The mansion hadn't changed much since the last time Snake was around. Sure, it had grown bigger and now accommodated a larger variety and number of creatures, but it was still looking the same. He'd easily settled into his old room, finding his alternate coloured suits already hung waiting in the provided wardrobe.
Days passed with more of the mansions rooms filling up, yet Snake kept to himself for the most part. He interacted when people approached him, but that was the extent of it. No one particularly went out of their way to meet him, unless he just happened to be in view. This meant that the soft knock at his door was even more of an unlikely occurrence.
The special ops soldier cautiously approached the door, opening it slowly. He was greeted with an almost empty view, until a gentle tap against his leg brought his gaze downward.
A small bipedal dog stood just in front of his door, looking utterly terrified. The animal's mouth was wide open with a paw hovering just in front of their mouth. It didn't look like a threat.
"What do you want?" Snake rasped, holding the door open a little wider.
The dog shuffled on the spot a little, righting the green vest over it's body. It took a moment for them to respond, "Oh! I'm sorry! My, my name is Isabelle. I wanted to come and introduce myself! I am secretary to the mayor!"
Snake stood unresponsive, simply watching Isabelle. "The mayor?"
"Yes! The mayor is also a fighter here in Smash and I am so thrilled to be able to be here alongside them!" Isabelle swayed on the spot, practically glowing.
"Nice to meet you." Snake went to shut the door, but Isabelle called out for him to stop.
"Uh- I mean, please! There… there was something else I wanted to discuss."
He paused, "What else?"
Snake listened to the dog rambling about how her worries about figuring out her moves and making sure she didn't just share all of the same moves as her mayor, how she didn't want to take the spotlight from them. It took several detours into scatter-brained topics before she reached the conclusion of her speech.
"I found out, through asking some other people that you're the best person to ask about what to do with all these things I have, so I thought - why not ask for your assistance!" She looked up at him with a hopeful smile.
Snake sighed heavily as he weighed up the options he now had. On the one hand, he could easily shut the door and send the dog off to another fighter. But he could also let her in and help her work through this. It could be a good time, she did seem diligent and willing to listen.
The door was pulled open a little more as the soldier indicated for her to come in. The secretary beamed and threw out all manner of appreciative remarks. They spent the day working through all the items she had at her disposal, coming up with multiple ways in which they could be used. It was late in the evening before the two had settled on what they really needed to work on, with Isabelle almost demanding that she had something that was reminiscent of her 'teacher's' style.
They continued their light-hearted discussion as they went to the dining hall for some late dinner, causing a few odd looks with their partnership. Snake couldn't deny that he found the secretary to be good company, even though her slightly absent-minded nature. They split for the night, promising to meet early in the morning for a training session to work on what they'd discussed.
Snake had never really understood the term "bright-eyed and bushy tailed" until that next morning. It seemed Isabelle was the embodiment of such a phrase, even at such an early time. They worked and practiced. He admired her perseverance; throughout all her failures, she was still determined to make this work.
Days of training passed, somewhere in the middle of it all, they found the move working. Isabelle was ecstatic, literally jumping for joy. She thanked Snake numerous amounts of times, pouring praise after praise over him.
Another two months passed from that day and it was Isabelle's turn to be introduced to the audience. She stood in the spawn room, shaking with nerves. Her eyes flitted around, taking in the rest of the fighters that were to be featured in this introduction. The secretary got a smile from her mayor and the rest of the attending smashers as she was called up to the stage. Isabelle took a deep breath and stepped into the spawn pad.
She demonstrated the moves she was asked to do. Isabelle worked hard to do the very best she could. Then it came to her showing off her special moves. One after the other passed, her heartbeat racing. She knew what was next.
The icy stage materialised, and Kirby stood at the opposing end. The secretary steadied herself, she was ready to do this. She'd shown already what she was capable of, but now it was time to honour her tutor in the best way she could.
On the shout of "Action!", Isabelle quickly dug into the ground just in front of her and plunged a gyroid into the shallow hole as the puffball ran towards her at full speed. He paused and went to attack, Isabelle hoping with all her heart this would work. As Kirby jumped over the top, she gave the signal and the gyroid flew vertically upwards, taking Kirby along with it. She jumped up after, thinking that maybe they'd want more from her.
"Cut! That's it. You're free to go."
Isabelle landed back on the ground as the stage dematerialised, leaving them in a simple box room. She made her way to the marked exit, far off at the other side, almost giddy with excitement. Once out, she looked around to try and see if Snake was there.
"Not bad. Looks like you got the hang of it." The raspy voice came from behind her and she spun to smile happily up at the human.
"All thanks to you!" Isabelle bowed quickly in thanks.
It was the start of an unconventional friendship.