Love and War (for Ashes)

"Just stick to your own lane, and we should be fine." Samus shrugged, before crossing back across the room as she began to dress back into her armor, beginning with her chest-plate.

Half-way saddled through her equipment, a hushed, yet whimsical voice pipped up from outside the hallway. "Samus? Sheik?" A quiet princess dressed in decadent, light blue robes questioned from outside the room. Samus looked over in her direction, and furled her brow, before turning back to her armor. Taking that as more than an invitation, Rosalina drifted into the room, a chubby little Luma contently snuggled into her shoulder held in her hands.

"If her teammate is also a princess, I am going to throw up." Samus thought to herself, attaching the last piece of arm gear to complete her suit, besides her helmet, which she kept off when not in battle.

[Atlas]

"Rosalina." Sheik replied in acknowledgement, knowing that while she was familar with the princess in normal garbs, she most likely wasn't as friendly with her in this one. The next figure to enter the room however caused the hyrulian woman to stiffen slightly and it wasn't hard to blame her.

Palutena or 'The Goddess', as she was sometimes called had a literal aura of light around her form, giving off not only a sense of peace and warmth, but also power. As Zelda, she knew the green haired woman to be benevolent if not a little aloof, but that was during conversations and occasional social gatherings. She had no idea what she was able to do, but it was hard to gauage exactly what a immortal could do in a fight.

"...Palutena." Sheik said finally, afterwards looking away. "Ah Sheik. Samus. What a interesting pair you two make." The goddess replied, her gaze flickering from the bodyguard and then to Samus. While it was subtle, the corner of Palutena's mouth twitched as if she recalled a humorous joke before turning away. "Best luck to both of you then. Come Rosalina, we must get prepared." She drifted forward, the glow fading as she headed closer to the entrance doors to the arena.

"I'm gonna throw up."

It wasn't a Princess, but it was debatably worse. Samus did nothing to hide her displeasure at the newcomer as Palutena strut into the room alongside her partner. "Uggghhhh." With an audible groan, she rubbed her temples tiredly and ignored the glaring light permeating off the goddess.

Rosalina cocked her head. "Is everything okay, Samus?" She asked, though stopping as Palutena called for her. With a ditzy blink, the Princess nodded her head quickly and hovered across the floor, bouncing her little luma in hand calmly as she walked alongside her teammate. Samus watched them go, the last few pieces of her armor surrounding her.

Pushing herself off of the bench, the light "pitter, patter" of Samus's feet was replaced with a heavy "CLUNK" as her suit met the cold ground of the lobby. She stomped her way over to Sheik, having towered over her before adoring her outfit, but now a gargantuan in comparison. Samus knelt down to put herself face-to-face with the ninja, her helmet held securely under her non-weaponized arm.

"Listen. The last thing I wanted to deal with today is that pesky star brat. I don't mean the Princess." Samus grumbled, "The strategy is, as long as that Luma is on the stage, I want you attacking it. Otherwise, focus on Palutena. Rosa is out of your..." She trailed off momentarily, as if hesitating to say something. She wasn't. "League." Samus finalized, before putting her helmet on apathetically.

[Atlas]

Huh. It seems our priorities are different here.

Sheik thought to herself, deciding not to get too offended by the last bit about not being in Rosalina's league. Then again, that made her rather curious on how exactly the star princess fought and what had Samus so upset about the luma. She personally had always thought of it as a rather cute thing, but she made no comment on that, instead giving a firm nod.

"Alright. Just try to keep your blasts from my knives and we shouldn't clash." Any further words would be cut off as an alarm buzzed, signaling the match was about to begin. Giving one final glance at Samus, Sheik steeled her nerves and then began to walk towards the arena doors, standing off to the left side as the timer counted down from ten.

Palutena was already waiting by the door as well, though she seemed as if she were about to go out and have a picnic with the utter calmness she showed, the light glow around her brightening a bit as Sheik grew near before dimming back down to it's usual level. "..." Unable to help herself, Sheik spoke up, rather grudgingly. “Good luck then." "You as well. Hopefully your princess has blessed you with fortune today." Palutena replied, causing confusion to the blonde bodyguard until she realized the 'princess' in question was her. "Ah...yea. Thanks."

No snide remarks or defenses against her judgments? Samus had to pause for a moment to remind herself that it'd be immature to consider that a good thing. With the buzzer sounding, Samus nodded her head towards the entrance without another word. She was last to enter the waiting room, Rosalina having drifted in prior with Palutena and now levitating in air as if there was a seat underneath her. The little Luma had awoken by now, and Rosalina pinched it's cheeks as she hummed to it, both Princess and her pet pleased as punch.

"Gross." Samus thought to herself, but strolled in silently, leaning her giant metal person against the wall of the waiting room. The arena generated quickly on the other side, taking the shape of Ω Dreamland. She ran her known strategies for the map through her head as Palutena and Sheik made light talk. K.O.'s off-the-top were easier on this map, a shorter platform meant knocking Luma out of the ring should be easier - all the odds looked in their favor.

As long as her teammate carried her weight. Samus sighed, snapped out of thought as Rosalina began to whistle to her little star creature, which danced along joyfully. "Hey." Samus caught her attention. "Do those things feel pain when we hit them?"

Caught off-guard by such a question, Rosalina's brow drooped down. "Umm..." She began to respond. The stage loaded before she could, and all four fighters disappeared into different colored flashes of light. When the brightness cleared, all four were met with a cheery, bright, sunny atmosphere; good old Whispy Woods sat planted firmly in the background of the stage, harmlessly observing the fight. The Pop Star skyline accented the entire battlefield, giving all the fighters temporary blindness from just how bright the enviornment was.

A save station capsule opened up, and out stepped Samus, her bright orange armor shimmering in the Dreamland sunlight. Meanwhile, on the other side, a whimsical blue trail followed behind Rosalina as she spun onto the farthest side of the stage, a little ring of cartoonish stars appearing underneath her.

"READY?" A booming voice asked from nowhere in particular.

"GO!"