The spaceship flew through the skies with ease, being piloted by the best of them. Inside, the pilot, Samus Aran, was using the onboard computer to determine the time of landing. A message flashed onscreen, and a voice, rather dulcet and mechanical, repeated what was onscreen.

"Samus, I believe we will be landing on the surface of Zebes in approximately 5 minutes."

"Thank you, computer." She lay back in her chair, and pondered. "Zebes… It's been awhile. Haven't been here since I was a child. It's such a shame the Pirates took over. I guess that's' why they called me in."

Her ship landed, the hatch opened, and she jumped out.

"Ah, Crateria. It feels good to be back here."

She turned right, shot the door open, and entered the caverns of Zebes.

the caverns were just as dark and lifeless as she had remembered. After wandering the caverns for a few minutes to regain her bearings, she came upon the elevator to Brinstar. She took it, leading her down even deeper into the cavernous planet. At the end of the shaft were the caverns of Brinstar, an area that interchanged between jungle and rocky scenery. It was a beautiful sight. After wandering the caverns for awhile, she spied something. She had never seen anything like it before-It was spherical in shape, with a pulsating, yellowed glow emanating from it. She activated her scan visor mode. The HUD screen pulled up a display. Like with the ship, a voice accompanied the display.

"That would be the Morphing ball, Samus. It allows your suit to contract, and get into smaller spaces than your size would normally allow."

"Are there any more items like this around here, computer?"

"Well, Samus, I would assume that, since you were raised here by the Chozo, you should know where they hid this stuff."

"The chozo never told me about these upgrades, other than the fact that they existed. I never knew where to find them. So, are you going to pull up the information, or not?"

"Affirmative, Samus. My scans indicate that several other Chozo-made items exist in Brinstar."

"Can you show me the locations?"

"Affirmative, Samus." The HUD pulled up a 3-D map of Brinstar, with the locations of the other items marked in red. "These are the locations of all Chozo-made items in Brinstar."

"Which one is closest to us?"

"That would be the missiles, Samus." The HUD zoomed in on the location of the missiles. "Shall I pull a smallscreen view of the other items for your reference?"

"Yes, that would be great."

Samus touched the morph ball, and it… well, it wasn't really there at all. What Samus saw was just a data-created hologram, so when she went to touch it, the data dispersed, and was adsorbed into her suit.

"Go on, Samus, try it out."

"Very well, computer. Morph ball function, on."

As soon as she said that, the suit contracted, and it existed as a ball, roughly 1/3rd the size of her suit.

"Morph ball function, off."

And like that, the morph ball deactivated, and Samus was back.

Samus wandered along the hallway of Brinstar for awhile, when she came upon a most stunning predicament-The hallway ended abruptly. Samus pulled up her HUD

"Computer, what happened? I don't remember t his being like this before."

"Perhaps there was a cave-in, Samus. My scanners indicate you are right near the missiles. Perhaps if you entered morph ball form and searched around that way, you would find something."

She activated her morph ball function, rolled around, and, to her surprise, rolled right into a small antechamber containing the missiles. She unfurled herself, and pulled up the HUD.

"So I see you took my advice, Samus. That would be the missile expansion, thought, you already knew that. They are activated by pulling the shift control stick inside your arm cannon down, and charging. It uses up a unit of energy stored in your suit's energy bunkers. Don't worry about running out, though. You suit recharges those bunkers automatically."

"I think I know how my own suit's energy bunkers work, computer."

"I was only reminding you, Samus. The missiles are concussive, and possess a limited homing function. I think you'll really enjoy using them."

"Very well. What can you tell me about this room? Do your scans reveal anything?"

"Affirmative, Samus. The wall appears to be made of tarrite, a brittle material vulnerable to concussive blasts."

"Then I'll just have to clear a way out for myself, won't I?"

She coked her arm cannon, pulled down on the control stick, charged up a missile, and fired. It blasted a hole right through the wall, revealing another hallway. In the hallway were two sleeping space pirates. Samus quickly shot the head off of one of them. The resulting explosion woke the other one up.

"Holy shit! What the hell did you do that for?!"

"He was in my way."

"Did the Federation send you?"

"Yes. Bounty Hunter 1st class, Samus Aran. Known to you wretched creatures as "The Hunter."

"The Hunter… oh shit…"

Samus grabbed the pirate by the throat.

"Who's in charge here?"

"I ain't speaking."

"Then I guess I'll just have to blow your head up, too. However, if you speak, you run the chance of getting out of this alive."

"Okay, okay, I'll talk. Lord Kraid's in charge here, I suppose."

"Kraid?"

"Yea, that's what I thought too. I don't know what Lord Ridley sees in that oaf, but he must see something if he's letting him be in charge of something as important as this base."

"Wait, Ridley's here?"

"No. Lord Ridley's away. That's why he left Kraid in charge."

"Where can I find this "Kraid"?"

"Lord Kraid is in Lower Brinstar, but you'll never find the elevator."

"That's why you're taking me to it."

"Alright, follow me."

So the pirate led Samus (though only by fear of death. Funny what it does to people, isn't it) to the elevator shaft room. It took awhile, but the pirate knew his way around the tunnels of Zebes just as well as she used to, so it only took a short while. They finally reached the elevator shaft room, 'and guarding the door to it was an enormous statue of a beast's head.

"Alright. Here it is-The elevator to Lower Brinstar. Lord Kraid is somewhere inside. I held up my end of the bargain, now let me go."

Samus looked at him, and, with an almost happy tone, replied.

"Sorry, I don't make deals with scum. Goodbye."

With that she shot his head off, and kicked his corpse as it fell to the ground. She stepped onto the elevator portal, and set the controls to down. She was going to Lower Brinstar.