Because Thanksgiving is tomorrow!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story.
Master Hand cleared his throat and the chatter hushed. "Thank you all. Robin, my boy, why don't you kick off the thankfulness this year?"
Robin, who had been leaning his chair back, talking with Corrin, came down on all four chair legs with a bang. "I'm thankful for Lucina."
Master Hand groaned. "Okay, everyone is thankful for Lucina. She's a great friend. It doesn't take a tactical genius to resort to generalities to satisfy their thankfulness quota."
"Oh, you want me to be specific? I'm thankful that Lucina agreed to become my wife two months ago. Put that in your sparkling cider and drink it, y'all." He leaned back in his chair to survey the gathering with a smirk on his face.
"Cheers to the new couple," Little Mac yelled. Little Mac never let any opportunity to drink sparkling cider pass him by.
After the clinking of glasses had subsided, Lucina put an arm around her fiancé and addressed the group. "Can you believe he wanted to wait this entire time to spill the beans, just so he could announce it like this?"
"That's what you get for agreeing to marry a tactician," was Peach's comment.
"You bet," Robin agreed. "I predicted this whole conversation a month in advance."
"I haven't got anything nearly that exciting," Marth began apologetically. "But I'm truly thankful that I am able to fight and enjoy the glory of swordplay, because I no longer have the fate of kingdoms hanging over my head."
There was a murmur of approval from all the company.
"Well I knew the goody two shoes would take mine," Link sighed. "I'm thankful that I am able to fight and enjoy the glory of, um, archery, without the responsibility of being a hero, and without Zelda being in trouble." He smiled at the princess and she nodded pleasantly in return.
She opened her mouth to speak, but Mario started talking at the same time. "Link-a took mine, so I'll say I'm-a thankful that I don't have to do-a anymore plumbing jobs. Or the dishes."
There were chuckles all around.
"Well," Bowser growled, "I'm thankful that Peach now lives so close, I no longer have to kidnap her to get her to babysit Bowser Jr."
Peach rolled her eyes, "I second that."
"You can't second anything," Little Mac called.
Peach raised an eyebrow. "I'm also thankful for my good friend, Zelda, who understands the trials of princesshood." Zelda squeezed Peach's hand and the mushroom princess winked at her, then she leaned over and whispered, "Between you and me, I'm also thankful that Roy is back in Smash, and is sitting as far away from me as the table allows."
"I knew you'd want to keep an eye on him without getting too close," Zelda whispered back.
From across the table, Roy pinged his glass with his spoon. "I'm thankful that Peach and I are only a table away, when we were a world away last Thanksgiving."
Peach turned a bright pink amid the 'awws' and the good-natured catcalls, and pursed her lips while exchanging a look with Zelda.
Ness came to her rescue. "I'm grateful that I have a lot of friends to play baseball with!"
Bowser Jr. stood up on his chair and he and Ness did an air fist-bump, before Peach yanked the Koopalink back down.
Lucas's nervous voice was the signal for the company to quiet down and listen to what everyone's favorite young smasher had to say. "I'm grateful," he began.
Ness elbowed him, whispering, "Louder."
"I'm grateful," Lucas began again, slightly louder, "that I'm with all of you this Thanksgiving. You guys are my best friends in all the worlds; I never want to be anywhere else during the holidays. I was really nervous that I wasn't going to be here this year, but thanks to everyone's support, they let me stay. And, um, yeah. Thanks."
Everyone applauded, and some wiped away tears. It had been a struggle to get the authorities to agree to keep Lucas. The cutting of the Ice Climbers had a been a real blow, and it had taken strikes, resignations, and lots of nagging to retain the blond boy.
The thankfulness continued on a more serious note. Thankfulness for friends and different aspects of life in Smash.
"I'm thankful to be part of this amazing community," Corrin announced. "Here it doesn't matter whether people have differences, they can still sit around one table and enjoy a common meal together." His voice was rising, "And they realize that not everything has to be settled with blood on the field of battle, exposing the innocent to the worst that is in this world, and tearing families apart!" He had risen up a little, and he plopped back down, somewhat red from his tirade.
"Woah, Corrin," Little Mac hesitated.
"You got really heated just then," Link finished for the boxer.
Corrin looked over at the Hylian. "I'm also thankful for my new bestie, Robin. He actually understands calculus, and he's just all around awesome."
"Thanks, man." Robin nodded to the dragon prince.
"I'm thankful that I've been given this incredible opportunity to not only meet the Hero King, but to hang out with him on a day-to-day basis and see that he's a pretty neat, down to earth guy." Lucina smiled at Marth.
The Hero King was a bright red. Being the center of attention was not his cup of tea. "Aw, Lucina, you can just say that you're glad you saw me spill flour all over the kitchen yesterday."
Lucina giggled, "Case in point. Down to earth."
It got around to Captain Falcon. He grinned a little awkwardly, "I don't want anyone to judge me, but I'm really thankful that I get to run people over in my car, without anyone getting hurt."
The table erupted with shouts of indignation. "We see how it is!" And, "I knew it!" The Captain turned red, but held his ground.
Shulk went next with the British accent that had stolen Rosalina's heart. "I'm really feeling thankful," he smiled. "And I'm thankful that everyone else is feeling it too."
Little Mac was first to comment, "Does that count?"
Marth shrugged. "No one else has said it, and it seems to be a real thing."
"Leave it to Shulk to be super abstract and hard to understand," Fox muttered.
Dark Pit looked really moody, but he was always like that. "I'm thankful that Pit is thankful for me, because that's currently the one spot of color in my life."
Everyone glanced over at Pit in surprise. It was well established that the two angels weren't on the best of terms, due almost entirely to Pittoo's refusal to be pleased.
The white-winged boy squirmed uncomfortably and shot a questioning look at his dark counterpart. "I'm, uh, thankful that Pittoo- I mean Dark Pit- has come to join Smash, because we both can, um, fly." He smiled uncertainly and turned a pleading gaze on Master Hand, "Can I be thankful for two things? Corrin was."
"I suppose so," Master Hand consented.
"If you want to make everyone else wait longer for their turns," Dark Pit added.
"Oh," was Pit's weak response.
"Well go ahead," the dark angel prompted in an exasperated tone. "You've already held everything up. Do you want to completely waste the time we just spent?"
"N-no. I'm thankful for Palutena's advice." Pit looked around the table apologetically.
Dark Pit sighed, "Everyone is thankful for that."
"Sorry. So sorry," Pit stammered hurriedly. "Someone else go ahead."
"I'll go," Palutena offered. "I'm thankful for Pittoo's sense of humor."
"Who's Pittoo," the black-winged angel asked darkly.
"See?" Palutena chuckled.
"I'm thankful that Link is going to marry Zelda," Toon Link crowed.
There were gasps and cheers. Amidst them all rose Link's furious yell. "You little snitch! That was not for you to announce!" The Hylian was already on the table, leaping towards Toon. "I'll throttle you! I'll roast you alive, you Bokoblin!"
"Link," Marth called across the table to his friend, "there's only one way to redeem this situation."
Link froze, his hands inches from Toon's throat. Then he turned towards Zelda, a quarter of the table away, and dropped on one knee amid the turkey, pies, potatoes, cranberry sauce, and green beans. "Zel, will you marry me? I promise I'll make you happy and dedicate myself to your dreams. And I'll get you a really nice ring and all that jazz."
"I think your smile is nicer than any ring," the princess replied.
Link bounded over the table, jumped to the ground, swooped a wide-eyed Zelda up in his arms, and took off through the door. "Excuse us!" he called over his shoulder to Master Hand.
The Hand sighed. "Leave it to Link to ruin anything organized."
"I'm thankful that that just happened," Fox blurted. "Whew. I couldn't think of anything else."
"Po poyoyo poy yoyo," Kirby said. Everyone murmured their agreement. Cloud wiped away a tear as he pulled Sheik closer to him.
"That was beautiful, Kir-bir," Little Mac sniffed.
"That really hits home for so many of us," Samus nodded.
"I'm thankful for yoyos too," Villager said.
"No seconding," Bowser Jr. called.
"I'm thankful the bears built me a neighborhood in the backyard," Villager amended.
There was a rush for the windows, and gasps ensued as the Smashers peered out at what had once been extensive gardens and verdant lawns.
"The entire baseball diamond has been obliterated," Ness noted in a tight voice.
"Sit down everyone," Master Hand ordered. "We'll get this sorted out tomorrow, but there's still several people who haven't been thankful. What are you thankful for, Cloud?"
"I'm thankful that I have the best hair in the Mansion."
No one had any response to that, except for Shulk, who gave Cloud a thumbs up.
"I'm thankful that Crazy Hand is an awesome cook who knows how to use garlic," Wario growled.
"Woo hoo!" Crazy Hand yelled from his place beside Master Hand. He was still wearing his chef's hat from earlier on his thumb.
"I'm-a grateful for the heart containers that-a make my-a job humanly possible," was Dr. Mario's thanks.
"Aw, come on," Captain Falcon protested. "We don't get injured that badly, or that often."
Dr. Mario gave him a dark glare.
"I'm thankful for my new pair of barefoot shoes and the Nintendo friends who bought them for me," Sonic announced. "I'm talking about you, Mario buddy."
"Glad you-a like them," Mario responded cheerfully.
"Dude, I'm exercising leg muscles I didn't know existed!"
"I didn't know he had any leg muscles at all," Ryū whispered to Little Mac.
"I heard that!" Sonic shot back.
They got around to Bowser Jr. "I'm thankful for palette swaps, because no one can prove that I orchestrated the Fourth of July fiasco," he said smugly.
"Young Koopa, I want to see you in my office right after dinner," Master Hand commanded.
Bowser Jr. smirked.
"I'm thankful that there's no rule against begging at the table here in the Mansion," the Duck Hunt dog called from somewhere under the tablecloth.
King Dedede swelled with the pleasure of having all eyes on him. "I'm thankful for how much money I can win in the stadium games."
"Master Hand, have you officially announced the new income tax law yet?" Dark Pit asked.
"I totally forgot," Master Hand admitted. "It'll be instituted in January."
King Dedede opened and closed his mouth several times in horrified silence.
"Just kidding!" Master Hand roared. "Good one, Pittoo."
Dark Pit glowered at hearing his nickname.
Ike sighed, "I'm thankful that since I'm the last person to go, it's finally time to eat."
Happy Thanksgiving! I know I didn't cover every Smasher, but the opportunity is open for you to capitalize on my omissions. And I don't know about you guys, but I really liked my Pittoo characterization. :D