The House of Imite - Setting up Stage

[Luhood]

The House of Imite! Once a lousy hovel, now turned into a beautiful theatre sparkling with beauty. A lot of noise were heard from the inside, including the grunting of pokémon and the irritated sighs of a human female.

Inside this lovely établissement, Duplica were sitting re-arranging everything inside the building. The storm-thingy that had applied her theatre to This World had overturned everything, including all of her clothracks, and her costumes were now spread all across the stage. Her pokémon and friends Ditto, Mini-Dit and Memo-Dit were helping her putting everything in order by transforming into various pokémon and thus giving her the help she needed in moving all the stuff in the building. There were a lot of sound coming from the inside, and anyone passing could probably guess that there were a major redecorating going on.

[SHM 128 III]

While the majority of the noise was comming from inside the theater, after a while, something could be heard from the outside. It started out very quiet, and then got louder and louder as it was approaching. Soon, one could make the noise out to be the unmistakeable sound of a motorcycle engine, and that could only mean one thing...



"WAH HA HA!!! Who were you expecting, Cloud? NO! It's-a me, WARIO!"

Wario laughed again as he tore down the road on his gigantic hog, spewing black smoke out the tail pipes as he went. Where was he heading? Well, to be honest, even he didn't know. He was trying to get from Smash City to the Midair Stadium so he could watch Mario get his butt kicked, but he had gotten lost on the way, and was now looking for some place to stop and ask for directions.

"HEY! SHUT IT, YOU STUPID NARATOR! I'm not lost! I'm just... Uh... Taking a detour! Yeah! And I'm not gonna ask for directions! I just have to go to the bathroom! What kind of biased reporting is this!?"

Right... Anyway, he eventually spotted the theater and quickly decided that would be the best place to... Ahem... "Use the restroom." Unfortunately, as he tried to stop his bike, he discovered that his breaks were jammed!

"What the?... Hey! What's the big idea here!?" Wario shouted, looking down at his bike kicking the side of the hog, "Why aren't ya slowing down, you stupid bike!?"

Frustrated, Wario looked up again... and realized he was about to drive right into the side wall of the theater.

"Oh, shi..."

BOOM!!!

[Luhood]

The three pokémon inside the building, due to their naturally enhanced sense of hearing, suddenly started to hear a strange noise in the distance, and as it got closer to the theatre Duplica was soon able to hear it as well. At first they had no idea what it really was, due to the huge area of flat land outside the theatre, but they soon managed to identify the sound to that of a motorcycle engine. After a while they also managed to hear the by engine-sound drenched shoutings of a man, sounding like as if he was yelling at the bike. The sound now was loud as if it came from just outside the wall, when...

BOOM!!!

With a loud crash and a huge cloud of dust, the south wall of the building was torn open. The many benches of the theatre had fallen into a state of mess again, most of them piled or pressed up against each other, with several of them fallen and some even destroyed by the peices of wall that had flew away in the crash. The clothracks in the back of the theatre had turned over again by debris, but luckily enough the cloths weren't strewn across the room this time. There were destroyed bricks and planks from the wall scattered across the room, all the way to the other end of the building. All in all, it looked like an Electrode had just blown the wall open!

When they heard the noise from the explosion, Ditto and Memo-Dit instinctively transformed into an Alakazam and a Hitmonlee respectively and quickly fell into battle stance. They watched the dust settle, and then rushed forward as they saw a pile of rubble that bellowed black smoke, something they took as the sign for where the motorcycle were. Mini-Dit, who wasn't that into battles and such, instinctively transformed back into his Ditto form and hid himself behind Duplica. It wasn't that he was usually a coward, but a sound that big may be something to big for him to handle. And Duplica... well, let's say she went speachless as soon as she saw the damage caused by the crash, even though she was currently pissed off at the careless driver who managed to...

Then something hit her: If the crash caused that much damage to the building only, what happened to the actual driver of the vehicle? She quickly got up from where she was seated, now Mini-Dit held in her arms, and ran towards the same smoking pile of rubble her both pokémon had gone to earlier. She had to see if the driver was alright!

By the time Duplica reached the pile of rubble, Ditto and Memo-Dit had transformed into a Sandslash and a Machoke and already started to dig away at the pile. The greenhaired woman put down her small Ditto, got down to her knees and started helping her pokémon move away bricks and rubble from the pile.

"Are you okay in there? Shout if you can hear me!" She loudly called out to the smoking pile of debris, in hope of reaching the driver and finding him relatively unharmed. Her two pokémon also called out in their destinctive language, and thus loud shouts of "Machoke!" and "Sandslash!" could be heard throughout the building as well. Mini-dit was standing behind his three companions, worried for the missing driver as much as the rest of them. They all hoped they would reach him in time, before it was to late to save him.

[SHM 128 III]

The massive pile of debris shook for a moment before Wario suddenly poked his head out of the rubble and looked around at the mess he just caused.

"Wow! I haven't caused this much distruction since the time I farted after swallowing a Smart Bomb on Brinstar! Heh heh... Samus didn't have 999 seconds to escape that time!"

He then finally noticed the girl and her trio of Pok?mon, to which he gave a very awkward look.

"Eh? Who are you?"

[Luhood]

When Wario suddenly reared his head, apparently unfazed about what had happened, Duplica and all of her Dittos were so surprised they fell backwards, litterary landing on their rears and backs. Mini-Dit even ran behind Duplica and hid. And why were all of them so shocked? Well, partly because of his apparent unharm, but especially by the nose. The big purple-red nose in the middle of the face, the kind of nose a cartoon character gets when he's either drunk or have it bruised. They all looked terrified by the state of his poor nose, but since the guy in question didn't seem to be in pain, they didn't bring it into question... even though it looked really freaky.



Smart Bomb? Brinstar? Samus... Wait! I recognize the last one! Yes, Samus was actually mentioned in the letter they recived from this Master Hand fellow. She was apparently one of the original smashers, as they're called, but she still hadn't met her in person... or any other smasher for that matter.



Then he suddenly noticed the four of them. Both Ditto and Memo-Dit, who had both managed to retain their transformations, transformed back into their Ditto shapes in fear, and in the two big pokémon's place were now one pink blob and one blue blob. They then hurried back behind Duplica to hide alongside their brother Mini-Dit, who were now almost pressing himself against his mothers back. All of them three were amazed and terrified by the strange man's ability to be in such a crash and survive, and still be unfazed as if nothing had happened even. In normal conditions they would probably stand in front of her and in battle positions, ready to defend her, but right now they were to amazed to do anything. And Duplica just stared in amazement a bit before realizing it was actually her he was asking.

"I... I'm Duplica, the owner of the building which's wall you just crashed into." She was still a bit shocked by what had happened not moments ago, and thus didn't really think of asking this strange person any questions... even though she then realized she still didn't know his name.

"Who are you yourself?"

[SHM 128 III]

"Who am I? Moi? I am... Uh... Hold on a sec..."

Wario pulled himself out of the rubble... Or, at least, he tried to. He ended up stuggling for a bit before eventually 'popping' out and landing uncerimoniously face-down on the floor in front of him. He quickly got up, dusted himself off, and stuck a pose.

"As I was saying... I am the great, magnificent, intelligent, and dashingly hansome... WARIO!"

In Wario's ego-inflated mind, this was accompianed by triumphant fanfare. In reality, all that was heard was crickets chirping... And a few more bricks falling out of the wall.

[Luhood]

Duplica and the Dittos watched this Wario person "pull" himself out of the rubble, and was close to burst out laughing because of it. A quiet giggle escaped her lips when he landed on the ground face first, but she quickly managed to push the laughter back down again. This Wario seemed to be a pretty funny person, he even made it seem unintentional.

Did he just... strike a pose? Duplica was now sitting there shocked, having a strong feeling of is-he-for-real-ness hanging around her. That was probably the first time... no, second time, she's ever seen anyone strike a pose, and last time she reacted about the same way she did now. She was stunned! This World surely had much strangeness to offer, even in the form of a funny guy with a big purple nose. She was awakened though by the falling brick, and quickly remembered that staring wasn't really polite behaviour.

"Well then Mr. Wario, may I ask what brings you here on a day like this... and through our wall as well." She tried to be as polite as possible, even though the strange, if not even freaky situation that had occured. First of all the entire building was transfered to This World through strange means that set the entire thing into a mess, then after finally cleaning everything up a motorcycle crashed through the wall, and a strange man with a big purple nose emerged seemingly unharmed from the pile of rubble. Seriously, the day can't get any stranger than this.

[SHM 128 III]

Wario paused for a moment as he tried to recall why he had came here in the first place. Hey, if you just crashed through a brick wall, you'd be a little forgetfull, too.

"Uh... Um... Dangit, curse you, cliche short-term memory loss..." Wario grumbled, "OH! Now I remember!"

Wario pulled out a comically large road map and showed it to Duplica.

"Listen lady, I'm going to the Midair Stadium so I can watch Mario get his butt handed to him by that spikey porcupine loser. I'm not lost mind you..." Wario added, glaring towards the fourth wall as he said so, "I just... Wanna make sure you don't have a better route than I do. Yeah, that's it."

Unfortunately, no one informed Wario that he had dilly-dallied so long that the match was now long over, but even if he did know, he wouldn't admit it. After all, Wario would never admit that he could be wrong!

[Luhood]

Forget what I just thought... the day just got stranger! Not only was the map he of a ridiculous size, but this Wario person then proceeded to glare at the inside of her theater, or whatever he was looking at. She couldn't resist turning her head towards it herself, and her Ditto's soon followed as well. But... what were they looking at?

"Midair Stadium?" She then asked, thus proclaiming the sad truth that... "I have no idea where that is." She turned back towards Wario, scratching the back of her head in confusion while doing so. She was as new to the area as he apparently was, if not newer. If someone needed directions it was her!

"But... what were you looking at before? There's nothing there that shouldn't be there." She once againt turned her head back to where Wario was looking before. Still not seeing anything odd, she turned back to the round man and watched him with confusion.



Meanwhile, Ditto and Memo-Dit had managed to take that strange person out of mind and begun putting everything in order again. Mini-Dit was still behind Duplica though, feeling a need to guard his mistress in case something should go wrong.

[SHM 128 III]

Taking the map back, Wario glared at it some more and let out a frustrated groan.

"The problem is that this stupid map is already friggin' out-of-date! I mean, come on... Can you find your little theater here on this thing? No! It's a really big pain to figure out where you're going when new stuff just keeps popping up every stinkin' day!"

Stuffing the huge map back in his hammerspace back pocket, Wario folded his arms and proceeded to sulk.

"That stupid Master Hand is a complete thingy, you know that? He keeps 'creating' new places in This World, when all he's really doin' is creatin' headaches for those of us trying to get from point A to point B! Heck, I'm just waiting for the day that oversized glove goes and changes the layout of my house, just to mess with me!"



Meanwhile, somewhere, somehow, the Master Hand was currently glaring at Wario.



"Geez... Didja just feel a cold breeze right now?... Anyway... So you really don't know how to get to the Midair Stadium from here?"

[Luhood]

Along with a shake of her head, Duplica answered Wario's question. "Sadly, no. To be honest, I don't even know what Midair Stadium is. Sorry that I can't help you." She gave him an apologetic look as she said so.

Then she thought of something else though. "Could you... maybe help me with something?" She asked him, rather hesitant in asking because she hadn't helped him with anything yet. But it wouldn't hurt to just ask, which is what made her ask him in the first place.



Meanwhile, the two Dittos had started digging in the pile of rubble from which Wario had emerged earlier. They was currently working on digging forth Wario's bike, so that he would actually give them some attention. He had been way to into talking with Duplica to notice them, something both the two didn't like at all.



The smaller Mini-Dit, however, was still watching the round man carefully. He was waiting to spot any kind of hostility, since the man seemed to have an aura of rudeness around him, but he wouldn't act until he was certain. That, and the fact that if he did he would probably get into trouble for doing so.

[SHM 128 III]

There was a long pause as Wario just folded his arms and looked at Duplica, obvious disintrest in his features.

"Me? Help you?" he asked in disgust, "What, is today your birthday or something?"

Cue another quick glance towards the fourth wall.

"Okay, so let's play pretend and assume that maybe I'd consider lending a hand... What is it you want me to do, huh?"

[Luhood]

Duplica's face turned into a frown and she looked at the man with a glare. However, she managed to supress her anger, and instead of shouting at him she merely sighed and proceeded to put on a forced smile.

"I only want directions to the nearest city. I mean, this is a theatre after all. And what is a theatre without advertising? A theatre which doesn't get any customers, that's what! A theatre that doesn't get customers doesn't get money, which means no food for the hungry performers."

[SHM 128 III]

"Eh? Directions to the nearest city? What do I look like, an atlas!?"

There was a short pause as Wario grumbled to himself about it. True, he was a big jerk, but even he had to admit that blowing the girl off came across as unnecessarily mean. Granted, if it was Mario asking him, he'd tell him what he could do with himself, but this girl hadn't wronged him... yet.

Besides, he knew how karma worked around here... If he blew off the innocent girl, he was gonna get screwed over bad at some later date. The universe already seemed out to get him, he wasn't about to give it more ammunition.

"Okay, fine... If you wanna city to advertise in, Smash City your best bet. Big place, plenty of suckers to dupe there. As for getting there... Uh..."

Wario stopped and looked back towards the gigantic hole in the wall he made that the dittos were still reparing. He then simply pointed out said hole.

"Yeah... Just keep going in a general... that-ish direction. You'll hit it... eventually."

Cue awkward moment of silence.

"Hey, don't look at me... I'm lost here, too, ya know."

[Luhood]

With a sigh, Duplica shook her head. Sure, he may be lost, but wouldn't he at least know how he got here in the first place?

"Thanks for the help, Mr Wario. I guess I'll just have to start looking then."

She then remembered something he had said earlier... didn't he want to go to Midair stadium? That sounded like a big place, and a good place for advertising.

"You were heading for Midair Stadium, right?"



And back at the hole in the wall, the Dittos had managed to finally reveal Wario's bike. They put it aside as they started to seriously repair the wall now, putting their back into gathering the bricks laying around the entire place.



And now Mini-Dit started helping his brothers, gathering some bricks and carrying them to the hole. Duplica would be able to handle Wario herself would he try something, and even if she didn't the three of them would make him pay for it. Besides, Mini-Dit was starting to get seriously afraid of Wario now, and would probably faint if he reached forth to him.