Alrighty everyone, I redid a bit of this, as it needed to be edited and fixed in a number of spots, and I removed some dialogue, added in some new things, etc etc. Anyway, hope you all enjoy, and hopefully soon I will fix chapter 2, and get chapter 7 up as well.

That said:

Lets Roll.

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The War

By Matthew

The solid blue planet drifted through space like a graceful jewel, its sapphire radiance emanating from the bright blueish-white, pulsating element known to the universe as Phazon. What life existed there was strong, deadly, and completely insane.

Save one.

The race that had lived, evolved, and grown powerful in the Phazon rich environment had been around as long as the Chozo, the Luminoth, and the Dragons, eclipsed though they were by the Phazon and its mutating properties, still they thrived. The harsh world had done its best to snuff them out early, but they fought and bled and died and grew again and again, always fighting to survive.

The chamber in which the leaders gathered was vast, illuminated by the light given off by both the living and inanimate, the blackness of space exposed to the gathered, a thin, but surprisingly strong plate the only thing separating them from the deadly vacuum. Only the smooth motion of each of the Six disturbed the peace that pervaded the room. "Phazze has been destroyed." Praxxis began, his seven foot frame towering. Long, tall, and strong, he sat regally on the energy chair that he commanded into shape with nary a flicker of his mind. His pure white, vertically slit eyes narrowed as he watched the others seat themselves, taking the news in stride.

"Did you bring us here only to tell us what we already know, Praxxis?" Ixxion spoke up, sarcasm apparent in his tone, even with the bubbling of Phazon in the background and his body.

"Silence yourself Ixxion," Nara said, the deep octaves of his voice rumbling through the stone and energy around him. "None of the Council would call a Gathering without important information to discuss. You know this, so put aside you silly maneuvering and listen."

A ripple of laughter at Ixxion's expense went about the room, the others not really caring that a Ve'Dra had been put down by a Shinia, but Ixxion had never been the popular one.

"Enough." a low, deadly voice worked its way across the chamber, echoing many times until at last it vanished in the air, but the being that spoke was no where near that easy to dismiss. Almost fifteen feet tall, the Phazon literally was his blood, flowing swift and sure through what might have been veins in a human, the power that lay beneath its skin readily apparent to those who looked. "Phazze has been destroyed, as we all knew the moment that it happened. However, what none but Praxxis and myself know is who did it, and why."

Like the rest of his species, the Warlord had three vertical set eyes, arms long enough to reach their knees, which ended in three clawed fingers, a thumb on each, no mouth to show. The only major difference was of course, the height and strength that bulged in his body. "My brothers," The Warlord began "Phazze was our only other world, one in which the Phazon was rich and strong, more then enough for us to begin our expansion. But these intruders, these...Space Pirates, that came and took our lifeblood, slaughtered our people, must be punished."

Here he stopped, the pacing that had started mid-way through his speech halting. "The one's who defeated the Pirates are known as the Galactic Federation, an organization of apparently multiple species, led by a single race known as Humans. This act might have garnered our thanks, but then they themselves took the Phazon for their own, and corrupted it with their pathetic technology. Now we stand on the edge of a new beginning, one where we shall reclaim the galaxy that the cursed Chozo, the arrogant Luminoth, and the thrice-dammed Dragons stole from us almost three millennia ago...

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Samus gazed out across the sun dappled plains that stretched endlessly before her, the towering spires, the churning smoke, and the faint rumble as the ground shifted far, far below, a testament that Metroid Prime was at last, dead. Looking back on her fallen friends, another set of faces that would be locked in her mind till her time came, Samus stood and walked slowly back to her ship, a grunt escaping her as she was lifted into the ship, her wounds tugging at her body.

The auto-pilot quickly plotted a course for the Fed's flagship, the Driven. The liftoff was an easy affair, the engines rapidly gaining altitude, bursting from the atmosphere like a newborn child eager to breath. The stars glimmered in the clear view, the harshness of space kept at bay by the three inches of duraplast plating that coated the ship.

As the hyperspace window opened before her, Samus lay back, letting her Vira Suit dissipate into its storage, letting her shoulder length golden blond hair swing free from its constricting pony-tail. Well, now what? She thought, the events that had transpired having long worn her down. With a frustrated sigh, she brought her chair forward to the console and began plotting her return course home.

"Hyperspace course entered, executing orbital burn disengagement. T-minus five minutes till vector achieved."ADAM's computerized voice filtered through the speakers. "Samus, you should rest." He chided, his slight reprimand softened by the almost painful tone that carried in his words. The dull lights of her ship flickered as he lowered their ambiance, a low swish catching her attention as the door to her room slid open. "Everything's taken care of, the mission is done. Sleep."

It was a testament to just how bone tired, just how beaten that she was that there was no snappy comeback, not a single iota of annoyance in her "Good night then."

She was asleep a moment after her head hit the pillow, only the quiet hum of the engines, and the faint tick of Adam working to disturb the quiet.

Five minutes later, they both entered hyperspace, carrying on as only they could.

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With a snort that cleared the dust from his snout, Ridley reached for his chest, unbuckling the extra armor that he had worn into battle against Samus. "Damn bitch." He thought savagely, white hot flames leaking from between his teeth. Shaking his head, the twin foot long horns that swept back from his face scraped along his neck. With a grunt his jet black body rose from the ground, dust and stone rolling off his scaled hide.

His seven foot frame stood atop his powerful hind legs, and with a hiss he straightened his back, the fifteen foot wings draping across his back like a large cloak. The seven foot tail that ended in a spade like blade scraped across the rough stone like a knife, scratching a thin line in the thick earth. His golden pupils scanned the room where his one-shot teleportation module had taken him.

There was a moment of silence as he struggled to recall his mental map before sighing as he gave up, the rattling of his skull from taking one too many Supermissiles to the face leaving him rather out of it.

He called up his holo map of the Space Pirate holdings, the few that remained anyway, looking for a ship that he could leave this world in. Sure, he could survive space with no trouble, but if he wanted to be anywhere within the next hundred years, he needed to enter hyperspace.

With a few stumbles, Ridley slowly walked on all fours to the remains of the hanger bay. The soft clicking of his razor-sharp claws that adorned each of his three nimble fingers and thumb carved lines on the solid steel plating, a testament to the amount of power that lay beneath the black scales. His search was soon rewarded, a TY-775 troop carrier lay hidden under a few tons of rubble, spared only by sheer luck, as a number of crossbeams had fallen so that they had absorbed the hit. With some effort, Ridley peeled away the rubble, exposing the ship.

Alright, he thought, This thing uses a Kinterit Mark 3 engine, and no Phazon enchantment what-so-ever. That's good, very good indeed. Any Phazon and this thing would be nothing more then scrap. Damn damn damn! Samus....It all comes back to Samus. One of these days....

Ridley hated Samus, hated her with a passion that was rivaled only by her own for him. But underneath that hate, he respected her all the more, for she was the one thing that was never dull in his life anymore. After almost three hundred years, he had grown bored enough to become the enforcer of the Mother Brain, the same routine, search and destroy, intimidate and kill, same old same old, even going so far as too let High Command place him on guard duty!

Until the Hunter came.

After her arrival, Ridley had but one thing on his mind, one goal:

Become strong enough to kill Samus Aran.