Disclaimer: rights to Metroid and all things affiliated with metroid are reserved to Nintendo.

Separation

Ridley laid Samus on the floor in the command deck of the Archon. Houston and Owens, who were already there, thought she was dead since she was not moving. The skeletal dragon looked up and saw the humans horror struck faces and waved a clawed hand at them.
"She'll be fine, don't worry," Ridley felt like answering questions, not telling a story. he wasn't disappointed.
"Well what happened, why is she knocked out?" Owens asked.
"Prime was able to tap into her mind and partially take it over. she almost killed herself under his influence. Fortunately I got there in time to stop it happening."
"This is all my fault, I didn't even notice that she was gone. I owe her more then that," Houston sounded miserable, and hung his head in shame. Ridley was quite sickened by this. if there was one thing he hated more than Samus's ice beam, it was guilt.
"Oh shut up, just...shut up. It wasn't your fault. you couldn't have stopped it anyhow."
"Well what makes you so special?" Owens demanded. The dragon let out a sound similar to a sigh.
"When Prime went berserk and broke out of it's paddock on Tallon IV, the pirates called in the security team. Now, do you remember who the chief of security was?" He didn't wait for an answer to his rhetorical question. "When it broke out it began assimilating various objects. Weapons, computers, various pirates, and me. because I was so strong at the time I managed to survive the ordeal, but I was unwillingly bonded to prime from then on. Similar to Samus," He gestured to the body on the floor. "this is why I was able to get here in time to save her, and it is also why I was able to cause pain to prime from a mental link. so to answer your question, Jack, I'm special because I could hurt Prime because I'm linked to it, and Houston is not," he waited a moment to see if there were anymore questions; there weren't, so he prompted one of his own: "Houston, can you get us to Brak-Hon? Samus won't be up for about an hour, and we don't have that long."
"...Uh...yeah, ...sure," Houston stammered as he set a course for Brak-Hon on the navigational console by the captain's chair.

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The Worm grows stronger... It will consume all...consume...consume...
It cannot be stopped... it is...inevitable... consume...
It grows closer to it's destination... it will... consume!
All will...Perish! The... others will... CONSUME!
Kabraxis... will... consume...consume! CONSUME!

"CONSUME!" Samus was bolt upright in her bed. She was screaming again, except now she was screaming words. She put a hand to her head, she was in a cold sweat. She also had no idea where she was. it was pitch black. The lights flicked on, full blast, and Samus was blinded for a second.
"You have them too, huh?" Samus Shrieked again and yanked the laser pulse pistol from under her pillow. She aimed it directly at her old nemesis' smiling face, who was standing right in her bedroom.
"What the hell are you doing here?" She demanded a little too loudly.
"Oh, just making sure you don't do anything rash, like kill yourself while under the influence of a certain worm," Ridley retorted a little too casually. At hearing this, Samus fell back on her bed, suddenly remembering what had happened back on the SRV.
"So that really did happen?" she said, almost inaudibly.
"Unfortunately, do you remember completely?"
"Unfortunately."
"We will be at Brak-Hon in ten minutes, you couldn't have woken up at a better time."
"So, what, You're part of the team now?"
"I guess. Hell maybe I'll stay for a while, do some useful things for a change. Maybe I'll even have my life-long dream fulfilled..."
"Which is what?" Samus asked incredulously.
"To have an action figure of myself made, of coarse." and with that, Ridley walked out of the room, leaving a Samus Aran laughing until her sides pained her."
And so, the odd foursome, which included the blonde, the lumberjack, the soldier, and the scourge of the galaxy, walked once more into the little home of the old Chozo known as Gul 'Gen .
"Samus, are you all right?" he looked very worried.
"I'm fine, thanks to Skelator, here," she gestured to the dragon.
"How did you, oh nevermind," Owens said.
"Well, did you get the sample?" The old bird asked. Samus handed him the vial that contained the hunter metroid tissue. "Ah, excellent. Yes, I'm sure I could fix you up something along the lines of a "Siphon Beam." but it will take at least a few weeks, so keep checking in and I'll give you updates on the project. If it's all right, I'd like to borrow the services of Armstrong to help work with me on this project. I'd invite all of you to stay, but it would be too risky for you to stay in one place, Samus. Oh, and I also need your arm cannon, so you are going to be extra careful. Ridley and Owens will have to act as your bodyguards until the project is finished; it is imperative that you survive Samus, you are our only hope."
Samus hadn't even thought about the fact that she would have to relinquish her cannon, and it left her very nervous, it was like giving you credit card number out to a stranger. However, after a moment, she slowly punched in the line of code into the mini console on her cannon telling it to unattach itself to her arm. She handed it to the bird, who laughed.
"Do you forget that cannon must weigh over thirty pounds? just put it on that table over there, if you will." Samus obliged and looked at her trusty gun longingly, she felt naked. Gul 'Gen noticed her anxiety and attempted in vain to console her. "Samus, don't worry. You'll be fine. You have two great warriors looking after you. And you will be reunited with you gun in not too long of a time. Just try to relax and stay out of trouble." Samus didn't feel very relaxed.
"Well, I guess we better get going, the longer we stay here, the longer it will take you to make a new weapon. Right?" Owens piped up.
"He's right, Samus, we should go," The dragon said.
"I know, it just feels weird to be unarmed."
"Well, technically, you still have your bombs and your grapple beam," Houston said. "And you could always take up a rifle for once."
"True, but you know how I feel."
"Yeah"
"Well... Uh, bye, I guess." Owens said awkwardly. And the once four but now three walked out of the cottage and on to the Archon once again.

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Ridley had suggested that they go back to his planet, that no one, including Prime, had found him yet. And so they went to the volcanic planet once more. It was near midnight when their coarse had been set, and by that time all three of them were physically and mentally wrecked, especially Samus, so they all said their goodnights and went to their quarters to get some much deserved sleep. Samus was having a pleasant dream for once. She was dreaming about the metroid hatchling. It was nuzzling her and playfully nipping her arm with it's four sharp teeth. How it seemed to think that she was it's mother, and how it seemed to love her so much. She still had much regret, she wished that she had never turned the hatchling over to the GF, and then maybe... just maybe it would still be alive today. she dreamed it following her as she fought the space pirates, growing stronger, becoming a warrior, like her, as she guides it. and maybe it could have helped her even now, as she fights Prime. And maybe even-
There was a loud crash and the whole frigate shook and rocked violently. Her door swung open and Ridley ran in. Samus was awake instantly.
"What's going on? Are we under attack?"
"Oh, that's just the beginning. Prime knew where we were going! he already has a huge fleet bastioned at Firenzia!"
"WHAT?" Samus was already out of bed and activating her armor.
"See for yourself." Samus looked out her window: Ridley was right indeed, there where battleships everywhere around Firenzia.
"Well, we have to get this ship in hyperdrive! we need to get to the command deck!"
"It's too late, it would take too long to power up the warp engines. Besides, they're already inside," He was right, Samus could hear the mutants running around in her ship, looking for her.
"Why haven't they already just blown the whole ship up?"
"Hell if I know. Let's just get to the hangar, it doesn't look like they've found that yet either, thank God."
"God? your a Christian?"
"Now's not the time Samus, let's go. I'll discuss the my beliefs in religion later." They began running through the corridors. Ridley in front, Samus close behind. She was unarmed since she had forgotten her pistol under her pistol.
"Where's Owens?" Samus asked while running to keep up with the tireless dragon.
"I have no idea, he wasn't in his quarters when I checked," as a period to this sentence, three mutants turned the corner to face them. These ones were different, and even more terrifying, if that's possible. Samus was trying to figure out what was different about the when Ridley roared in fury and engaged in combat with all three at the same time. It was no contest. Two of the three mutants shrieked and ran at Ridley with there blades and tendrils raised. They slashed at the dragon, but their attacks never made contact with him. The great Fire Dragon incinerated the two creatures with his flaming breath and they promptly blew away as ashes. The remaining mutant raised it's tentacles and launched a huge bolt of flaming plasma through the ground at Ridley; it was just as effective as stabbing a tank with a blunt pencil. The flaming attack splashed off of Ridley and sparked around the corridor. The Dragon retaliated by impaling the foule creature with his tail, and when it wouldn't die, he commenced slamming the mutant against the steel walls of the corridor until it was nothing but a pile of organic jelly. Ridley let out a triumphant growl and began running once again.
"It feels good to ill something again." He said while running. I wish I could. Samus thought.
As they ran for the hangar bay and towards Samus' gunship they encountered dozens more of those mutants, all of which Ridley dispatched easily and gleefully. He seemed to be enjoying himself to an almost frightful level. When they were about three quarters of the way to the hangar Ridley suddenly seemed to have a convulsion. He fell to hiss knees and grabbed his head and shrieked until Samus thought his lungs would be ripped to shreds.
"...It's not...not...it's not you he's after..." The dragon looked terrified, and this scared Samus even more. "He's trying to... Take me!..."
"What? What the hell are you talking about? Prime's cracking into your mind? Ridley? RIDLEY!?"
"He knows... that he can't get to you... if I'm... here." He seemed to struggle with every word. "So he's trying to use me... to get... get... to... you." He let out a shriek of agony. The red dragon started to pulsate with a light blue glow. A blue ooze began seeping from his body. "Samus.... I do not have... much... time left... I can't... fight it. it's to... strong... You must go. run... as fast as you can... get away from me! Run to the... Hangar and do not... look back!"
"NO!" Samus yelled. "You can fight it! Your than him! Ridley FIGHT IT!" But it was too late. Ridley's eyes began to change color. They changed from their natural fiery yellow glow to a cold, menacing blue. "GO NOW SAMUS!!!" But Samus couldn't move. She was terrified. Absolutely terrified. She had never been this scared before, the most powerful creature she ever known was being overpowered before her eyes. She had no weapon, and she had no one to help her. She couldn't escape. She was going to die Right here. At the hands of the one she had put her life in. Ridley looked at her with his unnatural cold, blue eyes, and roared a terrifying, unnatural, mutant, roar. He raised his head and inhaled, Samus could see the burning plasma foaming in his jaws. She heard an explosion, and saw the Pseudo-Ridley knocked forward, it staggered, but did not fall. It turned around, and what she saw brought her out of her mental stupor and back to reality.
"Samus, Run! Get to the hangar! I'll hold him off until you get out of here! Now RUN!!!" It was Owens. He was dressed in a very advanced set of armor. It was bleached white and was plated with strong looking material. his head was covered with a streamlined helmet that had a jet black visor. In his hand, he held his favorite .45 caliber copper/lead projectile firing assault rifle, only now, it was outfitted with a smoking grenade launcher. When Samus saw this, she gave a silent thanks and made her final dash for the hangar. As she ran, she heard gunshots and explosions, roaring and yelling. They grew fainter as she ran. She met several mutants on her way, but she just ran past them. They dashed behind her, launching plasma at her. She finally made it to the hangar and made a desperate dash to her ship, she was pitifully low on energy and the mutants were continuing to fire at her. She half climbed, half fell into her ship and activated it's engines. She set a coarse on the navigational console and used the last bit of strength she had to hit the hyper-drive switch and she watched the stars around her blur as her ship sped up to the speed of light. Her last thoughts before she passed out were of what Owens had done for her, and how much gratitude she felt for him.

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The Archon falling apart the great battle between the soldier and the possessed dragon had destroyed a part of the ship dangerously close to the reactor core. And now the reactor has become unstable. Explosions rocked the freighter and sparks flew everywhere. A door opened in the escape pod docking room. A figure limped inside. The figure was clad in a white plated armor, and he carried an assault rifle with an attached grenade launcher. Jack Owens stepped inside an escape pod and activated the launch sequence. The pod popped out of the side of the dying ship and floated into space. The area was now deserted, after Samus and Ridley fled from the scene, the rest of the Mutant fleet followed suit. Owens dropped his gun and took a deep breath. He looked out of the small porthole at the Archon. It was going critical. Shockwaves were radiating from the carcass. It broke in half, and then the reactor could take no more. In a brilliant flash of light, the ship exploded and sent the small escape pod rocking violently, but it held. Owens found the rocking relaxing, and immediately fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

*Author's Notes: Well, that was a doozie. I stayed up until 2 in the morning writing that sucker. But I think it was worth it. I feel that was my best chapter yet. But I still would like to know what you think. so as always, please R&R and let me know I'm doing, thanks for reading!