Alright I'm back, and the suspense continues! Now, we take a look at some of the other characters and what they are doing around the mansion. This chapter is a bit less morbid than the first one.
Oh, and the new people will begin to arrive...
In the chapter after this.
Disclaimer: I don't own this game or the characters.
Chapter 2: Maintenance
It wasn't really the music that had bothered her. Nor was it a station she disliked. It was more the fact that she needed to take out her anger on something, and that something had just happened to be the only radio in the garage.
Something had malfunctioned in the suit, causing it to radiate tremendous amounts of heat. And, since Samus didn't feel quite like walking around in a portable tanning bed, she shed the armor and deactivated it for inspection. Just her luck, too, she couldn't find the source of the problem.
She stretched out her arm, palm up. "Socket wrench."
"What kind of sock..?"
And her assistant was useless.
The blonde rolled her eyes and reached for the tool herself. "Damn all these medieval people... Don't know a wrench from a rock," she muttered.
"Hey!" Came the reply from her friend. "I may come from a different time from you, but I know when I'm being insulted."
Samus sighed. "Sorry, Lyn. It's just this is really irritating me."
The plainswoman sympathized with her friend. "Maybe you should take a break from it, then." Her gaze went back up to the radio resting on the shelf, sporting a great dent and multiple pieces laying scattered around it. She didn't know the mechanics of it, but liked the idea of playing instruments and telling a story along with it. In a way, it reminded her of her tribe when she was younger. But that was a time long ago. A time she could never return to.
A loud clang echoed from the other side of the garage, snapping Lyn from her thoughts. A string of uncensored cusswords soon followed.
Samus chose to ignore the fuming bird, while Lyn glanced over in his direction, wondering what all of the commotion was. It appeared that today just had to be the day for all of their technology to fail.
The garage was spacious, with enough room to house all of the ships and other vehicles used by the fighters. Hard cement floor stretched out for a good half a mile, and there always was the sound of something running in the background, like an engine, a fan, or someone's mouth. The heat generated from powered machines wasn't exactly comfortable, but it was bearable, forcing Samus to dress light, which usually included a simple t-shirt and jean shorts. However, this would also attract the attention of idiot males who lived here, and she would rather do without that annoyance.
The walls were lined with various shelves piled high with tools and spare parts. Almost as if it had been intentionally designed that way...
That had been something occupying the bounty hunter's mind lately. It couldn't be just a coincidence that everything seemed to fit so perfectly and comfortably. The beds always left enough space beside the wall for a nightstand, and the closet always had enough hangers for clothes. Clothes that seemingly appeared from nowhere.
The refrigerator always had what people liked. Coincidence? Samus knew better. She came from a place where coincidence didn't exist. Only cunning and observation. And traps. Whoever was behind all of this was very smart. And, if they were the same person who messed with her suit, well, they'd be receiving a boot without hesitation.
Samus brushed aside her thoughts when a shuffling behind her broke the steady silence of the garage. She glanced up in the direction of the sound, pleased to see that Pikachu had woken from his nap, eyes half open and fur standing up. She almost smiled, but remembered others were around and she had a reputation to keep.
The yellow mouse slept in a makeshift bed, which turned out to be a cardboard box with a few blankets to keep warm and cozy. Some kid used to come around and throw plastic balls at Pikachu, until Samus threatened him and he finally decided to leave, which in her eyes meant the pokemon was now hers.
Pikachu promptly yawned, uncurling its lightning bolt of a tail. A small, jade collar rested around its neck.
Beside her, Lyn pointed. "You bought it a collar?" Her long, sea green hair fell over her shoulder as she leaned forward on her seat, which was actually just a crate.
The question made Samus remember, which made her frown. "No. Not exactly." The collar actually came from the smaller mouse, the one named Pichu. Ever since the little electric mouse had been found outside after the storm, its body small and limp, its fur matted and drenching wet, Pikachu became depressed.
Some of the others were as well. Mostly Peach, who had a soft spot for anything small and cute. Since nobody else had the heart, Samus chose to bury the body, taking the small collar as a remembrance. She planned to hang it up somewhere, but Pikachu kept trying to get it, so she finally let him have it. In return, the pokemon hung around her, which, despite her initial reaction, she didn't mind. In fact, it was usually the most intelligent thing she came in contact with on a daily basis.
Speaking of intelligence, Fox was due back any time now. Of course, they couldn't discuss matters aside from formalities with others around, but she was pretty good at deciphering code words. Besides, chances were high that he came back empty-handed anyway. Or not at all.
"Samus?"
The blonde kept her eyes on her power suit as she acknowledged her friend. "Yeah?" She spun the wrench around in her hand absentmindedly, already feeling like giving up with the stubborn suit for now.
"How long have you been here?"
The question caught her off guard, but the space bounty hunter quickly regained her composure. Always with the questions. Too curious for her own good. However, Samus did have to admit that for someone from a primitive world, Lyn was rather intuitive.
Samus fell back on what she knew. "Why do you ask?" Always answer a question with another question. That's how you got information from someone, while simultaneously taking the spotlight off of yourself.
The plainswoman fell for the bait. "Er, well, because I figured you've been here a long time. Have you ever seen this Master Hand?"
So that's why she was asking... Samus flipped the wrench back around, fully prepared to continue her unproductive work, when she was suddenly interrupted by a certain yellow mouse. Pikachu insisted on climbing into her lap, calling out, "Pika," and nuzzling her leg.
She had no other choice but to drop the tool and pet the fuzzy mouse, settling back into a cross-legged position on the mat. After a moment of being completely absorbed in her new pet, she glanced up to see the other woman watching her. Slight embarrassment crept up, until she remembered that there hung an unanswered question in the air.
"No," she simply said. The less words, the better. Left no room for unwanted explanations.
Thinking back on it, she had been here awhile. Ever since the beginning of this. The first tournament with only eight others. And in that entire time, she had never once seen anyone who identified themselves as Master Hand. The only time she ever saw anyone aside from the contestants were the wire frames, and they couldn't really classify as humans. They were eerie in their own way, with their translucent bodies and humanoid shapes. Over the years-had it really been years?-they had evolved slightly, along with the mansion, but the changes almost seemed as if they happened overnight. Just how everything else did.
"Oh." Lyn's voice had a slight hint of disappointment. But sad feelings didn't last long with her! "Well, I wonder who he is. I mean, someone who makes a place like this-"
"-Or her."
Lyn blinked, unsure why she had been so suddenly cut off, her brows scrunched together and mouth slightly open. She looked to Samus for an answer.
"Don't assume that it's a man." She hadn't really known why she blurted that out. Just, attempting to narrow down on something that had no definites to it seemed like cutting it close, in the way someone might lack in their defense and lose the first layer of skin to the tip of a blade. Besides, women were capable of evil. Well, if this was considered evil. Samus hadn't quite decided what she wanted to call it yet. Anything but normal, that's for sure.
For a brief moment, she wondered if this Master Hand person may actually be a series of technology, like a supercomputer or some kind of artificial intelligence. Maybe it wasn't even a real person at all. Maybe it was like some kind of floating entity, like an alien or an amoeba or something that these wire frames worshipped.
Of all the theories, she liked the supercomputer one. It did make a lot of sense, and covered for a few of the mishaps, such as malfunctioning stages or random spurts of blackouts, the latter becoming more and more recent. To add more to her theory, machines got old after time. This thing must've been around for awhile, with shoddy maintenance repairs from single-celled blobs of jelly. If things continued to mess up, she decided that she might just have to find the source for this thing and check it out for herself.
Although, considering what usually happened to people like that, she couldn't imagine she'd get far without a plan. Or a team. Samus Aran needed to admit that she couldn't unravel this mystery alone. Fox was trustworthy, but...
Fox! He should've been back by now! He better not have gotten himself killed, she growled in her mind.
"Samus? Hello?"
The bounty hunter woke from her trance to find Lyn waving a hand in her face. The plainswoman appeared slightly amused, rather than worried, as if things like this happened all the time. That was one of the reasons she liked Lyn. The woman wasn't so full of worry like some of the others here.
"You just kind of zoned our for a minute there."
Samus blinked a few more times, realizing there was another figure standing beside Lyn. The face of a child but wings of an angel...
"What's the kid doing here?"
Upon being acknowledged, Pit grinned, seemingly ignoring being called a kid. "Peach sent me to tell you dinner is done!" He announced cheerfully.
From the other side of the garage came some more clanging. "Dinner?" Falco shouted, sounding relieved to have an excuse to leave his project. "Why didn't you say so earlier?"
Samus eyed the pilot as he made his way over. His clothes were slightly torn and wrinkled, and he walked with a bit of a swagger. Not so much as to think he's better than everyone, but enough to demand attention, if only slight. "What were you even doing over there anyway?" She asked.
Falco gave her a look. "I was trying to find the right pistons for the carburetor."
"Carburetor?"
"Yes," he replied, almost annoyed. "Arwings have carburetors. Damn woman, you act like you're from the 20th century or something."
Samus crossed her arms at the insult. "Listen here, bird. One more like that and you'll be tomorrow's dinner."
He squawked his protest, then let out a laugh. Things never really got heated in the garage. If they did, people just left to cool off. It was really a chill place, even if unexplained malfunctions appeared to rule the day.
Before he could leave, Samus rose to her feet. "You gonna take care of that mess you left over there?" Over by his Arwing lay a scattered menagerie of bits and pieces, mostly metal, but a few plastic and other unknown alloys. To her, it looked like a toolbox toppled over and a tornado carried the debris halfway across the floor.
With a glance over his shoulder to survey, the pilot gave a noncommittal shrug, saying, "nah, I'll come back to it after I eat."
Samus watched him head off for a moment, before turning to the others. Pit was looking up at her expectantly while Lyn adopted a look of slight confusion.
Pit. That kid was too carefree. Either he was too naive to notice the things that went on here, or he simply attempted to ignore them. Either way, Samus knew he'd end up making himself a target some way or another, and she hoped that he always had someone with him. True, he knew how to handle himself in the arena, but oftentimes, he never knew when someone crossed the line and the weapons needed drawn. Plus he was so trusting he would actually believe Ganondorf and his web of lies. That man always tried to convince the newcomers to get into all kinds of trouble, then feigned ignorance when the time of judgement arrived.
"You guys go ahead," the blonde bounty hunter told them.
Lyn frowned. "You're not eating?"
"I am, but I've got to clean up this mess. I'll catch up later."
For a moment, Samus thought Lyn might linger for a bit and help, but after a few seconds of uncertainty, she finally said, "alright," and headed off with the angel in tow.
"Bye, Samus!" He called with a wave.
As soon as they were gone, she let out a sigh of relief. Now, she could wait around for Fox without suspicion. Assuming, of course, that the idiot hadn't went off and died or crashed and stranded himself outside the safe borders of the mansion.
The safe borders weren't to keep people out, but rather, to keep them in.
Samus began to tidy up a bit, even going so far as to shove aside her power suit so that it wouldn't get in the way of anything. On the far side of the garage sat the F-Zero, looking small in comparison to the many planes and ships docked in the garage. Well, it was more like a hanger than a garage, but Samus preferred the term garage. Made it sound more... functional.
Being in such an open space alone made her tense up and be on the lookout. She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Someone was watching her.
Samus spun to face the door, only to find the doorway empty. She narrowed her eyebrows, slinking along the wall and peering around the corner, just to make sure no one had been sneaking around.
The hall was empty as well.
"Huh. Weird." She brushed her bangs out of her eyes and turned back around-
"Pika!"
"Gah!" Samus leaped back, hands flailing out towards the wall, clutching the brace for balance. In the process, her arm met with a protruding nail, causing her to yank back the injured appendage and inspect it.
Already, a line of blood had formed at the cut, with a small sphere at one end. It wasn't a deep cut, not by any means, just an inconvenient one.
"Chu?" The pokemon asked, looking up with big eyes.
"No, its not your fault," she assured, wiping the blood off on her shirt before lifting up the small mouse. She rubbed behind his ears as he nuzzled his head into her neck.
She felt her adrenaline fading, her heartbeat returning back to its original pace. It was only Pikachu... But for some reason, the feeling lingered, even if weaker than it previously had been. Her survival instincts never failed, so why should now be any different just because it's a civilian setting?
Samus silenced her moments, hushed her breathing. Without moving her body, her eyes darted about, checking the surroundings. No eerie shadows in the corner, nothing out of place behind the vehicles...
She spun in a 180 effortlessly and scanned the other half of the building. Nothing odd jutting out from the shelves. Hmm...
A sound in the distance caused her to perk up. Her hand instinctively fell to her hip in search of her weapon, but found only astonishment at the fact it wasn't there. It's okay, she told herself. Samus Aran can fight with fists.
But wait, this sound... It was a mechanical buzz. Getting louder and louder...
Fox! Samus dashed for the remote to open the door. She wasn't sure how close he was to landing, or crashing in this case, but she would not be the cause. With a flying leap to save time, she catapulted through the air, arm parallel to the floor, fingers stretched out, reaching, reaching, the little red button just inches away-
Vroom.
Samus collapsed onto the floor, crushing her elbow against the cold cement, reopening her previous wound. "Dammit," she cursed, as Pikachu arrived beside her to check if his owner was alright.
After recovering from the fall, she scooped him up quickly and headed for the wall, where she would be out of the landing way, but close enough to rush over to Fox as soon as he exited his Arwing.
Soon enough, the building filled with the sound of a jet engine, and in came that unmistakeable plane with the fins on the side and boosters on the back. Samus watched with intensity as the plane slowly rolled through the hangar door and slid to a stop before reaching the far wall. Her eyes scanned the vehicle in search of any damage.
Nothing stood out right off the bat. No nicks, no burns, no missing pieces. However, as she was unfamiliar with the structure of an Arwing, she couldn't be too sure nothing had happened.
Once the capsule atop the plane opened up, the bounty hunter dashed over at sight of the pilot climbing out of the cockpit. Her body shook with anticipation, but she stood her ground like a platoon leader ready to send their troops into battle. It was a little harder to do with Pikachu clinging to her, but she managed to pull it off nonetheless.
He didn't appear to be missing any limbs. But he made his way to the ground ever so slowly, the sheer act driving her nuts. Did he take forever to do everything?
Apparently, he hadn't spotted her yet. For being a pilot, he wasn't that observant. Or maybe it was just that he was too wrapped up in what he found that he didn't pay attention to anything else. Samus couldn't tell if that meant good news or bad.
Once he finally looked up, he noticed the woman watching him intently, her stern expression not allowing for the slightest hint as to what her thoughts may have been.
Fox grinned. "Well, hey there, Samus."
For a moment, she simply stood there in shock, too many things going through her mind to really think of what to say. Especially with how casually he he greeted her. She finally decided to spurt out the first thing that came. "I thought you went and got killed, you moron!"
He grinned. "So you were worried about me?"
"No." Samus shifted the pokemon in her arms. "Not a chance. I was concerned that you compromised the mission and I would have to convince someone else to do your job."
"Heh. Well, I almost didn't make it."
For some reason, that didn't shock her. Not that she didn't have confidence in the pilot, because he was good at what he did, but she knew that something out there was keeping them in. Otherwise, people would have escaped long ago.
The suspense was killing her. "Well? What did you find?"
Fox scratched his ear, glancing around. "You sure we should be talking in here?"
"Yeah. Everyone left. So talk."
The pilot began to take off his jacket, hanging it on a stand nearby his plane. "You're not going to like my answer."
She frowned. That sounded like bad news. "Okay? So then what did you find?"
He sighed. "It's just as you thought. Maybe even worse. Whoever's got us boxed in here has got us trapped like a fish out of water." He rolled his sleeves up as he began to prepare running tests on the Arwing to make sure all of the systems were still working properly.
"You said you almost didn't come back," she pressed. "Tell me about that."
Fox let out a huff. Whether from exhaustion or amusement, she couldn't be sure. "There's a huge electromagnetic force above the forest. I almost got sucked in but thanks to that overdrive, I managed to get away in time. Oh! Speaking of that, I can go get it back for you."
"Yeah. Falcon might miss it."
Fox paled. "You took it from Captain Falcon?"
Samus shrugged as if to say it was no big deal. "I borrowed it. It's not like he even noticed, anyway. So, what else?"
Fox returned to his story as if nothing had interrupted it in the first place. "To the south, there's this immense fog! I couldn't see anything so I had to turn back. Although, if that's the way to go, I would say go for it. You're blind, but aside from that, I feel there isn't much danger."
Samus tapped her chin. Maybe there was some way to clear out the fog, or to see through it. She wasn't quite sure. Whoever this Master Hand was, they were pretty intent on keeping people here. And finding new people from who knows where. It was only a matter of weeks until the next tournament. Something bad always happened during the tournaments. The minor stuff occurred in between.
But, there still could be something in that fog. She didn't like her chances. The forest stretched out both to the north and the west of the mansion, while the fog occupied the south. That only left one more place. With their current chances, she almost didn't want to ask."And to the east?"
Fox shook his head. "Wierd. I tried to fly out that way, but it was as if I wasn't even moving. The mansion was still behind me, the same distance away it was, and I had been flying for a good twenty minutes."
Hmm. She'd never heard anything like it before. Something like this would require extensive research, perhaps even her own take in the field as well.
"Even stranger, still, was that my radar completely blanked and the speed and pressure dials froze in one spot. They're fine now, but when I was flying over, they just went completely bonkers."
Figures. Nature wouldn't do something like that. An unknown entity, a creature of extreme power and wisdom had them locked in here. Like a place long forgotten in the history books, so too, their names shall never leave these halls.
She couldn't even imagine what was going on in her own home world.
"Our chances are looking pretty slim."
Fox gave her a look of intense concentration. Could this mean that they were forever doomed to spend an eternity in an old, isolated mansion where they fought one another each year and nothing of interest happened besides that, while each of their respective homes possibly declined due to the responsibilities each of the contestants were once bound to, and now never being completed?
Fox didn't want to think like that. He wanted to believe that one day, he would see Skippy and Peppy again. That he and Falco would return home with heads held high.
But wait. There was a missing piece of the puzzle. A forgotten algorithm in the lengthy equation.
Fox knew he risked opening a can of worms with this one, but it may have been his only option. "What about that mercenary guy?" He asked. "The one you couldn't stand?"
At this, her expression grew darker, even if she herself were not aware of this. The Smashers had known for a time that the two were an incredible duo of intelligence and perception, even for a time making up a part-time detective agency. However, within the time frame of the Brawl tournament, something changed. And then a few weeks later, he was nowhere to be found.
In all honesty, Samus really didn't have the answer. He was gone, she knew that much. But around here, gone could mean that your body just hadn't shown up yet. Although, she had a slight feeling that wasn't the case this time.
"We'll meet again tomorrow," she told the avian pilot, which was her way of ending the conversation. Besides, she planned on getting some of that much-needed food in her system. She knew how Peach would get upset whenever someone showed up late to dinner while she was cleaning up. "Until then, stay on the ground."
Fox grinned. "Yeah. Same to you."
So this may not be of the best quality, but hey, its 4 in the morning on the day after Christmas. I'm not making excuses, I'm just saying that I know it's crappy. Next one will be better.