I sat down quietly on the small foreign ship, piloted by a small creature with what seemed to be a pink toadstool hat. I smiled politely at her and she beamed happily at me from her post. She punched in a few commands and we went speeding off into space faster than I had ever been before. I looked out the window and observed how unfamiliar the stars were becoming. We slowed down and came into orbit of a planet and I watched curiously at all the space movement beneath us.

"This isn't our stop Commander, just picking up another competitor and then we're off." The girl said. We sat in an awkward silence as we waited for the other to arrive. "So." The girl began, obviously hating the lack of conversation. "I hear you took down a crazy scientist single handedly."

"Well, that's not entirely true, I had a lot of help from my team." I explained. She nodded slowly but I could tell she didn't care about my team's involvement. Before she could respond, an alarm chirped and she spun around in her chair.

"Looks like you're about to meet a fellow pilot." She commented as the ship shook slightly from the docking. The airlock flew open and a very tall muscular man with an impressive helmet swaggered on board.

"Captain Falcon, it's an honour!" The girl fawned. The man hadn't noticed my existence yet, which allowed me to roll my eyes.

"The honour is all mine young lady." He smiled charmingly and set his bags down at the back of the ship. As he walked back to sit down he did a double take at me.

"What the hell are you?" He asked.

"Huh?" I replied. He looked me up and down.

"Are you some sort of sick cross between an animal and human?" He demanded with disgust. I could feel my ears twitch with anger.

"No, I'm a Cornerian." I retorted. The man sat down and continued to glare at me like I'd offended not only him but also his family. I chose to ignore the looks of contempt and peered out of the window. The ship shook again, signalling that we were no longer docking and we shot back into unknown space.

"It's probably going to be another hour till we get there fellas." The girl announced. I risked a glance at the man who was still sending me angry glares. This was going to be a long trip.

"Welcome to the first ever Super Smash Brothers!" A loud voice boomed. As soon as we had landed, I was ushered into a small room where I was told to wait for my name to be called. From there I was to walk out onto the stage and do something that the audience would remember me for. The voice continued to boast about what an amazing tournament it was going to be, but I was far from listening. What was I going to do to make the crowd like me, in fact why did they even have to like me? I looked nervously down at the boots Slippy had given me. They were incredibly comfortable, but the buttons at the toes of them caught my attention.

"Our first member is the face of Nintendo itself! Please make a warm welcome for Mario from the Mushroom Kingdom." The voice said excitedly. I looked up at the small television that showed a short stubby man with his trademark moustache and red hat walk confidently onto the stage. The crowd immediately broke into applause upon seeing the famed hero. My eyes widened at the size of the crowd. It was huge and there were several floating cameras too. I wondered whether my team was watching this back in Lylat or whether it was just shown in this galaxy.
"Next we have the legendary hero from Hyrule, Link!" The next competitor was a tallish boy with blonde hair that blew over his nervous face. He couldn't have be any older than me but I by the size of his sword and the way he swung it around to impress the audience, I wouldn't want to be his enemy.

"And now for the dangerous bounty hunter, Samous Aran." They weren't lying when they said was it dangerous. It stalked onto the stage, staring down the audience, which ironically enough made them love it more. What got me though was the full body armour. The giant orange suit clanked whenever it moved, also ensuring that you couldn't tell what gender it was, but the words 'bounty hunter' were enough to make me seethe.

"But we couldn't forget the adorable hero of Dreamland, Kirby!" A little pink ball with large clumsy feet, waddled over and smiled innocently, inflating and deflating its small body, which the crowd make 'aw' noises at.

"And now Lylat's most skilled pilot and mercenary, Fox McCloud!" That was my cue. I walked through the curtain and stood in the middle of the stage. The audience went quiet and I could feel the discomfort they were in. I remembered that I had to do something that would make them like me so I attempted a smile, but to no avail. I stood panicking, quickly going through my options, but stopped and slowly looked down at my boots. Clicking the front of my boots together on the buttons, they suddenly caught on fire and I was thrown into the air. I yelped in horror and tried to latch onto the closest thing to stop my accent, unfortunately it was the banner that floated proudly in the sky. I grabbed onto the sign and prayed that my boots would stop burning. Within a few seconds they did and I fell very ungraciously to the ground with a thud. I got up, rubbing my now bruised thigh and looked at the crowd. Almost all mouths were open with shock. But then the unexpected happened. They exploded into wild applause. I remained still, eyes unblinking at the ecstatic woops I was receiving.

"Well that was one heck of an entrance Commander." The commentator said enthusiastically. I managed to grin once my nerves had calmed down and left the stage with whatever dignity I had left.

I fell exhausted onto the temporary bunk they'd given me. Today was one of the most humiliating days I'd had since I was in the academy and it was taking its toll. Although the audience loved it, the competitors now saw me as clumsy and attention seeking which was a dangerous place to be in. After my little 'show' I'd decided to skip the end of introductions and left without anybody noticing. It wasn't until I was caught with my tail in the wrong room that I was told where I could and couldn't go. They led me to my room and I almost fell asleep where I stood. I closed my eyes and wished it to be over before it even began. As I was falling asleep the door creaked open. I opened one of my eyes to see who it was, twisting my neck around. The young blonde haired boy in green looked nervously around the room and caught my eye. We stayed staring at each other for a few moments before I relaxed and closed it again. I could hear the boy scuffing his shoes, debating whether he should actually come in or stay at the door. I sighed and sat up, crossing my legs.

"What is it?" I asked politely although strained. He looked down at the paper that was crushed up in his leather clad hands.

"I'm supposed to be sharing this room with you tonight." The boy said.

"Fine." I said and gestured to the bunk across from mine. He nodded gratefully at me and put his small bag down by his bed. He climbed effortlessly onto the bunk and sat quietly with his head against the wall. We remained quiet for about ten minutes, but this time, it was a silence not even I could bear.

"You're Link right?" I asked casually. His light blue eyes landed on me and I could almost hear what he was thinking about.

"Yes." He replied eventually.

"I'm Fox."

"I know." I cringed, he must have thought the worst of me already. I lay back, deciding that conversation was futile. Closing my eyes I tried to drift off again.

"How did you get your shoes to catch on fire?" The boy asked. I hesitated before replying.

"A friend of mine made them for me. Don't know why he didn't want to warn me about them first." The boy snorted.
"Consider yourself lucky." He muttered.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" An angry, muffled voice asked. I sat upright and looked cautiously around the room, trying to find the source of the voice. I narrowed my eyes at Link's hat, which seemed to be moving.

"Um, what's going on with your hat?" I asked.

"Ignore it." He said through gritted teeth.

"Hey! I'm not an it!" The voice exclaimed. Link groaned and threw his hat off, revealing a little blue fairy. "It's about time you let me out, it's so stuffy in there." The fairy complained.

"Should have ignored it." Link told me. I couldn't help but laugh a little. Although Slippy could be annoying, he was definitely one of my closest friends and a very talented mechanic. Link however had the honour of dealing with what seemed to be a very excitable and vocal fairy.

"You must be that fox that caught on fire! That was amazing! How are you not dead?" The fairy asked and flew into my face.

"I don't know. Dumb luck maybe." I attempted. This only made it more excited.

"Wow, you are so brave! How come I've never heard of you? You must have so many stories from your travels. I know Link and I do, but Link never talks about them. He says they're no body else's business but I think he just doesn't want the attention." It said quickly. I looked sideways at Link who wore an amused smile.

"Ha ha." He mocked.

"Gee thanks." I said sarcastically. He laughed quietly, keeping an eye on the hyperactive fairy.

"Look Navi, why doesn't Fox tell you one story, then you let us get some sleep?" Link offered tiredly.
"Just one? Pick a good one then." The fairy complained.

"Well, I don't really have many good stories." I said shyly.

"It really doesn't matter how good it is, just as long as it keeps her quiet." Link whispered.

"Ok." I began. "I think I may have already gotten an enemy."

"That was quick." Link commented. "What did you do to them?"

"You know that Captain Falcon guy?" I asked and received a nod in return. "Well I was born and apparently that offends him." This made Link laugh.

"You're not alone, you should have seen his reaction to my ears." I smiled, I guess I wasn't so alone in this competition. It had taken some work, but this boy seemed happy to talk to me now.

"Wow, that guy doesn't sound very nice. Thanks for sharing a story Fox." Navi said and flittered quietly back into Link's hat that was now on the bedside table.

"Sorry about her." Link said.

"Don't worry about it." I chuckled and lay back in my bunk, closing my eyes for the final time that night. The lights went out and I fell into a dreamless sleep.