I would like to thank everyone who read my last chapter, particularly MungoJerry and BlackMirror6 for leaving reviews. I'd love to see more reviews from them and anyone else, so I'll give the two reviews a quick response and then let everyone get on with the story.
MungoJerry – If you think he's a bit of a gary-stu from the first chapter alone, then I am pretty glad that I got the feeling I wanted in. Chapter 1 was meant to set him up as a sort of flawless person just the way he viewed himself. And while I'm sure I could of done the intro with another chapter or two I kind of felt it worked well as a single chapter. As for development I already have that planned, part of it can be found in this and the next chapters so I am sure you won't be disappointed.
BlackMirror6 – Glad you liked it, always great if you can pull someone into a universe they know nothing about and let them have fun. I'm planning on making this story so that it requires a minimal (or even no) knowledge of the metroid universe in order to enjoy it. Of course knowing some will likely to enrich the experience even more.
And with that, on to Chapter 2!
Chapter 2: Horrid Truth
On the planet Saric a faint blue-white light began to form, at first it was barely visible and easy to miss, but slowly it grew larger and larger. Within five minutes a large hole was visible near the top of a small hill, it stood straight up and down and wasn't bound to any surface. If one were to look inside they would see a swirling vortex much as if the fabric of space and time had been torn asunder. A loud explosion echoed out in every direction of the hole, drawing attention from those nearby. Syaoran emerged from this hole; his knees held fast to his chest by both of his arms in an attempt at keeping whatever was in his stomach down. A yelp escaped from his lips as his back impacted with the dusty slope and he began to tumble down the side. When he realized he was no longer in hell and actually on solid ground his extremities stretched out. Fingers grasped around dead grass and feet dug into the dusty soil to stop his movements. The grass was too weak, and the sand too loose to support his weight. After a second his body began sliding backwards yet again. He Futilely clawed at the grass and sand in hopes he could stop himself, after a few minutes of struggling his feet came to rest on a red sandstone like surface overlooking a great chasm.
"Wha… where am I?" Syaoran asked, cringing as he shifted his position so he could sit down. His eyes moved about, taking in the environment one bit at a time. The entire area seemed… dead, the soil was nothing but dust, and there were several large chasms he could see from his seat on the red stone. Even the sky was red, but it wasn't from a setting sun… the entire sky was lit up by… a red sun? No, he had to be dreaming… Was he on another planet? Earth never had a red sun… It was more of an orange-white. From behind him Syaoran could hear something, it almost sounded like talking but all he heard were clicks and grunts. Slowly he turned to his right, his eyes growing wide at the site of a strange suit before him. All he could see for the dust was a silver helmet with a blue cross-shaped face plate along with the body's right arm extended towards him limply, a gun of some sort in his the hand. What really made the sight eerie was the fact the faceplate had been smashed in some, he could see the soldier's decomposing face and it took all that Syaoran still had to restrain himself from screaming. His feet kicked at the ground and he crawled backwards away from the body, shivering as he turned his head towards the top of the hill instead of the body. He could hear the speech even clearer now, it actually was a language of clicks and grunts, and even a few hisses were audible now. Slowly darkened figures came into view and began to descend the hill from what looked to be a staircase of red stone. Were they with this soldier? Perhaps they could help him…
Hoping for the best he rose up from the shadows he had been in and approached the group, waving. "Hey! Hee-eey! Can you help me? I don't kn-" He began before the four came fully into view. They looked to be about seven feet tall with large hands like crab claws, their heads held a set of mandibles which extended out from either side of their face and around the front back towards eachother, this must have been the clicking and hissing he had heard. "Why is it always me?" he asked, letting out a surprised sound when all four raised their arms towards Syaoran and began speaking loudly. Before Syaoran could even begin to beg for his life shots were fired at him. Quickly he dodged to his left behind a broken pillar; sure it would extend his life by at least sixty seconds. "Stop shooting! I'm unarmed!" he shouted desperately, not sure if they understood English or not. As the shots impacted the pillar and Syaoran's pleas went ignored a quiet and bass sound began to pick up from the distance and quickly increased in volume to something similar to the engine of a car idling. From the distance a flicker of light announced the presence of another player. Quickly the yellow ship sped towards Syaoran and the four creatures. Atop the yellow ship an orange figure stood, right arm extended with a gray device from the elbow down which looked to be some sort of gun. Shots rained down upon the targets as the ship drew closer and roared overhead. The figure leapt from atop the ship and landed in the center of the three figures that remained.
Syaoran three assailants were momentarily stunned by the sudden appearance of the hunter. The gun on his arm opened up at the tip as it was pointed directly at the chest of the closest foe, a missile fired from the gun and exploded on impact. The force of the blast sent the target flying backwards before the weapon's chilly payload froze them just in time for it to shatter when it landed on the balcony next to Syaoran. In this chaos Syaoran dove for the nearby corpse, which had nearly startled the life from him. He knew now that he needed to get armed in some way, so that he could at least take someone with him if he had to die here. The first of the two foes to come about aimed their weapon at their new target and fired a burst of four shots. Their target, however, had other plans in mind. The hunter made a quick clock-wise dash around the target as the gun changed, widening and gaining red lines here and there. The tip of his gun gathered a ball of energy for a few seconds before being fired at the creature's arm, severing it with searing-hot plasma and causing it's owner to topple over in pain. The gun once again changed forms, this time it returned to it's compact and circular shape with yellow lines down the sides and fired a single shot into the head of the pained opponent. This was a slight mistake on the part of the hunter and the last of the four took the opportunity to fire as many shots as it's gun would allow into him, draining energy with every shot landed it slowly started to step backwards. This provoked the hunter greatly; being shot wasn't exactly a pleasant experience, even if one did have a personal body suit with limited shielding abilities. The right arm pointed at the target as the hunter dashed back and forth. The tip opened and fired three missiles at the target in quick succession; nimbly tumbling to the side dodged the first, and then leaping over the second. But, unfortunately for this last foe, the last missile impacted directly and froze them instantly. The gun of the hunter glowed as a large yellow orb of energy gathered at the end before flying into the fragile ice statue, shattering it instantly.
Watching the fight unfold Syaoran felt a fear grow inside of him. What if this being was only saving him so they could kill him instead? Or worse, what if they wanted to eat him alive!? With a gulp he dove for the decomposing soldier, he turned his head away and did his best not to look at the face while his hands groped for the gun. After a few seconds he managed to wrest it from the man's death grip on the gun, the audible sound of a bone breaking caused Syaoran's lunch to rise but a quick swallow managed to quell the sickening sensation. His hands wrapped around the gun, he had no idea what sort of round it fired but it appeared to have the safety on it off. He slid his right pointer finger over the trigger and gripped the under side of the barrel with his left hand incase it had a kick.
"Hey you! Don't turn around!" Syaoran yelled, raising the energy rifle he had managed to get from the soldier at his new friend. "Who are you? You understand me don't you?" he asked curiously, his finger tightening on the trigger. "I'm Samus Aran, and if you don't mind I'd appreciate it if you lowered your weapon" a female voice said as the one in front of Syaoran turned about, ignoring his commands to stay still. "So you do understand me… Where am I? What is this place?" he asked, slowly lowering his gun so he wouldn't be thought as hostile as his last set of friends. "Where are you?" came Samus' voice with a hint of disbelief, "You're on the planet Saric… How did you get here kid? The Pirates wiped out the natives when they first decided to build a base here…" Samus asked, taking a few steps forward. This boy looked like a normal human, but his attire was… interesting, to say the least.
"The planet Saric? What?" Syaoran asked, blinking in disbelief, Did I travel to the future…? came a thought, it sounded plausible… "I don't understand, what's going on here? I was on earth just ten minutes ago…" Syaoran asked, thinking aloud mostly but willing to listen. "Kid, that's impossible, Saric is in the om… ….rant, over s…. weeks a…" Samus answered, Syaoran shaking his head as he grew dizzy, tired, and all around disoriented. "Kid, are y.. .ll ri…? K..?" Samus continued speaking, a jumble of sounds Syaoran's brain couldn't comprehend. His body decided it was through with all this work and it needed to rest. His knee thought it'd be fun to go on strike and the teen quickly fell onto them, his eyelids closed of their own accord, and his muscles loosened all over his body as he fell forward and fainted upon the dust…
----------Later; on the G.F.S. Athena----------
(Currently in high orbit over Saric)
"How is the… child?" A firm voice asked, it belonged to the admiral of the fleet. He was standing in the medical labs speaking with one of the doctors who had been watching Syaoran's condition since Samus had brought him onboard. He wore an outfit of what seemed to be a dim yellow suit with green metal forming a sort of decorative armor on his upper chest, fore arms, and from his knees down; there was even a sort of belt with thigh-plates. Atop his head was a green helmet that looked heavy with the metal and came to a rounded point about six or seven inches above his nose. Beside the admiral a woman wearing what appeared to be a blue scuba suit with light-blue accents was going over the information on the patient with a small datapad. "I'm not sure Admiral, his vitals check out aside from one small detail," The doctor said as she turned and walked towards Syaoran.
Syaoran was laid out on top of a surface similar to a bed, the surface underneath him was compressed by his weight much like a mattress, but unlike a bed there were no sheets or blankets to cover him with. On either side of the bed a computer console was set near the head, the console on Syaoran's right was the one the doctor stopped at and began to press a series of keys. "I'm not entirely sure how, but his physiology seems to be changing… He is giving off a very low dose of radiation similar to what phazon produces, but he isn't encountering any of the ill effects it would normally cause someone…" The doctor said, pressing more keys as small windows containing vitals on him began to pop up. "You mean like what happened in the Norion incident?" The Admiral said from beside the doctor, watching the information windows pop up above Syaoran. "No, well not exactly… With Samus and the others their bodies produced Phazon in significant quantities, enough to power a PED suit… But this boy, his cellular structure has been contaminated with it. It's almost as if his body has changed fundamentally to allow phazon to be created and used in his normal body processes, much like a protein. The quantities are, at my best guess, a hundredth of what the hunters were producing."
The Admiral nodded, understanding what he needed to, "So he poses no threat to us or the ship?" "Not from the readings I am getting Admiral, his body has actually declined production of Phazon since I first discovered it… I'll keep an eye on him and see if it increases at all but the radiation levels are nowhere near high enough to harm someone, even with extended exposure." The doctor said, tapping one last key to turn the console off. "Very well, when he comes to make sure he feels at home and alert me, I'd like to have a word with him…" The Admiral said, turning and walking out of the room. Over the course of the next two hours several of the doctors worked in the long wing of beds. There were at least nine patients in twenty-five beds and the only one who received constant surveillance was Syaoran. It seemed his condition was stable, there wasn't even a slight change in the rate the phazon was created and then processed by his body.
A small yellow window displaying heart rate appeared above Syaoran's bed about two feet above his chest, it showed a slowly increasing heart rate. "Ah, he's waking up! Zen, alert the admiral and get some food from the mess deck for him, he's bound to be hungry." The doctor from before said as she ordered the older male doctor who had been hovering above Syaoran and monitoring his vitals. "Sure, just keep an eye on him for me" Zen said, giving a friendly smile as he walked to a console near the exit.
"Hmm… Pupils are dilated" the female doctor said, holding Syaoran's eyes open and shining a bright light into them respectively. As she finished Syaoran jumped awake and looked around before focusing his attention on the woman standing over him. "Where… am I?" he asked, speaking seemed so foreign to him now, as if he had just woken from a deep sleep and wasn't entirely awake yet. "You're on the G.F.S Athena right now son, Samus Aran brought you here after discovering you in the middle of the pirate stronghold" the doctor said matter-of-factly, accessing the console to his left. "I have a name and it's not son" Syaoran responded through clenched teeth as he sat up. His entire body felt stiff down to the last tendon so he had decided to get up and stretch. "Alright, then what is your name?" the doctor asked, looking up to see Syaoran almost off the bed. "Whoa whoa whoa! Where do you think you're going?" she asked, quickly making her way around the bed to stand in front of him, "You need to stay in bed until we know you're going to be okay!" Syaoran sighed as he began stretching, groaning slightly as his body began to loosen up. "Don't get worried¸ I'll stay and play along with this little game," he said, sitting down as the nurse practically shoved him back in bed. "Game? What are you talking about?" The doctor asked, pressing a few of the buttons on the nearby console to bring up samples of his brainwave readings among other things.
A mechanical hiss preceded the opening of the nearby entrance and from it stepped the Admiral. His green metallic boots clicked heavily on the silver metal flooring as he approached the bed, the doctor stood up straight and offered a salute to the Admiral. "Enough of that Naie, let the boy breathe some" he said in his usual deep, commanding voice. His left hand motioned for her to lower her salute and be at ease, and Naie quickly moved to allow the Admiral to speak to Syaoran, "Of course sir".
"So son, what is this I hear about a game?" was the Admiral's first question, something about the way he said it made Syaoran cringe though. "Well… This has to be a game; albeit a sick one" Syaoran said, scratching his head before he pulled both of his legs up onto the bed so he could sit cross-legged. "All of this equipment doesn't exist, humans haven't moved on into the stars yet… Not very far, at least. So how could I be inside of some spaceship orbiting a planet I've never heard of? Logic points to some sadistic game… You and your boss probably hacked the teleportation network and pulled me to some sort of… Virtual chamber where you can make all of this seem real." Syaoran said to the Admiral, not a hint of humor on his face as he said it matter-of-factly. Everything he said made sense, but did he truly believe it? It was a bit of a wild tale…
"Son, this is no game..." The Admiral said, leaning forward so the two of them were face to face. "This is very real, and you may be in real danger" The admiral said, exhaling a breath laced with smoke and garlic that made Syaoran cough. The Admiral stood himself straight again and continued his questioning. "Can you tell me what you were doing down on Saric in the middle of a G.F. operation?" the admiral asked, turning away from Syaoran and taking a few steps to admire a small view screen. "G.F.? Look, I really don't think any of this is real… but I'll humor you I suppose. I was down on Saric fighting for my life" Syaoran said with a sigh, reaching behind himself to grab his hair and bunch it together before reaching for his comb only to find it gone.
The Admiral didn't particularly like the bit of sass this kid put in his answer, but let it slide for the sake of getting answers. "And do you know how you got there? Did the Pirates capture you for genetic experimentation, as my science officers think?" the Admiral questioned, turning towards Syaoran once more. "Uh, nope sir. As far as I know something went haywire with the teleportation network and it must have dropped me off" came the teen's retort with a sigh. The nearby door hissed again and Zen stepped through with a metal food tray loaded with different foods, he was also carrying a knife and fork in each hand. As Zen made his way towards Syaoran a loud rumble came from the patient's stomach, causing him to lick his lips in anticipation. "Zen, hold up a moment" the Admiral said, holding a hand out to keep the doctor away from the hungry Syaoran. "One more question, then you can eat… Where are you from? What planet?" "What kind of stupid question is that? I'm from Earth!… Now can I eat si'?" was Syaoran's response before a nod from the Admiral let Zen hand the boy his food.
Much to Syaoran's surprise the food tasted… horrible, it was horrible! A smile came across Syaoran's face after swallowing the first bite. "So you like it?" Zen asked happily, sitting in a nearby chair. "No, the food's awful!" was the teen's ecstatic reply. "If it's so bad then why are you happy…?" Naie asked curiously. "Because… People trying to hold me in a faux reality would want to make it pleasurable to ensue the image… The food would at least be 'alright'… but this is horrid!" Syaoran replied, still smiling as the two doctors gave eachother a quizzical glance. So it wasn't a game… But where was he? When was he? Is this the future, or some distant past? Maybe he was just inside of another universe entirely? It didn't matter to Syaoran, right now he was excited at his findings, a whole new world? New technologies? Maybe even an entirely different history!
Hoped everyone liked it, feel free to drop a review and point out things you really like, have an issue with, or even just don't understand (I'll drop you a reply if you don't understand something, I swear! I'll even check the story to see if there's anything I can do to help others who read it understand it!)
And with that, I'm off. Everyone have a safe time and expect Chapter 3 coming out in the next week or so (I mostly need to check it for grammar and spelling errors)