Metroid Theory - A Metroid Fan fiction by Seraphicaran. R&R.

=Notes=

Yeah…all right…I'll admit it. I'm a first time publisher; so don't be too harsh on me. Besides this is only chapter one of a fic that will encompass all of Metroid Prime (hopefully I can beat Ridley in time to finish it). I've used a bit of artistic license on some parts, the ship's computer for example. I also tried to add a bit of humor in light of the dark settings. Yeah, but if you'll read it, you'd find the things. I'm really looking forward to hearing feedback and to finishing the fic entirely.

=Eve is short for Electronic Verifying Entity© Seraphicaran 2003. =

=End=

= Chapter 1 =

All she could hear was the distant alarm ringing that seemed to draw closer as she became more and more conscious. The computer, chirping with bells and whistles, notified her of the message it had intercepted. The woman finally got up from a lazy slumber, then looking over to the neatly stacked pile of armor that she wore constantly. She picked up the chest piece first, the corset-like apparatus wrapping around her black arming jack forming to fit her midsection. Then she slid into each of the leg pieces, which, like the cuirass, slowly shrunk till it had fit her. She hoisted the telltale shoulder pieces of her beloved Varia Suit, then slipping on the gauntlets and her gun arm, which clicked until it was completely augmented to her system. She then dropped her helmet onto her head, her hair now balled into a knot at the top of her head. The helm hummed to life as the green HUD displayed information pertaining to her surroundings. It was then that she looked into the polished Chozo Ornament, posing for a second before belting out:

"Who's the greatest hunter in the known Universe?"

The computer, in an unusual singsong tone voiced the refrain:

"Samus! I have picked an unidentified distress signal emanating from a derelict spacecraft in orbit of Tallon IV. I have also made the effort of…"

The computer's usual salvo of information was cut off by a quirky grin from Samus.

"I know…I know…you made the effort to plot a course directly there. I don't know how many times you've told me that." Samus' voice took a sarcastic tone, one that the computer didn't catch.

"Only 4 times prior to this occurrence Samus. Your criticism is illogical and unneeded."

"You kept count?!" Samus would have stumbled if she hadn't been holding onto the small table near the back of the ship. She was dumbstruck by this computer's haughtiness.

"How could I not?" The computer was acting rather methodically for one of its kind. It then, the shock written upon Samus' face gone, continued. "I have linked my initial reports of the surface of Tallon IV to your data banks."

"Thank you Eve. Initiate the landing sequence for the ship. I'm going to have a look around on the deck."

"That is highly unadvisable Samus. I have traced the source to the ships reactor core, which is prone to collapse. Not only is the reactor core starting to degrade, but the hull is stable at only 42%…" Once again an order-barking Samus, who seemed quite peeved at Eve's stubbornness, cut off the computer.

"Just initiate the landing sequence Eve. With all the data I'm getting from you it should not take long. Besides," She said this, picking up a purple tipped missile, "I can always blast my way out."

"The probability that you, in your attempt to escape, will be taken down with the massive ship is peaked at 74.312%. Your use of missiles raises that percentage 10.243%."

"So you're telling me I have a 15.445% chance of survival. Well then I guess I'll have to be careful Eve."

"You'll be dead," Eve, said this in a caring way, but it was obscured by Samus.

"Just what is that supposed to mean?" Samus asked, narrowing her eyes towards the controls at the front of the ship.

"I have landed the ship. Take care Samus."

Samus made her way to the egress hatch, looking upwards as she rose to meet black starry skies and what looked to her as a hunk of junk hanging barely over a rainforest world. She looked at the all too familiar force fields in place and determined one thing from them: Space Pirates. After a flashy entrance, and a bit of gun work, she had reached the pressurization room. A knot turned in her stomach as she reached the pressurization chamber. The knot jumped up into her throat as small chunks of metal fell to the floor, no longer suspended in mid-flight. "It's nothing but metal, besides, I'm sure from what the message said, that all life forms upon the ship have…"

"…Rallied in the Reactor Control room." Eve chirped blandly, and it wasn't easy waiting around for hours upon hours while Samus had all the fun.

The door to the first actual chamber, marked the atrium on her overhead map, was just up ahead, as she moved stealthily through the hallway. Much to her surprise, the door opened without much effort on her part, sans the quick burst of fire required. The map shifted as she crossed the threshold into a larger room, that, in the far right corner, had odd shaped boxes stacked, one of them cracked open, a blue mineral-goo having seeped out. But what struck Samus the most was the large, corpulent corpse that lie across the center of the room.

"What the hell…" She flipped to the scan visor, taking in all the information she could gather about this gargantuan cadaver. "Evidence of binary evolution, obvious signs of increased aggressiveness and a foreign substance known as 'Sulfuric Acid' lodged inside the vestigial cheek patches." She had checked the entire corpse before moving on towards the chunky blue ooze. "Eve…Would you mind checking this against all the Mineral/Building Substance files? It would be most appreciated."

"As you wish Samus." Eve chirped again, this time, the epitome of dullness. Back in the Hunter, the computer's database hummed in its monotone processing, then bringing back a result. "Reports of this newly discovered element dubbed 'Phazon' have reached the Galactic Federation Headquarters. It is highly toxic and capable of forcing evolution upon non-shielded beings. According to the recent data collected, subjects exposed to 'Phazon' without any barriers have symptoms similar to space madness: Rapid muscular growth, Degeneration of brain tissue, Increased aggressiveness, Development of non-characteristic features, and Enormous skeletal growth. Frequent exposure to 'Phazon' can result in death. It is a controlled substance under the 'Mutative Mineral Act 1127 - Subsection C, Articles 1-10.' I suggest you keep your distance until you find a way to properly counteract these side effects.

"Easier said than done…" She muttered under her breathe, making her way silently towards the other side of the room, stopping for a moment, punching the blinking red light, to examine the coordinates for the recent expulsion of escape pods. "Eve…" Samus said again, blinking silently, as if batting her eyelashes in accordance to her request, "Please store these coordinates…" She read them off the screen, Eve taking the time to record them into memory. "Thank you Eve."

"You're very welcome Samus." Eve would have wondered, if she could, when Samus had last thanked her, but she didn't pay any attention before. At last Samus had made her way to the outside of the Reactor Control room, the knot once more forming in her throat at the site of the grossly disfigured Zebesians outside of the door. She found such explanations for their state as these: "The blood of the subject has been forcefully removed, perhaps used to foster another being." and "Subject appears to have perished due to massive cranial trauma combined with exoskeletal damage due to large bites."

"Just what exactly are they holding here, a zoo?" She tried to calm herself "Yeah but when the zoo has a problem, the staff doesn't turn up maimed, bloodless, and bitten. I bet the pirates have been using Phazon to bolster the power of their latest captives…Serves them right to be eaten by them." She finally opened the door, looking upon the familiar blue-orange glint of a reactor shaft. "Don't tell me that…" Samus was cut off by a voice she could have recognized in her sleep.

"There is a large creature heading your way, and I have taken the initiative to download the biological information directly into your visor. It is a detailed description listing possible attack venues. Good luck."

"Tell me about it." The creature that she had stumbled upon in The Atrium was now staring her down, encased in the reactor shaft. "And let me guess, those blue fields were built to keep these kind of things out." It was true. The moment Samus opened fire upon the creature, the shielding scattered, rebounding all of her shots in odd directions.

"Samus…Your firing has caused a degradation in the hull. It is now at 40.432% stable. Please be careful, and time your shots."

"Yeah…I will." Samus seemed frustrated with both the computer, and the being that she had identified as a Parasite Queen. The queen had reared back, and, in a moment of beastly stupidity, launched a spray of acid directly into the reactor's shielding, which happened to hit itself in the face in its reflection. Samus took the moment to laugh through the cold shell of the Varia Suit. "That's…Hilarious…Must…Remember…That" She chuckled more as the Queen was shaking off the acid, which had eaten holes in the converted acid sacs, which discharged acid onto its broad shoulders. Samus had now taken into consideration that it was ready for another volley, and, judging by its posture, was ready for another assault. This strike had caught Samus completely off guard, rendering a portion of her suit scoured clean by the Sulfuric Acid. "DAMN! Remind me that I have to clean this when I get back to the Hunter. This was a pretty dirty suit. And to think, I didn't even bother to where a tie." The area at which the acid had landed was obvious. Every other portion that wasn't hit was a dirty, carbon-scored orange-black. She had assumed the beast was on its last legs, and so she didn't really attack until she was sure to hit it, which required her to use the trademark ability she carried with the armor. And that was…The Morph Ball. "Look…I'm on a roll now! Watch out for me, because I'm a balla!" Her lines were a bit cliché and corny, but she liked them. She rolled up from the ball in the non-flashy fashion, pausing a second to acquire a confirmed lock-on, and when the reticle flashed red, Samus fired a single rocket, which careened through the scrambled shielding into the Parasite Queen's mouth before exploding, sending the beast's head through the shielding to land at Samus' feet. "Now that's a way to get ahead." She laughed a small nervous laugh, as the corpse fell into the core. She laughed again as she gave the severed head a good kick, sending it down with the body, and that's when her mood was broken. The head had seemed to be just enough to crush the core, beginning the cataclysmic crash.

"Samus…The recent events have destroyed the Reactor Core. The ship has begun to descend into the atmosphere rapidly. Please exclude yourself from these proceedings. I have mapped the most direct route for you. Please take caution as you proceed." Eve was proud of herself, as she had out-done everything she did before, even with the way she had put it.

"Thank you Eve…Your efforts are priceless and deserve my many thanks." Samus tried to put an extra flourish on her reply, attempting to one-up the computer's lingo. At that same time, the frigate's own PA system belched out a garbled Evacuate, which sounded like "Educate" to Samus, but it wasn't any matter. The estimated time till frigate collapse was a brisk 6 minutes, as the timer in the visor ticked down second by second. She turned to find herself at the first of many doors on her route to safety, unaware of the perils that lie ahead. Retell

= End of Chapter 2 =

= End notes. =

To those who will read this, if you would please review it thoroughly and give me suggestions, it would make me smile, and I'm not a smile-person. I beat Ridley and Metroid Prime, the game entirely, so I have experience it in full. I look forward to publishing the second chapter soon (the second chapter covers the evacuation through her landing…It will mainly be a reflection on what she found on the frigate), and after that the third. I hope to make all the Metroid-veterans proud with this story, and I feel that this fic, in its entirety, is an accurate tale, save for the humorous interjections and the "Queen" incident.