Samus woke up screaming and threw off the blanket. She looked around the room. A little light showed through the window showing that morning had arrived. A little over six months had passed since the Chozo found her. Since then she had been taken in by a friend of the Shaman named Tobi. She was still plagued with nightmares however. She had since the incident been told that space pirates killed her parents. In Samus's nightmares she saw space pirates repeatedly stabbing her parents.
She would rush to help her parents but she would always be stabbed herself in the chest. It always seemed so horrifically real and when she woke up she could feel a pain in her chest. None of the Chozo believed her though.
Tobi walked into the room with a candle, "What is it, another nightmare, princess?" Samus didn't like the nickname but she let Tobi keep on calling her that.
"Uh-huh, it was even scarier this time."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No, not really."
"I know what will make you feel better. I can give you a cookie."
"Thank you", said Samus. Tobi left the room and came back shortly. Samus sat up and nibbled on the cookie.
"Is it good?", asked Tobi.
"Yeah, but it's a little stale."
"I did get them a while ago. No one on this planet sells them. Well, you have to to to school in half an hour. I laid out some clothes for you. You should brobably start getting read soon."
"I will, I don't think I'll be falling back to sleep."
"Well, I have to go to work. If you need me for anything press the green button on the talk-box."
"O.k." With that Tobi hugged Samus and left. Samus took her time getting ready for school. She didn't enjoy the Chozo school that much. It was harder than her old school and she never felt like she fit in. The Chozo almost never spoke English and the Translator chip placed in her ear only translated very basic Chozodian. She would eventually have to learn how to speak their language. She left the stone dome shaped building that was her home. She didn't bother to lock the door since Chozo very rarely steal. In fact, the Chozo didn't know much about stealing until they encountered the space pirates.
Samus arrived at the school five minutes late. The school was a glorified, golden colored building. She was scolded for being late by the teacher. Samus took her seat off to the left of the Chozo children. While the Chozo children were working on some project she had to listen to a tutor teaching her to speak and write Chozodian. She could see the Chozo children staring at her. One threw a clump of dirt at her.
She stood up, and pointed, "Did you see that?"
"Yes, now sit down." stated the tutor in a rough voice.
"But."
"No, listen and sit down or I'll tell Tobi. If you have a problem with him then do something about it on your own time."
"Ugh, fine", said Samus angrily as she sat down and pounded on her desk.
"Good", replied the tutor. She could hear the others laughing at her but she chose to ignore them. She got back to work writing down Chozo symbols.
Later on at lunch she was sitting alone as usual. She was finally getting used to Chozo food. When she first moved there the food disgusted her. Today she was having something that reminded her of mashed potatoes. She was halfway done with it when she noticed a Chozo girl sitting across from her. Someone was actually sitting near her!
Samus finally asked, "I'm sorry, but why are you sitting here?"
"What I can't sit here?", asked the Chozo girl in English. This surprised Samus for a moment.
"I'm fine with it, it's just no one sits by me."
"Oh, they're just being stupid. They must not like you because you're human."
"Oh."
"By the way, I'm Nikora. I just moved here from Tallon 4 yesterday. What's your name?"
"I'm Samus. I moved here six months ago from K-2L."
"Oh, I'm sorry . That's the planet the pirates attacked isn't it?"
"Yeah, I'd rather not talk about it."
"Want to talk about something else?", asked Nikora, trying to change the subject.
"Sure", replied Samus.
"So, what's there to do around here?" Samus and Nikora talked like this for a while. Eventually they would have to go to their classes. Samus was still picked on at school but things were much more bearable now that she had a friend to talk to.
"You're getting faster.", commented Hawkoruu as Samus slowed to a stop.
"Does... That mean... I can go home now?", asked Samus in between breaths. She had just finished running laps on a track in the middle of the desert outside Chozodia. She had been going through training for almost two months. One day the shaman Sobimoruu visited her house. He had a talk with Tobi outside and after that Tobi arranged for Samus to go through this rigorous training. It didn't make any sense. She had questioned Tobi about it and he always said something to the effect that the training would build her character. She was a little angry at Tobi about it. It seemed like Tobi was hiding something from her. Ever since she started the training she was perpetually sore.
"No, not yet, I have a surprise today.", answered Hawkoruu.
"Ugh, what is it today?", whined Samus. "Oh, that's not the right attitude.", mocked a voice from behind Samus. She turned around and saw a Chozo boy a little taller than her standing there by a plant resembling a cactus. The feathers on top of his head were dyed purple.
"You will finally get to put that training to the test. Taklon here will challenge you to a match. Take a break first.", said Hawkoruu. Samus's eyes widened with surprise at this.
"What?, do I have to?"
"What, are you afraid?", teased Taklon.
"No, I'm just tired.", said Samus defensively.
"The martial arts are an integral part of your training, Samus.", stated Hawkoruu.
Samus took her time preparing for the fight.
She drank some water and stretched for a bit. Hawkoruu and Taklon were biginning to become impatient when she surprised them by saying, "O.k., I'm ready to fight."
"Good, now you two may start.", stated Hawkoruu before sitting down to watch. Taklon immediately charged at Samus. She easily dodged out of the way and jabbed at his side as he passed. He cried out but quickly recovered. He turned around to face her. She threw a punch but he grabbed her arm and easily tossed her to the side. She caught herself and stopped from falling over. They continued like this for a while. She couldn't seem to be able to land any hits on him. He was too fast. He had been able to hit her several times now.
"What's wrong?, The feeble human girl can't keep up?", mocked Taklon.
"I'm not feeble!", growled Samus, increasing the fury of her attacks.
She took a running leap at him and aimed a chop at his stomache. He quickly ducked and stuck out his right fist. Samus, still in midair from the leap, collided with his fist. His fist caught her right in the upper stomach. She fell down on the ground, the wind knocked out of her and was trying to catch her breath. Taklon quickly had her pinned.
"Give?", asked Taklon.
"No, not to you!" She kicked him off and got back up. She got in a few strikes before he could start blocking again. He suddenly stuck out his foot at the right time and tripped her. She fell, face first in the sand. He quickly had her pinned again.
"Never!"
"Look, I'm sorry I made fun of you. Do you give?"
"I haven't lost yet!", yelled Samus. At this point Hawkoruu intervened.
"Stop it, both of you."
Taklon gout up and bowed to Hawkoruu, "Yes, sir."
"You may leave." Taklon said bye, turned, and started on the path back to Chozodia. Samus was now standing up, wiping the sweat from her face.
"And you. You shouldn't let what others say bother you so much. It could get you in trouble some day. And it's fine to lose sometimes. It was just a friendly match."
"I'm sorry."
"Good, see that you remember what I just said. You may go home."
"Thank you." With that Samus turned and headed home as well. Samus was walking home, replaying the match in her mind. She thought she heard some noises but decided that it must have been her imagination. She heard it again though. Someone was screaming! She ran toward the sound. On the side of the trail Taklon was being attacked by a creature. The creature resembled a giant hairless rat and it kept hissing. Taklon kicked at it's face repeatedly. Eventually it bit his foot and wouldn't let go. Samus's mind raced, trying to think of something she could do. She just froze. She heard Taklon's screams and decided she had to do something. She picked up a large, orange rock, got a running start, and hurled it at the creature.
The rat like beast got knoced off of taklon's back where it had been biting him. Unfortunately the rock also knocked over Taklon who fell over, screaming. The creature got back up and ran straight for Samus. She jumped out of the way but it turned around and latched onto Samus. It started clawing her back. She couldn't reach it as it was attached to her back. It kept biting and clawing. She started feeling weaker and collapsed on the ground from blood loss. The rat creature continued its assault. It was bitin her face now and she didn't have the strength left to move and stop it. She thought she was going to die. However, Taklon had gotten back up. He picked up two rocks, leapt over, and smashed the rat's head between them. He beat it several more times to be sure it was dead.
He sat down next to Samus and said, "Thanks, how you feeling?" Samus then blacked out.
Tobi and Hawkoruu were standing over Samus's hospital bed. She hadn't awakened in the four days since the attack and she only seemed to be getting worse. A chozo doctor was there with them.
"Unfortunately, there isn't much we can do. She got some infection when that sandrat attacked her. Chozo are immune to the disease but apparently this isn't the case with humans. I don't know how to treat it."
"What, you mean there's nothing you can do?", asked Tobi who was almost crying.
"Well, there is an experimental procedure that we can try. We could infuse her with Chozo blood. It's never been tried on a human before. There is a risk it could kill her. There has been some success with other alien races before though."
"Well, why didn't you say so? It's better than watching her die!", said Tobi in a desperat voice.
"Are you sure you want this done on her?"
"Yes, very."
"Well, I have to go discuss this with the other doctors." Then the doctor walked out of the room.
"Look, I'm sorry, I should have walked them home.", apologized Hawkoruu to Tobi.
"That's not necessary. There's no way you could have expected this. We haven't had a sandrat attack here in over 10 years."
"Well, still."
Samus woke up and shook her head. It had now been five days since the attack and she had been through the blood transfusion.
"She's awake!", shouted Hawkoru.
"She is!" replied an ecstatic Tobi after looking over and seeing that Hawkoruu was right.
"I was so worried about you!", said Tobi running over.
"How long was I asleep?", asked Samus.
"Five days. How do you feel?"
"Better than ever actually.", replied Samus staring at the wounds on her arms. They were already almost entirely healed. To everyone's surprise she actually got out of the bed and stood up. Then she ran up to the wall and did a back flip off of it. The doctor walked in at this time.
"Samus! Don't do that. You should be resting."
"I'm sorry but I feel so great. It's strange but I actually feel very strong right now. Can I go home?"
"Absolutely not. We have to run some tests, make sure there's nothing wrong with you."
"Aaaw", whined Samus, disappointed. Tobi and Hawkoruu stayed a while to visit Samus. Hawkoruu eventually left. Soon after Tobi had to leave.
"Well, bye, Samus."
"Bye.", said Samus hugging him.
"Oh, before I go, Taklon told me to give this to you."
"Ooh, a present!" Tobi fished around in a pocket on his robe and pulled out a neclace and handed it to Samus.
"He said thanks for helping him." Samus took the necklace from Tobi's hand and looked at it. It was made of a red string. It had some seashells and turquoise colored pebbles on it.
"Tell him I said thanks too.", said Samus while putting on the necklace and smiling.
"I will. Well, I have to get going."
"Bye." Tobi then left, glad that Samus was o.k.