| GCB Fanfics: The Fanfiction Project |
July 8th, 2003Preshow Isaac was in the locker room preparing for his battle. He had fought many difficult foes before, but the same could be said of his opponent, Samus Aran. He didn't know much about her, but then again no one did. All he knew is that she had shown up, all mysterious in her Red and Orange suit last year, and whooped some serious ass. He had seen her at the training center earlier, in the simulation room, taking on all the hardest sims without taking a scratch. He knew he'd have to be at the top of his game to pull this one off. Someone knocked on his door, it was Felix. He and Felix had travelled together but Felix always seemed to be focusing on something else, and Isaac really hadn't gotten to know him too well. That plus he kept getting bad vibes from him, who knew. "So, Isaac, are you ready for your match?" Felix asked, not making eye contact. "Well, I'm as ready as I'll ever be." Isaac replied, trying to smile. "Yeah, I just came....to wish you luck." Felix continued, still not looking at Isaac. "My sister told me to give you her best, so...." "Yeah, Jenna's a great kid," said Isaac. "Anyway, good luck with you're match too. That cyborg guy looked pretty sharp at the firing range." "Thanks, but I won't need it." Felix shot back at him, leaving the room. "There are those bad vibes again, Oh well." Isaac picked up his sword and headed for the Arena. Magic beats guns, doesn't it? The Battle The crowd was deafening as the two combatants entered the arena, but most of the cheers were for the power-suited bounty hunter. Comparatively little fanfare accompanied the introduction of Isaac, adept of Vale. Fan favorite Samus Aran raised one gloved hand to quiet the crowd so that she could hear the announcement of the start of the match. "Begin!" came the voice, and Samus curled into a sphere. In a fraction of a second, she covered the distance between the two fighters. Isaac adopted a defensive position against his speeding foe, but was surprised to see her curve her path slightly so as to narrowly miss him, rolling around behind. What was that for? Wasn't she trying to hit me, like Ai-Ai had against Link? wondered Isaac. Too late, he noticed the circular object she had left at his feet, blinking ominously. BOOM! Isaac yelled in pain as the explosion knocked him into the air, but even as he landed his eyes were closed in concentration, channeling the psynergy to heal his wounds. The cuts and burns on his legs sealed nearly instantly. "You'll have to do better than that!" he yelled to the advancing Samus, and made a move as it to leap back to his feet. The bounty hunter took the bait perfectly, firing a salvo of missiles. She thought she had crippled the boy just moments ago, but she knew that in this company, nothing was certain. Samus' missile barrage flew harmlessly over Isaac's head as he rolled to the side rather than rising to his feet. Again, his eyes closed. A few small stalks grew from the dead soil of the arena floor, at first apparently harmless. They quickly grew, however, and in a matter of seconds they were as thick as a man's arms, coiling and constricting around the armored woman's legs and torso. The strength-enhancing motors in her suit strained audibly as Samus struggled against the vines. First one, then another snapped. Then another, and another. She was free, and she began to stride through the grasping tendrils toward Isaac. Vines broke and were uprooted as they tried feebly to impede the bounty hunter's progress. So, you want to play with plants, nature boy? Samus made a quick modification to her weaponry arm and began to charge it as she quickened her pace. Isaac was backing away, vines bursting from the ground between the two fighters. Samus unleashed a long blast from her now fully-charged flamethrower in the direction of the boy. The newly grown vines burst into flame, and Isaac's eyed opened. He lifted his shield to protect himself from the fire, but his concentration was broken and the vines fell to the ground, lifeless and charred. ---- In the players' booth, KOS-MOS watched her potential opponents with dispassionate interest. She still wasn't able to shake Vercetti, who had found his way to the seat next to her and persisted in pestering her. "So, baby, how do you think this is going to go down?" "Having analyzed their combat patterns with my tactical metric, I would estimate Isaac has, at optimum performance specifications, no more than a 24.66% chance of victory." "Huh?" asked the bewildered Tommy. KOS-MOS paused a nanosecond to put her conclusion in terms the thug might use himself, based on his speech patterns. "Samus is going to rip Isaac a new I/O port." Well, it was a good try. ---- Isaac charged into the flames, using his shield to deflect the fire around his body. He thrust with his blade as he neared the bounty hunter. His sword struck her in the chest, but rang harmlessly off of her armor. This did not bode well for Isaac. Samus leaped backward firing another volley of missiles. Again, Isaac concentrated his psynergetic powers, displacing the projectiles. They exploded around him, doing no damage. Isaac shifted his focus to the ground beneath Samus' feet. A huge spike of stone shot up from the ground underneath Samus. The crowd let out a shocked gasp, as she was nowhere to be seen. Had the underdog pulled the unthinkable upset? The Chozo had not designed Samus' suit with sharp rocks in mind, but it was more than sufficient protection against them, even on the soles of the feet. The force of the attack, however, had thrown Samus high into the air above the stadium. She twisted around in the air and aimed her gun-arm between her legs toward Isaac on the ground far below. Isaac looked up to see Samus falling toward him, preceded by a hail of energy fire. The effort of expending so much psynergy was starting to take its toll on him, and he lifted his shield too slowly. One blast seared through his hair. At least nobody will mistake me for Cloud anymore. Another shot hit him in the thigh, then a third in the shoulder, and he fell to the ground. Samus landed nearby, switched to her ice beam, and took careful aim. This time, the boy simply staggered to his feet. The frigid blast caught Isaac squarely in the chest, and he froze stiff. Samus sprinted to the frozen Isaac, extending her grappling beam. Isaac stood helpless as the energy wrapped his wrists and ankles. As he thawed, Samus retracted the grappling beam, pulling Isaac's hands and feet together behind his back. She lifted the hog-tied swordsman and dangled him in front of her face as she lifted her visor. "Do you surrender?" "Yes," was all Isaac could manage before he passed out. Aftermath Link stood alone outside the arena. The company of Tingle had begun to wear thin on him, and he didn't want the advice of Zelda or their owl friend at the moment. The north division was finished at last. The first set of fighters had tested their mettle, and in a few cases, their metal, and the most worthy warriors had advanced. Link knew he topped off that list. He had dispatched his foe with ease. AiAi had been patheticically amusing. But all the fighters who remained were serious about winning... except for Luigi of course. Link still had to wonder at the success of the plumbers. Last year, the final match had taken place between him and Mario. Mario was a legend, confident, capable in his own right, and had a tenacity for not giving up that outshone even the most focused of the tournaments fighters. It's like he can't even feel fear, he's too carefree. Samus in particular had been impressive to watch, that very day. The bounty hunter was obviously focused and capable, even against elemental forces one didn't run into traveling around her galaxy. She had dispatched her opponent efficiently, and did so with enough regard for Isaac's life to make sure he was unharmed, his hair notwithstanding. Link held back pangs of guilt as he thought about his own match. It was only a stupid monkey... He'd been rooting for Isaac in that match. Link could see himself in a lot of the other swordfighters, and he had been hoping Isaac's blade would prove a threat to Samus. It didn't. Out of all the swordfighters, Link seemed to be the only one capable of defying the odds. "It's just as well," Link said to no one in particular. "They're all so weak anyway. I've probably fought harder than they ever did, and I'm more of a hero." He sighed, almost wishing Zelda was around to contradict him, or tell him he shouldn't be cocky. He'd prove to her and everyone else that he really was the most capable warrior soon. And as for Ganondorf... the "king of evil" wouldn't get beyond him. His own abilities were always improving. The next division had a few sword fighters, most notably Cloud Strife. As they did in his division, the fighters ranged from serious, like Cloud and Auron, to downright goofy like Yoshi and Ness. And CATS was just flat out weird. Time would tell what kind of attitude it would take to prevail. Link was determined and confident. It remained to be seen whether that would be his greatest strength, or weakness. ---- Ness watched Link brood, away from his friends. Everyone's always so serious. Why can't the grown-ups see that it's just a game! He rolled his eyes at Link and scampered off. He fought a giant turtle in a few days. He knew the Mario bros knew Bowser better than anyone else, and he wanted to know all he could about the big reptile before he beat him. Bowser should be fun... I'll bet he hasn't seen someone like me before! I'll drive him nuts! Ness spun his yo-yo in the air and laughed. He tossed in the air with a psychic spell and jumped up and caught it again. It was a good night to be alive. Next Entry Back |