Chapter 6:
Samus ran down the corridor outside the recharge and map room, quickly scanning her new map of research station Moreau. She noted that the bridge was on the dorsal structure of the station and that she had a long series of corridors to cross before being able to gain access to a turbolift that could take her up to the bridge. She scanned the corridor for any computer terminals that would allow her access to information inside the station's database. She spied a terminal on the far side of the corridor, just before it branched into two different directions. She headed over to the terminal and when she arrived, she input a few commands.
After putting in the initial commands, a screen showing the layout of the station appeared. The display was both in English and in an unknown language that the software inside Samus's current suit was unable to translate. She surmised that it was likely Urtragian since most of the higher-ranking Space Pirates were from the planet Urtraghus. She then typed in another series of commands and the display was soon completely in English. The display stated that the station had a set of defensive shields, but that they were two way, so in order for the Pirates to be able to evacuate the station, they would have to lower the shields over certain areas, which would leave the station vulnerable to attack. In addition, the station possessed no defensive weaponry of any kind. Samus smiled upon reading this little bit of information about the station, for without weapons, the station only had the fleet with which to defend it, and she suspected that the Pirates would not risk their ships to protect an unarmed station, even if it had been their new base of operations. She then looked at the internal security systems and found that there were little to no cameras or sensors inside the station.
Samus then scrolled down to the section that read, Original Mission of Space Station Moreau. Upon selecting it, text began to fill the screen and Samus read it, hoping to get some idea of what was going on here. As she read the text, she found that the original purpose of the Moreau had been to house and grow Zebesian Space Pirates as a part of the Federation Special Forces based upon the Space Pirates that she, Adam, and her clone had destroyed a year ago. All of the sensors had originally been configured to ensuring that the Zebesians were in good health as they were grown and/or kept in stasis until needed for deployment. Originally, only 250,000 Zebesians had been grown, but Samus suspected that that number was growing.
Samus then checked the rest of the signs and prompts on the screen to find out if there was any access to the computer's systems on this terminal. There were not; however, the screen did say that she could gain access to the entire station's systems and database from the computer inside Main Engineering. In addition, Main Engineering was the location of the cloned Aurora Unit that was infecting Aurora Units within the entire Galactic Federation. With that knowledge, she deactivated the terminal and made her way down to the fork in the corridor. She decided to alter her previous course of action and head down to Main Engineering to cut out the heart of the station, and neutralize the threat of the clone Aurora Unit, once and for all.
Once she came to the fork, she checked her map. She found that the next corridor went on in either direction all around the central structure of the station. She found that the nearest access tunnel to the central structure of the station, and a turbolift to Main Engineering, was for her to walk to her right and proceed down the corridor at least a couple hundred meters.
Inside the next corridor, she came across two Urtragian Space Pirate Troopers. Upon sighting Samus, they jumped back while firing blue pulses from their energy cannons on their right arms, causing Samus to dive to one side. As they were firing, they also powered their Photonic Power Scythes and began to charge her. Samus charged her stacked Plasma Beam and unleashed it at the left Pirate, who had just taken the lead in charging towards her. The plasma blast struck the Pirate in the chest and the force of the impact shoved him backwards. He fell to the floor, but only his shields had been breached. The Pirate's armor held firm. The other Pirate had arrived at Samus and took a swing at her with the scythe. She vacated the area she had been occupying and the scythe slashed through nothing but air. She charged a second blast of plasma and unleashed it upon the second Pirate. Again, the blast collapsed the Pirate's shields and knocked him off his feet, but otherwise, he was unharmed. The first Pirate soon rose from the floor and took a few shots at Samus, hoping to inflict damage to the bounty hunter before she managed to kill him. Samus took a few shots at the Pirate and burned several holes into him. The Space Pirate fell to the floor never to rise again. While he had likely hoped that his comrade would cover him and inflict more damage to her, his comrade had been smarter.
The second Pirate had risen and promptly fled the scene. Samus caught him out of the corner of her eye and turned to blast him when she found that he had already left her line of sight. She rushed after the Space Pirate, charging her Plasma Beam, causing a green bulge of energy to form at the end of her cannon. The Pirate had not fled out of cowardice, though. He had fled because of the security alarm lever on the wall about twenty meters down the corridor. Samus quickly realized why he had fled and when she caught sight of him once more, she fired her charged plasma blast. The blast of plasma erupted from her arm cannon and streaked towards the Pirate Trooper. Upon spying her, the Pirate dove towards the lever, managing to avoid suffering a direct hit from the plasma blast. However, the plasma blast had managed to inflict significant damage even with its indirect hit on the trooper, taking his left arm off with it. However, with his remaining arm, the Pirate Trooper reached up and managed to pull the alarm lever just as Samus shot him again, felling him for good. Immediately, alarm klaxons went off throughout the entire station.
On the Control Deck, Ridley was sitting quietly in his chair, overlooking the rest of the command crew when alarm klaxons began to blare. "What the devil?" he roared as the alarms continued to blare. Red lines that signified the Red Alert lit up all around the bridge. "What the hell is going on?" he roared to everyone on the Control Deck.
One of the Space Pirate Troopers went over to a security console and called back to Ridley in reply, "My lord, the security alarms have been activated."
"I can hear that, moron!" Ridley boomed. "Why are they active?"
"Unknown, my lord," the Pirate answered.
"Lord Ridley, security forces are already beginning to begin heightened patrol of the station," another Space Pirate called out. "They report that they have found nothing out of the ordinary."
"Could there be something outside the station?" Ridley asked.
"I don't know," the Pirate responded.
"Well activate the sensors!" he roared to the command crew.
"Yes, my lord," the sensor officer responded as he activated the external sensors of the station. He studied the results and frowned. "Lord Ridley, there are no anomalous readings outside the station," he reported.
"Begin internal scan," Ridley directed.
The sensor officer began to look nervous. "We cannot," he replied worriedly.
"Why can't you?" Ridley queried, glowering at the officer with a menacing scowl.
"Because we haven't finished installing the internal sensors yet," the officer responded. "Since you didn't want to waste any of the resources of the fleet for the station, we've been forced to use what the Federation left here, and they never installed any internal sensors inside the station."
The Space Pirate leader looked at the ground in stunned disbelief. "Are you telling me that we're blind inside and that we're gonna have to rely on security patrols?" Ridley roared at the top of his voice.
"Yes, s…s…sir," the officer stammered sheepishly.
Ridley then let out a huge roar of rage. The roar last for more than a few seconds and everyone on the Control Deck was now on edge. After Ridley had calmed down, he started issuing orders to the crew. "Activate the internal comm, assuming we actually have that," he commanded, adding the last bit sarcastically.
"We do," the communications officer confirmed, checking to make sure that they actually did have internal communications, just in case that was another oversight made by the Federation during the building of the station.
"Put me on!"
The officer pushed a green button and said, "You're on my lord."
"All Space Pirates, as you know, we have a security alert. If you spot the intruder, report it to me at once, then kill him or her with extreme prejudice."
"Understood, my lord," came the chorus of affirmatives.
The officer then deactivated the comm radio and went back to work, listening for any report on the intruder to the station. Ridley sat nervously in his chair, wondering if his nemesis had infiltrated the station.
Meanwhile, down in the capital city of the N'Kren homeworld, inside a large meeting room inside the Capital Building Elric and his bodyguard sat at a gray table. The bodyguards, Xeres and Isol surrounded Elric. Xeres was a handsome reptilian alien with green skin that resembled a turtle, while Isol was an amphibian-like alien that seemed to resemble a humanoid salamander. They each wore Galactic Federation Army power armor, but had specially modified helmets and visors, which they were not wearing down to the meeting. There were places for a dozen occupants. Also sitting at the table were two N'Kren representatives, two Ylla representatives, and U-Mos, a Luminoth. U-Mos sat next to one of the bodyguards of Elric. The room was as gray as the table, which surprised Elric. He began to wonder if he was in an interrogation chamber rather than in a meeting room.
It was not long before an outline formed along the gray wall. It took Elric a few moments to realize that the outline was actually a door about to open. The door soon slid open and a N'Kren stepped through, flanked by two guards. Unlike the other N'Kren present, this N'Kren wore an ornate suit of what looked to be golden armor over his body that obscured his features. Elric could only tell that the new arrival was a N'Kren by the way the two N'Kren already inside the chamber rose and bowed before him. Elric took another look the armored N'Kren and then glanced over to his two bodyguards, who were also dressed in ornate armor. The armor of the two guards was vastly different, though. One of the guards wore golden armor with multiple blade-like protrusions emerging from the arms, shoulders, and knees. In addition, the guard was also wearing multiple blades. He counted at least two swords on the soldier's back, and two knives on the soldier's legs. For what looked to be ranged weapons, the golden soldier possessed two wrist blasters. There also appeared to be mountings on the back that looked like engines or thrusters. He then glanced over at the silver armored soldier. This one did not have many blades, save for a single sword at the hip. This soldier did, however, have multiple guns and cannons. In addition to the two wrist blasters, this soldier also sported shoulder-mounted guns that looked to be quite powerful. However, he soon noticed that they were connected to the soldier's back and that the shoulders, themselves, may have been able to open and reveal powerful energy weapons. He also noticed several round red balls on the chest of the knight arranged in two vertical rows. By the looks of things, Elric figured that the round red balls were likely energy projectors, possibly the main weapons for this armored knight.
The guards of the two N'Kren also bowed towards the armored N'Kren. It was then that Elric noticed something about the soldiers. The armor seemed to resemble old Earth medieval knights, though the helmets seemed to look a bit more angular. The armored N'Kren then approached his chair but before sitting, a golden sheen surrounded his armor. The armor of the N'Kren then disappeared and revealed a powerfully built reptilian alien that was easily taller Elric, and looked to be around the size of a Space Pirate, though was obviously more powerfully built. He then took his seat. His two guards soon arrived next to him and he directed them in his language, [You may remove your armor, now.]
Immediately, a golden light surrounded the two armored figures, which looked to be smaller, even in their armor, than the N'Kren. Elric's eyes went wide when the armor vanished and the guards were revealed to be two humans. He looked over at his soldiers, who had also stared at the two human soldiers as their armor had vanished, and they both nodded and said, "Confirmed: the N'Kren's guards are, indeed, human, approximately in their early to mid fifties according to the bio-scan."
He noted that the human guards did not look to be anywhere close to their fifties. He looked at the man, who had brown hair and gray eyes. He wore a white shirt and pants and had a patch on the upper left part of his chest. The patch read, K-2L . Elric's eyes flashed. Had this man been from the colony K-2L? No, he figured, that was impossible. The colony on K-2L had been destroyed twenty-four years ago. He also noticed a golden ring on the man's ring finger. If he were human, that generally signified that he was married. He then looked over at the woman. She was a lovely woman with blond hair, which fell to just below her shoulders, and blue eyes. She looked much younger than the early to mid fifties that his two guards had placed both her and the man. She wore a white shirt and pants as well. She, too, had a golden ring on her ring finger. In addition, she also had a tag on her left breast that read, K-2L . Elric stared at her and thought, She resembles someone. His eyes then flashed. Samus? he wondered. He looked at the woman once more and could not help but feel as if she resembled the bounty hunter. Elric then said, "Excuse me, sir and ma'am," directing his question towards the two humans, "but I saw that your tags say that you were workers on the Earth colony K-2L. Were you?"
"Yes," both of the humans replied, nodding.
"But how? There was only one known survivor of the K-2L incident. Everyone else was killed."
"We were killed, so to speak," the woman began. However, the N'Kren leader cut her off, saying, "You don't need to go into detail right now, Blaster. We don't know these people."
"Sir, these are members of the Galactic Federation," Blaster countered. "I am a technically a Federation citizen and he asked me a question. He just wants to know how my husband and I are still alive."
The N'Kren leader considered the issue carefully before finally responding, "Very well, but don't get into specifics. These people are still outsiders. If they want more information, they can ask U-Mos over there."
The woman then bowed towards the N'Kren and turned back to Elric. She then answered him, saying, "We were technically dead in that our hearts had stopped, and most of our brain activity had ceased. After the Chozo had left the planet, a N'Kren ship arrived with Ma'Kar, here, in command. We and several others were still salvageable and they took us onboard their ship and placed us in stasis before were past the point of no return."
Elric listened to the woman's explanation and nodded. He had hoped that she would have gone into further detail, such as the extent of her injury when she had clinically died, but he kept silent, not wanting to appear discourteous. Another thing that caught Elric's attention was that the N'Kren leader, Ma'Kar, apparently knew U-Mos.
Elric soon noticed that the Ylla representatives were staring at him and his bodyguards. It was then that one of them said to him, "You are a Star Elf, are you not?"
Elric nodded, but he was now getting worried. He knew exactly where this line of questioning was headed, and he began to sweat. "I am," he replied in a calm and commanding voice. Inwardly, though, he was very worried and made a slight gesture towards his guards. This did not escape the notice of U-Mos or the N'Kren.
"What is the problem?" Ma'Kar asked. "Kehlan was merely observing the identity of your species."
"Yes," Kehlan confirmed. "The last we heard of your kind, you were still slaves to the Magic Lords. It is good to see that you have blossomed into a starfaring people and are now even leaders in the Galactic Federation."
Elric did not know whether the compliment he was paid was sincere or not. U-Mos looked at him and gave him what passed for a Luminoth as a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about it," U-Mos told him. "We know that you were engineered by the Elvanheim and used as slaves. As long as you do not still serve them willingly, we have no enmity with you."
That did a little to reassure Elric, but he was still on edge. He knew that he was dealing with two elder races in the N'Kren and the Ylla. And given what the N'Kren had shown, he suspected that the guards that they had brought with them were at least as powerful as Samus, and likely even more so.
Ma'Kar then motioned for everyone to sit, which they did. After they all took their seats, Ma'Kar began the discussion by saying, "Very well, then. Let us begin the proceedings."
Back on Earth, Kreatz, Mauk, and a dozen Galactic Federation Police Troopers flew down towards the Sinnoh Region of Japan. The Heavy Assault Shuttle that they had taken from Federation One was heavily armed and armored. They had used their Watchmen codes to get into Earth's atmosphere without being shot down, but even so, they still faced some resistance to their arrival. A green serpentine dragon that had red-tipped wings that seemed to resemble rudders in size and shape on its shoulders and lower down on its body along with two arms with three-fingered hands, had intercepted them and nearly shot them down as they entered the atmosphere when it had launched a powerful reddish-white blast at the shuttle. The scans from the computer indicated that the dragon was actually a Legendary Pokémon named Rayquaza. The blast had rocketed across the bow of the shuttle and flew out into space, likely due to the fact that it was so powerful that if it had struck the ground, it would have produced a crater the size of a small city. Kreatz took this as merely being a warning shot.
Kreatz and Mauk continued to look over at the dossiers and decided that the first target they would apprehend would be Leaf, since she was the Kanto Pokémon League champion and known to have powerful Pokémon. If they could capture her and her Pokémon, then the resistance to Elric's rule would likely lessen a great deal, at least on the ground. In addition, she was a primary target of Elric, and would likely cause her twin brother to try to save her, allowing him to be captured as well. In addition, it would make people safer, in their mind, since a "criminal" would be off the streets. They did not know about many of the excesses of the Watchmen and their agents on Earth with others. If they had, they may have reconsidered taking this mission.
A beep started to sound in the cockpit and both Kreatz and Mauk looked at the screen. They soon saw a signal on scanners. "Look, Kreatz, we've caught a bio-sign," Mauk notified his friend. He then checked to see its current location and found that it was only a kilometer or so ahead. "It's not too far ahead, too," he added.
"Who is it?" Kreatz asked, thumbing through the dossiers of the so-called "Enemies of the Federation".
An image soon popped up on screen. It was of a girl that looked to be about twelve in terms of her height, though they both noted that she seemed more developed in other areas of her physiology. She had black hair and blue eyes. She wore a sky blue sleeveless shirt, red skirt, and a white hat with a Poké Ball insignia on its front. Mauk's eyes went wide at the revelation. "It's Leaf," he answered.
"Leaf?" Kreatz asked, flabbergasted at the prospect of capturing one of Elric's most sought after enemies.
Mauk nodded, "Yeah. And she seems to be traveling alone. This might actually end up being easy."
"Then let's go get her," Kreatz proclaimed. The sooner we can capture her, the sooner we can end this mission and get back to Federation One."
Mauk and the others agreed and with that thought, they took the shuttle lower and prepared to make the attempt to apprehend the Kanto Pokémon League Champion, Leaf.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the galaxy, down along the long ring that surrounded the central structure of the station Moreau, Samus charged through the corridors on her path to the turbolift that would take her to the station's Main Engineering section. So far, she had come across two teams of three Zebesian Space Pirates. She had made short work of the weak enemies and had taken them out before they had managed to get a message to Ridley. She continued on her way and she soon encountered another squadron of Zebesian Space Pirates. This squadron consisted of eight troopers, four normal Zebesian, two Cyborg Zebesian, and two Super Zebesians. Despite the enhancements of the Cyborg Zebesians and the armor of the Super Zebesians, the Zebesians were all no match for Samus. Samus did not waste any time in dealing with the Pirates and switched to her Ice Missiles. She then charged her Ice Missile into a Diffusion Missile and unleashed it upon the Zebesian Space Pirates. The missile crossed the distance from Samus's arm cannon to the lead Zebesian in around one second and then detonated, the blast wave of freezing energy engulfing the Zebesians and encasing them in blocks of ice. Samus then switched back to her stacked Plasma Beam and proceeded to shoot the frozen Zebesians; one shot for each Pirate. With each shot, a Zebesian Space Pirate was shattered into a thousand pieces. After eight shots, the enemy force that had confronted Samus was completely destroyed. Samus then charged forward.
Samus continued to scan her map as she continued on the ring. She found that she was nearing the access pathway to the main structure of the station. She proceeded to make her way towards the access way when she came across four Space Pirate Troopers and one Elite Pirate. Upon sighting the bounty hunter, the four Pirate Troopers immediately formed a line in front of the Elite Pirate as he activated his radio and screamed frantically, "Lord Ridley, we've identified the intruder! It's the Hunter! She's in Sector Eight of the Lower Outer Ring, near Access Path Four!"
On the Control Deck of the station, Ridley heard the frantic report of the Elite Pirate. He also heard the sounds of weapons fire coming in over the comm. He also heard the screams of the Space Pirates that were holding off Samus. Soon, the Elite Pirate called in once more, screaming, "Lord Ridley, she's just killed the rest of my team. I need…bzzzzt." Static then filled the Control Deck. Ridley then gave the signal to cut the radio. He then yelled to the communications officer, "Get me the rest of the station, now!"
The officer did so and nodded towards the space dragon. Ridley then proclaimed, "All Space Pirate forces onboard the Space Station Moreau, we have an intruder. It is the Hunter. She is currently located in…" he checked the report and then continued, "Sector Eight of the Lower Outer Ring, near Access Path Four. All forces are to go to that area at once and intercept her at once. She will either be headed towards Main Engineering to destroy our Aurora Unit, or the Control Deck to alert the Federation to our location. You must stop her, no matter the cost!"
A chorus of "affirmatives" answered Ridley as the radio was cut off once again. Ridley then turned to a Space Pirate Commander behind him and said, "I must get down to Main Engineering, just in case that is Samus's target. You have the Deck, P'Dack. Should Samus arrive on this deck, you must make sure that she does not leave until I get the DNA samples safely off this station. Most stations and planets that Samus visits have a tendency to explode not long after she arrives."
"Understood, Lord Ridley," the Space Pirate Commander responded.
Ridley then left his chair, which the Space Pirate Commander immediately occupied, and went down the flight of stairs that would lead to the Control Deck's exit. Ridley had to get down to Main Engineering so he could get the second DNA sample of Aurora Unit Zero, as well as the DNA of several other Space Pirate generals and bio-weapons off of this station and fall back to a second hideout, far away from here. Only there, could Ridley grow a new Mother Brain, Kraid, and other generals for their army. This was the one time that he knew that he could not afford to get bogged down into a fight against Samus Aran. She had defeated him far too often in the past, and while he really wanted to get revenge on her, right now, the survival of the Space Pirates was of greater importance than getting revenge. Ridley then exited the deck and headed over to a turbolift that would take him directly down to the engineering deck.
Down in Sector Eight of the Lower Outer Ring, Samus finished off the Elite Pirate by firing a charged plasma blast at his head, vaporizing the Pirate's head and torso in the process. She heard Ridley's voice over the speakers as he issued his orders and knew that the area would soon be crawling with Space Pirates. That made her decision to go Main Engineering much easier since she suspected that the Control Deck was going to be very heavily defended, though she also expected the Pirates to reinforce the defenses of Main Engineering as well.
With that thought in mind, she made haste towards the access path to the main structure of the station. She immediately jumped into the air and somersaulted through the pathway. Immediately, her suit began to emit a yellow field of energy as she had activated her Screw Attack. Several waves of Zebesian Space Pirates and Urtragian Space Pirate Troopers barred her way, but she was able to barrel through them with her Space Jump and Screw Attack with contemptuous ease. Samus merely continued on her way, not stopping to ensure that she had killed all of the Space Pirates in any wave. She merely made her way past them and proceeded down the corridor, and into the main structure of the station.
After emerging from pathway and entering the main structure of the station, she immediately curled herself into Morph Ball mode and rolled down the corridor. A great many Zebesian Space Pirates ran past her and did not seem to stop and take notice of the orange ball rolling past them. Some of the Pirates that were rushing past, however, were Pirate Commandos, and as such, were far more observant. When they noticed Samus rolling down the corridors, they pointed their energy cannons and fired, all the while activating their comm units so that they could update the Control Deck of Samus's status. However, Samus made certain that they would not make the report as she dropped a Power Bomb among them and rocketed away using her Boost Ball. The Pirate Commandos screamed into their radios, "The Hunter is in Sector…" and then the Power Bomb detonated, engulfing them in a massive wave of destructive energy that cut off the transmission before they could give Samus's location. In addition, while the noise would attract a great deal of Space Pirates to the area, all they would see was a floor with a massive crater gouged into it, and in some places, the floor vanished entirely, revealing lower floors of the station.
Samus still rolled around the station in Morph Ball mode. Despite the fact that she had used a Power Bomb to take out the two Space Pirate Commandos only a few dozen meters behind her, most of the Zebesians had not thought to look on the ground for Samus rolling past them. The Urtragian Space Pirates, however, were more intelligent and the thought had crossed their minds to look down. Since she did not want to waste her Power Bombs, she immediately returned to normal and Screw Attacked through the air. The first of the Space Pirate Troopers fired blue pulses from his Quantum Assault Cannon, which bounced off of Samus's Screw Attack shield harmlessly. The bounty hunter then barreled through the torso of the Pirate, annihilating it, and taking his head off as well. A pair of legs then fell to the ground to either side of where the Pirate had been standing. The other Space Pirates parted before her and allowed the hunter to pass. A few still took a few potshots at her, but their energy pulses merely bounced off the field of energy produced by her suit's Screw Attack. She soon left their sight and they did not bother to go after her, not without reinforcements.
Samus soon landed and she sprinted towards a fork in the corridor a couple dozen meters ahead. She checked her map and soon found that the path to the left led to an elevator that would take her to hall just outside the Control Deck. She made her left turn and was met by two Space Pirate Commandos dressed in black armor. Upon sighting the bounty hunter, they opened fire, unleashing blobs of blue energy at her. She quickly flattened herself against the right wall of the corridor and watched as the plasma blasts sailed past her. She retaliated by switching to her Ice Missiles and charging a Diffusion Missile. She remembered from earlier how a combination of her Ice Beam and a missile could quickly shatter a Pirate Commando, and she hoped that she could replicate the feat using an Ice or Diffusion Missile coupled with a charged Plasma Beam. Once the missile was charged, Samus unleashed it upon the two Pirate Commandos. The Diffusion Missile erupted from Samus's arm cannon aimed towards the feet of the Pirate Commandos. As Samus suspected, they saw the missile headed towards them and they jumped to either side to avoid it. The missile struck the ground a few feet away and detonated. A wave of freezing energy then washed over the Pirates and they were frozen solid. Not wasting any time, Samus switched to her stacked Plasma Beam and charged it. She then fired on the first Pirate Commando. The green pulse of energy struck the Commando and shattered him into thousands of icy shards. Samus then repeated the process with the second Commando before he managed to thaw. The second Pirate Commando was shattered just as water was beginning to drip from him and steam was rising.
Once the Pirate Commandos had been dealt with, Samus made her way down the corridor. She knew from her map that less than a hundred meters away or so, she would arrive at the elevator that would take her to the Control Deck. The only resistance she faced along the way were a few teams of Zebesians, Cyborg Zebesians, and Super Zebesians. They were no match for Samus's arsenal and each team was dispatched with contemptuous ease. Samus's only concern was that the Space Pirate Commandos may have managed to get off a signal detailing her location to the rest of the Pirates onboard the station. Still, she had not faced any increased levels of resistance that she would have expected if the Commandos had managed to get a message out before their demise.
She continued on her way until she came to an elevator on her right about ten meters away from her. The elevator was being guarded by two Elite Pirates. The Plasma Artillery Cannons worn by the Elite Pirates were formidable weapons, and Samus knew that one of her greatest weapons, the Super Missile, had been supplanted by Ice Missiles. She merely hoped that her Ice Missiles would be sufficient to freeze them and damage their energy siphoning systems before she shattered them. She began by locking onto the lead Pirate and firing an Ice Missile at him. The large, bulky armor of the Pirate was a hindrance to him and he could not maneuver out of the way of Samus's Ice Missile. The Ice Missile struck the Pirate and encased him in ice. That was when his comrade stepped out and fired a blast of plasma from his Plasma Artillery Cannon. Green bursts of energy were unleashed upon Samus as she dove out of the way of the incoming plasma barrage. One of the blasts managed to tag her, though, and nearly took out a full Energy Tank's worth of energy. Samus grimaced at the sight and then focused her attention on the sole remaining unfrozen Pirate. She then targeted the second Elite Pirate with an Ice Missile. The missile leapt from her arm cannon and crossed the distance between her and the Pirate Elite in less than a second. The missile struck the Pirate in the Plasma Artillery Cannon and froze the cannon, along with half of the Pirate, solid. She then switched to her Plasma Beam and charged a single shot of her beam. She then unleashed the shot the second Pirate, targeting the frozen portion of his body. Her pulse of energy burned through the ice and armor, without being drained. The frozen portion of the Pirate was promptly shattered, with the rest of the Pirate falling down to the ground. Samus then charged a second shot and fired on the first Elite Pirate. The Pirate was promptly shattered as the beam burned through his frozen form. With the two Elite Pirates having been taken care of, she proceeded towards the elevator. She soon arrived at the elevator and pressed its call button. There, she waited for about thirty seconds as the elevator came down to her level.
As soon as the elevator arrived, the doors opened and revealed two Space Pirate Troopers. The Pirate Troopers were caught completely off guard at the sight of Samus so all the first one was able to do was widen his eyes in surprise as Samus had already charged a plasma blast. He was instantly blown apart as she unleashed the plasma upon him. The second Pirate then raised his Quantum Assault Cannon towards Samus, but she grabbed it, and his wrist and pulled him out of the elevator as she was charging a second plasma burst. Once it charged, she jerked the unfortunate Pirate's shoulder, dislocating it, causing him to scream. She then kicked him in the leg, where the hamstring tendon would have been located on a human. The Pirate collapsed onto the ground and Samus then jammed her arm cannon to the back of the Pirate's head. She then unleashed the blast and vaporized the Pirate's head and most of his torso in the process. Samus then stepped forward and proceeded to board the elevator. Once she was on the elevator, she pressed the top button on the keypad, indicating that her desired destination was Main Engineering. Then, she waited as the doors closed and the elevator proceeded to descend into the bowels of the station, and take her deposit her down in Main Engineering.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, Kreatz, Mauk, and their squadron of Watchmen marched down the street in broad daylight in the small town. Most of the human civilians on the streets gave the agents a wide berth, knowing that the Watchmen he power to arrest them and incarcerate them without trial at the merest of whims. Others, while they did step aside, did not attempt to hide their disdain for the Watchmen, or their leaders. While Kreatz wore a white uniform with Elric's Galactic Federation insignia, a circle with three pillars in the center with a black eye-like circle in the middle, the rest of the Watchmen wore shiny white or silver armor, depending on the rank, save for Mauk, who wore golden armor, albeit without the helmet. They each still had the same insignia, though.
Not too far off, they saw the black-haired girl in the blue tank top and red miniskirt. Kreatz and Mauk took the lead and called out, "Pokémon Trainer Leaf?"
The girl turned around at the sound of her name and saw the fifteen soldiers headed her way. She seemed to recognize them as being Federation, and likely one of the secret organizations that Elric had recently brought to Earth. She immediately turned back and walked away nervously, increasing her pace. Kreatz and Mauk increased their own pace as they called after her, "Ms. Leaf we need to talk with you."
The girl apparently was not in any mood to talk, for her walk had now become a run. The two Watchmen began to run after her in pursuit, the rest of the squadron quickening their own pace, as well as sending men around to try to cut off any escape routes. "You must stop, now, Leaf," Kreatz called after her. "We need to talk with you."
After a couple of blocks, they had arrived near a set of buildings that appeared to be abandoned. She then turned around, producing a small ball in her right hand. Upon pressing a button, the ball grew in size and soon opened. A red ball of energy emerged and soon landed on the ground, taking the form of a large blue-green skinned creature that seemed to resemble a cross between a toad or some sort of dinosaur with a large red plant on its back with a brown trunk. "What do you want?" the girl called back at the approaching special police officers.
"We need you to come with us," Mauk answered.
"Why?" the girl demanded. "What have I done?"
"You have been charged with spreading sedition," Kreatz began, which only prompted the girl to laugh.
"Sedition?" Leaf nearly laughed out loud. "Sedition? You think that I am some sort of political activist?"
"That's what the charging documents say," Kreatz answered. It was obvious that even he was not convinced of her being a seditionist.
"That, and the fact that you are in possession of bioweapons," Mauk added. This was a little easier to prove, given that Leaf had just released her Venusaur.
"What bioweapons am I in possession of?" Leaf asked.
"Several, according to your records," Mauk responded. "Your Venusaur being one of them."
This answer surprised Leaf greatly. "My Venusaur?" she replied in shock. "You consider Venusaur a bioweapon?"
"Actually, he, or she, is a bioweapon," Kreatz answered. "All Pokémon, save for those not from Earth, and a few other rare exceptions, are technically bioweapons. Surely you must know that Pokémon were originally developed in Earth's third world war."
"Yes, but that was centuries ago," Leaf countered. "Now, Pokémon are listed in general Earth taxonomies. In addition, they are considered at the least semi-sentient, with many believing that they are, indeed, fully sentient."
"That's another issue," Mauk stated. "Pokémon are used by people in battles."
"Which have strict rules," Leaf added. "And even now, people are looking into the morality of Pokémon battles, even the league champions, myself in particular. Just so you know, all of my Pokémon joined my team voluntarily and may leave whenever they wish. I have gone to great lengths to ensure that they are not slaves in any sense of the word. They are free to do whatever they want, assuming they don't break any sentient rights laws."
"That's not the main issue right now," Mauk told her.
"Then what is?"
"The fact that the Pokémon Leagues have all been outspoken critics of Elric when what is needed right now is unity," Kreatz replied.
"Unity," Leaf stated harshly. "If half of what has been said about the Watchmen is true, then the only divisive force in the galaxy is Elric. I mean, everyone is looking over their shoulders. People are disappearing without a trace. All of these things have one thing in common, Elric and his followers, the Watchmen. In other words, you!"
"That is enough," one of the Watchmen, a soldier in white armor bellowed as he stepped forward and leveled his gun at the girl's head. "You will come with us now, or we will not be able to guarantee that your safety in your apprehension."
"Woah, woah, woah," Kreatz interrupted, turning around and holding his hands up. "We don't have to go that far, yet."
"Sirs, she's escaping!" cried another of the Watchmen.
Sure enough, Kreatz and Mauk turned around to find the girl fleeing down the street. The large, blue-green dinosaur-like creature was not at her side, nor was it standing in front of her. Kreatz figured that she had returned the creature to her Poké Ball. Kreatz grimaced and he began to run after her. The other soldiers had other ideas, though. They pulled out their Freeze Guns and began to pursue her as well. A few of the soldiers took a few potshots at her, their blasts either striking behind her, forming small patches of ice on the ground, or going wide.
"Wait!" Kreatz cried. "Our orders were to apprehend her, not to kill her!"
"My orders were to take her in any way possible, dead or alive," the soldier responded.
"Those were my orders too," a second soldier stated.
"And my orders came from Elric," the first soldier added.
"As did ours," Mauk answered. "And we were told to apprehend her and the others, not kill them."
"Not necessarily," another soldier replied. "We still have our orders from Elric. He told us that if we had to, we had the authorization to kill her. She had to be stopped, no matter the cost."
"But she's just a kid!" Kreatz countered desperately. "She's only almost twelve! She's not a murderous monster!"
"But she is a criminal. Don't forget about the bioweapons she currently has in her possession. Even if they are, as she says, her friends, they are still illegal. And they are authorized for termination."
With that, the other soldiers went off in chase of Leaf, while Kreatz and Mauk could only watch as the soldiers began to fire ice blasts from their Freeze Guns. The soldiers pursued Leaf, eventually catching up to her. She turned and saw that the soldiers were fast approaching. One of them had even drawn his assault rifle and opened fire in her general direction. She dove to the ground and the bullets that erupted from the gun miraculously sailed over her head. She then began to crawl and struggle to rise and flee the soldiers. She considered releasing her Pokémon and having them help her fight, but she decided against it. There would be a second of vulnerability for the Pokémon and that second of vulnerability could result in their deaths. As such, she merely continued to run.
Not far into the pursuit, several people emerged from several of the buildings upon seeing the chase, and/or wondering what the commotion outside was all about. Once they emerged, they all recognized the Watchmen and a few even seemed to know Leaf. When they saw the Watchmen agents firing on her, a group of them stepped out to meet the Watchmen. They directed her to continue running while they held back the Watchmen, interposing themselves between the Watchmen and the fleeing girl. The leader of the group, a Japanese man wearing civilian clothing, holding a civilian issue energy rifle, stood in front of the others, who were armed with similar weaponry. "Why are you in pursuit of this girl?" the man asked the Watchmen agents in a calm tone.
"This girl has been found guilty of spreading seditionist thought and of possessing bioweapons," the lead officer in white armor responded. "In addition, it seems as if you are in violation of Post-Daiban Directive One." He pointed his energy rifle towards the civilian. "Allow us to pass now and we will overlook your violations, all of you!" he said sternly.
"You mean the girl is a Pokémon Trainer who is a member of one of the Pokémon Leagues," the civilian leader retorted.
"Her apprehension is of grave importance to Chairman Elric," the officer responded.
"Why is that?"
"Need to know. And you criminal scum don't. Now, move aside before we force you aside, one way or the other!"
But the civilians held firm. Kreatz and Mauk had just arrived at the scene when the Watchmen Trooper leader shoved the civilian leader backwards. The other civilians pointed their weapons at the troopers and surrounded their leader. They then yelled to Leaf, "Run!"
Leaf, who was close to rounding a corner, began to sprint away. One of the troopers noticed her and fleeing and opened fire on her with his assault rifle. Fortunately, the trooper's aim was wild and he failed to find his mark. That was more than enough for the civilians to begin firing on the troopers. They immediately opened fire with the weapons that they had at their disposal. While most merely had slugthrowers, which were not all that effective against the power armor suits worn by the Watchmen Troopers, a few of the civilians had energy rifles and pistols, which were far more effective. Red pulses erupted from the rifles and struck the officers. Single hits were insufficient to take down the officers, but after a few hits, even their armor was unable to hold and two officers were felled in the initial barrage. However, it would not be enough against the Watchmen, who merely pointed their own assault rifles and Freeze Guns at the civilians. They then opened fire and ruthlessly mowed down the first line of civilians.
A few of the surviving civilians, however, were also Pokémon Trainers and had taken the time to release some Pokémon, most of them were brown star-shaped Pokémon with crystals in the center called Staryu. Another was a blue serpentine Pokémon known as a Gyarados. The Staryus began the fight by opening fire with yellow energy stars in what was known to Pokémon Trainers as a Swift attack. The energy stars were more than powerful enough to penetrate the armor of the Watchmen soldiers and fell them. Gyarados merely made certain of their eventual fates with a single beam of orange energy that emerged from its mouth. The Hyper Beam struck the force of soldiers and gouged a furrow into the street that was several meters long, and at least two meters across. After a few seconds, the Watchmen that had taken on the civilians were dead. However, the civilians would not be able to celebrate for long, for reinforcements for the Watchmen had arrived. Galactic Federation Army soldiers and more Watchmen came onto the scene, riding landing ships. Several Stiletto-class starfighters also escorted the landing ships as well. They immediately fired on the Pokémon, who did not hesitate to return fire. Open fighting between Earth and the Federation had begun. And before the battle was over, dozens on each side would be dead.
Meanwhile, Leaf continued to run down the street, hearing the sounds of battle if the distance behind her. Despite wanting to go back and help the others, she knew that she had to continue running, for she was the target of the Watchmen and she would do more harm than good to the civilians if she went back to back them up in their fight. As she continued to run, she looked up and saw a small, floating cat-like creature on the roof of one of the buildings. She immediately ran to the building and turned around. There, she was face to face with Kreatz, Mauk, who were not flanked by any other soldiers yet. She could see the looks of sadness in their eyes. She then called back to them, yelling, "You're not like the others. You're not murderers."
"No," both Kreatz and Mauk agreed. "We're Galactic Federation Police Officers. But you are a criminal as determined by the Chairman of the Galactic Federation, and the civilians that protected you killed Federation officers. Earth is under direct control of the Galactic Federation. You must come with us. Please, don't make this any more difficult than it already is."
"I'm sorry, officers," Leaf answered, shaking her head. "But I don't plan on dying anytime soon. And if I surrender to you, I will die."
It was then that she turned around to flee when she ran into the two remaining Watchmen that had not joined the main force in the assault. These Watchmen had removed their helmets, revealing the faces of two Simians. They leered at her as they pointed their guns at her. Leaf then felt a wave flow over her as she vanished from their sight and reappeared on top of a building above the scene. She looked down as Kreatz and Mauk cried, "No!" as the two Simians fired on a substitute that was a perfect copy of her that had appeared the instant she had disappeared and reappeared on the roof. She looked over at the small, floating white-furred cat-like Pokémon, Mew, and said, "Thanks."
"You're welcome Mia," Mew communicated back to her telepathically. Leaf then watched as the two Simians gunned down her substitute. She saw the bullets tear through her substitute's torso and head, creating a scarlet mist in the process, making the fake look as real as the real thing. The body fell to the ground, blood leaking from multiple wounds. She took one last look at Kreatz and Mauk's faces as they were left aghast at the gruesome sight of her substitute's destruction.
"What the hell have you two done?" they roared at the other two Watchmen.
"Carry out our orders, sirs," the two Simian Watchmen soldiers replied harshly as one of them bent down and grabbed the body of Mia's substitute and casually broke its neck with a single jerk, just to make sure that Mia was dead. The sound of cracking bones echoed throughout the alley
Mia looked down at the scene and asked Mew, "How long will that thing last?"
"Until a normal human body would decompose," Mew responded. With that, Mew teleported herself and Mia away from the scene, and all the way to the Unova Region in America. As of yet, the Federation did not have a strong presence there, and the Federation presence that was there was more loyal to Earth than it was to Elric. As Mia reappeared inside a temple, she worried about what would happen in the future, for the fighting that had occurred would not go unreported, and it would definitely lead to more conflicts in the future.
Back down where the two remaining Watchmen Troopers were loading the substitute Leaf's corpse onto their shuttle, Kreatz and Mauk walked and stared at the scene blankly. They saw the corpses of Watchmen, humans, and Pokemon litter the street. It was evident that none of the Watchmen had been human, much to the worry of Kreatz and Mauk. This incident would only widen further the gulf between humans and non-human member species of the Galactic Federation, especially on Earth. As they continued to walk back up the street towards their shuttle, they noticed that even the wreckage of starfighters was visible. "It has begun," Mauk said blankly.
Kreatz could only nod at his friend's statement. He then went onto the shuttle so he could continue the search for more criminals. However, the more he thought about what had happened with Mia, the more he wondered if it were the Pokémon Trainers and seditionists of Earth that were the criminals, or if it was them. With that dark thought, they activated the shuttle's engines and rose from the ground and continued with their mission, albeit with only two other remaining troops from the original assault force.