(Looks like it's probably the last one. Boo hoo. D: And my longest one, but I hate fight scenes so bleh. Dx Well, it's the last one I have typed, anyway. I have a heckuvatime writing/drawing cute stuff with these two. But eh. I can't draw Yoshi and I can't write Falco well. Though oddly enough, I have much more fun with the latter...

Uh, I wasn't sure how this stage worked, so I rewrote the scenery a few times. Please let me know if that doesn't make sense. :x

EDIT: Glitchy thingyyyy caught by PermafrostDuchess. Hopefully, there's nothing weird about this chapter now. xP)

Enjoy. :3)


The stadium was enormous, located high above the ground. It was filled with thousands of unknown fans, and was where the second round of the tournament took place that day.

After other fighters completed their matches that morning, Falco was about to be up against one of the most honored veterans: Mario. And yet, he wasn't nervous at all. Or at least he didn't show it.

"Good luck out there, Falco," Fox told him before Falco made his way to the stage.

"Yeah, uh... thanks," he mumbled, waving back. "This should be no problem." Except for the fact that they both full-well knew that Mario was no easy opponent.

Falco walked to the side of the stadium. Mario did the same, after talking with Yoshi, Peach, and Luigi, who waved and wished him luck as well. The two of them hopped onto the stage, which mysteriously floated over clouds.

As soon as the audience began to cheer, Falco's heartbeat quickened. He suddenly gulped. Gah, what's wrong with me? he thought. He looked back to see Fox heading into the stands, followed by Yoshi and the others. The fighter and the dinosaur caught eye of each other. Falco gave him a quick thumbs up and Yoshi did the same. Now wasn't the time to be hesitant; not after what he worked for. Despite his doubts, his facial expression didn't change from his usual grin.

"Our next match," an announcer shouted, "Mario versus Falco." A spherical force field lit up around them, signaling that it would catch whoever flew off the stage.

They moved around for a quick warm up.

"3... 2... 1... GO!"

Falco was off to a rocky start. Unprepared for the first second, he stumbled before he ran. He was thankful to be hit by Mario's fist before he fell onto the ground in front of everyone. The collision knocked some sense into him, so he shielded himself from the plumber's following kick. Mario shot a fireball at him, which barely hurt him. Falco wondered why he'd shoot such weak attacks. But his temporary stun from the fireballs prevented him from defending himself against Mario's punches. He jumped back, already significantly more hurt than his opponent.

It reminded him of being pelted by little eggs. Yes, that was the same as Mario's technique: to stun him long enough for attacks. Taking note of this, he brought out his reflector. After he blindly kicked it in front of him, Mario's fireball was launched backwards. It was his turn to rush in, so he leaped above the man and kicked him into the ground.

He reached out to grab him but missed as Mario jumped away. "Whoo-hoo!" he exclaimed, doing a flip over his opponent. Falco ran toward him, but the plumber hopped out of sight and on top of the bird's head. It surprised him, which allowed Mario to pull him into a spinning tornado of punches. His final hit sent Falco into the air.

Falco guided himself away from his enemy and fired lasers from his gun. Mario unexpectedly reflected the first one back and dodged the others. Falco slid away from the reflected laser. Well, that's not gonna work well, he thought. It seemed like everything he tried would be countered. Perhaps he had a chance if he could counter as well.

He jumped into the air and spun in a drilling motion toward Mario. He kept a safe distance and intentionally missed him. As Mario hopped to punch him, Falco swung himself to the side and avoided it. He spread his arms and slapped Mario off the stage.

All right, he thought as he chased him off to the side, all I gotta do is hit him down and I've won!

Falco dashed and jumped one last time above Mario. However, his anticipation overcame his logic, and he didn't expect Mario to jump again and knock several shiny coins out of him... which was another mystery no one seemed to question.

Neither of them recovered until they hit the ground. Falco got up and reached for Mario but he sidestepped out of the way. Less than a second later, Mario grabbed Falco and hit him into the air, followed by an aerial kick that launched him far off the stage.

Falco had taken too much damage to get back on easily. He was precisely at the height of the stage and launched himself forward; aiming for the edge was his only means of staying in the match.

Halfway through, he was hit by a fireball. Mario dove for him and followed that with another light hit from his cape before jumping back onto the stage. Partially stunned, Falco tried to shoot forward again, but he was just below the edge and missed. He fell below the stage and into the force field.

It brought him back up in the form of a stiff trophy. Mario walked up to him and tapped the bird back to life.

"The winner is," the announcer shouted, "Mario!" The crowd roared once again.

Mario held out his hand, but Falco was a little too overwhelmed to notice. After a second, he quickly accepted his hand and shook it.

"Good match," Mario told him, smiling.

"Yeah," Falco said weakly. He cleared his throat. "Same to you." They both turned away from each other and waved to their screaming fans.

The competitors headed to the south side of the stage to meet their allies. Luigi, Peach, and Fox were already waiting. Mario jumped off the platform with as much energy as ever. Falco jumped off as well. He put his hands in his pockets and walked over to Fox, dreading his response. He hoped to come back to another compliment like he did after yesterday's round against Ganondorf, but instead it would be something like-

"Nice job. You put up a good fight out there." Which... was much nicer than what Falco would have said, but he still knew he lost.

Falco sighed. "Yeah, that wasn't my best work." He looked away to the audience.

"Don't sweat it," Fox told him. "Are you coming back up to watch?"

Falco looked around for a moment, then back at his friend. "In a couple minutes. I'll meet ya up there."

Fox nodded and walked back. Farther ahead was a speeding green dinosaur that Falco wasn't sure if he wanted to see. All the training proved useless in the pilot's eyes, and he wondered if Yoshi would feel he was to blame. At the same time, he knew Yoshi would never think less of him. He'd be just as cheery as ever. He awkwardly tried to greet him.

"H-ey Yoshi, good to-"

But Yoshi wasn't running to Falco, and he failed to notice him.

He ran up to tackle Mario in a giant hug and to give big lick on his face. Falco could hear him and Luigi laughing in the distance. He suddenly noticed something odd: he had instinctively lifted his arms a few seconds earlier. He let them fall back to his sides, as if in defeat. He hoped no one noticed...

"That was sweet of you, Falco."

Falco nearly jumped at the feminine voice from his side. Princess Peach smiled at him, trying not to giggle. Apparently, he didn't see her walk up to him.

"What was sweet?" Falco asked, quite annoyed that someone thought he was sensitive.

"The way you tried to get his attention," she replied with joy. "You were going to let him hug you, weren't you?"

"Well," he glanced over to the dinosaur and tried to regain his normal tone, "maybe, but getting a slimy lick is starting to look less fun by the minute... a-and it's not like he gives you much of an option, anyway."

"Aww, but you looked like you had good intentions."

Falco wasn't sure what to say. Should he let her appreciate him for being soft or should he keep up his "cool" personality that wasn't getting him anywhere?

"I never knew you had that side to you," Peach continued. "We sort of thought you were just a self-centered," she reluctantly continued, "well... obnoxious space pilot that Fox brought along. But maybe we were wrong... and maybe you do care for your friends every once in a while."

Yeah... yeah, you were wrong, he was tempted to say. He shook his head lightly and attempted to come up with something more sincere.

"Erm,"he scratched his head, "I just..."

She giggled. "You should be nicer more often. I like it."

Falco blushed beneath his feathers. He coughed, struggling to come up with something to say.

"I'm not usually-" he noticed her back up a bit. "Huh-whoa!" He was tackled from behind. It was none other than Yoshi who came to tell him how well he did. Of course, his way of doing so was licking his face and hugging him.

"Hey, don't surprise me like that," Falco yelled, with a hint of playfulness.

"Yoshiii," he simply replied, refusing to let the bird get up.

"I guess it'd be stupid to ask if you were mad that I lost, huh?" Yoshi got up and shook his head. Falco smiled. "Just remember, I'm not giving you that kind of greeting when you win your round, all right?"

"Yosh," he replied happily. To him, that statement indicated two things: he would greet him and he was confident that Yoshi would win. Strangely enough, he was completely right.


(I do not intend on writing Yoshi's match. Actually, the whole reason for this chapter was just for that last part. :3 So er. I feel like if I wrote Yoshi's, any interaction with those two would wind up being the same as this. oo And this is not reeeally an action fic, and I don't like writing these fight scenes. Heck, I can't even think of them... I play the game and take stuff from there. :P

Reviews make me smile. Even if it's like roflkawaii. As long as it's a sincere roflkawaii. x) But yeah. I think that's all I have to say for now.)