Chapter 15: Soon to be Lost City of Atlantis
"What's going on down there?! Where is Samus?" Keaton roared as he waited atop the heavy metal seal atop the glass pillar, and at the bottom of Acuar's capitol. No one could answer.
The only answer they got was a continuous
rumbling from below, and it seemed that the city might collapse if the glass
pillar might break.
He hoped Samus was down there, saving
the world again. But he would be praying for more than Samus when the klaxons
and sirens went off for an unstable crystal pillar. Dammit Samus, hurry up!
He thought wildly.
* * * * *
KRACKOOOOOOM!!!!
As Laguna's Yamato Beam struck Samus
in Mid-air, he flipped her over his shoulders in mid-flight and landed himself
on a nearby wall and flipped off to the other wall, firing all the way at her.
She only had enough strength to dodge his super-enhanced abilities, and
couldn't aim with him jumping around faster than a professional Etecoon like
the ones she saw on her last visit to Zebes.
His Nuclear Energy Cannon was knocking
out her energy tanks faster than a metroid could. But something was wrong; the
entire room was quaking violently; and not because of Laguna!
Laguna charged up his beam to full and
fired it at Samus, hitting her directly in the stomach, leaving a sparking hole
that almost punctured through her armor. She keeled over and fired at Laguna,
who took such lovely time just standing there to get fired at. Her aim was
true, and pure Metroid energy blasted her opponent. It knocked him back and on
the ground on his stomach. He didn't scream or even move.
"So this is how you go out, Laguna?
Such a wuss you are. Goodbye."
Samus
laughed slightly and walked through the already open doors in all the
commotion. And she would not be the only one alive…
Laguna got up quietly and aimed at her
exposed back…
He chuckled to himself…
He pulled the trigger and…
KABOOOOOOOOM!!!
The wall behind Laguna exploded and lava poured out in a river of burning liquid. Samus turned around and stared in astonishment.
Laguna's aim was distracted and his
sniper hot flew clear of Samus. Meanwhile, he was knocked back down on his back
and buried in the lava flow, screaming and writhing all until a small muffled
explosion was heard from beneath the lava flow. A large bubble came from the
surface of the lava, and popped when it reached the air above it.
Apparently, Laguna did not have the
Pyro Suit on…which also was not there. And Samus wouldn't be if she stood there
any longer.
A monitor just outside the doorway to
the tech room showed all one message:
Forbidden Technology has been stolen,
destruction of Chozo Vault and Atlantis is imminent. Remaining time: 8 minutes
58 seconds.
Samus
heard an explosion behind the massive lava flow and his gained such a fast pace
that it was on her heels in no time. She took to her speed booster and ran for
the stairway at the other side of the lava-filled subway station.
Pillars,
columns, walls and the floor all were exploding in a croban fireball.
Everything
would be incinerated.
Samus
ran fast enough with her speed booster that she only skimmed the surface of the
lava and made it to the stairway, looking back for only a short moment. The
entire subway station was exploding in a nuclear blast!
Everything was exploding and quaking
in her direction. She took off using her speed booster once again and ran like
never before.
The stairwell was melting into lava
before she got halfway up the whole thing. Steam vents and magma bombs crashed
down from above and through the narrow walls beside her. Everything, everything,
was melting to an orange-like molten color. She could barely run without
falling over with the vault shaking so violently.
But the blast of the nuclear powered
lava flow rushed up behind her and she could feel it burning through her suit
as it neared closer. She had to get out of here!
The
once thick gray doors of the vault loomed before her and she held her arm
cannon at it before she even saw the bolts on the doors, since she was going
that fast. She fired her HYPER beam at the doors and ran right out of the
already melting doorway.
She then saw the large and tall walls
of the excavation pit move up before her. She pushed herself a bit harder and
executed a super space jump after running so fast for so long…
And she flew right over the edge of
the pit. She landed a few feet from the edge and stopped. Where was everybody?
Had the lava flow stopped?
Then she noticed something outside the
dome she didn't see before.
A
volcano, what looked like a mountain, was dormant before, but the vault was
built at its very base. And now it was erupting, spewing massive nuclear and
burning chunks of magma out and towards the dome. A few hit the dome and it
easily cracked…
…then the flow of lava from below
burst out of the vault and filled the pit in less than a few seconds. Then it
quickly rose and overflowed out of the excavation pit and onto the ground level
of the city, right at Samus!
She switched on her reserve tanks and
sped off with her speed booster, going so fast it drained her energy. The
vision of her body was no longer blue running through the streets, she was a
yellowish color, like the color she would be during a massive super jump.
Then the dome caved in, rushing in
water and the lights went out. The orange-red lava lit up what was left of the
dome and Samus spotted the security building below the city gate. She ran
straight down to the symmetrical center of the gate, running through walls,
buildings and doors in her way. When her position computer told her she was directly
below the gate, she only thought for a moment;
I hope this building isn't as
strong as it looks! She thought simply and stopped dead in her tracks,
making her suit glow yellow with all the stored up booster energy. Then she
lifted both feet off the ground in a jump, a massive super jump. A super jump
almost a million times taller than the ones on Zebes; this time she would be
jumping the entire radius of the planet from its very center. A jump that would
only last so long…
Her speed boosters switched to
vertical launch and sent her flying straight up – through all 255 floors of the
building and right into the gate.
She broke it shatteringly, and she
kept on flying up, losing energy all the way.
She
got to the point where her last energy tank was left and she stopped her jump.
She had about thirty seconds to rest, being about twice that ahead of the lava
flow. She looked below down at the city.
It was in flames and the lava had
already made it to the city gate and was flowing up towards her and breaking
any glass walls on the way. Doing that solidified any lava near it, creating a
natural stone pillar.
She started to jump on the already
melting platforms on the way up, but her strength failed her. She gave up all
hope until he came back for her.
"I'M HERE TO RESCUE YOU!!" Ridley
shouted out as he grabbed Samus in his claws and flew up to the portal to
Acuar's capitol, looming closer and closer. But the lava flow had not stopped
and was moving faster
* * * * *
Miss
Gentes had a look of terror on her face, and she gave in
"Ok,
close the gate – slowly. Maybe they can still get out in time."
The
city had been liberated and evacuated just in case they failed to block the
lava flow. Miss Gentes hoped that they could just be there, NOW.
She
saw them herself flying up to them and Ridley looked tired.
* * * * *
This
time it was Ridley's strength that failed him, and her dropped Samus on a
platform ten feet from the gate, flying through it and waiting on the edge; The
lava flow as only 25 feet from the gate. Samus looked up and jumped with what
pride and strength she had left, her hand outstretched to Ridley's right claw.
She gave into his hand and he pulled her through the last crack in the closing
seal. She was in Acuar's capitol and the gate sealed closed tightly. The seal
heated up, got really warm, and glowed dark red for a moment, but held. Cheers
ran through the ranks of soldiers and paramedics as Samus and Ridley survived.
And now the city had a stable, rock-hard pillar of solid rock and the pirates
were defeated.
Samus and Ridley were carried off on
everyone's shoulders.
Chapter 16: Under the Sea
Samus and company had once again saved the world. Period.
What
did they do this time? Oh…
They
only rediscovered an ancient city with lost nuclear technology and destroyed it
along with the last space pirate on the planet who had tricked the Galactic
Federation and escaped in time for breakfast.
That
was all that was on the peoples' minds after the greatest bounty hunters beat
the pirates into submission.
After
the confetti-flooded celebration, they all took a breather in Miss Gentes'
office. They clobbered the couches and hogged the chairs and were all just
loafing around until Miss Gentes came in.
She looked more tired than Samus, then
she clenched her hands as if she was squeezing something invisible. Then she
sighed and shook her head.
"Oh,
that man…what an idiot." Was all she managed to get out.
Almost as soon as she said it, Keaton
burst into the room with a frightened look on his face; he had never been
scolded by a lady before. He tried to explain what excuses he had. That really
got on her nerves.
She just walked up to the babbling
idiot and mugged him right in the gut. He let out all the air in him and keeled
over. This time, he had never been hit by a woman before. It hurt.
"Well, what shall we do now? Since the
galaxy has peace for another two weeks, we can all take a vacation…oh goodness!
I forgot about something I got for you, Samus."
Samus looked up and watched Miss
Gentes bring out a remote control and press a button on it. That button opened
up a panel in the wall in front of her and Samus was dumbfounded.
It was a database about Gul'Gen and
their habitat on Zebes. It was everything that Samus was looking for in her
life other than her long-lost brother. Miss Gentes saw the look in her eyes,
and said lightly, "Oh…………and before the shipwreck that the Chozo found you in,
your father………he…made a shipping deal with the Chozo. He wanted you to be a
warrior too. It was his death wish that you would be a warrior to fend off the
pirates. He had prepared this suit for you when you got big enough."
Miss Gentes pressed another button on
the remote and another part of the wall slid up to show silvery suit just like
the one Laguna had before he died. "It was the counterpart of your father's
suit. It is immune to both fire and water, something the Chozo put in separate
suits. It is now yours…"
"…I
know this is hard for you…but please…honor your father and Gul'Gen well. Do the
right thing for the galaxy…he wanted to do that…" she stared at Ridley, "…but
the pirates hunted him down. Now you are his dream. I give you the
Intergalactic Social Honor Award for all you have done for both humans and all
the species in the galaxy. Good luck in the future. We might see each other
around, Samus, Houston…" she paused, "…Ridley."
She took an honorable bow and smiled
and walked out into the cheering crowd of fans that she attracted away from her
office.
Samus just sat there with tears streaming
down her cheek, and Houston just sat there thinking out how much he knew about
his father.
Samus got the suit on and ginned at
Ridley.
"Hey…Ridley old pal! How 'bout a game
of freeze tag? Eh?"
Ridley started to panic, "Uh…bye!" He
flew off with Samus in hot pursuit. Houston was left in Miss Gentes' office and
checked out the bowl of popcorn on her desk. Hmmmmmm, this looks pretty
good…dinner and a nap.
* * * * *
"NOOOOOOOOO!!!
HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?! I ALWAYS WIN!"
"Just
face it Ridley, you're not good enough. You lost it OK?!"
"No
I did not lose it, I wanna rematch!"
"You
mean the twelfth rematch today? You're just humiliating yourself!"
"Go
suck on it, Samus…"
"Wanna
play tag?!"
"Fine…you
won."
Samus
was having a good day, she had beat Ridley eleven out of eleven times in a row
on Super Smash Brothers and this time with her character. She now really
was proud she could do something good with her life, and knew why she was here.
To whup Ridley's ass, that's
what…and to keep away from Houston's homemade pancakes…oh no…
Samus noticed Hardy walking in the front door
of her apartment.
"Geeeeez,
Hardy. A lot of people want to kill you right now…don't you have any form of
self defense?"
Hardy turned clockwise slightly to
reveal a Super Missile cannon, bigger than Miss Gentes' missile gun.
"Ohhh…I see. Finally deciding to play
with the big kids, eh?"
Hardy revealed a half-smile. At least
they forgot about his being obese. Maybe this day would turn out ok if no one
else tried to kill him.
"Well, since all of you look pretty
hungry you have the two choices of the usual: my tomato soup, Houston's
pancakes, Ridley's barbecue, or McDonalds. It's your choice but remember that
Ridley always burns it too far." And he added, "Remember, my soup is much
better than the trash made at McDonalds and more healthy than that nuked stuff
Ridley comes up with." Ridley growled at that, but Hardy wasn't intimidated.
Samus grumbled aloud and took a moment
to think. Maybe Hardy's soup improvised over time…looks like he would have to
show off for them once again…