Chapter 10

As luck would have it Samus found the stolen Federation ship long before Adam and his squad did. Once sighted and she moved close enough to get a better look at it, she took a moment to survey her surroundings, allowing herself to consider her options from there. She was going to have to look for Ridley now that she knew where the ship was. She knew he wasn't in there because she knew Ridley wasn't dumb enough to hang around a ship that was leaving off a signal. It was time to search for the space pirate himself. With that in mind Samus headed back into the forest of the Torvus Bog.

Just as she was walking away from the ship a shadow fell over her. Thinking it was Ridley she looked up, changing her stance into a defensive position. But it wasn't Ridley. The figure looked bipedal and flew over her without even noticing. From where she was standing she could easily figure out that it was another luminoth and not the dreaded dragon space pirate.

Ridley isn't a giant monster anymore either, she reminded herself. There's no way he could regain that form anyway, not with what the Federation did to make him the way he is now.

With that in mind she decided to try and see where this Luminoth was going. He wasn't close enough for her to call to him but if she trailed him she might be able to catch up to him when he landed. He might be able to tell her something, especially since he seemed to be heading toward the Temple.

She might even run into Ridley on the way.


"I don't know what happened, we were just walking and suddenly he fell over and screamed like he was in some kind of pain."

U-Mos had been startled by the sudden appearance of D-Larr who had entered the temple carrying the unconscious form of Ridley in his arms. Of course the Luminoth didn't know that it was Ridley and he had asked the other Luminoth who this person was and what had happened. D-Larr had set the space pirates prone body gently down on a small rug and began to explain what had happened and why he'd brought him to the temple.

"Did you see anything?" U-Mos asked of him as he moved over to get a better look at the figure. "Did he give any indication that there was anything wrong before he did this?"

D-Larr could only shake his head. "Nothing, there were absolutely no warnings." he explained. "Nothing at all."

The Luminoth sentinel knelt down and lifted Ridley's head slightly to get a better look at him. He was very careful when he examined the space pirate, being sure not to do anything that might make whatever had caused him pain before to flair up again. As he did this he noticed there seemed to be nothing wrong. So what in the world had caused him to have that attack?

Just then Ridley's eyes snapped open. His yellow reptilian eees met with the Luminoth's large insectoid ones and he let out a hiss, pushing himself away from the large alien.

"Be still, friend," U-Mos said, getting a tight grip on the space pirate, completely unfazed by Ridley trying to shove him away. "I am not your enemy."

Ridley relaxed a little bit, but he was still suspicious. "Who are you?"

"I am U-Mos fifth sentinel of the Luminoth," the moth like alien explained. "D-Larr brought you to me because he said something was happening to you." he then explained the events that brought Ridley to the temple.

"Now, I don't know why you had such an attack," U-Mos said after he finished telling him the whole story. "But, whatever it was it must be serious. I need to ask you, is there something wrong with you health wise that could have brought on such a thing?"

Ridley fell silent for a moment, letting this question process. He could not tell these creatures that the body he had now was not his original one. He knew very little about the workings of his new form to really give them a proper answer so he shook his head and said. "No, there's nothing that I know of that is wrong with my health. I am just as confused about this as you are."

U-Mos didn't look like he was buying it. "You don't have any idea at all?"

The space pirate could only shake his head once more. "No, I don't have a single clue." and after he said that he hoped the Luminoth would drop the subject.

Luckily for him U-Mos did, though he did ask him. "When was the first time you felt this kind of pain? Can you at least tell me that?"

Ridley answered that question pretty quickly. "Not long after I reached this planet."

The two luminoth glanced at each other and seemed to be having some him of telepathic conversion before U-Mos looked back at him and began to ask. "Do you think-"

A wave of agony suddenly shot through Ridley and he let out a cry, cutting off the rest of U-Mos sentence.

"What?" U-mos exclaimed, as Ridley wrapped hid arms around himself and curled up into a fetal position where he commenced to screaming. The sounds were so loud and priecing whatever glass items were in the area shattered all at once.

D-Larr looked around, his eyes wide. "What's happening?!" he asked then let out a grunt of pain and covered his ears when ridley screamed again.

The two luminoth backed away firom him and he rolled over on his stomach, his arms still wrapped around himself. As they tried to figure out what to do for him there was the sound of tearing cloth and two bony wings with thin yellow skin like membranes attacked to them burst out of his back, sending dark colored blood in all directions. The wings opened, reviling a rather impressive wingspan seconds before ridley, panting heavily pushed himself off the floor.

"Rider?" D-Lar said, his voice uncertain. "What are-"

Ridley, breathing heavily as blood soaked through the dirty federation uniform, looked up at him, his yellow eyes glowing fiercely. He depend his mouth to say something but nothing came out a moment before his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed heavily onto the stone floor.


Samus lost sight of the luminoth she'd been tailing but since she was pretty sure where the being was going she'd run toward the Great Temple where she was pretty sure he'd gone to. So she headed toward it, making sure to deal with any hostile creatures she might encounter along the way.

The resident fauna wasn't her biggest worry though, it was Adam and his squade seeing the luminoth and getting the same idea she did. Hopefully they just thought the being was just a planetary resident doing a normal thing. Samus was sure the Luminoth most likely was doing just that but her idea was finding out information. If the Federation saw it the same idea wouldn't cross their minds.

But who was she kidding? That wasn't likely to happen at all. Adam was smarter than that and his squad was better trained than that. The best thing she could do right now was beat them to the temple and seeing that she kenw the planet better than they did, she most likely would.

She doubted that they would even think the luminoth was important. In the grand scheme of things following and questioning an alien insect would be low on the list of priorities.

But it didn't matter once she reached the Temple. She'd entered the room D-Larr and U-Mos were in with Ridley just as Ridley's wing's burst out of his back and he'd collapsed to the ground. As this happened she stood in shock, completely surprised and somewhat unnerved by what she'd just witnessed.

What in the world was that and why did it even happen?!

It took her a moment to settle her surprisingly rattled nerves before she could say anything. "I thought you said you hadn't seen him."

The two luminoth looked over at her, startled. "Samus," U-Mos said.

She looked at him then crossed the room and stood over Ridley's unconscious form, studying the newly sprouted wings on his back with a frown. Was his dragon DNA beginning to take over? She wondered. Was his body slowly transforming him into his original form? If so she wouldn't have much time before he became a threat again.

Samus aimed her arm canon at Ridley's body.

"Samus?" U-Mos said, looking confused. '"What are you doing?"

She glanced back at him. "This is the creature I've been looking for," she told him. "I'm going to eliminate him now before he harms anymore people."

"Who has he harmed?" U-Mos asked her.

"This is the creature that killed my parents," she told him, her teeth clenched together.

U-Mos fell silent as Samus kept going. "He killed millions of people, he is the cause of many galactic catastrophes. If I don't kill him he will continue to be a Threat to not just the Federation but to you and your world as well. Don't begin to think because he looks like this he's harmless. He's nothing but a merciless monster."

"Samus..."

Samus looked back at Ridley, charging up her arm canon. "His reign of terror ends here."

Just then Ridley, alerted by her voice, slowly opened her eyes and stared up at her. Their eyes met and his suddenly widened. Suddenly fully awake, he pushed himself up and let out a shriek that not only caused the two Luminoth great pain but also caused Samus' helmet to malfunction. The visor blinked out and samus sword, taking a step back.

Ridley took that moment to get up off the floor and shove at her, taking her by surprise. Off balance she fell backward, landing on her back the same moment Ridley turned away from her and rushed in the opposite direction, his newly sprouted wings unfurling propelling him off the ground and out of the temple.

Samus' visor cleared up and she sat up just in time to see Ridley shoot out a window. "No!" she exclaimed, getting to her feet and rushing after him. But she was too late. He'd put a fair amount of distance between them before she could even get a lock on him to fire a missile. She swore and turned him the window, rushing toward the exit of the temple.

"Samus!" U-Mos called after her.

"I'm sorry, U-Mos," she called back to him. "But I don't have time to explain anything right now!" then she was gone before either Luminoth knew what was happening.


"Hey, Colonel Malkovich, look at that!"

Adam stopped and looked over at one of his men who was looking into the air and pointing at something. Adam looked toward where he was pointing and raised a pair of binoculars to his eyes. What he saw was a winged human that fit the description they'd been given.

"It's him," he said, lowering the glasses. "Let's move."

The forces all followed after Adam as he headed after the flying space pirate.


Ridley had escaped the luminoth temple spurred on by adrenaline filled panic now that he was a safe distance from samus and any other threats that burst of energy was running out and those newly sprouted wings were beginning to fail him. Before he knew what was happening he was free falling and then he landed with a splash into deep body of water.

Taken from one extreme to another he fought his way to the surface and broke the water with a gasp. He looked around himself, spotting the shore a short distance away and quickly swimming toward it. Once he was out of the water he collapsed on the grass covered ground and then lay there, eyes closed and breathing heavily with exhaustion.

This is where he remained until he regained his energy and wits. Once he managed to catch his breath he pushed himself up off the ground as realization set in. The Luminoth knew who and what he was now. He would no longer be able to hide among them which meant the planet wasn't safe for him anymore.

With that concluded he also knew he couldn't keep running either. Sooner or later there would no longer be anywhere safe he could go without either the Federation or Samus Aran finding him and ending his life. The only way he was going to be rid of this problem forever would be to confront and defeat them or die trying and since Samus was already there and he knew it and he knew she wouldn't leave until she was rid of him, he was going to have to take care of her very soon.

He did not have any other choice.

Taking a deep breath, he stood up shakily, his newly sprouted wings folding tightly against his back, he looked toward the trees surrounding the lake he'd fallen into. His yellow eyes fell on a large temple like building erected a short distance away, the one he'd seen earlier. Since it was empty he could hide there for the time being and be able to work out some kind of plan or action. Yes, this was a good place to start.

That decided he headed toward it, walking unsteadily on his tired legs. He had a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it. He just hoped Samus wouldn't find him before he could come up with a plan of action.


Samus had lost sight of Ridley somewhere over the Torvus Bog. Frustrated she let out a sigh, clenching a fist and punching a tree to let out the pent up anger she had been holding in. Lost again! It felt like everything was working against her, preventing her from finally taking down her life's biggest problem. Why couldn't she just be rid of him forever? Why must he always come back to haunt him in one shape or another? It was always this way, always! The more he came back the more she lost. He'd killed her family, her adopted father Gray Voice, and the reason her home had been destroyed! All her pain and suffering were caused by him and now she couldn't even find him to kill him!

Her life would be so much easier if he just stayed dead!

Calm down, Aran, she scolded herself, dropping her hand to her side, fist still clenched. Now was not the time for this kind of thing. It was best she got back to the task at hand. Losing her temper wouldn't get her anywhere. Finding and taking out Ridley was the important thing, something she would be able to do if she kept a cool head and kept moving.

He'd flown into the Torvus Bog so it was very like he'd landed somewhere in there. She knew the swamp almost as good as the Luminoth did. Sure it would take some time but she'd learned patience over the years and it was time to put that to some good use.

All right, Ridley, I'm coming for you.

A/N

Okay I am having a bit of an issue here. Not exactly sure how to proceed here or if I should make Samus fight and kill Ridley, fight and not kill Ridley, or have her fight him then get interrupted by the Federation... I'm stuck.