Inside the hallways, two fighters from the Ultimate house were strolling along calmly as they took their little tread through the house, carrying items in the crook of their arms.
Min-Min and Joker were silent for the entire walk, not even speaking to each other. They were put in charge of item cleaning and had just finished up, so now they were putting them up.
Unhinged by this utter silence, Min-Min darted her eyes everywhere, including at Joker. The Phantom Thief looked over at her direction, curious at what she saw.
"Somethin' wrong?" He asked, squeezing the Maximum Tomato a bit. Min-Min simply looked away reluctantly.
"Oh, nothing," she answered sheepishly. "Although... do you think that maybe something seems a little off here?"
"Doesn't seem to bother me. If anything, you're worried about the tournament coming up." Joker proceeded to snicker at this comment, but Min-Min shushed him.
"No, it's nothing like that at all! It's just ever since Ponny came and moved in with us, I feel kind of bad for her... it's the way the others are treating her, and it's all because she's a Primid."
They got to the item storage unit and proceeded to place the essentials in there, sorting them by alphabetical order.
"Fighters here hold grudges, especially the Brawlers," Joker implied. "Isabelle just told me she reported this issue to Master Hand, so everything will be fine for her!"
The Ramen fighter smiled at him as they finished storing the items back to where they came from.
Upon closing the storage door, a few faint noises came into earshot. Joker was the first to pick up on it as he whipped out his gun and cocked it.
Min-Min stretched out her expandable arms in a defensive state, ready to fight. The loud sounds were coming from down the hallway, three doors across the bathroom and kitchen entrance.
The two fighters stalked slowly to the source of the noise, as it grew louder and became more recognizable. What they heard shocked them internally - it was sudden, loud sobbing mixed with chortles and sneering laughter.
Coming to a realization, Min-Min and Joker were aware that something bad is happening involving Ponny and the Brawlers.
Appearing from the other side of the halls, they saw Lucario, Meta Knight, and Wolf pinning down the Primid while holding her Eevee plushie hostage.
Ponny tried reaching for Mrs. snugglefuss, but couldn't because Lucario grasped it firmly. Her arms were being held back by Wolf, while Meta Knight had his sword brandished.
"What's a Primid like you doing with a plush toy, huh?" The leader of Star Wolf snorted.
"We always thought Primids were evil beings!" Their laughter erupted as Ponny struggled to break free from the Brawler's grasp. While Min-Min felt disgusted, Joker held back in shame.
Although it would be unpleasant to leave the kid there he thought. Maybe we should help her. However, before he could step in and intervene, a loud roar had echoed throughout the halls. Turning their attention to who it was, the three people who appeared through the halls were Ridley, Banjo and Kazooie.
They stalked closer to the Brawlers, intimidating them even further. The Bear and the Bird stepped up to the fighters while the Space Pirate simply stood idly by.
"Hey, you guys! This is unacceptable!" Banjo barked, crossing his arms. Kazooie popped out of the backpack and chimed in.
"Why not pick on someone your own size?" She squawked, their faces scrunched up in disgust. Ridley looked over at Min-Min and Joker who stood in surprise.
Gulping a vicious knot down his throat, the Phantom Thief said, "we tried to stop them, but-"
Ridley just shushed him. "Don't worry about it. We can discuss more when we're through with these guys." The way in which the pterodactyl Space Pirate uttered those words sent a chill down the Brawlers' spines as they were stopped in their tracks.
"Return to your houses immediately," Banjo snapped, "because the Master has a bone to pick with you all!" Wolf snorted in disappointment and let go of Ponny's arms.
Lucario threw Mrs. snugglefuss at the Primid and Meta Knight put away his sword.
"C'mon, guys. Let's get outta here," he jeered, storming off to the Brawl House. Lucario growled at Ponny and trailed along with them. As the tension died down a bit, the small Primid staggered to her feet, grabbing her Eevee stuffie.
She hugged it tightly while combing her fingers gently through its fur.
Min-Min cleared her throat to explain it, but was cut off by Banjo. "You did everything you could," he began, "but we have to report this to the Big Hand."
The party of two nodded their agreements.
Ponny slowly trotted to Min-Min, hiding behind her. "In the meantime, you might wanna take the Primid with you," Ridley stepped in. "This is the fifth time this week that this form of harassment has happened."
The lobby was clean and silent, since the other fighters were out at the tournaments. Min-Min and Joker chose to stay home and comfort Ponny, who was still suffering from the aftereffects of the bullying.
At this time, it was just Joker trying to cheer her up. Hoping to socialize with her, he turned his gaze to the trees outside of the Smash House's large windows and pointed to them.
"Look," he said, "those trees have pinecones in them." He motioned his attention towards Ponny, who looked in his direction. She said nothing. Joker continued staring off into space, while thinking of other ways to engage with the Primid.
That was stupid, kid! he thought to himself bitterly.
How many brain cells have committed suicide for you to try to do that!? The Phantom Thief nervously fidgeted with his mask, but then cocked his head back to the trees.
He took notice of small wispy, blue Birds flying into their nests.
"Look there, Ponny!" Joker chirped happily, "birds!" The small Primid turned her head slowly to see them, their baby blue feathers making the flock visible.
She smiled and let out soft giggles.
"Birdy!" She squeaked, holding out her hands and flailing them around. The Phantom Thief was taken aback by the word that had been uttered.
Did this Primid just talk... for the first time!? Joker started to grow a proud smile as his eyes sparkled with joy.
She said her first word!! I must tell the others! The small Primid, still laughing loudly, began to go into rocking chair position as she hugged Mrs. snugglefuss.
Joker was already beaming with intense pride at Ponny's first word, hoping he would have time to warn the others.
Maybe, I'll hold off some other time until she does speak again. That way Mario would be proud about how well he's taken care of her.