Is a long one! How exciting!

I had fun writing this one actually, but in case of confusion, I will explain at the end.


07: Hunt

Normally the darkness that overtook the halls of the mansion would result in her deciding to use her electricity to illuminate the way for her, but the circumstances at hand made her choose against her go-to tactic. The darkness of 2:14 AM was excellent cover to stealthily make the journey to the kitchen to grab food without getting caught by someone, and the time was a bonus; who would be awake at this time on a Tuesday evening?

No one sane, Pikachu decided.

But that also led her to mentally slap herself, because by that thought process, she is not considered sane then.

She let herself off easy instead.

She focused her energy on shuffling quietly towards the kitchen at a moderate pace, pleading her stomach to not let out a ferocious growl like it had consistently been doing for the past 30 minutes. It was admittedly dumb to skip dinner, but the paranoia of the matter at hand was dividing everyone in the mansion so much that she didn't want to risk going to the provided dinner. Avoiding the others was the best strategy to get through this soundly. And as much as she hated secluding herself, it was necessary.

It was strange to see the place so dead- even though it was extremely late (or early in the morning depending on how you chose to look at it), there would usually be a few people up and about still. The night owls, who either napped a good chunk of the day away and couldn't sleep at night, or just found midnight to be the most suited time to get work done. Individuals like Wario and Robin fell into this category respectively, so Pikachu had been preparing herself to run into one of them at some point. She was surprised, however, when she snuck past both of their rooms and heard no signs of movement coming from the other side of the door, but instead peaceful breathing.

Nudging the door to the kitchen slightly, Pikachu peeked through the crack to survey the area, letting out a sigh of relief to find the room abandoned. She walked in and headed straight to the fridge, yanking the large door open.

It's funny how when you are starving, anything and everything looks amazing.

Settling for an apple, Pikachu made her way back to the door before pausing for a moment.

Is it worth it eating here and risking being found?

The thought buzzed around her mind angrily like a hornet, and she eventually settled for eating quickly at the small table in the corner. Might as well eat and get her energy back up in case she has to make a break for it at some point.

Pikachu laughed bitterly to herself for trying to eat the apple quietly- with every bite she took, the loud crunch made her cringe slightly. She was a sitting duck right now, but silently thanked the designer of the mansion for having a second exit from the kitchen, just in case someone did happen to come in through one doorway, she would be able to make a break for it through the other.

Her stomach began to lose the hollow feeling as she finished, making the journey for a late night snack absolutely worth it. Tossing the apple core into the garbage, she wandered back to the door she originally entered, preparing herself for the walk back to her room to conclude the evening.

Heading back was seemingly calmer than heading to the kitchen, making Pikachu wonder if having an empty stomach added to the slight anxiety she felt wandering the mansion alone, unguarded. She shrugged the thought off, focusing on making it back as quickly as possible, and preferably undetected.

The paranoia in her chest panged louder with each corner she rounded, and she found herself quickly annoyed with the fear of the unknown and what could potentially be hiding in the shadows.

A breeze swept across her exposed forearms and she paused, peering over her shoulder in search of the source. There weren't any windows in this hallway, given that it was a sleeping quarters, so a gust of wind from the outdoors was out of the question.

Her eyes carefully surveyed the hallway surrounding her, making sure to inspect darker spots more carefully because as far as she was concerned, Pikachu felt she was being followed by someone. And despite what was going on, she hoped that person would pick up on her not being in the mood for this right now and would promptly leave her be.

A minute of nothing passed, and with a huff, she turned to continue her trek to her room, praying to herself to be undisturbed.

With a few turns left to go, she unknowingly quickened her pace, crossing her arms over her chest to stop the chills crawling up her spine.

Another breeze, uninvited, met with her skin, and she whipped around, annoyance dancing on her features.

"I know you're there," she called out, trying to keep her voice level and quiet, but still loud enough that her pursuer could make out what she was saying. "You might as well give up and try again some other time, because I know you're following me."

Despite what she said, an unsettling feeling swept over her as she and likely whoever she was speaking to knew that it was an empty threat.

Another minute, more silence. Irritated, she groaned aloud this time, turning on her heel and practically stomping her way back. This was not how she planned for this to go.

But on the other hand, Pikachu felt she was being a little silly for expecting such a simple plan to go without problems along the way. Going at night when everyone, or mostly everyone, was dead asleep definitely lessened the likelihood of her being found out. But then again, she shouldn't have let her guard down so much to expect that there wouldn't have been that one determined individual who would be one step ahead of her.

The third breeze made her want to scream in frustration, and as badly as she wanted to let it all out, she held it in and swallowed it down, a lump forming in her throat.

"Fine. You want to be that way? Fine."

Whoever was trailing her was probably getting a kick out of how visibly pissed she was at this point, because she was completely aware at how bad of a job she was doing trying to mask it.

Turning on her heel, she crossed her arms across her chest again, the scowl on her face feeling as though it actually carried weight. Her eyes searched high and low for a sign of life, but again, to no avail. Her assailant was crafty, smart, and was most definitely not getting out of her wrath when this was all over.

She took a careful step backwards, continuing to make her way back to her destination. She kept her eyes trained on the hallway, hoping to make some discovery to her benefit.

Suddenly, her back met a hard yet slightly squishy surface that she bounced off of, and the instant the impact was made, she swung her arm around, aiming to knock the air out of whoever was behind her in order to give her a chance to run.

The moment her fist met a chest, the feeling of cold metal met her cheek, and she blinked.

Her pursuer, now in plain sight, let out a slight wheeze, the result of her violent rebuttal to being followed, and seeing their face made her frustration spill over the edge.

"Fox McCloud! Are you kidding me!?"

The vulpine in question coughed, stepping backwards to rub his chest. He offered the girl a slight grin, which in turned only fueled the burning fire within her.

"You know, I could ask you the same thing," he laughed, but it came out strained due to the punch she landed on him. "You really didn't have to come out swinging you know."

Her eyes narrowed at him, annoyed. "You really didn't have to follow me at 2:30 in the morning, you know. Following a girl at this hour is creepy, you think about that?"

He shrugged in response, and she wanted to do nothing more than wipe that shit-eating grin off his muzzle.

He coughed again, clearing his throat before speaking. "Well, as much as I hate to break it to you, you're out."

Pikachu prepared to fight back before stopping briefly, choosing to save her biting remark for another time. "You had me as your target?"

He tossed the metal spoon, the object that met her skin moments before, in his gloved hand. He looked at it for a second before raising his eyes to meet hers.

"No, I actually originally had Kirby as my target," he replied, directing his attention at the utensil once more. "I think you can imagine how that went. I left out some food in the dining hall for him a few nights ago and naturally, he showed up a few minutes later."

"So Kirby had me?"

"Kirby had Luigi, who had Zelda, who had Sonic, who had Little Mac, who had…" he paused, pointing the spoon at her and clicking his tongue. "You."

Placing her hands on her hips, she raised an eyebrow at the pilot. "You really went through all of those people?"

"Yeah," he mused, turning the spoon over in his hand again. "It's funny how easy it was to get through all of them. You were actually the hardest target I've had so far."

"Wow," she taunted, placing a hand on her chest. "I'm honored I was such a challenge for the great Fox McCloud."

Fox laughed again, ignoring the mocking tone in her voice. "No need to be so hurt about it. It was nothing personal."

She pouted in response, feeling a temper tantrum coming on like she was a small child again. "I know, but I thought I stood a good chance. My next target was R.O.B. of all things. That robot won't say no to helping someone out, even if we are playing assassin. It was too easy."

"And now he is my humble target, so thank you madame," Fox teased, bowing slightly, which in turn caused the girl to roll her eyes.

"Yeah whatever. I hope whoever has you puts your streak to rest so I can laugh about it."

The vulpine shook his head, chuckling quietly. "So bitter, Pikachu. It was fun while it lasted."

She offered him a glare in response, and he just laughed again, louder this time. She stormed off, intentionally bumping her shoulder into his to seem madder than she truly was.

"So I'll see you in the morning?" He called after her, and she felt her ears get hot.

"We'll see!" She called back, refusing to look back at the man who ended her hunt early.


Okay, so if you weren't sure what was going on, the entire group was playing a game called Assassin. Everyone gets a target, and using a spoon, you have to touch your target with said spoon, "killing" them and knocking them out of the game. Whoever their target was becomes your target, and so on and so forth until you knock out the person who has you as their target, thus ending the game because no one is left.