Metroid: Mission Alpha

Episode 4: Lavolca Infiltration, Part 2

While infiltrating Lavolca and searching for the stolen Gravity Suit, Samus and Alpha were chased by a mysterious shadow. They ran down the long hall, trying to get away. Alpha was a very fast runner, but fortunately Samus was too and had little trouble keeping up. After a minute, Samus noticed another room and went into it. "Quick, in here!" she told Alpha softly, who also went inside.

The room was quiet, and it seemed that no one else was there. Alpha whimpered. "It's okay, Alpha. We're safe in here," Samus reassured him, but no sooner had she said this than Alpha's eyes widened and he barked in alarm. Samus quickly looked back and saw the same shadow! Its tentacles lashed out at Samus, but she agilely leapt back and out of the way. It was then that she could see that this shadow looked familiar. "It's that shadow we saw on Venine!" she exclaimed.

"Give me the Snacanid," the shadow growled.

"Is that all you can say?" Samus dodged another of its attacks.

"Give me the Snacanid!" the shadow lengthened its tentacles again, sending them throughout the room. Samus gasped and instantly launched herself at Alpha, pushing him away from a tentacle that was about to grab him. However, when she landed, the tentacle wrapped around her leg. Alpha jumped up to attack the shadow and free Samus, but it grabbed him.

"Alpha!" Samus looked back at her struggling friend. She knew there was only one way out of this situation-the Paralyzer. She sent a beam of plasma from it at the shadow, paralyzing it and causing it to loosen its grip. She stood up and Alpha jumped to the ground. "The paralysis won't last long-we have to hurry!" Samus said, and Alpha and she ran back to the hall.

When they were sure they weren't being chased, the two went into another room. "Michael, any life form readings in our area?" Samus said into her speaker.

A moment later, Michael responded. "None, other than yours and Alpha's."

"Good. I have some things to tell you about when we get back to Headquarters, but for now we're still searching for my suit." Then Samus moved on with Alpha.

Samus and Alpha moved quickly and quietly through the cave, fortunately remaining unseen the entire time. Eventually they came to another lava wall, which Alpha took care of with his Fire ability. Then they went into the room, which had low lighting and contained machines and lab materials. "It's…some kind of laboratory," Samus said, looking around at the room's contents.

When Samus came into the next room, which was somewhat brighter, she stopped, and when she saw what was inside, her heart almost did too. A large, strange machine sat in the center of the room, and around it lay several skeletons-wolf-like ones. Alpha yelped and whimpered desolately when he saw them, confirming Samus's suspicions. She grabbed her speaker. "Michael, did you notice any…missing Snacanids when you went to Venine?" she asked, almost too shocked to speak.

"Actually, on our second visit there, my group did notice that several Snacanids from one of the packs had seemingly vanished. We never figured out what happened to them."

"I…I think I've found them…their skeletal remains, anyway."

"What? This is terrible! Do you mean someone is actually trying to kill the Snacanids?" Michael sounded crushed; it was clear that he had bonded with the Snacanids during his research.

"Don't worry, we're going to get to the bottom of this," Samus replied, "We'll find out who has done this and do all we can to prevent any more harm to the Snacanids." Then she went into the next room. Alpha, somewhat comforted by her words, looked sadly at the skeletons one more time before following.

The next room was fully lit and filled with machines. In the center of the room was a capsule with the Gravity Suit inside. "So this is where the Greblai put my suit," Samus said, "It's time to take back what I lost!" She used a beam of plasma from her Paralyzer to break the glass of the capsule. Then she pushed a button on the arm cannon. The suit glowed with a white light, and when it stopped glowing, it covered Samus's entire body as usual. Samus checked the suit's abilities. "Besides the broken visor, everything is still there and working properly," she said to herself, "That's a relief."

Just then, an alarm went off. "Intruders detected!" a mechanical voice said. Samus and Alpha ran back through the room where they had found the skeletons, but in the room that appeared to be a lab, the shadow creature blocked the doorway.

"You are not allowed in here!" the shadow hissed. Unfortunately, it was hard to see it in the dark room, but Samus and Alpha did their best to dodge its attacks. Samus used her Charge Beam, which created some light but was easily avoided by the shadow. When it lengthened its tentacles, Samus and Alpha dodged, causing it to attack and break some of the machines. Samus used an Ice Beam, freezing the shadow, and then Alpha used his Thunder ability to shock the remaining machines, causing them to spark. Samus and Alpha ran out of the room, hearing the explosion once they were a distance away.

Though they weren't sure whether the explosion had defeated the shadow or not, Samus and Alpha kept running. "We need to find a way out of here before someone catches up with us!" Samus said. They soon came to a wall, but Alpha saw another path. He barked to alert Samus and then led her along the path. They kept running, looking out for any Greblai or shadow creatures. Fortunately, they didn't see any, but one Greblai did see them. He ran at them and prepared to attack, but Samus sent shots from her arm cannon. The Greblai dodged them and tried to attack again, but Samus continued to fire at him until he retreated and ran back to Master Greblai's lair. Then Alpha and she continued on.

The Greblai ran to Master Greblai. "Master, I think Samus has escaped!" he exclaimed.

"But that's impossible! She's locked up in a cell!" Master Greblai responded.

"But, I saw her not far from here…unless it was her suit that escaped."

"That suit can't move on its own," Master Greblai said in an irritated tone.

"Well, then maybe it's Samus's ghost roaming the halls!" the Greblai said.

"Don't be ridiculous!" the Greblai guard spoke up, "I just recently saw Samus in the cell, and she looked very much alive to me! Besides, we weren't trying to kill her, especially with that Snacanid friend of hers paralyzing us!"

"Enough, both of you! With the powers they have, I fear that Samus and the Snacanid could quite possibly have escaped. If they have, our sensors will find them," Master Greblai said. All of them fell silent and went back to their work.

As Samus continued through the cave with Alpha, she wondered about their recent discoveries. Who was the shadow? Did it have any connection with the Greblai? Why were they harming Snacanids? Samus also wondered why they took her suit and locked Alpha and her in a cell without damaging any of them. So many things remained unclear, but Samus decided to push those thoughts aside as she started to come to areas she recognized. She would just have to talk with Michael about those things later.

Before long, Samus and Alpha came to the first lava wall they had encountered. Alpha took care of it with his Fire ability, and soon both of them found the cave's entrance again. They left the cave, but little did they know that the Greblai's sensors detected their presence and their exit…

The two went into the Gunship and Samus spoke to Michael. "We found my suit and made it out of the cave. Preparing to leave Lavolca and return to Headquarters."

"All right. I'll be waiting," Michael said. Then the Gunship lifted off the ground and flew off into space.

Meanwhile, Master Greblai was at work. Though Samus and Alpha had escaped, he-and the shadow creature-had plans for their next encounter. They looked at some mysterious data related to the Power Suit on a machine and smiled evilly…

(Original story from August 2016)