Naturally, after I make the declaration of being able to post chapters every other day, I can't keep that up. My apologies for that. Here's a longer-than-usual, feel good chapter. Hopefully it slightly makes up for it.
Samus woke up to a knocking on her door. She groggily got up and opened it to find Peach.
With a bright smile Peach said, "Good Morning Samus!"
Samus wiped her eyes. "Good Morning Peach."
"Would you like some breakfast?"
"Um… Sure. What time is it?"
"7!" Peach said, smile never breaking.
"It's a bit early." Samus smiled. "But sure, breakfast sounds great."
"Great!" Peach clasped her hands together. "I made something special! And let's get the others. I'm trying to get our little group together for it!"
"I have to get dressed, be out in a minute." Samus said.
"I'll be here!" Peach said with a laugh.
Samus went to her closet to grab a Zero Suit. She smiled at the thought of being part of a little group. The four girls are friends, that's for sure. Link and Popo join in sometimes. Even though they only do so because of Zelda and Nana, Samus considered them friends. Pit and Red are also two people she considered friends.
If they're a group, she should tell them about herself, that's what friends do. But there's still a risk. For everyone.
Samus went to the door. Peach was there, smiling as brightly as ever.
"Shall we?" The Princess asked.
Samus smiled. "Sure."
The two went to Zelda's room first, who happily joined them. Then they went to the room of the Ice Climbers and got Nana. The Pink Climber was less than thrilled to be up that early, but when she saw the rest were there, she wanted to join in.
"Does your brother want to come with?" Peach asked.
"No." Nana shook her head. "He prefers to sleep in."
"Shall we go to the dining room?" Zelda suggested.
"Let's grab a few more people first." Peach said. "Zelda, you and I will go get Link. Samus, Nana, go get Pit."
"Yay!" Nana jumped. "Pit's going to come too?"
Peach smiled at the little girl. "Only if you ask him!"
"Let's go Samus!" Nana said, grabbing Samus's hands.
"Ok, su-!" Samus got cut off but Nana's abrupt yank as she led them down the hall. Nana ran down the hall, which meant Samus had to do a mere jog.
"Which room is Pit's again?" Samus asked.
"It's that one!" Nana pointed. "Then Snake, then Marth, and then Red."
Samus thought for a second. "Hey, how about you get Pit, I'll ask Red if he wants to come."
"Red?" Nana asked, head tilted. "You want to ask him?"
Samus nodded "Yeah, sure. He's a nice guy. And he and Pit are friends."
"Ok! Go ask him!" Nana agreed, then ran to Pit's room.
Samus walked over to Red's room and knocked. She waited a few moments, then knocked again. She heard a shuffling from the other side of the door, then a sleepy eyed Red opened the door. He was still in his pajamas, but had his hat on.
"Hello Red." Samus greeted.
Red yawned then said, "Hey Samus. Look, it's half past early. Is there something you need?"
"A group of us are getting together for breakfast. Care to join?"
There was a moment of silence and blank staring, but eventually Red said, "Yeah, sure. Just let me throw on my jacket and pants."
"Great." Samus said. She looked to the other side of the hall and saw Nana yanking Pit out of his room. She dragged him to the adjacent hallway, barely giving him time to lace up his sandals. As they rounded the corner, Pit quickly gave Samus a small smile and a shrug. Samus smiled back.
Red opened his door. "Ok, I'm ready." The two began walking to the dining room. "A group breakfast, right? I'm guessing Peach is in charge of this?"
"Nailed it." Samus said. She smirked at the Pokemon trainer. "Half past early?"
Red shrugged. "I didn't check my clock. I only knew I was tired, so it seemed like an appropriate phrase."
"Right." Samus shook her head.
Peach, Zelda, Link, Nana, and Pit were all waiting in the lobby.
"I asked Red if he wanted to come with." Samus told them.
Peach smiled. "Great! The more the merrier!"
The group walked to the dining room. There was nobody eating, but there was a light coming from the kitchen.
Peach stepped in front of everyone and faced them. "Ok everyone. I have a bit of a surprise. Since we've all gotten close since we came here, I wanted to do something nice for my friends!"
She led them to the kitchen and there, spread out on the counter, was an array of breakfast foods. Pancakes, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, fresh fruit, orange juice, Poffins, and some dishes Samus didn't even recognize.
"Wow!" Nana exclaimed.
"Holy Palutena, Peach, did you do this by yourself?" Pit asked.
"I had a little bit of help." Peach said, gesturing towards the sink.
Sitting there, washing up a frying pan, was Pikachu. He sat on the counter and leaned into the sink to scrub it. He turned to everyone and gave a "Pika!"
Peach smiled. "When I first came in here to start I saw him eating out of the peanut butter jar. I guess I startled him, he must've been doing it in secret. I think he felt guilty, so he began washing the dishes after I used them!"
Zelda smiled. "How cute!"
Red scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, but I'll avoid the peanut butter for the time being."
Peach clapped her hands together. "Well, you guys dig in! If anyone else comes tell them they can have whatever they'd like! I just wanted you guys to have first pick." She winked at the group, then went to the sink and helped Pikachu with the dishes. "Here, the frying pan can be a bit tricky to scrub."
Link leaned over to Samus. "I think i've been hit with that pan." Samus smiled at the comment.
Everybody began crowding around the counter. They all grabbed plates and started piling as much as they could. Red let out his 3 Pokemon and grabbed them a plate full of Poffins. The group went out into the dining room when Nana said, "Hey, why don't we push two of the tables together? So we can all sit together!"
"They're round." Link pointed out.
"Actually…" Red said. He put his plate down on a table and walked to a separate table. He pulled off the tablecloth. "See? The table is three separate parts. A rectangular middle piece, with two rounded wings on the ends. That why they're more oval shaped than a perfect circular."
"So if we took out the middle piece of some of the other tables, we could elongate one table so we can all sit together!" Pit said.
"We'll have to take one of the legs from another table too." Samus said. "If it gets too long, we'll need something to support the middle."
"Good call." Link said. The group quickly got to work. The too the middle sections of 3 other tables and threw them onto one. The table became big enough to seat 10 people, 11 if they squished the chairs together. They used three tablecloths to cover the entire thing.
"Hey Red." Samus said getting his attention. "How did you know about the tables?"
Red smiled and nodded towards his Squirtle. "The little guy likes to sit underneath the tables. I just happened to notice it."
Samus smiled and pulled up a chair. The others followed suit, all sitting down and starting to eat their breakfasts. Peach walked out of the kitchen carrying two plates, one of food for her, the other of Poffins for Pikachu.
"Oh, what a great idea!" Peach said when she saw the table. She took a seat by Samus, while Pikachu just sat in the middle of the table with his plate.
Samus looked around the table. Each of these people considered her a friend. And she felt the same about them. Just admitting that to herself gave her an incredible warm and fulfilling feeling.
"Samus?" Peach asked.
Samus snapped out of her thoughts. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"
Peach giggled. "I asked how everything tasted."
"Oh, it's very good." She replied. "You're a very good cook, Peach."
"Thank you!"
"She's right Peach, this is fantastic!" Link said. The rest of the table agreed.
"Thank you everyone!" The Princess said, beaming.
"Hey, what's all this here?"
Everyone turned around and saw Ike and Marth walking in.
"A big breakfast!" Nana said.
"Grab a plate and join us!" Zelda said.
Ike was already walking towards the kitchen. "Don't have to tell me twice."
Soon more people began coming into the dining room. Ike and Marth took up two chairs at the big table, and eventually Popo came in and took the last chair. The others would filter in and just sit at some of the other tables. Everybody was having a nice time, talking, laughing, and eating. Samus smiled to herself as she took in the general feeling of happiness. She made note of what one gesture can do for so many people. Everybody had a big smile on as they talked to their friends. As she scanned over the all of the faces, she ended up making eye contact with Pikachu. The little mouse made a smile, which Samus returned.
Then she motioned for him to come over. He did so, and Samus said, "You know, the other night I came out here and found the peanut butter out and the kitchen lights on." Pikachu suddenly looked shocked, followed by guilty. Samus smiled at him. "You have midnight snacks often, don't you?"
Pikachu slowly nodded, looking down. Samus laughed. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me."
"Pikachu!" The electric mouse exclaimed, thankfully.
The meal went on for about an hour, and soon people went to check the brawling schedules.
"This was a lot of fun Peach!" Nana said.
"Yeah, it was a great idea!" Pit agreed.
"And that food! Damn!" Ike said, rubbing his stomach. "My compliments to the chef."
Peach smiled. "Thanks everyone!"
"Guys, we should keep this going!" Link said.
"What did you have in mind?" Red asked.
Link shrugged. "I don't know. We should just get together at night or something."
"How about in the garden?" Zelda suggested.
"The garden is pretty nice at night." Pit said. Red nodded in agreement.
"And the torches make it so pretty!" Peach said.
"So how about when we're all done with brawls for the day?" Link said.
Everyone agreed. Samus felt exhilarated by the idea.
Peach and Samus were the first at the garden. They had grabbed some of the chairs from the grill area and brought them down to the center of the garden. They arranged the chairs and the benches into a circle. They were soon joined by Link, Zelda, and the Ice Climbers. They all sat around, enjoying the cool evening air. Link and Zelda took a bench, as did the siblings. Peach and Samus each took a chair.
"What do you guys think of this place?" Samus asked.
"I like it!" Popo said.
"It's like a vacation!" Nana added.
"You guys must take weird vacations!" Link laughed. "What do you mean, Samus?"
"The Mansion?" Zelda asked.
Samus shook her head. "Not just the Mansion. I mean this whole fighting event."
The group heard some footsteps coming towards them. They looked over and saw Pit and Red joining them.
"Hey you two!" Peach greeted.
"Hey there." Red replied.
"What are you guys up to?" Pit asked. The two took up some chairs.
"Samus just asked what we thought of this place." Link said. The two looked at Samus.
"I suppose a better way to put it would be, how do you feel about it?" Samus clarified.
"Feel about what, though?" Nana asked.
"This place was made for us to come here and fight each other." Pit said. He shot Samus a quick knowing glance. "Yet here we are, making friends with the people we're supposed to consider rivals."
"Exactly." Samus said.
"I guess I never really thought about it like that." Peach said.
"I always saw it as a place to see new people." Zelda said. "Along with old friends."
Samus sat back, thinking about what everybody said. It seemed like people saw this place as something to look forward to, instead of how she used to see it. She had seen it as some place she just had to endure. She'd been to so many foreign places, that her ideals for alien planets just seemed to had stuck themselves to anywhere she wasn't used to.
"People can make the best of a bad situation, if they work hard enough." Red said.
"Even if they don't realize they're doing it." Link added.
"It's what can make anywhere feel like home." Zelda finished.
Samus thought about that. She even said it herself. She had seen this place as foreign. Without realizing it, she had made herself comfortable in this place, with these people.
"What about you Samus?" Popo asked.
Samus gathered her thoughts her thoughts to speak, but got interrupted by Ike arriving.
"Hey guys." He said. They all greeted him. "I wasn't so sure about coming down here, but the food earlier was so good, I thought I should at least thank you guys for it."
"Not a problem!" Zelda smiled.
"Now that you're here, you may as well join us!" Peach said.
"Uh…" Ike scratched the back of his head. He looked back to the Mansion, then back to the group. "You know what? Yeah, sure, I'll stick around." Ike took a seat with the others. "So what;s been going on?"
"How do you feel about this place being made for us to fight each other?" Red asked.
Ike seemed slightly surprised at the question. He took a couple of seconds then said, "Hell, I don't know. I like that I can train here. And I have fun. I didn't think of it as just for fighting."
"That's what we've been saying." Link told him.
"I can strengthen myself here. Which is good, I can survive in the Mercenaries this way." Ike said.
"Mercenaries?" Nana asked.
"Yeah, I'm part of my father's mercenary group where I come from. I want to be a strong leader for them." Ike told them. "Link, you know what that's like."
Link nodded with a chuckle. "I was appointed as a general in my country's military. To be honest, I think the only reason I got the job was because the person in charge has a crush on me."
Zelda smiled and nudged him. "So what if she does? You still deserve it."
"I could use guys like you." Peach said, looking at her hands. "I love the Toads to death and they're so helpful. They just aren't very good guards."
"I get to lead an army of angels up in Skyland." Pit said.
Ike sat back. "Aaaand we have a winner."
"I saved the goddess Palutena and she appointed me to lead her army." Pit explained.
"Impressive!" Red commended.
"How 'bout you there, Red?" Ike asked.
"No armies, I'm just working to become the strongest Pokemon trainer there is." He explained, grabbing his three Poke balls and showing them off.
"Hey, why don't your Poke balls act the same as the Poke balls we see in brawls?" Popo asked.
"Oh." Red said, putting them back. "These Pokemon are actually recorded in my Pokedex. Each ball is imprinted with my Trainer ID. They can only be used by me. Well, efficiently as least. The Poke balls here have no ID number, so basically whoever touches it before it opens is the owner."
"So just whoever throws it?" Pit asked.
"Not even that. In these brawls, the last person to make contact becomes the owner of the Pokemon. If you touch it, and it isn't hurting you, right before it opens, it's yours."
"That's complex." Zelda said.
Red shrugged. "It's how they work in training schools where I come from."
The group quieted down a bit.
"So what about you two?" Link asked the Ice Climbers.
"We're orphans." Popo said.
"Our parents were part of a mountain climbing group. One day, they got lost in an avalanche." Nana explained.
"Oh, I'm so sorry…" Peach said.
"It's ok, Peach." Nana said, with a small smile.
"Yeah, the group they were a part of took us in, taught us how to climb." Popo said.
"Samus?" Pit asked. She looked at the angel. "What about you?"
"Oh, um… Kind of a mixture of all that." She said.
"How so?" Zelda asked.
"I'm an orphan too. And I used to be part of an army, the Galactic Federation Army."
"What happened to your parents?" Popo asked.
"Popo!" Peach yelled.
Samus held her hand up. "It's ok. I'm from a mining planet. One day, some bad people came to the planet hoping to steal the ore we had. My parents were killed in front of me."
"Samus…" Zelda said.
"How about the army, though?" Ike said, trying to change the subject. "How was that?"
"I sort of did a mixture of leaving and getting kicked out." She said, looking at the ground. "I questioned my commanding officer in a life or death situation."
"Oh…" Nana said.
"Are things ok with you and your officer now though?" Red asked.
"Things were a bit tense. We didn't see each other for a while." Samus paused and played with her fingers. "Adam had been a sort of father figure to me. It hurt. When we saw each other, things were getting better. But… He sacrificed his life to save me."
"Wow…" Pit said.
"So you don't have any family?" Nana asked.
"Um… Well, I had a little alien called a Metroid follow me around. I had been hired to exterminate the species, but as I was leaving the planet, the final Metroid egg hatched right in front of me. It seemed to think I was its mother. It even helped me escape the planet."
"That's cute!" Peach said, happy to hear something lighter.
"Yeah!" Pit agreed. "So where is it now?"
Samus just stared at the ground, trying to fight back her emotions. The group understood what she was going to say, and just sort of shuffled around uncomfortably. They also now understood her initial distance from everybody at the Mansion.
"None of that is your fault Samus." Zelda said, trying to console her.
Samus nodded. "No, I know." She paused again. "To be honest, though, it just seems like anybody who gets close to me…"
"No." Link said. "I know where that's going and no."
"He's right Samus." Peach said.
Samus looked at all of them. They were all given her small, considerate smiles. "Thank you. But this doesn't have to be a therapy session for me." She smiled back at them. "Let's enjoy the night."
And she meant it. She didn't need to worry about it. She had endured. She fought back. But the part of her that had been missing for so long had found its way back. The feeling of friendship, of belonging. She knew not everything was perfect now, but she was going to enjoy the feeling, not be cautious of it. That's what her new friends had taught her.
The nine of them sat out for a long while. Only until Nana started nodding off, did they decide to call it a night. They were just going to leave the chairs there, they might use them again.
As Samus went to her room she thought about what exactly had just happened. She was incredibly vulnerable without even realizing it. She didn't feel like she was when it happened, she was comfortable with her friends. She found a sort of surrogate home with them. And she was glad she got it off her chest. If there was any doubt of her being a cold person, surely it was cleared up now. In retrospect, she didn't know what she was scared of.
She put on her pajamas and went to close her curtains.
Outside her window, she saw storm clouds beginning to appear in the sky.