So guys, I'm back with a new story. If you are all wondering why The Heroes of The Lands Between hasn't been updated, I'm about to go to collage so expect delays. And another reason is that I've put some of my time into this.
(By the way update on The Heroes of The Lands Between. It's gonna be big!)
Metroid: A New Acquaintance
Prologue
Samus walked into the Federation's council room. She was 'invited' because there was a situation that required her expertise. "Samus Aran, there has been a disturbance on a planet designated H-D33. We ask that you go and investigate it " One of them said. Samus looked up at him and asked. "Where is this planet exactly?" Samus had become a bit more cautious after the events on ZDR. "It's…it's in the Lost Sector." He replied. "I will be out of my jurisdiction. Plus, I would not have any backup." Samus said, not that she would particularly need backup. "Samus, you are the only one who can do this. We can't send E.M.M.I.s in, so you're going to have to do the job." A voice said. "Chairman…" some voices mumbled. "I'm not one who really investigates." She replied. "This mission's risks are extremely high, yet its reward will be way larger." The Chairman replied.
"What was the disturbance?" Samus answered curiously. "An extremely large energy surge. We have never seen anything like it." A scientist from the B.S.L. said with excitement entering her voice. "But what made it even more mysterious, was that it disappeared before it even started. It lasted a second while it didn't." The scientist said with wide eyes. "I don't exactly understand how that's possible." Samus responded. "Neither do we." The scientist answered back. "Now do you see the importance of this mission?" The Chairman asked. "Yes." Samus replied. "When do I depart?" Samus asked. "Immediately." The Chairman said in a hard tone. "Understood." Samus said as she turned to walk out the door.
—
Samus's ship zipped through space. Stars and planets became nothing but blurs and elongated strands of light. "Approaching destination." The ship's system said. "I once again must warn you lady. The stakes of this mission are high, you have no contact with the Federation and we are in wild space." ADAM warned. Samus ignored what ADAM said. "Entering the atmosphere in 3, 2, 1." The ship system said as she descended to the planet's surface. "I don't know what caused this anomaly, but I will be more than ready for it." Samus thought to herself. What she didn't know is what 'caused' the blip of energy, would be something that she was ultimately unprepared for.
Chapter 1
"Ahgg!" Jack woke up with a grunt. He sat up and looked down at his hands. They were trembling. Jack winced in pain. His body felt like it had been struck by lightning twenty times. He looked around. "Where am I?" He asked aloud. "Vanguard?" Jack asked. Where he was normally answered with a voice in his head, he was answered with silence. Well, not complete silence. He heard the rushing of multiple waterfalls and the chips of birds, although he had never heard these birds before. "Wait, what is this place? I've never seen somewhere more beautiful." Jack said to himself. "What happened?" He said as he placed his hands on his head. "Whatever it was, it sure did hurt." Jack said as the pain finally began to subside. He knew one thing, he was thirsty. Jack looked around. He was in a place surrounded by foliage. Jack got up and walked to the nearest river and looked down at the water. "I should probably build a fire to purify the water, but parasites, bacteria and other biological attackers have no effect on me." Jack said out loud. Yet Vanguard wouldn't respond to him. So he decided to play it safe and boil the water. He sat down after he had built a fire and began trying to piece together how he got there.
"Okay, so you were somehow teleported to another world, hell maybe even another universe!" Jack said with panic in his voice. "Ok Jack it's not that bad." He told himself. Yet he couldn't shake the thought of being somewhere he knew nothing about. "Alright let's try to find some sentient life that isn't hostile." He said. Jack had set himself a goal to try to stop thinking about his current situation. However, questions follow you wherever you go. "Who did this? Only Elderoth has the power to use gates and move through other dimensions." He asked himself. Questions upon questions piled up, and every answer made his transportation only more mysterious. Then he finally remembered. "Wait, Axle has the fifth eye of Elderoth!" The only reasonable answer was right there. "Oh come on Axle, what have you done!" Jack shouted at the sky. However, as he said this he heard a noise that came from the sky. A ship had entered the atmosphere. "Well, that is my best bet at getting an idea of where I am." Jack said as he began to head toward where the ship had supposedly landed. Then, all of a sudden, a certain instinct grabbed him. It felt like it was telling him to run, but he dismissed those eerie feelings.
—
Samus walked out of her ship and began to observe her surroundings. "It's beautiful here." She thought to herself. But she would have to appreciate the scenery later. She had a mission to complete. Samus walked down a small path that led to a bridge. (Note: the bridge looks like it's made of forerunner tech.) "A bridge? In the Lost Sector? Now I'm really interested." Samus said aloud. She crossed it and it led to a rather dense jungle. (Note: looks like the jungle in the Infinity mission from Halo 4.) "It's too quiet." Samus said. "Agreed." ADAM said in response to her statement. Samus looked for anything else that seemed suspicious. But there wasn't much other than the fact that there weren't any dangerous situations. "This is the Lost Sector. I expected I would be jumped upon as soon as I landed." Samus thought. Samus came upon a platform that was built into a cliff. "What is this place?" She asked herself. She ventured past it making a mental note. "ADAM, where is the origin point of the energy signature?" Samus asked her artificial companion. "I have tried and failed to pinpoint the exact location of the signature. I recommend you search for anything that would be considered suspicious." ADAM replied. "Copy that." Said Samus.
Samus observed many different bridges, platforms and obelisks. (Note: they look kinda like the obelisks from Ark: Survival Evolved.) "Why did humanity stay away from a place like this?" Samus probed her mind for an answer to her own question. Samus couldn't find a reasonable answer, so she continued on her way. Samus came upon another bridge. But this one was different. It appeared to be made out of some sort of energy. "At this point in my life, nothing can surprise me." Samus thought. But what did slightly astonish her was that the bridge was on when she got there. Either someone had been here before, which was unlikely, or someone was watching her and turned it on for her. Samus proceeded with caution. When she crossed the bridge and walked some ways up a path. She was reunited with the jungle. But as she was trying to figure out the best route. She heard someone talking. Apparently to themselves, but that wasn't what shocked her. "Someone is here!?" Samus whispered to herself. Samus soon discovered the source of the voice. It was a man, a human man at that. "Damnit! What is a person doing all the way out here!" Samus asked herself in a low voice. "Well, I better get down there and ask him for the answer." She said aloud. "Be careful lady, this could be a trap." ADAM warned. "I highly doubt it." Samus replied as she jumped down.
—
Jack had been walking for about an hour. "How far away did that thing land?" Jack asked himself. He kept heading toward where he thought the ship had touched down. But all he had found was jungle, and some strange obelisks. Jack slowed his pace and began to think about what he should do when he meets the person or people that were on that ship. Were they even going to be human? He had no idea. "Gosh, why do I always have to get the weirdest adventures?" He asked while he wiped sweat from his brow. "What do you mean by always?" A voice said. It was feminine, but stern. Jack turned around and saw a person in an armored suit. "Whoa! That suit looks freaking awesome!" He thought. Well, he wasn't completely sure if it was a person. Jack instinctively took a step back. "Listen, I'm not going to hurt you." She said as she approached with an outstretched hand. As the distance between them closed he saw a face of a woman behind the visor. "Ok so she's human." Jack thought to himself. The woman introduced herself. "My name is Samus Aran. What is yours?" She asked. "Jack…Jack Viror." He replied. "Alright Jack, what are you doing out here?" Samus asked with a raised brow. "I'd like to know the full answer to that myself." Jack responded. "Oh, and what is exactly 'out here'?" Jack asked. "You are currently on planet H-D33." She replied without any thought. Jack blinked for a moment and then asked. "Which means?" Samus looked at Jack with a small amount of concern in her eyes. "It means you're in the Lost Sector." She said.
"Okay, I'm not familiar with this place. But the Lost Sector sounds pretty bad." Jack said in response to her answer. "Bad is an understatement." Samus said as she looked over Jack's body. "How is someone like him surviving out here?" She thought. Jack wasn't weak. His body was muscular. But he lacked stature. Samus could tell that she was a good four to five inches taller than him. "Listen, you need to come with me back to my ship, you'll be safe there." She said. "Hey, I'll be fine." Jack replied. "No you won't! There was an extremely high energy signature and I'm not going to let you die." Samus said with a glare. "Wait, I think I know where that signature came from." Jack said with a raised hand. "What did you say?" Samus asked, her eyes full of surprise. Jack swallowed the lump in his throat and began to say. "Well, my friend Axle has the power to-'' Jack's sentence was cut short by a shot. It would have hit him if it weren't for his enhanced reflexes. Before Jack could fully recover from the near miss. Samus grabbed him and ran for cover. "I knew it! I was being followed!" Samus yelled. "Wait, you were being watched? By what?" Jack asked. "Don't ask questions, just stay down!" She yelled over the strange sounding gunfire. (Note: the weapons sound and look like that of the Prometheans' weapons from Halo. The aliens they fight also look like Prometheans.) What was happening? Why is this happening? Jack asked himself multiple questions, yet he'd have to wait to answer them.
—
Samus didn't know what was attacking them, but she knew that she would have to protect Jack. Or so she thought. Multiple odd looking beings slowly closed in on their position. Samus thought that they were built a bit like E.M.M.I.s, but their appearance was way different. (Note: Promethean Crawler.) "There are too many of them!" She thought. "How can I get us out of here?" Samus asked herself. But before she could make any moves. Something teleported in front of Jack. It was humanoid, but it was some type of highly advanced android. (Note: Promethean soldier.) Samus's blood ran cold. She couldn't get to him in time. It shot at Jack, but he narrowly dodged the attack. It jumped at him and tried to hit him. However, Jack was already countering its blow. He punched inside its chest and pulled out some sort of glowing orb. Jack crushed it and the android fell to pieces. It was so fast that it happened in under four seconds. Samus had little time to comprehend what had just unfolded. Before she could ask Jack how he had killed it, he was already picking up its rifle and inspecting it. "Hmm it appears to use some sort of phase photonics." Jack said as he turned and began to fire at their attackers. "How do you know these things?" Samus asked with a great deal of surprise in her voice. "I just…do." Jack replied with a smile.
Jack destroyed multiple of the strange machines. "Do you have an idea of what these things might be?" Jack asked Samus. "No clue." Samus replied as she took down three crawlers and a soldier. Jack knelt and reloaded the lightrifle. "Last mag. We're going to have to move soon!" Jack shouted. "Where do we go? These things are everywhere!" Samus shouted to her newfound ally. "Head up the side of that ridge. It should give us a significant advantage." Jack replied with a calm tone. Samus grabbed Jack and dashed toward the ridge. "Hey! I can run!" Jack yelled as his voice was partially drowned out by the whipping of the wind. "Not as fast as I can!" Samus responded without looking at him. Jack gave Samus a blank stare. Of course he could run as fast as her. Who did she think he was? Right…a normal human. Jack was completely human, but he had given himself power. That power lies in the Martyem suit. However, he couldn't summon his suit for some unknown reason. "We're almost there!" Samus shouted. Jack saw multiple soldiers teleport in front of them. One such soldier was larger than the others and appeared to hold significant authority over the group. (Note: Promethean Knight.) Samus dropped Jack and took up a defensive posture. "Stay behind me." Samus ordered. Jack stayed behind her, but not because she told him too. It was because of the multiple soldiers that ran up behind them. "Sure…" Jack trailed off. Samus glanced over shoulder to see Jack raise his hands and take some sort of offensive stance.
"Are you going to fight?" Samus asked with an ounce of worry in her voice. "Why wouldn't I?" Jack quickly replied. "Well…you're just a human." Samus said bluntly. That statement pierced through Jack's ego. He couldn't blame her though. He looked and acted normal. But he was anything but a normal person. "What about you? Are you not a human yourself?" Jack inquired. "We will talk later." She responded as she rushed to attack a pair of crawlers. She was quick in her movements. Fast enough to be a blur for any normal person. However, for Jack it was a normal run. As he saw this the Knight attacked Jack by swinging its blade at him. Samus saw the attack, but she couldn't reach him before the blade landed. "No! Why couldn't I protect him!" She thought to herself. But before the blow had hit its mark Jack's hand caught the sword with ease. "That's it! I've had enough!" Jack yelled in an annoyed tone. He clenched his left hand and punched the Knight. It was thrown back at least half a kilometer. Samus's eyes widened in surprise. "H-how did you…?" Samus was too stunned to finish her sentence. The Prometheans were equally amazed. However they did not falter in their attack. Jack took a pair of soldiers out with a kick and spun around with an open palm and struck a crawler on the jaw. Samus fired multiple shots and managed to take down four soldiers and a couple crawlers. The remaining Knight teleported behind her and swung its sword at her. She didn't have time to react. But the blade was caught by Jack. "How is he this strong?" Samus asked herself. He kicked the Knight back and it fired multiple volleys at them. However, Samus fired a couple missiles at it and that managed to do the trick.
The rest of the soldiers retreated by teleportation. "Well…that was inconvenient." Jack said with a smirk. "Okay Jack, it's time for you to give me some answers." Samus asked while she pointed at him. "It's getting dark so why don't I build a fire first." Jack said. "Fire, in this age?" Samus asked accidentally. "What?" Jack asked. "Oh sorry I didn't mean to say that out loud." Samus said. "There is no need to apologize." Jack replied as he arranged the wood for the fire. He took some rocks and tried them for some sparks. They instantly made some. "This doesn't make any sense. The entire environment is artificial." Jack said with a confused expression. He started the fire and sat down for a chat.
—
Samus sat down in front of Jack and removed her helmet. Well, it was more like it absorbed into her. But that wasn't the reason Jack stared at her. He was staring at the face of the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. "Wow." Jack thought. He quit his stare and began to speak. "What would you like to know?" He asked. "How did you get here?" She asked with skepticism on her face. "I was apparently teleported by a friend of mine." He replied. Samus tried to understand what he just said. "Alright, do you know where you're from?" Samus asked with prying eyes. "Yes, but it definitely is not in this universe." Jack replied with a smile. "What!? You're from another universe!?" Samus was shocked to see that her new 'friend' wasn't from her own universe. "Well I have seen weirder things." Samus said as she remembered Phazon and Dark Samus. Her mind was filled with hatred for the latter. Jack saw the emotion in her eyes. He could feel it coming from her like a wave crashing over him. "Bad memories?" He asked. "Yes." She replied quietly, as she hung her head low. "Listen I don't know what you've gone through, but there is no reason to hold on to it." Jack said. "Really!? I've been through hell! My entire life has been a living hell!" Samus yelled as she stood up. "Ah, I see. You lost your parents too." Jack's statement stopped her anger. "Wait what? You also…?" Samus sat back down and stared into her companion's eyes. He was telling the truth. She knew that pain. But how was he so positive all the time? "I lost them when I was seven. I kept blaming myself for their deaths. But why should I keep blaming myself, what good does it do for me or them?" He said with a slight smile. "After ten years of self blame I finally moved on, and focused on finding a way to walk." His statement shocked her. "Wait when you said you tried to find a way to walk, you meant you couldn't actually stand?" Samus asked with a raised brow.
"Yep, and I finally found it!" He said with a happy smile. His positivity was unbelievable. "How can he just put aside the fact that he was attacked a moment ago?" Samus asked herself with a light chuckle. "Hm? What did I do?" Jack asked as he took notice of her slight change in behavior. "Nothing, you're just different than most people I've met." She replied with a smirk. "Umm…okay?" Jack replied with a slightly confused expression. "Next question. What were those things?" Samus asked. "I am sorry to disappoint you, but I haven't the slightest clue." Jack responded. "Really? You seemed to know an awful lot about how they worked." Samus stated with skepticism in her voice. "I knew how they worked, not what they were." Jack said with his hands raised. Samus found his reaction to be somewhat…cocky. "I would understand if you didn't trust me, we only met an hour ago." Said Jack. "I don't fully trust you yet, but you are quite adept at fighting." Samus told him with a smirk. "Well I was trained by the three great titans." Jack said as he twirled some sort of coin in his hand. "The three what?" Samus seemed amused at what Jack had just said. "In my world there are three extremely powerful beasts. The Water Titan, the Land Titan and the Sky Titan." Said Jack, with his usual smile. "It sounds like a bunch of myths." Samus said with a slight laugh. Jack held a straight face. "Surely he's joking, right?" Samus asked herself. Questions were hopping into her mind left and right, but she couldn't come to a proper conclusion. "It's hard to believe what you're saying, then again you did say you're from another universe." Samus spoke. "Either way, we need to head back to my ship." Samus began. "You'll have to stay there so I can finish this mission." She said with a hint of concern in her voice. "Are you trying to keep me safe?" Jack asked with a smirk. "Yes." Samus replied. "Also, what's this mission you're talking about?" He asked her. "To investigate an anomaly." She said, "I'm a bounty hunter, so I accepted the mission for a reward." "I hope you have a strong sense of justice." Jack said as he looked at her. "Of course I do!" Samus shouted in a defensive voice. "Don't worry I know you do." Jack said as he smiled at her. "And can you tell me how you know?" Samus asked, her voice full of skepticism. "I can tell by your emotions." Jack replied with enthusiasm.
"Listen Samus, I'm not going to leave you by yourself to fight those things." As much as I'm touched by your concern, I can't put your life in danger." Samus responded. "Hey, you saw how I handled myself in that situation!" Jack said with a raised voice. "That may be, but you're just a man." Samus' statement crashed down onto Jack like an avalanche. "Oh…oh I see." Jack said in a melancholy tone. Obviously Samus's remark had reduced Jack's mood from the positives to the negatives. "I didn't mean to-" Samus began. "Don't worry, I'm fine." Jack's voice quivered a bit. "Gosh, she's not wrong. I'm completely human, but I'm actually really strong." Jack thought to himself. "It will take some time to get back to my ship, so I guess it's alright if you tag along." Samus said with a small smile. The smile that appeared on Jack's face was so full of happiness that Samus couldn't help but stare. "His mood swings make solar systems look organized." Samus thought as she began to laugh. This had been the first time in a while that Samus felt some happiness. "What's your secret?" Samus asked. "Huh?" Jack responded. "I mean how are you so happy all the time?" Samus asked with a confused expression. "I just want to be happy, and there's nothing stopping me." Jack's response didn't surprise her. "Well let's go! We got a long mission ahead of us!" Samus said as she stood up. "At night?" Jack asked with a puzzled look. "Yes, we need to stay ahead of those things." Samus told him with a straight face. "Samus, I don't know if you've noticed, but those things live here. Which means, they have an advantage, second to the fact that either of us know anything about them." Jack said as he made motions with his hands.
Samus thought it all over. "You're right, but…we need to keep moving." "Alright, but if we get ambushed again, remember, I warned you." Jack replied with a smug grin. Samus smiled, which was sort of unusual. "Let's go." She said as she turned and faced the direction of the anomaly. "Whoever is trying to attack us, I'll find you and eliminate you." Samus thought to herself.
Congrats you made it to the end, I'll see you guys in the next chapters of both of my stories.
