Chapter I
Samus found herself in a strange location, obviously artificial, with walls that looked like they were made of a type of steel, or some other grey alloy. She would figure out what it was when she had time. Because at the moment, she was being stared down by something that clearly wasn't friendly.
It was humanoid, clearly armored, and had some form of T-shaped visor on the front of its helmet. Considering her previous experiences, it could easily be some form of doppelganger, clone, or maybe even be an alternate or future version of herself. At least, its shell had an uncanny resemblance to her power suit, except that it was generally monochrome, being a slightly lighter shade of grey than the surrounding surfaces.
They made their first moves in sync. Samus fired off a shot from her arm cannon, then immediately went into Morph Ball mode and attempted to go between her foe's legs. Said enemy, who had no arm cannon to begin with, apparently was forming two around its arms. Anticipating her movements, it aimed slightly downward, firing off two of its own shots once its guns had fully formed. The extra defense provided by the Morph Ball helped, but it didn't stop both shots from taking a noticeable chunk out of her shield energy. As she sped underneath its legs, she planted three bombs, one in front, one behind, and one underneath. They exploded in a matter of seconds, not giving her grey doppelganger time to react. It was thrown slightly forward, and in a feat of acrobatics, retracted its guns, tilted itself even more forward, pushed itself off the floor with its hands, did a front flip, and landed on its feet, immediately reforming its cannons. It then turned around and fired some form of plasma ball at Samus while she was leaving the Morph Ball.
Direct hit. Samus felt herself lose all sensory input, lose control of her power suit, and lose herself in the fog that enveloped her mind. And then she was back, and with her came her senses, control of her suit, which thankfully hadn't given out, and pain. Pain of the mind, of the nerves, of a sharp tingling sensation that sent pins and needles throughout every fiber of her being. And then it was over. Not wasting a second, she jumped up out of her sprawled position on the floor, engaged her Fusion suit, and Screw-Attacked her foe, listening with satisfaction to the intense grinding sound that emanated from her apparently surprised foe. Space-jumping into the air, she left the Screw-Attack and fired two missiles behind her, both smashing into her opponent's back and detonating on the spot. It stumbled forward for a couple of steps, the fell to its knees. It was at this moment that she attempted to scan this strange entity.
SCAN BLOCKED
Crap. As the being got on hands and knees, Samus began charging a super missile. Within the blink of an eye, it kicked out underneath itself, pushing it into a handstand. This made it so that it was now facing Samus. After, in effect, somersaulting, onto its feet, it did the unthinkable. It fired an Ice Beam. The continuous stream of endothermic reactions struck Samus straight in the solar plexus. The first few moments were bearable, but it started sapping away at her energy faster and faster, getting stronger by the second. Even worse, its secondary effect of creating ice around a target came into effect. Samus was reduced to, in a matter of seconds, a sitting duck. After a minute, she was reduced to one energy tank. The she remembered her super missile. It had finished charging. Activating the Seeker missiles and targeting them all on her foe, she detonated her Super and watched as the barrage of small projectiles peppered her enemy. Unfortunately, such close proximity to the initial explosion halved her energy to fifty units. At this point, she was thinking of resorting to Power Bombs, however many it took to end this.
Suddenly, a message appeared in front of her, blocking the majority of her vision.
IT HAS BEEN TEN YEARS.
Ten years since what? She felt like asking.
TEN YEARS SINCE… I last had a fight as close as this. I enjoyed it while it lasted.
You've got to be kidding me, Samus thought. Another one of these? Was it just going to Deus Ex Machina her now? Was that it?
Apparently not. As parts of her opponent's shell split down the middle, others slid inward slightly, then sideways, out of view. Eventually, the ones that split "coiled" backward, moving out of her line of sight. Eventually, the entire armor suit was gone. What was left was even more surprising. Because, standing in the mechanical juggernaut's place, was a human male, looking to be in his late teens, clad in a violet t-shirt, a green hoodie, blue jeans, and purple tennis shoes. His next words would, from that point onward, be forever locked in Samus' memory.
"Surprise," he muttered with a smile.