14shiffna: I have no plans to bring Pit in this early, since he isn't part of the original eight, and while I did throw in Meta Knight and Jigglypuff, I put them in for a reason. I won't deny showing favoritism as well, but they do serve a purpose in the story, and they already have connections with the original cast (Meta Knight with Kirby, Jigglypuff with Pikachu).

No one missed the glares between Mario and Fox at the kitchen table. The long hanging lights casting soft shadows in the orange light didn't make the scene any less tense, and with the way everyone else kept their distance, it felt like a bomb was about to go off.

The meeting had been called to the kitchen table, not out of any personal preference, but out of convenience. Since most of the group were already assembled there, it had been a simple matter to summon the few stragglers over.

Fox was the first to break the silence. "So, everyone is here."

"Yeah, I think we can see that," Mario replied. "I also think we'd like to know why you think we need this."

"To work together?"

Mario waved a hand dismissively. "Nah, I'm fine with that."

"Then what's the problem here?"

"You want to know what's the problem? It's that you keep trying to force yourself on everyone else here."

An angry look passed on Fox's face. He bared his teeth in a snarl. "Says who?"

"I don't know," Mario said with a shrug. "Why don't you ask everyone else here?"

Another snarky reply boiled up in his throat, but he was barely able to hold it back. "Alright," he said, sweeping his green eyes over the crowd. "Let's hear what they think."

A cocky smirk spread across his lips, confident that everyone else would see the wisdom in his words. He'd been the leader of a team a while back, so he knew how these kinds of things were supposed to work.

As expected, the dinosaur and the ape shuffled themselves behind Mario. Fox could respect loyalty like that. The others, though...

Pikachu narrowed his eyes, and sparks shot out of his cheeks, while Jigglypuff moved to put the mouse between her and Fox. That left Samus.

The moment he glanced at her, however, she shook her head. "I don't work with other people," she said.

"See what I mean?" Mario said, a smirk under his brown mustache.

"No, I don't," Fox replied, slamming a hand down on the wood. Jigglypuff jumped from behind Pikachu. "How can any of you not see that working together will be the best way to get this job done?"

Link raised a finger to get a word in. "Hey, I think it's a good idea."

"Okay, that's one of you. But what's wrong with the rest of you?"

"It's all about trust. Maybe you are used to working on a team, but you ain't got nothing about starting one."

Fox snapped his gaze to Mario. "Explain."

"Well, let me explain it like this." Mario leaned back in his chair. "If you want to make spaghetti, you don't start by mixing the sauce with the noodles, right? Cause if you do, the sauce gets mixed in with the water and everything tastes like water. Same here; if you want to make a team, you have to bring it to boil with trust before you can start adding your demands into the pan."

Off in her corner, Samus huffed. Her suit made a metal shuffling noise as she folded her arms across her chest, showing what she thought of that analogy. Aside from a concerned glance from Link, no one else noticed.

"And just how do you think I could do that?"

"You're coming on too strong," Mario said as he rolled his eyes. "You can't make a pizza pie with too much flour and not enough water, or it's gonna fall apart. Maybe you were the best of the best in your hometown, and maybe your team leading skills were as good as you say they are, but you don't know any of us, so you won't be earning any favors by actin' on top of the class."

"Well, that's going to take time," Fox said, tapping his foot impatiently. "Time we might not have. Remember, the carriers of the dragon could be here at any minute, so we need to be prepared to work together."

He received a skeptical glare from six of the other people gathered around the table. He didn't waver under their eyes, already out of his chair and pacing back and forth behind the table.

"I mean, just think of what we could do together." Fox swept his gaze over everyone present. His eyes stopped at Link, and he pointed at him.

"This guy, he has a sword. And a shield. We can use that as a team to protect each other, right?"

"I have a bow too," Link muttered. Fox frowned, and he stopped.

"That's beside the point. My point is, I'm sure we're all very good at what we go. But if you can all listen to me, I know we can do better."

Seven tiny grey pieces clattered to the table. Fox stepped back as the others leaned in to get a closer look. One by one, they plucked a piece off the table, each taking them into their hands and carefully turning them over with their fingers, paws, whatever they had at the end of their arms. Fox received a few confused stares, and Donkey Kong and Yoshi exchanged looks as if they were having a silent conversation. No one knew what these things were.

"Mister Fox? What are these things?" Link said, asking the question on almost everyone else's minds.

"Earpieces," Samus replied before he could. When all the eyes in the room turned on her, she added, "I scanned it with my visor. It's got a speaker and a mic, and they're all hooked up to the same frequency. They're earpieces."

Mario gave a snort. "I think you might be layin' it a bit thick, Fox," he said, stuffing the earpiece into a pocket.

"I wouldn't want us to be caught unprepared," Fox shot back. "When this base is attacked, I think we should-"

A low rumble cut him off, and the lamp hanging above the table flickered on and off. Jigglypuff shrank back, and Donkey Kong and Yoshi threw uneasy glances around the room. Fox's hand drifted to his blaster. On a nearby counter, the glass trembled, the water inside thrashing against the walls.

The shaking stopped as soon as it had come. The glass on the countertop calmed down, its contents beginning to relax. The people in the room, however, did not.

"Someone's blasted down the front door," Samus said, looking down at something on her visor. When she looked back up, the growl set in her mouth said it all.

"They're here."

Another short and slow-paced one. I did tweak Link's mannerism of speaking just a tiny bit, but such is the way ideas develop through writing. We are approaching the midpoint, though. For anyone who's seen the video series this is based off, you probably have a good idea of what comes next.