Author's Note: Reposted with the second half of this chapter completely reworked and revised, as I started to feel that I'd written Ridley as too underpowered in spite of him being in a wounded state. So if anyone reading this revised version has read the original, please do not mention it ever.

Still feeling well out of my comfort zone, but I'm going to try sticking with this in spite of my limited knowledge of the Metroid series. And, in spite of my faux pas with the original version of this chapter, I hope to do my best to keep both Ridley and Samus (when she shows up later) in character. It's also been over a decade since I last played a Castlevania game, (the last being Symphony of the Night) even with as much as I love the series, so I'm a bit rusty when it comes to the later games. I'll be referring mostly to the Netflix series, Simon's Quest, and Symphony of the Night as they're the Castlevania mediums I'm the most comfortable with.

Secondly, I'm going to warn that one of the main characters will be an OC of mine, so if you're not a fan of such, it's advised to hit back on your browser now. Also, this is going to be a Ridley redemption fic since I'm one of those weirdos who feels he has the potential to reform, so the prior warning applies here as well for those of you who prefer for him to remain the evil space pirate dragon we all know and love.

And, finally, this was originally going to be a straight-up Metroid and Castlevania crossover fic, but elements from a few other franchises ended up trickling their way into the planned narrative, so this has become a Super Smash Bros. fic instead. Samus and Pikachu being a duo is strong headcanon for me thanks to Brawl's Subspace Emissary mode, so expect the Electric Mouse Pokémon to appear later alongside her.

With all that said, please read on and (hopefully) enjoy.

Disclaimer: As always, Ridley, the Metroid franchise and the Super Smash Bros. franchise are © Nintendo while the Castlevania franchise, its settings and characters are © Konami.

Special thanks go out to my beta-readers, Ayaluki and CatSnievans, you guys are the best!

Summary: Upon escaping his nemesis after their latest battle, Ridley crashlands in Wallachia, where he finds himself befriended to one of the local residents. Little does he realize the impact such a meeting will have on his life.

Warnings: Very AU, violence, redemption fic, language, OC, headcanon, eventual Ridley x OC (yep, I'm goin' there.)

Influence of Empathy

Arc 1:
The Search For Simon

Chapter 1:
The Cyclops's Gaze

To say that Ridley wasn't having a good day would be an understatement.

The space dragon snarled under his breath as he recalled the most recent battle he'd had with his arch nemesis, the bounty hunter named Samus Aran. He'd faked his death, as he'd done many times before, and it amused him that she always fell for it and gave him an opportunity to land a finishing blow. He'd missed, of course, he always missed, and this set-in-stone outcome infuriated him even as he'd forced himself to turn tail and flee like a coward before he'd jammed himself into the only escape ship that could accommodate his large size.

Hands shaking from the onset of fatigue had forced Ridley to hurriedly input the coordinates to his fleet, and he'd allowed himself to settle down once the craft had taken off from the now destroyed frigate.

Another one lost.

Still, deep down, he couldn't help but consider himself lucky that he'd gotten away without sustaining any broken bones and, more importantly, that he'd escaped with his life.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard the sudden unmistakable groan of metal and Ridley swore when his escape pod suddenly gave a violent lurch that caused him to smash into one side of the craft, the jolt aggravating his injuries.

"Warning: planetfall imminent. Please brace yourself and have a nice day."

Ridley snarled in response even as he braced himself for the impending impact, pissed that some joker had decided to be cute and program the escape pod's computer with a fucking politeness setting. Oh, when he got back, he would find the damn sod and kill them to the point where their ancestors would feel it.

Nearby, within a small town, people began to take notice of the strange ball of light streaking through the evening sky. A few shrieked while others murmured amongst themselves, wondering what kind of omen had presented itself.

A cowled figure stood motionless, their gaze locked upon this strange phenomenon. The sounds of doors slamming shut echoed round the village street as people had begun retreating into the safety of nearby buildings while others hurried along, heads down. The traveler's cloak swished around their lithe form as they turned and headed for the outskirts, keeping their pace to a steady walk so as not to attract unwanted attention to themselves.

A bright flash caused the person to pick up their pace and, once they were clear of the town, they paused for a few seconds, taking time to glance about to make sure nobody was nearby before disappearing into the treeline of the nearby forest.

A moment later, the small form of a barn owl was winging its way in the direction of where the ball of light had landed.

Ridley forced himself to take a deep breath in order to reorient himself after the pod's impact, and from the roughness of the landing, he knew his craft had landed upon solid ground. Good. Landing in water was always a right pain in the ass.

Ignoring the pain of his aching form, the space dragon flipped the switch that would open the door... only for it to do nothing. Growling, he flipped it a few more times before he cursed and slammed a tightly curled fist down onto the control panel, not caring that sparks were now beginning to pop and sizzle from the now broken machinery.

Today couldn't possibly get any worse.

"Warning: self destruct sequence activated. You have two minutes to leave the craft in an orderly fashion, thank you."

Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

"Shut up," he snarled, more in self-frustration than anything as he shifted himself into a better position to brace himself before he kicked the door as hard as he could, gritting his teeth against the pain as his aching body silently screamed in protest. He was rewarded by the sound of groaning metal, however, his effort had only succeeded in denting the door. Muttering a rather creative string of obscenities to himself, Ridley once again braced himself and kicked with every ounce of strength he could muster, repeating the movement twice more until the door finally gave way and fell to the ground outside.

The space dragon wasted no time in pulling himself to freedom before he forced himself to bolt at a hobbling run as the escape ship exploded, the force knocking Ridley off his feet and sending him skidding forward a few feet before he came to a rather ungraceful stop in a heap of wings and limbs.

"Fucking idiot," he berated himself, taking a deep breath before he pulled himself rather drunkenly to all fours and shook himself in order to clear away the dirt and debris, and he had to clench his jaws to keep quiet when a new surge of pain shot up his left hind leg. Snarling, he turned to look at the wound to see a medium-sized piece of shrapnel partially embedded into his thigh. Grimacing, Ridley braced himself as he worked the piece of metal out of his leg, using the sharp barb that tipped his tail to aid in doing so.

Sneering, he threw the piece away from him, not caring that it was coated in his blood as he focused on cleaning the worst of his injuries and found a few smaller pieces of metal in his wing membranes. Cursing under his breath, he removed them, glad that they wouldn't impede his ability to fly... or at least he hoped. Sighing, he slowly moved to sit down before glancing about, trying to get an idea of what planet he'd ended up on, as he'd apparently punched in the wrong coordinates back on the frigate like an inexperienced moron.

He'd touched down in what appeared to be a rather large clearing within a forest, the grass around what remained of the escape ship having been scorched to cinders. It was late evening, the final rays of the sun disappearing and covering the land in darkness, and the beast pondered curling up to rest and recollect himself before he would try to come up with a plan of action. Since he'd left the frigate, he realized that, to his great annoyance, none of his subordinates had even bothered trying to contact him. If anything, they'd probably assumed he'd been killed in the explosion, and the dragon couldn't help but roll his eyes at such a ridiculous assumption. Oh, when he got back to the fleet, heads would be rolling!

His train of thought was derailed when he caught notice of something rather unusual and, brow furrowing in a mixture of confusion and curiosity, Ridley slowly rose to all fours before he limped closer.

It appeared to be a mammalian beast of some kind, possessing four thick legs that ended in long, curved claws. The body was stocky and there didn't appear to be any sort of tail that he could see. The head was large, topped by a pair of short, rounded ears and possessing a short, blocky muzzle, which was currently opened to display a mawful of teeth. The beast wasn't moving, however, not even breathing. Ridley inhaled deeply through his nostrils, and he blinked when he realized he couldn't pick up any sort of scent.

Cocking his head slightly to one side, the reptile raised a clawed hand before he reached out and rapped a knuckle against the creature's shoulder. He blinked when he felt a stony texture instead of living fur and tissue and, from the way the beast was standing up on its hind legs, he realized that it had been trying to intimidate whatever had caused its current state.

A pity, he thought to himself, his upper lip curling in annoyance. While he was capable of eating and digesting plenty of things, stone definitely wasn't one of them. A creature this size would've made a decent meal until I could hunt for more prey. I wonder what-

A dull thud sounded from nearby, shattering his thoughts, and Ridley snapped his head towards the sound, his eyes narrowing to glowing amber slits as he turned to face the direction of the nearby treeline, ignoring the pain of his battered form as he did so. His tail lashed in the fading daylight when the sound came again in a slow rhythm that told him he was hearing the footsteps of something around his size - if not larger.

Another fight this soon, both after his battle with the Hunter and from being impaled by shrapnel, was the last thing he needed at the moment; however, the prospect of a good meal, both to regain energy and hasten his natural healing, enticed him to remain where he was and so he waited for the creature to show itself.

What emerged from behind the treeline wasn't exactly impressive, to say the least, and it appeared to stand only at eight or so feet, making it smaller than him, though not by much.

It lumbered forward on two thick legs, and it wore very little clothing, the most being the large amount of cloth around its midsection and what appeared to be straps around its forearms, calves, and crossing over both of its broad shoulders. Said clothing, if it could even be considered that, stood out from the creature's dark gray skin, and it drug a large, thick club behind it as it moved.

The head was what caught Ridley's attention, though, set upon a thick neck and comprising of a maw full of sharp teeth, a pair of pointed ears, and a single, short brown horn jutting out of the top-center of its forehead. The most distinguishing feature, however, was the single large red eye located in the middle of the face, which narrowed upon catching sight of the intruder within its territory.

The overall shape was humanoid, that he could tell by the way the thing moved. Said movements were rather slow, and had Ridley been in top physical condition, he was certain he'd be able to dance circles around it.

Better kill it quickly, he thought, his tail lashing in his rising annoyance at how today just wouldn't let him catch a break. It didn't look particularly appetizing, but it would be better than nothing until the space dragon felt well enough to hunt for a decent meal.

Ignoring the pain of his injuries, Ridley lunged forward before he lashed out with his tail, impaling the creature in the left side of its chest, where he knew the heart was located. He smiled, assuming that it would fall when the deadly barb tipping his tail had pierced its heart, but all it did was pause briefly before it suddenly charged, surging forward at a speed it didn't appear to possess.

Damn, he thought angrily, noticing that not much blood was flowing from the wound he'd inflicted. I missed! I despise it when I miss!

Snarling, the space pirate withdrew his tail before he crouched, waiting, before he leapt sharply to his right, and he heard the whistle of air that told him that the giant had swiped at him with its club, the accompanying thud sounding a few seconds later.

Ignoring the pain of his injuries, Ridley forced himself to lunge, and he smiled when he felt his claws dig into flesh, his attack surprising the one-eyed humanoid, though not enough to make it drop the weapon. The space pirate wasted no time in raking his claws down the giant's arm, and he purred softly at the sight of the rivulets of dark red blood that began gushing forth from the long gash he'd inflicted.

His smile deepened when the creature shrieked in pain, only to fade when it released its grip upon the handle of the club and quickly reached around to grab the dragon by a wing, and Ridley snarled when he felt the appendage being roughly yanked in a way he knew it was not supposed to bend. He screeched in pain as he felt the bone snap cleanly in two, white-hot pain lancing through his wing and Ridley could barely see the giant as it smiled at him through the haze of pain, its single eye narrowing in triumph.

For that, you'll die, the pirate thought, taking a deep breath before he exhaled a single ball of plasma into the creature's face, and he grinned as he heard the thing scream in pain as it released him and stumbled back, both hands clutching its face. He wasted no time in utilizing the creature's own weapon against it, wielding it with both hands as he swung and struck the humanoid in the side, putting every ounce of his strength into the blow.

Ridley cackled like a mad thing at hearing the crunch of ribs breaking from the impact, a smile of pure glee spreading across his thin jaws when the giant pulled its hands away from its face, and he saw that the plasma had done its job beautifully, the creature's face melted into something twisted and unrecognizable. It groaned in pain, and the space dragon took aim, waiting for a moment before he lashed out with his tail, and he was rewarded by the splurt of blood that told him he'd pierced the thing's heart.

He retracted his tail when the giant fell to its knees, where it stayed for a second before falling onto its stomach, where it remained. The reptile wasted no time in using the deadly barb on his tail to stab the fallen humanoid in the back of the head, piercing into the brain, in order to make sure that it stayed dead.

Now that this threat was taken care of, Ridley had a source of food, though the fact that this thing was humanoid made his stomach churn at the thought of having to eat it. He curled his lip as he sniffed, not liking the stench that filled his nostrils, but he wasn't in any shape to go hunting, especially now that he was grounded, so he would have to force himself to make do.

Grumbling, the space pirate circled to one side of his kill, looking it over before he began tearing chunks of flesh out of the giant's injured arm and swallowing them whole. He grimaced at the taste, remembering a time where he'd been put in a far worse situation than this, and had been forced to devour human flesh in order to survive.

A dull thud from nearby shattered Ridley's less than pleasant thoughts, and he raised his head to look about before returning to feeding when he'd seen nothing. The sound came again, multiple times now, and the space dragon growled lowly when he turned to look a second time, and he saw a humanoid that looked similar to the one he'd just killed, however, some things about it were off.

This one-eyed creature was around his own height, and it lacked both clothing and a weapon. It lumbered forward on two trunk-like legs that ended in wide feet, and its grayish skin was tightly drawn over a frame that was rather muscular in build. Its arms appeared similar to its legs, though the upper arms were oddly thin yet still able to hold the thick lower arms and large hands. As with its brethren, the head was what caught his attention, set upon a thick neck and comprising of a maw full of sharp teeth and two sets of nostrils located upon both sides of the face, underneath what appeared to be a single, large eye that was currently shut.

Ridley blinked when the giant stopped its advance, wondering if it was going to charge as the smaller one had done. Instead, this new humanoid opened its eye, the area around the space dragon taking on a soft violet hue. Ridley crouched, preparing to spring, only to snarl and take a step backwards in confusion when he was suddenly engulfed within a beam of pale violet light. It didn't hurt, which he found odd, until he realized that his form was beginning to harden and become rock solid... like stone.

It was in that moment that Ridley remembered the stone mammal he'd seen, and he now realized that he was about to share in its fate.