A/N: I truly apologize for my lack of updates as of yet. (curse me and my laziness, and curse Mario Kart Wii and its addictiveness).

Anyway, here is a chapter that I threw together. Enjoy it.

guiltyslayer: I don't think you can post the url of whatever mechquest thing that you want to show me. I'm pretty sure, however, that my plan for the Nova Gem isn't copying mechquest's.

And without further ado, here we are!

Disclaimer: No matter what happens, all that I have said before will forever remain true. Hopefully.


As Samus shot down thick foliage with her power beam, she checked the path she was on just to make sure that she wasn't walking in circles.

The clue hadn't told her where in the jungle the gem was, it had just told her that it was in the jungle. That meant she would have to search through every single little section of the jungle until she found the clue.

The closet that this incident can relate to is the P.E.D. incident, where I and the other three scrambled across the planets, trying to rid them of Phazon.

She felt a pang of sadness thinking about Ghor, Rundas, and Gandrayda. True, they had become corrupted and had come close to killing her, but that wasn't their decision.

Though Samus knew that it wasn't smart having friends according to the USROBH, friends will only slow you down but she knew that, deep down, she would break those rules.

Maybe things would have gone differently if they hadn't lost control, Samus thought, maybe—

Her thoughts were interrupted by a flash of movement in the trees. A humanoid form could be scarcely seen, its shadow visible through the thick foliage.

Samus approached the form, but it went on the move again. She quickly activated her scan visor, hoping to get some info on what this thing was, but the creature was out of range.

"I've got to increase the power of this thing." Samus muttered as she ran after the form.

Whatever this was seemed to be the type of creature that didn't want to be caught, as it took what Samus guessed were the most convoluted paths through the jungle. She attempted to hit it with missiles to at least slow it down, but her attempts were as futile as an attempt to attack Gorea with an un-charged power beam.

The creature continued on some more foliage, up trees, around trees, andSamus was sure she was imagining this— through some trees, until it finally reached a clearing, where Samus noted a thick swamp was, and she finally was able to see it.

Her first thought was that Dark Samus had come back, for it had similar qualities to her Phazon-created nemesis, but when she scanned it, she figured out what it was.

Wraith: a native creature to the Main Planet. Wraiths were other sentient life-forms prior to the "Espilce Disaster"; energy has mutated their forms, allowing them to pass through objects, and absorb various substances into them

She aimed her Arm Cannon at the Wraith and fired, but the Wraith dodged the blast easily. She continued to shoot it, and the Wraith continued to fly out of the way, in a rather erratic flight.

Samus fired, and fired some more, and it was only did she see where the Wraith had floated did she stop.

The Shadowy being as over the swamp. It raised its arms, spread them wide, and began to glow with an unnatural power. The swamp below it, as well as the plants near the swamp, began to quiver. They continued to convulse, in such a way Samus thought that it was some kind of earthquake, until the plants tore free of the ground, and the swamp water splashed upward toward the Wraith, and then Samus suddenly realized what it was doing.

Unfortunately, she figured this out too late. The plants and swamp water struck the Wraith, merging with its substance. The merging continued in a vicious cycle, until it ended, and Samus found herself looking at a humanoid creature made of swamp water—though it seemed to look more like acid now— and plants. Samus quickly scanned it, hoping to find a weak spot.

Swamp Wraith: Wraith has now absorbed tremendous plantlife and acid. Able to shoot jets of acid from its hands and mouth. It focuses most of the acid and plants around its core, the only part of it not to take on the properties of the swamp, as protection; if a Wraith's core it hit directly enough times, it will cause severe destabilization in the Wraith's body, killing it.

So the weak spot is where the Wraith will shield itself the most, thought Samus, Fair enough. It seems plantlike, so the best weapon for use against it probably should be…

She charged up her Plasma beam and fired it at the Swamp Wraith. The Swamp Wraith responded by shooting a jet of acid from its palm, canceling the beam out. She tried missiles, but the Swamp Wraith increased the foliage around its arm and swatted them away. When shot with the Ice Beam, the Swamp Wraith countered it with more acid, causing the Ice Beam to freeze the acid and subsequently shatter due to the acid's own nature. The Wave Beam was met with an equally powerful three-type shot of its own, canceling it out. An attack made by the power beam met similar results.

This, thought Samus, Is a problem.


Noxus, meanwhile, had some problems of his own.

The Vhozon had gone to a trio of volcanoes in the northern hemisphere of the Main planet. The Clue had said: A Planets blood, a planets flame; the clue lies under these mountains three, so Noxus took that as meaning the clue was hidden underneath one of a volcano.

The problem, of course, was that it was hidden under a volcano.

Vhozons may hate natural water, but they would rather submerge themselves in a lake, no, an ocean full of natural water than as much as say the word "volcano".

Unfortunately, one's career as a bounty hunter didn't care about one's natural likes and dislikes; it demanded that one explored anywhere, for any price, and come out alive at any cost.

Noxus had trouble making sure those three fit together, though he always made sure that the third one came about.

He was underneath one of the volcanoes, as the clue had said, and he now was looking at one of the most magnificent things he'd ever seen.

After all, though he'd seen a lake of lava during his time on Alinos, never had he seen one like this. It was in what seemed to be a cave miles long and miles high. Geysers several yards long flared up from the lake and the lava flowed in a way that some would call "unique".

Noxus surveyed the lake, looking for some important place, a shrine, maybe, where the clue would be. The only thing he saw, however, was a lonely island out in the middle of the lake.

"If the clue is here," Noxus decided, "Then it is on that island. Of course, the problem here is getting to that island."

Noxus aimed his Judicator above the lake of lava, fully charged it, and fired. What resulted was what he didn't expect: The blasts caused the smoke over the lake to freeze. Noxus, tentatively at first, stepped onto the crude bridge, then continued over it, but was met by an unwelcome sound:

crrk…

craaaack!

Noxus realized, to his horror, that the bridge he had accidentally made wasn't meant for someone walking on top of it while over a lake of lava. Noxus, scrambling for the shore, barely made it before the heat of the lava melted his bridge.

"I don't really see why that had to happen" fumed Noxus, "It was like a mockery; luring me toward the clue, then forcing me to turn back." He looked over the lake of lava and sighed. "It's times like these that I wish I was a Diamont."

"Well then you'll have to live with the next best thing," an all-too familiar voice rang out, "Being business partners with the last of the Diamonts!"

Noxus saw something shoot past him, roll across the lava, ride up a geyser, fall to the island in the middle of the lake, return to biped, grab the clue, then run back across the lake of lava, tossing the clue to Noxus, who caught it and then watched as an all-too familiar being roll back into Dialanche and come shooting toward Noxus via another lava geyser.

"Spire?"

"What, no 'Hello, Spire'?" Said Spire, "Not even a 'How's the search for the fate of your race, Spire? Heck, I'd even appreciate a 'What took you so long, Spire?'."

"Fine," said Noxus, barely able to stop himself from smiling at the Diamont's words, "What took you so long, Spire? Happy now?"

"Yes, I am. What does the clue say?"

"It says— wait, you didn't tell me what took so long."

"I took a little detour," Said Spire, "now what does the clue say?"

Noxus, knowing that Spire wouldn't reveal what exactly Spire had done during that "detour" yet, looked at the clue, which read:

The next clue lies within the endless twisting crisscross of caves

The two hunters pondered what that could have meant for a minute, then Spire figured it out. "When I was looking up information about this planet, I learned that near the eastern part of the desert, there's a cave which is actually a labyrinth. Many beings have gotten lost and died while going through there. I'd say that's where the next clue is."

"Great." Said Noxus sarcastically. "First a volcano, now an endless labyrinth. What's next, on top of a mountain?"

"I don't know, That sounds like it would be interesting. I could easily go up there"

"Well it's a good thing we're partners, isn't it?" Said Noxus, heading for the tunnels to the surface.


Meanwhile, in a cavern with a control station, the same being that had sent the message leaned back in his chair and smiled. All the hunters were here, and it was only a matter of time until at least one of the Hunters found him. Once he was discovered, he would have an excuse to be "active". Once that would happen, everything could unfold as planned.

Everything.


A/N: I actually like this chapter a lot.

All the hunters are now in the picture, a little foreshadowing here and there, and… just wait and see what happens next.

R&R

And We shall meet again