A/N: Happy Valentines day, everyone! Hope your day was filled with happiness and love :) Thank you for reading and reviewing my previous story. Reviews make me so happy! Now, on with the story!

Disclaimer: I only own the story idea.

"Samus! Why weren't you at Master Hand's meeting? You know we're pretty much required to attend those…" Peach said, all in one breath.

"I figured he wouldn't miss one Smasher… and apparently I was right." Samus, who had been reading a book, marked the page and closed it with a sigh.

"Well, anyway," Zelda began, "Master Hand is throwing a Valentine's Day party!"

"Yeah!" Nana chimed in. "There's gonna be food and dancing and a fireworks display!"

Samus rolled her eyes. "What makes you think I'd be interested in any of this?"

"Well… " Zelda started to say something, but looked at Peach.

"Master Hand decided to do a mystery gift exchange. You have to guess which gift is yours or something… So, I put your name in for you! Putting your name in the hat means you're going to the party." Peach explained cheerfully.

"…You… did…WHAT?"

"It's true," Nana said quietly.

"Why in the name of sanity would you do that! You know I'm not one for social events like that!" Samus said angrily, getting up from her bed that she was sitting on and glaring angrily at Peach.

Peach held up her hands in in surrender. "You were the only one not at the meeting and therefore the only one who didn't put their name in. Goodness, even Bowser put his name in! I thought it would look suspicious if you didn't… so I did it for you! By the way—" Peach got out a small slip of paper "—I have your mystery gift paper. Don't worry, none of us looked." Samus snatched the piece of paper and unfolded it roughly. Her face softened a little.

Nana jumped up and down, trying to see who it was. "Who is it? Who'd you get?"

"It's a secret," Samus said shortly, refolding the piece of paper and shoving it into a pocket.

"Oh, I just remembered," Zelda said as the thought occurred to her, "we can have dates for the party!"

"Oh yeah, how could I forget that!" Peach exclaimed. "Mario already asked me to be his date…" She blushed.

"How sweet," Samus deadpanned, sitting back on her bed. "I don't even want to go; no way am I getting a date for the party."

"I don't know," mused Nana, "it's rumored that Sheik got a date with Snake for the Christmas party last year…"

"Yes! And besides, don't one of those fire emblem swordsmen like you?... Ike, wasn't it?" Peach chirped.

"No. We're just friends, got it?" snapped Samus. She and Ike had a rival-ish friendship which had begun after a five minute Free-for-All was commenced. The match had ended in a draw. Ever since then, they were rivals. Then, one day, Master Hand pared them up in a team battle against Mr. Game and Watch and Kirby. They had come out victorious. From that day they both secretly respected, even admired each other, and so maintained a sort of friendship. Recently, though, they had become much more friends than rivals. She actually enjoyed the time they spent together. That didn't mean they were more than friends, though…

Meanwhile, Peach and Zelda were going through Samus' wardrobe. "Samus," Peach called, "you don't have a single thing for the party! I think we'll have to go shopping for something you can wear."

"No! I'm not going shopping for anything!" Samus stalked from her bed over to her closet and shut the doors.

"But you have to," said Zelda quickly, "Master Hand said the dress should be kind of nice; a little better than semi-formal."

Samus groaned. She felt like strangling the Mushroom Kingdom Princess. "Any other nails you want to bang into my coffin?" She said, her voice dripping with poison.

Nana said quietly, "We're going shopping tomorrow at 10… for clothes as well as mystery gifts." She scurried out of the room with those words.

Peach and Zelda looked at each other, then at Samus. Samus glared at them, as if telling them to leave before she gave them a taste of her plasma whip. Even Peach understood this unspoken message and left with Zelda.

Samus flopped down on her bed, sighing exasperatedly. That stupid Peach… She just forced me into a party that I don't even want to go to! Ugh… maybe some fresh air will help me calm down… Samus had pretty much been inside the Mansion the whole day. So, she headed out of her room and down the staircase. As she made her way to the door, she bumped into someone. "Hey, watch it!" She snapped, still peeved about the party. She glared at the offender.

It was Ike. Oops…

He just scowled. "I could say the same to you."

Raising an eyebrow, Samus asked, "What's up with you?" The swordsman always had a serious yet tranquil air about him, and to see him in this kind of mood now made her curious (even if she didn't want to admit it).

"Again, I could ask you the same thing."

Samus gritted her teeth. "Fine. I didn't go to the meeting and I basically got forced into going to some stupid party for Valentine's day. There. Now, what's up with you?"

Ike gave her a strange look. "Wow, that's almost like what happened to me. I went to the meeting just because I had to. I had no intention of putting my name in the hat. But Marth—" he rolled his eyes "being ever the courteous one, did it for me."

"Huh, go figure."

A stretch of silence settled between the two Smashers. "So—" They both said at the same time. "You first," said Samus.

"You're not…going with anyone, are you?"

"No. Why would I go with someone? I don't even want to go in the first place."

"Oh. Yeah, I know what you mean." Another span of silence. "Well, I was just on the way to the training room… Care to join me?"

"Ah, no… I was on the way to get a snack. I could join you later though."

"Sounds good. See you in a few."

"Yeah." Her bad mood for the most part was gone. As she went to get her snack, she wondered first of all why she had said she was getting a snack; that wasn't why she had headed to the downstairs part of the mansion. Weird. Secondly, why he had asked such an obvious question? Am I going with someone? Of course not! Shaking her head, she entered the cafeteria and chose a banana and some peanut butter and Nutella crackers. She wisely chose to eat at a different part of the Mansion; she wasn't quite in the mood to deal with a potential food fight. Finishing up her snack, she hurried to the training room; she didn't want to miss a spar with her friend.

Two Hours Later

Samus and Ike were both sweating as they ended their sparring. They had three unofficial matches (that is, they used the Brawl stages without Master Hand scheduling a match). Ike had won the first match, Samus the second, and it had been a draw on the third.

They were sitting on a bench. "Good match," said Ike shortly, not because he was upset, but because he was quite out of breath.

"You too," said Samus, grabbing a nearby water bottle and swallowing the contents entirely.

Ike looked at her. "…Samus…"

"Hm? What is it?" She looked at Ike. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You kind of… drank my water."

"Oh," Samus shrugged. Then she realized just what he said. "Oh… um… Sorry about that…" She turned away slightly, feeling heat rise to her face.

Ike just chuckled. "It's alright. I have another." With that, he grabbed an unopened water bottle and chugged it, tossing the plastic in a recycling bin. They sat there in a pensive silence for a while, cooling off under the ceiling fans.

"Well, I'm going to clean up and get ready for dinner…"

"Alright. I should probably do the same." They exited the training room and walked towards the stairs.

Ike's room was on the fourth floor, and Samus' was on the fifth. He got off the stairs at his floor. "See you, Samus."

"See you." As Samus turned to head up the stairs, Captain Falcon appeared in front of her out of nowhere. Samus groaned. I forgot that pervert's room is on this floor…

"Heyyy, Samus," he greeted her, flashing a smile.

"Cut the crap and get out of my way, I need to go to my room."

"Oh? Well, whaddaya say I come up with you and you can… Show me your moves?" He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Nope." With that, Samus pulled out her plasma whip and quick as lightning lashed him across the chest. He stumbled back, winded. She finished with a kick to his groin and hurried up the stairs, leaving him curled up and groaning in pain on the floor.

Ooh, that creepy perv…! Samus shuddered and closed the door to her room.

Ike, who had watched the whole thing unfold through his slightly opened door, just closed it, chuckling to himself.

At the Mall

"How about this one, Samus?"

"Peach…" Samus sighed. "No, it's just not… me." Peach, Zelda, and Nana had gone to the mall to look for their dresses and gifts. Nana had already found her dress and was off somewhere getting her gift. Zelda was in the changing room with three dresses that she liked. Peach, of course, already had an appropriate dress in her wardrobe, so she volunteered to help Samus out with her dress. Samus had already tried on four dresses so far. Peach thought she looked good in all of them, but Samus disagreed. By now, the princess was getting slightly agitated.

"Well," Peach huffed, "maybe you should pick out one yourself instead of me doing it for you!"

"…Fine. Meet me back here in 20 minutes."

"Okay." With that, Peach hurried off to find a gift.

"Huh… What kind of dress would I like…?" Samus murmured to herself as she browsed through the racks of clothing. She examined a few dresses idly. There were a few that struck her as something she could bear to wear. She took two dresses to the changing room. One was a nearly floor-length dress that

had a single strap. It had a sparkly faux flower with black feathers pinned slightly beneath the shoulder. There was a black satin ribbon that went around the bottom of the dress. The other dress was black and came down to just above the knee; it had both straps, unlike the first dress. It was adorned with red rhinestones along the top and bottom fringes of the dress. It came with two richly decorated hair pins—they had a matching red rhinestone flower and white rhinestones arranged as leaves around the flower—and a bracelet with tiny black and red flowers on it.

Samus tried the first dress on. She stepped out of the dressing room to see if Peach or any of the other girls came back. Sure enough, there was Peach and Zelda, chatting amiably. When Peach noticed Samus, her eyes widened. "Oh, wow… Samus, your dress looks stunning!"

"It's perfect," chimed Zelda as they hurried over to examine the dress.

"I have another one that I was going to try on…" Samus said, a little uncomfortable under the attention she was getting and the fact that she usually didn't wear dresses, much less try them on.

"Well, go on then, try the other one on!" Peach said excitedly.

A few minutes later, Samus emerged from the dressing room wearing the second dress.

"Ooh, I like this one better on you," said Zelda. "The rhinestones really set it off!"

"Hm, it is more simplistic than the first, but there is beauty in simplicity," mused Peach.

"Well… which dress should I wear?" Samus asked.

"They both look good on you. It's your choice," said Peach with a smile. Zelda nodded. "We'll wait for you at the car. Nana has her gift and she's getting ice cream from the parlor at the front of the mall."

Samus gave a small smile. "All right, I'll be there in ten minutes or so." As Peach and Zelda headed towards the exit of the mall, Samus changed back into her original clothes (she had come to the mall in jeans and a dark blue t-shirt). She held one dress in each hand. I like them both… but which one do I like the best? Looking at them both for a minute or so, she made her choice, paid for the dress, and hurried out of the store to meet the other girls at the car.

Which dress will Samus choose? All will be revealed in the next chapter, never fear :) Said chapter is coming soon; please review and let me know what you thought of this chapter, your critique is appreciated!