Ness walked into the living room, a curious look on his face. The twelve had been called for a meeting by Master Hand. Most of the others were already there. Samus, Kirby and Fox had the couch. Thankfully, it appeared everyone remembered what happened a mere month ago and were limiting it to three or four on the couch at a time. Mario sat on one recliner, Falcon on the other. It looked like the psychic would be sitting on the floor. He sat at the foot of the couch with Link, who was also there. They sat and waited for the others to arrive, wondering quietly what Master Hand wished to tell them.
Slowly the others trickled in, until all twelve were gathered. Suddenly, Master Hand emerged from the doorway, wearing...a Santa hat on his knuckle? "Ho, ho, ho, Smashers!" Hearing the disembodied limb attempting to sound jolly was honestly terrifying, especially considering his laugh sounded more maniacal than merry.
"Master Hand? Are you feeling alright?" Fox asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Clearly not. I think our madness finally broke him." Falcon answered, scooting slightly away from the hand.
If Master Hand had a face, Ness had a feeling he would have scowled. "I'm feeling just fine, thank you. I'm simply trying to get you into the Christmas spirit!"
Now the Smashers brightened. They had recently explained the concept of Christmas to the Smashers who had never celebrated it, and they loved the idea. Ness leaned forward, interested.
"I see you're interested. That's good, because we're decorating today." Loud cheering broke out. "You'll all have jobs. I've divided you into teams of three to do various tasks. Mario, Luigi, Kirby! You are decorating upstairs. Falcon, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, you will put up Christmas lights outside. Samus, Fox, Link! You decorate downstairs, and finally, Ness, Pikachu and Jigglypuff will decorate the Christmas tree." The hand declared. Ness groaned internally. Why'd he have to get stuck with Pikachu? The rodent didn't seem to like anyone, and Ness had a feeling Pikachu still didn't forgive him for the incident months prior.
"Ornaments are in the central hallway, labeled with who gets what. Get to work, my elves! Ho, ho, ho!" With that, the hand floated off, likely to his office. Falcon slowly shook his head.
"Yep, he's gone off the deep end. Let's get to work." The racer muttered, before springing up and strutting off to the hallway. Ness followed shortly after.
"We're supposed to decorate a tree, but there's no tree in there." He muttered, shaking his head.
"Well, there's one for you!" Fox pointed to the doorway. A medium sized pine tree lay in the frame, a stand and boxes of lights and ornaments beside it. Ness approached it, sizing it up.
"Hey, can I get some help moving this to the living room?" The psychic called. Samus emerged from the living room at his call, joining Falcon, who already started to pick it up. The two carried the tree into the room, showering the carpet in pine needles. Fox frowned at that.
"Hey, we just vacuumed this morning!" He protested angrily. Link nodded in agreement.
"Can't be helped!" Ness said with a wave of his hand, before setting the tree stand in the corner between a recliner and the couch. Samus and Falcon lowered the tree into the stand, and Ness tightened the bolts in the stand until the tree was secure.
Ness's Pokemon partners came back in the room, shoving ornament and light boxes in the room in front of them. Everyone had filtered out of the room by now, aside from the three.
"Well," Ness began somewhat awkwardly, "I guess we should put lights on first?" Jigglypuff squeaked in agreement, and Pikachu just stared at him silently. Ness unboxed the string of lights, which were colourful. Stepping back, he assessed the best way to get the lights to the top. He focused mentally, and used his powers to toss the strand up to the highest part of the tree. They got up there, but were now stuck in a branch. Scowling, the psychic studied the tree and debated what to do.
Jigglypuff then decided to take charge. Inflating, the small Pokemon began to float up to the top. With stubby hands, the puff grabbed the strand of lights and began to loop it around the tree, getting it lower and lower. Eventually when the strand ran out midway down the tree, Jigglypuff deflated, slowly drifting down.
Pikachu grabbed the second strand of colourful lights and sprang up on the recliner with it, tossing it towards the other strand. Ness connected the two, and began to loop it around the tree again until the bottom was reached. The psychic then plugged it in, and the three admired the lights.
The small electric rodent sprang down and opened up the other box. Shiny ornaments lay inside, and Pikachu grabbed one at once. A box of hooks lay unopened atop some of the ornaments. Ness tore the box open quickly and offered a hook to Pikachu, who was trying to put up an ornament without one, making frustrated noises. He accepted it slowly before putting it on the bulb and hanging it.
They continued this way for a while in silence, somewhat awkward, until Jigglypuff dropped an ornament. Glass shattered as it struck the floor, with Pikachu screeching in alarm.
"Puff! Jig-a-ajig puff!" Jigglypuff squealed. Ness translated it as, "So sorry, I'll get the vacuum!" With that, the puff waddled quickly out of the room.
Pikachu crouched under the tree, quivering. "Hey, Pikachu, are you ok?" Ness asked softly, kneeling near him. The yellow mouse gave a small hiss, clearly fearful. "Huh. Didn't know you could hiss." Ness muttered. He looked the rodent in the eyes. "C'mon, Pika. If you're hurt, I can help you." Pikachu warily stared at him more. Hesitantly, the psychic outstretched a hand. "Please, trust me!"
The rodent backed away at first, before slowly coming out. His eyes were wary, but he met Ness's gaze. He had a cut on his back from a shard of glass. Ness gently touched it and murmured, "PSI Lifeup." The cut mended as energy briefly glowed around it before vanishing.
"You're ok." He said after a moment. Pikachu blinked, evidently surprised the pain was gone. The pair sat in silence before Ness finally spoke.
"Pikachu, I...I'm sorry. I don't want to be enemies with you. I shouldn't have lost my temper that night. It was stupid. The whole thing was stupid. But...it's Christmas time now. Can't we forgive each other and be friends?" The psychic softly said. Pikachu was quiet for a moment. Ness was briefly afraid his apology wasn't going to be accepted as they stared in silence at each other, until Pikachu jumped forward.
"Chu-pi!" The rodent squealed as he gave a light nuzzle to the boy. The translation was short and sweet - "Let's be friends." Pikachu then lowered his head and made another soft noise - "I'm sorry."
"That sounds good to me." Ness laughed. If he was honest, he wasn't expecting that. Even if Pikachu did accept the apology, he thought the rodent would be less enthusiastic, regarding Ness with the wariness he gave everyone instead of hostility. He certainly didn't expect an apology. "Now let's get this cleaned up and finish decorating the tree!"
"Hark the Herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king..." Ness quietly sang as he hung the last of the ornaments on the tree. Hooking a shiny red one on a branch, he stepped back and admired his work. "Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled..."
"Wow, Ness. I didn't know you could sing so well."
A voice behind him made him jump slightly. Turning around, he saw Samus, and smiled. "Ah, thanks, Samus. It's hereditary - my mom and dad both sing well too."
He studied the tree, tipping his head. "The tree looks good, too. How many ornaments did you break?"
"Five," Ness admitted. "I broke three and Pikachu and Jigglypuff broke one each. We got the glass and pine needles cleaned up, though. They're putting up the vacuum right now."
"Ah." Samus said simply. "Why don't you come see the rest of the house? The outside group isn't done yet, but everyone else is."
"Alright." Ness agreed. Samus led the way out of the room, Ness still humming Christmas carols. The psychic had to admire the work they did. Garland was wrapped around the banister of the stairs and the doorframes. On each door hung a Christmas wreath, glittering with lights and bows. Lights were strung along the walls, and holly lay in the corners. "It looks great, Samus!" Ness couldn't see Samus's face very well under his visor, but he was pretty sure he was smiling.
"Thank you. Upstairs looks just as good." He said. "Let's go see how the outside group is doing."
Ness followed his friend out the doorway, shivering as a frigid blast hit him. He should have grabbed a coat. Snow crunched under their feet as they looked at what the others had accomplished. Falcon was tangled in Christmas lights while Yoshi desperately tried to get him out. Donkey Kong was up on the roof, doing most of the actual hanging of lights.
"Hey, a little help here?" Falcon yelled at Samus and Ness. "If you want these lights up before Christmas, someone's got to get me UNTANGLED!"
Ness and Samus looked at each other before walking straight back into the house. Best to leave this to Falcon.
Christmas morning came all too soon. Ness woke up that morning, and threw off his blankets. Still in his pajamas and even neglecting to put on his hat, he flew down the stairs, Pikachu trailing after him. "It's Christmas, it's Christmas!"
Mario was already in the living room, sitting in a recliner. "Merry Christmas, Ness." He said with a smile.
"Merry Christmas Mario, and Merry Christmas, Master Hand!" Ness said happily as the giant limb floated into the room. Most of the others were slowly gathering into the room, and began pulling packages out and exchanging them.
Ness grabbed his present for Samus out from the tree and handed it to him. "Merry Christmas, Samus!"
Samus accepted the present. "Thank you, Ness! You didn't have to get me something." He tore open the package. "Oh...boxers?"
"I know, I know, underwear is personal. But you never seem to have any when we do laundry, so..." Ness said with a shrug.
"Well, thank you." Samus said in a strange voice. It wasn't quite unhappy...it seemed more like Samus was thinking about saying something, but wasn't quite decided yet. If he was going to, he was interrupted by Master Hand.
"All right, everyone, get close. We're taking a picture." The hand announced. Everyone gathered close together and looked up.
"Hey everyone! Say 'fuzzy pickles'!" Ness yelled out of impulse.
"Fuzzy pickles!"
The picture that was taken that day would hang in the living room as long as the tournament lasted. A true family picture.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
I hope y'all like this chapter! I was so scared I wasn't going to get it out before Christmas! Have a little Christmas cheer and fun in this. I think it's good! (And yes, I was totally throwing a hint at one of my favorite theories in this! If you recognize it, nice. It is kind of obvious to some!)
I hope y'all have a good Christmas! Can you do me a favor and leave a review? I ask for no other presnt, haha.
Next time on Way Back When is gonna be a good one: A certain someone's big secret is getting out! Oh boy!
-EBC