Into the Dark

Author's Note: Before you get started, I just want to say that this story was written back in 2009 when I was in high school. It's complete, but the plot itself is so full of holes I don't even know how I managed to make it through all the way to the end. Looking back, the characters in this story make some dumb decisions, nevermind the fact that a lot of them are pretty OOC. The way it's written is kind of weird too since I tend to ramble on about things that aren't even relevant to the current situation. In order for me to make this work, I had to make it take place on Earth in order for the RE theme to fit in. That being said, for the purposes of this story, I made up my own zombie outbreak that takes place in Raccoon City (10 years after the events of RE2). Also, it's important to note that from what I've seen, the average RE fan has a harder time enjoying this story than the average SSB fan, so please consider this before you dive too far into the story. The whole point of this was just to throw the Smash characters into the RE world (only a select group of the Smash cast are really in this fic however). So yeah, just letting you know that I'm perfectly aware of all the flaws in this story, and though I've had thoughts of rewriting it in the past, I feel it's one of my "classics" since it's the first story I ever posted here. The logic within the story is so absurdly over the top that it's nearly comical in a sense. Whether you love it, hate it, laugh at it, or cringe, it doesn't matter to me. Just remember that it's a fanfiction, it's not perfect, and it sure as hell doesn't merit me anything other than the fact that I have written one of the few RE/SSB stories out there.

Chapter 1: Out of the Tournament

"Game!"

The voice of the announcer echoed throughout the entire Battlefield. Captain Falcon stood on the left floating platform looking up at the three brawlers.

"Show me your moves!" he taunted and then he started laughing.

Link frowned down at him. He didn't need to be so cruel to her. Solid Snake just laughed.

"Ha! He got her good, didn't he?" His voice was loud but not enough for Captain Falcon to here.

Lucario had his eyes focused on Falcon.

"That was a low blow," he thought to himself, "using a Pitfall to stun her, and then pulling off his ultimate attack to finish her."

Captain Falcon stood triumphant on the stage, grinning at the small group.

"Thank you my fans! I hope to see you cheering me on at my next match!" he called up to the group a second time. Link and Lucario just turned their heads away.

Snake smiled. "He was pretty cunning to pull off a cheap trick like that," he commented.

Link's eyes flared up. "What do you mean he was 'cunning!?' A move like that should be illegal!"

Unfortunately, it wasn't. Trapping your opponent with a Pitfall item and then unleashing a full out Falcon Punch on them was perfectly legal in the game of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The platform the three brawlers were on floated down to the battlefield. Link ran up to Captain Falcon who came down from the platform.

"You should be eliminated from the tournament!" cried Link. Captain Falcon gave a dull look.

"Uh...why?"

Link rolled his eyes in anger. "You cheated!" Captain Falcon looked surprised.

"Cheated? Me? Oh, Link, surely you must be mistaken. There is no way that I, Captain Falcon, could ever cheat in a brawl. I have been with the Smash Bros. for as long as you have, and not one time in any match have I cheated." Link raised his finger to say something, but was interrupted when a light shined in the middle of the stage.

Samus (in her zero suit) stepped out of the light frowning. She looked over all the people present, then she looked at Falcon.

"You..." she started. "I-"

All of a sudden, Master Hand floated down from nowhere.

"Great show!" he said. "I saw the whole thing! This one is definitely going onto the Replay Archives!" Captain Falcon smiled while the others stared at the floating hand.

"What?" stated Samus blankly. Never in her life had a match of her losing gone into the Replay Archives. She felt shocked and angry at the man with the crash helmet.

"It was a great match!" Master Hand continued. "Why I just have to show this to the other brawlers! These new comers sure could learn a thing or two from you Falcon."

"Why thank you."

Samus didn't say anything. She silently headed to the exit platform that Link, Snake and Lucario arrived in. She did not make eye contact with the others. "Hey Samus, wait!" called Link from behind her. He and Snake both boarded the platform with her and they transported back to the control room.

The entire Battlefield stage was disappearing until all that was left was a square platform in the middle of a white room. The floating platform moved to the door and Samus, Link and Snake left. Link to a last glance at Captain Falcon on the other side before moving on.

Master Hand looked through the giant window on the west wall of the room. "Did you get the whole thing, ROB?" ROB the robot was manning the controls on the other side of the window. Here is where he is able to make the selections for the stage, items and other settings before a match begins. He gave a nod to Master Hand. The floating hand began making his way across the empty space to the door. Lucario had his eyes closed and looked like he was sleeping standing up. Captain Falcon hesitated before asking "Hey, you awake?" Lucario opened his eyes.

"That was foul play back there," said the aura Pokemon. Captain Falcon shrugged.

"Hey, it's not my fault she doesn't know how to put up a fight against me." Falcon made his way to the boarding platform. "You're next, you know."

"I know," replied Lucario.

"You're up against Snake. I wouldn't underestimate that guy. He claims to be an expert on the 'battlefield,' whatever the hell that's supposed to mean."

Lucario stood there silently.

"A little word of advice..." started the racer. Lucario looked towards him. "...use Pitfalls. They work like a charm."

Captain Falcon headed for the door. Lucario closed his eyes again and stood there in the middle of the dark platform. The room turned silent as the doors behind Captain Falcon closed.

"Unlike you I don't need items to win."

"Ugh, I can't believe I lost to that jerk!"

Samus, Link and Snake were walking through the Smash Mansion courtyard. It was the start of summer. Birds could be heard chirping in the trees. Flowers lay in bloom all around their feet, but regardless of this bright mood, Samus remained angry.

"It's okay, you tried your best," said Link trying to cheer her up. Samus turned to him and smiled.

"You're sweet, but I still can't forgive what he did."

Snake turned to them both.

"I really don't see what the big deal is. All he did was Falcon Punch you. Everyone loses now and then, so why are you getting so worked up over nothing?"

Samus stopped walking and sat down on a nearby stone bench. Link sat next to her while Snake remained standing in front of them. Samus looked down at the shining grass.

"You may not know this Snake, but Captain Falcon has caused me a lot of trouble in the past."

Snake put on a serious face.

"What happened?"

Samus went silent for a moment. Link felt that he should hold her hand or put his arm around her, but he felt that she might just get mad again. She looked back up at Snake.

"Captain Falcon has been on my back since before the beginning of Smash Bros."

Snake nodded.

"Both of us were in the gaming industry and we worked for Nintendo. When Nintendo was dominating the market of video games, Captain Falcon gave us an idea to make more money. He suggested we make a racing game. The idea was a little plain and Nintendo had already developed plenty of racing games in the past so his idea was scrubbed. I then proposed that we make a game based on aliens and outer space. The guys at Nintendo liked the idea because they had not really gone into the making of a game like that before. Simply put, Captain Falcon got jealous of me because they accepted my idea over his. He then left the company for a few years starting his own F-Zero series. It didn't receive as much popularity as Metroid did though due to the popularity of science-fiction at the time. Surprisingly, he actually did quite well on his own."

Snake looked surprised. "That's all?"

"No. Years later when Nintendo announced they were going to make Super Smash Bros. they called Captain Falcon back into the business."

"What for?"

"Since Smash Bros. was a game that brought Nintendo's best together, they had no choice but to bring Captain Falcon in, otherwise they would risk the chance of being sued."

"Wow, that's…stupid."

"Tell me about it. To make things worse, when the first tournament started, Captain Falcon made it his one goal to be ahead of me. I've beaten him in some matches. But whenever it's an important tourney or event match, he shows no mercy on me. He acts kind to all the other fighters but me."

Link could see tears forming in her eyes.

"He doesn't care about me. He probably wants me to die. I went through two games putting up with him and now in the newest installment he goes and pulls off a move like that on me! I can't stand him!"

She turned to Link and began crying on his shoulder. He knew the pain she had gone through. He had been there to help her sometimes in Melee but whenever he wasn't there, Captain Falcon would bully her around like he had nothing better to do. What kind of guy picks on a girl anyway? Samus wasn't one to be broken through easily either. After cleansing Planet Zebes of the Mother Brain you would think she'd be ready for anything else life threw at her. But not Falcon. Definitely not him.

Link recalled a time in Melee during a three player tournament. It was a free-for-all on Princess Peach's Castle. Link, Samus and Captain Falcon were the combatants. Samus actually had some confidence knowing that Link would do anything to protect her from that creep. It didn't turn out that way. Link would never forgive himself for letting that slime ball hurt Samus that day. After he got Falcon Punched across the other side of the stage, a bullet bill came down in the middle of the arena. Captain Falcon grabbed Samus and threw her into the bullet right as it exploded making her power suit almost disintegrate. After that, Captain Falcon finished off Link and won the match. Link snapped out of the daydream when Samus let go of him and began sniffling.

"Here," said Link as he offered her a handkerchief.

"Thank you." She took it gratefully and blew her nose.

"Man, he sounds like a real jerk," said Snake calmly. Samus put the handkerchief in her pocket.

"Now you know how I feel..."

Link felt pretty bad here sitting with her. He quickly came up with an idea.

"Hey, you want to go get something to eat?" he asked.

Samus paused, but then smiled at him.

"Sure."

Link smiled back. He just wanted to cheer her up after all the pain she had been through.

"What, you mean you want to go out?" asked Snake, who Link nearly forgot was still standing in front of them.

"Uh, yeah, y'know just the three of us. Kind of a way to make Samus feel better."

"Aw, you don't have to do that for me."

"Trust me. I want to."

Snake looked across the courtyard. "So where do you want to go?"

Samus and Link thought for a moment.

"Somewhere far away from this place, like in America," suggested Link.

"Good idea," said Samus. She got up and began walking out of the courtyard, away from the mansion. Link and Snake followed suit.

The trio went out to the parking lot in front of the Smash Mansion. Samus' orange starship was parked next to Fox's Arwing in the corner.

"Let's go, boys," she said about to board the ship.

She stopped.

"What's wrong?" asked Link. She didn't reply. His question was answered when he followed her gaze right to Captain Falcon's Blue Falcon racer. She still stared, a small grin appearing on her face.

"Wait Sam, you better not be thinking what I think you are," said Link nervously. She smiled menacingly. Link and Snake froze on the spot.

"She wouldn't," Link thought.

Samus hit the control panel on her wrist. Her power suit started to form and put together around her body. After some lights and buzzing sounds, Samus was in her complete power suit form. She opened a compartment on the side of her starship and a Smash Ball plopped out onto her hand. At this point Snake realized what she was going to do.

"Oh man, this is going to be good!" he laughed. Link was still frozen. He could not believe that she was actually going to do it. Samus squeezed the Smash Ball in her hand, shattering it to pieces. The sound of the breaking glass rung throughout Link's head. Samus was glowing a golden colour and she was still smiling beneath the helmet.

"Here it comes," said Snake smiling.

"Oh, man," said Link quietly, incredulous to what he was seeing.

Samus aimed her arm cannon at the Blue Falcon.

"This is for what happened today!" she yelled as a huge, pulsating blue laser shot out of her cannon and completely obliterated Captain Falcon's prized vehicle. The destruction only last about 5 seconds, but that was more than enough time for the shredded piece of metal to be sent flying upwards towards the mansion. The power suit died away and Samus was back into her zero suit, this time panting after all the energy she had released. Snake was laughing like a crazy man. Link was watching what was left of the Blue Falcon fall 50 feet straight down through the roof of the mansion's greenhouse. Link's mouth was nearly touching the ground. A loud crashing could be heard, as well as the sound of glass shattering and the scream of someone who was in the greenhouse. Samus wasn't smiling anymore. There was silence. Then a loud voice came from the building.

"What the hell happened in here!? And what the fuck happened to my car?!"

At this, Snake was on the ground laughing like a maniac. Samus' smile returned to her knowing that she had done what she had always wanted to do. Link just stared at the mansion. The voice boomed again.

"I'm gonna kill whoever did this to my car!"

Link froze again. The only words escaping his mouth were inaudible but if you read his lips they would have said, "oh no."

"Time to go!" said Samus as she made a mad dash back into her ship.

"Hey hold on!" cried Link running behind her. Snake was still laughing on the ground, until he heard Samus' ship start up. He looked at the ship then at the front door of the mansion. Captain Falcon came out of them along with some other brawlers Snake recognized.

"YOU! I'LL KILL YOU!" Captain Falcon started sprinting towards Snake.

"Aww man," said Snake to himself. He quickly turned and climbed aboard the ship as it was lifting off. By the time Captain Falcon had reached the end of the parking lot, the ship was already a dot in the clear blue sky.

"DAMN YOU, SAMUS!" yelled Captain Falcon at no one in particular. He got on his knees and started punching the ground repeatedly. The other brawlers were still at the entrance to the mansion. Among them, Pit and Ganondorf were conversing.

"Who do you think did that?" asked Pit. Ganondorf didn't even need time to think about this one.

"Samus. Definitely Samus."

The orange starship sped out of the planet's gravitational pull and started slowing down until it started orbiting the earth. The sun shined brightly against the heavy armor plating. Fortunately, the ships front window was impermeable to the suns hot rays. Samus sat in the pilot's seat looking out toward the blue planet. Snake sat in the co-pilot seat while Link sat back at navigation, rapping his fingers on the desk nervously. He may be the Hero of Time and he may have saved Hyrule before, but the sudden turn of events had left him speechless.

This had been his first time in space unless you count Subspace Emissary, which wasn't necessarily outer space, but subspace. More specifically, this was the first time he had been in Samus' starship. He looked around at his surroundings. The inside of Samus' ship was made up of four main parts.

There was the center room, which was triangular shaped. It contained the entry beam as well as a rack that held weapons and extra armor. It was also very dark coloured which contrasted with the ships outer colours.

The room which he and the others sat in was the main deck, which had four seats: One for the pilot and co-pilot, one for navigation and one for the main cannon on the front of the ship. Colourful buttons and gizmos lay before him, which he dared not touch lest he was willing to face the wrath of Samus Aran. He looked over to Snake who had his dirty boots mounted on the controls in front of him. Fortunately for him, Samus did not notice because she was looking through the overhead compartment. The controls for the cannon sat idly opposite to Link. They were just as colourful as the ones in front of him.

The third room which made up the ship was towards the back on the left side. It contained a kitchen complete with a mini fridge, sink, and oven. Link guessed that she must have food stocked up in case she had to go on another bounty hunting mission or something like that. There was also a door which led into a mini bathroom that contained a toilet, shower and sink.

The last room was none other than Samus' quarters which was closed. He tried to imagine what she kept in there but couldn't come up with anything. Perhaps her power suit? True, her ship was pretty small, but that's all the room she needed when she was traveling alone on Planet Zebes.

Regardless, he knew how powerful this ship was considering that Samus had assaulted the entire Subspace army with it, along with Meta Knight's Halberd, Fox's Arwing, Captain Falcon's Falcon Flyer and Olimar's Rocket. He looked back at Samus who must have noticed Snake because his feet were now on the ground. They were talking about something.

"So, now that we're out here, what do you plan on doing?" Snake asked Samus smiling.

"Well, all the maps I have stored here are for Zebes, nothing that we could use to get away from our stress," she said pointing to the maps.

"You mean your stress," replied Snake, coolly.

"If you want to go back I would be more than happy to chauffeur you. I'm sure Captain Falcon would welcome you back with warm arms after what we did to his car."

"You mean what you did to his car."

Samus frowned then turned to Link.

"Link, what do you think?"

Link sat there quietly. Samus and Snake waited for an answer.

"Well?..." Snake edged on.

"Ugh...we shouldn't go back. Not after what we told you Samus. We said we would go somewhere fun and that's what we'll do. Who cares if we don't have a map of where we're going. Let's just pick a spot and see where it takes us." Link sat back in his seat and crossed his legs and arms. Samus smiled.

"Alright, sounds like a plan. Let me just get changed; I got a little roughed up today. Excuse me." Samus got up and left the room. Link watched her leave before moving over to her seat. It was still warm. Snake looked down at his boots, which were still dirty. He turned towards the controls in front of him, which were as dirty as his boots, before relaxing himself.

Snake didn't know what he was doing on this ship. He probably got mixed up in a bunch of things. He joined the ranks of Brawl to get some practice into his daily training. Had he expected an invasion from the Subspace army, he would never have joined. He, as well as the other brawlers, went through a lot of hell just to make sure their universe didn't get sucked into nothingness. They had managed to defeat Taboo and restore peace to the Smash Bros. but now, he didn't know what he was getting himself into. He sighed. Solid Snake didn't like to think about what could happen if he messed up. He knows what could happen, but he never thinks about it. Soldiers don't fool around or daydream on the battlefield, but this technically wasn't a battlefield and he knew that too.

Snake looked over at Link who was leaning on his hand, daydreaming.

"Wonder what he's thinking about..." Snake thought to himself. He heard Link sigh for a moment. Snake looked over to the door Samus left then he looked back at Link who was still in a trance. Snake smirked.

"Hey pretty-boy, what are you thinking about?" Link was still daydreaming. "Hey! I'm talkin' ta you!" Snake shouted.

Link snapped out of it and almost fell out of his seat. He looked up at Snake in surprise.

"Oh, Snake, hey," he said getting comfortable in his seat again. Snake eyed him from head to toe.

"This is the great 'Hero of Time' I've been hearing about? He looks like a complete wimp," Snake thought to himself before saying, "So, um, what were you daydreaming about?"

Link stuttered. "I...uh...I-I wasn't daydreaming! Um, I was thinking."

Snake wasn't satisfied.

"About?..."

"Um, nothing."

Snake raised an eye in confusion. "So, you were thinking about...nothing?..."

Link was hoping he would buy this.

"Um, yeah that's it."

Snake stared at Link. Link was getting more nervous each passing second Snake stared at him. He was sinking into his seat, forgetting about his Master Sword and Hylian shield on his back.

"Well that's totally understandable," said Snake finally, breaking the long silence that had befallen the room.

Link sighed in relief. Snake didn't need to know what he was thinking about.

Link was thinking about Samus and how hard it must have been for her growing up. Even though they were best friends, Samus had never in her life told Link about her childhood, except for the fact that she was raised by Chozos...whatever the heck those were. He knew he should really stop thinking about her because it made him act strange to the people around him.

The door behind them opened and Samus came out. This time she wasn't in her zero suit or her power suit. She was wearing a black t-shirt that had the screw attack emblem on the front of it as well as blue jeans with black running shoes. She wore a silver bracelet on her right wrist and a necklace with no gem on it. Her hair was done up like it normally was in a ponytail. Link did a double take at her when she came in because he had never seen her in casual clothes before. Snake wheeled around in the rotating chair and whistled.

"Looking good Samus," he said winking. Samus smiled back.

"Thanks. So where we heading?" She looked over at Link who immediately averted his gaze upon her.

"Ugh, America, right?" he said.

"Alright then, let's go!" She punched in some numbers (coordinates) on the pad in front of Link and the ship started moving towards earth.

"Wait, where are we going?" asked Snake.

"You'll see."

The ship sped towards the planet at incredible sped. The outer plating of the ship kept it clean from any damage to it from friction or other particles in the air. Clouds could be seen moving past them through the main viewer. Link and Snake bounced around in their seat from the turbulence. Samus was standing but was not affected by this after having so much experience traveling around the galaxy. Soon, a city could be seen below them.

"What's that?" asked Link.

"That's our destination," replied Samus.

"A city? Alright!" said Snake as the ship sped closer and closer towards the ground. Link got out of Samus' seat and made his way over back to navigation. Samus took control of the ship.

"I'll need to land near the outskirts so we don't attract attention from the locals," said Samus as she moved the ship towards a forest outside the city. Link looked out the side viewer.

Dark clouds and mountains could be seen rising over the forest below. It was only 8:00 so it wasn't that dark out. But, for some reason, these mountains and clouds looked unusually dark. It was overcast so the sky couldn't even be seen. For a moment, Link could have sworn he heard gunfire coming from somewhere in the mountains. He shrugged it off thinking that it was his imagination after all the excitement...or was it?

Samus landed the ship in an opening in the forest. The ship hovered until it touched ground. All wild life around it scattered away. Samus turned off the main power.

"We're here."

Snake unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up to stretch. Link also stood up. The Hylian's ears pricked at the sound of a female scream that echoed through his head.

"Do you hear that?" he asked the two. Samus shook her head slowly.

"What's the matter, kid?" Snake teased. "Too scared to go out on a Saturday night?" Link heard the scream die down before disappearing completely.

"Never mind."

The three of them made their way to the central room where the lift brought them down to ground level. Link had left his sword, shield, bombs, and bow on board. He kept his boomerang and hookshot just in case. Snake left all his equipment on board. He did not think that they would be running into any trouble tonight. Samus of course, left her pistol on board as well.

They walked through the damp forest. City lights could be seen ahead of them. They moved on to the side of a road that went into the forest. There were no cars.

"So, Sam, where exactly did you bring us?"

"I honestly have no idea."

Link gave a surprised look.

"Wait, then what were those numbers you were inputting on the ship?"

"I dunno. You said you wanted to visit America, so that's where I brought us. Look, there's a city just up ahead. We'll find answers there."

The trio made their way down the gloomy road. Trees and forest could be seen on both sides of them. Link could have sworn he saw eyes peering out of the darkness, watching him.

Snake was ahead of the group. It was dark, so all Samus and Link could see was the shadowed figure of a tall man walking in front of them. Suddenly, Snake stopped with a jerk.

"Ow!" he cried.

Samus and Link both jumped at attention.

"Something hit me," said Snake rubbing his sore nose, but the other two couldn't see this. Samus put her hand forward and felt something cold.

"There's a sign here," she said. Link folded his arms.

"Maybe we'll find out where we are." Snake pulled out his pocket flashlight and shined it upwards to see a green road sign. All three of them read it over twice before heading again towards the city lights. Link was thinking to himself.

"Something doesn't seem right about this place. Maybe it's just me but I don't feel very safe here. I'm sure Samus and Snake feel the same way, but they just don't want to admit it. I can't chicken out now. Who knows? Maybe it'll be fun? There was something odd about that road sign back there, though...hmm...now that I think about it...I've never even heard of Raccoon City."