Origins: Ridley and Dark Samus
Smash Mansion: Conference Room
"THEY WANT ME IN SMASH!" bellowed the startled image of Isabelle on the tablet computer screen
Light chuckles arose from around the room. Mario suddenly grabbed the tablet from his seat around the boardroom table. Seated to his immediate left and right were The Original 12, the group of heroes originally gathered by Master Hand to determine who was the best among them. While on some level he trusted the judgment of everyone in the Smash Brotherhood, these eleven were some of the most experienced warriors in the entire universe, and almost just as experienced with the unique animal known as Smash Brothers. The only person in the boardroom who was not one of the originals was Shulk, who coordinated the Smash technology Mario had inherited from The Hands, Master, and Crazy.
"As you can see Isabelle was VERY enthused to be-a selected. Now, on to more serious concerns." Mario addressed the room, thumbing through files on the tablet, "Ms. Aran, there have been reports that these two have become targets in a space pirate leadership shakeup."
Mario slid the tablet to Samus, who caught it. Immediately on seeing the images onscreen, those who sat closest to her could see her eyes clothes. Everyone could hear the deep inhale. The two images onscreen were that of a purple dragon and a dark visage of herself. Ridley and Dark Samus.
"No," Samus snarled after what seemed like an eternity of silence, "My dark clone is more or less an animal made of some alien goop, and Ridley has KILLED everyone I cared about"
"Sam listen" Mario shot back, "Ridley's been screwed over by Tabuu, just like all the other 'bad guys' on our roster. If we explain to him we aren't anti-villain, but anti-Tabuu, we can make it work"
"As far as Dark You…" Shulk began, but was interrupted by Samus' head snapping in his direction,
"It isn't me, it's an animal who liked my costume."
"Right, so….erm….Dark Samus, I've been looking around Crazy Hand's old room and…"
'Please for the love of God let this be relevant" moaned Captain Falcon.
"And I found a shock collar. Reverse engineering says it can shock the wearer at the push of a button, and in worse case scenarios detonate the wearer entirely. I volunteer to make one for Dark Samus, and be its keeper"
Samus paused in thought, then slowly nodded, "Okay, but if either of 'em fucks up, it's on you Mario, and you Shulk"
"I accept a-responsibility. Same goes for you Shulk?"
"Yes, absolutely"
"Good. Now, I suspect you know where these two idiots are?" growled Samus
"Yes. A stolen carrier ship where Zebes used to be" Shulk stated
"I'm-a gonna give you the liberty of putting together the team that accompanies you for this," said Mario
"It has to be a small team. Ridley's a coward and will flee the second he thinks he's outmatched. That said, I'm thinking you" she said, pointing to Mario, "and Megaman would be solid enough backup."
"Alright. You have-a two hours before we depart"
"Understood."
The meeting adjourned then, with Samus leading the group out into the main mansion. Heading to the elevator, she heard a voice behind her
"Samus darling, you look perturbed. Is something the matter?"
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, it was Peach, the perpetually sunny princess of the Mushroom Kingdom.
"Recruitment I'm not too happy about"
Peach hummed in thought, "It's not that dreadful dragon from Subspace. Ridley was it?"
"Yeah, and another alien who uses my stuff."
"Oh, dear. Samus, darling, Mario knows what he's doing. He wouldn't recruit anyone he didn't think would help."
"Still not happy," Samus huffed as the elevator came to a stop on her floor
"Good talk darling," Peach called out as Samus departed
Samus fumbled with the passcode to her room, finally keying in the correct set of numbers on her communicator, opening the door.
As she opened the door, she saw her roommate, Bayonetta, sprawled out on her bed, reading an ancient-looking book. Bayonetta rolled to her side as she heard Samus enter
"What? No 'honey I'm home'?" playfully chided Bayonetta
Samus cracked a grin at that. Bayonetta was one of the few people who's dry, terse attitude matched her own. Combine that with being a relentless tease, and she was one of Samus' favorite Smashers
"For the last time, I'm not your honey"
"Oh? Drunk Samus at the afterparty last tournament had some different things to say"
"It's why I don't drink. Drunk Samus is an idiot," explained the bounty hunter as she punched the code on the safe in the closet that contained her Varia Suit.
"And where are you off to young lady?" questioned an intrigued Bayonetta
"Off with a couple of the others, for a recruitment mission, I'm not too excited about."
Bayonetta frowned, "And why was I not invited?"
"Because you and I are friends. Ridley would pick up on that"
"The hell? Why him? Didn't he….?
"Yeah."
Silence hung in the air as Samus began to put on her armor, then.
"Well, be careful. I like having you around. You're the only one around here who enjoys it when I jiggle my ass."
Samus let out a single chuckle as she continued to dress, putting on her arm cannon over her gloved Zero suit
"Cloud plenty well enjoyed it"
Bayonetta playfully tossed the book she was reading at Samus
"Ugh, you're lucky we're friends. I'd have to really kick anyone else's ass if they mentioned him to me"
"Cloudanetta"
"Now you're really pushing your luck. Get out of here before I make whatever stink-infested place you're headed to look like a candy shop"
Samus put on the helmet, the last piece of her armor, which activated the voice modulator, which deepened her voice as not to betray the fact she was a woman to scummy bounty hunters she interacted with in her working life
"Now it's your turn to shut up 'Netta"
Bayonetta's tongue clicked against the roof of her tongue, "Ooooh, I like your man voice"
"Shut up" playfully chided Samus as she left the room.
Stolen federation carrier ship, coordinates of the former Zebes
The two hours before stepping through the portal had been utterly silent. Engaging with Ridley, and to a lesser extent Dark Samus always left her in a foul mood. She figured being a grouch would hinder her ability to properly brief the Blue Bomber and the leader of the Smashers on what they might see.
Samus Aran could not have prepared for this, even on her best day
Samus had seen her fair share of decomposition and rot over the years, but this was notably ghastly, even with that in mind.. Pirates were strung up by their entrails in any place a rope could be hung, and it stunk like death. Breifly, she pondered the idea that this was some sort of barbaric warning, an 'abandon all hope ye who enter' idea. Maybe the rot turned Ridley on. To avoid that charming thought, Samus cast a quick glance at her companions. Megaman's eyes darted robotically from side to side, completely stonefaced. Mario on the other hand, while a consummate professional, was looking very pale
Suddenly, a screech hung pierced the air, as Dark Samus jumped down from higher up, between Samus and Mario, but zeroing in on the plumber, firing a fully charged blaster shot. Mario quickly reacted, using his cape to deflect the blast. The blast careened back at Dark Samus, propelling it into the air at Samus feet it hard onto the metal walkway they all resided. Megaman waded his way between them, activating his leaf shield while Samus charged her own shot, the gun attached to her arm pressed firmly against Dark Samus' head.
"Dark. Stand down," demanded a shrill, squawking voice.
Samus closed her eyes, inhaled and exhaling as she heard the beating of wings from below. Sure enough, Ridley flew up to their level from below
"As if today couldn't get any worse. To what do I owe the pleasure Aran? Come to try and arrest me like usual?"
"No, she's with me. I'm-a Mario Mario, leader of the Smash Brothers," Mario called from the back
"Ah, the people up in Tabuu's business years ago. What do you want with me?"
"Pirate fleet inbound. 30 seconds to entry" dryly explained Megaman
Ridley roared.
"How dare you. You're with them! You're working with the pirates!"
"No, we…" Mario began.
Ridley's razor-sharp tail lashed out, striking Megaman, hard, with a metal clanging. A stunned Megaman went limp as his Leaf Shield was pierced, along with the chest cavity of his armor. Megaman keeled over the walkway's railing off of the walkway. Suddenly, Rush appeared, allowing Megaman to use him as a jump. Just as he did this, Rush disappeared. His eyes snapped to Ridley, who's eyes were wide with shock.
"….Two…..One."
Just as Megaman spoke those words, the door at the opposite end of the walkway exploded outward. Megaman tossed a metal blade into the explosion, striking the first pirate, causing him to fall lifelessly backward. Dark Samus whipped around, shooting an ice missile at the second pirate. The ice block that resulted around the pirate's form was large enough to block the rest of the door.
"Ah, so you aren't the sniveling traitors I thought you were," hissed Ridley
"Shut the hell up and do something useful," Samus barked.
"Pfft, women," Ridley chuckled
"Fuck you. Dark! Double charge shot, on my word!" Samus shouted
Both Samus and Dark took squatting firing stances as Dark Samus charged her arm cannon
Wait for it. Wait for it.
"NOW!"
Two fully charged arm cannon shots careened through the door, one obliterating the frozen pirate, the other obliterating three pirates crowded in the doorway's corridor
Mario sprayed the floor in front of the Smashers with FLUDD causing a group of pirates to slip and fall of the walkway, "Megaman, now! The collar!"
Megaman tossed the shock collar at Dark Samus, which wrapped perfectly around its neck.
"What have you done to…?" balked Ridley.
"TAKE OUT THE CAPITAL SHIP YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING PIECE OF…" hollered Samus.
"Fine, fine, if it'll quit your bitching," Ridley whined.
Ridley flew through an air lock located at the bottom of the ship into space, swooping out from under the base. finding the offending pirate ship, and obliterating it with his mouth laser.
"That should be the last of them" Ridley snarled as he lazily came back through the air lock, his head cocking at Dark Samus' new accessory, "And what have you done to my colleague."
"We'll talk about that later," Samus snapped, "What I originally was going to offer you was that we can offer you asylum from Mother Brain's crap."
"Mother Brain? It's back? That's why my men turned on us"
"Yes. And Mother Brain is the least of the universe's problems. Tabuu's old forces are behind it, commanded by someone else"
Ridley let out a feral growl, just as he did, Dark Samus leaped at Samus, but an electric shock brought it to its knees
"What was that?"
"Shock collar. It's a safety precaution. Obey all orders, and you won't get one yourself." Samus growled.
"Our terms are these," Megaman began, " In order to receive asylum you will assist in the fight against Tabuu's forces, and participate in the illustrious Smash tournament."
"This is utter nonsense. Dark Samus and I have done nothing to deserve having our basic rights as sentient beings dangled over our heads."
Samus chuckled.
"What's so funny, twerp?"
"Samus! Not now!" commanded Mario as Megaman punched in the code to open a portal. back to the Smashverse
"Follow us," Samus commanded.
As Samus entered the portal, Mario turned to The Cunning God of Death, "Ridley, if I can ask, how do you control Dark Samus?"
"It can feel the hatred I feel, thus trusts my judgement. The enemy of the enemy is my friend after all," cackled Ridley as he and Dark Samus entered the portal.
Mario frowned, "I'll have to keep an eye on him won't I Mega?"
"Affirmative," agreed Megaman as the two stepped through the portal.