Bursting through the door with the use of super missiles, Samus and I rushed into the room, eager to get the next fight over and done with. We were met with a room similar to that of Kraid's lair in brinstar, with several metal platforms over a seemingly bottomless pit of lava. This must have been near the magma core of Zebes, as the heat here was incredible. But there was no sign of the 'boss' of this area.
"Impossible, my information indicated that Ridley should be here!" Samus stated with frustration. "There cannot be any other place for the gate guardian to be." Then; as if to answer her question, a small dark void opened, and a familiar annoyance emerged from it. It had to be dyna; but he was garbed in a futuristic power suit of his own, similar to classic alien spacesuits of old movies.
"Apologies, dear explorers; but Ridley is on a little vacation right now." Dyna chuckled darkly, closing his rift and standing proud on the platform at the other end of the chamber. The lava bubbled beneath us, signifying upcoming volcanic activity.
"Ah, but you were expecting the gate battle. Well I suppose I must advance the plot for you. But first-a little introduction for you- Aran. Your little compadre is my fake clone- a copy of me-Dynasteelen. You may have heard of me before, in old texts and data files." Samus shook their head, aiming the arm cannon at the monologue maniac.
"Nope; not even a kilobyte'" Samus retorted. "You don't deserve to be remembered, you egotistical stranger." Dyna heartily laughed at the insult; overconfident as usual.
"Oh but I will be remembered- as the person who eliminated the great bounty hunter Samus aran!" He threatened, creating a ball of dark energy in his hand, similar to the charge beam. I prepared to deflect the blow, but dyna held onto his attack.
"This will be a perfect test of how far you've come, Jexy boy." Dyna croned, summoning two alpha level heartless. The pair looked alike, and were basically giant fat versions of the 'rhapsody' elemental heartless'. One was orangy-red, the other cold blue. Both had transparent stomachs with elemental energies within, and they possessed the ability to float.
"The Blizzard lord and volcanic lord. Arguably the most fitting summons for this zone; wouldn't you say?" Dyna asked rhetorically, opening an exit portal. Samus let off a charged shot; but the heartless leader merely countered with his own, creating a small energy explosion in the process.
The emblem heartless began their assault, using their elemental magic and keeping out of melee range. Of course; such a strategy entirely countered my own, and an aerial manoeuvre would be suicidal given the lava below. Instead, I was forced to jump between the platforms, relying on Samus to shoot at the bulky bastards. But they were too agile, able to avoid most of the charged and beam shots thrown at them.
"We need a plan!" Samus insisted, brushing off an ice blast with minimal damage thanks to the Varia suit. I scanned the environment, finding nothing that could assist us. The lava rose up suddenly, burning my feet as it submerged the platform I was stood on. This magma was far far hotter than the rest of norfair. The pain made me yell out, desperately grappling to a higher platform; only for the gauntlets to be frozen by the blizzard lord.
Once again I was stuck in a helpless situation, and had to resort to my short range teleport to get myself out of the mess. But my gauntlets were still frozen uselessly in place, cords and all. But that gave me an idea. I swung round like a helicopter rotor, leaping from the platform and striking the volcanic lord with cold poles of steel. The impact knocked the heartless like a pinball, simultaneously thawing my gauntlets a little.
I then phased back onto the platform, standing at a right angle against the platform. I became a makeshift platform, allowing Samus to close the distance to the spinning and dazed volcanic heartless, pelting it with several powerful beams. But that wasn't enough. The lord regained its composure, and used the hot lava as a defensive wall. Samus recoiled backward, avoiding the oncoming wall of fire.
I was not so lucky. The incredible heat was furthered by the influence of the heartless, and the effect completely melted my gauntlets. While destroying a summon weapon is not permanent, they do take a significant while to 'regenerate'. So, I was completely defenceless. Great. But I told myself I was not going to be an onlooker, and evaluated my options.
Samus was trying their best to keep up the offensive as before, but still no luck. These rhapsodies simply had us unmatched, controlling opposite elements to great effect. Yet, perhaps that was the answer. I hopped off the platform, using all my normal strength to punch the heartless closest to me, phasing to the rough position of the blizzard lord.
Being in front of it, I was able to direct the fireball magic directly to the blizzard, using the same predictive logic as space invaders. Of course, Ice happens to be weak to fire. The blizzard lord's glassy centre cracked, giving me the opportunity-or rather Samus's.
"Samus; use one of those missile thingies!" I shouted to the searing air, hoping that heartless don't understand human language. It mattered not, as the super missile connected, Samus learning to aim where the heartless was going to be instead of where it was currently.
The icy centre shattered, spewing ice onto the already treacherous platforms. The ice also seemed to disturb the lava, as it bubbled with great energy; possibly warning of an eruption. The ice heartless dropped into the red death, defeated. The volcanic lord seemed enraged by the demise of its twin, and increased its ferocity tenfold.
A plume of lava shot through the centre of the platform cluster, separating me and Samus. A cold orb shimmered at the top of the plume. Like an idiot, I practically swam up the superhot lava to reach it, receiving a great many third-degree burns. But the orb itself was cold, and might have attributed to my survival upon grasping it.
Like a bolt from the blue, my gauntlets rematerialized, wanting to accept the new upgrade. The lava subsided as the orb slotted in. one wonders where the gauntlets hold them, since there isn't a carry case or anything present on my person. However; the cold orb was now active. The volcanic lord aimed a direct attack of impressive magnitude at all the platforms. However; as with the steam orb, I was able to shoot bursts of ice to dispel the fire magic.
Fire may not be weak to ice, but water certainly is.
"Dance water, dance!" I cheered, mimicking a good friend of mine. While normally only able to use one orb at a time, I tried to use the elements of both the steam and ice orbs alternately to create a makeshift water attack. It did work, but only a couple of the shots. But that was all I needed. The body of the volcanic lord cooled and cracked from convection; enabling Samus to dispatch it in the same manner as its brother. The boss sunk into the lava, creating a large plume that broke through a wall in the chamber.
The floor bubbled again, and Samus investigated the chamber. Another Chozo hideout; containing the much needed ice beam.
"Excellent. I believe this is the metroids only weakness." They noted. Finally; I had what I needed. But I couldn't stop here. I felt obligated to keep helping Samus, understanding the threat that the metroids would cause here also.
The lava boiled; and alarms blared. "We have to reach the surface! Samus yelled; using the grapple beam to exit from the door we arrived-now open again. I followed suit; and we sprinted and climbed out way out of Norfair and Brinstar, closely pursued by a volcanic eruption.