Extra Files

Episode 027X: The Light at the End of the Tunnel by nameless

"I know what to do. I know what must be done."

Then do it.

· · ·

Samus snapped out of her dream in a cold sweat.

"WATCH AND LEARN..."

The program!

She jumped out of bed and darted around her room throwing on loose pieces of clothing which she had let fall to the floor the night before. She ran out the door and down the hallway. Popping her head out of the door of the hotel to see if anyone had followed her from the day before, she entered the dark streets of Tal'Alma. Hugging close to the buildings and traveling through alleys she made her way to her ship.

It was parked on a private pad in a rough part of town. The pad was in the mitst of a covert smuggling complex. The day before, she had escaped the warehouse and remotely landed her ship which had been orbiting in the upper atmosphere. The cost of the rent for the pad was not cheap, and the men were worried about having the ship traced to them, so Levine was provided as collateral. Samus had told them that within the next couple of days, his head would be worth a fortune. She was probably right.

When she arrived at the complex several men were gathered around a table playing a loose game of poker.

"I’ve come for my ship."

"Yeah," one of the men said, "It’s in the back where you left it. We’ll be wanting to hang on to the merchandise ‘till you pay the rest of the money."

"Sure, like I said, he’ll do more than compensate you."

As she turned to walk away, a voice called after her, "Hey, kid, good to see you again…"

She turned around, and realized that the man who she had been speaking to was very familiar.

"It’s me, Jim…"

Then she remembered. "Jim. Old Jimmy? Oh my god. I never thought I’d see you two again. Listen, I really wanted to thank you for everything you’ve done for me." She felt around behind her back and pulled out a small silver blaster which she had sported since the bar. Old Jimmy received it with much gratitude.

"Listen, kid. Rick and I were really impressed with your stuff. We like what you’re doing. Hey, you need anything, just come back here. We’ll hook you up with what you need."

"Thanks," she said, shaking both of their hands. "Hey, you boys have any trouble with any more Goffs just give me a call, eh?" They all laughed and Samus gave them a wink as she made her way across the room and out the back door.

So she picked up the ship, and allowed them to keep Levine until she could pay back the rest of the money.

She rocketed off into the sky, and left Tal'Alma, hoping that she would not be traced. And so she set out for another city, a city in the mountains, a place known as the origin.

· · ·

Two clawed hands supported a pair of night vision goggles to a feathered cranium. It’s avian body stood high on a bluff and watched the battered spaceship trudge swiftly across the dim skyline. Tal’Alma lay low in the valley. It was the only thing to define a boarder between a pitch black sky and an even blacker countryside. It appeared as a floating island of light in a sea of nothingness. The Torizo stared into the darkness below, but he was not alone, for as he stared into the abyss, it too stared back. He checked Samus’ heading from the readout on his binocs and transferred the necessary data to his ship’s nav system. He felt uneasy there. He knew that as he tracked the movements of his prey, his own actions were in check as well. With that, he lifted off and drew his ship out over the abyss and then back again over the hills. The hunt must continue, that was all that mattered now.

Info on the Story by CapCom

Many of you may not have been following along with the story for the past few months (yeah, all six of you who visit! j/k) and to tell the truth, this fanfic seems to be drawing to a close and will probably finish within ten posts (I'm hoping here :D) So here's a few notes on this subject:

First off, since it's getting towards the end, posters should be working for a way to finish off the story in a reasonable manner. THIS DOESN'T MEAN KILL OFF ALL THE CHARACTERS!!! We need a logical ending here, and I'm sure we can find a way so that everybody will have a say for the ending.

Second, regardless which fanfic it is, and how far along in the story it is, you should pay attention to the character's personalities. I'm trying to post summaries with every ten pages or so and hilight the major posts to make it easier, and some of them are great because you really get a feel for the character's personality. For instance, Shadow talks in italics and doesn't go around waving his arms like a clown. He's a serious character (I know no one has botched up Mr. Shadow, but I'm just using him as an example).

Continuing... About posting messages. I realize that the message board has taken on a more lengthy series of postings for each episode (that is to say, one-two page long messages). That doesn't mean that everyone has to post one or two pages to further the story!! Sometimes, simple sentences can really evolve the storyline or you may just not be comfortable posting 2 page-long messages. By simply writing a short message that is very crucial and can lead the story down a different path, you will make the IFF more fun.

*EXAMPLE*

The Waver vaporized in a puff of red smoke. Samus gave a sigh of relief, then tensed as something large closed in from behind, making the ground shake as it walked.

Now granted, Samus isn't exactly in a cave right now, but you get the picture.

If there's anything you would like to add, please post below!

Overview (For use before Tal’eura) by CapCom

What has gone on so far:

Samus has completed her training with the ancient Chozo master, who sends her out into the wilderness of Tal’alma to seek her fortune. He tells her her origins on that fated outpost that was raided by space pirates and also says she has completed her training. She must enact her destiny (see A New Beginning).

While on the way to Tal’alma spaceport, Samus meets up with two spacers, Old Jim and Ricardo, whose spacecraft, the Nubian Sun, is under repairs. They aggree to take her to the city and also give her some spice for her help (see Shuttle Ride).

Tal’alma is a vast city with the Spire Tower, a massive structure made of green Crystanium alloy, at the heart of it all. Samus is interested in the fact that there aren’t many Chozo around, and those she does see pay her no heed.

While in a local bar, the Tapsa Nuncha, Samus and her friends are attacked by Goba, a Sumian Goff, as well as his three friends. She makes quick work of them, but her friends are knocked out. Samus takes Old Jim’s blaster and exits the bar after taking a drink (see Induction).

Outside, a bounty hunter recruiter from Federation Commision: Mission 34489 confronts her. He tells her about bounty hunting and asks her to join him in his office on the Spire Tower tomorrow for more information if she wants to join. He was watching her during the bar fight and has recognized her potential.

But the recruiter hasn’t been the only one keeping an eye on Samus. A mysterious black alien known simply as ‘Shadow’ sneaks out of the bar through a side passage. (see The Shadow). It follows her through the streets of Tal’alma.

Samus has been using spice and begins to hallucinate, seeing glimpses of her future job as a bounty hunter. She falls asleep in a side alley and has a nightmare (see ...Mare) and wakes to someone stealing her napsack. She follows him down the alley and finds the man’s mangled corpse and recognizing it as the work of the killer of Chozo, she flees.

Samus sells her pure Crystanium crystal for money and buys a hotel room to spend

the night. While there, she is met by Shadow, who tells her about him and warns her of the bounty hunting business and the plight of the Chozo. (see A Shadow’s Shadow) She decides to visit the recruiter’s office anyway, only to find that the building was attacked during the night and the victim showed the same wounds as the one killed by Shadow.

A nearby security guard, Levine, ushers her out, only to be intercepted by the bounty hunter recruiter who takes Samus down into the lower reaches of the building and gives her armor, weapons, and a mission to intercept a spice smuggling mission in Sector Gamma-B-12. She modifies her armor and returns to the Chozo village to construct a companion spacecraft to go with it. (see New Toys.)

When Samus has left for her mission, the recruiter notices something about Samus. Seeing data on Shadow, he quickly orders a Torizo bounty hunter to eliminate them both (See The Hunt).

Samus quickly captures her quarry and then heads on to take care of the mother ship, but only after Shadow has placed a tracking device on Samus’s spacecraft without her knowledge (he has been tracking her with his custom-bounty hunting craft) (see Hunters on the Move). She arrives to find a hulking ghost ship that has sustained heavy damage and looked like it had been exploded from the inside-out. Upon entering the ship, she notices a Torizo fighting pike, and quickly pulls a ‘get the hell out of here’ maneuver and returns to Space Station Marn with her quarry and tells the guard about the mother ship. The guard there accepts it and contacts Tal’alma after she leaves, giving her no hint about the craft.

Samus spends the night in her hotel room, without the knowledge that Shadow and the Torizo are after her (see Shades of Black). We learn more about Shadow in the next episode, Flux. Upon entering the Spire Tower, Samus finds out that the bounty hunter recruiter has been killed by Shadow. She panics, and flees in her spacecraft to the ancient Chozo city (see Call of the Chozo) where she activates an age-old virus program with the complete history of the Chozo people (see Answers in the Dark).

After the revelation, Samus is attacked by the Torizo, who is knocked out by Shadow. Shadow tells her to head back to Tal’alma and finish what he started, destroying the corrupt branch of GFed government which authorized the destruction of the Chozo so many years ago.

Samus reenters Tal’alma by using her suit’s atmospheric reentry capability and lands right outside of the Spire Tower. She enters and is immediately attacked by GFed security forces. Samus heads deeper into the tower, into the armory where she takes anti-bomber rifle. She also finds Levine, who is disposing of security documents and threatens to kill him. He tells her how screwed the situation really is (see Deep Impact). She takes him hostage and brings him into the hanger, trailed behind by a GFed security team as well as her old friend, the Torizo. Samus swings over a landing bay shield using the anti-bomber rifle’s grappling hook. Khan follows her over by walking on the ceiling. On the other side, she shows

Levine the Chozo’s history file and he turns over to her side of the battle. The history file is actually a virus program which will infect any system and show it the Chozo’s plight.

However, Khan has finally reached Samus, and a battle ensues (see The Hard Place, The Rock, and Cry of the Eagle). Samus cannot match the Torizo’s fighting power AND tackle the attack wing of fighters that is converging on her ship high above, so she starts to lose the battle. Levine calls for a security team to help dispatch the bird, a mistake he will soon regret. She is stabbed in the stomach, but manages to trick Khan into thinking that an empty servo suit actually holds her inside of it. The suit explodes, sending him into the landing bay shield where he is atomized in a nice little bit of overkill >)

Inside the top floor of the Spire Tower, chairman Keaton is brooding over the ‘Aran figure’ and orders him eliminated before too much damage can be dealt. Samus also tells Levine to keep her identity a secret; it will give her an edge in battle. (see Hello Mr. Aran) Samus’ ship is still in trouble and the attack wing has started to deal heavy damage to it. She returns fire using her remote link with her craft and follows Greeve Hudane, a fighter pilot, down towards the planet. His craft is heavily damaged and he asks for permssion to land which is denied. Meanwhile, Samus is trying to hack into the Tower’s computer system with help from Levine. The security team finally arrives, but this time, the cavalry is on the wrong side. They start to attack the landing bay shield while Levine frantically tries to hack into the computer. The shield fails, but just then, Hudane’s fighter enters the landing bay, followed closely by Samus’s ship. (see Deliverance and Deliverance, continued.) Samus escapes with Levine in her ship and heads for Tal’Eura, the planet’s moon, to activate the sleeping relay station and transmit her signal to all the planets of the Galactic Federation... (see Tal’Eura and all episodes after.)