SSBB: Another Goodbye

On the last day of Minda's stay in Smash Manor, it turned out to be a very hot summer's day. When they went outside of Link's room (Midna slept on his bed while Link slept on the couch) the two heard far-off noises of people laughing. Curious, both the Hero and Princess of Twilight followed the sounds. Their curiosity and hearing led them to one of the sliding glass doors that led to the very spacey backyard. Link smiled and slid open the screen door that was behind the glass door, which was already open.
Almost everyone was outside enjoying the warm weather and nice day; there was a large pool not far from the Hyrulian and Twili where the majority of those outside were lounging around or swimming in; not far from there was the stable that held Epona, who was currently out of it and lounging in the shade of a large oak with a couple Pokémon around her; behind the pool area was a vast space of grass before it led into a forest that apparently held many animals, but none had ever gone to explore it.
Both of the late-to-wake noticed that everyone outside was wearing some sort of bathing suit; the four women of the Manor were lounging on benches next to the pool and apparently tanning in bikinis that were the colors they wore the most; most of the men were in trunks that had their usual colors and symbols and some in tank tops. It seemed as though almost every Pokémon that were used in battles were also outside enjoying the nice day, as were some of the assist trophy people. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, and both Link and Midna smiled at the fun.
Katherine walked up to the two and shook her head while clicking her tongue.
"Look who finally decided to get up. Come with me, Midna, I'll get you into a better outfit." Without allowing a word of protest, Kat wrapped her arm around Midna's.
The Twilight Princess followed the woman that was a good deal shorter with a chuckle while Pit, wearing golden-colored trunks and shirtless, came over to Link and led him to a changing room outside. Link came out a couple minutes later wearing dark green trunks that had the Triforce on it in random places; the changing room had been made to have proper swim wear for every character and a place to store their clothes. Pit gave Link the thumbs-up and a smile, though the latter seemed a bit awkward not wearing his usual tunic and chainmail armor.
Katherine came back with Midna right behind her, the latter towering over the short nurse. A few of the people looked over to her and seemed like they had to tear themselves to look away. Midna wore a bikini that was black with the glowing blue gear-like symbols that she had on her arms; her robe was gone and her hair was down, but kept in a ponytail; she still wore her sash, but it was considerably shorter. From the way the Twilight Princess was shifting uncomfortably, she didn't like wearing the revealing clothing instead of her usual robe and sash that covered most of her body.
The nurse led Midna over to the other women sunning and Pit pulled Link over to the pool. Link sat down at the edge of the pool by the deep end and placed his feet into the water, not really feeling up to getting in, Pit, on the other hand, dived straight in while his wings stayed practically plastered against his back. Link looked around and watched the others outside; the Pokémon were having play-battles or lounging, the kids were playing in the shallow end of the pool, a few older smashers were doing what Link was or were just lying around in the sun. Midna was enjoying herself just sitting on a bench and talking with the other girls; Peach apologized for the fight from the first day, and said that everything had been explained.
Looking over, Link noticed Fox sneaking up behind Wolf, who was sitting down with his feet in the water, his ears down, and just relaxing in the warm sun. Fox kicked Wolf's back, which shoved him into the water and made a bit of a splash; Fox started laughing like a madman. A bunch of people looked over at the sudden splash and laughter and watched Wolf surface, swim to the side, and pull himself out of the pool. Dripping wet and obviously pissed, Wolf crawled out of the pool and kept on his fours in front of Fox. A couple people chuckled when Wolf shook himself off like a dog, which made Fox stop laughing and instead cover his face with his arms and step back from the sudden shower of water.
Before the latter could react, Wolf quickly stood up, grabbed Fox's chest and one of his arms, and with a loud yell, Wolf threw Fox off the ground and into the pool. Fox landed with a big splash on his back and went down into the deep end of the pool; many people laughed very hard. The pilot of Star Fox surfaced and spluttered out water and swam back to the side of the pool and pulled himself out. Just as he was standing up and ready to tell Wolf off, Fox was hit in the eyes by Lucario's foot; the Pokémon had seen what Fox did and left his play-battle with Charizard, then jumped and kicked at Fox once he surfaced.
The pilot fell right back into the water as Lucario landed perfectly on the ground; many people started laughing at this, Midna was one of them, along with all the villains and a couple people from the assist trophy room. There was suddenly a blur and someone dived perfectly into the deep end. Less than a minute later, Kat came up with Fox over her shoulder and struggled a bit to get to a side of the pool. Link and Ike got into the pool and both swordsmen took Fox and swam to an edge of the pool with him between them.
Kat got out of the pool and went over to the unconscious Fox when Ike and Link set him down on the ground. All laughter died immediately as the nurse checked for breathing and a pulse before starting to press down on Fox's chest in a rhythm. It only took a couple seconds before Fox spewed water and started coughing heavily as he pushed himself upright. Kat and many people sighed heavily in relief as Fox stopped coughing and started panting. The nurse looked up with a dark glare to Wolf and Lucario; both flinched and flattened their ears against their skulls in fear. In any other situation, Kat would've been amused by how perfectly mirrored their positions and looks upon their faces were.
"You are so lucky, Lucario. I'm still pissed that now Wolf and Fox will smell like wet dog all day, though." Katherine stood up and snapped her fingers; a white towel suddenly appeared and wrapped around her chest, covering down to her knees; another towel appeared around Fox's shoulders as he stood up.
"I'm not getting punished?" Lucario asked with a small telepathic voice.
Katherine sighed and crossed her arms over her towel-covered chest.
"That's not up to me, that's up to Master Hand. And don't!" Kat looked over to Fox, who had his muzzle open partly, "Don't even try to argue with me, Fox. You shoved Wolf into the pool, he tossed you back in as payback. And if you didn't have to foresight to see that you'd get attacked by Lucario as well, that's your own dumb fault." Fox snapped his muzzle shut and frowned as he looked down.
The smashers went back to their business and Fox went back to his room to rest; most everyone put the event out of their mind, since everything turned out fine. Toon Link came over to the women, once they were all back to sunning, and presented Kat with a piece of Hawk Grass and the nurse called Link over to them. When given to him, Link blew the Hawk Grass, making a very soothing and musical sound; a loud chorus of hawk screeches was made off in the distance from the forest. A few people nearly freaked out as the sky got dark from a large flock of hawks entering the sky in one big flock. The hawks flew to the area and all landed in various areas, some of them landed on top of people, while others landed on the ground, but most of the hawks centered around Link; Kat managed to put a towel around his arm just before a hawk landed on it.
Jared, the little Nintendog puppy that played with the children, went wild chasing and barking at the hawks. The birds of prey screeched and took off whenever the excited Labrador pup ran towards them while barking. Soon the only hawk left was the one that was on Link's arm, and he let that one fly off on its own back into the forest. Jared seemed disappointed when the last of the birds went away, but then Ness threw a ball and chased after it while Toon Link, Lucas, and Jared went after it, the first three laughing and the Nintendog barking.
When the sun started to set and the temperature dropped significantly, everyone started to go back inside after getting dressed. Link stayed outside long enough to put Epona back in her stable and give her fresh hay. The Hero of Twilight took out the horse whistle that Ilia gave him and played the song that Epona loved so much. Epona whinnied happily and nuzzled Link's face, which forced him to stop playing the song as he smiled and petted her muzzle and neck. The chestnut mare nickered and flicked her tail and then head; Link turned and saw Midna, back in her normal clothes, walking over to him with a smile.
"I remember her." Midna stated as she walked to Epona and reached out her hand.
Epona moved her head forward and sniffed at Midna's hand before allowing the Twilight Princess to pet her, making contented noises as she did. Link smiled a bit wider at this, since Epona only let him, Zelda, and Toon Link near enough to pet her; he was glad that she remembered Midna.
"I guess it's too late to ask if I could ride her with you." Midna said as she looked down to Link.
The wielder of the Triforce of Courage shook his head enthusiastically and unbolted Epona's stall before taking the bridle off of the hook next to it. It took a short couple minutes to get the bit in Epona's mouth and the saddle on her back, but Epona was still as her master did these things and complied when needed. When she was finished, Link led her out of the stable using the reigns. Once outside, Link put his boot in the stirrup and hoisted himself up onto Epona's back before holding out one hand to Midna.
Midna took Link's hand and mimicked his way of getting onto the horse using the stirrup and his help. Once on the saddle, Midna adjusted her sash and robes before wrapping her arms around Link's waist and telling him to go. He nodded to her, flicked Epona's reigns, kicked her sides, and yelled for her to go with a "Hiyah!", just about one of the only things he manages to say, even if it isn't a real word. Epona bolted off at a fast run, and the initial lurch made Midna have to hold onto Link tighter.
Link led his horse over to the fenced-in area that was built specifically for him to ride with Epona through; the area was a large oval of flat dirt with a bunch of small fences placed near the inside of the oval, while the outside was bare; the outside was made with the intention for a timed gallop while the inside was to help Epona practice jumping fences. When they got inside the area, Link had Epona jump the small fences placed inside, since he guessed that just going in a circle would bore Midna. At the first jump, Midna laughed loudly at the thrill; the sound urged Link on to keep Epona jumping over the fences to keep Midna laughing like that. Epona only jumped over one line of fences before growing tired and refusing to keep jumping, Link understood and petted her neck before having her head back to the way out.
"That was fun! I see why you loved doing this back in Hyrule!" Midna proclaimed as Epona slowed to a steady trot.
Midna looked over when Link suddenly pointed to the side; her wide smile of joy turned melancholy. It was now twilight, and Link pulled on Epona's reigns to make her stop altogether with a small tug. Both Link and Midna stared at the twilight with small smiles of content.
"That's how my world looks once more. Without Zant, it's become much more like this twilight…It's beautiful, isn't it?" Midna looked to Link, who looked at her and nodded with a wider smile.
"Midna?"
Both hero and princess looked over to the other side and their smiles vanished. Master Hand, in human form, was standing only a couple feet away with his ever-present polite smile.
"It is time for you to go, dear." The God-like man said with a tone just as polite as his looks; it was hard to imagine that he could have a very nasty side.
Midna nodded and her arms fell away from Link's sides; she lifted one leg onto the side towards Master Hand and slid off of Epona's back. Link got off right after her and couldn't have hid his sadness at his friend's departure once again. Those old feelings of horrible hurting came back as he remembered the first time Midna had left him, the pain that once again cut him to his core. Midna turned around to face Link and gave him a small smile.
"Link…I…" Those words only intensified Link's pain, since they were a perfect echo of before. "I had a lot of fun, Link. It was great seeing you again."
Midna reached out and took Link's hand in her own. The hero felt a bit of heat rise to his face and he wasn't sure why. Midna giggled a little at Link's light blush; the two had nearly forgotten about Epona and Master Hand; the latter was giving them their time to say their goodbyes. Link's blush grew drastically and he felt his face catch fire when Midna leaned down and pressed her lips against his so softly it was almost as if she hadn't done it at all. It seemed all too soon that Midna pulled back, but kept her hand in Link's; only Midna noticed when Master Hand placed one of his gloved hands on her shoulder and told her it was time to go.
"See you later." Midna said with a smile just as she seemed to turn into smoke and eventually faded right before Link's eyes.
Link's hand, now empty, fell back to his side and his dark blue eyes looked down to Master Hand, whose smile had changed to one of empathy.
"You'll see her again. You just have to get to the top for the week to do so. It shouldn't be too hard with such motivation." The white-haired all-white man patted Link's shoulder before turning and heading towards the large Mansion that occupied the middle of Smash Manor.
The only thing that snapped Link out of his state of shock that kept him in a statue-like position was Epona nudging his back. The hero got back on Epona's back, took her to the stable, took off all her equipment, and went back to the Manor without really realizing it. It was still not late enough for everyone to go to bed, so a few of the smashers were present when Link walked into the Mansion looking like a zombie. A couple people tried talking to him, but he just kept walking until he got back to his room.
Hours later, Link was still awake while everyone else was sleeping, lying awake in his bed and staring at the box that held the shard of evil magic that transformed him into a wolf. Because of that shard, he had so many adventures with Midna. And because of a few hours ago, he now had a guess as to what Midna was going to tell him before she destroyed the mirror and left. Link clutched his pillow tightly as sleep started to take him and his blue eyes drifted shut. One name was on his mind and lips.
"Midna."