Metroid: Show Off
By Chris Walden
This is another Super Metroid add-on story and is based after the story,
The Kihunters, written by John Morey. I give him full credit to everything I now know about Metroid; Also to TJ who allowed me to continue my passion to write about my ideas. And also to all the guys at the MDb that made my dreams come true. And now, Show Off. Also to my grandmother who inspired me to write books for my own passion and for her.
Introduction
It has been six months since the destruction of the Kihunters and their MASTER. Samus Aran, and Armstrong Houston had fought on the desolate home world of the Kihunters, Tsebnash. The two bounty hunters were alone in their attack against another army of metroids. Just recently, Ridley, the dragon space pirate that had once been under Mother Brain's control, and fought on the side of the Kihunters, until he had a change of heart.
He decided to fight with Samus and Houston for the good of the universe. He was not trustworthy for some time, but his motive to fight for good was increasing every time Samus saw him. He and the two famous bounty hunters fought their way to Tsebnash while the Kihunter fleet was attacking Earth, as the Galactic Federation fleet struggled to win. Samus succeeded in destroying the MASTER in a mental battle.
Gel'Gen, a name you might know well by now, is the last Chozo to have taken care of Samus, and taught here all the basics of fighting and battle that she knows now, except for the experience of all the wars she's won against evil. Currently, Ridley is not a complete mess on Earth, and he is up to living a good and worthy life like the rest of his race had. You see, his home planet was destroyed in the war with the Kihunters. Samus and Houston still work for the Federation, and are a little closer now, knowing that they ware brother and sister once separated in an accident long ago. But they do their job, and they do it well. If you need a better explanation, I suggest you read The Kihunters first.
Chapter 1: Target Practice
KABOOM!!!
The alloy plate was dented good, but had the blaster handgun been charged up, it could have been shattered. The Federation Policeman had made a good hit on the dummy target. Just on the right side of the torso.
Dozens of other people with blasters and handguns lined up to the counter separating them from the wide shooting arena for rifleman of all kinds to test their skill. Sounds of shooting was instantaneous.
He aimed again.
He missed.
"What? How could I miss that?" exclaimed the officer.
"Because you suck at it. That's why." Said another policeman drinking out of a mug nearby. "You need hit the guy in the head to kill him, Tom ." Obviously, this guy was not handy with a gun.
"Aww, shut up Dan. I'm getting better every minute. I'll be a bounty hunter in no time. The Federation just isn't looking very hard." Tom bragged. He really did wish he could shoot like a bounty hunter.
He got fed up and went to the weapons exchange for a new idea.
"Hey Harvey, got a plasma rifle for me? I wanna blow some shit up."
The heavy and muscular man behind the counter tried to look surprised.
"I hope you're not talking about your office, because Hardy was lookin' over the totals on the fed records, and was doin' some recruitin'. You don't wanna screw this one up." Then other policemen joined in unison,
"Yeah, Tom, don't wanna miss your big opportunity!"
Tom was getting tired of all this crap, all he wanted to do was get rid of that alloy plate and get on with his job. "Just give it to me, Harvey," he demanded. The large man lost his humor and frowned at Tom as he handed him the bulky plasma rifle used in all-out war situations.
Tom heaved over the weight and hauled it over to his shooting position. It took him all of ten minutes just to get the thing turned on and carefully aimed at the target 150 feet away. What am I doing? I don't need to aim with this thing. Tom thought briefly, and he fired.
The large blue beam of energy came out with so much force that he was knocked back, and stopped shooting quickly. Almost everyone was laughing at him and the mess he made of the shooting gallery 150 feet away.
"Hey, that wasn't bad. But I'll show you a trick to workin' that thing," said a voice from a new person in the gallery. Tom glanced up at his audience member who happened to see his clumsiness too.
The person was average height, with brown hair combed straight downwards, he wore a familiar armor suit Tom had seen on the Federation's best warriors. He had his own blaster in a holster. And offered Tom his hand to help him up.
"You always shoot like that? Just gotta hold your footing, that's all. Oh, and it helps to aim – I think more than the dummy got some of that."
Tom glanced over at the wreck of twisted metal at the end of the gallery. The new guy was right, a lot more had bought the farm. Basically, the whole back end of the gallery was blown open and a warm breeze from outside could be felt.
"Uh…not really. I'd like to see how you do handle a plasma rifle though. I'm just out here for the kicks." Tom said shyly, feeling the attention towards him being destroyed.
"Well let's see what I've got to shoot at…" the new man started off.
"Hey newcomer, this should do your fancy!" yelled Harvey from the bar. He pressed a button on the computer panel in front of him, and a large, heavy, metal alloy dummy replica of Ridley was lowered into the gallery. Apparently, Ridley was not praised everywhere on the planet.
The man just smiled, and picked up the plasma rifle like it was nothing. He hauled it on his shoulders and spoke calmly to his audience.
"Now, you focus the energy in one spot, charge it up for a few seconds – don't overpower it. And aim carefully…" then he fired.
He didn't even flinch under the recoil.
A new blast of red energy burst out towards the Ridley dummy. It impacted and exploded in a hellfire of flames and shrapnel flying towards them. Everyone ducked for cover, but somehow it was not needed, as the rifleman just stood there…and the explosion did not even come halfway to reaching them. As the dust cleared, the Ridley dummy was not even there anymore!
"There. That's how you fire a plasma rifle with the punch you want."
He spoke softly, and swirled the rifle on his pinky finger alone and handed it professionally to Tom. Everyone was stunned. Including Hardy, who dropped his sub sandwich as he saw what the new talent was capable of. He'd lost his lunch and his appetite after finding his recruit.
Chapter 2: Winter Leave
"WHAT?! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?"
"Really, Ms. Aran, you should know by now that I'm just too good."
"Hyuk Hyuk. Very funny, I'll get you this time Ry."
"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!"
Samus and Ridley grasped the tiny controllers of the Nintendo 64 as they raged on and on about how much they could whup each other in the game they were playing, Super Smash Brothers, and Samus couldn't stand being beaten with her own character. Ridley on the other hand, was enjoying his plight, and tried continuously to convince Samus to play one more round.
Old pals of the war six months ago, they somewhat enjoyed each other's presence, since there was no war, and they and Houston were on leave until spring. (They were on Earth, January of 2637.) Though Samus never really understood the purpose of video games, she had time to relax and get to know her old rival.
"Ry, it's what everyone knows you as around here; you wouldn't know. Besides, you don't want to ruin another controller, do you?"
It was true, As Ridley looked down, he saw what had once been his controller with three handles, now only had one. He remembered breaking something during their game. Well, he still had the buttons left.
"Clumsy things, these controllers, they break so easily. Why weren't they made large enough for me?" Ridley pretended to complain. Samus played along. "They never thought of the galaxy's most dangerous being interested in video games. But you should've told Hardy – he could've cooked something up."
"No way! Not Hardy! That oaf couldn't cook up a tomato soup."
Ridley and Samus burst into laughter, and they nearly fell over thinking of how obese Hardy had become. He may have been the chief officer of the Federation, but he had an appetite larger than his paycheck. But he kept everything in order. Only when Hardy and Houston walked into Samus' lounge, did they become a little startled. Hardy looked a little confused and angry with his best bounty hunters employed in the Federation; Houston followed Hardy in, hiding a explosion of laughter from Hardy.
"What was it that I couldn't cook up for you? Samus, Ridley?"
Hardy looked serious, but you could tell he had enjoyed the pair's sense of humor. "Well, sir, uh…" Ridley stalled, nudging Samus it was her turn to suck up to Hardy. She cleared her throught, "Sir, with all do respect, we were saying how unsanitary McDonalds' food has been becoming, and we agreed that you couldn't cook up such crap anyway, since we all like your cooking…" she was about to go on, but Hardy stopped her.
"Not a word, I'll let it go this time; but watch you mouth Ridley, you can't hid it from me. Now, I just brought Houston home from an interview in a recruit bounty hunter. Houston will tell you after lunch."
Ridley gulped as he swallowed hard. "LUNCH?" was all he could muster.
Samus interrupted in Ridley's fear asking, "YOU'RE cooking US lunch?!"
Hardy stared at her and forced a sarcastic scowl. "I know you have strong feelings for my tomato soup, but Houston thought that we should take a break from it, and try some of his homemade pancakes." Hearing this, everyone groaned.
* * * * *
On the marine planet of Acuar, a lone luxury cruiser floated above the waves that dominated the planet. On board was the planet's ambassador for the Galactic Federation. Her name was Leslie Gentes. She was a large woman, but she looked cheerful with her styled blond hair and blue-green dress. Nobody thought the least of her, and she like to listen to operas, theater performances, and keep the peace on her planet; as well as the tourism since the water world of a planet was a simple, yet elegant planet to be seen. She had gone to her quarters, just coming back from an on-deck opera. She had not taken several steps then when blaster fire was heard on the decks above.
"Oh my goodness, I wonder what kind of pirate band is attacking us now."
Before she could think about where to go for safety, about a dozen Federation soldiers lined up in her room and one step forward.
"Leslie Gentes, the Ambassador of Acuar?"
Leslie replied with much authority in her voice. "Yes, what is this all about? Have you come to protect me?"
The man nodded quickly, and several troops near the doorway were suddenly startled and moved out of the room and took cover in the adjacent hallway. Blaster fire had reached their current level, and was coming dangerously close. "Hurry, we must get you off the ship. Where are the landing bays?" he was suave and rather casual as he spoke in the midst of blaster fire. "Top deck, area 3. You seem pretty calm about all this, soldier."
The man smiled under his helmet. "Well, milady, I've saved metroids and men both, and it is an honor to escort you out of this blast furnace. You're to come with me to the Alpha Centauri Space Station, where you will be protected thoroughly." He said it almost so fast, he might have memorized the whole bit. "Well, thank you. Before we get out, what may I call you by?"
The soldier in the chozo-suit simply answered, "Laguna Ater."
Then he took out his plasma rifle, turned it on, and ushered Miss Gentes out of the fray to Docking Bay 3 on the top deck. He didn't notice that all of his men were nearly gone, and that several lightly-armored space pirates rushed down the hallway to Miss Gentes' room and split up to look for the survivors.
* * * * *
Samus and Houston took a drive to the Federation Police HQ, where Hardy's BIG office was, and all the other biggies of the Federation's enforcement troops handled civilian problems, (or tried to handle them), and just what the police does now hasn't changed much.
Houston's black and shiny T-Bird was rather conspicuous in the streets of Washington D.C. Samus didn't have or grow up with a passion for old 20th century cars like Houston did. They were going to get to the launch pad to get to the famed Alpha Centauri Space Station, where they would protect some ambassador from a planet far, far away. Simple enough.
Ridley said he'd catch up with them later. The pancakes earlier made him sick to his stomach, and was out like an elephant on Samus' couch already too small for him. And Hardy said a little about a third bounty hunter to add to their small group. Both weren't very excited or in the mood. Some new guy cut their vacation short. They'd show him who were the best shots in the galaxy. He'd see. He'd see.