Hi. Sorry 'bout not updating in a while, but I had computer problems(caugh*laptop power cord*caugh). Hopefully I can finish this story up soon. I don't own Metroid. It's Nintendo's. KILLER RABBITS, ATTACK THE FOOLS WHO DON'T REVIEW MY STORY!

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The surface of DC-834 was littered with the charred and wrecked hulls of Pirate star ships. Metroids could be seen roaming the surface, even from where Samus had parked her ship. Adam had scanned the planet during re- entry, and had found that Phazon had started to grow in the wrecked vessels, and would soon enter the planet's crust. This wouldn't affect the planets eco-system however, because the local Metroid population would consume all of it before it could begin to affect the planet. The Metroids on the other hand would have a grand time feasting on the energy rich element.

Ryan didn't care about this though. All he cared about was seeing Spike! "Adam, have you found Spike's location yet?"

"I have an approximate location on the Metroid known as spike, however the energy signature Spike is producing has changed. This is making it harder to get an exact lock."

"Well, just give us a general location, and we'll search on foot." Samus was also impatient, but just wanted to get off the planet.

"He appears to be inside the pirate's old base. The location isn't on the map however."

"OK then, lets go!" Ryan ran to the exit, and was soon bounding over the terrain. Samus suddenly appeared to his right, speed boosting next to him for a split second, then passing him with ease. "Stupid speed boosters." Ryan muttered. He spread his new wings and quickly gained altitude. The pair reached the decimated base within minutes. A Pirate frigate had impaled the base, and Phazon had started to reach outside the confines of the crippled ship. Samus frowned at the sight of the blue crystals. Her memories of Tallon IV came rushing back to her. The Omega Pirate... Ridley... Metroid Prime... All the memories of her enemies came rushing back to her. Ryan noticed the expression behind her visor, but didn't ask her about what was troubling her.

"Hey Ryan, remember how we had hoped that all of the pirates fleet was completely here, and that the Metroids and Phazon would all be confined to this planet?" Samus's voice was filled with a almost unquenchable sadness.

"Yeah, I remember that Samus." Ryan started to walk toward the base, but Samus stopped him.

"Ryan, Adam just sent me some Recon data that says about 4 ships of the fleet wasn't here..."

"WHAT? Where did they go?" Ryan was almost hysterical, worrying his head off about Milly and her home.

"Adam doesn't know. I wish I could give you more information, but until we get off this rock, we can't tell if anything is up."

"Stupid nebula. OK then." Ryan turned around and began running towards the base. "We'll check on Spike, then we'll chase down the pirates."

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Ryan's jaw was on the floor. Spike was massive now, and had grown into a Metroid Queen. Samus was amazed that Spike had grown so quickly, but something else was bothering Samus. Besides the normal Queen Metroid form, Spike had grown a shell of Phazon around herself, and had adapted to her environment by absorbing the Pirate's left over weapons. This made Spike's abilities more like the Prime variant of Metroid, and served to make Spike the dominant Metroid on the planet.

"Wow. Spike grew. Guess we can't take him with us." Samus was standing near the huge Metroid, going over her memories of her last encounter with a queen Metroid. That queen hadn't been so friendly...

Ryan frowned at the last part of Samus announcement. "Yeah Samus, I don't really think he would fit on the ship. Maybe if we could steal one of the pirate vessels when we catch them... But I guess not right now." Ryan replied.

"Well Spike, it's been good seeing you again. Stay here and make sure the other Metroids and the Phazon don't get out of hand."

Spike roared from her layer, evidently sending a 'yes' reply to Ryan's command.

------ Elsewhere in the universe...------

The pirates were working feverishly to use up their remaining Phazon. Ridley's final command to them had been to create as many Omega Pirates as possible. Three Phazon laden giants were growing inside their respective tanks, and soon they would be ready to attack Ridley's previous target. A Mining colony situated above a vast amount of Phazon...

"Hey boss!" a pirate yelled over the din of machines and workers, "We have enough Phazon left to make one last phase shift in the tanks. If the phase shift is successful, then we can make our Omega pirate's armor immune to the hunters weapons!"

"Good work! If they destroy the hunter, you will receive a three rank promotion!" With that, the commanding pirate left the pirate to his work.

"YES! I can finally get out of middle management!" the pirate yelled, causing everyone to stop for a second. "Get to work you slugs! I want my promotion!"

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Samus had shunted power from non-essential systems to the engines, cutting down travel time by 25%. It had all ready been at least a day, so Samus and Ryan were making good time on getting back to the colony, however they still didn't know if the pirates were even going to the mining colony. As soon as they exited the nebula, Samus scanned for pirate presence, and sure enough, she found Space Pirate ships preparing for an attack on the colony.

"DARN IT! We're still 10 hours away! Even at this speed, we won't make it in time to do anything!" Ryan was in a cold sweat. He knew there wasn't anything he could do about it. Samus however, had an idea.

"Hey Ryan, hook up my suit to the power system. If we can shunt power from my suit to the engines, then we can cut the time in half!"

"OK Samus, I'll try!" Ryan jumped up from his chair and ran to the power suit, yanking it off of its holding rack and shoving it near a power conduit. With a little help from the Etecoons, Ryan was able to hook up the suit to the power systems. The combined power from the speed boosters and the suits overall power supply cut their arrival time down to five hours...

------ five hours later ------

Samus had thrown the ship into an almost straight dive into the planets atmosphere. Ryan was getting impatient and climbed to the exit hatch. Samus, who was focused on getting through the atmosphere alive, didn't notice when he bailed out of the ship until Adam alerted her to the open hatch, and Ryan streaked past the ship. Something inside Samus stirred, possibly something related to a motherly instinct, and suddenly she felt like screaming. She knew Ryan would survive, since he had the DNA of three of the most deadly creatures in the universe in him, but she still wanted to protect him. Was this really what it felt like to be a mom?

Ryan didn't really care what Samus was feeling at the moment. He was absorbing the heat from the air friction on the way through the atmosphere, and would soon be able to see what was going on below him. He could barely make out the dark forms of three Pirate frigates, and three forms that were attacking the colony on foot. Ryan forced himself to accelerate even faster, causing his wings to glow from the heat. If anyone was smart enough to look at the skies for about two seconds, they would have noticed two shooting stars in the middle of the day. Before anyone could bother to though, a comet called Ryan flew straight through a Pirate frigate, busting right through the ships command deck.
Ryan slowed when he neared the ground, avoiding a very painful face plant into the ground. He looked around the colony, and decided to try and protect the colonies shelters again, and let Samus handle the landing parties. He ran to the shelters only to find them cracked like egg shells...

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Samus had landed near the colony, and after recharging, was speed boosting into battle. She noticed several large footprints, leading to a very large Omega pirate that didn't look to happy to see her.

"Crap. They brought back the Jumbo size." Samus said as she readied her super missiles. She fired one off at the pirates leg armor, but before the missile could hit, it phased out of existence. "Huh? OK, not cool. YOU FREAKS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO MAKE NEW UPGRADES! THAT'S MY JOB!" Deciding to screw the entire matter, Samus switched to the OMNI beam, charged, and fired it straight through the creatures chest.(Add in cool matrix effects as the energy wave expands.) The pirate looked down at the Texas sized hole that now called his chest home, and fell forward.

"That was fun." Samus said gleefully, then dashed off to find more people to play with.

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Ryan was digging in the rubble of the shelters, but couldn't find anyone. Not even an animal could be found. 'Were they vaporized? No, there would be heat traces... They must be in the mines. Milly! I'm going to rescue you no matter what!' With that, Ryan began searching for an entrance to the mines. The entrance was easy to find for both Samus and Ryan. After confirming that the colony was empty one last time, they began their decent into the mines...

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OOOOOO! I'm one step closer to finishing this thing. Once again, sorry for not updating sooner.

___________________________spoiler warning____________________________

for those of you who just can't wait to find out, theres one more boss after the two remaining Omega pirates. ^_^