Clash of the Smashers

Chapter Twenty-One: Metroids. What more needs to be said?

The Smashers entered the next area, only to come face-to-face with a small compact room…compared to previous ones. It was only about ten feet total in length and width, and height was maybe eight. As soon as they all came in the door closed behind them, and the room started to move…downwards.

"What?" Diddy asked, adjusting his ammo belt.

"It's some kind of elevator," Samus said.

"Before we reach the next place and our next fight…perhaps you could give us some advice on what we may potentially be encountering?" Bario asked, looking at Samus.

"Well, I'm honestly not sure what to expect, so I guess I'll give you a run-through of something we'll probably face…Metroids."

"Metroids? I've heard of those…they're like jellyfish things?" Falco asked, as the elevator started to slow down.

Samus stared at him for a second, before clearing her throat and continuing.

"Uh…kind of. In their larval state Metroids look vaguely like floating jellyfish, with a bluish-white membrane and some nucleus visible…but instead of tentacles they have small fang-like things, which they use to latch onto your head…and suck the life-force out of you."

"They do what?" Diddy asked, in shock.

"Right. They suck it out of you, causing them to grow larger and eventually you'll die. They're also resistant to most attacks, but they can be damaged…but their true weakness is ice. They can be frozen easily, and then destroyed with a single well-placed blow."
Listening to Samus talk, the Smashers neither noticed nor cared that the elevator had stopped.

"When the Metroids mature, they go through several stages. The first is the Alpha Metroid Stage. In this one they are about-"

Before she could continue, the door opened.

"I think we better get going, if we don't…well who knows what could happen…sorry that you didn't finish Samus." Bario said.

"It's not about me…I was saying that for your own sake." Samus said, as she stepped into a gloomily lit room, similar to the other room, where they fought the SA-X, only without the maze.

It was better lit, and as they stepped in, glowing panels on the ceiling lit up the gray, rocky, but mostly smooth room even further. It was much smaller then the other rooms, only about twenty feet long, but about the same in height and width as the other rooms. At the far end there was only a blank wall and no apparent door…and in between them and the wall were…

"Metroids," Samus said, aiming her cannon at the floating creatures.

They were ten of the alien jelly-fish things…and upon seeing the new prey they let out a high pitched squeal, as the door behind the Smashers slammed shut and closed down, becoming a light gray, almost indistinguishable from the wall.

"Attack before they get too close!" Bario yelled, pointing his swords at the Metroids.
The Smashers didn't have a lot of time. The room was only twenty feet long, and the Metroids were fast. Even so, Samus managed to freeze one, and then shatter it with a missile. Link hit one with an arrow, and even though the shaft penetrated the creatures' membrane, it didn't get too far in. Before it could reach them, several peanuts and energy balls from Meta and Diddy respectively hit the creature and killed it. It fell to the ground and disintegrated.

Mario, Raichu both sent their elemental balls at a creature Kirby was hitting with his shockwaves. Well before the Metroid reached them, it too fell and died.

Unfortunately for the Smashers, this only eliminated three of the ten Metroids, leaving a sizable seven left…and now they could reach their victims…

Falco backed up, shooting continuously at a Metroid that was floating closer to him, in strange erratic motions, causing him to miss most of the time. The shots that did hit seemed to cause little damage. As the Metroid got closer, he was filled with an unnatural dread, as Samus's words flashed though his mind again…

"Sucks the life force…sucks the life force…sucks the life force…SUCKS…THE…LIFE…FORCE…"

Falco let out a strangled yell and raised his wing-like arms up to protect his face as the creature made its last charge…and was cut in half by Link's sword.

"Falco, man, calm down!" Link said, with a good-natured grin.

Before Falco could vocalize his thanks another Metroid swooped behind Link…and clamped its fangs down on his hooded head.

"Gumf!" Link, said, making more muffled grunting noises as the Metroid moved its fangs up and down eagerly…and something seemed to be traveling from Link to the Metroid.

Link's grunts were becoming fainter…he fell to his knees…his attempts to remove the creature were weakening. Falco pummeled the Metroid with his feet and arms, but it just seemed to be getting bigger as it drained SOMETHING out of Link…he was running out of time…

"Mario, behind you! Samus, next to Kirby!" Bario yelled, directing the Smashers against the Metroids, as he swept his light purple eyes over the constrained battlefield…and spotted Link close to death…

Link was barely moving now, and Falco was close to tears, as he watched someone dying in front of him and was helpless to stop it…but then Bario's right-hand sword skewered the Metroid through its middle, penetrating all the way through. The Metroid screeched, and disintegrated, leaving a gasping Link lying on the ground.

"Link! Are you okay?" Bario asked.

Link gasped a yes, and Falco helped him up to a kneeling position.

"Watch him," Bario told Falco, as he moved back to join with the others, only to find them around him. The Metroids were finished.

"This was surprisingly simple," Diddy started to say, before he was cut off by Samus.

"I wouldn't say it's over…the door hasn't appeared yet," she said, looking at the opposite wall…which chose at that moment to collapse into dust, revealing another twenty feet of the room…and in that new section stood, or more accurately floated, seven…

"Alpha Metroids," Samus said, as the others leveled their weapons.

This second stage in the Metroid life cycle was completely different looking. The creature's soft membrane, well, relatively soft, was only visible on the underside of these five-foot high beings. The rest of it was covered in a dark green armor. Additionally it had red compound eyes, and its fangs had become long, but useless legs and some horns on its front. They floated like the younger Metroids, but they appeared to be considerably more menacing.

"Alright…these guys can't suck your life force…but they can ram you, so watch for that!" Samus said, firing a missile at one as they flew towards the Smashers.

The Alpha Metroids were more streamlined then regular Metroids…they had more pointed bodies, that despite their large size they were faster and more accurate in their flight…but they lacked agility, and they could not turn easily…a weakness that the Smashers could hopefully exploit…

However the Smashers soon noticed an advantage these Alpha Metroids had…Samus's missile exploded in the creature's face, but although it looked hurt it just shot forward, covering the distance very fast…and the other six flew at the Smashers as well.

They responded with fireballs, electric balls, peanuts, arrows, energy balls, laser shots and Ice Beams. The sheer weight of the assault managed to kill two before they reached the Smashers, and Samus froze a third, shattering it with a missile. The remaining four each slammed into a Smasher.

One hit Kirby, another crashed into Mario, a third hit Diddy, and the last one hit Samus.

Kirby was sent rolling as the Alpha Metroid turned around to make another attack. However, just before it hit him, Kirby turned into a rock, causing the creature to slam into his unmoving body and crash into the ground, screeching. As it struggled to get up, Kirby suddenly…almost turned back into himself.

When Kirby uses his power to turn into a rock, he basically looks like a vaguely square hunk of brown rock, with tightly closed eyes on its front. But now, although Kirby kept his spherical shape, with arms and legs, he looked to be covered in the brown rock, considerably increasing his mass…and apparently his strength as he punched the Alpha Metroid before it could get up.

It lay on the ground, croaking, and Kirby slowly walked towards it, shaking parts of the floor with his dense weight. This form may increase his strength and durability…but he really is as slow as a…well, a rock. When Kirby reached the Alpha Metroid he abruptly seemed to explode, sending rocks everywhere, and most hit the Metroid, killing it. When the rocks cleared, Kirby was revealed to be his normal pink self. Most of the Smashers were occupied fighting the other Alpha Metroids…but Meta was flying not to far away, just staring at Kirby with a piercing glare, that was all the more intimidating because of his lack of speech. Kirby raised an eye as Meta cleared his throat.

"ROCKS GO BOOM!" He shouted before flying around in circles. Kirby shrugged and started heading towards Diddy, who was having difficulty with his foe.

Raichu and Falco were both helping Diddy, who was trying to avoid the creature's ramming assaults. Raichu appeared to be the only one actually damaging it, as his increasingly powerful electric attacks were hitting the creature's entire body, but Diddy didn't have the strength necessary to penetrate the Alpha Metroid's armor, and Falco was unwilling to use one of his more powerful moves around the others, afraid they may get caught in the attack.

Eventually Diddy got sick of the game of catch, so before Kirby reached them he activated his jet-pack and flew straight up. The Alpha Metroid followed, getting pelted from beneath with laser shots and electric attacks…but it seemed to not notice or care. Diddy flew about thirty feet up, with the Alpha Metroid only a short distance behind. When Diddy reached the apex of his jet-pack's height he dropped an Orange Grenade right on top of the creature, and dropped straight down, missing the Alpha Metroid by inches.

The Grenade exploded when Diddy was about halfway down, immediately killing the Alpha Metroid, and just about then he realized he was about to have a rather rough landing. Before he could do anything, he bounced off of the top of a pink puffball and landed harmlessly on the ground, while the puffball in question seemed irritated about being used as a cushion.

Mario was skillfully dodging the Alpha Metroid that was trying to attack him and Bario, while pelting it with fireballs. Bario rolled under the creature and stabbed it in the soft membrane as it flew over him. It squealed and as it turned around, a hammer swing from Mario slammed it hard into the ground, where it quickly died.

A mostly recovered Link threw a bomb at the Alpha Metroid that just flew at Samus, both missing with their attacks. The bomb exploded, hurting it, and causing it to turn its attention to Link…which allowed Samus to freeze it with an Ice Beam, and shatter it with a missile, finishing off the Alpha Metroids.

The Smashers slowly walked to the second wall that had been revealed after the first one collapsed.

"I don't think it's over yet," Bario said.

The others nodded and trained their weapons on the wall when they were about twenty feet away…and startlingly fast it collapsed into dust, revealing another twenty foot section of the room, and five new enemies…

"Gamma Metroids!" Samus yelled, as she and the others immediately started firing at the charging creatures.

The Gamma Metroids were very similar looking to the Alpha Metroids, they had longer legs, and were larger all around with longer pointed horns on its front, but otherwise appeared unchanged…however, these ones could do a bit more than just fly around…

The Smashers immediately opened up with their barrage of projectiles, Samus taking out one with her classic Ice Beam and Missile combo, although it took two of each to kill the Gamma Metroid, and the rest managed to take out one more of this obviously more powerful creatures. The last three each managed to hit a Smasher, as they were faster than they seemed possible for their large size, Falco, Bario and Link were sent rolling, as they managed to avoid the brunt of the attack. As the Gamma Metroids came back, they unleashed their new attack…

A Gamma Metroid flew over to Falco, who flipped onto his feet, firing away. The creature ignored the attacks…and sent a jolt of electricity at him. The yellowish chain covered the few feet between them rapidly, and soon Falco was lying on the ground twitching violently as the paralyzing shock traveled through his feathered body.

The other Gamma Metroids were not having such an easy time. Bario managed to avoid the attack, and he responded with two powerful sword strikes, that cut large furrows in the creature's armor. Mario assisted by jumping on the creature, hitting it with a hammer swing and leaping off before it could hit him with its shock attack. Meta soon joined in on this fight, while Kirby dashed over to help Link and Samus.

Samus was trying to maneuver around the Gamma Metroid so she could hit it, but Link was too close for her to get a safe shot. Link kept trying to shove the Gamma Metroid back with his shield, but although the shield protected him from the beings shock attacks, its superior size and strength was inexorably pushing him back…until Kirby slammed it into the ground with his hammer.

Falco was struggling to move, and he was gradually regaining his mobility…but the Gamma Metroid fired another shock at him…which Raichu jumped in front of, easily absorbing it. The Gamma Metroid was startled by this, and as it tried to figure out what to do, Diddy started pelting it with peanuts, drawing its attention. Raichu took a moment to look at Falco who appeared to be mostly improved.

"You okay?" Raichu asked.

Falco nodded, then flashed Raichu a grin…well at least it looked like a grin…it was hard to tell with that large beak of his.

"Don't worry…I'll take care of this…I'm REALLY getting sick of these Metroids!"

The Gamma Metroid battling Bario, Mario and Meta soon fell. It barely managed to scratch Bario, and the other two suffered no damage. A strike from Meta's sword to its underbelly soon finished it off.

Samus froze the inert Gamma Metroid that Kirby damaged, but before she could blow it up, Link made a hand motion to her, one that indicated that she should wait. She obliged, and Link shattered it with a downwards sword thrust.

Falco ran over to the Gamma Metroid trying to hit Diddy and rolled under it. Before it realized he was there, Falco activated a move he has not used for a while, the Fire Falco, which wreathed him in a flaming shield of orange, yellow and red. Letting out a loud shout he shot straight up, penetrating the creature and flying upwards a few more feet, before the flames dissipated, and he landed gracefully in the rapidly vanishing dust pile of the Gamma Metroid.

Before the Smashers could take a breather, the next wall ALSO collapsed, extending the room by another twenty feet, and revealing three Zeta Metroids.

They stood over six feet tall, and were no longer floating. They had become reptilian creatures…like Outer Space Raptors or something. They had long tails, dark green armor, and a leech-like mouth. Rounding out the beasts were large clawed arms. With claws.

"FIRE!" Bario said as the Zeta Metroids started jumping, covering incredible distances with their long muscular legs.

The Smashers responded with their normal stream of projectile attacks, but the Zeta Metroids were moving too fast and unpredictably to be hit easily.

"How much longer is this going to go on?! I'm sick of fighting Metroids!" Falco said again, ducking a fireball flung at him from a Zeta.

"You're sick of fighting them?! What about ME?!" Samus asked, charging up her Ice Beam.

"Yeah, well, at least I didn't name them after my sorority!" Falco said.

"Your what?!" Bario asked, slashing at a Zeta that jumped away just before he hit it.

"Do you even know what a sorority is?" Samus said, hitting a Zeta with a fully charged Ice Beam, which was about five times as powerful as a single uncharged one. She then shattered it with three missiles.

"Uh…yes...maybe…NO!" Falco yelled, using the Falco Phantasm to avoid a Zeta that jumped past him, shooting fireballs from its mouth.

Kirby, Meta and Mario were trying to take down a Zeta Metroid, that was using jets of air to float over their heads, shooting fireballs…that were matched by Mario's and all of the fireballs dissipated harmlessly.. Before it could escape, Kirby, using puffs of air to get up to its level slammed it with a hammer, right into Mario's hammer, which flung it through Meta's sword killing the Zeta Metroid.

The final Zeta Metroid was having difficulty hitting Link. It tried a few fireballs, but that was ineffective as he rolled out of the way. It then tried to claw at him, but he blocked that with his shield. Before he could retaliate, a stream of electricity hit the creature, pinning it down with pain long enough for Diddy to kill it with an orange grenade.

"Wow. We're getting good." Diddy said.

"Well, it doesn't matter how good we are. If I'm right, next up will be Omega Metroids…" Samus said, as the wall started to collapse.

"What do you mean it doesn't matter how good we are? If we're so good that we can kill everything, than we could kill everything with one hit! Even…omg…Metroids! Whatever the kittens those are supposed to be." Falco said.

"Just…shut up," Samus said.

As the wall collapsed, it revealed even more of the room…about fifty feet, making this perhaps one of the larger rooms the Smashers have been to. And inside were two Omega Metroids…and something else.

The Omega Metroids looked like larger, more intimidating Zeta Metroids, they stood over twelve feet tall, were considerably longer, and had large carnivorous looking mouths. Like the other Metroids with Greek names, (And no there is no discernible reason why an aliens life cycle's stages are described through Greek letters, when logically they come from space, and oh…forget it.) they had thick dark green armor, but they were very large and muscular, with massive clawed arms and legs, and glowing red eye…things.

But it was the creature behind these two massive brutes that drew attention. This was the Metroid Queen, which stood only a few shorter than the Omega's…but that was because she was on four legs. Her head was huge, and was almost entirely pointy, toothy, mouth. She actually resembled a demented turtle…that was twenty-five feet long and with large claws, and big pointy teeth. And were the teeth mentioned? They were pointy.

The Smashers just stared at the three humungous beasts for a while, before the Omega Metroids let out a loud roar and started stomping forward. Samus immediately snapped out of her shock, after all she's beaten these things before…but the mere fact they existed was beyond her. She couldn't understand how these Metroids were back, after she killed all of them…but that was something to worry about later. For now, they needed to survive.

"Guys!" she yelled, drawing the Smashers attention…they had about eighty feet before the Omega's reached them, what with their constant moving during combat, "Aim for the Omega Metroid's chest, they're vulnerable there!"

Immediately the Smashers took aim, and the ones with weapons that could reach that far started firing, Samus and…Falco. Link took aim, but his arrows were inaccurate over forty or fifty feet.

As soon as Samus fired, her Ice Beam rapidly covered the distance. The large bowling ball sized chunk of ice flew forward and slammed into the chest of the Omega on the right, causing it to stop and pant for a second with its massive head facing the ground as the wisps of steam from the ice ball wafted past its face, but then its head whipped up with amazing speed, and it launched a fireball, just as big as the ice ball, right at Samus, who was hit full on and fell to the ground, unmoving and without a sound.

"Samus!" Link yelled, looking at her body in shock, before glaring at the Omega and firing arrow after arrow. Most missed, and others bounced off its armor, but a rare few penetrated and caused it even more hurt…and it started to move.

Using its massive legs, it started to jump, and then, activating pockets of air, it levitated, just like the Zeta Metroid did, and moved incredibly fast, covering the distance in no time. Meanwhile, the Omega Metroid Falco was trying to hit, ignored his attacks, and started shooting fireballs long distance.

The floating Omega crashed into the ground by Link with a thump that knocked him off his feet. He rolled to the left, as it stomped down; trying to squish him, and Link retaliated by slashing at it. His sword bounced off its armored leg, and Link had to stagger to his knees, and do a sort of crawling leap to avoid its second attack, landing by Samus's still form.

Raichu, Diddy and Kirby avoided the not incredibly fast moving fire-balls, and the three of them with Falco and Mario ran towards the attacking Omega Metroid. Bario and Meta, seeing Link struggling, and Samus apparently out of the fight decided to go help them. Well at least Bario decided. Meta was beyond…or possibly beneath decision making abilities.

The Omega that Falco and the rest were moving towards leapt forward, covering the ground between them in an instant. Mario was the only able to react in time; he leapt to the side of the creature, as it let out a ferocious flurry of claw swipes, with hands as big as Diddy. The rest of the Smashers were fast enough to avoid the majority of the attacks, but they all still got cut up pretty bad, and it looked like the Omega wasn't going to stop…until Mario hammered it in the chest, after rolling underneath its arms while it was trying to kill the others.

The Omega Mario hammered, immediately stopped attacking, shrieked and backed up a bit. Taking advantage of its momentary weakness Raichu, Kirby, Falco and Diddy hit it with electricity, laser shots, shockwaves and peanuts. The Omega backed up even more, waving its arms, before lowering them in front of its vulnerable chest and stomping forward again. Raichu backed off a bit and started crackling with electricity. Diddy glanced at him, but decided to focus on the enemy instead.

Link clambered to his feet and stared at the Omega, sword and shield raised, preparing to face the inevitable attack. It reared its head back, charging a fireball…and Meta and Bario unleashed a triple sword slash on its exposed chest. It squealed, shooting the fireball into the ceiling, and retaliated by slashing Meta into the ground. It tried to do the same to Bario, but he managed to hold it back with his swords.

"Claws make the world go HURT!" Meta shrieked, flapping around in circles on the ground, as Bario and the Omega pushed at each other, with Bario clearly losing.

Link then leapt forward and struck the Omega with a Jumping Attack. It responded faster than he could have thought, and he barely got his shield up in time to stop the claw swipe. The Omega pushed hard, and Link was forced to hold onto the shield with both hands, his sword sticking up uselessly in his left hand as it pushed the center of the shield. Even with both Bario and Link struggling, the vastly more physically powerful Omega was pushing them down…

The Omega Falco and the others were battling was getting closer, until Mario leapt onto its head and hammered it…hard. It squealed and jerked its head back, knocking Mario off…and raising its arms. Immediately Diddy launched a grenade at it, which exploded an instant later. Kirby instantly followed that up with a hammer to its chest, before running out of the way. Before the Omega could react, Falco used a Fire Falco on its chest, slamming squarely there, before dropping to the ground and used a Falco Phantasm to get out of the way of Raichu.

Raichu slammed into the Omega's chest head first and unleashed a massive torrent of electricity. Finally being unable to take anymore, and fried from the inside out, it let out one last shriek before disintegrating.

Link and Bario looked at each other, both straining hard.

"On three, we'll let go and try and hit it again, kay?" Bario asked.

"Fine…by me," Link said, just the faintest hint of anger in his voice.
Bario frowned slightly, but before he could respond, a fully charged Ice Beam hit the Omega in the chest. It shrieked and backed away, knocking over both Bario and Link as they were pushing so hard, they fell off balance. Samus immediately followed the Ice Beam with three missiles. The Omega stopped, frozen with pain, allowing Meta to spring forward and skewer it in the chest, with a loud shout of kittens. Following the path of the first Omega, the second disintegrated as well.

Link turned to Samus, shock evident in his eyes, as Bario got up.

"What, did you think I was actually hurt or something? The fireball just knocked some of my suits systems out for a bit," she said with a bit of a grin in her voice.

Bario offered his hand to Link, to help him up, but Link grunted and shoved it away, getting up on his own. An understanding look flashed through Bario's dark eyes, but it was gone before anyone else saw it.

The Queen Metroid decided to take this as an opportunity to charge forward. Her massive feet shook the room, and drew all eyes towards her.

"F-Kittens!" Samus yelled, "Shoot her! Everyone! SHOOT HER!"
"F-what?" Falco yelled back.

"Shut up and shoot her before she kills you!" she screamed.

The Smashers focused everything they had on her, fireballs, laser shots, electric balls, arrows, shockwaves, Ice Beams, energy balls, peanuts, and she actually staggered under the sheer weight of the attacks, but her thick armor protected her from essentially any damage. Her only weak point was her belly…and since she was so low to the ground that would be practically impossible to hit.

When she was still a good distance from Falco, Mario, Kirby, Raichu and Diddy, the Queen roared and extended her neck an incredible distance, whipping the armored extension into all five of them, knocking the surprised Smashers to the ground, where they crawled away from her snapping jaws. She roared again and gave a short hop, surprising Falco, who was unable to pull his leg away in time.

Her jaws closed on it and squeezed with a sickening crunch.

"EEEEEEEYAAAAAAGH!" Falco screamed, in sheer agony.

The Queen raised her head high, and as Mario came leaping from behind, she whipped him with her tail, sending him into other would-be rescuers, Kirby and Diddy. Raichu tried to shock the Queen, but her armor seemed mostly impervious. Link, Samus, Bario and Meta ran towards her

The Queen shook Falco around, holding him up almost twenty feet in the air, before tossing him down to the ground with a casual strength, where he lay, motionless and with his leg crushed and bleeding. His eyes were closed, and if he was breathing, it wasn't going to last much longer.

Samus looked at the situation, and it didn't take her long to realize what to do. The Queen was enormously powerful, not to mention enormous, and they all were exhausted after the continuous swarm of Metroids, as was probably the plan by those stupid hands. She reached her decision…

"NO! Falco!" Bario yelled, running towards him, cursing Link pulled out a bomb and threw it at the Queens face, along with several energy balls, courtesy of Meta. Hissing the Queen turned towards them, ignoring Falco.

Bario put his hands over Falco's leg, and a light purple light emanated from them.

"What…are you doing?" Falco asked.

"You're still conscious?!" Bario said, "I'm amazed. I'm using my limited magic to try and keep your wounds from getting worse. It doesn't look good…your lower leg bone is fractured in multiple places, and several of your ribs are broken. I'm actually surprised it isn't worse."
"I can take long falls. How can you tell all that?"

"Magic," Bario said simply.

"Link!" Samus called.

"What?!" he said, evading her head.

"Hope this works," she said faintly, before rolling up into a ball.

"What…oh…SAMUS! NO!" he yelled, before she rolled right into the Queen's open mouth, vanishing in the massive creature.

"What? What did she just do?" Bario asked, looking up from Falco.

"She…roll…inside…DEAD!" Link cried, pulling out his sword and running head-on at the Queen.
The Queen roared, and lunged her head forward, knocking Link to the ground. Diddy and the rest were surrounding the Queen, but they really didn't know what to do. She seemed unstoppable, and had already taken out Falco, and Samus…or had she?
The Queen gave a confused grunt, before freezing in place. She seemed to quiver a bit, as though something was trying to escape and couldn't. She let out a cry of intense pain…and exploded from the inside out…her parts vanished into pink dust that healed everyone…yes, even Falco, amazingly enough.
When the dust cleared, Samus was revealed, unrolling from her ball form.

"What? How?" Link said.

"Power Bomb. Doesn't hurt me when I'm in my Morph Ball form. I've done something like that before," She said, quite cheerful considering she was just eaten by alien royalty.

A blue glowing door lit up where the Queen once stood. The Smashers looked like they wanted to say something to each other, but with the exception of a grateful thanks of Falco to Bario, and a few knowing looks, they seemed to understand each other enough to head to the door, which Samus shot open.
But all was not entirely good, for Bario caught a glimpse of the suspicion and distrust that Link's glare shot at him…but chose not to comment on it. Not yet at least…