.

METROID: PHOENIX

Stranded

Her ears resounded with the sound of crackling flames, roaring lava, and rumbling earth. Her eyes fluttered open. All she saw was blurry outlines against a backdrop of red and orange. She shuddered, closing her eyes again as a wave of pain washed through her body. Then she heard that unholy shriek, so agonizingly familiar that she wished she could purge her brain of ever hearing it.

Ridley

That goddamn pterodactyl just wouldn't die! No matter what she did or tried, it was never enough. Sometimes she wondered why she kept facing him at all if nothing she ever did would be permanent. She willed herself to stand. If Ridley was alive, she had to be ready for battle. She tried to rise, and a grunt of pain escaped her lips. She clutched her ribs tightly. The impact must have really been bad if it had broken them through her damn power suit. That wouldn't bode well for this battle, but she would figure it out. Somehow. She always did.

Drawing a shaking breath, she slowly got up with an arm wrapped around her ribcage. She winced, letting out a pained stream of air and willing away a feeling of nausea. Her eternal enemy's shriek pierced the air once again. She swallowed and looked slowly up, eyes narrowed and teeth gritted. When she saw him, though, her lips slowly parted.

There he was, head thrown back as he screeched in anguish. The horrific sound filled the world around them. He had been impaled! Straight through the sternum. His left wing was torn to shreds by debris and jagged rocks. His right wing was crushed beneath rock, bent at unnatural angles. She scowled and aimed her arm canon at him before realizing it wasn't working. She gasped and quickly ran a diagnostic. As the results began to spew out one after the other with seemingly no end, she realized she may be well and truly screwed this time. Her suit was completely out of commission! Maybe she could still get to her regular weapons. It took her about two seconds to realize she was out of luck there as well. Her ship and everything in it had been obliterated. Much of its debris, in fact, now pierced her fierce but helpless opponent. There would never have been a better time to finish him for good than right now, and she had nothing with which to do it! She had to find another way before he regenerated and tore her to shreds.

Just then the earth began to quake. She caught her breath and looked quickly up. Her eyes widened. The cliff above them was coming down! She dove and rolled out of the way of a particularly large boulder. She looked back in time to see the collapsing mountain of rock strike Ridley in the head and body, forcing him down further onto the spike and crushing his skull. The wounds he had already sustained were further exacerbated. She heard the sickening crunch of bone and shuddered. She turned away a moment and looked back when the quake stopped. Ridley lay sprawled on the ground. The one respite it seemed he had was that his broken wing was now free of the rock, albeit laying useless on the ground along with his torn one. The torn wing would be the more dangerous one, so if she needed to get close it would be best if she steered clear of it. It would be useless for flying until it was repaired, but plenty useful for striking.

She tried to move in her suit, but it protested loudly and without warning shut down entirely, all functions terminating. She cursed, dropping to her knees, and did her best to shed it. Soon she was able to crawl out. She looked disgustedly back at it. She wasn't disgusted by the suit itself, of course. Just her current predicament. First things first, analyze the situation. Then she could figure out how to get out of here. Preferably before Ridley inevitably recovered. She walked to the edge of the ledge she was on and looked out over the planet they had crashed on. Her lips parted slowly. They were in a hell-scape. There was no other way to describe it. A molten planet churning angrily far below.

There was no way down and even if there were, it would only lead to a river of lava. There was no way up either, the cliff sheer and un-scalable. It was nothing short of a miracle that they'd crashed on a plateau instead of in the middle of a lava sea or a mass of jagged rocks and cliffs. Her heart sank into the pit of her stomach. How was she supposed to get out of this? She looked around for any remnant of her ship that may have survived, and spotted a fair-sized chunk of it not far off. On the other side of Ridley. She grimaced. Getting around the space dragon was not something she looked forward too, but with his head crushed beneath rock and wings almost useless, she might have a chance. His tail was still mobile, that was the problem, but with luck he was unconscious or dead - preferably the latter - so wouldn't use it. Still, her best bet was either to climb over him or walk around in front of him. She didn't want to be anywhere near his tail, jaws, or wings, but beggars couldn't be choosers. There were no truly good options open to her right now. There was only bad, worse, and worst. It was a question of which one was which.

His tail was the biggest threat right now, she decided. His wings were next. Her best bet was to cross in front and hope the boulder on his head was pinning it firmly enough that he was incapable of using his jaws and plasma.

Carefully she approached her eternal enemy. As if he sensed her presence, he began to stir and rumble. She stopped. He wasn't dead then. Dammit. Not that she was surprised. She frowned and carefully moved around his head, warily watching his maw. She heard a hiss escape his mouth and saw him attempting to open his jaws. He managed to let out a screech, but it had to be the most pathetic one she'd ever heard. If it wasn't Ridley, she might have even felt bad for him. He began to move more, attempting to lift his head out from under the rock, but a pained shriek escaped him again and he lay still. She huffed and walked past him boldly, going to the piece of her ship still somewhat intact.

She began to sift through the remains until she found her communications. She attempted to get them up and running, but all that was fed back to her was static. She tried to put through a distress call anyway and hoped that Adam had managed to send one off before the ship had been blown up. She let out a shaky breath and assured herself she hadn't lost her AI for good. She might not have him here and now, but he wasn't lost. At least she really, really hoped he wasn't.

She sat back, staring at the sad remnant of her ship, and let out a breath, drawing up her knees and burying her face in them, shaking her head. She couldn't believe this. So there was no chance of climbing out, there was no chance of flying out, and there was no chance of radioing for a rescue. Now what? Was she just supposed to lie down and die? It sure seemed like fate wasn't giving her much of a choice in that. She chuckled dryly to herself at that thought. She looked around again. No food, no water. Unless she found a source for both, she wouldn't last long anyway. Maybe there was a cave somewhere she could reach that would, if nothing else, lead her to water. What then, though? That would only delay the inevitable and draw out certain death longer than it needed to be drawn out.

She looked at her ship. Maybe there was still a chance it could be repaired? The hull wasn't beyond salvation, she noted, but a hull would do her no good without anything else. Flying out of this place wasn't in the cards. The only thing around capable of flight at all anymore was, well, Ridley, and Ridley wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon. Even if he could, he wouldn't be taking her with him for sure. He'd probably rip her to pieces, feast on her flesh, then take off quite proud of himself. She heard another pathetic sound from him and frowned a little in annoyance. She wished he'd just shut up. After a moment she rose, approaching him and examining his broken wing. It wasn't repairing itself. Maybe his healing factor wasn't working on this planet for some reason, or maybe he hadn't eaten enough of anything lately to quickly restore himself.

Frowning, she moved around his head again and stopped in front of him, glaring spitefully at the dragon. There'd been no sign of weapons anywhere that she could see, so for the first time in a very long time it was just her and him. Nothing else. No suit, no ship, no pirates, no soldiers, no high-powered weapons. Just them. Helpless and trapped.

Bitterly, Samus shook her head. "Look at you," she icily said. "Trapped, body broken, completely helpless. What I wouldn't give for a power canon right now."

She heard him growl darkly and saw his eyes open, the eerie yellow glow penetrating through her soul. She had long become immune to it. For the most part. Sometimes there were bad days, but it couldn't get much worse than it was now, so instead of causing her fear or unease, it only caused her to feel annoyed and angry.

"How painful is it, Ridley?" she mocked, pacing around. Reaching out, she touched his shoulder and his entire body shuddered. He tried to raise his hand to swipe at her, but it too was pinned beneath rock. He thrashed and screeched angrily. He screeched again, this time in pain, and shuddered before going still. She watched blood pooling all around him, running in rivulets down his scales and blossoming out across the rocks. She was disturbed that she thought it was a beautiful sight. She let out a breath, closing her eyes and looking down. She hated how satisfied she felt to see him dying.

Shaking her head, she opened her eyes again and looked towards his head once more. His eyes were watching her in disgust. She moved back around in front of him, his gaze following her. She looked down at the so-called 'pirate'. After a while she sat on the ground, knees drawn up, and stared at him. He shrieked at her again and gnashed his teeth before growling and keeping them bared. "What do you think you're going to do with those? Even if you ate me and began to repair, how exactly do you think you'd get yourself off that spike you're impaled on? It's probably all that's keeping you alive, you know." Ridley screeched again at her.

Sighing, Samus rose and walked away from him, scanning for any sign of a cave. She squinted, spotting what looked like an opening not far off. It would require some horizontal climbing, but it was possible to make it. However, if that wasn't an opening after all, there was no guarantee she'd be able to make it all the way back. Even she needed to rest after a physically exerting activity. She didn't have the benefit of the power suit now. It was her own strength she would be relying on, and that strength had a limit. Even in the power suit it had a limit. Still, standing here doing nothing was a death sentence. Falling to her death chasing after false hope would be a better end than withering away doing nothing. She grimaced, clutching her broken ribs. This was going to be hell. She looked dryly around. It looked like they were already in hell, she half-joked to herself.

Gritting her teeth, she took hold of the cliff and tried to pull herself up. She cried out, dropping to the ground and cursing, punching the rock in frustration as she clutched her ribs. Climbing was definitely not an option. Not for a while anyway. She sucked in a pained breath, swallowed, and began to search around for another option. She came up empty and let out a frustrated sigh. She went to the edge and peered over again. She crawled her way around, hoping to find a place to drop down on that might lead to a cave entrance. In not long she stopped, spotting a ledge below her. It didn't seem like it would be hard to crawl back up either, if it turned out to be a dead end. She looked back at Ridley, who was watching her with teeth bared, and frowned, eyes narrowing. Huffing, she lowered herself over the edge and dropped. She landed and stumbled at the jolt of pain that tore through her body, falling to the ground. Another jolt shot through her and she whispered another curse. Gritting her teeth, she got up. Arm wrapped around her ribcage, she hobbled towards an opening in the cliff face. There was no guarantee it would go far in, or that it would lead her to anything of importance, but it was her best shot. She entered it and flicked on a light on her wrist, aiming it into the darkness. She walked carefully into the cavern, travelling deeper and deeper.

She'd been walking for about ten minutes before she at last came out into a large chamber and stopped. There was a lake in here. Was the water toxic or good, was the question? Then again, what did it matter? If it was good, she survived. If it was toxic, she died and ultimately was no better off than if she didn't take the risk at all. She approached the water and knelt, cupping some in her hands and sniffing at it. There was no funny scent. Tentatively she took a sip. It seemed like regular water. She waited a few minutes for any negative effects. When she felt none, she drank a little more. She didn't keep drinking, though. She'd give it a few hours, or overnight, and if she was still alive come morning, she'd found her water source. She shone her light into the pool and smiled a bit when she saw moving figures beneath the surface. It seemed she'd discovered a food source too. Things were looking up. Maybe she could hold out here for a while after all. Maybe rescue would come. Maybe she'd be able to repair her suit and just fly out of here. There was a chance none of the above happened, of course, but she wasn't going to think about that now. The point was, she'd found a way to hold out for however long she needed to. That was better than nothing.

Rising, she left the pool behind to return to the plateau. She would move whatever she could down to the cave, her suit included. Let Ridley waste away above ground. Heck, maybe he'd be dead by the time she got back. She spotted another path. The cave went deeper. Curious, she walked towards it, following the branch. It seemed to be sloping up. Could she be lucky enough that it would bring her right to the top of the canyon? About five minutes in, she knew that was too much to hope for. It seemed to be running parallel to the canyon now. She squinted ahead and saw light. She picked up the pace, going towards it, and peered out. She caught her breath, eyes widening. Directly below her was a drop into the lava river! She looked both directions and spotted the plateau and Ridley. This was the opening she had seen earlier. Well, good to know the two caverns were connected. There seemed to be no other branching paths of this cave, so she simply returned to the pond then left the refuge altogether, crawling back up to the plateau.

It took her until well into the night to move everything that might be of use to her down into the cave. It was slow, painful work. She couldn't move the hull, so she'd have to go up every so often to try and repair it. Restore communications at the very least. Still, it was a start. She frowned a bit, looking back up at the plateau. Ridley was still alive, she bitterly noted to herself. Huffing, she shook her head and turned attention to her power suit. She'd found some tools, so repairing it at least enough to be mobile again wasn't a tall order. It was restoring the weapons and thrusters that would be too much to ask for. She didn't have the parts to pull it off, or the proper equipment, so flying out with it was out of the question. She held onto the hope that rescue would come, though, so pressed on undaunted. Finishing her prep work, she at last took the time to lay down. The better she was rested, the more functional she would be. With a sigh she closed her eyes to sleep...

Metroid

Samus lay staring up at the rocky roof above her head, a thousand conflicting feelings and emotions going through her. He wouldn't die. He just wouldn't die! Two weeks. It had been two weeks. Two weeks of him wasting away without food or water, helpless, impaled, and crushed. Dammit, he should be dead! He should have bled out or died of thirst or something, but every time she passed him to try and work on her communications, he would still attempt to fruitlessly lash out. Was his healing factor working just well enough that it would keep him alive and in perpetual agony until the day he finally perished of starvation or dehydration? Could he die of starvation or dehydration, or would his torment be eternal?

It would be no less than he deserved, she told herself, but every night she heard his screeches. Every. Damn. Night. At first they were furious and enraged, like he was cursing her very existence, but as the days went on their tone changed. It began to waver between wrath and pain. She tried to convince herself he couldn't feel pain, but she was fooling no one. Least of all herself. It hasn't been long before wrath and pain turned into desperation. She wouldn't say it ever turned into fear, she refused to believe that Ridley could even feel fear. It was just desperation. An instinctual, primal desire to survive.

She winced again, closing her eyes as his frantic and desperate screech echoed through the night. She told herself again that he deserved every second of this for the destruction and death he'd wrought upon the galaxy. For a moment that thought eased her mind until his goddamn, animalistic, anguished shriek rang out yet again. It touched a primal part within herself too... A feeling of despair washing through her. Her heart sank and she let out a shaking breath, complete and genuine fear creeping up on her for the first time in longer than she cared to think about. She couldn't escape this place. She tried to deny that reality, but she was only lying to herself. It was only a matter of time before her luck ran out, she knew. Maybe it already had.

Samus shuddered at the thought. There was no getting off this planet. She would die here and no one would ever find her. Even if she managed to restore her communications to working order, the signal couldn't penetrate the atmosphere of this place. She knew that. Though she tried to deny it, she knew it was true. She couldn't get her suit working, her ship was destroyed, communications were a non-option, and there was simply no escape. There wasn't. Even still she tried to deny it because that was all she could do!

Maybe she could have gone on lying to herself until the day this planet inevitably turned on her and wiped her out, but there was one little thing keeping her from doing so. Ridley. Ridley's whose desperate and frantic shrieks filled her ears every day and night. Ridley who knew it was futile but whose animalistic instincts drove him to fight for survival even as he was dying on the top of some godforsaken plateau in the middle of some godforsaken canyon on a godforsaken planet probably not even charted.

She sat slowly up, staring at the ground quietly. Animalistic instinct… She closed her eyes and couldn't help the bitter smirk spreading across her lips. Dryly she chuckled. Her smile fell as she shook her head. At last she rose, took one of her functioning weapons in hand, and went towards the pond. She prepped the weapon, scanning the pool for the largest creature she could possibly find. There. It was massive. Taking careful aim, she fired. It thrashed once before going still and drifting to the surface of the lake. She picked up some rope she's salvaged, fashioned a lasso, and threw it out to the dead creature, dragging it up to the shore. Once it was close enough, she took it in hand and hauled it up onto land. Once she had it laid out on the ground, she examined it. There was no way she could carry the whole thing, but she could cut it up and take it piece by piece. She took a breath and set to work butchering it. She didn't gut or bleed it. It wouldn't matter to the one who would be devouring it. She just carved and hacked until it had been chopped into manageable pieces, then took two sizable portions in hand. Frowning in determination, she looked up at the roof of the cave as she heard the distant shriek of her arch nemesis above her.

Metroid

Samus hauled the two large chunks of flesh up to the top of the plateau and looked towards the trapped dragon beneath the rubble. Drawing a breath, she approached him. He sensed her coming and immediately tried to lash out with a furious shriek. If he could, he would rip her in half she knew. He was ravenous, he was mad with rage and hatred, and if not for his ruined wings, the rocks pinning him, and the pinnacle impaling him, she would probably be dead faster than she could blink.

He hissed at her as she neared and breathed plasma. About a week ago he'd managed to free up his jaws enough to do so, at which point she'd been a lot more careful when passing by him. She quickly dodged out of the way and hucked the largest chunk of flesh right at him. With a screech, he snatched it out of the air and devoured it. He didn't give a second thought to the one offering him the meal. He just swallowed it whole. She threw the other hunk of meat at him right after and this too he lashed out at, snatching it from the ground near him by utilizing his tongue to pull it nearer. He gulped it down just as frantically. She rose and hurried back down to grab two more pieces of meat. Shortly she returned. He watched her this time, teeth bared and still growl-hissing in his throat, but at least this round he didn't breathe plasma her way. Don't bite the hand that fed you, she supposed. Even if that hand belonged to someone you despised down to your very core. Did the fact he despised her even matter to Ridley, she wondered? Did he despise her in the same way that she despised him at all?

She threw a hunk of meat at the space dragon and watched him ravenously gulp it down. She hesitated with the next one and he screeched at her furiously, trying to lunge again. As always, it was a fruitless attempt. She frowned and tossed him the next slab of meat, then went down for even more. There were ten hunks in all, so she was in for a few more trips still. Shortly she returned with the next two pieces. This time she got a bit closer to him. He watched her warily, growling in his throat. She threw both slabs at him, one after the other, and he snatched one after the other in quick succession, devouring them both at once and flicking his tongue over his chops, or whatever they were called in reptilian anatomy. She was hesitant to use the word lips, because she associated lips with something soft and supple. Plump skin around a human mouth, not reptilian scales surrounding a gaping maw with no exposed flesh in sight.

She went down to fetch more and came back up. She got even closer this time. He waited quietly now, and expectantly. He looked as if he were wordlessly demanding more and part of her wanted to laugh and leave him with nothing, but the other part played along. At least for now. She tossed the meat to him and he gobbled it up. She went down for the last time and returned with the final two chunks of meat.

"This is all I have for you," she said to him firmly, getting even closer than before. "There's no more tonight." He screeched at her in rage and looked about ready to unleash plasma at her, but then seemed to think the better of it. She smirked ever so slightly. "Don't bite the hand that feeds you, Ridley?" she taunted. He growled darkly at her, baring his teeth looking disgusted, but didn't attempt to roast her with plasma. She frowned at him. "Behave yourself and maybe I'll have more for you tomorrow." He screeched at her indignantly. "Shut up! What choice to you have?" she challenged in disgust. He shrieked again, trying to claw his way out to destroy her, but of course he couldn't. She huffed and threw him the meat. He turned his head away, rejecting it in defiance. "You'll eat," she said to him, turning her back and walking away from him. By now he would be needing water. She grimaced. That was going to be a lot more work, and far more dangerous because of how close she'd have to get. The dragon did sleep, though. She would wait until he drifted off tonight then leave him a good-sized husk full of water. She had a reason for doing what she was doing – admittedly one of those reasons was because she hoped for a good night's sleep for once – but that was among the lowest of her priorities in doing this. There was something she wanted to try. Leave it at that.

Metroid

She peered over the top of the plateau in her suit. Ridley, it seemed, was asleep. It wasn't a good sleep or deep. In fact, he seemed to shudder with every breath and coughed frequently before growling and attempting to turn before being jolted awake in pain, screeching to the sky. He would glance back as best he could at his situation and, to her shock, she heard what almost sounded like a whimper escape his lips before he closed his eyes, teeth clenched in pain, and tried to sleep again. Soon enough he had drifted off once more, and she crept over the precipice and stalked towards him carrying a heavy basin of water made from the carapace of some strange, underwater creature she'd caught a while back. The thing was big enough for her to bathe in, hence the reason she needed the suit's enhancements to even move it at all. She went barefoot though, because she could move far quieter barefoot.

Creeping up next to the massive Pteranodon-like alien, she placed the basin down and moved quickly away. He didn't stir. She checked her arm canon. It was functional again, somewhat. Not potent enough to kill him, but even if it was, she wouldn't. She needed him for an experiment of sorts. Frowning, she aimed at the debris trapping his head and neck, charged up the shot, and fired!

Ridley jerked awake with an enraged screech and began thrashing violently about. She winced a bit upon seeing how much worse he was making his wounds. She forged on, though, obliterating all the debris pinning down his arms and legs too. He shrieked even more in rage and let out a powerful blast of plasma. She got behind cover grimacing and stayed there until the space dragon had finished throwing his little fit. When things got quiet, she dared to peek out. He was looking at his freed limbs in confusion and tested his neck tentatively, lifting his head high and peering warily around. His eyes found her and he screeched again, slashing at her pointlessly. He only did it to defy or spite her, she'd bet. Or just to threaten her off…

She rose slowly. "Before you try anything, better take a look next to you Ridley," she said, pointing at the basin of water. He growled and turned his head. He fell silent when he noticed it. He stared then gave her a wary look. "What choice do you have?" she challenged again.

He hissed in displeasure and looked at the water again. Tentatively he sniffed at it before carefully beginning to lap at the liquid. He paused, waiting to see if it would have any ill effect, then screeched and practically plunged his whole face inside, drinking it by the gallon. She had to admit, she was amazed at how quickly it was vanishing. He drained it and lapped up every single droplet left within, then screeched as her and shoved the basin over effortlessly. She huffed and picked it up, going back down to fill it a second time.

In a moment she returned and approached him carefully. He made no move to disrupt her delivery. Don't bite the hand that feeds you, she told herself again. As soon as it was in range of his arms, she moved back quickly. He snatched the basin, dragging it near and shoving his head into the water again. He finished with a screech and pushed it away before laying down his head with a growl and closing his eyes. She would assume that meant his thirst was quenched for now. Taking the basin, she returned to the cave, stripped out of her power suit, and let out a relieved breath before laying down on her makeshift bed and closing her eyes to sleep herself. This was a good start to her 'experiment', she told herself. Now she just had to keep it up for goodness knew how much longer.

A/N: There are people who say that Samus and Ridley could never believably work together. Those people just haven't gotten creative enough.