Samus sat back in the pilot's seat of her gunship, enjoying some take out as she flew back to her apartment after a brief trip to buy groceries on another planet. Money had been tight ever since the 'incident' that had left her unable to take on jobs from the federation. In fact, she was technically a wanted fugitive now, which made business much harder than it used to be. Still, she had been able to make a living for herself in the outer territories. Blowing up yet another planet, this time intentionally, had only increased her reputation as the greatest bounty hunter alive. Plus she had started to take up other forms of freelance work to pay the bills when she needed to. All in all, her life wasn't so bad. She had made new friends and was overall in a good place in her life. Apart from being a wanted criminal, anyway.
Of course, she wasn't really thinking about any of that at the moment. She was just concentrating on trying to eat with chopsticks. Or at least she was, until she was interrupted by her ship's computer.
"You have an incoming call. Caller ID unknown."
Samus jumped from the unexpected alert and nearly spilled noodles all over herself. She quickly put her food down out of view of the camera and reached down to answer the call. She froze right when she was about to press the button, however, as she suddenly remembered that she was still wearing a hoodie and sweat pants. Definitely not clothing that she wanted to be seen wearing by a potential client. Samus leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes for a moment in concentration. She opened them again once her power armor had materialized itself around her, then pressed the button to accept the incoming call.
"Is this Samus Aran?" A digital image of the caller appeared in a window on the ship's view screen.
"That depends. Who's asking?" Samus did her best to sound intimidating, which was something that she tended to have a knack for.
"Someone who needs someone else taken care of. And I hear you're the best man for the job."
Samus couldn't help but crack a smile. She always found it funny how people who only knew her by reputation always seemed to think that she was a man. Not that she particularly minded, considering that it just made it easier for her to go around without being recognized everywhere she went.
"If that's the case, then you should know that my services don't come cheap." Samus continued to play it cool.
"I can pay you handsomely. However, I believe that you will take this job regardless of the reward. Rumor has it that you and this particular bounty share a history together. A certain draconic space pirate."
"I'm listening."
"Well, now-a what?" Luigi turned to Ice Ridley expectantly.
Ice Ridley thought for a moment as he considered their options. The two found themselves standing before a long shoreline that stretched out as far as the eye could see in both directions. And Ice Ridley's eyes allowed him to see very far away. They had no apparent way of crossing the ocean that lied in their way but turning back now would render their entire journey so far pointless. In theory, Ice Ridley could fly over the water, carrying Luigi across the ocean in his arms. However, doing so would likely reveal that he wasn't Mario. Unless Mario could fly. Ice Ridley couldn't really rule anything out at this point but he figured that if Mario could fly, he wouldn't have fallen in that lava pit that Ridley pushed him into. Ice Ridley had never regretted killing anyone before and he certainly did not like the feeling.
It didn't seem like there was anything that they could do, unless they could find some way to magically walk across the ocean. But obviously that wasn't an option. Unless…
Ice Ridley stared down at the water for a moment and opened his mouth. A cloud of cold mist formed between his jaws before he shot a blast of freezing ice at the water in front of him. The water froze into a large chunk of ice. Ice Ridley then took a cautious step onto the newly formed platform to see if it was stable enough to walk on. The ice proved slippery but he was able to keep his balance well enough. Ice Ridley then froze the next section of water with his frigid breath, extending the short pathway he was creating.
"I think I just found our way across." Ice Ridley said, turning back to Luigi.
"A-are you-a sure that's-a safe?" Luigi cautiously pressed his foot again the ice.
"Do you have any better ideas?" Ridley asked sarcastically.
"Well, no." Luigi looked resigned as he stepped up on to the ice and walked up behind Ridley.
Ice Ridley and Luigi then made their way across the ocean on the makeshift bridge that Ice Ridley continued to form as they went. It became increasingly difficult to stay on the narrow path as the waves picked up. The further they went the more turbulent the ocean water became. It wasn't long before Ice Ridley had to start raising the sides of the ice bridge to form a sort of railing to keep Luigi from being swept up in the waves. Luigi continued to stumble along behind the space dragon, shivering the entire way from the cold.
After what felt like several hours the sky began to get dark. At first it seemed to just be getting late but soon it became clear that a storm was coming. It wasn't much longer after that that the winds picked up and the waves rose ever higher. Ice Ridley attempted to raise the sides of his bridge even higher as he formed it to try and make a tunnel of sorts to protect them from the storm. It didn't work, however, as a particularly storm wave crashed against the ice behind then, breaking through the ice. The section of ice they were one became unstable, being tossed and turned violently by the storm. Luigi hit his head against a chunk of ice, knocking him out and causing him to fall into the water. Ice Ridley was able fish him out with his long claws and pull the green-clad plumber up above the surface. Carrying Luigi, Ice Ridley began to fly away as fast as he could. However, the violent winds made it hard on him and were soon joined by lightning.
What happened next was little more than a hazy blur in Ridley's normally impeccable memory, but what he could remember was a flash of lightning illuminating a large object off in the distance as a silhouette. Ice Ridley headed towards the object, thinking that it was an island where they could wait out the storm. The object proved not to be an island, however, but was in fact a large ship. Ice Ridley landed on the ship's hull, still cradling the unconscious Luigi in his arms.
Ice Ridley could see the ship's crew members working hard around him to keep the ship from capsizing. They were too busy to pay Ice Ridley any mind and he could barely make them out in the darkness and rain, but for some odd reason he couldn't help but think of the space pirates. Putting that thought aside, Ice Ridley hunkered down and did his belt to shelter Luigi from the elements as he waited for the storm to pass.
When the winds and the rain finally subsided, Ice Ridley opened his eyes and looked back up. Now that they were no longer busy with the storm, the crew members were now gathering around him curiously. He could see now that they appeared to be from a reptilian species that he had not seen on this planet before, coming in a variety of colors and bearing crocodilian traits.
Ice Ridley could hear a deep, raspy breathing come from behind him and turned to see the largest member of the ship's and their captain. He was a tall, fat, green one with a swollen left eye, wearing a bright red cape and a black tricorn hat marked with a skull and crossbones. A symbol which the meaning of seemed to remain a constant throughout the universe. These were pirates.
"It would appear that we have ourselves a couple of stowaways." The captain's voice remained unsettlingly calm between his heavy, yet steady breaths. "And just what may ye be doing on my ship?"
"We just needed a place to rest during that storm." Ice Ridley explained.
"Then I suggest ye be going now." The captain said. "Return from whence ye came, sea demon."
"I could do that." Ice Ridley grinned. "Or you could grant us safe passage to our destination."
"And just why would we be doing that just now?"
"Because from the looks of it you appear to be a crew of pirates, which means that you're likely here in search of some kind of treasure or other prize. I happen to be quite skilled at, well, everything really, but especially acquiring ill-gotten goods."
The captain stared at Ice Ridley intently, as if sizing him up. After a long moment of near silence, apart from the captain's constant breathing, he finally grinned and drummed one of clawed hands against his gold-plated belly.
"Argh, I like you're style, matey. As it happens we happen to be after a particularly elusive prize known as the Crystal Coconut, said to be hidden somewhere in the isles nearby. If'n ye help us find it, we'll sail ye anywhere ye be need'n ta go."
Ridley smiled and the two reptilian pirates shook hands. "Then we have a deal. But if I'll be working for you then I'll need to know my Captain's name, of course."
"Aye, I be known as Kaptain K. Rool. And this ship here be the Gangplank Galleon."
"And a fine ship it is, 'Kaptain'. Now let's go get that Crystal Coconut."
