Inside the halls of the Smash Veterans, Mario and Fox were staring outside their window, witnessing the training grounds below them. Fighters out and about were brushing up on some old techniques while a vast majority of them were joking around with the items from the shelf.
The red plumber tipped his red hat in complete disapproval as he let out a detectable sigh, his furry compatriot standing up straight. The leader of Star Fox cleared his throat before he could speak, but Mario simply cut him off by holding up a hand.
"Something is wrong, I just know it," he began, shuffling the buttons on his overalls. He continued eyeing the majority of fighters down at the training grounds, who looked as if they were confused.
They were talking about something, but what exactly? Their voices, being small and unheard from the air, were carrying any weight to the Smash Veteran's impeccable hearing.
He sighed deeply and realized of the recurring situation that is the feeling of doubt... and a hint of paranoia.
"...Mario?" Fox asked. "Should I get the Doc in here for you? You don't look so good."
"What is the Smash Code?" The red plumber asked. He turned to his furry friend for an answer, who looked nervous and sweated profusely at this question. Looking down at the clipboard in his hands, Fox replied, "show respect and kindness to your housemates, but don't get too comfortable, for you will meet them in battle?"
Mario twirled his index finger around dismissively and then said, "I mean Code #27."
Fox turned the paper over and glided his finger down to the bottom of the list, and then huffed in relief. "Code 27 - in no way should a fighter be subjected to harsh harassment on the basis of... species?"
"Exactly!" Mario swooped up his binoculars and put them on his eyes to get a better look at the fighters at the training ground. They simply minded their own business at this point, and even some were fighting some more.
He enhanced his viewing further by shifting his binoculars to the Brawl fighters at the bleachers.
His face scrunched up in disapproval, Mario set them down back on his desk and looked over at Fox once more. "When Master Hand opened the Smash House, it was supposed to be a safe Haven for us fighters," he began.
"A lot of us are still suffering from those dreaded events happening, and we hide them behind masks."
The two Smash Veterans both exchanged glances as the entire pod fell silent, especially since Fox waited for another form of explanation from the red plumber.
"Ya know, those masks turn into insecurities and then--"
"Fox, this isn't an invitation for spiritual guidances," Mario snapped back, taking off his cap. "Can you please go to the Primid's bedroom and see what's wrong? As a matter of fact, bring her here."
Following the plumber's orders, the leader of Star Fox made his way down the halls to Ponny's room in hopes to find her there.
However, as he only walked for a few miles down, he met Ritcher and Simon Belmont coming out of Dr. Mario's office. Turning his gaze towards the party of two, he asked, "hey, do you two know if Ponny is still in her room?"
Simon shook his head and replied, "she's in the Doc's office right now. We just escorted her there." The Fox pilot rushed off to find Dr. Mario and the small Primid, only to be met with a sickening sight.
Ponny sat down with the Doc and with careful inspection, he noticed the bloody cuts covering her forearm.
Fox, his face becoming ghostly white, nearly felt his entire lunch being thrown up onto the office floor, but kept his cool as he witnessed Dr. Mario place Band-Aids on the Primid's arm.
"What happened here?" He asked.
"Self-harm is what happened," the Doc replied, his eyes close to blurry with tears. "This poor thing is going through so much. Thankfully the Belmonts were able to bring her to my office."
The Fox pilot sighed deeply, his entire brain shifting from scared to depressed.
"When did this happen!?" He asked, his voice shaking.
"She told me she did this last night when everyone was asleep. I was unaware at first, but when I saw her acting as if she was in pain, I had to check. This uneventful sight caught my eyes." The Doc gave the small Primid's hand a soft kiss and escorted her out of the office.
Ponny walked up to Fox and hugged him, hoping he could comfort her from this horrifying endeavor she had gone through. Dr. Mario took a deep breath and said, "when you get back, do you think maybe we can have a little talk about this?"
"Absolutely," Fox replied, "just let me take Ponny to Mario so they could work on something." The Smash Veteran made his way upstairs to the pod while Dr. Mario sat down, looking at the multitude of papers regarding the medications he had given to fighters.
Fox held onto Ponny's hand as they entered through the doorway of the Veterans' Pod, his face still white as snow. Noticing the small Primid's bloody cuts lining her entire arm. He tried his best not to grab too tightly or the Band-Aids will slide off and reveal the infected wounds to the open air.
Mario waited at his desk until Fox came in with Ponny in tow. Wiping away the tears from his eyes, he handed her over to the red plumber.
"She's here," he croaked, his voice already sounding broken. He then hobbled out of the pod as Mario turned around to face the small Primid, who tried to conceal her entire arm from view.
The red plumber brushed her hand away to look at the cuts better, as his face was scrunched up in disgust.
He looked up at the small Primid with gentle, sad eyes and asked, "Ponny, what happened?"
No noise came out of her mouth afterwards, until she hiccuped a little. "Brawlers," she said, pointing to her arm. "Caused it to happen." Mario sighed a little and returned to his usual watch of looking down at the Fighters at the training grounds.
"They made you do it?" He repeated, pointing at Snake, Wolf, and Lucario. The small Primid nodded. She sobbed a little as she pictured their mocking faces and hurtful laughter as they rang through her mind at the same time.
The red Smash Veteran proceeded to escort Ponny out of the room and headed straight to their supposed "father".
"This madness has continued long enough," Dr. Mario told Fox as he tested his stethoscope and cleaned off the thermometers. "Ponny told me everything. She explained to me how awful it was for her to live a normal life here. Have you and the other Veterans talked to Master Hand by any chance?"
Fox nodded, but then replied, "yes, but we haven't heard from him in weeks - months, even! Sometimes I wonder if he actually cares about the situation." The Doc sat down again and sighed, rubbing his eyebrows.
"Did you provide evidence to him so that he could actually deal with this?" He asked.
"Well, there's that offensive note Isabelle gave him," Fox went on, "then the Ultimate Fighters reported it to Madeira who, I would most likely assume, had given this news to Master Hand."
Dr. Mario listened to this go on until he stopped for a minute to rethink of all the things told to him.
The Brawlers are getting worse he thought bitterly, his gut churning. Facing the Smash Veteran, the Doc proceeded to walk up to his cabinet and took out a few bottles of what looked like to be medications of some sort.
He handed them to Fox who inspected them carefully. Tilting his head in confusion, he asked, "what do these do?"
"Crazy Hand's orders," Dr. Mario replied. "He told me that those are... sleeping pills. If the Brawl fighters get out of hand, I have no choice but to put them to sleep with these."
Fox looked up in shock to hear those words from the Doc's mouth, rattling the pills that inhabitated the small orange bottle. He read the label carefully as to search for an answer, but was met with the name of the drug.
"W-Wait!" He croaked, "these are sheep pills, Smash Kingdom's most terrifying drug! If we gave these to the Brawlers, they'll be--"
"Sedated and medically induced," Dr. Mario interrupted, waving a dismissive hand. "It won't hurt them, but it does come with some pretty extraordinary side effects. They include lucid dreaming, blacking out, uncontrollable bowel problems... you name it!"
The Smash Veteran grasped the capsule in his palm as he took in a deep breath and got out of his seat to return to his pod with Mario. "Thank you for your time, Doc," he said, twitching his bushy fox tail uncomfortably.
"Anytime, Foxy boy," Dr. Mario chuckled, swinging his moving chair back to his desk to work on something. As Fox departed from the office, he could feel a sudden tingle in his belly.
He wasn't hungry nor was he needing to use the boys' room - these were feelings of regret and remorse.
Would he really knock the Brawl fighters out with a simple drug that can sedate a giant demon turtle? If only he could have the opportunity, he wouldn't. As planned, he headed back to the Veterans' pod to warn Mario of the foreseeable future.