The five, Mist, Ike, Samus, Boyd, and Titania, had a very wonderful time together. It was not long before Ike was laughing along with the rest about some story or another. Titania and Boyd had seemed to have gotten caught up with him already. In Mist's eyes it was like he had never actually left.

The only real difference was the blonde woman sitting silently behind him, listening far more than she spoke. Ike would sometimes turn to her and explain things to her in hushed tones. She would nod, showing that she understood, and smile. Mist had never known Ike to speak to a woman that way. He had never shown much interest in any of the women in his life before.

Titania had noticed as well. She had been glancing at Mist knowingly all night. Mist knew that they would be having long conversations about this the instant they were alone together. Ike had seemingly not changed at all, yet he had brought home a woman he intended to marry.

"Ike." Mist said. "Samus doesn't talk a whole lot, does she?"

Samus, who had been toying with her fork, froze in place. She looked somehow awkward and out of place, and Mist resisted the urge to laugh at her.

"She's a little shy." Ike said, shrugging.

"I am not." Samus said, somewhat indignantly. "I just…. Don't know what to say. That's all." She looked embarrassed. If Mist or Boyd had known her better she was sure that they would have started teasing her, but instead the table feel into an awkward silence.

"Well why don't you talk a little about yourself?" Titania suggested. "You are… a warrior, yes?"

Samus looked surprised. "I am."

"What nation do you serve?"

Samus looked troubled. She glanced at Ike.

"I'm a simple Bounty Hunter. I have no political affiliation."

A lot like Ike. Although they resided in Crimea, the bulk of their work in recent years had led them across the continent, fighting for all sorts of causes. It seemed that Ike had chosen to marry a woman exactly like him.

"A bounty Hunter?" Titania repeated. "You're an Assassin?" She certainly sounded doubtful, and it was easy to see why. Samus exuded a strength and power that Mist had rarely felt from another woman.

"… I am a Bounty Hunter." She repeated. "And a Smash Brother. My mission…"

Ike placed a hand on her arm.

"Our mission." She amended. "Involves with dealing with all manner of threats." She paused. "In order for evil to be destroyed, first it must be found."

"…Found?" Boyd repeated.

"That is what I do." Samus affirmed. "I find something and kill it."

"…like an assassin?" Boyd asked. Mist wanted to call him an idiot in spite of thinking the same exact thing.

"No." Ike interjected. "Samus… her work takes her to some of the most dangerous and inhospitable places known to man. Deep underground, under the sea, up in the-" He stopped himself, as if he had said too much, and shook his head.

"The things that Samus goes after." He said. "Tend to exist in places that most people, armies, could never even survive in. She's been to some of the most dangerous and lethal environments out there."

Boyd looked confused, but Titania looked interested. "Under the sea?" She repeated. "You dive under the water? In the Ocean?"

Samus looked almost embarrassed and did not answer. There was another awkward pause, but before it ended there came a knock at the door.

"Oh?" Mist got to her feet. "Who could that be?" It was getting a little too late for visitors to come calling. Perhaps more members of the company had decided to drop by to visit Ike.

She reached for the door handle and slowly opened it. She opened her mouth to greet her guest, but she found it open.

Sitting in front of her house was a large red hot air balloon. She could see that it had only just touched down, as the bottom seemed to be barely grazing against the grass. The sight was so peculiar that she did not even notice the yellow creature at her knee.

"Umm… excuse me?"

Mist jumped. She stared down in shock. The thing let out a yip and backed away, clearly startled.

Mist had never seen a creature like this before. The thing was a bright yellow animal that resembled a dog. Her first thought was that it was a Laguz that had somehow leaned how to walk on its hind legs in its beast form, but no Laguz she knew of resembled her.

"I'm so sorry!" The creature blurted out, as it bowed nervously in front of her. "I was just… I was just looking for Ike! Can you point me to the Greil Mercenary Company?"

Mist stared down at the thing, unable to even answer. The thing twitched nervously, looking side to side as if expecting to be attacked.

Footsteps came from behind. Ike stepped up from behind Mist.

"Isabelle?" Ike asked, confused. Mist gave him a shocked look as the dog smiled widely, her tail wagging furiously behind her.

"Oh Ike!" She said brightly. "I finally found you! I thought I had gotten lost…!"

She turned around and waved to the Hot Air Ballon. A figure, one that Mist could not make out due to the shadows, waved back and pulled a cord. The Hot Air Balloon began to rise back into the sky.

The dog, Isabelle, turned back to face them. "I had NO IDEA where you were." She admitted. "I only stopped to ask for directions!"

"Well you found the right place." Ike said. "Isabelle, this is my Sister Mist. This is her home."

"Ooooooh." Isabelle said, eyes wide. She raised her hand (Paw? Mist thought to herself frantically) and smiled brightly, her eyes twinkling. Mist raised her hand frantically and took it. She had to stop herself from squealing. Isabelle's fur was incredibly soft and velvety. Mist had to stop herself from stroking it.

"I've heard so much about you, Mist." Isabelle said brightly. "Ike talks about you a lot."

"Really…?" Mist's voice came out in a weird sort of crackle. She had been so surprised at Isabelle's appearance that she had not quite registered the fact that she was positively adorable. She turned to Ike as if expecting him to deny this.

"Isabelle has a brother." Ike explained. "So we ended up talking about our families a lot."

Isabelle giggled. "Is Samus here, Ike?"

"She's inside." Ike said. "Can she come in, Mist?"

"I don't… I don't see why not." Mist said faintly. She had had laguz in her home before and had a reasonable assumption about what to expect, but she could not shake this feeling she had that Isabelle was not a Laguz. She felt that it would be rude to ask, however, and turned around, trying to collect her bearings.

"Ooooooooooh, what a cute little place!" Isabelle gushed, as she looked over the décor with an appraising eye. "You did this all yourself?"

"Well… my husband helped." Mist said, still a little bit uneasily.

"How lovely." Isabelle said brightly as they stepped into the kitchen. Boyd and Titania looked up at them, shocked. Samus looked surprised as well, before standing up.

"Isabelle!"

"Samus!" Isabelle said brightly, smiling widely. "Spending time with your new family, I see."

Samus, to Mist's shock, turned bright pink. Isabelle giggled.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Isabelle said. "I am Isabelle. I'm a friend of Ike's and Samus'… and I hope I can be yours too!"

"Who… exactly are you?" Titania asked, her voice dry and raspy. Isabelle smiled.

"Oh, I'm a Smash Brother too." She said. "Errr…. I sort of… uhhh…."

"Isabelle's sort of like our chief of staff." Ike explained. "She's the one in charge of taking care of us and making sure that everything is going well. She is indispensable."

Mist frowned. Ike described Isabelle in the same way that he would have described Soren. Yet Isabelle and Soren seemed almost like complete opposites. Mist had difficultly imagining this dog taking care of an entire army the way Soren used to.

"So why is she here?"

"I'm going to help with the wedding!" Isabelle said brightly. "I'll be handling the guests… I'll be making sure that the Smashers coming in have a place to stay, and aren't tempted to cause trouble. I thought that I would come by early and meet everyone and sort of get started on that."

She smiled. Her two front teeth were rather large. Mist found herself taking a liking to her.

"Isabelle loves her work." Ike explained. "If you have any plans for the wedding… I would talk to her. Samus and I have no idea what we're doing."

Boyd laughed, but Isabelle looked stern.

"Ike, please take this seriously!" She said anxiously. "I mean, you're getting MARRIED. I can help you, but it's up to you and Samus what we do for the wedding. You need to be-"

"I think." Samus said quietly. "That the most important thing is that the people Ike cares about are there for him. The wedding itself isn't all that important."

The group turned to her. Mist couldn't speak for anyone else, but she was surprised. She had never heard a woman about to be married speak so callously about the proceeding. Perhaps Callously wasn't the right word to use, but Mist could scarcely wrap her head around a word to describe her feelings about what she had just heard.

"Yes, we're going to need to start sending invitations for sure." Isabelle said, taking Samus' words in stride. "It's going to take a while to get in touch with everyone on the Continent…. And of course we have the Smashers to worry about…"

"How many Smash Brothers are there?" Mist asked anxiously.

"About seventy or so." Samus answered. "More are joining all the time… A new girl Minmin had just joined up when we set out to come here."

"How is she doing?" Ike asked Isabelle."

She leapt up and down excitedly.

"Oh, she's WONDERFUl." Isabelle gushed. "She's a great fighter, and a cook! I was thinking that she could help us with the food…"

"Wasn't Peach supposed to help bake?"

"She's doing the CAKE." Isabelle stressed. "Honestly, Ike…"

Samus looked up, surprised. "Peach is making our cake?" She asked, surprised. "What are we going to do if she gets kidnapped?"

Mist gave a start at this. Boyd choked on his drink.

"Oh, Mario says he'll look after her, and Bowser has said that he isn't going to try anything until after the wedding." Isabelle answered. "I wouldn't worry… if she gets kidnapped Mario will get her back within a couple of days, and the Toads can look after the cake until then."

"You trust Bowser to NOT try to kidnap Peach?" Ike asked, amused.

Isabelle scoffed.

"Of course not." She said. "But I think that he'll wait until after the wedding is over, and Mario agrees… Honestly it's Gruntilda I'm worried about."

"Gruntilda?" Samus repeated. "The witch that Banjo and Kazooie…?"

"She's had her eye on Peach for a while." Isabelle explained. "Gruntilda targets the most beautiful women in the world, and at the moment that's Peach, so…"

Mist could hardly follow along with any of this. Her head was spinning.

"Ryu will probably be late, but Ken says he wants to bring his family and another friend." Isabelle said. "I think you've heard of her, Samus… Chun-Li?"

"The strongest woman in the world?" Samus nodded. "I know of her."

"She's dying to meet you, apparently." Isabelle said, nodding. "Snake is bringing some friends too… I'm sure you've heard of Raiden…."

"I think we need to discuss this tomorrow." Ike said quickly, glancing at Titania and Boyd, who were looking completely dumbstruck. "Isabelle, where is Pikachu?"

Samus looked up at Isabelle, suddenly very alert. Isabelle giggled.

"Exploring the area, I think." She said. "I think he would want to sleep out in the open."

"He can stay with me." Samus said, immediately, as she got to his feet. "Ike, I'm going to go look for him."

"I'll come with you." Ike said. "We can look together."

Samus smiled at him beautifully before turning back around to Mist.

"We'll be back soon." Samus promised her. "It was… nice meeting you Mist."