Author's Notes
Well, this is interesting. What am I doing here? For those unfamiliar, I'm COOKIECHEESEMAN, and I used to be an author frequenting the Fire Emblem section until I retired from writing last year in 2019.
That is, until now.
I've been playing a lot of Metroid games over the last 12 months. I've played through Metroid: Samus Returns, Metroid Zero Mission, and just recently beating Metroid Fusion at the beginning of March. And years before that, I've played through Super Metroid twice and watched many speedruns of it, although I'm certainly not even close to an expert at the games by any means.
In relation to Super Metroid, for some reason the relationship between Samus and the baby Metroid was always super cute to me, despite how little it's really expanded on outside of Metroid 2: Return of Samus, (which I've never played but watched a speedrun of) Metroid: Samus Returns, and Super Metroid. If it's talked about more in other Metroid games, I don't know anything about it, as I haven't played them. So, this fic was born to add to the familial relationship of Samus and Baby! This is totally new territory for me, as EVERY fic I've ever written before this one has been a romance fic! :O
This is my third time writing a "50 word theme" fic. The idea with this type of fic is that a word is listed, and then a sentence corresponding with that word accompanies it, although I'm cheating by adding an introduction and an epilogue. The list of words was made up; if an official list exists, I don't know where to find it. The words and their descriptions are not necessarily in chronological order, although certain events and words will certainly be grouped beside each other in their intended chronological order. They'll mainly pertain to Samus and Baby of course, but Ridley is going to show up a bit too. And don't worry; there is going to be absolutely no sad ending of any sort with this fic. :D There will be lots of stuff that is certainly not canon, but that's not the end of the world!
Just a few things I should note. 1. This fic takes place right after the events of Metroid 2: Return of Samus, NOT the remake. I'm pretending the remake doesn't exist for the purposes of this fic. 2. Samus has a suburban home she uses when not on missions. Almost the entire fic takes place here. 3. Ridley exists, but he's nothing more than Samus' annoying, creepy, and obviously very bored neighbour. And yes, he's still a reptilian, albeit retired, Space Pirate. He retired after Samus defeated him in Metroid Zero Mission. For the purposes of this fic, his size ratio to Samus is equal to how he appears in Super Smash Bros Ultimate. 4. Lastly, this fic may switch between past and present tense between sentences, although the bolded sections are exclusively in past tense.
And by the way, this fic is a lot more enjoyable if you attempt to use your imagination to envision what's going on in each scenario! :D Though I encourage this for the entire story, my personal recommendations for when this works best would be line 13, the entire cookie baking arc, line 28, and lines 47-50. On a somewhat related note, the bath arc might be one of those "rated T for a reason" sections of the fic! But don't beat yourself up too much if you try to envision that entire arc in your head as well! :p
Forgive me if I'm a bit rusty at this! I haven't written anything in basically nine or ten months! I even had to update my profile!
On Samus' most recent job on SR388, she uncovered the last remaining Metroid egg, and despite her orders to exterminate every last one of them, she took pity on the hatchling. Before she could shoot, it had imprinted itself to her, effectively making Samus a mother without her consent.
Samus was obviously known as someone who wouldn't let her emotions dictate her decisions, but she felt that this one occasion was an exception that she couldn't ignore.
She knew the Federation would instantly take the baby Metroid for themselves and run test after test on the creature, and then she would only blame herself as the baby cried out in pain from the brutal experiments they would submit the creature to. She couldn't explain why, but in her heart seeing this baby convinced her that the Metroids were not inherently evil creatures. Perhaps they had only attacked her out of aggression or self-defense; there was no way to know for sure now with all of the other Metroids destroyed.
And so she decided to take Baby home with her so that she could study and raise it without the prying eyes of the Federation.
Little did she suspect just how much the baby Metroid would influence her life…
A Metroid Relationship in Fifty Words
1. Tickle
Samus would have never guessed that Metroids were ticklish directly on the top of their mushroom-shaped heads.
2. Revenge
The bounty hunter also never would have guessed that Baby would figure out and exploit her tickling weakness: her knees.
3. Creepy
On a daily basis, Ridley, Samus' former enemy, antagonizes the bounty hunter by staring creepily into her house for no apparent reason.
4. Persistent
Not surprisingly, as a former Space Pirate, Ridley on multiple occasions has pondered how he can take the baby Metroid for himself for his own experiments.
5. Oblivious
Ridley somehow hasn't figured out that he could very easily break into Samus' house and simply steal the baby if he wanted to.
6. Food
Samus may have forgotten that she has absolutely no idea what she can feed the baby Metroid, considering she's not about to offer herself up as a meal!
7. Empty
She gets even more disheartened when she realizes she forgot to restock her fridge before leaving on her last mission.
8. Delicious
It turns out that Metroids enjoy civilization's greatest achievement; freshly delivered pizza; just as much as Samus does.
9. Dilemma
Is it safe to leave a baby Metroid by itself in your house so you can go shopping for food?
10. Hopeful
As an experiment, Samus decides to leave the TV on to see if Baby will stay occupied while she's out getting groceries.
11. Phew!
Samus is relieved that she was correct in her guess; it turns out that Baby gets a kick out of watching the Game Show channel.
12. Answer
And weirdly enough, the baby's favourite game show of all appears to be Jeopardy, although it's doubtful that Baby can even understand what's going on.
13. Cuddles
The other activity that Baby absolutely loves to engage in is cuddling with Samus, but it takes many, many months before the normally reserved woman finally begins to enjoy it for herself.
14. Huh?
Baby was understandably a little bit confused about its mother's appearance the first time Samus removed her helmet inside her ship.
15. Astonished
Imagine Baby's reaction when Samus later stripped down into her Zero Suit!
16. Unsettling
Watching the baby Metroid sit motionless on the couch as it watches TV is a bit eerie to say the least.
17. Sick
As far as Samus can tell, Metroids are unable to succumb to illness, which is at least one less thing to worry about.
18. Observing
Baby likes to watch Samus as she cooks, prompting her to attempt to teach the curious creature a few things as an experiment to test the Metroid species' learning ability.
19. Cookie
The first cooking experiment is chocolate chip cookies, one of Baby's favourite desserts.
20. Mixing
Who knew that watching Baby attempt to hold a wooden spoon and stir cookie batter would be so adorable?
21. Slow
The baby Metroid doesn't seem to understand the phrase "a watched cake never bakes", leading Samus to begrudgingly wait with Baby so that nothing goes wrong.
22. Audience
Unbeknownst to the pair, Ridley is also creepily watching the cookies bake through the window; chocolate chip is his absolute favourite, after all.
23. Masterpiece
After pulling the cookies out of the oven, Baby nearly burns itself in excitement over its finished creation by trying to grab one before it cools.
24. Sharing
Samus decides to be nice and share a couple of cookies with Ridley, which surprises the former Space Pirate to no end.
25. Cleanliness
"I wonder if Metroids need to clean themselves," Samus thought to herself as she ran the bath water.
26. Bathtime
"Alright Baby, let's see if I can clean you up," Samus said to the Metroid as she stripped down into her bra and panties, unaware that the young creature was keenly observing her during the process.
27. Exhilarating
After Samus finished stripping down so that she was completely naked, the baby Metroid ended up fainting from sensory overstimulation, although Samus never realized that she was the cause of Baby's distress(?).
28. Squeaky
Even Samus couldn't help but chuckle when she saw Baby's obsession with squeaking her little yellow rubber ducky.
29. Snug
Baby was the perfect size to fit right in-between Samus' ample bosom, making it easy for Samus to clean Baby with her sponge.
30. Stubborn
Understandably, Baby had absolutely zero desire to leave its warm and comfortable spot within Samus' chest when the bath was over, because when you think about it, why would it want to leave?
31. Bribe
It took a freshly delivered pizza to finally persuade Baby to leave its comfy snuggle spot.
32. Sample
Just in case, Samus decides it best to somehow salvage some of Baby's DNA for safekeeping.
33. Success
Samus accomplishes this by scraping some skin cells off of one of Baby's discarded… baby teeth.
34. Language
Despite its inability to speak human language, Baby seems to be learning on its own how to understand human speech; it's probably from all of the game shows Baby's been watching.
35. Learning
After noticing this, Samus buys some packages of flash cards to see if she can teach some other basic words and actions to Baby.
36. Helper
Samus is excited that she can somewhat communicate with Baby now, at least enough to ask it to do simple tasks like starting a timer for her.
37. Uncertainty
Samus received a letter from the Federation to attend a mandatory space defense conference, which left the bounty hunter clueless on what to do with Baby.
38. Supervise
The conference was to last four days, which was much too long to leave Baby by itself without someone to watch it.
39. Babysitter
Considering that Samus has to keep the Metroid baby a secret from society, there's no one who she can rely on to take care of the creature because no one else knows about Baby's existence… or is there?
40. Reluctant
It turns out there is one person who could be suitable to babysit Baby… the creepy neighbour himself, Ridley, as he already knows about Baby due to his awkward habit of peeping, plus he would have a general knowledge of Metroids having studied them in the past.
41. Preparation
Before letting Ridley into her house, Samus changes into her fully powered up Gravity Suit to make sure he doesn't pull anything when she finally does let him in.
42. Threat
"If Baby is harmed or missing when I get back, I will hunt you down and shoot a Super Missile down your throat," Samus threatens Ridley, glaring at him with such intensity that even the hardened former Space Pirate can't help but feel a bit intimidated.
43. Dazed
Samus can't pay attention to the seminar; she's too busy worrying about whether Ridley is holding to his promise of not stealing Baby away for his own experiments.
44. Relief
Samus releases the breath she didn't know she was holding days later when she lets herself into her home, only to see Ridley and Baby conked out on the couch with a mountain of empty pizza boxes by their side and Wheel of Fortune blaring on the TV in the background.
45. Normal
The next day, Ridley is back to his old routine of randomly staring into Samus' house, but instead of awkwardly ignoring him, she gives him a cheerful wave, and he shyly waves back before Samus continues with her normal daily activities.
46. Backyard
Since Samus obviously can't take the baby Metroid out in public, she'll sometimes go to the backyard with Baby so that it can get some fresh air.
47. Disguise
Baby likes pretending to be a hat on one of Samus' stuffed toys while playing hide-and-seek.
48. Reflection
The first time that Baby looked into a mirror, it didn't know what to make of its appearance.
49. Sleepy
Whenever Baby yawns, its fangs extend outwards a little bit, which looks a lot cuter than Samus would ever admit.
50. Bedtime
There are cuddles galore whenever Baby snuggles into Samus' warm embrace, and the two of them fall asleep together in the bed!
Samus had to admit that she enjoyed the company of the Baby Metroid in her home. Her life as a Bounty Hunter was a life of solitude, and while she didn't mind the solitary life, it did occasionally lead to boredom. And the tendency to think about the deeper things in life more often than one would like.
The reality is, if you don't have another presence acting as a soundboard once in a while, it can take a toll on your mental faculties. Samus was clearly strong of mind and body, but in the end she was only human. Despite not being able to respond to her in words, having Baby around to talk with was a big boost for her. Though she feared that she would start randomly talking to herself whenever she was by herself again for missions.
However, she found that Baby WOULD accompany her more and more often for missions, at least when she could safely hide it away from the prying eyes of the Federation. More often than not, the baby Metroid would simply come along for moral support, though on occasion it would help her solve some of the puzzles of the new planets that she was tasked to explore.
Bizarrely enough, Baby barely grew any bigger over the years, which suited Samus just fine. It made hiding and taking care of the creature that much easier. It also made researching Baby easier as well; she decided to classify it as a runt. As she continued to examine the many DNA samples she collected over time, she even figured out how to make vaccines and helpful medicinal products from the serums. Thankfully, Samus had earlier made the smart decision to declare that there were tiny traces of Metroid DNA on her suit after her mission on SR388, which allowed her to submit reports and findings without giving away where she actually GOT her Metroid DNA from.
Overall, Samus became a happier person as she continued to care for the baby Metroid. Not that she had a bad personality to begin with, but she was originally a much more reserved person, and chose to hide all of her feelings behind her helmet visor.
But she had changed. Now, she more freely expressed her emotions, and without even realizing it, she would more often report to her superiors and colleagues with her helmet off, signifying that she felt more comfortable with exposing her true self and letting down her guard. And in turn, this made her more open to communication in general too. One proof of this is that she eventually fell in love with, and married, her colleague and former workmate, Adam Malkovich. It did take him a long time to accept Baby's existence in their home, (and it took him even longer to accept Ridley's permanent presence OUTSIDE of their home) but otherwise their life together was a happy one.
None of these things would have happened if Samus had simply destroyed the baby Metroid and then continued her life as normal.
So she thanked Baby for its presence on a daily basis, which it happily accepted along with cuddles and pizza. Adopting and taking care of the baby Metroid had given her many blessings that she never would have expected, as well as enriched her life in ways she could never have imagined.
If the only sacrifice that she had to make was to share her and Adam's bed with Baby every night, she would do it again in a heartbeat.
The End
Author's Notes
Well, that was an interesting experience! Just a note that all guest reviews will be deleted!
I'm not entirely sure why I decided THIS was the idea I wanted to write in my return to writing fics, but it was certainly still worth it. Considering I was exclusively a Fire Emblem writer, I wanted to write a fic for the most recent title, Fire Emblem Three Houses. But I just couldn't get motivated to write anything. Maybe I just needed a change. Plus, with social distancing being so important, writing is an activity that doesn't involve personal contact, so it's a win-win for everybody!
There's a big theme that I wanted to have present throughout the majority of this fic: "CUTE AND ADORABLE". I hope I was able to portray that properly! The Metroid series isn't the most lighthearted at the best of times, so I really wanted to fix that for this fic. I hope you guys liked that! And besides, there is no canonical evidence that says Metroids DON'T enjoy cuddling. :p Understandably, Samus doesn't seem like someone who would initially enjoy something like cuddling, but I bet many fan-art creators would disagree. :D
You'll have to forgive me for the cheesy ending, but like I said, there wasn't going to be a sad ending or outcome from all of this. Breaking canon is a common theme of mine! The one thing I really do regret is that Samus' relationship with Adam in the epilogue comes completely out of nowhere, but I didn't really have much alternative. I originally had a sentence within the conference arc about Adam buying a meal for Samus while she was still distracted from leaving Baby at home, but I had to cut it because I couldn't afford to dump any of the other lines within the fic. So I sincerely apologize if it feels really out of place. I wanted to explain my intentions to you guys. Which sentence do you think I could have cut to keep that original line in there?
A big thanks to Cormag Ravenstaff for helping me with word 47, Disguise! This was something I really wanted to include in the fic, but I just couldn't write the sentence correctly. Having Baby pretending to be a hat was much too adorable to pass up; I was hoping to find some fan-art of something like this online, but I couldn't find anything. I know Samus doesn't seem like the person to have stuffed toys in her home, but no one cares about that. :p Check out Cormag's fics!
And I couldn't resist having the bath arc in there! Let's face it; Samus is super hot. Even an alien species would 100% agree with that. Why the heck do you think Ridley's staring into Samus' house all the time? He's probably hoping she'll forget he's there and start changing her clothes in the living room or something. :O And of course Baby would be awestruck as well.
I even wanted to continue the backyard arc with Samus sporting a bikini and sunbathing by her pool, (and of course with Baby staring or attempting to do more "snuggling") but again I couldn't fit it in because I didn't want to cut anything else. So I left it as only one sentence. Plus it would have objectified Samus TOO much. Samus is a complete bad-ass, and deserves a ton of respect for what she's able to do and accomplish. So I wanted to compromise in this regard.
I hope you guys enjoyed reading this! I certainly had a lot of fun writing it. If you like the Fire Emblem series and romance fics, maybe check out some of the other stories I've written in the past too.
Regardless, thank you so much for reading my first attempt at something outside of romance and outside of Fire Emblem! Any lines that resonated with you? Any lines that you guys thought were adorable? Anything else you enjoyed? Let me know, because I'm curious!
Am I going to continue writing after this? Well, the short answer is "who knows", because I DID retire from Fanfiction, after all. I don't have plans to write anything else at this point, or even in the short-term. That may change in the future. But for now, everyone just stay inside and stay healthy! We don't want anyone else to get sick from the Coronavirus. Stay home and read more fics. :p