Chapter 9—The Courage Within
Samus and Ganondorf entered Samus's spaceship and quickly took off. It would take about a day to get to 513-PDR. The bounty hunter took occasional glances back at Ganondorf, who was sitting in a makeshift passenger's seat behind her own. She noticed the Gerudo's narrowed eyes, staring off at nothing in particular. She could tell there was a bit of an internal struggle in the man, but she knew not to press the matter further with him. After what seemed like an eternity of silence, Ganondorf finally spoke up.
"Spinne is extremely powerful," he said monotonously. Samus simply nodded.
"I didn't get the chance to scan him for any weaknesses," she replied. "The only thing on my mind at that moment was to get him away from Link, which I failed to do."
"We all failed," clarified Ganondorf, his voice a bit softer. "What the hell is he? He grew four extra arms, for Din's sake!"
"I found some strands of hair in the room after you took Fox out of there," admitted Samus. "I sent them to Mario to do a DNA test to see what kind of…what Spinne is. I don't even know what to call him; a person, a creature…"
"Just call Spinne an 'it' and we'll call it a day," spat Ganondorf. "We'd better get there soon before he does something else to Link."
"I'm getting us there as fast as this ship can take us," explained Samus. "I need to do some upgrades on my ship, especially since the thrusters were damaged beyond repair with our first encounter with Spinne."
"It's as if he knew we were going to eventually go out into space to find him," fumed Ganondorf. "The Arwings can get us there quicker, which he probably knew, which is probably why he did more damage to Fox than any of us."
"And he must have known that Falco wouldn't leave his leader's side at a time like this," added Samus. She suddenly heard a familiar beeping, and she knew she was getting an incoming message. She pressed a button on the control panel. "This is bounty hunter Samus Aran speaking, over."
"Samus, it's Falco," spoke the avian on the other side. "We've got the results of the DNA tests."
"And?" asked Ganondorf. "What is Spinne?"
"We found out that he is, in fact, Human, but with multiple strands of spider DNA infused into his own," announced Falco. Samus cringed a bit while Ganondorf's face contorted into one of confusion. "We also found a genetic mutation which allows him to use magic, which you'd find in people like Ness and Captain Falcon."
"That explains the fire that comes from his moves," muttered Ganondorf. "So the spider DNA allowed him to gain four extra arms?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," admitted Falco.
"How's Fox doing?" questioned Samus. There was a bit of a pause on the other line.
"He still hasn't woken up yet," answered Falco worriedly. Samus frowned. She knew Falco thought highly of Fox and cared about him as a friend, but she had never seen him visibly or verbally show it. She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Falco clear his throat. "Zelda, Captain Falcon, and Kirby have already left to go to Gegend and warn the president of the attack."
"They won't make it in time," contested Ganondorf. "It's taking us a day to get to Spinne, and Samus said that it's a three day's journey in her spaceship to Erde."
"Against my better judgment, and with a threat of maiming from Master Hand," started Falco, obviously annoyed, "The three are using the Great Fox to get to Erde. They should get there about the same time you get to 513-PDR."
"Why couldn't we use the Great Fox?" complained Ganondorf.
"Because Samus would be piloting it," answered Falco. Samus narrowed her eyes dangerously.
"What!?" she exclaimed angrily. "Just because my ship is in constant need of repair doesn't mean I'm a bad pilot!" Ganondorf and Falco snickered, then burst into laughter. "I hate you both right now. Samus out." She angrily ended communications with Falco, then shot a glare at Ganondorf, who just sat there, smirking at her. "What!?"
"Nothing," said Ganondorf as innocently as he could. He suddenly blinked in realization. "Oh crap. I can't breathe in space." Samus put the ship in auto-pilot mode and stood up, walking over to a trunk, opening it up. She pulled out a charcoal-colored suit and helmet, then tossed it to Ganondorf. Ganondorf looked at them, then at her. "What's this?"
"Your space suit," explained Samus. "It's a Galactic Federation suit, to be exact. Don't ask me why, but I have a couple of these in my ship. I'm glad I finally have a use for them. That's the largest size I could find. I hope it fits." Ganondorf gave her a confused look, then slightly nodded. He stood up and walked over to a well-hidden corner of the ship as Samus went back to piloting.
Spinne sat in the control room, staring at the white crystal pulsating with energy in his hand, grinning wickedly. He then glanced at one of the computers, which had Gegend's national news posted on the screen. The article shown was about the tenth anniversary of Gegend and Boxen's peace treaty that ended the war between the two nations. It was the war that drove Spinne to exact revenge on Gegend's government.
"Soon," he said to himself. "Soon, my revenge will be had. Everything is going according to plan and right on schedule." He looked over his shoulder at Ubel, who was sitting at another computer, checking on the status of the systems in the space station. "Miss Ubel."
"Yes, Doctor Spinne?" asked the young woman, turning her full attention to her boss.
"I want you to increase security around the space station," ordered the doctor. "Put the Spider Drones into Aerial Attack mode and have them guard the outside perimeter of 513-PDR."
"Yes, Doctor Spinne," she spoke, understanding her orders. She stood up from her seat and exited the control room, shutting the door behind her. Once Ubel had left, Spinne set the crystal down and stood up himself, walking out of the room and down the hall. He entered the room where Link was being held and walked up to the unconscious Hylian. Link was still bound to the wall, but his body was pale and limp and his head hung low. Spinne cupped his hand under Link's chin and lifted his head up a bit. He let it droop back down as he pulled his hand away quickly, looking at it.
"His skin is cold to the touch," breathed Spinne. He checked Link's pulse. "He's still alive…" He then checked the back of Link's left hand. He grabbed it, then let go of it, his eyes widening slightly. "The Triforce of Courage…"
Samus and Ganondorf arrived sooner than expected at 513-PDR. Their ship was quickly under attack by the Spider Drones. Samus was able to take them out easily with her ship's missiles. Samus nodded to Ganondorf, who then stood up in his Galactic Federation uniform, sans helmet. He held his hands out towards the space station and his hands began to glow with a dark aura. There was a flash of red light in front of the ship, then it completely disappeared. Ganondorf grinned and nodded to Samus, who then brought the ship closer to the space station. She docked the ship inside and activated her Chozo Armor. Ganondorf put his helmet on and followed Samus out of the ship and down one of the hallways. Samus activated her scanner once they were in an enclosed hallway away from the open docking area and looked around.
"There's a sufficient amount of oxygen in the station, so you can take your helmet off if you want to," announced Samus. Ganondorf nodded and removed his helmet. Suddenly, he put a hand on his chest and cringed, staggering forward a bit. Samus quickly grabbed onto him to stabilize the larger man. "Ganondorf, what's wrong?!" Ganondorf shook his head and regained his balance on his own, taking a few deep breaths.
"What just happened?" he groaned. He blinked, then looked down at his right hand. His eyes widened once he saw not only the Triforce of Power glow, but another piece, as well. "The Triforce of Courage…the Triforce of Courage is inside of me!" He suddenly grinned. "At long last…"
"If the Triforce of Courage is inside of you," started Samus, "then that means…" Ganondorf's grin suddenly faded.
"Something must have happened to Link for this to happen," he muttered. He stared at the back of his hand, a conflicting look on his face. After a long period of silence, he finally spoke up. "Samus, go find Spinne."
"I thought you wanted to kill him yourself?" interrogated Samus, growing suspicious of Ganondorf's recent change in mood.
"Just do it!" ordered the Gerudo. Samus sighed, frustrated. On one hand, she knew Spinne and the laser had to be stopped. On the other hand, she had a feeling that Ganondorf was up to no good now that he had two pieces of the Triforce. She remembered Ganondorf telling her that the only reason he was protecting Link was to ensure that he was able to get the Triforce of Courage from him eventually. Now that Ganondorf had it, she wasn't sure what he was going to do with it.
"I want you to come with me," stated Samus. Ganondorf shook his head, then walked off in a random direction. Samus sighed, frustrated, then ran off in the direction of the control room.
Sorry about the long wait again, guys! I had a huge test to study for, and I've been sick, to top it all off. I had a bit of writer's block, too, but now that that's gone, and my test is over, the next chapter should be up sometime this weekend. Please keep sending me reviews! They help me out a lot, especially with the last chapter when I found a bunch of errors that I had made.
