Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this fan fiction. Mega Man belongs to Capcom, Solid Snake belongs to Konami, and all the others featured here belong to Nintendo and HAL Labs. Also, I don't own Capcom, Konami, Nintendo, or HAL. This story was created solely for entertainment purposes.

"Watch out!" Samus screamed.

Meta Knight barely dodged the purple blur that rushed right through the stage. He turned around to see Ridley, the infamous, giant, fire-breathing dragon, fluttering on the other side. Meta Knight approached Samus and they both stared up at Ridley. He was going to thank her for the warning, but she spoke first.

"I bet he's now gonna roar." Samus said. "Yeah, he did."

Ridley's roar pierced through Meta Knight's ears into his heart, slicing through like a sword. The following headache and earache that ensued were unbearable. He could have sworn that the echoes would be heard all throughout Subspace for centuries, but, at least, they lingered in his ears. Meta Knight grimaced and shook his head in pain.

Ridley flapped his wings, pushing Meta Knight and Samus back, but the two held their ground. The latter realized that they were slacking, and so, she decided to take action herself. As soon as Ridley stopped flapping, she ran towards him, jumped, and shot at the dragon with her Arm Cannon. Meta Knight, getting the clue, followed her by teleporting himself towards Ridley and slashing him with Galaxia.

Ridley shot himself upward, disappearing from Meta Knight's sight. He looked at Samus, the expert on the topic of Ridley, for an explanation, but she blankly stared at the horizon as if expecting something to happen. Meta Knight was about to speak when Ridley appeared on the distance and flew towards them at high speed.

Meta Knight gasped and stepped back. At the top of his head, he couldn't think of a way to avoid Ridley's seemingly random pattern of flight.

"Meta Knight! Jump!" Samus ordered.

That's how Meta Knight ended up being killed for the fourth time.

When Master Hand brought him back to reality, Meta Knight found himself back in the Research Facility, laying on the floor. Samus, who was sitting next to him, helped him sit up.

"Maybe, you should stop dying already." Samus said.

"Well, maybe you should stop complaining." Meta Knight growled. "And also, you should keep fighting after I die and not die with me. That's plain stupid."

Samus began snickering as a child. Meta Knight was embarrassed that he had taken the comment seriously and began laughing with her.

"It's okay, I don't blame you. I've battled Ridley countless of times before, even once with Pikachu just hours ago. I can almost read his mind. Also, I should've warned you about his next attack earlier." Samus said. "But, being honest, you seemed a little faded out in that battle. As if daydreaming."

He sighed. "I can't stop thinking about what you told me earlier. About your family." Meta Knight said. "It must have been hard to have your planet wiped out by some loud, gigantic, purple lunatic."

Samus gave a weak smile. "Yes, but I try not to get stuck on the past." She hesitated, averting her sight. Then she looked back at Meta Knight. "Maybe I shouldn't have told you about it. Then you'd be more prepared for battling him. … Are you intimidated by him?"

"No! Not at all!" Meta Knight snapped, standing up. Samus was back at treating him like a baby, as she had done for most of the duration of the Great Maze. "I've fought worse battles than this alone and won! Are you implying that I can't deal with Ridley just because I'm small and cuddly and he's huge and terrifying?"

Samus shrugged. "Sure. Perhaps you're too-"

"NO, I'm not!" Meta Knight said, frowning. He didn't want to break into a fight. Not now and not against Samus, so he aimed to change the topic. "Look, let's be practical. We've died four times to Ridley and we still have got a lot of fights ahead of us. What if we negotiate with him?"

"Negotiate with Ridley?" Samus let out a stifled chuckle, which then became a guffaw. "Is that how you do things in your home planet? What has gotten into you? Negotiate with Ridley… What? Do you want to bribe him with my life?" She dropped her smile and became deadly serious. She pointed towards the door that concealed Ridley. "That monster survives off my blood. Human blood. He destroys planets for fun. He wipes out all of the populace. I… I once tried to negotiate with him and the result was a disaster. You know that. And… And it feels like, after I opened up to you about my past with Ridley, you are simply mocking me."

Samus stood up and stretched herself out. "Like those who want Ridley to be a Smasher. You should just pick another fighting companion if that's what you think. Let's see who are you going to ask when you have a question about Ridley."

Meta Knight squinted at Samus, deeply offended by her outrageous assumptions, and huffed. "I don't NEED you anyways! I could defeat Ridley ALL on my own if I wanted!"

"Sure." Samus crossed her arms and turned her back towards him. "Being as fluffy and cuddly as you are, I don't doubt it. Oh, and also, size might be a problem."

Samus walked away without glancing back. Meta Knight let out a long growl, which then became a scream of rage. He pressed his fists tightly. Then, unconsciously or not, he sliced a few nearby Primids in half to let out his anger on someone.

"SIZE IS NEVER A PROBLEM TO ME!" Meta Knight yelled across the empty Research Facility, producing a metallic echo that resonated for a few minutes. "I'll vanquish that STUPID RIDLEY forever so that I'll never have to see his STUPID FACE EVER AGAIN!"

He breathed rapidly and heavily, fuming at Samus's hurtful comments. The only answer he got was his own undecipherable echo coming back at him. He frowned, sighed, and dropped himself on the cold floor, when a female voice came from the depths of the Facility:

"Oh, just wait for Mecha Ridley and Meta Ridley and Omega Ridley and whatever comes next!"

"WHAT?!"

A/N: Hi! I'm Denizen of Dreamland and I want to thank you for reading the first fan fiction I've uploaded to this site. I greatly appreciate it! Feel free to leave a review and constructive criticism if you'd like. I'm still getting the hang of things around here, but in case you're interested in reading the rest of the story, I'll be uploading one chapter every week. So, again, thanks for reading!

Edit: Added disclaimer.