Samus Aran stood over the body of the Giant Bat and watched as it dissolved into darkness. She had heard many stories about the horrors of Castlevania from Simon Belmont, and she supposed that an ordinary person would have been slaughtered before they had even got through the drawbridge. But she had leapt over the bridge, slid down into the courtyard, and fought her way into the Castle with little issue. The first boss creature she had encountered, the giant bat, fell quickly by her hand. She knew that she was meant to move on, to the next room. But before she could the sound of clapping hit her ears.

She turned, arm cannon raised. A figure stepped out from under the stairs and faced her.

"Samus Aran." Doomguy said, nodding his head at her. "I knew that I would find you here."

Samus kept her aim steady, but she did not fire. Doomguy was not holding his weapon. An unusual occurrence for him.

"To people like us." He said, as he turned away from her. "This place is a paradise. Everything that moves exists only to be killed. Castlevania draws chaos to it like moths to a flame. The battlefield that is this castle continues to exist until its master is vanquished."

"It will not be here very long." Samus told him. "I will destroy Dracula myself."

"Doing that will allow Ashera, the Goddess of this world, to turn all of her people to stone." Doomguy said casually. Samus narrowed her eyes.

"Oh, were you not aware?" Doomguy asked. "Why we chose this specific location to summon Castlevania?" He nodded upward. The clear visage of the Tower of Ashera was beautiful and ornate contrasted to the gothic architecture of Dracula's Castle. "With the power of Dracula, we have resurrected Ashera. And she has agreed to do everything in her power to eliminate the Radiant Hero Ike, and all those closest to him."

He raised his pistol and pointed it at her.

"And that includes you, The Metroid Dread."

Samus glowered at him.

"This Castle." He said. "Will be a stronghold of Evil. One that will vanquish the Super Smash Brothers for all time, one that will allow chaos once again to reign in the Universe. No longer will we be beholden to remain in our place, unable to experience the world outside our limited perspective."

"No, we destroy any and all who get in our way." Doomguy said. "No longer will we kill until there is nothing left. The Battle will cross over into reality, seeping into every nook and cranny so that nothing is safe. The battle on this continent will never end. It will grow and expand until it consumes everything."

He turned his pistol and pointed it upward.

"It all begins here, in this castle." He said. He lowered the pistol again and stared at Samus. She had never once removed her weapon from his.

"Do you wish to fight now?" Doomguy asked. "Or later?"

Samus lowered the weapon as well.

"I am not like you." She said. "I take pride in what I do. But I do not relish it. I do not spend my days longing for the next fight, the next conflict. I fight because I am needed."

She raised her hand and curled it into a claw shape.

"Those like you, who think there is nothing more to life than death and violence disgust me." She said. "I will crush you and your ambitions, and destroy all those who would enable you."

"You talk, but will you act?"

It has been said by many that the Doom Slayer is one of the strongest warriors in all of the cosmos. Having liberated Earth and Mars from demonic invasions several times over, he had built a reputation for being a deadly opponent, one feared by all in both Earth and Hell.

But Samus was even more feared. Her hand was over his helmet in an instant, before he could even react. She squeezed, shattering it into pieces.

He raised his hands, vainly trying to fight her off as the remains of the helmet fell to pieces on the floor.

"No, please, stop, stop stop!" Doomguy begged. "This isn't fair, this isn't faiiiiiiiiiir!"

The Metroid Dread was a creature that defied all natural limitations. Although born an ordinary human girl, following extensive experimentation and training by the most advanced race in the universe, the Chozo, and a number of adventures against their greatest weapon, the Metroid.

The Metroids, in the eyes of the Chozo, were designed to be a creature that was almost unstoppable. Even in their most primitive form they were invulnerable to most conventional weapons, save for a weakness to cold. In the ancient Chozo language Metroid meant 'Ultimate Warrior.'

Therefore, the warrior that brought the Metroids to the brink of extinction far surpassed even that. Samu had been feared long before she had even encountered the Metroids, but now she was the most feared creature alive. The Metroid Dread.

Doomguy was dead before he even hit the floor. His energy had been completely zapped by Samus, and he hung lifelessly in her grip. Samus threw his lifeless body to the side. So lifeless was the still form of the Doom Slayer that his limbs didn't even convulse when he rolled across the ground.

She flexed her hand and stared down at him dispassionately. She disliked using the Metroid Grip against opponents. The burst of elation that ran through her entire being made her fear that she may one day may not be able to control it. But she felt that in this instance, it was very much warranted.

"Dracula!" She screamed, into the dark halls of Castlevania. "I am all the Stars in the Galaxy, Come to vanquish your horrible night!"

She dashed forward, her speed booster power up kicking in. Zombies rose up out of the ground to try and grab her, but were squashed by her boots. She hit the door at a run and blew through it. Geralt of Riveria was on the other side, half naked and surrounded by succubus creatures. He jumped in surprise, drawing his sword, as she dashed by. He hadn't been prepared to fight her. She thought wryly, her eyes focused forward. If she killed Dracula now, the Castle would collapse, taking down a significant chunk of the enemy forces that had already taken root here.

A man made out of decaying body parts was rising up from a table in the center of the next room. Samus leapt up and screw attacked right through him, splitting it in half. She landed neatly and continued sprinting as the creature fell apart behind her.

The next room found her screeching to a halt. A black haired girl was standing there, leaning against the wall.

"Samus Aran." The girl greeted, arms still crossed. "A pleasure."

Samus trained her gun on her, uncertainly. "Who are you?" She asked.

"A spirit." She answered. "One tied to Castlevania."

Samus lowered the weapon. The girl nodded at her.

"You truly are an incredible warrior." The girl said. "It took me many moons to conquer this Castle. I daresay that if it weren't for the otherworldly force at play here, you would have no trouble destroying Dracula."

"Forgive me, but who are you?"

"I am Shanoa." The girl said, bowing her head. "And I regret to inform you that it is not possible for you to destroy Dracula. At least, for now."

"Shanoa?" Samus repeated. "Of The Order of Ecclesia?"

"That is correct." Shanoa answered. "I destroyed Dracula in a time when the Belmonts were preparing for the final return of Dracula in the year 1999."

"You destroyed Dracula despite having not having the Vampire Killer." Samus noted. "You used his own power against him. Very impressive."

"That is correct." Shanoa said. "But your enemy has devised an ingenious strategy to prevent you from reaching Dracula."

"And that would be?"

"Behind you."

Samus turned.

In front of them lay a vast, ornate painting. It was of a structure situated far in the sky, with no logical means of support. A round, orb like object seemed to be rolling along it.

"Our enemy." She said. "Has placed a number of seals around the castle. These seals power a great barrier that protects Dracula's Throne Room from being entered. Even with your powers, you cannot hope to break through this barrier without first undoing every seal. Each seal is hidden deep inside these paintings."

"Inside… the paintings…?"

Samus reached out a hand and touched the frame of the painting. It rippled, like those on a pool of water. She pulled back, feeling her frustration mounting.

"Exactly like Peach's Castle." She said in disgust. "Do these people have no shame?"

"Actually." Shanoa said. "The Vampie Brauner used a similar technique to seal off Dracula's throne room in order to declare himself Master of this Castle. Entire worlds lay behind his twisted mind, which the Vampire Hunters Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin had to enter to destroy."

"So in order to lower this barrier." Samus said. "I will have to enter this painting?"

"Yes." Shanoa answered. "And defeat the creature within… whatever it may be."

Samus turned to the painting, her glare set.

"Mario never does stops telling people about those painting." She said, as if to herself. "Maybe once I do it he'll stop bringing it up around me."

"Samus." Shanoa said. "I will appear to you in rooms throughout the castle, if you need my guidance. I will do everything in my power to assist you."

Samus nodded, and with a mighty leap jumped straight into the painting. Shanoa watched her go, and then slowly began to disappear.

Samus spun around in circles as she fell onto the ground.

"Samus Aran." A chirpy, high pitched voice said. "Welcome."

She looked up, cannon raised. Above her a Monkey stood, flying high above her in a bright, colorful orb.

"Who are you?" She demanded, weapon trained on him.

"I." He said. "Am the great AiAi. Master of Monkey Ball, lover of bananas, and enemy of you!"

He cackled, or attempted to. It came off like the yelling of a chimp. Samus raised her arm cannon.

"Oh, I wouldn't do that." AiAi warned her, wagging his finger. "No, that's not how we roll around here."

"What do you mean?" Samus asked, gritting her teeth.

"See that goal?"

Samus looked. Past a long, thin rail of track, that spun around in circles around itself, stood a singlular goal.

"I want you to enter that wonderful morph ball form of yours, and go for that goal." AiAi said, a little bit smugly. "You can't do it. You aren't hard enough. Hahaha."

Samus narrowed her eyes.

"I must do this, if I am to destroy the seal?"

"Well, actually there are seventy tracks." AiAi said casually. "You won't even be able to beat this one, though. It took me try after try…"

Samus took her Morph Ball form and took off.

"No bombs, no boost ball, and DEFINITELY NO JUMPING!" AiAi called, as he floated after her. "Jumping in Monkey Ball is just plain wrong. If you do it, you don't respect the game!"

A/N

Could you tell that I've been playing a lot of Metroid Dread? That whole bit of Samus herself being 'The Metroid Dread' is something I made up for the story, but I thought it sounded badass and cool, so I threw it in. Also if you haven't played Dread yet, do it. It's great.

But in contrast, the whole thing about paintings in Castlevania taking characters to different worlds has been planned since the beginning. I realized that a lot of famous games, stuff like Tetris and Ace Attorney, would be difficult to implement into the setting. So I came up with the painting idea to sort of give more obscure games a chance to shine. The sky is the limit here, so feel free to suggest ideas for games to use. I was originally going to have Diddy Kong go through Monkey Ball, but I thought Samus doing it was funnier, so that happened instead. Also Dread and Banana Mania came out in the same week, so that's another funny coincidence.