5: Seeking Solace

"Hey, Fox?" A voice behind Fox's door asked. The lupine's dorm was much smaller than it was now, accommodating only him. This was the time of the original tournament, when the only StarFox representative was the man himself; no such thing as squabbles with roommates, only squabbles with other fighters.

Fox - a different man than he was now - sat up from his bed, still recovering after a rough fight. "Door's open."

The door was pushed open, letting in a small guest. Pikachu came in, scurrying much like the mouse he is. He seemed agitated - though he expressed it with a frown on his face instead of an angry expression like he would in the future.

"Hey Pikachu." Fox greeted, turning to face him. "What's up?"

"Well, I got into some fight with Donkey Kong." The Pokemon murmured, looking at the floor.

Fox rolled his eyes. "There's always fighting."

"No, not like that. It was in the cafeteria; I was eating my Pokeblocks when he attacked me for them!" Pikachu seemed like he would cry over it.

"He took them from you?" Fox leaned in, concerned. The Pokeblocks were probably banana flavored, considering the circumstances.

"Y-yeah!"

Fox thought of how to resolve the problem. Of course, he could beat up Donkey Kong to get his friend's food back - but that's too basic of a solution. He reached an arm out and patted his friend on the head. "Pikachu. You gotta beat up Donkey Kong, get them back."

"Wait, what?"

"You have to learn how to stand up for yourself, inside and out of Smash."

"But…" Pikachu hesitated.

Ever since he came to the castle, he's had a bit of a problem; he felt that he couldn't stand up to the rest of the competition, being a small Pokemon, not truly any different from any other Pikachu. He became friends with Fox, seeing how bold the pilot was, believing that his attitude would rub off on him…

Fox was looking at him expectantly.

Pikachu gulped then nodded his head. "You know what? You're right, I have to be assertive!"

"Yeah, there we go!" He gave the little guy an encouraging high-five. "Go out there and show that monkey who's boss!"

"Yeah!" A much more confident Pikachu agreed. With that, he scurried out of Fox's room.

Fox laid back down on his bed, sighing contently, glad to have been some help.

Until a panicking Pikachu bashed down Fox's door and snuck under his bed. Surprised, Fox looked under his bed to see the Pokemon curled up far under it. "Uh, what's wrong?"

"So I did what you asked me to…" Pikachu stammered, gulping. "But I kinda went overboard."

"How overboard?"

"I might have fried all of DK's bananas."

"You what?"

Already, they could hear the angry ape noises reverberating down the walls of their locale. Fox smacked himself in the face, groaning. "You don't touch that guy's bananas, man." He said, a bit disappointed.

"You told me to be more assertive!"

"Yeah, but I didn't say, "screw up DK's day", did I? This is way worse than beating him up!"

"...How?"

"...Well, you see, it hurts him really emotionally and I'm pretty sure the guy beat up an entire army of crocodiles that stole his banana hoard."

"Oh."

Fox should also teach him how to pick his fights.