The Scramble [Complete]

[Samus Aran]

The newcomers continued to appear out of nowhere. Following the green alien were two who looked almost human, but with pointed ears. The first’s demeanour reminded Samus of a used spaceship salesman, and the latter of the typical hot-headed, pure-hearted hero from the children’s cartoons that she watched sometimes (purely out of curiosity). There was a woman with dark hair, wearing the kind of clothing that made the green-skinned woman’s armor look useful. There was a decidedly flashy woman wielding kukri. Then a man who wore a helmet clad with sunglasses, despite there being no sun to shield his eyes from. A lady with blonde hair who actually looked remarkably like Samus without all the metal and technology. And finally, a shorter woman with brown hair, who had a serenity about her that Samus found somehow unnerving.

With no better course of action presenting itself, Samus’s default decision was to simply watch. She certainly wasn’t getting bored, not yet. If someone had indeed designed this ‘game’, they’d put a lot of effort into it. It was becoming increasingly obvious that this was no space pirate prank. While Samus refused to eliminate the idea that there was not some deception behind all of this impossibility, she could neither eliminate from her mind the possibility that somehow this was all really happening. But she wouldn’t believe it until she had something more substantial to go on.

Samus was interested by the ‘revelation’ that others were watching them. She’d assumed as much, but had been too distracted by the events at the fountain to notice them on the horizon. Small shapes, but definitely animated. She had a feeling they’d be meeting up-close before long.

In the midst of this, the brown-haired woman suddenly did something rather alarming. Her clothes vanished, and in a flourish of light they were replaced; first with a jacket, then a dress, and a cape. As rods of metal materialized out of nowhere and slotted around the gem which had previously floated around the woman’s head, Samus felt a twang of something despite herself. The completed device landed in its owners hand. It were as though someone had wondered what a stereotypical wizard’s staff would look like if it were metal and belonged to a tech-savvy young lady rather than a wrinkled old crone. As the magnificent process came to a close, Samus identified her previous emotion: jealousy.

The hunter shook herself off. There was no reason to envy a more time-consuming process of transformation. Its flashy nature only served to hinder the user’s ability to react to a sudden combat situation. It was cool, but that was all.

But the performance had reminded Samus of something: omnilium. That silhouette had given her some. Just as soon as the question arose in her mind ‘where is it?’ the answer was there. She had it, part of herself, and summoning it was merely a process of thinking about it. She held out her hand and there it was, shimmering in every colour.

Checking her current power suit’s functions was almost a formality at this point. She’d done it shortly after meeting the green-skinned alien, and it had confirmed that, other than her power suit’s basic functionality and arm cannon, her only remaining upgrade was the charge beam. But if what Omni had said was true, that would soon change.

To start with, something not too big. But something she could use straight away. Samus’s mind immediately went to her grapple beam. A tether of light, fired from the hand, which could attach to almost any object. It had a variety of uses. More than adequate for her first test of omnilium. The hunter closed her hand, and began to visualize. She felt the process begin almost immediately. She could feel the omnilium, shaped by her memories, her imagination. Whatever technology this was, it was light years beyond anything the Federation had ever accomplished. This was like … Samus hesitated to even form the word in her mind … magic.

“What are you doing?”

Samus’s eyes flicked to the owner of the voice. It was the young man clad in green, his gaze fixed on her power suit. No surprise – it was glowing those same colours of the omnilium, as though it had become a liquid and were flowing across the metal, forging it anew.

“Concentrating,” replied Samus. “Just wait.” Somehow she knew it would take time, like she knew up from down or right from wrong. Some of the others had glanced her way, but most were focused on the discussion of what to do in regards to their distance admirers.

Several minutes passed, during which time one of the group had made the decision to leave alone. Finally, Samus felt the process complete. The rainbow glow faded. Samus checked her suit’s HUD.

GRAPPLE BEAM ACQUIRED

She raised up her left hand and looked at the fountain. Darker now, much bigger. She focused on one of the protruding, jagged spokes and threw her hand out towards it, curling her hand just so in a grabbing motion.

The effect was immediate. A blue beam shot out of the back of her hand, buzzing as it snaked through the air and attached to the spoke. She felt it catch, and tugged, the beam contracting in unison with her arm. Solid. She uncurled her fingers and the beam dissipated into nothingness.

The other stared at her. Samus shrugged. “Gotta be ready, right?”