"What... is this thing?" Marth had found it in the back of the cupboard when he was looking for a vacuum cleaner. It was a small box looking thing, which a small black surface (the others had told Marth that this was a screen) and a strange pair of club-like instruments attached to the sides.

  "Oh!" Ness was walking past, but he came over when he saw what Marth was holding. "That's a karaoke machine."

  "Carry oakey?" Marth asked. It seemed like every day introduced him to a new, unfamiliar word which he would have to learn the meaning of. And, based on how days here frequently went, it seemed likely that this would be the rest of his day.

  "Karaoke," Ness corrected. "It's super popular in my home. You have a machine like this, and you can sing along to the music from songs. Everyone has a great time!"

  "Ah," Marth said. "I see. We have a similar concept in my homeland, though it involves paying a bard to perform at whatever event you're hosting, and they sometimes have a section where one can sing along to their songs."

  Ness looked up at Marth, his eyes shining. "We should get everyone together and have a karaoke night!" he said.

  Marth frowned. "I don't know, Ness. I doubt that machine will have any songs that I know the words to, and neither will many of the inhabitants of this mansion. Your universe is one of the more advanced technology, remember."

  "This is a magical karaoke machine," Ness wrote, squinting at the letters carved into the side. "Anyone who selects a song will automatically know all of the words to it."

  Marth decided that he should say things less. He would probably be proven wrong far less often. Maybe he should be like Link - while he did talk, the green swordsman could go days without saying a word if he didn't have anything to say.

  "Well," he said. "What else do you need for a karaoke night?"

  "Food?" Mario asked. "We can do food, sure. What kind?"

  Ness grinned. "We want a bunch of snacky things that people can eat in between singing songs!"

  "You're gonna have to explain the whole karaoke thing again," Luigi said.

  "Well, it's about singing together and having fun," Ness explained.

  Falco looked down from the open panel of his Arwing where he was doing maintenance. "How do you decide who was the best?"

  "Well, it's not really-"

  "If I show off how I have a better singer than Fox, everyone will know that I'm the real ace of our squad," Falco muttered.

  "And we can choose any song we want?" Peach asked.

  Ness nodded. "Here's the song list that came with the machine." He handed the long piece of paper over to Peach. Zelda leant over her shoulder so they could scan it together.

  "So many choices," Zelda said. "I don't want to pick one that's bad for me."

  "Oh, don't worry about that," Peach assured her. "I've hosted similar events - I can help you find the perfect song. And maybe you could sing a duet with a certain swordsman." She grinned.

  Zelda frowned. "With Marth? Well, I suppose that sort of thing might be good for diplomatic relations."

  Peach smacked her own forehead gently and rolled her eyes at Ness. Ness wasn't sure exactly why, but he felt he should at least pretend to understand and nodded back at her.

  "Why, I'd be delighted to join!" Donkey Kong helped Captain Falcon lower his huge stack of weights back onto the rack so that the captain could sit up to talk to Ness properly. "You'd probably be surprised to hear it, but I've actually won awards for my singing across the galaxy. It's won more than a few hearts for me, you know?"

  Ness didn't know, and didn't think he wanted to know. "Well, I'm looking forward to seeing you there," he said.

  He walked away, wondering who he should tell next, as behind him he could hear Donkey Kong listing potential duet ideas.

  As Ness made his rounds throughout the mansion, one pair of eyes never took their eyes off him. Jigglypuff was ecstatic at the idea of a karaoke night - after all, singing was what she did best.

  Honestly, sometimes she felt like she faded into the background a little bit around here. She had barely done anything against the two hands, and even now that they were here people didn't come to hang out with her much. She had been hoping that Peach and Zelda would invite her to some of their hangout sessions that they had started having lately, but alas she was mostly left to find places to nap around the mansion.

  But today, all of that would change. She would get up on that stage and sing for everyone, and they would all embrace her as true friends should. She imagined skipping through the gardens with Peach and Zelda, or working out in the gym with the guys, or eating everything in the kitchen that Mario and Luigi made before they even got a chance to try it, like Kirby and Yoshi often did.

  She was so busy daydreaming that she didn't move out of the way when Ness ran around the corner, and he ran into her. She went flying, the air escaping from her body and making her drastically deflate.

  "Oh no, Jigglypuff!" Ness helped her get to her feet. "Are you okay?" he asked.

  Jigglypuff nodded. This was is. He would invite her to karaoke - even if she didn't speak the language that he and the other humans spoke, she still deserved an invitation, right?

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  "Well, glad you're okay," Ness said. He ran off to find someone else.

  Jigglypuff stood there, feeling like all of the colour was being drained out of her. Her mouth hung open in an expression of shock. He hadn't even asked her... well no matter. She would be there anyway. And she would show them all what she could do.

  The common room had been redecorated for the karaoke night. Fairy lights and streamers lined the walls, and the main lights had been dimmed, and the curtains drawn, to create more of an atmospheric scene. Ness stood proudly on a raised area that was to be the stage as everyone filtered in. Mario and Luigi had made so much food, working on it all afternoon, that he didn't even think Kirby would be able to stop everyone from getting their fill. All that was needed now was for someone to go first.

  Everyone was in their seats, and Ness asked for a volunteer. Jigglypuff was about to raise her hand, but then Donkey Kong's hand went up. "Me and Falcon first," he said.

  Well, that was fine, Jigglypuff decided. After all, if she was going to show off her skills and put everyone else to shame, then maybe she should let at least one other person have their fun first.

  Donkey Kong climbed up onto the stage, followed by Captain Falcon. Falcon was wearing a white disco version of his usual jumpsuit, while Donkey Kong was wearing a matching white tie. Where did these outfits come from?

  The Captain pressed play, and a quick, upbeat tune filled the air. As the first through bars went past, Captain Falcon raised his microphone to his lips, and began to sing.

  "Young man," he sang. "There's no need to feel down."

  "I said young man," Donkey Kong sang, far more verbose than he usually was. Perhaps that was another power of the karaoke machine. "Pick yourself off the ground."

  The song continued until the chorus, when everyone learned another power of the machine. As both singers chanted out the letters "YMCA" everyone found themselves rising from their chairs and making elaborate motions with their arms that mimicked the shapes of the arms. This repeated several times, and by the time the song ended everyone was in high spirits. Jigglypuff also had to admit that the two had done a good job with the singing. Although she thought she would have been better.

  Before Jigglypuff could volunteer to go next, Peach coaxed Zelda up onto the stage. "So, Peach asked to sing with me," Zelda explained to the room.

  Peach smiled mischievously at her. "Actually, I think I have a bit of a sore throat, so I don't know if I can sing," she said. "Link, how about you fill in for me as Zelda's partner."

  Link pointed at himself in a silent question, as though wondering if there might be another Link in the room. Everyone else cheered and clapped at the suggestion, and Link was cajoled up onto the stage.

  "Oh and this song looks perfect for you," Peach said. She hit play then scurried back to her seat. The words appeared on the wall behind them, and Jigglypuff realised why this song was so appropriate.

  Link looked nervously at the lyrics, and swallowed as the time came for him to sing. "Listen, princess," he began. Everyone avoided pointing out that the song had called for him to call her "baby". "Ain't no mountain high, ain't no valley low, ain't no river wide enough baby."

  Zelda took over the verse then. The song was about how far someone would go to save the person they loved. Jigglypuff could see why Peach chose it - they had all heard the many tales of Link rescuing Zelda (or sometimes the other way around, though for some reason they both seemed embarrassed about that particular adventure (Zelda had asked Link if he was hungry enough to eat an Octorok and he had gone incredibly red)) and everyone could see how devoted they were to one another. However, it didn't escape anyone's notice that every time the song called for them to call one another "baby" or "babe" they found a way to substitute in a name or title.

  For the third song, Jigglypuff was foiled again by Peach, whose sore throat had miraculously recovered enough to sing a ballad about a love story that she insisted afterwards was "Peach's version" after Marth said he recognised that song as coming from someone could Baroness Swift.

  Mario went next, telling a hypothetical person that she was his "Wonderwall" whatever that meant. Jigglypuff was getting anxious by now, but once again her attempt to sing was foiled by Ness and the two Ice Climbers getting up together to sing a song that appeared to be addressing an unknown person called Jude.

  After that, Game & Watch arrived long enough to sing. Jigglypuff had thought he wasn't able to talk, much less sing, but whether by the power of the karaoke machine or his own ability he was able to sing a pretty great rendition song that had a lot of turning around, and an eclipse within the heart.

  The next performance was by Mario, Link, Marth, Falco, and Captain Falcon, who introduced themselves as a one night only group who would be singing "I Want It That Way". By now they were clearly quite full of food and drink and taking the performance less seriously, but everyone enjoyed it regardless. Jigglypuff stewed in frustration - now even the less serious performances were cutting in front of her.

  After that, Falco challenged Fox to a singing show down, and they "duelled" with a song called "Dream On". Despite herself, Jigglypuff was impressed, especially when Falco ended the song with an impressive high note that she wouldn't have expected from him.

  Everyone was getting tired by now. She knew that her chance was slipping away, and stood up on her chair to get everyone's attention, but Luigi was already on the stage.

  "I don't wanna take up too much time," he said. "But, uh, here goes."

  The music started. It was a far slower one than many of the others that had been played, and as Luigi raised the microphone to his mouth. "And now," he sung. "The end is near. And so I face. The final curtain."

  Jigglypuff blinked in surprise. His voice, it was... it couldn't even be described as good. To describe it as good would be an insult to the way in which his voice simply was music itself. Why, Luigi sang almost as well as she did - almost. Still, everyone in the room had become instantly transfixed. It was physically impossible to do anything other than lean closer, in hopes of experiencing the power of Luigi's voice with something more than just their ears.

  The song ended with one last heavenly note. Everyone sat in silence. Jigglypuff began to clap, and soon the whole room was applauding.

  "Well," Ness said, taking the microphone. He wiped tears from his eyes. "I don't know if we can top that. Thank you all for -"

  He never got any further, because Jigglypuff had had enough. She stood up and yelled as hard as she could. "Jiggly! Puff, Jigglypuff!"

  Everyone looked at her, stunned. Jigglypuff stomped over to the stage and held out her hand for the microphone. "Jiggly!"

  Realisation dawned on Ness's face. "Jigglypuff, you wanted to take part," he said. His face fell. "And I didn't even invite you. I'm so sorry Jigglypuff. We've all not given you the chance, have we?"

  "Puff."

  "Well, we'll make up for that now. Everyone, give a big hand to Jigglypuff!"

  She was met with a round of applause. She took the mic and faced her audience. This was it - her time. She closed her eyes and began to sing. Her pitch was as perfect as ever. The notes flowed from her like the water down a river, smoothly and without interruption. She was perfect - and when the song was over they would all see it.

  When she was done, there was silence like there had been for Luigi. She waited for the applause, but it didn't come. Jigglypuff opened her eyes to see that everyone in the audience was fast asleep.

  They had fallen asleep during her performance! They hadn't even listened to the whole thing! So rude of them! She would make them pay!

  She puffed up, drawing more air into her body. Then she pulled out a black marker, and went to Ness who was the closest to her. She drew a crooked moustache on his face, as well as a pair of cartoony glasses, then when she was done she moved onto Link. This would teach them not to listen to her singing.

  She was half way through the room when she realised that someone wasn't asleep. Kirby was still in his seat, watching her passively. She glared at him. He clapped. She smiled and brought out a second marker pen.

  The next morning the line to the bathrooms, which was usually long as it was, created three times the weight, as everyone spent what felt like hours in front of the sinks trying to rub the marker graffiti from their faces. A swift house rule was established: no more karaoke nights.