A FRIEND FOR HALLOWEEN
By
K3V1N
Edited by
Raxas Dyme and Telemachus Claudius Rhade
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K3V1N:This is for Autobot Axann, who said that we should all write something for Halloween... apparently starring Toon Link.
Also, my interpretation of the Smash World is the same as that of my sister and her friends. So, the Links are brothers, okay? Also, the costumes that the kids wear are the same ones that Chrislma had them wear. I couldn't think of anything better...
This story largely contradicts with Chrislma's story, Smash Generation, stating that it wasn't Lucas who was constantly left behind, but in fact Toon Link and he was the one who was scared to approach Ness to be friends with him. It also contradicts Smash Generation by saying that the other kids don't even know he's related to Link.
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Ness, Lucas, Nana and Popo were all good friends. They usually played together, Brawled together, and pranked on Mario and Bowser together. However, even though Zelda would tell them, Kirby would scold them, and Master Hand suggested it to them, they never played with Toon Link. It was a rule by Nana, Popo and Ness, although Lucas actually talked to him sometimes.
He had replaced one of Ness' closest friends, Young Link. They didn't want him around because he was too childish, and he gave most of the kid Smashers bad reputations because of it.
He only really had an interaction with the friends during the meal times, when they had to sit close to one another because they were all kid Smashers. None of them really noted how he seemed more interested in playing with his food, only having enough bites to at least satisfy his stomach before taking his leave politely, even bowing due to Japanese and Hylian tradition, and then walking away. No one noticed.
Except for maybe his older brother, Link.
Today was Halloween, and the small gang of friends were extra excited, after all, who wouldn't be? Kids of all ages got to go around to homes dressed up in neat costumes and beg for candy to all the houses that had their porch lights on. The friends were already dressed up and ready to go, and Link, Mario, and Samus were taking them out.
Ness walked up to the door, ready in his Superman costume, the big "S" replaced with an "N". Beside him stood Lucas dressed as his own dog, Boney. On the other side of Ness, stood the Ice Climbers, Nana dressed as Captain Cold, and Popo dressed as Mr. Freeze.
"I'm so looking forward to getting candy!" Ness exclaimed cheerfully. He jumped up and down, anticipating the arrival of Link, Mario and Samus.
"I know!" Nana agreed cheerfully as she fixed the hood of her costume. "I can't wait to see what other kids are dressed as!"
"My favourite part of Halloween is to see how decorated other people's houses are," Popo mentioned as he clapped his hands. "I bet none are as good as the Smash Mansion, since Mewtwo and Snake put up some awesome hologram to make it look like the Haunted Mansion from Disney World."
It was around this part that K3V1N was attacked by Chrislma with a brick for mentioning Disney inside of a Nintendo fanfiction. Don't worry. He got better.
Lucas nodded cheerfully. "My favourite part is the tradition of doing it with your friends!"
The other three nodded as Link, Mario and Samus arrived, each of them dressed in black sweaters, jeans and shoes.
"Hey, kids, ready to go?" Mario asked them with a smile, as he approached the door.
"Wait!" Lucas exclaimed, noticing something was missing from the group. He looked at each of their hands. Each had a bag ready to be filled with candy. He looked at each of them. Each of them was dressed and giving him odd looks. He then counted heads. "Where's Toon Link?" He looked up at Link, knowing he'd know.
Link frowned. "Toon decided not to come."
Mario and Samus were shocked by this.
"A kid missing out on Halloween?" Samus even asked, unbelieving. "That's like a child not being excited for Christmas!"
Link shrugged, as if he knew a secret reason, and decided to say, "He just didn't want to come, okay? Let's get going."
Mario and Samus nodded, although they weren't quite so sure leaving missing one kid, and left the house. Ness shrugged and decided to head outside as well, soon followed by Nana and Popo.
Lucas didn't leave. Instead, he dropped his bag and pulled back the hood of his costume, revealing his blonde hair, and walked up the stairs of the mansion, towards the dorms.
----
The Smash tournament was secretly a nightmare. Sure, the pamphlet said you'd make friends, sure it seemed like a blast having Brawls with people from other countries, and sure, Peach was a fine damn cook. But secretly, it was a nightmare. People tended to only talk with those from their own country, except for the Original Twelve, and Ness with Nana and Popo. And, if you were new, you had a tendency to be ignored by everyone except those that knew you, and had a tendency to be forgotten everywhere one can imagine, and can't imagine.
As was the life of Toon Link, as he sat on his bed in the dorm he shared with his older brother, looking at the plush pig that he had brought from home. He had dressed into his PJs since his brother said he would be late getting back, and Zelda didn't want him being subject to the pranking that was sure to be going on around the mansion, so she asked him to stay upstairs. He felt it wasn't fair, the way he was forgotten, and the way that he was looked at. He had wanted to meet new friends; that's why he had come here.
Could he help it if his twin brother didn't want to come back because he had other plans?
Instead, he got laughed at behind his back by Ness and his friends. Instead, he got left out of all the fun whenever anyone was playing his favourite games. The only people that ever had a conversation with him were his brother, his ruler, and his enemy at times. Frustration was piled up in his little body that he practically couldn't control it any more.
After a few minutes of staring at his plush pig, he threw it angrily at the door before him, not noticing that it was about to be opened.
A nervous squeak erupted from behind the door, and Toon Link was instantly intrigued in what was going on. Getting off his bed, he headed off to the door, his bare feet making light noises as they made contact with wood. After opening the door, he came face to face with Lucas.
Toon Link frowned, obviously not happy to be seeing him. "What do you want?"
Lucas looked slightly nervous. "C-Can I come in...?"
"What for?"
"Well... your older brother said you were planning on not going out..."
"So?"
"Why?" Lucas asked, looking curious and slightly worried. "Halloween is fun."
"Not for me," Toon Link explained as he moved out of the way so Lucas could enter, which he did.
Lucas didn't sit down on anything even after Toon Link motioned at one of the chairs as he closed the door.
"Well... why not?" Lucas asked once more as he watched the younger Link head back to his bed.
Toon Link shrugged as he crawled onto it. "Halloween is supposed to be fun... since I've been having a pretty bad year; I figured it'd be as bad, too."
Lucas was surprised to hear that. "You've been having a bad year...? I'm sorry to hear that... I've had one of those, too, although it was a bad few years..."
Toon Link nodded solemnly. He looked up from the blankets of his bed and asked, "Why do you all hate me?"
His question startled the young PSI boy so much he probably had a stupefied expression on his face. It seemed as if Toon Link saw it, as he looked away in shame.
"What?!" Lucas exclaimed once his shock was gone. "I don't hate you, Toon! And, neither do the others."
"Then why am I never allowed to play with you?" Toon Link asked once more, as he looked up to look at Lucas.
Lucas looked down, possibly upset. "Ness is just sad that his other friend didn't make it in..."
"Didn't make it in?!" Toon Link questioned as he chuckled a little, startling Lucas. Eventually the smaller Link's chuckles erupted into outright laughter.
Lucas could only watch.
"Didn't make it in?!" Toon Link repeated before laughing some more and adding, "Lucas, Young had other plans! He couldn't make it; he wanted to hang out with his friends that lived in the woods near Ordon."
The words just confused Lucas. "You... you know Young Link?"
"Sure I do!" Toon Link said with a smile. "He's my twin brother. You didn't know I'm Link's younger brother?"
"No," Lucas admitted, a little ashamed of himself. "I just knew that you hung out with him a lot."
His words caused the younger Link's smile to soften.
"So... uh..." Lucas attempted.
An awkward silence rose.
"You know you're missing Halloween, right?" Toon Link asked after a few minutes past. "I suggest going out there and getting some candy..."
"I could say the same thing to you," Lucas playfully returned.
"LUCAS?!"
The two turned to the door to see Link opening it up, and smiling at the scene that he saw. Behind him, Samus, Mario, Nana, Popo and Ness looked in behind him.
Lucas awkwardly waved. "Hi..."
Link walked in and pulled the Boney hood back on Lucas' head before heading to his younger brother and putting his hands in his pockets.
"So, runt. You planning on joining us?"
The response was a pig plushy making contact with his face and his smile just widening. Toon Link laughed and nodded.
"Sure. Let me just see what I have..."
He didn't have to look hard until he fell upon one of the pairs of clothing that Tetra had lent him. Smiling, he changed his clothes in the bathroom, and out stepped a pirate.
"Arrr! Look, Big Brother, I'm a pirate!" He brandished his Master Sword and poked a piece of furniture with it.
Ness narrowed his eyes at the antics while the Ice Climbing twins shook their heads in disappointment. Lucas only giggled, causing the other three to look at him in confusion. Link only ruffled his little brother's hair.
"Alright then, Nobeard, let's get moving," he teased.
-----
They had just turned the corner on one of the streets, their bags now half-filled with candy. Ness couldn't help but glare at Toon Link as he walked with his bag in his left hand, holding Link's with his right. He turned to Lucas after Samus began to glare at him.
"Lucas, what were you doing with him?"
Lucas shrugged as he took out a piece of bubblegum and popped it in his mouth. "We were talking."
"About what?" Ness asked, a little crudely.
"Stuff," Lucas answered as he chewed his gum. He looked at Ness curiously. "Hey, did you know he's related to the guy you miss? Young, right?"
"He's related to Young?" Ness asked in confusion, clearly not knowing the previous stated information.
Nana and Popo heard it, too. "Toon's related to Young?"
Lucas nodded. "Yeah."
"Easy, Toon," came Link's voice, causing the three to look up. They saw that Toon Link had tripped on a rather strategically placed rock, but luckily his candy hadn't fallen out.
"That rock..." Toon Link voiced, as he got up and went over to pick it up.
Looking at it more closely, he showed it to his big brother. "Look, Big Brother!"
Mario and Samus approached and inspected it alongside Link. Mario smiled and took it from the smaller Link's hands.
"It's a Chain Chomp plush," he announced with a slight chuckle.
"He tripped on a plushy?!" Ness exclaimed in disbelief.
"Oh, no," Mario continued as he turned to Ness, his smile still there. "This is actually pretty hard, similar to the actual Chain Chomp. Here, see." He tossed it to Ness, who caught it easily.
After a bit of time holding it, Ness nodded in understanding. "Yeah, it is pretty hard, isn't it?"
Samus then said, "Let's get going! There are more houses for the kids to drop by to!"
----
Later that night...
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Ness was grumbling to himself as he pulled the covers away from their neat placing and crawled into his bed, Samus tucking him and Lucas in for the night.
Before she finished with Ness, she looked at him sternly, causing him to slightly flinch under her tense glare.
"I can't say how disappointed I am in you, Ness," she voiced as she straightened her back and crossed her arms. "Your actions have nearly caused quite the trauma in the house today."
"Trauma?" Ness snapped. "Toon Link wanted to skip out on Halloween, that's no trauma!"
"Link dropped by my room before I came by here," she continued, and pulled out a thin dagger. "He found this under his little brother's bed."
Ness looked at it with a fake glare. "That's his friend's, isn't it?"
Samus ignored him. "I don't know what that was doing under his brother's bed, but Link had obviously thought of the worst possible reason for it to be there. Let's see if you can think of the same thing. Good night."
At that, she made her leave, turned off the light, and closed the door. Ness was so perplexed that he could barely sleep...
----
The next day...
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"Morning, Ness!" chimed the Ice Climber twins as they approached Ness and Lucas in their usual spot in the gardens. "What fun is planned for today?"
"I can't think of anything," Ness answered, looking at his hands thoughtfully.
Lucas thought for a second before smiling. "We could prank the Smashers!"
"No!" Ness exclaimed all of a sudden, causing the nearby Ike and Marth too look at him curiously. "There was enough pranking yesterday, according to Luigi. We should respect that."
The doors to the garden opened, and out stepped Link with Toon Link, looking rather solemn and slightly depressed as he followed his brother. The little gang of friends watched as Link took his brother to Ike and Marth, the three friends greeting each other cheerfully before Marth knelt down to Toon Link's level and greeted him kindly, ruffling the hair underneath the hat. A small but sure smile came on the little Link's face.
Ness blinked at the scene.
"How about we play with Toon Link today?" Lucas offered with a small smile. "Maybe he can come up with something to do!"
"Eww, no!" Nana protested. "He's covered in dirt all the time, and he'd probably want to play 'Pirates' all day, and I don't want to do that."
"Yeah," Popo agreed instantly, almost always agreeing with his sister. "And he hangs out with Ike and Marth."
"But he only does that because no one else wants to hang out with him," Lucas said sadly as he emotionally and figuratively dropped a bomb in the middle of the gang's circle.
"What?" Nana asked, slightly upset as she looked back at the smaller Link sitting with Link, Ike and Marth. "Well... he's not thatcovered in dirt..."
Ness shrugged. "And he isrelated to Young Link... he might be complaining about us and Young might be preparing this huge letter of hatred and scorn for us..."
Without even hearing the replies, Lucas had hopped on over to Toon Link and sat beside him, startling the three adult swordsman at his sudden appearance. Toon Link just smiled at Lucas and gave him a nod.
It took a while, but eventually the Ice Climbers looked back and forth between Lucas chatting up a storm with Toon Link and Ness, who was still thinking about the definite letter that would be sent to him. Finally, they stood up and raced over, sitting down in front of Lucas and Toon Link, taking out of their pockets some of the candy they had gotten yesterday.
Ness had finally noticed that he was all alone at his favourite spot, and looked around a bit before his eyes fell on the small group that had formed next to Link, Ike and Marth. Shrugging, and with a smile, he marched over as well.
The next day, Ness offered an empty seat next to him to Toon Link at breakfast, saying he was 'now part of the gang and couldn't deny it.'
....
Oh, and the knife? Apparently Toon Link was planning to carve a pumpkin while waiting for his brother to return.