Tiers and Hopes, Book 2

Crumbling Naivete

"P-poyo..."

Kirby felt himself swaying on his feet as he stared at the new list. This had to be some sort of sick joke! What was he doing in last place, after his wonderful performance in 1999? Did they really nerf him that badly? After a tournament as a mighty A-tier, he was now regarded as a useless pink puffball.

He'd seen the signs after the first few losses. He tried to brush them aside, assuring himself that he just needed warming up before he'd be his old self again. But he knew. And seeing the confirmation before him simply made everything worse.

Kirby felt a soft touch on his shoulder and turned. It was Luigi, also looking pale, but trying so hard to be strong. He wanted to be there for the puffball because he'd lived through this. The ravenous pack of wolves was sniffing the poor guy down, and someone had to defend him from them. Someone...

"Kirby..." Luigi said softly. "I don't—wow. I'm sorry."

"Poy," said Kirby, not wanting Luigi to be sorry for him. "Poyo poyo." He'd get through this.

"Kirby, I know that you're determined not to let this get to you, but there are beasts out there. Beasts who want to make you miserable over it."

"Poyo," realized Kirby, remembering that Luigi had endured the same thing.

Luigi nodded gravely. "They did so many things to me, and you helped me through it. It's my turn to help you now."

Kirby slowly smiled. "Poyo," he said in thanks, puffing himself into Luigi's arms.

Luigi hugged him tenderly, wishing to shelter him, to protect him.

"Pichu?"

They broke the embrace to stare at the pre-evolved Pokémon, his eyes huge with concern. He, too, had been placed in the lowest tier and realized, like Luigi before him, that the lower tiers had to stick together.

"Yes, Pichu. Everything's fine," Luigi assured him, the words coming out a bit bluntly. As mentioned before, tensions were building between Luigi and Pikachu over their side-specials. Pikachu had Skull Bash, whereas Luigi had his Green Missile. The electric mouse had accused the plumber of copying him, which the man in green passionately denied. The issue was slowly but surely brewing into a race to prove one side special superior over the other. Pichu, being Pikachu's pre-evolved form, had almost immediately sided with him.

But standing here and seeing how Pichu was trying to look out for Kirby, while Pikachu was barely giving him the time of day, touched Luigi's heart. His face softened, just a little, and his tone was significantly less blunt when he asked, "Can you—will you please help him?"

Pichu nodded eagerly. "Pi!"

"Thanks," said Luigi, a silent understanding forming between them.

"Is everything all right here?" Mario arrived to check on his little bro and saw him holding Kirby. "Wha..." He rushed back to the list and saw where they'd placed the little guy. "Oh."

"He needs us," Luigi said simply. "All of us."

Mario quietly nodded.

"Of course," said Peach.

Douglas looked at his feet, Samus holding his hand in support.

"Fox..." he muttered.

"What? Why the long faces?" asked the vulpine, arm-in-arm with Falco.

"I think you know the answer to that, Fox," said Luigi.