Rattlesnake Jack grabbed the offered cup, which the clown confirmed was indeed alcohol. Rattlesnake Jack's eyes were gleaming with joy as he gave single a nod. "Thank ya kindly partner." It was a rough start, what with the clown attacking him. But Rattlesnake Jack knew he did kick at the device, must have startled the clown in doing so. It was a perfectly reasonable response. But it was a good thing the clown came to his senses. Rattlesnake Jack knew that it was destiny that he'd become friends with this clown. He held out the drink as he took in the aroma of it, as he glanced at Cuban Pete who was pointing at the floor. His pupils were then drawn to the clown phantomiming an act. "Ah, so the floor'll cause folk ta slide about." He said with a nod. "Well, that's a predicament if'n I ever saw one." He raised his drink up, "Cheers." He brought it close to himself, and stopped before returning his drink back up to the cheers scenario. "Ah, would be rude to not introduce myself to a man who was willin' ta share a drink, before drinkin'. Rattlesnake Jack." He carefully held the drink in his left hand as he extended out his right hand to shake the clown's hand, if he was willing to share a shake.

"Hey, lemme go! Dontcha know who I am? I'm Cirno! I'm chairman of the Stage 2 Bosses Association! I'm gonna, I'm gonna-" **BANG** Cirno's body disintegrated into a fine powder as Okuu's foot connected with the back of her head. She emerged a couple minutes later from a nearby bush, fully clothed save for her ribbon, which she attempted to tug out from beneath the hellraven and the suited man. "First you - *oof!* - steal my spot on Stage 6, then you - *oof!* - kill me, and now you're - *oof!* - stealing my thunder?" Cirno pulled the ribbon free, sending her tumbling backwards into the dirt. "AUGH! That's the *last straw*, bird-brain! I challenge you to a danmaku battle!"

Cuban Pete could not respond, but shook Rattlesnake Jack's hand regardless. He put his tankard to his lips, tipped it over, and made deep gulping noises. Streams of fine ale poured down, staining his clown suit.

After finishing shaking his new pal's hand, he returned it back to his side as he lifted his bandana slightly, and quickly moving the tankard before anything could potentially be spotted beneath the mask. He proceeded to glug down a bit of the booze that Cuban Pete served to him. Rattlesnake Jack was happy that, he actually was able to get booze in this place. Truly this was a sign of good fortune to come.

"What keeps happening?" asked Okuu, looking around for the source of the voice. That boy and his fairy girlfriend had just disappeared! Maybe they were the ghosts of starcrossed lovers. Just then, the ghost of Cirno appeared from some bushes and grabbed for something under the Hell Raven's bottom. She looked down, and saw the ghost of the human boy! As Cirno continued shouting at her, Okuu got up off the boy and drew herself up to her full very tall and very imposing height, looking down at the very tiny fairy ghost. "Uh... who are you again? I think I've seen you before," said Okuu, a very simple yet confused look on her face, "Letty, right? It's Letty! You wanna play danmaku?"

"You- I! I'm gonna- do a- I- youuu!", Cirno stuttered as she stomped her little feet and shook her little fists indignantly, "That's *IT*! **Freeze Sign! Icicle Fall!**" A curtain of danmaku bullets descended from either side of Cirno in two overlapping diagonal lines, missing Okuu entirely, as the youkai was standing directly in front of Cirno- her greatest blind spot! Cirno collapsed, face cradled in her hands because she knew, deep in her heart of hearts, that there was no way she could win. Even the full might of Gensokyo's strongest was useless against Okuu's *strategic genius*.

"This keeps happening. Ow." Bee picked himself back up, and spit red onto the dirt. He probed the inside of his mouth with his tongue, tasting the tell-tale coppery taste of a cut. His cheek was beginning to swell up as well. Rolling his shoulders, he took a look at who landed on him. "It... It can't be! That black hair, those glistening red eyes, those huge.... frills!" his swollen face gave way to a grin, as his arm flashed out, making his O-katana skewer an ice bullet. He held it to his swollen cheek with the sword, and with the other, pet Okuu. "Fuckin' kawaii, yo."

Okuu just stood there, a somewhat blank expression on her face, as she was surrounded by bullets which sped right past her. The fairy ghost then collapsed in a tiny fairy pile, and Okuu looked down at the pathetic mess. Well, it wasn't pathetic to her. Okuu clapped and smiled simply. "Wow, that was amazing! If you had hit me with that, I would have been hit!" Just then, the boy from earlier began petting her head. Okuu turned around, a scared and slightly angry look on her face. "Y-you can't do that! You already have a girlfriend! Even if she lost, isn't this the time to comfort her?" Okuu blushed deeply in anger and embarrassment. "H-how could you? Throwing her away like that... you're the worst! Be a man and go to her, you... you lewd person! Accept the responsibility of your commitment!"

"Huh? Oh? Oh!" Bee looked around, spotting the sad fairy. "Awww. Awwwwwwwww. C'mere." he said, scooping Cirno up into a princess carry, and began cooing. "It's not that bad; you just gotta work on your aim. Practice makes pe- GIRLFRIEND?!" his face turned in shock at the crow girl. "There's been a misunderstanding. A guy like me doesn't have a girlfriend, because I'm single. I'm just comforting her because it's nice to do; that's all." he explained, as he began to gently rock the fairy.

"I don't need your sympathy!", Cirno said as she flew out of Bee's arms. She dusted off her ribbon and tied it back on, "Didn't you hear? I'm the strongest! Chairman of the Stage 2 Bosses Association! I'm Cirno!", She crossed her arms, "Now who are *you* supposed to be?"

"My name.... is Bee!" upon saying his name, he jumped and landed in a cool martial arts pose he saw on Power Rangers that one time. "Champion of justice! Eater of liberty! Defender of moe!" _Oh shit, I said moe._ Bee thought. _Maybe I lucked out and they didn't catch it. Note to self; work on my intro._ He exited the pose, coughing loudly. "Anyways, uh. You got it all wrong. I don't actually know this blue girl, let alone hold hands and stuff with her."

As the boy gently rocked the fairy in a princess carry while explaining that they weren't romantically involved at all, Okuu couldn't help but find herself slightly doubting it for a second. But if anyone would know whether a girl was one's girlfriend, it was probably her boyfriend. Thus, Bee must have been only an acquaintance. A very friendly, touchy acquaintance. Then the fairy released herself, revealing that not only was she not Letty, but was also the strongest! Cirno. Okuu had met her before, but had forgotten everything about the circumstances of the meeting and her personality. Only the name and appearance vaguely remained. Okuu's eyes widened in wonderment. "Wow, that really was an amazing attack," gasped Okuu, "As expected of the strongest!" Then the boy introduced himself as 'Bee', and said some stuff that Okuu didn't really understand, but it sounded impressive. "Wow! And a real champion of justice! I've landed on two really amazing people! But what's a 'moe'? And a 'liberty'?"

Rawk had taken to the air about the same time as Samus, being sure to avoid colliding with the bounty hunter as he levitated over to where the rocket had landed. Link, meanwhile, had found some suitable grappling points, and zoomed over using his Clawshots. The two entered the Temple: Rawk merely levitated down while Link lept into the hole, rolling as soon as he impacted. Fortunately, the Goron Tunic prevented the heat of the Temple from affecting him, while Rawk kept his mental barrier up. **"Hmm... it seems the story of my ancestor has been interrupted."** Link said. Indeed, the Hero of Time's memories had recorded the incident that happened with Bee and co. **"Looks like they took the Master Sword from the Hero of Time. It seems they're gonna fight Ganondorf without rescuing the Sages. This could be bad for Hyrule's future."** Link said. Rawk merely shook his head. "Perhaps, once we find that 'Crucible' piece, the timeline'll fix itself after we leave." he surmised. Rawk turned to Samus. "Is there any way you can tell where in the Temple the Crucible Piece is? The faster we get it, the better. If we have to fight Volvagia, I think the most annoying thing will be unlocking the door." he added, conjuring two Pawns, promoting one to a Knight right away.

"Moe is a concept that holds great sway over a man's heart. I don't think I can properly explain it, though. Liberty is like freedom, but different. But also the same." Bee explained, nodding. "Oh! Almost forgot. What's your name?" he asked the crow girl. His memory of the game was fuzzy, but he doubted she was native to this world.

Cuban Pete developed a little smile. He returned to the kitchen and made another pair of tankards. Again he handed Rattlesnake Jack a tankard. Again he messily quaffed the whole tankard. Again he looked at Jack strangely expectantly.

"Oh yeah Pardner." Rattlesnake Jack spoke up as he took another tankard, and drank a bit of it, much like before. "Did'ya see that weird floatin' fort?" He asked as he took another swig, and burped. "Heh, anyhow, gotta go, do somethin' up there. Other slicks prolly already up there waitin'." Rattlesnake Jack quaffed the rest of the tankard, "Er, floor safe yet?" He asked of the Clown, as he reached over to hand back the clown his tankard.

Okuu stared at Bee with a blank expression. She didn't really understand what he was saying at all, but she nodded anyways. It wasn't particularly because she wanted to look smart, but she knew that nodding like she understood things she didn't made people happy until she did something naughty because she didn't understand the things people told her. Thankfully, he soon asked something that Utsuho could actually answer with some confidence. "My name is Reiuji Utsuho," she said smiling proudly, "But lots of people just call me Okuu."

Cuban Pete tested the floor with one boot. Since he was not laying flat on his back, Cuban Pete was satisfied that the Space Lube had dried. He waved his hand towards the door, hoping that Rattlesnake Jack had had beyond his fill of alcohol. When Rattlesnake Jack will leave, Cuban Pete will follow him.

"Okuu, then. Well, it was nice meeting you, but I'm low on time and I gotta run an errand." Bee explained, shouldering the Master Sword for the fifth or sixth time now. "See, I gotta go raid that magic sky castle. There's an evil warlock inside, so I'm gonna go fight him. The I can play games again!" he turned to face the floating fortress. "Just gotta figure out a way up. Maybe if I could make swords into wings..."

"Alright *Hic*" Rattlesnake Jack stumbled a bit, he held out his hand to stabilize him a bit, as he exited the pod. He glanced around at his surroundings as he scratched at his mask. He glanced up and, noticed the giant floating castle of evil was still there. "Anyhoooow gotta, gittup there." Rattlesnake Jack pondered how to get up, probably use the rocket again.