"You are such an ego maniacal, inconsiderate, insufferable git!" Zelda hissed at the blue haired man standing in front of her, arms crossed. His face held a calm emotion, eyes just plainly riveted on the brunette headed princess.
"You should have waited for me to step aside before you spontaneously lit up that Blast Box!" Zelda kept on yelling at Ike. They were both in Black Box 2, one of the rooms for the Smashers to wait in right before a Brawl. They both had just come from the stage, which had been transformed to the Pokémon Stadium for their Two-on-Two 7-stock battle against King Dedede and Ness.
The two could hear the crowd's cheers through the glass window of the room; they were eager to see the next match between Samus and Meta Knight.
Ike's and Zelda's battle had ended in a sudden death round with Kind Dedede, Zelda and Ike. While she had King Dedede in a grab, a Blast Box had appeared right above them on one of the smaller, upper platforms. Ike had taken the golden opportunity, and picked up a Fire Flower sitting in the middle of the stage and lit up the Blast Box from a distance. In a flash, the box exploded, sending King Dedede and Zelda flying up into the air- both KO'ed.
With Ike the last one in play, they had taken the win. But nonetheless, Zelda was furious. Right before the Brawl, they both had "agreed" work as a team…more or less.
"I don't understand why you're getting your underwear in a twist, Princess," Ike glared at her, his headband making is glower even darker, "We won. Isn't that what matters? On your record, it's a victory."
"It may be a victory, but that last fall counts against my record. And if you ask me, I'd like my record to be nice and clean of any uneccessary falls caused by inadequate partners," Zelda retorted. Oh how this blue haired man bugged her to no end. Ike only scoffed in response as he made his way out of the Black Box. "Whatever."
Oh how she hated how he could always ignore her, but she couldn't, in any way, ignore him. She hated how he thought he was better than everyone else, how he finds her a weak, unreliable princess and how he just discarded of her like a child's old play thing.
This was how it had always been. Ever since he had come to the Smash Mansion to join the Brawl, he had been far from being civilized to anyone, especially Zelda. She had become Ike's target for hurtful words and ludicrous ridicule.
"Now just you wait-!" Zelda yelled after him. She was not about to let Ike leave with him having the last word.
"Give it a rest, Princess," Ike said flatly, glaring at her over his shoulder. Zelda hated the way he called her Princess like it was an annoying nick name rather than recognition of appraisal.
"If you allow something as insignificant as this to get to your big ego, then you won't even hope to look like half the 'princess' you think you are in my eyes," Ike was facing her now, hand on the hilt of his sword belted to his waste, "And if you ask me, all you are to me is a temperamental, powerless princess that doesn't know when To. Shut. Her. Mouth." With the last few words, he had taken steps towards her bringing him so close that he glowered over her.
Zelda was speechless for a moment as she just stared up at Ike, flabbergasted at what he had just said to her. Then it all came back and his words slapped her across the face.
"Y-YOU-!" she stammered angrily and, without thinking, she had blasted the man in front of her with a Din's Fire spell sending him flying across the Black Box and hitting his back against the sliding doors. He stared at her in surprise.
Ike regained his composure on the ground and glowered at Zelda while reaching for his sword. "You asked for this, Princess," he gritted his teeth. Ike charged at her with great speed, side tackling her thin frame with his strong shoulder. Zelda felt the wind being knocked out of her, everything around starting to fizz. Her body flew to the other side of the Black Box and crashed out of the glass window that looked into the stadium.
The crash knocked her out and now she was freefalling from a huge height. He could hear the crowd gasp from the outside.
"Shit!" Ike cursed in panic as he rushed to the broken window. He looked out in time to see Meta Knight fly with swift ease out to where Zelda was falling. He caught her with one arm and flew back to the stadium. Their match was quickly stopped when Meta Knight and Samus saw Zelda flying out the window. Dr. Mario and his crew of goombas jumped into the scene with a stretcher strapped to their small bodies.
Ike spectated as Dr. Mario and his goombas quickly took Zelda off the stage and out of site. Meta Knight's and Samus's battle resumed.
"Oh man," Ike scratched his head, heading out of the Black Box, "Am I in trouble."
xOxIxOx
Zelda's head was aching. She squirmed in what felt like a soft bed. 'Wh-where am I?' she thought. She could hear small murmurs. "Oh look! She's moving!" "Oh dear, I hope she's alright." "Pikaaa!" "Whew, good. I thought she was dying. OW! Peach, what was that for?"
Her eyes fluttered open, a bright light blinding her eyes. She slowly sat up and fully opened her eyes. She was met with the faces of Pikachu, Peach, Samus, and Marth inches right in front of hers.
"Pika!" Pikachu exclaimed, jumping on Zelda and hugging her tight.
"EY, ehyou guys needa to give the ehprincess someah space!" Dr. Mario exclaimed, waving off Zelda's fellow smashers away from her face. Peach ignored him and stayed as the others fell back. "Zelda, honey, dear, how are you feeling?" she asked in a worried tone. Zelda's head throbbed.
"I'm fine," she said, rubbing her temples which she felt were in bandages, "I just have this massive headache."
"Well, I wouldn't blame you, Dear," Peach giggled sadly, "You crashed through a glass window and fell seven stories." That's when everything came back to Zelda. How Ike insulted her, how she had conjured a Din's Fire spell on him, how he counterattacked with a tackle and how she crashed through the window. But Link cut her racing thoughts short, barging in and panting like he had been running a marathon.
"ZELDA! Are you alright!" he raced to the side of her bed and took her hand. He looked like he just had come from training, wearing his practice uniform and sweating.
"I just heard, even though it was a few hours ago. But the news couldn't reach me as fast as it should have since I was training in the woods and-" Zelda cut him off, "Link, it's fine. I'm quite fine. No need to worry."
"That damn Ike," Samus cursed, "I swear, if I ever get assigned a Brawl with him, I'll rip of his cape, stuff it in his mouth, get his sword and stick that up his-" "Samus," Marth quickly said, cutting off the bounty hunter. "Sorry."
"I never thought Ike would do such a thing," Link said, not taking his worried eyes off of Zelda. "Oh you have no idea," Zelda murmured under her breathe. At that same moment, Ness barged through the tall doors of the hospital wing.
"Princess Zelda!" he skipped to her hospital bed, "Master Hand wants you in the Office, right now."
"No! Not until she'sah completely healed! Tell theah ehMaster-" Dr. Mario intervened. Zelda slowly and gracefully got out of her bed letting go of Link's hand. "It's quite alright, Doctor. I'll be fine. I will see you all later at dinner." She bid a small farewell to her still-worried friends and followed Ness down to the entrance to the Office, the domain of the Master Hand.
Zelda swiftly entered the large double doors, Ness struggling to close them behind her. The Office was a rather dark place; much like the subspace they had entered in order to defeat Tabuu a while back. The Master Hand had adapted to the darkness and rather liked it and decided to make his domain as so.
In a distance, she could see a lingering light, shining over an intricate carved car desk with the Master Hand behind it. It was ridiculous, Zelda secretly thought, that the Master Hand even had a desk, since he was merely a giant hand ascended in the air.
In front of it sat two grand chairs, intricately carved as the desk. Sitting atop one of these, Zelda silently cursed under her breath as she made her way towards them, was Ike.
"Zelda," the Master Hand's voice boomed. She had always wondered where it came from, "Pleased that you were able to make it. Are you alright? Please…take a seat next to Ike." Zelda moved the chair farther away from Ike before sitting down. Ike glared at her from the corner of his eye. Zelda paid no attention.
"I'm fine, Master Hand," she said, answering his question.
"Good," the Master Hand continued, "I am fully aware of what happened just a few hours ago right after your match and I'm saddened to say that I am disappointed in you both." Zelda mentally groaned, it was one thing to anger the Master Hand, but if there's one thing that's worse than making him mad, it was receiving one of his lectures. And by goddesses, they were getting one now.
"Here at the Smash Mansion, I expect respect amongst you Smashers, for yourselves and your fellow peers. And today, that was not what I heard of. You both know that I greatly discourage brawls outside the stage and training; but to assault each other just due to petty words? Those actions of yours deserve a consequence, not only for you, Ike, whom sent Princess Zelda flying at the window..."
Goddess, Zelda was already tired of it. She was not used to be lectured. Even as a child she was not lectured. She was more of the one who gave the lectures, even to this day. But why is she also taking the punishment? It wasn't she who had whipped out the hostile whip and told her off. She wasn't the one who was the insufferable moron who thought that he was far more superior than anyone else.
The Master Hand was known to give cruel and unusual punishments; taken from Sonic and Diddy Kong who were always taken in for their obvious pranks. Zelda's own thoughts dragged on for so long that she barely heard the Master Hand's last bit.
"…As punishment, both of you are going to be spending a whole week together to rid of your differences and, I dare say, grudges against each other. You will be assigned the same dorm, spend time to know each other and everyday, you will be given a small task that will involve working together. After your week is over, I expect you to be decent, if not good, friends. If not…well, I'll be pulling you two out of the next tournament. Understood?"
Zelda could not believe what she was hearing. And the Master Hand had just said it with ease, like it was just another insignificant problem he had to deal with. She glanced at Ike. He was sitting straight up, feet firmly planted on the floor, arms crossed tightly with an angry glower on his face. But he was speechless.
Zelda looked back up at the Master Hand, "But, but Master, why not just assign us an ordinary punishment? Why go and set all this up just for a mere quarrel? Surely, you're not serious."
"Oh, I'm quite serious, Princess Zelda," the Master Hand boomed, "If it's one thing that bothers me most, is petty, unnecessary quarrel. I want both of you to stop this foolishness. Now, off you go, pack your things. I'll send for you at noon tomorrow. It will be your first day."
Zelda got up without hesitation with Ike right on her heels. The double doors opened by themselves and, as soon as both were out, shut themselves closed, locked.
Zelda furiously turned around about to yell a very colorful remark at him, but was muffled by his red cloak wrapped around his neck. She looked up and was inches away from his emotionless face. Zelda let out a tiny yelped and pushed herself away. She felt his strong abdomen under his blue shirt.
"Get out of my sight, Ike," Zelda hissed. Ike merely smirked, "You were the one who turned around and was about to say something." She glared at him with the fury of a thousand suns, "You ought to know that this is all your fault, you cretin!"
"And who was the one who assaulted first?" Ike glared back. He grabbed Zelda's wrist and roughly pulled her against him, much to Zelda's surprise. He was physically stronger than her.
"Look, Princess," he said in a low, even voice, his face mere inches from hers, "I don't know about you, but I'd like to participate in the next tournament. Right now, we're both off the chances of winning, much less entering that. So, if this is what puts us back on the radar, then I'm all for it… even if it means spending a whole week with you. Get it?"
Zelda just stared at him, but calm. She leaned in closer, their foreheads lightly touching. She glared at him; Ike saw the fire in her eyes.
"Only if you behave," she forcibly wrenched her wrist from his tight grip, gave him one last second of a glare, turned around and power walked swiftly away and out of sight.
Ike smirked and looked at the spot the Princess had stood a few seconds before, "Women."