CHAPTER FOUR
"Come on, keep moving." The kid said, his arm around Ridley's shoulder…or rather, his right arm, since Ridley was still taller and bigger than he was.
He and Ridley were making their way down the hallway of the space station, the kid going slowly so that Ridley wouldn't overexert himself. Ridley was frankly amazed that this kid cared so much. His original plan of burning the kid or snapping his neck was now moving far into the back of his mind. It felt…dishonorable to just kill someone who was saving his life and showing so much kindness. Just like…with Malkovich.
Still, although it was nice to have this kid taking care of him, there was Aran…she was still out there. And if the kid led her to him…he was dead meat. How to tell the kid that his mortal enemy was out there, looking to blow his scaly hide away? To finish the job? The kid trusted, actually TRUSTED him.
"Kid, er…I have a favor to ask."
"Sure. But you have to do me a favor first."
"What?"
The kid looked at Ridley, obviously intent on asking a question. When it came out: "You ever seen "Pulp Fiction"?"
Ridley blinked. "Wh-what? What on earth is that?"
"Okay, how about "Reservoir Dogs" then?"
"No." Ridley responded, a bit annoyed.
"Scarface!" The kid shouted.
"NO." Ridley growled. Suddenly the urge to whack the kid blared up.
"You ain't seen Scarface?"
"No." Ridley insisted, trying to resist the urge.
"Well neither have I." The kid admitted.
Ridley blinked. "Then why the hell ask me if I'd seen it?"
"It's a popular movie."
"Maybe back where you're from…I HAVE seen Star Wars. Good series."
"Ah, Star Wars. Classic." The kid admitted. "So I guess some things are universal."
"I suppose." Ridley admitted, shrugging. He instantly regretted it, pain shot up his left arm. He groaned. "Like…how…everyone knows "Cotton Eye Joe"."
"So it IS true! Cool." The kid said. "Anyhow, what I really wanna know is how'd you get so beat up?"
Crap. He KNEW it was going to come ot this. Ridley stammered. "Er-uh-well, you see, I was…was in this fight, and-and…"
"Oh. Okay." The kid said, and that seemed good enough for him. Ridley breathed a sigh of relief for that as they reached a door and opened it up.
"Aw, frack." The kid groaned.
There before them was a huge, monstrous cavern, with stalactites littered all over the ceiling, with several weird…things clinging near them. But what really caught their attention was the huge lake of acid in front of them all. There were several patches of ground floating in the lake, but they looked like they wouldn't take much weight. At the bottom of the platforms were the reason why they were floating: a strange bright blue crystalline sheet that twinkled gently in the light.
Blue Afluorite. Ridley gulped. The Alfuorite that he had already harvested was of a grey color…it was better material for fuel and such. Blue afluorite had originally been thought of to be of use to the Space Pirates, since it didn't react to extreme heat or lasers. However it DID react to organic substances like…say…flesh. If you TOUCHED it would begin to sear your skin, and then after ten seconds, it would explode. They went through 5 pirates before they'd figured it out.
"We don't dare touch that blue crystal" He told the kid. "But if we're going to get across this…we'll have to on top of that ground covering over it. I don't know if it'll support our weight though…"
"How much do you weigh?" The kid asked.
"…" Ridley looked a bit miffed at the question.
"Okay, sorry. I'm 175. I know, I know, I need to lose a little weight." The kid defended. "Don't worry…I'll get us over." He looked around the cavern. Was there anything else around here that could help?
Ridley looked at the thing on the ceiling and his eyes widened. It was an insectoid creature, with large pale blue eyes, green pincers for arms, and light brown talons that gripped into the ceiling. It's body was segmented with green armor and light brown flesh connecting the pincers to the main body. This was a Green Skree, a fairly common creature, it liked to attack people from above.
"That Skree up there." Ridley said, motioning with his head. His wounds were feeling a LITTLE better, but they still ached badly. "If we could somehow freeze it or such, we could…"
Suddenly it saw them and hissed. It was going to attack! The kid grinned, pulling out something from his backpack. "Oh that's not a good idea, bug-eyes!" He said, pulling out a strange weapon. It looked like a gun, it had a muzzle and a trigger and everything, but it was fairly tall and large, and had several buttons on its side. The kid pressed the first one. Then he grabbed Ridley around the waist, much to the dragon's surprise.
"Hold on tight and trust me." He told Ridley, aiming at the creature and firing the gun. An arrow-like point whizzed out from the muzzle, striking the Skree and going right through it, into the ceiling. The insect spat out green blood and began twitching, while Nick ran towards the end of the little piece of ground they were on, jumping. Ridley gasped, they were surely going to fall right…
But they didn't. They sailed through the air, landing on one of the platforms. The kid then ran forward and leapt off again, and landed on the NEXT platform. Then he leapt off of that and onto the next, running smoothly and not losing his pace. Finally he landed on the far end of the cavern, right in front of another sliding metal door. He pressed the button that he'd pressed before, letting go of Ridley. The arrow-point, Skree still attached, flew back to the gun. The point went into the gun, the Skree fell to the ground, quite dead, its bowels leaking out onto the ground.
"EWWWW." The kid remarked. "Let's get going then, shall we?"
He walked up to the door, pushing a smooth green button marked "Open" and motioning for Ridley to walk on through. Ridley blinked slowly. "How…did you do that?" He asked. "The odds that…that that would happen…"
"I've always been lucky. And today I had luck to share! Come on." He walked through the door, into the next hallway. "We should go find an escape pod. Good thing you trusted me, huh?"
"…right, right." Ridley remarked. Good idea, his ship was probably toasted by Samus by now…
Wait, was he AGREEING with the kid? Ridley shook his head as he walked down the dimly-lit hallway with the kid moving ahead. Why did he even care? He was going to kill the human later on…
Wasn't he?
"How did you crash here, anyway?" Ridley asked.
"I fell." The kid explained simply.
Ridley blinked in a stupid fashion. "You…fell."
"Right. Oh, hold on. I think I hear someone…"
He noticed suddenly that the kid had turned into another hallway, calling out "hello???". His eyes widened. If the kid alerted Samus Aran, he was doomed! He raised his tail behind him to strike, but then hesitated. The kid had saved him again…
"No witnesses…" Ridley told himself. Space Pirate society was harsh. Showing sympathy towards a victim was punishable by death. He couldn't allow himself to show mercy. "There can never be any…I have to-"
Then there was a shout. Ridley's eyes widened as the kid ran right back to him, grabbing his good arm. "Th-there's something in here…" He mumbled. "I-I saw something in here, it…it looked at me, it had this…this human shape…" He was shivering. "But it didn't have any features, no…no face, no nothing, just…black…"
Ridley looked skeptical. "What? A featureless phantom?"
"Y-yes, I…I've seen one just like it a long time ago, it…it was following me at night…"
Well THAT explained it. "Kid, you're afraid of the dark, aren't you?"
"No!" The kid defended, pulling away, shaking his head vigorously. "I used to be afraid of the night, but not anymore!"
Ridley scoffed. "There's no monsters here, except for me, anyway…you're just nervous because there's not much light, there's not too much air, and we're alone in a big, empty space station that was abandoned."
"Well, why was it abandoned?" The kid inquired.
Ridley suddenly looked dumbstruck. Why had it been abandoned again? He'd assumed it had been because the asteroid had struck it…but if that was true, then why hadn't the Federation ordered the place's destruction? They liked to clean up their messes, or rather, hire certain bounty hunters to do so. "Kid, there's nothing to be afraid of here." He still insisted, a bit annoyed. "Just because some of the lights are out is no reason to freak."
Then all of the lights suddenly died with a "FAWOOOOOOOM" as darkness permeated every space around the two…
"Do you believe in ghosts?" The kid asked.
Since he could see in the dark and wasn't nearly such a wuss, Ridley was about to snap something at the kid when suddenly he felt a terrible chill go through him as he heard faint, distant, shallow breathing that was coming closer as everything got very, VERY cold. "You know, I think it's okay to freak out now." Ridley agreed.
"Good, because I do believe in spooks, I do believe in spooks, I do, I do, I do…"
The two opened their mouths and screamed.