Space Pirate Homeworld-Year 2557, Empire Colosseum

The Elites were ready for anything. The storm had come, and it raged heavily on the purple sky and black ground. It was also acid rain, which had no effect on the Elites.

"Bring him in," Ridley said to a Space Pirate, and the Space Pirate ran over to a switch and pulled it. The Arbiter looked around. The Space Pirates were roaring, and shooting the sky.

"We are really in for it now, brothers," the Arbiter said sadly.

"Ready your guns, for the gargantuan is about to rise!" Ridley screeched out. The Space Pirates stopped cheering for a second.

"Fellow aliens, we are going to pit you against a monster capable to kill you all in one round! If you manage to injure him greatly, we will retreat him, and then judge you based on the style in which you fought. Tell me, are you ready?" Ridley screeched. The Elites raised one of their arms and waved it, roaring.

"Send him in!" A Pirate pressed a button, and technology from below the colosseum opened up. The giant hole sat in front of the Elites.

"We will fight with honor!" the Arbiter yelled. The Elites roared in joy, and the Space Pirates started screeching out again. After a few seconds of hearing an elevator, a spike showed out of the hole. Then, slowly, the whole body of a green, spiky gargantuan beast came out. It was a little on the pudgy side, and it had four fingers in all. It had three bright red eyes, spikes lining down its back, and three spikes poking out of its stomach. The Arbiter was very startled at this creature's size, and the weapons it could use. Spikes.

"Elites! Show no mercy!" the Arbiter yelled. The Elites raised their gun and started firing at the giant. No effect. The Arbiter looked over at the shipmaster, who nodded in agreement of what the Arbiter was about to do. They both raised their Fuel Rod cannons, and fired at the creature's face. No dice. The Arbiter looked back at the Elites, and they looked at him, shrugging slightly.

"Do any of you have grenades?" the Arbiter asked. The Elites checked their armor, and they found a few grenades, most of them plasma. The Arbiter checked as well. He had three plasma grenades and two spike grenades.

"We must climb the monster to find its weakness," the Arbiter said. The Elites nodded unsynchronizingly. The Arbiter ran at the creature and started to climb its leg.

Have any of you figured out who the gargantuan is yet? Metroid wizzes would know. It's Kraid.

Kraid shot a giant spike missle from his stomach. It almost hit an Elite, but the Elite dodged it and ran to climb Kraid as well. The shipmaster and two other Elites followed. Three Elites stayed behind to fire at Kraid. The Arbiter searched Kraid's back, and saw only indestructible spikes. He continued to climb, and he met up with the shipmaster.

"Any luck, Arbiter?" the shipmaster called over the storm's roaring winds.

"I haven't tried one place."

"Where's that?" the shipmaster asked.

"The head," the Arbiter replied. The shipmaster nodded, and they both went for the head. They climbed onto the snout, and Kraid started swatting at the two Elites on his snout.

"I need you to throw a plasma grenade into its mouth when I roar," the Arbiter said. The shipmaster ran down near the lip.

"It is time to prove that we Elites are worthy to the oath!" the Arbiter yelled as he walked up to Kraid's three eyes. The Arbiter removed an Energy Sword from his back holder, and stabbed into the third eye of Kraid. Kraid opened its mouth, wide, and the Arbiter roared. The shipmaster responded to the que by throwing a plasma grenade into Kraid's throat. Kraid swallowed the grenade, and it exploded inside of his throat. Kraid coughed wildly, and shook off any Elites who were climbing him. The Arbiter and shipmaster hit the ground roughly, but managed to get up.

"I think now we know how to slay this beast," the shipmaster said. The Arbiter nodded. Kraid was starting to go crazy in coughing, and, in defense, shot all the spikes he could: from his back, head, stomach, etc. Some spikes were straight and nearly pierced an Elite; others were like machete boomerangs. The Arbiter, wind blowing hard against him, heard a cry of agony from behind him. He turned around.

"By the Gods! Ytrian!" the Arbiter yelled, referring to the shipmaster. The shipmaster was on the ground, with a spike driven through his stomach. He was bleeding purple, and almost unconcious. The Arbiter ran over to the shipmaster and kneeled at him.

"Ytrian! Will you live?" the Arbiter asked. The shipmaster, now starting to bleed out his mouth, barely spoke, and when he did, it was hoarse.

"Arbiter..." the shipmaster coughed.

"Avenge me, Arbiter..." The shipmaster closed his eyes, and his head fell back. The Arbiter, now with all the Elites surrounding the body, lowered his head, then narrowed his eyes. He grew completely enraged, and he spun around and pointed at Ridley.

"You...traitor!" the Arbiter yelled. Ridley raised a claw, and the cheering and screeching of the Space Pirates slowly halted.

"What?" Ridley said calmly.

"You traitor! You set us against an impossible enemy so we would all die!" the Arbiter yelled. There was a strange laughter coming from Ridley.

"What by the Prophets are you laughing about?" the Arbiter yelled. Ridley calmed a bit.

"I'm sorry, it's just...it's so funny how you figured everything out!" Ridley said, stopping his laughter.

"What?"

"I pit you against Kraid, so that all of you would die, and the humans will never be informed of our plan. That way, even if you figured it out somehow, you would be doomed anyway! You can't leave this colosseum without one or more of my Pirates killing you, and the humans would remain vulnerable!" Ridley exclaimed. The Arbiter was enraged completely.

"You are wrong," the Arbiter said. There was a long, disturbing pause.

"Excuse me?" Ridley screeched. The Arbiter did a quick gesture to the Elites, and he took off running. He blasted a door open and started running out of the palace. Ridley sighed and gripped his head with his claw lightly.

"Get them," Ridley said. The Space Pirates all stood up, grabbed Pirate Pods, extended their weapons, and ran out of the colosseum in order to kill the two now called intruders. The Arbiter ran quickly with his five other Elites. Space Pirates screeched as they jumped out to kill the Arbiter and his Elites, but the Arbiter usually slit the Pirates in the stomach with his Energy Sword as he ran. Most Elites either threw plasma grenades or shot with Needlers (which did little).

"Brothers, I never thought this would be so hard," the Arbiter panted, still running.

"It was unexpected," an Elite, Tura, said. "But we must believe."

Over in the colosseum, Ridley sat with a stationery Kraid.

"Kraid, would you mind joining the Space Pirates?" Ridley asked sarcastically. What a charmer. Kraid, embarrassed, started stomping off and crushed a few walls. Not like it mattered to Ridley. He'd just force some other race to rebuild everything, and then kill them. Boy, it must be fun to hang out with Space Pirates. The Arbiter was almost out of the giant, technological palace. The storm raged, but trust me, anyone in their right mind would run through even a volcano of lava just to get away from the Pirates. Almost at the exit, the Arbiter roared, and a giant, two-fingered claw ripped the ceiling open and reaching for the Arbiter. Kraid. The Arbiter slit Kraid's wrist with his Energy Sword, and ran around the arm. May seem pointless, but there has to be some way to get that guy to leave you alone. The Arbiter, in truth, knew this was going to happen. Even if the shipmaster hadn't been killed, the Elites at one point would have to escape the Space Pirates' wrath, even at the risk of their life.

I'll bet the Space Pirates have no allies. They'd kill them at one point, the Arbiter thought, and laughed in his head. How sad. The Space Pirates might have no allies. This, of course, was believable. Anyone who played the Metroid games had not noticed anyone or anything in cahoots with the Pirates in the end. The Arbiter saw the exit, and he jumped out, as well as Tura. They flipped and landed on the ground roughly, acid rain pelting their skin. That didn't affect them, though. The Arbiter got up and brushed himself off.

"Where are the others?" he asked Tura. Tura shrugged. The Arbiter looked over at their ship, but didn't see it. It's not that it was invisible, or moved. It was gone.

"An obvious move like that I should have detected," the Arbiter said. "We have no choice. We will meet the others, and then we shall warn Hood of the Space Pirates, and their devious scheme."

Samus Aran's Ship-Year 2557, Somewhere in Space

Samus's ship was floating through space, undetected. No known sentient life was seen.

"Where are we going?" Chief asked calmly. He was lying in the corner of her ship, his back on the wall.

"I'm not sure. I was thinking the Solari of this galaxy, but still..."

"Samus, do you mind if John activates me in your hologram messenger?" Cortana asked.

"Unless you can help, yes," Samus replied. Chief shrugged and yanked Cortana from the back of his helmet. He got up and walked, ducking to prevent his helmet from hitting the top. Chief put Cortana's AI chip into the hologram messenger of Samus's ship. Cortana's blue figure appeared. Samus looked startled.

"How does your AI have a body?" Samus wondered.

"It's a long story," Chief said, and walked back to the back of the ship. Cortana put her fingers to the side of her head, the way she does in the Halo games while trying to figure something out, and started to speak.

"What exactly are you searching for?" she asked. Samus looked over at Cortana.

"A Space Pirate Major named Phantoon," Samus replied.

"DNA code?" Cortana asked. A computerized voice started speaking.

"Phantoon. DNA code 453212375489707546G67m531hsa," the voice said. It was Samus's helmet, her scan visor. Cortana memorized the code, and thought hard again.

"What's she doing?" Samus asked, looking back at Master Chief. He just shrugged.

"I got it!" Cortana said. "Phantoon, Space Pirate Major, uses devastating beams as its weapon. Phantoon was born among the stars, as a Space Pirate experiment. Now, it is almost as intelligent as its leader and creator, Ridley," Cortana chanted, sort of.

"You're telling me what my Logbook told me! I want to know where Phantoon is, and what he is doing," Samus snapped.

"Sorr-ee," Cortana said, in a sarcastic manner. She thought hard again.

"I can't find his exact location, or occupation, but I can direct you towards him in the right direction," Cortana suggested.

"Fine," Samus said sternly. Cortana pointed in one direction. Samus checked the coordinates.

"Well, now I know he isn't at the Solari," she said. Samus directed the ship towards a different solar system.

"Okay, now do you have an idea of where we plan to go?" Chief asked.

"The Pirate Homeworld, Enrekeita," Samus told Chief. Master Chief stared at the coordinates.

"I think that's Earth," he said, not sure.

"Don't be stupid. Earth was destroyed," Samus retorted. Chief was startled.

"Earth is destroyed? How long ago?" he asked, feeling very strange.

"Twenty-one years ago."

"And, what year is it now?" Chief asked.

"2557, why?" Samus looked puzzled.

"I was stuck in space for five years, and my allies went to Earth, when the war against the Covenant was over. Five years ago," he said, slightly frightened. Samus was confused.

"Either you're an insane lunatic, or your friends just thought is was Earth," Samus said.

"If it isn't Earth, what could it be?" Chief asked.

"My radar states it is Enrekeita, the Space Pirate Homeworld," Samus said assuringly. Master Chief gripped his helmet.

"The human race's existence is in jeopardy, if these Space Pirates are as horrid as you say they are," he said.

"I'm not going to reply to that. Either way it'd make things worse eventually for you," Samus said. They started to turbo towards "Earth," Chief hoping to God that she was just pulling his leg. (Which wouldn't be very funny)