Alrighty people, here goes nothing: a SSBB fic that doesn't have an OC! (who could've thought?) Anyway, I basically wrote this to get over some writers block. It's been buzzing around my head for a few days now. Enjoy! As usual, I don't own anything… sadly…
Fox McCloud and Falco Lombardi were enjoying a nice, calm, hot meal after a grueling day of brawls. Fox was in a bit of a foul mood. Slippy had sent messages to Falco and himself concerning some business back home, and it wasn't good news. Fox was considering appealing to get out of the tournament to go help out. But he knew that he wasn't going to have much luck. Master Hand had been in a worse mood than usual. Fox knew that if he asked Master Hand when the time was wrong, he would get rejected.
So Fox and Falco were stuck. They spent most of their free time discussing the problems at home, and as a result they were mostly ignored by the other fighters that resided in the Smash Mansion. Since the start of the new tournament, the fighters – especially the new ones – were becoming more and more selfish. It broke Fox's heart to see it. He was a trained mercenary, true, but he still valued loyalty and camaraderie, two things that were absent at the Smash Mansion. Nobody seemed to give a snot about anyone else, and that made Fox miss his Team like crazy. He thought that Falco was the only person on campus that would have anything to do with him.
That was, they were ignored until little Lucas approached their table with a frightened expression. "Fox? Falco?" he asked in a timid voice.
"What can we do ya for, kid?" Falco asked, nearly swallowing an entire grapevine whole.
Lucas looked truly frightened and his voice was barely a whisper. "I can't find Ness. I think he's outside somewhere, but I don't know the grounds well enough to go searching for him myself without getting lost. People say you guys are good at this sort of thing…" he stopped, seemingly too ashamed to continue.
Fox almost smiled as he glanced up at his wingman. "How 'bout it, Falco? It's not exactly search-and-rescue, but we oughta help out."
"Eh, why not?" Falco said bitterly, getting up from the table. "Better get started now, before it gets too dark, huh?"
Fox nodded, glad to be doing something. Maybe this would help him take his mind off of home. "We'll be back soon, Lucas, don't you worry. We'll call you once we find him."
"Thank you, Fox!" Lucas said, nearly choking back tears.
Fox and Falco made their way outside. "Maybe the next time I want something from you, I'll whimper and cry too," Falco muttered.
"What makes you say that?"
"Foxy boy, I've known you for a long time. I know that you're a pushover, but you're an even bigger pushover when the request comes from crying children or 'damsels-in-distress'."
"I would've taken this job anyway. We're the best guys for this."
"We're also the best guys for the job back at home."
"Don't remind me. Look, I want to do a nice thing for a little kid. Don't bring our problems into this."
"Too late."
Fox immediately thought of a way to cheer up his friend. "Tell you what, Falco; we'll turn this into a little contest. Whoever doesn't find Ness has to appeal to Master Hand for our temporary release."
Falco grinned brightly. "Now you're talking. Game on." He sped away in a random direction.
Fox wasn't worried about losing. He was Fox McCloud. He could pull off a simple S&R.
Unfortunately, the job proved to be a little more difficult than he thought. Ness was a little kid, just like Lucas; he could be anywhere. The worst part was that darkness settled onto the campus very quickly, and to top it all off, it began to pour without warning. Fox hated being stuck in the rain. His jacket was waterproof, so he was saved from most of the damage, but his head and legs were totally drenched in mere seconds.
Fox stopped for a moment at the top of a hill and tried to clear his head. Ness was a tough little guy. He wouldn't just wander off somewhere. C'mon, McCloud, you can do better than this. Think.
Suddenly, an idea popped into his head: Ness said that he liked to hang out by the star-shaped lake. He said it helped him think. Re-energized, Fox jogged down to the lake and saw a dark lump sitting under a tree. Hardly believing his luck, Fox broke out into a run as he approached the boy.
Poor Ness was soaked to the bone and he looked as if he were in pain. Fox bent down and inspected the boy's body and noticed immediately that his ankle was swollen to twice its normal size. "What happened?" Fox cried over the rain.
"I busted it. I wasn't watching my step. I made a clumsy mistake. It hurts, Fox!"
Fox nodded understandingly. The whole incident bothered him in a way he couldn't really name. Ness, in Fox's mind, was one of the more level-headed – and one of the best – fighters at the tournament. To see the little psychic in such shape surprised him. At the end of the day, he supposed, Ness was still a kid; he wasn't perfect, and he still needed to be looked after.
"Why didn't you call someone?"
"My communicator's broken."
"Can't you… I don't know, like, communicate with Lucas in your mind?"
"What do you think I am, McCloud?" Ness asked, making Fox chuckle. "I really messed up."
"No, no, you didn't," Fox said. "Lucas sent Falco and I out here to look for you. Why are you out here alone?"
"I needed time to think. I've had it with the selfish people here. I just needed some time alone, and now I've gone and done this!"
Those words struck Fox oddly. He felt the same thing almost every day. This wasn't Ness' fault; that much was clear. Fox had wandered off on his own on more than one occasion. "It's okay, my friend. Let's just get you home, okay?"
"Home," Ness said bitterly, wincing in pain. "This isn't home. If it were home, everyone would actually care about one another."
Pushing away flashbacks of times he'd spent with his team, Fox thumbed open his communicator and dialed Falco. "Found the bogey, Falco," he reported.
"Thank goodness. Hate to break it to you, man, but I suck at S&R!"
"I'm good enough for the both of us. Call Lucas and tell him I'll be inside in ten minutes."
"You got it," Falco said before cutting the connection.
Fox smiled before turning again to Ness. The kid's ankle really was in bad shape; he wasn't gonna be walking anywhere. He was also starting to shiver, his soaking wet body at the mercy of the chilly night air.
Fox groaned. I really hate being the good guy sometimes. He stripped off his jacket and wrapped it around the injured wunderkind, picked him up, and started the walk home. Ness winced and squirmed with pain, which forced Fox to walk slowly and carefully.
After a painstaking journey, Fox finally delivered Ness to the front doors of the Mansion, where he was met by Lucas. Falco took one look at Ness and ran off to get Dr. Mario. Fox held the boy until the good doctor came back with a wheelchair. He carefully took Ness out of Fox's hands and wheeled him away.
Lucas finally spoke up. "Is he okay?"
"He's fine. He'll be on crutches for a few days, but he'll be okay. I'm glad we went out to look for him," Fox said, fighting the urge to shake all of the water from his body.
"I am too. I had no clue he was hurt! I'm so, so sorry Fox. Thank you for finding him. Nobody else here would help me."
That stopped Fox. "You asked other people, and they wouldn't help?"
"Maybe it's because I'm new here. I dunno."
Fox almost spoke, but Falco's voice stopped him: "McCloud!" the blueish bird tossed a towel in the mercenary's general direction.
Fox caught it and immediately started rubbing his fur to rid it of water. "Thanks, beaky."
"I've got you, foxy. I suppose I have to go sell my soul to Master Hand now. Do you really want me doing this?"
"You won't do any worse than me," Fox replied. "Just go see what you can do. Kiss his butt if you have to."
"Tally-ho, then. Wish me luck!"
…..
There was no such luck in Falco's favor. Master Hand rejected him outright. The next morning, Fox went and tried to talk to the overlord, but he got the same response. Defeated, the duo sat down in the Mess Hall and moped around a bit, eating mindlessly and trying to figure out another way to get home. They had to convince Master Hand to let them go; their Team was in actual legitimate danger.
Ness – on crutches – and Lucas stopped by their table. "Why so down, guys?" Ness asked, back to his chipper self.
Fox and Falco explained their dilemma, and the two boys nodded understandingly. The four of them brainstormed for a little while, but with no luck. When they were supposed to report for morning training, Lucas and Ness went upstairs, and not out to the practice fields. While Fox noticed that, he didn't think anything of it.
Fox was sitting in his room some time later, writing to Slippy, when a knock came at his door. Falco got up to get it; Ness and Lucas stood at the entrance. "What's up, boys?" Fox asked, getting up to greet his friends.
"You two have three weeks of leave. Go help your friends back on Corneria," Ness reported happily.
Fox immediately felt a huge burden being lifted from him. "Are you serious?" he asked.
"Yup. Master Hand sent us to give you the release papers," Lucas said, handing Falco a few sheets of paper.
The bird grinned. "When did Master Hand see you two?" he asked.
"We went up to his office and begged him to let you go," Ness answered shamefully.
"You did something nice for us; we wanted to do something nice for you!" Lucas cried.
The two pilots looked at one another, then back at the boys, and smiled. They thanked the boys, packed a few belongings, and rushed out of the Mansion to go save their Team.
On the ride into the city, Falco said "it was really nice of those kids to do that. Usually Lucas is scared of his own shadow, for Pete's sake, let alone Master Hand!"
Fox looked out the window of the cab at the bright sun. Maybe things weren't so bad after all. Maybe there were people worth getting along with. "Yeah, it was. I think we owe them."
"They said they owed us."
Putting his paws behind his head, Fox smiled. "We all owe each other, all the time. That's how the whole 'being-good-people' thing works…"