Why, yes, I do update consistently. Twice a year, every year since I've started!

It wasn't even intentional. XD

Happy 38th Anniversary to the Metroid series! I'm very pleased to be able to celebrate it this way! Please enjoy!

A lone figure in violet armor strode through the ruins of Kraid's Lair. She waded through the fast-flowing river with ease, spared only a glance at an empty pedestal she knew once held a Chozo artifact, and paused near the remains of the behemoth lizard.

It was not his corpse the Hunter took interest in. Everywhere she looked, pools of Space Pirate blood stained the ground. Pools that had only recently dried, yet not a single pirate corpse was to be seen. A pit of dread settled in her gut. Whatever massacre had occurred here, she'd missed it by mere hours. Perhaps even less.

But right now, there were far more important matters to attend to.

She stepped onto the edge of a stone precipice overlooking the black abyss, gazing once again into the gateway to Maridia.

She had not returned for a lost capsule, or to battle Mother Brain's forces.

She took a several paces back.

She had returned for the Metroid.

She ran forward, somersaulted, and dove.

And Heaven help anyone who stood in her way.

Falling, but not like before. She plunged into the pitch-black waters headfirst, wide awake, and thrusters pulsing.

Coordinates set. Radar sharp and clear. The heavy waters streamed over the Gravity Suit with minimal friction. Deeper and deeper, she dove; yet, the descent's smoothness felt akin to flying.

Soon, high, rocky reefs loomed into view. Far in the distance, she spotted the outlines of ancient, broken columns, likely thousands of years old. They were no doubt of Chozo origin, but the idea of the bird-like Chozo building underwater settlements was…strange. They must have thought it was strange, too, since Samus had never seen another one.

Now, only the sea life used them. Orange, crab-like Scisers scuttled up and down them, generally not minding her presence. The skeletal Skulteras, on the other hand, darted around and tried to bite off chunks of her armor. Thanks to the low light levels and sparse patches of seagrass to hide in, both kinds of animals sported excellent night vision and tough, spiny defenses.

Thanks to the Ice Beam, both made highly convenient platforms.

Onward.

Now, the reefs wound upward, and it wasn't long before the first Pirate-made structures appeared through the gloom. Pinkish-violet steel supports thick as Kraid's spikes hoisted up what Samus guessed was merely a tiny portion of the Maridia Lab. It was so massive, she couldn't see around it, let alone guess its shape.

So, this was where Norfair's ore had gone. Its heat-storing properties were perfect for maintaining the Lab's temperature in the midst of the cold ocean.

Drawing nearer, she spotted a series of magnetic points placed strategically around the perimeter. Perhaps meant to deter larger predators, Samus used them to swing across the gaps with the Grapple Beam.

She hadn't taken proper notice in Norfair, but this model of the Grapple Beam was different. The old one attached to her left arm, while the new one fired straight from the cannon. While this limited her combat options, it also had a much stronger current in terms of raw power.

Inside the Lab, blackouts and flooding had crippled visibility, but thanks to the Gravity Suit's abilities, she could see just fine.

A soft whistle escaped her mouth. When the pirate who radioed the Norfair tower screamed about a "mass breakout," that was the understatement of the cosmic century.

Explosions had blown whole walls apart, leaving some areas wide open and others buried under rubble. Several levels were completely underwater. All around, networks of ore-laced steel pipes were bent and twisted like paper straws. In the lowest areas, streams of quicksand had pushed up through the cracked floors, forcing use of the Speed Booster to cross.

Despite all these setbacks, life had found a way. Likely swept in with the water, sea snails called Yards crawled all over the broken pipes and floors and seemed very confused as to how they got there in the first place. But, getting kicked around like empty tin cans when Samus blew past them didn't bother them a whit.

Then there were the pirates. She crouched behind a line of shattered bio tanks to keep out of sight as a patrol passed by. Their exoskeletons were pink, and they were chasing after…something. A horde of somethings. From her position, she couldn't get a good look.

Once she was sure they'd passed, she rose and made to move on when one of the bio tank's flickering lights caught her eye. A shiny, viscous substance clung to some of the jagged glass shards. Running her hand over it and holding it up, she narrowed her eyes.

Memories of no less than fifty battles on SR388 told her exactly what had secreted this slime.

Another sweep of the line of tanks revealed they were all coated with it. However, only the first tank's glass was completely shattered; the rest looked like holes had been punched through from the outside. Curious, but it all meant two things.

Phantoon's project was indeed complete, and a whole lot of Metroids were no longer in captivity.

Suddenly, the radius and severity of the damage made a lot more sense. Unless its growth had been unnaturally accelerated in such a short span of time, the hatchling was still too weak to have caused it by itself. She looked back at the first tank and tilted her head. The catalyst, perhaps?

That idea, too, made sense. Samus thought all the way back from her Zero Mission to Tallon IV, Aether, and Elysia. All of these missions involved incidents of Metroids breaking loose and wreaking havoc in their respective labs, save for her Zero Mission. Mother Brain hadn't confined them; she merely kept them within Tourian's limits, not just for her own ease of controlling them, but because she of all beings knew.

Of course the Baby had broken free. Metroids never did well in captivity.

For some inexplicable reason, for the first time in her life, out of all these harrowing missions… Instead of dread, Samus felt a small, unmistakable surge of pride for that little larva.

There had to be hope. She had to be close. She turned in the direction the pirates had run in. Whatever they were chasing after…that was her best bet.

As the underwater zones grew deeper and darker, Samus remained vigilant, straining her eyes and ears for any more signs of pirates, escaped lab life, and most importantly, the Metroid. So far, the only sights were more decimated walls and equipment, and the only sound was a faint, hissing stream of bubbles.

It was not unlike the sound of her breathing.

A long shape glided to the left of the radar's inner circle. She glanced that way, but there was only a brick wall. As she pressed forward, it followed along out of sight, the hissing punctuating her stride now and again. Sometimes it grew louder in areas where the walls were weaker, and sometimes it grew soft. But it never disappeared altogether.

It was tracking her.

In an area wrecked beyond repair, the loudest hiss of all came from behind. She spun around and came face to face with a scaly, orange snout poking out of a gap in the wall.

A sea serpent, whose head alone was half her length, each dagger-like tooth as long as her hand. A wicked light flickered in its unnaturally large green eyes. Evidently, it took joy in ambushing unsuspecting prey. Jaw unhinging, fangs like lightning, it lunged.

But Samus was far from unsuspecting. She bent backward right as its mouth snapped shut, missing her chest by an inch. Taking the fall, she morphed and rolled as it spiraled into another hole.

Unmorphing, she readied a Charge Shot. Countless were the gaps it could hide behind, meaning it could attack from any angle. Effectively, she was exposed no matter which way she turned.

There— the flash of its eyes, the gleam of its teeth. She ducked as it sprayed equally vivid, green venom over her before vanishing again.

Another menacing hiss. It bounced off the hollow pipes on every corner of the room. With one eye on her radar, Samus steadied her hand not on her cannon, but near her visor.

The current shifted to her left. Out whirled the serpent like a living twister, jaws parting. Spinning to face it, she switched on the visor's light.

There was an agonized hiss, almost like a roar, as the dazzling white light blasted it full in the face. Blinded, it writhed away, seeking another hole to hide in, but not before she loosed the Charge Shot on it for good measure.

Samus stepped back, eyes darting back and forth between the radar and the holes. It was circling back.

For a moment, she shut her eyes in frustration. For once, just this once, she wanted to leave the fight. She was so close. So close to the Metroid. She'd already lost so much time finding the Lab. How much longer could the Baby hold out?

Again, she glanced at the holes in the wall. They were big enough to slip through in the Morph Ball. Could she—?

She blinked. Either her light had lost some power, or the water seemed awfully hazy. Sure enough, clouds of dust and tiny pieces of debris had filtered in. She glanced at her radar. Interference. The serpent had whipped up the dust to cloak itself and blind her.

Returning the favor, eh?

She couldn't leave now; if it grabbed her in the Morph Ball, she'd be at a tremendous disadvantage. It was close by, circling. She could still hear it.

So, she stilled herself. She waited and listened. And when it struck again from behind, dust billowing in its wake, Samus, without even turning, snared her left arm around its neck.

How it thrashed! It rolled, twisted, and bucked, trying with all its might to throw her off. It spiraled upside-down, hoping to shake her into its hungry maw.

But Samus clung on, riding it and firing Missile after Missile into its face. Being up close and personal gave her no reserves about using them in the enclosed environment.

Its flared, finned tail curled in and swatted her off. The serpent rounded, frenzied by frustration, scales red-hot with rage. Foregoing all tricks, it charged— one final blow— a head on, full-bodied skull bash.

Samus simply fired a Super Missile into its mouth and ducked into the Morph Ball.

It sailed over her head and crashed into a wall. Already weakened, the wall broke on impact. As did the serpent's body. Samus watched the huge bricks pile over the scattered segments, burying it as quickly as it had died. Now, beyond the wall, a new path was revealed.

Onward. Samus vaulted over the debris.

It was strange, she thought as she ran. All this time, all she could think about was reaching Maridia. Reaching this place. Reaching the Baby.

And yet, for one, brief, dreadful moment, as she ran through the dilapidated Lab, all she could see were the ravaged steel halls of Ceres. She could almost hear a tiny, distant scree.

Too late, that little voice taunted. Too late.

No. Not again. Never again.

But even in her memories of the space station, the ghost of Phantoon overshadowed them. Ancestors, help her. Could she ever forget?

And another thing— why?

Why had she spoken Chozodian to Phantoon?

Why had she obliged its taunt, when the language sounded utterly tainted coming from its foul brain? The first words of her family's tongue out of her mouth in years, and she wasted them on that abomination?

Maybe the Ghost General had gotten deeper under her skin than she thought.

…Maybe she missed them more than she thought.

…

…Onward.

She lifted her eyes. The steel halls were now bricks, pipework, and dark water.

Onward.

In another destroyed sector, Samus had her first skirmish with the Maridian pirate forces. Some pushed the toppled bio tanks together to use as barriers, but they hardly needed them. Thanks to their pink scuba armor, her strongest shots did little more than annoy them. She narrowed her eyes. Gravity Suit technology present— but was that all they were using?

Regardless, their desperation to contain the Lab and, now, battle the Hunter left the pirates scrambling. They couldn't even enjoy their advantage over their most hated enemy— something Samus took satisfaction in.

One shot at the ceiling. It collapsed, creating a barrier between them. Samus made to leap over, when—

Metroids!

Several sickly green jellyfish descended like War Wasps upon the pirates. Their ranks dissolved into chaos as they fired back wildly. Three others went straight for Samus.

It was like the Ice Beam backfired. The fight against sheer instinct, the ingrained urge to shoot for fear it was the Baby, froze her on the spot.

The Metroids had no such hesitation.

One latched onto her head. The other two drove their long mandibles into her neck armor.

Samus staggered as she recovered her wits. A stream of curses entered her mind. She felt the first drop of her life being siphoned.

Instinct kicked back in. All she could think was—

Morph Ball! Bombs!

Bomb after bomb after bomb. The Metroids' grips vanished. She thrust herself away as fast as she could. She unmorphed, rolled, charged the Ice Beam, and—

They were gone.

Blood pumping, hands shaking, Samus scoured the air, the shadows, any place they could have retreated to.

Her eyes flashed forward. She saw the pirates frantically beating back their foes.

The pirates were beating back the Metroids.

Something told Samus to look down.

Her armor was coated in green slime.

Raising her head, she took a good, hard look at the Metroids.

A single red nucleus. Weak mandibles. Killed by something as weak as Bombs.

It hit her like the Diggernaut's giant drill.

Those aren't Metroids.

Numb with shock, she watched them charge the pirates over and over to no avail. There existed absolutely no cunning or ruthlessness that she had witnessed in the real thing. Just brute, dumb determination and the basic instinct to feed.

This was Phantoon's project? After all its taunting and gloating, this was its big success? Pathetic. Utterly pathetic. These creatures were pale imitations, mockeries of the real thing— Mochtroids, she thought dryly. She almost wanted to laugh.

If they had anything in common with their cousins, however, it was that same stubborn streak. Even now, as she watched, they regrouped and doubled their attack on the pirates.

Samus let them have at it, taking the opportunity to slip away through an open pipe. No use waiting for the outcome; she had places to be.

That swarm of Mochtroids was only the first. They were everywhere, bobbing in and out of the water, weaving around broken supports, and charging at her the moment she was spotted. Like real Metroids, the Ice Beam easily ripped through them— in two shots, no less. No need for Super Missiles.

In a vast chamber underscored by quicksand and held up by cracked magnetic pillars, using the Grapple Beam proved the easiest way to cross. And, as she figured, the it was stronger. Much stronger. Not only could she swing across gaps, but its current was also powerful enough to let her cling to the pillars as she leapt from one to the next, sometimes grappling the same one multiple times to climb it.

It was not unlike wall jumping, she realized. She'd trained with that technique before, but she'd always struggled to make multiple jumps off a single wall. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't wall jumped properly in a long time.

Not to worry— the Mochtroids ensured she got plenty of practice.

They kept bumping into the pillars and each other as they tried to grab her. Samus tried to ignore them and grapple onto the next pillar, but one intercepted the current and was instantly vaporized.

Huh. She blinked, watching the little drops of slime scatter through the air. Noted.

After that, Phantoon's mighty clone army was reduced to a bunch of pests.

I've faced Zoomers more intimidating, she thought as she touched down on the other side of the chamber, frying one on her right without even looking.

Even in the next room, faint screes rang out. How many more of these things were there? Enough was enough.

One zipped over her head, leading a charge of about half a dozen Mochtroids. It was fast, much faster than the rest, but she got a lock on it. The mouth of her cannon crackled as she readied the Grapple Beam.

Wai—! She barely clocked it— she yanked her cannon aside. The Beam missed by a mile, fizzling out with a slight pop.

Even as she watched it, as she processed it, as the sheer relief roared through her heart like Brinstar's falls were waking all over again…

For the briefest and longest of moments, she could not believe her eyes.

She whistled sharply.

The lead Mochtroid turned on a dime, letting the others fly ahead. Four nuclei, tough mandibles, and a brighter glow than the rest. Not a Mochtroid— the Metroid. Her Metroid.

Screeching again, it divebombed her, aiming right for her face. Without shifting her stance in the slightest, she held her cannon sideways to intercept. It barreled into it like a cannonball, tiny teeth latching onto the metal like a starving little leech.

The Hunter stared down at it, first in disbelief, then plain exasperation. She planted her hand on her hip. "Honestly. After everything I went through to come get you, this is how you greet me?"

A muffled growl.

"I know. Still a long time." She rotated the cannon to check it over. "They hurt you?"

A pointless question. Of course they had. The Mochtroids alone answered that.

Resilient as Metroids were, and despite the lack of visible injuries, she knew the damage had been done. Its time in the Lab had allowed its primal instincts to emerge in full force, not to mention it had grown a little larger. Had it fully reached its larval stage, simply blocking with her cannon wouldn't have stopped it. Who knew what would have happened if Mother Brain had gotten to it first, like Ridley planned?

Something else tingled in the back of her mind— an odd, overwhelming urge to speak to it again, in the language she somehow knew it would understand, despite having never heard a word in all of its short life. Here, now, she could ensure the last words she spoke in her family's tongue weren't to an enemy. Now, she could try to embrace this small member of her new one.

But the memory's stain left too bitter a taste in her mouth.

Cautiously, Samus reached over and patted it. Its grip relaxed slightly. Did it remember the gentle touch?

After several heartbeats, it released its grip. It bobbed up in front of her face, giving a low, sullen chirp and nudging her visor.

She smiled softly. "I missed you, too. One question." She inclined her head to the rest of the Lab sprawling behind them. "Up for taking this place down?"

A high-pitched chirp. That cheered it up. It chirped again, zipping around her in circles. Then, without warning, it latched onto her helmet, making Samus flinch as she once again forced back the instinct to Morph and bomb her little charge into a little slime puddle. Seriously, some kind of warning would be nice.

No pain, just that bizarre hot and cold sensation flooding her system. Opening her eyes, she saw the Baby had communicated its resolve loud and clear.

POWER BOMB OBTAINED.

It floated back in front her, letting out a pleased chirp. If it had a chest, it would be puffed up with pride.

Samus nodded back. "Let's go!"

One long detour later, our odd little duo is back together! Took 'em long enough. I look forward to seeing how it unfolds from here!

Thank you so much for all your support, or even just giving this a try. I probably wouldn't have made it this far into this fic without it, and it truly means the world to me. Thank you.

More importantly...

METROID PRIME 4 IS REAL, BABY! WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!

I could gush for an hour about that trailer. I can't wait to see what kind of adventure we're going on!