Metroid: Battered Heritage
Comments:
Keep in mind that this is not written as a thoroughly as novel, so this story does not have detailed descriptions of environments or senses. This is written as a plot synopsis/script for a video game premise. I have written this plot in such a way that it can easily fit into the far future of the Metroid timeline. I should mention that I do have a copyright on this plot, not the characters. Because the plot I have written can fit in any sci-fi space pirate video game, I acquired a copyright by swapping out all of Metroid's characters, places and terms with other names. I have a copyright on it just in case, so no one can just randomly try to steal it without giving me proper compensation.
Metroid: Battered Heritage
The Ending Fight
Samus dashes into the large control room. Her armor is ragged with char marks and deep gouges. She charges her gun and fires a heavy pulse into Ridley's chest, knocking his dragon-form back.
"Why?! Why after all of these years of misery and strife? What is the point of all this?"
Ridley reaches back and pulls a collar from the computer station behind him. He attaches it to his neck and releases a screech that turns into a laugh.
"Samus, this was only ever about you."
"You speak my language …only to speak nonsense. Why did you kill my parents?" she fires another blast that hits the right side of his face. He remains leaning against the station.
"To impress you. Rahheh. Why else?" he says with an uncomfortable shrug.
"T-to impress me? Ah. Great. I should have known better than to ask," she stammers through clenched teeth. She wrenches her helmet off. "What is that even supposed to mean?!"
"You were the first worthy female that I ever encountered. I thought destroying the warriors that you respected would impress you. You were always the only one worthy of me."
"Monster! That doesn't make any sense!" she slams her helmet back on and fires wildly at him, peppering him with bolts of energy.
"That's more like it!" he rears into a quick low lunge and tackles her through a window to her right. They land on a platform where he slams her down on her back. She fires a rocket into his face, knocking him back.
[Boss fight]
After they have both sustained massive damage, Samus starts charging her gun.
"I only knew one way to get your attention. All of my kills have been for you…don't you understand?"
"Silence!" she rushes up to him and repeatedly slams his face with her still charging gun, which cracks and pulses with each blow. His smiling face is rocked back down each time he tries to rise.
"Please, Samus. You cannot kill me. I am indestructible. You cannot destroy a geoform. I evolve past death."
"S'not going to stop me from trying!" she says and hits him so hard that the end of her gun shatters.
"How will the warrior fight without her weapon?"
"Still good," she says and stabs the jagged end into his chest. The Chozo metal digs deep, cutting through his thick scaled exterior.
"Raahhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaawwwwwwkkkkkkkk," he screeches and makes a beckoning motion with his left hand while grabbing hold of her waist with his right hand.
Space pirate goons bash her armor with heavy gunfire, battering her to near unconsciousness. Her armor is fissuring under the blasts, her visor cracks, the back of her helmet shatters open and her long blond hair bursts forth. She reaches to her right arm and her wrecked gun dispenses a rocket into her grasp. She smashes the rocket into the right side of his head and her left shoulder-pad is blasted off. With a charred, shrapnel-dented hand, she reaches for another and blasts the finger armor off. She strikes Ridley with such force from the explosive that she is launched back due to Ridley's weakened grip. She flies off the platform and he grasps at her hair, most of which slide through his clawed fingers. She falls about thirty yards to land on her feet, but collapses onto one knee with crumbling armor. She hurries through the nearest door. Ridley cringes and clenches the strands in his hand. Samus reaches her ship and tries to flip on top, but her leg armor gives way. She falls to one knee again. Hobbling, she makes her way under the ship, where a small lift lowers to her. Ridley's pirates fire upon her ship as she rises into it. She reaches the cockpit and spins a device that brings up a holographic galaxy map. After tapping a spot that looks like a fleet, she collapses into her chair.
Confronted By Heritage
Six months later, Samus, still with battle-damaged armor and her ragged blond mane of hair flowing from the back of her helmet, is in a pirate's den, smashing everything. She is using her shattered gun arm as a melee weapon and fires a hand pistol at fleeing pirates.
"Where is Ridley?!" she howls in the face of a female space pirate who she immobilized.
"That freak goes on a rampage for weeks and then falls off the grid for six months? He's planning something big isn't he? Isn't he?!" Samus slams her foe into the wall when the pirate refuses to speak.
[Mission: Fight the pirates and find information on Ridley's location. If she tries to shoot her gun, it will scatter a peppering of small energy blasts due to her gun being damaged. She also has a pistol for more accurate shots.]
Samus whips around to her right when she hears a figure approaching from the darkened entrance.
"Father said I'd find you if I followed the trail of annihilated camps," Geo speaks with a calm, but distorted voice.
He steps from the doorway and reveals himself. He is a five-foot eleven-inch tall bipedal blue-eyed version of Ridley. He has three-fingered hands, a swishing tail, and three-toed avian feet. His face is halfway between humanoid and beak-like. Geo wears Samsus's left shoulder as well as the back part of her helm and has a formfitting space pirate suit on that is composed of short sleeves and shorts. His right arm is inside a gun arm like Samus's except his is a dark green metal with deep turquoise glowing lines throughout the length of the barrel.
"Father? Oh you have got to be kidding me," she blurts and shoots first, causing Geo to dodge to the right and jump into the rafters.
[Mini-boss fight]:
"I need to talk to you," Geo says.
"Unless you tell me where Ridley is, we've got nothing to talk about, scum."
After a series of "Please hear me out"s and "We need to talk"s during his attempts to jump down and disarm her with his tail, he says, "I think we really do."
"Don't need a gun to beat down mutant pirates," she says and kicks his gun arm wide with her left heel. She grabs him by her old shoulder-pad and pulls it off while smashing her visor into his beak, which shatters her visor's cracked glass. She shoves him back and kicks her left heel into the left side of his head, knocking off the back of her old helmet. A yellow mane of feathery fur pours out onto his back and she reels back. She drops the shoulder-pad and steps back.
"He didn't…," she starts.
"Father told me that if I wanted to find my mother, I should find the blond warrior with hateful blue eyes behind the armor that matches my shoulder-trophy."
"Mother? Mother? This is a joke, right? You're just a pirate with a costume," she tugs on his feathers and he cringes. Her broken gun arm retracts a bit and she holds open his left eye.
She lets go of him and he slowly reaches down to pick up the shoulder. He carefully dusts it off while looking at it with admiration.
She snatches it from him and reattaches it to her shoulder, "You called my armor a trophy. You didn't earn that. Neither did he."
"I-I did earn it. I survived all my father's challenges. I got through all the traps. I passed his tests. I have the genetics of the two most feared warriors in this galaxy," he picks up the back of her helm to her and hands it back to her. She hooks it onto her right hip.
"What are you?"
"That's what I was hoping you could tell me…mother."
"Don't call me that," she says through clenched teeth while raising her left hand, which makes Geo cower. She calms down.
The player can now continue exploring the pirate camp.
[Mid-game banter]:
"I…don't know what you are. I don't even know what Ridley is…. Wait. He sent you? Where is he?"
"I don't know. He gave me my final task and sent me out."
"Final task?"
"He told me that if I wanted your respect, I had to help you defeat him."
"Oh, then he's more insane than I thought. Makes a mixed genetic clone of the both of us and then he wants me to destroy him with an illegitimate son?" she rambles and releases a long sigh. "How do I know you're not just an enhanced pirate sent to assassinate me?"
"I would never hurt you. Even if father asked me to."
"Why? I've never done anything for you."
"Oh, but you have. Even though I aged quickly and was put through dangerous tests that could have killed me, at night, when I was exhausted, he would tell me about all the exciting adventures and battles you've had. I would see how the other space pirates acted. Violent. Brutal. Cruel. But then I had you, the golden-haired Valkyrie as a different role model to look up to."
"He really did a number on you, didn't he?"
He cocks his head to the side, "I don't understand."
"Never mind. Come back to my ship. I need to get a blood sample to see if you're really what you say you are."
"Thank you for giving me this chance. I won't disappoint you, mom."
She lets out an exasperated sigh. "I see. I get it now. He's finally found a way to make me suffer more."
Testing Loyalty
Space pirate backup has arrived, so Samus blurts, "Damn…Hey, did that monster give you a name?"
"Father called me Geo because he said I was a perfected geo-form. Geo-form 188."
"It's sad that you knew I was talking about him when I said monster. Whatever. You know how to fight?"
"Of course. Father trained me to fight like the both of you as one."
She sighs. "Let's go then."
[Mission: Fight their way back to her ship.]
They jump onto her ship and take off from the ruins of the pirate camp. When they get into space, Samus takes off her helmet. Geo looks at her hair and then tugs at his own fur while inspecting it.
"Gold hair must be a dominant gene," Geo comments while she fiddles with a needle.
"I'd guess so or you'd have white like your freak-show daddy used to," she says while walking over to him with the syringe. He can see that she has bags under her eyes, which look exhausted. "Here. I need a blood sample."
"Do you hate him that much?" he asks while she draws blood.
"He murdered my parents. My mom and dad. Of course I hate him. He's just a monster. A crazed beast who doesn't stay down."
Geo looks down in disappointment.
"I think he tried to be a good dad for me. I think –"
"Then he was manipulating you," she cuts him off while bringing the needle to her analysis station. "For some reason. Ridley only cares about malice and destruction."
She places a drop of Geo's blood on the left scanner and plucks a ragged hair from herself.
She scoffs to herself, "Another split end" before placing the strand on the right scanner. She watches the loading bar for a second, but turns to look at what Geo is doing. He is staring at his open palms and claws. She turns back for the scanner's ding.
"Genetic match huh," she mutters. "Ridley is going too far. What's gotten him this crazy?"
She heads back to Geo.
"Is it true? Am I your son?"
"You're not my son and I'm not your mother. But Ridley was playing mad-scientist with our genes when he created you."
"So…C-can I call myself Geo Aran?"
"Whatever…you can stay here for now, but I'm not sleeping unless you're in the bounty cell whenever I'm not awake."
"I knew you would want that. I don't mind."
"What'd you know? How old are you even? Can't be more than five months."
"Our race matures quickly. When he sent me away, he said I was thinking around the age of a thirteen-year-old human."
She puts the back of her helm on her workstation and leads him to the clear cell at the back of her ship. He takes off his gun and gives her the weapon without her having to ask. She is about to lock the door, but takes an extra pillow and blanket from her bed and throws them in the cell. He looks like he wants to thank her, but she turns away and places his gun in her wall safe.
[Potential time for upgrading items and charting the next planet to explore. The next plot section will be the Chozo home world. Her current attacks – melee with gun arm, throw missile like a stick grenade, and scatter blast, pistol shot. Morph-ball offline, grapple offline. Suit repairs needed.]
With her armor still on, she heads to her bed and falls asleep with scrunched up eyes.
Samus's Brute Force
When Samus wakes up, she rolls out of bed onto her feet. Geo is curled up in a ball under the blanket. She looks out her front window, which gives her a view of the Chozo home world. The ship flies down and lands in a clearing.
She taps on the glass to wake him.
"Come on. Get up. We're here," she states in a terse tone while unlocking the door.
"Does this mean you trust me?" he asks while stretching and sitting up.
"Nooooope," she draws out her pronunciation. "I don't trust anyone these days. But if this is some kind of trap, I'm going to use you as a hum – alien shield."
"You wouldn't need to, mom. I would take the shots for you anyway. Geo-forms are very resilient," he comments as they drop out of the lower hatch.
"And you're creepy, but I can't leave you on my ship. I don't know if you're just staying in the cell when you might be able to get out and sabotage my ride."
"I wouldn't –"
"I don't care what you wouldn't or would. You don't get it. I don't believe you're not some kind of sleeper agent. Now let's move. There's a healing spring on the way to the Chozo temple. I need some rest to clean my wounds."
[Mission: they will make their way to the location on the map. Geo will follow Samus at a small distance. They will encounter space pirates and brutes who will be larger genetically altered pirates who can withstand Samus's charged shots.]
They notice the pirate patrols and duck down.
"Damn it. What are they doing here? Do you have a tracker in you? Send a message somehow?" she points her gun at him.
"No. No. No. Wait. Father probably knew you would come back here to repair your armor one day. He talked about this being a fond memory of fighting you before you faced The Prime."
"Father, father, father. Because of him, I don't have one."
"Father said that we were the only monsters worthy of your attention. He said he'd kill and kill until you'd recognize him."
"Ugh. I don't have time for that sickness. Just help me take down these things."
[Mission: Samus's rockets cannot damage brutes, so she must stun them with explosions so Geo can yank them back to leave their chest exposed. During this time, Samus needs to crack open their chest plate with the shrapnel gun arm melee attacks until she crushes their core. After a few seconds, if Samus doesn't break the core, the brute will throw Geo off and Samus will have to re-stun the enemy.]
Healing Spring
After Samus and Geo fight their way through the pirate camps, they reach the spring.
"That would have been a lot easier if I had my gun."
"Geo, you don't seem like space pirate scum, but just in case there is an elaborate scheme here, I won't fall for it."
"I just want to help defend."
"Too bad. Life isn't easy. Get used to it. I have," she shakes her gun arm at him.
She looks around and just decides to climb into the spring with her armor on.
"It's been too long since I've taken a break."
"I'll keep watch for enemies."
"You do that."
Geo turns his back on her and after a few seconds, asks, "What was it like growing up without a mother?"
"It was like any other life. I survived. That was it. She wasn't there to talk to about life issues or academy problems. She wasn't there to help me with homework when I was a kid, but it's not like I needed the help anyway."
Repairing Armor
Samus gets out of the pool and they proceed into the valley.
[Mission: Find a Chozo repair station.]
They fight their way through the last pirate camp until they find the Chozo temple, which is guarded by a hulking behemoth with a blond mane.
"Ugh. Is this another failed experiment? Another kid to make me miserable?"
"Father said I was his only son, the next in line as 188, but…."
"But who knows what lies he'll spout to get his way. For all you know, you may be the sixth of five failures. This is insanity."
[Boss fight]
After they kill the behemoth, a holographic recording of Ridley begins to play.
"Hi dad," Geo says with a somewhat shy tone of exuberance.
"It's a recording," Samus extends her hand from her gun and cuffs the back of his head.
"See, I knew you would come back here. I know you better than anyone. Better than any humans," Ridley squawks.
"Ugh," Samus grunts with disgust.
"I have grand designs for us. You come hunt me when you're ready. You'll soon know how to find me."
When the recording ends, they progress into the temple. She steps into the Chozo repair chamber, which begins refusing broken pieces, sealing cracks and adding missing sections when needed. When a repair arm removes the shrapnel edge from her gun, she grabs it back.
"This seemed to really hurt Ridley. Might as well keep it as another weapon," she comments and places the gun-tip inside a compartment on her gun.
When the repairs are complete, she steps out from the platform and walks back to the ship with Geo trailing behind her.
[The player can now explore. Charged shot, morph ball, spin attack and grapple gun are now online.]
"What will you do now?" he asks her when they step onto the ship's lift.
"Hunt down and destroy everything Ridley has created."
"I hope that exclude me," he says with clasped hands.
"Don't try to be cute. I still don't trust you."
"Awww…can't you see I'm just a kid. I need help. I need someone. My father turned his back on me after giving me my mission to find you."
"What about what I need? I need to be rid of him."
"I think you need someone to help you. How long have you been fighting him? Years? You've been alone for so long."
"And you think Ridley sending me a son, a sidekick that looks like him, is what? Going to make my life complete?!"
"I think…it couldn't hurt to try," he says with a disappointed tone before walking back to his cell and shutting the door.
Occupied by the Hunted
When Samus wakes up on her ship in space, she checks a computer screen that shows of systematic space pirate assaults and occupations on various worlds.
"Oh I'll find you alright. Even if that's what you want. I'll find you," she says with a tone of menace. "How many years has he been planning such a coordinated assault."
[The player can now attack pirate encampments. The pirates have attacked four worlds so far.]
Gauvria: is a somewhat lush planet with plains that are broken apart by natural canyons. The pirates are stealing from multi-armed insectoid farmers. Routing the pirates here stems their flow of food.
Vel Dra Coa: is an ocean complex. Routing the pirates here stems their flow of water and liquids.
The Pile: is a prison world that the pirates have taken over to Shanghai new members while breaking other pirates out. Routing the pirates here stems their flow of troops.
Third Hyamar: is a city complex with skyscrapers and industrial factories. The capital and other main cities have fallen to pirate invasions. Routing the pirates here stems their flow of machinery and parts for starships and weapons.
[For the next couple of sections, if Geo is asleep in his cell, this will signal that there isn't a dialogue option available.]
Canyon Diver
Samus lands her ship in a canyon of Gauvria, so her ship isn't spotted.
"We're going to hit Ridley's camps and wipe them out," she jumps out, holding his gun.
"Can I have my gun this time?"
"Fine. But I'll destroy you if I even suspect that you're against me," she tosses it to him.
"Sure thing mom," he says with a bit too much positivity than she can bear, so she shoots his cheek with a light energy ball, which elicits a whiny "Eheh" sound from him as he slightly turns away and cowers.
"Oh whine. I know that didn't hurt you with your monster skin and all," she says and makes her way to the pirate camp.
[Mission: Liberate the enslaved workers and destroy the pirate encampments.]
[Mid-game banter]:
"So what's the plan mo –," Geo beings.
"Say it again and I'll hit you with a charged shot."
"What's the plan?"
"This is where Ridley's pirates are getting extra food supplies. They can last longer without water, but without food, we'll starve them."
"Harsh."
"They deserve harsh. They've earned harsh."
"True enough."
[New Attack: Samus learns the Grapple Lariat. She can latch onto an enemy, use her thrusters to boost dash and yank them to her for a close line lariat. She can stun small enemies with this or do heavy damage to large ones while dealing 20 damage to herself. A failsafe will be employed to prevent activation of this move if it is attempted under 20 health.]
When they destroy the pirates' storehouse and defeat some brutes, more pirates swarm in. Geo presses a button on his gun, which starts charging just as an explosion goes off in the ravine to their left.
[The player may become suspicious if Geo activated that bomb.]
"Ummmm…mom. You may want to dodge that," Geo comments as the beast pulls itself out of the ravine.
[Boss fight: The battle with the pirates wakes a giant red horned yellowy lizard-like lion, Chiramda, who rises up from the ravine. After she subdues the beast, the villagers ask her not to kill their god-figure, so she huffs and storms away with Geo trailing after her.]
[When they get back on the ship, a dialogue section will be available.]
"Why do you think those insectoids bother appeasing that beast?"
"Maybe…they need him."
"For?"
"Protection. Against something worse. Like…," he trails off while leaning his head against the wall.
"Say what you want to say."
"I dunno…it just feels like I'm stuck…."
"How? You know, besides being in a cell."
"Stuck between two monsters."
"Don't use that word for me. That's reserved for beasts like Ridley. Destroyers."
"I saw the look in your eyes. You wanted to kill that animal. You wanted to kill it, even though it was just…bothered. And not all monsters are bad."
"Sure."
"I know you're a monster, just not one on the outside."
Samus squints at him and walks away.
Screaming under the Current
Samus lands her ship on the waters of Vel Dra Coa, but needs to find the entrance to an underwater tunnel network. The exit in the bottom of her ship opens and they look down at the water.
"Do you have a breathie helmet for me, too?" Geo asks.
Samus reaches into a locker and tosses an old helm to him, "Activate the sealant under the mask so excess water doesn't flood the mask. There's an oxygen tank already installed."
He fiddles with the helmet on his head, so she gets frustrated and presses a button under its left side. A flexible rubbery sealant releases around the space between his neck and the mask to keep out water. They jump down into the water and lights glow on their helms.
[Mid-game banter]:
"We need to breach the water filtering and processing station. Ridley's troops will soon dry up from the inside without water."
"They'll be starving and soon will be suffering from their thirst."
After they reach the facility, Samus hacks into an airlock. They fight their way to flooded tunnel that has a bulkhead blocking the way to the filter system. An odd rigged contraption powers the lock on the door, but their gunshots cannot destroy it.
"We'll need to find a way around or something that can break the power generator on that lock," Samus mentions.
They explore and find research lab.
[Mid-game banter]:
"What was being made here?" Samsus asks. [while the player searches around.]
"Looks like whatever dad's guys were doing, they set it up as soon as they took over," Geo comments.
Samus finds a capsule that has an experimental item inside.
[New Attack: Samus learns Sonoluminescent Collapse. She fires a contained sound wave underwater that bursts with light on contact, collapse or after traveling an approximate distance.]
"That might be able to break the lock," Geo tells her.
"Yeah, but the real issue if it can, why did Ridley have them make a lock that can only be opened with sound," she says with suspicion.
Once they break open the lock, they must fight their way to the filter to destroy the plant so the pirates can no longer have a water supply. When they succeed in destroying the filters, pirates attack and Geo release a spread-fire of bullets. One of his bullets hits a holding pod, which explodes, causing this whole area to flood and the walls sink away.
[The player can get suspicious that Geo shot it on purpose.]
Samus and Geo sink down in nearly lightless water. A genetically altered pirate, composed of sound, forms and attacks them.
[Boss fight: She is attacked by a pirate, Sinusoid E who has been experimented on to the point in which he can become pure sound waves. Towards the end of the fight, Sinusoid E will try and envelop Samus and crush her inside the negative space. Geo will shatter him with a Collapse shot from his gun.]
"Where'd you get that ammo from?" Samus asks suspiciously.
"I found another capsule in the lab before we left."
[When they get back on the ship, a dialogue section will be available.]
"Why did you wait until then to attack that pirate?"
"You trying to get me to owe you one? So I'll treat you as a son?"
"No. I wanted to make him think that my gun would never harm him. He let his guard down when he turned his back on me once he restrained your gun."
"Ah, so it's a sneaky streak that you've got."
"Maybe. Or you could call it good strategy from training."
"Maybe…maybe," she says while walking away and turning his gun over in her hands. She walks back and asks, "How rigorous was Ridley's training."
"It was…rigorous enough. He wasn't as hard on me as the other pirates. Maybe because I'm his son. Maybe because he knew I could out-fight and out-survive the other pirates in any situations. I don't know…," he trails off, somewhat downtrodden.
"Did he punish you if you messed up? Failed him and such?"
"Yes. He'd attack me. Force me to go feral if need be. But he still felt like he was holding back."
"You shake at night you know."
"Do I?"
"Geo, you may have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder."
He sighs, "I probably do. Dad tried to develop PSTD in me."
"PTSD. And that's sick. Developing trauma in someone for what?"
"To make…me more like you."
"I don't have PTSD."
"Yes…you do. You thrash in your sleep."
"She just frowns, wipes at her eyes in exhaustion and walks away.
Dismantling The Pile
When they reach enter the constantly storming planet that houses the Pile, they see that it is a hundred story tall pillar that is made of compacted bodies and bones of past prisoners.
[Mid-game banter]:
"Okay, it's official. This place is gross. I've been on and inside of some of the worst places around. But this one. The rumors didn't even compare."
"What was the rumor?"
"That a race once committed a genocide so horrible, that another race punished the killers by building a jail out of the bodies of the fallen so they would never forget. Rumors said that that the prisoners who died inside are added to the structure so it keeps getting bigger to accommodate all the new convicts that arrive these days."
[New Attack: Samus learns Bone Shrapnel Shot, which is a scatter gun that shoots spikes that can pin enemies to walls, floors and ceilings. If she charges it, the gun will drag in shards from her surroundings to create a shrapnel bomb. Lightning and electricity will be attracted to the iron in the shards.]
[Mid-game banter]:
"So how do we shut down Ridley's control here?"
"I'm going to shut down The Pile itself. We clean out the pirates and put The Pile on complete lockdown by shutting off whatever is powering this place."
"And then he won't be able to keep ferrying troops to attack other worlds."
Geo and Samus will shut down power pylons and escape into another corridor. Pirates will use an avalanche of bodies as walls and doors to separate Samus and Geo. When Samus finishes her mini-boss fight with a general, a control panel powers up and attracts the storm to electrify The Pile, which awakens.
"I thought we shut down the main power source. Could it have powered up that quickly?" Samus comments to herself.
[Because Geo is off screen at the moment, the player can become suspicious if he activated the energy pylons.]
Geo meets up with Samus as they crash out of The Pile.
"What is moving this thing? Is it alive?"
Geo opens a scanner and reads, "It's has a long parasite with tendrils streaming through it. The strands imbed in the nervous systems of things, alive or dead and uses electrical stimulation to move them."
"How'd you find that out?"
"I looked around and took some samples while we were separated."
[Boss fight: The Pile is a titanic multi-limbed tower foe with a lightning rod for a head.]
"Well…that's one way to shut down The Pile," Samus says as it falls.
"Where will all the new prisoners go?"
"To some other jail. Probably for the best that this thing is gone. It was a gruesome idea in the first place."
[When they get back on the ship, a dialogue section will be available.]
"Do you still think of me as a prisoner?"
"I don't know Geo. Are you one?"
"I feel like one. Being stuck gene-spliced and passed between my parents. I can't feel at home with either, because they hate each other."
"It's never gonna happen so give up on that dream."
"And neither can fully accept me since part of me looks like the other."
"What do you expect? You look like a small version of the one who murdered my parents."
"I didn't choose this body."
"Doesn't matter. You were still born that way and I'll never forget his face and what he did."
"So do you want me to be a prisoner like he should be?"
"I don't know. I look at you and see a murderer. Even if you say you're not. If anything, you'll be safe in there."
"Safe from you?"
"Yes."
"Do you hate me?"
"No. I just hate your face," she says while walking away.
City-Scape Crusade
When Samus's ship enters the atmosphere of Third Hyamar, turrets open fire on her craft. She has the autopilot pull up and lets the momentum vault her and Geo onto the control tower.
[Mid-game banter]:
"We have to take down those artillery cannons."
"What then?"
"Then we have some fun purging the pirates and destroy the factory's generators."
"Won't that hurt the races that live here?"
"It'll hurt them harder if Ridley's pirates maintain control of the factories and spaceports. I guess they'll just have to rebuild."
"Not everyone can rebuild."
"If they can't, then they'll just have to deal with it. Watch the turrets. You want to impress me? Spilt up and take that one, while I get these."
[Mini-boss fight]:
Samus will have to fight an augmented turret and steal its tech.
[New Attack: Samus learns the Hurricane Barrage, which is a missile upgrade. She shoots a cluster of missiles up that rain down in a close perimeter around her.]
They meet up at the entrance to the tower.
[Mid-game banter]:
"So you took out that turret all by yourself?" she asks him.
"I did. Are you proud of me?" he asks with a subtle mocking tone.
"Sure, kid. Now, you remember our mission?"
"We need to hit the factory generators while removing all the pirates," he says while she brings up the schematic.
"Good, let's go," she charges through the door.
When they breach the generator core, a pirate tries to surprise Samus with a grenade launcher, but Geo reacts almost too predictively by pushing her out of the way. The blast hits Geo who goes flying into a console and his hand drags down on a lever to pull himself up. This activates a machine that the pirates were working on.
[They player may now wonder if he pulled the lever on purpose.]
"What did you do?"
"Sorry! I didn't realize it. I just pulled myself up," Geo apologizes.
[Boss fight: First phase is Nano-Ridley, which is a computer that uses Ridley's form as nano-bots that can continuously reform. Samus needs to use the cluster rockets to blast off enough sections of nano-bots to make the core visible for destruction. For the second phase, the core will attach itself to an assault blimp-like cruiser. Samus will need to rush around and avoid the nano-Ridley heads that lunge for her while she aims at destroying the core.]
They aim the blimp to crash into a pirate outpost. Right before it smashes down, Samus boosts off with Geo, landing to the left of the wreck.
Father Figure
They are sitting on the top of a low building, which is now the ruins of a destroyed pirate camp.
"What exactly did Ridley tell you about your final mission?" Samus asks.
"He told me to find you and help you defeat him," he says while Samus pulls out jerky rations from a leg compartment.
"Really? Why?" she breaks the jerky in half and gives a piece to him.
"He thought it would make you happy again to beat him another time."
"Happy…huh…is that what goes through his dragon skull when he thinks about me…I'll be happy when he's dead. Or at least be able to sleep better. Why did you agree to that mission anyway? You'd be fighting the freak who raised you."
"He let me choose. He said I was a gift to you. And that you'd need someone to help you beat him."
"He didn't train you as some puppet slave? That doesn't sound like his style. If that's true, then Ridley has lost it."
"He raised me as best as I could imagine, considering I'm just a clone of the two of you as one."
"Raised you…," Samus says with a huff.
"He taught me about our culture."
"What culture? Mindless destruction?"
"The constant fight to evolve past death…what it means to choose a mate."
"Do I even want to know what that second part means?"
"He tried to explain it, but I didn't understand it very well. He said that we are similar to a cat, some kind of earth animal."
"You've got to be kidding me."
"And that when I find someone worthy, I should kill for them and leave the bodies as trophies for my prospective mate to collect."
"He is sick. You better forget that lesson right now."
"I know that's unacceptable by human standards, which is why it is difficult for me to try to control two sides of my biology. As warped as my father is, I think he made me to finally gain some form of understanding from you through me. He isn't human and never will be. He has evolved past other life-forms. But with me, since I am both, I think he means for me to be a bridge. A new being with new evolutionary paths."
[When they get back on the ship, a dialogue section will be available. He will no longer be in the cell.]
"So I'm not going to be locked up anymore?"
"Mhmmm. Not for now. You've proven that you're willing to ruin everything Ridley plans. This little pirate empire will not last much longer now that we took out everything that would supply his troops."
"He told me to help you with whatever you needed help with."
"Yeah? And are you still helping me on his orders or for what you want?"
"I…I don't know. How do I make both parents happy when both are unhappy with each other and me?"
"Don't get all philosophical on me kid. I'm too exhausted these days to care."
The Duplicitous Scheme
Samus lands her ship on a sunny verdant jungle world. They have to fight their way to a temple made of light tan stones with many tall arched entranceways. Turret emplacements are all over it, so flying in would be too risky. At the top in the central lookout chamber, Ridley waits for them.
"Hello, boy. Having fun with your job?" Ridley sneers.
"Enough fun as I can, father."
"I'm glad you've come back to me," Ridley tells her.
Samus doesn't speak. She just begins charging her gun and fires at him, but he activates a hologram that shows Geo as he sets up each boss fight. This is Ridley's attempt to make Samus think that the whole adventure was a scheme to break her.
"Father, no. Don't do this. I didn't know he would do this," Geo says.
"What…is this?" she says, her eyes widening.
She watches as Geo activates the trigger on his gun that detonated explosives to wake the Chiramda, as he purposefully targets the pod that released Sinusiod E, as he reactivated The Pile's pylons and as he falls against the control lever to activate Nano-Ridley.
"What did you do?"
"Mom, please. I was just completing his final request. I was supposed to help you. In any way possible. Help you defeat him, help you to survive…and help you to improve… evolve."
Samus attacks Geo, who says, "No. No. Please don't be mad. He wanted me to test you to see if you were still worthy to be my mother."
"Still worthy to be your mother? You helped me and betrayed me at the same time each time? You're not worthy to be my son!" she howls, blasting him into the wall.
"Rahahrahahaha! That's it, Aran. That's more like it!" Ridley screeches.
[Boss fight: In the first phase, Ridley stands tall with an energy-enhanced metal saber, which he uses to lunge and slash at her. During the second phase, he detonates ceiling traps, which open up the roof. He tries to fly away, but Samus latches onto his leg with her grapple arm. She must reel herself in at Ridley to smash his body with her shrapnel gun tip. For the third phase, he throws her down onto the wrecked temple grounds. Geo gets up and attacks Ridley. Samus begrudgingly accepts the help. Ridley draws and an energy cord morning star, which he spins in different arches.]
A Hated Love
When she defeats him and kicks him into a broken column, he says, "I sacrificed all of my troops. All of my resources. All to bring us here."
"And I've sacrificed myself to leave."
"You won't ever leave. Not really. Your scars won't heal. I won't let them," Ridley says and looks at his son to say, "And now, with him alive and well, they never will."
She grunts and smashes her gun into the left side of his face, knocking him out.
"I disabled the gun turrets. The ship should be fine to fly in."
She looks at him skeptically as if wondering to trust him or not.
She presses a button on her gun. The auto pilot brings the ship up. She presses another button and a large cryogenic chamber lowers from the ramp. Robotic tendrils pull Ridley into the freezing cell.
"I'm sorry. I…I don't know what I should have done in my situation. I just did what I thought would work out for everyone. Dad got his final fight. And you got to defeat him."
"Yeah, yeah. I get it. I think…after we've destroyed everything he's built, I understand how skewed your mind is. I get it. You're just as traumatized as I am…just in a different way."
"Mom? Can I call you mom?"
She sighs, "Sure."
"Mom. I think you have PTSD."
"Heh. By this point kid, I think we all have PTSD," Samus says as she hobbles off to her ship with Geo supporting her.
Tom O'?
Characters:
Samus Aran – A soldier.
Geo – Ridley's son. Geoform 188
Ridley – A dragon-like entity.
Chiramda – A horned lion.
Sinusoid E – A sound wave pirate.
The Pile – The necrotic prison.
Nano-Ridley – The nano-bot hive
Events:
The Ending Fight
Confronted By Heritage
Testing Loyalty
Samus's Brute Force
Healing Spring
Repairing Armor
Occupied by the Hunted
Canyon Diver
Screaming under the Current
Dismantling The Pile
City-Scape Crusade
Father Figure
The Duplicitous Scheme
A Hated Love
Places and Races:
Chozo
Geo-form (187)
Gauvria
The Pile
Vel Dra Coa
Third Hyamar