Well, readers, it seems I made a little mistake. I had written these past chapters before I experienced the Pirate Homeworld in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. I have now come across the knowledge that the ship in this fanfic, Tyhorn, is actually called Colossus. If you'll excuse my goof, then I'll change the name of Tyhorn to Colossus afterward, and for the rest of the chapters involving this setting.

The four of us were frozen in place, shocked by the morbidity of this thing. Samus started scanning, her habit, and U-Mos and I were getting our bearings. This creature was huge, nearly touching the broken ceiling.

Its head was comprised of the torsos and arms of the deceased Pirates, and all of their eyes were combined into two large, slitted pupils. I found it interesting that the eyes dripped silver, running down the faces of the Pirates. What I could see of the shoulders were more mashed together cadavers, strung with goopy Phazon that was the key to keeping them together. The chest was made up of weaponry, all flared up and ready to kill.

Samus finished screening. "Okay guys, this terror is basically one giant Space Pirate, with all the weaknesses of its makeup. And all the weaponry and skills of them too."

"So we should just shoot it till it dies?" I suggested, which was basically all I processed from her scans.

"Negative. This thing is already dead. I say we somehow take it apart body by body."

"That would be very tedious," U-Mos pointed out, shaking his head. "I think the only solution is to burn the corpses."

"And how the heck are we gonna do that?" I wondered, giving him a confused look. Samus studied the beast.

The Luminoth gestured to the overhead fuel gel plumbing, which was still dripping the yellow substance. "Find a way to detonate the gel and destroy this abomination."

Samus nodded without looking at us. "Let's do it."

The monster had overheard us, and began to attack. It charged the guns on its chest, bright and Phazon fueled. They all fired at the same time, but in different directions. The air was torn by the rapid gunfire, and my sight was blinded by the glimmering lights.

U-Mos flew upward, dodging. Samus curled into her Morph Ball, boosting away. I was jerking around and avoiding the barrage, dashing forward to escape one beam that was miraculously following me. I went too far, and tipped over the rail, plunging into the death clouded water.

Something cold and lumpy immediately wrapped around my throat. I opened my eyes to look through the murk, seeing a Space Pirate with half a face trying to strangle me. It was missing a leg, and its open mouth blew inky bubbles.

I lashed out as quickly as I could submerged, knocking its chest. My foot went entirely through it, and I struggled to yank it out. The zombie was joined by several other partially rotted comrades, unsheathing weapons or merely watching me with glowing yellow eyes.

I tried to form ice around my hand, but the water was too warm. Panicking, my air supply dwindling, I desperately searched for anything that would save me. I finally found salvation in a gleaming gun on the charcoaled floor. I seized it and pulled it to my level. The tech was strangely heavy, and attached to something. I stopped.

Ghor.

The lights on his face were flickering, and he was covered some places in claw marks and Phazon patches. He was looking at me pleadingly, his eyes darting around my face for any sign that I would help him.

I gave him a small nod, feeling my chest sting from the lack of oxygen. I gently released his fingers from the plasma cannon and picked it up, shooting the corpses that were advancing on me. I was relieved that the weapon worked underwater, and burned the bodies to ashes that floated in heaps through the polluted lake.

Finally I couldn't take it any longer, and swept Ghor up over my shoulder. He was lightweight, which surprised me. With one last glance around the dirty water, I paddled to the surface, spitting out the black liquid. The barbaric monstrosity was focusing on Samus and U-Mos, who were both shooting it. U-Mos had found a Space Pirate gun, which emitted purple bursts of energy once fired. Samus was pelting the thing with her Nova Beam, it fizzing away at the carcasses.

I swam to the stairs, banging my elbow on a hidden step. I ignored the pinch the metal reigned on my joint, getting out of the water and trudging up the flight as quick as I could while trying not to slip. I rejoined my comrades, ducking below a visible bang from the behemoth. "Guys! I found Ghor!"

They both turned their heads. "What? He's okay? Where'd you find him?" Samus said, still battling the beast.

"At the bottom of the pool. I think he's malfunctioning or something..." I muttered.

"Plentiful! Exorbitantly H2O!" Ghor's voice fluctuated from high and low as he jerked. Sparks flew off his body and water poured from his limbs. "Overwhelming! Hydrodynamo RX L2d 980 Ds 0-----934328908j! Metroid gorma stigna 934328908 Aurora dygnmas! 3232= //////90-9!" He started to exclaim things I didn't understand, and I wondered how he blurted the punctuation.

"He's uttering complete nonsense..." U-Mos said, his gun running out of ammo with a click. He ended up throwing it at the creature with a grunt. "Rundas! Toss me Ghor's plasma cannon. I have an idea."

I shrugged, lobbing it to him easily. Samus ducked as it whizzed past her head, paying no mind to anything else but the freakish thing she faced. U-Mos aimed the cannon at the fuel gel drips, closing one eye.

He sent out two spheres of red plasma, which exploded in little poofs on contact. These slightly charred the bodies on top of the head, but the monster gave little heed to the mere nuisance. It replied with a roar that drenched us in bloody Phazon.

"Aether! There is not enough gel for a proper combustion!" U-Mos Aetherianly cursed, making an impatient face. "We need more!"

An aerotrooper that was all bone leapt out of the mass of remains, tackling Samus with a hissed screech. They landed in a tangled fight on the floor. It raked at her armor while she was pumping its ribs with ice missiles. "Get off me, piece of crap!" Then she did something cool-

Her visor lit up red, beaming brilliantly. All of us -including the zombie- stared. A laser shot out of her helmet, consuming the skull of the aerotrooper with sibilating sounds. The energy crawled down the Pirate's neck, over its back and arms, and continued traveling till it dissolved the entire skeleton. The bone had been completely reduced to nothing but cinders.

"Wow." U-Mos and I whispered at the same moment.

Samus smirked, standing and dusting her Varia Suit off. "Hey, a girl can't have enough nifty gadgets, can she?"

A funky breeze blew at us, and we all turned with bleary sight to the dead heap of bodies, which was breathing heavily through its mouth. Arms hung down and shot up to represent teeth, and a completely deteriorated Pirate with red plating was the tongue. The gray eyes floated to the ember pile on the ground, and I finally realized why the pupils were leaking the silver substance. Tears.

Samus raised her gun, and in a flash, was whisked off her feet. She cried out as the thing gripped her in its hand, and forced her skyward. She escaped as she neared the fuel gel pipeline, transforming into her Morph Ball and sliding into the conduit. The light of her spherical form faded as she rolled away.

"Perfect! Now if she can find the source, she could pump more out, and then we'll have a shot at destroying this atrocity!" U-Mos snapped his fingers, smiling. "Rundas! I will need your help with stalling it for long enough. Put Ghor down."

I obeyed, laying the robot as quick as could. "Stall it? Why aren't you going to do it too?"

He had darted to the computer, rebooting it. "I'm going to get a communication connection to Samus. Give her instruction. Make sure it doesn't bother me." He returned to clicking and adjusting.

I turned back to the beast, mouth agape. "O-okay. Whatever you say, U-Mos." I stooped and picked up Ghor's plasma cannon with shaking hands, holding it up. "I'll just... do this... Even though I've never fired a gun before in my entire life..."

It studied me, glaring into my very soul. I shuddered, swallowing and worrying. How long would I be able to distract this creature? How long would it take for Samus to access another fuel gel supply? I stood alert, finding courage and confidence suddenly. I looked down to Ghor, who's eyes were spinning and changing colors.

"I won't mess up," I muttered to myself, aiming the barrel to the thing. "Not for you, Samus."

Thus, my diverting began.