Chozo Battle Suit
Ver. SA1-4468-VM6-P
Alert! Severe structural damage withstood. Armor integrity at negative levels. Majority of suit functions offline.
Numerous internal injuries detected.
User is at severe risk of expiration. Seek immediate medical attention.
Seek immediate medical attention.
Medical attention…yeah, right.
I've got one shot at this…
Warning! Diverting remaining power into weapons systems will result in a near-total shutdown of Power Suit functionality until repairs are finished. Are you sure?
I'm not much of anything right now, to be honest.
Alright, Old Bird…help me out.
The Power Bomb.
The power of a thermonuclear warhead at just the slightest suggestion of thought. It enveloped Samus entirely, lifting her off of the ground, seemingly burning away the Power Suit, clothing, skin…all that covered her.
But the bomb didn't explode.
Its force inverted, covering her in a blinding, brilliant light. Her body, her essence, was contained within a shining chrysalis. Her bones were mended, cuts and punctures sewed. She returned to the womb of power she'd been born from, and came out of it restored.
Samus landed on her fist and knees, her body bathed in light and smoke as the ancient Crystal Flash technique ended. Most of her suit fell off into lifeless pieces around her - save for the chest, shoulders, boots, right arm and cannon. No shields, and what armor remained was in sorry shape. She glanced at her left arm…finding that the Pirate Scythe was still intact, being a foreign piece of tech in the first place.
All power reserves severely drained.
Further stress will likely result in a complete shutdown.
Auto-repair in queue.
Estimated time to completion...unknown.
The Hunter couldn't help but fall onto her back. She breathed heavily…the rush from having executed such a dangerous maneuver still dosing her with adrenaline…and the severity of her situation only adding fuel to the fire.
She had lost.
Failure in her line of work had almost always meant certain death.
Failure was never an option.
And the few times she had come close, she couldn't attribute her survival to anything other than luck.
Her first encounter with the Ing, on Aether.
Her encounter with her then-reborn doppelganger on Norion.
Even following those failures, she wasn't far from safety afterward. On Aether, she still had her ship. Her med-bay, all of her belongings.
After Norion, she awoke in the care of the Galactic Federation.
But here…she had nothing. No one. Not her ship, not her recent allies, not even her Power Suit. All but her last-resort weapon, the Scythe, and the Power Beam were lost to her, with none of the shielding she relied upon for survival. And this dimension's denizens were of a far more dangerous breed than the majority of the wildlife and Pirate forces back home. She thought of what a Baron's slam might do to her bones without the suit to protect her.
She was distracted by that thought when it occurred to her what she was looking at, staring up at the sky.
The sight, in all of its natural beauty, was more alien than anything Samus had seen since she'd come to this dimension.
Blue skies.
She sat up rather suddenly.
There was luscious green all around her. Patches of vibrant, living grass. Trees that smelled of pine - not sulfur - and a gentle breeze that blew leaves through the air. The clouds up above were as white and gentle as those on the countryside of more fertile colonies, like K-2L.
For just a brief moment, she had considered the thought that maybe that portal had led her to the afterlife, but the lack of Chozo anywhere in sight nixed that theory.
Not everything in this strange, fertile place was familiar to her. Far in the distance ahead of her, piercing the heavens themselves, was an incomprehensibly huge crystal that seemed to be jutting out from the planet's core. From the way it was positioned in the sky, it looked as if it may have flown into the planet…but how it could have survived such an impact Samus did not know.
Her intuition told her she ought to investigate it - but the reality sunk in that if this place wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, she likely wouldn't last a week-long trip trying to get there on foot.
Closer in the distance, Samus could make out what was undeniably a building of Sentinel construction. It brought her back to Taras Nabad. To that man in green, who walked a path of perpetual torment not because he had to, but because he knew that he was the only one that could. Another who struggled to maintain his sense of humanity when the world around him had made him into a killing machine.
"It's nothing, just...I guess the idea of getting a chance to sit down and breathe never meshed right with the whole 'knight in shining armor' look to me," she sighed. "Yet...here we are."
"The armor," the Slayer growled, looking off into the distance. "Just dressing. Still the same as the one underneath."
His words had brought her to her feet and carried her forward. She drew the Paralyzer from her hip, ensured that its laser whip was functioning properly, and headed down the stone path before her.
She was Samus Aran, Galactic Warrior - regardless of what equipment she had, what falls she'd taken, and what path she walked.
Despite the medieval appearances, if wandering around the Fortress of Doom had taught her anything, it was that the Sentinels were extremely technologically advanced. With a suitable power source, she might be able to speed up her Power Suit's recovery, and from there - see about finding a way back to where she needed to be.
Her first step would be to see if she could make it to where she saw that building. This place looked a lot less ravaged than Taras Nabad - it might not have been completely out of the question that she'd find some semblance of civilization that could point her in the right direction.
On the way there, she observed more wilderness than she had thought existed in this dimension. Or, universe - rather. The Hunter had gone on her fair share of adventures in the past. Seeing as Dark Aether had been a separate dimension, this felt a 'Hell' of a lot farther from that. She smirked at herself again. Another dumb pun her Phrygian friend would have made to lighten the mood and distract her from how dire whatever situation they'd found themselves in had become.
There were plenty of ruins here, too. Collapsed bridges, far from wherever they had once stood. Crumpled temples and towers, overgrown and long reclaimed by nature. Just as Earth did, Argent D'nur held a storied history of war with the demons - though its reverberations were felt from far more distant times. Still, this region gave her hope - as unlike in Taras Nabad, life was still abundant here. She'd seen close approximations of birds and was certain a wolf of some kind may have been stalking her along her trek.
By the time she had gotten close to the Sentinel structure she'd been after, two things occurred to her. One, the structure was in the middle of a whole Sentinel village - one that, unlike many of the ruins she'd passed on the way here, did not seem to be in any state of disrepair. The other thing she had noticed was that it might not stay that way for long…as the village was engaged in active combat against the demons.
There were men and women, both warriors and civilians, fighting tooth and nail for the stake they'd claimed on a once prosperous land. The sins of their brethren and former leadership had finally come to deliver them to oblivion they dreaded every passing day. Samus saw children being rushed behind doors, their parents jumping into battle themselves as they fended off the demonic ranks with swords and axes, and the odd energy weapon. It was a losing battle - there were not enough experienced fighters here to defend the village. Samus briefly recalled the plumes of fire spread across K-2L. The screaming of parents and children alike as they were slaughtered by uncaring masses of evil. She had often wondered how things would have gone if she were who she was now, then. What she was.
It was time for her to find out.
Samus clenched her fist, bringing the Scythe to life, and ran into battle as though she had the full power of her suit at her disposal. What she lacked in utility she would make up for in spirit. A Hell Knight had been seconds away from pounding a pair of Argenta children to mulch. Samus intercepted it, Scythe humming with a forbidden glow that had seldom ever been used to save lives. She cut the demon in half with one swift strike, her fury bringing the inhuman strength out of her that she'd have armed with ballistics or with bare knuckles.
From her other hand, she took potshots at a swarm of Gargoyles that flew into the village with the Power Beam, aching for a way to disperse them all at once.
Missiles malfunctioning.
"Traveler!" an Argenta male yelled at her. He had wheeled a makeshift catapult out from behind his home, and loaded it with what Samus was certain were bombs. She nodded in acknowledgment and watched as the cluster of explosives was launched at the approaching cloud. She aimed her cannon and fired just as the metal shells hung in the air in front of the swarm. A chain reaction of spectacular explosions laid waste to a majority of the flock, a proud cheer coming from the man who'd helped set it up.
Samus was knocked from her position as a Pinky bulldozed through the area in a collision that may have splayed less durable individuals. The demon smashed hard into her side, definitely bruising her, but not doing enough damage to break any ribs. Samus wasted no time jabbing the Scythe into the beast's neck before it could throw her off, and a quick slice brought the beast to its knees and out of commission. Through the chaos, Samus could see golden flashes of light - some entity was striking down demons with magics and speed she hadn't known the Argenta to be capable of.
Another warrior clad in armor came to her side and helped her back onto her feet. He handed her one of his two swords, a blazing blue fire comprising the blade. Samus charged into the fray at his side. The battle became more of a blur to her than anything else. Without information fed to her through her visor, without the vast majority of her arsenal or traversal options, Samus was put into a position where she did not have the luxury of outplanning, maneuvering, or outgunning her adversaries. At several points, she took blows far more devastating than she had grown to endure. A Hell Knight's fist causing her head trauma. A Whiplash's blades tearing across her skin. So many god damned fireballs, singing and searing her arms and midriff.
She raised her cannon arm to block a swing from a Fireborne Baron - a monstrous tower of a demon who'd led this particular raid that was nearing its end. It brought its fiery blade down upon her with swiftness and brutality that had more than begun to take its toll on the Hunter. With the last of the suit's energy, the attack was repulsed - and Samus' arm cannon was shattered in the process. Another piece of protection fell broken and lifeless to the ground before her; another part of her weakened beyond repair. Samus drove the Scythe on her other arm into the Baron's abdomen - against it, actually, as its stone skin seemed several times more durable without the aid of powerbombs to tear through it. Two Argenta, including the swordsman that had helped her earlier, jumped onto the Baron's arms, and both were thrown off in its rage, swatted into nearby market stalls and buildings. Samus drew the Paralyzer, flipping its whip open and lashing across the Baron's chest to little avail as she jumped backward.
As she did, the Baron leaped forward, both arms raised. Samus started to shift her body weight to jump out of the way and found that her knee was giving out on her. A searing pain shot up all the way to her neck. She gazed down to find blood running freely from wounds all over her body…fighting like this had taken a toll on her. As the Baron's shadow was cast over her, for a brief moment she wondered if the people of the village could finish it off without her.
And then, she shook the thought from her mind.
She dove underneath the leaping Baron, feeling the heat from its wave of Argent fire behind her. She had charged a Paralyzer shot during the action and fired it directly into the Baron's spine.
"Kneel, Hunter!"
This voice was alien. Entirely unlike the human grunts and shouts that came from the people around her. But at the moment, all Samus cared was that it hadn't sounded demonic. The pain spreading throughout Samus' body was happy to oblige, if only for a moment. She dropped to her knees, and directly above her flew a spear of golden brilliance. It pierced the Baron's back, exploding in a flash of golden lightning. Bolts and rays of light continued to arc throughout the Baron's body, slowing its every movement as what Samus believed for just a moment was holy energy crippled the beast.
"Finish the wicked soul," the alien commanded. Samus found the strength to return to her feet and clambered atop the baron's back. She balanced herself by grabbing ahold of one of its horns, and held her arm out for a weapon of any kind. Another warrior threw her a mace, and Samus clobbered the Baron. She hit it, and she hit it, and she hit it some more, chipping away at its stone hide until its head was nearly severed from its spine. One final swipe with her Scythe separated the Baron's head from its shoulders, and Samus rode its body down.
She stood, the demon's head still attached to the horn she refused to let go of. Most of what remained of the Varia suit had been destroyed. Hell, parts of the Zero Suit had been destroyed. The Hunter was drenched in blood, sweat, cuts and bruises, burn wounds, filth, and above all…
Victory.
Samus thought back to the early days…shortly after she had left Zebes. The Chozo she had been adopted by and came to know as family, the Thoha, were not the only Chozo tribe in the galaxy. Her memories were hazy, but she had been approached by a man belonging to another…the Mawkin. They had been a tribe shrouded in mystery, as all of her searches for them afterward came up dry.
The man wished not for the gifts of the Chozo to be paraded around the galaxy represented by an undisciplined, trifling girl. Her suit, her weapons, and her blood, were a privilege…and she was going to display them with some semblance of honor.
The training she had been put through was more vicious, unforgiving, and at times utterly cruel than anything the Chozo she'd been raised by or even the Federation Police could put her through. She had been forced to fight without the suit, without her armaments. With only her body and what weapons she could scavenge from the trials her mysterious benefactor forced her through. He refused her attempted departure over and over until she had become passable in his eyes. Without even knowing the Chozo's name, she came to resent him and his authority…a resentment that fed a pre-existent flame, and would lead to countless disciplinary issues during her time with the Federation.
The trials, more often than not, left her in states much like this. The only semblance of glory about her was that she had done more than survive. She'd won.
The words he spoke had been drilled into her head, uttered every time she had to wipe the blood from her face. every time she had to break her body just to stand back up…and finally, when she had proven herself worthy of being called "Chozo."
"Hadar…sen olmen," she whispered. The words were spoken in a tongue she hadn't used in many years and feared she never would again. It was a declaration that Samus vehemently opposed, but time and time again found it to be the real reason she had survived so long. It was never luck.
Hadar sen olmen…
Power is everything.
The Argenta cheered with the felling of the beast, the last of the raid's stragglers either running away or being finished off.
"You fight with the spirit of Argenta, traveler…"
That was the swordsman…or at least, Samus thought it was. In truth, he was a blur…a splotch of colors against a similarly indistinguishable mass of bodies and noise, that was all too quickly dissolving into darkness.
She might have hit the ground.
. . .
"Someone get her to the springs!"
. . .
"The warrior requires rest…look at the wounds she's sustained."
. . .
"Clear the way! Our sister is in dire need of healing!"
. . .
"Do not fret. I will see to it that the Hunter recovers. Hatchling…we meet at last. Sleep now…there is much to discuss."
. . .
When Samus awoke, she was in a hot spring, sometime during the dead of night. Billions of stars shone in the night sky. The spring she had been resting in shared a similar glow…streams of ethereal blue energy swimming throughout the waters. Many of her wounds had all but healed - no doubt thanks to the healing pool. There were torches all around the spring - she could tell this place was at least half a mile away from the rest of the village. A failsafe to protect this place, she imagined.
The sight of the alien figure from earlier near where she rested startled her. And yet, her worries were nearly instantly washed away. The creature's presence brought with it an impossible feeling of serenity, only compounded by the glistening moonlight reflecting off of its pearlescent armored body. Its figure was tall and slender...slightly feminine. It lacked any legs that could be seen - though hints of red tendrils hung out beneath its armored cloak as the being floated idly in the air. It stood with a golden spear in its hand and a large halo behind its back. It was watching out for her.
If she didn't know any better, Samus might have assumed she was in the presence of an angel.
"We are both warriors of light, Hatchling, sent down to deliver our divine judgment upon adversaries of our own making."
Well…if there were actual demons from Hell in this world, it stood to reason there would be angels, too.
"Sorry…I didn't mean to stare," Samus said, turning her attention from the figure as she gazed back out into the stars.
"I have been watching you since your arrival on Argent D'nur - it is only natural that you now reciprocate my gaze."
"Alright, then," Samus said. She turned around fully, wincing as she anticipated the pain in her legs to protest - but now there was only a dull resistance as tendon and nerve alike healed. "You called me Hatchling. Do I…know you?" she asked.
Hatchling.
As the veil of lunacy descends, as past and future blend and shuffle, one image appears and flickers through the landscape, wraithlike. It is the Hatchling, the Newborn, walking the path of corruption, a lone figure shining in the toxic shadows.
"You do not, Samus. But in my race's grand sight of the universe and all that lays beyond, I once crossed paths with your people. They struggled in a state of dimensional flux, drifting helplessly across time and space. I met them in secret and learned of their history when they were able to clear their minds long enough to tell it. I learned of the great poison that tortured their ascended souls and threatened to swallow your realm. I learned of their history, their customs…anything I could to help anchor them in their ethereal struggle. And I learned of you, Samus. The Hatchling, hailing from afar yet finding home in a divided civilization. Destined to purge the sickness from your world and all others."
Samus pondered the angel's words, knowing well that it spoke the truth. She'd learned of the Chozo that ascended from the lore they left behind on Tallon-IV. In truth, she read over their final texts regularly, long after completing her mission. It helped her feel close to what had been her family…now a void that could never truly be filled.
In her time in this world, Samus had come to know of three races. Humans, the demons, and the Argenta. Not once had the Slayer or Dr. Hayden so much as mentioned a race of angels, though the enormous gilded weapon in the Slayer's arsenal did seem out of place. The fact that no mention of their species had crossed her radar indicated to her that perhaps the Slayer wasn't on the best of terms with them - which gave her reason to be cautious, even if they did have history with the Chozo.
"Sounds like you know my story," Samus said carefully, eyeing the angel. It focused on her, now. "Care to explain yours?"
"Your sense of caution is regrettable, Samus, but not unexpected…given your connection to the Destroyer, and my people's misdeeds against this world."
"Not exactly giving me more reasons to trust you," Samus warned.
"You deserve an explanation," the angel replied, sighing with remorse.
"I am Cerel Maykr, Angel of the Maykr civilization…and one of few remaining of my kind."
Cerel spoke, and Samus listened. She spoke of the Maykr's history - that which was known to her. Of their once peaceful, mutually beneficial alliance with the Argenta. Of what it had been corrupted into following the Father's disappearance. She told Samus of the Khan Maykr's treachery, the only option for the continued life of their species. She spoke of subjugation and enslavement, she spoke of torture and deceit, stretched out over eons. And she spoke of the end.
"The Chozo I spoke with in the vast infinity of creation would one day issue a warning. That the selfish way of life my kind perpetuated could not be sustained forever. We would eventually see a slow, karmic death beginning with the destruction of our honor, and ending with our smoldering remains coming to a sudden and unceremonious end. As I lived, I saw the desperate decline of our status as we grasped at even the most heinous of solutions to persist in a world that had perhaps outgrown us. I could do nothing, as it was physically impossible for a Maykr to defy the Khan. But…without a Khan…"
Cerel observed one of her hands, tightening her fist as it shook with disease.
"I no longer have the promise of life…nor do I harbor its shackles. With the death of the Maykr race in its entirety arriving in only a matter of time, what else should I obtain for myself beyond what is left? And so…"
Cerel moved her arm towards the faint lights of the Argenta village they had defended earlier.
"I do as your people once did, and give back to the world…now asking for nothing but forgiveness in return."
Samus took a moment to process the story of the Maykrs. It hadn't been the first time she'd seen the last flickers of a civilization at its bitter end. She thought to Bryyo, and Elysia…and quite nearly Aether, had it not been for her entirely incidental timing.
"While my kind is perhaps rightfully beyond saving…the Argenta you fought alongside earlier have hope. The same Destroyer that brought Urdak to ruin may one day arrive here, and bring deliverance to the people that raised him up."
"The Destroyer…you're talking about the Doom Slayer, right?"
"Yes," Cerel said, nodding. "Even through the trail of devastation he paves, he is ultimately a hero, perhaps the greatest hero this and many other worlds may ever know. And so are you."
Cerel pointed at her.
"The Chozo, as hopeful as they were of your mission's success, theorized that the Great Poison did not end with the seed that struck their home."
"It didn't," Samus said, crossing her arms. "It came from Phaaze…a world that infected planet after planet with an abomination. The galaxy could have been lost…but Phaaze was destroyed. I made sure of it."
"It was…" Cerel said, trailing off slightly. "That particular foothold it held was. For I fear your Phaaze was merely a seed in and of itself. A planet its origin converted to stake a claim in your universe."
Samus' face got deathly serious. She approached Cerel at the side of the spring.
"That's impossible. After I defeated its…host…the planet and all Phazon in the galaxy were destroyed for good."
"Destroyed for now…just as the Slayer repelled the demonic invasion of Earth. And yet, they remain, do they not? Scattered across Earth, across Argent D'nur. Because their source is still alive. So too is the origin of the Poison. Take my hand, Samus."
Samus glanced at Cerel's hand as the angel reached down into the spring. Samus approached with apprehension…and, buried deep within her soul, fear.
She took the Maykr's hand…and she saw it.
She could almost taste the radioactive bile in her mouth.
The rotten sickness that defiled serenity seeped into both soil and vein, poisoning all as life itself was driven to madness.
And it was gargantuan.
Bigger than Sol, bigger than any planet had the right to be.
Somehow, its mesmerizing cyan glow felt even less inviting than the literal shores of Hell beneath it. That planet had taken so much from her, and she only barely survived its child's invasion.
Samus let go of Cerel's hand, breathing heavily. She became hyper-aware of the fact that her suit was completely unresponsive - none of its weapons systems functioned, and none of its protection remained. It was like…physical amnesia. She felt vulnerable. How was she supposed to take down a celestial body bare-handed?
"Breathe, Hunter," Cerel said. Her halo began to spin slightly behind her, and its faint glow intensified. It was something for Samus to focus on. In, and out. In, and out…
She breathed.
"Sorry," Samus said finally, having normalized her breath, and her heart rate. "It's just…that thing was a pain in the ass to deal with," she admitted, trivializing the matter so that she could conquer it. "It cost a lot of good people."
She thought about the Pirate Scythe on her arm. The Chozo phrase had repeated in her head as she lost herself in the violence.
"Maybe even me."
"And it will take many more unless you intervene," Cerel said. She pointed up into the sky, near where the giant crystal sticking through the planet rested. Samus squinted her eyes, and she could see the unmistakable form of a Leviathan approaching the planet's atmosphere. Before it could even begin entry, the World Spear gleamed and shot a pure, concentrated beam of energy at it. The shot shook the planet, and vaporized the Leviathan entirely, not so much of a dust particle remaining.
Cerel looked back at Samus.
"The blight will adapt, and send tougher, craftier seeds. This world and many others are fighting a war on two fronts…one that cannot be won without your intervention. Yours, and the Slayer's…though I'm afraid his situation may be just as complicated as yours."
"Nothing but good news today," Samus remarked. "Last I saw he was fighting Ridley, there's no way he of all people…lost…" she said, the horror of such an idea taking hold. The slight chuckling from the angel helped to relieve such thoughts.
"No, hardly," Cerel reassured her. "But I'm afraid your ally has made terribly close contact with the poison that threatens creation. If he is going to survive, he is going to require your assistance. I mentioned the Destroyer is to one day arrive here…that will not come to pass if the corruption takes him."
Samus frowned. "That's not going to happen. The Slayer is incorruptible."
"Did you not think the same of yourself? Or your friends?"
Cerel received a look for that comment.
"How do you know about them?"
"When I last spoke with the Chozo before they drifted on to greater places, they mentioned great visions of the Hatchling's future. Of the struggles she'd overcome, and the pain she would not. They saw the mark Phazon would leave upon her soul…and knew that in search of healing, she would eventually find another who bears the weight of the universe upon their shoulders. Who would teach her to find strength in the pain she felt, so that she may do impossible things, and face the tasks that lay ahead.
One who she would teach to reconnect with that withered fraction of humanity they kept, and give them the final push to do the unthinkable and perhaps bring peace to a realm that has long forgotten its meaning. I am here, on this fateful day, to simply point you in the right direction."
"Alright, I'm convinced," Samus said, standing up fully out of the hot spring, and walking up its stairs - her wounds healed, and her mission clear. "Where should I start?"
"Perhaps…with some modesty," Cerel joked, handing her a towel.
Samus didn't bother looking down at her naked body, instead remaining straight-faced as she took the towel and promptly covered herself.
"I didn't take angels to be the joking type," Samus commented, walking alongside Cerel on the path back to the village.
"It is a…contagious behavior."
. . .
"Your fury is remarkable, Outlander," said the swordsman who Samus had fought alongside earlier. He had taken it upon himself to prepare a gift for the traveler who stuck her neck out for them that day. "Argenta's wraithfire flows through you as if you were the Slayer himself."
The Sentinel's arm was in what at first appeared to be a simple shoulder sling…but on further inspection Samus noticed that it had a power core. The same blue fire-like energy that she observed in the World Spear, in the Argenta's weaponry, and in the healing spring ran throughout the sling, no doubt restoring him as it did her.
"Thank you," Samus replied, having disrobed in favor of her apparent reward - traditional Sentinel armor made to fit her. She noted the sage green finish and ruby red accumulator on the breastplate. Chicken or the egg? Samus thought.
A voice now began to form from the power core on her chest - one she had begun to worry she might not hear from again. It was garbled and distorted, but recognizable - that was the sound of her Power Suit.
Compatible compat-compatible armor system detec-tected. Sen-sentinel Sentinel Suit engaged.
The voice died out with the announcement, but a gentle, blue glow now emanated from the armor's power core.
At first the swordsman had seemed concerned, but the faint smile on the Hunter's face told him that this was an expected behavior.
"And again, thank you for your hospitality," Samus said, bowing slightly to the fellow warrior.
"We are a scattered people," the swordsman explained, nodding his head with a smile in his voice. "There can be no hope in union someday if we keep our doors shut to strangers. We may not have survived that encounter without you, even with Cerel's help."
"Glad to have been passing through. And uh…"
She pounded her chest in a way the Slayer had taught her how.
"Kar en tuk."
A warm, genuine smile washed over the man's face. He used his good arm to reciprocate the gesture.
"Kar en tuk, Sister."
Cerel entered the forgery, then, prompting the swordsman to leave after the two exchanged silent nods of respect.
"Your abilities may not return to you for some time," Cerel stated, floating alongside Samus towards the central halls of the forge. "The equipment we are able to spare may be no substitute…but I hope they will assist you through the path ahead."
Cerel held her spear out in front of her and with the faintest sound of a choir, the weapon duplicated. The Maykr offered it to Samus, and she accepted.
Angel Spear - a staple weapon of the Angel caste of Maykrs. While a potent melee weapon on its own, the Angel Spear is capable of rapid blasts of energy bolts and powerful special attacks. By throwing the spear, an explosive blast of holy energy detonates on contact and leaves a slowing area of effect. Slamming the spear's base into the ground generates a powerful shockwave that pushes foes away.
Spears were a favored weapon among Chozo warriors. Naturally, Samus was well-trained in the use of one. She tested the weapon's weight in her arms and practiced a series of clean maneuvers as her muscle memory kicked in. She stored the weapon on her back, and exchanged bows with Cerel.
"What's next?"
"For that answer," Cerel started, coming to a halt as she turned to Samus. "We will need to look to the past."
"Don't think we've got time for riddles."
"Humor me," Cerel replied. "A force that threatens several universes requires a force to face it…and a power that you currently lack. If you are to reconvene with the Doom Slayer, and rid all worlds of this poison, you are to seek out a place of significance to both of your pasts."
Samus scratched her head.
"I'm not sure I follow. I'm from another universe entirely."
"That you are. And there was a foe you faced that similarly wound up where it did and didn't belong. It came to your world from a place only few know of, and fewer ever hope to encounter."
"The only outer-dimensional foe I fought was Gorea, back in the Alimbic Cluster…"
Cerel smiled.
Samus didn't like that smile.
"What staggering power the Vadrigar crafted to test the might of your world…it is now time that you are acquainted with the Arena Eternal."
