Author's Note: Well, now that finals are over, I'm back with another one! First of all, thank you to everyone who read, followed, and reviewed on the last one! This time, we've got Duck Hunt and Piranha Plant! For clarification, Duke is the dog, and Hunt is the duck. Captain N is an old Nintendo cartoon character who I thought would be a natural fit as Duck Hunt's owner, and is the "third man" of the Duck Hunt team.
It was a warm, sunny summer day at Smash Mansion. The sun still beat down upon the mansion grounds even as it drew close to the horizon. In the sky, wispy clouds floated carefree, slowly making their way towards the edge of the sky.
In the mansion, Duke sniffed the ground as Hunt stood on his back, alert. He was on the trail. He smelled meat. Maybe there'd even be some bread for Hunt too!
Duke's nose was hovering close to the ground as he followed the trail. It had come from the garage and had gone through the hallways of Smash Mansion. He'd find this meat sooner or later. And then, he'd eat till he burst! No dry kibble for him or Hunt today!
The duck in question suddenly pecked him on the head. Duke didn't respond. He would find the meat. If only he could just track it down….
Duke bumped his head against something hard. He jumped back and barked, surprised. He looked up to see the strangest bush he'd ever seen. It was green like a plant, but it had a red head with white spots. It even had a mouth, just like him and Hunt. What a strange creature. Was it an oversized dandelion? Duke trotted forward and began sniffing it. It smelled just like…garlic? Was this plant that garlic grew on? If he bit it, would it spit out garlic?
Suddenly, the plant snapped at him, and Duke jumped back, surprised. He barked a few more times. He began sniffing again, not sure what he'd done wrong. It didn't smell dangerous…it was curious?
The plant seemed to sniff the air in front of it. Duke tilted his head. What was this strange plant trying to tell him? It would be so much more helpful if it used words, just like Captain N did.
Wait. This was just like how he'd made friends with Hunt. How'd he do that again?
Duke, crouching low, slowly shuffled up towards the strange plant.
The plant's stuck its head out, its nose nearly touching Duke's nose. The two sniffed at each other for nearly a minute. The plant didn't smell threatening, and it didn't look too aggressive now. Maybe they didn't have to fight?
After a moment, it straightened up a bit and waved its leaves animatedly, letting out scratchy sounding cries as it did. Duke sat up, wagging his tail. Did it want to be friends now? The plant jumped up and down, its pot making clanking noises as it hit the ground.
Hunt pecked him on the top of his head. Duke turned his head to look at his friend, who pointed at one of the doors with his beak. Duke perked up and saw Mario and Luigi walking with grocery bags past one of the doorways. A large baguette stuck out of one of them.
Duke gave the plant a look. The plant nodded. Duke nodded too. He turned back to the door and followed the scent of fresh bread.
A few minutes later, Duke was still hot on the trail. He was getting excited. They had to be close! He could practically taste the hamburger as his stomach growled. He sniffed the air again. The scent was still strong. His excitement grew as he came to the kitchen. He bounded in, ready to find the meat. But nobody was there. He stopped in his tracks a few feet inside the kitchen. He sniffed the air again. That was strange. The smell wasn't getting stronger here. He took a few tentative steps further into the kitchen. The smell was getting weaker. Duke whined quietly. What was wrong? This was where food was supposed to be, right? Had he lost the trail?
The plant hopped up to him and sniffed the air itself. It shook its head and hopped around the kitchen, sniffing the air. It eventually ended up back near the door. Suddenly, it jumped up and down, screeching. It began waving its leaves towards the door. Duke was confused. Why wouldn't the food be brought into the kitchen? Isn't this where Captain N said food should be eaten?
Duke shuffled to the door and began sniffing again. Sure enough, the scent was stronger. He barked excitedly. The scent trail was not lost after all! Hunt and the plant joined in, quacking and screeching respectively. Duke wagged his tail. This was how friendships worked! And with that, they were on the trail again.
After following the trail through the expansive halls of Smash Mansion, Duke stopped, having bumped his nose against an invisible barrier. He looked up to see a glass door. Out in front of him was the expansive backyard of the Smash Mansion. The scent of bread had nearly been overpowered by the wonderful scent of cooking meat! Duke was getting excited. Hunt was already reaching for the door handle, but the duck's beak was not enough to turn it. Duke stood up on his two hind legs and reached for the handle. He managed to pull it down but wasn't able to push the door open much. The plant hopped forward and nudged the door open with its head.
Duke shifted to the side as his paws hit the floor again, so as not to hit his new friend. They all hurried through the opened door before it slammed shut behind them. The plant turned around and jumped up and down again, screeching happily. It looked like the plant was just as excited as he was!
Duke took the opportunity to look around him. Wonderful smells wafted from all around him. He spotted a grill, where Luigi was cooking something. Duke shuffled up to Luigi, the plant in tow behind him. The plant now looked shy, like it was nervous to be around Luigi. Duke realized that it was time for him to take charge. He nudged Luigi's leg. Luigi looked down.
"Hey Duke! Hey Hunt! Did you make a new friend?"
Duke barked, wagging his tail. Of course he did! Did the green moustache man have no faith in him?
"I'll get you some meat and bread!" said Luigi. He grabbed a burger patty off the grill and crouched down to their level. The plant timidly sniffed the air in front of him, near Luigi. Duke wondered why the plant was so nervous around Luigi. The green man was nothing but kind and friendly! There was nothing to fear.
"Easy now, buddy, I don't bite!" said Luigi encouragingly. He held out a burger patty for the plant. After sniffing at the patty for a few moments, the plant gingerly reached out and grabbed it, holding it in his mouth.
Luigi smiled and turned back to the grill. He grabbed another patty, and held it out for Duke, while holding the burger bun a little higher for Hunt. Duke quickly grabbed the patty in his mouth. He glanced up to make sure Duke had his bun securely in his beak, before looking back to the plant. Duke barked through the patty in his mouth and took off into the yard. The plant screeched at him happily and followed him, bouncing along as usual.
Duke followed the sidewalk around the pool, where the smaller humans were splashing around, careful to not let his burger patty get wet. He trotted up to an empty beach chair and jumped on top of it. The plant bounced up to the chair and tried to jump up but couldn't quite jump on top of it.
Duke thought about this for a moment. It wouldn't be fair if the plant couldn't get up to the beach chair. Duke looked around. His eyes eventually fell on the nearby fire pit. More importantly, the bundle of wood next to it. Duke dropped his burger patty near Hunt and growled softly. Hunt quacked in response. He knew what to do. Duke trotted over to the bundle of wood and begun dragging it towards the chair. After a few minutes of haggling the bundle over the grass, Duke managed to get his bundle to the chair, where the plant and Hunt were waiting. Duke dragged the bundle of wood next to the chair. Duke barked and puffed his chest out. He'd built a set of stairs! All for his friend!
The plant screeched in delight, and wrapped its leaves around Duke, kind of like Captain N did sometimes. With that, they both hopped up the makeshift stairs onto the beach chair and sat down comfortably. Duke reclaimed his patty from under the vigilant beak of Hunt and sat down. Duke's chest swelled with happiness. He let out a lout bark. He'd done it! He'd gotten meat and a new friend!
"Quiet down!" yelled Captain N's voice from somewhere else.
Why though? He'd just made a friend! That was worth celebrating, wasn't it? Duke barked loudly again, just in case the first one wasn't good enough, and began wolfing down his food with Hunt and the plant. As he finished, he lay down on the chair. The plant hopped over to him and put its head down on Duke's back, and Hunt waddled up to his other side and sat down next to him. Duke let out a sigh of contentment. It was good to be with friends.
This one was inspired by a conversation I saw on a Discord server about characters who don't speak and communicate through different means. It was an interesting concept that I tried to take to the logical extreme with two non-human characters who don't speak. It was quite the adventure to write this one!
Also, there is a new Super Smash Bros fanfiction and fanart Discord server that's been opened called Super Smash Prose! If this interests you, the Discord ID is gDK48ua.