THE LEGENDARY BOUNTY
Disclaimer: the characters of Samus Aran, Ganondorf Dragmire, and all other characters and settings belong to Nintendo. All I own is the story. So there.
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The coal tower corridors echoed with strange sounds of mysterious, supernatural creatures. The frequent howls, snarls, and yowls would have been enough to scare off a weaker aggressor. But not Samus Aran. She was used to traversing strange areas and in the past had destroyed bizarre creatures that were sometimes four or five stories taller than her. No, this was just another day at the office.
The request for the bounty was unusual. No creatures to kill, no heads to bring back. Just this mystical pyramid called the Triforce of Power. She probably would not have taken the assignment, except that the bounty offered an enormous amount of money and she needed a lot of it to refit her ship. Samus' employers said that it would be found at a place called Ganon's Tower in a dark world opposite the Land of Hyrule on the Planet Hylia. It was no problem; she had dealt with dark worlds before, and this one's atmosphere wasn't reported as toxic. But still questions cropped up in her mind. She hated it when her employers didn't tell the whole story; these people didn't purge the tip of the iceberg.
What if this Triforce of Power is supposed to stay here? What if I am going to upset the balance of the universe, my universe, by taking it?
Still, Samus had seen her employers face to face: a young gorgeous princess with a gentle demeanor (whom Samus may have courted if not for their shared gender) and mystical abilities—a Princess Zelda, and a young handsome adventurer-prince who would have undertaken the job himself had he not been recovering from crippling injuries – an adventurer Link. They seemed respectable enough. Yet they had refused to tell her why the Triforce of Power was so important, and who or what lived in this tower. She didn't like that one bit.
Crossing the lava moat was easy enough with her Space Jump ability. Once inside, Samus Aran was greeted only with darkened stone walls and the metallic clang of her boots on the flooring. There were very few enemies to be found along the path. Up to this point there had only been two rotund stationary iron statues with spinning heads. Experience told Samus that these things probably fired laser beams from their eyes. Yet, their pattern was predictable enough that she sneaked by them without any problem.
The next room was a bit different. Upon Samus' entry, she narrowly avoided collision with three flying creatures that swooped down from the ceiling at her. She couldn't recognize the form in the dim lighting until the small creatures flew through lit torches and again tried to dive-bomb her. She rolled out of the way and scanned a creature with her scan visor.
Keese: Bat-like rodents born of dark mystical power, usually found in the wooded areas of Hylia. They are resistant to extreme temperatures, except when harnessing opposite temperature.
Samus engaged her ice beam, before turning and firing at the slowest of the three. The frigid blast hit its target, engulfing the Keese in a block of ice. It dropped to the stone floor and shattered into countless shards. The second and third Keese went down as easily as the first, and the bounty hunter was again alone.
…Strangely similar to the Shriekbats of Tallon IV and Aether, thought Samus.
Samus hurried up the scarlet-carpeted stairs. She checked her systems as she proceeded through a large stone doorway. Full missile ammo, check; full light beam ammo, check; charge beam capability, check; wave, ice, plasma beams, functional; LED targeting, check; scan visor, thermal visor, x-ray visor, echo visor, all functional; energy level-1400.
The sudden clang of the large iron door behind Samus startled her out of her diagnostic. When doors slammed like this it usually meant that combat was momentary. Samus was not disappointed as a great rumbling accompanied the appearance of a huge skeletal beast with a large sword and a shield. Again Samus scanned:
Stalfos Knight: Skeletal bioform heavily trained in melee combat. These undead warriors of evil surface to serve any master who calls them through the use of dark arts. They are impervious to most known weaponry.
Just then the thing leaped at her with sword ready to strike. She leapt and narrowly avoided a blow to the head. The Stalfos growled and turned back to Samus. Samus was already in thermal visor mode. Keeping a reasonable distance from the beast, she searched for a weak point but found nothing. Avoiding another attack the bounty hunter switched to her x-ray visor but again found nothing. The echo visor was next, but it also was futile. This beast was becoming more and more precise in its near misses; it wouldn't be long before it boxed her in and attacked viciously. She had to think of something quickly.
The Stalfos Knight again leapt and this time caught the bounty hunter with a backhand blow. Samus recoiled in pain and checked her energy systems.
"1359—damn it!" Cursed Samus, watching the skeletal beast slowly stalk toward her.
Samus watched the approaching Stalfos Knight, trying hard to figure out how to stop this beast. Then she remembered about her going-away present from the Luminoth when she'd saved Planet Aether. Samus had been given the ability to access the dark visor by simultaneously activating the thermal and x-ray visors. She had not needed the ability for so long that she had forgotten she had it. Activating the visors, she scanned the creature and found weak spots on the following joints: both elbows, both knees, and neck. Samus immediately powered up her seeker missile ability and prepared to fire. The Stalfos seemed to sense what she was trying to do and kept its shield in the line of fire.
Come on, you smelly bag of bones! Leap at me again if you dare.
The beast closed in, and leapt at Samus with shield lowered and sword raised. Samus used this split second to fire off the five missiles. Each connected with its target, and the Stalfos cracked and dropped to the ground in a heap of dust.
That was too close for comfort. Pick it up, Aran!
Again Samus ascended a set of carpeted stairs, commenting to herself how closely the color resembled that of human blood. In the next room she immediately noticed a locked treasure chest. The slamming of the iron door behind her signaled the appearance of two lizard-like creatures bearing the same weaponry as the Stalfos.
One of them immediately parried toward Samus. Reacting on instinct, she fed it three Power Beam shots. It disintegrated with an echoing screech. The other one started fleeing from the bounty hunter. She took advantage of the pause in action and scanned the creature.
Lizalfos: Kokirian swamp lizard given sentience by dark power, not unlike the Stalfos Knights. These creatures are very quick and very scattered. They do not display the boldness of the Stalfos, and are prone to running from opponents if great resistance is displayed. They also lack the Stalfos' invulnerability to conventional weaponry.
Samus decided to get sneaky with the lizard warrior. She morphed into her ball and hid from the creature's sight. The Lizalfos wandered over cautiously, wondering how its enemy had vanished. A power bomb explosion signaled the end of the conflict; the creature didn't even have time to screech before it was vaporized.
A small key was left where the Lizalfos had been. Samus assumed it unlocked the treasure chest in the center of the room. Assumptions proved correct and the contents of the treasure chest—a large key adorned with a golden skull—were taken.
Samus exited the room and dashed up another stone staircase. This one had no carpet, and the clang of her metal boots hitting each step resonated a warning to the creatures waiting for her. Not good. The room at the top of the stairs held a large armored knight. It was standing at the ready, mace in hand. She quickly scanned this thing before dodging a hefty iron swipe.
Iron Knuckle: Undead bioform encased entirely in iron armor. Armor makes rapid movement impossible. Weak spots detected beneath armor.
Switching back to combat mode, Samus fired off a missile at the creature's backside. To her chagrin, the projectile simply deflected.
Well this is just great, thought Samus. A physically large weapon like a sword or mace would easily knock this creature's armor off. But I didn't bother to pack one of those. And my suit's shielding won't withstand that wicked weapon it brandishes.
Iron Knuckle swung its mace at Samus and nearly severed her head. The weapon deflected off the nearby wall and caused a large stone block to land on the hunter, pinning her to the ground.
Think quick… think quick…
The creature positioned itself in front of her and prepared to swing away when an idea came to her. She charged her wave beam, tapped into her missile energy and fired the Wavebuster at the creature. To Samus' pleasant surprise the creature froze as soon as the stream of concetrated electricity hit. A few seconds later Iron Knuckle dropped its mace, dropped to its knees and fell down face first, electrical energy pulsating throughout its massive frame. The gamble had paid off; Iron Knuckle was electrocuted to death.
Samus wiggled out of her stone prison, and exited into the next room. She charged up the stairs as she checked her missile quantities.
230 missiles—good enough
When she entered the chamber at the top of the stairs Samus found not another enemy, but a large stone obelisk extending up into the darkness. This room carried the acrid stench of mineral decay. She could have sworn she heard distant organ music as she made her way to the right-hand door. Rather than more stone, darkened stained glass windows now lined the perimeters of the room. Samus assumed she was near the top of the castle and there was something big up ahead.
Samus entered another stairwell chamber. This one was different from the others. Instead of stone flooring, this one was marble. Crimson-colored carpet again adorned the floor. Rather than the thick walls of stone there were more of the graphic mysterious stained glass windows. As the hunter ascended this chamber, the organ music grew from a low murmur to a full-blown concerto. Samus ran one final diagnostic on her systems, all of which were satisfactory. She had a feeling that the lord of the manor was in and he wasn't going to be happy with her intrusion.
The big iron door—this one larger than the others and adorned with gold—opened and closed behind her. Inside the room she found a red cape hiding a large figure sitting at an organ. The organ music ended abruptly and the organist turned to look at her. He was wearing black armor, had darker skin, flame red hair, bushy eyebrows, a huge nose, a crystal forehead plate, plenty of facial piercings, and he wore a stern look. Samus noticed her bounty sitting on a pedestal on the other side of the room, not far from the menacing organist.
"I've come for that so-called Triforce of Power. Hand it over quietly and I'll spare you and be on my way," said Samus flatly.
"How dare you talk to me in that insolent manner! I am the great Ganondorf Dragmire, lord of darkness, and destined ruler of Hylia and the universe!" Stated the organist.
"Whoop-tee-doo," smarted Samus. "We can do this the easy way and you give me the Triforce of Power, or we can do this the fun way and I take it over your lifeless body."
"You wouldn't have any idea how to handle the immense power the Triforce projects. But if a warrior's death is your wish, I will be more than happy to grant it," said Ganondorf, rising. "Cower in terror before my awesome power."
"Terror? Oh please. I've decimated vast armies of Space Pirates purely for revenge, I've exterminated parasitic life forms, and I've even destroyed a dark world not unlike this one. I've lived down giant robots, mammoth lizards, fire-creatures, millions of bloodthirsty insects, even a giant drooling brain with an energy laser. I've spent millions of hours exploring strange and scary catacombs with only my wits as companion. So to me you're just another day at the office; a dollar sign with an attitude."
Samus hoped that her empty bluff would have some effect. Truth was, this guy dwarfed Space Pirates in might. Even the Zebesian dragon Ridley could not compare. She noticed that this Ganondorf stood slightly taller than herself, was dressed neck down in black plate armor, and had a pattern on his right hand that looked strikingly like three of those Triforce things put together. He absorbed the Triforce of Power into that hand, and then fired a large purple energy wave at her that knocked her against the back wall of the chamber. It felt like she'd been hit with all ten tentacles of an Emperor Ing.
Morph ball functions temporarily offline, energy shields holding.
"Have at thee," roared Ganondorf, levitating as he pounded the center of the floor, causing it to fall into the darkness below. All that was remaining of the floor were the center obelisk and one row of stone flooring spanning the perimeter of the chamber.
"You're going to pay for this in spades!" retorted Samus.
The bounty hunter charged up her power beam and fired a shot at Ganondorf. It connected with him but did no damage. He simply laughed at it. She tried the same thing with her wave beam, ice beam, and plasma beam. After receiving the same response, she fired a missile, which knocked him around but did not harm him.
"Is that the best you can do? That kid from Hyrule does better," sneered a laughing Ganondorf. "Now feel what I can do!"
Ganondorf charged up a dark energy wave and fired it at Samus' position, only to watch it smash into the wall in the corner and fragment into several smaller pieces.
"You're not so adept yourself at eliminating threats," stated Samus, leaping to another platform.
The hunter and the dark wizard began trading blows back and forth. Ganondorf would heave a dark energy ball at Samus only to have his nemesis charge a power beam shot and fire it to deflect the energy ball or leap to a different platform. This stalemate repeated for several minutes, with neither opponent able to best the other.
Ganondorf growled in frustration and broke the remaining floor sections so that the only flooring left were the stone platforms in the four corners of the room and the obelisk in the center. Their battlefield now resembled a chasm, as the sounds of action above echoed through the darkness below. Samus prepared to space-jump to another corner platform when a dark energy blast knocked her backward through a stained glass window. The Gerudo tyrant roared with laughter as the impact of the blast made the bounty hunter scream in agony. One arm kept her from plummeting out the window to her doom. She slumped down onto a platform and examined her systems.
Power Bomb ability lost, Boost Ball ability lost, energy—659…
I need more energy, thought Samus to herself. Wait a minute… energy… energy… energy collector… it's still functional. Ganon prepared another shot of the dark energy and blasted it at her. She rolled off the edge of the platform and, with her grappling beam attached to a stained glass window, absorbed the dark particles with her charge beam. She rolled back up onto the platform. Her body felt as though it was being electrocuted and pelted with icicles when she absorbed this dark energy, and she reclined in the corner, physical strength suddenly gone.
So you may have a few clever moves, but I know full well you can't take another hit from my dark power! Thought the Geruto wizard.
"Prepare to die—legendary bounty hunter Samus Aran!" sneered Ganondorf. "I realized fully who you were when you mentioned Space Pirates. A rogue squadron of insectine bandits is no comparison to the power of the Lord of Hyrule!" With that statement, Ganondorf raised his arms high above his head and charged a gigantic sphere of dark energy. Samus seized the moment and fired the collected energy back at the floating megalomaniac. He shouted and dropped his large energy ball. As Ganondorf hovered groggily, Samus employed her scan visor:
Stunned Ganondorf: Geruto humanoid with a dark nature, currently experiencing a lapse in mental abilities.
Now if you control dark energy, you are probably vulnerable to light energy, thought Samus. I hope this works.
Charging up her light beam and adding in energy missile power, she fired a Sunburst at the stunned dark wizard. The shot connected full-blast and he screamed as dark energy tore from his body. Ganondorf fell out of the air and landed on the center obelisk. Samus again used her scan visor on the gasping tyrant.
Weakened Ganondorf: Geruto humanoid with a dark nature. Target appears to be repairing damage through the use of dark magic.
"Looks like you're just another casualty to me." Samus Aran used the remnants of the dark energy to arm her Annihilator Beam, composed of both dark and light energy. Charging up the beam, she leaped to the obelisk and fired a Sonic Boom attack at point blank range. Ganondorf Dragmire crumpled as a large energy wave shot out of his body, cracking all the stained glass windows in the room. The fallen Geruto tyrant then tumbled over the edge of the obelisk and fell down face first into the chasm below. The bounty hunter stared triumphantly down into the blackness of the chasm. A few seconds later the castle began shaking and she was greeted with this visor message:
Warning! Evacuate immediately! Castle has become highly unstable due to interruption in power source. Eminent collapse projected in 3:00.
Samus looked around the remainder of the room for the Triforce of Power but could find it nowhere. She was going to have to concede the bounty since there wasn't time to search for it. As the countdown continued Samus hustled out through the doorway and leapt down the stairs. In the next room, the bottom of the chasm, she spotted Ganondorf's lifeless body and started over to quickly search it. Falling boulders of cracked stone platform changed her mind and she hustled out the door and down another stairwell.
In this next room the exit door locked, while two wolf-like creatures appeared and began circling Samus. I don't have time for this, she thought. She couldn't focus on both creatures at the same time, and they began taking turns on her, one attacking while the other had her attention. They were knocking around the legendary bounty hunter and were beginning to back her toward a wall, when she used their plan against them: Samus Aran wall-jumped off the stone and came back on both of them with her Screw Attack. The wolf creatures bisected as she sliced through them, spurting black sludgy blood in the process. The door unlocked and Samus ran down the next staircase.
In this room appeared another Iron Knuckle but a falling stone boulder took care of that problem. Samus leapt over the boulder and hustled through the door. The next set of stairs led to an empty room and, save for falling debris and a couple of near misses, safety. It was out the exit door and down the stairs to the bottom floor.
Warning! Castle collapse in 0:59!
More Keese had shown up in this room, and Samus picked them off before she ran out the door and into the main entry chamber. She went to check the countdown timer, when suddenly a humanoid creature leapt on her from the shadows. Gray shriveled skin was all she could see as this thing tried to chew through her helmet. It felt worse than a Hunter Metroid attack. Samus could not reach this beast on her back, and it was swiftly eating away her energy. She staggered toward the door and barely managed to pry it open. She'd remembered the two laser beam statues in the room and was trying to get their attention. It worked and the laser sight of the statues incinerated the creature. She rolled quickly out of their range.
Warning! Castle collapse in 0:09, 0:08, 0:07
Samus used what little physical strength she had left trying to get out the door.
0:03, 0:02, 0:01—
Samus practically threw herself out the main entrance of Ganon's Tower as the monolith collapsed behind her. It was over. Samus decided to run another systems check and discovered that she had only four energy tanks left, and all of her morph ball systems were still offline. She had been on dangerous missions before, but this Ganondorf guy and his minions almost finished her permanently. That was when she noticed his lifeless body in the center of the castle debris not thirty feet from her. And his left hand clutched tightly the Triforce of Power. This was perfect. She could simply go over to the body at her leisure and take the Triforce. And even more amazingly, the debris was completely flattened, leaving no obstacles between the corpse and the bounty hunter. Then out of nowhere, the whole castle foundation began to shake as a force field appeared overhead. Samus could only stupidly watch as dark wizard's lifeless body levitated into midair and transformed into a three-story-tall boar-like beast with a pair of swords almost as large.
"No… no… you're dead," stammered Samus, mouth wide open inside her helmet. "I watched you die."
"Ganondorf Dragmire, the Geruto wizard, is dead. I am Ganon, the eternal King of Evil. Prepare to die!"
The massive porcine creature began stalking its prey, whom was still reclining on a large chunk of debris near the edge of the platform. Samus had barely received the time she needed to catch her breath but leapt back to her feet. She again activated her scan visor:
Ganon: Mutated form of Ganondorf. The Triforce of Power has resuscitated the fallen Ganondorf Dragmire and has tapped into the wizard's dark energy to create this creature. Creature has lost Gandorf's ability to use magical spells. However, physical strength has multiplied tenfold. Weak points detected: Ganon's eyes and tail.
At least this battle is more my style, though Samus.
Samus began circling Ganon, turning the creature continually. The hunter charged up her Power Beam and fired it at the beast's eyes. Again Samus found herself in a sticky situation when the blast ricocheted off Ganon and slammed into her, knocking her down.
Her visor read: Missile capability offline, scan visor temporarily disabled.
Oh damn. Didn't expect that, thought Samus.
While Samus was distracted, Ganon swung his swords and smacked her across the battlefield like a hockey puck, draining half her remaining energy in the process. She decided on a quick diagnostic before the behemoth stomped over to finish her.
290 energy, morph ball functions offline, missile capability offline, scan visor offline, all other visors functional, Dark Beam offline, all other beam weapons functional, 175 light beam rounds.
Light Beam: why hadn't she thought of that? It was the very weapon that had crippled Ganondorf and brought his downfall. Samus armed her Light Beam, charged a shot and sat up to face the hulking beast. She fired as her target stalled momentarily for a good look at her. The shot connected and Ganon roared back, stunned by the blast. Samus closed in to attack the beast's eyes with a Light energy blast that did no damage. The hulking pig-beast came to just in time to strike Samus again with its mammoth claymores. The blow knocked the bounty hunter to her knees. A familiar klaxon rang through her helmet. The low energy warning was going full blast. Ganon reared back, ready to strike the final blow.
The hunter was trying to focus, her vision fuzzy from the last sword attack. In a last-ditch effort Samus armed her Ice Beam and Screw-Attacked through Ganon's extended arm, before turning around and firing at the ground beneath Ganon's feet. The hulking creature stumbled around on the frozen surface like a novice ice skater before crashing to the ground, shaking the very battlefield. Ganon's severed hand dropped near Samus' feet.
"I can't… believe… that worked," gasped Samus.
More wonderfully, Ganon's head was facing her, and its tail was extended in the air. Switching back to her Light Beam, and activating her hybrid Dark Visor, she again blasted the behemoth's eyes with a Sunburst shot. Then she turned her attention to the other red image on her otherwise pale visor: Ganon's tail. Abandoning her beam weaponry, she pried the six-foot long sword from the porcine fingers of the severed hand, preparing to stagger over to the beast's tail. Then her left boot bumped a small pyramid. The Triforce of Power was right at her feet. Samus absorbed it into her energy collector and felt tremendous revitalizing energy rush through her body. Checking her systems quickly she found all of her missing energy and weaponry restored.
With brand new resolve the Legendary Hunter marched over to the tail of the beast that was desperately trying to get to its feet, and started hacking away at the tail. Ganon roared in pain with every vicious swing, each unearthly scream louder than the last. The force field over the area disintegrated and the battlefield began a slow descent into the molten lava below. Samus Aran quickly leapt off the sinking island and over to stable ground.
"You now see exactly why I carry the universal reputation that I do," stated Samus abruptly. "You would not be facing your certain death had you just given the Triforce of Power to me in the first place. Good riddance, you pathetic fool."
"Aah. I can see the power already beginning to infect your mind, just as it did mine," Ganon growled. "Now it is your curse instead of mine. Thank you and good luck controlling it bounty hunter!"
Ganon finished his speech just as the whole platform sank into the molten lake. The behemoth did not scream, but went peacefully into his burning demise. Samus stared into the lava pit, momentarily pondering the fallen monster's final words before activating her dimensional portal and crossing back into Light Hyrule. She started up the path to Hyrule Castle to return her quarry for the reward, but stopped and thought, I can make this Triforce of Power work for me far better than any monetary reward. It's mine now.
Samus Aran turned around and walked into the sunset toward her ship. From the padded master bedroom of Hyrule Castle, Zelda and Link could only watch in shock and terror as her Hunter-class gunship ascended into the auburn sky and out of view.
THE END...