The gardens that rested at the very back of the great mansion were large and filled with beautiful and strange plant life. But in the middle of the night when these flowers were lost to the darkness, they gave way to another beauty. One would've believed that the mansion were the only thing on this planet with light, for when the sun set, the sky would open up into a rainbow of colors. And it was under these gorgeous, distant lights and upon this bedding of dimly lit grass that the six of them sat.
Shulk stared with rapt attention as Fox told them of his adventures on a far off world with strange creatures inhabiting it. Dinosaurs if he remembered correctly. The idea of space travel was so strange to Shulk. With all the technology that his world had, none had ever traveled to space before, Machina or Hom. But this strangeness also excited him. How did their machines work? Could Shulk himself build one? Did his world have the needed supplies to even attempt it? So many questions swirled in his mind as he sat there amongst the others.
Falco, one of Fox's team members, seem incredibly bored by Fox's tale much to Shulk's amusement. He'd roll his eyes often, and eventually he took to completely ignoring the other, and instead stared off into the distance. Falco was always a hard one to pin down. Honestly, Shulk had been surprised when the bird had agreed to come with the five of them. He could only guess that it had something to do with the look Fox had given him. Shulk wasn't sure. Those two seemed to have a complicated relationship, one that he was sure he'd never quite understand.
But as it turned out, Falco wasn't the only one to grow tired of Fox's story. Kirby lied at Samus's feet fast asleep. The pink ball had come prepared too, with a night cap resting on his head as little bubbles floated around him. Shulk tried his best not to laugh at the sight. Shulk had never heard Fox talk so much and feared that if he pointed out their sleeping companion he may stop and feel self-conscious.
Samus, however, seemed just as interested in Fox's adventure as Shulk, and stood there listening and nodding whenever Fox made eye contact with her. Olimar too seemed interested… that is until he spotted a pikmin sticking out of the ground amongst the foliage. And it was while Olimar was trying with all of his might to pull the strange flowered creature from the ground that Samus spoke.
"And where is this planet?"
"Hmm?" Fox questioned, stopping his story mid sentence.
"I know you said that it was in Lylat, but I've never heard of that solar system. Where is it?" she asked pointing up to the sky.
Fox scratched his furry chin as he leaned back and stared up at the sky, calculating. After a few moments of staring up at the stars he finally pointed at the sky up and behind them. "I believe it's in that cluster of stars there…" He stated hesitantly, but before he could say more Falco scoffed.
"What makes you so sure it's over there? I mean, we don't even know what universe we're in right now, let alone where we are in it," Falco complained giving the other a challenging look, which Fox returned with a deadpanned look of his own.
"I was simply taking a guess based on the layout of the stars. And if you're so sure that it isn't over there, then where is it?" Fox demanded with agitation, to which Falco shrugged.
"Well if we are in the same universe then it's probably over there," the bird stated matter-of-factly, while pointing behind him. The complete opposite direction of Fox's guess. And that's all it took for the two of them to get into an argument over constellation charts and lightyear estimations, neither of which Shulk knew anything about. Unable to take a side in the Starfox Team's debate he busied himself with his notebook, trying to read his notes from earlier in the dim light and failing terribly.
Fox had tried to explain how their 'land master' worked. He kept insisting that their teammate Slippy could explain it better but Shulk hadn't minded. What he had written down was enough for now. He'd obviously want to know more later when the chance presented itself, but for now his curiosity was sated.
Just when Shulk sighed and gave up on trying to read his own atrocious handwriting, a defining pop rang through his ears. The argument beside him stopped as he looked over just in time to see Olimar go tumbling down the hill behind him, pikmin firmly grasped in his hands as if the poor wiggling thing would save him.
Samus called out to the captan, and quickly made to follow him, though the steep and bumpy hill seemed to be giving her high heels some trouble. Shulk swiftly stood and looked over the edge of the hill to see Olimar sitting at the bottom of it, swaying from side to side clearly dizzy. He watched as the pikmin tried to walk away from its captor, but merely fell over in the dirt face first where it stayed.
Shulk chuckled and looked over his shoulder to see Fox and Falco doing the same. The bird seemed to be trying to hide it with a roll of his eyes though. Shulk shook his head. Arguing one second and laughing the next? Yes, those two were definitely an enigma.
Suddenly a small tug came from his pant leg. He looked down to see Kirby staring up at him with sleepy eyes, his night cap barely clinging to his head. The pink marshmallow then let out a humongous yawn, one that took up all of the creature's face. It was a rather comical sight.
"I'm sorry. Did we wake you?" He asked with amusement. For a moment, Kirby did nothing but stare up at him before letting go of his pants and simply walking back through the garden, presumably to the mansion where a tree sat just outside of one of the entrances. The small thing always insisted sleeping in the hole on its side, much to Shulk'd bewilderment.
"Wake him? He was asleep?" Fox asked, a bit surprised, watching Kirby walk sleepily down the path.
"Of course he was. Heck, I almost joined him," Falco stated off-handedly. Fox sent a glare his way before sighing and looking away. Shulk could only guess that the fox was used to the other's behavior, and figured that the best way to deal with it at times was to say nothing at all.
Shulk almost wondered if he should say something to ease the slight tension, but before he could even think of the words to say, Samus reappeared at the top of the hill with Olimar under one arm. She set him down and they all watched as he continued to sway a bit, to which Falco snorted.
"You know if you wanted to see stars you should've just looked up."
While they all chuckled at Falco's bad (and a bit snide) joke, Olimar seemed to take the advice to heart though and looked up at the sky, the small pikmin in his hands doing the same. Shulk took a moment to look up as well at the huge sky above, wondering if his own home was up there amongst those stars.