A/N: Here are a few notes before we start:

-The fighters in my Smash fics are stated to be clones of the original characters. They have the memories and personalities of the original fighters, but they are still Master Hand's creations. This part is important.

-Every other character has already woken up during the events of this story, so Sora really was the last one to be discovered.

-I promise that there's a reason why this story is in Second Person POV, but I'm not telling why.

-The pink haired Villager's name is Rosie. I'm still deciding the names of the other Inklings.


"Alright, I'm gonna check the gardening store real quick and see if they have what I want. You stay alert to any strange movement, 'kay?"

You responded to Lucas's request in the best way you could, by staring deeply into his eyes and letting your tongue hang from your mouth. You closed your eyes in delight as your human companion gently scratched the back of your floppy ears and it took you a few seconds to open them again once you realized that Lucas was pretty much done pampering you. You watched him enter the abandoned store and waited, because there wasn't much to be done there. The abandoned town that you were visiting that day was as abandoned as it was since the last time you visited, the whistling of the wind being the only thing to ever catch your attention.

The duck perched on your back adjusted his position, which made you scratch the area closest to where his feet rested in response. You waited patiently for a few seconds, knowing that if you waited, you and your duck friend would be awarded with a treat later. You loved treats, after all. However, as you were about to lie down on the ground, a sound that no human ear could hear caught your attention, because suddenly you were on high alert. Your floppy black ears perked up in an attempt to understand the sound better and your head turned towards its source, an abandoned house at the other side of the street.

Without hesitation, your big snout gently touched the dusty ground and you made your way to the house, passing by the many cracks on the concrete, the grass that grew in between them tickling your nose ever so slightly. The state of the house made it seem that it had been abandoned even before the world had ended, not that you would know anything about it, nor care. With the inconsequential courage of someone who valued their curiosity above their safety, you squeezed yourself and your friend through the busted doors of the rusty iron gate.

You could have barked and called for Lucas, but now it was too late. You entered the dark and moldy house and guided yourself with your sense of smell through the clutter of destroyed mobilia. So fixated on checking the smells on the ground that you were, that it was your duck friend who noticed the figure walking down the spiral stairs at the nearby corridor, hands clutching the handler as hard he could. Even in that dark corridor, it was clear that he was wobbling. Your friend quacked loudly, startling both you and the figure. Before you could react, the figure jumped from the stairs and gently landed on his two feet, probably to avoid falling flat on his butt.

The figure was a boy, probably someone close to Lucas's age. He did not seem dangerous, despite him holding out a really big key in front of him in a defensive position. You waited for him to register your presence and realize that you were not a threat.

The boy asked, blinking slowly, "A dog and a… duck?"

At that, you approached carefully. The boy made the key in his hand disappear and extended his hand to you, allowing you to smell him in a good show of trust. He was still wary, but you were sure that he would come around to you and your friend's presence. Everybody liked you, after all. You smelled his hand, taking in the same scent that every Smasher had when they first woke up in that world. He was a friend, not a puppet fighter, that you were sure, because you licked his hand in a way to show that you trusted him.

The boy smiled. He liked you. Of course he did.

You allowed him to pet your head and that seemed to help him become less wary, a little bit more relaxed. The boy kneeled in front of you and asked, "So where did you come from? Do you live here? Actually, where am I? My memory is all kind of hazy…"

You answered him with a bark and then by bolting out of the house, which made the boy tell you to wait up. You left the dark and dusty interior of the house and went into the sunlight outside, only turning around once to check if he was following you. Thankfully, he was and so you squeezed yourself through the busted gate and crossed the street, where Lucas waited for you with a small bag in his hands at the other side.

Your companion for the day sighed as he saw you approaching. He chided, "Hunter, Duck, don't run away like that! I was…"

His voice trailed off as he noticed that you were being followed by your recent discovery, the boy that carried a big key and had a hazy memory. You sat on the ground, panting from running under the scorching sun, and kept switching glances between the two humans, waiting for a reaction from either side.

"Pit, when did you…?" Lucas asked, before taking another good look at the boy. "Oh, you're not him."

"Him?" The boy asked.

"You look a lot like someone I know, sorry for being rude," he said, making the boy tilt his head. "What's your name?"

He hesitated for some reason unknown to you and Lucas. The boy eventually answered, "I'm Sora," and then he placed a hand on his chest. "It's very nice to meet you, um…"

"Lucas," he said. "It is also nice to meet you, Sora."

You let out a gruff and a whine, no doubt offended that you were being left out of being introduced. Lucas looked at you apologetically and added, "And these two are DuckHunt."

"They… they are what?" Sora stuttered, his eyes as wide as a throwing disk.

"Uh, I mean, the dog is called Hunter, and the duck is… Duck. Yeah, his name is Duck," he said, and then he whispered, "I'm so bad at this. Why am I like this…?"

"Oh, alright, I see," he nodded and then petted your head. A most excellent gesture, indeed. "Well, thank you for finding me in that house, Duck and Hunter! You guys really helped me out there."

"Hunter found you inside that house, Sora?" Lucas asked as he eyed the decrepit place in question.

"Yeah, but it's weird, you know?" Sora said, crossing his arms. "I don't remember entering that house or falling asleep in one of its beds. Besides, it looks pretty abandoned, so I don't know what business I would even have there."

"Do you remember what you were doing before waking up in this wo- I mean, town?"

Sora gave him a puzzling look and said, "I was in… Traverse Town, I think? I was doing something important, a mark of an exam or… Oh, Riku! He's not here yet, is he? We were separated and…"

You did not understand Sora's ramblings, nor did Lucas, who quietly watched him try to organize his thoughts with the same patience he usually reserved for Ness when he was feeling agitated. As Sora's voice trailed off once he noticed that he was not making any sense, Lucas said, his voice very tired:

"I take it that you're a new Smasher, then."

"I mean, I guess I've smashed a few bad guys in the head, but I wouldn't consider myself that," the confused boy said.

"That's okay, you don't need to think too hard about that now," Lucas said as he adjusted his bag in his arms. "Listen, Hunter and I were just about to head back home. Do you wanna join us?"

Sora blinked in confusion. You stared at him deeply.

"Are you sure? I mean, I don't want to sound ungrateful, but you barely know me and this is all so sudden," he said.

"You seem like an okay person, I trust you," he said, before turning to you. "What do the two of you think?"

You wanted Sora to come with you and you showed that by fidgeting in place. Your friend remained still, but Lucas still had a good enough comprehension of duck to understand that the feeling was mutual. Sora still hesitated, looking around them, searching for something unknown to you.

Lucas said, "We're the only living souls in this town. At least as far as I know."

"Then how do you get by?"

"I'm not from here, I came from the town next to this one," he said and then added, "Which is also deserted, save for the small community I live in. We're a pretty close group, so if you want to stay with us and hang out… I'm sure you'd be welcomed."

Sora took a few steps back, eyes still looking at nowhere in particular. He asked, "No one at all?"

"It's just us and a few monsters. And even the monsters are few and far between as of late."

"What kind of world did I end up traveling to?" Sora whispered. "I hope Riku's okay…"

"Dunno who this Riku person is, but I'm sure they're just fine if they're not here," Lucas said with a shrug. "So what do you say? You coming with me?"

"Alright, I'll take your offer," he said, giving him a smile. "Thanks, Lucas! You said that you live in a small community, yes?"

"That's what I like to call it anyway. Some of the people there might call it family, but it will really depend on who you ask."

"Then I can't wait to meet everyone else!"

"They are uh, a very lively bunch. You'll see," he said as he turned around and signaled for both Sora and you to follow him. "Come on, if we stay here any longer, I might start to get depressed."

The walk back home was a good hour away. You marched on ahead, like the good bodyguard that you were, always paying attention to the slightest sound or movement. Sometimes the noise of a bird made your ears perk up. Sometimes you smelled something different in the air, until you realized that it was just the smell of an animal who left some dejects on the ground. There were no signs of puppet fighters anywhere on the road back to the little town you and your humans were taking residency in.

You looked back every once in a while to check if the boys were okay. They were and the probability of them not being were very low, but you were cautious. You kept walking and smelling the road, while Sora tried to keep up conversation with a very shy Lucas.

"So what made you travel so far away from your community?"

"Pumpkin seeds," he said. "I couldn't find them in nearby stores, so I came all the way here to see if I could find them."

"That sounds like a very extreme decision," Sora said. "Are they special or something?"

"I felt like cultivating pumpkins, that's all."

"What for?"

"I just wanted to," he said. You heard the bag being shuffled in his hand. "I have a small garden where I've been cultivating vegetables and the like. If I manage to grow some pumpkins, I'm sure everyone will be happy to have more meal options… except for Ness, I guess."

You would also be grateful. Sure, you had your own kind of food that was served to you, but you also enjoyed begging for scraps from humans, vegetables included. For some reason you did not like zucchini, though.

"So you grow your own food?" Sora asked in surprise.

"I try to," he said. "It helps us get by. Better than living off of only processed food that we find around."

"That's really cool, Lucas!"

"It's just a hobby that has become useful lately," he said. "I also have friends who help me out."

You were not one of them, because you usually tried to distract them by asking for them to play with you at the worst time ever. Hopefully, Sora would be able to give you the attention that you always so desperately craved. The rest of the walk back home was uneventful, quiet even. Despite Sora's best efforts to keep a conversation flowing, Lucas was never that good at making a conversation last. You did not mind that, because Lucas's presence was already good company and you seeked him out whenever you felt like it, but it was still a problem when it came to him interacting with other humans.

The sun was beginning to set when your party reached the small town where you resided and the air was becoming much cooler than before. As you realized that you were close, you ran ahead, ignoring the boy's cries for you to wait up. You ended up reaching a sturdy iron gate painted in a dark color and stopped in front of it, waiting for someone to let you inside. You waited patiently for about five seconds, before you started to scratch the gate and whine. You could not stand seeing a closed gate. Like a cat. Your duck friend was much more patient, as he continued to rest on your back without so much as a fidget.

Lucas and Sora eventually caught up with you. "Be patient, Hunter," he said. Giving out a sigh, Lucas took out an iron key from his pocket and inserted it in the small padlock at the right side. Sora decided to calm you down by petting your head and that seemed to work well enough. You both watched Lucas grab the handler near the padlock and pull the gate sideways with all his might. That looked like it was a pretty heavy gate to be pulled by someone with such feeble arms, but he eventually managed to open just enough for everyone to get inside.

"Hey guys, we're back!" Lucas said. Before he tried to close the gate, Sora offered his help, since he had his two arms free for the job.

"Heya!" exclaimed a pair of voices in unison.

It was good to be back home. You smelled every familiar scent in that small cluster of houses, which was something that helped you feel safer. To your joy, you saw the Ice Climbers, always wearing their signature colors on them, get up from the bench near their doorway and walk towards you. You jumped on Nana, not caring in the slightest that you made your duck friend struggle to remain glued to your back, and looked at them expectantly for a well deserved reward.

"Hi, Hunter! How was your walk?" Nana asked in a baby voice that you adored hearing. "Did you protect Lucas like we asked you to?"

You did! You were the best bodyguard in the world!

"He protected me so well that not a single puppet fighter appeared," Lucas said as he placed the bag on the ground. "They were very afraid of him, you see."

"Of course he did," Popo said as he petted your head. "Hunter and Duck are the best at protecting people."

Naturally!

"And they are also the best at searching for them too," Lucas said as he turned to Sora, who had just finished closing the gate. "Popo, Nana, this is Sora. Hunter and Duck found him in an abandoned house."

The Ice Climbers finally noticed the newcomer who awkwardly stood by the gate. Their dark eyes briefly scanned him up and down, before Popo said, "Wow, I really thought that he was Pit for a hot second."

"Yeah, same here," Nana said. "Didn't realize that we had a newcomer, sorry."

They let go of you to give Sora the attention that he needed, which was very unfortunate for you, because you did like to be the center of attention. You would let it slide this time. You lied down on your belly and watched together with your friend the kids interact.

"Man, now I feel like an idiot," Popo groaned. "This guy doesn't even have wings!"

"It's okay! I, uh… it's not the first time I'm confused for somebody else," he said, scratching the back of his head. "I'm sure it's going to happen again, don't worry."

"Sora, was it?" Nana asked. "Good to meet you. Name's Nana and this is Popo."

"It's nice to meet you too," Sora said, smiling. "Are you siblings?"

"That's a very good question," Popo said in mischief. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Nana, where's everyone else?" Lucas asked, before Sora could inquire Popo on what he had just said. "Where is Ness? It's almost night."

"Oh, Rosie said she had a headache, so she went to take a nap an hour ago," Nana said. "The Inklings are training outside with Pichu and I don't know when they're gonna finish it up. Shouldn't take long, though."

"And Simon and Pit?"

"Are you that surprised that they're not here?" She asked, earning herself a shake of his head. "And I think it's safe to say that Falco has abandoned us for real this time."

"We also have no idea why Ness hasn't come back yet, he was supposed to be here already," Popo said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Traffic, maybe?"

"You think that he's stuck in teleportraffic?" Nana asked. "Popo, that's not a thing, be serious."

"You come up with the word teleportraffic and I'm the one who needs to be serious?!" Popo asked, though he had trouble hiding his desire to laugh at what the other Ice Climber said.

"Regardless of the reason, he's the one who should be here to properly greet Sora," Lucas said. "He's been doing this since forever."

You could practically smell the confusion coming from Sora as he continued to hear what was essentially nonsense coming from your favorite humans. Still, he kept himself composed, almost as if he was used to confusing things. Suddenly, your ears picked up a sound imperceptible to everyone's ears, and you immediately were back up on your four paws. There was something in the air, your sensitive nose tried to pinpoint exactly what it was.

Sora noticed your sudden agitation and asked, "Hunter? What is it?"

Not a second later, a loud, thunderous sound rippled through the air, throwing everyone off balance. You started barking like a mad dog, your ears much too sensitive for that terrible sound. Your duck friend cowered in fear, while your new human friend quickly turned around, startled as well by the sudden loud noise.

"What was that?!" Sora asked.

"Speak of the devil," Popo said.

"Ugh, I told him to teleport further away from the gate," Lucas grumbled. "He's too loud..."

"He can actually teleport?!" Sora exclaimed.

"It sure beats having to walk from town to town, doesn't it?" He asked.

You ran towards the gate and barked like your life depended on it, which you were certain it did. Something was behind that gate and you felt like you needed to protect them, but that proved to not be necessary, as once the gate was painstakingly slid to the side, you noticed that Ness had just returned to your little villa. The sight of the boy grinning, with a face full of ash (a side effect of teleporting) and with open his arms, made you bark, but for entirely different reasons. You jumped on him, because of course you had to. You hadn't seen him in forever and you missed him so much!

Forever, of course, meant that he had been out for a week, but your perception of a week could very well translate into a hundred years. Ness did not bend over so you could not lick his dirty face, since he at least cared about your health, unlike you.

"Hey, guys, I'm back! Sorry for being late, I have no good excuse for it this time.," he said as he attempted to stop you from licking his ashen arm. "Hey, Hunter, cut it out! Careful with Duck!"

As if he was tired of your hyperactive behavior, your friend flew away from your back and decided to rest on one of the wooden benches nearby, unprotected.

He was out there in the open.

Lucas decided to cut right to the chase and said, "Ness, this is Sora. We found him in the town nearby."

Ness, without losing his goofy smile and the glint in his violet eyes, walked towards the newcomer in question and almost gave him a pat on his shoulder, until he realized that his hands were dirty.

"I was wondering when it would be our turn to find and adopt a newcomer. They've been showing nonstop for the other groups," he said, placing his hands on his hips. "Welcome, Sora! Congrats on becoming a Smasher!"

Sora looked at him with a quizzical look in his eyes, no doubt confused over being called a "smasher" for the second time that day. You never considered yourself a Smasher, but that was probably because you did not understand the concept of that label either. You and Sora had that much in common at that moment.

Ness took a step back and added, "Or… sorry that it happened to you. I don't know how well you're taking all of this."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Sora said, before giving a hopeful grin. "But… it's okay, I know I'll figure it out eventually."

"I like him already," Popo said.

"I want to get to know Sora better!" Nana said. "Why don't we show him around?"

"We just got back from the other town," Lucas pointed out. "Shouldn't he be resting?"

"You alright with that, dude?" Ness asked.

"Fine by me! I'm not tired or anything."

"Okay! I'll talk to you later, then. There are still some things I need to tell you, but I'll let you get used to this place first."

"Let's go back inside, Ness. You gotta get that ash out of you," Lucas said as he grabbed the bag of seeds.

"Awwww, I'm barely back and you're already bossing me around?" The ashen boy said. "You didn't even hug me yet."

Lucas's eyes widened. "Don't you dare," he said.

"Lucaaaas…" Ness said, showing him his gray hands.

"Stay back!"

"Run."

Lucas didn't need to hear twice, he had already bolted out of the scene, being chased by a giggling Ness. You almost ran after them, but apparently you preferred to stay close to Sora and the Ice Climbers. It was probably for the best to not get caught up in their shenanigans.

"They've been so insufferable lately," Nana said, not being able to hide her smile. "Anyway, let's go. There's still some sunlight and I'm not giving any tours in the dark."