A/N: HA! Fooled ya! Here's ANOTHER chapter!

Kim: (holding muzzle) And I was kidding about the muzzle too. FOOLED YA, FOOLS.

Roy: It was pretty real to ME... (rubs jaw)

Eliwood: (appears) Hey, guys.

Link: AHHH(hides)

Eliwood: I forgot what PETA was, so I came back.

Ed: -.- Ingenious.

Eliwood: Thank you:)

ONTO CHAPPIE!

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Chapter 4: Could She Be...?

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Roy leaned over the barrier under the Screentron, watching Link and Marth's match with little interest. His thoughts were constantly wandering over to the new Smasher as he delighted in fantasies of what would happen if he actually gained the courage to talk to her. Several times he recited to himself what he would say to her, scolding himself whenever he uttered a stupid pick-up line. Once more, he tried again, this time with a more casual approach.

"Okay... um... Uh, hey there, Ryka... How's it... no... How's your day been?" he elaborated to himself.

"Pretty good! That Captain Falcon's a major pain in the tail, though."

Roy yelped like a puppy whose tail had been stepped on, and turned to face Ryka herself, leaning on the barrier beside him. She laughed innocently as Roy blushed and tried to get a hold of himself.

"Um, ah... Yeah, Falcon's an ass," he hastily agreed, yet cringed at his use of foul language around such a female. But all she did was laugh in response.

"Anyone else I should be worried about?"

"Well..." Roy seriously considered this, even though she might've just been kidding. "Bowser will set you on fire if you get him mad... Ganondorf will vaporize you if you get him mad...Oh, and so will Samus if you call her a guy."

Once more, Ryka laughed innocently, and Roy began to loosen up and relax. He hadn't planned for something like this at all, but let all the recitings he had in his head disappear and focused on actually being himself for her.

"But yeah, everyone else is pretty decent," Roy sighed as he let go of a breath he didn't know he had been holding. "And the kids are really hyperactive."

Ryka nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

Roy nodded himself, not quite knowing what else to say. when she didn't say anything either, he turned to realize she was staring right at him. He felt his chest inflate in shock briefly, but those eyes of sapphire that matched his dared him not to look away, not to resist. A gentle silence was exchanged between the two as Ryka analyzed his cute face and Roy admired her beautiful features.

Too soon, the silence was broken by the hum of the teleporters as two of them opened, and Link and Marth stepped out simultaneously. The elf sulked playfully while the prince regarded him with a smirk.

"I win again," Marth proclaimed. "What's the matter, losing your edge?"

"You're too fast!" Link accused, poking an oh-so-deadly finger at Marth's breast plate. "You need to slow down!"

"Or maybe you just need to speed up."

Link grumbled under his breath, but the sight of Ryka brightened up his features. "Oh! Hey, Ryka!"

Ryka smiled and waved in greeting.

Marth grew slightly suspicious, wondering how long she was alone with Roy, but against his better judgment, he pushed the suspicions away for now. "Have you had any battles yet?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah, some good ones too," she answered, beginning to count off her fingers. "I fought with Mario first... Then Fox, he was pretty good... Oh, and then Captain Falcon. The slimeball was more focused on hitting on me than fighting, though."

"Typical," Link chuckled. "So, what's up?"

"I wanted to fight a fellow swordsman," she responded, patting the hilt of her thin sword. "If any of you don't mind..."

"Ooh, me! Me! Me me me!" Link raised his hand like an eager student wishing to show off his knowledge.

"You?" Marth countered with a smirk. "You're the worst of us!"

Link glared his way. "Am not!"

"Liar."

"I know who you are, but what am I?"

"A liar."

"Takes one to know one!"

"You're still a liar."

As the two bickered, they went unnoticed by Roy and Ryka, who went back to simply staring at each other in the most serene way. To them, Link and Marth's debating voices were far away, if not non-existent.

"I just wanna try the new Smasher out, what's your problem?"

"Oh, stop being sick-minded."

"Dude! That's not what I was thinking about at all! You're the sick-minded one!"

Roy had to admit, he was undeniably smitten with this girl. He didn't know what it was that made Ryka different from other females, but he knew whatever it was, it succeeded in drawing him in and drowning him in her beauty.

"Oh... fine."

"Yes!" Link's cry of triumph broke their exchange again, and, almost reluctantly, Ryka turned away from Roy and faced the Hylian. "Time or Stock?"

"Um... One Stock's okay," Ryka answered quietly, forcing out a smile.

After changing the settings, the two competitors respectfully bade each other good luck and stepped into the teleporters. With a soft glow, they were gone. Roy sighed, wishing the exchange would've lasted a bit longer as he and Marth glanced up as the Screentron flickered on. There, Link and Ryka appeared on the Termina Great Bay, both drawing steel. Ryka took on a most casual pose, holding the sword's hilt loosely in her dainty fingers.

"Ready... GO!"

And the second afterward, the girl sped forward and swiped her sword at her opponent. Link barely had enough time to raise his shield to block the attack, and even then he grunted as the force of the blow knocked him back slightly, his boots skidding across the gravel. Ryka withdrew and flipped back, landing on the turtle nimbly.

"Wow," Marth spoke up. "She's fast. And strong."

Roy watched this carefully. That kind of strength and speed combination in such a small figure didn't seem humanly possible, not at all.

Link smirked at Ryka, falling back into his defensive stance as she pushed off her heels with great momentum to push her forward swiftly. As she approached, he whipped out his boomerang and chucked it her way with a rough toss. Seeing it coming, Ryka rolled forward to dodge it, and then as it came back, still kneeling from the end of her roll, she reached up and snatched it from the air, without even opening her eyes. Link gaped in surprise.

Soon, her eyes snapped open after some deep concentration, and she tossed it back. Link himself caught it, but seconds later he yelped and dropped it, sizzling slightly as if Ryka's touch had made it fiery-hot. Link stared at it as if expecting it to explode.

"Whoa..." Marth leaned on the barrier in anticipation. "How did she do that...?"

Ryka fairly gave her opponent time to pick up the object and tuck it away, and Link did so while eyeing her cautiously. To the elf, this was a warning against using long-ranged weapons against her, so he shifted his strategy to pure swordplay as he rushed in to attack. She swiftly blocked that blow, and for a few minutes, the two exchanged strikes, sparks flying as steel struck steel. It looked more like a sparring match than a Smash fight.

Soon, they broke off, standing on either side of the center platform. Link smirked as he noticed her heavy breathing, whereas he was just getting started. Ryka could tell this kind of combat would get her nowhere closer to victory; perhaps now it was time to use her special power...

She took a firm stance, shutting her eyes to concentrate her energy and tell it where to go. As it traveled down her arm, her small sword began to softly glow, and then small embers began to leap from the blade as the energy radiated outwards. With the full extent of her power within the sword, Ryka's eyes snapped open, and she rushed at a surprised Link and attacked.

Roy regarded this in shock as he watched the sword fly about in her hand, each swipe its own tiny inferno. And as that snapped him out of his lovey-dovey trance, he finally noticed that red hair and those blue eyes of hers. He silently cursed himself silly for not seeing it before.

"Uh... Roy...?" Marth blinked, almost afraid to ask what was wrong as the mamkute repeatedly bonked his forehead against the metal bar, quietly cursing to himself. "...you okay?"

Stopping, Roy sighed. "...yeah. M'alright."

Marth stared at his friend curiously, wondering what that was all about. Then an explosion and a familiar scream turned his attention back up.

"GAME! That game's winner is... RYKA!"

"Oh... guess she won."

The teleporters glowed once more, and the two stepped out, Link stringing together such colorful language that would've made Captain Falcon blush. Ryka, however, only laughed.

"Curse you fast people!" Link shouted into the air, shaking a fist. "Curse your...fastness!"

Ryka chuckled. "Aw, sorry I'm so fast." She extended a hand. "But that was a good battle. Thanks a lot for the challenge."

Link looked at the hand, then calmed himself down, took it in a handshake, and smiled. "Heh, right, no problem. Keep practicing."

Ryka nodded and turned to Roy, who seemed to look at her differently now, no longer in a lovesick stupor, but in a thoughtful state, as if watching the fight had made him realize her secret for himself. But even so, the girl faced him bravely.

"Hey, uh..." Roy started hesitantly, rubbing the back of his neck. "G-good fight."

"Thanks." When he didn't continue, she raised her eyebrows. "...Was there something else, then?"

"Ah, um..." Roy sighed. "Okay... we gotta talk."

Ryka blinked. "...we do?"

"Yeah... Could you meet me on the roof later tonight, after dinner...?" he asked timidly.

"Sure," she answered frankly, giving him a smile. He returned it gratefully.

"Thanks. Really."

"See you then." She bid him goodbye and went on her way to search for one more competitor before the arenas closed for the night. Roy watched her go silently, letting go of his tense breath.

"...and that's why I keeping telling you to drop all that stuff!" Marth explained to Link, losing his patience over the elf's ridiculous ranting. "All your equipment weighs you down, and that's why you're slow!"

"Well...!" Link searched for a suitable argument, but when he found none, his shoulders slumped in defeat. "Oh... alright, I'll try it out once... But then what'll I do for Special moves?"

"We'll figure something out," Marth sighed, glad that his pal wasn't so stubborn this time around. He glanced around idly. "Where'd Ryka go?"

"She went to go squeeze in one more match before dinner, I think," Roy answered, blowing out an exasperated rush of air as he leaned on the barrier.

"Say, what were you two doing during our match?"

"Hmm? Oh, just talking," the boy replied softly, eyes spaced out. But the look of a hopeless loverboy had evaporated to be replaced by a pensive, reflective face. Marth was confused as to what that meant.

"...Alright." The prince let the subject go for now, though he placed it in the back of his mind to fish up later. He knew there was something that Roy wasn't telling him, but he also felt that he had no right to pry answers out of the Pherean. Left in a standstill between gut instinct and rational thought, Marth was forced to once again hold himself back and simply wait for something to happen.

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A/N: Ugh... this fic is OLD... there was MAJOR proofreading between my rough draft and this copy.

Roy: (robotically) Your Skill has increased by 2 points. :)

There, see? Ryka's got her weakness: she has low resilience in swordplay. Ha, so there. No Mary Sue in sight!

Link: Or else we'd have to test out this baby. (pulls out the Mary Sue Bazooka)

Eliwood: ...we have a weapon against Mary Sues? NO ONE TELLS ME ANYTHING ANYMORE! ;o;

Kim: We also have a weapon for ROWDY LACKEYS. (lifts up muzzle)

Eliwood: Meep! (cowers)

Ed: So much for animal or human rights.

Bah. I digress. Please review!