Mac's Lost Cat

Mac's Lost Cat is the friendship between Little Mac and Incineroar from the Super Smash Bros. fandom.

Canon
Little Mac and Incineroar play fairly similarly, as they are practically unstoppable on the ground, but completely helpless in the air. Specifically their Up-Neutral moves tend to get compared a lot, which are notorious for not covering enough height to successfully save them from falling off stage.

Personality-wise, they have a number of similarities as they are both martial artists. However, Little Mac is a boxer while Incineroar is a wrestler.

In Incineroar's (and Ken's) reveal trailer, Incineroar supposedly watches as Ken knocks Little Mac out while in the Boxing Ring. Then deciding to enter the ring itself, Incineroar gives Ken a good beating.

Fanon
The basis of the ship started in a tumblr post by user "pajamazam". In it, Little Mac wonders why Incineroar is so affectionate towards him, calling it a "weird cat man". Samus then tells Mac that Incineroar is a Pokémon, already aware of what they are, having bonded with Pikachu in Brawl. She suspects that it thinks that Mac is it's trainer. Mac is confused, as he has never trained a cat, but there was a black-and-red cat that he used to take care of at the gym. Samus asks him if it was a Litten, to which Mac replies that he doesn't know. He tells her that the cat was very small and that it didn't start growing until Mac started taking care of it. Samus explains that that's exactly how Pokémon work, they evolve. She then lets him guess what Litten's final evolution is, to which Mac has an epiphany. Mac looks up to Incineroar, finally recognizing it. On the verge of tears, Mac calls it by the name he gave the Litten at the gym: "Jalapeño?"

The text post was later adapted into a comic by user "daily-incineroar" (who is known as "hammyartblog" on Twitter), who added the detail of Incineroar swishing it's tail back and forth excitedly after being recognized.

Smash fans loved the idea of the two of them becoming best friends after finding each other. It caused a number of text posts about them referencing other popular cat memes, as well as Incineroar causing problems for Mac by acting like a regular housecat despite it's size. A number of people speculate that the reason why Incineroar shows no mercy towards Ken in their reveal trailer is because of a protective instinct towards Mac. Some also depict them becoming sparring partners, Mac getting Incineroar to take up boxing and them patching each other up after a match. Some also joke that the reason why Incineroar has such poor recovery is Mac rubbing off on his Pokémon. Because of how wholesome the comic is, many people refuse to ship them romantically, out of fear of ruining it. There's a single platonic fic on AO3 about them, with no romantic fics.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

TUMBLR