The metaphoric dust had cleared on the Brawl battlefield. Winners were named, losers were shamed and all in all, everyone had their bouts but for one. The tournament had seen its share of fighters drop out, some right at the start, some battled until the very end but unfortunately jumped too low over the last hurdle and tripped. The home straight had begun. Two combatants were left.

One of these was the war-hardened combatant, David, otherwise known as 'Solid Snake'. He was issued to fight under the Colonels instructions, Colonel Campbell, whom he had served before a while back, but his fighting in the arena had caused him to lose track of his real objective and he participated just to become number one. He, of course, was supposed to do this anyway as a part of his mission, but now he was fuelled to win for his own personal gain. The thrill of competition can always do such a thing to those who want it. He had faced such interesting opponents, from little boys with psychic powers to giant, tie wearing gorillas, but each one fell at the mans strength, either be it from a single knockout punch to a more strategic and thought-out approach involving an array of weapons in his ever expanding arsenal. He always smirked at the idea of a Brawl with 'No Rules'. He had ploughed his way into the finals, and had worked hard, but it could all end in the Grand Final. He was against perhaps his toughest opponent yet, in and out of the event.

This opponent was trained practically all of their life to fight. She worked as a Bounty Hunter, practically for fun. From a galaxy far away from Snake's, she was raised by the Chozo to fight, and used the weapons bestowed upon her by the Chozo in her power suit to practically decimate anyone who faced her. But even when she is stripped of the suit, she can still skilfully attack with a combination of agility and strength channelled through her body in its purist form. She defiantly showed females everywhere how it's done, slicing clean through the female segment of the Brawl and taking out the most masculine competitors as well, including fellow Bounty Hunter 'Captain Falcon'.

They were still in the Smash Hotel outside of the stadium where they would showcase all their skills in a battle to win it all. Some participants were still in the Smash Hotel, as some didn't do it purely for winning, some did it for fun and friends, others just do it so they can beat the crap out of other people, but either way, all participants had a free stay in the Competitors suite. It was midnight; Snake was in his room, staring at the mirror. He looked deep into his eyes and around his face. He splashed some water on him to refresh him before bed. He took a deep breath, playing through his mind his previous fights, allotting the time it took to get where he was now. Also trying to erase all doubt in his mind that he could lose the fight. He finally sunk into a state of not caring as he walked slowly to his bed. He removed his shirt, throwing it aside, and sat on the bed. He kept his cargo pants on as he threw them on top of the sheet as he lay down with his thoughts. He wanted to speak to someone before the day of the fight, but didn't get chance too, and he couldn't call anyone of his acquaintances either. Otacon was most likely asleep, Campbell would be too busy and Snake hadn't heard from Mei Ling in a long time, so his Codec remained unused while he sat, looking at the darkness that surrounded his room, only a light searing through the slits between the door and the doorframe. He could hear his surroundings, his senses were still alert despite his fatigue, he could hear buzzing from outside from the lights, and passing vehicles of many varieties. He couldn't really pick out which was which, since being in such a weird place he didn't know whither it was car or spaceship. His mind slowly slipped out of consciousness, but was dragged back into it by a creak of his hotel door. It opened ajar and Snake could only make out a silhouette of a face.

'Hello?' emitted a feminine voice. Snake groaned a bit, he shuffled up his bed and rested his back against the end of his bed.

'Who is it?' was all Snake could think of asking.

'It's…' the feminine voice paused for a second; a silence filled the room before she continued. 'It's Samus.'

'Samus? What the hell are you doing here?' Snake groggily retaliated, trying to regain his awareness.

'I'm sorry if I bothered you.' She said, closing the door slowly.

'It's okay… honestly' Snake said, gaining a change of heart. 'What do you want from me? It's a bit strange to be talking to me; you're supposed to be my opponent for tomorrow.'

'I know. I don't know what possessed me either.' Samus stook a foot in Snake's room. 'May I come in?'

'Yeah, sure, make yourself at home, just don't do anything stupid.' Snake waved her in, turning on a light on his bedside table.

'Or what?' Samus said, still behind the door. Snake opened his drawer and got out a Socom pistol. He slid in a clip and loaded a bullet. Samus heard the sounds caused by this. 'Okay, you have my word.' She laughed silently at this. Just to note hear that Samus and Snake had never seen each other properly before, only from distances, from videos, promotions, ect. This was the first time they had met face to face. Samus's radiant blues met with the faded colours of Snakes eyes as they made eye contact. Samus was dressed in a tight fitting pale blue t-shirt and a pair of matching shorts which matched the casualness of Snake's camo cargo pants. Samus approached Snake barefoot across his floor, which was kept pretty clean compared to most. She stood before Snake, almost innocently as she gave him a simple smile. Snake let out a deep sigh but he couldn't stop from smiling impulsively.

'You can sit down if you want' he said, shuffling a side of his bed. Samus took the offer and at on the opposite side, legs to the side and looking at Snake. There was a long silence after that, but it wasn't really awkward to either of them. It was almost welcoming, despite the circumstance that both were near to complete strangers. The silence was broken by Snake.

'What made you come down here?' Snake asked. Samus shrugged.

'I guess I just wanted to see my opponent. I wasn't going to sabotage you or anything; I just wanted to scout my rival beforehand, I do it all the time, but normally they are asleep and I can just see them plain and clearly, you're the first one that's been awake at this time.' Samus admitted, but her mind constantly reminded her now that she had seen him, that was not all she wanted to do.

'And by 'scout' you mean…' Snake lead on.

'I got to know what to do if I am fighting, say, a giant blue penguin with an oversized mallet' Samus said, laughing to herself.

'How did you know about him?' Snake asked. Samus looked generally surprised at that comment. 'Never mind' Snake said, shaking his head, but smiling all the same.

'What made you enter this competition?' Samus asked Snake, trying to keep the conversation rolling.

'Just felt like doing it.' Snake said, knowing he had to keep the details of his mission secret.

'Is that all?' Samus asked.

'Yeah, how about you?'

'…just… never mind.' Samus said, looking away bashfully. Both of them were smiling despite the inelegance that followed. 'I guess I wanted to make some friends, talk to people, but to be honest they are either idiots, mental or too focused on fighting to care. I end up just fighting then exploring the nearby towns and such.'

'Doesn't help that some of these fighters aren't even human.' Snake mentioned as they shared a laugh.

'Not to mention the fact that all the men ogle me and ask me out on dates. It's getting both tiresome and it some cases, scary.' Samus said, suffering a mental flashback from when a fat, malodorous man called Wario attempted to ask her out.

'You seemed to easily waltz in to my room without question.' Snake mentioned.

'Well… you're different?' Samus said, attempting to find a reason.

'I always took that as a bad thing.' Snake said, he slid back down and lay on the bed; suddenly he started thinking about himself, about the Les Enfant Terrible project and about Foxdie. It veered to his personal life, how he was trained to be a fighting machine since birth, basically used as a military tool without experiencing friendship. How Otacon was his first technical friend, who was originally working for the bad guys. This took a moment of silence between the two before Snake thought out loud.

'I had no chance for any of that to happen. This is almost like a vacation for me...'

'What do you mean?' Samus asked, concerned.

'I've been trained and trained to be a fighting machine. I've only discovered real feelings of friendship recently. I've been living in a crazy world to begin with and I'm damn sure I'm going to be living in it a lot longer, but on my own.'

'Sounds familiar.' Samus said, remembering her past. 'My work is to fight, I do this tournament because it's a break from work, sure I still have to fight but it's for fun rather than for money. I'm a bounty hunter, I work for the highest bidder, I work so that I can rid the universe of space pirates…'

'Space pirates?' Snake interrupted, a bit aghast at the idea.

'Yes, space pirates… and this, in a way, is a vacation for me too.' Samus sighed. She collapsed on the bed next to Snake, lying down with her face looking up at the ceiling as Snake did the same thing.

'I don't know anything about you, but if you're truly like me, there is not much to know…' Snake said.

'You understand me better then anyone I know or ever knew.' Samus replied. Snake gave a light laugh.

'I guess we can just forget about our fight for one night, and be friends' Snake smiled.

'I already forgot' Samus gave a hearty laugh, Snake joined in as Samus rolled onto her side.

'Wow…' Snake blurted.

'Wow what?' Samus replied.

'N-nothing… I just got a head rush, that's all.' Snake said, placing his hand on his forehead, then down to his chest.

'That's not your head' Samus said, smiling, almost grinning like a Cheshire cat. 'That's your heart…'

'I guess I just need some sleep.' Snake said. He made eye contact with her once again. 'Do you want to stay here?'

'Only if you don't mind' Samus said, still baring that grin.

'I don't mind, it'll be nice to have company' Snake said, pulling the covers over both of them. Snake rolled onto his side facing Samus. ''night Samus, sleep well'. Snake attempted to roll back over before he felt the soft grip of Samus's fingers rotate his head slowly back to hers.

'I didn't have sleeping in mind.' She said, closing her eyes and slowly moving towards Snake. She locked her lips with his. Snake's eyes shot open with surprise, but then slowly relaxed in a state of pleasure as they both embraced beneath the sheets. Samus used a free hand to cover the two in their embrace. They shared a spontaneous love for now, but tomorrow they faced as bitter enemies. The complications didn't hit either of them, but it has to happen. Tomorrow is another story.

End of Part 1.