Day One: Part 1

[Karl Jak]

Face to Face
#09 Samus vs #18 Link & #19 Ganondorf

Silence.

They passed the hours without speaking, for neither one of them wanted to dwell upon the unspoken pact they had just made with one another.

The Gerudo King and the Hero of Time.

In how many lifetimes had they tried to kill one another? Now that they had come to the Abyss, they were one in the same—united in blood.

So as the two tried to work through how they felt, they had walked in silence, with only the sound of their boots to keep them company.

That march continued until they both heard a third set of boots smacking against the street. Link and Ganondorf came to a stop in unison and saw the lithe, armored figure up ahead. Knowing his part in the twosome, the Gerudo king took a few steps further and extended his hands in a show of friendship as the individual approached them.

“Hello,” Ganondorf muttered as he eyed up the combatant. It took him a little longer than it should have, but the woman had changed her attire since the last them they had crossed paths. “Samus Aran, it’s a pleasure.” The king replied as the bounty hunter came to a stop. Although her face was concealed behind a visor, it was clear that she glanced over at the youth in green, who seemed to eye Samus a little too intently.

“Ganondorf,” Samus spoke, her voice garbled as it came through a speaker somewhere on her suit. “I can’t say it’s a pleasure to stumble across the two of you here… have you had a nice time so far.”

The Gerudo king grinned as he looked down at Link. It was then that Samus noticed the smaller man had a gun of some sort slung over his shoulder. Since when had Link replaced the medieval equipment and gone future-tech? “We’ve had a splendid time, Samus,” Ganondorf replied, his expression a little too saccharine for her tastes. “We ran into a very exuberant young man earlier, but we were able to dispatch him.”

Samus twitched behind her visor as what remaining functions the collar let her suit execute tried to record all the data they could in the event that things went sorry. “That’s nice… I was thinking about heading that way,” the bounty hunter remarked as she twisted her torso and gestured toward the waterfall that loomed to the north. When the woman shifted, the two other men caught a glimpse of the sword that rested on her back. Although the shimmering blade was hidden beneath a leather scabbard, both the Gerudo and his young associate recognized the handle. When Samus glanced back at them, she saw that both of them were noticeably tenser, and it didn’t take her more than a moment to figure out why.

“Is it because of this?” Samus inquired as she drew the Master Sword from its sheath. Even without the sun, the blade of the weapon gave off a small amount of light.

“Surrender the sword, Samus,” Ganondorf muttered as the sweetness in his voice melted away to reveal something closer to his true nature. “We’ll put it to better use than you can.”

“No.” Samus shot back as targeting reticules started to populate her view screen.

“Then we’ll have to take it from you,” Ganondorf muttered. “I just want to say that this is nothing personal.” With that, he discarded his bag and rushed at the woman. The king took two steps, and when the third hit the ground, it was in the form of a giant clawed foot that tore up the paved surface as Ganon stampeded the bounty hunter.

Samus grit her teeth behind her helmet as she clutched the sword in one hand. As Ganon neared, she threw out her cannon and hooked the beam onto a tree somewhere in front of her. Just as she was about to be trampled, the bounty hunter threw her weight off the side of the slightly elevated street. A well-placed kick before she went airborne was enough force to let her swing a few yards before having to bail and roll out onto the grass. Lifting her head up, she turned and realized that she was right where she didn’t need to be—

—the center of Link’s iron sights.

With a whoosh the rocket launcher released another of its vicious projectiles. Samus got all of a yard before the explosion picked up her armor-clad body and smashed her through a tree, shattering the trunk and burying the woman in a pile of loose leaves and broken branches. More importantly, the bounty hunter had lost her grip on the Master Sword, which had fallen and impaled itself into the ground near the street.

Ganon was approaching at a casual pace, having seen what happened to Samus. The young man in the tunic rushed forward and grabbed hold of the sword, but when he went to pull it from the ground, his blood ran cold in his veins.

The sword didn’t budge.

“It doesn’t… want you… anymore.” Samus shouted as she stood up out from the mass of ruined tree. Link turned in time to see that the woman’s shoulder pads had opened up to reveal two racks of missiles. The former hero mumbled a collection of choice words beneath his breath before the swarm of missiles fell upon him. By the time the last missile had faded from memory, Link was half-conscious on the opposing side of the street—his clothes ruined and his body adorned with many lovely memories.

Rushing forward, Samus dropped into a slid and unearthed the sword just in time to turn and stab it up into Ganon’s chest. The blade slipped in through the muscle and brought the monster’s charge to a dead pause, but before the bounty hunter could capitalize on her momentum, the feral beast let out a blast of hot, fetid breath that steamed up Samus’ visor. The next moment, Ganon took a step forward that pressed the blade deeper into his shoulder, but even as fresh blood spewed from the wound, the monster swung his head forward and punched one of his tusks up into Samus Aran’s gut, cleaving through the metal of her suit and burying a few inches of bone into her abdomen.

Swallowing a scream, the bounty hunter tore her sword free from the monster and hacked off the tusk with a desperation swing. A second frantic swipe slashed Ganon’s face below his eye, and as the creature clapped a hand over its face, Samus turned and ran for the hills.

As she fled, Samus caught sight of Link stirring on the side of the road. Although she could see that he was fumbling for something, she kept running, and she didn’t stop, even when the Light Arrow tore through her left shoulder.

[spoiler]Samus Aran has used Level 1 Super Move Missile Storm (-2 SP)
Link has used Level 1 Super Move Light Arrow (-2 SP)
Ganondorf has used Transformation Ganon (-1 SP)
Link has several bruises and burns -- Minor Injury (+6 Damage). He also has a damage ego -- Story Injury
Ganondorf has a stab wound in his shoulder and a small wound below his right eye -- Minor Injury (+4 Damage)
Samus Aran has a tusk impaled into her abdomen and an arrow through her right shoulder -- Major Injury (+8 Damage)[/spoiler]