It was an egg.

  Samus was fairly confident in that much, at least. It had the definite shape of an egg, ovular and wider at the bottom, and it wasn't like it exceeded the size of the eggs she had seen of some of the alien species from across the galaxy. Still, they weren't usually these colours - half yellow and half black, with the two colours coming together in a violent zig zag line that encircled the egg.

  Even more confusing was why, when she had woken up, Pikachu had been holding it out to her.

  For the third time that day, she went through the possibilities in her head while she watched Pikachu build a nest to keep the egg warm. Was the egg Pikachu's? She was fairly certain that he was male, but then again she didn't know enough about the biology of his species to confirm either way - nor did she know for certain that being male precluded him from laying an egg. Though, that would have meant he would have been pregnant during the last few days, and she couldn't see how he could have been fighting in the quick and agile way that he had been if he was growing an egg inside him. Not to mention that the egg was almost as large as him, and she couldn't fully accept the physics required for that to be possible.

  The other option, then, was that this egg had come from outside of this world. Since Pikachu recognised it, it probably came from his world, but why was it of all things here? Everyone she had met so far was explicitly a fighter of some kind, and she couldn't see any way that this egg could be seen as a fighter. If she closed her eyes and concentrated she could picture the egg floating off the ground and hurling things around with psychic power, but something told her that wasn't what was going on. If so, maybe the egg would hatch into some kind of fighter.

  That was the solution that she landed on every time she thought through this problem, and hadn't been able to find another explanation in each of her do-overs. If she was right, she hoped that this new fighter would be helpful to them right now. The dark clouds above her brought a sick feeling to her stomach, and the moments where that other hand had appeared kept flashing through her mind.

  Not for the first time, she tried to call for help. She didn't expect her suit to be able to contact anyone from her own universe, but there was always a chance that Fox would have technology which would be compatible with hers. Again, no such luck. So what was she supposed to do?

  She smiled. At least she had Pikachu with her.

  "Chu....." Now that Pikachu had finished building the nest, he draped his body over it and made soft noises, as though trying to coax the thing inside to come out.

  "Pikachu," she said. He looked up at her with a curious expression. "I'm going to look around," she said. Pikachu nodded and went back to looking after the egg.

  The area where she had woken up was like the ruins of a town. They had been hiding out in a half destroyed house for the last few hours, but she hadn't spent long looking for a place for them to go. The place looked like it had been abandoned for a long time - plants poked through cracks in the stone, and the few buildings that were left looked like they would collapse if she breathed on them too hard.

  "What is this place?" she wondered aloud. It seemed odd for the Master Hand to include a place like this in the world that they had created. Maybe it was supposed to have been a battlefield for them? As she pondered on that idea, she heard the definite sound of rocks being knocked over. She wheeled around, raising her cannon in the direction of the noise, and seeing... nothing.

  That didn't put her mind at ease. All it meant that whatever else was here was good at hiding. She kept moving, aiming to make a circle around their hideout before heading back. Still no signs of life, but there was definitely something here. She could hear it, yes, but she also had years of bounty hunting under her belt, and she knew not to ignore the rising of the hairs on the back of her neck rising.

  She completed her circuit. Still nothing. Well then, she'd do this another way.

  "I know you're there," she called. "So whoever you are, why don't you come out and we can talk."

  The ground shook. From behind a nearby building, a creature stepped out that definitely couldn't have been the one sneaking around, simply because it was far too large.

  It looked vaguely like a turtle, if one learned to walk on two legs and had spikes all over its body. Its mouth hung open slightly, revealing sharp fangs, and red hair framed a pair of hungry and intelligent eyes.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  "You knew I was there," it said. "Who are you?"

  Samus shook her head. "You first. Who are you?"

  The turtle laughed. "I'm surprised you don't know! I'm King Koopa, conqueror of the Mushroom Kingdom! But you can just call me Bowser!"

  Samus hesitated. She knew Mario and Luigi were from the Mushroom Kingdom, but she didn't get the sense that this was one of their friends. Maybe she'd keep the fact that she knew them to herself. "I'm Samus Aran," she said. Then, because she thought it would help to sound more intimidating, added: "the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy."

  Bowser laughed again. "Scary. Listen, I don't have anything against you in particular, so maybe you can point me in the direction of the guy that brought me to this world." He slammed his scaly fists together. "I have a bit of a score to settle there."

  Samus shrugged. "I can't tell you that. I have no idea myself."

  Bowser snarled. "I don't like to be told no."

  She rolled her eyes. One of these types of guys. "Well then, I guess you'll have to be disappointed."

  "Yeah." Bowser said. Then he opened his mouth and a torrent of flame spilled out from between his jaws. Samus had just enough time to jump out of the way before she was cooked completely, but she could feel the intense heat even through her suit. "Trouble is, I don't like being disappointed," Bowser said.

  Okay, so this was happening. Luckily her suit had repaired itself since the Master Hand battle, otherwise this would have been a lot harder. She raised her cannon and began to charge an energy shot. Bowser did nothing, besides watch her with mild interest. The blast reached its full strength, and she let it go. Bowser just raised his hands and caught the blast with his hands. It pushed him back a couple of feet, his claws carving trenches into the stone, before he slammed the energy into the ground where it dispersed.

  Samus didn't give hi time to respond, quickly firing three missiles at King Koopa. The first one hit him in the chest and exploded, but appeared to do nothing against his shell. The second exploded next to his head, causing him to turn away from it to avoid the worst of the damage, then he smacked the third out of the air.

  Then he began walking towards her. Not running or charging, but just walking, with each footstep being a stomp that shook that ground. Samus fired another energy shot, which bounced harmlessly off his shell, and then he breathed fire again. He swung his head around as he did, creating a wall of fire that blocked both her vision and her helmet's sensors. She started to back away, but a clawed hand emerged from the flames and grabbed her suit on the chest. She gaped at the sight of the claws carving into the Power Suit like it was made of butter, before she was pulled in close to Bowser.

  "Greatest bounty hunter," he repeated. Then he jumped into the air, taking her with her, and slammed her into the ground before landing on her with his full weight. She gasped in pain. Before she could recover, Bowser jumped again, withdrawing into his shell and beginning to spin rapidly. The shell landed on her, the spines on its back shredding the metal like it was paper.

  In desperation, she channelled the Power Suit's energy to the cannon and blasted Bowser with a shot that was strong enough to send him flying away. He emerged from his shell, looking no worse for wear, and continued to advance. Samus noted vaguely that something moved behind him.

  She struggled to one knee. The Power Suit was sparking from the many places where Bowser's claws and spines had damaged it. Once she got some rest she'd be able to reform the armour and fix the damage, but that didn't help her now.

  Bowser laughed, confident in his victory. She was starting to really hate that laugh. She raised her arm cannon again. Her heads up display told her that she didn't have much energy left - much more damage and she'd be left with only the Zero Suit to fight with, it warned her. Still, she channelled as much energy as she could spare into the cannon, and fired. It didn't give her much to work with, but Bowser was pushed backwards about a metre. She started to back away, moving away from her hideout. She couldn't let Bowser find Pikachu and the egg - while she didn't doubt her friend's ability to protect himself, she didn't want the egg to get caught in any kind of crossfire.

  Something seemed to hit the back of her brain. It was like something was asking her a question, in a language that she didn't know but understood. She felt herself answering it, though she wasn't sure what she saying.

  Bowser laughed again.

  Then everything behind him went black. Bowser turned around and saw that he had been framed by an inky darkness, completely separate to the one that was in the sky. It continued to grow, moving in choppy motions every half second or so. Then, in a sudden movement, it moved from behind Bowser to in front of him. Samus heard the turtle scream. Then the wall of blackness was gone, and Bowser lay unconscious on the ground. In front of him, seeming diminutive in front of his bulk, was a small... thing.

  It was completely black, and had the shape of a human, if one drew a human and wasn't a great artist. But the most shocking thing, as she realised approaching it, was that it was completely two dimensional. And yet, whatever angle she looked at it, it was always in profile to her.

  "Hello," she said. She didn't know what else to say.

  The being, whatever it was, spoke with the same unspoken language, and she knew several things instantly. First, that this creature was called Mr. Game and Watch. Second, that he was a friend. And third, what he had done to Bowser wouldn't last long, so they should leave soon.

  It was almost too much to take in. But then again, this had already been a long week.

  She looked over towards the hideout. Normally she would be nervous about bringing a creature like this to a hidden place. But even as that thought crossed her mind, she dismissed it. She could trust Mr Game and Watch. That was one thing she knew with certainty.

  "Come on," she said. "Come and meet the egg."