A/N: And here's chapter 11! It's time for battle, so let's get to it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Metroid or the Legend of Spyro, I only own my Original Ideas.
Chapter 11: Return to the City, Time for Battle
Samus' POV
Warfang, Dragon Temple
CRACK-KOOM!
Jolt's teleportation spell dropped us right outside the door of the Temple. Once we arrived, we went inside to meet with the Guardians once again.
"Ah, you've returned," Said the Chronicler, "and I see some changes in both of our guests".
"Samus? Is that you?" asked Spyro, obviously surprised at my new form.
"Who else would it be?" I retorted, amused.
"This-this is amazing, unbelievable, incredible!" said Volteer, "a complete, self-stabilized multi-form transformative ability!"
"Say what?" asked Ridley.
"He said I can shape-shift," I replied.
"Oh, okay," said Ridley.
"In any case, you've arrived back with time to spare," said Terrador, "the Dark Armies are approaching, yet they are still some distance away, and we need to prepare for battle".
"Alright," I said, "what do need us to do?"
"The plan goes like this," said Terrador, "Spyro, Cynder; you take the north end, there's a mixed squad of the Dark Master's minions coming from that direction. Gneiss, Tempest, Jolt, the three of you should head to the southern end of the city. We've got the same situation there as in the north. Samus, Ridley, you two take the eastern side. We're sending Malefor to that side as well. We need you to shore up the mole battalions there, and also it seems that's the area that our scouts say that the Space Pirates are being directed to. The other guardians and I will primarily focus on the western side, but we will also be prepared to act as reinforcements for the other fronts as necessary".
"Sounds logical," said Gneiss, "Tempest and I will go and get suited up".
"I will as well," said Jolt.
They then hurried off, and came back a short while later in suits of armor. Gneiss' was black with angular orange crystals, and Tempest's was silver with elliptical blue crystals. Jolt came out wearing what at first glance looked to be steel armor, with yellow-white gems set into it. He also came out wielding a finely crafted sword that was hovering just above his back.
We then each set off to our respective positions. I decided to stay in my dragon form for now so I could try out my new abilities. With Ridley at my side we flew over to the eastern wall of the city. I saw that the Moles were already there, and busying themselves with readying the cannons set at regular intervals along the ramparts. Malefor came over to join us, as well. As he landed I noticed that the Moles were glancing at him suspiciously… not an unexpected occurrence given what I knew about his past. From our position on the city's wall, we could clearly see a massive volcanic peak, with the space pirate dreadnought resting on its slopes. This had to be Worldheart Peak: our foe's base of operations. While I was getting prepared for the attack, Malefor came over to speak to me.
"Uh… Samus was it?" Malefor said hesitantly.
"Yes?" I replied, "Did you have a question for me?"
"How are you adjusting to… all this?" asked Malefor.
"What, having Ridley on my side, or being a dragon?" I responded.
"Both, I guess," said Malefor.
"I can answer both the exact same way," I said, "it seemed like it would be awkward at first, but I've found I can adjust to change rather quickly. It also helps that I somehow already knew how to properly use this form".
I looked out towards the soon to be battlefield outside the city's walls. In the distance, I could see a rather large army of creatures approaching. Some were small insectoid things, that knew from what Spyro and his friends had told me were called Grublins. They were being lead by larger, human sized creatures: Orcs. Behind them, came still larger greenish creatures: Trolls.
Beyond this wave, I could see that it was apparently true: the Space Pirates were marching towards Warfang as well. I was able to identify almost every variant of Space Pirate I'd fought in the past amongst the approaching army… from the most basic troopers up to Berserker Lords and even what looked like an Omega Pirate!
'This could be trouble,' I thought, then said, "so… what's the plan?"
"The normal defense plan would be to wait for them to come to us, and take out their siege towers as they bring them," said the Mole manning the nearest cannon, "But there don't seem to be any among the approaching horde…"
"Well I guess that's one less thing we have to deal with," I said, "unless… don't relax yet, the Space Pirates have ships… be ready to aim high. You need to aim for the glowing triangular area on their front to take them down".
My instincts, it seems, were spot on. Not five minutes after I'd given these orders, a formation of Space Pirate APCs and Assault Skiffs came flying in. I watched as each of the cannons along the wall carefully lined up their shots, then fired. Normally, I'd expect it to take multiple shots to take down these ships, but these cannons obviously deal more damage than my missiles. As a result, the Space Pirate ships were downed in a single shot each. That took care of the first wave at least.
"Ridley, how many APCs were aboard your dreadnought?" I asked.
"Not too many actually," replied Ridley, "I'd say they'd have enough left to organize another similar attack group to the one that was just destroyed. It's odd though, the Space Pirates normally wouldn't be foolish enough to fly in such a tight formation… it makes them too easy to pick off. They'd also usually come in at more advantageous angle, to make their ship's vulnerable heat exchangers harder to hit".
"It might have something to do with the fact that the Dark Master isn't familiar with your technology," said Malefor, "it has existed within this realm for ages, and might not be familiar with how to make use of the machinery of your world".
It was our turn now… Ridley, Malefor and I took to the skies. We descended towards the front line of our enemy's ranks, and then quickly leveled out, strafing the dark armies with our elements. Working out from what I had been told about these things, a blast of Light energy would be the most efficient way to deal with them. I focused myself on that power and breathed it out. It was an interesting new experience for me. In this form, my suit had reorganized the beam weapon components into my helmet.
My blast of Light energy tore at the dark armies below, rapidly destroying them. Beside me, Malefor was blasting our enemies with what my scan visor, which seemed to activate on instinct alone, identified as 'Convexity'. It seemed massively powerful. Ridley was doing what he could with his Plasma Breath and Wind attacks, which seemed to be working fairly well, though not to the point of my or Malefor's attacks. It wasn't long before we passed towards the next section of our foes: the Space Pirates. Now that we were closer, I could see there something… different about them… I certainly don't remember the Space Pirates having clusters of dark purple crystal growing out of their bodies… nor do remember them having vestigial wings…
"Samus, stay higher when you attack these beasts," warned Malefor, "if you get too close, they'll drain you energy, leaving you with nothing but your melee attacks".
Heeded his advice, and stayed higher than the previous attack run. Even with my caution, I still felt an odd, unnatural tug deep within me. On the visor of my helmet, I noticed a bar labeled as Br. Energy slowly dropping. I flew a bit higher, and the tug vanished, accompanied by energy collector that Adam had installed earlier kicking in, refilling my breath energy.
'Thank you Adam,' I thought, 'but from this range, I won't be able to do much damage… Wait, of course my ship!'
I quickly activated my command visor, ordering my ship to perform an attack run on the enemies below.
From the direction of the city, I heard the familiar sound of engines. I glanced back and saw my gunship flying this way. It felt strange… seeing as in my current form, I was larger than my ship! My gunship went diving towards the Space Pirates. The main cannons charged up, and the missile racks unfurled. It then fired it weapons, the pulse laser cannons targeted to the troopers, and the missiles being fired at the stronger foes, such as the Berserker Lords.
This addition to the battle apparently caught them off guard, since they began to retreat… with the exception of the Omega Pirate. I noticed that the Omega Pirate didn't appear to have any actual Dark Crystals growing out of its body, but that the bright blue phazite armor on its body was instead dark purple. A quick scan revealed what was fairly easy to see.
Scan Results: Morphology: Dark Omega Pirate. Target has same basic abilities as previously cataloged Omega Pirate. Primary differences: target's armor is composed of carefully shaped Dark Crystals. Note that forming the crystals in this manner has caused them to lose much of their energy draining traits. Weaknesses: Due to infusion of Dark Crystals, target is particularly weak to Light-based attacks to body beneath armor. Dark-based attacks less effective. Crystal lattice of armor plates makes them especially prone to damage caused by Sonic weapons.
Noting this, I came in to land. I then charged right towards my foe. Remembering the method that I used the last time I faced this particular type of enemy back on Tallon IV, I used the same basic strategy as I had back then, though I modified it deal to my foe's weaknesses.
I focused on summoning the Powers the Light and Shadow elements simultaneously, and then searched within myself to find where my missiles were in this form. I found them, and felt the power of this particular missile combo building up. I released it, and watched as the supercharged sonic pulse raced forward, and then surprisingly split in four, striking all four of its primary armor plate simultaneously. When the dust settled, I saw that the Omega Pirate had been thrown back about 10 meters. I knew this was my chance I rushed in, attempting to get to my foe before it recovered. Unfortunately, I was a bit too slow. The Omega Pirate got back to its feet, armed an unfamiliar weapon mounted on its right arm. It blasted me with its weapon, and now it was my turn to get thrown back.
When I recovered, I saw that I the attack had taken off FOUR WHOLE ENERGY TANKS! Not only that, but my Breath Energy was almost completely drained. This made me feel downright… furious. A new message popped up on my HUD.
Fury energy is at capacity. Fury mode can now be used.
'Sounds like something worth trying,' I thought.
I triggered my fury, and felt a massive burst of power flowing through me. Another message appeared on my HUD: Enemy forces analyzed. Optimal fury mode: Supercharge/Hypermode type, Light element. Autoselecting… done.
I felt the energy within me redouble. I then attacked. The Omega Pirate attempted to stop me, but I was now in a sort of hyperaware state and dodged its attack easily. I reached my foe and leapt towards the Omega Pirate, claws forward. I struck my foe, pinning it to the ground. I exhaled an immensely powerful beam of light energy, punching a hole straight through my foe. I then tore into the Omega Pirate with my claws. Every time I struck, part of the Omega Pirate seemed to simply evaporate away. I wasn't long before there was nothing left. Then, my fury faded, and my mind went back to moving at its normal rate.
Ridley then came running over to me.
"Samus," Ridley said, "are you alright?"
"Yes," I said, "In fact, I feel fine. It felt good to be able to literally release my pent-up fury like that".
"Samus, Ridley, we need to return to the city for now," said Malefor, "we need to plan our next step".
I nodded to him, and together we took flight back to the temple.
A/N: And there we go! Next time, Planning and Prep Time. See you then!