Fox followed the Ice Climbers into their dormitory room. As the door opened, he beheld the place that was to be his bedroom for the next few weeks. It was very plain, and somewhat small. There was a single bed on the left side and a bunk bed on the right and a door that led to the bathroom in the very back. Popo and Nana giggled happily as they rushed into the room and tossed their bags onto the bunk bed.

Fox dragged his heavy bag into the room, threw it atop the single bed, and collapsed onto the soft mattress, his head softly hitting the immensely comfortable pillow. He gazed at the ceiling, listening to the Ice Climbers frolicking, consumed by concerns about Falco. He could hear Peach and Zelda giggling uncontrollably through the walls.

"Fox, we're gonna go explore," said Popo. Fox did not even have time to reply as Popo dashed out the door and down the hall, followed very closely by Nana.

Popo and Nana were greatly happy to be back at the Super Smash tournament. They were too excited to go to unpack their bags and go to sleep. They wanted to revisit the places that they, for a few weeks, had called home. Laughing joyously, the Ice Climbers ran down the hall.

"I bet I'll beat you to the kitchen!" Popo challenged. Nana smiled slyly and ran faster, accepting the challenge. The two sprinted, neck-in-neck, having to think quickly to remember precisely which turns to turn to arrive at the kitchen. They ran hard, neither of them slowing down. At a point in the corridor where the turn went both left and right, Popo turned to the left while Nana turned to the right. Smack! They collided painfully into one another and fell to the floor.

"Ow!" moaned Nana, giggling. Popo also laughed. They both plopped their heads to the floor tiredly, breathing in and out. All that running had worn them out.

Suddenly, Popo sat up. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Voices," replied Popo. He strained to listen, curious. There was a deep voice speaking somewhere in the distance, but Popo couldn't tell whom it belonged to. Nana also strained to hear it; it was muffled greatly by the distance.

"…if you tell anyone, you'll meet the same end, got it?" Popo and Nana could barely make out the words that were being spoken.

"The same end of who?" asked another voice.

"That birdbrain!" replied the first voice. It was extremely difficult to make out what the two voices were saying and was near impossible to know to whom the voices belonged. But at the word "birdbrain," Popo and Nana gasped. "Do they mean Falco?" Nana whispered; Popo shushed her.

"I w-won't tell, I s-swear," the second voice stammered.

"I'm entrusting you to keep it secret, and if you betray that trust…"

"I won't! I swear it!" said the other voice nervously.

"Good."

At that particular moment, Nana let out a rather astonishingly large sneeze. "A-CHOO!" It was so loud and came so unexpectedly, that it made Popo jump. Nana wiped her nose and stared wide-eyed in the direction of the voices, which had suddenly stopped conversing. She stood frozen as she heard footsteps hastening down the corridor and Popo jumped up, grabbed her, and broke into a frantic run. He sprinted—Nana in tow—dearly hoping that the people who had been talking did not see him or Nana. He ran, panicky, adrenaline rushing, and finally came to the door of their dormitory room. Swinging the door open, he leaped in and slammed it shut. He then let go of his grip on Nana and collapsed onto the ground, exhausted.

Fox looked at them oddly. "What have you two been doing?"

"Fox, we've gotta tell you something!" Nana said urgently.

"What? What is it?" The urgency in the Ice Climber's voice sparked interest in Fox.

"W—we heard—heard some p—people—" Popo gasped for breath.

"We heard some people talking about Falco!" Nana finished for him.

Fox's eyes grew wide. "Really? What did they say?" he asked, excited.

"Well, we—we think they were talking about Falco," said Popo, finally breathing almost normally. "But it didn't sound good. One guy said something about meeting the same end as 'birdbrain,' and it didn't sound like the other guy wanted to meet the birdbrain's end…"

"End?!" Fox repeated. A horrible thought occurred to him. "Does that mean he's…dead?" He gulped anxiously.

"I dunno…maybe," said Nana sadly.

Fox was frantic. He quickly got up from the bed and began pacing rapidly back and forth. "But…no, no way….There's no way he's…at least, I hope….Oh, I have to know!" Popo and Nana watched him worriedly as he paced, sincerely hoping that Falco was not dead.

"So he called Falco a birdbrain, huh?" Fox was deep in thought. "Isn't that what Bowser called him earlier?"

"I…I think so," Popo replied.

"So it was him!" An angry spark flickered in Fox's eye. "If he's done anything to Falco, I'm gonna kill him!"

He stomped across the room, out the door, and into the corridor. Immediately, Popo sprang up from the ground and rushed after him, followed by Nana. "Fox, no!" he cried.

"Why not?" Fox snapped, turning to face the Ice Climbers.

"Well, this guy sounded really serious," Popo explained.

"So?" Fox replied harshly.

"He sounded like he would do some awful, awful things," Nana said.

"I can take him!" Fox said, dismissing their worries. He again furiously started for Bowser's room.

"If he killed Falco, he might try to kill you!" Popo stated. Fox ignored him.

"Fox, please!" Nana cried, almost tearful. "Why don't you take it up with the Smash Announcer? Please, Fox."

Fox stopped and turned to look at them, but when he saw their pleading eyes, when he saw how little and how concerned they both were, he couldn't help but give in to them.

"Okay, okay," he said calmly. "I'll go see the Smash Announcer."

"Oh, thank you, Fox!" Nana and Popo were relieved. Bowser—or whoever it was that had been talking—had not sounded like he would give a second thought to hurting, maybe even killing. The Ice Climbers just hoped that they were wrong and that, perhaps, it was all a misunderstanding.