic

Spend GIRL POWER to ENTER TEXT.

•

🙀

EMOTICAT"I can’t believe I was raving about toilets in front of you. Ah, well… anyway, feel free to ask about my snippets if you have any questions."

Murasaki gratefully accepts a mini-shroom. "Thank you. I'm not sure we could get down from here otherwise."

When asked what she's going to do at Dysneo World, she thinks for a second before answering. "Personally, I am most looking forward to the water park. I have heard there is a great big slide with twists and turns that will test the fortitude of your stomach. I wonder how true that is."

"It looks like we meet yet again, Emoticat-san. I'm starting to suspect our fates are intertwined. It is a pleasure to meet you, Mario-san." She accepts the plumber-doctor's handshake. She wonders if he washed his hands, er, gloves, but it was too late to back out of the shake.

She considers her Snippet options after the meals. "Hm... Double Flip, please. It is time I bolstered my offensive prowess."

😼

EMOTICAT

"Going from Extra-Joy to Double-Flip is like changing your meow to a roar!"

Emoticat seems to actually hear himself talk.

😹

EMOTICAT"Nya? I sound like my dad giving advice… sorry. Expecting a child is affecting me in ways I don’t quite totally yet understand!

"Anyway, Double-Flip is an excellent choice! I kinda wanted to recommend it, but then it wouldn’t really be a choice if I vigorously pointed to it, would it?"

Casey reluctantly shakes hands with the Doctor, trying not to think of the food that is about to be served.

"I mean toilets are pretty great, so don't fret on it. Just wait til you learn about bidets!"

As the food comes, Casey's eyes pop at the sight of the giant burger and she begins eating with gusto.

As she gets to the fries, she notices the ketchup bottle is out of her reach. "Hey, Mr. Emoticat. You think you could teach me to use my whip to grab stuff in trade for this brick of yen?"

😻

EMOTICAT

"I’d love to," Emoticat replies!

😿

EMOTICAT



•



"But I can’t. Because I have zero girl power due to my rippling masculinity."

But he perks up as he gladly accepts the brick-o’-cash in exchange for a Custom Stunt snippet.

😺

EMOTICAT"Fortunately, you don’t need me to teach you what you already know. You just need my snippet so your idea actually works!"

"I, too, shall take a Double Flip," Gong-ju says with a smile.

😺

EMOTICAT

"Another Double-Flip! That makes me wanna quadruple-flip for joy!"

Mrs. Emoticat warns her husband about that triple flip he did last summer. "Remember what the chiropractor said about literally jumping for joy."

😹

EMOTICAT"‘Flips are like exclamation points; use one or none,’" Emoticat says in a doctory baritone. "That’s why he’s a doctor and not a salescat!!

"Thanks again, B☢️MBSHELLS!!!" he giddily exclaims as his kiosk collapses like a house of cards into a tiny briefcase.

---

Your meal is mostly peaceful, a mix of small talk and—if anyone wants—autographs. And Wendy even offers to take a group photo. Mario suggests he take a photo of all the girls, so Wendy can be included too. "Say-a cheeeeeese!!" Wendy then takes a group photo that includes the husbands.

But Mario realizes the faux pas his wife was too polite to mention. "Oh no! I forgot-a we moved Kawaiian-a Shirt Day to-a Saturday! It’s-a Casual Friday! Mama Mia!"

After all that, Mario keeps his shirt on.

Wendy snaps the photo, then seems to remember something. "Speaking of your mother… she left a message."

She unfurls a scroll.



"Mario. It’s a me," Wendy reads, "Mama. Please call a back. It’s about your a brother. He’s a so skinny. What am I a gonna do?"

Mario has a hopeless look on his face. "What an I-a gonna do? The Hammer-a Brothers are-a renovation the other-a side of the castle! All-a the phones are-a there! With the lines-a down, I cannot-a call Mama mia. Mama Mia!"

Mario is very distraught!

Hardly believing her luck, Casey gingerly folds the napkin autographed by Samus AND Princess Peach and puts it in her shirt pocket. Dr. Mario also made sure to sign it, despite not being asked, but she still counts it as a win.

Casey loudly slurps the dregs of her freezy while listening in on Mario's conversation. "Maybe you could prescribe your brother some vitamins?" she interjects. "Or send some of these burgers over to him. That'll thicken him up right quick."

Mario shakes his head. "Luigi is not-a roll poly due his excellent-a metabolism because he-a wiggles his-a legs like-a pedaling an in-a-visible bicycle when he a-jumps." With maybe a hint of jealousy, Mario adds, "He is the a-tall one.

"What’s a matter with-a Mama Mia, I do not-a know. I will call her to-a find out when-a the phone lines-a work again," he assures Casey.

While the cloudline is out at the castle, Casey does have shoe phone reception. But it’s really up to her whether to get involved in a family issue that doesn’t seem terribly urgent.Besides, you have everything you need to get to Dysneo World! Samus is already giving Peach a goodbye hug, and the Princess will escort her to the mini-warp pipe to Tinkerbell’s Fairy House..!

Seeing Mario's concern for his Mama, Casey takes off her shoe and twists it into phone mode.

"Here, try my sole-ular phone. We are heading out soon, so I'll need it back shorty...er shortly." Casey blushes slightly at her Freudian slip. "I can't be hobbling around Disneo in only one shoe after all."

Mario is blushing as he accepts the pretty shoe.

He somehow is able to call his mother. "Hello? Mama?"

Since Mario doesn’t know how to turn on the speaker-phone feature, his mother’s voice sounds garbled and chipmunky to anyone not holding the phone to their ear.

"Giddillagiddilagiddillagiddlagih!"

Delighted to hear his mother’s voice, like a good Italian son, Mario replies with enthusiasm, "Wah-haa! It’s-a me, Ma—"

"GIDDILLAGID!! Giddillagiddilagiddillagiddillagih, giddillagiddill, giddillagiddillagih!"

"Of course-a he stay in-a his mansion! Ever since-a things did not-a work out-a with princess-a Daisy, he moved out-a the castle. He is-a better off-a in his own-a place. An eligible-a bachelor rolls-a better than a third-a wheel."

"Giddillagiddy!"

"The skinny guy can-a roll. Not like a meat-a-ball, like-a the sausage. Peach’s BF-a-F Plum is-a very impressed. We play-a doubles tennis on Tues-a-day. Give him time-a, Mama."

"Giddillagiddilagiddillagiddillagiddillagiddill, giddillagiddillagih! GIDDILLA!"

"Oh-a-no!"

Mario listens attentively now to the voice that is too garbled and chipmunky for you to understand. Peach stands close to her worried husband. For a moment, she too looks worried… but then she and her husband both sigh with relief.

Peach fills you in as Mario consoles his mother.

"Mario’s brother is in the hospital. He’s in stable condition now, but the poor guy got a heart attack. Like us, he’s a fan of Dysneo World.

"But his pipe leads to the Haunted Mansion. I guess some automatons shambled into his house. They chased him for a bit, but collapsed after a few minutes. Then my brother-in-law did."

Beside the usual ‘I’m sorry’ that a family friend says in these situations, Samus can’t help but think of the technological side of this story. "I guess the automatons only work from proximity to their source… whatever powers them at Dysneo World.

"I’ll look into it," she offers. And to Casey: "I got your Shoe Number in case the automatons are haywire or whatever. But likely, they’re harmless and the ones that wandered into Luigi’s pipe are haunted-looking, and scared the poor guy."