AN: I... er... I don't even, to be honest. Enjoy(?)!
A bright, sunny day, a basket full of food and a few good friends. "This," Sonic blissfully sighs, "is the life."
Fox had suggested bringing some wooden deck loungers, a large picnic blanket and some drinks along with them too, to make a little more of a thing out of it. He'd also thrown in some sunglasses for good measure, which, they had quickly discovered, had been the smartest idea of all. Accompanying them are Ness, Lucas, and somewhere a Kirby who has bounded off to explore.
It is an incredibly hot day - shame it couldn't be spent out on Emerald Coast, in Sonic's opinion - but the Smash gardens are peaceful and beautiful enough to make up for it. The grass, soft and green and luscious, is mown to perfection. Dotted all over the grounds are trees with sprawling branches, bursting with foliage which casts shade in cloudlike shapes on the ground beneath. It is spring, and a rare day off from training for the Brawlers.
"Couldn't agree more," Fox eventually answers with a lazy grin. He tosses Sonic some shades, and next to one another, they put on their sunglasses, settle back in the loungers with their arms folded behind their heads, and ready themselves for a couple hours of uninterrupted sunbathing.
Mostly uninterrupted sunbathing, that is. Ness and Lucas are lying over the picnic blanket chatting excitedly about their new Pokémon cards between mouthfuls of candy and swigs of sweet soda. They compare shinies, legendaries, energy cards and how to split them up. Basic rules of the game and whose deck is going to be the best. They are relatively quiet, though, and are of no bother to Fox and Sonic. If anything it's rather nice to have their happy chattering as background noise accompanying the gentle spring breeze.
The boys begin to play their game, Sonic is on the verge of napping and Fox is content simply to exist, enjoying the warm sun on his fur. It's not exactly better than being in the sky, he thinks. But it's different, a relaxing change from piloting his Arwing and bickering with Falco. It's just... pleasant.
They are not the only ones who have spotted the fantastic opportunity of a sunny day in the garden, however. The peaceful quiet around the boys is broken quite suddenly by Red running out beside them, all three of his starters in tow. Charizard roars its delight as it flies past the group, making the blanket whip up into the air like ice cream and scattering Pokémon cards everywhere, to the chagrin of Ness and Lucas.
Fox tries his best to ignore it. Sonic, already a little irritated at the sudden rush of heat from the fire type flying by, curls onto his side to resume his comfortable nap. Surely they will go and play further down the yard, and not close enough to be a nuisance. Surely.
Unfortunately their peace is not meant to be, and the passing Ivysaur spots Ness gathering the cards and handing back Lucas' deck.
"Ivy, ivy!" he yelps, eagerly alerting Red who is - or rather, was - running down the yard with Squirtle. Fox lifts his sunglasses enough to look down his nose at the rabble of Pokémon approaching, and is suddenly, overwhelmingly, filled with dread. He glances over to Sonic, whose left ear twitches, but stubbornly remains right where he is in a pseudo state of sleep. Realising he has probably noticed already, Fox knows there is no point in warning Sonic now. But he can't help wondering what, exactly, will be the thing that ruins their sunbathing. Growling a bit under his breath, Fox tries to stay as relaxed as possible while watching the human boy and Pokémon approach.
"Oh man, you guys got some Pokémon cards?" Red exclaims, sitting down on the freshly rearranged blanket beside Ness. Lucas is giggling now that he has Ivysaur beside him, rubbing affectionately up against his side, and Charizard takes a seat by the picnic basket, clawing at its innards in the hopes of finding something tasty.
"Yeah, we got them from Wario!" Ness explains happily. "He said it was a new card game for us to try!"
Fox makes a mental note to have a few strong words with Wario later.
"M'gonna find that bike of his and drive it offa Eldin," Sonic mutters under his breath, just loud enough for Fox to hear him and snicker.
"We were just about to start playing... you can join in if you like, Red," Lucas offers quietly, offering Red a happy smile and a few of his cards. Ness seems to think this is an awesome idea, and begins to rummage through his backpack for more cards.
"Nah, it's cool, I've played hundreds of times. Besides, I gotta give my team a little work out seeing as the weather's so good."
The younger boys are immediately disappointed, and vocalise their disappointment in a long, drawn out whine.
"Awwwwwhhhhhhhhhh!"
Ivysaur blinks when the petting from Lucas stops, and scampers back to his trainer, excited at the prospect of play. He joins Squirtle and they go over to tug on Charizard's tail, who is busy munching on some chocolate. He has made a considerable mess of the highly unPoképroofed and now splintered wicker picnic basket.
Fox is going to just love having to return that to Peach later.
"I'm sorry guys! I'll play with you later, I promise!" Red apologises sincerely, though he's quickly distracted when all three of his team crowd around him in an excited and eager to play rabble. Having left the quiet picnic area in just a tad of a mess, they rush off, and Ness and Lucas look at each other, at the extra decks they have somehow accumulated, and then to the fox and the hedgehog just a few feet away from them. Their eyes narrow in thought, and quietly, they stand up.
Whether Sonic's nap is fake or not, he's smiling and content now that the rush of Pokémon related noise has dissipated, and Fox has once again settled into his previous state of relishing tranquillity.
He knows, knew from the very moment Red appeared, that this blissful day was simply not meant to last.
A shadow appears over him at the same time a shadow appears over Sonic, blocking the sunlight from Fox's face. Lucas is the one hesitating beside Fox. Ness is already quite bravely shaking Sonic to try and wake him up, knowing that Sonic will be much less of a pushover than he is when it comes to playing with kids. "Soooooniiiiiiiic, play Pokémon with us! Pleeeeeease!"
Seconds later and a hesitant Lucas pokes his arm and murmurs, "Fox? Are uh…are you awake?"
Fox knows there is no way out of this now. "Yes," he replies, with enough force to make Lucas jump back in fright. Fox tilts his head to the side, watching Sonic continue to be 'asleep' while Ness vigorously shakes his shoulder and pleads with him to join them.
Fox heaves a heavy sigh. One of lament. One of poignant, bitter defeat. It is a sound which makes Sonic's ears flatten against his head, because he knows he is fighting a losing battle in their continued war against Noisy Kids on a Peaceful Sunny Day. And he can only play dead for so long.
The game is up, and they both know it.
"Come on, Sonic," Fox says, sitting up and removing his sunglasses. He tosses them off to the side and rubs his eyes, while next to him Sonic groans, does exactly the same thing, and it's all to Ness and Lucas' cries of delight at having won over some extra players to join their game.
But neither of them are going down without some sort of compromise.
"Alright, alright, alright! Jeeez, we'll play your game for a while!" Sonic tells them, trying not to grumble too much but feeling robbed of his lazy afternoon nap all the same. He glances to Fox, who is now sitting opposite him beside Lucas. He shrugs. Sonic can't help feeling a tad frustrated at how easy Fox is to give in, but he knows, deep down, their loss was inevitable.
He sighs. "How about… we play with you guys for a half hour, and then you let us sleep. Sound fair?"
It's a done deal, and they sit in their teams opposing one another- Sonic and Ness on one side, Lucas and Fox on the other. The cards are dealt, the rules are explained and they settle down to play. Sonic and Fox give each other knowing looks and smiles the entire time.
There's no way this game is gonna last more than ten minutes.
Red is never one to miss a good photo opportunity, and indulges his team in a photoshoot, of sorts, as they bound around the gardens. He picked up a certain knack for photography shortly after playing that Snap game a few years ago, and since then he's always kept a camera on his person. It's always nice to look back on days of training, and finding a really great shot be it thanks to angle, dynamics or otherwise, gives him a real sense of fulfilment.
But his team have had their fill of activity for today, especially with the sun being at its highest and hottest point in the day. It was… what, an hour ago? When they saw the boys having their picnic. Definitely time for a break, the trainer decides with a grin. He's curious to see how Ness and Lucas are getting along with the cards.
Letting Squirtle climb on his back, Red allows Ivysaur to guide them through the shallow hedge maze and out onto the fields extending from the main gardens. Charizard is happy to trail lazily behind, eyes closed and his long neck tilted upwards slightly as he basks in the heat of the day. Red is chatting quietly to them while he flicks through the photos on his camera, so distracted by it that they've been walking for twenty minutes and he hasn't looked up once.
When he does look up, and finds that they're a few metres away from the boys' picnic, the sight which meets the trainer and his team is, quite simply, stunning.
"Hahaha! Sonic, use Taunt!"
"Sonic sonic! YOU'RE TOO SLOW!"
"Hahahaha! Oh man, that works way too well with this!"
Red is not quite sure what exactly is going on here. What he can see is possibly too ridiculous to be true, and judging from the way his team have stopped to stare, they can't believe it either.
The picnic blanket has been cleared. On one side is Sonic, bouncing from foot to foot ready to defend and/or attack and is continuously saying his name. On the other is Fox, who is faltering a bit as he wonders how to perform a 'Lava Plume', and then remembers his Up special, Fox Fire.
"Fox, now's your chance! Get him with- er-" Lucas dives down onto his knees in the search for a decent attack. He picks up a fire type which has- "Lava Plume, GO!"
"Fox, fox fox!"
Either Wario purposefully gave the boys an incredibly different set of rules, or Sonic and Fox got carried away. Honestly, Red doesn't think he'd be surprised either way. In any case, the hedgehog and fox are… attacking each other, sort of, saying their names a whole lot, while the boys clearly commanding them rummage through their decks.
"Fox! Foooooox HUUUURRAAAAGGH!"
While Fox uses 'Lava Plume', he unfortunately goes straight up into the air, leaving him at the mercy of Sonic's— c'mon Ness find a card find a-
"Er, okay, er so use—WATER GUN YEAH!"
"Aw man what how'm I supposed to-"
"HURRRAAAAGH!"
Fox tries to aim his Up special more toward Sonic, who immediately panics. With no other choice the hedgehog grabs the nearest bottle of coke he can, tears off the cap, and throws it.
"SONIIIIIIIIIC!" he yells, triumphant as Fox takes the hit and falls to the floor, winded and suitably dowsed in cola.
"Oh, no!" Lucas looks horrified. "Fox, use your Thundershock to paralyse him!"
"F-fox fox!" Fox is instantly back on his feet, shaking his fur a bit before whipping out his gun and lasering Sonic in the face with it, who yelps and stumbles back. Fox is rather impressed with himself for landing such a good hit, considering he's got soda in his eyes and damn, that shit hurts.
"Ness, Sonic just got paralysed okay!" Lucas calls over to him, and Ness sighs and accepts.
"Alright, but Sonic's gonna use Extreme Speed which is priority and is gonna totally beat your Fox!"
"NO he's not gonna beat him!"
"Yeah he so is!"
"IS NOT!"
The boys argue a bit. Fox is rubbing cola out of his eyes and Sonic is somewhat frazzled from his mild Thundershock experience. But soon enough they're back in character, Sonic is Extreme Speeding, Fox is Reflecting, and Ness and Lucas are cycling through their Pokémon cards picking out any attack which, they think, is feasible.
There is no way of telling how long they have been doing this. Judging by the way they are genuinely trying to emulate the attacks given, and lacking any semblance of their former 'we're wearing sunglasses and catching some rays and are totally rad and cool' selves.
Red just… has no words. Nor do his Pokémon.
But a picture is worth a thousand of them anyway, and by now, Red is pretty sure he has taken hundreds.
Mario is going to love this.