Disclaimer: I do not own "Metroid", nor do I in any way claim to own it. "Metroid", "Samus", and all other characters, names, and places belong to Nintendo, and their respected owners. The only thing I claim to own at this point is the writing of this fan fiction. As chapters come to existance, there will be the introduction of new characters. I will provide a disclaimer in the appropiate chapter, to prevent ruining the story line.

Beginning Author's Note: This Fan Fiction takes setting after Metroid Fusion. This final copy is an edited version of the original Fan Fiction that I had wrote long ago. Most information comes from the "Metroid Fusion" Game Booklet and Game Play. Rated PG-13 for mild language, violence (including detailed fighting scenes), and a hint of romance in later chapters.

Chapter One: "The Metroid-X"

Not long ago I had found myself on the forsaken rock, called a planet, of SR388. There I came in contact with a Hornoad, which would forever change my life. Thinking nothing of it, I aimed my Arm Canon at the creature. With a soft 'pop' a regular missile flew directly at it, blasting the creature into non-existence. When the smoke cleared from the missile, something else was there in the place of the Hornoad. A yellowish mass floated in place for a second, as if it was looking for something. It sped off into the air, and I aimed my Canon at it again, firing several missiles at it, in hopes to destroy it. The matter seemed undisturbed by the missiles, flying straight at me. Just like that, the matter vanished into me. Thinking little of it at the time, I concluded the mission a success, as I boarded my ship to set out to the next collection point.
On course, my body started to seize up, and then I lost consciousness. Soon my ship started to drift off course, heading towards an asteroid belt. Luckily, the ship's navigational system sensed something wrong, as its auto-escape pod jettisoned me into space. The ship collided with the belt, destroying it on contact. The research station sent a ship to investigate, where they found me helplessly floating adrift in space. Very little was remembered directly by me from the time of meeting the matter, but I was told what had happened to me. The matter was a parasitic life form that researchers called 'X'.
As soon as it infected me, it started to take control of my central nervous system, and it expanded to control my entire body. The organism multiplied so quickly that it even infected parts of my Power Suit. In a last attempt to save me, the researchers had to remove large pieces of my Power Suit. They surgically removed the infected parts that were infused with my skin, altering my physical appearance. I was given a .873% of survival after that... then somebody found a cure. They injected me with a Metroid vaccine, within minutes a drastic effect happened. The X quickly died, as my body came back into consciousness. They had told me that they sent the infected pieces of my Power Suit to the Biological Space Labs, otherwise called the B.S.L., for further study.
Soon after my awakening, Head Quarters received a distress signal from the research station. It was a brief message but a powerful one. An unknown explosion rocked the station. In my half weak state I went to the docking bay, where I boarded a replica ship of my own that the Federation had provided. The ship took off, and I soon found myself on the B.S.L. There, I learned more information about the X parasite, more than I expected from such a simple organism. We had learned that the X multiplies at an unexplainable rate, and they can take one strand of the original DNA and form it into the original structure. Those few X that infected in my suit multiplied themselves, and manipulated my DNA, to build a new me. The cause of the explosion was none-thee-less the result of the X built. As soon as they got the word, Galactic Federation soon named it SA-X, the name originating from the combination my name, Samus Aran, and the fact it was a X parasite.
Within the B.S.L. I faced several challenges that tested all of my abilities to the extreme. As my progress in making the station safer increased, my enemies became fiercer. If my body had not been injected with the Metroid vaccine, I would have been long dead. The X just thought of me as a new host, but as they seeped through my suit and into my skin, the vaccine killed the X, healing any injured places. But that was not the case for the SA-X. One of my challenges aboard the station was to find out details on the SA-X, then use those details to destroy it. But my plans of destroying it were not as easy as I had thought. It was not because of ever growing strength and wit of it. It was not because the SA-X itself had multiplied to form duplicates of itself. But it was the sole fact that the Federation wanted to preserve the ruthless killing machine for studies.
I was briefly locked in a Navigation room, where I had a brief reunion with an old Commanding Officer of mine who had saved my life; the perfect military mind of Adam Malkovich. He proposed the idea that I should manually set the ship's directional course, so that it would collide with SR388, to destroy the SA-X for good. I took the idea and made it happen, as I ran to the operation room. When I arrived I found the door locked, as I heard a loud explosion behind me. This explosion was caused by the same thing that caused the first one - the SA-X. This time I had nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide; I had to face this thing once and for all. After killing the replica of me, another creature came forth from the SA-X. There was little struggle killing that, in fact, it was easier than fighting the SA-X in my form. I quickly ran up to the operation room, and set the ship's directional settings. I used my three minutes to escape wisely, though most of those were a struggle fighting the Omega Metroid. I used all that I could to beat it, though it left me helpless in one hit. Even when it wasn't part of me, my suit came to the rescue. The SA-X appeared, yet again, but this time its thirst for killing was focused on the Metroid. After defeating the Omega Metroid, I boarded my ship, and left the station as it collided with SR388, destroying both. The explosion sent both masses into non-existence.
All my worries are now gone, the X is destroyed, and now my operations are the way they once were. I now sit alone in the ship's cockpit, staring blankly at the Etecoons and Dachoras playing agitatedly with one another. The silence felt eerie, though there were soft taps against the floor every time one of them missed a tackle. A shiver went down my spine caused by the frightening silence. But, yet again, the silence was comforting in its own ways. Slowly my eyelids became heavy; though my attempts of staying awake were in good will, they were in vain. After all, it had been a long day. Slowly, yet surely, I stared into the indefinite darkness of my eyelids; staring into the forever darkness.

***

'Lady?' A familiar voice said, sounding in my head being all too real to be just a dream. 'Lady? Wake up, Lady.' The same voice sounded, as if it could see through my emerald green visor. I opened my eyes slowly, staring at the ships navigational system blinking violently at me. I was hesitant to speak, just as any one else's voice would be in the morning waking up. "Huh? What is it Adam?" I shook my head to help aid the process of awakening, "How long have I been sleeping?" The voice was unmistakable for my good friend and Commanding Officer, Adam Malkovich.
"A couple hours," the navigational system was flashing again, but less frequently. "But that's not the point of me awakening you. Galactic Federation Head Quarters just sent a report to all available units in this area. They have another mission, for anyone who is brave enough to take it."
I yawned silently, hoping that he wouldn't hear it. 'A couple hours?' I thought, 'How could it be a couple of hours... it just seemed like a few minutes. A few minutes of a dreamless night.' My focus came back to Adam, "Sure, I'll accept the mission. Give me the briefing of it. Send a signal back to them saying that I accept it, and there's no need to send any one else. Where is the location?"
"Negative on the signal. After how we disobeyed them on the B.S.L., we can not let them know your existence. If they knew you were alive, and on the planet, they would put double the price on your head than what the mission's worth. As for the mission; I have great regret that you need to hear the words. After the B.S.L. exploded, HQ put up an immediate scan to see if anything still lived. First they scanned the debris of the station, finding nothing in the midst of it. To my surprise, they said that they also scanned SR388; so that must mean that it was not destroyed. On the scan they picked up a living matter. From farther and more detailed scans they concluded that the matter was in fact an SA-X. The worst part about that is that it is not the SA-X you faced in the station. It is far more complicated, far more advanced than anything you have faced before. Its wits and strength are doubled of yours. There is only one name to call this new X. It is far too strong to be classified as an SA-X. It now contains the simple name of "Metroid-X"; the ultimate warrior X."
Both of my hands clutched the arms of my chair hard enough that I could feel my knuckles turning white. My eyes widened fiercely, glaring at it if it was an SA-X itself. "How?" I half yelled, half demanded, "How could have the X survived, yet alone an SA-X. The planet too. I saw it with my own eyes, that explosion could have destroyed anything! Yet all that time in that station was a waste of time? How, Adam, how! And... the planet is left unscratched?" I couldn't stop shaking my head from denial. So many questions; so many answers I want to hear. None of it made sense any more.
"I do not know the real answer to those questions. All I can provide for you is logical explanations of what I think happened. The solution that I came up with for the X surviving is because of their multiplication rate. Another component aided in the X's survival. According to HQ's status logs of the B.S.L., there was a report of the self-destruct being activated. I think that an SA-X set that program. Because of the early explosion, it did not impact with SR388, which explains why it was left unharmed. The SA-X used the explosion as a boost to get on the planet. As we knew there was more than one SA-X, which increased their chances of survival. The explosion did destroy most of the SA-X, but it only damaged the genetic make-up of the X slightly. Those X that made it to survive on the planet fused with the other, creating this new form."
I thought over what he said very carefully, finding the perfect logic that he usually had in his words. I nodded my head slowly, trying to absorb in all his words, staring blankly at the flashing light. A silence once again filled the ship, until Adam's voice broke it, "The reason that they want anyone who's 'brave enough to take it' is because five of the HQ's best scientists all ready died trying to face it. As we know it, there is one unaccounted for body down there that we have no clue who it is. Geothermal scanners and X-Ray scanners can confirm that the body is alive, and it's moving towards the Metroid-X. The thing that worries me that it might be another Metroid-X, we can not tell from all the information we have. I'm hoping, yet I'm not, that it's another Bounty Hunter; who thinks that he's brave enough. Please Samus, as your mission, if it's another Human, please bring them back to safety before they die."
"I understand..." My voice was weak, as my eyes drifted to stare at the floor.
The light flashed again, "I'm sorry, Lady, but I know that you're the only one who can beat this newly formed parasite. And I'm hoping that you only have to face one of them." He paused for a second, "Your mission is as followed: report to SR388, destroy the Metroid-X, and hopefully return the other life form back to safety, if it's an ally." His voice changed to an unmistakable sorrow, "Any objections, Lady?"
To hear those three words again almost brought a smile to my gloomed face. When he said those words he made them sound dignified, and with respect; but from any other person it would have seemed sarcastic. He had to know that I had objections; of course he knew that I had them, but he also knew them all ready. "No," my voice sounded reluctant and hesitant.
Adam's voice went back to the normal tone he usually had when we spoke. "Destination set - SR388. Hold on, Lady, we're going into Hyper Drive." The sound of roaring engines filled the hollow spaces of the ship. Slowly the ship turned about to face the direction from which we just came from. Before I could even blink, there was a low 'boom', as the ship flew off into hyper speed.

Final Author's Note: As you may have seen the beginning of this Fiction a re-enactment of the game. Please forgive this, because it felt strange just beginning into the story without something before it. Besides, I needed to provide background for the people who have not played the game. Trust me, if I had intended on re-writing the entire story, it would have been more detailed than that. I hope that I provided enough of a logical explanation in the story on how the X / SR388 survived. As always, I would appreciate every, if any review. Chapter Two is forthcoming, unless you think that this chapter still needs work. Thank you for taking the time for reading it, and please tell me if I should still work on this chapter, or move on.