Author's notes: I don't own Smash Brothers or any related games or characters.
Yep, this is a gift to Carol (Inu-jin angel), one of my best friends on fanfiction.net. I called it "One Last Breath" because the Creed song with the same title kind of seems like our song, so to speak. ^^ I love writing presents for my friends, but it's not really easy to do. The only ones I've done before were the KTM series, for Amanda (magical mog x), and Willow (apocalyptic vision) for the last one. It's been almost a year since I wrote the first KTM, and I haven't written any gifts since the fourth, so as you can see, despite how much I love giving gifts, I don't do these very often. Carol, I just want you to know what a good friend you are to me, and hopefully this'll help. I really have no idea how long it'll be, but since I'm also working on two other stories, I hope it won't be too much longer than five chapters or so.
One more thing I want to say: I know this idea's been used many times before, but now I'm doing it my way, do don't any of you DARE accuse me of ripping someone else off. First of all, I don't read every single story in the Smash Brothers section, and the few I do read aren't like this, so I can't be knowingly ripping anybody off. Second, I'm sick of those accusations. I've been accused of ripping people off when, if anything, the other person was ripping ME off because I wrote mine before they even STARTED theirs. So say I'm ripping someone off, and I will not be a happy camper. *ahem* Heh... enjoy, Carol. ^_^;
__ __ __
Each step the girl took echoed with apprehension through the dark corridor. She could hear another set of footsteps on either side of her; she recognized the pattern on her right to be her companion, who had entered the tunnel with her, but it was too dark to see who the human steps on her left belonged to. She didn't know if this person meant her harm, or if they were just as confused as she was. She clutched the thick fur on her partner's neck, as a signal to stay close, once she started to make out the outline of two large doors in front of her. When she was standing before it, the end of the corridor, she waited for a moment, half expecting the doors to open, before doing it herself. She pushed on one of the doors while the unidentified person pushed the other, and the decent--but not overwhelming light on the other side flooded in. Her companion followed her lead and slowly stepped past the doors, and the girl examined the large room in which she found herself.
Stadium lights hung overhead in every corner she could see, and enclosed in a clear dome in the center of the room was a large platform with neon pink lights around the edges. The platform seemed to be floating over nothing, as it was the only bit of solid ground inside of it. Surrounding the dome were benches and stands, and it reminded her of a sporting stadium, except that there didn't seem to be anyone else around. Her eyes continued to wander around the area, until they landed on the person standing to the left of her. It was another teenage girl, who was looking around the stadium with the same awe that she'd had. Although the other person didn't seem to be anyone she knew from her school, there was something familiar about her that she couldn't quite figure out. Then it hit her.
"Wait, you can't be..." she spoke for the first time since entering the tunnel.
The other girl turned her attention toward the girl and her wolf, and it didn't take her long to realize that she was standing next to someone she knew very well. It showed in her eyes as a look of astonishment came across her face. "Carol?!"
__ __ __
"Hey, Link!" called Fox McCloud to his friend as he ran toward the training grounds.
The Hylian raised one hand to the other swordsman, signaling a time-out while he turned to the fox. "What is it?"
"They're saying two girls wandered into Final Destination!" he replied as he leaned against the barrier, which was much shorter than the half-circle over the actual stages. "Come on, let's check it out!"
"Who are they?" Link continued to question, not wanting to abandon his training with Marth in mid-battle.
The pilot shrugged. "No one can identify them. Must be from a new place! So, let's go!"
"Fox, I'm in the middle of something here. I can't just--"
"So, let's go," the blue-haired prince sheathed his sword an walked toward the exit of the ground, apparently interested in joining Fox.
"But--the battle--" Link stuttered, then let out a defeated sigh before getting too frustrated, and followed the other two.
__ __ __
Not to Link's surprise, a lot of the fighters were gathered around Final Destination. From what he could see, only five or six weren't around. He guessed that was only because nobody had told them yet. But with the swarm of people surrounding one specific area, he couldn't see any faces he didn't recognize. But after Fox grabbed his wrist and pulled him through the crowd, he was face-to-face with two strangers. One was a girl with black hair just past her shoulders, and a large, pure white wolf close by her side. His eyes lingered on the beautiful dog for so long that it took him a few moments to see the other girl. She had thick auburn hair, about the same length. Unlike the other girl, she wasn't accompanied by an animal. The girl with the wolf was looking around nervously at the people showering them with questions, while the other looked a little annoyed.
"Okay, let's calm down here, all right?" a familiar voice broke through the crowd, and the Hylian princess stepped up to the girls, signaling for the others to back away. "Give them a little room; they're just people, we've seen those before."
Both girls looked slightly relieved when the crowd obeyed her, stepping back and quieting down.
The princess with thin blonde hair bowed politely to them. "I apologize for their behavior. It's just that it's been a while since we had any new entries. I am Zelda," she straightened up and gave a small smile. "I'm sure I'm not the first to ask you this, but what are your names?"
The girls looked at each other, a bit confused about what she said, but answered what she last said. "Mel," said the girl with auburn hair, in a quiet, almost nervous voice.
"I'm Carol," answered the black-haired girl, in a voice that sounded somewhat similar to Mel's. "And this is Blizzard," she put one hand on the wolf's head, who looked a little more alert after the mention of his name.
"To be honest, I think we already know your names," Mel spoke again, in the same tone.
The fighters looked around to each other, as if expecting one of them to speak up and say they knew them. "How's that?" asked Falco, Fox's partner.
Mel and Carol looked to each other, at a loss of how to explain it. "We've heard of this place," answered Carol. "But I don't understand how we ended up here.
"Well, let's see," Link stepped forward a bit, "I'm going to guess that you found a tunnel somewhere that you'd never seen it before, and got drawn in?"
"Well... I guess," Carol shrugged.
"It was weird; I saw the thing, and I couldn't stop myself from going in," Mel contemplated aloud. "I didn't necessarily want to go in, but it was like something invisible was pulling me."
Fox, who wasn't far behind Link, nodded. "Same thing happened to us. Once Master Hand decides you're going to enter, you're going to enter and that's all there is to it. That's his method. See those doors behind you? They've been there since we got here. They're in a lot of stages. They can't be opened from this side; they're the gateways for new people to arrive. Once they do, that's the only time they open."
"Seeing you here isn't much of a surprise, cause those doors have never opened before. We knew somebody had to come." Link added.
"It's a surprise for us!" Mel scoffed.
"Yeah," Carol agreed. "This is a fighting tournament. What could we do to participate in a tournament like this? We don't fight."
Link's eyes went back to Blizzard. "I'm willing to bet you could fight well with him. He looks very strong, and very intelligent."
"Of course he is," Carol stroked Blizzard's neck. "He is a wolf, after all. And he only listens to me."
"I'd like to say I have some sort of fighting skill, but I can't," Mel shrugged bleakly.
"Well, we'll see about that," Fox smirked. "Master Hand wouldn't choose you two for no reason."
"I suppose I should figure out your sleeping arrangements. Would anyone care to show them around as I do?" Zelda turned her eyes to the crowd.
"I'll do it," Link offered with a small smile. "Come on, Carol," he motioned his hand for the girls to follow as he walked past the crowd.
Mel raised an eyebrow at the elf before following behind. Carol looked at her friend with a slightly confused look and shrugged. But Mel's annoyance quickly changed, and a small smirk crossed her face. "Well, this should be interesting."
Yep, this is a gift to Carol (Inu-jin angel), one of my best friends on fanfiction.net. I called it "One Last Breath" because the Creed song with the same title kind of seems like our song, so to speak. ^^ I love writing presents for my friends, but it's not really easy to do. The only ones I've done before were the KTM series, for Amanda (magical mog x), and Willow (apocalyptic vision) for the last one. It's been almost a year since I wrote the first KTM, and I haven't written any gifts since the fourth, so as you can see, despite how much I love giving gifts, I don't do these very often. Carol, I just want you to know what a good friend you are to me, and hopefully this'll help. I really have no idea how long it'll be, but since I'm also working on two other stories, I hope it won't be too much longer than five chapters or so.
One more thing I want to say: I know this idea's been used many times before, but now I'm doing it my way, do don't any of you DARE accuse me of ripping someone else off. First of all, I don't read every single story in the Smash Brothers section, and the few I do read aren't like this, so I can't be knowingly ripping anybody off. Second, I'm sick of those accusations. I've been accused of ripping people off when, if anything, the other person was ripping ME off because I wrote mine before they even STARTED theirs. So say I'm ripping someone off, and I will not be a happy camper. *ahem* Heh... enjoy, Carol. ^_^;
__ __ __
Each step the girl took echoed with apprehension through the dark corridor. She could hear another set of footsteps on either side of her; she recognized the pattern on her right to be her companion, who had entered the tunnel with her, but it was too dark to see who the human steps on her left belonged to. She didn't know if this person meant her harm, or if they were just as confused as she was. She clutched the thick fur on her partner's neck, as a signal to stay close, once she started to make out the outline of two large doors in front of her. When she was standing before it, the end of the corridor, she waited for a moment, half expecting the doors to open, before doing it herself. She pushed on one of the doors while the unidentified person pushed the other, and the decent--but not overwhelming light on the other side flooded in. Her companion followed her lead and slowly stepped past the doors, and the girl examined the large room in which she found herself.
Stadium lights hung overhead in every corner she could see, and enclosed in a clear dome in the center of the room was a large platform with neon pink lights around the edges. The platform seemed to be floating over nothing, as it was the only bit of solid ground inside of it. Surrounding the dome were benches and stands, and it reminded her of a sporting stadium, except that there didn't seem to be anyone else around. Her eyes continued to wander around the area, until they landed on the person standing to the left of her. It was another teenage girl, who was looking around the stadium with the same awe that she'd had. Although the other person didn't seem to be anyone she knew from her school, there was something familiar about her that she couldn't quite figure out. Then it hit her.
"Wait, you can't be..." she spoke for the first time since entering the tunnel.
The other girl turned her attention toward the girl and her wolf, and it didn't take her long to realize that she was standing next to someone she knew very well. It showed in her eyes as a look of astonishment came across her face. "Carol?!"
__ __ __
"Hey, Link!" called Fox McCloud to his friend as he ran toward the training grounds.
The Hylian raised one hand to the other swordsman, signaling a time-out while he turned to the fox. "What is it?"
"They're saying two girls wandered into Final Destination!" he replied as he leaned against the barrier, which was much shorter than the half-circle over the actual stages. "Come on, let's check it out!"
"Who are they?" Link continued to question, not wanting to abandon his training with Marth in mid-battle.
The pilot shrugged. "No one can identify them. Must be from a new place! So, let's go!"
"Fox, I'm in the middle of something here. I can't just--"
"So, let's go," the blue-haired prince sheathed his sword an walked toward the exit of the ground, apparently interested in joining Fox.
"But--the battle--" Link stuttered, then let out a defeated sigh before getting too frustrated, and followed the other two.
__ __ __
Not to Link's surprise, a lot of the fighters were gathered around Final Destination. From what he could see, only five or six weren't around. He guessed that was only because nobody had told them yet. But with the swarm of people surrounding one specific area, he couldn't see any faces he didn't recognize. But after Fox grabbed his wrist and pulled him through the crowd, he was face-to-face with two strangers. One was a girl with black hair just past her shoulders, and a large, pure white wolf close by her side. His eyes lingered on the beautiful dog for so long that it took him a few moments to see the other girl. She had thick auburn hair, about the same length. Unlike the other girl, she wasn't accompanied by an animal. The girl with the wolf was looking around nervously at the people showering them with questions, while the other looked a little annoyed.
"Okay, let's calm down here, all right?" a familiar voice broke through the crowd, and the Hylian princess stepped up to the girls, signaling for the others to back away. "Give them a little room; they're just people, we've seen those before."
Both girls looked slightly relieved when the crowd obeyed her, stepping back and quieting down.
The princess with thin blonde hair bowed politely to them. "I apologize for their behavior. It's just that it's been a while since we had any new entries. I am Zelda," she straightened up and gave a small smile. "I'm sure I'm not the first to ask you this, but what are your names?"
The girls looked at each other, a bit confused about what she said, but answered what she last said. "Mel," said the girl with auburn hair, in a quiet, almost nervous voice.
"I'm Carol," answered the black-haired girl, in a voice that sounded somewhat similar to Mel's. "And this is Blizzard," she put one hand on the wolf's head, who looked a little more alert after the mention of his name.
"To be honest, I think we already know your names," Mel spoke again, in the same tone.
The fighters looked around to each other, as if expecting one of them to speak up and say they knew them. "How's that?" asked Falco, Fox's partner.
Mel and Carol looked to each other, at a loss of how to explain it. "We've heard of this place," answered Carol. "But I don't understand how we ended up here.
"Well, let's see," Link stepped forward a bit, "I'm going to guess that you found a tunnel somewhere that you'd never seen it before, and got drawn in?"
"Well... I guess," Carol shrugged.
"It was weird; I saw the thing, and I couldn't stop myself from going in," Mel contemplated aloud. "I didn't necessarily want to go in, but it was like something invisible was pulling me."
Fox, who wasn't far behind Link, nodded. "Same thing happened to us. Once Master Hand decides you're going to enter, you're going to enter and that's all there is to it. That's his method. See those doors behind you? They've been there since we got here. They're in a lot of stages. They can't be opened from this side; they're the gateways for new people to arrive. Once they do, that's the only time they open."
"Seeing you here isn't much of a surprise, cause those doors have never opened before. We knew somebody had to come." Link added.
"It's a surprise for us!" Mel scoffed.
"Yeah," Carol agreed. "This is a fighting tournament. What could we do to participate in a tournament like this? We don't fight."
Link's eyes went back to Blizzard. "I'm willing to bet you could fight well with him. He looks very strong, and very intelligent."
"Of course he is," Carol stroked Blizzard's neck. "He is a wolf, after all. And he only listens to me."
"I'd like to say I have some sort of fighting skill, but I can't," Mel shrugged bleakly.
"Well, we'll see about that," Fox smirked. "Master Hand wouldn't choose you two for no reason."
"I suppose I should figure out your sleeping arrangements. Would anyone care to show them around as I do?" Zelda turned her eyes to the crowd.
"I'll do it," Link offered with a small smile. "Come on, Carol," he motioned his hand for the girls to follow as he walked past the crowd.
Mel raised an eyebrow at the elf before following behind. Carol looked at her friend with a slightly confused look and shrugged. But Mel's annoyance quickly changed, and a small smirk crossed her face. "Well, this should be interesting."