After a long and harrowing rush to the surface, my eyes saw the sky once again. How long had it been? Hours, days? It had not felt like long, and yet muscular pains and fatigue suggested otherwise. How could bounty hunters and heroes push themselves so hard in such a short space of time? This adventure had already been far more taxing than the Blackreach puzzles, and it wasn't over yet. Part of Crateria was now flooded with lava, eating into the rock like maggots on a corpse.

"Only Tourian remains now." Samus noted, not pausing and seemingly uncaring of the situation. "I sense that you are tired, but the longer we spent resting, the more the Metroid threat will increase, in this world and in yours."
Sadly; this was the honest truth. I dreaded to think about the situation in Radiant Garden, let alone the breeding grounds in Tourian. What horrific magics would Dynasteelen be subjecting his stolen army to? Would my plan to find their weakness be in vain? No; I had to believe that I could still thwart him.

After all; we had taken down the Boss heartless against all odds. No foe is truly invincible-not even Fuzzies. But who was this 'Ridley'? He must be working with my nemesis, a scary concept. Too many things lined up perfectly, too many coincidences and clues. The blue orb perfectly matches the carving from Norfair. Then the red orb must also hold some significance. But who drew that all up, is it a conspiracy?

Tourian was an elevator ride back down into the core- possibly beyond the depths of Norfair. The small metal box room was close to our exit point, decorated once by two statues. Both had crumbled into rubble, and recently.
"Your Enemy wasn't lying at least." Samus sighed with what seemed to be relief, kicking at the stony remains. "Let's get this over with, once and for all." They added, prising open the metal door and practically pushing me into the elevator.

The ride down was long and noisy; as if the elevator had not recently been maintained. I held fast to the small handrail. Long have I hated elevators and their tendency to suddenly drop. Heck, there was even a case my family worked on where a computer virus within a man caused the deaths of all but the man who subconsciously caused it. But that was before my time. Nonetheless, if we were going to be killed by space pirates; now would likely be the time.

The elevator ground to a halt at last; opening into a laboratory complex. Unlike the elevator, this place seemed to be constantly worked upon; as even at that moment space pirates were making improvements and repairs. Samus didn't even give them chance to react; using the ice beam to immobilise them; before blasting them into shards.

A few metroids also hung about the place; and I tested my new ice orb on them. A critical success, but they hung in the air even when immobilised. Strange really. As we made our way into the labs, our footfalls clunked against the polished metal floor. This in itself was hard to traverse, being oddly slippery.

Several Space pirates and metroids attempted to slow our journey, but all were met with ice and fury. But the amount of resistance only increased dramatically the closer to the main laboratory we got. All these areas seemed designed as security gates; filled to the brim with enemies of all shapes and sizes. Eventually, me and Samus were overwhelmed by sheer numbers; and were bogged down trench-warfare style.

We were forced to retreat, pursued by the tide of grunts and pirates. We clawed at the base, hoping to find a secret room to seek refuge in, or an upgrade to turn the tide. For age there was nothing, and the bad guys grew closer. Then; I broke through a glass tube corridor surrounded by water and dormant metroids. As the water rushed in, Samus and I swam to safety.

This watery realm was oddly linear, beset at both sides by a rocky valley. This must have been part of the breeding ground. The water was still draining; and Samus used the ice beam on two floating metroids, jumping from the brine to utilise them as a platform. I leapt up and grabbed onto the wall; using the vacuum grip. But due to the hollow openings in the wall, the grip could not hold for very long. I was forced to follow the same tactic as the suited hunter, jumping upward and leaving the pirates behind.

"The layout is suspicious." Samus reasoned. "There has to be something up here." And indeed there was. After a long platforming session; Samus was able to blow through the steel ceiling into a hidden room. While it shared the same traits as previous Chozo rooms, this one was laid out differently, with the floor dropping down slightly toward the statue. Samus acquired the Super Bomb upgrade; a power that could effectively clear an entire room of foes.

I was set for a victory dance. And then the statue decided to wake up. It punched Samus backward; advancing with a cold robotic aura of menace. Samus pummelled it with super missiles, reducing its stalwart form to a mangle of metal.
"I should have expected that. Everything here seems to want us dead." Samus muttered, seemingly blaming themselves for letting their guard down.

Dropping down back into the room, I noted that the spillage had already been cleaned up. The funny thing is; I landed on the space pirate that was mopping it all. Karma, eh? The bomb worked wonders on the guards that had returned to their post in what was likely the final security checkpoint. Conveniently, the blast also blew away the heavily fortified security door. But Samus reminded me that was pretty much the only super bomb they had; and such powerful ammo would likely be scarce.

Notheless; we sauntered confidently into a large cylindrical room; that reminded me very much of the meeting room in the Castle. As did the cloaked man stood in the centre of it all. The short platinum-blonde haired man with a goatee turned to face us, holding a hand of playing cards.

"Long 'time' no see; kiddo." The man greeted cheerfully, shuffling a deck of cards one-handed. Samus immediately attacked with a super missile. The air shimmered for a moment, and the same missile had turned right back at Samus. The impact flung the Bounty hunter out of the room, the door emanating an impenetrable force-field afterward.

"Luxord. I was wondering when Ice nerd would send more than just insults." I retorted. We both laughed, like old friends at a roast. In truth; me and Luxord got on rather well. We both cheated at card games, much to the upset of Xigbar.

"Heh. He's been too absorbed in his work to remember that you pose a threat. Honestly; I care not for his 'big plan'. But I'm sure you know how this is going to go- and I would prefer to skip the formalities if I may." The gambler responded calmly, summoning a series of Giant cards around himself.

Honestly; I was excited to finally see what 'the gambler of fate' was truly capable of.