Before beginning their journey, Snake took a look at the dead Koopas and something came to mind.
"Katy?"
"Yes?"
"Before the…"monsters" attacked, did you and your group manage to get some supplies?"
"Yeah we did. We were actually going back home. Why?"
"I think we're gonna need to finish what they started. Besides, I'm sure you and your people will find some comfort knowing that they didn't die for nothing."
"Yeah…you're right." She mumbled. He looked over to the girl and could tell that she didn't feel comfortable with the idea of rummaging through the corpses of her family.
"You can wait here. I'll pick up the supplies."
"Thank you."
Snake searched the backpacks of each Koopa. It looked like they were going to return with a pretty good haul. Good amount of food, water, ammunition and medicine. He picked up each of their weapons, all being 9mm Pistols, and put them in his bag. He noticed each body had a necklace on them, each having a strange insignia.
"What are these necklaces that they're wearing?" Snake asked the girl.
"Those? They're our family pendants. It's something to identify us by."
"Sounds a lot like dog tags…you want me to bring them?"
"If you don't mind…it'd be nice to have something to remember them with."
"Very true." Snake thought. Ever since the incident, almost all records of history have been lost. Now it's hard to even record history of the events that happen in the wastes. Nobody has the time to make a history book. If you die, then your legacy dies with you. The only one that can really tell your story is your friends…if they're not dead already. But with something like a dog tag, at the very least your name will live on.
"I think I've got everything. Let's move Katy."
It was already getting dark when he found Katy, so they were only able to travel a few hours before it was midnight. Snake knows from experience that you do not travel after midnight.
"This is as far as we go for now. I'm going to set up camp and then we'll continue in the morning."
Snake quickly set up a campfire and a tent. Just what you needed to get through a night. He cooked some meat on the campfire and filled his stomach. He looked over to Katy, who didn't seem right.
"How long has it been since you ate?"
"Uh…yesterday morning." She answered.
"You should've said something. Here, you want some of this?" He asked showing her the meat.
"Uh no thanks, I'm a bit of a picky eater. Don't really like things straight off a fire."
"You can't afford to be like that out here in the wastes kid." He warned her. "Food isn't a luxury like it used to be. You got to be willing to eat whatever you can find."
"I know. You're right." She frowned.
"I guess I can make an exception this time. Here, take this." He said tossing her one of his rations.
"What is this?"
"It's a MRE. A "Meal Ready to Eat" He explained. "Perfect survival food. And the container it's in makes sure that it never spoils."
She took a bite of the food and very much enjoyed it. "This is great!"
For the next several minutes the two of them ate their meals in silence. After they finished, Katy had some questions.
"Uh Mr. Snake? Do you really think it's safe for us to be sleeping out here? What if the monsters find us? They'll kill us in our sleep!"
"Don't worry. You'll be sleeping. I'm going to stay up and be on watch and kill anything or anyone that threatens us."
"You'll stay up all night? Don't you need to sleep too?"
"I've gone without sleep for most of my life. Sometimes it's because I've been on missions that required it, and sometimes it's because of nightmares."
"Oh. Do you get bad dreams of monsters coming to get you too?" Katy asked with child-like innocence. Snake's nightmares stemmed from PTSD from his time spent in warzones, and sometimes he was the monster in those dreams. Nevertheless…
"Uh…yeah…that's it. Those are my nightmares." He lied as he lit a cigarette. "Also, we need to establish some ground rules if we're going to be traveling together. Understand kid?"
"I understand. What are the rules?"
"First, you will do what I say, when I say it, no questions asked. Okay?" To which she nodded.
"Second, if we run into any trouble you're need to run away from the area until I make sure everything is safe. I don't want to have to worry about you getting caught in the crossfire." And again she nodded in understanding.
"Finally, always follow me. Do not stray away from the path. Do not wander off on your own! Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes sir."
"Good. Now go ahead and get some rest. We got a busy day tomorrow." Snake finished and began keeping watch.
Morning came and the two immediately began heading to Koopa Keep. What to expect on the way there was unknown, but Snake didn't think it would be anything he couldn't handle. He took point as Katy followed him from behind.
"Mr. Snake? There's something I wanted to ask you."
"What is it?"
"What is that metal thing pointing out of your head? It looks like a horn."
Snake stopped in his tracks at the question.
Metal thing? Oh…that thing! Damn, that happened seven years ago. I forgot about it cause no one ever actually asked me about it.
"That's a piece of shrapnel Katy. It got lodged into my head when the Final Smash happened."
"You were there? Where it happened?"
"Yes I was. I think I was the only one in fact. But yeah when the Master Core exploded it sent this piece of shrapnel into my head."
"Why don't you take it out?"
"Cause it would probably kill me if I did."
"Doesn't it hurt though?"
"Well…not anymore."
"Ok then."
Minutes of silence went by, before Katy asked another question.
"So, can you tell me anything about the "Final Smash"?"
"I could." Snake said intentionally being vague. He did not follow up, prompting the girl Koopa to ask…
"Are you going to?"
"Nope."
"Why not?"
Snake was getting somewhat irritated with the child being persistent on the subject.
"Because I'm trying to focus on getting us to Koopa Keep so I'm trying to keep a clear head. Talking about the event that was the downfall and destruction of the world really doesn't help."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"It's fine. Let's just keep moving."
Several hours went by, and the two wanderers were getting very close to their destination.
"I recognize this area!" Katy said.
"You do?"
"Yeah, this area is only about an hour away from Koopa Keep."
"Well let's not waste any…what was that?"
He heard something. Something was moving, something was watching them.
"What was wh-"
"SHHH! Be quiet!"
He heard more movement. He was trying to figure out what the source was based off the sound of the footsteps. He must've of heard it somewhere before. Then he heard a chomping sound and he finally realized it was Kremlins.
"KATY HIDE!" He ordered as 3 Kremlins jumped from hiding. Readying his rifle he fired and put a bullet right between one's eyes, killing it instantly. The other two dashed to the side, circling him. One came from behind and grabbed Snake. He broke free from its grasp and stabbed it in the throat with his knife, blood now gushing from that area. Two Kremlins remained, and he readied his rifle and turned to aim at one. One of them was closer than he expected and slapped his rifle out of his hands. Snake dodged the Kremlin's swipe attacks, and performed a spinning kick to its stomach, knocking it back at good distance. Snake pulled out his pistol and shot that Kremlin dead. The last one got the drop on Snake. Tackling him to the ground and pinned him, knocking his pistol out of his hand in the process. The Kremlin was attempting to slice Snake's throat with his claw, but Snake was holding his arm back. Snake's resistance was slowly wearing away, and he could not overpower the vicious gator. To his luck, Katy decided to come out of hiding, and rammed into the Kremlin on top of him with her shell, knocking him off. Reacting quickly, Snake pinned the Kremlin down. His usual weapons were not nearby, so he grabbed a big rock and continuously smashed it on his opponents' face. After about a minute, Snake had reduced the creature face to a bloody pulp, with much of its blood on his face.
"I think it's dead." Katy pointed out. Snake then snapped the croc's neck for good measure, much to the shock of Katy.
"You always need to be sure." He said, describing his actions. "By the way…you did disobey one of our ground rules back there…but I'd probably be dead if you didn't. So thanks."
The young girl smiled at him but looked a little bit frightened still. Probably because of all the blood on the man's face.
"Mr. Snake, you might want to wash your face." She recommended. He rubbed his finger on his face and finally notice there was Kremlin blood all over it.
"Yeah that's a good idea."
Surviving the rough encounter with the Kremlins, the rest of the trip was smooth sailing. They were finally at the entrance to Koopa Keep. The two Koopa guards at the front saw Snake and raised their guns.
"Stay where you are or we'll shoot! Who are you?"
"No don't shoot! He's with me!" Katy pleaded with the guards.
"Katy? Where's your group? Where's your family?" The guard asked. Katy could only frown and her eyes started to water up. In order to make explanations simpler, Snake simply pulled out the pendants of the fallen Koopas.
"Oh…I see." The guard said swallowing the bad news.
"Don't worry, we brought back the supplies that they had picked up." Snake informed them.
"Alright stay where you are. I need to radio this in."
Snake watched the one guard speak into the radio, though unable to hear what he was saying. Seemingly finished with the conversation, the guard walked back towards them.
"Ok, Katy come inside, we'll get you taken care of. As for you." The Koopa pointed to Snake. "Follow me. The sheriff wants to speak with you.
For those who follow me and are reading this and are curious on the state of Snake the Handyman, don't worry, it's still alive and I'm working on it.
Now I'd like a little bit of feedback from you readers on trying something new. I have never written an M rated story before. I've avoided doing so because I've noticed that by default when you browse through the fanfic pages that any M rated stories are filtered out. Basically, I'm worried people who don't know about the story won't see it when they look through the SSB fics.
But with this story I want to go the whole 9 yards. Meaning I want to be able to put in some really dark subject matter without the possible risk of this getting reported for stepping outside the T rating. This story is a post-apocalyptic drama, so I feel that it's kind of necessary for there to be mature subject matter. And no, I'm not talking about being able to include hardcore sex or any shit like that. So if you can let me know either through a PM or a review on whether I should bump this up to an M rating or even if I'm wrong about people not being able to see M rated stories I'd really appreciate it.