Chapter 1: The Anomaly
"When you light a candle, you also cast a shadow." -Ursula K. Le Guin
The Legend of Zelda, Metroid and all of their characters are property of Nintendo. All rights reserved.
In an unknown dark area, blue luminescent liquid and tendrils begin to glow in an unsettling way before particles float from them and form a blue armored figure, who sinisterly laughs.
Meanwhile, Samus awakens from a brief hypersleep in her ship to remove some moderate fatigue. Her last mission to the planet Zebes to retrieve the last metroid having been a failure and the result being the complete destruction of the planet, which in her childhood she once called home. All of this came to be too much for her to bear. The lasting wounds would be her failure to save the hatchling metroid which had imprinted on her as its 'mother' and its sacrifice to save her from the Space Pirate leader, Mother Brain, continues to haunt her seven months later.
"Good morning Samus". The ships onboard computer, Virginia, says.
"Good morning Virginia, any problems while I was asleep?" Samus asks.
"None at all. Everything was shown to be normal."
"Excellent. Shall we take off then?"
"Acknowledged. Activating engines." Virginia says as the ship hovers above the hanger inside the GFS Olympus (Galactic Federation Olympus-class battleship) as it flies out into space. Samus then receives a message from the Olympus which Samus responds.
"Admiral Dane, thank you for letting me dock at the ship."
"No thanks required Samus; we thank you for all of your efforts in keeping the galaxy safe." Admiral Dane says. "If there is anything you need from the Galactic Federation, you only need to contact us."
"I appreciate that, thank you Admiral."
"Godspeed Samus." Admiral Dane says as the message ends.
"What is our next destination Samus?" Virginia asks.
"Well, are there any open bounties?"
"Checking…No known bounties in the current sector have been found."
"I see, and in other sectors?"
"Checking-"
"What is it, Virginia?"
"Samus, I have detected an anomaly from a distant planet. The energy signature being similar to other planets you have previously visited."
"Which planets exactly?"
"Tallon IV, Aether, Norion, Bryyo, Elysia and even the Space Pirate Homeworld."
"Are you certain?" Samus asks with concern.
"74% certain, Samus."
"….Virginia, set a course for this planet immediately."
"Very well, setting course for the planet. Entering hyper speed."
Samus's ship enters hyperspace as she heads for this unknown planet.
Meanwhile, Two months had passed since the defeat of Calamity Ganon. The Kingdom of Hyrule was a far cry from its former glory, but the first steps to its restoration had begun. About two thirds of the castle had been repaired, and people were slowly returning to the abandoned towns to rebuild their homes from the ground up. The path had been long and painful, and they had lost many friends along the way, but things were starting to look better. Their sacrifices had not been in vain, and now, they could look towards a better future. Or so they believed...
"Ahh, I hope that stops soon. How am I going get any sleep with that?" Link says in a grumpy tone, the thunderstorm outside disturbing his sleep. He then looks at the Champions weapons he was given on his wall. "Funny that 100 years wasn't enough apparently…"
The door opens up and Princess Zelda walks in. "Link, are you awake?"
"I am now. How can I help you?"
"Impa is coming. She and several other Sheikah are bringing something big to the castle. Can you come downstairs?"
"I'll be down in bit, let me get ready."
"Good. I'll meet you downstairs." Zelda says as she closes the door and leaves.
Link puts on his blue champions tunic with a Hylian hood and equips the Master Sword, Hylian Shield and Ancient Bow, having resolved to be ready for anything. He then heads to the front entrance of the castle and meets up with Zelda.
"Is all of that gear really necessary?" Zelda questions.
"Heheh, you never really know." Link responds.
"I suppose that's true." Zelda says as she holds the Sheikah Slate with the camera functionality ready.
"Anyway, what is Impa bringing?"
"She didn't say, just that she wants us present when it arrives. I just hope it can be studied." Zelda says with a smile.
"It's good to see that you still want to know about every little detail about every little thing." Link says in a jovial tone.
"It's just a small habit of mine."
"Right, a small habit." Link says in a hushed voice as he remembers the 50+ journals that Zelda had filled with various entries on many different subjects and the samples of different plants she had him go and retrieve from faraway areas for her research.
30 minutes later, Impa arrives with several Sheikah and a large cart pulled by 12 horses. Impa had been a close friend to the previous king of Hyrule, Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule. Ever since his demise and those of the four champions, Impa has done everything in her power to be one of the strongest pillars in Princess Zelda's life after the 100 years of solitude to keep Ganon from wreaking further havoc.
"Impa, good to see you again." Zelda says as she kneels down to hug the small woman.
"It is good to see you as well, my dear." Impa responds and then turns to Link. "You seem to be doing well, Link."
"I'm happy to see you too Impa." Link says as he smiles at her.
"Oh yes, before we show you what we brought, Purah asked me to give you this." Impa hands Zelda a rune.
"What is this?"
"It's a rune that she developed recently for the Sheikah Slate. She wanted you to install it as soon as we got here."
"Oh, thank you." Zelda takes the rune and installs it in the slate. "What does it do?"
"She didn't say, but she told me to make sure you put the slate close to your face as the rune integrates into it."
"Why?"
"She just said it was very important that you do that."
"Alright then…" Zelda says in a confused tone as she has the slate screen close to her face. The rune completes its integration.
"SNAPPITY SNAP!" Purah appears in the screen.
"WAAAHHH!" Zelda screams as she tries to catch the slate from falling to the ground. "What was that?!"
"Hahahah! I got you Zellie!" Purah says from the Sheikah Slate.
"Purah? Why are you in the slate?" Zelda asks.
"In the slate? I'm speaking to you from the lab!"
"Wait a minute, how is that possible?" Link asks.
"Oh hi Linky! You want to know? It's the new rune I developed, I'm calling it 'Sheikah Eye', or by its code name; 'Eye Scare Zellie'. Admit it Linky, you thought that was great. Heheh!"
"Purah, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" Zelda pouts. "Link could never find something like that funny! Right Link?"
"No, of course not!" Link says as Zelda nods and then turns to look at Purah, Link gives a thumbs up at Purah while trying not to laugh, which she giggles at.
"Purah, her name is Princess Zelda or Her Highness." Impa says in an exasperated tone.
"Oh come on Imps, Zellie doesn't care about it." Purah says in a carefree tone. "Anyway, with this rune, I can talk to you AND see you from my lab via the Sheikah Slate."
"Impressive. I didn't think you would outdo yourself like that." Zelda says with astonishment.
"Heheh, I may be a child (kind of) but I've got the wisdom of a 120 year old! Now, let's get to the main event. Imps, if you would be so kind."
"Very well, and it's ImpA." Impa gestures to the other Sheikah to remove the cloth covering the large cart in the courtyard, revealing a deactivated Guardian Stalker.
"WHOA!" Link shouts in alarm as he stands in front of Zelda and aims an ancient arrow at the Guardian. "Princess, stand back!"
"Linky no!" Purah shouts. "It's not active!"
"Purah, why is that thing here?!" Link says as he lowers his bow.
"I had it deactivated to get it back to its original guardian protocol. Wait a minute; you're not still sour about 'that event', right Linky?"
"Do you have to bring that up again?" Link says in a resentful tone.
1 month earlier, the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab.
"Just gotta slip in this shaft here and that gear there….and done!" Purah says excitedly. "Symin, it's ready!"
"Purah, are you sure bringing a Guardian Turret to the village is a good idea?" Symin asks with concern.
"We need to make up for the lack of security and a Guardian Turret would be perfect to keep those pesky bokoblins out, among other things."
"Yes, but what about making sure it doesn't misfire?"
"Hah! Who do you think I am? I just put in the information of any monster and the turret fires at them only when they are in the village or dangerously close."
"What about the intensity of the blast? It could damage nearby houses or harm the villagers."
"No worries. I can just lower the intensity if need be. Just like this!" Purah excitedly aims at the ocean to demonstrate the power of the turret, which malfunctions and aims at the village instead. "Uh oh…."
"What's 'uh oh'?"
"Uh, it's aimed at the village now."
"PURAH!" Symin shouts in panic.
"Don't panic! I can fix this!" Purah says as she aims the charging turret at a different spot. "Here it comes!"
The turret fires a laser blast at an unknown location.
"Gracious! What did you hit?!" Symin says with worry.
"Let me check." Purah uses the telescope to see around the village. "I hope I didn't break anything." 4 minutes pass. "Nope! The village is fine." Purah says with glee.
"Honestly Purah, you never take the consequences of your actions into consideration."
"Oh come on, nobody got hurt."
The door to the lab opens up and Link walks in, covered in black soot.
"Link, what in the world happened to you?" Symin asks.
"A laser fired at my house, it's virtually gone." Link says with an angrily quiet tone.
"Oh, did I get you?" Purah asks.
"….NO YOU DIDN'T GET ME! THAT WAS A GUARDIAN TURRET; IF YOU GET ME, YOU KILL ME!" Link shouts.
"Calm down Link. At least you didn't get hurt." Symin says with his hands up.
"What about my house?!"
"Uh…. OH! Look on the bright side; you can just move back to the castle!" Purah says with enthusiasm.
"Are you kidding me?! That house cost me 4400 rupees!"
"Really? This house only cost 2000 rupees. I'd say you got scammed."
"Purah…" Symin says disapprovingly.
"What am I supposed to do now?!"
"Hmm, just sleep here tonight. You can go to the castle tomorrow."
"I honestly don't have the strength to keep yelling anymore, I have to sit down." Link sits down at the table with an exhausted expression.
"Heheh, everything will be ok Linky." Purah says as she gives Link a cuddle.
"The champion's weapons were in there…"
"A decent polish will do them some good." Purah says.
Link glares at Purah as Symin pats him on the back to relax him.
Back to the present
"Can we change the subject please?" Link says with an annoyed expression.
"Sounds good! Now, what I want to do is start up the Guardian again and have it be your sentry."
"Can you do that?" Zelda asks.
"Well, they were only attacking us because they were controlled by Calamity Ganon. With that gone, they don't pose immediate danger to us."
"Well, I think we should give it a try then."
"Princess, I have my doubts about this. I have been close to several of these to know how dangerous they can be." Link says with concern.
"Link, the greater risk would be to try nothing at all and be attacked by hordes of monsters or worse; the Yiga." Zelda reasons
"Hmm, just stick close to me. Ok?" Link asks.
"Alright." Zelda then turns to Purah. "Now, what should I do to start it up?"
"Just grab that device with the eye symbol on it and say 'activate'."
"Very well." Zelda picks up the device. "Alright, everyone get back please. Now then, activate."
The Guardian Stalker lights up and starts walking. It then stops and stares at Zelda.
"What is it doing?" Link says as he reaches for an ancient arrow.
"Relax." Purah says. "It's waiting for a command from Zellie. Go ahead, tell it something."
"Uh, raise up one leg." Zelda commands and the Guardian complies by raising a leg.
"Unbelievable. It's actually listening to her!" Impa says with awe.
"Heheh. Hahah! I don't believe it, we have control again!" Zelda says ecstatically.
"Come on, make it do something cool!" Purah says.
"I've got it. Guardian, destroy that boulder in the field."
The Guardian aims at the boulder that Zelda points to and fires its laser, destroying it.
"Perfect! Link, what do you think?" Zelda asks.
"Well, it is kind of good not to be aimed at for once." Link comments.
"Well, what do you think?" Purah asks.
"So far, I see no problems here. This gives us a chance against our enemies once again." Zelda says.
"Hah! I'd like to see the Yiga try anything funny now." Purah declares.
"Wait, what's it doing?" Link says as he points to the Guardian, which is sparking and moving its head bizarrely.
"Purah, what is this?" Zelda asks.
"Hmm, it must be more damaged than I thought. No worries, just say 'deactivate'."
"Ok. Deactivate."
The Guardian then powers down and the legs go slack.
"Ahh, I was getting worried for a moment." Link says with relief.
"It was getting interesting too." Zelda says with disappointment.
"It's fine, I'll come by in the morning to check it out and see what got zapped."
The Guardian suddenly gets up and looks at Link and Zelda as its markings glow blue.
"What's going on now?!" Link says as he draws the Master Sword.
"DEACTIVATE." Zelda sternly commands. "Guardian, I gave you an order!"
"What is happening? It should be obeying you!" Purah says with worry.
"Guardian, I command you to deactivate now!"
The Guardian takes aim at Zelda.
"EVERYBODY GET BACK!" Link shouts as he grabs Zelda and ducks behind the pillars as the Guardian fires a multi-hit laser. "Since when could it do that?!"
"Link, it's aiming at Impa!" Zelda points out.
The Guardian readies to fire at Impa, who couldn't get away in time. Link shoots a bomb arrow at the Guardians head, making it shoot out into the sky and while that's happening, Link runs to Impa and gets her to safety with Zelda.
"Both of you stay here! I'll handle the Guardian!" Link says as he runs toward the Guardian.
"Link, be careful!" Zelda shouts.
"My boy, that is no ordinary Guardian!" Impa says.
Link jumps up and tries to run the Master Sword through the Guardians head, only to have it swipe Link away with one of its legs.
"ARGH!" Link then lands in rubble.
"LINK!" Zelda screams in alarm.
"Just what is this thing?!" Link says as he gets up.
Meanwhile, Samus has arrived at the planet and enters low orbit, viewing many ruins across the land.
"What happened here?" Samus asks as she views the ruins that litter the land, along with many unknown destroyed machines
"Origin of the ruins unknown. Carbon dating indicates that they have been here for many years." Virginia comments.
"Are there any life-forms around here?"
"Apart from local flora and fauna, there is nothing else detected in the vicinity."
"What about other areas?"
"Scanning….Samus, human life signs have been detected 21 miles to the east. Along with a faint energy signature we have been following."
"Good. Let's go to that area now. Maybe we can get some answers."
Samus flies to the east and after 4 miles, the alarm goes off.
"Virginia, what is it?"
"Warning. An unknown burst of energy is rapidly approaching towards the ship."
Before Samus can dodge the shot, it hits her ship and she begins to lose control.
"We're hit! Virginia, start emergency landing while heading for the source!"
"Understood." The ship activates the thrusters. "Destination is 11 miles away. 10 miles…. 9 miles….
"Come on, you can make it…" Samus says with determination.
Back at the castle, Link has managed to cut off two of the Guardians legs and already begins to show signs of fatigue. This Guardian being unlike anything he had ever faced before; its integrity much stronger than others and its firepower many times more lethal.
"Goddess above. How much can this thing take?!" Link shouts.
Just then, Link notices the swords strewn about the courtyard catching the lightning bolts from the storm; an idea comes to Link.
"Alright, you overgrown trash can; I've got a big surprise for you." Link says as he runs from the shots fired by the Guardian and grabs a sword from the ground. He then fires a bomb arrow at the ground to cause an updraft to propel his paraglider above the Guardian. Link draws the sword he previously picked up and throws it at the top of the Guardians head. Seconds later, a lightning bolt hits the Guardian, damaging and stunning it.
"Very resourceful." Impa says.
"He's good at that." Zelda happily says.
"It's over!" Link fires an ancient arrow at the Guardians eye, pushing it towards the rubble in the courtyard. Link then safely lands on the ground.
"Link, excellent work!" Impa congratulates.
"What was that about though? Why did it go berserk?" Link says.
"We'll figure it out later. Come on, we need to get your wounds looked at." Zelda says.
A laser then hits one of the pillars causing Link to turn around to see the Guardian standing.
"Get back inside!" Link shouts as the Guardian pins him to the ground.
"Link! What the-". Zelda tries to run towards Link, but a group of Sheikah grab her and Impa to take them into the castle. "Let me go! He needs my help!"
"I cannot, your Highness." The Sheikah says. "We need to keep you safe."
"I said let go!" Zelda manages to escape his grip and runs towards the entrance.
"GET BACK HERE!" Impa shouts to Zelda.
Link looks back and sees Zelda running towards him.
"Princess, get out of here!"
"I'm not leaving you here, Link!" Zelda declares as she tries to summon her power, while the Guardian aims at her.
"NO!" Link shouts as the power wells in the Guardians eye.
Just then, the Guardian powers down its laser and turns its head 90 degrees to the right, causing Link and Zelda to see what it's looking at; an orange meteor.
"Is that…a meteor?" Zelda asks.
"It's coming towards us! Princess, get back!" Link shouts.
"AHH!" Zelda ducks down as the meteor crashes into the Guardian, destroying it and continues towards the castle ballroom, where it stops at last.
"Destination reached…. Energy confirmed…. Source:….Pha…zon…." Virginia says to an unconscious Samus before deactivating.
Link gets up off the ground and runs towards Zelda.
"Princess! Are you alright?" Link kneels down and asks.
"Yes, I'm fine. What about you?"
"I'll live."
"What in the world was that? It crashed into the castle."
"I don't know. It looked like a meteor."
"Let's get Impa and the others and check it out."
"Alright, let's go."
Moments later, Link, Zelda, Impa and the group of Sheikah head to the ballroom. Their curiosity having turned into complete shock upon witnessing that the object that had crashed into the ballroom was never a meteor at all. But something else entirely.
"Link, are you seeing this?" Zelda asks in disbelief.
"I see it, but I'm having a hard time believing it." Link responds.
"Everyone, this is no meteor; it's some form of…machine." Impa says.
The three look at the crashed ship in complete astonishment.
"What is this thing?" Link asks.
"I think the real question is...where did it come from?" Zelda asks.
To be continued
Authors note: Well, I finally started my second story. I know it probably sounds odd to combine Metroid and Zelda, but honestly the idea came in a dream, probably after finishing Breath of the Wild and seeing the teaser for Metroid Prime 4 shortly after. Needless to say, I was very excited by the news and couldn't stop thinking about it, Hahah. Anyway, I'd like to thank Fox McCloude for the pointers on "low orbit scanning" to make it more realistic, thanks buddy. ^_^ Once again, rate and review please!