Realization
It was as if scales had been dropped from Fox and Falcon's eyes.
Whenever they walked into a room, the temperature dropped twenty degrees. Falcon had received the cold shoulder, and eventually the silent treatment, from Samus since that disastrous Team Battle. Fox could barely hold a conversation with anyone in the C tier, and that went double when it came to Luigi and Link. Their lovely, glossy bubble of a world had popped after Luigi and Ness, backed up by Samus, Paula, Link and Mario, had given them a well-deserved talking-to. In the following days, they couldn't help but take note at how little time they spent practicing; they always thought their wins were guaranteed. But had they spent some time in the Training Area, they would've seen how fiercely Luigi, Link, Ness, Sam and DK threw themselves into their sparring. Even Kirby and Pikachu strove to keep their skills top notch! The truth was staring them right in the eyes; they were just able to avoid it. Until now.
Shortly after Sam, Ness, DK, Link and Luigi returned from their pulse-pounding battle with K. Rool, Falcon and Fox acknowledged that it was time to face the music. They began spending more time in the Training Area, not to flaunt, but to practice. Sometimes with one another and other times with surprised Polygons. They knew something was wrong if the Polygons manning the Training Area barely knew who they were. With each training session, the two pinpointed their weaknesses and started composing strategies to improve their offensive and defensive games. Falcon learned to rely on other moves besides his Falcon Punch and Falcon Kick, and Fox learned that a wall of Blaster fire didn't work on all of his opponents. As their strategies changed, so did their attitudes and stage presence. Their swagger had toned way down, and they began to treat their opponents with the respect they deserved. No more loud bragging and boasting, no more excessive taunting and making avoidable errors as a result. No more endless hours of obnoxiously blasting loud music. No more deliberate provocations of opponents. All of that was over for them. The C tiers had lectured the both of them good and strong after Luigi and Ness's blistering vanquishing of them, and the two turned their words over and over again in their minds. And what they had to say bore a lot of truth.
"This stupid tier list business has everyone f—ed up," Falcon said to Fox over lunch one afternoon. "We were just too full of it to realize that. And now look what we've done."
"Tell me about it," said Fox. "We've spent so many months thinking we could easily ride to victory on someone else's coattails that we didn't even consider that it was our hard work which had a hand in us being ranked so high. Now, barely anyone wants anything to do with us."
"And Sam," Falcon said sadly. "She can't even look me in the eye or talk to me. I hurt her, Fox. I really did."
"We both hurt her," said Fox, "and we both hurt Link and Ness and DK—and Luigi."
"My God," said Falcon. "First, I insulted him in the lounge and we got into a fight. Then, in that hallway, I almost started another brawl just because he won over me. He was trying to tell me something important, but I didn't want to…"
He facepalmed. "What can we do, Fox? What can we do? Look what it took to bring us to our senses."
"I think," said Fox, "that maybe we should start off slowly and earn their trust back. Now that we've hit the bottom, we've got to climb back up. Sometimes, things have to get worse before they can get better."
"You're right," said Falcon, biting his lower lip. "These past few days have helped me realize how much I loved Samus. After that Team Battle, I threw something pure away, and the chances of getting it back…"
"I feel you, man," said Fox. "I've begun to realize that Luigi is the type of someone you'd love to have as a friend—smart, loyal and strong. He was gonna show us so much, but we indicated that we weren't interested. Why? Because some people we don't even know deemed him the worst of the lot."
Falcon sighed. "What in God's name have we done to Super Smash Brothers?" he asked. "This tournament was supposed to be clean and fun and light-hearted, where the best fighter won. But then we took this tier list and turned it into…" He shook his head. "We've broken this d—n thing, and now we need to fix it. We need to gather all of the pieces and glue this casual get-together of Nintendo's finest back together. But will we? And how will we?"
"I don't know, Cap," Fox said morosely. "I don't know. I just don't know."
…
As the outdoor temperatures further cooled, and the rain turned to snow, Captain Falcon and Fox McCloud embarked on their mission to right the numerous wrongs they'd committed. They began by creating and committing to a daily routine of practice, exercise and nutrition. They took the time to say hello to passersby, and they stopped treating the Polygons like their personal servants. Also, they acted more and more like the role models they were often touted as, encouraging their fans to demonstrate a more positive attitude and to stop treating the Smash matches as "dog eating dog" or some fight to the death. Their interactions on the Smash Blog also became friendlier.
At the same time, the two began working on the personal relationships that had fallen by the wayside, Douglas especially. He'd come across Samus in the Training Area, sneaking peeks at her in a sports bra and a pair of gym shorts, hair pinned up, working up a sweat as she lit into a punching bag, a Polygon or a fellow Smasher. No quips or anything—just hard, unblinking focus. Captain Falcon would stand there, completely awestruck at her power, wisely waiting till she'd exhausted most of her explosive energy before making small talk with her. She'd remain coolly formal at first, but as the days floated by, she felt the knot of anger loosening from her chest, her hurt and frustration scattering to the wind like grains of sand. With his good looks and smooth way with words, Douglas began to melt her heart all over again.
The same could be said for Luigi. Once he and his pals finally got Douglas and Fox to see their follies, he watched them vigilantly, wanting to see if they took those words to heart. And they did. They clocked in more hours at the gym and took it seriously. Engaged in a match, they held their tongues and exercised more caution. He even noticed that the audience was jeering at him less; seeing the A tiers' jerk jock ways must've given them a wake-up call. Or maybe they noticed how he was no longer reacting to their vitriol and got the hint. Luigi didn't press the matter, instead taking to his blog and trading stories with Isai, Sir Meta Knight and others who decided to follow him. Ever since the latest Team Battle and the adrenaline-packed showdown with K. Rool immediately following it, his temper gradually boiled itself down to a manageable level. Pressure was relieved from his heart, and now that those two were finally laying off on their antics, he was actually starting to move past the brawl in the lounge and the scrap in the hallway. The drunken insults and the punch to his jaw barely mattered anymore. Douglas and Fox had seen the light, realized what they'd done and were sorry for it. It would take more time, but their misdeeds would eventually be erased, and everyone would move past it, whether they entirely forgot about it or not. By taking the opportunity to change their ways, they'd taken a step in the right direction.
Link, Ness and DK seemed to share Luigi's sentiment. Although in DK's case, he had more serious enemies (K. Rool) to deal with, and he wasn't present during the worst of it. But that didn't mean they'd make it easy for them. In Link's case, Fox's words smarted terribly, and in Ness's case, Falcon had really put him through the wringer. Their interactions with the two were coldly formal and curt. It was enough to keep them on their toes, keep them sweating and keep them guessing. They needed to work out the last snarls of their anger before they could truly free themselves of it. Luckily for the trio, Luigi understood perfectly and continued to assume a protective role, remaining guarded whenever the racer or the vulpine approached his fellow C tiers.
DK, Sam, Link, Ness and Luigi were individually pitted against Falcon or Fox in the days following their return from DK Isle. Each fight was glaringly one-sided, and in Luigi's case, the matches got alarmingly bloody. The man in green even wound up disqualified at one point. But the bouts were doing their job, allowing the foursome to release their aggression in boatloads. And they continued to meet up and blow off more steam with their various favorite activities.
Eventually, Luigi felt better enough to invite Falcon and Fox to spar with him. Often, they'd be the ones to extend that invitation, much to the plumber's surprise. In the Training Area or even his room, Luigi would have his favorite tunes on full blast and go one-on-one with two fighters in serious need of a reality check. These spars were still quite tense, but once he saw that they were taking him as seriously as any other fighter, Luigi lowered the walls around his battered heart. But he still wasn't going to get too chummy with them. However, the A tiers were determined to see their self-imposed mission through to the end. With each passing skirmish and match, they softened up the man in green.
Once Luigi started softening his stance, Douglas decided to try his luck with Ness and Jiggs. They were his fellow unlockable fighters, after all, and they'd clicked from the moment they met. He'd organize baseball and basketball games for Ness and his friends to play and set up the teen on dates with Paula. He even gave Jigglypuff an oversized case of brand-new Sharpie pens. It was slow going, but eventually, the two of them took the bait, growing more and more relaxed around the racer. It wasn't long before Falcon was treating Ness, Jiggs and Luigi to lunch or to sundaes at the ice-cream parlor. Or, he'd organize two-on-two basketballs games outside. Or, he'd entice them into playing a few rounds of Mario Party in the Gaming Area. One morning, Falcon grew confident enough to invite the three to his room and break out his own Twister game set.
But they just stared evenly at him.
"Don't push your luck," said Luigi.
It was true that their relationship improved by leaps and bounds in the days, weeks and months following that blowout in the hallway. However, while Falcon was gradually regaining the favor of his fellow unlockables, he still had work to do before the Formidable Four united once again.
…
With Luigi, Ness, Jiggs, Link, DK and Samus defrosting toward Fox and Falcon, the A tiers now worked on the rest of the Smashers and made glowing progress. They were sitting in the ice cream parlor, splitting delicious sundaes with Kirby and Pikachu. Or, they were in the lounge, having drinks with Mario and Link. Or, they were strolling around with Yoshi and Jiggs. Or, they were playing board games and card games with some of the fighters. It was visibly clear that the boundaries drawn by the tier list were fading. In spite of this, the vulpine and the racer knew that there was still more work to be done. Things weren't completely back to normal, and they still felt that edge whenever they walked into a room, particularly as far as the C tiers were concerned. The duo figured that they needed one last push to win the other Smashers' forgiveness once and for all. And as the holiday season fast approached, they knew exactly what that singular push would be…
Please R&R.
