The match was uneventful, her opponents weren't particularly strong, and she defeated them with relative ease. Normally Samus would have been annoyed at having wasted time on such weak opponents, but at this moment she couldn't care less. Her thoughts were else where; she was meeting Zelda now and somehow that mattered more. She found it odd that the girl occupied so much of her thoughts, this wasn't like her. Though admittedly Zelda wasn't like anyone else she ever met. She was almost giddy with the anticipation of seeing her face again.
Samus shook her head. 'What's wrong with you Aran? Calm down!'
She pushed open the doors of the stadium's main exit and stood at the top of the broad stairs that led down to the street. She scanned the crowd to try and find Zelda, but didn't have any luck. Perhaps she wasn't here yet or was just lost amongst all the people. Samus climbed onto the base of one of the pillars that bordered the exit, giving herself a few extra feet over the heads of everyone else. This way Zelda could spot her easier. She leaned against the pillar and waited. After five minutes the crowd had thinned dramatically, and after ten she was standing there all alone.
Did she lose track of the time or was she talking about a different exit? Or had she just decided to not show up? Samus sighed in annoyance and was about to leave when she saw someone walking by. It was Link. When he saw her he hurriedly ran up to her.
"Hey Samus, do you know where Zelda is, I wanted to take her home but I can't seem to find her anywhere."
"Take her home?"
"Oh, didn't you hear, they announced a short while ago that dimensional travel was fixed."
"No, I was competing, I missed that."
"Well I'm getting worried, I didn't see her at all yesterday and now I can't find her anywhere."
"She was with me yesterday."
"Oh, do you know where she is now?" Link questioned anxiously.
"No, Zelda was... she was supposed to meet me here, but she hasn't shown up. She didn't go and see you either like she said she would?"
"I don't like this, something happened, she always keeps her word to a fault. I have to go and find her."
"Hold on now, you're getting worked up over nothing, I saw her this morning an hour ago."
"But when I checked her room it was almost an hour ago, and she wasn't there."
'Hmm, that is a bit odd,' Samus thought. "Fine, why don't you go check the training facilities, I'll go check on... something else... if we don't find her meet back at my room in five minutes."
"Right," he said, and then left.
------
Samus marched down the hallway of the infirmary. 'If he... I'll...' She clenched her fist until her knuckles turned white and she gritted her teeth. She kicked open the door, practically knocking it off the hinges. At least he's still here. She walked over to Ganondorf and took him by the collar.
"What did you do? Where is she?" He didn't respond, he couldn't, his jaw was wired shut. He just shook his head, and glared angrily at her. She released him violently, letting his head drop back down to his pillow. She then gave him a back handed slap to the jaw before marching out.
'It couldn't have been him.'
She went back to her room to see if Link had found her. She arrived before him and went in to wait. Now she was worried, she paced back and forth waiting for Link. Then she noticed something on the table by the TV. It was a device from her world, a computerized pad for displaying text and images, but... she didn't bring one. Where did it come from?
She picked it up and activated it. An image came on its screen. It was of her and Zelda at lunch the other day. "What the hell?" She flipped to the next page, again of her and Zelda, this time walking in the hallway around the training area. The next few images were even more infuriating; her and Zelda in bed together. From the angle she could tell where the camera was. She ran over to one of the unused beds, stood on it, reached into the ventilation grating, and ripped it out, throwing it to the floor. This revealed a small camera with a transmitter. She grabbed it and angrily threw it across the room, shattering the device against the wall.
Samus turned her attention back to the pad, quickly going through more images of the two of them. Then she came to an image that wasn't of the both of them. Zelda was in it, but the other person wasn't her. The person with Zelda was someone she knew from long ago; a large winged creature held Zelda in its claw, its pointed tail held to her neck, obviously posing for the camera.
"Ridley! You fucking bastard."
She gripped the pad as her hands shook with rage. They were in this very room, Zelda looked terrified and like she was crying. She heard the plastic casing of the device creak as it twisted in her hands. She relaxed before she broke the thing, and quickly turned to the next page, not wanting to look at that image anymore. The next page wasn't an image but a set of spatial coordinates. She jumped off the bed, went out the door and headed for her ship. She ran into Link in the hall, just outside her room.
"Hey, I didn't find her, you?" he asked.
"Yeah, I did."
"Well... where is she?"
She hit the back button on the pad, taking it to the image of Ridley and Zelda, and threw it at him. Then she stormed off down the hall leaving Link holding the pad.
"What! Zelda! What is this? Hey wait!" He ran after her, chasing her down halfway to the dimensional gateway "What happened to Zelda? What did this dragon do with her? Where are you going?"
"I'm going after him."
"Is... is she..."
"No, not yet at least. He needs her alive."
"Then I'm coming with you."
"I don't need your help."
"I don't care, I'm coming. I can't sit here and do nothing while Zelda's in danger."
"Fine! Just don't get in my way!"
They entered the dimensional gateway room; it was a large open room with many levels of catwalks around the edge. On each level were machines that opened portals to the various worlds of the competitors. They were of two different sizes. Some were the size of an ordinary doorway just large enough for a person to walk through, and a few were several dozen meters across, designed to allow small ships to pass through. In the center of the room were pads for those ships to land on. Samus' ship was parked on one pad; in addition there were Fox's and Falco's Arwings, and Captain Falcon's ship, the Falcon Flyer.
The two of them boarded her ship after Samus yelled at one of the gate operators that they were leaving. The interior of the ship was cramped, just a small six by five foot cabin. The pilots' seat was the only place to sit, so link would have to sit on the floor. Though presently he leaned over the back of Samus' chair watching as she started up the ship. She powered up the main engine and then the thrusters. The ship lifted off and she moved it forward through the portal. Once through, all they could see through the window was a rather empty star field.
"Sit down," she ordered; Link's hovering was getting annoying. He sat against the back wall of the cabin with his legs folded in front of him. Samus entered the spatial coordinates she got from the pad into the nav-computer and then powered up the warp drive. The image of the star-field became distorted as the engines bent space around the ship, propelling it faster than light. She leaned back in her chair and sighed. "This will be about a four hour trip," she explained.
"Where are we going, exactly?"
"Who knows? It's most likely a small planet or moon; could be an abandoned station. We'll know when we get there."
"So, we're in your world?"
"That's right."
"And this dragon, it's from here as well?"
"Yeah."
"So... what does he want with Zelda?"
Samus sighed. "Nothing. He's after me; we're long time enemies. He's using her to lure me into his grasp. He knows he wouldn't stand a chance against me head on, so he had to resort to something like this."
"Oh."
"They'll be well prepared for us. You sure you can handle this?"
"Of course I can!" Link said arrogantly.
"Humph." She closed her eyes and reclined her seat, not really sleeping just resting and preparing mentally for battle. The two of them sat in silence for quite a long time. Samus' thoughts drifted to Zelda. 'Why am I doing this? Tactically, this is the worst move I can make... Why didn't I think that till just now? I just rushed after her without thinking at all... Why? It is my fault she was taken, I can't just abandon her... why not? Because...why...' "Ahh, just shut up," she said aloud.
"I didn't say anything," Link said defensively.
"I wasn't... Never mind."
"Ok... Hey, I was thinking... why Zelda? Why take Zelda to get to you? Why her?"
"Hmm... Oh, we were... together."
"Together? Because you were in the same room?" Link asked truly puzzled.
Samus shook her head "I had sex with her," she said bluntly.
"..." Links jaw nearly hit the floor. "...oh... ok...and this dragon..."
"His name's Ridley."
"Oh, and Ridley knew about this?"
"He had a camera in our room, and a few other places as well. He was observing me, looking for some kind of leverage, something to use against me. I bet he even sabotaged the dimensional gate himself so he'd have time to set this up. Then it just 'conveniently' started working again just as he found his leverage and needed to leave himself."
"So that's why you asked me if she was into girls. I didn't think she was like that..." Link wasn't paying attention to what she had to say about Ridley.
"Hmm? Oh... She is. Well she... hadn't considered it before, but... I came on to her besides... and uh, not that this is any of your business anyway."
"Uh... no..." He looked away feeling a bit uncomfortable. "Hey, you didn't... you didn't force her did you?" he said a bit angrily.
"Of course not," she glared at him.
"Well... she better say the same thing when I ask her."
"Humph." Samus sank back into her chair, and again her thoughts lingered on Zelda. After a long while of more silence she finally spoke up. "Tell me about her."
"Hmm?"
"You've known her for a while now, right?"
"Yeah, I have. Wwell, what do you want to know?"
"Anything, it doesn't matter, as long as it's about her."
Link thought for a bit before answering. "Well, she's a kind and caring person, constantly thinking of others' feelings, always so gentle too, in the way she speaks and carries herself, though she can have a violent temper sometimes..." He rubbed his face. "And she's really intelligent. Like how she can use magic really well. I can use some, but only basic elemental spells, she's practically a master. It takes most people a lifetime to attain that level, however with her it's like it's intuitive. And it's not just magic, she's smart when it comes to other things as well, like solving puzzles or at games like chess, and also learning new skills. Like this one time she asked me to teach her archery. I was just demonstrating how to hold and draw the bow then she picked it up and fired off arrow after arrow like she'd done it a hundred times before." Samus smiled and nodded knowingly.
"And you're right..." he continued "I have known her for quite a while now. We first met when we were children. This may sound odd but the first time I ever saw her was in a dream, long before we ever met for real. At the time I didn't know who she was, I thought it was just a normal dream. Although the dreams recurred, revealing more details each time. I eventually found out who she was and I got really nervous about meeting her. I thought she'd be a rude, stuck up, arrogant royal brat, and that I'd get in trouble if I made her mad at me. But she wasn't any of those things, she was very pleasant to be around. And it turned out that she had been searching for me as well, because she had the same dream as me. It wasn't until later that I learned that it was because of the Triforce that we sought each other out. Oh I guess you don't know what that is."
"No, I do, she told me about it."
"Oh. Well there's always been a bond between us because of that..."
"Hmm... Tell me more, something... specific, like a fond memory or something."
Link thought for a while before responding. "Umm well, she always loved horseback riding; we'd go riding together all the time. I remember this one time I jumped a small ravine with my horse. When she saw me do it she immediately wanted to try it as well. I told her not to, that it'd be dangerous, that she could get hurt. But she insisted, she said she could do it. I begged her to listen, to believe me that it was dangerous. But she said that she didn't care that it was dangerous, that she would do it anyway. When she did do it, she fell and got hurt... pretty badly." He paused briefly. "It's strange, I don't know why I thought of that when you said 'fond memory'. There was just something about her that day. The way she was so determined to do it regardless of the peril."
Samus smiled. 'That's because she was being true to herself then,' she said to herself.
"Now that I think about it she is pretty brave too," he continued. "When Ganondorf had taken over Hyrule I went to put an end to his tyranny, but I was unable to defeat him on my own. Even though I could tell she was scared she came with me to face him without hesitation. And when it came down to it she was able to use the power of her Triforce to bind his, making him vulnerable to my attack... She was truly incredible then, the way she faced him down... she had the same determination then as well."
"Hmm, sounds like you really like her. What exactly is your relationship?"
"I... I do like her, but... hey, she's all yours, you don't have to worry about me, It's not like I'm in love with her or anything. Besides I already have a girl."
"I don't care if you are, not like I'm jealous." she said flippantly.
"I said I'm not, but... I do care about her..." He got quiet for a moment. "I shouldn't have brought her to the arena. It's all my fault... If anything happens to her...I'd..."
"I won't let that happen," Samus said resolutely.
Link smiled "It's good that she has you. I'm happy she finally found someone."
"What... what do you mean, finally?"
"Well... she always seemed so lonely to me, all by herself in that huge castle, with no one to talk to except servants and advisors. She'd keep inviting me over, sending a royal envoy, making it sound all official and important. Then all she'd ever want was to talk to me for hours on end, or go out horseback riding. When I told her I had a girlfriend, I could tell she looked kind of disappointed, even though she acted happy for me and even said she wanted to meet her. And even after that she still kept asking me to come over to the castle. I just figured she was lonely, I kind of felt sorry for her. So... you know, it's nice that you and her are together now."
"Oh... yeah," Samus said halfheartedly.
'Together?' She questioned his choice of words. What did he mean; Together? Like a couple? That's not how it was, he didn't understand. 'We were just... Zelda and I... It was just a physical attraction... that's all. She's not ...not my girlfriend. I'm not the kind of person to have a relationship with anyone. I don't have feelings for her. Just who do you think I am?' she got a bit annoyed at his implication.
'So then what are we doing here?' she argued with herself. 'Shut up.' she quelled the inner voice. She sighed, annoyed at herself, than laid back in her chair and tried not to think about it the rest of the flight.
Link sat on the floor eyes closed, he appeared to be meditating, or simply resting in the only position available in the cramped little ship. A beeping sound alerted them that they were approaching their destination. The navigation computer automatically brought the ship out of warp and they found themselves staring at a small brown planet, actually a moon of a large gas giant which loomed behind the little rocky world. As they approached the planet the scanners picked up a lone nav-beacon on the surface. Samus figured that's where they would be.
"We're here," Samus said to Link who was still resting. He stood up and watched as they descended into the planet's atmosphere. As she approached the surface she could make out the features of the landscape, it was mostly rocky with light vegetation growing sporadically and the terrain was slightly hilly. Finally she could make out the beacon, and set the ship down next to it.
"From here on, things get significantly more dangerous; don't expect me to baby-sit you. If you can't handle yourself then just stay in the ship," Samus spoke down to him.
"I've done this kind of thing before you know."
"Well they are obviously ready for us; they know we're coming, and we have no idea what they have planned. We're basically walking into a trap. This isn't like anything you've done before. If you want to back out, now's the time."
"I told you I'm not going to sit by and do nothing! Now let's go."
"Aright then. Just don't get in my way."
They exited the ship and approached the beacon. Beside it sat another data pad. Samus picked it up and studied it; it was a crude map of the area. There was a spot marked just over half a kilometer away.
"Looks like we have a bit of a walk. Move quickly. Don't fall behind," Samus said as her armor formed over her, then took off running with Link in pursuit.
End Part Eight