The Cornerian mercenaries were sparring in the training room with Snake as it was normally the case, it was Solid Snake against Fox. They had originally all gone against each other, but the bandana-bearded elite and Kitsune easily tagged Wolf and Falco out. Now, the other two watched their leader and training partner duke it out on each other. Fox swung his leg as Snake jabbed his leg, trying to strike his Elite student.
Falco quickly grew bored; when Snake and Fox sparred, they took forever because they never wanted to accept defeat from one another. Always known for not sitting still for long, he suddenly had an idea he saw Snake and Fox's arms raised over their heads, their faces so close they could each feel one breathing on another. With Fox's fists locked with Snake's, Falco caught the opportunity. He crept up from where he sat in the training room and crawled closer to where Snake and Fox were sparring.
Wolf, who was currently doing bicep curls, unfortunately noticed.
"Falco, what are you doing?" the hound asked. "Get back over here."
Falco shushed him and with a sinister giggle, he continued crawling until he was directly behind Fox. He crouched down low enough so neither of his straining friends could see him.
"You've grown stronger than I thought, Snake," Fox grunted with satisfaction as he shoved the elite away. Falco silently grumbled at the fact he lost his chance to pull of his attack and continued crawling right behind them.
Snake chuckled in agreement as a response. Watching his opponent guarding himself in defense, he tightened his bandana and replied, "Oh, really?" He charged towards the kitsune. They lock fists again. "Then, how come you went to A-Tier..." Snake leaned in close to Fox's face, completing his sentence with one of his casual smirks "
...and can't notice THIS!"
With the opportunity, Snake spreads Fox's arms away, and kicks him, sending him flying at a short distnce.
As Foz stood up, his temper boiled inside him as he growled and shoved Snake backwards and onto his back. Fox leaped over to where Snake laid, his fist raised in the air, but Snake rolled out of the way and rose to his feet. Their fists clanged and crashed, the rhythms that were made when the impact of their hands collided echoed throughout the training room. They had their fists locked for a third time, and had their arms raised in the air. Falco, still unnoticed by anyone other than Wolf, grinned mischievously and settled down behind Ran.
"Look, "David" you are so gonna eat those words!" Fox angrily said with an toothy grin, using all of his strength to push Snake down enough to bend his knees, but not enough to make him collapse to the ground. "Besides...your nothing compared to Andross!" Snake struggled to fight the weight Fox was pushing down on him. His body ached and were ready to give in from under him. But he wouldn't lose, not to Gox. However, it didn't seem like much of a choice. Falco sought the opportunity to strike.
Just before Snake could let his muscles relax and allow Fox to pin him to the floor, Fox suddenly eased up from Snake. Then, out of nowhere, he starts shouting out, making noises that could probably be identified as "laughter" as he clutched his sides. The noise was short and quick, and stopped when Fox remembered his opponent was laying right in front of him. Snake glanced at him with a confused gaze, and then understood when he saw Falco on Fox's back, his wings digging into Fox's sides, for those brief seconds. Snake couldn't help but smile, and he noticed Wolf trying to contain his laughter.
Fox suddnly started losing strength in his legs and began to sway across the room.
"YEE-HAW! Ride 'em, Stallion!" Falco bellowed within those few seconds on Fox back before the kitsune flipped him over his back and flat on his back. Falxo groaned as he watched Fox's shadow cast over him. The fox stared down at his best friend with fire in his emerald eyes, and was breathing heavily. Falco couldn't tell if it was from his attack on Fox or that his bestie is so enraged. Either way, Falc didn't care. He sat up and weakly laughed.
"Bruh, you should see your face right now," Falco exclaimed with an ear-to-ear grin, spread across his face. "You look so mad!"
With a growl, Fox picked Falco up by the collar of his jacket and leaned him in close to his face.
"Don't. Ever. Do That. Again," Fox said with a sneer, still breathing pretty heavily, which Falco now thinks is from his little sneak attack.
Snake got up and he and Wolf joined where Fox held Falco.
"Woah, Fox," he said with a chuckle. "I knew you were extremely ticklish at Brawl, but I had no idea it would've followed you up to the Ultimate years."
Fox flipped Falco to the ground to turn and faced Snake . "I am NOT ticklish!" He stood there for a moment before adding on, "I...uh, just...remembered a...funny joke I heard."
"Oh, yeah? What was the joke, Ran?" Wolf asked, doing one of Sora's Lax poses.
Fox stood there frozen as he frantically tried to think of any joke that even he thought was funny. No luck there. "Uh..."
"Hahaha! I knew it! The muh-see-nawy is very, very ticklish!" Falco baby-teased as he jumped to his feet, pointed at Fox and attempted to charge at him for another attack.
Fox, sensing the avian would try to sneak up on him again, stepped out the way, letting Falco crash into the wall behind him. His legs arched over his head and then fell back behind him as a loud moan echoed through the dojo. "No, I am not! Now drop it and leave it that way." Fox turned away from his partners and crossed his arms.
Wolf shakes her head in disappointment. "No one just explodes into laughter like that, even if it was brief laughter, such as now, whether it was a joke that made you laugh or not; and even if it was, you wouldn't have laughed. You think all jokes are corny and lame," the hound pointed out, bearing a smile, exposing the gap in his teeth.
Fox turned to face him and glared, his green eyes now turning flare-red. He wasn't going to let his best friends tease him about his...secret. "I am NOT ticklish, and I can prove it!" he shouted.
"Okay, Fox," Wolf said with a smirk, "let me be the judge of that." Fox knew where his friend was heading, but he went along with it. Wolf instructed Fox to stand in a T-pose position, sticking his arms out to the side. I have to resist, Fox thought to himself. Do not give in, do not give in, do not-
Wolf began rubbing his fingers along Fox's sides and stomach. Fox squirmed but remained standing. He closed his eyes and held his breath. Then Wold rubbed the backs of his knees, his neck, even his ankles. Fox flinched and winced at all those places. Then the greyhound went back to the sides of his underarms. Fox had had enough. He pushed Wolf away gently and pressed his arms against his sides. "Bah, just forget it!" Fox growled as he walked away and hid himself from his friends.
Snake walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about, McCloud."
"What's to be embarrassed of?" Fox said, shifting away from the Elite so he couldn't see him blushing, causing Snake's hand to slip from his shoulder.
Then, Snake bore the same mischievous grin that Falco usually has when attempting to pull a prank. "Like I said, nothing." He calmly said before tackling Fox to the floor and slid his hands under
The kitsune's underarms. Within a second Fox exploded into a squirming, kicking ball of giggles. His arms and legs were flaring out of control as he gasped for breath.
"II WIHAHAHAHALL KIHIHIHIILL YOUHUU F-FOR THIS, SNAHAHAHAHAKE!" Fox Laughed as angrily as he could, but his laughing got the best of him. Falco and Wolf both giggled as they watched their leader squirm and tear up from laughing so hard.
Fox tried to throw Snake off, but was too weak. "F-FAHAHALCO!!! WOHOLF!! HEHEHEHR
EHAHELP!" the other cornerian mercs noticed that while Fox was still laughing, his face showed pain. Falco had another idea. He snuck up behind Snake and pounced. He began rubbing his fingers under Snake's arms. Snake reacted by releasing Fox and falling backwards and, too, exploding into a fit of giggles. Wolf helped Fox to his feet as they both watched the Wolf trying to pry the avian off of his body. Snake and Falco laid there on the training room floor laughing.
Wolf and Fox walked over to them, staring at them. Snake propped himself up on his shoulders and looked straight to Fox. "You see? Even I am still ticklish. So is Falc," he said, trying to suck air into his lungs.
"Wolfy's turn!" Falco said as he leaped onto the greyhound .
"No, no, no, stop-sto-AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Wolf bursted into laughter as soon as Falco stroked his fingers along his sides, underarms, and neck. "OKAHAHAHAHAHAHAAY, G-GET OFFA MEHEHEHEHEHEHEE!" Falco slowly crawled off Wolf and helped him up. Wolf was still giggling as she regained balance, clutching her ribs.
"Even Wolfy is," Falco added.
"Everyone, what is with all of this noise?" a voice suddenly boomed. The exhausted turned their gaze to the entrance to see Master hand standing in the doorway.
"Is someone going to answer me?" asked his comrades when there was a long silence.
As usual, Falco was the first to pipe up. "We found out that Foxy is very ticklish and he's being too stubborn to admit it because he's embarrassed," Falco said quickly, pointing to Fox.
"I AM NOT...GAAH!" Fox growled in severe frustration and exhaustion. "Forget it," he mumbled and stared at his shoes.
Master hand sighed and walked over to the kitsune. "Fighter no. 7, there is no need to feel embarrassed about this."
"That's what I said," Wolf interrupted but MH glared at him and the greyhound fell silent.
"Besides, you loved being tickled as a pup, you all did," Master Hand rested his finger atop Fox's shoulder.
"Well, I'm not a 'pup' now, guys. I am a , and more importantly, A Mercenary, and they aren't supposed to be ticklish!" Fox grumbled.
"Aha! So you do admit that you're ticklish!" Falco exclaimed.
Fox shot him his usual glare, but he knew there was no point in hiding it anymore. He just barely nodded.
"You may be a confident leader of your team, but you are also still young, so are your friends, Krystal, and Slippy. Besides, all regular beings have a weakness. There is no need for shame when that weakness is tickling," the Hand smiled.
"Well, no offense, Master, but we ain't "regular" beings," Fox said.
"Well, that is not able to prevent me from doing this!" Master hand sent a chain that pinned Fox to the floor just as Falco did and began tickling him with his index finger. The mercenary once again bursts into uncontrollable giggles. Master hand laughs along with him. The other three also laugh and join in with Master Hand in tickling the sensitive kitsune. They all loved making each other laugh, one of the many bounds that hold friendships together. Then, Fox shoots up and tackles the nearest person, Falxo. Soon the avian begins singing soundly and kicks his legs around.
"Let's see how you like it!" Fox laughed as he watched Falco shriek in laughter.
Wolf shook his head with a smile, unaware of what is happening behind him. Snake crept up from behind Wolf and the two began tickling each other, both laughing and gasping for air. Now it all seemed like some sort of game. The whole training room was filled with laughter.
Master Hand rose and went to leave. "You four may be great fighters, you may be strong mercenraies," he said to herself under the laughing, "but you still act like children." And with a smile, he left the room to work, his children's giggles still ringing in his ears.