Chapter Text
Just a heads up - I’ve upped Dark Pit’s age to 17, as well as his height to 5’11. This is to match Lucina’s age of 17 and her height of 6’1 (this is not canon, by the way. Just upping this, so dark pit isn’t a 5’3 13 year old in love with a somewhat 18 6’3 princess xP). Kirby is also in his 20s just to match with the release of dream land and related games (again, NOT canon).
Donkey Kong flung into the air, and while his jump wasn’t as high as Kirby’s, his size was enough to make Kirby skid out of the way.
As his fists struck the ground like lightning, the ground below Kirby shook. He hesitated for a moment, planning his next move while DK trotted towards him with his knuckles swerving towards his face.
Bingo
Kirby leapt into the air. However, he knew DK would predict his next move, and watching him slowly ascend towards Kirby, Kirby performed a back aerial, then spun into a stone, instantly thrashing DK on the skull.
Within an instant, DK flung into the air, hitting the blast line and a fiery explosion enveloped the air.
K.O! Kirby wins!
“Nice work, Kirbs. Definitely had me there, aha.” DK chuckled, strolling out from behind the battlefield.
“Nah you played well, DK. Got potential. What Div are you entering?” Kirby asked, wiping sweat off of his face with a cloth he’d snatched from a rack
“Div 2. Last year I entered Div 1, didn’t fight as well as I’d hoped, so I’ll enter a lower one. You?”
“Div 1. Feeling feisty.”
“You’ll do great in that, Kirbs. Anyways, I'm gonna head out now. Enjoy the rest of your day!” DK beamed, walking out of the gym
Kirby waved, before making his way out of the gym towards the lawn. It was a nice breezy day and the sun was hiding behind the clouds. Kirby flipped out his cellphone to check some messages. Mostly from Cap ranting about how he had kissed Samus. Some messages were about the comp in a week’s time. And some about how Sonic had clogged the toilets in the public entrance, leading Roy to scream swears as he ambled through the mansion searching for Sonic.
He sat on the lawn next to the fountain, pulling out a bag of potato chips he’d saved for after the match. As he ate, a ballistic Dark Pit scrambled out from behind the scrub.
“KIRBY!” He bellowed, launching himself at the patch of grass next to Kirby.
“I mean, what’s up, dude. Yeah, I’m chill like that.” he said, brushing his hair with his fingers.
“You on drugs or something?” Kirby muttered, leaning away from DP.
“No, just drank a teensy bit of soda.”
“Right, forgot you were terrified of alcohol.” Kirby said, taking another munch on his chips.
“I’m not scared. Just don’t like the stuff. Too rusty.” DP snapped.
“You and Link would be perfect for eachother then.” Kirby whispered under his breath.
“Huh?”
“Nothing. What do you need?” Kirby asked, as he slouched backwards.
“I was wondering if you could help me. I’m entering Div 1 for the first time, and y’know, I wanna fight well. And…well…you’re you. So can you help me?”
Kirby hesitated. While DP was a good guy, he knew his morals were different.
“Okay. If you can answer this question.”
“Hit me.”
“Why do you want to win so badly?” Kirby asked. Most people would say for the honour and prize that came with it, but DP thought otherwise.
“I want to win for Lucina. I’ve got a tiny bit of a crush on her.”
“You think?” Kirby said, sarcastically.
“It was obvious?”
“Crystal clear.”
“Shit.”
DP turned to face away from Kirby, most likely embarrassed. Kirby frowned.
“Hey man, I get it. You like a chick, you wanna impress her. So I’ll help you. For the next few days, non-stop training, no breaks, early mornings, hard nights. Got it? You’re gonna win this, I assure you.” Of course, Kirby lied about this. There was no way in hell he was going to wake up early just to help DP win.
“Alright! Let’s win this!” DP exclaimed, bouncing around in the air with delight.
The thing about Kirby’s selflessness and eagerness to help DP out was simple. He’d already won this many times before, in fact, he’d won it more than most. Sephiroth was an exception.
Now, Kirby didn’t necessarily have an issue with anything in life. He was genuinely grateful for all things he had, and he wasn’t a snob or a cheat.
Except, his genuineness came across as somewhat intimidating to other smashers. They were determined to bring him down and all that he standed for. Which made him quite the unpopular character.
Kirby didn’t care what people thought of him, heck, he couldn’t give two shits. He was aware most hated his guts because he was better than them at fighting, but he didn’t let that bother him. He surrounded himself with good people, and for that, he was rewarded with love and support.
DP had always been a kind guy to Kirby, not caring about the shit and rumours that were made up about him to drive his name into mud. In fact, Kirby knew for certain that DP was definitely one of the more good people in Smash. Most gave him evil eyes as he strolled past, but even DP with his mindset and appearance, would smile, wave and even say “hello!”.
This made Kirby want to help him even more. One of the kind people at Smash. If anyone else had come up to him apart from maybe Cap or Link, he would’ve kindly refuted.
“Okay, DP. Here’s the deal. I’ll train you, if you train me.”
DP looked confused. “Huh?”
“I get to practice on you every once in a while. Y’know, warm up.”
DP did not look amused. “Haha, very funny, Kirbs. Now where do we start?”
Kirby lay back. “When I say we do.”
A minute passed, silence coating the air.
“…So-“
Kirby hushed, waving his arm in DP’s face. He opened his eyes and sat up.
“Okay, now.”
“What was the point of that?”
“Hey! I’m the one who asks the questions here.”
DP contemplated whether or not he should called Kirby “sir” but being about 5 feet taller than him didn’t help
With a few minutes of convincing, Kirby finally got up, and they headed to the gym.
“TAKE THAT, FOUL BEAST!” Dark Pit scowled, slicing an arrow through the dummy’s head. It was quite an impressive shot from his bow, anyone could agree. Kirby nodded.
“Glad you’re getting into it.” he chuckled, sipping on a can of ginger beer.
DP smirked. “Do you ever stop drinking alcohol?”
“Excuse me? This is NOT alcohol. It’s ginger beer, thank you very much.” Kirby said defensively.
“Alright, alright. Anyway, up for another round?”
“I think we’ll finish up for the day. 4 rounds in total is good for your first day of training.”
DP frowned. “I only won once!”
“That’s okay. You did accidentally run over the blast line trying to hide from me.” Kirby smiled.
“Well…whatever.” he said, crossing his arms. While he did appear petty and angry, it soon turned into a grateful smile.
“Thanks again, Kirbs. I appreciate it a ton, man.” he beamed, then waddled out of the gym, whistling a cheery tune as he did so.
Kirby shook his head “Crazy kid.” He simply stated, before exiting the gym.
It was a cold, gloomy afternoon, and the sun began its long journey over the horizon. Kirby made his way back to his dorm to spend the night alone eating pizza and sitting back on the couch, watching crime shows. He had grown particularly fond of watching cops pull over drunk drivers and give them a hefty fine. He much preferred the Australian version of these shows, since all you could here in the background was just swearing. Made Kirby chuckle.
As he twisted the keys into his dorm and switched on the lights, a bundle of noise and joy bolted into his living room.
“Kirbs! KIRBS!!” Cap yelled, jumping on the couch and flicking his arms about.
Kirby looked frustrated. “Feet off the couch when you’ve got shoes on, Cap. Come watch Australian TV with me.”
Cap dived onto the couch and sat beside Kirby, humming a cheery tune.
“Why are you in such a good mood?”
Cap raised a brow. Kirby nodded.
“Ah, you kissed her. Right. Forgot.” he said, holding out the remote to switch channels.
“Wasn’t she pissed at you literally this morning?”
“I’m a man of many wonders.” he chuckled, laughing at his own joke.
“It just felt…so surreal! So amazing…so-“
Cap noticed that Kirby was disinterested and turned to him.
“Hey, Armstrong. Earth’s down here, buddy.” Cap said, waving his hands in Kirby’s face.
“I’m listening, Cap. Just looking for something to watch..” Kirby said, flicking through the channel guide.
Cap squinted. “What’s on your mind, Kirb? You know I’m here.”
Kirby laughed and sighed at the same time. “Cut the sympathetic friend bullshit, Cap. You know I’m fine.” Kirby smiled.
Cap frowned. “Well, I was hoping you’d be honest.”
“What do you mean? I am.”
“You sure?” Cap said, raising his eyebrows.
“…yes. I’m fine. Never been better.” Kirby grumbled, slightly pissed off at Cap’s perseverance to find out why.
“That’s what Link said to me when he was moping my falcon flyer the other day. You aren’t fooling me. Plus, you helped me out last night. Least I can do is help you out.”
Kirby sighed, and brushed the air with his hand.
“Nothing that needs done, Cap. Let’s just move on, m’kay? Watch some Australian druggies get busted on the road.”
While Cap was aware that he had something on his mind, he didn’t push it. Kirby was a particularly private person, and he kept most things to himself. This may seem concerning, but Cap knew Kirby was able to handle things on his own. A “lone wolf” as Link called him.
They spent the night watching crime shows and RBT, laughing over bowls of peanuts and ginger beer, which had become Kirby’s favourite beverage.
As Kirby lay in bed, he lay silently, going to sleep like he usually did at around 11 pm. Why was it…different? It was never like this, and he never felt so strange. Was it realisation? Realisation that maybe things weren’t so great after all? Whatever it was, it was keeping him from sleeping, and so he despised it.
He’d been played by his own game.