Chapter 2
The nightmare reborn
After a while, Samus' ship had trailed Ridley to a large orange planet.
"This can't be…" Samus said as her ship started to land. "This is the same landscape as Metroid. But I vaporized that planet.."
"Oh there's no mistake there. But the Brain infested this planet. She's shaping it into her original world. However there's still quite a few distinct areas that she hasn't affected." Quothos said, moving around almost impatiently.
"How do you know? Have you been here before?" she asked, then raised her cannon. "Or are you a spy working for Ridley. That would explain why he didn't kill you. You've got two seconds before I find out just what you look like on the inside."
"Whoa Samus! Don't do that… I don't know why he didn't kill me. Hell I don't even know why I'm here. All I know is after that lightning storm this dream has turned into a nightmare." Quothos said, his hands up to defend himself. Though he was quite sure his flesh wouldn't stand up to her arm cannon. Samus sighed and lowered her cannon.
"Alright I believe you… but don't get me wrong. I'm gonna keep my eye on you." She said, tossing him a helmet.
"You don't actually mean… " Quothos said, catching the helmet.
"I most certainly do. You seem to know quite a bit about this planet, so you're coming with me. But don't worry. It won't be this planets creatures you have to deal with." She said with a glare.
"Ooh… if looks could kill… " Quothos said. Samus gave him a space suit. It wasn't as armored as hers, but it would allow him to survive the alien atmosphere. As they exited the space ship Samus had her cannon up. But nothing came at them.
"It's almost too quiet." Samus said jumping to the ground.
"Of course. Brain thinks Ridley took you out with the space colony. They'll only realize we've arrived when you acquire the morphing ball." Quothos said heading for a door. "We'll encounter no resistance until then."
"My you are a well of information aren't you? But why would Mother Brain re-create the morphing ball? She should know those things helped me the last time." Samus said as the worked there way down a long shaft.
"She didn't. It happened when she altered the land into Crateria. Her powers are limited and she's creating an exact replica of Crateria. However, the transformation isn't complete as I said." They opened a door in the floor and entered an extremely vertical shaft with very few ledges.
"You're right. I remember this. This was the escape route after I killed Mother Brain last time. But it's slightly different." They passed through mother brain's original stronghold. After taking an elevator down a level, they collected the morphing ball and a searchlight kicked in.
"Shit! They know we're here." Samus yelled, blasting the light into oblivion.
"Oh don't worry. If we head down that corridor, we'll find no enemies, but we will get two packs of missiles. Once we gain some higher power-ups, we can return here for even more missiles and an energy tank." Quothos stated from memory. Samus just looked at him suspiciously, but went down the corridor anyway. They collected the missiles and returned to the elevator. As they were travelling up, Quothos noticed his suit changing. His fingers disappeared and a small cannon appeared in their place.
"What's the deal?" Quothos said as he examined the cannon.
"It's part of the suit. When enemies are in the area, it automatically transforms into weapon-mode. You can manually do it as well. I keep mine in battle-mode, just in case." Samus said. "To fire it, just make a fist. If you keep your hand in a fist, you'll fire repeatedly."
"Alright Samus. Thanks. Now be ready. As soon as we pass through the door, there will be some real weak pirates. They'll go down with a single shot, and there aren't many, but they ARE a pain." Samus nodded and blasted open the door. They passed through and easily wiped out the pirates in the room. Quothos directed her back up the chasm and towards the room where she could get the bomb. After entering the room, Quothos grabbed her arm.
"Be careful. I know you were raised by the chozo, so this may be difficult for you." Quothos said, getting his cannon ready. Samus took the bomb and headed back for the door when it sealed itself. Behind her, she heard the cracking of ancient stone, and the chozo statue came to life.