You guys: [breathes on this fic]
Me: I LOVE YOU ALL LIKE CHEDDAR LOVES EVERYTHING THAT EXISTS AND ALSO EVERYTHING THAT DOESN'T-

I KNOW Snake would have some issue with Naomi Liu at first because of Naomi Hunter - I'm only at Twin Snakes right now and I've just finished both the Meryl and the Otacon ending - but I can't figure out a way to mention it at some point in this thing. I had it in Snake's original scene in Ch2 but then I rewrote it to the box thing! Anyway, as I write this, it's the start of my spring break (first week of April, buddy!), so I should be able to get some more time in to write more Ultimate Daydream!

If you like fic so far, why not give it a like and a follow, or even review the chapters you like particularly? I would REALLY appreciate it if you did! Thanks again!

I only own Camilla Swann and Naomi Liu. Everyone else in the Super Smash Bros universe belongs to their respective owners.

Chapter Four
Reunion

There were probably a million ways for Naomi to wake up to her second day of Smash Mansion that was better than Camilla literally kicking her off of her bed, letting her body hit the ground with a loud thump.

"- Camilla!" Naomi snorted, flipping hair away from her face.

Camilla stood with her arms crossed. "You've been asleep for almost twenty hours, you lazy vampire!"

A happy bark came from somewhere in the room, as it took Naomi a second to process Camilla's statement. Usually, it was impossible for Naomi to sleep unless she could see the stars; she'd been like that ever since she took on this great quest to make sure Fatima never hurts anyone ever again with her Stalkers.

"...I've been asleep since - "

"Yes, since Richter and Simon." Camilla huffed, turning away from Naomi. "You missed all your introductions with the newcomers, so you're gonna have to deal with that today. And you're lucky I came to wake you up; another hour or two of your slumber and you would've missed breakfast!"

"Breakfast?" This woke Naomi up faster than anything else Camilla could have pulled on her. Man, she was really craving some chocolate chip pancakes right now. Before the Smash Ultimate invitation, Naomi couldn't remember the last time she had chocolate (Camilla being just a tad overprotective of Cheddar), so she had taken the opportunity to stock up. "Al-right! Let's get some food!"

Cheddar yapped in delight, before picking up his squeaky toy with his mouth. The bright blue rubber bone was worn from countless hours of Cheddar playing with it, but still held up to the tests of time and a dog's jaw. The good boy sat down nearby the door of their hotel room, tail wagging as he started to patiently wait for his two best friends. This got a "d'aww" out of Camilla, her tough exterior cracking, as she knelt down to rub the top of Cheddar's head, not looking away from the puppy as she told Naomi to get changed and that she'd better see her downstairs in ten minutes.

It was around now that Naomi realized that Camilla wasn't in her usual blue-and-white skintight suit; instead opting for the pink-and-cream one this time. She never wore this one...

"Speaking of clothes, what's with the wardrobe change?" Naomi reached for her backpack, where she had unceremoniously dropped it near the foot of her bed last night.

"Oh, you noticed, huh?" Camilla grinned. "This is my 'saving the world in style' suit; you know that."

"Yeah, but we're not saving the world today, I hope." She unzipped it, sticking her arm straight down past her snacking materials.

This got a laugh out of Camilla. Apart from the way she woke Naomi up, the Ravinan seemed to be in a pretty good mood today. "I know, I know, but you know how stylish this one is. I do want to look good while whooping the butts of everyone. After all, if Brawl was huge, imagine the audience at Ultimate!"

Yup, there was the Camilla that Naomi knew and...liked? Loved? Tolerated? She wasn't too sure. Camilla was also one of those fighters who acted like her life was over if her tier dropped down one ranking. That was how Smash worked; during the week, each player would cycle through the list of fighters so they're guaranteed to fight them all at least once. The list of who fights who was determined every day, but at the end of the week a tier list would be posted up so fighters could see how well they ranked. Of course, the winner of each battle would get a considerable sum of gold at the end of it; another motivator, this time for the more greedy fighters.

Naomi had been comfortable with her C-ranks during Brawl, but Camilla tried desperately to move to a rank higher than B+. Honestly, Naomi believed that Camilla would've gotten at least to the high A-ranks, if not even S-ranks, if it hadn't been for a certain brawler: Meta Knight. No one had stood a chance against him. The whole 'meta' in Brawl was who could survive longer against Meta Knight, in which you had to be fast, lightweight, have a longer sword than him (which for some weird reason wasn't possible), and some decent air-game. Considering how Naomi hadn't been the fastest and having a massive shiruken for a weapon weighed her down, there wasn't a chance of her getting past C even if she wanted to.

"And here we see the Camilus Ravinus, counting her chickens before they hatch again. Who knows, maybe the meta this time directly hurts fast-paced long-distance fighters. Remember Ganondorf in Brawl?" Naomi chuckled. "Poor dude didn't stand a chance."

"I know. It was a pity; he was so disappointed about it." Camilla shook her head, before standing up. "Anyway! I'm going to take Cheddar downstairs for food. After his daily walk, he's bound to be hungry. Isn't that right, boy, aren't you hungry for some yummy treats?"

Cheddar barked in response.

Camilla opened the door as Naomi pulled out her new outfit of the day. "And don't even think about wearing those so-called 'comfy clothes!'"

Naomi put away her new outfit of the day and went to look for another. She needed coffee. And food.

Hey Mom, did I ever mention I hate Camilla sometimes?

Naomi had a headache. That was the only way to describe it. First Camilla walked way off ahead of her, and then the newcomers were all like "heyyyy, Naomi, the one Simon and Richter were hurling axes at, right," and then came Sonic. Oh, Sonic, Sonic, Sonic.

"Naomi! Really cool introduction you had last night. Say, you got anything good in that pack of yours to go with your breakfast, like, I dunno, a chili dog?" He grinned and gave her finger-guns, his pace matching hers.

Naomi started walking faster to get ahead of him. "Please do not speak to the jiang-shi until she has had her coffee."

"Aw, come on, Naomi-"

"Please do not speak to the jiang-shi until she has had her coffee." This time, she seemed to have put in enough of an oomph behind her words that made Sonic realize that if he kept jabbering she would most likely do something drastic. Like punch him. Or eat him. They just plodded along together in a silence that wasn't awkward, but at the same time it wasn't exactly...comfortable.

Thankfully, the silence was broken once they got into the dining hall. Sonic whooped and speed off, while Naomi took a second to glance over the general environment. On one end of the room was a table filled with plates piled high with food. There were a few waffle irons with pre-made batter nearby, along with some different cereals and fruits. The room itself was halfway full with fighters getting in a somewhat late breakfast, Kirby being one of them. At the end of the table was - oh hallelujah - a coffee pot, halfway full and with a bunch of sugar and cream packets nearby.

It took Naomi two cups of coffee and half of a third before she even felt like socializing again. She looked at the buffet table as she sipped her coffee, pouring some batter into a waffle iron as she spooned some scrambled eggs onto her plate. How many waffles did she want this time...? Judging by how her stomach was complaining, maybe five or six would be a good place to start. And there was the whole issue of who to sit with. She'd had enough sitting alone for a lifetime, back at school after, well, the thing; y'know, the thing she didn't like to think about.

But then again, she was really not in the mood to sit with Camilla. The pilot in question was sitting with Samus and Solid Snake, and it looked like they were in an in-depth discussion as to why Cheddar was very pure; knowing Camilla, though, she was just going on a rant about how much she loved her dog while Snake tuned her right out and Samus at least tried to feign extended interest. Naomi would just get roped in, and probably chastised for devouring so much in so little time. No thank you.

...Speaking of Cheddar, the extremely loud yowl nearby caused Naomi to jump and nearly drop her freshly made waffle. Turning around, she saw a large black-and-red cat humanoid standing on a table trembling at the sight of Cheddar, who was sitting with his head cocked in confusion and his tail wagging. He barked a few times, which seemed to cause even more terror in the cat. Oh, what was his name again? Incinerate? She knew it was something that started with 'Incine,' but couldn't remember what. Cheddar jumped up and down, trying to get to the big fluff-ball to give him love, but he still acted like Cheddar was trying to eat him. Naomi had to stifle a laugh at the thought of the tiny pup who had never so much as growled at anyone in his short life trying to bite someone at least a hundred times his size.

As if on cue, Isabelle came running up to Cheddar's side, yapping something at him. Apparently she could talk to Cheddar through bark language, that was something new. The two barked at each other back and forth for a minute; the large cat not once taking his eyes off of them like he was afraid they would bite him. Cheddar trotted off, and Isabelle turned to the cat.

"Oh, it's okay, Incineroar; he's just friendly to everyone!" Isabelle chirped. Incineroar, that's it. "I let him know about the whole cat-and-dog thing!"

Incineroar growled under his breath, burying his face into one claw.

"No problem!" With that, Isabelle went her own way as Incineroar finally got down from the table. Naomi turned back to Camilla to see her reaction. Camilla called Cheddar over in East Oclanian, gently clapping her hands to get his attention. The puppy's face lit up into a big smile and he ran over in leaps and bounds to see his best friend and her friends. Snake noticed the ring on her left hand and asked something about it. Camilla looked up at him as Cheddar came rocketing into her arms like a furry missile of love and said she finally had to invoke her marriage pact with her best friend Maximus so she wouldn't get into the so-called Partner Algorithm that Ravina had. Naomi never really got all the details about why they had that. Something about an under-population problem a long time ago?

Someone zoomed up to Naomi's side. "Is it safe yet, or are you gonna chew my face off?"

"You're safe, Sonic." Naomi reassured.

"You still didn't answer my question earlier."

Naomi turned to look at him. "Even if I had chili dogs in there, I'm not giving them to you."

This she punctuated with a considerably sassy sip of her coffee.

"Ouch." Sonic fake-pouted, before his gaze turned to Naomi's massive plate. "...Oh. Wow. You're gonna eat all that?"

"Yep." Naomi's plate looked like a mountain of multi-colored foodstuffs. "Apparently, jiang-shis have to eat. Like, a lot."

"Kirby could eat all that and go back for more, you know." Sonic chuckled as Naomi swept her plate in one hand, placed some utensils on the ceramic, and held her coffee in the other.

"Well, that's Kirby. Do you doubt my eating skills?"

Sonic shook his head. "Nah, nah, just saying. Anyway, c'mon, there's someone who want to see you again."

Naomi internally sighed. Here it comes; all those introductions I gotta do. She plastered on a smile and asked who it was. In response, Sonic merely told her "You'll see" and started walking - yes, Sonic the Hedgehog walking instead of just blindly zooming ahead of everyone - to a table. Naomi followed, and barely had time to put down her food when she was tackled by an overenthusiastic boy wearing a red and blue baseball cap.

"Naomi!" Ness bawled into her chest.

Naomi wrapped her arms around Ness. "...Hey, Ness."

She had always been friends with Ness in Brawl. There was something about his childlike optimism that reminded her of the person she used to be before she met Camilla: hyper, easily excitable, and without a care in the world. She had mellowed out a lot more since then, but sometimes she couldn't help but wonder what she would be like if things had gone just a little different; if her father had waited another second after the light turned green.

"When we got your announcement, I - I -"

"Hey, it's alright. General Melissa needed us, but y'know what? We're back now." Naomi laughed. "You're getting more of yours truly for a while now!"

"YAY!" He squealed, jumping up and down. "I saw what happened with the Belmonts last night, but I didn't get a chance to say hello - Hey! Guys! Naomi's back!"

As if on cue, all the younger Smashians that Naomi had become friends with during Brawl came running up to their table. Toon Link, Jigglypuff, the Ice Climbers - everyone was there. When was the last time Naomi actually had someone who got this excited over her mere presence?

You know, Mom, I could get used to having friends again.

...So it turned out there actually were downsides to being a returning veteran from Brawl - namely, Naomi's very first battle being against Meta Knight. Camilla had interrupted the beautiful reunion about halfway, telling that their fighting schedules had arrived, and that she was so sorry. Naomi didn't get what she meant by the sorry part until she got a glimpse of it.

"10 A.M. - Naomi vs. Meta Knight; Coliseum; singles"

Sonic must have noticed the expression on the girl's face at this point, because he asked her why she was so pale. Without saying a word, Naomi showed him her schedule, and he whistled softly.

"I mean, lately he's not as bad, but you're so dead." He chuckled. "Namely, you're too slow, even now."

"You don't think I know that?" Naomi asked in between forkfuls of food. "And besides, you haven't seen me fight yet. I could be the fastest jiang-shi in space."

"You're the only jiang-shi in space." Sonic shrugged.

Oh, she definitely remembered the wrath of Meta Knight in Brawl. Everyone dreaded the day they would get a Meta Knight cycle, because they would be all but obliterated because of him. Even in a doubles match, they all fell to him. The tier-hogs would scream and cry whenever they were against Meta Knight, because it would be an instant loss. Naomi just hated the pain that Meta Knight would bring, every time she fought him she would be sore for the rest of the day and the day after.

It was safe to say that she wasn't looking forward to the battle. Soon, much too soon, it was tournament time. The breakfast buffet was being closed down, and though she wanted to stay with her old friends for the rest of the day, Naomi knew that wasn't how it was gonna work. She stood up, said her "see ya after the matches" and headed out. The tournaments were held pretty close by; Naomi got there with 15 minutes left to spare just ambling at a leisurely pace. Camilla had already gotten there (because of course), and was currently trying to calm down Cheddar, who seemed to think he would get to fight too.

"No, boy, I'm sorry, but you're not going to fight with me...!" Camilla cooed, rubbing Cheddar's fur. The puppy yapped in response, jumping up onto her lap.

Naomi sighed and sat down in a plastic chair, her leg bouncing.

"Naomi, I am so sorry for you; really, I am." Camilla shook her head. "You poor thing."

"Shut it." Naomi really didn't want to hear it, anyway. "Who've you got today?"

Camilla pulled out her schedule and gave it a once-over. "...Uhhh, going up against...hm, Mario, Marth, Corrin - do we know 'em? - a few doubles matches, and some newcomers too. Who's this Bayonetta?"

"Beats me." Naomi shrugged.

Naomi's full name was called out on the speaker system. Hardly any time to sit... Fifteen minutes wasn't nearly enough for her. Where did the time even go? Naomi stood up again and grabbed the bracelet off her wrist. It wasn't really a bracelet, per say; more like a large, platinum bangle with four massive, curved blades inside of them. Naomi wasn't too sure how the Ravinans managed to make such a weapon that could do so much damage, but only in close quarters. Frankly, though, she loved using her shuriken against Amber Night Stalkers.

Camilla was squealing about how Cheddar was such a good boy as Naomi stepped out into the bright sunlight of the battle arena. There were hundreds of thousands of eyes on her at one side of the arena; her rather formidable opponent, Meta Knight, on the opposite side. The knight looked strangely calm, polishing his golden, spiked sword with his free hand.

Her side of the crowd cheered as Naomi spun her shuriken around in her hand once, just to make sure she still remembered the basics. Not like she could forget, though; even if Camilla hadn't drilled it into her head, all those times she fought off Amber Night Stalkers was enough to keep her on her toes and her memory refreshed. Why were they cheering? She hadn't even done anything - for all they knew, she could have gotten worse over time.

Meta Knight looked up at his opponent, nodding once at her. Naomi knew what he was like; always respecting the code of chivalry as a knight. During the times that he and Kirby used to fight each other (or so she was told), he would always offer Kirby a sword to make it fair. She always respected that about him; considering how Camilla was the exact opposite. If her opponent had fallen to the ground and scattered their weapons, well, sucks to be them; because they were gonna get sniped in the forehead with the gunblade.

No time to think! Naomi slipped her headphones on to calm her nerves. What song would fit this battle best...?

"THREE! TWO! ONE!"

Naomi's music drowned out the thoughts in her head, and all her focus was on now was surviving against Meta Knight.

"GO!"

...Naomi won. She barely made it, but she actually won against THE Meta Knight. As he spun into a Mach Tornado to launch Naomi into the air, she had tried to cancel it out by throwing her shuriken at him. It spun forward, slicing him up, before returning to her hand. Of course, she was still caught in the blast and flew up. Her wings - very similar to a bat's, except scaled up in size - ripped out of her back and slowed her fall. Naomi's talisman flapped in the wind as she landed on her feet, following it up by a rapid dash at Meta Knight and swinging the shuriken again.

Surprisingly, it caught him and he was thrown back. The fight had raged on for quite some time at this point, so the both of them had taken quite a bit of damage. It shouldn't have surprised Naomi to see Meta Knight fly back, right out of the limits of the arena. He yelped in pain as a large flash of light engulfed him, and Naomi's side erupted into cheers.

"Naomi Liu Wins!" The announcer boomed. The audience went wild as Meta Knight slowly clapped for her. Meta Knight was such a good sport, Naomi thought to herself.

Honestly though, Naomi was high on the ecstasy of winning against the great Meta Knight. She looked up at the faces of the audience. They all blurred together into an unrecognizable mess of eyes and lips, but Naomi let out a whoop, before cupping her hands over her mouth and shouting at the top of her lungs, "How'd ya like that, Mom?!"

I won my first tournament! Do you remember Meta Knight, from the last time I was in Smash? Well, I fought him today and WON!

Are you proud of me?

Bonus Bit
Snake's Codec about Naomi

-bipbip-

Snake: Mei Ling, who is this girl with wings?
Mei Ling: That's Naomi Liu, Snake. She's a jiang-shi, which roughly translates to "stiff corpse" in Chinese.
Mei Ling: She's our version of a vampire, and eats souls instead of blood.
Snake: "Stiff corpse," huh. Then why is she moving around so much?
Mei Ling: Naomi's a little different from what mythology tells you about the jiang-shi; namely, she has wings she can fly with and her body becomes more flexible after she consumes a soul.
Mei Ling: Poor girl lost her father in a car accident, and her mother went missing soon after. Now she wants nothing more than to find her mother; the last bit of her family that may still be alive. I can't imagine what it's like...
Snake: ...I can.
-bew-