A.N. You know I should stop saying when I'm going to update next in the author notes, because then it seems life likes to stop me from fulfilling my word. Sorry for the wait on this one party people enjoy the chapter^-^.

Chapter 19

"This place gives me the creeps." Pit's wings ruffled, giving an uncertain look at the abandoned buildings around them. Kirby too made a nervous sound walking close to Zelda. The royal herself was frowning, her ears twitched not hearing anything of interest. It was hard to hear though with the rain coming down, and the occasional clap of thunder made Zelda jump.

Something crunched under her boot, and Zelda paused looking down she had stepped on an odd piece of stone. Looking around there were other chunks scattered about. They looked like they were once apart of a statue of some kind.

Zelda raised an eyebrow curious what the stone once formed, but disregarded her curiosity. This was an abandoned town after all, it could just be the remains of an ordinary statute. Zelda felt a tug at her dress, she looked down to see Kirby trying to gain her attention. He pointed to footprints in the dirt.

"Footprints sweet! That means one of the fighters must be close by." Pit exclaimed excited at the idea of finding one of the other heroes. Zelda nodded, not saying anything looking at the footprints. They were small, and looked like they were made by tennis shoes. Zelda's brow furrowed trying to recall any of the previous heroes wearing such shoes that left imprints like these ones.

The group followed the footprints finding a few monsters along the way, but otherwise the town was as abandoned as it looked.

"What I would give for an umbrella right about now." Pit ran a hand through his soaked hair, flapping his wings to get rid of the water clinging to his feathers.

"Hey Zelda you wouldn't happen to know any magic that could make an umbrella for us? Or stop the rain, that would be nice too." A small smiled came to Zelda's lips at the angel's question.

"I'm afraid not, once the rain stops I can make a fire to help dry us off though." Zelda gave the angel a sympathetic look as he groaned at the rain.

Before anything else could be said Zelda's ears twitched hearing something. Heavy breathing, someone was up ahead.

Picking up the pace up ahead Zelda spotted a flash of yellow. Getting closer Zelda saw a young boy, he couldn't be any older than ten give or take a year. The child was on his knees gasping for air as if he just ran a mile. Worry took over Zelda, and she rushed over to his aid, but as soon as her boots splashed in a puddle the boy's head snapped up.

Terrified eyes locked with Zelda's, and the boy scrambled to his feet running away.

"Wait! I'm not going to hurt you!" Zelda called out, chasing after the boy. He kept running ignoring the Queen. Pit and Kirby followed suit chasing after the child. Up ahead Zelda saw familiar black sludge bubbling on the ground. The boy wasn't paying attention to it, too busy trying to get away from the small group.

"Kirby! Pit! The monsters!" The two heroes wasted no time seeing the danger the boy was about to run into. Pit jumped into the air taking flight, and Kirby with a quick burst of speed dashed at where the creatures were forming.

The boy skidded to a stop when a puddle of black sludge took shape right in front of him. However Zelda didn't give it a chance, using Farore's wind she was between the boy and monster in a seconds. The monster was blown away with a blast of magic fire in an instant.

The child gazed at Zelda in awe, before he began inching away from her fear still prevalent in his eyes. Zelda raised her hands in a calming gesture kneeling down on the ground.

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." He didn't move frozen, the poor child was terrified right now. He was completely soaked from the rain, his blonde hair was messy from running and clung to his head due to being wet. Zelda saw a few scrapes and cuts on his arms and legs. There was a particularly nasty looking cut across his cheek.

Hand glowing with a golden light Zelda reached out and touched the damaged cheek. The boy flinched, but didn't stop her. Within moments the cut was sealed as if it never happened. Zelda removed her hand, and the boy rubbed his cheek surprised the cut wasn't there anymore.

"Better?" Zelda gave a warm smile, trying to calm the child's nerves.

"Thank you," He murmured shyly, satisfied he wouldn't go running again. Zelda looked to her companions to see if they needed any help. She gave a nod to the heroes as they finished off the last monster.

Standing up Zelda held out a hand to help the boy up as well.

"Come, let's get you out of the rain and dried off." He looked uncertain for a moment then he took Zelda's hand and clung to it. Zelda helped get the boy to his feet as Pit and Kirby came over now that the monsters were defeated. Kirby hopped over to the boy and gave him a friendly smile and a wave. Though nervous at first, he returned it unable to look sad in the face of the pink hero.

Zelda too smiled at the sight before looking around for someplace to take cover from the rain. She spotted a building that looked relatively stable. The small group took shelter inside, the old building protecting them from the rain.

The Queen asked Pit to look around for things they could burn, and the angel was happy to help get them all dry. When Pit returned with pieces of old wood furniture, Zelda quickly set the wood alight with her magic. Soon the building was bathed in the fire's gentle glow.

The whole time the boy didn't say anything, he held onto Zelda's hand. The Queen didn't mind though, it was clear he was still calming himself down from whatever he went through.

While Zelda tended to the boy Kirby and Pit warmed themselves up by the fire. The angel animatedly telling Kirby about hot springs or something along those lines. Zelda gave the two a smile before turning to the boy.

He had sat down a little ways away from the other two, his knees drawn up to his chest. Zelda sat next to him putting a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Hello I'm Zelda, may I ask your name?" The Queen started off gaining his attention. Now that they were out of the rain his blonde hair was curling upwards slowly drying off.

"Lucas," he mumbled not looking at the royal. Zelda wasn't deterred though, she befriended the scary bounty hunter after all. A frightened child was easy in comparison.

"Nice to meet you Lucas, can you tell me what you're doing out here?" Zelda was rather confused how the young boy got all the way out here. Surely he wasn't a contestant in the tournament. Then again Ness was around this boy's age, and he was a talented fighter, though to Zelda the thought of any child fighting repulsed her. After sending Link to the wolves in her own world when he was so young. The thought of making a child fight was horrid to the royal.

"Ness and I came for the tournament...all those monsters showed up. Then Ness…" Lucas paused his voice shaking, Zelda quickly asked something else not wanting to force bad memories out of the young boy.

"You're from Ness' world then? Do you have psychic powers like him?" Lucas nodded, he still didn't look at Zelda.

"I'm not as strong as him though." Zelda frowned, something must have happened to Ness by the way Lucas was acting. She didn't have to ask though as Lucas kept speaking.

"Some fat guy attacked us, he had this weird gun. He was going to shoot me with it, but Ness pushed me out of the way. Now he's a statue and that guy has him, and all I did was run!" Lucas tangled his fingers in his hair while Zelda frowned. That sounded like the same man who did the same to Peach. Her eyes narrowed not liking the sound of this. Zelda doubted whatever turned Peach and Ness into statues was permanent, it must just be a way easily subdue any fighters that opposed them.

Figuring out what the villains were up to though would have to wait. Right now guilt was coming off Lucas in waves, and if Zelda knew Ness the young hero would have been happy to throw himself in front of that gun again if it meant saving a friend.

"It's okay," Zelda carefully took Lucas' hands and untangled them from his hair.

"You were frightened so you ran, its nothing to be ashamed of. I'm certain Ness would not hold it against you. We'll find Ness turn him back to normal, and we'll stop whoever this man is from doing it again." Zelda finished with an encouraging smile, and finally Lucas looked at her. Slowly, he returned the smile nodding though there was still a level of uncertainty in his eyes.

"Good, now would you mind sitting closer to the fire. You won't be saving everyone if you get sick from the rain." Lucas nodded getting up and going to the fire where Pit quickly dragged him into the conversation he was having with Kirby. Zelda froze before getting up herself hearing a familiar voice come from nowhere.

"You were always better with children Hylia." Zelda clenched her teeth, Palutena had been silent up to this point. Which had been a blessing, she didn't know why but the goddess just grated her nerves.

"That would be because even though technically you are no longer Hylia. You still have a piece of her left in you, as such you subconsciously remember all the times you wanted to throw me off a cliff." Palutena said with a laugh sensing the royal's growing frustration whenever she predicted the hylian's thoughts. Zelda glanced at the younger heroes, none of them seemed aware Palutena was speaking.

"I can be selective of who hears me, goddess after all you know."

"I take it Ness is no longer in the area." Zelda ignored everything else the goddess said, though she was slightly interested in the royal family's connection to Hylia and the goddess' connection to Palutena. Zelda was certainly not going to let the smug goddess know that.

"I already do, anyway you're right. Wario took him." Wario, so that was the fat man's name. He was no one that Zelda knew of. The Queen would surely remember someone like him in Hyrule.

"He's from Mario and Peach's world. A villain of sorts, he's usually just in it for himself though." Zelda nodded, he sounded like your average greedy villain.

"Where can we find the next closest hero?" Zelda could feel the wind shifting, the rain would let up soon. Then they would head back out, after Lucas had rested a little. Palutena paused for a moment as if searching for the closest one.

"Someone else is close by, on the outskirts of the town."

"Thank you," there was a hum from the goddess, and Zelda sighed.

"Is there something else?" Zelda could almost see the goddess grinning.

"Oh nothing, I'm just surprised Hylia. That you haven't gone running to find your girlfriend." Zelda clenched her teeth, she was trying not to let her worry for Samus overcome her better judgment.

"You've seen Samus correct? She is a lot stronger than anyone I've meet. I trust she'll be fine until we catch up to her." Samus had to be, Zelda wasn't sure what she'd do if the hunter was hurt. She purposely ignored Palutena's name for Samus, not wanting to give the goddess any satisfaction.

"Most likely comes with being a genetically modified perfect warrior, but even she has some weaknesses." Zelda wasn't sure what Palutena was trying to accomplish, because if she was trying to make Zelda worry for Samus it was working. She desperately wanted to find the hunter. The Queen didn't feel complete without Samus near. It was a feeling Zelda never experienced before. Sure the Queen cared about her friends, or Link being her only true friend before Samus, but Zelda didn't feel this clenching in her heart when she thought of Samus not being around in her life.

"That's call you love…"

"Stop, I will not be toyed with by someone I barely know." Zelda snapped before standing, indicating she was done talking to the goddess. Palutena got one last word in though before Zelda joined the younger heroes.

"Of course you never did like games Hylia." There was almost a sad note in Palutena's voice, but Zelda ignored it.

Elsewhere in Subspace Samus jumped from her ship, giving a glare to the monsters flying overheard that forced her to land. A plasma fire smoked from the vessel making the hunter's eyebrow twitched. After returning to her world from Hyrule, the hunter had spent the time before the tournament fixing the ship to be almost exactly like her old one. Work that the monsters kindly destroyed.

It was still flyable, but with the large amount of monsters about, it would be better to let it go into auto-repair mode. Checking the surrounding area she was in a forest of nothing notable. It seemed like a generic forest with strong oak trees, and soft grass covering the ground.

The hunter wasn't entirely sure what was going on. One moment the hunter was entering Subspace with her ship. Then upon flying through for a few minutes, monsters came from nowhere and began attacking the hunter's ship.

Now she took shelter in the forest letting the flying creatures pass overhead. It's wasn't that Samus couldn't take on the creatures, but her ship didn't have any defensive capabilities at the moment. Nor did Samus have auto pilot working on it yet.

It seemed evil was once again rearing its ugly mug in Subspace. Samus activated her scan visor syncing it with her ship's long range scanners. Not wasting any time Samus' first priority was to find Zelda.

Whatever was causing this could wait until Samus confirmed the royal's safety. Samus had her scanner search the area for the Queen. It was a good thing Zelda's energy was easy to find. The Triforce or whatever magical item Zelda had made her remarkably easy to track. The magic just like the fires the royal herself created burned brightly on any scanner.

As her scanners searched for the royal, Samus idly thought that she should come up with a way for Zelda to mask the energy she had. It wouldn't do for someone undesirable to go searching for her.

Samus shook her head, Zelda could take care of herself. It wasn't her duty to insure her safety. The more sarcastic side of Samus brain quipped that if it wasn't her duty to protect her why was she making it top priority to find her.

The hunter's HUD broke her out of her thoughts, the suit indicated it was picking up Zelda's signature. She didn't have an accurate map of the area, so the scans could only give her a direction.

With a direction to go to, Samus headed out. The forest was quiet not even the smallest bird was making a sound. The hunter kept her arm cannon raised, keeping an eye open for anything out of the ordinary.

The hunter was tense, this silence was unnatural. Any normal forest would be buzzing with insects, birds, various life forms. This forest seemed dead, only a slight rustling of leaves in the wind.

The silence was finally broken when a howl echoed through the forest. It was coming from up ahead, Samus sprung forward hearing more noises. Through the brush she spotted the cause of all the noise.

"Hyah!" A familiar voice yelled sword slashing across a wolf creature's thick pelt. The two remaining wolves snarled as their brother fell to the ground. The hero snapped his shield up as one sprung forward claws raised. With a quick parry the master sword was embedded in the wolf's stomach. He turned to face down the final wolf only to find Samus behind him the wolf creature lying dead under her boot.

"Metalhead!" Link grinned, he sheathed his sword approaching the hunter.

"Man you have a knack for turning up just when I could use a hand don't you?" Samus didn't verbally reply merely shrugging. While they didn't spend too much time together in Hyrule. Link despite knowing Samus could speak now, knew Samus prefered silence.

"Good to see you, I take it you weren't taking a stroll in the forest for fun either?" Samus nodded, and Link's face became serious.

"This isn't right, this forest if it weren't for the fact that it's in Subspace I'd say we were in Kokiri Woods. Those wolves are wolfos they're from Hyrule too." The hunter's eyebrow rose, that didn't seem possible. Then again Samus herself has come across the impossible many times before.

Link looked around the forest his brow furrowed. Eventually he pointed to a tree that had a small green flag tied to a high branch.

"Look that flag, there's one on a tree exactly like it outside of Kokiri Village. This is part of Kokiri Woods. What the hell is going on?" Link looked to Samus but the hunter had no answer for him. The hero sighed, unsheathing his sword.

"Well, we're not going to figure anything out here. I left the stadium and was trying to find Marth when I found this forest and got curious. You have any idea where anyone else is?" The hunter nodded tapping her helmet before pointing in the direction it said Zelda's energy signature was coming from. Link grinned, drawing his sword he spun it once in his hand before speaking again.

"Lead the way metalhead, can't believe things have gone south two years in a row." The hunter nodded, activating her scanner again the device indicating the direction Zelda was.

The two began walking through the forest, the eerie silence following the two. It wasn't long before Link decided to break the silence.

"You know, I swear Kokiri Woods isn't this creepy normally." The green clad hero paused eyes narrowing looking around in case something was amiss.

"There are usually fairies, bugs, and all kinds of animals living here. What's the point of moving an entire woods but leave everything that lives there." Samus didn't have an answer for him, staying silent leading the way through the brush.

Link kept up his idle talking, it didn't really bother Samus. The hunter was used to traveling alone, but the friendly presence was welcomed. Samus was finding after spending so much time in Hyrule she found that being alone was not as bearable as it was before.

After so long of traversing the woods Link froze mid-step. His eyes narrowed looking over to the left.

"There's something over there." Samus turned her visor in the direction Link was looking. Raising her arm cannon the hunter stepped forward. Link raised his shield putting himself in front of the hunter incase anything jumped up. The two moved forward, and Samus heard what the hero did. Soft even breathing, something alive was hiding in the greenery.

Together the heroes pushed through the woods coming upon a small clearing. In the middle of the clearing was a single tree stump. Looking at the stump Samus lowered her arm cannon. The creature sleeping on it was no threat to them.

"Yoshi!" Link lowered his weapons walking over to the sleeping dinosaur creature. The green dinosaur made small snore not awakening. Link looked over to Samus, but the hunter just shrugged in response.

"Hey wake up Yoshi!" Link gently shook him trying to rouse the dinosaur. Slowly Yoshi opened his eyes blearily, blinking at the sunlight streaming through the trees. He looked at the two heroes before him before hoping off the stump. He yawned stretching out his body then making a small noise in greeting.

"Good to see you too," Link gave Yoshi a smile, the dinosaur appeared pleased to see a friendly face. Samus was about to approach the two when she stopped mid-step. Quickly she jumped aside, the spot she once stood exploding as something fired a charged laser at her.

Spinning around Samus trained her weapon on the foolish creature that attacked her. A strange puppet like being with red eyes stood with a gun in its hands. Two others without guns ran at her, but before they made it an arrow and an egg were sent hurling at them.

Link and Yoshi dashed to Samus' side. The green clad hero sent the hunter smirk raising his sword.

"Not very smart are they? Let's show them why we're called heroes."

A.N. I'm really trying to include a healthy variety of the other smash characters while still focusing on Samus and Zelda. I'm also trying to stick to the characters I know well enough that I feel I can give their character justice. I'm failing horribly at it because while I have played Earthbound I've never played the Mother game with Lucas in it, so I'm going purely off what I've seen in Samsh and read from the Earthbound wiki. I'm still overall pleased with this chapter though, one day I may do a oneshot or bonus chapter further explaining Palutena's and Hylia's relationship. It probably won't happen till I finish this story, but hey that time is getting closer everyday. With that I'll see you lovely people next chapter^_^.