This is the third part of my SSB stuff. I would strongly advise that you read Of Men and Mewtwo then Halloween Havoc. This is a continuation; both are in my profile for your reading pleasure. Hope you enjoy, and if you really don't want to read my prior stuff, Wolf will fill you in. Isn't he nice.

Chapter 1

Samus enjoyed a substantial height advantage over nearly everyone in the mansion. Ganandorf, Snake, they may have been taller, but their anti-social and often hostile behaviors meant anyone rarely had contact with them. Falcon was a few inches her superior, but with relative ease she could put him on the ground and keep him there, so it never bothered her much. What had happened to him between the second and third tournament, she didn't know, but he was a positively horrible fighter as of late.

When the doorbell rang, she was in the "good guy" living room (closest to the front door), so she answered it, not sure who could possibly come to visit. Perhaps Bowser jr. here to see his daddy. Perhaps Donkey Kong had forgotten his keys again, the fact that he refused to wear pants didn't help matters in the slightest. Or perhaps it was Popo playing a prank, and she would find him in the bush beside the door, giggling hysterically at how clever he was. Bowser wasn't the best influence on the child.

"Greetings, I am the Arbiter."

The alien she was now face to chest with absolutely towered over, she guessed he would be well over eight and a half feet tall if he weren't hunching over, just so that she could make eye contact with him. She took a step back, nervous, scared at his size, not even regretting displaying weakness in front of this new threat. He was reptilian in features: hoofed feet, hunched stature, jaw bone replaced with a duo of mandibles on either side that clicked with seemingly no deeper meaning, and opened to speak like she would use her lips. He wore what was clearly armor, even on his alien physique, decorative gold in color with a Kevlar like bodysuit underneath, and Samus cursed that she was wearing only jeans and a tank top (at Wolf's innocent insistence). It wasn't until she looked down to his waist and noticed the hilt of what was no doubt some sort of weapon that she slammed the door and pressed her back to it should this monster try to break through.

"I need a weapon," she muttered.

The doorbell rang again, there was a knock on the door. She put a sharp kick into the leg of a nearby table, snatching it up into a makeshift bludgeon. Wolf wandered into the room to see what all the fuss was about.

"The girl scouts selling cookies again?"

"There's a monster," Samus said calmly. She looked at his belt, and the holstered oversized blaster worn proudly. A preferable weapon to her cudgel. He didn't resist as she snatched it up, looked it over, and pressed it to the door.

"Monster? About nine feet tall looking kind of like the Predators from the movies? You must mean Arbiter, he gets that a lot." Wolf gently pushed her away and opened the door. The alien clicked his mandible, hunching even further so that he could better see Wolf. Wolf stepped aside, the alien stepped in. His height was even more overwhelming, now in the smallness of the room. Wolf hardly seemed concerned. "I was afraid you wouldn't find this place."

"Your coordinates were quite informative. Is there a reason why the female is staring at me?"

Samus shook her head to regain her sense, and backed away, permitting the alien to stalk deeper inside. He was huge. Built like a tank. Well, Bowser was built like a tank. The alien was a bit slimmer, a bit lighter, and there was an inexcusable degree of grace to his movements, like a scalpel in a doctor's hand. At the moment, she was too concerned with his presence to come up with a vehicular metaphor to describe him.

"Don't mind her, she's just a wee bit shy. Don't let the Daisy Duke outfit fool you though; she's a killer at heart. Got a body count that would put Truth to shame. Two whole acts of genocides, you guys couldn't even kill off the humans."

"What is he doing here?" Samus demanded.

"Arbiter is going to help me with my investigation." He took a piece of paper, neatly folded into a small square, and handed it to the alien. With surprisingly dexterous fingers, the alien opened and read it. "This is your identification, got special permission from the big guy to have you here. If anyone asks, your name is Leon Powalski, you're part of Star Wolf."

"Wolf," Samus interrupted. "No one is going to believe that. Leon is green."

"No one is going to ask," he growled.

"Brother," the Arbiter interrupted. "The reason for my presence was not elaborated on. You just said, 'Get your scaly ass over here now.' It was only in the succeeding message that told me where 'here' is. Where are we anyway?"

"No one really knows," Wolf said, rubbing his chin. "Anyway, a few months ago, Mewtwo, that cat looking monster I sent you a profile on, was nearly beaten to death in the simulator, because of a glitch in the system. At least that's what everyone has accepted. About a month later, Lucario passes out, falls off a water fall, cracks his head open and gets a pretty nasty concussion. There, now you are as up to date as everyone else."

"I still am not sure why you have called me here?"

"I want you to investigate a little. Look around. Figure out whose doing it. Everyone believes it was just accidents. I suspect something, something bad."

"Why not have one of your compatriots do it? I have heard that the one called Solid Snake is quite paranoid. Why not use him?"

"For all I know, he's the one who did it. He's not that found of Lucario. I need a pair of neutral eyes, a third party. Someone who has no past with anyone, no grudges or infatuations."

"I have past experiences with you."

"I didn't do it," Wolf explained. "Therefore, you have no reason to investigate me. I've been looking around on and off, but with the tournament and the courtship of Samus Aran, I'm kind of busy. Besides, I've grown too close to these idiots. I can't take a step back anymore."

"I am not busy, after all. All I'm doing is raising a shattered species up from the dust, building a bond with our former enemies, and attempting to exterminate the last remnants of Loyalists from our galaxy."

"Well, the important thing is that you're not busy."

The Arbiter thought to himself, clicking his mandibles once or twice. "You truly believe that something is amiss?"

"Yes. You can take my room," Wolf said. "I'll be staying with Samus."

"What?"

"We all have to make sacrifices, my pet."

"Why can't you and the alien share a room."

"Look at the size of him. I've only got the new guy bachelor pads. You've got one of the vet suites, plenty of room for little old me."

The Arbiter watched closely as Samus took Wolf by the collar and lifted him off the ground. Impressive, even for a human of her stature. "Set one foot into my room, and I'll castrate you. Go stay with Link if you're so lonely."

"Brother," the Arbiter interrupted again. "I really don't have time for this, I would just like to show why your paranoia is unfounded and return to my duties. I left leadership of my people in Rtas' hands and he isn't exactly known for his diplomacy."

Wolf huffed, turning and walking out, with the Arbiter following after, leaving Samus alone.

"You set the number of bots you want to fight at this terminal," Wolf said. "Set their aggression too. Then you press go. It takes a few seconds, so you walk into the center and get ready. Bots come down, fight. You beat them up. A fail safe is meant to prevent any severe damage, but it's still advisable to not go in alone. Course, people who live around here don't usually follow directions too well. I dare you, tell Lucus not to touch a hot stove and see what happens."

The Arbiter squatted to his haunches, tracing a long finger over the control panel beneath the computer. There was a fresh pad lock, which snapped away when he took hold of it and closed his fist. Lowering to his hands and knees, he closely examined the assorted wires, long neck weaving from side to side. He had to cock his head to the side to see better.

"Has anyone touched this?"

"I opened it up right after the Mewtwo affair. Other than that, not to my knowledge, but its not like we have cameras. It would be pretty easy for someone to come along when everyone is asleep. I put the padlock on, but its not that hard to pick. Or break."

Balancing on his knees and one hand, a considerable feat given his size, the Arbiter stretched two fingers into the wires. His hand was too large for him to see what he was doing, so he just felt around. Growling softly, he ordered Wolf to shine his flashlight into the opening. "There's a hair," he noticed.

Wolf's dexterous fingers and smaller claw found the clue, and pulled it out into the light. "No luck, its one of mine."

"And you are sure that you had nothing to do with what happened?"
"Like I just told you, I checked this out right after Mewtwo got beaten up. I'm covered in fur and it was summer when it happened. What do you expect? I molt all over the place."

The Arbiter would have pressed the matter further, but he felt a light weight pounce onto his back, and an energetic, youthful voice shout, "Horsey!"

He couldn't crane his neck at the proper angle to see anything more than a pink parka and a waving, mitten laden hand, and a cleat boot whose heel jabbed him in the side. He pushed himself upright, and the tiny body tumbled off his back. He turned to see a beady eyed child staring up at him, lying casually on the floor. She was tiny, barely reaching the bend of his knee, yet carried a hammer on her back as big as her as if it were nothing. And she didn't show the slightest hint of fear at him, which was odd. Actually, she seemed blissfully unaware of everything.

"That's not nice," she scolded, standing up.

"What is with these people?" he asked of Wolf, who was greatly enjoying the scene. Feeling a weight on his left leg, he noticed the Eskimo child was trying to climb up, using his armor and the unique shape of his skeleton as easy as some would use a ladder. Then she was leaping to his arm, scurrying up, and coming to rest on his shoulder. Stubby arms wrapped around his neck and she gave him an affectionate kiss on the cheek, at the base of the mandibles. He was so dumbstruck by the unwarranted act, he didn't even move to swat her away.

"I'm not sure, I think they may put something in the water that makes so many of us act out of character and build relationships with our sworn enemies. I mean, if Samus and I were to ever meet in the real world, I'm fairly certain we would try to kill each other. You now, more so than usual."

The Arbiter shook his head.

"Who are you?" the pink girl asked. "I'm Nana."

The Arbiter looked to the wolf, hoping for some sort of answer, or at least him moving to take the little girl's focus. He was not about to give his name as Leon, so he sighed and said, "I am the Arbiter."

"I like you the Arbiter," she said, hugging him again around the neck. She even left her perch and just let herself hang. He took her by the collar and put her back on the ground, while she giggled. At least she stopped trying to climb all over him.

"There is definitely something in the water," Wolf nodded.