CHAPTER 2: Enter the Hunter

"Look out, Fox!" came a shrill cry.

Fox turned to react but was barreled over suddenly by something he couldn't see. He felt a strange sharpness piercing his fur and he yelped, flailing to try and knock whatever it was off. The more he struggled to get away or shoot over his shoulder, the more drained he felt. When he stopped thrashing so wildly, he realized that it made no difference. His energy was being siphoned from his body!

Straining again to make his body function, Fox whirled and gave another attempt to fire over his shoulder. It worked this time and he gave a relieved breath as he felt the sharpness retract from him. Not wasting any time, he scurried to his feet to find his assailant.
It certainly wasn't what he expected.

The Metroid jiggled in the air and screed at him angrily, clicking its mandibles again. Fox lifted both arms and aimed at it without a second thought. The blast from his gun caused the floating creature to bob backward a bit with a surprised "Warwhak!"

"Fox!!" came the call again. Fox glanced towards Slippy's voice and saw that his comrade was half submerged in the water where his ship had been left. He waved a hand frantically. "Quick! Over here!!!" Fox glanced back at the Metroid, which looked like it was still trying to regain its bearings. Quickly he dashed over towards Slippy. Just as he was a couple feet from the pool of water another angrily scree came from behind him. "Duck!!!"

Instantly Fox dropped to the ground and covered his head. The charging Metroid flew overhead and smacked into the stone wall by the waterfall there. It wobbled again, bewildered. Fox scrambled over to Slippy who instantly pulled him underwater. Before anything could be explained, the frog gestured for Fox to follow him. Fox did so, semi dog paddling, and just hoped his wingmate didn't forget he wasn't an amphibian.

Fairly soon they surfaced again in a small room that the water led to. Fox sputtered and clambered up out of the water, his fur sticking up a bit from its new moisture.

"What the hell was that??" He asked, wiping his face with an arm as Slippy surfaced and bobbed in the water.

"I'm not sure.! I haven't seen anything like it before. It's awful aggressive, though. All I've been able to tell is it doesn't like water!"

"Ehn..," Fox groaned lightly, reaching to feel the light wounds on his back.

"Did it get you bad?" Slippy asked, slipping out from the water to come look.

"That thing is dangerous. It felt like it was sucking the life outta me," Fox sort of replied, looking at the bit of blood on his glove now. "Damnit."

"I shoulda warned you earlier, but if I'd said anything it would have been right on me. They'd been attacking my ship ever since we lost contact," Slippy said, inspecting the wounds.

"They?.There was more?" Fox asked, half turning, then hissed and sat straight forward again.

"Yeah. I went to pick up my tools from outside when I was talkin' to ya and there was about five or six of them trying to mow down on my ship! Once they saw me they flew after me screeching something terrible. I fell into the water here and they didn't come after me so I assumed it was the only safe place."

"Leave it to you to land on the craziest planet in the area."

"I'm sorry, Fox.. Really."

"It's alright," Fox replied with a grunt. The pain was starting to subside. The wounds weren't deep but they sure smarted. "Did you see where the others went?"

"Naw. I assume they got bored and left but that one seemed bound and determined to sink its.whatever those were into me." Fox got to his feet, giving his shoulders a testing stretch with a flick of his tail.

"Well, I'm not sure I want to attempt going back out there just yet. All we can really do is have a look around and see if we can't find another way around to the Arwing. I just wish this place wasn't so foreign."

"Right-o," Slippy replied and followed Fox as he walked down the small stretch of hall towards a polygonal door. Stopping in front of it he looked for a handle or mechanism of some sort to open it. There was nothing in plain sight. "Maybe you hafta push it. Ya know.like those ancient doorways.," his comrade offered.

"I guess," Fox replied, stepping forward to try giving the door a good shove. It didn't budge or give any hint that it planned on moving. Fox's fur bristled a bit again in frustration. "We don't have time for this!" Pulling out his blaster he aimed it at the door, intent on blowing it up.

"Are you sure you should--?" Slippy began. Fox fired. The door didn't melt or deflect the shot like Slippy had suspected, but rather the door opened up upon impact. Both blinked and Fox looked at his blaster.

"Okay, now I know this place is screwed up," Fox said, holstering his blaster and walking through the door with Slippy close behind.

Back at the landing site in Tallon's Overworld another ship was descending through the clouds. It's fiery underbelly blasters rotated according to ensure a clean landing. The ship itself was stout in height and was colored a bright orange. It seemed very simple in structure, the only real noticable feature being its greenish front window.

Once the ship had settled, a hatch at its top shifted and opened, raising up a figure to its surface. The equally orange armor clad bounty hunter took a glance around and tried to decipher the situation. She had caught remnants of foreign ship signals around the system, and had become a bit alarmed when she found out one of them was on Tallon. The signal, once properly analyzed, was found to be non-Pirate. This relieved her, but she had continued on to check it out anyway.

Samus Aran, or the Hunter, as she was known by the Space Pirates, knew that the Metroids had begun to breed on this planet. Knowing they could be quite the hassle to anyone who didn't know how to deal with them, she'd been keeping tabs on the planet..figuring she might monitor the little creatures herself. ..It also occurred to her she might find many a job opportunity saving poor saps who were dumb enough to venture unwittingly into the area.

It seemed her instincts were right as they often were. The two empty ships gave her hint of that much. Hopping down off her own, she began walking along to inspect the foreign machinery, scanning it with her visor.

The one ship still seemed to be in working condition. She only hoped her possible new employers were still in one piece as well.