14shiffna: It's good to hear you enjoy this story! Thanks!

Authorial Nerd: My main problem with the shorter chapters is that I could probably write longer chapters and make more stuff if I stopped getting distracted, but alas, such focus is quite difficult to maintain. I'm working on it, but I don't usually like to commit 100% of my attention to something so it'll take a bit of time.

The darkness that engulfed him the moment he stepped inside should have been a big red flag. Link was used to ignoring red flags, always the first person on the scene whenever someone needed his help, and as a result, had a few strands of hair singed off the front of his face.

The sudden attack startled him, and his shield instantly went up. He hadn't been expecting it. The only other people he could have run across were supposed to be his allies, and allies didn't attack each other. Didn't they?

"Who's there?" he said. When no one replied, he felt brave enough to peek out behind his shield. Past the smoky scent of the burned tips of his hair, he saw something glow in the darkness. It took him a moment to realize that was the burning edges of a hole, punched straight through a metal sheet, smoke still drifting up and out of it.

Someone sighed behind it, and the low whir in the air slowly died down.

"Light off," Samus called out in the distance.

Finally, the darkness drew back, revealing a spacious room inside. Around the room, several wooden crates and metal sheets were propped upright, strewn about as targets if the smoldering holes torn through every one of them were any indication. There were a few planks splintered on the floor, victims of more explosive attacks, and as Link scanned around the area, he saw an armored red and yellow figure step out from behind a stack of boxes.

"Why are you shooting things in the dark?"

"Testing out some new equipment," Samus said, tapping a finger against the side of her helmet. "What do you want?"

That snapped Link out of his temporary stupor, and he slung his shield over his back. A relaxed smile spread over his lips, and his hands fell to his sides. "Oh. Right. Well, I was thinking back to what we were talking about."

"You wanted me to take you to the capital."

"Yeah, that!"

Samus huffed, and she crossed her arms, turning away. She still didn't want to take him, that much was clear.

"Please?" Link said. "I promise you won't regret it."

"How so?"

Link's smile quickly fell. He hadn't thought this far and looked a little unsure.

"Well, I'm a good shot," he said, pulling out a bow to show to her.

"I've trained in the military. I can shoot things myself."

"I can reach high places with my hookshot."

"I have a grapple beam."

"I can cut things?"

"What would I need to cut?"

Link didn't have an answer to that. He'd put most of his cards on the table, and she turned away all of them. He didn't have anything else left to barter. Even if he did, she probably didn't trust him enough to take him up on it.

"Come on, I really need to get to the capital. There's a really bad guy held up in there, and I need to make sure he didn't escape. Can't you help me out?"

Behind her visor, Samus huffed. "Whoever he is, he can't be worse than the Space Pirates."

"Are you sure?" Link said.

"Why are you so insistent on asking me?"

Link frowned at her, not that it bothered Samus. "You have your own spaceship. Who else would I ask?"

"Fox? He has a spaceship too."

"Yeah, but he's busy. He's always talking to other people."

"Then you're going to have to find someone else to take you. I won't."

With that, Samus turned on her heel and left. Her metal boots clanged loudly as she crossed over to the entrance, walking past Link before he could get his thoughts in. He watched her hurl the door open before he remembered what he was trying to do and stumbled over his feet to try to catch up with her.

He tried to get her to stop, tried to get her to listen. He protested as he kept pace with her, and to her irritation, she found herself wearing down.

"Okay, I'll do it," she snapped.

"Really?"

"But only if you beat me in a fight."

What little excitement Link had shown was quickly dragged into a shady alleyway and shot dead. He grimaced, but it was short-lived, and he reluctantly stepped into a fighting stance.

With a shrug, his shield slid back down onto his arm, and he drew his sword, holding it behind his shield in a defensive pose. Samus did likewise, bringing the sights of her arm cannon onto him, activating it with a mechanical buzz.

The look on his face when a missile launched itself from her cannon told her he wasn't expecting it. He dove away. By the time he hit the ground, the missile went off. The heat from the resulting explosion washed over him. He got to his feet before she could take advantage of that and charged.

The next missile hit his shield dead on. This time, he was sent flying back. He tried to push himself back up, but she wouldn't give him the chance. Another missile came, and he was forced to push himself away. He jumped up as he did so, and their playing field leveled out.

Again, he tried to close the distance. Her constant barrage kept him away. As his efforts failed over and over, he realized that it would never work. So he adapted.

He slid his sword back by his side, drawing his bow out at the same time. As he wove around another attack, he leaped behind one of the few piles of crates still standing. He placed an arrow on the bowstring. He breathed deeply and thought out his next move. A loud cracking sound broke him out of his thoughts, and he glanced back at the crate he was hiding behind to find a smoking hole ripped right through.

Without thinking, he sprung out from his cover, firing an arrow at Samus. Her arm was already pointed in his direction, but she moved it to block his attack on instinct. It didn't give him much time to plan another attack, so he fired off another arrow. This one hit. It bounced harmlessly off her armored suit, but the sheer force behind it jerked her shoulder back.

The attack caused her to take a step back, but by the time she recovered, a third was on its way. It headed straight for her face. Her arm moved up to block it. This obstructed her vision, however. Link took the opening to dash through her, drawing his sword as he moved past. The blade swiftly became a silver blur cutting across her side. She stumbled forward, crying out in pain, but as he finished his attack, something dislodged from her armor.

A piece of it fell to the floor with a clatter. Missiles poured out after it. Samus instantly swung around, and Link found himself staring down the barrel of her cannon. He was caught off guard and braced himself for an attack. When it never came, he snuck a peek. Like him, Samus was confused, staring intently at her arm cannon. She never noticed the shield coming from her left until it slammed into her face, throwing her to the ground.

In an instant, Link had his sword against her throat. "Surrender," he said.

It looked like she might argue, but in the end, she had to accept it, slumping in defeat. Link paused, making sure she was really admitting defeat, before he finally took the tip of his sword off her throat and stepped away. He held out an arm for her, offering to help her to her feet. She brushed it aside, and she pushed herself off the floor, taking a moment to brush the dust off her armor.

"What was that, anyway?" Link asked.

"Missile tank," she replied, crouching down to collect the scattered missiles, slipping them back inside the compartment in her armor. "Without it, I can't use my missiles."

"Well, it came out quite easily."

"It happens."

"Are you sure? It can get annoying when you have to keep putting them in every time they fall out."

Samus didn't reply.

"So about going to the capital..."

This time, Samus glared. Link shrunk back, and despite having won fairly, still felt guilty.

"Okay, maybe later."

Something crashed into the floor outside. Link and Samus exchanged worried expressions, and they rushed outside. The base might have been under attack for all they knew.

The moment they stepped out into the hall, their weapons were already brought out. An arrow nestled over the fingers gripping the bow. Beside it, the arm cannon whirred to life, a blue glow coming from within. They were prepared for the worst.

Perhaps they might have been forgiven for murdering a select few of the others with them when they found out the noise was just Fox and Mario hurling things across the kitchen.

Decided to pick up the pacing a little bit. We're approaching the halfway mark of the story, so I need to add more to the characters before we get there.

Something I noticed back when I was doing research on Samus for her introductory chapter is that in her bio, you can easily tell which part of her bio is part of different games. Every time a new Metroid game starts, Samus always finds a way to "conveniently" lose all her equipment, forcing you to start picking all her weapons up again. I found that kind of funny, so I offhandedly mentioned that here.