Next chapter is up! There's a lot of dialogue in this one. You'll just have to bear with me. This fic is far from over!
Chaos
"Where is everybody?" Samus muttered to herself, feeling a knot form in her stomach. The streets were empty. All of the lights were out in all of the houses. Samus and Caern walked down the lonely streets, looking for a hint as to where everybody was.
Feeling her heart pound harder, Samus began to run to her house where she lived with Toré. Flinging open the door, she found that it was completely empty. She ran throughout the different rooms, finding nobody.
"Toré!" Samus called, now worried sick. "Where are you?"
"What's going on, Samus?" Caern asked, distressed. Samus didn't seem to notice him. She didn't seem to notice anything. She was walking around in a fog, completely numb. After a few seconds, Samus ran out the door. Caern followed her.
"Where are we going?" Caern yelled to Samus, who was quickly distancing herself. He followed her to a large building in the center of the town. Upon reaching the huge double doors, he was met with a strange sight.
Hundreds of bird-people sat in a stadium-like building, all watching a small figure standing in the center of the stadium. He was speaking to all of them.
"… The council and I have voted, and we have decided that it would be in our best interests to go to war!" The stadium immediately went abuzz. Samus, who was standing in an isle, gasped. The chozo go to war? Why, there had only been three wars in chozo history before, and two of them had been civil wars.
"Now," The speaker continued, "I realize that this may come as a shock to all of you, but the pirates pose too much of a threat to simply ignore. You may or may not recall their attack on the space colony K2-L many cycles ago, obliterating all sentient species on that planet. The space pirates are a formidable opponent, not to be taken lightly.
"Their recent attack on Chozodia has left all of us shaken. Some of us have lost loved ones," At these words, Samus' heart jumped, "some of us good friends, and some of us have lost our jobs. We must not lose our hope. The pirates will come again, and this time we will be ready.
"At least at first, all military enlistment will be voluntary. You need not fight if you don't want to. However, we need as much help as we can get to drive out the pirates. We know from their violent history that the pirates will not leave until they have been beaten, or they have attained their goal. In this case, their goal seems to be the complete destruction of the chozo people and all they have worked for.
"We have learned from an intercepted pirate message that they are doing experiments on the natural species of our planet. They are searching for the perfect biological weapon, and they are willing to stop at nothing to find it. We fear that they will not exclude the chozo people from their sick experimentations." Again, the stadium went atwitter.
"It will be dangerous, but we will be assembling an army to start an offensive attack on the space pirates' base itself. It appears that they have stationed themselves somewhere in the long-abandoned mines of Brinstar. It is also believed that the pirates have positioned themselves in a series of caves to the West of Brinstar called Tourian.
"The pirates' weaponry is advanced, and their soldiers are savage. Anyone who signs up to help with the offensive will face grave peril. You must truly be dedicated to the task and willing to lay down your lives for Chozodia if you decide to accept this task. Before jumping into any decisions, you must carefully consider your options.
"There will be a desk outside as you leave. I ask all of you to sign up for some position in the war effort, be it on the front line, or a supporting role. The chozo there will help you get started. I thank you all for being here, and I hope you all are able to make wise decisions."
Slowly, the chozo began to emerge from their seats, each talking to their neighbors about what they had just heard. Samus ran about, Caern barely managing to stay behind her. She was darting here and there, looking for Toré. When she could not find him anywhere, she ran down to the center of the stadium and approached the speaker.
"Master Yurh," Samus said, panting. He turned away from gathering his papers together and faced Samus.
"Why, Samus! You're alive!" He exclaimed, astonished. "We had thought the pirates had caught you."
"They did," Samus explained, "But we escaped."
"We?" Master Yurh inquired.
"Oh! Yes, me and Caern, another human the pirates were holding captive," Samus told him. Seeing Caern standing back, she ran to him, grabbed his arm, and brought him to Master Yurh. "Master Yurh, this is Caern. Caern, this is Master Yurh. He is the leader of the chozo people, with whom I have grown up." Caern gave a bashful smile, and Master Yurh nodded to him.
"Samus," Master Yurh started regretfully, "I am afraid that Toré went to look for you several days ago. He has not returned since." Samus looked at him, her heart ripped to shreds. "I am truly sorry…"
After a moment, Samus' face became stern again. "I am going to find him," She said, gripping the space pirate gun in her belt. If the situation weren't so grave, Master Yurh would have laughed.
"Samus, you can't possibly expect to storm a space pirate base, looking for your father with only a gun and a wrist blade," He explained regretfully.
"I don't care! I'll find Toré or die trying. He's the only family I have left!" Samus shouted, adrenaline pumping through her veins.
Master Yurh sighed. "Samus, come with me. There's something I think you should see."
Samus was a bit annoyed that Master Yurh was wasting time, but she decided to go with him anyway. Caern followed both of them out of the stadium and down to a large, dome-shaped building. The door had a security lock on it, and Master Yurh had to swipe a card and place his finger in a sensor to gain access. The two humans entered the building apprehensively, intimidated.
Master Yurh led the two down a bunch of long corridors and through several rooms. Eventually, they came to a door that said, "EMPLOYEES ONLY." Samus and Caern exchanged glances as Master Yurh unlocked the door. They followed him into a large room with several computers and power tools all around. He led them to a large glass tank, in which there was an orange power suit.
Samus gasped. She had seen the chozo wear power suits like this several times before. Like all power suits, the right arm was replaced with a blaster. Unlike all of the other power suits Samus had seen, the helmet did not have a long space for a beak: It was completely flat, with a T shaped, green visor. The feet were not large and wide like a chozo's, they were more like human boots than anything else.
"Toré had this made for you, Samus," Master Yurh explained, "He was going to give it to you on your eighteenth birthday. He was going to take you to explore the galaxy with him. He wanted you to see the place where you were born." Samus stared in awe at the shining orange suit sitting in front of her. It was the most beautiful and most terrifying thing she had ever seen.
"I think that now is the time that it will come in handy." Master Yurh announced, almost triumphantly. The chozo power suit was a technological wonder. It was not entirely mechanical, as it had biological features as well. For example, a chozo never needs more than one power suit in his life, as it grows with the user. It can also sense and regulate things such as body heat, heartbeats, and breathing.
"This power suit was equipped with a scan visor, charge beam, morph ball, and twenty missiles. At a later date we can upgrade it to give you more features as they become necessary," Master Yurh was saying. "Now, let's get you suited up and I'll teach you the basics."