Summary: When night falls, and everyone is sleeping, three old friends get together and remember the good old days.
Pairings: Mario, Sonic, and Megaman friendship.
Mario was not only one of the oldest video game icons in the world, he was also the unofficial god-father of the Smash Bros. When people had problems they came to him for help, and he would do his best to solve them. He was friendly, likeable, relatable, and an all-around nice guy. He didn't begrudge the Smashers their issues, but he did like some alone time.
Well alone time wasn't really what he was after. More than that, it was time with his two oldest friends, Megaman and Sonic. The so-called "Gaming Trinity" had been sitting back and enjoying some scotch for Mario and Sonic with gasoline for Megaman on the roof of the Smash Mansion and reminiscing about old times. "I tell you Mario old buddy, you have not lived until you've tried that good old Scottish ale." Said Sonic, slightly drunk from the scotch.
"Oh yeah my old-a friend." Laughed the plumber, pouring some more unleaded for Megaman. "Though I think-a Peach would-a kill me if I-a went on another-a pub crawl after the-a last one." Snickered Mario, remembering the last time he, Sonic and Megaman had gone on pub crawl together. The military, Interpol, Guinness world records, and Ripley's Believe it Or Not had all been on the scene of that fiasco.
"Yeah, but look me in the eye and tell me that it wasn't worth it." Said Megaman, taking another sip of his gasoline. "I feel sorry for all those dolphins though. I had no idea your bladder could retain so much urine." Said Megaman. "Or that it was flammable."
"Well that's what-a happens when you-a mix fire-a flowers and-a whiskey." Said Mario, as he remembered the particularly awesome memory in the back alley behind one of the Dublin pubs. And then again in an aquarium. He had literally pissed fire. It was incredible. For all Mario knew it was still on Facebook, along with a string of hate-mail from PETA. Hey, it was an accident! And the dolphins had been fine.
"So-a, Sonic." Said Mario during a lull in the conversation. "I-a hear you're-a getting a live action movie soon." Said Mario with a grin. "It's-a big news am I-a right?" asked the plumber rhetorically.
Sonic grimaced "Yeah man… big news." He said quietly. Mario internally winced. He shouldn't have done that. The plumber knew his friends' games had taken downward spirals recently, and Sonic was incredibly nervous about the movie. Mario grimaced and prepared to apologize when Sonic broke into a grin. "But at least it won't be as bad as yours was, eh red cap?" said Sonic with a smirk.
Mario got a dark look in his eyes. "I told-a you… we never-a talk about that-a! IT NEVER-A HAPPENED!" bellowed Mario much to Megaman and Sonic's glee. Damn he was STILL steamed about that damn movie. How could he have been so stupid as to sign that damn contract!? Why had they cast a Hispanic guy to do Luigi? Why were there dinosaurs? WHY?!
…Anyway.
"Yeah Sonic. I think it's kind of impossible for a movie to be worse than Mario's." said Megaman. "And hey, get the right writers on it and it could be a real hit. It's not impossible. Good video game movies have been made before." Said the robot boy helpfully.
Sonic snorted. "Yeah, tell that to Uwe Boll." Said Sonic in a despondent voice. "He's nowhere near it, thank God, but Sega seems to have a history of screwing shit up." Said the blue speedster. "So no, I'm not getting my hopes up."
Mario sighed and slung his arm around Sonic's shoulder. "Sonic, the-a movie will-a either be-a bad or it will-a not be-a bad. No-a matter what, it will-a raise attention to-a your games." Said the plumber helpfully. "And-a remember, you will always have-a us." He said, patting the hedgehog on the back.
"Yeah, yeah." Said Sonic, feeling better despite himself. Mario was right, of course. "I just… I miss the old days you know. Back when it was all side-scroller action." Said Sonic, reminiscing on what used to be.
Megaman joined him. "Yeah, back when you didn't need extreme graphics or achievements to be a great game." said the robot, looking up at the stars longingly. "No gore factor, no bull crap philosophy… just a player and a game." Megaman glanced at Mario. "You remember those days Mario?"
Mario nodded. "Yes-a. I-a remember way-a back-a when." Said Mario, and he did. He remembered those days, when it had just been him and Miyamoto. Blasting through levels, entertaining children with funny sounds and ridiculous scenarios. Iwata still with them. "Yeah-a, I remember. But-a those-a days are-a over. We made-a video games cool, and now it's-a their time." Said the plumber.
The world of games had changed so much over the years. Now they were becoming increasingly interactive and cinematic. You could determine the outcome by how you played. You had hour-long cut scenes and achievements upon achievements. Things hadn't gotten bad… they'd just changed. Video games weren't just business anymore, they were art.
"We laid the ground work, they take it from here." Said Sonic with a smile.
"But whenever they need a good old fashioned game, we'll be here." Asserted Megaman.
"One for all, and all for one." said Sonic.
They were quiet the rest of the evening. They found themselves simply staring at the stars, gazing up at their infinite realities. They passed it like that. Three friends. Three brothers. Three games. It would not be until morning, that the trinity of games would finally retire to their rooms.