Chapter 8
Samus' ship appeared in space and she followed Ridley onto the closest planet. It was an inhabited planet. One unlike she had ever seen before. Completely untouched by the hands of space pirates, metroids or Mother Brain. It was like a paradise for her eyes.
"Ridley and Mother Brain will not defile this planet. No matter what it takes." Samus thought to herself. She had lost Ridley's trail and decided she would do a scout of the planet. As she flew across the planet, she noticed that there were huge towns of civilization. Some had great technology while others were small and quiet. She also noticed that there were great walls around some of the towns. Most likely for security reasons, though she saw nothing that would threaten them. She had completely forgotten why she was on this planet as the beauty dazzled her. That was until she saw a familiar being appear on her scanners. She veered hard to the left and zeroed in on Ridley.
"You won't get away this time." She said increasing her speed. Though as she got closer, she noticed Ridley was injured. His left wing seemed to be damaged. She flipped a switch on her console and a speaker on the outside of her ship crackled to life.
"Ridley. Give yourself up. You know you can't win. Let's just get this over with!" She said, opening the hatch in the roof.
"Samus?! Nooo! Mother Brain, help me." Ridley said as he dodged to the right. Samus set her ship to land a few kilometers ahead and climbed out the hatch and onto the roof. She leapt off the ship, her cannon firing off a frenzy of shots. Ridley managed to dodge most of them but a few struck him. He started to fall from the sky, but his right wing kept him in the air. Samus charged up her cannon and let loose the powered shot. It struck Ridley, but still he managed to retreat. Samus saw she was higher than originally thought. If she hit the ground at this speed, she would suffer great injury. She grabbed a Power Bomb, set it for 2-second fuse, and hurled it straight down. Then she curled up into a ball. The Power Bomb exploded in the air, and the force slowed her decent greatly. She landed softly on the ground, but to her disappointment, when she looked up, Ridley was nowhere in sight. She walked in the direction she last saw him heading, and approached a small town. When she entered, the residents ran for their homes. She heard one of them call out, "Run, It's Shinra!" She didn't know who Shinra was, but it wasn't important. She continued on and saw a group of children playing in the town square. She approached the children and they stopped playing to look at her. A few parents gasped as they saw Samus get close to the children, but couldn't get the nerve to run to them. She knelt on one knee and took off her helmet.
"Hi there. Did you see a big red dragon fly by here?" She asked. Some of the kids shook their heads, but a few nodded.
"I did. He was real big and like. Like Bahamut, but not quite. Mommy knows what Bahamut looks like." Said a small boy.
"Great, do you know which way he went?" Samus asked, hope rising that she'd pick up the chase.
"Right here, Samus!" Said a sinister voice behind her. She also heard a woman scream.
"Jimmy! My boy!" the woman cried. Ridley was on top of a roof, a child around the age of seven in his grasp.
"Ridley you coward. Let the child go and take on a worthy opponent." She said while raising her cannon.
"That would not be wise Samus. He has no armor. I would hate to crush such a small human." He said giving the boy a small squeeze. The child cried out in pain, and Samus lowered her cannon.
"Alright Ridley, what do you want." She said, helpless.
"Go back home Samus. Leave this place. That is if you want this child to live." Ridley said, an evil grin crossing his face. Samus lowered her head, thinking. If she left, Mother Brain would destroy this planet. If she stayed, an innocent life would be lost. What could she do?
"VANISH!" A female voice cried out the word from beyond the town. The child disappeared and Ridley jumped backwards, releasing his grasp.
"What? Where did he go?" Ridley cried out.
"Interceptor, get the child!" Came a male voice. "Sabin, make him hurt!"
"AURA BOLT!" A blast of pure white light blasted Ridley off the building and he landed hard on the ground. Everything happened so fast, Samus couldn't even react. A team of ten people were rushing the town. There were two females, and eight males. A dog grabbed an invisible form, which materialized into the child, and leapt to the side of the mother. The dog released the child and returned to its owner, a ninja. The team reached the town, and Samus took up a position on the other side. Ridley got back to his feet, took one look around, and bolted off into the sky.
"This isn't my day!" They heard him say as he flew off. Samus looked at the group. Five of them seemed to prepare for battle when they saw her.
"What do you think Barett? Shinra doesn't usually help people. Not to mention that suit is way to advanced for them." One with a large sword said.
"I don't think she's part of Shinra, Cloud. For one thing, she's female. They don't use female troops. Especially alone." Said the man with a gun implanted on his arm. Samus took a step forward.
"I don't know anything about Shinra or this place. But I do offer my thanks in fending off Ridley. I'm glad the child is okay." She said, moving over to the mother and child. They backed off, and Cloud stepped between Samus and the mother.
"Shinra or not, what's with the armor? And why are you here?" Cloud asked.
"My name is Samus Aran. I'm an intergalactic bounty hunter. Ridley is a creature that works for Mother Brain. I believe she is on this planet, and if I'm right, you could all be in very grave danger." She said, calmly. Cloud stood there for a minute, the words only half making sense. Then Cid stepped forward.
"Intergalactic? As in outer space? From another world?" His eyes had a glimmer of hope, and curiosity.
"As a matter of fact, yes. My ship isn't far from here." She said. The look on Cid's face made her smile.
"So you're an alien?" Barett asked.
"Do I look alien to you?" She said, flipping her golden hair around her shoulders. "If anything you're gun attachment is about 2000 years out of date. Not to mention your manners." Samus retorted.
"She's got a mouth on her, and a big gun to match. I think I like her." Barett said with a grin. Tifa and Sabin managed a chuckle and everyone seemed to relax a little. The entire group went into a tavern and sat around a large table.
"Okay so I'm guessing you're not evil. So tell us more about Ridley. Why did he want to harm that child?" Tifa asked.
"To get what he wants. Ridley, Mother Brain and myself come from a different galaxy. I'm not sure how we got here, actually. I followed him into a black hole, and when I regained consciousness I was orbiting this planet. Where I come from, Ridley is the leader of a group of space pirates. Though I don't believe there are any pirates here, thankfully." Samus explained.
"Okay back up a moment here. Why should we fear a brain?" What could it possibly do?" Terra spoke up.
"She's not just a brain. She's a creature that has incredible intellectual powers. She can somewhat influence creatures with a lesser intelligence." Samus clarified.
"You'd better be careful Cid. She might control you." Tifa said with a giggle. Cid growled and the others laughed.
"Though I tend to agree, she almost irradicated multiple species. She took control of creatures called metroids. They had the ability to absorb the very essence of life energy from any living thing. I've already defeated her twice, but thanks to Ridley, she's been reincarnated twice as well. I long for this war to be over." She said sadly.
"Life energy absorption? Sounds like these creatures are exactly like Shinra. The evil bastards." Barett said with a growl.
"Oh don't get me wrong. The metroids weren't evil. They just couldn't help but being controlled. And the energy absorbing could be reversed to help civilization. They could create their own energy."
"They 'weren't' evil?" Sabin asked. Samus' head lowered and a tear rolled down her cheek.
"That's right… I had found a hatchling, the last metroid actually, that took me as its seragate mother. It was beyond Mother Brain's corruption. A true form of metroid. But when it aided me in my last battle, Mother Brain killed the poor creature." Her voice trailed off, and the room went quiet.
"That's so sad." Terra finally said. "I lost my father to an equally evil person."
"I've lost friends and loved ones." Sabin said.
"Those bastards killed my babies!" Cid cried. Tifa pointed out that he meant his airplane and a rocket that was supposed to be launched into space.
"Shinra killed my best friends and fellow fighters." Barett said.
"Sounds like we've all lost something important to us. Usually from what we were fighting against." Shadow said, petting interceptor.
"What have you lost, Shadow?" Cloud asked.
"I'd rather not discuss it." Shadow said. Cloud was about to ask again, but the warning look Sabin shot him was enough to back down.
"Casualties of war I suppose." Mog said.
"Excuse me folks," Said a man from behind the bar counter. "We're closing up for the night."
"It is getting late. We should find a place to stay. Samus, do you have a sleeping quarter in your space ship?" Tifa asked.
"No, I usually don't sleep that much. Fighting against Mother Brain doesn't really afford me that luxury." Samus replied.
"There's an Inn across the road. They should be able to help you folks out." Offered the bartender.
"Thanks!" Sabin said. "Let's head over there and see if they can put us up." The group of now eleven went over to the Inn and walked up to the counter. A short chubby man looked at the group and adjusted his large glasses.
"Howdy folks. Looking for a few rooms?" He asked.
"As a matter of fact, yes. We'll need, hmm. Four rooms." Cloud said, stepping forward.
"Four rooms eh? Well let's see what I've got available." He opened a large book and flipped through a few pages. "Here we go. I don't have much left. For those rooms, it'll cost 1800 gil."
"1800 Gil! You thief! I don't have that kind of cash!" Barett yelled.
"Please sir, you'll anger the other patrons." The man said.
"Will this do?" Sabin said, pulling his hand out of his pocket. In it was a handful of gold coins.
"GOOD GOD SON! THIS IS PURE GOLD! Where on earth did you get it?" He said looking over the coins.
"Uh, I just had it on me." He said, remembering they weren't in their world anymore. After handing over a couple coins, what would have been a mere 25 gold in Narshe, the inn keeper handed over four keys, and pointed out where their rooms were.
"The girls get their own room!" Tifa said looking at the men.
"Why Tifa, you wouldn't suspect us of anything would you?" Sabin said, grinning.
"I don't know about you Sabin, but there's a few faces in there that I don't trust." She retorted. Samus and a few of the guys blushed. They separated into their rooms and set in for the night.