REVIEW RESPONSES:

Elfbrat18: (laughing) That's quite okay that you were giggling when Link and Nemesis went at it (I understand the cat thing; I have four!). Anyways, glad you liked it. Yeah, breaking Nemesis' arm demonstrates that Link can be a badass when he wants to be. Hey, maybe he could even give Leon a run for his money! (If you know what I mean. Hint: Play RE4; he's the main character and the one you control in the game.)

pinkythesnowman: Yeah, I appreciate the fact that you take the time to "make up" for the bad reviews. Maybe if there were more reviewers like you out there for stories that get relentlessly flamed, the world would be a better place! Ah, who am I kidding? The world is the way it is. No, Nemesis isn't big and green like a booger (lots of laughter) although it's an amusing thought. He's more of a yellowish color, like a giant yellow booger with teeth (more laughter, man I can't help thinking like this!). Yes, Mewtwo could possibly be INSANE, but only time will tell. Don't think you've seen the last of him…

RoyalFanatic: …I guess your four favs love chess, huh? (laughter) I'm gonna try to give everyone a fair chance in the tournament, even the Pokemon!

Pikachu: "Yeah, right! You're just gonna knock us out of it early and give us lumps of Smoal!" ("Smoal" is copyright of Rooster Teeth, makers of Red vs. Blue!)

Me: "Umm…" Fiddles with a piece of Smoal (copyright) in his hands

OperationJonny: I'm gonna respond to both of your reviews in one! Yay! First off, yes I love the ideas you're giving me. In fact, I love all new ideas! Thanks for pointing out the "M" carnage thing, as it caused me to fix many things that could have possibly led this story to deletion (gasps and looks of horror shroud the audience)! So thanks, I really appreciate that!

R.S.Lee: Yes, weird world, isn't it?

WildGamer: Like the Mario idea, but sorry you didn't really care for the Nemesis idea. I really took a chance with that one, but hey, I can't please everyone!

anime/videogame freak: Don't worry, I'll keep going!

Kaiser Aldamon: All right already! I've updated! Sheesh! By the way, what does "11" mean?

Jlink: Please, don't remind me! (voices start yelling in my head to update) But don't worry, I've finally been able to update! (voices stop)

mew katt the sith lord: OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! (laughter) By the way, nice name! Star Wars fanatics are always welcome here, as I'm an avid one myself!

Wow, my hands are killing after answering all those reviews (wipes sweat from forehead), but hey, it's always worth it to answer people who take the time and energy to review my story. You guys are absolutely the best, hope you all got what you wanted for Christmahanikwanza! Oh and here's my two presents to you guys, if a bit late. First off, the new chapter. Second, these fantastic things! (Hands out bags stuffed with cookies of all kinds)

NOTES: Merry Late Christmahanikwanza and a Happy New Year to everyone! I really apologize for not updating sooner, but I got caught up in the holidays (like I'm sure everyone else did), and just decided to wait until New Years Day to update (actually, I've been too busy playing RE4, as I got it for Christmas! Sweetness!). I figured a fresh chapter would be the best thing to welcome 2006 with! I would also like to apologize to anyone that I might of traumatized because of the fact that the last two chapters were sort of "M" oriented (as a certain reviewer helped bring to my attention, which I'm extremely grateful for). I've fixed those two chapters so they're less gory, and also fixed some errors on my part, so check them out if you want. (laughter) Guess I got a little carried away with details those last two chapters; but now they're fixed so water under the bridge now or whatever you want to call it. I gotta thank my reviewers and all my readers for being patient with me, as on many occasions I've felt guilty because I hadn't updated yet. But now I don't have to, as Chapter 14 is here! This chapter is pretty long, and I know I said that the tournament was going to begin this chapter, but I decided to begin it next chapter instead. Yes, hate me if you must, but I'm starting it next chapter! This chapter's sort of a comic relief/character development chapter, so bear with me.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Super Smash Bros. Melee, Star Fox Assault, Metroid Fusion, or The Legend of Zelda. SSBM belongs to Nintendo and HAL Laboratories, Star Fox: Assault belongs to Namco and Nintendo, Metroid Fusion belongs to Nintendo, and The Legend of Zelda belongs to Nintendo. I guess some things never change, no matter what year it is…

Chapter 14: Not Your Typical Morning

The lustrous light of the morning sun illuminated the dark room of Link and Marth, peaking in little beams through the massive curtains that hung over the two windows near Link. However, neither noticed any indication of the morning, as both of them were still sleeping, allowing their bodies to get the maximum amount of energy needed for the day's upcoming events. The clock read 7:44, and neither Smasher looked content about waking up anytime soon.

The serenity of the room was shattered as soon as the clock read 7:45, as the sound of a siren (A/N: Like the ones that used to blaze out during bombing raids in Europe during World War II) burst over the loudspeakers like the whole world was about to explode. The sound woke up the two Smashers immediately, but Marth wasn't as fortunate as Link was. Marth sprung up like a jolt of electricity had passed through him, and it caused him to hit his head on the roof for what had to be the third time that month.

"Ow! Dammit!" Marth exclaimed, holding his aching head with his hands as the siren dissipated. The impact caused Link's sword and shield to fall off the wall, not surprising at the least to him.

"You know, I really hate the fact that the roof on my side of the room is closer to the floor than on your side. My head hurts so much!" exclaimed Marth as he headed for the bathroom, still holding his head.

"Oh, stop complaining. You should have thought about that when you begged to be nearest to the door," said Link in an unconcerned tone while he picked up his weapons. His mind was still focused on the strange "dream" he had last night, and what it actually meant.

'So why do I feel like I could take on the whole world? The only time I ever felt like this was when…'

He turned over his left hand, just to allow himself to believe that he was hallucinating. What he didn't expect to find was a Triforce symbol, with the Courage triangle glowing a brilliant golden hue.

"OH MY GODDESSESS!" Link shouted, and heard shortly the sound of another bump on the ceiling coming from the shower.

"OW! FOR GOD'S SAKE!" erupted Marth's angry voice from the bathroom.

Zelda awoke with a jolt similar to Marth when the siren sounded over the loudspeaker, but she luckily didn't have the same problem. Samus; however, was unfazed by it, as she was already awake and fully dressed in her blue jumpsuit, doing pushups and situps on her side of the room. Zelda was actually surprised to see one of her best friends up so early.

"You're up early, Sam. You usually sleep until we're either called down or someone wakes you up."

"Yeah," the bounty hunter commented as she rose off the floor, heading towards her workbench, "but today's the start of the tournament, so I at least want to be somewhat warmed up if I'm going to fight today."

She then resumed making some last minute adjustments on her arm cannon, which she had detached from her new Fusion Suit, still the way it was after she defeated the Omega Metroid back on the B.S.L station. For some reason yesterday while she had been training, it had malfunctioned when she had tried to fire a Diffusion Missile. Then it wouldn't fire anything at all, so she spent the rest of the day reworking it. She only got it to fire regular Power Beam shots and normal missiles, which she had decided combined with the Charge Beam, was better than nothing.

Zelda headed straight for the small bathroom that all rooms had, and proceeded with her regular morning activities. She was interrupted by Samus' voice before she finished putting on her traditional Triforce symbol earrings.

"Hey Zel, have you seen my emergency pistol anywhere? I could've sworn I left it near my workbench."

"Try looking where you store your replacement parts. I think that's where I saw it last."

"Oh, ok here it is. Thanks!"

"No problem." Zelda commented as she finished getting ready for the day. All day yesterday she had been training hard like the rest of the Smashers, practicing her aim with her needles as Sheik, and also how to perfect teleportation with Farore's Wind. Link had told her that he would meet her at dinner so they could talk about what needed to be done, but for some reason he never showed up.

'Goddesses, I hope he's all right. It's not like him to keep anyone waiting…'

She pushed Link out of her mind as she stepped out of the bathroom, proceeding to gather her Sheik clothing for quick transformation, while Samus worked on reattaching her arm cannon to her Fusion suit.

"You never did tell me why you came back so late last night, Link," said Marth as he finished polishing his sword. "Zelda was looking for you, you know. She was so worried that you didn't show up. Guess I fell asleep at about 11 last night, and you still weren't back."

Link stayed silent as he finished polishing his own sword, trying to remember what exactly he did last night, but he couldn't seem to recall anything at all after Brinstar. Equally, he had no answer for why he had regained the Triforce of Courage, other than the "dream" that he had. He had told the story to Marth while they were polishing their swords, after apologizing to him for randomly yelling out. Marth just shook his head after he was done, saying that it was just a dream. Link didn't know what to believe anymore, since it had seemed so real to him.

"…and then I noticed that one of the window shutters was open last night, which explains why I was so cold…Link? Hey, you okay there buddy?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm okay. Just spaced out there for a minute…" said the Hylian as he twisted the cap back on the large jug of sword polish he and Marth shared.

The loudspeaker suddenly came to life:

'Good morning all! Sorry for the rude awakening…'

"Humph, sure you are…" muttered Marth under his breath.

'…but as everyone knows, today is the start of the tournament! Would everyone please report to the cafeteria in about 15 minutes? There's a busy day ahead and a hungry Smasher is not a happy Smasher, right? I will also announce both the lineup of fighters for the first round, and exactly where each battle will take place. Also, we've got a fantastic turnout of rabid fans waiting for autographs and see their favorite Smashers in action! So, be sure to carry around a permanent marker or a pen with you at all times. That is all, good luck today everyone!'

"Great, attacked even before we reach the arena," said Link dryly.

"Oh, cut it out! You know as well as I do that we have to be nice to the fans. Their money is what keeps everything running, right?"

Well, yeah, but…ok, you have a point there."

"Well then Link, guess we should get going," Marth said as he got up, sheathing his now-glimmering sword, "wouldn't want our girlfriends to worry about us, right?"

"You mean your girlfriend, right?

"Oh come on, Link. Everyone knows you like Zelda already."

"Yeah, so? We've been friends for a long time, so of course I like her!"

"That's not what I mean, and you know it too."

"Sure, whatever," Link replied as he got up from his bed, sheathing the glimmering Master Sword behind his back, as well as attaching his newly polished Hylian Shield to the back of his sheath, "let's just get something to eat, I'm starving."

Marth shook his head in disbelief as they walked out of the room, making sure to lock the door behind them.

'Sometimes, that guy can be so dense…' thought Marth as they made their way down the hall.

"I just can't believe he didn't show up, Zelda…" said Samus as she finished cleaning her emergency pistol and holstering it in the holster attached to her hip.

Zelda remained silent as she finished coiling up the chain belonging to her Sheik costume, still unable to get her childhood friend out of her mind.

'It's just not like him. He always has kept his promises to me in the past, so why wouldn't he come? I mean, he could have at least let me know that he was okay!'

She shook her head as she finished preparing, stuffing her Sheik clothing inside a hidden spot in her dress, where she could later transform into Sheik at will.

"Sam, we should get going if we don't want to be late."

"Yeah, hang on a sec…this thing's not cooperating with me!" said a frustrated Samus as she kept trying to lock in her arm cannon. Apparently, it hadn't locked when she tried to reattach it to her Fusion Suit earlier.

"Zel, I could use a hand over here. I need just a little more elbow grease to make this work."

Zelda worked her way over and struggled with Samus to make it lock in place. It slowly started to turn clockwise to lock in place as the two pushed against it.

"Ok, I think we almost got it…" said Samus, gritting her teeth as she continued to push with Zelda.

"Hurry! We only have about ten minutes until we have to be down with everyone else!"

"I know, but I can't fight today with no arm cannon!"

The cannon kept slowly moving towards the lock, just mere millimeters from being securely fastened.

"Come on, you piece of crap! Lock already!"

Just as she said this, it finally snapped, locking the cannon in place. Both Samus and Zelda stood up, their hands covered in red marks.

"Huh," said Samus as she eyed the lock closer, tapping it with a nearby wrench, "I wonder what was making it so difficult to lock…"

She got her answer when oil squirted in her face, disappearing as quickly as it had come.

Her face and hair completely drenched, she slowly looked up at Zelda, who was killing herself laughing.

Samus stared at her, a frustrated expression on her face, but it disappeared as quickly as it had come when she saw her own reflection on her visor. She couldn't help but laugh along with her.

Both girls just laughed for about two minutes before Samus reached over and grabbed one of her rags and began to wipe the oil off of her face.

Zelda wiped the tears from her eyes and helped her clean up, still in disbelief at what had just happened.

Samus accepted the help without question, wondering what a moment like that would have been like two years ago:

'Has it really only been four years since I arrived? It feels like I've become like a totally new person from who I was. When I first arrived here, I was the most serious and antisocial person you could ever meet; mostly because I never experienced working with other people in the field, or met anyone I could relate to while I was growing up. Hell, the closest thing I even had to a family was the Chozo. But when the mansion started recruiting new members, everything changed. First, Marth and Roy showed up at the mansion. During our first dinner with them, I sat by myself like usual, jotting down new entries in my journal, when all of a sudden, Marth randomly comes over and sits across from me, not even asking if he can.

He just stared at me, watching as I kept writing. I couldn't take it anymore; I just got so fed up! I snapped, "What is your problem? Ever seen a female wanting to be left ALONE before?" He seemed to wake up from his subconscious state, and a look of hurt washed upon his face. He started to get up, but for some reason, I grabbed his arm. He looked back with those eyes…those pretty, pure-looking eyes…and simply sat down again. I sat down as well and resumed writing, wondering just who this person was. We stayed like that, in complete silence for the rest of the night.

Later on the next day I met up with him and we talked, and I really started to like him. I mean, we got along so well with each other. I started to realize I had feelings for him, and I still have them. But I've never been able to admit them, and probably won't. But still, maybe one day…ah, who am I kidding? I'm a bounty hunter; one of the most feared in my galaxy! Well, that doesn't mean much anymore since 80 of the entire Federation is looking for me. It's times like these I'm glad I have friends, like Zelda.'

Zelda, finished with removing the oil from Samus' hair, got up and went to wash her hands quickly in the bathroom, while Samus closed the locker door that contained her suit. While making sure the password was correct on the keypad lock, she looked over her shoulder at the bathroom door; so many memories coming back to her.

'Guess my life also changed for the better when her and Link showed up at the mansion. Master Hand told us that they were from a land called Hyrule, and that it wasn't too far from here. He also told us that they had fled after it had flooded. I also remembered being told that the girl was going to be rooming with me. I was so mad at this fact, as I've always been alone most of my life. Other than having Adam Malcovich as my CO on one of my missions, I've always worked best by myself. It wasn't anything personal against new people, just the fact that I could lose anyone I'm close to at anytime in my field of work, or have that attachment used against me. Like the way I lost Adam, and how I lost my parents on Colony K2L. But eventually, Zel's good nature and spirit caused me to be more open. She became like a sister to me, someone I could rely on no matter what and could share things with. I still think of her the same way to this day.'

She paused for a moment and smiled as she reflected on how her life was now, and how much better her life was now compared to when she had first arrived.

"Come on, Sam! We're gonna be late if we don't go now!" said Zelda as she opened the door, putting on her white gloves as she left.

Samus, snapping out of her thoughts, looked at her digital watch, which read 7:10.

"Crap, we've only got five minutes!"

"Yeah, no kidding! That's what I just said!"

"Ah, sorry. Been thinking too much. Anyways, let's go before we get in serious trouble!"

Samus turned off the room lamp and closed the door, the rays coming from the still-closed shades the only source of light in the darkened room.

Sorry if this chapter seemed boring, but I wanted to explain some background and character things before I kicked off the whole tournament thing. I hope this chapter clears up why Samus is acting out of character, and why she isn't quiet or antisocial like she's usually portrayed in other fanfics. I also thought it'd be nice to "cool down" before the start of Tournament III, as the last two chapters were pretty powerful. I'm currently working on the next chapter, and am hoping to get it up before Mid-Terms (NOOOOO!). If I don't update, you'll know why, as my Mid-Terms are only two weeks away. By the way, if anyone wants to make any requests as to who should fight who during the tournament (I'm still figuring out how I'm gonna make this work), I'm open to all requests. Also, if anyone has any suggestions as to how to set it up, I'm also open to them as well. Well, that's about it for now. Expect the next chapter sometime this month (I'm aiming for this coming weekend before I have to start studying for Mid-Terms), so check out my profile for progress updates. Bye for now, and, as always, please review!