In case anyone would like to read it, I'm posting the next episode of my series that I finished yesterday. ^-^ (Notes: CM stands for Communication Machine and HQ, of course, is Headquarters.)
Metroid: Mission Alpha
Episode 33 - Search and Rescue
While spending some time at HQ to watch Harmony’s recovery, Samus and Alpha had been told by Michael about how he had sent a bounty hunter to the planet Metaneous, Hearing no response from the hunter, he gave Samus and Alpha the task of searching for him.
Samus was using the CM’s map to guide her ship to Metaneous when she heard Michael’s voice from the machine’s speaker. “All right, the missing bounty hunter is Brian. The last time I spoke with him, he said he had found the distress signal machine. After that I suddenly lost all contact with him. I hope he’s all right.”
“Don’t worry, we’re on it,” Samus replied. Soon arriving at Metaneous, a light brown planet with a rocky landscape, she landed the Gunship on the surface.
Once Samus and Alpha came out onto the planet, Michael spoke again. “Metaneous is made mostly of rock, so there are few life forms there. I would advise you to move straight ahead first-after a distance you should come to where I lost track of Brian.”
Their mission received, the two adventurers began their traverse across the planet. As there was no danger in sight, Samus was recalling when she had seen Brian before. She didn’t know him or the other bounty hunters too well, since she had her own missions and they had theirs. In fact, since Samus was seen as a great heroine and all, the others probably know her more than she knew them. And being the only female bounty hunter, she tended to stick with her own company and that of her closest allies while the males tended to stick together. Still, she was an ally to Brian and hoped to find him safe.
Near the Gunship sat a spaceship from HQ, informing Samus and Alpha that Brian had not left the planet. As they moved further away from the ship, Samus called out Brian’s name in hopes of hearing a response. Then, after having traveled a distance, there was a muffled shout. “I’m here! Who’s there?”
Samus stopped short and looked around, trying to decipher where the voice was coming from. “It’s Samus and Alpha! Where are you?”
“Down here!”
Now Samus and Alpha could pinpoint the location of the sound-it was coming from beneath a pile of boulders nearby. The two of them ran over to the pile. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you out of there!” Samus called out. Opting for a weaker weapon so as to break up the boulders without harming the hunter below them, she shot several missiles at the boulders, breaking them into smaller pieces. Then Alpha used his Wind ability to blow the small pieces away. Now a somewhat small hole in the ground was uncovered, and Brian was standing inside the hole. He was a tall man covered in one of the white and silver spacesuits from HQ.
“You saved me-thank you!” Brian said as Samus helped him out of the hole.
“Michael sent us to look for you-he was worried about you,” Samus said in reply, “What happened? Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, I just got sidetracked by an unexpected incident. While I was walking across the terrain, I heard some strange sounds but never saw anything unusual. Then, just when I saw the distress signal machine, something huge swooped right at me! I dove into that hole safely, but my speaker was broken in the sudden impact. Then the creature that tried to attack me threw boulders on top of the hole, trapping me inside.”
“I’m just glad you’re safe.” Samus noticed the signal machine just ahead and went over to it. On the screen, a life form reading was shown flying across the screen. “Whatever it was that trapped you, I have a feeling that it’s the cause of the distress. Let’s hurry and get back to our ships and tell Michael what we’ve found before it comes back.”
Everyone ran back to their ships, but just as they were close, a huge, fearsome creature landed in front of them. It bore a resemblance to a pterodactyl, with brown scales, wings, and piercing yellow eyes. It roared loudly. “Too late!” Brian shouted. Everyone ran back across the ground, avoiding plasma balls that the creature shot out at them as it gave chase. The three of them quickly dove behind a tall rock.
There was a sudden quiet as Samus and company sat behind the rock. Samus carefully looked back, seeing that the creature had landed. “Stay right here,” she said, “I’ll take care of this.” She ran out from behind the rock.
“But-” Brian started, not wanting Samus to get hurt, but Samus had already caught the attention of the creature. She stood bravely with her arm cannon pointed at it, unfazed by the menacing glare it gave. Almost immediately, a battle broke out between the two. The creature flew into the air and Samus fired at it, but the weaker attacks did not harm its tough scales. It swooped at her, and she jumped out of the way and fired a Plasma Beam.
The beam struck the creature, causing it to fall back, but it was still ready for more. It shot a yellow ball of plasma at Samus, but she jumped out of its way. Dodging the swipes of its claws repeatedly, she was barely able to strike its wings with Ice Beams, rendering it flightless. The creature roared and fired more plasma balls, which Samus leapt over using the High Jump Boots. She landed on the creature’s back and sent more Plasma Beams at its body.
With pain and rage the scaly being flailed violently, throwing Samus to the ground. She was unable to get up before it grabbed her with one hand. The ice broke from its wings and it flew back into the air. Samus, slightly stunned, was trapped in the beast’s grip as it prepared to launch an attack at its victim.
Alpha, seeing the danger his friend was in, ran out from his hiding spot. He used his Water ability to squirt a stream of water at the creature’s face, causing it to stop the attack and roar angrily. Samus, regaining her composure, used the opportunity to escape from its grip. As she landed on the ground, the creature moved back and then swooped at Alpha, who jumped aside to evade it. He activated his Fire ability and breathed fire at the beast, engulfing it in flames. It roared again and then fell to the ground. Samus and Alpha eyed it cautiously.
The creature only appeared for a minute before it stood back up and shook the fire from its hide. Though its extremely durable scales were charred a dark brown and damaged, it was not finished yet. It shot a large plasma ball at Samus and Alpha, who quickly leapt out of the way. Then suddenly, a thick heated laser struck the vicious being. It roared once more in pain and then fell over in defeat, fading into an array of sparkles.
Samus and Alpha looked back to see where the laser had come from and saw Brian standing in front of the rock, holding a small weapon from HQ. He chuckled and put it away. “HQ’s weapons may not be as good as yours, Samus, but I figured I’d help you out!”
Samus gave him a thumbs-up and went over to the signal machine, which she saw not too far away. On the screen, there was no more distress signal. “Looks like everything is taken care of,” she announced, “Now we can inform Michael of our success and go back to HQ.” So they all headed back to their two ships.
Soon Samus and Alpha were in the Gunship and Brian was in his spaceship from HQ. “Good news,” Samus told Michael through the CM, “We found Brian unharmed and solved the distress on Metaneous.”
“Great work! I knew you would pull through,” Michael replied.
Mission complete! Samus thought, satisfied at the adventure’s results. Then, both ships set off for HQ, now safe from the day’s peril.
The End
I'm now taking a break from this series until January, but I will write a Christmas story next month!
Just make sure they follow the CF rules, and have fun!
