Intermission 9
Donkey Kong

As the sounds of intermission filled the air, Diddy Kong, who up to this point had been nose deep in his communicator, scurried up DK's arm, resting on his impossibly huge shoulder.

"So," Diddy began, "What're we thinking? Is Luigi a threat."

"Yeah," DK grunted, "That Green Missile will be hard to contend with."

"You trained around Dark Samus' projectiles, you can train around this," Diddy encouraged, bouncing excitedly atop his heavily muscled perch.

"Who'd be a good counter for that?" Diddy wondered aloud, using a single finger to scratch his head.

"Why not Banjo and Kazooie? When was the last time we all hung out? The Rare Replay show?"

"Yeah," Donkey Kong nodded, "Wanna talk with Bond again too, see if he found anything out about those friends of yours, those Tiger Island bozos."

"Bond's got tabs on 'em, and if anything new came up, we'd be the first to know after Mario."

"I know," DK grunted, "But considering they're our neighbors, we have the most responsibility to keep tabs on the threat. You and Cranky helped me realize that."

A warm smile overcame Diddy, "Thanks big buddy, somebody's gotta do the thinking around here."

"Yeah," Donkey Kong nodded, mirroring Diddy's smile.

A moment's silence pierced the duo as Diddy's eyes darted around the room.

"So…do ya think we should go congratulate Luigi and Daisy on their engagement."

"Nah," muttered DK, gesturing vaguely to the swarm of people that had crowded around the plumber and the princess, "I think they've got their hands full."

Luigi

"What's your dress gonna look like Daisy?"

"What about the floral arrangements?"

"Table cloth color?"

Luigi looked to his fiance for clarification, all the while straining every muscle in his face to keep the befuddled expression off his own face. The look on her face was one he'd seen a single number of times. Uncertainty, anxiety.

"Look," Luigi finally declared, "You all are asking really good questions, and they'll be answered in due time. Right now, we're just gonna relax and plan for the next round. If you're serious about helping with anything, you can approach us individually."

Other than Wario's angry muttering, which was immediately put to a stop by Palutena tugging him away by the ear, the crowd all murmured their apologies, sinking back into the groups they'd been in before Red vs. Green shuffled them all into one haemonculus entity. Luigi's shifting eyes caught Daisy's eyes, transfixed on him, a proud smile on her face.

"Damn, that was really diplomatic," Daisy gave an impressed nod.

"What didya think I was gonna do? Tell 'em to fuck off?"

Daisy took him by the hand, walking to the front row of auditorium seats, slumping into the nearest one.

"If you weren't I was gonna. Gawd." she whispered.

Luigi eased himself much less forcefully into the chair beside her.

"They're just trying to-a be nice babe."

Another grin beset Daisy.

"I know," she whined, "But I kinda figured if I proposed in Smash we'd have a safe environment to process everything. Such was not the case apparently."

"We can do all the processing we want in between rounds," Luigi said, waggling his eyebrows.

Daisy held a hand to her mouth to shield the world from the snort laugh that almost escaped, "You gotta train mister,"

To her teasing, Luigi teased right back, "Nope, fiance is much more important."

"I'm sorry, your what?" Daisy could barely keep the laughter back.

"My fiance. You know, Princess Daisy of Sarasaland?" Luigi joked.

"Bah, she ain't nothin' special."

"She is to me," Luigi countered her ridiculous rebuttal as smoothly as he possibly could.

Before he could even process it, Daisy had pulled him into a long, slow kiss. As Luigi closed his eyes, he reveled in how fun the "processing" of the next four days was going to be…

Zelda

By the Goddess Hylia may I be protected, recited Zelda inwardly By the Goddess Hylia may I be protected.

"Um…Zelda?" came the confused voice of Young Link.

She snapped out of her prayer to see Young Link staring down at her, his head cocked to the side in confusion. While the other two Links were not nearly as outward about it, their faces were still wrought with worry.

"Yeah Zel," Link nodded, "Usually you're all about weddings."

"Normally I would be," Zelda sneered, "But I have him in the next round."

The three who possessed the Triforce followed her gaze to Ganondorf, who sat beside Lucario and Miss Trainer, trying and failing to mirror their meditative stance.

"Eh," shrugged Toon Link, "It's just Ganondorf. My Zelda helped me defeat Ganondorf, plus you've helped both the other two fight Ganondorf. It's in your multi-dimensional blood or something."

"I wish that were true," Zelda shook her head, "But I feel something boiling below the surface, something that was not present in the Melee or Brawl Tournaments, at his most evil moments. Something about it feels familiar, but I can't place where from."

The three Links could only stare at their eternal enemy in worry.

Ganondorf

The Triforce of Power pulsed.

Ganondorf had felt this many times, in the most important moments of his life. His battles with Zelda and Link came with this feeling every time. It was what kept frustration of his multiple losses at bay. The pulse wasn't an angry one, but a heartbeat It would be destiny, the Triforce would be his in whole, and soon.

Ganondorf shook the euphoria away.

I mustn't give in to my urges. Turning against the Smashers would mean destruction he thought.

He felt a tap on his shoulder. Twisting to look behind him, He saw Miss Trainer looking down at him.

"Are you alright friend?" she asked.

"Yes, but I'm at odds with myself," Ganondorf admitted.

Miss Trainer's face took an empathetic frown.

"Bowser's been texting me about the same thing. I think a group yoga session is in order."

Ganondorf nodded, causing Miss Trainer's eyes to widen.

"I…um… didn't think you'd be open to it." she sputtered.

"Wario's been busy with Sephiroth and Akechi. I believe them all to be betting against me even though the Gerudo Village irrigation system is coming along smoothingly."

"So what you're saying is, you're lonely," concluded Miss Trainer.

Ganondorf silently nodded.

"You can join Bowser and I for sessions as soon as the round ends, we'll be meeting in Smash Park.

Again, Ganondorf nodded, striding to stare out of the bay window of the Smashers' Box.

Red

Shit, Red thought.

He stared at his Pokedex, having thumbed to number 448, Lucario. The entry bore a picture with nothing entered underneath.

Of course it would Red's inner voice mocked him You haven't been to Sinnoh you idiot. You only fought Cynthia in that tournament in Unova, that's why it's in your Dex

"What's a matter Red?" came a childish sing song voice from behind him, "Having Dex issues?"

Red didn't even dignify Green's foolishness by turning around. If he did, she'd see the tiniest of grins form on his lips, and he couldn't have that.

"Nah," Red said, "Just looked up Lucario before the battle, realized I haven't even been in Sinnoh."

Green laughed, "You should go! It's got the best Barbecue Mareep. Galar tries to imitate it with Barbecue Woloo, but the meat is too fatty."

Red heard the beeping of a Pokedex being scrolled through.

"Here ya go,"

Red reached behind him, Green inserting her Pokedex into his hand. Red brought it closer, noticing the strange orange background of the picture of Lucario.

"You give me the Galar, Dex, of all things?"

"Galarian's aren't as racist as you think you are!" Green snapped defensively.

"If that were true, they'd adapt the National Dex," quipped Red as he read the entry.

It controls waves known as Auras which are powerful enough to pulverize rocks. It uses these waves to hunt prey.

"So, if it can pulverize rock," Red concluded, "Take to the sky,"

\ Green smiled, "That's why you're the champion."

Impulsively, Green began to rub Red's shoulder. Red felt all the nervous tension in his muscles release.

Is this what it feels like when Palutena massage's Pit's wings the former champion asked himself, looking over the holy pair only to find them engaged in that very practice.

"Awwww look at these two getting all lovey dovey," snarked a new voice.

A sloshing of liquid accompanied Cuphead's every step as he sauntered over to them.

"Look at these two!" Cuphead hollered again, "Red and Green sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S_I-N-"

"Let's not embarrass them now," Lucas advised, walking up to the group while simultaneously glaring a hole in Ness.

"Okay," Ness agreed defeatedly, his posture sagging.

The group shared a quiet chuckle. Red couldn't help the smile that formed on his face. It'd been entirely too long since they'd done that.

"So, with you being all nice again," Lucas asked timidly, "Does that mean the band is back together."

"Yeah, I'd say so," announced Green.

Much as Red had earlier, Lucas' entire body seemed to sag, completely free of stress.

"Thanks be to the mercy of the Dark Dragon," Lucas sighed, "My parents have not stopped talking about wanting to meet you all."

"I've wanted to meet them too!" Ness said, "Do you think they'd be cool with us hitting up their place tomorrow?"

"I could ask, but I doubt they'll say no. Besides window shopping, cooking seems to be the way Mom spends most of her time here."

"Woo hoo!" Ness cheered, "Future food!"

"Yeah, future food!" Cuphead agreed.

"So what does that mean for our date?" Green asked, " Jingisukan the day after that?"

"Jingu-what?" balked Red.

Green giggled, "The barbecue Mareep I was telling you about earlier, dummy."

"Oh, yeah," Red blushed, "I was hoping we could train a little bit that day too. The kids'll be excited to train."

Green blinked, before smiling warmly.

"The kids," she said amidst a torrent of giggles.

Ness leaned over to Lucas, "Do they mean their Poke-"

"Okay, intermission is over," announced Otis.

"Yeah!" quacked Mikey, "Wolf and Lucario, you're up next."

Lucario wordlessly used Extreme Speed to fire down Tunnel A. To this, Wolf scoffed, extinguishing his cigarette on the carpeted auditorium.

"I'll show that zen-obsessed weakling what's what," he grumbled.

"Yeah, good luck with that," Falco snapped.

"I'm afraid Lucario has done nothing but calculate battle scenarios in his head. You are screwed six ways from Sunday."

Falco pantomimed wiping a tear from his eye, "That's my girl."

"I've learned much worse Lylatian sayings since I was away, but there are children present."

Without turning around, Wolf held a middle claw in the air.

"He's good but I'm better," was his final muttering as he ambled down Tunnel B.