Chapter 3: Reptilian Reunion
"Hey, alcohol boy!" A cranky voice penetrated the darkness. "Are you going to lie there all month? You're starting to stink, you know!" Slowly, painfully, Falcon opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Horzat.
"Ugh... this is not what I want to see first thing in the morning..." He muttered. Horzat glared at him and kicked him in the side.
"Screw you too, kid. I'm waking you up out of pure professionality. You had a lot of drinks last night, you know, and I figure if I let you sleep there for too much longer... well, let me just remind you that Power Suits don't have that particular function, unlike your species' early spacesuits. And I seriously do NOT need to be cleaning THAT off my floor, okay?"
'Thanks for sharing that with me." Falcon shot back, rising to his feet. He immediately winced. "Urgh... although you're probably right. If you'll excuse me." The bounty hunter immediately bolted for the men's room. Horzat stared after him for a moment, then sighed and shook his head. Stumping over to a closet and taking out a mop, the bartender began cleaning the spot on the floor where Falcon had been lying, stopping only to kick an empty mug behind the counter. Another passed-out drunk started snoring loudly; Horzat responded by stepping on the lush's face until he stopped. After several minutes, Falcon reemerged from the men's room, smiling.
"That took care of a lot of things."
"Don't go any further in depth on this subject." Horzat warned him. "Trust me, I do NOT want to know any more about your species'... well... that. I already found out way too much from Galactal Grographic." Falcon threw back his head and laughed.
"Don't worry; it's not one of my favorite conversation starters anyways."
"I can imagine why." Horzat commented dryly. "Much as I'd prefer not to." Suddenly, every one of the televisions in the barroom changed to an identical Federation symbol, despite each being on a different channel. "What the hell? Some kind of really important Federation announcement...?" Falcon frowned.
"Quiet. I want to see what this is about." The logo receded to the corner of the screen, replaced by a man in a Commander's uniform sitting behind a desk. The caption announced him as Commander Mark Todar.
"Citizens of the Federation, I come to you with horrible news. Space Station Ceres, a scientific research outpost, has been... completely destroyed."
"Say WHAT?!" Horzat screamed. Falcon's eyes grew wide.
"Ceres? Isn't that where...?"
"Where Matrix, the last Metroid is being held." The bartender nodded. "Yes, it is. Or at least, it WAS." He returned his attention to the screen.
"To those of you who had friends and family aboard Ceres, we of the Federation give you our greatest sympathy. I ask all who see this to show a moment of silence for those scientests who died today." He bowed his head for a moment, then returned to speech. "The culprit for this disaster is known to us. Many of you may have already guessed; but for those of you who haven't... it was the Space Pirates."
"Gee, I wonder who didn't see THAT one coming." Horzat muttered sarcastically. Falcon shushed him as Todar continued.
"The specific attackers were three Pirates; the Zebesians Ezer and Garan, and the Drakar Ridley, returned from the dead once more. The object of their attack was the last surviving Metroid, Matrix; he is now possessed by the Pirates. I need not tell you of the neccessity for recovering Matrix and chastising the Pirates as soon as possible. We assure you, we are doing everything we can to forward this. Even as we speak, the Egenoid Star Marines are preparing themselves for an assault on Zebes. In the meantime..." He coughed awkwardly. "In the meantime, we urge all the Bounty Hunters in the galaxy who wish to distinguish themselves to do so. Firstly, we are doubling the already-generous Bounties on Ezer and Garan. Secondly, as of this moment, the following Bounty is out." Todar was replaced by a still picture of Ridley, with text underneath.
Name: Ridley
Bounty: 1500000 (Dead) 3000000 (Alive)
Wanted For: Space Piracy Grand, Kidnapping, Murder, Mass Destruction, Larceny, Illegal Cybernetics Use, Organized Crime, Grand Theft Spacecraft, Grand Theft Science.
Species: Drakar
Dossier: One of the leaders of the Space Pirates, Ridley is Mother Brain's right-hand creature. Sly, cunning and wicked, Ridley is known for surprise attacks at high speed. Like Kraid and Mother Brain, Ridley was believed killed by the bounty hunter Samus Aran in the Zebes Disaster several years ago. However, he was revived by Phantoon and Draygon, and was forced to serve them under the orders Mother Brain had set down for this occasion, despite his anger. He was outfitted with cybernetic enhancements to destroy Samus Aran, but these failed him in the Tallon IV incident, and he has apparently discarded them in favor of his natural abilites. Several hours ago, Ridley attacked Space Station Ceres, murdered the scientests and stole the single remaining Metroid in existence. After a brief duel with Samus Aran, Ridley escaped and set Ceres to blow. Only highly experienced bounty hunters should attempt to capture Ridley.
Last Seen: Space Station Ceres
Home Planet: Draconis
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Falcon's face was stretched with a gigantic grin. "Tell me I'm not seeing things... is that Bounty really as big as I think it is?"
"Looks that way to me." Horzat grunted, his one eye wide. "That's almost enough to buy my bar if he's brought in alive!" The Bounty was replaced by Todar once again.
"Thirdly..." The Commander winced. "...I have been authorized to tell you that... until Matrix has been returned... all Space Pirate Bounties are doubled."
"WHOO-HOO!!!" Falcon let loose a raucous shout of glee and jumped up onto a table, ignoring Horzat's yelling. "All Space Pirate Bounties are doubled! The most beautiful words I've ever heard! Come on, you old codger, celebrate!"
"If you don't get off of my furniture, boy, I'm going to be celebrating the size of your hospital bill." The grumpy bartender snapped. Falcon clambered down, still grinning like a drunken duck.
"Yah, you old fraud. Anyways, I'll be off. This is the break I've been waiting for! I'm gonna be rich!"
"What are you talking about?" Horzat asked. "Where are you going?" The bounty hunter began walking towards the exit.
"To Zebes, of course! Everybody knows they've been rebuilding their forces there! It's a whole planet full of lottery tickets waiting to be cashed!" Horzat clomped over to him, and hit him over the head with his cane. "OW! What-"
"It's also a planet full of deathtraps!" The Ex-Pirate reminded him. "Take it from somebody who's not only actually been there, but been one of the bad guys! You're good, kid, but you're not Zebes good."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Falcon just laughed. "Look, Horzat, I won't tell you how to mix drinks, and you don't tell me how to hunt bounties, okay? I'll be fine. If Samus can take down Mother Brain, surely I can manage Ridley and some others! I need to get going now if I wanna get there first; the other Hunters will be swarming over Zebes like flies on a dead Snoork before long. Speaking of Samus especially; she's already got a head start! I'll be seeing you around!" Waving cheerily, he ran out of the bar, turned at the corner of the street and jumped into his Gunship. A few minutes later, the ship took off and flew away into the sky. Back at the bar, Horzat sighed and shook his head, mopping the floor.
"Damn fool... he's asking for an early death. Falcon's just not as good as Samus, no matter how hard he tries to pretend he is..." He stopped, thinking about the female bounty hunter. "I wonder how Samus is doing right now... knowing her, she's as mad as all hell and ready to kick some ass." He smiled faintly and resumed his work. "Maybe I should give her a call or something after I'm done here... no matter how tough you are, it's always good to have somebody to talk to."
***
"Well?" Ridley stretched and yawned hugely. "What's the prognosis, Doctor K?"
"You'll live." Kraid grunted, putting away his medical scanner. "For a little longer, at least. I wouldn't place any bets on your surviving the meeting with the boss lady. Why the hell did you let Aran get away? You had the perfect oppurtunity to get rid of her once and for all!"
"Yeah, but she was at her weakest." Ridley explained. "After the times we've fought, it wouldn't be right to take advantage of her like that to kill her. I want to beat her in REAL combat." He coolly glossed over the stupid mistake he had made. Kraid shook his head.
"You always were strange, Ridley... I don't understand you sometimes." The Drakar shrugged.
"Call it warrior's honor."
"Yeah, well warrior's honor won't save you from Mom." Kraid muttered. "You realize that once Draygon hears of this, he'll be gloating up a storm, right?"
"Ah, he'll be too busy ripping his scales out over that little trick we came up with." Ridley snickered, jumping off the table he had been resting on and walking towards the jungles of Brinstar. "You DID do it while I was gone, right?" Kraid smiled.
"Of course. The guy didn't really know what was going on, but I think he reasoned it was better than the alternative. Draygon's choking on his own webbing over the whole thing."
"ANYTHING would be better than going on Draygon's torture rack." Ridley said sourly. "Speaking of prisoners, have you managed to get anything out of those three Etecoons yet?"
"Nothing so far." Kraid mumbled, swatting a huge Zebbo bug. "They steadfastly refuse to teach our boys the Wall Jump. I'm going to ask Mom for permission to test on them as a means of incentive if they don't talk by tomorrow."
"Ooh... that should be fun." Ridley snickered. "I just hope your judgements on their physiology are correct... they won't be much use to us if they swell up and explode." Kraid spread his arms.
"Ridley, have you no faith in my scientific abilities?" They both laughed. "So, you turned Matrix over to Mom?"
"Yup." Ridley nodded. "Cute little fellow, actually. They're so sweet when they're babies."
"And then before you know it, they're all grown up and sucking the life out of you." Kraid said dryly. Ridley smirked.
"Don't worry, I'm not gonna get all soppy over the little parasite. Mom said she wants to try and multiply him. I wonder... ah, we're here." The two Pirate Lords entered the meeting room in Tourian, and were immediately greeted by an increase in noise, courtesy of Draygon.
"HE ESCAPED!" The Evir shrieked, livid. "THAT DAMNED BIRD ESCAPED!"
"Calm yourself, Draygon!" Mother Brain ordered him. "Now, I assume you are referring to the Dachura that we captured?"
"Yes..." He hissed, claws twitching. "He arrived on time, sure enough, but during the unloading, he somehow knocked out all the guards and got away!" Kraid and Ridley glanced at each other, and the corners of their mouths quirked upward slightly.
"Hmm..." Mother Brain thought. "We had no information whatsoever about the fighting abilities of the Dachura, but assumed they were of no threat. Quite obviously, we were wrong. Do you have any idea whatsoever of where it went?"
"None at all." Draygon admitted. "He made a clean break; nobody saw him. I've got my clan scouring Maridia, but no luck. I don't really expect anything, though; Dachurae are from a dry, arid environment, right?"
"Yeah, that's correct." Phantoon agreed with him. "Let's see; the only place under our direct control that fits that description is... Kraid, didn't you say that a good portion of Brinstar was undergoing a severe drought?"
"Well... yes." Kraid admitted. "It's a very bad drought, although even with it, Brinstar's not exactly dry and arid. Still, I'll have my guys comb the sector if it'll make you feel better. Just don't get your hopes up."
"I've learned never to get my hopes up about something you're undertaking, Kraid." The Elocto told him. Kraid grunted, but didn't rise to the bait. "Pressing on... I understand that Ridley's mission to capture the last Metroid was a success."
"Correctamundo, Phanty!" Ridley whacked Phantoon on the back in what was supposed to look like a brotherly thump. "Just like everything else I do!"
"Yeah, except for those one or two times involving Samus Aran." Draygon snickered. "You know, the ones where you died." Ridley waved a claw dismissively.
"Aaah, I'm over that. Aran showed up at Ceres, and I still got little Matrix, didn't I?"
"Well... yes." Draygon said grudgingly. "Although, you still couldn't kill her off..."
"That's enough, both of you." Mother Brain snapped. "Yes, the Metroid is here. Right here..." On a mental command from her, the right wall retracted, revealing a galdezium barrier. On the other side was a single, small, floating lifeform. Matrix.
"The last Metroid..." Kraid hissed, as he, Phantoon and Draygon all pressed up against the barrier. "So small... but with so much power..." Matrix twitched, acknowledging their prescence, but not moving towards or away from them. One by one, they returned to their places around the meeting table. "So, are you going to divide him by radiation again?"
"No." Mother Brain shook back and forth. "Matrix is too weak, too puny. He wouldn't be able to survive it. Kraid, have your cloning methods progressed any?" The Iz shook his head.
"I'm afraid not.. the clones are still horribly weak and as dumb as posts. Of course, that's only on intelligent life... I haven't tried it on unintelligents, so who knows. Hey, Phantoon, come here and let's find out." Phantoon rolled his eye.
"Har har."
"We'll try cloning Matrix." Mother Brain decided. "If it doesn't work out, then... we'll result to more...drastic measures. Is there any other business that any of you wish to bring up?" There was none. "Good. Meeting dismissed." The four commanders left, seperating into the normal pairs. Kraid sidled over to Ridley.
"There was actually one more thing, but I didn't want to bring it up; I'd sound like Phantoon, whining. Anyways... Samus Aran. She's going to be coming here again before long, Rid."
"Yeah, I know." The Drakar nodded. "She's gonna be rightly pissed and out for blood."
"Well, I for one will be ready for her." Kraid chuckled evilly. Ridley sighed.
"The Sys-Gro, you mean? I really wish you'd break off that stuff... it could still have some very nasty effects we don't know about."
"Aah, I'll be okay." Kraid smirked. "Sys-Gro's fine. And when Aran comes knocking... she won't be leaving." Ridley shrugged, resigned.
"Whatever you say, Kraid."
***
"Five minutes until contact with Planet Zebes." The ship's computer announced. Samus didn't move from her seat, piloting it closer. The yellow globe loomed up in her view, a familiar, deadly sight.
"So... after years, I finally return..." She whispered. "I knew all along, ever since Tallon IV, that I would fight the Pirates once again some day. And now, that day has come... but this time... it's personal. Matrix... I'll get you back. I promise." Further reflection was cut off by another message from the ship.
"Incoming vessel. It is the Hunter-class Gunship, Zero."
"Zero?" Samus blinked. "Isn't that-" Before she could finish, a blue ship blasted past at top speed, straight towards Zebes. The incoming transmission light was blinking; Samus hit it, and a man in a blue Power Suit popped up on the vidscreen.
"Hey, Samus! First come, first served on those bounties!"
"Falcon, you idiot!" Samus screamed. "That's ZEBES down there! This isn't-" But it was too late; he had cut the contact. Muttering a few choice words in Chozo, Samus gunned it and sped off towards Zebes. As she approached, she saw that the planet's surface was covered in Space Pirate operations. "Dammit... looks like they've been expanding the base. I won't be able to just go down into Brinstar right away like last time... well, there's no point in complaining about it. Computer, prepare for landing." The ship slowly came to a stop a few feet above the barren, rocky ground. It was only after she had exited the ship that Samus realized something else. It was raining.
"Figures..." She sighed. Tapping on a keypad in the ship's side, she activated the cloaking function, and it shimmered and disappeared. The bounty hunter then looked around for the Zero, but found no trace of it. "Well, it looks like Falcon's got a little bit of sense... enough to put his own cloaking device on, at least. I wonder where he's got to..." She shook her head. "Not my business. Falcon's a big boy; he can take care of himself. My job's to retrieve Matrix... and to kick some serious Pirate butt while I'm at it. I just hope there's still a bunch of Chozo treasures around." The universe had already made it blatantly clear how far she would get without upgrading her suit on Ceres. Starting off, Samus soon found a cavern with a blue, bulbous doorway in back. "As I recall, blue's the lowest security level... good." Samus muttered. "There's only one way to open these things. Blasting them." A shot from her Power Beam opened the door, and the bounty hunter walked right in. It slammed shut behind her, leaving her in the dark. Small, harmless green insects scattered as she carefully advanced to the back, where the passage turned vertical, leading downwards. Climbing down ledges, Samus soon found a pair of doors, opposite each other. One was blue, the other red. "Let's see... was red Level 2, or green? Can't remember... well, doesn't matter anyways. Either way, I can't get through right now. Blue door it is." On the other side of the door was a tiny room made of carved bricks. The only feature was a small tunnel.
"Figures I don't have my Morph Ball... I'll have to come back here later." Samus was forced to return to the cave, and dropped to the bottom, where a blue portal was in the floor. It led her to another horizontal tunnel; this one of red metal. It was also quite cold. Samus recognized it all too well. "This is.... the passage I took out of Tourian last time..." She climbed down the purple, rubbery ledges to the bottom. "And that means through this door is..." Stepping through, Samus beheld something she had never wished to see again. The chamber of Mother Brain. All traces of the glass casing and the evil lifeform it had held were gone, leaving wiring exposed; the lava pools had been drained; and the vast, mechanical defense system was deactivated. It still sent chills down her spine nonetheless. On the other end of the room was a door leading to... an elevator.
"I wonder where this goes..." Samus shrugged and rode it down. The blue tube came to and end in a blue cavern with gargoyle skulls carved into the ceiling and walls. It was also very familiar. "This looks exactly like the room I started in last time... but this can't be Brinstar. Something stinks here... I wonder if..." Climbing over a hill, Samus slipped into a side room and found what she had expected. A shining, golden globe about the size of a basketball waiting on a raised platform. A Chozo Morph Ball, which would give her suit its logic-defying ball mode. Even now, she hadn't figured out how it worked, and to her knowledge, there was no other Power Suit in the galaxy that could use it. Smiling for the first time since she had arrived on Zebes, Samus reached over and took it. As soon as she touched the ball, her suit shone with equal intensity, and its power was transferred. Unfortunately, her elation was short-lived; as soon as the transfer was complete, a bright spotlight on the celing shone right on her, and all the gargoyles turned to face her.
"Shit! Some kind of security system!" Morphing into ball form and rolling under the hill, Samus quickly ran through the door at the other end of the room. The next room had a raised ledge running across to a red door. "No going in there... but..." Climbing onto the ledge, she shot downward, and smiled as the section she had hit crumbled. "Thought so." She fell down to the hidden room below and went through the waiting door. The sight that greeted her there made Samus smile again. It was a Chozo statue. The ancient, mysterious species that had raised Samus had once lived on Zebes, Tallon IV, and many other planets. Though they were gone, the artifacts of their civilization remained; a Chozo statue would serve as the holder of such artifacts, each of which upgraded her Power Suit in some way. Samus walked up to the statue and looked into its eyes for a moment, then opened the capsule it held. A tank with a picture of a missile on the side. "A Missile Tank... excellent." Samus' missile launcher required Missile Tanks in order to hold the ammunition. Each one gave her room to hold five more. Climbing back up to the previous room, Samus looked at the red door, then shrugged. "Might as well give it a shot..." It took her entire supply of Missiles, but the door opened. "YES! Red was Level 2 after all!" Inside, the bounty hunter had her first encounter with dangerous wildlife; ceiling-clinging Skrees that dived at any intruders, and a giant, flying insectoid predator called a Reo. All of them fell to her Power Beam quickly. At the back of the room , through a tiny tunnel, another Missile Pack sat on a pedestal. There seemed to be nothing more down there, so the bounty hunter took the elevator back up to the remnants of Tourian. As she stepped out into Mother Brain's chamber, however, reality slapped Samus in the face. Hard. The long, empty chamber was crawling with grey-blue armored creatures whose arms ended in claws. Zebesians. Space Pirates. One of them turned around and saw Samus.
"There she is! Get-" His command died away as the Power Beam shot blew his head off. A rustling overhead attracted Samus' attention, and she fired straight up without looking. The corpse of the Zebesian who had been hanging on the wall above her fell down with a smoking hole through its chest. The others in the room began firing at her, using the natural blasters in their claws. Samus advanced, using the remains of Mother Brain's old protection system as cover. One by one, they fell, and Samus began climbing the escape shaft. It was also filled with Pirates, hanging on the walls and sniping her. As she climbed up, filling her missile tanks up all the way from the corpses, the bounty hunter noted that the lights were back on, showing that the metallic walls were really grey and not red with rust as she had originally thought. She then went back up the dark cavern as well, stopping by to investigate the blue brick room on the way and discovering that the tunnel was blocked by sandstone blocks.
"I'll have to remember to come back here after I get some bombs..." Samus muttered as she opened the red door across from it and blew away the bugs inside. At the back of the side passage was what Samus recognized as a Pirate Map Station, where she could download the map of this area of Zebes. "So, this section is called Crateria..." She realized, looking the map over as it downloaded into her power suit. Crateria apparently composed of Zebes' surface and the caverns directly underneath. There was also a wrecked Koben ship, near where her own ship was landed; its interior did not show up on the map. "I'll have to check that out..." Samus continued on her path back to the surface, dodging and blasting some native wildlife that had come out while she was below. Before long, the bounty hunter was once again on the upper portion of the cave. Wiping out a few hanging Skree; Samus checked out a tunnel in the floor and fell into another level. The cavern down there held a swarm of small, hostile insects called Mellow. They were easily disposed of, but the end of the cavern had another red door. Inside was a second Chozo statue. Samus opened the capsule and grinned; it had just what she needed. "Bombs." The Bomb upgrade for her Morph Ball mode. It would allow her to lay energy-based explosives in Morph Ball mode, and didn't require ammunition. She took it and turned to leave, but stopped as she heard a crumbling noise behind her, like rock breaking apart. The bounty hunter turned to see the Chozo statue's outer layer crumble. It blinked once, then stood up and shrieked a war cry at her!
"What the hell?!" Samus yelled. "This is impossible! What's-" She stopped as a bit of memory from her childhood rose.
"Many of our statues shall give their gifts to all who seek them." Old Ekhwo, her tutor, explained. "But some few shall seek to test those who take their treasures, as guardians. These shall be called Torizo, and woe to he who be not prepared for their wrath."
"This is worse than the ghosts of Tallon IV..." Samus muttered, firing off her Power Beam at the Torizo's chest. It advanced on her, ignoring the dents and chips with a rock-brained singlemindedness, and slashed at her with its claws. Samus took a cut across her arm, but continued blasting her opponent at point blank range, inflicting dreadful damage. Realizing this, the Torizo leaped backward to the other side of the room and opened its mouth again. This time, though, it was not sound that emerged, but a stream of fist-sized rocks. Caught by surprise, Samus was hit by a few before she destroyed the rest and resumed firing upon the Torizo. It advanced once more and regardless, and the bounty hunter decided to try a new tactic. A Missile in the face. The Torizo squawked in pain, but kept coming, and swiped at her once more. Samus jumped to the side and hit the statue with a second, forcing it to jump back again. It then opened its beak in preparation for another rock assault.
"Say AAAH!" Samus yelled as she leapt at the Torizo and shot her third Missile straight down its throat. The Chozo artifact could take no more, and the head exploded, showering Samus with gravel. She sighed and relaxed... then groaned as the headless Torizo began crashing around the room in a blind panic. "Oh, give me a break here! Just DIE, already!" She leaped into the air and fired her last two missiles into the neck stump, and the sentry finally collapsed into a pile of rubble. Samus looked at it for a moment, then turned and left the room, mumbling about not getting paid enough.
***
"So this is Zebes." The man in the blue power suit growled, looking at the dead Zebesians that littered the room. "So far... I'm not too impressed." Shaking his head, Falcon began scanning each of them for the bounties. Power Suit scanners had DNA identification that confirmed the bounties and made sure the hunter wasn't trying to pass off the same Pirate multiple times. The scanners also took bioscans to verify that they were dead. Once he returned to his ship, he could then transmit them to the Federation, and recieve his payment. When the last one had been scanned, Falcon left the room and continued. "So far, all I've found is small fry." He complained. "Where are the big guys? Hell, I'd even be satisfied with some of the mediums like Crocomire or Ezer & Garan..." The bounty hunter sighed. "Well, at least there's a lot of them. Money is money, I suppose. And at least I've got to have a lead on Samus; she doesn't bother taking the small bounties when she's on an attack like this." Falcon though about that a little more as he hiked along, idly killing a huge Zebbo bug. He smirked.
"I wonder how far she's gotten, since she's on her bare essentials. Of course, knowing her she'll repower her suit by finding some of that Chozo treasure. Wish I could get my hands on some of that stuff; I bet it'd sell for a nice hunk of change. Well, I've definately got a head start on her. Even if she catches up to me eventually, I should be able to nab one or two of the big boys before she does. I'm not TOO greedy, after all; I'd be happy to let her finish the job after that. I'm such a nice guy." Falcon chuckled as he killed another Zebesian and scanned it. "Of course, for that to take place I'd actually have to FIND some of the big boys in order to take them out, wouldn't I." He looked around at the green foliage and buzzing insects. "This is Brinstar. Now, who did Samus say liked to hang out in this place?... Kraid, that was it." He snapped his fingers and grinned; neither Samus nor Horzat had seen him looking at the early showing of Kraid's bounty in Horzat's bar at the night of the assasination attempt.
"Well, Kraid, you're not going to be on the market much longer.." Falcon muttered a threat to the image in his head of the fat Iz. "I'll be collecting the bounty on your scaly hide, and I'll bring Horzat back your head as a present. He'll give me free drinks for life! Ha ha ha!" Lost in his imagined reverie, Falcon tripped over a bush and smashed right into a green door. Cursing, the bounty hunter stepped back and prepared to open it with a Super Missile. As he was about to, however, the door opened by itself from the other side. Falcon found himself facing a green, bipedal bird about the same size as him with a head crest. Nonplussed, the bird stood blinking at him for several seconds, and Falcon couldn't do much but blink back. Finally, he whipped his blaster up, but the bird was faster, trampling him flat and rushing past into the jungle foliage. By the time Falcon had risen again, it was long gone.
"What was that...?" He wondered as he walked through the door. "Didn't look like native wildlife, and it didn't seem like a Pirate... at least, it didn't seem interested in fighting. Some kind of scientest, maybe? A civilian, without any kind of combat skills, in the wrong place at the wrong time... yeah, that could be it. He was just lucky to surprise me like that, or I would have blasted him on... whoa!" He had emerged into a completely different kind of Brinstar. Dry and arid, the tunnels which had previously been rich with green life were now hard red clay and sand. "This is wierd... some kind of drought, I suppose. Kraid must be blowing his third eye about this... heh heh heh." Chuckling, the bounty hunter began hiking through the desolate wastes. Before too long, he discovered that the only water in this section of Brinstar were tepid pools at the lowest depths, inhabited by nasty, huge eels with impenetrable exoskeletons. They had a tendency to sink their pincers into anything they thought was edible, which meant everything they saw. That included blue power suits, much to Falcon's annoyance. He managed to get past them in one piece, though, and trudged onward through a dark tunnel. The bounty hunter emerged inside a Galdezium tube... underwater.
"So this is where all the water's been going..." He realized, looking through to the other side. Unknowingly, Falcon had accidentally stumbled upon Maridia, the ocean world of the Pirate territory. Many of the great artists of the galaxy would have swooned upon seeing the bizarre beauty of the golden sands, blue waters, and most of all, the strange and dangerous yet amazing creatures that swam through it, from the fiercely familial Tatori to the burrowing Owtch. However, Falcon had no eye for such wonders; to him, beauty was in money. He walked on, blissfully unaware of the burning pair of eyes staring after him from a clump of water plant. Once he was gone, the leaves parted to reveal an Evir, of Draygon's clan.
"A bounty hunter.. the Draygon must hear that they are coming to Zebes now." Without another sound, he swam off to make his report. Meanwhile, Falcon had found an elevator down to another sector, but journeyed past it in favor of sticking to Kraid. He found a blue cave with a large, hideous gargoyle. Inspecting the seeming dead-end closer, the bounty hunter discovered a passageway in the statue's mouth, leading to what seemed to be a seperate area of Brinstar. "He's gotta be near... I have to be getting close to him." It was only a short time before his prediction was shown to be accurate. A few cramped, narrow rooms later, Falcon suddenly emerged in a very long, spacious hall of green metal. Halfway down, the ceiling lowered and had several metal blades sticking out, with a pair of purple jewels set evenly above. The effect was of the upper jaw of some giant beast. And at the end of the hall... was a fat, green Iz, slightly taller than a human, who was bald. "Kraid! There you are!" The bounty hunter announced triumphantly. Hearing this, the Iz turned and glared at him.
"Who...? Enemy? Die!" Hissing, he began firing the spikes from his abdomen like bullets, straight at Falcon. The bounty hunter was no slouch, however, and Kraid's rate of fire was slow. Ducking and jumping, rolling and hurdling, Falcon slowly made his way down the hall. At the midpoint, he swung from the indentations that held the purple jewels (trying for a moment to wrench them out of their sockets as he did, but failing). Kraid kept up the barrage with a mindless intensity, not reacting when Falcon sprang right in front of him and grinned.
"See ya later, fatboy." With that quip, he fired a Super Missile, then leaped back and prepared another. But it was unecessary; as soon as the heavy-grade projectile exploded, Kraid did as well, splattering all over the room. Falcon stared. "Well, that was easy..." He muttered after a few moments. "There was something odd about his speech, too... I thought Kraid was supposed to be a brilliant scientest, but he was talking like some kind of primitive Preevolutionary back there..." As the bounty hunter bent over to take a scan, he realized for the first time there was another door in front of him. "Hmm... maybe there's some kind of treasure back there? Worth a shot..." Smiling, Falcon walked on. Avoiding some spikes in the ceiling and floor, he came across a huge eye that was exactly the same height and width as a Pirate door. "The hell? Must be some kind of guard... open wide, blinky!" A Super Missile dissolved the eye, and the door opened. Falcon looked inside... and screamed in absolute terror.
Less than a moment later, he stopped screaming, never to make any kind of sound again.
***
"Aha!" Samus exclaimed. The bluebrick tunnel had held another Missile Tank at the end, bringing her total up to 15. Now, she had discovered that the back wall on the top level of the cave held a secret passage, accessible with her Morph Ball Bombs. "Now, where does this lead..." As it turned out, it led to a downhill-slanted tunnel, moist, and dank with huge mushrooms growing and purple mold on the walls. Flying critters called Wavers flitted around, but were easily shot down. At the bottom, Samus frowned; the purple mold was on the floor, and it didn't look particularly stable. "Some sacrifices have to be made..." She sighed, and began wading through. It wasn't too long before she discovered another downside; inability to see obstructions. In other words, she tripped and fell. "Ugh..." Cursing, she fished out whatever she had tripped over... and brightened. It was an additional Energy Tank for her Power Suit, which would double the amount of damage it could take before being destroyed. It was also, unfortunately, covered in the mold. Making a face, Samus let her suit absorb it. "Double ugh. I just hope this stuff isn't poisonous or anything." She hastily moved forward to get out of the disgusting cavern... and ran right off a ledge in the next room, falling right in front of the startled Zebesian. It was hard to tell who was more surprised, Samus or the Pirate. Then, they simultaneously whipped up their blasters and fired. The Pirate's shot sizzled against Samus' armor, but her shot ricocheted off harmlessly. "What the-?" It was then that she noticed for the first time that it was green. "Wait... could this be that stuff about adapting the Chozo suit upgrades Horzat told me about..?"
"Correct, hunter!" The Pirate cackled. "I'm a V-Level! Your puny beam can't scratch me!"
"Oh, really." She smiled grimly as her blaster visibly changed into the Missile launcher. "And what about Missiles?" The Pirate paled, going celery-colored.
"Well, um... crap." He exploded with one shot. Samus sniffed the smoke left behind.
"Yeah, I figured as much." She commented as she climbed down more ledges, eliminating each one of the V-Level Pirates the same way and taking Missiles off their corpses to resupply. At the bottom, a red door and a blue door awaited Samus. "Decisions, decisions..." She looked from one to the other, then opened the red door with five Missiles. It led to a long, very cold tunnel. There was actually frost on the steel, and the bounty hunter could see her own breath. She walked down to the end, past many flashing orange lights, and went into the next chamber... then jumped back in surprise at what she found in there.
The small, green chamber was carved roughly out of rock, not smooth and neat like other caverns. At the center, the floor dipped into a pool of water. And in that pool... was the sole reason for this room's existence. A huge, golden statue of four beings. A fat, bald, lizardlike Iz with glowing emeralds in its three eye sockers. An insectoid Evir back-to-back with it, eyes replaced by sapphires. A bizarre, tentacled Elocto leaning against their sides, a topaz as its single eye. And perched on top of them all was a dragonoid Drakar, staring forward with a pair of rubies. All the gems pulsed as if they were alive. Samus had seen this before... she knew what it meant.
"Lifeforce statues... they deactivate when the being they were modeled after dies." She recognized two of them by the third spike on the Iz's abdomen (most only had two) and the chest scars of the Drakar. Kraid and Ridley. From there, it wasn't hard to guess who the other two were. "Phantoon and Draygon. But if I need to kill all of them to get through here... what IS down there? Tourian was completely destroyed... maybe Matrix is being held there. The old 'defeat us all, and you can take him' thing. That DOES seem Ridley's style, come to think of it..." Whatever was down there, she wasn't getting in for a long time. Samus made a mark on her map of Crateria, then turned and left, going on in the opposite direction. To another mushroom and mold cave. Groaning, Samus ran through as quickly as possible. The next room, however, held something much more welcoming. An elevator, leading downward. A scan told Samus that it led to the underground jungles of Brinstar, where she had began her assault last time. Kraid's territory.
"About time..." The bounty hunter muttered as she rode the elevator down. Unlike barren, rocky Crateria, the world of Brinstar was filled with life. Samus couldn't help but smile as she saw the flora everywhere. "I'll give Kraid this. This place has excellent decor." Blasting some crawling insects, she climbed down the vertical shaft until she found a pair of red doors facing each other. Choosing one, she entered it and saw an insect's nest with a ledge overhead. Climbing on, Samus beheld a flat, straight path. Shrugging, she stepped forward... and fell through the floor. Muttering curses, Samus looked up to see what was now the ceiling reform. One-way breakaway blocks that crumbled whenever anything stepped on them, then reformed, and were indestructible otherwise. However, on the bright side, another Missile Tank was sharing the room with her. After snagging it, Samus found a block in a wall could be destroyed by her Bombs, putting her behind the nest she had seen earlier. After getting back up on the ledge, Samus tried running across... and had similar results.
"Obviously, I'm not getting over there..." She muttered, returning to the vertical shaft and taking the opposite red door. She was immediately assaulted by a Sidehopper, a deadly predator insect. The beast's claws took a nasty chunk out of her suit's shield energy before she splattered it with a missile. At first, this steel room seemed to be a dead-end. But Samus had learned that Pirates NEVER made useless dead-ends. She was right; a little experimenting with Bombs turned up a hidden tunnel that took her to the Map Station. Upon downloading it, the bounty hunter immediately located a section designated "Kraid's Lair"... on the other side of Brinstar. "Just as well, I suppose... I definately want to power my suit up a little more before going head to head with El Tubbo. Hmm..." Looking around the map some more, Samus saw an oddly-labeled room. "'S.S.'? What's that mean? Sounds interesting... I'd better go check it out." Returning to the vertical shaft, Samus dropped to the bottom, where two more red doors waitied silently. "Lessee... the door on my right leads to 'S.S.'... but there's a Missile Station on my left. I need a refill." Opening the left door with her last five Missiles, Samus avoided a few firefly-like Fire Fleas and restocked her ammunition, then went back and took the right path. The narrow tunnel was filled with a pink, sifting dust... pollen? At one point, it was thick enough to block the path, but some bombs removed the obstruction. At the end, the tunnel went into an intersection, where Samus could go up or down. "S.S." was upward, so the bounty hunter took that path, blasting territorial Zebbo bugs defending their nests as she clambered around the pollen formations. Another red door was at the end of it all. Five Missiles later, she walked through, and found herself face to face with a human-sized, humanoid flying insect. They both screamed, and Samus blew it to smithereens with a Missile.
"What the HELL was that?" She wondered as she walked on, idly noticing that she was out of the thick pollen tunnels and surrounded by green jungle once more. Then she saw the other two.
"A bounty hunter..." The first hissed.
"Kill it!" The other yelled. Then they both dived. Samus killed one, but took a slash from the other's handclaws before she could waste it.
"They can talk...?" She wondered. "I've never seen them before... some kind of isolated intelligent species the Pirates made a deal with...?" The bounty hunter shook her head. "I can look them up later. According to the map, 'S.S.' should be in the room right above me..." Looking up, Samus saw a blue door hatch in the ceiling. She jumped through and landed in the room above. At first glance, it seemed to be nothing more than a normal room of Brinstar, covered in green plant life, with a ceiling too high for her to reach. Then she saw a sign. "Hmm?"
Botanical Mutation Experiment 120 Spore Spawn-Kraid.
"So, 'S.S.' means Spore Spawn... and it's an experiment of Kraid's." Samus realized. "But what IS it?" She blinked as a small yellow tuft of pollen wafted down. "Huh?" Looking up, the bounty hunter realized the answer to her question, as a gigantic THING pushed its way out of the foliage on a wall. It was a tremendoeus plant; the main portion looked like some vegetative clam, with two shells clamped shut tight. They were covered in thorns as big as Samus, and tufts of that yellow pollen, which shook off as it moved. One of them touched her arm, and she yelled; the stuff was acidic enough to hurt. Spore Spawn was connected to the wall by a vine that had to be at least three feet thick; now that it had spotted her, it began waving about, releasing more deadly pollen while trying to slam into Samus.
"Why does everything on this planet want to kill me?" The bounty hunter complained as she shot at the pollen and Spore Spawn. Her blasts incinerated the first, but fizzled harmlessly againt the second. "Just once, I'd like to see some friendly wildlife!" A Missile to Spore Spawn was equally ineffective. "Dammit, Kraid's armored this thing well..." The plant swooped down at her, and Samus dived to the side. As she did, Spore Spawn's shells slid apart, revealing a golden fruit at the core. "Ooh... methinks I see a weak point!" She fired a Missile right into the fruit, and several pieces were blown off. She repeated the attack, and Spore Spawn squealed, closing back up once more and renewing its attack at increased speed. Samus jumped, dodged and dived, shooting pollen down, until it opened once more and she Missiled the core twice again. Screeching in vegetative fury, Spore Spawn closed and flung itself around, lashing through the air insanely. Samus was slammed against a wall by it; the creature was too fast now for her to dodge.
"How can I... oh, I know." Smiling, the bounty hunter curled up in the Morph Ball and let her senses guide her, avoiding the faint hiss of descending pollen and waiting for the noise that signified Spore Spawn exposing its core. The moment it was heard, Samus uncurled and leaped into the air, firing her Missiles once, twice, thrice. The golden fruit at Spore Spawn's core was completely pulped. Forcing its shells together, the plant beast tried to pull itself back up, retreating into the wall foliage. It was only halfway up when, with one last sigh, Spore Spawn's green shell became dry and brown with death. As if starting a chain reaction, all the other plant life in the room became brittle brown as well.
"Thing must have been connected to all the other plants here..." Samus realized as she jumped onto the enemy's corpse, which now provided a supporting platform to reach the hole in the ceiling that led up to a metal platform and door. "I always hated biology..."
***
"Okay, here's the plan." Ridley paced back and forth, arms clasped behind his back. "Mother Brain has put you under my command, so you're going to be down here in Norfair. I know it isn't your favorite type of environment, but that's the way things go sometimes. Just stay out of the lava... stuff'll melt the flesh right off your bones. Seriously, just like ice cream." He turned to face his new underling. "Unless, of course, your skin is designed to withstand temperatures over a thousand degrees farenheit, like mine. But that's not the case with you." The Allgor serial killer, Crocomire, didn't respond; he hadn't moved an inch during Ridley's talk. "Now, then. See this hall we're in? Your job is to just wait here. If any bounty hunters, particularly Samus Aran, come in, you kill them." He shuddered slightly. "And then, yes, you can eat them if you want. Ugh. I'm even having a wall of spikes constructed that'll block off the way onward, so they can't get away from you." The Drakar looked over his shoulder. "How's that wall coming, boys?" Ezer and Garan simultaneously groaned.
"Coming along fine, boss."
"Wall's looking good, boss."
"Nice, nice." Ridley grinned without any trace of happiness. "Keep up the good work, and maybe I'll forgive you for that little screwup of yours back on Ceres. Maybe." He shifted his gaze back to Crocomire. "Well, that's it. Nice and simple, isn't it? Any questions?" Crocomire still didn't move, staring blankly at the Drakar. Ridley's smile evaporated. "Hey, pal, a simple yes or no would be nice. You know? Yes, no?" He suddenly remembered something, and looked skyward in despair. "Oh, Nodal. You're from the Far Side. You don't speak a word of Galactic, do you?" The Allgor continued staring at him. Ridley walked over and began waving a hand in front of his face. "Hey, Crocy! Can you understand anything I'm saying? Ugh, what was it... um... uia kizvos... bi ytu ryzzjo? HEY!" He leaped back as Crocomire's jaws clashed shut on where Ridley's arm had been a moment before. "Why you..." He opened his beak, preparing to teach the violent killer a firey lesson, then sighed and stifled it. "Aaah, to hell with you. You're not worth it. Ezer, Garan, make sure he stays here. When you've got that wall done, you can take five." Muttering to himself, the Drakar took off, down towards the deepest recesses of Norfair. Crocomire watched him go, unblinking and unmoving once again.
"Ah, home sweet home..." Ridley smiled as he arrived in his personal quarters. Opening a can of I brew, he sat in a cushioned stone chair and brought down a hanging computer monitor, opening up a communications link with Kraid in Brinstar. The bald Iz's head appeared on the screen.
"Hey, Rid. You finished telling that new guy Crocomire what to do?"
"You could say that." Ridley rolled his eyes. "It didn't work out too well, mainly because the guy only spoke Mydiene. I tried getting through to him, but all I got was nearly a chunk taken out of me."
"Oh?" Kraid asked curiously. "I know Mydiene... what'd you say to him?"
"I just asked him 'uia kizvos bi ytu ryzzjo?'" The Drakar told his friend. Kraid jumped, then began laughing.
"Oh, hell. No wonder he tried to chomp you!" Ridley frowned.
"Why? What does it mean?" Kraid told him. Ridley paled. "I said THAT?"
"Yuuup."
"Oy... can't really blame him, I guess. I just hope he never tells his mother that I said that about her. I'll have Mom talk to him tomorrow." The Drakar took a sip of his alcohol. "This connection's secure, right?" Kraid adopted a look of injured pride.
"Rid, I'm almost insulted you would think it otherwise."
"Just making sure." Ridley assured him. "So... how's our little birdy been doing?" Kraid's face shifted to a grin.
"Great. The Dachura's still running around through Brinstar; it never stops moving for long. Smart bird. I've got some of my loyalists making rudimentary searches for it, but the thing's too good; they never manage to catch it." Ridley snickered.
"What a shame."
"Yeah, isn't it? He actually ran into a bounty hunter once; the idiot tried to shoot it. Fortunately, the Dachura was able to dodge and escape, or the game might've ended right there." Ridley's head perked up.
"A bounty hunter? Already? Geez, word travels fast these days. Was he the only one?"
"So far." Kraid nodded. "And he ain't around no more. He was pretty good; good enough to cap one of my clone guards, at any rate. I still killed him, though. I detest people who interrupt my experiments. Speaking of which, I lied; there is one more bounty hunter in Brinstar right now."
"Samus?" Ridley guessed. The Iz nodded again angrily.
"Got it in one. She just wiped out my Spore Spawn experiment on the native plant life, damn her. I spent months on that! Months! Just for that, I'll make her death nice and slow when she gets down here."
"It's what she does." Ridley shrugged. "Ruin things for us. I think that's her main goal in life; continually screwing everything up for the Space Pirates. And she's good at it; you gotta admit that."
"True." Kraid agreed. "It's really too bad she's coming after me first... I'd have liked to have had her kill Phantoon and Draygon before I squish her. Just to even things up between those two and me."
"She probably could, too." Ridley grinned. "She's a tough one... it's a real shame she hates us so much. We would OWN the galaxy if she was on our side. But when I offered her the job back when we first met, she just laughed."
"Hold on a sec..." Kraid grunted as he pulled up some files. "Let's see here... Phantoon did some digging on Aran. Turns out that before the Chozo took her in, all her family were killed in one of our attacks. The space cruiser Pykasye."
"Pykasye, Pykasye..." Ridley thought, tapping his claws. "About... twenty-five or so years back, give or take a couple, I believe. Ezer & Garan's father, Zeral, was in charge of that operation. Well, that would do it, I suppose. Explains why Aran always goes after us... what a waste of talent." He sighed. Kraid raised his center eyebrow.
"You almost sound like you admire her, Rid."
"I'm a Drakar, Kraid." Ridley reminded his friend. "Combat and worthy opponents are very important to us. Samus Aran is the only creature who's ever beaten me since I was a whelp, not once, but twice. Hell, my dad would tear himself out of his grave, hijack a shuttle, fight his way down here and strangle me if I didn't show her some respect. It won't stop me from killing her in a fight next time we meet, though, if you were wondering that. Battle respect encourages it, actually."
"Good." Kraid grunted. "Still, don't tell this to Draygon. Or Phantoon."
"Oh, Nodal no." Ridley agreed. "Those stinking sneaks wouldn't understand battle respect if it bit them on the ass." He sighed. "I'd better get back to work. See ya later, Kraid." The Iz smiled.
"Later, Rid." The screen went blank.
***
"Well, this is just great." Samus groaned. She was standing back in a pollen tunnel... at a dead-end. The only thing there was a discarded Zebbo nest. Sighing, Samus sat down on it... and fell through it, down a long shaft. "Oh, that's a cute trick..." She landed right in front of a Chozo statue. "On second thought, I want more tricks like that!" The statue held a welcome gift; Super Missiles, the next level in artillery. "About time I got a tank of these." This was the first time she had gotten her hands on a Super Missile tank; the Chozo had used them in a different, more complex way, and the Federation had only discovered them recently and built them in a form that used ammunition. Grabbing the Super Missile tank, Samus exited through the door behind her. A few more Zebbo nests later, the bounty hunter found a green doorway. "Level 3 security doorway... good thing I found these." She opened the door with a Super Missile. Through it was what seemed to be a dead-end, save for one metal block in the wall. She scanned it. "Cordite. I repeat my previous statement." She disposed of it with the same weapon, Morph Balled, and traversed the tunnel, continuing onward once she came out. The bounty hunter dropped down to a lower floor, then stopped as she heard a crunch.
"What was that?" Looking down, she discovered that she had stepped on a Missile Tank buried in the pollen. "Bonus!" Moving on, she saw a hill of pollen. There was a small space between the top and the ceiling for her to Morph Ball throuhg, but also, at the bottom, there was what seemed to be hardened lump of the pollen. She Bombed it and crawled through... and fell into a hidden chamber. Uncurling, she found another Chozo Statue. "Come on, beam upgrade... Missiles are nice, but I really need to get something better than my normal Power Beam." Her hopes were answered; the Chozo Statue held the Charge Beam. "I didn't know they had these on Zebes... must have overlooked them on my first trip through." Unlike every other beam, the Charge Beam was a supplement to each type that allowed Samus to charge up a more powerful blast, as its name suggested. Returning to the main path, Samus opened another green door and smiled. Finally, she was out of the pollen tunnels and surrounded by green jungle once more. The downside however, was that this section was infested with bugs, both the nesting Geegas and the predatory Sidehoppers. Fortunately, her new charged blast was more than adequate to destroy them. Whistling a tune as she skipped downhill, she saw a portcullis with a beam-target above it. The bounty hunter shrugged and opened it, then walked through... and jumped as it slammed shut behind her.
"One-way... dammit." Irritably killing a couple more Sidehoppers, Samus advanced to a tunnel inhabited by nasty, walking cacti. Disposing of them as well, she moved on. She immediately stepped back in shock. "What the hell?" For a moment, she thought she had accidentally strayed into Norfair. There was no sign of any plant life, and the walls and ground were red and dry. It was like... "A drought? Geez... Kraid probably hates this. First time me and that creep agree on something..." Falling down a long vertical shaft, Samus dodged armored Rippers and landed between a green and a blue door. "Go after the more important door." Using her second-to-last Super Missile, she opened the green door and found an Energy Station, which would completely recharge all her energy tanks. It was a quick fix on repairing damage. Actual physical damage would have to be taken care of back at her ship. Returning to the path onward, the bounty hunter found some small, stagnant pools of water. "Is this the only water in this place?" A bit of dust fell on her head. "Eh?" Looking up, she saw a overhead ledge, too high for her to reach. She made a mental note to come back, and went on, jumping over snakelike Yapping Maws and entering a damp tunnel.
"Looks like the drought's over... WHOA!" She had emerged into a Galdezium tube, deep underwater. Her map didn't show this room; a break between the rest of Brinstar and the section labeled Kraid's Lair. "Huh... bizarre." Shrugging, she went on; this could be dealt with later. At the end of the tunnel was an elevator, going down. There was only one place it could lead. "Norfair." Samus muttered as she rode it down. Norfair was a land of lava caverns, of heat and flame in the deepest recesses of the planet. It was also Ridley's favorite hangout. "Let's hope I don't run into him..." She said to herself as she dropped down the vertical shaft that it seemed every elevator led to, trying doors as she went. She was thus rather unfortunately reminded that most of Norfair was hot enough to cook her in her power suit. "I'm gonna need the Varia Suit before I can go through most of these places..." She sighed as she reached the bottom of the shaft and the last two doors. "The red one first." Inside was a much better surprise than lava; another Energy Tank, just lying there. "Cool... but this smells bad." Taking it, she turned and saw the door had sealed itself. "Shit." Looking around, she found a passage in the floor and crawled through it. On the other end was a door with a high ledge over it, once again too high to reach. "Doesn't look like I've got much of a choice." Entering the door, she found yet another Chozo Statue, this one holding High Jump Boots. Walking back out, Samus tried them out and clambered onto the ledge. From there, she took a hidden tunnel back into the main vertical shaft, nabbing another Missile Tank on the way. Then, it was back up to Brinstar.
"Let's see what's up there above those pools..." The bounty hunter got off the elevator and turned to leave, but stopped. "Are those..." Inspecting the back of the elevator room, she discovered that it was built out of Cordite, which Super Missiles could destroy. "In a moment..." Returning to the pools of water in the drought section, Samus jumped up to the overhanging ledge she had seen earlier and found a Chozo Statue. "Brinstar's just full of these things, isn't it? I just hope it's not another Torizo..." It was not. The statue held the Spazer Beam, an enhanced version of her Power Beam that fired three blasts at once. "Not as good as the Wave or Ice Beams, but it'll do." Returning to the elevator room, Samus blew out the back wall with her last Super Missile. On the other side was a slimy blue cavern; the main feature was a hideous gargoyle high on the far wall. Through its gaping maw, Samus could see a door. Below it was written "Kraid's Lair."
"It's time for a reunion with the reptile." Samus whispered as she jumped into the lair. She found herself inside mechanical tunnels, ancient and decrepit; whatever they were originally designed for hadn't been used in ages. Now, the halls were home to various scientific experiments. Samus ignored them, moving through the yellowed tunnels with a grim single-mindedness. More of the sentient flying insects she had encountered near Spore Spawn and green-armored Zebesians dived at her, shrieking threats, but she Missiled them all. Before long, the bounty hunter emerged in a very long, spacious hall of green metal. Halfway down, the ceiling lowered and had several metal blades sticking out, with a pair of purple jewels set evenly above. The effect was of the upper jaw of some giant beast. And at the end of the hall... was a fat, green Iz, slightly taller than a human, who was bald.
"Samus Aran! I kill you! You die!" It bellowed, launching its abdominal spikes at her. Samus frowned and advanced on it, jumping and ducking the salvos.
"I've been through this routine before..." During her first trip to Zebes, Kraid had attempted to trick her with a clone of himself. It was much weaker, and as dumb as a stump, but it had almost worked. This Iz had all the marks of the same thing. Reaching it, Samus fired a pair of Missiles. The Iz screamed and died. "Yup. Just a pathetic clone." She walked through the door, stepping on the corpse as she passed. The next chamber had several spikebeds on the ceiling and floor, as well as another overhanging ledge. Up there was a room containing both an Energy Station and a Missile Station. Refilling, Samus then dropped back down and crossed the room. She frowned; before the door was a mass of small, green scavenger bugs. As she approached, they flew off in flight. Samus immediately wished they hadn't. It was Falcon.
"Oh, god..." Running over to his side, the bounty hunter saw that her friend had been impaled on a huge spike, as big as she was. She removed the helmet and confirmed it; the dead man was Falcon beyond any doubts. "You idiot... I tried to warn you..." She stumbled away, trying not to throw up, and felt tears coming to her eyes. The voice of old Ekhwo, her Chozo tutor came to her.
I sense a kindness in you, young one, something that the most fearsome warriors in the galaxy do not have... no matter how many times you see death, the end of a close friend will never become a casual thing to you... I both admire, and pity you for this...
"Dammit..." Samus felt her grief turning to anger. "That's twice Kraid has ruined the life of one of my friends..." Forcing herself to stop crying, she returned to Falcon and arranged the corpse in a position of repose, then incinerated him with her Power Beam. "I'm sorry I can't give you a burial... but I'm not going to just leave you for the bugs to chew over. And I will avenge you... I swear it." She checked her ammo. "30 Missiles and 5 Supers... it'll do. Time to pay the piper, Kraid..." She walked over to the door. Before she could enter, though, it transformed into a grey, fleshy lump. "What the-?" The lump split down the middle, revealing a golden eye, which began firing at her. "Some kind of door guard... you won't stop me." Three Missiles destroyed it, and Samus entered. It was a long, narrow hall; a few feet away from the door, the floor was covered in foot-long thorns up to the last few feet.
"All right, Kraid, where are you?" Samus growled, looking around for any signs of life. There were none. "Damn... could he have gone somewhere-" She broke off as the entire room began shaking, as if some massive earthquake was striking. And then, in a colossal spray of earth, a humongous, three-eyed, bald reptilian head emerged from the thorns! It was Kraid... and he looked to be the size of a building! As Samus stumbled backwards, unable to speak from shock, the Iz forced his arms up and used them to pull himself out up to his chest. He yawned, and his eyes shone.
"Samus Aran... I was having a nice nap before you showed up." He looked down at her. "You look surprised, Samus. It's been a long time... have you no words of greeting for an old friend?" He laughed.
"...Kraid? What... what..." She stammered. The Iz laughed even louder.
"Speechless, Samus? Is it because of my size? A new look, I know. After Draygon and Phantoon revived me from the dead using my own technology, I cooked up a remarkable new steroid. I call it Sys-Gro. I'm sure you can see its effects for yourself. Impressed?"
"Very nice." Samus growled, finally recovering. "You came up with a way to increase your weight even more. You're a friggin' genius. Be that as it may, this doesn't change a thing; I'm going to take you down again. This time, for Falcon." Kraid blinked.
"Falcon? Who...? Oh. Was he that little bounty hunter I killed? Friend of yours, was he? Too bad. Well, you'll be seeing him again soon, little miss hunter!" Lunging forward, he swiped at her. Samus jumped the clumsy attempt and responded with her Spazer Beam. The triple blast fizzled away harmlessly. "HA! Sys-Gro does more than increase my size, Samus! Your beams are useless against me!" Hacking, he spat a stream of boulders at her. She blew them out of the air.
"Okay, then. Try this!" Samus snarled as she fired a Missile. Kraid howled as it exploded... doing little visible damage.
"OW! That smarts! That's a little better, I'll admit... maybe if you had a couple hundred of those, you could give me a deep wound!" He clawed at her again, and Samus jumped back, thinking fast.
This is no good... I need a better plan of attack. Damned steroid... wait! She saw Kraid open his mouth for another spray of rocks, and seized the moment. Before he could release the attack, Samus leaped into the air, and fired a Super Missile straight down his throat. A moment later, there was an explosion, and Kraid screamed in pain. "Ha! Not so well-armored on the inside, are you?"
"Why you little..." The angry Iz fumed. "That's it! No more games! You DIE now!" The rumbling began again, and with a massive lurch, Kraid's entire body rose from the thorns, smashing the ceiling into rubble and opening up a much larger space. The Iz was over five stories high. "Scared yet, Samus?"
"You wish, lardo!" Samus jumped onto a piece of the previous, lower ceiling that was still attached to the walls. Kraid, unimpressed, began firing his abdominal spikes, each over six feet long. Samus hurdled one and shot another Missile at Kraid. He opened his mouth to yell from the sting, and she fed him another Super Missile. Furious, the Iz slammed her off her perch, onto the thorns. She struggled back onto ground. "Cheap shot, Kraid!"
"Oh, and blasting my insides with your Super Missiles isn't?" Kraid countered as he began employing his detachable boomerang claws. When Samus returned to her high ledge, the air was literally full of deadly projectiles. She dodged a claw only to get scraped by one of the same abdominal spikes that had killed poor Falcon. Returning fire, Samus hit her enemy with another Missile. Kraid hissed, but kept his jaws closed, fighting his instinct. Samus frowned.
"Well, big boy, let's see how tough you are when I do THIS!" Jumping as high as possible, Samus blasted off three Missiles, one at each of his eyes. Though the orbs were not punctured, Kraid screamed anyways, and Samus silenced him with a third Super Missile. But it was not enough; the reptilian jaws clamped shut, and the look in Kraid's eyes made it clear that no matter what pain she caused, and despite the incredible internal pain he must have been undergoing, he was not opening his mouth again. Samus suddenly found herself in very real danger. No matter where she turned, there was a scything boomerang claw or an impaling abdominal spike. Samus' attacks no longer had any effect, and her Energy Tanks were being drained at an alarming rate. Finally, the bounty hunter realized there was only one, desperate chance. Gathering all her courage, Samus dodged a claw and jumped forward... straight at Kraid's face. Totally surprised by this completely unexpected action, Kraid lost control for a moment... and opened his jaws. Samus landed in the Iz's mouth, and with a battle cry, gave him her last two Super Missiles, right between the tonsils.
This is it... all or nothing. If this doesn't kill him, he'll bite me in half. She heard the explosions, and strained to hear a whine, a curse, some noise that would signify Kraid's death. There was none. NO! The bounty hunter tensed up, waiting for the death... and none came. Cautiously, she opened her eyes. There was no movement at all from Kraid. Samus walked to the edge of the mouth and looked up over it. Kraid's three eyes, once bright as jewels, were now dim and dark. He had died without a sound. And now, he was tipping over. Samus jumped out just before the massive Iz smashed into the ground, destroying every single one of the thorns.
"Phew... that was WAY too close." Samus mopped her brow as she looked at Kraid. A great deal of blood was now pooling out of his open maw. The bounty hunter took a scan, then a couple of pictures, to submit for the bounty. It was then that she saw the door in the back of the room. "What's behind there, I wonder?" She noticed a sign. "V-Level Armor. Could that mean...?" Opening the door, she went in and found a single thing inside. The Varia Suit upgrade. Taking it into her hands, Samus felt its energy infuse her entire body. With a blinding flash, her Chozo Power Suit was altered, becoming more armored, acquiring an orange color. Samus smiled.
"Norfair, here I come."