Hello, readers! For those of you who don't know me (which, seeing that I've been away from writing fics for a very long time, wouldn't be a surprise), I'm TheWordMasterofFiction. I used to publish in the SSB section quite a lot, starting with my first multichaptered fic Stars of Destiny, up until my last huge/most successful fic, the thriller Smashed Minds. Then, at the beginning of this year...well, I'll chalk it up to a combination of personal events, applying to college, and just a lack of ideas I wanted to dig into, but I stopped writing for a long while. I wanted to get back into writing fanfics, but I just couldn't get the energy to do so.

Until late June, that is, when after finishing the series Cowboy Bebop, I had an idea. And, with the release of two SSB titles, I figured it was time to bring this idea to light.

So I'm declaring this to be my last fic. There's a chance I'll take that declaration back if I come up with an idea, or some collabs or gift fics finally materialize, but for the time being, this is the last fanfiction I'm going to write for SSB, or any other category. It's a science-fiction series, inspired by great scifi shows and movies like Firefly, Star Wars, and Cowboy Bebop- a genre I haven't seen a lot of in this section. It's not serious like Smashed Minds was, nor is it as silly as Stars of Destiny- I'd say it's a bit of both, with action, adventure, and some mystery as well.

Terribly sorry for the excessive AN, but after ten months of being off the grid, you've got to say something. Anyways, please enjoy Ascendance, and the fact that I own none of these characters (Nintendo, Kojima, and others do).

Chapter One: Sheik

The acrid smell of the city weaved its way through the thin fabric of Sheik's mask, and he loved and loathed the way his nose wrinkled at its presence. So much was buried in between those wafting contrails, so much history that stretched far beyond the street corner he occupied- there were fragrances traded spices and far off worlds, the stink of the streets and the waste that costed the slums, mixed in with the sharp tang of spaceship gasoline and coated over with the hair-raising scent of ozone. Sheik had never experienced such a combination, but that was the magic of the Hub: it lured you in with mystery, then ensnared you in a swirling mass of visitors and strangers all crammed onto one singular planet with one singular city. Luckily for him, he had other plans than to stay and wallow in this filth, however tempting the surroundings appeared to be.

Sheik took a shallow breath, feeling sweat roll down the back of his neck to an unreachable spot as he peered cautiously around the corner. No person stood out to him amidst the haggling masses of the trading market, allowing him a moment of calm that slowed the heartbeat pounding in his ears. He couldn't hide for long- there had to be a way off the Hub, legal or not. Time wasn't much of an asset here, but space...Sheik glanced up at the stars above, barely visible through the smog and dust, but still out there freely shining. That was where his destiny was, amid the silence and quiet of space, free from scrutiny and-

"Hey! You there!"

A yell, a flash of green and the sight of a familiar insignia; it was all Sheik caught out of the corner of his eye, and it was all he needed to take off. The roar of engines overhead, as a large ship came in for a landing near the docking station, drowned out the calls of the men following him but sadly did nothing to increase the distance between him and themselves. He dashed, rushing past startled traders and weaving in between items strange and familiar, searching frantically for something, anything, that could help him break from the chase. The marketplace faded behind him as he raced into the darker and older slums of the Hub, with the pounding footsteps still on his tail. He could fight them, instead of run away. That thought had crossed his mind when he had first landed on this strange planet two days ago. It would buy him time...that is, if he won against them. The Hylian Guard were efficient units, and if their commander was involved in this operation (which he most likely was), Sheik was better off running.

Wait! Ahead- a door!

The entrance to a bar caught his eye suddenly, and he veered off into the alleyway leading towards it and inside its dark embrace. The door shut hard behind him, cutting off the startled "Hey!" of whoever was following him and thrusting Sheik into a mass of bodies and noise yet again. Apparently, this was a popular place to drink, as the singular wood room was stuffed with travelers and locals of every variety and type, with most cramming the bar that took up an entire wall. For a moment, he was taken aback at the sheer amount of diversity: never had he seen so many races so unlike his own, laughing and yelling and seemingly getting along. Then, he noted that many of them carried large weapons proudly displayed on belts and chests, and he spotted the shady looks cast in all directions...he would have to be careful.

Sheik made his way to the bar, catching the eyes of the bartender: a tall human male (or so he could tell from a quick look) with a dark mustache and a oval, baby like face. The bartender regarded him with a look of suspicion as he took a seat on an old, rickety stool. "Either you just ran in here because you really wanted a drink, or you've brought some trouble with you...and if it's the latter, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

It took Sheik a moment to catch his breath, and then ask in a deep, hoarse voice, "If I buy a drink, will I still be causing trouble?"

The response seemed to amuse the bartender, as his mustache raised in a slight smirk. "You'd be causing me business, which is good enough. Tell me, what can I get you?"

"Just a water for now, thanks."

"Water? Well, so long as you have the credit to pay for it." Business was business, the type apparently not much of a matter. "We don't get many Sheikah around the Hub anymore, you know. You fresh off the boat from Hyrule?"

The barman slid the glass of water down the bar, which Sheik caught nimbly and raised to his mouth to partake from. "Mm."

Taking this as a sign of agreement, the barman kept talking, his voice somewhat muffled amid the din of his patrons. "So then you were there when-"

Somehow, the sound of the door to the bar opening rang out, as the yells and talk before quieted to a soft, confused mumble. Sheik didn't have to turn around to know that his pursuers had found him at last. His fingers gripped the smudged glass as he tensed, hand shaking with anticipation for the inevitable words...

"Move sir, you're in our way."

Those were not the words he expected to hear. Confused, Sheik turned to look over his shoulder, only to find his vision blocked by something enormous and...pink?

"I said move!" A voice came from the other side of the blocking blob. "You are interrupting our search, which is a punishable offense under Hylian law!"

A sonorous voice answered the command. "Poyo."

"What?"

"Poyo." The glasses on the bar rattled at the stranger's timbre, bringing all conversation to a halt inside the establishment.

The bartender nervously twisted a finger around his mustache as he coughed softly. "He says that he would move, if you were not standing on his foot." His eyes alighted on Sheik with a suspecting glance, making the Sheikah pray fervently in his mind to any and every goddess or god he could think of. The last thing he needed was to be apprehended here, in front of all these watchful eyes.

A grim laugh answered the bartender's translation. "I'm afraid we don't have time for apologies." Sheik couldn't spy the officer's face, but he could only imagine the restrained anger that must have surfaced in the man. "Our captain demands that we carry out our mission on any planet we can, using any means necessary. The Brothers Corporation had already approved us to be on the Hub within our own jurisdiction, and our rules say nothing about using force on scum such as yourselves. Now, if you'll excuse us, we're going to search this place from top to bottom until we track down-"

Crunch!

Without warning, a massive pink fist was suddenly planted into the officer's face, bringing out a scream from the officer and a roar from the pink being. At that point, all hell broke loose- the patrons surged forward as a mass against the group of officers, wrestling them to the ground against the cacophony of smashing glass and breaking wood. Sheik ducked as a glass was thrown his way in the confusion, whipping his head to the side to avoid it as it smashed into the back of the bar and shattered instantly from impact. "Dear Hylia," he hissed through a clenched jaw, "as if things can't get any worse."

"Oi!" The bartender was failing to control the escalating situation, his voice unable to be heard amid the erupting yells and cries. Realizing he wouldn't be able to stop anyone any time soon, he directed his attention to Sheik once more to yell, "There's a door in the back that leads outside. Something tells me that you want to split from here, so I'd get going if I were you!"

Why is he helping me? Sheik didn't have any time to question the bartender's advice, but nodded that he had understood and began to quickly race to the back. The door was right in front of him, wooden and stained and slightly ajar, and Sheik busted through out into sunlight and a small alleyway littered with garbage composters and fluttering paper. He wanted to run at that moment, wanted nothing more than to take off and distance himself from the soldiers, but his body protested this idea. Instead, he felt suddenly light-headed, deciding the current course of action was to slow his breathing and rapidly beating heart...

"Poyo."

That deep voice rang out through the alley, like thunder that arrived after the force of lightning, and Sheik let out a long, heavy breath to ask aloud "You're the one who stood up to the soldiers in there, aren't you?" No answer followed. Trying a different approach, Sheik turned to look at the being behind him, and immediately found himself surprised. Whatever it was, it was very rotund, and quite tall- he had to crane his neck to gaze at the black eyes the thing regarded him with, eyes tinged with the coming blue of a promised morning. It was a bright pink color, almost unnaturally pink, with no obvious nose in its fully round face, or ears to be seen on its rosy, round body. Its arms were basically stubs, lacking fingers on the ends...in fact, the only thing he could see on it were shoes on what he imagined were its feet. It didn't seem like something that could take on a group of soldiers, let alone himself. So why had it attacked the soldiers in the first place?

The being regarded him with a tilt of its head, and gently rumbled, "Poyo?"

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't understand your language," Sheik admitted, before he suddenly became aware of the sounds of fighting still echoing from the bar behind the thing. "I'm grateful you were able to allow me to get out of there, but I think it best to leave this place now before those men come back."

The being nodded once, and began a lumbering walk out of the alleyway as the Sheikah followed behind it, leaving the sounds of the brawl to fade away and be replaced by the hum of conversation that surrounded the Hub. Within a few minutes they found themselves back in the central marketplace, where Sheik had arrived earlier and hidden from the guards that were still dealing with things back in the bar.

The Hub had not always been the Hub- long ago, some said that it had been an outpost of an ancient civilization that had flown the stars and ruled the desert landscape with a fair and just hand. Whatever evidence of that idea, however, was not to be found any longer, as the Hub had been transformed from outpost oasis into the biggest trading port in the galaxy. Huge skyscrapers painted in silver reached for the smoggy dust-filled skies, and what little light shown through bathed everything in a sepia-toned twilight. Sheik could see the miles of tents and buildings both big and small that stretched out in front of him, all a mass of chaos and color and darkness and light rolled into a singular body of life. Walking along, he spotted creatures he had never seen before haggling at stalls or running in and out of buildings as if their very lives depended on their speed. Bits and pieces of foreign languages floated around him, but soon the roar of an engine drowned them all out as a long, bronze spaceship began its descent overhead. He looked up at it through the film of his mask, the sound making his ears ache, and for a moment, he felt too far from the home he had once known.

"Poyo, poyo poyo." His companion pointed in the direction in which the ship had headed, where Sheik presumed the shipyard was, and began to lumber down the dusty road with the Sheikah at his voices of the market faded into the drone of engines and hum of warp jets, spread out over the main terminal that was the central gateway for the entire Hub. The terminal was incredibly large, reaching for the sky like a massive tent that tapered to a thin point to puncture the sky above. Ships of various colors and sizes flew in and out, one actually blasting off as Sheik walked along and watched it roar off into the was situated on the side of a large canyon, with metal walkways suspended above the gaps for the ships to lock onto and for its passengers to maneuver around. Flags flew at some of the port areas, indicating that the zone belonged to a country's trading and travel vessels. Much to Sheik's surprise, none of the flags held the familiar insignia of the Hylian Crest.

The two walked on into the terminal, past the rows of ticket counters chugging out passes to faraway lands and passengers eagerly waiting for their journey to begin, and into the area of the docking station meant for crews and their ships. The ceiling stretched high above their heads to accommodate the sheer size of the space yachts, mean to carry thousands of passengers in and out of galaxies at the speed of light. Other shipping vessels gleamed under the care of their owners, who were polishing and repairing their metallic exteriors with precision, albeit with a couple of curse words thrown in. Sheik's makeshift guide passed all these ships by without a second glance to travel further back into the terminal, ignoring the bark of languages that crackled over the loudspeakers above his towering head.

"Are there always this many ships here?" Sheik asked in wonderment, his senses struggling to take in the bountiful splendor before him.

"Poyo," the being said, which Sheik interpreted to mean 'yes.'

Suddenly, the pink thing stopped at one of the docks, nearly causing its follower to crash into it. They had come to rest in front of a medium-sized vessel made of some sort of silver-gray metal, which seemed to ripple under the undulating light from the outside. The body was long and wide, but aerodynamic enough that it sharpened to a point at both the front and back, and stood horizontally on four support legs. Sheik estimated it to be at least a hundred yards in length, maybe a little less, and about twenty feet high- a good size for a ship with a small cargo, or a small crew. Across its bow, words were printed in a fiery white script that burned brightly against the backdrop of the hull. It took him a second to comprehend what it meant, since the words were written in the Basic tongue of most galaxies, and not the Hylian dialects he was familiar with.

"Rosetta..." Sheik murmured to himself, letting the foreign word roll across his tongue. "That's a beautiful name."

"You're absolute garbage, you know!"

There came a crash from inside the ship at this loud exclamation, as the hull suddenly opened with a hiss to create a ramp to the ground. From it descended a very angry-looking young man, with fiery red hair and piercing beady eyes. His clothing was pristine, if not a bit rumpled, and he held his head in a way that indicated he was of a higher class than most, although at the moment his anger put him on the same plane as any other person.

A gruff voice answered from within the Rosetta, "If you don't pay, you can't ride. I thought I explained this to you when we left your home planet."

"I would have paid you the rest once we had arrived at our destination-!"

"No, I know your type: you pay what you can, and then you skip out as soon as you're able to. Well, if you're only going to pay me halfway, then I'm only going to take you halfway." A canvas bag went flying from out of the ship, which the man nimbly caught. "Don't even try to come back in here," the voice continued, as the young man angrily stomped away, cursing under his breath and ignoring Sheik and the being.

After a moment, a human male stepped outside and moved to lean against the hull, an already lit cigarette in one hand. Taking a drag from it, he brew out smoke that circled around his shaggy brown hair and obscured his eyes, while with his free hand he smoothed out a wrinkle from his long-sleeved gray shirt and dusted off a black coat that went down to his ankles. He appeared tired to Sheik, but yet coiled like a spring, having pent up energy inside that rivaled the force of a angered star. From the conversation he had overheard, he could only surmise that this was the captain of the ship Rosetta.

The man was engrossed in his smoke, until the pink being let out a "Poyo" that echoed through the sound of drills and engines, making him take notice. "Well, looks like you're on time," he grumbled in a deep, hoarse voice as the being approached him. "Did you get into any fights, Kirby? You know we can't afford more fines now, especially since our last piece of baggage barely paid us half."

"Poyo! Poyo poyo."

"What the ex do you mean by 'you found another rider'?" The man peered around the lump to glare at Sheik. "Hey, you. Did he get you into some trouble of his?"

"Poyo!" The being, which was apparently named Kirby, spoke up in an offended tone before Sheik could answer.

"You got him out of trouble? At the Mario's place- first off, why were you even there? Wait, I don't want to know...the real question is, why did you feel the need to punch a member of the Hylian Guard in the face?!"

"Poyo!"

"Wonderful idea. Yes, go start a fight with the Hylian Guard, you won't look conspicuous considering you're a giant walking pink blob." The captain turned back to Sheik, waving his cigarette around as he spoke. "Look, I'm sorry he led you all this way, but Kirby here doesn't think things through completely." Ignoring the offended look given by Kirby, he continued, "If you're wanted by some sort of group, you'll have to leave. Last thing I want is trouble with the Guard, or the Brothers Corporation for that matter. Have a nice day."

Sheik watched as the man and Kirby began to head back inside their ship, before calling out, "Wait!" They both turned, and he quickly said, "I'm not sure why the Guard wanted me, but I won't bring you any trouble! I can work on your ship if you want me to, or pay you to let me stay! All I need is just a planet to get to besides the Hub- you can drop me off somewhere if you want to, and I won't make a fuss! I swear it!"

The man seemed to hesitate, as if mulling over the offer piece by piece. Then, he moved towards Sheik, coming to stare at him face to face and ask in a low voice, "How much money are you willing to pay?"

"As much as I have," Sheik said, "and I'll work to cover my debt if I don't have enough that you require."

Both were silent. Then, the captain turned and laughed with a slow, amused chuckle. "Well kid, you're certainly desperate to leave this exhole. I didn't know things were so bad for the Sheikah- heck, I thought your kind died out a long time ago!"

"Unfortunately, I'm still alive."

"Well, unfortunately for you, but fortunate for me. I'll need your payment now, if you don't mind." Sheik pulled out a small burlap bag from his traditional Sheikah wrappings, feeling as if the eye emblazoned on his chest was watching the loss of all the Rupees he possessed. The captain opened it, poured out a handful of Rupees, then handed the sack back to him. "You've got plenty. Keep some of the extra for when you want to go sightseeing somewhere...like the rest of my crew." The captain flicked his cigarette away and stuck out his hand. "Call me Snake. I'm the captain here- what I say goes."

"My name is Sheik."

"Sheik the Sheikah? That's pretty ironic, don't you think?"

"No."

"Alright then, don't get your wrappings in a twist." The two shook hands, then walked to join Kirby at the foot of the ramp as Snake continued with "I guess you didn't bring any belongings. Must have been in a hurry to leave Hyrule, eh? Can't blame you- ever since their leader shut down all trade and communications on the planet a month ago, no one's been keen to go there. Anyways, let's get inside- I'll show you around the Rosetta until the rest of my crew comes back, and we take off."

Sheik, hardly believing the way his luck had turned, sent a silent prayer of thanks to the goddesses and gods for watching over him. Finally, he was getting off this planet and back into the freedom of space- but to where? He hadn't an idea, but he'd find a way so long as he kept running from the Guard.

Or, however, until the captain and his crew found out why he was running in the first place.

I'm not sure how the updating for this is going to go. College is pretty strange in regards to free time- you'll have weeks with no homework, and then weeks with tons of homework. Not to mention I've made the mistake of putting this up before finals...but it will update. In a timely fashion...no, but there will be updates when I can sit down and write them.

Moving on, Sheik's got some mysteries right off the bat, and there seems to be some strange happenings in Hyrule. Wonder what's up with that...

On a quick side note, in the Ascendance universe all the characters come from planets representing their worlds (Mushroom Kingdom/Mario Universe is part of one planet, Animal Crossing universe is another planet, etc.). People can travel to and from these worlds with spaceships, just like in most science fiction worlds. More of the mechanics will be explained later on (in case anyone's confused) as the story progresses, but I'm attempting to create my first real original fictional universe here, and I'm crossing my fingers that it turns out alright.

Feel free to leave a review (I love reviews), or follow and/or favorite this fic. I'll see you all again next update, but until then, read on!