"Arrrhgh!" Another blow directs toward my shoulder with humongous impact and I slide back against the linear platform. Palutena does not waste another second and uses her wings to bat away at my body sending me flying backwards off the edge of Hyrule Temple.

"Hugh," I groan and as a new bruise begins to formulate across my thigh, and fall down below beneath the cracks to the last center platform and immediately stand, regaining my posture.

I can't let her win, I remind myself. She has one more life left and I have three, so I obviously have the upper hand. Although my damage is excessively high, I can't renew myself without thoroughly finishing her off. She is at 126% damage, 14% more of what I have on myself.

I hear her taunting me from above. My eyebrows narrow and a sly smirk eases its way onto my lips.

Without being seen I jump onto the next platform of tree bark and smoothly slide up the edge of the cliff. She still doesn't see me.

"S-a-am? Where are you?" She taunts in a singsong tone. I can almost taste the confidence she believes she's letting on. This makes it psychologically simpler to take her down: The Element of Surprise.

I hoist myself above the cliff seeing her facing the opposite direction where she presumes I still lay. Little does she know I stand right behind her, my Jet Boot charging up to it's fullest capacity...

"Sam..." I hear her voice become a little worried, confused. "Samus..?" She slowly moves to look over the edge of the cliff.

At this point my boot has already charged and I raise my foot hesitantly above her shoulders.

Her body stiffens as she stands up straight. "Fuck." She sighs admitting her defeat before the untimely fate is placed on her.

I grin and finally bring my foot heavily against her, sending her flying into the abyss. Her scream echoes away...

"GAME!" Time slows down and the both of us are teleport back to the waiting location for our next match. I exit the stage through the sliding doors and enter my dressing room. I plop down onto my dressing room seat, physically exhausted from the previous match. I kick off my boots, remove my ponytail and unzip my suit, to reveal my undergarments. I grab a nearby towel and remove the sweat and blood stains from my arm and face. I change into my Gameplay bathing suit to prepare for my next match. Suddenly, I hear a knock on my door.

"It's open," I call out, tousling my hair from side to side and from behind the door Palutena emerges with a great smile on her face. I return with an even wider grin and even a little giggle. "How did that feel today, huh? Finally got a taste of your own medicine."

"Ah... I was expecting it," She winks at me. "It has been a while since someone's knocked me out of the ringer. I was kind of getting bored with it so you know... I kind of wasn't at my fullest-"

I laugh out loud. "Stop right there! Don't you ever try to make me believe that you 'went easy' on me. That was a good match, you just happened to be the loser this time around."

She also chuckles. "I see... Its a pity also I cant travel with you to the Grand Games Tournament. We would've done great together."

"I know..." My eyes drift away from hers to my dresser table. My eyes slowly graze over my Fairy Necklace that I kept with me since the beginning of the tournament. This was the very first match I've won without it. Getting over this was beginning to become easier.

Palutena follows my gaze to the table. Her eyes widen in surprise. "You didn't wear it today, did you?"

I close my eyes and shake my head. "Don't worry about it, it's... nothing, I just.. forgot it..."

Palutena's gazes switches from one taken aback to one of care and concern. "I'm gonna leave you to yourself for a little while, is that alright?" She steps forward and leans in to meet my eyes. "I'll always be here to talk about things, okay Sam?"

I give her a small smile. "Thanks Tina. I really appreciate it." She pats my knee and gets up and exists the room giving me a big smile. "Good Luck on your next one."

"Thanks," I mutter as she silently closes the door to my dressing room. I let out a heavy sigh and slump further in my chair. My eye catches the necklace once more and I slowly reach to pick it up.

The little blue fairy that hangs from the gold chain is small and delicate; very noticeable but can be easily hidden within the depths underneath my suits. Little sapphires surround the wings of the fairy and they shine luminously underneath the dim lighting of the dressing room. I always used to think that the necklace held some sort of special magic inside, that there was more to it that a pretty little blue jewel. As of right now, I don't think I'll ever get to discover and see whether there truly is.

We left on bad terms... It was always complicated between us. He had a whole town to save, a whole section of universal time to restore back to its original place, to remove evil... While I was on different planets to I guess, do the same.

Long distance relationships suck.

That is until I got relocated to The Smash Bros. Institution for battling others with similar situations as mine. We all have our stories to tell and it as a test of endurance and competitiveness. Little did I know, he was also relocated to the same institution as I.

We tried again and... it was golden. The timing was perfect but not to perfect to where we were capable of shattering at any second. We got in little tiny arguments but would release the out on the stage, so it would be better for the both of us... So when we came back we had all the energy and excitement to have fun... by ourselves.

Then she came, without warning her wave also got relocated and things changed dramatically. He wasn't the same man I always knew... and loved.

He started ignoring me, leaving me hanging at our hangouts, neglecting me in public, made a whole 180 and left me wondering where I went wrong. We just stopped seeing each other.

But that was 9 months ago, I'm just now starting to recover too.

The Fairy Necklace, the one he gave me on the last birthday celebration we spent together. I always wore it everyday after that. Never not once took it off.

Today was a different day. I'm slowly beginning to cope with the changes... at least for now. I hesitantly clasp the necklace around my neck and tie my hair back up. Let's hope nothing un-ordinary pops up out of nowhere.

A rapid knock on the door interrupts me from my thoughts. Without waiting for me to answer, the person pushes through the door; It's Wii Fit Trainer.

"Hey Zero Suit, are you ready to see who you're up against next?" She asks me. She pulls in her first aid kit behind her and sets it inside my dressing room in a free space and begins immediately treating my wounds.

Wii Fit doesn't fight anymore. Instead she trains and is basically a nurse for the players that are planning on advancing to the Grand Games Tourney. I flick on the flat screen television to the randomizing players listed on the screen. My identification picture is presented to the side of the randomizing cast of players. I watch in anticipation and it seems as though this selection is taking longer than usual. Even Wii Fit looks up to see what the deal is.

"Hm...They're taking quite longer than usual it seems," Wii Fit mutters. "I'm guessing its because the lists are getting smaller."

"... I'm guessing as well," My eyebrows narrow at the timing for this next match and it's giving me a weird feeling inside.

"LINK!" The Game-show Host's voice booms through my dressing room, that immediately becomes eerie and disturbing. My eyes widen and my mouth forms a small 'O'.

Well, would you look at that.

"Oooh, A tough one," Wii Fit chuckles to herself, returning back to my wounds. "One of the original 12 that were with you."

I sit still remaining quiet and speechless.

"Samus?" Wii Fit looks up at me and I instantly shake my head trying to wish away the envelope of emotions that just rose to the surface once again.

"I'm fine, just thinking of tactics to take him down..." My voice drifts away. I can already smell the defeat before I even enter the waiting room.

"Alright, I'm all finished here," She packs her things up and opens the door to leave without hesitating a second. "I'll give you a little more time to yourself to get ready. Good luck, see you after the round."

When the door shuts, I immediately jump up and put on my boots. I take one last look at myself in the mirror; My skin that was once a perfect shade of alabaster is now almost equivalent to a milky caramel shade. My once platinum blonde hair is now a dull honey blonde, finally those crazy childish bangs are gone so my hair has grown out evenly, and my big blue eyes show nothing but hurt and anxiety. But there in the center of my chest is the necklace. Not finding any time to thoroughly remove it, I place it inside my bra and tighten my ponytail. The director comes by my door and sends a chilling command to be out in one minute. Lets pray everything goes well.

In the waiting room I anxiously rub my boots against one another. Usually before the round, I know whether I'm going to win or lose, not to be cocky or anything, but I like to weigh what I'm going up against before the round to prepare myself for the energy I'll be needing. Another tactic I use pre-round to win. To analyze strengths and weaknesses, outweigh the difficulty of the stage to the level of difficulty of my opponent.

However, this next round, I have nothing. I don't know what to expect.

I've not seen him fight in 9 months... I don't even fully remember how he looks like whether he looks the exact same or different... God, why me? Why him?

Suddenly as if on cue, I see the metal doors from his end of the room open and I see him.

I am thrown completely off guard... He looks completely different. Has he gotten taller or is it just me? His shoulders are broader, and he's gain a lot of muscle... His arms, so big... Oh how I wish for those same arms to tickle me around my waist again. His hair is also a darker, deeper shade of blonde, He's almost brunette now, his skin looks bronzed and sun-kissed and his eyes are bright, icy and hold a lot of confinement. Somewhere deep in those blue eyes of his, I see his need for liberation and freedom... but from what? His gaze meets mine for only a split second and It sends shivers down my back. My heart immediately begins to beat faster. His eyes graze over me in a hastily manner and it almost feels overbearing. I almost regret wearing the Bathing suit for this match, I didn't know it was going to be much of a distraction. My cheeks become hot and I see him lose that strong, tough composure he usually puts on. I see his vulnerability.

The room is electrified but he doesn't take his eyes off me. If I could only see what is running through his mind right now, what he wishes to say but knows he couldn't. His chest rises and falls heavily as though he just came back from a race. I feel a tingling in a familiar spot and bite my lip instinctively. Even from a distance I see his pupils dilate and his jaw clench as he takes a big gulp. Honestly, what is going on?

"Liiink!" A squeaky high pitched voice interrupts- interrupts what?

Both of our gazes travel toward the petite short brown-haired princess skipping in and stands right in front of him without forgetting to give me a passing territorial gaze. I turn away to avoid her seeing my confidence disintegrate. Never will she see that.

I hold up a reputation for being extremely self-assured around the institution so I guess you can say I'm known to be the one of respect and self-confidence. Except all of that lays down on the fence for just one person...

"Good luck baby," I hear the Princess coo at her mate, a sloppy sound following sharply behind. I cringe slightly.

"Take her down, alright?" She giggles and slowly releases her grip from behind his neck. I stand facing forward looking ahead at the stage garage door in front of me that is yet to be selected. I feel a presence inching towards me and I turn to my right and see the Princess approaching me. Out of the corner of my eye, I see his lingering stare but dare not meet it, not in front of the Princess.

"Hello Zero Suit," She chirps, distaste spits out as well.

I smile politely and wave. She continues on her way without looking at me once more. I take a deep breath as the lights dim and our platform raise higher to the top, preparing to choose our stage.

I look over once at him and his body immediately stiffens, you wouldn't notice it but I do. He doesn't turn my way or even glance in my direction. Just as quickly as the feeling of hope came, it disappeared just the same. Back to strangers.

"SURVIVAL!" I hear the game-host's voice echo through the room. I choose a stage that is simple, not too complex, so there's no where to hide, nor are there any illusions covering the stage making it difficult to see my opponent. Something original, and my personal favorite...

Link chooses his stage without hesitating and it makes me wonder what he has in store for the match. Immediately as he presses the transparent screen, the stage appears and we both simultaneously turn towards each other in surprise: Final Destination.

The cheers begin and its time to fight.

"3...2...1.. GO!"

This round is different, instead of 8 lives, we have 3. The stakes are higher and the friction increases as we both come to the same realization: The winner gets to stand as a player in the Grand Games Tournament. This is the Final round, therefore, everyone is watching.

As I land onto the platform from my spaceship, and my feet touch the ground, he doesn't hesitate. He rushes toward me with exceeding speed and aims straight for my head with his sword catching me a little off guard. I quickly combat his attack with a blow to the face with my ray gun to buy time.

I quickly jump above his head to plan a motif of attack and he follows closely behind me, foot first. I land on the ground with a roll, and as soon as he is just about to take a step on the ground as well, I immediately shoot upward in a combo attack, my fist to his face, a hard kick following afterward.

He falls to the ground in a heap and my heart sinks just a little.

Keep focusing, I remind myself.

Without hesitating I aim for him again with my gun and whip him around while shooting electricity through his body. He quickly recovers but his damage reaches its peak at 50% already. He falls back to the ground but uses his wind to push me back a little. I gain 5+ damage, now making 25%. I still have the upper hand.

I jump up and he follows again attacking me with a circular sword move that sends me flying upward into the air. I fly uncontrollably and quickly regain my power. I shoot downward at him towards the ground but he pushes his sword up my stomach giving me an extra 25+ damage. I go back flying into the air.

Honestly, I'm taken by surprise, he really has been working a lot since the last time we've fought like this. Although his moves are the same, he's faster on his feet and his moves come with more forceful impact. Trying desperately hard to not let my emotions get the best of me, I grab onto the edge of the platform and hop back onto the top. He's charging at me.

I jump around his sword attack and give him a surprise blow from behind. He flies off the edge but quickly comes back, I'm assuming, wanting more.

So I taunt him.

I get on my knees, still keeping his gaze and draw my pointer finger out in a beckoning motion, slowly crawling backwards away from him. His gaze immediately shifts from one of determination to uneasiness and trepidation. I wink, giving him a suggestive smirk. His cheeks redden dramatically and he instinctively takes a step forward. I use this opportunity to lunge directly at him with my boots to his chest and he is sent flying off into the abyss.

-1 life. I stand up immediately ready to take on his renewed strength.

Unexpectedly, his boot clamps down on my back and I fall forward, taken off guard. Without receiving enough time to readjust he comes again with his sword jabbing at my sides. I continuously press on more damage and it registers: He's angry.

I smile inwardly. He didn't like when I made him feel vulnerable.

He attacks again this time around lifting me up into the air with his sword and completes a combo sending me flying into the air, causing me to lose a life only at 83% damage.

Bullshit.

The next two minutes are just the both of us avoiding physical contact. We're not even really fighting anymore and our damage has stayed the same for a good 45 seconds. Neither of us are happy with the way things turned out. I can even feel myself beginning to lose focus. This is worse than him not even speaking to me. We're not even coming within close range to fight each other.

5 minutes in and we're both at our last lives. I can taste blood from where he cut me with his sword on my cheek and his nose and lips are bruised from the foot-to-face contact and his hair singed from the electricity shots.

There's always one thing I felt was odd about receiving damage while fighting. Although when you lose a life and your damage reduces to 0% when you re-spawn, the previous bruises and battle wounds still remain.

For a moment I stare at him and wonder how bad he really wants this, whether this is even worth the fight. For us to be physically at pain and on another note myself being emotionally distraught. How does this all seem to him, I wonder. How much can he really take? How far is he willing to go?

Here we are, both at 0% damage, with one more life to spare.

I've met my match. It was him all along.

So I stood there-

-He charges toward me with, passion, rage, desire-

-The whole time.

-Frustration and lies anchor him down, but he rises up again, full of wrath...

Vengeance.

I receive a strong blow from his sword and I fly backwards. But yet I stand up, without doing anything.

He comes again, harder this time, to my chest hits a kick weighing down on my body. I fall to the ground and yet I stand back up without lifting a finger.

Another blow to my leg,

one to my arm,

sends me flying in the air,

another one to my back,

But I let it happen.

This is the most communication we've had in 9 months.

my neck,

my shoulder,

my heart...

He continues, getting more aggressive with each hit, not realizing that I wasn't even fighting back anymore. He's too driven by anger... but this time it's not from me.

I can see it in his eyes when he hits me he doesn't even make eye contact, he attacks where he sees there's no pressure. He's unhappy, He's stressed, He's confused, he's-

Another blow to my chin sends me flying back onto my back, my damage now at 109%.

How bad does he really want it?

He's...

He uses his hookshot and pulls me up underneath him for attack.. For the first time in ages I meet his gaze up close. He is taken aback immediately, and almost looks clueless... like his mind went blank.

Then it hits him. I'm not fighting back anymore.

He stares at me, and through his icy blue eyes, I see his frustration, also mixed with amatory and titillation and I'm so close to him I can almost feel it. Sweat drops from his chin onto my cheek. His breathing pattern intensifies and I can feel his weight slowly pressing against me. I want so bad to push myself against him but I hold back in fear of rejection.

He's lonely.

His gaze unknowingly travels down from my eyes to my lips and I can't help softly bite my lower lip out of nervous habit. I feel a lecherous wave overtake the both of us and I take a hasty breath in. But he doesn't stop there, his gaze continues lower...

The necklace.

Sitting on top of my collarbone in it's awe-inspiring beauty. The shimmer from the small sapphires on its wings shine magnificently, reflecting onto his eyes making them appear more captivating than ever.

His eyes widen in shock, maybe at the fact that I still wear it, or that I even still have it. His eyes then trace back up to mine. My head is pounding and the familiar taste of metal finds its way back onto my tongue.

His eyes dart back to my lips seeing the blood pool out. His expression becomes one of alarm.

"Do it," I Mutter lowly in a short breath.

He looks at me confused, which soon turns into one of sincerity. "No..." He shakes his head.

"Do it Link," I say it again firmer this time, it nearly startles him.

I see tears forming in his eyes.

"Or I'l do it myself." I tell him.

His grip becomes firm but I shove out of it and walk toward the edge.

"Sam, no!" I hear his shout echo but its already too late.

My body flies over the edge of the platform falling into a pit of abyss...

"GAME!"

All fades to black.