Ice Climbers

By Super Smasher

Disclaimer: The Ice Climbers and all associated IPs are solely the property of The Nintendo Company. Characters used without permission.

White.

That was all she could see.

White. Surrounding, imposing, capturing.

She felt the rough tug of what was left of the severed belay line catching on a snarg as she ran out of rope. Gingerly, she lowered her crampon-bound right foot, searching. The outcropping they had left still seemed sturdy.

Embedding the ice axe in the wall, she let the attached string pull her heavy mitten off. The cold bit her fingers to the bone as she struggled with the carabiner keeping her waist attached to the line. The extra slack in the rope let it come off easily, and she felt the pull on her waist decrease.

Safely detached, Nana finally turned away from the wall, into the biting wind. Snow flew into her eyelashes as she peered around the frozen plain. They had been above the tree line since yesterday; he shouldn't have been too hard to spot.

"Popo."

The girl pulled her parka even tighter around her face. Through the swirling white, she could barely make out a lump of blue several feet to her right. Not stopping to detach her crampons, Nana stumbled through the quickly-accumulating snow.

"Popo."

It took several minutes, but she reached the lump, half-covered in powder. She gently brushed it off, revealing a boy, similarly parka-covered. He lay motionless in the snow, steam issuing from his mouth at irregular intervals, denoting the pain he was in. His right arm and left leg were bent at strange angles. She stared in horror, unbelieving.

"POPO!"

They had lived in a small alpine village, high in the Aput-Gana Mountains, a place where there was always snow on the ground and always snow falling. Their lives had changed forever that fateful day, when the Condors attacked. The mountain-dwelling birds had swooped down, raiding the village in a flight filled with hunger never seen before. Many of the residents had died fighting them off, but once the dust cleared, an even bigger threat emerged. The Condors had carried off the village's entire food supply.

That was when they had picked up their hammers.

Popo was the son of the village doctor. From a very young age, he'd been exposed to all sorts of injuries that the lumberjacks and miners had sustained in their pursuits of wood and iron. Bloody limbs, broken ribs and feet, concussions, Popo had seen it all and fixed it all.

Nana was the blacksmith's daughter. There was always an axe to sharpen, a pickaxe to repair, or an ice screw to be forged. Watching her father smelt down the ore from the mine and turn it into useable tools had seemed almost magical. Nana knew it all and had made it all.

They weren't friends. They never saw each other, and never made an effort to speak to each other. But when their very existence had been threatened, the two knew what had to be done. Popo knew how to climb ice, from the rescue missions he had mounted with his parents. Nana had access to the equipment they needed.

It had been a long and perilous climb to the top of Condor's Peak. They were a team not by choice, but by necessity. Yet their teamwork was flawless, and in the process, they forged a bond of trust. Rescuing the food supply had served as a catalyst, to expose these two souls to their true calling.

Condor's Peak was only the beginning.

Nana reached out, tugging on his uninjured arm. With some difficulty, she pulled Popo's limp body over her shoulder, and started to walk, his legs dragging along the top of the accumulating snow. She needed to make it to the wall. Then they would at least be sheltered from this cursed wind.

But…where was it?

There was only white surrounding them. One false move and the two of them would be falling, falling, falling down the Cliffside. Trembling, she moved one foot in front of the other, feeling, searching. Nana continued on, listening to Popo's breaths becoming heavier, more haggard. He was fading.

Suddenly, the wall reappeared not ten feet in front of her. As luck would have it, an opening presented itself in the wall. A cave.

She picked up speed, desperate for shelter. It felt like the seconds dragged into hours as they neared the opening. Nana stumbled blindly into the cave, her eyes unadjusted to the darkness. She gazed around. Nothing was here, no signs of Bears or Topies.

Gently, she lowered Popo's body to the floor. He was still alive. That was all she cared about at the moment. He was still alive.

A fire. That was what they needed. Even with the wind lessened, the cold was still biting, chilling them to the bone. She removed her climbing pack from her back and searched around for a flare. She had to dig deep to find it. The Ice Climbers never needed assistance, so they never needed flares. But there were a few there. Nana was the cautious type. Well, more cautious than Popo, anyways.

There were no trees, so there was no wood. She would have to resort to extreme measures. The extra clothing had been there for warmth or protection, but she was shredding it now, making large clumps of wadding. Nana had to make sure to coat each piece with a thin layer of snow, so their burning period would extend farther than merely going up in flames and dying.

In no time, a tiny fire had been built, and she turned her attention to her friend. He was still breathing heavily, and his arm and leg were definitely broken. What luck. There was no way he'd be able to be carried in his condition, much less let himself down the frozen hillsides they had climbed to get to this point.

Popo was the doctor. Well, not certified. But he would have been drafted as a war medic in a heartbeat. Nana knew nothing other than basic first aid. She had always assumed that Popo, fiery, arrogant, bestowed-with-the-devil's-own-luck Popo, would always be there.

But when it came down to it, she couldn't do anything for him.

Years ago, they had been famous. Popo and Nana, the unmatched duo of mountain climbing legend. They had summated the 32 tallest peaks in the world together. Neverest, Sno Oyu, Fallahiri. It didn't matter what the weather was or what time of day it was. They'd climb anything.

Nobody even referred to them by their names anymore. Children wanted to be them. Companies wanted to sponsor them. They had become synonymous with the act of mountain scaling.

They were simply known as "The Ice Climbers."

The fame and fortune didn't matter to Popo and Nana, but, admittedly, it did make life easier. A large house, filled with all the amenities they'd never had in their youth. Their small town was transformed into a gathering place for adventurers of all stripes looking to start their journey in the same way, the scaling of Condor's Peak.

But they were a passing fad. In time, public eye turned elsewhere. And while their exploits remained the stuff of legend, their tales mythical and near unmatched, they faded into the white. The corporations slowly stopped asking for commercial spots. Visitors trickled down to nothing. It seemed like they had been forgotten.

And that was when Popo had suggested they scale Icicle Mountain.

A shadow fell over the entrance of the cave. Nana's head jerked up as she grabbed her hammer, raising the heft in a defensive position. She could see the outline of a bipedal creature at the cave's mouth, but the blizzard outside made it difficult to discern more than that. She called out, voice trembling.

"Who's there?"

She gripped the mallet's heft even tighter as the figure transgressed further into the cave. As it emerged from the blowing snow, she could see it was a man. He was also covered in a parka, though grey, unlike hers. She couldn't help noticing, however, that he wasn't wearing crampons or a harness. Odd, but that wasn't important at the moment.

"Wait. I mean you no harm." The figure paused upon seeing Nana, hammer drawn. He raised his arms in a gesture indicating that he was unarmed. "You are one of the Ice Climbers, correct? Nana?"

She lowered her weapon. "Yes…but…who are you?"

He looked around the cave for a second, before his eyes landed on Popo. "What? Is he hurt?" With surprising dexterity, the man dropped his pack and hurried over. His hood slipped away from his head, revealing sunny yellow hair. He was wearing climbing goggles to protect the glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose. "Do you have a first aid kit?"

Nana gestured to Popo's pack, leaning against the wall. She didn't let go of her hammer, though. This man may seem helpful, but she wasn't sure what to think. Nobody else was supposed to be here.

He rooted around until he came across Popo's first aid kit, and dragged it over to the prostrate Ice Climber. "This may take a while. Feel free to get some rest."

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm fine." Nana sat down against the opposite cave wall, feeling the rough-hewn rock against her back. As soon as she settled down, however, weariness took over her, and she fell into deep slumber.

"This is it." Popo smiled, patting the wall. Nana arched her head back, staring up the sheer face. It was a sustained, overhanging climb, with no resting places. Obviously, this was the legendary AI8, the highest difficulty on the mountain climbing scale.

Icicle Mountain wasn't the tallest mountain in the world. Comparatively, it was quite tiny. But it was the most dangerous climb imaginable. Millions of years ago, a river had split at its base, and the resulting erosion had created a giant spike, with nearly vertical walls stretching miles into the sky. There was nowhere to climb but straight up, hence the name.

Nobody had ever scaled Icicle Mountain before. There were no guide ropes, no pre-inserted ice screws to make belaying easier. This was going to be a highly technical climb. Placing protective screws was going to be nearly impossible. But they were the Ice Climbers. Nothing was impossible for them.

And so they had started, Popo taking the lead, Nana following behind. They would cut their way up the side of the cliff, using their ice axes to dig into the cliffside and their crampons on their feet to hold them up. Every so often, Popo would dig out a ledge to rest his foot on, and would release one of his axes.

From his belt, Popo produced a long, thin screw. Well, it was much less of a screw than it was a spike. The Ice Climbers were known for making dangerous climbs with archaic equipment. Most climbers used screws, but Popo and Nana adhered to the age-old tradition of using hammers to pound their protection spikes, which were usually referred to as "snargs" in place. That was why they carried the wooden mallets Nana's father had made when they had been only children.

The wind was picking up dangerously, swirling chunks of snow and ice around their heads. A blizzard was descending on Icicle Mountain. This climb was turning out much worse than Nana had anticipated.

Nana jerked awake, her vision foggy. She was aware of an orangish light. Fire? Yes, she had started a fire. As her view cleared, she noticed that a well-built campfire was roaring in front of her, not the mess of rags that she had lit with the flare before.

"You awake? Can you come and help me for a second?" A voice called from the other side of the fire. Yes, that man. The one who came into the cave. The one who was helping Popo. Nana stumbled to her feet.

She looked at Popo. His breathing wasn't so scary, now. His arm and leg had been reset in their proper positions, with splints attached to keep them in place in case he started moving around in his sleep. Nana turned her gaze to the man, her eyes filled with gratitude.

"I'm not done yet." He produced a small leather skin from his bag. "I've been trying to get this medicine down his throat for about an hour now." An hour? She'd been asleep for over an hour? It had felt like a second, and a year at the same time. "I was about to do it mouth-to-mouth, but you just woke up, so…" Nana stared at the skin, then at Popo, then back to the man. Mouth-to-mouth? That meant…

Their relationship had been strictly platonic. They were two souls drawn together in an hour of need, and they trusted each other with their lives. But neither…well, Nana at least, had never thought of Popo as a candidate for romance. In all their years of climbing he…had just been there. She followed him not out of love, but of respect and trust.

Gingerly, she opened the skin. A bluish liquid swirled around within. Her nose wrinkled instinctively, but the solution gave off no smell. She reluctantly sipped the mixture, feeling it flow into her mouth. It had no taste, but it felt energetic. Setting the skin down, she turned to Popo.

Cradling his head in her arm, she saw his mouth agape. This was it, now or never. While the man held his nose shut, Nana pressed her lips against his and transferred the liquid. After a few seconds with no air, Popo's brain registered the presence of fluid, and he reflexively swallowed, gasping for breath afterwards.

Nana sat back, rubbing the excess from her mouth. She still felt tingly from its sensation. "What…what was that?" She wondered aloud.

"A Vulnerary. It's…designed to combat both surface and internal wounds. Militaries love it." The man stowed it back into his pack. "I don't believe I introduced myself before you nodded off. My name is Kevin. Kevin Smash."

"I'm Nana. Nana of the Ice Climbers. That's Popo." She gestured to her friend. Friend…but that…something...more? Wait, that wasn't important right now. "Thank you for all you've done for us. Is there some way I can repay you..?"

"Well, there is this." Kevin smiled, rummaging around in his pack. From it, he produced what looked like a letter.

"Owch." Popo grimaced as his unmittened hand ran over a particularly sharp outcropping of ice, which jutted out strangely. Popo pulled himself up onto the outcropping. It was large enough for his feet, but not much more. They couldn't stop here to rest.

Reaching for his belt, Popo was alarmed. They were down to only five snargs, and only halfway up the final cliff face. Resignedly, he pulled one of the long spikes loose, and loosened his mallet from its strap. He hammered the snarg into the wall, sending vibrations along the cliff face.

"Nana!" Popo yelled, so that his voice would carry over the howling wind. "I'm out of snargs!"

Below, Nana was struggling. She was almost to the next snarg, but her right ice axe had gotten a bit too far embedded. She gave it a couple quick tugs, but it was encased deep within the cliff face. She struggled to keep her balance on the tips of her crampon-covered feet as she attempted to wiggle it free. "Having a bit of trouble down here!"

Popo shook his head, smiling. "Gimme a sec, I'll abseil down!" The male Ice Climber hooked the belay cord tethering them together into the spike he had just driving, clipping the carabiner firmly. He gave it a few tugs to insure the strength. Once he was satisfied, he called down again. "Take out the slack!"

Nana started reeling in her end of the belay line with which to counterbalance her weight against her companion's. She signalled up, and Popo began to rappel down. It was then that disaster struck.

Popo's hammering and Nana's attempts to free her axe had rallied the flock of Nitpickers that lived within the crevices of Icicle Mountain. As an enraged group, they exited the mountainside from every possible nook and cranny they could make a bed. They swarmed around Nana, pecking her furiously.

Nana let out a cry, and the belay line slipped from her grasp. Even as the Nitpickers cleared the area, Popo began to freefall. He wasn't worried, the line would hold him. It always had. There was a sharp jerk as the slack tightened. Popo came to a stop, just a few feet above Nana, who hadn't moved thanks to the snags they had put in beforehand and her axes and crampons.

But there was another jerk, and Popo's stomach dropped. The outcropping that he had cut his hand on had rubbed against the belay line as it unravelled, causing enough friction to sever the cords. Popo tried to strike at the walls with his feet, but it was too little, too late. The line snapped.

Nana watched as the line between them severed. Popo was falling, truly falling. She could see the surprise and horror on his face. She reached out with her hand, grasping, hoping, that she would be able to grab him on the way down. She stretched with all her might. Popo saw, and reached for her as well.

Their hands missed by less than an inch.

She could do nothing but watch as he plummeted down, down. The shock on his face turned into acceptance, resignment. Ice Climbing was a dangerous occupation, even for the most experienced of climbers. Popo closed his eyes, smiling as he fell, and disappeared into the white-covered world below.

"POPO!"

Dear Popo and Nana, the Ice Climbers,

We hope this letter finds you in good health. We here at Nintendo® remember your exploits years ago, and recall your temerity and courage to not only save your village, but become legends amongst the ice climbing community and a household name the world over.

We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected to participate in the Super Smash Brothers™ tournament. We gather strong warriors and heroes the galaxy over to match brains and brawn in the competition of a lifetime. Once they agree to this proposition, contestants will receive lodging and food during their stay with us while they compete to win the title of "Champion" and a prize beyond imagining.

More information is enclosed, but feel free to ask the delivery boy if you have any questions. Immediate transportation will be arranged should you choose to accept our offer to Join the Melee™!

We look forward to your favourable response.

Best Wishes,

Master Hand

Nana finished reading the letter, and stared at Kevin in wonder. "A…fighting tournament? You want us to compete in a…fighting tournament?"

"Believe me; it's not as bad as it sounds." The man smiled. "Besides, you've fought plenty of monsters and creatures in your time, right? I think you two have potential!"

Nana turned her gaze to her companion. "But…Popo's hurt."

"Don't worry. If you accept, I can take him to a hospital right away. We have the technology to make him better in just a few days, broken bones and all." Nana was shocked. That level of medicine was possible? Popo would be astounded.

"You're sure you can help him? Promise?"

"I promise."

She looked back at the letter, then at Popo, then back at Kevin.

"Alright, we accept."

"Perfect." Kevin smiled gently, reaching into his pack once more. He withdrew a small, orb-shaped device. Or was it cube-shaped? It seemed ethereal, as if it was alive, morphing, undefinable. He held it in front of him, and activated…something. Suddenly, a bright light emerged. Nana shielded her eyes from the blinding whiteness.

When she could look back, a…gateway? Some kind of portal had appeared inside the cavern. It looked jagged, but smooth at the same time. Colors swirled around and around inside.

Kevin replaced his pack on his back, and walked over to Popo. Gently, he picked the Ice Climber up bodily, and walked towards the light. He stopped short of the portal, and nodded to Nana. "You first."

Nana walked towards the gateway. Holding her breath, she stepped through.

Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed my chapter of Everybody's Brawl!

I really enjoyed writing about the Ice Climbers, because there were so many different directions I could take them in, since their only game was for the NES. I settled on a more realistic style, which was interesting since I usually write very humorously.

I did a lot of research on ice climbing for this short segment, so it seemed more realistic rather than having the Ice Climbers hit blocks with hammers and jump to advance. Let me tell you, mountain climbing is scary business. Popo and Nana are probably the bravest people in Smash Bros...

I've got two other Smash Bros. fics on this site, confronting the Issue, which is on hiatus, and my new fic To Fight the Six. Check them out if you're interested, but make sure to enjoy the rest of the authors' works as well!

See you again for my second chapter! Super Smasher out!