Saturday morning came like any other morning. The rain from last night had ceased, and the sun was poking up from behind the hill, shining its light on Smash Mansion and leaving a rainbow in the sky. Some of the Mansion's inhabitants rouse from their slumber, whilst some, tired and without any matches to fight today, slept in, catching up on their rest.

Samus and Sonic, tired from last night's events, were among those who were sleeping.

Falco chuckled as he quietly shut the door, making sure not to wake up his hedgehog roommate. He chuckled as he walked to the room Samus shared with Nana and knocked on the door.

Nana poked her head and shushed him. "Samus is still asleep!"

"I guessed," replied Falco. The he asked, "What'd she say about last night?"

Nana grinned. "She didn't say a lot, but she was smiling. And not a regular Samus smile, but it was like a big Peach smile!"

Falco nodded. "Sonic said it was the best night of his life, even though it didn't involve running. I guess my dating advice worked." He puffed out his chest proudly.

"Hey! I'm the one who made Samus dress nice, and I'm the one who told her about how to talk to a boy!"

"Yes, and I'm sure Samus took dating advice from a twelve year old Eskimo."

Nana playfully punched Falco's arm. "Shut up!" she whined.

Falco rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm sure we both helped in the matter. Now all we can do is wait."

"For what?" asked Nana.

"For them to get off their butts, swallow their shyness and do it again."

The two walked down the hall to the cafeteria, both unaware that a very surprised Princess Peach had heard them.

The cafeteria was relatively empty that day. Mario, Luigi, Captain Falcon, and Kirby were inhaling their breakfasts. Bowser was reading a newspaper, Wario was writing a letter, and Ganondorf was sulking next to the other two on the 'villains' table', eating some waffles, while Zelda was engaged in flirting with Pit, who was blushing profoundly. No one was prepared for when Peach busted in, declaring breathlessly, "They're dating!" before almost collapsing.

Mario and Luigi leapt up and helped the princess to their table, whilst Pit and Zelda ran to see what she had been talking about. After drinking a cup of Mario's orange juice and catching her breath, said, "I heard Falco and Nana talking and they said that Samus and Sonic…went on a date last night!"

Zelda raised an eyebrow. "Peach, why were you eavesdropping?" she asked.

I wasn't eavesdropping!" protested Peach. "I just happened to hear them as I was walking down the hallway, and they weren't talking very quietly. But, that's not the point."

"And, dear, is the point?"

Peach turned and frowned at Ganondorf, who had just become involved in the conversation. "And why do you care?" she asked, annoyed.

Ganondorf chuckled. "No reason, m'dear, I simply make it my business to know."

"He's fishing for blackmail," said Bowser without even looking up from his newspaper.

Peach frowned. "Anyway, the fact of the matter is that Sonic is going out with a temperamental bounty hunter who can't stand men. Does that sound safe at all?"

"Wait a minute!" protested Zelda. "Weren't you the one who was trying to hook them up in the first place?"

"That was before I knew Samus was unfriendly and violent! Sonic could be in danger!" pointed out Peach.

"Peach! It was an accident, and if we're going to blame someone it should be Falcon and Snake."

Captain Falcon looked away, embarrassed.

Surprisingly, Ganondorf took Zelda's side. "I agree with the Princess," he declared. "Samus should be forgiven. "

"You?" asked Peach, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, me," replied Ganondorf, smirking.

"He'll want something later!" called Bowser from behind his newspaper.

Despite her surprise and suspicion, Zelda grinned. "Hah!" she said.

"I'm with you too!" said Pit shyly.

Peach looked at Mario and Luigi. "You guys are with me, right?"

Luigi opened his mouth to say something, but Mario quickly cut his understudy off. "With-a you all-a the way, princess!" he said. Mario had a bit of a grudge when it came to Samus, because she had beaten him in the Melee Tournament. He also had a weakness for Peach. Why else would he rescue her so much?

"Falcon, you're with us right?"

Falcon glared at the princess. "I've already been disqualified because I interfered with someone's life. You are a crazy woman if you think I'm gonna do it again. I'm with the brunette."

Peach huffed. "Fine, be that way." She looked at Wario who still had his face in his letter. "You're with me right, Wario?"

Mario and Luigi groaned at the aspect of Mario's rival being with them, but Wario, however, remained silent, his eyes glued to his letter.

Sighing, Mario jumped up and snatched the letter away, gaining the man's attention. "Hey! Give me that back, you pipsqueak!"

Mario looked at the letter and grinned. "'Dear, Mona'," he read out loud. "'If you are having trouble with the company, I would recommend you read 'Businessmen Monthly'. It helped pull me out of a few rough spots, not that I really needed it.' Oh, who's this Mona?" asked Mario in a teasing voice.

"My employee!" shouted Wario as he tried to grab the letter. "I left her in charge of my company while I'm here! Now give me that-!"

Mario back flipped to dodge Wario. However, he lost his grip of the letter, and dropped it out the open window. Wario screamed and jumped after it. Unfortunately, it was a rather windy day, and Wario ended up chasing after the letter angrily. Zelda smacked Mario in the back of the head, causing Bowser to snicker.

Having had enough, Zelda declared, "Peach, Samus apologized and Sonic forgave her. I think they should be left alone."

Peach sighed. "Fine!" she said. "But when Sonic ends up hurt again, don't come crying to me!"

And with that, Peach walked off with a huff. Zelda turned to Ganondorf. "I can't believe I am saying this, but thank you."

"You're quite welcome, Princess." He smiled. "So, as long as we are on the subject of forgiveness, what do you say you forgive me and I accompany you to dinner tonight?"

Zelda tried to open her mouth and say something, but was only able to gape. After a second, she, like Peach, huffed and walked away.

Ganondorf grinned. "Quite hypocritical, isn't she Bowser?"

Bowser still kept his face behind his paper. "I told her so."

Samus groaned when she heard the knocking at the door. What time is it? She though, glancing at the wall clock. Oh, twelve. I'm tired.

The knocking came again, and Samus pulled herself up and walked towards it, shouting, "I'm coming!"

She pulled on her bathrobe and pulled the door open, and was surprised to see that Captain Falcon was there, waiting. "Oh, what do you want?" she asked, trying not to get irritated.

"I heard about and Sonic," he said. "Thought I'd see if it was true."

Samus' eyes widened. "Where did you hear that?" she hissed.

"Peach heard Falco and Nana talking about it, so she decided to blab."

I will kill her. I will kill her twice, thought Samus. Unable to deny it, she said, "Yeah, me and Sonic went on a date. Do you have a problem about it?"

Falcon shook his head. "Nah. I know why you went with him. He's a good guy, for a little spiky rodent."

Samus nodded, keeping her face neutral, but inwardly smiled at the prospect of Falcon leaving her alone. "Good. How do the others feel?"

Ganondorf and Bowser don't care, neither does Wario. Peach still hates you, and has Mario and Luigi with her, though I think they're just sucking up. Zelda and Pit are with you, though, along with me. Don't know about anyone else, but I can imagine Snake will be none too pleased."

"He'll live. Okay, thanks, Falcon. I'm glad you're not being a jerk anymore. I'll see you later, but right now I'm tired."

Falcon nodded and walked off. Samus took off her bathrobe and plopped back into her bed. Not one minute later, there was another knock.

Samus moaned. "What is it?"

Falcon opened the door. "For the record, if it doesn't work out between you, wanna go get burger with me?"

Samus threw her pillow at him. "Oh, get out!"

He did.

Once upon a time, Knuckles the Echidna had told Sonic about meditation. Knuckles would talk about finding an inner peace with one's self as he sat there and simply breathed in the air and allowed all negative thoughts to disappear.

What Knuckles hadn't told him, was that meditation was so blasted boring. All you did was sit there and think, and then your foot falls asleep. Still, Sonic found himself meditating a lot ever since his leg was broken. Mainly because there wasn't much else to do.

Sonic groaned as his foot began tingling. "Stupid foot," he muttered, shaking it.

"Hey, Sonic."

Sonic turned to see Link, who was standing in the door to his room, smiling. "I heard about you and Samus. Good job."

"Uh, thanks," said Sonic, confused. Didn't Samus say we should keep it secret for a bit? He thought as Link departed.

In a small amount of time, Olimar, Popo, Toon Link and even Kirby had come up and congratulated him on his success, but Sonic never heard about where they heard it from, until Pit stopped by and congratulated him.

"From Peach," the angel had said. "She heard Falco and Nana talking about it. She didn't seem very happy."

Sonic frowned at the thought of Peach being unhappy. The princess was a friend of his. However, he didn't want to stop dating Samus, mainly because he had liked it and her. A lot.

There was yet another knock on the door. "Who is it?" asked Sonic.

"Sonic, it's me," said Samus' voice.

For the first time today, Sonic grinned. "Oh, come in!" When Samus entered the room, Sonic asked, "Hey, did you hear-?"

"Yeah, I heard," she said, smiling. "No more secrets for us, right?"

"Yeah," said Sonic. He thought about Peach and asked, "Hey, do you think Peach-?"

"Peach can stick it where the sun doesn't shine," said Samus, raising an eyebrow. "Anyway, I was going to go on a walk before lunch. Care to join me?"

Sonic grabbed his crutch. "I'd love to."

The ruins of the Halberd were quite a sight to behold during sunset. The ruined battleship lay in the ocean, supported by only a small island. The ruins had not been touched since the ship had been decimated in the Subspace Emissary.

Touched by Smashers, anyway.

The woman made a disgusted, angry sound as her stealth hovercraft landed in the docking bay of the Dreamland airship. The failed attempts to kill the murderer and her rodent friend were still fresh on her mind, and she was in a bad mood.

To make her even angrier, the workers weren't fixing the guns like she instructed.

Where are those miserable little worms? She thought as she stalked the corridors of the ship, her eyes searching for the workers she had assigned. They had vanished, it seemed.

When she reached the control room, she still could find no workers. Her patience having run out, she screamed shrilly, "RIDLEY!"

"I'll take it she's still alive?"

The woman turned and glared at the purple, pterosaur-like alien, who was seated on the command chair. He swiveled the chair around and grinned savagely. "I told you it would take more than poisons to kill the Hunter. She has been a thorn in my side for years now. It was foolish to think you could finish her so simply-."

The woman ran up, her hand raised and her claw-like fingers extending. She grabbed Ridley's beak, holding it shut. Then, with a snarl, she activated her power. Ridley tried to screech, but her hand held his mouth shut, and he was forced to sit there as his energies were drained. When the woman decided he had had enough, she released his beak.

"When I want your opinion," she hissed angrily, "I'll ask for it."

"You little witch!" roared Ridley, raising himself to his full height. "You dare to-?"

"Shut up, Ridley!" the woman screeched, silencing him. "Or I'll stomp you like the salamander you are!"

Ridley growled. "You have no idea what you are getting into, woman!"

"Megh… I have a pretty good idea," hissed the woman, before changing the subject. "Why don't I see any of your workers fixing the ship's weapons?"

Ridley snarled in response. "My Primids are currently fixing the propulsion systems! We need to be able to move this hunk of junk you know!"

"I ordered them to fix the damn guns!" shouted the woman. "Who said you could take charge?"

"Well, someone had to take charge while you were gone…" pointed out Ridley.

"You idiotic lizard-brain! When I give an order, it is carried out. And that includes you! Don't forget that I saved your miserable hide from Subspace, and I am perfectly willing to throw you back there!"

Ridley growled, but looked away. After muttering something in Space Pirate dialect, he pressed the speaker button and commanded, "All troops begin to repair gun turrets! That is a direct order!" Turning back to the woman, he snarled. "Are you happy now?"

"I'll be happy when the murderer's head is on my lap." The woman stalked out of the room, leaving Ridley hoping that Samus Aran would be nice and come and kill him.

It was a uncomfortable partnership, to say the least.

Author's note

Uh-oh, Ridley's with the evil waitress lady! And he's not very happy about…

Also, I apologize for making Peach a bit of a snob. Don't worry, she'll get nice again. Also, Falcon's bein' nice again! Yay!

Also, for those who don't know who Wario was writing to, Mona is a character from Wario Ware. She's one of Wario's employees and has a crush on him.

Thanks for reading! The next chapter is coming soon!