Ch. 6: The Second Creature
"Ow!" Isaac Newton upon the discovery of gravity, (actually a myth, but amusing none-the-less.)
Hovering in space, a small, undiscovered planet experienced dawn for the first time.
Gauzy white clouds that once wrapped up the world like a father's loving arms were slowly drawn apart; first in one place and then another. Shafts of white gold morning light fell like spears onto the ground, onto deep blue stone that shone like obsidian, oceans of green grass that billowed like the sea, lakes of water that glimmered silver and amber. A single tree with boughs connected and tangled like a child's kite string began to grow, new loops forming and fruit budding, forming lacy shadows on the grass.
At the bottom of the lake, something stirred.
The wind whispered across the surface, carrying a Call, sending the first ripples fleeing to the shore across the stillness. 'Wake Warrior. The time has come to fight. The Battle Lines are being drawn. The time has come to move. Dream no more and aid those who would stop that which sends Nightmares.'
The sleeper at the bottom slowly stretched, shifting its neck and leg muscles, thrashing its tail. It unfolded its wings underwater, stretching them taut to their fullest span, the light from above passing through the translucent membrane and casting a multitude of spectrums on the lake floor.
Slowly but powerfully, the outstretched wings rose up until their tips barely touched the surface of the water, mirrored.
Then, in one quick and fluid motion, they beat down and lifted the beast out of the water in an explosion of foam and white flesh.
It took its first deep breath of the free air in the form of a deep, sonorous cry and opened its eyes, bluer than the surrounding stone.
The new beast soared over the lake, then sharply ascended into the sky and out of sight, exiting the world through an opening in the clouds.
" blank this planet."- What's his face from the movie, "Red Planet."
Fox… A strong voice echoed into the distance, sounding out to the horizon and from it at the same time. The Grey horizon, where light hovered uncertainly on the lip of the world, undecided whether or not it would rise, illuminating the restless ground, or sink into darkness.
…Fox… The ground churned like smoke and the voice was gentle.
What are you?
You know who I am. Time seemed slowed. Fox was afraid. He felt small.
The face of the landscape changed drastically and violently, time was forced forward and the smoke rushed with the wind to a point where it formed a violent cloud that rose up and formed a bony hand that raked its fingers across the ground. The sky grew dark and the land was filled with the cloud's screams.
DO YOU WANT TO KNOoOW! It fell apart and formed a roaring dervish that swept down upon him…
Fox Mcloud groaned out loud. His eyelids felt like they were glued shut, images he didn't want to see playing across them like those of a fever dream or gnats. He struggled to open his eyes. He knew that he'd won the struggle when he saw a bluish blur with an anxious face hovering over him.
"Déjà vu..?" he said weakly. Krystal smiled, looking relieved, and called to someone over her shoulder. Fox wasn't quite awake yet and he shook his head, trying to clear his mind. Where was he again? He felt a dull pain above his eyes.
Another figure bent over him and said carefully, "Fox Mcloud, can you hear me?"
"Oww…Uh, yes?" That was his name after all.
"I need you to lie still for a moment, everything is alright," the strange voice soothed. That wasn't Krystal-
"Okay." -but it was reassuring enough. He heard a beeping, followed by voices that drifted over him.
"Mild concussion. Really. He seems a bit out of it, but okay."
"I can see that…will he be able to move around?"
"He should be able to get up; he really doesn't have any choice in the matter."
"What's the matter?" Fox mumbled.
The speaker, who wasn't Krystal, turned to him and said, "You were attacked-- by space pirates. I fought them off, but they'll be returning soon."
Fox mulled this over in his mind. "Oh, okay." He examined Krystal's helper and saw his
face reflected in a green visor set in a blood red helmet. "… Do I know you?"
"No," the helmet person turned to Krystal again and was about to say something, but Fox interrupted her.
"Do we know any…big white hands?" Both the helmet and Krystal turned to look at him again.
"Delirium." A shrug.
Krystal nodded in agreement and Fox felt himself being lifted, heard a grunt. "C'mon, Fox! You're going to have to help me out a little here…" That was Krystal. He fell forward onto his knees and unsteadily rose from there, Krystal putting his arm around her shoulder.
Fox turned to her and said, "Thank you, Periwinkle. I had a dream, but you weren't in it."
"That's a relief, I think..."
"It was really scary."
Krystal said, "Are you sure he's okay?"
"A white beast rose out of the mists and bore down upon me…" Fox looked around and his attention fell upon the helmeted figure, picking up Falco and carefully cradling him in its arms. Copper and red armor…canon…pirates…warrior…random bits of information he had heard over the years fell into the form of a rough picture.
"Hey!" Fox said.
Krystal's Humanoid responded, "What?"
"You're The Hunter aren't you?" Fox wasn't sure where he'd gotten that bit.
Maybe Falco had mentioned it somewhere.
The Humanoid paused for a moment, "Sure," then adjusted her hold on Falco and motioned for Krystal to follow her down a nearby passageway, striding ahead at a quick pace. Krystal watched the other for a moment, then prodded Fox and they hobbled after.
When Krystal and Fox had caught up as much as Krystal thought they could, she questioned quietly, "The Hunter?"
The Humanoid chuckled and said, "Some call me that," the green lights on her armor illuminated the passage, a lava tube, "But my real name is Samus Aran."
Deep in the Ur-Jax, down a wayward stone corridor, a small mechanical apparatus flickered to life. It was attached to the shoulder of a most despicable creature, tall and insect-like with tubing protruding from unnatural places on its body.
The space pirate pressed a few buttons and adjusted a dial. Under the other arm he carried a Plexiglas container filled with a misty blue fluid. The red insignia of captain was stamped across his chest plate.
Across from it stood another pirate, this one with a mechanical arm. The only other one of it's brethren to survive the Hunter's unexpected attack.
They had been unprepared. He had been lucky not to have been damaged. If he had, he may well have been subjected to scientific probing and torture of the worst kind, since he would have been considered worthless and a failure, his usefulness limited to that of a lab animal. He had survived it the first time, and even came out with a lucky enhancement, but he couldn't endure another round.
It had been far too painful and taxing; it had been worth it.
The only reason he had been released the first time was to test the use of the enhancement itself: it worked beautifully. The top part of the arm had the look of a metal pole with geometric etchings down the sides, electrical guides. A silver, sort of stretchy metallic substance was strung from key points on the complicated looking shoulder joint to short parts that radiated from the elbow joint in organic forms that mimicked a musculature system. He had never figured out what the substance was. The forearm was encased in a curved metal sleeve that got larger as it came down to the wrist, making it look bigger than the upper arm. He flexed his fingers, more skeletal and scythe-like than even a normal space pirate's. Not always serving as well as their name implied, they made up for it by making considerably dangerous melee weapons. Mounted on the wrist, slightly imbedded into the sleeve, was the standard pirate Galvanic Accelerator beam weapon. The engineers who made the arm had tried to make the beam more powerful, but eventually decided that it would take too much power away from the cloak. To put the icing on the proverbial cake, imbedded into the entire system was an advanced neural network, allowing him to feel and operate the arm with even more efficiency than he had his real one.
He had adapted to it nicely.
The comm unit on the former pirate sparked a little, and then began to emit a low hum that announced that it was ready to receive and relay a transmission. The captain spoke into it using the course, hissing language of the pirates.
The mission was a failure. The Hunter appeared. The - "Master" - did not do his job! There are only two of us left, myself and Reyaer. We also have the X with us. We need four AAA stealth squads. Here. Now. They must all die… The Captain shifted his grip on the container and reconsidered something. The blue goo inside seemed to shudder. …on second thought, I want the Hunter captured alive for study. That is all. The Captain tapped the device and the transmission was sent.
Was that a wise decision, Morwn? Reyaer asked, hissing quietly. Being his captain's trusted second, Reyaer could speak to him directly without fear of punishment. You might as well have ordered them to leap into an open reactor.
I am aware. However, it has always been a priority for us to capture that hominid. We must have that sort of technology. And we obviously cannot rely on the Master and his "contact" to get things done. The captain snarled. Besides, two animals from the mercenary team were wounded. The Hunter and the blue one will obviously not leave them behind. Poor tactics. They'll be slowed and distracted.
She's the Hunter, Morwn.
Naturally. But I doubt she can handle thirty-six of us at once.
Reyaer shifted uneasily, Still, we should have an alternate course of action.
What do you have in mind? Morwn scoffed, but Reyaer noted with satisfaction that his superior, twenty years his senior, was attentive.
Their likely escape ship, The Great Fox, is just a little south east of here. It could be easily sabotaged if we snuck in somehow. That way, if the others happened to fail, the objective would still be achieved when they reached orbital altitude.
Captain Morwn seemed to consider this for a time, even though Reyaer knew that he had already decided what to do, (appearances of dominance had to be kept up), then leapt up out of the path and onto the dangerous, uneven surface of the real Ur-Jax, the plane above the by-ways.
A good plan. Let us be off, then. Engage your cloaking device.
Sir. Morwn didn't need to say it twice. Reyaer joined him at the top and the two of them disappeared.
"You do know--where you're going--right?" gasped Krystal as she continued to haul Fox through the subterranean tunnels, "I mean--we should be--heading to the Great-Fox--our ship--"
Samus slowed a bit, "Do you remember the way…?"
Krystal stopped and caught her breath; her endurance was never that great, and it hadn't prospered while she was cooped up on the Great Fox. She couldn't perceive how Samus kept up the pace. They had been going for a good ten minutes through the twisting, confusing tunnels. "A little bit."
Samus, unimpressed by this answer, was about to continue on when Krystal made her stop.
"It can't be that far away, though! And we have medical and repair facilities, and a drive and powerful offensive systems--" frantically, Krystal tried to sell the idea of The Great Fox to Samus, "I've got a good sense of direction. If we go to the surface now, I could find it."
Even though Krystal could read no emotions through the green visor, she could tell Samus was weighing their options carefully.
"I have your word that you can find your ship within five minutes after we've reached the surface?"
"You have it."
The hunter gave her a measuring look, using a scanner of a different sort. "Fine then, but follow closely and get the lead out. We've taken too long already," Samus quipped and continued up the tunnel, making sure not to bump Falco against the walls.
The blue vixen felt a flood of relief, even if she wasn't half as confident as she sounded about finding the Great Fox. A thought occurred to her.
"Where were you leading us in the first place, Samus?"
There was nothing but the sound of group's movement echoing down the passage for a few moments, then Samus answered, "To my own ship, but it doesn't have up-to-date medical facilities, much room, or a decent weapons system, so I figure yours is the best bet."
As she was in the lead, Samus wasn't able to see the look on Krystal's face; she was too busy considering what to do about her ship. And Adam. She'd deal with it once she got to the surface.
Krystal thought that she was going to drop dead right there, underground, with Fox babbling beside her as a swan's song to accompany her to Heaven, when they finally reached open air. The tunnel opened up into a spacious, if rocky area large enough to accommodate The Great Fox several times over. The stars were beginning to once again recede into non-chalance and the sunrise tinged the horizon a delicate pink, its light staining the clouds red. Rosy stone climbed like amorphous trunks out of their own warped roots and high wall-base surrounding the clearing. She breathed it in, then squinted.
"Wow, that's bright," Fox kept up his running commentary. He was right. After the dismal dark of the tunnels, the open air was uncomfortably bright, even with the weak light. Krystal glanced over at Samus to see how she was dealing.
The visor had darkened to compensate, and Krystal guessed that it would gradually re-introduce Samus's eyes to the light.
"I think I resent you," she said to Samus, who was warily scanning the area, literally.
The Hunter took a moment to reply, and, in fact, didn't seem to be paying her any mind; she had two fingers up next to her visor, and Krystal thought she heard some muffled speech, then Samus nodded slightly and let her hand fall. She faced Krystal's quizzical expression, "That's nice. Can you scramble up the walls yourself, or do I need to help you?" replied Samus with impatience, gently laying down Falco.
"I think you're going to have to help me, I'm not a good rock-climber. Especially if the rock face is nearly ninety degrees," Krystal replied tartly as she brought Fox over to a rocky outcropping and propped him up against it.
"Don't leave me here, Krystal…" he said weakly from the ground.
She paused and looked back at him, "I won't. Don't fall asleep there either," she responded quietly as she jogged over to Samus, who waited by a wall.
Krystal looked at Samus strangely as bounty hunter bent down and cupped her hands. Samus stared back for a moment before saying, "What, do you want to try to climb on my shoulders? I don't think that would work. Now step up and be quick; your friend's life is on the line and we can't chance being seen."
Krystal nodded and stepped up, keeping her hands on the wall of rock to keep from falling over. As Samus lifted her up, she gripped the lip of the wall and pulled herself up the rest of the way, then peeped over again and asked, "Who were you talking to?"
Samus sighed in exasperation. "I was sending orders to my ship; it'll keep track of us and then follow us when we leave the planet. Get moving!"
A pause of thought, another nod of affirmation, and the fox withdrew from sight.
Samus stared up after her, "What do you see?" A few pebbles scampered down and she thought she saw the flick of a bushy, light blue tail.
"It's so surreal up here!" Krystal yelled back. It felt like she was on the surface of the biggest hunk of Swiss cheese to ever have existed.
"Keep it down!"
"Sorry…"
"Do you see your ship?"
There was a long pause. "One moment…" Some scrambling was heard as Krystal climbed up higher on a precipice, "Yes! Off to the south, it's the Great Fox!" She could see it, plain as day, upper wings sticking up out of the maze like sails at sea; distance made them look delicate. Another avalanche of stones came down as Krystal slid down the precipice and lowered herself off of the wall, "I never thought I'd be so happy to see that hunk of alloy!"
"Are you certain that was your ship?" asked Samus.
"Of course it was! Who else would be crazy enough to land in this maze of death! Let's get moving!" The two of them ran back to where Falco and Fox were. Krystal felt chipper, even if they were going to have to really haul it if they wanted to spare another run in with the
pirates.
"I knew you wouldn't leave me here!" Fox chimed as Krystal helped him up, "I thought I was going to be eaten."
Krystal snorted, very uncharacteristic, and replied, "By what? The rocks?"
"No," Fox replied pointedly, "by the lobster bug things."
Samus froze.
...To be continued...
A/N: I'm late in getting this up, it should've been uploaded a LOOONG time ago. I didn't have much to edit here, thought it probably needs it in a few places. I did add some things, thought, like filling in a small pot-hole or two. It's not the best read ever, but I hoped you all enjoyed it. Thank you for reading!
Ah! And I'd also like to thank those who responded to my frustrated plea for opinions. I greatly appreciate your careful review, Mild Guy, and totally agree with your crits. (Although I was purposely trying to be silly with the dialogue in chapter 1. Kinda unpolished, I know…) I'll try to keep your advice in mind, and can't wait to see some more of your work! BIG FAT THANKS TO; Sylvia Viridian, (I'm afraid the white dragon is an original character..sorry! But the show sounds interesting.), Tikitiki, keep up the craziness, and Ri2, (It is small because I waved my magic creative wand and it SHRUNK. Yes. And having a "pet" luminoth that's normal sized would be, well..kinda' weird. IMO. Errm..MOVING ON!).
Next... Ch. 6: The Day the Hunter Fell