Metroid Saga: Mythos

by Mental Omega

A collection of stories set in a reimagining of Metroid; here we start with the beginnings of the universe's two greatest warriors; Samus and Sylux. The Hatchling and the Neophyte. Born of K-2L and Cylosis, and bound by fate to decide the destiny of the cosmos. Note that this project started long before Prime 4 came out.

14. Forlorn: Descent (SA & AS)

The descent to where they needed to go was straightforward after reopening the locked room with the blink packs now installed into the pair's suits. Doors and locks once cut off by transparent or translucent barriers were now easily bypassed, and they were able to make short work of most of the opposition that came their way. They cleared a few machines in their path, spraying well-aimed beam fire into the hopping, screeching things. The flea like Uth-Het were as big as wolves before being scattered into pieces by the blasts they received from the duo.

A swing followed, a machine dropped to the ground in halves neatly separated by the arcing blade of Samus as she looked ahead, a hand from Arne stopping her from moving forward. Blue eyes stared out from behind her visor and fixated on the laser spokes of a series of rotating wheels ahead of the pair. There were about twenty, one after the other, each with eight beams that her suit helped her visualize; stretched through the tunnel that would lead them through to where they sought to go.

"Wait. We need to time this just right." Arne said, pausing briefly as his keen senses worked out the pattern of the beams to the last decimal point. By the book, straight forward, but in Samus' eyes; there was a better way. Her cannon shifted into ice beam mode again and let out a few bursts of anti-energy. The lasers shorted out, frozen matter rapidly coating the emitters and locking the wheels in place to give them a wider opening.

"Thought you were taking too long." She said with a smile beneath her helmet.

"Well...I had this whole complicated timing sequence thought out in my head but that works too." He said with a small shrug.

"I'm not trying to upstage you, Arne. Just needed to get it done a little faster, that's all." She said, patting him on the shoulder as he gently rolled his eyes beneath his helmet and snorted.

"I don't mind at all." Arne said, giving her a thumbs up that she returned, followed by a fist bump. A gesture of camaraderie the two had picked up from their long hours spent together.

"Anyway, we still need to get through the rest of this. Get your sub-weapons ready."

"Already on it." He said.

Arne let his cannon reconfigure itself into its own cryogenic weapon, arctic frost enveloping the emitters as the two charged down through the next door. In an eyeblink, they were through. The light tread of their boots on the hard surface came to a stop once they dodged around the incoming laser fire spat towards them. Streams of photons just barely missed them as they jumped to the side, and a clack and rumble of exploding missiles shut down the opposition immediately.

On the other side was a room with four rectangular columns surrounding a cylinder with an entrance on the side facing them. The room stretched for about a hundred meters across and about as tall. Enough for them to bound in a single leap without any trouble.

"Hope that wasn't everything." Samus said before she tilted her head to the left and ducked to the side to avoid incoming weapons fire. A rain of missiles exploded where the two of them were an eyeblink before. Yet they had already traversed dozens of meters away from the explosion point.

"Really needed to ask, huh?" Arne said, threading the needle through dozens of homing projectiles with a series of twists of his body and microthrusts from his suit to avoid warheads that could have effortlessly tracked a rocket-powered hummingbird. Casual dodging for him, but he made sure to note the origin point of the incoming projectiles for his next action.

"Well, it got us some action didn't it?" Samus said with almost palpable excitement within her voice. This sort of fighting; where she didn't have to worry about hurting someone was fun. She could feel so much exhilaration, like electricity flowing through her veins and raw energy dancing on her skin. She felt so much more than simply alive. She felt triumphant. She blinked straight through the next incoming thicket of warheads, leaving them to explode harmlessly where she had been as she got close enough to sever another turret with a swipe of her wristblade.

The young woman found herself targeted once again, but was already ready for action. Pushing off with a simple kick, she swung out and cut through many of the incoming projectiles while she neatly grabbed one and tossed it into the mass of warheads to set it off early and clear out the opposition. Her cannon charged up and froze more incoming projectiles, giving Arne enough room to jump atop them and set up his next hat trick.

Arne moved to the left with a usage of his blink pack. Space and time folded around him and shunted him to where he needed to be; out of the way of all incoming danger. He popped into existence to take Samus on her offer of a frozen missile platform as it fell. His boots landed atop the falling projectile, eyes taking sight of the origin of the missiles and letting the swarmfire turrets taste his shock coil for a few seconds to reduce it to so much vapour Hardly a scrip of energy-formed metal left.

The lash of neutrinos would worm its way through other targets. One by one, he destroyed them, each target feeding energy back into Arne's suit as he absorbed their power through the shock coil connection. And soon enough, it was all over.

The two breathed easier now, the challenge; such as it was passed. Easy enough, but there was the elation of triumph there all the same as they straightened themselves. Samus took a step with her blink pack to appear next to Arne and offered him her left hand, and the two clasped their fingers in a warm embrace and pulled each other into a one-handed hug.

"You did great. I think we've got this in the bag." Arne said with a small laugh as the two broke apart, Samus rocking slightly on her heels as she turned towards the primary door out of the room.

"Just wish Spire and Armaud were here to see this." Samus said slightly wistfully as she brushed a hand against the leaves of a nearby plant and looked to him.

"I'm sure we'll find them. Just need to keep looking is all. I think we're on the right track aren't we?" He said, taking a moment to sit down on the ledge of the plant sill, resting his legs slightly and giving her a nod at the end of his sentence.

"Well, obviously. They can handle themselves, but it's just a bit weird we haven't see them in so long. I had so many things I wanted to tell them, to show them!" She said, leaning her head near the petals of a flower as she stroked the plant.

"It'd look nice on you. But uh, I don't think that's what you wanted to show them?" He said, a slight stutter at the start of his voice and a laugh coming from her shortly afterwards.

"Maybe! But how long do you want to stick around here before we head out? We could probably use a break." She asked, humming a bit as she sat herself on her armoured knees with almost fluidic grace.

"Five...ten minutes?" Arne said, exhaling as he flopped himself back onto the soil and looked up at the ceiling.

"Fifteen." She said, tapping her helmet with her left hand and letting it dissolve into orange light, followed by her arm cannon as she took in a breath of air through her nose and sighed gently, looking down at him as he followed suit; letting some tension melt ever so slightly.

"Yeah...fifteen sounds nice."

It took very little time at all for the two to start relaxing once they allowed themselves to do so. Samus sat herself down, legs straightened in front of her, and Arne sat himself in front of her, back facing her as she propped herself against a tree.

Arne sighed and exhaled audibly as he lay down his head in her lap, lacing his fingers through the dirt and grabbing a handful, letting the particulates sift through his gauntleted fingers. It was still to some degree, slightly strange to sense the...lack of sensation of wearing something. The armour was so linked to him he may as well have been lying naked on the ground. He could in fact, feel in far finer detail than any normal human could with their bare hands, every microscopic stud and bump in the smallest of grains of dirt and silica. But the thought of not being able to feel in such detail gave him pause...most humans couldn't. Most aliens couldn't either. He was unique...almost.

Samus had his head cradled in her lap, hands brushing in his hair as she looked down at him. The shielding of the power suit gave its metallic fingers a bit of extra warmth as she threaded her digits through his locks. She looked down at him, feeling his head against her legs as if the metal, shielding, plastoids, ceramics and composites guarding her body weren't there. She could sense his anxiety, and he could sense her insecurities. A two way connection of empathic signals that helped the two relax as they took comfort in the knowledge that the coiling serpent of doubt and stress were not unique to them.

She felt at ease, perhaps this was a dangerous place. Perhaps it was compromised in ways that could threaten both their lives. But for now, she sensed no danger, no woe nor threat coming her way. None of the pinpricks and electricity of impending harm coming their way. No...she could relax and enjoy herself. For a moment, she didn't feel the world's weights on her pauldroned shoulders. She didn't feel the expectations of the duty she had set for herself, to be a light in a universe filled with darkness and terrors and to bring some brightness into the days of so many who fumbled in the shadows.

And he...he wondered. What if every day could be like this? To just enjoy the passage of time in silence. They didn't need to say much of anything just yet, brushing his head into her hands slightly and managing a smile without his usual tired edge. He felt energized, at ease, and most of all; he felt like he could be just a bit softer than normal. A hand of his reached up and lay on her own and let his fingers rest atop hers as she brushed it against his cheek. His lips parted slightly as he caught sight of a widening grin forming on her face. His heart was beating...it wasn't often that he was cognizant of its rhythm, but now it was powerful in his chest. He wanted to stay in this moment...to feel safe for once, but he felt slightly colder when Samus' expression dimmed moderately.

"You're thinking of running away aren't you?" Samus said.

"I...I..." Arne stammered as he made a hard gulp.

"I know...part of me wants to...but...would it be right?" He asked.

"Do you want to?" She asked, returning to stroking him. She wanted the truth, but her voice carried no malice. Just concern. She...she didn't want to think either of them had the capacity for malice towards each other.

"I...I do but..." He said, keeping quiet briefly before realizing he was clenching his other hand into a fist and relaxing. "But I don't think I should just...leave Sentus. Not when I'm not finished..." He said, trailing off and looking away from her briefly before she tilted his head back to him with a finger. She wasn't going to let him get away with so few words shared.

"Well...it won't be much longer until we have to go out into the world ourselves. I'd like for you to at least visit sometimes." She said as he gave a soft smile in response and let himself relax just a bit.

"Yeah...I'd like that a lot." He said with a grin.

"Well...I'm looking forward to seeing you more soon. You're...nice to look at." She said with a pink tinge to her cheeks. She could hit the wings off a fly from across the horizon without even looking at it, but right now words were...hard...slippery. The proper thing she wanted to say slipping from her grasp as she felt a sudden restraint. But she managed to wrap her spirit around those words and cast them out. "Handsome." A bit clumsy, a bit late, but he knew what she meant. That was their thing, the ability to just get across what they wanted to say even if at times their words failed them.

"Well, it seems like the Gods put two people like that in this room." He said, tensing himself and pushing through the tightness in his throat as he felt so viscerally lame for saying that. Assuaging himself with his flashes of precognitive distant sight and his threads of telepathic ties to her that told him that she was someone he could say something like that to. Still, just putting the words out there made him feel vulnerable. His armour could shield his body, not so much his emotions. But he knew that this was one place; without the immediate presence of the alimbics; that he could open himself in such a way.

And it was in this place that they drew together for a brief meeting of the lips. A kiss, soft, sweet, short. But warm and heartening all the same. They lingered a bit more, and their expressions were giddy and dumb. Schoolchildren who found something secret to do away from prying eyes. Something they enjoyed, in company they craved. Company that they hoped to indulge in much more in the near future, but the sense of obligation reared itself. A soft but incessant creature in the corner of the mind to warn them; there was still a task to be done.

There was an ache to this realization, as inevitable as it was and as much as it lingered in their minds. But it was something that had to be minded.

"Before we can go out and count all the stars, we should probably pass this exam...right Samus?" Arne said, still reluctant to let his head up. It hadn't been quite fifteen minutes, and he didn't want to bring all of his focus to the dreary work ahead all at once. But another ten minutes of just lying around and resting felt almost sinfully excessive. How much time was he wasting by just...idling when there was so much that needed doing?

But Samus sensed this and rested her hands on his pauldrons and gently eased him back down. "We should...but we're not going to get the best performance by being bundles of nerves Arne. We have time. Just take it easy. Why are you in such a rush anyway? Afraid of something?" Samus asked, starting to slouch a bit in her posture to relax herself. She gave him a signal that she was about to incorporate her armour to get a better position, and that she would like him to do so as well.

He nodded as yellow and blue light briefly filled the room, leaving her in her two-tone blue zero suit and himself in his grey and red. Largely skin tight with some added soft plating where absolutely needed, still shielded, and with the hoods of both still down to allow their faces exposure and for them to breathe the crisp and refreshing air of the facility without filtration. They both seemed a bit smaller without their armour, but the subtle differences in their physiques that their different transitions through the early stages of puberty were already starting to show. Both would be lean and agile as adults to be sure, but her femininity and his masculinity were starting to become more apparent over the passing months.

Now with his head closer to her stomach as he pulled up a bit, he paused and gave her question thought as he rested a hand of his on one of her knees. "Well...I want to do the best I can. You know how I say like I feel that I can never make Zurvduat happy with me right? I think...maybe if I do really well, he'll send me off on a good note. And when I'm done with social experience he'll finally accept me as a Knight, maybe even a Paladin? Then we could really work together...like a dad and his son should." He said, gesturing a bit as she spoke, looking ahead as he straightened his legs, nuzzling a bit into her stroking his head.

"I'm sure that if he's a good dad, you'll be able to impress him. We'll do this, don't worry. You've impressed me after all." She said with a smirk as she relished feeling a little closer to him.

"You've got it good with Isa-Hesh and Re-Sekh...even if Grey Voice seems pretty distant. Not sure about Mother Brain though...she kind of spooks me honestly." He said, feeling rather like a dog or a cat being petted and not minding in the slightest.

"Mother...Brain is...definitely someone I'm not going to miss when we go out. Everything is a debate with her, always having to fight with her and justify every single decision. It's so incredibly frustrating to get second-guessed constantly by a psychic computer." She sighed with visible tension before she found the simple pleasure of scratching behind Arne's ears and smirking when he mimed a purr before he managed his response.

"I'm really not sure what even can be done with Mother Brain. She's...never really seemed to budge her opinions on anything. Kind of like Zurvduat then I guess, but just...really cold where he's often angry. I dunno, I don't interact with her enough to get a read on her...honestly I don't really even want to interact with her." He said, trying to get a little more serious after clearing his throat and turning his head up towards her as she played around with the little wings his white hair made towards the bottom of his neck.

"Well, I don't blame you for that. I just wish she were less...her. Ugh..." She said with a pause before letting her attention latch onto something else. "Grey voice...he was a warrior not too long ago right? In Chozo years anyway." She said, attention briefly turning towards an Alcove as if she had seen something in the corner of her eyes, narrowing them with brief suspicion before focusing back on her partner.

"Huh...yeah...I've seen his battle armour." Arne raised a brow as he turned his head towards her and tilted his head slightly to the left.

"Do you think he did this test when he was our age?" She pondered, laying her chin atop his scalp and looking into his eyes; blues into reds.

"Maybe not here but...probably something similar? Why?" He asked, turning away from her to look slightly to the left of where she did a few moments ago, clearly sensing something else too.

"Because there's some things I'd like to ask him about this place. Some answers I'd like to get." She said as she turned her eyes from him towards another entrance. Something was not too far away, and it was bothering her.

"What do you think it is?" Arne asked. Part of him wished he didn't defer to her so much, but on the other hand not having to make and be second-guessed over every single decision was a nice change of pace. Still, his own mind was at work. Spire and Armaud would have already contacted them if it were them, which eliminated them as possibilities. The door was too small for the mysterious figure seen earlier...unless they could change size. Which was in the realm of possibility.

And he could already sense she was on the same track he was. "Can't be Spire or Armaud, so that might make it our...mysterious visitor I guess? They haven't done anything yet though. And we're about as vulnerable as we can get without ditching our gear entirely." She said, tapping her chin slightly before looking at him as he sat up, letting her arms go around him.

"I feel like we should go and check it out now." Arne said, already feeling that drilled in sense of restlessness oozing its way into him. He was a soldier, he had orders and when he didn't have orders he had the holy writ of the OODA loop. Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. He had observed that there was the presence of something throwing him off his ability to feel at ease. He had oriented himself to his surroundings and judged where they were likely to go. He had decided that they should move out, and he was just about to act until he felt Samus tugging him back slightly, not letting him stand up.

"Arne. There's no imminent danger. I just want to be sure that we're actually facing something dangerous before go charging in guns blazing. That's all." She said as she let him stand up, letting her armour materialize once more, weapon included. Her armour welcomed her like an old friend, like a part of her returning to her body.

The armour always felt safe. She felt strong in it. Her against the entire universe and she could win. But she had to caution herself. Arrogance was the downfall of many. Pride was something she couldn't protect herself against with physical armour and superhuman flesh. But she tempered that into confidence. She could do this, she would do this.

Arne though, the armour usually meant work. It was a uniform of duty and something to be donned when there was a task to be done. The armour was a symbol of a knight's duty and an embodiment of his commitment to seeing it done. But the weight of that duty sometimes felt like a drag on his soul. But whether or not he could do this was irrelevant, he had to do this.

The two approached, and the sensation of another presence intensified, but there were no visions of incoming threat. There was something coming but...it was just an animal, a hrundin. Whining as it sought a way to get down from where it was on its high perch but afraid of the drop downwards. Energy readings indicated it had nanite projected shielding, indicating it had an owner looking out for its safety, but it seemed unwilling to trust the technology to save it from the fall.

Black furred, dog-like, four-limbed, maybe one hundred and twenty-five kilograms in total, bushy tail wagging, eyes wide and snout repeatedly raising upwards to let out a howl, clearly lost, pacing frantically and pawing at the ground to get the two armoured youths' attentions. This one was clearly domesticated, and also frantically looking around for something.

The two approached, and the animal seemed to almost light up as it woofed several times in excitement. The bear and dog-like animal seemed elated to see things it recognized as being humanlike, and eagerly ran towards them with playfully lowered it...herself; as Arne made quick note of, before the two of them.

"...Aww..." Arne said as the bear snouted animal approached, whinging and rolling onto her belly which was immediately given a few quick rubs by the eager kids. If there was one thing that united the two without the slightest disagreement, it was a fondness for animals. He kept Hugin and Munin, she kept Pyonchi; and that wasn't even getting into their mechanical pets. He couldn't really help himself but feel sympathy for it, and it was only on rare occasions that he was able to let down his guard and admit his fondness for the warm and cute.

"How did a hrundin get here?" Samus asked after giving a few nonsensical babytalk words of affection to the hrundin. Curiosity was ingrained in her soul. The quest for answers drove her as much as the quest for justice. This hrundin had an owner, she had a history, someone loved her enough to bring her here. But that someone couldn't have been any of the Chozo or Alimbics she knew, nor could it have been either Spire or Armaud. So who brought this poor thing here? And more importantly, why did they lose it?

But the Hrundin's head, after bumping her snout playfully against their helmets, then turned towards a door that she seemed to want them to go to. The two gave each other a look that said more than most conversations and then nodded. They'd go through the door and see what was on the other side post-haste.

Maybe there they'd get some answers.

But the next room offered only further questions. As it opened into a hallway with a heightened path to either side of the lower centre that created a valley, they could see that there was an alcove in the room where there was a body. Still. Cold. Whomever it was; they were dead for at least two days. But the Hrundin seemed fed and watered, likely from the machinery sensing her need nearby. But then, would they have not sensed the injuries of this person? The wound dealt to them was not from security weapons nor of any of the wildlife here.

They took another, closer look at the corpse. They were non-human to be sure, shaggy fur exposed through the hole in their suit from the deathblow. The snouted helmet and the analysis of their DNA indicated that they were a member of the Zardim species, and the custom paint job on their armour suggested they were some kind of explorer or adventurer.

Furthermore, the person here was wearing armour of make by the Elmdir Corporation within Federation space. But how did they get here? The Federation didn't even know this planet existed. Yet here they were. Dead as a doornail with few clues as to how they got there. But their armour; while damaged, still had functioning components. The distributed nature of its computers meant that its memory was intact.

Samus squatted down while Arne knelt, and the two gave each other a nod before scanning. The sight of a dead body put them at unease and made them shudder a bit. This was the first time they saw the corpse of another sapient being in...they pulled themselves back to the present. But the sight of someone just lying in repose was kind of upsetting. Shocking in a way. Someone who had once been alive and had a story to tell was now silenced, and Arne, in particular, wanted to know what song he sang before his cord was cut while Samus was more interested in who would have to be delivered the news of his passing.

DATALOG: Vurdon Olmrg, Adventurer and Fact Finder: Amazing Discovery!

"Portal seemed to lead me to the motherlode here. This technology is incredible. I've never seen so much still functional precursor tech in one place. I'll have a look around, the way back seems to be functioning as it should be and based on my estimates it shouldn't take more than a day for help to arrive if I get stuck here should I use the comm systems here. Which is plenty of time for me to get cracking and see what I can't use to make a name for myself. With any luck, my days as just being a Cybervid personality will be over. I'll be the guy everyone talks to to get the scoop on the ancients. And I'll be able to have it made for the next oh I dunno; million years?

Mendelle seems to be holding up pretty good too. The security here doesn't seem to bother us even with the really nasty stuff as if we're not really worthy of their attention. Which suits me just fine, I'm not looking to get into a fight with Chozo security bots or Alimbic war-mechs. Yehrend knows how much I'd hate to die in a place like this. But I mean, I should be fine right? The save station seemed to accept me so I should be able to be mediported to it and recuperated if anything goes wrong. But there's something weird here too. Some strange horned thing I keep on seeing at my peripheries. It doesn't look like any of the known progenitor civilizations either, which freaks me out."

"You know of Vurdon?" Arne asked before getting a shake of the head from Samus.

"There's way too many shows being streamed for me to keep up with. A quick datanet search tells me he mostly does things to get kids interested in exploring for his livelihood. Well...did. Gods...poor guy, his family's heart's going to break when they find out." She said, laying a hand on his faceplate and letting out an exhalation as she closed her eyes and whispered a prayer hoping for his safe and comfortable passage into his next life, one that Arne quickly made his own version of according to his own faith as he laid Vurdon's hands over the hole in his chest.

There was a pause of about an hour before the next log in the timestamps they could find in the suit. This one considerably more worried in tone and demeanour.

"I've seen that thing again. Weirdest thing though is how the security doesn't seem to like it being here. It's fighting with it half the time and it's more than holding its own. And honestly if it can take on the security here in a fight and come out on top I'm not at all down for having a go myself. What is it? What does it want? And why does my scanner give me a load out of gibberish when I try and get a read on the damn thing? I know a lot of this stuff is way beyond my tech's ability to decipher but the A.I in my suit should be able to give me at least some basic run down. Maybe I'll try and find a way to observe it without being seen."

"So that horned thing is what's been destroying some of the security systems before we got here?" Arne said. "Right...which means that the security must consider it something to attack on sight. Which means...nothing good that's for sure." Arne said, rubbing at the chin of his helmet while Mendelle pawed at her master and howled, lying down and trying to lick his helmet as if that would wake him up. But no response...Arne patted them on the head as Samus gently eased her away from the corpse and whispered her condolences as Mendelle whined.

"One more log." Samus said, flicking to the last as it fed into her nervous system.

"It's coming for me, it sees me and its editing my scan system whenever I try to get a read on it. It wants me dead, it told me it wants me dead and I can see it everywhere I turn. The howling hunt is coming for me and everywhere I turn it's there. I need to get out, can I get out. No, no I can't get out. It's blocking the exits. I can't get out, oh gods please someone take care of Mendelle. This was all a huge mistake...no...no. It's not possible, mediport signal severed...no...No. No!" A simple note was at the end of the last log, "User life signs terminated, mediportation failed, recording medical data for review. No medical authorities in range. Awaiting extraction."

The alarm and fright in the last logs gave the pair a bit of a shake. Vurdon had been murdered in a way that prevented his mediportation systems from working despite the fatal injury by some strange energy weapon. One that had not merely cut cleanly through his body ate it from the inside out with unnatural fire. His skin was left, but it was hollow save for dust and what unsinged blood that was slowly leaking from the hole that proved to be the fatal blow. It was in all likelihood a horrid way to die, and the fact that someone could die in such a way here spoke to something urgent.

"...Where's Spire and Armaud?" Samus said, her voice now filling with genuine concern. They could be in actual danger here. And if such two seasoned freelancers; virtual gods in a community of star wheeling superheroes; could be in danger, so too could two children doing a minimally supervised mission for the first time.

"I don't know...but I think we could try and track them. We just need to get to a map station; then we could ask it to follow their signals." Arne offered, trying his best to keep his cool in the situation as he felt a thread of worry start to spool around his heart and squeeze ever so slightly. He was concerned. For himself, for Spire and Armaud, but also for Mendelle and of course, for her.

Samus sensed that worry and reassured him with a pat on the back. Everything was going to be okay.

She had doubts herself, worries that she might not be strong enough to keep everyone safe. Worries that some people, despite her best efforts, might still die. He latched onto those and took her hand off of his back. Now, he threaded his fingers through hers to interlock their hands together.

They could fight their worries together.

"We should probably get Mendelle out of here, keeping her safe is going to make our objective a lot harder to do. So first thing's first." Arne said as he bashfully pulled his hand out of hers and tried his best to hide the fact that he was blushing beneath his helmet.

"Agreed, I'll take point, you keep her out of trouble. You've got the shield regeneration with the shock coil so you can take hits for her as needed. Don't let me out of your sight. Remember, no getting separated." She said as he gave a nod of understanding.

"Right, there's also some kind of energy signal close to the nearest map station. Consistent with highly concentrated shielding." He said as he took a look at his suit's long-range scan data, showing him a room close to where his armour calculated the map room was.

"But first we should really get her to a teleport room to the hangar as soon as we can locate one. Then we'll check out the signal. That seems alright with you?" Arne said, finishing up as the helmet cut off its map data at his request while his hand idly stroked the rather large mammalian's head and scratched behind her ears.

"Sounds like a plan." She said with a thumbs up and a nod.

"Should we be worried about her going berserk like most of the animals here? I can't sense anything going wrong with her in the near future...but..." Arne started before Samus shook her head at him.

"She'll be fine, we'll keep her safe." Samus said with the utmost confidence.

"Alright, if you say so." Arne said, exhaling as if to expel his doubts and concerns with his breath. Arne easily scooped up Mendelle and slung her over his shoulder as if she weighed less than a balloon to the mammalian's surprise as Samus took a quick scan around the room before she fixated her gaze on a door to their left. She had a good feeling about that one, and hers was the sort of gut that it was rarely wise not to trust, especially when augmented by her precognition.

"That way." She said, extending her index finger in the direction of the door as the pair made a few quick jumps to cross the distance without overly stressing out Mendelle. Once on the other side, the pair let her down and allowed her to follow their quick jog. Now on the platform that they needed to be, Samus shot the door and stepped in to look from one side to the next.

The room, of course, produced its obstacles. Mechanical shriek bats descended from hatches in the ceiling of the hallway and flung themselves at Samus, who quickly cut them down to size with bursts from her Volt Driver sub-weapon. Electric yellow globules of energy vaporized the little robots with each blast, Arne following behind dutifully once she gave the all-clear signal, using the blink pack to move back towards him as he escorted the pet animal down the hallway.

So far, most of the scan logs had been of things mostly relating to the prior functions of this place, but as the two raced through the halls they stopped briefly when their scan visors picked up information of interest. Information quickly filed away into their memories once they had deciphered the encryption.

"Samus, check this out." He said as he took a look at the heading the armour assigned the data. Data that it managed to extract from a terminal to the side of the door once they cleared out a trio of attack drones, Samus cutting one in twain, a second being shot to pieces by a missile, and a third being vaporized by Arne's shock coil.

"Security Logs: Potential Concerns: Current.

Within the past 0.5 centicycles a persistent intrusion has continued to pose problematic issues for the maintenance of the training facility. All attempts at halting the progress of the intruder remain unsuccessful, all records of any comparable energy signatures to the intruder are unavailable to our mainframes. Attempts to lock their movements down to allow for the deployment of sufficient assets to stop their progress remain unsuccessful. Furthermore, their presence correlates to the sudden aggression of most undomesticated fauna on the planet. Whether they are the causation or this is simply a coincidence is not information available to this mainframe. The chances of this intrusion interfering in the Hatchling and Neophyte's trial of form is also quite significant.

Attempts to render their signal traceable are ongoing. A listing of all prior detections by monitoring forces has been compiled, but to ensure that this listing is not compromised; is to be restricted to map stations. This mainframe hopes that the Hatchling and Neophyte can find this information and make use of it to ensure a successful trial and their safety against the intruder."

Samus smiled at that. So someone was looking out for them after all.

The next few rooms were unremarkable, though one particularly ornery bull-like Kurdilm had to be frozen over by the pair. The horned, elephantine animal rose from its watery home as Arne carried Mendelle with him and vaulted across the waterfall, and made an impressive leap with sturdy pillar-like legs to try and get them in charging distance. But Samus was in no mood to have to put down the twenty-tonne beast and quickly neutralized it with a volley of charged ice beam shots. It wouldn't hold forever, but it gave them enough time to get going, and for Samus to reflect a bit more on the state of animal life in the facility.

Why were domesticated animals unaffected? Why target wild animals at all? Some means to strike against the Chozo commitment to ensuring the health and welfare of all living things? A mockery of their dedication to the preservation of nature? An insult to their dream of harmony between civilization builders and the natural world?

They wouldn't have long to go before reaching the map station, however, clearing out a dozen humanoid combat drones with almost casual ease. The map station door opened up for the two of them, and they soon had the data they were seeking. A teleport station was just two rooms over to their relief, just waiting for them to enter quickly.

Arne scanned over the rest of the map and found that the route to the strange signal was also close. A straight shot down. Pretty convenient really but...was it too convenient he thought?

"This rescue op seems almost routine...just a simple extraction of a survivor. Think it could be part of the training simulation?" Arne asked, wanting to voice his opinion out loud.

Samus shot him a rather evil glare and frowned beneath her helmet. "Arne, they wouldn't put a Hrundin in danger just to test us." She said with a huff, offended really. Immediately Arne looked sheepish and muttered an apology.

"It's just...we just found her and we've already found a way to get her out of danger just like that." He said, resting his free hand on the back of his neck and shaking his head. "Maybe it's just because I'm expecting the worst. It's something Zurvduat would do, I'm sure." He said, sighing and shaking his head.

"Well, lucky for us, he's not in charge of the simulation is he? Besides, you saw the logs. That was someone real, and we can save a real life by getting her out of here too!" She said, patting him on the shoulder. "Don't be so suspicious of everything. Not everything's out to get you." She said with a gentle voice to reassure him.

"Well...yeah you've got a point, it's pretty lucky that it's going to be this easy huh?" He said.

"Oh spirits I was worried we were going to have to trek all the way to get her out of here. It's incredibly relieving to just get her in the hangar nice and cosy." She said with a small laugh and a shake of her head.

"That's well...yeah nice that we don't have to do that. I think I can take that." He said as he checked the rest of the map data. It seemed that there were many different pathways into the room that contained the odd barrier signature that had popped up on his scanners earlier.

However, based on the arrangement of the room he figured that there was some powerful foe associated with the barrier signature. Tapping his finger against his chin, he looked towards Samus as she petted the Hrundin eagerly.

"So we'll just send Mendelle on her way and check in on the trial at the energy signature right?" Arne said, getting a thumbs up from Samus in response.

"Sounds like a plan." She said eagerly.

After a scant few seconds, they had reached their destination. There was a sense of unease with the prospect of going yet further down. There was a weight to their steps, but they went on anyway with purpose. Arne once again carried the Hrundin as they quickly shot their way through a few scattered drones and a predator who had to be frozen over by the pair, but her weight was of no concern to the two of them.

The last door was just ahead, and the teleportation room seemed open. So it appeared that the animal's stay with the pair was at an end. But still, Arne couldn't help but feel that something was off. Samus also felt that tinge of unease in her gut. It did feel too simple. Old Bird would have used some machine, and certainly never have killed someone to try and see how they'd respond to a detour like this, but every scan indicated Mendelle was organic. But Zurvduat...the Curiasseur and General was something very different indeed, as was Mother Brain.

But her doubt was like a candle flame to Arne's solar flare. Years of trying to anticipate what would please Zurvduat had left him continually expecting more mind games, more tricks, more need to second-guess and doubt himself.

"What if it's all just one of his tests..." Arne said as he looked at Mendelle and only wished he felt safe enough to dismiss his armour and give her the hug she really needed without hard armour in the way. The pat he gave almost seeming to try and confirm she was even real to him rather than an illusion. He wanted to help, but what if helping her wasn't what Zurvduat wanted?

That thought almost paralysed him and made him stop his petting of Mendelle practically instantly. What if Zurvduat was trying to see if he'd waste his time on an unimportant objective? Was he trying to trick him? Was...was this right to do?

"Maybe it's some sort of nanite replicant..." He murmured to himself; such would be well in the technological abilities of the Alimbics. To create faux-life that could come off as organic to anything but specialist scanning equipment. It was possible. It could be...

Samus heard him despite him whispering as quietly as grass rustling from an insect. And immediately tempered outrage flared as she harrumphed at him and firmly grabbed his shoulder to spin him towards her. She then forced to look her in the eye as she dematerialised her helmet to let him know that hers was not a happy expression.

"ARNE!" She shouted, snapping him out of his loop of self-questioning. "Helmet off, now. We need to talk." She said as Mendelle sat down and panted, tilting her head in confusion.

He at first felt like resisting, but shook his head and complied, blue light enveloping and then vanishing the coverings around his face. She made him look her straight in the eyes as she squinted at him.

"What's bothering you? Please, tell me instead of hiding it. Why are you so afraid of the Hrundin?!" She said, clearly still on edge. Anger was her constant companion and her greatest demon. She wasn't angry at him, not entirely, but she was furious that his mind was set on this course of doubt. By a certain someone, she was finding herself increasingly hoping she could pry away from him and indeed; out of her life entirely.

"I'm just...stuck wondering about whether this is all just one of Zurvduat's games is all. If not him, maybe Mother Brain or someone else." He said with a sigh, squeezing the words out with all the tension and effort of sawing a butterknife through a steel brick.

"Arne. Look at me. You want to help people, right? Like we said we would." She said, trying to put on a more gentle expression now.

"...Yes."

"If Zurvduat is going to give you worse marks for helping someone in need, then forget him. If that's what he wants out of you, then his opinion is stupid, and you should ignore it!" She said with a huff of outrage. But beneath that outrage was something much more primordial: concern, worry, and a longing to help.

She cared. And that made it impossible for her to let this go. Let Zurvduat call her compassion weakness she thought, let Mother Brain scorn her for having a heart. She knew what was right, and that included helping those in need.

Arne thought about it. He thought of Elmorni and Zurvduat's disagreements, how he couldn't decide on whose approval he sought whenever he had to choose between one or the other. He thought about the words of Elmorni and...

"What would your birth parents want you to do?" She said, voicing something at the back of his mind. The words in the memoirs of his birth parents rang more clearly in his head, their politics, thoughts, attitudes. And he always recalled how they emphasised that nobody lives in a vacuum and that direct, thoughtful action was often what was needed to make things better. If he allowed himself to submit to the endless mind games of Zurvduat and leave this animal be in this strange place, what would his original family think of that?

"You're...you're right. It doesn't matter if she's real or not; she needs help." He said. Better to be tricked into helping out ten people who aren't in need than to fail to help out one who genuinely does require assistance.

A smile formed on his lips as he looked at her, and she returned it in kind. "Let's get going then. We can still make up for the lost time." She said, gesturing Mendelle towards the teleportation station, the circular platform whirring as it built up energy. Mechanisms flared open to allow the Hrundin in as they beckoned her onto the machine and stepped aboard.

With a gentle request, Arne got Mendelle to sit herself down, and the trio willed themselves to the teleporter closest to the hangar, exiting not too far away from their ships with a flash of orange light. Instantly recovering their bearings, Samus and Arme held onto the large; red panda like animal and focused their blink packs on teleporting once again on top of Samus' gunship. And in a moment, they lowered themselves into the confines of the ship.

The interior was cosy and perhaps on the small side for an animal Mendelle's size, but it would fit her well enough, and the A.I would be able to take care of her needs. Arne quickly gave a scan of the interior and saw that she'd added some actual paper books to a few shelves on the left. It struck him as a bit odd to use such archaic relics as physical books. Still, they looked lovely on her shelves, and he briefly lost himself in wondering whether he should consider doing so himself before snapping back to attention when he found Mendelle licking his face.

"H-hey! Stop it that tickles." He giggled as she bumped his nose into him. That got Samus to laugh too, and he felt relieved to be in a position to; however, briefly; relax for a bit. Tension melted and a weight seemed to disappear from his shoulders, however momentarily.

"Looks like you've made a friend!" She said with a chuckle before the hrundin went back to the ground on all fours.

"Make sure she's taken care of while we're gone alright?" She said as Mendelle immediately started to sniff around.

"We should get going, it shouldn't take too long to arrive based on my estimates," Arne said, wiping some of the slobber off his face and smirking at Samus as the two's helms rematerialised over their heads. He felt clearer now, convinced of himself and his purpose. The doubt lifted from him like a dissipating fog, and what came next seemed easy to him.

"Agreed." She said, leaping out the open top hatch of her ship as if to race him there, with the young lad in hot pursuit. Down they went into the teleporter, and down they went to the pit of the room that had the barrier signature emanating from it. She too felt more ready now than before. Whatever was in that room would have to face them clear of worry as they soldiered towards it; gunning through obstacles with practised precision.

It took remarkably little time for the two youths to tread the path not taken. Their boots hit the ground as they descended deeper towards the pit, one more level down and another handful of obstacles cleared out with practised precision. Such minor engagements went on virtually autopilot mode for them, hardly worth even thinking about as they approached the last destination.

Finally, the door they were waiting for lay ahead. Samus and Arne made short work of the green super missile shield over the circular door with a single warhead from Samus, and beneath them was a drop into an arena. Arne stopped to look down, urging her to wait for a second as he looked around.

"See something?" Samus said, taking a second to look along with him. Out there was a vast arena, multiple elevated platforms and fields of cover. At the centre was a pair of orange tokens, one held by a Chozo Statue, the other by an Alimbic reliquary that his scanner read simply as some form of armour upgrade. Something to offer their armour the ability to shrug off extreme temperatures without shield drain while substantially augmenting resilience and physique across the board.

The varia suit if he had to hazard a guess. An upgrade to Samus' Mekthesh armour and his Scorimak battlesuit. But there was something else, above perhaps?

Samus pointed it out to him, a machine at the top built in the vague shape of a mighty bird of prey. They could see that it was hanging upside down from the ceiling in front of the ceiling with its wings of metallic feathers folded around it like a cloak. Taloned legs, spindly for something the size of a sauropod, clutched at the ceiling to keep it rooted firmly in place. An owl-like head with a cluster of large optics was buried somewhat into its wings, and a fan-like tail split into many blade-like projections. It was gold, red and orange in colouration, and it was obviously waiting for them to enter its zone of battle for them to prove themselves.

The two nodded and used the blink pack to drop down and get themselves into flanking positions around the mechanoid as it hummed into life. Green highlights and optics flared into being with a fierce brilliance and its claws unhooked from its perch to let it fall towards the ground. Its wings spread wide, and with impossible grace, it righted itself and flapped them gently to begin hovering.

Samus' scan visor recognized it as a Werizo; an airborne form of Chozo sentinel made to test young warriors in battle and see if they were worthy of the prizes they guarded. This one made use of the systems of the barrier suit to defend itself, and the scans of the room indicated that there were systems in place to rapidly alter the temperature of specific areas. How very ironic that the guardian of the barrier suit's arena would be far simpler to clear with the help of the barrier suit. The weapons included energy projectors in the wings, head, multiweapons in the back, shockwave and power field emitters on the talons and feathers, an energy peck and bomb systems in the tail. The chest would be its most vulnerable point, more specifically where its abdomen connected into its thorax. A somewhat easily guarded weakness, but exploitable all the same, she mused as she grinned.

"+You ready Arne?+" Samus said as the machine swivelled a boulder-sized head to examine the two of them. She felt that electric tingle of excitement in her body once again. She felt honoured to be entrusted with fighting one of these mighty machines, even if it was almost certainly not allowed to fight with more than a fraction of its full capabilities.

"+One of us should try to get its attention. I'll get in its face and try to give you clear shots to its weak point. Then we'll swap positions when it starts to figure out what we're doing.+" Arne said, his nervousness and lack of confidence washed away by the calming certainty of what he had to do in a fight. He steeled himself and let his training kick in, the endless drills starting to put him on autopilot as he decided to take the first move and seize the initiative.

The positron beam erupted from his cannon, sending out an electric lash of anti-matter that exploded in a massive burst of electrical energy upon the rupturing of the fields that kept the arcing stream from touching the air. Power enough to crack a dozen mountains in half vented itself against the shielding of the target. As devastating in its own way as the ice beam's ability to end a fight almost instantly and devastate most forms of shielding. But despite a barrage of positronic shots, the machine remained, the vitae tracker in their suits registering a still mostly full bar.

This would be a proper fight, Samus thought as she dove to the side to get a clear shot. Her cannon clicked into the Ice Beam configuration and released keening globules of raw anti-energy that vented themselves against the shielding in cascading multicoloured aurora-like bursts. But she felt the impending retaliation on the causeways of destiny, a sense of dread crawling up her spine and sending its signals through her limbs as she saw where the incoming return strike would come.

Arne entered his Psychosphere form and boosted out of the way, she backflipped fast enough to outrace her own sound. Both managed to evade the incoming pyrosphere launched from the head of the machine and then vaulted once again over its incoming shockwave stomp as it descended from the skies with the fury of a meteorite and sent forth a shivering ring of energy with sine-like electric arcs of orange energy.

The erupting sphere of energy engulfed itself in thermonuclear reactions that tripled its radius before a barrier contained and shaped it, both to limit the area of effect and ensure the raw energy of the explosion was not wasted on targets it did not need to hit.

Arne shot up a half-pipe and fired off his grapple beam to swing across the machine to land on a platform as he calmed himself and prepared for his next shot; seeing the machine approaching him at high speeds just as he switched over to his shock coil.

Arne's shock coil was a versatile if short ranged tool. Few of his weapons could exceed it in raw destructive output per second if he could get close and maintain his distance. It was next to impossible to evade once he had it locked on, and furthermore: it was his favourite colour. The blue-white stream of electricity and neutrinos zipped out to strike the target with the characteristic buzzing howl of the weapon and the damage he took from being caught in the storm of energy shards the Werizo made by swiping its wings was quickly restored; recharging his shield to full in just a blink of his eyes.

But it couldn't be his only tool. Not when the enemy was keen on rushing him head-on. Not when he was being clipped by a thermal blast that knocked him to the side and made him stumble, not when he could see energy flare up around the Werizo's beak intent on running him through. Winged by it as he moved to dodge the beak only to be swept by the wing and pushed into the wall with seismic furor; he took only the briefest moment to recover his senses after letting out a groan of discomfort.

"Hold on Arne! I'm coming!" Samus shouted across the room in alarm at seeing Arne grunt from clear effort to avoid getting squashed into the indentation he had been forced into by the Machine's sheer strength. She was worried about him. Always was since the day they had met, always will be he figured as he worked out on a plan to get free.

He was being pushed into the wall and his shielding meter ticked downwards as he felt incredible force being exerted on him. He wouldn't give up however, and started to strain back against his would be captor. The metal behind him gave way as he widened the indentation he had made to get more leverage until he could get his cannon facing the right way, his red eyes spotting Samus approaching just as the Werizo was preparing to rear its head back to smash its beak into his suit.

Sensing the right moment, he fired off the Shock Coil again as Samus latched onto it with her grapple beam and yanked the sauropod sized machine backwards. He sighed with relief as he recovered some of his lost energy tanks, seeing the meter tick back up to full while Samus gave the machine a super missile to the face to stun it; followed by her rolling into the morph ball to cling onto it with the spider function, peppering it with explosions while Arne was busy getting his Volt Driver ready; terawatt burst after burst striking the machine as it flailed to get up until it finally caught Samus with its wing feathers and tossed her clean across the room to get space.

An outraged shout came from Arne as he felt that same flash of concern she did for him not more than a hot second ago. He choked down his distress at the thought of seeing her hurt. Zurvduat had chastised the two of them for their emotional attachment to each other, warning that one day it would cause them a great deal of pain. He had to do something about it, not just rush in without a plan. But he didn't need long to think of one as soon as he saw Samus stand up.

Deciding against pulling away, Arne met his enemy with the power blade; coursing electricity through it to jolt its shielding multiple times. He got in a dozen strikes as it tried to catch him, dancing around its movements until it tried to stomp on him. Now his bladework moved to block its attempts at raking its talons across him. With a shift in his feet he strained slightly and pulled the enemy into the path of Samus who gladly took the chance to release a three-shot barrage of super missiles. One, two, three earth-shaking missiles into the foe and he felt the pressure relieve from his arm as he ceased wrestling with the foe.

Releasing a charged missile and boosting back before the Werizo could get its bearings, he flashed a signal to Samus for them to switch; letting her rush up and tackle them with a furious speed booster charge and shinespark. The impact of which was enough to cause a spectacular shockwave and make the ground tremble before she unleashed a fully charged ice beam shot following a quick kicking motion off of its body to keep it further off balance, sweeping her cannon upwards as she spun around to strike it on the beak before flipping backwards.

The enemy was rattled, but not yet beaten even as Arne quickly unloaded a cascade of missiles into the foe; the revolving mechanisms in his arm cannon quickly cycling through warheads to torch his way through the foe's shielding. Already it was gathering its wings together to cover its chest; slamming into the earth with a downward thrust and forcing the pair to evade in separate directions.

The Werizo was fast and recognized that it was being pinned down by the superior numbers of the duo and refused to allow such a thing to continue. Deeming Samus the greater priority, the machine flapped its wings to take flight and began to heat up he area that she was in, commanding the temperature of that section of the room to rise to degrees where the air molecules broke down into a soup of plasma that rapidly drained at her shielding. Then it sought to press its advantage by swooping towards her, talons outstretched.

Pulled out of the heated area by Arne's grapple beam, she tried her best to focus for a moment to recover shielding before a series of bombs erupted around her. She tried to thread through the avalanche of explosives, but follow up missile strikes to try and overwhelm her danger sense already starting to be busied with some other, more distant concern gnawing at her extrasensory perception.

Bouncing off of a wall, Samus went in for the aggressive play. Cutting through incoming waves of missiles launched by the machine and collecting the released quintessence with her charge beam; she sought to descend down atop it with a thundercrack after forcing herself out of the apex of her leap and getting a bit of added height in from a full-powered shot while the machine sought to defend itself from Arne's power beam barrage coming out of his cannon so quickly it seemed like a continual stream with the individual shot sounds inaudible to most. Slashing her blade in swift strokes until she felt the shielding drop and then shooting the grapple beam out of her cannon to pull herself in for a thunderous kick, she was now where she needed to be.

Her blink pack fired and she was now facing the weak point of the enemy. At the same time, Arne used his own device to warp out of the way of thermal beams spat forth from the Werizo's optics. She impacted hard, enough to throw the machine entirely off of its feet before she vaulted back and shot off her left-hand grapple beam.

"Arne, pull!" She shouted, landing on her feet once more as the two yanked the machine closer to be met with their strongest possible weapons; impacting the Werizo with brutal force like meteorite impacts and sending the thing flying backwards in an uncontrolled manner across the room to hit the wall behind it and flop unceremoniously to the ground. But now, with its vitae meter down to half, the machine reared up once more and let out a shriek to signal that it was ready for battle once more, spreading out its wings and starting to take flight. Yet that wasn't the only source of that pinprick sensation of danger the two felt.

The shape caught Samus' eye once more as she dodged around its next volley. It was the horned shape again, and this time she swivelled around; deftly avoiding the Werizo's attacks to get a closer look, cannon at the ready. She had questions now, and she required answers as the glowing eyes of the figure loomed with the same twisted horns emerging from their head, creating that profile that refused to leave her sight. She chanced a signal ping in an attempt to get their attention.

The figure turned towards them, and something above their arm split open to reveal a cylinder as trapezoidal segments opened up. Samus felt a massive surge of life or death danger that almost made her want to hide before she curled into the morph ball and rolled out of the way as fast as she could. A solar yellow lance of light like a supernova being vented in her direction erupted from the arm of the figure; the air igniting in thermonuclear reactions as molecules fizzled into atomic particulates and wreathing the beam in a corona of radioactive fire.

On impact, the beam somehow chain-reacted, feeding into itself and then rippling outwards in a continually growing series of explosions. One of the subexplosions winged Samus and just like that an energy tank depleted itself, protecting her from a blast to reduce an army to dust. She grunted as Arne responded to the sudden drop in her shielding with alarm, moving towards her while the figure dropped to the ground. A heavy thud was made as they stood themselves up to a staggering height some four times taller than either of the pair, glaring down at them with a hollow-sounding metallic groan made at them.

It stood on digitigrade legs ending in starfish-like feet encased in geometric armour. Its yellow and grey colouration reading like a hazard warning to her eyes now as burning yellow highlights illuminated gunmetal steel like plates. A faceplate like a smoothened carapace with no features save for its brilliant yellow diamond-like eyes stared out at the two and glowed like stars. Its hands; both the large combat arms and small manipulation limbs close to the chest had strange-looking, gangly clawed fingers that seemed almost too thin for something of its size and power. Wings of a geometric shape had panels of brilliant yellow. Its body gave an impression of might without being too bulky, speed without being too slender, and durability without being too solid. Their somewhat hunched over posture gave them an animalistic appearance; the visage of a predator, one whose ire was now focused squarely on them.

There was a sense of fear now, a foe that should not be faced, a thing that should not be named.

The scans identified it as a Sunstalker, but seemed almost confused as to its presence. A foe such as it was not supposed to be present in this day and age. Its kind were all supposed to have been sent beyond the veil long before humans had mastered metalworking. But the scans were certain of one thing; it was far beyond either of their abilities to deal with.

A lashing blow from the being spat out a crescent wave that could have crushed cities and mountains that spread out across the room. Only two quick movements, Arne going over and Samus rolling under, allowed them to avoid the incoming waves, each swipe of the thing's arms creating another yellow crescent blast. But secondary explosions from the protest of sundered atoms caught them as they sought to blink into a different path only for it to predict their movements. They were pushed back as they were enveloped and then just barely caught by a fourth cutting wave that lashed out. An energy tank depleted instantly as they were thrown across the room fast enough to make a thundercrack as they hit the nearest wall. Pain briefly shot through them, but the foe only continued its advance towards them.

But the hunter had not quite cleared the room of all other obstacles. The Guardian recognised the creature as something that did not belong, and would not allow this further interruption.

The Werizo rose in challenge almost immediately; body wreathed in plasma fire as it sought to challenge its foe. But that shield of fusion hot temperatures meant nothing to the thing, which stabbed its hand through the barrier and grabbed the machine with a motion faster than a railgun. With a crushing motion, shielding that could have shrugged off a meteorite cracked with a flex of its fingers with a horrid shriek, and armour that could have taken starship fire was crushed like tissue paper.

Freshly hot imploded metal was thrown like a projectile at the duo; wreathing itself in flame from friction. Only their quick reflexes allowed them to dodge it, but Samus had an idea. Taking her grapple beam; she planted her feet and latched onto the projectile, firing off her blink pack while she made a swinging motion to slam the projectile straight into the shield containing the Varia suit upgrade. The shield sputtered and failed from the redirected momentum as she landed back on her feet, letting out a huff as she saw the token now accessible.

"+Arne, let's grab it and go!+" She said, getting him blinking to the statue in response; a motion she repeated as the two fired off another teleport immediately to finish the transformation process with some measure of safety.

Orange and Sky Blue energy surrounded the pair as they shunted again through a hastily opened door; fusing into their suits and metamorphosising them into something new and improved. Samus curled into a brief fetal position and then lashed her arms out almost as if she was born anew; the limb armour on her suit taking on an orange hue while her visor and other highlights shifted from blue to green.

Arne knelt for a moment, letting the sky blue energy fuse into himself as his armour shifted from blue to sky blue, his visor and suit highlights changing from scarlet to purple. And right before his eyes flashed a series of reports as his armour informed him of the ins and outs of its new abilities.

The long and short of it was that virtually all capabilities; including physicality and the strength of the armour's actual material had been increased. But the real improvement was in the shielding, which was now not only generally more resistant to damage from all sources but was also virtually immune to most of the extremes of temperature. And they'd need that in a hurry as the pursuer smashed its way through the door and let out a hunting howl that keened inside their ears.

The temperatures in the room increased exponentially. Temperatures more comparable to that of stars than anything that should exist in an atmosphere made themselves known as the pursuer stretched out its wings. Temperatures their suits shrugged off while they danced around a volley of solar yellow orbs of luminous energy loosed from weapons on one of its combat arms. Samus was nearly grazed by one such shot, and her distant sight made her feel a tingle within and without from the shellacking she just barely avoided.

Arne's cannon whined and buzzed with the sawing electric arcs of neutrinos of his shock coil. Particles flowed to and from his cannon, recharging his shielding and Her arm cannon charged up and released; icy blue-white anti-energy striking at the chaser and forming a solid sheet of ice around them. It would not hold for long, but it didn't have to. The room's security fabricated a wall between them and the Sunstalker before it could break free, they had time to make a break out of the room, and it was time they made good use of as they sprinted out of the next door before blinking up onto a platform to the next entrance and throwing themselves into the nearest elevator as they heard the sounds of nearby gunfire and unearthly howls.

But for now, the sensation of danger subsided.

The duo caught their breaths where possible and looked towards one another.

"What was that thing?" Samus asked.

"I have no idea...it's not supposed to be here...and we're not supposed to fight it. Maybe Spire and Armau-" He said, his voice dropping a bit with the final sentence as he started to think.

"Arne, no, they're fine." She said, instantly dismissing the idea of their demise and shaking her head.

"We just need to find them. If we link up with them, we could maybe..." She said, giving him enough time and space for him to finish her thought for him.

"See if we can't get rid of it?" He said, thinking it over in his head. It might be out of their league at the moment, but with all four of them together and some additional upgrades beneath their belt...yes it could work.

"And if we can show that we can take it down then we're sure to get commended for it right?" Samus said, smirking under her helmet. She didn't want him to worry about whether or not she was nervous about this plan of hers. She was nerve-wracked inside; the idea of meeting that thing again made her uneasy in the pit of her stomach. And yet, there was also a bit of excitement there. Part of her enjoyed the danger.

A danger that a distant howl reminded them was not too far behind, and soon enough, they were off once more.

---

Consolidated Logbook Entries

Logs: Commonwealth: Historical Interest: Civilian: State of the Facility

Zoran has seen better days. Every passing cycle fewer and fewer come to visit it for its intended purpose. Halls of discussion that once hosted great strides in debate now lay silent. Creches that once teemed with the young of millions of species are empty. Wharves which once saw the fruit of the productive forces of the universe pass through are now bare. The old glories fade ever farther into memory, and new glories are ever rarer. But the seers request we make ready for dangers that may come in ages yet to happen. And so this facility now finds a new purpose. It will be a creche once again for warriors yet to hatch.

Samus' notes:

Huuuh, who was the person who wrote this? They didn't sign their log...weird. I think we'll find who they are soon enough though.

Arne's notes:

Now I really want to know...what would this place be like when it was active?

Individuals: Organic: Alive: Noncombatant: Nonsapient: Federation: Hrundin: Female: Mendelle

Mendelle is an unassuming and conventional Hrundin of the Hormung breed. No significant mutations are detected, and scans indicate no genetic diseases will manifest. Further analysis shows that Mendelle is distressed and nervous and is suffering from separation anxiety. While protected from harm via subdermal shield generator, Mendelle lacks any significant ability to defend herself from the local fauna and defence drones but remains uninjured. It is strongly recommended to evacuate Mendelle from the facility at the earliest possible convenience.

Samus' Notes:

Aww poor girl's all alone out here. No need for her to worry, I'm ready to protect her.

Arne's Notes:

It's a real shame she's got no one to look out for her...until now anyway. Why is she on her own?

Individuals: Organic: Deceased: Noncombatant: Educator: Federation: Zadrim: Male: Vurdon Olmrg

Vurdon Olmrg was the host of Vurdon's Curiosities; a Cybervid series focused on Vurdon's spelunking and safari tours to places of interest. Oriented primarily towards children and adolescents of species similar to himself, Vurdon enjoys a subscriber base of roughly thirty-nine billion, allowing him to self-finance but not achieving especially noteworthy success. Vurdon was noted for his larger than life presentation and often cavalier attitude towards danger paired with a mandatory emphasis that much of what he did should not be repeated at home. Vurdon was terminated by an energized bladed weapon that induced localized quark disruption in the pierced area following by a quintessence burst that burnt him from the inside out. Trace scans of leftover psychic energy suggest elevated fear at the time of death as well as brief but intense pain.

Samus' Notes:

Wow...poor guy. How did he get here? And why couldn't the emergency teleporters save him? It's going to suck to deliver the notice of his death. We should come back later and put him to rest.

Arne's Notes:

Whatever killed him is still here...we should find it, try and see how he passed and what we can do to make sure it doesn't happen again. Then we can tell his family we got justice.

Species: Fauna: Synapsidoid: Therapsidoid: Mammaliform: Ungulate-Like: Non-Sapient: Herbivorous: Hostile: Kurdilm

Kurdilms are a large and well known to be dangerous herbivorous species native to Zoran. Kurdilms are natively able to make use of quintessence to augment their durability and their physicality. While lacking in ability to threaten at range, Kurdilms are able to charge at incredible speeds which when combined with their quintessence and mass; allows them to deal tremendous damage. Though they are poor at turning, they are able to see at all angles, allowing them to prepare their stance to prevent flanking. Jumping is recommended to attack them from different angles.

Samus' Notes:

The Ice Beam should work to keep them out of harm's way without them bothering us later. I wouldn't want to cause them any unnecessary hurt anyway.

Arne's Notes:

Given their lack of vertical movement, just staying airborne should be enough to dodge around them. It'd be...more problematic in a room where we couldn't do that though.

Mechanoids: Faera: Multiple Purpose: Combat Capable: Minor Sentinels

Built in the humanoid shape of armoured Faera, Minor Sentinels are disposable drones designed for low priority tasks. Making use of the arcanotech, the Faera are known for; Minor Sentinels can distribute their quintessence across a formation. This will keep each member of a formation in perfect fighting condition until the collective quintessence pool of the Minor Sentinels is depleted, allowing for large numbers to absorb tremendous amounts of punishment. However, the arkalyst crystals mounted on the arms of the Minor Sentinels are vulnerable to high impact weapons, temporarily disarming them while they are left to try and regenerate the damage.

Samus' Notes:

It's weird how much the Faera look like humans and Aelva. Maybe there's some common ancestry...but their drones are easy enough to take down, area of effect weapons work wonders.

Arne's Notes:

My parents told stories of the Faera. Mysterious and reclusive but irresistible all the same. Their machinery is a lot like their makers...mysterious but I can't help but want to know more.

Mechanoids: Chozo: Multiple Purpose: Combat Capable: Werizo

Werizos are a form of Chozo automated combatant that serves as an aerial platform built in the image of the evolutionary ancestors of the Chozo. Created to emphasize particular aesthetic tastes popular among many Chozo artists nostalgic for the era when the Chozo were a winged species, the Werizo is as much a work of art as it is a multiuse combat platform. This particular make is designed to engage with weapon systems based around the extremes of temperature as well as in close combat. Weapon systems for all ranges of combat are detected, but a specific preference for melee if possible is evident in its arsenal's focus on suppressive fire that allows it to close the distance.

Samus' Notes:

The design makes you wonder about the evolutionary path of the Chozo. How their form changed over millions of years...I feel bad about having to smash it up for the test. But with its weak points being pretty obvious, I think I have this handled.

Arne's Notes:

I have to say I think I like Chozo aesthetics better. Much...more like a thing I can identify than the Crash Pillars and such back home. On my own this would be a hard fight, but with Samus I think this should be simple.

Individuals: Organic: Active: Combatant: Dangerous: Old Foe: Unknown: Unknown: Sunstalker One

Scans of the individual in question show similarities to ancient data from more than one hundred and fourteen thousand Earth years ago. However, technological advancements from that era can be observed from the initial analysis. These advancements have served to keep pace with the changes to Chozo and Alimbic systems over the millennia. Included in this suite of technology are scan bafflers, preventing more in-depth readouts of the subject's abilities.

The subject is demonstrably able to brute force its way through many forms of former Commonwealth security systems and as such is to be considered extremely dangerous. Regenerative multi-layered shielding capable of blocking phasic or extradimensional attacks and hostile teleportation or cosmological alteration attacks protects the target, leaving the capabilities of its armour unknown. A large number of weapons have been detected, most based on systems capable of enormous power output or manipulation of highly esoteric physical properties.

Scan systems appear to be roughly equivalent, and the cybernetic warfare capabilities of the subject remain as of yet unknown. However, while able to overcome standard level technology, they are incapable of interfacing with your exploration suit and data acquired from previous victims suggests that your anti-technopathic defences are more than sufficient to lock it out. No direct combat paranormal abilities have been observed, and its responses indicate a lack of distant sight. Physical combat abilities are demonstrably significant, and direct confrontation should be avoided.

Recommended Action: Avoid conflict with until acquisition of higher quality equipment.

Samus' Notes:

How is one of these things supposed to be here? They were supposed to be locked away in a prison universe that could never be reaccessed. Must have been a leftover. But where was it hiding for all these years? I need answers, but I can't get them now.

Arne's Notes:

Can't even begin to try and fight this thing now. We're completely outgunned by something that shouldn't even be here. How is it here? It doesn't make sense...how could one just go undetected for so long? Spire might know...or Armaud...they always know.

Upgrades: Armour: Physical modification: Thermal Defenses: Multiple Makers: Varia Suit

The Varia suit represents a significant increase in defensive capabilities over the standard power suit. Not only is the physical structure of the suit augmented and its shielding resistance doubled, but the Varia upgrade allows the user to ignore most of the extremes of temperature. While quintessence bolstered thermal or cryogenic attacks can still have some effect, the wearer is now able to operate without shield drain in virtually any temperature. All armour physicals are substantially augmented, and most forms of corrosive agents are rendered ineffective against both the shielding and plating.

Samus' Notes:

Now, this is something I don't think I could do without...there's so many new places I could poke around with this. So many new enemies I can take on without a care. Hah! Okay, this is definitely worth getting close to that thing for.

Arne's Notes:

The utility you can get out of something like this is incredible. I can't really think of a lot of situations where this isn't just better to have than the normal power suit. But is it going to be enough? I hope so...