The cliff edge really was a beautiful place. Short grass and heathers covered the dark-toned dirt which led up to the sudden drop into the sea. It was sunset now, and the sea was lit by an orange light which sent splashes of sparkling water over the rocks.

  Samus thought this was a good place to say goodbye to a friend.

  Digging the hole was easy - though the ground here was hard, she only needed the smallest of holes. Two feet long, a foot wide, and a foot and a half deep. As she lowered Pikachu's body in, it seemed too large for him.

  She tried to think of something to say, but words were hard to find. She wanted to say sorry, to promise that she wouldn't let something like this happen again, but all of the things she thought of saying felt meaningless. Her apologies would mean nothing - Pikachu was gone either way.

  She started to scoop the dirt back into the hole. The Zero Suit was thin enough that she could feel the texture of the dirt between her fingers; it was crumbly and dry, almost like a fine dust clumped together. Then water dropped onto the dirt, and she realised that was her tears.

  Tears were no longer a surprise. She had cried many times in her long journey to this place. Samus should have been no stranger to loss, and yet this one hurt her deeply.

  "Pichu." The utterance was like a whine from her small companion. She looked down at her small companion, who was also shovelling dirt back into the hole with her tiny paws. Samus couldn't imagine what the little one might be feeling - what had Pikachu been to her? A father? An older brother? A friend? And for one so young to lose someone... well, she knew something of what that was like.

  They filled in the hole together. Samus looked around for something that could be used as a headstone, feeling embarrassed that she hadn't thought of this before now. That was when she saw the figure watching her.

  They were humanoid in shape at least, though this was like no creature she had ever seen before. Their whole body seemed made of some kind of blue energy which she had never seen before. The face that it created was masculine, as far as she could tell, and hairless, with a wide brow and a downturned expression. A white script flickered within his body, spelling out words in a language that Samus couldn't read. He wore no clothes, but there was some kind of additional energy draped around him, like a cloak made of an inky blackness.

  "Hello," he said. His voice was calm and smooth.

  Samus pulled her pistol from its holster and pointed it at him. "Who are you?" she demanded.

  "I am a visitor to this world. Rather like you, Samus Aran," the figure said.

  Samus glared at him. At her feet, Pichu's cheeks began to spark. "I asked who you are. Tell me."

  The stranger ignored the question, looking instead at the grave behind her. "Such a tragedy," he said. "Though, there are always casualties when one chooses to face the darkness, or indeed the light. As I have seen you do."

  "Do you want me to shoot?" she asked. "Because you've caught me on a day when I'm not in the mood to be messed around with. So I ask again, who are you, what do you want, and how do you know who I am?"

  "Ah," the stranger said. "Three questions. Very well - I shall answer all three. The first, you asked, is who I am. I am The Quiet, The Peace, and The Subspace Ruler, or The Result. Though, if it is simply a name that you desire, then you may call me Tabuu."

  "Now, as for your second question, you asked what it is that I want. The simple answer - I wish for peace and quiet. This world is one of conflict - already light and dark have clashed here numerous times, one catastrophe begetting another. I wish simply to end all the fighting and the wars, to bring everything into my mantle of silence."

  Samus's finger tightened on the trigger of her pistol. "So you're just another conqueror who thinks everything would be better if they were in charge?"

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  "I don't think," Tabuu said. "I know. This is not the first world to which I have come. Beyond the bounds of this realm, there are worlds that know only peace now. They need never suffer or face hardship and conflict again. Isn't that good? If this world was like that, Samus Aran, then your errors would not have led to you burying your friend."

  Samus's blood ran cold. "He made a sacrifice," she said.

  "A sacrifice that would have been unnecessary if it were not for what the Crazy Hand had done," Tabuu insisted. He looked at Samus's pistol. "Please, could you lower that? It's difficult to have conversations when facing down a deadly weapon."

  She grinned slightly. "Deadly? You want to conquer everything and you can't even take one shot from my pistol?"

  "Alas," Tabuu said. "I am not in my usual seat of power. This place - the noise, the sensation of the wind, the feel of the setting sun upon me - it affects my powers. Hurts me. This cloak is the only reason I am able to be here, speaking to you."

  "Then why me?" Samus asked.

  "Because I know that people think they do not desire my peace," Tabuu said. "I would have your help in taking on this world. I came to you, Samus Aran, because I know that you have seen the perils of conflict and noise every day of your life. Your home planet, your people... taken from you. What would you have given for there to be no peril in their lives. That they could simply exist, peacefully."

  "Happily?" Samus asked. "Freely?"

  Tabuu hesitated. "These are concepts that we imagine," he said. "They are not necessary for life. Your Pikachu there - if you had to choose, between the state in which he is in now, or for him to be alive but caged and without joy, which would you choose?"

  "I-" Samus tried to answer, but it froze in her throat. She knew what she would say - but saying it felt like she was consigning her friend to the void more than he already was. To have the choice for his life rebuked felt wrong.

  "There," Tabuu said. "Many think that freedom, joy, love, are needed in one's existence. All that is required is that one can continue to exist, peacefully. Rest assured, I will bring this world to a peace, so that no more of your friends have to die."

  Samus raised her pistol. "No! I won't let you."

  Tabuu regarded her. Then he glanced down at Pichu. "She will be useful," he said. "Oh, and I realised I never answered your third question - and your sixth, I suppose. They both have the same answer, why I came to you first. In truth, it would always have been you whom I encountered first. I've been waiting to meet you for many, many years. For years there was no way for me to discover your identity, but when you were born I knew it was you. I watched you from afar - watched you grow, fight, feel pain. And only now, when the hands of light and dark have been banished, have I been able to approach you."

  Samus took a step back. "How could you know about me before I was born?"

  "A very long time ago, I brought my peace to a village," Tabuu explained. Samus's eyes widened. "There were two in that village who needed to be watched. One was the girl who would become a hand." He raised his arms. the cloak began to spill out of itself, in small insectoid orbs that began to form together. Stumbling, shambling creatures with faces made of shadow grew from this blackness and approached Samus. "The other was you, Samus Aran."

  That night at the village - she had been there alright. And now, as she realised who this was, she felt a deep fear. "No," she muttered. "You're..."

  "As I said. I am Tabuu. I am the one who is summoned by the clashes of light and dark and order and chaos and life and death. I do not enjoy what I do, or even choose it, but I walk this path. I am sorry, to you and the others here. They may not like what is to come, but this is the best for them."

  The first of the shambling creatures reached Samus. She fired her pistol into the mass, dropping two, but more quickly filled their place. She activated the laser whip function and struck down more, punched and kicked and fought, but they were an endless wave.

  Pichu fought too, striking the creatures with lightning, but Samus could see the electricity was beginning to hurt her. She still couldn't wield it properly.

  "Do you like my Primids?" Tabuu asked. He strode forwards until he reached Pichu, who by now was exhausted. She had no resistance left to give when Tabuu bent down and picked her up.

  "Such a wonderful breed, are the pokémon," he muttered. "Limitless power, in such a small body. Yes, you will be useful. You will not enjoy this, little one, but it is for the best." He turned and began to walk away.

  "No!" Samus screamed. She tried to get to him, but the Primids formed a sea between them. If she had the Power Suit she could blast her way through, but without it she didn't have the strength. She didn't... she couldn't...

  The cloak folded around Tabuu and Pichu. She caught one last look at Pichu's frightened eyes, before the blackness swallowed them. The Primids became inert suddenly, and dissolved back into shadow mites. She was left alone, on this beautiful cliff, with Pikachu's grave.

  It was no longer unmarked. A stone had been placed in the ground during the fight.

  "Pikachu," it said. "A brave fighter. A loyal friend. Killed in a conflict that did not have to happen. Such a thing will not happen again."

  Samus looked at the horizon. The setting sun was dipping just under the horizon, and shadows around her grew. "Tabuu," she said, to no-one. "You won't get away with this. I will come for you."