Samus
Crateria, Zebes, FS-176, Zokunai Nebula, Whirlpool Galaxy
Samus stood resplendent in her yellow and red armour, her blue eyes staring wistfully out at the word through the Y-shaped blue visor she wore. Data gathered by her suit fed as naturally into her mind as the input delivered to her by her natural senses. Mind and armour were as one as she felt the breeze over her second skin. The windswept fields of Zebes stretched out for what seemed to be forever. The thought that this planet was just one of many in a vast, endless universe seemed so absurd to her when just this one world seemed so large.
Having recently turned twelve, Samus knew that she was preparing to embark on a journey perhaps more important than any before. She looked up at the sky, seeing the stars and setting her visor to zoom in as far as light would allow and then enhancing it further with the otherwordly powers of her armour. The twinkling lights became vivid images of burning orbs in the sky, some partly occluded by what she concluded were planets or other large objects.
Faint nebula painted themselves into beautiful colours, the twinkling of impossibly distant objects all the more stark as she resolved that one day; she would see everything the universe had to offer. No sight would be left unrecorded, no history left to lie in the dust, no voice crying out in pain left uncomforted. But she sensed through her otherworldly vision that her target was moving.
She focused her gaze downward and saw the flea sized target in motion more than a thousand of her body lengths away, having emerged from its burrow to flea through the night. She had resolved to take care of the target practise drone without disturbing the wildlife, and so resolved to wait until the best opportunity had presented herself.
She raised her green arm cannon and locked her arm, the cannon's highlight colour changing to red as she zoomed in. She anticipated the direction of its next movement as it began to crack its wings faster then sound to make its movements as erratic as possible and squeezed off a shot. A crimson lance of laser light shot straight out of her cannon across the whole distance and struck the hopping machine at the apex of its leap just at the right angle to avoid hitting the ground, sailing into the night sky harmlessly.
She excitedly pumped her arm cannon in celebration. She definitely preferred to mix it up close, but this was her longest range success on a target of that size yet. She jumped down the mesa and fell a kilometer, landing lightly on her feet and starting to move to the next training area. She leaped into the air to avoid disturbing the fauna and flora too much, her movement silent as she outpaced her own sound.
She launched a grapple tether out and used it to swing around a Mesa, excitedly shouting as she felt the rush of the air all around her. Her armour fed her the necessary analysis of the air vibrations to give her the simulation of normal hearing at these speeds, allowing her to hear what was ahead of her as well as to the sides and behind her, and the whistling and thunderclap were akin to music to her.
She shot out again, firing the tether at a distant platform to pull herself like a coment to the mountainous outcropping, spinning herself to get her feet into position before impact. She carefully buckled her legs under the impact and shot out again, spinning herself to face the ground before curling into the morph ball. Her sight drew beyond her body as her form compacted into the sphere, the armour becoming twin hemisphers around a luminous sphere of energy as she skipped across the ground and rolled up a ramp.
She unfurled and saw about thirty mechanical targets. She estimated she had about a tenth of a second before hitting the ground, and in half that time she had put a power beam shot into each of their heads; landing on the ground as they all fell in unison. She stood up and checked each of her angles. A flight of mechanical skrees, shaped like flying tongs with teeth; span at her faster than bullets.
She jumped over the first one zipping at her, her arm cannon clicking and expanding into missile configuration to obliterate the first one with a hypersonic warhead that kept its detonation compact enough to avoid unnecessary damage. The second skree followed suit, as did the third and fourth before she landed back on the ground.
The fifth got another surprise as her left gauntlet extended a sharpened blade from the wrist and swung that in a wide orange sweep as the blade covered itself in coruscating energy, bisecting the machine after puncturing its shielding as effortlessly as when she dug a knife into some of her favoured molten spreads.
She latched onto one with a grapple beam fired from the underside of her left gauntlet and swung it around to smash into a tankdrone that emerged from a teleporter, the Skree exploding on contact with a brilliant blue fireball while she jumped to her next target. Firing off the boosts as she rotated herself downward, blue jets on her armour pushing her to her foe; she raised her leg for a metal shattering axe kick.
Her boot heel cracked through shielding that could have withstood her missile and with a single power beam shot, she weakened the armour enough to smash her other foot through the head of the tankdrone, crushing the ladybug like machine into the ground in dozens of pieces.
She was excited, and her heartbeat fluttered with anticipation. She loved this, the rush, the energy, overcoming difficult obstacles and making safe what was once dangerous. This was what she lived for and she never wanted it to stop.
She dropped down with a sweep kick, her leg surrounded by a comet of burning air as she smashed a number of tripedal attack drones off their feet. Grabbing the nearest one, she swept it around her while her enemies had yet to leave the ground before she pushed herself out of her circular kick, smashing the machine in her hands to splinters and stopping the rest from regaining her bearings.
And with a rapid volley of missiles she had taken out each remaining machine. She paused and analysed the area for more threats until that warning sense kicked in again. She flipped out of the area to avoid a missile, but the secondary explosion clipped her and cost her some energy as the detonation encased itself in an invisible barrier that concentrated the force and then shaped it into a tendril like fireball.
She ducked down, but a second worm missile exploded behind her, then a third and a fourth and a fifth. The cluster detonations and the stabbing tendril blasts tried to fence her in, as did a number of Spidery Subterranean attack drones. Taking a few too many hits from next to impossible to avoid entrapment for her liking, she curled into the morph ball once more.
This time she had charged up her power beam to release a wide spread of bombs in all directions to clear out the area, reversing the direction of the spring ball to avoid bouncing from the bomb drops as she burrowed into the ground. Dirt geysered around her and she dropped down into a cavern. She hit the ground and sensed something below her, immediately dropping three bombs to clear out the threat before she uncurled.
The next machine threw itself at her, arms spread to try and entrap her. She smashed it with her cannon like a mace, knocking it up so that a stab from her power blade would bisect it from the momentum, her eyes picking up a dozen more targets. She charged her next missile shot and let the mass of skitter drones be caught in the blast, stunning them as their shields burst open before the second missile impacted and eradicated the whole lot.
Too easy she thought. She needed more of a challenge. She scanned around looking for a greater test to overcome. But with her eyes already adjusted to the darkness in the cavern, with chemical synthesizing plants drinking from Zebes' rich soil and emitting faint light amidst the faintly blue rocks, she could see the silhouette of the obstacle course's final challenge. A thundering machine stalked forward on seemingly undersized Spidery legs, claws pulling it forward while a cyclopean optic stared out at the world, glowing red as jaw of life like digits on its two enormous hands splayed their fingers with each step it made in this "all hands on deck" stance.
Tan in colour with brassy digits and red highlights, the machine swivelled its ball like eye towards Samus as fully extended her right arm and started charging a shot within her arm cannon and gave a satisfied smile. "Okay then, let's go." She said, relishing in the thought of the action that was to come shortly. Her body felt electrified at the prospect of a worthy challenge, her mind already puzzling over the scan data she had received. The Central Eye and the innards were the weakness, and her foe could seek to best her with a combination of raw strength, cutting beams, and howling hypersonic cyclones able to shred through stone.
And just on cue, she felt that electric jolt and a short, sharp warning from a possible future. She smirked beneath her helmet as she quickly prepared to jump out of the way. The Tornagot's radial claws began to spin up faster and faster to create gouts of wind in her direction, cyclones lashing like continually exploding bombs through the stone behind her, carving out tunnels and blowing out endless tons of sand and dirt that fountained out of the gashes sliced into the rock. Too late for the Tornegot however, as she had already jumped to the ceiling with her legs braced to jump again.
She figured that the machine was unlikely to be vulnerable to her missiles while the fans were operating at such power, so she fired off the grapple beam and pulled herself onto the Machine's head to release a charged burst of her power beam. The somewhat orange wash of energy made the machine recoil as she curled into morph ball mode and left a spread of exploding spheres of energy that burst in combination with a heavy bass note..
As it recoiled, she actictivated the atomic grips of her spider ball to roll around its body, continually dropping bombs with a stattaco of pulsing blasts that made the thing buck with each hit, wigging and wagging around its exterior to avoid its grasping claws until it "hatched" its own explosive energy sphere. Sensing danger from the shimmering blue bomb orb, she launched herself skywards with the spring ball and uncurled into humanoid form once more.
A grapple beam lash was released from her left hand and she swung herself in a full circle over the behemoth's head, avoiding the cutting laser it sought to catch her with before she leaped onto its neck joint. A series of missiles were released and the blade was shoved into a vulnerable looking joint, sparking against its shields and making the juggernaut snarl with apparent frustration before it started to rotate.
She jumped off of the spinning torso as it started to sweep around the room with its killing wind, catching her in some of the cyclones as they widened and slammed her into the wall with enough force to spiderweb cracks through it. She growled before she started to push against the wind and then compacted into her morph ball form. Her body wrapped in orange light before it transformed into the little sphere that glowed temporarily with the spider-ball to advance through the wind.
Firing off her boost ball to launch her forwards and combining it with the speed booster to shroud her in a red aura to give herself as much momentum as possible, she swung her arm blade upwards to cause the machine's shielding to spark to life in the midst of the collision. The hypersonic swing splintered through the machine's shielding and allowed her to swing her arm cannon up to smack away one of its limbs and leave it open for a rapid fire barrage of her missiles, an orchestra of rocket fire crescendoed with a green tipped super missile that caused the whole of the area to shake as if an earthquake had rolled through.
As she jumped to avoid its primary cutting laser, it tried to catch her with an arm that she dodged skillfully, pulling out of the way, but the secondary beams caught her briefly; pushing her back to take the swatting second limb's back hand with enough force to knock her to the ground. Sensing an opportunity its limbs began to compact and the machine started to lean forwards before it seemingly shrank.
Ah right, it could compact itself into a ball form too she reminded herself as it began to glimmer with building up energy, forcing her to jump up and charge up somewhat more extreme firepower. Stacking the ice beam onto her repertoire of weapons, she allowed the Tornegot to slam into the wall and partly collapse some of the cavern upon itself with its railgun like impact, making sure she wasn't touching the jostling ground while her cannon hummed with the negative energy it was conjuring.
She waited for it to emerge and let loose as soon as she caught the silhouette emerging from its pile of rubble. Before it could start spinning its claws, she had released a fully charged shot. "Gotcha." She said with a smirk as the machine was engulfed in a thick layer of ice from solidifying air, sparkling and white, then bombarded it even further, shot after shot to immobilise every limb and twitching piece of machinery ever deeper in a prison of ice. Before it could try to break free, she had grabbed onto it with her left hand grapple beam and begun to swing it.
"Okay, I've got this." She said to herself as she made a pair of rotations, slamming it through multiple cavern walls and pillars as the more than a thousand tonne industrial machine let loose a plaintive beep lost in the noise of its sonic boom before she released and let the thing fly straight through the ceiling. Jumping through the fields of collapsing debris, letting them shatter against her shielding harmlessly and bursting through even a house sized boulder with a leap; she fired another charged shot to
Sensing weakness, she had burst fired three super missiles that screamed out of the cannon so fast a blink would cause one to miss it, aimed directly for the frozen head of the machine. The already frost compromised structure of the machine could not survive such an insult and the machine's construction crumbled under the pressure. She shouted out a cheer, gleeful at the sight of the machine's head exploding into pieces as she descended rapidly towards the ground. She hit the ground lightly, while her foe crashed down with a heavy clatter in a rain of parts.
She stood up and removed her helmet, letting it stick to the grip of the fingers of her gauntlet and pulling it free, exposing blonde hair she kept in a tomboyish pony tail to keep the golden tresses that she grew to about a finger length past her collar in place. She could have simply dismissed it, but she felt like striking a pose as the Chozo teleported before her, already forewarned of their coming. She blinked and saw the gathered ancients all directly in front of her arranged in a crescent formation, along with Mother Brain's oculi drones made in imitation of her singular cyclopean eye hanging off to the sides of the council of elders.
Horath-Baast, the young War Hawk bowed her head in respect, her backwards swept head crest tilting as she made the gesture of respect to the young miss Aran. "You have performed excellently Hatchling. Though room for improvement of course remains, you have exceeded all that could be expected of you so soon into such a difficult task. Come, celebrate with us please." She said, stretching a hand towards her in welcome.
"Do you really mean it? I did well?" She said, her eyes flashing with curiosity. She'd taken a number of hits when the amount of fire she was taking was too much for even her prescient hyper-agility to handle. She should have known to avoid even being in those fields of fire at all beforehand. She felt a request to access her state of mind, a probing inquiry made at the back of her thoughts.
With her Chozo blood virtually no psychic or mystic in the universe could read her barest emotion without her permission; nevermind move her with telekinetics or twist her with other more esoteric powers. But so much of Chozo conversation was carried on in higher planes of thought, with signals perceivable only through sixth and seventh senses that she was virtually obliged to offer access more times than not.
His psychic voice was calm, gentle and warm. She always felt validated, "-You are doubting yourself too much, Hatchling. You are stronger than you know, and are able to accomplish more than you can imagine now.-" She thought of his hand running through her hair, sitting in a warm field as he regaled her of pleasant stories amidst their family. All the Chozo gathered around and sharing the tales of great heroes and fantastical adventures. She smiled beatifically, and nodded at him.
Old Bird saw visions of her playing with him in the fields, her excited energy seemingly boundless as they tumbled around Zebes. The moons lit sky above shimmered with stars and glowing creatures that danced in the air above. Samus' warmer memories of him. "-I understand, Old-Bird.-" She replied. She was gentle, loving, adoring even.
Her thoughts now drifted to those of all her learning experiences with him, how he'd guide her steadily at her own pace, letting her learn through doing. "-Do not worry too much about the small mistakes, instead concern yourself with how you can do better in the future with the lessons of the past. If you agonise over every possible error; present and possible; you will be forever trapped in the moment.-" He said, his mental voice gentle as the breeze as he released her from the conversation, his voice clearing from her mind all at once.
"Your performance improves remarkably every day. Soon there will be nothing left to teach you of physical combat. And your skill in the physical sciences and the arts are equally impressive. Though your social graces still have room to grow." Grey Voice said, immediately getting a glare from Samus as her smile disappeared in the time it takes for someone to snap their fingers.
Her right brow skyrocketed while her left kinked downwards in an expression best described as 'curious but furious'. "Excuse me? Did I mishear you?" She said, clearly not pleased with his choice of words.
She paused herself shortly afterwards though, realising her outburst was likely an example of what he was referring to. "Okay maybe you do have a point...but you didn't have to say it like that! Don't be a jerk!" She said, her voice snappy and pitched up slightly to get his attention and to let him know exactly how she was feeling.
"Please forgive Somek-Ka, he is merely busying himself with preparing for the next phase of your training." Isa-Hesh said, August Wing offering a small bow of apology to mollify Samus. She flashed a little smile and voiced her apologies for lashing out.
She was curious though… "What's this next phase of training?" She asked, tilting her head in curiosity, her quirked eyebrow returning though her expression was considerably more gentle now.
"We will need to start preparing you for interaction with the greater universe. Learn to deal with people and their problems, to observe systems and find solutions, and to solidify your connections to your birth species. Once that is done, we will teach you to master your sixth and seventh senses." The wizened Platinum crest said, conjuring an image of galaxies drifting through the universe in his outstretched left hand. People, planets, and stars came into view and that sense of wonder asserted itself in full in her once more.
"...I'll be leaving Zebes?" She said.
"-Though I personally do not believe this phase of training overly necessary, it has been deemed necessary to complete your passage to the ranks of adulthood.-" Mother Brain's psychic voice was as unpleasant as ever and Samus gave an unimpressed look at yet more of the A.I's incessant criticisms.
"-For now however, I shall stand by and allow you to rush out to seek your adventure, however much improvement you ne-" Samus stopped listening to Mother Brain right about then, she looked back to Old Bird, waiting for him to confirm what the others were saying.
"For some time, but you will always be welcome in your home." He said, offering her a small bow.
She positively beamed at the thought, looking back up at the night sky and imagining herself at all those strange worlds she had seen earlier, every planet she had read about, every locale she had fantasised about. She reached her hand towards the sky and imagined the stars in her hands, then she closed her hand into a fist, brought it to her chest and turned towards her family.
"I can't wait." She said.
Sylux
Eremak Jungles, Sentus Primaris, Sentus, Sentinel Verge, Tetra Galaxy
Ä humanoid figure in two tone blue armour; cyan around the chest and head, a stark azure everywhere else with a black flexible soft layer between the joints with a bright red optic and a dark purple arm cannon stood in a jungle. He was moving constantly, never standing still. His motions were economical, swift, and deliberate; Arne was well aware that his teachers disapproved of unnecessary flourish.
He snatched a missle shot in his direction out of the sky, the fingers of his gauntlet curling around the haft of the projectile and a rotation of his body turning the hypersonic warhead back to its sender with a good toss. The monocular eye piece at the centre of the somewhat tear drop shaped helmet glowed red as the triple grey crest flexed downward, the focus of the eyes of the human child beneath drawn squarely on the web of projectiles thrown his way.
He danced around them, his legs taking him faster than sound itself as he skipped from one point to another. He took stock of his targets and raised his weapon, his cannon''s combi-barrel spinning together and sputtering out an ovoid burst of potent orange energy. Six shots in grey psycho-bit, shaped much like his helmet dropped to the ground, the spinward kick of his shots taking its flight from it. Follow up bursts cut through the drones, two dozen disabled in the span of an eyeblink.
The loud rumbling of metallic treads warned him of incoming foes. The heavy nuclear pulse of battlehammers; his helmet's vibro-sensors detecting the jostled atoms to give him auditory warning even at supersonic speeds; gave him leave to take to the air again. Just before a series of red laser pulses fired from pop out turrets could catch him.
With a spin brought from a kick he swung around to slam a Psycho-bit out of the air and into the nearest wall hard enough to break open part of a cliff face, he dodged over the charged plasmoid bursts of the man sized bipedal guardian drones while he was airborne. Running at him with chicken like legs, the lanky drones kept pace with him as he grabbed at a tree and swung around it in a whip cracking circle before firing off his back thrusters and releasing.
Blue tendrils of electricity riding neutrinos slipped from the cannon he wielded. The Shock Coil, his favoured subweapon. The self guided tendrils established the guidance streams of electricity that the neutrinos rode upon, following the electrons to strike into more standard particles of matter without ghosting through as they usually did. The impact quite simply pushed apart the targeted guardian's shielding and then its very particulate structure in real time as he strafed around the target, ruptured molecules spewing forth ejecta as he threw himself to the ground beneath an electric volley of yellow projectiles.
He squeezed his shoulders and thought, his body collapsed into a new shape. Armour reconfigured and his flesh became energy. Shaped like an altered and compacted version of his torso, the psycho-sphere hovered forwards, compacting itself further to avoid incoming fire before contracting and flexing to release a psychoburst of mental energy that threw apart the surrounding foes to give him the space to unfurl.
His power to peer with the distant sight told him exactly where to move, grabbing an incoming Guardian leg as it snap kicked at him with sound barrier breaking force so that he could catch the machine with a charged power beam shot straight to the optic. Its attempts to avoid foiled by his prescience telling him exactly where to move himself to avoid efforts.
His shock coil fired off again, each foe targeted taking heavy damage at first only for the hungry coils to ramp up once they had latched on long enough, turning into a torrent of deadly particles that carved through even the heavier drones in a few moments from his perspective. A missile thrown his way prompted him to dodge. He could have taken the hit and have been fine, but he had to keep moving.
His psychic senses gave him a brief vision of something approaching. His eyes caught a shadow forming over him warned him of a descending foe, and he looked up to see a meteoricly descending crash pillar. Triangulating his response between what his flashes of distant sight told him, what his suit fed him, and what his natural senses informed him, he decided while it was avoidable; there was something else he could do.
The cylindrical quintiped machine hurled downwards with altered gravity, and he had an idea. The young boy raised his arm and braced against the impact, taking the jolt of a falling multi-tonne supersonic machine in stride, buckling just slightly before he spun the machine around in a circle to swat aside his other foes and then throw it into the assembly of guardians.
Most jumped or dashed out of the way, but he broke up their formation enough to let his shock coil reduce another to steaming ash before their withering barrage stitched deep holes in the ground and gouges in the natural geography. He ducked forward and rolled into the psychosphere before launching forwards and dropping a psychoburst, uncurling and parrying an attempted chicken kick from a guardian so that he could move it in the way of another's missile.
He grunted and raised his cannon to fire another shot, but the machines all stopped moving suddenly. He reabsorbed the charged shot he was about to fire, lowering his cannon and looking to the side to see the Alimbics approaching him.
With a thought his helmet dissipated into blue light, exposing the fresh features of a now twelve year old Arne Skjoldr. Roughly cut white hair fell to just a bit above his shoulders, and his red eyes were bleary with boredom. He inhaled through his rather small nose, and wiped his left gauntlet on his pale skin. He wasn't sweaty or tired, but the gesture gave him a bit of relief.
"-Disappointing. You were three thirteenths of a second too slow to ensure a flawless victory, wasted time means wasted effort.-" Zurvduat said, Arne letting his shoulders slump and issuing a tired sigh. He blinked a few times and looked at the ground, cheeks glowing red with embarrassment. He felt like an idiot and kicked at the rocks near his feet in frustration.
"I was going to win…" He said glumly.
"-Irrelevant, I do not require excellency; I require perfection. We will start again, Primoris.-"
"Why can't you call me Arne, dad?" He said, looking up at Zurvduat who's head snapped towards Arne at the utterance of that accursed word. He leaned in, everything seeming to go silent as his lanky body loomed ever closer to the boy and the glow of his singular eye became more intense. Arne flinched and brought up a hand, trying to hide his face from the Knight-General, shaking slightly.
"-I am not, and never will be your father and you would do well to remember that, Primoris.-" The last word was said in such a chilling manner that Arne felt his heartbeat quicken. He wanted to hide, and the sight of Zurvduat's hand rising made him cringe. His expression twisted into one of fright as he closed his eyes and waited for his judgement, counting internally.
He felt disgusted at not being able to retaliate, but Zurvduat controlled so much of his power. The second skin that normally made him feel invincible was a prison in his presence. But no blow came, and Arne relaxed slightly as Zurvduat went back to his standard height and position.
"-Now, we will restart the scenario, and you will cease your complaining. Am I understood?-"
"...Yes General…" Arne said quietly, letting his helmet rematerialise from the ether and laying his free hand on his arm cannon to prepare himself.
…
He slipped on the top of a fallen guardian as he tried to weave his body through at least fifty missiles screeching towards him from one direction, a hundred volt driver pulses from another, and six scorching laser beams from a third direction. He quickly caught his footing again and prepared to shoot his way out of the wall of electric yellow psycho-bits trying to catch him by surprise, but once again his suit and the machines were commanded to halt.
"-Begin again, we will not have you losing your footing on the field of battle.-" Arne groaned beneath his helmet the moment he heard Zurvduat's psychic voice.
…
As he spun and jumped through a wall of weapons fire and attempted flying melee attackers from every direction, flipping and twisting his body to avoid hundreds of projectiles and dozens of attackers and carefully shooting out and those he could, he was clipped by a single laser and felt the skycutting beam burn his shielding briefly. He grunted and once again everything was made to stop while he landed on the ground flawlessly.
"-An unnecessary hit, be more aware of your surroundings. Begin again-" He clenched his fist and seethed internally. He gritted his teeth and exhaled, counting to ten and relaxing his fingers. Once he was ready he looked up and nodded.
…
He fired another shot, the Skystriker's weapon armatures starting to glow before he raked across its hide with the writhing serpents of lightning from his shock coil. His armour hummed as it felt energy surge through it and his body. The helicopter sized machine swayed slightly, its reactor core finally starting to fail as he hammered it with three further strikes of his charged power beam, smoke and sparks carving itself from its hide.
He needed to finish this he reasoned. His cannon clicked and the vents to the side shivered into their opening position before the weapon hummed. Multiple missiles combined into one within and released, the hum turning into a keen and the warhead flying true. The enemy machine spiralled with this last injury straight into the ground, but the swarms of psycho-bits that had provided it escort all stopped at once before he could switch targets.
Confusion made itself known in his mind, but the voice of Zurvduat rose above his other thoughts. "-An ordinary missile would have sufficed. Do not waste your munitions. Begin again.-" Arne almost choked.
…
He punched the howling Crawlmech; sending the thousand tonne behemoth off of its feet and into a wall that it bowled through. Several more such walls collapsed at its movement as he pushed back with the momentum of his blow. He extended his legs for a devastating flip kick that smashed a multi-tone crash pillar into the earth, bedrock cracking and earth geysering into the air as he kicked off. But before he could target his next foes they all stopped moving again, the boy vocalising his frustration as he landed heavily.
"-What have I told you about unnecessary flourish Primoris? Begin again.-" He shook briefly as he clutched at his helmet and muttered to himself. Zurvduat's telepathy could not pierce his psychic defenses; armour or not; nor could his other abilities, and Arne used this to think of some choice words for his "father".
…
The shock coil sang again, eliminating another target while he zeroed in on his next foe. He extended the power blade from his left gauntlet and fired off the electric blue energy tether of the grapple beam from the lower attachment to pull a sniping Guardian towards him. A burst of two missiles to weaken its shielding followed by a quick stab to the eye should do it before he touched the ground.
The machine stopped and Arne felt his suit cease to obey him and he hit the ground head first. Grunting as he rolled onto his feet. He could have saved himself had the sudden sensation of having to move the armour under his own strength not kicked in. But he looked up and saw Zurvduat once again.
"-Keep the time you spend without your feet facing the ground to a minimum. Begin again.-" Arne glared at him through his helmet. He found a gesture on the ComNet that he thought Zurvduat would appreciate involving his middle digit but he bit his tongue and stood himself back up. What would it take to please him?
…
The Crawlmech was slammed into the ground with a grapple swing, arcing it over head and then smashing it into the earth with its underbelly exposed. Thunder and lighting coiled from his cannon to cause what damage he could, filling the air with the ozone stench of electrical energy before it broke free of its entombment and turned towards him. However he had already left a parting gift of charged missiles that would keep it busy as he flipped onto a psycho-bit.
He touched onto the drone and stabbed the power blade straight through the head as the pillar like Cretaphid spun around to release deadly bursts of cutting blue energy. Analyzing its movements, he pushed off and fired his power beam in carefully aimed bursts to neutralise each of the blue energy emitters, spinning to dodge around laser fire and then latching onto the cretaphid itself.
He kicked off it, steering his path in the air to let him take aim at the emitters on the other side as he flipped back onto the pillar with the blade extended, charging it with extra energy while a grapple tether from his arm cannon was fired off to pull him towards the cretaphid's emerging diamond like power core. He yanked himself towards the core and made a cut through it before landing on the ground as it exploded behind him.
He pushed himself onto his feet, not looking at the explosion or even at the rising Crawlmech before he turned his cannon towards it and fired a crimson lance of energy from the gun; stabbing it through the optic and sending it back onto the ground.
He panted, from frustration more than anything. His body and suit could keep at this forever if needed, but he wanted to hear it from Zurvduat.
"-Adequate.-"
That word felt like someone had shot him. He felt so livid, so furious. He snapped.
"Why can't you ever be happy!" He shouted, pointing accusingly at the Alimbic Knight-General who simply turned his floating head towards him; rotating it in a full circle before his body swivelled as it hovered. Arne panted in outrage, his expression twisted by raw, uncontrolled anger as he shook with fury.
Zurvduat seemed almost amused at Arne's anger, like watching a toddler throw a fit. He even gave the equivalent of a snort, a sensation of dismissal and diminutization. "-Because you are excellent, but I need you to be perfect. You continually err and deny yourself perfection. You are so close to the cusp of actualisation yet you fall short of it every time. Such failure irks me.-"
"I HAVE BEEN DOING THIS FOR FIVE DAYS! THE SAME SCENARIO OVER AND OVER AND OVER!" Arne snapped, pointing at the wrecked Cretaphid and then at all the evidence of his constant exercise. Again, and again, without rest, pause, or even so much as a chance to sleep. His eyes strained behind his helmet.
"-And you have preformed adequately. We will begin again after your earned short rest..-" Zurvduat said, sending the psychic signal for the damaged machinery to begin repairs and for replacements to be sent out. Arne though almost choked. He dropped to the ground and exhaled harshly.
"Kkhhhh…..kkhhhhhhh." He hissed, every harsh breath from him sounding like it was torturous to draw out. He clenched at the ground until he could feel something solid. He clenched at it until it broke into powder in his hands as he reached for his helmet and threw it off. It slammed on the ground with a crack as he pulled open his Zero suit hood, his red eyes spiderwebbed with blood vessels as he breathed in and out. He wanted to cry. But Zurvduat would be disappointed in him if he showed weakness.
He stabilised his breathing and pulled up his legs and sat down. His arms resting below the pronged shoulders of his armoursuit and his left hand threading through the rich black soil of the dirt. His sensitive hearing tuned in to the subtle sounds of nature and the little songs of small animals and his nostrils inhaled the scent of the wild. It seemed peaceful, and he had managed to avoid causing it any unnecessary damage, making sure none of his shots once struck any living wild creature or plant even by accident.
Could he at least be proud in that? Would Zurvduat at least let him have that victory?
"-Arne?-" The benevolent voice of Ygrak said. The boy looked up and turned his head to see his other mothers and father descending down from the sky after having warped inside. The Red, Yellow, and Blue forms of Ygrak, Mortirk, and Elmorni flanked him and he tried his best to look strong for them, giving them a weary smile.
"-Are you alright?-" Elmorni said, dropping down to his level and laying a hand on his shoulder while Deglos watched from a distance; Zurvduat busily conferring with Deglos and Osith in a circle. The triumvirate would likely remain busy for some time, and it was rarely wise to interrupt the three Knight-Generals who commanded the military forces of
"I did it...but all he could say was...Adequate. I can't please him no matter how hard I try!" He wheezed out, his breaths laboured and distraught. Physiologically he was fine, he was more than ready to go another thousand rounds until he got it right.. Mentally and spiritually though...Elmorni could see that he was confused, and his soul ached for Zurvduat's approval.
"What am I doing wrong?" He said, hugging a knee to his chest and dipping his head. His mind was caught in a loop, trying to go over the events of the past and see where he had misstepped...where did he err...Five days of mistakes to go through, a hundred and twenty six hours and thirty seven minutes of disappointments. His heart ached, and the three of them could feel every moment of it.
"-You've done nothing wrong Arne, shhh…-" Elmorni said, her hand deploying its fingers as she ran it through his smooth, silky hair. She cupped his face and when she saw that tears were starting to flow from his eyes she flicked them away.
"I don't know if I can do it mom…" He said, choking back a sob.
"-Of course you can. Let us speak to Zurvduat, you take this time and rest.-" Ygrak said, psychically checking on the other two to ascertain their intended courses of action while she tended to Arne's tears, a hug snaking out from the boy as she patted him on his head.
"-General, what have you been putting the Neophyte through?-" Mortirk's psychic voice had a taste of fury behind it that aroused the attention of Zurvduat, sensing possible disrespect from one who is supposed to be his subordinate. Mortirk could sense the choler of his commander on the rise before being choked back with a reminder that to emote so visibly was improper. Elmorni laid a hand on him, giving him her reassurance before she floated ahead of him, taking another look at the forlorn Arne as he listlessly examined the ground.
She was brave to go before Zurvduat, and she felt herself buckle slightly as his withering gaze fixated solely on her; followed by the stern attentions of the rest of the triumvirate. "-Zurvduat, he is a child. What you are putting him through is torture. He needs time to recover, to play and enjoy his life. Life which you agreed to give him.-" She steeled herself with iron forged of outrage for the condition of someone she saw as her son, she would not back down from this, not until she got what she sought.
Zurvduat's anger passed, and in its place came the usual sense of dismissive scorn for foolish concerns. "-He must be ready for his duties as the vanguard of our peace. He must clad his soul in adamant obstinance and push through meagre discomforts. Far more malevolent beings than I shall test him, and he shall not be found wanting.-"
Elmorni refused to let this slide, her eye flaring as she stared directly into the sun of Zurvduat's face. "-And what use will he be when he is broken by your efforts?-"
"-What was broken can be reforged.-"
Ygrak raised a hand and sent Elmorni indication that she wished to speak, getting a nod from the blue plated Alimbic as her red counterpart drifted ahead. "-You know as well as I do that he's responded better to your rewards then your punishment. Why not bear through with his desire for affection for a while longer? You won't need to wait for much longer until he comes of age.-"
"-We will speak on my reasonings in private later. For now...Pri-...Arne, approach me.-" His spindly claw digits almost seemed to spring out of his flipper like hand as they pointed to the child, a psychic intonation removing any ambiguity behind his meaning. Arne looked up from the ground and nodded, shaking slightly as he stepped towards the one eyed ancient.
"-Your performance has improved to be certain, young one. You still have room to grow, but the time for you to see what lays beyond the creche without our supervision approaches. Show me you have mastered the art of war and science, and I will show you the stars. Finish this course one last time. And before you go.-" He said, extending an arm as the transmatter systems of the Alimbics winked a brown bar broken up into thumb sized squares into being. Chocolate.
Arne smiled and looked up at Zurvduat for permission. He reached out hesitantly and then closed his hands around the bar. He took it into his hands and broke off a piece to enjoy. He let it melt in his mouth, refusing to bite down on the rich, fragrant taste of the theobromine so that he might savour it fully. He nodded excitedly as he started on the second square, fingers delicately snapping off the second piece to ensure he didn't fission off more than he intended.
…
The last enemy fell as he extracted his power blade from the Cretaphid's crystal, jumping to the ground as it exploded behind him and standing up to his feet proudly. A nod of approval finally came from Zurvduat, and Arne felt like he could take on the entire universe.
"-Excellent.-"
"Thank you…" He said, sitting down almost immediately and dismissing his helmet so that he could show the satisfied look on his face. He was proud, and for good reason. He was also rather in the mood to just...lie down here for a little while as he flopped onto his back and exhaled, eyes staring upwards at nothing in particular.
Samus' logbook
Planets: Pinwheel Galaxy: Zhakunai Nebula: Human Habitable: Chozo: Visited: Zebes (Part 1)
Zebes is a Class 5B planet with an Urthic ore crust ideal for subterranean construction. Though many zones on Zebes are seemingly inhospitible to life, extremely tough organisms have evolved on this planet that can thrive in conditions that would kill ordinary terrestrial creatures. Serving as the place of residence for a number of Chozo who have established a colony on the planet for seemingly unknown purposes, the planet is sealed from unwanted visitors by way of a simple planetary defense screen that yet remains impenetrable to any quantities of electromagnetic or kinetic assault. While the planet has a rich biosphere, 90% of the planet's biomass is in subsurface "hollow earth" caverns close to or within the planet's enormous subterranean oceans and seas. The surface is primarily comprised of savannah, desert, and grassland with the occasional forests and more than two thirds of its surface water comes in the form of upwells of aquifer water. Interest in the planet would later resurge following a spike in activity from the Zebesian Chozo in the aftermath of the K-2L raid.
Samus' notes:
Zebes doesn't look like much from space, an amber orb floating in the void. And while I will stand up for the beauty of the surface every time, it's what's beneath the world that makes it special. The jungles of Brinstar, the waters of Maridia, the fire of Norfair and other regions of the planet...it's my favourite planet in the whole of the universe, even given the predators it always feels like a place I can be safe in. Even Pyonchi and Okmin could always find places to play.
Mechanoids: Chojinzuko: Security: Combat Capable: Skitter Swarm
Designed to attack intruders into low level Chozo installations in large numbers, Skitter Swarms seek to overwhelm the enemy with a fusilade of micro-fusil bursts that when combined can cause runaway reactions in the target for extreme damage. This makes it imperative to prevent the Skitter Swarm from fulfilling this desired objective and to disperse them, preferably with explosive weapons that can affect the entire swarm at once. Utilising special psychofunctions to induce a suit charge are also highly effective in dispersing incoming attackers. In close quarters, Skitter drones seek to flense apart their targets with energised monomolecular blades able to cut through hardened carbon nanotubes without substantial difficulty, using vibrations to induce much deeper cuts than their limbs should be able to inflict.
Samus' notes:
Lightning armour melee usually gets through them in a hurry and if that doesn't work; the screw attack or speed booster will do the trick. Missiles and dispersed beam fire can also work if needed.
Mechanoids: Chojinzuko: Security: Combat Capable: Wadjra
A basic humanoid combat drone, the Wadjra is often used to guard places that may require some form of presentable face for security without the direct presence of a Chozo overseer. The Wadjra makes use of modular weapon systems that make their exact load out difficult to predict, but are generally regarded as vastly inferior to a true power suit wielder due to the lack of a psychic operator to properly utilise the equipment and due to the inferior components compared to a proper power suit. However in numbers, Wadjra are able to make use of highly effective and efficient tactics and can coordinate more easily the more of them there are as they share data and transfer energy to one another to top up their shielding.
Samus' notes:
There's no real fancy tricks to shooting them, but there's usually a noticeable energy build up before they send out pulses of energy transfer that are the signal to interrupt them before they can complete the transfer. Of course, if you're willing to slog through the entire group that's also an option.
Mechanoids: Chojinzuko: Security: Combat Capable: Mekaskree
Based on the infamous skrees of Zebes, Mekaskrees will perch from surveillance points before launching their attacks, seeking to use high frequency monomolecular superheated power blades to tear through their enemies. When detecting a high value enemy, they will often spin themselves to engulf their chassis in arcing energy fields that will sear and tear through targets with extreme efficiency. This is usually a prelude to usage of self destruct systems that will often finish off targets injured by the initial spiral dive attack. Mekaskrees are incapable of attacking at range, but are extremely fast in straight lines, but they notably are poor at adjusting their flight path at short notice and can thus be dodged by skilled combatants.
Samus' notes:
With their tendency to self destruct it's always best to aim at the one in proximity to the most others of the flock at once. That way you can take out much larger chunks of the group at a time and stop them from getting close.
Mechanoids: Chojinzuko: Security: Combat Capable: Trisek
Tripedal drones built in memory of the Alimbics, Triseks attack with ultrahigh temperature flameweapons and plasma lash devices that allow them to serve as lethally effective close combat systems. Able to burn and sear their way through most forms of opposition, the Trisek is able to surprise more distant foes with its fire ball launch attacks to strike more distant opponents. Maneuverability is provided by repulsor coils mounted in the legs, allowing them to move at extreme speeds or make massive leaps to close the distance. But despite their preference for close quarters combat, the Triseks are vulnerable to being grappled themselves due to their lack of true grabbing limbs. Forcing them into extreme close quarters will likely be decisive.
Samus' notes:
The central hinge that connects their torsos to their legs is easily severed by the power blade. Physically tearing them open or smashing into them is also effective at splitting them in two.
Mechanoids: Chojinzuko: Security: Combat Capable: Tankdrone
Small scale autonomous vehicular combatants designed for light security duties, the Tankdrone is roughly comparable in scale and role to low grade infantry combat vehicles, rather ironically given the name. Tankdrones are well armoured and are difficult to damage without first weakening the armour enough to allow for blunt force trauma to crack open the plating entirely to induce structural failure. Temperature stresses from select forms of beam or subweapon fire are the best means of inducing this weakness within the armour plating. On the offensive, Tankdrones will make use of whirlsaw energy pellets that induce cyclical thermal and kinetic damage in the targets they strike, allowing them to deal damage after impact and use torsional forces to induce stress failure.
Samus' notes:
Melee is typically more effective than missile fire at breaking open their armour after thermal shock starts the job of weakening them. Which is fine with me, it's more fun that way.
Mechanoids: Chojinzuko: Industrial: Combat Capable: Tornegot (Part 1)
The Tornegot is designed for the purpose of blasting through lighter substances obstructing Chozo construction sites that do not require the more powerful drills of a Diggernaut yet cannot be teleported or transmuted for one reason or anotherl. With powerful aerokinetic devices built into their claw arms they are able to rapidly generate hypersonic wind forces able to erode through less solid substances in seconds while driving the disintegrated particulates forward to induce further erosion. The enormously powerful fans are also useful for removing other obstacles not firmly rooted in the ground as anything that is able to survive the fans is simply swept off of its feet barring extreme methods to retain footing. Cutting lasers are also mounted in the head to fine tune the process of mining, and power fields are fitted into the fan claws for further utility. However the power feed into the central head presents a weakness present within the eye.
Samus' notes:
Thank the Forgelord that Tornegots aren't as sturdy on their feet as Diggernauts or else I'd have a much harder time of things. That being said, keeping the pressure up with the Ice Beam is usually able to stop them in their tracks as long as there's enough air to crystallize around them to start locking up their joints.
Sylux's logbook
Planets: Tetra Galaxy: Sentinel Verge: Human Habitable: Alimbic: Visited: Sentus Primaris (Part 1)
Sentus Primaris is former laboratory world within the Tetrarch Order of the Alimbics and a Class 6A planet with an extensive series of Alimbic facilities dedicated to storage and research. Populated by a mixture of natural life and leftover relics from the Tetrarch Order, Sentus Primaris is categorised as a Blue grade Hostile world. Archaeological records and crossreferencing with the Chozo show that Sentus Primaris (formerly known as Cekrakth) was inhabited to the very end of the Tetrarch Order where its populace was evacuated and seems to have been swept up in the disappearance of the whole of the Alimbic people. Though most of the secret projects on the planet remain blocked by the remaining guardians who seek to prevent looters from achieving access, the crew of the Caesarian Lance quickly re-established an Alimbic presence following the Cylosian catastrophe. Though unwanted access is prohibited, the world soon became a place of extreme interest.
Arne's notes:
I honestly hated this place. It's lonely here and the machines were rarely good friends. And every day we stayed they cleared out more and more of the nature that overgrew the place. I like technology, but it started to feel oppressive. Hugin & Munin couldn't even find proper places to roost half the time until Elmorni made the arrangements. It's cold, metallic and unfriendly. I don't want to ever go back.
Mechanoids: Alimbic: Security: Combat Capable: Psychobit
A levitating spherical sentry droid equipped with 360-degree sensors and a low-level teleportation device. The basic silver model fires kinetic energy blasts equivalent to the Chozo Power Beam system, whereas the advanced green model features a heavy duty gun launching ultra-dense radioactive projectiles launched by a nanoscale nuclear propulsion system. Manufactured from any gatherable matter en masse, Psychobits are vulnerable to most forms of concentrated weapons fire able to pierce through their shielding and armour. As such they are of little concern to precursor grade combatants save for in large swarms. However their teleportation systems, speed, and numbers allows them to easily outflank targeted enemies to provide multiple angle threats.
Arne's notes:
Fast, numerous, always more being built and packing decent amounts of firepower. Best thing to do is to pack something to deal with multiple aerial enemies at a time. Seeker missiles especially.
Mechanoids: Alimbic: Security: Combat Capable: Voldrum
A high-speed rolling robot in nearly constant motion. Equipped with two large guns for attacking from a distance, it is equally efficient at close-quarters combat through its ability to generate close range disruptor fields that augment its ramming capabilities. Voldrums are more durable than their airborne Psychobit counterparts, and possess substantially more firepower as compensation for their reduced mobility. Though standard models do not have any particular weakness, they also do not possess any particular resistances and so can be dealt with by any weapon capable of causing their shielding and armour damage. Given their tendency to come in packs, area of effect weapons are recommended.
Arne's notes:
The easiest thing to do is to get an elevational advantage over them. They can jump but they're not graceful in the air. After a million and one training exercises, I think I've learned how to vertically flank them well enough.
Mechanoids: Alimbic: Security: Combat Capable: Guardian
Specifically designed to guard the Tetrarch Order in case of violation of its facilities by trespassers, these automatons are now programmed to serve in its absence. These intelligent androids often travel in packs, attacking with energy projectiles produced by three small ZPE generators located in the cranium. With highly modular weapon systems, Guardians are extremely versatile and can be expected to make use of any number of weapons. Once companions to the Alimbic Warriors, they are designed to serve as essentially inferior versions of them, providing supporting fire and cover where needed as well as scouting ahead, harrying routing foes, and tying up assets that may otherwise interfere with more valuable or powerful assets in their duties.
Arne's notes:
Phase Drifting is immensely useful for dealing with their love of jumping around as if someone injected psychospiked fuel gel into their systems, there's no special trick to fighting them besides slamming your shots home into their heads. But that's a hard ask when they're designed to be hyper-agile.
Mechanoids: Alimbic: Security: Combat Capable: Crash Pillar
Highly pleasing to Alimbic aesthetics, this sentry cyborg is dormant until it senses an intruder, and returns to a dormant state once the threat retreats. The Crash Pillar levitates by means of antigravity propulsion before attempting to smash its quarry. Vulnerable neurocircuity is housed underneath the base. Crash Pillars are extremely resistant to most weapons across the rest of their chassis to the point of near immunity and are immensely physically strong thanks to ultra high density synthetic fibromuscle packages located through out the machine's internal construction and as such is very difficult to engage in melee. Gravity manipulators are utilised to assist the machine in crushing foes it is able to float over, with few enemies surviving more than one impact.
Arne's notes:
My moms and dads can say whatever they like but I'll always think they look ugly. Just...big cylinder tripods standing there waiting to belly flop. If there's art behind it I don't get it and I don't think I want to. Dealing with them's simple enough if a bit chancy.
Mechanoids: Alimbic: Security: Combat Capable: Crawlmech
Created by the Tetrarch order to ensure that the sanctity of medium value facilities remained observed, the Crawlmech is large and heavy to provide for stability for its massive caliber weapons suite to deliver heavy duty firepower to important zones of conflict. While considerably less adept in close quarters combat than other Alimbic war machines and exceeded by many later models of Alimbic large scale security drone, the Crawlmech's sheer size presents an obstacle for many would be enemies as its weak point is on the underbelly. A point difficult to reach given the effort required to upturn the large machine. Weapons fire into its central head systems may stun it and allow for an opportunity to overwhelm its rooting into the ground and provide an opportunity to launch a decisive attack.
Arne's notes:
They're artillery pieces which means getting as close as you can is the best course of action. And a good punch to the head is usually enough to disrupt their targeting systems. Or knock them off their feet. Probably not very useful advice for most people who aren't me.
Mechanoids: Alimbic: Security: Combat Capable: Cretaphid
Utilizing some of the most sophisticated known Alimbic robotics technology, this massive cylindrical mechanism features precision laser weaponry as well as bio-energy seeking bursts of plasma. The Cretaphid is a key component of Alimbic defense technology, designed to safeguard important or sacred objects. Cretaphid armour and shielding is nearly impenetrable, but the core will be forced to temporarily eject if dangerous levels of feedback are detected. Feedback can be induced through attacking weapon nodes not currently in use, when all weapon nodes have registered sufficient damage to begin regenerative protocols the core will exit and begin its own efforts to attack with an ionic burst generator. However this leaves the core vulnerable to virtually all weapons fire until it returns to the pillar upon completion of regenerative protocols. Once the core is destroyed, the pillar will self destruct to avoid capture.
Arne's notes:
The Cretaphids are mostly just battles of endurance. You need to dodge until they show their vulnerabilities as they charge up the next set of weapons to shoot at you. After that it's fairly straight forward. The issue is more in keeping clear of all the projectiles sent your way. Not complicated opponents but I'm more curious as to why the Alimbics like big cylinders so much.
Author's notes: I'll divide the arcs of Genesis up into their own subtitles. This one named Forlorn.