The cockpit door of my Arwing pops open and I feel the warm air hit my face. I pull myself out of my seat and jump out of the aircraft. I turn and see my teammate and friend, Falco, do the same.
The blue avian waved, "Hey, Fox, that was a great flight to get the blood rushing! Did you see the loop I pulled off?"
I roll my eyes, "Yeah, you shouldn't do stuff like that, could be dangerous." Falco could be very cocky and wild at times, and it sometimes gets himself into trouble.
"Fox 'Killjoy' McCloud as always. Do you have to be so stuck up all of the time? It's almost time for the fifth Smash! Let loose!" Falco exclaimed, throwing his wings into the air.
"You're always 'letting loose', so, I have to compensate." I retort, throwing a playful punch at the avian's side. "Let's go, the train should be here any minute."
We continue to walk to the usual place where the train picks us up. This train travels between universes and picks up the fighters that participate in what is called The Smash. The first one was held a while ago. That one was just called the Original Smash. After that was the Melee Smash, or just Melee. That one was my best performance and I won the entire thing. Melee was also Falco's first Smash. After that was the Brawl Smash. That was the one Wolf was invited to. The next one the organizers must've gotten lazy, as it was dubbed "The Fourth Smash". Wolf wasn't invited to that one for some unforeseeable reason. He did pretty well and didn't have too bad of manners. I was very disappointed to find out that he wasn't invited to the Fourth Smash. During Brawl, we had secretly gotten close. Very close. We talked everything out and set aside our differences and we ended up forming a relationship. Also, by "secretly" I mean we kept it from Falco. Everyone else figured it out quickly but Falco is… dense. Plus whenever he was around we would play it off as normal and hope he didn't smell us drenched in each others' scents.
As we make our way to the usual pick up area we notice a figure standing there waiting as well. The familiar scent hit me like a truck.
"Wolf!" I shouted, getting the canine's attention.
His ear twitched and he turned to look at who dared call his name. When he saw me he simple rolled his eyes. "Oh, it's you." He said, slyly.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask chuckling. I also take the time to look Wolf up and down. He's changed his look. Instead of a grey color pallet, he's instead went with a purple one. He has a new purple jacket with some new shoulder-pads as well. He's also added some spikes and blades to his boots. His eyepatch is no longer digital, now a normal leather patch. Finally, I notice the reddish-purple bandanna around his neck. That's the same style as mine. I think to myself. I'll have to ask him about it later.
"What are you doing here?" I ask.
"The same as you," Wolf said as he pulled an envelope out from his jacket pocket. The envelope dawns the signature circle cut into four parts that the organizers use as a symbol for Smash.
"You got in?" Falco pipes up from behind me. I had almost forgotten about his existence.
"Yeah, got a problem with it, Seagull?" Wolf questions with a heavy dose of venom.
Falco steps in front of me, almost getting in Wolf's face. "No, but we can make it a problem right here, right now." Falco states, raising his wings in a fighting stance. Wolf only smirks as he takes a step towards the blue bird.
I take this as my que to jump in and play mediator. I squeeze in between the two and push them away, which proves to be difficult as they are both standing at 6'2, while I'm a puny 5'8.
"Enough, you two, wait until the Smash then you can beat the hell out of each other all you want." I proclaim, shoving the two away.
Thankfully, we begin to hear a loud whistle in the distance. All three of us turn to where the noise is coming from and see the bright, white, hovering train pulling up to our location. We almost have to squint to look at it. It comes to a stop and the doors open, revealing a train cabin decked in blue fleece walls and floors with wooden tables and nice comfy booths to sit at. We board the train and Falco wraps his wing around my shoulder and leads me away from Wolf, who is trudging to the back of the train.
"What a dick…" Falco whispers into my ear. We soon approach a man in red with blue overalls and a red cap with a large "M" on the front. "Ey, Mario!" Falco exclaims, raising a wing for a high five from the plumber. The sound resulting from the gesture is resounding and leaves Falco waving his wing in pain. "I forgot, you pack a punch for your below average size…" Falco says.
We make our way towards the front of the train as it starts to move again, throwing us off balance and into a wall. "Woah there." Falco says, throwing me a wink. I roll my eyes. We approach what looks to be Princess Zelda from the Hyrule Kingdom and some guy in a blue tunic.
"Hey, Zelda!" I say tapping the princess's shoulder. Zelda was and is my wing-man when it comes to Wolf. usually I would go to Falco, but I can't with this kind of thing.
"Hey!" Zelda exclaims, throwing her arms around me. I return the hug from the slightly shorter princess and look towards the guy in the blue tunic.
"And you are?" I ask, extending a hand to the young man.
He shoots he a confused look, "You don't remember me? It's Link silly!" He says, playfully punching my arm. I gape, looking at Link. He's really changed his look. Instead of his signature green tunic and cap, he dons a blue tunic with super long blond hair.
"Wow, you've got a new look!" I compliment, chuckling.
"Yeah, decided to change things up a bit." He responds, sitting down and taking a bite of a cookie that the train provides to its passengers.
"Did you bring your gift, Fox?" Zelda asks, adorably tilting her head like Wolf sometimes does when he asks a question.
"Of course!" I say, pulling a small box from my jacket pocket. Every Smash since the Original, we've set up a gift giving event where, before we, go we draw names from a hat and while we're waiting for next Smash, we get that person a gift. Everyone's required to bring two gifts. One for the person they drew and one for any newcomers or returning members that didn't get to draw at the last Smash. Also, if anyone who was drawn doesn't return to the next Smash, either a newcomer gets the gift, or someone from their universe can take it to them when they get home. When Wolf didn't return for the fourth Smash, his gift was given to Bayonetta since neither Falco nor I would've been able to give him his gift.
For Melee, Pikachu got me what was called a Sitrus Berry from his universe. I ate it while I had a stomach ache and it ended up curing it! For Brawl, Luigi got me a new vacuum. For the Fourth Smash, Meta Knight got me what he called a "Pep Brew" and after drinking it I couldn't sleep for three nights because of how much energy I had. This year, I drew Samus, which is great because I just had Slippy make her a blaster as she likes to shoot and we frequently go shooting together to relieve stress. For my other gift, I got a small model of an Arwing, as whenever I mention I'm a pilot, someone always asks what I fly. Zelda has become the unofficial leader of this tradition over the years.
"Great! You can put your gift in here!" Zelda says excitedly, holding out a small pouch. I eye it suspiciously.
"Sorry, but my gift won't fit in there." I say, comparing the size of the box to the size of the pouch for effect.
"Yes it will, just try!" She exclaims, smiling innocently. I do as she says, attempting to slide my gift into the pouch. Sure enough, my gift slides right in, despite being easily twice the size of the pouch.
"How-" I stutter in amazement.
"You know I can use magic, silly!" Zelda says. I do remember now. She has a lot of magical powers that is able to do things that would otherwise be impossible. I slip my other gift into the small, but infinite, pouch.
After that, I decide to start making my way towards the back of the train to try and meet up with Wolf. As I make my way to the caboose, I run into a certain goddess and her angel.
"Palutena! Pit! Good to see you again!" I saw, waving my paw to catch their attention.
"Oh, Fox McCloud. The feeling is mutual." Palutena says, respectfully.
"You know you don't have to act so formal around me, right?" I tell Palutena. I can barely get my sentence out before the intercom chimes in.
"The train is now coming to a stop. Please take a seat."
"Must be picking someone up!" Pit exclaims, clearly excited.
"Oh! We're in the Fire Emblem universe!" Palutena states, visibly excited.
Wolf and I weren't the only ones who found love during our time at the Smashes. Palutena and Lucina ended up getting really close and starting a relationship. The doors open and I see a flash of blue as Lucina jumps into Palutena's arms. I smirk as the rest of the Fire Emblem cast boards the train.
I decide to let them have their moment and continue on my way to the back of the train. As I get closer to the rear, I start to pick up Wolf's scent. There's a hint of his cologne but I'm so used to his natural scent that I can easily tune that out. I finally reach the last car and take a deep breath. I finally get to see him again and I'm actually able to not act like I hate him. I open the door and see Wolf and Bowser sitting on opposite sides of a booth. They both look at me and Wolf puts on a mischievous grin.
"Excuse me Bowser, but could you give the pup and I some time alone? Also, make sure that no one comes back here for me." Wolf says in his gravelly voice. They way he called me "pup" and looked at me made my face flush. Bowser nods and gets up from the booth. As he walks past me he winks.
"Go get 'em tiger." He chuckles and pats my back.
As the door shuts behind us, Wolf gets up from his seat and starts his way over to me. I meet him halfway and wrap my arms around him, drawing in his intoxicating scent through my nostrils. His scent fills my head and makes me dizzy, but I love it.
"Miss me?" Wolf says into my ear. I just give a slow nod into his chest, not wanting to talk. All I want to do is rest in his arms like this forever. The team has been low on funds lately and I've been stressed because of it. We stand there for a few minutes before Wolf releases the hug and lifts up my chin, bringing me into a kiss. His lips are rough but soft at the same time. He has a secret, gentle side that I've only seen him use with me.
After that, Wolf and I just end up sitting in a booth together and chatting for the rest of the ride. Thankfully, we weren't interrupted and we got to catch up on each other since the last time we actually got to chill. Soon, the intercom blares through the train.
"Now arriving at The Smash Resort. Prepare to depart."
Wolf and I stand up and get ready to get off the train once it has stopped. As we wait for the doors to open, Wolf slides an arm around my waist and pulls me close.
"Nice to have you back, pup. I've got to admit, I've missed ya." He says, with a voice filled with love that Wolf doesn't usually use.
"I've missed you too." I reply, smiling. The doors open revealing a beautiful resort in front of a setting sun. "Let's get ready to Smash." I say, stepping out of the train and throwing a wink to the canine behind me.
I'm so glad to have him back.
