It's been 10 whole months since I last updated. Every damn time I'd always said "I won't take so long next time!" and then BAM! Here we are, 10 months later. I hope everyone has been well in this pandemic. I hope none of you got sick and you're all okay on money and toilet paper.
I had a lot of struggles writing this chapter, obviously. I think I hit a major writing block and it took me a long time to decide, fuck it, I'm gonna write what I should of written anyway, regardless of "lack of development" between Snake and Samus. I'll deal with that as I go.
I don't intend to give up on this story and plan to see it through to the end. In addition to this new chapter, I've also re-written and re-uploaded ch 20, and updated a section in ch 13. As always, I hope those of you who are still here enjoy the chapter! Please point out any mistakes or inconsistencies in my writing.
Thank you for still being here.
EDIT: Reuploading this chapter again as I rushed it out too fast and the writing wasn't up to par, so I tweaked the whole thing. I've also finished writing ch 22 I just have to go through the final stages of tweaking and detailing the story. Expect it out in the next week or so!
Two weeks was only fourteen days long, ten if you count out the weekends, but those two weeks were the longest two weeks of Snake's life - The Tournament had started again and he was regulated to staying home and watching it from his couch.
Shuttles began flying over the Complexes again. When he'd hear the hum of their engines, Snake would poke his head out from his front door, or press his face against his kitchen window, to watch who would would be getting picked up. All of his neighbors, one by one, up and down the mountain, boarded the white Shuttle. No alloy ever came to his door.
Snake had to remind himself everyday that there was a carefully articulated contingency plan in place to catch him back up in points. He already did all the heavy lifting by sneaking into the nearly repaired Dome, full of alloys who never seemed to sleep, and infiltrating the basement, the epicenter of the Grid. Otacon had completed the reprogramming as well. All that was left to do, was for him to fight.
...That was easier said than done, though. Everyday Snake didn't get a match listing was another day filled with anxiety, and about five cigarettes.
On the day of the tournament's re-opening, Samus had a four way, Free For All match. Her opponents were Donkey Kong, the mysterious figure Meta Knight, and that Pokemon trainer kid named Red. The ape proved tough, taking full contact hits from Samus' fully charged cannon without so much as flying off the stage. The teenager Red, who, up to that point, had had a poor winning streak and never placed first in any of his matches, gave a surprise performance, taking not only one but two lives from the ape. Meta Knight had oddly avoided combat for nearly the entire match. Snake thought it was weird. Meta Knight always went after his opponents mercilessly, so why now was he keeping his distance? At first, Snake thought it might have been because of Donkey Kong, who was a powerhouse and hard to KO, but as the match progressed, he came to realize that Meta Knight had actually been avoiding Samus.
His strategy was smart, Samus could be both a long and close range fighter, too bad it didn't help him in the end. Snake was also disappointed that Samus wasn't able to get the Smash Ball. He would have liked to see her in that body hugging blue suit again. She'd won the match and Snake sent her an email, congratulating her on her victory. She wrote him back, thanking him, though she didn't tell him to bugger off with the flirty comment he'd always left her. He thought it was strange. That didn't mean anything, did it?
The tournament anchors had also mentioned him in the opening broadcast, stating that while he was in good health, he would be absent from the Tournament for an undetermined amount of time, as he was still recovering from the accident. They both wished him well and said they couldn't wait for his return. It felt good to hear that.
Snake passed the two weeks by picking up his work out routine again. He trained rigorously in the local gym and ran the trail in the Gardens. He had to get his stamina back up if he was going to fight a hundred opponents. Snake wanted to attempt the long trail again, the one that ran outside of the gates, but it ran through the plains, too close to the desert where Ganondorf resided. Snake didn't want to chance running into him. That, and Samus probably would have pitched a fit that he went all the way out there by himself.
During his time off, some of the others had come to visit him - Falcon, Ike, Link, Marth, the kids and the princesses. Even Fox a couple of times. They chatted with him, brought him food and other gifts. Snake especially liked when the girls came by because Peach always brought him a cake or some other yummy homemade dessert. Snake made sure to save a slice for Lucas when the kid came by himself, which was often. He was the most doting out of everyone, always cautioning Snake to get plenty of rest and never push himself too hard. He was a sweet kid.
Samus never came to see him with Peach and Zelda though, which was odd because the girls were always together. She was the one most adamant about keeping in contact with each other, but even her responses to his emails slowed down. Snake thought maybe she hadn't come to see him because she knew the real reason he was out, though, he couldn't figure out why she never seemed to write him back. Snake asked Peach about it one day, why Samus was never with them, and the pink princess sighed heavily. She revealed that Samus had been avoiding them too ever since the Tournament started. He wondered if something was wrong.
Soon enough, Month Four rolled around and the weather warmed up. Spring had arrived on the island. The hedges in the gardens all bloomed with flowers, some he'd never seen before. Small animals came out of hibernation as well, birds pecked along the sidewalks in the gardens and insects, like honey bees, buzzed around the fauna. Now that he thought about it, Snake hadn't seen any insects or animals since he arrived, except maybe for the crows, but he'd only seen them in the forest.
Aside from the birds and the bees, there were also a few of those pikmin creatures running around. Snake had seen one scamper across the garden paths during a run one day, so he stopped to watch them, or he tried to. The little plants were very skiddish and hid from him. Snake had to stealthily creep behind a hedge and watch them from a distance. The pikmin chased after the butterflies and perused through the grass. One of them had picked up a fallen flower petal and shown it to all the others as if it were an amazing treasure. A small hoard soon gathered around the pikmin with the petal to admire it. They squeaked out happily. Snake had to admit, it was the cutest damn thing he'd ever seen. His pikmin watching was cut short though, when a couple of alloys appeared from behind another hedge and captured them all. The squealing plants were placed into individual net bags, except for a white one, it went into a glass jar where it proceeded to angrily spew some kind of purple-colored goo. When the alloys were done, Snake stopped them and asked why they were catching the plants. The alloys were kind enough to inform him that some pikmin had escaped from the Nursery, these ones in particular had been "on the run" for the last two weeks. A few pikmin escaping was not an uncommon occurrence, however, they suspected someone might have actually broken in and let them out, since over thirty pikmin had gone missing and pots where found scattered on the floor. Who would break into the Nursery? Snake wondered.
Snake received an email from the hospital, summoning him for a mandatory check up, a final evaluation of his condition to determine whether or not he would be cleared to compete again. He went back to the hospital where he was given a physical exam by the creepy, ghost-like alloy doctor. He was nervous they would catch an injury to his ribs from Ganondorf, and possibly extend his suspension. If that happened, it would ruin his and Otacon's carefully laid out plan. The doctor took notice of his apparent nervousness but chalked it up to him being excited about competing again. Snake pretended to agree. Miraculously, the doctor found nothing, and Snake was given the green light to compete.
Ten days slowly but surely passed and on the night of Day Eight, Snake's terminal pinged. He was in the middle of eating dinner but he didn't hesitate to fumble over the couch at top speed. He slipped and nearly racked himself the jewels, but luckily he missed, and hit himself in the thigh instead. Snake stumbled to the Terminal groaning in pain. The idiotic move as worth it as he had finally received a match listing! The email notified him to report to the Dome at noon tomorrow and that a shuttle would be arriving between ten and eleven AM to pick him up. That was it, there was nothing else. No opponents were listed in the email, as there had always been before. But Snake knew why.
Finally, it was the morning of Day Nine. Snake had gotten up early, ordered and ate a hearty breakfast, and packed his newly repaired suit into his gym bag. He sat on the couch and waited. Around 11:10 a knock come from the door. Snake jogged down the small hallway and opened it to an alloy standing on his porch, digital clipboard in hand. The alloy bid him a good morning, asked how he was and if he was ready to depart for the Dome. Snake replied that he was, slung the gym bag over his shoulder, locked the apartment behind him and followed the alloy to the shuttle waiting in the road. The white colored was less blinding now that there was no snow around. Inside, the cabin was curiously empty. He must be the first passenger. Snake boarded the shuttle and sat in the center of the soft seats. The doors hissed closed and after a moment the ship ascended into the air. He watched out of the window, expecting the ship to move onto the next apartment, but instead, it turned in place and began to fly over the mountains. Hold on, were they headed to the Dome? Already? Weren't they going to pick up more passengers?
Well, Snake wasn't going to be fighting any of the others in his match, maybe that was why, but the alloys always picked up other competitors who would fight in the matches that followed. Guess he was riding alone. Seemed like a waste of gas, or energy, or Mr. Fusion or whatever-the-hell this thing ran on to him, but... at the same time, he wasn't footing the bill and he really didn't mind a quiet, solitary ride.
Snake was again the only passenger on a cart that picked him up from the Shuttle and drove him across the Loading Port to the Dome. He looked across the tarmac, to the colorful banners still planted at the public entrance of the Dome. More flags lined the extremely long sidewalk that lead all the way to the Port Town. He wondered how long they were going to leave the banners up, as they'd been there since the opening day over two weeks ago.
The sunlight disappeared as the cart entered the massive doorway. The boxes and stacks of materials that had been piled along the walls were gone. If he hadn't seen it for himself, he wouldn't have known the sheer of materials it took to repair the Dome. The hallways were completely spotless now, not a stray bolt or wire was in sight. Snake was impressed. He was dropped off at the Men's Changing room, which he again had all to himself.
The alloy in the tailor shop managed to fix the giant tear in his suit, though it had to cut out a good portion of the shirt and the entire collar to do so. The alloy was also able to duplicate the same bullet-proof Kevlar the shirt was made of, so there was no visible difference in the new and old material. Though, his suit now had two new seams that connected from the seams by his armpits to the collar of the neck. The alloy even went the extra mile to duplicate the new seams on the back of the short as well, so that the entire shirt was uniform.
Snake dressed in his suit, buckled the harnesses, pulled on the elbow and knee pads and strapped up the boots. Lastly came the bandanna, which he ceremoniously tied around his head. Fully dressed, he took a moment to observe himself in the mirror. He had to admit, he felt incredibly nervous about the match. He would be fighting a hundred alloys, a hundred opponents. Were they going to come at him all at once? Or one at a time? He'd surely run out of stamina before the match ended. Normally, they only fought a maximum of three opponents at a time, so, why a hundred? Isn't that a little overkill? Was Master Hand really trying to "help" him gain points back with this? Or was this just further punishment? He would have to use his allotted weapons any chance he got, so he could justify the slight increase in points.
His anxiety about the possibility of not passing crept up again. Snake push it down, closed his eyes and breathed in deep.
"Well, we've got a plan in place for that now. All you have to do is execute it perfectly, Snake."
He breathed out and looked at himself in the mirror again. He was going to pass. He was going to get all of his points back. He had to. Snake cracked his knuckles.
He was ready.
Snake never got to see the full extent of the damage from when the Dome had fallen, just what was shown on the footage from the broadcast, which he'd only seen once, while in the hospital with a head injury, so his memory of it was a bit fuzzy.
The Bay definitely looked different. The furniture and tables of the carpeted sections had all been replaced, so had the garishly expensive-looking glass chandeliers that used to hang from the high ceilings. The Bay windows had a new thick steel frame around each one and the ambulances were parked on the opposite side of the Bay. The vehicles were in front of a newly built, very large garage door that led out into the stadium. The TVs were no longer anchored to the walls but were now built within them.
The food stand was still in the same place though. Nothing about it had changed at all. Which was kind of a relief. The arches were currently blacked out. There was a match going on.
As soon as Snake stepped one foot into the Bay, every head, from both competitors and working alloys, turned in his direction. Snake stopped in his tracks, completely frozen under their gazes. For a second, the whole Bay went quiet, and then just as quickly, the alloys and fighters turned their heads away and went back about their business. Snake felt a lump in his throat.
"Snake! Over here!"
A sudden voice called out to him, which made him jolt, but he instantly recognized it. From a carpeted section, Snake spotted the swordsman Ike. The blue haired youth waved at him, "Come and join us!"
Snake sucked in and breathed out again. He shuffled his way towards the section Ike was sitting at. He was with a small group that consisted of Link (the older one), the brunette princess Zelda, and the kid Ness. They also waved at him. Ness was standing on the couch he was sitting on, so he couch see Snake over the backrest, while the princess was doing some sort of a practiced, regal wave. The kind you'd see in a parade.
"Hey." Snake greeted them.
Link stood up from the single armchair he was sitting in. "You've finally returned, Snake? It's good to see you here again," The blond heartily pat him on the shoulder and gave him a genuine smile, as if he was welcoming back an old friend.
"Thanks," Snake replied. Ike came up to him next. He gripped Snake by the other shoulder.
"I was starting to think you'd quit on us." He quipped with a little smirk.
Snake shrugged and smirked back. "What can I say? I'm just fashionably late." Ike chuckled lightly.
"How have you been faring, Snake?" The brunette princess asked next, "I hope your shoulder has healed."
"Uh, yeah, back to one hundred percent." He replied. He went and sat down on the couch next to Ness. Link sat back on his armchair and Ike went back to his seat, another single armchair positioned across from Link. The princess sat on a two person couch all by herself. A small, metal coffee table sat in between everyone, it was empty save for a hearty breakfast platter in front of Ike, he had been in the middle of eating it when Snake arrived. Both swordsmen had their swords and Link had his shield on the floor, leaning up against their respective chairs.
Ness plopped back down on the couch next to him and gave Snake a toothy grin, "Welcome back, Mr. Snake. Maybe now Lucas will see you on TV again and he can finally stop worrying."
Snake smiled very lightly. "How is Lucas doing?"
"He's good. Did you see he finally came in second in a match?" Ness asked.
Snake nodded. "Yeah, I was watching. I'm happy for him."
Ness wiped his nose and grinned with pride, "I've been helping him train his PSI abilities. Lucas is strong but still a bit skiddish, which can effect his PSI powers. He's gotten a bit stronger now."
Oh yeah, that's right. Snake had forgotten that Ness and Lucas possessed the exact same kind of 'psychic' power. It was the whole reason they'd become friends in first place. When Snake had first met the kids, he had thought the two boys were related, as they had the exact same face as well, but it turns out they weren't. They didn't even come from the same place. Ness came from a small town called Onette and Lucas came from Tazmilly Village, who knows if these places were even on the same planet. What were the odds that two complete strangers were almost exactly alike? Maybe this was one of those alternate... dimension... things. "Oh, right. I forgot you two were, uh, similar." Snake stuttered.
"Lucas may be stronger now, but we still need you around to fend off Bowser, if he ever comes back, that is." Ness gave him a genuine smile too and Snake chuckled lightly.
Ike had gone back to eating his breakfast during his and Ness' conversation, which looked like scrambled egg, a lot of meat and more jalapeno coins. He spoke with a mouth full of food, "I know 'ou've been ou' recovering Shnake, but, 'ou've missed ou' on a few matches during your abshence," Snake squinted at the kid, barely able to understand what he'd said. Ike paused to swallow his food, "I wonder if it may have an effect on your points."
From the corner of his eye, Snake could see Link give Ike a disapproving look. He thought at first maybe the swordsman couldn't understand what Ike was saying and was trying to concentrate on that. Or, maybe the young mercenary stuffing his face wasn't a polite gesture in front of the princess.
Nevertheless, a realization seemed to slowly dawn on everyone's faces. Snake laughed nervously, feigning no concern. "You think so?"
The princess put a finger to her chin in thought, "That is true. We only have so many matches to win a certain amount of points to pass to the second round." She looked at him, a worried expression on her delicate face, "Snake, you may be at a major disadvantage right now."
"But, didn't we also miss some matches?" Ness interjected.
All eyes fell on the child, then everyone went silent, consumed in their own thoughts. Ike even stopped eating his food.
After a moment, the princess mused, "If that's the case, then... Master Hand may have to lower the amount of points required to pass, given the circumstances..." Snake furrowed his brow. He hadn't thought of that; that the other's points would be affected too. As it stood, no one would be able to gather the five hundred thousand points required to pass. So then... what would happen?
Link shared that the missing matches and points were never addressed in that message he got on his "weird box." Zelda agreed she never read anything like that either. They asked Ness, who simply shrugged. Ike, speaking through yet another mouth full of food, said he'd never read anything. He didn't know how to work his weird box and wasn't sure if it was even functional, as the "surface or whatever" as he described it, was cracked. Snake sighed. First his card and now his Terminal? What was with this kid? For that matter, how did he even get here today? Ike really needed to be more careful.
"I wonder if Master Hand will give you a chance to catch up," Link went on, "After all, what happened was an accident. It would be unfair if that caused you to drop out of the Tournament."
"Yeah. No ones ever shot a stage prop before." Ness added, quite nonchalantly. Snake groaned inwardly at the child's words. Link must have seen this, because he gave the kid a disapproving look. Ness retracted, waving his hand, "I didn't mean it as an insult!"
Link reached over and pinched the boy on the cheek, commenting on how honest kids can be sometimes. Ness didn't like this at all and bit his finger. Link yelped. He cradled his hand for a moment before he made a weird face at the child. Ness made the same face back. Zelda held a hand to her mouth to suppress a laugh. Ike didn't hold his back.
It seems the others were quick to catch on to his dilemma, though, it seemed like it was no longer his own. Everyone would be missing points. Snake crossed his arms and stared down the coffee table. He didn't need to pretend how troubled he felt right now.
Something climbed onto his shoulder then and for a second time Snake was jolted.
"Huh? What-"
"Pika pika!"
The yellow Pokemon's round face and plump red cheeks appeared right next to his.
"Oh, it just you." He sighed.
"Pi!"
Ness and Link stopped making faces at each other. Ness turned back to him, "Aww, I didn't know you and Pikachu were friends." The Pokemon looked down at the child and babbled out some noise. Ness smiled again. "It looks like he was worried about you too."
Snake lifted a hand and scratched the animal behind it's perked ear. Pikachu purred happily.
Zelda let out a very light chuckle. "Pikachu is already climbing onto your shoulder? I had no idea you two were so close."
Snake looked at the princess. "Hm?"
"He doesn't usually take to new people so quickly. He can be a bit finicky like that."
"Really?" Snake asked. He looked to Link, "But I saw him climb onto your shoulder."
The swordsman nodded, "I've known Pikachu for a long time, ever since the first tournament. He's used to me. Climbing on the shoulders of a newcomer isn't something I've seen for some time. Not since Marth, I think, but even that took Pikachu a while." Link rubbed his chin in thought, "Though, there's no one he took to more quickly than Samus."
Zelda tittered behind her hand, "I think out of all of us, she's his favorite."
Snake cocked an eyebrow, more interested. "Really?"
She nodded, "Samus has a certain fondness for small animals. I think you may have the same affinity."
The princess gave him a small smirk. Small, but knowing. Snake dropped his hand from scratching the Pokemon. The princess was very observant. He lifted his hand to continue petting the animal after Pikachu nudged him for more. Okay, so maybe she was right about that...
Ike leaned forward in his chair, putting his plastic fork on the empty paper plate, finally finished with his food. "I've tried to pet him a few times, but he'll only sniff my hand."
Ness scoot closer and patted the Pokemon on his back. "Pikachu will warm up to you, in his own time."
The animal purred happily, reveling in all the attention he was getting. "Pika pika!"
"Well well, look who survived."
Snake recognized that gruff voice. He and turned around. Approaching their section was the rough looking, one-eyed canine, his boots clinking on the concrete floor. Pikachu jumped down from of his shoulder and into his lap, ears perked up with caution. Link stared intently at the new guest, his hand slowly gripping the handle of the sword by his side.
"Nice to see you again too, Wolf." Snake greeted the anthromorph.
Wolf stopped a few feet from the couch. "Remembered my name this time? I'm flattered, Foxhound." The canine curled his jowl in a slight smirk. He didn't seem to pay Link or any of the others any mind.
"You walk away okay?" Snake asked.
Wolf huffed, placing a hand on his hip, "Just fine. Got a number done on you though, right?"
"That tends to happen when a building falls on top of you."
Wolf nodded. "It would suck if I couldn't have the chance to fight ya' again. Try to stay alive until our next match." And with that, Wolf turned and walked away. Link relaxed, but Snake wasn't done with their conversation just yet.
"Hang on Wolf," Snake called after him. Wolf paused and looked over his shoulder. Snake got up from the couch, taking Pikachu off his lap and placing the animal in his seat. He told the others he'd be right back and they all gave him looks of confusion. Snake stepped out of the section and caught up to Wolf, who eyed him with an suspicious glare. Snake had a feeling Wolf wouldn't want to the others to hear what he had to say.
"Something on your mind, Foxhound?" Wolf asked.
Snake lowered his voice. "I heard you rescued Lucas."
Wolf looked confused for a second, then curled his jowl again and growled, "Don't make anything out of it, I wasn't doing the kid any favors."
"Lucas wanted to tell you himself, but since he isn't here, I'll tell you in his place. He wanted to tell you thank you for protecting him."
Wolf looked annoyed. He scoffed loudly and jabbed Snake hard in the chest with a claw. "Tell the little snot next time not to freeze in place like that. He's a fighter, ain't he? His reflexes should be better an' that."
Snake nodded back. "I'll let him know."
Wolf stomped away, muttering angrily to himself as he did, his tail flicking back and forth. If Snake didn't know any better, he'd think that Wolf was embarrassed.
Snake returned to the others. They had been watching the whole exchange and now looked more confused than ever.
"That certainly looked like a pleasant conversation." Ike commented.
"It's nothing. Just relaying a message." Snake replied.
The finishing siren blared in the Bay. Everyone turned their attention to the arches. The black smoke that obscured the massive windows receded, revealing the inside of the stadium. Snake looked to a nearby TV. The match had been a stocked, four way Free for All between a chimpanzee named Diddy Kong, a Pokemon called Lucario, the pair of twins known as the Ice Climbers, and Pit. Pit had outlasted the others and came out the victor. Surprisingly, it was his very first win. Good for him.
"When is your match, Snake?" The princess asked.
"Now, actually." He replied, "What about you guys?"
"I believe my match is right after yours."
"Mine too." Ike added, "The Princess and I will be fighting one another." He waved a hand to her, "Don't worry your Highness, I'll go easy."
"Thank you, and I will try to do the same." Zelda quipped back.
Snake caught a small movement in the corner of his eye again. Link had crossed his arms. He had that look on his face, the same look he had when his younger counterpart mosied up to the princess when they'd all met up in his apartment.
"What about you guys?" Snake asked Link next.
The look instantly vanished. "We've already had ours." He replied.
"I was nice and let him win. After all, he's got to show off in front of the princess." Ness quipped with a devious smirk. Link's entire face turned a noticeable shade of red. Had the kid noticed the look too? Link glanced at Zelda who again tittered behind her hand. He turned away and made another face at Ness, who made the same face back again.
"Who will you be fighting?" Ike asked him.
Snake pretended to scratch his chin in confusion. "I have no idea. My match listing was empty."
Link and Ness stopped making weird faces at each other. They spoke at the same time: "It was empty?"
Snake shrugged. "Could be a mistake, maybe."
"If your listing was empty, that could mean..." Zelda trailed off.
"What? What does it mean?" Ike asked.
Ness pouted, "Aww, no fair! I wish I was that lucky!"
Someone started calling out his name. Snake saw an alloy waving at him from the Docks.
"Looks like I gotta get going." Snake said to the group.
The princess gave him a charming smile, "Don't worry about the listing Snake, it was empty for a reason."
"Good luck in your fight. We'll all be rooting for you." Ike said to him, giving him a thumbs up.
"You better not loose! Those are easy points!" Ness warned him. Link just nodded.
"Pika pika!"
The little yellow critter stood on his haunches and waved his tiny paws. Oof. That was too cute. Snake walked away from the group but waved a hand over his shoulder in thanks. He walked across the Bay to the Docks.
Only one of the giant windows opened to let in a few Catchers. The rings floated over the concrete floor, expanded wide and dumped out the losing opponents. Pit came into the Bay riding on a caddie, looking as if he was on cloud nine. His flapping wings kept slapping his poor attending alloy on the head.
"Aw yeah! Leg Two, here I come!" Pit cheered. The caddie docked onto the floor and the windows began to close. At that moment, Pit spotted Snake. "Oh, hey Snake! You're back!"
The kid's voice was loud. As nice and upbeat as Pit was, Snake prayed he didn't want to stop and chat, he just didn't have the energy for him right now. Snake weakly waved back. He expected the kid to scramble over his caddie and come running to him, but he didn't. Pit just smiled and waved back, telling him he'd finally won his first match. The guardrail parted and Pit went over to his loosing opponents instead, offering to help them up, among his other gushing about them and their skills. Snake breathed out a little sigh of relief. He arrived at his dock.
"Afternoon Mr. Snake, it's wonderful to see you again." The alloy greeted formally.
Snake stared at his handler; The alloy was pink.
"...It's just Snake. And thanks, glad to be back." He replied.
The pink alloy tapped on the tablet in her hands. "Is there anything you need to do before you begin the match? Do you need a bite to eat? Or a drink of water?"
"No."
"Do you need to use the restroom?"
"I don't."
The alloy put down it's tablet, but instead of calling out that he was ready, like they usually did, the alloy leaned in closer and softened her voice. "Mr - er, Snake, sir. I am obligated to ask since you were at the center of the terrible incident, but do you feel ready to compete? Do you think you will be able to step into the ring again?" Snake looked at the alloy. They stared back, waiting for his response.
The entire time he was suspended, Snake wanted nothing more than to be in the ring again, to gain back all of the points that were taken from him, so that the whole trip here to this strange land, billions of light years away from his home, currently left at the mercy of Ocelot and the Patriots in his absence, for one chance to not die an early and extremely painful death, was not in vain. Nervous wasn't exactly the word he'd use.
Snake gave the alloy a confident smirk. "I've been ready since the day I woke up in the hospital."
The alloy nodded, fiddled with their tablet again and the light above his arch turned green. A voice boomed over the loudspeakers to begin the arena roulette. Snake looked up to the screen on the wall. Images blinked rapidly, the Domes main computer cycling through the stages. Snake remembered then that he had a facade to keep up. He pretended to look around and "notice" that there was no one else standing at the other Docks.
"Wait, where is everyone else?" He asked the alloy with fake confusion.
"This is going to be special match, sir. You will be the only participant." She answered.
Snake gave his best surprised look, "What? Me? Why?"
The beeping stopped. Snake looked back to the screen. It displayed what looked like a soccer field with white chalk markings on the grass. Though there were no goal nets and in the middle of the field was painted a giant Pokeball.
Pokemon Stadium?
The screen changed again to an image of his scowling face taking up half of the screen, while the other half showed a red, blue, green and yellow alloy, the words SNAKE VS FIGHTING ALLOYS below them.
"The Fighting Alloys?" He said aloud for the benefit of his handler. The announcer's voice outside in the stadium boomed, hyping up the crowd. Snake saw more words appear on the top half of the screen: TIMED - 5:00.
Timed?! Shit! It was just his damn luck that the match would be Timed and not Stock! How in the hell was he supposed to defeat one hundred opponents in only five minutes?!
Snake looked back at his alloy, trying to keep his face composed and the panic inside. "I... have to fight alloys?"
"Yes sir," She replied with a small nod, sounding a bit excited, "You'll have five minutes to defeat the famous Fighting Alloy Team!"
Five minutes isn't long enough!
"BEGIN BOARDING!"
The alloy patted him on the shoulder and wished him good luck. Snake could only curse under his breath as he walked over to and boarded the caddie. The massive arches hummed loudly as they began to part. The caddie detached from the floor and floated out.
Snake had to shield his eyes from the blinding sunlight pouring in through the open roof. The crowd erupted into cheers. Louder than he'd ever heard from them before. Snake lowered his hand. Every alloy and non-alloy guest in the stadium were clapping and started to chant his name. A massive banner rose up from the crowd that read "WELCOME BACK SNAKE!" in huge letters.
Individually, every alloy he'd met during the shutdown had all told him they were glad he was alive, and that they couldn't wait for him to compete again. If Snake was honest with himself, he was worried, worried what they actually thought. When he got back to the ring, how would they really react? Would the alloys cheer for him? Or boo him, like Ganondorf? He was scared they would hate him. Scared they would be afraid of and avoid him. But they didn't. They welcomed him back, with literal applause no less. Snake scrunched his face, pushing back the swell of emotion he suddenly felt.
He crossed his arms and lowered his head, remembering how close the cameras could zoom and didn't want to shed any tears on TV. He was dropped off at the blank stage. Snake took one last look around at the cheering crowd. He nodded to them and held up his hand to give them a slight wave. A small gesture, but an acknowledgement of his gratitude.
The stadium announcer explained aloud the rules of the match, that he had five minutes to defeat one hundred opponents. The crowd cheered. Snake stood in the center of the stage, waiting for the projectors to rise when the floor began to tremble. He stumbled a little. The stage suddenly doubled in size, the two floating platforms on either end sank down and merged into the floor.
Grass began to sprout beneath his feet. A thick bed grew and covered nearly the whole stage. Chalk markings appeared on the grass as well. Snake took a step back to examine them. Two giant circles were in the middle of the field and two half-boxes were on the ends. It looked just like a soccer field. The name of the stage was Pokemon Stadium though, what did that have to do with a goal-less field? Did Pokemon play soccer? The projectors still had not risen. Did this mean... Was he going to fight in front of the audience?
The massive Jumbotron screen displayed a picture of four alloys - red, blue, yellow and green, with the number "100" below it. This was probably a counter, either for how many alloys he defeated or how many he had left. Snake was grateful for this. That meant he didn't have to keep a mental count.
An object come floating up from below the stage. It was the Counter.
Wait a sec, there was no one else was on the stage but him.
The bottom light flashed red, accompanied by a deep blare.
Where were the alloys?
The middle light flashed yellow, followed by another blare.
Snake turned around, fists raised. The stage was still empty. Where were his opponents? Where were they going to come from?
The green light flashed and the starting siren sounded. The crowd swelled again. Snake didn't know what they were cheering for, he was still the only person on the stage.
He spotted something in the sky. Spinning lazily towards the stage, was a catcher ring. It stopped right above his head and hovered there for a moment. Snake looked up at it. This catcher was different. They were normally a dull gray color, but this one was colored red.
The red ring expanded and something came flying out. Snake jumped back, narrowly dodging the glowing fist of a red alloy who smashed into the ground where he'd been standing. Snake rolled onto his feet. That was close. More red catcher rings came flying over the stage. Out of another dropped a blue alloy. She wasted no time, charging at him at full speed as soon as she touched the ground. She raised an arm to strike him. Snake dived out of the way again.
He retreated to another part of the stage. Out of the other rings dropped a green and yellow alloy. They all grouped together and posed side by side. The crowd went wild.
The red alloy raised a glowing hand to him. It spoke in a rather deep voice, "It is an honor to meet you, Mr. Solid Snake. I understand you are undefeated so far, but can you withstand our whole team?" This was the cue for the other alloys to raise their glowing fists at him as well. The audience was eating this up.
Snake sucked in a breath, and blew it out.
One hundred opponents. Less than five minutes on the clock. One of only two chances he had to score a measure of his points back. Without saying a word, Snake got into his fighting stance, raised a hand to them and made a "come here" motion. The alloys all jumped at once.
The blue alloy was the fastest and reached him first. She swung a fist at him. Snake brushed it away, simultaneously taking a hold of her thin wrist, tripping her feet out from under her, and flinging her body over his shoulder to the ground. Next came the little green alloy, flying at him with a tiny foot extended in a sharp kick. Snake retaliated with a kick of his own, punting the green alloy away like it were a soccer ball. It bounced off the ground and flew right over the edge of the stage. Snake stared. While he was distracted, the yellow alloy came for him next. Snake was able to side step it's kicks due to how short it's short legs were, so the alloy switched to throwing punches. Snake grabbed it's short arms and kneed the alloy hard in the gut. It rocketed out of his grip. Snake didn't have time to gawk as the red alloy appeared at his side then, throwing another punch at him. Snake raised an arm and blocked the attack. He planted his other fist into the side of the red alloy's head and it too was sent flying backwards. It bounced off the ground and right over the edge.
A loud beep sounded behind him. Snake turned around to look at the huge screen. The tally on the screen with the alloys had dropped from "100" to "96."
They were KO'd that easily? From just one hit...?
Snake heard another noise behind him. Dropping out from more red Catcher rings, was another blue and yellow alloy. As soon as they'd landed they charged. Snake reached a hand behind his back, feeling the weight of a familiar weapon materializing in his hand. He swung a rocket launcher onto his shoulder and took aim. Both alloys tried to skid to a stop but it was too late.
Snake grinned widely. "This is gonna be fun."
He pulled the trigger. His vision was obscured by white smoke as both alloys were blasted off the stage. More beeps came from the Jumbotron behind, and the tally dropped again from "96" to "94."
Two more red rings dropped out two more alloys, to replace the ones he'd just KO'd. Two others dropped down on his other side too. He was surrounded by six alloys. Again, a red alloy rushed first. Seems like they were the bold ones of the lot. Snake spun around and whacked the red alloy with the empty tube from the launcher. They flew back. He narrowly missed a flying punch from a yellow alloy and a sweeping low kick from a blue one. Snake retaliated by tossing the empty tube at the blue alloy, which she caught in her hands, and Snake planted a quick kick to her body. She went flying, the tube flying out of her hands. He'd caught it and used it to bat the yellow alloy away as if he were a baseball. The counter beeped again: "91"
Nine alloys down and it had only been less than thirty seconds. He needed to step it up.
Samus swiped her GC card in the black box the delivery alloy held up for her. Transaction completed, the alloy handed over the bag with her breakfast order. Samus thanked the alloy, stuffed her card back into her pocket, and retreated into her apartment with food in hand.
She plopped down on the comfy leather couch and immediately dug into the plastic bag. She took out the styrofoam containers and laid them out on the coffee table. The television was on and tuned to the tournament.
"Well viewers, it's time for the next match and this one is certainly a crowd favorite. I know it's one of mine!" Said one of the announcers on TV. Samus glanced up.
"That's right, because the next match is going involve THE most prestigious and legendary team, The Fighting Alloys!" Came the voice of the other.
Samus' head shot up. "The Fighting Alloys?!"
"First time viewers may be wondering who exactly are the Fighting Alloys? They are a team of one hundred of the best and toughest alloys! They've been around since the tournament's inception and were previously known as 'The Fighting Wireframes' and 'The Fighting Polygon Team' before that!"
"In fact, most of the Fighting Alloys are still the original members!"
"Who doesn't strive to be one of them? These Alloys are legends! The Fighting Alloys will face off against one lucky competitor who has just five minutes to defeat them all!"
"All one hundred?! This is gonna be a doozy of a fight!"
"And here comes the challenger now!"
Samus pouted. Whose the one fighting them, she wondered. What a lucky SOB. She would kill to have that match. On TV, the glass arches parted and the crowd cheered loudly.
"Making his highly anticipated return to the ring after taking time off to recover, it is none other than-"
She blinked. "Snake?"
Solid Snake came floating out into the stadium on a caddie by himself. The man was dressed in his form fitting gray suit with the tactical harness and pouches. His signature bandanna was tied around his head. The light from the open roof made the bandanna cast a shadow over his eyes, and the way he stood with his arms crossed and head down made him look menacing.
"He is back! He is back! The up and coming hot new rookie is back!" One of the announcers chorused.
"Snake is going to fight the alloys?" She said aloud to herself. Wait, this is good. It's the one match everyone wants and envies others for having. A match against the Fighting Alloys always granted a ton of points because of the one hundred KOs you could get. Snake could potentially gain back some of the points from the two matches he missed out on during his suspension. He could still make it to Leg 2!
The camera zoomed in close to the soldier's face and she couldn't help a small chuckle. The usually stoic and stone-faced man wasn't looking menacing anymore, he was biting his lip and straining his face, making a super weird expression. Snake was getting emotional. She could understand why. The crowed was chanting his name and the camera panned over members of the audience who held up signs, including a row waving a large "WELCOME BACK SNAKE!" banner. Returning to the ring after everything that happened to a cheering crowd was a feeling like no other. She was happy for him. The caddie reached the stage and Snake jumped off.
Samus finished laying out her breakfast and dug in as the match begun. The first wave of the Fighting Alloy team dropped down on the stage. Snake made quick work of them, knocking them all out easily. More alloys appeared and he'd KO them just as fast. Snake was surprisingly good at taking on multiple opponents at once, none of them were able to catch him off guard. After Snake eliminated about twenty or so alloys, the stage terrain began to change, though the camera was obscured by a massive cloud of black smoke from a fistful of grenades Snake had tossed to his opponents. The screen changed to different angles all around the arena, but no camera could see anything.
Powerful fans blew the heavy smoke up into the sky, which hid just how many alloys Snake had KO'd with his grenades.
This stage was unlike any other he'd fought at before, it changed right in the middle of the match. The grass receded back into the metal floor, replaced by a grated ramp that stretched across the stage, underneath it were a row of massive fans. They were loud and generated a powerful wind. Windmill-style turbines had also appeared on the back of the stage and floating in between them were three strange creatures. One resembled a purple balloon with two string-like appendages, another was what he could only describe as a "pink kitty-helicopter" and the last creature was a tad more menacing, a metal bird with blades for wings. It flapped around the turbines, screeching a strange wiry cry. Snake was sure these creatures were all Pokemon, illusions created by the Grid.
The Jumbotron beeped again. Snake was now down to seventy-two alloys. Every time he knocked one out, another would almost instantly appear in it's place, some times two. Snake dodged the punches of a yellow alloy but he was struck in the back by a green one. They both lay a fury of hits on him before Snake managed to block their attacks. He grabbed the yellow alloy's arm and yanked it behind it's back, neutralizing it. He then delivered a kick to the green alloy's concave face, but instead of sailing off the stage, the wind from the fans sent the green alloy flying up into the sky, where it was snatched by a Catcher. Snake took care of the yellow alloy by gifting it with a grenade before punching them off into the sky. The grenade exploded. Snake took a second to glance at his arm. His damage counter was up to 32%.
Rattling on the grate alerted him to more alloys dropping in. Snake charged the group of them head on, ducking and dodging all of their attacks. He jumped clear over a red alloy, who swung for him, and rolled onto his feet. They all looked back at him for a moment, probably wondering why he ran through them and didn't throw a single punch. He twirled a little object in his fingers for them to see - a detonation switch. He pressed the red button and the brick of C4 he discreetly dropped on the ramp in the middle of the group exploded. The cloud of black smoke was again blown upwards. More beeps sounded from the Jumbotron which now read "64." He was almost half way there. Another screen, devoted solely to the timer, said he had three and a half minutes left. Even though the alloys were easier to knock out than a sleeping guard, Snake was getting tired.
An object crashed down onto the ramp, which startled him. Across the stage was a wooden crate. Yes! These things were always filled with all kinds of goodies! Unfortunately, another catch of alloys also came raining down. Snake immediately made a run for the item but so did the alloys. There were too many of them in his way and an alloy intercepted him, knocking him back and upping his damage to 38%. The rest of the alloys surrounded the box and began to pummel it. It didn't take much for the crate to break. Snake was too busy fending off the alloy and couldn't see what weapons had come out of it. He growled angrily, ducking down and spinning, dodging the alloy's punch and planting a fully powered roundhouse kick to the side of their head. The alloy was knocked away.
Snake summoned another rocket launcher and fired at the group crowded around the broken crate. Shiny alloy bodies went flying like rag dolls in all directions. More beeps came from the screen but Snake didn't look up. He took off running to the area the crate had been. The fan blew the smoke upwards. Snake dived for the only object he saw left on the ramp. He rolled back to his feet, gripping the weapon he'd snatched up in his hand - a simple red flower with beady black eyes.
Snake recoiled at the weird plant. "What the hell is this thing?!"
He didn't have time to figure it out. Something heavy landed behind him and Snake looked back. It took him a moment to recognize just what he was looking at. The thing had the shape of a red alloy but it was colored a solid, metallic gray. A green and blue alloy dropped down on either side of it. The green alloy wore a strange headband with wobbly rabbit ears and the blue one twirled a baseball bat in her hands.
Damn it! Not only had these three alloys survived his attack, they'd gotten the other weapons as well! The red alloy had grabbed a metallic power up that made the user extremely heavy and impossible to KO for a short amount of time. The baseball bat could deal massive damage with just one hit, and the head band- ! Well... he... actually didn't know what it did. This was the first time he'd ever seen it. Crap! And all he got was a stupid flower!
Wait, where did it go?
His hand was empty. The strange flower had disappeared. However, his glove had now mysteriously turned white, as did his harness, elbow and knee pads and the rest of his tactical gear. What the hell? He didn't get his clothes colored by a Pallet Pod. What the hell was going on?
More red rings passed over the stage, dropping out more alloys. They landed on the grated ramp all around him. He had to be looking at twelve alloys now. They had him completely surrounded. The three alloys who held weapons began to close in on him first and the rest followed. Snake raised his fists, ready to take on every single one of them. The grate clinked behind him and Snake spun around, aiming a punch at an alloy coming in from behind for a sneak attack. A massive fireball suddenly exploded out from his hand. Snake yelped in surprise and the alloy shot off like a rocket. His hand was on fire and Snake frantically waved it around until the flames went out. The alloys stopped their advance. Snake examined at his hand. His glove didn't appear to be burned. Another alloy decided to pounce on him while he was distracted. Hearing the rapid footsteps on the grate again, Snake spun around with a powered up kick and fire erupted again, this time from his leg. The alloy flew back.
Snake's boot was on fire and he stomped it out. Again, nothing appeared to be burned.
What the hell was going on?! Was the fire coming out of him?! Was this because of that weird flower he picked up?!
The metallic alloy charged at him next. Snake had no time to dwell on this dilemma. The alloy swung a powerful right hook at him and Snake feinted to the side. He curled a fist and drove it into the alloys open torso. Another ball of flames erupted from his fist and the alloy was knocked back. Snake looked at his hand again. This alloy hadn't shot off like the others though, it had only been pushed back. The alloy shook of his attack and came for him again. Snake spun around, stretching out his body fully to deliver an underhand kick. Fire shot out again. The alloy was knocked away further this time, sliding to the edge of the ramp, taking another alloy with them.
Snake got back into his fighting stance. He smirked. So, this is what the flower does. He looked at the group of alloys still surrounding him and they all appeared to flinch. Snake roared and unleashed a flurry of fireballs in every direction. He struck every alloy, even the blue one with the baseball bat. The Jumbotron began beeping rapidly, a sound he absolutely relished in.
Samus watched the match nervously, having already finished her breakfast. She had recognized that kick Snake had performed. She did that exact same move to him during their tag team match when he'd challenged her to that silly hand-to-hand thing. She wondered if he'd copied her on purpose.
Either way, Snake didn't appear at all sluggish, or move like he was in any pain. He really must have not sustained a serious injury when Ganondorf attacked him, like he said. She'd suspected he had been lying about it, but she was glad. Snake was fighting at one hundred percent right now.
He utterly decimated the alloys using the Fire Flower boost he'd picked up. The Fire Flower was an object that gave the user the ability to shoot out fire projectiles from any appendage on the body. The alloy counter in the corner of the screen was down to "45." The alloys who had gotten the weapons from the wooden crate had been easily defeated, though, Snake had trouble catching the little green one with the Bunny Hood. This item granted the wearer lightning fast speed, making them nearly impossible to catch and even harder to hit. Funny how it was called a hood when it was actually a headband. Snake had finally caught the green alloy in a trap, it ran right into a motion sensor bomb he'd planted on the ramp.
The metallic alloy took a ton of hits, managing to last up until it's metallic power up ran out, but by then, it's damage was so high, Snake merely had to breathe on the alloy and it was KO'd.
A match against the Fighting Alloys looks easy, as they go down with one hit, but in reality, it was one of the hardest matches there was. The real challenge lie in the fighter's stamina. As the match progressed, more and more alloys would drop from the Catchers, easily overwhelming anyone if they were not defeated fast enough. And if they landed hits on you, the damage added up. That was where Snake's real problem lie. The more he defeated, the harder things would get.
Snake's Fire Flower power up ran out too. The counter was down to "33." More and more red catchers zoomed over the stage and more and more alloys rained from them. Snake had a little over a minute and a half until the end of the match.
Samus clasp her hands nervously together. "Come on Snake, you can do it..."
The floor rumbled again. The Pokemon flying around the wind turbines disappeared in small flashes of light and the windmills began to shrink back into the metal flooring they'd formed from. Snake had an alloy in a headlock but both stopped their struggling when the fans beneath the grate shut off and the ramp began to shake. The floor suddenly rose high into the air. Snake let go of the alloy when his feet sank into soft red dirt, the ramp morphing into a dirt mound. The soil could not support his weight and, while the alloy went sliding down one side of the hill, Snake tumbled backwards down the other.
He landed on the back of his neck and groaned loudly. Snake rolled over onto his side and slowly pushed himself onto his knees.
CRUNCH!
His hand had crushed something. Snake looked down to see it was an animal's skull. He yelped again and jumped to his feet. He had rolled right into a small pile of animal bones. Snake looked at his new surroundings. The stage had changed it's terrain again. Where the hell was he now?
The floor was made up of red dirt and rock. Bones littered the ground. A large boulder had appeared on one side of the stage with multi-level scaffolding and wooden ladders pushed against it. The surface of the rock had been chipped away, revealing ancient fossils. Tools like hammers, chisels and axes littered the ground around it. Oh, this place was a dig.
Just as Snake was taking a moment to dust the red dirt off himself, something came bursting out of the ground by his feet, scaring the hell out of him.
"What the fu-?!"
"Trio, trio!"
Three brown colored lumps stuck out of the ground. Snake stared at it. The lumps had creepy, beady eyes and what he could only think were large noses. They were all different sizes and wiggled around. This was... another Pokemon, right? Snake didn't have time to wonder, as commotion above alerted him that his alloy opponents were back.
A red alloy jumped down from the scaffolding. Snake rolled forward, dodging the fist that it smashed into the ground. The alloy scared away the weird brown lumps and it retreated back into the ground. Snake got back on his feet again. He raised his fists, expected the bold alloy to come charging again when he was grabbed from behind. Another red alloy locked their arms underneath his, pinning his arms above his head.
Shit! He fell for their trap!
The other red alloy took advantage of his position and delivered a massive punch to his gut. The wind was knocked out of him. The alloys drew back his other fist, intending to hit him again but Snake quickly brought up a knee and blocked the attack. The alloys made a fatal mistake in not restraining his legs. He kicked the alloy right in the chest, knocking it back. Snake yelled out a war cry and used the momentum of his kick to downswing back onto his feet, with as much force as he could muster, and he flipped the red alloy restraining his arms over his back. They crashed on the ground into the pile of bones. Snake reached a hand behind his back and summoned another rocket launcher. He blasting the two red alloys into oblivion.
Black smoke crowded around him and Snake tossed the empty tube on the ground. It dissipated. He took a moment to glance at his arm again. 102%. The smoke cleared and he looked over at the Jumbotron. Twenty-nine alloys were left. The crowd was chanting something loudly, he could barely make it out. It sounded like they were saying, "Twenty-nine! Twenty-nine!"
His small moment of reprieve was over as more alloys appeared around him, dropping down on the scaffolding from above and sliding down the dirt mound next to him. Once again, Snake was surrounded. There were way more than twelve this time, he had to be looking at fifteen or more alloys. He didn't understand. Why were their numbers continuously increasing? No matter how many he defeated, more and more of them would appeared. His breathing was quite labored now. He was tired. How much longer could he possibly keep this up?
The alloys raised their fists to him in one manner or another. Snake tiredly raised his back, getting into his fighting stance. Well, whatever the damn reason, he was going to go down fighting. "Let's go!" He growled to them.
A bright light flashed above and every head turned. The crowd stopped their chanting and collectively gasped - The coveted rainbow orb had appeared in the sky.
"IT'S A SMASH BALL! A SMASH BALL HAS APPEARED!" The announcer called out. The audience swelled in response.
"I rearranged the code so that anytime you appear on the Roster for a match, the Grid will drop more of the high point value melee items. It'll also increase the frequency of a Smash Ball being dropped."
Snake grinned widely. Thank you, Otacon!
Unfortunately, the alloys reacted faster than he did and they all jumped at once. Half of them climbed up the scaffolding, while the other half clambered up the dirt hill. Shit! They couldn't get a Smash Ball too, could they?! Snake had to reach it and break it before they did! He followed after the alloys, jumping up the scaffolding too.
CRACK!
One of the alloys had struck the orb. Snake tossed an alloy off the platform as it was in his way. He jumped up to the top of the scaffolding. The ball had drifted closer to his direction. Snake jumped from the platform but before he could utilize the Grid's double jump ability, he was struck in the side. Because his damage was so high, Snake was sent crashing all the way back to the ground, landing roughly on top of the pile of bones. He pushed himself back up.
CRACK!
Another alloy struck the orb again. One more hit and the sphere would break! Luckily, that hit caused the Smash Ball to careen off to the other end of the stage, out of their reach for now. All the alloys dropped down to the ground and scrambled to climb over the dirt hill to get to the other side. Not one of them attacked him as they passed, they completely ignored him. They were only focused on the Smash Ball. Snake got back to his feet.
He watched the large group try to jump for the orb that floated over the massive drop. A few alloys fell like lemmings to their demise trying to hit it, and the red Catchers only dropped out more to replace them. There were too many. The alloys may be taken out with a single blow, but his damage was too high, Snake ran the risk of being KO'd himself, especially if they ganged up on him. They would definitely try to stop him from breaking the orb. Snake was at a loss for what to do. The clock continued to count down. What should he do? What the hell should he do?!
An idea struck him like lightning.
Snake held out his hands to summon another of his weapons, one that he had yet to use. The Smash Ball began to drift closer. A red alloy jumped off the edge and swung for the orb but missed. The alloy used it's double jump ability to make it back to the stage, grabbing onto the ledge. It was the first one to survive a failed attempt. The ball drifted even closer.
A greater weight than the Rocket Launcher appeared in his hands. Snake swung the heavy barrel of the Nikita Missile launcher onto his shoulder. He took aim and locked on the floating orb using the Nikita's digital tracking camera. He squeezed the trigger and the missile exploded out of the barrel. Unlike the Rocket Launcher, the Nikita Missile was remote controlled. Snake kept his eyes on the screen, steering the missile above the alloys and driving it straight into the center of the Smash Ball.
The sound of it breaking was like music to his ears. The light that released from within the orb was so blindingly bright, Snake had to shut his eyes. He felt a sudden warmth inside him. The weird sensation grew, spreading quickly from the pit of his stomach all the way to the tips of his fingers. Snake opened his eyes. The light was gone but now his body was enveloped in a golden glow. He looked at his hands. The light seemed to waft off of him, like a visible heat. He was filled with a massive surge of energy. This feeling... it was incredible! His fatigue had completely vanished! He felt like he could do anything! Beat anyone! Take on the whole damn world right now! Snake felt absolutely unstoppable!
His vision suddenly blurred. No, wait, it didn't blur. Everything slowed down, as if it were going in slow motion. From the alloys who were beginning to run away, to every individual in the crowd. His vision hadn't blurred, it focused. Normally, human eyes can process twenty-four "frames" per second, and when adrenaline was pumping, up to sixty-four "frames", right now he had to be seeing a hundred to hundred and fifty of these "frames" per second. His senses were incredibly heightened. He heard every single movement around him. The alloys were letting off a strange sound, almost like a high pitch squeal. Snake could see a distortion in the air around the light in their abdomens. Could this be where the sound was coming from?
Snake glanced back at the Jumbotron. The countdown clock slowly changed from forty-eight to forty-seven seconds. More than enough time to finish the match.
Snake heard a familiar noise. He looked up to see a helicopter appearing in the sky, surrounded by the same golden light. The machine headed in his direction, a long rope ladder forming from the open side of the chopper. If Snake reached his hand high enough, he could easily grab the bottom rung, but, why do that? With this power, he felt like he could fly!
Snake bent down and jumped, the power from the Smash Ball propelling his body upwards. He easily jumped thirty feet. He could almost laugh from how exhilarated he felt. Snake grabbed a hold of the rope latter, hanging from one hand while he looped a foot around another rung. The helicopter passed over the stage, beginning to circle around it. Members of the audience excitedly waved at him.
Snake looked up at the machine. Even from below he could tell it was a Russian Katsatka. The civilian model. Strange.
There was a sudden weight at his hip. He looked down to see a massive weapon had appeared. Snake unhooked it from his belt. It was an RGB6 Croatian-made Grenade launcher. Holy shit! This was the mother of all Grenade Launchers! He popped open the ammunition chamber, which opened like the barrel of a six shooter. Six rounds were already pre-loaded, and a extra clip holding six more appeared on his other hip.
Twelve rounds. A ton of targets. Time for some serious ass kicking.
While the helicopter circled the arena, the stage began to change again. The red dirt was swallowed up by mounds of ice and snow. The wooden scaffolding disappeared and the fossil rock was usurped by a jagged iceberg that shot up from the ground. Another identical iceberg appeared on the other end of the stage. In between them, a small weather beaten cabin appeared. It had a single window and door that were both opened and the roof had a foot of snow piled on top with icicles that trimmed the edges. Snake felt a sense of nostalgia looking at it. A arm-less snowman, with a rusty bucket for a hat and charcoal bricks for eyes, formed next to the house. Heh. Cute.
The two floating platforms were tilted at an angle and also covered in snow and icicles. A cold chill blew through the air. It was no where near as cold as the frigid wind that blew on the Shadow Moses stage.
The alloys were in full flight mode, running all over the place. They were trying desperately to find a spot to hide from him, but they could only go so far.
Snake took aim with the grenade launcher and squeezed the trigger. His super focused vision could see the round shoot out of the barrel and fly through the air. He saw nearly every alloy bring up their bubble shields to protect themselves. An explosion hit the stage and he saw all of their shiny bodies fly into the air. The catchers quickly swooped in and scooped them up, like birds on their prey. The counter beeped slowly. The numbers dropped all the way down to "21." Snake knew from experience that shields did absolutely nothing when someone had the Smash Ball. They might as well have been protecting themselves with paper.
More red catchers came spinning over the stage and out dropped more alloys. To Snake, they fell in slow motion. He shot them out of the sky before they could even touch the ground. Snake stole another glance at the clock. The digits beeped slowly from twenty-five to twenty-four seconds.
He emptied the Grenade Launcher of it's rounds. He popped open the chamber, dumped out the empty shells, loaded in the other rounds with lightning fast speed and took aim again. He blasted every inch of the stage. The alloys could run nor hide anywhere. The counter continued to drop.
At last, Snake was down to the last round. The red catchers had stopped flying in. Four alloys were left on the stage - red, blue, green and yellow, just like the ones the match started with. How fitting. The timer kept ticking. There were only nine seconds left. The four alloys were spread too far apart over the stage. Damn! What was he going to do? He had to get them all in one shot or he would loose! But how?
Another light flashed in the sky. With his suped-up vision, he could see the object falling was yet another crate. But hold on, this one was different. The crates always had the Tournament's circular logo on the side, this one had a giant 'FLAMMABLE' insignia instead. He hadn't never seen this symbol on the crates before. Did that mean it was actually...?
The box landed on the stage, bounced on the snow, and fell onto it's side. The alloys all ran to the item. Snake didn't know if the symbol was real, but now they were all converging in one place. He took aim at the box.
Closer...
The countdown timer beeped.
Just a little more...
The alloys skidded to a stop, spotting the red warning sign on the side of the crate.
Snake fired.
A shock wave cracked through the air. Snake had to cover his ears. An enormous cloud of black smoke engulfed the whole stage. This explosion was the biggest and loudest one yet, even bigger the C4 bomb he used earlier. Snake couldn't see a thing through the smoke, even with his suped-up vision. Did he get them? Did he KO all of them?! Snake looked back to the counter, the digits were still ticking down from three to two, he looked back to the clock-
The finishing siren blared. The match was over.
Immediately, Snake' vision and senses returned to normal. The audience began to move regularly again, their dull droning returning to loud cheers, which were drowned out by the loud beating of the helicopter's blades. Snake had to shake his head from the sudden influx of sensory overload.
The helicopter turned in direction and began to fly towards the stage. Snake held onto the ladder with both hands. He looked down at his feet, which he instantly regretted. The sheer drop to the bottom of the Dome was terrifying. Now he felt dizzy.
The helicopter blew up snow as it hovered over the stage. Snake climbed down the ladder and jumped, landing on the snow with a crunch. He looked up to the chopper saw it disintegrate into the golden light. Snake smirked. Not bad for his 'ultimate attack.' There was nothing more satisfying than blowing shit up.
The stage rumbled again and the snow disappeared beneath his feet. The two giant icebergs shrunk down into the floor and the snow faded from both of the floating platforms as they leveled themselves again. Snake watched the cabin and snowman disappear with a little bit of sadness. The stage reverted back to it's original blank form. Snake fell to his knees on the metal floor. All that energy the Smash Ball had given him suddenly vanished. He was absolutely exhausted, he didn't even have the energy to stand.
Snake eyed the Jumbotron. Ignoring the massive picture of himself, he focused on the words at the top of the screen - WINNER
He'd done it! He won! He managed to defeat all one hundred alloys! Snake looked to the screen with the timer. The clock had stopped at two seconds. He looked to another screen, the one that displayed the points. Otacon's plan required him to win at least 40,000 points per match in order to pass. If he got any less than that, he wouldn't make it...
His tally read 62,302 points.
Snake's jaw dropped. S-sixty two thousand points?! He didn't just reach his goal, he far surpassed it! Snake was overcome with emotion again. He felt so happy, he punched the ground a few times. He'd won back a portion of his points. He was going to do it! He was going to make it to Leg 2! Just one small step closer to tat wish!
Snake shakily got back to his feet. His whole body ached and creaked. If only the Grid did something for that. Right now what he needed was the strongest pain killer known to man and an eighteen hour nap. Snake looked out at the colorful crowd. They chanted his name, the banner that read "WELCOME BACK SNAKE!" was waving again. He couldn't help a small smile. He looked to the ground and held up a fist to them. They cheered.
An arch parted open and a single caddie came floating out to the stage.
The alloy handler helped him onto the caddie, holding an arm around his waist to support him. She congratulated him on his win and he thanked her. The caddie departed from the stage and headed back towards the Bay. Snake looked up to see that a floating camera was following them. He looked directly into the lens and gave the camera a thumbs up. Anyone watching would think it was just a casual victory sign, but it was actually a message to his friend. He knew Otacon would understand. It was because of him and his meddling with the code, that Snake had won, that he would make it the Leg 2. Step one of their plan was complete. Everything was now in motion.
Chief barked and howled loudly, excited by the engineer as he danced around his living room, clapping his hands and cheering loudly.
"He did it, girl! He did it! Sixty-two thousand points!" Otacon said to the husky. Chief jumped up on him, trying to lick his face. Normally he'd gently push the dog off and tell her to stop, but right now, he didn't care. His data mining had worked better than he could have ever hoped! Not only had a Smash Ball appeared, but a crate with higher point melee items and an exploding crate that had a high damage rate. It all worked out in Snake's favor!
He plopped back down on the couch. Chief still wanted to play and pawed at him. She howled again.
"Keep this up Snake, and you'll make it!"
Samus let out a breath she'd been holding throughout the whole match. A huge wave of relief came over her. Snake had won the match and won an impressive amount of points too. Hopefully it would make up for the two matches he'd lost out on during his suspension. But it was strange, sixty-two thousand points was a lot more than what they'd usually win, she thought they could only get a maximum of thirty-five thousand points per match.
She packed the food containers back into the plastic bag they'd come in to throw away. She ought to write Snake an email and congratulate him. Samus got up from the couch, plastic bag in hand, stuffed it into the kitchen trash and headed over to her Terminal. She sat on the stool and tapped the screen. She clicked on the inbox and hovered her finger over the "Reply" button, intending to write to him in their continuous email that they'd been exchanging over the last couple of weeks.
"I thought you two were... you know."
Immediately, she retracted her hand, the pink princess' words coming back to her. Samus shook her head. No, it wasn't like that. She just knew about Snake's particular situation he'd found himself in, and that she had also become apart of. She was glad he didn't have to drop out of the tournament either, because of something that wasn't even his fault.
She was just going to congratulate him. They same way he did with her both times she'd won her returning matches. He'd write back, thanking her and tossing in one of his lame flirts or innuendos, like he always did. The man was so shameless.
Still, her finger hovered over the "REPLY" button. After a moment of just staring at the screen, Samus got up from the stool and went back to the living room where she sat down on the couch to watch the next match.
Maybe she would tell him in person the next time she saw him. It was a big win for the man, after all, an email just wasn't good enough. At least, that's what she told herself.