My Friend

To some city-goers planetside, the display would have looked beautiful, more spectacular than any fireworks show one sentient is likely to see in its own meager lifetime. Gnats, brightly glowing bits of light are chasing each other, with brilliant flashes.

From the inside, however, it's very different. The gnats are the glows of starfighter drives, both friendly and unfriendly. The flashes are blaster cannon fire, punctuating the airless space between the fighters.

Through the thick maze of antifighter flak, four Arwing Space Superiority fighters duck and weave through the mess, the pilots getting that sensation they've grown accustomed to that the entire galaxy is trying to kill them.

"OK, team!" The leader, Fox McCloud shouts. "Engage at will!"

"Roger that, Fox." Falco Lombardi calls back.

"Going after those fighters." Slippy Toad announces, veering after the nearest fighter.

This was a nightmarish fight. Even Falco, Star Fox teams' Ace pilot was beginning to crack as he veered and juked to avoid enemy fire.

Fox's voice keeps them all calm. "Stay after those fighter, team!"

"GAHH!" Slippy cries. "I've got a problem here!"

Falco cranes his avian neck to see four enemy starfighter, pounding Slippy's Arwing something awful.

"Hang on, Slip!" He calls, firing his boosters. The blaster on his Arwing charge and the targeting system locks on, to one of the fighters. Falco lets it loose, the intense laser blast taking out three of the enemy ships. Only one left.

"Falco, help!" Slippy cries. "Wait- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGGHHHHHH……"

Falco looks in horror as Slippy's Arwing takes another hit. The port G-Diffuser wing sears off, while the cockpit is wreathed in flame. The flaming hulk spins off on its last heading, before the fuel ignites and explodes.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

…

Falco Lombardi awoke with a start. His feathered hands were extended as if he were flying, but he wasn't. He was in his cabin aboard the Great Fox and far from the fight that didn't exist. Slippy was still here.

Damn. Falco thought as he rose and made his way towards the ships' galley. Bad dreams had a habit of making him crave gingerbread cookies.

The galley light was on as he entered. Slippy sat at a table, stool pulled up, munching on a sandwich (Egg salad, by the looks of it,), with a glass of milk, reading a technical manual. Same old Slippy.

"Couldn't sleep either, Slip?" Falco asked, sneering a little more than he meant to.

"Oh," Slippy looked up, perhaps worried if Falco was in a bad mood. "Hi, Falco."

Falco internally kicked himself for being so hard on his teammate. Slippy really DID try, he tried real hard. And all Falco ever did was be a sarcastic jerk about it. Maybe that was why Katt was avoiding him.

Falco fixed up a plate of cookies and sat opposite Slippy. "Tech journal?" he asked. Slippy gave an affirmative nod.

"I couldn't sleep, so I decided to have a sandwich, and then I'm going to have a bath," He continued.

"What is it with you and water, Slip?" Falco asked. Being an avian, he HATED the water.

"Dunno." Slippy pondered. "It's just so cool against your skin, but not unpleasantly so."

"Its like the air currents back home, I suppose." Falco said, trying to understand where Slippy was coming from.

"Yeah." Slippy said. "Yeah, I suppose so. Guess we're not that too terribly much different. Though you're better than I am."

Falco blinked. "What's that supposed to mean?" He asked.

"You're the best pilot in the team, Falco." Slippy said. "You're cool, you're calm and you're a great guy! I'm just some weirdo in a yellow jumpsuit. All through out my life, I've dreamed about being a hero. I always used to tell myself when someone picked on me to wait till I grew up, and then they'd be at my parade. But then, there is no parade. Just cause I'm not cool enough."

"Hey, Slippy," Falco said. He furrowed his brow, as he had a hard time trying to say what he was trying to, so as not to hurt his friend's feelings. "You may have that backwards, man. I mean, sure. I am a great pilot. But – it's kinda like a tree falling in the forest, pal. If there's no one there to hear it, it doesn't make much of a sound. That and people always expect me to top myself. Well, sometimes I just can't do that."

Slippy put down his sandwich. He'd never heard Falco open up like this, to ANYONE.

"And not only that, Slip, but I wouldn't be here if it weren't for those new systems you put on my ship." Falco said. "I owe pretty much all of my reputation to you, but I'm glad to. You're my friend, Slippy. You always will be."

Falco placed a wing on Slippy's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Slippy did the same on Falco's arm

"Thanks buddy." Slippy said. "I needed that."

"Anytime, frog boy." Falco grinned.

End

Well, that was all right. Lemme know whatchya think through a review. And no, this wasn't slash. Just a friendship vignette. And for the record, I actually don't mind Slippy that much.