Hello all.
First off, just a note - again, Lucario speaks in Japanese to the Star Fox characters – hence, "Fokkusu" refers to "Fox".
On a different note, this will be the last Lucario-based fanfic for a while. I am now forcibly tearing myself away from writing Lucario fanfics for at least a while, as I find my ideas for Days of Our Lives are starting to dry up.
I will be now moving my writing energies to Chosen, a D Gray Man fanfic. However, as the real world is starting to catch up with me, I fear that updates may not be as frequent as they used to be, but, still. I hope that once I return to writing fics for Lucario after Chosen, the ideas will flow once again.
Of course, any suggestions on what to write, or requests, are definitely welcome and I will consider them.
It is therefore with a reluctant heart but great hope for the future that Days of Our Lives comes to a conclusion. I thank all readers and reviewers for their support, especially lupyne, Shadow Blues, Souldin, NinjaSheik and Froggiecool, who have really helped me throughout the course of this collection. Thank you all.
[Edit: Appended to the end of this chapter is a list of other fics in this series, which will be updated as time goes by. If you liked this collection, please feel free to check out the related fics if you so want to. The links to the fics can be found on my profile. Thanks once again!]
And, without further ado, please enjoy.
hawk
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Rooftops and Memories
Fox suddenly sat up, yawning. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, the fox dragged himself out of bed, scratching his back. In half an hour, he was sluggishly moving down the corridor, aiming for the cafeteria but instead lumbering into the wall. Not bothering to move, he slumped against the wall in a standing position, his muzzle and forehead pressed against it, and fell fast asleep.
---
The blue Aura Pokémon padded down the hallway, fully awake and refreshed from his morning self-training session. After a particularly rigorous session, he now made his way to the cafeteria for his morning meal, passing by the automated board which recorded the brawls for the upcoming day.
Having never encountered such technology before, Lucario was suitably surprised and hesitant at first, but had apparently recovered from the surprise in the following days. Now, Lucario entered in a request for a friendly brawl later that day into the board with his forepaw, and then continued on his way to the cafeteria.
Rounding the corner, he immediately spotted the snoozing vulpine, who was now slouching uncomfortably, chest-first, against the wall next to the cafeteria entrance. Fokkusu-san? Lucario stood next to the sleeping pilot, who was peacefully in deep sleep despite his unorthodox sleeping position. No response. Lucario decided to try again. Fokkusu-san? The vulping shifted slightly, then mumbled something, smiled, then sunk back into sleep. Lucario sighed.
FOKKUSU-SAN! Lucario's telepathic voice rung loudly in Fox's mind, but the vulpine's only response was to weakly wave a paw at Lucario, still asleep. Finally running out of options, Lucario forcibly hoisted the pilot and slung him over his shoulder, then carried him into the cafeteria.
"No, go away... Five more minutes... The Academy isn't open today..." the semi-conscious Fox mumbled gibberish into Lucario's ear. As Lucario was the first one in the cafeteria, he didn't need to put up with any of the other Smashers gawking at them and wondering why the Star Fox pilot was slung across his shoulder like a bag of berries.
Help, Aaron-sama – I have an sleeping fox on my shoulder. Lucario mentally slapped himself for interfering in Fox's business – what business was it of his if Fox had decided to sleep standing up, leaning against the wall near the cafeteria? Speaking of which, said wall now had a slight line of drool near where Fox's muzzle had been.
Arranging Fox lying down on the nearest bench, Lucario stepped back. Fox immediately curled up, an instinct, and resumed his sleep. Lucario hesitated between the choices of letting Fox sleep, or rudely awakening him with a glass of water to the head. Still deliberating, Lucario took a can of Oran berries from the counter, and sat himself next to Fox, keeping a watchful eye on the softly snoring pilot.
Halfway through Lucario's second berry, he noticed some movement in the fox. Fox's paw dreamily moved to his twitching ear, scratching it softly, then vigorously. Nothing else seemed to happen as Fox gave a sigh and sank back into sleep once again.
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Falco Lombardi made his way into the cafeteria, irritably raking the back of his head with his wingtips. The first sight he saw was the blue-furred Pokémon sitting at a bench near the door. This was odd in itself, because Lucario normally chose to sit in a secluded corner of the cafeteria... and on closer inspection, what was that next to him? It looked as if Lucario was suddenly interested in lugging a –
"Hey!" Falco started forwards, catching sight of the sleeping fox on the bench next to Lucario. "What did you do to him?" Lucario didn't appear agitated by Falco's sudden actions, but more morose and resigned, and that stopped the falcon in his tracks.
He was sleeping standing outside the cafeteria. I have no idea why, Lucario added. So I put him on the bench to sleep. Falco nodded slowly, his beak agape. Attempting to scratch his torso, through his pilot's jacket, with his wingtip wasn't proving very effective, and essentially diverted most of Falco's blood away from his brain to his scratching wing. Plus, it was in the morning.
Fox seemed to be affected by this, too, and resumed scratching his muzzle. Falco sat down next to Fox, placing the half-asleep vulpine between him and Lucario. "Agh – itchy feathers –" grumbled the bird, furiously smoothening and ruffling his feathers beyond the level of normal preening. Lucario started to look a little concerned. Are you well? "Yeah, I suppose. Just –"
"THERE you are, you lousy fleabag!" The newcomer's voice jolted Fox off the bench and onto the floor, effectively breaking him out of his extended slumber. Lucario and Falco instinctively jerked their heads towards the source of the yell, which came from the east entrance of the cafeteria and the imposing figure of Wolf O'Donnell.
Fox picked himself up and stood groggily to his feet. "Hey now," he spoke. "I didn't insult you first, did I?" Wolf strode towards the group, stopping before Fox and drawing himself up to his full height. Suddenly, he swiped Fox's face with an outstretched paw, a single claw glistening in the light. He didn't harm Fox, although the claw passed through the outermost layer of Fox's fur, and was brought down with a slam on the table.
"Lousy." Lucario, Fox and Falco peered at the dead louse at the end of Wolf's claw, half-impaled and half-squished. "And as for 'fleabag', I don't think I need to say more." Wolf suddenly dropped all composure and frantically started raking his fur with his claws.
Three pairs of eyes widened.
Fox and Falco abandoned all pretence of civility, scratching, gnawing and biting at their own fur and feathers in an attempt to remove the fleas. "You did it!" Falco yelled over their panic. "You and your three-way brawl last night!" "Arrogant bird!" Fox retorted back. "How did we know it wasn't you instead!"
Lucario, meanwhile, his blue tail flicking from side to side, stood some distance away with a mild sense of horror and surprise, not really knowing what to do.
Click! Bzzzz – zzz – zzz – psh. Lucario suddenly whipped around to see Snake armed with an odd-looking metal device and another odd-looking metal cylinder. Wha – Before Lucario could say anything else, Snake aimed the cylinder at the nearest pilot and covered Falco with a stream of froth that exploded from the canister, then quickly activated his razor and bzzzzzed it over the writhing pile of foam. The foam disintegrated after a couple of seconds, revealing a flealess Falco with a bad haircut.
"What did you do that for, you –" Snake waved a finger at the outraged bird. "Temper, temper. Taking out the main flea nest on your head, and this is what I get?" Snake sighed, leaving Falco to slowly realise that he wasn't consumed with the urge to scratch every feather he owned, and perhaps more importantly, that half the feathers that were once on his head were now scattered on the floor.
Two more quick bursts of Flea-B-Gone and two bzzzzzzzzs later, a wolf, a falcon and a fox with similar bad haircuts or random missing patches of fur were simultaneously glaring and reluctantly thanking the stealth soldier. All about them were rapidly disappearing patches of foam, shredded feathers and loose lumps of fur, and the millions of dots of flea bodies which littered the floor like a war-torn zone.
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"Right." The five Smashers stared at the radius of destruction in the once-homely cafeteria, where overturned benches, tables and piles of foam reigned supreme. "At least the fleas are gone," conceded Falco, still trying to preen his head feathers.
Snake, however, was still unsatisfied. There was something missing... "Ah, Rukario." Snake turned to face the Aura Pokémon. "You carried the great flea-ridden pilot in, didn't you?" Lucario slowly nodded, realising where the conversation was going. As if on cue, Lucario's paw moved instinctively to scratch an annoying itch on his shoulder.
Quick as a flash, the mercenary pulled out the spray-can and the razor again, but both were suddenly knocked from his hands by an Aura-powered hindpaw and sent spinning across the floor. Unperturbed, Snake pulled another can out of his myriad pockets, and faced Lucario, who now had crouched into a defensive stance.
Don't – you – dare, Lucario growled, baring his fangs.
---
Lucario needn't have worried – thanks to the odd physics of the Smash Mansion, fur grew back at an extraordinary rate. Fox and Wolf looked normal again by midday the next day, whereas Falco sported his normal plumage of feathers before lunchtime.
Still, the rest of the Smashers filing in for their breakfast were greeted with the unorthodox sight of Snake wrestling Lucario in a puddle of foam, effectively and thoroughly defleaing the both of them – without the need for Snake's macabre haircut, too.
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The next day, at dusk, Snake went to find Lucario, wanting to arrange a brawl with the Aura Pokémon. Peering at the automatic board earlier on, Snake had glanced through the list of brawls taking place. Shadow Moses Island, Spear Pillar, Pokémon Stadiums, Battlefield – all occupied! Ah, Final Destination was unbooked. And thus Snake was now pacing quickly through the hallways of the Mansion, looking for Lucario before another set of Brawlers chose Final Destination for their own brawl.
Not in his room, not in the cafeteria, not in the Gardens... Snake's mind suddenly clicked. There was only one other place Lucario would likely be – the only place Lucario would probably go where no one else would. Snake glanced through the window. The sun – or whatever provided the light – was setting, shooting rays which encompassed the Mansion in a magnificent glow. Out in the rapidly encroaching night, Battlefield and Final Destination winked at him, mere pinpricks of light at a great distance away from the Mansion.
Snake climbed the final flight of steps to the rooftop, confident that there was where Lucario was. "That Pokémon has some good ideas... Peace and quiet on the roof," he mused.
With all the joker-type characters running loose in the Mansion, Snake had often wondered how the serious and silent Lucario had managed to keep his cool – or even his sanity. Escaping to the roof probably provided the Smasher with some form of escape from the craziness of the Mansion, perhaps to reflect on his past life? Snake didn't really know much about Lucario's past, but heard he was a devoted royal subject – which probably accounted for his polite and silent demeanour. That Lucario had only recently sent a wooden staff – the only possession he had in the Mansion – back to his homeworld probably meant that he was more confident of life in the Mansion.
Lucario had really made an impact, not just in brawls, but in the days of the lives of the Smashers. And in turn, the Smashers had helped Lucario to open up, if only just a little.
Above the roof, a shimmering star blinked as if it were snickering. A couple of floors below them, "Fox v Falco, Battlefield" glowed bright on the automated board's interface.
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Days of Our Lives Arc
Introduction
Claustrophobia
Checkmate
Days of Our Lives
Remembrance
Reflection