Part 6: The Plot to Metroid Part 3

Let's Read Up On Metroid's Story!

Part 3: You can tell Sakamoto didn't write this cause there's no monologuing

Metroid the manga is often considered the "offical" story of how Samus became a bounty hunter. It was released sometime around when Fusion was released in '02, though it could also be '03, I'm not entirely sure. Whatever, this manga is recognized by basically everyone as Samus's origin story, detailing how she got Chozo blood and what happened to her parents and all those other little details that you somehow know about Samus because somebody told you they read it somewhere, well, this is where they read it. I'll be covering what happened chapter by chapter with occasional pictures in case you get bored.


Like this! Boredom cured!

Chapter 1: Invasion

We start with Samus having just finished a job and arriving home, grabbing a beer and just kinda thinking about things.


If you're confused, manga is read right-to-left. If you're not, go grab a cookie or something

Flashback to a planet called K-2L; we see a ship land on a planet while carrying Afloraltite, otherwise known as space fuel. A man named Rodney Aran is barking orders while his wife brings him a lunch and tells him not to overwork himself cause he's a got to keep his wife and daughter happy. Meanwhile, Samus is trying to get her bag back from a rabbit thing that took it when a couple of kids shout at her that some weird aliens in hoods have landed and that they're going to check it out. The hooded aliens are talking to Chief Aran about space fuel when Samus enters the scene racing the other kids; not watching where she's going she ends up bumping into one of the hooded aliens.


Anti-racism lessons, GO!

The old Chozo introduces himself as Old Bird and heads off to play with Samus, leaving behind the other Chozo Gray Voice to handle the rest of the negotiations. Old Bird shows Samus how to get her bag back; by making friends with the rabbit thing, which is accomplished by giving it the name Pyonchi. Old Bird goes back to the ship and says goodbye to Samus, and the Chozo leave empty handed, worried that they don't have enough energy to awaken Metroid, and that X can't be left alone or the Galactic Federation will find out about it.


Suddenly, Ridely gains vocal chords.

Chief Aran notices the fuel ship isn't taking off because something is blocking communications, and smartly enough sounds the alarm because Space Pirates are gonna start attacking. Then the Space Pirates attack. Samus, playing in the forest with Pyonchi, comes back home to find everything burning.


Little miss, anti-racism lessons do not apply to dragons.

Her mom (Virginia Aran, in case you were wondering) pushes Samus out of the way and dies via explosion. Rodney Aran (her dad, in case you were wondering) managed to sneak aboard the Space Pirates ship with the space fuel and, not having any other options, blows it the fuck up with him still inside. Ridley flies over, confused why the ship just blew up. We cut to the Chozo examining the wreckage, unable to find anyone still alive, only to see Samus, stumbling around calling out for her parents.

Chapter 2: Destiny

Old Bird takes Samus to Zebes, but Gray Voice says there is nowhere for her to go since they don't have the means to care for a human. Mother Brain, the computer that oversees the planet, observes Samus and calls her weak, saying she won't last more than a few days in Zebes harsh environment. But Old Bird says they have no choice, and so they infuse her with Chozo DNA. Cut to eleven years later and Samus is fighting some robots in her Power Suit, poorly. After being lectured on her 'duty' that comes with being a 'protector of the galaxy', Samus runs off.


Yeah, Pyonchi is still there, he don't need Chozo DNA or a Power Suit cause he's a badass

After confiding in Old Bird about being uneasy, Samus gives away more juice to more butterfly things after seeing a valley of flowers full of them. Old Bird returns to hear the latest report on how Metroids are faring on SR-388, but Mother Brain says they aren't doing so hot. Gray Voice later finds Samus with some of the flowers she found in the valley, which freaks him out since the flowers are from another world and poisonous. Wondering where the seeds came from, Mother Brain reports that they were likely from a Space Pirate ship that had previously attacked Zebes, and were carried into the valley by the butterfly things. Gray Voice orders that all flowers and butterflies be burned. Samus protests, but is ignored. The butterflies attack with some leftover pirate weapons.


Yes, the Power Suit comes out of nowhere, it's never explained and doesn't need to be, sorry

Samus grabs Gray Voice and jumps out of the way of the attack, then goes on the offensive. She only aims for their weapons, though, and after disarming the butterflies, tries to calm them down, saying nobody will hurt them now. While disarmed, the robots burn them. Samus is more than a little upset, and punches one robot into pieces. Later, Old Bird says Samus has grown up, that the Chozo are a dying species that has a computer do everything for them, and that she should set out on her own. They've given her the Power Suit and taught her how to use it, so she should be using it, being a protector of the Galaxy and all.

Chapter 3: First Battle

On Daiban, capital of the Milky Way, a Galactic Federation meeting is under way. The leader discuss images of Space Pirates slaughtering civilians, and that the number of countries taken by Space Pirates has surpassed two hundred. The Federation decides it can no longer remain silent. Chairman Keaton argues with Chairman Vogl that this is a bad idea and could result in war. Later, Keaton discusses the meeting with Old Bird, who says it's the lack of understanding each other's hearts that leads to conflict.


Old Bird, checking on how his latest deadly bioweapon is progressing after saying we all need to understand each other's hearts

We cut to Samus, on a scouting mission on Jigrad, spying on Space Pirates who are building something using the natives for slave labour. After talking it over with her two partners, they decide they've seen everything they need to and are about to head back to base when some child slaves are brought in. One kid isn't tall enough to be useful for labour and is about to be executed when Samus jumps in to save her.


The smoke is there because they just shot her. Didn't do much, though

Samus then starts taking them out, with her two partners joining in. When all are down but the leader, he pleads for mercy, prompting Samus to flashback to when her mother was killed. As she's charing her beam cannon while her partners are shouting at her not to shoot him, she hears the kid she saved crying behind her, which snaps her back to reality. She cuffs the bad guy and reads him his rights. Back at the base, while being grilled by the chief for disobeying orders, the kid Samus rescued comes to thank her properly, to which Samus replies with a thank you for not letting her execute the Space Pirate, because if she did, she would be no better than they are.


General's command battleships? I thought they commanded platoons of four or five guys?

Chapter 4: Threat

A week later, Samus and pals are ordered to escort the prisoners to questioning with General Adam, which just sounds weird to me, shouldn't it be General Malcovich? Whatever, one partner just dismisses him as an army bigshot but Samus starts up the steps, saying she wants to know more about the Space Pirates. Meanwhile, the news is broadcasting how awesome the Federation is at freeing Jigrad. Meanwhile, the Chozo are meeting in Tourian, even ones who have left Zebes for other planets have returned. One remarks that they are now old, to which Old Bird admits that they can't prolong their lives any longer than they already have. Their mission for peace is failing. The Federation isn't taking their hints and is doing whatever they want, the Space Pirates are taking over worlds by the dozen, but the real problem is on SR-388, unexplored by the Federation, where X parasites are killing then copying everything they find. If the X were to be found by intelligent beings, well, just watch The Thing again and you'd understand how hard it is to find and kill an alien that can mimic everything about you, right down to your memories and personality (and clothes for some reason). If the Federation found out about these things, they'd try to do something stupid like copy their copying abilities to make spies and shit like that, so the existence of the X parasite is being kept a secret between Chozo for now. But Old Bird has an idea, a weapon to keep them from becoming something that could threaten the galaxy.


Because fighting a parasite that can copy energy and life with a parasite that can drain energy and life makes perfect sense!

Because the Metroid can absorb not only energy, but bodily energy as well, it's the perfect weapon for fighting the X. The Metroid they have now is just an infant, but with time and training it'll be the perfect warrior. The Chozo meeting is to discuss the final stages of the plan, to entrust their future to Metroid and Samus, the children of the Chozo. Just then, the Space Pirates attack with a planet sized ship equipped with a black hole generator. The chapter ends on a shot of the Metroid container cracking.

Chapter 5: Crisis

The planetary shield has cracked, and Ridley orders the black hole turned off before it swallows the planet and for the troops to attack. We cut back to the interrogation of the leader of the Space Pirates who were controlling Jigrad. Samus asks what the Space Pirates objective is, since they were killing beyond what they'd need to in order to survive as thieves. The Space Pirate mocks Samus and her two partners, who get rilled up, but Adam asks the question about their objective again, noting that their operations have been sloppy recently, almost like they were trying to get attention. Samus realizes they were merely a decoy, to which the Space Pirate admits it was all a trap. Just then, news comes in that Zebes was invaded. Samus jumps up to leave when she's told by her chief to stay put, since the Federation has likely already dispatched their army to torch the planet. Samus leaves anyway, and is confronted with Adam as she's getting ready to board her ship.


Pull the trigger, and everything in Other M will never happen...

Adam says the army will attack Zebes in 48 hours. Samus quickly boards to find her two partners who I swear I will remember their names at some point are already sitting down ready to go to Zebes.

Chapter 6: Infiltration

20 hours later, the ship has arrived at Zebes. They land and find the place is already shot up, but they don't see any Chozo bodies so they may still be alive. They do find a Space Pirate body, mummified. Space Pirates attack, but Pyonchi leads Samus and her team into a nearby cave, where some Skrees take care of the chasing Space Pirates. Inside the cave they find a holo recording of Old Bird, talking about the attack and how they had to surrender, how Metroid has failed to achieve their wishes, and that Samus is their last hope for true peace in the galaxy. The team then splits up, Samus heading down to Tourian to save Mother Brain and reactivate the planarity defenses, Pyonchi leading the other two to find and recuse the captured Chozo. As Samus heads down to Tourian, she finds Space Pirates are already down there, but Gray Voice tells her to stand down.

Chapter 7: Impact



Gray Voice and Mother Brain reveal that they are currently working together with the Space Pirates, and that they are all under Mother Brain's control. They explain that they are using a genetic quirk in the Space Pirates that makes them behave like worker bees, obeying a Queen bee that they recognize as their leader. Mother Brain then explains that the Chozo were a race with superior technology that created the foundation of the Galactic Federation, but they lost the ability to reproduce and so have accelerated their plans to unify the galaxy into one unified society. To that end, their created Mother Brain.



Mother Brain is now in the position to lead the Galactic Federation to peace, the Chozo are now useless and will be disposed of, and with the combined power of the Space Pirates and Samus, true peace can be achieved. It's Samus's fate to join with them, see, because that was the Chozo's intent all along, they created the Power Suit to convert Samus into a bio-weapon.



Mother Brain calls herself Samus's mother, because she created her Power Suit. She's very proud of how Samus turned out as a weapon, and with Samus as a commander of the Space Pirates... but Samus refuses to accept that, because Old Bird never looked at her like a weapon. Her parents were human, her blood is Chozo, a machine had no part in her life. She says she's not a weapon and opens fire on Mother Brain. However, Mother Brain's tank is made of the same material that protects the planet and can't be easily broken, so why would she attack knowing it would do no good? Suddenly, Samus is knocked to the ground by a blow to the back.



And that is the end of volume one! Next time we'll look at volume two!