Pride

“Glad you showed up.” Samus grinned at the somewhat brave girl. The girl sheepishly smiled back at the bounty huntress as she shyly shifted her eyes away.

“It was an impulsive decision, but I’ve finally decided to show that cold-hearted bastard that I am worth something. I may not physically strong, but Goddesses know that I can fight if I want to,” Zelda declared.

Samus raised her eyebrows at the girl, impressed with her determination. The girl with green eyes just smiled, acknowledging Zelda’s hasty decision. Zelda Harkinian shut her eyes for a moment as she tried to remember what had happened two weeks ago. It was something impulsive of her to do, but she couldn’t help remembering how her situation went with Impa.

“I vow to join this competition, Impa! I shall fight, and I shall win against that dreadful man named Link Wright,” she declared, as she held out the competition form. She waved it in the air for a moment before thrusting it down on the table near Impa.

Impa blinked a few times, baffled at the Princess’s words. The nursemaid was only sitting down near the table, a knife in her hand that she used to peel the skin off a golden apple. It took a while for the nursemaid to comprehend the material flung at her. She set the knife down on a plate as she stood up.

“Are you sure, Zelda? I honestly think you shouldn’t let this young, Hylian get to. You shouldn’t be holding grudges, Zelda. It’s very childish and silly for you to do so,” Impa slowly said, as she placed a peeling of the apple on the plate near her.

“Impa! How can I forgive a young man like that? He’s unforgivable! And Hylian? A Hylian? He told me himself that he was a Kokiri!” Zelda retorted back hotly.

“But, still… Zelda, how do you even exactly plan to fight these smashers? From what I see, this competition seems to not only test a person’s physical strength, but their emotional, spiritual, and mental strength as well. Without a doubt, Zelda, you do have emotional, spiritual, and mental strength.”

“Yes, which is why I was planning on using my magic to assist me with these battles,” Zelda said confidently with a smile.

“Though, it does say that you must have some attacks involving physical strength as well. You don’t have that much physical strength,” Impa stated.

"I was planning to use that transformation technique you taught me,” Zelda explained, as Impa almost dropped the apple in her left hand.

“Zelda! That technique is only supposed to be used when you’re in a life-threatening situation! It’s for you to ESCAPE, Zelda. It’s not for you to fight! I only created the technique so that you could distract and confuse an attacker rather than fight him!” Impa shouted.

“So? Impa, you are a master of the Sheikah Arts, right? You could always teach me how to fight like a Sheikah!” Zelda said with a hopeful look in her eyes.

“… But, Zelda… I’m supposed to use them only to protect you. You can’t master these techniques in a simple amount of time, you need serious practice. If I were to teach it to you, you’d be aching all over. Nothing in life comes for free, Zelda,” Impa lectured.

“Well, on the form, they did say that it would take a while to recruit the new smashers. That buys me time to get ready for the competition!” Zelda stated happily.

“… You are still missing the point. It’s torture for anyone to go through several workouts and it causes a lot of mental strength as well. Zelda, I cannot teach you these techniques. And I will not sign the form.”

“Why not?” Zelda demanded in a more harsh tone. “Father is too busy to sign this form for me. It says that if I can’t get a parent, I must have a guardian over twenty-one years old to sign it.”

“It’d just be too much for you. You’d end up failing school if you dedicated your life to this tournament,” Impa said, as she began slicing the apple into fourths.

Zelda gave Impa a cold, hard glare. She was furious. She wanted to pay back Link. She was determined to have him realize how noble and great she was. She vowed to make him bow before her. She would show him her true strength as a young individual. And yet, how could Impa not agree with her? Impa had been her nursemaid for years. If anything, Impa understood her the best.

“Here,” Impa said, as she carefully passed a slice of an apple to her.

“No,” she refused, as she pushed the apple slice away.

“… Why not? You said you were hungry for apples before. So, I prepared some for you,” Impa said.

“I refuse to eat. I won’t eat until you agree to teach me the Sheikah Arts and sign the form,” Zelda said in a stubborn way.

“Zelda!” The grey haired woman hissed at her. “You can not just refuse to do something this rash! Eating is one of the basic Hylian needs!”

“I said I won’t do it! You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make the horse drink it!” The Princess said in a very bratty way.

“Zelda! You’re acting like a child. Stop this foolishness now!” Impa commanded. “It’s been over ten years since you’ve acted this way! You’re almost sixteen! You should be ashamed of yourself, Zelda! Your mother would be frowning upon you to see how much of a brat you are acting like now!”

“I only wish to show Wright how strong I am! I will prove him wrong!! Impa, I can’t let you get in the way of this! I thought you’d be able to understand!”

“I do understand, Zelda! But you’re taking a childish and reckless route here! If you wish to act mature about this, you would just let it go and focus what’s more important. Your education is what is most important right now,” the nursemaid explained calmly.

“I won’t do as you say. I have made up my mind, Impa, and I will do as I please!” With that said, the Triforce Holder of Wisdom stomped out of her chambers.

Three days had passed. The Princess did not take a single bite of any sort of food. She relied solely on herself. Not even the temptation of her favorite foods had her give in. Instead, she just ignored each and every servant that offered her something delicious to eat. It wasn’t until the King Harkinian himself was fed up with the Princess’s stubborn behavior.

“Impa,” the King said on the third day, as he cornered the nursemaid.

“Yes, your Majesty?” She responded.

“You have to get Zelda to eat. I cannot have Zelda become so weak and frail. She’s a growing woman, and not to mention… My only heir to the throne. She is the gift the Goddesses and my wife gave to me. Why are you doing this again?” King Harkinian asked sternly.

“I feel that Zelda is just being too childish with this decision. If she were to join this tournament, she would face so many challenges that she would just collapse and fall into a depression over it. I feel that she is too weak and too childish to handle something as extreme and mature as this competition,” Impa reasoned.

“So? If she is weak, she’ll learn to grow. I admit, I was hesitant when she requested to do this sort of activity… But think of it this way, Impa. If she shatters herself, she will learn to pick herself up again. She would become stronger. Wiser. And more beautiful. And that, Impa, is what I want in an heir. She would learn to not only over come physical battles, but emotional ones as well. She would please her late mother and I,” King Harkinian commented.

“… But, I just feel it’s still too soon for her,” Impa said softly as she fondly remembered the gentle, playful Zelda back in the old days..

“It’s better to be early than late, Impa. I know this. We can’t shelter her for too long, or she’ll never grow. But if Impa, if you do this… you have to make sure that you will not come to her heed when she is in danger. For the price of what she wants, you will not assist her in sort of battle. She must learn to do it herself. Even if she's screaming and begging you for help, you must not aid her. She will only have to learn to depend on herself. Starting from today, you will be teaching Zelda the Sheikah Arts and you will sign the form,” King Harkinian stated.

And Impa did. Zelda was overjoyed from hearing the news. In fact, she was so overjoyed; she almost fainted from her lack of food. However, before teaching her anything, Impa instructed her to eat properly and get the correct amount of sleep. Before she knew it, Zelda had not learned a singled lesson from Impa, because by that time… Orientation for the Super Smash Brothers Tournament had already rolled in.

Zelda bit her lip hard at the memories of Impa. Of course, the Princess still felt furious at the fact that she had not learned anything so far. But she still could see that Impa wished for her to be well before learning anything. She also regretted for making Impa feel stressed out and worried over her, but at least she got what she wanted. She had entered the Tournament. The Hylian faced Samus again before smiling at her.

“You excited about this?” Samus asked, as she gave Zelda another grin.

“Positive,” Zelda replied.

“Good. I mean, it’s gonna be tough, but I think you’ll do fine.”

Zelda smiled once again as she let her eyes scan around the room. The lobby room outside of the Super Smash Brothers Mansion was an enormous room, different creatures from all over Nintendo City were gathered for this day. And she was still surprised to see how many people there were.

There were some funny looking people such as a weird, short man with a huge, black mustache wearing a red cap and white gloves. Another strange person was someone she recognized from school, the anthropomorphic, male fox named Fox McCloud. He was wearing an interesting amount of gear with him, carrying a pistol and had some sort of head device. And now did Zelda think it through, everyone did look pretty challenging with their equipment and the amount of experience they had.

“… Whatever,” she thought. She brushed off the fact as if it was nothing.

Though, she knew inside she was shaking all over. Her heart didn’t stop pounding in fear of what was going to happen. She felt so inferior to everyone. Even though she was wearing her traditional, Hylian dress and her crown at this orientation, she still felt as if she was a mouse in this room. Small, defenseless, and weak. Samus also seemed to be somewhat intimidating, and she only was wearing a red tank top and red pants. However, the muscles on the huntress' arms were bigger than hers.

“Oh Goddesses,” she muttered to herself.

“Hn? Oh, Peach! Peach! Over here!” Samus said brightly, as she waved to the girl in the crowds. Pretty soon, Zelda’s mind focused to where Samus was looking at. As she thought, Peach Toadstool was standing near the entrance of the lobby room, anxiously looking around in an elaborate, pink dress.

“Peach! Come over here!” Samus shouted once again. In less than a second, Peach noticed the duo and slowly sauntered over them.

“Hey, girlie! I didn’t know you were entering the Tournament as well!” Samus said ecstatically.

Peach slowly nodded. “Yeah… It was a last minute decision… Daisy wanted me to do it…” Peach’s voice trailed off.

“Heh, Daisy, eh? Well, gosh, she does certainly know what’s best for ya! I swear, both of you are going to have so much fun out of this Tournament, it’s that fun,” Samus said again with a bright smile.

“That’s right,” Zelda began to say, regaining confidence. “The main point of this Tournament is to have fun. It’s not to show off skills, but to compete and have fun, yeah?”

“Yeah! That’s right, Zellie! You got it!” Samus replied, before slapping her back. The Princess of Hyrule smiled once again, before she decided to observe her surroundings again. It wasn’t long until she recognized her all too familiar hero. Her eyes began to widen with shock.

“Oh no,” she let those words escape from her mouth.

“Eh?” Samus and Peach said at the same time, shifting their attention to the Princess.

“Hide me,” Zelda said, as she crouched down to the floor and covered her head with her arms.

“…Why?” Peach merely asked.

“Wright,” Zelda replied, as she took a peek at the Hero along with his two troublesome friends.

“What’s the big deal though? He’s gonna know you’re competing soon, I don’t understand why you want to “surprise” him or something. Zelda, do you have a thing for him or something?” Samus asked.

“I do not have a thing for Wright! If I did, I wouldn’t be hiding myself, now would I? I’d be all over him like that lecherous Caitlin Russell of the MRL Fan Club! And I wouldn’t even been entering this Tournament!” The Princess said, flushing madly. The bounty huntress and the pink Princess both stared at Zelda for her amazing temper.

Zelda took a deep breath before explaining more: “I want to let him know that I’m not weak. I want to make him feel as speechless as I did when he said all of those nasty things to me.”

“… Girl, I think you’re totally in love,” Samus reported silently to herself.

“Then how do you explain what you do with Lowell? You seem to take quite a fancy in him as well,” Zelda inquired sharply.

“That’s different!” Samus exclaimed fiercely. “Anyway, at least Wright has some dignity. And at least he doesn’t go on rambling about how I’m such a horrible person behind my back, unlike Lowell.”

“Samus Aran is such a horrible person, Link!” Marth whined at the opposite end of the Super Smash Brothers Mansion Lobby Hall.

Link rolled his eyes. “How so, Marth?”

“She said she was going to research Pichus with me at the Nintendo City Public Library on Friday, but she didn’t show up! She stood me up!” Marth wailed.

“... Marth, you told me the other day that you guys were supposed to research together tomorrow afternoon. She didn’t set you up. She said she had to make a schedule change at the last minute because of a dentist appointment,” Link said.

“I did? I mean… she did?” The royal Altean inquired. Link tried his best to not roll his eyes again at the Prince.

“Yes, Marth. You said that.”

“So then, how did this all-”

“You probably forgot,” Link reported. Marth took this moment to think very hard about this before realizing that the green-clad hero was right.

“… You’re right! Now I remember! Lords, how could have I forgotten?” Marth asked himself.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s because you’ve been too tied up with yourself?” The Hero coldly inquired.

“Hey hey hey, guys, cool down,” Roy said. “It’s another year at the Tournament. No fighting till the actual fighting begins.”

Marth smiled. “You’re right, Roy. I’m so excited for this year! I got my white armor all polished again! I can’t wait to fight! Harkinian will be all over me once she sees me dressed all handsome and dreamy!”

“You mean that horrid outfit you wear at every beginning match of the Tournament? And that outfit makes you look as if you’re going to the disco?” Link asked.

“Yes, that one!” Marth happily exclaimed. “Disco Marth is back on the battlefield!”

Link gaped in horror of the idea of Marth on the battlefield in his shiny white and gold armor. Prince Marth looked absolutely flamboyant in that bright colored armor. Much to Link's distaste, he wished that Marth wouldn't wear such loud and gaudy pieces of clothing. The world was sure to end very soon as Marth would probably dance to “Staying Alive” by the Bee Gees with colored, lights flashing all over the battlefield stage on the first day of the Tournament.

“Don’t you dare dance to the Bee Gees,” Link warned. “Or I’ll make sure you’ll die a very painful death…”

“Why nooooooooooooottt?” Marth whined in an infantile manner.

“Because you’d look ridiculous,” Link reasoned. Roy tried his best to refrain his laughter between his two friends.

“You mean ridiculously good looking, right?” Marth questioned hopefully.

“No, I mean ridiculous in general. And ridiculous in general means scaring off Princess Harkinian.”

“Jeez. Link, why don’t you think it’ll work? Gosh, don’t you ever want to impress a girl or something? I don’t get you, Link. Why is it that you never want any hot action from any of the babes of our school, y’know?” Marth asked.

“It’s because I’m currently not interested in just making out with a hot girl, Marth,” Link dryly replied.

“Anyway, guys. Forget this whole crap about girls. It looks like orientation is about to begin,” Roy commented.

His face lit up as he saw the doors to the auditorium begun to swing open. The smashers eagerly entered the auditorium as they all seated themselves. Zelda anxiously tapped her foot, worrying over the whole part about the interviews. Samus Aran had told her all about the interviews after reviewing the forms. The Princess was sitting the edge of her seat, unwilling to relax until everything at the mansion was done and over with. Pretty soon, the chattering between the smashers simmered down as soon as they saw the lights dim in the auditorium and the large figure floating on stage.

Zelda gawked. The figure was a large, floating hand. Well, not exactly a human hand, but it was a moving, white, gloved hand. Her eyes widen in shock. What in Hyrule was this? How could this be physically possible?

“That’s the Master Hand. He’s also the director of the Tournament and the principal of the school,” Samus whispered. “He’s been around here for a while. It’s rumored that he created Nintendo City along with his twin brother, Crazy Hand.”

The Master Hand cleared his throat. “Welcome,” the hand pronounced through the air. Zelda was still gawking. The floating hand didn’t have a mouth. Or perhaps it didn’t look like it had a mouth, but surely it could produce some kind of voice. She still didn’t understand what was happening.

“Welcome again, everyone. For those of you who do not know me, I am the Master Hand. I am the founder and president of the Super Smash Brothers Tournament. The Super Smash Brothers Tournament was created five years ago. After a year of success, we decided to open the first, public high school in Nintendo City, the Super Smash Brothers High School. Our main goal of this Tournament is to determine the strongest fighter of Nintendo City and reward them by granting what he or she wishes for. Any wish will be possible,” the Master Hand paused for a moment. Even though the hand did not have any visible eyes, it seemed to face directly at Zelda and Peach, piercing them with his gaze. Zelda froze in confusion. What in Hyrule was going on? Wish… What was her wish anyway? Her wish was just to prove Link that she was just as good as he was in this Tournament. But that wish would easily be granted. What was her true wish to fight in this Tournament?

The hand continued to speak. “Each smasher has a reason why he or she fights. We created this Tournament to have the inner flower in each smasher blossom. People hold many different types of flowers in them. Which is why we always welcome back old the smashers from past years. The flowers must completely blossom by the end of year of fighting.”

“Flowers? What is this hand talking about?!” Zelda wondered. This wasn’t making any sense. Or at least, the Princess felt as if it wasn’t making any sense. She faced Samus, hoping to see that the bounty hunter would just be as confused as she was. However, her friend just nodded her head in response as if she knew everything the Master Hand was talking about!

“… We all hope to meet you soon. Old smashers! Stand up, please!” The Master Hand commanded, as most of the old smashers stood from where they were sitting.

“Ah!” Zelda said in surprise as she saw Samus rise from her seat.

“Please head towards the front of the stage where Crazy Hand shall assist you later. New smashers! Please head towards the exit and wait patiently as we all interview you,” the Master Hand instructed, as another white hand similar to the Master Hand floated on stage. However, this hand made in very odd, jerky movements. No wonder why they called him “Crazy Hand”…

“See ya!” Samus said. The tall blond was just about to head for the stage until Zelda grabbed her arm.

“What is going on? Why are you going to the front of the stage? Why are you leaving me?” Zelda questioned anxiously, as Samus shrugged.

“I don’t know. I guess I don’t need to be interviewed. I think I’m already guaranteed to be in the Tournament since I fought last year. Anyway, Z, I gotta go. You take care, okay? I hope you get in.”

“… Okay. Fine, I got it. I’ll see you around, Samus.”

“Right! Bye!” Samus said, leaving for the stage.

“So… Peach,” Zelda said, as she faced the other Princess. “Shall we go to the exit together?”

The pink Princess just nodded her head in agreement as she stood up.

“Hmmmm, I really wonder how this whole interview process is going to go… What do you think about it, Peach?” Zelda asked curiously, heading towards the exit of the auditorium with the other Princess. Peach only shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t know. They’ll probably review our applications or something,” Peach whispered softly.

“Yes, I suppose,” Zelda said, finally exiting the auditorium.

“Zelda Harkinian!” A voice called.

“Yes?” The Princess answered. She faced upwards to see a young woman dressed in all white call her name.

“This way,” the woman said, using the clipboard she was holding to direct the future ruler of Hyrule.

“Alright,” Zelda began to say, “I’ll catch up with you later, Peach.”

“Mmm,” Peach nodded.

The Triforce Holder smiled in return as she began to follow the woman in white clad. She followed her down a purple and blue hallway, mindlessly observing the surroundings. After a long while walking down the hall, Zelda felt nervous. She had never been interviewed before, and let alone… would she be allowed to fight in the Tournament? She fiddled around with the idea in her head. She could become stronger. She could maybe defeat Link and show that useless bum how much of a fighter she was. And she could perhaps maybe have her wish granted… But still, what was her wish?

“In here,” the woman finally said.

“Eh?”

“In here… You’re going to be interviewed right here, Miss-,” the woman flipped back to her clipboard to see her name, “Harkinian! So please take a seat.”

“Uh, right. Okay,” Zelda stammered.

She looked in seeing a white room with a table and three chairs in the room. A man wearing black was already preoccupying one of the chairs, as she picked the seat opposite to the man. Goddesses! She felt as if she was in an asylum with this sort of environment! She clutched the skirt of dress.

“So, Miss Harkinian… How were you informed of the Super Smash Brothers Tournament?” The man in black asked, as he flipped through a pile of papers. Zelda assumed that it was her application profile.

“My friend Samus told me all about it!” Zelda rapidly replied. Oh Goddesses no. She was talking way too fast. She felt that her words were shooting out of her mouth left and right, and this was the last thing she needed!

“And so why are you interested in this sort of Tournament? It says here that you’re a princess of a land called Hyrule,” the man stated.

“… Erm… Well, I guess it’s because I want to become stronger for my country! I mean… I feel horrible at the fact that I am ruler, yet I have no idea how to protect Hyrule in any way. I… I admit that I may not be able to do much, but I feel that if I can perhaps learn what it is like to put your life on the line… I may be able to help my country during my future reign,” the future Queen of Hyrule slowly assured.

“Hmmm… That’s part of the reason. But the main reason I’m here is because of that no good Link! Stupid ass. Argh! I loathe that man so much! Who does he think he is! Stereotyping Hylian women like that! I swear, I’ll beat him to the pulp if I ever get to battle him!” Zelda thought, as she clutched the side of her skirt more.

“… Miss Harkinian? Is something wrong?” The woman inquired, noticing the determined look on the Princess’ face.

“What!?” Zelda asked, startled. Regaining her consciousness, she replied, “Oh, no… Nothing is wrong. I was just thinking about my father… He’s slightly ill, that’s all.”

She flashed them a charming a grin, hoping they’d drop the subject. The man in black only tugged the side of his mouth into a half smile.

“Hmmm,” he said, reviewing the application form again. “What are your strengths in your attacks?”

“... Eh?” Zelda asked. She wasn’t expecting an answer like that.

“Would you like me to repeat that again? What are your strengths in your attacks?”

“… My magic, I suppose… I-… I can perform powerful attacks using my magic,” Zelda replied nervously. The truth was that she was depending a lot on Impa to teach her transformation attack as Sheik. The muscles tensed in Zelda’s hands.

“Are there any specialty move sets that you have? For example, specific, powerful magic attacks?”

“Erm, well… I have three. One of them is Din’s Fire that I learned when I was seven. The other is Nayru’s Love which my nursemaid taught me when I was twelve… And the final one I know of is Farore’s Wind that I learned last year,” Zelda replied.

“Anything else?” The man asked with an eyebrow quirked.

“… Uh, a transformation technique?”

“Really?!” The woman asked with a strange amount of interest.

“… Y-yeah… Uh, my nursemaid was going to teach me more moves later,” Zelda said hesitantly.

“Shit. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that… If I want them to accept me in this Tournament, they probably shouldn’t know that I’m still learning techniques! Goddesses, why am I always so honest?!” She panicked.

“Hmmm… Interesting,” the man said thoughtfully, as he scribbled down something on his clipboard. He frowned, as he flipped through some papers on the clipboard and finally looked up. “How much do you weigh?”

Zelda’s eyes widened with shock. What sort of question was that? Why were they interested in how much she weighed?

“Erm… From the last time I checked, I weigh forty-three kilograms."

"Hmm... That's pretty light weight, don't you think so, Bob?" The woman in white commented to the man in the black suit. She flipped through some more papers on her clipboard and clicked her tongue.

"Yes, I suppose so, Arissa. However, the Master Hand did say he needed a balance of weighted people for this year's Tournament. That was his goal," Bob commented, as he directed his eyes towards a terrified Zelda. "Alright, Miss Zelda. Your interview process is done for today. Arissa will lead you out to the photography room in which a head shot of you is required for your application. In two weeks, we'll send a you a notification letter. It'll tell you whether or not you've been selected for a final selection battle between some of the past smashers. More details will be revealed later. We hope you have a nice day, and we thank you for expressing interest in participating in the Super Smash Brothers Tournament."

Zelda abruptly stood up from her seat as she was still in shock to see how quickly this whole interview went. She bowed her head in respect towards Mr. Bob and slowly followed Arissa out of the door. It would only be a matter of time until Zelda would be notified if she was in the Tournament or not. For now, the Princess would only hope to figure out what her true wish was out of the Tournament.

Five forty-five. There was no mistake. She was fifteen minutes late. That's what Prince Marth Lowell of Altea concluded to himself. The Prince frowned and glanced up from his watch, as he rolled his eyes from the library table he had reserved for the two of them. He impatiently tapped his pen against his binder, glancing around to see if that troublesome girl was around. He still couldn't believe it. Why him? Why did he agree to meet up with Samus Aran, the most ignorant girl in all of the planet, at Nintendo City's Public Library? Was this fate? He quickly brushed off that fact as he still kept a watchful eye out for the huntress.

There she was. She grudgingly entered the library research room, hastily looking up to see him. He waved a hand at her, motioning her to come on over.

"Lords. What the hell? You're late," he commented rudely.

"Yeah, Pretty Boy? Well, if your boss was working you overtime, you'd be late too. Then again, what should I expect? You're a prince," she said hatefully. "You don't have to work your ass for money or any shit."

Marth slightly rose from his chair. "Hey, I do have to work hard nonetheless. You think I always want to sit through a five hour lesson learning how to pick up a wine glass using the least amount of fingers? Hell no. I'd watch what you'd say if I were you. Unless you want to take this out on the battlefield."

"What?"

"Yeah, you heard me. A fight," Marth replied heatedly, as he crossed his arms.

"... So you want to brawl like uncivilized people?" Samus questioned, as she mirrored Marth's action as well.

"What?! What the hell made you get that idea? I never said that!" He exclaimed, surprised to hear what was coming out of Samus' mouth.

"Then I would say you should be the one who watches what you say. I think you mean "duel". There's a difference between a "fight" and "duel", you know," she explained. "I thought you would be aware of the differences, considering you're from the past and all."

Marth blinked a few times. "What's the difference?"

"Well, clearly... A duel is a willing match which involves skill, tactics, and it between two people. Duels start with both people willing to test their skills to see who's better. It has more of a "let's see who's the most skilled person here" tone to it. Fights are more cheap and more of a surprise. They are evoked by emotion. They just start by the first person hitting. Fights do involve skill, but there are some cheap moves here and there. Like, if you have a one on ten fight. A person can cheat his or her way out by fighting, but it's all fair since most of the time that person relies on his or her skills to fight."

The future ruler of Altea raised an eyebrow. "Isn't a one to ten fight the same thing as ganging up?"

"No," Samus replied. "Ganging up is just using pure violence and a one to ten fight involves skill, y'know? Just like I said. One person fighting ten people. That requires skill. Ganging up on one person is tactic less, ruthless, and despicable."

"Hmph. You seem to have a lot of pride for an ex-motorcyclist gang girl," he commented acidly. However, he regretted saying that because he could obviously see a softer side to that troublesome girl now.

"Ganging up is stupid. It's disgusting. You think I'd want to be part of that? Hell no. My old mentor always said this: 'If you want to be a delinquent in society, do it with pride. You can defy authority and go your own way. But don't do cheap, disgusting things or you'll be scum.' That's why I don't do shit like drugs, alcohol, or stealing crap. Not anymore," the bounty huntress said.

"You really think you have pride? You're just a commoner. A person like me, a prince, has a mountain's worth of pride compared to you," Marth stated, as he smirked. Samus faced the boy.

"Oh? Why do you think that?"

"Well, obviously because I'm a royal. Royals are the top people and are well respected. Pride comes naturally with a royal's life, and we can easily crush your so-called 'pride' that you have. We are the ones that govern the country."

Samus narrowed her eyes at the arrogant Prince.

"Huh. You clearly don't have the true definition of "pride". From what I see, your pride is all fake. You just got of that "pride" due to the fact you've been pampered all of your life, Prince Marth Lowell. Pride is something developed on your own. I live my life by principals, rules, and morals. You don't. You're already reckless enough to go out and make out with a girl like Megan Anderson," Samus retorted.

"Ew, no. You'd think I'd fall for a girl like that? No. That girl puts on way too much make up that is necessary. She's obviously trying so hard to get a guy's attention, and it's not worth it," he reasoned, as his anger was cooling off.

"Yeah, right! You're the one who is constantly eying a girl's breasts all the time!" she replied angrily. "Admit it! You think nothing more of women besides the fact that they are sex toys. You like girls who put tons of make up on their faces, clearly having no ambition in life to be something more."

"I really dislike girls who put so much superficiality in their appearance, Aran. You think I date sluts like those? No! It just doesn't show the real side of them. Or, if it is the real side... it's fake because they like presenting themselves as fake," Marth contributed. He took this opportunity to finally face Samus. He didn't face Samus in that glaring way, but finally out of respect. Her emerald orbs met his sapphire ones, and there was finally an understanding between the two.

"Yeah, honesty will always show out no matter what," Samus concluded, looking away from his eyes. "That's why I guess I like fighting in the Super Smash Brothers Tournament."

"Yeah? Even with those showy moves you pull, Aran?"

Samus glared at Marth before continuing. "Yeah. You can see why a fighter fights just by the look in his or her eyes. You can tell what it wants. Whether or not it wants to fight for personal reasons or for fame. You can tell. The honesty shows through fighting. You get what I'm saying? You can tell by the way a smasher moves if he wants to fight with skill and tactics or just show off. But unlike you, I fight for a reason and without a flashy counter attack," Samus commented, as the Prince's anger rose slightly.

"My counter attack is flashy? Speak for yourself, Aran. That charge shot of yours is so flashy that it blinds my eyes! But you're right about the Super Smash Brothers Tournament not taken that seriously. It comes to true skill. Which, by the way, I clearly have and you don't. I mean, there's always going to be a certain way and style of how well a smasher fights and yet nobody recognizes it. Take Fox for an example. He just does some random kicks in the air and yells a lot. That's just recklessly fighting. He obviously fights to show off a little bit. But, take someone like... Luigi. Sure, he looks like a bit of coward, he it's kind of obvious that he plans out his moves and determines stuff before actually fighting. That's why he's always so hesitant when it comes to battling a person," Marth explained.

"Hmph. Say what you want about your true skill which involves you drooling like dog all over a hot, Ford model. Luigi surely does want to make sure he does well in the Tournament. Skill and tactics are seriously underrated these days. I'm starting to think that this whole Tournament thing is just a show for people. Nobody gives credit for the amount of effort, plotting, and time used in a true battle or fight. They all just like the action," Samus said, as she tilted her head to the side.

"Yes, and-"

"You two!" A voice called.

"Huh?" The two both responded.

"You TWO!" A middle aged woman wearing a nasty color of brown hustled over and stood in front of them.

"... Uh... hi?" Samus said. The middle aged woman glared through her horn-rimmed glasses.

"What are you guys still doing here? It's five minutes past six o'clock! The library is closed now. You two better go home!" The librarian said furiously.

The two smashers gaped at the old lady's words for a moment before collecting themselves.

"Ah! Sorry! I sincerely apologize for staying here, Madam. Erm, we weren't keeping track of the time," Marth explained, as he nervously brushed his bangs back. Samus also bowed her head in apology.

"We're really sorry to have troubled you like this. We'll be out of the library soon, okay, Ms.?" Samus quickly gathered her things, as she nodded her head at the librarian.

"Your parents must be worried sick! Go home! I have to lock up this library without you two in here! Get out!" The old lady shooed them out, as the two smashers nervously exited out of the research room.

"Well, that lady was certainly cranky," Marth commented, as he stepped outside of the library.

"Yeah, you're telling me. Did you see the way she was looking at us? She acted as we were causing a racket in the library. Jesus," Samus said, aggravated. She adjusted her fall coat, as she faced Marth. Their eyes no longer had hatred in them for one another. Instead, there was more tenderness and respect for each other than they was before.

"So," she began to say, "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Lowell."

He nodded his head. "See you tomorrow, Aran."

With that said, the two smashers went their separate ways for the day. Tomorrow would be another day with no mistakes in it yet.

"And so then I said: 'Better make it a double, or it'll overflow!'" Samus said, as the Princess of Hyrule burst into fit of giggles.

Already, tomorrow was today. The trio of blonds were heading towards homeroom early in the morning, not caring what was going on with the world. Samus was enthusiastically telling her story to Zelda with Peach trailing along on the details. The two of them were all wrapped up in Samus' little story.

"Oh my Goddesses! Samus, that's SO wrong! How did they react to that?" The Princess of Hyrule asked eagerly.

"They said-"

Samus' words were cut off by a brush of someone's shoulder. She looked up to see who bumped into her. Marth Lowell. The two stared at each for quite a while, not knowing how to react to this situation. Marth was with his friends as she was with hers. They still said nothing until Samus finally came to her senses.

"Watch it, Lowell!" She snapped.

"You watch it, Aran! You were the one spacing out and not looking where you were going!"

"Well, maybe you should be more careful yourself, Lowell! I was perfectly aware of my surroundings!" She said, as she crossed her arms.

"Why should I look around to see your ugly face?" He leered at her as she glared back.

"What was that!?" Samus snarled.

"You heard me!" Marth replied.

"Fuck you, you dickhead!" Samus screamed, giving him the middle finger.

"Bitch!" Marth yelled.

"Asshole!" Samus shouted, as she balled up her right fist and waved it at him. "Get lost, loser!"

"I'm lost!" Marth replied angrily, as he started to head down the opposite end of the hallway.

"Fine then, go!" She snapped, narrowing her eyes at the Prince.

"I'm gone, Aran!" Marth informed, as he faced back at her.

"Go!" Samus said forcefully, making another motion towards the end of the hallway.

"But I am gone!" He replied, throwing his hands up in the air like a gangster.

"Go again, Lowell!" Samus commanded, pointing her index finger down the hallway.

"I am gone again!" The Prince made an arm motion with both of his arms.

"Go then!" She repeated.

"But I am gone again!" Marth argued.

He bit his lip and turned his back on her. He finally started to walk away as the bounty huntress did the same. Roy, Link, Zelda, Peach, and everyone in the hallways stared at the two's ridiculous behavior. The two were both marching in opposite directions and both seem to be very high strung. Roy made a motion towards Marth at Link, telling him to follow Marth and Zelda and Peach did the same for Samus. The pair of two followers were following their leader, and not caring about the other side.

'It's better this way. It doesn't matter if people know we agree on stupid shit,' Samus thought to herself. 'Besides, it didn't matter in the first place. He's just an arrogant prick. Not to mention, he's the president of my class while I'm-'

'Just an ex-motorcyclist of a female gang and an average girl in my grade. We live in two different worlds. We don't have that much in common anyway. What would she know of living a life as a prince?' Marth asked himself.

'And what would he know about living a life as a middle-class person? He wouldn't understand a single thing. In fact, he wouldn't even survive ten seconds of working on his own,' Samus told herself.

'Though, I admit... I've never been able to talk to a person like that I did with Aran. Okay, maybe once.'

'That one time at the Nintendo City's Transportation Center...'

'But only once. Either way, why do I feel so guilty about treating her like that? It doesn't matter. I have my own life to live,' Marth concluded.

'I can't let that person get in my way,' both of them thought at the same time. 'My life is different compared to that person. Someday... That person will finally understand what it's like to live my life and respect me!'

Roy stopped following Marth of all sudden. There was something he had yet to do...

"... Roy? What's wrong?" Link questioned, as Marth turned around to face his best friend.

"Dude, what's up?" Marth poked the side of his friend to see how he'd react.

"... I'm sorry, Marth. I just remembered something I have to do!" The redhead spun around and dashed towards the direction of Samus Aran and her company. Both Marth and Link gazed at each other in shock about Roy's abrupt leaving.

"Where is he headed to?" The Altean Prince inquired to the Hero. The Hylian shrugged.

"If I had an idea, I would've followed him. Sadly, I don't, Marth."

The redhead continued to dash towards Samus and her friends until he finally caught up.

"Peach! Wait!"

"Huh?" The pink Princess turned around and faced the redhead. He panted heavily for a while to catch his breath.

"I... I-uh. I wanted to ask you something."

The Princess nervously faced Samus and Zelda for a brief moment. "... Yes?" She wasn't aware of any important subjects that Roy needed to talk to her about this morning.

The redhead's blue eyes finally looked into Peach's. With a dashing smile, he said with confidence:

"Would you like to go out on a date with me?"

“… WHAT DID YOU SAY, YOU TWERP!?” Samus screeched at the swordsman.

Roy winced. He unplugged his fingers from his ears from Samus' screeching. “I was asking Peach if she wanted to go out on a date with me. Jeez. It’s not like I’m asking you out, Samus. I’m asking Peach.”

Zelda faced Peach comfortingly. “Well? Peach, what is your answer?”

The girl nervously looked around for a moment. All eyes were on her in this hallway just before classes starting. There were eyes of hatred, jealousy, and anger. It was all because Roy Flores asked her out on a date. There were eyes of awe; some people were just as surprised as she was at the fact that the redhead took an interest in her. There were eyes of support, comfort, and patience from her best friends, who would still love her no matter what decision she made. And then there were eyes of hope. Hope from Roy Flores himself wishing that the Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom would say “yes” to his question.

She looked back and forth, and she knew that the answer laid in her heart. She closed her eyes for a moment, searching for that true answer. She opened her eyes and finally faced Flores in the eye.

She nodded her head before loudly speaking, “Yes, Roy. I’d love to go on a date with you.”

A/N: Blaarrrrgggghh!! I come back from the dead!! I am the new Kraken from the South China Sea! Fear me! Feeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrr mmeeeeee!! I apologize for the late update. Three cans of Pepsi, a "Ballroom Blitz", and a pink Sony Ericsson can do wonders for me. I've been trying to really flesh out these characters and their flaws. Hopefully, you've noticed some of them by now.

And yes, I can totally imagine Disco Marth dancing to the Bee Gees. Shut up, you know that you're jealous because you couldn't think up of a kick-ass name for Marth's flashy, white outfit for Melee and Brawl and my ingenious vision of Prince Marth dancing. I finally have Brawl now. Vote my poll if you want Brawl characters or not.

Mummy, (Royal Kenya/RK) I hope you're proud of me for finishing this chapter. And thank you so so SO much for beta reading that library section between Marth and Samus. You've saved me! That section would've seriously been unrealistic if it weren't for you. Now get to work on feeding yo' baby and update My Smile Is Yours! Same goes to you, HMC, with Heart of Steel (I still deserve credit for the title) and LAH.

All of those peeps who review'd, favorite'd, and alert'd... thank you so much. I appreciate your support, patience, and love. This has been difficult for me, but I'm going at my own pace.

Ummm... I have nothing else to say, except that I seriously need to hang out with a person whose user name ends with "ief" by the end of this summer. If not, he'll be guaranteed to be castrated a thousand times. :P

-BKP