Hunter-II hurtled away from Parapa Desert, cradling Max inside. As he surveyed below him, he could see Samus and Ridley: it looked like Samus was losing. "Samus, I hope you know what you're doing..."

Soon, the craft was up high in the sky, and Max could see North Palace from his current view. He forgot about Samus for a moment and gazed out the main windbreaker. The view was absolutely gorgeous way up here... Oceans, mountains, forests... Then, suddenly without warning, the ship fired forward, and all these landmasses zoomed away. Max was at a loss for words at the primitive beauty whizzing past him. He worried about Samus and Link, but at the same time, he felt free as a bird... "Never in all my life did I ever think I'd see something like this," Max said to himself.

About half an hour later, a large floating tower appeared, which the computer identified as "Final Tower". As the tower got bigger and bigger, the craft slowed down and proceeded to land. "Coordinates achieved. Please enjoy your stay, Samus."

Max stepped out of the Hunter-II, and was met by two guards. They only spoke two words to Max: "Come in." He pushed the door open himself, and walked straightforward, knowing he was surely headed for a throne room. As he walked past, he saw many posters along the walls, featuring some familiar faces, like Mario, Link, Samus, Simon Belmont, Mega Man, Pit, Crono, Magus, and even Pikachu. At the very end, he met a beautiful girl in a rather ornate throne. Her outfit left little to the imagination, but she still managed to keep a dignified regal appearance.

"Welcome to my tower, Max", spoke the girl, in the same soft tone Zelda used. "Do you know what this place is?"

Max stopped to think. "I know the name is Final Tower..."

She shook her head. "Ugh... they still haven't fixed that huh? It's actually called Altim Tower, a derivation of "Ultimate", but it was mistranslated and became "final" instead... In any case, you are standing at the core capitol of the whole planet."

Max looked at the girl. "The castle... and you are... the queen?"

She nodded and smiled. "My name is Lana. This whole planet and the surrounding moons are my sole responsibility. Protecting the people, the monarchs, all of it... falls on my decisions. For that reason, I'm very grateful to finally meet you!" and she proceeded to stand up and hug him. "Sir, you have been expected here, ever since Zelda told us you had appeared. I am so glad you've made it now!"

Max nodded. "But there's some trouble in Hyrule right now!"

Lana nodded. "Ridley sees great worth in Hyrule because it may hold the secret of our origin. Of course everyone knows the story of the three goddesses, but we don't have the whole picture yet behind all of Hyrule... ...or this world we live in in general."

Max stopped her. "What about the Triforce?"

Lana shook her head. "Suprisingly minimal interest. Ridley is more interested in effort than reward, and the Triforce would only hold power on this planet. Every planet has it's own little Holy Grail, and the only thing Ridley ever wanted this one for was to revive Ganon. Thing is, he did once achieve this, and quickly regretted it."

Max seemed to understand a little. "Ganon wasn't fan-friendly I take it..."

Lana stared him in the eyes. "Ridley helped Link kill him. It was that bad."

"So, what about Bowser? Does he ever get into this stuff?"

"Bowser tends to keep to himself... if he wants to do something devious, he'll usually go about doing it, but it's hard for even Peach to take him seriously anymore... I believe she even has a photo of her and Bowser hugging... they both look very cute in it..."

Max laughed. "Somehow, that seems about right... so, what's this?"

Max and Lana had approached a large door. Lana opened it, and the entered into a dimly lit room, with several items under glass displays, illuminated by soft cobalt light. Max slowly walked around and looked at some of these items. A Power Pad, a Power Glove, an NES advantage, NES controllers, a Zapper, four score, NES Satellite... even a Roll n Rocker... "Hey, these are all old Nintendo Controllers!"

Lana laughed. "Not quite. They may look like the controllers we use to play videogames, but these are different, and some of them can really hurt people." She pointed to the controller and the Zapper. "Tell me, Max... which color of Zapper do you like the most? Orange or gray?"

Max responded. "Gray"

Lana unlocked the case and removed the belt and a gray zapper. "Then this Zapper and this belt are yours, now. Take them, and beat back Ridley!"

Max smiled at the awesome gun now in his possession. "Wow... thanks! So, uh... can I have the other stuff too?"

Lana started laughing, then looked at him again. "Get going, Captain N."

"awww..."

Meanwhile, on board a federation cruiser, Samus Aran found herself on her knees. How did it happen? She had him right where she wanted him, she swore... Now, she was Ridley's prisoner... After Max left, Ridley started talking a lot, circling around her, and making her uncomfortable... Then suddenly, she just couldn't move. The suit felt like it weighed a ton...

"What's wrong, kid? Why don't you take the suit off, and you can move around a little?", Ridley said from across the small room. In his mouth was a cigar from a stash he found in the ship, probably the Captain's. Of course, he wanted Samus to take the suit off so he could tear her apart, like a snail without a shell. Even if she couldn't move, she was at least protected.

"Well, tell ya what... we're gonna be making a trip real soon to Aether... you remember that place?"

"I'll bet you fucked it up just like you fucked up Zebes... and Tallon IV... and all those other places the Chozo ran off to..." Samus whispered.

Ridley smiled and walked up to her, laying his hand on her metal back and gently stroking it. "It's only because we love them so much... ...you know, underneath, you really are a beautiful woman. If you'd stop dressing up like a Chozo and look in the mirror sometime, maybe you'd see that."

Samus angrily swore at Ridley. "Fuck you! Fuck you! You just want me to take this suit off so you can kill me! I don't care how long I have to wait, I'm not taking it off, so fuck you!"

Ridley sighed, and sat back down in his chair. "Suit yourself... but it's true, you know... Even your friends would tell you that..."

Samus refused to think about it. She knew exactly what Ridley was trying to do, but somehow, she knew he was right... she would have to come out of her shell someday... but right now, it would kill her. She continued to ponder how to escape with both the suit - and her life- intact...