Dammit, Other M was a piece of grade A shit. Luckily it made me want to play the Prime games that got me back into writing this so I guess I'll give it that. I don't have an excuse for not writing for so long, this story is just hard to write and I got caught up in GoW: Majora's Mask. On the plus side, I have the next chapter and a half done so the next one will be out with little delay.

Published September 19, 2010

Hapless Leadership

Crocomire had been confused by the apathy the Ing had displayed toward him. The shapeless beings that had seen him had all either ignored him or run off; none had displayed any hostile intentions. Well, that was until now.

Dozens of Ing were surrounding the lizard, encircling him in the rocky trench he travelled through. Many clung to the walls, some stood around him and others just floated in the air. All of the Ing simply stared at him, none of them making any movements to attack.

"What are you all waiting for?"

"Aren't you going to say a one liner?" one of the Ing asked him. "Like: 'looks like a welcoming committee' or 'I guess I have some rabid fans' and all that."

"Those sucked," Crocomire said. "Were you honestly waiting for me to say something like that?"

The Ing sheepishly turned away, not answering his question. Crocomire took the opportunity and charged the Warrior Ing that stood in front of him. When it heard his claws scraping across the stone it brought its gaze back to his crawling form. "What are you doing?"

Crocomire, having only moved a few inches in his slow charge, opened his mouth and coughed up a few fireballs, sending them at the Ing.

-In the pirate base-

"So, uh, what do leading guys like me do?" Kraid asked no one in particular.

"A few things," a random pirate answered. "You get status reports, organize future endeavours, and things like that."

"Oh. That's boring! We should have a ping pong tournament!" Kraid began to loudly clap, the monstrous noise shaking the whole base.

"Commander, with all due respect," a pirate yelled over the clapping, "half of our troops were killed by Aran and the others are trying to fix the damage. We don't have time for ping pong."

Kraid sniffed loudly, muttering, "Ridley would have had time for ping pong…" Everyone's heart stopped as Kraid burst into tears and ran through a wall, rampaging through the base.

"I never thought I'd sympathize with Kraid, but I miss Ridley too." Every moment that the space dragon was gone the base fell more and more to pieces. In the last ten minutes alone Kraid had done more damage than Samus and Dark Samus combined. They would have been much happier if they came back.

-Dark Agon Wastes, Temple Grounds-

"Two of us have already fallen," the Boost Guardian said to its companions.

"Yes, the orange one is slowly retrieving abilties," the Grapple Guardian confirmed. "Amorbis shall be the one to finish her." The ground below them rumbled as if the beast below them had heard.

"Should Amorbis fail, I shall be sure to end this," the Boost Guardian hissed.

"I hope that you succeed where the previous two have failed. They were powerful Ing."

"Yes, I see how their abilities of jumping really high and spitting minor explosives had the chance to overwhelm the five-star bounty hunter. With your ability to boost into things on our side, I fear for her safety." The Guardians all turned to Ridley. The dragon lay on his side, twirling his tail in boredom. "Why don't you all just gang up on her when she's unprotected from the air in a random tunnel? You already proved that that works."

"A waste of effort," the Boost Guardian hissed.

"You mean a one hundred percent chance of victory."

"An inglorious attack," the Spider Guardian hissed from the floor. Ridley hadn't even noticed that one.

"It's not like she'd fight fair if she got the chance. She put a gun in my mouth once. It hurt."

"Why have you come if you plan to simply question our decisions?" the Grapple Guardian asked him.

Ridley shrugged, picking out a bit of meat that was stuck between his teeth. "Bordeom. I was told to protect the dark version of my base but since it looks like Aran's already been there I convinced the thingy in my armour to come over here and pester you guys. I think I'm doing a good job."

"Your lax attitude will be the death of you." The Boost Guardian said nothing more, simply speeding out of the arena.

Ridley stood up, stretching his limbs. "You're all so uptight. Do you even take pleasure in crushing your enemies?"

"Battle is not a game."

"I beg to differ." Ridley smirked as the Guardians got more and more annoyed with him. He could get used to something like this.

-At the pirate base-

It took three hours to calm Kraid down. During his rampage the Metroid containment tanks had become even more damaged, unleashing the monsters on their captors. The parasites were roaming the halls, killing whoever they encountered but fortunately they had not escaped the base and could be recaptured... again.

"I've got four Metroids trapped in 22A!" a pirate radioed into the control room. "I'm hiding in a foot locker but it won't take long for them to get me."

"I'll send a freeze squad your way," the operator told him before asking, "Do we have any spare freeze squads?"

Behind him, the pirate captain half shrugged. "We've got two guys left but one's on his break and the other's in 4B."

The operator's eye violently twitched. He swerved around in his chair, screaming, "I- BREAK? We've got a massive containment breach!"

The captain held his hands up in a protective stance. "Hey, calm down. We can't work our troops too hard or they'll keel over and die when we don't want them to."

"That-" They both froze. A quiet thudding could be heard in the background, growing steadily louder. "He's back."

Kraid stormed through a door, breaking the frame. "CAPPY SWATSON GUY!" he excitedly screamed.

"Um, It's Swatllun-"

"I found some pets floating in the kitchen! They're so cute and friendly. This one keeps nibbling my finger and it tickles." To their horror, Kraid pulled three Metroids from behind his back and let them loose into the room. "I call them Spiffy, Nemo and Ridley Two. What sucks is that they all look the same so I don't know what's who but like yelling Spiffy. SPIFFY!"

Two of the Metroids flinched at his yell, screeching in discomfort.

"Awww, they know their names. This must be what being an uncle feels like!" Kraid wiped a single tear from his eye.

Swatllum leaned closer to the operator. "Tell Mikau to get off his ass and get over here. His break's over," he whispered. The operator quickly nodded and reached for his headset.

-Dark Agon Wastes, Temple Grounds-

Ridley watched the battle below him with a bird's-eye view. He circled through the air, the Ing in his suit contemplating whether or not to assist Amorbis in the fight against the orange bounty hunter. After a brief moment it decided not to yet, landing on one of the walls and getting comfortable. Ridley was okay with this; he was certain that this thing would get him killed. "Let the show begin."

Samus dodged all of Amorbis' attacks, shooting at the two worms from the safety of a light crystal. "Her resolve is impressive," another voice said. Ridley jerked his head around, searching for the source of the voice. "Look down." He looked beside his left foot, seeing the Spider Guardian.

"Oh, that's why I didn't notice you. You're so tiny." Ridley chuckled at the Guardian's size.

The Spider Guardian loudly sighed. "My size is not a measure of my strength. This is simply the creature I have chosen to possess as its stature compliments the capabilities of the power I have taken."

"I could just gobble you up in one bite." Ridley licked his lips, his white fangs shining.

"So how is the orange one fairing?" the Spider Guardian quickly asked, sweating slightly.

Ridley decided to go along with it. He'd torture this thing much more in the future. "Good so far. By the looks of things Aran will win without much trouble."

The Spider Guardian watched the fight, confused by Ridley's analysis. "Amorbis has yet to take significant damage. How will the orange one win?"

"Keep watching."

Samus and Amorbis fought for a while longer, trading blasts of energy with each other. Samus eventually turned into her Morph Ball and was swallowed by one of the worms. It seemed to have won and the Spider Guardian was going to say something but the worm began writhing in pain. It dropped to the ground, smashing the orb it grew from into the ground. Samus sprung from its mouth, returning to the safety of a light crystal. A third worm burst out of the sand, joining the other two.

"How did she think of doing that?" the Spider Guardian asked, shocked by method of attack.

"You don't want to know what goes on in Aran's head," Ridley said, more to himself than the Ing. Some of the tactics that she thought up were downright disturbing. The space dragon had a brief flashback to when she stuck her gun down his throat and fired a bunch of missiles into his stomach.

He was brought out of his flashback when Amorbis let out one final, earsplitting scream before dying. "Oh. That's a shame." A cruel grin spread across his face, his eyes fixated on Samus. "It looks like it's my turn."

The Spider Guardian stared at the carnage for a moment before saying, "Are you sure that you would like to fight against her?"

Ridley's grin dropped from his face and he glared at the tiny monster. "I could tear her to bits just by thinking about it. How weak do you think I am?"

"No insult meant!" the Spider Guardian quickly squeaked.

"Of course not. Now, SAMUS! Time for…" He returned his gaze on the arena, but Samus was gone. "Wha? Where'd she go? Where the fuck is she?"

While Ridley went ballistic from missing his chance to kill Samus, the Spider Guardian felt control on the Agon Wastes slip away. "I must inform the emperor that the Agon Wastes are lost. Could you carry me there?"

"Quit being a lazy shit and do something yourself!" Ridley grabbed the Spider Guardian and threw him across the wasteland.

Samus happily walked away from the captured energy controller, whistling to herself as the deadly atmosphere batted almost harmlessly at her suit. She had been deemed the only hope for a planet, destroyed a space pirate base, defeated a weird clone and killed three huge worms. Today was a good day.

-At the pirate base-

"SPIFFY!" Kraid yelled, the intensity of his roar shaking the walls. "Hide and seek is over, you win."

The three Metroids were hidden behind a furnace, not making a noise. Swatllum cautiously glanced at them, unnerved by how even the instinctively driven creatures were afraid of Kraid, before facing his commander. "Commander, we have had a breakthrough," he said. "Our troops have found a large, abandoned fortress just beyond sector 4. They've requested your presence as you're… a motivator."

Kraid blankly stared at him, a bit of drool falling from his jaw. It hit the floor, narrowly missing the captain. "People are more willing to work when you're there."

"Oh, mhm! I'm really good at making people do things. From here on, I am Kraid the Modulator!"

As Kraid stormed out of the base, Swatllum hoped that the pirates at Sanctuary Fortress could forgive him for unleashing Kraid upon them. They just really needed to get him out of the base.

One of the Metroids peeked out from behind the furnace. It looked around the room and, after confirming that Kraid was gone, signalled for the other two to follow it.

Swatllum sighed. "Well, time to take that cyanide pill."

One of the pirates stationed at the entrance to Sanctuary Fortress sudden shivered, a feeling of dread creeping into his stomach. "You okay?" a squad mate asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," the pirate hesitantly answered. "I just had a sudden chill that went to my very soul."