Metroid: A Tale of Paradox
Disclaimer: Content and affiliations of Nintendo franchise.
Author's note: Chapter two of my wondrous tale! Now that we have been introduced to the opening themes and characters, let us see how they react to an unfortunate event. Please bare the long intro to the actual conflict, we have to build the atmosphere before shattering it ya'know. I stated in the previous chapter that this was my imagination's goings, I have nothing more than a general idea for the story, so all the content in between is written the 'J. R. Tolkien method', figure it out as you go! It will follow the Metroid storyline to a major degree though, so maby that is a hint for this chapter. You'll notice a few methods I use here, such as referring to Virginia Aran simply as mother, this is my attempt to create a view of her through the children's eyes. Also, some people don't like pecan pancakes, well, TOUGH! I hope I'm handling this well, so please read and critically review!
Chapter 2: Children and massacres
The big, orange orb of gas-burning flames rose its peak above the horizon of the window sill of Samus and Ridley's room, brightening their faces from the dull of night.
Samus woke before Ridley, as usual, the light glaring in her eyes. Ridley, however, had thick eye lids, and didn't sense day till it warmed his body, or till someone yelled good morning in his ear. Samus restrained from rousing Ridley yet, it was the weekend anyway.
Samus came out of her room as a zombie scuffing its feet across the carpet to the bathroom. With damp rag in hand, she prevailed in clearing her eyes from the haze that was bestowed upon them almost every morning. She then reached for her tooth brush.
"Why am I always told to brush before I eat?" She thought to her self. "And just get food on them at breakfast?"
Samus retreated her hand from the tooth brush. She then led her feet down the steps towards the kitchen.
The aroma was as pleasant as always, pecan and blue-berry pancakes with imported maple syrup.
"Morning Samus, didn't wake Ridley I see," said mother, giving Samus a smiling glance.
"It's Saturday. I thought I'd give him a break." Samus took a seat on a stool at the kitchen's bar table.
"He should probably want in on these pancakes, pecan is his favorite. "Mother brought Samus' usual, two blue-berry pancakes and one pecan in a glass plate and set it on the bar before her with a glass of milk.
Samus did her silent prayer than began to feast.
Mother went up the stairs and stood at the door frame before Ridley's bed.
"Ridley, your pancakes our ready," she said most graciously.
Ridley didn't make any noticeable movement.
Mother tried again, but after not getting a result, she went back to the returned with a single pancake on a plate, and placed it on the bed before Ridley's nostrils. She than walked out and returned to the kitchen.
1.32 minutes later, Ridley walked into the kitchen with an empty plate in his claw.
"Morning Ridley, found a snack in your bed I see!" Samus pushed the stool beside hers out from the bar with her foot, enticing Ridley to sit next to her.
Ridley did so. As he set plate on the bar, mother was already bringing the trey of pecan pancakes to fill his plate.
"What plans do you have for today mother?" inquired Samus, finishing off her last pancake.
"I'm not certain yet, I have a few ideas, maby you could assist me in deciding?" Mother smiled, giving Samus an intended smirk as she pored syrup over Ridley's pancakes.
Samus grinned with the possibility of excitement. When ever mother said she couldn't decide what she was going to do on the weekends, that always meant they were going somewhere fun.
"I might be able to help you decide!" Samus replied.
"Well than, I was thinking we could either go to city hall and get some paper work done, or..."
Mother paused for a moment, allowing Samus' eyes to grow more curious at the suspense. "...We could go to the coast at Rock's Edge."
Samus bounced out of the stool and ran around the bar to mother. "We're going swimming? Yes! Yes!"
"Go get your clothes and a towel. As soon as Ridley is ready we'll leave."
Samus took no hesitation. She was dressed with towel in hand in under fifty seconds flat.
Ridley had just finished his last bite as Samus came into the kitchen with her equipment.
"Hurry Ridley! Get your stuff and let's go!" She exclaimed standing at Ridley's side.
"I don't need anything, I can dry what water my scales don't repel off without a towel."
"Let's go than! ready mother?"
Mother was finishing washing Ridley's plate. "Let me dry my hands off and go grab my book first."
Samus went out side to wait for mother. Today had to be a perfect day. The sun shone warm and bright, and the breeze countered the heat that the sun produced, creating a wonderful setting that Samus had only seen in movies.
Ridley walked out followed by mother, and they entered their Ford mercury 2555 model compact mountaineer. Ridley sat in the back by himself, the most comfortable position he could get, with his body in a slump towards the window and his tail curled into a fold, spanning one and two-thirds the width of the vehicle. Samus sat in the front passenger seat.
It was a twenty-six minute drive approximately to get to the coast from their house, on a day with little traffic. The area of the coast they headed for was called Rock's Edge because it was surround by a forty-foot rocky cliff. They passed through a little truck-stop-town as they went, a Starbucks on the right, McDonald's to the left, and Chevron on the red light's corner. Samus watched the few other vehicles as they passed by. Ridley glared out side the window with his head crouched over. Beyond the forest that separated their little town from the bigger, more industrial city, Ridley could see tall factories, business complexes and the town citadel, which stood above all else, where the town's defensive systems were kept and operated.
"Look mother, a rabbilis!" samus pointed out on the road directly in front of them.
Mother mashed her brakes, sending a screech that alarmed the white and brown speckled creature of the on-coming danger. It jumped at the sight and sprint into the ditch.
The mountaineer came to a complete halt. Samus stepped out of the vehicle and went in the direction the rabbilis had fled. She found the cat hiding in a whole formed by a tree's exposed root. She called to the traumatized squirrel-like creature . Apparently friendly, the small creature came to her, cheeping like crazy.
"Mother, can we bring it with us?" Samus inquisited while carrying the rabbilis to the car, brushing her hands lightly across its fir.
Samus held the rabbilis' face to hers. It had crystal-blue eyes, a brown nose, and a patch of dark fir around the whiskers, giving the appearance of a mustache. The creature's coat felt silky to Samus' fingers as she glossed her hand across it.
"There isn't much I can do with her strong will," mother spoke aloud to herself while standing outside the car with her hand resting on top of the opened car door."We can bring'em along."
Samus joyfully held the rabbilis in her lap as they drove the rest of the way to Rock's Edge.
The rabbilis, which Samus quickly named Pyonchi, was quite content to be cuddled in Samus' warm lap.
"That rabbilis is quite tame, and for so young. There definitely had to be human interaction for it to behave so gently."
Samus hoped to keep Pyonchi till it passed away of old age.
Ridley took no interest in the fury hitch-hiker on Samus' lap, he continued to glare outside the window as before. Ridley's eyes fell upon the planet's horizon, but Ridley was thinking. He always starred blindly when he went deep into his inquisitive mind, pondering thoughts outside of their home world, of the universe, and what wonders were scattered out there for him to find. Ridley had a mind beyond a simple, happy life. He wanted... Well, he wasn't quite sure what he desired, but he knew he couldn't find it here, on a mining colony.
"we're here!" Samus exclaimed. The Ford mercury came to a stop on a gravel parking spot, about thirty yards from the coast.
They couldn't see the cliff from where they parked, a thin yet clustered row of trees and brush screened the view of the coast, save for a narrow clearing in the brush.
Samus was the first out of the vehicle, rushing for the passage way through the screen of brush. Samus bore her swimming piece, a towel, and extra clothes for when she had finished swimming. Mother was second in following, carrying a book and a small, contractible lawn chair. Ridley leaped out of the vehicle, gliding twenty feet before landing with the help of his wings, then took off into the air towards the shore quicker than Samus could have wished to go. The rabbilis, which had been completely forgotten, hopped to the ground and followed Samus as best it could.
When mother reached the edge, she found a lone tree and propped her chair under its shade. Samus had already descaled the path down the cliff. A few feet of sand shore breached the line between the rocky cliff and the clapping shores. Samus found a short extension of the cliff, about nine feet from the sand, that stretched a few yards or so into the water.
Pyonchi came to the cliff, but after realizing the liquid substance below, quickly sped in the other direction, finally propping itself under the tree next to mother.
Samus set her equipment on a slate of rock, then scurried up the rock-formed dock before her. She stood at the end of the dock-like rock, witnessing the moderate waves crashing on to the rock's edge. Samus was searching for the deepest spot to dive in, which was difficult, considering the wave movement disrupted her ability to see if an area was too shallow.
Mother sat in her chair, reading her faceless book. She raised her head for a moment from the book, the view of the capitol city across the waters was very visible, a fog-less day it was. The Capitol's citadel stood as the highest sky-scrapper, its shadow guarding the populace from the sun.
Rock's Edge was on the opposite side of the bay, and the city was on the other side. They took a road that bound around the bay from their house to reach Rock's Edge. It was mother's special landmark. She named Rock's Edge herself when she was younger, a place away from the general public and noise.
Samus made a running start on the rock, going as fast as she could while watching where she planted her feet on the non-leveled surface. Samus pressed both tips of her feet on the rock's edge, then pushed off, adding to the momentum from her sprint. Samus was soaring, above the blue water, spreading her arms out wide while straightening her legs, taking the appearance of a bird. "Perhaps this is close to how Ridley feels," She thought to herself, hanging seemingly suspended in air. Samus closed her eyes as she prepared to penetrate the ocean surface.
-Sploosh!- Samus' head was inches away from the water when she was abruptly grabbed around her legs and forced up in the opposite direction of her dive.
She opened her eyes in panic, but unable to identify the object that carried her so swiftly because of the shock that took her.
Suddenly she heard an all too familiar voice, "The ground there had sharp rocks underneath the water's surface. It's a good thing I beat you to the shore."
Ridley set Samus on the rocky dock on which she had leapt from, and stood her up with his talents.
Samus stood still for a moment before turning to her supposed crimson savior. "Damn right it's good! I didn't see anything, so I just assumed that it was clear," she exclaimed at Ridley with a great smile.
"They blended well with the color of the water. It took me a moment before I realized them myself, nearly striking them as well. It is clear on the right side of the rock though."
Samus was still trying to get over the shock from Ridley's intervention.
"I of course wouldn't have gotten nearly as hurt as you could have," Ridley pointed out with a smirk.
Samus was over the shock now, Ridley's comment was all she needed. "Just because you have dragon skin doesn't make you better than me fly boy!" Samus snapped back. "I bet I can swim faster than you from here to that buoy and back!"
Samus' challenge was met by Ridley leaping beside her, facing towards the ocean horizon.
Samus took her sprinting pose without hesitation. This kind of competition was what they loved to do. They never stayed mad at each other when one would lose, and it made them stronger, faster, smarter, always trying to top the other.
"On your mark. get set." Samus took a moments pause, and glanced at Ridley beside her with a grin.
"GO!"
They both where neck and neck down to the jump off point, Ridley leapt farther than Samus did off the rock before splashing in. Samus had to jump to the right to clear the unseen jagged
rocks. Samus dived cleanly, maintaining her speed into the water, compared to Ridley's somewhat clumsy splash.
The buoy was about one-hundred and fifty feet from the shore. Samus was piercing through the water, bobbing her head in and out of the water to take breaths as she watched professionals do on the sports broadcast channel. Ridley managed to perform a fish-like swivel in the water, sailing sideways in a left to right motion, not needing breaths but every minute or so.
Ridley was the first to touch the buoy, with Samus a few feet short of being neck an neck. When Samus reached the buoy, she twisted around, propped her feet against the buoy and launched back to the shore.
Samus' use of the buoy brought her even with Ridley's shoulders. Ridley 'floored it' as hard as he could when his eye caught Samus catching up.
They both started to press harder, loosing their elegant form. They relied now more on strength to speed to the race's finish.
Ridley crooked his head for a moment to see that Samus was directly beside him, neck and neck for the finish. When he turned his head back, he was met with a THUD! Ridley had forgotten about the rocks underneath the water's surface, until now anyway.
Samus won the race, and a very frustrated Ridley followed less than speedily, rubbing his head from the decisive impact.
"*Gasp* That... Was... The... Best race ever!" Samus puffed as her red face was gasping for oxygen.
"For you it was," replied the dragon, who was even more red than normal.
"I know it wasn't fair that you hit that rock, but it was definitely funny."
Ridley starred at Samus, he didn't know whether to be enraged or to laugh as hard as he could. The bump to his cranium prevented him from fully giving into the latter.
"Don't feel bad Ridley, you were very good, but when it comes to swimming, well, I've got the knack for it." Samus posed with her hands at her hips, and adding a smirk.
Ridley didn't bother to reply to Samus' boast, he simply leapt at her, grabbing her arms near the shoulders with his talents, and launching with her vertically along the cliff. Samus of course was screaming, completely unprepared for a reversal of gravity. Ridley smiled maniacally at her before gently setting her down on the cliff's edge.
"...Hell Ridley, you scared the-"
She stopped to hear Ridley bursting with laughter, even exaggerating it, rolling left to right on the ground.
Samus regained her composure, "Yes, have a good laugh. I'll get you when you least expect it."
Ridley did not relent to end his laughing taunt. They were driving each other crazy, but they were just having fun.
-Zap!-
-Crash!-
The laughter ceased, and all eyes turned towards the city across the bay.
"Oh... My..." Mother was cut short by another abrupt explosion and a blinding flash of light.
The towering citadel was in active flames, with sirens so loud it was eminently present from Rock's Edge. A massive laser cannon had tared through the citadel, cutting through in a diagonal angle.
The citadel responded with a barrage of its own. A mass of green-tint beams of light shot through the clouds towards an unseen target, beyond the planet's atmosphere.
A moment lapsed in-between the firing, but the next object to pierce the Citadel was more massive than the previous shots, and produced a loud yet low frequency ringing throughout the area.
The result of the attack was revealed moments later when the citadel's upper half slid completely off its base, toppling straight down to the ground. A massive dust cloud arouse from the collapsed structure, and the fallen section began to fall sideways, plowing through the residential buildings in its path and creating more particles to fill the air.
Immediately following the citadel's falling was the sound of many ships, their low humming engines filling the ears of all who were witness. gleaming in the sun light, four mid-sized war vessels descended into view over the city, guarded by swarms of sporadic fighters.
"Gasp!" Mother shuttered holding her hands over her mouth," Space pirates!"
The three across the bay watched in helpless terror as the four vessels leveled the capitol city around the citadel into a parking-lot. Two of the ships landed among the rubble, the other two traveled around the brim of the bay, destroying every structure in sight.
Samus ran over to her mother, who was starring at the two ships that docked in the once taller city. Ridley was still standing as he had when the event started, he showed no emotion yet marvelled at such a life-changing event.
"The must be hunting something in the defense complex," mother mumbled, primarily to herself.
The two vessels that still patrolled the sky-ways were getting closer, their humming engines becoming a more prominent, distinct sound.
Mother decide she was done analyzing the event. She grabbed her book, apparently of value, and made far the mountaineer.
"Samus, Ridley, get to the car!"
Samus heeded the command, but halfway she turned around to see Ridley, still glaring at the onslaught.
"Ridley, let's go! Come'on!"
Ridley hesitantly looked over his shoulder facing Samus, and finally followed with the rest of his body.
Ridley suddenly felt a sharp pain on the side of his left shoulder. An injecting dart had pierced him, and before he knew it, he fell to the ground head first.
"Ridley!" Samus screamed, unknowing of what had happened to him.
Suddenly a human-like alien in mossy-green armor, with arms similar to that of a mantis and large yellow eyes, jumped from the brush, followed by another one.
They hustled towards the downed dragon. Samus, in blind courage, charged at them viciously to protect her adopted brother and friend. One of the aliens noticed her coming, and raised a pistol.
Mother was cranking the car when she heard Samus yelling at Ridley. She ran back to find two aliens near Ridley on the ground, and Samus, just starting her charge. Her instincts kicked in, she rushed at top speed behind her daughter. The alien held its weapon steady at its directed target.
"Samus!" Mother shouted so loud, that it made her voice crack.
Samus stopped but she didn't turn around, she starred blankly at the weapon that was aimed at her.
"No!" Mother frantically raced to her daughter, and her scream caused Samus to turn around.
What Samus' eyes were met with next was her dearest mother, diving into her, throwing her on the ground, and being met with a red plasma blast on her back below the neck. Samus layed motionless beneath her dead mother, the impact of her head striking the ground had sent her into a coma.
The rabbilis had long disappeared after the first shot fired upon the defense complex.
Ridley's head was facing the direction of Samus when he fell, and became witness to the horrid incident. Ridley filled with rage and tried to move with all his might, but to no prevail. The alien hostiles strung Ridley up in a flexible, metallic chord and dragged him to the cliff. A Ship, carrier size, soon appeared from laying in wait below the cliff, and they hoisted Ridley onto the ship and took off.
The alien attack made continuous rumble of everything above the planet's surface for over an hour, not even sparing the surrounding forests, before ascending from the planet the same way they came.
A perfect sunny day to start, now the air was filled with black smoke and dust, and Samus stayed motionless beneath her mother, inhaling the toxic fumes.