A.N. Quick note to any readers though the Zelda in this story is the one from Ocarina of Time I'm going with the Twilight Princess design of her, so that would be why Zelda's hair will be brown instead of blonde. Just a quick heads up so there isn't any confusion enjoy^^.
Chapter 2 Heavy Hitter
Excitement was in the air as the Smash contestants waited for Master Hand to address them. Some time had passed since Link and Zelda had been training that day. All the other fighters had arrived bringing a new level of excitement to the city. The citizens were hanging banners displaying which fighter they supported. Anticipation was high as the tournament came to a start.
Meeting all the fighters had certainly been an experience for Zelda. Back in Hyrule Zelda had knowledge of all the races that inhabited the world, and knew what to expect from each of them. Here they were all from completely different worlds. Where for all Zelda knew could be completely backwards from what the norm in Hyrule was. The fighters from the Mushroom Kingdom seemed friendly enough. Princess Peach had already invited Zelda for tea, and though intimidating at first with a quick glare from Peach. The King of Koopas Bowser remained civil. The Pokemon Pikachu and Pichu were excitable little creatures that seemed ecstatic to be there for the tournament. Zelda had still yet to met the rest of the contestants.
Link had struck up a friendship with Marth and Roy. The three bonded over their sword fighting, and quickly gained a strong respect for their heroic accomplishments.
"I wonder what the first rounds are going to be like?" Link wondered aloud as he stood next to Zelda and Marth. Having already participated in the tournament Link knew somewhat to expect, but the Master Hand might have changed things for this year's tournament. The tournament itself lasted nearly an entire year. Consisting of three main rounds of fighting. With a brief break in between, so that the fighters could return to their home dimensions.
Zelda remembered that year well when Link was participating in the first tournament. Zelda had few she could consider actual friends being the ruler of kingdom. To say the least, it was a long year without her friend.
"What did the Master Hand do last tournament?" Marth questioned the Hero of Time, looking to the giant flatscreen with interest. Master Hand had gathered the fighters in the main lobby of the warp zone. The building that would transport the contestants to wherever they had to fight.
"He started us out on one on one, best of of three. If you lost then in the second round you have to face up against the other losers, and if you lost there you were out." Marth nodded in understanding keeping his gaze on the monitor.
Zelda ildy looked around lobby. Link and Marth had become deep in talking about Link's time in the last tournament. Eyes flicking around the room Zelda came upon a familiar figure. Samus was leaning back against the far wall. Green visor hiding any form of emotion the robot like warrior might have. Glancing back at Link and Marth then back to Samus, Zelda moved towards the warrior.
That empty visor stared at Zelda once it realized she was approaching. Zelda smiled politely.
"Hello, we saw each other earlier this week. I wanted to apologize for staring, your armor is nothing like what we have in my world. I hope I didn't insult you." Samus observed the Princess for a moment. Almost like the warrior was processing or judging Zelda's apology. After another moment the helmeted head nodded holding out their hand.
Zelda smiled glad the warrior was not insulted. She took the offered hand, surprised how gentle the warrior was when shaking her hand.
"Thank you, I am Zelda, Princess of Hyrule. You're Samus correct?" Zelda had already picked up that she would be hard pressed to get a word out of Samus, so she gave her the option to remain silent. The warrior seemed grateful. Their postured seemed to become less tense, relaxing their guard by just a fraction.
Samus nodded confirming their identity. Before Zelda could ask anything else the flat screen monitor flashed alive. Depicting an empty fighting bracket, a deep voice followed.
"Welcome to the second official Smash tournament! We have some new faces joining the melee, as well as some old returning. You are here to prove you are the best your universe has to offer! The tournament will consist of three main rounds. The first will begin at the end of the week. This will be your last chance to drop out, and return to your home dimension." There were several shouts of protest at the notion, before the Master Hand continued.
"Our first round will be team fighting two on two. Your teammate will appear on the screen shortly, along with your first matchup. They will be your teammate for the remainder of the first round." The screen flashed before images of the fighters filled the bracket. At the bottom showed the first fights that would occur at the end of the week. Zelda found her picture at the bottom of the bracken her teammate's image next to her. The Princess smiled looking to the robot like warrior. Samus' image was paired next to Zelda's making them teammates for the first round.
"It would be an honor to fight with you Samus." The Princess gave a polite bow, Zelda could almost sense an eyebrow being raised by the warrior under the helmet.
The warrior gave a firm nod, though they didn't show any other opinion towards being teamed with Zelda. The Princess hoped Samus had no ill feelings towards the idea. It would defiantly make the coming rounds difficult if they couldn't cooperate properly.
The first fight would occur at the end of the week. Looking at the bracket Zelda noted their first fight would be the second one on Friday. The first match would be Princess Peach and Captain Falcon vs. Fox and Kirby. Samus and Zelda would be fighting after that against Mario and Bowser.
Zelda felt a metal hand gently tap her shoulder. She looked over to see Samus gesturing towards the door.
"Do you want me to come with you?" The helmet nodded before Samus took a step towards the door, pausing to see if Zelda was following. The Princess was so the metal clad warrior lead Zelda out of the lobby.
Following Samus out onto the street Zelda briefly thought on how this could possibly be a bad idea. She knew nothing of Samus' character, and the warrior could easily be leading Zelda away from the others to attack her. Zelda seriously doubted that, but when one was a ruler it paid to be overly cautious. Though for whatever reason Zelda felt she could trust Samus. The warrior had this honorable air about them. Link had a similar aura about him. He was a hero, and every fiber of his being spoke it. Perhaps Samus was a hero in their world too? The Princess mentally laughed at what Link's reaction would be to the idea that Samus was a hero. He would no doubt refuse to believe it.
The green visor glanced back to see if Zelda was still there. Zelda gave a polite smile moving to walk next to the warrior. Samus didn't seem to mind continuing to lead them to their destination.
Soon the familiar training building came into view. Zelda's quick mind already thinking of a reason Samus would bring her here.
"You want to see my skills in combat?" The Princess asked already getting the hang of giving Samus the option to non verbally answer her. The red helmet nodded confirming Zelda's thought. The Princess felt her nerves sneak up on her. From what Link said Samus was an impressive fighter, the best winning the last tournament. The Hyrule ruler may be hard pressed to impress someone as skilled as Samus was. Zelda was determined though, and didn't show any signs of nervousness.
The training room they entered was exactly the same as the one Zelda and Link had been practicing in. Plain walls covered in hard looking tiles that covered the floor as well. The tiles were used to display the holographic training dummies, or any other obstacles someone wanted. The only fixture in the room was a control panel on the far wall that controlled the holographic tiles.
Samus strode over to the other side of the room, turning back to face Zelda. Before the Princess' eyes the verdant cannon attached to their arm glowed reforming into an armored hand mirroring the other. Samus took a fighting stance fists raised. Zelda readied herself studying the warrior before her with calculating eyes.
"Are there any conditions to this fight?" A shake of the helmet was her answer.
"Whenever you're ready then," Zelda said sounding very polite despite the fact that they were about to fight.
The armored body charged at her with the force of a train springing forward fist raised. Zelda jumped to the right as Samus' fist crashed into the ground with a bang. Cracks in the tile were clear as day from the force Samus exerted. Zelda observed silently the warrior was testing her, gauging her strategy, would she dodge or face her head on. The robot came at her again this time in a much more controlled fashion. Samus was quick but Zelda was smaller weighted down less letting her dodge Samus punches, but with no small effort on her part.
Zelda didn't retaliate yet. While training it was something Link and her discovered about Zelda in a fight. Though Zelda's sharp mind could act quickly if needed, they discovered Zelda fought best by waiting, dodging, assessing the fight, waiting for the perfect moment to strike for maximum damage. It worked well since the Princess' lithe form could move fairly quickly, and dodge with relative ease. Even Link when sparing had trouble landing a hit on the ruler.
Samus tried to use her leg to sweep Zelda's feet out from under her. The Princess jumped avoiding the hit while Samus was bringing her self back to center Zelda saw her moment. Din's fire erupted in her hands blasting down at Samus. The warrior got their arms up to block the brunt of it, but at so close a range Zelda could see the smallest stagger in the warrior's step. Samus left no room for any small victory though, and charged again at Zelda like nothing had happened.
The punches were coming faster now, and Zelda struggled to dodge them all. Zelda could only assume in between dodges that Samus was slowly building up to their true skills. Fatigue was already clawing at Zelda, the Princess knew she couldn't keep this up much longer. Eyes narrowing Zelda called upon Nayru's power spinning around a diamond shape crystal shielded Zelda, knocking Samus back. With Samus back Zelda summon her magic again this time though warmth flooded Zelda's body.
Within seconds the Princess was no more, and the slim sheikah Sheik took her place. Samus seemed to care little at this change in form, and came at her again. Sheik however dodge the punch sending one of her own back only to be blocked herself.
This continued a stalemate of trading blows. Sheik seemed to be making barely a dent, the metal armor protecting the warrior wonderfully. Jumping up quickly Sheik hopped on Samus' head using the warrior as a spring to get away. Sheik intended to trying throwing several needles to see how well Samus would hold against that, but as she sprung away Samus reached up taking hold of her ankle.
Sheik could almost hear her spine crack as she was slammed onto the ground. Before she knew it a heavy foot crashed onto her chest, and a great force was landed right beside her head. The force and pain forced Sheik to phase back into the Zelda at some point after impact. When the Princess opened her eyes blearily Samus was kneeling on top of her. Their fist smashed into the ground centimeters from Zelda's head. Zelda could vaguely hear the ground crumbling as the fist shifted.
Green visor stared at Zelda blankly, distantly as if Samus was processing their victory. Then the metal warrior snapped back, removing their fist, and getting off Zelda. The brunette coughed her lungs relieved to have the weight removed.
"I guess you win…" Zelda panted closing her eyes again adrenaline leaving her. The Princess' body ached already feeling the bruising forming on her back and chest.
Zelda startled when cool metal hands lifted her up into a sitting position. The metal clad warrior looked like they were about to pick Zelda up, no doubt to take her to a infirmary. The Princess shrugged away the hands.
"I'm all right just winded. You're an extremely skilled opponent Samus." The robot like warrior didn't seemed to care about the compliment, and was more concerned for Zelda's health. The green visor seemed to be glowing brighter than before, and Zelda could feel if there were eye's under the helmet they were looking her over.
Zelda got up carefully Samus observed appearing ready at any moment to catch her should she fall. The Princess had to stop herself from chuckling out loud. This was the cold blooded robot that Link lost to. Sure during the fight Samus was frighteningly powerful now however. The killer robot as Link claimed was protectively hovering closely to Zelda incase she was injured more severely.
The unspoken question was clearly presented by Samus, green visor fixed on Zelda still aglow.
"I'm fine Samus if I wasn't prepared to take a few hits, then I wouldn't have joined the tournament." The blank visor remained fixed before the glow faded from the visor. Samus nodded whatever the warrior did with its helmet, or perhaps Zelda's words seemed to convince the warrior finally. Zelda smiled glad to have calmed the metal clad warrior's nerves.
"I hope I didn't disappoint, I'll admit I'm not much of fighter. I mostly spend my time battling my court." Samus' head shook hand raising the warrior gestured a three with their fingers.
"Three?" Zelda hummed thinking a moment before continuing. "Out of...Five?" The Princess guessed, Samus nodded then giving a quick thumbs up. Zelda grinned admitting to herself Samus' gestures were mildly amusing. Something told her though the warrior would not appreciate her saying so.
Samus grading her fighting to be decent was an accomplishment Zelda hoped. A warrior of Samus skilled knew fighting like the back of their hand, and no doubt knew skill when the emotionless visor saw it. It also gave Zelda an idea of how much improvement she needed. The Princess wasn't so vain to not admit dueling people with words was her domain, beating people and slaying monsters was not the Princess's forte.
The arm that once had the cannon attached to it glowed again, and reformed to become the weapon. Samus turned their attention back to Zelda visor aglow once more.
"I am fine Samus I'll get some rest, and be as good as gold come Friday." The visor returned to normal but remained gazing at Zelda. The Princess stared down the visor feeling whatever was beneath it gazing right back at her. The warrior broke the contact nodding firmly. Samus reached out their metal hand which Zelda took in a firm shake.
"Well fought to you as well," the Princess grinned.