Weavel and Kanden entered the tunnel Samus had escaped through.
"Hurry! She'll get away!" Weavel ordered. Kanden shot him a malevolent look. They crashed into a wall of rubble.
"What the hell?!" Weavel bellowed.
"Dead end?" Kanden whispered.
"No...it's recent. Curse you Samus!" Weavel roared in imitation of Ridley.
"How do you do that?" Kanden asked, looking uneasy.
"I'm a former Space Pirate General! Ridley and I have been in several battles. Funny how everyone freaks out when I do that!" he added with a cruel laugh.
Kanden equipped missiles and Weavel and him blasted at the wall until a small hole appeared. Kanden lashed out with a powerful punch...and had almost no effect. Then a plasma burst flew from behind them and struck the wall, knocking them backwards as the wall exploded. Weavel hissed in fury as the Delano 7 swooped in front of them, through the passage.
"Next time...I'll aim at you two if you ever interfere again!" Sylux threatened. Grumbling, the two hunters entered the cavern.
"The graveyard?" Weavel muttered.
"Crystal Graves...this the sector that fool Noxus had explored!" Kanden whispered.
"Him, you mean?" Weavel asked, pointing at the still weak Noxus.
"Yeah, that's him!" Kanden said, charging his Volt Driver.
"Iceface! Yo, Iceface!" Weavel bellowed. Noxus flinched, but didn't respond.
"Where's Samus?" Kanden asked, pointing the Volt Driver at Noxus.
"Like I'd tell you unworthy criminals!" Noxus retorted. Kanden's face contorted with rage.
"Tell us...or you die!" Weavel hissed.
"Maybe this will convince him!" Sylux sneered, appearing from behind two graves. He fired his Shock Coil at Noxus, who writhed in agony. The Coil was fired only a few seconds.
"Well?" Sylux demanded.
"I'm not telling!" Noxus said, clearly terrified. The hunters stared at each other incredulously. Then Kanden grinned.
Spire had recovered from Sylux's ruthless attack and was trying to figure out where the hunters had gone. At the end of the tunnel was another set of ruins and a cave 20 feet above. Rolling into Dialanche, Spire climbed the wall and dropped from the top of the cavern into the cave. Moments later, he emerged at the Crystal Graves. Why had all the hunters gone here? Did it have to do with the True Power. Noxus had explored this area. The Dirt of Time. the phrase jumped out at him. The first key was hidden here! Why hadn't he thought of here before? Oh yeah, he was too busy trying to decipher Ancient Text!
He heard a scream and turned. Sylux, Weavel, and Kanden where attacking Noxus. 3 on1? What sick joke was this?
"Where is she Iceface?!" Weavel was screaming while Kanden and Sylux would fire their electricity weapons. Torture? That was against most hunter Codes of Honor. Or at least Samus, Noxus, and Spire himself had it in their Code of Honor. Spire was suddenly furious. Rolling into Dialanche, he rammed Sylux from behind with the force of a tank. Then he let loose his lava blades, knocking Kanden and Weavel aside. Sylux landed some 200 feet away, slamming with great force into a gravestone. Sylux moaned, but seemed mostly unharmed.
Kanden and Weavel nodded to each other and began firing their weapons. Spire dodged the Battlehammer, and the Volt Driver barely hurt his rock body. Noxus was too weakened to battle. Spire's lava blades lashed out, striking Weavel, who stumbled and fell with a thud. Then Weavel separated his body, and his Halfturret fired at Spire, who strafed to avoid the continuous fire. Kanden charged his Volt Driver and fired at point blank range. Spire bellowed in pain, and Kanden quickly shook off the effects of the close range blast. The halfturret's cannon struck Spire, trapping him under the barrage of the close range fire.
"You're dead Rockhead!" Sylux hissed, returning to the scene and fired the Shock Coil. It was pain like nothing Spire had felt before. The voltage seemed to intensify every second. Spire saw darkness closing in, felt the pain begin to leave, but still exist. Then he knew no more.
"STOP! I'll tell you...just let him go!" Noxus pleaded. Sylux stopped firing, and the 3 hunters stared expectantly at Noxus.
"Beneath the grave...you have to want to get in to open it." Noxus said.
Ignoring this, Kanden fired a missile, shattering a large portion of the stone, which obediantly moved aside. The 3 hunters smirked and left the two weakened hunters lying helplessly. Weavel kicked Noxus as he passed and the stone resealed the entrance. Noxus slowly stood and examined the unmoving Spire. It had been torture to Noxus to see Spire nearly fried for trying to save him. Samus hopefully had enough of a head start to escape the pursuers. Spire didn't react for several minutes, but slowly stirred.
"Spire...Spire..." Noxus whispered, trying to shake Spire. No response. Minutes passed, and Spire regained consciousness. "Huh?" Spire muttered.
"They were going to kill you. I had to tell them where Samus was...it was the least I could do for someone who tried to help me." Noxus explained, pain etched on his face. Spire grunted.
"We don't have a chance of getting the first key. Samus went for it over 20 minutes ago." Noxus whispered. Spire shrugged, finally able to stand.
"Thanks..." Spire grunted and left the graveyard. Noxus stared after him. Spire also seemed like a decent hunter...but that didn't mean they were allies. It really was, in the long run, every hunter for themselves.
Samus cautiously continued down the torchlit path and reached a stone door, which opened at her touch. Inside the second chamber was 3 strange triangle doors. Each was marked with a number. The left had a 1. The middle had a 2. The right had a 3. A tablet read 'The Treasure can be found behind an odd door, but a maze is behind the other. The last one is an exit out, and you cannot return the way you came. Here's a clue to help you: The maze is not door 1. The exit is not door 3. Can you solve the mystery?' Samus hated riddles with a passion. After all, all her missions involved solving puzzles or exploring. This one seemed almost too easy if you had any intellect.
Odd door was a clue refering to numbers like 1,3,5,7,9. OR it meant strange. Most would read and think the latter. So the clue that the maze is behind another odd door, and isn't 1, meant the treasure was behind door 1. The last clue was useless a only 1 door remained that wasn't odd. (door 2). Samus entered door 1 and raced down anoher torchlit hall. At the end was another door marked 'Treasure Chamber'. She opened it, and the door closed behind her, plunging the room into darkness. She fired Power Beam shots to shed some light and saw another door, which she entered. Inside was a pedestal with a green crystal on it. The first Gem Key! She hurried towards it, but immediately a forcefield appeared, sealing the crystal behind it. Samus turned to go back out the door, but it was locked. The forcefield orb surrounded the crystal and the pedestal lowered into the ground, forcefield orb and all. Across the room, a door slid open. Samus had no option but to go through.
The floor dropped slowly and Samus realized it was an elevator. When it stopped she exitted, and saw a strange switch. She scanned it and saw it was a 'Forcefield deactivator- protects the Gem Keys.' She flipped the switch and saw the pedestal rise up through the floor above, which was made of meshed wire. The orb was deactivated. She returned to the elevator and took it upwards, excited. To get one key would supply the clues to the next one! The elevator door opened and she was back in the room with the pedestal.
However...the Gem Key was gone! Samus stared in shock. How could someone have entered the room? She knew the forcefield would go back on if any new person entered the room. It was a superb anti-theft device. Someone had somehow stolen the key right under her nose. The way out of the chamber was unlocked once more, further proof that someone had taken the key. Feeling uneasy, Samus cautiously exitted the chamber and made her way to the entrance.
Weavel, Kanden, and Sylux raced down the hall. Samus had to be close. They reached a chamber with 3 doors. Shrugging, they separated and each went in one. Weavel took door 1, Sylux took door 2, and Kanden took door 3. Kanden found a maze, and was going through it in Stinglarva. Sylux abruptly found himself outside the Crystal Graves all together. and was confused. In annoyance, he signaled the Delano 7 to pick him up. It was Weavel who nearly bumped into Samus.
"Die!" Weavel yelled, firing his Battlehammer enthusiastically. Samus was knocked backwards as each splash of green energy struck anywhere near her in the narrow corridor. Weavel was laughing as each burst made her yell in pain. She fired missiles, but the Battlehammer destroyed them. One option left, she fired the Omega Cannon. The projectile of energy floated towards Weavel, who froze in shock. Samus was sure his face was fearful, and she fired the grapple beam towards the door she had come from. The door closed just in time as the explosion of energy engulfed the hallway.
Cautiously, Samus staggered back to the hallway. Weavel had run from the room, but still got hit by the blast, slightly crippling him. Samus passed him indifferently.
"Just like old times, Cyborg?" she asked. Weavel stared at her with hatred.
"You'll suffer for this!" he said. Samus left him lying there and exitted through door 2. She emerged about 150 feet from the gravestone she had entered. She could see the Delano 7 in the distance, probably returning to the Gem Ruins. Samus was lost on what to do next. She had no clues on how to proceed, and the only option was to find who stole the Gem Key.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------