Author's Notes: I know, I know. It's been a long time, but I've finally got around to finishing up this next chapter. There have been quite a few things happening since I last took the time to anything, let alone focus on just this story, but I'll explain after the chapter. So, here it is; the first chapter of my most popular story, 'Love, Reborn and Renewed'.
…ON WITH THE FIC!
She stared at the glowing…thing, for a lack of a better word. Samus had been staring blankly at the glowing shape, constantly shifting forms like some kind of divine amoeba. She had become pretty blank herself over the past few years. In fact, if her memories served her correct, the last time she showed any positive emotion was when she got back from the tourna-
…she shook herself out of that train of thought. She did not want to think of that place again, for it always led to…him.
'Dammit! Even when I'm trying not to, I still can't stop thinking about him!' She fought back tears from ducts that had not been used for a long time. She remembers all too well what happened. She remembers how it suddenly felt like her heart was ripped in two. She remembers how her precious stone, given to her by…him…suddenly shattered, shards of emerald and gold littering her bedroom. Worst of all, she remembers that somehow, she knew that she would not be able to see…him…again.
'…It's not fair!' she screamed in her mind. She was so close, so close to having what she had always wanted, always needed, and then it was abruptly taken away from her, and she couldn't do anything about it. She never questioned how she knew…'L-Link *sob!*' was gone. She never thought the possibility that it could have been a nightmare or something of the sort. She never thought that it could have been the side effect of being contained in a metal hunk floating through space.
She never thought those things because they would have never made her heart hurt so much. Her heart, which would beat for him and her, was now hers alone.
She spent three days and three nights lying on her bed after the realization hit her. She wailed, cursed, sobbed, and thrashed around to try to alleviate the pain and grief. Nothing worked, and she knew why- Link was gone, and he took a piece of her soul with him.
From that day, she withdrew. She focused on her profession; what she did best. She refined her skills in and out of her suits. She even made her custom Paralyzer function as a Plasma Whip. She became feared for her coldness; for her ruthless aggression against her foes and bounties. When she entered a building even in her Zero Suit, everyone stayed away. No one approached her.
She had actually dreamed of this before. It was a world where she was known as the best, where everyone either feared or respected her; she did not care which. When she first dreamt of this, she was not happy, but she was satisfied. That changed after the previous Tournament. In the dream, only her enemies feared her, but all respected her. The biggest changes of all, however, was the green-garbed blonde man holding her in a tight embrace, the matching pairs of rings on their fingers, and the little bundle of love that she held ever so dearly… It was only thanks to a good friend that she was able to break out her depression and resume her life before the incident, if still a little dull and melancholic.
She stared at the glowing…thing, for a lack of a better word. Samus had been staring blankly at the glowing shape, constantly shifting forms like some kind of divine amoeba.
She knew what it was, though. That one good friend who helped her find her old self again was the same one who was able to keep contact with her- Fox McCloud. Luck would have it that their dimensions overlapped at a small section. It was not enough to where they could make physical contact, but they were able to make special frequencies to radio each other. From their conversation the other day, The Star Fox leader explained that a strange glowing object, much like the one the huntress was staring at, appeared on their ship. Falco, being the brash avian that he is, actually touched the damn thing and vanished with a flash of light. After a few minutes of panicking (especially by the newest Star Fox member/Fox's girlfriend Krystal), Falco was able to use his communicator to explain what happened.
It was the bird's answer that had Samus staring at the amoeba, or actually, portal. It was a portal to Smash Manor, and the new Tournament. It brought back all of those emotions that she held back. It brought back the memories of her wonderful times within the Manor and its tenants. All of the amazing and hard fought battle that she partook in soared through her mind's eye. Hell, even Peach and all of her creepy, Sapphic insanity brought a small twinkle of mirth in her eyes. Finally, her favorites- when she first talked to her Hero, how they teased, annoyed, supported, and started to love each other. So many emotions from her time at the Smash Tournaments; so much love and sorrow from seeing Link's smiling face one more time.
Did she want to fight in this new 'Brawl' Tournament and see her old friends again? Of course! Could she bare not to see her beloved again? '…Not a chance,' she thought, sitting on the edge of her bed, bringing her knees to her chest.
Samus had been staring blankly at the glowing portal, constantly shifting forms like some kind of divine amoeba. It was slowing starting to fade little by little, signaling to the huntress that her decision must be made soon. She sighed aloud. Her heart could not take it if her Hero was not there, not when she couldn't feel his presence in her soul. She should have told him of her feelings long before the last night. Now he won't be there. She'll never be able to hear his voice say those three simple words back to her. The more she thought about, the more she did not want to go back. It even brought back more questions. If Link was truly gone, what happened to Zelda, Young Link, and Ganondorf? Not that Samus cared for the latter, but would they be there if their Hero was not? She ran her hand through her hair and let out a frustrated sigh.
"I can't go back," she lamented. "I-I can barely hold myself together here with the fact that he's gone! It's too hard!" she cried out, letting a few tears escape her beautiful blue eyes. "It won't…it won't be-"
*thu-thump!*
Samus froze. She felt it. It was very faint, almost ghost-like, but it was there! That glorious pulse that connected her to-
*thu-thump!*
Her heart soared. "He-he's alive?" She choked out, her emotions bursting through her long-erected barriers as tears poured down her cheeks.
*thu-thump!*
Yes! There was no denying it! This was the exact same wonderful feeling that her heart sorely missed! He's alive! Her Hero was there for her! She had to go the Tournament-
Samus froze, this time in horror. "THE PORTAL!" she all but screeched. It was fading! She was about to touch it when another horrified look came upon her face. "MY SUIT!" she scrambled back to her suit's stasis pod and tore the chamber door open. After a few rapid jabs at a hidden keypad, her suit dissolved and reformed around her, fully synchronizing on the fly. As the Varia Suit finishing materializing, she launched herself at the portal, her armored hand just reaching as the portal vanished, taking one frazzled, hectic, and joyous Samus Aran with it.
Black.
Black as far as she could, well, couldn't see.
Samus was thrown in a loop at this point. For the past two Tournaments, Master Hand always greeted her before she stepped into his realm. He did so with all participants, if she remembered correctly, within the Final Destination Stage. From the looks, or rather, lack, of her surroundings, the huntress figured that she was in the gloved deity's domain. But what happened to it?
"Samus Aran…" a voice cried out faintly from all around her. Samus immediately was put on guard, her arm cannon charging and aiming at the landscape. Then she recognized the voice. It was weak, but there was still a small echo of great power left in the voice's lilt.
"Master Hand? Is that you?" Samus asked in confusion. "What's going on? What the hell happened to-"
"Please calm yourself, Samus Aran" said Master Hand, his voice struggling to sound louder than just a whisper. "A great evil has awoken in my realm. It has taken over the lands, sealed away my brother, and…" he paused as a vision of him appeared in Samus' view but with the gruesome addition of golden chains pierced through the back of his…hand and into his knuckles, "...and has taken me as a prisoner and a corrupted figurehead.
"I am using the last of my own will to warn all of the Smashers. I beg of you, Samus Aran, with the help of your fellow fighters, destroy the evil and release my brother and I." the vision in front of her began to spasm, the chains beginning to retract and pull him away. "H-Hurry! I haven't much time!" The deity snapped his fingers as best as he could, and another portal opened up as his visionary self faded from existence.
Samus stayed still, taking everything in. She sighed and shook her head in exasperation. "Dammit, whatever happened to just doing a tourney?" Despite all of her complaining, she was excited. Once she found Link, they could fight together, slashing and blasting their foes to oblivion. Not to mention how when her Hero fights, he gets a little sweaty, making his skin glisten and his clothing (*coughcoughtights!cough*) stick to his sinewy muscles and his taut, round-
Her face burned up to the point that her visor began to fog up from the intense heat of her full-body blush. She's had those thoughts before; now was not the time to…continue as it were. Shaking her head once more, she focused on her new 'mission' to destroy this new evil…
"Wait a minute," Samus stalled, "…grr, he could have at least given me a description or even a freaking name!" she ranted. Sure, she's had jobs that were vaguer, but this was supposed to be a damn Tournament, not a potential war! "…Whatever. The point is that we need to save the world; on the bright side, at least there's a bunch of people here who do that for a living." As she finally floated for the portal and vanished once more, Master Hand's voice came back for one last message.
"Be warned, Samus Aran….the heroes you remember…may not be…who you believe…"
*shuffle shuffle shuffle*
He was on some kind of ship, that much was certain. Part of him was mentally kicking himself for touching that damn glowing…amoeba, for a lack of a better description. It started as just a simple tournament that he had been selected to be in. Now here he was, tasked with helping rid evil in a whole different freaking dimension! "Could it get any more difficult? Oh yes it can!" He grumbled in his gruff voice. "My guns either don't work or are gone, and I can't find my favorite knife." He grumbled some more. What's next, they take away his cig-
'…oh please, no!' He immediately searched himself as quickly as he could without moving his disguise. 'No…no, no nonono!' He paused, and finally gave up, a manly tear slowly making its way down his face.
It was safe to assume that one Solid Snake was not in a good mood.
*shuffle shuffle shuffle*
Snake slowly made his was around the metal hallways under his favorite disguise. That was one good point he had so far in this freaking dimension! Not only was he able to find it, but he could call upon it anytime he wanted it! 'What did Otacon call it? …Hammerspace, that's it.' The soldier didn't understand how it worked, nor did he care to know. All that mattered was that his cardboard box disguise, along with all of his explosives, was ready at any time. '…it still amazes me after all these years, after all the money and manpower and technology, this box is still the ultimate sneaking tool in my arsenal.' He smirked at the thought before continuing his way.
*shuffle shuffle shu-*
He stopped as a bright flash appeared in the hallway adjacent to him. He flushed his beloved box against the wall as a figure appeared from the light. He immediately began analyzing this potential friend or foe. 'Humanoid, may be human. High-tech armor colored metallic orange, possibly life sustaining or self repairable to a degree. Looks pretty durable to hostile climates. Right arm taken up by what looks like a cannon; looks like it can deal some major boom. Face visor indicate possibility of pilot; also indicate different arrays of vision. Sleek, streamlined, outward positioned chest plate…high possibility of female pilot.' He remained stock still as the armored being looked around, its visor switching to different hues of reds, blues, and white until it suddenly whirled around and STARED at him, its arm cannon pointed at his box. Snake held his breath. As much as he would like to believe that he could take this thing on, there was no way to evade any attack from the distance between them. He did not know how long he was a gunpoint. Could have been a few seconds or a whole hour, but he was more focused on trying to figure out a way to get the hell out of Dodge if this armored one attacked.
Finally, it lowered its weapon. "It's just a box," it spoke, the voice garbled and static-heavy, but Snake could hear the distinct timbre that could only belong to a female. The now confirmed woman turned around and stalked down the hall and out sight. Snake let loose his held-in breath and immediately dialed in his Codec. He waited for a second until he heard the familiar ringing. Otacon picked up; he was actually the perfect person for some help since he actually looked up every single fighter participating. Again, how Otacon found out, Snake did not know or care.
"Otacon, I got a woman here in some sort of power suit."
Snake's informant slipped in a bit of his 'otaku-ness'. "Oro? How'd you know she's a woman?" Not hearing a reply, he continued. "Anyway, I believe that you just encountered Samus Aran, the most renowned bounty hunter, or huntress, if you will, in her galaxy. She has an Arm Cannon that can dish out different weapons in her arsenal, like ice beams, a lightning grapple, and her infamous Charge Shot. If you get hit, you can kiss your ass goodbye."
Snake smirked, his eyes sparking with anticipation. "Oh really? Sounds like my kind of woman," he mused. He was so caught in his conversation that he did not notice the figure coming behind him.
The soldier could practically hear Otacon's cringe. "Oh, I wouldn't risk it, Snake. Aran is deadly with a capital 'D'. After Space Pirates killed her parents, she was raised by the Chozo and trained in the fighting arts, along with being physically and mentally enhanced to beyond even superhuman capabilities. Through all of her adventures in deep space, she's seen things and been places that you and I can't even imagine."
Snake shrugged. "Okay, she's a capable warrior. Plus, those stories would make some good pillow talk." He let out a small chuckle, still not noticing the figure behind him, its trademark cannon pointed directly at his back, the muzzle glowing with the heat coming from it.
Otacon, however, could hear the tell-tale sounds of a weapon powering up, and paled. "Again, Snake, I shouldn't be talking. Besides-" he was interrupted by a tongue of flames bursting from the aforementioned huntress' weapon and swallowed up the box, burning it to a crisp. The remains of the box settled onto Snake, who survived with only somewhat charred hair and a near heart attack. Otacon continued, "It seems that Samus doesn't want to talk at the moment…Good luck trying to stay alive." The otaku cut off the link, leaving Snake at the mercy of an extremely miffed bounty huntress.
The soldier slowly stood up, his hands held in surrender, and turned to face his aggressor. "So…I take it you probably don't have any tags I can take?" He drawled.
Samus glared at her prey. "That can wait for the pillow talk, asshole!" Instead of simply launching an energy shot, she simply plunged her cannon into his gut, knocking the wind out him and sending him flying towards the end of the hall.
Snake was able to land on his feet, albeit unsteadily. He pulled out a couple of grenades and held them in his hands, pins still intact. He rushed towards the huntress while ducking under a high kick, then launched his right knee into her midsection. Despite her armor, Samus was surprised by the power of his attack and folded over his knee, not noticing that he dropped one of the grenades in between them. Snake flipped over her helmet and drove a few heel drops into her helm's crown, forcing the suited woman to her knees as he spring boarded off her back and landed behind Samus, tossing the last grenade ahead of him.
As Samus got back to her feet, the first grenade that Snake dropped detonated, damaging the Varia Suit and launching her backwards, right into the waiting soldier. Snake swung both his fists into Samus shoulder blades, stopping her momentum. He grabbed her from behind and lifted her up and over his shoulder as he turned around and launched a spinning kick to her falling form, flinging her towards the final grenade.
Samus could not do anything as the grenade exploded as she fell on top of it. The propulsion from the boom spun her in the air, making her land roughly on her back. Her suit was running an emergency diagnosis. Her torso had taken moderate to high damage and her self-repair system was now offline in that section. Her heat and x-ray visions were down due to the high- pressure heat and the dual shockwaves. Nothing major, but she underestimated her enemy and paid the price. 'Such tactics and precision; he even planned ahead and practically ragdolled me into his explosives! I didn't have a chance to counter.' She looked up and saw Snake holding his back in discomfort, no doubt from picking up and tossing her heavy armor around. She didn't waste time and quickly launched a 'Smash Missle' that made a beeline to where she aimed- right at Snake's abdomen.
Snake was actually picked up by the Missile and was carried before it exploded, sending him into the air. Samus was right under him, jumping up and drilling the ball of her boot into his head, followed by rolling into her Morph Ball form and leaving a bomb for him to land on as she moved out of the way. She turned to see and hear him cry out in pain; she dashed over and attacked with a shoulder ram to his side, again flinging him away like he had done to her.
Snake, battered and charred like his opponent, saw her run over and rapidly pulled out his remote missile and fired it at her. Samus jumped over the missile, powering up her Charge Shot. She was not prepared for the missile she dodged to swerve around and hit her legs, causing her to lose her footing and making her slide towards Snake, who had pulled out a FREAKING RPG LAUNCHER and aimed it at her head. Having no choice, she aimed her cannon right at the weapon and launched her shot just as he let loose the rocket-propelled-grenade.
The explosion that followed somehow sent them both soaring in the same direction, the force making them plow through a couple of walls. They tumbled through the last hole and collapsed in a smoking heap, Samus on top of the soldier. They laid there for a while until Snake spoke up: "Okay, you win. Now get the hell off me."
Samus, whose armor and Charge Shot absorbed the brunt of the explosion, was actually pretty fine compared to Snake, who had quite a few burns. She got up and once more pointed her cannon at the prone man. "Alright, now tell me who you are."
Snake grumbled in frustration. "Name's Snake. Touched some weird thing that brought me here, talked to a giant glove, and was told to beat the bad guys. Happy now?" He was relieved when she lowered her weapon and extended her other hand to help him up. "Finally, a break."
Then the ship rumbled, and suddenly they were surrounded by strange creature made of green and purple, their eyes glowing red, and a majority of them wielding swords, guns, and even boomerangs.
"…or not," Snake sighed. He just got his ass kicked by this space chick; now he has to deal with these things! He slowly turned to Samus "How's your armor?"
"Slowly recovering. Cannon's down at the moment, and my recovery system just rebooted. I can take them in close-quarter, though."
"No need. Get behind me." Samus complied reluctantly. Snake reached into one of his pouches and felt around, still not used to the fact that he could fit so many weapons in such a small space. Finally finding his weapon of choice at the moment, he was about to pull it out when the beings enclosing them spoke in monotone unison.
"UNKNOWN ENTITIES, YOU ARE TRESPASSING ON THE PROPERTY OF THE ANCIENT MINISTER. SURRENDER TO THE PRIMID FORCE OR BE EREDICATED."
Snake paused. "…that," he began, pulling out his grenade launcher, holding it against his hip, "was really creepy." He spun around and shot a round passed Samus and into the crowd behind her, blasting the Primids away in a shower of flames and shadow bugs. "GO! NOW!" He shouted as he spent two more shots at each side of the opening he had just made. Samus sped past the horde of creatures, Snake right behind and still launching rounds behind him.
They ran down halls, dodging their new enemies when they could and blasting them away with Samus' shots, missiles and flamethrower and Snake's hand grenades, his launcher, and some remote detonated C4, the latter having an ungodly amount of ammunition. Unfortunately, they ran into a dead end, the Primid horde quickly gaining and ready to destroy.
Snake cursed under his breath. "My gear won't be able to get them all at once, which is the only way we'll survive. Please tell me you have something!"
Samus, to Snake's confusion, had her cannon raised, a white glow emanating from it as a stasis ring appeared around the barrel. "I never thought I would get such a perfect lining! You, bearded asshole, get behind me or stay where you are, I don't care, but I'll take care of this!" Her cannon was becoming blindingly white as Snake ducked for cover, pulling out his spare box and taking refuge under it. Samus grinned maniacally as the monsters got closer. "Time to test my latest power. ZERO BEAM: FIRE!"
To say that the Primids were blown away would be an understatement. The frontal wave was instantly disintegrated while the rest were shredded apart by the intense energy wave. The beam ceased after ten seconds, leaving a demolished hallway and melted girders in its wake.
Samus blinked at the destruction. "…Damn. Deus Ex Machina, eat your heart out." She deadpanned as she turned around to see Snake putting away his box. "Where the hell did you get that? Never mind that, where the hell do you put it away?"
Snake paused, stoking his beard in thought, and then shrugged. "Don't know; just know it works."
Samus sighed. "Oh well. Now we need to figure out a way out of this ship."
"Whoa, whoa, lady. What's that 'we' that you said?" Snake asked.
"Well, yeah. You snuck up on me, and I kicked your ass. That means you have to listen to what I say as a companion."
"What kind of half-assed excuse is that? And I didn't sneak up on you. I was already her in this thrice-damned freaking dimension!" He got right in Samus' visor. "Look, I'm tired, my guns can't do shit, and I don't have my smokes…screw it. Where to?"
The huntress smirked. "Lead the way," she said, stepping aside and gesturing with her hand. Snake's eye twitched, then he sighed once more and began to move when sparks began to fly out of Samus' cannon. "What the f-" she never got to finish as her armor suddenly fell apart reveal the woman in all of her Zero-Suited glory. She looked at her Varia Suit, lying on the floor in pieces. "…SON OF A BITCH! The damn beam blew up my damn suit and overloaded the damn circuits! It'll take forever to put back together without a huge power source." As she paced down the hall in a full rant, neither she nor her companion noticed the tiny, colorful stick figures come out of a portal, pick up the pieces of her precious armor, and disappear back into the portal. "-and I have to find a place to work on the repairs and…SNAKE!" she screeched, "What happened to my freaking suit?" Hearing no response, she turned to the gruff man, who was staring where the malfunction took place with glazed. She snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Snake? Hey, you alright?"
Snake stared forward and smirked lecherously. "Praise The Patient One for spandex jumpsuits."
*SLAP!*
They made their way down the hall, one of them with a glowing red handprint in his cheek. There was an awkward silence between the two. Samus, still flustered and angry, decided to break the silence.
"…So...you're stuck here, too?"
"Yep..."
"...You're a genetically enhanced human, like myself?"
"...in a way, though I'm not sure that I'm really human."
"Same here."
The two figures kept walking down the hall, an even more awkward air around them ever since their little ''tussle" earlier. The second figure, finally having access to his calming tobacco, covertly blows out a small plume of noxious smoke from his mouth.
"...And you're a bounty huntress?"
"...That a problem, soldier?"
"None at all. You beat me, fair and square. My kind of women indeed. However," he quickly added, sensing agitation and fury quickly rising from his 'companion', "you're taken, right?"
She blinked. "...how...?"
"Trust me, I've been around enough to figure things out. Whoever this guy is, he's a lucky bastard."
Silence reigned again as the duo pressed against the wall of the metallic hallway, avoiding the troublesome remainder of Primids that took up the massive ship. The two make their way to the bridge, where a cloaked figure assigned a few of the creatures, along with interesting looking robots, a cargo ship to a secret research facility.
"Okay, so here's a plan: you sneak onto the cargo ship and infiltrate-slash-blow up the lab."
"Why not you?"
"Simple, woman: as much heavy gear as I've got, I specialize in stealth and covert ops. I'll try to figure out what's going on here while you blow up their main supplies and info center. Chances are that they took you armor there as well."
Samus couldn't find any fault to that plan. "...sounds good. I'll see you around, I guess." As she made her way to the cargo hold, she turned around. "Hey..."
"What now?"
"How the hell did you not run out of bullets and grenades?"
The other smirked evilly and tapped his dark headband.
"Infinite ammo."
She was now crawling her way through the ventilation shafts of the research facility. The robots the swarmed the place looked much tougher than the Primids, so she took a leaf out of the bearded bastard's book and stuck to the spy route. She found a few rooms along the way, along with seeing what looked like bombs, and she could have sworn that she heard an evil laugh that sounded dangerously familiar.
'What exactly is going on? Who is this Ancient Minister? And if that laugh before belonged to who I think it does, why is he helping him?' Samus had so many questions, along that sent pangs of worry to her heart: 'Where is Link?'
She had not forgotten Master Hand's last warning, but she did not understand it. All she knew was that thing was for certain: she was going to find the others, defeat the evil, and confront her love and confess. She just hope they both survive passed this whole ordeal to begin with.
Chapter one is done! I know a few people are annoyed about how long it took, but I'm only human! Since last March (when I left the sneak peek), I moved to a different state, met my long distance girlfriend of close to three years for the first time, along with her family, settled in, went job-hunting (which I just barely got accepted for a job), and dealt with my family who doesn't like the fact that I moved away from them (granted, I didn't tell them I moved until I got to my destination, so that's my fault). Listen, readers, I love writing these stories, I really do, but I do need to face the facts that I'm now 20 years old (my birthday was January 3rd). I'll continue writing, but I need to make an honest living and start providing for my family, old and new (her parents practically consider me family). Don't worry, hopefully the next chapter will be out in the next month or so, since I know what I'm going to write next. As I mentioned earlier, I finally got a job (YAY!) that's a graveyard shift, so I'll be writing and updating in my spare time.
Also, after the next chapter, I'll be focusing more on re-writing my other works, especially my 'Pokemon' stories. Another thing is that I have a new riddle for the Special Request challenge I put out a while ago. Whoever gets this riddle right gets a special request to ask me any favor for my stories, be it favorite shipping (excluding main) or self-insert, etc. Here it is: There is a house with all four sides facing north. A bear comes and demolishes the house, leaving the walls all still facing north. What color is the bear? Whoever gets the true answer gets the request.
And now, for something completely different. I'm gonna answer some reviews!
Lolita: …Seriously, what are you trying to say? I don't understand your sentences at ALL. I just get that you want LinkxSamus…please look at your reviews and tell me what you're trying to say in clear sentences.
Rinku588: I see that you are prone to violence. No matter, for I have honored your request and finished the chapter. However, if you're still feel like threatening me *puts on sunglasses and unleashes the BIG ASS SWORD OF OVERKILL* Come at me, bro! By the way, Moe from 'The Simpsons' called: he wants his knife back.
TX17: Sorry for making you wait so long. I truly hope that you enjoyed this chapter.
Kurai Hitokiri: Have I mentioned that I love your reviews? I do, along with your stories. Thanks for the support!
Dark Lord Link: Where the hell would I be without you, Blair? Thanks for your support from the very beginning, and I hope that I'll continue to have it in the future! Just remember to keep Kibbles (evil beast!) away from me!
To all my readers: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please feel free to leave a review. Let me know if there's anything that you liked, where you think I need to improve, and so on. Thank you all for reading and for your support.
Until next time..