Chapter two is here! This is a character building chapter, so you'll have to bear with the lack of action or dialogue. It'll get better next chapter! I don't own anything Metroid. Now read!

Starting Anew

Great Master Tashi was a very wise, old chozo. He had ruled fairly over the chozo for the past two hundred-eighty-nine years. All of the chozo respected his decisions, and they accepted whatever he said as fact. It shocked everyone twelve cycles ago when he decided to make Samus the daughter of Toré, but by now they all had realized that it was the best thing that could be done for the both of them.

Toré was a single chozo, about eighty cycles old, always being too shy to ever try to find a mate. His bravery was unmatched in the field of battle, and he was quite outgoing when relating to other species, but for some reason he had trouble talking to fellow chozo. He just wasn't very social.

In a sense, Great Master Tashi's choice was quite logical, as Samus was a human, and not a chozo, and Toré is least comfortable with chozo, however Great Master Tashi's main reason for picking Toré as Samus' caretaker was Toré's huge heart. He had always loved children, and had always wanted some of his own, but, being unmarried, could not. He was overjoyed to find out that he would be raising Samus.

Samus was now sixteen cycles old. Shortly after her arrival on planet Zebes and her acceptance by the chozo people, she had been infused with certain elements of chozo DNA to heighten her quality of life. The chozo were incredibly technologically advanced, second to none in terms of science. They were plagued with very few diseases as they had conquered most of them.

Chozo live to be around three-hundred cycles old, whereas humans are lucky to live to see one-hundred. One important reason to fuse Samus with chozo DNA was to greatly lengthen her lifespan. It had been done before in a few other species with great success. Another advantage of having half-chozo blood running through Samus' veins was an increase in metabolism and muscle mass, as well as a natural immunity to numerous diseases.

Samus did not have any trouble adjusting to chozo life: Like all chozo children her age, she could swim adeptly, perform martial arts, and maintain a run for over an hour. The chozo were a deeply religious and traditional people, and they believed that a strong body was the key to a strong mind.

Samus remembered very little about her life on K2-L, the demolished trade planet. She had but one memory of her biological mother and father, and remembered, thankfully, nothing of the day that they died. She was very used to the planet that she now inhabited, filled with the large buildings and littered with statues of famous chozo warriors and leaders.

She always knew that she was different, however. Not just physically, although that was the most obvious feature: She looked very little like these bird people. She was also very different emotionally. She had an excellent relationship with her father, unusual for even chozo children her age. She also was never quite accepted by her peers, yet her father helped her to remain sure of herself.

Rarely did she tarry with the children after training; she usually went straight home to her father. Toré was still learning how to be a father. He made mistakes, and he did his best to correct them, but he wasn't perfect.

Toré and Samus lived just outside of the chozo city, Chozodia. They lived in a small but sturdy stone hut, like most chozo, and they had a firepit outside. While the chozo were very technologically advanced, many of them chose to live simply, only manipulating technology when it was beneficial to both the chozo and their environment.

The chozo were trained fiercely in the art of war, even though they were generally peace-loving creatures. They had the most powerful warfare technology in the civilized universe, but they wouldn't dare use it unless they were driven to do so.

Little did the chozo know that they would be forced to use their weapons within the next twenty cycles…